Page A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 21, 1993 Registration No, 7820 Phone (604} 638-7283 (1969) Lic, it's ilustretion repro services and advertising agencies. ax TERRACE STANDAR Reproduction in whole of in part, withow writen perrissicn, is specifically prohibted. Authorized a8 second-class mail panding tha Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Serving the Terrace araa. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1989) Lid, at 4647 x ( Ave,, Terrace, Ariish Columbia. Slorles, photographs, illustrations, designs and lypasiyles in the Terrace Standard ara ihe property af the copyright holders, including Cariboo Prass Jeff Nagel - News/Communily, Malcolm Baxtar - News/Sparts, Publisher/Editor: Rose Fisher - Front Office Manager, Pam Odell » Typesettar, es Rod Link _ Avene Watta = Typasattar, Susan Credgeur- Composing/Darkroom, Special thanks to ESTABLISHED APAIL 27. 1988 Janet Vivalros - Advertising Consultant, Sam Collier - Advertising Consullant, all our rn ene aaa eet ee Advertising Charlene Matthews - Circulation Manager 4647 Lazelle Ave, Terrace, B. C., V8BG _ ; contributors and: 638-8432 Mikel Hanm =a CCNA carrespondents 7, . OAM COM . .. on Fax (604) ye Gus as for their time and Production Manager: Rss. Seer nasa? gP ve talents. Edouard Credgeur: Fconoras CoM ieiateiatar Acie @cn G@cna : “CONTHOLLED DITORIA ‘The last several weeks have provided British’ Columbians with a series of star- tling, bizarre and at times frightening im- ages on the nightly news. There’s been the invasion of the legislature by. an unkempt mob, well off Vancouver residents at anti- tax rallies, senior citizen protesters waving signs ‘(one of which, in telling cabinet min- ister Moe Sihota to ‘‘go hump a camel’’, was simply racist) in front of the legisla- ture and the premier being protected by a phalanx of RCMP bodyguards while an- nouncing the Clayoquot logging decision. Of all these, the latter is perhaps the most bizarre. Here we have a man who calls himself a social democrat being protected by the enforcement arm of the state. So much for a warm and fuzzy government of the kind portrayed by the NDP. But perhaps there’s a more sinister force at work. The heavy and unfortunate depen- dence of society on television gives plenty of opportunity to manipulate images which stick in the minds and form the opinions of viewers, Footage of those protesters in Vancouver angry over proposed increases in property taxes puts faces to those of us images whe suspect there are a lot of well off people out there not carrying their weight. Placing the RCMP between the premier. and anti-logging protesters gives weight to the latter as being nothing more than-a potentially dangerous rabble. And ihere’s Social Credit party leader Jack Weisgerber, one of the more decent provincial politicians, stumping the pro- vince talking about massive increases in welfare costs. The implication here is that there are large numbers of layabouts who need a taste of the lash. to put them back on the straight and narrow. All of this is being carried out in the larger fiekl of stretched incomes, threatened jobs and a rising government deficit and resulting debt. The - tougher times are, the more people are inclined to look for somebody or something to blame. . What’s happening is the skillful creation of wedges to divide society into separate camps. Once this is done, it’s easy to play one group off against the other. It’s a sure way for those who wish to keep or to attain power. But the prospects for the long term aren’t very nice. Abad decision The. BC ‘Court’ of Appeal has taken a dicey step'in removing personal responsi- bility when a crime has been committed. It concerns alcohol and its effects on a per-— spn’s ability to form intent. tA jury couldit once redude | ia murder’ charge’ to"manslanghter’ if-the accused, be-' cause of alcohol, was judged incapable of forming a specific intent to kill, Now, the appeal court has ruled in a case involving second degree murder, a jury can look fur- ther at alcohol use even if it can.be shown that drinking did not render a person inca- pable of forming intent. The appeal decision is being called prece- dent setting because it widens the field in which a defence involving alcohol can be conducted. And a defence lawyer on. the case said the decision does. not mean. that e "someone ‘who-had a few: “rinks “¢ “cant "Bet “away with murder. All that may be fine and dandy bi but the fundamental requirement that a person must take responsibility for his or her ac- tions is weakened. And that is bad news. More and more we’re giving too much lati- tude to people without first holding that justice is needed for the greater good. Birds of a feather > Br... oye ay Sm vie rn ees i WENT THROUGH Pees so Pos HE ROCKS, SEEM 10 GET SMALLER... & oe 4 . ae om > : N\ Every spring hummingbirds retum here April 15 from their winter habitat like Snowbirds coming back: from Florida. This ©: year they’ll_ discover while they were away our feeding station was wiped out by fire. '* The warehouse under whose eve the feeder hung “shielded - from.sun, rain and wind is gone. The clothesline where they. perched in a row for . neighborly chats'is gone. Even the’ hemlccks and ~alders thiough. which: ‘they played hide and seek are gone. -Miraculously — the of glass and plastic, and stored in a plastic bread bag-in the middle . drawer -of a. living room cabifet, though the fire consumed: everything around it,. the drawer. containing the feeder was touched. - But where to hand the feeder now that all. the outbuildings have been leyeled? The house eaves are too high to reach for refilling the feeder except with: smaller feeder survived the fire, Made ‘felatively — un- Through Bifocals by Claudette Sandecki |f ting boat tops, they would visit, perching for a moment on the boat windshield. Once, when I used to snug a tar- paulin over a boat to keep it dry, I found one iridescent bird in a corner of the boat dashboard, dead, his claws clamped to tufts of carpet: | ‘Lured by the brighter light through the windshield, he had exhausted himself trying to fly - free. From then‘on'I set up a> frame over my boat building area so the tarpaulin was airy . . enough for birds to safely exit, Our family of hummingbirds gtew io eight To accom- modate them, I. hung Iwo feeders. Sometimes in the eve- _ hing all eight fed at one time, a Tare. {reat to see. They had saw hummingbirds squabbling over a fecder like refugees sur- rounding a UN food convoy. I was assured if I hung: a feeder, they would come. I did, and they did. And they arrived without fail every mid April, and with equal predict- ability, departed mid August. In between they expected our feeders to deliver sugar water consistently. Whenever | removed a feeder briefly to scrub and refill it, they buzzed around the hook ‘puzzled by the feeder’s absence, Imagine their consternation this year when they find our feeding . stalion —_trees, _warehouse, | and -— feeder destroyed. I hope they lay their blame - VICTORIA —. The govern- ment’s Clayoquot Sound deci- sion ‘‘will not please either those who would have us log itall or preserve it all,’’ Premier Harcourt said follow- ing the announcement that the controversial old-growth area on Vancouver Island will be partly l6ggéd and partly t _ preserved,’ - You know il. But frankly, don’t much care what the antagonists on either side of the land-use battle say —- 1, for one, like the resolution of this long-standing conflict because itis based on compromise, the tool for intelligent people to settle differences. Environmentalists will not _ like the decision because they -couldn’t have it all. Forest . companies will complain that they are required to apply bet- ter and more expensive forest practices when logging in areas of the Clayoquot Sound that aren’t protected. And forest workers will under- Standably lament the loss of an estimated 400 jobs, the price of preserving roughly one- third of the Sound. And the hooligans who stormed and vandalized the Parliament Buildings because . the government was ostensibly dragging its feet on the issue, well, who gives a damn whal they think. - The rest, and that’s most of US, should be happy with the ‘outcome of what has been one of the most hard-fought battles’ between environmentalists, in- dustry and government. Clayoquot Sound is one of five sounds on Vancouver Is- land. Its 262,000 hectares span a breathtakingly beautiful col-. lection of islands, forests, fjords, streams, narrows, ‘estuaries, mudflats and coast- line, located roughly between Strathcona Provincial Park and the Pacific Rim National Park,. Aside from its spectacular _ beauty, Clayoquot Sound also Clayoquot good compromise — action - From the Capital and estuaries near. Tofino, for instance, are critical for an estimated 100,000 waterfowl and shorebirds migrating along the Pacific flyway. - The compromise solution calls for the permanent pro-. ~ tection of four of the Sound’s major unlogged forests, in- cluding the largest untouched watershed on Vancouver Is- land, Also permanently pro- tected will be the entire outer coastline, About 45 per cent of Clayo- by Hubert Beyer eee, een tant ecosysicts: TH i thuditis. rs » and wed: i twill ichigo he ” Ty‘affect those values.?” + HF As I said al the outset, | be- .. lieve the government made the’ right decision. So does Jack: Munro, chairman of the Forest: Alliance, although I suspect h would have had more critical: comments if he were stil pre ident of the [WA . “The provincial govern- .: | ment’s decision to allow... : limited logging was the only. “ responsible choice. Our . government is charged not: only with the health of our. en-. _ we want to keep it that way,” quot Sound will be given over to resource use, including log- ging. The hook is that any log- ging will have to meet strict harvesting and envi ironmental standards. These standards include a ban on large clearcuts in favour of smaller cutblocks. Where possible, forest com- panies will have to use helicopter or skyline logging methods to avoid large-scale road construction. Nor will logging be allowed - to proceed on a fast track. OF the 90,000 hectares that could potentially be logged, harvest- ing will be allowed at a rate of only about 1,000 hectares a year, The government also _demands consideration for — ~ tourism values, requiring ~~ _ forest companies to provide - for substantial ‘‘scenic cor- tidors’’ between logging sites’ and tourist routes. “This isa prime water Tecreation area for British Columbians and tourisis; and - vironment but-with the welfare of ils people and the-pro-: _vince’s economy,” Munro ° ar said, - ae “By making a tough but, at _ : first glance, fair decision, ~ Premier Harcourt has shown. that this government is com- . oS _-Mitted toa sustainable... ; _environmentally-accountable. forestry,”’ he added. The compromise bears a: striking Tesemblance to the of recommendations: Teached © es ty of.a local ‘ask force: I say “ majority, because tlie repie: _ sentatives from two environ-." " mental groups walked away from the process at the last minute, When they couldn't. have it their way, they tore. 7 _ pedoed what might have, been oS “a consensus back then.” _ The similarity: between what oo _ the lask force wanted and the... . ‘government’s final decision: ck tells me thal Harcourt and): company have lisicned to the’ ne people who have most at... / . Stake, the peapic who live: in " the communities that will be. Harcourt said. ‘We will affected by this blueprint for: - ee itm hs ade sete ate i a, Met er stat & long ladder” or. pulley ‘ar-. tangement. ’ And © with’ © all shrubbery absent clear to the: fence, our yard has no landing pads for the little fellows. Before, the feeders hung in from of the kitchen window. Usually-1 had the birds’: com- pany, while cooking: or wash- ing dishes. If a houseplant bloomed: red, they hovered with beaks. tapping the. window, Even wearing a red” or yellow shirt: could: entice one within inches. 2 ~- When. 1 worked a nisi fit. - definite personalities, A’ green one habitually rested: on: the feeder between sips, staking - lils claim to the goodies, A feisty red male. stood guard from the blue plastic clothes- line from which he'd take off to fight away intruders, the two. birds rising up and down like Tommy Smothers’ yo yo, tails fanned to the maximum. Uniil ten years ago 1 had never seen. a hummingbird, only heard thet snarling past like “warplanes. Then, while visiting: on. Kamm Road, I squarely where it. belongs ... yon the arsonist’s head. T IN Tikis FAST PACED WORLD“) To Just To KEEP UP! supports a number of impor- OF CHANGE iS AFULL TIME | ensure thai where logging is wd T Lost A BRANCH BACK. IN '33 «1833 | MY SPoRE: LANDED < eRe ONLY 90 YEARS AGo AND I'VE GROWA A MILLIMETRE EVERY YEAR SINCE THEN ! So How FAST ARE You ALL CHANGING? “the future of Clayoquot Sound. ‘ WAS TWICE THIS S(2E BEFORE THE LAST Fe Ree THE TRUE hoary Now THAT'S: JUST My SAEED?!