Fall of George poses warning new question | THE LOOMING FATE of the 40th U.S. President is suf- THINK JOE... MILLIONS OF CANADIANS ARE RIGHT. Now AGONIZING OVER, WOW THEY WILL VOTE ON THE 26. THE ANGST..THE SOUL SEARCHING... _ THEY BE GOING THROUGH HELL! . NW SS SS THIS SIT. THE BINE JAYS TAKE OTe FIELD... S AS as SRW \. _ Survey sense EST VANCOUYER’S District 45 School Board has taken the ill-advised step. of following the lead of its North Vancouver counterpart in declining District 45 participation in a con- troversial youth health survey. The survey, which North Vancouver's District 44 board rejected last spring, is distributed by a private organization to students in Grades 7 to {2 in participating schoo! districts. it asks questions relating to sex, alcohol, drugs and suicide. In voting against the survey, the majori- ty of West Vancouver schoo! board members: argued that the survey’s ques- tions were worded to imply that students who do not have sex or use drugs or alcohol appeared abnormal. The common assumption is that this might encourage otherwise well-behaved youth to engage in such activities. Meanwhile, the Vancouver school board has reversed an earlier decision not to distribute the survey, deciding that the vaine of the information gathered will outweigh the survey’s possible drawbacks. ahe North and West Vancouver school beards, instead of taking a cue from Van- couver, have chosen, in effect, to refuse to acknowledge that sex, drugs and alcohol are a reality for many high school stu- - dents. But a straight-talking youth health survey could help pinpoint the kinds of aid youth need to help them make informed lifestyle choices. Both sides of the generation gap need more, not tess, information about the problems facing today’s youth. Harcourt’s decision will stand test of time Dear Editor: I feel compelled to speak out concerning the amount of space and time the media and others arc devoting to telling us how poorly Premier Mike Harcourt negotiated the constitutional dea) for British Columbians in Charlottetown. There is an old saying that ‘‘It is a wise man who has learned the give and take. By any measure we here in B.C., in contrast to many other areas of Canada, can afford to give substantially if it means the survival of Canada as a whole. 1 feet most thankful that Mike Harcourt is secure enough in himself and his mandate that he does not need to use the national political scene to trumpet his own or B.C.’s demands to the point too familiar with the ‘‘flash and pomp”’ style of politician who has no substance or ability to see the situation as a larger entity than his own importance. History will judge in its own time who the true heroes of this constitutional accord were. My guess is that Mr. Harcourt’s and Mr. Bourassa’s names will stand the test of time. ficient to make anyone eyeing high political office these - days pause and consider some safer career — maybe as a bungee-jumping demonstrator. Eighteen months ago George Bush, with a 90% approval in the polls at the end of the Gulf War, seemed to have a second White House term in his pocket. Today, just three weeks from the election, it looks as if only a major miracle could keep him in his job after Nov. 3. No hint of a miracle came in the 90-minute TY debate Sunday wth rivals Bill Clinton ~~ leading him 49%-34% —- and Ross Perot, the loose-cannon Texas billionaire whose shrunken 10% poll rating is enough,‘ nonetheless, to hammer the final nails into Bush’s political coffin. Not that George didn’t do about as well as expected. But what a big majority of Americans now expect of him — sermons on apple-pie ‘family values,’’ dire predictions of reckless Democrat taxation and attacks on Clinton’s patrictism, — are not what they want to hear. What they want is promises cf jobs, a rebounding economy, beefed-up social security and a tadical change from 12 years of Reagan-Bush economics. This, with constant stress on CHANGE, is Clinton’s pitch — and that’s the message they seek. Still with a near-record 7.5% jobless, they’re ready to chance whether he can deliver it all. Yet it’s more than a little un- fair. Bush is hardly to blame for the global recession savaging the industrialized world from Tokyo to Berlin. He's pilloried for reneg- ing on his own vow to hold down taxes, but the tax costs of Clin- ton’s programs are inescapable. “Bread and circuses’? — high living standards, cradle-to-grave social security and low taxation — mix no better today than they did in Roman times. Moreover, not a few of America’s, Canada’s and the in- dustrialized world’s economic problems undoubtedly DO have roots ia the erosion of moral and family values which Bush dogged- ly preaches. ‘‘Change for change’s sake”’ is not enough, he warns. Though none of this is likely to save George, his dramatic fall from Olympian heights does pose a warning new question: not whether we deserve the politicians we elect — but whether THEY deserve US. Noel Wright HITHER AND YON SCRATCHPAD: Latest to seck the Reform party candidature in Capilano-Howe Sound is West Van school trustee Marget Furk — running against former can- didate Nelt Thompson, SFU prof. Herbert Grubel and retired lawyer Eric Cant for the party at its Nov. 17 nomination meeting in West Van Secondary ... Hats off to all North Shore notables ‘“‘arrested”’ in last week’s Jait-and-Ball fund- raiser for the Cancer Society by “Const.’’ Gulshan Mitha and thrown behind bars until they came up with ‘“‘bail’’ for the — Society coffers. They faced a... tough judge — none other than “Madame Justice’ Faye Leung? . . . King-size reunion bash hap- pens this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16-17, when Sentinel High has invited all 4,600 grads since it opened 30 years ago to a Friday dinner-dance at the Plaza of Na- — tions followed by a Carnival Fam- ily Day at the school Saturday. If - you qualify but have somehow © — been missed, call 922-3291 pronto . .. Meanwhile, in years past Oct. 14 seems to have been a busy, ~ busy day for the stork — which calls for happy birthday wishes today to West Van's Beth © Mathieson and Joan Greenwood, ditto to North Van Lion Tom Hutchinson and more of the same to former Socred minister Grace McCarthy. : oece WRIGHT OR WRONG: If you insist on always having the last word, one good way sometimes is to apologize. where compromise becomes im- possible. We here in this province are all art of compromise."’ Negotiation is a process whereby individual participants Viire Daniels North Vancouver Q Printed on 10% recycled SOM] newsprint North Snore managed MEMBER -—— ...Peter Speck Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 Associate Editor... . Noel Wright Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fay. 985-3227 Saies & Marketing Director Linda Stewart Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131 Gomptroller |. .Doug Foot North Shore News, tounded in 1969 as an Foe OAC 8 ONT AND WES veCOUV ER independent suburban newspaper and qualified aye oc dectricn’ | under Schedule 111, Paragraph II] of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and dist’ ‘buted to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mait Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year. Mailing tates availabie an saquest. Submissions are wetcome but we cannot accept responsibilty for unsolicited matetial including manuscripts and piciures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelone. Publisher sunDav swronetaer teeaw i : Phato submitied HIGH PROFILE North Shore ‘‘jalibirds’’ (left to right) John North Vancouver Bor" Donaldsen, Sadru Mitha (seated), Didar Karim, Bilt Sorenson, V7M 2H4 Doug Smith and Phil Keller with ‘‘judge’’ Faye Leung and “‘ayr- testing’’ cop Guishan Mitha at fast week’s Cancer Society Jaii- and-Bail fundraiser. SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved.