, Ever wonder why teen sex isn’t on the ‘don’t’ list? CONDOMS ARE not this column’s favorite topic. But as the debate keats up on whether to put condom-dispensers in North Shore schools, it seems high time to first dispense NEWS VIEWPOINT. Seeds of discontent | HE REMOVAL sf close to 30 cherry trees along Edgemont Boule- vard will not easily be explained by North Vancouver District. ; And the precedent set will make it even less easy for the district to encourage resi- dents to resist their own temptations to remove offending trees in their neighborhoods. The eight-year-old cherry trees were fell- ed Monday morning after their removal was approved .by district council, which has been under pressure from local Edge- mont merchants to get rid of the trees. An initial error was made when fruit- bearing cherry trees were planted along Edgemont Boulevard. Aud merchants rais- ed concerns last summer that the cherries were being tracked into their stores and thereby soiliag their carpets. The problem presented various interest- ing opportunities to market the mistake: holding an annual Edgemont cherry festi- val; launching stained carpet sales. But the final solution was blunt and witless: cut ’em dowa. it is the solution to which individuals so often resort and for which they are are then sv roundly rebuked by neighbors and the rest of the community. The district has said it will replace the felled cherry trees with maplc trees. But maple trees have an unsavory and messy habit of depositing large amounts of lezves upon streets during certain seasons of the year. Woe betide them if any of their leaves end up on the floors of Edgemont Village shops. LETTER OF THE DAY Regions should separate they, in turn, would dclegate more a little sanity. Beginning with the most ob- vious question: is sex bad for school kids? While condom-pushers are wrestling with the answer to that one, how about smoking, booze and drugs — all of which are also highly pleasurable to addicts? Ah, say society’s watchdogs, but look at the tragic results of these latter — lung cancer, heart disease, drunk driving deaths, tuined lives, crime. Of course we must do everything possible to stamp out such social scourges. Then why not add to the tragic list teenage-mother dropouts, their suffering parents (and, possibly, infants)? Or else the trauma of teenage abortion? Plus the ever growing risk of AIDS or one of more than 30 other STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) with horrible, sometimes lethal, effects? That’s different, say the con- dom-pusners — cheered on by the medical and pharmaceutical in- ‘dustries whose business includes abortions, STD-fighting drugs and, of course, rubber goods. The kids do it anyway, goes the argument. Oh yes? Well, despite the awesome power of teen peer pressure ALL the kids do NOT do | it, by a long chalk. Current survey figures show that 76 per cent of Grade 9 and 53 per cent of Grade 11 B.C. students are NOT, so far, sexually active. To pretend none of them would ever be tempted to try allegedly “safe sex’’ available via school washrooms, without the embar- rassment of the drugstore checkout, is magic-mushroom nonsense. Equally so the condom ‘‘safe- ty’’ myth. The established failure rate, about eight per cent, refers only to PREGNANCY — that is to say, the three or four days a month when conception is possi- ble. So what’s the failure rate over the other 26-27 days available for catching AIDS? Mathematically, it could be up to 50 per cent. Responsible sex at the right time with the right partner is one thing. Mindless, spur-of-the-moment Noel HITHER AND YON before they reach a certain age of maturity. Smoking is now a dirty word. Pot and coke are absolute no-no’s. In the world of the 1990s the dangers of school-age sex put it at or near the top of the list. That’s what our schools should be teaching rather than non- judgmental ‘‘sex education’? — which studies nave shown to boost Grade 10-12 sexual activity by up to: 50 per cent. Instead, what school condom machines say is: ‘‘It’s okay with us adults — and good luck, kids, with your rubber!”’ What else can they be saying? DATEBOOK: More warm-up fun this Sunday at Capilano Suspen- sion Bridge for next month’s Great Capilano River Dack Race. Bridge queen Nancy Stibbard and North Van Rotary are organizing a 2:30-4 p.m. children’s duck hunt, coloring contest, juggters and music —. with the day’s take going to Larry Watscn’s ‘‘Kid- finders’’ .., Registration time from If a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23-24, at Lynn Valley Centre for boys and girls six to 16 wanting to play in the North Shore Lacrosse Association ... For Reforma Party members and might-be’s Sunday, Feb. 24, brings a 10 a.m.-4 p.m. workshop on the party’s constitu- tion at Cheers Restaurant, 125 Dear Editor: Constitutionally, Canada should ‘ be recast. It should consist of five . political regions each delegating certain powers to Ottawa. Sovereign states, they would con- stitute a confederation. The powers delegated to the centre by British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic region would include ex- ternal affairs, international trade, money and banking, broadcasting and long-distance transportation. The regions, otherwise, would run their own affairs, raise their own taxes and spend them as they wished. This model is akin to the Euro- distaouted to every independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph I! of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and o Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd and ron the North Shore. Second Class Mait R@gistration Number 3855. Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year, Mailing rates available on request. Submissions are welcome but we cannot accept responsibilty for unsolicited matenat inctuding Manuscnpis and ptctures which should be accompanied by a stamped. addressed envelope pean Economic Community of the mid-1990s. A common currency, internal free trade, population mobility and common standards of measurement would charac- terize the ‘‘nation’’ as a whole. Boundaries between regions would be established on a geographic basis, not on a racial (French, Indian, etc.) or religious lines. Individual rights and freedoms would be guaranteed in a Charter. Quebec would be happy with this decentralized model as would B.c. Parliament in Ottawa would have less say. Provincial capitals would be more important. But BUNDAY © WEONGSOAY - FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 Entire contents © 1991 North Store Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Publisher... ..._....Peter Speck Display Advertising 980-0511 Distribution 986-1337 North Shore Managing Editor. Timothy Renshaw Real Estate Advertising 985-6982 Subscriptions 986-1337 Managed Associate Editor... ... Noel Wright Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax 985-3227 Advertising Director _ Linda Stewart Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-2134 Comptroller ....... Doug Foot North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an — Pexwocsorsommannwrs mercer MEMBER 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) responsibilities to the grass roots. Who is opposed? The smaller “thave-not’’ provinces. Their ob- jections could be overcome, in part, by transfer payments. Resources available to each regional government would, thereby, be brought up to the na- tional average. In other words, I am in favor of a Canadian common market. Pm all for a Constitution which limits the powers cf the national government and gives the voter more ‘say in his or her local af- fairs. Honourable Jack Davis, M.L.A. North Vancouver-Seymour SDA DIVISION East 2nd — call Barbara Smith, 985-4924, re the $10 lunch tickets ..». And happy birthday today, Feb. 22, to Sakerkhanu Karim. lust, which fairly describes most sex among younger teens, is quite another. Young people may not legally drink, drive, vote or have credit’ CANYON-CLEANERS... Steve Darvill (Left) and Rory Pinder (right) receive commendation awards from Save Lynn Canyon Park Assn. veepee George Reeve and president Maureen Bragg (centre) for scrubbing graffiti-painted rocks clean last summer.