ot, Page 4, The Herald, Tyesdas, June 12, 1979 TERRACE/KITIMAT daily herald Published by Sterling Publishers General Office - 635-4357 Clreulation - 635-6357 GEN. MANAGER - Knox Coupland EDITOR - Greg Middleton CIRCULATION- TERRACE - KITIMAT OFFICE - 632-2747 Published every weekday a? 3212 Kalum Sireet, Terrace, B.C. A member of Verified Circulation. Authorized as second class mail. Registration number 1201. Postage pald In cash, return postage guaranteed. 635-6357 NOTE OF COPYRIGHT a The Herald retains fu!l, complete and sate copyright in any advertisement produced and-or any editorlal or photographic content published [In fhe Herald. Reproduction 1s not permitied. EDITORIAL ‘One of the things that Is so refreshing about the Nishga people and particularly about School District 92 (Nisgha) Is that they believe in open discussion and are actively seeking parents’ participation . in’. the education system. It, Is “part of the tradition of these pedple‘that there: he discussion and the community is looked on as an extension of the family,,- Decisions are made by consensus, 7" The's chia) district the native people of the Nags Valley have established, and the pragrams they have developed in the schools, represent the wishes of the peopletof the area. . In an interview after the first 33 gradgates of Nisgha Elementary Secondary School received their dipititias, Alvin McKay indicated his job of organizing the schoo|.gistrict was only. the start of what was to be done. He said the next job was to further involve the parents on a greater and continuing basis. McKay said it is imperative that parents learn and participate so that the schools can reflect the needs and desires of the parents for their children. . The school district in Terrace could fer learn from these people who have ly three years of managity" “School district of their own. ~ Perhaps an intensive: program to reinvolve parents In the education of their children will be possibly here. There is, however, a good probability that the administrators and school board " have so far isolated themselves from the parents as to seem unreachable to the parents. Or is It that the goals of the two are too far apart? COMMENT by Gregg Middleton A student asked me the other day what kinds of skills she would need to go into journalism. I told her to get as broad an education as possible and a solid background in writing skills. She looked depressed. She asked me if there was any way she could acquire those writing skills. I was shocked. I asked her if she was taking any English courses in school. She said yes, but stated tht very litde time was spent in grammar. . The girl went on to express concern that not only did she feel inequipped to go into journalism because of her lack of knowledge of the workings of the language, she was afraid that she might have trouble with the final examination this year, which I gather is at least grade-wide, beensse her teacher didn’t give the class much formal instruction. Much of the class time was devoted to things which more interested the teacher than gave the the students usable tools to work with. The example she gave me of the things done in this class was that as one project they did a poster. In the course of the conversation, I noi: the young lady used some common but ungrammiticsl ex- pressiona which indicated a lack of knowledge of basic English. She, in fact, pointed one of them out to me as something she was aware of as wrong but was not able to tell me what was right. She was, at the time ] lalked to her, skipping out ofa class because she was convinced there would be nothing of value in it for her. . The lady brought to my mind anoiler student, a young frlend of mine, wiv soughi my acvice a few years back. This follow cume tu ine la ng 7] thought he could get through universily 5.00 sfuth+ | told him I didn’t see why nol, he seems. >. .sfit enough Jad to me. He confessed, huwever. und much te sy dismay, that he had never written anything in school, He had never done an essay or a paper. He was worried, aa frightening as it seema, that after 12 years of the public school systam he was not literate. I was stunned. On inquiry I found out that all through school there were always alternatives to writing. He had managed his education without demonstrating basic skills in putting words on paper. And how can something like that occur? Well, that is another column. “Don't get any of that stuff on‘your father." © comparatively FORT McMURRAY, Alta. (CP) — With matter-of-fact casualness, this isolated northern Alberta town of 26,000 is Jocking forward to being the fast-growing regional centre for a mas- sive oil sands industry. Even with hearings starting here Junel9 on proposed $3-billion Alsan plant, which would bring 5,600 construction workers intothe area, there are fewif any expressions of alarm aver possible social or economic disruptions. A late-May public meeting, at which: representatives of com- munity groups put finishing touches on their brief for the hearings, drew.an audience of four — including one reporter and an Alsands official. The major recom- mendation discussed at the meeting was widening High- way 63, which links the town to Edmonton, 431 kilometres south, and scheduling heav truck traffic for periods when school buses are not operating in Fort Mc- Murray. —°. Part of the reason for the unworried public attitude,. town of- fielals say, is that the community already has coped with two major boom periods — first, the Great Canadian Oil Sands (GCOS) plant, then the $2.2-billion’ Syncrude plant completed last year. In the five-year Syncrude construction | period, jie wn's po on _ try living cos soared, ere: ‘or retail area. I th: while a $10-million ~ 4 BOOM TOWN | A look at Fort McMurray were shortages of every t of retail and social. service, and news media across the country carried:-lurid tales of wild-west violence and rowdiness interspersed. with family breakups and juvenile delinquency. But the town now has a much larger base to absorb the impact of development, Mayor Ted Mason said inan interview. . “The impact of Syncrude - is not likely to be duplicated, even if there were another Syneruden'e 3:9. 5.4 etree cata ingsicthe Mason, whose 25-year RCMP cateer took him through Western Canada’s toughest resource towns, says Fort McMurray had no more than a normal share of violence and other crimes. Since the end of Syn- crude’s construction phase, he says, the town’ has developed a temporary surplus of retail and other capacity. “T think a lot of people are feeling .the pinch, par- ticularly in the service area’ ink with respect to the majority of the population the low is welcamed ... an opportunity to take a breather.” Fort McMurray ‘A “breather,” however, would be considered quite active in other towns. Construction is well advanced on an §11- million provincial building, a $41-million hospital and a new seven-storey hotel, whtown By GARRY FAIRBAIRN shopping mall with 120,000 square feet of retail space ed in March, And on the hills overlooking the downtown area, small clusters of shops are opening to serve new housing devel ments. Mi 0s ple, Mason says, see the Aisands project as ‘a mécessary shot in the arm” to keep development going. Judi Dicks, local radio station manager as well as an active, member .of community project, says people also fee. oll sands development is a vital part of Canada’s future. “You get a real sense of history happening in Fort McMurray. You get a sense of making history.” A project like Alsands thus holds no terror.’ “I don’t think anyone is all that worried about it. After all, we coped pretty damn well with the first one.” Community concerns to date have centred on the highwaysafety problem, proper pacing of future projects, more provincial financing for development costs and location of the new town ‘that Alsands proposes building near the project site. Although some Fort McMurray businesamen would like the ‘ Alsands permanent employees to be housed in Fort McMurra instead of a new town of similar 12,000 people carved out of | the desolate wilderness .to the north, Mason. says. he. . would find it morally dif- ficult to ask that employees live in Fort’ McMurray tnd. - drive 45 minutes to work. Also, “residential develop- ment as such is not necessarily a distinct benefit in terms of tax base,’’ the mayor adds. ‘ Even with a new town to house most Alsands workers, the oil sands consortium esHmates that the project the _ will add 2,000 people to Fort .. committee “McMurray's* ' poépildfion. Japroposed.,.Giyic 1 Fort Mc urray will be a ¢! of 48,-000 in 1986 -—- fourth-or fifthlargest in Alberta — if the Alsands new town goes: ahead and existing oil sands plants expand. The new town algo would - bring a psychological benefit to isolated Fort McMurray resident, Dicks says. “Tell be someplace else to 0. Ms. Dicks, who has lived in Fort McMurray six years, vehemently denounces the outside media that Played up the town's social problems. “| have never seen such irresponsible journalism in all my life... They inevitably went for the most negative elements they could find. They would go to the worst - beer parlor on a Friday night,’ Meanwhile, she says, parents and community groups were developing recreational services and juvenile sports Jeagues un- matched by any town of size, WASHINGTON (CP) — The long-awaited s t meeting between president Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev appears unlikely to result in any dramatic breakthroughs in rblations between the superpowers. The infirmities of the two leaders — polictal in the U.S, and sical In the Soviet Union — and the intricacies of the problems facing them are among factors behind the limited exper'.tions being expresses ....out the June 16-18 meeting {n Vienna, ‘ The chief publie focus ol fhe eancall is the pi tags ~ surategia arms ia. etiew ieasty (Bail GD, +: autious document i! is dat praduct of sb... seard et negotiation. But casting a shew: over this achievement 's possible action by a balky U.S, Congress, which has been acting in defiance of Carter'a leadership and which may challenge any commitments he might SUMMIT MEETING - Little chance of progress By CATHY MCKERCHER . make to the Soviet leader. Carter cannot even give Brezhnev assurances that. the arms treaty, design to place contrals on the growing nuclear arsenals of the two countries, will be ratified by the U.S. Senate. Brazhnev, for his part, has been reported for the last few years to be in faillng health. Now 72, hia ability to particlpate In the kind of free-wheeling | summit that charac- terized his meeting in 1872 with former president Richard Nixon la In doubt, Algo very much up in the air is the question of how binding any deals he might make with Carter will be on his sucresser. i q cir- -pustances, it ia nat w-ooslng that both sides pad tabing a far mite modest apucuach te as meeting than they aia {9 the signing of the dirst SALT pact, which was halled as the start of a new era in relations Perel hae between Moscow’ and Washington. ; Nevertheless during plenary and private discussions, the two leaders will touch on a range of issues vital tothe interests of both thelr countries and their allies, High on the agenda are further nuclear arms limitation and other weaponry Issues, in- cluding, U.S. officials gay, & discussion of Carter's decision to develop the MX strategic nuclear missile as a counter to Soviet missile Lmprovements. In preparation for the meeting, the two coun- tries ve been ox: changing problems for placing equal Hmits on Western and eastern military forces in Central Europe. Bit offlatals here are i: #0 ocw predic. tions «. apreament on this cc any other issue ‘that would be discussed, satellites in space have ‘meetings between ine Bu- been fading as. the dif- ficulty of making a quick agreement became aj- parent, analysts indicate. Carter also is to appeal - for Soviet restraint in the middie East and in southern, Aten Soviet Bu or a peace- Reening foree in the Sinai to monitor the Egypt- Israel peace treaty will sought by the U.S. The question a Soviet sponsorship of troops Afrlea, which hos praved one of the touchiest issues since Carter's election, and the warming of U.S. relations with C also are expected to come up. It appears the moet Ni. cly. an for agreement may — in the idea of holdiiy annual -.nmit werd. - ministration official. consider these meetings aod for U.8,-Soviet ‘atlons. there is, however, a sehoal of thought that such get-togethers can promote tensions if they do not produce Important agreements. _ Offenses. Tf yen TALK by Miguel Meya - You're standing with several people at a bua stop when a police cruiser suddenly pulls up to the curb. One of the officers looks at: you and says: That's the guy,” and orders yousinto the