Need for program debated From page 1 notices from around the province and half'a dozen calls from local residents. He said it’s nor the intent of the motion to create curriculum. Instead, the creation of programming to elim- inate homophobia and heternsexism that the resolution calls for could mean workshops for teachers or development of lesson aids. Cowan said the BCTF has many lesson aids that are worked into teaching, including ones on issues such as culture, multiculturalism, women in history and black history. Lessons aids are aids “which you would just work into the lessons that you are doing at that time. It’s not curriculum per se and it’s not any- thing that’s mandated,” he said. “Some teachers use lesson aids — a lot of teachers don’t.” GALE, he said, proposed the res- olution because gay and Jesbian stu- dents in schools have higher suicide and drop-out rates than non-gay stu- ents. “It’s part of making the learning . environment safer and more accept- ~ ing for those kids. They have a right to that the same way you want the fi environment to be safer for a kid who's black, a kid from India or wherever.” The NVTA has proposed a resolu- tion to establish a task force to inves- . . tigate homophobia and heterosexism — the attitude in society that hetcro- sexuality is the only sexual orientation that should exist — within the B.C. public school system, said Cowan.’ The first step in the NVTA resolution _ would be to look at the problem and analyse it. Down the road, the analy- sis may or may not lead to a program, he said. North Vancouver Parent Advisory Committee. co-chairman — Franci Stratton said the committee has not discussed the issue. But:a quick canvass of some exec- utive members revealed that members believe respect and tolerance for oth- ers should be reinforced by a school’s code of conduct and problems should be addressed individually. -“I.don’t think any of us agree it should actually be a course,” she said. North Vancouver school board chairman Guy Heywood said the , board is developing a policy on per- sonal harassment. It wil cover every- one irrespective of gender, sexual ori- entation and race, “We are’ not genuflecting to-any particular trend but dealing with the timeless rights of individuals,” said Heywood. He added that the min- istry and school boards develop cur- riculum, not the BCTF. “Irs entirely appropriate the BCTF pursue this kind of profession- al development activity, but it has nothing to do with the curriculum,” he said. | } Morth Shore News, founded in 1969 as an inde- H pendent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 131, Paragraph 11 of the Excise Tas Art, f is published each Wednesday, Fnday and Sunday by H North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every ] door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian H Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates avaitable omrequest. ee oe 3 Atwo-rink, $6-million ice com touted In ber as a means piex Septem to bring native and communities together by Burrard Band Chief Leonard George appears to have been sheived. Jude Friday, March 14, 1997 — North Shore News — 3 NV District to seek private sector builder From pagel Meanwhile, commission staff have begun applying to district council for 2 rezoning of Jand near the entrance of a proposed Maplewood industrial park, said Young. At the same dme, the commission is cobbling together a call for expressions of interest from the private sector. Young, said the commission will go to the private sector with the same necds it had when the agreement was signed with the Burrard Band: 2,000 hours of rink rental time. That is approximately the ice time available from one rink for a whole year. In addition, adult ice users have indicated they would like a further 2,000 hours of rental time, said Young. But the number of rinks a private developer would build is the builder's business decision, said Young. The rezoning process, choosing a private-sector builder and rink con- struction could take a minimum of 18 months, said Young. That means the rinks won’t be ready in time for the 1997-98 hockey season and the com- mission will aim for a September 1998 opening. - Young hockey players and ice-rink users will have to continue to drive to Burnaby and other locations to play this September. Dan Morrison, the past-president of the North Vancouver Minor Hockey. Association, said more than 500 local youngsters continuc to sit on waiting lists to play Canada’s traditional sport because there is not enough rink space on the North Shore. : . Morrison said he’s frustrated by yet another delay in having rinks built in North Vancouver after cight years ofe effort. He’s not holding his breath wait- ing for the privately-funded rinks to open in September 1998.: : “Pm a little cynical. I’ve been told three years in a row now we will have it by next September. When they break ground and I see a structure going up Pll believe it will be ready.” : He said countless hours budgeting and planning based on promises rinks would be built have been wasted, he said. In addition, Morrison is part of a group trying to obrain a Junior B hockey fanchise for the North Shore. New. facilities are needed before a team can be launched, he said. | : “A ton of work went into trying to secure a franchise and now that’s down _- the tube,” he said. ; When the deal between the band and the recreation commission was: announced in September 1996, Burrard Chief Leonard George ho rinks would help bring the native and non-native communities tog, provide employment for natives. Young, extolled the benefits of the public getting rinks without having to - pay the capital costs of development. : : George did not return recent News calls. er and» e fines drunk driver putting them at risk.” dithe By Anna Marie D’Angelo News Reporter HAROLD John Storjic had two drunk driving convictions under bis belt when he was stopped last December with a .21 blood-alcohol reading near the lower Capilano area. . Storjie, 34, of North Vancouver, pleaded guilty on Monday to having a blood-alcohol reading greater than .08. : West Vancouver provincial court Judge Reginald Grandison fined him $2,000. Storjie, a part-time sign company employee, had previously received jail sentences for two drinking and driving convictions as an adult: a 30-day jail sen- tence in 1987 and a 16-day jail sentence in 1984. Said Grandison before handing out the fine, “The difficulty in sending people to jail these days is that corrections people bend over backwards to release people.” Storjie’s lawyer Deirdre Pothecary said the night before her client was pulled over by the police, Storjie drank two bottles of wine, four cans of beers and five drinks of Grand Marnier at his parents’ home. He had two “pints” of beer at Jake & Elwood’s sports bar in Park Royal’s south mall on the afternoon he was stopped by West Vancouver Police, According to Crown lawyer Dan Mulligan, Storjie was seen weaving, on the road behind Park Royal shopping centre’s south mall at 6 p.m. on Dec. 7, 1996. The Crown lawyer said Storjie drove off the road onto gravel and then touched the centre line several times while weaving. Mulligan said empty beer bottles and cans were found in the car. But Storjic denied thar he had had anything to drink on the day he was stopped by the police, according to the Crown, Breathalyser samples taken a short time later indicated that Storjie had blood-alcohol read- ings of .21 and .22, more than wvice the legal limi. Grandison speculated that Storjie “to use the vernacular was drunk without comprehension” in order to have such a high blood alcoho! the next afternoon after a night of drinking. Said’ Mulligan, “He stiil hasn’s gotten the mes- sage that drinking and driving is siinply not accept- able in this community.... People are entided to go to a shopping mall-and feel other people are not “The difficulty in sending people to jail these days is that cor- rections people bend over backwards to release people.” Vancouver dudge Reginald Grandison Pothecary said Storjie’s car was being repaired and he was driving his mechanics’ car, which hada problem with steering. “The effect is that the car wandered,” said Pothecary. : She said her client had very | little co drink that day and was not aware that after recovering from excessive drinking, he could still have a high blood- alcohot reading with physical symptoms not “as noticeable” to him. : “He was very surprised at ’ the reading,” said Pothecary. Pothecary said Storjie’s parents, who used to own a vineyard, had a wadition of drinking large amounts of alcoho! at family gatherings. Storjie, himself, told the judge that he had had a good night’s sleep the previous night and felr fine that day while doing some Christmas shopping. : Said Grandison, “ You should give up drinking | - altogether. You don’t know how to handle it....”- “I didn’t purposely .:.,” said Storjie. am Interrupted Grandison, “That’s what. happens with drunks. They don’t purposely do anything.” previncial court District seeks joint amalgamation study By Martin Millerchip Contributing Writer A cost/benefit analysis of amalgamation between the two North Vancouver municipalities is likely to happen one way or another this year. North Vancouver District will invite its city counterpart to participate in a provincially-funded joint study, but, if rejected, have already asked staffto report on amalgamation’s costs, terms of reference and the name of an independent consultant. . The district move came Monday night as an alternative to the creation of a unilaterally appointed “North Shore Citizens’ Task Force on amalgamation” as suggested by Coun. Ernie Crist. . ‘The two councils met Jan. 30 to debate a jointly-appointed task force. Mayor Don Bell says city Mayor Jack Loucks and his council “made it abun- dantly and emphatically clear that they had no interes: in considering amalga- mation or in being part of any study or task force to review the the possible pros and cons of amalgamation.” Loucks wrote to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on Dec. 17, 1996, regarding amalgamation. The minister was changed during a cabinet shuffle but Michael Farnworth replied on Jan. 29, 1997. In his reply Farnworth says: “I would encourage both councils to discuss the idea of an amalgamatio. study ...” and indicates that ministry staff and funding would be available to assist such a studys Farnworth further states that any amalgamation “could only take place on the basis of an approved vote within both municipalities” and that “such a vote would only be held if agreed to by both councils.” . Farnworth concludes chat amalgamation may not be the only way to achieve the objectives of efficiency and cost-effectiveness and suggests inter-municipal agreements on specific issues also have potential. But Crist repeated Monday that shared services fike the Recreation Commission, the RCMP and the Arts Commission have become part of the problem, not the solution. . “They are inefficient because they have to answer to two bosses and past studies have not addressed this issue. These are serious times; we’ are talking about big money here,” said Crist.