Down by the River _

watching the issues flow by
_ Commentary and analysis by Terrace Review staff and guest writers

Jan. 1. I recall the time
because I had just looked at
the clock and decided it was time
to leave the party, head home and
begin. putting my year together.
The taxi never came; I believe
it was never sent. .
The woman answering the

I called the taxi at 2:58 am.

telephone at Kalum Kabs began

by sarcastically telling me that
the address I had given her didn’t
exist. Cutting off my attempts to
tell her that it did exist and offers
of directions to give the driver,
she began consulting what |
assumed were senior drivers on
the radio to confirm her incom-
plete knowledge of Terrace geo-
graphy. She got the confirmation
from someone out there who ob-
viously knew little more than she
did, and told me to call back
when I had figured out where I
was.

Well, my knowledge wasn’t the
deficient factor in the equation,
and the host of the small New
Year's Eve gathering from which
I was attempting to depart got on
the phone and carefully explained
to her that he had lived at the
address in question for seven
years and tried through a barrage
of what I was told later were
rude remarks to tell her how to
find the place, less than half a
mile from the office where she
was sitting. At the conclusion of
a rather heated discussion my
host was told the taxi would
arrive in 15-20 minutes.

Forty-five minutes later my
host’s wife, who fortunately had
decided at the beginning of the
evening to avoid consuming
intoxicants, drove me: and my
companions home, a distance that
I know from experience would
have been about a $12 taxi fare.

My host, who stayed home,
confirmed the following day that
no taxi arrived at his address
before he retired at 6 a.m.

I was left to wonder what
would have occurred had I driven
to the gathering, prudently
decided to stay off the road after
consuming teo much alcohol to
drive but enough to remain com-
posed and coherent, then dis-
covered that the only taxi com-
pany in town arbitrarily decided
not to send me a cab.

The RCMP’s dedicated and
praiseworthy campaign to make
the roads safer by discouraging
drunks from operating motor
vehicles is fundamentally based
on the presumption that there is
always alternate transportation
available. When that presumption
is proven false, the intent of the
program and the intent of people
to comply with it are placed in a
very shaky position. Taxi
operators rightly reserve the right
to deny service to individuals that
they believe are deadbeats or
dangerous, but that right carries
with it a responsibility to exercise
prudence of judgment, not. arro-
gance. And that prudence is
particularly important in the case

of a taxi company holding a local
monopoly that has successfully
lobbied the Motor Carrier Com-
mission against the establishment
of a competing company twice in
the past three years.

The Motor Carrier Commis-
sion’s decision in these cases was
partially based on Kalum Kabs’
argument that the number of taxis
in the company provides adequate
service in ratio to the local popu-
‘lation, and the commission
bought that argument. Taxis are

certainly like any other business

— there is a fixed ceiling on the
amount of business and the pros-
perity of individual taxi operators
relies on balancing an adequate
number of cabs to provide service
while not going to an extreme
that would deprive operators of
the chance to earn a decent liv-
ing.

The real issue in question, how-
ever, is not the total number of
cabs but the number of com-
panies. A thousand cabs in Ter-
race are of no benefit whatever to
an individual who can’t persuade

the only company in town to

dispatch one of them.

Driving a taxi is often an un-
enviable way to earn a living, an
occasion like New Year’s Eve
places extraordinary demands on

dispatchers, telephone people and

drivers. Any reasonable person

would expect to wait for service
at such times; outright denial-of
service for no apparent reason is

— Continued on page A13

The Way I
See It...

by Stephanie Wiebe

To His Excellency Prime

Minister Brian Mulroney,
Ottawa, Ontario: -

Hey Bri, we’ve got to talk. I
understand that your job is
difficult, and you're probably &
really nice guy to pal around with,
but you're sure doing some
STUPID things lately.

This GST stuff is your dumbest
move yet. Take donuts, for
example. Occasionally, yes, I'll
admit it, occasionally I'll cat a
donut -- one crummy donut. I do
try to limit my intake to ONE, and
for that fleeting ecstasy of
chocolate and cream, the guilt
weighs heavily on my conscience
and thighs for weeks afterward, but
I’m human, okay? But now you've
taxed my little sin by seven
percent. Not much, you might say,
a lousy seven percent, but it’s
enough to put a psychological
black mark on my donut.

You can tax the hot chocolate,
for all I care, you can even tax the
Pepsi, as fong as your taxing is
consistent and sensible. But why
my pitiful ONE hardly-ever-let-
myself-have-it donut?

Now if I were to be more
gluttonous, buying SIX or more
soft, sticky-sweet donuts, (and the
mere thought makes me feel

weak) you wouldn’t charge any
GST. Psychologically speaking,
that’s like the government saying
to me, "Go ahead — PIG OUT!
GET DOWN AND GET
STUFFED!" C’mon B.M., what's
this game you're playing? You're
toying with my donut habits, and
taxing my patience.

So after the government has
practically FORCED me to cat
SIX incredibly delicious melt-in-
your-mouth chocolate donuts (or
maybe I’d have a few maple ones,
100), you would change tax on the
tennis lessons, golf game or
aerobics class I]’d have to take to
work off the guilt and resulting
excess weight. You would tax my
new clothes in the LARGER size,
tax the Kleenex I’d be constantly
sobbing into, and then you’d tax
the Slim-Fast-Quick-Weight-Loss
program I’d have to purchase.

And Brian, that’s only the
beginning. Once you get me
started on donuts, who knows
WHERE it will end? After six
heavenly iced, chocolate-to-die-for
and sweet Canadian maple donuts,
maybe with a vanilla dipped one
— yeah, the one with the little
coloured sprinkles on top — well,
this could lead to some serious
repercussions. Who knows what

would follow? Long-johns, cream
puffs (gasp)..maybe even
ECLAIRS. |

Now how would YOU like it if
MILA started’ porking down
eclairs? I’m sure SHE wouldn’t be
impressed if YOU were packing
away the cream puffs by the half-
dozen, cither, eh, Brian? Think
about it.

The point is, that taxing my

single donut doesn’t make any -

sense, nor does the rest of the GST
system logic. I'll bet Mila agrees.
And while Mila and I are rebelling
the best way we know how (by
eating donuts), you'd better figure
cut a way around this mess.
"Cause we don’t give up casily,
Brian, and when Mila and I are
finally finished, it AIN’T gonna be
a pretty sight.

That’s right, Brian, SIX donuts at
a crack. Stari counting: Chocolate,
maple, Bavarian cream, honey
cruller, vanilla dip (with the little
coloured sprinkles on top), and
long-johns. And then there’s the
CAKE donuts... Yes, DOUBLE
CHOCOLATE -- GO for it, Mila,

the government WANTS you to.

We might wash it all down with
some of that taxable hot chocolate
and go for broke. No, Brian, we
won’ discuss the issue — we're
beyond that. This is a silent
protest. Besides, it’s rude to talk
with your mouth full.

' “Ferrace Review — Wedilésday, Jarliary 9, Tor A7

= Letters to the Editor —

There is a subject that a lot of
people are mumbling and grum-
bling about, but they are reluc-
tant to say anything out loud.

The Shames Mountain ski hill
is now open and I wish the cor-
poration well in its endeavour,
but it must be noted that a great
amount of public money has
been poured into support for
that private enterprise.

The road to the mountain ate
up $4.9 million of that money
and it is not yet finished. The
shame of that is the fact that the
road was funded by a blank che-
que, That concept is contrary to
all sensible financial dealings
and to the rules that apply to all
other government departments.
The road was built with equip-
ment paid by the hour, no mat-
ter how much or how little was
accomplished in those hours.

If the province wants to spend

Resolved
To The Editor:

Why don’t we have an emer-
gency ‘911’ phone number in the
Terrace area? As a mother of 2
young children, I feel that this
service is imperative to our com-
munity.

The user-friendly simplicity of
this system has already proven
itself to be a life-saver.

In Terrace, however, when
‘911’ is dialed, a recorded mes-
‘sage will inform you that you
must hang up and dial the emer-_

—. Blank cheque

‘To The Editor:

tax money it should consider
spending it on services vital to
taxpayers, not on private com-
panies engaged in recreation.

The hospital board would
surely enjoy a blank government
cheque, but they have to prove,
at great length, the absolute nec-
cesity of every nickel they spend.
This has resulted in the Dr.
R.E.M. Lee Foundation having
to raise community dollars for
the C.T. Scanner so needed in
our local hospital.

The Queensway Drive section
of Thornhill with its health con-
cerns related to a lack of a sewer
system would make good use of
a government blank cheque in-
stead of what we got, an MLA
who appears to be more part of
the problem than a part of the
solution.

Gail Murray
Terrace, B.C.

911

gency agency direct, or dial ‘O”’
for assistance — a response that
a child or panicking person may
not be able to deal with.

If ‘911’ saved one person, it
would be worth whatever little
extra I had to pay on my phone
bill.

So, as 1991 begins, perhaps
implementing ‘911’ should be
our new years resolution, as it is
mine.

Diana Penner

" Terrace, B.C.

Thanks. from Ksan

To the Editor;

’ The Terrace Transition House
staff and residents would like to
express their heartfelt gratitude
and appreciation for all the gen-
erous - donations of money,
food, toys and other items that
‘poured in over this holiday sea-
son from individuals, organ-
izations, businesses and clubs.

We would like to thank in par-
ticular The Golden Rule and
Juanita Hatton for the tremen-

dous amount of food and other
materials donated, the Salvation
Army and Mike Heoft, the Ker-
mode Friendship Centre, the
local merchants who con-
tributed, and all the individuals
in this community who showed
their suport through donations
this holiday season.

Leslie McCauley
Program Coordinator/
Administrator

Terrace Transition House

Thanks from diabetics

To The Editor;

-Fhe Canadian Diabetes Asso-
ciation thanks all who have help-
ed with our annual appeal in
November, including the news-
papers and radio station for
publicity and the many business-
es and all others who have dona-
ted to Canadian Diabetes Asso-

ciation,

Thank you to all the canvass-
ers that took time to go out and
collect. The total amount raised
for 1990 in Terrace was
$6,209.01.

Marilyn Dahl & Jane Braam
Terrace, B.C. .

Raffle winners

To The Editor;

The Terrace Friends of
Schizophrenics wish to thank all
those who supported us through
our raffle.

The winners are: The Watch :

— I, Stradeski; Gift Basket —

P, Boldue; Gift Basket — L. |

Gjertsen.
Marsha Lloyd

Pifer ——_= Continued from page A6

spelled out their areas of
discontent, and

*That getting over 50 percent
support is all he needs to be
“vindicated’’,

All of the above are sad,
pathetic comments which
smack of a paranoia gone wild.

As I have often said in thas

corner, surely it is finally time

for Bill Vander Zalm to look

one other place to see clearly

the main reason for the discon-

tent, division and discord with-

in the Social Credit Party and

government.

And that is in the mirror.