a ye OR ea ge ee Page A4 — Turrace Standard, Wednesday, March 28, 1980. 'ERRACE: ‘STAN DAR SAT! " RBTABLISHED APRIL 27,1088 luctralion rypra services and advartisiig agencies Reproduction in vohole of in pat, withavt written perméssion, is specitcaly provdited Reglatration No. 7820 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B. C, vaG 188 (604) 630-7283 Serving the Terrace area. Pubished 0 Wainescty of each week by Carboo Press (119) Li. 21 4847 Lazals Ava, Taree, British Cohan. bRrab rp onan a en 1 Tray Sec ar ry ett ay Cao Pi (8), Hs Production Manager: | , . o Edouard Credgeur — ce eens pat the Post Office Department, lor payment of postage in cash. dvertising Managar, Janel Vivelras — Advertising Consultant ae San Collier =~ averting oestiant Katherine Hicks - ~ Graphic Anlst ‘Special thanks ‘0 af Our contributors and. Correspondents for. i. thelr time and talents, SEDO Hear no evil The school board is doing its version of the three monkeys — hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil — ovér the issue of condoms in secondary schools, Unlike other school districts in the northwest, our local elected people in charge of education have deftly tabled any Suggestion about the applicability of condoms in schools. Quite simply, the board which is only to eager to speak about the great things it is doing, is reluctant to tangle with anything that may be somehow icky. The board was first asked to consider condoms in secondary schools jate last year by the Skeena health unit. Health unit officials said condoms would help in preventing an increase in AIDS among teenagers, Board membets took the let- ter to a closed meeting with school - counsellors and it’s been tucked away in. a filing cabinet ever since. — There's much to be said in favour of . condoms and much to be said against them, They should not be regarded as a cure-all for the ills of a society just as they should not be viewed as a licence for indiscriminate behavior. But as much as the issue of condoms in secondary schools may be seen as one of morality, the board’s refusal to meet in public is also one of morality. It is quite immoral for elected officials to dodge or evade on any subject. Keeping things quiet is merely a reflec- tion that board members either collec- tively or singly are unable to function as a properly elected body. It’s quite a lesson to teach those young people in whose care they have been entrusted, Private party The Kitimat-Stikine regional district should dump its policy of holding closed sessions. They are not democratic, not healthy and don’t give the impression board members work in the best interests of those they are supposed 1 to serve, Some examples: ; - One month ago, the Shames Mountain Ski Corporation appeared to ask that its $313,000 debt to the district be instead converted into shares. The transaction would make the district the largest shareholder in the ski corporation. In ef- fect, it Would turn Shames into a crown corporation and so, might be of passing interest to taxpayers. Just this past weekend, the board heard from two provincial civil servants about the two most important northwest resource issues of this decade — the {skut mining road and the provincial rote MH a government’s proposal to sell 623,000 cubic metres of pulp fibre q year for 25 years. Both involve lois of money, both require a thorough airing. The district might have a point in con- ducting the Shames session behind clos- ed..doors. becausé .it involved. its .OWM. financing. But it took: ‘corisiderable prod- ding to have members acknowledge the existence of the appeal, let alone any of its details, The district has no excuse to meet behind closed doors on the Iskut road . and pulpwood agreement. One reason - proferred was that the private meetings allow for a ‘frank exchange of views.”? This leaves the question hanging of to whose benefit these ‘frank’ exchanges would take place. _ All in all, it’s not an enviable or very - inspiring record of public service and du- ty. Different world - Once again the Charter of Rights has squelched tradition, like an elephant sitting ona tee. As of March 15, in deference to their religion, Sikhs who join the RCMP have permission to wear turbans instead of stan- dard headgear: ‘From here on the RCMP Through Bifocals. 5° by Claudette Sandecki @ commissioner can expect bids for religious exemption for stewardess but didn’t qualify Probably when Cadieux ruted every garment ever shown in the National Geographic. - In 10 years the force could be ag hodge podge as Immigration’ s Pearson Airport waiting room, We could have Royal Cana- dian Muddled Police made up of female Hutterites with bon- nets tied under their chins; Muslim women cloaked head to toe in black chaddors with only their cyes showing: Jewish males on office duty with yar- mulkas clinging to the backs of their heads; and treaty Indtans who flip their braids forward before settling behind the steer- ing’ wheels of squad cars. _ Now. ‘that: ‘Solicitor-General Pierre Cadieux has okayed: tur- bans, recruiters won’t dare to reject applicants unless they're hopelessly illiterate, iegally blind, or one of the ‘Ten Most Wanted. If a visible minority applicant is accidentally turned down, he'll rush to file a discrimitiation ' suit’ with ‘the Human _ Rights Commission, And no doubt he'll win. What a different world it was in 1952 when I graduated ‘from ~ high school. ‘I wanted ‘tobe a -. because I was five inches too tall and 23 pounds too heavy. Did 1 petition? launch a court challenge? or fast until carried off to hospital on a stretcher? Not likely. Nor did I stump or diet, 1 understood the airlines had logical reasons’ for hiring petite stewardesses. I searched instead for a job that fitted my physi-- que as well as my talents. -’ While I do think Sikhs are gO- "ing out of their way to draw at- tention to themselves, I have no quarrel with RCMP Sikhs. wear- » ing turbans. Heck, with only a handfi ul of Sikh Canadians hav- ing applied ta join the 17,000 member -force, 1 might never meet a turbanned Mountie anyhow unless [ visit Van- couver, What bothers 1 me—a third _ 8eneration Canadian whose standparents j immigrated to this: country in 1903 and did their best to integrate. — is that so- mecone-whose famly arrived on- ly recently might be in a posi- tion to issue me with a lawful order.: - That rankles, on the turban controversy, the government overlooked what could happen next. Suppose a pacifist applies? With the precedent of religious exemption established, any applicant who objects to bearing arms will have ari air tight case for hanging up his belt (whether traditional brown or new fangled black) with all its tools of the police trade — handgun, handcuffs, nightstick, and: . ammunition pouch ~ hanging from it.’ “Oh what a tangled web | we weave When first we Practice to”’... equallze. WHERE ARE Youwtr PEOPLES VALUES TOnAY? NADIA COULD HAVE HAD HER Pee oF MEN... Bugis _» . We ~ WOOD YOU MIND REIRNING THE KNIVES. JOHN ©... -s,_ WENEED Tie FOR. — 4 - cot) SE . i ] alll Expect compromise in logging areas VICTORIA — Whoever sent Adam Zimmerman to Globe ‘90, the business and environ- ment conference in Vancouver, ought to have his head examin- Maybe the chairman of Noranda Forests decided on his own to put the cat amongst the environmental pigeons, but someone should have told him that all he could hope to achieve by attending the con- ference was to escalate the war between business and en- vironmentalists. But then, you can’t rule out that this was the sole reason . why Zimmerman shot off his mouth at the conference, He’s been known to do that sort of thing, particularly where en- vironmenijalists are concerned. How else do you explain com- ments such as these: “I’ve personally been in the trenches so long that I’m get- ting sick of the antagonism and the frequent statements of decom and gloom,” said Zim- ' merman, “['m really fed up with the ridiculous claims of some of the environmentalists which in- variably and always receive far more attention than they deserve. They amount toa kind of verbal flashing,” he ’ added Fortunately, not all in- dustrialists are Neanderthals. Contrast Zimmerman’s obtuse and insensitive remarks with those of another forestry of: ficial, Phil Gilbert, a manager with the Council of Forest In- dustries of British Columbia, Speaking to about 200 forestry executives at the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association’s 71st annual meeting,in Montreal last week, Gilbert said forest companies must come to terms with strong ecological concerns, not just here at home, but around the world, * Consumers.in some Euro- pean markets, Gilbert said, are beginning to wonder about the acceptability of wood as a con- struction material, and looking * to steel, aluminum or plastics instead. Gilbert’s right. A number of European countries have become very sensitive to en- ' From the Capital by Hubert ‘Beyer vironmentally detrimental timber harvesting methods, particularly those practised in- the Amazon rain forests: Ger-. many has, for some. time, been * considering a ban on the im- port of exotic timber from countries that fail to practice ° responsible forest policies. . As a first step, Germany and some other European coun- tries, have banned the use of - exatic woods in public buildings. Feelings about en- vironmentally unacceptable timber harvesting methods ran 80 high when I was in Ger- many last year that there was Without the troublesome — en- vironmental groups, . government would never have taken the steps they did to pro- tect the environment, including our forests. . even talk ‘of taking a closer look at Canadian logging prac- tices, They certainly didn’t like what they had seen at a cur- sory glance. Gilbert seems to be clued in to the problems of the forest industry, but unfortunately, he’s just a COFI manager, while old Zimmerman occupies areal seat ‘of power in the — forest industry, Zimmerman may complain all he wants to about the wat- chdogs of the enviromnent, * without them our forest would have disappeared. Without the troublesome environmental - gtoups, government would never have taken the steps they did to protect the environment, including our forests... - And we’re not out of the woods yet, if you pardon the . pun. All the hype about **Forest Forever’’ notwithstan- : ding, there will come a.time when we have run out of I MEAN WHAT COULD ‘SHE Posey SEEIN, / A GUY WH ; .conference. Like any com: harvestable timber. First and. second-growth timber will be “ gone and the new growth & za won't be:faf enough along. for, harvesting. . That may not happen during Zimmerman’s lifetime, but happen it will. The signs are - already here, or do you think: : forest companies -are closing some mills because there is an - abundance of timber? A lot of small, independent mills'can'’t get lumber at all. Already there’s a shortage in some areas. That shortage of harvestable’ timber also accounts for the ’ vehemence with which Mac- Millan Bloedel pursues its. ~ plans to log the Carmanah =’ Valley on Vancouver Island. ‘Last week, Forest Minister *.. Claude Richmond said the . ‘govérnment will decide the fate’ - of the valley very soon. He also promised ‘a full accounting’ of the cost, whichever way the - decision goes, “Those figures are being compiled right now and they °- will be part of the announce- ~) ment,”’ he said, adding that ~~ the public will know the cost : of the Carmanah decision, @ The 6,700-hectare valley, °°" home to some of Canada’s: tallest trees, has become the ~~ centre of a bitter controversy _ between industry and ene vironmentalist, J have'a feeling — the government will try to. forge a compromise between .. the irresistible force and the immoveable object. Cone I suspect the government will allow some logging while preserving part of the valley. Were the decision. for preserv- ing-the entire valley, I'm sure the announcement would have come during the Globe 90 promise, this one, too, will completely satisfy either side, ; but it may be the only way. to: os settle the dispute, i CAN'T Even Fie HIS oun CHAINSAW 2?