Page A4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 4, 1992 Rod Link — o> TERRACE STANDAR]) | ” ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1886 . wealaten No. 7820 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C., V8G 188 Phone (604) 638-7283 Fax (604) 638-8432 ‘Serving tha Tarraca area, Published on Wednesday of each wook by Cariboo Press (1955) Ltd. al 4647 Lazefte Ave., Terrace, British Columbia. Stories, photographs, luslvation repro services and advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole of In part, without written permission, is specifically pronibited, designs and lypesty Authonzed as second-class mail pending the Post Office Bepartment, for payment of postage in cash, in the Terrace Standard ara the property of the copyright holders, Including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. Its il- Publisher/Edltor: Advertising Manager Marlee Paterson Production Manager: Edouard Credgeur Jeti Nagel’ — Sports, Malcolm Baxter — : Rose Fisher ~~ Front Office Manager, Carolyn Anderson — Typesatter, : Susan Cradgeur — Compasing/Oarkreom, ‘Janel Vivairos ~ Advertising Consultant, Sam Collier — Charleen Matthews — Circulation Supervisor a. Comm vue ove 4; at’ erg se ages Oa WW epazras COM News, Arlene Watts - Typesetier, Advertising Consultant, Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents. EDITORIAL, Mum on mine The provincial government has to do more to explain its actions leading up to the closure of the Cassiar mine. Although the closure may have been the right ~ and only thing to do — the deci- sions made leading up to it deserve the widest possible public examination. What we know so far is that the Cassiar Mining Corporation asked the province for $17 million to keep operating. It already owed the province $20 million from a previous loan, $6 million in unpaid interest and had the province guarantee a $5 million Bank of - Montreal loan. When the province said ‘no’ to the $17 million, Cassiar dropped the amount to $13 million. The provincial government again refused. It then worked out a ten- tative deal with Cassiar for a six-month “soft closure.’? That would have seen the province put in $12 million to keep the mine going during a gradual phasing out of operations. But the company failed to disclose its true debt picture and declined a number of government conditions, including the appointment of a monitor to oversee how monies were being spent. . This then caused the government to ask the courts to appoint a receiver and to have the mine closed immediately. At . the -same.time, the proyince committed ‘ ae vouseed 4h wai) Wa eke ey ater The federal government’ S program allowing people to use Registered Retire- ment Savings Plan money to buy homes isn’t as bad as critics suggest. It does provide one way for people to - buy homes, It does inject a new invest- ment stream into an economy which desperately needs a boost. Home sweet home $15 million to help those affected by the closure. Missing from all of this is the study done by the government which it used as justification to deny first the $17 million and then the $13 million, Also missing is an exact accounting of the events of those two days in February when the government thought it had a deal with the company for the soft closure. In addition there’s a further question that’s been left hanging. Could not the province have kept the mine operating during the six-month ‘period while a buyer was sought? As it stands now, the province is going through a considerable expense now that the mine is closed. If there is a buyer, more money will have to ‘be spent to get it going again. The provincial government is taking great strides to outline the details of its finances. Some of this was released last week. Coming up is financial. informa- tion on the state of loans made to businesses over the years. Let’s hope there is included a full explanation on the Cassiar situation. The overriding issue is the right of the taxpayer to be fully informed on how his or her money is being managed. And it is the responsibility of the government, by complete and full disclosure, to assure the taxpayer this i is stakes place. ., PH er The plan also keeps the integrity of RRSPs intact. They are meant to give people a retirement nest egg. Buying a home is but another way of building up equity that can be used in retirement. And the program quite correctly gives people the opportunity to provide for their own well-being, We can’t expect governments to do everything for us. Loggers defended You don’t expect a defence lawyer to stoop to bad mouthing a line of work, a way of life, and an entire community in order to make light of his H clients’ illegal. actions. Not Bifocais without the court upbraiding by Claudette Sandecki | him. Yet an’: “out-of-town lawyer maligned loggers, common-law couples, and Terrace in his Through rambling» bid for leniency. Dazzled by: his’ off-the-cuff pitch, the court sat silent. Se did I. With disbelief, ~ The trial was inte charges of causing a disturbance and assault, laid after a young woman and her commonlaw logger husband, while returning a $13-product, disrupted a place of business | so badly the two- person staff was (oo shaken to work: ‘till closing. , Excusing their misbehaviour, the’ couple’ s. lawyer said, “‘I - would point out that my client: has been a logger for 15 years. ‘cient charm to satisfy some in other. aspects of society, but. they contribute considerably to the building of the north and the province in general.” : “My client's wife is living common-law with a logger, and in those circumstances, she’s from a social group that is in no way out of the ordinary from what one should expect in Ter- | race on occasion. Even if their behaviour could be considered on the outside edge, we're still in Terrace, . British Columbia and not in downtown Geneva or even in Granville Island at the most expensive beauty salons in British Columbia,”’ The male client nudged open a glass door with enough force for a woman standing just in- side to be catapulted against a counter and for a. pair of scissors in her hand to be flung backward out on to the conerete sidewalk, We're not talking in- sufficient charm. We're talking absence of civility. Terrace has had two logger mayors. Currently Terrace has one logger alderman. Are they Not many loggers have: suffi- — charming? They do have com- .™mon courtesy and good man- ners. Social graces drummed in- to. them by parents and teachers. a And: since when does con- tributing to the building of the north and the province in general entitle customers to shout, swear and carry on in a public place. Living common-law doesn't rob someone of decency, pro- vided they. possessed: it before cohabitation began. Nor. will a marriage license confer rational behaviour or decency where none existed beforehand. “We're still in Terrace, British Columbia,'’ the lawyer says, a5 though our co-ordinates on the map consign us to in- ferior behaviour. ‘We're not at the most expensive beauty . salons in British Columbia,’ he says. Does he advocate reserv- ing tact and respect for lower mainland shops with ritzy ad- dresses, high falutin’ clienteles, - and fees toa match? My mother wouldn’t. have bought this lawyer’s excuse. The court didn’t either, BROKE DOWN ON WINDY FARM WITH A STORM BREWING AND NIGHT” THAT'S NOTHING. CHRETIEN BLOWS EM Ti i Be a share groups add a needed balance VICTORIA — Turning pro- ductive forest land into parks is no longer a sure thing for environmentalists, not even with a sympathetic government in Victoria which is committed to doubling the province’s park land. Parks are the proverbial motherhocd issue. Support for more park land is easily _, garnered, particularly i inthe: “Warge urban areas. Folks who” live in concrete jungles love the idea of unspoiled wilderness. That's why the major en- vironmental groups are head- quartered in Vancouver and Victoria, Might as well be where your major support comes from, But few of their members and even fewer of their supporters have a clue of what goes on north of Hope. Vancouver and Victoria are also the venues where the ma- jor environmental battle plans are formulated and executed. Every environmental skirmish, from opposition to the wolf- kill program to the Carmanah forest protests, from anti- pesticide campaigns to plans for inciting an international boycott of B,C, forest pro- ducts has been hatched in Van- couver and Victoria. For years, the people living in the communities most af- fected by the actions of en- vironmental organizations took it on the nose. They simply were no match for highly- organized and generously- funded groups such as the Sierra Club and the Western Canadian Wilderness Commit- tee. That has changed. With the arrival of so-called share groups or societies, the other side has been able to. make its voice heard and establish some sort of level playing field in ‘ the ongoing battles with en- ‘vironmental groups. - There are more than 20 share groups in the province, most of them centred in towns that depend for their economies on resource in- dustries. They are fairly broadly-based organizations whose membership comprises ICKLE EVEN FOR NORTHERNER, 4 To BE wilt BY THIS (S A REAL iALLOO. THERE woes NEED A HAND? Ge ONDER wis Ws ‘From the Capital by Hubert Beyer loggers, merchants, |,» housewives, and even retired foresters. One of the skirmishes taking place right now has the North Cariboo Share Our Resources Society lined up against the Western Canadian Wilderness Committee or WCWC for short. The WCWC has been ad- vocating a connecting national park between two existing parks in the Cariboo — Wells Grey and Bowron Lake Parks, east of Quesnel. The en- vironmental organization also wants Bowron Lake Park ex- panded. To promote its proposal, the WCWC produced a so-called educational report for the federal government, The report is a masterpiece of dramatic photography. and seductive prose, replete with terms such as ecological disaster, deforestation and destruction, Last week, the North Cariboo Share Our Resources Society fired off its reply to the WCWC proposal, Ina brief to federal environment minister, Jean Charest, a copy of which went to Premier Har- court, the share group presented its arguments against the WCWC case, The brief refutes specific claims in the WCWC proposal which, the share group says, should be regarded as “pro- _ poganda rather than educa- tion.’” The brief takes exception to WCWC?’s description of the Bowron Lake clearcut, admit- tedly one of the largest clear- cuts in the world, as an ecological disaster, “This misrepresentation of the Bowron Clearcut is a favourite of the forest preser- ae _ fe, [ors DA MAKES ou: é valignists,.It is not an ; is “800 Qgival disaster caused by logging: ‘But rather the result. of natural events that old forests are vulnerable to,” the brief says. “The old forest was serious- ly damaged by gale force winds in 1975. Within five years, the endemic population. of spruce bark beetles has: ex- ploded to infestation level in the downed timber,’’ it adds. To save the remaining stan- ding forest from being savaged by the infestation, the forest . ministry ordered the immediate salvage of the dead and dying’ trees. The brief rejects the WCWC argument that logging is a threat to wildlife habitat. .. Responsible logging, it says, actually improves habitat. The most serious threat to moose or grizzly, it adds, are wolves and hunters. Other claims in the wow report, the brief says, are ‘ ‘un- founded conjecture with emo- tional overtones.” One of the pictures in the WCWC report | showing a sub-alpine wetland with the caption “Song in the palm of nature, fragile in the hads of man,’’ the brief says, falls into that category. Another part in the WCWC report refers to ‘‘grizzlies con- grepating in large numbers to gorge on spawning sockeye salmon.’’ The share group says wilderness lodge operators in the area have never seen a - single grizzly anywhere near. The brief asks both the federal and provincial govern- ments to weigh the arguments presented by both. sides and keep in mind the impact the WCWC woukd have on other forest users, So would I, Y'ALL JUST RELAX Now! AND ENJo¥ YERSELVES!