A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 19, 2003 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, [O88 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 « FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com Heartlands DON’T CALL us the “Hinterland.” Don’t call us “The Sticks” or the more traditional “Beyond Hope.” Nope. Rural B.C. is now the “Heartlands” according to the provincial gov- ernment, which is giving us the new name along with some money and assistance packaged around it. It’s a clever attempt to brand the region to give us the warm fuzzies and paint the Liberals as its only defender, The government no doubt harbours genuine desire to aid rural B.C. — and especially its northern MLAs who are under pressure from constituents. But is there substance or is it more smoke and mirrors? Time will tell for sure, but so far sneakiness abounds. More than a third of the $609 million Victoria announced for rural roads over three years is recycled. The govern- ment had pledged it previously. Other commitments to aid the heartlands - from accelerated treaty measures to help for a container port or Kemess Road up here — were also already planned or needed anyway. School districts have been doled out more money, but again, there’s sneakiness. The extra money for education will not come from regu- lar budgets but from increasing education prop- erty taxes, That means when your property tax notice arrives in June it will be higher, and if you don’t study it closely you'll likely blame city council rather than the real culprit. More sneakiness comes in connecting the 3.5 te] ee cent pei litre gas tax hike to Tuial roads. tie Now take a look at what the’ ‘sovernment’ s:not doing or changing in the “Heartlands.” There’s no talk of shielding the regions hardest hit from further budget or civil service cuts. And despite tourism hype, there’s no talk of restoring money for interpretive programs and free firewood in parks, nor of restoring money to maintain forest service recreation sites and trails. Those last items are nickels and dimes to B.C.'s treasury yet are truly important to us... There’s no talk of admitting the government’s fundamental plan — dramatic tax cuts that would pay for themselves - is not working. Instead, other taxes or fees are rising sharply. Real change would be adopting the B.C. Progress Board’s idea of a “resource dividend” of 10 per cent of the billions Victoria collects from forestry, mining and energy royalties, The money would go to projects to aid and rebuild rural B.C. where the money that drives the urban south is earned — hopefully without a corresponding decrease in what Victoria spends in the bush. That’s the sort of thing we need — not fancy . names or voodoo accounting. 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Stories, photographs, Illustratians, designs and typestytes in ‘tha Tarraca Slandard are the property ol the copytighl holders, including Cariboo Prass {1968)sLtd., Its, Hustation fepfo services and advertising agencies. Reproduction In whale or in pad, without vrittan parmissicn, is specifically prohibited, Authorized as se-cond-dats nai! pending the Post Cfice Department, fof payment of postage Incash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents ee REMEMBER WHEN CHRETIEN ORDERED A Rounp OF PRINKS FOR THE House AND EVERYONE CHEERED AND SLAPPED HIM ON THE BACK AND SAID pe WAS THE BEST PM. y \ al EVER AND THEY'D NEVER FORGET HIM?... ! a vo \) Let’s hear it for lots of children VICTORIA — I basically was an only child. I had a brother, whom I later learned to love deeply, but he was six years older and I didn't connect with him until I was about 16. All through my childhood and early teenage years, I was envious of five cousins, three boys and two girls, children of my aunt Maria, my dad’s younger sister, and her hus- band uncle Jakcb. . T would try to sleep over at aunt Maria’s house every chance I had. I loved the commotion, five kids getting up in the morning, arguing: “Where's my under- wear, Mom? [ can’t find my socks. When's breakfast ready? m late.” Aunt Maria presided over the early-morning pandemoni- um with total calm. Eventually, she woukl solve all the little problems of the chaotic household that comes with five kids,: and the little trouble makers would head off to school, None of this excitement happened at my home. I hardly remember my brother when I was six. When I was nine, Karl Heinz, age 15, was sent to the Russian front. It was the early experiences . al my aunt Maria’s home that instilled a very strong wish in my heart: [f I ever got married, I wanted six children at least, one more than aunt Maria. SPra . FROM THE GAPITAL” HUBERT BEYER Well, I got married in Win- nipeg in 1958, a year after I had come to Canada from my native Germany. My wife, Ekeonore, originally wanted two kids and we kind of split the difference. We had four. And what four kids they were. Charles, Gary, Roderick and Patricia. All my dreams about having lots of kids and excitement: about the house, just like. aunt Maria and uncle Jakob, came true. : Last night, Gary was over at our place for a few beers and we talked about the old times when he and his brothers and sister were young kids. We remembered the time when there were my wife and I, my mother-in-law, four kids, two. dogs, two cats, five kit- tens and a canary in our home in Gordon Head, a suburb of Victoria. What a magic time. We talked about the time when my wife and I came home to find our two dogs prancing on the roof of our house, and the jandscape gar- dener, who had installed a sprinkler system on our lawn the year before, having set up a booming speaker system up- stairs, preaching hell-and dam- nation to anyone who didn’t follow the teachings of Christ. We gently coaxed the crazy gardener out of the house, found two of our sons with girls in the family room and re- stored some sort of order, Then there was the Hal- fowe’en party or daughter Pa- tricia asked me to host. My wife was in Europe at the time. There'll be about 12 kids at the most she said, Why nat, I thought. Well, news travels fast in teenage circles. About 200 kids showed up. I phoned the Saanich police to tell them not thought of her when in the summer, we would take our children camping weekend , after weekend. All of this is not to be any reflection on my parents, two beautiful and. gentle people whose love and guidance made me what I am. If child mortality hadn’t been what if was in the 1920s and 1930s, I would. have have three siblings, instead of one. | still often wonder what my two other brothers would have been like, Modern society reveres in- . dependence. Children tie you down. Careers are more impor- , tant than kids. Too many - children interfere with our life style. Mind you, my wife worked — full-time with four children at home. She got a Master of Public Administration degree in her spare time, while hold- ing a full-time job and looking to worry. | had goes tyation’ : ss, “aftet, our, faut, kids, Aid USA ‘under control, ° And, believe it or not, [ had. There was no untoward inci- dent. Years later, young men and women would stop me to say that that party was the best they ever had. I feel entitled to take a bow. [ thought of my aunt Maria when, every weekend, I took my kids to Green Mountain on Vancouver Island to ski. 1 he’ § “the hero i in this family. Our children are grown up now, but if I had to do it again, I might try to talk my wife into having nine kids, like my grandfather and grandmother did. On the other hand, they lost three sons in the First World War. : Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900 A time to stop, look and learn TUNE IN to CNN almost any hour lately and you will find yourself inside the United Na- tions. TY news gives the impres- sion delegates and ambassa- dors from the 188 member countries frantically scurry along the corridors like tea- chers who discover .one child missing as their school bus waits to take them home from a field trip. ° In fact, I'd bet you could sit for hours on the curb across from the United Nations and observe little activity in their driveway. With all the arm twisting, though, as Secretary of State Colin Powell and others work to-persuade voting members to back President Bush’s latest resolution, 1 would watch for an ant line of chiropractors, massage therapists limping under the weight of portable fold-up tables, and acupunc- : turists, like archers, shoulder- ing quivers of hair-thin nee- dies. For decades, the United Nations has projected calm on the outside while experiencing turmoil on the inside. m WE GOTA new me GRAD SUDENT m@ wWHo NEEDS AN INITIATION | THROUGH ‘BIFOCALS- CLAUDETTE SANDECKI] In April 1961 during the Bay of Pigs, when President John F. Kennedy winced in pain as much from his deter- iorating spinal spinal discs as from the suggestions of Lyn- don B. Johnson and other advi- sors on. how best to disarm Cuba of its missiles, the U.N. stood serene, a bulwark against global upheaval, while nightly I tuned in anticipating word of a nuclear disaster. At the time, I worked next door to the United Nations ina small private hospital fronting on 42nd street between First THESE ARE ALL 6UR D . “TRAPITIONAL aa and Second Avenues, The U.N. complex extends north from 42nd Street between First Avenue and the East River. During my lunch hour I could walk around the corner and north along First Avenue. Across the narrow cob- blestoned avenue, flags atop a crescent of flagpoles snapped in the breeze carrying the smells of oil, diesel, and salt water as tugboats and barges chugged about their duties. Though the UN buildings were impressive, I have a sharper memory of a war memorial wall opposite the UN. Here | must rely on mem- ory, for [ took no photos. I re- member a high concrete wall approached by a series of re- ceding, three sided steps. until I stood before a battle scene, in relief. The scene may or may not have been modelled on the fa- mous photograph by Associa- ted Press photographer Joe Ro- senthal of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima. 1 only remember how the OL gvAA OT ee 7 PS COVERING: 3O YEARS of INTERVIEWS r\ on mv eo" AGODMING !? inscription on the memorial slugged me. ; For a young farm kid with no experience of war, the Bible quote hit me hard: “They shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” . Until then, the only war memorial I had ever seen up close was the cenotaph in the town next to ours, listing the names of soldiers who died in the First World War. This wall was about the size of the log- ging mural. across from Safe- way. | wondered then, and do today, whether any UN dele- gate ever noticed the memor- ial. And if he did, did the Bible ‘message sink in? How deep? More likely, they zip past. the: memorial in their chauffeured black Bentleys, eyes on brief- ing notes, a cell phone clamped to one ear. Chauffeurs might contribute to world peace by slowing as they drive past the soldiers in steel helmets shouldering rifles tipped with bayonets.