A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 28, 2003 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 » FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com - EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com Go, Paul, go FEDERAL LIBERAL leadership front-runner Paul Martin just might be an unlikely hero for those of us who live in the northwest. Sure, he was the finance minister under Prime Minister Jean Chretien who introduced the odious air travel security fee and he is one of those well- connected and wealthy easterners westerners get pretty nervous about. But there is one thing that stands him in good stead. By all accounts, Mr. Martin will be chosen to_ succeed Mr. Chretien as the federal Liberal leader, . automatically making him the next Prime Min- ister by early next year. Although there would still be some time left in the Chretien Liberal gov- . ernment mandate, chances are Mr. Martin will want to call an election by late spring in an at- tempt to put his own stamp on a brand new Lib- eral government. And that will work in our favour because spring is before July and July is the date that new federal riding boundaries are to take effect. This is important to the northwest because the Skeena riding is to grow, extending east down Hwy16 to around Vanderhoof, Having the riding grow isn’t a good thing for the northwest. It effectively reduces the value of each northwestern vote because more area is be- ing added, And that is happening to meet riding population rules. The rules give a range of riding population levels, In the south, the geographic sizes of ridings are being reduced and new seats are being created be- cause of population increases, Rural areas are los- ing out on what political identity we have in Otta- wa because our seat niimbers are declining due to: | population reductions. Urban areas, already politically fat, are gaining because their population is growing. There is al-— ready a large imbalance and it will grow as the years go on. Yet if Mr. Martin is elected as the federal Liber- al leader and is then made Prime Minister and does call an election before July, the election will: be fought under the current ridings. It means our Skeena votes will be worth more, at least for four or five additional years, than they would be if the: new ridings came into effect. Ironically, those in the south are already com- plaining. They say that if Mr. Martin is the next Prime Minister and does call an election before July, they won’t get those extra seats they claim as rightfully theirs, Tough. Better for us to avoid a loss than for the south to lose out on a gain. Who would have thought that Mr. Martin could do something that aids us in the north yet leaves those in the south out in the electoral cold? They say politics makes strange bedfellows. | Make some room for a snuggle with Mr. Martin, : our new friend. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah A. Zimmerman — NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang CCNA BETTER FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay NEWSPAPERS CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon COMPETITION ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Denise Young TELEMARKETER: Denise Young COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $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)=167.89 002 WINNER MEMBER OF fa B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION an CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION @ CNA comonr AND Comment HewstAbend Spt ttt tte » rs reer rss B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www.bepresscouncll.org) Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area. Publishad on Wednesday of each waek at 3210 Clinton Straal, Terraca, British Columbla, V8G 5A2. Storlgs, photographs, ilustrations, designs-and typestyles in the Terraca Standard ara tha property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd., its illustration repro services and advertising agencies, Reproduction in whota of In part, without written permission, Is specifically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mail panding the Post Otlica Caparimant, for paymant of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents j for thelr time and talents UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT: iS = Bis SAL OWT meee THE AMENDMENTS WE'VE MADE To THIS BILL WILL GO FAR To PREVENT UNNECESSARY PAIN ANP a\~s SUFFERING To HUNTERS RANCHERS, SCIENTISTS AND ABUSIVE PET OWNERS WHO REGARP TAEIR ANIMALS NY _AS PERSONAL PROPERTY “@iriec | Mould is a new softwood threat VICTORIA —- As if the soft- wood lumber tariff wasn't bad enough, a new problem ‘that could inflict further damage on British Columbia's forest indu- stry is rearing its head south of the border. The culprit is mould, The latest growth industry for U.S. lawyers ate health-related claims triggered by exposure to mould in buildings. A relatively new phenome- non, mould claims have ne- ‘vertheless resulted in pay- ments of more than $1.2 bil- lion U.S. by insurance compa- nies last year. As with our leaky condo scandal, nobody knows for certain who is to blame for so- called toxin-producing mould in buildings. General contractors are blaming drywall contractors, who are blaming plumbing contractors, who are blaming architects. So what's all this got to do “with our forest industry? Well, contractors are becoming very ” reluctant to get involved in wood construction. Todd Brunner of Brunner Brothers Construction, a Seattle area construction com- pany, is no longer bidding on wood construction projects. Todd, who is a good friend of mine (yes, I have American friends, Prime Minister} re- cently told me that he can't tisk the exposure to potential mould lawsuits, a sensible de- cision when the courts are be- FROM THE'CAPITAL - HUBERT BEYER ginning to hand large awards to people who claim every- thing from memory loss to in- ternal bleeding as an alleged result of building mould. Mould has been around as long as mankind has been pro- tecting itself from the ele- ments in shelters of one form or another. I suppose that not all caves were mould-free, Nor, it ap- pears, are all’ modern’ build-’ ‘ings. Mould is the inevitable by- product of water and of mod- ern building codes which en- courage air-tight structures to keep the heat and a'r condi- tioning in. It is sealed building enve- lopes that led to leaky condos and now to mould. The slightest undetected water accumulation inside sealed building envelopes will lead to mould. Litigants can point to pow- erful allies. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota says mould is responsible for the majority of sinus infections in the United States. Call ihe lawyer, Ethel, we're gonna get us a passel of money. J can see why Todd wants no part of it. In its May issue, Construc- tion Executive featured a round-table discussion of the mould issue and its effect on the construction industry in the U.S. AH participants pretty well agreed that mould was nothing new. What was new, they said, was the deluge of insurance claims alleging health-related problems caused by “toxic mould.” Elizabeth Brockway, presi- dent of Engineered, Structures in Tigard, Oregon is chairman of the Mould Taskforce for As- sociated Builders and Contrac- tors. She says the exposure to risk by contractors as a result of mould-related claims is sub- stantial. - in on the 'mould-is-gold' theory - from sympathetic juries award- ing multi-million settlements based on emotion rather than scientific evidence, and an eager press willing to overstate the issue,” Brockway says. “Contractors can be found liabie based on the premise of contract, warranty and negli- gence. arguments. There is 10 accepted national standard or certified method to measure contamination or benchmarks “Trial: lawyers’ are "casting . to compare the results against,” she says. “Mould lawsuits will conti- nue as long as four elements are present: mould spores, moisture, trial lawyers and a media coverage that sensatio- nalizes the issue.” Ouch. ~ Dave Odom, vice- president of Building Services in. Orlan- do, Florida, also sees the issue as purely lawyer and media- driven. “Several years ago, a mould problem that might have cost a few thousand dollars to deal with can taday cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove,” Odom says. “Additionally, contractors today are even more likely to be blamed for a variety of rea- sons, not the least of which is their additional insurance cov- erage.” Canadians are not as liti- gious as our neighbours to the south, and it is unlikely that a spate of mould-related lawsuits will be launched ‘heré.'* ©" ~ ~~ But’ the fallout. in “the U.S. from the issue poses a very real threat to our forest industry. If more contractors follow my friend’s example and refuse to touch any wood construction project — and J wouldn’t blame them if they did — our forest companies might as well go into the concrete and alumi- num business. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcon.com. Or you can phone him at (250) 381-6900. It’s tough to find parts today ALL DEALERS’ signs pro- claim “Sales and Service.” Only when your major pur- chase needs repair will you learn whether your dealer backs up with service. So much of my time is spent tracking down replace- ment parts for electrical equipment now ten or more years old, My most recent hunt has been for a needle bar thread guide for my industrial sewing machine. It costs $1.40. A needle bar thread guide steers the thread through its last stages from the spool to the needle. The guide must be replaced about every three years. By then tension on the thread as it passes through the guide wears a tiny groove, Sewing is trouble free until I reverse. That’s when the thread catches on the groove, ’ frays and breaks. This is annoying, unaccept- able, and time consuming for I have to cut off the fray, re- thread the needle, and re- stitch to secure the interrupted seam, aecueeeel eveanes CLAUDETTE SANDECKI You'd think the Vancouver dealer who eageriy sold me the $2,800 machine would be keen to keep it working flaw- lessly for me. Well, you’d be wrong. Sure, he was happy when I shipped it to him for a $400 checkup. But when I’ve written or phoned seeking this repair part, he ignores my let- ters and pretends he can’t speak English anymore. So I switched to ordering small parts from Don, an ac- commedating dealer in Port- land, Oregon. Twice he slipped the replacement part in an en- velope, walked it over to the post office, and mailed it to me C.0.D. My machine was humming within three days. Locating the Portland dea- ler necessitated a phone call to Singer's head office in New York City, The sales manager insisted I buy from a fran- chised dealer; he wouldn't sup- ply me directly. The closest dealer he could find was Don in Portland, Before [ found Don, I bought six thread guides from a major Vancouver supplier who services all makes of sewing machines. Despite giv- ing him the part number, he sent me 4 thread puide that didn’t fit my machine. Not only too big, it had a single screw hole instead of two screws, one above the other. With two screw holes, the top screw anchors the guide in place; the lower crew secures the needle. The single screw guide expects one screw to an- chor the guide and hold the needie, but does a poor job of both. The guide wobbles. And changing the needle leaves me fumbling with a tiny screw while gripping both guide: an needle in position. I'm no ie weller, Selling major equipment is easy. Supplying satisfactory follow-up service takes more effort, and is less profitable for the moment. But in my exper- ience, selling service invites customers to learn more about my shop’s other wares. I recall reupholstering a grandmother’s old high chair for $40. Some months later her son had me do an $800 trim on his 1940’s Chrysler coupe. Without the high chair, I’d never have gotten the coupe: So many dealers today exalt: their web pages, and are. busy selling to people in Texas and ~ Vermont while they ignore the customer down the block, Don in Portland was away for two days when I phoned last week, the man nattered how the boss would chew him out if he took an order under $80, He was to have Don call me, but so far no word, SUMMER Does 4 HARD ON SOUTHERNERS ZASt FOREVER AND,) ( WHENTHEYHAVETO, /, Vie SUT, You HAVE TOGO Back! GorKoME IN THE FALL. WEDO |ETHEY HUNG AROUND All YEAR?!