ia: t om A, Re Misty’ s diacatincn owner Barry Williams admitted to any Rankin’s community services committee Monday that his bouncers kept baseball bats on the premises up to the week before. More than a hun- dred black people attended the meeting. Discos told to stop racist practices Vancouver disco club operators have been warned that if any fur- ther allegations of racism against the clubs are substantiated, they will lose their business licenses. That was the main recommenda- tion of alderman Harry Rankin’s community services committee Monday after the owners of two Hornby Street night clubs, Misty’s and Sugar Daddy’s, were called to respond to the documented charges of racism by Vancouver’ s Black community. The Black Solidarity Association With more than a hundred Blacks looking on, the club owners attemp- ted to evade the pointed questions of aldermen concerning the specific cases cited in the statements, but that the clubs were guilty of abuse, and that Black people were often the victims of it, was evident. “‘What we are specifically here to discuss is the denial to Blacks of their basic rights as citizens and to see that redress is obtained and justice is upheld — not just appear to be held, but in fact be upheld,’’ Black Solidarity Association presi- dent Delicia Crump told the com- Fred Wilson photo of the licenses be recommended. Rankin couldn’t convince the ma- jority of the committee, however, who agreed that the clubs were like- ly guilty of the charges, but voted to give them another chance before moving to revoke business licenses. The recommendation to bring the discos before a hearing to show cause why their licenses should not be revoked if any further cases of discrimination are reported will go to city council for approval February 13. Rankin’s committee is also recommending three other Statements. detailing how Blacks and several victims of racist abuse mittee. at the disco clubs had presented Rankin’s committee’ with committee, were being denied entrance to the clubs, and how any protest of the discrimination risked violence. 7 practices,”’ W hen 800 people jammed into Gladstone High School last week to protest the projected cuts in the school board budget, the message that went to school trustees was resounding: Rescind the cutbacks. Still there were one or two remote voices urging that the cost-cutting be carried out and among them — predic- tably — was that of the Vancouver Board of Trade which, presumably in an-attempt to cast its unpopular views in a more favorable light, billed itself as “representing small business. A later radio editorial added the plaint: ‘‘After all, it’s our tax money that is involved.’’ “‘Small’’ business, ‘‘our’’ tax money — it sounds good but it’s pure demagogery. The Board of Trade may pass itself off as the voice of small business, but the board of directors belies any such claim. The president, for example, is senior vice- president of Canadian National while the first vice- president is president and chief executive officer of the well-heeled firm of Pemberton Securities. Council members include such notables as Thomas Buell, presi- dent of Weldwood Canada and Gerald Hobbs, presi- dent of Cominco Ltd. which has such operations in the city of Vancouver as Western Canada Steel. Maybe ITT considers them ‘‘small’’ businesses but we certain- ly don’t. And when they talk about ‘“‘their’’ taxes, they’re not telling you about the taxes that they don’t pay, about the fact that industrial property is assessed at less than one-half the rate per square foot as residen- . tial property. They’re also not telling anyone about the tax goodies that they receive from the provincial govern- ment — the same provincial government that has cut back again and again on its share of education costs. * * * Ithough the inquisition being carried out by the Combines branch inside the Hotel Vancouver can only be ominous for the whole labor movement, there was one light moment last Monday when former B.C. Federation of Labor secretary Len Guy stepped into the hearing room to face the Combines interrogators. Guy told them that he found it incredibly ironic that he should be called before a hearing of the Restrictive Trade Practices Commission — the body which con- ducts the Combines hearings — since he was ‘‘only a nickel and dime operation. “You can hardly accuse me of restraining trade or fixing prices,’’ he quipped. The reference, of course, was to the small cigar and PACIF IC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 9, 1979—Page 2 “By their own evidence, and by their own evasiveness before this I believe these clubs have been guilty of Rankin said, proposing that at least temporary suspensions PEOPLE AND ISSUES ™ measures asked for by the Black Solidarity Association: that clubs be required to display all entrance requirements, that bouncers and managers wear visible name plates, and that people refused entrance be given explanations for their refusal. racist magazine store which Guy and his wife opened up in Langley after his resignation from the Federation post. Needless to say, the Combines people weren’t amused. * * * W e get a number of press releases in our offices every week from, the Downtown Eastside Residents Association — attesting to the work done by this active organization — but the one we received this Monday was rather different. It announced the,entry into the world of the 3,005th member of DERA, namely Leif Eric Davies Eriksen who was born February 3 to DERA vice-president Libby Davies and president Bruce Eriksen. Naturally, those at DERA added with some pride that Leif is the first third generation member of the organization since his grandfather Peter Davies was one of the founding members: of DERA along with Bruce Eriksen and still maintains contact even though he now lives in Toronto. * a * ‘hile he has been posted in Toronto, as a ‘representative of the United Steelworkers and as editor of the Canadian edition of the USWA paper, Steel News, the name of Ray Stevenson is one well known to many trade unionists in this province, par- ticularly those connected with the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union, now merged with the USWA. And although Stevenson has stepped down from his position in the union, his new appointment will be of no small importance to Canadians — and particularly those in the labor movement. At the end of last month he left to accept a post on the secretariat of the World Peace Council, the first time a representative of the Canadian affiliate, the Canadian Peace Congress has been so appointed and the first time a Canadian has served on the top leader- ship body. The position will take him to Helsinki, Finland, headquarters for the WPC but as he pointed out his work and that of the organization ‘‘is of major and equal importance to the working people of Canada and the world. “Fighting for peace is not only a fight for survival but is also a means of freeing money for more jobs in goods and services needed by working people everywhere’’, he said, adding, ‘‘the multinational cor- porations make their biggest profits from so-called ‘defence’ industries and have a heavy financial stake in keeping up war preparations and preventing a conver- sion to full peace time economy.” BVA backs down By KAREN DEAN Despite announced intentions of three trustees, all members of the right wing Burnaby Voters Associa- tion, to slash $1.4 million from the provisional Burnaby school board budget, a packed meeting Tuesday succeeded in reducing that figure to $221,309. Witnessed by standing room only crowds, the board debated possible cuts on two occasions this week with the first meeting Monday forc- ed to early adjournment when teachers, staff workers and parents filled the meeting room well beyond legal capacity and crowded into the hallway. The final meeting was moved to a school gymnasium which was also filled to capacity. The BVA trustees had insisted that the budget brought before the board was ‘‘padded’’ and charged the opposition Burnaby Citizens Association with ‘‘obstructing’’ the board from dealing with those areas which could be cut. BCA trustee Elsie Dean respond- ed that the budget was ‘‘adequate as it stands’”’ and challenged the BVA members to ‘‘state exactly where the padding is and what they would like cut.’ Her comments were echoed by another BCA trustee, June Williams, who demanded that the BVA trustees give exact figures as to how the pupil/teacher ratio ‘motion, Tt over budget cuts could be cut. The other BCA trustee and board vice-chairman Barry Jones also demanded that the BVA members be specific and stated, “‘I am not prepared to proceed unless I know what overall cutbacks the other members are considering.”’ The pressure for precise figures prompted the BVA to present a number of motions for cuts which, however, were lost as members could not agree among themselves. At one point, BVA trustee John Street proposed an upward adjust- ment of the pupil-teacher ratio — which would have cut $319,000 from the budget — but later withdrew his motion. The final figure which represents only a .51 percent reduction in the provisional budget, was reached after board chairman Gary Begin proposed an item-by-item vote. Although she was the one BVA. member to vote against the final insisting that just $1.4 could be cut and that ‘‘schools are not a social service’, Joanne Beamish admitted that she did not know how the budget had been established. She complained that as a new member, she was not in a position ‘‘to understand the budgeting procedure.”’ Board chairman Began proposed that a budget advisory committee be established to act as advisor to. the board, . VSB deaf to protests By DAVE LANE Despite the protests of over 600 parents and teachers who crammed into the small gymnasium at Sussex elementary school Monday, the NPA dominated school board finished the job it had begun last week by slashing over $2.1 million from the city’s education budget. Although they were not allowed to speak or present briefs, the capacity crowd which spilled’ over into a downstairs cafeteria, looked on in angered silence as the right_ wing majority of the school board rammed through another $1,295,375 in addition to the more than $800,000 that was stripped from the provisional budget the Monday before. This week’s cuts took a substantial slice off the operational and repair budgets and, according to officials, will result in a worsening of school conditions and in reduced services. A significant split in the NPA ranks widened further as ultra- conservative trustees Westlake, Hannay and Hebb refused to back off of any of the $2.9 million in cuts originally proposed, regardless of their impact. Westlake’s threat to resign if all the cuts did not pass proved to be hollow when, despite a considerable softening of cutbacks from public pressure, his resigna- tion was not forthcoming. TEAM trustees Fenwick and Robinson alone opposed all the cuts, but were effectively overruled by the NPA majority. When chairman Nathan Divinski totalled the budget cuts and the vote was taken, Betty-Ann Fenwick summed up the evening by saying that they ‘‘will be known as the board who said ‘Let them learn in the cold and dark without books.’ ”’ A public question period follow- ed but by that time the damage was done. Parents and teachers jumped to their feet to demand to know ex- actly what schools would be closed down and which teachers would be laid off. A representative from one small annex said that if they are told to close, the parents, teachers and students would fight it to the end. Confronted with the question of who the NPA was representing by its actions, Divinski said that they were elected ‘“‘by some fluke or another.’’ He was quickly reminded that only 37 percent of eligible voters voted in the last election, and of those only 40 percent voted NPA. Over 60 percent of the voters supported ‘‘program oriented’’ slates as opposed to the ‘‘cost cut- ting’ NPA slate. In the end, the cutbacks and the resulting massive public outcry also provided an effective smokescreen forthe NPA to ignore any inade- quacies in the provisional budget itself, a budget providing only the barest educational necessities which failed to make any attempt to deal with the important social issues fac- ing the education system. City shuts down Day office Continued from page 1 Darlene *Marzari called Little’s motion ‘‘shameful’’ for its attempt to avoid the principle involved in the program. The NPA didn’t like to hear the truth about discrimina- tion, she said, so they were ‘‘killing - the messenger.’” Twelve delegations appeared to support the program’s continua- tion, including the B.C. Federation of Labor, the Status of Women, B.C. Human Rights Commission, the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, and the Canadian Na- tional Institute for the Blind, Patricia Wilson, a citizen, told the council that a decision to kill the ‘program would be interpreted as an endorsement of the ‘‘campaign by the racists and bigots’’ against the program. If council failed to make a positive statement about equal op- portunities and killed the program, they would be ‘“‘tarred with the brush’’ of the bigots who had cam- paigned for that decision.