_ mee mer af EA RE rel eT reat wi ead Racebe Ente Cae beg ree e at . ov ‘ . dl eS ere ener Seer ioe pees the end, the city gained a bear, ) " public display, and, incredibly, Peter Martinson — who shad the idea to begin with — got nothing, other than a- “ Latters PEAR EL ea tre re renee HS oom et aot Nae Pa Pee a a oe ? A monument:to confusion _ Now that the episode involving Peter Martinson and ° 4 his offer of free taxidermy services to the city is over, we |] ©. wonder if there is anything tobe learned, from this saga, .}. - other than “‘nice guys finish last’. Martinson told us “| - recently that he intends to abandon legal-action against “| the city, seeing nothing to be gained ‘through that’ | avenue. . . Martinson, who. operates Bornite Mountain Taxi- |. | dermy, came across a Kermode bear -when it.was-.| brought into him by:a hunter last year: The'bear was il-" } _ legally shot and Martinson immediately turned it in to~ the local consefvation officer. At that point Martinson proposed to the C.O. that the bear be given to the city as a gift, with free stuffing and mounting thrown in. It ~ seemed like a good idea — certainly,better than leaving the'carcass at the local landfill to remind its fellow bears of shortcomings in their legal protection — and the C.O. made the offer to the city on behalf of the Crown. Mar- -tinson’s return on the effort would be having the bear displayed in the Chamber of Commerce tourist informa- ‘tion office with a plaque giving appropriate credit to his taxidermy skills. , oo At that point the city’s administrator, Bob Hallsor, could‘see problems lurking ‘over the horizon: could a dollar value be placed on this sift’??? and if so, could the city be taken to task, for | without. notifying Martinson’s only competitor in the ocal animal-stuffing business, Roger Britton? One of Hallsor’s functions is looking gift bears in the mouth in. order to keep the city’s legal flanks protected, so ‘in the absence: of any applicable policy - (is. there ..any ‘municipality in Canada that actually -has:a policy on ‘receiving, dead bears?) Hallsor reportedly undertook an informal draw: Britton won. a : io In response to Martinson’s objections the issue made an. appearance and several return engagements in city council’s committee labyrinth, but the decision stood. In substantial dose of cynicism concerning, the operations of local government. Ss - - serving, but if his intentions were solely to augment his business.he:wouldn’t have suggested the city as recipient of the. gift, but Transport Canada: most of the well-- ‘moneyed offshore hunters don’t even set foot in Terrace re re “eontinued on page 23: mem Terrace Review Gg Second-class mail - _ fagistration No. 6896. ° A\l material appeating In the Terrace Review is protected under Canadian copyright Registra- tion No. 362775 and cannot legally be repro- _ duced for any reason without permission of the -. publisher. . . ” Errore and omissions. 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Opinions _ i eee pert Weta Cag ee ¢ awarding a ‘‘contract”’ | Roger Britton got a .. 1OCe te ao. oS e. when conflict of interest or it could-be argued that’ Martinson’s idea was self-- } _ haven for-the poor of other na- Wednesday __ by Bob Jackman vo 4 “ . 3 The suggestion that one might perhaps have a prejudice or two tucked away seemis to elicit more of a response from people than suggestions of © problems in local government. Have we perhaps become so accustomed to inadequacy in. our-elected officials and gov- ernment bureaucracies that we. . no longer rise in indignation ~ biased decision-making occur? Are we resigned to increasing | tax burdens without evidence of any accountability or _- responsibility, or even justifica- . _ tion of spending?-Are we pre- - . pared to.accept expenditures © _ for major.construction projects without so much asa. prioritization of needs? Ap-. parently, yes. - But should someone suggest -- that we might have a-bias, © based in many cases on such superficial differences as skin . colour or national origin — to that we can respond. | 1 had expected, even invited, a response to the wording in last week’s column. Many of | the words I used are seldom ~ seen in the newspaper, although they-do appear - regularly in private conversa-. tion. The purpose behind the racial and ethnic epithets was. simple — to point out how many of us belong to groups which have at one time or another been the object of deri- sion by others. The Canadian cultural mosaic has been enriched im- ” measurably by immigration. . Yet each new national, ethnic -or racial minority has had to face and overcome ostracism — and prejudice before being ac- epted. Canada has been a . viously-well-bred, upper- _ stood that wartime security _ demanded. their removal from tions (Ireland and Scotland in the early 1990's), the religiously or politically persecuted (Douk- hobours, Mennonites and.Mor- mons), and others who see our country as.either escape or op- portunity. — _ Nobody can have the last ski. cabin in Colorado, or the last beachfront property on Lakelse | - Lake. Is it realistic to expect, . because our parents or grand-— parents came to Canada, that ‘we have now attained the right. to deny others? © I remember getting on an - ‘airport shuttlebus during the _ time that East Indians fleeing Idi Amin’s reign of terror in. Uganda were arriving in Van- _couver, The bus driver was: . almost vicious in his treatment — of these English-speaking, ob- middle-class passengers. One ~ asked, .““What have I done to answer. I don’t think he had an’ answer, Cote I remember talking far into the night, many nights, with : Japanese-Canadian friends about their internment during World War II. They under- the Coast, they understood that families had to be separated, | with some going to Ontario ‘and others to B.C. Interior — communities like New Denver, they understood that they must face sometimes brutal condi- tions in unheated shacks during winter, because of the war - which, they again understood, was started by the country of their parente or grandparents. But they could not understand ' * why 'their homes and businesses _ were sold off, at cents on the f dollar, rather than being im. 4 pounded. I remember reading, ~ -only a couple of months ago, an article in Legion magazine - that condemned these people, these Canadians, my friends, as _ being wholly unworthy of the compensation that our govern- °. ment finally recognized as be ing due. . ’ Is the swing to political con-.” | ~ gervatism in our country giving’. the neo-Nazi mentality the con- fidence to bring prejudice out - of private conversation and back into the public domain? Jim Keegstra, the Aryan Brotherhood, Jack Volrich, Eric Nicol and others like them. . would prefer we did not forgive - and forget. Others would “prefer we just didn’t talk about the subject. I’m not so sure we shouldn’t remember, not so. - much which country or which religious group or which racial’; -_ origin was involved, but rather’ ~ you, sir?”? The driver didn’t - - the process that allowed these : events to occur. What creates an Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, - Ayatollah Khomeini or Stalin? © @ Don’t blame the present 7 Mayor for the City’s debt load | jumping from three to six , - million dollars. I’ve told the’ ‘person who keeps spreading this oral fertilizer several times, — though he doesn’t seem to. ' - comprehend, that the com- -mitments to build the sewage | - treatment plant ($1,000,000) _atid the RCMP. building | ($2,000,000) were made before Jack Talstra became Mayor, As far as the allegation that the province contributed no fund- — ‘ing,to the sewage treatment | plant, wrong.again! Twenty- five percent stands out asthe ~ 7 provincial figuie. You could check it out! heey!