Looking back Year-end is a time for reflection and resolution. For that reason it is especially important for news- papers, which all too often find themselves so involved in recor- ding and commenting on the day- to-day events they never step back to view the overall picture: In preparing the special section on the year's articles and photo- graphs (see pages C1 t¢.C8) we had a chance to see just what has been accomplished during the last year. And more than anything we saw the balance between s about strik: accidents and disasters and stories about the people of this community. It's that balance that the paper hopes to maintain and on which it hopes to improve in the coming year. There is no doubt that readers need to be intofmed about the economic and political events that shape their lives. After all, a well informed public is vital to the democratic decision-making process. But a newspaper — especially a community newspaper — needs to Provide more than economic. and political stories_and commentary: It needs to provide news of the community, trom whatever source. Community news, news about residents and their doings, is im- portant in helping to shape a com- munity, in helping to bring a com- munity together. That point was brought home in a recent letter to the editor in the Vancouver Sun. A reader wrote to thank the Sun for an article on Woodward's downtown windows that had been decorated for Christmas. The reader said that after seeing the article in the Sun, she made a. | trip to see the win- jasn't disappointed. articles like pe i rything is bad, tragic, morbid and ug! We couldn't agree more\_ Aad we resolve that in the New Year we will continue to provide a balanced coverage of community events and happenings, so that we may all retain our perspective. Prospects grim for Third World in 1984 By AL COLLETTI ; UNITED NATIONS — Despite the high hopes that rang in 1983, Third World countries are no better off financially than they were a year ago and diplomats concede prospects are a grim for a more prosperous 1 Mverall, the debt of underdeveloped countries totals about $750 billion — two-thirds, of it owed to western bankers — and = cannot even meet interest payments. Paul Volcker, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, has launched a campaign to lower the interest rates Third World countries pay to interna- tional creditors. Voleker has warned bankers that if rates move higher in the. next few months, it could trigger a wave of de- faults or a large-scale moratorium. Several Latin American countries want to limit interest payments to 20 or 30 per cent of export earnings instead of the present 50 or 60 per cent. Several attempts have been made Fred. Merriman Here are a few of my hopes for the future. The B.C. government and the federal government will begin a prises and Crown corporations will be required to release their priv- tion environment.” The average household will re- invoke its right to independence by denying itself access to ready credit seductively offered by the finance industry. - If we ourselves refuse the tan- talizing philosophy of “buy now, pay perhaps nts to become the scapegoats for unofficially at the United Nations to revive talks between the industrialized North and the developing South. Select groups met privately for several weeks during the 38th UN General Assembly, but the North-South dialogue, a favorite of Prime Minister ates is still in dead. water. * “This is the second dimension of United Nations which is now working well,” says Canadian Ambassador Ger- ard Pelletier. The first dimension is the division between the East and West and a lack of political dialogue between the Soviet Union and the United States. In the new cold war, developing countries are being relegated to a sec- ondary role even as their financial positions worsen. “At least 15 countries are virtually bankrupt,” Pelletier says. “It’s only because the banks don’t want them bankrupt that they can still operate and because, I suppose, literally a country cannot go bankrupt.” (Canadian Press) Si restraint and austerity. Perhaps we should blame all the professional accountants in the province for the mess we are in be- cause they did not-advise strongly enough about the perils of heavy town to line up another filly some- where else in the province. Drivers of automobiles in the province of British Columbia will be folk with a request will address it to their elected representative and expect a fair and reasonable answer. In what a-sports commentator called “black December in stadiums:” a busload of Roma fans en route to a Roma-Juvéntis game Dec. 4 in Turin vandalized a roadside restaurant. © — In Milan three days later, mem- bers of an Internazionale supporters club stabbed Austrian Gerhard Wan- ninger several times following an Inter- Austria Vienna European Football Union Cup contest. — On Dee. 18, brawls between Fior- entina and Roma fans in Florence re- sulted in 11 injuries. In Catania the same day, two people were hurt by gasoline bombs hurled to protest a ref- eree’s decision. “Neither rules nor disciplinary meas- ures can ever be enough to stamp out a phenomenon that’s characteristic of. our time and knows no limits,” said fone Sordilla, the Italian Soccer Federatia PReePnt, after a meeting te toot ‘‘nieasures tentatively ‘the meeting were reinforcement of gig he “Ponce. olice also will step up surveillance gangs. But many in sports circles have ex- pressed doubt whether these measures would be.sufficient to keep peace in stadiums capable holding as many as 80,000 people. “Some people go to. the stadium pre- to violence,” World Cup hero Paolo Rossi of Juventus said. “How can you control what's inside the human soul?” Some players, like Bruno Conti of Roma, blame themselves for the situ- \ ation. “It all depends on our behavior,” Coat, © World Cup winger, said. “We need to help more by making people understand that soccer is only a game.” That may be a hard point to get across in a country where the sport is treated so seriously. Sergio Camapana, players’ associa- tion president, has called for a one-day suspension of league games to give the public a pause for Some soccer club officials have sug- gested teams play without fans until the atmosphere cools down. They said a drastic action might be to curb the spate of fan violence that they said was more serious than similar incidents in the past. The most serious incident occurred in 1979, when a Roma fan was killed by a rocket fired from the Lazio end of Olympic Stadium during the tradition- ally volatile, intra-city match. As long ago as 1966, the league began to cover team benches to protect coaches and players from objects tossed by angry spectators. Both Napoli and Lazio were sus- pended from European competitions because of crowd misbehavior during the early 1970s. Economy plagues Israel By MARCUS ELIASON TEL AVIV (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's government is facing the threat of disintegration as it grapples with a crushing foreign debt and an inflation rate approaching 200 per cent a year. The economy is so bad that it has ec- lipsed the Lebanon war as Israel's big- gest worry. Finance Minister Yigal Cohen-Orgad has prescribed drastic. action, warning that Israel must act now to save itself from sinking beneath a $23-billion foreign debt that is al- ready the highest per capita in the world. Cohen-Orgad fears that next year the debt will be so huge that foreign banks will stop lending Israel money. “I don't think it’s a matter of months, but the situation is definitely grave,” said economist Assaf Razin of Tel Aviv University. “Unless we take stern measures now, we will-end up like some South American countrieg in a couple of years. It will be an enormous mess.” But Cohen-Orgad’s proposals strike at some of the most sacrosanct areas of Israeli life. They are to include gutting the defence budget by 10 per cent, scrapping for at least @ year all plans for new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and making parents pay for their children's school- ing. ‘The disclosures have put Shamir in a corner, unable to move in any without courting upheaval. ber. His coalition controls only 64.T the 120 seats in parliament. If he accepts a cut in settlements spending, he is bound to lose the three-member Tehiya faction and right-wing Rabbi Haim Druckman. These four vltra-natiqnalists, to: whom settlements are the soul of Zionism, could demolish Shamir’s majority. If Shamir agrées to restrict. free __ education, he risks the wrath of the six-member National. Religious party, one of whose’ leaders, Zevulun. Ham- mer, is. education ynihister and ‘archi- tect of the law that gives children free schooling up to age 15. -And, if the measures lead to un- employment, reduced welfare benefits and « ¢ut in living standards, as Cohen-Orgad expects, Shamir sould lose the three-member TAMI faction, whose voters are mainly low-income Sephardis, Jews of Middle Eastern Canada’s UIC plan in trouble By W. ROGER WORTH Canadian Federation of Independent Business _ If anyone doubts there are problems with Unemployment Insurance, they need only glance at the staggering cost of running the system; it has more than doubled to about $12 Eation Siriae the last few years, While most Canadians would agree that the jobless should, indeed must, be assisted, there are real concerns that the scheme has become overly gener- ous, providing « disincentive for able individuals to find work, and costing taxpayers money they can’t afford to pay. . Consider, for example,.a few points made by Canadian Federation of Independent _ in an’Ottawa Business @ Across the countzy,. more than 200,000 Canadians The quelli cop, ig whether such individuals should be allowed the luxury of quitting. We can all sympathize with the laid off worker, or an individual who had the bad luck to be employed by a company that failed: But quitting voluntarily ig something else again. ‘The Federation says: “There can’ be worker weeks. The other nine provide them for "28 to 36 weeks. The Federation believes the’ maximum duration of beniefits'in Canada should be reduced However, reports received from Celgar indieate that thére is quite an absenteeism problem in their plants. * 8 @ ‘800,000 miles will have been logged AGE ty tin ond Philp Teogend, Gro and was chartered on Oct. 6 of ‘that year. ee Application for an AM licence by a company to be incorporated by T.N. Tuck of Castlegar has been approvéd by the Canadian Radio-Television Com- mission. to 78-year-old Owen Wood- man, who had taken the 1988 aqussh growing champion- ship, but now has been strip- ped of his title. ‘The retired greenhouse foreman from nearby Fal- mouth, N.S., had his 193-kil- World Pumpkin Federation and now is crying conspiracy and wondering whether he will defend his other title, the world pumpkin championship he also won in 1963. He said the rules of the competition were “made for a the perennial world pumpkin and squash champion, who finished second to Woodman in both categories this year, now is the world squash champion. He showed a 155- kilogram (341-pound) squash at the championships in Oc- tober. Dill said he was shocked that the decision is only now becoming public knowledge. “I don't know why they’ve telephone delay only lends further my- stery to the whole matter.” Dill claimed at the official weigh-in on hinerapeair 4 Winter Fair, where the co test is held, submitted Dill's protest to directors of the World Pumpkin Federation <4 waite. tiipned to Grand Forks 1's years ago, He is survived by one Perepelk n ’ funeral Fred’ F. Perepelkin of Grand Forks passed away Friday, Dec. 16 at Boundary Hospital in Grand Forks. He wad 81. Mr. Perepelkin was born ‘Aug. 2, 1902 at Verigin, Sask. and moved to Grand Forks in 1986. He resided in Krestova and Aggassiz, returning to Grand Forks in 1971, where he has resided since. He is survived by his wife Mary of Grand Forks, two sons, Bill and Nick, both of Krestova; two daughters, Mrs. Fred (Christina) Med- vedeff and Mrs. John (Molly) Pankoff, both of Grand Forks; 17 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren. Prayer service was held Dec. 19 at Krestova Hall and continued Dec. 20. Funeral service was held Dec. 21 WINTER FUN . . . Families take advantage of cold weather to get in some ‘xoting ©M Burial followed in Krestova —Conniews Photaby Johacherer Cometery, Zuckerberg Island pond. Ex-Cominco executive killed LADYSMITH (CP) — ity hag 68, were among with the garbage in the usual a on the regular pickup iy: four people killed in a head- on collision Tuesday just north ofthis Vancouver Is- land community. Salter's son-in-law, Sharrock, 42, and eight-year-old son Cameron, both of Whitby, Ont., were also killed in the crash. Shar- rock's wife Beverly, 43, of Pea David Bailey, 18, of Lady- smith, the lone occupant of the other vehicle, suffered 1984, He came to Trail that year to work at Cominco as an assayer, © Our Annual Forks with Pastor Gary Cel- ester officiating. Burial fol- lowed. 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