EXTORTION, ASSAULT, THEFT... WHAT ARE. /74"8 YOU IN FOR?.... ~ STANDING iN THE MIDDLE OF A | acy \ _—- LOGGING ROAD. Safe». 7 NEWS VIEWPOINT Tapping JEST VANCOUVER District _ Council has issued last call at the i 8 9 municipality’s water party. .. Aware of. the increasing’ demands being placed on local water supplies by a growing ' Lower Mainland population, council in- \, trodticed a bylaw July 12 that. represents ithe first step toward metering fresh water “delivery to all West. Vancouver homes. But many questions. need answers before West Vancouver should take what sounds like a positive enviro-step.. : For. .exampie, ‘the estimated cost — for . meter installation slone could be as much “as. $6 million in- West. Vancouver. That gost, which would be borne primarily by “Yesidents, does. not cover the annual costs -of monitoring the system. Under the proposed plan, ail existing _hemes over. 29 years old undergoing ? NEWS JOTES OF renovations worth sore than $50,000 and all new homes woukd be obliged to have meters installed. Meters would. be installed on other houses graduzily —'so gradually that it would take a good part of the next century before all West \'ancouver homes would be on the metering system. ; A rough estimate of what water meters could optimistically save households in water usage costs is around 2645. But 20%. of annual water usage’ charges: that cur- rently run around $150 docs not represent a real incentive for people te cortiserve water, which is the object of the wnole ex- ercise. ih: : A system of metering ;municipai water ‘would make conservation pay. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will pay enough to make it worthwhile for anyone. a THE WEEK “It’s an affront to democracy. ‘With no end in sight to the. cur- . , Fent. session, late-night sittings huve become the order of the day. “The government seems intent on perfecting the practice of legisla- _ tion by exhaustion.” .WV MLA David Mitchell — introducing a bill to force the B.C. legislature to adopt a regular schedule — on the large number of bills being rammed through the legislature by the NDP govern- ment late in the current sitting. (From a July 23 News story.) “There were incidents of pickets . Spitting on passengers’ cars, which is totally uncalled for. That is not Publisher . Associate Editor. . . ... i Peter Speck Managing Editor... Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright typical of our union people. There were a couple of rowdies.”” . BC Rail spokesman Barrie Wall, © on. some unsavory aspects of the strike that has paralysed the North Vancouver-based company’s rail operations. (From a July 21 News story.) “‘Whenever they are ready to come to the table, sco are we. The ball is in their park.’ Council of Trade Unions vice-chairman Clyde Mulhall, on the BC Rail strike and contract negotiations. (From a July 21 News story.) “If 1 have a mission in life, it is to tell mothers to be with their Display Advertising 980-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Classilied Advertising 996-6222 Fax Distribution Subscriptions 986-1337 children, at least for the first two years of life.” Renate Griffiths, a West Van- couver. handwriting expert and counsellor, on parenting. (From a July 25 News feature story.) “We can't even store our bicycles for the new bicycle patrol unit. We have to store them at the (North Vancouver City) fireball. The firehall isn’t even a firehall anymore. It’s become a meeting place for the police.” . North Vancouver City ad- ministrator Gerry Brewer, on the need for a new RCMP building in North Vancouver. (From a July 23 News story.) 986.1337 Fae This newspaper 985.3227 & contains Salas & Marketing Director Linda Stewart Comptroller ..... ....Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph Ill of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we Cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including menuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, self- addressed envelope.‘ Newsroom V7M 2H4° 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, ~~ North Vancouver, B.C. Administration 995-2131 Prd * recycled fibre 985-2131 AS North Shore manage cla SDA DIVISION 61,542 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday} Entire contents © 1993 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All tights reserved. , BEING A roving columnist leads one down some Gimly lit . alleys at times, but somebody has to explore them. If to- day’s musings ruffie any feathers, my humble excuse is: “Just asking...’’ Last month West Van council approved payment of $213,047 — about $15 per taxpaying house- hold — to some 50 charities and good causes. The grants ranged from $250 for the B.C. Society of Human/ Animal Interaction (whatever exactly that is) to $48,800 for the North Shore Arts Commission. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not picking on West Van council, but simply using its figures as an ex- - ample. Every municipal council and senior government in Canada hands out the same kind of lolly. Moreover, the local recipients are mostly beyond reproach — a representative cross-section in- cluding North Shore Adult Day Care, North Shore Community Services, Meals on Wheels, North Shore Family Services, West Van Chamber of Commerce, North Van Youth Band, etc. Nevertheless, in these hard times — with every level of government under the gun to cut spending and ease the tax burden — one is at least tempted to ponder the _ thinking behind such handouts. True, we’re only talking here . about less than 1% of West Van's budget. But at the top end of the scale Ottawa plunges Canada ever ° deeper into debt by borrowing millions to lavish on‘radical fems, basket-case businesses and art . . gallery insults to our intelligence. By definition, all such reci- pients, worthy or not, are special interest groups. Almost all of | | them get direct donations from private donors for whom their ac- tivities are especially important. So why can’t such groups be funded SOLELY by the people they claim to serve? And if not enough of the fatter are willing to ante up, is there a valid reason for a group to exist at all? Why must the great majority of citizens with no interest whatsoever in it be forced to subsidize it through taxes? And even were this justified, what about th inevitable loss when money is funneiled from one party to another through a bureaucracy? Why does council assume that either it or its community services advisory commission knows better than the citizens what these latter must support with their tax dollars? Is the answer as simple as yotes? Do even small special- “HITHER AND, YON... interest groups —- through : beneficiaries, members, their fam. ilies and friends — become con- ' * stituents no candidate dares to ig- nore on election day? ; Or have we overlooked some . profound moral PRINCIPLE that explains why the taxman nowa- - ’ days does so much of our “donating” for us? : “ As mentioned earlier: ‘Just © asking...” TAILPIECES: It’s still 10 months ahead but none to soon to start planning a veterans’ cruise aboard the Queen Elizabeth IIto the ... beaches of Normandy for the 50th‘... anniversary of D-Day. Prices for ... the nine-day. trip start at $3,949 and the toll-free number for full info is 1-800-268-DDAY.... -.. Camp Caledonia, the Deep Cove... Day Camp, offers activities, arts, crafts and something called Wacky Wednesday Outings for six- to, 12-year-olds — call Arfeta, 929- 7981, for details. ... And the latest. attack on the NDP’s infamous gag, law, Bill 33, comes hardly sur- ~. prisingly from that bastion of free speech, West Van Legion Branch 69 — they’ve passed a resolution roundly condemning the Victoria’s action and are rarin’. to go." | head-to-head with Mikey on the |. issue. - . ey ee WRIGHT OR WRONG: It isn’t what you know that counts, it’s what you think of in time. - UO -WEWS photo Cindy Goodman THE SUMMER arts and crafts program for youngsters at the Deep .. Cove Cultural Centre engrosses Cascy Minaker. (left) and Alex Peters.