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In their Tush to move from the
Sunday ‘shopping issue to the ap-

. proval of 750 truck loads of logs.
“going down North Sparks St.

and Halliwell Ave. this winter,
Terrace city council may have
whizzed right by something of
potential economic value.

-. by Tod Strachan

“A letter signed by Valerie Kor-
dyban, special assistant to the

_ federal ministry of forestry,

Prince. George MP Frank

- Oberle, says Oberle’s office has
_its eyé.on the ‘‘Forestry Capital

of Canada’’ title for. Prince
George in 1992, The item was on
the Oct. 23 city council meeting

agenda for information only,

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Observation and comment on local issues

and: was received for informa-
tion only, on a motion by one of
_our two aldermanic logging pro-
fessionals, Bob Cooper.

' Kordyban’s letter is generous
onone point. If Prince George is
to be excluded from the 1992
running, due to the fact they
already held the title in 1981, she
says the list of other possibilities
in “‘northern B.C.” is endless.
But fault could be found on an-
other point — her perception of
just where ‘‘northern B.C.”’ is,

Her only two examples are Fort.

St. John, home of the Northern
Mixedwood Symposium that

was apparently a great success in
publicizing a tree called aspen,
and Fort Nelson, which she says
will soon boast the largest chop-
stick factory in the world.

“Of course it may only be .an
oversight on the part of Kor-
dyban to suggest that ‘‘northern

B.C.” consists of just Prince

George and the Peace River
Valley. But the record should be-

set straight. There are a couple

of pulp mills on the north coast;
and of course, there’s Stewart
who wants one. But what about

Terrace? We’ve got Big Bertha,

haven’t we? And Big Bertha and

.. when you have Transparency

Tourism and economic
development in Terrace is

_ always: at the top of the city’s

priority list and:a couple of sug-
gestions by local locksmith
Randy Haigh may catch on.°*

by Tod Strachan

Haigh first notes that two of
our local attractions may be of
questionable value, The steel-
head_resource seems to be dis-
appearing and our only monu-
ment to our number ‘one in-
dustry, logging, is Big Bertha.

with a very brief and un-
successful past.

* First. our logging industry.
“Big Bertha was the most
useless machine ever designed
for the logging industry,”’ Haigh
says in a letter to mayor Jack
Talstra. He says he is familiar
with Bertha because he was one
of the crew who put her in place
to log her one and only setting.
Alderman Bob Cooper agrees. -
Bertha was useless. After haul-
ing in only a couple of trees, the
crew tried to move Bertha, but
after only a few feet she was

. nothing more than a white

elephant mired in mud.

In disgrace, Bertha was drag-
ged back to town to be forgotten
forever. Or so it was hoped.
What logger with any pride
would want to be associated
with this thumbs-down
machine? But tourism and
economic developmen people
aren’t necessarily loggers. It’s a
great display, most would say,
and gives tribute to our city
founder and every logger who
has passed through town ever

~ since.

Haigh has an idea, though,
that could give purpose to Ber-
tha’s existence. ‘‘A world record
cedar pole from the cedar pole
capital of the world could be
placed on Big Bertha to fly the
world’s largest flag,’’ writes
Haigh. After all, a progressive
B.C. community now boasts the
_ Expo hockey stick, undisputed
as the largest in the world.
Couldn’t the largest pole, which
could be seen from as far away
as Prince George, bring a few
tourists our way? .
We can hope. But as alderman
Ruth Hallock points out, the
idea, while a very good one, has
been thought of before. In fact,
the pole idea seems to be dis-
cussed at least arinually by. the

present council and according to
Hallock by past councils as well.
Even so, Haigh still gets credit
for the original idea. He thought
of it first — probably before
there was a council: He deserves
credit too for his loyalty in try-
ing to breath life into our de-
ceased mammoth.

The extinction of. steelhead i is
also a reality council must face,
but Haigh may have the best
answer yet to cover fisheries’
buttocks when they finally kill
the last fish. It may just be possi-

_ ble that we could make a killing
And Big Bertha is @, monumént ”

ourselves by selling things peo-
ple can’t see. :

To illustrate his concept;
Haigh ‘sent ‘every: ‘City’ ‘Father a*
box of “Terrace Hybrid Trans-
parent Apples’’. It’s a concept
hard to visualize, and alderman

Dave Hull himself admits the

empty box sat on his desk for a
week before he caught on; but
now that he has, Hull says, ‘‘I
think it’s very well done and can
go a long ways.’”’

To visualize the value of sell-
ing boxes, think of the dollars
brought in by Sasquatch, Nessie
and Ogopogo. Haigh’s box was
designed’ by. his daughter as a
souvenir of Terrace. It’s made in
Terrace by Terrace people and,
from what the crystal ball seems
to be saying, could be perfect.
Once all the steelhead are gone,
tourists can sit by the Skeena
catching transparent steelhead
while munching on our hybrid
transparent apples. All that
could be done to make the scene

‘more idyllic would be to drain

the Skeena so it would be trans-
parent, too.

And there’s a bonus. Haigh’s
apples are far superior to
anything sold in the Okanagan
or Annapolis valleys. According
to Haigh, you can put as many
as you want into a single box,
they’re the most nutritious fruit
in the world and if the kids don’t
want to eat them they can play
games to. their hearts content.
Terrace apples can be thrown,
tossed, hit, kicked, batted or
mistreated in any way you like

and Haigh defies anyone to
find a single bruise.

There is, however, one. tiny
kink in Haigh’s plan, ‘‘Once
you have a box of these apples it
is a lifetime supply and you will
never be without an apple for
one moment,”.-says Haigh. So
where’s the repeat business?
Hopefully those transparent

steelhead will spoil in the trunk
and tourists will come year after
year. If not, we could always try
the same concept on our coho or
sockeye. :

‘Haigh’s idea has been sent to
the Tourism and Economic
Development Committee for
further discussion and a recom-

mendation. For some, this may

be cause for alarm, In the past,
several items referred to com-
mittee have become transparent
themselves. The ideas, that is,
not: the committee. But this fact
could be cause for hope. It may
be ‘that council understands
Haigh’s concept . much better
than we think? se! or: .

t

pulp mills ‘sound pretty im-

pressive when included on a list -
with chopsticks and aspen, don’t -
' Prince George and the next year .

they? Of course they do.

_ According to information at-
tached to Kordyban’s letter, the
Forest Capital of Canada is a ti-
tle awarded annually by the
Canadian Forestry Association.
The award is open to any deserv-
ing community or region of
Canada which is notable for its
commitment and dependence on
the forest resource and ‘‘the
community’s civic-minded rec-
ognition of this interdepen-
dence.’”

Nominations for the award
are submitted to the CFA board
of directors by the director rep-
resenting the province where the
nominee is located. Presumably,
lobbying by a particular com-
munity or region may influence
that director and, also pre-
sumably, lobbying is where
“civic-eminded recognition” first
comes into play.

Terrace may be smaller than
Prince George but in looking at

- past forestry capitals there is no

reason we shouldn’t have a
crack at the title. The first was
Hudson Bay, Sask., a small dot
on the map no bigger than Ter-
race: that’s located about 400
kilometers northeast of Regina.
This was followed by a.region
called the Miramichi — an area
of New Brunswick bound by an
unimaginatively named system
of rivers” called’ the: Northwest

ne ne GS heh:

west Miramichi —

God for postal codes.
In 1981 the title moved to

to the County of Simcoe in On-

.tario. Smoky Lake and District,
another small dot about 90

kilometers northeast of Edmon-

ton, held the title in 1983, and in .

1984 the honor moved back to
Ontario; namely, the Ottawa
Valley. The 1985 title went to
Prince Albert and District in
Saskatchewan, and the follow-
ing year it was given to the Van-

ni.

Queens County, N.S., was the
1987 winner and Grand Falls,
Nfid., held the title in 1988. This
year’s forestry capital was a
place called La Sarre, which is
located 275 kilometers south of
James Bay on the most northerly
east-west road drawn on the
Quebec map. Next year the
honor moves to Sault Ste.
Marie, Ont., and in 1991 to

' Nakawic, N.C., which isn’t even

listed on the map we have.
Looking at several of these ti-
tle holders, and.in particular the
selection for 1991, it would ap-
pear physical size has nothing to
do with anything. It’s apparent-
ly only the will to be recognized.
So in 1992... Why not Terrace?
It could be an economic boon

and would certainly have the.

result of including our fair city
in the minds of those pondering
the vastness of northern B.C.

Braid Insurance Sharp Cuts Barber Shop

4648 LAKELSE TERRACE, B.C,

Presented by the Theatre Alive Society

Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers is one of the funniest
acts on stage today. They are a proven block buster and hoards of
laughing patrons continually rise to their feet (after they've rolled in
the aisles) to give these performers a huge standing ovation.

Thursday, November 9th at 8:00 P.M.
| R.E.M. Lee Theatre

| - Brought to you with the help of:
ERWIN’S _
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SINCE 1910

635-2441 .
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vate cot er ee Bagi: eas aie

Terrace Review — Weiinesday, November I 1989 = : 7 ae

what's in a name... |

Miramichi, the Little Southwest
Miramichi and the Main South-“
all of which _
flow into Miramichi Bay. Thank -

couver Island city of Port Alber- —

7

~

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