Page 4, The Herald, Thursday, October 4, 1979 |TERRACE/BKITIMAT daily herald Goneral Office- 638-4957 Published by Circulatten - 639-6357 Storling Publishera GEN. MANAGER - Knox Coupland EDITOR - Greg Middleton CIRCULATION : TERRACE - 635-6357 KITIMAT OF FICE - 692-2747 Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum Sireot, Terrace, B.C. A member of Varifled Circulation. Authorized as second class mall, Registration number 1201. Postage paid In cash, return postage guaranteed. NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains full, complate and sole copyright In any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or Photographic content published ln the Harald. Reproduction is not permitted without the written parmission of tha Publisher. EDITORIAL Ken Noble Is a former Kitimat hotelman and Is now the president of the British Columbia Hotels’ Association. He knows the hotel Industry. He also knows the possibillties In the hotsprings ere. It was some years ago that Nobie looked into taking over the Skoglund Hotsprings Resort but in an Interview In Terrace recently he said he feels [t has a great potential as not only a tourist attraction and money maker in Itself, but as a draw for other businesses in own, Noble, who was In Terrace to speak to local hotel owners Sunday, says the business operation of a hotsprings development should. be turned over to private © enterprise to: run. In Noble’s view, the provincial government should apply for a federal government grant to assist in a redevelopment of the site and then offer the facility for lease. We feel the potential of the land merits multiple use but that Noble’s scheme should at least be discussed. COMMENT By DON SCHAFFER Terry. Winter's visit to Terrace was Colncidently, on the box which deal with the, same. Winter does. “ at The movies were Inherit the Wind, with Spencer Tracy ; Frederic March and Gene Kelley, and A Man for All Seasons, starring Paul Scofield, Orson Welles and Leo McKern. Both films deal with the nature of Christianity and ite relation to the self. Both deal with the effects of the raion of Christianity to selfish enda, and the tragedy which inevitably ensues from such a perversion. Both also show how powerfully positive a force such abelief canbe, when utilized not for the self but for the greater good of the human race. As in any good film, neither deals. with black-and- white, contrasting good or evil, Shades of grey are presented both in the moral and political aspects of the characters. So it should be, for this reflects life. Sharp contrasts rarely exist in ‘real life. However, there was a noticable contrast between the Terrace Alive presentation I attended Monday evening and the Saturday morning TV. evangelists who we are all exposed to if we wish tp be: When Winter and the members ofthis team offer a prayer, it isn't a prayer for money ,to Keep the talk- show host financially solvent, or to help him out of his legal problema. Winter does not get on stage to ask every member of the audience to pledge $1,000, as I was horrified to watch Jimmy Bakker do one mor- a: Winter is exactly the opposite. He is sincere and human in his presentation and his persona] manner, if you can meet him after a show. His singers and musicians do not offer insipid pop-based songs, which come from the same computor that turns out many of the top-40 hits that one hears on secular radio. However profesaional they may be, they aren't slick with all that connotes. I wasn’t one of the converts that came forward at the end of the evening. I don’t know if that is swmething to be proud of or not, but as a life-long wkeptic, one night of entertainment and persuasion won't change me. One thing is certain, though. Winter, to all ap- pearences, is a sincere and honest man, in sharp contrast to many others who profess tc do what he He advances the cause of Christianily, even for ng satin igo preac and s ng, ¢ and playing on emotions of the crowd, he is a dignified and eloquent man. Moat of the TV evangelists do more harm than they do good for thelr cause. Their irrationality and manipulative behavior puts you off, but Winter is different. One leaves the R.E.M. Lee Theatre feeling that hereally meana it, 1 honestly think he does, complemented Sunday evening (late) by two movies" IRA ADAM. Irish ignore peace plan By BRUCE LEVETT LONDON ee tor The ‘ope's strong plea for peace in Northern Ireland seems to have litde impact on Irigh guerrillas who draw their support from Roman Catholics on both sides of the Irish border. The Sinn Feln, polltical front of the Irish Republican Army provisional wing, boldly challenged Pope John Paul on the morality of the IRA cause, emphasizing there will be no ceasefire in the six counties. There had been some hopeafter the Pope's heavily-attended visit to the Irish republic that the IRA might be persuaded to join in a ceasefire. But aa in the past, the IRA seemed to turn ‘Its ba k on the pleadings of ,the Roman Catholic Church. ’ A Protestant terrorist group, the Ulster Volunteer Force, selzed the political Initiatlve by calling for a ceasefire in the struggle that has taken the lives of thousands of people. And It seemed at first that the Pope's pleadings may help restore tranquillity, Gespite the fact that two British soldiers were wounded In an ambush near - Belfast even before the papal plane ieft Shannon rt. The IRA claimed reaponasi- bility for that ambush and some observers suggested initially that this claim may have been that of an isolated unit seeking to ensure that the IRA leadership doesn’t heed the Pope's pleadings, But as it turned out, the IRA seemed determined to continue the struggle, seeking “freedom'’ from British rule in Northern Ireland But there is one element in the developments that might have aome Impact on future Roman Catholle support for . the IRA. While the Sinn Fein emphasis that it was not seeking a clash with the Pape’s views, the mere fact that the ceasefire idea was quickly rejected would suggest that the ERA had al- ready made up its mind about its course of action even before the Pape spoke, TRA members have in the past been threatened with excommunication from the church but this has not swayed the IRA mem- bership. And the Pope seemed to sense that he faced.a difficult task when he said that even if hls voice is not heeded, “let history record that in a difficult moment in the experience of the people of Ireland, the Bishop of Rome set foot in your land, that he was with you and prayed with you for peace and reconciHation, for the vic- tory of justice and love over hatred,"’ Amid continuing gloom over the prospect for peace in Northern Ireland, there is the lingering hope that the Pope's pleadings have not fallen entirely on deaf ears. Much of the guerrilla force on both sides of the struggle is made up of you followers and the Pope's ap- pearance seemed to have profound impact on the youngsters who followed In addltion, the terrorists on both sides have strong and weak supporters, Those who have given their support reluctantly might be leaa en- thused about their en- doraement in the light of the Pope's pleadings. But whether there ls suf- ficient falling away of support to Impress the terrorists is quastlonable. Perhaps too much blood has been shed to resist the strong temptation to seek a- set- tlement through .continued assassinations, ambushes and bombings that have already wrecked a sub- stantial part of downtown Belfast. VANCOUVER (CP) — Death can be very beautiful. . So says a retired nurse, who works as a volunteer with’ a local grou dedicated to dealing wi death. She is a member of Pilgrimage, a Vancouver group set up to visit the te Hy il] who often apent their dying mo- ments alone. The volunteers strive to sit and laten instead of at- tempting to counsel the patient. “Tt (death) can have so much meaning for the family,” she sald. Some advocates of specialized care for the ‘dylng, say modern medicine has disrupted soclety’s method of coping with death. . The elderly now die in Institutions like intensive- care units at hospitals IF FACED instead of dying in their homes surrounded by family. In Canada and the United States, a backlash began about 10 years ago and today there are about 1,000 institutlons for the terminally iil, said Jo Hannay of the Canadian Cancer Society. These places are often called hospices, the Latin word for resting place. Pilgrimage began with a phone call four years ago when a social worker at a hospital saw some lonely terminal patients. He contacted Denis Boyd, 72, an employee of Cat. lic Community Services, and suggested he set up a volunteer visiting ogram, "Pligrimage has reached out to Lavina Beale, 62, confined to a bed with a cancerous tumor In both lungs that - Dealth said peaceful ~— , she has been living with for three years. “You notice I’m not saying dying of cancer,” said Beale, an oxygen tube protruding from her mouth. “It's your mental attitude that’s = im- portant.” Mra. Beale said regular visits by Joyce Buchanan, a Pilgrimage volunteer, have been rewarding. - Mrs. Beale has one child and three grandchildren. “I think it's a mar- vellous idea," she sald, “I don’t know what I'd do- without Joyce. She's so good to me, We talk about everything under the sun,”" Many of the volunteers have been previously exposéd to death — elther of a friend or relative — and according toa survey conducted by, social worker Christa Bunton, of the 31 volunteers who answered the estionaire 36 per cuut of em were ex to geath Pe tent a year ore olning ligrima ’ and 28 per cent had iota cl . . Britain already has.an established system of while only hospices in Mon- treal, Hallfax and St. ° Boniface, Man. Vancouver may soon have its own hospice, This © ar, the B.C. and Yukon anch of the Canadian Cancer Society funded a $40,000 study on hospice care. And administrators at Vancouver General Hospital and Royal dub ie in vary talks Vi ¥ with the provincial government, which is responsible for health: care. ay TOM McDOUGALL HALIFAX (CP) — After writing roughly 6,000 daily columns and other dispat- ches over 25 years for two Toronto newspapers, George Bain Is embarking on a new career as & university teacher this fall. There is no reason to doubt that the urbane political ab- server, connoisseur of good wines and occasional author of witty light verse can make an easy tranaition to the groves of academe. But the culture shock will be severe for Clem Watkins Jr, Johnny (Silk Scarf) McGeer, Harry Lem and the other. residents of Lilac, Sask., who have entertained readers of Bain’s columns for: yeara. Bain plans to take Ume out from his dutles as director of the University of King’s College achool of journallam NEW CAREER Veteran writer retires to write a weekly column for the Toronto Star. But whether Watkins will con- tinue to supply him with news items from the mythical Prairie community: of Lilacls likely to be a subject of delicate negotiations. Bain answered with a be- mused half-grin when a re- porter asked him why he de- elded to switch to the lectern from the typewriter, Because it was‘time, he said, He feared what all columnists fear, going stale, and he wanted to quit before it happened, __ So, when King’s president John Godfrey offered him the university job, he thought it over and visited Halifax. He liked the city and was pleased to find it had good restaurants. Besides hie cotumn for The Star, he hopes to do some reelancing and, perhaps, write hooks, However, looking after the approximately 50 atudents at é only degree-granting journalism school in the Atlantic provinces will be a full-time job, After an ap- parently successful laun- ching a year ago, the school’s composure was shattered this spring when Ite first director, David Oancia, suddenly resigned in a dispute over budgets and moved to the CBC. In his letter of resignation, Oaneia contended that King's had reneged on A promise to provi resources for a top-quality -school, How, he asked, could he hire a qualified, full-time journaliam instructor for the authorized salary of $16,000? le enough Bain said he has not en- countered the budget problem so far and that the university had found a full- Hme instructor and several eee recturers . all of em. uality people. Baln’s move ends a long career with the Toronto newspapers, most of it as an Ottawa columnist. A native of Toronto, he atarted with The Globe and Mall os an Ottawa correspondent in 1952, and two yeara later wrote its flrat regular Ot- tawa column. He served in the Globe's London and Washington bureaus from 1957 to 1964 - before resuming the Ottawa column, He moved to The Star In 1972 as editorial page editor, then resumed the Ottawa column, A View from the Hill, which appeared for the last time July 20. OTTAWA VIEWPOINT | By JIM FULTON - Aa the opening of the Parliament draws closer, we “don’t have too much detail on what the government . government will be presenting to the House of Commons and the Gtizens of Canede. We do know thata budget will be presented tous ‘before the end of the year”; that the will be attempting to dismantle PetroCan; that the tax credit scheme for mortgage holders will be submitted to Parliament. The budget will be the critical item for our con- dideration: this will determine where the new ad- ministration of Joe Clark is going. Our unemployment oblems, inflation, and taxation questions will either be addreesed or passed over in the budget presen- tation, While we all hear and talk a lot about unem- ployment and inflation, our taxation system is not examined as much as Itshould be. Hopefully, that will _ change in the new Parliament. ; As an individual and as a Member of the New Democratic Party, I have consistently believed in a progressive tax system, based on the ability to pay and on a basic understanding of fair treatment. Unfortunately, our tax system has moved further away from that principle. Special interest groups have successfully persuaded both Liberal and Conservative governments that they “nead a tax break'’. These “breaks” have been built © into our tax system at the expense of ‘ordinary: in- dividual taxpayers. For example, our chartered banks, long protected by the Bank Act from com- petition, have also managed to pay incredibly low tax rates, In the second quarter of this year, the Imperial Bank of Commerce had a profit of $39 million but paid no taxes. For the next quarter, total bank profits were $291,160,000 and they paid a combined tax rate of 10.4 per cent. An unmarried worker earning $160 a week faces a higher tax rate than the banks! Clearly something is wrong. There are too many similar examples: high Artic oil drilling, described by the oll tycoons as “high-risk investment” is in fact a subsidized tax shelter with virtually no risk. By deliberately foregoing taxes on operations like Dome Petroleum, the federal govern- ment has financed up to 93 per cent of this firm's Artic operations. We have no share in any oil found, no ownership in any part of the operation, yet we paid for 93 per cent of the cost, Dome hasn't paid any taxes in © ten years. Shell Oil paid none in 1978. This alone is a good argument to retain PetroCan and re-write our x laws. At other levels, there are more examples of our taxation problems. The Registered Home Ownership Savings Program allows individuals to put $1,000 a year into a tax-free morigage fund. But is this an . effective way of helping. people to.own thelr own homes? One official in the Finance Department says, “My personal guess is that, so far (since 1974), almost hone have been used to buy houses.” It is simply a chance for people with extra thousands to cut their tax We need some new approaches on the question of taxes. The Conservative tax credit scheme for mortgage holders doesn’t help people who rent, those who have already paid for their homes, and anyone -else who doesn’t have a mortgage. Many home ‘ construction firms say it will not increase the availability of houses because it will force prices up. So here again what is billed as a “housing” policy like the ‘oil explaration’’ policy, is really a tax giveaway t a certain group. Inclosing, I'd like to quote a colleague of mine, NDP Finance critic, Bob Rae: “Our tax system is a haven for those with ingenious &ccountants; it rewards the greedy; it punishes the hard-working; it favours certain companies, notably ail and gas companies, mining companies and banks, "and penalizes the average worker.” I remind all Terrace residents that my represen- tative here can be reached at 638-1818. Or you can write me directly at the House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0X2, I would appreciate hearing your’ views on this subject or any other. , LETTERS TO - THE EDITOR Dear Sir or Madam: We are having the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of our achodl, We know that souveniers, mugs and ¢- shirts, Featured will be a dance with music from the past fifty years. Point Grey Secondary many former students have settled throughout the province, and since we have atly had graduating classes for the past fourteen years, we are publicizing the evening in as many ways as posaibie. ‘Point Grey Secondary School will celebrate its 50th aniversary Fridy, October 2th at 7:30 p.m. All former mafi and students are in- vited to attend this evening af reunion. On display will be photographs, year-books and memorabilia, and for School, until 1965, was known as Point. Grey Junior Secondary School. It was built in 1928 when the cities d Kerrisdale and West Point Grey were annexed to Vancouver, For further information about the 50th Anniversary celebration contact Point Grey Secondary School, 5350 . East Boulevard, Vancouver, B.C, V6M 3V2, (604) 261-6391, Thank you very much for your attentlon and co- aperation, Yours truly, Miss D.L. Graham sale will be school Dear Sir: I know we had a provincial e‘ectlon on May tenth. I wemember that the Socreds ran Mr. Shelford as their candidate. And even ‘if [ wanted to forget, the Socreds won't let me. E live of Queensway and every day on my way to work and back again I see Socred election signs hanging in the trees and pasted on the bridge foundation. That election was more than four months ago and 1 really don’t want to be reminded any more. I wish the Socreds would be like other parties and show some respect for my eyes, Please remove the election signs, I would certainly like that. Yours truly Ray De Kergommeaux