A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 22, 1993 TERRACE STANDARD ESTABLISHED AFRIL 27, 1988 ADDRESS: 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C, * V8G 158 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432 MODEM: 638-7247 Messy affair YOU KNOW a government is in bad financial shape when it’s reduced to fighting over gam- bling money. Quite frankly it’s embarrassing to have our provincial government scrap over these ill-gotten gains as would a dog over a bone. The most public example involves the attempt by a group of high rolling business types to bring the American National Basketball Association to Vancouver. Aside from the extortion amount of $150 million required to buy in, the NBA won’t allow any type of state-sanctioned gambling to be attached to the game. The NBA says the provincial government will have to drop basket- ball from iis Sports Action betting scheme in which gamblers choose winners and losers. Yet the gambling profits are used to finance health care and a loss because of the NBA demand means bad news, says the provincial government, We’re still waiting for some kind of seamy deal to.be reached. But the big sleeper out there is the prospect of big time gambling on native reserves. Such ven- tures could gut the gambling take the province now enjoys. Who would want to mess around with scratch and win when you can get into some serious blackjack? A brief trip across the border reveals the extent of native gambling enterprises there. This has, caused the B.C. Lottery Corporation, owned by us, to spend more than $7,000 to buy a confidential survey of Canadian attitudes to na- tive gambling. It asked and got answers to ques- tions on how many people would be interested in gambling on reserves, who should control such activity.and if they are worried about what might happen should natives get into the gambling business. . “Even though’ the” tatterycdipatatign is. 0 Dwied | by taxpayers. it.isn’t releasing: the-survey.results. That’s because the corporation says the survey results are the property of the company which . asked the questions and are sold to those: who. can pay for it . -And so we're left with the i impression there’s a publicly-owned — corporation using gambling profits to find a way to keep other gambling in- terests from. horning i in on its ‘action. Too bad all this effort. can’t be used — _for something . worthwhile. Clear message THREE YEARS AGO the prospect of war in the Persian Gulf hung over. Christmas. Then it was the tum of massive changes in what was the — Soviet Union. For the most part of people in Ter- race, these momentous events were viewed in the abstract... : But last Christmas the death of Daisy Wesley in a downtown Iot brought home the brutal reality "of life compared to the ideals and hopes of this time of year. | That’s why the timing of the opening this week of an emergency shelter for the homeless is ap- propriate. It demonstrates that what Christmas is supposed to be all about can translate into the material improvement of someone’s life. This same spirit:can be seen in the respons¢ to the Salvation Amy’ 8 haniper appeal .and to the huge. response’ ‘t0:fill the almost’ empty shelves of the Tertac Churches Food Bank.» message is ‘clear — we can make things justa a lite bit better, Mesry Christmas to all. PUBL ,SHER /EDITOR: Rod Link — . Coe ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm ‘ .. + PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur ie NEWS COMMUNITY: Jeff Nagel * NEWS SPORTS: Malcolm Baxter oe OFFICE MANAGER: Rose Fisher COMPOSING: Pam Odell 7 ’ DARKROOM: Susan Credgeur ‘ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Vivelros CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Charlene-Mathhews ening the Trace area Published on Wednseday of each waek by Cariboo Press (/960) Led, af 4647 «Stolen phologtarhe, Mater dongnt and pests in the Trae Slandard ‘ihe prope ty of the are eet ton eke Cariboo Prows. {1983} Ud, Ke uetration lepeo varvices ‘eed atieg Fein nl in ‘wthool wlan parle, ls epeciicaly pro erie hla er ery art 6 fo all our contributors and correspondents ~ Special than : “fer thelr time and talents © | esNeLUATN .- deepest vito Fo path and bein of the Christian ersuation but it aware of the mmolticut tral __ Sensitivity of oO society and with the | pect forthe feelings A teen ei \0US trusting iwi received with openmin understanding lwish you a marry Chrismas... KX, S Of ‘those be ded Swords into ploughshares VICTORIA — Christmas has come and gone 57 times since T announced my arrival with a lusty cry of protest over having to leave the comfort and quiet of my mother’s womb for what must have scemed a cold and uncertain world. But nothing could have prepared me for the reality that lay ahead. The Germany of 1935 was suill peaceful, but ibe brew of _ horror that Adolf Hitler had begun concocting two years nd . consolidating his ~pariiament,- earlier was already starting to bubble. While my parents celebrated ; Christmas, thal year rvith their six-year-old son and, thelr gine~ month-old baby, ‘Hitler , was gtip on power. The Reichstag, ihe German was a. Nazi- dominated ‘rubber stamp, and the nation’s armed forces were » swelling, and the country’s in- -. do anything dustrial strength was being utilized to rearm Germany. . Rival parties were outlawed, political opponenis were al- ready languishing in jails, and ‘FROM. THE CAPI TAL” HUBERT BEYER Jews were hoping against hope anti-Semitic policies would be no worse than so many other pogroms they had endured over the centuries, My first memories of Christ- mas’ go back. to. when I was _ four years old. Oblivious to the ugliness that was growing day’ by day, the world seemed per- fect to me, especially at Christ- mas. | . Christmas of 1939 was somehow different, Although I have no particular recollection of war having broken out that September, I distinctly recall an odd feeling of seeing my fa- ther in uniform, handing out the presents under the tree. For the duration of the war, the innocence of childhood was replaced by a wary quest for survival. There were the Christmases without my father, who was stationed in northern Norway and wouldn’t always get leave, There was the memorable Christmas Eve in a huge bomb shelter with hundreds of women and children singing Silent Night, Holy Night, over _that...ihe.. new. dictatorship’s the dull. sound. of. ~bombs_ox:. ploding outside. There was the Christmas of 1944, when my 15-year- old brother told us he had been drafted and would leave for the Russian front the next day. Our ‘family was luckier than many © others. Both my father and my brother came back. There were the Christmases after the war amidst ruin and starvation, There was the Christmas some unknown benefactor left afew pounds of potatoes outside the makeshift shelter we called home. As Christmas 1993 draws near, I count my blessings. In spite of the hardships of my childhood, there was the un- wavering love of my parents. And there is the memory of all . the wonderful Christmases that followed the war-years and the post-war time. As for my Christmas wishes, they’re probably a littler Harder to come by than those we buy for our grandchildren. I wish that no child would. ever go hungry again. I wish. that no child ‘would ever be abused again. He ead att I .wish; that this. ‘country, 9 which has been so goodto me, — would open its’ heart to those who want to make a betler life for themselves, regardless of what part of the world they’ come from. And I wish that the world’s last sword be turned into a plowshare, that love and com- passion . replace hatred an bigotry. I wish that someday; there really will be peace on earth. Merry Christmas. - Permit him to ride the bus — “EXCEPTIONS CANNOT be made.’ Words — and attitude — of a typical government of- ficial. Then . there's. 32-year-old Arnold: Nordstrom ‘of Moose Jaw, since birth almost com- pletely paralyzed with cerebral palsy, An inventor with a de- gree in computer science, ‘he designed a roadworthy motor- _ cycle he can ride and operate _ alone at speeds up to 48kph. - unemployment Says: Amold, **Anyone-can — the trick is to find the way todo it” Finding a way is Perry Reaume’s problem. The Marten River, Ontario 20-year- ’ old is up against a bureaucratic rock in Timiskaming school board, Enrolled in a personal fitness training course sponsored by Perry: hitchhikes 6Q0km every - day to Canadore College, in North Bay. Yet his younger » brother rides the same route on a THROU GH -BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI insurance, GOIN’ HUNTING: V95-99 NEXT WEEK? a school bus with only seven kids. Twelve seats go emply. The board refuses to let Perry ride the half-empty school bus. Board spokesman Claire Shepherdson says the board’s policy is ‘no third-party riders.”” “Tf we make these kinds of exceptions, there’s no end to it,” he said, sounding like the Inuit in the television commer- | TRAPPING NEXT MONTH? clal refusing to share his potato chips. Nonetheless the ‘board seta precedent by allowing David ' Uttle, 32, to take the school bus throughout September to attend a Canadore course. Perty’s father offered to pay bus fare; the board refused his offer. He also offered to ‘signa waiver absolving the board of responsibility in the event of a traffic accident. This, too, the board rebuffed. Perry’s alternative is to stay in a North Bay. apartment which can cost $600 a month. This his unemployed | father cannot afford. Nor can he af- ford to supply Perry with a: ~ vehicle and gas. Oddly, the Timiskaming ‘board hasn’t pleaded it might require extra, expensive, motor cartier Insurance. Nor has it whined about jealous private bus companies filing com- plaints with a licensing agency. The board shows no interest | FISHING: NEXT ‘yay ! Gor MORE 4 | SALMON TREAT ¥ _ NEGOTIATIONS in conserving gasoline, reduc- ing air pollution, or stretching taxpayer dollars. For a 60km ride here, Grey- hound ‘charges approximately $6.75 plus tax, At that rate, if all twelve seats were sold dai- ly, the board: could. eam $32,000 a school year. Enough to hire an extra teacher and un- | split one of the districts = many a split classes. - Ata time when most levels | of government are scrabbling to do all they can with fewer dollars, the board displays arc- markable disinterest in further- ing the succeys of young adulis “once they graduate beyom! iis . “sphere of direct responsibility, All’ of which males the ‘Timiskaming scioo!. callous unconcern for Pens plight interesting, And stupid. Exceptions can — and . should — be made. The board should find a way to do it. INFACT rt Get ANY MORE INVOLVED WITH - WILDLIFE TLL NEVER SET 10 SEE ANY GAX WILDLIFE! :