t

OPINION

WEDNESDAY

Long-overdue protection on cod should be applauded

Can you change a tree hugger
into a lover?

Well, that's what Fisheries Min-
ister John Crosbie seems to have
done at the Earth Summit in Rio,

After years of lobbying, Crosbie
has finally ta talked more than 180
nations into the “Conservation and
sustainable use of marine living
resources on the high seas.

5 ll hold an international

— probably next year in
Newfoundland — to draft rules to

prevent

Sadly, this long-overdue agree-
ment coincides with the publication
of a devastating scientific report
which the

Canadians have lost their jobs in
the last five yeats because of
declining catches, Today, more
than 20,000 Newfoundlanders are
employed either in catching the
fish, or in processing it when it is

Mike
Duffy

Syndicated
Columnist

He'll make a final decision next
month, but it’s almost certain he'll
order a complete ban on all cod
fishing — perhaps for up to five
years — as the only way to give the
stock time to

more than $500 million a year, on

top of the billions in UI payments

already poured into the region.
‘€This dependence on the federal

That will throw 20,000 fisher-
man and fish plant workers out of
work. It will also present the federal
and povmcet governments with a

What do you do with the people?
Most live in small isol

foundland Premier Clyde Wells’
defiance of the federal govern-
ment’s constitutional plans.)
Crosbie — indeed all the people
of Atlantic Canada — know the
potential power of the world-wide
It'was

pec dierregocce rapa yaad

landed.
All of those jobs are now in

near
of the northern cod.

It is an ecological disaster, and
the cost to Canadian taxpayers will
be staggering.
for 30 per.

editorial comment

The show must
goon

It seems like lady luck and the Castlegar Festival Society
do not see eye to eye.
With only nine days left until the start of Castlegar’s pre-

With all race-pit areas under water, and a great uncertainty
that the levels will decrease in time for the race, circuit orga-
nizers cannot risk the chance or the expenses of arriving at a
site which is unsuitable. Meanwhile, B.C. Hydro can not
guarantec the levels will be down, since the control is out of
this company’s hands.

Then there is the PPWC labour dispute and the strike that
ensues. Chances are it's going to be a long one, and the spa-
cious parking area located on the other side of the picket
lines, which was needed for the race, is now a restricted
zone. Yet, it's difficult to believe that these picketing work-

of us have a ball on June 26-28. It's likely that right about
now, a few of these people, such as Craig Burton, and Derm
Jackman, who have both put their lives on hold, could use a
pat on the back and a thank you. Even better, the resi of

cod
cent of the area's total catch. The
species was worth more than $600
million in exports last year.
+t is no exaggeration to say that
Newfoundland is a province built
on the cod
An estimated 5,000 Atlantic

The northern cod’s spawning
biomass is down to between 72 to
110 thousand tonnes, as amount that

» scientists say puts the cod in the

real danger of extinction.

Armed with this most recent
study, Crosbie is about to act: “This
is a stock we aren’t going to allow
to be lost,” Crosbie told me on Sun-
day Edition.

“We won't allow it to go into
oblivion.”

ry avail-
able. And even ‘if tt there were jobs,
many of them lack the basic skills
like reading and writing.

Crosbie won’t talk about it, but
sources say federal officials have
been looking at a plan to pay laid
off fishermen and fish plant work- |
ers to go back to school and“
become literate. There is even
talk of having the parents attend
ch 8 in local schools after the
kids have finished their lessons
for the day.

If it happens it will be a massive
operation. Some estimate the cost at

the “tree huggers” who convinced
the European Parliament to ban
seal imports, killing the Eastcoast
seal hunt.

That move threw thousands of
sealers out of work and onto wel-
fare.

Sadly, Canada wasn’t able to
mobilize the environmentalists in
time to obviate the need for a mora-
torium on fishing the northern cod.

Cod fish aren’t as cuddly as baby
seals — but Crosbie’s trip and the
Rio agreement may help to Prevent
the ion of other

species.
And that is to be applauded.

Medical charges soon on the way to the public's charge cards

Keep your eyes on the conven-
tion of the BC Medical A

than $300, wife in a year. This is

in Whistler this month. As a group,
doctors draw little sympathy from
the public in their continuing dis-
Pute | with the provi g

fa dary issue
inasmuch oo none of our doctors
around here are billing anything
close to $300,000. Of more direct

than most of us

and for most peo-

ple, as long as they

don’t see any

reduction in the

service, it's for the doctors to worry
about.

Well, that reduction in service
may be just around the corner and
you may soon find yourself caring
very much about what your local
GP feels. Doctors are angry enough
to start deserting the socialized
medical system. If that happens,
they will still treat you and the gov-
emment will still pay what it pays
now for any given treatment. How-
ever, you will have to pay up front
and claim it from the government,
who will pay you back at their
leisure.

Furthermore, if the government
pays $25 for a consultation and the
doctor charges $30, you will be
paying the odd $5. What has the
doctors up in arms? Three things;
first, the provincial government

cancelled a pension con-
tract, agreed to by the former
administration. It may or may not
have been a good arrangement. The
issue is over how it was done. There
was no consultation, no discussion,

could support this year’s Sunfest in such a way,
that the people on this committee wouldn't have to wonder if
all was for nothing.

SI.

BENATORFERIIGS

BENT OFFERINGS

The Sun

1S POLITICALLY INDEPENDENT AND A
MEMBER OF THE STERLING NEWS SERVICE
Established November 28, 1990
Published by The Sun

Weekly on
485 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C. VIN 1G8

Ro Had the gi

done that with a union, one can
readily imagine the consequences.
Secondly, there is the capping issue.
No doctor will be able to bill more

even doctors billing only

half
Nigel dob
Hannaford

would
Syndicated

still
find
Columnist

them-
selves
sub-
ject to
a second ‘cap’; in this case, the gov-
ernment has set a limit to the
amount to be spent on health care.
If billings exceed that, doctors
will simply have the excess ‘clawed
back’. Example. Dr Smith does
$100,000 worth of work seeing
patients under the Medical Services

Plan of British Columbia. At the
end of the fiscal year, the BC gov-
ernment estimates that their health
budget has been exceeded by five
per cent. Dr Smith has $5,000 cut
from his cheque. It's a bit like your
boss telling you that as the company
has made a five per cent loss, he
would like back five per cent of the
wages he has paid you. On the sub-
ject of billings, $300,000 sounds
like a fat living and indeed, one
doesn’t meet too many anorexic
doctors. On the other hand, it’s not
all wages.

A doctor is actually a small busi-
nessman and has all the expenses of
a small business, including collect-
ing GST for Ottawa. (Doctors are
defined as end users and can’t claim
it back.) A reasonably diligent doc-
tor will end up with a profit, or
salary, according to how you want

DEERE

to look at it, of around $90,000 a
year. Not bad, but much of it earned
at hours for which a good union
hand would be wanting double
time. ‘
The most important reason that
the doctors are mad, though, is that
they feel - with some justification -
that the government has singled
them out to bear the financial bur-
den of balancing the health budget.
Chiropractors, for instance, are
the afc ioned

‘capping’ and ‘claw back’. So too

are physiotherapists, podiatrists,
‘icians and apists for

treatment referred by a doctor.

The doctors may be forgiven for
wondering what the government is
playing at. When the public finds
itself carrying medical charges on
its charge cards, it may well ask the
same question.

The Rock— A special desert place

It was wonderful adventure! My
friend and I were off to see the “Red
Centre” which is what the Aus-
tralians call the area around the
Alice Springs in the Northern Terri-
tory.

Our husbands has declined to

sliding down the whole way on ny

were not prepared for the awe and
ion that d us as we

rear. We were more i
exploring the caves where there are
many aboriginal paintings and
engravings.

To the Yankunitjatjara tribe, the
i owners of Ulura and

accompany us, explaining, “There

is no in the desert!”. I
was excited about the trip. I had
always longed to see a desert area,
other than Kamloops and Osoyoos
that is, and Central Australia is leg-
endary, as is Alice Springs. Central
Australia had no white settlement
until 1872 but the cattle industry
established then had fueled rapid

tries but the nucleus of its prosperi-
ty is still cattle.

Ayers Rock (Uluru) or “The
Rock” as the locals affectionately
call it, and the Olgas (Katajuta) are
the main tourist attractions. Now
returned to its traditional owners as
part of Uluru National Park, Ayers
Rock is one single, smooth, giant
stone, rising starkly 300 meters
above the desert floor. The Olgas,
some 32 kilometres to the west, are
a jambled collection of over 30
domes or boulders that rise 546
meters above the surrounding plain
Many tourist climb Ayers Rock, but
we did not wish to be the first to
have to be helicoptered off the sum-
mit. Climbing up is easy, but you
have to get back down those steep,
smooth slopes and I did not relish

A
Katajuta, and to the Western Desert

wandered deeper into the recesses
of the caves. We found ourselves in
a smaller, hollowed-out cavern
where the coolness and ambience
overcame us. We sat down and | qui-
etly d our

Seasons

Elma
Maund

-

Pitjantjatjaras, these sites are of
vital imp i

We fi ized we could hear the
whispers of mysteries from ages
long past. The echoes of old chants
reverberated across the sandy floor,
beckoning and teasing, yet com-
manding the deepest respect. We
knew some of the caves were of
special significance to fertility rites
for women. We could sense a con-
nection to the past that neither of us
had ever d before.

to their Dr
myths s and legends. They ate depict-
ed in great detail in paintings in the
caves of The Rock and engravings
in the harder stone of the Olgas.
These people could not write but
their customs, traditions and their
whole concept of tribal life and
their intricate relationships, were
recorded, understood and passed on
from generation to generation
through art, song and dance. Today,
you can sense the rich rhythmic
chant of the sacred songs still lin-

Suddenly we realized we were
not alone! A woman had entered the
cave. She was dressed in the Aus-
tralian country woman style,
straight out of a Russell Drysdale
painting. She wore a brightly flow-
ered housedress, sensible shoes with
slouching white socks, a soft,
shapeless hat plunked on her head,
from which escaped long tendrills
of grey hair. Her sun-freckled arms
were bare. She wore no cosmetics,
her eyes crinkled into slits from

gering in the air and ig to the
walls of the caves. These are very
i Ss.

We had done our homework,
sharing an interest in aboriginal art,
so we now ourselves at
feast knowledgeable about the sig-
nificance of the caves. Thus we

q' ig into suns. She
was obviously agitated, her eyes
darting about the recesses of the
cave. she spotted us and gave a star-
tled gasp. Then she launched into a

There followed the most unlikely
collection of misinformation we had
ever heard! She interpreted our
stunned silence as an invitation to
go on, and so on and so on she
went. Nothing she said reflected
what we had read or had recently
felt. It was delivered as a lecture,
punctuated with much arm move-
ment as she warmed to her subject.
Her sudden appearance had totally
shattered the mood, and now her
words were shattering all our illu-
sions. We sat in silence, gazing at
her, transfixed, our minds blank.

Then, without a word, we rose
together from our perches and fled,
running aimlessly up one track and
down another, anywhere, just away,
quickly. As we rapidly retreated her
words, now shouted, floated after

s. “Don’t you believe a word of
this boong nonsense!” As we burst,
breathless, into the sunlight, we
were both struck by the humour of
the incident.

We began to chuckle, then to
laugh, and finally we were hooting
and shouting as we relayed to each
other the details of the old woman's
tirade. Then, calmed, we returned to
the parking lot and our car. As we
looked up at The Rock, it seemed to
change colour, to darken and retreat
in the hot haze of the midday sun. It
appeared to glower and growl, as
though shaded and threatened by
thunder heads, although the sky was

spate of patter. In one lightening
she had dus up
as “American Tourist”.

t,

It is indeed a special place.

Wednesday, June 17, 1992

The Castlegar Sun

Page 7A

Letters to the Editor

This IS proud little city is capable of standing strong against Canada Post

The The folowing | is an open letter
to the Castlegar City Council:

Some residents of this city
may think that Sandra Groepler is
exaggerating, in saying that the
Castlegar Post Office may close
down. Canada Post has made
many drastic changes since

a Crown C

shut-downs “improvements”.

now work 6 am. to 1
a.m. Monday to Friday, 5 p.m. to
1 am. Saturday, and 9.a.m. to 5
p.m. Sunday. We are willing to
serve customers during all our

shopping. Postal workers in
Castlegar

in 1981, ‘such as:
(1) Closures of many offices
across forcing
to. do postal business at franchis-
¢s, such as drug stores, gas sta-
tions, and convenience stores.
Residents of Wynndel, Robson,
Silverton, and Penticton can tell
you all about these shut-downs.
(2) Canada Post calls these

wking hours. 2

(3) Limits on supplies incon-
veniences the customer. Is it pos-
sible that Canada Post wants our
customer to utilize a better
stocked instead of our
post office?

(4) Short staffing, is resulting
in longer line-ups. Fours years
ago, had two full time
wicket clerks, and one relief for

breaks and line-ups, meaning
three clerks could be opened at
the same time. A full time super-
visor dealt with paperwork and
did not run a till. Today, we have
one full time wicket clerk and one
relief (for breaks only). The sec-
ond wicket clerk must try to run a
till, in addition to doing the job
formerly done by the supervisor.
Nobody enjoys standing in line-
ups, but if one does it enough,
chances are, a franchise might
seem like a good idea. This is
what Canada Post is banking on.
(5S) Vacant positions are not
being filled. Locally, two part-
time positions were vacated by
people who transferred in January
and March. They are not being

Greater emphasis needed on education

Dear Editor:
The seston of B.C. are
sum of

do have a crisis on our hands!
We know Glen Clark, the

money to inform the public
about funding concern. My
of 6,000 technol
gists and technicians does not
have the doctors’ public aware-
ness budget, but we do have an
important issue that requires the
attention of the public, industry
and governments in BC and
Canada ... the need for greater
emphasis — which usually
means more money — for edu-
cation.

Two points: (1) we are not
graduating a sufficient number
of qualified technicians, tech-
nologists, engineers, highly
killed tradespeople and others
who produce wealth for our
Province; and (2) far too few
young people are progressing
beyond grade 12 into trades,
colleges and universities. Con-
sider ... 30 per cent of our stu-
dents do not complete grade 12.
Of those that do graduate 70 per
cent do not go on to complete
post-secondary education.

This translates to only one
out of five students who enter
grade one will graduate from a
post secondary institution. We

of Finance, and Tom
Perry, the Minister of Advanced
Education, Training and Tech-
nology, have only so much
money to allocate ... but one
thing's for certain — if we do
not provide funding to educate
and train ‘wealth producers’
like technologist and techni-

cians there will be precious lit-
tle money for doctors and
health and social programs in
general.

Wayne Chernoff, AScT

replaced by permanent staff.
However, at present all the mail
cannot be processed without full
staff, so casuals are called in.
They can be laid off anytime.

(6) Group boxes, instead of
door-to-door delivery, force the
customer to do a letter carrier's
job. Canada Post does not haye to
pay Customers for gas, time, and
the inconvenience, to carry the
mail to your own home. They
save Compensation cost, should
you have an accident.

(7) Canada Post is determined
to eliminate workers, by their
tough position in negotiating a
new contract to replace our
expired 1989 contract. Their plan
is to privatize the post office by

> Presently, there is talk of
twin boxing, which means that
the customer will sort the mail,
choosing between “In town”, or
“Out of town.” Out of town mail
would be taken directly to Van-
couver to be dated, and sorted, all
by machine.

Twin boxing will be taking
place this fall/winter. In BC, it
involved 18 communities, result-
ing in a reduction of 39 full, and
10 part-time

So what will happen, if and
when, Castlegar gets twin box-

Canada Post spokesperson,
Tlona Beiks will tell city council
on June 16, that Castlegar is not

closing at this time, But should
there be a change in the future,
the people will be notified. We
want our traditional post office to
remain, and not be notified of any
closure.

Castlegar is a Proud little on

before profits. Westbank fought
to keep a post office in their town
and won. We can do it too.

The Canadian Union of
Postal Workers, apt

Back in September

Dear Editor:

On the three recycling days in
Castlegar, April 4, May 2 and
June 6, 11.5 tons of recyclable
materials were gath (23,290

one is willing and interested and
asking the big question.

We will be back again in
September. Please save your

Ibs to be exact), More than 450

‘Applied Science Technolo-
gists and Technicians of BC

A big thanks from the Little League

Dear Editor:

On behalf of the Castlegar Lit-
tle League teams, we would sin-
cerely like to thank all the people
who participated in the upgrad-
ing and re-conditioning of the
middle field at Kinnaird Park.

A very special thanks is
extended to Mr. Henry Van de
Vosse for the use of his compa-

interests of
with address

ny’s time & equipment.

The hard work of all the vol-
unteers has made the ball field a
much safer place for our children
to play. Thank you.

Sincerely Yours,
Castlegar Baseball
pepeatertee

people icipated in the recy-
cling.

We'd like to thank Michael
Jessen of the Nelson Recycling
Depot for providing the truck.

The Castlegar Recycling
Committee gave an enormous
amount of help by providing
advice and information on all
three days.

Castlegar Safeway's generos-
ity made this project much easi-
er because of the central
location, and CKQR had excel-

se

umber,
from. for valid reason by the approval of the editor. Send let-
texs to: The Castlegar Sun, 465 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C., VIN
1G, oF crop Oem off s8 the office.

Retirement

lent ad’ It was impor-
tant to reach as many homes as
possible.

Ed Conroy and Katrina Con-
roy did their part by bring their
recyclable materials and Doreen
Smecher donated her time.

A special “Tip of the Hat”
goes to all the volunteers with
the Boy Scouts, United Church
and the USCC that donated their
time.

So where's the depot? Every-

Local doctor announces retirement from medicine

PAUL WALKER

For The Sun

A man who had dedicated his
life to the service of mankind will
be retiring from the practice of
medicine on June 30, 1992.

Arthur Drysdale Johnson, age
73, will hang up his stethoscope
after a career which saw him treat
patients from Parrsboro, Nova
Scotia to scattered communities in

1949, northeast to the gold mining
town of Bralome, to the beautiful
Kootenay Lake community of
Kaslo, and finally to Castlegar in
1952.

After graduating from the Dal-
housie University School of
Medicine in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
in 1947 as a Doctor of Medici

lawn, Dr. Art launched into a med-
ical and surgical practice, known
only to those who have experi-
enced the life of a country doctor.
The office located right in the
home became a meeting place for
the locals when they were under
the weather. After dispensing his
medical wisdom in the office, it
was off to do house call, in and
around the Parsborro area. By
now, everybody's favourite father
figure was driving what

in those day, a very large 1948
black Chrysler sedan, with a hood
that extended out to a point,
topped with a large shiny orna-
ment.

By 1949, the call of the West
was too much. There were fron-
tiers in British Columbia which
hadn’t been tapped since the gold
rush and ion of the rail-

and Master Surgery, the then 29-
year old physician opened his first

just
making their presence felt, and I
can recall Art Johnson pulling out
of a parking space near the college
campus in a brand new, maroon,
1947 Hudson convertible. It was
not only a sight to behold, but how
could interns afford such luxuri-
ous vehicjes making ten dollars a
month?

From Halifax, it was off to
Parrsboro, on the north shore of
Minas Basin noted for the world’s
highest tides. Here Dr. Art opened
his first practice, about 20-miles
from his hometown of Great Vil-
lage where his father Dr. Tom
Johnson, had dispensed wisdom
and humour interspersed with a
touch of human frailty, and some
cures that would make your hair
curl, and probably did from his
own handwritten pharmacopeadia.

Art Johnson surpassed the 38
years his father practiced, and to
date, his younger brother Aubrey
is still doctoring around the area of
Great Village and Truro, Nova
Scotia. Located in a large, battle-
ship gray, wooden house in the
middle of town of Parrsboro, com-
plete with a bandstand on the front

way. With all their possessions
packed into the Chrysler, art and
his wife drove for days across the
hot northern US states and came
out near Vancouver. Art had heard
of the good life in the West from a
couple of his colleagues, and
found himself at the Vancouver
General Hospital doing a short

chance of putting his surgical
skills to work.
He was in Vancouver less than
a year when the call went out to
Dr. Art to really exercise all his
di skills. The
was the Pioneer-Goldbridge
Mines at Bralorne, a bustling

Antiques

301-11 Ave. Castleg

(in Tulips Building)
365-5191

Dr. ARTHUR DRYSDALE JOHNSON

Here is just what the doctored
ordered. A company supplied
home, nt indoor and out-
door recreational facilities, and

above all, “his” own hospital. This
was it!

See RETIREMENT 11A

lables over the
and watch for our ads in August.
In the mean time, we need a
depot. The RDCK is having a
public meeting on June 24, 1992
at 6 p.m. at the Fireside Inn. A
Stage 2 waste management plan

Pa thing Partnership ips
7a opether/

Hi Pardner! The Cancer Society
wants to round you up! Volunteer
your time and your talent; we can
lasso a lot of mutual fulfillment

Callus today!
= ee

RC AN HURON OPEB

will be discussed. Please come
and voice your opinion on the

need for a Recycling Depot.
Thank

Castlegar & District Hows Support

Services Association
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Monday, June 22, 1992
3:00 p.m.
at the Castlegar Home Support Office

1464 COLUMBIA AVE,, CASTLEGAR, B.C. VIN 3K3
PHONE: 365-2148

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