PAGE 4, THE HERALD, Friday, July 28, 1978 EDITORIAL When figures reach the one million dollar mark, the average person, I think, begins to lose grasp of the amount. When that figure is one hundred million - he is lost. But when it reaches five hundred million - it might just as well be a statistic related to the moon, or radio frequen- cies, or unemployment statistics - or some other equally vague subject where great numbers are tossed about with Kittle or no meaning. Unless you live in Kitimat. Five hundred million dollars was the amount private investors - including the proverbial “little old ladies and old age pensioners” spent - just in capital investment - to build the town the power generation and the aluminum plant at Kitimat, 25 years ago. At todays inflated dollar, this would be somewhere around the one and a half to three BILLION dollar mark. But even at that, 25 years ago, it was the single lasgest financial undertaking in the country ever made by private enterprise. Having sufficiently impressed our readers by figures that can be found in any free brochure on Kitimat, from the local tourist bureau, we'll simply agree. Alean is a pretty “big” outtit, anywhere in Canada. I was told, earlier this week, the aluminum plant at Kitimat is the second largest - not only in sees “put in the Free World. (I hope I got that straight, LETTERS © Supermarkets Tempt People To Shonplift Dear Sir, customer, Lately, they often Your recent editorial on History Lesson As all our Kitimat readers know, the Alcan ‘plant here uses a tremendous amount of elec- tricity. A Hydro official told me once, by way of comparison, that the amount of electricity lost in just being carried over the power lines from the generator at Kemano, fifty miles away, to Kitimat, would easily power the city of Prince Rupert (he lived there) -so I assume it would be correct to say the power loss cbtld equally supply acity the size of Terrace or Kitimat. (That’s a bit like learning the food your family scrapes into the garbage can each year would feed an entire village in India!) So far, this editorial has been emphasizing size, Without actually saying it, it seems to suggest that bigger is better. That, if I am driving a car twice as big as yours - or if I own a house twice as big as yours, - or a boat,:or a trailer, or a company..... Yet this is not what | mean. Almost side by side, watching the first sur- veyors into the Kitimat area + perhaps thirty to forty years ago down to the present, a second - community has existed. This community has no “Administration building’, and almost no “P.R.” office. Those who can remember ‘‘when” - and there are still a large number left - recall the large part oolichan from the river, and game from the forest, played in the life of the “‘other village’’. All Creatures Great and Small. Much was made of the benefits from increased. employment the large companies - Eurocan and Alcan would bring to the area when they move in. -Alcan - I was told - puts the feod on the table, the clothes on the back, the roof over the head, the car in the garage, the boat on the lake, the holiday in Hawaii - for some 2,500 employees in Kitimat. If four is the size of the average family, - perhaps 10,000 persons owe their livelihood, in Kitimat, to Alean - and most of the rest - presumably, to Eurocan. For the ancient community - the one that watched the arrival and growth and further development take place on land and waters upon which they used to hunt and fish and trap for a living - the past twenty-five years must, indeed, have meant many changes. - It would have meant, on the positive side, that sickness was less of a threat. That dimming eyesight could be restored by glasses; hearing aided by instruments; that brothers could talk with brothers many miles distant; that they could learn by pictures transmitted across the skies into their own homes, of things happening among people they never had known existed. It meant machines that they could afford that could take them quickly across the land and the water. It meant they would never have to fear the cold winter, the threat of forest fire. the ever present fears of what would happen to them if they should become: crippled and when they became old. Their children would be able to learn many new things, and share in the knowledge of the universe with people of all races. Today, more changes are noticeable in the Indian Village. Each house now has a little machine that will warn them if a fire breaks out when they are asleep in their own home, in time to save their lives, Places where they can have fun and recreation and exercise to keep their bodies strong and their minds alert are going up in the village. And there is much more of the same to come. The old songs are being taught and sung that had almost been forgotten. The dances have come back, that most feet had forgotten, The old ways are being remembered, and written down so there will never be the danger, again, that they will be forgotten. . One village is small. The other village is many time larger. Who is to say which is the better? But this there is that one can take heart from. Two thousand years ago plus perhaps another thousand or ‘so, those who were under the shadow of giants then were able to take courage. When a giant became too great a threat, one who was small stocd up - and the giant was feared no more. The small one’s name was David. Everyone will remember the giant's name. shoplifting made some good . points. Itis hard to see how a shoplifter has much right to complain about being on the pharmacy list since public discovery is one of the normal i every shoplifter must run. On the other hand, itis possible that super-markets sometimes over-complain about shoplifting lesses? Much of their profit comes from tempting human weakness into impulse buying from shelves open to public hands. They run the risk that from time to time their mer- chandising methods will tempt the wrong weakness. Certainly shoplifting cannot be condoned on that baals, or any other, but when it happens, it should not cause injured surprise in the market place. Tf this type of theft is on the increase, it may be partly because of growing un- friendly feelings toward the grocery giants, When they were first developing, customers tended to have friendly feelings toward them, Generally, they could be relied upon to offer lower prices, good quality and a sincere effort to please the Nurses President fail in all three categories. One keeps running into things that annoy. As a local example, last week green Peppers sold in Vancouver Safeway stores for 39 cents a pound. In Terrace Safeway, they sold for 99 cents a pound. We are used to a 10 cent per unit difference, but more than doubling the price does make a person feel unfriendly. People don’t like being “ripped off” and a few are bound to express thelr anger in the wrong way. Sincerely yours, Eva Bebington EDITOR'S NOTE __ A quick check with Safeway's showed green peppers in Terrace this week to be 69 cents a ib. - in Vancouver, 69 cents, The . Manager said Terrace has been experiencing a steady increase in shoplifting over the past several years, and that it is a problem. He felt a ten cents differential on the average poundage woild be found to exist on most items compared with Vancouver which reflected freight costs from the South, Especially on heavier items. We hope to have more reader reaction on this subject shortly. Issues Warning Something must be done at once to improve the nursing situation at Vancouver General Hospital, for the sake of its present and future patients, according to Sue Rothwell, president of the 20,000-member Registered Nurses’ Association of B.C, Writing in the June-July issue of “RNABC News", the association’s membership publication, Rothwell warns that ‘without strong nursing leadership soon, VGH will not be worth saving. Many good qualified nurses, acting as individuals, will leave the hospital; others like them will not accept employment there because of the deplorable situation.” A dispute at the hogpital has been raging since mid- April over how the existing Management structure affects the delivery of nursing care, More than 600 VGH nurses have given written support to a request for the creation of a hospital vice president of nursing, a senior position comparable to that in most Canadian hospitals. Rothwell's editorial notes that ‘what happens at VGH must affect the practice of registered nurses in all parts of British Coiumbla.” The hospital is the only referral centre for many patients in outlying areas who require specialized care. Among the major organizations supporting the nurses are: the B.C. Medical Association, the Consumers’ Association of Canada (B.C. Branch), the Federation of Medical Women of Canada (B.C, Branch), the Greater Vancouver Chapter of the B.C, Association of Social Workers, the Professional Association of Residents and Internes of B.C., the Registered Psychiatric Nurses’ Association of B.C., and the UBC School of Nursing Faculty, “VGH nurses still care for patients every day without adequate skilled staff and services,"’ writes Rothwell, “It is too much to expect of these nurses that they could go on doing this forever. It is too little to expect for the public.”* TURBINE RUNNER, loaded onto specially-designed trailer, begins journey by barge from Vancouver harbor to north coast of British Columbia, From there, trailer will continue trek along logging roads to B.C, Hydro’s Peace Canyon power development near Hudson Hope. Runner, largest component of generating Largest Turbines In North A huge moving job -- with the logistics of a military manoeuvre - has begun at Vancouver harbor. The first of four 220-ton * turbine runners, or water- wheels for B.C. Hydro’s Peace Canyon hydro-electric project has arrived aboard the Yugoslavian freighter QOpatija from the Russian manufacturer, Leningrad Metal Works. The runners, more than 28 feet wide and 15 feet high,. are the largest and heaviest yet acquired by Hydro and are ‘among the largest in North America. They are so wide and heavy that British Colum- bia’s highways and railroads could not accommodate them unless they were separated into sections, But toavold possible problems in reassembly at the Peace Canyon (formerly called Site One) construction site, Hydro arranged with the supplier to have each runner shipped whole. The supplier in turn retained Apex Industrial Movers, a Burnaby company with wide experience in similar transportation jobs, to help plan and carry out the move of each runner from Vancouver to the con- struction site, 14 miles downstream of W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River in-North-central B.C. The journey will cover nearly 1,000 miles, by sea, river, Jake and logging road, through two mountain ranges. It will require a convoy of barges, tractors, trailers and cranes and a crew of 18, and will take more than two months. It began Saturday, July 22, with a four-hour-long off- loading eperation in which stevedores employed the 300- ton crane at Centennial Pier to lift the firat runner from the hold of the Opatija, then transferred ‘it to the dock while the freighter moved out of its berth to make way for a 2,000-deadweight ton barge. The barge, stiffened for heavy loads, earlier had taken on a specially-built 155-foot-long trailer which will carry the runner until it arrives at the construction site, The dockside part of the operation was completed with the careful lowering of the runner onto the barge- borne trailer. The trailer has 164 wheels, 42 of which are retractable and will be used only in special situations such as bridge crossings. The next stage of the moving job will see the runner transported aboard the hig barge to an unloading grid trailer and on Gardner Canal near Kemano on the north coast uf B.C, A second barge will ac- unit, is too wide and heavy for conventional highways or railroads. Weighing 220 tons, the 28-foot-wide, 15-foot-high watersheel is largest in B.C. Hydro systeem and among largest in North America, America Come To Kemano company the first, carrying three more trailers bearing a specially-made sectional barge to be used for several lake and wide river crossings. The lake barge assembles into a floating platform 42 feet wide and 165 feet long. Also aboard the second ocean-going barge will be two heavy mobile cranes to lift the sectional barge in and out of the inland waters, a semi-trailer van fitted with repair and welding equip- ment ‘in case repairs are required en route, and trailers Ilnpaded with 75-foot- long ramps to bridge the half-dozen or so small creeks that have to be crossed, At Kemano, the two ocean- going barges will be unloaded and the runner will rein Norte overland leg ey, A Bleep 35- mile-long climb to Tahtsa Lake, The trailer carrying . the runner will be push Coeds Explore High Arctic For Parks Canada Research OTTAWA, July 5, 1078 - Two looking forward to setting up Parks Canada employees, camp at Northumberland Caroline Parmenter and House’ on Beechey Island Margaret Burnip, along with where they expect to finish — students Jim Light, the research conducted in University of Manitoba, and the summers of 1976 and Colin Langueduc, Trent 1977. University, left _ Gear needed on the morning of July 7 for _ Sturdy hiking boots, down- an eight-week trek to con- filled parkas, vests and duct archaeologica] anoraks, long underwear, research on Beechey Ialand, double wool socks down- Ellesmere Island and filled or sheepskin mittens Somerset Island in the High are the order of the day for Arctic, _ Caroline and Margaret and ‘The research project their co-workers when they which slaried inthe Summer prepare for their expedition, of 1976 was brought to the An arctic down-filled attention of Parks Canada by sleeping bag is also easen- the Polar Continental Shelf tial. Project, Energy, Mines and = Besides their survey gear, Resources, a federal cameras, two radios, a rifle government agency basedin and a shotgun, members of Resolute Bay and co- the expedition carry their sponsoring research projects food supplies which consist in the High Arctic. mainly of freeze-dried food: Caroline and Margaret chili, beef stroganoff, ice along with the students‘are cream, pork sausage, shrimp cocktail, dried irult. Caroline and Marg have lost two camps to Polar bears; one was lost in 1076 and the other In the summer of 1977, They have seen bears at every camp. “Despite the hardships, it's wonderful,"* says Caroline, “There is fantastic birdlife up there; we do a lot of hiking since it's the only thing to de and you can’t sit around motionless otherwise you'd freeze to death’. Both Caroline and Marg agree that when they get back south they experience a culture shock with the nolse and pollution of our civilization. From 13 July to15 August 1976 they undertook a preliminary survey of 12 sites in the Arctic as a result of reports describing unauthorized artifact removal and the despollment of sites arising from the recent influx of people into the Arctic. Most of these sites were established by expeditions sent by the British navy during the ith Century to search for the northwest passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Sites surveyed in the 1976 BeASON Were associated with Sir John Franklin's ill- fated 1945 expedition and the expeditions sent in search of him. The fieldwork consisted of measuring, photographing and recording artifacts and other material left in situ and making surface collections of artifacts, In 1977, two sites, Cape Riley (Devon Island) and ° Northumberland House (Beechey Island) were visited in order to continue recording which was un- finished during the brief 1976 investigation. : and pulled at the same time by powerful tractors at each en At Tahtsa Lake, the sec- tional barge will be assembled to carry the convoy. over Tahtsa Lake, Nechake Reservoir and Ootsa Lake to Kenney Dam. “Coming off the water at Kenney Dam, the convoy faces a tough 240-mile overland trip through Vanderhoof and Fort St. James to Williston Lake, the reservoir for Hydro's Peace projects, Delaying factors on this leg are the Nechako River at Vanderhoof and the Nation River north of Fort St. James, where the barge must be assembled again to carry the convoy across . these waterways. Assembled for the final time on Willlston Lake beside the mouth of the Manson River, the barge will carry the runner 120 miles to the W.A.C, Bennett Dam, where the trailer will take to _ ha theroad again for the final 20 miles to the Peace Canyon dam, The second runner is expected to arrive from Russia in September, and the third and fourth in 1979. roads to travelled areing widened, straightened and strengthened with the cooperation of loggin companies in the area an for the second. . Arriving in Vancouver in late September, the second runner will be in the mountains of the Coast and Omineca Ranges just before the annual heavy snowfalis normally can be expected. If snows come earlier than usual, the convoy will face additional problems and ards, i TERRACE/KITIMAT daily herald General Office - 635-4357 Circulation - 635-6357 PUBLISHER - Laurie Mallett EDITOR .- Ernle Senior REPORTER - Donna Vallieres REPORTER - Jim Morris CIRCULATION Pat Zelinskl = - CIRCULATION Joyce Fish - KITIMAT OF FICE.- 632-6809 Published by Sterling Publishers 632-6809 835-6357 Published every weekday at 32712 Kalum Street, Terrace, B.C. A member of Varified Circulation. Authorized as second class mail. Registration number 1201. Postage pald in cash, return postage guaranteed. ’ NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retalns tull, complete and sole copyright In any advertisement produced arid-or any editorial or Photographic content published In fhe Herald. Reproduction is not permitted without the written permission of the Publisher. .