gr n Terrace city council’s recent decision in favour of spot I zoning to let the Bavarian Inn have its neighbourhood pub, we've seen a collision of people’s concepts of what a pub is and what a neighbourhood is. Council opted for the spot zoning because a delegation of local residents feared that adding the pub use on a blanket basis to commercial zoning might allow the establishment sometime in the future of pubs in their neighbourhoods. Using the two words together seems almost contradictory in view of the apparent resistance of neighbourhoods to hosting pubs. Every night of the week a dissipated convention of raucous drunkards are discharged onto the downtown streets when the pubs close, creating a general disturbance of shouting, cursing, - fighting and laughing, all reeled off to a soundtrack of shatter- ing glass and roaring automobile engines, that few people are around to witness because few people have their homes in the downtown core. [t’s hardly surprising that home owners in residential areas don’t want their sleep interrupted by this sort of circus. The public house concept as we know it originated in Eng- Jand, but when it came to Canada something happened in the mid-Atlantic. Until recently English pubs closed periodically during the daytime to prevent customers from hanging around and drinking for more than two hours at a stretch, and they closed at a civilized hour of the evening. Bar keepers were responsible for preventing patrons from overindulging in their goods, and pubs remained true to their original intent as a social gathering place. ' . What we seem to have in Canada are instead vast warehouses for drinking alcohol that in concept don’t differ greatly from opium dens, the primary difference being the chemistry of the drug offered for sale. There are laws in B.C. holding inn- keepers responsible to a degree for the condition of their customers, but the extent to which that is taken seriously can be assessed by standing at the corner of Kalum and Lakelse on virtually any night just after midnight and watching the show. Iil-conceived laws governing the licensing of liquor establish- ments in B.C. are partially to blame for this state of affairs, particularly the long-standing rule limiting service of draught beer to hotel bars. That limitation has been relaxed, and now the legal route to smaller neighbourhood pubs has been open for several years. The fact that there is only one in our area — it would be stretching the concept to call the area around the Bavarian a neighbourhood — in Thomheights, is testimony to . the fact that pubs as we think of them here have a reputation problem to live down. 7 Whether the law specifically says so or not, the people who make a business of serving a dangerous intoxicant have social responsibilities to fulfil. Until they begin taking those responsi- bilities seriously, "neighbourhood pub" is likely to remain a contradiction in terms. a LeGkACE eremene tay ae ere Second-class mail registration No. 6896. _ Established May 1, 1985 The Terrace Raview is published each Wednesday by Close-Up Business Services Lid. Ail materlat appearing in the Terrace Review Is protected under Canadian copyright Ragistra- tion No, 362775 and cannoli legally be repro- duced far any reason without permission of the publisher. Errors and omisslons. Advertising is accepted on the condition that In ihe evenl of typographical error, that portion of the advertis- Ing space occupled by tha erroneous item will hot be charged for, but the bajance of the adver- lisement will be paid for at the applicable rata. Advertisers must assume rasponsibillty for er- fora In any classified ad which Is supplied te the Terrace Review in handwritten form. in compliance with the B.C. Human Rights Act, no advartisemant wil! be pubiished which discriminatas against a parson dua fo age, race, retigion, color, sex, nationality, ancestry or place of arigin, . 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7. Phone: 635-7640 Fax: 635-7269 Publisher: Mark Twyford Editor: Michael Kelly Staff Reporters: Tod Strachan, Betty Barton Advertising: Marj Twyford, Todd Vogt Typesetting: Carrie Olson Production Manager: Jim Hall Production: . Charles Costello, Gurbax Gill, Linda Mercer, Ranjit Nizar Office: Carrie Olson Accounting: Marj Twyford, Harminder K. Dosanjh One year subscriptions; tn Ganada $39.00 Out of Canada $100.00 ; Seniors In Terrace and District $30.00 Seniors out of Terrace and District $33.00 a a eh ee Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only when signed. Piease inctude your telephone number, The editor reserves tha right to condense and sdit letters. Opinions expreased are not necessarily those of the Terrace Review, . ——————— ee a ee eee wy ae ORD IN SURE WEIL BE DELIGHTED By. A wit : YOUSHN HM ONTTE CHER : DAY... NO SORRY, HE CANT OTE TO THE PHONE. HES ONTHE SIXTH FLOOR... The view from Victoria — by John Pifer VICTORIA — It is true that the government and Social Credit Party spent —~ not to say wasted — a lot of money last month in the run-up to what was designed to be a general election. The game plan was aborted, you may recall, amid the percep- tion that Premier Bill Vander Zaim had been lying for years about the scope of his involve- ment in Fantasy Gardens. Everything from the Coquihaila Connector opening celebrations to various new government fund- ing for local projects, were planned to run during election hoopla; but the bandwagon got derailed, They went ahead — there was no option, really — with far less fanfare. And the Socreds and NDP spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on campaign-style ads as they tested the election waters. Fear not, however, if you are a Socred supporter wondering if there will be any money left for election goodies in 1991, For Finance Minister Mel Cou- velier has reassured everyone that the government has $20 billion (yes, billion) worth of capital projects it will speed up if the economic downturn worsens. Clearly, that is another signal - that the Socreds are all but count- ing on a recession in Canada over the next year, in order to help their cause. The theory goes that as other provinces suffer dramatically, _ B.C. will be seen to be somewhat "recession-proof", a description the premier and Mr. Couvelier _ have used repeatedly over the past four years. Says Couvelier: "If we have to prime the pump, we are ina — position to do that. We (will) do everything we possibly can to make sure that the early 1980s are not repeated in the early. 19903." It may be labelled a scare tactic by some, but the fear factor often wins elections — fear of the spendthrift socialist hordes, fear of four more years of Fantasy- land, etc. Cail me cynical, but it does not take a brain surgeon to figure out that a chunk of that $20 billion bail-out fund could weil end up buying votes through careful timing of the launch of new projects and the like. The pump which could get primed is the one with "election" written on the handle. Senior officials within the gov- emment are saying a third “bal- - anced" Budget from Mr. Couve- lier in the spring could be enough of a springboard to give the So- creds a chance in the election, especially if that fear factor is fanned fervently. ‘Just imagine the lobbying going on for that $20 billion from des- perate Socred MLAs secking all the help they can to get re- elected!| The speculation is getting silly now, over whether Premier Vander Zalm might quit, or is even thinking of siepping aside because he is such a lability to Social Credit. Last week, one Selkirk Radio News report said the Sacreds’ chief election planner, Jess Ketchum, had met with Mr. Vander Zaim and told him that stepping down was the only way to salvage the party’s chances in an election. They later issued a ’ et ee oa ret : Saag tires eae tot tts Sage Tee eed ong feb fe eek fcrrgy epee eb tk ware oe Uncen Saag Ay serrantune aapndtne site cn am ai ula Eb Eo mM IS TES OE Dry a correction, as well they might, considering that none of:their reporiers had even talked to . Ketchum. It is rue that Ketchum (nick- named Katch-up for the task ahead of him) met with The Man, . but he denies vehemently that leadership was even raised, It is true that Vander Zalm has been getting just such a message from a number of quarters, in- cluding senior businesses which are heavy contributors to the party’s coffers. It is true that several Cabinet ministers told the Premier that the flak over his arrogant handling of the Fantasy Gardens fiasco was one of the biggest problems they faced, and that the perception that Family Man Bill was a liar, was visible and harmful. . But it also is true that for every two people who urge him to jump, theré is one to say "you're doing.a great job, Bill." And as Vander Zalm has proved oh, so Many times in the past three years, his ego will let him listen seriously only to the latter. . Couple: that with a group of Cabinet ministers who talk a good fight but don’t ever enter into one, and chances are The Zalm will be around for a while, Parting Thought: No, I don't think there will be much in the way of fireworks at the Social Credit Party convention on the weekend, The amending of the Christianity cause will be accepted with few whimpers, and some stage-managed standing ovations for the premier will again give him false hope of a resurrection from opinion-poll | Hell. I'll be there to tet you all know how it goes. = .