CASTLEGAR NEWS, MAY 25, 1

980

VOYAGES AND CREW OF ELCO | AND Il

Continued from page B1

board feet of lumber were produced
each yeor,

The sawmill was very economical in
that all possible “waste” wood was used
for some purpose. Under the same rool
as this mill was a lath mill which em-
ployed four men on each shift and
produced about 15,000 Jaths per day.
These laihs were made from the first
cutting of the log, After being sawn into
four-foot lengths, they were conveyed to
the lath mill,

Here a “boulder machine” cut the
slabs for width and a “stripper” cut the
lath for thickness — usually 1'4"x'2"x4',
Much of this lath was shipped to the
Prairies to make snow fences.

The Waldies also operated a shingle
mill. Here, the main equipment con-
sisted of a saw which was built on a
slant. Cedar shingles were made by first
cutting a whole log into 16-inch blocks.
Each large block was then quartered and
cut on the saw, which operated like o
cabbage slicer. Smoothing and tapering
were done on the surfaces by means of a
draw knife.

Finally, they were passed on to the
packer who flat-piled them so that the
air could circulate freely between them
and thereby hasten the drying. To
operate the equipment in the shingle
mill, Mr. Waldie hired two experienced
men from Bellingham, Wash. — Sam
Draine as an edger, and George Cramer

Elco W under construction in Robson in 1925...and its watery death many years ister

the running and. upkeep of the mill.

Sawtilers were necessary to keep
saws in top working condition. Saws thot
were not sharp were a hazard to the mill
because they would not cut straightly
and therefore wasted the board. Also,
dull saws could bind in the log, causing
the saw to break and splinter or
backlash. This could be very dangerous
to human safety.

Because most of the mill was run
from power from the steam boilers, an
engineer was a necessary part of the
working force to see that a proper steam
level was maintained.

In a planer mill, situated close to
the main sawmill, men operated
machinery which smoothed the
roughness from the dried iumber. Some
lumber was only planed on one side.

as a sawyer. These two men operated
the shingle mill until each one met his
death, in the same manner, on Highway
3 near Castlegor. These two car accid-
ents occurred within half-a-mile of each
other, although in different years.

The men who worked at Waldies’
jobs which, in
describing operations, must be quickly
passed over, but all were necessary to

Mill held various

The Kootenay Doukho-
bor Historical Society's grand
opening of its new audio-
visual centre was held May
16 at the Doukhobor Village
Museum, located directly a-
cross from the C:

niture.

lumber

This was used for building purposes.
Other lumber was planed on both sides,
to be used for cabinets, framing and fur-

“Graders” were needed to place the
into various
categories, These men looked at both
sides of the board to determine its
category. The size of the knots lowered
the grade of the board.

Audio-visual centre opens

Premier Bennett attends

The new audio-visual
centre is the latest project in
the society's goal to promote
Doukhobor history and cul-

slides, and play tapes of
Doukhobor choirs’ unique
singing style, thus giving
visitors a more complete

ture. When fully
the audio-visual centre will
and

Airport.

display

paintings, show films and

ledge of the D:
people.

Various officials, includ.
ing Premier Bill Bennett,

Scouts’ tree planting takes

place June 7 at Nancy Greene

Three million trees will
be planted in Canada this
year by Scouts participating
in the “Trees for Canada”
project.

In every province and
the Northwest Territories,
Scouts will be expressing
their concern for their coun-
try through planting trees.
The results of this project
will be a more beautiful
Canada, a land which is less

Editor, Castlegar News:

To the chamber of
commerce, all banks and
credit unions:

I would like to know why
all credit unions and banks in
north and south Castlegar
were closed from Friday to
Tuesday.

I was fortunate to have
Safeway cash my cheque, but
unknown outsiders and
tourists would be out of luck.

Something should be
done about all credit unions
and banks closing that long at
least one should be open.
Thank you.

J. H. Byres

Blueberry Creek, B.C.

ey

Indoor Whitipoat & Sauna
Children with parents Mo Charge

Enjoy a

Weekend

a Two For One Night
$43.00

$3200. =

Stnoar”

Present this coupon
pon arrival.
Expises Moy 31, 1990
Serge eaten Priorat
(403) 253-1101
TeiexO3~ 825678 F

'RIAGE
“HOUSE worn INN

9030 Macleod Tra SE

susceptible to flooding and a
future source of vital raw
materials.

Local boys will be plant-
ing near Nancy Greene Lake
on June 4.

The “Trees for Canada”
project was launched on a
trial basis in Ontario in 1972.
A similar program “Trees for
Tomorrow’ was undertaken
in Manitoba. Both of these
projects have proven that
Scouts enjoy the opportunity
to get personally involved in
contributing to the future of

Canada. In 1975 Scouts plant-
ed more than two million
tree: 2

Trees for Canada” is a
fund raising project. Most of
the funds stay in the com-
munity where it is raised.
The funds are raised through
pledges from people in each
community involved. Pledges
are based on a maximum of
50 trees per boy.

Three million trees will
reach maturity when the
Scouts who planted them
have children of their own.

grades and

Boards two inches thick or wider
were graded for strength; those one.in-
ch thick for Qppearance, and “uppers”

for appearance, “Uppers”

from the first cuts from the lower part of
9 tree, and consequently had no knots
because they were cut from the wide
end of tall trees where there were no

branches:
“Uppers”

larch or spruce.

Outside ‘the mill there were also
jobs for men. Men were hired as “lum-
er pilers” who stacked lumber by hand.
This was o well-; paid job because of the - In
fort needed to continue

Later, the Waldies
“fork-lift”
Castlegar and. Vancouver, which was
used to pile lumber on two-wheeled
buggies. This lumber in turn was stacked
in the yard, or piled in railway cars for

back-breaking e
for nine hours a day.
had the first

shipment.

Much of the lumber produced at
Waldies’ Mill was used in the Castlegar-
Kinnaird area. As people moved into the

were used for casings,
flooring and ceilings. Finally, laths were
graded according to species, either fir,

places which a person could rent while
@ built his house, so building had to

begin quickly, and with available lum-
were made ber.

Open letter
from Kinnaird
Secondary '
School

+ Dear Parents and Other
Ce

( PUBLISHER

The Costlegor News and
the Mid-Week Mirror are both
published by Cosile News Lig.

Mail subscription rate tothe
Eee jor ‘News is’ $20" per
eor ($28 in communities
Vhere the Post Of
ter Corrier service),
on newsstands is 3:
edilion: Tho price dolivered by
wspaper carrier for boll
odition is veal 50t 0 week

You are invited to meet
with the team who will be
evaluating Kinnaird Junior
Secondary School as part of

mihly), Second.
elaxs mail registration number
0019,

The Mid-Week Mirror is a
contralled circulation
distributed by

the total self- pro-
cess bein d. The

corriers and mal to

meeting” ts scheduled for
Tuesday, June 3, at 7 p.m. in
the gym.

The purpose of the eval-
uation team is to have a good
look at the school, check how

~ well the school operates, and

based on. our submitted as-
reports, decide

and schools
all ‘needed tumber and Waldies’ hod
good quality lumber at reasonable
prices which a pe from $16 to'$30 per
on the

year and ‘he lumber market prices.

Many carloads of lumber, faths and
shingles were shipped to various points
on the continent of North America...
There dto.bea
for lumber from Waldies’ Mill, t

whether or not the school is
doing what it says it is.

Part of the team’s work, -

of course, is to discuss certain
questions with you. Items
you'will be asked to respond
to,include a) the degree of
satisfaction you have with
the school, b) does the

there is no record of Waldies’ lumber
ever being shipped overseas,

1910 much of ‘the lumber
produced at Waldies' Mill went to Alber-
ta to such farming towns as Vulcan,

between" Taber, Hanna, Leduc and Wainwright,

elevators.

area buildings sprang up and business

boomed. There were not too many

were on hand to extend their
congratulations. Mrs. Anna
Gattinger, president of the
Kootenay Doukhobor Histor-
ical Society, gave a brief
opening speech, after which
Mrs. Lyle Kristiansen, Ma-
yor Audrey Moore of Castle-
gar, Mayor Chuck Lakes of
Trail, Russell .verigin of the
Union of Spi

which at this time were using much lum-
ber to build homes, barns and grain

Other lumber went to the United
States to large manufacturing centers
like Chicago. Even in 1910 the sale of
this lumber took place throughout the
whole continent,

Conclusion Next Sunday

Twin Temple hosts
annual convention

Pythian Sisters district
deputy grand chief, Helen
Parsons, presided when Twin
Temple. No. 33 hosted the
39th Annual Convention of
District 2, Members were in
attendance from other dis-
tricts as well as from the
state of Idaho.

were wel-

ties of Christ, ohh finally
Premier Bennett, each gave
their congratulations.

The Hon. Grace McCar-
thy, unable to attend, sent
her congratulations by tele-
gram.

Premier Bennett and
Mayor Moore then cut the
ribbon, officially opening the
audio-visual centre. Inside
the building, the visitors
viewed slides on Doukhobor
life in this area, after which
refreshments were served.

Also on hand were Peter
Popoff of Grand Forks, rep-
resenting The Doukhobor
Benevolent Society and John
Postnikoff of Salmo, repre-
senting The Doukhobor So-
ciety of Canada.

comed “including the grand
chief of British Columbia,
Alma Wilson and several
grand officers. -

Most excellent chief of
Twin Temple, Barbara Sim-
mons, gave the address of
welcome, the response was
given by Pearl Palmer of
Maple Leaf Temple No. 4,
Rossland.

Delegates were Doris
Craig, Trail Temple No. 3;
Dorothy Sather, Maple Leaf
Temple No. 4; Heather
Street, Twin Temple No. 33;
Eva Barrett, Rosevale Tem-
ple No. 38; and Joan Marks,
Kootenay Temple No. 37.

The correction commit-

tee had few corrections to

make and congratulated all

SALE PRICE

259

NEWBORN
6 to 11 Ib

USE DAY
AND NIGHT.

‘SALE PRICE

28°

DAYTIME 30
11 to 16 Ib
USE DURING

THE DAY.

SUMMER SALE

STARTS WED., MAY 28

Watch for our Flyer in the Mail

__--WITH NEW

SALE PRICE

299

IEXTRA-ABSORBENCY
DAYTIME
24)

16 to 23 ib

USE DURING THE

DAY —
FOR 11-16 LB.
IEAVY-WETTING

ABIES.

QUILTE

SALE PRICE

T

EXTRA-ABSORBENCY
DAYTIME
‘Ss
16 to 23 Ib

USE DURING THE
DAY — ALSO USE

FORA 11-16 LB.
IEAVY-WETTING
BABIES.

GRADUATION DAY IS JUNE 13th

FATHER'S DAY IS JUNE 15th
SEE OUR WIDE SELECTION OF GIFTS

SALE PRICE

1

‘OVERNIGHT
11 to 23 ib
USE DURING THE
NIGHT AND WHENEVER!
ABSORBENCY
1S NEEDED.

LINING - .

SALE PRICE

399

TODDLER
over 23 Ib

USE DAY
AND NIGHT.

ote RU

SUNDAY, JUNE 1: OPEN — Noon to 1 p.m. & 6p.m. to7 p.m.
MAY 25 — CLOSED
CARL'S ORUG OPEN — Noon to 1 p.m. & 6 p.m. to7 p.m.

Distinguished guests «
and

taking part in the exempli-
fication of ritualistic. work.

The memory work com-
petition was won by Mary
Duffus of Trail Temple. The
signs competition was won
by Nellie Badge of Trail
Temple and Marie Allen of
Kootenay Temple.

The convention was con-
cluded with a banquet where

school effect-
ively with you and the com-
munity at large, ¢) what, as
you see athe, are the

and
located outside the norma}
circulation oreo of thi

Castlegar News. With eas
content changes, the Mirror is
included as o section of the
mid-week Castlegar Nows.

ERRORS

Both the Castlegar News
and the Mid-Week Mirror will
not be respoi
errors in advertisements after
‘one insertion. It is the spon:
sibility: of the adver! to
read his ad when it it first
published.

It is agreed by the adver-
tiser requesting space that the
advertisement is accepted on
the condition that in the event

tion, or in the

errors occur in the publishing
of an odverti t, that por-
tion of the advertising space
occupied by the erroneous
item, eiher “ae

eaknesses of
the mehoel: ‘and, a) do you
feel comfortable in approach
ing the school.

The periodic, full evalu-
ation of a schoo} is healthy.
All of us desire to maintain
high quality education for the
whole child within a system
that is responsive to the
needs of the student and the
community. You can help,
again, by attending this
meeting and sharing your
views with the tea

The team members, are
as follows: D. Lynn, team
chairman (superintendent,
Revelstoke); Ms. S. Granger
(superintendent, Invermere
and Golden); T. Wayling
(director of instruction, Nel-
son); M. Fitzpatrick (director
of instruction, Campbell Riv-
er); T. Rainbow (principal,
Boundary Central Secondary
School); and A. Rosman
(principal, Armstrong Sec-
ondary School).

* If you have questions

the shields were
presented.

Mrs. Parsons was pre-
sented with her district dep-
uty grand chief's pin at a
meeting of the past chiefs.

ding any aspect of the
school's self-assessment,
please eall me.

T.B. Rogers
Principal.

nature, will not be charged tar
but the bal he he odver-

tisement wi paid tor ot the
applicable tale. In the event
oan error, advertising goods
or services ot o wrong price,

the goods ar services need net
be sold. Advertising is merely
an olfer to sell. The offer may
be withdrawnot any time.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT
Full, complete and sole
copyright in any printed mat.
ter produced by Costle News
Ltd. is vested in ond belongs
to Castle News Ltd.; provided,
however, that copyright in
THAT PART AND THAT PART
ONLY of ony adverlisement
prepared from repro proofs,
engravings, etc., provided by
the advertiser shall remain in
and belong to the odvertiser.

CASTLEGAR NEWS
Established Aug. 7, 1947
Twice Weekly May 4, 1980

MID-WEEK MIRROR
Established Sept. 12, 1978
LV. (Los) CAMPBELL
Publisher Aug. 7, 1947

+ to Feb. 15, 1973

BURT CAMPBELL
Publisher

RYON GUEDES, Editor: TIM
MESSENGER, eueriging s on,

yer; LOLS.
Editor; Pere HARVEY. Plant
; LINDA KOSITSIN,

The

Castlegar News.

Sunday
CasNews

is only

15°
on home delivery.

Yes, you save when you get Carrier Delivery of the twice-weekly

Home delivery of the mid-week Castlegar News is 35¢ (the same
price as on newsstands). But, beginning Sunday, June 1, the price of both
editions on Carrier Delivery will be only 50¢ a week (collected monthly).
This means the Sunday edition on Home Delivery is only 15¢ (a saving of
20¢ on the newsstand price).

{f you're not presently getting Carrier Delivery of the Castlegar :

. News, subscribe today.

Phone 365-7266. Ask for Circulation.

CASTLEEKCNEWS

It's all

WHAT are you: going todo if
the voters of Quebec say,
“wee-wee-wee-wee” all the
way home?

Are you going to pack
everything into a covered
wagon and head west, the
only refuge any more for
Anglo-phones?

Are you going to grow a
beard, obtain some false
papers, and slip across the
Quebec. border some dark
night, to fight in the
underground?

Or are you going to sit on
your duff, go right on trying
to take care of your own life,
and let the politicians sort
out the whole sordid scene?

I would venture that 93 per
cent of English-speaking
Canadians will choose the
third of the above alter-
natives.

Certainly 1 wilt. | have no
intention of fleeing into. the
right-wing arms of Alberta,
or the moderately left-wing
arms of Saskatchewan, or
the materialistic arms of
B.C. or Ontario, or the salty,
slo embrace of the
Maritimes. Or even the
hearty bear-hug of the
Yukon.

I’m gonna stay home and
cultivate my own garden. It
may be all weeds, but that
doesn’t give me the right to
point in scorn to the wrecked
cars and dirty gravel that
make up my neighbour's
yard,

You may have noticed that
I have not addressed myself
to the topic of Quebec

of years, except for my open-
ing salvo, which said, more
or less, “Let'them go... no
big deal."

U cited historical parallels:
Britain backing gracefully
out of India, Ceylon, Burma,
and a dozen others; the

nothing so much as a rotten
mother whining, after her
kids turn rotten, "What have
{ done? | always meant the
best for them."*

“What do they want? Why
do they want out?” are the’
pitiful cries of the compla-
cent Anglo majority.

Bill Smiley

French being badly burned in
Indo-China. “and '-North
Africa, when they tried to
hold on by force; the
Americans trying to fight
ideas with napalm and
bombs in an ill-conceived
and ill-fated war in Viet

jam.

And f still feel the same
way. If a majority of the
people of Quebec think they
would be happy if they kissed

“the rest of the family good-

bye, then let’s return the kiss,
throw in a hug, and let them
go. No names. No recrimina-
tions. Just a gentle severing
of the ties, which, after all,
are only a little over a hun-
dred years old, a mere fly-
speck in the history books.
There’s been a great deal
of bewilderment and belated
entality over the
ibility,, among English-
speaking Canadians. There’s
been a lot of sloppy. soul-
searching that... resembles

+ Eknow why they want out,

2 Or, many of them do. They

have managed to retain their

pride of race under two hun-

dred years of subservience
Heater "

in the family

separation in the past couple .

editors were all babbling
away, drowning out the
French. This is the sort of
thing that creates fury among
proud people.

Quebec is one of the most
vibrant and lively societies in
the western world. Its
residents have kicked out the
iron paternalism of the Chur-
ch, exposed and scorned its
corrupt politicians. It has
produced more in art and
music and writing, propor-
tionately, than all the rest of
Canada, in the past decades.

Tt has also sent wise men,
and a few fools, to Ottawa.
Rene Levesque is no Idi
Amin, a buffoon leading
clowns. The province has
vast national resources. Its
leaders” are no _jumped- -up,

Why did the Irish want out
of the British Empire? Why
did the Indo-Chinese want
out from under the
benevolent rule of France?
Why did the Phillipines, and
now the Canal Zone, want to

ick out the Yanks?

Yep. Many, many French-

but in-
telligent, far-secing, op-
portunistic maybe, but
tough, practical men ‘and
women. You can't toss all
that aside with a few sen-
timental platitudes about
one-country.

Again, it’s like a family.
We" ve all been brought up,

d and
served loyally and gallantly,
in World War Il. Know what
they were called, almost in-
variably? Frenchy! With
condescension.

[ was at a ‘‘bilingual"’
newspaper convention a
couple of decades ago, in
Quebec. The announcements
were made first in English.
Then, when they were
repeated in French, the a
mainly English-speaking

the of
Quebec, to the idea that we
are one, that we streich from
sea to sea, that we are “‘dif-
ferent’? from the Yanks and
the Brits, and the French.

In a family, some are will-
ing to see one go. ‘‘He’s a
bum, a drunk. She’s a
tollop, a tramp.’’ But at the
least sign of reform or a
change of heart or habits, the
outsider is welcomed back,
smothered with kisses.

Does living cause cancer?

Even with research rats running interference for me, 1
don’t know exactly when I'm going to die.

But I do know how. I'm going to die ‘of boredom.

If they aren't discovering that kissing causes chipped
fingernails and peanut butter brings on embarrassing itching,
they're pufting a curse on my pizza and the volume on my car

radio.

T can't enjoy anything anymore. In fact, I'm downright

paranoid.

I go around feeling cans to see if they're bent, spitting on
my finger to lick stamps, holding my breath around smokers,
boiling my water and avoiding X-ray machines at the airport

(my luggage doesn't look too good and I'm suspicious).

Lord knows I've tried to please everyone.

A few years ago when they put the finger on cigarettes, I
quit smoking and turned to music for entertainment.

Someone said, “Cooped up in her all day listening to all
those decibels will make you deaf.”

I went to the beach.

Someone said, “The water is polluted and the sun will

cause skin cancer.”

I decided to stay indoors and eat.

Someone said, “Tuna, fried foods, sugar, cereal products,
meat and eggs are bad for you. You should have a check-up.”

I went to the hospital for a check-up.

Someone said, “X-rays are bad for you and so is some of
the medicine they're giving you.”

Erma

Bombeck

I decided to drink.

Someone said, “That will destroy your liver.”

So, I switched to coffee.

Someone said, “That is bad for you.”

I went to soft drinks.

“The sugar is really harmful to your body,” someone said.
T only drank drinks artificially flavored.
“That's bad for you,” someone said.

ll eat snow.”
“And drop dead?”

A friend of mine had a great idea for longevity. She
bought a research rat and followed it around day and night.
Everything it ate and survived, she tried. Everything it
endured without damage, she went for.

Two days ago she called and said the rat died.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Got hit by a mousetrap a block from home.”
+ “Tell me," I said wearily, “was it wearing Mpstiee Ihave

to know."

My old friend Emily Bronte

JOHN CHARTERS’

Reflections &
Recollections

Once in a while, the
“Box” lives up to its promises
and comes in with a goodie.

The other night it was a
40-year-old film version of
Emily Bronte’s famous novel,
Wuthering Heights, with a
youthful Lawrence Olivier
and an even more youthful
Merle Oberon in the lead

. And with it came a
host of recollections and re-
flections.

In the first place, while I
still remembered Miss Ober-
on's quite unusual beauty, I
had forgotten that she was,
as weil, an actress of unusual
sensitivity and skill. This,
together with Olivier's qual-
ities as an actor, and the fact
that the movie was true to
the novel in fact and spirit,
made it well worth the four
stars rating given it by the
TV guide. If you missed it I
ean only extend my sincere
regrets.

Then there was the
author herself. Emily Bronte,
as you may recall, lived with
her two sisters Charlotte and
Ann, her brother Bramwell,
and her clergyman father, in
an isolated manse on the

. Yorkshire moors in Northern

England almost 150 years
ago. It was a brilliant family,
living in the pressure cooker
of Victorian prudery and the
restraints of isolation, and
their writing is an amalgam
of all of these influences.
Father was a reverend
fruitcake who relieved his
frustrations by climbing to a
high window in the manse
during the night and taking
pot-shots at the bell in the
church tower; Bramwell died
early of acute alcoholism; and
the girls, as became decorous
Victorian females, wrote
highly imaginative poetry
and novels, and (under as-
sumed male pen-names) and

in very brief lifetimes, at-
tained the highest rank in
English letters.

A few days later, and by
way of contrast, I listened to
a radio adaptation of a novel
by the modern novelist, Ger-
trude Stein, I believe.
With its peurile profanity,

sex and

book from one of the shelves
of our many temporary, al-
ways cold and frequently
damp libraries. I enjoyed it,
as I have enjoyed many since,
and this brings me to my last
point.

The Castlegar and Kin-
naird public libraries have

and the students of the Kin-
naird Elementary School for
the invitation to act as judges
on the finals in their recent

CASTLEGAR NEWS, MAY 25, 1980

B3

a WRITERS’ DEN /

A utopian proposal: let CUPW
take over troubled Post Office

By STAN PERSKY

(The pre-settlement
musings of a teacher of
political science, sociology,
and anthropology at North-
west College in Terrace.)

SINCE THE BIENNIAL
Great Canadian Postal Strike
and Lockout will be pon us
momentarily, it's an appro-
priate occasion to, offer a
ae defence of the nation’s

000 post office. workers,
ae will shortly be the object
of the public wrath, and to
meditate on the Deeper
Meanlag of ail thls.

The last performance of
this patriotic opera bouffe,
you'll recall, occurred in
October 1978, when the Can-
adian Union of Postal Work-
ers, led by the feisty Jean-
Claude Parrot, had been
without a contract for over a
year and was about to with-
draw its services,

Just as the CUPW licked
its last stamp and prepared
to hit the bricks, the govern-
ment suddenly passed a law
suspending its right to strike.
Somewhat flummoxed by
that unexpected change in
the rules of the collecti

not universally accepted.

ough, against socialism (of

But what is a ewhats either the creeping or ram-

puzzling is the degree of
antagonistic passion aroused
in the breasts of normally
reticent Canadians when it
comes to the post office.
Surely you too must
have suspected that there is
something more fundamental
going on than mere frustra-
tion that the wisdom im-
parted in Aunt Minnie’s la-
test missive (mailed in Moose
Jaw on Friday) won't arrive
until Thursday, rather than
on Tuesday. Your suspicions
are well founded, for what's
at stake are not the mere
failings of a venerable public
service but the most pro-
found of political debates.

But first we should -

quickly clear away false
empirical claims. mean,
once we're in the philosophic
quagmire, we don't want
someone chiming in “But
what about Aunt Minnie's
letter?”

WE'RE ALL FAMILI-
ar with the “atrocity” stories.
Mutilated packages paraded
before us like amputees of

pant’ variety). “You want
socialism?" he thunders.
“Just look at the post office!”

The thoroughly false
premise underlying such dis-
quisitions is that the workers
are in control of the post
office. The popular night-
marish vision of this pro-
letarian paradise is that the
postal workers are i

the nearest scholarly volume
to the acknowledgments
page, where one will find
fulsome praise for the “un-
failing and courteous help-
fulness” of a host of public
and academic libraries.
THAT'S WHEN I
pounce. “If all government
operations are bureaucratic,
inefficient, and wasteful,
what about libraries? They're re

in hammocks and peeling
pineapples with their bowie
knives (when they're not
using same to mutilate your
parcels}.

Of course just the op-
posite is true. But if you point
out that in addition to being
powerless, postal workers
have no greater propensity
toward laziness, malevol-
ence, or kleptomania than the
rest of us, such is the diabolic
nature of the post office as a
target of attack that your
protagonist is sure to shift
ground from Big Labor to the
other ogre stalking the land,
Big Government.

“Compare any privately
run business toa government
"he snarls. “Why,

Tran, letters

whose db

bargaining game, the postal
workers were slightly tardy
in falling to their knees and
complying with the govern-
ment-management decree (in
fact they defied the instant
law for seven or eight days).

FOR THAT BIT OF
effrontery Mr. Parrot and
some of his co-workers were
promptly arrested, and Par-
rot was eventually sentenced
to three months for his
crimes, toa chorus of huzzahs
from all right- ‘thinking citi- |
zens.

This year the ritual”
negotiations between the
government and the CUPW
have reached their normal
state of impasse, frayed tem-
pers and utterance of dark
forebodings (a strike could
legally begin oh May 23, but
is not likely until some time
after that). An authoritative
hint of events to come was
contained in my most recent
Chargex bill which (in addi-
tion to once again unnec-
essarily upping my credit
limit despite U.S. President
Jimmy Carter's pleas that I
be discouraged from reckless
spending) advises me that
should there be an ‘inter-
ruption of regular postal ser-
vice” my monthly tribute can
be offered to my favorite
branch of the Imperial Bank
of Commerce. Could any
omen be clearer?

Matters are now in the
hands and computers of a

weep as though they were
bemoaning the fate of the

hostages. Accounts of postal
regulations as arbitrary as
the decrees of the ayatallah,
Blasphemous as it may
sound, I doubt that such
instances are statictically sig-
nificant. The truth is that
99.9 per cent of everything
that goes into the maelstrom
tends to arrive at jts in-
tended desti

just look at the post office!”
(In the slippery vocabulary of
such polemics, “government-

run” is as quickly equated
with socialism as “workers’
control.”)

WHEN I WAS YOUNG-
er and less foolish, I tried to
reason with such maniacs.
Now I counter with the Li-
brary Defence.

Since it's impossible to
challenge the unsound prem-
ises o} (the

gov
aren't they? And nobody cals
them inefficient.

“If the postal workers
run the post office to the
detriment of the public in-
terest, are you saying that
the library workers run the
libraries to the benefit of the
public interest? How do you
explain the difference? Is
there something inherently
defective in the genetic na-
ture of postal workers as
compared to library work-

* ers?” (This last comes with a

well-placed sneer.)

THESE RHETORICAL
victories aside, we're still left
with solving the dilemma of
the post office.

The postal workers
themselves have a typically
modest proposal to offer.
Rather than running the post
office as a ward of various
federal ministries and from
time to time imposing coer-
cive order upon it by means
of parliamentary after-
thought, why not establish a
crown coproation whose
board of directors will at
least provide a visible man-
agement and the possibility
of a coherent policy? :By the
way, that is also the rec-
ommendation of the 18 or 19
royal commissions, boards of
inquiry, independent panels,
and‘ unemployed’ private ‘de-
tectives who have investi-
gated the problem in the last
quarter of a century.)

My own panacea is some-
what more utopian than the
CUPW's down-to-earth sug-
gestions. Rather than blam-
ing its employees, I propose
giving the post office to the
workers. That would ac-
complish the following: ob-
jectives:

e Instead of suffering
under an incompetent wishy-
washy management (as it's
described by various editor-
ialists), the post office would
enjoy powerful, no-nonsense
management (since those
same pundits constantly in-
form us of the excessive
power of Big Labor).

e The likelihood of Post-
al strikes (one of our major
about this insti-

and legibly. You never hear
any angry fale cocaine

state of argument being what
it is these days), and one is
to talk in their

group of di concili-
ators, facilitators, and child
psychologists who in due
course will produce a piece of

public sp
It was both a privilege anda

pleasure for us, as well as a
Tredit to the speakers and
their teachers They have
made good use of

a shots at our southern
neighbors, it showed itself as
a poor, sad, two-dimensional
print against the rich, broc-
ade of the Bronte story, and
to attempt to compare it was
like comparing the Dick
Tracy comic strip to Shakes-
peare's ‘Othello.”

It was, in fact,'a sharp
reminder. that in spite of
many (modern) cries to the
contrary, it is not affluence
but adversity which is most
likely to give the temper and
the cutting edge to genius.
And that, for reflection num-
ber three.

Then there is the novel
itself. I first read ‘Wuthering
Heights’ at UBC, for a course
on the English novel, given
by that quite remarkable
teacher, and himself a char-
acter out of a novel, Freddie
Wood.

T read it first because I
had to. When I read it the
second time, the film re-
minded me (it was when 1
was chairman of the Castle-
gar library board) about that
small but valiant group of
citizens, who were deter-
mined that, come what
might, Castlegar would have
a public library. I picked the

P in
size and content since the
days when I first met Emily.
They are also lighter, drier
and warmer, but the people
who work in them are still, I
have found, most pleasant,
helpful and eager to continue
improving the service.

Most of the wisest, wit-
tiest and amusing people who
have ever lived are to be
found within the pages of
books on library shelves and
they are ably assisted by
some of the nicest people
behind the desk. They also
need public support to im-
prove service. You may or
may not like either Emily or
Miss Lawrence, but you can
never know what is available
until you look.

I, for example found, ina
brief visit to the Kinnaird
library, a small book on
Ambroise Pare, Medieval
physician, and one of my
heroes — a real find.

May 2-9 is Canada Book
Week (officially) but for the
true adventurer any week is
book week, and at the
Castlegar and Kinnaird Pub-
lic Libraries it is free.

In closing, I would like,
on behalf of all the judges, to
thank principal Jim Corbett

local library facilities.

Congratulations to jun-
iors David Kravski, Sarah
Finnie, Shelly Riemer, Jason
Hughes, Cheryl Carter and
Philip Cardiero, and to sen-
iors (Grade 5-7) Gaye Nixon,
Tommy Jackson, Laurie-Ann
Kravski, Paul Farrell, Peter
Karkol and Carla Harder. It
was fun. Besides, I'm count-
ing on you to improve the
quality of future radio and
TV programs.

prose known as a
report, which will almost
certainly (barring an act of
God) prove unacceptable to
all concerned.

THERE IS_ LITTLE
mystery in this deplorable
state of affairs. At least there
isn't as far as I'm concerned,
since I take it for granted
that the Canadian post office
is, next to Chrysler, the
worst-managed, most nearly
certifiably nuts major cor-
poration in the country, and
its management is about 85
per cent to blame for the
decade-long dispute with its
employees. I'm dimly aware,
alas, that that basic truth is

ti iter loudl:

that his MasterCharge Sstate-
ment didn’t turn up, do you?
So much for the facts.

When your neighbor-
hood bore embarks on a reci-
tation of the horrors of the
postal service, the subject,
you can be sure, is not really
the post office. Anyway, it
turns out he hasn't been
reading Aunt Minnie's letters
for years. Rather, the post
office is an example.

THE FUNDAMENTAL
thesis that it supposedly il-
lustrates is soon.trotted out:
the failure of public insti-
tutions in comparison to the
virtues of private enterprise.
The post office is the con-
veneient villain of a caution-
arly tale meant to warn us, if
one listens attentively en-

terms, I growl, “Oh, yeah?
But what about libraries?”

It’s a fairly effective de-
vice. For one thing, you don't
often hear people muttering,
“That blankety-blank li-
brary!”

As a public service in-
stitution the library is widely
reputed to be reliable, con-
genial, and helpful. Unlike
the private enterprise cour-
ier services that would dear-
ly love to put the postal
system on a profit basis, the
libraries’ capitalist counter-
parts, the booksellers, ap.
parently manage to co-e:
with our “socialistic” book
lenders rather peacefully. it

tution) would be substanti-
ally reduced.

e The accusation that
the post office is a quasi-
socialistic enterprise con-
trolled by. the workers (a
now-pervasive false opinion)
would have some foundation
in fact (thus improving the
nation's mental health).

OF COURSE THIS VIS-
jonary proposal now seems
far-fetched. My prediction is
that as doomsday approaches
and Pierre the Permanent
contemplates imposing the
War Measures Act to restore
the postal service and Aunt
Minnie phones for the third
time to find out if her recipe
for bundt cake has arrived,
this apparently radical prop-
osition will appear to be only

needed to clineh the pee
ment, one merely need open

mildly if not down-
right reasonable.
— Vancouver Sun

worked out.

The terms of the postal workers’ contract will be
important, when they're announced, but not nearly as
important as the fact that an aggreement has been

The measure of that achievement is that it comes
when the resentments have become so deep between
the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Post
Office as to leave the nation despairing of ever having
a functioning, efficient postal service again.

There is no question that public confidence in the
system had reached ground zero and was, in fact,

A basis for a better future?

digging a hole beside which the Post Office was
teetering. Since no system is better than the people
who operate within it, it was vital that relationships
between management and worker be improved if the
Post Office was to be saved.

There is now a chance for better times ahead. No
doubt the new contract, based on the terms of a con-
ciliation board report, is not perfect. Labor contracts
never are. But the important thing is that it may be a
basis on which a better future can be built. And for
that we should all be thankful.
—Vancouver Province