4 : OM FORT OS mete mene em em STEM Ne, * Sa a oe Td oy fein te Mel poem, TE! > i Competitive drive — Young Blueback debuts _at a provincial meet with — - surprising, speedy swims \SPORTS B4 — i was there Conservative candidate © defends his record in Parliament as a former MP’: Festive food | College culinary instructor gives hints for simple . | holiday themed recipes signs on Santa’s sleigh Christmas Eve, either. ' The unprecedented moves follow an. NPGA announcement that a “fully inde- pendent, non partisan and wide open public inquiry will be held into allega- tions that certain political parties had been looking for favourtism this Christ-_ “mas season. ' outside of the Terrace area) \COMMUNITY B1 \NEWS A12 > $ 1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus8¢ GST VOL.18 NO. 37 73 IN A widespread sweeping edict, the North Pole Governing Authority (NPGA) has banned any and all political advertis- ing in the region that takes in Santa’ s headquarters and toyshop. ‘And don’t expect to see any campaign ° “Some people may have thought it” a www.terracestandard.com : it’s going to be an apolitical o one instead, if you know what I mean,” said a highly- placed NPGA official. “Essentially, what we’ve found out so © far is that certain parties were trying’to candal touches sponsor North Pole and Santa Claus tra-— ditional activities,” said the official. Itsa startling admission that an Ot- tawa-style ‘sponsorship scandal. has touched the inner most workings of the North Pole. ; Investigators have’ so far uncovered allegations "of impropiety ranging from: the manufacturing of Christmas toys to changing the lyrics of traditional Christ- oy mas ‘music to replacing Santa’s reindeer _ TERRAC! Christmas Eve. It’s’ alleged, for instance, that one po- _litical party has promised’ to spend bil- lions to set up satellite Santa Claus work- shops across the country, Boys and girls would then visit these satellite workshops under the watchful eye of-an expensive bureaucracy, Santa Claus Canada. The elves ‘themselves would be unionized. © ; Another political party committed it self to simply sending out money to fami- : lies to buy whatever toys they wanted. “We think.decisions surrounding ad- equate toy provision should be left in the hands of the families, hence our proposal. political. e- -mail 1 now in the harids of i in-. vestigators. “There’s-really no ‘need for Santa’s Workshop to play a role in decid- ing traditional family values.” -Plans for action toys bearing the like: ‘ness of political party leaders have also » been exposed. * ; “Pull the- cord of each one: every day ‘and a little voice announcing a new prom- ' ise would result,” said the NPGA official. “It was really too much to think about.” -*, “It’s one thing to have. those political ads on.TV during the Christmas season. But it’s another’to wake up Christmas _ morning and‘have Paul Martin, Stephen Harper ‘and Jack Layton under your ‘ , sleigh’ tonight’, just. doesn’ t cut it,” Investigators have also uncovered ‘a ‘a so-far secret battle between: ‘political | ‘par: ties to. replace Rudolph as the’ lead. rein- -_ ’ deer on the Santa Claus sleigh: « “Singing ‘Gilles Duceppe. with: your — nose ‘so bright,. won’t you guide MY ces} said We the official.,” But most, startling was a » plan uncov- ered that is unconnected to - the- federal 7 election race. concerning the efforts of, a northwestern city to construct a multi- “ise Bae facility. It would have featured a sponsorship fo involving Joliy Old St: Nick himself. “A Santaplex?That’s not happening . either,” said the official. ; was going to be a political Christmas, but o Parental paparazzi PARENTS AND grandparents, took full: advantage of photo taking opportunities during thie’ Dec. 14: Kiti, K’ Shan Christmas « ‘concert at the R.E.M. Lee Theatre to‘capture'some family memories. Music‘and a skit were enjoyed by a. full house at the theatre, which was in’; constant use last week: as students from’ various ‘schools entertained their familiy and friends. with’ political party. representatives on fea ys aos wt for’ cash’ payments,” Tead a confidential ROD. LINK PHOTO i By SARAH A. - ZIMMERMAN TERRACE WILL have an emergency youth shelter by ” spring if Debbie Scarborough has her way. . _ The shelter will be open to young people and teens who can’t return to their own homes because it is unsafe. It’s meant to be a tempo- © rary place for young people to stay when they have no- where else to go. “Too many of our youth are already couch surfing, - too many are already home- less but they’ve not been identified as homeless,” says. Scarborough, adding. the type of teens the shelter will ’ be open to are those who are falling through the cracks. There are not very many Statistics that track the num- ber of teens who may. need an emergency shelter in Ter- race, says Scarborough. That’s because, for the large part, these: teens live at home or with a guardian of some sort but for many different reasons it may not always be a safe place for them to stay. That could be because they’ve had a. fight with their guardians, their parents might be drinking and par- tying or there may be some type of abuse, Scarborough says. Often these teens “couch surf” by arranging to spend a few nights atone friend’s -house before finding another friend to take them in for a few nights, she says. Those that can’t find an alternative place often have ° no option but to spend the night on the street. ’ “Honestly, if a youth leaves and the parents aren’t concerned, that youth never. enters the system as home- less,” she says. - “Those kids become vul- nerable, they become .tar- gets, and they also need to make ends meet.” That means some teens resort to illegal activity be- cause they have to make ~ends meet somehow, be it to find food or basic neces- sities such as shampoo or toothpaste. ‘Scarborough’s idea is simple — if.teens who can’t go home have a safe place to stay such as an emergency shelter, they’ll be off the Streets and not getting into trouble. There is no place for a teenager to go for the night if they are fleeing abuse or are in some other dangerous situation. . The Ksan House Soci- ety’s transition house caters to women and young chil- dren fleeing abuse and the _ ‘already zoned for the transi- existing emergency shelter serves male-clients who are . of. age - at least 19 years: old. ’ are turned away unless spe- cial permission can be grant- ed through the Ministry of Children and Families, says - emergency shelter. worker Blaine Stensgaard. _ And even then, the young person must be in sight of the staff person on shift at “all times, which means they either spend the night in the office or on a couch where workers can watch them, Stensgaard says. “We should have a facil- - ity in the community that takes care of kids,” Scarbor- ough says. “[t’s not just me, what I’m talking about is the culmina- tion of 20 years of people’s ideas.” , Scarborough. says the timing is right because the existing transition house will be vacated in February as its residents and staff move to Youth who do show up at - the men’s emergency shelter ‘with programming. Big need for emergenc: its new location. — That means the build- ing will be available either to rent or perhaps buy from the Ksan. House — Society. And because the building is tion house, it could be the ideal location. Scarborough estimates it will cost $600,000 per year’ to operate the emergency shelter. She’s trying to get money | from various sources, in- cluding the Ministry of Chil- dren and Families, the Unit- ed Way.and perhaps money. earmarked for youth justice © programs and for aboriginal youth. — Scarborough plans to es- tablish a non-profit society _to run the facility. It will be staffed by at least two employees at all times and she anticipates also having volunteers assist Programs will. counselling and referral services and will be geared toward assisting the- client and their family or guardian to find a long-term solution and hopefully avoid having the teen enter the foster sys- tem. Scarborough brings with include Christmas tree,” the official continued. ’ Tamara keeps going search -By MARGARET SPEIRS mo WINTER’ SNOWS ‘haven’t deterred: Tom. Chipman “and _ * others who have searched for his missing daughter, Tamara,” for the past several weeks. oa) But snow, reaching up to six inches i in places outside of “Terrace leading toward Prince Rupert, where Tamara was - ; last seen; has'slowed down their efforts. Chipman said the search party has covered Prince Rupert, mm. walked Hwy16 from there to Terrace, including every side f.:. road and the edges of the highway, Ridley Island and the & highway i in and out of Port Edward. ,. “We haven’t done too much here this week; hee said Dec." 77? _ 15 of activity around Terrace.-He and: search captain Don : -Roberts planned to look around the smaller roads i in Port Ed- . ward over the weekend. “We're grasping at straws for where to look next, ” he said. “We're looking at putting a reward together.” The reward could be $1,000 or $2,000. Chipman said searchers have had some gas money gener- ously donated by the community that may go into the reward fund now that the search has slowed due to the weather. Any . other money that is donated will go to the reward fund. ‘Chipman said he has-received a few. calls from people member something,” he said. ; “The police could use - something more to work on, so" “we're hoping a reward might get somebody to come forward who might know something.” . ” . He wants the public to continue coming , forward with 0 details they may remember about seeing his daughter -. since Sept. 21. That’s the last reported sighting of Tamara. If 4 Chipman could talk to his daughter, he wants her to know he . - ‘* who think they’ve seen Tamara, but most people with infor- . mation have been going to the police. J “That's what we’re hoping for that’ ‘somebody can re- 2 still believes she’s all right and wants to hear from her. Cont’ d Page AQ ou h shel PARKSIDE STUDENTS Jenny Bowsher left, and Brandy Benson, front, support for - Debbie Scarborough’ s plan to establish a youth emergency shelter. her Many years of experi- ence including seven yeats -as director of the transition ‘ house, four years on the pro- Vincial parole board, many years with the RCMP vic- tims assistance program, six " officer and: she’? years as an a so holds a masters degree in. leader- ‘ship, training, public safety and justice. She’s already received dozens of letters of support iliary RCMP... from people.in the commu- nity, including ‘the City of Terrace, the Terrace and Dis- _ trict Chamber of Commerce, the Ksan House Society and - local teens. Cont’d Page A2 i 7