AA- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 9, 2003 TERRACE = STANDARD 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: newsrcom@terracestandard.com Good move ~- CONGRATULATIONS TO local retailers for deciding they don’t want to open on statutory holidays. The results come via a Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce poll which found that 64 per cent of retailer members were opposed. An earlier poll, conducted among all chamber members, registered 57 per cent opposition. The poll results will feature in future city council decision making regarding statutory ho- liday shopping. That’s because the provincial government is removing decades-old restric- tions banning statutory holiday openings. The old legislation did allow municipalities to craft their own shopping by-laws. Terrace was one of the few which did not, meaning that the provincial rules prevailed. Now with the pro- vincial rules destined for the dust bin, wide : opening shopping can take place unless munici- © palities decide otherwise. Sunday shopping is al- ready taking place due to court decisions in the 1980s, . ; It may seem odd for Terrace merchants to be opposed to statutory openings. Merchants who now open Sunday find it to be an active day. Convenience stores are open, as are private li- quor stores, bars and pubs. And this is a city which bills itself as the commerce capital of the northwest, depending upon outside shoppers coming to town for a good portion of its econo- mic livelihood. This is not a matter of merchants saying ‘no’ to competition or to rid themselves of govern- ment regulations. Instead, opposition to statu- tory shopping .reflects something “about -the- |. character and rhythm of Terrace. Tt is still’ a° small city, one that prizes family life. The concept of a statutory holiday is to pro- vide a bit of relief from an otherwise hectic ex- istence. Statutory shopping would further dis- rupt the ability of people and families — store owners as well as their employees — to take a pause. Saying ‘no’ to statutory shopping reveals a certain sense of maturity, establishing Terrace as a place where people want to live. Losing ground THE PROPOSED new Skeena-Bulkley federal riding, sweeping east on Hwy16 toward Van- derhoof, makes our votes less valuable come the next federal election. It’s part of a move to re- duce rural seats because of population drops | while increasing urban seats where the popula- tion is growing. It’s hard enough as it is to feel connected to the federal government without further moves to diminish rural voices in Ottawa. PUBLISHER /EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarali A. Zimmerman 2002 WINNER NEWS /COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang CCNA BETTER FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay NEWSPAPERS CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon COMPETITION ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Stacy Gyper TELEMARKETER: Stacy Gyger COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (494.06 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 MEMBER OF al B.C. AND YUKOH COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNTTY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION (EMM (SNA. consamrnmran ut Ceren gae wale AND B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (www.bepresscounell.org) Sarving the Tarrace and Thomhill area. Publishad on Wednesday of each week al 3210 Clinton Streel, Tarraca, Bilish Columbia, VAG 5R2, Storles, photographs, Illustrations, designs and typestyies in the Terrace Standard ate the property of tha copyright holders, including Cariboo Presa (1969) Ltd., Its iilustrallon repro sarvices and advertising cies. Aaproducton in whola or in par, without written pamiission, ls speciiically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Pos! Offica Dapartmant, for payment af postage in cash. Special thanks to all our coniribulors and correspondents _ for their time and talents Se WA Fe May VICTORIA — Just weeks ago, critics of the war in Iraq pre- dicted a bloodbath, a Viet- nam-style “quagmire” for the coalition troops fighting against Saddam Hussein's re- gime in Iraq. Ii took 16 days for the American-led coalition to knock on Saddam’s door in Baghdad. So much for a quag- mire, Even as U.S. and British troops traced toward Baghdad, the military analysts the tele- vision networks trotted out questioned the “war plan.” When. it. took more than a few hours ta ‘secure a town, the “blow-dried - Napoleons,” as U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, called them, al- lowed that perhaps the war plan was flawed. As I write this over the weekend, coalition troops have taken Saddam Interna- tional Airport and promptly re- named it Baghdad Internation- al Airport. So much for the flawed war, plan. ,,, «, ". ..&,Unitéd Nations “report, ree, ’ leased well before the inva- sion of Iraq, predicted that civilian casualties could reach 300,000. Even Iraq, which exploits civilian deaths for propaganda purposes, says that, leading up to the airport capture, about 400 civilians have died. So much for 300,000 deaths. What IJ see is an unprece- Can‘t sleep? Try this TV UNTIL CNN ends its 24/7 coverage of the Iraqi conflict, or TV programming begins a new season, B.C.’s legislature offers diversion. April Fool’s Day I caught the start of the afternoon sit- ting with Member Statements followed by question pericd. Member statements ranged all over the map. One MLA used his Member Statement to announce the birth of his 13th grandchild, a girl, I seemed to be the only one who found this an odd fit with the running of government, Under what ministry does a ’ birth announcement qualify as the peoples’ business? Another MLA touted cultur- al tourism in her riding. And a 30-year police veteran lauded Ihe soon-to-be-operating coor- dinated computer data system which will-link police forces. With this system; police in one area should know all about crimes and suspect in other. provincial jurisdictions. Now, if the government would institute Amiber Alert, too, we'd have something to safe- guard our kids. The MLA told of how, 30 years ago, police in his city were notified when headquar- I DUNNO! ED Was TERRIFIED OF SARS UNTIL HE FOUND OUT THE ODDS OF BEING DONE IN BY WALKING ACROSS THE STREET OR DROWNING WERE MUCH HIGHER... CARS og | §, BY SIATS: onnel RSA EAE PIATHS - 1 10 $08, ODDS OF d - N 1000, DROWNING THTUB~ 4 Ig #060, DYING nee ea le —mrewee. é } a — Boo to the Libs, Crench, Germans » FROM THE CAPITAL . HUBERT BEYER dented war in as much as the coalition troops do everything possible to prevent civilian and even military casualties. _ Last night, on live TV, I saw two U.S. soldiers, a repor- ter and a cameraman risk their own lives to help a wounded Iraqi soldier. While under fire, they set an IV, stabilized the soldier and cailed for medics. In Najaf, the same day, the + commander of U.S. troops near the Imam Ali Shrine, one of, . the holiest sites for Shia Mus- lims, defused a potentially dangerous situation. The local population, be- lieving the American soldiers were a threat to the Shrine, came out in force, stopping the troops. The commander told his soldiers to smile, turn their guns toward the ground and THROUGH’ BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI ters wanted to reach them. This was in the days before police had phones in their cars. Someone at headquarters would pull a switch momen- tarily turning off ail the street- lights. Blinking streetlights signalled patrolmen to check in with the chief. ‘Another MLA spoke in fa- your of school uniforms. Ac- cording to his data, school uniforms cure everything ex- cept SARS. Uniforms reduce absenteeism, fights, bullying, clothing costs for parents and a list of deleterious conditions. Also, uniforms raise self es- ALK ACROSS THE STREET, TAKE A turn their backs on the crowd. He then bowed repeatedly to the crowd and slowly retreated. As it was, the Imam had asked the commander to se- cure his residence, before talk- ing to them, but the crowd didn't know that. Throughout this war, there have been only two genuine positions, that of the pacifists, whose conviction I respect, and that of people who are convinced that to avert event- ual tragedy on a massive scale, the murderous Saddam must be removed. I belong to the latter category. The rest of the war's oppo- nents have been motivated mostly by self-interest and contempt for the Americans. My e-mail has been running about 50/50 in support of and opposition to the war with the opponents being by far the rud- est and most vitriolic. And what to make of Cana- da, France and Germany, which so vehemently opposed the war? ree tends to seek House of Com- mons approval this week for a motion declaring Canada’s support for a U.S. victory in toppling Saddam Hussein and affirming the “unbreakable bond” between the two na- tions. Unbelievable. This would be the same government that teem, student achievement, schaal pride, morale, teachers’ job satisfaction, and other benefits. He encouraged a province- wide discussion of the practice followed by implementation in ali districts. John Weisdeck an MLA whom [ suspect is a dentist, and who often serves as deputy speaker regulating debate with a firm grip that enhances “debate” watching announced April 29 as a day when all over B.C, fillings and extra- ctions will be done free for low income adults by some of the Dental Association’s’ 2800 members. I also learned the legisla- ture now accepts written ques- tions from the public to be an- sweted by ministers during question period. Guess they were short of questions with bite. It’s sad to watch a Liberal MLA-ask a puffball question in an effort to appear critical of party policy. In the back of his mind has to be Paul Nettle- ton’s ouster from the party for writing a letter critical of Lib- eral plans for B.C. Hydro. Now HE'S AFRAID To GET OUT OF BED, let its own members spew anti- American insults (morons, bas- tards, hate them) without call- ing them on the carpet. France and Germany, mean- while, suddenly seem to’ have lost their distaste for war and are scrambling to mend fences with the United States. Germany now welcomes the removal of Saddam Hussein after earlier condemning re- gime change as a war aim,. while France let it be known that it would accept U.S. and British control of Iraq after the war, “We hope that through the defeat of the dictatorship, the Iraqi people can realize their, hopes of a life in peace, [ree- dom and self-determination as soon as possible,” said Gerhard Schroeder, the German Chan- cellor. How much more convincing those words would have soun- ded when the U.S. and Great Britain needed allies, if only for moral support. . Since both France and ,Ger- The Liberal government-in- ---Many. have. large economic.. stakes in Iraq, I can only. as- sume that their sudden about- face is motivated by sheer self- interest and greed. I rather like the position ] have taken all along or that of the pacifists, for that matter. 7 Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900 oe SHOW Within minutes of a session” beginning, you realize the le- gislature is a lonely spot. So many desks sit empty. No wonder the rule confines © the camera to the person speaking. We'd be dismayed to. see how few of our faithful ser- vants show up for in-house duty, Even with only two opposi- tion members, heckling still drowns out speaking members far too often. Grown adults elected to our highest pasitions.of government behaving like cranky kids at a too long birthday party irritates me. Heckling has never raised my assessment of a member's effectiveness. a Televised legislative pro- ceedings will never rival a Neil Simon comedy, or even a low grade sitcom, although there . can be rare moments. of hilar- ity. But usually the pace is too slow, the action too scripted, the atmosphere somnolent. When I have to wait several minutes for a minister to re- ceive the answers from his fi- ve-member backup team, such as in the B.C. Hydro debate I tend to fall off my chair, asleep. Hey nT THAT OUR FIRE FROMTHE SHEEP HUNT WHEN WE Took THE WRONG VALLEY? WE'VE BEEN LOST HERE Before! py RIGHZ hy