Crime stories are
a crime in themselves

TEACAPAN, Sinaloa, Mexico — Hypocrisy is one of the
unlovely characteristics of the Anglo Saxon people and
seldom is it more apparent than among Americans who
complain about crime in Mexico.

Canadians complain about
crime in Mexico also, if for no
other reason than that the Ameri-
cans are doing it so it must be the
thing to do, Canadians are a trifle
less hypocritical for only one
reason, their crime rate is lower
than that of the United States.
But it is still hypocrisy.

Senator Jesse Helms’ commit-
tee aside, American hypocrisy hit
a rotten bottom a few years ago
when a billboard was erected in
Los Angeles warning people that
travel in Mexico was dangerous.

In Los Angeles! Where they
shoot strangers out of car win-
dows, just for kicks? Where the
streets are so dangerous, the
murder rate so atrocious, that the
citizens’ only boast is saying thank
God for Detroit and New York?

f experienced New York. 1
worked five years there one
autumn. There were large areas of
the city where taxi drivers refused
to take you, even in daylight.

New York police lost control of
she streets two decades ago. If you
find that hard to believe, listen to
the new mayor of New York who
is trying to make the sidewalks
safe again for ordinary men and
women and isn’t yet sure he will
have any success.

No matter. The greater the
danger to travellers in the United
States, the greater the yelp and
holler about Mexican criminals,
Mexican courts, Mexican justice
and Mexican policemen. Some of
us get a bit sick of it.

What, then, are the facts about
crime in Mexico?

Let me tell you. I don't know. I
doubt that anybody else does ei-
ther. Statistics is not a growth in-
dustry in this country.

There is plenty of crime in this
state. The Mazatlan paper devotes
a page or two a day to police
news and photos, complete with
photos of bullet-ridden corpses.

In this village, we have had two
murders in recent years (both
family fights in which alcohol was
involved) and an American
woman was raped on the beach.

BEAT THE
HEAD TAX

(Before Jan. 7/91)
NORTH PARK MEN’S HAIR
922-9612
PARK ROYAL NORTH

Paul
St. Pierre _

PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES

Rather than look for statistics
which can’t be found or repeating
popular gringo legends about
crime, it is sometimes helpful to
examine one’s personal experi-
ence.

After 10 years as a householder
here, what is the burglary situa-
tion? How does it compare with
Canada?”’

We never leave our home in
Fort Langley, B.C. unoccupied
for more than a week. When we
come to Mexico in winter, some-
body else lives in our house. A
neighbor, who did not take the
precaution, had the gentlemen in
white coats bring a moving van
during his absence and they stole
everything except the paint on the
walls.

Our house in Mexico stands
empty for periods of from six
months to eleven months. We turn
the key in the door and walk
away. It has never been entered,
although it contains outboard
motor, microwave, fans, fridge
and a [ot of other equipment that
most people here lack.

in 10 years, our losses have
been two clay planters on the
street wall, broken doubtless by
litle boys with slingshots, and one
shovel with a broken handle which
we left in the yard.

Two years ago, my Fron-
tiersman fibreglass canoe was
stolen in Chilcotin, British Col-
umbia. It had been feft, for two
days, chained to a log and Jocked,
ona creek so remote that local
people sometimes forget its name.

Here, in an impoverished Mex-
ican village, a canoe of the same
make and model is left on a
public beach, unlocked, for weeks
ata stretch. Not one or two days.
Weeks.

Not only local people but
multitudes of strangers come to
this beach. Fishermen ard fish
buyers meet there. Anybody could
throw the canoe into the back of a
truck and have it in Guadelajara
before it was missed. It could be
paddied up the estuary and hidden
in the mangroves. An underweight
teenager, an underweight and lazy
teenager, could carry it away on
his back, any night.

It remains on the beach, un-
touched except when a fisherman
occasionally borrows it for 10
minutes to go tu a boat moored
offshore.

You may have some fascinating
stories about Mexican crime, ones
you know to be Gospel truth
because they happened to a friend
of a relative of your brother-in-
law and your brother-in-law is a
truthful man.

Unless it happened to you, per-
sonally, don’t bring the
fascinating story to me. Tell your
brother-in-law’s story to the
hypocrites, who will enjoy it.

‘Make your move. @

PARTICIPACTION

ARDAGH HUNTER TURNER

Barristers & Solicitors

IMPAIRED DRIVING
Crimina patiers Only 986-4366 | 986.9086

300-1401 LONSDALE, NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C.

AFTER HOURS

Silent Night

Season’s Greetings and Best Wishes
for the coming year — The management and staff

800 Marine Drive, North Vancouver

Friday, December 28, 1990 — North Shore News - 9

WHY PAY THE GST.
BUY NOW!

GIGANTIC STOREWIDE SAVINGS!

GREAT SAVINGS ON WARDROBES, DINING AND BEDROOM SUITES,
OFFICE SETS. DESKS, TABLES, CHAIRS, CHINA CABINETS,
SIDEBQARDS AND MORE, IN A VARIETY OF STYLES AND WOODS,
FROM BELGIUM, ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

MON-SAT. 10:30-6:00 SUN. 12-5
226 S.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver

324-3661
(BETWEEN MAIN ST & CAMBIE. NEXTIONR -ONALD 5S)

2 BEST SELECTION! BEST SERVICE! BEST PRICES! dima

THE DISTRICT OF NORTH VANCOUVER

Celebrates

ais CENTENNIAL

* Penguin Plunge
Deep Cove - Panorama Park
January 1st, Noon - 3pm 7”

ENTRY FORM

in consideration of your accepting this entry, | hereby,
for myself, my heirs, executors and administrators,
waive and release any and all right and claim for
damages | may have against the organizers holding
this Event, their agents, representatives, successors
and assigns, for any and all injuries suffered by me at
this Event.

PLEASE PRINT

NAME

(Surname) ~ (Given Names)

ADDRESS:

POSTAL CODE.

PHONE .____. BIRTH DATE

{7 not a first-timer, how often participated:

SIGNATURE .

“(under 18, Parent or Guardian)

Register in person at any North Vancouver Recreation Centre.
For further information contact: Centennial Coordinator 987-7131