" and sent to very postal a PAGE 4, THE HERALD. Monday, December 12, 1977 For Safer Driving Garages Can Help A couple ofweeks ago, in preparation for my move to Terrace — where I knew the weather would be colder than Prince Rupert, where [ lived — I approached several garages and auto supply stores to have my car winterized for colder weather. Much to my surprise, I found it practically impossible to buy any of the following: electric battery blanket, electric battery plale, immersion (rad) heater, block heater, frost shields and tire chains, I finally did get a block heater — frost plug type — from the Datsun dealer who had ordered one some time before for a customer who never showed up. The mechanic, who installed it, did so with the outlet (plug in) end dangling below the front bumper. When I arrived at Terrace the plug-in end was a solid block of ice, and I was unable to use it that night. in the week J since spent in Terrace, I have been amazed at the number of cars that are not prepared for cold weather operation. A member of the RCMP tells me the police are starting to crack down on owners who jump in a car and take off without clearing off the front and back windows ~— trying to see through a small space they have scraped clear in front of the driver's seat. A number of charges have been laid, he said, as this is not only very dangerous (driving with impaired visibility) but also against the law. At coifee in the Terrace Hotel yesterday morning, the man across from me told me how his Datsun is hard to put in gear during the cold weather...obviously the transmission fluid is too heavy for cold weather. On Sunday (as this is being written) there are cars stuck in the snow at several places in town that would have not been in difficulty had they been properly winterized, with studded tires or nylon chains, It is.a ridiculous sight watching cars skidding sideways up small hills in town obviously driven by owners ignorant of snow and ice safe driving techniques who 0 not realize a light touch on the gas pedal will often give better traction to the tires than a heavy one. Part of the trouble could have been prevented, perhaps, if garages, filling stations and service Stations in town stocked the necessary cold weather equipment — and advertised the advantage of having it installed. Many drivers I have talked to, recently, appear ignorant of frost shields as a means of keepin windows ice and fog-[ree. Yet frostshields on side an rear windows are compulsory, under Manitoban law, during winter months. Meny apartment blocks, houses, trailer parks and parking lots do not have outlets for car plug-ins. erhaps the highway safety division or the Canadian Automobile Association could advertise the desirability of this cold-weather driving necessity. It the public could be made aware of the many actical cold weather driving aids on the market, and Hf the service stations would steck them and see they were prominently displayed, and ‘‘push” them, there would be far fewer cold cars, cold drivers, less high- way accidents from stalled cars and balky engines — not to mention quite a few thousand extra dollars worth of business in the‘ auto parts trade and in mechanics fees, for installation. There are so many useless gadgets on the market, which have hig pressure advertising Compaigns — it’s too bad this winter driving accessqry list is virtually unknown to those who need it most. “3 I must pay a tribute to one garage in town at least. “Whin 1 drove in vith thé frozen block lieater plug on a cold and windy morning to a Chevron station on High- way 16, the mechanic very efficiently de-iced it and properly tied the cord'where it would not freeze up — and refused to charge ine a cent for the job. Yet he had had tolie on his bac miserable weather. Service like that should not go unappreciated! Just What We Need? The first issue — No, 1 Vol. 1, ap ared last week of the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine ‘Newsletter’. The newsletter will be published four times yearly dregs within the boundaries of the Regional District. General delivery distribution will also be made and according to the 4-page letter. “Because of the region’s large size this form of communication will (thereby)) allow residents from Telegraph Creek in the North, to Kiemtu in the South to become more aware of their government's ac- tivities ag will as learn more aobut the region in which they live.” Several of the province of B.C.'s other regional districts distribute newsletters, butthiswili be the first of its kind in northern B,C, ..[t will be ‘especially prepared" (so the brochure says) “for the needs of area residents (and) besides information of Regional District activity, several regular columns will be offered that explain different aspects of life in the Northwest.’”—. vs One wonders at the need. for “another Newsletter’ — at taxpayers expense, malted to every household and P.O, Box holder in the entire district. A dreary “government” publication, with lists of government agencies and regional directors, staff lists and at- tempts to be “newsy"”. with “agency profiles”, ‘oun profiles’’ and attenuated civil service Argon. . Would we be in error to ask, in print, WHY the Kitimat-Stikine regional district does not see fit rather, to use the readily available pages of the local newspapers even if this meagps.paying a nominal sum for advertising space — rather than expensively adding to the already voluminous nuisance and junk mail addressed to “Householder” and ‘‘Oc- cupanl"’, e “main purpose’ of this latest of many Newsletters is described, in ita first issue as being "ato help contribute to this ongoing process of In- formed decislon making"! See what we mean? TERRACE daily herald Published by Sterling Publishers under the engine, to work on it in General Office - 635-6357 Circulation - 635-6357 PUBLISHER... W.R. (BILL) LOISELLE EDITOR ... ERNEST SENIOR — Published every weekday at 3232 Kalum St., Terrace, 8.C, A member of Varified Circulation. Authorized as second class mall. Registration number 1201, Postage paid In cash, return postage guaranteed. NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Heratd retains full, complete and sole copyright In any advertisement pradvecad and-or any edifortat'or Photographic content published in the: "Hératd. Reproductlon ts not permitted without athe. written permission of the Publisher, ‘ ~ Bonnie’s Column By Bonnie Roe As Winter settles in one longs for warm, cosy fires, friends, family and large cups of steaming hot chocolate. The days are shorter. For the farmer this means the long hours of ploughing, planting, seeding, weeding and harvesting are now over. The barns, though, must be kept warm, endless buckets of water carried up ‘and thawed when frozen( — feeding, wood getting, snow shovelling — then back to the fire. This will be the third winter for us at our small place on Highway 16 West of Terrace. The many friends we have made in that short time makes it feel much longer. With our family-style restaurant at which we share the warmth of our log-fired hearth.- our “extended family” of travellers and their families has added almost daily to our joys and occasionally — shared sorrows. Winler is a time for the ‘family. Life seems to be slower paced. Father has time, at last to take the snowmobile he has been tinkering with all year and load it up with the kids and go off for a spin in the new fallen snow. Even mothers can go. for many an ex- into beautiful places. People | are out, on snow-shoes,: alon, tended ride out skiis, and just plain foot- slogging and enjoying the- blowing snow. Small frozen ponds have turned overnight into“hockey arenas for. ids. : “ phenomenal — survival rate, but the market for We how have five big beautiful very” noise piglets who are very pin and very bossy. The goats have their winter coats, now and two of them have decided to bless us with winter kids. We are eating our own home grown squash. This is the first time we.have . had success in growing. this vegetable. Our ex- cellent apple crop has made it possible for us to share fresh hot home- made applie pies with our friends who drop in off the highway. a Anyone for goose? The price of fowl being what it is, this year we decided to try our hand at raising a few geese, and now have four beautiful honkers strutting about the place, With a little luck we will be having one for Christmas without | butchering _ the. ‘only: gander. (Anyone have any idea how to go about this? ) ‘rabbits — ‘a lumber logging camp. And what | For people who like ey can make excellent pets; for me — well, I guess [ have been “just plain unlucky when it comes to raising large, healthy litters.:‘I seem to - lose most of them, and the survivors usually end up as pets.. (The cats on our homestead have a cats isn't quite as good.) ‘T have never written a . column,. before — and . this “idle chatter” might .. seem meaningless to | ‘most. people. However, “Life i§ usually a suc- .- cession of the ‘‘or- dinary'’.. Then again, what is an “‘ordinary"' .day for a mother with | stnall children to mind, a husband to be a wife to, a © roadside restaurant to : cook and care for, etc. is hardly “ordinary” for — say, a bachelor in town or jack in .a would be a “routine” day for a logger could even be exciting for a housebound mother of small, active children needing snowsuits taking off for the tenth time in one hour to go tothe bathroom; or ‘bringing a beautiful cup ‘of icky mud to put in the ‘oven to bake a birthday cake for “Mom”! See you next week. _ Impaired Drivers Face Stricter Enforcements — The second of a series of 4 columns on Impaired Driving by Gordon Hardy, In BC.’s recently announced ‘‘war’’ on drinking drivers, 14 mobile breathalizer units have heen deployed throughout the province. Attorney-géneral Garde Gardom has warned drinking drivers that the breathalizer vans will appear “any time, any pace between Tofino and ort St. John.” And if there’s any doubt that the mobile breathalizers will make drinking drivers think twice about turning the ignition key, there’s no oubt at all that the breathalizer machine gives police undisputable evidence with which to nail them in court, once apprehended. ‘The machine, invented by an American stale atrolman in 1954, was irst used in Great Britain where it initially got great results in iscouraging drinking drivers. Quite simply, all the breathalizer does is gauge the amount of alcohol in the blood- stream by analyzing the air contained in the lower lungs. It is virtually fool- proof if operated properly. In fact, prac- tically the only detence against its findings is to argue that it wasn’t operated properly. According to federal law, a driver is guilty of a serious criminal offence if a breathalizer machine shows that he has been driving with more than BO. milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood or,- simply, more than a .08 reading. Unlike the impaired driving charge where the driver is guilt if his ability is impaired, this charge sticks whether the driver can prove his ability is unimpaired or not. The blood-alcohol count remains the same whether a pes knows how to hold his liquor or not.. Vancouver lawyer Ace AHenderson com: ments “The people who stand up and boast about their fantastic ability to withstand alcohol are just the kindof people who get casught on thig offence. Even if you could prove that your ability was 1K per cent, you'd still be guilty if you had a coun! of more. than.6g."' In drinkers’ terms. the blood-alcohol cou surpasses the .8 mark after miserably fiew drinks, According to a chart prepared by the Alberta agovernment to help people figure’ .out when their cut-oif time is, a person weighing “200 pounds reaches the danger point of .09 after consuming seven ounces of liquor: or four bottles beer. in. ati:‘hour.' Peopl weighing ‘less © should consume less, par- ticularly women who have less body water than men to dilute the alcohol. Caroline Kirkwood, a breathalizer expert who works with the Van- couver Police, warns that “most people don't realize that alcohol af- fects them at a much lower blood-alcohol count then they think.” She also points out that the blood- aleohol count reaches its peal one full hour after the last consumption of alcohol so even an ap- parently sensible tapering off on the part of a drinker will not necessarily save him ’ from the fateful over .08 reading. A tull stomach, while showing down absorption of alcohol in the blacd- stream, does not stop the blood-alcohol count from going its course. Nor do reath-mints, mouth washes or fresh air fool the machine. In fact, police officers sometimes are tipped off to drunken driving by drivers who leave their car windows open on cold winter nights in- order to disperse the tell-tale odor of liquor. When the police suspect impairment, the driver is taken to the police station and made to blow ‘twice into the breathalizer. Since the police allow a one per cent error rate, the driver is accused it he reaches: the .10 mark. Should the two blows come up with different results, the lower one is taken to be the correct reading. If there has been an accident, the police are likely toflay a charge of impairment even if the blood-alcohol count is less than .10, According to lawyer Henderson, the police and presecution “cover all the bases” by bringing both impaired driving charges as well. as. driving over .0B against drrinking drivers. ‘This way"' he says “if you, prove to the judge that your driving wasn't impaired he may still say you were guilty of driving over .08. Likewise, if you argue that, based on what you drank and what you weigh, mathematical calculations prave that you'were less than .08, the judge might say that you were still impaired.” impaineas dros ‘also apply to the, charge: of, driving over .08. And with such an ef- fective method of getting the goods on drinking drivers, the authorities make the suspected ‘river an invitation he can’t refuse — a driver who declines to take the breathalizer test is guilty of failuwe to take the breathalizer test and subject to all ~ the penalties ‘of impaired driving. In B.C., the police have to havae " reasonable grounds to believe thiat the driver is impaired before asking ‘him to submit to the breathalizer test. Critics claim. that the reasonable cunds clause wun- ermines the. . ef: fectiveness of, the, police. They point: out that in Great Britain the police can administer the breathalizer test whether they have grouhds or not and they usually do so when there has been an accident. |, . Lo ‘The driver can only legally refuse to take the test if he has reasonable rounds. . He might egitimately refuse, say if the plastic’ mouthpiece of the ‘machine were dirty. Or it there had been an accident and he had been drinking .after the ac- cident to‘calm his nerves while waiting for the police. A driver has a right to telephone -a lawyer, and only: a lawyer, taking the test but within reason. Says lawyer Henderson “You have a right to the oppratunity to contact a lawyer but if you don’t succeed at four in the morning after a few attempts, you still have to take the test.’”’ But if the police fail to give the driver a chance to telephone a lawyer when the driver has requested it, he is entitled to refuse to take the test and the court will disiniss © the charge. The police must follow proper procedure to get con- victions. Next: Is there any defence against impaired driving charges? before - Cyril Shelford Victoria Report Last week's report dealt with the Smithers resolution at the Social Credit Convention on the pre-empting of land by . Canadian citizens. This week I wish to deal with the most contentious issue of all brought up at the convention again this year and that is the ghts to Work resolution. There is no question the people supporting this type of action are gainin strength each year an the Resolution could have passed ifthe. vote had come at the right time or the - wrong time, AGAINST THE Beemtion as aol felt, he would - nok resolve. th ; resent © prob ens at abour-Management:: ::;,: relations, and in my ipinion would make it even worse. I think it fair to say if the Minister of Labour, the Hon. Allen Williams, hadn't spoken against the Resolution, it would have passed as there was only a dif- ference of 17. Even though it was narrowly voted down, it isn’t the end of the issue and unless definite moves are made to resolve some of the sore points it is clear to me that it will pass next-year, even with the objections of the minister and the Premier. One of the major sore points is the failure of the contract system to employ local people. this has ma sore point for many ears, especially with the dian people that live in the North yet can’t get a job onl many projects ause the creew comes in from outside with the outside contractor. I think both sides have a legitimate argument, the local people on one side that only wish to work on projects in feir area and the Unions and the Contractors on the other, not often together except on this issue where the Union and Management naturally want to move in with their full time employees to get the job done so they can move home again te Van- couver, As 1 said before, very understandable but leaves bitterness in the area with the local people. In my experience ’ very few local people object to joining the Union if given a chance, as: they: real: ere are Aik Od Sie: heel this -is: ; not) vallowed ‘in many cases when the Union invelved has unemployed members in the lower mainland. Company’s find them- selyes unable to hire someone they know is good and have to accept someone they don’t know. No matter who is right, one thing is clear, our present society has Managed to take a system that brought one of the highest standards of living in the world and turn it into one of the moat inefficient costly structures known to man and the main reason for high unemployment, due to loss of markets. Costs . to the Contractors are often higher because he has to pay outside Ww allowances which he doesn’t hi» to pay when local peo’ = are hired. Io one wh. -ven slightly understands the problems would claim there are easy solutions, but we certainly won't resolve them without an effort by all and we would be blind if we didn’t recognize the problem areas, If not radical groups on either side wil] change the system wit the lose < of freedom af : of us. Many people loo} on freedom as a right w will always have, it is n a right, it is a privilege i we guard it well, a8 many countries in the past have found. Unless we, as 3 Nation, change direction uickly, we are heading wn the road of na return. I would ap eciate it very much nion leaders would 0 y, plfice,, an PS ae chdtntmént to smear aaa on how to resolve some of these issues and I’m sure some of the local leaders could add a great deal to guide me during the coming year, as we can't ignore the problem, it won't go away by itself. Canadian managemat will also have to put its house in order and consider Canadian in- terests . first, by modernizing our plants, rather than building large plants overseas that flood the market with products which close cur plants and put thousands of our workers out of work. I’m also convinced that - our Labour leaders will have - to change thelr style and become reduction oriented rather than benefit oriented only as at present. Ottawa Offbeat OTTAWA — Spending restrainst, insists the government, — What spending restraints? — Well, how about less spending on old age pensions and family allowances? © - WeilfareMinister Monique — Begin has blurted ‘out hints before — then swallowed thn — but now is on the record where she can't take refuge in “I was misquoted,’’ or ‘'they mininterpret me.” Here it is from page 1163 of Hansard, date Nov. 28, ‘Paul Yewchuk (PC- Athabasca): The Minister has stated she plans to finance this rogram {the con- roversial guaranteed annual income which would cost $350 million just. for bureaucratic organization) by re- arranging existing programs. Can she te the House specifically what program shw plans to cancel or re-arrange? Does she plan to cancel the income support of the Canada Assistance Plan, the family allowance, or the old age pension? What specific program will the Minister cancel to fet funding for the guaranteed annual in- come program?.. > 4... Monique Begin (Minister of Welfare): I do not intend to cance} programs for those in need, I would like to reaffirm very strongly that we are studying re- arrangements Which would take away — if I can put it that way — from those who do not need universal programs and would eventually increase the allowances which should be received by families in need, Plain enough. That sounds like family allowances and. old age pensions are to be put an a means test. If your Incoem is deemed suf- ficient by Miss Begin and her bureaucrats, then your allowance or pen- sion will be cut or dropped.” ; ~ Doesn't matter, it seems, that’ you earned the; payments through years of work and taxes, Miss Begin wants the. guaranteed annual in- come, and if she thinks you're not in dire need of the allowance or pension, then you'll help pay for it. Meanwhile, how hard up is the spendthrift Trudeau - government? _ It’s got money to throw away ~ but not on family allowances or old age pensions, ‘Not on anything here at home. But abroad? Well, for example, the povernment’s | open-. anded Canadian — In- ternational development Agency has just approved. $1.2 billion” worth | of grants — not loans, mind you, but grants or gifts — Algeria ’ You'll be familiar with Algeria. A third world communist country, A haven for terrorists. Hijack a jet and. seek safety in Algeria. Welcome comrade. Bring your hijacked jet, your millions in ransom, your’ hostages and the fellow terrorists you black- mailed a soft Western. government to free from ai] and make yourself at ome. mt For Algeria with love from the Canadain. government $1.2 billion, For Canadian families and pensioners; give up your allowances.