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A6- ‘Sunday, December 12, 1982 - North Shore News

ME editorial page.

Archaic taxes

North Shore businesses battered by ex-
cessive property tax increases during the past
year should not rely too heavily upon the
variable mill rate to bring: them future relief.

Provincial legislation enabling
municipalities to set their own different mill

- rates for residential and com-
mercial/industrial property has been
promised .in time for the.June 1983 tax bills.
It will be some improvement. on the rigid tax

“options” which municipalities have hitherto
been. forced:.to select five months before
finalizing. their budgets. In theory, variable
mill rates will ‘allow each municipality to

fine- gne the relative impact of its tax burden

ji an two basic problems will
me financial and the other political.

hes arial

emi ev: AW) ppViIoUS

services for’ ‘all concerned. Secendiy | it will.
not change the fact that homeowners wield a
much bigger clout at election times than
merchants and p plant: operators. Moreover, it

“under the new. ‘system will- ‘apply, equally to
ALL commercial/industrial - property,
whether a large manufacturing operation or
a small: mom-and-pop store.

Ultimately, ‘the ‘only. fair solution is to

_aholish altogether-the archaic property tax
concept and:raise municipal taxes, like all
others, according to ability to pay — a
principle that can never be reflected by
shifting real estate values.

Harry’ s legacy

It’s tempting to. balance the triumphs of
North Van's ‘Je

failures — his three w rid ‘track records vs.
the three disappointing. Olympiads which
finally brought him only a: single bronze. But
Harry's most lasting legacy.to Canada came
in- retirement -~—-the-hundreds_of-admiring
youngsters to whom he devoted his time,
teaching, coaching and inspiring them to

produce new Jeromes for Olympiads yet to
come,

Ld

ry _
Yoel VOICE OF MONTH AND WHAT VANCOUVER

sunday

north shore
news

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North Shore News, founded m 1969 as an independent community
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PROVOCATIVE ‘moral

. issues affect our everyday

lives — from the attempt of
the Moral Majority to
legislate morality and the
fanaticism of the Ayatollah
Khomeini to the explosive
Arab-Israeli situation.

We see them in the

evolution - versus --creation
debate in the schools, the
proliferation of religious
cults and Biblical prophecies
of Armageddon. -
Addressing the 1982
Canadian School trustees
annual meeting in Winnipeg,
University of . Calgary
education professor Ralph
Miller told about 700

delegates that our society
_needs.a_ sense of g:

sin.

“When people are urged
to do whatever feels good
simultaneously with being
encouraged to dismiss all
feelings of guilt, there are no
limits on behaviour,” said
Miller.

He.called_for a. return.to
moral traditions.

“To speak in very
traditional terms, we need to
develop in individuals a
sense of sin.”

Today, Western man, by
and large, ignores meral
codes, spirituality, and ideas
of transcendent absolutes.

Technology has become
the new religion.

Unfortunately, the
prevailing amoral
humanism, although
responsible for social

VIDEO ARCADES may or
not be your favorite thing,
but the tough new
regulations for such
establishments, now being
brought in by North Van City
council, spell personal
disaster for probably the best
North Shore operator in the
business.

Pat Riccardi and his wife
have sunk their savings into
their Right-On-Submarine
arcade at 225 Lonsdale
which has an_ enviably
trouble-free reputation
thanks to Pat's _ strict
disciplining of his youthful
customers,

R-O-S has 28 video game
machines and the licence
fees for them will jump from
$492 to $2,000 — a 400 per
cent increase — under the
new City rules. Pat = says
there’s no way they can stay
in business with that cxtra
load. Nor can they sell the
operation. The new rules
permit a maximum of only
cight machines in any one
business. So R-O-S_ will
become non-conforming.
which means its licences will
be non-transferable and
nobody else will be able to
take them over.

Meanwhile, Pat says
they're locked into a lease
for the premises that could
cost them thousands more
when they're forced to quit.

The new City regulations

reforms and _ scientific
progress, has led us to the
brink of extinction. .

The humanist’s trust in
science and man’s reason
amounts to a blind faith no
less unreasonable than a
religious zealot's faith in
God and the Messiah.

After. all, we’ are not
perfectly programmed
robots,. but fallible human
animals, frequently in the
grip: of fear, greed, envy, and
lust for power.

Furthermore, removing
God from everyday life has
largely freed: us from
responsiblility for our
misconduct. The result has
been a meteoric rise in the
crime rate.

Obviously, the cure for

by Noel Wright

aim to crb the vandalism

associated with some
youthful video game
patrons. Pat insists that the
bad kids simply aren't
allowed in’ R-O-S. Never-
theless, the circuits are being
switched in the middle of the
game. The City will have yet
another closed store
premises. Pat's “good “kids”
will be seeking their kicks
out on the street. And the
Riccardis will lose
everything. One can't help
wondering whether that's
what the bylaw drafters
really had in mind ...

i e ®

For the 22nd year the
Carol Ships sail again next
weckend — on Friday (Dec.
17) along the Kitsilano-West
Point Grey coastline, on
Saturday through the inner
harbour to Deep Cove, and
on Sunday © skirting the
shores of West Van. Watch
for the colorful, melodious
parade from 7 p.m. onwards
on the appropriate cvening

. Closer to home in North
Van there's Mile and Margie
Goodman's sixth annual
series of Indian Arm Carol
Cruises from Deep Cove on
Dec. 21, 22, 24, 25 and 26. If
you'd like to be aboard for
the fun, call Jordan Welsh
evenings at 929-1647.

_all religions i is: ‘essentially the

sea, as the winds ‘whip his

boat and waves crash around
of right and wrong... —. . Aim, is transformed into -a
A’ code.of ethics and’ ‘téligious disciple, begging
morality.~*. for “divine intercession to
The-key.to a new mode of save hislife.
conduct is the moral Fear brings about a
foundation that - all suddenconversion. ~
traditional ‘religions have in Similar invocations of the
common. Apart--from’ Deity occur when “the spirit

moves” the non-believer
overtaken by anger, relief,
sorrow, pity, surprise, and
love. ,

Thus, it is when we ‘are
-most intensely alive’ that we
often come to believe in the.
existence of God.

Only when the intensity of
the moment. passes and our
heightened consciousness is,.
as Shakespeare ‘described it,

“sicklied o'er with the pale
cast of thought”, do we

superficial. trappings, ~the
code of ethics embodied in

same.
Besides,

people of ‘widely
disparate -

-gultures © and

believin, :
perience emotions - in - the -_
same-way. ©

For: example, a hedonistic
yachtsman, devoted to
nothing but the pursuit of

pleasure, adrift on a stormy

Our. intellect persuades us
that belief in a Divine Being
is meré superstition.

However, the faculty that
is closest to the essence of

ao
S

3 life .is...dormant in most
38 people. Like unused
8 muscles, it must be

“That faculty of wisdom,
apart from knowing about
things intellectually, is in-

” “taition.

It is the moment of syn-
thesis, of creative power,
when- the thinker -cries
“Eureka!”

It is the light bulb turning
on in the mind.

(Lawrence Chanin is a
philosophy graduate of
McGill University and -a
Vancouver freelance
writer.)

+ presently a “top” academic
student at Shawnigan Lake
School. The son of D. M.
Hickley of West Van, Mac
has been chosen for an
exchange studentship at
Fettes College, Edinburgh,
one of Britain's poshest
independent schools ... Next
month's Kinsmen Mother's
March to raise funds for the
disabled is being organized
on the North Shore by Beth
Lawrence. Would-be helpers
can contact her at 124 West
8th St.; North Van (984-
6680) ... “Whyteclifiie”, a 16-
month-old standard black
poodle, has launched out on
-a career in o opera. Bred by
Jean Lyle of West Van, he is
appearing in the current
production of La Boheme
with Judith Forrest ... In
town last Tuesday was Lions
District Governor Hammy
Hamilton, paying an official
visit to the West Van Lions
Club ... British Properties’
Chartwell School which has
only 150 students, goes
carolling in the Chartwell
areca tomorrow evening
(Monday, Dec. 13) in aid of
West Van's Santa Claus
Fund ... And congrats to
Walter and Kathleen Cinery
of West Van on their private
Santa Claus fund —
Kathicen’s winning $5,000
fircfighter Keven Macauley ticket in the Nov. 28 Super
has definitely had it. At ‘otodraw...

coffee break the other weck, : - 8 8

playing crib at the Hor WRIGHT OR WRONG:
seshoe Bay firehall, he got. How muth nicer the world
the perfect 29 hand ... Off might be if people lived up to
next year to his. ancestral = their principles as
Scotland is 16-year-old Mac = energetically as they fight for
Hickley of West Van, them.

A 17-year-old Swiss girl,
Sabine Kumpel, writes
yearning for a Canadian pen
pal (says she’s a great “fan”
of Canada — that’s nice to
hear!). Her hobbies: ice
hockey, football, skiing and
letter-writing. The address, if
you feel pally: Preyenstrasse
5 (Postfach), CH-8623
Wetzikonz, ‘Switzerland.
Who knows what might
blossom if Canada Post is up
to the task!

HITHER AND YON:
Early on election day (Nov.
21) pharmacist Marray
Dykeman staggered forth to
vote for himself, after which
he retired to bed to nurse his
flu. At 8:30 p.m. the figures
began to be phoned to him.
Finally he donned a topcoat,
made it somehow over to
municipal hall for the closing
count, then returned home
to collapse into bed with a
temperature of 102 — having
learned he'd topped = the
North Van District alder-
manic poll at his first try .
The odds are only once in a
lifetime, so West Van