8 Ter Face Review —_ - Weiinesday. February 19, 1992

Literacy

moving: ead

Terrace’s Reading Place (Liter-
acy Centre) is moving next week
from ‘its Tillicum Theatre build-
ing - ground floor office: to the
second. floor of St. Matthew’s
Anglican Church building at
4506. Lakelse Ave.; opening

“there for the public Monday,

March 2 >
Reading | Place coordinator Nat

“Purcell is excited .about. the

‘prospect. "With the. Multicultural
. Association - and ‘Northwest
__ Development Education Associ-.
ation joining us, it'll be a Teal
education cenjre!" . Since. its
opening almost one year ago, the

Reading Place has matched 59 of

(6S ‘yegistered ‘learners with
tutors. Purcell. is proud, to. note.

_ that they have also made: their

- first match with a resident of the
Corrections Centre... .

- His next step is to make. pres-
entations - to the local. Rotary.

Local winner.

Centre

- Clubs. He explains, "We hope to

get the stakeholders involved to

make it a more rational process."

A logical progression, says. Pur-
cell, is to work on a Scribe
Service with agencies like Social
Services and Housing. The
Sciibe Service is -a process’ of

_ helping people who have trouble

reading and writing to complete
and read forms and literature
relating to their particular situ-
ations. It would also help the

too shy to ask for help. North-
west Community College has

.also agreed to put literacy fund-
‘ing as the second priority on

their list of appropriations for

this next fiscal year. .

- Purcell adds, "We’ve had our

" -share of little miracles and we're
in a good position to grow with

the ccommunity.".

of Premier’s.

award defers presentation

7 _ Terrace’ s Jason Krause was
one. of 15 1991: high: school

~ grads in’ B.C. ‘to receive the: -
~~ -Premier’s- Award for Excellence, °
but. Jason wasn’t able to‘ make.

- the awards. ceremony held in

Vancouver Feb..8. He’s studying —

| for a yearn. Japan, on a. ‘Pacific

Few of us do the dance of joy

_ when our income tax forms arrive .
in the mail. Except for accountants
"- and other strange people who

—_.aetually enjoy doing tax returns,

“most of us choose to ignore those
sinister brown envelopes with
their endless columns of figures -
and confusing instructions. ,
The whole problem with tax
retums is that they are boring.
You'd think our goveriment
would have figured all this out by
now, but apparently not, since this

. ‘year's forms are no better than pre-

~ vious years. Someone should write

- “them a letter: |

-_ Dear Government,

You probably don't remember
- ‘us, but we're those schmicks you
keep sending those incredibly
| “senseless income tax forms to each
year. Have you noticed that many
opus don't filé our returns until
| the deadline? Have you ever won-
dered why we do this? Do you
"think we're ‘all sadists at heart who
~ enjoy torturing you: with a flood of
~ jast-miniite returns? ‘Well listen up
a hinnies— those (@#7&$!
re boring, boring, bor-

Ve Canadians. frm will be a’ "happy face” stamp,

Rim scholarship.
‘The awards go each year to
the top Grade 12 student in cach

of the: province’s 15 college

‘regions, The prize is a medal of

‘Tecognition and a $5,000 schol- -

arship to any B.C. universitys
college or institute: ba

‘The first st thing that could be
done to brighten this dreary situa- .
tion is to make each and every:
Canadian's income tax form much

" more personal, The government

should immediately create a new
governmental department for just
this purpose. The rules will be
simple — only ordinary people
with naturally cheerful disposi-
tions will be hired; politicians,
bureaucrats, tax accountants or
any other persons who actually
like our present income tax pro-
gram will not be allowed any-
where near this department.
Salaries will be met by cutting our °
' politicians’ over-inflated personal
expense accounts in half.

Each individual's tax form will
include a personal handwritten.
note that will exchange such
pleasantries as what che weather's
been doing lately, what the writer
did for Christmas, how many chil-
dren and/or grandchildren he or -
she has, or, if the writer happens
to be single, what romantic |
prospects are on the horizon,
where they plan on spending their
summer vacation, etc. The writer
will then end this friendly note
with an apology for having to

_ bother you: with such mundane

matters as income taxes.
At the top of each page of your

~ jine across the shiny gym floor. |
- Clipboard in hand, she drilled ber:

-in the gym.

1» ood. canis, afles lunch-on. Tues-

day. While one 0 relock to three

_ o’clock normally passed in a

‘We wore our Brownie uniforms

- to school every Tuesday. The

badges and.pins added a sense of
importance: ‘to our otherwise _

_ insecure social positions. A
woman in uniform commanded |

respect. We belonged. We were

_ Brownies, we were special, and
we knew that the common folk —

eyed us. with open admiration.
. centre identify clients who need

-xeading and writing skills but are

Our leader had been trained

in the Armed Forces. Her military .
posture and organizational sidils-

set the tone for our behaviour, :

" put her firm kindness kept the
large troop manageable. Roll call

was a precise exercise, punctu-
ated by the sharp tweets of a
whistle and wiggly tocs on the

troops in Brownie protocol, while
our small voices replied, echoing

Secret Brownie handshakes .
and promises added glamour to.
the outfit, Weekly dues were a
dime, referred to as "gold" among
the ranks. Special songs, games
and Brownie traditions gave us a
sense of belonging. We were 6

part of something big. -

. ‘The Tuesday it happened was
like any other. The longest: after

- mere two hours, on Tuesday it

took months. Slumped in my
brown uniform behind a class- |
room desk, my mind wandered
far from the numbers and letters:

* on the chalkboard. The important

thing was the meeting.

I slipped my hand in my pocket.
‘and felt the gold there. Fingering —

the smooth round edge, I thought
about the. meeting ahead. What | -
games would we play, which .
songs would we sing?

I popped the dime in my

£

mouth. It had a pleasant metallic
- taste. I felt the edge. with.my

tongue and flipped it wp: to. ‘push .
against the edge of my ‘loose .

- front tooth —— minor time- —

passing entertainment fora seven

_ year-old. I daydreamed about
‘Brownies.

Suddenly the dime was gone. r
felt around my mouth with my’.

- tongue, searching for that hidden
edge. No luck, Alarmed, I sat up.
Thad swallowed my Brownie.

gold.
What should Ido? Was this a .
medical problem? I imagined ¢ the

dime travelling down to my —

‘stomach, passing on to other"

“mysterious vital organs. I thought

about how I would tell my .

-teacher, my mother and the emer-

gency room riurse that, T swal- _
lowed a, dime. What would they

_ ‘say? ‘T realized I might have to
2 . have surgery, and decided it~
pe might be wise to remain silent, -

But Pknew that a Brownie

2 should be brave. Quietly and *
we - tensely, I waited for the searing.
pain. to begin as the dime sliced.
: through my gut. Nothing, hap: .

while scatiered throughout the -
' form will be cheery litile notes
like HAVE A HAPPY DAY; A:

FROWN TURNED UPSIDE —

DOWN IS A GREAT BIG:
HAPPY SMILE; YOU ARE THE ©
SILVER LINING BEHIND)
EACH CLOUD; YOU DESERVE:
A GREAT BIG HUG FOR
BEING SUCH A WONDERFUL
HUMAN BEING. |
‘The wording on your tax form

will become much more clear and
sensible. Instead of complicated
passages like “If you used the
tables, subtract line 402 on your
return from line 401, except where.
you have used Table A to calcu-
late precise percentages on. Table.
B, in which case you must refer to
line 9,751 on Table D and subtract
this figure from line 397 on Table
C, then add line 3,211 on Table F

_ but only while balancing on one :

_ foot and only if you have not

Go and have not collected
. $200." This will be changed to.
read "Let's have lunch sometime."

Achat in Terrace conserva-
tion.officer Peter Kalina’s office
‘shows that 46 moose have been
“illegally killed — and reported
— since the close of the official
‘hunting season at the end of
November. Kalina says the num-
‘ber is about the same as it was
this time last year. .

The unfortunate Skeena

_Tegion moose can’t win when it
_ comes to the weather. Last year

poaching was at an exceptionally
“high level because’ deep snow
drove the moose out into well-
travelled - areas. They were

Now doesn't all this just make

good business ‘sense? Wouldn't

you be eager to file your retum the .

moment you receive your person-
alized form with its cheery little -

note? I think someone should defi- |

nitely write the government a let-

ter and clue them into this wonder: : a ye

folidea,

| pied, Slowly, my near-death .-
‘alarm abated and a sense of relief :

enveloped me. I would live.

But wait. Now I had no gold .

for the meeting. How would 1°

~ explain it? A Brownie ‘wouldn't S

lie. But: T could riever admit. to:

having swallowed my ‘gold —— .
“no Brownie worth her stuff

would be so stupid, 'A quick,
agonizing death from:the dime”

would have been better than. this: | 7
embarrassment.

The bell rang. Tt was three

6 *clock. ‘While others hurriedly =
gathered their jackets: and bags to
leave, I moved slowly, putting off:

the decision I knew qd have to 7 :

make. °

halls, glancing. quickly into’ the. -

gynras | passed. Icould hear the

echoes .of my friends? ‘voices, as

- they gathered for the meeting —

—— the meeting I would be”.

wnat Won iy ot LaF

Ashamed and saddened, ‘s
shuffled home. fo

It was. years. before I went ack.

Publicly, I refused to- discuss’

‘Brownies, hoping everyone would

assume I’d simply outgrown it

Privately, I bad to.admit that.’

Tuesday afternoons: were: never
the’ Same. So:

On my. return, Iv was weleomned eo
directly into-Guides:. Here was.a'>

forgiving ignorance.of my being .
a Brownie drop-out. This time

- things were different. The val

form was blue. I had matured.
: The dues were higher, and I
- iew better than to put pooket
change in my mouth,’

T was back,

Ilegal moose kills”
at last year’s level

unable to move around in the

bush. This year, by comparison.

to last winter, there is virtually

‘No snow and. the moose are
browsing in their normal ranges.

But Kalina points out that the
lack of snow has also made the
normal ranges more accessible
for illegal hunting. »

Although moose are the
‘most frequent poaching targets
‘and the primary concern for
enforcement officers, Kalina

says ‘there have also been indica- |

tions of some deer poaching in
the Prince Rupert area.

‘{ wanderéd down the. emptying. _

Te baSia SRN nat ee.

oe aT
CES Ta alee eae