The Prince George Citizen - Friday, February 22, 2002 - 5 Local/Provincial Sports and judging just don’t mix Now that David Pelletier and Jamie Sale 'have been awarded their gold medal, justice has been served — sort of. What struck me was how surprised people were that the judging was fixed. Isn’t this like being surprised when the bad guy wins a match in the World Wrestling Federation? The bigger question is why we insist on judging everything? We have this uncontrollable urge to score and award medals for everything from hair dressing (I would recommend the movie “Blow Dry") to body shape (eg. the “Miss Universe Contest”). Like it or not, it is our nature. We compete from the minute we are born. As soon as we enter the world we are slapped, measured and weighed. For a child’s entire life, mothers compete in a subtle competition using these statistics. Unlike the Olympics, this competition does not award medals, although sometimes 1 think every mother deserves gold. (Men don’t play this game largely out of guilt. I was present for the birth of my three children and I am thankful men cannot give birth.) 1 have a hard time calling anything that cannot be measured objectively, both during and at the conclusion of the event, a sport. For example, hockey is a sport, figure skating is not. It isn’t that figure skating should be given less respect than hockey, it’s just I don't think it should be a competition where we determine winners and losers. In fact, many sports take far less physical ability than events I feel should not be sports, for example curling. One would have a hard time arguing curler Ed Wernich (who was asked to lose weight if he qualified for the Olympics) was as physically fit as any figure skater. But by my definition, curling is a sport. Whether it should be an Del Laverdure Olympic event is another question. Curler is not a word I associate with the word Olympian. How about card games? In June 1995, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) admitted the World Bridge Federation (WBF) as “part of the Olympic Movement,” awarding it the status of a “Recognized Sport Organization.” In Salt Lake City, bridge was an exhibition event won by Canada. If Canada does not win hockey gold at least Molson can hang its hat on bridge during its next round of Olympic beer commercials. The ultimate goal of the WBF is to have bridge on the schedule of competitions for the 2006 Winter Games. Bridge would fit right into the Olympics. I guarantee there would be some sort of scandal relating to hand signals, body gestures and verbal clueing. For example, the comment “What do you think of St. Valentine’s Day?” is clearly a hint to play hearts. Hence, judging and refereeing will be required and hence controversy. Style points could be awarded for the fight that will likely ensue between partners because of poor playing, particularly in the spousal division. I wonder what drugs would be disallowed for these Olympic “athletes?” Is there such a thing as bridge-enhancing drugs? — maybe beer, but I think it just makes you think you are playing better. Webster’s dictionary defines a sport as both a verb and a noun. As a verb: to amuse oneself, to engage in a sport, to mock or ridicule something, to speak or act in jest. As a noun: a source of diversion, sexual play, physical activity engaged in for pleasure, a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in, often mean-spirited jesting. So 1 guess, by definition, just about anything is a sport - including this column — all it needs is IOC recognition. I suspect all you need in order to be an IOC sanctioned sport is: 1) Human beings. 2) The ability to take drugs to enhance performance 3) The requirement the sport be able create enough controversy to distract the media from realizing it should never have been an Olympic sport in the first place and 4) Demonstrate you have a large enough supply of funds to bribe all IOC members, judges, referees and officials necessary in order to place in the medals. I find the Olympics a great way to pass time, however, I have my doubts as to how useful they are, other than as fodder for the media for the inevitable controversies that arise. Del Laverdure is the Publisher of The Citizen. His column appears in this space every Friday. Call 960-2756 or e-mail dlaver-dure@prg.southam.ca TOWN HALL MEETING Sat, Feb 23, 2002 2 - 4pm Prince George Civic Centre We’re changing the focus of our meeting to an information gathering session to prepare for the changes in the community as a result of the budget presented 19th February 2002. Information will be prepared and presented to the MLAs and City Council. The sponsoring organizations are: Prince George & District Labour Council cosco (Council of Seniors Citizens’ Organizations of BC) We've got a 4* business secret T.O.M.A® Coming to Prince George March 26 Watch the Citizen for Details Firm proposes landfill site Wants to put contaminated soil north of Fort St. John FORT ST. JOHN (CP) — An application is in the works for a 'landfill site for contaminated soil in the Buick Creek area near Fort St. John, said to be the first of its kind in the province. Canadian Crude Separators Inc. plans to operate the landfill on the site of the current Silverberry Environmental Treatment Facility, a 73.6-hectare property recently purchased from Rudiger Enterprises, about 48 kilometres north of Fort St, John. The company held a public meeting for area residents Wednesday evening to explain their proposed landfill and get feedback. “Customers have been after us for a while to move into the province,” said Dan Stienke, the company’s northern marketing representative. The current operation at Silverberry deals only with soil with contaminants that can be naturally biodegraded, said Stienke. The landfill is tentatively scheduled to be operational by October of this year, but first has to pass through review processes for both the provincial environmental assessment office and the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection. Oil and gas companies are starting to clean up their act in the oilpatch, and as they do the contaminated soil can be buried in the proposed landfill, said John Addy, the company’s environmental and regulatory representative. There has been no apparent public outcry. Karen Goodings of the Peace River regional district, was at Wednesday’s meeting to gauge public opinion, but said so far she hadn’t heard any complaints. She said the site is sufficiently far away from any residential sites and the facility is expected to be on land of little agricultural potential. Stienke noted his company currently operates four such facilities in Alberta, with another in the proposal stage. They also operate two sites in Saskatchewan. “'PiimiL'0* HAVE YOU BEEN AFFECTED BY THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT’S PLANNED CHANGES! City of Prince George Provincial Impact Task Force invites written input from anyone or group who considers themselves to be affected by the proposed changes in employment and service delivery levels. Written submissions should be sent to: City of Prince George 1100 Patricia Boulevard PRINCE GEORGE, BC V2L 3V9 Attention: Jane Petrella Email: jpetrella@city.pg.bc.ca All input must be received by 4:30 pm, March 1st, 2002. j Court hears more references to Clark VANCOUVER (CP) — A would-be casino operator says he has “gone mad” after former premier Glen Clark gave him bad news about a casino application, B.C. Supreme Court heard in secretly taped phone calls Thursday. In a phone conversation recorded by police on the evening of Feb. 25,1999, a nervous-sounding Dimitrios Pilarinos is heard talking to a relative inquiring about Clark’s involvement. “What happened with Clark?” asks the relative, who cannot be named. “Nothing. It is over,” says Pilarinos, who undercover officers had seen visiting Clark earlier that day. “What did he tell you?” asks the relative. “What can I say ... whatever I say it will make your hair stand on end," Pilarinos says, swearing. When the relative seems to finger Clark for Pilarinos’s woes, Pilarinos appears to deflect blame away from the former premier. “It is not him, it is not,” he says in the conversation conducted in Greek. From there, Pilarinos talks in veiled terms about a cast of characters who have jeopardized his prospects for a lucrative casino. Sounding angry, Pilarinos doesn’t mention any names initially, saying “two Greeks” are the cause of his problems and have “blackmailed” people into disapproving the casino application. Pilarinos then mentions the name Dimitris Vrahnos, an RCMP informant whose allegations against Pilarinos led to charges against him and Clark. Clark is accused of breach of trust and accepting a benefit. Pilarinos, a neighbour and former friend of Clark, faces nine counts, including offering a benefit and fraud. The Crown alleges Pilarinos did about $10,000 worth of renovations on Clark’s Vancouver home and Okanagan cottage in exchange for political influence in the awarding of a provisional casino licence. The previous evening, police had also taped a phone conversation between Clark and Pilarinos, in which Clark delivers the bad news about Pilarinos’s bid for a casino licence and the two agree to meet in the morning. JP Eu Hana Carbert, CMA CERTIFIED MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTANTS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Shaping the Future The White Spruce Chapter of the Certified Accountants CMAs presents: “Making the Numbers More Meaningful" This is a 1/2 day seminar that will provide insight into the big picture perspective of Financial Reporting in today's challenging economy. This presentation of Making the Numbers More Meaningful will demonstrate how to present & communicate results and financial information in a way that is relevant to the user. The seminar is presented by Hana Carbert, CMA. Hana is an experienced speaker that is well known in Business and Academic circles as an expert on management and accounting topics. Hana Carbert is a consultant to business and also acts as a presenter of the CMA FastTrack Program as well as the CMA Strategic Leadership Program for the Certified Management Accountants of B.C. Date: Friday, March 1, 2002 Time: 12:30 to 4:30 Location: The Prince George Civic Centre, (Rooms 201/202/203) Price: $ 40.00 ATTENDANCE AT THIS SEMINAR QUALIFIES FOR FOUR (4) PD HOURS We request that all planning to attend respond on or before Wed Feb. 27th, 2002. Please respond via E-mail to: KarpesCGAQtelus.net to the attention of Anita Bodlsch. Or phone: 564-2014 (days) We are restricted to a maximum of 60 seats so early registration is suggested. Payment should be made to: The White Spruce Chapter of the CMA's C/o Terlesky Brathwaite Janzen 230-444 Victoria St, Prince George V2L 2J7 Attn: Anita Bodisch 407663 OPEN MESSAGE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA FROM THE COALITION AGAINST NO-FAULT THRESHOLDS = NO-FAULT DEDUCTIBLES = NO-FAULT DON'T LET ICBC HAVE ITS WAY A message from some of the groups concerned with this issue: 100 Mile House & District Women's Centre, A.C.E. Access in the Community and Equality, Advocacy Outreach Society, Ankors, Battered Women’s Support Services, BC Amputee Sports Assoc., BC Association for Community Living, BC Blind Sports & Recreation Association, BC Coalition of People with Disabilities, BC Persons with AIDS Society, BC Real Estate Association, Branching Out (Dawson Creek), Cerebral Palsy Association of BC, Cranbrook Society for Community Living, Dawson Creek Access Society, Disability Caucus ot Denman Island Women's Outreach , Duncan Lupus Support Group, End Legislated Poverty, Fulton & Company, Handy Circle Promotions Society, Houston Community Service Association, Independent Disability Association, Kamloops Brain hjury Association, Mothers Against Drinking Drivers (Cdn. Soc.), Nanaimo Brain Injury Society, New Westminster Council ot Women, North Island AIDS Coalition Society, North Okanagan Youth & Family Services Society, North Alto*. Shore Disability Resource Centre, North Shore Family Support Group, Old Age Pensioners' Organization of BC, Pioneer Lodge, Positive Living North West, RBO Architecture Inc., L " * ^ Reflexology Association ot BC, Regional Disabled Persons Association, Rid Roads of m t o o /NBC ^ Impaired Drivers, Trial Lawyers Association of BC, Vernon and District Women’s Centre £5 Society, Victoria Status of Women Action Group, Western Regional Advocacy Group Society R141-757 W. Hastings St., Suite 631, Vancouver, BC V6C 1A1 Fax 604-662-8041 ICBC WANTS TO ELIMINATE 87% OF THE PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS OF INNOCENT VICTIMS • They want to do this through a threshold/deductible system. • Under this type of system, if someone runs a red light and hits you, who do you think is going to pay for your injuries? You are!