Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 1, 2000 TERRACE 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 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net About paving ONE CERTAIN sign of spring in Terrace is the appearance of painted circles around the various cracks, chasms and potholes which adorn the city Streets. It means that very soon crews will be out with equipment and hot mix to once again patch up what various people describe as our very own lunar moonscape. This annual ritual speaks loudly to the real pro- blem in this city — the rough shape of its streets and the realization that not everybody is equal when it comes to paying to fix them. There are are essentially three types of roads in this city — new ones in new subdivisions, existing ones in older residential areas and main roads. New residential streets are constructed to mod- ern standards and the cost absorbed automatically by those who buy lots in these new areas. Main roads, because they are considered a community use, are covered under the city’s own budget when it comes to replacement. It’s the third category, streets in older areas, . where the paving issue becomes controversial. Since the city does not regard these residential streets as main roads, it has deemed that any re- placement be covered off in part by adjacent. homeowners. This is expensive and speaks to another pro- blem facing the city — it doesn’t have a large in- dustrial tax base it can tap for money. An exam- ple of this is city council’s plan to offer some re- lief to businesses by shaving their tax rate, It did that by boosting the rate for homeowners, an im- perfect fix by anybody's calculations. The’ city’s current formula to fix existing strdets» |" ; “where ‘people didn't lock their.’ is for it to pay 40 per cent and for homeowners to pay 60 per cent under Local Improvement Pro- jects whereby the cost is spread out over 20. years. City councillors are now reversing that so the city will pay 60 per cent and homeowners 40 per cent. To homeowners who already wonder what they get for their taxes, this may scem like a ra- ther token gesture. But barring any sudden arrival of new industry, it may be as good as it will ever get. Just stop it THE HIGHWAYS ministry persists in treating taxpayers like idiots. Each year at this time it re- leases what it'll spend on road projects in stages — first the provincial amount, then the regional amount and finally the local amount. In doing so it hopes for maximum public rela- tions value by this staged series of announce- ments. In reality, this is irritating and self-serving. It doesn’t respect the taxpayer who foots the bill and it doesn’t respect the overall purpose of a government which is to provide services 8 with as little nonsense as possible. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping CIRCULATION SUPERVESOR: Carole Kirkaldy ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff ’ TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM /COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur ' AD ASSISTANT: Kulwant Kandola SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57. 30 per year; Seniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39 " ** Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25 (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF . B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. ‘a 7 CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND (+ CNA, comm B.C, PRESS COUNCIL Serving the Tarrace and Thomhilt area. Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G SR2. Storles, photographs, Illustrations, designs and lypeslyles in the Tarrace Slandard are tha property of the copyright holdara, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid. its illustration tepfo servicas and advertising agencies. Raproduction in whole or in part, without written pamission, is specifically Prohiblied, Authorized as second-clasa mall pending the Post Cifice Department, lor payment of postage In cash. Speclal thanks to all our contributors and correspondents ’ for their time and talents 1998 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION Serenreret ‘ania Chains He a? | Rata ‘i \ - MCCOY... = hw. v1. THE REALMCOY,... A bricklayer made Beyer do It VICTORIA — It's Dullsville at the B.C. Legislature and I thought it might be a nifty idea to talk about something more entertaining, like how this Kraut (the Human Rights Commission need not take note) ended up in Canada. Forty-three years ago this week, the idea of emigrating to Canada formed mightily in my head. I was working for my father, who owned a construction bu- siness in Dusseldorf, Germany, when one day, on a job site, during lunch break, a brick- layer told me his tale of woe. He had emigrated to Cana- da a year before but came back because he was home- sick. A couple of months back in Germany convinced him that he had made the biggest fete doors (ihey now do), where they left money for the milk man on the porch (they don't anymore), where waiters didn't collect what customers owed before the food had even ar- rived (they still don't), where there were grizzly bears and wolves in the wild (there still are), and the prairie horizon never ended (it still doesn't). ‘FROM THE CAPITAL: HUBERT BEYER I was hooked like a steel- head. Only I fought less. There was no way anyone could keep me from going to Cana- da. [ asked dad what he thought of the idea and he said, great, go for it. There followed the applica- SAK T man vocabulary was limited to “husten” (cough), while he held on to my crown jewels, and “buecken” (bend over), while he examined what hasn't given me trouble to this day, and I was a bona fide candi- date for admission to the True North, strong and free. In late May of 1957 I boar- ded the Castel Felice in Bre- merhaven, not exactly a rust 2,Canadian.,consulate, «- bucket, but a far cry from a luxury liner, and 10 days later, I disembarked in Montreal. My destination was Winni- peg. 1 have no idea why | chose that city. The guy at the Canadian consulate had asked me if I had any relatives or friends in Canada. When 1] said, no, he took a pointer, slid it from Newfoundland to the Queen Charlottes and back to Winnipeg. “How about here?”, he asked, Well, Winnipeg soun- ded as good as Victoria or Tor- onto to me and [ said, “Sure, why not?" The train ride from Mon- treal to Winnipeg was unfor- — gettable, but I won't dwell on the 40-below weather one the first winter arrived, except to say that after 11 years, six of ; CE omy blessings to this ‘day that I. moved my tent to Victoria. Forty-three years after I left Germany, how do I love thee, Canada? Let me count the ways! How many countries would have welcomed a young lad from Germany, without reser- vation, a mere 12 years after the murderous Second World War, which the country of his Way. origin started? How many countries would -* allow that lad to become a ° journalist who lambastes (and . occasionally pats an the back) - the governments, the predeces- | sors of which were locked in a ‘ life-and-death struggle with his . native country? How many countries would pay that lad and old-age pen-° sion when he reaches the age * of 65? I don't know whether that brick layer, who turned me on - to this beautiful country so long ago, ever made it back to Ca- “ nada. I hope he did. Meanwhile, I will forever be grateful to his tales about Ca- nada. And I will forever be grateful to my father for en- couraging me to go to Canada. Without them, I never would of the prairie. I wouldn't have experienced the awesome loneliness of the - Canadian North or the gentle - beauty of Victoria. It was the best decision of my life. [ owe both men, big : time. Beyer can be reached at: E-. mail hubert@coolcom.com; Tel - (250) 381-6900; Web htip://www.hubertbeyer.com (seen. the glory. of the. or the endless expanse’ etek ee Rw ee EM ee ee ee 4 My chance at jury box romance SINCE JURY duty has be- come B.C.’s trendiest dating service, arrival in the mail of a juror summons to criminal court holds promise for sin- gies. In my case, the official blue form set my columnist’s antennae a quiver. A brief phone call to ithe sheriff's office determined the expected Iength of the trial to be three days. Too short for a juror to flirt with a cute criminal; short enough to not bankrupt my business or tose me customers. Jurors are chosen at ran- dom from the B.C. voters’ list; participation is a legal ob- ligation. “Failure to appear may result in a Court im- posed penalty.” [f only for the experience, I was keen to appear, along with about 60 other citizens. At the appointed hour, 1:15 p.m., we gathered in the main foyer of the court house. A sheriff called the role, Before we were herded into Court- room #3 the sheriff instructed W-A-L*KTo THE L-A-k: E! \ \ LET'S TAKE A ‘THROUGH BIFOCALS. CLAUDETTE SANDECKI us to rid ourselves of any chewing gum, mints, or baseball caps. We overflowed the four rear rows of seats assigned to us, reminding me of a Health Watch meeting. The judge explained our jury system and juror’s role in it. He also forewarned us not to take it personally or read anything negative into it if we were re- jected, Both Crown and defence