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Page A4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 8, 1992

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~<| TERRACE STANDAR

“ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1968

Phone (604) 638-7283

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Fax (604) 638-8432

Serving the Tarace area. Published of Wednesday of aach week by Carkoto Press (1969) LW. at 4647 Lazsie Ava, Tartace, British Columbia,
Stories, pistographs, ilustrations, designs and typestytes 0 the Terrace Standard are the Property of the copyright holders, Including Carlboa Frass (1969) Ltd,, its it

Cecha

 Publisher/Editor:
Red Link

Advertising Manager
Marlee Paterson

Production Manager:
Edouard Credgeur

> det Nagel. — Sports, Malcolm Baxter —Naws, Artone Watts ~ Typeselter,

* Rose Fisher'—.Front Office Manager, Carolyn Anderson — Typesetter,

2” Susan Cradgeur — Composing/Darkroom,
Janel Vivelros — Advertising Consutlant, Sam Colliar — Advertising Consultant,
Charleen Matthews — Circulation Supervisor’

, cae a,

‘Special thanks ta alt
our contributers and
correspondents for
their time and
_ talents.

___ EDITORIAL,

a

. ‘The arrival. of a new year has brought
with it the usual speculation on what the
next 12 months hold in store for all of
US,
That has included the obligatory
surveys of the ‘‘man/woman-in-the-
street’’ to find out what kind of year
they think lies ahead.

_ Surprise, surprise, such surveys have -

found a distinct lack of optimism among

‘many. Talking with people here reveals.
that’s a view shared by a considerable -

number in this community.
To date, of course, Terrace has scarce-:

ly felt the effects of the recession that has’.
caused the economies of eastern pro- .
vinces to falter woefully. But there seems

to be an underlying suspicion that we
can’t get away with that forever, .
Reports of the continuing problems

being faced by the forest sector and of |

mill closures elsewhere in the province
only help contribute to the nervousness.

After all, even though this.communi- |

ty’s economic base has broadened
somewhat since the too-well-
remembered recession of the early ’80s,

the fact remains two major pillars upon ©

which Terrace’s economy is built are its
sawmills. - -
There’s also continuing concern about
the rising-cost of living as reflected in the
Lodtsefiscious*attitude!taken by con-
Sumiers when it came’ to Christmas shop-
ping. 2 oe _
. “It therefore seems likely residents are

going to. be taking a cautious attitude for.

the time being and watching their pen-
nies pretty closely. Oe

sion.’

“. "Phe theory is voters will finally get an:

opportunity to say yea or nay to the city
going ahead with this project. The
library board says the expansion is need-

_ therefore more likely to “sharpen their

~ Which brings us to the library expan- _

ea or Nay?

ed to solve existing problems of a lack of
space.
That’s a claim no-one, to date, has

disputed.

The plan also calls for a facility large

- enough to handle the estimated number

of users it will face 20 years from now,
so it’s a reasonably long-term solution.
~ Only problem is it’s going to take a lot
of money to construct and much of that
will have to come out of the pockets of
local taxpayers.
That, of course, is what the referen-
dum is all about: asking taxpayers to

‘volunteer to shell out more money.
. Which could present a problem if the
voters _ are
-economy, both local and personal.

still uneasy about the

.The classic. reaction ‘in such cir-

- cumstances is to postpone approval of
-such projects until the economic signs

are more auspicious,

However, a cooled-off economy might
just be a good reason to okay the pro-
ject..

Apart from the employment such a

project would create and the economic

spin-off of those pay packets, there’s
another factor to which taxpayers might
give some thought.

One reality of economic slowdowns is
contractors are hungrier for work and

pencils”’ when it comes to bidding on the
project. Conversely, the opposite is true
in a booming economy where there is
more than enough work to go round.
Rejecting it now might save a few

~~ dollars — and it will only be a few for an

individual taxpayer — out of this year’s
household budget.

_ But it would also mean that same tax-
payer will likely end up paying more
money for exactly the same facility when
it does, inevitably, go ahead.

Screen kisses too much

Through
Bifocals |
by Claudette Sandecki |

browsing each other’s facial
features like a bitch chewing off
her whelp’s afterbirth. After the
kissing scene, instead of
touching up the lady’s lipstick,
both actors floss.

When my Aunt Vera trained
as a nurse at Winnipeg General
Hospital, the thoroughness of

'"Pretnier Harcourt hag?no

’ “You must remember this, a
kiss is still a kiss,

_ A Sigh is just a sigh;

The. world will always
welcome lovers,

’ As time goes by," -

- The’ world may always
welcome. lovers, but [| won't.
Not on television or in movies.
Not so jong as on-screen kissers
behave - like.. greedy . cocker
‘spaniels competing for the drib-

bles from a single melting ice- .

cream cone, [ haven't seen jaws
opened so wide since I watched
a film of yearling Stikine
grizzlies mock-fighting.

The recent re-run of Anne of
Green Gables has me yearning
for the velcro kisses of couples
such as Katharine Hepburn and
Spencer Tracey, or Clark Gable
and Vivien Leigh.

They touched lips tenderly in
a tidy exchange of pressure the
iengthiness and ‘pound-per-
square-inch of which signified
their passion, Guided by control
tower instincts, they connected
dead on target and held their

position with. the suction of. a’

junkyard electromagnet

transferring car. bodles to a:

flatdeck.

Screen lovers of the. 1990's.
_ Toam over. each other’s faces
like snails sucking up aquarium ,

slime. Kissyface close-ups not
only embarrass me; they turn

my stomach. Training videos

for mouth-to-mouth resuscita-

‘tion are less unsettling, _.
This slobbering osculation’

slarted after AIDS became a
health concern. Actors may
minimize their risk of AIDS this
way, but they’re guaranteeing
chapped cheeks,

Whatever the origin, it’s a
dandy diet dodge. One kissing
scene — such as between The
Pas, Manitoba’s newlyweds in
Conspiracy of Silence — drown

my appetite for snacks all even-

ing.

I suspect out of camera
range, actors wear terrycloth
bibs over .wetsuits, and ‘have
beach towels handy for mop-
ups, Sleeves won't do.

Oozy love: scenes make me
wish [’d donned a rairicoat, fit-
ted my bifocals with Elion John
windshield wipers, and installed
eavestroughing around my sofa,
’, Plotlines - are ‘padded ‘with
gtatuitous scenes of two people

her pre-operative surgical scrub
was. tested by blackening her

_arms from fingertips to elbow

with slioe polish. While blind-
folded, she was expected to
scrub it all away.

Modern movie kisses must be
similarly motivated. Actors’

‘ faces are smeared with

spearmint-flavoured makeup,
hairline to collar, ear to ear. By
the end of a successful kissing
interlude, all makeup has been
eaten off. Why else would ac-
tors gulp over each other’s jaws
and faces as thoroughly as a

- demonstrator vacuuming a rug?

Today’s actors slurp around
so, no longer is a kiss just a kiss.
It's a fast food lunch.

BY A LOPSTICK |

AND THe. RRIAGE IS
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Gracie would be |

VICTORIA —One of the top
jobs the B.C, government has
to offer becomes vacant this
year, and I’ve got just the per-
son to replace the incumbent,

Garde Gardom, agent
general at British Columbia
Heuse in London, will soon
pack his bags and come home.
His five-year stint is over, and
doubt, been casting about for
a suitalbe successor.

One of the names bandied
about has been that of Mark
Rose, retired Social
Democrate, -excellent orator
and very affable chap, indeed,
but-regardiess of how-much |
like him, he would be the:
wrong appointment.

Sorry, Mark, but what we
need in London is someone
with formidable skills as a
sales person, someone who can
put British Columbia on the
map of the European Com-
munity and keep it there. So-
meone like — Grace McCar-
thy, :

Ah, but Grace McCarthy is
a super-Socred, you say. What
would she be doing with an
NDP appointment? Serve
British Columbia’s interests to
the best of her ability, that’s
what she would do. And make
no mistake about it, her
abilities are legend.

And by the way, it isn’t the
first time a premier would ap-
point someone with opposite
political leanings to the Lon-
don job, When Bill Bennett
became premier, after whipp-
ing the pants off the NDP in
1975, he appointed Bob
Strachan as agent general in
London, the same man who .
had been leader of the New
Democratic Party.

At was a good move from 4
political point of view. [t sent
a signal to British Columbians
that the new government
wasn't about to conduct a
political vendetta, that it could
tise above petty quarrels,

From a buisiness point of
view, however, it wasn't sucha
good move, Strachan was a_

man at home in the daily skir- -:

mishes of the political arena,

amazing in London

From the _
Capital
by Hubert Beyer

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but ill at ease on the
diplomatic circuit. He was
political warrier, not
salesman, mo ;

Gardom, on the other hand,
has been excellent at.the job,
He can charm the birds out of
a tree, hold his own at any
gathering of business people,
and convince anyone that
British Columbia is the next-
best thing to sliced bread,

. Gardom has been painfully ©
aware of the need for strong
British Columbia representa-
tion, not only in the United
Kingdom, but on the conti-
nent.

Time and again, he impress-

ed on the previous government
that the changes. Europe will
undergo this year are.crucial to
British Columbia.

He knows that with trade
barriers between members of
the European Community fall-
ing like trees in a clear-cut in
1992, we had better make our
presence known in the
strongest-possible way,

The European Community's
ban on the impact of green
lumber, which we escaped by
the skin of our teeth, at least
for another 12 months, is a.
prime example why British
Columbia must have someone

. in London who can forcefully

inject. himself or herself into

‘any fray. ;
_. If British Columbia ex-

porters found it difficult to
unload their goods in the
European Community in the
past, they’re going to be in for
a really rude surprise in 1992,

- Europe will not come knock-
ing on our doors, We'll have
to penetrate their defences and
try to make ourselves indispen-
sable, That takes salesmanship,

- political instinct and energy.

Grace McCarthy qualifies on
all three counts. - es

Okay, so I like Grace.. .
What’s wrong with that? The
point is that she would be
perfect for the London job..
She knows British Columbia _
like few others. She knows the
politics and the economics: .
During her stint as tourism
minister, she put all
predecessors and successors to
shame. .

She also has an [OU or two
Premier Harcourt might con-
sider paying, When Bob
Williams, long-time NDP
MLA, retired from politics,
former forest Minister Claude
Richmond launched a very low
and undignified attack on him
in the legislature. ;

It was Grace McCarthy who

. stood up and put her own par-

ty colleague in his place. Prais-
ing Williams for his long ser-
vice and his dedication as a
politician, Grace McCarthy
showed true class that day.

In the meantime, Williams
has been resurrected as the
chief of British Columbia's -
Crown corporations, a job that
guarantees him the ear of the
government, A word from
Williams would go a long way
towards sending Grace McCar-
thy on her way to London.

The question is, of course,
not only whether Harcourt will
ask her to serve as agent |
general, but whether she. will
accept, My guess is she would.

The job is tailor-made for
‘her. It would be a challenge,
something she has been thriv-
ing on for more than 20 years.
Appointing Grace McCarthy as
British Columbia's agent ~
general makes sense every way.
you look at it. Think about it,
premier.

It's A SPECIALLY
LIMGED SPRUCE
THE. GEST MARKER
IN THE BUSH Ll

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