Page A4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 5, 1992 © ~ ERRACE S i AND A "Jeff Nagel — News/Community, Malcolm Baxter — NewsiSports Publisher Rose Fisher — Front Offiea Manager, Caralyn Anderson — Typasetter Special thanks to ail Red Link Arlene Watts — Typesattar, Susan Credgeur — Compasing/Darkraom, p he " EBTABUSHED APRIL 27, 1088 _ Janet Vivelros — Advertising Consultant, Sam Colller — Advertising Consultant, ° our contributors and 647 Lazelle A Terrace, B.C., V8G 1838 Editor: Gharlena Matthews — Circulation Supervisor correspondents for Pegttation No. 7820 4 elle Ave., Terrac Rod Link. ccna J thelr time and Phone (604) 638-7283 Fax (604) 638-8432 Sotving tha Terrace area. Published on Wednesday ‘of pach week by Cariboo Press (1969) Lid. al 4647 Lavelle Ave.. Terrace, British Columbia. Stories, photographs, illustrations, dasigns and typastyles in 1ha Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, incheding Cariboo Press (7969) Lid, its lustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, withoul written permission, is specilically protibiled. Authorized as second-class. mail pending the Post CHica apartment, for payment o! postage in cash, = talents. Production Manager: Edouard Credgeur VERIFIED. CIACUL ATION CONTROLLEO G CNA : Uy ~ On the map A drive up north on Hwy37 reveals again the importance of Terrace as the service centre for the northwest. It is the focal point for goods and services flowing up and down that stretch of road. People there use Terrace as their prime recreation and shopping stop. This year in particular the multitude of tourists using Hwy37 as part of their Alaskan experience pass through our city. Terrace has taken its fair share of knocks over the years. There’s that airport thing people always talk about. Mention the air- port and you'll here any number of stories about landing in Smithers or Prince Rupert - anywhere but here. Some of what affects Terrace stems from its rapid growth as a city. This is a new place with a diverse group of relatively recent arrivals. In a lot of ways the city is still trying to find its identity, a solid foot- ing it can use to move onward. But Terrace is becoming the major place in the northwest. It is surpassing Prince Rupert in terms of population. Its economy is more diversified and that diversification © continues. That’s why it’s time to put Terrace on the map — the provincial road map. The map contains mini outlines for a number of cities. There’s Vancouver and Victoria of course and Prince George, Kelowna, Wil- liams Lake, Dawson Creek, Castlegar and even Prince Rupert. But no Terrace. The reason seems quite sound. Those mini maps are to assist tourists winding their way through cities on major high- - ways. Prince George and Prince Rupert are considered the major entry tourism points for the northwest. That’s all fine and dandy, but the point here is that Terrace deserves recognition as the growing heart of the northwest. It’s too - _late to change the map coming out in 1993. And it has a two-year shelf life. Yet that’s ~ plenty of time for council and the chamber of commerce to begin lobbying for the next time. What now, guys? Cassiar. Stewart. Houston. Granisle. All towns solely or heavily dependent upon mining. All losing those mines and in the case of Cassiar, losing altogether. Add to this the lengthy putzing around with the Orenda Forest Products pulp and paper mill and the never ending dance about the wood supply in the Hazeltons and it’s not a pretty picture for northwest resource development. Some of this was expected. Some of this wasn't, Regardless, the NDP government has been:less ‘thantisteHar (in is approach to ae © Cop SSH PAH ie laqavae With Cassiar, it credted a massive social ‘services package that in the end cost mil- lions and is leaving a massive chunk of marketable asbestos in the ground, The provincial government had better hope Orenda builds its mill. This project everything - econamy creates a healthy ‘society:' wee has generated so many studies, letters, doc- uments and such that Orenda will have.to - devote a couple months worth of produc- tion to compensate. Don’t forget the Kemano Completion _ Project. The province is now trying to find a way to dance around its commitment for a public review and.to avoid getting sued if it unduly holds up a resumption of work. The easy assumption is that the govern- ment isn’t in favour of economic develop- ment. That’s of course incorrect. Any government, should know that a he Ithy... _ The problem here is that the province seems to be devoting its efforts in the lower mainland. And, it’s working on so- cial issues without paying enough attention to what pays for those social programs in the first place. A stic ky situation Ten years ago Terrace’s ad- visory parks and recreation commission was a quietly potent force, although realized only by its members. That’s when I was assigned to it for my (wo year term as school trustee, . At the time an expensive consultation process: had cul- Through Bifocals | by Claudette Sandecki if a Core exercise” the Crown pul minaled in the Bruce: Master Plan for the development of Terrace. and its environs. Bruce’s main recommendation was that elected bodies should blend their fiefdoms into one cooperative effort for miaxi- mum tax dollar value, Under Glenn Thomsen’s chairmanship, the commission set about laying the ground- work .for recreational facility co-operation, ‘From the commission’s im- petus and support. eventually came the joint cily-school dis- trict regional district upgrad- ing, maintenance, and booking of playing fields and all recreational facilities from gyms, arena, and swimming pool to the REM Lee theatre; and the Christy Park soccer fields. The commission went on to advise council on user fees and‘ allocation of the recreational budget. However, once baseball and soccer people had their play- ing fields, ennui. settled like dust. Elections changed those in power; like crabgrass, pos- sessiveness crept back. Coun- cil bypassed the commission "(a second ice sheet comes to mind) when it could have - benefited. ‘from: the .commis- sion’s siudy:and input, as well *.: as: Its “abllity.‘to: deflect heat’: from council: (And that’s ‘odd, given this council’s zeal for ' putting off distasteful deci- sions. It’s even named a Hansel to track referred mat- ters). Unbeknown to many user groups, requests can be made directly to the commission, provided its not gasping from disuse, isolation and cold shoulders. The commission is designed to have 12 members. Six at- large from Terrace, Three at- large from Regional District Areas C and E. One. alderman appointed by council. One trustee appointed by School District 88, The twelfth spot is reserved for a Caledonia stu- dent. It’s been years since the. school district or Caledonia assigned a representative. . The by-law calls for regular meetings between city council ‘and the commission. Ten years ago at the semi-annual get- togethers - arranged by the commission chairman, council offered direction to the com- mission, In turn, the: commis- sion voiced its: concerns directly to council: The commission husn’l met since before Christmas, It’s lacked both a quorum and a . Chairman. Without a chairman to ‘take: charge of the agenda, lead, prod, and formally com- ~ plain to: council: when meni- * bership dwindled or when council clutched agenda items teddybear fashion, the com- mission has shrunk until it’s so ineffectual, at least one re- elected alderman wasn't aware of ils existence until last coun- cil meeting when the recrea- tion director complained about the commission's lack of members. , Commission members need no special knowledge or skills. All they should bring is an in- terest in the well-being of all ages. Ideally they have 10 sports biases, and. are able to attend regularly, At-large members must live in the area they represent, If they’re will- ing to ask naive, dumb ques- tlons everyone wants an ans- wer to, all the better, Surely our population of some 18,000 has nine such people? the reason you lice, 50 many clear tu (S thera are [ess t ‘aes. to obscure HEM sy. 3 how days VICTORIA -- Surely, he must be happy about the Crown’s decision not to ap- ‘peal his acquittal on breach- of-trust charges, reporters sug- gested to former premier Bill Vander Zalm. , ‘Why the hell should he be happy, the man replied. Should he be happy about the huge legal bills he incurred as a result of the "futile, hope- less, CIAZY, § stupid and point, ' him through? Why should he be happy, he asked, about the fact that the story about the Crown's deci- sion not to appeal was buried somewhere on the inside pages of the Vancouver Sun? Why, indeed? Jf I were Vander Zalm, I would be decidedly unhappy about the huge legal bills and a lot of other things that have happened to the former premier. [happen to agree with Vander Zalm. The trial was destined to be a futile, hope- less, crazy, stupid and point- less exercise that had more to do with vengeance than jus- tice, I never believed for a mo- ‘ ment that the Crown could prove criminal intent, a crucial element if you want to get a conviction on breach-of-trust charges. Which isn’t to say that Vander Zalm is a-knight in shining armor, a vision of himself he is very fond. of. Judge David Campbell, who found Vander Zalm not guilty of the charges, left no doubt that the former premier’s con- duct in the sale of his Fantasy Gardens theme park left a lot to be desired. Vander Zalm, Campbell said, was guilty of a sig- nificant withholding of in- formation during the Ted Hughes inquiry, and he added that some of the former premier’s activities "might be considered foolish, ill-advised, and in apparent or real conflict of interest.” But that’s precisely the [As SMT 1 AMAZING How THOSE. DOSS CAN SIT FOR HOURS AND HOURS OW THEMR HOUSES 2 ALL DAY? oO. vegvAneT Witch hunt fails | to nail the Zalm _ advised has never been in i violated his ox own conilict-o CHAT BO-THEY {tHe agour From the Capital by Hubert Beyer point. That Vander Zalm was foolish and his actions ill- oubty ‘horhas: the : fact-tha tha interest guidelines. There is,” however, a world of difference between breach of trust based on criminal intent and conflict of interest arising more from foolishness than anything else. - [said more than once early _ on in Vander Zalm’s brief career as premier of British Columbia that his inevitable “downfall would be his utter in- ability or unwillingness to un- derstand and act in accordance with the principles of par- liamentary democracy, So rooted in his European up- bringing is Vander Zalm that he has absolutely no under- standing of our system of government. _ Nowhere was this lack of un- derstanding more evident than in his stand on abortion. He truly believed that as premier he had not only the right but the duty to act in accordance _ with his own conviction which abhorred the very idea of abor- tion. If the premier doesn’t have the right to translate his own personal morals into policy, he once said, then we might as well hand government over to the Mafia. . With that same conviction, he believed that there was - nothing wrong with the way he disposed of Fantasy Gar- — dens, and from his point of view, that belief made perfect sense. All he was trying to do was sell the family business. And, as he often pointed out, whatever he did wasn’t cost- ing the taxpayers a cent. And eventhough he was quite enamored with his conflict-of-interest guidelines, it is obvious that he never un- derstood the underlying princi- ;ple, Othenvise he, wouldn't. ave asked’Ted’ Hughes ton: ~ conduct an inquiry. He walked into that morass fully con- vinced that he had nothing to fear. Hughes, of course, saw it differently. He concluded, and rightly so, that Vander Zalm had violated his own guidelines by having mixed public with his private busi- ness. But again, nothing in the Hughes report suggests that Vander Zalm was guilty of criminal breach of trust. Towards the end of his tur- bulent mandate, it became clear that Vander Zalm could no longer remain in office. His resignation became an ab- solute necessity. But that’s where it should have ended. Dragging the former premier into court on charges that had little if any substance amounted to futility at best and a witch hunt at worst. The other day, he suggesied that the government ought ta have to pay his legal bills. I’d advise him not to hold his breath. Unfair as it may seem to him, he’s got to dig into his own pocket to pay for the best criminal lawyer in British Columbia, a bill that is certain to be in the sex-figure range. But I can certainly under- stand his anger when reporters suggest he should be happy that the Crown in its wisdom has decided not to appeal the Campbell verdict, In conclusion, there can be - no doubt that Vander Zalm was the architect of much of his own misfortune, but to suggest by way of breach-of- trust charges that he was a criminal was unpardonable. - ‘a af std rtf