4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 20, 1988 ~ OPINIONS school policy on AIDS evidence of © clear thinking . Tigourdot sch Dita tobe cng, their draft policy on dealing with AIDS (Acquired Im- mune Deficiency Syndrome) in the, school system. ° The hysteria and mass of misinformation surrounding the issue of AIDS could have stam- peded a less rational body of elected officials into doing something Draconian - and there is evidence to show that’s exactly what happened in some areas of the province - but this board’s policy proposal! puts AIDS squarely where it belongs, in the realm of medical facts. The policy draft demonstrates sensitivity to both the right of healthy students and staff to be protected from hazards of infec- tion and the right of students and staff who become victims of this devastating condition to humane and rational treatment in the education system. kek te Letters to the editor will be considersd for publication only when signed. _ Please include your telephone number. The .aditor reserves the right to con- dense and edit letters. Opinions ex- pressed are not necessarily those of the Terrace Review. — One year subscriptian: In Canada $24.00 Out of Canada $50.00 G@cna — Terrace Review ‘The Terrace Review Is published each Wednasday by Close-Up Business Services Ltd. Publisher: Mark Twyford en Editon: - Michael Kelly - Staff Reporter: Tod Strachan Sl Advertising Sales: Mar] Twyford Typesetting: _ Linda Copeland * Production: Jim Hall, Alvin Stewart, Arlane Wandl, Gurbax Gill, Linda Mercer, Arlene Gaspar _ Offlee: _ Philip Musselman Accounting: . Mar] Twyford, Rosemary McGettiga Second-class mall registration No. 6896. All material appearing In the Terrace Review le protected under Canadian copyright Registra: tion No. 362775 and cannot legally be repro- duced for any raason without permission of the publisher. Errors and omissions. Advertising Is accepted on the condition thal In the event of typographical error, that portion of the advertis- ing space ocoupled by the erroneous itam will not be char ‘or, but the batance of the adver- tlaemant will be pald for at the applicable rate. Adveriisera must assume reaponsibliity for ar- rors in any clasaified ad which is supplied to the Terrace Review in handwritten form, In compliance with the B.C. Human Rights Act, no advertisement will be published which discriminates ageinat a person due to age, race, retigion, color, sex, nationality, ancestry or place of origin. 4535 Greig Avenue, Terrace, B.C. V8G 1M7 Phone: 635-7840 - AIDS -issue and political pres-. -charged issue. The need to know” principle outlined to assess individual cases respects the need for con- fidentiality, and at the same time puts an additional and necessary insulating barrier between the sure on trustees. We should consider ourselves fortunate to have elected people to this board who are obviously able to think clearly and act with reason on an emotionally- - Seniors begin asserting their rights Some 25 years ago, I wrote a series of ar- ticles for the Winnipeg Free Press on what were then still called old folks homes. That was before the age of euphemisms gave us social assistance instead of welfare, human resources instead of work force and, of course, senior citizens instead of old folks. It was also before the age of grey power, a force most politicians have come to fear and respect. During my research, I had oc- _ casion to see-a-great-many: private retire- ment homes, all of which had one thing in common: they looked like something out of Charles Dickens’ worst nightmares. In one such home, I came upon a woman who looked to be in her eighties or nineties. When she didn’t respond to my inquiries, the owner of the nursing home told me the woman didn’t have “‘all her marbles’’. She also informed me that the woman was no longer in Hubert Beyer in Victoria - gontrol of her bodily functions and was, therefore, a lot of trouble. Something struck me as exceedingly obscene about the way in which the nursing home owner spoke of the woman, and I decided to find out who the woman was. It turned out that she had seen bet- ter times. As a young woman, she had been an accomplished pianist. She had come from a fairly well-to-do background but had fallen on hard times. My reaction was one of sorrow for the woman, disgust with the nursing home owner and anger with the system that tolerated such shabby treatment of people, regardless of age. The series of articles, I’m happy to say, did give rise to some changes in Manitoba’s nurs- ing home system. . That was a quarter century ago. Much has changed since then. For one thing, the older generation is no longer willing to be relegated to second-class-citizen status. Today’s seniors stand up for their rights and usually get them.” Governments think twice before putting their greedy hands into ~ the pockets of seniors. In British Columbia, seniors get a break on “property taxes, bus passes, ferry fares and admission to numerous institutions from museums to adult education classes. When the federal government tried to deindex pensions for - geniors,. they faced such a storm of protest from grey power organizations, as.well as individuals, it had to backtrack fast. _ The private sector has also responded to the change in status to- day’s seniors. enjoy. The list of businesses offering discounts to seniors is impressive. Mind you, it’s not so much altruism as a - lucrative market that compels businesses to give special discounts to seniors. Seniors constitute a great purchasing power. And as the baby boomers reach old age, the financial clout seniors wield gets bigger. a Another important factor is that today’s seniors are generally bet- ter off than the ‘‘old folks’’ a generation ago..The Canada Pension Plan, along with the old-age pension, as well as a steadily increasing number of people collecting pensions from private plans, have ~ largely replaced the hopelessness of the park-bench and checker- board crowd with the financial independence seniors enjoy today. The private sector has lost no time correctly analyzing and ex- ploiting this new market. Pioneered in the U.S., luxury retirement complexes are springing up everywhere. One of these places was just recently completed in Victoria. Another has been in operation in Surrey for close to a year. More are planned. These retirement homes can only be described as luxurious. The cost starts at about $900 a month, which includes three meals a day. True, not all seniors can afford that price tag, but the zero-vacancy rate testifies to the fact that enough can. . The role of today’s seniors, however, doesn’t stop at enjoying life. With the retirement age going down, most seniors find it dif- ficult to be idle. Many use their skills, experience and wisdom to the advantage of the community at large. Under one federal program, retired business executives advise younger people on how to start and operate a business. In many communities, it is the seniors who are the best pool for volunteer workers. All of which is the way it should be. Upon retirement, one should be able to look back with pride and look to the future with anticipa- tion and certainty without financial worry. Most people have a good 30 years left when they retire. They should not waste those years. And society should not waste the wealth of experience that comes with living a long life. . «,The-womanI-met25 years-ago had' been thrown on'the'scrap heap by a perhaps not uncaring, but certainly ignorant society. While:I’m sure that not all seniors live the good life today, things have improv- ed immensely. The Vultures Are Circling The sky is filled these days with vultures awaiting the death of the highway’s ministry’s road and bridge maintenance section. Acouple of weeks ago, First City Trust ran full-page ads in lots of B.C. newspapers, announcing that it was ready to assist any group © in financing the takeover of operations peddled to the private sector by the Socred government, That’s the company, by the way, in which former finance minister Hugh Curtis has found his free enter- prise niche as vice president for corporate and government financial services. This week, the B.C, Construction Association issued a press release saying it supports privatization, particularly as it relates to the highways maintenance operations. . Safety standards? The association likes them, insists on them. Ex- perience? Association members have enough to reassure the public. Accountability? A must, ; Bridge Great, But What About Us? If nothing else, former forest minister Jack Kempf has become a fierce watchdog, suspiciously eyeing every move the government makes, since he’s been unceremoniously dumped from his cabinet, post. Referring to a newspaper story announcing the construction of a new bridge across the Nechako in Vanderhoof, Kempf politely in- formed.Transportation and Highways Minister Stephen Rogers in a letter that he could make a lot of friends in the north by giving equal | consideration to a number of other urgent projects, including the paving of the Houston airport and access road, the paving of the Fraser Lake airport as well as that town’s main streets, the widening: of an overpass at Highway 16 in Vanderhoof, and the upgrading of: several roads in Fort St. James: Don’t hold your breath, Jack. Who Said Decentralization? - The lack of a detailed plan for the premier’s decentralization pro- _ . gram doesn’t seem to deter the government from trying to muscle in on the territory of other jurisdictions. In a press release last week, the education ministry announced it will make available $3 million to school districts to finance trips to and studies in Asian Pacific countries by teachers and students. Such educational trips are to last from two to four weeks and are designed to ‘‘heighten awareness of the Pacific Rim in our schools,’” the press release said. Now for the new twist. Funding will be allocated through the eight groups of school districts located in the recently announced development regions, With the eight super fiefdoms now taking on — the school districts’ responsibilities, the latter might be well adivsed to prepare for their eventual demise. - . Rn