6 — Wednesday, October 28, 1997 — North Shore News UITE justice has prevailed in North Vancouver District. At its Oct. 14 meeting, North Vancouver District Council approved in a close 4-3 vote secondary suites as a permitted use in single-family zoned areas of the district, bringing an end to a decade-long illegal suite battie. The Oct. 14 vote was prefaced with the usual cries of single-family neigh- borhood erosion. The theory here being that once such a bylaw was approved families the length and breadth of the district would be laboring nights to set up secondary suites in their homes. But the reality is that. secondary suites are already in operation in the district and they always will be. . -They provide: an invaluable stock of affordable housing for students, seniors and others and can help DEFENCE com Fund keeps on growing. To press time Friday, donations from over 2,000 News readers and free speech supporters to the fund stood at $140,851. Legal fees expended thus far by the News have already exceeded $200,000. The final bill will be much higher. All funds received will help defray the legal costs a faced by the News in its battle with the Human _ Rights Tribunal over a complaint laid against the .-, Mewspaper and its columnist Doug Collins by the . Canadian Jewish Congress. The hearing into the _ Matter, which began on May 12, concluded on June 27 with final arguments at the Century Plaza Hotel, 1015 Burrard St. The decision from Nitya Iyer, the tribunal of one hearing the complaint, is ’ expected some time later this year. Extra. copies of the News’ Free Speech Supplement, which was originally published in the . Aug. 20 News, are now available at the News THE North Shore News Free Speech Defence north shore news homeowners pay off their mortgages. But anyone who has had experi- ence as a landlord will know that unless such a move is really needed it is an option to be avoided at all costs. The alternative to allowing suites in the district is to outlaw them. But that route is fraught with all manner of complications, including the mobi- lization of municipal enforcement squads to scour single-family neigh- borhoods. The district’s own ill-fated experi- ment in attempting to register and phase out illegal suites from 1988 to 1995 attests to the impracticality of such measures. Secondary suites are another viable accommodation option that, when run responsibiy, benefit both land- lord and tenant. That’s the reality, short and suite. PAUL MARTIN— HE WANTS To THANK US FOR POING OUR PART _ Notes for package tour clients | “FRIDAY, so it must be eastern European countries. I remember how, as a boy in the England of the 1930s, we laughed at the tales of Americans who came over and “did Europe in a week.” Teday they have my pro- found admiration. We took nearly ovo weeks to “do” just a small corner of Europe — Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw, Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Vienna. Those sterner stuff than me. Warsaw” — that pretty well sums up the daily impressions of our recent 12-day swing through six Yankee tourists 60 years ago were made of offices. More excerpts from the hundreds of respondents to the cause: “When would a Human Rights Tribunal com- Plaint not be a complaint? When Mordecai Richler "There is able te write essentially the same things about Hollywood as did Doug Collins and not be hauled before a quast-Soviet-style court and charged.” : — FE. Roy Blair of West Vancouver g000 are few people around now who have the courage to speak out like (Deng Collins). ... May ‘The Force’ be with you.” — Jim Garrison of Vancouver Donations to the fund can be sent to: 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, V7M 2H4, Cheques should be made out to the North Shore News Free Speech Defence Fund. — trenshaw@direct.ca ‘North Shore Hews, founded in 1969 as an widependent suburban newspaper and quakhed under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Fnday and Sunday by North Shove Free Press Utd. and destrbuted t0 every doos on the North Shove. Canaca Fost Canadian Pubbcatons Mail Sates Product Agreement No, 0087238. Marling rates available on request. Barbara Emo Distribution Manager 986-1337 (124) 61,582 (average caculation, Wesnescay, Fncay & Sunday; Human Resouces Manager Salas & Masai Dreckr 985-2131 (177) 980-0591 (319} Sonathan Bell Creative Services Manager 985-2131 {1 If you're a morning person who loves nothing better than rising by six, breakfast- ing with 45 fellow-travellers by seven and hitting the road from 7:30 or 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. every second day, this kind of tour is made for you. Especially as the same routine applies on the days in between, when again you have to be away on the bus by eight for local rubber-necking that may last much of the day. Mark you, there are plenty of material pluses about packaged bus tours like ours — sponsored by BCAA and operated by Insight Tours of London, England. The price is right — considering the return air fare, first-class hotels, all break- fasts, seven free dinners and nothing to figure out for yourself except where to sit in the bus (you switch seats daily to give everyone a fair shake). PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (161) 2n 985-2131 (160) - more than $40 at each frontier. But Valerie Stephenso Classitied Manager $88-6222 (202) Entire contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights seserved. The bus itself is a standard 48-seat tourist behemoth, baggage stored below, passengers high up behind the driver’s seat and a minuscule biffy “for emergencies Tour manager and “commanding officer” of our group of seniors and soon-to-be’s was an amusing no-nonsense type called Pierre Biller, a New Zealander with French in his family tree, now living in London. When Pierre said “jump,” you asked how high. In fairness, however, it soon becomes clear that such tours demand fairly strict discipline by all involved. And there was always a sympa- thetic ear for personal problems in Vicky Lipski, our charming tour host from BCAA in Park Royal. One major problem in that part of the world is the bathroom needs of a busload of 45 who've all had a second cup of breakfast coffee. Facilities are few and far between. The ladies, as always, are the chief sufferers in agonizingly long line-ups. Moreover, eastern European biffies are never free — entrance is always barred by an old woman with a plate, demanding tribute in local currency before admitting you. Once in, you often find it’s a BYOP (bring-your-own-paper) institution. Local currency itself is a headache when “doing” a different country every two days. Pierre’s advice was to change no ven that you often have little or no time for local shopping, even this often left you with unwelcome amounts of useless coinage. There were memorable highlights: the majestic sweep of the Danube from Budapest’s Citadel Hill; Poland’s 14th . century Jasna Gora monastery of the Bl Madonna; Warsaw’s Chopin Memorial; remnants of the Berlin Wall and that city’: sea of construction cranes; the architectur. al glories of Dresden; the river cruise through Prague; and Vienna’s stunning 1,400-room Schonbrunn Palace. ; But event our smali corner of Europe | had far too many treasures to cram into 1 days. You needed at very least 18 — yet that obviously makes no business sense to the tour companies, whose promotional appeal and economics are based on quanti: ty of destinations rather than quality of ume spent there. “Europe in a week” is: still their ideal. Even so, don’t be afraid to try such a tour. It has its moments. Just accept that many of your memories will be a blur — and that you may need a week or two's rest and relaxation on your return! 900 HAPPY BIRTHDAY today, Oct. 29, to Mount Seymour Lion Rob Dalton at 56 ... Wish the same again Saturday, Nov.1, to North Van MLA Dan Jarvis on his 62nd. O00 WRIGHT OR WRONG: If in doubt, it’s always easier to change “no” to “yes”. - than “yes” to “no.” , — The North Shore News believes strongly in freedom of speech and the right of all sides in a debate to be heard. The columnists pub-. lished in the News present differing points of view, but those views are not necessarily those of the newspaper itself. . 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