OPINION

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1047

LV. CAMPBELL —

PAGE A4, WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1991
MEMBER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCIL

8 ‘TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
INCORPORATING THE MID-WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 12, 1976-AUGUST 27, 1980
PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 19, 1973

PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell
EDITOR — Simon Birch

OFFICE MANAGER — Warren Chernoff
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadley

comes
J

EDITORIAL

Fond memories
can't save hall

The Kinnaird Hall; White elephant or new opportunity?
This is the dilemna city council faces, and its decision some
weeks ago to seek public input on the matter (such as it did in

bia Avenue) is a commendable

pr proposed changes to Col

move,

The hall is deteriorating, and the city’s engineering staff
estimates it will cost upwards of nearly $170,000 to bring the structure
to current building, fire and health code standards.

The hall has a long history of serving the ori:

inal Village of

Kinnaird, after which it is named, and even residents of Castlegar
benefited when the old Coronation Hall gave way to the Co-op

Transportation Society garage.

Wedding receptions by the dozen have been held in the hall, early
teenage dances were held there most Friday or Saturday nights, the
Kinnaird Little Theatre called the hall home. And who can ever forget
the Kinnaird Volunteer Department’s annual Christmas party there
when volunteer firemen from Castlegar were only too happy to cover
for their partying counterparts should the unfortunate need arise?

Important public meetings were held in the hall (the Bob
Brandson Memorial Pool was ‘‘born’’ there), many a municipal and
School board financing issue had their fate at the ballot box decided
there, and a number of politicans (such as Gerry Rust who went from
heading a fledgling ratepayers’ association organized in the hall to
becoming one of Kinnaird’s longest-serving alderman) won election
after election in the hall with strong oratory at civic forums.

In fact, it’s because of this ‘‘strong community attachment’’ to
the hall, as engineering and public works director Kenn Hample calls
it, that council is going the route of consulting city residents and

interested groups on its fate.

The city spent $17,212 — $13,542 for maintenance and $3,670 for
utilities — on the hall in 1990 while recovering only about 10-15 per

cent of those costs through user fees.

Hample said that without considering any changes to the existing
floor plan of Kinnaird Hall, a program of improvements and their

costs would include:

© Work to bring the hall up to current building and fire code
requirements for public safety — $43,000.

© Upgrading the kitchen — $12,500.

© Interior decorating — $98,000.

© Exterior renovation — $14,000.

Yi

Mlle

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Call to meeting

Some five years ago the trustees of Robson-
Raspberry Improvement District made a decision
to raise the taxes and tolls of the water users to
provide funds to clean up the water source as
recommended in the results of an engineering
study commissioned by the Regional District of
Central Kootenay approximately 15 years ago.
‘Through to the end of 1988, as funds became
available, work continued towards getting the
source of water improved. In the spring of 1989
the engineer (that had been commissioned by the
trustees at the time to provide guidance in cleaning
up the water intake) was dismissed and to date no
further work has been done.

I would like to appeal to Robson and
Raspberry water users to come to the annual
general meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Robson
Hall. If the water users are satisfied with the
quality of their water, and do not mind boiling it
prior to using it, and do not mind having their tax
dollars used for other than what they were
intended for, then let us give the trustees a vote of
confidence, However, if the water users are not
satisfied. with what.is-happening to their tax
dollars, then such a message should be very loudly

Some of the options

that will pr be di at

a public meeting include: the city undertaking a multi-year program
of improvements to encourage greater use of the hall, with or without
“modification” of the user fees; private ownership and/or operation
and maintenance of Kinnaird Hall; turning over operation and
maintenance of the hall to one or more community groups; or

disposing of the property.

Nostalgia and a flood of great memories are fine for family get-
togethers and reminiscing around the kitchen table or ina
comfortable livingroom, but the hard facts of this matter are that the
Kinnaird Hall has become a financial albatross.

A hard decision is going to have to be made by aldermen on its
fate, and the only suggestions that are really going to be worthwhile
at a public meeting are those that address the financial problems.

We are fortunate that the Pioneer Arena continues to serve the
residents of Castlegar and surrounding communities. The chances are
very slim that we will be equally fortunate with the Kinnaird Hall.

VIEWPOINT

B.C. politics is
a tricky question

By GERARD YOUNG

VICTORIA (CP) — Only half a
dozen of the 40 students in Norman
Ruff’s fourth-year political | science
class chose to answer the exam
question on government scandals in
British Columbia.

Although they had lots of fresh
material, most of the University of
Victoria students picked other
questions from the choices offered.

Strange, since Ruff’s last lectures
coincided with the sensational and
suspenseful days before conflict of
interest forced Bill Vander Zalm to
resign as premier.

“This was one year where you
couldn’t write too many lectures
ahead of time,”’ Ruff said.

The Vander Zalm scandal had
been developing since last fall. First,
he didn’t tell the truth about owner-
ship in his Fantasy Gardens theme
park; then. he gave its eventual
buyers the red-carpet treatment at
government expense.

Some of Ruff’s students, mean-

premiers who have gone down to
decisive electoral defeats.
That still may be relevant next fi

haunted by
ghost.

She has apologized for his misuse
of office, shuffled his former cabinet
and taken a sharp turn from his
policy direction.

the former premier’s

Yet the Vander Zalm saga con-

tinues like a when-last-we-left-him
tale.
The former premier has decided to
continue representing his riding and
hasn't ruled out seeking re-election,
unwelcome news for some cabinet
ministers, including Johnston, who
have suggested he should quit im-
mediately.

They are edgy about having Van-
der Zalm, whom they once rallied
around, in the B.C. legislature when
it resumes sitting on May 7. In recent
sittings, the NDP had a field day

over the integrity of Vander Zalm

and his government.

His presence, Socreds feel, will
continue to provide New Democrats
with the ammunition they need to
keep on track for the election victory
that public opinion polls hint is
theirs.

Although Vander Zalm’s shoot-
from-the-lip comments have been

d to the trustees.

1 urge all those concerned to come out to the
meeting and exercise their democratic rights, hear
the trustees annual report and elect trustees to
replace those whose terms have expired.

Walter Evdokimoff
Robson

Time for normalcy

Congratulations on your timely and
appropriate editorial ‘Forget opinions, remember
verdict”’ on the Mann trial.

As usual, Shakespeare put his finger on it
when he wrote:

‘Good name in man and woman, dear my
lord,

Is the immediate jewel of their souls:

Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis

something, nothing;

‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to
thousands;

But he that filches from me my good name

Robs me of that not enriches him,

And makes me poor indeed.”

We can’t put the gene back in the bottle but
as you suggest we should all try to get things back
to normalcy.

John Charters
Castlegar

Debt worrying

I am among those who went to one of the
British Columbia and POWEREX open house and
i ion meetings held our
province recently to help us to understand the
electricity trade“as conducted by some of the
utilities of British Columbia, Alberta and the
United States. Anyone who attended could not
help but come away with a better understanding
of this almost arcane business and how it can
bring about savings for all participants.

1 am certain that all can clearly see the
benefits that Come with the coordinating of
thermal and hydro generating stations and of
facilities in different climates and in different time
zones. I am equally certain that these same people
are not so sure about a policy that calls for the
building of new generating plants for the sole
purpose of exporting electrical energy-to the U.S.
These reservations become even more pronounced
when the new plants are to be American owned so
that profits as well as electricity will flow south,
leaving in Canada the associated pollution and
depleted resources.

There is another point to which I wish to draw
attention. The brochures we were all given tell us
that electricity sales, (mostly to the U.S.) ‘‘allowed
B.C. Hydro to pay a dividend to the provincial
government to support spending programs for the
benefit of all British Columbians."’ The word
“‘dividend’’ should really be in quotation marks.
It is not a true dividend at all but is something
more akin to plunder since it is being by

means of an Order in Council which is a direct
order from the government forcing B.C. Hydro to
give money to the government.

Drawing money from the operating profit of a
debt laden crown corporation is a. most perverse
form of folly. The B.C. Hydro 1990 annual report
tells us that the B.C. Hydro tong-term debt is
$6.727 billion, an amount not likely to be paid off
in the lifetimes of most of us. Any “‘dividend”’
paid by B.C. Hydro must be paid out of borrowed
funds. If we consider for the sake of discussion
only a one-time “‘dividend’’ of $100 million and
an interest rate of 12 per cent we will see that for
the rest of our lives we will have to pay each and
every year $12 million in interest and when we ¢:=
will still have a $100 million debt left intact to pass
on to our heirs.

This may make sense to a government
accountant, but not to me, or, I am sure, to the
financial pundits who keep telling us that the best
investment we can make is the paying down of our
mortgages.

Fred G. Marsh
Director, Electric Consumers’ Assoc. ) oy

Please address all letters to the editor
to: Letters to the Editor, Castlegar News,
P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4,
or deliver them to our office at 197
Columbia Ave. in Castlegar.

Letters should be typewritten, double-
spaced and not longer than 300 words.

Letters MUST be signed and include
the writer's first and last names, address
and a telephone number at which the
writer can be reached between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town
of only will be ished.
in exceptional cases will letters be
published without the writer's name.
Nevertheless, the name, address and
telephone number of the writer MUST be
disclosed to the editor.

The Castlegar News reserves the right
to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality,
grammar and taste.

Reformers don't scare McLaughlin

VANCOUVER (CP) — The New
Democratic Party isn’t worrying too
much about the Reform party’s
rising popularity, NDP Leader Aud-
rey McLaughlin said Monday.

But McLaughlin, who is touring
Western Canada, took a couple of
swipes at the Western-based group,
saying its policies serve to divide
rather than unite Canada.

MIKE HARCOURT
... a stronger Canada

“Probably if you haven't heard
much reaction from us, it’s that we
their agenda is so diametrically

rs that it represents far more of

a threat to the Liberal and Conser-

Quebec. We (the NDP) represent a
very different view of Casiada and
we feel we want to see Quebec within

‘Canada so we’re intgrested in all par-
ts of this country.””

A Gallup poll released last week
put the Reform party two percentage
points ahead of the governing Con-
servatives.

The poll suggested the Liberals
had support of 32 per cent of
decided voters, the NDP 26 per cent
and the Reform party, 16 per cent.
About 37 per cent of the 1,024 adults
surveyed said they were undecided.

The Reform party, led by business
consultant Preston Manning, says it
has $6,000 members in Western
Canada and 6,000 in Ontario. It
strongly favors regional represen-
tation, tighter immigration and a
national vote on major issues.

McLaughlin would not go as far as
saying that the Reform party could
actually boost NDP fortunes by
splitting the votes of the other par-
ties.

“I think it’s hard to tell at this
point. The Reform party is certainly
getting a honeymoon. They don’t
have to defend any of their policies
in the House of Commons, having
only one member."’

During her

national tour,

Both McLaughlin and B.C. NDP
Leader Mike Harcourt, who held a
news conference after a morning

meeting, said their party’s agenda
was to build a stronger Canada that
includes Quebec.

Zalm has limited
legal options now

VICTORIA (CP) — Former B.C.
premier Bill Vander Zalm could be
without a legal avenue in his efforts
to overturn a report that says he
mixed private business with public
office, a law professor said Tuesday.

Vander Zalm’s request for a

judicial review of a report into the
sale of his Fantasy Gardens theme
park will ‘likely hinge on how the
B.C. Supreme Court views the legal
authority of investigator Ted
Hughes.
“And then you'd have to argue
that what he (Hughes) decided in ef-
fect affected something legal —
rights, powers, privileges,’’ said
Robert Grant, who teaches ad-
ministrative law at the Univeristy of
British Columbia.

“If all he has is the power to offer
an opinion on whether or not a con-
flict. of interest has arisen, but
doesn’t have the authority to impose

The Members’ Conflict of Interest
Act was proclaimed prior to Christ-
mas, while Vander Zalm’s guidelines
were announced in 1987.

Hughes had no authority to
recommend penalties, only to report
his findings.

Also, Hughes threatened at one
point to withdraw from the review
and send the matter to a public
inquiry after Vander Zalm’s lawyer
Suggested the process denied his
client’s right to fundamental justice.

Vander Zalm indicated after
asking Hughes to. do the review that
he would abide by the decision. And
he seemed to accept the findings
when he voluntarily resigned.

“In politics, there is no court of
appeal in these matters,"” he said
April 2. “I must live by the

which I o

Hughes, meanwhile, said his
lawyers were studying the matter and
he had no comment.

But NDP justice critic Moe Sihota
Suggested Vander Zalm “‘picked the
wrong avenue of appeal."’

Sihota, a lawyer, said the

former premier should
bring the matter before the
legislature for review and let a house
committee decide the validity of his
complaint. :

By The Recycle Group

Junk mail,
It keeps arriving in our
mailboxes, day after day, Glossy
addressed to

on
perhaps even spelled
correctly... '

All of these items are aimed at
selling a product or service. Some
are straight forward advertising,
while others may inform you that
you've been selected to take part
in a special draw or contest.
Maybe you are even identified as
already being a “winner. (It’s
peculiar that everyone on the
Street gets the same junk mail
about the same contest, each with
their own name on it, and each
identified as already being a win-
ner.)

Most people are tired of junk
mail. They are insulted by the
barage of special deals and con-
tests. Given a choice, they'd
prefer not to get this stuff in the
first place. In fact, a lot of
people don’t even bother to open
their junk mail after they retrieve
it from their mail boxes — they

Bylaw prehibits junk mail

Toy

just dump it directly into their
garbage container.

This approach is effective in
not having to waste time opening
and reading the junk mail. Yet it
is still a problem, since all of this
unwanted mail makes a con-
tribution to filling up our com-
munity landfill - the
Ootischenia dump. Therefore, if
we could stop the junk mail,
we'd solve.two problems.

A recent news report said that
a city in eastern Canada recently
passed a bylaw which prohibits
the distribution of flyers and
other items to people’s mailboxes
without a permit from city hall.
Offenders can be fined. If you
feel strongly that this is a good

approach, then petition your
elected representatives for a
similar bylaw. Ideally, the terms
of the permit would be strict
enough to discourage a lot of
unwanted items.

There. are several agencies
engaged in the business of
distributing addresses to various
Promoter. One such agency is
Direct Marketing Association,
No. 1 Concord Gate, Don Mills,
Ont. M3C 3N6. If you'd like
your name removed from their
list, send them a postcard
requesting that yourfiame be
removed from their files. They.
will need your full name,
and postal code as it appears on
your junk mail.

College hosts workshop —

The Castlegar campus of Selkirk
College will host a conference May
9-10 that will interest instructors of
prenatal courses, public health nur-
sing staff, hospital maternity staff,
local physicians, communi
perinatal education advisory commit-
tee members, post-partum support
group leaders and others who par-
ticipate in community support to
childbirth.

Sponsored by Selkirk College con-
tinuing education in Castlegar and
Trail and the Central Kootenay
Health Unit, the conference begins
with a keynote address by Penny
Simkin of Seattle, a childbirth
educator of international reputation,
who will speak on the topic of
women’s longterm memories of the
birth experience, factors relating to
low affd high satisfaction with the
birth process, the issue of control,
freedom and growth in parenthood,
and what a fulfilling birth experience
requires. The Thursday evening ad-
dress by Simkin will be followed by
an open discussion period and
refreshments. The lecture is open to
the public and there is no admission.

Workshops begin May 10, with
Simkin leading the first session which
is on the topic of enhancing the
quality of the birth experience. The
second morning session is a breast-
feeding workshop presented by Fran-
cis Jones, a registered nurse and
breastfeeding consultant with the
Vancouver Breastfeeding Centre.

The two afternoon sessions each
feature two concurrent workshops,
beginning with a workshop on
curriculum and community issues

Heritage
conference
to be held

The Heritage Society of B.C. will
hold its 1991 annual conference May
23-26 in Revelstoke.

The theme of this year’s event is
“Small Town Heritage.’’

The conference will take place at
the Revelstoke Community Centre.
The program includes a one-day
workshop for herigage homeowners,
a forum on current heritage issues,
sessions on new heritage legislation
and heritage inventories, the annual
awards banquet and several tours.

Injury
advice
free May 9

Injured workers or their dependen-
ts who have questions about claims
can get free, confidential advice
when a workers’ adviser visits Nelson
on May 9, the Ministry of Labor and
Consumer Services says.

The workers’ adviser’s office of
the Ministry of Labor is independent
of the Workers Compensation
Board.

‘Appoin tments with the workers’
adviser can be arranged through a
government agent.

CHELATION
THERAPY

Jrostment of; Athorosuloresie
Vesculer Disease.
Now Available in
Phone 365-7717

Presented by Sue Little, former

community health nurse who now

works as a consultant in the field of
i and a

on gestational diabetes presented by
Jetty Soolsma, head nurse in the
delivery suite and special care nur-
sery at Burnaby Hospital.

Seniors’
fair

* Muffler & i
ax: bx,
& BRAKE We! Kootencys!

responds
to survey

Health Fair to be held May 14 at the
.o Complex,
Lorraine Garret said.

Government Certified
aby Inspection
tat
wp ene.

Authorized ICG
Auto Propane
Conversion Centre

“FREE INSTALLATION OF MUFFLERS AND SHOCKS
INSTALLED WHILE YOUR WAIT, FOR MOST AUTOS”

2929
PHONE 368-5228 nf
Mon.-Fri. 8 o.m.-5 p.m.
Saturday 8-0.m.-4 p.m.

“We're starting to get quite a bit
of feedback,’’ Garrett said,

People involved in several oc-
cupations which deal with seniors
have been invited to set up booths,
such as housing, transportation,
health and safety: The information
available will be geared toward
seniors but will also be of value to
people of all ages, Garrett said. The
fair gets underway at 10 a.m.

A potluck lunch follows the fair
from 11:30 a.m. to | p.m. and a
forum from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
will be held to give seniors a chance
to discuss their needs and priorities.
If successful the fair will become an
annual event, Garret said.

The events have been. organized in
response to a seniors’ health survey,
the results of which were released
earlier this year.

Funding for the events was
provided by the Seniors’ Health net-
work, the Ministry of Health’s
‘Choosing Wellness Program and the
he Canadian Legion, Garrett

Jog | °
For nts’ 12-24 mos., children’s 2-6X & girls’

7-16 sizes. Take advantage of the savings!

4 FRANCO ZEFFIRELLL Aan)

HAMLET

Godfather

-

L FEATURE Stock up now on this
new cereall It’s 80 good for youl 425 g.