Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 26, 1998

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

- WE’RE NOT out of the woods yet.

Skeena Cellulose Inc., now entirely a creature
‘of the provincial government and the TD Bank,
‘has yet to invest any significant amount. of its
- planned $170 million capital expenditure pro-
", gram to upgrade the Prince Rupert pulp mill.

' The modernization program is the key to the
‘company’s restructuring plan to reduce its cost
“of production and staunch the bleeding of red
~ ink, The ultimate goal is to end up with a compa-
ny that can still make money even at the bottom

, end of the pulp price cycle.

But most of all it converts from promises on
“paper to concrete action the commitment of the
.. provincial government that the company will not
>be allowed to merely collapse into bankruptcy

and be broken apart.
* Since the restructuring plan was concluded the
. Asian economic meltdown has intensified, send-
“ing resource prices plunging and playing havoc
.with the plans of resource industry producers
- worldwide.

The company, the province and the bank all
- continue to give somewhat pathetic answers to
“the legitimate question of the northwest: when
- will the modernization program move forward?

The rescue of the company was engineered to
save the jobs of thousands of northwesterners,

To fail to demonstrate a clear and unwavering
commitment to that plan and at least outline the
conditions for moving forward plunges the
northwest back into uncertainty.

Taking charge

‘THOSE WHO fear political apathy is
-widespread have no farther to look-for comfort
‘than’B.C.’s newest municipality." te

ok
rf

The District of Wells, a tiny village next to his-

“toric Barkerville in the heart of the Cariboo
‘mountains, was incorporated this spring after
voting to do so in a referendum earlier this year.

' Cynics might think it difficult to find enough
icivic-minded folk from a town of just 250 to fill
‘six council seats and the mayor’s chair.

- By the time nominations closed, however, there
‘were more than a dozen contenders in the run-
ning for council and three candidates for mayor.

On election day, 80 per cent of eligible voters
‘cast ballots.

Council meetings are well-attended as locals
‘actively tackle hotly contested local issues and
‘spending priorities.

« While the business of local democracy can

‘they’re finally setting their own course, instead
.of remaining at the mercy of a far-off regional
district government.

Contrast this scenario with one closer to home
— jn Thornhill — where 5,000 residents in one
of B.C.’s largest unincorporated areas have just
‘one elected representative to speak for them and
virtually no control over their destiny.
| The rejection to date of either incorporating
alone or joining Terrace begs the question: what
is it that’s so different here?

_ 1998 WINNER
CCNA BETTER

PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur

NEWS Jeff Nagel « NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens
NEWS/COMMUNITYS /.lcx Hamilton
NEWSPAPERS OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly
COMPETITION CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunette
~~ ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Janet Viveiros
Bunnie Cote
TELEMARKETER: Patricia Schubrink
AD ASSISTANT: Kelly Jean COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur
_AD ASSISTANT/TYPESETTING: Julie Davidson

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AND
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” Sorving the Terrace and Themhil area. Published on Wednasday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street,
+ Terrace, Batish Columbia, VAG 5A.

Stories, photographs, illustrations, dasigns and typestyles in tha Terrace Standard are tha property of the

copyright holders, including Cariboo Press {1969} Lid., its illustration repra services and advertising
+ agencies,

Reproduction In whole or kn part, thou! written permission, |s spacifically prohibited,

Authorized a8 second-class mall panding the Post Office Department, for payment ol postaga in cash,

Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
’” ~ for their time and talents

“sometimes be messy, residents there now can say °

WHY DID CUNTON

INSIST 10 TESTIFY

IN HIS OFFICE on

B.C. SI

VICTORIA - Got a ietter the
other day from Ed and Donna
Volkart of Smithers 1 thought [’d
share with you,

“Loved your article. I am a
housewife and mother of five kids
still at home,” Donna writes. “I
wanted to say that after 22 years of
working in the mines of B.C., my
husband, through no fault of his
own, is out of work.

“He now has started his own
business, contracting oft his tank
drum for road construction to for-
esiry, just in time to be told, sorry,
almost all their budget for rack work
has been laken away, leaving possi-
bly one quarry for this season.

“Where is all the money going
to? We can’t wait around to find out
before we go broke, too. We're

going to head to somewhere, possi- .
. 4 ~-bly-Alberia or Ontario, as my hus-~-:

band has'relatives there.

“*¥es, we'll tum out the lights,
hoping anyone still remaining gets a
better deal than we did here in B.C.”
- Your friends Ed and Donna
Volkart.

My first reaction on reading the
letter was cold anger. What kind of
province is this where a family of
seven is forced to move to an uncer-
tain future in a different part of the
country?

FROM THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

My second thought was that
when all excuses are used np, it’s the
bloody government that must take
responsibility for the conditions that
are forcing the Volkarts to uproot
their children, yank them from their

world,

And here’s my third thought: if .

Premier Glen Clark and this govern-
ment have run out of ideas to pro-
vide jobs for British Columbians,
they should step down and let some-
one else try,
Yes, I know, it’s unreasonable
- and naive to suggest that a govern-
ment should pack it in because a
family in Smithers has no future in
this province, But there's more to it

schools, their circle of friends, their ,

-ITSAVED HIM FROM

HAVING 70 POT
PANTS ON...

than the fate of the Volkarts. What’s
happening to that family is sympto-
matic of the problem a lot of fami-
lies in a lot of communities are
facing.

Not all of it can be blamed on
the government. There is the Asian
economic crisis that has dramati-
cally reduced demand for B.C. prod-
ucts, including iumber and minerals.

And there is the “green threat”
by militant environmental groups to
boycott any B.C. lumber product
that isn’t harvested in strict accor-
dance with their Mother Earth bible.

That threat that has prompted
MacMillan Bloedel to strike its col-
ors, abandon its allics and suck up to
Greenpeace, in hopes of beating the
competition to what can only be
called unconditional surrender to
blackmail."

_., None of the aforementioned, | wf
; however, relieves the government of
its responsibility for the health and -

welfare of this province. The buck
stops in the premier’s office. And
nothing much that would change
British Columbia's economic woes
has come out of thal office lately.
Sure, we got a task force to
reduce red tape. Seems to me if we
had never allowed red tape to inter-
fere with economic growth, we
wouldn’t need a task force now,

ghts are going out

And the process of approving
miniag venture applications is being
streamlined. Again, if the process
had not been allowed to become ihe
red-tape monster it is, perhaps min- .
ing investors wouldn't have shifted
much of their money to South
America.

I have heard ad nauseam from
politicians about the need for secon-
dary manufacturing, particularly at
election times, but little has hap-—
pened to tum the rhetoric into
reality,

The most memorable piece of —
legislation passed in the last session
was the bill giving same-sex couples
pension benefiis. ] won't further
comment on it. It’s undoubtedly
important to some people, but it
won't provide a solitary job.

1 Do,[ think Gordon, Campbell’s

Liberals can do a better job? Nearly

40 years of observing, reporting and
commenting on politics make me
doubt it, but I’m ready and willing
to be pleasantly surprised,
Unfortunately, any change
won't come soon enough for the
Volkarts, Long before the next elec-
tion, they will probably have tumed
out the lights and moved to Alberta
or Ontario. And that makes me
exceedingly angry. :

+

Cats, cats, everywhere

IT’S TIME Terrace and
Thornhill adopt a cat control by-law.
At this time of year-especially, ani-
mal shelters are overrun by aban-
doned cats. So are neighborhoods.

Often siray cats come from
homes where they’ve been abused,
neglected , starved, or turned away
because they’ve become adults.
Some have been left to fend for
themselves after their families
moved away.

Unlike dogs which are licensed
and controlled, no by-laws apply to
cats, although in some Ontario
towns by-laws do exist, and I’m told
Edmonton is drafting a cat control
by-law. Here cats are considered to
be independent domestics, free to
roam.

Consequently, stray or bother-
some cats may not be picked up by
the dogcatcher. However, a home-
owner pestered by a stray may trap
the animal on his own property and
take it lo the animal shelter, no
charge, where it will be kept for 72
hours. If not claimed by its owner

THROUGH BIFOCALS.
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

within that time, it may be put up for
adoption or euthanized,

Under no circumstance may a
stray cat be injured during the trap-
ping process, or otherwise harmed
or disposed of in any way, without
risking prosecution.

Both Terrace and Thornhill ani-
mal shelters rent cat traps. Terrace
has four traps (it had five until some-

one left town with one) which rent

for five days at a deposit of $10,

Currently Terrace has a list of
names wailing to rent a cat trap. At
least one fed up resident has been
waiting since early June. Made in
the U.S,, each trap costs approxi-
mately $100. how many traps could
Terrace use during the summer?
Several dozen might come closer to
meeting peak seasonal demand.

So why hasn’t an entrepreneur
begun a summer-long cat trapping
business similar to raccoon extermi-
nators? One homeowner, bothered
for months by a stray cat that craps
in his flower beds, naps on the hood
of his car, and on several occasions
has ranged through his home like a
prospective buyer, would happily
pay $10 to $225 to be rid of the
pesky animal.

The average outdoor cat lives
seven years less than an indoor cat,
according to Ask the Vet. Outdoor
cats dic primarily from being hit by
cats, attacked by predators, braving
the elements or by coming in contact
with infectious diseases from other

cats. a

It was a grandmother wortied
about a stray with kittens harming or
infecting her grandchildren: who
alerted me to the cat problem. I don't
have a problem; our yard is fenced
and patrolled by two agile dogs,

How can we curb ihe supply of
stray cats at its source? By educa-
tion, And by-laws. You can’t legis-
late common sense, consideration,
or decency. And vets repeat over and
over: Spay or neuter your pets to
prevent unwanted animals.

Both Bandstra and Williams
Moving have shown a willingness to
remind their customers when they’re
leaving Terrace to arrange transfer ~
of their cast off cats to the animal
shelter.

Beyond that, our community
has to depend upon people to do
tight by their cats. No local by-law
forces pel owners lo properly restrict
their cats. And we currently lack the
means to mop up behind i iresponst-
ble cat owners.

THIS MAY COME

AS A SUPRISE

ANOTHER Hour OF
THIS ItoRRSHOP TH
A BIG DINNER, HOT-TUB, HAVE IDENTIFIED
MINtBAR , X- MOVIE sr

AND TON (GAT
lah “+ Tyoult BREAK.
INTO COMMITTEES
RESOLVE THE
HEN PROBLEMS WE

To THOSE. WHO
NEVER READ
THE AGENDA
witicH SHawoSs
THIS [SA+-.

HOMEWORK SHOP!’
4