Dear Editor:
Hyperbole, [ realize, is stock in
- trade for a small market newspaper
such. as the North Shore News;
however, your use of it in the article
“NV park bomb scare..." Wuly 5).
does a disservice to both you and
» the RCMP,

Your assertion that the’ suspi-
cious packages “turned the faces of
the North Vancouver RCMP officers
maple leaf red.” suggests that the
RCMP were embarrassed by their
over-reaction to an obviously harm-
less object. | beg to differ with the

~. superior wisdom of the press.

As the fellow. who discovered the
suspicious packages and reported
them to the police, I have some first-

“hand. knowledge of that day's
events. ; ;

dled this professionally, competent-
“dy and with the safety of the public

: “and their own officers in mind,
«, They responded to an unknown
situation by taking all pains to make
~ sure that no one came to‘any harm.

When l discovered the packages, -

A-did not: really believe that. they
were bombs: but J was not sure. My
»wife and I had been in the park with
our’.20-month-old’ son, who ‘had
“been :playing around” the: structure
“where the. packages were located,
As owe. wwalked! away from the
parks. Léwas ‘seriously debating
whether. or not there was something
? to. worry about,

What ipsin: ‘was “sonveihing 10°
by. some,

worry about? “What if,
“rerhote. chance,’ these’ things. were
» dangerous and later dhatday they

In: my opinion, the police han-

went off and hurt some other fami-
ly? How would { feel then knowing
that 1 could have done. something
about it?

So [ called the police.

The woman [| spoke to first was
very professional, having = me
describe the objects and obtaining
my full name, address and birthdate
— double-checking,: | presume —

that] was not some known erack-

pot.

The police’ did not rush full.
blown into a."bomb” situation. They
sent two officers to the scene first, ‘|

~ presume, to evaluate whether or not

there was something to be con-
cerned about. The officers looked at
the packages ind decided that they

were worth contacting the bomb

squad about. My impression was
that the officers’ no more believed
that these objects were bombs than |
did. but, like mesthey believed that
there was-the possibility: that these
objects night be dangeraus,,

We live ina world where public -;
terrorism is becoming more preva,

lent every day.

The North Shore is part of that
world,

So there we were, a situation
where some suspicious packages
were present ina public place, What

would the North Shore News have
‘the officers do? .

Ifthe “police are ridiculed for

-answering the legitimate ‘concerns:
of a citizen, and treating it seriously, -
how Jong before the. police. stop

treating these public tips with any-

thing. but disdain? How long before ,
to -call the

citizens -are’ reluctant

Advortorial eee
” .Ted White, M.P.
_ #302 1200 Lynn Valley Rd.
North Vancouver —
VII 2A2 ©

. Telephone: 666- 0585
. Fax: 666-0509. ©

MORE ABOU T THE GST

“Over the. ‘past few weeks 1

have received quite a nurriber of .

calls and. letters asking ‘me
whether the GST_is being used

promised.

“cheques has renewed interest in

where ail that GST. money goes.

- SPECIAL ACCOUNT
GST revenue received by. the
Government is paid into the; Debt
and Deficit Reduction Account-The
legislation... which’ set ‘up’. this
account requires that the funds be

used to reduce our debt and that is ©

indeed. what happens to. it.
Unfortunately, because we still run
an annual DEFICIT of $35-$40 bil-
tion,’ we have to borrow back every

dollar we pay off using the Gst .

funds
«, , Canada's debt at. the time of
“writing is around $556 billion, but

several billion of this comes up for.

,fenewal every month. For the pur-
“poses of example lets say that $1.5
billion comes due today and there

is ‘the.same amount, about one -

month’s receipts, in, the Debt and
Deficit , Reduction Account. If we
use the $1.5 billion to pay. off the
loan, our debt drops to $554. 5 bil-
lion.
Unfortunately,
-year’s deficit (the amount by. which
the Government overspends). is
_around $37 billion, we need to bor-
“tow approximately  $3._billion for
Government operations __ this
month, ‘causing , the debt. to.
increase to $557.5 billion despite
having applied the GST. receipts to

‘debt’ reduction. .This: treadmill ‘of .

increasing debt will remain in place
‘until we have either a debt crisis or
“the political will to balance the bud-

‘get.,

Bae 6

because this’

.remember,

“GST TOTALS

; The latest GST summaries indi-'
‘cate that net collections for 1994/95

to pay down. the debt as Were “approximately ‘$18.4. billion

It seems. that the”
recent. delivery of GST rebate’

“with program costs of $369 million.
This works out to a fairly low $2.01 -

per $100 coftected or 2% of net...’
_ tt should be noted that GST rev-

enues are almost the same as the

revenues collected: under the old

Manufacturing Sales Tax. which it

replaced, 80 we were told the truth

about it being “revenue neutral”.
However, there has been little

change in‘the. yearly amount ‘col-

lected since the introduction of the

GST. and a-drop over the past few

‘months seems to confirm that there

has been‘a slight downturn in the

economy.

THE LIBERAL.
.PROMISE

| have ended almost all of my
speeches in Parliament. over the
past year with the words “Mr.
Speaker, «the: Deputy: Prime’
Minister (Sheila Copps) said she
would resign if the GST. had not
been eliminated within a year of
the election and she still has not
done so.” Sheila responded to criti-
cism about her promise by telling
Parliament, “! made the statement
in the full confidence that there is

one person in this House who will
» nat go back on his word, and that is

the Prime Minister of Canada”.

Page 22 of the Liberal Red
Beok contains the commitment to -
“..feplace’ the GST..”" but you will
that Mr. _ Chretien
relused to Say prior to the election -
how he would do it: With no sign of
any action on this issue it looks like
we may be'looking al a major bro-.”
ken election promise?

police for fear of ridicule?

To be effective protectors of the
community, the police must be. of
the community and in communica-
tion with that community; the citi-
zens of the community must feel

that their suspicions will be investi- ;

gated and treated seriously by the
police. Your public jest serves to
divide these two.

Your hypocrisy is expected. but
your ridicule of the police demands
an apology.

The next time [ see a suspicious
package, 1 will save the police some

embarrassmnent and_ call. (reporter) »

Bab Mackin down to give ita shake.
I it goes off, well, at. least no one

“was embarrassed,

Michael G. Murphy

~ West Vancouver

|FACTORY
| REBATE

ON SELECT: ~~
SUPER CAPACITY .
WASHER- DRYER

> PAIRS...

‘2° Baged on consumer brand.
* preference surverys © ©

» European Styling
° Super 3.8 Oven Capacity
» Cooks Faster & Saves Energy

Wednesday, August 2, 1995 —- North Shore News — 9 -

2 ET RS

Joe's Automotive i
“Quality Service from a
p %~OFF
‘alt labour with this coupon 3
Expiies Ag. 15/95 | ;
1226 Pemberton (ar ching),

Mechanie you can trust.”
foun, $150 copate)
_98 87-1 1 15. 222)
bo ee | .

[PERSONAL INJURY
} Free Initial Consultation

- Douglas W. Lahay
CLARK, WILSON

*RARHISTERS & SOLICITORS
800-885 West Georgia Street, Van.
é 687-5700
§ 24 HOUR. MESSAGE 643-3161

BICKC’s policies are noe law Ewill ger
you a fair setrleinent or trial aware.

ee er nee |

TAG aa
SUPER CAPACITY PAIR!
WASHER. DRYER.

* Consumer Rated #1°. ° Consumer Rated #1"
* Lasts longer than © Regular & Perm.
any other brand: ‘ Press Cycles

Jetclean™

DISHWASHER

* Full Size Washer With
‘Bryer On Top“
_ Roiary Controls

* Consumer Rated #1°" |
* Internal Hard Food Disposer

" SELECT MODEL