F BEADING Le Yt rnin id SASTRY Is ‘NEWS VIEWPOINT - Junk junkets HE REAL concer fer North Shore taxpayers following recent revela- . tions over municipalities paying the freight for spouses of civic politicians to attend: the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference is not so much the money speni on the few spouses who joined their partners in Montreal, Sut the number of local politicians whoa xi- tended. In all, 43 aldermen, one mayor and cae municipal administrator from the three North Shore municipalities; took in the three-day conference at taxpayers’ expense. Because West Vancouver has a policy that allows civic politicians to take their spouses on such junkets, two spouses of Wesi Vancouver council members were also sent on the trip. West Vancouver Mayor Mark Sager justified the policy by ssying that it helps to ease the pain of family separatien that results from public life. A less expensive way to %elp ease that pain would be to send fewer politicians to the FCM and similar conferences and have them report back to the rest of council with what they learned. A differeat counci! representative could be dispatched each term so that the hard- ship could be spread around. With residents on the North Shere and im other municipalities grappling annually with ever-higher civic taxes, the move would be a welcome siga that politicians are doing more than just singing the songs they think we want to hear. ‘LETTER OF THE Pub patrons not to blame for defacing Dear Editor: In reference to your April 24 stery, “Council approves Rusty Gull expansion,”’ I take exception to the comments reported by Rod _ Pearce, in particular his statement that his client, Lonsdale Enter- prises Ltd., has experienced major problems with pub patrons defac- ing private property at Jack Lonsdale’s Pub in the City of North Vancouver. Neither I, nor my staff, is aware of any patrons of Jack Lonsdale’s Pub defacing the property in question. If it ever came to my attention that any of my customers had engaged in the unlawful act of defacing private property at Jack Lonsdale’s Pub I would certainly take action myself to deal with the problem. Furthermore, Jack Lonsdale’s Pub is situated in a mini mall area Display Advertising * 980-0511 Distribution which houses several other businesses and any defacing of property in this area cannot automatically be attributed to the. patrons of Jack Lonsdale’s Pub. It is unfortunate ‘that your reporter, Pamela Lang, did not bother to contact me for a com- ment with. respect to Mr. Pearce’s unfounded allegations. Mike Fournogerakis Jack Lonsdale’s Pub 986-1337 Printed on Classified Advertising Advertising Director .. Linda Stewart Newsroom Comptroller Doug Foot . North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 114, Paragraph ill of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday. Fnday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Hegistration Nurmber 3885. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are weicome but we cannot accept tesponsibility for unsolicited material mctuding manusenpts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 es : 113S Lonsdale Avenue, ~ North Vancouver, B.C. Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 986-6222 Fax 3227 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 North Shore managed MEMBER -————— <> SB 10% recycled Newsprint SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Jailed abroad for life? Don’t cry to Barbara GET CAUGHT drinking a Scotch in Savdi Arabia and you can be publicly fogged. Peddling drugs in ladonesia can put you in a cell on Death Row. Every country bas its own funny little customs. In Brazil they’ve all but thrown away the key to the jail where Christine Lamont, 33, of Langley and her companion David Spencer, 28, of N.B. are serving 28-year sentences. The two insist they are innocent in the kidnapp- ing of a millionaire businessman, for which they were convicted in 1989 — claiming they did not know the victim was being held in a Sao Paulo house where they happened to be staying. Whatever the truth, one thing is undeniable: the harshness of the sentences — three years longer than a “‘life’’ term in Canada. As well, parole is not a big feature of Brazilian justice. And letters from the pair also speak of ‘‘the documented use of torture in our case.”” For months their anguished el- derly parents have been campaign- ing for Ottawa to intervene. Last week they finally won the backing of an all-party Commons justice committee, which is now urging External Affairs Minister Barbara McDougall to request the expul- sion of the coupie by Brazil “without undue delay’? — a pro- cedure that Brazilian officials have reportedly said they are willing to follow. But McDougall has so far re- mained totally unsympathetic to the pleas for aid. Government lawyers have apparently convinced her the two WERE, in fact, im- plicated in the kidnapping and had a fair trial. But other lawyers and NDP MP Ian Waddell say they could not have been found guilty in Canada on the evidence given in Brazil. Just to complete the corm, -.ca- tions in the case, McDougall