Wednesday, June 30, 1992 Letters to the Editor Exemplary behavior and hard work made dry grad a huge success Dear Editor, Future grad classes can learn from the positive role you played in Grad 93 is now a memory, albeit a recent one. While the grad the community during your graduation year Ci je The Castiégar Sun Po are busy with their exams, I would like to take time to pass along The parents of the grads are also to be thanked for their support ae Is it abuse or discipline? Eos PUBLISHER MARILYN STRONG . . 93 ARLENE FF ATHERINE Ri SHARLENE IMHO! CATHI OSS John Kare EDITOR ADVERTISING REP. The Castlegar Sun Page 5A WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993 4a SZ constantly amazed by your generosity So, to the “Class with Class", your now. You have our best wishes for Success in the future moment in time” is right to work on the numerous committees. The phoning committee did an excellent job Of passing along the information. Thank Ginny, Vi, Liz, Deb, Sincerely, Barb Dussealt, Secretary, To Ms. Bonowicz, and the grad council, thank you for your input, ideas, time, dnd attendance at the many meetings. Thanks to © Marie and Arlee Find it in the MARGE LALONDE NICOLE BEETSTRA CIRCULATION MANAGER PRODUC TIONOFFICE JOHN VAN PUTTEN CHRISTINE MOYER ‘SPORTS REPORTERPHOTOGRAPHER PRODUCTION MANAGER KAREN KERKHOFF MELODY SEMENOFF REPORTER ADVERTISING REP. Direct Department Phones General Office 365-5266 Circulation 365-5266 Classified Ads 365-7848 Display Advertising 365-2278 Newsroom 365-5579 Fax 365-7762 465 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C. V1N1G8 1S POLITICALLY INDEPENDENT AND A MEMBER OF THE STERLING NEWS SERVICE Established November 28, 1990 Published by Sterling Newspapers Ltd Weekly on Wednesdays Member of Canadian Community Newspapers Association B.C. Community Newspapers Association and B.C. Press Council editorial comment Score one for the parents! A major victory. has been scored for safety's Sake The victors are the parents, who lobbied the gov- emment extensively to have the crosswalk at 24th Street and Highway 22 made safer for their chil- dren. Even as the polite letters and telephone calls tumed into a sign-held protest. Ministry of Trans- Portation officials stuck ‘by their statistics, and cost Cutting excuses, to state that pedestrian activated lights were not necessary. But with thei children’s safety at risk, government statistics and excuses meant nothing to parents, who continued to lobby with the assistance of City Council School District No. 9 and finally, Rossland-Trail MLA Ed Conroy As one parent pointed out, it wasn't until after Conroy consulted the “powers that be” that things truly positive begin to take shape As a result of the parents persistence topped off by Conroy’s political maneuy ering, the children who will be crossing the intersection of 24th Street will be better protected by flashing pedestrian acti vated lights. Now what can we do about the drivers in this town Propaganda Kids learn by example, Karen, and if people continue to Slug, slap, spank or wallop their kids one day those kids will act on the examples they were given, Growing up in an abusive environment only leads to prob. lems in kid's social skills and their eventual parenting skills The cycle of abuse will continue and when confronted with the decision on how to enforce tules they will not. hesitate to use the example they were given—which is that physical reprimanding is not only acceptable, but that it is the way it should be done. We live in changing times, and one thing Tam happy to see move to the wayside is the con doning of spankifig as a means of justifying child abuse. The school systems of the past used the belt, a strap or a paddle to keep students in line with what teachers thought to be acceptable. Most parents these days applaud the fact that physi cal disciplining has been abol ished from the schools In the next progressive step parents need to eliminate physi cal contact from their methods of disciplining—just as those weapons of aggressive violence have thankfully been eliminated from society One of the problems with par ents who spank their kids is where do you draw the line? Will the child learn afier one smack on the butt or will it take two, three, ten or fifty Swings to beat the lesson in so he/she won't do it again Physical discipline can easil lead to escalating violence especially towards a small and defenseless child It is all to easy for a “litth spanking” to overdevelop and result in child abuse, which i already a rampant problem in Our society, It has been proven in many studies that abused chil dren grow up to become abusive themselves. There are far too many abusive re lationships these days, and while it might Just stay out as one little episode in which a-parenttoses the ir temper, it can quickly escalate I think most parents have advanced far enough in their child rearing methods to elimi- nate physical abuse as their to means of disciplining their kids Nowadays most parents use less aggressive mean$o make the point that an action or derogato- ry language is unacceptable Instead; they discipline their children by removing privileges such as television (one thing kids already watch way too much of already) or outdoor activities. A child should be told why he or she is not being allowed to take part in an activity, and informed that if needed, the punishment will be more severe next time, but under no circum. stances should discipline lead to physical contact Setting examples to he Ip hange kid vill help liminat eof th attitud: violence which plagues today’s society Some | t made -great. pr 4 hink we have in techno logical advar but T think lost touch with th 1 we hav important things. We should back 1 with each other concentrate on vettin tryin liv peacefully. A would b zht in our own rood place to start home maybe we nif he liked being spanked. Karen, if you One last thin hould ask your s were grounded: instead of sparked when you were a child (if you can remember that far back) maybe you would now be a more cheerful person in your older years eee heek Sometimes you make me so mad John that I could just slap you! Oops! I guess the words slap, smack and spank aren’t socially acceptable nowadays. Physical discipline, other- wise known as spanking, is all of a sudden being labelled as abuse. Horrors! If we pank our children we're accused of child abuse, and if we don't spank them then someone is sure to say “look at that, she doesn't even discipline her child. What that child needs is a good spanking” I can't believe ‘that you, John, recommend trying juve- niles as adults, and yet you refuse to consider that spank ing has its valid points. Maybe if some of those children that have committed such heinous” (in your words) crimes had been ruled with a firm hand their lives might have turned out differently. It precisely because of the lack of discipline that many of our children fail to recognize socially acceptable boundaries I firmly believe that a well aimed smack to a child's bot tom Js an effective disciplinary tool. But I would like to clarify that there are definite limits to physical discipline. I don't believe it is appropriate to smack the child anywhere but on their bottom, and spankings should not be so severe that it leaves bruises, The lige between physical abuse and discipline is very fine, and it up to each parent to ensure that they do not cross that line There are times and ways in which to physically discipline a child. I don't believe that discipline should be adminis- tered while the parent is angry, and spanking should be used when all other methods, such as reasoning, time out, and grounding have been exhaust ed. Spanking, in my opinion, should only be used as a last resort, but children should know that the option to spank is definitely in a parent's bag of disciplinary arsenal. And merely threatening a child over and over and over is very inef- fective. After a while a child knows that threats are just that—empty threats When I was growing up I was taught boundaries. I knew in no uncertain terms that if I crossed those boundaries I would be disciplined. I also knew that one of the disci- Plinary measures my parents used was good old fashioned spanking. I'll tell you this. there were many times.the mere thought of the expected spanking was enough to deter me from getting into trouble To tell you the truth, I am Sick to death of going into restaurants or stores and hav- ing .to deal with someone else's undisciplined and unruly child. It becomes very obvious that the little brat never had his or her bottom paddled in their whole life And it becomes just as obvi ous that the little brat is going to grow up to be a big brat (otherwise known as a disci Plinary problem in school) John, I think half of your Problem is that you weren't spanked enough. In my opin- ton, the old saying “spare the rod and spoil the child” rings as true today as it did 100 years ago. Oh, by the way when you have kids (and when they have driven you to extreme madness) I'm going to come by and visit you with this Cheek to Cheek in my hand and laugh as I smugly wave it in your face the grads for their overwhelming support of dry grad and for show ing that a fun dry grad is Possible. Your. behavior was exemplary Support of young people reflects Tour | enforces need to work harder Dear Editor, I have just returned from an Ottawa meeting with Pre- ston Manning and«150 Reform Party candidates The purpose of the meetin, was to vote on the reports of various Candidate Task forces and discuss our cam- paign strategy. While in Ottawa, we vis- ited the Parliamentary buildings. One of the first locations that we saw was the parliamentary library. The halls and library strive to preserve our heritage and record the growth of our nation. I fully expected to be similarly impressed with the balance of the tour. I was mistaken The next location that we were shown was the Senate Chamber. Someone asked which desk-used to belong to Stan Waters, who was Cana- da’s first and only senator democratically elected by 650,000 Albertans. When his desk was pointed out, it was sad to realize that his place has now been taken by a patronage appointed political hack who has no mandate at all from the people of Alber ta. It makes a mockery of the democratic process. The next location was room 253D. This is the room where the Conservative Finance Committee met with complete and utter failure when dealing with Canada’s runaway debt and the out of control deficit spending. It was not inspiring at all The last place we visited was the parliament itself. By this time, my mood was set Here was the ultimate place on the generosit Dear Editor, The two Odyssey of the Mind teams from Robson Ele mentary Schoolewould like to thank all of the corporations, businesses, service clubs and individuals who contributed to our Odyssey of the Mind World Finals fundraising campaign Fourteen students and four coaches were able to attend this exciting world-class event Celebrxate COCA COLA or SPRITE ree —— pata | W240 ‘| (GE: 7st 12 x 355 ml + dep. To the community at large, we say thank you for your-many con. tributions at the university of Maryland, from June 2 to June 7. The expericnce enriched each of our lives intellectually, social- ly, and emotionally. . The ove rwhelming support that our students receivés within the community is a reflection on the people that live in our area and their sup- port of young people makes Castlegar and district the kind aks of time, service, money and material goods We were y of Castlegar of place we can all feel proud to be part oft Sincerely, Margaret Sutherland, O.M. Coordinator roeacte ISA Protect your children. i CASTLEGAR SLO-PITCH WIND-UP TOURNAMENT LEAGUE TEAMS ONLY - Register at the Complex Parent Executive, Dry Grad 93. Classifieds July 9,10, 11 by July 4 ¢ 8:00 pm NO EXCEPTIONS Registration after this date WILL NOT be accepted Valu Your satisfaction is our main concern Suggested Serving 6.57 kg. Family pak Cauada Dag TOP SIRLOIN STEAK ell CANTELOUPES > 73 kg. Jumbo California grown #1 Family pak Ml Ib. CORN ON FRESH PINK FRESH FRYING CHICKEN BREAST THE COB SALMON 98 where democracy is sup- posed to be upheld and prac- tised. I could see it only as an anti-democratic, party disci- pline controlled corruption of thé democratic process. The only inspiration that this visit provided me with If you have any comments or questions about this week's Cheek to Cheek, feel free to Send us your comments in a letter to the editor c/o The Castlegar Sun. if you have a subject that you would like to see debated in the Cheek to Cheek column, Karen and John would love to hear your suggestions. Call the newsroom at 365-5579 or fax us your ts and s at 365-7762 at its finest The spindoctors of government propaganda have done it again. Flashback to the release of the NDP budget in mid-spring. Government press releases Proudly announced that the NDP could boast ofa low load of civil servants. And not only that, it was planning to make further cuts Well, the glowing figures released to the B.C public last spring are hardly conducive to some recent facts found by Judi Korbin, who, since March, has been conducting an inquiry into the public service. Her 65 page report was scheduled to be tabled Tuesday by Finance Minister Glen Clark. Govern- ment sources say the first portion of Korbin’s report will not only clear up the question of how many people work for government, (it’s a good idea to know just who’s on your payroll), it will “dramatically” restructure the way bureaucracy is managed : So far, the recommendations made by Korbin has government coming clean on civil servants. The result? The official count (so far) ‘of direct govern- ment employees will rise to about 39,000 from 29,500. Gee, if not the government, who was sign- ing the paycheques for almost 10,000 people? : ERRORS. The advertiser a that the pub: damages arising out of errors in any ade amount paid for the space actually occupied by that pen advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such to the negligence of it: nts oF otherwise and there liability for non-insertior paid for such advert All advertising subjec >lisher's approval ‘Contracts mus completed within one year from contract date No contin accepted ment bey rtisernent beyond the Unaccountable values are also important when h When we defend the provincial regulations that requires public bodies to accept the lowest bidder we discount many community values-and benefits A great man of our times said “All that can be counted, doesn't ne ce ssarily count. All that counts, can’t necessarily be counted.” Albert Einstein, father of the theory of relativity A kiss on the “cheek” to Karen for having pointed out some of those un. countable values relative to public Projects. John Van Putten and Gordon Tumer have overlooked several other important elements of the argument “favouring changes to a restrictive regulation. Quality is the number one requirement for public projects. Judging by the amount of time our district staff and maintenance personnel must devot €d to the number of deficiencies in recently completed projects, I know we should do better with education tax dollars. Public bodies would do better if given the opportunity to ‘shop’ for more reliable contractors The valuable extra time used by our loc al staff and maintenance person nel, similar to the community benefits that Karen is talking about, are not easily measurable factors. Yet, taxpayers regularly pay premium costs to maintain public facilities that were inadequately finished. Have we come to accept substandard quality for public Projects?Delays in project completion can be costly also reducing the quality of services provided to students and general public. Delays are an aggravation to everyone, yet only lightly weighed in the cost analysis of public Projects The present regulation is no deterrent for collusion. Not until it is arnend ed to require official reporting on the Ie vel of contractor's performance Presently, tenuous evidence for possible legal cases, discourages risking the expense of a drawn-out Count battle Substandard contractors k his fact Checking contractor’s performance record Is a yok heavily trusted in awarding the bid is merely heaesav. iS NO provincial registry providing substantive My Tern Column wr unfortunately ithe June 16 ple wh are really in posse ome kind who unfortunately are rarely 1 uerests of the British Columbian and Canad complicated and far-reaching intere gar Sun apologizes to Mr Ktllough for ap tor’s performance history. All is rel- ative to who knows whom and what one hears. The private sector has many checks and balances to assure top value for dollars invested. The pub- lic sector is bound by this outdated regulation: The present regulation voids public accountability of its meaning and makes local govern- ments redundant There is a possible, reasonable amelidration to the present provin- cial regulation. Require public bod- les to report on the contractor's performance so that future Projects go to lowest bidder with good per- formance record. This would still reduce “collusion” plus provide greater opportunity to attain higher quality of workmanship and mate- nals, even for public projects. Not iring contractors like the Coquihalla Highway Project. Restore to local government the responsibility to deal with local matter; © that we can make count what Counts and count what must be counted. Quality, timeliness, and easy maintenance are relatively important factors feserving consideration. Not to forget Jony Gughelmi ts a Castlegar resident and a SchoolDistrict N Everyvcountry in the world has abc t the life of our community rriginat'people of some kind—pev. tould have read “Every country in the world has aboriginal people of ds and “Itt truly alarming that the complicated and far-reaching represented. should have read “It is truly alarming that the udian large majorities appear to be thave caused him weakly represented...” The Castle was the determination to work even harder to ensure that the existing system is replaced by one which practices true democracy on behalf of the Canadian people Jim Gouk Reform Party Candidate Kootenay West- Revelstoke DINING LOUNGE Open 4 p.m. Daily 365-3294 Located 1 mile South of Weigh Scales, Ootischenia. 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