Aa - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 12, 1997 ‘TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Strect Terrace, B.C. * V8G SR2 TELEPHONE: (25()) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Councillor Les THE BY-ELECTION brought on by the resigna- tion of city councillor Tim Down gives Mayor Jack Talstra an unintended but timely op- portunity. And that would be to continue the ef- fort to promote an amalgamation of Terrace and Thornhill. Although amalgamation was defeated by Thornhill residents, the 58 per cent rejection tally wasn’t as high as some had thought it might be. And there appears to be now a willingness to keep exploring the idea of combining the two communities under one governmental roof. So a by-election to fill Mr. Down’s seat on Ter- , race council gives Mr. Talstra the chance to in- vite Thornhill residents to run for the position. And should a Thornhill resident be elected, Mr. Talstra’s actions would do much to ease fears of suspicious Thornhill residents that Terrace is up to no good. A Thornhill resident on council would be in- volved in the city’s decision making in recogni- tion that the rural area is part of the fabric of the city. The councillor from Thornhill would have every opportunity to report back to rural resi- dents on on important Terrace issues which go beyond the current boundaries of the city. All this would lead to a growing understanding be- tween the two communities and an all-important working relationship. Heck, Mr. Talstra might even wish to extend a personal] invitation to one of the city’s more per- sistent critics — Thornhill regional district direc- tor Les Watmough. They could even meet sym- bolically halfway across the old bridge and shake hands. Little things THE JOB of criticizing a government is often too easy. Simply attacking anything a govern-. ment does and says makes for a short work day and nothing gets accomplished. That’s why it’s important to give credit to the good works a "government undertakes. A good example of this are the two things the NDP provincial government has done this year to assist food banks and soup kitchens. In June royal assent was given to a bill which makes it easier for food stores and restaurants and catering businesses to donate foodstuffs to food banks and soup kitchens. Prior to this bill businesses were reluctant for fear of liability should any of the food up for donation be tainted. But the bill removes that liability fear when donations are made in good faith. And this fall the agriculture ministry unveiled a test program in selected food stores whereby shoppers can purchase $2 coupons which are then converted into credits for local food banks to buy B.C. food products. It’s a painless yet ef- fective way to make a donation. Neither of these iniatitives are mega-projects in which politicians seek applause in getting their pictures taken while wearing white hardhats. Yet each meets the essential test of governments and that’s to improve the quality of life for everyone. a PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Dave Taylor NEWS COMMUNITY: Cris Leykaut OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiras TELEMARKETER: Patricia Schubrink ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Kelly Jean TYPESETTING: Sylvana Broman DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur CIRCULATION MANAGER; Karen Bruncite SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $53.50 per year; Seniors $48.15; Out of Province $60.99 Outside of Canada (6 months) $149.80 {ALL PRICES INCLUDE G8T) MEMBER OF . - (| B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, NZ CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION __ AND CNA Fee B.C. PRESS COUNCH. oa Serving { the Terrace and Thomhill area, Published on Wotlnesday al aach week at 3210 Clinton Street, Forrace, Aritish Columbia, VEG 5R2, | Stories, pholagraphs, illustrations, designs and fypastyles in the Terrace Standard asa the property of lhe copyright holdars, including Cariboo Press (1969) Lid., its. Illustration repre services and advertising agencies, Reproduction in whole or in part, without wniten permission, Is épecitically prohibited. Authorized 25 sacond-class mail pencing the Post O'fice ‘Department, {or payment ol postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents: } m4 Ww HUA) i aN AN NY ny a ea ay, _ APART FROM YOUR MURDEROUS ACTION ON TIANANMEM SQUARE .. YOUR RUTHLESS ANNEXATION OF TIBET YOUR DESPICABLE RECORD ON HUMAN RIGHTS PLUS MANY MORE SHAMELESS ACTIONS .. YOU'RE NOT SUCH ABAD KID. «+: aut a (ERED aT YOU CAPIIALISTIC FLATTERER You. hes 4 «{ Pati. Gov't shenanigans exposed VICTORIA — For the past six weeks, a logging company has been squaring off with the provincial government — in Prince George Supreme Court, and the way things are going, the powers that be in Victoria may well be on the hook for up to $150 million. The case involves an in- ordinate amount of bureaucratic arrogance and political shenanigans, the latter of which achieved new heights last week, when Carrier Lum- ber of Prince George was final- ly able to produce documents it had requested wader the pro- vince’s freedom of information legislation. By all appearances, the government had tied every trick in the book to delay tum- ing the documents over to Car- rier Lumber, which prompted Judge W. Glen Parrett to order an investigation into a possible government cover-up. “There are grounds for the gravest of concems as to what is going on in the Ministry of Forests and their disclosure of relevant and material docv- ments in this case, ] am ap- palled by the inferences that could be drawn from these documents, and the timing and method of their disclosure,” Parrett said. ‘Whether it was deliberate and calculated or the results of utter incompetence is an issue ONE OF my: granddaughiers’ favourite books is Jillian Jiggs. Jillian is a sever-year-old giri with every child’s problem - whenever she’s sent to ciean up her room, she's sidetracked into playing with the toys and clothes she should be picking up. I’m as casily diverted as Jil- lian. For weeks I'd been keeping an appreherisive cye on a precarious stack of newspapers atop a cardboard file box. The additional weight of cach weck's newspaper caused one end of the filebox to bulge slightly more, until it threatened to squash flat, fan- ning a nine month collection of Terrace Standard’s across the kitchen floor. Last Sunday, judging crisis to be at hand, I rescued the newspapers to level ground, For my reward, I browsed through the filebox’s cache of 1993 Chatelaine magazines. The arrival of any new maga- zine holds promise and com- FROM. THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER that, in my view, must be resolved,’’ he added. Those are i pretty strong words fom a judge, but more about the doc- uments later. First some back-_ -ground. The matter goes back to 1983, when Carrier Lumber was granted a 10-year licence to cut five million cubic feet of beetle-infested timber on the Chilcotin Plateau, about 200 kilometres west of Williams Lake, Carrier Lumber intended to harvest the timber with modular, pre-fabricated mills to be transported to locations in the Chilcctin, The method was Widely hailed as a pioneer- ing venture, on a scale never before seen in British Colum- bia. More than 200 people were employed in the venture, Disaster struck Carrier Lum- f THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI pels me to read it cover io cover — reviews of books and movies, articles about political notables or wannabes, crime cases, profiles of Olympic stars, readers’ letters..... Old magazines demand no such attention. Chances are I've read the books and seen the movies. Now [ can com- pare my ratings with the maga- zine’s reviews, I know how all the news stories turned out - who did get elected, who went to jail for how many weeks, ber in 1991, when native bands put up roadblocks, preventing the company from logging. Trying to settle the dispute, then Premier Harcourt first tied to talk the natives into mounting a joint venture with Carrier Lumber. When that failed, he promised the Natives there would be no logging without their permission. It was then left up to the forest ministry to find a way of making Harcourt’s bungled de- cision stick. And since there was mo legal and overt way of canceling Carrier’s licence, a sneaky and covert one had to do. In canceling the licence, the ministry claimed that the com- pany had not lived up to its sil- viculture obligations, basing its case on a Jaw passed in 1987 by the Social Credit govern. . ment. That legislation, how- ever, was meant to apply only to large companies which held licences practically in per- petuity, not for smaller firms such as Carrier Lumber, whose licence was non-renewable. The government steadfastly claimed that the legislation had been intended for all com- panies. That claim was solidly trashed during the court pro- ceedings, But the government's defence began to get really shaky when Dick Byl, Car- rier’s lawyer, presented docu- who took home the gold, In some cases, the old maga- zine’s articles are more fun to read after the passage of time. For instance, one cover head- lines: Pamela power! Can Pamela Wallin perk up Prime Time? We all know she did, but not for long. Still the profile of Wallin means more to me now. In 1993 I had no idea who she was, It’s fun to compare the evolution of a magazine. A change of editor, or format, creales a magazine remarkable different in style, appearance, and content. Some things, though, never change. In the letters-to-the- editor the hairstyles of female TV journalists. In 1993 you'd have thought Chatelaine — of all women’s magazines — would have had more sense than to publish such a trivial artide, As a comparison, the January 1993 issue featured Roberta Bondar, the astronaut who or- HAVE "THIS NO HUNTING CORRIDOR WELL, THE WILDLIFE APPEARS To sa ALL FIGURE our! ments he had at long last ob- tained under freedom of in- formation rujes, including one from an Indian band linked to the case. The documents were clearly relevant to the case and should have been made available to Carrier Lumber and, more im- portant, the court, at the start of the trial, not midway through. Paul Pearlman, acting on be- half of the government, ap- peared ata loss, “I don’t have any satisfactory explanation,’” he said, adding that he was concerned that there may be more documents to be pro- duced. The judge postponed a deci- sion on Carrier’s request to throw out the government's defence and rule in favour of the company right now, For the moment, the case has been put on hold because a key wit- ness became ill. And just about now, if J were forest minister David Zirnhelt or any of the forest ministry bureaucrats involved in the: mess, [’d be starting to get worried. The government and the forest ministry may finally learn that they cannot do any- thing they want. Beyer can be reached at: Tel: (250) 920-9300; Fax: (250) 385-6783; E-mail: hubert@coolcon com Gotta love those old : bited space for a week, Writes | onc reader, “If Bondar had read Chatelaine as a child, she might have been another woman looking to balance a hectic schedule of hair ap- pointments, shopping and stay- ing fit for her man.’’ Touche. Even five years or more after publication, a magazine can be as interesting and informative as the latest edition. Well writ- ten, detailed portraits ac- companied by apt photos are engrossing to read any time. And persuasive arguments hold water long after the deci- sions have gripped our daily life. Fiction, toc, can delight tegardicss of its publication date. All my life I’ve hoarded magazines. Throwing one out is akin to chopping holcs in the wedding album. So on 4 rainy Sunday afternoon, when it’s a choice between a trip to the library for new books or staying home to re-read outdated magazines, often the Jillian option wins.