6+ Wednesday, July 10, 1985 - North Shore News Editorial Page News Viewpoint Needed debate Ss a prime minister supposedly dedi- cated to both ‘‘consensus’’ and per- sonal popularity, Brian Mulroney’s approach io capital punishment is hard to follow. Renewed calls for a Commons debate on the death penalty following last week’s murder of two more police officers in Quebec have again been rejected by the PM on the grounds that MPs should not discuss the subject in an ‘‘emotionally charged’’ atmosphere. With due respect to Mr. Mulroney’s own opposition to the noose, he is blatantly sidestepping the real issue. As with abortion, any public discussion of capital punishment will always be ‘‘emo- tionally charged’’. But this latest incident in the growing toll of police officers killed on duty, to say nothing of the mounting wave of terrorist acts inflicting injury and death - on innocent peopie, makes such a debate highly relevant at this time. Polls have consistently indicated that a large majority of Canadians favor the resto- ration of the death penalty for the slaying of police officers and prison guards, Whether or not the polls are accurate, they suggest at very Jeast that it’s the plain duty of Parlia- ment to thrash the matter out one way or another -- without further delay and on the © -basis of 2 free vote. The protection of innocent citizens is gov- ernment’s first obligation. Whatever the arguments for and against hanging cold- blooded murderers of those who carry out that protection, it’s an issue on which Cana- dians as 2 whole, through their elected rep- resentatives, have an undeniable right to be heard. A bit mixed up! here’s nothing wrong with Garde Gar- dom’s idea for abolishing legal aid in drunk driving and drug trafficking of- fences. The shrieks of protest from civil liber- ties types arise simply because B.C.’s inter- governmental affairs minister got things a bit mixed up. You give them legal aid, Garde, - simply because in our system (remember?) everyone’s innocent until convicted. Then, when that happens, you have the judge add a fine to cover their legal aid costs — or double jail time in default! Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 966-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Circulation 986-1337 Subscriptions 985-2131 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Publisher Peter Speck General Manager Roger McAlee Operations Manager Berni Hilliard Marketing Diractor Advertising Director - Salas Bob Graham Dave Jenneson Circulation Director Advertising Director - Admin. Bill McGown Mike Goodselt Production Director Editor-in-Chief Chris Johnson Noel Wright Photography Manager Classified Manager Terry Peters Val Stephenson newspaper and qualified under Schedule t!, Part til, Paragraph lil of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid. and disinbuted to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 Entire contents © 1985 North Shore Free Press Ltd. Ail rights reserved. Subscriptions, North and West Vancouver. $25 per year Mailing rates avanaple on reauest. No esponsibility accepted for unsolicted malenal inciuding manuscnupts and pictures hich should be accompanies by a stamped, addressed envelope. Member of the B.C. Press Council a 56,245 (average. Wednesday . SUA ONISION Fuday & Sunday) sx 0G THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE WE RE INDEXED NOT A MOMENT T00 SOON MICHAEL, THE PENSIONERS WERE STARTING TD SHOW THEIR TEEN... LORDS OF 100 MILE HOUSE - PART 2 The Emissary art o subtly influence life in the Cariboo com- munity of 100 Mile House to a degree that’s quite out of proportion to their numbers. The village itself has a The concept taught by Ts EMISSARIES OF DIVINE LIGHT f living workaday equivalent of good old-fashioned Chris- tianity. *_ « #£ Some three out of four Emissaries share communal accommodation, but the. set- population of over 2,000 but serves at least double that figure when scattered sur- rounding settlements are in- cluded. Yet at any given time the active Emissaries usually total less than 200. To understand the nature of their influence you have to understand their basic philosophy -- and also the numerous things that the Emissaries are NOT. They deny, for example, being a religion, sect or cult in any normal! sense of those terms. They’re very definite- ly not a political group. And they’re not even an entirely permanent body, since members are free to come and go at will, and for perfectly acceptable reasons often include a number of transients. their spiritual leader Martin Cecil (now Lord Exeter) is inherited from Lloyd Meeker, the original founder of the movement in Col- orado. It sees the catire uni- verse as a “‘living force” called God with a master design for its every compo- nent -- from the farthest galaxies to mankind itself and down to the last grain of sand on Planet Earth. The basic creed of the Emissaries is that no single detail of that master design can be changed. The problem with many humans, however, is that they do try to change the master design for their own selfish ends. Since God doesn’t permit this, they wind up by self-destructing, spiritually as well physically. up is very different from many typical North American communes. They occupy what is, in effect, an estate of small, pleasant “townhouses” around the built by his lordship back in the 1930s. The Lodge itself -- with its big vegetable garden, tennis court, swimming pool and other recreational amenities -- is the focus of communal activities and members of ‘the family’’, as Lord Burghley calls them, routine- ly come together there for their main meals. The building also serves as an administrative headquarters “If you have trouble, and information centre. YOU are the trouble” is one Visitors of ali kinds, some way the Emissaries put it. simply curious to learn more by Noel Wright zg celebrated 100 Mile Lodge . North Shsre News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban a The only lasting joy lies in about the group, drop by understanding and working to fulfil the master design instead. of pointlessly fighting it; in concentrating on being ‘‘what you are, where you are’. That’s the nub of the message. Its details have been developed into a com- prehensive program for ‘‘the art of living’, Emissary style, in several books. by Lord Exeter and his son, Lofu Burghley. It is claso,ated in weekly lectures aud in regular seminars for adherents. Despite the proclaimed absence of formal links with established religion, the Bi- ble is freely quoted. Jesus is acknowledged as an_ ideal role model, The Sunday fec- tures take place in the group’s ‘chapel’. For the outside observer it's difficult to escape the impression that the Emissary philosophy boils down, for all practical purposes, to a freely and are warmly wel- comed. At the same time, estate dwellers based on the Lodge are allowed reasonable per- sonal privacy. Marriage and nuclear family life are en- couraged. And so, also, is a full involvement in the out- side world. Children attend the ordi- nary public schools. About half the adults work at regu- lar jobs in town. The Lodge orchestra and choir period- ically entertain local residents. And members of the group have extensive business interests in the community -- of which more later. “Family’’ and ‘‘involve- ment"’ are probably the two key words that explain the remarkable role of the Emissaries in the everyday life of the 100 Mile House area. Next week we'll exam- ine more closely the exact nature of that role.