6 - Wednesday, June 6, 1990 - North Shore News 30, OH... FINE... SUST "i FINE..... AND HOW ARE YOU MIKHAIL... Ze» HE CONDOM swirling around Lower Mainjand schools came to a rousing con- Monday night when Vancouver clusion L, Le ye INSIGHTS reality controversy marriage. undermines religious teaching at home that sex should be engaged in only after Although this religious perspective is school trustees voted to have condom machines installed in Vancouver igh schoo! washrooms. The condom issue raises the question of what role the public school should play in such a personal-religious issue as pre-marital sex. Advocates of the con- dom argue that the health dangers of ’ unprotected sex far outweigh the threats to anyone’s religious beliefs. Teenage sex, they say, is in no danger of being “‘promoted’’ because it is already a reali- ty. But religious leaders believe that it is not the role of the public schools to pro- vide contraceptives. They say that the availability of condoms at school to be respected, the argument against the school’s participation in sex education is feeble. Public schools are essentially secular. If Christian, Sikh, Muslim and Hindu parents disagree with the practices of these secular schools then they have the choice of withdrawing, ticir children. If religious teaching «i home is effec- tive it will stand the tesi of condom machines. What is needed now is a large-scale education program to assure that teenagers are making wise choices about sexual relations, assuring that the condom dispensers are iooked upon with a certain enlightened reverence rather than with the uninformed glee of getting goodies from a bubblegum machine. LETTER Chlorine is the culprit Dear Editor: Concern about the health effects of pup mill pollution is not new. In the 1979s, complaints from the public forced the government to take action against air emissions from the mills. In 1980, organochlorines were discovered in shellfish. At that time, however, the danger wasn’t understood. Both levels of government are now in the process of developing new regulations to limit the amount of organochlorines that pulp mills can discharge into the water. The problem is that there Publisher ... Associate Editor subul Parag welcome envelope. Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director . Linda Stewart North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent ban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 411, raph Il of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Snore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885. Subscriptions Nosth and West Vancouver, $25 per year. ‘ailing rates available on request. Submissions are but we cannot accept responsibility tor unsolicit 2d material inciuding manuscripts and pictures s which should be accompanied by a slamped, addressed are hundreds of these compounds, 90 per cent of which have never been identified, let alone tested. The pulp industry says they can virtually eliminate the dioxins and furans, and we don’t have to worry about the hundreds of other unidentified organochlorines that: will remain in their effluent. Their argument is that the remaining organochlorines are larger molecules and therefore not bioac- tive. What they don’t tell us is that the research they are using to justify this argument goes on to say: ‘*‘However, these more com- plex compounds can slowly break down (biologically, chemically, or photochemically) to simpler but more bioactive and possibly more toxic forms.*’ 100k VOREE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER north shore SUNDAY - WEONESDAY + FmOAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 59,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday) SDA DIVISION Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions , 0] a Eee The pulp industry also neglects to mention that chemicals don’t have to penetrate cell membranes to cause chronic disease or cancer. Basically, we are in the same situation now with these hundreds of unidentified organochlorines that we were with dioxins 10 to 15 years ago. It is dangerous and ir- responsible to continue discharging them into the water until they are idcntified and tested. Since chlorine in the bleaching process is known to be a culprit, we can use unbleached paper pro- ducts for most of our needs. And for the few times when bright white paper is necessary, mills can convert to other bleaching pro- cesses that don’t use chlorine. Richard Tarnoff North Vancouver 980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227 MEMBER moves the price is right! LOVE AFFAIRS — even at $200-$250 a day — are never sweeter than at the beginning. And having just had that ex- perience, I’m still wondering how the cruise ship company ever manages to pay 2 dividend. If you’re an old hand at sailing the sapphire-blue waters where Christopher Columbus first made landfall, pray read no further — you already know it all. Leave this column to those who have yet to enjoy their own first affair with a Caribbean-bound Love Boat. For the latter, a preliminary word about costs, which are a little higher than an evening aboard the Malibu Princess in English Bay. Note, however, that the total price tag covers not only the voyage but also the $700 return airfare to transport you between Vancouver and the port of embarkation at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Add 10 days accommodation in a five-star stateroom which would cost over $100 a night in equivalent hotels. Unlimited courses at four gourmet meals daily, whose Italian chefs make many pricey restau- rants back home seem like fast food outlets. And nightly Las Vegas class shows. Plus every kind of other diver- sion imaginable: swimming pools, fitness workouts, paddle tennis, trapshooting, snorkelling instruc- tion, disco revelry, bingo, casino, movies, dance and craft classes, boutiques and gift shops, and even a course in napkin-folding. Not to mention cocktails with - the captain and a wild calypso par- tying under the stars. All for free. The four-figure tab may look a trifle daunting in the travel agent’s office. But if you do happen to have a couple of grand or so burn- ing a hole in your cheque book, the sheer value for money offered by a cruise is unbeatable. Any remotely similar holiday on terra firma would set you back $300 upward a day, NOT including that $700 airfare. But a sundrenched ‘‘Princess’’ roaming the Caribbean is more, of course, than just calories, callisthenics and chorus girls. Six of the 10 days keep you busy with shore tours of the fascinating island mini-states strung out like a necklace from the Bahamas to Venezuela. Like quaint little St. Mariin — or Sint Maarten, according to — two thirds of it is governed by France, the remainder a province of Holland. Tiny, virtually uninhabited Mayreau, were the ship’s crew set up a beach barbecue and we enjoyed a three- hour swimsuit sail in a small schooner among the other post- age-stamp islets of the Grenadines. Then on to lush, ‘‘veddy British’’ Barbados, its flower forest, awesome Harrison’s cave and still more white sand beaches. Next, beautiful Martinique, again a department of France, with its bustling, prosperous-looking capital of Fort de France, where all the taxis are gleaming white Mercedes. Bourassa would love it — nota single sign ‘n English anywhere! After that, St. Thotoas in the U.S. Virgins, many of whose smart stoves and elegant boutiques would look thoroughly at home in Park Royal. It also boasts a unique underwater observatory, built out into the sea, which beats snorkell- ing every time for watching the myriads of tropical fish in their natural habitat. Finally, Nassau in the Bahamas with its famed British Colonial Hote! (the Raffles of the West In- dies), its massive old fort and its hilarious flamingo drill squad — a couple of dozen of the gorgeous birds which quick-march, slow- march and do about turns to the bellowed orders of their black drill sergeant. And 14 hours later, sadly de- scending the gangway to the waiting buses, we're already work- ing out how to save enough to be back next year. No other thought in mind. For all this love affair br- ings, it’s definitely undespriced. But what about Meech Lake, you ask reproachfully. Where’s that? And this GST thing? Is it a new gas additive? Sorry if I seem a bit forgetful. I'm sure Pll be back to normal by Friday! kk WRIGHT OR WRONG: Life always seems very trying to those who aren't. photo ‘submitted ONE OF the hundreds of Caribbean beaches beckoning cruise ship pas- sengers at the vessel’s numerous ports of call.