6 ~ Wednesday, April 21, 1999 — North Shore News

north shore news

VIEWPOINT

Fast trac

RTIHUR Griffiths is on the

right track when it comes to rail

inks. The West Vancouver busi- nessman leading the charge to land the 2010 Winter Olympic Games for the Vancouver/Whistler area told a West ‘Vancouver Chamber of Commerce meeting last week that a fast rail link connecting Whistler with the Lower Mainland area will be a key part to securing the Games.

The existing Whistler-Howe Sound transportation corridor and the Sea-to- Sky Highway will not be up to the job. It’s barely up to the job now. But Mi. Griffiths did not specify any fast rail fink details. He did, however, state that the vision for any such rail link needs to extend far beyond the Games.

Squamish that would run along the east side of Indian Arm, up Indian River and down the Stawamus River to Squamish.

Developed along with ex- Saskatchewan MLA David Lange and world renown architect Arthur Erickson, the plan weuld incorporate a rail and toll road corridor and the use of existing Lower Mainland rail lines for rapid qransit. It would free up the current BC Rail Howe Sound line for a rail /transit link.

Its expense is considerable, but it is a fully co-ordinated plan that addresses a host of transportation issues far into the future. If real vision is truly at the heart of Mr. Griffiths’ push for trans- portation links to Whistler and the

we' RE ToUGHENING uP ike YOUNG OFFENDERS ACT: MR. AND MRS. JOHNSON —

You'RE GROUNDED!

Last year, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast MP John Reynolds was pushing a road and rail link to Whistler and

mailbox

News exaggerates B.C.’s taxation toll

Dear Editor: .

OK, Pll bite. I figured the North Shore News had print- ed the April Fools edition of the paper nine days late. This is one of those times when [ wonder if the News is published

“in 18th century Salem, Massachusetts, or at least somewhere other than the North Shore | know.

Let me. get this straight: we strongly object to any repairs to the Lions Gate Bridge, even in the middle of the night, because it will be inconvenient for us, and what's more, the damned fool government isn't willing to pay for a major capacity upgrade?

They should pay to fill in Burrard Inlet so we can drive across anywhere!

Your editorial, “Tax toll,” really opened my eyes: all of

our ridiculously excessive taxes aren’t funding services at all, actually all that money goes to maintain legions of fat-cat sbureaucrats. ot . co tee t 4 "Umm .... we drive on roads paid’ for by taxes. I owe the ‘fact that I can walk to expertly performed spinal surgery, paid for by taxes. A bunch of people whose salaries are paid ‘for by taxes repaircd a burst water main on our street taday, so we could continue to have water from the mountains piped into our homes.

I don’t work for any of the levcls of government, and I’m not boosting any particular political party, but last time I checked, we hard-working non-governmental types were getting pretty good value for our money. I may not agree with the way all of my tax dollars are spent, but as I recall, corsensus is intrinsic to democracy. Of course the people our taxes go to never spend any of their income on goods and services we provide them; they get everything for free.

urs,

Maybc the News could keep a bit of perspective for the bulk of North Shore folks who just want to “get on with it” and be part of the solution? . Erik Frebold North Vancouver

Wierth Shore Mews, founded an 1969 as ant independent suburban newspaper and quoted under Schedsde 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, pubcshed each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Shore Fave Press Lid. and destrbuted to every door on the North

" 8BG-1537 5124)

61,582 (average crentanon, Waonescay, Freda 8 Surcay)

The Worth Shore Nows fs published by North Shore Free Press Lid.,

province’s Lange/Reynolds/Erickson deserves consideration.

interior, the plan

‘Doing a-what comes naturally...’

FORGET about all those Viagra and “dirty old man” jokes. Keeping grandpa — and even dear old dad — up to snuff sexu- ally after age 40 is

suddenly deadly

serious business.

Serious in terms of the national economy, balanced budgets and everyone's quality of life.

It’s no longer just about bedtime frolics. We're talking big money — ours and our kids’. Here's how.

Canada, as we all know, is an aging saciety. Fram 2010 onward, when the first boomers reach 65, the proportion of seniors to working Canadians will skyrocket to the point where there may be only just over nwo of the latter to every old age pensioner — suggesting nasty inter-gencrational spats.

But seniors’ pensions subsidized by ever fewer workers are only part of th: problem. An equal or even greater bur- den on working citizens is the excessive demands by seniors on medicare. And the biggest culprits here are men — much more negligent about their health than women and dying, on average, seven years earlier than the latter after costly intensive medical care in the finat count- down.

The problem, of course, is by no means confined to Canada. Hence, last year’s First World Congress on the Aging Male, sponsored by the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and

Valvie Stephenson Photography Manager Classified Manager 945-2158 (160) 526-6222 (282)

Entue contenis © 1999 Nonh Shore Free Press Ltd Alt tights reserved. Publisher Peter Speck, from 1139 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, B.C., V7M. 204

attended by 350 doctors and scientists trom 40 countries. The manifesto it issued declared: “The promotion of healthy aging (in men) and the preven- tion or drastic reduction of ill health and disability must assme 2 central role in national health and social poli- cies.” Testosterone replace- ment therapy for aging males gor big billing at the conference. And not merely in order to restore the pleasures of the flesh, important though this might be tor elderly Lotharios. Depletion of the male sex hormone testasterone — fairly com: monplace anytime after 40 — can do a whole lot of bad things co us guys that have nothing to do with the bedroom. Ir can cause us to lose energy, strength and endurance. It can detract from our ability at sports and our efficiency at work. ft can make us depressed, sad or grumpy. It can cause us to fall asieep after dinner. And — holy cow! — it can even SHRINK us, eventually lopping an inch or so off our height.

."h the now rapid growth of the over-65 generation, the findings of last year’s Geneva conference have opened up a whole new market for medical endeav- our, especially in such geriatric play- grounds as Victoria and West Vancouver. “Aging males health clinics” are springing up all over North America — including the one recently launched in Tiddlycove by Dundarave’s well-known Dr. Clem Williams.

Their goal: to make neglecttul elderly males look after their health as carefully as their femafe counterparts do; to thus reduce or eliminate the seven-year life expectancy difference between the sexes; to make life fun for the old boys again as a reward for smartening up.

And last, but not least, to save taxpay- ers millions cf medicare dollars now squandered on ailing male seniors who shouldn't be.

But then, what about Viagra? vou ask. Well, as one wit put it, Viagra affects only the hydraulics. Replacement testosterone affects the entire male body trom the brain down. It comes in safe, convenient pill form — after doe has checked your

rastate and any other side-effect possi- Pilivies.

As well as pills and tests these ol boys’ clinics offer such things as psycho- logical assessments, fitness training and © | masculine identity counselling. For 79- to 90-year-old mates, their families and the bled-white Canadian taxpayer it sounds a win-win deal — with renewed fun for gramp as a bonus.

In fact, the author of that cheeky little song in the musical hit Oklahoma — “Grandpa died at 93, doing a-what comes naturally” — could well have been a sacial economics protessor!

ga

Q HAPPY BIRTHDAY Friday, Apri 23, co North Van's Bette Booth ... Ditto that day ro North Van's David Bain ... And many happy returns of Saturday, April 24, to West Van's Jeff Adams.

Q WRIGHT OR WRONG: Change is" inevitable, except from a vending machine.

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