north shore news EXal Dear Editor: The award-winning Timothy Renshaw rips into the whole GVRD water strat- egy, (“More leaks ...,” July 25), whereas The Vancouver Sun contents itself with a little human interest story, centred on a Cleveland Dam haul road, (“Upper Capilano resi- dents vow to stop trucks,” The Vancouver Sun, Aug. 3). We need the journalism of the former, nat tabloid reportage, in critically moni- toring the activities of those we empower to make deci- sions for us. The GVRD, and Crown corporations generally 1 ‘think, derogate their respon- sibilities to the commonweal while aggrandizing a culture ef control — the principals often misinterpreting their roles as entrepreneurial. This . Must de easy to do, given that MAIL B ine GVRD policy the fone they go to not only has all the holy water, but is also’ virtually a bottomless bucket of tax monies. The GVRD simply wishes to maintain control of the Capilano Valley as its very own fiefdom, and it is pre- pared to spend our moncy and our environment to do so; and there is, I believe, no other sense of it. Similarly, BC Hydro makes no offer to decommission the obsales- cent Bunsen plant, (if neces- sary replacing it with several small plants on crecks with no fish runs), so that Coquitlam mav supply GVRD needs, freeing the Capilano and Seymour for sports fisheries. Recall the hubris of BC Hydro in the mid-’70s, dup- ing itself and its public by an “estimated” annual electricity growth rate of 8%. Eventually the embarrassing surplus of ‘The bear’s side of Dear Editor: Re: Another ‘bold’ bear shor dead. Anna Maric D’Angelo’s coverage, of this story was “right on: The thought of the wildlife department employ- ing. “conservation officers” :that are not qualified to use tranquilizer guns but are allowed to. discharge lethal ‘ weapons, is beyond compre- hension. But, let’s not lay the sole blame for the death of this bear on the system. If this young™: bear were able to speak, I believe this might be his story: “ “My mom cand I had to come down much lower from the mountain: this - spring becatise the znow stayed so -Jate ‘and’ food :was hard to ind, For the first time in my . life éncountered animals my ‘mom called humans. They didn’t. bother us, but she told ‘me that it was best if 1 left -them. alone too. I didn’t understand why because they seemed nice and never tried “to hurt us,” : - . A short time Jater, my mom left me on my own and T had.to forage for food all by myself. Ir seemed that I was hungry all the time and often my tummy hurt. Then one day, right on the edge of my backyard, I cane across a cluster of human dwellings. In amongst these was an opening where human cubs sometimes played on strange looking structures. In the middle of this opening, there was a delicious smelling can. Three human dwellings cir- cled the opening and two of them had funny locking boxes full of wonderfully sat- isfying nuts and seeds. I wait- ed until the humans were gone, and then helped myself. The next day I noticed tempting smells coming from containers full of rotting fruit and vegetables near the dwellings. From ‘underneath the flower beds arose the smcli. of fish and bones. ‘ Bravely I ventured closer and explored these delicacies. Suddenly, I heard sorne bang- ing coming from the dwelling but nothing happened. I con- tinued eating. Day after day I returned, and always these kind humans left food out for me. 1 had no reason to be OX power forced the curtailment of the Revelstoke. This cul- ture continues today with the uneconomic re-construction of the ecologically-challenged Alouette and Stave plants, and it is behind the Raiwind affair. Recall the trial of its former CEO, where there was an admission to the fear of loosing control to the private sector. When the GVRD water strategy bills come due there will be cries for the privatiz- ing of our water supplies, just as there is now cries for the privatizing of our power gen- erating capacities. Is this a good thing? The residents of Grouse Woods allow themselves to be duped into believing a parallel bypass road is the issue con- fronting them. Ic isn’t. Wayne L. Mulherin P. Eng. North Vancouver the story afraid of them, my tummy was feeling much better. One day some humans with ycllow stripes on their pants appeared with long black objects that smelied like death. For the firse ime I was afraid and ran away. The very next day some humans put out a huge box with food inside. Delicious morsels were spread all around it. I ate ail of these but did not go into the box for more. It smelled of fear. Instead { headed back to where I usually found the yumsny seeds and nuts. All of a sudden, I was frightened by a very loud noise and so I headed up the nearest tree. After a while I noticed that this tree was too wobbly to hold me for ver long and that my stomac! was growling. By this time there were many humans star- ing at me. I decided to come down, hoping that these kind humans might have some food for me. I walked towards therm unafraid. There is a loud bang. Then, everything is black....” Evelyn Kirkaldy North Vancouver ear in tree was no koala, mate - I just wanted to share with ‘youa story. uo .. 4 We are a family that live on Frederick Place in Upper Lynn Valley, On Wednesday, at 3:30 .m., I was sitting feeding my vy het, breakfast aie my 2 /2-year-o! ughter shouts Bom the front deck, “Mum, there’s'a bear in our cul-de- sac.” Knowing Sam makes up a lot of make believe stories, | said, “Yes, Sam”-and carried on feeding Heather. She shouted louder “Mum come and see the bear,” so I dropped what I. was doing to go sec a:td to my eyes’ disbelief there was a large black bear walking down the © road from our house. He spent the day up a cherry tree feed- ing, then moved up the moun- rain again we hope! Who needs to go to the Rockies to see a bear! it’s unreal that we can be in subur- bia and see bears! Wow! PS: I’m from Australia, so it was even more exciting! Have a great day! Leanne Elliott ; leanneelliott@iprimus.ca © A garbage-ted bear is a dead bear ‘Dear Editor: ©. -° - * “Re: Story: on killing’ a bear,"22nd ‘and. Mathers, fest Van {July 9). A: fed bear is a dead bear. ' Every; houscholder must take responsibility, to keep- their. household. garbage in their. home — not in cans in ort-or garage. This ycar, in particulat, with the heavy snow of list winter still cove ing the mountain meadows, - the bears have been forced to come down to lower levels to obtain their food. .- Located as our communi- ties are at the bottom of the mountains on the North Shore, we must expect bears to come into our yards and property. They have an extremely keen sense of ‘smell, < and.‘our , household | garbage will attract them as it is food... ° ; Since bears usually feed at dusk and day break, do not put garbage and recyclables out at roadside until the morning of the day for. col- lection. And, don’t forget that holidays mean garbage is collected a day later. © fola Knight ‘West Vancouver’ +": Wednesday, August 25, 1999 — North Shore News - 9 Tim Renshaw of the North Shore News George Cadogan Memorial Award Outstanding Columnist Canadian Community Newspaper Association North Shore News Gerald A. Scott Memorial Trophy — Best Editorial Page Canadian Community Newspaper Association