Dear Editor: Re: one dad, two dads, three bad books (Jan. 29 Hana Mercer column ). Ms. Mercer: Quite unfortunately, vour language and tone just can’t hide your own homophobia. So the books were lousy, big deal, the point of the books was that for some children {and I know many) having two moms (or two dads) is a reali- ty. Ina society that rarely vali- dates same-sex families, these books might just make a kid feel like they fit too. When you were reviewing Asha’s Mums you talked of the “...poster boy bigoted parents, whe pipe up and speak through their child.” Well, whe de you think was trying to ban the books to begin with, literary reviewers School Dear Editor: I see nothing wrong in equipping schools with com- puters, but in response to the Jan. 3 front page News articic “Students want books,” I note that there was no response (at least none printed in the arti- cic) by the spokesman for the Ministry of Education to the comment made by Katic Douglas that some of the school’s new computers are in storage; “there’s no room for Keep meters out of NV Dear Editor: Re: Parking meters on East 14th Street. Lagree with the merchants on {4th Street that parking ’ “meters are interfering with their businesses. I have choic- es of where I can shop and I will not pay for parking when Tam only going to be five or 10 minutes. When I boast to people from out of town or even across town about where [| grew up, I tell them that the North Shere is the best place to live, It’s cleaner, quicter, like a small town and also, we don’t have parking meters! It has always made me proud to be set apart from the rest of the city. There are end- less.reasons to live on the North Shore and the lack of ugly grey parking meters is one. They are an eyesore. Why does council think it necessary? Do they want to be the big city? As for the main reason for having meters as being a parking one, that is ridiculous. I, for one, walk most of Lonsdale as do many others. On the occasion that I do drive my car, I don’t stay more than half an hour. | think this is true of most dri- vers around Lonsdale. We live in a very beautiful part of the world. Please pre- serve the North Shore and keep it meter free. L. Rae North Vancouver horntied by the “turgid: and cumbersome” content? No, it was bigoted parents whe obvi- ously think that having two mothers is a bad thing. Your undisgurned homo: phobic rant continues: when you bring up “the birds and the bees” and the whereabouts of the man with the other nalf of Asha’s DNA. Waat if the child had been adopted? You also suggest that defin- ing oneself in terms of sexual preterence is insulting. Ina way itis, but char is the truth of life. Tam assuming vou are a heterosexual woman. Look around, it is a straight world. You don’t have to detine your- self with your sexuality because reality has been con- structed to fit you. When I fill north shore news MAIL BOX Mercer garners mixed reviews out my tax forms, PE have to state Waether or not bam mar- ried or single, Well Pm a gay woman tha monogamous 10- vear relationship. What would vou tick of P There are countess other examples of why T must cefine mise by omy sexuality: (a mortgage, getting the “cou- ples” deal at the fitness club; explaining that the ring on my ring, finger means ves Pm sort of married and then outing myself; adopting a child...). Next ume, stick with reviewing the books, nor your biases. Veo Bunderla bunter@axionet.com Dear Editor: Re: Nana Mercer’s Jan. 29 column. Congratulations on the appeinument of your new columnist, Hana Mercer. She's clear, to the point and shines fight in dark places. Her Jan. 29 piece on the same sex “par- ens” issue was a brillant expose on the way Utis: pasi- tion is propagandized. We've got wormeis’s rights, men’s rights, gay rights and lesbian rights. At last here is someone standing up tor chil- dren's rights, prime of which is the right toa mother and a father as ordained by the wis- dom of several million vears of evolution. Every child needs some- thing trom cach sey me sex “parents” (a contradiction in terms) deprives them) of that right. Curtis Rice North Vancouver curtisr@unixg.ube.ca ooks versus Computers them — so we can’t use them.” What the minister is not saying is that your tax dollars and mine are (arid always have been) squandered to a goadly degree. A case in point: A longtime friend and art teacher, now retired, taught in a Vancouver school through the years 1967- 1979. Evidently, in a room some- where in the building were a number of scaies, which in art classes were used for measuring weight of glazes, but they were also used in science classes, The scales were packed in their orig- inal wooden cases which had never been opened in his 12 years as art teacher at this school. I asked my friend at that time why the school or the school district had not returned the scales for refund. He answered that, sending them back would be out of the ques- tion since each schuol is allocat- ed a certain amount of funds yearly and if it were divulged that the scales had not been used, the school’s allotment of funds would be reduced the following year. Superintendent Robin Brayne’s comment that he couldn’t think of any reason why the students would ::9t have access to a sufficient num- ber of up-to-date textbooks is ludicrous. Seals make noises too. A good part of the reason, Mr. Brayne, is, that you, or someone, has seen to it that computers, not books, are the priority in schools. Please explain the number of computers in storage lying dormant, bought and aid | for by the likes of me, or didn’t you know, and if not why not? While you’re at it, please explain why weighing scales, pad for through our tax dol- lars, have been known to sit in their packing cases in only one school in Vancouver, unused. Pri going to do everything that I can to uncover more rea- sons why books are not readily available to school children such as Sarah Branson and Cheryl Ennis. Plt also do every- thing I can to find out whaz Berkshire investment Group Inc. is pleased to invite you and your friends to attend a special evening with one of Canada’s top performing investment managers. Larry Sarbit, Portfolio Manager, ADERES Mutual Funds *., AP AL ‘ADERES £47 N Yt § Wednesday, Feb. 10, 1999 at 7:00 pm Seymour Golf & Country Ciub Ballroom, 3273 Mount Seymour Parkway, North Vancouver, BC Please call Cathy Dixon today at (604) 924-9152 to reserve your seats else it is Pm paying for that is apparently gathering dust in the backrooms of schools, Count on it. My compliments to Sarah Branson and Cheryl Ennis. These children have long vision, an attribute in relatively short supply in some who are being payed to make decisions on our behalf. Joe Morelli North Vancouver Dear Editor: Re: Students want books, Jan. 3. Thank you for publish- ing the above article in’ the paper. We would like to clarify that this issue is not textbooks vs. computers. All three of us have excellent computer skills, and we understand that computers are a very valuable resource. We - have been harassed because people think we are against computers. All we want is enough books. Sarah Branson Katie Douglas Cheryl Ennis North Vancouver Friday, February 5, 1999 — North Shore News -9 Give us freedom with responsibility Dear Sir, Yo a “Frdend of B.C of many years standing, it is strange to read the Jan. 22 notes by your Inquiring Reporter on the Attorney General's review of provincial Liquor Laws and licens- ing classes ft is of course difficult for B.C. officials to study the experi- ences of many other jurisdictions but in today’s efforts general- Iv to roll-back the attitude of dhe “Nanny State,” it is worth reviewing how practices have changed in U.K. over recent years. There is now a general -ccognition of the dangers of drink- ing and driving and it is worth noting that deaths (and accidents generally) on the roads here are at their lowest level since well before the Second World War. The British “pub” has changed in character markedly over even 10 years because there is just not an adequate profit to be made in selling liquor on its own. Most pubs have honed their restaurant skills and the popular profitable establishment nowadays combines a welcoming aumasphere, reasonably priced good food with wine or beer as an adjunct rather than a main ingredient. This, together with more families eating out because more wives are working, has fed to a decline in “serious drinking,” a decline in drunk driving and a much more tolerant attitude. Your Hospitality Industry Coalition sounds like a relic of the Victorian Age when the statement attributed to it speaks of turning restaurants into bars and removing “a community's night to control drinking establishments.” In the fead-up to the millenium please let us get away from so many unnecessary controls — with adequate control over drinking and driving, restaurants should be allowed to have a separate area just to sell drinks, even without food if that is what adult customers want. Who loses out? U would vote for “freedom with responsibility” — thar is what we all want, surely? David E Nye Mailbox policy LETTERS to the editor must be legible (preferably typewrit- ten), brief, and include your name, full address and telephone number. Due to space constraints the North Shore News cannot pub- lish all letters. Published letters may be edited for brevity, clari- ty, accuracy, legality and taste. Submissiens can be faxed to 985- 2104 but still must be signed and fully addressed. 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