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PUBLISHER: ROD LINK |
} WEB: www.terracestandard.com

ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2
EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com

Aé4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 8, 2006
' ESTABLISHED APRIL 27. 1988
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 -.FAX: (250) 638-8432
Land ho!

; MORE THAN a few people thought Mayor Jack
'. Talstra had taken leave of his senses several years

ago during one of his annuai state’of the city ad-
dresses to the Terrace and District Chamber of

+ Commerce. a
~ °. Faced with a dormant New Skeena Forest Prod- |

-/ ucts mill anda general economic malaise afflict-
_ ° ing the city, the mayor weighed in philosophically’

on anew-look Terrace, one

presence in its centre. 7
_ What if, the mayor said, CN re-routed its tracks

_ to the airport to service industrial lands there. The

: built there,” said Talstra’of any discussions with |

tw ee

- nicipal rebirth. |

| to the city. : a —_ .
'.. “If there is an industrial player that wants to

em RR we

result could be more green space, more housing:
and more people-friendly services in the corridor
that now separates the city. wh
- Be-careful what you wish for, Mr. Mayor. It’s
now.coming true — at least when it comes to a size-
able chunk of real estate within the city’s, core.

.» For within several months, the Terrace: Lumber
Company mill site will be as smooth as a baby’s
‘bottom, devoid of any hint of the economic stim-
ulus it once provided the city. :

_ Inall, 73 acres is to rest undisturbed until some-
one or some entity comes up with some kind of
‘plan for its use. :

To say the land’s future is critical to the for-

tunes of Terrace is an understatement. Who gets

that land-and what plans they have for it will de- |
fine this city for the next century. So whatever the

“plan may be, it had better be a darn good one.
To his credit, the mayor’s already on the. case,
saying that any potential purchasers need to speak

do something similar on that land we would like
them to talk to us to see if that’s appropriate for

the city still,” Mr. Talstra‘says”of any potential”

industrial activity.

“It?s to take a look at what it wants to do with
its core lands at the heart of the city and what’s
in the best interest of a healthy community to be

any new owners.

Some may read these statements with a bit of
caution. There’s a philosophy out'there that gov-
ernments should provide the ways and means for.
economic development and then stay the heck out
of the way. _ |

But others more correctly should welcome Mr.
Talstra’s statements. While the: dismemberment
of the mill could be regarded as body blow to the
city, it also presents a rare opportunity for a mu-

. Footnote. As long as buildings are being taken

: down, the city should get into the swing of things
- and demolish the old Co-op building on Greig. If
. the mayor wants to stimulate a re-thinking of land

use within the city, then getting rid of the struc-

ture would be a Start.

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an Rod Link
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without an industrial ,

- M.A.S.H. -reruns

joe _
(a sinter ne rage ideinntin

SS

WO

> a

WHAT DOYOU MEAN | |
CANT BRING IN MY LOAD

DISPUTE WAS OVER!

TVEY ALLNNEED

PASSPORTS.

| IF YOU smoke, you'll hate

this. But-if you don’t want to

- be the 78th person on my list

who has smoked and died of

lung cancer, continue.

Granted, some on the’ un-

lucky. dead were movie stars. .
_ And in fairness, there was

one man I knew who didn’t
smoke and died of lung can-

cer. We worked together in a.
bar for three years, while he -
had worked in.second hand .

smoke for.a total of 22 years.
I was still puffing away when J

_ last saw Vic and he was noth-

ing'but skin and bones.
I’m trying to save your life.

_ Maybe some people can smoke -
‘until they’re 90 but in my fam-..

ily, it is a death sentence.
“Yes, I am now one of those.

nasty, nonsmokers. I smoked .
for, 34 years, failing to quit,
’~after' three attempts, but when ”
my mother died of emphyse-

ma, I decided to get even with
the cigarette companies.

My doctor had the good
grace to warn me that quitting

would be worse than giving

up heroin. How often recalled
her words.
I was so addicted to all those

- deadly chemicals, that even if

I smoked only one cigarette,

.T was hooked again.; Today, .

if you offer me one million
dollars to take a puff, I'll say:

__SYLVIA SANDS JOHNSON

“Try another day.” Even after
-22 years, I’m too. busy taking -
three different asthma. inhal-
ers. I’ve made a personal vow.

’ if one more of my family dies . »

of cigarettes, I'am going to sue
the cigarette companies.
_-s All_my.close relatives who

ready in the hospital for pneu-
monia, had a sudden heart at-
tack, she was only 55.

‘The doctor told her oldest .

daughter that if her mother
hadn’t smoked “She would be
alive today.” It was aunt Ra-
chael who had my wedding at
her house.

Most people don’t real-
ize that smoking is the fourth
leading cause of ‘stroke. So
guess what happened to my

smoked are now dead. When
- my aunt Rachael, who was al-

dear Aunt Beth? She was stay-
ing at a motel when she sud-
_denly slumped to the floor, and
no matter how she tried, could
not get up. .
So she pounded on the wall
next door to the landiord’s..
They called for an ambularice,

- and later learned that ‘Auntie’

_was totally paralyzed on one

side. But she.could still speak

and smoke..

I decided to visit her doctor.
I said: “I’m the closest person
to a daughter that Auntie has.
How is she really doing?” He
replied: ‘I’m sorry to tell you
- your aunt has a slow-grow-
ing, cancerous tumour in one
lung.” wo
By that time, Auntie was
staying at a facility where
people could still dress and
feed. themselves.

‘smoking room.’ Not only was
she smoking up a storm, it
seemed she was camped there
permanently. .
One morning, not long af-
ter, she woke up with a split-
ting headache - and reported
it to the desk. The desk nurse
called an ambulance, and by 5
p.m. Auntie had had a massive
Stroke. Her sons had not had
a chance to see her in her. last
moments.

’ Cousin Benny, another

eed. themselves. Usually
you would find Auntie inthe”

You don’t want to make her list

" smoker, collapsed of a heart
‘attack in his: early 50s after

he had reported having chest
pains. Not long before that, I
recall his daughter pleading
with him: “Dad, please quit
smoking.” .

My worst .moment was
when I received a post card by -
mail, that read: “Sylvia, phone’
the police; I’m being murdered

_-by my (no name).” It was from

my mother. oe

She had .emphysema from —
smoking.
paranoid from too much car-
bon dioxide. She died trying

to recite Psalm, 23, which she

knew by heart, but only got
as far as “He ... restoreth my —
Soul.” My plane was ‘too late.

Another favourite aunt,
who was a professional musi-

cian, but still smoked, assured
‘me that’ she was letting most
of the smoke “drift away in“ ~~

the ashtray.” Bronchitis was -
her bugbear. She maintained,

“The best thing you can do is

always wear a scarf when out-

side.” Guess what she died of?

Pneumonia. . .

I could go on and on. If
there is one young person, who
reads this, and quits smoking,
I'll die happy. ° ,

Sylvia Sands Johnson is a
poet, artist and musician who
lives in Rosswood.

A reveal

BERNICE THURMAN Hunt-
er’s novel, The Girls They

Left Behind, written. for 10
to 16-year-olds, satisfies their

questions . about - Canadians
growing up during the Second
World War.

~. Young .folk who wonder |

what daily life was like in this

country from 1942 to 1945,
will find answers in Hunter's -

fictionalized account of a

young woman's graduation .

from high school and early
employment. -:

Teenagers who watch
will be fa-
miliar with terms like. “can-
teen”, the wartime bar/soda

- fountain/dance venue; “sign-

ing up” (joining the army or
other branch of military ser-
vice). They may. even know
about blackout curtains. —
But in this book they will
meet such expressions as
“ditty bags” (defined in the
dictionary as a small cloth bag

_ sailors used to hold personal .

items such as needles, thread,
and tape), embarkation, em-

’ barkation leaves, and being

rejected for military duty be-
cause of some defect such as
imperfect eyesight.

Ration books are a story in
themselves. I remember them

being the size of a cheque book

ng look

fe

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

— more ciosely guarded — with
different coloured stamps for
meat, sugar, coffee and butter.
We had a farm; meat and but-
ter were plentiful. Our Nor-
wegian neighbour, though,
was often short of coffee and
sugar. She and Mom worked
out a stamp trading arrange-
ment, even though it was ille-
gal to do so. We ate a lot of
Manitoba honey.

The Victory garden took
on significance as a means of
boosting the family’s menu

while being thrifty. (Among

the instructions on an Ameri-
‘can food rationing stamp book
was this, “If you don’t need
it, don’t buy it.” Sure clashes
with today’s credit card soci-

at war time life

ety).

Cosmetics and beauty aids
had scarcely been invented,
certainly not in the variety and

for uses women know today.

The few cosmetics available
were expensive. compara-
tively speaking. Twenty-five
cents for a bottle of leg dye to

~ painta dark stripe up the back

of the leg to simulate a stock-
ing seam was an investment.

Shampoo was limited to
basic soaps. such as Sunlight,
Hunter writes. Toward the end
of the war ads for White ‘Rain
shampoo promised the fra-
grant. shiny hair every female
craved. About that time, Cue
toothpaste became available,
pink liquid that foamed, in a
small, flavouring-sized bottle.
A drop or two was enough for
a brushing.

The heroine in Hunter's
novel graduates high school
and goes to work in a Toronto
munitions plant making shells.

She must dress in the same ©

. overall uniform as the men in
the plant, and deal with harass-
ment from ignorant co-work-
ers. Sixty years later little has
improved in some workplaces,
such as in the Richmond fire
department.

I was familiar with — this
much of Hunter's story. Then

the heroine got a higher pay-
ing job in an Ontario DeHavil- -
land aircraft factory. building

-Mosquito airplanes.

Years ago when the owner
of a small vintage plane asked -
me to.tack fabric “skin” on the
wings of his aircraft, 1 shud-
dered at the thought of any
pilot's life depending. upon
fabric and tacks. I imagined
a brisk breeze popping tacks
like buckshot.

Yet the Mosquito airplane,
one of the most popular fighter —
planes, was built of special

plywood produced from a

combination of 3/8” sheets of
Ecuadorean balsawood sand-
wiched between sheets of
Canadian birch plywood, the
sections glued together with
layers of wood glue. The exte-
rior of the craft was sheathed
with doped Madapolam fabric
(mercerized cotton fabric) also
glued on to the plywood.

To speed up drying of the
glue, DeHavilland developed
a technique using micro-
waves.” So another everyday
product owes its origin to the
aerospace industry, just as
Convair’s search for a.water —
displacement formula to pro-

~ tect the outer skin of their At-

las missile from rust and cor-
rosion resulted in WD 40.

and had, become | _