Doug Collins MY DICTIONARY gives eight definitions of the word ® gel this straight © ‘tmonster,"* but the one that matters for now reads: ‘A person who excites horror by wickedness, cruelty, ctc.,"’ and though I am free with words myself I would not risk using ‘‘monster’’ to describe a person unless | had some | real goods on him. If I did | would expect to be sued, and | would expect to lose. | So J was astounded at the jury's verdict in the fibel action brought against Gary Bannerman by lawyer Doug Christie. Bannerman had described Christie this way: “Doug Christie has aligned himself so many times with these perverted monsters (James Keegstra and Ernst Zundel) that he has to be viewed as one himself, in my view." “En the UK, for Cripe’s sake, an actress was awarded $25,000 after a TV 1 commentator said she had a big bum. It was claimed that the statement was damaging to the ‘ actress’s “employment prospects.’’ | .. The jury found that zithough Christie had been defamed, the | words were ‘fair commient’’ and had been used without malice. Weird. For if-words mean what I words say, Christie may now safe- f ly be seen as one ‘‘who excites -ho:ror by wickedness and cruelty, etc.’’ So,. for that matter, may § anyone else who operates in con- j troversy. And it also seems to be OK to add the word ‘‘perverted.”” f Perverted) monsters are not unknown, of ‘course.’ Hitler was ons. So was Stalin. So is Clifford | Olson, But by any definition Mr. Christie is not,-and if I had been before'a jury on this one I would § not have expected to come out of _court smiling. -°" “Nor would I have expected to i get away with it for having sug- i gested that. Christie was only a monster like Keegstra or Zundel. | For they are not monsters either, f even though some would claim, that their views are monstrous. It is one thing to describe a per- son's views as monstrous but 1 quite another to say that that per- son is a monster, And still another f to say he is a perverted monster. You have to be suffering from “alexia (word-blindness) to believe ' that the expression — perverted monster is not libellous, Unless, of course, you can show that a man kills little kids or something. It's not that | favor tough libel laws, you understand. They can be abused. Politicians use them during elections to silence the media and the opposition. Wealthy men (or union leaders whose members pay the shot) use them to silence their critics. L would be happy if libel actions could be brought only if one per- son has wrongfully called another a thief, « killer, a wife-beater or a brewer of poisonous booze. We have the libel laws to thank for much truth being concealed. In the U K, for Cripe’s sake, an actress was awarded $25,000 after a TV commentator said she had a big bum. It was claimed that the statement was damaging to the ac- tress’s employment prospects. No, what I am concerned about in the Bannerman-Christie case is the difference between this verdict and others. Premier Bill Bennett got $10,000 from Dave Stupich § because the NDPer had said that Bill had had a drink or two in the legislature. Bennett said claims upset his old Mum. Recently, a Tory candidate who failed to be elected in the 1984 election was awarded $400,000 because B'nai B'rith alleged she had made anti-Semitic statements. Are these things worse than linking a professional guy with “perverted monsters’? and sug- gesting that he too is one? Does § the Bar Association condone the presence of such in its ranks? Much was made of Christie’s sympathy with Zundel’s and Keegstra’s views on Holocaust; also of Christie’s hav- * ing stayed with Zundel during the | , latter’s tial for ‘‘spreading false news."” There is no law preventing lawyers from staying with their j clients. And if Christie agrees with Zundel that reports of the Holocaust are overblown, so what? The thought-control law under which Zundel has been hounded should be wiped off the books. Something else: if Christie can be called a perverted monster for having defended alleged perverted monsters, is it now OK for lawyers who defend murderers § and bdelieve in their innocence to be called murderers? “| support the jury system. Juries can protect us against wonky judges. But they are more } impressionable than judges and more easily swayed by emotional arguments. 7 Catheart. Office Furniture ae & Stationery 1887 Capilano ° 984-DESK * (8375) Chair-man such | the | Jim Cathcart § 9 = Wednesday, January 13, 1988 - North Shore News Squamish Hwy. closures continue TEMPORARY road closures to accommodate road work along the Squamish Highway are back in ef- fect following a bricf respite over Christmas. The new schedule, which started Monday, means drivers will be faced with three to six-minute closures after 8:30 a.m, Monday to Friday and full closures from ft} a.m, to 11:30 a.m. for blasting work. Single lane, alternating traffic will be allowed during closures. Advanced warning of longer closures every one or two days a month will be issued by the high- ways department. icons DRAPE: BLINDS REUPHOLSTERY PARK & FLY } $450. day 8311 Sea Island Way, Richmond BC (next to Segal Furniture) Express Shuttle — 24 hrs., 7 days 500 CAI Bonus Points for 3 days parking 278-8311 AIRPORT PARKING DAN INTERIORS 922-1181 | Drop by and browse thru 100s of designs by SANDER- SON, Robert Alien, Westgate and more! ALL WORKMANSHIP AND MATERIALS GUARANTEED 926-8819 1441 CLYDE AVE., W.VAN. Park Royal South The “green thumbs” have been at work around here And our’: plants are getting BIGGER and healthier all the time We need to clear space for new plant stock. So it’s GREEN THUMB PLANT SALE time Shop now for the best selection of. . 12” potted green plants reg. 29.95 . Specie Plus if you buy a Cameo pot with your plant, Soil & repotting is PReEe Hurry, offer ends Jan. 31 for quality, selection and service 1821 Marine Dr, West Vancouver 922-4171 922-3968 cri lee ae wid, 9 a og aia tela A Mathes GV SA