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,