B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 20, 2002 SKEENA ANGLER | ROB BROWN Fiasco Farms Inc. nfettered by that increasingly un- common commodity known as com- mon sense and oblivious to the fact that other ulira right wing neoconser- vative revolutionary movements, like Maggie Thatcher’s in Britain and Ronny Re- agan’s in Yankdom, have failed miserably and left tattered compromised democracies in their wake; the Liberal Politburo that runs B.C. hur- tles forward, misspeaking itself, breaking pro- mises, gutting agreements to which it is morally bound, rolling over the poor, and dispossessed, on a mission to make B,C. even more vulner- able to multinational corporate takeover. Unconcerned about long term consequences, and eager to abdicate the government’s most important responsibilities as the guardian of the public interest and provider of services, the Libs proceed with an agenda even more draconian and mean-spirited than that inflicted on Ontario by Big Mike Harris. Campbell and his cronies must know the Walkerton tragedy happened because the Mini- stry of the Environment lost 900 out of 2,400 front-line staff, effectively leaving no one to en- sure the water was safe; surely they know the much publicized workfare program that followed a 22 per cent cut in welfare rates created no jobs, secured no permanent employment, and pushed unfortunates off welfare with no alterna- tive safety net below them. Like the Teflon Premier, Harris promised to protect the health budget, then moved new pro-. grams inte the ministry without the funding to - support them. He boarded up hospitals as he cut community care services that would be needed” as replacement causing massive backlogs at hospital emergency wards. Watch for the same here. The latest egregiously bad move by the B.C. government is their decision to lift the moratori- 7. um on fish farm expansion despite the fact that the global history of the industry is fraught with environmental disasters, and the impact of the | 80 existing fish farms on our coast is yet to be - adequately assessed. The Liberals either don’t know or don’t care that after the 1999 dioxin disaster in Belgian _ produce, the European Union moved aggressive- " ly to reduce dioxin levels in all food. The great- “ ly lowered levels would have been lower still, were it not for the aggressive lobby from multi- national fish farm corporations, who knew their products would not meet those standards without the loss of millions of dollars to the industry. Late last year the Scottish Environment Pro- tection Agency (SEPA) discovered high levels of PCBs in sediments beneath salmon farms lo- cated on that country’s west coast. Besides their clear link to cancer, PCBs and dioxins are more and more being associated by scientists with re- duced cognitive function in small children, low- ered resistance to ‘infection, and decreased fer- tility in adults. How do dangerous compounds wind up on the ocean floor beneath fish pens? Fish feed, which is ground up fish, is the culprit. Dioxins that have made their way to the sea by water and air are persistent little devils. Not water soluble, they attach to tiny particulate matter that even- tually makes its way into the fat of bottom fish where it accumulates. The bottom is dragged for bottom fish which are subsequently ground into feed ~ a paradigm immediately recognizable as similar to that which led to the Mad Cow dis- ease debacle, The dioxinated feed is then fed to farmed fish the world over. Some passes through these pa- thetic excuses for fish and settles to the bottom as contaminaled manure. Some of it is stored in the fat of these trash fish where, unless they es» cape into the wild, it waits to he passed on and stored in the adipose of some unsuspecting con- sumer, The big questions with these nasty com- pounds are: How long do they remain volatile? How long do they hang around? And, how far do they travel? It appears that dioxins accumulate in the body and become more likely to cause cancerous mischief as they accumulate over time. As a result of the SEPA studies, public aware- ness has risen in Europe and helped the Scotch appreciate that they are sitting on a health time bomb which will only be defused with a thor- ough inquiry and much debate. Moreover, since the UK is a signatory to the Oslo and Paris Con- vention which requires countries to reduce the amounts of such pollution to zero over a span of 25 years, the Scotch salmon industry is under great pressure, and could conceivably collapse with the growing awareness that its praducts are tainted. i a The Liberal Ship of State picks none of this up on its radar and sonar, and steams blithely on toward the icebere with us aboard, | TERRACE STANDARD ° Rehearsing rescue techniques a must for backcouniry revellers By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN STEEP TERRAIN, fresh luscious powder and remote access lures many Terrace backcountry enthusiasts to the unpatrolled areas of our mountains, But the backcountry is a volatile, unpre- dictable environment and must be approached with a healthy dase of respect for the power of Mother Nature. This winter 10 tives have been Jost in ava- lanches in western Canada. That's 10 more reasons why snowboarders, snowshoers, skiers, and snowmobilers must ‘know about safe mountain travel and the skills to respond to emergency situations, , Avalanche courses are a good way to learn the basics of safer backcountry travel, says local transportation ministry avalanche techni- cian Tony Moore. But taking a course is not enough. Adven- ture seekers must practise rescue procedures regularly to ensure a quick response should an avalanche occur, “It’s important to get out there and practise the techniques,” said Moore, “If there’s an in- cident and somebody's buried the only real chance of a successful recovery is if the per- son’s awn party rescues them.” The essentials for backcountry travel are a shovel, probe and beacon. Beacons, worn by each member of a group, are transceivers that emit a signal allowing them to locate a person even when buried beneath the snow. Probes — long, thin collapsible poles - allow searchers to delve beneath the snow to feel for a buried person, Shovels allow rescuers to dig out avalanche victims in a hurry. Last month members of the Mount Remo Backcountry Society and local avalanche technicians hosted avalanche awareness days at Shames Mountain. ‘ About 25 people took part Jan. 13 in a day- long course highlighting safe travel in ava- lanche terrain and giving participants practise slacating buried beacons. 92} ee Organizers buried beacons beneath the deep snow just out of bounds at Shames Mountain. The idea was to get people used to search techniques and how to properly read a bea- con's signal. PARTICIPANTS in Jan. 13's avalanche awareness days rescue techniques practise session uncover a beacon from a backpack which was buried deep beneath the snow. Out On a trip, -said- Moore, © + aspect and elevation may be prone to snow in- stability and should be avoided. Another good resource for people here is on a web site called avalanche.ca. Go to the Skeena-Babine section of their Mountain Trip Talk page to read postings of observalions on conditions in the Terrace area posted by lo- cals, “That's a really good place for people in the northwest to look at especially in the Shames area,” said Moore. He added once you've decided where you want lo go, make sure to pick a safe route. “Safe route selection is the most critical thing you can do,” Moore said. “If you can avoid avalanche terrain all together, you don’t have to think so much about snow stability.” Mountain environments are notoriously-uneass: predictable and many avalanches*occursshenws people least expect it... - on, By arming oneself with knowledge and by practising rescue techniques, on an ongoing basis, adventurers can be better prepared to deal with what Mother Nature doles out. Some beacons were located and dug up in less than eight minutes, while others took nearly 1S minutes to retrieve, When a person is buried in a snow slide, every minute is precious. “After 30 minutes of being buried, statistic- ally there’s only a 25 per cent chance of hav- “After 30 minutes of being bur- ied, statistically there’s only a 25 per cent chance of having a suc- cessful live recovery.” ing a live recovery,” said Tony Moore. Backcountry enthusiasts need to be aware of the latest snow conditions before heading . Talking to people about conditions they've encountered in the backcountry is a great source of information. Also look to where other avalanches may have occurred recently. Slopes of similar Ga Gearing up TERRACE athletes are just a few days away from competing In the B.C. Winter Games in Williams Lake Feb,-21-24. Terrace teans Laura Gun- nlaugson, 15, Raina Karrer, 15, Alli Young, 16, and Kylie Bird, 16, (shown - above) are headed to ihe games as part of the zone seven girls hockey team. They're looking forward to some great competition, but most of all just having a good time. Swimmers, curlers, ringette players, skiers and- martial artists from Terrace are also heading to the event. The Michael Dahms juvenile curling rink is looking to defend its 2000 B.C. Winter Games gold medal. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO, Sports Scope DON Oldham, Larry Burke, Dale Walker and John Kennedy make up the Royal Canadian Legion's men’s curling rink . Curlers test Canada’s best FIRST they took the north zone, then they won provin- cials and next month the Terrace Royal Canadian Le- . gion’s men’s curling rink is heading to Quebec for a shot at the national title. Skip John Kennedy, Third Dale Watker, Second Larry Burke and Lead Don Oldham make up the local rink. They won the provincials Feb, 7-10 in Hope. This is the first year the team has played together, though each of them men have been curling for quite some time. Do they have a game plan for the upcoming national event? “Yeah, beat the heck out of them,” laughed Don Old- ham." ; Team North try-outs near LOCAL Bantam hockey coach John Amos has been named to the coaching staff of Team North which will compete at this year’s B.C. Cup. Amos will be taking on the role of assistant coach. He says try-outs for the team made up of second year Bantam players (born in 1986) are scheduled for April 12-14 in Prince George. Anyone from 100 Mile House lo the Yukon to Prince Rupert is eligible to try out for the team. Amos says 46 kids will be invited to the try-outs but only 20 will make the cut. The B.C. cup will be hosted by Kitimat May 2-5, Oldtimers battle on ice HOCKEY players from Stewart to Smithers converged in Terrace Feb. 6-10 for the very successful 22nd annual Tertace Timbermen’s Oldtimers hockey tournament. Terrace teams dominated the Steelhead (35+) division with the Terrace Associates taking top spot. And the _ Coho Division (50+) belonged entirely to the Terrace... were a visiting team, The Stewart Oldtimers, Oldtimers. But the Sockeye Division's victors (35+) ~ : me a