‘ Hy 4 Fy i 7 3 3 BI ‘ : i 4 t ‘ { : Te wate eee te ap aventecmy mete ee ee nS ant niees Raiiuprytiaay AQ serede we wily The cS Stl idar Sun AIS PUBLISHER JON JARRETT SHARLENE IMHOFF DONNA JORY EDITOR ADVERTISING REP. ,, JOHN SNELGROVE CATHERINE ROSS (ODUCTION MANAGER ADVERTISING REP, DENISE GOLDSTONE JON JARRETT CIRCULATION MANAGER ADVERTISING MANAGER JIM ZEEBEN CHRISTIE M*KAY REPORTER PRODUCTION BRENDAN HALPER MARION ANDERSON REPORTER PRODUCTIONREPORTER Direct Department Phones. General OFFICE cerecersrseren 065-5266 965-5266 365:7848 sores 5-278 165-5579 ° seanen aoseeer 6-7 762 cl Hod Display ‘Advertising editorial comment Appreciating being healthy Grumblings regarding health care in British Columbia are coming ever steadier, ever louder these days. Patients are being asked to wait in excessive line-ups while suffering life-threatening inflic- tions. Some never make it to the top of the list. The grief that a family must feel when a loved one has been passed over by the system until it is “too late" can only be imagined by most of us. Yet is it Fight tc to condemn the entire health care system for failure? This year, the Provincial government claims it will be spending about $5.6 million, or one third of the budget on health care. By their figures, that amounts to over $1,680 for every man, woman and child in the province. When one thinks about the population of B.C., that's not small potatoes. So why are people being made to wait, when they are indeed suffering? Maybe the cracks are forming because of poor management, not lack of money. Even in Third World countries, officials are dis- covering that delegating funds towards the promo- tion of a healthy lifestyle, healthy eating, proper fitness and disease prevention are much more effective, Not only effective, this preventative medicine is also cheaper. No one enjoys the benefits of being healthy more than when they are sick. Maybe funds should be increased in health promotion. Note: This editor would like to thank the staff at the Castlegar and District Hospital for mak- ing her first (and hopefully last) stay a comfort- ble and quick one. A Little Knowledge 1) Of what significance is the tune, * ‘Anacreon in Heaven", to the Americans? : 2) What is the capital of Nicaragua? . 2 Wit rvine ae te Sal “Eater Town ships’? = 4) Who was prime minister before. Brian’ Matron 7: By Don Addis 2991 Geexor Sencate, he The Saeting: jar Sun 1 , 7, we “_1S POLITICALLY INDEPENDENT AND A MEMBER OF THE STERLING NEWS SERVICE Established November 28, 1990 » Second Class Mailing Permit Pending Ron Jeffels H Syndicated Columnist That remote Grade 6 teacher of mine, Mrs, Scott, had a wondrous way of impressing the idea of Time, Eternity and Infinity upon our frag- ile, untutored minds, Imagine, she said, a gargantuan cube of solid marble, each of its i being one hundred miles, Once every century, a dwarf hummingbird with an arthritic neck and no will for work comes to sharpen its beak on the stone, then flies away. The time it would take to erode the rock represents Etemi- ty and the Infinite. Well, I wish Mrs. Scott were here today. We need her. Alas, she went toa richer Joam and a more benevo- lent government nearly half a cen- tury ago. But I'd like to resurrect don't know what big ist Take those number workers in Ottawa and elsewhere. They tell me, and my spectral Mrs. Scott, that the national debt is now 400 billion dollars . . . and counting, But that means nothing to them, nothing. It’s just’a sedate little hiccup in’ the gleaming gullet of a Revenue Cana- da computer. The 1991 deficit in Ontario — planned and pre- ordained by happy disciples of the Dismal Science — is a mere nine billion, And we're spending a truly subordinate 25 million to add Spicer to the national stew, spending $700,000 to renovate the Litchens in Rideau Hall, my febrile mind seizes the concept immediate- ly, even though I am a mathemati- cal illiterate, That's one helluva lot of mixers, dicers, blenders, strain- ers, microwaves and cheap plaster board! Agreed? ‘There's an ad on telly these days that says more about numerology than Statistics Canada ever can, An oldster, with a pinched face and an empty palm, totters out of a greasy spoon, shakes his head in disbelief, then says in a broken voice: “$18 In a Canada where fc t ten of us can’t do basic, Piper ping arithmetic — official reports say so — the idea of a billion has no ing, no ing at all. In for lunch! $18 for a simple lunch!" And he i that 18, I ienley ‘with his stumble and mumble and the grease on his Spoon, 50 I now advance the most fact, the world can't even make-up its collective mind about the billion. Canada thinks that it's ten to the power nine. The British — odd as always — claim that it’s ten to the power twelve. Makes a difference, y’know, especially when you're in the bankrupt’ 's restless bed, count- ing inary sheep in theory about money since Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. I demand the Nobel Prize and a Stormin’ Norman knighthood for my with an upright carriage and an opposable thumb forms his ideas about the value of money precisely Mrs. Scott, if only ona basis, and plead with her to teach the concept of the infinite to some of our politicians who also have fragile, untutored minds. They Slings and arrows The news that Canada has more generals than tanks, (144 to 130) ‘was cause for some mirth this week. Nigel Hannaford é Syndicated Columnist Upon closer inspection, it tuned - out that we also have more admirals than ships, more officers than enlisted men and an inventory of equipment that would inspire inter- est among collectors but little fear in any presumptive enemy. In short, defence policy has been a shambles for 30 years and continues to be so. It’s hardly news. ‘The appointment of career politi- cian Marcel Masse to the position of defence minister fits right in with the non-philosophy of our govern- ment; his first act was to cancel sev- eral equipment orders. Unlike Perrin Beatty, Mr Masse is not par- ticularly interested in defence and most recently figured in these columns for his announcement (as of ofa pastures. I wish they'd use simple, direct numbers I can understand. For example, when I'm told that we're at the when puberty first pours hot hormones into his cold blood — say at the age of 13.” Well, my puberty is gone, long gone, so I can’t get used to the idea Here it is: “Any sentient creature - that the cig Bt pack ‘of fags in 1991 is exactly, to the cent, the same as a full day’s pay for a teach- er in 1950, Or that a litre of octane- unknown gas now costs more than a bottle of saint-seducing Beaujo- Jais did in 1946, And that was a good year. That a two-cent stamp now goes for 40... plus the Gross * and Swinish Thx, of course. That a man pays as much to have a shirt laundered as he spent'on the otigi- nal — what? — 20 years fee. I tend to hand on to my shirts. And I grow just a little fretful and disobedient when the ads tell me that the big, imported German mus- cle car can be mine for just or only or as little as... 75 dou! Doesn't sound little, only or just to me, We've Sot to stop this numerical Ihave two sol First, we destroy all computers and replace them by the ancient Chinese abacus, That'll make the number workers tell their. beads! Or, better still, we scrap Arabic numbers antl return to Roman. So, okay, Mr. Minister of Finance, tell me: How many M's, D's, L’s, C’s, X's and I’s ir. 100 billion? The debt, y’know. RR. Jeffels is a Richmond free- lance writer and former principal of The Open Learning Institute. SOCRED LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGN SWINGS HIGH GEAR INTO mery ns rote ecpmras ti improve our security? Usually, it ‘was a combination of influence and economics which decided where and whether equipment was bought; so frequently that has translated into keeping infrastructure (bases) of questionable value open instead of buying the right goods and keeping it lean. And paying all those gener- als, of course. Now, the supposed ‘casing of tensions’ in the easter bloc is being ~ cited as reason good enough to dra- matically reduce what little armed force has survived the Trudeau- $45 million grant to study the nature of Canadian culture. It is easy to pass judgement on the politicians of course and succes- sive g have dl: years. (Our haste to claim the so-called peace dividend is somewhat hypocritical, because we never had much of a defence invest- ment. But let that pass.) U made military decisions for every reason except the right one: does it ly, though, the great Canadian public has to accept the blame for this mess, along with all Preston Manning “A Tory voting for Preston Man- ning would be like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders.” - worried Con- There seemed to be as many young people—the crowd I’d thought had given up on politics— as there were adults in attendance. At M ing’s. Ottawa event, there were even Reform groups from Ottawa and Carleton Universi- ties selling party memberships. mney claim to be attracting 1,000 a week in Ontario. Salted through the Ottawa crowd were many Feline. business people. Tr. but the other things we don’t like or didn’t want, because we voted for these people and because frankly, we didn’t care enough about defence. Politically, it’s easy to cancel a program, to make cuts, because not enough people actually care enough to want to defend this country. It's kind of pathetic to listen to high- schoolers who when asked if they are proud of their country will eagerly say yes, but react with hor- ror to the thought that they should i di ing it. A i ahead, their parents, as a body and with the usual exceptions, care a lot more about the environment or ‘social issues’, never once making the connection that the first social service which a government sup- plies is national security. Otherwise, there isn’t a country any more. _ We seem to accept this, ‘We need a policy. That policy has to be something along the lines that this country should be defended and that along with all the rights that Canadians have should go the responsibility to contribute a year of their lives and also to pay for it. If we can't do that, we're not much of acountry. The second half of that policy should be that we should be com- mitted to the defence of the Canadi- an homeland, which means that we need a navy, an air force and a small territorial army, (ie core pro- fessional plus large reserve). No, there doesn’t seem to be an immediate threat. But we need this much for the same reason people put locks on their doors, in case bad guys come prowling. The world remains an uncertain place, glasnost notwithstanding. as Col. Sanders? There would be an end to multi. turalism and a 15 per cent across the board cut in federal government spending. No one has asked Mr. Manning to explain how medicare will func- tion, or how seniors will survive with 15 pez cent smaller pensions. But why. quibble over details: Man- ning doesn't. Over all, his speech with its implied message of restrictions on cutting down those Like patients with a scrious dis- ease, Conservative MPs were seck- ing reassurance. They'd heard the | mews reports of Preston Manning's Reform’ of: Ontario, but they couldn't believe it. “Were you there?” they asked. “Were there really ‘six thousand? And did they. seiualty, pay admis- sion to hear him?” ; be a'son of. Alber. : : ta, but his; ‘right-wing message struck a responsive ‘chord in Central 3,00 in Ottawa, ‘and they‘ weren't ‘fast bored ‘senior. ' itizens. Tory they explained they were just there to take | aes look at this Wester politi- cal curi But they they quickly got caught up in the mood of the evening and were applauding loudly. Reporters played spot the ethnic. There were no blacks to be seen. No orientals., After a lot of searching, one journalist ‘claimed | to have seen a single turban. Manning is'an effective public 2 speaker: He's spent ycars on his “pitch, his. appeal to Canadians to: highly paid civil servants; putting Quebec back in its place and bringing back the noose, got a good response. \But you have to wonder if his message isn’t a bit like Chinese food. Enjoyable : atthe moment, but then when you" ve had time: to digest it, behind ion; New D dua t close..the..door to a “reformed” Senate; why they opted to “study” rather than call-for the outright abolition of the “notwith- ing” clause in the and why they are downplaying their traditional support for greater * public spending and ‘more government intervention on the economy. A long-time Liberal backroomer who quietly watched Manning's Ottawa event, suggests the Reform Party Could take more than’50 seats ia the next election, mostly from the « She estimated ‘Reform ‘would steal enough votes from thé Tories in Ontario to guarantee a Liberal Western New Democrats are nearly, as worried about Reform as Tories. é vehicle through which | Westemers with could express their, unhappiness’ the: federal system. But if Reform becomes the voice of that discontent, = many tidings now held by New PY Deneanseniabeta dames’ sweep th and ; Metro Toronto’ 8. ‘heavily ethnic rid- ‘ings, and’she't suggested | Reform could: pick: up enough blue collar rtfin the 'NDP'’s;, Wednesday, June 19, 1991 The. Castlegar Sun Letters to. the E Editor : * Dear Editor: i ‘Tam’ serlously disturbed hoi the reports I have heard regarding the future of the Kinnaird Hall. ‘The suggestion that destruction of this building ‘was even consid- ‘ered. is Hemi Jt is shocking Hall destruction is ized ‘vandalism is prevalent *“in modem society to speed up and choke our land-fill problems, ‘ Perhaps a short history of this hall would be helpful in cxpinin- ing why I am so sentimental about the heart, ‘soul and spirit’ of. this strates that ” Dear Editor: 4 Have you: checked your insur- ;, ice policy lately? No? Not many of us'have reason to, we pay.our companies aren’t the only ones deathly afraid of a nuclear. acci- dent; EG, Westinghouse, and other manufacturers ‘of nuclear money: for its , until someone. wakes us up or we > need to make:a claim..I:'was woken up today and I checked my policy.: Sure th, »under so: fear iptcy fol- lowing a meltdown caused by. one of ‘their’ products that’ they demanded-a 100% government “EXCLUSIONS” is “This Policy - does not insure. against loss, destruction'or damage caused - directly: or indirectly: ... (b) by any-nuclear incident as defined in the Nuclear Liability Act, or by nuclear explosion or contamina- tion by radioactive material." I received a newsletter. from Energy ‘Probe: Research Founda- - tion today pointing out the fact: that insurance companies find nuclear power too risky and they won't: insure anyone ¢ at any price against any: Mability whatsoever. “And the government gave it to them, through federal legislation called The Nuclear Liability Act.” so even if an accident kills and “dreds of In Kiniaird, « as well ag in‘hun- linthinkable. ‘social ities such as Canada, there was. a need ‘for a Community Centre where the ordinary folks could mect to dis- cuss the problems of the people concemed, A’centre to provide facilities dnd available" ‘space for “so everyone is now. safe — the insurance companies, the nuclear industry, our governments —— everyone, that.is, except you and the rest of the pul lic,” writes’ Rubin. “Financially, your means of livelihood could be wiped out, and your property destroyed.. You and -your:family could be ruined. And there is’no way to protect yourselves, because the government has seen to it that you have no recourse, Its that:in the injures hundreds of thousands of people, their bottom line won't be effected. But. what about the farms, small businesses and pri- vate homes belonging.to millions of Canadians in the same acci- dent? They could be destroyed, along with their life savings..And these companies that are clearly against a Ch type inCanada. : . ° Norman Rubin, Director of Nuclear Research for Energy Probe goes on to say: even if they have deliberately cut comers in manu- facturing or knowingly shipped defective products, wouldn't have to pay one penny in compensation. event: of a nuclear accident, the GE's and Westinghouses have absolute, 100% protection.and you have virtually none. According to Rubin, “No other ‘industry has: the freedom to ‘ destroy the health or property of innocent third parties, who can neither. insure themselves before- hand :nor sue for compensation afterwards.” Because the Nuclear Liability Act is so offensive to basic jus- tice, Energy Probe began a court dings, church services, little theatre plays, concerts, dances, funerals etc,, was essential.” funds to levy taxes for local improvements. Therefore, , the people acted cooperatively to obtain a site (cither bought or d.) With vol labor Until the time that a ty was of sufficient size to petition the government of the day to | grant incorporation, there were no ‘Time to check out your.insurance policy case in 1987, This court case “has become an endurance test, with the nuclear industry disputing our Tight to Present evidence at every tum,” writes Rubin. The Energy Probe team of lawyers, headed by Clayton Ruby, is pitted against the ; combined resources of the federal government, the utilities and the corporate giants of the nuclear industry. Rubin believes that all Canadi- ans will financially benefit as soon as the nuclear Liability Act is struck down because if there is a nuclear accident, those responsi- ble would be forced to pay for damages. Other benefits would include a tightened safety stan- dard, better training to reduce human error leading to catastro- phe, and the eventual phase out of nuclear reactors, If anyone wants more inf and skills of themselves and their * families, workers erected ‘a’ struc- ture and organized “The Kinnaird Improvement Society.” ' ’ As the village continued to grow, more services were required to serve the needs of the village, A library was established (Staffed by dedicated volunteers,) in the Hall. Kitchen facilities were installed, chairs and tables were for bi lectures and meetings. A caretaker was hired to look after,the Hall and to arrange bookings. Dances were organized to pro- vide funds for the mai of ‘contributions this hall has made: “used as class-rooms; scout and guide hall; * women's auxiliaries; + firemen’s balls; * city functions. At the time of the Kinnaird Improvement Socicty’s dispand: ment, a gift of the property and hall, as well as'a cash asset of $4,000 was given to the City of Castlegar, A final ‘was organized to commemorate the “folding up” and closing down of the historic legend, the Kinnaird Improve- ment Society; this cause for cele- bration was somewhat of a wake. zens of:Castlegar to pause and reflect. about the decision to, vote this building, Among such successful events were the annual New Year’s Eve party and the memorable Rose Ball Dance in June at which the “Herb Pitts” cup was presented to the newly crowned Rose Queen. The Kinnaird Little Theatre flourished and provided many var- ious cultural events for several vears as the acoustics in the hall are excellent. Also, we should not forget the for ion of the hall and/or the wanton destruction of the wreckers. One prime ‘example happened here in Castlegar when the old arena, now known as the “Pioneer Arena,” was restored for useful purposes instead of being demol- ished. It too, had been constructed and protected from destruction by ~ volunteers, “? ‘Could a similar prudent decision be applied to the Kinnaird Hall? Pat Romaine tion or to send a tax-receiptable donation to Energy Probe, their address is 225 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2M6. Cuts keep on coming in education Dear Editor: I have just learned: that the Provincial government's fiscal mismanagement has trickled down yet to another undeserving victim. Studio 58,the theatre training program at the Langara campus of Vancouver Community College has been told that it can except no students this fall. Many, including department chair Catherine Shaw, fear this tolls the end of the Lan- ‘gara theatre program. Castlegar takes the credit for drag boat races, why not taxe the garbage.too! This letter is in eas to “Castlegar” drag boat races. I live in Robson — almost tight across from the start line — this year the boats started practic- ing Thursday morning. Friday 2; night my nine-year-old son wit- nessed a brawl on the road near our home. Saturday was absolute may- hem. When I got home after a 20 minute drive thru Robson at 6 o'clock Sat turday night, there was avehicle parked in my driveway. Po(res Don br ‘Siiiday a boat-wasout again, for another 2.5 hours disturbing an otherwise peaceful evening. The garbage was finally: d late N except of course for the smaller pieces of glass along the road. Mr, Burton talks'about a two day event next year, bigger & he says, better.’ I suggest since * Castlegar takes all the credit, they should keep all the hassle & destruction on their side-as well. Mrs. K. Poderluk 1G8, or drop them off at the office. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor are welcome on any topic of local or general interest. Letters should be double-spaced, typewritten, or legibly hand- written, and no, more than two pages if possible. Letters 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 let- ters to: The Castlegar Sun, 465 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, B.C., VIN Any interior residents who have enjoyed professional theatre touring productions over the past years will feel the affects of this decision. The Arts Club, Green Thumb Players, Carousel, Kalei- doscope, and the Kootenay's own Theater Energy are just of the few of the many companies across the country that hire:actors, directors, stage managers and technicians who have graduated from studio 38s excellent program.. This program is recognized - nationwide a having a very high standard. It is, quite simply, one of the best theatre schools in the country. The decision to can it is yet another educational ‘‘cost—cut- ting measure” that is simply not worth the price. West Kootenay residents are known for their support of the arts. Those who wish to register their concern should write to VCC's acting president Ross Carter, 1155 East Broadway, Van- couver, VST 4N3. Meredith Bain Woodward Same old news — make you snooze? 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