| | | | Page 4, THE HERALD, Thursday, August 10, 1978 RIAL Editors are often still reporters at heart, and scan the news from force of habit, all their lives. Here are some of the types of news stories I would love to have covered, during my reporting days, and still live in hopes of reading off the news wires: Jane Doe, aged ninety-three, was walking down the stairs of her apartment house when she was set upon by a 17 year old youth, who grabbed her purse. The purse was equipped with an automatic purse-snatching alarm that gave the thief a paralyzing shock, knocking him sen- seless, before setting off the alarm which brought police quickly upon the scene. En route to the police station the would-be mugger and purse snatcher escaped from the police car. However, he was soon apprehended by half a dozen little old ladies he had previously assaulted, who were following him to the station, to lay charges: Thelittle old ladies, who had been. practicing karate since they had been attacked, soundly trounced the criminal, who had to be rescued by police before he was permanently incapacitated. Four vandals discovered in the act of stripping the tires from a car that had been left by the side - of the road when it broke down, were caught by OTTAWA OFFBEAT | _By Richard Jackson Ottawa, - Are you ready for this? Another study, a task force, a special research team doing some deep_. probing? No, not into the economy, nor even the state of national unity. But get this, into the psyche of the public service. And while your friendly neighborhood public servant feels “absolutely suffocated by security,” as the task force found — job and in- come security, that is — this comforting ‘safety the owner of the car returning with a mechanic. The vandals were forced, by the owner, to push the car ten miles to the nearest garage where they were made to work upon half a dozen other cars that had been similarly vandalized, and which they had been suspected of damaging on previous occasions. ; When eight year old Johnnie Doe was being beaten by his father, who had a history of child abuse, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his cub-Scout whistle which he blew three times. Immediately fifty Cub Scouts converged upon the scene, overcame the boy’s cruel father and marched him off into the woods, where they taught him a lesson he will never forget. Thieves who stole a new TV set from an electrical appliance store were surprised when police caught them with it in a downtown warehouse which was packed with other equipment they had stolen over the past six months, The TV set had been equipped with an - electronic signal that began transmitting the moment it had been picked up off its pedestal in the store. | . A would be attacker of a school teacher taking . a shortcut through the city park was set upon by the members of a Women’s Rights group who from the cold winds of uncertainty that blow in fae the “outside world,” gives him a feeling of unease, He worries about his standing in the com munity. Has he respect, does he enjoy status? Unhappily he frets that perhaps he lacks both. He feels “unappreciated.” And he worries that some of the neighborhood taxpayers, while envying him his “suffocating security,” tend to resent him as an unnecessary . and interfering burden to be borne, and may go so far-as to despise ‘him as.a drag on their per- sonal prosperity And:the very economy itself. Was the time, the task force found, that to be a public servant was to oceupy a proud place in society. Perhaps that may have been back in the years of Prime Minister Mackenzie King and his cabinet wonder-worker, C.D. Howe, the “Minister of Everything.” Those were happy public service days when the captains of industry and masters of men and the money markets were proud to work for “C.D.” for a _ then very honorable “dollar a year.” Sb Not just in the war years, but in.years af post- war reconstruction, when Howe’s “dollar a year” army ‘slowly demobilized and went back out into the business and industrial world to take charge again, applying the lessons they had learned in Ottawa of the way the gears of the private and public sectors of enterprise can be co-ordinated for mutual profitability. Since then a whole new generation of ‘Fifty Thousand Dollar a Year Men” has taken over. They never worked in the “‘outside world,” and are as far removed from Howe’s men as a dollar is from fifty thousand. They are the new generation of the Big Bureaucrats who are committed to the proposition that the federal government can best manage and manipulate the economy, and regard the managers of private enterprise as rivals if not, indeed, as trespassers to be regulated into line. They are the new generation, too, of the public service unions which encourage collective bargaining right up into senior levels of management and allow militant extremists to shut down essential service. This change from the “dollar a year” to. the "fifty thousand dollar a year’’ measure of public service has created all manner of friction and hostility between the public and private sectors. But you know what the Task Force found most worried today's public servant? What causes him to fret about his lack of status and appreciation by the community? Makes him suspect that he may even be not simply disliked, but ridiculed? Those public service jokes, They’re relatives of the ‘Newfie Joke.” And while the ‘‘Newfies” always seemed to take the joshing in good spirits and even join in the funning, the public servant resents it. Publie service jokes? You know, why is there a white line drawn - down the centre of the corridors in all Big Government Buildings? To keep the late-arrivers from bumping into the early leavers, of course. And why does a public servant never look out the window in the morning? Because he has to leave something to do in the afternoon. Stuff like that. And, if you’ve been listening, “there's a million of them.” OTTAWA (CP) — Gallup poll results released today show that both the Liberals and Progressive Con- servatives would have to work hard to win decisively a fall election, officials of both parties said. The only politicians cheering the poll were from the New Democratic Party. It received 19 per cent of the decided vote, a_ three- reentage-point increase om the previous poll. Results of the- public- opinion poll taken in July show that among decided voters, Liberal support dropped to 42 per cent from 43 per cent in June. The Conservatives dropped three points to 84 per cent and the undecided vate declined one point to 31, Five per cent of the decided vote favored such marginal parties as the Social Credit. Herb Gray, Liberal MP for Windsor West and former consumer and corporate affairs minister, said the elght-percentage-point gap between his party and the. Conservatives is healthy but not encouraging. ‘The Liberals are down one percentage point and would prefer to go into an election onan upward trend, he sald. Prime Minister Trudeau has said he has oo im mediate plans to call an election. However, Gray said be would not be surprised if Trudeau announces an election date about Labor Day for a late October or early November vote. e Hees, Con- servative MP for Prince “Of course we'll let you pay the repair bill in monthly payments — had been staking out the park after a series of attacks and indecent assaults upon young women, Details of the punishment inflicted upon the man, who had a long history of similar assaults, are too gruesome to relate. However, one that can be mentioned was stripping the attacker and forcing him to march through a bed of poison ivy. He is said to be recovering, in a satisfactory but painful condition, in the general hospital. Sixteen quarts of cherries that were on a shopping cart with a “Not For Sale” sign, at a local supermarket disappeared before closing time during the first day. The cherries had been - heavily treated with a harmless but irritating laxative to discourage would be pilferers from helping themselves to fruit without paying for it, in the supermarket. The Royal Canadian Legion has taken over the Postal Service for a one year’s trial period, after repeated efforts to end a postal strike failed, last month. Mail service immediately speeded up, and now same day delivery service is common across Canada. Postal-rates have been lowered, and it is anticipated a hundred million dollars a year in excess profits will be turned over to a Het sre after all, you're still young.” Election Won't Be Easy To Win minister in the Diefenbaker government, said the figures Ps hig bellef that Trudeau will call a fall election. PREDICTS WIN “T believe we can win an election but we have a lot of work to do.” That work would begin this weekend when Conservative Leader Joo Clark meets all Conservative MPs and election candidates in Ot- tawa for a oneday con- ference. A. spokesman for NDP Leader Ed Broadbent said: “We're obviously en- couraged with the results.” Tne increased support for the NDP shows that issues stressed by the party, such as economic problems, are bothering the public, Broadbent's aide said. Gray agreed that the YO! NDP's. gain resulted from the party's constant criticism of the government for its of unem- ployment, inflation and the weak dollar on international money markets, to show The Liberals hope greater leadership in boosting the economy through measures to be announced this month. Trudeau met with his cabinet today to formulate a package to be presented to the public. Gray said he believed these new measures would not only maintain the gap between the Liberals and Conservatives but possibly put his y in an upward rend. m Hees sald he could see no reason fof, the gain in NDP fortunes. -— nd axhihits, including a child pounds, — The first baby show, on Oct. 14, 1854, included 127 of 5 months who weighed 27 NO SUPPORT . After canvassing the views of at least 1,500 households in - his southern Ontario riding, ‘Hees said no one had in- dicated that the NDP was becoming more attractive to the public. LETTE High Praise From Centennial Lions Editor, Terrace Herald Terrace B.C. Mr. Senior: There was a broad smileon many faces to read ur editorial of Aug. 8th 1978 - describing some He speculated that an election will be called for Oct. 16, when eight byelections are scheduled to be held, The byelections can be cancelled only if an election date is announced before Oct. 16. of the challenges of organizing a Parade on short notice. The Lions in the area, well know - the ex- perience - and our hats are off to the ‘‘Herald” it’s publisher, Laurie Mallett and your excellent staff. monumental task; and it should be pointed out; ‘The Herald” accepted this task after the Parade organization was turned down by most service clubs in Terrace as: ‘‘Impossible”’. Riverboat Days 19:3 is already history, and it was a success - a roaring success, with close to $10,000 raised for local charities. Early Police report are complimentary, and the 600 to 700 man-hours for the production is drawing to a ose.. The Centennial Lions wish to thank the other Lions clubs, and service & community service organizations that participated. Also Thanks to our sister town: Kitimat and Prince Rupert for, their support. To the many patrons and participants, “Thank-you” for making Charity Fund-raising; Charity Fun Raising. - And of course a special thanks to the Herald and it’s staff- truly community citizens, to the full extent of the word. With best regards Frank Donahue President - Centennial Lions “There’s Good News Tonight!” special fund to aid the underprivileged in Canada, asaresult, — One hundred thousand unemployed have been offered special employment by the Federal Gavernment to work on Project C - te find a cure _ for cancer within five years. The project is being matched by a similar plan, employing one million unemployed in the U.S.A. and one million each from the USSR and China. Already breakthrough is rumoured, and a priority list of other leading fatal diseases is being prepared to be tackled immediately cancer has been beaten. The total cost is said to be less than one quarter of the world’s national defence budget. A federal hotline has been established whereby any on can dial a national ombudsman for free help, at any time of the day or night. Help is available where there is suspected injustice, medical, financial, or other special emergencies. No one who calls is ever turned away. Well... that’s only a partial list of the types of news item I would like to report, and hopefully will be able to read in the news, some day. I will be only too happy to write up any such news items any of our readers send in, that they would also like to see appear in print. What’s your favourite? . To organize a parade in two weeks is indeed a’ | Think small | byJim Smith Somewhere in Ottawa, a small group of civil servants fear for their jobs. They are clever people, perceptive peo- ple. well aware of the realities of Canadian life, But, callec- tively, they slipped up and violated one of the most stringent rules of the bureau- cratic code of conduct. Specifically, the bureau- crats did, something right. They put together a govern- iment program that, while modest. may help Canada pass smoothly out of the era of cheap petroleum. The program was announ- ced recently by federal Ener- gy Minister Alastair Gillespie and commits Ottawa to sup- . port of the infant Canadian ‘solay; energy.industry. ,Ot- tawa has promised to spend $125 million installing solar space and water heating equipment in government buildings. There will be 25 $10,000 grants for research and $350,000 in prize money for contests to encourage de- velopment of more efficient solar systems. $114 million will go into joint projects with the provinces and pri- vate industry. And there is more than $100 million for research into energy possibi- lities of the forestry industry — such as space-age wood- burning systems, a natural technology for Canada, All told, that amouuts to alittle less than $400 million, which is still small change in the energy business. The sig- nificance of the program far’ outweighs the dollar yalue, however, Up until recently, govern- ment energy pundits thought only in terms of heavy oil (tar sands) and nuclear ener- gy. To some extent, that is still true, But Gillespie's an- . nouncement at least indi- cates that government isnow - aware that there are alterna- tives. A Glimmer of Hope The importance of the alternatives to heavy oil and nuclear cannot be overem- phasized. If we, as a nation, choose to concentrate on these two capital-intensive forms of energy, we will quickly mun out of capital to invest in other areas of the economy such as building new industries. Solar power - and other types of renew- able energy — on the other hand, relies more on labour (for installation and manu- facturing) and fess on capital investment, so it could solve some of our labour problems without draining our capital resources, And the possibili- ties for new small businesses are endless; rénewablecnergy would eliminate much of our dependence on a handful of mammoth energy corpora- tions. * Gillespie’s program does not cover all the bases; wind power, for example, has pro- mise. But it’s a major start inasmuch as it will provide funding and a market forthe first generation of the new technology. Mass markets won't spring up until thiz first generation of techno- logy has been perfected lead- ing to lower casts. . Under Ottawa’s plan, that technology will be developed. There is more for experimen- tation and the promise of a guaranteed government mar- ket for manufacturers of the new equipment. There is also moral support from Ottawa. Alt that’s really missing at this stage isa set of tax incen- tives for developers and indi- viduals who install renewable energy systems in their build- ings. Given proper tax breaks, wecan expect rapid advances in this vital industry. “Think smal)” Ig an editorial message from the Canadian Federation of independent “Business : In old Siam it was considerad bad luck if the king coutd not stand on one foot during aspecial three-hour caremony, TERRACE/KITIMAT |. - daily herald General Office - 635-6357 Circulation.- 635-6357 Pubiished by Sterling Publishers PUBLISHER - Laurie Mallett EDITOR - Ernie Sentor REPORTER - Donna Vallieres REPORTER - Jim Morris CIRCULATION Pat CIRCULATION Joyce KITIMAT OFFICE - 632-2747 Zelinski Fish (692-2747 635-6357 Published every weekday at 3212 Kalum .Street, Terrace, B.C. A member of Varifled Circulation. Authorized as second class mall. Registratlon number 1201. Postage paid in cash, return postage guaranteed. NOTE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains full, complete and sole copyright in any advertisement produced and-or any editorial or” photographic canient published In the Herald. 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