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Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 14, 198

The intricacies of ©

Christmas philosophy ff

Com me n t ar 'Y —— by Stephanie Wiebe

Christmas — Bah Humbug!
Every Christmas I swear I’m
going to start in January, mak-
ing wonderful homemade gifts
throughout the year, to have a
stockpile of these fantastic —
creations ready next December.
And every year I just don’t get
around to. it,

It’s ‘a great idea, Hand-
knitted sweaters, home-sewn
crafts, made with love and
Christmas in mind. But instead
here I am running into K-Mart,
buying Barbie cars and Lego
people. In this family, wool
and fabric are what dreams are
made of; Mattel is real life.

Every year people say that
Christmas is too commercial,
kids are spoiled; adults are too
greedy. Perhaps there’s some
truth in that, but there’s still
some magic in our 1980's
Christmas. Santa still brings °
the gifts, they just happen to
be made of plastic and acrylic
fur,

When you connect the gift-
giving to the birth of Baby
Jesus and Santa Claus, even a
Ghostbuster toy oozing green
slime can seem meaningful to a
six-year-old. But explain how.
the exchange of presents sym-
bolizes the birthday celebration
of Jesus to a four-year-old, and
the resulting look of intense

-confusion is priceless. (Of.

course, Baby Jesus would love
to have a “Perfume Pretty Bar-
bie’’, but 1 get to keep it in:
stead?), There’s a minimum
age requirement for under-
standing our 1980’s commer-
cialized meaningful Christmas.
You know they’ve got the

spirit of Christmas when they
use three dollars worth of

. wrapping paper to wrap a milk-

carton-paper-mache-and~
toothpick Nativity scene for
Daddy. Or how about a
painted, carved Ivory soap or-
nament for Mommy? The basic
idea of ‘‘giving’’ is getting in
there. oe

I once saw a beautiful
porcelain statue of Santa kneel-
ing down to worship Baby
Jesus. It cost forty-five dollars,
which I didn’t have, but I'll
never forget the idea it
represented. You can combine
our modern commercialized
holiday with the traditional
Christmas sentiments. I wanted
to buy that statue, just to
prove that point.

Maybe next year Hasbro will
come.out with a plastic model.

A recent joint effort by the local Lions club and Terrace Esso, with the help of business peo-
ple and civic officials, raised $169 for Timmy’s Christmas Telethon. The annual “Thankful
Tankfull” fundraiser sold nearly 8,500 liters of gas in one day, with two cents from each liter

setter, Clg te Saag hy ire AES

sold donated to the Telethon. An additional $227 was raised through the sale of raffle »
tickets. Shown here putting in time at the pumps is Bob Marcellin, with Terrace Esso pro- |
prietor Tony Vincenzi doing window-washing duties behind the car.

Police stats show more drunk drivers this year

The Terrace RCMP, along
with several other community-
based organizations, has began
the annual intensive campaign
to get drunks out from behind
the wheel and make local streets
and highways safer during the
holidays. ee

This year the Christmas
CounterAttack program will
also include participation by the
Caledonia Senior Secondary
Students Against Drunk Driving
organization, the Thornhill Jun-
ior Secondary School Counter-
Attack group and ICBC. The
Skeena Mall will also provide
space for a wrecked vehicle to be
displayed as a reminder for local
motorists to drive carefully.

Terrace students take

- Terrace students took top spot
in, both the junior and senior
divisions of the second annual
B.C. Automobile Association-
ICBC Public Speaking contest
held during the CounterAttack
youth conference ‘‘Wheels to
Awareness’’ in Terrace Nov. 18
and 19, Adrian Balatti, a Grade
10 Thornhill Junior Secondary
student, won a $100 cash bur-
sary and an engraved plaque for
his performance and Rose
Lenser, a Grade 12 Caledonia
Senior Secondary student, won a
$250 cash bursary and a plaque,
CounterAttack youth con-
ferences were held in nine B.C.
centers this month and a
separate competition was held at
each.
~ “Speak Out and Save Lives”
_was the theme of this year’s con-

“test, where participants spoke

before a panel of community
leaders, police officers and

‘representatives of ICBC and
_ BCAA. Each’ was required to

give a five-minute talk. that

- focused on solutions to traffic
_ ‘safety problems. They were
marked ‘on their ‘organization,

effectiveness and stage presence.

_© Second and third place -rib-
bons in the junior. division were
=won: by: Mike Witherly and

_. top speaking awards

Prince Rupert, and in the senior
category Nicki Swift from
Smithers and Polly Kainth of
Prince Rupert won the ribbons.

Prior to announcing the win-
ners, BCAA Public Relations

Manager David Baker explained ©

that the purpose of the competi-
tion was to give teens the op-
portunity to learn the art of
public speaking because this
would “help set them apart
from their peers as true
leaders’,

SERVICES

No driveway or
parking lot is too
big or too small for
North Coast Road
Maintenance Ltd.
Phone 638-8300
or apply at
4544 Lakelse Ave.,
Terrace, B.C.

Despite continuing public ef-
forts to bring attention to the
various consequences of drink-

‘ing and driving, authorities face

an uphill struggle in their cam-
paign. Figures provided by Ter-
race RCMP crime prevention
officer Cst. Ewen Harvie show
that in 1987, 214 Terrace-area
drivers were charged with im-
paired driving-related offenses,
but so far this year over 280

‘similar charges have been-laid.
On a province-wide basis,

however, alcohol-related: traffic

If you wish to announce) L
the birth of YOUR baby, please fill out the form Xe:
available in the maternity ward at Mills Memorial
Hospital. We will pick up your forms every week.

accidents have been reduced by
about 50 percent since the

CounterAttack program began -

ll years ago. ©

The strain put on a number of
provincial systems is still. stag-
gering: one-third of the. people
occupying B.C. jails are there
for drunk driving and one-third
of all the cases heard in provin-
cial court are related to the same
offense. Total cost in terms of
enforcement, court time and
medical services is about $130
million annually. ICBC pays out

$60 million a year to repair the

associated damage.
The CounterAttack program
of roadblocks and public educa-

tion started last week and con- —

tinues until Jan. 8.

| CHRISTMAS
COUNTERATIACK

Iw)

POLICE ROADCHECKS
DECEMBER BTH - JANUARY 3AD-

oz

SJAGODA —. Michael and Rebecca are the proud parents of
: Shaun Johnathan, born December 6, 1988 weighing 7 Ibs.

SCHOENFELD —.A sister is born to Sabrina and Laeticia:
- Mercedes Ursula, 8 Ibs. 8 0z. (3840 g) on December 2, 1988 at
§:52.a.m. The help from Dr. Brown, Marianne Brorup-Weston,
our coach, and ‘Alice and Jackie (the nurses during labour) was

very much appreciated. A big

and Joe.

of LA CARTE

Membor of AES Wire Service

Skeena Mall

thank you to them from Cecile

Photo by Sarah Cromarty

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