i
a4 Castlegar News _ february 19, 1909

Good motives,
wrong decision

The four members of Castlegar city council who voted in favor
of CKQR’s rezoning application that will allow the station to move in-
to an apartment building on 11th Avenue undoubtedly have good in-
tentions. But their decision is wrong.

Before we go. any further, we must state emphatically from
the outset that we i
competitor of the Castlegar News or because one of the neighbors of
the apartment building happens to work for us and opposed the
rezoning.

As much as anyone else in the city, we love to
Prosper, and the attraction of new businesses and the expansion of
existing businesses means more revenue for the city and — we
would hope — even better services than the already top-notch work
we get from city hall.

But at what cost do we pursue this expansionism?

More so than any other concerns raised by neighbors of the
apartment block — traffic, parking and so on which it may be
Possible to assuage — we feel sorry for the residents of the apar-
tment building who have been or will be evicted to make room for
CKQR's offices and studios.

Perhaps they don't mind — although we strongly doubt that —
but what about the next time council decides to rezone a residential
lot or two? Of course, council will look at each rezoning request on a
case-by-case basis, but Mayor Audrey Moore and aldermen Aibert
Calderbank, Marilyn Mathieson and Doreen Smecher can't say they
haven't set a precedent in the QR rezoning

Does the need of a business to expand take precedence over
the need of Castlegar residents for adequate and inexpensive
housing?

We recall the fuss that occurred in Vancouver prior to Expo 86
when some hotel owners in the less-desirable neighborhoods of that
city saw an opportunity to make a fast buck from the inevitable
short-term demand for housing that the world fair would bring. The
hotel owners evicted their tenants to make room for the high-paying
visitors to Vancouver.

Admittedly, the circumstances are different here in Castlegar,
but the underlying objective is the same — CKQR wants to expand
and improve and make more mone:

No one begrudges them that, but do they have to do it at the
expense of the.residents of that apartment block?

Station manager Gordon Brady said this week council's vote
was a vote for the free enterprise world we live in.

this area

The nomination for best actor in a comedy~drama
with no supporting players... from Main Man, playing the
role of the fantasy gardener~ premier~savant...

Pssst!
and still willing
to play out his
contract...

Letters to the editor

We support and encqurage free enterprise at this pap
— but not without well-thought-out concerns for social issues

Unfortunately, the most outspoken advocates of free enter-
prise sometimes tend to overlook the human beings who often get
trampled undertoot in the rush to make — or save — a dollar

For the record

The word *‘not”’ shouldn't have appeared in the second to last paragraph of
last Sunday’s editorial (It's a start, Feb. 12)

The paragraph should read as follows.

Because, while we agree that logging may sometimes be necessary in water
sheds because of disease or pests, we do ‘believe that the right of people in this
province to clean drinking water should take precedence over the right of lumber
companies to make a dollar

Castlegar air
‘disgusting’

The air in Castlegar and area lately is _ because there was no public pressure to
absolutely disgusting and | am sure do so. No one but me was com
many-peopte-out-there-wouttHike to —praining -
know why

The reason for the majority of the
pollution, from what I understand, is
over-production. The mill is-designed
to produce 500!tons of pulp a day and
the company is making it produce well
over 600 tons a day
thousand dollars a week profit is not
enough — they want a million, and if
they have to poison the environment to

My car, as many of you know, is a
sleek beast and can probably do 100
miles an hour. The government isn’t
the least bit shy in limiting my speed to
$7 miles an hour in the public intefest,
but when it comes to big business
Seven hundred hey, it’sa free country

Everyone in town has been told at
least
cement that a new mill is being built is

three times that the announ.

get it, then so beit
J} week or so ago, I phoned theWaste
Management Branch of the Ministry
of Environment and Parks in Nelson
(They agreed with me that the problem
was mostly due to over-production but
said they had no control over produc
tion. They added that the elected of
ficials have all the information on
Celgar’s pollution violations, but they

imminent. It’s been imminent for four
or five months at least, so what are they
waiting for, a recession so that they can
plead poverty again?

There must be at least one other per
son out there who would like to com
plain about this problem. The number
in Nelson is 354-6355. Public pressure
is our best change

R. Retzlaff

were not acting on that information

Debt initiative underway

lam a student writing on behalf of
my friends and other students who
may not know there is.a campaign to
gain fair treatment for those who
graduated between 1984 and 1987 with
burdensome student loan debts.

This is the Student Debt Initiative by
the Canadian Federation of Students
who are trying to have the current
student loan remission program ap
plied retroactively 10 those students
who eligible for a non.
repayable grant (a program eliminated
in 1984) and graduated before the
remission program was instated. What
follows is a summary of the situation
of these students

In 1984, the B.C. provincial gover
nment eliminated the non-repayable
grants in the name of restraint. This
meant that the grant portion of student
assistance was replaced by a loan-only
program, causing many students to
amass debts over $20,000.

With high unemployment as a factor

were not

in this many _well-
intentioned—former— students—were
unable to_ make their monthly
repayments, were not told about the
Interest Relief Program (available for
up to a maximum of 18 months after
the loan due date) and ended up
making partial payments or defaulting
on their loan — and finally were at the
mercy of collection agencies or facing
personal bankruptcy

It is estimated that 20 per cent of the
personal bankruptcies in the last few

province,

years have student loans as a con
tributing factor

In 1985, recognizing the financial
problems the student
assistance program was creating, the
provincial government introduced a 25
per cent loan remission (33 per cent for

loan-only

students who had to move or travel
50 kilometres to attend
school) upon graduation

more than

Unfortunately, the majority of debt

for most students is made up by

Elderly shoul

I'd like to thank Mr. Turta for his
letter in the Castlegar News of Feb. 12,
particularly the last paragraph about
‘mere aging’’ affecting property
values. It not only lacks sensitivity but
imagination as well!

Let’s think of the possibilites her:
and just accept the fact that this ten
dency of grouping together those with
similar needs in one structure is upon
us. We struggle with these kinds of

Historically, it is an honorable
passage, a celebrated rite, with respect
for the wisdom of experiencé

We have to learn how to do it with
good intentions, care, consideration
and dignity

Remember, we are all aging at the

same rate. God help us if our aging

Glade

Point rebutted

This_is—in_response to Mr. Glen
Sorenson’s comments (Castlegar
News, Feb. 12) on my earlier letter en
titled ‘Wrong direction’’ — a brief let
ter based on my recent submission to
the B.C. Utilities Commission regar
ding West Kootenay
proposed gas turbine power plant for
Oliver, B.C.

| appreciate the support with which
Mr. Sorenson begins his fetter, and t
welcome his call for unity in the fight
for ‘‘clean power.”’ As for the less con
structive tone of the remainder of his
letter, my first inclination was to
respond in kind with an-equally caustic
attack upon his stereotyped ways of
thinking. This would be easy enough to

Power's

do but it would not be constructive for
the cause at hand.

As for the fifth point of my letter,
which seems to be giving my critic
serious problems: This point was sim.
ply a concern based on my inter.
pretation of the facts as stated in the
terms of the Free Trade Agreement
(Art. 1402 and Annex 1408).

Whether or not my point is valid will
be one of many decisions made by the
B.C Utilities (which
operates essentially as a court of law)
This will not be determined by noisy or
unfounded arguments whether they be
from myself or from Mr. Sorenson,

H.F. Killough
Castlegar

Commission

r “resutting—partt
highly rgobile culture, and it is a fact
that mdhy of our older neighbors have
no living connections at all
society

from—our

with

local
mediate care facility, people who go
for weeks, months and years with no
visitors from outside. It is a fact that
many people live their last days alone,
and die alone — the only possibility of
givirig them joy or a bit of contentment
lies in the nature and function of a
“Home.”

Why should such an honorable ob:
jective decrease property values? Can:

I've observed, in a inter

not_change occur in- people's-minds
and hearts so they could welcome an
opportunity to enrich their lives and
neighborhoods by adding to them
citizens-of-more-experience?-Change
their minds to respect thos that are
older, more dependant on the good
will of the community?

A ‘‘home’’ is where people live ona
daily basis — a base, their security,
their own private space
facility is a home where people come,

The proposed

Canada Student Loans. It wasn’t until
March 1987 that this problem wasad-
dressed in the form of debt ceilings of
$12,000, $16,000, or $24,000 for first,
second and third diplomas or degrees
respectively

The criteria for loan remissiog to the
level of these debt ceilings is: 1. a per
sonal responsibility requirement, and
2. the successful completion of the
program of study in the normal length
of time plus one year (i.e. five years for
a bachelor’s degree)

Loans taken out beyond the time
limits are not eligible for remission.

Although this revised student
assistance program improves the debt
situation of those graduating after
April 1987, it does nothing for those
who completed their programs after
the elimination of the old loan/grant
Program in 1984 and before the new
program’ s initiative in 1987.

The provincial government has
prewiously stated that the remission

-be we

decreases property values! If we want
to put everyone “out of sight, out of
mind”... you could be next!

We'll all need care at some time —
wouldn’t you like to feel that'the care
was given freely, with goodwill, with
generosity of spirit?

Do we value independence to the

-tocal builders

Process would be too difficult to apply
retroactively, but considering the ex-
tent of the debt loads these students
carry (as much as $24,000 as opposed
to the current $12,000 for a bachelor’s
degree) and the stress they suffer when
their debts go to a collection agency or
they go into bankruptcy, every effort
should be made to encourage the

government to reconsider applying the_

remission program retroactively
Unfortunate!
most under the debt burdens may not
know there is a collective voice for-
ming to raise this issue with the gover-
If you know of any former
students in this situation, the Canadian
Federation of Students would like fo
hear from them at: Student Debt
Initiative, 102-1080 West 7th Avenue,
B.C. V6H 1B2. They may

also be phoned at 7

those suffering the

nment

Sell
Student Council Office

come

point of obliterating common sense
and basic humanity?
There's no good
property values to decrease if a home is
truely a part of a neighborhood in an

reason for

esthetic, caring and sensitive way
Sheila Dixon
Castlegar

Letters to the editor

Rails should ease burden

The report on the Kootenay region
transportation improvement commit-
tee (Castlegar News, FEb. 9) quoted
Wally Penner as saying **...we're
going to talk-about_ how we're gointo
to go about getting public input.”
Well, simply ask and you shall receive

Many of ‘the’settlements that have
grown to bé towns and cities sprang up
beside the various railways operating
in the province. The railroads were
given subsidies, land grants and other
benefits to Open up the province. As
each mile of track was an investment
the most cost-efficient
usually chosen (i.c. the shortest, easiest
and most direct, if possible)

route was

lama farmer in Robson and I havea
very big problem — elk

Phave been here-for aw tittle-over a
year. This year, these animals have
broken fences to the amount 6T over
$2,500.

Ihave been trying to find out how |
can force the game department fo do
something or pay me for my-damages
Any attorney you approach will say to
you that you can’t sue an elk

One morning about 2 o'clock, I
heard the dog raising hell. 1 went out

In comparison, much of our high
way system consists of old roads ram.
bling from town to town following the
path of least resistance. These old
roads have been patched together and
are neither the quickest nor most direct
route in most cases, Save for excep
tions such as the Blueberry-Paulsen
and Salmo-Creston, Champion Lakes
pajses, our highways in the West
Kootenays are just slightly improved
versions of rambling country roads.

So here we have two transportation
systems but the burden of transport is
falling on the most inefficient. Our
highway system, improved to 1950-60
standards, is now bearing the traffic of

the 1980s. Trucks that are much
heavier and longer than 25 years ago
are travelling these old highways in
growing numbers.. Why “is the
‘railway hot engouraged-ar farced to
bring its system to top efficiency and
become again the major carrier of
freight? The portions of railway that
are “uneconomic” should not be shut
down but made economic

“Lean and mean" is not just acatch
phrase for the public sector. Federal
and provincial governments should
demand the full cooperation of rail to
ease the burden on our antiquated
highways and should return load limits
to previous levels until these gover

nments-are willing o pay (o bring our
highways up to a standard that will
carry safely the mega-trucks Ahat. are
now abusing our roads

T remember the interurban system
that serviced the rural areas and Van
It was allowed to fade away
only to be reinvented 40 years later,
horrendously expensive and much ab:
breviated and renamed “Skytrain'?!
Let’s not beso shortsighted in our ap
preciation of the railway infrastructure
already in place and the service it can
perform.

couver

Anne Barkley
Stoc

damage property

the back door to investigate and loand
behold, there was an elk bull around
‘900 pounds just standing there, abour
20 feet from my back door. When 1
tried to chase -him ‘away, he snorted
and pawed the ground beneath him. |
went back into the house

This last season, the elk have cost
over 50 heads of cabbage, 200 pounds
of carrots, 400 pounds of turnips, and
damaged my fruit trees and killed my
dog. There should be some way the
government of British Columbia could

Sentence seems

The sentence handed down to the
religiously motivated law-breakers in
After
all, defying and ignoring a court injun
ction is an insult toall of us

Holding up little plastic dolls and
harassing clients of the abortion clinic

Vancouver seems lenient to me

is not ‘sidewalk counseling” but a
vigilant attempt to violate and deny
women their civil rights. Also, these
“would-be martyrs” are out to force
their religious convictions on the rest
of us.

If they hear voices in their heads

telling them to break the law, perhaps a
visit to a psychiatrist would be in order
Fortunately, we have a strong charter
of rights protecting us from a handful
of religious fanatics and I hope that the
police and the courts will be less lenient
With any self-appointed mouth pieces
of God in the future

It is frightening that, notwithstan
ding the charter of rights, our own
provincial “leadership” was and is at
tempting to both high
court decisions on abortion and school
Back to the

circumvent

prayer middle ages?

Pro-lifers
supported

I support and believe what. Van
couver Archbishop James F. Carney
had to say concerning pro-life protests
at—the—Vancouver—‘abortuary:*—tt
bears repeating and I would appreciate
your printing this.

‘Surely, the’ foundations of a fr
society are crumbling when police are
called to a building where the destruc
tion of human life is being carried out
ona large scale, and the persons being
carted off to jail are not the per
petrators of the killing, but the people
who are Protecting the killing

“Twenty-five years ago, Canadians
couldn't have imagined” the legal
existence of present ‘abortuaries.’ Nor
would they have been able to envision
that apparently peaceful resistance
could ever be considered a greater of-

fence than the destruction that goes on
in these so-termed clinics.

“There are times,
Situations, wher persons of Tight con
that peaceful

there are
science conclude
resistance is justified.

“Provided their
peaceful and properly motivated, the
protesters should be seen as conscien
tious objectors against the destruction
of human life, and thus as defenders of
the highest human value.”

As a member of Nurses for Life, I
personally support these views and
believe it’s a sad commentary of our
times that people who are trying to
protect innocent human lives from
being killed are now in prison

Dolores DeRosa
Trail

protests are

compensate me for my loses — $2,500
and $1,000 for broken fences and $200
in Tost vegetables plus $200 fora dead
dog

Is there a law that makes a human a
second class citizen to an elk? 1 guess
the only thing to do is to figure out a
way to stop the elk from.coming down
this far in the valley. I know that this:is
possible by building-a fence from the
lake edge to the top of the mountain
This would eliminate the elk from the

lenient

Almost!

One reason as to why 1 am very
suspicious abotit this righteous group
of moralists is the fact that there exists
an alarming number of priests within
their own religion who have preached
morals for years while in fact sexually
molesting children. Hypocrisy at its
best!

The “right to life’? of these children
was severely violated with subsequent
psychological probléms, distrust and
loss of faith. If “‘pro-lifers’’ would

protest against such disgusting double
* standards they would gain my-respect
What | mean is: Clean up your act
before you preach to me!
Amen to that
Gunter V. Retterath
Wintaw

valley and the destruction to the valley
dwellers’ property and gardens

It’s not fair for this governmenrto
release. these
responsible for the damage they are
causing
get my losses back. | know that they are

animals and not be
There should be some way to

going to turn their noses up at the idea
that they “are responsible” for “this
ruthless damage to properiy in the
communities. of Pass
Creek. But I can tell you it won't take
much promoting to eliminate the elk

Robson and

I know if this wasto happen, I would
be sent to jail, but at my age it wouldn't
matter much and our big trouble here
would be gone.

Capt. Angus Thodeson
Robson

The Militia
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I'm one of the many Castlegar folk
who said “*yes”” to the building of an
Aquatic Centre in town and have been
looking forward to at last having such
a year round facility close at hand

In saying ‘yes’? however, I was also
assuming that’ the project would be
built by local skilled tradespeople who
would be paid a fair wage for their
labor

After all, that only makes sense in-a
place like Castlegar doesn’t it? Local
tradespeople would have a real pride in
building such’ a community. facility
whichthey-and-their families would-en-
joy — and the wages paid would most

likely be spent locally’
our businesses a real boost

It’s a way of keeping our tax dollars
in the Community, and for me, lessens
the pain of an increased tax bill

The fact that for once the builders
wouldn't have to leave home to work
would also be making a positive
statement about an improving local
economy and the ability of the West
Kootenay to generate jobs for its own
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Now I that
ployment” and “‘fair wages’? aren't
necessarily going tobe the high
priorities they should be for deciding

thus giving

hear “local em

Fashion news

who bitilds this long-awaited com
munity facility. hope these concerns
are unfounded and I'll be watching the
selection of the contractor by. the
Aquatic Centre's building
with great interest

In past years, both city council and
the school board have.attemped to im
plement a local employment/fair wage
policy When local construction proje
ts were planned. Sad to say, the
provincial government has all too of
ten imposed its own
criteria. on our
“decision makers

It_might be illuminating for the
Aquatic Centre committee to talk
with, in particular, school trustees
about the consequences of their forced

committee

“lowest bidder

locally elected

choice =
Fortunately, this time, the con

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whatever criteria it sees fit in

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trusting they will be cared about and
considered, hoping they will fit in,
belong and eventually really feel com- News, regarding recent fashion articles
fortable in Wednesday's Castlegar News (Feb
Usually their minds are filled with 8). Not one article, but two in one
what they are leaving behind, not what _ issu
they are approaching. It is often‘a‘very It is absolutely
difficult process Tor all concerned — a
passage dependent state of Fatima M. Travossos
living, often entirely dependent onthe nadian garment trade through (of Madeleine's Fashions)
goodwill and compassion of others a . Castleg: 2

Castlegar News

IMEAABER OF THE B.C. PRESS COUNCIL
ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7. 1947
INCORPORATING THE MID WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED
LV. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUS!
PUBLISHER — Burt Compbell
EDITOR — Simon Birch
PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Horvey
ADVERTISING MANAGER — Gory Fleming
OFFICE MANAGER — Lindo Kositsin
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadley

acontractor for the job

1, and many people like me ir
community, care not only that the
tre is built, but also about who by
and what wages they are paid to ¢
work

Regular articles like these would be a
pleasure to read —perhaps concerning
men’s fashion, hair design news, and
some pictures for visual aid

Conservative Castlegar could use
a vivid dash of fashion flash!

Qutoplan

Do you have
adequate coverage? srrcceetele-aatamasecioee

New Denver : Waneta Plaza * Kaslo

wonderful for a
fashion addict (like myself) to be in:
formed of international trends and

We all want to feel good about

be truly proud of this new additi

into a Castlegar

Ann Godderis
Castlegar