-A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 9, 1994

TERRACE

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 158
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432
MODEM: 638-7247

About daycare

CITY COUNCIL members are learning some-
thing Russian president Boris Yeltsin found out
the hard way, And that is you can’t put tooth-
paste back in the tube once it’s been squeezed
out.

‘This is in reference, of course, to council’s de-
cision not to amend R1 zoning regulations allow-
ing daycare centres to take in up to 16 children at
any one time. Wanted by Mickey and Sharon
Bromley of Discovery Daycare, the request has
generated major interest and has lead to
numerous other issues.

By denying the request, council has committed
itself by default to’ cleaning up the messy situa-
tion involving home-based businesses. If it
stomped on the Bromley plan by holding fast to
current zoning regulations, fairness only dictates
council sweeps through every neighbourhood to
find out what other kind of nasty activity is
going on.

And then there’s the hush-hush attitude involv-
ing illegal suites. City hall and fire officials
probably have every one of these suites marked
on a wall map. But the area’s tight housing

market has resulted in a blind eye being turned

toward the problem. Yet if home-based occupa-
tions are probed, should not this happen to illegal
suites as well?

Council also found out the depth of emotions
that run below the surface of the daycare issue. It
discovered a raw, elitist attitude which almost
could be interpreted as anti-child. In accepting
that attitude as mainstream, council guaranteed
itself a continuing problem. That’s because as
many people believe daycare is just as important
as is the paving of streets or the preserving of
green space. — ne
“Fhe ‘ultimate ‘bad thing facing council here is
that daycare is, at its roots, a social issue. It’s not
one easily tackled by city councils which much
prefer the more flashy stuff such as paving and
economic development.

But counci] members should be prepared to
take the good with the bad. After all, they can’t

call out the army as did Boris Yeltsin.

Tis the season

YOU KNOW the back of winter is broken when
city trucks swarm the streets loaded down with
coldfill to take care of the potholes created over
the past months. The annual ritual alleviates, just
for the moment, the bumpy ride down some of
our streets.

One of the more challenging trips is the route
up Lanfear Hill to the central Bench area. Last
week, the road was more reminiscent of a goat
track during the Middle Ages. The word pothole
does not apply anymore on the hill. Pottrough is
more appropriate.

Lanfear was the victim two years ago of a
landslip — the fancy word for a part of its base
sliding downward, And now city council is going
to spend $30,000 on a study to come up with a
new road design.

The problem with Lanfear is just the most
visible of what is happening everywhere in the
city. Streets built years ago weren’t sufficient
enough to handle the loads or their length of ser-
vice. But dealing with this is much easier said

than done,
Cu
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COMTI

Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
~~ for thelr time andtalents =

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Small

VICTORIA — Bruce Bres-
sette is a logging operator in
Prince George. He’s not a
major league player. He makes
his living by bldding on and
obtaining small timber sales
under the provincial Small
Business Enterprise Program.

The program was set up
some years back by the
Socreds to level the playing
field for small operators by
taking a small chunk out of
what the big companies were
allowed {o harvest, Alas, even
a level playing field can be a
mine field, as Bressette has
found out — at a cost of
$35,500.

Number 124 Holdings Lid.
Bressette’s company, was the
high bidder for Timber Sale

Licence A45809,~ a’ parcel ©
-° about

85km< south of
Valemount at the Mika Dam
Reservoir. Under the terms of
the agreement, logging on the
site had to be completed by
December 1993.

Mosi successful bidders have
up to a year to complete log-
ging, but because of an alleged
beetle problem in this particu-
lar sile, the deadline was
tighter. It turns out, however,
that there’s mo danger of
bectles flying again on the site.
The beeiles have come and
gone, the trees are dead, and it
doesn’! matter one bit when

logger

FROM FHE CAPITAL:
HUBERT BEYER

the site is logged.

Bressette ran into the next
hurdle when the forest service
notified him that he has to
complete operations on the site
by Oct. 31, two months ahead
of the original Dec. 51 dead-
line.

He took several logging con-
tractors to the site. They all
agreed that part of the site
could be logged, but others
were far too wet for any log-
ging to be done. It was there-
fore, impossible to complete
logging by the end of October.

On Sept. 14, district forest
services manager Harry Barber
wrote Bressette a letter, warn-
ing him that unless he com-
pletes logging by Oct. 31, his
licence will be cancelled and
the deposit forfeited.

\\

es
: SS SN
Rn S

SS

, big problem

On Nov. 3, Barber, in writ-
ing, denies Bressette’s request
for an extension. Next day,
Bressette is notified thal his
licence is cancelled, his
$35,500 forfeited to the
Crown. He is also told that he
will be disqualified from being
registered as a Small Business
Forest Enterprise for one year.

On appeal, the regional man-
ager of the forest service
refused to overturn the district
manager’s decision to cancel
the licence. His next step is to
appeal to the chief forester.

For his meeting with the
chief forester, Bressette has
prepared what he believes is a
good casc. And after reading
through the material he sent
me, I tend to agree.

“~""Under the hew freedori of”

information legislation, he
managed to lay hands on forest
service files, including eight
applications for extensions that
had been granted. .

Four of the extension request
that were granted gave bad
weather as the chief reason, the
other four didn’t state a reason
at all. Bressette wonders what
they had. that he hasn't got.
Past performance can’t be a
factor. Bressette’s performance
record is excellent,

Last summer, he logged a
Small Business Enterprise Pro-
gram parcel, also in the

Valemount area, He success-
fully completed logging opera-
tions on a parcel in the Prince
George area and did two log-
ging projects for B.C. Hydro.

. As for bad weather condi-
tions, making road construc-
lion on the site difficult, to say
the least, Bressette’s claim is
backed up by Eugene Runtz, a
registered professional forest-
er.

“In my opinion, given the
wet ground conditions, it
would be very difficult to har-
vest this timber sale in one
field season. A much more rea-
sonable approach would be ta
subgrade (the roads) in one
field season, followed with
surfacing and harvesting the
following year,’’ Runiz said in
his.report.... : a

‘The request for:an exten-’
sion of harvesting time was the
only avenue available for a
tesponsible approach. to har-
vesting this sale,’’ he added.

What bothers me most about
this affair is the fury with
which the forest service brings
its might to bear onasmallop- .
erator. No sympathetic admin-
istration for Bressetic. I can
only hope that the chief forest-
er allows common sense to
prevail over bureaucratic
harassment,

Taking care with daycare

TERRACE COUNCIL'S
search for objective facts upon
which to base an informed
daycare decision has been as
dedicated as thal of a naughty
six-year-old sent to cul a wil-
low switch,

For months council’s danced
around the daycare issue bur
dened by fewer facts than a
housewife planning a supper of
leftovers,

For one, council scems to
have assumed Hamer Avenue
residents unanimously oppose
a 16-space daycare in their
midst. Yet seven of those resi-
dents recently signed a petition
to say they were in favour of
allowing 16-child daycares in
their own R1 neighbourhocd:

For another, council hedges
thal letting an expanded
daycare operate in an Rl
neighborhood would give
every home-based business an
excuse to move in — despite

both the province and a 1991

THE PROBLEM DOMAIN [S
M THE FUNCTIONAL SOCIAL
A SYSTEM WHICH IS ©
CONCEPTUALIZED GY
A PROCESSES THAT:

THROUGH BIFOCALS

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

Terrace by-law ruling daycares
are not businesses. Therefore
no precedent would be set.

Council also. wortles.
daycares might devalue prop-
erty. Nonetheless the assess-
ment authority. has - not’ sub-
stantiated this claim.

I. would expect handy
daycare would enhance praper-

ty value, just as nearby schools
do, at least in the eyes of
young families. For young
families considering moving {fo
our city, good daycare has as
much appeal as golf courses
and extended health care

. facilities have for retirees.

Working parents of young

‘children count on quality child

care for the peace of mind
needed to give an employer
good value in return for a
paycheque. Older residents
who may be employers should
keep that in mind.

Also bear in mind jailing an
offender costs $48,000 annual-
ly. Statistics abound proving
every fax dollar spent nurtur-
ing young children saves six to
eight dollars later in health
care, welfare, and policing,

We older folk grew up and
raised our families in an eta
when one salary supporied a
household.

TE. CONTEXTUAL INCENTIVES
ORIENT TOWARDS A VISION
BUILDING PROCESS WHICH
MERGES WITH IDENTIFIABLE
COLLABORATIVE PROCESSES THAT,

€'p. ODA 0 PF

dB ets ee ee

Today that is:

seldom possible. If we cannot
temeniber what it was like to
be a kid, or to be a stressed
parent, perhaps our wallets can
relate lo the daycare issue.

Daycares —- like tot lots —
belong amid the clientele they
serve. Though as essential as
firehalls, hospitals and police
stations, few of us really want
one next door — until we’re in’
a panic for their help.

As for the slight increase in
traffic, which would you prefer
— parents picking up their
kids, or police cars answering
break and enter complaints?

Courts don't operate on hear-. -
say; neither should council,

Its time council marshalls
some concrele evidence, then

addresses the daycare needs of

its youngest citizens,

Or fs council going to dilly
dally until’ a coroner's jury
gives it some casy-to-follow
recommendations?

OM, THAT, .. UM
TL DON'T KNoW