PAGE A4, SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1991
MEMBER OF THE 8.C. PRESS COUNCIL

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947 TWICE WEEKLY MAY
INCORPORATING THE MID-WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 12, 1

L.V. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 15, 1973
BURT CAMPBELL ~ PUBLISHER, FEBRUARY 16, 1973-MAY 1, 1991

PUBLISHER — Dave McCullough
WTOR — Simon Birch
PLANT FOREMAN — Peter teehry 4
ADVERTISING MANAGER — Wayne Stoiz
OFFICE MANAGER — Warren Chernott
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hadley

EDITORIAL

GST's true colors
come to light

On January 1 this country’s new seven per cent Goods and Ser-
vices Tax (the infamous GST) replaced the Manufacturers’ Sales Tax
levied since 1924,

Now the bad news is in. The critics and cynics, who said the{GST
would provide more revenue to the federal government than Ottawa
was estimating, have been proven right.

Canadians with an annual family income of $48,000 will pay
about $570. This is almost 50 per cent more than the finance depar-
tment’s original estimate of $365 for a family of four earnings
$50,000.

unidentified spokesman for Finance Mifiister Donald
Mazankowski says the department is sticking to its lower figure. He
Says the dollar figure is higher because only the first year of-the tax is
being looked at.

“Over the maturity of the GST, the numbers will decline and

fevel off,’’ the spokesman said.
: He claims that under the GST, the cost to businesses for the pur-
chase of cars, trucks and other capital goods will decline and the
Savings will be passed on to consumers. However, that process takes
fime because these goods are only replaced over a period of years as
their usefulness ceases.

For a family earning between $12,000 and $17,000 annually, the
GST will cost an extra $200 a year. Surprisingly, the GST Infor-
mation office fails in its estimate to take into account the GST credit
program set up by Ottawa to compensate low-income citizens for the
higher cost of the tax.

The multi-stage GST is collected on the selling price of almost all
goods and services sold in this country from production through
distribution to the ultimate sale to the consumer. (To prevent a
multiplier effect with ‘‘a tax on a tax on a tax,’’ businesses are
allowed an ‘‘input tax credit,’’ a deduction for GST paid on their
purchases so the GST ends up being charged only on the final price
being charged the customer.)

This new tax has even followed Canadians to the grave.

Not only are items such as postage, advertising, hotels, meals,
travel and books and subscriptions subject to the GST, but funerals
are too. Health services, used residential housing’ and “most
educational services have been placed in a special category while basic.
groceries, prescription drugs and medical devices are GST free (or at
least for the moment are tax-free).

It’s under at Canadi are b
cynical of politicans and distrustful of governments.

VIEWPOINT

Canadian revolt
hits economy hard

ths of living with the GST, it’s clear
that, contrary to the goveriment’s
implementation of the federal gover- every prediction, Canadians are not
nment’s Goods and Services Tax coping well with the new tax.

would take place unnoticed, they Or perhaps more to the point, the
were dead wrong. After a few mon- please see REVOLT page AS

more and more

By TERRY O’SHAUGHN iY
If anyone had thought that the

ATEN AEEATNG A
HOW QUA GOVERNMENT |S TREATING

THE PALESTINIANS...

{ure ail Undo ih

Uy
MiP

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Problems at park

It was nice to see your fun family pictures at
Kinsmen Park in the paper May 5. They looked
like they were having a great time. It’s too bad
your photographers were not there May 4.

Two eight-year-old boys were playing in the
park. Two older girls were harrassing them. One
girl pushed one of the boys down then smashed
him in the face. That eight-year-old boy was my
son. I’ve notified the RCMP on the incident and
encourage other people to do the same when the
kids act up in that park
Cindy Shiakoff
Castlegar

Sabatoged efforts

In your article of April 27, *“Valhalla Society
Disputes Report,’’ I said that Slocan Forest
Products (SFP) did not lose any existing jobs
because of the creation of Valhalla Park. I also
said that the company got other timber from
outside the Arrow TSA when Kootenay Forest
Products (KFP) went out of business. I stand by
this information. Terry Dods from Slocan Forest
Products disputed my statement. Oddly enough,
Mr. Dods did not dispute this same statement
when it was made by our directors at a meeting
between the Valhalla Society, the local Share
group, Slocan Forest Products, and the IWA.*

Mr. Dods says now that his company did not
get enough wood from KFP to make up for the
loss of Valhalla Park timber. He states that the
Ministry of Forests recalculated the commercial
timber in the Park and found that more was lost
to the forest industry than the original estimate
indicated. However, the recent Clayton Resources
report on Valhalla Park — paid for and promoted
by the forest industry — had already taken into
account the higher estimate cited by Mr. Dods
when it stated: ‘‘. . . because of what is in effect
an ‘import’ of timber . . . (from Kootenay Forest
Products), the companies have not individually
had to reduce their harvest levels to reflect the loss
of annual allowable cut" (due to Valhalla Park).

The Clayton report goes on to rationalize that
the loss of Kootenay Forest Products reflects the

jobs lost due to Valhalla Park. This is

4 Forest closed
before the Park was created; the government
made efforts to find buyers for it, but there were
none,

Clayton Resources states that logging the
Park would create 21 forest industry jobs (23 at
the time the Park was created). Could these
potential jobs have become a reality in these seven
years? Apparently not. In the recession that
started in 1980, there were layoffs at SFP due to
the poor markets. In early 1983, just before the
park was announced, the Ministry of Forests
+educed SFP’s timber quota; one of the reasons
given was that the company had not been utilizing
all the wood available to it. Last year there were
layoffs again — 125 employees. The reasons given
were poor market prices and overstocking
problems which Valhalla Park wood could not
have solved.

If SFP runs out of wood in the future, due to
overcutting of our forests, Valhall Park timber
will be of little help. Qnly one-sixth of the park
contains commercially valuable timber. If we log
that too, what will support us when it’s gone?
Tourists will not come to see devastated
landscapes and hike in the tree plantations. The
Clayton Resources report admits that 16 tourism
jobs have already been created by Valhalla Park
and this should be considered a minimum figure,
and one that is growing all the time.

Visitor use of Valhalla Park grew slowly in
the early years because the B.C. government
starved the Parks Branch of funds needed to
develop and promote the park. This year it
appears that park funds will be slashed even
further. So the government refuses to properly
develop or advertise the park, and then the forest
industry pays for a consultant’s report showing
visitation has been’ lower than expected. One more
example of a government and an industry that
have worked together for years to sabotage the
efforts of the B.C. public to preserve a small
portion of forestland for other uses.

Anne Sherrod
Director, Valhalla Society

Junk only to some

I'm writing in response to the Recycle
Advisory Group article on junk mail Bylaw
Prohibits Junk Mail, (CasNews, May !, 1991). In
my view, pamphlets, flyers and other materials of
the same gender are only junk mail to those who
Perceive it as such. I, for one, read my mail and
actually appreciate it. Amazingly too, the stuff
that I don’t read and regard as junk is the stuff
my husband is interested in and visa-versa.

I believe also that | am responsible enough to
dispose of the paper appropriately. We have both
recycling depots and bins in the area for that use.
If some people are worried about the paper that is
disposed of at the post office why not put bins in
there too?

In conclusion I am definitely against having
someone censor the mail I receive. Just because
some people don’t, have the intent or skill of
reading and dealing with their mail doesn’t mean I
should be robbed of this source of information.
Erica Gregory
Castlegar a

Please address all letters to the edilor
to; Letters to the Editor, Castlegar
P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4,
or deliver them to our office at 197
Columbia Ave. in Castlegar.

Letters should be typewritten, double-
spaced and not longer than 300 words.

Letters MUST be signed and include
the writer's first and last names, address
and a telephone number at which. the
writer can be reached between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m. The writer's name and city or town
of only will be . Only
in exceptional cases will letters be
Published without the writer's name.
Nevertheless, the name, address and
telephone number of the writer MUST be
disclosed to the editor.

The Castlegar News reserves the right
to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality,
grammar and taste.

dari

REMEMBER WHEN

40 YEARS AGO
From the May 10, 1951
Castle News

The Castlegar Projects Society is
endeavoring to purchase Block * 19
(the ball park) for a Village Park

It is their intentions, if the deal ‘is
made, to develop the Property into a
playground for children as well as a
beauty spot in our village.

It is understood the grounds at the
new Junior-Senior High School will
soon be available for a ball diamond

The new park could include tennis
courts and bowling greens if the
public so desired.

ear mite

The Castle News has moved to the
basement of the- Sportsmen’s Shop.
Entrance to the office is between the
garage and the Sportsmen's Shop
Building.

or 8 .
25 YEARS AGO
From the May 12, 1966
Castlegar News

So far this year the total fire loss
in Castlegar amounts to neéarly
$24,000 compared with $285 last
year.

Two recent fires, one at Kinnaird
Transfer Ltd. and another at
Waldie’s Service Centre, account for
a large proportion of the total loss.

This week fire chief Ed Lewis said
that carelessness was often the cause
of fires and urged local residents to

be particularly careful during the
coming summer months,
a .

Castlegar is named after a’ com-

munity in Lreland.

his information was provided to
the legar News this week by a
longtime resident of this area, John
Lawson.

Mr. Lawson said the history of the
names of both Castlegar and Kin-
naird were related to him in 1920 by
Tom Bloomer. The latter was an
engineer with the CPR who owned
the property ‘now. known as the
Castle-bar subdivision and who lived
with his family in the house now oc-
cupied by the Harold Hesketh family
on Queen St., near the CPR station.
5 YEARS AGO
From the May 13, 1976
Castlegar News

The provincial government
through the Department of Labor’s

Program is providing funding

Students in Trail, according to city
manager Mr. de Kleine, will ‘co
ordinate and map traffic control
signs, clean and beautify the under-
developed areas within the city and
Supervise the handicapped children in
@ parks program

Ta .

While Ald. G.S. Rust described it
as ‘‘very iffy’, the end of May was
given as the completion date of the
treatment plant for the southern sec-
tion of Castlegar

The same date was given as the
deadline for the cleaning up of the
majority of the easements.

The new treatment plant site, once
fenced in, has been Suggested as the
future location of the dog pound
Here it would be more isolated from
the residential area, as well as allow
for daily supervision.

Dr. J.H. Walton of Castlegar has
been. selected to be the recipient for
British. Columbia of the Schering

assistance to ies, im-
Provement districts, societies, small
businesses and farms for the em-
ployment of $1 students ‘in the
Castlegar-Trail area in positions
which are essential to their
operations.

Trail, Rossland, Castlegar, Mon-
trose and Warfield will be hiring 15
students to assist the municipalities
in their summer operations. The

Study Award for the
year 1976.

The winners of this award are
selected by the College of Family
Physicians of Canada, and are
required to do post-graduate training
in cardiology in a Canadian teaching
hospital for a two-week period
during 1976-77.

5 YEARS AGO
From the May 11, 1986

Castlegar News

Eleven of the West Kootenay area
Students on a foreign study exchange
in Kiev are in Moscow for a week
where they will undergo radiation
tests and make a decision on whether
to stay in the Soviet Union or return
to Canada,

Jim Popoff, public relations direc-
tor of the Union of Spiritual Com-
munities of Christ, the exchange
Program's sponsoring agency, said
Friday that the latest contact with
the students confirms a media report
that the students are now in
Moscow,

He added that two other students,
Barry Verigin of Grand Forks and
George Koochin of Castlegar are
with their parents and 19 other
Parents who are on a tour of the
Soviet Union.

ee era |

A recent recommendation to limit
enrolment of transfer students at the
University of British Columbia
should not be a problem for Selkirk
College students gaining entry to the
university

College principal Leo Perra said in
an interview he doesn’t forsee a
Problem, but also added it’s difficult
to respond to the recommendation
for a number of reasons.

He said that so far, the college has
received no official information from
the university,

Revolt

continued from page A4
Canadian economy is not coping
well,

A recent national poll, for exam-
ple, conducted by the. Canadian
Federation of Independent Business,
is the latest sign that our beleaguered
economy has had enough. The poll
results showed that very nearly half
of all Canadian households — 45 per
cent — have cut back on spending
since the introduction of the GST on
the first of this year. Meanwhile,
Statistics Canada recently reported
that retail sales in January plum-
meted by 4.1 per cent compared with
a year ago, the worst monthly
decline since 1961. The agency’s in-
dex of 10 key economic indicators
also fell by 1 per cent in January, the
twelfth straight monthly decline and
by far the largest of this recession. In

addition, the GST has also triggered
a sharper-than-predicted jump in
consumer prices. In January,
Canada’s annualized inflation rate,
Propelled by the GST, soared 1.8
Percentage points to 6.8 per cent —
well above the 1.25 percentage points
predicted by former Finance Minister
Michael Wilson.

For once, it seems, just about
everyone (outside of government,
that is) is in agreement: the GST has,
and probably will continue to dam-
pen consumer demand and prolong
the already weakened state of our
economy.

CFIB’s vice-president of research
and chief economist, Catherine
Swift, isn’t surprised by the public’s
frigid response to the new tax.
Referring to the recent surge in
cross-border shopping, Swift argues

that the revolt against the tax has
worked its way across the border as
literally hundreds of thousands of
Canadians are now shopping in the
U.S. instead of their own country.
For 1991, Swift anticipates that last
year’s $3 million border crossings
will increase by as much as 30 per
cent to approximately 69 million.

“It only stands to reason,"’ she
says, “‘that at least a portion of the
respondents to this poll are driving
across the border to shop.

“It’s not the Canadian way to yell
and scream in the street, but people
have reached the breaking point.
Consumers are using cross-border
shopping as their tax revolt — and
more and more they’re using their
cars to prove it.’’

Canada’s retailers, she adds, are
competing on an uneven playing

field. Already suffering from a crip-
pling tax burden which in many cases
is as much as 40 per cent higher than
their U.S. counterparts, border
retailers were stung particularly hard
by the GST.

“‘Let’s face it. It’s unfair to blame
consumers for. trying to save some
money. Every level of government,
however, must now face up to its
responsibility to help curb the out-
flow of Canadian dollars from our

CFIB is recommending that two
good places to start would be with a
lower Canadian dollar and a lower
overall tax burden.

“And the sooner,’’ Swift says,
“‘the better. The country as a whole
is desperately in need of a boost to
help pull Canada’s battered economy
out of the basement."’

Small town policing offers refreshing approach

The prudent homeowner who
spruces up his property before
selling will clean up in more ways
than one.

utility
touch-ups to make
mell and look fresh
brokers recommended
decorating and new wall

m if cor
peting was worn and 15% believed
yard clean up and landscaping would
improve the curb appeal

Close to half the brokers strongly
recommend against major

impact on selling price but
they ore not profitable in the short

“Real

°F state

WITH BARRY BROWN

CLEAN UP FOR RESALE

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT CHART
New carpeting ($4,000) — 90%
return
New shrubs and trees ($2,000) —
90% return
New garage ($10,000) — 80:
return
Room addition ($20,000) — 65%
return
Bathroom addition ($8,000)
60% return

place ($5,000) — 50 % return
Deck or patio ($5,000) — 50%
return
Remodel kitchen ($15,000)
50% return

if there is anything | can do to help
you in the field of real estate, please
coll or drop injat

| AN 1 | NATIONAL REAL

ESTATE SERVICE

We’re out to meet you!
at Castlegar on May 15, 1991

A Federal Business Develop-
ment Bank representative
will be paying your com-
munity a@ visit in the next

~ ae
few days. Call today and

arrange an appointment
4, todiscuss financing and
management services,
(counselling, planning

and training).

Telephone: 426-7241

COMMITTED TO YOUR SUCCESS

Le Banque ulfre wes

“Pizza's warm."”

I looked at the officer in the RCMP uniform in
amazement. In Toronto, such a greeting would be
viewed with suspicion, a front for some kind of
ulterior motive. During my 10 years in that

polis, cops only with me in sign
language when traffic lights broke down.

It was noon on a cold day early in the year, and I
had stopped at the Silverton Shop Easy — the only
grocery store in town — for a snack. I checked out
the warm pizza, which was indeed worthy of the
officer’s recommendation.

While munching it just inside the entrance, I
noticed that he was serving as a kind of unofficial
host — opening the door and greeting all arrivals. In
a more official capacity, he is Const. Dave Gardner,
one of two officers who police the Slocan Valley
north of Lemon Creek.

Although I had no contact with police back in
Ontario, I had lots of involvement with the justice
system and people we call ‘‘criminals.”* I was a regular
in Quaker visiting programs at the Toronto Don Jail
and other institutions; a facilitator of prison

‘He's a cool dude, I'm told. So
cool, in fact, Gardner . . . gets
invited to their beach parties.’

Catherine
Shapcott

Other than being one of the biggest dope-
growing regions in the Country, he told me, the valley
is free of serious crime.

If this is the case, one might assume an RCMP
officer has nothing better to do than hang around
and visit people. That hasn't always happened in the
4100 sq. kil jurisdiction ini from
New Denver, but it is Dave Gardner’s style. Even the
local teenagers like him.

“*He’s a cool dude,”’ I’m told. So cool, in fact,
Gardner (who is 35) gets invited to their beach
parties.

The second time I talk to Gardner, he’s hanging
out at the Apple Tree, a cafe in New Denver — one
stop on his rounds. I remind him of my interest to

workshops in Alternatives to Violence; and for one
year, volunteer director of an outdoor adventure
Program for young offenders. I continue
corresponding with a couple men in prison, including
a lifer at Kingston Penitentiary.

Given this background and the usual curiosity
about one’s new neighborhood, I recognized a great
opportunity to ask about crime in the Slocan Valley.

At the mention of crime, Gardner looked at me
as though I was The Sister From Another Planet. He
worked 13 years for the RCMP in Burnaby and two
years at Vancouver headquarters, so it's not a foreign
concept — except in this location.

chat about whatever “‘crime’’ exists in the
upper half of the valley.

Point at three men who share the table with him
and his partner, Cpl. Keith Wiens, he identifies
“three of The Most Wanted.’”

One of these ‘*dangerous’’ individuals, drinking
coffee and eating dessert, tells me Gardner is a great
host and cook: Gardner is so embarrassed, he
changes the subject. A nagging writer is easier to take
than a compliment. id

What I'd like is an opportunity to join him on
his daily rounds, so I can observe what it’s
like to do policing in a large area of small rural
communities.

Gardner doesn’t encourage this kind of
adventure, but he patiently grants a three-hour
interview. A lot of time, considering how little
“‘criminal”’ activity there is.

I tell Gardner how amazing it is to be in a place
where a woman can walk alone at night. It’s
liberating to feel less paranoid about assaults, break
and enters, and comments from male strangers.

Although Cpl. Wiens indicates there’s some
Problem with thefts of industrial property, cars and
houses are not targest for thieves. Serious crimes such
as rapes and murders are unheard of in the valley,
according to the resident officers.

Wiens, who has worked out of New Denver for
10 months, says no one has ever taken a swing at
him; or even been verbally abusive. What's criminal
in the valley, he says, is ‘major unemployment."”

Policing here is quieter, more personal and more
compassionate, says Gardner, because everyone
knows everyone. What isn’t consumed by paperwork
and administration involves a lot of community
relations, service and education — officers keeping a
high profile, yet involving themselves as citizens of
the community.

he was just being friendly or checking out a stranger
in town. Gardner, who finds it perfectly natural to
pal around with people, seems amused by the
question.

“I was never a stereotyped cop,” he says, ‘‘I
don’t enjoy driving around being a drone — dark
glasses, being a ‘Robo Cop.’ You can get into trouble
thinking you're better than other people.”’

I’ve always advocated that a generous helping of
humanity is needed to keep people who ‘‘make
mistakes’? — often under the influence of alcohol —
from going down the greased chute of hard-core
crime. Yet I wonder whether familiarity gets
complicated in a place where a policeman might also
be a friend and nieghbor. What happens, say, in the
case of domestic disputes, or traffic violations?

In an area where people aren’t used to a heavy
Police presence and make strange with the concept of
court, ‘‘a lot of times things are settled informally,’’
says Gardner. In certain cases, he uses his own
discretion
Charges will be laid and alternative forms of justice
will be considered. This allows people to work out
Problems with less legal expense and hassle.

“Don’t over-react.”’ Gardner’s simple motto
helps keep a lid on whatever crime and

‘Il was never a stereotyped
cop, I don't enjoy driving
around being a f tet —dark
glasses, being a ‘Robo Cop.'

Gardner, for example, helps people load and
unload their groceries, gives lifts to bingo games,
jokes around with teenagers, plays on baseball and
hockey teams, and sits on the board of the New
Denver and Area Home Health Care Society.

“*I walk a block to do something, but might not
get there,”* he says, referring to all the visiting that
g0es on. "s a different lifestyle.””

| recall the warm pizza incident, and ask whether

Punishment might otherwise exist. If there’s
something to respond to, he will; otherwise he won't
play cops 'n robber, or any other games — sniffing
out dope or kids having fun.

Thirteen months into a two-year posting,
Gardner says: I’m only a tourist. You serve the
community here. We're more like two town cops.’”

Meeting the needs of the community — as the
community defines them — appeals to me as a
refreshing approach to law and order. Ultimately, it
probably helps maintain it.

This kind of policing, along with informal chats
and nightly walks, is part of the qualify of life in the
Slocan Menage cities have lots to offer, but
contact the police invariably involves People as
suspects or victims.

term. As a guide for return on your
investment clip and keep the Mountainview Agencies Ltd.
following: “What you can expect 1695 Columbia Ave.,
chart” Phone 365-2111 or 365-2757

For Castlegar's
ANNUAL
SUNFEST
PARADE

Sat., June I, '

Clip and mail your entry in today!

To: Castlegar Festivals Society
Box 3001 ¥
Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4

DEWDNEY TOURS

Dat
a

‘

1355 Bay Ave., Trail

368-6666

West's Travel

365-7782

YELLOWSTONE/ BLACK HILLS

June 11-24, 1991 — 14 Dey

Join us as we tour to YELLOWSTON!
SOUTH DAKOTA. Travel back to th
TLEFIELD, DEADWOOD

. There's a TRAIN RIDE and CRUISE to view the
join us and imagine the fast rugged doys of the

DESERT SUN & GRAND ATTRACTIONS

11-26, 1999

Name:

Address:
Postal Code:
Phone:
Type of Float:

ENTRY DEADLINE: MONDAY, MAY 27, 1991.

LE CHOIR in SALT LAKE CITY
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