Se, A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 29, 2000 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 All fired up THERE CAN’T be anything more confusing than the battle over deciding what kind of fire protection is needed at airports the size of the one we have here. Back in the early 1990s this airport had a fully functioning fire and rescue service of two fire trucks and five firefighters. It became subject to federal cuts to the point that today, there’s nothing on-site. From what was an essential service, the message now is “no big deal.” Cutting the ser- vice also helped the decision of the federal gov- ernment to turn over smaller airports to local au- thorities for without the cost of a fire and rescue service, it made taking over airports that much cheaper. That changed after the crash of a passenger jet in Fredericton several years ago. The federal gov- ernment then decided some sort of fire fighting service was going to be required after all. And now the fight is on. Local authorities are saying that if the feds want to change their minds, they should then be prepared to pay. Locally, one of the two fire trucks has already been sold. The second, owned by the city as part of the airport transfer to the Terrace-Kitimat Air- port Society, is to be sold by the city to the socie- ty. It'll then sell the truck and pocket the proceeds to help pay for whatever level of service is going to be eventually required here. The impression is that the local society wants to be rid of any vestige of a firefighting capability in advance of any decision on the kind of service needed here. That means it can then be empty- handed to plead its case for federal assistance whenever those: new tegulations come-down. Behind the scenes there’s a raging ‘debate: on] « what kind of service is needed. Should response _ time be judged from when a call comes in or after after a fire truck’s wheels begin to turn? Should response time be judged to the far end of a run- way or to the midpoint of a runway? So from what was considered an essential ser- vice, we’ve sunk to bureaucratic haggling invol- ving stopwatches and tape measures. Funny thing is, nobody has seemed to ask the passengers what they want. If you are ever on an aircraft in trouble, there’]] be cold comfort in knowing your safety is being calculated in a game of political gamesmanship. Learn more THUMBS UP to the Terrace Economic Develop- ment Authority and its volunteers putting on the Northwest B.C. Business Technology Forum this Saturday. The restrictions caused by the relative remote- ness of this area can be conquered by the new computer-based technology to the point that any- thing available in the big city can also be had here. The forum is a good opportunity to learn more. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel - NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens 1996 WINNER NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton NEWRCAPERS FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping COMPENTION CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff ; TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff ~_DARKROOM/COMPOSING;: Susan Credgeur ~ AD ASSISTANT: Donna Sullivan, Kulwant Kandola SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.40 per year; Seniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39 Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25 (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND B.C. PRESS COUNCIL Serving tha Terrace and Themhil area. Published on Wednesday of each week at $210 Clinton Street, Terrace, Brilish Columbia, V8G 5R2, Storlas, photographs, Mllustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard ara the property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid., its ilusteation tapro services and advertising agencias. Reproduction in whola or in pat, sithout written permission, is spediically prohibited, - Authorized as second-class mall panding the Post Otfica Dapartmant, for payment of postage In cash, « Speclal thanks to all our contributors and correspondents . for their time and talents” : . waters. a “Faced: with the: public’ out- ary over the cost overrutis, a LOOKS LIKE A HELL OF AJOB TOGETRID OF HIM... - sinking those ferries a big mistake VICTORIA —- A lot of things went wrong with the fast ferry project, but the biggest mis- take is probably scrapping the project, selling the three ves- sels at a huge !oss to the low- est bidder and writing the ven- ture off as a political disaster. It cost $463 million to build the three ferries. Unfortunately Glen Clark, the former premier and main booster, told us some years back that the cost would be $210 million. The $253 million overrun isn't the only problem that pla- gued the ferries. The project was begun with no fitm busi- ness plan in place. Numerous design ‘changes created more problems than they solved. The vessels also create too much of a wash and can't operate at full speed in our Liberal opposition with murder in its eyes and seemingly un- avoidable annihilation in the next election, and driven by an indecent desire to distance itself from anything Clark did, the NDP government is cutting its fast ferry project losses, hoping that this move will put the whole nasty business be- hind them. Alas, the government isn't Teh aes 1G _FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER cutting its losses, it's cutting ours, the taxpayers’ losses, And just what are those losses? For starters there will be a shortage of three ferries on the Vancouver Island-Mainland tun. Conventional ferries will have ito, be ‘built, to, take UP the. slack. * fey oc. a direct jobs will be lost. Adding the spin-off effect, that's more like 2,000 jobs. But most important, British Columbia will retreat from an industry in which it could have become a cutting-edge world leader — the construction of aluminum-hulled fast ferries. This project could, in time, have put the province's ship- building industry back on its feet. Car manufacturers spend millions on the design and de- velopment of, and tooling up for a prototype that will even- tually sell for $30,000. Bill Gates spent multi-millions on his Windows operating system that you can buy for less than $200. To expect that the three ferries would be built on bud- get is naive. The abandonment of the project bears comparison to the sudden death of the Avro Arrow fighter plane project some 40 years ago. The fighter was better than anything else available at the time, but the project was scrapped, finished planes demolished and all blueprints destroyed on the or- ders of then prime minister John Diefenbaker. Cost was cited as the main “teason; although it is- widely» + More. important, ‘about 6 50 believed -but never -proven’ that Diefenbaker acted under dur- ess from the U.S. government which feared for its supremacy in the aerospace industry. Well, there is no U.S, gov- ernment breathing down the NDP government's neck to sink the ferry project. It's pub- lic opinion and an opposition eager to cater to mass, hyster- ia, as long as it benefits its chances for next year's elec- tion that has killed this project. No mega-project in British Columbia has come in on bud- get. Construction of the Coqui- halla Highway 16 years ago had massive overruns. So did the northeast coal project. And speaking of the Coqui- halla, the opposition is calling for a public inquiry into the fast ferry fiasco, based on the fact that the Coquihalla project was later subject to such an inquiry. Here's some advice for Gor- don Campbell, the Liberal lea- der, You don't want to dirty your hands that way. The Coquihalla inquiry as ordered by Bill Vander Zalm, who succeeded Bill Bennett as Social Credit Party leader and premier, for one reason only: to discredit Alex Fraser who as minister of highways oversaw the project. It was a shameful "spectacle... The fast ferry project was a eood idea, badly planned and executed. But for the govern- ment to turn its back on it, throw the people who worked ' on it to the wolves and kill the © chance to build what could have become a thriving indu- stry is almost criminal. Beyer can be reached at: E - mail hubert@coolcom.cam; Tel & Fax: (250) 381-6900 Web: Atip://www. hubertheyer.com Bullying comes EVERY DAY in the Vancou- ver courtroom where a teen- ager is on trial for her part in Reena Verk’s murder extra chairs are brought in for the many interested spectators. Stung by the viciousness of Verk's fellow students, social groups, parents and grandmo- thers are there to learn more about schoolyard bullying. One grandmother says her 14-year-old grandson is level- headed — when he’s alone. But she worries if, in a group, he could participate in outrageous behaviour. Well, she might worry, if my experience last May is any sign. That sunny Sunday I biked with my two grand- daughters, aged 6 and 8, to Copper Mountain school’s playground. It was deserted except for adults playing base- bail on the north field. My granddaughters sampled all the equipment and were HE 1S SucH A Foot! WHY Do WE HANG AROUND WITH HIM 2! THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI pushing baby swings when two ten-year-old girls approached munching freezies. The four girls exchanged hellos; it was clear they knew and liked each other. Then my two scampered off to a favourite pine tree near the street; the older girls settled on swings. Lazily swinging 20 feet from them was a stocky lad of 12. He'd walked in earlier, MONTH ! THEN HE'S SERVED OUR PURFOS. GENES AND REPRODUCTION! AND RUT IS ONLY FORA el! close to home alone, from the south. © “Hi, Geeks,” he greeted the ten-year-olds. They ignored him. I didn’t. His words and atti- tude made my neck prickle. Did these three know each other? (Later my granddaugh- ters said he didn’t attend Cop- per Mountain.) Did the girls feel intimidated? Trapped? Would they welcome my in- tervention if he escalated his verbal assault? Then I heard him order the girls, “Say .....° He used a pro- fanity of a sexual nature. “Say it!” More swinging. More ignor- ing. He repeated the profanity. “Say it. Don’t sit there looking stupid. Say it!” A tiny voice murmured, “Someone will hear.” “No one will hear. Say it. Look at the ground and say it.” A tiny voice spoke his of- fensive words, YEAN! How woul You LIKE. “To BE STUCK WITH HIM ALL YEAR ? |! LIKE ne POOR HUMAN FEMALES: Feigning calmness, | strolled up to him. “What fun do you get from using that kind of language?” “None,” he admitted. “Then why do you use it?” “I don’t know.” His fair skin reddened to the roots of his brushcut. “Do you think your grand- mother would be proud to hear you use that kind of language?” He looked up. “My grand- mother is dead.” His tone con- veyed his pain. “You don’t have to use bad language because the other boys do,” J said, hoping to con- vert him. “It takes a bigger man to use clean language than to swear.” I left them, expecting a rock in the back or at least a smart alec remark. I got neither. Any passing motorist would have seen five children playing and one adult chaperoning, WHAT A SACRIFICE FoR HER SPEcEs!!