‘TERRACE ‘newspaper editor has been —Devon Kuiper “But the Caledonia Secondary ‘School student and publisher ..and editor. of OPOYF, the ..School’s, newspaper, believes _ that:rules banning tobacco use there: should be followed. OPOV,.it stands for ‘our point of view'’, raised the issue “last fallin’ an article strongly .. Suggesting teachers were sneak- _ , ing smokes in the school’s book ~-foom. It even published a photo Of a cigarette. butt allegedly * taken from the book room. The paper’s:next assault on ; _ the subject: ‘took place after a ‘School dance last year. ~ Smoking. ‘is prohibited on ; “shoo ‘grounds, but principal Tom Hamakawa, at the request of the: student council, roped ‘off a section outside and per- mitted? students to light up in _ that area, .. —- Tnethe next issue, Kuiper “reported that Hamakawa didn’t . “want the incident mentioned in ‘OPOV. and. that he wanted to screen future issues to deter- mine if stories were suitable, : The article on smoking at the oe dance did run: and so did a _ ~ Separate story on Hamakawa. “Even though many of us . agree ‘with what our principal did, there are a number of = students who were upset by the breaking of the policy and they ~~ have every right to be,” Kuiper ~~. wrote about the dance incident. . As for the book room story, Kuiper says the student who -. first reported that teachers were “smoking in there isn’t now quite gtire the infractions did take place. NEWS AND VIEWS about happenings at Caledonia Secondary School are getting a thorough airing this year through the pages of OPOY. That's newspaper editor and publisher Devon Kuiper with the box in which students drop off stories, letters and an- Terrace Standard. Wednesday, February 12, 1992 -- Page AS The little paper that could .particular critic of those who do. nouncements. OPOYV stands for “our point of view”. Dealing with those stories and subsequent reaction has kept Kuiper busy since he began publishing OPOYF last fall. Kuiper became involved in school newspapers in Grade 1] and he continued in Grade 12 through the school’s official newspaper then called the Bear- Trap. School newspapers at Caledonia are traditionally pro- duced by writing classes under ‘the guidance of a sponsoring teacher, Except for a couple of issues of The Kermode Khroni- cle produced by such a writing class, OPOV is the only newspaper at the school in this school year. Although Kuiper graduated in 1991, he’s back to take addi- tional courses in preparation for going.to college. It. also. means . : lenieedis# I] GA LOSS , tp in PAF EE} - Libel claim denied rounding the smoking ban. LAST FALL'S alegations t that teachers were breaking a no-smoking OPOV. The student newspaper has kepta closé'eye on’ eV nts Sur: rule by puffing | in a bookroom resulted in this cartoon appearing in mee Not guilty verdict issued | —A student found not guilty of libelling the president of the Caledonia Secondary School student coun- | “The action was brought _ against. OPOV editor Devon . Kuiper’: by: council president Tyler: Douglas after the newspaper published:-an article -and ~al-letter’ concerning the dismissal from. the council of : Grade~1L representative and social. conyvenor Laura Potulickl. Douglas. said the article did “not quote ‘Potulicki correctly in ~ her. comments that she was not the -only...person the student council -wanted removed; -In-testimony before teacher , Ed:Kenney, who acted as the "ft find there is no evidence that. the defendant said anything other than may be deerned fair com- ments. People in public office must be prepared to have their actions criticized and their motives discussed. ” judge, Douglas said his reputa- tion was harmed and his ability to act as president was hampered, He said OPOY editor Kuiper acted maliciously in pursuing the story because the council had refused to help finance the newspaper, Kuiper did admit to not cor- rectly portraying Potulicki’s comments but relied on fair comment in his defence, Part of the case relied on taped conversations Kuiper made to his lawyers in which he’ said he had “‘the capability of you know, putting a bit of a damper on their fun parade.”’ Although Kenney found the treatment of Potulicki’s com- ments may have been sloppy journalism or an attempt to sen- sationalize the events, he did find grounds to rule in Kuiper’s favour. -*4] find there is no evidence that the defendant said anything other than may be deemed fair _cominents. People in public of- fice must be prepared to have their actions criticized and their motives discussed, ** wrote Ken- ; ney in his judgement, ““At worst the statements would indicate. that. Mr. Douglas and the council operated in a high handed man- ner and at best that he operated © in the best interest of the stu- dent body,’’ Kenney continued. “At no time did [ find any statements that alleged -Mr. Douglas acted in an immoral matter or in a manner that would cause him to be shunned or avoided,”’ Ketiney wrote. Douglas had asked for an apology to be printed on the front page of OPOYV. — The libel trial was conducted _by Kenney as part of the school’s Law 12. class. It was — well attended by other students in the school. he has a lot of free time to work on OPOY. ‘School newspapers take a lot of effort. Often they’re not successful “because of school work and commitment, Since [ had the time, I decided to start Said healthy — ae at:Caledonia... = TERRACE = may not _ be ' popular among ali students and ‘teachers at Caledonia Secon- ~-dary:-School but OPOV pro- vides a valuable service, says its _-teacher-sponsor. <'Pye “seen letters from writing: anything else. The views in .there are those of the kids. They are things that concern them,” said Glenn-Grieve. “The school ‘should. be en- _.. couraging this sort of thing. It’s - doing exactly what we want students to da — using the skills developed © over 12 years of “school,”’ he continued. One measure of .worth of - OPOY is the reaction from “students and teachers who don’t _ approve of some of the articles or letters, Grieve said. ‘It's successful not only in : the interest I see, but in the ex- citement shown. by its detrac- tors,’’ he said. That fits in with Grieve’ 8 con- cept of newspapers as being. forums for-a variety of: views and opinions and stories that aren’t all good news items. “A newspaper that offends no one to. me would. sa nothing,” he said. But Grieve has stepped in when he feels OPOV might publish something that could be considered derogatory to some groups of people. - He told OPOY editor Devon Kuiper a planned cartoon on natives could be misinterpreted as being critical of them. “1 told Devon that if he published it, 1 wouldn’t be the. sponsor,’’ said Grieve. . He was also critical of a-arti- cle on homosexuals — pubiish- one. Jt was meant. as an alter- native press type of thing,’ he said, , Yet Kuiper didn’t count: on OPOV being. the only. student newspaper at the school, mak- ing it a delicate combination of a semi-official student. voice and his own creation. =. “Mr. Hamakawa says I am doing it for power. 1 don’t think sa. | really enjoy people’ $ reac- tions,’? says Kuiper. Aside from the smoking issue, OPOY has been criticized for an article deploring the state of the school’s washrooms. It also regularly runs‘ letters at- tacking its contents. But what's important. to Kuiper is having a newspaper that can independently com- ment on what happens at the school and one that publishes different opinions. ‘It's been fun ‘doing this newspaper. Dll definitely. say that,”’ Kuiper sald. Lately OPOV has expanded beyond Caledonia by selling’ outside subscriptions and soliciting advertising from businesses in the city. Kuiper’s planning the biggest issue yet next month when the i0th edition comes out. OPOV is self-supporting and it does receive a subsidy from the stu- dent council. , Revenue from the sale of out- side subscriptions and from the sale of ads will help further to offset expenses. The paper is produced and designed on computer equip- ment at the school and is run off on a school photocopier. OPOV is also sponsoring a floor hockey tournament and is putting on a dance. students who -I can’t imagine -_ Glenn Grieve ed before Grieve became the teacher-sponsor — for the same reasons, Overall, Grieve said OPOF is not extreme in its opinions or with its articles on life and con- ditions in the school or in ac- tions by teachers and students. “There’s nothing in. there a student isn’t already exposed to on TV, in the theatre or in everyday speech in the hails,”’ Grieve said. . —_ “Sure it has created con- ‘ troversy, but that’s healthy. It represents real discussion about issues that are of-real concern to the kids,” he added. Grieve calls that discussion part of the reat world in which students live and an example of what awaits them when they graduate. . “It’s a natural phenomena to keep: dirty laundry hidden. But it's important to keep what is controversial in. persepective,"’ said Grieve. The Start is for people * feirning how to read, Stan Bevan and Ken McNeal are carvers. They carve masks and totem poles from wood. One of their poles is in Spain. It will be shown at Ex- po this year. Stan and Ken are also cousins. Carvers fam oing fine Kalum is getting bet- ter. Kalum is an eagle. It was found here two weeks ago. One of Kalum’s ‘legs was caught .in -a. steel. trap. The. leg was broken. The trap is used to weeks, catch animals. It is call- ed a leghold trap. It is against the law to use these traps. Kalum is now in Van- couver at an animal shelter. | It will be there for Ag. Then it will be set free.