THERE ARE two schools
of thought about one col-
umnist attacking another
columnist. One, do it. Two,
don’t do it.

1 ardently support both pro-
positions, This has enabled me to
do either one, when | feel like it.
it is a comfort to have such flexi-
ble principles.

So today ! take issue with Paul
St. Pierre.

Nat the whole man, or the
whale columnist. Only his views
on the so-called right-to-die
argument around Sue Rodriguez,
the grievously if} woman with Lou
Gehrig's Disease who is pursuing
in the courts the legal right to a
doctor-assisted suicide.

Incidentally, | don't have to
worry about my rebuttal annoying
Paul, or, unimaginably worse, be-
ing dropped from the guest tist of
his annual celebration at his Fort
Langley home of the birthday of
Napoleon Bonaparte — a fete that
is the diadem of the West Coast
social calendar. (Whether because
of Paul's homily to the Emperor's
memory, or the pony rides, | can-
not say.)

No, lm certain Paul won't take
offence, because he never reads
other columnists.

He told me that, oh, as recently
as maybe 15 years ago, and I very
much doubt if anything has in-
tervened to change his mind.

So I can write pretty well any-
thing about Paul in the confidence
that he won't read it, and that !
will get my invitation to the
Emperor's Birthday festivities this
summer as usual. (Yaaah, Paul!
Writin’ all that stuff about the
Cariboo country, and betcha you
can’t even ride a horse! Hey, I’ve
never even seen you on that
pony!)

Well, that was fun. But now let
us turn to the issue.

At the risk of coarsening his
delicately reasoned argument, |
offer this summation: Paul stated
in his widely read North Shore :
News column last week that only
a despicable covenant between ©
church and state stands between
Sue Rodriguez and the utter
privacy of her choice (or suicide.

The Catholic bishops and the
evangelical Protestants are sticking
their blue noses into the matter.

They are doing so in order to
fulfil their age-old agenda — the
quest not for heavenly but for
earthly power — to impose their
beliefs on other citizens backed by
the power of the state. ;

So Paul argues. :

If only it were that simple. ;

Put aside Paul’s broad hostility
toward the supposedly meddling
priests and power-tripping
preachers.

Many people would say that,
the influences of organized
religion having fallen and the
rewards of heaven and fears of
hell having distinctly become un-
fashionable, the individual citizen
now experiences more vicious and
off-handedly random crimes,

A.’ as a
REMEMBER MOM

50%"

f country ceramics — died flowers
wood cratis wreaths
sale ends May &93
COUNTRY CONNECTION
East 8th St, NY. 987-8396

PORTICIPICTION

Trevor
Lautens

GARDEN OF BIASES

fears to walk the streets, im-
prisons himself in the fortress of
his security-obsessed home, has
no confidence in his government
or the police to protect him, and
pays the bankrupting financial
and social costs of drug use,
atcoholism, theft and despair —
to say nothing of the costs of
“clean” white-collar crime and of
government, a distinction that
grows fuzzier by the diy,

Perhaps such people are wrong
to see a connection between those
evils and the passing of the days
when the church drummed into
almost all children — and adults
— virtues both heavenly and
secular, Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Put aside, too, thatthe state is
already issuing court orders allow-
ing medical authorities to starve
or hydrate people to death — very
ill or old people on support
systems whose lives are deemed
“not worth living.”

I'll never forget the sensation |
felt when a nurse at a pro-life
mecting right in our town of Van-
couver said of such a person: ‘It
took 40 days to kill our last one."

Put aside that, far from conniv-
ing with the state in such matters
-- and of course on abortion too
—- organized religion and religious
people, joined by some principled
‘atheists and agnostics, have been
in the forefront of resistance to
the secular authorities.

Put aside all that, Paul, and
take up the questions your column
didn’t ask:

Who will decide?

Who will decide, legally, when

the moment has come for suf-
fering Aunt Martha to be helped
to carry out a suicide that she may
have affirmed brightly at a time
of good health? Or under subtle
or not-so-subtle pressure from
that favorite nephew?

And if she is too helpless to kill
herself unaided, who will draw the
line between a self-chosen assisted
suicide and state euthanasia?

And is there some substance to
the point that, the state having
sanctioned such helpful assistance,
many older people will fear ‘be-
ing a burden,”’ will detect or
timidly think they detect familial
or social pressure to gently remove
themselves from the scene? Guilty
about surviving, shamed into
suicide?

There’s more. | was too dumb
to think about ft, because doc-
tor-assisted suicide automatically
Means to most people an issue
that involves the very sick or the
decripit old.

But, listening to a woman who
heads an American organizasion
opposing the Rodriguez appeal
and others like it, | suddenly real-
ized that it can be sought by the
able-bodied young too.

Who, including me, hasn‘t roll-
ed the idea of (romantically)
commiting suicide around his or
her mind in times of youthful
despair?

Should a depressed teenager —
and, as we ail know, one fortu-
nately outgrows both teen-age and
depression — have the legal right
to show up at a hospital and de-
mand an assisted suicide?

Maybe because of a broken
heart, bad acne, or fear of failing
chemistry? And, by the way, be
entitled to do so — thauks to our
New Democratic Party govern-
ment's proposed legislation that
will allow more children to get
medical attention without the con-
sent or even knowledge of their
parents?

Those are some of the questions
that go far beyond the immediacy
of the Rodriguez case.

I'll grant this.

Doctors quietly help people to
die right now. And always have.

Sue Rodriguez is all but guaran-
teed of that help.

This is one area where we
should stick to the hypocrisy we
have.

Here’s An Open House
You Won’t Want To Miss

Don't miss out on this opportunity to receive the
latest mortgage information. Bank of Montreal is
hosting an Open House on May 5th from 7:00 to
9:00 p.m, at our Branch in

Caulfeild Village
$377 Headland Drive
West Vancouver, B.C.
668-1214

Mect Don Purdie, Manager, Mortgages, B.C.
Division and Glen Bancroft, Barrister and
Solicitor as well as our team of dedicated
Mortgage and Banking Specialists.

aa Bank of Montreal
We're Paying Attention

Lynn Valley Centre, North Vancouver
(beside Food Fair)

Caulfeild Village invites your to join us in

CELEBRATING THE OPENING |

of two fabulous new stores Friday, April 30th rg Saturday, May 1

Marilyn Diligenti, believes a woman has the
right to fabulous clothing at affordable
prices. Discover the charm of this
beautifully designed boutique. Marilyn

offers her

clients a

wide

selection

from several

talented local

designers, finely

tailored Canadian labels

as well as exceptionally well
priced imports. Enjoy the

comfortable warm atmosphere

while her helpful staff assist you in

creating thar look which is perfect

for you!

formerly Champage Taste

Carol’s of West Vancouver brings you
California - Country French Classic
Furnishings .... from warm honey pine,
white washed oak, glass iron tables
and imported lamps to table top
accessories including Kosta

Boda & Fitz & Floyd

dinrerware. An extensive

selection of fine giftware for every
occasion. Discover this

unique store that reflects

casual elegance... so perfectly

West Coast.

MMNALYIN'S Casual to elegant fashions rol OF WEST VANCOUVER

5363 Headland Dr, West Vancouver 925-4110

Take exit id off the upper levels Highway

5303 Headland Dr., West Vancouver 926-5578 |