A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 9, 1997

TERRACE

STANDARD

4647 Lazalle Ava., Terrace, B.C. VaG 1S8 (604) 698-7293 Fax (604) 638-8492
ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

A Division of Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd.
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
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Hat trick

SHOULD school board decisions be made only
by the trustees local voters elected? Or is it more
democratic to make parents, teachers and other
groups full members of the decision-making pro-
cess, even though nobody elected them?

That’s the debate now pulling the Coast.
Mountain School District in both directions.

To the Kitimat trustees, who like the more con-
sultative system, the tendency is to paint Terrace
trustees and district administrators as being un-
willing to share power.

To those Terrace trustees used to the old sys-
tem, Kitimat’s revolutionary ideas sound a lot
like handing a dangerous amount of control over
to special interest groups like teachers’ unions.

Senior administrators from Terrace have often
been unpopular, particularly with the unions. r

But if the goal is to reduce their influence by
giving more control to non-elected representa- ‘
tives, then this experiment is wrong-headed.

We already have trustees who do their best to
duck public accountability. Roger Leclerc’s most |
oft-uttered words to reporters when he led the
campaign to remove nude art from the REM Lee °
Theatre were ‘No comment.’ Extending voting
rights to other interest groups gives those.
trustees even more ways to dodge responsibility.

Who ultimately carries the can for what hap-
pens in the schools? That’s the bottom line here,
and it becomes increasingly hard to pin down
when more people than just elected trustees get
to vote on decisions. '

And what is the job of these trustees if not to
represent all affected interests? If people aren’t.
happy with the job their trustees perform, it’s
their own responsibility to do something about it
at election time.

Handing control to appointed representatives is
not about improving. democracy. It’s‘about side-'
stepping it. caw

Power

TALK ABOUT U.S.-based Alumax perhaps
building an aluminum smelter at sites including
Kitimat and Prince Rupert seemed about par for
the primary industry rumour mill.

Big talk. Little realistic likelihood of action.

Word came as Premier Glen Clark unveiled a-
“power for jobs’’ initiative. Power to be
returned to the province via the Columbia River
Treaty would be sold at cheaper than market
rates to companies that promise to create jobs.

Then came the twist. The premier confirmed to
reporters that he essentially solicited Alumax to
look at B.C. to put the threat of competition on
Alcan and give the province an added stick to
prod the company in compensation negotiations.

Victoria has yet to come to grips with the fact
its decision to cancel Alcan’s half-built Kemano
Completion Project was hasty and likely to cost
taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Instead the province uses subterfuge and un-
derhanded methods to try to evade paying the
piper. And each time it does so it sends a terrify-
ing message to other potential investors in B.C.
LL

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ARO HELATIS
rit Cotemtie aa renee

Serving the Terrace and Thomhil area. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Prass (1969)
Ltd, al 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, VEG 5A2,

Storias, photographs, Mustrallons, designs and typostyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the
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agencies, mo,

Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited,

Authorized a3 second-class mall pending tha Post Office Department, for paymont of postage In cash.

Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
: for thelr time and talents

Pe

NN aey

=P

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7

*.

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en

Four days without politics

VICTORIA — Hey, demo-
cracy docsn’t come cheap, and
one of the prices I pay is bhav-
ing to listen to our Members of
the Legislative Assembly, as
the summer sun erases the last
memories of the past winter’s
blizzard.

And with the long Canada
Day weekend coming up, I
thought there was no better
way to fight the blues that in-
variably settles over me this
time of year than to hit the
road for 4 few days.

No inalier how often I take
the ferry, I never fail te enjoy
the trip to Vancouver. And [
want to tell B.C. Ferries chief
Frank Rhodes that these days,
even the food is pretty good.
And if were Frank, I too would
be ticked off by the sign out-
side a restaurant on the way to
the Schwartz Bay terminal that
saysj,, ‘Caution - Ferry Food
Ahead.”’

The first day’s destination is
Harrison Hot Springs, Last
time I was there, was about 15
years ago to attend a three-day
trade union seminar that was to
prepare me for my stint as
president of the Victoria
Newspaper Guild.

The place bas changed
dramatically: The original
buildings, which had become a
little seedy have been

renovated, and a brand-new
hotel has been added, thanks to
some heavy Japanese invest:

FROM THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

ment, Mind you, the prices
have changed, too, with noth-
ing to be had under $120 a
night.

And here’s a little tip: Next
time you drive between Van-
couver aid Hope, take High-

way 7 instead of Highway 1. ;

I's virtually empty and un-
believably scenic. co

Next day, we stop in Lytton
and stay overnight at the
Totem Inn, a great place with
cozy collages and a fantastic
view of the Fraser, flanked by
high mountains, some of which
are still snow-capped.

That evening, ] have a few
beer with my old friend Chris
O’Connor, woodlands mamager
for Lytton Lumber, a company.
that employs about 50 people,
which makes it the major
employer in Lytton. - ;

Chris tells me they’re more:

Plot twists go

HAVE you ever snapped
shut a novel or switched off a
movie because its plot was too
contrived to be believed?

Recently, I watched a kids’
movie, too briefly to catch the
whole plot, but essentially a
childless married couple rented
three kids, a winsome first-
grader and her two older
brothers.

The couple lived in an
upscale high-rise apartment
furnished like a fumiture
showroom, that is to say with
no sigus of habitation.

The briefcase-carrying hus-
band possessed a letter sup-
posedly signed by Abraham
Lincoln. He was awaiting
authentication.

Tf the signature proved to be
Lincoln’s, the letter would be
worth several million dollars.

One evening, while gathered
in the living room pretending
to be family, the girl asks for
paper so she can draw.

“There's paper in my brief-
case,’’ the father says, off-

SINCE YOU'RE A
NORTHERNER THERE'S
A SPECIAL TEST
ON YOUR Jo

APPLICATION! !

- THROUGH BIFOCALS.

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

handedly waving toward it,
though Lincoln’s letter rests in
it,

How many executive falhers
invile first graders io dig in
their briefcases for craft sup-

_ plics? About as many as own

briefcases coutaining a $3 mil-
lion artifact.

For the pilot to survive, the
child bas to write a heart-
wrenching message on the
blank side of Lincoln’s Ictter

| READY? Now
IMAGINE. YOURE
AT THUS DESK...

AND (T'S SPRING THE J
GEESE HAVE RETURNED,
FISH AKE COMING UP THE
RIWER, FLOWERS ARE
BLOOMING ,Soon) THERELL
BE BERRIES To PICK.»

scared of the red-tape riddled
Forest Practices Code than
Greenpeace. Whether the
government’s promise of
Streamlining the code will
work, remains to be seen, he
says.

He has just wrilten a letter to
the edilor which he planned to
send to the Vancouver Sun. |
wrestled it from him instead,
It’s worth a read:

“Dear Sir,’’ he writes.

‘Tam wriling with a sugges-
lion for the premier and his
government.

‘*Why docsn’t he take the as-
sets of Skeena Cellulose
(formerly, a long time ago, Ca-
nadian Cellulose) make it into
a Crown corporation and try to
run it fora few years, and then -
change the name to B.C. Tim-
ber, then roll it into a new

_ Crown corporation called-B.C, .

Resources Investment Corpo- .
ration (BCRIC), give five
shares to every Brilish Colum-
bian and sell the rest.

‘In a few years, change the
name to Westar and plan to
sell it to Jim Pattison in twenty
years. It seems to me that this
would be a good idea and I
think Bob Williams might be
available to manage the
takeover. I think I have seen
his movie before.’’

Next day, on the way to
Whistler, I stop at Lillooet to
say hello to Christ! Roshard,
the editor of the Bridge River

making the father suddenly
realize the kids are more im-
portant to bim than Lincoln’s
lelter, even if it should prove to
be genuine.

Luckily for the father — and
for the child, too, no doubt —
Lincoln’s letter turns out to be
a fake.

Father of the Bride II, an
adult movie, suffers more im-
plausible twists than an in-
somniac’s night wear. Steve
Martin and Diane Keaton,
grandparents to be, live in a
house similar to the Fresh
Prinee of Bel Air’s without the
mortgage; he calls it ‘‘a
dump”. He’d scll it, if only he
could think of an excuse his
wife would accept.

Hark! Is that rain? In
minutes, water is pluck, pluck-
ing on ihe kitchen congoleum
having made its way through
the roof, attic, upstairs
bedroom, and kitchen ceiling.
Selling is now logical, in-
evilable even,

Six weeks later, Martin and

“Among
doesn’t: like my: treatment’ of):

Lillooet News of Ma Murray
fame. It’s Saturday and the
paper is closed. I tried, Christ.

Along the hauntingly beauti-
ful Duffy Lake Road, I drive
on to Pemberton and Whistler.
Even though it’s summer, the
place is busting. I remember
how incensed I was 15 years
ago or so, when the povern-
ment pumped some money
into the development of Whist-
ler. Turned out to be one of the

- best investments ever made by

a B.C. government. Wrong
again, Hubert.

For the first time in days, I
have service on my cell phone.
I check my e-mail and find a
letter from «2 Christoph.
Dietzfelbinger of Smithers,
who tells me he won't be sorry.
if he never reads another of my |
columns. :
other things; he *

Greenpeace. Also says I avoid
criticism by coming down on
both sides of an issue at dif-
ferent times. Well, you can’t .
please all the people all the
time.

And now I’in ready to face
the dreary prospect of a legis-
lative session that might well
go on for another couple of
months. But the trip sure
helped.

Beyer can be reached at Tel:
920-9300; Fax; 385-6783; E-
Mail: hubert@coolcom.com

beyond

Keaton visit the doctor because
she's been feeling queasy. The
doclor’s diagnosis? She's preg-
nant.

As they wait for the elevator,
guess who arrives? Martin
Short, who catered their
daughter’s wedding. He must

-leam of Keaton’s pregnancy,
but how to tell him?

Ah ha! The doctor’s nurse
rushes up to Keaton as she
waits for the elevator and
hands hee ‘‘your moming sick-
ness medication.” At least two
things are out of whack here.
First, no qualified nurse would
ever say anything in public to

_ even hint at a patient’s medical
condition. Second, in 14 years
of working around nurses, I
never saw one run. Like other
emergency personnel, they
know they must arrive in shape
to deal with the problem.

I've never tried to write a
short story because always I
need a plot twist I can’t accept.
But does that bother screen-
writers? Not much.

MCE PEOPLE! ByT 7
TRAGICALLY FLAWED!!!) |,