A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TERRACE: STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 A Division of Cariboo Press (1969} Ltd. ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Tertace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net A penny saved VANCOUVER — A review of provincial capi- tal investment programs has produced more than 100 cost-containment strategies which can save approximately $200 million when planning and building new schools, health facilities and capital projects. . “The report’s cost-savings recommendations show this government is committed to getting better value for money and spending smarter,”’ Finance Minister Andrew Petter said. Some examples, listed by government ministry, are: Ministry of Attorney-General Have young offenders travel with police of- ficers, That way, when the young offenders com- mit a crime, they’re easily apprehendable, making the arrest process more cost efficient. Provide young offenders with multiple photocopy versions of “‘we’re sorry and we won’t do it again’? letters they send to victims. Blanks will be left in the appropriate spots so details can be quickly and easily filled in. Ministry of Education Eliminate the need for new schools by conduct- ing classes around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Students, at least who can stay awake, would then have the opportunity to finish their K-12 re- quirements in record time and thus be available for the job market way ahead of everybody else. Ministry of Health and Responsible for Seniors Make it mandatory for patients to bring their own beds when checking into hospitals. Cost savings in purchasing beds, linens and doing laundry will more than pay itself off in the ability of the government to hire yet more con- sultants to explain why the system doesn’t work. Make provision for senior citizen housing under. any and all new bridges to be built. The theory here is that senior citizens can retain an active and healthy lifestyle by enjoying the great out- doors. Sleeping bags’and camp stoves to be pro- vided, | B.C. Ferry Corporation Make German tourists swim alongside the ferry going to the Queen Charlotte Islands. Tourism research has proven that foreign tourists, Ger- mans in particular, come to B.C. for an ad- venturesome and challenging experience. This will allow B.C. Ferries to overbook its vessels, adding to income and turning them essentially into a luggage-carrying operation only. B.C, Transit For a fee, allow skateboarding teenagers to grab onto buses making their rounds. A survey has shown that skateboarding teenagers far outweigh those who take the bus. This program will benefit those skateboarders and increase B.C. Transit’s revenue flow. Ministry of Forests ; - Locate portable food banks, welfare offices and FRBC branches on the grounds of shut down sawmills. This will make it easier to process and assist laid off workers in a familiar and non- threatening environment. Large TV screens broadcasting the latest provincial pronouncements on job creation ac- cords will be a key part of this program. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Rick Passmore PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgcur NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Dave Taylor COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Kathicen Quigley ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janct Vivciros . TELEMARKETER: Tracey Tomas ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Emma Law, Kelly Jean - TYPESETTING: Sylvana Broman DARKROOM: Susan Credgcur CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunette SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $53.50 per year; Seniors $48.15; Out of Province $60.99 Outside of Canada (6 months) $149.80 S (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) — : MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION : ad@eeciatse mw GclHab Colewt in vee vetew AND B.C, PRESS COUNCIL Serving the Terrace and Thornhill araa, Pubtishad on Wednesday of aach week by Carbo Prass (1969) Lid. at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, VAG 5A2. Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs arid typestyles in the Terrace Standard are ihe property of the copyright holders, Including Carlboo Press (1969) Ltd., its tilustration repro services and advertising agencies, yom pies as : ere . Reproduetion in whola or in pari, without writtan permission, Is specifically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Ofica Ueparlment, for paymont of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents , for their time and talents NO SWEAT... TILGIVE a A BUZZ CBC cuts ignore the public VICTORIA — On Dec. i1 last, the Canadian Broadcast- ing, Corporation sent layoff notices to 996 employees across the country ta meet the requirements of its latest budgel cuts — a whopping $414 million. The layoffs take effect March 31. AL the same time, 615 CBC radio and television employees accepted voluntary severance packages, while an additional 88 vacancics were scrapped. That brings the total staff cuts to 1,699 positions, with anoth- er 800 or so layoffs expected in 1998. The budgetary blood-letting will mean a lot of changes to viewers and listeners of CBC TV and Radio, Gone will be the Vicky Gabereau show. Morningside with — Peter Gzowski will be history. A lot of regional programming will be replaced by national pro- ductions out of Toronto, The last time [ wrote about the gradual cmasculation of the CEC at the hands of our politicians, ] received a lot of fax messages from the Reform Party, informing what plans a Reform goverument would have in store for the CBC. Preston Manning, no less, told me he would reserve budget cuts for CBC TV. FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER Radio would pretty well be left alone and Radio Canada Inter- national, the corporation’s world-wide shortwave service would continue to be financed. I appreciate the information, albeit uscless al the moment in the absence of a Reform government. And for Mr, Maii- ning’s benefil, I’m not all that happy either about the slow death of the CBC’s television am. I don’t want ta overstate ihe importance of the CBC to Can- ada as a nation, but the Crown corporation has been a ray of light in the gloom that is com- mercial broadcasting. True, CBC Radio slacks up a lot better to ils commercial rivals than CBC TV does, but even CBC TV is infinitely preferable to the streany of idiotic sitcoms, violent crime shows and trash TV tabloid ‘news’ shows that seem to dominate commercial TV. So, if the CBC constitutes such an important factor in the Canadian scene, why have suc- cessive governments been so eager to all but climinate the public broadcaster? They will tell you that they are simply following the public’s lead. Politicians. point to poll after poll, indicating that the public isn’t that serious about the CBC, Well, it depends on what questions the pollsters ask, Most polls the government relies on have asked whether the respondents are in favour of reducing government sub- sidies to the CBC. A public conditioned by a cacophonous demand for deficit reduciion will almost certainly support harsh budget cuts to the CBC. But ask different questions, and you get quite a different picture of whal the public thinks of the CBC and its im- ‘portance to Canada. And that’s what Louis Harris of Canada, a respected polling firm, did las! November. The Harris poll-asked Cana- dians whether the CBC is a unique contributor to Canadian culture. Docs the CBC produce quality programming? Is the CBC a waste of taxpayers’ money? Among all Canadians asked, 74 per cent said if they were a member of Parliament, they would vole to cither maintain the budget of the CBC at its current level or increase it. Only 15 per cent said they would decrease the budget, and five per cent said they would climinate it. Asked whether or not CBC television and radio are impor- tant to Canadian culture, 86 per cent said yes with regard to television, while the support was somewhat lower with 62 per cent for CBC FM and 60 per cent for CBC AM. © Those results are in slark contrast to the oncs that have backed up the government's slashing of the CBC budget. ’~ And based on the Harris poll, a political party could ‘do’ worse ~~ than making the battle over the CBC’s survival an-issue in the next election. And if you still wonder whether or not the CBC is im- portant to our country, [ would say that 76 per cent of Cana- dians supporting current fund- ing for the public broadcaster is a pretty good indication of how we feel about the CBC. Beyer can be reached at Tel: 920-9300; Fax: 385-6783; E- Mail: khubert@coolcom.com Her words will last forever | CONVENTIONAL LETTERS beat Internet E-mail for record- ing history and preserving family tics, Recently | was ‘given photostatic copies of twa letters written by my . imn- migrant grandmother. Both let- ters, written to her cousin back home in Sweden, were dated before ] was three years old. The earliest letter is daled Dee. 3, 1934, six weeks before 1 was born. ‘Maria (my mother) and her boy (my oldest brother Ron) still live here. Us hard for newlyweds to establish their own home in these times. Claude (my dad) is up in the woods (near Meadowlake, Sask.) 60 miles fram here cutting timber for sale as railway ties. He has our team of horses, andsure seeds the money. “Tam glad to have Maria and Ronald with us. Yes, Maria's boy is very dear to us aid fun:to have around. He will be two years old the first of April and speaks — in sehtences, so we can under- stand his thoughts fairly well. FATH NARROWS HERE! LADIES FIRST. & OUGH BIFOCAI CLAUDETTE SANDECKI “How are you all in these hard times, Hope you had a good crop. We are satisfied with our crop. Many had frost but ours sold at No. 1.” The second letter is dated Nov. 9, 1936. Grandma begins by commiserating about the passing of a relative in Sweden, ‘Death is such a powerful part’ of -life over which we. have no control. Hope you can be strong and accept your loss, even though it’s hard right now and maybe pa Ptee T THANK You ! f NICE TOSEE bg YOURE STILL A JOG GENTLEMAN 44 IN THE B USH! ! jay i our own time is not that far away. Maybe those whose lime has come are the lucky ones, so many problems nowadays, at least for us aut here (on a homestead). ‘We had quite cold weather, now is tumed warm and many have butchered beef and are waiting for cold weather again so thal it will stay fresh. We have beef butchered two weeks ago hanging in the ga- Tage. “Ronald will be four on April first. Claudette will be two in January making: onc notice time is going by. Some people hereabouts, though nal our close neighbours, have died from operations ‘in haspi- tal, many after car accidents. “We have not used our car since a week ago. The. girls (my Mom and her sister) and Claude were out and. the radiator froze so a pipe is leak- ing, so now the car-has to wait until spring for repairs. “If we have many years like this it’s going ta be hard for us. Cattle are not bringing in much money, a buyer was here this fall and offered us 15 dollars for seven — six-month-old calves. He offered one cent a pound for an old cow yet next week we may have to sell some, feed is low and we want to keep some cattle for next year. , “Maria is chuming butter and the children are sitting by eating hard thin bread. Ronald says I shouldn’t bake it so hard but. the girls like me to bake some every so often. “Tt would be nice if the dis- . tance between us could allow even one Visit a year,”’ In fact, Grandma went home to Sweden for one . visit, in 1912, She came back on the. last ship to cross the Allantic ahead of the Tilanle, In four pages handwritten with a fountain pen, Grandma gives a glimpse of the prairie economy, daily life, and the plight of farmers during the depression. She died al age 67 — when I was only seven, You BUM! you gust WANTED ME TO BREAK TRAIL !!