AA - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 17, 1999 TERRACE. STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net _! a A vision. THE FUTURE’S so bright, ti@ mayor’s wear shades. A first reading of Mayor Jack Talstra’s ‘‘state | | of the city’? address to the chamber of commerce . might lead people to think it’s a bit loopy and that the mayor needs an end-of-winter cabin fever break. - But read it again. His vision of moving the CN rail tracks and sawmills out of town, freeing up a huge parcel of land for green space and low im- pact people-friendly development isn’t that far- fetched. - . The one tough-part.of making this city livable |- and having it make sense has always been that Berlin Wall divide of tracks and industrial presence. Getting back and forth by vehicle is a problem and it’s extremely difficult, if not im- possible, if you are a pedestrian. The lack of sufficient size parcels of devel- opable land will invariable lead to more develop- ment stretching down the highway west of the city, an already identifiable situation given the need for a vibrant downtown core. Just because the land the mayor talks about has been a rail transportation corridor for decades, for instance, is no reason not to think there can be a wholesale change. This city has already proven that industrial land can be converted to other uses. Where the Ter- race Shopping Centre now sits, for instance, was once a sawmill location. —_ For inspiration, cast your eyes west to Prince. Rupert, That city is making moves to turn its waterfront into an attractive retail and pedestrian area by developing a facility for cruise ship pas- sengers on docks which once hosted commercial. fishing processors. An ocean front park is also’ slowly taking shape, ae Prince Rupert is doing this by utter economic necessity given the collapse of its resource-based - industries, Terrace is not in the same position as Prince Rupert. But that’s no excuse to let things sit until the wolf comes knocking at our door. Hello? IT’S ABOUT time Skeena Cellulose came out of the closet and into the light. After all, it is the taxpayer which rescued the company from the: bankruptcy dust bin. When was the last time the. company issued a status report? When was the’ last time company officials spoke in public? As one of the region’s two main economic: players — the other being Alcan — Skeena Cel- lulose officials instead seem content to manipu-. late opinion from the background. A case in point is the call by northwest mayors for the’ provincial government to kick loose $40 million. in capital to re-open a closed pulp line at the company’s Prince Rupert pulp mill, | While it is rightfully the job of mayors to press for things to benefit their communities, it is also the job of Skeena Cellulose to be visible and. transparent in its dealings. If not, public con-- fidence in the company is at risk. 1998 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunette ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Bunnie Cote TELEMARKETER: Tabatha Orange ; AD ASSISTANT: Kelly Jean COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT/TYPESETTING: Julie Davidson SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.30 per year; Seniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39 Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25 (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MENBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. fr. CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION | &@ CNA. cme AD B.C. PRESS COUNCIL Sithiitaes Serving the Terraca and Thornhil area. Published on Wednesday of each weak at $210 Clinton Stee, Terrace, British Columbla, Vacs 52, ; Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard ard the property of the Copyright holders, Including Cariboo Press (1996) Lid., Hs ilustrallon repro services and advertising agencies, , Reproduction in whole or in past, without written permission, is spectically f ibited. Abo as seand as mal pending the Pet Oc Departen fr pamant of postage in cash, Special thanks to all our contributors and corraspondants - licence, _ objections from Burnaby. cies council. He also. ran an illegal se _ for their time and tatents gotta || i gx 4 ws dia y” |'M SORRY..MR.PIPO | MR.CLARK HAS ALREADY St APPOINTED A CLOWN 10 OUST HTN OU) THE - AST FER d EAE Seo as Y PROBLEMS ‘ace bh use 2: 2% rt Na? All This due to a sundeck? VICTORIA ~ As the per- ception and the reality of Pre- mier Glen Clark’s troubles coalesce into a potent mix, the united front of his cabinet, which has shielded him with demonstrative solidarity, is beginning to crumble. In the morning of March 10, a Wednesday, several cab- inet ministers, on their way to a cabinet meeting, expressed concern over the previous day’s revelations that the rela- tionship between the premier and Dimitrios Pilarinos was closer than Clark had previ- ously claimed. Pilarinos is the man who teceived a conditional casino despite strenuous pokerclub, =. * When the issue first arase, the premier said the Pilarinos family lived in the same area, they saw each other occasion- ally, their children played and went to school together. _ The evening of March 9, a - Tuesday, however, Clark told a TY interviewer that Pilari- nos had spent a couple of *. weeks at the premier’s sum- mer cottage and had helped him build a sundeck. Pilarinos appears to be a sundeck spe- cialist, because he also built one for the premier’s family home, Now, let’s look at both Make the real Ujjal Dosanjh Attomey-General Victoria, B.C. Dear Attorney-General: You're asking for public input on paying search and rescue costs for missing skiers, snowboarders and hikers. _ Let the rescued pay. That’s how search costs are recouped in some parts of the United States, A solid hit in their Master Card might smarten them up, make them understand the meaning of out-of-bounds. Making them pay’ might knock some of the arrogance out of those twits who grin into the news camera and say, “Yeah, I’! probably go out-of-bounds again,” While behind -them bone-weary searchers stow their soggy |. gear in the search van. Are searchers ever tempted to leave them to meit out in the Spring? [ wonder, fe Es “Bata ‘jez a HUBERT BEYER facts and perceptions. First the facts. ; Fact 1: Pilarinos is a friend of Clark’s, Fact 2: He built a . sundeck at Clark’s family | .-home,. charging a little under -.. “$10,000. The addition is esti-- ‘ mated to add about $16,000 to home’s market value, Fact 3: Pilarinos operated an illegal poker club. Fact 4: The RCMP raided the pre- mier’s home. Fact 5: The premier didn’t take part in the decision to grant Pilarinos a conditional casino licence. ; Less publicized fact: A man by the name of Dimitris Vrah- nos, a Revenue Canada office manager who also lives in Clark's neighborhood, saw Pilarinos building a sundeck at the premier’s home. When he heard that Pilari- THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI In Europe, I’ve heard, buying a ski hill pass and insurance go hand-in-hand. When searchers find a per- son, they don’t ask,~~ “Where do you hurt?” They ask, “Where’s your insur- ance card?” _ Adding even a 25-cent levy on ski-resort lift tickets . is unfair. It would make every law-abiding, sensible rider share the expense of By Ot No! tr's-Tuar WH Guctl OF CTY where Do-they By SUID Moose Y AMATEURS! | GET THESE CALLING CONTEST #4 NEVER SH fl) Peote ANYWAYS ¢ 7 Peohte | THEIR LIFE! HAR! HAR, HAR: SOUNDS LIKE., nos got a casino licence, he thought he smelled a rat and wrote {o the Liberal party about his suspicions. Equally less publicized fact: The Liberals went to the RCMP with whatever allega- tions Vrahnos had made. Now the perceptions. Per- ception 1: The judge must have had compelling reasons to issue a search warrant for the premier’s home. The old saw about where there. is smoke there is fire. Well, the way it looks to me, the judge will have some explaining to do, considering that ali the evidence RCMP left with was a floor plan of the premier’s home. .: Perception 2: Pilarinos got “his casino licence because he ‘built a sundeck for the premier at a good price. That one really has me baffled. No sane person I know would. commit acrime for a sundeck at a rea- sonable price, And the Clark I know is very sane. What’s more, I don’t think the premier didn’t get such a good deal. [ have carpenter’s journeyman papers and I’m telling you I could have build that sundeck for quite a bit less than the premier paid. Perception 3: The premier is hanging out with people who operate illegal gambling clubs. Now, there’s a joke. The Lumbermen’s Club has Culprits rescuing the few defiant twits who insist upon going oul of bounds. And even so modest an extra lift charge could whittle a ski resort’s usage and income. It's bad enough we all pay higher ICBC rates to cover the cost of careless drivers and car owners. Don’t make everyone pay for the ill-pre- paredness and foolhardiness of those few who insist upon going where no man has gone before. . . . This winter, Ron Roys- ton, head of the North Shore Search. and Rescue, has become as a familiar face on TV news as our premier. Royston and his volunteers have given up countless weekends as well as their paid work to rescue skiers, hikers, and snowboarders from some of the most dan- gerous terrain in this province. So far, 14 searches aver- been operating for years at the same location, and quite - legally so, until Clark’s gov- emment made it illegal in its drive to monopolize all gam- bling in the province. Pilarinos kept operating the club, probably prompted by much the same feelings of, anger that make some people continue to smoke in Victoria bars, despite the fact that the Smoke Nazis have made it illegal, Speculation has abounded, and even though I don’t like speculation, I’d like to offer one: The reason Mike Farn- worth issued the licence to Pilarinos was based on syco- phancy, pure and simple. He _ knew the man was a friend of the premier's and thought /it™ might please Clark if he gave * the licence to Pilarinos. And let it be mentioned here that Clark had no way of preventing that decision. Had he told Farnworth not to give the licence to Pilarinos, he would have been guilty of the very thing he’s now falsely suspected off But we've learned long ago that in politics, perception has become every bit as important as reality. And that’s why the premier’s troubles won’t just go away. , Beyer can be reached at — Tel: (250) 920-9300; e-mail: hubert Icom.com; web: http:/Avww.hubertbeyer.com/ Day aging $7,000 have been con- ducted in southern B.C, And that’s just to March 8. Who knows how many more jerks will smother in tree wells, succumb to hypothermia, or suffocate under an avalanche before spring, At the end of one grueling bad-weather search on the Grouse Grind, a reporter spoke to a “hike” who was setling out at 6 p.m., hatless, - wearing only a light jacket and running shoes. He. had ducked the yellow out-of- bounds barrier to start up a trail the RCMP had closed as too risky for the time being. Did the “hiker’’ think he was unwise setting out at that hour, on 4 closed trail, with no warm clothing? No, sirtee. Let out-of-bounds sports pay the full cost of their res- cues, Ban them for life from all ski hills; suspend their lift ticket privileges forever. A DYING PIG?! THAT GUY Har! dar! Hae!