6- Sunday, November 12, 1995 — North Shore News

1139 Lonsdale Avenue

North Vancouver, B.C.
V7M 2H4

PETER SPECK
Publisher
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Operations Manager
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Tiesothy Renshaw
Managing Editor

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Display Manager
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Eno
‘Distlbution Manager Production Manager
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Horth Shore Kews, founded in 1969 as an
independent suburban newspaper and qualified
“under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the
. Exsise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday,
Friday and Srnday by Nosth Shore Free Press
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* Entire contents
-- © 1995 North Shore
Free Press Ltd.
All rights reserved.

“Chris Johnson

sett trate

WELP HELPY..
IMAGOUT Fi

quotes of the

« ,.. to allow Mr. Owens to
work in a day-care or in a school
or as a swimming instructor
would be absolutely insane. We
have tsken the position that he
doesn’t have to work in a day-care
or a schoo! or be a swimming
instructor because he has every-
thing he needs right here.”

Prospect Avenue parent Greig -
Cameron, on pedophile Robert ,
Owens living in his family neighbor-
hood. (From a Nov, 8 News story.)

“A city without character is not
much of a city at all.”

Lower Lonsdale merchant Chris
Anderson, on the loss of heritage
buildings in the area. (From a Nov. 8
News story. }

“We're not interested in getting

into dat Ananclal mess.”

West Vancouver School District

“
?

: mailbox __

Let’s not be too smug about the
O.J.. case being a fiasco compared

_ with the Bernardo/Homolka affair,

and smugger suggesting the
Bernardo/Homolka case dignified
our justice system.

O.1's' fiasco took nine months,
but Bernardo’s took over two years
while they messed around making
sure the dear boy got a fair trial, and
another three months in court when
they already had video evidence

sufficient to convict him on the spot.

mews viewpoint |

ATE IN the day though it is, the
NDP’s move to at least slow B.C.’s

the OJ.

45 chairman Ken Haycock, on the
possibility of District 45°s being
amalgamated with North Vancouver
District 44,/(From a Nov. 10 News
story)!

ba | wouldn't have missed it for
all the tea in China, You were in it
rather than sitting and doing
nothing.”

Second World War veteran Olav
Pedersen, on his involvement in
fighting for freedom. (From a Nov.
10 News Remembrance Day story.)

“When I do talks for the
Kinsmen or the Lions, I think of
all the wonderful titngs they do.
I'm just doing my part for the
community.”

Dave Brewer, a North Shore
Search and Rescue team veteran, on
why he volunteers his time to the
team. (From a Nov. 8 News story.)

nena eee nee ead

Comparing trials and errors

- Dear Editor:

Whatever you might say about
affair, at least the
Americans knew what was going
on. For two years in Canada we
didn't.

Even if you think O.J. got away
with murder, by. comparison

» Bernardo and Homolka got off

lightly. Their punishments are total-
ly inadequate for the crimes they
committed, because our justice sys-
tern is deficient.

Denis Mason

West Vancouver

gooders could no longer ignore the stag-

FOR ONE whose trade is to
offer firm opinions on every-
thing under the sun at the
drop of a hat, | have a most
unusual problem.

After a 10-day visit — my first
— to Japan, I can’t for the life of
me quite decide yet what to think
about the place.

So maybe oldtimers to Japan
had better stop reading right here
and leave this ragbag of initial
impressions to those who've yet to
follow me there.

To begin with, Japan i is not so
much a country as a population:
125 million people crammed into a
land area less than two-fifths the
size of B.C.

Almost the entire three-hour
Bullet Train ride from Kyoto to
Tokyo is through a built-up urban
jungle, relicved only by the very |
occasional isolated field or paddy.

To survive at all in that density t
guess I, too, would soon learn to
bow a lot and be extra polite to
everyone | bumped into — in the
hope they'd treat me at least as
gently,

Helping with the space problem
is the fact that all the natives are -
lean, fleet of foot and apparently in
top physical shape.

You can walk round town for
half a day without seeing a single
fat Japanese...

They're also immaculately .
tumed out, although males all wear -
an identical dark suit and white
shirt. I saw a kimono only twice,

~ whereas many younger women

dress like western fashion models,
You take off your shoes in
Japanese homes, Ditto at ‘temples :
and shrines, So wash your toatsies
often and have plenty of clean’
socks. Take lots of gifts, too, In
Japan visiting day is like Christmas
Day.
- Taxis (weep your “hearts out,

“Yocal cab customers!) have show-
.toom-perfect interiors with lace

head-rest covers. .
Drivers wear crisp white shirts,
ties and white gloves — and don’t

’ accept tips. Just as well, since the

meter starts at $8 and can soar to
$30 within blocks.
Most younger Japanese speak

-some English and like practising it.

Memorize “HAH-ee” (yes), “ee- - -
EH” (no), “DOH-zoh” (please),
“DOH-moh ah-ree-gah-toh”

(thanks), “EE-koo-rah” (how much

money?), “oh-TEH-ah-rah-ee” *
(bathroom) and you shuuld get
along fine.

Keep a pen and pad handy i ins
your pocket for them to write down”
the answers...”

Public toilets display the inter
national “men” and “women” sil
houettes, often adding “W.C." for: ”
stupid “gai-jin” (foreigners). .°
‘The rail system is fantastic..
Trains depart every five minutes to
whisk you at 300 km-h to every-"
where.

Coaches are spotless,
Sandwiches, snacks and drinks are.
trundled continually along the
aisles. Digital rad-outs tell you
five minutes in advance when to
get off.

Decent “business” hotels differ
little from ours. Bathrooms are nor-

matly “Western Style” (but always °°”

check carefully — if you ever wind '

up with a “Japanese Style” biff ty, :

you're in for a rude shock!). :
You'll get CNN on your room :

TV, and bacon and eggs next mom- ©.

ing in the restaurant — plus a one- .
night bill for about $300 Canadian ;.

. for the pair of you.

In a five-star hostelry make that
up to $450. On the Ginza in Tokyo,
tea for three and a petit four for :

one came tc

At the present crushiiig
exchange rate (40% worse than five
years ago) fascinating Japan, the .”
ultimate consumer society, can’. '”;
bankyupt the average Canadian ..”’;,.
tourist using his own money ina

month, But there’s much more to it: *

than that —~ as we'll see in another o
column. |

WRIGHT OR WRONG: When”
people are iaughing, they're gener-
aliy not killing each other. . 2

One third of that number has been on.
the dole for more than two years; *

runaway welfare gravy train indi-

~ cates that some xveason remains in

Victoria.

The welfare changes are aimed at get-
ting able-bodied employable people off
the welfare rolls and removing migrat-
ing grifters from the public teat in
British Columbia.

Changes that the public has been
shouting itself hoarse about for years.

The noise has finally gotten through
to a government desperate for public
approval.

Even fhe: NDP’s pack of Phony d do-

gering. waste and abuse riddling B. C's
welfare system.

For anyone else who needs a welfare
wake-up call, consider that:

The cost of providing social services
in B.C., new at $2.9 billion, has risen a
staggering 72.5% over the past five
years;

Welfare fraud
$500,000 per year;

The provincial government will spend
over $1.7 biliion on income assistance
this year; ;

One. in every 10.-eligible British
Columbians is on welfare;

is closing in on

Nearly half of all new. welfare’ appli-
cants arrive .from ‘outside British :

Columbia; :
Single parents are better off financial-' o

ly on welfare than slugging ‘away at a. :

low-paying job.
The NDP socialists deserve credit for.
finally waking up to the welfare scam *-
that’ is robbing honest ‘ British
Columbians blind.
_ But they deserve a rain of brickbats
for taking so long to take action against *
what is a bona fide Social and. financial :
- disgrace. . ” mt

i,

wee en 8 8 8 EM Ue ae ee ee ae eater et eee ew *
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