A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G SR2 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432 MODEM: (604) 638-7247 High stakes WHATEVER MEDICATION the provincial cabinet is on, perhaps it should send samples to ihe rest of us. Only then might we be in a posi- tion to try and understand the maniacal reasoning behind the notion that increased gambling op- portunities will save us from fiscal ruin. It’s not enough the government is already the biggest gambling machine in the province. Now it wants to introduce more hi-tech gimmicks in bars. And senior cabinet ministers are floating the idea of licensing a big-time resort destination gambling casinc to attract foreign high rollers. Aside from the sleazy image of rubbing shoulders with the likes of fancy-suited, gold chain-wearing -wise guys like Big Louie from Chicago, there’s something wrong with a government that is so bankrupt of ideas it sees salvation in separating yet more money from or- dinary people from a vice that does nothing to further the overall progress of society. If the cabinet truly wants to bring in gambling, it doesn’t need satellite bingo, flashing Keno ma- chines or blackjack tables littered around a mountain resort. Why not take bets on how many beds will be left at Mills Memorial Hospital by next year? There are 33 there now on the hospital’s main medical services floor. What’s it to be by spring? Perhaps 30, 28, a couple of hardbacked chairs? Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. How many pages of transcripts will be genera- ted by the legislature’s select standing committee on aboriginal affairs now touring the province? Could it be 2,000 or maybe 3,000? Enough when stacked one on top of the other to block out the sun? ; A little bit of creativity on the part of the cabi- net. could go a long way in generating homegrown gambling opportunities. Heaven knows there’s no lack of dreamers in cabinet. Just look at what they said was in the budget this spring and what it is today. Daunting task THIS FRIDAY we’ll know who wants to run for the various municipal, regional district and schoo] district seats up for-grabs next month. These candidates face a daunting and compli- cated task if elected. Never mind the day to day matters of potholes, snow clearing, garbage gathering, school bus routes and overhead projectors in the classrooms. Terrace and area has to deal with unprece- dented growth, the prospect of expanded Terrace municipal boundaries and a shotgun marriage of the school district with the one in Kitimat. The above key issues alone are more than enough to occupy all the time and energies of those who will be elected. If this area is to enter the next century with some semblance of planning and preparation, those elected are going to need the wisdom of Solomon. The Terrace Standard is planning all- candidates meetings to give voters the chance to hear from those running and then to ask ques- tions. We hope you’ Il attend. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Rick Passmore [E@# PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel « NEWS SPORTS: Dave Taylor COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Kathleen Quigley ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Karen Dietrich ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Emma Law, Keily Jean, Shannon Cooper TYPESETTING: Sylvana Broman DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunette UeaTy MWe Arua MAR PR GT AT IB beteith Gatemete cod Yebue ‘ MEMBER CF 3.C. PRESS COUNCIL Serving the Tenace and Thornhill aca. Published on Wednesday of sach week by Cariboo Press (1968) Ltd. al 3210 Clinton Steet, Terraca, British Columbia, V8G SR2, Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in tha Terrace Standard ave tha property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid., its lItwsiration repro services and advertising agencies, Reproduction i whola or in part, without written permission, [s specifically prohibited, Asborized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Department, for payment of postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr tima and talents pall ey couse nobody Lotheréd %@ fo spay 7/om.. . isi, Qnd 1000 t to nevter Dad... that's WAy, S/S. + bothered We’re all at fault for deaths VICTORIA — Most phone calls, letters, faxes or e-mail messages I get from readers disagreeing with something [ wiote can be classified as thoughtful and constructive criticism. The odd one stands cut as a steam of mindless vitriol. Here’s an example from a Teader, a woman in Grand Forks, in response to a piece I wrote recently on the tragic deaths of so many children who had been in the care of the Ministry of Social Services or were at least known to the ministry as being at risk. “Sir - you are in part to blame for the death of these children under the NDP. You did your utmost to put this bunch into power. You have been around long enough to know who they are and what we can expect, Have you ever seen a defenceless child have its bones broken or worse?”’ I am astonished that anyone thinks I can put a party in power. As for being responsible for the death of children, I agree. I am just as responsible as you, madam. And so is every other British Columbian, for not giving enough of a damn. Every time someone attacks welfare recipients, they close LAST WEEK a newborn was kidnapped from Kelowna Gen- eral Hospital. The two-day-old was only the third baby to be snatched from a Canadian hos- pital, news reported, But unless Mills Memorial has tightened security in the past four years, the next infant abduction could happen here. It takes only one kook. Al- ready Terrace bas is share of murders, disappearances, rapes and brutal muggings. Mills Memorial's mall style traffic made me apprehensive four years ago when our youngest granddaughter was born. Even to by untrained eye, the opportunities for abduc- tions, bodily harm, and proper- ty theft abounded. Because we knew which room our daughter was in, and how to reach it, we made our way from the parking lot to her bedside without asking direc- tlons of anyone. In fact, we would have bad to seek help. We met no staff, FROM.-THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER their eyes to the misery of their fellow humans. Every time someone proposes to cut whatever remains of our social service net, they contribute to the suffering of some of their ‘ fellow humans. You can’t just blame ‘‘The Government’” or me, for that matter. Society can be defined by the way it treats its most defenceless. And by that stan- dard, we all bear. some measure of responsibility for the death of five-year-old Mat- thew Vaudreuil, who died at the hands of his own mother, and Whose tragic life was chronicled by Judge Thomas Gove last year, At worst, the government can be blamed for not having acted THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Nurses in the nursing station glanced up from their charting, saw two people over 50 carry- ing a potted plant topped with a showy yellow blossom, and paid us no more heed. But props such as bouquets are cheap and plentiful. Our daughter and three other new mothers shared a room which was divided by green curtains. We could hear bed- side conversations but see only LADY I! | FLY AWAY HOME YOU DEAR LITTLE ) faster, It took the government a year to act on Gove’s report But when it did act, it acted decisively, The creation of the Ministry for Children and Families will go a long way toward protect- ing defenceless children. And Penny Priddy, who will head the new ministry, is singularly qualified for the task. Priddy is tenacious, she is dedicated, and she is a fighter who won’t take no for an ans- wer, Her latest fight was with breast cancer. She had a quarter of her right breast removed and, six weeks ago, she underwent the last in a gruelling series of chemotherapy treatments. When she lost all her hair, the chique cap she sported be- “came a familiar sight in the legislative precinct, because rather than taking it easy, she was present for most of the session. ' Priddy, 52, is a nurse, and she says she brought a lot of passion and compassion to her profession. Now she is hell- bent-for-leather to bring that sane passion and compassion to her new role as the minister who is ultimately responsible for children in this province. Asked why she takes on such a monumental task, while her feet. While we were there, an LPN, who happencd t© be someone we knew, came in carrying a clipboard to ask our daughter a few questions. Yet two days later when our daughter and grandchild came home, she couldn't remember the LPN having spoken to her. That’s when I realized how vulnerable new mothers are. Tired from hours of stress and the physical exertion of delivery, maybe stuporous from painkillers, off balance, distracted, they are less vigilant than they normally would be. Still every hospital patient is vulnerable, Anyone entering the hospita! can reach both the elevator and the stairs out of view of Reception. Once there, visitors are at liberty to dis- perse throughout the hospital, virtually unobserved. Certainly unnoticed, unless they look or act suspiciously. And every staff outback increases patient own health is still at risk, she says, ‘part of healing is loving what you do, and loving life, and being able to make a dif- ference,” Priddy bas a one-year-old grandson, whom she baby-sits occasionally. She says she sees her grandson’s face in the Gove report. Everyone, she adds, should take slories such as the horrible and short lite of litle Matthew Vaudreuil per- - sonally and attach a face to the horrors. Priddy is under no illusions of what her job will entail. When fully operational, her new ministry will have 4,700 employees, a billion-dollar budget and heart-wrenching responsibilities. Anyone who has read the Gove report knows what she'll be up against. And so does Priddy. ‘There are lots of stories J will cry about because there are lots of children whose stories should make each and every one of us cry.” I believe it is clear that Priddy loves what she does, loves life, and loves making a difference, IfI were a child at risk, I would want Penny Priddy to be my advocate, Beyer car be reached at Tel: 920-9300; Fax: 385-6783; E- Mail: hubert@coolcom.com babies worth the cost risk. Victoria Hospital’s security expert says babies are safer in a nursery — presumably where there’s 24 hour nursing at- tendance — than remaining In the room with their mothers. Either way, newborns are small bundles, easily hidden, easily transported, easily sij- lenced. Ten years ago local stores began clamping security devices on their name jeans to discourage shoplifting. Yet despite a society that grown goofier every day, many hospi- tals have done littk to tighten security. Victoria may argue it lacks $80,000 for a security system that would lock doom, sound alarms, stop elevators and turn on video cameras is a baby were abducted from the ward. But what will be Kelowna’s final cost for 80 police of- ficers, as well as legal aid, tri- als and possible jall time for three alleged kidnappers? ON WHY! OM WHY WAS i Bo MALE LADY Buc, ! IRN A