f
a

Wet *

ise.

~ lowered —

“by Tod Strachan

If you have heard that property

- faxes in Terrace are poing "down",

the story is correct... in a sense. It

- would be more accurate, however,
to say that property taxes aren’t

going to go up as much as every-
one thought.

= City council’s original 1990:city.

budget, called for a number - of
- “public: works: projects around town

that have since failed to gain sup-—

port or funding under the Local
Improvement Program. These
projects have therefore been
scrapped and a few new ones
added, The bottom line, though, is

that the overall cost to the taxpayer
will be down. In fact, that five
percent tax increase council
announced a while back is now

only going to be 3.8 percent.

This may only mean a $50 to
$100 saving but it’s a welcome
change in the trend of inflation...
even though taxes aren’t really

going. down, It’s a budget that
Finance. Committee
Danny Sheridan describes not as a.

chairman

"good news budget" but a "better
news budget".

Of course it may not be “better
news" for some Sparks, Milis,

_ Thomas and McConnell residents;

Continued on page A2

College hopes for
decimal point error

Few details of the 1990-91
Northwest Community College
funding allocation have been
released yet. The information was
received from Victoria last Thurs-
day, two months into the new
fiscal year, according to bursar
Geoff Harris, and the board and
administration are still in the

- process of analyzing it.

But there is a problem... they
think. Members of the college
board met with MLA Dave Parker
last Saturday to discuss their share
of the province’s $68 million
Access to Education fund. Accord-
ing ‘to Hartis, Parker agrees that
there seems to have been an over-
sight or miscalculation and will be

- faking the matter up with Minister

of Advanced Education Bruce

. Strachan sometime this week.

Harris explains that the $68

‘million Access to Education fund

was intended to enhance access to
post-secondary education and job
training programs in B.C. colleges,
- ‘put according to the information
» they received from Victoria the
NweC, share - _ As. + only $25,000.

That’s only 0.041 of one percent
of the total fund, and Harris says
it’s possible that someone might
have misplaced a decimal by a
point or two. Their fair share, the
board believes, should be some-
thing closer to $1 million than
$25,000.

The Access to Education funding
would help NWCC to maintain its
expanded role in providing
advanced education in the North-
west, says Harris. He explains it
has taken years of hard work to
establish training centers in places
like Stewart, Kemano, the Nass
Valley and the Queen Charlotte

Islands on top of what already ~

exists in Terrace, Hazelton, Prince
Rupert and Kitimat, and they want
to maintain that drive in providing
education for all.

Harris says he’s hopeful, but not
optimistic, that their funding share
will be increased. The college
shouldn’t have to wait long to find
out, though. Harris says he expects
an answer one way or the other as

early as next week.

After a “four-day ordeal of testifying ‘before a 4 disciplinary panel of the Registered Nurses
Association of B.C., Isobel Brophy was met by a group of Pro-Life supporters at the Terrace airport
Monday. She has been charged with misconduct, and now has to await the panel's decision.

Photo by Pam Whitaker

| Victoria B.C

cot

oT

VBV LRA

| Legislative Library:
i Parliament Buildings

NCU TFN

_ WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1990
Vol..6, Issue No. 20. . -

Phone 635-7840
635-7269 |

Fax

Terrace nurse returns
home to uncertainty |

by Pam Whitaker

My came back with my integri-
ty intact if nothing else,”’ Isobel
Brophy told those who greeted
her at the Terrace/Kitimat air-
port on her return from Van-
couver, where she had appeared
in front of a disciplinary panel
of the Registered Nurses Asso-
ciation of British Columbia, The
Terrace nurse burst into tears as
she entered the terminal building
Monday afternoon, May 14, and
found 30 supporters to welcome
her home, with placards and
bouquets of flowers.

Brophy’s hearing wound up
May 11 after four days of gruel-
ing testimony, She was charged
', with wrongfully counselling pa-

tients at Mills Memorial
Hospital not to have abortions,
and threatening to use the local

anti-abortion movement to force

cancellation of an abortion
scheduled during last year’s
nurses’ strike, The latter charge
was emphatically denied by the
Terrace Pro-Life Education
Association president Marion
Schlegel. She told the tribunal
via telephone that the local Pro-
Life organization was never ap-
proached in any way concerning
this dispute. Brophy maintained
that she acted purely on her own
volition with the support of Ter-
race nurses who believed abor-
tion should not be considered
“essential surgery’? during a
nurses’ strike. |

On being asked “how it was”
by her many sympathizers,
Brophy replied: ‘‘It was an in-
tense five days of microscopic
scrutiny of my every word and
deed both as Pro-Life activist
and.as a nurse talking to women
about abortion.”

The main defense of Brophy’s
actions rested on the premise
that women are not fully coun-
selled as to the options and
assistance Open to them in a
crisis pregnancy situation, nor to
the possible long-term effects of
abortion, ‘‘It was an exciting op-
portunity to share with the panel
and the public all the new infor-
mation on abortion,’’ she said.
“Dr. Phillip Ney, a psychiatrist

Continued .on page A2

ma