over THE EDGE

_ Poison Pen

The Edge: What’s Up With That!

Since this may very well be the last issue of Over The Edge, |
figured as my last tribute to a dying institution, I would fill you:
|in on what the Edge is and what it was intended to be.

| Over the Edge was ment to bea bi-monthly production of the
| Over the Edge Publishing Society . It was supposed to provide a
means for students to voice their opinions, thoughts and feelings.
In fact as long as it wasn’t libelous, racist, sexist, homophobic,
‘or in just exceptionally poor taste, the paper had every intention
‘of printing your submissions. As well we provided advertising,
lat a fee, to local businesses in Prince George and the
‘surrounding area in order to pay for publication until the student
-association was formed. And that is about it:

That brings us to what the edge really is: a student run.
Inewspaper that few students really care about enough to do
anything with. It’s obvious that no one wants a student
{newspaper badly enough to sacrifice some time to get it out.
This brings to mind a quote gone cliché, “No man is an Island”.
‘This has never been truer than with the Edge. ONE PERSON
JUST CAN’T DO IT! Five people can’t do it! It has to be a
team of people. There has to be section editors with a relyable
writing staff, The Copy editor needs a typing staff, and the
production coordinator needs a reliable assistant, as. well as
people to get the paper ready for the press. Besides that we need
an advertising ‘staff to bring in money to pay for “publication.
But most of all DEAD LINES HAVE TO BE MADE. None 2

by Jan Lorenz

This holiday season it seemed
that the whole world had
onspired to piss me off. From
the snow-choked passing lanes
n the highway to the jerk that
stole my running shoes on New
Years’ Eve, I saw a lot that just
plain made me mad. But there
was one thing that made me
- more angry than all the rest.

As I drove by an
abortion clinic, I stared out my
car window at about thirty to
forty protesters surrounding a
young woman trying to enter the
clinic. The woman, or perhaps
‘girl’ is closer to the truth, was
crying as she tried to push her
way past the protesters. The men
and women who gathered around
her were blocking her way,
yelling things like ‘murdering
bitch’ and ‘you will rot in hell
for this’. As I watched the
shameful demonstration from my
car, the first urge I had was to
slam on the brakes and swing the
car around to slam full force into
the whole group of born-again
fanatics. Since I have a strong
aversion to prison, and because
in most cases I am a non-violent
person, I resisted my first urge. I
simply watched in horror as the
girl was harassed and persecuted
by the crowd. Finally, some sort
of guard helped her inside.

I don’t want to get into
the whole debate about whether
abortion is right or wrong. It has
been discussed to death. My
own personal feeling is that
abortion is distasteful and should
never be used as a repetitive
form of birth control. Abortion
is a charged issue, and though I
can understand why there are
strong opinions on both sides of

our editorial staff was left and no one wanted to fill i in. te empty
places. So while we had volunteers and some interest, one
person was doing everything. This is a mission. impossible that
|shouldn’t ever have been asked of one person. After all past
euperionve had a ready preven five ae coulatt t do the pe

edge i is her fault. Or is it.
HAS you oe tell ose is not tthe normal editorial, oe since it is

ing to pur another j issue ae
ally. did anyiiing, or on ~ ou left has

wages,and no wages eqi Dee Nou have read and
enjoyed the paper at. sometime or another, but did you ever stop.
to think that the: pulp in. your hands actually cost us money,
time and effort to put out, | didn’t think so, If you as a
-student body had, you. would have shows some. sort: of
appreciation or maybe even helped out a little. So as far as this
editor is concerned the Edge i is Dead. If you want to resurrect it
BE MY. GUEST. I ae = you neve a lot of friends and

marched |
mayor's residence

Hill
Hamilton - 1500 protested

soe on cde 28.
For more ‘info about
ourselves please Ce all 564-

Vancouver -
downtown area

St. John’s.- 5000 rallied and marched in protest
Halifax - 1500 marched in protest
Fredericton - 50 to 100 manned picket lines
Montreal - 10 000 to 15 000 picketed and

Toronto - 10 000 to 15 000 marched to the

Ottawa - 1000 to 2000: marched on Parliaenent

Winnipeg - 3500 marched and picketed
Edmonton - 250 to 300 rallied

Regina - 700+ attended picket lines
Victoria - 5000 gathered in a rally

1500 to 2000

- Wednesday, February 8, 1995 3

the fence, I can’t understand the
harassment.

As far as I am
concerned, these religious zealots
were engaged in a hate crime.
Intimidating and harassing
women that want to enter an
abortion clinic is just as surely a
crime of hate as when Nazis
shout slurs outside of a
synagogue or Chinese temple.
That is exactly what these born-
again bullies were doing. They
were promoting and preaching
hate and intolerance. They were
also extremely offensive.
Anyone who doubts that this
preaching oof hatred is
detrimental has only to look at
the recent shootings of abortion
doctors and the bombing of
clinics across North America.
Most recently, anti-abortion
organizers are handing out lists
with doctors’ names, addresses
and phone numbers to as many
deranged madmen as they can.
Once these lists are in general

- circulation, I expect at the very

least that these doctors will
receive an endless amount of
threatening phone calls, and, at

the worst, an anti-abortion
fanatic will shoot them.
What would these

people have the government do,
anyway? Maybe they would
prefer that we throw young
mothers who seek abortions in
the already over-crowded
prisons? Maybe they would
prefer that teens get unsafe
abortions in dirty rooms,
possibly maiming or killing
them? Perhaps they would
prefer laws like they have in
Ireland which not only prohibit
abortion, but also make it illegal
to go outside the country to have
the procedure done? I am not
sure what they want, but if they
want something done, let them
go through the government for
change just like everybody else.

Number of students protesting in
major Canadian cities on Jan 25th.

ie Keating with the help of
rsity Press, 2

Compiled by Lor
(Canadian Unive

rallied in the

HAPPY ST.VALENTINE'S DAY