_ A4-The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 8, 1994
TERRACE.

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 188
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432
MODEM: 638-7247

In control

ASK. A police officer and they will tell you the
most frightening and potentially dangerous situa-
tion to deal with is that of an intoxicated or
drugged out person who is waving a firearm or
some other weapon.

Too often it seems such behaviour is explained,
if not excused, because a person under the in-
fluence of alcohol or drugs is considered not to
be in a rational state of mind. In other words, ifa
person is too drunk or too stoned to realize what
they are doing, they can’t be held accountable.
When that happens, it’s terribly wrong.

The foundation of any person’s actions in deal-
ing with the rest of society must be personal re-
sponsibility for what they do. People who drink
or take drugs and then commit crimes or do
stupid things should not be allowed a free ride
through the justice system. Their first decision
——- the one to drink or to take drugs — should
form the basis of any legal consequence because
it governed everything that happened afterward.

Indeed, it may be not to out of hand to suggest
there be a new kind of criminal offence. The
charge would be possessing a firearm while
being intoxicated or stoned. The double danger
of mind altering substances and guns is too dead-
ly a circumstance not to have special attention
paid to it.

The law already provides for a charge should an
intoxicated person be found in the care and con-
trol of a motor vehicle, It does not matter that the
vehicle is not in motion with the person behind
the wheel. The idea is that responsibility reigns
supreme. It seems strange that this kind of ac-
tivity is a criminal offence but one involving
guns is not.

To be sure, the law now makes a difference be-
_ tween specific and general intent of persons who
do" thitigs under the influence of alcohol and
drugs. Yet intent is a moving target, one that can
at times be stretched to fit certain situations. The
concept that personal responbility is paramount
must be further cemented.

Rental prices

ALTHOUGH THE government is saying other-
wise, itis edging into the dicey area of rent con-
trol with its latest legislative proposals. And with
rent increases running at seven per cent over the
last year in Terrace, it may be a move which is
jooked upon kindly here.

In a classic free enterprise system, prices are
determined by availability of a good or service
and competition. If there is too much of one
thing, demand for it and the price will fall. But
when that one thing is scarce, its price will tise
accordingly.

This looks to be the case in Tertace where a
shortage of rental housing dating back to the late
1980s has driven up costs. But for renters
worried about spurious rent increases, landlords
will now have to provide reasons under the new
legislation. One piece of good news for landlords
is that they can still charge the market price
when new units are built or when new tenants
move into existing units.

Yet it should be apparent that what will really
change the local rental prices is an increased
supply. There is plenty of opportunity in the city
for rental unit developers or for those who want
to build condo style housing.

KS)
TENT PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link

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Serving the Terreca area. Published on Wednesday of each weak by Cariboo Press (1965) Lid. at 4647
Lazella Ave., Terrace, British Calumbla.

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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
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%

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Mn ites Wh My y a

VICTORIA — With so many
fronts to fight on, it’s somewhat
bizarre that the Liberals chose the
povernment’s plan to establish a
little community bank in the
Downtown Eastside area of Van-
couver for their main offensive.

With $10 million seed money,
the NDP government will start a
bank to serve between 10,000 and
15,000 people in Vancouver's
most impoverished area, the ma-
jority of whom couldn’t open an
account at a regular bank if they
wanted to, because they either
don’t have proper identification
or are unable to fulfill the require-
ment of having to leave $100 in a
new account for 90 days.

Which leaves them with the
only alternative — commercial
cheque-cashing companies that
take anywhere from five to 10 per
cent off the top, depriving the
community of millions of dollars
a year.

During debate, the Liberals kept
falling all over themselves to
avoid being perceived as hating
the poor, Assuring the House that
they wented to help the poor as
much as the next guy, they in-

. sisted that the community bank

was the wrong way to go about it.
Unfortunately, the overdog
they were championing didn’t
co-operate. Even the big banks
liked the idea, if only because

THINK HARD, JUDY... oy

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4 a
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have an inkling of what it’s
like to be poor and those who
didn’t have a clue.

Take Harry de Jong, a really
nice guy from Abbotsford,
hard-working all his life, one
of the two remaining Social
Credit members in the legisla-
ture.

There was no way, he said,
that anyone could tell him the
chartered banks would refuse

FROM THE CAP
HUBERT BEYER

to deal with sameone, welfare

s recipient or not. Banks, he

said, arc in business, and why

it takes them off the hook.

The Royal Bank's public af-
fairs manager for B.C., Bonnie
Cornell, said: ‘‘we view it as a
government initiative that
serves a specialized market.
We think it is appropriate for
the government to meet those
social needs.””

All of which made the Liber-
al’s determined opposition io
the bank look a little foolish
and politically inept.

The debate clearly divided
the legislature into two camps
that might, for all intents and
purposes, have come from dif-
ferent plancis. There were
those who at least appeared to

would anyone tum business
- away?

Well, de Jong has obviously
not researched the topic too
deeply or he would have found
that it might be a tad difficult
for anyone on welfare or down
and out in some other way to
give their friendly neighbour-
hood bank a hundred bucks
and let them keep it for at least
90 days.

For all the world, de Jong
sounded a little like Marie
Antoinette who was genuinely
womdering why the poor
wouldn’t cal cake if they didn’t
have bread.

The Liberals tried a diffcrent
tack. Everybody, they said,
wanled to solve whalever
problem the folks in the
Downtown Eastside area had,
but the community bank was

HOW CAN WE'STAYS' J
a IN HESEADLINES |

definitely not the way to go
about it.

Bank found bizarre

They spoke in very reasoned

tones about the plight of the
peor, as they perceived il, Per-

haps the credit unions could be .

called on to provide the ser-
vices that are lacking in
Downtown Eastside. Giving

the régular.bank some sort of ©

incentive to serve the area
properly, they suggested,
might be another option. =:

Necdless to say, that didn’t
sit well with the NDP which
has always had an ideological
mind block when it comes to
banks, and the idea of sub-
sidizing the banks with tax-
payers money to do the job
they’re supposed to do in the
first place brought, out the
rhetorical best'in some govern-:

ment members." pote ce teh

Forest minister Andrew Pet-
ter even invoked the memory
of W.A.C, Bennett who, in his
opinion, would turn over in his
grave if he heard the claptrap
on the opposition benches.
W.AC.,, Pelter said, knew the
banks couldn’t be trusted,

To wrap it up, the com-.
munity bank is a good idea, the
risks to the taxpayers are mini-
mal, and the Liberals’ opposi-
tion to it was not one of Camp-
bell’s brightest moves.

Hats off to better dressing

WHILE WATCHING a news
report of B.C.’s education min-
ister unveiling a vocational
program in Kitimat, I was
struck by the incongruity of
compuler students wearing
baseball caps and jackets.

Do these Information High-
way travellers suffer from .
premature baldness? Did a
toddler practise scissor techni-
ques while they were napping?
Or, like bag ladies, must they
carry all their possessions with .
them? Lads who shampoo and
blow dry rarely risk compress-
ing their coifs even for an
Arctic Front.

While I attended a drafty,
one-room school heated in fits
and slaris by a wood furnace
twice my age, three sisters
eamed a place in folklore for
never removing their felt-lined
oversioes or quilted jackels
from freezeup until seeding,

But the sisters had excuses.
The two older ones sat in my
high school row of desks near
the east well, When blizzards

THROUGH BIFOCALS

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

OH WINCHESTER |
YOU'RE WEARING
BILLY'S SWEATER!

skimmed stubble, window
panes beside them rattled be-
tween the brads and yellow
blinds sucked in and out like
bellows, Frozen ink wells were
common.

They also lived at the oppo-
site end of town. Slaying
bundled up gave them a jump-
slart on a four block hike for
lunch, And they were lazy.

Why do today’s students
sprawl indoors in wealherproof

He WAS SO ADORABLE
IN (T AND SO CuppLy!

garb like World War II Spitfire
pilots on enemy alert? Though
schools show the neglect of
recessionary budgets, still —
with the exception of portables
— classrooms are comfortably
heated, thermostatically con-
trolled. I doubt any roof leaks
making walerproof jackcts as
necessary lo classroom at-
tendance as notebooks and
pencils.

When northem natives were
Eskimos, legend has it mothers
sewed their young into woolen
underwear each fall and left
nem encased until - spring
thaw. Could this primitive
practice be the origin of
lccnagers’ affinity for baseball
caps?

In the movie “‘Lean on Me’’,
an inner cily school principal
regulates his students’ dress.
Rule One: no ouler headgear
may be worn in classrooms.
“You can’t get respect until
you respect yourself,” he says.

Some American leachers for-
bid students to wear any sort of

WHEN I HAVE KIDS T WiLL
NEVER DRESS THEM FROM
THE LOCAL RUMMAGE

peaked cap in class because the
peak hides the student’s face,

leaving the teacher to guess —

what the student may be think-

ing. Teachers must be able to
read students’ expressions in, ©

case they’re planning a physi- -

cal assault.
Fortunately thus far in Cana-

da, baseball caps aren’ta class- |

room hazard for teachers, But -

wouldn’t it be neat if students

cared enough to hang hats and -’
jackets in lockers and report to
class dressed for indoor learn- ° ~

ing? :

Habits can be awkward to."
overcome, Already we live :

with the resulis of a Who

cares? up bringing. Execw- -

tives’ letters are misspelled,
Up-and-comers
quette lessons in which fork to
use,

thelr baseball caps for fast food

attend < eti--

Will these students exchange -

wedgies? And will my next
bank loan be approved by a-
manager wearing a Bluejays :

hat and jacket?

Wl

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