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C4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 23, 2005

MARGARET SPEIRS

SKEENA ANGLER

_ROB BROWN _

“Ultra. -right sizing

Jot of people, must have been vexed and

“Canadian Broadcasting. Corporation

least tainted by spin, and puzzled when it became
clear that the actions of the CBC brass appeared to

“be jdentical to those of union-busting private.cor- -
_ porations everywhere. i
The CBC is most emphatically. public. In this

age of privately owned: media conglomerates spew-
ing ideologically driven news, the role of the pub-

- lic’s broadcaster is vital to the country’s democratic
‘health and the maintenance of its cultural identity.
To compromise that in the name of fiscal restraint,
is unconscionable. .

The downsizing of government services is sall the

rage i in-North America. It’s a phenomenon that has

been aggressively promoted by governments who

dislike the institution of government and compro-
_ mise its real role, namely to serve all of us as well .
and efficiently as possible.
The places where govérmments work best are.

easy to find. They are the countries with the most
egalitarian governments and highest standard of
living on the globe. All of them put a premium on
education and health care, have large governments
and pay high taxes.

Our Liberals, federal and provincial, have taken
the cutback route, and we’re all feeling it in the form
of.long lineups for medical treatment, inadequate
highway maintenance, congested classrooms, over
and badly logged forests and, lately, in the child
care crisis that, despite the recommendations. of

~ the Gove Commission, saw the government close

the Children’s Commission with the result that the
deaths of hundreds of children, some preventable,
have gone uninvestigated.

The Fisheries division of the Ministry of the En-

vironment is an egregious example of provincial
government downsizing. The zany right wing gov- ©

ernments that have been in power for so much of

“ this province’s history have always looked on the
‘Ministry of the Environment as an impediment to
business. There is always some red or blue listed

species getting in the way of resource extraction,

‘always a fish bearing stream hindering the orderly
- extraction of road building materials or fouling a

real estate developer’s dream of riches. Campbell's
clan would love to be rid of them.
The problem is the public, according to poll after

poll, puts a high value on the wilderness, is proud —
_ of the province’s parks, and shares a common sense

concern for environmental health.
Unable to shed themselves of this irritating min-

"istry, the Liberal politburo has removed some of its
' vital organs and given it a frontal lobotomy.

The way this was done is instructive.

Newly installed in their first term with not a
shred of opposition, the Libs proceeded to reward
senior mandarins with raises then charged them
with pointing a finger to where cuts in their minis-

. tries should be made. -

-Offices were closed. Personnel were shifted from

_ one department to another. Staff was cut. The muti-

lated remains of what we used to call MOE was re-

‘named Water, Land and Air Protection, though, in

its emasculated form, the new and improved minis-

‘try had been rendered all but incapable of doing an

adequate job of protecting water, land or air.
_ Just to make doubly sure that this would be the

case, internal memos were circulated, making it.
clear to the remaining ‘staff that their job was not .
‘to be an obstacle to industry. How a scientist was ©
“supposed to live up to the ethical demands of the

profession and not flag the impacts of industrial de-
velopment was not made clear.

All of this cutting was made under the pretext
of taking care of a deficit left by New Democrats,
which we all now know didn’t exist.

What’s left? The fisheries division of the Min-
istry of Environment, for example, was always un-
derstaffed and lacking resources. Now there’s just
a skeleton crew overseeing the many concerns sur-
rounding fish and fisheries.

The offices of the conservation officers i in Ha-
zelton and Houston were closed. Where there were
two officers riding shotgun over the massive, heav-
ily hunted territory around Dease Lake, there is
now one. One officer is charged with all the bear
problems from Haida Gwaii to Hazelton (while do-
ing his other duties). And, there are three fisheries

biologists in Skeena taking care of an area that en-

compasses fully a third of the province.

“Our objective,” trumpets Campbell, “is to lead
the world in sustainable environmental manage-
ment with the best air and water quality and the best
fisheries management, bar none.”

I wonder how he hopes to achieve this?

- usual

puzzled when the management ofthe .

went on strike. and. locked out its’ em-
‘ployees: vexed because the news coverage by the
public broadcaster — though it has its soft-headed
and weak-kneed.moments — is still the news outlet »

By
- MARGARET SPEIRS
IT WAS a long time coming
but the Terrace River Kings
finally iced the Kitimat Ice
Demons 3-1 in front of a

nearly sold out crowd of .

cheering fans Nov. 17.

The Thursday evening |

epic saw the Ice Demons
play more slowly than their

and-score games against our

- local heroes.

The. game remained
scoreless throughout the

. first, with. both teams only
receiving a couple of 1 minor :
penalties.

Both » Squads came out

_ ready to score in the second

period.
~ River King Terry Zapor-
zan opened the scoring at the

_ 15:34 mark.

‘Mario: Desjardins added
another tally at 6:37.

Kitimat finally broke their
silence when Blaine Mark-
wart notched one in the dy-
ing minutes of the second. °

Andy McCleary scored

. his first goal in the last min-
‘ute of the second, making
the score 3-1 and closing the

door on Kitimat. °

He was “stoked,” saying .
- he watched the soft passes
- Kitimat kept moving across
~ the ice, preparing for his

chance.

“We're — sure “fying.
We’ ve got to keep it going,”
he said, outside the dressing
room during the second in-
termission.

“Kitimat i is ‘a good te team...

You can’t count them out

— ever. We’ve got to keep ~

our wits about us.”

He returned to the dress-
ing room saying the River
Kings would have to come
out flying in the third to keep
up with Kitimat.

. The third remained score-
less, but not for a lack of try-
ing.

The River Kings took

~ several penalties that placed

them on their heels, con-
stantly defending the net
from the Ice Demons’ per-

- sistent attempts to score.

Bumy Carlsen made

ease-down-the-ice- |

TERRACE STANDARD

some far-reaching saves

~ literally.

A Kitimat shot to the

top comer missed thanks

-to Carlsen’s acrobatic high

stretch for it.
The River Kings bent but

did not break during a series .
‘of penalty kills.

‘Carlsen. made several
spectacular Saves, : covering

up and catching one in his

glove. a
With 3:23 remaining in

the game, Jaime Moran left.

the Kitimat net for the extra
man.
Two scoring attempts on

‘shots halfway down the ice

from Desjardins and Rich

Claire narrowly missed the :
‘posts.

The “River Kings cele-
brated in the dressing room.
with a lot of high-fives and

words of praise for Carlsen ©

and McCleary.

“Bumy stood on his
head,” said McCleary, add-
ing Carlsen could be cred-
ited with Terrace’s victory.

. He believes the team’s
better conditioning _ this
year helped them keep up

throughout the game with- |
out tiring in the third petiod .

like last season.
Carlsen rejoiced in the
victory.

_ “Hats off:to the fans, "he .
said.
He credited the defensive

players and forwards with
playing solidly, noting Mc-
Cleary as a little guy with a
big heart.

“He makes us proud for
sure,” he said.

Coach
was caught smiling after the
game, a definite first.

“T’ll tell you the truth: the
biggest goal of the game was
Andy’s,” he said, adding
that being up by two goals is
a huge difference than lead-
ing by only one goal.

“Burny played a wonder-
ful game,” he said.

“Andy and Nate (McNa-
mara) and Ryan (Muldoe)
played great, so. much en-
ergy and young legs, fast
on the puck. The rest of the
team feeds off it.”

JENNA PAVAO, left, and Rayven Algor took top spots
in out-of-town skating competitions last month. Pavao
won gold in the Senior Bronze Dance event at Vander-
hoof’s Williston Skate. Algor swept the Junior Bronze
Ladies Freeskate at the Northern B.C. Winter. Games
skate offs in Kitimat to secure herself a place on the

team. -

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Skaters snag

many medals

CONTRIBUTED |

THE TERRACE Skating Club rocked the ice at the

Williston Skate in Vanderhoof Oct. 28 to 30.
Nineteen. Terrace Skating club athletes entered 74

— events, winning medals in 42 events and taking home

15 ribbons given for fourth to sixth place.

Club coaches Jennifer Kuehne and Barb Kubik were
pleased with the results of the competition.

“We have noticed some changes that need to be
made and where we need to focus most of our time

' before the regional competition,”

that most skaters are aiming toward qualifying so they

can attend Pacific Skate, Star Skate Provincials, the

non-competitive championship.
The club’s two competitive stream skaters, Jacque-
line and Julianne Lenuik competed at the B.C. Sub-

Sectionals and Sectional Championships,

in Prince

George. Jacqueline placed tenth.
Tur to the scoreboard to see the skating club's results

from the Williston Skate.

Trevor Hendry.

hard.

said Kuehne, adding"

whe.

BURNY CARLSEN, Stellar in goal, celebrates the River Kings 3-1 victory over the

638-7283

Ice Demons at the Terrace Arena Nov. 17. The victory marked the first time the
team has beaten its Kitimat rivals.

DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO

The River Kings’ first
win against Kitimat was a
fantastic way to start the sec-
ond half of the season.

“T couldn’t- be more proud

. of the guys,” Hendry said.

“Everybody pulled their

weight. Damn, I’m happy.”

The win helped maintain
the River Kings first place

spot in the league. .
Next up, the River Kings

_ fish for Steelheads when

Smithers. visits for two
games Dec. 3 and 4,

Rockin’ road trip

Two out of three ain't bad for Terrace”

By, MARGARET SPEIRS.
THE RIVER KINGS
‘scored a near perfect road
trip, winning two of three
games.

Our local boys hunted
and killed the Moose in
Mackenzie 5-2 and 6-4 over
the Nov. 12 weekend.

The previous week they
angled for the Steelheads in

Smithers and came up witha .

four-all tie.

“Team manager Kevin

Fletcher said the Mackenzie
trip rocked.

“To go on the road to.
Mackenzie and steal four
points is huge,” he said..

“The guys Played really

- So. hard ~ that: Ivan
Laschenko sustained a bro-

ken collarbone, knocking ©

him out of the lineup for a
few games. _

Both meetings were short.
on penalties, leaving room

for the players: to do their.

job.
. “They were really good
games to watch,” Fletcher
said.

Troy Kaye, Darcy Alli-
son, Troy Farkvam, Mario

- Desjardins, Richie Rogers,

Ivan Laschenko, Trevor
Shannon, Howie O’Brien
and Terry Zaporzan scored
for the Kings.

Fletcher said netminders
Bumy Carlsen and Craig
Walsh made some key
saves,

The team showed some
great forechecking, shutting

TERRY ZAPORZAN moves in to score during the River
Kings game in Mackenzie Nov. 12. Terrace swept the
double header against the Moose 5-2 and 6-4.

RIVER KINGS WEBSITE PHOTO

down Mackenzie’s number
one goal getter, centre Jerry
Bessette.

The previous weekend,
the River Kings alternated
scoring with the Steelheads.

Richie Rogers netted
Terrace’s first goal at. 7:40
inthe first...

Steelhead Darryl Young
tied the game at one in the
waning seconds of the first.

Ryan Muldoe banged
in the River Kings’ second
goal about five minutes into
the second period. '

At the halfway point of
the second, Steelhead Mitch
Marshall tied the game at 2-
2.

Rogers netted his second
in the last six minutes of the

second to make it 3-2 River
Kings..

Cody Brown evened the
score for the Steelheads to

. “Togo on the road
to Mackenzie and

‘Steal four points is

huge,”
-~Kevin Fletcher

end the second.

Mario Desjardins gave
the River Kings the lead for
the third time with 13:35 re-
maining.

Dan Dykens ended Ter-
race’s chance at victory to
end it 4-4,