#3 April 29, 1999

BOUNDARY ARTISANS MARKET COOPERATIVE
spreads it’s wings

by Mona Mattei
Since August 1998 a small, dedicated group has been designing a cooperative venture to promote Boundary artists,crafters, woodworkers, and tourism operators.
The Boundary Artisans Market developed as a business idea from several group and public meetings. From the input at these meetings and further research completed by the group of entrepreneurs it was found that two main needs could be met through a cooperative venture: 1) to showcase locally produced items in an attractive retail space and 2) to work with local businesses and organizations to promote and enhance tourism opportunities in the Boundary Country. Cooperatives have flourished in B.C. since the 1880’s. In the past few years, a record number of B.C. businesses have incorporated as cooperatives. They are found in all sectors of the economy, from forestry to fisheries, child care to financial services, transportation to entertainment – virtually any business enterprise can operate successfully as a cooperative. The Boundary Artisans Market chose a cooperative model of business because working together means less individual risk; democratic participation of all members – ‘one member, one vote’ – regardless of the investment held by each member; dynamic joint marketing opportunities; and community development through increased jobs, and economic support.
The Boundary Artisans Market’s mission statement is: to cooperatively develop ideas and resources for a more prosperous, economically stable community by providing an outlet for the sale of local products and the promotion of Boundary tourism. As a part of the vision for the cooperative, employment for the community, including a commitment to employ individuals who live with a disability, is a key part of the goals.
Throughout the process Community Futures Development Corporation, Boundary Area, has supported the group in its discussions and development. Since their starting point last year, the group has gathered momentum with a growing membership and is poised to choose a location to set up business. Discussions are taking place regarding potential sites in both Grand Forks and Christina Lake. This month, the Boundary Specialty Wood Association began discussions with the Boundary Artisans Market around a collaborative venture to create the attractive location visioned for the business. As a joint marketing opportunity the Boundary Specialty Wood Association is building a cabin structure which will be a display unit for their products. Will Wallick, chair of the Boundary Specialty Wood Association, saw the benefits of the Boundary Artisans Market operating from this display unit. “It seemed to be a good fit for both groups to showcase their products,” says Will, “so we invited the Boundary Artisans Market to a meeting to explore the possibilities.” At this time both groups are excited about the combination of talents. The Boundary Specialty Wood Association will provide materials and their time to erect the building. The Boundary Artisans Market is responsible for securing a highly visible location with highway access and for staffing the operation. The Boundary Artisans Market will be able to retail locally produced items in this attractive location.
“At this time we need expanded community support to make this project a success for everyone involved,” states Mona Mattei, facilitator for the cooperative group, “we would like to be open for the summer season and the Boundary Specialty Wood Association is ready to start the building.”
The Boundary Artisans Market and Boundary Specialty Wood Association would like to invite other entrepreneurs to assist in the development of the Co-op in exchange for the promotion of their business through the group. Artists, crafters, woodworkers are invited to become members and to submit information on their products for potential sale at the location. Location ideas and products/services to assist with the completion of the building are needed.
Everyone in the community/business community are welcome to become cooperative members and share the success of the business. “Co-ops are excellent ways to bring the community together to benefit everyone”, comments Mattei, “the support of local businesses, home-based businesses and the creation of a larger tourism base will expand economic development for our entire region.”
For more info. or to join us contact:
Ken Thomson @ 442-5015 for Boundary Artisans Market
Kerri Medley @ 442-8266 for Boundary Specialty Wood Association

From the Editor

“Shop Local” I’m sure you’ve heard it all before till it’s coming out of your ears. Well you’ll hear it again from me (unless you skip this part). As far as I’m concerned, there is a value that goes beyond the numbers on the bottom of the sales receipt, that can’t be stressed enough. It goes beyond the fact that most every store that I can remember shopping at locally made every effort to accommodate me with a kind of service that people give you when they get to know you.
It goes beyond the fact that I save gas as well as time when I make a local drive, or even walk to purchase my goods locally.
When you “Shop Locally” you do more than just supporting the businesses who hire your kids this summer and pay through their advertising and taxes and donations and support when the empty hands come, and providing moneys and time donated for the BMX track in City Park and the Grand Forks Fall event and countless other things that wouldn’t happen or even be dreamed of.
What I think it all comes down to is having to look at why you moved here in the first place. You didn’t choose Castlegar, Kelowna or Vancouver. By shopping locally you become part of the community and ensure that Grand Forks does not become a ghost town as others have in the history of the Kettle River Valley. It’s a “catch-22” situation and it’s up to us whether or not our community survives.

TEEN SOLUTIONS
The OpenMinder asks all teenagers of the Boundary area to answer this question: What are the problems you are facing as a teen in the Boundary and what do you think would be the way to solve these problems?
Using 500 words give or take , drop your suggestions off at Pharmasave or Value Drug Mart in Grand Forks or mail them to SOLUTIONS c/o S320 C17 RR#1, Grand Forks, B.C. V0H 1H0. Deadline for submissions is May 20th, 99.
Answers will be judged on the clarity of describing these problems and the clarity and feasability of the solutions. the PRIZE LIST is growing!
Andy’s TV Centre Ltd. – Mini Stereo Cassette Player
Pharmasave – AM/FM Bicycle Radio/Headlight/Horn
Grand Forks District United Way Society – Gift Certificates – $21 for Radio Shack, $10 for Grand Forks Dollars & Sense, $10 “Movie-Rental Bucks” for Video Express and a $14 “Mini Manicure” by Lyssa at Mola Co. Hair Studio.
Mayor Brian Taylor – Lunch with a winner and a friend.
the OpenMinder – $20.
Listen to BKRadio Community Cruiser for prize list updates.

City Park Flood

“City Park Lake”, May 1997
Water’s rising!! Lets hope it doesn’t get this high again this year. Notice the “diving dome” in the middle of the “lake”

Letters
Disappointed Teenager:
I thought that the Grand Forks Girls Softball Organization said it was open to all girls? Instead they tell me I can’t play because there are too many girls already that have joined and they already have 12 girls to a team. In the Grand Forks community I had thought that these groups were put together to keep young teens off the street and to have fun with other teens their age, but I guess I was wrong. My mom was told I would be put on a waiting list. Another
reason was that each team was only supposed to have 9 players, but instead they have 12 on a team. Well, again the organization stated it as if it were a bad thing. I think it is a great thing that there are all these young girls staying off the streets and wanting to play, but yet again, there are just as many girls playing to girls not playing. I was discussing these factors with several people trying to find ways for us other girls to play. The main idea that had come up was “make more teams”. It is harder said than done. The bad point is, there would have to be more
volunteers, but if there are girls out there badly wanting to play I’m sure they could find one person in this community willing to give their time up to go out and coach girls Softball. Another bad point is there aren’t enough Baseball diamonds. The Baseball players already lost one at Perley School, but has anyone thought of using the Baseball diamonds at City Park? After a desperate search to find a league and team to play with I would like to give a very special thanks to Dougie Bannert and the Winnipeg slowpitch team for letting me join their team so I can play the game I love the most!
Monica Rohatynchuk

Nominate a Giraffe

Giraffe project logo


by Carl Dortch

“Does reading the news get you down? Well, there’s more to the news than sometimes meets the eye. There’s news of people who don’t stick their heads in the sand and hope all these problems go away – people who stick their necks out to do something that makes things better. A non-profit group called the Giraffe Project spreads the word about these people. They call them ‘Giraffes’. The OpenMinder is happy to bring you one such story, because there’s more
to the news than what’s going wrong. When Craig Kielburger read about the murder of a Pakistani child who had spoken out against child abuse in his country’s carpet weaving industry, Toronto’s Craig Kielburger, 14, didn’t intend to start a movement. He just knew something had to be done. With that clear sense of purpose, Craig formed “Free the Children“, a not-for-profit youth society dedicated to the elimination of child labour and the exploitation of children worldwide.
“What this is all about is political will”, explains Craig. “If our own country and other countries made it clear that child labor is both illegal and unacceptable, then this problem wouldn’t exist.” Craig set out to create that political will.
The then 12 year old embarked on a seven week fact-finding trip through five Asian countries, gathering major media coverage along the way. Soon after, Craig presented his findings to the U.S. Congressional Policy Committee and met with Vice-president Al Gore and with representatives of the Canadian Government as well as the International Labor Organization at the United Nations in New York. He went to Geneva, Switzerland for a World Council of Churches meeting where he urged the churches to take on this international problem. Within two years, Free the Children had raised enough money to underwrite its outspoken leadership role and its two main projects: an education and rehabilitation centre that takes in Pakistani youngsters who have escaped backbreaking 14-hour workdays and an informal school for the young children, keeping them out of the consumptive child labour system. Last year, Germany adopted a tag called, “Rugmark”, for carpets that were not made through the exploitation of children. A coalition of major U.S. sporting good manufacturers has pledged not to buy soccer balls stitched by Pakistani children.
Says Craig, “I’d like to make a difference here, and I see that what’s needed to solve this problem is for everyone to get involved and relay the message that we want this to change.”
As branches of Free the Children pop up all over Canada and the United States, Craig inspires his peers to claim a lead role in stopping this centuries-old horror. “We’re capable of doing more than watching TV, playing video games, or hanging around malls. Young people have the power to make a positive contribution to this world. I won’t give up until the exploitation of all children has ended and all children have their rights.”
Craig Kielburger is a “Giraffe“. “Giraffes” come in all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life, from the age 8 to 108. For information on how to nominate someone in OUR COMMUNITY for Giraffe Honours, visit http://www.giraffe.org or call
Carl Dortch at 442-2491. Director, Lolita’s Legion
url:http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/canopy/8126
email: lkitto@wkpowerlink.com

Riddle Me This!
1. What do you throw out when you want to use it, but take in when you don’t want to use it?
2. How much dirt is in a hole 4 ft. deep and 2 ft. wide?
3. What won’t break if you throw it off the tallest building but will break if you place it in the ocean?
4. A man and his son are in a terrible car accident. Unfortunately, the father dies. An ambulance rushes the boy to the hospital. At the hospital the doctor comes in to perform emergency surgery on the boy and says “I can’t operate on this boy, he’s my son”. Who is the doctor?
5. The one who makes it, sells it. The one who buys it, never uses it. The one who uses it never knows he’s using it. What is it?
6. What is better than the best, and worse than the worst?
Answers at bottom of page

Food For Thought
Robert Henri – “The Art Spirit”
When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for a better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible.

Leonid Ponomarev – “In Quest of the Quantum”
“It has long been known that science is only one of the methods of studying the world around us. Another – complementary – method is realized in art. The joint existence of art and science is in itself a good illustration of the complementarity principle. You can devote yourself completely to science or live exclusively in your art. Both points of view are equally valid, but, taken separately, are incomplete. The backbone of science is logic and experiment. The basis of art is intuition and insight. But the art of ballet requires mathematical accuracy and, as Pushkin wrote, inspiration in geometry is just as necessary as in poetry. They complement rather than contradict each other. True
science is akin to art, in the same way as real art always includes elements of science. They reflect different, complementary aspects of human experience and give us a complete idea of the world only when taken together.
Unfortunately, we do not know the uncertainty relation for the conjugate pair of concepts science and art. Hence we cannot assess the degree of damage we undergo from a one-sided perception of life”.

Answers to Riddle Me This!
1.) An anchor 2.) There is no dirt in a hole 3.) A tissuepaper 4.) The doctor is the boy’s mother 5.) A coffin 6.)
Nothing

5W’s Contest
Guess When
Rock Creek was the earliest settled town in the southern interior of British
Columbia. When was it established?
If you are an elementary school student in the Boundary Area you could win $5 by telling us when Rock Creek was established. Don’t forget to include your name, grade, school, and phone number. Drop off your entry at Value Drug Mart, Market St. or at Pharmasave, Central Ave. in Grand Forks. The first correct answer to our puzzle drawn from our hat will win the $5 prize.

Last issue winner
Caralyn Goode in grade 3 at Dr. D. A. Perley School wins the $5 for correctly guessing
“John A Manly” as the first mayor of Grand Forks