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A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 2, 2005

_ 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 _ WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard.com.

Cost crunch

CITY COUNCIL is doing a disservice to the

public by choosing to keep secret the latest cost implications of its second sheet of ice sportsplex

_» project. Originally pegged at $4 million, the proj- " ect.appears to have shot past the $6 million level "and could be approaching $7 million.

That’s a lot of money for what is essentially 2 a

‘second sheet of ice and some smaller size meet- ing rooms — enough to request that city council | provide an update as to what.exactly is going on | ‘and what plans it has.to deal with the situation.

Here’s what’s known so far:

1. That initial price tag of $4 million was wild: ly optimistic. In itself, that’s not terribly unusual. . The figure was drawn up without the benefit of an

exact building plan backed by architectural cost

estimates. But it became the measuring bench-

~ mark for progress on raising money.

2. Council then added a little over $1 million

for a geothermal heating and cooling system for ‘the new sheet of ice and for the existing arena and aquatic centre. While a separate component, it re-

ally is part of the overall project, placing the new

-_price,tag at more than $5 million.

3. Last summer the city’s architects began

warning council that the ever-increasing cost of

_ Steel had already added about 20 per cent to the - project, putting the estimate now in the $6 million 7 range. | -4. Two weeks ago the architects provided an- |

Ay

other still-secret cost estimate but. one. which

» clearly places the potential price tag way north of | $6 million: |

5. To date council has a $2 million’ federal- -pro- vincial grant commitment which it must soon use

or lose: It has a'$450,000 pledge: from Alcan. And. $300, 000.0r.s0.inlocal donations, pledges and ins’ kind commitments. -

6. Council failed to get a so-called green grant from a federal association of municipalities to ab- sorb the $1 million-plus in geothermal costs.

7. A $236 million pre-election provincial grant program could provide more cash. Yet even $2

‘million wouldn’t cover the shortfall. And nobody

will know the exact cost until the project is ten- dered. Mayor Jack Talstra has counseled patience.

' He says there hasn’t been a public sector project

he’s been involved in during his years at city hall which hasn’t gone ‘through a series of financial

*< twists and turns. True enough. But too much of this project has . been going on behind closed doors. There’s also a

ticking clock at work — the use or it lose it deadline to obtain the $2 million provincial-federal grant.

By not coming clean, council risks losing the

enormous goodwill of those. businesses, groups and individuals which have already donated.

PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link

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SHOVELLED HER WALK, WASHED AND DETAILED: HER LIMO AND CLEAREP THE SNoW OFF HER ICE RINK, NYS ADRIENNE CLARKSON \ i WILL BE FINISHED APOLOGIZING To HIM FOR HIS. POOR TREATMENT, AT RIDEAU HALL.

Bingo bust very embarassing |

- VICTORIA - The great Galia- .

no Island bingo bust brings

to mind that bumper sticker, . the one that says “Don’t steal;

government hates the compe- tition.” oo,

In case you’ve missed the news, the B.C.

ment officers to - laid-back Galiano to break up.a fun once-a-week bingo game for about a dozen seniors..

You can run out of fingers counting off what’s wrong °

with this. . For starters,

" We're talking about.a drop- in bingo game in a small res-

~taurant, with all the money - maybe $150 in a good week - -

going back to the players. Deb McKechnie, owner of Galia- no’s Grand Central Empori- um, Offered seniors a discount

on their meals and a chance to ' socialize while ‘having a few

laughs over a game of bingo. There’s no earthly reason for government to do anything about this.

But, says Solicitor General

Rich Coleman, government

had to launch an investigation,

because someone complained.”

OK. But that’s what a tele- phone ts for. You pick it up,

call the restaurant and ask the

owner about the bingo game. She tells the officer what’s go- ing on, he tells her what she

_ heeds to do to be within the

law. Case closed.

But that’s not what hap-—

pened. Four people - two po- lice officers, and two gaming

_ enforcement officers - slipped

government . sent four undercover enforce-

there’ s ‘the . ‘foolish waste of money.

PAUL WILLCOCKS

‘dence - and then retired to the Island Time B&B. The ocean-. front resort boasts that it’s

Galiano’s only five-star ac-.

commodation, with a Gazebo hot tub, cozy quilts and sherry in hand-cut crystal ‘decanters.

Winter rates range from. $125.

to $155 a night.

The next day two of the pre- sumably well-rested officers showed up back at the restau- rant and told McKechnie she was busted, and being charged with the unauthorized sale of lottery tickets. She started cry- ing (like most taxpayers who have heard the whole story). The officers warned her that they could have laid: criminal

charges, but decided.just to is- .

~ sue a $288 ticket. - Figure the total cost at some-~ thing over $2,000, to deal with ‘a harmless attempt to give se- “niors some weekly fun and at- tract a few more customers to

a small business. Coleman initially defended

FROM THE CAPITALS

the exercise.

But by Monday, he was having doubts. “I’m not par- ticularly thrilled with the story myself,” he said. “This on the surface is not great. That’s why I’ve asked them to take a review and come back and ex-

- plain it to me.’ Excess aside, this is "just

the latest chapter in the gov- ernment’s extremely diligent efforts to make sure that it’s

‘the only one who makes mon-

ey from gambling. Charities have»been. told to quit selling raffle tickets: on .the Internet,

os ~~ of hassled because they were . ' quietly into the restaurant, sur- reptitiously gathered their evi--

auctioning off a quilt without all the proper paperwork.

* At the same time the gov-. ernment is pushing ahead full- speed with gambling expan- sion plan. (Yes, the Liberals campaigned on a promise to

halt the. expansion of gam- bling, because it hurt families : and caused addictions and’oth-

er social problems. More fool you for believing them.)

The new budget shows the Liberals will have almost dou- bled the amount of money they take from losing gamblers by 2008. The government made $540 million from gambling when the Liberals were elect- ed; they’re shooting for more than $1 billion by the third year of the current plan.

Partly, that comes from get-: ting current gamblers. to lose > more. (Thus the decision to al- low alcohol in casinos, and the approval for ATMs so people who have-lost all their cash can dip into their savings.)

The government is also re- cruiting more gamblers. it has

- McKechnie.

a plan to persuade 170, 000

people who don’t gamble now

that it would be a good idea

for them to start.

~~ Sure, that will be the start of a hellish addiction for several

thousand of those people, but |

that’s not a big problem for the government. . Seniors playing fun bingoi in, a small restaurant on Galiano Island - that’s a big problem... — Footnote:: Last word to “I’m a small- business person really trying to stay alive and my taxes that I have to borrow money to pay are going to operations like

this? I’m basicaily running a ~

small business in- hard times, open from 5:30 in the morn- ing ... seven days a week.” Sounds like she should have been a Liberal voter - up until now,

And another footnote about

‘Bob Smith, the chief. executive’

officerof the’ massive Fraser’

Health Authority dismissed

last week. The

dismissal followed

mounting pressure regarding

the over-crowded Surrey Me- morial Hospital. .

Forget about worrying

. about Smith’s severance, likely

worth more than his salary for a year — $323,000. He changed his life to take the job, and has been fired without cause — the payout is reasonable.

This is, however, the second time he’s got severance pay- ments of more than $300,000.

The NDP came through with a similar amount when another health position he had was eliminated in 1997.

willcocks@ultranet.ca

EVERYTHING EXCEPT laundry can be done on line to- ‘day from paying monthly bills or selling outgrown clothing to

sourcing repairs for your 1968 .

Ford pickup.

So news of a Victoria, B.C. » based website where you can

leave all manner of informa- tion and instructions for your executor and surviving rela- tives didn’t astonish me. Begun in the fall of 2004, ‘the website www.privatemat- ters.com lets you store top se- cret messages until a time you

specify for their release to a-

designated recipient. Joining the service costs $69.99.

_ An annual fee of $12 keeps

you in good graces. Miss even one payment and your infor- mation disappears from the website.

I can see the advantages of listing your bank account num- bers, insurance policy identifi- cation details, and computer passwords. Those are specifics that could devour hours of an executor’s time finding when moments count.

Those with control issues can write their own obitu-

if

A THROUGH BIFOCALS | ‘CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

ary to play up their positives while omitting any negatives. You can also plan your funeral down to the hymns to be sung, the soloist to sing them, and names of the pallbearers youd like to go out with.

Another handy use for the website is stipulating how your bequests will be handled — although I’m not sure how legally binding. these orders would be and.I couldn't check them by phone: Telus was un-

able to locate a phone number

for me.

You can also write detailed instructions for. the. care and feeding of your pets from bun- nies to budgies.

Making sure you execu- tor can locate your will im-

“mediately to gain the release.

of bank funds to pay for your funeral arrangements worries most of us. On this website you can store the location of your will away from prying

. eyes, yet have it readily acces- sible when the time comes.

. The website originators pro-

pose using the website to tie up any loose ends, complimenta- —

Ty or otherwise. You can leave a note apologizing to the older sister Whom you teased merci- lessly when she began dating. Or you can shoulder author- ship of the critical letter-to-the

-editor that riled snowmobilers

when they suspected a farmer whose fences they had cut. Revealing your innermost

thoughts when it’s too late for

those involved to retaliate — or

gush — strikes me as a sensible —

precaution. It’s a comforting mode to pass sentiment along for those of us who sob at the faintest hint of emotion. And

Internet wills are a bit scary

what safer way to mischie- vously divulge the vital miss- ing ingredient in the recipe for your famous pot luck dessert. With a yearly rental of $12, you wouldn't want to join too early: annual fees would add up and no doubt climb like cable rates. In addition, if you should develop Alzheimer’s and lose your memory, you could forget to pay the annual

fee and also lose all the info

you’ve entrusted to the web- site. What to do?

My first dilemma would be learning how to operate a computer. | took an hour's tu- telage at the library. So far I’m having trouble corralling the cursor. After I nudge the cur- sor painstakingly into place and go to click the mouse, the mouse skitters sideways, and the cursor scoots. At this speed, I will deplete my estate paying the annual fee before | manage to get my thoughts on line.

In the meantime, I’m doing all I can the old fashioned way ~ filing a will and letting my executors know where to find if.