A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 12, 2005 TERRACE ~ STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. - V8G SR2 _ TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 + FAX: (250) 638-8432 | _ WEB: www.terracestandard.com , EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard. com Deadly « drivers HERE’S THE list. In his blood: + Ethyl alcohol 4mmol/L .02 per cent. c- amphetamine 2.80 umol/L .38 mg/L - - - methamphetamine 18umol/L 2.60: mg/L - cocaine .43 umol/L 2.60 mg/L - benzoylecgonine 2 umol/L . 13 mg/L In his urine: - cocaine and metabolites screen: detected * - cocaine 1.3 umolV/L .39 mg/L, s benzoylecgonine 200 umol/L 58 mg/L What you’ve: just read is: what a pathologist | found in the blood and urine of truck driver David James Hart. who, by all accounts, drove his paint product-laden tractor trailer head on into the path _ of another truck carrying Terrace residents Dean Ganson and Richard Brown near Williams Lake Aug. 27,°2004, resulting i in the death of all three. In plain language, Mr. Hart was on coke and ~ erystal meth and had been drinking. . In equally plain language, just what in the name - of all that makes us a civilized society was Mr. . Hart doing behind the wheel of a large. truck car- rying deadly paint chemicals? The coroner who prepared the report into the ‘deaths: of these three men says Mr. Hart had a “significant history for driving offences and drug _ use.” He repeats the. words of the pathologist who “examined Mr. Hart: “paranoid psychosis associ- ated with abuse of this drug [crystal meth] might - have played a role in the motor vehicle acci- dent.” Again, the question. Why was Mr. Hart being allowed to drive in this condition? It’s an open secret in the long-haul trucking ‘industry that some drivers use crystal meth and other drugs to keep awake on the road. The more they drive, the more they get paid. It’s an ugly equation leading to disaster. Should anyone think this was an isolated case, consider this. During a four-day highway enforce- ment campaign in this area this past July, RCMP officers were astounded at the level of drug use they found amongst truckers. They seized mari- juana, cocaine, crack and crystal meth. -Commercial aircraft pilots are subjected to reg- | ular medical check ups. ‘We demand that in the name of:safety and common ‘sense so we know that the pilot taking us, our families and our friends to our destinations is:not drunk, stoned or ‘otherwise impaired. | There’s no difference between a pilot flying a cigar tube-shaped object through the air and a trucker steering a tractor-trailer unit down the road. That trucker is headed toward you, your family and your friends around every corner, along every straight stretch. | How.many more Mr. Harts are there? And who is going to find out? PUBLISHER/EDITOR: _. RodLink | ‘ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman COMMUNITY: . Dustin Quezada ; NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs ; FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband, Susan Willemen AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur . . SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: — t $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year; . Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167.89 ww 2005 WINNER NEWS' PAPERS COMPETITION MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, ’_ GANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION AND @ cna, fa sen? Sowers B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www.bcpresscouncil.org) = “arte Erremi ene este Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area, Published on Wednesday of @ each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G SR2. Black Press Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copy- right holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd.. its iliustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mait pending the Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents CCNA BETTER. O1Rickos THEY'RE PAYING DINGWALL OFF BECAUSE THEY'RE AFRAID HE MIGHT SUE? THEY'RE AFRAID OF A DISCREDITED, SPENDTHAIFT, HAS BEEN LIBERAL LACKEY ‘WHO'S EARNED THE DISDAIN AND CONTEMPT OF EVERY OVERTAXED CANADIAN 7 WELL, You KNOW WHAT THEY SAN: HELL HATH NO. FURY LIKE A PATRONAGE _APPOINTEE SCORNED \ Hey, you. tt S about the debt FOR A government that prides - itself as a “leader in financial accountability” of a surprise mini-budget in . the ‘release September. by the provincial government was a bit of a mis- step. The budget update con- tained a little something for ever yone. There is anew $100 million . ' Aboriginal New Relationship . Fund and beefed up income _ Support for seniors. The allocation of federal . daycare and pine beetle dollars took place. There was mention of the : province’s mounting debt. . Business was offered some . relief with a reduction in the general corporate tax rate to 12 per cent. — But, it was the bio-technol- ogy sector that was "the big winner. That sector is now ) eligible for the highly sought after re- fundable tax credit. The September budget wasn’t just a series of targeted handouts. ’ Finance minister Carole Taylor also reported that the surplus forecast figures have improved since’ the February budget. This year’s surplus is now projected to hit $1.6 billion, including the $300 million forecast allowance’ Stronger revenues prompted the finance minister to increase the government’s contingency fund (the ‘just in case fund’) _ by $50 million for each of the next three years. The forecast allowance is similar to the contingency. GUEST COMMENT fund, .in that it is used as a. cushion for government fore- casting. The finance minister dra- matically increased the fore- cast allowance amounts for 2007 and 2008 by $500 mil- lion for a total allowance of $1.5 billion. ; In past years the unused forecast allowance, contingen- cy fund and left over surplus were all put toward the Prov- ince’s debt. The update notes a change in course and stipulates that the extra- cushioning is to cover the expected increase in pubic sector compensation with the new wage mandate. [Note to finance: earmark- ing funds for wage increases in advance of negotiations may not be the best bargaining strategy.] Does this mean. that the | possible debt payment has been reduced? Well, finance minister Car- ole Taylor indicated that from now on all surplus dollars will be put toward the debt. Funny thing is - - that already hap- pens. ° “In order to be compliant with the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) _at the close of each fiscal year ~ all surplus dollars are applied to the debt, they cannot be car- ried forward. ; However, for the last couple of years a disturbing trend has developed: the February bud- . get is released with a modest , surplus _ projected, mid-year - SARA MCINTYRE . reports forecast increased rev- enues pushing up the surplus, the government then. veers from its February fiscal plan and engages in.a series of - mid-year spending announce- - ments and the leftovers go to the debt. As long as .the surplus ‘amount at the end of the fis- cal year is half of the February estimate than the government has satisfied its statutory com- mitments. More alarming, is the in- creasing amount of multi-year capital infrastructure projects announced that are all debt fi- nanced, The update proudly pro- claims a three year $1.1 billion increase to the government’s infrastructure plan — just since February. Consequently, fewer sur- plus dollars are applied to the debt and new borrowing is in- creasing. It is not surprising then that the debt will climb to $38 bil- lion by 2008. Meanwhile, debt servicing costs are at $2.179 billion this year, roughly $6. million a day. The new finance minister has a chance to change the re- cent trend and hopefully take some past cues from her lead- er. 3 Six years ago, while in op- position, Gordon Campbell criticized the government’s debt management plan and the . increasing tax dollars going toward debt interest, “What’s ° $2.6 billion in interest? Ever. think of that?” asked Camp- bell. . “That’s more money: than we get from the combined rev- - enues from business income taxes, from fuel taxes, from property ‘transfer taxes and from corporate capital taxes all together....the interest tab _ continues to run, and it doesn’t provide for anything in. the long-term future of British Co- lumbia,” Campbell concluded. In.the government’s man- date, the debt continued to grow and debt interest costs have hovered at $2.2 billion a year. Taylor should note that the annual debt interest costs are more than the combined an- nual budgets for Community Services, Labour and Citizens Services and Child and Family Development. ==> . Obviously, the current debt — ‘plan’ isn’t working. Carole Taylor has an opportunity to make debt pay down a priority in British Columbia. Let’s hope Campbell stands by ‘his words and offers her some sage advice on the con- | sequences of a growing debt load... Put child rapists in jai for life After his first conviction, every child rapist should be jailed for life with no chance _ of parole ever. He shouldn’t be given a second chance. That’s Oprah’s stand and I agree with her. Anyone who rapes a child should be denied * freedom to repeat his offence. No matter. who his relatives are, how rich they might be, or. what his upbringing. If he | disrupts the life and welfare of any child, he’s of little worth _ to blood kin. Oprah devoted her entire October: 4 program to the — subject of child predators re- minding us of America’s best known victims from the Klass child, one of America’s ear- liest victims, to Shasta, the 9-year-old rescued from her captor in a Denny’s restaurant where the waitress I.D.’d the child from her Missing poster _ and called police, to the Flori- da child who was buried alive by the neighbour who lived across the street. Oprah showed video foot- age of the Florida rapist/mur- derer yukking it up with fellow THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI bar patrons only days after he shoveled dirt over her as she clutched her purple porpoise. He had a lengthy rap sheet for child rape but the courts let him walk the streets. Similarly with Shasta, the Idaho child, her rapist had a 25 year history of arrests for simi- lar abuses on children. In one case he paid his own $15,000 bail with a personal cheque and disappeared to endanger more unsuspecting families. Oprah is sick of America’s justice. system, sick of inno- cent children being harmed, and sick of the American pub- - lics’ short term reaction. “Oh, they say on. that’s so horrible,” hearing media reports of the ‘latest abduction. But if it’s not their child, they soon forget. Life goes on. For a week. or two we are more vigilant about our children’s where- abouts, then we relax and trust the law is keeping our commu- . nity predator free. In fact, we could be liv- ing beside an equally mon- strous child predator without any inkling of their history or criminal record. The jus- tice system withholds names, whereabouts, and history of arrests or convictions. After ‘all, criminals need protection from public scrutiny; forget the victim. But what about the kids skipping by on the rapist’s Street, standing next to him: in a hospital waiting room, or playing in a schoolyard? Oprah wants Americans to take to the streets and demand tougher sentencing for child rapists. ‘Only an overwhelm- ing demand by the public will move lawmakers and judges to lock up these offenders where they can never harm another child. , Canadians should heed Oprah’s call for activism. We, .too, have our unforgettable: victims. Again, their rapists have long records of prior ar- rests. They travel our country without warning to parents “or schools. Always they seek _jobs close to children. Rapists know - and meticu- lously. plan - how to befriend single moms, how to ingratiate themselves with neighbors’ children, and how to pounce on an unaccompanied child. With all the planning rap- ists put into their abductions, as one jailed rapist’s “manual” proves, never let them off with _ the excuse they were drunk, or high on drugs. Dr. Phil’s exposure of a cult of Utah polygamists disrupted their colony like a swift kick to an anthill. Oprah’s call to arms will benefit children ev- erywhere.