The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - A5 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag They need closure Dear Sir: Recently I have read articles pertaining to local children who have passed away and the amount of time it is taking for the parents to receive closure and my heart aches for them. One year after 17-year-old Hannah Kantola was killed the investigation was finally completed; way too long. Three years after Laura-Lee was killed, her parents are still involved in a battle with ICBC; unbearable. Eight months after the unexplainable death of little Vicki McLean her parents have just received an autopsy report; how sad. As a parent of Amanda Colville, who passed away four years ago, my heart aches for these parents. It took over 10 months for us to receive an autopsy report and as a grieving parent the wait is unbearable. Then to add insult to injury, an investigation was opened with the Children's Commissioner of B.C. and to this day has never been completed. When the Children’s Commissioner offered to investigate my daughter’s death, I was relieved because we didn't have the answers we needed for closure. ; Afler repeated. calls to the: Children’s Commissioner and reassurance that her case would be next up, I finally received a letter back in October stating that, due ta recent government cuts, the Children's Commissioner was no longer. The loss of a child is the most traumatic thing any parent would have to go through, but to have dead ends and closed investigations is very unsettling and disheartening. It only adds to the pain. I] had decided that the investigation of Amanda’s death would bring some closure and now, after waiting for four years, I still haven’t received the closure I need. It makes me wonder is it because we are in a smaller community? Do we really need the added grief? With all the technology out there today is it really necessary to put the families through this added pain? The government needs to take into consideration the pain it is causing by cutting the funding for these much needed programs. The Children’s Commissioner of B.C. investigated deaths in children under the age of 19 to determine whether or not the death was preventable. | feel programs like this are extremely important, When you hear they have been cut it is especially sad when programs such as a new injection centre for drug - addicts is slated to be opened in Vancouver. to provide a safe place for people to inject themselves with deadly drugs and then receive free counselling if . they want it. Where is the justice? ; My heart goes cut to all the families who have to deal with a loss. I hope that they all receive closure very soon. THORNHILL’s business core could join Terrace under one scenario being discussed at city hall. New commercial or industrial develop- ment there has been constrained by a lack of a regular sewer system. JEFF NAGEL PHOTO r talk New moves are afoot to get Thornhil to either | join Terrace or incorporate By JEFF NAGEL new city councillors, in 7 response to the cham- - | A NEW push to merge Thornhill wih Terrace ber’s advocacy. is gaining momentum. But one of the findings: is that time may be “Kitimat-Stikine regional district directors on the side of those whe favour a merger. have agreed to re-examine ways the unorga- The historic property.tax advantage of liy- nized area could either amalgamate with Ter- ing in Thornhill has narrowed over the years. _ race or incorporate as its own municipality. A $150,000 home in Terrace pays $2,210. in. * Thornhill is home to 4,475 people, but they properly tax, compared to $2,084 in Thornhill. have.no mayor and council - just one director And there are signs that it could become ~-on the regional board making decisions. more costly to live outside city limits. “You have.a community about the size of The provincial government is planning to Dietrie Colville, Terrace, B.C. “Houston or Vanderhoof or Burns Lake- that’s - basically: governed by a-regidnal board;!: says © «New: Hazelton mayor :Pieter Weeber who led - the revived push. “Their: fortunes are in the hands of people ~.who-have no local involvement - people from “ Stewart.and Telegraph Creek, the Hazeltons and the Nass.” , “ “We ultimately have to find a way for them ~.to-stand on their own feet,” he said. ~The’ subject was first broached several es weeks ago by the Terrace and District Cham- _ ber of Commerce, which said amalgamation ~ should be pursued again. - Acunified greater Terrace would make doing . business here easier and give the community ~ greater clout, the chamber said. Amalgamation was last rejected in a 1996 = referendum, when 58 per cent of Thornhill vo- ters opposed the plan, Terrace voted 87 per - cent in favour. ~The city since has expanded its boundaries .to take in the airport lands — a move that clau- _ ded: Thornhill prospects for a stand-alone in- . corporation. Thornhill’s past opposition to joining Ter- “race. has centred on Joss of freedoms of the ‘more-rural lifestyle and that. property taxes -. were lower there. The 1996 ‘No’ vote was also fuelled by ~ deep: Thornhill suspicions of Terrace — includ- “ving a‘ theory the city wanted to tap Thornhill's Talstra Watmough Terrace mayor Jack Talstra is going to lengths to distance himself from the Weeber- led regional district initiative. “We have not raised the issue,” Talstra said Feb. 3. “I didn’t want Thornhill to become nervous about the City of Terrace.” “The driving factor is- not the City of Terrace.”’ But just five days after he made those sta- tements, Talstra and- the rest of Terrace city council were discussing options to restructure “We ultimately have to find a way for them to stand on their own feet.” Thornhill at a closed-door Feb. 8 think tank session. Councillors heard from a consultant who outlined options for amalgamating the commu- nities or extending Terrace’s current boundar- ies. Council decided to support the regional dis- trict’s work as lead agency exploring the idea. Chief administrative officer Ron Poole said the think tank session was primarily te brief jack up the amount. of money. rural areas pay Wat for policing costs. 9). 3, Extra policing charges coupled with rural’ taxation increases may make for a more re- ceptive Thornhill audience within a couple of years, council was told. In addition, property development in Thorn- hill remains severely restricted by sewer and other infrastructure problems there. Poole. said city staff will work with the re- gional district to try to form a joint planning body. ta coordinate some planning decisions in Thornhill with Terrace’s Official Community ’ Plan. While nobody rules out Thornhill incorpora- ting as its own town, Weeber says amalgama- tion likely makes more sense. “The Terrace area is becoming the hub of the northwest,” he said. “It would fluorish much better if it was.a larger community, if Thornhill was part of Terrace.” Les Watmough, Thornhill’s lone elected director at the regional district, says it's the wrong time to look at the Thornhill issue. Bigger priorities should be a regional 911 emergency dispatch system and the ongoing struggle of Skeena Cellulose, he said. “We only have a limited amount of ener- gy,” Watmough said. “Our energies are now focussed on 911 and [New Skeena boss Dan] Veniez.” “That’s what we should focus our energy on — something that's useful.” mua man's'a man, eh- Dear Sir: How ironic that the B.C. Liberals chose a Robbie Burns Day theme for their recent fundraiser dinner. Christy Clark and her cohorts are obviously not a very literary bunch, or they would have seen. the glaring inappropriateness, The poet Robbie Burns was a champion of social reform. He ridiculed the social hierarchy that wealth creates in his 1795 poem, A Man's a Man For a’ That. Burns had contempt for the rank and- inequality ereated by unevenly distributed wealth, ye ha Cr rs He would have been disappointed to sce his name . associated with a gathering of people supporting the’ B.C. Liberals’ economic policy and push towards a’ for-profit-only, corporatized B.C. Perhaps if our Minister of Education had paid more attention to the value of a well-rounded education she would have been enriched by some good poetry, Jenny Zoia, Terrace, B,C, Wake up, people Dear Sir: -The unanimous decision by Kitimat council to halt further pawer sales by Alcan. must be locally: supported. As you drive along the highway to Terrace, guess what? That transmission line beside you is | plum full of juice leaving our town to the market . place. - water supply. People wake up. Smell the coffee. If we just sit idly by, we may lose our community. Look around, Our “main street” mall is spiralling into an empty shell. Kitimat holds the distinction of having the highest apartment vacancy of the entire province. Just drive around and you will find schools closed, long-time established businesses closed, courthouse closed. More houses are for sale than ever before and property values are falling faster than wet snow on a | ity could make grab for hornhill’s business strip | 2A*“===—= i . : P ‘ vs . : : should be a cause of concern for everybody. This 7 extending citys poe possitle sructring grants. constantly corrects | M#emothaging must be elopped. Ae a once vibrant | without going to a full referendum ; Those grants could outsiders who think it’s be used to smooth out § a town of just 12,000, an td ket has taken a han te div stand, ‘ ; By JEFF NAGEL taxation changes and § ‘I know we miss out can wou d € not the wal than to’ divide our ’ ONE OPTION the city is eye- improve infrastructure, on government grant community and race up t ¢ middle while selling more . f ” - ren id. and more power. It’s become obvious that dealing » ing to expand Terrace’s boun Poole said. opportunities,” he sai with a pesky debate about power sales is something daries is to add Thornhill’s bu- A a iltg Pact for Cohesive planning of | that Alcan dearly wants to avoid. siness core but not its residen- elev id Met be development is impor- As the juice is being cranked up higher and higher tial areas... . the net wourgs ten. tant, he added, or else | - for sale, Alcan neglects its original promise of “Unlike a full merger of the € major carro Terrace could end up | modernization, expansion and - community communities, a boundary exten- i lace el a | with the “empty build- | employment. Alcan — for water rights - made a sion. would not require a referen- Of sewer” there now ings and hookers” that |}. commitment long ago to the people of Kitimat that dum, restructuring consultant Tom blocks new’ develop- mark Prince George’s all would prosper, not just Alcan. Reid told city. councillors at a P downtown. Kitimat city council has taken the lead, 1 strongly closed- door Feb. 8 briefing. The ‘provincial government race city council in charge of commercial development in Thornhill, That would aliow for coordina- ted city planning of commercial and industrial areas and eliminate the uncertainty that a developer “My worst fear is seeing the absolute atrocity of planning that has happened in. David Hull ment there as well as iW, business expansion. Suggest we “suit up” and take serious look. “My worst fear is seeing the Gaetan Pozsgay, Kitimat, B.C. would want.to see a general .con- sensus of the affected Thornhill business owners before agreeing to make the commercial : strip there part of Terrace, city chief administrative officer Ron Poole added. - “If. the province decides. it : would be reasonable, they can ap- - prove, it,” Poole said. Such. a. move would put Ter- Prince George.” who refuses to meet city condi- tions might build in Thornhill, ‘Tt would also probably end any chance of a stand-alone Thornhitl municipality with a commercial ‘or industrial tax base that would ° make it self-sufficient, The boundary extension would City councillor David Hull played down the idea, saying the " provincial government would like- __ly not approve such a plan unless ‘it-also brought ‘all Thornhill resi- ’ dents into a municipality. - “But he did say the fractured political structure and separate rules governing the two arens has hurt local residents. “I think greater Terrace misses but on a lot of opportunities,” Hull absolute atrocity of planning that has happened jin Prince George," he. said, Hull-also’ said he doubts the package of government assistance rejected by Thornhill in 1996 will be repeated again.: “The package offered to us last time for the reorganization was extremely generous and probably never to be repeated.” About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard welcomes ietters. Our address Is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. V8G 5R2. You can fax' us at 250-638-8492 or a-maill. us at newsroom @terracestandard,com. No attachments, please. We need your name, address and phone number for. verification. Our deadline is noon | Friday or noon Thursday If it’s a long weekend,