The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - BI TERRACE STANDARD INSIDE SECTION B “COMMUNITY JENNIFER LANG EVENTS B2 | 638-7283 “ARON EG earve A question of war REMEMBER quite distinctly the first I time we were getting ready for a war in the gulf. 1 was a student in Mr. Kin- ney’s Social Studies class, and there was greal debate about whether or nat it was a good thing to bring war upon the armies and peoples of Iraq. Being the itinerant slacker that 1 was at the time, I was quite surprised to come upon both a subject that I was interested in, and had clue about. While [ was by no means a studied academic, | definitely fell square into the mid- dle of the rank of war buff; I had had vora-- ciously read all that { could about war and its effect on the world since Grade 1 in Thornhill. For the first time in my life, { found myself in front of the class, explaining both my semi- learned opinion and knowledge in front of my peers. It was a strange feeling. Later, after class, some of my newspaper club buddies got together to talking about our next project. Sarah and Theresa, being peace- loving peaceniks that they were, were plan- ning a peace vigil. “So are you going to come to the vigil after school?” Sarah asked me with -her usual aplomb. “I’m not sure,” | replied, “I haven’t quite made my mind up about the matter yet.” “What’s there to make your mind up about?” Theresa. asked with a shark’s grin, ‘“I¢’s pretty clear thal this whole thing has been set up by the Americans. All they're doing is protecting their oil interests there.” _. Jt was the nineties. No good story was much of anything without a big ‘conspiracy at the heart of it. - “T suppose,” I said, “I agree the thing is, whether or not America actually did have a hand in it is irrelevant. [ don’t like war at all. [ think it’s horrible, but that aside, what really matters is that Iraq’s invaded Kuwait and taken over. That’s not right. No one - no coun- iry — no people should ever have to put up with that from anybody!” I said, speaking with the conviction of the young, “It’s just not right. I guess that’s why [ don’t feel comfortable going to the peace vigil.” They were respectful of that. It was one of those defining moments that happens every so often in one’s life. 1 was proud of myself for making a very grown-up ’ opinion on things, one that had given me a lot of room for thought of late, as America is pre- paring for the seemingly inevitable war with Iraq. ‘It was the nineties. No good A timid canine castaway who spent two months trapped on an island in the Skeena river was so frightened of strangers she kept outwitting her rescuers AFTER two frigid months battling for sur- vival on an island in the Skeena River, a plucky pooch named Sassy is back in her owners’ loving hands. The 11-year-old terrier-cross dog went missing Halloween night from her Kenney St. home on the southside. The family scoured the town looking for her — to no avail. But in December Rich McDaniel, whose Skeena St. home overlooks the river, spotted an emaciated lump of fur roaming an island in the midst of the river. Rescuers armed with tasty meats boarded boats and mobilized to retrieve the stranded hound. But each time they got close to Terrace’s own canine castaway, Sassy eluded them and couldn’t be coaxed out of hiding, “Every time they went over there she would Tun and hide and they couldn’t catch her,” owner Lorna Sperman said. “How she ever got down there I'll never know,” Somehow the pooch didn’t starve to death, freeze or become a meal for a predator. McDaniel, who owns a pet Shih-Tzu, first noticed the stranded dog at the end of October. “Tl saw it from my house. It would sit down and make a-howl — just like a coyote, a mournful howl. Oh, it broke my heart.” McDanie! repeatedly set a live trap baited with roast beef — food that was probably instru- mental in keeping Sassy alive. But the wiley terrier cross kept managing to raid the food from the trap without getting snared. McDaniel also left two bags of dry dog food and hid them under fogs. His heart sank as we watched crows pick away at the food meant for Sassy. As luck would have it, he was out of town over the Christmas holidays when the dog was rescued. He was overjoyed when his friend Herman Buschmann notified him by phone. Buschmann had tied one of McDaniel’s roasts and later a roast pork to the trap using a leather shoelace so the littie dog couldn’t snatch the food away. “They tied it in there, and that’s how they got her. Buschmann captured Sassy on Dec, 27. The hound was taken to the animal shelter where Sperman picked her up. “T called her by her right name,” she says, “She pricked her ears up and started whin- ing. It just about made me cry.” “She was stinky —just skin and bones,” Sperman says. “You could feel every rib on her. It was just terrible.” Sperman then bathed the dog at the shelter and took her home for a happy reunion with husband Tullio and tenant Joszef Kiss. “She went crazy when |. brought her home,” LORNA SPERMAN says Sassy is doing well now that she’s back home and recupera- ting from her ordeal. JEFF NAGEL PHOTO Sperman said. her.” Sassy is doing very well now and is very McDaniel, who spent a week in hospital Te- well fed. covering from pneumonia during part of the dog’s ordeal, is grateful to everyone else who assisted. He’s particularly indebted to his Skeena St. neighbours, the Beaubins, who monitored the island using binoculars, “T never gave up hope because it was a lit- “You could feel every rib on her. it was just terrible.” “She’s put on lots of weight since she’s been home,” Sperman said. “I'd just like to thank them very. much for all thal they did for tle dog stranded. It was simple,” he says, add- ing how Sassy ended'up on the isiand may al- Ways remain a mystery. story was much of anything without a big conspiracy.’ Around Town Holocaust survivor shares first-hand story ROBBIE WAISMAN was 14 when Allied soldiers liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945. He was astonished to learn he was one of 430 children scattered in hiding spats about the camp. The children languished for months while the werld debated where to pul therm. It gradually dawned on Waisman that he and other Jews were no longer welcome in his hame country of Potand or many other places after the Second World War — such is the illogical framework of racism and hate. Finally, a French journalist wrote a scathing ar- ticle called ‘J’Accuse’, and France agreed to give the children a home. Waisman emigrated to Calgary a few years later, where he married, raised a family and ran a business. But his incredible story remained a pri- vate agony for 30 years until he heard about Jim Keegstra, an Eckville, Alberta teacher who is now one of Canada’s most notorious Holocaust deniers. Waisman, now president of the Vancouver Holo- caust Education Centre, shares his story in Terrace tomorrow night. He and Willie Abrahams, a man who spent seven years at one of B.C.’s residential schools, will speak about their harrowing experiences at the Caledonia Senior Secondary lecture theatre from 7:30-9:30. The evening is sponsored by the Cana- dian Jewish Congress-Pacific Region and a host of focal non profit agencies, including the Terrace and District Multicultural Association and Ker- mode Friendship Saciety. The program also features Romy Ritter from the Canadian Jewish Congress, Kitsumkalum chief councillor Diane Collins and mayor Jack Tatstra. Now I find myself on the opposite side of the fence for many of the same reasons ] gave to Sarah and Theresa over ten years apo. I don’t hold with any one country invading or starting a war with another for any reason, no matter what the provocation may be. We -can justify it as we wish, but, terrorism or not, as Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night al- ready devoid of stars.” War is a cross-fire question of morals, one that faces every country that calis itself a de- mocracy.* No one, no country, and no people deserve to be invaded by a foreign country without just cause and ‘provocation, If we believe in the ideas of equality and justice to anyone within our lands, there is no way we can justify any- thing less to people in the world around us. ’ Anything less is hypocrisy of the highest order. To that end, I leave you with this: “Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the commion people don’t want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after ail, it is the leaders of the country whe de- termine the policy and it is always a simple mat- ter lo drag the people along, whether it is a de- mocracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parlia- ~ ment, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no _ voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriol- ism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country,” SKEENA VALLEY Farmers’ Market president Lynne Christiansen with P. J. Vaalhenke’s Imaginative depiction of the market — a Saturday tradition. Artist donates watercolour painting to Farmers’ Market A PAINTING donated to the Skeena Val- ley Farmers’ Market will auctioned off in July, president Lynne Christiansen says. The painting, a delicate watercolour by local artist P.J. Vaalhenke, depicts the popular farmers’ market as well as a number of other familiar symbols inspired by Terrace. The artist gave it to the market, which celebrates its 20th annivetsary this sum- mer. Christiansen said the image will be printed on postcards and possible a calen- dar. Sales will help support the market. If you'd like to take a closer look, the painting will be on view at Northern Sav- ings Credit Union throughout January and February. It heads to the R:E.M. Lee Theatre in April before a two-month stay on display at the Terrace Art Gallery dur-_ ing June and uly. ‘Herman Goering