OPINION Wednesday, August 9, 1995 wy The ey stl dar Sun AS Serving the 16,000 people of the Castlegar area. The Castlegar Sun ‘s published every Wednesday by Sterling Newspapers Lid at 465 Columbia Ave. Castlegar, B.C, VIN 1G8. The Castlegar Sun is politi cally independent and a member of the Sterling News Service, Cana dian C BC C Ne weeres Assocation, and the B.C. Press Council. Established 1990. Mail Registrati 10420 PUBLISHER MARILYN STRONG DEREK ZEISMAN CHRISTINE MOYER EDITOR PRODUCTION MANAGER KAREN KERKHOFF GARY SCHNEIDER REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER PRODUCTION ASSISTANT JEFF GABERT CATHERINE ROSS SPORTS REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER = ADVERTISING REP mance LALONDE NICOLE BEETSTRA CE/CIRCULATION MANAGER ~=— ADVERTISING REP. CARI ROHN FRED JACK CLASSIFIED ADS ADVERTISING REP. Direct Department Phones General Office 365-5266 Circulation 365-5266 Classified Ads 365-7848 Display Advertising 365-2278 Newsroom 365-5579 Fax ae 365-7762 IADIAN Ci nm CCNA PAID editorial comment City planning to blame for residents’ noise woes Where to lay the blame? Some very frustrated Castlegar residents are petitioning city council to enforce a noise bylaw against loud trucking operations in their neighborhood These people, in the vicinity of Grosvenor Place, Forest Drive and 14th Ave. in the city’s upper south end, say some businesses in their area are abusing their privileges by running their operations late at night while families are trying to sleep. They also complain of soot, dust and noise problems created during the daytime, when the businesses carry out their regular work The business owners. for their part. seem to be saying that their complaining neighbors have some legitims beefs, especially where nighttime is concerned. But they point out, quite rightfully, that most of their businesses were in the neighborhood long before large-scale housing projects began popping up within ear’s range They bought their land because it was zoned industrial, and it is still zoned industrial. And they have no intention of leaving, though some say they are willing to try to find compromises with local homeowners. So who's to blame? Castlegar city council, that’s who. Maybe not this particular council, led by Mayor Mike O’Connor, but certainly one of our previous councils — no matter how good the intentions of politicians might have been in past years The Castlegar of yesteryear was notorious for its erratic and non-sensical zoning decisions. The city is only now Starting to pay the full price for short-sighted municipal planning How many other cities our size, for instance, can boast residential developments, retail space, industrial trucking operations, gas stations, churches, parkland and towing yards, all within a two or three block radius? Not many. There are numerous areas around town much like this, and none of them appear to have had much thought (if any) put into them by city council — the final stamp of ipproval for development within city boundaries. Each of these roughshod districts makes an excellent case against development just for the sake of development As a result of the lack of vision and foresight among previous councils, we are now seeing problems crop up like the ones in the Grosvenor Drive-Forest Road area Any time approval is given for residential development somewhere near heavy truck operations, trouble is bound of de#elop sooner or later. And now we are seeing trouble in a very visible way. Of course, matters certainly aren't helped when some businesses see fit to flaunt the city’s noise bylaw, and oper- ate into all hours of the night And while some of the area's proprietors are willing to sit down with residents and at least discuss their mutual gripes, other company owners seem to be giving a one- finger salute to the concept of dialogue Still, it was city council that allowed this unhealthy situ- ation to develop in the first place, however indirectly. Fact is, truck companies often run irregular hours, and generate a lot of dust and noise But none of that would matter one iota if their businesses were located in a purely industrial area, far away from homes, parks and snoozing families. Our present city council should make every effort to find common ground between the two sides in the current property dispute, and mediate what we hope will be an acceptable compromise But most importantly, council must make every effort to curb its desire for growth at any cost, and implement strict zoning guidelines that will put some order into what is now an erratic municipal plan. DZ ERRORS: agrees that the publisher shall not be errors in any advert t bey ace actually occupied by that por advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such er to the neg amount paid for th of its servants or otherwise and there liability for nc pition of any advertisernent beyond the arr pard for rtisement. All advertising subject to publ approval cts must be completed within one year date No contingent orders accepted Has Castlegar finally outgrown its John Henry? yrano de Bergerac will Iways be remembered for one thing his exceptionally long proboscis (nose, snout, beak, bill, muzzle). Call it what you like; but if any- one ever tells you that you remind them of de Bergerac you can be assured that you're not receiving a compliment His name will always be linked with the vision of an appendage, which would be more suited hanging on a door as a door-knocker, dangling from the middle of his face. The name Fester also carries its own image. It’s easy to imag- ine a man with pants that are six inches too short which are beirig held up by rope, sitting on a rock- woman you could well picture her wearing an apron complete with several kids hanging off it While the name Norma Jean Baker served her well for several y changes in her life dictated that she assume a new name AN INSIDE LOOK _ KAREN KERKHOFF to match her new image. Marilyn Monroe knew that she had outgrown the name Norma Jean Baker when she decided to change her name. It’s the same thing with my father. Christened Her- bert Harold Jaeger, his name changed to Herbert Harold Floet- H. Floeting imprinted on his came the day when he changed his to Ross. H Tanner — that’s right — his middle name is legally H I admit it was strange at first to think of my father as Ross Tanner The words stuck in my throat when I had to speak his new name. But years later, I now understand the wisdom of his choice. He has become Ross — he's not Herbie. He’s a man who is as ing chair drinking jn the Blue Hills of Kentucky. Conversely, Cleopatra immedi- ately conjures up a picture of a queenly woman of the Nile lay- ing around and eating grapes fed to her by compliant slaves. But what's in a name? Names are funny things, they are your identity. You carry you name along with all the other unique things-which make you individu- ally you But what happens when you outgrow your name? Some people shed their names and adopt one which they believe better suits them. They become their names Take Norma Jean Baker for example. If you never met the “Our image is no longer that of a city with rough edges. | believe we have finally outgrown the name which once served us well.” ing after his father died and his mother remarried. He quickly became referred to as Herbie by my mother and his friends. But Herbie is a tall, strap- ping, aggressive man. A sales- man by trade, the name Herbert Harold Floeting never suited him well, even when he did try to dress it up by having Herbert strong as his name, and when people who don’t know him speak to him on the phone, you can bet that there is a different tone in their voice when they speak to him. He wears his new name like Liz Taylor wears her diamonds — comfortably. I can tell you that he wore the name Herbie the same way that George Washing- ton wore his wooden false teeth - uncomfortably And such is the name of Castle- gar. | realize that 1 am putting myself on the hot seat with what I'm about to say — but I really do think its time that the name Castlegar” was traded in for one it better reflects the city's mod- em-day image. To me the name always sound- ed rough and guttural, and never seemed to match the beauty sur- rounding the city. I understand the history of the name — the suffix -gar refers to the s Head bluff which over- looks Robson and Castlegar. But someone once said we write our own history — and I believe that to be true And as you read this column, Castlegar's history is changing dra- Do Pod da is in full force. Our image is no longer that of a city with rough edges. I believe we have finally outgrown the name which once served us well. It’s time for a change Don't ask me what that name should be — I don’t know, and it’s not my decision to make. But don't dismiss the idea completely; there just might be some merit in it. With that, I think I'd better go home, put on my flack jacket and change my phone number. And while I'm at it, I think I'd better change my name, too. Initiative highlights incompetence Dear Editor: The recently announced bicycle safety initia tives provide a stark example of the incompetence of the NDP government in dealing with important safety concerns. Their proposal combines poorly thought out penalties with a misguided “education” campaign while continuing to ignore the fact that the real cause of bike accidents is bad road design that fails to provide any margin of safety for cyclists. The public may have heard about ne for not wearing a helmet but lesser known are other penalties they came up with that are com- pletely foolish in réal life application. For instance, legislation was passed that requires cyclists to take their hand off the handlebars and point down when coming to a stop. As a longtime cyclist I know that if you put on the brakes of your bike with only one hand on the bars you can quick- ly lose control of your bike, especially if you are going downhill. Cyclists should never ever take their hands off the handle bars when bag their bike. This improvements that would greatly improve cycling safety by making traffic. The minister refused to meet us and brushed us off with political platitudes that they know better. y penalties is 8 Democrats in their stunning incompetence are going to require you to do so by law with tough new penalties to back it up. The fact that such a dangerously foolish maneuver could be legislated into law shows how truly ill-con- . yet the New sidered NDP legislation really is. As President of SPEC, a group actively involved in bicycle issues, I sent letters to the Minister in charge to ask to meet about various bicycle safety concerns we had. I had pointed out some inexpensive road design I then tried to raise these issues with our local NDP MLA and he sent back an arrogant letter say- ing he had every confidence the Minister was doing the right thing. In the end nothing was done except for their package of money raising penalties designed to punish cyclists. In a government press release it proclaimed that head injuries are the primary ties so they are improving traffic safety by making people wear helmets. In actual fact, it is not the head injuries per se that are causing deaths, it is the accidents leading to head injuries that cause death and it is unsafe road conditions for cyclists that causes accidents What cyclists really need is a. suit of armor, not just a helmet to protect them from these dangerous conditions until the government gets its act togeth- er and designs roads that provide space for bicy- cles. The solution really comes down to just painting the road lines i As for the multi-million dollar education cam- ’ paign they announced for cyclists, what are they going to teach us? You guessed it, to take your hand off the handle bars when coming to a stop. ids safer without impeding use of cyclist fatali- different way. Paul Hundal, President Society Promo Environmental Conservation & Vancouver More than meets the eye Dear Editor: Re: Fire Protection at the New Settlement: In order to straighten the record, I wish to point out the fol- lowing: 1. Mr. Eric Nygren, Director for Area H which includes the New Settlement, received a peti- tion for fire services recently, (the most updated one) that contained only 15 signatures, not 32 as stat- ed in your article. 2. New Settlement has approx- imately 62 families with approxi- mately 120 adult residents; 3. The petition does not even begin to represent the consensus of this community: 4. The house fire here last fall was contained by the communi- ty’s own volunteer fire fighting crew before the Crescent Valley Fire Department could respond; 5. The New Settlement would have been in high risk of destruc- tion by that fire if it had not been d by the c ity’s own efforts. 6. A member of the Winlaw Fire Department responded to the call of that fire and arrived at New Settlement from Winlaw at the same time as the Crescent Valley Fire Department: that per- son agreed that the response of the New Settlement fire-fighting crew was better than that of Cres- cent Valley and agreed with #5 above 7. All residents of the New Settlement are taxpayers at pre- sent; tax notices have been and continue to be sent of all resi- dents of the New Settlement regardless of private land owner- ship or not, if those taxes are not paid, the government has resort- ed to garnishees of wages and bank accounts. 8. One part of the govern- ment (the RDCK, over the objections of Mr. Nygren) and the MLA Corky Evans are try- ing to make changes in the New Settlement that the majority object to at this time; while another part of the government is negotiating to settle the mat ter of land occupation and pay- ment for services. The article on your front page of July 26, 1995 gives a distorted view of the situation at the New Settlement and people in this area should know the real situation Mike Chernenkoff New Settlement Dear Editor: abortion statistics. A recent issue (July 19) gave Castlegar birth Statistics but neglected to include local hospital The director of nursing was quoted as saying the baby boom was not evident in this area. I believe the fact that Castlegar had an alarming abortion rate, higher than B.C.’s rate which is — an highest in Canada, accounts | for the birth rate What about the other statistics? pregnancies ended by abortion. Your article said there were four teen pregnan- cies in 1992 and eight in 1993; did you mean to say teen births or did you include pregnancies ended by abortion? (Teen statistics include ages 18 and 19 and may refer to sce ‘women so there isn’t necessarily not i gs as rate did. ly as the Castlegar’s disturbing rate was: in 1992/93 there were 81 abortions to 84 live births and in 1993/94 there were 89 abortions to 90 live births. That meant five out of every ten babies were killed before birth in the Castlegar hospital—half the I chaliende your reporter to investigate the rea- son behind the huge increase in local abortions during those years since abortions are also done on demand at Trail and Nelson hospitals but not at such a frightening rate. d teen preg ) (Mrs. J.) Carol Albo, Rossland 100% B.C. OWNED & OPERATED Fresh PORK LOIN PACK Contains 2 rib ends, 1 tenderloin, 6 centre cut chops, 5.49 kg. Sunrise CHICKEN BURGERS I-kg. bag Fresh, Cut Up FRYING CHICKEN Tray pack 2.62 kg. i“ CORN ON 1% Gainer's COOKED HAM per 100 g. BC Hot house Mini BUTTER POTTED LETTUCE ROSE 6 inche THE COB 99 Speaker’s Corner Castlegar student Tamara Terry is pounding the pavement in search of answers to questions that correspond with news stories that have appeared in The Castlegar Sun. If you see Tamara, it could be your opportunity to appear in Speaker's Corner, which is published each week. The nice weather and sunshine, which let me to go to the beach and see all my friends — Rob Blier Hot days where there is a sprinkler nearby to cool off, — Amber Giesbrecht faces When other people are happy. I like see- ing the smiles on their Question: What is it that makes you happy? Out relaxing on the beach in the beautiful weather. — Ed Adshead — Ashley Scott Playing my favorite sports like hockey, and visiting my grandma and grandpa. — Chris Toews Love is the answer to hate and war Dear Editor: Hiroshima and all similar acts of terror, including all wars, are experienced planning of hate! How do we get rid of these awful powers? By using the opposite power of hate. It is called love—the good feelings within, the plan- ning for peace without any force whatsoever. Could this possibly be done? Of course it could be! It takes good people knowing the world—learning about the world We have to come to the realiza- tion of what the power of hate is doing to our wonderful world Then, hopefully, we will realize and try to make a difference. We will try Vehicles not safe places to leave unattended children Dear Editor: Everyone seems to agree that babie: id small children should not be left unattended in vehicles, but no one scems to know what to do about it I've reported some really hor rifying incidents of this nature to the police, only to be told each time that nothing can be done The law, however, does not appear quite so absolute First, the Motor Vehicle Act requires that a’ vehicle be “secured” when left unattended even for a moment, to prevent the theft of the vehicle or any insured contents This mi s that anyone who leaves a vehicle unlocked, who leaves a child inside old enough to open the vehicle and allow someone into it, or who leaves the motor running so that the See VEHICLES ao hard to tum to a different power. It is a tremendous power, it is the power of love Love is the strongest power on this earth. Love will conquer all There is nothing better in this world than to live in “Toil and Peaceful Life.” Mike Davidoff, Castlegar Laundry Detergent ULTRA CHEER Reg. or w/bleach Sunrype APPLE JUICE Blue Label 1 litre Our Compliments OATIE 0's CEREAL Golden or Honey Nut 525 - 575 kg. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor are wel- come on any topic of local or general interest. Letters should be double-spaced, typewritten, or legibly handwritten, and no more than two pages if possible. Letters will be edited in the interests of brevity or taste if necessary All letters must be signed. with address and telephone number, although names may be! witheld from publication for valid reason by the approval of the editor Send letters to: The Castlegar Sun 465 Columbia Ave Castlegar, B/C., VIN 1G8, or drop them off at the office Poetry will not be px od Lemon CREAM CAKE 700 g GARLIC BREAD 450 g. | We now accept Accessible Debit Cards 2717 COLUMBIA AVE., CASTLEGAR 365-5336 — While Quantities Last — Sale dates: Aug. 9 thru Aug. 12