@ AG Saturday, September 7, 1991 PAGE) pinion Dave McCullough Mark Davis Advertising Manager Warren Chernott Accountant Heather Hadiey Circulation Manager Our VIEWS Adrian RAESIDE A change for the better Simon Birch EDITOR Great ity... Great paper. We’ve adopted that motto at the Castlegar News to reflect our opinion of the area we live in and our goal for the newspaper. It’s obvious what makes the Castlegar area a great community — natural beauty, lifestyle, people — but what makes a newspaper great and how are we going to achieve that lofty goal? First, becoming’ great involves more than the cosmetic changes you're seeing in this edition of The News. Above all else, a newspaper’s content is the single, most important factor in determining a great newspaper. And the cornerstone of that content in a good and successful community newspaper is well written local news. More than anything else, thorough coverage of the local community is what our readers have told us they want in The News. To help meet that challenge, we’ve added a full-time reporter to our news department staff. Tom Bink, a University of Montana journalism grad from, Edmonton, started this week. He joins reporter Donna Bertrand and sports eflitor Ed Mills in the news room. A great newspaper shdéuld also do more than gather and report the news. It should also be a leader in helping the public understand an increasingly complex world, by providing more context, depth and perspective on major events and issues. A great newspaper also provides informed commentary. To meet that goal, we’ve added two new opinion columns, one by former Castlegar News editor Ron Norman, whose column will appear every Saturday, and a second by Victoria-based columnist Hubert Beyer, who'll comment on provincial issues every Wednesday and Saturday. But a great community newspaper doesn’t overlook the “smaller” stories — the local student who wins an essay contest or long-time residents who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. With that in mind, we'll continue such long-standing features like Street Talk which provide glimpses of the everyday life of the community. please see CHANGE page A7 Gy % 1.4 GH', Lizrrar ht, tlegar just a pit stop on the way to real tourist spots @ Despite its scenery, city just doesn’t look like a place where you'd spend a vacation Castlegar isn't a tourism centre. There are some people who refuse to believe that and doggedly market the few attractions that we have to offer. More power to them; maybe in another decade or so that hard work will have paid off and we'll be a fa- vorite tourist spot for Albertans and Lower Mainlanders. But right now Castlegar — and the rest of the Kootenays for that matter — is just a pit stop en route to the REAL tourist spots. What's a REAL tourist spot, you ask? Any- where in the Okanagan and most of the Shuswap. Take Osoyoos, where I just happened to spend a few nights this summer. It’s Sunday morning. We've forgotten our air mattresses at home and decide to see if there is any place Ron NORMAN ‘Comments from the Crossroads open where we can buy one. We drive into a downtown buzzing with activity. There is a crush of people outside the hardware store on the main street. Inside it’s even worse. A dozen clerks are run off their feet looking for nylon rope and stove fuel and air mat- tresses and thongs and sun- glasses and . . . . You get the picture. Osoyoos — normally a community about half the size of Castlegar — has swelled to nearly twice this city’s size. And all because of tourism. Have you ever been on Castlegar’s down- town streets on a summer Sunday morning? Let's just say you wouldn't have to dodge the traffic crossing the street. For years I've blamed the pulp mill for hin- dering our ity’s tourism ambitions. Wha, I reasoned, would want to stay more than the few minutes it takes to gas up and wash * please see NORMAN page A7 @ Saturday, September 28, 1991 Rac continued from front page Conroy said he would set up a monitoring program to in- form residents of the area of pollution levels, and D’Arcy suggested alternatives to pol- luting the river, such as stor- ing waste from the Cominco smelter on land. Conroy said watershed dis- putes like those in Hasty Creek and Lasca Creek are the result of “a lack of leader- ship,” which he suggested would not be present under an NDP government. ‘D’Arcy said watershed users should obey the laws es- tablished, even though they may disagree with them. He noted that only 0.6 per cent of the Hasty Creek watershed is planned to be logged every year for five years. Each candidate also took some heat at the debate. Siemens was criticized for his stance on education fund- ing, which he said should re- main at current levels. Conroy was attacked for NDP leader Mike Harcourt’s reported promise to levy a 25 per cent tax on all B.C. businesses, to which he responded, “they (mewspapers) have got it D’Arcy was criticized twice during the question period for his links to Socred Iris Bakken, a staunch supporter of former premier Bill Vander Price was criticized by a ber of audi bers after the debate for not having any knowledge of issues other than environmental concerns. Boundary continued from page A3 However, Moreira says the committee will keep pressing for the issue to be solved and hopes to meet with officials from the ministry. “We're not looking for an ounce of blood, we're looking for a solution,” he said. But Turner said the board Trustees continued from page A3 While the delay itself doesn't cause any serious con- cerns, making the announce- ment without first Iti tion as essential to making Year 2000 programs work. Voykin, who on behalf of the branch backed the associa- the BCSTA, a “major stake- holder” in education reforms, does, Voykin said. “You can’t help but be sus- Picious,” she said. The announcement about the dual entry program for kindergarten, which was abandoned, was also made without input from the associ- ation, Voykin added. However, she noted that Hagen told more than 500 trustees at the BCSTA annual general meeting that he re- gards input from the associa- Elections Ly Columbia Qualification: * Canadian c or older tion’s ition in a separate letter to Hagen, said the min- ister’s unilateral decisions are making it more and more difficult to plan implementa- tion of the programs. “There’s been no consisten- cy, and without any consisten- cy, we can’t do any planning,” she said. Voykin, a Castlegar school board trustee, is one of 37 trustees in the West Kootenay branch which represents the Castlegar, Arrow Lakes, Nel- son, Trail and Grand Forks school districts. Social Credit oliticans have o standards: One for themselves, and one for everyone else. Voting in the Provincial General Election. To vote on October 17, 1991 You must be a registered voter. itizen © Resident of British Columbia for the past 6 months If you do not have your voret ID card please check at a Registration Centre or contact the Registrar of Voters. Remember: You cannot register on Election Day. you need to know these basic facts. Where to vote. You will receive a “WHERE TO VOTE card in the mail. KEEP this card. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT. Take this card with you to your polling place. + SS | How to vote. [Candidate [:x..] You must remember two things: * Choose only one candidate Mark the ballot with an X Special Voting Early Voting. | Voting if you’re away from If you were a registered voter as of Thursday, September 19 home on October 17, 1991. re not able to vote on Election Day or at an Advance Poll, you ; e Saturday, October 5-Tuesday, October 8, 4-8 p.m. at the Back acest get the polling rice Sew on pat WISRE TO office of the Retuming Officer UGITE’ card, you may go to any other polling place and we by allot envelope remains firm that it won't con- sider a change. Bluetop Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus If you will be out of British Columbia on Election Day and not able to get to any other poll yu can apply t your Retuming Officer tor a postal ballot L.V. Campbell ‘Aug. 7, 1947 Feb. 15, 1973 Advance Poll. If you are unable to vote on Election Day, you may vote at an Advance Poll. Wednesday, October 9-Saturday, October 12 Hours 1-9 p.m & Disabled Voting. If you are physically disabled, you may vote at an Advance Poll. All Advance Polls are wheelchair accessible. If you are assisting a blind person, please inform them that they may vote at an Advance Poll. F you ere unable to leave your horee treme ofa physical disability, contact your Retuming Officer reganding a ’ mobile poll or postal vote Technology spells end of postal service the furnaces that powered the trains. It was a job as old as the . railroad itself. But with the advent of diesel engines, stokers were no longer needed. One of the issues resolved at that long-ago strike was what to do with the stokers. The agree- ment h d out b management and the union was somewhat bizarre, but it appeared to be the only way to bring the strike to an end. For about two years, the stokers kept their jobs, riding on diesel trains that no longer required their presence. - The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is in the midst of its own diesel-engine rend — the high-tech revolution. Fax ma- For more information. Contact: Retuming Officer OR ROSSLAND/TRAIL Elections British Columbia Unit 125 Waneta Plaza. Information Line 8100 Rock Island Hwy., 1-800-742-8683 Trail (Toll Free) 364-0488 OR ping away at their once-exclusive territory and could, in the near fu- ture, all but replace them. You don’t have to be futuristi- cally inclined to see that the days of the postal service as we know it are bered. Modern technol is making inroads every day into the service provided by Canada : LOADED HOT DOG hon atiagees on tetas ZONION RINGS hy by mail all mustard mail to $945 over the province. In some cases, Seropestion os om they would take the better part of a week to arrive, The delay often meant that columns were out of date by the time they ran, particu- " . ‘ » chines, modems, electronic fund larly in the weekly community Remember: You cannot register on Election Day. fers and private courier ser- newspapers. : 4 vices have, for years, been chip- Please see BEVER on page A7 @ Fax machines, modems, electronic fund transfers, private couriers chip away at once-exclusive territory _MICTORIA — When Canadian postal workers started their latest strike, I was strongly inded of another strike that took place decades ago. Most Canadians have long since forgotten about the strike that stopped our railroads dead in their tracks to protect jobs which had become obsolete. They may even have forgotten what the men were called whose jobs were on the line. They were stokers or firemen. The stokers shovelled coal into -- WEEKLY SPECIAL -- Registrar 1050 Eldk Trail 364-0591 Hubert BEYER wauaouna ocr. 1 wee pm. Chief Electoral Officer Province of British Columbia