ONE OF the more hotly debated - neighbourhood issues in the past year has been expanding ihe number of children that can be registered at a daycare at any one time. .. The limit now is eight in what are classified as low density _nelghbourhoods, but there's a me fo increase that number to ~~ Below are twe letters in a con- dining stream to appear in The Terrace Standard’s mail cach week. . It's.no Dear Sir: Well, at least children’s issues ' are receiving aticnlion, I want to conect some of the misinforma- ‘tion: in the letter by Judy Koven _ of Nov. 17, 1993, Mrs. Koven’s child did attend -Helene’s Play and Learn Centre ‘which was licensed for sight chil- dren ; Then the owner-operator ap- plied for a variance which would allow her to have 16 children in her single-family residence. » Mr. Papais wrote a letter, which - Land several others saw, support- ing this move. The letter was very positive. I cannot quote it exactly but he said he was only sorry it wes not closer to his home in the . Horseshoe. Interesting, . Sixteen children is not a large number. We have child care regulations to follow. The list is endless. Our centres ate inspected - by the Skeena Health Unit licens- ~ Ing officers, fire inspectors and health inspectors and surprise visits are quite common. : Problems ~even then are fesolved with compromise, keep- ing in mind the best interests of the. children. ’ -. Parents must choose for them- selves. Eight-children centres are just not feasible. The maximum for a family daycare is seven, not - eight and they really need no spe- cial equipment. But they are a wonderful service for children up. - to 12 years of age. Scie. patents, “.! however; want grdup daycares' for- their children. ~ Also, did you know we’re ina Issue must be dealt Dear Sir: ‘Frequent letters to the editor _ have been written about day care in the last few months, indicating the need for our community to deal with the controversies and formulate policies around this im- ~~ portant issue. -, I was very concerned with Judy Koven’s letter on Nov. 17, 1993 in which she implies that while one day care was professionally — rin, another was not. Please set. "the record straight. F - Both Helene’s Play and Learn ‘Centre and Discovery Day Care. ‘are licensed and. operated by trained, qualified, experienced “early childhood educators. ~“ Operators of both centres are committed to providing quality “\¢hild. care for families, and to - meeting or exceeding all provin- ‘ dal and local standards.” | . ‘The requirements of the build- - _.dng code are extremely stringent “for the development of centres housing more than 10 children, ~~ ensuring safety and health stan- davis. anes CENTRE OF the city's daycare controversy Is the Discovery Daycare run by Sharon and Mickey Bromley. Their request to set up .a daycare fo hood has been met wilh a blizzard of opinion. 16 children in a single family residential neighbour- The previous council had put off a decision pending a provincia! report on daycare policy. That-report remains unfinished. low .densily residential neigh- bourhood, too? We give grateful thanks to our wonderful neigh- pours on Agar who have always - been supportive and have even gotten to know us. When we walk to the playground, they comment thal a lot of them didn’t even know there was adaycare there, -- What:ia cdifférence.' There“hive been no complaints in five-and'4 half years. So why would this cause com- plaints in another location? Daycares. are not causing prob- lems. We are trying hard to find compromise and solutions for the children and even the workers. As to the other comment “I cannot see how a large daycare business such as ours could be li- censed in a single family neigh- bourhood”’? — simple, we follow all:the requirements, that’s how? “Weare not squeezings16-small children into a two-car garage. Everyone found that comment “Should our children. be safely cared for within our _ neighborhoods?” Requirements of the Com- munity Care Facilities Licensing Branch of the Ministry of Health ‘ensure that minimum staff-child ratios, program standards, safety ‘standards and-staif qualifications ° are met. ; The status of Helene’s Play and Learn is_not in question, but her centré is mentioned frequently in this public debate. co Perhaps that is because her centre provides and example of how a group day care licensed for: 16 children can operate’ success- fully in a residential neighbour- hood, providing a valuable ser- vice to local residents. Ms, Koven compared day care centres to preschools and kinder- partes. Because children often spend longer hours in a day care. than in the other groups, mini- mum staff-child ratios are re- quired to be much higher in day cares than in either preschools or " Xindorgartens Tn group day care, ages two and ‘half to 5 (or 12), the ratio is one staff members for cight children and qualifications are to be an early childhood educator. “In preschool, ages two and half to five, the ratio is onc staffer to 15 children and the qualifications are to be an early childhood educator, In kindergarten, age five, the ratio is one staffer to 21 children and the qualifications are to be 4 teacher. The mixed-age day cares that Ms. Koven mentions are family day care centres, where the group is a maximum of 7 children, with restrictions on numbers of chil- dren under 2 years of age. Training is not yet a require- *. ment although many of our local providers have taken the initiative ampsing in another letter, not just: us. The new centre is the same size as our old one. _ For ‘seven and a half years we've been fighting and bringing attention to child cae issues, not just this one. It’s one of the most. important things we do. The reason we can’t keep “‘his business tight where itis” is be- catise nthe building -hasc just heen sold bythe owneriaiivtis we -.*... -.Mickey Bromley, ‘" + Verrace, B.C. with to access training'opportunities. The current controversy sur- . rounds the establishment of a 16- child day care for children ‘over’ two anda half in a residential area close to honies, schools, and. parents’ workplaces: Such a service fits within Ter- . race’s Official: Community Plan, ‘ but not current. zoning reguia- tions. coincide with the ‘Official Com- munity Plan? Should our children be .safely cared for within our~ neighborhoods? ; Is the pravision of day carein a. neighborhood scen as a- threat (noisy children and lower-proper- - ty values) or as and asset’ (nur- tured children and ‘higher proper- tyvalues)? These: aft: the. questions that need to be dealt with in the com- ~ ing months, and they touch on the basic. values of our community. ., °. +» Coco Schau, Skeena Child Care Support , , “Program, _. Terrace, B.C, Editorial called plain ‘Dear Sir: ; ‘YT can understand the media’s penchant for cynicism but not “when it interferes with presenting the facts. The Nov. 24 editorial > Cade breaking”? has enough e- ~ pots in fact tobe misleading. The Forest'Resources Commis: . sion referred to in the editorial “ released’ its’ report in January "4991: No, all this did not come _ down the pipe two years ago. The recommendations for’ the. Forest Practices Code were indeed made ” in 1992. ae - The following quote from ALL. (Sandy) Peel, chalrman of the - commission on January 1992 and — please nole thé date — should set the record straight: -“Qvor the last three years, the Forest Resources Commission has constantly heard support for a legislated Forest Practices Code - “10 guide land’ management prac- tices... On July 24, ;1992,. the ‘Tt is false for The Terrace Standard to suggest that this government is duplicating a process undertaken by the previous administration.”’ ‘Forest Minister (Dan Miller) gave the commission the mandaic to make recommendations on the * framework for a Forest Practices, * Code including any legislation or - administration processes required toimplementsuchacode.? The ~1991. discussion paper issued by the forest ministry was three months before the election and was.a very general report. It. was just. beginning lo. ask the questions and could not serve to form the basis of any meaningful discussions on a Forest Practices - That’ is what ‘came down: the - pipe two years ago. Itis true that the process. can be viewed as a” continuum. The public comments: collected in 1991 and earller were. used In developing the framework for a code, but if you compare the 4991 discussion paper with the present on¢, (he volume of re ‘search and policy development has increased 30-fold at least. - tis false for The Terrace Stan- dard to suggest that this gover- -ment is duplicating a process un- - derlaken by.the previous adminis- _ tration: The. Socreds never pre- — sented by the people of B.C, with a set of rules for forest practices and they had 17 years todoit. - Weshave not relegsed.a vague. discussion paper three months ‘be- . tions, | fore an. election,” with ae ae wrong demonstration of intent to follow through. The . Forest Practices Code will be the law in 1994 and that is not a snow job. Yes, there will be more staff needed .in the field who are charged with the responsibility of implementing the code. Environ- ment staff will also be “empowered to enforce environ- mental aspects of forest opera- ‘In all probability, a combination of staff. reassignments, us¢ of — professional” associations, stiff penalties for violators, clear rules: and some new staff will have the effect nteded to monitor and en- force good forest praclices, = In tinie ‘those in “the industry who abuse the forest resource and the environment will get the mes- * sage and violations will decrease. Heélmiit Giesbrecht, MLA for Skeena, Dear Sirs. ee ne Who am 1? Who do I belong to? I con't quite. know who Lam or -Should zoning be’ changed to ~ Terrace, B.C. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 1, 1993 - AS nnn eee CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag Dangerous walking Dear Sir: Who is responsible for the safety between Park Ave. and Kalum? There should be an intersection there, It isa death trap. It is not safe for people who cross in that area. Some one could easily get hurt some day. This has been a problem fora long time. Danny Bushman, + Peprace, BC, ‘ i. ro ‘wos ae . Siop violations Dear Sir: - " I ationded the Remembrance. Day parade. I was impressed by the parade and the program in the Tillicum Theater. Lt. Norman Hamelin of The Salvation Army read from The Gos- pel of John, ‘Greater love has no one than this, thal one lay down his life for his friends,”’ A matter of our own personal choice. Charles F, Meek, the Legion president, spoke as one not being old enough to remember the war. | identified with him, I can compre- hend the hell that past individuals and families went through for us. Many lost their lives or loved ones to give us freedoms. I wonder if those who went before us would be proud of us or are they ‘sleepless’ in Flanders Fields. I would like to thank them and their families for such a great sacrifice! The Legion padre, Reverend Lance Stephens, shared his thoughts and a quote. The quote is “‘Bad things only hold sway when good people do nothing’. The thought that flows from this quote to me is that Integrity is a choice. . Let us choose {0 respect all our world. Let us choose.to build respect into every relationship. Let us choose to stop violence of any kind against any individual or group. Let us build up the good in one another and put down that which is evil, : May God have mercy, May God visit us, May God show. us love. _. o9, Zours respectfully, ~ Henry John Chretien, ooo, Terrace, BC. wholbelongto.. - | Ra: Now that the federal government has éstablished a child tax benefit, I suddenly see myself wiped off as my father’s dependent on his in- come tax. Of course, my mother gets $32, tax free, every month Wow! That’s only $14.35 less than the M.P.s in Ottawa get for food for one day!! l’m_athirteen-year-old boy, so leat twice that much. |... - _IET’m notmy father’s, dependent, am I. dependent of. the federal, government? That’s great! Can ] have a car just like all the other guys in Otlawa? Or maybe a helicopter. I could move to Ottawa and live in the Parliament Buildings and no one would probably even notice, because, according to them, I’m not worth anything, and I’m a nobody. Help!!! What do I do? I still don’t know who-I belong to. Bven if someone wanted to adopt me, I still couldn’t be their dependent. Poor me! Poor children of Canada!l! The government has just - declared us a batch of nobodies!! ~ " ete Eric N. Roy; Terrace, B.C. THE START. IS FOR PEOPLE LEARNING TO READ The Start | "THE SALVATION Army has started its Christmas hamper campaign. | mo It has an office in a building on Lazelle Ave. The building is right across the street from the B.C. Tel The office is open from noon to 4 p.m., Wednesdays to Saturdays. People can make donations of food or money there. People. can also fill out a form to get a hamper. And they can fill out a form for the Dec. 25 singles supper. . building. - 7 : CT scan opens IT IS now official. The CT scan machine at the hospital is open. “There were tours and speeches to go along with the opening. These took place last Friday and Saturday. All of the money to buy the machine was raised in the northwest: The cost was $610,000. . no The picture above shows what it looks like when a per- son is getting a scan. That is Tia Merritt in the picture, - She goes to Cassie Hall,