NEWS photo Paul McGrath

SPREADING THE word on B.C. Festival of the Arts activities are Debbie Van Alfen (left) and
Christine Wilson. The festival opened with an official ceremony on Wednesday evening and
events are scheduled in the area surrounding 23rd and Lonsdale through Sunday, May 26.

Arts fest kicks off in North Van

THE B.C. Festival of the Arts
officially opened on Wednes-
day at North Vancouver rec-
Centre’s Mickey McDougall
gym with a look at the past
and a leap into the future with
the artists of tomorrow.

The festival, being hosted
this year by North Vancouver
District, will see hundreds of
young people performing for
the public and taking part in
arts workshops in the 23rd and
Lonsdale parks and recreation
centres until Sunday.

The keynote address at the
official opening was delivered
by actor Robert Clothier, who
played the character, Relic, on

The Beachcombers,

He told the assemblage
**You will have heard that art
is a luxury, Don’t believe it.
Art is a necessity, in all its
forms.”

Also addressing the crowd
were North Vancouver District
Mayor Murray Dykeman and
B.C. Minister of Municipal
Affairs, Recreation and
Culture Graham Bruce.

Performances at the opening
ceremonies included a telling of
the Creation Story by Burrard
Band Chief Len George and
the Burrard Band Dancers, a
barbershop quartet, music
from the Big Band era, hit

songs trom the ’60s and a con-
temporary jazz dance piece.

Members of the public are
encouraged to attend the
numerous free performances
being presented at the festival
and the accompanying Centen-
nial Community Showcase,
which highlights local artists.

A full Festival of the Arts
schedule was printed in a
pull-out section of the Sunday,
May 19 North Shore News.
The schedules are also available
at the 23rd and Lonsdale festi-
val venues.

For ticket information call
the Centennial Theatre box of-
fice at 984-4484,

Charges fly over Indian
Arm clean-up projec

North Vancouver District accused
of ignoring calls for assistance

INDIAN ARM residents who have been volunteering their
time to clean up the waters of Indian Arm claim that
North Vancouver District has ignored their pleas for sup-

port in the project.

But a district official said he

has never received a formal re-
quest for assistance from the resi-
dents and added that the district is
willing to help out in any way it
can.
_ This weekend volunteers will
gather car batteries and other
‘‘dangerous items’’ that were
retrieved by divers last weekend
and which have been sitting on the
bottom of Indian Arm for years.

The garbage will then be put on-
to a barge, donated by Shell
Canada, and taken to Burnaby for
disposal.

But Cindy Matson, president of
the [Indian Arm Ratepayers
Association, said the district has
not provided any support to the
area residents.

“*We've been having a hard
time getting help from North
Vancouver District. We approach-

ed the district some time ago and
asked if they would help us in the
clean-up,”’ said Matson.

She said that she spoke at that

By Surj Rattan
News Reporter

time with former district alderman
Bill Rodgers, who, Matson claim-
ed, was not supportive of the
clean-up program.

“The response from alderman
Rodgers was to get rid of residen-
tial housing. We asked council for
a garbage bin and the mayor said
he was unaware of the clean-up,”’
Matson said.

“The mayor has not returned
any of my phone calls. All we're
asking for is a couple of dump-
Sters. It’s shocking, I thought we
had a mayor and council who
were interested in cleaning up the
environment.”

Matson accused the district. of
ignoring the concerns of Indian
Arm residents saving ‘‘it’s like
we're here at tax time and then we
don’t exist.”

Ald. Ernie Crist said he spoke

with North Vancouver District
Mayor Murray Dykeman and ask-
ed him to call Matson on the
issue. He added that the district
should be doing everything it can
to help the area residents in their
clean-up project.

“It’s incredible how we treat
these people. It’s disgraceful.
Here’s a group of peaple who are
volunteering their time and the
mayor won’t even ialk to them,”’
Crist said. ‘I’m embarrassed to
be a member of a council that
won't support people like this.’’

Dykeman was unavailable for
comment to press time Thursday.

Harry McBride, the district’s
deputy director of engineering
services, said he had an informal
discussion about the clean-up with
Matson last year, but that, as far
as he knows, no formal request
for assistance has been made to
the district.

“If in fact they have a clean-up
going then we'll help out where
we can. £ need to know where
they want to put the containers,
what the volume is going to be
and what type of material will be
involved.

“Wf they’re bringing up things
like car batteries and oil drums
then that has to be classified as
speciat waste and I would need
some advance notice of that.’”

Friday, May 24, 1991 - North Shore News - 3

Parents and
teens lobby
for Young
Oifenders

Act changes

NORTH VANCOUVER parents and teens have formed
an organization to lobby for stricter penalties in the Young

Offenders Act.

The two groups are connected
by a shared sense of concern over
what they see as escalating inci-
dents of violence by teens against
teens and others.

Said ALIVE (Adolescence Liv-
ing In Violence Everyday) founder
Anne Fletcher, ‘‘We want to pro-
tect our children. We want them
to live normal, healthy, lives — to
be able to walk down the school
hallway without getting punched
in the face.

“We want them to get off
Phibbs Exchange or the SeaBus
without having a group of teenage
girls or boys holding them up at
knifepoint or with guns. The
Young Offenders Act is giving the
wrong children rights. They're not
giving the good kids any rights,”
she added.

Fletcher says she has talked to
“hundreds”? of parents whose
children have been victimized and
assaulted. Many of the harassed
teens end up changing schools,
continuing their education through
correspondence courses, or simply
dropping out of secondary school.

Fletcher’s own daughter has
been beaten several times bv
another teen.

‘When one of these childyen is
killed, either this summer or next
summer, 1 want it to be known
that we have gone to the city,
gone to the district, written to the
(federal) government. We have
done everything we could as con-
cerned parents, so that they can-
not turn around and say, ‘Well we
didn’t know.’

‘*f will say that the RCMP have
been very helpful. They have been
setting up programs, but they
don’t have enough funding. It’s a
community problem and unless
parents start coming out of the
woodwork and telling their
stories, this is going to go on and
on and on,”’ she said.

Mary Norris supports the new
group. Her 16-year-old son, who
has 2n attention deficit disorder,
has been harassed by his peers
since elementary school.

“He’s not a big kid, he’s not
a fighter, doesn’t play con-
tact sports,’ she said.

About a month ago Norris’ son
intervened when he happened
upon three youths attempting to
steal a purse from a woman.

‘‘He went to assist her and he
received a knife slash in his arm.
Just last week we had two young
men arrive at our door, ring the
doorbell. They asked to speak to
him and he went up to the door
and they took their fists and boots

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

to him. He ended up going to an
emergency clinic with quite a bad
knock on his head,"’ Norris said.

The family wants assault
charges laid against the two.

Meanwhile ALIVE member
Valerie, says that although her
16-year-old weighs 200 pounds
and can take care of himself, he
has been beaten up twice by the
same assailant.

a4 The Young
Offenders Act is
giving the wrong
children rights.
They're not giving
the good kids any
rights. 9F

~ ALIVE founder
Anne Fletcher

“The reason my son didn’t take
this fellow on is because there
were five of them. Like Anne
said, someone is going to die. And
why must they? Life is very im-
portant and parents care about
their children. It’s just so unfair."

Beth, 15, joined ALIVE after
turning her back on a peer group
involved in drug and alcohol use.

“tT was in the scene for a while
and when [ decided that it was
just going too far and my friends
started new stuff like stealing cars
and beating people up, I just
didn’t want to be involved in
that,’’ she said.

But it has been difficult for her.

“Ever since then, I’ve had more
problems than I did when ! was
doing drugs and alcohol. i'm hop-
ing that we can get a lot of teens
together because I know that there
are a Jot of them out there that
want to go a different way.
They're just too scared. 1 was and
I still am. But it’s not going to
stop me because | do have my
own life,’’ she said.

For more information about
ALIVE call 986-4090.

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Saturday, mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers.
Sunday. sunny. Highs 19°C, lows 9°C.

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