santana an ee Ss Saturday, August 22, 1992 @ PAGE = = “ Op Dave McCullough Publisher Scott David Harrison Editor Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Warren Chernoff Accountant Mary Ann Fullerton Circulation Manager OurVWiEWS Adrian RAESIDE Castlegar’s gravy train T= City of Castlegar is taking another ride on that Gravy Train Express known as Celgar. City council Tuesday decided that its new RCMP building could be built at no extra cost to John Q. Public and next to no cost for Castlegar. Instead, our golden goose is about to lay another egg and foot the bill for the city’s new $1.7 million RCMP headquarters. Thank you Celgar. Castlegar’s reliance on Celgar’s tax base is troublesome, however. It seems that every city project being discussed rides on the coattails of expected revenue from our No. 1 tax payer. The key word here is ‘expected.’ While the money is on its way, the naked truth is that Castlegar is counting too many chickens before the eggs have hatched. As much as Castlegar may be pleased with the windfall it is destined to pick up, you can bet Celgar isn’t overcome with joy. Every penny it pays to Castlegar is one less penny of profit. Those pennies are adding up. Celgar has already requested a cut in its water rates and who's to say it won't want a break on its municipal taxes. If Cominco can do it in Trail, Celgar can certainly do it in Castlegar. Castlegar has to start showing restraint in its spending. Let’s start spending money we have, not money we expect to have. Stree( TALK a ha ~~ i Veni ims (rsmey vee i eo a : I’m having some troubles they are working with. I with Castlegar’s downtown revitalization project. “ Not that I don’t want our downtown to be refurbished — we all know that’s needed — but I want us to do more than what’s planned. The way I see it, we are preparing to spend over $4 million to splash some paint here, put some some plants there and run our electrical wires underground. As much as I want to s.D.HARRISON Harrison Comparison just wish they had more. And here’s why. The way I see it, Castlegar has more potential than hockey phenom Eric Lindros. We've got the mountains, we've got the lakes and we've got a valley setting that some countries fight wars for. Sure, there’s that all- too-familiar pulp mill smell, but that’s supposed believe that this project will transform our sagging downtown core into the latest Nelson, it won't. Let’s face it, $4 million isn’t a whole lot of cash when you start talking about redoing everything that should have been done years ago. I don’t mean to belittle the work of the Downtown Revitalization Committee, because I think Jack Parkin et al have done a masterful job with the precious little cash to be extinguished once the expansion project is complete and the provincial government starts enforcing its new effluent emissions laws in the Year 2001. With that in mind, here’s my plan. I want Castlegar to flatten the downtown core — with the exception of one store, and she knows who she is — and start all over again. The first thing I’d do is rebuild the roads. please see HARRISON page 7 Burt ¢ iP Publisher Emeritus LV. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 16, 1973 Pia Joni Tomlin Robson “Camping at Syringa.” Betty Zarikoff Castlegar “Swimming below Selkirk College.” Question: What’s your favorite summer activity? Brad Zarikoff Castlegar “Swimming.” Chris Jacinto Jeff Wolfe Castlegar Coeur D'Alene “Swimming, “Boating.” anywhere I can.” @ Saturday, August 22, 1992 iThe News OtherVIEWS Please address all letters to: Letters to the Editor Castlegar News P.O. Box 3007 Castlegar, B.C. V1N 3H4 or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. 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 9a.m. and5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste. Letters coWHE EnRITOaR > The key to Castlegar-Robson bridge is co-operation, not a new traffic bylaw Some of us can no longer keep silent when our elected members on Castlegar city council propose to become involved in what amounts to outright extortion. It is outrageous to suggest that the city will restrict truck traffic through Castlegar unless the pre- sent government makes a start on the new bridge today. The ministry responsible for the project is using down-to-earth common sense in its projections and scheduling. The purchase and removal of some 21 homes is a good start in preparing the bridge approach on this side. i It ‘also makes good practical sense to schedule the major con- struction portion of the bridge af- ter the peak construction period on the Celgar plant is finished. I would suggest that the prima- ry interests of the people of Castle- gar can best be served by council if they take a co-operative and sup- portive position with the Ministry and our present government in Victoria. To remove truck traffic from Co- City’s traffic plan outright extortion lumbia Avenue at this time would close down our two major indus- tries. In my opinion the people of Castlegar would not accept this option. Even to threaten the jobs and livelihood of hundreds of men and women in our community is total- ly irresponsible. N.T. Oglow, Castlegar The News is reading like a company newsletter’. More than ever The News reads like a com- pany paper in a company town. From January to July, the all-white male staff sadly lacked a vision of diversity. The News’ slid downhill to the dull and dip- py mundane. There’s them what work in the mill and local sports. Is that all? Am I the only one in this generation? After we have extracted all the resources along the Arrow Lake, playing ball and drink- ing beer for fun, what is left... a wasteland for war games? An environmental horror show for tourists asking which way out? A responsible community paper can be a leader in thought. It can and must articulate the broad range of ideas and insights that will sustain our community. The new logo is lovely. The tabloid format is handier. But the coverage is impoverished. Where is sensitive reporting on women’s is- sues, education, the state of our forests and woodlands, our waters, the other species, lit- erature, arts, theatre? Where are perspectives from old timers and newcomers? Where are our environmental thinkers? Have you heard that the bog in Pass Creek Valley is over 7,000 years old? People’ were lining up at Selkirk just to study philosophy. i I suggest that even hard news accommo- dates matters of the spirit. Reach out and be bold. Barbara Murdoch, Pass Creek Canada is far from isolated in our hostile world The Castlegar Peace Group, as part of the peace movement, has consistently warned of the dangers inherent in the enormous stockpile of weapons accumulated by both sides during | cold war. Today these weapons are being used. - Ethnic rivalries are always unfortunate but fueled with an almost limitless arsenal of mod- ern weapons they become vicious and deadly. Pictures from Somalia show well-nourished males strolling around with sophisticated weapons while women and children die from starvation. In the Balkans modern cities are being re- duced to rubble in utter disregard for the mis- ery and death of the civilian population. In parts of the former USSR and Afghanistan, cold war weapons are taking theirdeadly toll. | Canada is not immune from the compulsive need to accumulate weapons. A few years ago we were presented with the necessity of acquiring nuclear powered and armed submarines. Just what we were going to do with them was never quite clear but at some $11 billion the price was a tad high. Now it’s helicopters at a modest $4 billion. Just why we need to have a fleet of the most expensive helicopters ever designed is not clear either. Accumulation might not be such a bad idea in these depressed times but why does it have to be weapons? We could accumulate schools, universities, medical clinics, day-care centers, women’s shel- ters, parks and playgrounds. Once you start thinking peacefully there’s no end to the possibilities. George Richards, Castlegar Harrison continued from page 7 I’d widen Columbia Avenue by 10 feet — something that could easily be accomplished if we decid- ed not to allow parking anywhere near the Columbia-3rd Street light. This would — excuse the pun — pave the way for the much needed left-turn lane northbound at that same light and provide an open-space concept instead of the cluttered car-here-car-there look. That’s a start, but I’m not done. We need a second access through town so the never-ending stream of chip trucks can stop billowing their exhaust fumes all over the downtown core. I say build this route behind the Oglow subdivi- sion with entry and exit points af- ter Castlegar Foods and before Ar- row Lakes Drive. (I’ve often wondered why a sec- ond access through town isn’t al- ready there. Sure, everyone agrees that one is needed, but no one actually puts down the cash to do it.) With the chip trucks out of the way, the downtown core becomes open to vehicle traffic — the kind of vehicles that carry money-to- spend tourists. Those tourists have to come for a reason, though, and I haven’t overlooked that. Think about it, when Castlegar comes up in any conversation, what’s the first thing people say. If you answered Doukhobor, go to the head of my downtown revital- ization class. Asure hit with the tourist pop- ulation would be to transform the downtown core into a tiny Russia, complete with the fancy architec- ture and bold colors. Hey, if Kim- berley can call itself the Bavarian City with next to no German pop- ulation, think of what Castlegar could do. Granted, Kimberley spent a pretty penny to transform itself into a picture postcard com- munity, but .so can we. It takes money to make money. My plan doesn’t stop there, though. I’d like to see us dump the neon sign stuff in favor of hand- carved or wood signage. Aestheti- cally, it looks a heck of a lot better than a flashing light bulb. I’d also push to have those hand-carved or word signs in two languages: English and Russian. We're not.in Quebec, after all. Similar bilingual signs would line our street corners, replacing the generic lot tourists currently stare at. Are you following me so far? Here comes the clincher — city hall. I say scrap it, let’s stert over again. Whoever introduced that schoolhouse style of architecture to the world should be shot. The city is preparing to spend some $1 million for city hall reno- vations for a place that is about as attractive as mud flaps. I sooner see the city spend $2 million on a building — hopefully in that little Russia theme — that can do Castlegar’s heritage justice. This new building — to be lo- cated adjacent to the Railway Mu- seum — would consist of paint- ings depicting stages in our histo- ry. The new city hall would then be accented with a fountain and park area, complete with a concert gazebo, benches and plaques hon- ‘ oring Castlegar’s pioneers. | I’m a firm believer that a city hall tells people a lot about a com- munity and our city hall tells us nothing. There is only one flaw to my plan, and it’s a major one. Money. Clearly, I’m talking about a $10 million plan, but it’s a plan that I think that will pay instant divi- dends to our merchants and our community as a whole. There’s no mistaking that Castlegar is a one industry town. Our only mistake is allowing that ideology to cloud our vision of what Castlegar could be.