Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 23, 2000
ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, [988
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (25()) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432

TER RACE
PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
EMAIL: standard@kermode.net

Heal thyself

GO THROUGH the bookshelves in any office in
the northwest concerned with health care and
you’re more than likely to find a stack of dusty
studies on the subject.

They all pretty much come to the same conclu-
sion — there should be more access to health care
here and there should be better ways of managing
what we have now.

So it’s no wonder the person in charge of yet
another study is a bit leery at the process. Tony
Briglio is the chair of the North Coast Commun-
ity Health Council in Prince Rupert, the equiva-
lent to the Terrace Area Health Council. He’s also
the head of a committee of regional health care
providers given the task of coming up with ways
for a more regional and co-operative approach to
health care delivery.

This latest study is worth close to $200,000.
It’s money Mr. Briglio fully admits would have
been better spent on direct health care. Indeed,
such a sum would employ close to three full time
nurses. But the study is being done under the or-
ders of the provincial health ministry and must be
completed by June.

All this makes for a tight timeline, says Mr.
Briglio, and it’s meant that original plans for pub-
lic meetings throughout the northwest to go over
northwest health care issues have been shelved.

Taking the place of these meetings is a series of
select sessions with groups directly concerned
with health care. They might be health care em-
ployees, for instance, or people who have had dir-
ect contact with the health care system in one
fashion or another. a

This-news.isn’t being welcomed. by Mt. Bri-”

glio’s counterparts here in Terrace or in Kitimat.
The local health council, for instance, has passed
a motion pushing for public meetings and is tak-
ing the motion to the next regional health care
planning session. .

So the problem is that a study that needs co-
operation and consensus to realize the greater
good of a regional health care system is in danger
of going off the rails before it even has a chance
of getting underway.

Mr. Briglio and the other members of his com-
mittee must find a way to balance the idea of pub-
lic meetings against sessions with. specific
eTOUpS. |

He and others must give assurances, backed up
by examples, that a collection of select meetings
at least comes close to the original idea of having
public sessions. An explanation of how the study

is to be done might also be helpful to provide an.

understanding of what is going on.

To do otherwise will risk not only pouring
$200,000 of precious resources into a sinkhole,
but threatens to poison what should be an end to
local health fiefdoms in favour of a sound, ratio-
nal and reasonable plan.

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

NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens
NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton
FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping
CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: _
Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff
_., “TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff
_, . DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur
' AD ASSISTANT: Donna Sullivan, Kulwant Kandola

_ SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL:
$57.30 p per year: Seniors $50.75; Qut of Province $64. 39

Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25
(ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST)

1998 WINNER
CCNA BETTER
NEWSPAPERS
COMPETITION

MEMBER OF
8,C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION.
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION

Eon

pee AND
B,C. PRESS COUNCIL

Serving the Tenace and Thornhill acea.. Published on Wednesday of each week at $210 Clinton Street,
Terrace, British Columbla, V8G SR2,
Stories, photographs, illus tations. designs and typestyles in the Terraca Standard are (he property of tha

copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., its illustration repro services and advantising

agencies,

sien In whole or in part, without written permission, ls specifically prohibited.

Authonzed as second-class mail perdi ng tha Pos! Offica Department, {or payment of postage in cash.
Special thanks to ‘ail our contributors and correspondents

for. their time and talents.

VICTORIA - In this business
you gel a quite a few invita-
tions from companies that
want to exchange free food
and booze for column inches.

I rarely turn down an invite,
but always make it clear that
there's no guarantee I'll give
them the ink they're looking
for, And usually, | don't.

But every so often, amidst
the culinary and spiritual
bribes, I] stumble on a goad
story.

The locale was Spinnaker’s
Brew Pub in Victoria, one ‘of
greatest pubs (Swan's is an-
other) this side of the Atlantic.

The six-course meal was the
best I had had in years, and
the beers, from a number of
B.C. brew pubs, were to die
for, Hailing from Germany, I
know a good pub when | see
one, and a good beer, too,

What about the story? Well,
aciblibs, that Brew theit’ owii brand |
of beer, know’ 't ey “have a_
superior product, So do their
patrons.

And so, one should think,
does the Liquor Distribution
Branch.

Alas, brew- pubs a are not al-
‘lowed to market their products
in liquor stores.

Not yet, anyway. No legisla-

IN NOVEMBER, when
Charles Schulz, creator of the
Peanuts comic strip, was

stroke, he was amazed by the
bagfuls of get-well cards and
letters he received from read-
ers.

Even after fifty years of
his comic strip appearing in
more than 2400 newspapers
each day, he still didn’t real-

had given lo so many readers
». until they took the time to
tell him.

I was reminded of the
words of a mourner at race
car driver Gregg Moore’s fu-
neral after listening to the eu-
logy. “If we spoke half the
praise and gave half the atten-
tion to our kids while they’re
alive...”

Luckily for all Snoopy
fans, Schulz never wavered
from creating his daily car-
toon despite our years of
silence. We did, though, qu-
ote his characters. “Good
grief” and “blockhead” pep-

British Columbia brew, _ pubs,

hospitalized following a °

ize how much enjoyment he .

FREEDOM To CARE
FOR THE. LAND !!

-FROM THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

tion bars this from happening
but a LDB general manager's
order does,

The story gets better. Last
November, the annual Great
Canadian Beer Festival was
coming up, when Paul Had-
field, the owner of Spinna-
ker's, was told by an LDB offi-
cial that the B.C. brew. pubs

festival or the ridiculous situa-
tion where three Washington
State-based brew pubs could
participate in the festival but
15 B.C.- based ones couldn't.

So the LDB quickly back-
pedaled and issued a letter
stating that they are now pre-
pared to make an “exception”
to the rules. Talk about bur-
eaucracy.

But help was on the way for
brew pubs. Last November 18,
the B.C. Supreme Court direc-
ted the LDB to give proper
consideration to listing appli-
cations for B.C. brew pub-pro-
duced products. The final date
for the LDB to file an appeal
passed on Dec. 18, 1999, with
no documents filed.

Hadfield has been told that
the Ujjal Dosanjh,:the attorney
general and minister
responsible for Liquor Control
and Licensing, will be briefed
on the situation and make an

Evil brewing in this bureaucracy

pioning the underdog, should
have protected the big brewer-
ies for so long against competi-
tion from the small brew pubs.

I remember a similar situa-
tion years ago when estate
wineries couldn't get their pro-
ducts listed in our liquor stores
and had to open their own little
stores. That, thank goodness,
has changed.

The reason for the big boys"
objections to the minor league
players is, of course, under-
standable. They know damned
well that the brew pubs pro-
duce a superior product which,
if it takes off, as it ufdoubtedly
will, forces the big companies
to improve their products as
well, Again, that's exactly what
happened when estate wines
became bestsellers.

It's time the government in-
structed the LDB to list brew
pub beers forthwith, because
the court has said it should and

couldn't «participatestin' thé? announcement theresfteriisva ssidbecause.consumers, deserve to
soudustiwhat' the: briefing; COs, nistiave: access to better:products..

event, even though tHéy.chad:
“done so for the last 10 years.

When the organizers of the
beer fest were apprised of this
situation they freaked out. The
government, on the other
hand, was now facing the pro-
spect of a. major pclitical em-
barrassment, namzly causing a
last minute cancellation of the

stp:

THROUGH BIFOCALS

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

naturally as “No fair!”

And so it is even with little
kids who are read to regular-
ly. Expressions from my
granddaughters’ favorite
books creep into their conver-
sations as easily as a profes-
sor quotes a line from Shake-
speare or Frost. Stuffed ani-
mals are named for charac-
ters in books, Even the new
hamster in my granddaugh-
ters’ prade two classroom is
named Sophie after a brave
mouse, |

tains or: what recommendations
go with it is anyone's guess.
But Hadfield is taking no
chances. A bit of press cover-
age couldn't hurt, and I'm more
than willing to oblige.

I find it curious that the NDP
government, which is so fond
of paying lip service to cham-

But before kids gain this

easy familiarity with the
phrases and characters in
books they must be read to.
Often. Daily, if possible, by
parents, teachers, librarians,
and ‘anyone else who can be
conned into offering a lap to
sit on.
Yet even before that happy
ritual can take place, we need
the authors who write books
for us. Some authors, like
Schulz, will continue to write
no matter what. Others need
our approval and encourage-
ment.

“Young writers -- older
ones, too -- rarely hear from
readers. Their stories disap-
pear into magazines as into a
void. Lack of response is
deadening and the attrition
rate with writers is high partly
because they give way to feel-
ings of hopelessness,” writes
editor John Metcalf introduc-
ing ‘Third Impressions, a col-
lection of nine short stories
published by Oberon Press in -
1982.

I just hope Dosanjh, with his
new political and government
duties, isn't too busy to imple-,
ment this long-overdue mea-
sure.

Beyer can be reached at: E-
mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel
& Fax: (250) 381-6900; Web:
Attp:{iwww. hubertbeyer.com

Here’s to all the unsung writers

couraging it would be for
these writers to receive a letter
from “out there,” to know that
they have made contact, to
know that their work has been
received.”

Childrens’ writers receive
encouragement. Through vis-
its to schools and libraries to
give readings, childrens’
writers such as Robert
Munsch and Sharie Fitch gain
instant personal ratings of |.
their works,

It’s writers of more adult
literature who may lack reader .
feedback, and quit, not sure
their endeavours are worthy.
And |] don’t mean authors
such as Janet Dailey or John
Grisham although even they
might be tickled to receive a
short note describing one
thing that delighted you about
their latest best seller.

I'm talking of newcomers
such as Shelly Leedahi or old-
timers such as Don Dickinson
whom J met in Third Impres-
sions, only last month.

How better to celebrate

pered playground chatter as “How pleasant and en- Freedom to Read Week?
GOT, OR MAYBE YOU WELL! CARING FOR AND YOU THINK
WW See) came arenes) ER) (Se get
ERVICE ! S Sho o at
Ft ee VOLUNTEER: I ike WI KOSOVO! CONNECTED, SMART IDEA
LS A PRIVELEGE G SOMEHOW !
TO KAVE TIME AND