ES I Page A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 17, 1993 oS Registration No, 7820 Phone (604) 638-7283 (1969) Lid, i's ilustration FeprO services and advertising agencies. Serving the Terrace area, Published on Wednesday of each weak by Cariboo Press (i 969 Ltd. at 4647 Lazetle Ave,, Tartace, British Columbia, Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and lypestyles Inthe Terace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Press Reproduction in whole or in part, wilhout written permission, is specifically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mail panding the Past Office Deparment, for payment of postaga in cash. D AR . ~ deff Nagel - Naws/Communtty, Malcolm Baxter -News/Sparls, "ERRACE STAN Publisher/Editor: Rosa Fisher - Front Offica Manager, Pam Odell - Typesatter, einen Rod Link Arlene Watts - Typesatter, Susan Cradgaur - Composing/Darkioam, Special thanks to ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ; vanat Viveltos - - Advertising Conauttant, Sam Collar - Advertising Consultant, all our oe Advertising Charlene Matthaws - Circulation Managay 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C., V8G J Manager: contributors and an correspondents Mike L. Hamm Fax (604) 638-8432 for their time and Production Manager: seaiee, 7 talents. Ge Edouard Credgeur eyricu * CNA CONTROLLED EDITORIAL Just like a glacier If there is an award out there for corpo- rate stubbornness, it should go to Alcan. It’s been nearly 14 years since the compa- ny first announced it wanted to expand its Kemano hydro-electric capacity. Along the way Alcan has weathered the political manipulations of seven federal and provin- cial elections, a score of commissions and investigations, a surging environmental and native rights. movement, several court challenges and a depressed aluminum market. The result? Save for a face saving — and mind numbing — provincial inquiry, the company can dust off the machinery and crank up the $1 billion project again. All of this is proof that Alcan is just like a glacier. Its progress might not be im- mediately noticeable, but year after year, the company inches forward. That’s because Alcan never once strayed from its intended path of taking every bit of water it can from the Nechako River, storing it in the Nechako Reservoir and generating power. Alcan might like to say it has responded to modern times by introducing measures to ease the effects of taking more water from the Nechako River. It can claim to be a good corporate citizen in doing so. But in reality Alcan simply adjusted its project in mid stream to fit whatever political and economic climate it encountered. Alcan’s first Kemano project in the 1950s took advantage of expansionary times. Raw resources, such as water, were there for exploitation. Society measured prog- ress in terms of bigger factories, smoke stacks and bulldozers. _ By the late 1970s, when Alcan wanted to continue, things were different. Economic development was still wanted, as long as it at least paid lip service to protecting the environment. No problem for Alcan. It gave a little to gain a lot. The little it gave up was the secondary Nanika-Kidprice river system. The lot that it gained was a reaffirmation of its right — first given in the 1950s — to water from the Nechako River. It did this by first suing the federal government to decide who has control over the Nechako River and then settling for an out-of-court deal in 1987. Although Alcan will end up with less . water than it first wanted, that’s no prob- lem either. There’s not exactly a crying demand for aluminum. When new smelters are needed, they’l be smaller than first en- visioned. In the meantime, Alcan will sell its surplus power to B.C. Hydro. So in the end, Alcan is getting exactly what it wanted. As the old saying goes, ‘‘If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”’ Evid hesbsd Gale aL Sound reasoning . oe of, the more. attractive features.of thei: “hoads: ’ city’s ‘proposed community plan is the in- - troduction of development permits. They can be particularly beneficial when it com- es to apartment buildings and the such. ‘The: problem inthe past has been that whatever a property owner says will go up on a.site may. not-be what actually is con- structed. This naturally - -has caused worry and suspicion when people. ‘consider multi- family developments: in their neighbour- oT freee ws ee ere ee Bs uit te +a a he The developmeiit permit acts asa con- tract. It means that whatever is proposed will, in fact, be the end result of a develop- -ment. The important part ofthis is that the permit will apply even if the property is ‘sold to someone else. Such a level of comfort is not to much to ask for given the. need: to” create and preserve neighbourhood characteristics. And it does not unduly. hinder, a developer. Recycle overload - Canada’ ‘needs more actors. Ai the moment our actors are recycled more than environ- -mentalists’ garbage. I’m sure I could. ‘tally our celluloid stars without removing both socks. In one CBC movie aired last winter, -a ‘young native girl ‘played the part of an abused elementary student attending an Indian. residential school. Through Bifocals by Claudette Sandecki “Yet two weeks ago in another movie, ‘dressed-in a-prim two- piece suit, she was an adult so- cial worker removing an. abused. child from the family home. ~ ~ In days gone by, when you had to go to. a theatre to see a ‘movie, ° ‘it was. easy to accept even a-renowned. actor in an-. ‘other. role, because you had weeks — in.-my case, months. — to forget: the part you'd -seen him play before. Each ‘actor had’a “stereotypi- cal role, Cary: Grant was al-. ways debonair. Johri Wayne aiways.wore a white hat. Doris Day always lived in suburbia. _ But nowadays we have: the ‘same Canadian actors on. our screens at least:once a, week — oftener if they ‘also. appear in a movie’ — until ‘they “are more familiar than, aunts or: cousins. “We. are’ in: especially short supply: of native ‘actors. Tom: “Jackson-. shoulders: ‘the: ‘duties ~. “of band chief on. the weekly - North of 60,: having just com- they'll have to come trom south of the border or over- seas. Up to now, Avonlea’s ~ been populated by almost every Canadian actor except Tom Jackson.. And maybe I missed that episode, " Canadian actors must suffer split .personalities. How can they possibly keep irack of their natural personality? With the lowering or. raising of a hemline: or a pant cuff they transmogrify from kids to | adults. With equal facility they adopt or discard accents, Road to. Avonlea’s Gus. has a New- foundland accent thick enough to float Hibernia. Yet in a four-part - series, he’s as Accent-less as my. Spice ‘cup: boardi 7 ~ Baby: actors have more-sense than older- -folk. ‘Some: law limits the time.a baby. can be on camera, ‘so’ twins work in "pairs; taking turns and sharing ‘duties: and benefits, Older ac- ‘tors are Mmited onlyby their pleted -a ‘movie version of ‘Margaret. - Laurence’ S% Diviners. I doubt, he. even ‘had. ° nis The - ‘ stamina and time, Al my: age, a nap is more im- portant: thar a snack plate be- fore ‘settling down to -watch television. Otherwise if I doze il... off and“ wake up midway a” through the ‘show, I. can’t readily. tell whether: Folix is a 4 mischlef-making. : farm, lad from Avonlea or a young war- rior in a far flung frontier battle. Actor recycling spoils my viewing pleasure by ‘dividing my attention. While half of my attention follows the storyline, I mentally review where I’ve seen this actor before. For instance in Liar, Liar, for most of the two hours I puzzled trying to recall where I ‘had seen the blond schoolyard friend before. I finally placed him. He was the lad sprawled on the lawn in . the Big Brother commercial debating whether or not to go to Marcie’s birthday party. Bui actor recycling is of limited’ concern to. me. Before a new crop of actors boosts the ranks, my fading memory will erase the problem. aa! GEE MARTEN You'Re REALLY POLLUTED! ra NEED A | RIPE, Home: 2m — 5 [£601 Four DESH. wer DESHUGAADIDRIVERS | J <— e < Sy SEER wee mee “DONT BE SLY... 8 SF NOONE WL EVER KNOW my YOU WERE ROBYN ALLAN INSTRUCTOR... Modem day horror found alive, well down VICTORIA — “I wish he killed, me. feel like I’m not Wea meant to be on this Earth. id rather be dead than put up _ with this pain any longer.’’ These words were written by a child who suffered unimaginable pain and abuse at the hands of her father. The father, whosé name can- not be published to protect the identity of the five children he © tormented over a 12-year peri- od in Fort Nelson and Saanich, was sentenced last week in Victoria provincial court to 25 years in prison, the longest sentence ever in British Columbia for abuse. Judge Alan Filmer called it the most shocking and worst case of abuse he has seen in his years as a lawyer and” judge. ' Few stories have shaken me as this one did, And for. any- one who hasn’tread the’ details, they bear repeating. The oldest children, 18-year- old twins, cannot remember a time when they weren’t beaten. The weapons their fa- ther used included steel-toed boots, knives, belts, broom- sticks, electrical cords and tools, He would beat his chil- dren until they stopped screaming. He would beat them until ~ they collapsed, smash them against cupboards and throw them down stairs. He would © beat them in succession, making the others watch until it was their turn. He would never call them by their names; referring to them - instead by filthy obscenities. - He would rape his daughters, On several occasions, he prostituted his daughters, as " young as 12 years, to friends. The only thing that kept the “suueeiGir! WHAT DI? HE MEAN? y. in Saanich olny TE Mee woe) oa hgyet inna From: the =": . Capital by Hubert Beyer children from going insane or + committing suicide was their company. Here’s what one of the children wrote: “Every night, I’d walk out- ' side and look up at the sky and when the first star, the: brightést star came out, I’d make a wish. I’d wish that God would take the mean part out of my dad and give hima nice, loving and caring part. “T feel so worthless, cheap and dirty inside. I wish he killed me. I feel I’m not meant ‘to be on this Earth, I'd rather be dead than put up with this pain any longer,” __ Well, God didn’t give him a nice, loving and caring part, Come to think of it, where the hell is he when things like this happen? It was left to man to deal with this piece of gar- bage. The abuse at the hands o£ their father stopped a year ago, when he left town, but now the mother is up on charges of abuse as well. The children never told any- one about their abuse, Their father had threatened to kill them if they ever told anyone, and they believed him. The story came only to light when a letter carrier told. Saanich police on May:14, | 1992, that he had seen several children who were barely clothed at a home in the. Saanich residential area., When police entered the house, they were confronted : by a scene of horror. There. . was almost no furniture, mat: ae tresses were soaked with. urine, The entire house was” strewn with garbage. The children were mal- — nourished and delirious. And when the Saanich police abuse a team checked into the chil” . dren’s background, the older - girls slowly started detailing .. the abuse they suffered. A neighbour said she had called the social services min- istry five or six times to tell. ~~ them that something appeared. terribly wrong at the house” where the abused children © lived. One social worker told her 7 that she wouldn’t raise her kids that way, but.a lot of _ people did. Social services minister Joan . : Smallwood said it was not easy for social workers to ‘tread the fine line between being intrusive and alert to. potential abuse cases, . - For the children, fortunately; . the nightmare is over. They wept tears of joy when the - judge pronounced sentence. Some of the.victims: hugged .: _ their new foster families, The. social workers who have been attending to the children wept ae along with them. —. Weep for the children, and for the love of God, call the — police when you suspect that a - a child is being abused. vie ial EscuiTaas '" CADLACS Fg ‘a rye oy blc. Met d