WedneSday, June'17, 1992 Dave McCullough Publisher Scott David Harrison Editor Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Warren. Chernoff Accountant Heather Hadiey Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 OurWiEWS Graduate with care aturday marks a special day S: the lives of 145 Stanley Humphries Secondary School students. With exams behind them and the real world ahead of them, Castlegar’s graduating class will gather at the Community. Complex to accept their diplomas at a 1 p.m. commencement ceremony. Ranked right up there with a first kiss, graduation is one of the fondest memories anyone has. It is a time to walk proud before wide-eyed parents and life-long peers. Clearly, it is a moment to shine. But with graduation comes a certain amount of responsibility... a responsibility to Stanley Humphries and to the community that has watched these students grow up. It may be pointless to suggest that none of these 145 students will indulge during these happy times, but we must throw an ounce of caution into the commencement weekend. Graduation should be a moment of joy, not one of sorrow. Far too often, young lives are taken from us because someone chooses to drink and drive. While drinking and driving is an inexcusable reality at any time, students, parents and friends must take it upon themselves to ensure it doesn’t happen among the Class of ’92. Graduation is a happy time, let’s keep it that way. As a community, we salute the Stanley Humphries graduation class for a job well done. THeeC NT DOCTORS DISPUTE: Si HOW THE TaXPay Ste iT... The dollars and cents of our strike I’m having a hard time _of. Instead, Castlegar’s keeping a stiff upper lip these days. No matter how I slice it, British Columbia stands to lose an alarming sum of money during the pulp and paper industry strike. i If my figures are correct — and they will be, thanks to the mathematical assistance of publisher Dave McCullough — pulp communities stand to forfeit $1.92 million a day in lost Harrison “2 Comparison 325 striking PPWC members will be rolling pennies and clipping coupons, while keeping chins firmly aloft on the picket line. Me, I’m not so brave. I can’t help but get emotionally attached to this strike. Not only do I have a brother — Todd — who is walking the picket lines in Campbell River, but I have friends doing wages. Think about it. Based on an eight hour day, 12,000 workers who normally earn an estimated $20 an hour will be taking home next to nothing. Only the very lucky workers will have some semblance of strike pay to help them through these difficult times. That isn’t the case in Castlegar, mind you. Spokesman Mike Babaeff said last week that Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada Local 1 has no strike fund to speak likewise in Castlegar. And that’s just at the pulp mill. Factor in the 200 folks at Pope and Talbot — the innocent victims in this contractual tug-of-war — and Castlegar stands to lose more money than I can dream about making in a lifetime. How does $84,000 a day sound? Based on the Dave McCullough Principles of Mathematics, that’s exactly what our community stands to lose each day. please see HARRISON page 7 Streei( TALK Heather MacKenzie Castlegar “] think until after Labor Day.” John St. Martin Castlegar “I think it will be a long strike.” Jackie Perras Trail “A long time.” Rita Henry Montrose _ “] think it’s going to last a long time.” Question: How long do you think the province’s pulp strike will last? Sue Cannefax Salt Lake City, Utah “I hope it ends ™@ Wednesday, June 17, 1992 - : : Other VIEWS 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 toWHE E ise ITO Re On behalf of The Kidney Foundation of Canada, B.C. Branch, thank you to all the volunteers who gave so generously of their time during our 1992 March residential campaign. The efforts of the volunteers, combined with the generosity of the community, enabled us to increase our revenue by 17.9 per cent this year. To date, over $720,000 has been raised provincially. services, provide public education about kidney disease and support other programs such as organ donor awareness. in addition, the Foundation funds 75 per cent of the current research into kidney disease and related disorders. On behalf of those with kidney disease, thank you for your participation in, and support of, our March Drive. Marcia Bell President The monies raised by The Kidney Foundation support local patient The Kidney Foundation Vancouver Editor’s note: The following is the first of spe- cial, by-weekly columns prepared by Nancy and Bruce Ketchum for The News. The News is pleased to announce that it has joined forces with the Ketchums to help keep Castlegar up to date during the Kiwanis Canadian Unity Tour. Good_luck-to Bruce and Nancy. Ketchum and the Castlegar Kiwanis Club as they show Cana- dians that Canada still matters. eee By Nancy and Bruce Ketchum Two signatures down, eight to go! In our attempt to get our message Our Canada Includes Quebec across to both ordi- nary Canadians and the Premiers of all the provinces, we’ve encountered very surprising support and have embarked on an adventure that will be remembered for a lifetime. : Our meeting with Premier Mike Harcourt was set for 5 p.m., Monday, June 8 just outside his cabinet office at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre at Canada Place. After jockeying our motorhome into position, we spread out our banners for people to sign. Murray, a cameraperson from Radio-Cana- da, the Vancouver French TV station, was on hand to get some footage for the 6:30 p.m. edi- tion of the news. Harcourt and his executive assistant Joan- na van Hertog strode out of the Trade Centre over to us, shook our hands and gave us lots of words of encouragement. We asked him to sign in “large” print which he dutifully did. He also agreed to contact the other Western premiers to pave the way for us. He was really very impressive — warm, en- ergetic, well-tanned, pleasant and taller than we expected. Everyone was quite relaxed and we felt terrific once it was over — we had our fist premier’s signature. Kiwanis Canada Unity Tour The KETCHUMS After furiously making our way to Edmon- ton for our Thursday, June 11 meeting with Premier Don Getty, we drove to the Legislative Building. A security guard was expecting us and no- tified all the right people. Pat Lobregt, Getty’s executive assistant, appeared fairly quickly as did a number of Kiwanians. We rigged up our banner so people could sign it right on the side of the coach. Just before the Premier arrived, we were able to drive the motorhome immediately in front of the legisla- ture. A bevy of TV cameras and reporters ap- peared as we turned the coach around to have it facing the right way . . . so there was our coach and boat parked right on the plaza of the Alberta Legislature. Next, Lobregt offered to look after Ruffles, our bearded Collie, insisting that he should be part of the scene. Much to our surprise, when Getty arrived, he made a beeline for Ruffles, frolicking with him for some time while cameras clicked and rolled. Bruce asked the Premier to continue his frol- Kiwanis unity tour finds support ic so he could take a picture. Getty obliged. He then willingly signed the banner, shook our hands many times and made a big fuss about the importance of what we were doing. ‘ Getty told us that Harcourt had written him about us. He also promised to talk to Premier Robert Bourassa when we mentioned that we wanted to deliver the banner with nine signa-_ tures to him in Quebec City. Getty then held a news conference on the steps of the legislature just in front of our mo- torhome where he once again endorsed our pro- ject in response to a question about it. Later that evening, in a television news re- port about our project, a reporter made the ob- servation “the Ketchums now have more pre- mier’s signatures on their banner than Joe Clark has on any constitutional agreement.” So far, we’re ecstatic about the response we've received. Wherever we are, people sign our banner. We’ve even had phone calls from people who have read an article or heard us on the radio. In Alberta, we were pleasantly surprised and have now revised our image of Albertans. We thought our sign Our Canada Includes Quebec would be like waving a red flag in front of a bull, but we had nothing but encourage- ment throughout the province. By the time this article is published, we'll have met with Premier Ross Romanow . Next, we'll prepare for our meeting with Pre- mier Gary Filmon on Thursday, June 18, then set out for Ontario and a meeting with Premier Bob Rae on June 26 (if a First Minister’s con- ference does not conflict). Our plan is to be in Ottawa on July 1, where we'll have our banner spread out for people to sign in the market area of Ottawa, just three blocks away from Parliament Hill. Harrison continued from page 6 revenue. linemen settled, but the office Nor do I envy the position our It would be foolish of me to suggest that the impact of this strike ends there. It simply doesn’t. Why, area restaurants have little to look forward to during this summer except the occasional Cominco, common- folk or tourist buck that happens their way. Local merchants will have their backs to the financial wall as an already-frugal community tightens its belt. And don’t kid yourself about newspapers, either. The News stand to lose more than a pocket full in advertising It’s a pretty bleak picture, isn’t it? With that said, consider this column to be your introduction to shock therapy. Strange, I wanted to write an upbeat column about how we'll all pull through this summer of discontent together, but every time I pull out a flower, it quickly wilts amid the harsh realities than we are facing. I compare it to a time when B.C. Hydro linemen and office workers went on strike. A member of the linemen union, my father Hal hit the bricks in support of a new contract. The workers didn’t. As a show of solidarity, the linemen union stayed off the job for three months before the office workers got a new deal. My father received no strike pay during that period. The three-month stretch almost cost my family its home and its car. But the worst part came when my always-proud- and-with-every-reason-to-be father was forced to ask for financial assistance from his well-to-do younger brother. As much as I love and admire my father, I didn’t envy his position. workers, our city and our province is in. ° It would be irresponsible for me to pick sides during this labor dispute. Instead, like many others, I'll be sitting this one out, hoping that the two sides get back to the bargaining table before it’s too late. Remember, Castlegar stands to miss out on $84,000 a day in lost wages. And if speculation about a two-month strike is correct, that means’ $5,124,000 in direct wages will be forever gone. Try to write something positive about that.