A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 15, 1998 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net A good note JUST WHEN you think it’s safe to whack, slash, hack and burn your way through a public sector budget to meet some kind of financial restraint, along comes a guy like Dennis Tupman. Now retired, Mr. Tupman was for years head of the Vancouver school district’s music program. He was here recently as an adjudicator for the Pacif- ic Northwest Music Festival. In addition to his serious duties as an ad- judicator, Mr. Tupman was able to play the role of philosopher and thinker on the value that music provides to a person’s development. Not surprising, Mr. Tupman is all in favour of music but his reasoning is sound and logical. The history of key words in the English lan- ‘guage and their meaning, says Mr. Tupman, is rooted in the art of hearing. But unfortunately modern life has carved off the art of hearing in favour of a major emphasis on the eye. A cornerstone of Mr. Tupman’s philosophy are a stack of studies all indicating that music pro- vides a fundamental knowledge and _ training which translates into doing well in other areas, That’s why Mr. Tupman feels it’s a shame that music programs are the first to be cut when school districts run into financial trouble. ‘‘To remove music from our daily human experience at any age is to handicap us,’’ he says. Even more telling is Mr. Tupman’s contention that the wholesale rush to embrace computers comes at the expense of music education. There’s nothing like listening to the blues after crashing the hard drive of a computer. Bad boy Paul THE DISGRACE of Liberal MLA Paul Reitsma for writing bogus letters about himself and his ‘opponents would seem like a clear-cut situation to use recall legislation. Unlike the cases of Helmut Giesbrecht and Paul Ramsey, Mr. Reitsma’s opponents are not simply opposing partisans. Rather than the more subjec- tive and slippery accusation of poor per- formance, Reitsma’s conduct was indisputably dishonourable. And great numbers of his Parksville constituency agree he should be punted out of office. Even in Mr. Reitsma’s case, however, the pos- sible use of recall brings with it an unsavoury odour, One of the shamed MLA’s first public comments was to actually suggest the use of recall against himself. Clearly what should happen is that politicians in situations such as Mr. Reitsma — and any others who lie, cheat, steal or grossly dishonour their office — should resign. That is what honour demands and even the dis- graced should seek to find a shred of honour in their exit, rather than choose to be dragged out kicking and screaming. Continuing to wave around recall as the magic wand that will somehow make our politicians more honest seems increasingly misguided. It treats them like children, with the expectation that they’ll end up crooked. And if that’s what we expect, that could well be what we’ll get. a PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS JIcff Nagel « NEWS SPORTS: Dave Taylor NEWS COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros TELEMARKETER: Patricia Schubrink ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Kelly Jean TYPESETTING: Sylyana Broman DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunette SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $56.18 per year; Seniors $49.76; Out of Province $63.13 Outside of Canada (6 months) $155.15 (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF B.C. ANO YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION os AND @ cna comment Nrenvarin B.C. PRESS COUNCIL Shane al een ire Serving tha Tartace and Thornhit! area. Published on Wednesday of each weak at 3210 Clinton Street, Tanace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2, Stories, photographs, itustatlans, designs and typestyles in tha Tertace Standard ara the properly of the copyright haktars, ticluding Cariboo Prass (1968) Lid., Ks illustration repro services and advertising 05. Reproduction in whole of in part, wihoul written permission, Is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Posl Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all aur contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents Yer oe a ie aan mie A oot a mat ag RS Steet) \. . 3) t i! An incredibly dumb thing VICTORIA — Just about the only thing left to find out about Paul Reitsma’s penchant for writing phoney letters lies probably in his early school years in his native Holland. If we dig deep enough, some school teacher is bound to tell us (hat young Master Reitsma was in the babit of writing notes under the signature of his mother, telling the school what a brightlad he was. This bugus-letter thing has certainly mushroomed. First aur esteemed MLA from Parksville-Qualicum gels caught writing a letter to the Parksville Morming Sun under the signature of one Warren Pateuko, who doesn’t exist, The letter kicks the hell out of Jan Pullinger, the NDP MLA of the neighbouring riding of Cowichan-Malahat and sings the praises of himself. Caught and cornered, he lies about il, triggering one the most succinct headlines I've ever read; “Our MLA Paul Reitsma is a liar and we can prove it.’ Now that’s gutsy journalism, Asked by reporters if he has cver written phoney letters be- fore, old Paul scratches his head, thinks for a moment and says: “Not to my knowledge, [ FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER don’t think so.’’? Hey, I don’t remember everything cither, Unfortunately, the same day, those pesky reporters find out \hat he has written at least an- other 10 letters under assumed names, all slamming political opponents. Forgetful Paul has no choice but to fess up to those letters, too. Now, I thought that would surely be the end. How wrong I was. There are people com- ing out of the woodwork who were the targets of letters writ- ten by Reitsma under phoney names, all the way back to 1985, The latest to came forward is fonmer Parksville councillor Dean Hustwick. According to Hustwick, his family started receiving lIctters from nou- existing people just before his father Allen defeated Reitsma in the 1985 mayoralty campaign. Hustwick says other people started getting similar letters. Newspapers were flooded with them. The handwriting was al- ways the same. It went on for years after the election. When Hustwick was elected to Parksville council, along with Reitsma, he started to receive fake letters. In the late 1980s, Hustwick and his dad look three Ietlers to the RCMP, asking them to finger-print them. At first, the RCMP agreed, then dragged their feet. Hustwick and his father kept - . up the. pressure, going ali the way up to the assistant depuly attorney general, They gol nowhere because it was delennined that it was no crime to impersonate some- body that doesn’t exist. Tt must have been his vic- tims’ failure to stop him legal- ly that prompted Reitsma. to brazenly forge on and continue writing phoney letters, atiack- ing his perceived enemies and praising himself, until he got caught by someone who proved, once again, that the pen is mightier than the sword. And here he is, disgraced, kicked out of the Liberal caucus, his political career in ruins, his family shamed, his life in shambles, And all for what? For the sake of what he thought was power. There is something very wrong with Reitsma, He needs serious counselling. Nobody in his right mind would resoxt to such unimaginative and stupid methods to further their politi- cal career, . The final act in the Reitsma drama will play out over the next few months, as the recall] process unfolds. It will be the first time recall legislation is used for the purposes it was in- tended. -.A last thought: [’ve tried to find out if anyone feels the slightest bit sorry for Reitsma. I found no-one. Some tell me lbey feel sorry for his family, which makes them even mad- der at Reitsma because it is he who put his family in that posi- tion, And yet, is compassion to be confined to the innocent? Reyer can be reached at: Tel: (250) 920-9300; Fax: (250) 356-9597; E-mail: hubert@coolcom.cam Take a bite out of disease OUR LACK of universal den- tal care is costing us big Medicare doliars. Only employees — lucky enough lo belong to a union enjoy the luxury of routine dental checkups and treatment. But skipping semi-annual checkups and cleaning can result in periodontal disease. Gum disease. Gum disease is an infection caused by plaque, Plaque be- gins when bits of food are trapped around the teeth. The food becomes infected with bacteria where the gum meets the teeth. If the plaque isn’t removed every day by brush- ing and flossing, it can harden into deposits called calculus. Calculus can be removed only by professional cleaning in a dentai office. Calculus causes the gum to pull away front the tooth, leaving pockets that can fill up with more food debris and bacteria. mm GAWD! THEIR me GEAR BELLS Bae ARE DRIVING my ME NUTS!! ‘THROUGH. BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI At first gums become red, tender, swallen, and may bleed when teeth are brushed of flossed. Eventually the jaw- bone deteriorates, tecth loosen, and may fall out. ‘Periodontal disease may be a significant health hazard to more than just your gums,’’ according to a medical report In McCall’s magazine April 1997. *‘Scientists think that va-od! BEAR DUN(s! BUT ) NOT GRIZZLN: people with a severe periodon- tal infection may be at in- creased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and giving birth to low-weight, premature babies.”’ A report August 19, 1997 by BCTY said: ‘Gum disease is a silent killer. Infection causes extra fibrinogen and white cells in the blood. In turn, these increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.” We know the problems that follow diabetes — blindness, amputation of feet or legs due to poor circulation and im- paired recovery from infec- tions. (An estimated 40 percent of Inuit suffer from diabetes.) Think of folks whose lives are restricted by heart disease. Unable to work or to recreate as they'd like, One low-weight, premature baby can easily cost healthcare half a million dollars for hospi- lalization, specialized care and (SECAUSE IT AIN'T GOT BEAR BELLS Init?! treatment until well enough to go home from hospital. Old people who lack their own teeth or comfortable den- tures eat poorly, further hasten- ing decline of their health. In this age of advanced techni- ques and painless dentistry, anyone who can afford dental care shouldn’t lose their own teeth, Babies, too, may have dental deterioration unsuspected by parents. These babies show a failure to thrive, choosing slow starvation over the pain of eating. A year ago I woke one Satur- day with what feit like a gaso- line fire raging along one jaw. By next morning 1 had to phone my dentist. He x-rayed and diagnosed an abscess. A root canal ended months of headaches; I've had only two headaches since. Universal dental care could save Medicare. S(GH! I STILL HEAR Er $0 L GUESS THAT ONE Dipw'T WORK.