. A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 mL TERRACE Ss TANDARD | 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: newsroom@terracestandard. com Bada bing WE NOW know who watches re-runs of The Sopranos on Channel -63. The folks at city hall, that’s who.= - At least that’s the indication given the continu- ing series of events concerning the Terrace Tour-_ ism Society. Either goalong with ‘the family’ or risk the consequences of a. meeting. with ‘the boys.’ A quick recap. Terrace Tourism was created | to boost tourism by using a combination of mem- bership dues, city grants and a new 2 percent tax. levied against tourists who stay at area hotels and motels. It seemed like a good idea to have a: ‘stand- alone authority. focussed ontourism. , The money rolled in - -nearly $241,000 in 2005. a And so-did the results. — ‘increases in inquiries, | Visitors and the like. © Then, trouble: Based on a 2004 meriorandum us of understanding signed between the society, the __city and:the regional district, the society took its job to be. that of drawing people to the area. City _ hall, also. looked at the memorandum, and con- cluded it also meant coming up with something for tourists to do once they got here. ‘Aside from philosophical differences, there might also be something about | money and who gets to control it. The 2 per cent hotel tax generat- ed nearly $100, 000i in: 2005. and that’s not chicken feed. Countless meetings followed. City hall: ‘Spent ‘tax money on a consultant. Terrace Tourism held. - firm-on its interpretation of its role. City. hall also held firm but it also formed i its own tourism soci- ~ ety, Kermodei Tourism. - And now the city has, at least on paper. set up a- $093, 000 budget for its society by, in part, cutting - off $75,000:in grants to Terrace Tourism. Terrace Tourism considers this to be a breach of the 2 per cent room tax deal with the city. So it has asked the provincial g government, which has the ultimate say here over the tax, to scrap it altogether. It’s a pretty complicated situation. It puts at risk the good work done to date by Terrace Tourism. And having two tourism societies makes u us look a little bit silly. City hall has been relentless in its. tourism vi- sion. But there just may be a big difference be- tween marketing the area and having something . to do for tourists once they get here. All this comes a time when this area is on the verge of major new tourism opportunities built on | culture and history. Need examples? The new highway into the Nass Valley and the - Kitselas Nation’s Kitselas Canyon project will _ have an immense role to play | in thea area’s tour- ism future. | It’s crucial there-be peace within ‘the family’ _ here. A first step might be for the city to stow its violin case. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link - "ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman COMMURNITY: Dustin Quezada - . NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs -FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping. Carolyn Christiansen , CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham _. ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: ---= Bert Husband, Todd Holkestad AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik ~ PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur » SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (+83.48 GST)=61.42 per vear: _ Seniors $50.98 (+$3.06 GST)=54.04; ~ Out of Province $65.17 (+83.91 GST)=69.08 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+9.41 GST)=166.32 Sening me Tecace ang Tham are. Published on Wecnesday of gach week ef 3270 Ciram Sves. teva, Snsh Cobre, Vos SA2. Suaries, phamag ahs, BUSTStIONS, G2Sars ac yyoestyies n te Terrace Senders ae the roost hoigers, Adiuding Stack Press Led. Ss ilkeTenon reord senices ang aderusing agercies Reoroduction i whole of Fi Oa. WOT WEEN DeTASSM, Ss sceoFealy FNoe2. Austorzed as second-class mai pending me Pos Oofine Decartnere, fr paymer oF poSage 7 cast Special thanks to ali our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents cS Black Press Tem . ~ Gecx : 4 - _. President. “MUCH APPRECIATIVE OF WIS STOCKING STUFFER FROM He | _ENVIRONMENTAUISTS, STEPHEN BASKS IN THE GLOW FROM HIS LUMP OF COAL Power from wood key ' to future RECENTLY THE Ministry. of Forests announced the prov- ince would be asking for pro-" _posals to used waste wood for power generation. » The announcement made in Prince George. not _ Surprise as the pine beetle has _| certainly consumed the atten- ‘| tion and resources of govern- ments at every level in dealing with low value wood. ’ _ But this also has the poten- tial to revitalize the forest in- dustry in the northwest. Traditionally our forest pol- icy is based on the conversion of saw logs to lumber with the - waste product from the milling process going into the produc- . ~ tion of pulp and paper. ‘This relationship worked well for decades. The higher value of saw logs and lum- ber provide a low cost chip to pulp mills and the economics seemed to work well. Large integrated companies evolved, investments were made and tural forest dependent commu- hities grew and prospered. This relationship was al- ways based on a premise that our forests contained large percentages of saw -logs, it never envisioned the world that we find ourselves in now in the northw est. Today our regional umber was ROGER HARRIS _stands contain the lowest val: - ued timber profile in the Prov ince. The interior. faced with the catastrophic pine beetle, will see the profile of its forests: go from a 90 per cent saw log content over the next decade to one that looks a lot like the northwest today. Our reality ‘today is their future. : Currently. forest policy focuses on the economic ex- traction of saw logs. With the northwest fiber basket mainly pulp. the economics of har- vesting in the region no longer exist in a large enough scale to support the manufacturing sector. ‘It simply costs much more to pay. stumpage on, access, harvest and transport timber. than this wood i is worth. That. brings us back to power generation from wood waste. Power-production from ~ wood waste is exactly the kind of new industries and invest- ments the province needs to .- attract. need a dynamic and bold change in forest policy. This is not about developing - re- gional strategies, but looking -. to deal with the long-term im- pacts and fundamental changes in our forests today. We need . tenure systems that are focused on the economic extraction of - pulp logs, not saw logs. These tenures will need to look very different’ from any current model. Provincial revenue may not be generated” through stumpage by the cubic © meter, but possibly on a land lease model. Responsibilities for silvi- culture, roads, bridges, fire protection; all items that add significant cost to harvesting could be transferred away from tenure holders to some other entity. Why should all of these costs be applied just to the for- est industry. Mining, oil. and gas tourism the public all use. and derive revenue from these resource roads and wilderness To have this. happen, we areas. * : 4 What BC Hydro iS prepared to pay for the power is equally ; important. If the rates paid are firmly fixed then the vi- ability of proposals from the northwest where harvest costs . are higher «will never get off the ground. Hydro must look & beyond just the base numbers,. but look to larger provincial objectives. . If we can’t find a way to har- vest and utilize pulp economi- cally then the other. grades of wood, which are ‘critical to feeding traditional sawmills The cycle of mill closures will not end, the forest profile will never change and the stag- nation we see in the northwest will spread to other regions. Some may see our decadent § and specialty forest markets, [i will themselves become eco- & ’ nomically stranded. . timber stands a disaster, but they also present the province with a real opportunity. B.C. could become a global. leader in the technologies of | engineered wood and bio-mass products. In the same way the 1950s forest policy brought about investment. prosperity and growth’ across the prov- J ince. a bold new approach to forestry today could accom- -plish the same in-2007. Don’ t let them get away with this | : . SINCE GEORGE Dubya be: _came_ president. terview has become popular — among executives —_ pinned down by nosey reporters over troublesome situations. . During her vears as mistress _ of the White House. President Laura. has fi- © nessed the John Wayne tech- - - nique of heading reporters off Bush's wife. at the pass until her wild west ploy has caught on as a self-- preservation tactic for anvone facing a grilling over some al- leged error in judgment. Like ventriloquist Shari Lewis manipulating her hand puppet Lambchop. the self- interview cleverly commands both sides of a microphone whenever questioning threat- ~ ens to become a squeeze chute ‘for the person being inter- viewed. To keep an exit door ajar. the interviewee pads the time with puffball palaver. Laura Bush first inter- viewed herself shortly after the Iraq war failed to unearth weapons of mass destruction. She was seated beside the poised and com- posed, unul the interviewer nibbled around Americans’ dissatisfaction with the Iraq war's progress.. Laura Bush commandeered the verbal ex-_ the self-in- “herself and supply answers. S THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI ‘change | and. equipped only - with the “microphone clipped to her collar. proceeded to quiz “How are things going in. Iraq?” she asked. “They could be better.” . “Have we made some mis- takes in Iraq? No doubt we . have made a few.” “Could we do better in Iraq? Of course we could.” “Will we take steps to do better in Iraq? Certainly we - will.” Throughout her self-inqui- sition, the reporter remained silent. President Bush. eye- brows quirked. held his breath, no doubt admiring his wife's skillful deflection of penetrating questions.. fingers crossed as to whether the re- porter would ‘settle for her -prattle. He did. Following her tine foray into self-preservation, hertech- nique has shown up wherever. there are bullets t6 be dodged. David Hahn, CEO of the B.C. Ferries Corporation. has studied Mrs. Bush's diversion- ary technique and copied it - ‘when grilled. after the sinking of the Queen of the North. Faced with experienced re- porters intent on getting to the. bottom of why the ferry sank. Hahn steered the interview into calm waters where no ‘deadhead questions lay in wait ~ to puncture his version. In one interview Hahn skimmed rocky questions this ° way: “Did something go wrong that night?” Hahn asked. look- ing earnestly at the off-camera’ reporter. “Obviously some- thing went wrong.” “Do we know w hat went Ww ‘rong? No. we don't.” “Will we make it our busi- ness to find the cause of that sinking? Of course we will.” “Will that cause be found soon? No ‘one can say how long it will take for the inves- tigation to reach solid conclu- sions, but we will find the Ferries or answers.” But if the answers tum out to be unflattering to B.C.’ to. Hahn. will we ever know them? Not through a kid glove self- imterv iew, We | won't. ceptive, inept. or a bungler. they choose to mock interview themselves, usually less per- . ceptively than if a nine-year- old designed the questions for an overdue socials assign- ment. : - In the odd instance, a self-— ‘interview may reveal a dor- mant desire to be a reporter. to° wield. a live microphone - backed. by a camera that vis- ibly records ev ery hesitation, shifty gaze. or scrub of the .§ nose. (a gesture psychologists’ interpret as an involuntary sign the interviewee is lying). lavestigative reporters per- form a service vital to the pub- lic good. “Without them Nixon would never have resigned, - Enron - would still be fleecing inves- tors, and even fewer lenient B.C. court sentences would be appealed. Newspersons should never relinquish their duty to a cowering self-interview. 7 Self-interviews show how — skittish the person can be, ° ‘Rather than risk looking de- ~ vg :