Saturday, December 12, 1992 @ 2 PAGE = = = Op Dave McCullough Publisher Scott David Harrison Editor Bob Proctor Marketing Manager Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Warren Chernoff Accountant Mary Ann Fullerton Circulation Manager OurWiEWS AdrianRAESIDE politicking t’s nice to see that backroom- [pmitictine is alive and well in Castlegar. In a shameful display of ‘you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours,’ Castlegar has found itself with a new representative to the Regional District of Central Kootenay. The wrong one. Mayor Audrey Moore was elected, if you can call it that, to represent Castlegar for the one-year term, displacing Coun. Doreen Smecher. The move has already sent shockwaves around the district, as RDCK board members wonder just why Smecher was given the heave- ho. And.if history repeats itself, Castlegar will find itself on the outside looking in thanks to personality conflicts between Moore and long-time chair George Cady. Cady, who will likely be reconfirmed as the RDCK chair today, is entrusted with handing out committee duties to the 20-member board. You can bet that he will hand Moore nothing. As a major contributor to the -RDCK, Castlegar deserves the best representation possible, but it won’t happen as long as Moore is in the room and Cady’s calling the shots. Smecher was and still is Castlegar’s best representative. A respected member of the board, Smecher fought not only for Castlegar but for the betterment of the entire RDCK for two years. It’s a shame four of her Castlegar city council peers refused to acknowledge her whole-hearted contributions. f Evans has case of ‘governmentitis’ It is one of the mysteries look at the future of post- of the universe. Right up there with black holes and the meaning of life. I’m talking about the disease called “governmentitis.” It strikes otherwise sensible, straightforward people after they are secondary education in this area. The only problem is that Fulton is past-president of Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax. Mount St. Vincent is affiliated with Nelson University Centre. Nelson University elected. Its symptoms are clear: in no time at all they are making decisions that a year earlier they wouldn't have dreamed of. Ron NORMAN Comments from the Crossroads Centre, for those who don’t know, is seeking accreditation as a degree- granting university We see it all the time. And the higher the level of politics, the harder this disease seems to hit. similar to the University of B.C. and Simon Fraser University. In fact, last week NUC president Dr. The latest outbreak is reported in the Nelson-Creston riding where MLA Corky Evans has come down with a mild case. It concerns the Nelson University Centre and the proposed review of post-secondary education in the Kootenays. Evans has appointed Dr. Margaret Fulton to head the review, which will take a Patricia Murphy presented a 900-name petition to the provincial legislature calling for the accreditation on the Nelson-based institution. I don’t know about you, but this information sets off a few alarm bells for me. please see NORMAN page 7 Street TALK Burt Campb Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 ecvcna nal AND YURON Joomeanery NEware Bill Shlakoff Glade Trail Yes. It should be kept up all year. night. Ed Murray No. They’re not set up long enough at Nadia Doskoch Genelle Yes. People are more aware. Stuart Carter Raspberry Yes. It keeps the borderline cases off the road. Question: Is the RCMP’s CounterAttack campaign effective during the holidays? Morrie Zaitlin Nelson Yes. They’re certainly getting the message out. @ Saturday, December 12, 1992 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 9am. 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 ‘ow E EDITOR Spoiled ballot a mockery of the system After the election of CURB-supported candidate Doug Green and the hiring of what seems to be a cracker jack city clerk in Diane Kunz, things at city hall seemed to be coming around. Even Administrator Gary Williams and myself are able to have good quality discussions when left unimpeded. Well, as I write this letter I am reminded of one psalm — and in particular one sentence — “Yea, thou I walk through the valley” etc... and a prayer which ends “for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory” etc. Well, Tuesday’s council meeting was a little of both. I hope that everyone got a chance to see our council in action on Shaw Cable. At the meeting, Mayor Audrey Moore appoints councillors to various committees and recommends to council for approval the representative to the regional district. Coun. Smecher was the representative last year and has worked very hard for our community and the area. As our representative serving on the various RDCK committees, why change Smecher. Well, that’s what our mayor did Ottawa ignoring The following is a letter which I recently sent to the Honorable Ms. Barbara MacDougall, Minister of External Affairs, regarding the genocide and other war crimes going on in former Yugoslavia, “I urge you to demand that all necessary action be taken (military or otherwise) by | the United Nations, NATO, or some form of | “coalition” to ensure that: 1.) Food supplies and relief get through to the victims of aggression. 2.) The genocide and other atrocities stop. How long are Canada and the free world going to sit around waiting for permission to help these hapless victims? What a joke. Surely this weakness in Western resolve is and she appointed herself. She was then challenged by Smecher and. what ensued is well worth watching on Shaw Cable. Firstly, after the challenge, the mayor calls for a vote to sustain the chair — correct, good play. However, she had great difficulty in getting the councillors to vote because they didn’t understand what was happening...I guess the school board meeting taught them something, if you don’t know what’s going on do nothing. It gets very complicated after this but with the help of Kunz, it got rolling again. After an intermission so the procedure could be looked up, it was decided not to sustain the chair, withdraw the original motion to appoint Moore to the RDCK — who, by her own admission, is a 14 year veteran — and to hold a mini-election with empaite speeches and secret ballot. OK ine. Moore is nominated and Councillor Smecher is nominated. Now to the balloting. Keep in mind there are seven people voting for either Moore or Smecher. The vote comes back three for Moore, three for Smecher and one spoiled ballot... oops. Better do this again... well, I’ll be darn, three for Moore, three for Smecher and one spoiled. Oops, oops... Kunz wants to table, but we have a problem, the RDCK needs Castlegar’s rep for this Saturday’s meeting. Well, the long and short of it is they all voted again after yet another lengthy explanation and Moore got the nod. What was going on in the person’s mind that he or she would intentionally spoil two ballots. What was the purpose of this exercise? An appointment to the RDCK board is serious, especially for Castlegar as one of the major contributors. I can’t understand this move and the councillors who did this will surely be found out, people talk and the process of elimination will take over. Speculation has already begun. Do the right thing whoever you are and apologize or resign. Being a councillor is no joke. Mike O’Connor President Coalition Unaccepting Rash Bureaucracy tragic battle in former Yugoslavia sending a signal to all evilly-motivated peoples in the world that they can do whatever they want to their ethnic minorities without significant opposition. Several years ago the “coalition” acted so swiftly to-end Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait - yet in Yugoslavia (where the atrocities are far more extensive) the western response is weak and inconsequential. Why? The free world is fed up with hearing of the farcical cease-fires and meaningless sanctions which have had little or no effect at all. Our government’s commitment of peace-keeping troops to this cause is commendable but unless they are given the necessary back-up by the UN or NATO they are wasting their time and the Canadian taxpayers’ money. Finally, I urge you to press for changes in the UN charter so that it can function in part as a comprehensive international police force to stop crimes of this sort in the future.” Big help is on its way to Somalia at last. But why have we turned our backs on those unfortunate Moslem people being victimized in Yugoslavia? Is it because they are not Christian? If so, I have a big problem with our intolerant, self-serving brand of Christianity. H. J. Killough Castlegar World needs more loving, caring and sharing Why does it often take a major incident before people pause to reflect; or better yet improve situations; or ultimately change to loving, under- standing, caring and sharing? I'll tell you why. It stems from self justi- fying selfishness or greed motivated (power or money) gain, I have another sore spot; it’s blame and criticism. What good does it do? Most of the time it’s used to cut others down. It saddens my heart to see people that moderately, meekly or are unable to explain themselves. They are an easy target. Our calloused society shuffles responsibility around so much, it makes me sick. Come on, own up a little, care and share more and give love and understanding to one another. After all, people are important, and don’t you forget it. Greg Hiebert Castlegar Norman continued from page 6 It would seem obvious that having the past-president of a NUC affiliate — and a NUC supporter — chair a review of post-secondary education in the Kootenays is a direct conflict of interest. But Evans doesn’t see it that way. That old “governmentitis” hits again. He says he’s spoken with Dr. Fulton and “she understands that this is not a commission just con- cerned with the aspirations of Nel- son.” He assures us that Dr. Fulton is a “person with a very open mind about education and the college system.” Wait a minute. That kind of response would have been completely unaccept- able to Evans had it come two years ago from former Social Credit MLA Howard Dirks. Here’s why: It doesn’t matter how Evans has instructed Dr. Ful- ton. It doesn’t matter whether she has the most open mind in the country. The point is she is too close to the situation. If she recommends NUC be granted a charter, there will be cries of favoritism. The only way she won't be seen as being biased will be if she rec- ommends NUC not be accredited. And where does that leave NUC? The whole thrust of any conflict of interest issue isn’t the person’s actual credibility or lack of it; it’s the perception of credibility. Dr. Fulton can’t be perceived as being a credible head of a review team by the simple fact she has ties to NUC. (She has even made appeals in the area on NUC’s be- half) The fact that Corky Evans can't or won't recognize this. fact is telling. There are other questions in- volved here. Like why Evans had to reach right across the country to select an educator to review our post-secondary needs? Surely, there was someone much closer who was just as qual- ified. And do we need a review at all? Isn’t planning for post-secondary needs supposed to be done by the Ministry of Advanced Education? Personally, I'd rather see the mon- ey being spent on this review go- ing into education — especially in these times of budget deficits and restraint.