Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 13, 1994

“TERRACE.

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C, * V8G 188
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432
MODEN: 638-7247

Congyrais

CONGRATULATIONS go out to the local
Midget °C’ girls fastpitch team for their provin-
cial championship win.

Winning a B,C. championship is something any
team could be proud of, but the victory is all the
sweeter when it’s a relatively small community
that brings it home.

Make no mistake, softball is popular here and
there is no shortage of girls wanting to learn the
game and learn how to play it well.

But when you look at the population pool Ter-
race has to draw from and compare it to com-
munities like Vancouver, Richmond and the
other Lower Mainland locations that sent teams
up here for the championship, you get a pretty
good idea of the significance of the achievement
of coach Vic Buteau and his team.Nor should the
efforts of organizers go unnoticed. There’s a lot
of work involved in putting on an event like this
or last winter’s provincial hockey championship.

Many of the people putting in the hours re-
quired to make it successful are the same people
who volunteer many more as part of the regular
season.

Apart from the spectacle they provide for sports
fans, they also provide a valuable boost for the
local economy both at the time of the tournament
and perhaps for many years to come.

Organizers of the fastpitch tourney say it at-
tracted 500 people to Terrace. Given nearly all
stayed in hotels/motels and ate their meals at lo-
cal food outlets, that’s a lot of money pumped
into the economy. .

And for many of those 500, it was their first
visit to our city. Assuming the warm welcome
they received will outweigh the less than perfect
weather they had to endure, they will be back
again some day and the economy will benefit
once more.

The city has a staff member known as an eco-

nomic development officer.

In the individuals who put in all the time to
imake these events happen, they have a lot more
unofficial ones.

Uncertainty

THAT’S A word that appears several times in
the just-released timber supply analysis for the
Kalum South area of our forest district.

Uncertainty about the amount of wood that’s
actually out there. Uncertainty about just how
quickly second growth forests which become
harvestable.

And for industry workers and their families,
there’s likely uncertainty about their own future
given most of the graphs and tables in the report
indicate the amount of wood being cut each year
will have to be reduced.

Just what the effect of such a cut will be should
be outlined in a socio-economic report expected
to be released next month.

Of course, we’ve been through this before.

A similar timber supply report on Kalum North
- soon to be renamed the Nass TSA — was
released. It showed the current cut was running
at a level three times higher than the long term
sustainable harvest.

Translated, do something or face a severe
shortage of wood further down the road.

That was 16 months ago.

The chief forester has yet to make a decision on
the annual allowable cut in the Kalum North.

Which creates another uncertainty: is there a
point to this whole exercise?

5) PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link 7
ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamma toner
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur

NEWS COMMUNITY: Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter

OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher .

DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur
ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS:
Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Howie Oram .
CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Charicnc Matthews

Serving the Ferrace area. Published on Wednesday of each wack by Cariboo Press (1980) Ltd, al 484%
Lazelie Avé., Terrace, British Columbia. : . : :

Stoties, photographs, illustralians, designs and lypestyles In the Terrace Slandard ate the property of the
copyright hokors, including Cariboo Press (1968) Ltd, it's ilusirallén repro services. and advertising
agencies. . oo : Po, a -

Reproduction in whote or in part, without written permission, is specifically prohibited,

Auihotzedas second-class mail pending the Pos! Office Department, for paymentof postage in cash.

cy
wCNA

Special thanks to all our contri butors and correspondents
“— -  for.thelr time and talents"

BESIDES AFEW UNPLEASANTRIES
[THINK THE UP-ISLAND TRIP
WAS A GREAT SICCESS...

Ml

VICTORIA - THE MORE
things change, the more they
Slay the same. Take the latest
row over whether or not the
povernment is favoring NDP
ridings when it comes to
spending the laxpayers’
money.

Billions of borrowed dollars
are being poured into ridings
held by the NDP in a "blatant
political pork-oul" of B.C, 21
pranis, Liberal MLA Fred
Gingell howled last week. The
Reform Party joined — the
chorus,

Gingell said 90 per cent of
B.C. 21 granis for capital
projects is being spent in NDP
ridings . The Reformers said
the NDP is trying to buy tax-
payers and voters with their

own money. It’s a familiar

tune. ‘

- A few years ago, the howling

was done by the NDP, then the
official opposition. The Socred
government, the NDP said at
the time, was blatantly favor-

ing Social Credit ridings in the -

distribution of Lotto proceeds.

Then as now, I say. balder-
dash. The only thing blatant,
then as now, is the opposi-
tion’s whining.

The latest capital project an-.

nounced by the government for
consiruction under the auspices

"territory. - :

of B.C, 21 is the $800 million —

Power cuts cause slow burn |

PVE HAD IT with Queensway
motorists targeting a particular
hydro pole as an Off ramp.
Because this pole is a major
trank feed, smashing into it
can black out much of Thorn-
hill, Terrace and Lakelse Lake,
It happened again last Wed-

nesday evening al 6:54. I was -
sct lo do a few hours of over-

time sewing catching up on

deadlines when “Pffft?’, the .
fluorescenis went out,. my -

sewing machine lost ‘power,
and In the living room the tele-
vision went dead.

My husband and I read, sil-
ting before a west windaw {ao
make the most of dying
daylight, until power was
restored over an hour ialer. °

FROM THE CAPITAL
HUBERT BEYER

facelifi for B.C. Ferries,
Employment Minister Glen
Clark was quick to point out
that most of the areas benefit-
ing from the $800 million in-
vestment were in enemy-held

"Swartz Bay is a Liberal
riding, Tsawwassen is Liberal,
Powell River is an Alliance
riding," Clark said. And the
largest. community grant
awarded to date under B.C. 21,
he added, went to Matsqui,
where ihe NDP got badly
mauled by the Liberals in the
recent by-election.

Besides, if the government
really wanted to- buy votes,
why would it do so in ridings
where it has a good chance of

Now, | love to read but I pre-
' bulances on their way to the

fer to choose when I do it. I
also find it hard to concentrate
on a novel while wondering
‘‘How bad was the accident?
What is the exlent of injuries?
Was anyone killed? How many
passengers were involved?
Were any pedestrians wiped

THROUGH. BIFOCALS |
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

out?’

Someone who had been driv-
ing cast out of lown about the
lime of the impact saw three
police cruisers and two am-

scene.

‘That signifies a major
mishap. Ii could have been a
blazing barbecue if the hydro
line had Fallen on the driver.

‘What allracts motorists to
this parlicular hydro pole like

(iy =~ -
a S

at
at || Mad

a

— Mrs ee

D ft
mh
Pa me MC

MARTEN'S TAKING

KAYAK LESSONS.: :

AY Line

re-election without bribing the
voters? Wouldn’t it make more
sense i pour money into

- Tidings thal are now held by

opposition parties, in ihe hope
of swinging votes in its favor,
come the next election?

The real question is whether
or not the NDP is shovelling
money off the back of a truck
as @ prelude to the next elec-
tion, period, nol whether NDP-
held ridings get a larger share.
And the second question
should be: can we afford it?

I know, I said just a week or
so ago that Premier Harcourt
won't. call an election until
next spring, bul I’m beginning
to wonder.

There hasn’t been a spending
spree on capital projects by
any government since W.A.C.
Bennett first was elected.

Convinced that British
Columbia would — forever
remain a backwater, have-not
province until a modern infra-
situcture and transportation
system was put in place, Ben-
nett launched British Columbia
on an unprecedented capital
spending orgy.

Highways were built to con-
neci remote areas of the pro-
vince wiih the south. Hundreds
of bridges were constructed.
Under the Columbia. River

stam attists to the elderly?
Does it carry a ‘‘Hit Me’’
sign? It ought to be marked
like a child’s growth chart to
measure impact speeds,

These power blackouts dis-
rupt lives all over Thomhill. J
lost two work hours. Others ate
their supper in the dark.
Birthday parties had less
sparkle. Meetings were post-
poned. Caregivers had to can-
cel evening plans and slay

home because elderly parents
couldn’t be left alone to stum-
ble about in the dark.

But do these pole-climbing
molorists give a thought to Ihe
many lives they affect when
they knock out power to
hundreds of residents?

Not likely. For them it’s an
Oops! Sorry. Nothing more.

Unless they’te chatged with
driving without due care and
allention = ar something
weightier. Then it’s a brief ap-
pearance in court, followed by
a quicker visit to the automated

T AM USING
MY GX BACK |

ND MY NAME

le

AIN'T EDDY !!

It worked for Prem. Bennett!

Treaty, huge hydro-eleciric
projects were undertaken. Ben-
nett’s vision pald off. Within a
few years, British Columbia
became one of the richest pro-
vinces.

It is ironic (hough, that the
NDP, the party that bitterly op-
posed every major project built
under the governments of Ben-
nett Senior and Bennett Junior
during the last 40 years, is
making the Social Credit
Party’s obsession with mega-
projects look like a. minor
flirtation.

The total committed, so far,
lo major projects under B,C,
21 comes to $3.7 billion. Clark
insists that the projects are "an
investment in the future."

Such statements should be
lake with a grain of salt. While
there is an inherent kemel of
(ruth to them, they don’t ad-
dress the - question of ‘affor-
dability. There is, after all,
something ludicrous about a
government that ties to tell the
public it’s working towards a
balanced budget, while com-
mitting $3.7 billion of their
money.

It’s a gamble al best, a gam-
ble that paid handsome

dividends for W.A.C. Bennett

and, yes, the taxpayers. The
NDP is betting that history will
repeat ilself.

teller for money to pay an itty-
bitty fine.

What a consequence! What
an awakening!

What the court should do is
cut off their hydro for as many
hours as the inconvenienced

hydro customers. So if they ©

knocked out power to 2000
residents for two hours, divide

the 4000 hours by 24 to get.

166 days..withoul power to
their dwelling.

That kind of personal in-
convenience - no lights, heat,
refrigerator, TV or stereo in
their home - might get it
through drivers skulls that
foolhardy driving has a cost.
Disconnecting his power for
five and a half months might
make them drive more
responsibly in future.

Or maybe not. A lot of
motorisis seem to be learning-
impaired. They prefer to
remain in the dark. ,

If only they didn't take me
with them.

OUTSIDERS |

LEARNING FROM