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Tod Strachan, Betty Barton

‘"A6 Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 30, 1991

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4 -e did it in 1986 for the B.C. Winter Games. |
W Now we’te doing it again for the 1991 Northern B.C.

Winter Games. Two events of major proportions that
required an immense concentration of human resources, community
Facilities and volunteer time, successfully (we're making an assump-

tion here) set up, run and concluded.

Terrace has certainly proven that it can stage these amateur athletic
events with the best of them, and on reflection that’s also true of the
many local events that are held here on an annual basis. Taken as a

‘whole, the amount of volunteer time and the dollar value of dona-

tions this community puts on the table every year is staggering.

A recent report commissioned by the federal government found that
if a cash figure were put on the annual volunteer activity that takes
place in Canada, the time — valued at an average wage of $11.79 —
would be worth $13.2 billion this year.

Although volunteer activity does not have the uniform quality of an
industry, the dimensions of it call for some level of uniform organ-

ization and coordination, something that has been visibly lacking here |

except in occasional full-sweep undertakings like this weekend’s
Games. During the same time the Games effort was being launched,
the Terrace Health Care Society was driving on several fronts toward
its goal of securing a CT scanner for Mills Memorial Hospital.
Meanwhile, the sundry other non-profits carried on with their
periodic efforts for public support.

There has been some grumbling, expressed as off-the-record asides,
to the effect that these big, one-time efforts are vacuuming up volun-
teer time and charity dollars that would normally go toward other
well-established recipients. None of these established causes were
genuinely damaged, an indication of how elastic the generosity of
this community can be. But the danger of fragmentation was there.
--We have witnessed with immense pleasure in the past week the
establishment of a Community Volunteer Bureau, a strong suggestion
that city council may consider funding a coordinator’s position for
non-profit arts organizations, and indications that a summer school of
the arts may become reality here. Perhaps the next logical stage
would be a centralized effort in the community to coordinate the
various fund raising and public awareness campaigns of all these |
separate causes. In any given week the public is hit with a barrage of
awareness elevation efforts, door-to-door canvassing, raffle ticket
sales, car washes, bake sales, tag days and gentle haranguing from
every quarter of the compass. If these campaigns were conducted
with the sort of single-minded focus, on a smaller scale, that we have
brought to bear on the Games, the individual organizations would
benefit and the public would feel less besieged and less confused.

Small communities throughout the world seek an image that sticks
in the minds of visitors. These images for the most part take the form
of outsized trivia, like the world’s biggest fly fishing rod, or the
world’s biggest hockey stick, or the world’s biggest Ukrainian Easter
Egg. We needn’t get involved in absurdity to make people remember
us. Let’s go for something like a large pair of uplifting hands, for the
place with the world’s best community support structure. Getting
visitors to remember us is pleasant, but inducing people to stay here
is the real accomplishment.

Established May 1, 1985
_ The Terrace Review is published
each Wednesday by
Close-Up Business Services Ltd.

Second-class mail
ragisiration No. 6896.

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Publisher: duced far any reason without permission of the
Betty Barton publisher.

Editor: Erora and omissions. Advertising is accepted

: on the condition that in the event of

Michael Kelly typographical error, that partion of the adveriis-

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noi ba charged for, but the balance of the adver-
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- Staff Reporters:

National Adverilsing:

Marjorie Twyford Terrace Flaviow in Randaltten form.
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og ne year ;

a Carrie Olson ot pldieiap ll

Accounting: Oui of Ganada $100.00

Seniors in Terrace and District $30.00
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GST will be added to the above prices.

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Letters to the editor will be considered for publication only when signed.
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- The editor reserves the right to condense and edit letters. Opinions

; expressed are not mec ssarily those of the Terrace Neview.

tion No. 362775 and cannot legally be repro-

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PEOPLE

by Stephanie Wiebe

Everybody’s discussing the war.
The talk of Scud missiles,
chemical warfare and Saddam
Hussein pepper our daily
conversations. Regardless of their
political opinions, people are
concerned. But some Terrace
residents listen a little harder,
watch the news a little later, scan
the newspapers with a gleaning
eye for information. They are
friends and relatives of those in
the Persian Gulf.

My cousin Al is there with the
U.S. Air Force, on the Blueridge.
My husband’s nephew, Harvey, is
a CF-18 pilot with the Canadian
Armed Forces. Al is the classic
"nice guy", with a strong
Christian upbringing and a goofy
sense of humour. Harvey is an
intelligent, handsome young man
with an optimistic future. We’ve
had our late nights of watching
news, wondering about the safety
of each of them.

One Terrace resident, "Chris",
who prefers not to have his name
in the paper, has two cousins and
a brother-in-law in Saudi Arabia.
One cousin is married to an Arab,
one cousin works for an oil
company there; and his brother-
in-law serves in Britain’s Royal
Air Force, though the family does
not know his exact location. Like
other relatives, "Chris" has spent
hours watching tclevision news.
"You become fixed to it, because
you think you're going to catch a
glimpse of him."

Mike and Carol Wilson’s close
family friend is an American F-
15 pilot missing in action. They
too, were following the Mid-east
conflict on television, when they
heard about their friend’s
disappearance. Carol said, "I was
watching, saying ‘turn this thing

off, turn this thing off, quit
watching’." Then the list of
missing pilots was broadcast, and
they heard their friend’s name. “It
was like a dream." The Wilsons
call family members every few
days to keep updated on their
friend’s situation. "He has three

Jittle boys," she said quietly. She

worries, and thinks about the
families and friends of others in
the Persian Gulf, people tied to
the war from alll sides.

Jan Gordon’s brother, Dick,
works as a Parliamentary reporter
for CBC in Ottawa — that is,
until a week ago, when he was
sent to Amman, Jordan. Gordon
is concemed for his brother’s
safety. "Very much so. But I do
feel that if he’s over there, it’s
his own choosing. He’s been
interested in foreign
correspondence... for some time
now." He listens to his brother’s
reports on CBC radio.

Gordon, Wilson and "Chris"
seem to agrec that the news
reports received in North
America are not necessarily
complete and unbiased. "I don’t
believe that the picture we’re
getting is totally accurate,” said
Gordon. Upon hearing new
reports, he waits to "fet the chaff
blow away from the truth.”

Wilson simply said, “It’s hard
to tell with the news..."

Most people with friends or
relatives in the Persian Gulf try
not to worry, not to dwell on the
alarming war scenes that flash
across (he television screen. But
often, the nagging vision of that
particular person |s hard to shake,
and the dark thoughts of war
hover constantly. "I dream about
it all the time," said Wilson.

My husband thinks about his
young nephew arid says, "My
sister’s son, my nephew, is there

Review staff and guest writers

Down by the River |

watching the issues flow by

Commentary and analysis by Terrace

WE KNOW GO TO WAR

fighting in this war, and it’s
scary, it’s frightening. | saw those
captured pilots... and I thought,
that could be my nephew."

That could be anyone’s nephew,
son, daughter or friend. The
effects of war are felt around the
world, and having a personal tie
to the war situation intensifies
one’s reactions. As Carol Wilson
says, "When you know somcone,
it makes it so different.”

John Pifer on assignment
_ in the war zone this
week

Regional
recycling
plan to be
discussed

A Feb. 13 rendezvous at
Mount Layton Hot Springs
will mark the second annual
joint meeting of Terrace’s
Tourism and Economic
Advisory Commission and
Kitimat’s Economic
Development Commission.
Topping the agenda will be.
recycling, and a recommen-
dation from the Terrace
contingent that a Regional
Recycling Strategy head-
quartered in Terrace should
be developed.

Other items of mutual
concern also expected to be
discussed are the Kitimat
port development, upgrad-
ing CN’s Terrace-Kitimat
rail line, future land
development in the Kitimat
Valley and lobbying for a
Telkwa Pass road.

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