The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - A7 Please restore faith in the Olympics Dear Sir: I am not an athlete, a coach or even a sports fan, but 1 have watched every Summer and Winter Olympics for as long as I can remember, With every Olympics, my parents made it clear to. me what these games were and, I hope, still are about. These games are not about who brings home medals and how many. In- _ Stead they are about doing your best, achieving your own personal goals and most importantly, being the best human being you can be. { watch the Olympics from the opening cerem- ony to the closing, not be- cause’ of my Canadian pride but because I have faith in mankind. [ CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD gratulate others when they have faith that each athlete will perform their best without the use of illegal substances. | have faith in every judge that judges according to the skill shown by cach athlete dur- ing competition. I have faith in the rules and regulations set by Olympic committees to ensure fairness. With this 2002 Winter Olympics, I have lost my faith. To me it wasn’t a matter of the Canadian pairs team being robbed of the gold. It was the simple fact that for some yet unknown reason, a team was awar- The Mail Bag ded the highest honour for a less than perfect perfor- mance. I realize that everyone is human and people will make mistakes. I’m not saying that the Russian pairs team didn’t skate a pold “medal performance. What I am saying is what everyone knows, you cannot award a gold medal to a team that made a mistake in their performance when another team had a flawless one. I pride myself on being a very good person. [ con- have done an outstanding job and [ always hope people will be rewar- ded for their hard effort. [ think this controversy also says a lot about the integrity of the Russian pairs team. They cannot feel good about having this gold medal. Of course [ would love to know what really happened, what went wrong and whose to blame for this controversy. But to me the most im- portant thing is restoring my faith in the Olympics and mankind. Not only should the judges be made available to the Canadian team to The roads could be better Dear Sir: In your Jan, 30 article, “Speed blamed for road death record,” it was sta- ted that police, highway officials and others state that drivers, not road con- ditions, are responsible for the alarming number of deaths’ on the roads this. winter. AS a persan who travels Hwy37 daily, I must com- ment. It is true that there are those who drive at a rate much faster than I personally feel comfort- able with for the road con- ditions. However, please do not try to hide the fact that the road conditions themselves are a lot to blame. _ There are many of us who call Nechaka North- coast to complain about the clearing (or lack thereof), but there are far more that simply gave up calling as it surely hasn’t improved things. I wonder if there is a quota as per how many complaints there must be béfore action is taken? uf Troubled schools Dear Sir: I want to speak about how some of the legisla- tion on schools affects me, as a public school teacher, and the children I teach. We know that class sizes may well rise by two students in each kindergar- ten to grade three class and in intermediate and high school grades through the “averaging” concepl. Everyone who knaws anything about education knows that children learn better in smaller classes, We know there will be no limits on the number of special needs students in.a classroom and that there will be no guaranteed level of support for them. This should alarm not only the parents of special needs students but also the parents of other stu- dents. We also know ‘there will no longer be any con- tractual reason for school districts to employ non-en- rolling teachers such as li- _brarians, music teachers, English as a second lan- guage teachers, learning resource teachers and counselors, How any of this legisla- tion creates a quality pub- lic education system, as Mr. Campbell and his pup- pets (they all know their scripis very well) regurgi- fate time after time is be- yond me, It should also be beyond parents, principals, trustees and other school district administrators. Mr. Harris, [ remember your vow of honesty to the people as you ran for pub- lic office, Do you remémber your promise to Mr. Rowe, Mrs. Axelson and myself in No- vember? © Yes, you promised that . ‘you. would speak against @ ‘degislated ‘settlement! Did you vote?: » Mr. Harris? : How did. “Richard Hekert, “ “ : “Terrace, BC. : 2. J feel for the woman on the other end of the phone | who takes these com- plaints. [ wouldn't want her job. But perhaps if it was part of her early morning routine to drive the high- ways herself she might un- derstand where we are coming from when we call all stressed out. She is quick to assure us the crews are out there. I am quick to assure her | wouldn’t be calling if this was the case, ]’m sure they are out there, but where, how often? The article also states there are patrols for the highways to see what the road conditions are. These patrols must take place after morning coffee, as for those of us that are on the highways between 6 a.m. - 7 am. surely are driving under different conditions than the patral. The article stated that crews are required to start plowing highways around Terrace once 4cm of snow falls. That must be 4cm in Terrace, as there is usually a lot mere snow in Kitimat and on the highway be- tween then there ever is in Terrace. After the terrible condi- tions we were made to drive in for the month of December, things have improved somewhat. While I do appreciate you sanding the roads dur- ing icy conditions,-isn’t it possible to sift out the rocks a bit better as I get tired of replacing my windshield every spring only to have it broken again in a few months time. On a happy note, 1 do very much appreciate Ne- chako Northcoast investing in a plow so the blade.can be lifted. This is the first winter I haven’t had to go and shovel out my drive- way after your crews have gone by. Whoops. Spoke too soon. Woke up this morn- ing to a plowed-in drive- way. Thanks, Anne Cameron, Terrace, B.C. discuss what they feel was wrong with the ‘perfor- mance, but [ also feel the judges’ marks should be disregarded, | think a new panel of judges should re- view cach taped perfor- mance and new | marks iven. Above all this, the only thing that’ would restore my faith in mankind would be the Russian team hand- ing over the gold medal and accepting the silver, ‘which’ is” the’ medal ‘they know in their hearts they deserve. Lorie Hansen, Terrace, B.C. NORTHWEST BAND. “SOCIAL WORKERS. _ ASSOCIATION. | Is a First Nations organization which provides free counselling services to individuals who have experienced sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and dealing with the altects of family violence. We are open from 8:00 a.m, to 4:00 p.m. Monday thru Friday. Telephone: 250-638-0744 or 635-9330 Or Tall Free 1-888-655-6533 We are at the Kitselas community off Queensway 1581 Kulspai Crescent, Terrace, B.C. : r Mon. & ef i 3 Fort Pizza “Restrictions apply