Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Augus! 29, 2001 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Gas ‘em BRAVO to at least one federal politician for ‘linking Canadian energy exports to the soft- ‘wood lumber trade dispute. . First to utter the idea was B.C. MP Herb Dhaliwal. Before the day was out Jean Chretien watered down the notion to avert panic in Alberta. But the prime minister did express the widely held cynicism prevalent in the western woods. It’s disappointing, he said, that the Americans want to buy our gas on a free-trade basis but not our wood. The message is clear. Tempting though it might be to slap export duties on Canadian natural gas exports and in- stantly drive up American energy costs, Ottawa likely won’t do that. Such a tactic would invite instant retaliation from Washington on other fronts. But — and it’s a big but — if the U.S. persists in penalizing Canadian lumber producers with devastating tariffs that have repeatedly been overturned by international bodies, it will jeo- pardize its relationship with Canada. One of U.S. president George W. Bush’s top priorities is to build a natural gas pipeline through Canadian territory to tap gas fields off northern Alaska. Ottawa has thus far been supportive, though there are differences on the route to take. No matter which route is chosen, the pipeline would raise issues that would have to be addres- sed. Will environmental risks be minimized? Will First Nations concerns be addressed? . As the Americans know, we Canadians can be sticklers for.politeness. and ‘due | process. ee . Clearly: issues of this nature-would require studies and environmental reviews and extensive public input. Followed by more reviews and as- sessments and consultation. And all these things can take time. A long time. A very long time. The big one A TIP of the fishing hat to Ingrid Oeder. The visitor from Germany gets a hallowed spot in Terrace’s history books for setting what’s believed to be a new record for the lar- gest salmon ever caught on the Skeena River. With help from her local guide, Oeder reeled in a monster Chinook salmon, estimated to tip the scales at 99.6 pounds. It may also be a world catch-and-release re- cord. | This sort of thing, of course, is pure gold for the local tourism industry. We expect to hear the legend of Ingrid’s catch shouted from the rooftops and beyond for a long time to come. a 2001 WINNER CCNA BETTER PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik, Carrie Olson SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $55.15(+$3.86 GST) per year; Seniors $48.85 (+$3.42 GST); Out of Province $61.98 {4+$4.34 GST) Outside of Canada (6 months) $152.34 (+$10.66 GST) MEMBER OF ~ B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, * CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION | ( CN A con AND 8.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www.bcpresscouncil.org) NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION — Pivae eat Serving tha Tarrace and Thombhil! area, Published an Wadnesday ol each week at 3210 Clinton Steet, Temace, British Columbla, V8G 592, Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestytes in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, including Carboo Press (1969) Lid., iis illustration repro services and advertising agencies, Alyproduion inv whole of in part, without written permission, Is spectlically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mail panding the Post Olfica Department, far payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents _ UNDER Bitt 16, PARENTS WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR, HARMFUL ACTIVITY BY THEIR A Ler INTRO Co NTROVERSIN, pu AT LAST! A WAY TO REcouP ALL fw ALL WE HAVE To DO iS FIND GLEN CLARE'S PARENTS Make vandals’ parents pay VICTORIA — [ fully support the notion that children should nat be held accountable for the sins of their parents, but I sure as hell believe in making parents responsible for some of the more destructive actions of their youngsters, To that end, | like the new Parental Responsibility Act, introduced last week by the provincial government. Under the act, property ow- ners who suffer property loss or damage through the intention- al act of a child can seek damages from the child's par- ents for financial compensa- tien. “Our government is com- mitted to fighting youth crime and creating safer communi- ties,” Solicitor General Rich Coleman said. “Holding parents account- able for property crimes com- mitted by their children is a critical first step towards ad- dressing this serious issue. Public’ safety is a cormersione to our quality -of: life,” he added. Property owners can sue through small claims court for up to $10,000. The new legis- lation excludes from liability foster parents, social workers, hospital staff and other adults looking after wards of the pro- vince or other children in care, Previously, property owners faced a legal challenge to es- tablish not only that the child FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER damaged the property, but also that the parents were negligent in their supervision of the child. : Under the! new legislation, parents will have a respons- ibility to demonstrate that they were exercising reasonable supervision over the child — and also thal they made rea- sonable efforts to prevent or , discourage the child from, £Th,.. ‘gaging i in the kind, cof. ‘achiyily:: HADEN, had different récburses, ' Tone of which was that any adult catching you at some- ’ that caused the damage. Thelma and Louise, as the two lone NDP members of the legislature Joy MacPhail and Jenny Kwan have been nick- named, immediately con- demned the legislation as un- fair and unworkable. The law, they said, would punish mostly poor families who couldn’t pay any resulting fine anyway. Various anti-pov- erty groups have expressed si- Beware of the CUMULATIVE news re- ports suggest children are at unusual risk of serious in- jury, even death, whenever they visit grandparents, espe- cially if the grandparents live in the country and the kids hail from the city. Every few weeks the news reports a kid drowning in a dugout or a creek, suffocating in a grain bin or dying of ex- posure after wandering off in bush. They are run over by tractors or combines, tram- pled by livestock, and lost their legs in grain augers, On August 15 in Bowden, Alberta a brother and sister, aged 13 and 11, died on their grandparents’ farm when one wall of a natural sand pit col- lapsed as they played after lunch, The kids had dug there many times before, Only this time the sand shifted, suffo- cating them under sand so deep even police dogs failed to detect their bodies, ‘THROUGH BIFOCALS. CLAUDETTE SANDECK]I As grandma of two girls, now 9 and I0, I’ve always felt responsible for their well being while they’re with me, far beyond any anxiety [ felt raising my own two girls. So keen is this anxiety I rarely take my granddaughters with me when I drive, Why are visiting grand- children so prone to disaster while in the care of loving grandmas and grandpas? milar opinions. Well, they are supposed to oppose. That’s their job as members of the opposition, al- beit not the official one. But I fail to sce why poverty should be used as an excuse to re- lieve parents of the respons- ibility for the actions of their children. Poverty is undeniably one of the root causes of crime. When you don’t have enough to eat, you are more likely to commit a crime to get food than someone with a well-fed belly. But the kind of transgres- sion we are talking about here is different. The willful de- struction or defacing of proper- ty is not done to enhance the perpetrators’ way of life. It is a wanton act of irresponsibility that doesn’t result in any mon- etary gain. In another age, that of my childhood, such a law was un- wnecessary.,, The adult world thing bad would give you a walloping you were not likely to forget. It had great preven- tive value. And if you still insisted on being bad, you paid the price. Once, a friend and I, we were about eight or nine at the time, were stealing cherries, Trying not to linger I ripped a whole branch off a tree when I saw the owner. My friend was faster and got away. I got caught and the en- suing treatment on my back- side reminded me for days that. crime doesn't pay. T never did that again. Today, of course, you would end up being charged with and convicted of assault if you so much as gave a youngster a few good slaps on the rear, : never mind that he just trashed your home or cherry tree, for that matter. I don’t delude myself into believing that this new law will miraculously end youth vandal- ism, message to parents that they should be prepared to bear some responsibility for the actions of their children. But perhaps the law may be successfully applied against graffiti artists, many of whom are underage. There are few walls in Victoria that haven't been defaced by graffiti, most ‘ of which is God-awful to Boot! The Parental Responsibitity: Act isn't the most earth-shak- | ing iegislation to come out of Victoria, but it is at least a new approach to an old pro- blem, an approach that may ~ hold some promise. And that I like. Beyer can be reached at: E- mail; hubert@cooicom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web hip-//www.hubertbeyer.com grandparents Judging: by my own physi- cal limitations, I expect that grandparents’ mobility re- strictions underlie the unrea- sonably high number of children who die while visit- ing grandparents’ farms. Held back by arthritis, em- physema and bunions, we lag behind healthy, eager three- year-old legs. Instead of ac- companying the kids on their expeditions, we have to make do with issuing orders, and trusting the kids to behave as they’re told. This leaves us hoping con- ditions have not changed since last we saw a slough or creek. But a heavy rain might have filled a pond or undercut a creek bank without our knowing. We also feel more relaxed about rules, expecting our grandkids to have the savvy of a farm kid. Few do, how- ever, if they’ve grown up on pavement. | Oo wmauKAaT And that leads to a prime reason for city kids’ vulner- ability - their woeful naivete _about all things rural. No lifeguards watch over. farm dugouts. The bush lacks phones to call 911. And even though TV and Nintendo people revive to populate another episode or game, country air resuscilates no one. You can’t expect city kids to be country wise when their parents aren't. At our recent farm reunion, the host lined up five restored tractors from a Ford Farmall to a hefty Massy Fergusson with wheels taller than a man. As each family arrived, the men and kids migrated to the tractors as though magnetical- ly drawn by some giant un- | seen force. One city mother, watching her five-year-old crank the steering wheel, asked, “Can he get hurt on that?” my WO CRACKED WM ARE YOUNUTS! A WOLF fonts So? WHAT \ I THOUGHT. woReeD Ba RIGS! you BETTER Wm WITHCRACKED RIBS! BROUGHT NGA Hen i Book 3 WEEKS 1 CARIGOU MIGRATES aa RUT HE MUST BE By OFF WORK TO , CRACKED RIBS! THAT'S . RECUPERATE | THe REAL WORLD et but at least it sends a .