-. About a year ago an organization called Seven
Sisters Ventures said they wanted to build a large
tourist facility based out of Cedarvale. The.plan in-
volved building 80 kilometers of hiking trails punc- =
tuated with cable: suspension bridges, numerous lodges
and overnight camping areas, and (one local alderman

_ snorted in derision at this one) they intended to use.
lamas — reputedly gentle and hard-working creatures
looking something like a cross between a mountain
goat and a camel — as pack animals.

_ The lamas weren’t the only unique thing about: this
plan. The principals in the project (the president and»
vice-president of whom are from California) launched
their concept by approaching the chiefs of the Git-.
wangak people, who claim the area where the trails
would be built as their house territory. As we learned -
this week, the negotiations were successful; the Git-
wangak are guaranteed employment in the venture and
even intend to buy up to 20 percent-equity in it. |
Whether you agree with the Gitwangak claims — or
any other native claims, for that matter — the sheer
business savvy Seven Sisters has shown so far is
breathtaking. In one set of negotiations lasting 18
months, the company has virtually eliminated any ~
cause for the Gitwangak to stage protests, or: worse
still, litigation; potential investors — and clients of the
resort — will be reassured that they won’t be walking
into an explosive land claim situation; they’ve obtain-
ed employees. for a wilderness venture who know the
country better than anyone around; and they’ve.got a
potential equity partner in the business. ?
-View that in contrast to the land use conflicts that
are taking place all over the province, and it looks like
‘a pretty good argument for cooperation. Hiking trails
are an ecologically-friendly sort of development, but —
Gitwangak chief councillor Glen Williams thinks it
could work in resource extraction projects t6o. _
Is private enterprise going to show the government
how.it’s done when it comes to land use resolution? ~
Just think of it: no year-long wrangling among ,
lawyers in taxpayer-funded courts, no roadblocks...
well, it may not be that simple, but head-to-head con-
‘frontation has soured the business climate in this
_ Fegion and the province; it’s time to try something.
that, from a business point of view, works. We'll have
to try and swallow our embarrassment that a couple of
_ Americans did it first.” |

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Vil HR ITIOOSUKETHE
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HAVE SPARED THE.

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by Bob Jackman —

Wednesday — : .

Why do some columnists

‘have more trouble than others

gathering information? Why do

_ some investigative reporters
consistently get better results

than others? And what is the

role of a columnist, anyway?

When I’m looking at an ©

issue, whether it’s at the

municipal level, provincial or
federal, or just a human in-

terest. kind of thing, I try to cut |

to the chase, to ensure that the-
facts back up what I’m saying.
If something is a rumor, I say
it’s a rumor, and I don’t try to
read motivations into people’s
actions that aren’t there, If I’m
having a little fun, I try to let
my readers know that they
should take what they're
reading with a grain of salt,
- I’m not out to rewrite Ter-
race’s history to suit my own ~
purposes, and though cynical
I’m not particularly paranoid. I
write about things that I’m in-
terested in, and that I hope my
readers will be interested in. 1
try not to read into anything
what isn’t there. Oo

J admit I’m a little cynical. 1
used to be pretty innocent, and
I got set up on more than one
occasion when I was a kid. So
before I write something, I try
to make sure that first, I’ve
heard the information from
more than one source and sec-
ond, if at all possible, I’ve seen
documentation or other
physical evidence to back up
the information.

As a result, I don’t get

. caught out very often. And I

get more than.a few phone
calls from readers who
volunteer potential topics for"
my columns. Jn many of these
cases, the information really
should be going to what I call
the legitimate reporters — the

i a

guys and gals who earn their
living writing ‘who, what,
when, where and why or how’
— Ws. |

It’s probably true that the
level of investigative reporting -
is lower than it could be — our
local news tends to stick to the
who, what, when and where. If
a legitimate reporter doesn’t

- want to see his sources dry up,

he unfortunately has to be less
than powerful in his attacks on
political figures, company
presidents and labor leaders,

‘and sometimes the why of an

issue is almost too unbelievable
to print anyway. (As examples,
WHY is Council still hung up

-on the pool project? WHY

haven’t they insisted on a set of
goals and objectives for

municipal administration when

the Terrace Health Care Socie-

_ ty and Northwest Community
College boards have accepted ~

performance appraisal? WHY,
even after municipal auditors.
raised hell three or. four years -
ago about the City losing in-

- terest because of late billings

for Local Improvement Pro-
jects, hasn’t Council lowered
the boom on the guys who are
wasting tens of thousands of
dollars of our money?)

See what I mean? The
legitimate reporter usually asks
the question, because it’s being
begged to be asked. But the

_ better politicians can phrase a

reply in such a way that the
answer usually isn’t even worth
printing. And off-the-record

stuff, even though it may cast —
some light on an issue, has to
remain off-the-record if you -

people to talk to them? -

"Who says it’s tough?

want your sources to retain |
some faith in your credibility.
A columnist should be in-
teresting, first and foremost. If
you don’t provide your reader
with information, provide them
with entertainment, but don’t
confuse the two. Phil Hartl,
Rainer Gianellia, Andrea
Deakin and Allen Wootton
handle specific subject areas
with skill — if you’re not in-
terested in business, computers,

‘books or the night sky, fine, *-

you can skip their columns —

put if you are interested,

they've got the stuff for you.
Stephanie Wiebe always seems _
to have the right stuff — even.
if you don’t like kids. Maybe
especially if'you don’t like

kids. oy
Rainer wouldn’t last long if
all he talked about were Com-~
modore 64’s, and Allen would
lose his credibility pretty quick-
ly if you couldn’t find Mars in
Gemini this month. Steph
doesn’t have that problem —
she finds the human condition

funny, it’s always entertaining,

and it’s going to be around for
as long as humans are. At this
newspaper, as with others, you
get what you pay for.
It’s been six months or so
since the last municipal elec- .
tion, and it’s been a great six
months, But if you wanted to
read columns with hidden agen-
das, and totally unfounded
conjecture, you could pull out
some old newspapers from —
Novetnber.and wander through
them, And some people wonder ©
why they have trouble getting -