TERRACE, HERALD, TERRACE, B.C. MONDAY, MAY 3, 1971 Terrace } ADVERTISING MANAGER: GARY CARD Business Address: 4613 Lazelle Ave., The Terrace Herald is a member of the Canadian Weekly Newspaper - Association, The B.C. Weekly Newspapers’ Assocation, and Varified Cir- culation. Published every Monday and Thursday at 4613 Lazelfe Ave., ’ Terrace, B.C. Postage paid in cash, Return postage guaranteed. Second class mail registration number 1201. GENERAL MANAGER : GORDON HAMILTON Terrace, B.C, Herald | rPARZE~ZO Kayce White — Editor Phone: 635-6357" J OUR OPINION Straighten out law Are seventeen year olds adults or juveniles? Should they be tried in juvenile court or adult court? To a judge, prosecutor, defence attorney or law enforcement official the answers are understandably im- portant. Of greater importance are the seventeen-year-olds currently in the middle of the legal squabble which has slowed the wheels attempting to grind out justice. We Lave no quarrel] with the judge in Vancouver who first allowed the protest against the federal government proclamation, made in answer to a request by the provincial government, changing the minimum age for adults from 18 to 17 years. To all intents and purposes as far as the publié is con- cerned it makes no difference if its 17, 18 or 19 years. We have no quarrel with the Supreme Court for its ruling that the law was valid and we have no quarrel with the lawyer who has now appealed the Supreme Court’s decision. There is a constant making, testing and remaking of laws. Changing times and conditions dictate that it will ever be this way. But what we do not like is the fact that while the legal wrangling goes on there are many innocent people being hurt. Senior Provincial Court Judge Larry Eckardt has indicated there are currently 1,300 cases awaiting final disposition because of the age limit indecision. Surely with the exceptional calibre of British Columbia’s legal fraternity ways can be found to proceed with the cases involving those now caught in the Seventeen-year-old bracket quandary. Nobody, least of all the lawyers and judges, wants to impose punishment where it is not deserved and yet that is just what is being done under the current conditions. We feel it is unfair to the accused, legally innocent until proven guilty, to be subjected to the indeterminate period of time between the laying of a charge and the eventual! disposition of the case. Not only are the accused in- volved in the delay but in many cases it is reasonable to expect family and friends are also being subjected to mental strain and restrictions. GUEST EDITORIAL Library regionalization BY MIEN VAN HEEK, TERRACE PUBLIC LIBRARY This is library week in British -Columbia, - In Terrace we apparently have . reason to celebrate this event with some satisfaction: the public library is housed in an attractive building - a monument to one of our many centennials -- the book collection, membership and number of books borrowed is increasing steadily. In March we achieved an all-time _record of over 5,000 books borrowed in .one month. Children use the library extensively and feel at home in it. They ask questions and advice from the staff as if they were old friends. Adults are generally able to find what they are looking for informational or recreational reading, But, while we have passed the stage of the basement and-or any-old- building-will-do library, and the opening hours have been extended from the previous two hours a day, we should forget our pride for a moment and take a critical look at the Terrace Library. Terrace Library has 12,000 books in circulation -- one book per capita. B.C. Government minimum standards call for two books per capita. Kitimat and Prince Rupert each have well over 20,000 books. Our magazine section is very well used, but we have subscriptions to only ten magazines and newspapers, (Some subscriptions are a donation from public spirited citizens.) Many times we have to tell a patron; ‘Sorry, we haven't got it, but if you happen to go to Kitimat ” Space islimited, Soon we will have to remove reading and study tables to make room for needed new shelving. In the children’s section there is little room left for adding new books without . blocking vision and traffic. . Despite the fact. that audiovisual media are said to be the thing of the future,.Terrace Public Library has no maps, no pictures, no. records, no films. « Bo oe * ~ each smali library. Opening hours’ are limited because of staif shortage. (In Prince Rupert and Kitimat ......, no I better stop this.) There is no money or time available to make booklists,-do regular book reviews, or attempt numerous other things which could enhance library service, The answer to some of these problems may be found in a bigger Share of municipal and provincial taxes, . Another solution is Co-operation and Regionalization. _ This is where my name-dropping of Kitimat and Prince Rupert is intentional. If libraries in our district joined together in one system there would be enormous advantages. Book buying, processing and catalogueing could be centralized to save duplication of such procedures in Booklists and reviews could be Shared. Books could be speedily exchanged and circulated between member libraries. Most important, an adequate reference collection and service could be set up to serve the entire area. Answers to particular problems or Special information could be obtained in hours or even minutes. (Currently people who request answers must wait weeks and even months for a reply.) And, best of all, taxpayers would Save money. . Vancouver Island Regional Library system has proven all the advantages listed; any resident of Vancouver Island will confirm that library service in even the smallest community is efficient and extensive, . Regionalization is official policy of the B.C. Library Development Commission, a government .agency, and of the B.C. Library Association. The adoption of this policy would be of great benefit to the residents of Terrace, and especially to their children, mes _ Dear Editor: .. =: :. . _ With reference ‘to the bowling restlis published-Jn the April ~ ' 26th issiie-‘réferring -to the -BS.ers being the only. team. to take top loriourg in league play: “and go on to win the rolloffs, «| . ~ Correction “in Aprill 29th issue of - the. Herald. we omitted: ““Poverty-No Disease” to. f: -Vancotver. «) Mr,” M.C, Alge etcalf‘Is a CBC radio” irae Street ~ its. author, Ben- Metcalfe, . ommentator: and: public :. ‘relations conaultant; :: ees HO HUM - "THOMAS ELLIS ‘When Thomas _— Ellis - returned to the Okanagan with his Irish bride their only home was a two-room eabin without a roof, Later, Ellis who was ‘the first permanent white ’., settler in the Penticton area, .° ‘became known as the Cattle - King with stock bearing his 69 ‘brand ranging over 30,000 acres of ranchland between 'Naramata and the In- : ternational Boundary. _ He was born in Dublin in ‘1844 and at the age of 20, at- tracted by tales of gold strikes and land bargains in British Columbia, set sail around '-. Cape: Hom. After spending ~ some time in Victoria he anda friend, Andrew McFarland, travelled up the Fraser River _ by steamboat then struck off _ on foot’ for the Okanagan .: On the site where Penticton - now stands he set upa trading” post and general store and carried on a_ profitable business with Indian trappers. The partners quickly saw the IN MY _VIEWS sine sane Some people have difficulty growing houseplants, [ have the opposite trouble. My plants grow so big they almost take over the house. But they don’t necessarily grow the Tight and proper way. Some have huge stems and very few leaves, others have spindly stalks and a jungle of leaves. Still others have very little | leaf or stem but keep multiplying and dropping their progeny all around their feet and still others have a surfeit of both trunk and foliage. , You might say. 1 -have. a... green thumb...but I'm all thumbs. The ability to grow plants is most likely a family trait which is passed on irgm generation to generation like water divining or waking al six a.m. on the dot without benefit of an alarm clock. My grandmother had a ‘thing’ for scented geraniums - her ‘granny smell’ was definitely scented geranium, and mother's bag is cacti. Buti am not so discerning, I have a propanderance of plants of all varieties..and like Topsy, they all grow. Toss an apple pip into my aspidestra and an orchard blooms the next spring or casual flick a cigarette ash into my last year’s Mother's Day crysanthemum and a2 tobacco crop flourishes in my kitchen within weeks. To makes plants grow I’m sure you must love them. I number my plants among my closest associates but I have difficulty remembering their names, i'm on a first name basis with very few plants. Usually house plant -enthusiasis are proud of their plants but some of mine E try to hide like a protective mother with an addle-brained .child.. ey For instance I bought a preity little plant one day in the some non-plant kind of a store like a bakery because I feltsorry forit. Ithada hairy purple stalk and its leaves were preen and maroon on top and green and_ furry underneath, Don’t ask me what it was, Anyway I took it home and set its feet firmly in the good earth in a bedroom planter. Now you would swear that plant lived exclusively on fertilizer the way it grew. Ina month it was over a foot tall, within six months it Was about three feet and in a year it had reached the ceiling, The stalk , was 50 thin that if somebody in . the same room sneezed it shivered. But the really Strange thing about this plant was that for every leaf it sprouted it lost one, It started with two leaves and a couple of years later when it had reached the ceiling, turned at a ninety degree angle and grown across the ceiling it still had only two leaves. I finally got rid. of it because it frightened timid visitors who thought it was some sort of man-eating vine seeking its dinner. I have been told that ivy grows quickly but my ivy just Taultiplies right on the spot,so. that I have an ivy hedge in a. pot. What really grows quickly in my homes is philodendrons...any kind. In one of our Vancouver houses there was an arch between the living and dining rooms. I placed a small - variety philedendron on a ledge on one side of the arch: Within five years the plant had wrapped its arms around an arch support and circles its way to the ceiling, across the arch, and spiralled down the. other side and up again and was on its way across to its origins when we moved, And yet the thing had no special diet or encouragement. T admit I dotalk tomy plants BiLL SMILEY: Some people love to speak Last week [! mentioned - making a speech to the Vimy © Branch, Canadian Legion, and - what a treat it was to be able to get up and talk aboul the stupidity of senior officers. Normally, 1 loathe making speeches almost as much as.I detest listening to them. As aie former reporter-editor,- a cold, wet, grey blanket comes down over my spirit at the fateful words, : “And now, I give you our guest speaker,” That's the signal, Seme Buest speakers you couldn't “give” to-a starving group of cannibals, ‘ I have been ‘‘given’’ -dunderheads and dalts, politicans and poltroons,' pipsqueaks, pedagogues and - presidents, philosophers. . Not once have I been inspired, uplifted convinced. On a very few tceasions I have been mildly | amused, although almost never by professional’ humorists, who. always seem’ so intent on keeping their farmers and tongues in thelr cheeks that. ‘ you begin: to feel that, somewhere in the process they -have bitten them off, "That's. the receiving. end, The delivering end is just as' bad. It follows a fairly pat “format © > You are celled up, or written | lo, by the secretary of some organization which you've never heard of; and told they'd: like .to: have’ you “as. quest dppaker at some-function you : -have-no interest-in, at some. “lace you have.no ldea‘of how -"45 ha wediet “WO get tos oo ho weekly . or.” yy This is the moment to say, Youd and clear, “Thank you; T- am deeply honored, but] can't possibly make it,” Any wavering, and you're in . trouble, The professional guest ‘Speaker, and there are a few. about, chooses that moment to lay down his cards. He says, “Well, I might be able to fit that in on that date, but BH have to consult my calendar,” He consults his calendar, which is blank for weeks. He. calls back. ‘‘Yes,-1 could make it. My fee is $75, Plus expenses.” oy ; This produces an agonized ‘ pause, if you're on the phone, _ Then comes a plaintive, “Oh, ’ ‘Yes. Well, uh, as yoti know, uh, we're. a‘ non-profit organization, and we don’t -have much money, and we thought you'd just come along - and. give usa little talk,’ You - know, just anything, Uh, how -would $10 expenses be?" And, ina burst of enthusiasm, “Ahd bring your, wife along. * Her dinner would course This is always what clinghes -+ - it with me!: AC lastéminute . invitation for my wife? And a - free dinner for her. Big deal. . ' Some-people loye to spéali, |... To ahyhody.”' They have? speech, ‘which . they've’ - ' “memorized.,..They have two - jokes, invariibly.inserted with: the prefix, “That reminds me~ . bf a litte story.’ It didn't, © Anid:the'story-hais nothing todo - with anything. oe But ‘for: half-an hour, and 7sometimes, Lord help ‘us,’ for. jninutes, these speakers are eynosure’ of * all: eyes; be: free, ‘of |, except those which are closed in slumber. And every ear is attuned. fo them. Except’ those with the hearing aids turned off. They bask. It ‘s nectar and ambrosia to them, even though lukewarm coffee and cold porridge to their listeners. Good luck to them. For me, it’s torment. It’s like a Saturday. night bath, whether ‘you need it or not, _— About every two years, [ make-a speech, whether | need it or not. I'm proving - something lo myself. . thresh-hold, Six foot, hight, twenty seven the train so] had to leave itin ~ the east. ° Maybe: “it ‘was ’ Kelsey Bay and Prince Rupert .. Plants just sink the roots again - and keep on growing. we * My jade plant had all its ‘stems and behind. its leaves _ washed with a cloth which had it may be. outcrop flying across the | T FEEL LIKE DOIN SOMETHIN' A BIT DIFFERENT TONIGHT, FLO... ANY » 6 M( SUGGESTIONS? possibilities in cattle raising and raised enough money to bring 20head of stock from the coast as a nucleus for their herd, -Soon afterwards, however, McFarland returned to Ireland and Ellis followed to wed his childhood sweetheart. ’ From these -madest beginnings Ellis on his return to the Okanagan built an empire which: at the time of his retirement © included ranches at Osoyoos; Okanagan Fails and Mission. He also laid the foundations for the fruit industry, built and launched the first steamboat to operate on Okanagan Lake in 1890, and built the first Protestant church and make them feel-that they are members of the family with their’ share of responsibility. In Montreal our huge split leaf philodendron sat at the front door and personally welcomed each and every person who crossed cur It would hold forward some of its leafy arms in welcome and with others leaves indicate the way to the living room, 1 miss the help. There is no way J could bring a leaf plant derossCanada-onn.. op | “Sanders was restless man Theiinal approval of British Columbia’s entry into Con- federation in 1871 forced the resignation of a number of Counly Court judges who were ‘nol. barrislers by profession, Such was nol the case for Edward Howard Sanders, son of an English gentleman, who had only a military career prior io coming to British Columbia. : Sanders was horn in ‘England in 1832 and from the . - age of 14 he had his‘ schooling in Europe,. In. 1849, after graduating from a military - school in Vienna, he obtained a commission in the Imperial up the ghost. The kids place Austrian Army, Shortly afler plastic jungle anixmals in the the outbreak of the Crimean foliage and then tear up roots = War in 1854 he and a group of indiscriminately when they glher English officers remove the animals but the resigned and joined - the ‘Brilish German Legion in ‘which he served until 1857. Shortly after coming to British Columbia, Sanders was appointed assistant gold cummissioner for (the district of Yale in 1859. He was also unolingual and wouldn’t have. been happy in the west anyhow. And of course the trouble is that each time one makes a. move plants must be given away. Except this last move from Vancouver to Terrace, I insisted on bringing my plants with me which must have presented quite.a picture as I drove peering out from between leaves and branches all the way from Nanaimo to to Terrace, Sort of a garden variely camouflage. ; As with all things accidents will happen with plants but no matter what woe betides my plants they den’t seem to give been soaked in bleach and not rinsed, Al! the leaves drooped and broke off but are growing juslice of ‘the peace and back againonebyoneandnow _stipendiary magistrate and in as’each new leaf appears the - 1962 the Hope district, was family pup seems to take aim = added {fo his jurisdiction. He with her tail and set the was appointed to the first ut f cros Legislative Council of the Kitchen like a green pellet. = mainland ‘colony of British But no matter what transpires ° Columbia in ‘1964, retaining I know the plant will survive, . this position after the union of like.all our plants it has nine the colonies until the eve of lives. . : ; Cunfederation. ‘OW ABOUT THE ‘PICTURES, 4 FEW BEERS, A FISH - AN' CHIP SUPPER, THEN 4 STROLL | ALONG THE CANAL BANK? WHAT'S DIFFERENT ) ABOUT THAT?