. a

"~~ PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur

FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson

, Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of

A The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 4, 2006 ~ |

SS

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK.

"ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. + V8G 5R2 ©
oy TELEPHONE; (250) 638-7283°+ FAX: (250) 638-8432 °
a, ! WEB: www.terracestandard. com

~ EMAIL: ewsroom@terracestandard. com,

“Good giving _

Terrace i is.a better place. because of, people

| “Tike nine-year-old Kyle Spankie.

He’s the Grade 3. student who: asked his

| friends and family to‘donate to the Terrace

+ Anti-Poverty Group Society: instead of bring-

| ing presents to his birthday party last month.

His initiative resulted in $210 ‘worth of

“ Christmas gifts being bought for needy chil- |

dren i in our community over the holidays. .
. What’ s even more heartening is’ that Kyle.

- ae “is one: of ‘many people in. our, community"

“who: give generously to all sorts of important |

ae “causes.

~ Look: how Terrace responded. to news ‘that:

- “baby. Jenna Parkes would need a heart trans-
za ~ plant. ‘She’ s ‘Spent most of her’ five months of.

“life hooked. up.to. machines and. monitors and
~ living i ina hospital. Her family has had,to be"

away from home to be’ with her while bills

here continue. to mount. Family. and friends
_ (organized a garage. sale, ‘McDonald’s put out
“coin collection boxes in its. two Terrace out-.
“‘Iets, a church raised money, friends organized.
“araffle with. assistance from the Kin Club of

_ Terrace and the list. goes on.

- Jenna’s parents Ian and Nancy Parkes are

: ; “completély overwhelmed by.the generosity
“and kindness. they’ ve been shown not just

from friends and family but from the entire.

fe _ community of.Terrace.

And. what about Vesta Douglas? One of
- ‘Terrace’ s two. freemen, ‘Mrs. Douglas has
been quietly doling out her and her husband
~ Doug’ s life savings to more than 30 different
“community, groups.. in, Tecrace over: the past:
few years...

* Children: at the Child ‘Development Cen-
“tre have new learning tools and specialized
hydrotherapy equipment, the library has pur-
chased more than 100 books for children and.
- fire departments have been given money ear-
marked to buy special equipment. —

_ And almost any week of the year you can
find tables. set up at local stores with groups.

Dy

: selling raffle tickets, people. raising money

for charities and teenagers collecting | money

for sports. teams and school band. :
Every | bit. of spare change: that is. dropped

into a jar for a good cause and every raffle

_tya better place - —it may seema small gesture.
but collectively it makes a huge difference.
The spirit of giving and helping one anoth-
-er is. strong in Terrace. It’s one of.the many
- reasons this is such a terrific place to live. —
-Not-everyone can be a Kyle Spankie or a

| Vesta Douglas; but they both have taught us

_ that nickle by nickle and dime by dime we
can all make a difference. 7 Oo.

_ PUBLISHER/EDITOR:
Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach

. NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman
COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada
NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs -

CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham —
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:
- Bert Husband, Susan Willemen .
_” AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik
. *. PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur ~

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each week at 3210 Clinton Street; Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2.

_ Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copy- —
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' Special thanks to all our contributors and
correspondents f for thelr time and talents

WELL, WE GOT.
APPROVAL For ANOTHER
FUuet SURCHARGE Bur
“3's. LOWER THAN
WHAT. WE WANTED
— AND ACNE BEEN.
~ ORDERED To uc€
Les Fuel. }

[TiCKETS|

hi . .

/,.. AND WITH
EVERX FARE, You
| GET COMPLIMENTARY
. USE OF AN OAR. ,

‘Olympics need budgeting plan ,

- JOHN, FURLONG, head © ~
. of .the 2010. Olympic
Organizing. Committee,
that.

recently: revealed
~ the. venue, construction
budget is heading towards

a massive blowout.

' The Canadian. Taxpayers

"Federation (CTF) has been. .
sounding that ‘alarm. bell
* since the Olympic bid was.

first put together.

Furlong. estimates’ that

_ construction : budgets are
"short by at least 40 to 50 ©

"per cent ‘and explains’ that.
part of the. reason for the -
increase is that the original.

"numbers were done in 2002

dollars and most’ construc-

tion will be done between
now and 2008.

The current construction

* boom ‘and subsequent. Skills

- and materials” shortage” ‘was

anything but unexpected. :

In fact, when’ budget-
ing for an event seven to
», eight years down the road,
the most prudent practice
would be to set aside a siz-
able contingency fund for

unforeseen budget _pres-_

sures.
‘However, the bid budget

_SARA MACINTYRE _

tor-general also warned ear-
ly.on that the 2010 Olympic
contingency fund was in-
sufficient.

couver Bid, the provincial

. up by the 12- day event.

~ Furlong’s news is certain-

. ly. disconcerting | but what is

even more egregious is how:
he delivered it. “

|. It wasn’t reported to tax-. —
.. payers ina areport to the leg-

‘| ° islature. -

No, it was delivered to”

‘thes Vancouver Board of ©
Trade.

No doubt, ‘the Board has -
a big stake in the games but”

fe ‘the taxpayers of this prov-.
- ince do’ as. well---seeing

how: we are the ones who |

~-will be: hung out to dry. if
~ they-are not successful.

So what does that say

about the budgeting, trans-

-parency and accountability
of the Olympic Commit-

> tee?
But here’s the kicker: in.
order to ‘seciire the Van- ,

. Furthermore, what does.it. .;
say about the three, provin: .
cial government appointees

“But that is exactly why a substantial.

contingency fund should be built into the budget
and why enhanced transparency, accountability

and reporting to the taxpaying public is so .

important. ”

put together by the Olym- — ;

pic Committee included a
- measly $139 million con-
. .tingency allowance.

Why so.low?

-Even a modest ‘estimate

would see inflation eat up
ticket that is purchased. makes our communi- |

over $40 million of the con-
tingency fund in the eight.
“years between the budget
and ‘the Games, leaving

“very little fiscal room for .

_ organizers.
British Columbia’ s audi-

government signed a blank

cheque . guaranteeing BC

taxpayers would cover any

-revenue short-falls or ex-

penditure overruns. |
Such a blanket protection

hardly instills the fiscal dis-
cipline necessary to stay on

budget.
And so, with nearly five

years to go, we are already.

hearing hints that more of

our dollars will be sucked .

that sit on the Committee’ s

board of directors?

The government has had
a February budget, a, Sep-
tember mini-budget and —
most recently the release of. .

the second quarterly update

‘and not even. a whimper
of VANOC’s (Vancouver

Olympic Organizing Com-:

mittee) | impending — budget
failure.
John Furlong’ is right:

the Taternational “olyiagia”: a |

Committee sets a lot of the!
budgeting rules for bid cit-*
ies and can hamstring the:

budgeting process. a

budget. and why enhanced,

transparency, accountability: -

and reporting to the taxpay-". !
_ing public,is‘so important. ~~

British Columbians do; «

‘not want to end up like,

Montrealers who: are. just! ~f

this year paying off the Big!
“OQ” Olympic stadium’ from!
_1976..

In order to prevent that
from » happening: here, the
government and VANOC,
must. implement some safe-;
guards. . . }

3

its ui Borexample,. all contracts —

‘for < servicés,i2 venies~/andl

‘products should be’ open,i

competitive and transpar-
ent.

‘“VANOCE should look to!
the private sector. and its’
expertise first, including,
public-private partnerships.

.The government  ap-
pointees should report di-,
rectly to the legislature on;

VANOC’s financial status;

and the . auditor-general ©
should review..the docu-' _
‘ments for completeness ‘and

“accuracy. ~ 4

The government should!
outline an Olympic’ trans-'
parency plan that includes: -

all related 2010 government
spending. _
Finally, the premier; :

should re-affirm his com-,
mitment -to taxpayers that,
the funding envelope for mel

_ Olympics has been sealed. .
;

Don't skimp on teaching children

“LAST. June the Toyota Motor

- Corporation decided to build
its newest’.North American
plant) = in
Canada though several U.S..

- Manufacturing

- states offered Toyota bigger
incentives. Ontario won the
- 1,300 jobs because Canada’s

- titeracy rate is better than that"
~ of the U.S.

. Almost one in 10 Ameri-

- cans have below basic English

_ Skills, reports the U.S. Depart-

ment of Education. As an ex- . au rr
THROUGH BIFOCALS
- CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

costs directly shouldered by
corporations,” illiteracy costs ~

ample of how this affects the

. workplace, ’to train its .work-

ers to use high tech equipment
Nissan Motor Co. and Honda

Motor Co. in Alabama had to -
' . resort to pictorials; their work-

ers couldn’t read written in-
' structions.

‘A work force with feeble
reading . and writing skills
costs companies in more than
training. Companies lose cus-
tomers because staff is unable
to communicate effectively
with them. In addition, it takes
extra advertising to try to re-
trieve lost customers.

Besides the extra training

. tors,

taxpayers too. Faulty teracy

ing to higher welfare ‘costs,

greater health care demands,

and eventually busier courts
and overcrowded prisons.

' Once again we’re back to
the accepted truth — one dol-
lar spent of a young child

saves society seven dollars
years later. Premier Gordon

Campbell ought to rethink his
spending cuts to B.C. schools.

And quickly. Terrace recently

discovered its four-day school

_ week turns away prospective

skilled professionals for whom

_an adequate education ‘system

begins with a five-day. school
week. _
The Coast Mountain School

District’s current crop of stu-
_ dents seem to be performing

well, according to reports of
provincial assessment exams.

- But take away their calcula-
and spell.

-computers,
checks and see how many
clutch a pemas tightly as a lone
firefighter aiming.a high pres-
sure hose. * .
Literacy skills are like rub:
ber boots worn in spring. They
ready you to go where you
wish and do what you want.
Why grow up restricted in your
choice of career and limited in

_your earnings when learning

to read can make a huge dif-
ference forever? TV ads claim
a high school diploma increas-

es a person’s lifetime earnings ©

by $200,000. A college degree

almost doubles that.
Parents owe it to their kids

to encourage them to do well

in schoo! and hang i in until they:
graduate. ‘And for anyone who
quit school midway, it’s never

too late to return to classes and’

upgrade. The opportunities for, -

-adult training are many. And;

far from being ridiculed, any
ambitious adult. seeking), fur-
ther education is applauded. .

Age should not be consid-.

-- ered a barrier either. As Dear

Abby said, you’ll be the same ©

age with the training as you! fi
will be without it.

When I hear someone orf
TV say they “axed” someone’
when they mean “asked”, it:
revives memories .of my Puer+

_ to Rican co-workers ina New -

York hospital. How would |
they spell the word in a writ-

' ten sentence? Axed or asked?

And if they would correctly,

: spell it “asked”, then why say;

“axed”? The improper pronun-:
ciation is a dead giveaway of a
limited. education.

So long as illiteracy drives
corporations from the U.S.,
British Columbia should capi-,
talize by improving our locah
schools.

But that is exactly why’ a
a substantial contingency’. —
_ fund should be built into ‘the,

ve oe
yoo:

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