Saturday, August 18, 2007

Abdicating crime capital title only the first step

What a crazy business we work in. 
When the solicitor general’s 2006 Municipal Crime Rate Report was released on Thursday, a cheer went up in our newsroom: “Smithers is no longer the crime capital of B.C.!”
Meanwhile, in our sister newsroom at the Williams Lake Tribune, a cheer went up: “We’re number one!”
Good news, bad news, it’s all the same as long as it’s not no news, or, worse still, boring news.
Of course, we’d much rather write about grand accomplishments and the triumph of the human spirit than war, pestilence and crime.
As grand accomplishments and triumph of the human spirit goes, reducing the crime rate in Smithers by 22 per cent and going from first in the province to fifth isn’t exactly landing on the moon, but it’s still pretty impressive.
The danger, as with any accomplishment, is letting it go to our heads. Success is the sworn enemy of progress.
It’s like playing golf. Breaking 100 for the first time feels really great, but when you think about it, you really didn’t have to work that hard to get there.
Once you’re playing consitently in the 90s, you have to really bear down and hone your skills to get to the 80s.
Getting out of the 80s is where the real work begins. You have to be pretty much dedicate yourself to your game to achieve what so few of us duffers are ever able to.
When it comes to crime in Smithers, we’ve broken 100, and don’t it feel good (to borrow a sunshiney phrase from Katrina and the Waves).
It sure would be nice to break 90 this year, but it’s going to take a real concerted effort.
Matt Davey, the Town’s new bylaw officer — not just a dog catcher anymore — hit the nail on the head: community involvement.
There are still a lot of problems in this town. Left unfixed, the best we can really hope for is to avoid taking back the top spot.
As a community, we are still in denial. “It’s not that bad,” or “the types of crimes are minor,” or “there’s no homelessness” etc.
As great an accomplishment as it is to break 100, we have to ask ourselves, are we satisfied being a weekend hacker, or do we want to refine our game to the next level.
The first step is to care.
The next step is to get a new set of clubs and learn how to use them.
The Town is planning a community crime prevention forum in the fall, during which Davey hopes to develop, with community input, the tools that will allow us to rise to mediocre.
We won’t get there all at once and we’ll still have our share of double and even triple bogeys along the way, but it can be done.
I hope next year when the crime rate report is released the cheer that goes up in this news room is: “We’re out of the Top 10,” and not “We’re number one again!”
Posted by Thom Barker at 07:13:05 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Draconian B.C. public drinking laws punish innocent

Just once, I’d like to see someone roll back a restriction rather than piling another on top.
Last week, Smithers council considered adding to its recreation fees and charges bylaw a $100 fine for anyone caught drinking alcohol in the arena.
The amendment was tabled after Coun. Norm Adomeit, a non-drinker, objected it was not right to stop recreational adult hockey players from enjoying a frosty beverage after a game.
As it turns out, the long-standing tradition of quaffing a couple of wobbly pops after a rigorous workout on the first sheet, is already illegal, subject to a $115 provincial citation. If council ends up tacking on a municipal fine, that ends up being one expensive beer.
What’s next, the golf course? Are we going to restrict people from slipping over to the curling rink between periods of Steelheads games?
Not only do I think the Town should leave well enough alone, but the province needs to loosen up, too. The draconian public drinking laws of B.C. are based on the premise that someone at some point in time might cause a problem if it were legal.
What if we applied the same kind of logic to other activities? The vast majority of skiers are responsible and safe, but there is a chance that some lunatic at some point in time is going to recklessly endanger others. Why don’t we close down the ski hill? It makes about as much sense as punishing everyone because there may be a handful of drunks who might get out of control.  
The fact is, the vast majority of people could just as easily have a can of beer as pop or water while watching a baseball game or having a picnic in the park and not cause any problems.
I know I’ll be slammed for this, just like I was for my smoking column. ‘He’s just a disgruntled drinker,’ they’ll say. ‘It’s okay to discriminate against drinkers. They’re different than us. They’re dirty.’ The same arguments used by oppressors in the American south to justify slavery. You can argue there are degrees of oppression, but in the end it’s the same.
This is not about the legitimacy of anyone’s personal choices, it’s about having choices. I don’t smoke pot, but I’m a huge advocate of legalization. I don’t have small kids, but it’s appalling other parents can no longer send their kids to adventure camp. I’m a confirmed Safeway shopper, but I decry what legislators are doing to small, on-farm slaughter operations.
Instead of looking at the no-alcohol policy and trying to figure out how to make it more restrictive or enforcable, Smithers council should be asking the question: “Do we even need this policy?”
Instead of trying to set up more roadblocks to personal freedom, they should be trying to find ways of enhancing it. 
In the case of the arena, why can’t we talk about getting a liquor licence so the recreational leagues can legally enjoy their age-old practice. The licence would pay for itself and even increase revenues. The Town could sell beer at Steelheads games. Groups like the organizing committee for next year’s Minerals North conference would not have to apply for a special events permit and Smithers could pick up the profits.

Legal or not, people are going to drink at or around the arena. Council should be looking at ways to take advantage of it.

Posted by Thom Barker at 07:11:08 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Trying to figure out these Nothern Health doctors of spin

Skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip…
I know, I sound like a scratched CD.
I feel like I keep repeating myself, but, I’ll say it again, there is a very sick culture that permeates this valley. Everyone knows when something is wrong, but heaven forbid we actually talk about it publicly. I was surprised when people actually started to speak out about the sorry state of health care in the Bulkley Valley.
We’ve run several stories recently that have people saying, off the record mostly, “Oh yeah, I know someone that happened to, too.”
Readers would be amazed at the sheer volume of complaints we get, but the vast majority never make it to print simply because we don’t have enough proof to avoid the libel suits.
Frankly, most of the stories that do get published should never get to us, either. 
Instead of taking us, and more importantly, the complainants seriously, we’ve got a medical director, Dr. David Bowering, writing letters blindly defending the organization.
Instead of thinking to himself, “Maybe we’ve got some issues that need to be attended to,” he accuses the editor of this newspaper of having some kind of vendetta even though we also cover all the feel-good stories NH actually wants in the press.
It is no wonder some health  authority staff are wondering why they’re getting beaten up all of a sudden. It’s kind of like ordinary Americans wondering after the World Trade Center attack in September 2001, “Why does everybody else in the world hate us so much?”
Northern Health employees need look no further than their own management. If the muckity-mucks were really concerned about the state of health care in the Bulkley Valley, they would be listening to patients and addressing their concerns before people get so fed up they’re saying, “I’m going to the press.”
We know it’s a tough and, sometimes, thankless job. We know resources are stretched to the limit, especially in the North. We know recruiting is difficult at best. We know about the economy of scale. We know most medical professionals are compassionate, decent people. We know lab technicians, nurses, administrators and, even doctors, are people and that people make mistakes. We know they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. 
Welcome to the club.
All we’re asking for is a little honesty.
The provincial government has made a big deal this year about its Conversation on Health, by their account, an admirable effort to address long-term policy directions for the province as a whole. Perhaps, but in the Bulkley Valley, we need to have our own conversation on health.
Bowering should put his considerable expense account or, better still, astronomical salary, where his mouth is, make the trip down Hwy 16 from his ivory tower in Prince George and find out what is really going on in this small part of the province.
Posted by Thom Barker at 07:06:30 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Anti-smoking hysteria a red-herring

I learned a very important journalistic lesson from the feedback to my column posted below and originally published in the July 18 print edition of The Interior News.
Headlines can be a double-edged sword.
In retrospect, I think the headline “Smokers living under a Nazi regime” detracted from the intent and impact of the piece.
It would certainly be an exaggeration to actually equate the status of smokers in Canada today with the status of the Jews under Hitler all those years ago or with anyone who has ever lived under a truly oppressive regime.
Nevertheless, I stand by the content of the column and the feedback of anti-smokers proves I am right.
Let’s start with the language. One guy wrote about an inconsiderate smoker who decided to light up near “people.” Not near “other people,” not near “people who don’t smoke,” near “people” implying smokers are not.
Another complainant asked: “You think smokers should have more rights?” From the context of the letter you could virtually hear the derision in the question.
No concern for their fellow man, but outright hatred for these modern social pariahs, scapegoats for all the ills of society.
They complain about going to shopping centres and being subjected to second-hand smoke by the non-persons smoking near the entrances. They decry sitting on a restaurant patio as evil-doers puff away nearby.
Meanwhile, hundreds cars are driving by and tractor-trailers belching deisel fumes idle by the delivery bays. They’re not worried about that, they’re worried about accidentally catching a whiff of some tobacco smoke.
Other writers objected to my use of the word hysteria. Let’s have a look at that. Hysteria is a reaction totally out of proportion with reality.
That is the nature of scape-goating, you don’t need a rational argument or any kind of proof, you merely need a majority of people who believe it and willing to blame some arbitrary minority group.
The fact of the matter is, most smokers are more than considerate about where they smoke and legislation has already made the places where someone can light up so restrictive I’m wondering where exactly are all these innocent non-smokers being subjected to supposedly life-threatening quantities of tobacco smoke. Aside from a very occasional, accidental and cursory exposure, I challenge the anti-smoking zealots to demonstrate exactly how smokers are actually infringing on their comfort and health.
Even if they’re willing to grant second-hand smoke exposure isn’t that much of an issue, they say merely seeing people smoke is a bad example for kids. Whose responsibility is that? Once again, we are trying to legislate something that should be in the hands of parents and educators. It’s not up to me to set a good example for someone else’s kids. I think driving recreational motor vehicles is a bad example for kids, but I don’t go around advocating outlawing ATVs and dirt bikes.
I think obese, sedentary people in revealing clothing are a bad example for kids, but that’s their business.
Finally, let’s talk about health. After the anti-smoking hysterics have vilified the smoker with all the irrational arguments, they go for the jugular citing the cost to society. Billions of dollars devoted to smoking-related diseases choking the health care system, wasting their tax money, they say.
First, smokers are taxpayers, too, but not only that, the B.C. government will rake in $745 million this year in tobacco taxes alone on top of the income, sales and other taxes smokers are paying.
Even if it could be proved smokers are more of a drain on the health system, which it cannot, smokers are paying for it.
Many years ago, I took a smoking cessation course. The leader was a doctor and member of the group Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. He told us about a royal commission that was engaged to prove smokers were a drain on the health system. It did not, so the study was buried.
Few people, smokers and non-smokers alike, would argue smoking is good for your health. We know that’s not true, but let us not forget, tobacco is a legal product. As such it is taxed to max. If the government and anti-smoking lobby were really serious about stamping out tobacco use, they would help smokers quit.
Why are drug addicts and alcoholics eligible for rehab, but smokers are not? Why are nicotine patches more expensive than smoking and why aren’t they covered under medicare?
Posted by Thom Barker at 22:50:15 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Smokers: scapegoats of the modern age

Living in big cities all my life, I never much thought about where my meat came from.
I knew, of course, there were people out there growing and killing things to fill the coolers of my local Superstore, but I didn’t much care about the politics of farming.
Last week, I made my first farm gate purchase, a big juicy chicken and a dozen farm-fresh eggs. They were really good and I felt a little more connected to my food.
If I’m being honest, though, if it weren’t for the impending new regulations banning farm-based slaughter operations, I would likely go happily on my way being disconnected, exercising my choice to support Safeway for being conveniently located and packaging stuff in easy-to-use portions for me.
I don’t share the same philosophical attachment as many Valley residents do to locally-grown food.
What does pique my outrage, is the relentless attack on personal freedom and responsibility. Our humanity is being legislated into obscurity. Our liberty bought and sold by mega-corporations and special interest groups like a commodity of the modern age.
What is truly insidious about all of this is the powerful lobbies are able to sell their oppression to unwitting politicians and bureaucrats by capitalizing on the current health hysteria. Take the latest innovation of the anti-smoking zealots. The Town is considering making public places Tobacco-Free Zones. It won’t be a “law” or “regulation” says head zealot Karla Biagioni – although you can bet your life that won’t be long in coming.
It will be a suggestion and encourage the poor, besieged majority of non-smokers to further publicly ostracize and demonize their fellow man, who chooses, even if it may be a poor choice, to light up.
She cites statistics about the thousands of British Columbians, smokers and non-smokers alike, who supposedly die every year of “smoking-related diseases.”
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the millions of cars on B.C. roads or the factories, mills and power plants belching carcinogens into the atmosphere or sedentary lifestyles, fast food and industrial chemicals coursing through the water supply.
No, it’s the evil, inconsiderate smoker. It’s not enough to relegate them to outdoors and specially designed smoking rooms — which local bar owners spent tens of thousands of dollars on to accommodate non-smokers — they must be completely deprived of any possible avenue to enjoy their personal freedom and take responsibility for their own choices.
By extension, business owners must be deprived of their right to cater to any clientele they want.
I purposely juxtaposed a sympathetic group, small farmers, with a non-sympathetic group, smokers, to make a point. Try substituting the word Jew or Indian into the propaganda and see how fast it gets shut down.
It’s a slippery slope and nothing short of widespread public defiance is going to stop the infringement on our rights to live as we see fit.

Posted by Thom Barker at 22:46:57 | Permalink | Comments (1) »