Ne tik Moon saves Things looked dim for awhile a CLAUDETTE SANDECKI “Do we have any spare bat- teries?’’ asked Santa, coming in and shutting the kitchen door against swirling snow. ‘Spare batteries for what? Your Walkman?"” Mrs, Claus wiped floury hands on her apron. “To light up Rudolph’s nose. It’s as dim as Clive Tanner.” “How come? Rudolph’s nose ‘never dimmed before, In all the years he’s guided the team ...”” “Well,” Santa fumed, ‘‘unless ‘Ican brighten him up, he'll not be doing. much guiding tonight. Right now his nose is less visible than Terrace’s homeless.”’ Mrs. Claus drew aside the chintz curtains and peered out the kitchen window. She saw a blurred outline of nine hamessed reindeer pawing restlessly. The faint’ shape of a sleigh was visible. But a firefly under a per- forated thimble would have out- shone Rudolph’s rosy beacon, “How about taking a battery out of a toy in your sleigh?’’ sug- gested Mrs. Claus, Santa’s face brightened. ‘‘I'll fetch my bag.’’ In a trice, he was back, bent un- der the weight of a giant sack bulging with odd shapes. Skis and hockey sticks poked from the top. As he plunked down his burden, a doll cried and a xylophone tinkled. Together they removed one tay after.another. Talking dolls. Com- puter games. Commando guns. They checked each one for bat- teries.. They found AA baticries. C batteries. 9V D. “My goodness,’’ remarked Mrs. Claus.‘‘There’s an alphabet soup of batteries here. It must be these gifts giving.’’:* “Too expensive,” sighed Santa. ‘‘Before Valentine’s Day a lot of these playthings will end up in-a comer idle as a seamstress hired by a nudist colony.” expensive. for parents to keep... cous cane Set ated te ate Pr oe etm pin se ead a aL teen aren itn pecnte nat cath The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 23, 1992 - Page AS ETTER TO THE TERRACE STANDARD santa wt "y “Plugged into what? The cigarette lighter on my sleigh’s dashboard?” “Oh, you silly,’ giggled Mrs. so hard? If world leaders at the Rio Barth Summit could pretend to care about the environment trl Le he . poe ps ra wer at this hour.”’ Santa stomped to the window and looked out “Come see,’” he beckoned ex- citedly. ‘“The moon’s out.” Homeless story isn't new here Dear Sir: The lifestyle that killed Daisy Wesley has shocked a lot of people in Terrace bul she is not the first to fecl the bitter sling of hypothermia living on the streets of Terrace. I remember 10 years ago when I was reporting for a newspaper in Terrace and I got a call from Barry English, who was in charge of the Food For Thought soup kitchen. After his usual statement abour my imaginary ‘‘Socred inembership card’’, Barry launched into a tirade about my paper's refusal to wrile up stories about homeless people in Terrace in the wintertime. I reminded Barry that this was the first he'd called me; in fact the ‘paper had always responded to his requests for publicity, Barry settled back a bit and then demanded a front page story about homeless people living in the streets in the winter. I took notes and the story appeared shortly after on the front page. It was quite similar to the one appearing in The Standard regarding to the death of Daisy Wesley; only il was warming of fatalities, nol reporting them. The business community went ballistic, The publisher got calls at 3 a.m, complaining about the story. Less than a -week later then - Socred social services minister Grace McCarthy ordercd me to ap- pear on the carpet demanding 4 Warmth retraction. 1 was told in no uncertain terms that there are no home- less people in Terrace. How could there be? We had the soup kitchen, social services, the Salvation Army and any number of hotels poor people can go to upon request through the churches or government agencies. I was also told that the police were not allowed arrest bome- less people just to give them warm shelter in the lock ups for the night; and that any woukl-be “boxcar Willics’’ would be locked out of CNR boxcars at night in the future. I guess McCarthy was right. My hat’s off to Gerry King of the Terrace Anti-Poverty Group; but I wonder if this matter will be swept under the rug this time under the NDP like it was under the Socreds, now that we have red clowns instead of green clowns mun- ning the province. It’s fun to kick the NDP, isn’t it? But Helmut Giesbrecht isn’t the kind of guy who would call up publishers at 3 am. What’s going to be lost in all this Babylonian superstition (BS) is that people have been freezing under tarps in vacant city lots before. Only not all of them have died before. I grieve for Daisy Wesley — any help for her came 10 years toa late. Brian Gregg, Terrace,B.C. needed for each of us Dear Sir: I would like to comment on the sad situation we've just recently have beep made, more aware of in our, town of Ter- race, By now we all know of the death of a homeless woman, Daisy Wesley. It’s shocking that it took this long for people to realize the extent to which much. Terrace Anli-Poverty’s soup kitchen provide hot meals for these homeless and warmth for only the, duration. of ,the Tunch hour, but, it obviously wasn’t enough for the fate Daisy Weslcy. I myself, mother of two young children, volunteer my services as often as I can at the soup kitchen, Finally, all that remained in the ‘bap was a string of coloured tree - lights. Mrs. Claus lifted it out and » pretended to model a long scarf. “Suppose you drape this string of “ Jights around Rudolph’s neck? _ + Etch him in coloured bulbs like a roof top.”’ . *Sure’’, She unwound the string of lights from her shoulders and re- placed the lights in the bag. ‘Perhaps you should call an elec- trician.”' “An clectrician! At this time of night? On Christmas Eve! Even a general practitioner wouldn’t ans- Claus. ‘You know very well these lights need more wattage than a cigarette lighter. Besides, you’re in enough hot water over smoking a pipe.”’ ‘You expect me to pretend T have lights?’’ Mrs, Claus shmgged. ‘Is that this problem has reached. And I was ‘also appalled to read the Dec, 16, 1992 article thal children are campaigning to set up a shelter for our local homeless. Has it really come lo this? The covncil al the ‘‘think tank session”’ have decided on When I'm there it breaks my heart when we have to let these people go back into the cold once more til the nextday, But il lightens me somewhat that I helped serve these people a hot meal. As I end this letter 1 don’t want to leave you thinking that “Well. The snow stopped quicker than Bishop Hubert O’Connor’s sexual assault trial, You wan't need batteries after all.” “Who does?’ chuckled Santa, pitching toys back into the bag, Santa snorted. ‘tt has to start someplace a new animal shelter while the homeless are out there freezing this winter. They care more my impression on the lack of actions taken toward this situa- tion is just plain thoughtless- about man’s best friend when the mankind of our community should be first priority, leaving the burdening concerns and ac- tions of our youth to rest on their young shoulders. I refuse to believe this com- munity is going to allow our youth to fight for a cause they should have recognized long since. ness on our community’s part! I'm impressed with the town’s response to the Christ- mas season and their concem for the hungry and needy people. It’s truly remarkable what people can do when they get together and focus on the true reality of the poor in Ter- race. I think everyone has done a ift of peace have it as a gift. Peace with God, peace with self, and peace with others. That will always be the sequence. Forgiven by God, able to forgive ourselves, and willing 1o forgive others. Perhaps the best gifl you could Giving Ph been achieved. It simply means that the warring partics have been separated for a lime. If we would see real peace it will not come through a change in the balance of power but rather through a radical change in the - By BILL GLASSPELL T will never forget how i felt ‘that morning 20 years ago when the base commander called me - into his office, He told me I had been selected tobe a part of the 'Peace Team’ hearls of mankind. give or receive this Christmas : : ' : , “that-was to go to Vietnam. 1 was We constantly hear about a would be the gift of peace. Peace d crea ety dating great job but i kn c realy Put - aware that we would be without ‘new world order? and = an with God, peace with self, and 8 , " cess of providing a shelter would very much give us pride that we can lake care of our homeless people in our com- munity and we can all sleep at night knowing we gave our all to provide them the neccssily winter providing Christmas gifts for underprivileged chil- dren and food hampers, ctec. Such .as donated money and perishable goods, but there’s more to our needy than just hunger and that’s warmth. peace with others. Remember, someone must be willing to start the process that will lead to peace. That is what Christmas is really about. Think about it! Bill Glasspell presently serves ~ any real ability to even defend ourselves while patrolling in combat zones, ' That peace keeping mission would ultimately cost one Cana- _dian officer his life. Every Remembrance Day, when most ‘attainable peace’ and yet there is a rise in violence occurring here in our cowntry and around the world that cannot be attributed to political unrest or real poverty but rather to anger, jealousy, lust and pride. - are : ; 3 ¢ we we as the pastor of the Evangelical Our council really should ad- of warmth. : are th inking of daring. the major ; oa een tceyed ‘tom ‘within Free Church Fades "eens dress the homeless situation Trina Brooks, Bill Glasspell 6 ” He spent 13 years as an officer we have in our town. Terrace, B.C. because we do nol scem to be willing to pay the price, individu- ally or corporately, for real peace. wars, I also think of him and ‘many others 1 personally knew . who diced to ‘keep the peace’, in the Canadian Armed Forces Charitable clubs can do so are on the lips of many but absent before entering the ministry in from the hearts of most. ‘Once again this year young men Oh, [ do not doubt that, given Peace is expensive but it is at 1980. The Terrace Standard welcomes letters to the editor. We ask that ‘will leave home to embark on enough time and effort, the fight- —_tainable. PS: Captain Glasspell never | they be signed and a phone number be included. Letters are sub- ., missions of peace at a time of — ing can be stopped in Europe, Af- The “Prince of Peace’, Jesus did go to Vietnam. The | ject to editing for reasons of length and for good taste, Unsigned “year when around the world rica and the Middle East, but that Christ, has paid the price for peacekeeping force was recalled letters are thrown away. words of ‘peace and goodwill’ does not mean that peace has peace so that you- and I might prior to his departure. Lydia That’s Lydia Need help? Angus The start _. The Start is for people ~ earning how to read... The Salvation Army will help people in need this Christmas. The Salvation Army will be at the old bingo hall today and tomorrow morning. This is where the hampers were picked up. There is also a meal for single people. ‘It. starts at noon on Christmas Day. It takes place at the Salvation Amy church on Walsh Ave. The Golden Society also has help. Rule This starts 9 a.m. on Dec. 24 until 5 p.m. It takes place in the building behind — the alternate school on Lakelse Ave. with awall clock. | She works for Mothers Time Off. She has done this for 18 years. The clock was given to her as a thank you for her ry) work. Mothers Time Off hap- pens four momings a week. _It helps out mothers.