OPINION

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The Castlegar Sun
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editorial comment

Who’s in control?

: Animal control is just one part of our civilized lifestyle. It would
be nice to believe that funds collected for animal control really
contributed to the control of animals.

: Dog licensing, the paying of a fee for the privilege of keeping a
pet, may seem like just another gouge to the taxpayer — and per-
haps it is.

The fee, in this area anyway, for keeping = unaltered pet is not
significant enough to p

Of course, responsible pet ownership should not have to be
forced by doing severe damage to the pet owner’s pocketbook.
Unfortunately, that’s the way it often seems to be.

“ Right from the pet owner who really doesn’t care if a bitch has
one litter or six; to the misguided, unwise owners who feel the pet
should have “just one litter before we have her spayed” or “it
would be good for the children to see it”; to those incredibly unbe-
lievable owners who actually take a great deal of pride in the vast
numbers of offspring their pets produce; the result is the same —
unwanted pets that die a horrible death or, worse yet, live horrible
lives,

A good, stiff licensing fee for any unaltered animal tends to
make a one-time bill for spaying or neutering an attractive alterna-
tive.

It’s true that the cost of a spay or neuter can be quite steep and
perhaps out,of reach for. some people who truly care for their pets.
But, and this perhaps applies only to those who do truly care, the
cost of-raising a litter to the age of weaning is also substantial and
the surgery will have paid for itself in no time.

No matter what, there will most likely always be an “animal
control” problem. The numbers are just to vast to overcome.

But it sure would be nice if we started chipping away at it —
anyway we can.

A Little Knowledge

Questions

1) When did Santiial Colt invent the revolver?

2) To which continent are potatoes native?

3) In warning signs, what does a skeletal hand signify?
4) What temperature is absolute zero?

5) Why are there thirteen stripes on the US flag?

Answers

1) 1836. _

2) North America,

3) Something corresive, acid or alkali.

4) -273 degrees Celsius.

5) For the thirteen original states (colonies).

* Correction to last week. We don’t call this a little knowledge for
nothing and last week we got the International Date Line mixed up
with the prime meridian. L gi but it h

would therefore have celebrated the New ‘Year before London.

Bete)

By Don Addis

© 1991 Creators Syncicate, Inc.

I resisted for another reason.
Classes in writing are nearly

the pool of yellow light, head in
one hand, Bic in the other. A

ed and meanizgless ‘conversation
with himself, be's either a writer or:

Not easy to write on blank paper,

I read an ad for a writer's
school the other day, If I rush a
coupon and a preli: feetoa

always taught by people who
have never published a line in
their lives. That’s an immutable
law of nature. Anyway, I have the
clear and distinct impression that
the art cannot be taught even by
those who have, Oh sure! The
instructor can give hints, offer
guidance, suggest models, use the
editorial pencil like a fencing foil;

mail drop in Florida, they'll teach
me that the colon is a punctuation
mark and not the lower part of a
grammarian’s digestive tract.’
With time, tuition and a rather
handsome post-preliminary fee,
they claim that they might just
tum nic into a best-selling novel-
ist or a major movie and TV
script writer. They’ve done it for
others, The testimonials say no.
Why not for me? Ah, the stuff
of dreams! Money, fame, readings,
awards, Oprah, Donahue, perhaps
even ~ literary immortality.

. Iam not tempted by that ad
and its rich promises of glory.
The text contains five errors in
English, two misspellings, three
it's when virtue demands its, and
— what else? — a colon where a
comma is clearly required. I never
did trust mail drops in Florida:
Califomia, yes — Florida, no.

ee Oe”

Slings
and
arrows

bleed on the student’s margins,
and fulminate against the insults,
affronts and other indignities
being offered to Old Mother
Tongue these days.

You know the kind of thing I
mean: lay for lic ( Lay down,
Spot, and lic an egg!) . . .a litle
wayze down the road, . . this phe-
nomena. .. Butch, Brad and

* myself went to the party. (Myself

go party! Bring Cheetah!).. .
prostrate for prostate and other

surgical errors, And how would’ -

you like to be a recently arrived
immigrant reading those ads that
boast: “Our prices are'great! Just
great!” I always thought the word
meant immense, huge, colossal.
Wrong again, but I think I'd shop
somewhere else.

Writing is a solitary vice:
something you have to do alone,
by yourself, unaided, at night in

that war breaks out in the Gulf.
Well, one knows why of
course. After all the fuss 2 about the
of

during the Second World: ‘War and
the apology which Mr Mulroney
issued to them on behalf of the
Canadian people, it would have
been asking too much of the man
to take similar measures against
an ethnic group.

And that will be fine, as long
as no harm is caused in Canada by
an Iraqi-born Canadian with
strong sentimental ties to his
homeland.

But let’s just get some perspec-
tive here. When both the first and
second world wars broke out, it

One can be too sensitive,

I was struck by the headlines
which stated that Canada was not
planning any roundup of Iraqi citi-
zens resident in Canada in the event

New Year’ s patriotic resolution

All right, since you insist, I'll
let you in on my New Year's reso-
lution. And it doesn’t involve a
diet:-(Although in all honesty a bit
of work on that front - and back
and sides - is due.)

No, this resolution came to me
in preparing for our New year’s
Eve Sunday Edition broadcast.
Running over the | major news
events of the past year, I was

struck by the magnitude of events
around the world, particularly. in
eastern

ee the revolutionary

theology called Communism hung.

on like an incurable cancer, was

slowly looking to democracy and.

the free market. In the process, the

* Soviet’ Union's ethnic republics

were declaring

their independence *
of Moscow, and the satellites are |

being set free. °
~- For millions of East Germans,

Czechs, Poles, Hungarians and:

others,: 1990. was the'‘56 uprising

' and ‘the Prague’ spring all rolled *
into one. People: who had given up:

any pratiiay of being able, to

was highly patriotic to
get stuck right in. All the people of
British descent were realy to give
their all in defence of the mother
country.:‘The same affection for
France, was not so

. them. If British Canadi

French critic puts it best when he

talks about “the tyranny of a
white sheet of paper”. There it is
in front of you: cold-eyed, cyni-
cal, blank-faced, resistant. And
somehow — by prayer and perspi-
ration — it has to be covered with
strange, alien marks that have
meaning and order, sometimes —
rarely — grace and beauty. Not any
easy task,

Maybe that's why so many
writers are slightly — let’s be non-
scientific but. accurate — nutty. A
couple of months ago J read an
article by a psychiatrist who
allowed that, of all the breeds,
writers — by nature, nurture, train-
ing and predilection — rank first
among those with tics, twitches,

and mental
Not only that, but a lot of them
clinical evidence to
support his findings. All you
probably need is this article.

asenior auditor for the GST. 2
If be flicks his Bic: cid writes «
in cuneiform on a match, book,’
he’s got the plot for a short story!
or the first draft of an article on:

Bither that or he needs a carton of;
milk and an oil change... F)
Writers have to be persistent
and tenacious creatures. The best,
of them, even those with a million;?
words to their credit and therefore’
a debit at the bank, still get rejec-'
tion slips, But they soldicr on,
convinced that the last editor who
read the manuscript was cither a «
pixie or a fairy, with no grasp of
feality and no eye for greatness,
Twenty years ago that friend of
mine wrote a 600-page manu-':
script on something the world
needs and needs desperately:
“The role of Dwarfs and Dragons
in the Arthurian Legends of 12th-
Century Europe”. Every publisher
in dom sent it .

‘ Writing is an i an
addiction, a 30-pound monkey on
the back. The process never stops,
the desire never goes away. Nei-
ther does the monkey: he has long
arms, sharp claws and unfailing
loyalty to his owner. So if the man
on the plane in the seat next to
yours is holding garbled, convolut-

Quebec, yet many Quebecois also
joined up and fought gallantly
after France was attacked.

To have assumed that
Japanese-Canadians were some-
how not capable of these noble
sentiments, would not only have
been a serious mistake but would
also have been almost insulting to

back with a pg -lost slip. But he’s
a writer. He’s still trying to flog!
it. With the help of that monkey,
of course.

‘RR. Jeffels is a Richmond free-
lance writer and former principal
of The Open Learning Institute.

Pages.

tener eees

Sour.
‘orpes LER FEANLINOS

MS

whose regime they have come to}
Canada to escape, they are doing’
no more than those Canadians of,
British descent who rallied to the
flag in 1914 and 1939. And if they
choose to take their stand in the
Arabian sands, who are we to criti-
cize?

still
loved Great Britain, why

houldn’t Jap Canadi
continue to love Japan?

That doesn't make the expro-
priation of their property at fire-
sale prices right but it doesn't take
much imagination to realize how
much damage even a handful of
saboteurs could have wrought.

Television news teams have
shown Iraqi-Canadians who have
publicly expressed their willing-
ness to fight for Mr Hussein.

While I question their political -

aman

ship freely, Iet alone live again in
Sedan: suddenly found Prayers
being answered. Time and circum-
stances do change.
And a situation that looked

dhist monks protesting against the
Americans. They got coverage.

This time, the protest didn’t
work,

The Vietnamese are being ©

forcibly shipped back. Sixty thou-
sand Americans died fighting the
Vietnamese Communists. Now
when refugees escape that same
Bovernment; the West forces the
to return. What was

that war about, anyway?
In’ China, the government
which had snuffed out the democ-

If they choose to do it in Cana- |
da we should be quick to
neutralize their efforts and one
must hope that our government
will not be too squeamish to place
people in ‘protective custody’ for
their own good as well as every-
body else's. And in the meantime, |
we can also hope that our own|
intemal security people are taking;
a keen interest in their activities. © |

There are limits to what even a
multi-cultural country should be
required fo PuLep wahin the mane
of tolerance and mutual respect.

For once, however, I feel somy |
for Mr Mulroney.

But the overriding event of
1990 was the arrival of freedom in
Eastern Burope. Lech Walesa, |
Vaclev. Harvel and their peoples
prevailed against seemingly insur-
mountable odds. As we enter
1991, the economy is in recession.
There is much anxiety about the.
GST, to say nothing of the nation-'
al unity problem and the threat of
war in the Persian Gulf.

But our biggest problem as we
enter the new year, is not any of
these. As a nation we have lost our

“ bleak and foreboding was all of a

sudden filled with bright promise.

“True, it wasn’t that way every-
where. Vietnamese boat people,
'stacked like cordwood in refugee
camps, in Hong Kong, weren't

being allowed to stay’ but were

being shipped back'to live under
the Communists.:In ‘desperation

racy with the
in Tiananmen Square was back
doing business as usual with the
West, despite westem economic
sanctions. That's because the West'
needs China's
outright support, for’ militazy.
action against Saddam Hussein.

‘The Chinese won't veto the war’

against Saddam in the ‘United
Nations
as the. West ‘*forgets":: the’ bloody,
events in ‘China :18 months ago.
Such are the ways of Jovemanions)
diplomacy. *.:./};

iescence, if not,’

, a8 long.

; Sense. of self- The les-
son of Eastern Europe also applies
to Canada. Where have we packed
that pride which: infused this
nation during our 1967 centennial?

We'll:make’it through ‘the |
“recession of ‘91; cee Soe out |
“other end the stronger. for it.The

GST will soon become an accept. |
ed. part. of our-lives, quietly '
beavering away at the deficit, And '

, ep beneviag
¥i ine at ny Sat

The Castlegar Sun

urate

6 a Cae has come bac

To the Editor:
~Throughout the Christmas sca:

son’-'of all times - one has had to -

continually fight back a sense of
shame for what is going on in the
Middle East - in Kuwait, in Paies-
tine ‘and in Israel, the very cradle
of Christianity,

“It is‘a mockery of caus Christ

Himself that these evils are taking
Place’ in the very land where His
unique ministry to mankind took
place, (I believe it is a mockery of
the ‘Moslem faith as well.) Now it
is two thousand years Jater and
men really haven't changed much
at all-- whether Christian or
Moslem.

Clean air supersedes
Celgar's right to pollute

To the Editor:
‘The recent front page story i in the
Castlegar Sun regirding ‘the ‘Celgar
Project quoted Wilf Sweeney com.
plaining. about.a highly. organized
group of people “mainly, from ‘up

the valley” raising’ a “taciais about i

the expansion project. -
“) If Celgar were ar aol to

build a dome over Castlegar’and .”

find a way of containiig all the liq-
uid wastes in Castlegar, I would be
the first to defend the' right 6
people of that city to’ poison them-

Lt ‘selves to their hearts’ content.

Unfortunately, the proposal is.

to dispersé the mill’s poison gases” |
‘even farther.a field by raising the

AS far‘as I/am concemed, the.
, right of the ‘valley people to

breath clean air by far supersedes

Celgar's right to pollute it. There

is enough ill will in this commu-

nity already. That fire doesn’t
need more fuel. at

‘Yours truly

\_ R. Retzlaff

Destruction will be downfall
of Mulroney and Vander Zalm

To the Editor

I predict that the election will
take place this coming March. In
Previous elections the Premier ob-
viously misled the people with all
his promises. I purposely wrote
him approximately between forty
and fifty letters and the Premier
didn’t reply to any of them. ‘

He also didn't respond to sev-
eral of my phone calls. Will the
Premier live up to his promises if

he is elected again? I, for one, be-
lieve he will not have a chance to
keep his promises because he will
not have the opportunity to be re-
elected again.

We won't give the Premier a
chance to destroy British
Columbia like the Prime Minister
is in the process of doing to Cana-
da. Free trade, Meech Lake, and
the G.S.T. are some of the exam-
ples of the destruction.

Nick Keraiff

Letters Policy

Letters to the Editor are welcome on any topic of local or general

Scrooge is back with "
vengeance. Just as Charles Dick-
en’ shrewd, pennypinching charac-
ter initially cheated the Cratchett
family out of their Christmas joy,
so the crisis in the Persian Gulf has
put,a sad damper on the whole
world’s joy this season.

~The welcome message of
peace and goodwill inherent in
our Christmas carols and other
festive traditions ‘has been very
much at odds with reality in the
Gulf - the reality that' next Christ-
mas may see a lot of empty chairs
around the dinner table.
‘What a great irony that we in
the west now have to deal with a
Middle East problem that is large-

jly: of our: own making. For

decades we have been taking ad-
vantage of the people of those

Mid-East countries through the
sale of arms and the exploitive

manipulation of their oil reserves, ‘

The result of this western
greed and indiscretion is that Sad-
dam Hussein now has the best of
everything in the way of military
hardware with which to do the
world grievous harm,

With little understanding of:
Arab ways and Arab pascaine
‘western powers meddled in
cent war between Iraq and iran.

Like those mischievous gods,
overlooking the raging Battle of
Troy, who interfered’ from time to
time to shift the battle’ one way or
the other, westemers played both
sides of the conflict for their own
gain. And for years they have sup-
Ported the most ruthless and most
corrupt of dictators just to make

Some driving tips for the
motorists on Columbia Ave.

To the Editor ©

1 am amazed that some drivers
think there should be traffic lights
on Columbia Ave. at the junction
with 10th street.

To these drivers may I suggest
the following.

When turning at a T junction
firstly indicate your intentions be-
fore reaching the junction. Then, to
tum right or left, look left and right
repeatedly until it is safe to enter or
cross the flow of traffic.

When turning right, at the junction
in question, do not forget to check

if there. are any vehicles leaving ©

the gas station, ~

If his can not be done leave
your vehicle at home,

T have written this letter in the
hope we do not get another Castle-
gar Monument like the one just
south of the track. The one that has
lights that change from Red to
Green then to Amber and again to
Red repeating time and time again
for no apparent reason.

IT had a good laugh when I
heard that Columbia Ave. was like
Vancouver.

John Gibson

“yet they, b

once ag

sure ‘the oil kept flowing. Is it any
wonder that westerners are greatly
disliked throughout the Middle
Bast?) <: Say)

Since the situation has reached
its present state it appears there is
no alternative but to stop Hus-
scin's aggression through sanc-
tions. enforced by military

‘blockade. But why was this fiasco

allowed to develop as far as it did?

Western powers knew very
well that Hussein was a bad actor.
d like ich

following ways;

- Stop the exploitation of Mid-
dle East oil and concentrate in-
stead upon development of our
own oil and gas reserves, .’
s+ Stop our proliferation of arms
in the Middle East,

- Encourage democratic elec-
tions in all Mid-East countries, :

- Encourage the formation of
an Arabian common market,

- Assist in whatever way we can
to Belp find a satisfactory, solution -
to

with their beads in the sand - too

busy with:their Jucrative trade in |
“arms” and oil. Now a major crisis
sis.on ‘and it'may take decades to

put these countries a together
again.

When - and if - ihe Kuwait eri- ‘

sis is over I believe that we west-

emers must clean up our actin the

Above all we seg respect all
peoples of the Middle East and
», stop meddling in their affairs -
"Stop trying to westernize them
.and accept them as they are. Then
) Maybe Scrooge, will go back into
the pages of. story, books where he

> pelones i
‘ “Harry F. Killough

Have you seen-yourself or
your family in the Sun?

We have

a winner!

If so you can come to the Sun offices at
465 Columbia Ave., Castlegar
and go through the photo box. Find it -
(if it's a group shot someone else may have
~ already claimed it) and it's yours.

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
letters to: -The Castlegar Sun, 465 Columbia Ave., ae B.C.,
VIN 168, or or drop them off at the office... ‘i

Bottle drive benefits

BUN STAFF PHOTO / Frank Derby
Bottle Drive: The Castlegar Minor Hockey Associa-:,
tion is appreciative. of the support they received from
the community in-this years:bottle drive. Members of
15 teams ‘went door to’ door on one of the coldest
: ind-were rewarded with a take that sur-
passed last: years. $1000.00. fund raising effort. Also
deserving of recognition were the parents. of these.
young athletes who got involved.in the planning, or-
-ganization, trarisportation, loading: and dispersal of
the recycleable: bounty. Hard at work at the collection
point behind Pioriger. Arena are: Foreground:- Nancy
McCormick. and: Kelly Waage. tn truck - Gay Read, ;

Rita Perrier and Cindy.Shlakoff.

John Geratkoff, left, and Mabel Soukoreff, centre, are
off to a Florida holiday on Feb. 6, courtesy of NRS
Realty. Anyone who either listed with or purchased
from the Castlegar NRS office from September to
December was eligible for a draw for a Hawaiian vaca-
tion. Soukoreff listed and sold, won the trip and decid-
ed to substitue Florida as her destination. NRS sales
associate Barry Brown congratulates Soukoreff on her
win.

Sun.

pli: ts of The Castl

(4

Johnny's
Grocery & Gas
Specials
Golden Delicious Apples: 390
Pears - Anjou 49 ws
Turnips 25
2593 Broadwater Road

Robson, B.C. 365-7941 -

Feeling Blue?
iy Come to Zazoo

PUBLIC NOTICE

Traffic Control on Columbia Avenue.
Several important cl are proposed for Columbi:
Avenue in 1991. All members of the public are invited
to.an open house/meeting to hear-about the details of
the proposed changes. ‘The meeting will be held at
7:00 p.m..on 15th of January 1991 at the Community

Complex with of the City's Engineering and
Public Works Department on hand to explain’ the pro-

es tera adverisement in'the West Kootenay ‘Advertiser’
WELCOME CANADIANS _ ee

DRUMSTICKS

Washington Grown

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Family.
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TOMATO SOUP

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10.75 oz. tin

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NOODLES

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Hall (460 Columbia Ave.) or. at. the Engineering Ser-
vices office (1402 Columbia Ave.),

The City of Caithegar
460 Columbia Ave., Castlegar, 8. .C. VIN 1G8

can be obtained at City

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