wig een: ener os Paradise found for Ukrainian student IN THE UKRAINE, schools close for two months during the winter, because the govern- ment doesn’t have enough money to heat the classrooms, Attending school all winter long is just one of the differences Olena Guseva faces as she stars her grade cight year at Skeena Jr. Secondary. Olena, age 13, moved to Terrace a month ago When ber mother Svitlana married Gerald Wheeler, “I's beautiful place,’ she says of her first reaction to Terrace. She comes from Odessa, a city of two million people on the Black Sea. But for Olena, moving to a small town wasn’t difficult. “Waiting for visa is hardest part,"? she jokes. She comments on how clean Terrace is, com- pared to the Ukraine, which suffers from bad pollution problems. Olena is exciled about going to school, but is nervous that she'll have difficulty with English. However, she’s easily able to make herself understood, and her vocabulary is large, consid- ering that the English she learned was in school. Having a choice of electives is also new to Olena. She’s planning on taking art and wood- work — two courses not available at her school in Odessa, Her mother was a school teacher there, teach- ing physics and chemistry. She says there’s a greater emphasis on sciences in the Ukraine, with students even at the grade seven level tak- ing separate courses in chemistry, physics and biology. However, this heavy emphasis on academics in the Ukraine doesn’t mean as much when the schools aren’t open. Teachers are paid by the government, says Svitlana, but sometimes they don’t receive The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 3, 1997 - A3 OLENA GUSEVA moved here from the Ukraine a manth ago. She started grade eight at Skeena Jr. yesterday, and is hoping her English is goad enough so she'll be able to make new friends. And with a new country comes a new dog. Olena named him Lindo, which means “beauty” in Spanish, News In Brief paycheques for two, three or even six months. In order to get any money, teachers have to go on strike. That means schools are often shut down. Even when students are in school, they don’t see any point in learning. ‘Many people who have good education —- professor — not work in their occupation,”’ says Svitlana. Wages are small, and prices fluctuate con- stantly. Going across the border to Turkey, buying goods, then selling them in the Ukraine, is a popular way to make extra money. And you don’t need much of an education for that. “In Ukraine, life more hard than here’? says Svithana. ‘‘In Ukraine, not so goad life.” Olena admits her friends in the Ukraine were jealous when they learned she was moving to Canada. In the month she’s been here she’s learned a lot about Canada, Bank machines, as well as computers were totally new to her. And she’s delighted at the way drivers stop for pedestrians. “In Ukraine, cars dou’t stop for pedestrians. And sometimes signal not work,’’ she says, laughing. ‘‘Drivers here very friendly.” Now she’s hoping she'll find her new classmates just as friendly. Libraries fear push for user fees PUBLIC LIBRARIES across B.C. are getting ready to defend against what they fear will be a drive to im- pose user fees and eliminate library boards, It hasn’t happened yet, but B.C. Library Trustees Association presi- dent Dan Greene says his organiza- tion, thinks user [ees will be the result of declining provincial. goverament municipalities. grants to He predicts town councils desperate to find more money to balance their budgets will try to get the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) to lobby Victoria to allow radical changes to libraries. And such a move would follow on the footsteps of legislation being passed in Ontario to add user fees and wipe out library boards, hé’ said, “The topic of user fees in librar- ies has arisen in different com- munities in B.C.,’? Greene said last week. ‘‘With this model being in- troduced in Ontario, it just feeds the fire.’’ Terrace Public Library board’s Aileen Thomas, in a letter to city council, fas asked Terrace city council to support free access to li- during the UBCM’s convention in October, Greene said some city councils see libraries as a place to cut cosis and = peshaps generate more revenue. But there’s so far no sign of city council here moving in that direc- tion. Council supported a major library ' expansion in recent years. Aid this’ brary boards if the topic comes up year they voted to - actually. ' money to the library’s budget to’a 7 Sockeye numbers‘up RETURNS OF sockeye salmon on the Skecna River have iniproved somewhat, and biologists al the Depart- ment of Fisheries and Oceans say they're re comfortable with the new figures, Two weeks ago, the DFO said less than 200, 000 of . the salmon had found their way upriver to the Babine . fence — less than half the expected number of fish. But . now DFO says they’re seeing more fish come home. “It's better news,”’ says DFO biologist Les Janz. “We're now looking at a tolal escapement of about . 800,000 fish. That's still less than we'd predicted, but we're comfortable with how things are now.’’ Janz says the final escapement numbers won't be known unlil late September. More classes on the Web > THE UNIVERSITY of Nonhern B.C. is looking at developing more World Wide Web courses to be of- fered over the Internet. Last year the university, which is based in Prince George, offered a few English courses on the Web. This year another English course, on Canadian litera- ture, will be offered fully over the Web. Another course on Geographic Information Systems will offer much of its material through the Web. However, stu- dents still have to altend classes in Prince George. UNBC is working on developing further Web courses in education, English, geography, international studies, nursing and political science, The Canadian litcrature course will run from October 6-Jan. 12. Students can look at the course outline at bttp://donne.fac.unbe.edu/430.biml. Fish farms reviewed A TWO-year review of fish farming in B.C. has given the government a yellow light, advising them to proceed with caution. The detailed report, released last week, reviewed many key concerns about farming, including: the im- pact of escaped farmed salmon on wild stocks, the im- pact of farm wastes on the surrounding waters, risks to bemans and interaction of salmon farms with other: aquatic species. The report concluded that the probability of farms having major adverse impacts on the environment is low. However, it advised that additional rescarch was necessary and recommended careful monitoring and a tightening of regulations (which are currently few and largely unenforceable). The government will now review the report and de- cide if the current moratorium on salmon farming should be lifted, along with what measures should be taken to reduce any risks involved with the industry. Tuition stays the same THE FREEZE ON tuition. fees remains for the 1997/98 year. The freeze applics to all public post- ‘secondary schools in the province. The tuition freeze was first announced in 1996, Paul Ramsey, education minister, is concerned that the public might not realize tuition fees are still frozen. That’s because Stats Canada recently released a report that says tuillon fees will rise by 1.7 per cent in B,C... 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