A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 4, 1995 TERRACE: YTANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 188 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638- 8432 ! aa, . MODEM: (604) 638-7247. . “Green light THIS SUMMER. may be remembered as the one in which the city of Terrace got a little greener. The colour may be more a state of mind right now than any real change from the generally concrete grey shade of development here: But after. years of haphazard planning and a. steady erosion of the city’s green: space, it’s a welcome change nonetheless. We're talking about the sudden explosion of ideas for civic parkland, trails and greenspace. City council took action this summer to secure a key part of the Howe Creek greenbelt area. And in recent weeks councillors have been talk- ing often about:doing more with Ferry Island, Terrace Mountain and even‘a favourite: walking route around the bridges « and overpass. Ed Graydon’s Three Bridges walking tour, speaks more to the city’s desperate need for sidewalks along Keith Ave. and near the old: bridge than any kind of serious park value. _ But it’s further evidence that: this council is the most amenable so far to protecting. and enhanc- ing the look of the city. That’s important because it gives city staff some confidence they won’t be flattened by a D8 cat every time they suggest something. green. Some truly visionary ideas are lurking i in the minds.of the city’s bureaucrats. A particularly fascinating one is parks super- intendent Steve Scott’s dream of a riverside trail along the southside from Ferry Island towards Braun’s Island. It hasn’t received a lot of atten-. tion yet, but-there’s now hope for the future, The average folk who plant flowers and pick up litter are the ones who can be thanked. for. this change i in civic mindset. Greenbelt and Beauti- fication Society voluntéers: deserve Special’ ‘praise in pushing change. And: a few : Tike, the artists who transformed Terrace with murals an painted fire hydrants — are downright heroes: We can only hope that come spring this spirit blossoms once more in “every home, business, and at city hall. THE HEALTH MINISTRY is dead wrong in its treatment of Mills Memorial Hospital. Faced with four years of budget freezes, Mills, has come to the point where any more cuts could quickly translate into service losses. But instead of receiving a break from the minis- try or even a shoulder to.cry on, the hospital is getting hit again with the ‘‘cut, cut, cut” refrain. The problem? Hospitals are punished | for admit- ting people. There’s no carrot and stick method, just a massive club that’s.used over and over. Instead, hospitals should be rewarded for find- ing and adopting methods that achieve the same. _ purpose — reducing | overall patient loads. Mills, for instance, has taken great strides in day surgery. In fact, the day surgery program is so successful it is attracting people from out of town, That’s good because it proves day surgery is a worthy service with a regional application. It’s also good because the more people there are that use day surgery in the region, the fewer patients there will be in other hospitals up here. But has this resulted in anything tangible from the health ministry? No. What’s needed is a shift in the way the health ministry thinks. | PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link / ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel» NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter . COMMUNITY: Cris Leykaut OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher, Terry Miller ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Tracey Tomas COMMUNITY SERVICE/TELEMARKETER: Monique Belanger ADVERTISING ASSISTANT; Helen Haselmeyer DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur COMPOSITOR: Shannon Cooper CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunette MEMBER OF B.C. PRESS COUNCIL Serving the Terraca and Thornhil area. Published on Wednesday of each week by. Cariboo Press (1968) Lid. at 4647 Lazelld Avo, Terrace, British Columbia, Storias, photographs, ilustrations, designs and tynestyles in the Terrace Standard aro tha Proparty of the copyright holdara, Including Cariboo Pass (1969) Ltd, ite Iltusiration repro servicas and adveriising 65. ee duaton in whola onin part, without waitton permission, specifically prohibited. Authorizad as second-dass mail panding Ihe Pes! Office Department, for payment of postage In cash. Special thanks to all cur contributors and correapondents for thelr time and talents vue § CHIGULAT oN _ CONTROLLED | a pees _ Tevolution has barely begun, “eo had to phone the paper, ask for ° Te-write: ‘and: dictate. my story. VICTORIA - The information bot its effects are already changing the world, mostly for the better. Anyone with a computer, a “modem, and $20 a’ month to spare, has access to a wealth of information we could only | dream, of just-a few years aga, | These. days,. computer users in | the. smallest’ towns © have | formed user groups, whose | members exchange informa- | tion on any number of topics, Whereas it once took months, then days, and then . “FROM:THE CAPITAL. HUBERT BEYER hours to bring information to - the public, the process now takes seconds. - In the old days; when I was Teporting from out of town, I the information highway is also fraught with some dangers, AS governments and corpora tions develop’ ever-larger data ‘Now I casi file the same story ‘from anywhere . by modem within seconds. Meanwhile, the Internet is making: available the world’s accumulated knowledge for the asking. Through the Internet, you can ‘access. university: li- braries the world over, Researchers in any field you care to-mention will find ans- wers: to. whalever questions they may have. But like every evolutionary step we have taken since we left the caves, the race along tack, Every time we pay: by credit card, someone stores some’ information .about- us, _ we give up.a little bit" of privacy... ! ‘Now, the ‘provincial govern- ment is quietly working on‘a “multi-purpose” identification card. Government politicians and bureaucrats are » tight- lipped about the project, but it is supposed to be a high-tech card with all sorts of informa- Every time we give someorie _ our, Social Security Number, - Flaherty wants: the public to Potholes on info highway . } tion stored on a magnetic strip... The plan has British Colum- bia’s privacy commissioner, David Flaherty, up. in arms, Never one to take government. assault ‘on privacy . sitting down, Flaherty went public | last week with his conceras . over the new card, At the annual Freedom of In- formation and ‘Protection. of © . Privacy conference in Victoria, | ; Flaherty accused the govern- ment of keeping him in the ‘dark about its plans, ‘No-one will tell me ‘what they are doing,’? he said. ~ Only two minor discussions, he said, have taken place be- tween his staff and bureaucrats since last spring, when Social ‘ Services Minister Joy Mac- banks, our privacy is under:at=<. ““Phail said the ; government was ‘working ‘oa new card! referred to as the SmartCard, ‘which would be used for everything from welfare claims to: vislts:.to the: doctor. The card): -she said, would ‘also re- place the driver’ 'S licence, say “No”? If the: government forces the new card on them. Instead, he proposes a system that will allow. citizens to de- cide whether or not to acquire the SmartCard. He also wants the public to de- . cide how much and what in- formation is on the card, And he wants laws that outline. cost punitive measures in the event...” of abuse, particularly if the pri-. .. vate sector demands access. to . the card, cs I'm with Flaherty, 11 was less _ than enthusiastic when the fed-.. eral government introduced the ‘SIN cards, and my reservations _ were born out, Today, every: Tom, Dick and Harry ask.-for my Social Insurance Number, and although I have the option of declining to reveal it, I usually don’t, for the sake of convenience. ; Information is power, ‘and. power is subject to potential abuse. In the case of the Inter-'» net, the public has free access to the best, but also to the worst kind of information.’ Alongside. ‘Valuable * informa- tio ‘about ‘tie Holocaust; there is the drivel of Neo Nazis and’ their Holocaust denial. But we have a cholce of not accessing tes wo _AS goveruments and huge cor porations - ‘gather. ‘more _ ‘and. ‘ more information about us, We. _ cannot ask for its:retum: Once’ given, the information about us _/is-no longer private-and, there- fore, subject to potential abuse. (Beyer can be reached. at: . Tel:(604) 360-6442; Fax:(604) 383- 6783; E-Mail: hbeyer@direct.ca) _Who speaks for the victims? “Called to the bar’? needs a whole new meaning. At present, law school gradu- ates called to the bar join the body of lawyers qualified t. practise law in any jurisdiction. _ Once called’ to the bar, law- yers can climb to any number of — influential positions: - Defence attorney. Ministerial advisor. Legislative member. — Judge. Prime Minister, even. ’ Along. the way each does his bit making new laws or setting precedents exercising old laws. Thanks to Canada’s ladder of lawyers our ‘justice system . CLAUDETTE SANDECKI- | THROUGH. BIFOCALS. defends criminals. When it comes to speaking up for vic- tims and their families, the law whispers. Only last week-a Gustafsen Lake native charged with at- tempted murder was released on $16,000 bail — despite the fact B.C. is populated with his. target — RCMP officers. And despite the fact he could easily . get hold of another high powered weapon, TRAPLINE iz B IS BURNING! OUR FAMILY Tseee Maren] UT ITS Too REMOTE AND HE Moose BERRY | FIRE 1 And in the Lower Mainland, a 20-year-old with a’ hislory of violent crimes’ was . banded: a° $500 fine instead: of 30 to 60 days jailtime as both crown counsel and his own defence attomey requested. He prompt- ly strangled a ten-year-old girl after abducting her from her 4 PoREST fi cI =t(S PART OF NATURE AND A THe Bust ‘|e ae a iran iin “why does the law care most about criminals? Because laws are made by lawyers wha live isolated lifestyles protected by chauffeurs, high rise apart- ments, and other factors that set them above the hoi polloi, where rough stuff abounds: A personal encounter with violence restores a lawyer's thinking to normal in jig time. ‘To illustrale. About a ‘year {| ago MP Jobn Nunziata got a stiff neck looking over his shoulder when an inmate he had helped put behind bars es- caped an Ontario jail. It taok a round-the-clock RCMP bodyguard to help him cope with his fears, Fortunately for . Nunziata — and taxpayers — within.two weeks ‘the escapee was Tecaptured. Still the brief terror made Nunziata appreciate how vic- tims feel when their attackers roam the streets,” “If he could have re-drafted | our. Jawa at that inoment, viclims would have RE EZ YEAH! IN| ABOUT. gotten priority. B.C.’s attorney-general, Ujjal Dosanjh, is another. lawyer whose thinking has been Shaped by firsthand violence. Several years ago he was severely beaten about the head by an attacker wielding an iron - bar. He spent,days in hospital recuperating, Two of his fin- gers remain crippled, ‘T-suspect, much of Dosanjli’s resolve in the Gustafsen Lake _ crisis came from his. personal, injury. For despite calls by op- -, position politicians to end the standoff swiftly even if blood | ly, Dosanjh held out for nego- tiating a‘ peaceful surrender. ~ And he gave no immunity from’ prosecution for criminal acts, : ‘Which. leads’ me to suggest “called to-the bar” should | mean a. vigorous thumping —- about the ears with an iron bar ‘at graduation,. Such ritual | ‘violence. might help lawyers see victims — not perpetrators — as stars under the law.