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a »¢ Registration No, 7820 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, ‘B.C... ’ Vea. 186
Phone (604) 638-7283: of

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L Remedy needed

- Last week's tragic death of a ‘college ; fig £Vlumes.
' student. on the. Sande Overpass: points
; out once. again: ‘the: need for changes. *

: Mo mn drivers around: here have ‘horror.

end: and a change in the traffic. ‘light se-

emove that merging of traffic on
th “overpass as. ite enters from both, sides
of Greig Ave. eearen
There. are ‘other  posiilities,- ‘pai.
- theularly to improve pedestrian safety. In
England, for example, Bolisha. beacons
' mark: pedestrian crossings, These ‘are

is: the ‘overpass Kita -
of s ‘snuck up onus. It ‘was never intended —
to. be both pa vital artery, between: the |

A study coriducted this. 1 ing for ‘he

. But. the. study did list some shortsterm | :
measures to improve safety. on the « over- |
pass.: These include lights on the hospital

quence: én the other end.. This latter -

highways | ministry; touched
very subject: It indicated th }
traffic on the overpass stays wit
city,

hin the -° Such a: ‘system might better alert a driver

highly. visible ‘flashing orange globes
atop of striped black and white poles.

“to the presence of the pedestrian cross-

sal ne has pureaucra atic and serene ~ ing, especially on dark and wet mornings
pica ecause the provinci when visibility i is extremely limited.

government is responsible for highways -
as routes for traffic between populated “The highways ministry. study was sub-
“mitted to the city for its consideration

areas. Municipalities are: responsible ‘for

routes within their boundaries, What we __ this past spring. The word from the
have with the overpass: and its connec- _—* Ministry is that itis still waiting for a rep-
ly,

ting roads then is an ugly hybrid of both : .
It shouldn't take the death of soieone

those responsibilities, -

That highways ministry study laid out . to prompt that response. But if it does,
some long term options, including a se- the reply should come fast. The overpass
cond overpass and an alternate highway ranks as probably the most : dangerous

stretch of Hwy16 between the coast and

corridor through the city, It also pointed
out that the project was some years away Prince George. It’s hardly an enviable
situation, a

because of the limited through-city traf-
“we eT ricl Chi

eon JIRA ail it - wad eie ce Ubu Gin
yaa Myer

Hey, how ‘about that Moe Sihota. There was no way, said Mr. Sthoti,
What a guy. What a trickster. There he that he was going to carry the can for
was on TV last week, a look of horror © -high-rates to compensate - ‘forthe past
and wounded indignation on his face,” government's sins,’ OF course. he won't,
The subject was the government-owned The only can Mr. Sihota will carry is the
ICBC and the possibility of vehicle in- one into which we’ll stuff what’s left of
surance rates going sky high. _ our tapidly depleting after-tax pay che-

Mr.- Sihota,. the cabinet minister ques.
responsible for ICBC, said the previous The sooner Mr. Sihota. gives up

’ government manipulated insurance rates . amateur theatrics the better. Of all peo-
to keep:them low and politically accep- ple, Mr. Sihota should be familiar with
table. That means more money next | the. way ‘the nasty game of: politics is
year, , played,

Bearly coping |

Anytime I drag my feet on a

deadline, everything and
everyone reminds me of it until
misery overload moves me. Through
For months I’ve put off mak- Bifecals
ing a teddybear for our grand-
child, Throughout, Grandpa’s by Claudette Sandeck!

hagged me as doggedly as ac-
tivists hounding Harcourt for

~ funding.

At first I argued she was too
young, too small, for an 18-inch
kapok-stuffed animal. Grandpa
disagreed, predictably.

- Looking for'support, I check-

_ ed the family photo album. Sure
- enough. Pinning . ‘teddy to: her
' playpen mat was our diapered

_ Hulk Hogan, five months-old.

. So ‘pleaded lack of time.

Besides the fuss of hanging,

wrinkles out of the fun. fur,,

ironing the tissue pattern, and

a

Be meget ceciton iat age aren ae a Rn BN om

- trimming eight pattern - pieces,

the pile of every'seam has io be’

| painstakingly smoothed i in one
} direction: before stitching.

I feél. inept... Meticulously, join-

‘foreign ( to someoric | used to
ing 84 inches before’

. for. thread, with. "A needle that

| Sapemarkee flyers. Oni’ televi.

. bruin who backs out: of bed to...

“Mainly ’Ve dawdled because |
ing. fifteenodd- bits. of design si

: direction, using boy: scout “cord

:. Slon:., There’s the blity brown

fetch the cough medicine; the

friendly fuzzy fellow in the
fabric softener ad; A and W's
bottom-bulging’ mascot; and
Zeddy.

a According to an unscientific

notion, ‘Bears when. first born
are shapeless: masses of white
flesh: The mother then licks
them. gradually into shape, -
Live bears in the wild, maybe.
Teddybears begin as perfect
Winnie the Poohs — if they’re

crafted by fingers as nimble as:
Aunt Fay! s, Her teddybears ar: _

rived with pink satin bows
under their soft, brown chins. —
It_ took. years of loving to
pummel them ‘out. of shape.
They were our daughters’ com:

‘panions ‘atid ‘pillows. “From .
- room to” room, they bounced’

along behind, dragged” ‘by One.
arm. During sibling rivalries,

they were wound. up: like | :
. helicopter rotors, then let pe as. |
at

 -miidsiles “aime

antl

Lb hen. sc earedouten as reBets 's seat is TREAT EO ea tet ead :

‘own merits;:

2A direct” hit inlet rupture wat
On*“searh am, Pgh ‘would . teak.

her pillow.

Any teddybear I sew must be
able to survive a 20-year assign-
ment. His seams must be stur-
dy, his nose and eyes safely an-
chored: Yet he must . be. clean.

“Can I do it? Or will I mail off a -
teddybear grubby as yeast rolls.

shaped by a preschooler.
As a young aunt I made many
toys, without ‘a ‘pattern. :
Whatever resulted had to be
judged — — and énjoyed — on its .
‘But’ making: .
something . fron. a pattern.

_ qualifies even kids to find flaws,
Have I delayed too long? -

EAT LAST | CRACKED
he OUR CANOE IN A GALE!

_ 4 document, across the top of
which is printed the word.

“CONFIDENTIAL,” and the |

professional saliva starts flow-
ing.

The temptation to fire up
the old computer, call up the.
word processor and start typ-

‘ing becomes even greater when

you realize that said:confiden- . ©

fiat Hear eae is addressed.to
"British Columbia’s forestry...
giants, Fletcher Challenge, -
Canada, - oe
- So what, if it’s 14 months
old and probably no longer

“operative”, as Tricky Dickie

used to refer to things which,
upon reflection, he’d rather
not have said. The immediate
reaction is: pick the thing over
and let her rip. .Confidential
memoranda make for juicy
reading, particularly if they’ re
called “Darwin,” implying a
_ fight of the fittest for survival.
At this point, responsible os
‘journalists part company with
those who don't want to run:
: the risk of letting facts get in

: way of a good colunin, You

-call your contacts at Fletcher
Challenge and ask them about
Darwin,

‘Yes, Darwin was written in
September of 1990, Its pur-

_ pose: to impress on the com-
pany that any major changes
in its financial and business
structure must be com-
municated to the various con-
stituencies in advance. ‘These
constituencies include the :
employees, the shareholders,
the government and the public,

-- When the memorandum was _-

prepared by Fletcher's in-house
public. affairs staff, the com-
' pany was facing a bleak
"future, anticipating a $60
“million loss for ‘1991, That
‘forecast, it turns out, was con-
‘servative, Losses will be well
-over $100 million this year.

_ The. company could either
* cotitinue to sustain. losses
- something I am not’ too keen’
“onin:my own economic
endeavours, or seek other solu-
‘tons, including the, liquidation:
of aésets or entering into joint

_ ventures with other investors. a

a HERE THE 26

WADED THROUGH MUSKEE 9):
IN A FREAK BLIZZARD |
FoR 2 DAYS CAASED BY

A BEAR EATEN ALIVE.
BY MOSQUITOES | i

thie separ, executives. of one,of i for: ‘fitute investment, but .

; media, :

Don’ t let facts ce
ruin good story

_ VICTORIA — Give a reporter -

From the

_ Capital
_ by Hubert Beyer

The memo does indicate that
, Fletcher is looking to the U.S.

vthen, that’s not very surpris~

; ing. If they think they < can stop:
“losing money by investing in

the U.S., they will do so.
_Apart from that, the only

- purpose of the memo was to

teli Fletcher's senior executives
that whatever action the com-
pany would take, it must com-
_municate its intentions in ad-
Vance, |

Now, I've got to tell you

‘ that the boys at public affairs’

did one hell of a job pulling
together all the pieces, right

: _ down to the:negative responses
"it warned the company to an-
~-ticipate. | i

~ “Bottom-line mentality,,,un-
caring foreign owners...com-
pany is stripping assets. ..op-

: portunistic company taking ad-

“vantage of downturn to pursue

» its ‘real agenda’ ...more union-

‘ busting," are among the com-
ments the memorandum says
may come from the public, the

‘employees and the politicians, _

. It should be noted that the
memorandum recommended
that not only-the government *
but also the then’ NDP opposi-
tion be appraised of the com."
pany’s plans. . —

Well, as it turns out, ‘the

* company: ‘bought into the ideas
7 ‘outlined i in.the Darwin a

memorandum, ‘Last: -March,.

~ Fletcher’ Challenge announced
: that it: wants to sell off most

‘of its forestry Operations and
confine. the future activity to
the pulp‘ ‘sector; But it’ did so .

., only-after informing all the
: players, including its
" employees and: -shareholders Ys

the government, the oppositio
and the’ Public. fhrough | the

1 must say that I was, sina

_ they cannot and should’: ‘not!

ly somewhat sceptical of the‘
process recommended by the -

se a seman nub faded

: “in: the memoranduny:Some.

“the wording smacked ‘o
manipulation. : ;
When I. re-read the docu-
ment after talking to my Flet--
cher Challenge ‘contacts, I:
found my suspicions of.
manipulation allayed, althéligh

some of the phrases; such BS

“neutralizing negative 7
responses,’’ uren’t, very welll,
chosen.

On the other hand, it might

- be argued that the memoran-

dum was, of course, never in-
tended for the scrutiny of the
media, It was an internal. docu-
ment’ addressed to the com-
pany’s senior executives, :
~The reason 'I deal with the:
memorandum at all is:to point
out how the word CON. . A:
FIDENTIAL seems. to. 2}.
automatically qualify a docu,
ment for front-page treatment.
‘I think that the people. who
prepared the Darwin’
memorandum did a preit
good job convincing their ‘
senior company executives that

confrorit. the public with: ca
terse statement after the fact:
Fletcher Chaltenge'r “may: not
be the best corporate citizen. in
British Columbia, but r ‘cannot .
see anything wrong with how
they went about informing <
everybody of their intentions”
to downsize, no matter what.
you may read elsewhere about
the Darwin memorandum, a
As for the’ compahy’ s plans

“to divest itself of § some B.C.

holdings, I'm not: ‘surprised,

_ Forestry analyst Jaak Puasepp

said at a‘recent seitinar at thie
Paci “Paper Expo in Van- .

ies __souver that “the industry:
~ could technically: be declared |
_ bankrupt. " i