OPINION

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947
‘THE MIO-WEEK

AN
su
Castlegar News

PAGE A4, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23) 1991

MEMBER OF THE 8.0. PRESS COUNCIL

TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
12,

PLANT FOREM:
ADVERTISING MAN,

CV. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947. FEBRUARY 15, 1975

PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell!
EDITOR — Simon Birch
|EMAN
JAGER — Wayne Stolz
OFFICE MANAGER — Linda Kositsin
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadley

-— Peter Harvey

EDITORIAL

If nothing else,
he's optimistic

If nothing else, you’ve got to give Premier Bill Vander Zalm

credit for his optimism.

Here’s a man who’s being investigated for conflict of interest
over the sale of Fantasy Gardens, and whose Social Credit party is in
turmoil and trailing badly in the polls behind the NDP with just seven
months left before he must by statute call a provincial election.

Yet Mr. Vander Zalm sounded chipper and upbeat with nary a
negative word in an interview with the Castlegar News on Thursday.
In fact, the only thing he sounded a bit down about was the effect
the whole Fantasy Gardens affair had and is having on his wife,

Lillian, and his family.

However, he admitted he’s under ‘‘enormous pressures’ and it’s
with that in mind that we consider it would be a good idea that he
step aside — not resign — while conflict-of-interest commissioner Ted
Hughes sorts through the Fantasy Gardens tangle.

Other ministers under investigation have stepped aside and the

premier should do likewise.

When Mr. Hughes renders his decision in about a month, then
the premier can decide his course of action.

If the commissioner finds there was g conflict of interest, we
believe Mr. Vander Zalm would do the honorable thing and resign. If
Mr. Hughes gives the premier a clean bill of health, then we suppose
it’s likely Mr. Vander Zalm will continue on the course. he’s-plotted
for himself over the last several months, that is, stay and finish the
job he believes he set out to do when he was elected in 1986, come

hell or high water.

We know one thing. If he does stick around to fight the election,
he’ll need all the optimism he can muster.

VIEWPOINTS

Soviets dispute
Ottawa's interest

By JIM SHEPPARD -

MOSCOW — The Mulrortey
government’s interest in the fate of
the Baltic Republics was cited Thur-
sday by Soviets and Canadians alike
as the central reason for the sudden
chill in relations between Ottawa and
Moscow.

But a series of other minor irritan-
ts are also being blamed in part for
what Extérnal Affairs Minister Joe
Clark said Wednesday was the
deteriorating state of Soviet-
Canadian relations after almost two-
and-a-half years of steady im-
provement.

Observers on both sides of the
growing diplomatic divide say these
include:

— The resignation of foreign
minister Eduard Shevardnadze, who
had built a reasonably good personal
relationship with Clark.

— And, recent accusations by
Soviet Prime Minister Valentin
Paviov that Canadian banks were
part of a western ‘‘economic war’’
against the Soviet Union aimed at
trying to topple President Mikhail
Gorbachev and destroy the com-
munist system.

The dispute blew into the open
Wednesday when Vitaly Churkin, the
Soviet Foreign Ministry's official
spokesman, surprised a news con-
ference with a statement accusing Ot-

=) tawa and the Canadian Embassy here

of ‘‘open intervention in the internal
affairs of our country.”

He said later he was referring to
activities of Canadian diplomats in
the Baltic republics of Latvia,
Lithuania and Estonia.

Churkin accused the Mulroney
government of possessing ‘‘a double
standard’’ on the issue. On the one
hand, he said, it actively fights
separatism in Quebec while-on the
other, it encourages independence
movements in the Baltics,

Clark rejected the charge of ‘‘open
intervention,’’ but said relations had
become chilly and were deteriorating.

Ottawa also cancelled some
economic co-operation and food aid
as a result of the crackdown, and has
kept up constant criticism of the
Soviet approach to human rights in
the area.

The charges
ridiculed.

The references to Canada have
also been dismissed by the embassy
and Canadian banks as particularly
ludicrous.

“Why did he say Canada,’’ one
expert wondered Thursday. ‘‘It was
absurd and I think their pretty red-
faced-about-it-*

have been widely

Jim Sheppard writes for The
Canadian Press.

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Brings You the Real |

CASE SALE!!

Now’s the time to stock
up and SAVE BIG! !

Wilson faces 'toughest test yet'

with seventh federal budget

By LARRY WELSH

OTTAWA — Armed with a jar of
black jujubes, a computer-like mind
and a black notebook of things-to-
do, Michael Wilson has come vir-
tually unscathed through a
politicians’ minefield.

The finance minister brought in
the GST against overwhelming op-
position, clung to credibility during a
budget-leak scandal and has felt the
wrath of Canadian seniors over a
plan to de-index old age pensions.

Now, he faces the recession.

Next week, Wilson will introduce
his seventh federal budget, the Con-
servative government’s plan for ex-
tricating the country from its
economic slump.

This could be the toughest test yet
for Wilson after presiding over seven
yers of uninterrupted growth, the
most powerful boom since the
Second World War.

The 53-year-old finance minister
may not have sparkling charm, but
critics and associates agree if anyone
can manage a Conservative recession
budget, it will be Wilson.

“*Because he is so steady and so
reliable and so unflappable, he is one
of the rocks that moors the gover-
nmment in place,”’ says one Tory-
watcher.

Wilson can plow through a brief-
case full of work on a flight, catch a
15-mingte nap while the plane lands
and be ready to grill aides in a
waiting car.

Once ensconced with colleagues,
the finance minister displays a
disarming sense of humor, especially
about himself.

But in front of television cameras,
Wilson often appears colorless and
humorless.

He may put some to sleep with his
oratory (he earned the nicname
‘Thumper’ from the sound of heads
hitting the table during his after-din-
ner speeches), but political opponen-
ts say he is a credible witness under
attack.

“I’ve come at him from a lot of
different directions and you can’t
really shake him off his line,’’ said
Liberal MP John Manley, who has
frequently crossed swords with

MICHAEL WILSON
. .. unflappable

Wilson at the Commons finance
committee.

“Speaking as a lawyer, he’s a
good witness. He knows what he
wants to say and he sticks to it,’’
Manley added.

Still, the finance minister will need

more than nerve-soothing rhetoric as

the recession deepens and Canadians
worry about hanging on to their jobs
and homes, says NDP MP Lorne

not exactly a charismatic
Nystrom observed.

“I think his weak point would be
the crusading side, the salesman
trying to sell the reason for policy A,
Borc.”

Those close to Wilson say he is, in
fact, a very good politician.

How else could he convince his
government to back a tax that has
sunk the Tories into the basement of
public opinion polls with few rum-
blings of discontent in the party?

Still, the recession and GST battle
have exacted their toll on the finance
minister. Ortce again he is at the cen-
tre of cabinet shuffle rumors.

Parliament Hill watchers speculate
this will be Wilson's last budget and
he will either return to Bay Street or
become federal-provincial relations
minister .

Larry Welsh writes for The
Canadian Press.

Ground war plans

By RICHARD PYLE

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Long
before there was'a crisis in the Per-
sian Gulf, the American plan for a
ground war was in place.

AirLand Battle Doctrine — a
military philosophy developed in the
early 1980s for use against the War-
saw Pact in Europe — was applied in
a limited way in the 1989 invasion of
Panama.

But that was nothing compared
with the showdown in the desert.

“‘AirLand Battle is sort of a play
in three parts, all on stage at the
same time,”’ says a senior officer.

Giving wide latitude for im-
provisation by mid-level comman-
ders, it is intended to make
maximum usé of the weaponry that
has entered the American arsenal in
the past decade.

This_includes_night-vision equip-
ment, missile-firing jets and helicop-
ters, so-called smart weapons and
laser-guided tank and artillery guns.

Also on hand are radar-linked
weapons that identify and destroy
enemy threats almost as they are
mounted, and ‘‘area denial’’
munitions that keep the enemy from
his own resources.

AirLand Battle was designed
originally to fight against i

old hat for U.S.

AirLand battle in the desert, of-
ficers said, could go like this:

As tanks and artillery engage the
Iraqis at close range and seek to blast
through their layered defences, tac-
tical aircraft, missiles and perhaps
paratroops strike at the Iraqi rear,

superior forces — the Soviet-bloc
armies — and to ‘‘make use of every
asset we have available, to fight at

- longer range with better controls,””

said an officer who has studied and
taught the doctrine for years.

While the steady destruction of
Iraqi tanks and artillery by U.S. air
power has shifted the numerical od-
ds, the concept still has application
because the Iraqis fight according to
Soviet doctrine.

“Theirs is not as fluid, comman-
ders are not normally given as much
flexibility as we have,’’ said one of-
ficer.

“They have very little flexibility as

and sowing
disruption.

A third element of U.S. forces
remains well back to guard against
any Iraqi attempts to do the same
behind coalition lines.

All this is orchestrated by senior

Strategists say the method has
been well tested in desert environ-
ments.

“*Everybody who’s in any way in-
volved has trained at Fort Irwin,’’
said one officer, referring to the
California training centre where
American troops learn desert war-
fare.

A , he said, twice-yearly
U.S.-Egyptian manoeuvres in Egypt
have honed American desert skills.

Despite six months of open

officers from

for war, A i plan-

posts farther forward than in any
previous battle system, planners say.
The senior army commander will
control air force and navy aircraft as
well as his own.

One key tenet of the doctrine, is
agility — defined as thinking and ac-
ting faster than the enemy. Another
is synchronization — concentrating
all assets, ground and air, on specific
targets at the same time.

ners express confidence they can at-
tain tactical surprise.

“We had it when the air war
began and we'll have it when the
ground war begins,’’ said one of-
ficer.

“People may think they know
‘where all this is-coming from, but
they don’t.””

Richard Pyle writes for the
Associated Press.

to what they can do.”’

Polygamist father of 45 stands by religious beliefs

By DOUGLAS TODD
Vancouver Sun

CRESTON (CP) — Moses, Isaac, Jacob, David,
Solomon and other patriarchs of the Hebrew Bible kept
many, many wives and concubines.

So Dalmin Oler, and more than a dozen other men
in a 350-member Mormon breakaway colony in the East
Kootenay, believe they should have numerous spouses
too. It’s their spiritual duty.

Oler, 57, one of, three founders of this colony,
claims he's not hurting anybody by busily procreating
with his five wives in an effort to build up his fast-
growing “Mormon fundamentalists” colony. So far
Oler has 45 children.

Sitting in a tattered chair in a house as big a
motel, Oler talked slowly, with a nervous smile. He’s
recuperating from cancer surgery.

One wife, Andrea, and a handful of children sit
around the gymnasium-sized eating area after dinner,
filling coloring books and playing the piano. They
generally show Oler respeet, but aren’! afraid to cut into
his conversation with dissenting opinions.

Hundreds of family photos are stapled haphazardly
to a halfway wall. Although the huge house shows
peeling linoleum and other signs of disrepair, it is set on
@ beautiful farm with fruit trees, milk cows and a small
flour mill on the banks of the Goat River.

RCMP __ officers came knocking last October,
making him the focus of a polygamy investigation into
the colony. If charges are laid, and a Kootenay prosec-
tutor says they could come next month, lawyers believe
it will be the first Canadian court case against a man
who practises polygamy for reasons of religion.

Punishable by up to five years in prison, polygamy
opens a legal Pandora’s Box, however. A trial, legal
specialists say, would likely go to the Supreme Court of
Canada and include Charter of Rights arguments about
freedom of religion. t

A polygamy trial would be contentious for another
reason: Some legal experts join Oler and other colony
leaders in saying it’s possible the ban on polygamy could
hit many typical married Canadians who take up with
other partners.

Oler said he lias nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

“I've lived with enough problems in my life,’’ he
said, citing five wives, 45 children, a heart attack,
gallstones, bleeding ulcers and the bankruptcy of his
farm-equipment business.

Other troubles have included the involvement of a
couple of his children, who can't be named because of
court orders, in recent sexual-assault cases centred on
the colony. None of the cases involved Oler.

Oler resents wha he considers the public perception
that these cases reveal Mormom fundamentalists are

sexually messed up.

He says the patriarchs practise polygamy ‘‘to bring
forth’’ numerous children, who will become followers of
what colony members believe is the true teaching of
Mormon founder Joseph Smith. The group is officially
called the United Effort Order, and linked to an
Arizona community led by Prophet Rhulon Jeffs.

“The prime motive of plural marriages is to raise
children,” he said. To that end, he ‘‘rotates’’ every
night of the week to a different ‘‘mother’s room.”’

“It’s easier to teach your own children your beliefs
than gather up a lot of people with preconceived notions
who don’t understand. If I just wanted sex, it would be
easy enough to come by without procuring children.”’

The Creston colony’s size has more than tripled in
the past decade. The “‘mean”’ ‘age is only six. Just two
people are over 65.

But one of Oler’s oldest daughters says. neither
Oler’s giant family nor most others in the colony are

Debbie Palmer, 35, who recently left the colony to
‘join. the orthodox Mormon church (which banned
polygamy 100 years ago), said: “Daddy's mot @ strong

. He

tried to treat his wives fairly, but when I was .

marry a 57-year-old patriarch, said from her home in
Cc 'y there wasn’t enough time spent dealing with the
physical and emotional needs of the children.

“Everyone was exhausted.””

Oler painted a rosier picture. ‘‘It seems like
everybody tries to make us out as awful people. But I
don’t see us as that bad. We haven't killed anybody. We
have fun. Income-wise, we're probably below the pover-
ty line, but I think our standard of living is as good as
anybody else.**

The colony follows a communal lifestyle, where
members help build each other’s homes, share food aad
“everybody works for the benefit of everybody else."

Their partisan party politics, said Oler, are Purely
free enterprise, and pro-Premier Bill Vander Zalm.

Oler likes Vander Zalm because he stands for
freedom of the individual and religion,

Since about 1985, the Social Credit government has
channelled about $350,000 a year to the colony's privae
school, called Bountiful

Oler’s first marriage is legally registered with :te
province. But the next four, he said, were validates snty
with religious ceremonies.

He realizes, however, that technica wy wan
necessarily keep him out of jail. Criminal Coxde tec. 9%
which outlaws polygamy, doesn’t stipulate thar multints
marriages have to be registered to be ilegai

REMEMBER WHEN

4 YEARS AGO
From the Feb. 22, 1951
Castle News

Commencing March Ist the Village
will again operate its own garbage
collection.

Mr. R. Jacobson attended Mon-
day night’s meeting to request gar-
bage collection at his residence,
which is just outside the Village
limits. The rate was set at $1 per
month maximum for a trial period.

Garbage collection in the past few
months has been done by Mr. P.
Nahornoff.

ee .

The subdivision of Block 58,
owned by W:W. Ozeroff received the
okay of the Commissioners and they
agreed to construct possible access to
the property.

A tour of the Village by the full
Board of Commissioners is contem-
plated in the near future. This is to
view somé sources of complaints and
to familiarize themselves with all sec-
tions of the Village.

A story in today’s Nelson News
claiming that errors at Arrow dam
have put the project three weeks
behind schedule was called ‘‘full of
misinformation and inaccuracies’’ by
B.C. Hydro’s Arrow dam construc-
tion manager this morning.

Sam Walker said the story
wrong line by line.””

He said the pouring of cement,
rather than possibly being behind
schedule, will take place on April 1,
2% months ahead of the June 15
scheduled starting date.

. oe .

is

An access from 7th Ave., Kin-
naird, into Castleaird Plaza and
sidewalk provision at the junction of
the avenue and the Christina Lake
Highway, are included in plans for
the junction drawn up by the depar-
tment of highways.

The plans and letters from deputy
minister of highways H. T. Miard
and regional highways engineer D.F.
Martin, were considered by Kinnaird
council Tuesday night.
1S YEARS AGO
From the Feb. 26, 1976
Castlegar News j

CanCel’s new $1.7 million scrub-

in_operation since Dec. 27, was
officially declared operational
Tuesday morning and company of-
ficials say it is operating ‘‘substan-
tially better than the most stringent

requirements set by the B.C.
Pollution Control Board.’’

Only the third installation of its
kind in North America, the scrubber
removes salt cake particles from the
gases caused by recovery boiler fuel
burning.

Rossland-Trail MLA Chris D’Ar-

venience store, recreational vehicle
park, mini-golf and health spa.
eee e

Castlegar Rebels dropped a hear-
tbreaking 4-2 decision to Grand
Forks Border Bruins in the seventh
and deciding game of their Kootenay
International Junior Hockey League

semi-final series Friday night before
a packed house at the Community
Complex.

The loss knocked the Rebels out
of the playoffs and set up a West
Division final series between the
Border Bruins and Trail Junior
Smoke Eaters.

cy, who toured the i with
Press representatives, said the
Pollution Control Board is “‘very
pleased’’ with the operational per-
formance of the scrubber.

5 YEARS AGO
From the Feb. 23, 1986
Castlegar News

The Castlegar school district faces
a reduction in its operating budget
for 1986-87 that could exceed
$366,000, according to preliminary
budget figures from the provincial
government.

The early budget figures are lower
than last year despite Premier Bill
Bennett's announcement of a $110
million Excellence in Education fund
for a.¢."s restraint-ravaged
education system.

“It’s worse than it ever has been,””
was board chairman Kay Johnson’s
reaction to the news.

* . .

The Central Kootenay regional
board has agreed to send a proposed
$2 million recreation/commercial
development for Ootischenia to a
public hearing.

The proposal, by CETAC
Development Ltd. of Castlegar, is
for a waterslide, 40-room motel,
restaurant, service station, con-

. Choosing the best location for o
home is probably the most difficult
decision a buyer must make (other
than the choice of the home itself).
But answers to a few questions by
family members shovid moke’ the
decision easier.
Rest that the family answer
lowing questions before
ing where they would like to
live and the type of home they would
like to buy:
1) Is the distance to your place of

“Real

¢Fstate

WITH BARRY BROWN

LOCATION — LOCATION

3) Would the tamily be unhappy with

only q small plot of land surroun-
i me, oF it need o
quorter acre or more?

4) Are the city’s cultural advantages
important to your family? Some
families might feel “deprived” if it
took a trip of half hour or more to
to get to theatres, museums,
libraries or cultural centers.

5) Are the schools, churches and
sports facilities close enough for
all your family members’

‘an impor con-
sideration? It would be, especially
if one or more members of the
fomily must rely on public tran-
sportation, bus or car pool for get-
ting to work, school or play.

Is the family more city or more

itficult

ourself to @ style of living
you are untamiliar with. If rural is
@ consideration, will the family
require on extra car? Is someone

you can always
change your home's size, appearan
ce or decor but not it's location.

Hf there is anything | can do to help
you in the field of real estate, please
call or drop in at

NES | NATIONAL REAL

ESTATE SERVICE

Mountainview Agencies Ltd.
1695 Columbia Ave.,
Phone 365-2111 or 365-2757

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Lani St ae 5 eee
The “M” stands for Management

You've chosen a career in accounting
you want to move up. Fine, but remember

becai

ARROW LAKE
ELEVATION

1399.4’ on Feb. 22
Forecast of

Elevation
1402.8' on Mar. |

one thing. In today’s competitive marketplace,
smart accountants manage.

That's why the CMA Management Accounting
program for the ‘90s doesn't stop with sharpening
your accounting and financial skills. It goes on
where the other courses leave off — providing the
practical management training that can take you all
the way to the executive suite.

If you're a business or commerce student, you
already have a head start toward your CMA. And if
you're working, you can qualify on your own time,
without losing a day's income. For more information
about your future as a CMA, don’t hesitate to call or
write the Society office.

Enrolment for the spring session closes
March 8, 1991.

The Society of A of British Col
PO. Box 11548, 1575 — 650 West Georgia Strect, Vancouver, B.C. VOB 4W7
‘Telephone: (604 ) 687- 589108 1-800-664-9646 Fax: (G04) 687-6688

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