6 - Sunday, December 16, 1990 - North Shore News EE ee

Gi f awe ins aay iI

AAH..\ THINK IVE

LOCATED YOUR

NEWS VIEWPOINT

ondom sense

ARENTS WHO think they will discourage teenage sex by opposing the installation of condom machines in North Shore high schools are deluding themselves at the expense of their

children’s safety.

The condom machine issue was raised in the Dec. 14 News by a West Vancouver mother whose concern for the health of her children has inspired her to lobby for the installation of the machines in local secondary schools. The issue, she says, has Seen ignored for too long by parents, stu- dents and educators.

Parents against the concept of condoms in high schools express outrage at the thought of acknowledging, and, by exten- sion, condoning, teenage ‘‘promiscuity.’’ But parents’ own opinions and morals have little relevance to the deadly serious issue at hand.

Statistics show that B.C. teenagers are choosing to have sex regardless of whether condom-vending machines are in their schools. According to the 1988 Canada Youth and AIDS study, 24 per cent of B.C.’s Grade 9 population and 47 per cent of the province’s Grade 11 population are already sexually active and thereby poten- tial victims of sexually-transmitted diseases. And AIDS has now taken firm root locally: the North Shore has the third highest number of known AIDS cases in B.C.

As guardians of our young people, we serve them best not by forcing our own choices upon them, but by providing them with as much accurate information as we can and allowing them to make their own decisions.

In this era of the incurable and fatal AIDS virus, so much more is at stake than individual moral stances.

NEWS QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“It’s time we were tough with the pulp mills. We were being tough with them. We were turning around the problem, and I don’t think that big business should be dictating to the government.”

West Vancouver-Howe Sound MLA John Reynolds in resigning as provincial environment minister after Premier Bili Vander Zalm failed to back his plan to institute tougher pulp mill effluent regula- tions.

“¥ remember the time I phoned up the people there and the guy almost fell out of his chair laughing. He said: ‘Let me get this tight. How many batteries are you making now?’ [ told him 500 a month. He said: ‘How many do you have to start making in 18

Publisher

Associate Editor ....

welcome

envelope.

Peter Speck Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Advertising Director .Linua Stewart

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111, Paragraph Ii! of the Excise Tax Act, «s published each Wednesday, Frday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Lid and distributed to every doar on the North Shore. Second Class Matt Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year Maikng rates avavable on request Submussians are dul we cannot accept responsibility tor unsotteited matenal including manuscnpis and pactures 8 which shoutd be accompanied by a stumped, addressed

months?’ I said about 100,000 a month. He said: ‘How many do you have to go up to?’ I said 250,000 2 month. He said: ‘Come on, you can’t be serious.’ I told him I was very serious.’’

Ballard Power Systems presi- dent Firoz Rasul, on arranging backing to allow the North Van- couver company to bid on a $90-million US Army contract for high-tech batteries.

“We usually get a fair amount of fan-beit cats at this time of year. They crawl in right beside the fan belt to stay warm.”

Veterinarian assistant Tracy Larsen, warning motorists to take the time to check for cats under their vehicle hoods after a North Vancouver cat was severely in- jured after riding in the engine

THE VOICE OF MONT AND WEST VANCOUVER

north shore

SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY + FRIDAY 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4

§9,170 (average, Wednesday Friday & Sunday)

SDA DIVISION

Display Advertising Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Subscriptions

compartment of a car.

“Give them an inch and they'll take a hundred miles, all the way up Indian Arm to Whistler.""

North Vancouver District Ald. Bill Rodgers, commenting on a motion by fellow Ald. Paul Turner that would inform the Vancouver Port Corp. of council’s intent to promote public access to district foreshore.

“it had to come sometime. It's an issue. Lei’s face it, people are dy- ing.”’

West Vancouver District 45 su- perintendent of schools Doug Player, on the call by a West Vancouver mother to have con- dom-dispensing machines installed in North Shore secondary schools.

980-0511 986-6222 985-2131 986-1337 986-1337 985-3227

MEMBER

é North Shore owned and managed Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Lid. All rights reserved.

Everyone equal — but some more than others!

IF YOU think the Charter of Rights, Article 15, bans discrimination against you on grounds of age, think again. In your sunset decades it no longer gives you the right to

keep your job.

Such was the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada, which has just upheld mandatory retirement at age 65.

No matter whether you're tops at your work and still play tennis tike a 30-year-old, the boss can now trash you merely for reaching your 65th birthday. At current expectancy rates, it can mean starting the golden one-fifth of your life with no further payche- ques ever.

There are plausible arguments for and against the ‘*65’’ rule. of course. In theory, the longer employees work, the fewer jobs for young people, though it’s unclear why, in practice, this should be so in a constantly ex- panding economy.

Energy, physical ability and mental capacity DO decline in a proportion of 60-plus’s. They also decline in numerous 50-plus’s — while remaining undiminished in more than a few 70-plus’s. ‘‘Ag- ing’’ is a highly individual phe- nomenon.

By and large, employers favor the ‘65’ rule. Older workers COST more than juniors. They’re often more ‘‘dedicated’’ and ex- perienced, but if physical and/or mental faculties ARE showing signs of wear, problems may be looming. There may already be too many days off sick.

Seniors may block promotion for bright younger employees climbing the ladder. When their retirement date remains unknown, they also become a major head- ache for pension schemes.

And let’s face it: to some employers competing for survival in an age that accents youth, in- novation and trendiness, too many elderly workers — however com- petent — can by a psychological drag.

For government, on the other hand, an end to mandatory retirement would bring a sizeable bonus. The more seniors earn for themselves, the more they pump back into the economy, the more taxes they pay and the fewer de- mands they have for pension sup- plements and other support.

Moreover, the right to work on after 65 is a logical part of the government’s whole policy bann- ing discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion and phys- ical or mental handicaps. How come, then, that grey or white hair can be justified as the sole exception?

Noel Wright

HITHER AND YON

Simple. {t’s written into Article I of the Charter, on which the Supreme Court judgment ap- parently rested.

"We're talking about that in- famous clause which makes every so-called guarantee in the Charter “subject ... to such reasonable limits prescribed by laws as can demonstrably be justified in a free and democratic society.”

In effect, the learned judges decided your employer’s freedom to fire you simply for being 65 is more “‘reasonabie ... in a free and democratic society’? than your freedom to keep your job.

So yes, Grandpa and Grandma, the Charter DOES make everyone equal — but some more than others. Sorry you’ve wound up among the ‘‘others’’ in the job market! ; TAILPIECES: There'll be cordon bleu delights on four North Van tables this holiday season if only Bob Wiles, Nick Hardmeier, Keith Hughes and Iain Rennie can manage a few hours off work. They are four of the nine-member chef’s team from the Pan Pacific Hotel which swept the board at the recent international competi- tion on Vancouver Island — win- ning seven gold and two silver medals in the nine events ... Bun- dle up for tonight’s bonfires and carol singing in Ambleside Park as the Carol Ships sail by for the last time from 7:30 p.m. — bringing a non-perishable donation to the Senta Fund, please! ... And give your Xmas gift of life tomorrow or Tuesday, Dec. 17-18, at the Lions Gate Hospital! btood donor clinic, 2:30-8 p.m. each day.

a ‘

“> A ry S a

CHEFS TO CHEER ... North Van members of award-winning Pan Pacific team — Bob Wiles (bottom right), Nick Hardmeier (middle right), Keith Hughes, lain Rennie (rear centre and right) with ex- ecutive chef Ernst Dorfier (bottom centre).