4 Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 23, 1987

OPINIONS

Editorial |

“A gift for the _
entire planet

As Christmas presents go, it’s
pretty hard to fault the disarma-
ment treaty recently signed by
U.S President Ronald Reagan
and Soviet General Secretary
Mikhail Gorbachev,

On a global scale, the number
of weapons being retired under
the treaty is miniscule, but the
fact that an agreement between
the two nations occurred at all is
very nearly miraculous.
Reagan’s sudden about-face
from his previous ‘‘evil empire’’
stance made political observers
feel like they were watching
water run uphill, and even if
Gorbachev is not quite as
popular as Reagan in the U.S.
opinion polls he certainly cuts a
comforting figure when com-
pared to his predecessors.

In view of the sheer volume of
nuclear weaponry that will re-
main after the terms of the trea-
ty are fulfilled, there can be no
question that we are still perched
on the brink of a holocaust, but
still, if the world feels like a
safer place, then it probably is a
safer place.

Examining the facts, however,
takes some of the wind out of
the “disarmament’ sails. ‘Under
the terms of the INF (In-
GEESE ne
Letters to the editor will be con-
sidered for publication only when
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edit letters. Opinions expressed

are not necessarily those of the
Terrace Review. ;

_ Gena .
Terrace
Review

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termediate Nuclear Forces) trea-
_ty the United States will remove
364 nuclear warheads from the a
field (House Subcommittee on

Arms Control of the U.S. Con-

gress). Since the U.S. decided to

throw out the guidelines in the
unratified SALT II (Strategic

—

CREPE DEGDDSSL

tWwevuet
“ARRON GINS
INE NO REN
SUOALVAIE. |
> GOIDINR ROL

|

Arms Limitation Talks) treaty in
1986 it deployed 1,640 nuclear
warheads worldwide (same
source),

Because the INF treaty.is the
first to specify a reduction in
nuclear warheads, authorities on
both sides of the agreement have
had to publicly address the

Te.
SST
PIS TITE,

continued on page 16

In keeping with the spirit of the season

“‘How about something in keeping with
the season? You know, leave the gun in the
holster for a week?’? | .

This gentle reminder that Christmas is fast
approaching and that in keeping with the
spirit of the season, I might perhaps have it
in my heart to temporarily ‘remove- the
poison from my pen, came from my old
friend, Dan Dunaway, whose love for the
newspaper business gives the. people of
Hagensborg a-good read every two},weeks in
the pages of the Coast Mountdin Courier.

. Dan lives and works at what he calls ‘‘the
end of a 200-mile cul-de-sac.’’ Being in God’s Own Country offers
some compensations, but it still takes a special kind of dedication to
produce a newspaper in virtual isolation from the rest of the pro-
vince. yo - oo co,

Nor is Dan the only person I know who gives more to this
business ‘than he takes from it. And if I allow this. space to be
permeated by a mellow and peaceful mood for a change, let it be to

:

" Hubért Beyer
in Victoria

give credit to some of the people I’ve met along the way.
' “It seems an eternity ago that I set foot into the newsroom of the -

venerable Winnipeg Free Press for the first time. Up to that point,
my only experience in journalism had been as a reporter, translator
and God knows what.else for a German-language weekly call Der
Nordwesten, —s. “sO 7 Oo

At the prompting of Gordon Sinclair, city editor or the Free Press
at the time, I applied for and got a job with the paper. And here I
was, green as can be, presumptuous enought to believe I could write
for one of the best dailies in Canada in a language that wasn’t my
mother tongue.

Three days into the job, I came back from covering a convention .

of Alcoholics Anonymous, sat down at my desk and wrote the
story. No sooner had I turned it into the city desk than Gordon yell-
ed across the newroom: ‘‘Hey, Hubert, how do you spell alcohol in
German?’’ Throughout the story, I had spelled it with a ““k”?, and
needless to say, that was quite a number of times.

Gordon taught me more about this business than I care to
remember. By the way, he was no relation.to the crusty old Gordon
Sinclair of Front Page Challenge fame. In fact, our Gordon once
got a letter from his eastern namesake. Inside was a cheque with a
note saying: ‘‘This must be for you. I don’t get-$25 cheques.”

Then there was Sean Herron who wrote for the Free Press
editorial page. Aside from creating some of the best examples of
editorial writing I’ve ever come across, Sean was also a distinct
character. ;

For years, Sean dedicated himself and a good deal of space in his
column, The Herron Folk, to a feud with Air Canada, with the
result that everything which could possibly happen to an Air
Canada passenger, happened to Sean. On one trip, Sean arrived in
Ireland, as scheduled, while his luggage ended up in Moscow.

All that takes me back some 25 years, maybe not quite an eterni-
ty, but still a long time, particularly in terms of change. The beaten
old typewriters have been replaced by computer terminals, the
wooden desks by modern creations that don’t even show cigarette

urns. .

True, the starvation wages of those days have been replaced with
excellent salaries, but something else has been replaced — the sheer
fun that came with knowing the only reason you clung to the
business was for the love of it. _

Today’s daily newspapers are factories without soul, run by ac-
countants rather than newspaper people. The bottom line has

become more important than the integrity of the product. The

power of the dailies is now concentrated in just a few hands, The
free-wheeling attitude of the old independent newpaper has been

displaced by the number-crunching zeal of an army of accountants.
There is one segment of the newspaper business that’s still a great
deal of fun to be involved with — the community newspapers. True,
the wages aren’t great, in fact, they’re often pitiful, but then again,
how do you measure job satisfaction?
- [write for quite 'a number of community papers, produced by
some of the must talented and dedicated people in the. business,
Scores of them are refugees from the dailies, forsaking good in-
comes for the enjoyment this business can and should give those

working in it. a .
::U-Back in my Free Press days, a dedicated reporter was, in part,
‘measured by how many public relations jobs he or she had turned

down. Today’s dedicated reporter is often the one who turns down
chances to work for a daily or for the government.

I broke my ties with the daily newpaper industry when Ken
Thomas got his sticky fingers on the old F.P. chain, including the
Daily Colonist in Victoria, for which I was working at the time.

I knew it was time to leave when my news stories of Thursday
night council meetings often didn’t appear until Saturday, and
when the managing editor suggested I keep my opinion our of my

~ columns, something I haven’t figured out to this day.

‘So, there you have it, Dan. A serene column that ‘doesn’t nail -

anyone to the cross. Thanks for the reminder. It feels good to rekin-

dle memories. To you, all my other editors and publishers, my |

readers and, yes, the politicians I love to castigate, a wonderful

Christmas and many more good editions of your paper.

Terrace council news

City will
consider playground

‘The. city will consider sharing
construction costs for a new
playground at E.T. Kenney
Primary School in its 1988
budget.

Alderman Bob Jackman made
a motion to have the city’s share
for the new playground included
in 1988 budget discussions after
council received a letter from
School District 88 Secretary-
Treasurer Barry Piersdorff.

In his letter, Piersdorff said
that school trustees had voted to
budget $10,000 for the’ play-
ground provided the city would
do the same, and also provided
E.T. Kenney Primary could
raise an additional $5,000 to
cover the total cost of the play-
ground, —

The ‘original adventure play-
ground at E.T. Kenney had to be
dismantled when officials deter-
mined that rot in the cedar poles
had weakened the structure and
posed a safety hazard.

Because of the varied usage of
the playground, School District
88 proposed a cost sharing plan
for reconstruction, but council
refused to participate, saying

that they had not included the

cost of building a new play-

_ ground at E.T. Kenney in their

1987 budget.

Pavement requested for
seniors’ driveway

A request from the Terrace
and District Christian Council
for Social Resources (TDCCSR)
to pave the entrance driveway at
the Senior Citizen housing com-
plex at 4623 Tuck Ave. had been
sent to: the Public Works Com-
mittee for their consideration.

In a letter written by TDCCSR
Secretary John Caplin, council
was told that TDCCSR is a non-
profit volunteer organization
dedicated to helping individuals
in the community. The organiza-
tion currently operates a group
home and a-receiving home in
addition to the Senior’s com-
plex. -

“It is our understanding that
Tuck Avenue is to be paved next
year,’? wrote Caplin.’ “Our
Society is asking whether it is
possible to have the entrance
driveway to the home paved as
you do the road,”’

A committee recommendation

as to how council should handle:

the request is expected to be
made’ prior to council’s next
meeting on Dec. 29,