Editorial

Febuary 07, 2000

To Smoke or Not to Smoke...|s
there a Question?

By Nicole Larson

Well here goes nothing. |
don’t like smokers. As indi-
viduals | am sure they are
nice people, | even know a
few on a personal. level and
as long as they are not smok-
ing when they talk to me then
all is well. [ts the militant
smokers rights smokers that |
have a hard time dealing with.
| for one do not think that
smokers have the right to
smoke anywhere they want
to. | am of course talking
about the new WCB regula-
tion that came down on
January 1, 2000. | am not
going to get into how smoking
is a dirty addiction (not habit
mind you, addiction). | am

YOU SNOOZE-YOU LOSE,
NO SYMPATHY FOR APA-
THY

Dear Students...

My name is Art Jory and
| am a second year student
here at UNBC. | am in atten-
dance at the NUGSS meet-
ings regularly and have sadly
noticed the lack of atten-
dance of students there. Why
is this? A number of reasons
come to mind that may be the
cause. Perhaps _ students
don’t know where they are or
what time they are held at,
and in that case, that is easi-
ly solved. They are held in the
Senate Chambers in the
Admin, Building on every sec-
ond Friday at 4:30PM. The
specific dates are posted in
the NUGSS office.

One of the other reasons
may be the bad publicity that
NUGSS seems ito constantly
receive. When one only hears
the horror stories of the
behaviors at the board meet-
ings, then why bother to
come? I’m here to say that
this is all the more reason to
show up and watch the mem-
bers you elected in action

going to talk about the health
risks of smoking and of sec-
ond hand smoke. Now |
could spout study results and
statistics until | am blue in the
face, but | don’t think that’s
necessary, by now | am
almost positive everybody
knows that smoking causes
lung disease and a whole
range of cancers as well as
various other sundry health
problems. People smoke
anyway, children (I know
teens don’t like to be called
children, but they are) smoke
anyway. | can’t stop them. |
can look at them sternly, | can
cough politely and | can rant
to my fellow non-smokers but
there is no way | can stop

and let them know if they are
out of line or not. A big part of
the poor publicity our student
council has received is due to
biased reporting of facts or
telling only half the story. I'll
bring your attention to an arti-
cle in January 24th, Over the
Edge’ entitled “NUGSS
Meetings More Entertaining
than the Sex Shows in the
Basement.” | was at that
meeting and was very angry
at the display of juvenile
behavior that created a farce
on what is supposed to be
adults in a professional envi-
ronment. I’ve seen day cares
that exhibited more maturity
than what was evident in the
room at that time. BUT, that
was an hour of that meeting-
what about the other three
and a half hours- does
Leanne Jones and Sarah
LeBlanc make any mention of
that time period and the
actions there? If only half the
story is being reported, | have
to ask myself what their
agenda is. It was amazing to
watch the board at work ham-
mering out the motion in
regards to the CUPE strike

every smoker in the world
from lighting a death stick
and inhaling the fumes. The
problem | have is being sub-
ject to that smoke when |
haven't lit my own death stick.
| worked in a restaurant that
had a smoking section and |
had to quit because | always
had a cough. My-father has
severe asthma brought about
by being raised by two chain
smokers.

Before the smoking ban
went into effect | never ven-
tured into-a bar in Prince
George. | had no desire to be
greeted by a cloud of smoke
and | really didn’t want my
clothing, skin and hair to
smell like tobacco afterwards.

Letters

that took place in the latter
three and a half hours of that
meeting. Leanne, as well as
myself as students were a
part of that process that took
place. Leanne and Sarah
overlook the good that came
out of that exhausting work
for everyone involved, in their
biased reporting. It isn’t all
negative that happens at
those meetings. I’ve on sever-
al occasions have walked out
of that meeting proud to have
been a part of the process
that went on in there, and
there have also been those
times that | have been
ashamed of what went on. I’m
sure other board members
will agree with me.

Another factor that con-
tributes to the negative pub-
licity is when a NUGSS Board
Member at Large is constant-
ly running around the univer-
sity making allegations of
conspiracy on the part of the
board and claiming to repre-
sent the student voice and yet
acting in an infantile paranoid
manner at the board meet-
ings and agitating just to agi-
tate, | question whether that

| didn’t worry about my short
term or long term health how-
ever, because | wasn’t being
subject to the looming clouds
every night. But the staff at
these establishments are. |
am positive the staff at bars,
restaurants and pubs got
more than their fair share of
death stick fumes, before the
smoking ban went into place
and | know some of them are
still enduring it because their
employers are not working
within the new regulation.
Now | suppose this is a
question of smokers rights. |
give them the right. to inhale
their foul vapours all they like,
but don’t force me or any
other non-smoker to do so.

person’s motives aren’t pure-
ly self serving. If this person
is a representative of the stu-
dents with his ear to the
ground listening for the mes-
sages of the student, why
was he so notably absent at
the National Day of Action?
This rally is one of the most
important causes right now
when it comes to tuition cost.
There is a student issue-
chase it instead of consistent-
ly trying to find the enemy

within. Lack of personal self- -

esteem is no excuse to tear
others down in a group envi-
ronment. Pull as a team, tell
the truth to the students, fight
causes unitedly, and be there
more for the students welfare
than the members own or
move over and let someone
else do the job that is capable
of carrying that out. As stu-
dents in a research environ-
ment, one would think that
our natural instinct would be
to research and check out
these wild allegations that are
being made. One of the big
problems is that when this
person cries “WOLF” a large
number of students jump. on

Go outside, not near the door
mind you, right outside, into
the middle of the parking lot,
or down the street, heck go
out into the forest and smoke
to your heart’s content (mind
you don’t start a forest fire). If
you want to inhale and ingest
that garbage be my guest,
just don’t whine to me about
not being able to do it around
people. My answer, be a
smoking hermit. Only smoke
when there is no one else
around, be akin to the rhetor-
ical question: if some one
smokes in the forest and
there is no one around, will
anybody else get lung can-
cer? | think not.

the band-wagon feeling that
NUGSS is the enemy. I’ve
watched this person continu-
ally disrupt, harass, and
alienate his fellow board
members and any other stu-
dents that stand up and voice
their disapproval. If the same
amount of energy was spent
pursuing positive causes as
is spent on negative agitating,
this member would be a real
asset to the students. The
NUGSS Board of Directors
will be the first to admit that
they have made mistakes, as
I've found from interviewing
them, but they want input
from the student body so that
a large part of the guess work
is taken out of their decisions.
As a person that has been
very active on numerous
boards, | can empathize with
them on how hard it is to do a
job where they are constantly
receiving criticism from par-
ties that are going off half
cocked based on partial
truths. The words, “Job well
done” is a very rare occur-
rence when one accepts a
position on the board. Can

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