ice ee ET Se ee e flares Wy ae ee = — rT " esTagUsie AL 7, 1988 : a »¢ Registration No, 7820 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, ‘B.C... ’ Vea. 186 Phone (604) 638-7283: of san Toi bai bn wads uy Cran a ? Luni Ave, Teersce, Bitlth, Gotambla. 128° Sh oe Rati yn ert Saray po ie, ch ao Pe LA isi fustrition repro services and advertising agericies; \ . walt Feprductn a whole of ng, wih wert pari poe poe, a gen wz at Pad : Peas aicocthn ee eo Nats errresiios 4 “ - a : af ~ Speetal hanks ‘t aa. Our: contributors and | : : _orespandents | for * thelr ‘time. anit" a # fe + 4 Auteained a secon tats mal punting Vom Poot CHRce Daparanent, ne paytiont ot postage in ea 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