S TANDARD TERRACE
1.30
$
$1.24 PLUS 6¢ GST
VOL. 27 NO. 44
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Street stops help police
STAFF PHOTO
■■ Beauty, eh CALLING THEMSELVES the Sweeping Beauties, (from the left) third Lynne Gunter, skip Heather Avison, second Liz Smaha and lead Sonya Gill formed a rink for the express purpose of competing in last weekend’s Ladies Valentines Bonspiel. Gunter is up from White Rock and the other three are from Terrace.
CHECKING UP on who is out on the streets at night is helping police officers deal with crime, the Terrace RCMP detachment’s commanding officer told council here Feb. 10. “The street checks are predominantly done in the overnight hours. Individuals are seen out and about walking around the streets of Terrace, an officer will approach them, ask them what they are up to and find out who they are,” said Inspector Dana Hart in presenting the detachment’s report for the last quarter of 2014. It indicated 33 street checks were done and that officers conducted 107 foot patrols in the downtown core. “It’s a record so that we have a very good way of determining who are some of our criminal element out especially with property crime, break and enters,” Hart added. Policing in the downtown core has been given an emphasis by restoring the detachment’s crime reduction unit. It had been blended in with the detachment’s regular shifts but was restored last year and concentrates on prolific and persistent offenders. Constable Angela Rabut, the detachment’s media relations officer, in providing more information on the detachment’s priorities, said evidence indicates approximately 80 per cent of offences are committed by 20 per cent of the offenders. That follows the Pareto principle, named after an Italian economist, which states that 80 per cent of something come from 20 per cent of its causes. The crime reduction unit “also works with other agencies in Terrace in a collaborative approach to reduce crime,” said Rabut.
Cont’d Page A4
Gov’t buys a year’s peace with college By ANNA KILLEN NORTHWEST COMMUNITY College (NWCC) has been given a reprieve of one year to figure out how to deal with changes to how it offers high school equivalency courses. The provincial government announced Friday that it would give NWCC a one-time allocation of $494,000 for adult basic education (ABE) programs in 2015/2016, part of $6.9 million to be distributed to colleges around the province. That's the amount the college was set to lose from its operating grant when the ministry of ad-
vanced education announced late last year that colleges and universities will no longer receive provincial money to provide ABE classes tuition-free. Instead, beginning Jan. 1, 2015, colleges and universities could charge tuition fees for the courses. And low-income students could then apply for provincial grants to cover all or part of that tuition and other costs. Colleges and universities, as well as students' unions, pushed back at the move, saying that tuition-free ABE classes removed a significant barrier to education and was a critical step toward further
post-secondary learning opportunities. “ABE is the gateway for thousands of B.C. students looking to take trades, nursing or business education,” said Steve Verblac, chairperson of NWCC's students’ union in a Feb. 3 release addressing the program changes. “Cutting ABE funding and applying fees to high school courses will reduce the accessibility of this most important program. If this government is serious about providing more trained trades people, they would ensure ABE remains free.” NWCC communications director Sarah Zimmerman said earlier
this month that the college did not anticipate it would be able to recoup the expected reduction in its operating grant through charging tuition and was still assessing what dealing with student grant applications might mean to its costs. “However, with increased administration comes the potential for increased administrative costs,” she said. And should the new program cut student numbers, the college would also have to examine what that means for its budget, she said. Thanks to the money received, the college will spend the next year doing just that.
“Northwest Community College is grateful to receive this funding this year,” said Zimmerman Friday following the government announcement. “This will be a transitional year for the ABE program as Northwest Community College addresses potential revenue and/or enrolment changes due to program restructuring.” She said the college is continuing to work with the province on this issue. But NWCC students' union organizer Mikael Jensen said the transitional year doesn't do anything to address the core issue.
Cont’d Page A4
Pre-boarding
Petition out there
Great lengths
Terrace Little Theatre pilots its dinner theatre on a farcical flight \COMMUNITY A10
The family of a woman murdered here opposes her killer’s release \NEWS A21
Two Terrace swimmers win big at the regional meet hosted here \SPORTS A28