RI'VE SAID it before, but it bears repeating: February is one stinker of amonth. :

If every other month of the year, in terms of depression fac- ot, could be compared to a Disney movie starring, say, Bambi or Cinderella, then February is a Russian novel of a month featur- ng Boris, the one-armed, paraplegic, collective farmer from Siberia, who discovers that his

Atrue love is secretly in love with a H tractor.

“That's not even the sad part. The sad part is that the tractor

urns out to be gay.

-That’s the kind of month Feb- A ruary is.

I’m convinced that every horri- ble catastrophe throughout the en- Ntire history of this planet either Stook place — or atleast entered the planning stages — on a day in qFebruary.

“For. instance, Attila the Hun, Adolph Hitler, and that insuffer- Hable billionaire brat, Macaulay Culkin, were all born in February

and if they were not, they cer- ainly deserved to be.

i.-Even the word itself is a rotter. /

j February i is derived from the Old’

‘Spe cial needs chi Idren have ‘been’ isolated. jong enough

i Dear Editor:

Lo The discussion paper: “The “Three » Faces of Equity for Speciai:.Needs' Students’' presented to. the West Van- “couver School ‘Board, and teviewed in your ‘paper on Jan, 31): should ring alarm bells. for: every ;parent of a “chiid with special needs. Ministerial Order 150/89, “Which ‘the principal of special education, . George Stewart, -would like to.see rescinded, -Protects. the interests of all - Special needs children, Whatever their handicap.

The implication that) any - children who are aggressive or viglent. are, by virtue of this |

+ ministerial, order, allowed - to run “rampant within the - classroom is, at best, mislead-

: “dng

Children with — behavioral problems require behavioral “Management programs, which ‘plainly outline strategies and consequences of aggressive or

‘violent behavior.

-” Is.it possible that such pro- grams. are. not available in West?Vancouver? This would

‘indeed be contrary to the in-

tent of. Ministerial Order 150/89. .

Children with special needs have | been ‘segregated from other children long enough.

Current. research clearly hows that not only is it more ‘economically . feasible to “educate handicapped children

“with their non-handicapped “peers, but the benefits to both. “groups are irrefutable.

vu Perhaps it is time for some

‘West Vancouver. educators to

“Te-examine their mectives in

using the case of the child

Awith behavioral problems to

spearhead an’ entirely dif-

“ferent agenda,

“Cathy Abraham, president

zParents Association for Children's Therapies and “Services

HUGHES’ VIEWS

English expression Feb, which means, ‘‘I fecl like jumping ...’’ and that ancient Greek phrase ru ary, meaning ‘off a bridge.”

What I can’t figure out is, how can a month at least two days shorter than any other in the cal- endar year seem to last three times

as long?

Perhaps the reason is that there are no holidays in February. Not even the faint whiff of a holiday.

Att open letter to Mayor Mark Snger and council: - 1 am writing to encourage the

“Corporation of the District of

West Vancouver to adopt into law the Upper Lands Open Spaces Report of May 1992.

Some would say that this report is not tough enough in protecting the environment while accommo- dating the development of West Vancouver. :

However, if this report is adopted as: the minimum accept- able guideline, it will at least give the residents of West Vancouver a level of comfort that we don’t currently have,

Few major cities of the world have the opportunity West Van-

-couver does for a well-planned,

environmentally sensitive devel- opment of a high-impact area such as the Upper Lands,

The Parks and Recreation Ad- visory Commission has adopted the report and hopefully the Ad- visory Planning Commission will do the same. The Advisory Plan- ning Commission has endorsed the report in principle only and that is

this

At least in January we can vague- ly remember having one or two.

In March, we can anticipate Easter, but in February there is nothing but 28 agonizing, misery-filled days of drudgery, at the end of which many of us have to fork over whatever was left in the Christmas kitty to either ICBC or the taxman.

I] mean, what deserve this?

The fact that we have to put up with. this scabrous month at all is the fault of Julius Caesar, who, after writing that famous book, / Conquered Salad. Now what? went on to commission the Julian calendar — an invention that

did we do to

more or less crafted February into

its present depressing format.

lt is perhaps of more than pas- sing historical interest that Caesar met his untimely end on the Ides of March, having been warned about it — you guessed it — some time after the Ides of February.

Served him right, | figure.

Even the Roman responsible for the design of Caesar's calendar couldn’t bear to finish off the se- cond month of the year. Two days before the originally scheduled completion date, he stalked off

the job — w ruined wreck of a Roman if there ever was one.

Some historians say the chap was so downcast that he drowned himself in the Tiber.

Others insist the man was drag- ged forcibly from his office by the angry citizens of Rome, who nail- ed him to a cross along with a sign saying, ‘‘This is Ralphus, King of the Blues.”

In the States, at least, they’ve shown remarkable wisdom by flinging two celebrations between the confines of this otherwise op- pressive time period.

Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays are observed down south and, since both men. are long since dead, the events are made all the brighter by effective- ty removing the need to buy gifts.

Whether. the U.S. actually closes the entire country down during these occasions, I haven’t been able to find out — the research

: material necessary being slightly

out of reach of my hammock — but | do know that they blow out a lot of candles, cut a lot of cakes, and generally try to lighten’ things up.

The best: we can manage in: Canada is Ash Wednesday, a

@

frantic carnival of joy. wherein large numbers of the population dip their foreheads in burnt palm leaves, while promising not to do anything remotely resembling fun for 40 days and, more significant- ly, 40 nights,

I believe we should follow the fine example set by our continen- tal cousins.

Without, I hope, being too in- delicate, | suggest that what this country really needs is a few more dead heroes. Surely in Canada’s long and glorious chronicle, we can ‘find at least one historic cadaver who was either born, died, trapped a beaver, or shot a ° buffalo some time in the month of February.

Personally, I'd be willing to set- tle for someone who had once scored a hat trick in Moose Jaw.

But’ no. We are apparently made of sterner stuff. We wander in a sort of bleak gloom from the second of January -until halfway through April before the minister in charge of preventing mass’ suicides reluctantly chooses to grant us a day off.

1 tell-you, this whole situation is enough to drive anyone into a wild fling with a farm implement.

pen Spaces report into law

not good enough.

The 1,800-acré area above the Upper Levels and below the 1,200-foot level has commenced development with the approval of the Canterbury development anid | understand that the. execution of subdivision. plan is: not significantly different from past developments, This is not satisfac- tory, :

The treatment of creeks, link- ages, unique features, green belts and parks and the cutting of trees must. be laid down in municipal bylaws,

The municipality has the power to regulate tree-cutting and. creek setbacks and should incorporate both into amended subdivision bylaws.

In certain respects, the Upper Lands Open Spaces Report does not go far enough. One of the five open-space principles ‘is that automobile traffic be minimized by developing a‘ network of walkways and bike routes.

This should be expanded, given the steep terrain, to include changes in road pattern — nar-

“THE CORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF WEST VANCOUVER

FLUSHING OF WATER MAINS NOTICE

The Municipal Water Department will commence its annual program of flushing of water mains on March 01/93 through to May 14/93. This may result in the water supply showing sediment. The sedimeni is bacterially harmless, but the water will show some - discolouration that may affect some commercial

undertakings.

B. Lambert, PEng. Director of Operations

rower roads and smaller cul-de- sacs, than’ allowed under current bylaws. The impact would be much smaller bites out of the mountainside and fewer erosion ‘problems. |

This would he sound engincer- ‘ing and would leave more Sand, not just for park or greenbelt, but also for development,

The developer, British

Properties Ltd., which. owns

two-thirds of the Upper Lands,

should not be: allowed to dictate how West Vancouver will be de- veloped.

Mayor Sager claimed during his

Pacific

1993 inaugural speech that West Vancouver has positioned itself as a ‘leader in sensitive land-use’ planning,"’. yet it is: North’ Van- couver which has recently propos- ed an environmental protection bylaw, the first of its kind in a B.C. municipality.

Let us put teeth and cledibility to Mayor Sager’s statement by enhancing the Upper Lands Open Spaces Report and putting it into law, thereby ensuring environmen- tally sensitive development: that we can all be proud of.

Dennis Perry West Vancouver

Superb editorial standard established :

Dear Editor:

I read many newspapers..and ,

one has editorials which are con- sistently and vastly superior to all others. '

These concern focal and na- tional -issues,: all done with good humor, rare insight and in an un-

“wall

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derstandable and entertaining fashion. © ;

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My daughter, Jennifer Coile, has a Tilley Hat, but didn’t want to wear it since this picture was taken just before her wedding last June .. ,

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