OPINION WEDNESDAY, September 4; 1991 ~ Ky The Castiégar Sun i SN ATS PUBLISHER JON JARRETT SHARLENE IMHOFF DONNA JORY EDITOR ; ADVERTISING REP. ‘ JOHN SNELGROVE CATHERINE ROSS PAC REP, DENISE GOLDSTONE ROBERT PROCTOR CIRCULATION MANAGER ADVERTISING REP. JIM ZEEBEN REPORTER NICOLE BEETSTRA BRENDAN HALPER REPORTER PRODUCTION/OFFICE MARION ANDERSON PRODUCTION/REPORTER Direct Department Phones Ganaral OMICO ...sesreesseesssseeesee BB5-5266, Cli fi 365-5266 365-7848 »+5365-2278 365-5579 Fax o 365-7762 Classified Ads Display Advertising ......... editorial comment child's life School District #9 was expecting over 2,100 chil- dren to pass through their doors Tuesday as school began for another year. Each and every one of those 2,100 lives is to be cherished and safeguarded. Unless you have suffered the loss of a child your- | Self, there is ibsol no way to und d how it | feels when a part of you is no longer there. In newspapers and on television we hear all too often the tales of motorists who show little or no regard for the safety of our children. Some of those tales end in disaster, with a mother and father grieving over the senseless death of an innocent child, while others result in severe injuries to our youth. It is time, once and for all, that each and every one of us Start using the necessary caution required when motoring through school and playground zones. We must begin to slow down to the posted limits asa tule, not as the exception, and we have to start warching for the telltales signs of children on the Keep an eye out for children crossing into traffic from behind parked cars, or chasing an errant ball out onto the road. We must also take a few minutes to spend time with our children, informing them of the rules of the road as they pertain to pedestrians. Tell your children only to cross the street at desig- nated crosswalks, looking both ways before entering the thoroughfare. Let them know that it isn’t safe to run blindly onto abusy street. Make it clear that they too must act responsibly. We sometimes tend to think that these little rules we easily remembered by youngsters but the truth is that most children aren’t going to remember this weight. Make it a habit to warn your children ‘unt the dangers of the road so that it will soon ‘ome habit for them to be careful. “ogether, as motorists, parents and informed chil- .wecan make the roads a little safer. Nhe we Can even save a mother and father from o endure one of life’s cruelest tasks, saying Just what exactly is ‘s The reporters covering that political convention kept using the word over and over again until I thought I'd go starkers: schmooz- ing. Schmoozing? That's not in my vocabulary, active or, passive, so I made an informed guess at the meaning. Maybe it was what the gram- marians calls “blend”: an invented word, made up in this case by fus- ing smile and oozing. Seemed obvious to me at the time. We can both think of a national figure who's always schmoozing at the electorate, Except, of course, when he wants to show his Irish eyes and origins by smoiling. And you don’t need an explanation for that one, T looked up the word in the dic- tionary. I was wrong, dead wrong, To schmooze means to chat idly and casually about nothing in par- ticular. We stole the word from Yiddish, without asterisk and foot- note, without even a courteous nod of thanks and appreciation. But then we've pinched so many other words beginning with s from'the same source: schlock, schmuck, schnook, schnozzle and schnorter, Schnorrer, you ask? No, nothing to do with the schnoz that snores and troubles the night, Tt means a parasite; somebody who takes advantage of the gen- erosity of friends, You might want to add it to your vocabulary. That schnook next door is wearing out your mower and won't return the chainsaw. So I bare the linguistic breast, beat it and admit that I was wrong. But I'm still fascinated by blends — “or portmanteau words as Lewis Carroll called them when he had Alice schmoozing with Humpty Dumpty. Humpty explains to that plaited and petticoated innocent that slithy is a combination of slimy and lithe: two meanings packed into one bag. You remem- ber: “Twas brillig and the slithy toves, .." Carroll also gave us_ chortle (chuckle plus snort) and mimsu (miserable and flimsy), not to men- tion frumious (fuming and furi- ous). You’re fully entitled to be frumious with that schnorrer next door, the one who won't bring back the mower and thinks he has first dibs on the chainsaw. We're the direct heirs to Car- roll’s literary estate, and we like to squander the same valise, Think of Jeffels Syndicated . Columnist motel, brunch, meld, telethon, camcorder.and smog. And you may not have heard of: smice (smoke and ice), smust. (smoke and dust), smist (smoke and mist) oreven smaze (smoke and haze) but a pal in the met services tells me they’re used. Now and then, here and there. So is the word contrail. That's the long white skein jets drag behind them as they hunch their shoulders, roar defiance at the uni- verse, then mount the skies on a great, Gothic arch of speed: con- densation plus trail. Stagflation seems a happy and useful invention, and it’s tempting to claim that the stag part refers to the parlous state of the Canadian buck at this time of recession and inflation. It doesn’t. Try a lopped and chopped stagnant instead. The business world likes blends. Nabisco, as though you chmoozing’? - didn't know, is the fusion of nib- bles and bites from National Bis- cuit Company, Socony isn’t much used these days, but when it was it had me baffled, Then I found out it referred to Standard Oil Company of New York — all scated down, crunched up and foreshortened. ‘And one linguistic private cyc Claims that Noxema, the face cream, is a fusion of nox (knocks) and eczema. I wonder, Nox for knocks? Sounds a bit suspect to me. ; And sometimes in the past we used blends to avoid giving offence. ‘Zounds! S'teeth! S'trutht were once used by puffy-cheeked English squires who hesitated to speak the name of the Divinity. They’re contractions of God's wounds, God’s teeth and God’s truth, Well, I tried making blends of my own. Last April I invented tax- tration: a combination of tax and. .. uh. ... that other word meaning “surgical intervention of the most radical order”. I was dealing with Revenue Canada at the time, of course. is RR. Jeffels is a Richmond free- lance writer and former principal of The Open Learning Institute. So who As we watch with disbelief what appears to be the break up of the Communist empire, one cannot help but ponder where it is all going to end, Having watched more skilful commentators than I take colossal pratfalls on that over the past couple of weeks, I'm not going to even try to predict the new look of the Eurasian landmass when the dust settles. However, we can look at some of the implications, as various of the Soviet republics announce their intentions of leaving the union. Let us just suppose, for instance, that the country did com- pletely fall apart. Just who would get the Soviet nuclear arsenal? (My guess would be the Russians - as opposed to the Ukrainians, the Byelorussians or the Armenians. Musn't forget Latvia though; there are missile silos there too.) Secondly, the collapse of central power in Moscow would create a Hannaford Syndicated a , gets to keep the posed government in Peking could hardly resist. After all, even now, there are plenty of unresolved border dis- putes between the two countries. ‘The Chinese also think Outer Mon- golia should belong to them. Most importantly, will there be huge power vacuum in the heart- Jand of Asia. The Asian republics are predominantly Moslem and will certainly shed the yoke of the hated white Russians at the first opportunity. This will leave an area the size of Canada with several ce-rich but und i} countries, each with the total gross national product of Prince Edward Island. Militarily, they will be insignificant and a temptation which even the most benignly dis- any super-p left at all? If the USSR ceases to be an effective military power - and it certainly isn't any other kind of a power - and the USA proceeds upon its announced course of sig- nificant force reduction, who's left? It seems unthinkable, but then, the circumstances of.today- in. the USSR scemed unthinkable ,thrge, weeks ago. Anything is possible. Is this the New World Order? Actually, for all the euphoria that surrounds the end of the old regime in the USSR, we may be nukes? entering a more dangerous time in world affairs than any we have lived through since 1945, It would be a tragedy if the dissolution of the planet’s most evil system of government and the end of the super-power system were to remove those constraints which have held international anarchy in check... esed Finally, a point of information. As a known right-winger, I take offence at the continual carping about the failure of the ‘right wing coup" in the USSR. Any group of people which includes the Soviet minister of defence, the minister of the interior and the head of the KGB is not right wing. Those guys were old fashioned commies and about as left-wing as you can get. It wasn’t the Fraser Institute which tried to hi-jack the USSR. «AND MY PERSONAL THANKS TO THE COUP LEADERS FOR “Wednesday, September 4, 1991 : The Castlegar Sun jLetters.to the. Editor: Greens demonstrate | Suzuki says doe *“” Dear Edito! "i, “\. Anyone driving a car at 100 ‘km/hr who thought there was a ‘brick wall in the middle of the “road ahend would stop immedi- ‘4tely. She could then resolve any doubts about whether the wall existed safely, by walking up and stouching the wall, What is com- ‘(mon sense for one person appears “impossible to accomplish when it ‘Pcomes to what many see as the __ecological “brick wall” and our “political cat”. 3! Because all politics till now ‘has been founded ‘without consid- ‘eration that there would ever be “Yan ecological “brick wall”, mean- “ingful political action to avoid the all has not occurred, and civi- :t. Dear Editor: i vay ‘Thanks to local volunteers and businesses from Syringa Creek -Provincial Park, ‘tc Syringa Creek Park, as well as all B.C. parks, was set aside for -your.education and enjoyment ‘many years ago. New parks con- tinue to be created each year so -that we can protect and keep spe- cial areas, like Syringa, for many more years of leaming and FUN! The Park staff at Syringa wish to thank all visitors this year who the 3 eadership. s not exist ; lization i t into the bricks, : When he appeared recently to speak in New Denver, David Suzuki voiced what many in the environmental movement believe when he offered his political anal- ysis, At one point he went as far as to describe politics as incapable of response to the ecological cri- sis: “We.are not going to get Iead- ership from our politician because the rules of their game p it, the gical crisis that he sees so clearly demunds that we must cut back, and that our belief that more growth is a political and economic necessity is one “sacred truth” that we must aban- don as a matter of survival. It is a fact that nearly all people who voted in the last BC election voted for endl i growth. As for the alternative, the Ontario NDP announced “we have a commitment to support economic growth” as partial justi- fication when they brought down their budget. The BC NDP envi- ronmental and economic frame work envisions BC growing as the rest of industrial civilization growth, Angus Reid polled the BC electorate and found 52% “would — As if “politicians” are the only ones playing “their game.” Suzuki went on at length to insist that endless growth is impossible, that he finds it humil- isting to be a part of a Canada that demands more, that in fact from local businesses: Dairy Queen, Bluctop Burger, Chicken Time, Castlegar Heritage Society, Anthony's Pizza, Pacific Regenera- tion Tree Nursery, Scotties Marine, Syringa Park ‘Marina, Ministry of Forests, and ATCO Lumber Ltd, ‘We were also fortunate to have several guest speakers this sum- mer to come into the park and generously share their time and talents: Leslie Anderson (Geology Instructor at Selkirk College), ‘Wayne Choquette (Kootenay area Arch logi baad a “thaking it an eventful, exciting ‘lsummer, But it would not have “been nearly as successful without “the generous donations of prizes 3 gist), Steve Davis (Aasland Taxidermy), Bill Burnyeat (Community astron- omer from H.R. MacMillan Plane- tarium and Southam Observatory), ap party that would make “protection of the environment its primary, objective,” and 14% “would defi- nitely” do so, What will these peo- ple do in the next election? No one can seriously doubt the’ Socred commitment to endless A special thanks from Syringa Park Darcy McKinnon (Valhalla Park Ranger), and local Red Cross rep- Tesentatives, Thanks also to Grifone Taxi- . . dermy and Selkirk College for loaning Wildlife hides, mounts, and skulls, as well as to our camp- ground hosts Don and Agnes, Sherrel and Carl who made the park a warmer place to be. Indeed it has been an exciting summer in the park. Thank-you its size by ten, No one can doubt the NDP commitment to endless growth. After 99 or so per cent of voters voted for more growth is it any surprise that more growth and more debate about how to get even more surprise that more growth and more debate about how to get even more growth is what we got? A - political debate with any vitali- ty, about the fundamental political question of our time — ic, what do we do if there can be no more growth, cannot occur if we contin- ue to vote this way. To vote for more growth is to play the political game Suzuki says “precluded” leadership. It isn’t “politicians” or “political parties” that are precluding any- thing in this situation, it is onr- : Cc inorder fori.) Se, to become:a reality, °: : your involvement and ideas ; “ are necessary. «°° - 'e AGM ® SEPTEMBER 18 p.m..-‘Jenny's. Cafe: TLEGAR FESTIVAL SOCIETY Back to School HELENE with CURTIS S ALON LECTIVES selves, d P iz our will. Greens maintain an efec- toral presence in-direct contradic- tion to this political game. They di the leadership Suzu- all for your and © your participation in the pro- grams. Hope to see you next year in Syringal Elaine Kruse Syringa Creek Park Naturalist ki said does not exist, should any person (including Suzuki) wish to stop playing this game and express their will with their vote. David Lewis Crescent Valley ‘Suzuki’s approach to buy time still not clear Dear Editor: David Suzuki has written a let- ‘ter to the editor “to clarify” “remarks he made on politics dur- ing his speech in New Denver. :* After his speech I said to him “that as far as I could see he was ‘backing the NDP.” He knows Smy views: the socialists have ~¢ynicdlly‘embraced single issue -eenvironmental politicians as a fig ‘leaf in front of their absolute commitment to endless growth, “they have re pressed debate about growth within their party, and “they continue to act along with all other political formations to “idiot” was someone who would not accept their responsibility to it [the NDP] and the current gov- ", He beli an NDP participate in political life. Many in the green movement are ambivalent about electoral poli- tics, seeing non-participation as a positive step, and I took flak from some Greens for apparently implying Suzuki was an idiot to his face. Ididn’t think Suzuki | took it that way. The man is not an idiot by anyone's definition of the word, and after the publica- tion of his recent letter there can be no doubt he is taking a politi- cal stand, He called for an end to non- repress the of the only political force that has iden- tified growth as a problem, the Greens, contributing to repressing debate outside their party. He denied backing the NDP by saying he no longer belonged to that party. I found him uncon- vincing, and told him so. As for his apparent claim to be not playing “political games,” I told him part of the meaning of the ancient Greek word for P ‘ion: “everyone must participate in elections”; he implied we must stop saying one thing in private and another in public when he said we must be “clear”; he identified the enemy: “the Socreds have irrefutably shown they are committed to", an approach which “spells the end for all of us”; and there is an alternative, according to Suzuki, which is not going to do this: “there is a big difference between government will “buy time to tum it around”, Suzuki was wavering some months ago. I debated him on C.B.C. radio and the host of the show demonstrated how political- ly incorrect it is 10 bring up the ©! subject of stopping growth as she cut off my telephone line, making me the only caller to the show allowed no further comment after my initial remarks. Some say I am the clearest voice in the Cana- dian political arena calling for politics to accept the ecological imperative that growth must end. Suzuki commented on the radio host's action, saying: “We need the leadership of David Lewis and the Greens”. Suzuki wavers no longer. These days he says that the rules of the political game “preclude ip”, so those d ing the political leadership he is talking about can’t exist. He had absolutely nothing to say about Green politics, in his speech. As I understand Suzuki, what we need to do now to buy time to stop endless growth (an approach which spells the end for all of us), is to vote for endless growth. Is this clear? David Lewis His jye Crescent Valley _ Letters Policy Letters to the Editor are wel- come on any topic of local or general interest. Letters should be double-spaced, typewritten, or legibly handwritten, and no more than two pages if possible. Let- ters 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., Castlegar, B.C., VIN 1G8, or drop them off at the office. Shampoo or Conditioner 350 ml Hairspray 300ml © Spritz 250ml Mousse 150g © Gel 150m! Anti-perspirant Solid 60g Roll-on 50 ml Hot oils - 4 toa box Aerosol! 200 ml Deep conditioner 120m! BIG savings oe PAee NN «Le! Wed Schedule for Sept. 4 & 5, 1991 Wed. 6:30 pm, Thurs. 9:00 am * West Kootenay Today _ Wed. 7:00 pm, Thurs. 9:30 arm . Castlegar Chamber Luncheon - Hon. Michael Wilson. Wed. 8:00 pm - live, Thurs. 10:30 am + Stop Speeding Before Speeding Stops You - A look at the (CBC non speeding campaign. Wed. 8:30 pm, Thurs. 11:00 am t's Talk - Lecture on deeper intimacy in relationships. Sunday, Sept. 1 Wed. 6:30 pm - West Kootenay Today - repeat from August 28. . 7:00 pm * The Holistic Networker - Angele talks with Livina Hiacinth about spiritual light channelling. Wed. 8:00 pm * 100 Years of Sandon - the celebration. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT Build on your civilian career while you earn extra money working part-time in The Reserve: Effective September 1, 1991 the Kootenay Lake District Hospital will be a non-smoking facility. There will be no smok- the Militia, Canada's army reserve. Live this uniquely exciting experience. Work with interesting people on selected evenings and weekends. Enjoy varied opportunities for summer WIENERS Schneider's. Reg. All Beef AQ or Lifestyle. 454 g. ea. : BLACK FOREST HAM Mapleleaf. 4 os Sliced or 100 g. Rewarding part-time _ Family Gar, By’ Don Addis ' © shaded sites, full T tollets, showers, play\ and ice, sandy beach \GoT . phone, moorage, near’ WEA. olf, store, gas, resta laundry, pets O.. Who will protect the taxpayer? Bottomless ‘pit a figment of Mike Harcourt's imagination Of course the NDP are going to tell teachers they can have every- thing they want because a number of NDP candidates are teachers. ° ‘The NDP will protect them, but” who's going to protect the taxpayer? Mike Harcourt seems to think there's a bottomtess pit of moncy in government that can be handed out to the special interest groups who support the NDP,: 1." i But it's your moncy and higher wages can only méan tiigher taxes. That's why the:Social Credit government brought in the Compen- sation Faimess Act.'It ensures that wage increases to all'employces in the public sector are in line with what the tax can afford to pay. NDP who want to buy the support Public sector workers’ wage increases will be based on increases received in the private sector, That means people who get paid through tax dollars should not get bigger wage increases than those who pay their salaries. of teachers with taxpay money. » Teachers salaries in B.C. have gone up 27 per cent since 1986, muuch higher than the rate of inflation which increased nearly 18 per cent. The average teacher salary in this province, including benefits, is $51,466, and Harcourt wants to give them higher,increases than what people get in the private sector. Spending on education in .The.majority. of our pi ‘budget goes to wages and benefits for erniployecs providing services to the public, so this is just common sense. ' But it doesn’t make sense to the British. Col over-the last 10 years’ Has doubled, while student I has increased only 2.65 per cent, ae B.C. spends more than 27 per cent of the provincial budget on » does education. education — a higher percenta; than any other province in = / By. Comparison, the NDP gov- emment in Ontario is spending just under 20 per cent of its budget on education and that figure is drop- Ping. In fact, Ontario almost spends as much on-welfare as it The facts.do not support the argument that the Social Credit government. is not it enone ds committed 19 ‘As always, the NDP are playing the play eel a Joke with the facts, and icy’ lo the same wit dollar with your tax oe ing areas available in the employment and travel. . Join the Reserve now! B> LARGEST SELECTION ff of lawn & garden equipment 5 > inthe Koommaysl For contact: 44 Field Engineer Squadron (M) 1990 - 7th Avenue Trail, British Columbia VIR 3C3 t (604) 364-1033 (Collect) employment Mark, full-time student and part-time corporal in the Militia. Limit BUTTER Sunspun. With min. $25. family purchase. 2 a BREAD enfresh. 5/ 99 White or 1 over limit 2.88 ea. Wheat. 450 g. loaf. ea. Glad. 40's. GARBAGE BAGS : APPLES MiIntosh $1.52k9. ib. 6 © 6-12 wieners Batter: © 2eggs © 2 tbsp. oll Cut wieners into thirds. Coat with flour and push toothpicks In ends. Mix batter, dip wieners in batter and roll in fine crumbs. Deep fry until brown; drain on paper towel. Battered Wieners © 3/4 cup club soda © 1 tsp, salt © 1/4 tsp. pepper bread or cracker crumbs = YOUR COMMUNITY AWARD WINNING FOOD STORE 2717 Columbla Ave., Castlegar Mo., Tuss.,Wed., ASa, 0 BUSINESS HOUR: Sam.-6pm. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES.