6 — Sunday, May 24, 1998 — North Shore News

north shore news

VIEWPOINT

Time span

F you choose not to decide you

still have made a choice. And so it

went with the Lions Gate Bridge decision. In what was probably the worst kept secret of Glen Ciark’s regime, the B.C. government announced Friday that the . First Narrows crossing upgrade will be just that — a $78 million refurbishment of the existing three-lane configuration.

No tunnels. No HOV lanes. No

tolls. . All of which shouldn’t surprise any- one who witnessed the foot-dragging the governsnent — in particular the Ministry of Transportation — did with regards to the decision.

Six years ago the NDP government launched an ambitious — they said “visionary” .— process in which engi- neering firms were challenged to come “up with a solution for the half-centa-

ry-old span. Thousands of hours went into these proposals. All were rejected.

The fact is that not one of the multi-laned proposals solved the prob- lem of what to do with the increased traffic that svould come with increased lanes. Dumping more cars onto swollen Marine Drive and into the clogged West End would merely cause gridlock elsewhere. The only solution to the problem would be to connect the north end of the bridge with the Upper Levels Highway and the south ead with a tunnel running under downtown Vancouver. The cost of such a proposal would call for expen- sive tolls.

Rather, the government plans to do with the bridge what it should have done six years ago. If it had acted back in 1992, the Lions Gate Bridge would be refurbished today.

“WONDERFUL NEWS (ll WE'VE COME UP WITH A COMPENSATION

PACKAGE !!!!

dane

_ you said it

“Foy-instance the:riew RCMP police chief was named

a Fuchs, only’the. h' became a k (42 times in one story).

That’s when I: walked.”. OL The late Ralph Hall, on an embarrassing typo that precip- . tated his departure from the old North Shore Citises newspa- ‘per, (Fram away 20 News story.)

“I may not have rhuch moncy, but I do have a lot of opinions.” Pe ; The late Ralph Hall, on his role as a columnist. (From the ' sume May 20 News story). - . - Be o0o0a “It’s a shopping expedition we're on, it’s a hustle expe-

*. dition we're on, it’s a fishing expedition we’re on.”

i North Vancouver District Coun. Trevor Carolan, on the Misivict’s planned. trip to China. (From a May 22 News

on 2 Qo0q.... -: wos “Phey are “curting trails. in places that should: never

“have a‘trail. It’s short-term thinking. They will be able to _/ enjoy the, trail, bur their kids will never have.a chance to see ie ae ; ‘

2) BC. Parks Larry Syroishko on the damage a few mountain bikers are daisig in Mount. Seymouy’ Park. (Fro: 1 May 20 ., Mews story) ——

; : ness ono

_. “She stood up; she was mad, she was screaming at me, _pointing her, finger’ at nie, that’ they had spent. enough

money on me, that it’s only $151 and that-I-should pay it.

* because’ she’s not. going to do anything more for me and that’s it.” - -—- meh bee oe Ets . ° Melinda : Peters ‘describing treatment received- at. North

* Lonsdale’s Employment: Insurance office during-a two-year bartle'to convince EI that an overpayment had, in fact, been

» deducted, (From a May 20 News story.) : :

a Spend that moncy on a proper, solution which would include some kind of tunnel and rapid transit.”

“North Vancouver District Mayor Don Bell on the province's

- datest fre osal for the Lions Gate Bridge conundrum — a nvo-

et idge and a two-lane tunnel at a toll-financed cost of

. $400 million. (From a May 17 News story.)

‘Moth Shore News, founded 1 1969 as an

+ independent suburban newspaper and quakdied ‘under Schedule $11, Paragraph 111 of tive ‘Excrse Tax Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shere Free Press, ‘Lid. and distributed to every door on the Nort . Shore. Canada Post Canadian Pubicanons Mai Sales Product Agreement No. 08723. Maing rates available on request.

Does pol

HOW to explain today’s alarm- -. ing growth of teen violence, by girls as well as boys and capable, as in the tragic case of Victoria's Reena Virk, of cul-

minating in niurder

charges?

While pondering all the usual likely causes — dysfunctional families, inadequate parental and-: school discipline,.“me”- oriented education, TV and movie mayhem —

: say thank-you to West

Van reader Elizabeth

Milligan for alerting this

column to a fascinating new possibility: “The Chemistry Of Violence,” as Popular Mechanics Science Editor Jim Wilson calls it in his April article. -

Wilson describes recent research by two reputable U.S. academics leading to strong evidence that violent rages can be sparked by the accumulation of harmful metals in the brain — especially lead, manganese and cadmium, all airborne or waterborne by-products of industrial pol- lution.

An carly clue was noted in 1984 by William J. Walsh, president of the Pfeiffer Treatment Centre of Naperville, Hl. when hair samples from James Oliver Huberty, shot by police after killing 21 people ina California restaurant, revealed the highest cadmium level ever.scen in a human being. Huberty had carlier quit his welder’s job, telling his boss the fumes

-avere making him crazy. .

Walsh was hardly surprised. He'd

already secn similar high metal readings in the hair’of other mass murderers and serial killers, The Huberty case finaliy convinced him that the body’s capacity to handle : certain metals spelled the difference between Good and Evil. Latterly he’s concentrated on young boys with severe behavioral problems — “kids who are terrors at “age one and torturing the cat.when they are two” — and saving " many from becoming ruined adults simply by adjusting their dicts. Even more persuasive evidence of the link between metals and behavioral problems has been produced by Roger D. Masters, a professor of gov- ernment at Dartmouth College, who took the statistical route. Wilson

hither and yon

_deseribes how Masters became interested ©”

in why U.S. counties have rates of violent

crime varying from under‘100 to over

3,000 per 100,000 pcople.

For his study Masters focused on two metals, lead.and manganese, both pleriti- ful in some parts of the country and not in others. Furthermore, there was solid scientific proof that both could alter brain

chemistry in a way that could cause learn-.

ing disabilities, poor impulse control _and aggressiveness. . .

He began with a painstaking break- — down, county by county, of releases of lead and manganese documented in the U.S. Environmental Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory. Then he factored in FB: crime report data, Department of

#1300 PER YEAR, PLUS AN EXTRAG $6000 HOUSING ALLOWANCE FOR EACH ANP |].

ahs

‘Health alcoholism statistics and Census _ Bureau demographic data, Ve

The findings were dramatic. In coun-~.

. ties with no reported lead or mangénese ©

releases the average violent crime ratcs, (216 per 109,000 people) were well | 2° below the national average of 298. But in. . the 52 counties with toxic releases of > - both metals the average violent crime raté was 920 per 100,000. : ‘

“To ensure objectivity Masters also” checked ‘the alcoholism stats, but found .- violent crime could not be attributed ta liquor alone. Even in counties with

below-average alcohol-related deaths the...”

violent crime rate was-around twice as |! high whene present.”

must be a propriatel ypu

, our;kids’ long-term future, it

more urgent to get tough v poiluters. oo me ~ O00 =

MANY HAPPY icturns today, May 24,” to Tinothy (“Ripping Yarns”) ;

Renshaw, our tough-probing managing. - .

editor’... And warm birthday wishes: ~.: a Tuesday, May 26, to News publisher ©’). : Peter Speck. . ve aes

. QOD res WRIGHT. OR WRONG: You can’t buy :

- wisdom outright — only onthe instal- ~

ment plan.

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985-2139 (114) ae, Andrew McCrediz - Sports/Community Editor : *.GB5-2131 (147). -. :