’ A4-The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C, * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432 MODEM: (604) 638-7247 Trust us SOMETIMES the actions of school trustees make it seem as if they’re little more than window dressing — a semblance of public ac- countability in an otherwise bureaucrat-run en- clave. Witness the latest bout of secrecy with regards to native education spending in Terrace. School District 88 has $1.4 million squirreled away and negotiations on how to spend it have been going on behind closed doors for more than six months. For a body that’s supposedly accountable to parents and taxpayers, it doesn’t make sense, The money in question is supposed to be spent on aboriginal education programs in this school year. It’s termed targetted money by the educa- tion ministry, and has to be spent on programs okayed by local aboriginal groups. In Hazelton, agreement has finally been reached on how to spend their share of that targetted money. But in Terrace, no agreement has yet been reached. And school board officials are still negotiating in secret with delegates representing local parents of native children. They’ve already spent a large amount of this money. Agreement on the remainder should come before the end of the school year, predict officials. What has this money been spent on? It’s a question no one seems willing to answer. There are a large number of native students in this school district, and their parents deserve to know how their children are being educated, The schoo] board’s refusal to go public with how it intends to spend — or how it has spent — this money is an insult to those parents and alltaxpayers, Trustees who won’t tell the public how they’re spending money are no longer upholding the public trust. Purse strings THE GENIUS of the latest plan to cut $340,000 from the operating costs of Mills Memorial Hos- pita] is that it still sort-of saves beds. A big buck renovation of the wards will rejig the hospital into a more efficient configuration, allowing nurses to open up the nine axed beds when — and only when — they really need them. There is, however, a cost to this bit of innova- tion, and mayor Jack Talstra is rightly worried that we’re about to get stuck with the bill. The price for the renovation is estimated to run $863,000 and nobody will be surprised if it plows through $900,000 in short order. If the bill is paid by the mew Northwest Regional Hospital District, northwest taxpayers will have to put up 40 per cent of the cost of the project. Since the whole object of the renovation is to save Victoria money, reasons Talstra, it’s only reasonable that Victoria pay for it. After all, it will only take a few years for the savings to pay for the work, The principle seems clear. Would you shell out for a new furnace to save your /andlord money? Not likely, PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel » NEWS SPORTS: COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Audra Creek ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Tracey Tomas ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Emma Law, Kelly Jean DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunette MEMBER OF B.C, PRESS COUNCIL Serving tha Terrace and Thomhill area, Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1969) Lid. at 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, British Columbia. Stores, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestylas in the Terrace Standard are the property of the pe holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., its illustration repro services and advertising GS weniminn fy CRcULATAA CONTROLLED * agencies, Roproduction In whole ot in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited, Authorized as second-class malt Pénding the Post Offica Department, for payment of postaga in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondente for their time and talents v. GENTLEMAN HERE BY THENAME OF VANDER ZALM WHO LIKES TO KNOW - ARE THERE ANY MORE OPENINGS COMING UP INTHENEAR HITURE.... rs Mining lost in cabinet shuffle VICTORIA - With the election only months away, Premier Glen Clark didn’t want ta run the risk of having too many new and inexperienced mem- bers in his cabinet. That’s why, for (he most part, his new cabi- net sports old and familiar faces. Only three former backben- chers were elevated Wednes- day lo the executive council - Corky Evans, Dennis Streifel and Lois Boone. Evans, who emerged a strong second in the recent NDP leadership race, was given the high-profile transportation and highways partfolio, Boone made a comeback, after being demoted {rom cabi- net io the backbench by former premier. .Mike Harcourt a couple of years ago, She will. head the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The third newcomer is Streifel, whose appointment as Minister of Forests was some- What of a surprise. His predecessor, Andrew Petter is aking over as Minister of Health and Intergovernmental Relations. The feisty Joy MacPhail will stay in Social Services, Penny Priddy is moving to Labor and Sue Hammell te Women’s Equality. FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER Paul Ramsey is going from Health to Education, and Dan Miller takes over the premier’s old portfolio - Employment and Investment, . The rest are staying :where .: ihey were. They are: John Cashore in Aboriginal Affairs; David Zimhelt in Agriculture and Fisheries; Ujjal Dosanjh as Attorney General; Moe Sihota in Environment; Elizabeth Cuil in Finance and Corporate Rela- tions, and Bill Barlee in Small Business, Tourism and Cul- ture. That’s the lincup. Now to the changes. The premier says he’s heading the smallest number of ministries in 35 years and the smallest number of ministers in two decades, which will be a cost-saving ineasure, if his government gets re-elected, If, however, the NDP loses the nest election, the socatled cost-saving measure will have cost taxpayers a pile of un- necessary money. The cost of restructuring government mini- Strics doesn’t come cheap. There is new stationary, Staff is being moved around, some people promoted to higher positions and higher salaries. Others get a pink slip, along with a severance package. Traditionally, " major bureaucratic restructuring is done at the beginning of a govenunent’s term. The cost of changes associated with such restructuring make more sense when a government has four, years ahead of it. Part of the downsizing and restructuring is the elimination of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Resources, which will be rolled into the Employment and Investment Ministry. ° If Clark made one mistake since he took office, this has got ta be it, Energy, Mines and Natural Resources is next to forests, the only major revenue-producing ministry. To eliminate il, sends a strong and wrong signal to the indus- try. On paper, it may make sense to wed the ministry with employment and investment, placing the thrust on job- creation. But for years, the mining industry in particular has felt that it is being treated asa sunset industry, This deci- . sion seems to confirm those fears. With the B.C. Hydro affair still fresh on everyone’s mind, Clark is unlikely to call the election in the next couple of months. Instead, there will | probably be a short session of the legislature, a throne speech, a balanced budget, and then the election. Bul above all, from naw on, Clark’s people will be keeping their Gngers on the pulse of the aelectorate. They will be read- ing the entrails of ‘opinion polls, trying to determine the magic moment that might give their boss a chance to lead the NDP to victory and a second mandate. And should that moment come before the legislature meets, Clark will surely pull the plug there and then, So, stay tuned. Beyer can be reached at: Tel:(604) 920-9300 Fax:(604) 381-6922 E-Mail: hbeyer@direct.ca It's guil MINDING YOUR own busi- ness is commendable. But minding it to the point of risk- ing another’s life is a Genovese. Genovese is a name that came to mean ignoring some- one’s plight, not getting in- volved, refusing to rescue. It comes from thirty years ago in Queens, New York City. A young woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked — twice — in the doorway of her apartment building by a knife- wielding assailant Dozens of neighbors heart . but ignored her screams. She bled to death, Editorials of the time decried society’s callous disregard for a fellow citizen, Our record hasn't improved, In 1994, a Scarborough homemaker ignored the screaming of a works employ- ee a5 he dangled by the neck from a hydraulic mechanism on his garbage truck, his legs mam MY PAD IS Wa VERY CLOSE , CLAUDETTE SANDECKI. THROUGH. BIFOCALS. m TO NATURE... . TH kicking in the air. “His head was struck inside but his body was shaking,’ she told the cour. ‘‘He was kicking the truck. He was screaming, like he was saying help or something.”’ She thought there would be another worker on the truck to assist him. She went back in- side to watch T.V. Ia fact, recycling trucks in FER COFFEE tet EARS NATURE CALLING HIM Pa “BERY MORNING “)" Bur I'VE NEVER “7 FIGURED OUT WHY HE AND NATURE ALWAYS PLAN-TO MEET. 0.” Scarborough are run by lone operators who drive the vehicle and empty the boxes. The worker died of asphyxia- tion, much of his body trapped in the truck’s machinery. And last week in Abbotsford a cemetary caretaker — where Tanya Smith’s murdered body rests — walched a blue Volkswagon van drive through the cemetery three times. “It’s uncommon for anyone to visit the cemetery during the weck,”’ he said, Yet despite a five month, million dollar ia- vestigation into her murder, he failed to report the van to the police or even to take its li- cense number. Had the caretaker and the homemaker belonged to Neighborhood Watch they’d have reacted. Police recom- mend reporting anything un- usual, suspicious, or out of place. The Volkswagen and the garbageman kicking his truck were ail three. UN THE ovTHoUSE 7), t by disassociation Why didn’t the homemaker call for help? She thought someone else wauld do it, help him. Why didn’t the caretaker report the van? Maybe he didn’t think. He failed to link the 50-member Abbotsford murder investigation with the murder victim’s —_— nearby gravesite. Maybe he chose not to get involved. Maybe he worried he’d end up looking alarmist, foolish. Police would rather check out 4 false alarm than mop up a crime. And no one ever died of embarrassment, Had the caretaker phone the van's license number, at worst it would have become the latest of 7,000 tips police are sifting, At best, it might have trapped Tanya's killer before he removed her headstone. Never be guilty of a Genovese. Call the cops first. So what if you blush later, ¥ .