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decision

ilton Jovial was dis-
appointed, His public
meeting had generated a

lot of interest in Terrace, but little
real support. In fact, as far as he
knew, not one letter had been
written to B.C. premier Woody
Waffle, or its forest minister Bugs
Weevil. Not one letter expressing

‘ support for his need to export

chips. -

Still, he had put a lot into this
project and he didn’t really want to
give it up. He hedged. It offered
him a sense of the pioneering spirit
to break fresh ground.

On one hand, given the rules of
the game, he knew it wasn’t a
good investment. But on the other,
he had paid his Terrace forester
Herby Squish and his marketing
and mill design consultants good
money to get as far as he had.

Another plus, he felt, was the
positive reaction he found at the
public meeting in Terrace. Those
people did want another mill in the

_ area. Even though they had shown

little willingness to do any work to
help him realize his objective, they
did want the jobs.

And that interest might still be
tapped. What if he built the mill,
created the jobs, then threatened
closure because he was losing
money? That would “grab every-
one’s attention, including Waffle

and Weevil. Allowing the closure
of a major industry is bad politics.
This little ploy had worked to his
advantage before... Why not?

"Herby," Jovial spoke into the -

telephone. “It doesn’t look good.
I'd be a fool to invest in your
province... Unless [ double or
triple my investment and put in a
pulp mill too there’s no way I can
make any money. But I’m not
quite finished yet. I have a plan. I
want you to sharpen your pencil,
cut all the corners you can, and
tell me if you think I can at least
break even in the first five years."

Jovial wouldn’t have to wait for
an answer. Squish wasn’t certain
what Jovial had in mind, but in
general terms, his question wasn't
all that difficult to answer. "There
are a number of things you can do
in the short term," Squish began
his reply, "But..." -

Jovial wouldn’t let him finish.
"Name some," he cut in. "Well,"
Herby thought for a moment. "We
could do a little horse trading with
your timber supply, and we can
cut your short term costs by fol-

lowing all the rules... But only to.

the bare minimum."
At Jovial’s urging, Squish went

into greater detail, First, he
explained, Jovial' planned: to build -

his sawmill near Cedarvale; about

Pifer — Continued from page AG

I used the world ‘‘marvel”’
earlier, regarding TV's ability
to bring war into our living
rooms.

That is not to suggest that I
consider the use of weapons of
death and destruction which
Man has perfected to be
wonderful and marvelous.

Rather, it is to be further as-
tounded and amazed at the ad-
vancement of satellite tech-
nology which enables us to
communicate across a globe in

-a matter of seconds.

Oh, but that such skills in

‘communication had been able

to prevent this bloody war!
Do not get me wrong. I fully

- support the decision to proceed

to war under the United Na-
tions mandate, when all other
efforts to get through to Iraq’s
Saddam Hussein had failed.

I support it; but I don’t have
to like it.

Surely all sane-thinking peo-
ple pray that it will end as
swiftly, and with as few
casualties on both sides, as is
possible.

yuppie U.TV and the young
Global Network with which it
is affiliated, provided better,
consistent prime-time coverage
on that historic Wednesday
than did BCTV, which opted
out of the network for a
hockey game!

Talking heads and maps for —
the first few hours gave way to
footage from the war zone, and
the overall combination was the
most compelling viewing in the
history of global television.

It was even more dramatic
on Thursday, as we watched
CNN reporters and cameramen
in Jerusalem don gas masks
and try to make sense of the
confusion. ,

Meanwhile, Family Feud was
running on BCTV — a pro-
gram they finally broke into 10
minutes after the first gut-
churning report from Israel.

I do not doubt that each
day, TV coverage is eclipsing
even that of the Nov. 22, 1963,
assassination of U.S. President
John F. Kennedy, or of the
June 29, 1969, first manned

_ landing on the Moon.

Now, as to a veteran jour-
nalist’s critique of the coverage
provided by the Canadian
television networks, it was vir-
tually no contest.

CBC-TY News, along with
its sister news magazine, The
Journal, and the fledgling CBC
Newsworld, left the commercial
network, CTV, far in its wake
during the first crucial 24 hours
of the Gulf War.

In fact, even Vancouver’s

More than half of those peo-
ple around the world watching
this war are tuned to CNN;
and as I did, many of them on
that first night, probably came
to feel that they were listening
to dear friends in a tight spot
— John, Peter, Bernie, and
Larry.

War is inhumane, yes; but
these journalists proved that
there also is humanity in the
midst of war.

halfway between his timber
licences near Terrace and Hazel-
ton. This meant trucking logs
about 60 miles. But there were
other northwest logging concerns
who had licences less than half
that distance from Jovial’s pro-
posed mill, and trading logs isn’t
uncommon.

"The clincher here," Squish said

jokingly, "is that there’s no GST

on a trade." .
In addition, there was other tim-

per closer to Cedarvale that Jovial

could probably buy for less than it
would cost to cut and haul trees
from Jovial’s own wood supply. A
quick estimate, Squish guessed,
was that he could buy about 10
percent of his total fibre require-
ments from farmers, woodlot
owners and Indian bands.

"I like this idea of buying and
using someone else’s trees," Jovial

cut in. "When they run out, Dil

still have my own."
Something else pointed out by

“Squish, was‘ ‘that ‘a’ “little - extra

revenue could be realized from
Jovial’s licences by finding mar-
kets for the species he didn’t need.
This included birch, aspen,

"cottonwood, cedar and about eight .

percent of the trees in his coastal

licence that were too large in

diameter to be put through the mili
he planned to build.

As far as provincial regulations
were concerned, there were ob-
vious corners that could be cut.
Initially, go after the easy "stuff"
Squish advised. Flat land closest to
the highway offers trees that can
be accessed with minimal road
construction, the trees are less
labour intensive to harvest and
they can be hauled to the mili at
the best cost. Going after these
areas first, Squish added, meant
reduced reforestation cost, another
part of the operation that Jovial
could reduce to a minimum.

And a final cost-saving trick, one
that caused Jovial some concern,
was to get "the most for the Icast"

from small contractors; logging

companies and trucking companies
for example. "That’s a given,"
Jovial said. .

"So ‘all these things could help
keep me in the picture," Jovial
thought aloud. Then, "You started
to say "but’... Give me the bad
news." |

"It’s as obvious as it is simple,"

by Tod Strachan, in consultation with Rod Amold and Doug Davies

Squish explained. “Harvest all the
easy stuff first and you're faced
with cutting the more difficult,
more costly trees later... And if the
market’s soft..."

This advice, Jovial was willing to
ignore. "Don’t worry about it,”
Jovial interrupted. "I’ve got a plan.
Within five years I’ll be exporting
chips... No matter what Weevil
says now." .

Squish was worried. “You can’t
count on that,” he countered.

"Yes I can,” Jovial replied. "I’ve
got a plan. If barging into Waffle’s
office every few months doesn’t
work, I'll bring out the big guns
when I start working on my second
five-year cutting plan. I’m going to
export chips. You just wait and
see.

"Right now,” Jovial ordered, "I
want you to start cutting a few of
those deals you were talking about
Squish. Horse trading. The most
for the least. All that kind of stuff.
- "And' get the job done soon.
Tomorrow I’m telling my planners
I’m ready for the final drawings.
Within a week or two, I'll be -

advertising for a contractor to

build my mill."

Ksan thanks Elks and OORP

An open letter to the members
of the Order of the Royal Purple
and the Terrace Elks:

Ladies & Gentlemen; —

On behalf of the Ksan House
Society, I would like to thank
you for your very generous do-
nation of $2,000.

As you know, Ksan House So-

‘ciety operates three programs in

Terrace: the Sexual Assault Cen-
‘tre, the Transition House and
the Osborne Home. None of
these are ‘‘glamorous’” pro-
grams and we, both staff and
volunteers, sometimes feel frus-
trated with public reception of
our work.

It is at times such as now that
we are grateful to know there is
some community support for

our endeavors. It brings hope
that the support will continue to
grow and that someday family
violence and sexual assault will
be eradicated and that under-
standing and acceptance of the
psychiatrically disabled will be

Thanks from

To ‘The Editor;

The staff and residents at Os-
borne Home wish to thank the
following people and communi-
ty agencies for their generous
donations and support of our
facility: Xi Beta Mu; Ladies
Auxiliary, Royal Canadian
Legion; Kitimat-Terrace &
District Labour Council; Salva-:
tion Army; The Golden Rule;

in fact, a fact. .

Again, with our heartfelt —
thanks I am... os
Sincerely yours, -

Carol Sabo, .

'. Executive Director,
Ksan House Society. -

Osborne
Anglican Church; and the
businesses who gave their sup-
port.

And Ksan Society would like
to say a special thank you and a

- Happy New Year to the staff of
Osborne.

Nardis Blomgren,
Osborne Home,
Terrace.

Invitation to a homecoming

To The Editor;

_ Have you ever lived in Fruit-
vale, B.C., the heart of the beau-

’ tiful Beaver Valley? Are you

planning your summer vacation
or a weekend away in 1991?
‘Why not make plans to attend
the Fruitvale Homecoming,
Aig. 2 - 4, 1991.

Due to limited space for some
events pre-registration is re-
quired. So avoid disappointment
and Send for Information right
away! A stamped, self-addressed
legal-size envelope would speed

up the forwarding of our events —

schedule and registration forms.

In order to make our plats,” ma

registration forms must be

returned by April 30, 1991 (post-
marked).

| K.W. Mitchell,

Fruitvale Homecoming

‘91 Committee,

Box 272,

Rruitvale, B.C.

~~ “¥OG 1L0