6 — Friday, INTY-SEVEN bears have been killed on the North Shore this year, It’s a big number and it’s a shame- ful fact. We can do more than wring our hands over chis grisly urban turf war. _ And it wouldn’t be fair to point fin- '. gets.and write the carnage off as the result of trigger-happy cops and con- servation officers drawn in to respond _ when wildlife and people get too close. ‘The news is that bears are expected to return to hibernation next month, Last winter’s unusually large : snow pack and wet spring decreased ~ the berry crop at er elevations. - Combine that fact with what con- servation officers believe to be a larger “than ‘normal bear population, and we see smaller, less- bears is driven out t of their usual bear habitats 23) at Ridgewsy and 13th Gsteber 8, 1999 — North Shore News north shore news VIEWPOINT and into residential areas. What do they find there? Bears attempting to fatten up for hiberna- tion venture into our neighbourhoods to find a veritable smorgasbord of del- icactes and delights. They'll eat anything they can find. To avoid further senseless loss of life to these magnificent creatures, it’s up to us to store garbage properly, clean up our dirty barbecue grills and secure unprotected composts. Bears addicted to such ready food sources become tough customers. The plain eruth is this: bears die because too many of us humians living near them are sloppy and careless. Living ina t North Shore neighbour- hood is not like living in Vancouver. There’s an awful fot of raw wilderness at our backsides. Let’s clean up our acts. SOUNDS LIKE NDP LEADERSHIP IAATERIAL | TRYING To W oF A Debt 10 Free speech ph is freer than others, as Sty you didn’t know. |» University administrations and the pub- lic authorities on the rugged West Coast _ have a record of standing - : solidly, courageousty, © - foursquare for free specch - sign evoking Jesus’ mother Mary was . Strect!'a conservation officer escorted byt two police officers, ‘shot and killed a black bear. : otguri shells to kill the bear. The officers informed us that they were not able to use a tranquilizer gun becatise th I get the bear up into a tree, rvation ' officer said that the police had tried tc tree the bear for 20 minutes before tic ie made the dechion to (as well as cquality, and all the other good things).” Peek is, as tong as (a) grce with the bile and/or (b) the : ¢ speech doesn’t cause serious inconvenience you g children i a ty. who witnessed id were aes upset that, ‘ae small ty bear'w i indicated that the deci ‘requiring them to stand . by their principles. . Such as when violent ‘organized groups physi- y intimidate ‘and try to smash meetings where free specch —~ ofa kind they hate — - threatens to break-out. Then the authori- ; ties, through the police; don’t have the Wer niest inie est in protecting free speech... ‘They're concerned only with. preventing or niniizing ‘viol If the free ors are in’ midated, shut. -; dawn, shut up, and cravenly (or prudently) “retreat without having'a chance to say their. : piece — then the police go to bed happily - “: with the warmth of a job well done; and. "their superiors are relieved that once again . they have dodged the bullet of having to ‘defend and protect free speech. . : * , The fact 1s that the corrupt “New - enjocratic”. Party government of B.C. has : no hesitation about weighing in ‘on the ides of the bullies it likes (and th Ontawa “they’ic doing, usiitg the tools of their _ Ore ellian fegislation and their Human . oe Rights Commission and kangaroo courts. Consider attorneys-general Colin - Gabelmann (the odious zone around abor- tion clinics where ‘even a protester raising a , president. Martha Piper at | } guts to apologize belatedly for th outrages against the political = Seay under predecéssor David arrested and convicted): : : and Ujjal. Dosanjh. (who . wants to expand provin- cial “hate laws” that are ~ already alrnost surely . unconstitutional), 202°... ‘The well-worn play, with oy pl ~~ the usual oo ey * revived a recent : "when eee ‘Free - Speech League planned .”-- ‘a fundmisér at. -: Vancouver's central library for the Doug |: Collins appeal — one that is backed 8 the B.C. Press Council ard the B.C. Ci Liberties Association, hardly Nazi fronts. The Downtown Eastside. was plastered . with posters urging protesters to attend. were largely aimed at Doug ‘Chaistie, : te lawyer, who has indeed defended. man right-wing people. who dismiss, or doubt the numbers of, the Holocaus . ee hey’ re ‘wrong. Assume som 7 malicious intent. (Top nominee! : Zondet ) They still have the right to coun-” sel and due process of law. More than “allowed under the : sinelly, : mass-murderou regimes supported by the communists « Trotskyites who fed the dssanlt on the “ Collins meetin but, miracle of avoidan HOt the leftist: b , ; ct there’ S the chinless University o Hara Resoutes Warags - General Managét | mb2181 (17) "SAO 2181 (8) :