“INSIDE
COMMUNITY
EVENTS B2

CHARLYNN TOEWS

In other news

n Winnipeg on a recent long

weekend a 35-year-old

mother of two was preparing

ground beef for a family bar-
becue.

The gas barbecue unit was on the back
porch, where the husband and his
parents were sitting on plastic lawn
chairs, watching the twa little girls play-
ing nearby,

Suddenly the husband sat up, lit the

barbecue, and sat down. There was no
explosion.
_ The wife brought out the patties, and
though they were slightly undercooked,
all present later agreed, nobody got sick
or died from hamburger disease.

In Smithers that same long weekend, a
family packed up their Sport Utility
Vehicle and left the back door unlocked
so a teen-aged neighbour could feed
their cat and two dogs.

Traffic was heavy on the way home,
and when a smal! red Chevy Sprint at-
tempted a dangerous passing
manoeuvre around a curve, the SUV did
not plow into the Sprint’s front end or
kill or injure any occupants in either
vehicle.

Upon arriving home in Smithers, the
family of five disembarked to find the

© back door still unlocked.

The woman entered first and dis-
covered that the house was not
ransacked, and that no robbery or
vandalism had taken place.

The three children scattered, calling
for their pets, and found the cat had not
been mun over by a car, nor had either of

’ the two dogs been poisoned or kid-
napped or poked in the eye with a shar-
pened stick.

However, when the man stepped out
to the back yard he shouted for his wife
with some urgency.

She raced out to see what her husband
was yelling about to find that, with no
prior warning, the teenager had cut the
grass.

In Brandon, a medium-sized city in
southern Manitoba, two young women
in their twenties were attempting to
cross a busy street after the pubs closed
on the Saturday of that same long
weekend.

Just as the 22-year-old was about to
sprint across the thoroughfare, the 25-
year-old placed her hand lightly on her
friend’s arm and said, "Car."

A dark blue Camero whizzed by, less

‘than a foot away from the two

pedestrians, travelling at an estimated
-12 kilometres faster than the posted
maximum.

The two decided to go for coffee be-
cause they weren't tired yet. Upon en-
tering the 24-hour donut shop, they did

’ not find it deserted because the two
clerks had been mortally assaulted in a
back bathroom, nor did a lone gunman
enter the establishment and spray it with
bullets.

In each of the cases described above,
any minors.involved were safely in bed
and asleep earlier than usual on the
Monday night of the long weekend, in-
cluding the teen-aged neighbour.

_ Coincidentally, they were each of
them slightly sunbumed despite the lib-
eral use of sun screen, hats, and long-
sleeved shirts.

A further coincidence lies in the ‘fact
that each of the adults removed both
their shoes and socks and put their bare

sweaty feet on the coffee table to watch
the eleven o’clock news on the Monday
night of that long weekend.

Only the 22-year-old caught a reflec-
tion of herself in the blank screen of her
TV before she turned on the set.

Why does Terrace need

a skatepark,

PRINCE GEORGE has got one. Prince
Rupert, Kitimat and Smithers want one.
And Terrace is building one.

Skateparks are sweeping across the
North faster than workers can pour the ce-
ment. If a town doesn’t already have a
skatepark, chances are they’re building
one.

Why is Terrace raising more than
$200,000 of its own money for a park for
kids who like to roll around on small
pieces of maple?

‘Because it’s needed; it’s as simple as
that,”’ said city councillor Rich McDaniel,
who started pushing for a skatepark two
years ago. ‘They're skating everywhere,
so we need lo find a place for them.”’

McDaniel said people in town are sick of
secing skaters coming down streets,
sidewalks, private parking’ lots, and
church stairs. A skatepark would help con-
iain skaters in one spot.

McDaniel’s quest for a skatepark in Ter-
race began one fall day in 1996, while he
was shopping wilh his wife. As he was
walking back to his car, he noticed two
skaters pushing past two senior citizens.

‘They skated right in between the seniors,

knocking the groceries out of their arms.

Enraged, McDanicl’s jumped into his car
to go after the skaters. Once confronted,
the boys told McDaniel they didn’t mean
to bang into the seniors. There just wasn’1
a place in town where they were allowed
to skate.

When McDaniel’s realized they were
right, he invited the boys to meet with him
a week later to discuss the possibility of
building a park in Terrace.

Thirty-seven skaters went fo that first
mecling. That’s when McDaniel realized
that a skatepark was badly necded.

“Skaters are everywhere,’ McDaniel
said. ‘‘One has to accommodate that.”’

In fact, there are approximately 60 mil-
lion. skaters worldwide, and 1.2 million of
them live in Canada. To accommodate
them, 14 new skateparks have been built in
B.C. within the past two years,

Skateboarding is so popular because it is
incredibly physically and menially chal-
lenging. The agility required to land tricks
comes from the mental ability of the skater
to control his or her balance.

Many teenagers also skate to be a part of
the skate scene, This means wearing the
baggy pants, wallet chains (so when they
fall, they won’t lose them), and the skate
shoes.

anyhow?

Skaters in Terrace have been instrumen-
tal in creating a park here. Many of them
submitted plans and designs for the kind of
park they wanted.

Meanwhile, McDaniel visited 48 parks
around the country to learn bow to build
one properly. The board then combined
the best ideas to create an ideal park.

The park will be 10,800 square feet and
packed with rollers, pipes, rails, bowls and
kickers.

McDaniel said almost 80 per cent of the
park’s cost has already been raised thanks
to donations from crane companies, trades-
men, and other businesses.

Another $40,000 to $60,000, depending
on the location of the park, still needs to be
raised.

Terrace’s park is taking so long to buiid
because the location of the park has yet to
be determined. If the bowls are built into
ihe ground, it will cost $45,000 less than if
the bow]s are built above ground. The ad-
ditional money would go towards the sup-
ports and the supportive walls that would
have ta be built.

Although McDaniel agrees the skatepark
is expensive to build, once it’s made, the
park will be very cost effective.

“You don't need to have somebody
there to tum the lights on or to wash it
down. IVs a very low maintenance pro-
ject”

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 17, 1998 - Bl

SECTION B
ALEX HAMILTON
638-7283

ON THE RAIL: Here’s Luke Heeman is doing a nose
grind at the make-shift park beside the arena.

NICE OLLIE: That's Nate Brown doing an indie grab. He originally said his name was Chad
_ Muska, a famous skater, but we caught his gag before this went to the presses.

Seniors share tea with inmates

“This is a very desirable place to do
time because inmates have less resiric-
tions on them. They Know If they break
any rules, like escaping, smuggling in
drugs or alcohol, or fighting, they’ be
Prince
Regional Correctional Centre, which Is a

transferred to the

maximum security unit.’”’

TERRACE’S CORREC-
TIONAL Centre is nothing
like the jails you see in the
movies, according to senior
citizens who were invited to
tea ai the centre, June 10,

To celebrate their fifth an-
niversary in the building on
Keith Avenue, officers at
the Terrace Coirectional
Centre were giving tours of
the centre to seniors and

George

JAIL TOURS: Correctional officers Bill McKenzie
(right) and Ken Swaby gave senior citizens, like
Sonea Lowes and Joyce Relling, tours around Ter-
race's Correctional Centre June 10, so they could
see how Inmates live, Senlors and elders drank tea
with inmates to celebrate the Correctional Centre's

fifth anniversary,

elders,

“We invite people here so
they can sce how inmates
live,’” said Bill McKenzie,
senior correctional officer.
“It helps get rid of some of
the stigma around jails.
Most people think jails are
like what they see on TV,
They don’t know what
they're really like.”’

Seniors at the tea quickly
learned that Terrace’s jail is
nothing like your average
TV or movie variety.

For one thing, the correc-
tional centre doesn’t have
cell doors or steel bars.

Inmates at the centre share
rooms. All lights must be
out at 11:30 p.m., but con-
victs aren’t locked up at
night. They are free to get
up to go to the washroom.

The centre is also spotless,
Not only are the inmates’
rooms clean, but the
bathrooms, TY rooms,
kitchen, and dinning room
are tidy also.

The almosphere in the
centre isn’t what the senior
citizens expected either: in-
mates and officers smile.

Sonea Lowes, a senior
who took a tour around the
building and talked with in-
mates, was impressed with
the centre.

‘Inmates are well cared
for here,’’ she sald. ‘‘This is
good preparation for when
they are released.”

Terrace’s correctional
centre is a minimum
security unit, which can
hold up to 35 inmates.

These are people who
normally wouldn’t present a
problem to sociely if they
escaped. ‘

Most inmates ate Serving
time for crimes like break
and enters, assaults, theft,
and drug possessions. To be
admitted at the centre, they
must have sentences of two
years less a day.

McKenzie said 90 per cent
of the inmates are charged
with drug and alcohol re-
lated crimes, meaning most
people cither committed the
crimes because they were
intoxicated, or they com-
mitted the crimes to get
Money to buy drugs or al-
cohol,

The centre is surrounded
by a barbed wire fence and
video cameras survey all ex-
its. However, inmates are
free to walk around freely
inside the gates.

“This is a very desirable
place to do time because in-
mates have less restrictions
on them,’’ McKenzie said.

“They know if they break |

any rules, like escaping,
smuggling in drugs or al-
cohcl, or fighting, they'll be
transferred to the Prince
George Regional Correction
Centre, which is a maxi-
mum security uail.”’

Inmates admitted it

wouldn’t be hard to escape .

if they really set their minds
to it. What stops them is the

chance of josing their parole .

when they are caught, and
then being sent to Prince
George.

‘This is the easiest place
[to do time) in B.C.,”" said
Gordon Mattlee, a twenty-
three-year-old inmate serv-

_ing 18 months for assault.

“It’s pretty good here. You
get more freedom. You
don’t get locked up.”

Mattice also liked the fact
that inmates here can wear
their own clothes. In Prince
George inmates are forced
to wear issued uniforms.

Matlice was transferred to
Terrace’s correctional centre
from Prince George’s jail
because a space opened up
here and be was considered
‘a good candidate.”’

He said that inmates in
Prince George were more
violent.

‘If your a rat, you get
pummeled,”’ be said, ‘‘But
here, if someone ratted. on
another inmate, they are just
ostracized.”’

He said he liked the fact
that inmates in Terrace
could work during the day
to keep busy.

Everyone at the Terrace
centre works from 8 a.m. to
3:30 p.m. If they are unable
to work, they are sent else-
where.

Inmates spend their days
chopping wood, making pic-
nic tables and benches,
helping out im the kitchen,
doing yard work, and clean-
ing up areas in the com-
munity.

Working is important for
the inmates, said officer
McKenzie, since it makes
them feel productive. They
also get a chance, to give
back to the community.

Although Mattice is busy
working during the day, he
said he often gets bored at
night

In Prince George, inmates
can use a workshop at night,
but in Terrace all prisoners
have is TV , foozeball, or
ping-pong. |