Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 13, 2002 S . ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Our birthright ASK ANYONE who owns the trees in B.C. and the answer you’ll get is resounding: the people. There is no more sacred trust in this province than the knowledge that we own, control and. enjoy the benefits of the 92 per cent of B.C. that is Crown land. Forest companies are granted permission to come in and log. But they do so with the under- standing jobs, community stability and benefits to local people are to be maximized. The B.C. Liberal government is poised to re- write the rules in such a dramatic fashion that all northerners should be alarmed. The changes are laid out in B.C.’s offer to settle the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S. If they’re approved, forest companies will end up with virtual ownership of the trees — li- cences will be freely transferrable — and they’ll be freed of pesky and expensive restrictions that protect the jobs of loggers and mill workers. Throughout the plan, the flow of money to Victoria is what counts, not jobs in the regions. The changes would wipe out rules that re- quire companies to log minimum amounts each year or else lose cutting rights. Ending that safeguard could spell tremendous instability in this region where our poor quality wood is only worth logging when prices are high. Also gone would be rules limiting mill shut- downs to no more than 90 days and the link be- tween mills and forest licences. Some towns could see their mills go down and timber trucked far away. . Other changes would let companies leave pulp logs-or- other-uneconomical:-wood: behind’ Short-term quick buck operators could pillage a licence of its good wood, leaving future gener- ations with nothing. Small-scale loggers and value-added operators would have to bid directly against major com- panies and may find themselves starved of fibre. All this sounds great for the big companies, which contributed heavily to the Liberals. And it may well pump more revenue into Victoria and the urban south. But what’s in it for us in the sticks? These forestry changes once in place may be irreversible. To restore restrictions that protect jobs once a few forest licences change hands could spark huge lawsuits from the new owners. The government is also edging towards a breakup and possible privatization of B.C. Hydro. Again, what are the British Columbians not yet born to be told of why our dams and flooded reservoirs no longer provide cheap power and a source of energy revenue? Why should we care about dams or forests if we get no benefit from them? A government that irrevocably takes public assets away from the people does so at its peril. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Stacy Gyger TELEMARKETER: Stacy Gyger DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $55.15(+$3.86 GST) per year; Seniors $48.85 (+$3,.42 GST); Our of Province $61.98 (+$4.34 GST) Outside of Canada (6 months) $152.34 (+$10.66 GST) MEMBER OF B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATICN, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION (+ CNA Serving the Terrace and Thombill area. Published on Wadnesday ol aach waek at 3210 Clinton Street, Tarrace, British Columbla, VEG 5A2, Starias, photographs, Illustrations, designs and typestyles In tha Tentace Standard are tha proparty of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid, lis ifustralian repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction In whole or in part, without written permission, Is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mai! pending tha Post Olica Dapartment, lor payment of postage In cash, 2001 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION ANO B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (www. bepresscouncilorg} ert € Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents "us, CUSTOMS * CONTRABAND VICTORIA -— Forget about the dire warnings of politicians that our health care system is in tatters. Forget about Roy Roma- now’s report on our ailing health care system, released last week. I’m here to tell you that health care is alive and well and functioning not too badly, thank you, at least in Victoria, British Columbia, and as far as yours truly is concerned. Two weeks ago I became a bit alarmed by some chest pain. Having had open-heart surgery some 13 years ago, followed by a quadruple-by- pass operation, I began to fret a little. At about 2:30 am. one moming, | woke up with the same damned chest pain. That’s when [ remembered my late friend Murray Green- berg, a tough guy who just _,couldn’t believe that.-some-_ saithing ‘migtt: possibly: be. wrong with him. * He had complained of chest pain for some time, but attri- buted it to all sorts of other causes, including indigestion. Nothing anyone said could get him to see a doctor. Well, it cost him his life, and I held the eulogy at his funeral. What a way to lose a friend, and at 56 years of age at thal. Off to the emergency ward I rs U.S. CUSTOMS OFFIC This time, the sys’ FROM THE CAPITAL. HUBERT BEYER went. Lo and behold, I was the only one there at about 3 a.m. What about overcrowded emergency wards. Not to edi- tors: That’s why you didn’t get a column that day. Admission was quick, and before I knew it, I was in one of those ugly green powns that are meant to rob you of the last vestiges of self-respect. -What-followed was a .proces- sion of. nurses asking me a myriad of questions, an intern, doing the same and prodding me here, there and every- where. Next came an X-ray ses- sian, followed by a long period of not knowing what the heck was wrong with me. At 9:30 am. a surgeon came to my bed and told me that My gall bladder was in- flamed and has a bunch of WAM to open WHERE ONCE only second- ary school counsellors advised teenagers weighing a career choice, now young women in Terrace will be able to seek personal advice from older | women experienced in their chosen line of work. Women as Mentors, or WAM, is a support program launched January 23 by a group of 18 women, accom- plished in their chosen fields, willing to coach young women | past the hurdles and trials they encountered in their climb ta career success and satisfac- tion, The program is modelled on the best features of a variety of programs existing else- where, Sociology and crimino- logy instructor Melissa Munn and her steering group have set up guidelines for proce- dures and protocol, fine tuning as they go. Mentors enthusiastic about their careers will volunteer, filt out an application, and like Big Sisters or any other volunteer working with the public, pass a security check, Who will pay the $25 cost of - HOME. AFTER (©) D.uk Quy AAT | THROUGH BIFOCALS. CLAUDETTE SANDECKI the security check will be de- cided when the time comes. To date, mentors have already gained clearance as a require- ment of their employment. A small task force has the duty of matching mentees with mentors for the best possible result. If the first pairing doesn’t work out, a second match will be undertaken. Mentor and mentee will meet one on one at their con- venience, as often as they wish, always in a public place, never in either person’s ye Wh FIRST THING MARTEN ANP ROSIE READ «4 Se Stones in it the size of a sub- marine. Actually, he said they were about two centimetres long. He could do the surgery that night, he said, although he couldn’t specify a time be- cause operating room time is at a premium. Some are open for business 24 hours a day. “Let’s go for it,” I said and | signed the old consent form a while later. That evening, at about 8 o’ clock, the nurse told me I was scheduled for surgery at 10:15 p.m. Fine with me. She took me into a shower, undressed me, well, she took that stupid gown off me, washed me down and soaped my belly up with some pretty gruesome-locking brown soap, apparently necessary to pre- pare for surgery. At 10: 30 p.m., f was in the operating room, actually smal- ler than our living room. +The surgeon who had seen me more than 12 hours before’ was there. “Let me see your hands, Are they still steady?” They were, like a rock. Next thing I knew, I woke up, minus'my gall bladder. And where a few decades apo, there would have been a giant incision across the belly, there were four small holes in my abdomen, covered with band- aids. Career home. K’san Society has dona- ted public meeting space, Unlike school counsellors who are expected to knaw about every trade and profes- sion yel have no experience in the job, mentors are exper- ienced in a single field, know every facet and glitch a stu- dent might encounter. Each mentor can offer accurate, timely, pertinent information. Females of any age are welcome to apply to become mentees cr mentors. WAM's focus will be young women in high school, college, or uni- versity; older women re-enter- ing the work force or changing careers. A subcommittee is liaising with schools to pass the word of WAM’s availabil- ity and to find out from school counsellors what sort of help WAM can impart to best serve students’ needs, The current roster of men- tors tepresenis about 30 trades or professions. WAM is busy printing li- terature to make itself known to the public. It is also sending out questionnaires looking for suggestions and feedback. To ER NIGHTMARE fem did work. What about the nurses who had this bitter battle with the: government? Never saw nurses in better form, friendly, effi- . cienl, compassionate and pro-_ , fessional to a fault. Like the newspaperman that I am, I asked them a lot of questions and yes, some of them were still angry with the provincial government. Others told me they were looking for jobs elsewhere. Two said they will be going to jobs in the U.S, Saudi Arabia also came up. But on the whole, there is no way anyone can tell me that the health care system is as broke as some critics make it out to be, when I can get ad- mitted to a hospital, pet surg- ery and be released again with- in three-and-a-half days. . This is admittedly a snap- shot view of the system, devoid. of all those statistics politi- cians and experts keep throw- ret} "ing ‘at us, but as ‘a “Hdthd-oi’éx- tal , . « bic. perience, it surely says sdme- ‘thing about the state of health care in British Columbia. _ Much of the health care scare, ] suspect, is of the chicken-little variety, but. I have a hunch it will be some time before the sky is falling. Beyer can be reached at:. E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web hitp:!/www.hubertbeyer.com doors date, all startup costs are fun- ded by the mentors. Munn and her fellow men- tors aim’ to encourage young women to follow their natural inclination, do the kind of work they enjoy, trusting that the | money will follow, Given the biases of society, women following non-tradition- al paths can benefit from en- couragement and inspiration from someone who has already broken barriers to follow a dream. In the face of 30 per cent tuition hikes planned by the B.C. Liberal government, en- couragement will be a prized commodity if young folk are to pursue an education loward a profession or trade. February 20 at 4:30 p.m. and February 26 at noon introduc- tory meetings will be held at the University of Northern B.C., : 4741 Park Avenue. A number. of mentors will be on hand to. 1 explain their vision for the Mentoring program and to an-.. swer questions. Phone Terri at 635-8504 or. email: mentors@monarch.net “READ AND ANSWER MINE!