AA - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 22, 1998 /TERRACE - STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 + FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net 4 +a. A place to live | IT WASN’T ALL that long ago that city hall tumed a gentle blind eye to illegal suites in residential neighbourhoods. The reason was simple — with a rental vacancy rate verging on zero, people needed a place to live, City hall these days does pay attention to suites and the reason again is simple — there are more and more rental options available and there has been a general growth in all kinds of housing to meet demand. And now city councillor Linda Hawes wants the city to insert itself deeper into the rental housing sector by enacting minimum standards. It was spurred on by a report of a clearly sub- standard rental mobile home. Again, the reason- ing is simple — people shouldn’t be expected to live under inadequate conditions where public safety is an issue. Although this city council generally is reluctant to become too deeply involved in social issues, the move by councillor Hawes in conjunction with the Terrace Anti Poverty Group is wel- comed. It is not too much to ask that reasonable people do reasonable things to ensure that others have decent places in which to live. An adequate roof over a person’s head should be a cornerstone of our society. At the same time, landlords will say that while they may be reasonable, their tenants may be less so. If that’s the case, then the efforts to create minimum standards must somehow be ac- companied by ensuring there is an equa] respon- sibility on the part of renters. After all, it does take two to tango. . eb EL oe ras cad ' ve ape gfe "od gs ar le ot - Wood fol HALF OF THE FUN — heck, three-quarters — of camping is lighting a fire, settling back and getting all smokey. It’s just one of those things. And now, the provincial government, in a mean-spirited, penny pinching and all-so fancy pants urban reflex wants to take that away by cutting out the firewood supply in provincial campgrounds and removing fire rings at picnic sites. Now this comes after several years and numerous press releases from this same govern- ment pointing out that provincial campground use is increasing. If you were to listen to the hype, the camping economy is a bright star in the tourism industry galaxy. What makes the firewood ban even more bizarre is Premier Glen Clark’s earlier announce- ment that an additional 1,500 campsites are to be built in provincial parks by his youth employ- ment program. If the premier wants to hang his political hat on building more campsites, then the firewood ban makes his position ridiculous. Does anybody think that people will flock to these new sites only to huddle over their gas or propane stoves? A PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur _ NEWS Jeff Nagel » NEWS SPORTS: Dave Taylor NEWS COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Sheila Sandover-Sly ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros TELEMARKETER: Patricia Schubrink ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Kelly Jean FYPESETTING: Sylvana Broman DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur CIRCULATION MANAGER: Karen Brunette SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $56.18 per year; Seniors $49.76; Out of Province $63.13 Outside of Canada (6 months) $155.15 (ALL PRICES INCLUDE GST) MEMBER OF B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION. fe, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION @ COVA. cemererrreeien AND B.C, PRESS COUNCIL Serving the Terrace and Thomhill area, Published on Wednesday of cach week at 3210 Clinton Streat, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5A2. Stores, photographs, Illustrations, designa and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, Including Cariboo Prass (1969) Lid., its illustration repre services and advortising agencies, Reproduction in whole or in pari, without written permission, is specifically prohibiled. Authorized a9 sacond-class mail pending the Post Cifice Department, for payment of postaga in cash. “Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents - for thelr time and talents VICTORIA — We've always fell that the government is stealing us blind, what with taxes and fees on everything we do, Now a report by Auditor General George Morfitt seems to indicate that at least some British Columbians are determined to get even. Innocuously titled = Loss Reporting in Government, Morfitt’s report leaves one with the distinct impression that British Columbians are an amy of thieves and scoundrels, Although the report deals primarily with the inadequate reporting of losses to the fi- nauce ininisiry’s Risk Manage- ment Branch, it also reveals just what it is that government ministries and agencies reutinelyelese,”” - everything “thal isn’t nailed down and then “some. During the 1995-97 fiscal year, more than $1 million warth of “‘moveable assets and cash” were pilfered from just four ministries — environ- ment, lands and parks, health, transportation and highways and - this lickles ny fancy - at- tomey general, the very iminis- try that is in charge of law and order. The non-cash items included AS OF 8 am. April 14 deaf, blind-deaf, and hard-of-hearing British Columbians were to have free interpreters available to them for emergency medical situations including consent for sumgery, prenatal checkups, and childbirth. Trouble is, Victoria seems nol to have notificd anyone other than media, The Medicare service at the mo- ment is but a gleam in Vic- toria’s health ministry, The new service results from a Supreme Court of Canada decision fast fall which ruled that the Medicare system and hospitais had lo provide inter- preter services for deaf people when they need it to communi- cale effectively with a doctor. By August, interpreters are to be available for all doctor and hospital visits as well as emer- gencies, At least, that scems to be Victoria’s plan. For now, we're in the old _ WELL SONNY. JHOPE YOU UNDERSTAND ~ NE MAY HAVE TO PUMMEL YOU A BIT TO MAKE HIM CHANCE HIS MIND. ray y Ba RN v FROM-THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER everything from furniture to computers, printers and other peripherals. But it iswt only government employecs who make off with moveable assets, During the 12 months in question, 160 viola~ tions of the Forest Practités' Codeo.:in relation to un- authorized timber harvesting —— theft by any other name — were recorded, Fines for these violation resulted in a $612,000 claw-back by the government. During that same period, 514 British Columbians got caught trying to collect benefits under the Medical Services Plan to which they weren’! entitled.. Some of these cases were con- sidered criminal, THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECK] mode: whenever a hearing: impaired person needs an in- terpretcr, a local person capable of signing — possibly an employee of the Terrace Child Development Centre or of the school district —~ is called into act as a go-between, Victoria's plan calls for these local hand sigaers to be listed on a roster on call 24 hours a day. A 24-hour, toll-free line will connect to a dispatch cen- THE HIGHWAY LODGE mem HAS CHANGED HANS T.HOFE THEY RE. MORE TOGETHER Thieves target gov't assets The fraudulent collection of welfare benefits was even more impressive. The ministry investigated close to 30,000 cases and came up with 12,000 fraud artists who collectively would have gotten away with a coo] $32 million, had they not been caught. Understandably, government ministries haven’t been too eager to have their losses through theft, negligence or vandalism become public knowledge, unless t suits their political masters to do so. That was the case when the NDP government tried to make political hey by going after welfare frauds. But by and large, admitling that they're being robbed blind is some- thing the bureaucrats would -Tather not do, Moerfitt,. however, wants to ‘change that. He recommends _ that all ministries ‘‘publish an- nual summarized statistics of reported asset losses, perhaps as part of their annual Teports.”* As I said at the outset, Mor- fitt’s report concerns itself mostly with the lack of proper reporting of government losses, rather than the way the stuff disappears. Which isn’t to say that Morfitt considers the loss of cash and moveable as- This service is long overdue ter where calls will be triaged. If a patient warrants an inter- preter, one will be picked form the roster and asked to attend in person. Where no interpreter is avail- able to attend, such as in outly- ing areas, the patient will be connected by telephone to an interpreter through a TTY device, A TTY consists of a laptop- like keyboard which sits beside the phone. The phone handset is placed on the TTY. The call goes throngh B.C. Tel’s mes- sage relay center where an op- erator listens to the spoken word and types it on the screen for the hearing-impaired to read, In turn, the hearing-impaired can type a message which be- comes spoken at the other end, This service is available 24 hours a day without charge. Often older hearing impaired have never learned universal sign language. They grew up sets OK, as long as it’s proper- ly reported. Chances are that detailed reporting to the Risk Manage- ment Branch of any losses will identify certain underlying problems, the solution of which would reduce losses, To keep tabs on the problem, Morfitt also wants the Risk Management Branch to pro- vide his office with monthly summaries of government losses. When provided wilh advance notice of his :ecommendations, the finance ministry promised to comply. Good move. Once on your case, the auditor gen- erat can make life pretty miserable for any public ser- vant. At least, the politicians have been ‘brought under control. a Some years back, auy defeated : MLA was, by law, allowed to take equipment from his or her office into retirement. And every time an MLA was fired by the electorate, the taxpayers had to fork out money to buy computers, fax machines, dic- tating equipment and other items for the newly-elected batch. Beyer can be reached at: Tel: (250) 920-9300; Fax: (250) 385-6783; E-mail: hubert(@coolcom.com communicating with family- designed signs. Its time Medicare funds such a vital service, Imagine going to your doctor and being unable to explain precisely what’s wrong, or to clearly un- derstand the diagnosis or treat- ment regimen your doctor recommends, Frowns, facial expressions, and vague hand gestures aren’t a safe base for your well being, Many deaf adults depend upon their children to interpret. This puts the child in an em- barrassing and stressful spot, privy to worries and responsibilitics no child should have to cope with. A regular TTY costs $370 at BC. Te’s Phone Mart. A modified VCO for hearing im- paired who can speak costs $269.95. ; Two toll free phone lines are available — for TTY’s 1-888- 604-8884, for Voiceline 1-888- 386-9996.