The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 25, 2000 - A3 Poverty group joins in on national postcard campaign By JENNIFER LANG A LOCAL advocacy group for the poor mailed off do- zens of postcards protest- ing child poverty last week. Gerry King and Geral- dine Edgell of Skeena Ad- vocacy For Everyone joined anti-poverty groups across the country in the action, designed to protest the federal government’s decision to allow pro- vinces to deduct the natio-" nal child benefit supple- ment from welfare pay- menits, King said activists chose Oct, 17, the interna- tional day for the eradica- tion of poverty, us the day to send Prime Minister Jean Chretien the post- cards asking the’ federal government to give the National Child Benefit Supplement to families on welfare. Currently, only the working poor are eligible for the benefit supplement, which gives parents up to $977 a year per child. “This is about fighting for the rights of the poorest of our children,” King said. Parents who earn less than $18,000 a year from paid employment are eli- gible, he said. “Basically what it is, is to create a slave labour force,” he added. He noted haw in 1989 all federal potitical parties signed on to a pledge to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000. While the child benefit program is a step in the right direction — King claims it and other povern- ment programs like it have saved another quarter of a million children from pov- erty — he insists Canada is still a long way from reaching the goal of elimi- nating child poverty... {With that goal in mind, : SAFE: will: “be holding a Proneer aon LOCAL POVERTY activists Gerry King and Geraldine Edgell send postcards yesterday to Ottawa as part of a national campaign to protest federal government cutbacks to the poor. King feels the federal govern- ment still has done some good for Canada’s poor but still has a long way to go. Stone Soup event in Ter- race on Nov. 20, joining other communities across the country. Named for the about a peddler story who makes a stone soup into a delicious meal when he enlists the townspeople in his mission, the stone soup event is timed to coincide with the B.C. Campaign 2000 Child Poverty Report Card. “Individually, you may not be able to do a lot, but working together as a community, you’ve got a feast,” King said, adding he’s hoping to invite non- profil groups and churches to the feast. City accepts donations for multiplex DONATIONS to build a multiplex are now being accepted by the city through a trust fund. “Tt allows us to collect money and hold it in trust for this project,” said city parks and recreation super- intendent Steve Scott. “If for some reason the project does not go ahead, we can return the money to the donors,” That’s an assurance some contributors wanted before putting up their money, he said, Scott said the .mayors’. committee for multiplex _ fundraising. expects locel«-: Dolby Digital Surround Receiver that offers built-in DTS / Dolby Digital / Pro Logic Surround decoder, 5.1 channel input, advanced theatre modes, midnight listening mode, §-channel accurate Imaging and a ple-programmed remote. Proneer wou “Ta a 44% a Dolby Digital Surround Receiver that offers built-in DTS / Dolby Digital / Pro Logic Surround decoder, 5.1 channel input, front AV inputs, digital output for digital recording, S-Video input, 5-channel accurate imaging and a pre-programmed / learning remote, Preneer «nim 3-Disc Mini Stereo System with real-wood speaker enclosure, champagne-gold aluminum panel, front-loading 3-CD changer, FM/AM tuner, 38-key remote, line-input aswell as subwoofer output, contributions will begin coming in now that the trust fund is in place. He said the city has also applied for a federal infrastructtire grant for the multiplex, which would in- clude a second sheet of ice, a gymnasium and a- range of other rooms and facilities. And, he said, they will also apply to the province if it — as expected ~ an- nounces a corresponding program in the next month or two, “We're also. researching _ foundations aiid Canada- ., wide » ‘donor~programs*t to- see if there’s availability there,” Scott said, He said the key is whe- ther the project lands sig- nificant infrastructure grants from Ottawa and Victoria. “Once we've got that there’s a very real poss- ibility of this thing going ahead,” he said. . Last year’s referendum saw the proposal to borraw $7.6 million to build the multiplex narrowly pass in Terrace but fail in Thorn- hill and outlying areas. Cutting the price tag to less than half that with fe- - ‘téral*provincial grants would dramatically in- crease the chances voters on both sides of the river will approve the project. ‘If we can show the taxpayer we've reduced the cost perhaps we'll get more support for it,” he said. Rather than abandon the project, city officials concentrated on the idea that the referendum did pass in Terrace, and that therefore they have until November, 2001 (o raise money and find other means lo. acl on that yes vote. - News In Brief Search and rescue needs people TERRACE SEARCH and Rescue is holding an or- ientation session on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Greig Ave. fire hall in Terrace, in hopes of replenishing the supply of available searchers here. They hope to attract people over 19 that love the outdoors and are physically fit. Search coordinator John Van De Velde said that the number of search volunteers varies, but is at about 12 right now, which is too low. “We're looking for 20," he said, adding that a lot of people leave town, or find out it’s not what they want to do after awhile. The session will be for people interested in both water and land searching, Van De Velde added. Police to get help on Halloween night TERRACE RCMP may get a little extra help keeping an eye on the streets this Halloween. Conservation and fisheries officers may ride along with the police during trick-or-treating. “There'll be at least 10 [officers] from us and probably a few more with the conservation officers and fisheries officers,” says Terrace RCMP Staff Sergeant Tom Forster, Conservation and fisheries officers are peace of- ficers with similar authority to RCMP members. “They’re perfectly entitled, as any other citizen is, to come to the aid of a police officer,” Forster said. Forster said he expects Halloween to be about as quiet as last year since it falls on a week night. “There's inevitably a kid that lights a bunch of ‘firecrackers or something,” he said. “Or people thal come out just to mix and join in on all the commotion.” Bookstore offers B.C. Encyclopedia exchange A TERRACE bookstore is offering exchanges for customers who bought the Encyclopedia of British Columbia, which is missing Terrace on its map. Anna Beddie, owner of Misty River Books says she’s been offering customers a replacement edi- tion of the book with Tetrace on the map — when one becomes available. “I spoke to Harbour Publishing and asked for permission to exchange the old ones for the second edition and they said yes,” Beddie said. She added that two people who obtained the book through her store were “really offended” by the exclusion of Terrace on the map, while most weren't too bothered by it, “(Harbour Publishing] was very embarrassed about it when I spoke to them,” Beddie said. She said the book has been a hit so far, and “added thal there’s a waiting list of four people for the next edition. Harbour Publishing has said that a new edition should be out in the winter some time. Pieneer nin 25-Disc Compact CD Player that features 25-disc playback with rolling rack system, previous disc sean (up to 15 discs), best selection memory, 3-custom mode functions and 3-mode full random playback. Pioneer nm 101-Disc Compact CD Player that features 107-disc playback with roulette rack system, single loader, previous disc scan, best selection memory, cd-deck synchro, optical digital output, powered door and a remate. oe fAONEEF own Double Auto-Reverse Cassette Deck with Dolby B/C nolse reduction and built-in MPX filter ... plus, auto-reverse on both decks, two motors, normal/high-speed dubbing, relay play, music search, blank skip and auto space rec mule. fFraoneer rs Compact Disc Recorder that gives you the ability 10 make your own, personal cd's. CD-R and CD-RW recarding / playback, erase functions, digital REC volume, digital synchro recording, digital fader, auto finalization and remote, #000 and 2001 modets... Pioneer 33 DVD /€D/ Video CD Player with Digital Pragressive Scan Output, superb sound quality, Twin-Wave Laser pickup, high speed toading, Dolby Digital Out, component video out.and a “Heads-Up” remote contrat with ty preset function, Moneer ux §-Dise DVD / CO / Video CD Player with component video output, 5-Disc carousel, OTS digital out, Dolby Digital ovt, Twin-Wave Laser pickup, program play, super sound quality, anda "Heads-Up" remote control with ty preset function, specially priced! 4716 Keith Avenue Terrace, B.C. Phone: (250) 635-5333