A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 10, 1996

TERRACE

STANDARD

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. « V8G SR2 TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432 E-MAIL: terrace.standard@sasquat.com MODEM: (604) 638-7247

Big news soon

GET READY for a propaganda airburst of mam- moth proportions once a provincial election is called.

Premier Glen Clark’s current red hot announcement-a-day pace is a signal that the tra- dition of buying voters’ support with their own tax money will continue.

But the premier will have to do more, lots more to keep his steamroller of a campaign at a full tilt boogie level.

So expect a shift in what is being announced. Now that Premier Clark has pretty well got the provincial good news scene figured out he and his ministers will concentrate on regional and lo- cal situations,

A test run of sorts took place last week when tourism minister Bill Barlee showed up in Thornhill to announce money for tennis courts for that community. This is not to suggest Thorn- hill doesn’t need tennis courts or that the grant of government money for such a thing isn’t a good idea.

But to have something like tennis courts com- mand the time and attention of a cabinet minister is a bit of a stretch even in an election prepara- tion frenzy.

We prefer waiting for the real good election- timed announcements that’ll be happening.

Expect to see a lucrative package for Thornhill- Terrace amalgamation. This is a very touchy subject — a sort of land claim of a different kind — and the provincial government that doesn’t address the nebulous issue of pride and the prac- tical issue of sewer and water lines isn’t going to be looked upon favourably come the day of a

provincial vote.’ ' |

Also expect to see a deal made between the provincial government and the City of Terrace over the provincial lands surrounding the airport. The city has made it quite clear that control over and subsequent development of those lands is the only way the airport can survive once federal subsidies disappear.

Airporis are very much a healthy and sexy sign of progress in the north and the vote-seeking government that doesn’t agree is in real trouble.

Skeena NDP MLA Helmut Giesbrecht is in for a challenging ride this election and a regional goodies gravy train will be welcome news to him indeed.

In the hole

SPRING MAY have trouble sprunging but that hasn’t stopped city work crews from using spray bombs to circle potholes and other craters need- ing patchwork.

Very soon the asphalt truck will be winding through the streets with driver and workers on the lookout for the bright red orbs,

And once again it’ll be a reminder that the city’s new paving plan will do wonders toward providing seamless and comfortable roadways.

Gon PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link A ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mike L. Hamm

PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS Jeff Nagel» NEWS SPORTS: Kathleen Brandsma COMMUNITY: Cris Leykauf OFFICE MANAGER: Audra Creek ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Sam Collier, Janet Viveiros, Tracey Tomas ADVERTISING ASSISTANT: Emma Law, Kelly Jean DARKROOM: Susan Credge ur , CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Karen Brunette MEMBER OF B.C. PRESS COUNCIL oo Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area. Published on Wednesday of each week by Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, Brilish Columbia, V8G SR2. : : co Stories, photographs, illustiations, designs and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the property of the copyright holders, including Cariboo Press (1969) Ltd. its illusiration repro services and advertising nigieg, ~ ; aa ee Feproduction in whole or in part, wilhoul written permission, is specifically orohibited, . Authorized as secand-class mait pending the Pasi Office Department, {or payment af postage In cash, Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents

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SLES ALARA PE

Act now

VICTORIA — ‘No less reprehensible than the slaughter of African elephants for their ivory is the hidden scandal of Canada’s grizzly kingdom under siege by chainsaw and gun.”?

Thus warns the Raincoast Conservation Society in a

recent report on the grizzly —

bear population that depends for its habilat on the rainforest valleys of British Columbia's central and northern mainland coast.

“Ecologically catastrophic ° effects of clearcut logging are driving these old-growth-

dependent monarchs from their homes in one coastal valley after another. Logging and over- fishing are reducing their principle food source - salinon. And the’ coastal grizzlies face an additional threat as hunters and poachers continue taking their poll,’’ the report says.

The society accuses the government of doing little to preserve British Columbia's grizzly population or worse, hastening ils demise.

“British Columbia’s grizzly bear population is headed for extinction due to the combined pressures of clearcut- logging, trophy hunting and bureaucratic indifference,’’ the report says.

t—

FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER

to 1,000 grizzlies may survive on the entire west coast,’’ the report says,

Aside from logging and li- censed hunting, poaching is the most serious threal to grizzlies. Following an RCMP sting op- eration last year, 60 bear paws were seized in a raid, and 29 charges were laid against 11 individuals and businesses for trafficking in and possession of bear gall bladders,

One man was fined $3,500 for possession of 33 gail blad- ders, hardly a deterrent when

The Rainforest Conservation Society’s report admits that last year’s dedication by the B.C, goverment of the Khut- zeymateen Valley as a grizzly bear ‘sanctuary ‘was <4 ‘com-

mendable move, but adds that’

the area is too small to preserve the loca] population of grizzlies,

B.C. environment ministry figures suggest that aboul 3,000 grizelies should have come out of hibernation last spring. That estimate has changed {little over the last 20 years, and the Raincoast Con- servation Society. the figures are way off base.

‘Actual counts were never

__ conducted, but we belicve that an unstable population closer

grizzly gall bladders can fetch thousands of dollars in Asia,

The report claims that government policing is vir- tually non-existent, ‘‘On the entire central coast, one or two conservation officers were in the field a total of three days in 1994, It falls to guide outfitters themselves to report kills and sightings that make up official data on bears,”

One of the society’s directors is Peter McAllister, and I Should tel! you that I’ve been less than kind to him in the past.

It was McAllister who told the European Parliament some time ago ‘that despite govern- ment initiatives to mcrease the province’s park land from six to 12 per cent, British Colum-

before it’s too late

bia was still the ‘‘Brazil of the .

North.”’

Al the time, Stephen Owen, :

then chief of the now dis- banded Commission on Resources and Environment, just happened to be in Europe and was able to also get a hear- ing before the European Parlia- ment and set the record straight,

Yes, McAllister is a rebel, even by mainstream environ-

mental movement standards, -

and yes, I’ve tanned his hide on several occasions for his all too frequent and irresponsible

outbursts, but the Raincoast ;

Forest Society’s fears of a

dangerously declining grizzly :

population is shared by many other environmentalisis who

are Jess radical -than -McAl- .

lister. ie ted In a nutshell: I’m willing to

listen to his concerns, and if *

the government has conclusive evidence that McAllister is wrong, I’d like to see it,

The last word goes to the Raincoast Conservation Society: ‘History has taught us that we rately come to the rescue of a species until it’s toa late.””

Beyer can be reached at: Tel(604) 920-9300; Fax:(604) 385- 6783; E-Mail: Abeyer@direct.ca

This statue is for the birds

‘I would much rather have nen ask why | have no statue, than why I have one.’ Cato.

Ninety-thousand dollars — a big or small sum?

If you’re an average Joe who has just won with a 649 lotto licket, it can be a windfall.

If you’re Jimmy Pattison, $90,000 will almast buy. you another car.

Anywhere in B.C. today, $90,000 is hard to come by. It’s salaries for two classroom teachers or for two hospital nurses; enough to import Mike Miller to talk teens out of suicide in a dozen com- munities; the amount we're short fo maintain special needs services for another year in Terrace schools,

So how did Nanaimo spend their $90,000 collected from donations, bingos and car washes? They erected a stone

- a

THROUGH BIFOCALS:

CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

But in this age of shriveling funding for everything from education and health to fish hatcheries and affordable hous- ing, why invest in a stone statue? That’s for the birds!

If Nanaimo needed some- thing tangible to demonstrate their appreciation for Ney’s years of dedication, why didn’t they commemorate his achievements in a style less passive and useless.

For instance, they could have bought two more riverboats or other equipment for search and

slatue in memory of Mayor

Frank Ney.

Now it’s clear Frank Ney was well liked by the majority of bis townspeople, We’re told he worked hard to improve his community and to promote it to tourists. He’s credited with the popularity of the annual Nanaimo bathtub races,

OF WORK VETE RAN

EARS EVER ALERT TOTHE SOUND

QUIETLY DEPARTS.

tescue (goodness knows many a bathtub racer has been plucked from the drink); named a soccer field after him; provided swimming lessons for under privileged — children; manned a lighthouse for one more year; dedicated a public library wing in his honour; stocked a high school with

THE HUSKY

SD as AY \ { wd af \! Y ; | r “ne, 18-03 aah othe

HUMANS ARE SO 4 DUMB! THEY NEVER NOTICE. WHAT'S

reference books; bought musi- cal instruments for a high school bank; paid the at- tendance fees for handicapped kids at a summer camp; filled a playground with equipment.

Or they could have done something for the city’s seniors.

They could have added an additional HandyDart to their transit service; supplied an electric wheelchair for the nursing home: built a wheel-

chair ramp beside a fishing =

hole; constructed wheelchair accessible curbs on more streel comers.

Instead Nanaimo will have a gigantic stone monument around which soft drink cups and pizza plates will swirl in the wind, while flying crows and seagulls bank over it leav- ing messy deposits.

Only the sculptor benefits.

GIN gen SHEE Boys ?7_-