QotGAN, Neust fi, PYR7 North Shore News THE VOICE UF NORTH AND WAST VANCOUVIK Publisher: Edilor-in-Chiel Managing Editor Advertising Director 980-0511 Pater Speck 986 6222 GAH 2134 986.1337 986-1337 Display Advertising Classilied Advertraing Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions Math Shute Haws, Tice! Veragiat Barrett Fioner tirda Steveart moe Hf A Gj a Hs 3 i [ aUrOAyY © WEDNESDAY) FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Ave. a North Vancouver, CC. V7M 2H4 S SUMMER toaperatures heat up, so do the tempers of drivers on local roads. But despite bot temperatures and subsequent: ly kot tempers, local drivers need to keep cool and not respond ino a manner akin to these who hase been recently travelling along omurderousty clogged und cramped Los Angeles-area highways, where a spate of highway shootings has taken place, The automotive meeting of machine against machine transforms drivers into curious creatures. Small in- ( Entire 1gR7 contents North Shere > Press Lid All SH ABQ ret tie | JUST WHACKED THE MINISTER OF TOURISM?.. “THOUGHT HE WAS JUST ANOHER PANHANDLER fractions of the most insipnificant nature can dra i staccato horn fire from rush hour-trapped omtorists venting their frustrations. Traffic light confrontations in’ the best of comic traditions are being played out on local roads with ina- creasing frequency. Complete with red faces and arms akimbo, the players perform a ritual of agpression akin to boxers circling in the ring. It is only a matter of time before someone gets hurt locally in this traffic mayhem. The behind-the-wheel antics of obscene gestures, sereamed abuse and threatened violence are the first steps to injury-causing blow-by-blow confrontations. In the rat-race land of congested thoroughfares, emotions run high. Even fer rational people, automotive angst associated with rush bour is consid- erable. Drivers who are hot under the collar need a sease of humor lest unkind words, fists or bullets start flying. The place for anger is not in cars on public road- ways. Keeping the Driving Demon — the monster that sometimes comes oul when most of us get behind the wheel — locked in the trunk will mean safer, vio- lence-free travels for all. Weed war fears are needless, says BCR Noel Wright ® friday focus ® THE HERBICIDE WAR against vironmental Protection Agency. contamination by focomotive brainble bushes along BC Rail's West Van right-of-way has quite a number of trackside neighbors in a lather. Barrie Wall, the company’s corporate information manager wants to calm their fears with the facts as BC Rail knows them. In a letter that will go to any concerned resident he makes four main points. Firstly, the herbicide being used is less toxic than many used by homeowners in their own gardens, Secondly, it is NOT being “sprayed’’. Thirdly, blackberries along the right-of-way itself, and therefore on private property, are unfit to pick for a quite different reason. And finally, BC Rail didn't initiate the herbicide opera- tion anyhow, It was the West Van Fire Department, says Warrie, which asked the company to remove the undergrowth because it poses a fire hazard and, if left to flourish, could hinder access to fire hydrants and nearby properties in an emergency. Apparently the herbicide itself — Roundup or glyphosate — is approved by the federal and B.C. governments and the U.S. En- BARRIE WALL ...n0 spraying On a dosage basis, Barrie clainis, it’s less poisonous than niany of the brand-name weedkillers that West Van gardeners cheerfully buy by the gallon at local stores. He cites a 1982 study in Environmen- tal International Magazine which concluded that even i bee would have to consume three to four ounces of the stuff for it ta be fatal. Reports that the Roundup will be ‘‘sprayed’’ are totally incorrect, according to Barrie. The plan, he explains, is to first remove as much undergrowth as possible mechanically, Bul that alone is seldom effective, since brambles — as everyone knows — tend to grow again still more prolifically as soon as they've been cut. So individual remaining stalks will then have Roundup applied to them at point-blank range by employees using ‘‘drip’’ nozzles — NOT spray guns, Those who pick blackberries growing along the right-of-way, Barrie gently reminds us, are tres- Passers On private property and in danger from passing trains. Moreover, he warns, it's likely that ce CHIEF BOB BROLLY ...mending furmes makes such berries already unfit to cat. Personally, | hate and fear all weedkillers, But unless you can shoot down the facts quoted by Harrie, his comments make reassuring sense. BC Rail is at Ieast entitled to put them on record — to be challenged by anyane who knows (or claims to know) better. see READYING FOR) BATTLE (though this was never men.ioned) against the new shopping plaza taking shape on Caulfeiid Plateau, the Dundarave Business Associa- tion scored a major public reta- tions success last Friday. The oc- casion was its 75th Anniversary Family Hoe-Down along the 2400 block Marine ~—- with outdoor rood, entertainment, a country and western band, street dancing and a wine and beer garden enjoyed by more than 2,500 local residents. Jubilant association president Gordon Clark has meanwhile in- dicated plans for a $600,000 Dun- darave revitalization program dur- ing the coming Tall. And he’s an- nounced that a repeat party — making the Dundarave Hoe-Down into an annual event — is already being planned for next summer. “The Dundarave Business Association,’’ he says, ‘‘looks forward to continue serving an important segment of our com- munity and feels that an annual party is an ideal way to thank those people who suppurt our business throughout the year.”’ The gauntlet is down, Dun- darave merchants aren’t about to toll over and die when Safeway opens on the Plateau. POSTSCRIPTS: A well-known local Liberal fundraiser says polit- ical parties should qualify as “educational charities’? for gov- ernment lottery grants. [t's vital to educate people in democracy, he argues, and who can do that better than the political parties themselves? Nice try! ... Get-well- soon cards to West Van Police Chief Bob Brolly, hit by a critical aorta aneurism one week ago and still in intensive care at LGH, Last reports were of continuing prog- ress in his recovery from surgery And anniversary greetings tomorrow (August 22) to North Van's Carl and Carolyn Busby, one WRIGHT OR WRONG: How would you like to have your errors counted and published every day — like a baseball player? “JAMAICA, HERE WE COME!" .. photo submitted .North Van's Mr. and Mrs. Randy Heath leaving Miami on a recent Caribbean cruise aboard the cruise ship Holiday.