# - against the plan. Ad - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 1, 2006 TANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. - V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 - FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard. com ‘ - EMAIL: newsroom@terracestandard, com “Any bets? : 4, JACK Talstra’ s ‘no’ vote to ‘break a council tie and keep in place a by-law banning "slot machines within the city limits was“heither “surprising nor unexpected. - ‘Leading up to the Oct. 17 vote brought about by - an ‘application by the'Lucky Dollar Bingo Palace to introduce slot machines as part of a planned _exparision to what is called a “community gam- ing centre,’ ’ the mayor as much said he would be’ Never. one to take a long walk on the wild side, the mayor followed a tradition. And.that is when . presented with a tie, to keep the status quo’ which, .. in this case, was to keep the by-law. i in place and: "> -turn down the Lucky Dollar: proposal.» 7 The | mayor’ s ‘no’ vote also continued the city” Ss. -- opposition to expanded g gambling i in that several : other proposals i in past years were also denied. Mr.. Talstra further expressed a personal opin- ion. through his vote, saying he’s. against what he __ terms “aggressive gambling” as a matter of prin- ciple and not the kind-of thing he wants to see in the city. - ~The mayor was clearly unswayed by expanded -- gambling advocates who pointed to the economic ' benefits and spin-off spending that would result ‘from the Lucky Dollar proposal. Oe . - Turning, down | any economic boost looks a,bit | strange at a time when the city’s once-main rev-- _ enue driver and psychological symbol of well-be-. ing, the Terrace Lumber Company, was put to the ‘auctioneer’ s ‘gavel. ee | ’ There’s no way more gambling could ever take the place of a sawmill but it would have replaced --a-fewrof those lost dollars. | But the mayor did take his stand and for those out there who think politicians don’t put their money where their mouth is, here’s an example _ of one who did. Nevertheless, the mayor did open a ‘door to ad- vocates of expanded gambling. He says he’d be in favour of a referendum to once and for all deter- mine the wishes of city residents. > It’s a clever move on the part of Mr. Talstra. _ Gambling opponents in this city are well orga- '_ nized, taking in churches, community groups and ordinary citizens who feel the upside 1 isn’t worth the downside. ‘The proponents: of expanded gambling would | -. have a difficult-task. It would not only take a lot of time but money to lay out the business and so- cial case to convince the general public of their cause. also cost money, less so if combined with the next - municipal election. That’s not for two years. For those who like.to place wagers, a gambling | referendum i in 2008 i is a longshot at best. . PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link. ‘ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach — . ‘PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Sarah A. Zimmerman COMMUNITY: Dustin Quezada NEWS/SPORTS: Margaret Speirs FRONT OFFICE: Darlene Keeping, Carolyn Anderson CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Alanna Bentham | ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: ~ Bert Husband, Todd Holkestad ~ 2005 8 WINNER INER AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik NEWSPA a . PRODUCTION: Susan Credgeur COMPETITION /. “SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: - $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year: Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)=167.89 : MEMBER OF> | B.C. AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION | AND . B.C. PRESS COUNCIL (www. bepresscouncil.org} Serving the Terrace and Thornhill area, Published on Wednesday of each week at 3210 Clinton Street, Terrace, British Coiumbia, V8G 5A2. © slack Press . Stories, photographs, illustrations, cesigns and typestyles in the Terrace Standard ere the prepeny of the copy- right holders, including Black Press Ltd., its illustration repro services ana advertising agencies. Reproduction in whole or in part, without written permission. is specifically prohibited. Authorized as second-class mail pending the Post Office Department, {or payment of posiags in cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for their time and talents The machinery of setting up a s referendum would | A ‘TAREDS Es a) GH IES OW Sor E96 ° i wars yh To THE PARTY. ASA MORON GOING | ~~ Ca u Ws rcuael I. FOX OF EL UW ang SMPTONS WA | eee 7M oF RARKINSONS NY) [a= my BeeZe Para | O ee = er fs @ikiecol og | Spare us from this s government “WITH ITS recent announce- _ ments for the use of ‘Canada’s bloated budget surplus, as well as its $2 billion in cuts to pro-* gram spending, Stephen Harp- er’s Conservative government » is continuing to shift to regres- © sive policies from. what. he must have hoped looked rea-— ~ sonable after the last election. If any Canadians are still. fooled into thinking that Harp- . er is’ running a “moderate” ‘administration, . According to. news reports,. business groups cheered: the “move: by the . Conservative ~ government to pay down the ‘federal debt by $3.2 billion. But they also suggested the size of the surplus suggests the " ‘Fories have more room to cut taxes. Now that’s a surprise. ’ The capital gains tax, of benefit to stockholders is, no doubt, what they have most ~ clearly in mind when it comes to any cutting. It is only natural that corpo- _ rations applaud the pay down of government debt. It leaves more investment money on the table for their. own debt-financed expansion _ plans. - The bond market i is roughly > ten times the size of the stock | the blindfold “should now be off. AL LEHMANN. market in capital value, and though investors. might pre-_ _fer the safety of government bonds to the more. risky of- ferings of corporate interests, _ the surplus cash will likely be . —.sopped up by corporate bond... - vice that most Canadians have © issues. - Harper has always aligned - himself with the concerns of the corporate boardroom over the concerns of the rest of us, and his sudden announcement has been,a way for him fur- ther.to test the resolve of his _ Opposition (Loyal. and other- wise). A question that must strike More progressive thinkers is, |! ““Will Canadians continue to roll over and accept this as- sault.on their traditional un- derstanding of what good gov- ernment is?” ‘Programs that have been cut . ‘in the recent announcement ‘include funds’ for the moun- _ tain pine beetle initiative (ob- - viously . a waste of taxpayers’ money, if you live in Ottawa) ‘and’ reductions ‘to’Status of - ~ Women Canada (those : ‘pesky. women — just. wannabe men, anyway). There is also the elimina: tion of funding for softwood. - lumber litigation (who ‘needs | it after that “fair” ‘settlement we got from.the bandits ‘south - of the border?) and. other pro-.. grams. . Need we be reminded that this i is also the government that | effectively killed a national childcare program in Canada, been in:favour of for more than a decade? Or that it’s the government “that continues to toady up to the oil industry by having be- trayed our commitment to the Kyoto Accord, a treaty that may have had minor flaws, but that was a strong first step to cutting our dependence on car- bon fuels? There are now reported sci- - entific studies which reveal that global temperatures are the highest they have been in the last 12,000: years. ' And if temperatures rise: by one more degree as an ‘annual _average and they'll be as high as they’ve been in the last mil- lion years. gy as! ~ And. we should remem- “ber that, to its shame, it’s the government that abaridoned- : the Kelowna: Accord, ‘which a "would . have been. a. ground- breaking agreement : between First Nations and the Test, of " Canadians. ° ; Pundits have suggested that : if Harper didn’t do’ anything ‘too obviously “out there”, Ca- re | “nadians would warm to his’ virtues: his steadfastness, his” moral firmness, (his. winning smile?) _But it’s hard to swarm, toa a “governmént-sponsored ser-"' -prime ‘minister ‘who~ ‘governs for the preferential :benefit"of wealthy investors and arms: manufacturers, letting the poor or women or otherwise disadvantaged on the so- -called - Conservative . ‘level’ playing - field’ look after themselves. : If there should come a sud- - den federal election, may the -: people of Skeena send: the. same resounding “no” to poor -. Conservative government that” -° they did in the last two. . elec- : tions. - : Al. Lehmann is a teacher _ and lives in Terrace. we Pursuit of justice takes a lot of time MOMENTS BEFORE a trial . was set to begin last month, a ‘Vancouver court charges that had been pending for fifteen months against two - young men who had allegedly beaten a middle-aged man un- conscious and ‘fractured’ his ankle. He has had to undergo mul- tiple surgeries and is unable to ‘work. Staying charges ‘usually _ means perpetrators never face . trial. Yet Canada’s laws are in- tended to protect the public. and deter criminals. In this case the victim, Rus- sell Young, had been notified by letter that he was to attend court September 26,-on the Fifth Floor. . He arrived at an early hour, checked the trial “list posted outside the designated court- room, found -his case listed there, and -confidently sat _ down in the gallery to await a call to testify. ' But no one notified Young the venue of his trial had been changed at the last minute from the Fifth to the Third Floor. He waited two hours. Other cases were dealt with, but nev- er his. Meanwhile, in a courtroom stayed , THROUGH BIFOCALS CLAUDETTE SANDECKI two floors down, because Young was absent. the court went on to other business while prosecutors scrambled to locate him. They paged’ him: he was sitting in a soundproof court- room, he didn’t hear the call. They phoned him, but sher- iffs in the lobby were holding his camera phone; recording devices are not allowed. in court. No one took the initiative to visit the original courtroom to look for him, a searching tech- nique apparently too primitive for use in today’s modern jus- tice system. Since Young -- the key wit- ness -- was not present to tes- i tify. Crown prosecutor Elliott .Poll asked that the charges against Young’s alleged at- tackers be stayed. B.C. trials have been stayed on many flimsy excuses: the arresting Mountie was fish- ing the Kalum River; the key “Witness slept in. confused the date. or blew a tire on the way ‘to the courthouse. And on and on. Having served.as a Crown prosecutor for 14 years, Poll should have suspected jus- tice was about to be derailed by something as witless as ~ this unannounced change” of venue. -. Once stayed, the court in- sisted the trial could not be-re- ~ scheduled. To nudge the BC Attorney General’s office to rethink the problem, members of FACT weighed in. FACT (Families Against Crime and Trauma) organized this summer to monitor courts and sentences to ensure justice for victims. Several of FACT’s organiz- ers suffered the loss of a fami- ly member to random violence and lived to see perpetrators given ittybitty sentences that deter no one. FACT aims to bring equal- ity to our laws, to protect the rights of the public instead of coddling criminals. It looks like it was formed rione too soon. Contacted October 3, a me- dia spokesperson for Crown counsel at the BC Attorney General’s office said the stay was under review. The case had to be assessed, what occurred that day looked into, and a fair and appropri- ate decision made: under the circumstances. Latest word from Crown . counsel is that a new: hearing _ for Young’s case has been set for November 29, 2006. ‘One would like to think a new trial would have been ‘scheduled without public pres- sure. But would it? If FACT and other Young supporters had not called for a rescheduling: of the trial, it might not have taken place. And although it is important _ to note the two accused are al- leged to have attacked Young, . it’s good to know that they. will. have their day in couit, FACT now has a website www.familiesagainstcrime. org. Reach Sandie or Nina at familiesagainstcrime @ yahoo. ca or phone 604-338-1411.