44 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C. * V8G 158 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432 MODEM: 638-7247 Boatnapping | DURING THE wars between the American Cavalry and American Indians, a band of American Indians entered Canada to avoid hostilities. After a period it made arrangements with the American Calvary for a peaceful return. In doing so it required an RCMP escort to the border. - At the appointed day, a large and well-armed force of American troops appeared at the bor- der to take over escort duties. There, along with the Indian band, they were met by one, single ' Mountie. ‘Just one man!’’ exclaimed the American commander to the one Mountie. “But these Indians are dangerous! They could do anything!’ “Tt’s OK,’ replied the Mountie. “My partner’s over there. He’s just doing the dishes. . Who knows, the story might even be true. What it does do is signify the kind of mythical rela- tionship said to exist between the RCMP and na- tives. By implication, the story says a lot about the kind of protective powers we al] enjoy courtesy of the nation’s police force. All this became a bit strained over the recent events on the Skeena River. Gitksan who ob- jected to the presence of mushroom pickers on their claimed territory wilfully and with plenty of aforethought took without permission boats belonging to the pickers. When those pickers objected — they also received a bit of old-fashioned propaganda — and things looked a bit shaky for the native side, the RCMP were called in. Their response was not to enforce the law that applies to the un- warranted seizure of private property — those boats —- but to consider laying charges against one ofthe pickers for having a loaded firearm in a boat. _ Fair enough in the case of the firearm, but not fair enough when it came to what caused the situation in the first place — the removal without consent or permission of the pickers’ boats. The RCMP are correct in not wanting to be an unwilling participant in some kind of messy and political escapade. But whether that takes precedence over this country’s citizens having their property safeguarded is another matte altogether. In this matter, the Gitksan have proven once again that they enjoy a certain level of immunity not granted to others. Liberal view NOT SO long ago provincial Liberal leader Gor- don Campbell drew praise for a promise to pass legislation making balanced budgets mandatory should he ever be elected premier. That kind of promise seemed shaky at the time and now is completely down the tubes given his statement that he’l] negotiate compensation with Alcan in return for cancelling plans to complete the company’s Kemano hydro-electric project. Must be nice to blithely have numbers in the hundreds of millions simply roll off your tongue. Must be nice to treat the money of others — tax- payers — in such a fashion. Must be nice to add up the pros and cons of provincial ridings in such a calculated fashion simply to gain elected power. Must be nice to live in the big city where such stuff can be treated in an abstract fashion. 7) G@onk PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L, Hamm _— PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS COMMUNITY: Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter -OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janét Viveiros, _ CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Charlene Matthews Serving the Tertace area. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1868) Lid. at 464 Lazally Ava., Tertace, Brilish Columbia. ° CONT AGG ra Sleries, pholographs, Husttalions, designs and typestyles In the Terrace Standard are the property of the coyyright holdats, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd, is illustration rept services -and advertising ncies, . . Wb ogteie les Reproduction in whole or in parl, wihout wiitlen permission, fs spectically prohibited. . Authorized 6s second-class me! ponding the Post Office Department, fof payment of postage incash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr tlme and talents. Gp tie Mtl °°" "bt uegy eiuptiity SL PLELLLGS SG Lahr th WY pe. tf 0 teeny LTL Ye Yes . whine td, EEE at, SEES COL Vie ye Seca ep STOOLS: Gy ord Having fun with junk mail VICTORIA — I’m a mailing list junkie. Unlike the privacy freaks who shudder at the thought of having their name in yet another computer, I love junk mail. The more, the mer- rier. I get it all and read it ail, from Publishers’ Clearing House mail drops telling me I’m just a step away from being a millionaire, to com- puter software upgrade offers, from government press teleases, to Canadian Tire flyers. One of the most rewarding mailing lists I ever managed to get on is the Fraser Institute’s. The stuff this Vancouver- based ‘‘independent Canadian economic and. social - research and education organization’’ sends me regularly is a veritable gold mince. Let me say right at the start that the Fraser Institute is no bleeding-heart Liberal’ outfit. These guys are true-blue free enterprisers. They haie govern- ment with a passion. The other day, I received the results of the ‘1993 Fraser In- stitute Economy in Govern- ment Competition.’”? The 34- page publication contains sum- maries of 30 papers proposing cost- saving measures for government programs, .includ- ing health care, education, so- ONCE UPON a time no one went to a dentist until driven by toothache. I never visited a dentist until my late teens when I had to have dental clearance as part of an applica- tion to nursing school. The denlist I chose proved to be an unfeeling alcoholic. He didn’t need an electric drill to clean out a cavity. Tremor of his hand did the job. His chairside manner so ir- ritated me that despite my dif- fidence --- I hadn't yet devel- oped a protective crust as a consequence of repeated stonewalling from bosses, un- accommodating vendors and bureaucrais — I delivered a powerful elbow to his beer bel- ly, yanked the bib from under my chin, and exiled to the slrect in one smooth procedure. My second dentist, a New Yorker decades past retirement age, worked out of one room in his third floor apartment. His equaily elderly wife, silent in slippers, acted as doorman and receptionist. { : Tene ees itl - — or SS on SO § = S ‘ le \ -Aee eee, hfe tt MH ofes ] Ge eg PLL « ; THIS YEAR. QQ CTI GOING AS é ~ AND SHE'LL BE FROM THE :CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER cial programs, as well as specific . internal government operations. ‘ Among the latter is an in- triguing proposal by a David Finlay to replace the Canadian once-cent coin with a three- cent coin. I’m not making this up. Finlay’s plan calls for a government edict, giving all pennies a new legal tender: value of three cents. At the end of five years, the penny would no longer be legal tender. Fin- lay argues that his scheme would save $127 million over five. years because it costs more than a cet to produce the one-cent coin. The institute ~—_- definitely CLAUDETTE SANDECKI He maintained that speed was the cause of drilling agony. He chose not to admin- ister anesthetic except in ex- treme situations. Instead, while he drilled slowly, he told numbing stories of his nighily expeditions patrolling in squad cats with New York’s morality squad. After the Commish, I moved to Montana where J became ihe patient of a blond dentist wha had recently graduated from denial school to set up ~ SEND To’ 4l- (37H. AVE - WHITE HORE YT. YAYKG vias yecch | THOSE AOX DOGS HAVE HOSED ALL THE LOWER BOXES} PARIZEAU.. / THEN WE WON'T BEASKING FOR BOUCHARD \ “TREATS BUT WELL SNH) 5 DEMANDING showed its colors by including in the winner’s circle a chap who proposes that the govem- ment ‘‘claw back’’ the pen- sions Members of Parliament receive, Frank Howard says his proposal was prompted by his experience as Member of Par- liament. Howard admits that the savings wouldn’t be all that great, but it would at least satisfy the public’s desire to eat politicians alive. A rather convincing paper was submitted by Donald — Power, who suggests thal Can- ada Post do away with stamps . and issue stamp meters instead, containing $5, $10 and $20 worth of, pre-paid postage. The next one is right down the Fraser Institute’s alley. Dr. Bill Weaver wants to revamp the Canadian health care sys- tem. No tinkering with the ex- isting system for the good doc- tor, We're talking demolition here. Weaver suggests that every ' Canadian, except the unem- ployed, the disabled and those on welfare, contribute six per cent of their gross income toa Medisave account to a maxi- mum of $3,000 a year. These contributions would be tax deductible and accumulate to a total of $20,000 for cach shop near a ski resort. His of- fice gleamed with all their latest high-tech equipment, in- ’ cluding a uniformed technician beside each work station like The Price Is Right. He favoured speed, on the mountain or in his office. His _ drill whined showering my face with a mist mixcd with tooth talc. I imagined his drill reaming out my molar the way a potter’s thumb hollows a ves- sel, leaving an inner rim to secure the filling. As he worked, he challered of his latest downhill exploits and plans for the coming weekend. For this Ken Read, administering to my dental health translated directly into lift tickets and lodge rent. Then we moved to Terrace. I became the patient of a World War II Navy veteran who al- most took my mind off the drill with bis tales of barrelling through Tokyo in a kamikaze taxi loaded with buddies on shore leave, - He usually crammed my BE RAISED, .. HOWEVER , T MIGHT HAVE A SOLUTION. contributor, When people need health care, they would pay out of that fund. If the bill exceeds $20,000, a ‘‘government dis- aster insurance’? would cover the rest. Weaver doesn’t slop there. All hospitals, clinics and extended health care facilities would be privatized. Public sector health care unions would become pri- vate sector unions. Weaver contends that ‘‘the heart of this reform is to empower the health care consumer who is spending his own moncy.”’ A Similar scheme, he says, has been introduced in Singapore with great success, The overall grand prize win- ner of the Fraser Institute's - competition is one Judy Miles of Mind Brokers Inc., who proposes to stamp out welfare and health care fraud by way of a universal electronic identi- fication card. To make duplica- tion of the card impossible, Miles suggests that the public might even accept finger- printing as a means of assuring that the holder of a card is, in- deed, the owner. Just think, I never would have heard of these proposals, were I not on the Fraser In- stitute’s mailing list. Dentistry over the decades mouth with cotton, clamps, and suction tip, then sat back on his stool to stare out the window as he wound up his . Story. I’m sure in his imagina- tion he relived the noisy, smel- ly scenes he was describing. He had a comedian’s knack for making everything funny. I'd nearly choke on his punch lines and cotton, Eventually, he retired, Now I entrust my nippers to a deutist half my age and no war expericnces to distract me with. IVs been years since I clutched the armrests of a den- tal chair in fearful anticipation of a sudden jab deep into my jaw, though I slill dress as though for an Antarctic ex- pedition ‘even during a July heatwave when the air con- ditioning in incapacitated. But it’s not the possibility of pain that sends shivers along my anns. It’s the thought that out-patient self-interested © f forensic pathologists depend . on dental x-rays to identify our Mindy Trans. OA MR QUE SORRY BUT SECTION E oF | THE POSTAL CODESTATES He Ast Nee THAT RURAL DEPOTS Cannot COMPARTMENT!