Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 13, 2003 “TERRACE — STANDARD } ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com Info, please THE NORTHERN Health Authority would do itself a very good turn if it would release more details about its plan to change senior care, The goal of improving services through various services such as Meals on Wheels, traveling housekeepers and the such to enable seniors to stay in their own homes for as long as possible and retaining institutional care only for those who need it is an admirable one. Indeed, the opening just one year ago of the 21- unit McConnell Estate immediately beside Terra- ' ceview Lodge on the bench points to the future. But that goal runs the risk of public skepticism, doubt and worries unless some meat can be put on the bones very soon. To date, the health authority has been able to re- lease just one figure — cutting 25 of the 75 beds at the extended and intermediate care Terraceview Lodge. Authority officials have issued assurances the bed cuts will be gradual — no one now at Ter- raceview will be turned out. That may be well and good but a 25-bed loss is the only substantive detail the public has to work with. A fair assumption would be that some, if not all, of the money now spent on-those 25 beds will now be spent on home-based services. If that is the case, the health authority has the respon- sibility of allaying public fears and worries by outlining home care budget figures, staffing lev- els and services to be provided. The longer the 25-bed cut figure remains the only detail, the more the authority runs the risk of having its plan discredited. And oncé that hap- pens, it’s a long climb out from the shadows to the daylight. Sir James HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sir James Douglas who was born 200 years ago this Saturday, Aug. 15. Sent to Canada as a teenager to work as a clerk for the fur trading North West Company, soon to - merge with the Hudson’s Bay Company, Doug- las worked himself into a high executive position in what as then known as New Caledonia. Sir James chose the site for Victoria, becoming first the governor of the Vancouver Island colony in 1851 and then the governor of the British Col- umbia mainland colony in 1858. When gold was discovered in the Cariboo in 1858, Sir James worked quickly to establish a British presence. He was responsible, for exam- ple, for the construction of a number of roads — from the coast to the interior. Historians credit the actions of Sir James with - countering the waves of American gold seekers who would have preferred having their own flag flying over the gold fields. Good on you, Sir James. SS al PUBLISHER/ EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah A. Zimmerman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang 2002 WINNER CCNA BETTER FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay NEWSPAPERS CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon COMPETITION ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Denise Young TELEMARKETER: C.J. Bailey COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (494.06 GST)=62.00 per year; Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167,89 MEMBER OF e B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION ‘— CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION @l Me (CINTA, comer ree AND APS anbeaeratinn Srhedad Catom Dis ond Foden B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (www.bcpresscouncllorg) Serving the Tarace and Thomhill area. Published on Wednesday of each waek at 3240 Clinton Strael, Terrace, British Columbia, Y8G 5R2, Slories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles In the Terrace Slandard ara.the property of the copytight holdars, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid,, its illustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction In whote or In part, without written parmission, is speclfically prohibited. Authorized ag second-class mail pending the Past Office Department, for payment of postaga in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents RePomnwa | BACK ON THE FAILED > CANADA U. 5. VICTORIA — Cowichan Sta- tion is little more than a whis- tle stop along the Victoria Na- naimo Railway line on Van- couver Island. Last year, parents of child- ren attending Cowichan Sta- tion Elementary learned that the little school was one of seven to be closed by the Cowichan Valley School District board. The board's hand was forced by severe’ provincial funding cuts and dwindling enrollment, Needless to say, the pro- posed closure caused an uproar. Parents didn’t relish the idea of seeing heir kids moved to a neighbouring school that had already 295 Students. As Tom Dodsworth says in the current issue of Island Par- ent: “Picture an elementary school with 109 students, Kin- dergarten to grade 6, on 10 acres of forest and rolling hills, in a rural farming com- munity. Emotions erupt.” But rather than ring their hands and whine, parents or- ganized a town hall meeting to kick around ideas of how to make the best of a bad situa- tion. Among the possible alter- natives discussed was to turn the school into a “school of choice.” Next, they made a trip to Edmonton. That city’s school district has already 28 differ- ent public schools of choice. What that means is that, WE SuSPEecTer THE U.S. COALITION FOR FAIR. LUMBER IMPORTS DIDN'T WANT A PEAL MM WHEN THEY SLAPPED A 27% TARIFF ON i UA , THE OLIVE BRANCH WE OFFERED THEM NS ae SOFTWOOD LUMBER TALKS: It’s The HINe school that coulda FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER aside from the provincially prescribed curriculum, each school offers a unique pro- gram, allowing parents to en- roll their children in the school of their choice, a school that best represents the education ideal they want for their child- ren. Some of these school of choice concentrate on a par- ticular language, others emphasize culture, or religion. The parents then invited Stuart Wachovich, the director of curriculum in the Edmonton School District, to visit Cow- ichan Station Elementary. Wachovich did come to Cowichan station, at his own expense, as the parents stress, and after seeing the school and the environs of Cowichan Station, made a suggestion: concentrate the curriculum on traditional rural values. Thus was born the Cow- ichan Station Rural Tradition- al School, to officially open in September, 2003. The remain- der of the past school years was considered transitional. Things were already being done a litle differently at the school during the past school year. For instance, children do not sit at tables, but in rows at their own desks. Lessons are teacher-directed, not student- led. Jackie Barker, the princi- pal, says the school's nature curriculum and traditional phi- lesophy “are a good match with what this school com- munity has valued for over 100 years.” The school's motto is “To think, To value, to know.” To think refers to the school's aim to teach students to become critical thinkers. To value is aimed a character ed- ucation. To know reinforces the undeniable fact that child- ren need some solid learning tools that neither critical thinking nor character educa- tion can provide, We're talking about the three Rs. Parents of children attend- ing Cowichan Station rural tra- ditional school will be kept informed about where their children stand. To that effect, agendas are given to students, These agen- das get students used to having homework assignments every night. The agenda informs parents of homework assignments and requires that they sign it, so OMRIE SE. teachers know parents are. aware of what their children are supposed to do. , Students in Grades 4 to 6 also take home weekly reports thal tell parents how the child did on tests during the week, whether assignments have been completed, and whether there are any concerns about be- haviour, ] have long been a supporter of the charter school concept, which enjoys considerable suc- cess in some U.S. jurisdictions. Under the charter school system, the government issues education vouchers to parents ‘who can then shop for the school of their choice. The school of choice con- cept is the next-best thing. It, too, lets parents choose a school that best represents their values, without the often pro- hibitive cost involved in send- ing children to private schools. As always, the proof is in the pudding. The anticipated drop in student enrollment at- the, the major reason for the proposed closure, has been re- versed. The board had expected en- rollment to drop to &6 for the 2002/03 school year. It never reached that low, and enroll- ment for this year stands at 121, Cowichan Station Rural Traditional School is the little school that could. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@cooicom.com. Or phone him art (250) 381-6900. Darn. Lost in the boonies again Country folk do many things differently, including giving ' driving directions. To route us through Edmon- ton to a niece’s home in the Mill Woods section of the city, my brother gave us right and left turns. But for a trip from my sister’s farm to a lake on a dead end road, we were told to turn east or west. Good thing, or we'd still be looking for that lake. Instructions had me dizzy: turn right leaving the farmyard and drive two miles, turn right at 303 for 3.5 miles, left to the junction of 21 and 303, right to the junction of 21 and 3, left until we see Paradise Hiil, then right and keep going until we reach the Jake camp- ground, Listening to these direc- tions, my grown-up nephew drawled, “Maybe you want to turn west when you leave the yard, north at the first corner.” We sure did want to, as the trip proved. Without the late afternoon sun to guide me, I'd have been totally lost return- ing. All afternoon I prayed wee WERE RUNAWAY mm ENGINEERS FROM THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI clouds wouldn’t blot out the sun. Saskatchewan doesn’t clut- ter its secondary roads with signs. You'll find a marker wherever one highway inter- sects another; after that you better remember which road you're on because the High- ways department isn’t about to repeat itself. Once on a single road, such . as the one to this take, you can drive for miles without an- ything to tell you you’re on the L WOLD ALSO LIKE A MOUTH! right path, I knew this, so I began not- ing features along the road, like Gretel. A sign, Blue Ha- ven Farm, on a barn gable, A ravine so steep I caught my breath and momentarily closed my eyes. Elk grazing. A log cabin familiar from our visit the summer before. A white cairn marking a roadside point of historical interest. How far was it to the lake? “About 40km,” my sister said. Yet the road snaked away, dis- appearing into bush as it curved to the river ruled topog- raphy. When we passed an Exxon-Mobil oil site, we drove in to ask directions of Carla, the receptionist. “You're on the right road,” she said. “You have about ten more kilometres to-go.” (ifteen minutes later 1 stupped a young mother with two kids under the age of 3. She confirmed Carla's words. At the 80 kilometer mark, we bumped over potholes to find my brother and his entire extended family camped in their favourite sites on the WE'RE SUFFERING FROM YOPPIE FATIGLVE ANP DISORIENTATION INTHE eet | S THERE Poarcte We couLD REST IN AWHILE ¢ a ee vedi / shore of a lake shrunken by several years of drought. We visited for two hours, then began retracing our route. Had if not been for the slanting sunshine 1 would have made more wrong turns. Several times we stopped while I tried to figure out which way to turn. Once I hailed a 70 year ald Ukrainian farmer raking the road allowance. “If 1 weren't on holidays, I wouldn't be raking: today.” “Tf 1 weren’t on holidays, I wouldn't be bothering you for - directions,” I said. Nearing one of the last turns, I needed another refer- ence, We drove into the tree- less yard of a pink: house perched as though it had fallen from a flatdeck. A curious al-° . paca watched us from his port: able wire enclosure. The woman who puffed her way up form the basement as~ sured me we were on the right road, “Keep going south and. east as the road turns.”- We visited not only my brother's family but most of the neighbours. ) THese MAGAZINES AREVERY OLD! ( ; POT THEM EPPS. DoW THAT RECYCLING Hole? == Me