- OPINION The SA ist r Sun Eo ~ /] PUBLISHER MARILYN STRONG Fall is steathily might mean finall on our day off, let of tomorrow. pockets so they m chasing a poppy. and women. kind of life that m: Some of these for them again. brance Day reall. attend services to editorial comment Remember to remember Tomorrow most of us get a welcomed day off. This is good news. The days are growing shorter, and somehow it seems there aren’t enough hours in the day, or days in the week, to finally remove all remnants of summer from our yards. creeping in, and an extra day off ly being able to get those trouble- some leaves raked before the snow flies. While for others, it might represent a welcome respite from work related stress and pressure. While we are all enjoy: ‘ing the cool, crisp fall air ’s not lose sight of the importance Tomorrow is not just another day off, and it is not just old men dressed up in uniforms offering Poppies to passersby who either look away quickly as they scurry off, or grudgingly dig into their ight be rid of the guilt in not pur- As these people pin the poppies to their shirts or jackets, do they fully realize the symbolism there? Do they know that the red is symbolic of the blood that was shed by soldiers? Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, and it has been set aside so we may all contemplate the supreme sacrifices made on our behalf by courageous men These were people who left their hearth, home and families to assure that we all could live the ost of us now take for granted. soldier's lives ended on a battle- field, on foreign soil. Parents and children wept, and widows wore black for their loved ones, who would never smile Tomorrow, while we are enjoying our day off, let’s take two minutes to think about what Remem- ly is. It is not necessary that we honour our fallen soldiers, but it ra is imp that not just one day a is always too high. we our fallen soldiers, year, but often...with gratitude. We rieed to examine these sacrifices with our hearts, and our souls, and we must pray that we will never again have to stand and watch the planes and trains carry our loved ones to war. We must individually, and collectively as a coun- try, never forget the ultimate price of war. The price ...and the return is always too low. —Karen Kerkhoff Wa CRANES By Don Addis IN NO THATS OKAY... IM HURRY © 1982 Creators Syrcate, ine 1S POLITICALLY INDEPENDENT AND A MEMBER OF THE STERLING NEWS SERVICE 465 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C. V1N 1G8 XQ GQ RRS SS RAH OOS . =>. =a A season for predators Predators abound. We are sur- rounded by predators. It truly is a jungle out there! On a recent morning walk, I was startled by what I at first thought was a Golden Labrador Retriever, but no dog travels in such a manner. The animal moved across Highway 3, near the Castleview Care Centre, in four easy lopes and disappeared into the bush behind the Emcon Maintenance Yard That was no dog! That was a cougar! It was very close to an urban area and, thankfully for me, not par- ticularly hungry. That could be because there are so many deer about as well. On another recent morning walk, I was almost run over by a large stag. I have also spotted what I thought was a large black dog, in the same area, but it proved to be a rather timid young black bear that took off like a riffle shot when he spotted me. Phew! I am glad I do not look particularly appetizing first thing in the moming! Predators can also be dangerous for other reasons. I was recently Uldldda SSSR - \\\\ SS WN driving back from Trail, in the late evening, with three other friends, when a mofffer black bear and her two cubs plunged out of the ditch into the road right in front of us! I had been travelling within the speed limit and had picked up the blur of movement on my right in the periph- ery of the driving lights. It was too late to do other than brake and try to avoid them. Somehow, miraculously, I managed a chichane through all three of them! My racing-acquired driving skills not withstanding, my Guardian Angel had been perched on my right shoulder, doing double guide duty, to get us safely through that one! I consider I was very lucky indeed to have avoided a nasty acci- dent. We stopped but the three bears, DOCTOR WILL BELOW We tee , “ SOorroe obviously unhurt but frightened, were history! A friend, who owns two small and much-loved dogs, recently told me how upset he was that cougars and other predators were moving in so close to urban areas. Animals now have rights, thanks to some pressure groups, and so it is not likely that officialdom will do much about predators, other than attempt to move them. That got me thinking about the other predator in our society. We now have predators in white Camaros that prey on young women. We have predators in white pickup trucks who prey on young children. We have teenaged preda- tors who prey on the caps and jack- ets of other teenagers. If they were simply ripping off caps and jackets, that would be upsetting enough. But these young savages are armed with guns and knives, which should sure- ly catch the attention of parents and law enforcers alike We have gang members who are predators. Society seems to treat these rather more casually since they mostly prey upon each other. These are particularly upsetting predators because they prey on our weak and innocent. Most of our society treats these predators with the contempt they deserve We also have predators of anoth- er sort. These are the pressure and special interest groups, who prey upon the naivety of the rest of us. Some of them are masked as reli- gious sects and other are accredited with political, economical or other interests. It is only when we look beneath the surface of their doc- trines and platforms that we see the hidden agenda and the need to direct and control. I am always par- ticularly suspicious of any individu- al or group who seeks to control, in whatever sphere they operate. We should all have a healthy respect for predators, whether walking an urban street or a forest track. Preda- tors come in all colours, shapes and sizes, and sometimes, clever dis- guises. So, take care out there! It is the season for predators! Tuesday, November 10, 1992 The Castlegar Sun Letters to the Editor Merchants killing the true Christmas spirit Dear Editor: I think that I'll be giving up Christmas this year. No, I haven't taken up a new religion. Nor am I an atheist or a grinch. But when Christmas catalogues start show- ing up in October, that's the last straw. One such catalogue?even warmed that the sale prices were good only until November 21. What is this, a threat to spend your Christmas money early, before some other shopkeeper gets it? Next, the Christmas craft bazaars join the stampede with their admittedly attractive (and somewhat more practical) gift displays. Soon the stores will jump on the already overcrowded bandwagon with their tacky dis- plays of semi-funny Christmas cards. What happened to the Christ mas that was a spontaneous occa- sion? You know, the infectious holiday spirit that you caught from your children, as they became excited about a week before St. Nick's nocturnal visit Or what about the happy antici- pation of sharing festivities with friends and relatives; a quiet reli- gious service with your family? Oh sure, I know you should make some Thanks houses take a few weeks to deliv- er goods. But that doesn't mean we need to be bombarded from all directions with sales propa- ganda the day after Thanksgiv- ing. In their frenzy to extract the last dollar from the shopper, the merchant is quickly killing the goose that lays the Christmas egg. This year I will give a spe- cial letter or phone call to those on my shopping list. I will save my gifts for random special occa- sions, such as birthdays and to Canada Post, we need to mail cards and parcels a month in advance, And some mail order aries, Dissidently Yours, George Stein Whines of bad calls didn't deserve coverage Dear Editor: I find it necessary to respond to Tom Campbell's (spokesman for the Castlegar Tom Cats) com- ménts regarding the refereeing in the Trail Flag Football League (T.F.F.L) championship final in last Wednesday's Sun. I was sanctioned by the league to be a head referee throughout the 1992 season, the semi-final game, and also the season finale. Following the game I received Praise on a game well ref'ed by the league president, members of the executive board, the Trail Bulldogs, and yes Tom, even your own teammates. Castlegar’s nominee for top quarterback Gord Sandrin and Castlegar's M.V.P. Neil Bermel both shook hands with me after their disap- pointing loss, Bermel adding “you ref'ed a good game.” The November | final was an outstanding football game and it is unfortunate that the sportsman- ship exemplified by Gord and Dear Editor: The Canadian Cancer Soci- ety is a national organization of volunteers, whose mission is the eradication of cancer and the enhancement of the quality of life of people living with cancer. Toward this end, the Castle- gar unity recently held a clinic and taught 20 local women the correct procedure for checking their own breasts for any changes. If this is done on a monthly basis any change can Mammography van making third visit to Castlegar cancer is detected early the chance of successful treatment is greatly increased. The Mammography van will be making it's third visit to our community January 18 for five days. A yearly mammogram, for women over 40 years of age is an additional means of early detection of breast cancer. Those who have still not utilized this free service are urged to call 1- 800-663-9203 during office hours to be sure they are on the be assessed by the woman's own doctor. If breast PP list for January. Ruby Marsh Obituaries Mable Anne Bonderoff On Saturday, November 7, 1992, Mable Anne Bonderoff of Pass Creek passed away at the age of 44 years. Funeral service will be held at the Castlegar Funeral Chapel on Thursday, November 12, 1992 from 10 am. until 12 noon. Burial will follow at the Pass Creek Cemetery. Mable was bom October 10, 1948 at Trail, B.C.. She grew up at Pass Creek and attended schools in both Pass Creek and Castle- gar. She lived at Delta, B.C. from 1979 until 1989 when she returned to Pass Creek. She enjoyed reading. Mable is survived by her mother Nettie of Castlegar, one son, Raymond McConkey of Blewett and one sister, Joyce Magee of Richmond, B.C. Aunts, Uncles and cousins also survive. Funeral Slings and arrows Nigel Hannaford Syndicated Columnist ing a canter through a labour code is about as interesting as a long drink of warm water. On the other hand, it’s pretty important stuff and it’s going to affect the future job-creation prospects for the province so let's grit our teeth and get into it What our friends in Victoria have come up with is nothing more than a Christmas present for their pals in the BC Fed. Actually, ‘present’ is probably the wrong word. Payoff would be more like it. Not surprisingly, the employers are howling mad, because the scales are tipped well and truly towards the unions. Granted they expected the NDP to pay off the unions for years of generous sup port, but did théy have to be so open-handed? The theory of labour legislation in Canada has hitherto been to give the two sides, labour and management, roughly equal power and let them slug it out. Thus, for instance, the one side can strike, the other can lock out. Govern- «ment was to ‘hold the ring’, pro- " vide ‘a level playing field’ or some such other sporting analogy and controversy has primarily raged around whether they were doing this fairly. Today, the controversy rages on and for once, management can claim with some justification that the BC government has really done it to them with Bill 84, the amendments to the Industrial Rela- tions Act, henceforth to;be known as the BC Labour Code. A quick review of BC’s labour law will reveal why. Until the early 1970s, labour legislation in Canada was fairly standard, but under BC's first NDP government, a neW labour code was written up by a Toronto pro- fessor by the name of Paul Weiler. He was guided by the thought that unions needed ‘a leg up’, to bal- ance the commanding position of employers, the level playing field argument, as it were. This kind of legislation was enacted in BC by Mr Barrett and similar statutes fol- lowed in Ontario and Quebec, later in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It was written into this proto- legislation that the purpose was to “encourage collective bargaining’ (as opposed to merely facilitating it) and naturally, the provisions reflected this. For instance, certifi- cation was made easy. There was no vote; the union organiser had merely to go to the labour board with signed cards for fifty-five percent of the workforce. There was no need for the other forty- five percent to even know this was happening, let alone was there an opportunity for the employer to counsel his employees of the implications of their actions. It was very much a one-sided opera tion When Mr Bennett became pre- mier in 1975, the Labour Code was modified. In particular, the Purpose clause was re-defined, namely that the code was to ‘ ices and p 4 1 P of collective bargaining’, an alto- gether different emphasis from ‘encouraging’ collective bargain- ing. Later Mr Vander Zalm's Bill 19 introduced further modifications, such as dropping the percentage of cards from fifty-five percent to forty-five and easing decertifica- tion. The NDP’s proposed legislation reverts to the original model; it’s Purpose is to ‘encourage the prac- tice and procedure of collective bargaining’, which may be read as encouraging unionization The practical outworkings of this are manifest in such provi- sions as automatic -certification and the prohibition of using replacement workers in a strike and also the more complex proce- dures dealing with decertification Automatic Certification - This part restores the Barrett govern- Ment’s intent; if a union applying for certification shows that fifty- five percent or more of the employees in the proposed union are members of the union, then it will be automatically certified to represent the employees in the unit. Secret ballots are eliminated where a Tepresentation vote is required. As in the past, the employer is not supposed to say anything to his employees and indeed, those who might not favour the intro- duction of a union may well be bypassed by those who do. Replacement Workers - Another of the more significant changes, contained in Section 68 of the leg- islation, is the adoption, almost verbatim, of the proposed Ontario legislation prohibiting the use of replacement workers during a strike or lockout. This ban extends even to the use of management personnel from another plant owned by the company. This will result in a substantial curtéfiment of an employer's abili- ty to resist union demands. In most businesses, the beginning of a strike will be tantamount to shut- ting down an employer's business. Of course, striking employees remain free to take up alternative employment to replace lost income for the duration of a work stop- page, while the owner of the busi- ness may be suffering a substantial reduction or complete cessation of income. He is thus under much greater economic pressure to set- tle Provisions such as these make nonsense of the idea of equal eco- nomic adversaries A catalogue of further examples would make dry reading, but the whole thing can be summed up - from the employer's point of view - as ‘encouraging unionization’ From the point of view of the employee, the new code will also Strengthen the grip of the union hall over them. There are no more secret ballots for instance; the implications of that are obvious. It is also demonstrably unfair that an employee could find his workplace certified without his prior knowl- edge The argument that this code somehow takes this province into the ‘mainstream’ is a disingenuous one; if by ‘mainstream’ the NDP mean that it follows Ontario's example, well, they may be right However, Ontario's record of job creation and attracting investment since the NDP took over is not the kind of mainstream we want in BC At the very least, this bill should have been subject to a pub. lic review process for further scrutiny and consideration by the people of BC are under the directions of the Castlegar Funeral Chapel. Margaret Graham On Monday, November 2, 1992, Margaret Graham passed away at Vancouver General Hospi- tal after a lengthy illness. She was bom in Glasgow on August 3, 1926, the eldest of ten children, she married George Graham in October of 1947 and moved to Canada in 1957. Margaret was predeceased by her husband in January of this year and is survived by her sons George and Philip Graham of Robson, daughter Jordan Watson and Heather Graham. of Castlegar, Violet McGilp of Two Hills, Alberta, Kathleen Graham of Cranbrook, and Colleen Graham of Nelson. Plus 17 Grandchildren and six great Grandchildren. In Scotland she leaves behind her Mother, Margaret Moir, brothers, George and David Moir, sisters Mary Corcoran, Betty Haining, and Jane McKeefery, plus many many other relatives and one sister Isobel Waters in Calgary. Mrs. Graham was loved by her many friends and neighbours par- ticularly from Robson, with her great nature. She was a great strength to her family and will be We Install BUILT-IN VACUUM SYSTEMS + NO Bags to buy + NO Filters to clean + 4.1 peak horse power + 140° water lift + 10-year motor warranty *59 (Other modete available) 365-5087 COMPLETE WITH HAND TOOLS, missed deeply. Cremation will take place in Vancouver — there will be no service at the request of the family. In lieu of flowers, family would appreciate donations to the Cancer Fund, P.O. box 3292 Castlegar, BC VIN 3H6. If anyone wishes to extend a message to the family, your calls will be gladly accepted at the home of daughter, Jordon Watson, 365-6892. Neil, along with the rest of the league was not highlighted in the article but rather Tom Campbell's whines of “shitty calls” and “refs (that) should have kept their eyes open and not had their heads up their butts.” It was not the referees that threw the two interceptions late in the game that determined the outcome. You lost Tom, so relax and loosen your diaper, there is always neXt year. Tan McMillan Letters Policy Letters to the Editor are wel- come on any topic of local or general interest. Letters should be double-spaced, typewritten, or legibly handwritten, and no more than two pages if possible. Let- ters 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 witheld 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 Silver Rattle Antiques 301-11 Ave. Castlegar (in Tulips Building) 365-5191 Fine furniture to small collectibles, youl love our collection of antique treasures Stop in to browse, get decorating ideas, or find a gift for yourself or someone special We look forward to seeing you soon YESTERDAY'S TREASURES (lobby - Hi-Arrow Hotel) 651 - 18 St., Castlegar * 365-2700 =78) psesese=esece>sre>e-e>s2a-e>e>e=82 HEADLINES THEATRE IN COOPERATION WITH THE BC ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN FRIENDSHIP PRESENTS THE BC PROVINCIAL TOUR OF UT ofthe SILENCE Forum Theatre about Violence in the Family "The performance and treatment of the difficult topic of family violence had the clarity, focus and brilliance that comes from direct experience. The cast members were extremely knowledgeable of their roles and played their parts eloquently." Lorna Williams - First Nations Education Specialist TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 Stanley Humphries Secondary Sckool 720 - 7th Ave., Castlegar 8:00 pm ¢ $6.00 sponsored by: Castlegar Community Services 365-2104 Castlegar Foods PRICES EFFECTIVE THURS., NOV. 12 to WED., NOV. 18 Castlegar Foods - 635 Columbia Ave Cut from Canada Grade A Beef TOP SIRLOIN STEAK Boneless @ Family Pkg. * 6.59 kg, Bere? Castlegar * 365-5755 Vans Deli Style ROAST BEEF Pioneer SLICED BACON 500 g 39 pkg. 99. g WEINERS All beef or chicken © 454 g. 39 *] pkg. B.C. Grown GREEN CABBAGE 64 kg. 29: Golden Ripe BANANAS 73 KG. 99% California Grown Fresh AVOCADOS 88° local Grown, Red Delicious {unch Box APPLES 1.30 kg. Favorite 5 ¢ lb. Weston's | ENGLISH MUFFINS 6's pkg. 99 Castlegar Foods @ White or Whole Wheat BREAD 570g 79 Blue Label APPLE JUICE Norther Country Unsweetened ORANGE JUICE 1 Litre 341 ml. @ limit 4 99° 69: No Name CHEESE SLICES or CHEESE SPREAD Big 1 kg. size © limit 2 3499 Foremost X-LARGE EGGS limit 1 with $25 grocery purchase ¢ dozen Universal PINK SALMON TUNA 213g Paramount Flaked Light 133g 95° 69! Foremost 2 LITRE MILK skim © 1% © 2% © Homoginized ® Limit 2 1” Foremost GOURMET EGG NOG FREE With $25 grocery purchase * overlimit price $1.29