A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 24, 2001 STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Strect Terrace, B.C. « V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 * FAX: (250) 638-8432 EMAIL: standard@kermode.net Funny stuff WHEN IT comes to education, taxpayers have to ask themselves this one question — who’s in charge? It’s an important question given the latest issue facing the School District 82 board and that is a proposal to have primary school students spend 40 per cent of their time learning how to read and write. The proposal stems from dismal test results last year of Grades 4, 7 and 10 students. Fully one-third of those tested failed to meet education ministry standards of reading, arithmetic and wri- ting. That works out to thousands of students being unable to meet the basic demands of life. Putting that another way, it means a dreadful re- turn on the $50 million a year of taxpayers’ money going to the school district. The school board’s response was to develop the 40 per cent plan and have it in place for the next school year. But now some trustees are wor- ried the plan might be stalled because the dis- trict’s education committee wants to have an in- definite period of time to ask teachers about it. That’s based on education ministry guidelines al- lowing primary school teachers to determine how much time they devote to required subjects. Which takes us back to that question — who’s in charge? The teachers? The school board? Hav- ing one-third of students fail to meet basic skills is a crisis. And a tragedy. It’s one that’s been in the making for years given that the test results in- : clude Grade 10 students, just two years away from entering adult life. It’s hardly a stirring en- dorsement of the education system. Some of the debate on this issue is- wrapped around a new concept by the new provincial g0v- emment. And that is to have school districts sign performance contracts with the education mini- stry. This district wants to include literacy in its contract with the ministry. Board members and school officials discussed this with the new deputy education minister last week. They want to determine if they can include literacy or not. To have to ask this surely would have raised the deputy’s eyebrows. We don’t know the deputy minister’s response, but we’re sure it included that question — who’s in charge? This is not time to ponder the niceties of com- mittees and of who does what. The problem is evident. It is way past time to do something about it. The school board should be firm in its resolve. It should give the education committee a deadline and move heaven and earth to make the 40 per cent plan happen. | This is not a matter of teacher bashing or board bashing. We hire teachers to do a specific job. We elect school trustees to set policies. It is a simple matter of the education system doing what it should be doing and that is to provide students with the basic skills they need. PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah Zimmerman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Terri Gordon ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Mark Beaupre & Stacy Swetlikoff TELEMARKETER: Stacy Swetlikoff DARKROOM/COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $55.15(4+$3.86 GST) per year: Seniors $48.85 (+$3.42 GST); Out of Province $61.98 (444.34 GST) Outside of Canada {6 months) $152.34 (4510.66 GST) MEMBER OF B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAP ERS ASSOCIATION Dp B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (www.bepresscouncil.org) Serving the Terrace and Thomhiil area. Published on Wednesday of each weak at 3210 Clinton Strest, Terrace, British Cotumbla, V8G 5F2. Storlas, photographs, liluswations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright okiers, Including Cariboo Prass (1989) Lid., its illustration repro services and advertising agencies. Reprodualon in whole of in part, wihoul written penmission, # specifically prohibited, Authorized as second-class mai! panding iha Post Olfice Department, for paymant ol postage in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for thelr time and talents High on VICTORIA - While British Columbia’s forest industry is mired in the worst slump in years, Brian Johnson of Vic- toria offers an alternative to make up for the dwindling for- estry revenues, Johnson sees hemp as a viable product that can relieve British Columbia at least in part of its traditional reliance on trees. To that end, Johnson pro- poses to build an industrial park and eco village in Dun- can on Vancouver Island, “This eco-village is to con- tain a modern industrial core, based on the processing of in- dustrial hemp materials and other similar eco-commercial activities,” he says. “& modern residential housing subdivision will be developed to support workers and others who may wish to reside in such surroundings.” The proposed eco-village | would be Canada’s first ‘traly: sustainable industrial, com- mercial and residential. deve- lopment. Typically industrial proces- ses fend to be one-way: extracting raw materials and energy, shipping them vast distances to exploit cheap la- bour, manufacturing mass-pro- duced goods or services, and releasing, either treated or un- treated, various wastes and by- products into the environment. Johnson sees this process not only as wasteful and inef- ficient, he says it undermines the very life-support system upon which the economy it creates rests. The proposed eco-village concept is modelled after na- BEFORE AFGHANISTAN hemp as money maker FROM THE- CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER ture’s cycle of material and energy usé¢ and continuing reuse, where the. by-products of one process become the raw materials of another. “The concept for the eco- village acknowledges that it is contained within the natural world and that it must function as an entity integrated with its surrounding ecosystems. As well it:will advance. the: prin: . ciples of ‘industrial. ecology’ to also incorporate the con- cepts of social sustainability, where lasting employment is based on profitable, local, re- newable industry,” Johnson says, The core process to make all this possible is the process- ing of industrial hemp seed into oi} and cake. In this pro- cess, hemp seeds are mech- anically pressed to extract a oil and a fibre-rich cake. The amount of oil yielded, Johnson says, amounts to 60 per cent of the raw material and would fetch up to $8 a ki- logram. and virtually no pro- cess waste. The cake is useful as a healthful supplement to flour, In addition, industrial hemp could be used in industrial and consumer products ranging from building materials, such as wall-board, carpeting, or- iented strand board, to cosme- tics as well as pulp, paper, textiles, rope and canvas. Johnson believes the hemp seed press and processing would give rise to a number of secondary industries clustered around the main processes. These could include a flour mill or bakery, brewery for hemp beer, and various oil-uti- lizing industries ranging from art supplies, to soaps, to orga- nic cleaners. Adding to this mix will be a variety of tourism-oriented commercial outlets providing natural fibre clothing, restaur- ant and cafe, wine shop, art galiery, museum, and other outlets of like nature. The whole village, he says, Will shave,:an... architectural |! theme such as 1920s or 1940s° style creating a tourism: attrac- tion over and above its sus- tainability concepts. - “Together these themes could be replicated and mar- keted across Western’ Canada, the Pacific Northwest and abroad, In the longer term such a village could be developed as an ideal location for the very profitabie high tech indu- stries where quality of life is paramount to keeping staff,” he says. “Residences providing ac- commodation ta the workers, retail personnel, retirees, and tourists attracted to see first- hand an example of sustain- ability, will be attracted to the Air travel now a YOYO SHORTLY AFTER the Sep- tember 11 New York City hi- jackings, a United Airlines pilot greeted passengers flying out of Denver with a pep talic about taking care of each other and reclaiming a plane if hijackers tried to take it over, Instead of the usual drone about the weather and flying at 30,000 feet, he outlined ways they could defend them- selves against terrorists. . “Throw pillows, books, shoes and laptop computers at their heads, Blankets and pil- lows are your best. defence against knives. Wrestle them to the floor and throw blankets over them. I’ll land this plane as quickly as I can. then we'll deal with them.” Stunned silence greeted the captain's words. Sustained ap- plause followed. “Remember, there will be one of them and maybe a few confederates but there are 200 THROUGH BIFOCALS: CLAUDETTE SANDECKI of you,” said the captain. “You can take them.” The captain had given his passengers permission to act, to move, to clog the aisle if necessary, to work as a team. He had sketched a battle plan for future air travel, dubbed YOYO — you’re on your own. He also saddied passengers with responsibility for their own safety. No longer does buying a ticket assure a carefree ride. From now on we'll have to be alert during flights and train beforehand. Instead of prowling malis for trendy togs we'll haunt the gym for lessons in hand-to- hand combat and strength training. We’ll spend week- ends pitching bean bags at tar- gets no broader than a terror- ist’s tolerance. Far more important than telephone bundles for cheap long distance will be an aero- dynamically shaped cell phone with enough heft io zing down the aisle and ding a terrorist behind the ear. Regardless of tarmac tem- peratures, we'll waddle aboard bulgy in quilted jackets, We'll all ask for pillows and blank- ets. Passengers will be seated community.” Johnson says other provinces have already taken advantage - of the growing of industrial hemp with Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan being the leaders. Every other province except Newfoundland is presently growing and harvesting more hemp than British Columbia. “There are many companies using hemp in their products including Domtar Pulp and Paper, Calvin Klein, Bowen Is- land Brewery, Shaftsbury Brewery, Body Shop, Levis, Spinnakers (a pub), and the list continues to grow as industrial hemp once again demonstrates its usefulness.” One of the partners in the — project is Transglobal Hemp Products Corp., incorporated in February, 1994 with a mandate to commercialize industrial hemp on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland, “Another i is Earth: :Tech;Cana- da’ ‘te? a full service. ‘engineer- toria, that will provide the en- gineering, architectural and land use planning services for the Eco-village master plan, architectural and engineering design standards, infrastructure development, waste manage- ment as well as the concept. of operation for industrial ecology in the industrial park. The financing, Johnson says, is already partly in place. And if his enthusiasm is any indica- tion, he will bring it off. Beyer can be reached at: E-mail: hubert@coolcom.com; Tel (250) 381-6900; Web hitp://www.jubertbeyer.com affair with safety in mind martial: art- ists nearest the cockpit, base-.”- 7 ball pitchers to the rear, ventri- loquists dead centre. Lefties will sit on the right, - right- handers on the left-to. po- : sition their best arm on the © aisle, For ease of standing, talls will sit beside the aisle, short- ies near the windows, all others in the middle rows. Airlines may discontinue ail in-flight food service, No loss for many customers, Forget . peanuts. Stuff your pockets . with apples, oranges and other - missile foods. Ding dongs qua- lify, Forsake pocket books and. all light reading. buy slim hard-__ cover books with glossy pages and rigid corners suitable ta flip forward frisbee fashion.’ Terrorists forever changed our outlook on air travel. The Denver captain helped even our odds, : Yrs hort heturs don't Like Lhe ily... MARTEN MARTEN FiTTED BALL CAP. { ‘ing ‘company, located“ in’ Vic-: & proic BEE ea