OPINION

Cas

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947

PAGE A4, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1990
MEMBER OF THE 8.C. PRESS COUNCK.

INCORPORATING THE MID-WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 12,
LV. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947-FEBRUARY 15, 1973

PUBLISHER — Burt Campbell
EDITOR — Simon Birch
PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Harvey
ADVERTISING MANAGER — Wayne Stoiz
OFFICE MANAGER — Linda Kositsin
CIRCULATION MANAGER — Hi:

th,

TWICE WEEKLY MAY 4, 1980
AUGUST 27, 1960

EDITORIAL

Freedom must
be defended

Sunday is Remembrance Day.

It’s time for Canadians to remember. the men and women (some
of them actually not much more than boys and girls) who gave their
lives on our behalf in wars in this century to preserve our freedom.
It’s also a time to pause and think about Canadian Forces personnel
currently stationed in the Middle East who any day may be asked to
wage another fight against an aggressive dictator who poses a threat

to freedom.

Of course, everyone hopes it won't be necessary to put Canadian
lives — or any other lives for that matter — on the line in a war
against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Some argue that Western forces shouldn’t even be in the Persian
Gulf, that restoration of an undemocratic government in Kuwait, led

by an oil-
spilling blood over.

h emir, plus a few million barrels of oil, aren’t worth

But should countries like Canada and other members of the
United Nations sit idly by while thugs like Saddam Hussein use force

to take what they want?

Despite the material aspect of the Persian Gulf conflict — that is,
the oil and what it means to our Western lifestyle — there is also the
belief that freedom must be defended, wherever and whenever it is

threatened.

Sadly; freedom is never ‘‘free.’’ It is the prerogative only of
those who are prepared to defend it. Failure to do so can extract a

considerable price.

The years leading up the Second World War are a classic exam-
ple. Just ask the people who lost their freedom during those terrible

years how valuable it is.

As you gather at the cenotaph tomorrow in Kinsmen Park to
pay tribute to the more than 100,000 Canadians who have given their
lives in this century to defend our freedom, keep in mind that, despite
the current flowering of freedom around the world, it’s no time to

become complacent.

Ys
@.

LETTERS TO THE EDITO

Support sought

As employees of the Castlegar News and
members of the CWA, Local 226, we would like
to inform the community of our concerns in
regard to the story, ‘‘CasNews to get rival
weekly’’ (Castlegar News, Nov. 3).

Castlegar News has been providing the
cgmmunity with a “‘voice’’ for over 40 years. It’s
employees have been unionized 16 years.

Currently, the Castlegar Sun, owned by
Sterling Newspapers, a large newspaper chain, is
hiring non-union workers and proposes to pay
production personnel $325 gross per week, less
than half of what our production members are
paid. It can be speculated that employees in other
departments at the Sun will be paid a similar scale.

Not only does our union contract with the
Castlegar News provide us with a fair wage, it also
Provides us with medical and dental benefits, a
sick plan and a pension plan — benefits that are
important to our members. Our union contract
also provides us with protection in the event of
unjust firing, layoffs, etc.

As all union workers are aware, unions have
helped raise the standard of living that helps
provide employment in other sectors of the

VIEWPOINT

Ace weatherman
dispells myths

By DEAN BEEBY

For people who have braved win-
ters for centuries, Canadians cling to
some hoary old myths about the
frost, says a top climatologist

David Phillips, Environment
Canada’s ace weatherman, enjoys
knocking those misconceptions down
like icicles from an eavestrough

“The first weather myth that I
ever heard was from my gran-
dmother, who lived in Winnipeg,”
Phillips, a boyish 45, said in a recent
interview in Halifax. ‘‘l remember
her saying Portage and Main is the
coldest place in Canada."’

Phillips checked the books and
found that the famous Winnipeg in-
tersection in fact trails colder spots,
such as downtown Saskatoon and
Thomson, Man

The Windsor, Ont. native, known
for his best-selling weather trivia
calendars, has written a glossy new
book that tries to set some records
straight. The Climates of Canada, a
$100,000 project
Canada, was released this fall

Among the winter myths it plows
through:

¢ Victoria is among the most
benign places to weather the
Canadian winter.

“They pride themselves on being
lotus-land out there and yet they
have more snow than the North Pole
on average,” says Phillips.

Victoria is also high on the list of
record one-day snowfalls in major
cities, just behind such snowtowns as
Ottawa and Quebec City

© Winters are invariably cruel and
long and harsh.

Phillips says winters are never as
bad as our memories make them.

“Canadians tend to exaggerate
winter,’’ he says. ‘‘We take the worst
kind of day, a winter-misery day,
and we then synthesize the entire
season based on those particular
days.""

He cites the example of Winnipeg
— sometimes called Winterpeg —
where the records show only about
25 per cent of the season is made up
of winter-misery days that score high

by Environment,

on an Environment Canada index
that measures such things as wind
chill and snowfall.

* You can judge the severity of a
coming winter by watching whether
squirrels gather more nuts, whether
onions have thicker skins or whether
the dogberries arrive earlier than
usual

No truth to any of it, says Phillips,
though he’s quick to point out that
some folklore used for short-term
forecasting can be amazingly ac-
curate.

‘Red ‘sky at night, sailor’s
delight,"" for example, is a good rule
of thumb for predicting weather at
sea

* Canada is the great snow
storehouse, dumping loads of the
stuff each winter on innocent Amer-
icans in northern states.

In fact, Canada’s Arttic air is
clean and dry, says Phillips

“If we look at our nasty weather,
most of it is imported from the
United States.’

That's partly because the warmer
air moving north is often laden with
moisture which is released as snow or
rain when it hits Canada’s cooler
weather systems.

* Snow is a drag on the economy
as Canadians shell out millions to get
rid of it. In fact, Canadians spend
more on skiing than on snow
removal, Phillips says. In 1987,
Canadians owned 4.3-million pairs
of skis, and there are about 200 ski
resorts across the country

Even some professionals, whose
lives depend on accurate weather
forecasts, accept the craziest ideas,
Phillips says. ~~

“lL remember meeting a bush pilot
from Labrador and he absolutely
swore that he had a foolproof way of
forecasting the weather," Phillips
recalls.

“He had a shark’s liver in a bottle.
And whenever the water in that bot-
tle would turn cloudy, he said we're
in for some nasty weather. He ab-
solutely swore by it."

Dean Beeby the
Canadian Press.

business y.

It can also be assumed that the Sun will
charge similar ad rates as its sister papers in
Nelson and Trail, yet pay their personnel far less.
Where will the profits go? Certainly not to the
employees and certainly not to the community

Sterling’s past record as a concerned
corporate citizen is not exemplary. Several years
ago, for economic reasons, Sterling closed its
press facilities in Trail, against strong objections
from the community. This closure resulted in the
layoffs of Trail Times pressroom employees. It
was rumored that Sterling also threatened to
entirely shut down the Trail Times and print one
daily to serve both Trail and Nelson.

It can be viewed that a non-union Sterling
publication in Castlegar threatens the job security
of its employees in Nelson and Trail as well as
union members in Castlegar. .

With the exception of Castlegar News,
Sterling owns all the other major newspapers in
the East and West Kootenays. A total Sterling
monopoly will not be of any benefit to anyone —
the ‘community's voice’’ may well be lost to the
call of dollar signs.

In closing, we ask that all members of our
community continue to support the Castlegar
News and its union employees.

Heather Hadley, Elaine Sallis, Claudette
Sandecki, Peter Harvey, M. Cichowski, Tom
Brodman, Caroline Soukoroff, Wayne Stolz,
Mickey Read (shop steward), Simon Birch (shop
steward)

Nurses right

I am writing to you about your article on the
front page, ‘‘Local nurses tout ounce of
Prevention."”

I agree with the Registered Nurses Association
that there should be walk-in clinics on a 24-hour
basis. The government should have never removed
the emergency user fee because anything that is
free is abused.

I believe that most acute-care hospitals are

dealing with the serious problems of our elderly
being placed in hospitals because there is no place
for them to go. They don’t belong in acute care if
they don’t require 24-hour medical treatment. It is
not a place for the elderly to spend their last days,
where there is hustle and bustle and restraining
because they don’t have the staff to provide the
type of care these peoplt need.

I am not blaming the nurses as they are
trained to look after people who get well and go
home. That is why they chose their profession
and why they work in acute care.

There are no facilities available that don’t
have waiting lists a mile long. When they build
new ones, 35 beds here and there certainly don’t
solve the problem. I personally don’t like facilities
as I believe that a lot of our elderly could remain
in their own environment. They could provide 24-
hour care and the cost would be a lot lower than
the $450 a day charge that is levied in acute care.

It is a real shame that our elderly who worked
so hard all their lives to get the things they have
always wanted, have to end up in a room, with
only a bed, dresser, chair and a few memories on
the wall. I believe and know that we owe them
more than that

I would like to see the government have a good,
hard look at the home support services in B.C.
and direct a lot more money into this most
valuable service of keeping people in their
environment. I may be prejudiced because
work as a long-term care aide for such a sertice
and see how well people do for themselves with
assistance. It is most rewarding and gratifying Yor
the client as well as the care giver.

I am all for the wellness clinics, exercise
Programs, etc. But isn’t it always the way that it
takes a crisis before something is done. We have
to start now, to educate our young people about
healthy lifestyles so that when they reach these
golden years, they just maybe will be able to stay
at home and look after themselves.

We seem to be getting more and more
commissioners and research people hired through
our government to visit communities to see what
the needs of the people are. But we never get any
feedback or see any changes or what could or
would be taking place. Talk is free — action is
what is needed. This problem will never go away;
it is only going to worsen as more and more are
aging and more elderly are living longer lives. It
would sure be nice to see some concrete solutions
being reached soon.

Janet Neumann
Castlegar

Hunters senseless

On Oct. 27, a friend of ours was in the bush at
West Boundary Creek, just outside of Grand
Forks, working with his partner doing forest
inventory.

As has always been his habit, he had his
beautiful purebred Siberian husky with him. This
was a very well-trained dog even though she was
only 1-'% years old. She never chased any game or
hassled any people.

Stephen and his partner were only about 20
metres off the logging road when they heard the
first shot. Hunters! They ran screaming and
yelling out of the bush towards the shot. Only
being 20 metres into the bush, they know the

hunters heard them. Then they heard another shot
and saw a truck roar off.

These most senseless hunters had shot his dog in
cold blood. The dog was beside Stephen’s pickup
truck minding her own business. It appeared the
hunters shot the dog from their truck since
everything happened so quickly and then the truck
was gone.

There was no way they thought they were
shooting a wild animal. They knew it was a dog
and when they heard the yelling from the men,
they fired another shot into the dog and took off.
If they had really felt they were shooting
something legal, why did they take off?

The dog did not die instantly even with the
second shot so these were not only senseless
hunters, they did not know how to shoot
accurately. How many other animals, wild or
otherwise have these hunters shot and left to die a
slow death?

The Kootenays bring in a lot of hunters
of our abundance of large game. We d
if this was a local resident or someone fro!
another area or even from the United States:

If anyone hears anything of hunters shi
illegal game, cows, or family pets, itis your duty
to report the incident. Even if you hear someone
talking about it, try to get more information and
please report it. Hunters like this are a danger to
all animals and to man. Next time it could be you
or your dog.

Christine Cross
Thrums

Community responds

Many members of. the community have
responded to our requests for carpet for use in the
long-awaited student lounge at Stanley Humphries
secondary school.

We are pleased with the great support shown
during the fund-raisers and school events. The
students of SHSS are working hard to maintain
their positive relationship with the community.
Dan Steick
Prime Minister
SHSS Student Council
Castlegar

November 10, 1990 Castlegar News As

REMEMBER WHEN

Please address all letters to the editor
to: Letters to the Editor, Castlegar News,
P.O. Box 3007, Castiegar, 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 residence only will be published 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.

Wounds traced back to Trudeau

By DAVID SOMERVILLE
Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s

country as
Canada — even then — had to have

social programs
equalization payments.

diverse and large as

and huge
Today, we

transfer many major government
functions back to the provinces

first prime minister, must be turning
in his grave.

Only 123 years after that first
Dominion Day, the country’s regions
are at each other's throats,
Canadians are divided bitterly along
linguistic lines and the federal gover-
nment is headed for bankruptcy.

Canada is suffering from deep,
self-inflicted wounds. The most
grievous wounds can be traced back
to 1968. That was the year that
Pierre Trudeau, then prime minister,
changed the nature of Con-
federation, undoing the work of
MacDonald and his colleagues.

In 1867, the Fathers of Con-

decentralized government. That is
why they granted the provinces
major powers in the important areas
of health, education and natural
resources.

Trudeau, however, changed all
that. He sought to create a powerful
central government through which he
could impose his values on the entire
country. Under Trudeau, Canada
experienced an explosion in the size
power and cost of the federal gover-
nment

The resulting interventionist
policies brought
bilingualism,
multiculturalism,

wisely that a

. costly universal

can see the folly of this course.

Instead of unifying the country,
Trudeau's policies created regional
alienation and made linguistic ten-
sions even worse.

Instead of bringing prosperity, his
big spending, big government
Programs set us on the road to
economic ruin. He saddled Canada
with an enormous national debt and
helped to make Canadians among
the highly taxed people in the world.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
has done little tqgiter that situation.

To heal our wounds, Canadians
must reject the Trudeau vision and
get back to their roots in con-
federation. That means we must

where they belong, where they were
123 years ago.

The federal government should
only be left with truly national fun-
ctions such as national defence and
security, immigration and criminal
justice.

In short, Canada must re-create
Confederation.

We owe it to the memory of Sir
John A. MacDonald and the other
Fathers of Confederation to try and
restore their great dream. We also
owe it to the generations of
Canadians yet unborn.

David § is president of
the National Citizens’ Coalition.

#@ YEARS AGO
From the Nov. 9, 1950
Castle News

The Annual Rate Payers meeting
for Castlegar School District came to
order at 7:30 Monday evening at the
Castlegar School when Mr. C.H.
King called for a chairman for the
meeting. Mr, G. Craft was elected
and his first duty was to read the
Annual Report in which he sum-
marized the work of the board for
the year. He closed his report by
saying, ‘‘It is our sincere wish to give
you the finest in education while
keeping school taxes down to
reasonable figures.’’

He was followed by Mr. King who
gave a very full and comprehensive
financial report for the year 1940-50.

. . *

The Castlegar Library has been
closed by the Library Board as a
measure of public safety during the
present Scarlet Fever epidemic. It
will open again when the danger of
transmission is over. Please hold up
books at home as no fines will be
levied. Watch Castle News for
opening date.

25 YEARS AGO
From the Nov. 10, 1965
Castlegar News .

Members of Local No. | of the
Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada
overwhelmingly turned down a
proposal by the Celgar Pulp division
in voting last week.

Voting ended Thursday with a
96.23 per cent vote against the agree-
ment. The local’s bargaining com-
mittee had recommended to the
membership that the proposal be
rejected.

Basically the new contract offered
a 15-cent-an-hour wage increase on a
20-month agreement.

. °

Castlegar Village Chairman W.H.
Reed has met with representatives of
both the local Legion and the Kin-
smen Club concerning the possible
moving of the cenotaph from the
Memorial Park atop Bloomer Hill to
the Kinsmen Park in the centre of
Castlegar.

. .

The provincial government has
authorized the board of management
of the Castlegar and District
Hospital to have working drawings
and specifications completed for the
50-bed expansion program subject to
adequate community financing.

15 YEARS AGO
From the Nov. 14, 1975
Castlegar News

A letter has been received from the
Minister of Health giving tentative
approval for the 10-bed addition to
the Castlegar and District Hospital at
a board of management meeting held
last Thursday evening. At present,
this matter is in the hands of the
regional district hospital committee.
The financial report showed a small

Energy Minister Pat Carney, Cominco president Bill Wilson and K

risco on hand Nov

5 YEARS AGO
From the Nov. 10, 1985
Castlegar News

A Castlegar man has been imor-
talized in silver.

The image of Felix Belczyk, 23, a
member of Canada’s National
Downhill Ski Team, will appear on
the flip side of Queen Elizabeth on a
newly minted $20 silver coin.

The coin is one of 10 different $20
coins minted as part of the Canadian
Olympic coin program designed to
raise money for Canada’s Olympic
team as it prepares for the 1988
Olympics.

. .
Huge. damage awards against
ies across Canada are
scaring off insurance companies and
causing others to levy astronomical
increases in liability insurance rates.

And B.C."s cities and districts are
staggering under the burden.

The cost of renewing the Regional
District of Central Kootenay’s com-
prehensive general liability insurance
for 1985-86 was $43,332 — a 10-fold
increase from the $4,358 the district
paid for the same policy in 1984-85,
said RDCK administrator Reid Hen-
derson.

ootenay West MP Bob
‘al

ment that saw the fed.
co shares that allowed the company

TRUSTEE
For the 9O'S

VOTE

Beverley MALOFF

eal

SF's ta te WITH BARRY BROWN

aN

THE PITFALLS OF SELLING
A HOME PRIVATELY (PART 4)

Once an interested purchaser is
ready to make an offer, can you ef
fectively “qualify” that buyer? Is the
contract you prepare going to be an
enforceable one? As protection for
your family, you should consult
qualified legal counsel at any crucial
stage of the process and always
before signing any document. An
‘agreement of purchase and sale” is
essentially a legal and binding con
tract. The time factors for acceptan

volve your weeknights as well os
weekends because most buyers
work during the day. This also means
an investment of your valuable time
And do you have the experience to
weed out the “lookers” and concen
trate on a genuinely interested buyer?
Your real estate agent is willing to
spend the time. It's their job. And
each and every house presents a dif
ferent challenge, with a new family
to meet and buyers to find. A

ce and im
posed are all critical

A situation that you may think is a
w et-tirst, may turn into a
wo

pr | works out of on ottice
where full-time staff are able to an
swer calls and not miss any buyers.
And by doing so, have access to the
marketing power of a national

porties
are both eager to make an offer on
your home. Do you know haw not to
sell your home twice and yet protect
your own interests if one offer falls
through? It has happened and the
results can be as drastic as a lawsuit
and a delay in the sale of your home.
which after all, is the entire purpose.

Getting back to the time factor of
selling a home. It's going to take
time to answer the hundreds of
enquiries (often fruitless) that may
come in. Showing your home will in

Selling your own home could be a
good idea. But first consider the
time, ey. resources and
professional selling skills that are
required. Are you really equipped to
take this on? Your time may be more
wisely spent finding o real estote
agent whom you'll be able to work
with and let him or her do the job
they are trained to do. This will save
you time, stress and the need to
spend money before you've even
sold your home!

WF THERE IS ANYTHING | CAN DO TO HELP YOU IN THE FIELD OF REAL ESTATE, PLEASE CALL OR DROP IN AT.

fNiqe NATIONAL REAL

~ ESTATE SERVICE

Mountainview Agencies Ltd. 1695 Columbia Ave.,

deficit on the operations,
but a slight surplus on the year to
date. The members are hoping to end
the year in the black.

* . .

Alderman of the former Town of
Kinnaird, and the new City of
Castlegar, Audrey Moore believes
that her experience, vitality and
proven ability may well serve citizens
of the area.

Seeking re-election to city council,
as well as Castlegar’s representaive to
the Regional District of Central
Kootenay, Mrs. Moore welcomes the
opportunity to help provide a
reliable, responsive local gover-
nment.

“During the past two years major
Progress has taken place in our city;
such positive steps as amalgamation,
a sewer system in the south section
of Castlegar, a community centre
and the design of a comprehensive
city plan, to mention but a few of
the outstanding projects.””

Pelman
Architects
Inc.

Residentiz

Multiple Residential
Reereational
Commercial
Industrial
Institutional

COMPREHENSIVE
ARCHITECTUAL
AND PLANNING

SERVICES

736-1112

Castlegar and District Development Board

and
Ken Wyllie Director Area ''J'"' RDCK

Would Like to Say

THANK YOU

To the following people, companies and organizations for con-
tributing and participating in the construction and installation of

the temporary moorage facility at Robson, B.C.:

Ministry of Fisheries and
Oceans, Small Craft
Harbors Branch

B.C. Hydro

West Kootenay Power Ltd.

B.C. Telephone Co.

Castlegar News

Westar Timber

Arrow Lakes Tug Boat Society

Ms. Georgianne Klemmer

Ministry of Social Services and
Housing

Scotties Marina Ltd.

Mr. Larry Enefer

Mr. Ed Sorenson

Special thanks to Scottie and
Dallas Tait for supervising
the Employment Plus
project crew.

Your Castlegar

SAFEWAY

Open Remembrance Day
Sunday 12-6 p.m.

OUTSIDE
ROUND ROAST

Boneless. Limits in effect.

4 78

$4.37 /kg. Ib.

1 76

ROAST
BEEF

With or Without Garlic

419

B-B-Q
CHICKEN

499

FRENCH
BREAD

400 g. Loaf

JELLY
ROLLS

Assorted

199

FLORIDA
GRAPEFRUIT

Size 56s. New crop .. seed

RED DELICIOUS
APPLES

B.C. New Crop

3-44

ao

Townhouse

APPLE

68

BATH.
TISSUE

Delsey * 12 Roll

38

SUNLIGHT
DETERGENT

10L. Box

6°75

Coke

or

Sprite
Regular or
Diet *2L.

1 78

PLUS DEPOSIT

Advertised Prices in Effect Sunday, Nov. 11
through Saturday, Nov. 17, 1990

Thursday & Friday Sundey
9a.m. to 9 p.m.

Mon. to Wed. & Sat.
9a.m. toép.m.

We reserve the right to limit sales to retail quantities.

10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

($) SAFEWAY

We bning it all together