INION

WEDNESDAY, May 20, 1992

The eset Sun

PUBLISHER JON JARRETT
SHARLENE IMHOFF
EDITOR

editorial comment
A healthy cause
worth checking

Castlegar City Council has been asked to help save an
established system which has come under the critical list
and is losing ground quickly.

The fight is to save Medicare, and the cause should be
picked up not just by our city council, but by every resi-

national health insurance system, was born in 1962 by the

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in

Saskatchewan. By 1971, all provinces were full partici-

pants in this cost-sharing arrangement with the federal
it.

will be asked to sign a
stop underfinancing—if you're a mortal and run the
chance of ever becoming ill, it's definitely a cause worth

One for Jim...

Castlegar city councillor Jim Chapman deserves a as

Our seasons are going to the dogs!

me that our seasons were “going to
the dogs!” This led to a discussion
of weather patterns, erupting vol-
canos, depletion of the ozone layer
and El Nifio. Later, being a student
of the English language, I

upon the derivation of the term
“going to the dogs”. In present day
terms this is understood to be a neg-
ative condition. From my knowl-
edge of and affection for dogs, I had
always thought that dogs have a
pretty good life. As a matter of fact,
in some future life and given the
opportunity, I shall certainly choose
aterm as a dog, preferably in our
family who are known for being
rather fond of their dogs, to put it

ini i}

I had had countless dogs in my
life, only four of which I was direct-
ly responsible. As a child, I inherit-
ed a spaniel from a neighbour who
moved to an urban setting and could
no longer keep him. “Chippie” was
inadequately trained and I was untu-
tored in training techniques so we
spent a free, uninhibited and idyllic
childhood together. He died natural-
ly, after a long blissful life. He was
replaced, by the same neighbour
now a local constable, with “Davey
Crockett”, a product of indiscrimi-
nate breeding and “rescued” from an
abusive home. Davey was free spir-
it, with a happy loving nature but, I
subsequently learned, was terrified
of guns. This proved troublesome as
I was embarked upon a campaign to
rid our strawberry patch of pesky
crows. My Dad paid me the munifi-
cent sum of ten cents per crow but I
had to produce the corpse and I had
plans to have Davey do the retriev-
ing. I became a pretty good shot
with a small calibre rifle, a skill I
have subsequently lost through non-
participation. Davey became my
Dad's pal, though I was responsible
for his every want and need. Upon
entering the wide world on my own,
I was happy to leave him with my
father and they grew happily old

I spent a few dogless years in
i but always had

is a marvellous situation. You get to
enjoy the animal while someone
else has the work and responsibility!
I subscribe to the theory further by
occasionally “Rent A

This means that friends happily
leave their beloved pets with me
while they go off on vacation. I get
to enjoy their company, and to recall
the many hours of effort and atten-
tion needed for the maintenance and
care of a animal. Then I get to
hand them back, happily, to their
Owners!

We inherited “Pepsi” from a
neighbour who had inherited her
from a friend posted overseas. Pepsi
was a briard, one of those animals
with so much fur front and back it
was difficult to differentiate which
end was the head until she moved.
She was an exemplary animal and
extremely “biddable”. Her attitude
was “Just show me what you want
me to do and I will happily com-
ply”. She was large, warm, and lov-
ing, furry and beautiful. I spent
hours grooming her, walking her
and teaching her and we had a long
happy time together. My friends
used to tease me because I brushed
her teeth, but tell me, how do you
keep an animal's teeth in good con-
dition otherwise? One groomed, she
strut, and show off so that the neigh-
bourhood teenage girls would knock
on my door and ask permission to
walk her. It was only later I discov-
ered the true reason. Pepsi was such
an attraction, the young men would
stop to discuss her and the young

girls were quick to pick up on this.
Poor Pepsi had a lot of walks! If she
had any fault, it might be that she
was a bit too friendly. She would
follow anyone who was also friend-
ly. We took her everywhere with us,
sailing, camping, water skiing and
even horseback riding, though the
horses only just tolerated her. Pepsi
knew she was human, and when she
eventually died we were sad for
weeks. I still miss her!

We had not planned to have
another dog, having begun a very
nomadic life, but the Australian
Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (ARSPCA) had
this dog for adoption. “Heidi” was
“a black version of Pepsi with a per-
manent!”, so said our friends’
daughter. We did not select her, she
selected us. She put her head on my
knee, looked up at me with her sad
brown eyes and I was lost. Heidi
was a handful. She was part afghan
and part poodle, with maybe some
border collie thrown in. She was
stubborn and willful, but also warm
and friendly. She would do mostly

d, but

her demise, we decided “No more
dogs!” This had not always been a
ee

om Since it is not practical to have
our own dog, I am always happy to
lavish attention to others. Dogs that
I have known have, without excep-
tion, seemed to have a very good
lives indeed. In Queensland,
“George”, a large golden retriever,
watched me on my morning walk

scrub and then rush behind me to
catch up. One morning he galloped
off after a spunky looking female
collie and they both di

Wednesday, May 20, 1992

The Castlegar Sun

Page 7A

‘Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:
Your readers who live in
Kootenay communities served by
the TransProvincial Highway will
be painfully aware that the con-
gestion they face on this route is
going to get worse as they wait

tal expenditure, not an opera-
tional cost. In other words, do the
same thing homeowners do. Pay
the construction cost now through
a mortgage. Pay off the mortgage
over the life of the asset, or soon-
er if income permits. Revenues
for the Government of British _ from fuel and other taxes already
Columbia to decide how to fund being paid by road users should
major road imp: . be dedi d to making those
They can help speed up the _ payments.
decision by urging the Govern- The 151 members of the BC
ment to act now, not later,on a Road Builders and Heavy Con-
“capital idea” being talked about struction Association and their
by beemy ois costa Highways 9,000 employees support that

‘We have our
The idea is to fund major road

support to Mr. Charbonneau and
network improvements as acapi- his Cabinet colleagues, urging

immediate action so that con-
tracts can be awarded this year
for major improvements that the
community and the Minister
know are urgently needed.

Your readers can help Mr.
Charbonneau convince his col-
leagues to act now by writing or
calling their MLA, the Premier,
the Finance Minister and others
in government to express their
support

The importance of such sup-
port for the Minister is apparent
from provincial government's
1992-93 budget. Provisions for
Transportation and Highways
have been cut by more than 15

down a lane together. He did not
come back, no matter how I whis-
tled and called. On my return home
I encountered his owner, my neigh-
bour, much agitated that her George
had not returned. So we both set out
looking for him. George had had a

as she was
only on her terms. When we left
Australia to return to Canada she
was shipped home, with the Qantas
crew taking personal care of her.
Our reunion at Vancouver Interna-
tional was a spectacle for she
knocked me over in her exuberance
at seeing us. Most deplaning passen-
gers were startled at the sight of one
lady and one large hairy dog rolling
about on the floor! Her reaction to
her first North Vancouver snowfall
was hilarious, for as an Aussie dog
she had never experienced snow.
She did not know, like most Canadi-
an dogs, to squeeze the pads on her
feet together to stop snow balling up
between them. Walking Heidi in the
snow became a pain and I had to
devise various schemes utilizing
plastic bags, socks and even con-
templated boots! Heidi, like Pepsi,
was healthy and, being well taken
care of, lived on into an old age. At

ized the owner of the collie. Except
for the trail of havoc, there was no
sign of him. We returned home to
find him panting happily on his
front step and demanding his break-
fast. That was the end of my walks
with George, for thereafter I refused
his company. One morning, while
discussing this refusal with George,
a neighbour drove up and enquired
“Is this dog bothering you?” I

hand. the siveati nately te

drove off with the comment “Ah
well, if I were George I would fol-
low you too!” This just proves that
Australian men can be charming!
All the dogs in my present neigh-
bourhood lead rather enviable lives,
it seems to me. I could not find one
example of one of them living a so-
called dog's life. I'm afraid I cannot
concur that our seasons are going to

the dogs!

on the back for sticking to his guns and p' ig
| caution when it comes to a $119,000 street light conver-
 ramonaommnmben emf

andi i

~ White Ir Sppetiy tharorher city councilors‘and the
mayor are prep: to begin negotiati with West
Kootenay Power on this project, which involves con-
verting the current mercury- ‘vapour city lights to a more
efficient (says WKP), cost saving (says WKP) and
brighter (says WKP) light, Chapman has remained con-
sistent in saying that additional information is need-
ed—and not from West Kootenay Power.

The $119,000 represents two specific costs; $33,000
to obtain ownership of the street lights by the city and
$86,000 for the actual conversion, which would come
from taxpayer's pockets and take approximately two
years to complete.

Each time the subject | has been raised at a council
about his suspi-
cions that this " cost-saving measure might not be as it

diess of the disapproving looks by his
peers at the round table.

To Mayor Audrey Moore and the rest of council,
lighten up on Jim, he's doing exactly what he was voted
to do by taxpayers. Even if he is wrong and the street
light conversion turns out to be a good move for the
city, you can't snicker at anyone who has enough guts to
follow their convictions—especially when taxpayer's
money is at stake. Keep up the good work Jim!

Engagement

Announcement

Mr. & Mrs. E.R. Hawkins
are pleased to announce
the engagement of
their daughter
Colleen Rosemarie to
Bradley Douglas,
son of
Mr. & Mrs. Burton O'Handley
of Richmond, B.C.
Wedding to take place
June 20, 1992
in Castlegar.

Congratulations

* Kk OK

Letters Policy

Letters to the Editor are welcome on
any topic of local or general interest
Letters should be double-spaced, type-
written, 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 with-
eld 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.

Everybody's Talking About

4a

SEPARATE ADMISSION

WEST KOOTENAYS (SUN MON [TUE] WED!

(ERD (SAT)
22\(23)(24)25|26) [2728 sax

‘great family movie, refreshing. funny. exciting and heart-warming” |

The head of
Ue fal fs the one

per cent — or $170 million —
from a year earlier. And that's
only part of the story.

All of the cutting — plus
another $12 million — has come
from capital construction provi-
sions. These have been chopped
to less than half of the previous
year's budget and what remains
only covers the completion of
contracts already awarded.
There's barely a nickel in the
provincial budget for new con-
tract for construction of major
improvements, many of them
desperately needed to relieve
congestion, improve safety and
reduce transportation costs.

Mr. Charbonneau describes the
dramatic slashing of this impor-
tant road investment in terms of
“delayed” and “postpones” — not
“cancelled” — work. He can end
many of the delays and postpone-

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1521 COLUMBIA AVE. 365-8388

ments if he can convince his col-
leagues to act immediately to
fund capital construction on a
capital basis.

Give him your support, now.

Readers should urge government to act now, not later

John Pankiw
Chairman,

BC Road Builders &
Heavy Construction
Association

The vehicle roadway across the

Hugh Keenleyside Dam

will be closed to all vehicular traffic on Thursday, May
21 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.
B.C. Hydro is sony for any inconvenience this closure may cause.

BChydro

With the Ad-Net system, we reached the
majority of the pppulation of the West
Kootenay. is

population.

prove it.

Gary Maloney's Castlegar Mazda + 7

astlegar Mazda would like to thank
you for the introduction of Shop-Net.

\ K Jith the addition of Shop-Net, our
advertising is now going to the total

00% market coverage has certainly
been of benefit to us, and our sales

V4 igthenn

Jack Hamelin
Sales Manager

» Ae
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stlegar 17th Street in Castlegar

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Here's your chance to get a TASTE OF MEXICO. EVERY FRIDAY (May 22 to Oct. 50,
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Some ‘TESTA FRIDAYS’ will highlight giveaways,

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Boating season at risk if Parliament debates all summer

After a too-long winter, and a __ of the list of life’s great pleasures. “We will be there fighting like
strangely slow spring, I was really So there I was on Friday, dream- _hell, every inch of it. We'll be there”
forward to the Victoria Day _ ing of Sunday afternoon's tripto the _he said.

2 COMPLETE SHOWINGS
ACH EVENING 7:00 & 9:00

constitution, and that they would
start all over again,” Chretien said.
(Bouchard said that’s exactly

1S POLITICALLY INDEPENDENT AND A
MEMBER OF THE STERLING NEWS SERVICE
Established November 28, 1990

Published by The Sun
on
465 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C. V1N 1G8

weekend.

For the Duffy clan, surpassing
even the beauty and color of
Ottawa's Tulip Festival, is the spring
launch of Miranda, our Prowler aft-
cabin cruiser.

For us, this is a special boating
season.

We've graduated from the seclu-
sion of the Rideau system, with its
locks and narrow channels, to the
“big time” open water of the St
Lawrence River and the beauty of
the 1,000 Islands.

Here you don't have cottagers
worried about shoreline erosion,
yelling angrily at boaters to reduce
their wakes. Instead you have giant
lakers plowing steadily downstream

boat, when House Leader Harvie
Andre decided to unveil the govern-
ment’s plebiscite legislation.
Talk about a cold splash of reality.
Andre said the government didn’t

Bouchard wants restrictions on
the amount of money spent on
advertising. Otherwise he said, “rich
companies - even foreign
or governments - could try to influ-

Mike
Duffy

Syndicated
Columnist

ence the ”’ by buying ads to
je Canadian unity.

Both Liberal Leader Jean Chri-

etien and NDP Leader Audrey

what was done to Quebec a decade
ago, when the current constitution
was patriated by the

tien Liberals without the consent of
Rene Levesque’s Parti Quebecois
government.)

Somehow one gets the nagging
feeling the Grits’ and New
Democrats’ real concern is not the ref-

dum law but the possibility Brian

McLaughlin share "s con-
cem. They believe without i
limits, pro-Canada ads might dra-
matically outnumber pro-separation
ads in the refe

Mulroney might use it to launch a
comeback.

The way Chretien, McLaughlin

really want to hold a referendum, but
needed the option in case Ottawa
and the provinces are unable to reach
an agreement on a constitutional

package

towards Montreal, gly
unaware of the tour boats and small-
er craft darting in and out of these
beautiful islands.

Sailing in the 1,000 Islands ranks
right up there with ... well let's just
say for me boating ranks near the top

The opp Parties though, are
suspicious.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Lucien
Bouchard predicts Ottawa will hold
its referendum around Labor Day -
before Quebec's - to try to influence
the outcome of Quebec's vote.

(Doesn't it make you feel good to
know our federalist parties are so
keen to be fair to the separatists, peo-
ple who want to destroy Canada?)
Chretien also worried the federal
government might try to force the
provinces to accept a deal which
hasn't got every region's support.

“We want the government to say
clearly ... if one region of Canada
Says no to the proposition, they will
not proceed with any change of the

and Bouchard are talking, Mulroney
is like Dracula, and only a silver
stake through his heart will prevent
his political resurrection.
What are they smoking?
Everyone I know thinks Mul-

If these guys don’t figure that out
soon, Parliament will be debating
this bill all summer, and the whole
darn boating season could be at risk.

Now that's what I call serious.

© Flea Market

Castlegar Arena Complex

Space will be offered to anyone,
private or business.

Cost is GIS for a 10x 10 space.
Call the Chamber today to
reserve of find out more
information

Reserve your Booth Now!
space Is limited
Call 365-6313

1° Admission
Children under 12 Free

‘Sponsored by
CASTLEGAR & DISTRICT
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Donate your garage items to
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‘ Name
: Phone

| Just drop off newspaper coupon
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