PUBLISHER MARILYN STRONG

CHRISTINE MOVER
PRODUCTION MANAGER:
TRICIA LAKTIN

: isorial com nt
‘New Direction
or no direction?

;The fugure of health care in B.C. is in critical and
condition thanks to the Ministry of Health's
Directions” mandate and to its no direction

munity health care services after issuing the mandate.
The ministry did what no reputable health care

would ever ider doing to a patient—
Teaving the management of the ‘disease wholly up 1
how you would feel if you. went
he or she said “If you continue

die. You need to c’ © your
age te, Yo pod change yout
back tome for the medication (oth~

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fae

ifs

ti
Ff
ae
ti
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e dollars have been slashed to the
wen tee pected aad baie.

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Talking toys and scolding parents can
speak volumes on gender stereotyping

oh. After reading the
headline on this column't
know what pooled dear
reader, is probably thinking.

“It sure didn’t take HER long to
bring up the issue of gender.”

Well, it could be worse. I could
have used this space to rant about
the jury's decision in the Bobbitt
trial. Or better yet, I could print all
those corny jokes we've been hear-
ing. since the trial began, and are
still circulating like a bad disease,
despitethe trial's end, Which,
reminds me: Did you know Lorena
Bobbitt was orginally from Ootis-
chenia? No kidding ...!

So much for comic relief. Back
to the main point.

Recently'I visited friends who
are the proud new parents of a baby
girl. This child'is the epitome of
sugar and spice, and recently I've

been of all the children’s
toys out there that are going to keep
her that way,

As she grows, she'll no doubt
want what's been all-the-rage in
funland: talking toys. So what's so
new about talking toys you ask?
Nothing. But what the toys are say-
ing is new, and it’s caught the eyes
and ears of a feminist organization

called the Barbie Liberation Orga-
tion (BLO).

those of you who complain

tha, feminists have no sense of

humor, I must say that I'd tend to

agree with you—until I heard about

thig witty, sneaky and downright

hilérious campaign. In fact, until
heating about what this gang is up
to, I'd never even heard of the BLO.
Apparently group is. made up
not only of tates. but anti-war
activists and lawyers. Just so you
kngw they're not all a bunch of
blesding hearts—there's also a few
iness_ people i ved
by financing the group's activities.
Ong could say the common thread
here is that BLO is comprised of
parénts. -
The group, based out of New
York, has a relatively simple
plan—in concept at least: buy Teen

Talk Barbie and Talking G.I. Joe.
dolls, then switch the voice boxes.
The altered dolls are then placed
back on the shelves and resold to
unsuspecting kiddies.

Who would have thought
surgery could be so much fun?

The result”? Blonde, curvaccous
Barbie, sporting a hot pink body
suit, has an evil laugh and makes
machine gun noises. She says
things like: Eat lead Cobra!:

Vengeance is mine!; Dead’mtn tell

* "no talest

Meanwhile, bronze tanned and
muscular G.I. Joe says: Will we
ever have enough clothes?; I love
to shop with you; Let's plan my
dreamgwedding: Ken's such a
dream!

A lot of people, parents I sup-
pose, don’t really think about what
these toys are saying unless it
appears to them in a way they're
not ‘expecting. It would shock me,
and I'm not a parent.

But since. many of my friends are

loud and rambuactious, while
testosterone-free girls will be, well,

I’m not so sure,

I've known some rambunctious
little boys, but I also wouldn't hesi-
tate to call them sweet. At the same
time, 1 know a little girl who grows
an extra two feet whenever she
opens her mouth.

Last summer I attended a family
reunion, did the whole family

, Aftack!; No escape for the gully! “(0 sired owith long Boge
i * beat-up by, nieces and |
nephews en a shoit While ago it!

seems, were still in diapers. Aside
from witnessing my great aunt's
dentures fly across the room when
she sneczed, there is one particular
scene from that reunion that
remains pretty clear in my mind:
one of my cousins, a few years my
senior. scolded his four-year-old
son for pushing a doll carriage.

I never said anything, but I
couldn't help but think he was
doing a great disservice to his son.
It was an odd situation.

having child: I've been

more and more about gender
stereotyping. Some people say that
hod matter what you do, testos-
terone-filled boys will always be

ly his wife, who also wit-
nessed the scolding, promptly’ put
dad back in his place.

I knew then, that they would be
just fine.

Wednesday, February 2, 1994

The Castlegar Sun

Page 7A

os to the Editor

_ oe oS i

Dear Editor:
There is something yery wrong
with the mentality, of the paper

‘The fact that any person can
voice their opinion is a constitu-

come and spend the day with us
and see just exactly what they've
been so hastily condemnirfy.

What seoms even more surpris-
ing is that we are working in/for
the community on a non-profitable
basis, vet certain people still find it
necessary to portray that we are
hurting the community. We are not
perfect, we know, but are a far cry
from what the media has painted
MS Out to be;

Before ‘the b of the

ble. Back then the public seemed
unconeemed.

However, now that we'té gei+
ting our lives together by working
and doing schoolwork, all of a
sudden we've become
citizeris in the eyes of the public
while other tecnagers are out of
school, on welfare and/or attempt-
ing nothing to gain employment.

How come these people have
nowt met with the media or neigh-
that we have

program there was a percentage of
us who were on welfare. Within
this percéntage there were those
who were struggling to get

the regi
stays in. Trail” doesn’t address the true purpose
i hospital—which is utilizing health care dol-
Besides that, while we're at it, just because Trail

hospital calls itself Trail REGIONAL Hospital
doesn’t mean that it IS one. After all, anyone can call

they are. And, so, the regional scuffling continues.
While participants in the WKHPC continue to

viding support to the heavy demands of a growing
and thriving community.
Rae oe ee Oe Oe emule

If 90 per cent agree, the remaining 10.can také a hike

n British Columbia, no battles

have been fought with greater

assion than those over the
use of land.

In fact, the war over what to do
with our vast, yet finite land base,
rages on as I write this.

The confrontation in the Clay-
oquot Sound between the govern-
ment, which wants to harvest part of
the area, and the environmentalists
who would have the entire water-
shed region preserved, shows no
sign of letting up.

There is, however, a how factor
in the land-use equation. The Com-
mission on ReSoifrces and Environ-

. or CORE for short, is
injecting itself more and more into
the’ land-use war with results I sce as.
quite positive.

A Land Use Charter, outlining in
broad strokes the social, economic

oat mee Tee nore “bed
Care provider knows that’s ‘bad medicine” to:
say ‘the least. {t's a bitter pill the ministry is trying to

4 that pill
Out to be poison.

way we see it, the only direction being taken in
‘health care in this

ERRORS:
The advertiser agrees that the publisher shail not be liable for
of errors in any beyond the
amount paid for the space actually occupied by that portion of the
‘advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due

Berea Corwecte must be completed witin one your rom contract.

date. No contingent orders orders accepted. Printed in the U.S.A

and i principles that
are to guide future land use, was
adopted by the government last

The chaner is basically desiyned
to sustain in perpetuity whatever uses
we decide to put the Land base to.

In his latest report, called “Find-
ing Common Ground,” CORE chief
Stephen Owen augments the land
use charter with a set of broad goals

that could guide future land use in

‘The report defines “Goals” for

respurce lands, human settlements,
area, coastal areas and the
traisportation system. It also sets

goals for economic development ~

———— protection.

further goals lay down long-
tertp objectives for the supply and
‘conservation of energy, the provi-
sioh of outdoor esate opportu-

sions, monitoriing and salons
ment would all be guidd by theChar.
ter and Goals.” Owen says.

Owens’ latest report paints in
broad brush strokes a number of
principles that might guide future
land use in British Columbia. He

nities, the
hetitage and for the soe of the
rights of aboriginal peoples.

‘Owen says the goals, outlined in
his, report, coupled with the Land
Usé Charter’s social, economic and
environmental sustainability should
be the comer stones of a provincial
land-use strategy now being devel-

by CORE.

“They provide standards that
shduld guide all provincial land use
agencies Provincial decisions on
agriculture, highways. forests. min-
ing, coastal development. parks and
recteation, and urban growth would
be affected. “Land’ use plans, guide-
lines, codes, permitting and approval
decisions, pricing and taxation deci-

Whatever land base is to be made
available for commercial uses, the
report says, should provide security
for a variety of uses, including ener-
gy, tourism, aquaculture, fisheries,

trapping, hunting and gathering.

iad the category Human Set-
tlements, Owen urges the avoidance
of settlements in either valuable
resource land or environmentally
sensitive areas. Avoid urban sprawl.
he says, and encourage. settlement
patterns that reduce the need for
automobiles.

An i ion sys-

use and conservation-of energy.
Owen also recommends the pro-
motion of land uses that support
value-added enterprises.

‘The scenic beauty and natural
character of shorelines, the report
says, must be maintained, and sig-
nificamt coastal habitats protected.
Cultural heritage lands and sites,
Owen says, must be maintained.

As for the protection of the
environment, Owen says, activities
that cause soil degradation or loss
should be minimized, the quality
and quantity of water should be
maintained, and the special man-
agement of sensitivie areas such as
wetlands, estuaries, watersheds
and critical wildlife habitats
ensured.

All of which might be nothing
more than wishful thinking, were it
not for the relative success of a
number of so called tables, at
which diverse interest try to reach
as much common ground as they
can ing t being accused of sell-
ing out far, the process ars
to be working. At the very least it
works better than the wars and con-
frontations of the past. And just
how much of a consensus can
Owen forge? I believe that if he can
gc 90 per cent of British

tem, says Owen, is as essential to
good future land use as the efficient

I MS {0 agree on future land
uses. the five per cent on either side
of the argument can take a hike.

My Turn will appear next week

f

mproy

and stay out of trou-

been receiving?

“It feels as though we're fighting
a battle that we can’t win when the
more we improve our lives, the

more people look down on us.

1 dalica ce ie tice

modating gentleman

answered
He said if Y could get the
to him he’d meet mé at the
them priority post with the
passports will make Ottawa by:

Electric Consumers’ Association looking into request

Dear Editor:

Just as we have come to
accept an increase every January
in the cost of mailing a letter so
have we become accustomed to
‘West Kootenay Power's applica-
tion each year for an interim
increase in our electricity rates.

It came as no surprise to us
last fall to learn the WKP had
made application for an interim
increase of 7.6 per cent for
1994, ‘am incfease well above the
current rate of inflation.

This year, though, many
things are quite different from
what they have been in the past
few years: changes have taken
place which we believe that
WKP failed to take into account.

For one thing, the rate of
inflation, although not yet wres-
tled to the ground, has come
down considerably: interest

rates are lower than they have
been for many years, so much so
that our B.C, government bonds
at 5 per cent have become
attractive; interest on bank sav-
ings accounts has become so
low that we lose money by
putting it in the bank; mortgage
rates are lower than they have
been for many years.

We believe that it is in recog-
nition of these changes that
Canada Post has refrained from
raising our postal rates this year,
and that the British Columbia
Utilities Commission has
declined to go along with WKPs
application and has authorized
an interim increase of only 5.7
per cent rather than the full 7.6
per cent that had been asked for.

Perhaps ‘only’ is the wrong
word to use with respect to a 5.7
per cent increase in vicw of

what is going on in the world of
finance and investment.

When we look about us and
see how other companies are
striving to accomplish more
with fewer resources it may well
be that in asking for a 7.6 per
cent increase WKP has not
properly d the

Something's wrong,

In closing we would like to say
that it seems we're put under a
microscope when one of us does
Something wrong, yet when we do
something good people fail 10
acknowledge it.

Not everybody feels the same
‘way about us and we do have sup-
port in the community an@ are
very thankful to those individuals
and families who offer it to us,

These people have enough
sense to know that just because
some of us mess up it doesn't
mean that we should be judged
‘as a whole. They don't see us
as “The Genesis Program

ge

Consumers’ Association, along
with other interveners, will be
Jooking into at. the Rate Hear-
ings in Rossland that will begin
on March 7.

Fred G. Marsh,
Directer,
K Ok Elec-

climate in which we operate
today.

A careful examination of all
the data may well show that in
1994 and 1995 it will not be
possible to justify the 12.3 to
14.4 per cent that WKP has been
making on common share equity
in the past five years now that
short-term Canada Treasury
Bills yield 3.5 per cent and local
banks are paying half of one per
cent on savings.

This is one of things that the
Kootenay -Okanagan Electric

We are so far behind Asian and
it is

bos Cable will.be showing
(again) a program the week of
February 7. It is a MUST for con-

ete poms, educators ad tt
ic, Our school board is
ingroducing this tape—Preparing

Television

program a

Our Children for the 90's and
Beyond.
if “we™ don’t push for these cur-
riculum changes our children won't
be qualified to fill many jobs, espe-
cially the higher paying jobs and
this is happening now where Cana-
da must hire from outside our
country. We don’t like this and

‘must see’

must be prepared to ly edu-
cate all Canadian children to fill
these jobs.

A friend taped this program for
me and it is frighteningly believe-
able. Please watch it.

Dorothy Martini

none of the risk

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” Sf perenn

Thon a appser hn more then 100 commanty newspapers P.O. ‘and Yukon
and reach
TO PLACE AN AD GALL THIS PAPER OR THE BOYONA AT (604)060-9222.

inants invite residents to take a closer and less condemning look

rather as eight individual par-
ticipants within the Genesis
Prograuw

As for those people who feel
otherwise, maybe if:you actually

cared enough to meet us individu-
ally you could find it in yourselves
to judge us as such.

THE MEETING PLACE

SR. CITIZENS ASSOCIATION #46 Business meeting
February 3rd 2:00pm Whist February 10, 7:00pm, bi
Monday and Friday, 1:00pm open house, Tuesday 10
2:30pm, lunch served games played.

FULL CIRCLE BIRTH PARENT Support Group. For
Information call Lyn 365-0858 or Merle (Nelson) 352-
6122.

CASTLEGAR ALZHEIMERS Support Group meets the
last Wednesday each month at 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at
Castlegar Library.

Coming events of Castlegar and District non-profit groups and
organizations may be listed here. The first 12 words are $5 and
additional words are 1S¢ each. Boldtaced words (which must be used
for headings) count as two words. Subsequent weeks are 25% otf
when booked at the same time (nd copy change). Please note ads must
be PREPAID. Deadline is 11:30 Monday for Wednesday’ 's paper. Please
bring in or mail your noticesto
det Castlegar Sun
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