Page 4, fhe Herald, Friday, December 1, 1972

TERRACE/KITIMAT

daily herald

Generat Office - 635-6357 Published by Circulation - 635-6357 Sterling Publishers PUBLISHER - Laurie Mallett GEN. MANAGER. Knox Coupland EDITOR - Greg Middleton CIRCULATION - TERRACE - Andy Wightman 635-6357 KITIMAT - Pat Zelinski 632 274? KETIMAT OF FICE - 632-2747 Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum Street, Terrace, B.C. A member of Varifled Circulation. Authorized as second class mall. Registration number 1201. Postage paid in cash, return postage guaranteed.

NOTE OF COPYRIGHT

The Herald retains futf, complete and sole copyright in any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or photographic conlent published In the Herald. Reproduction Is not permitted without the written permission of the Publisher.

LAW | TALK

by Gordon Hardy

During the 1972 sitting of B.C.’s legislature, in. dustvial Development Minister Waldo Skillings called then-Liberal leader Pat McGeer a “queer”. McGeer called Deputy Speaker Herb Bruch ‘“‘an incompetent ass’’, Labor Minister James Chabot accused the NDP of “cheap commie tactics.” NDP MLA Ernie Hall invited Chabot to get himself “a new pair of jack- boots.” Dave Barrett called W.A.C. Bennett an “arrogant dictator.” .

Strong words, perhaps even defamation in some circumstances, but not one of these insults resulted in a law suit because anything said in the legislature is

rivileged, meaning the person who utters it isexempt From normal libel and slander laws. ; _ Libel lawyer Peter Butler says, ‘The minute you step out of the legislature or House of Commons and say these things you’re in trouble but you can say anything you want in Parliament.” -

Likewise, anything said in court is privileged.

Butler says, “‘A judge can be as malicious in court as he wants to be. A witness can, too. You must have freedom te ialk in court.”

Another area where privilege is absolute, meaning where libel and slander laws do not apply, is between husband and wife.

As Penny Bain writes in a Vancouver People's Law School booklet on libel and slander law, “if Harry tells his wife that Fred is a dirty crook, the occasion is privileged.”

Neither can husbands and wives sue each other under defamation laws — “if they could, the courts might be full of suits”, Butler says. _

e Jaw also allows for something called qualified privilege which refers to occasions when the interests of society take precedence over those of the in- dividual. For example, a former employer can for- ward an opinion about an employee to a prospective employer, as long as he does it in good faith. Credit ratings enjoy the same status.

But if this privileged information is passed on with malice or if it reaches persons who are not involved, then the privilege may be lost — the result may be an expensive libel suit.

An important category of qualified privilege is that accorded the press — fair comment. This recognizes that the news media should be able to comment on matters that are of public interest. Obviously, neigh- bors arguing over the back fence do not qualify under this exemption.

As long as a writer confines himself to making comments in the public interest based on facts truly stated, he is not liable to libel, even if his opinion is

. incorrect.

en oome tvs sous Waterbeds being accepted

the author's private character would not,’’”

Fair comment was one of the defences used this year by The Vancouver Sun in a libel suit brought against it by Paul Halprin, a department of justice lawyer who acted for the United States government during the deportation of native Indian militant Leonard Peltier. a.

‘Halprin claimed he bad been libelled in an article quoting another lawyer's criticisms of the conduct of e¢ U.S. government. The judge dismissed the action, noting that the courts had to be careful not to muzzle

e press.

But criticism of the courts themselves is dangerous ground for journalists. Just this year Southam Press and a reporter for the Prince George Citizen was fined $800 for publishing an article which criticized the dismissal of a juror in a B.C. Supreme Court murder case,

The judge found the. article in contempt of court, noting it was “‘of vital importance to the public thaat

the authority and dignity of the courts should be maintained,”

_Vancouver Sun columnist Allan Fotheringham was cited for contempt of court when he called a judge

callous and unthinking in his conduct of an inquest into the murder and rape of a little girl in Surrey, He got

Libel lawyer Peter Butler calls the case ‘‘bor- dertine” — that case has subsequently been used on many occasions by defence lawyers in contempt cases.

Obviously, both judges and the public have become inured to stronger language in the press compared to the days when the Attorney-General of B.C. suc- cessfully brought a little-used crim!ial contempt charge against the Georgia Straigit newspaper for calling a judge a Pontius Pilate.

For more information please contact the Vancouver People’s Law School for its booklet, Libel & Slander,

by writing 2110-C West 12th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. or telephone 734-1126.

Letters welcome

The Herald welcomes its readers comments. Ail letters to the editor of general public inter esi will be printed. We do, however, retain the right to refuse fo print letters on grounds of possibic IIbel or bad taste. We may also edit leiters for Stylé and length. All letters to be considered for publication must be signed. We ask that letters be typed and double spaced,

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My HITE RHP E ARE TRAIN SUfAgTE TATIONS WENT SUMMER SHES bOites TOTAE MounTaing AMP YF FELIERING THE Poot

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THOSE RICH ALBERTANS

expensive, it’li be cheaper to go in person.”

They’re willing to wager

EDMONTON = (CP) Albertans wager more than $250 million a year in illegal betting, palice say.

*“There’s a lot of money in Calgary and Edmonton and if itcanyt be bet legally, it will be bet illegally,” says S.Sgt. George Flake, a senior RCMP gaming specialist.

“Canada-wide, you're looking at in excess of $1 billion bet illegally. But that's just a conservative estimate. There's little way of doing an accurate audit,”

Cpl, Pat Hales, RCMP ‘pambling and morality co-

..prdinator for Alberta, believes last weekend's Grey Cup game attracted more than $500,000 in illegal bets in Calgary and Edmonton.

That figure takes into account money bet only through bookmakers and excludes money wagered in small office pools.

‘But the figures are only estimates and Cpl. Hales says there are many book- makers with a small, af-

VANCOUVER (CP) — The once-exotic waterbed is on the move—both in sales and on the nation’s highways.

“We are selling waterbeds for fitting in campers and semilrailers,”’ says Brian Christoff, president of New World Design Industries of nearby Surrey.

The company, formed

‘three years ago, employs seven people manufacturing waterbeds in a plant in Rich- mond, another Vancouver suburb,

“Most of the customers who want a mobile waterbed already have one at home,” said Christoff. ‘They are so sold on the comfort and better sleep they get that they want to enjoy the benefits even when they're camping.”

More and more Canadians are rocked to sleep by the

WASHING TM api -- Presidem (citer any be havinw oserocd ax aughts croit oow “aep his pruvmseta ta: and other allies ta fis, a2 milhery

spon ing wext yeas.

Faced with oppusilion from traditional Democratic Supporters and criticism from within his ad- ministration, Carter ia trying to maintain as much fiexibility as possible on the defence issue.

His problem is how to fallaw iwo apparently sontradictery courses in driving up the 1990 budget 'n be presented to Congress ia January.

He is committed tv reduce government spending, to reduce inflation and. keep taxes Sovo. Bul he is aise

fluent and discreet clientele police never hear about. _ SSgt. Flake knows of well-

; high rollers betting

mom than $100,000 on the ts of a single sporting event.

Police in the province's two largest cities eay they know of 10 to 15 big-time bookmakers with any number of runners working for. them.

‘The profits are con- siderable.

“A bookmaker once told me a bookmaker takes approximately $10,000 a week in action,” says Insp. Chahley of dmonton’s morality squad. ‘Some would take more, some lees.””

Court evidence earlier this month revealed a grocery store owner made a profit of $8,000 in one day for taking bets on horse races in Calgary.

A client had told the man on a wiretapped telephone conversation: ‘“‘You are

going to be a millionaire before jong,”

Police say a _ bookie operating out of an Ed- monton restaurant was taking about $5,000 a day on football and hockey bets last winter.

S.Sgt. Flake says a Toronto bookmaker with only 15 clients had profits in excess of $1 million one year,

The profit margin is usually about 20 per cent more than the face value of losing wagers.

In a society where betting is so aceessible~-Alberta has

among -the most liberal gam-

‘bling laws in the country-—~ enforving : Criminal: :Code provisions on’ illegal gam- bling is not always a high priority with police.

Nabbing a bookie takes time and manpower. It in- volves expensive and thorough investigations requiring considerable ex- pertise by detectives.

“They (bookmakers) are very paranoid,”’ says Cpl.

NOT KINKY NOW

undulating motion of water contained in a plastic sack. The idea isn't new—the ancient Persians discovered the soporific advantages of water mattresses 3,000 years ago by sleeping on sealed goatskins filled with water.

Canadians are spending about $20 million annually, compared with about $8 million in 1975. Who buys water beds?

“At first people thought them gimmicky and we sold them to people in their late teens,’ said Christoff. ''But now the majority of buyers are in the midtwentles to early thirtles and mostly couples.”

About 50 per cent of the Canadian waterbed market is in British Columbia, said Christoff, because the idea moved up from California, where it originated.

There are heart-shaped waterbeds, round waterbeds eight feet in diameter, canopied waterbeds and, believe it or not, single waterbeds. And, says Christoff, “at one time people worried about being seasick, but experience has proved this fear to be a fantasy.”

There's also a hybrid—a combined plastic foam frame and mattress, with ordinary ticking all around, instead of the more con- ventional plastic mattress and plastic liner.”

A complete system, in- cluding mattress liner and electric heating, cosls about $250—just add water.

But, for 10 times that amount, there’s the phan- fom, imported from Ger- many and featuring an in- tegrated cocktail bar, a

CARTER FINDS © Miltiary commitments cost

commitied to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to increase defence spending by three per cent.

The NATO promise, made alter the 1977 London summit, contains two im- portant caveats which may eave room from a somewhat flexible interpretation of the

mse, . im

Firat, it specified th,’ 4 annual increase should be the region of three per cet not three per cent exaifilly. Second, the rise waa con- tingent on recognizing that in some countries economic circumstances will affect whal can be achieved,

The Washington Post says Carter told his budget- makers several weeks ago ta exempt the defence spending from any majer budget cuis

next year in order to keep his three per cent pledge.

Gn Monday, however, Carter iold mayors in Sl. Louis, Mu., that the defence

budget would not be “SECTOS. Ct. * Presidéiitial spokesman

Jody Powell said ister that although the U.S. is still committed to the general goal of a three-percent in- crease, it must be consistent with economic circtm- stances.

Analysts suggest that Carter may be farced to trim the increase af least slightly, if only to blunt oppcsition from Derverats who are infuriated al seeing tiefence spending increase while social programs gel caught in the budget squeeze.

Hales. ‘‘They’re a hard group of people to in- filtrate."

And penalties tend to be | stiffer in Eastern Canada.. -

8. Sgt. flake recalls a Mon- treal bookie who'was jailed six months, finedt'$30,000 uni had about $50,000 clseized! from a secret hiding. place in his residence in 1977. _

An Edmonton bookmaker «° who earns anywhere bet- ween $25,000 and $50,00) a year retains a $2,.00-a-day lawyer if charged, If he’s fined, he can afford it.

Before the advent of lot- teries and-‘more liberal laws

Puen =

‘licensing @Asinds in Aibetta;’ °

gaming experts suggested: : for every $10 bet legally at places like the pari-mutuel wicket, another $90 was funneling through book- makers or into gaming houses. :

S. Sgt. Flake says the ratio now is about 50-50, which means about §250 million is wagered illegally in the province each year,

stereo system, a swiveling television stand and more,

Leaks are rare, said Christoff, and if one does develop, the plastic liner contains any water that escapes from the mattress.

Apart from the comfort claimed by waterbed users, medical authorities have discovered therapeutic benefits. Waterbeds allow burn patients to He in relative comfort and bed- ridden patients to avoid bedsores.

Vancouver General Hospital has six waterbeds in its extended care wing and ‘one in the burn unit,

Christoff said there is another model being developed that has a

massage unit attached that -

moves in conjunction with the patient’s biorythym.

One White House official suggested Carter could meet his NATO commitment and appease his critics by boosting only the portion of the defence budget that affects NATO.

If this plan is followed, the tolal military spending would Increase only about 1,5 per cent about the $122 billian budget of 1979,

Supporters of this idea note that if would meet the country's international obligations and would also build conservalive support for a prospective arms limitation treaty with the So- viela.

White House officials are reported to be split on how practical, feasible and ac- ceplable this narrow in- terpretation would be.

~ OTTAWA OFFBEAT .

BY RICHARD JACKSON

OTTAWA The New Democrats just can’t get enough of the postal workers.

They're the strikecrazy union that everybody — even other sectors of organized labor — loves to hate.

But not the NDP.

The sociallsts showed again — as if it ever were necessary — just where they

stand, With the postal workers, right or wrong. - oe since the other side of the coin can only read one way — against the tax-

payers.

Alone in the Commons, the New Democrats talked — and voted — against the back-to-work legislation.

Then they wept tears of sympathy over the way the government was bullying the poor, put-upon postal workers, .

But that's par for the NDP course.

When you watch them and ‘listen to them over the years — they're consistent in their. contempt for-the taxpayers — you wonder how such well- respected MPs as Stanley Knowles and Max Saltzman can take it

It must be that the good, grey Knowles is so wrapped up in his life-long crusade far better pensions that he doesn’t notice the economic

idiocles of the NDP militants. Or if he is aware of them,

he must regard it as the price to be paid for con- tinuation of his platform- pulpit in Parliament.

: ‘inet al those years from his first eiection in 1942 tothe Commons to his present stature there as “the con- science of the House’, who

: gould imagine Stanley as a

member of anything but the NDP.

In more than one sense, the taxpayers — especially pensioners —- can thank God for Knowles, since he is one af the few. realiats among the tonothic’ mad hatters of his’ pa oe fied ee FO gk “

iy.

- Max Salizman — who has often been accused of being a closet Conservative and has denied it only with a laugh — is another quieting influence amid the militants.

Just look back over the NDP record, andits support of the Striking postal

rkers fits.

For instance, it was the NOP and its nutty “it’s only money" philosophy that supported and prospered from the Liberals’ crazy giveaway programs before threatening national bankruptcy forced the government into spending restraints,

Millions of dollars were flushed away in LIP, OF Y, Company of Young Canadians, and other grants since Trudeau came to power and it was frequently NDP-organized groups that lagooned it.

The NDP hip-hip-hurrahed every antl-business Trudeau move to nationalize industry through such big federal spenders as Petrocan and the Canada Development Corporation.

When the taxpayers almost’ caught up with deau if the 1972 election, cutting him down to minority size, it was the NDP who kept him in power and pushed through his splashy spending sprees in Parliament.

And now in these new days of Liberal restraint and gs-cent dollar, with Trudeatt in desperation cutting back en government spending waste and extravagance, it has been the NDP which berated him as a tightwad inflicting hardship on the helpless.

Ever hear of a helpless public servant?

Even know just one of the 5,000 who are supposed to be subtracted from the tax-

yers’ payroll! ah the country public debt has jumpedby more than §20 billion — that’s billion, 20 of them — in only the last two years.

Who cares?

Not the NDP for sure.

_ They're still urging bigger and” better government speiiding,’ and to heck with the deficit and the plunging dollar, to stimulate the slack economy,

It’s been tried, for the last 10 years by Trudeau, and it hasn’t worked — except in reverse. .

Vigilance is

Preventable childhood diseases, once thought to be conquered, are reappearing in numbers that are disturbing fo public health officers, pediatricians and family physicians.

The Committee “for Im- munization Action in Canada, representative of The Canadian Institute for Child Health, Canadian Pediatric Society, Canadian Medical Association, College of Family Physicians of Canada, Canadian Public Health Association, and Health and Welfare Canada, in collaboration with each Provincial Ministry of Health, are conducting an intensified public campaign to encourage parents to make sure their children are fully vaccinated.

“Often we find that people are unaware of the need for vaccination,” said Dr. Bryce Larke, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Alberta and chairman of the committee, ‘or they don't realize one or more of their children have not been fully vaccinated. Some parents pat off vaccination until the child is ready for school, leaving the child susceptible lo disease during those first few years of life when some of the diseases are most likely to strike,‘ and sometimes with the most devastating consequences.”

The campaign begins with the declaration of November as Immunization Action Month and the highlighting of protective immunization programs which {he | provinces maintain throughout the year.

Dr. Larke urged parents to have their children follow a full program of = im- munization on the schedulé set up by their doctor ar, public health department.

“All the advances in

what’s needed

knowledge we now have about vaccination are of no value unless people take the necessary shots and see that their children do, too,” Dr. Larke stressed,

Deaths of illnesses from infectious disease have declined by more than 9% percent since the turn of the century, but an estimated 20 percent of Canada’s infant and child population still does not enjoy the protection of full immunity from the major childhood diseases despite the programs and vaccines that are readily available in each province through the public health service or by physicians,

“Although weaknesses in immunization coverage may vary from province to province, perhaps because of the complacency of parents, an absolute minimum should be to:make sure all children have essential protection before they reach school age,” Dr. Larke stated.

“Children who have missed out on one of more of their vaccinations remain innocent targets for disease. It is for this reason, more than any other, that these preventable diseases are still with us. It is no longer necessary for children to fall victim to polio, measles and ihe other serious diseases for which vaccination is possible, Dr. Larke stressed. “But children still do fall prey to these diseases and will continue to do so until parenis become more diligent ‘about making sure that their children are fully vaccinated,”

He urged parents to check with their local health departments if they are doubtful about their children’s immunization

record, and to ask about the availability of vaccinations in their area,