A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 5, 2003

STANDARD

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

Enough already

LAST YEAR Terrace council committed itself
to voluntarily collect $52 for every family in
the city — an estimated $389,000 — as part of an
overall effort for each northern municipality to
band together to raise $6 million.

That $6 million is the target set by the Uni-
versity of Northern British Columbia to estab-
lish an endowment fund. Interest from the fund
is to assist students attending the soon-to-be
built medical school at the institution’s Prince
George campus.

The school is a collaborative effort with the
University of British Columbia, an idea that
began under the former New Democratic pro-
vincial government and solidified by the current
B.C, Liberal government. Students will start at
UBC and then transfer north to finish off.

It’s a worthy plan. There’s a shortage of doc-
tors in the north and indications are that it
might get worse before it gets better. A medical
school in Prince George comes under the gen-
eral principle that people trained in the north
will stay in the north.

Last year physicians signed a deal with the
provincial government providing average an-
nual fee increases of 10 per cent. The provincial
government also has a loan forgiveness pro-
gram for nursing, medical, midwive and phar-
macy students. For every year a graduating stu-
dent practises in an underserved community,
one-third of the loan is forgiven. After three
years, the loan is written off.

In February, the provincial government re-
leased details of a new northern and rural phy-

sician incentive package-which-builds on a pre-’”
. _ “ nos hope OP Osa he .
vious one. Doctors coming to the north will re- -

ceive a $10,000 signing bonus. On top of regu-
lar fees, Terrace doctors, for instance, now re-
ceive an extra 19.6 per cent and a flat fee of
$17,136. For a general practitioner billing
$150,000, it works out to an additional $46,276
a year for a total of $196,536.

A long-standing physician grievance has also
been corrected. In addition to regular fees, doc-
tors received minimal payments for doing
emergency room duty, chiefly after normal of-
fice hours. That’s been enhanced greatly under
the new program.

It all adds up to an attractive incentive pack-
age providing physicians a good income for the
work they do. It’s also money provided by in-
creasingly hard-pressed taxpayers. To now ask
them to contribute to an endowment fund is
above and beyond the call of duty,

If physicians won’t work in the north for the
kind of money in the incentive package, an en-
dowment fund isn’t the answer either.

There are core values over and above money:
in the medical profession and it’s these values

UNBC should pursue in recruiting students,

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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
for their time and talente

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VICTORIA — Opponents of the

‘Vancouver-Whistler joint bid
for the 2010 Winter Olympics
now say that the results of the
Feb. 22 plebiscite in Vancou-
ver wasn’t convincing enough,
and that they will continue to
fight the proposal.

Let’s see. If we rescued the
country in the last Quebec re-
ferendum on separation by a
$0.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent
margin, 64 percent in favour of
the Olympics is good enough
for me. ;

Not that I needed the ple-
biscite to support the bid of
getting the grealest sports
event to British Columbia. 1
was sold in the idea from the
start,

The “No” side comprises a
motley crew, ranging from
Adriane Carr, leader of British
Columbia’s Green Party, to
those who insists there should
be no Olympics until after cuts
to social programs have been

_., Testored, or, until closed hospi-
‘tals are reupened aiid’ laid-off"
. divi Servants réliired! 1

Then there are those who
want mare legal aid funding,
owners of leaky condos, anti-
poverty activists, protesters
against an invasion of Iraq,
and anli-SUV crusaders. Even
the Coalition Opposed to Po-
lice Brutality has joined the
fray against the Olympics. |

While 1 can understand the
anti-poverty activists, | would
still point out that poverty will

COULD A disaster similar to
the death of 97 rack music
fans in a Rhode Island concert
fire happen. in Terrace? In
B.C.? In Canada?

The band’s fireworks igni-
ted the wali behind the stage
and the ceiling above it. In
seconds the enlire building
was ablaze,

Factors contributing to the
disaster are many. The ceiling
was low for fireworks. The
sound-muffling foam covering
the walls appears to have been
flammable. : Fifty or 60 too
many tickets were sold for the
venue’s legal capacity.

Are the interiors of Ter-
race’s arena, R.E.M. Lee
Theatre and other performing
venues sufficiently fireproof to
allaw pyrotechaics? Is there
strict adherence to the number

. of patrons admitted? Does any

authorily check?

Rhode Island concert-goers
made one big mistake many of
us make when we enter a pub-
lic building, whether it’s a
motel, an airport, or our child-
ren’s school,

. They failed to take note of
the four fire exits. When the
crowd finally realized the

“FROM:THE CAPITAL.
HUBERT BEYER

no be miraculously eradicated
if we walk away from the
Olympic Games,

On the whole, the opposi-
tion gives the impression of
wanting to punish the Camp-
bell government by trying to
torpedo the games bid.

Staging the Olympic
Games can be a costly propo-
sition, but there are also great

, benefits. ee
Citiéshosting thd ‘Olympics’ -
‘ are’ left! With legacies“in the

form of world-class sports faci-
lities. Equally important, the
Olympics put a city on the
map.

Even a small town like
Whistler, already well-known
the world over, will reap un-
told tourism benefits for years
to come. Lillehammer, Nor-
way, proved that point.

And what about the sheer
joy and excitement of being

‘THROUGH.BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

flames and smoke were not
part of the enlertainment, the
majority tried to exil through
the front door where they had
entered.

The result was a deadly Ar-
chie Bunker/Meathead wed-
ging at the front door,

Though we won't know for
sure until authorities complete
their investigations, it appears
safety instructions were rare
and no one did a head count.
By contrast, Florida inspects
its concert venues weekly,
sometimes making several vi-
sits in one 24-hour period, to

NEVER

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BRLUSSAN

NOT 1& THEY TARGET STORES
IN THE KIDNEYLANDS OR THE
CC, LINERLANPS..-.

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NY

host to the world’s athletes? |
have never seen Victoria prou-
der and more alive than during
the 1994 Commonwealth
Games.

The city’s beautiful Inner
Harbour was packed with tens
of thousands of people every
night enjoying fabulous con-
certs.

The coalition against the
Olympics, it seems, do not
want to have fun. They vow to
continue their fight.

“The campaign goes on,”
said Chris Shaw, a medical re-
searcher, who speaks for the

“No” side. “A lot of people are

talking about going out on the
street with placards, greeting
the IOC in a friendly but clear
way on how they feel about
the games.”

Let’s hope that the Interna-
tional Olympic Committee
doesn’t listen to the naysayers
but rather takes the 64-per-cent
yes-vole as an indication that

- the vast majority-of Vancou-:.. ro
isi’ One last point: former-NDP.,*
‘premier Mike Harcourt came-: -
out strongly in favour of the |
Olympic bid before the Van-.

vérites’ supports’ the’ bid: for the
‘games. ck re an
Vancouver Mayor. Larry
Campbell is hopeful that the
controversy can be laid to rest
before the committee decides
in July whether the 2010 Win-
ter Games are going to be held
in Whistler and Vancouver or
in one of the two competing
cities, Salzburg, Austria and
Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“In a democracy, you ac-

Crowds and noise ruin

be sure crowd capacity is
within allowable limits.

Crowds of any size worry
me, especially since the disas-
ters of frenzied crowds in soc-
cer stadium crushes and pil-
grims trampled near Mecca. 1
avoid even outdoor events
such as air shows.

Hog and poultry farmers
house their animals in small
pens to reduce the risk of

crowding and suffocation. .

Rock concert promoters would
do well to heed the example of
farmers and never overpopu-
late their venues, regardless of
whether authorities are count-
ing.

I’ve always been baffled by
concerl goers who pay up to
$90 a ticket to see and hear
their favourite performer up
clase, then scream throughout
the concert until no one can
hear the artist sing or musi-
cians play.

Beatles fans did that: Frank
Sinatra’s fans drowned him
out, ruining his stage perfor-
mance for the rest of us.

Watching re-runs of Ed Sul-
livan’s 1960s shows, you no-
tice the simplicity of the stage
production. Big names like the

Pst’ So WHAT THE
HECILIS SNARE

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“Onward with the Winter Olympics

cept when you have a majority,
you then go forward from that

point,” Campbell said follow-

ing the referendum. “At some
point, you say ‘This is it.:The
people wanted to speak. The
people have spoken. Let's get
on with it.’””

Asked whether he would .°

consider a provincial referen-
dum on the Olympic bid, Pre-
mier Gordon Campbell flatly
rejected the idea, saying that

his Liberals had made it clear.

in the 2001 election that

brought them to power that -
they supported the idea of pur- .

suing the Olympics. :
“We did have a referendum

It's called the election,” he

said.

Good on the premier. This _

isn’t Switzerland, where every-

thing is decided by referendum.

Governments are elected to
govern and if we don’t like

what they do, well, we can tell: .-

them to take a hike at the next
election.. Works for me.

couver plebiscite.
Campbell and Harcourt on

the same side. That ought to -
give some of the leftist oppo-'

nents to the games cause for
pause, i

Beyer can be reached at:
E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com;
Tel (250) 381-6900

Beatles, Tony Bennett, Diana

Ross and the Supremes worked '

on a stage adorned only by a
drum platform.

They stood still except for
hand motions or body swaying.
And their audiences were at-
tentive, catching every word, '

Contrast that with The Roll-

ing Stones who. even today as -.

aging men, haul an 18-wheeler
full of stage props, amplifiers,
and pyrotechnics, cavort like
demented pixies, and create a
volume of sound to force even

diehard fans to stuff their ears.
with industrial earplugs. Non-

etheless, some fans emerge

disoriented by battering of their.

inner ears." :
Two Mondays ago Anne

Murray performed a two-hour

CBC special taking requests.

She was backed by severa! fid-.

dies, guitars, and a piano. No
dry ice vapours snaking around

her, no sparks bouncing off the’ -
walls, no callisthenics. And hier. -
audience sat in rapt silence.

That was worth a ticket. |

In the Rhode Island video’ of

the impending disaster, fans
waved battles of beer and
made as much noise unampli-
fied as the band. Not good.

a show

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