A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ‘ ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 158 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 » FAX: (604) 638-8432 | MODEM: (604) 638-7247 IF THERE’S ever an award for a quote of the week, it belongs to Mari-Lenne Pierce. Last week, in a story on scavenging at the Thornhill dump, Pierce said, “‘I happen. to be someone who enjoys this hobby as much as some people love to fish, hunt and camp.”’ Well put. In one short sentence, Mari-Lenne Pierce has nailed down an age-old enterprise. In modern terms, it’s called recycling. In the days before fancy language it was simply a matter of finding value in what other people have thrown out. Scavenging -has developed into a tradition in some jurisdictions. Residents of Colwood, a sub- urb of Victoria, put out on the streets what they don’t want (with the exception, of course, of wet garbage). Other residents then tour the neigh- bourhoods, picking up what they feel they can use before the regular garbage trucks heave to on the horizon. , It’s a mystery as to why some levels of govern- ment constantly harp about recycling and the need to cut down on waste going into garbage dumps while other levels of government estab- lish insurmountable roadblocks to scavenging. Skillful scavenging reduces the speed at which our dumps are being filled by our disposable society, It’s also a mystery as to why things have to be so complicated. Dumps are no longer dumps — they’re landfills. The phrase ‘‘active face’’ being used by the regional district refers to the part of the dump in which waste is being deposited. “‘Active face”’ in mining circles also refers to the working area of an underground mine. It seems as if minérals found in minés aré just as valuable’ as what’s.recovered at dumps. es Surely, things can’t be so convoluted that one person’s garbage can’t be another’s bonanza. Stop crime THE INTRODUCTION OF Crime Stoppers to Terrace completes a connection between this city, Kitimat and Prince Rupert. Those cities al- ready have functioning Crime Stoppers pro- grams. Now that Terrace has joined in, the - regional] effort should pay dividends. That’s because the more information there is available, the more people will see it. And the more people that have access to information, the more chances there’ll be of something happen- ing. This is why newspaper readers, radio listeners and TV watchers will see crimes from different cities featured every week under the Crime Stop- pers program. Criminals and crime, just like everything else nowadays, knows no boundaries. Kitimat, Prince Rupert and Terrace may be miles apart geog- raphically but modern highways and modern communications systems move them closer to- gether every day. It makes great sense that as the region grows — closer together, a regional program aimed at un- solved crimes is a worthy venture. coNnA GENK'5) — pususnenyepror: Red Link mal ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm (Re PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur Siena NEWS Jeff Nagel « NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher, Terry Miller DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur TYPESETTER: Susie Anderton ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janel Viveiros, Tracey Tomas CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunetie MEMBER OF B.C. PRESS COUNCIL Serving the Terrace and Thomhil| area. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1989) Lid, al 4647 Lazdla Avo., Terrace, British Columbia. Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and lypastyles In tha Tenace Standard are he property of tha copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969} Lid., its ittustralicn rapro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or inpart, without writtan permission, is spacificalty prohibited. Authorized as second-class mai! panding tha Pas{ Office Department, lar payment of postage In cash, Special thanks to all our contributors and cotrespondents , for their time and talents MAY | COUNT ON THE GENEROUS CO-OPERATION OF YOU KIND FOLKS TO SEE 10 IT THAT WE GET THIS FIREARM PROPERLY REGISTERED fu... Here’s a plan that works | VICTORIA — Been thinking about investments to get a tax break? Mcet David Levi, presi- dent and chief executive of- ficer of the Working Op- portunity Fund, a blue-collar investment fund that can put you right up there with ithe movers and shakers of the world of high finance — for as little as $500. . And if you have a young company that’s going places but needs some venture capital to expand, Levi is your man, toa, Thé Working Opportunity Fund (WOF) was set up by the NDP government in 1992 to raise money for and invest in young, expanding British Columbia companies, It is a labour-sponsored fund, which is probably why B.C. Feder- ation of Labor chief Ken Georgetti is on the board of directors. To qualify for venture capital fron WOF, companies must have less than $35 million in total assets, 80 per cent -of which must be located in Brit- ish Columbia. In addition, at least 50 per cent of wages and salaries must be paid to British Columbiaus. Before WOF invests in a company, however, it must submit toa “‘social audit,”’ an evaluation of the environmen- FROM THE-CAPITAL-’ HUBERT BEYER tal impact of the firm. Issues : 8uch as employee relations, job and product safety are exam- ined, Since the fund’s first offering in 1992, $77 million has been raised. By the end of its fifth year, the fund is estimated to hold $100 million, Now let’s look at what’s in for the investor. To encourage working people in British Columbia to invest in the fund, both the provincial and federal governments have granted a 20-per-cent tax credit to share- holders. These shares can also be used for RRSP contribu- tions, If you earn about $35,000 a year, a contribution of $1,000 to the fund through an RRSP allows a total tax savings of $800, which is not too shabby. But there is a catch: your money will be tied up for eight years, unless you die ar be- come disabled or unemployed. To be eligible as an investor in the Working Opportunily Fund, you must be a British Columbia resident who works a minimum of 20 hours a week. Yes, self-employed, professional and seasonal workers also qualify. And where's (he money going that you invest? To some pretty ag- gressive, successful and grow- ing companies. Here are some profiles: Photon Systems Corporation af Bumaby designs, manufac- tures and installs fibre optic cablevision equipment and sys- tems, placing the company on the ground floor of the world- wide electronic communica- tions field which is being revo- lutionized by fibre optics. Photon Systems has madc sales in Peru, China, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada and the United States, The company’s unique equip- ment includes laser-driven transmitters, optical receivers, signal amplifiers and cable system extenders. The Working Opportunity Fund holds a $550,000 minori- ty common shares position in Photon. Investment proceeds will be used mainly to enhancé’ marketing and production ca- pability. Stone Electronics of Victoria” is another success story in’ which WOF has investéd $880,000. The company de-_ signs and manufactures ‘the *— Divelink underwater commu- nications system for the recrea-. tional scuba market. While all other systems re- quire bulky, heavy, expensive * equipment, and are generally designed for use by commer-*-; cial divers only, Divelink’s state-of-the-art electronics _al- lows divers to speak to each .- other or to their tender vessel. The instantaneously. voice-.. activated communicators: © enable - divers” to’ ‘cotverse?2%": nomially in a variety of Water... conditions, Never. before have; divers been able to communi- ©.’ cate verbally to maximize the: enjoyment of their sport. a Divelink is currently being. sold in the Caribbean, the: United States, Canada and Europe. And the market is-: growing with more than a mil’ lion new divers a year being trained alone. us All told, the Working Op- portunity Fund offers good tax savings, wile helping young. - British Columbia companics to grow. Not a bad deal. abe Listen up, all you Yanks ~ NATIONAL RIFLE Associa- tions (NRA) in two American states — Kentucky is one — threaten to boycott hunting in Canada if justice minister Al- lan Rock’s proposed pun registration becomes law, Big fat hairy deal. Tie NRA isn’t the only game in town. Our wildlife is. Already Americans must reg- ister their guns wien they enter Canada. Rock’s proposed gun legislation won’t change any- thing for them. It will change things for Canadian hunters. Jf not in Canada, where else would NRA sahibs bunt? China? Pandas are almost ex- tinct, Russia? Jts political situation makes hunting there almost as risky as buying takeout at home, Farm grown, big game fenced in some Texas pasture? Every American hunter knows he’s safer stalking our grizzlies than he is sightseeing in Washington D.C. or taking ERSION NEVER OF THE ISSUE THROUGH BIFOCALS -CLAUDETTE SANDECKI ACTUALLY THAT WAS BOON THE PBS SPEC/AL a AND THE ¥BHOURS COVERED THAT ASPECT, an oceatt cruise, That’s why he disguises his American pass- port inside a fake Canadian passport cover. Only three and a half per cent of Americans belong to the NRA, Yet thanks to power- ful lobbyists and former presi- dent George Bush, a fellow NRA member, the NRA has goiten things its own way. This leads the NRA to think OF COURSE THE BEST iN DEPTH COVERAGE WAS THE AGE (0 FART SERIES BUT L } if they lean hard on Canada economically theyll persuade Allan Rock to shelve gun registration, something Cana- dian shooters aim for. Well, listen up, NRA. You don’t vote here. You enter Canada at our pleasure. Prepare to hunt by our miles or stay home. CBC New reports American binters leave $500 million in Canada annually through their hiring of $700 per day guides and outfitters. A lot of trophy animals must sacrifice their lives to coax that kind of money out of them. Another report claims 300 B.C. gtizzlies were killed last year, A live grizzly roaming his natural habitat could thrill countless onlookers for years. The same grizzly potshot by a Kentucky hunter, stuffed by a taxidermist and mounted on a den =o wall) sin’ ~=— Paducah momentarily thrills only one — the trophy hunter. WE HARDLY EVER hATCH Delighted tourists return year after year, The NRA will stop coming as soon as we have _ nothing spectacular {eft to shoot, Sever] summers ago B.C. raised the cost of fishing li- | censes. Every chamber of com- merce predicted economic ruination. What happened? A few for- cign fishermen cancelled plans to revisit the Skeena; they’ve been replaced by others. Fish-| ing guides are booked for the scason. Overall, tourism is up_ throughout B.C. The same will bappen with NRA hunters. — : in North America. _ and fishing guide ~” Canada’s wildlife belongs to. ” all 27 million of us, not just to guides and outfitters. So long as we creep up on our wildlife armed with a Kodak instead of © a Winchester we'll have some- thing special to share with our: descendants as well as our tourists, , ; NATION AC ENGUIRERER