It was like something from Perils of Pauline. Here we have our innocent, struggling pool exparision pro-- ject, tied to the railroad tracks while the chugging locomotive of oblivion bears down on it. And then... and then... -. "+. And then along comes MLA Dave Parker to the rescue, wielding a government grant. The project is pulled back from the brink of expiry. — Parker’s announcement of $145,000 in GO B.C. money appeared to take everyone by surprise last Fri- day at the official opening of the Terrace government access center, In this case the rescuing hero was Government, and Oblivion was moving about as fast - as the Rupert Rocket, so there was a slow-motion ef- fect to this particular story, but it was dramatic nonetheless. The action at this point speeded up to about Warp 8 as council discussed the matter Monday. night in Com- mittee of the Whole, resolved itself into a special . meeting of council, and after an astounding burst of creative number crunching, ratified the project at _ $922,062, apparently without making a raid on the 1989-90 budget. a - With that out of the way (after three years) we can expect the local government to turn to other matters _ of import and controversy — like specifications for. the attire of the sporting figures the Chamber of Com- merce wants high school students to paint on the blank wall of the Kalum St. tennis courts. _We reported last week ‘that council sent the proposal to committee with the concern that proper decorum in the dress of the figures be observed. Further proof that:the amusement value of municipal politics is mex: haustable. a | -- $2 trillion We've also come across further proof that in- vestments in attracting tourists can pay handsome “dividends. A report in a recent issue of the widely- _ respected British newspaper Economist states that ‘money spent world-wide on travel and tourism totals about $2 trillion per year. That makes it the biggest __ civilian industry on the globe; if it were a country, it * would have the fifth largest gross national product in the world. . > Established May 1, 1985 - The Terrace Review is published ‘+ gach Wednesday by . Close-Up Business Services Ltd. Publisher: . . Mark. Twyford . Editor: Michael Kelly Staff Reporter: oe. Tod Strachan .. Advertising Manager: i Mat] Twyford : Typesetting: «.-, Garrle Olson Production Manager: ~ Jim Hall . Production: - . Alvin Stewart, urbax Gill, Linda Mercer - Office: _ Carré Olson Accounting: Mar] Twyford - : Harminder sanjh Second-class mail registration No. 6896. All material appearing in the Terrace Review is protected under Canadian copyright Registra: tion No. 362775 and cannot legally be repra- duced for any reason without permission of the publisher. Errors end omlasions. Adverlising is accepted on the condition that In the event of * typographical error, that portion of the advertis- Ing space occupled by the erronecus {tam will not be charged for, bul the balance of the adver- tisament will be pald for at the applicable rate. Advertisera must assume responsibility for or rora In any clasaified ad which is supplied to the Terrace Review in handwritten form. In compilance with the B.C. Human Rights Act, no sdvertisament will be published which discriminates against a person due to age, race, religion, color, sex, nationality, ancestry of place of origin. 4535 Greig Avenue, - Terrace, B.C. VéG 1M7 Phone: 635-7640 Fax: 636-7269 — eee One yoor subscriptions: . In Canada $24.00 Out of Canada $50 00 : Seniors in Terrace and District $12.00 Saniors cut of Terrace and District $15.00 Tr Wednesday 2 i Perspectives. — by Bob Jackman oe oa -First,:the Huminati, - + Rumours about the Masonic” Lodge. The Tri-Partite Com- mission, Paranoia of some political pundits about Council's in-camera meetings. Ollie and the Contras (sorry, bit of a rock and roll hangover there). Secrecy, sorcery, whispers and deception. But really, the Terrace Northmen . Rugby.Club?: It’s bad enough that one of their guys beats me in a Coun-. cil race a few months back — even though he’s got an - unlisted phone number so you can’t reach him with your _ problems. It’s bad enough he promises to get a public-access phone and advertise-it in the papers (he hasn't yet!). It’s bad enough that these 20 guys or so think that 600 kids playing minor soccer is an elitist group. But now this! Somebody masquerading as a rugby aficionado starts writing a column — no byline — and takes, get this, a cheap shot at political columnists, not once but twice. I remember a recent letter to the editor of Zhis paper slam-dunking him for not hav- ing pictures of our lady colum- nists to fit names to, and yet - this bozo not only doesn’t have * picture I can hang on the wall to throw darts and spit- balls at, he (or she, perish the- _ thought) doesn’t even have a narrie. Pretty sinister, I’d say! (But then, 1 remember how the old man warned me about guys who like to pat each others’ behinds and hug each other.) If 1 weté a columnist at the other paper, trying to ferret out political information, I'd want to know who this phantom 1s, ~~ don’t like-me. OF . and why they don’t like “ince. And fo, our populace course, I'm not at the other _ paper, so. you don’t see any | spelling mistakes in my column and the editor always puts my. name at the top. @ | grew a beard over the winter. It was a nice beard and made me look very distinguish- ed (which I am anyway). It ~ helped on a couple of occasions as I sat nursing a drink listen- ing to what some of the local ‘populace thought about the level of political comment in our newspapers. The beard, and the growing hair, kept all but my most intimate associates from recognizing me. — It was surprising how many people told ime I should get the picture at the top of the col. umn updated. But I figured I’d probably shave the beard before 1 could stand in one place long enough for another — picture, and as I said, I didn’t - mind the anonymity. Anyway, I remembered what happened last year, when I didn’t take the beard off till July, walking around for three weeks with a two-tone face (first brown and white, then brown and red), so when the three-week hot spell arrived I did the deed, My hair is still a little longish, so if you're remotely interested in what 1 really look like, you can touch up the photo above — but I really hope you’ve got something better to do with - your time —- like throwing. darts or spitballs. @ The biggest non-story to hit the front pages lately (other than Bivis) is about Terface’s position as the number two crime capital of B.C. No, we don’t have the second highest ‘number of crimes in the prov- “No, we don’t have the second largest number of crimes in B.C. ” . isn’t (except for some of the drivers) a decidedly criminal type, with low sloping foreheads who communicate in - grunts. . What we are is the major service center for a base of almost 80,000 people. We're an attractive place to come on the weekends, whether to shop or get rowdy — and it’s always easier to get rowdy when you're not at home. We're serving an ever larger conven- tion business (though I don’t think the United. Church people get particularly rowdy) and it’s - : just as tough to find a hotel -room in Terrace on the weekend as during the week. _ So what should you suspect? Good — full points. Take a base population of around 10,000 (don’t include the 6,000 rowdies from Thornhill who get in trouble in town), divide all of the petty thefts, jay- walking infractions, drinking and assault charges that are laid in Terrace by 10,000 and you get-a figure very-similar to the number you'd get if the populations of New York and -L.A. went to Vancouver every weekend. - Come on, RCMP statisti- cians! It can’t be that hard to crunch some numbers that reflect how many people from out-of-town get busted for do- ing something stupid, com- pared to crimes committed by | - actual residents, I'd like my mother to be able to sleep at.