‘1 and the ¢ outcomes. seem neat atid tidy | for all con-. Aé4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 19, 2006 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 WEB: www.terracestandard.com . _ EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard. com Off to jail — “PUTTING PEOPLE i in jail i is popular for it gives. “ society the feeling it is being protected and that the guilty. person is being punished. Whether or , ‘not jail is appropriate for each and every guilty. _ person very much depends upon circumstances. Consider two recent high profile crimes in Ter- -race. In‘one, a person robs a gas bar in January.. - First he steals a vehicle to get to the gas bar. Then he brandishes a knife, taking $69. Later the same day, RCMP attempt ‘to stop the man in the vehi- _ cle. He tries to flee, resulting in police shooting at “the Vehicle to disable-it and to protect themselves - ‘from possible harm. | : The second. features.the discovery of a ‘meth lab _in a house. Four -people are originally charged. ‘Three § go to trial two years after the lab is discov- éred: About two weeks into. what was scheduled to.be a month- -long | trial, proceedings halt. One .person pleads guilty to crystal meth production. _ Charges against the other two are stayed in what smacks of a deal being 1 made between prosecutors and defence lawyers. © , .’ The robber gets two years. in jail. The crystal - meth producer gets one year of house arrest to’ be . followed by probation. for one year. There may be good reasons for the sentences. cerned. a Se | But it may-come as. abit of a surprise to” many ° “that both. cases. acknowledge cost ‘savings to the-. _ police, courts and. government as a factor in the. “sentences. The Tobber pleaded guilty quickly and was dealt with within a month of his crime. The crystal meth producer’s guilty plea avoided an- _ other two weeks of costly court time and ensured 7 FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson _ Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area. Published on Wednesday of the state of at. least one conviction... And it may also be.a surprise that; -on the sur- face, a robbery involving $69 trumps:drug pro- -duction. Remember that after the meth lab was _ discovered, a virtual frenzy erupted. Within days a police drug specialist was flown up from Van- couver to talk to students jammed into the R.E.M. Lee Theatre. City council talked of setting up a special committee to deal with crystal meth. — —Allof this comes as a backdrop to one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s legislative priorities — mandatory minimum sentences for crimes of. violence and for drug production and trafficking. Details: won’t be known until the legislation is introduced. But the intent would seem to take- ‘away the current latitude involved in sentencing whether it be convenient or appropriate for all those involved. There’ ll be no ifs, ands or buts. - Do the crime, do the time. That may go over well in some quarters But whether or not slamming a cell door and throwing away the key each and every time makes sense for all concerned will remain an open question. _ ro -PUBLISHER/EDITOR: | Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach ‘PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman , COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham ‘ 7 ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: -_ Bert Husband, Ellie Higginson AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year: Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 , Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)= 167. 89 . - 2005 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION ; MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND @ cna. CNA. Communsre NewsParens B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www.bepresscouncil.org) | Pam Crise ve toere each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2. ® Black Press Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in tne Terrace standard are the property of the copy- right holders, including Black Press Ltd., its illustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Deparment, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to ail our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents GLOBAL WARMING * . BLAMED FOR DEADLY TORNADOES | civit WAR. In MIDWEST. — a LIKELY To RESueT. \ IN FURTHER °° ESCALATION OF _ GAS PRICES... {RAQ PLUNGED. INTO Fu seave US. TAREATS: BR “To STOP IRAN'S NUCLEAR. ‘PROGRAM, (waatz? Good LORD, \ —) “WHEN WILL | ‘Sikhs need to focus ¢ on ) Nanak | “THE "TOPIC of discrimina- 7 - tion is something close to my. heart and many issues related | to it are very much. open for discussion. Some barriers still exist that . |: need to be dealt with to make societies freer of. discrimina- tion. Bom and raised in Canada. : I didn’t experience a lot of dis-'. _¢rimination in my childhood. - - For,the most part the toler-’ ance level of people was gen- _ erally high. Most people made an effort _ to look beyond skin colour.and appreciate. others for who they “are. There were occasional i inci- dents of racial slurs, and turn- ing the other cheek was the best.solution to avoid confron- tation. ~ Now you're probably think- ing here he goes again — writ-"" ing: about. how Caucasians discriminate against Indo-Ca- nadians. Well you’re wrong. This j is not the case. As our multicultural com- munity grows this strength of diversity we see around us is creating barriers and we need to break these down. ‘ Clusters of © communities are being created not in small but in large numbers, affecting - how we communicate. - Do Indo-Canadians dis- criminate? I am hearing more and more incidents every year. What happened to our multi- cultural mosaic? The Sikh community must GUEST tolerance for others. The majority of Indo-Ca-_ nadians in Canada are Sikhs and have done great work in building Canada over the last century, PPT Tae dh nae -(pre-1960) who came to Can- ~ ada had a different attitude ad- justing to their new home. Newcomers who arrive in Canada today have many re- sources with the large Sikh population often isolating themselves from the main- stream Canadian society. In this process of settling here some settle back to their old cultural roots. _ As Sikhs immigrate to Can-. ada they should be reminded that many scarifies have been. made in their religion to pre- . vent discrimination. The. Sikh religion. was born more than 500 years ago to prevent discrimination from COMMENT -___KENHERAR- step up to the plate and show . that we have a high ‘level of happening i in India. 7 The Sikh religion: is -liv- ing proof that discrimination |- should. not tolerated in our society and if it is, we and the. Sikh religion have failed. Living..in Canada doesn’t “mean we should forget our. » moral principles. on how we should live. When I hear of stories of Caucasian people moving from Indo Canadians neighborhoods because they don’t want to mix with. them or Indo-Canadians discriminating against Indo- . Canadians because of different castes, these are all unaccept- to the Sikh religion. It is no different if some- one calls himself a Christian and doesn’t practice what the Bible states. You can call yourself any-_ The “early. Sikh’ Bioneers thing you want but are you” sas As Sikh people we have to rise up and not let the material- - istic world around us deflect us from being examples to others on how to ‘live a non-discrimi- natory lifestyle. It doesn’t matter what car: you drive or how big your home is or what you do for a living. These. identities have no room in the Sikh religion and if people: are practising: this, they are hurting. themselves and their Sikh principles. . No one is ‘perfect but we: should all try to become that — better person. We need to raise the bar to the next level of | able ways of living according . Wide to teach about the new . thinking to something higher aos and greater than ourselves. Guru Nanak, the first Guru gion, states this clearly in his and founder of the Sikh reli-. : teachings. He was born a Hin- - du. He worked for a Muslim as he grew up so he learned about ‘the Muslim religion. | ‘Eventually he became a . religious instructor, teaching <= about'a new faith using ideas from both Hinduism and -Is- | lam: | * This new ‘religion, called Sikhism, was “based on one . ue God and on the equality of all a. human beings. Nanak. traveled far and : religion. - The Sikh faith started : as - Guru Nanak realized that peo- ple were losing sight of God in their lives because of ‘greed and superstition. pean He set out a list of new rules” to bring people closer to God. These were based on the fact - that there is only one God, re- sponsible for all and that all - people are equal and should have equal opportunities. We should all reflect on ° Guru Nanak’s powerful mes- - sage and remind ourselves there is only one way to live. Sikh kids who are involved in gangs and drugs. should also reflect on this message to - change their destructive path. Being Sikh is. a full-time commitment. Ken Herar lives i in the Fra- ser Valley and writes on cul- tural and other issues. . Fake guns can be all too real — ON MARCH 23, 2006 in Dur- ham Region,: Ontario, police pulled over a speeder. Seconds later the driver found: himself lying flat on the ground, handcuffed after a toy » -.gun fell out of his glove com-. ‘partment as he was going for his documents. Police react to the situation, not to'the toy gun. When that toy gun fell out of the :glove compartment the, traffic cop reacted the way he had been “I; trained to do in the face of a lethal threat. — And that’s what worries me about finding a store in Terrace selling all sorts of toy guns. Legally stores can sell toy guns. But why would they want to? Priced from $1 to $10, these guns are afford- able to the average child, can . be purchased without parental consent or. I.D’ and without parents’ knowledge. Is it any of my business if the store sells toy guns? Af- - ter all, my granddaughters are. teenagers. The chance either one would play with a toy gun is remote. But who can say what sce- nario might ensue from toy guns in their vicinity. Their : friends have younger brothers. ‘THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Or they might be in the mall when a jewelry store is held up by a masked adult brandishing a spray-blackened toy gun. The mother of one of their best friends works in a mall jewelry store. To prevent toy guns being ’ mistaken for real, laws call for play guns to be any colour but black, and to have an orange safety tip. But what if a gun is spray- painted black to look more real? And in the dark who can see an orange safety tip? Will the cop be close enough to see an orange safety tip? And heaven help you if the cop is colour blind. I wouldn’t want my life to depend upon any cop’s eyesight. The Canadian Safety Coun-— cil identifies fake guns as a leading..cause of the loss of an eye in-children and young adults. Do you comprehend what life is like with only one eye? You pour milk beyond your glass, can’t tell what’s happening on your blind side, _ and have trouble judging dis- tance while parking. ‘And what if a kid riding with Mom waggles a toy gun out the window « while waiting ‘at a red light? Or the child who grounded all flights in and out of an American air- port for half a day while se- curity investigated after x-ray screening detected his toy gun in Mom’s luggage? Should I care’ about ‘the safety of other peoples’ chil- dren? Absolutely. My tax dol- lars would pay for an injured | child’s medical bills, even a.” lawsuit against police. Why set up a situation that could be so bad for everyone? - If you think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, check news reports from the U.S. In one five-year period alone, 105 crimes involved the use of toy guns. (Statistics are few for the number of children - ‘injured or killed’by police who ° mistook a toy for a real gun. ° Even hospitals don’t keep re- cords in a way to define .the number of injuries or deaths . ww . eo a a soy erete epee be eet eeseae tea es resulting from.a clash between _ toy guns and police.) In 2003, the latest figures available for New York City, 1400 crimes in that city in- volved fake guns, despite a selling toy gun replicas .can ‘New York City law where | lead to a year in prison and a — $1000 fine. Young kids can’t: differ- © — guns. Statistics tell us that. net key. the statistics if he had lived. — Recently, the manager of a Terrace convenience store sent gun display packing. manager put safety of kids, cops, and community above the store’s profits. All stores should do the same. . entiate between real and fake ‘For instance, a father put his | — ‘real pistol on the kitchen table .... while he fetched the gun cabi- : ‘In that moment his ©: - young son hefted the pistol |: -he believed to be a toy. The | child wouldn't be counted in’ !.. * a salesman and his toy :.’ The