AB8& Terrace Review — Wednesday, April3, 1991

Hard landings — | The Way I

The airstrip question | See It...

by Tod Strachan

Ski hills, marinas.. Will the maintenance of remote airstrips be next on the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine’s agenda? Not likely, according to regional dis- trict directors: the maintenance of remote airstrips is the mandate of the Ministry of Highways.

According to the ministry, though, that’s not true. The main- tenance of remote airstrips should be the responsibility of societies or local government... like regional districts.

These were the opposing views on the question of just who’s re- sponsible for the maintenance of remote airstrips prior to a March 15 meeting between the regional district and the Ministry of High- ways... And they still are. The regional district, though, persists.

At their March 16 board meeting, a four-part resolution was passed that restates their unchanged posi- tion. This resolution priorizes the four most important regional ait- strips: Telegraph Creek, Iskut, Bob Quinn and Meziadin. It asks the ministry to allocate funds to con- tract, administer and inspect main- tenance to maintain these airstrips at a "reasonable operational level". And states that, "...the regional district feels the maintenance of remote airstrips is a provincial responsibility and not a regional district responsibility.”

Will the resolution do any good? Probably not. During the dis- cussion prior to passing the resolu- tion, Telegraph Creck director Dave Brocklebank said, "I think

we’re back at square one." And Thornhill director Les Watmough concurred by noting that airstrips at Dease Lake and Atlin were among a few in the province run by local societies and the ministry fears that if they fund maintenance at Iskut and Telegraph Creek "the wheels will fall off the others”.

On the other hand, some con- vincing arguments favouring the regional district’s position came out of the same discussion as well. According to Area ’C’ director Sandy Sandhals, the ferry system on the south coast is subsidized as part of their transportation system. So why not remote airstrips as a part of ours? In many instances, remote airstrips provide the only transportation link for medical emergency evacuations.

And board chairman Jack Talstra said the Ministry of Highways is simply the most logical place to

place the responsibility. After all,

as is stated in a March 8 dis-

cussion paper, most of the airstrips —

in question are a considerable distance for the regional district office in Terrace, which at the very best has limited access to maintenance equipment in some locations. ,

But these airstrips are, in most cases, close to existing roads where maintenance has already been contracted under the govern- ments privatization scheme. A privatization scheme, by the way, that excludes remote airstrip main- tenance that was handled by the ministry itself in pre-privatization days.

by Stephanie Wiebe

It’s April again — time to clean up the yard. Around this time of year, I usually begin to resent the neighbours. My neighbours are very smart. They know exactly when the very last snowflake of the year is going to fall, ("Should be 3:17 next Tuesday afternoon, dear"), and immediately after- ward, they are out in the yard. The rakes come out of the shed, the pruning shears are oiled, and within hours the neighbours’ yard is as immaculately groomed as the Buckingham Palace grounds.

The neighbours’ vegetable garden is already rototilled and raked, and so efficiently or- ganized that even the dirt is clean. The leaves are whisked away, the trees are symmetrically pruned, and the earthworms are lined up in alphabetical order by name. All this before I’ve even noticed that the snow has stopped — these people are good.

Imagine living next to someone like that. We’re not quite as perfect in our yard-keeping, and the peer pressure is sometimes unbearable. I like to think of our yard as au naturel, but basically it’s just a big mess. The grass is a lumpy slope of dying weeds. The trees are crooked, and our veggie garden still shows signs of last September's "potato harvest" war. Rake leaves? We siil! have leaves from 1982 — they’re like part of the family now.

Even our worms are not nearly as nice as the neighbours’. Worms process rotting plant

matter into rich soil, you know, a valuable necessity for a decent garden, While the neighbours’ worms are lined up respectfully in the dirt, enriching their soil, our own undisciplined worms dig haphazardly through the over- grown beds, cursing and com- plaining about the state of their world. Ours are tough worms, having survived our hard, lumpy, inferior soil. They wish they lived in the yard next door.

And the weeds — while. the neighbours have nary a weed on their side of the property line, we must be the official host of the annual cross-Canada "Hideous Weed" convention, opening our yard to every unwanted species this side of Newfoundland. Now, I realize that a weed is in the eye of the beholder, merely a bit of nature rebelling against our tam- ing of the earth, but these insur- gent plants don’t dare invade the neighbour’s pristine yard — oh no, they prefer the crummy dirt on our side of the fence. Those hoodlum worms probably encour- age them.

Even their compost box looks better than ours. Their banana peels and apple cores rot into a soft, dark loam, while our orange peels petrify into an indestructible substance resembling kryptonite. I never thought I'd succumb to "compost envy". Again, I suspect our delinquent, low-quality worms to be at fault.

About the time we begin to

- clear away the debris, the neigh-

bours will be planting their

- bountiful crop for the season.

They know exactly when to do that, too. In a few weeks,

perfectly straight rows of gently

mounded soil will magically form in the organized dirt, soon to sprout tiny green shoots. I thought I’d get ahead on this one last year, reading up on planting methods in early April. I stopped reading when I got to the part about standing naked under a full moon to plant carrots. This, no doubt, explains the pitiful pale orange stumps we harvested last fall. I knew I shouldn’t have worn those argyle socks.

- There’s an old gardener’s say-

ing that goes something like, "You're nearer to God in a gar- den than any place on earth." This holds true for the neigh- bour’s garden, where God smiles down on the combed grass and coiffed soil bursting forth with spring buds. If sheir garden is close to heaven, you can guess where our unkempt plot of land belongs. There’s another old gardener’s saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence". In our case, this adage definitely holds true.

And the worms are better, too.

If you don’t know what’s going on, things go on without you.

read the Terrace Review

Admirin To the Editor; g

How many of us have heard many positive things about our Terrace ambulance crew? Usual- ly, most of what we hear is negative.

Did you know that only two members are full-time paid employees? The other 17 members are volunteers who donate three 24-hour call days at a time. Did you know that they are a dedicated crew of young men and women? Well, our cub pack would like to tell you some- thing positive, and in the mean- time, give a special bouquet to -everyone who works there!

Sometime in December, we called the ambulance station and asked about the possibilities of them putting ona very basic first aid course for our cubs in the New Year. Without hesitation, we were told they would be glad to do it.

Well, in mid-February, along came three — not one — am- bulance attendants to our pack to teach our boys. 1 believe it was a very worthwhile ex- perience for all involved, and our boys really learned first aid while having fun.

The first two weeks were teaching and practical, the third

Letters to the Editor

ee a

the dedication of our a

week was an exam. The exam consisted of a written and a practical test. However, it didn’t end there... They arranged a mini first aid competition with another pack in town who was also taking their first aid at the same time! Not only was this a great learning experience through ‘‘hands-on’’ education, but it was also a marvelous op- portunity for some of the com- munity (parents, leaders, etc.) to get to know our ambulance at- tendants a little better!

Now, I can hear some of you saying, “‘So why such a big deal about ambulance attendants?” Well, first off, there were six people who donated one and a half hours per week for three weeks of their off hour time. It was also very apparent that they loved every minute of it, too! In fact, some of these people even came and taught in between calls, just to be sure that our boys could earn their first aid badge! Then over and above all that, they arranged and pre- pared the exams and the first aid competition. This meant giving another two hours of their off hours last Sunday afternoon!

And it doesn't end there... They want to do it again next

year with an advanced course for the older boys and a be- ginners course for the younger

boys. Not to mention a bigger and better first aid competition. So, a special thanks goes out

Connaught reunion

To the Editor;

I am trying to locate as many people as I possibly can to advise them that there will be a Con- naught Junior High School re- union, for anyone attending during the years 1968 to 1974, in Prince George on the July long

weekend of 1992.

I would like to hear from peo- ple who would be interested in attending the reunion

‘Thanks

To the Editor;

The Terrace Montessori Chil- dren’s House Preschool would like to acknowledge the con- tributions from the merchants in the community who have given us support. With their generous donations, we were able to raise $400 which will enable us to pur- chase new equipment.

Terry Walker, Chairperson, Terrace Montessori -. Children’s House Preschool,

Please write or phone with any information or questions to: J. Fowlie, 139-111 Tabor Blvd., Prince George, B.C. V2M 5N3, phone (604) 563-4690.

Judy Fowlie, Prince George.

Correction

Due to typographical and proof-reading errors, a letter to the editor from Al Lehmann headed "Examining the fiscal record " published in the March 27 Terrace Review did not correctly convey the writer's intentions in two sentences,

In the printed version the sentence that read, "I would like to assert that this rosy reputation is largely deserved...” should have read "undeserved". A later sentence that read "Surely these are the characteristics of a government of competent financial managers" should have read, "Surely these are mot the characteristics of a government of competent financial managers."

Although the context of the rest of the letter should have left little doubt in most readers’ minds about Mr. Lehmann’s opinion of the Social Credit government’s fiscal management record, we apologize

o him for these errors and hope this correction has cleared up any confusion our readers may have experienced.

mbulance crews

to Mike Dwyer (he’s the ring- leader!), Scott, Melodie, Tom, Laura, Bruce, Maryann and Heather from the leaders and cubs of the fourth and eighth Terrace Cubs. And remember, next time you see an ambulance or their crew, you are looking at a group of dedicated and un- selfish people, They also play an important and much needed role in our community!

Linda Perry,

— Michael Kelly, editor

Terrace. .

Wiser.