6 —- North Shore News - Friday, March 31, 2000

T’S human nature to blame oth-
ers for our misfortune or that of
those we love.

Such is the case of the grieving
families who lost their daughters
Sunday near Cypress Bow! after the
two teen snowboarders went out of
bounds.

The quest for pristine snow ulti-
mately led to their deaths in unfor-
giving terrain. Mountain manage-
ment was targeted for blame.

Within the ski area’s boundarics,
Cypress Bowl officials do their best to
provide a safe environment for skiers
and snowboarders. Avalanche control
is a concern, and slopes are groomed.
Unsafe areas are closed.

Skiers or snowboarders who know-
ingly venture into restricted areas are
on their own. They’re responsible for
their actions.

sKvsailioc x

| Other lands could
7 ‘teach us tolerance

Dear Editor:

I was pleased to read the literate and very restrained

VIEW POINT:

WwW Sense

Risk awareness is important
regardless of skiers’ and snowboard-
ers’ skill level. According to ski area
industry documentation, the risk of
death in Alpine skiing and snow-
boarding is considerably less than in
many other forms of transportation.

Mortality in Alpine skiing for
example shows a rate of 0.2 to 0.7
deaths per million skier visits.
Fatalities usually result from collision
with a tree or rock inside a ski area or
asphyxiation caused by ar avalanche
outside ski area boundaries. Among
snowboarders, the fatality rate is not
well documented. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that the rates are similar to
those of skiers.

The most important prevention
step is resisting the urge to ski or
snowboard out of bounds, no matter
how inviting.

More school board scandal

Vancouver School Board!

at the very end of its
March 14 public meet-

NOT anotiser scandal at West

No. Not eric. Two scandals, At least.
Scandal One: Without advance notice,

i

came venarenren mmmanenne cesar
a ww raewlécathan: 2%

the legal approval?

Stevenson says my information —
not, by the way, from Bell-Lowther — is
incorrect, But he said he can’t state the
real, real facts, because it was a confiden-

dal meeting. Catch-22!
Stevenson also cites the

cletter from T. Tanavoli in the Marca 10. News, respond-

ing co the carlier ill-informed letter of M, Davidson.

7 Lam writing to support the position of Tanavoli. As a
WASP and a professional engineer, I had the pleasure of
living and working in Iran for 3% years during the reign of
the Shah (1969-72). My wife and three children were with
me. _

Although we lived in Teheran 1 travelled throughout
the country. Everywhere I went I was treated generously

_ and tolerantly by Muslims, although with my pale skin and

“: -: very limited Farsi I clearly was not one of their own.

"7 We “lived among = Muslims, jews, . Christians,
... Zorastrians, and many other faiths, and [ never experi-
enced any conflict.
°°. We could shop any day of the week ... Muslim shops
~"¢losed_on Friday, Jewish shops closed on Saturday, and

_ Christian shops closed on Sunday.

| The tolerance and forbearance of other religions was
amazing! ~ ,

‘We, in’ Canada, could certainly learn much’. from the
‘Muslim people of Eran of that time.

3. Ouse ‘children’s: friends: included Muslim children, and
our.daughter was distraught when the time came to leave
“her Muslim friends and return to Canada.
‘x Through the medium of your paper I would like to
‘publicly chank all those of Iranian descent (of whatever
-teligion) .for their decency and kindness during our
., extended ‘stay in their country.
**.. My-svish is that in some measure we in Canada, and on
the North Shore in particular, might now show some of
that same tolerance. and kindness in return.
., People are individuals, and there are good and bad in
all races and religions. . - ;
“a Let us not behave worse than those we would complain
about. 7
Bill Tracey... - a
_ bill_tracey@telus.net

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61,562 {average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday)

ing with at most 15
people present by the
count of chairman
David Stevenson, the
trustees voted them-
selves an eye-popping
40%-plus raise.

They goosed their
stipends from $9,500 to
$14,000; for chairman
Stevenson, from
$11,000 to $15,600.

And the vice-chairman (currently Clive
Bird) formerly got only the basic $9,500;
now that job pays $15,000.

Stevenson’s justification: Their
stipend was far below the Vancouver-area
average. Fair argument. Why not put it
transparently to the public?

Scandal Twe.. Ar an in-camera meet-
ing — public excitiided — che board
voted to give senivte staff raises ranging
from zero to abort 6%.

Now follow this: At the next in-cam-
era meeting, a single trustee — Erica
Bell-Lowther, who had the integrity in
this go-round to prove her commit:zent
to proper process — pointed out that the
minutes of the previous meeting omitced
any reference i those raises.

This beggars belief: The other
trustees united in voting down her
motion to alter the minutes. Bell-
Lowther was the lone trustee in faveur.

So, unless I’m from another planet,
there is no record cither public or in-
camera granting that raise. Where then is

Bee Dhaliwal
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Publisher
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ie Stepheasoa

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vstephanson@nsnews.cam = '

board administration’s
interpretation of the
senior staff raises as per-
sonnel matters, there-
fore excluded from
public gaze. My little
mind says that raises for
a whole category is
damn right a public
matter.

T interviewed Stevenson
and Bird, veteran
trustees for whom I've had much
respect. Their memories were less than
sharp, though the huge raise in their
stipend was passed — Bell-Lowther and
new trustee Mary Fawley opposed — as
recently as March 14.

Stevenson denied any hanky-panky.
“Was it (the raise} snuck in at the end of
a public meeting? No.”

Nor did adding it unannounced to
the agenda violate Roberts’ Rules of
Order, because his “pariiamentarian’s”
advice is that small boards don’t have to
foliow Roberts.

Bird’s recollection is slightly different.
The raises recommended by the finance
and facilities committee (himself and
Fawley) were brought up at the in-cam-
era meeting before the public one: “We
all sort of scratched our heads.” But,
after the head-scratching, the trustees
agreed: “Good — let’s do it tonight.”

Retrospectively, Bird acknowledges
that “no way would the public know it
was coming forward. ... It would have

WHEN MY GRAMPA WAS A KID,
HE HAD A REAL TOUGH TIE
GETTING IN TO SCHOOL. SOMETIMES,
HE WOULD HAVE Td STRUGGLE
THROUGH BLOWING SNOWDRIFTS

IN THE DARK.

s |

been better if this was made known prior
to the meeting.” .
I say if the board wasn’t being evasive —
or high-handed, it’s almost as culpable
for stupidity. Credence for the first theo-
ry is, as News managing editor Timothy.
Renshaw’s column March 5 revealed,
that in January the board took itsc!f off
to a $2,600 retreat at Ocean Pointe
Lodge — unprecedented, and a mockery
of financial restraint. :
Whar’s the background? Past trustees
have made blunders, been naive, or
Worse. :
In 1993, year of disasters, there was
the Sentinel School Development Fund,
highlighted by the principal’s departure.
from town and wife, and the scandal of
the Vancouver Canucks hockey tickets, ~
given to favoured principals‘and others’) -_ |
to end-run a salary freeze — follewéed by |
a failed petition demanding suyerinten-:../
dent Doug Player's resignation. ;
That fall a “reform” group swept into
power, including Bird and Ken Haycock
—a UBC professor and director of a.;
cutting-edge graduate studies program
who had the weight and wit not to be
anybody’s rubber stamp. (Haycock more
modestly says many trustees arrive vi
parents” advisory groups and such,'and
don’t grasp that they should stop advis-
ing and start leading the bureauc
My suspicion is that with the move to”
council of Haycock and the alert and sea
soned Jean Ferguson, the present board,
including two newcomers (Fawley and
Rick Francis), hasn’t got the jam to stand’
up to the board’s bureaucrats. 32°.)
And Player’s critics have noticed.
something: His three-year contract is’.
‘soon up for renewal,

—lautens@axicnet.com

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