Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 9. : 999 TERRACE: STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK - ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638- 8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode-net Go green THUMBS UP to city parks and recreation direc- tor Steve Scott and other officials pondering the future of the soon-to-be vacated Jand upon which Skeena Junior Secondary School now sits. A replacement school for Skeena is to be built adjacent to Caledonia Senior Secondary in the next couple of years, |:aving open the question of what will happen to the Skeena property and. its important playing fields and running track. The school district wants to sell the Skeena land. to help defray the costs of the new school, which is a fairly standard process and very critical to the cash-strapped school district. But that would — mean the schoo] district would have to replace at least some of the playing fields it would lose - along the way. More than likely, this would take’ place, at a cost, on the schoo] district lands at the Caledonia site. The suggestion now being floated that the Skeena playing fields and track be preserved is a worthy one given that they are already devel- oped. These facilities are also enjoyed by a large variety of community groups, thus adding to’ their ongoing value. They also act as an important green space and one, with a bit of work, could be improved upon . and expanded to also act as a park. This city will continue to grow and as it does, the preservation of green space will become all that more vital. It’s not at all implausible that when Skeena Jun-. ior Secondary is taken down, a park-like setting: be constructed in its place, creating a winning combination with the existing playing fields and running track, . itsa gas THE NDP government may be viewed as bold and brash in some areas, but it’s taking an ever- SO cautious approach to demands to lift the ban on drilling to determine if there are sufficient oil and gas deposits off the north coast to justify commercial development. ‘The issue has been a winner in the northwest, given the downturn in its classic resource in- dustries of wood and fish. But the prospect of drilling derricks dotting the northcoast seas is bound to be viewed with alarm by environ- mentalists. The NDP is treading carefully for it is in no position to alienate the environmental movemenit which is one of the party’s traditional power bases. So the hiring of a company to test the idea. of lifting the ban is the first step toward testing the waters of public acceptance. And expect former Skeena NDP MP Jim Fulton to pop up. A critic of offshore drilling when he- was in parliament, Mr. Fulton hasn’t wavered since he left office. His current job as executive director of the David Suzuki Foundation, a well- financed and savvy environmeuital group in Van- couver, gives him a powerful platform to do battle with those who are theoretically his allies. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel * NEWS/SPORTS: Christiana Wiens NEWS/COMMUNITY: Alex Hamilton OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Carole Kirkaldy. ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Bedford, Bunnic Cote TELEMARKETER: Tabatha Orange DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Julie Davidson - SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.30 per year; Seniors $50.75; Out of Province $64.39 Outside of Canada (6 months) $158.25 1998 WINNER CCNA BETTER NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION {ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) __ MEMBEROF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. ; fe . CANADVAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION . ee AND : @cn A, conmner resem B.C. PRESS COUNCIL “eit ciatie ve iene Serving tha Terrace and Thombill area. Published on Wednesday ef each week at 3210 Clinton Sheat, Terrace, British Colvmbla, VaG 5R2. Stories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typestyles in tha Temace Standard are the property ol ihe ores holders, including Cariboo Prass (1969) Ltd., fis Tustration repro services and advertising Pepin i ant at wit ei, is specifically prohibited. Ahern bs ernd ass nal png th Poa len Depatnent kr pymont of potage a cash, Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thalr time and talents C iG \ yp (AKKAH FORECATHERS LISTEN sec THEY'RE ~ ALTURNING ONE. —_——I one’s a VICTORIA — She is sleek. She is beautiful. She is fast. She is the PacifiCat. And the critics had better take a _ Zood, hard look at her before ‘they continue slandering her parents, her conception and her birth. L More than 20,000 people lined up on the weekend in Victoria to take a tour of the first of three, new catamaran ferries. And nobody I met had anything bad to say about her. No, not about the cost either. This 122.5-metre beauty will make the crossing between Vancouver Island and the Mainland in about an hour, loaded with a thousand passengers and 250 cars. The regular ferries take an hour . and forty minutes, knots, ‘compared {0°19 knots © - for the traditional ferries, and can reach a maximum speed of 44 knots. Inside and out the design is smashing. The decor of the passenger area is more remi- niscent of a cafe than a ferry. With chairs grouped rountl small, round tables. There’s a cafeteria, which was probably not necessary, considering the speedy crossing, snack bars, a gilt shop, a video arcade and a OH, TO be ai independent Nation. If Canada isn’t boxed in by the G8 ar NAFTA, it’s yet another American show- biz personality bent on kink- ing our conservation laws to please his personal wants. Several months ago it was music maker Ted Nugent railing about Ontario can- celling its spring bear hunt. Now it’s a Minnesota fishing show host ina snit after local fishitivs officers charged him with molesting a fish in the Kitimat River. At least Larry Dahlberg, host of ESPN’s The Hunt for Big Fish, knows how to curb unwelcome publicity: ‘fess up promptly and pay the con- sequences. Rather than risk having his video footage held - and viewed — by DFO offi- cers, Dahlberg paid his $250 fine on the spot. His excuse for avoiding court was that he had to rush the video back to his TV sta- beaut FROM THE CAPITAL.. HUBERT BEYER The vessel : cruises ‘at BF. children’s play area. All right, let’s talk about the cost. Original estimates put the cost of building the three new fast ferries at $210 million Turns out the cost is topping $450 million, more than twice the estimate. «The. way Tee it; the prob... lem j isn’t so- ‘much the actual - cosi, dui the fact that some- one underestimated the cost at the stat. Having built the ferries, tegardiess of the overruns, tay turn out to be the best thing for British Columbia since W.A.C. Bennett staked his political future, wisely as it turned out, on building highways all across the province. Armchair critics, myself included, have said for years THROUGH. BIFOCALS | CLAUDETTE SANDECKI BACK PAIN? SORE Limes? ACHING ee rad tion to meet a tight timetable. Nonsense. No TY sta- tion’s programming schedule is that inflexible. Suppose he had caught only a fingerling instead of an eight-kilogram steelhead? Do you really believe his station would have shown him tweezing his catch from the water. Even if Fisheries had held- his video to make copies, he would have had his original that British Columbia needs to wean itself of its depen- dence on natural resources by developing new primary and secondary industries. Well, the catamaran ferries certainly qualifies, Only a fool would com- plain that a prototype has cost too much and suggest that any further investment ought to be stopped. Next week, the first flying automobile, a Skycar, will make a short maiden flight in the U.S. The cost of the pro- totype was $1.5 million, but the developers say that mass production, Henry Ford- style, will bring the cost down to $90,000, If generations past had been aftaid of possible cost overruns, the world would be a dreary place, devoid of all. the magnificent. edifices” that have given testimony to man’s ingenuity, dreams and aspiration. There would be no cathedrals, no castles. The Cologne Cathedral was completed about 700 - years late, and I’m sure it wasn’t on budget either. Critics of the catamaran ferries should also consider the economic benefits the project brings to the province, and the benefits aggressive international pro- motion of this technology back within two or three days. His film was too spe- cial to be developed locally; it had to go ta Vancouver. Still, copies could have been made and his TV schedule stil] been met. Try all he wants to look wronged, treated like any angler ignor- ing fishery rules. To scoot across the border and from there snipe at our DFO offi- cers like a tot lot bully peek- ing out form behind his mother’s skirts...!!!) Why didn’t he refuse to pay the fine and fight the charge in court? Any video copy he might send to Terrace now would have no value as evidence. Modern editing machines, with the touch of a switch, could: splice, rearrange, or delete chunks of his. film footage to make his guided exploits conform to the most stringent -interpretation of ANYONE SUFFERING BF fo aun HELP. GS-55 Dahlberg was. DR. SKooKUM Ph. p.™ BusH CHIRO PRACTOR! | ede PRerry HELPFUL Dos ful, costly cat could bring in the future. . Construction of the three vessels has provided thou- sands of direct and indirect. jobs to British Columbians. Dozens of B.C, campanies, including Vancouver Ship- - yards, Allied Shipbuilders and Point Hope Shipyards, have profited from this pro- ject. Here is a chance for - British Columbia to build an international reputation for ‘what used to and should again come naturally to this maritime province - the building of ships. It’s part of our heritage and it should be part of our future. ’ What’s needed is the imagination to dream big and the determination to turn that dream into reality. The ship I saw last weekend Ought’to bean edsiér’sell-to any nation” bordering ‘on water than anything else this country or this province has to offer. And I’m saying to the critics: Enough already. Take your nitpicking elsewhere and show a little pride in what British Columbia can do. Beyer can be reached at — Tel: (250) 920-9300; e-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; web: http:/Avww.hubertbeyer.com _ / Sorry, Larry. It just won‘t do caich and release regulations. Fish are not movie stars. They shouldn’t be kept wait- ing like leading ladies needlepointing while grips: rearrange stage props for the: next movie scene, To top off Dahlberg’s whining about being charged. under Section 4 for molest-' ing a fish, one news report: quotes him as saying, “I think the fish enjoyed it.” Aclumsy stab at humour? I’ve heard a similar line: before, spoken by convicted: child molesters, rapists, and: incestuous fathers. Dahlberg —_ gives the! impression because, in his: words, his TV show has the: potential to persuade mil- lions of American fisherman: to visit B.C., our fishing. rep ulations should be twisted: like strands of DNA so he: can be photographed to max- imum benefits. Sorry, Larry.