6 — Wednesday, December 23. 1998 — North Shore News r th T is the season of celebration. It is the season to socialize. It is the season to share the wonders of existence with family and friends. It is the season to connect with your spiritual core. It is not the season to regret. Or to mix celebration with transportation. There is no over-emphasizing the message oft repeated at this time of year: don’t drink and drive. B.C.’s Drinking Driver CounterAttack program has been ongoing since 1977. Its invaluable message and its accompanying police roadchecks have helped cut the carnage caused by acci- dents resulting from the deadly mix- ture of alcohol and gasoline. Between May and November of this year, 5,600 CounterAttack road- checks checked over 3.9 million vehi- north shore news VIEWPOINT iS cles around B.C. They have become an ever-present factor on B.C. roads and should now have formed an indelible image in the minds of B.C drivers everywhere. Taxis, designated drivers and pub- lic transit have all become the trans- portation options of choice for more and more people. But the message still needs to be sold to the hard of hearing and the light of brain who would defy the odds and tempt the fates by drinking and driving. Last year, 114 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes on B.C. roads and it remains that approximately 30% of B.C. road fatal- ities are alcohol-related. Don’t turn the warmth of the sea- son to the chill of tragedy. Heed the CounterArtack message: don’t drink and drive. Land bill is news to band member Dear Editor: Re: Band land act needs municipal input. North Shore News (Dec. 6. Ripping Yarns column). I applaud you and your newspaper for sharing this intor- mation with the general public. Bill C-49, the Hint Nations Land Management Act, is going to impact. fet of people, vet, no one knew of its existence prior to your article. Asa member of the Squamish Nation, F cannot remember the current council ever informing the membership of their participation, or invalvement with this act. Bur, when vou look on the schedule at the end of the act, Squamish Nation is list- ed as number 5 — ready to implement this act. Squamish Nation council Chief Bill Williams’ comment, “that the bill merely represents a vision —~ the framework and details of which will come after che bill has been passed into law.” The bill went through second reading already. When was the Squamish Nation going tw inform the general public and its own membership of this bill? After everything was signed, sealed and delivered? Members of the council have heen attending meetings in Ottawa regarding this issue. None of this information has been pass {on to the band’s membership. Itt were the mayor of North Vancouver City or the districts of North Vancouver or West Vancouver, I’d start asking ques- tions because my understanding is, this bill will be effective in approximately 36 months. Marcella Marie Baker Squamish Natien Member North Vancouver Mailbox policy LETTERS to the editor must be legible (preferably type- written), brief, and include your name, full address and tele- phone number. Due to space constraints the North Shore News cannot publish all letcers. , | Worth Shere News founded in 1969 as an Ce er ge ee Tent independent suburban nexsspaper and quashed = mm me under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the ME M “B : E ‘Re. Excise Tas Act, 15 pubkshec each Wednesday. . . . Fnday and Sunday by North Shove Free Press. by Ltd and distributed to every dant oO” the North Shore Canada Post Canakan Publications Mad Sates Product Agreement No 0067238 Mating rates avaitatle on request fe, Ge Mawar rs aye Disteioution Manager 966-1337 (128} Jonathan Bel? Creative Services Manager 985-2131 (127) 61,582 favesage cveulaton, Wednesday, Frday & Sunday) HOW was your Christmas? I hope it has been as good as mine — and no, T haven't got my dates mixed up, nor lost my calendar, fet alone my onions! You see, E decided long ago thar Christmas isn’t December 25th at a. Christmas is getting there, Over the past halt’ century Christtinas has become a marathon eight-week festival of remembering, planning, spending and socializing wedged between Halloween and New Year's. [always feel a pang of sadness around December 23, with only twa more days of Christmas left. To be brutally honest (a no-no at this season!) December 25th itself can be something of a letdown for 7-any especially, of course, for the loceiy, the sick, the poor and the homeless. Buc even healthy, comfortably placed fami- lies frequently tind it falls way short of its advance billing. Onee the kids have wreeked the liv- ing room with torn wrappings and set- ded down to bore themselves with their loot, The Day tends, as often as not, to become just some kind of extra Sunday. Quite pleasant and relaxing, except for Mom wrestling with the turkey, “Great meal!” we all gush, even if the bird is still half raw. After that, the chal- lenge of how te fill the remaining fies Disatiesl Human Resoutces Manager 985-2131 (177) PETER SPECK Publisher 985-2131 (101) Terry Poters Photography Manager 985-2131 (160) Classified Manayer 986-6222 (202) 985-2131 (133) Ectire contents © 1997 North Shoze Free Press Ltd. All righis reserved. SUDDENLY, IT Bee AME CRYSTAL CLEAR To ED, WHY THE SENATE HAD NOT BEEN ABOLISHED The two-month Christmas love-in evening hours doing something Yuletidely — talk around the fire, carols on the stereo, a litte mare liquid cheer — then suddenly the anti-ctimay of 11 pan.. with vet another Christmas Day come and gone ina ii i tlash. Wright For my part, if forced te choose. Pd swap the 24-hour Christaiaas for the cight-week model every time. Nor do feo along with all that pious wattle about hither “commercializa- . d tion” TE Christmas is ANG YOR the season of love, hat cight-week marathon starting November | packs huge gebs ot the stult. Anyone who doesn’t recognize the labour of fove invalved in batding the elements, the full-up parking lots, the mobs in the malls and the checkout Hocups week atter week — all of it to buy pleasure for others — simply does- ot understand love. It’s love even if you can afford the money, And further love goes into the time-consuming chore of wrapping the gilts — knowing your cherished landi- work will be ripped to shreds by the object of your affection in three seconds fat. Christmas cards are a love story in themselves. Remembering people you enjoyed in the past and haven't contace- ed for ages. Searching for addresses used only once a year. Penning update messages, Writing envelopes. Lining up to buy stamps. Doing it all over again for the ones you forges who didn’t for- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must include your name. full address & telephone number. VIA e-mail: trenshaw @ direct.ca Timethy : Managing Ea:tor 985-2131 (116) Comptroiter Trixi Agrios Promotions Manager 985-2131 (218) Acting Display Manager 980-0511 (307) Goll Snelgrave General Otfice Manager 985-2131 (195) internst- http://annw.nsnews.com get you. What on earth else would make vou expend afl thar time and energy but love? Love is wadieg chrough the mud ina December monsoon to buy the res fr’s risking lite and leh on a woboi fia stringing up outdoor lights. Its icngday kitchen overtime preparing Yuletide treats. [1's donating fo the Chitstinas Rureau and the Sally Ann Ali te nial: others happy, nor just vourself. That goes for the stores as well, of course. Many merchants couldn't remain afloar during the rest of the vear without their Christmas sales bonanza. So your love for others washes happi- ness over them also — as your January bills will quickly reassure vou! Happily, roc, the eight-week Christmas is, for most of us, not solely hard work and spending. At every level, trom friends and neizhbors to churches, clubs and ether groups, it’s also the sea- son of getting together, socializing and partying. All such functions express, in their different ways, the innate love of human beings for one ancther’s company, Part of the age-old magic of Christ's birth- day. How about visiting with Him for an hour ata nearby Christmas Eve church service comorrow evening? It could tell you a whole lot more about the two- morth fove-in that bears His name. aaa WRIGHT OR WRONG: Love makes the world go round — laughter keeps us from getting dizzy. May you mix the two together on Friday and throughout 1999 for a truly happy Christmas and one of your best New Years yer! HOW TO REACH US Administration 985-2131 Dispiay Advertising 980-0517 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom $85-2131 Bistribution 986-1337 Display & Real Estate Fax 985-1435 Newsroom Fax 935-2104 Classified, Accounting & Main Office Fax 889-3227 Michael Secker - Mews Editor 985-2131 (114) Andrew McCredie - Sports/Community Editor 985-2138 (147)