THE WORLD TODAY In the space of one month HCMP Commissioner George U McClellan has been given two salary Increases totalling 7000 On November I he step stepped � ped up to the Commissioners Job to succeed retiring commis commissioner � sioner C W Harvlson With that move went a boost In salary to 20000 a year from 10000 Today It became known that the cabinet has raised the commis commissioners � sioners salary to 23000 ef effective � fective Dec 1 Opposition Leader Dlefen baker and his wife leave Ottawa today for a two week holiday and speaking trip to the west coast A spokesman in his office said they will spend next week on a boat fishing and cruising among West Coast Islands The Cuban government has transmitted three pictures from Havana showing part of Thurs Thursdays � days celebrations to mark the fifth anniversary of Fidel Castros rise to power The pictures showrocketsdlsplaycd In the parade through Revolution Plaza a formation of planes described as MIG lCs and Castro addressing an outdoor crowd Police in Montreal today are Investigating three major crimes a 30000 Jewelry theft an armed robbery of a doctors home and a break in at the Quebec Liquor Boards headquarters A cleaning woman found the door of a wholesale Jewelry firm open and a number of safes smashed when she reported for work last night Police were told the theft Included watches rings tran transistor � sistor radios and other goods A pre dawn fire In Great Falls Mont killed four chil children � dren today and left five other persons Injured The dead all Indians were 47-year-old Ed Edward � ward Falcon his two sons 20-year-old Robert and 10-year-old Rickey and anlno-year-old daughter Dernlce Police said the fire may have been caused by a cigarette following a party which was held in the two storey wooden apartment house The British cabinet was given a first hand report today on the situation in the island of Cyprus with the return of Brit British � ish commonwealth minister Duncan Sandys The cabinet was told of the efforts of the min minister � ister in getting the leaders of the Greek and Turkish groups on Cyprus to agree to a confer conference � ence scheduled for later this month in London In which a more permanent solution might be found to thetroubles Follow Following � ing the meeting of the cabinet and authoritative source said that Britain would send a full and formal report to the United Nations security council in the next few days A British magazine the Economist says Canadas Lib Liberal � eral government ended its first parliamentary session a good deal stronger than when it adjourned for the summer re recess � cess The magazine quotes an unnamed Montreal correspon correspondent � dent and devotes considerable space to the problem of French Canada which it says Prime Minister Pearson understands better than most of his cabinet The premier of Cambodia Prince NorodlmKantol resign resigned � ed today but his resignation was not accepted Immediately by the chief of state Prince Norodom Sihanouk Prince Kantol quit because of the defection to South Viet Nam of a wealth banker Sings ak Kltchpanlch Three cabinet ministers were let out last week because of the de defection � fection In the meantime the French armed forces minister Pierre Messmer left Paris for Cambodia to hold talks with government leaders The chief spokesman for the Greek line which owned the cruise ship Lakonla says that all the life saving equipment on the vessel was in perfect order John Goulandrls told a news conference in London that the lifeboats had been lowered again and again in tests which had been made His statement came in answer to a report that some of the lifeboats could not be released Of the 1032 persons aboard the vacation vessel 123 are dead or missing The burned out hulk of the liner sank while being towed to Glb r alter The hopes of searchers have been raised as they comb the Pacific ocean for he crew of a VS Air Force cargo plane downed Thusday Nine men were aboard the missing C 124 air aircraft � craft They are believed adrift somehwere In a massive expanse of water hundreds of miles from the nearest island Distress signals from a port portable � able radio transmitter were picked up late Thursday nar narrowing � rowing tho search to an area roughly 750 miles west of Hawaii Vol 8 No 2 1 4 liii fHPNlB mtm BENNETT In Hawaii ri h e e itlzen Tho only daily newspaper serving Central British Columbia PRINCE GEORGE BRITISH COLUMBIA FRIDAY JANUARY 3 1964 ftion LOgan 4 2441 po outsioe tj HQH2H LOW 20 - HIGH 35 7c a cy We have a poverty of resources WELFARE NEGLECT EXPOSED EDITORIAL A ery for action Here we have Premier W A C Hennett smiling Premier Bennett is always smiling He smiles as he brushes aside corruption in his lands and forests department when a minister of the Crown goes to jail He smiles when his highways department is under investigation He smiles when doctors and hospital administrators call for help He smiles as he tells the people of this province that there is no debt when the province is more deeply in debt than it has ever been during its entire history Mr Bennett smiles and smiles Why is he always smiling He is smiling at the gullibility of tho people who re return � turn him to office blinded by pavement and grandoise promises Now today he will be smiling again He will bo smiling as he is reminded of women and children appeal ing to his government for help which it is certain they will not get or if they do get it they will not get it soon enough No doubt Mr Bennett will find this very funny and go on smiling and smiling The babies teenagers adults who need help are those who come within the jurisdiction of the welfare department Tho hopeless inadequacy of that depart department � ment to deal with the explosive problem is detailed in a brave letter published in The Citizen today and address addressed � ed to the premier The writer Mrs Bridget A Moran of South Fort George knows her subject and can document her cases Because of the welfare department tangle she says each year tho service gets just a little bit worse Wo have a poverty of resources that is pitiful Mrs Moran says If our staff all across the province were doubled we would still be in trouble We have no psychiatrists no specially trained foster parents no receiving or detention homes we ignore serious neglect cases Inadequate she asks and answers flatly Yes Dangerous she asks and answers again Yes Mrs Moran is no prophet wandering in an un unfamiliar � familiar wilderness Her problem is Bhared by every social worker in the province This is well substantiated It is borne out by resignations in the welfare depart department � ment accompanied by bitter protest against govern government � ment inaction Most dramatic of these was that of Ruby McKay supervisor of child welfare for the province who quit in desperation when she could not get the help she need needed � ed to meet the distress of the children under her super supervision � vision Mrs Morans own qualifications are supported by her superior V H Dallamore regional superintendent of social welfare who attests that she is a sincere and capable social worker Is this enough Mr Bennett to wipe the smile off your face Is this documentation and proof enough to eliminate that perpetual grin We doubt it Well Mr Bennett you can go on smiling Smile at a drunk 13-year-old girl walking near naked in the snow and desperately in need of psychiatric help Spend four hundred million more on your egomaniacal power pro projects � jects but leave this girl and hundreds thousands of others aching for human help Smile Mr Bennett How can you when this situa situation � tion is crying for an investigation when the welfare de department � partment needs to be streamlined redesigned and made more efficient when exhausted social workers plead with you to help them care for their back breaking load of human problems Stop smiling Mr Premier and do something Now hear this Who says kids arent moved by the spirit of giving at Christ Christmas � mas Three youngsters who proved that the young ones can enjoy giving as well as receiving are Kathy Kaplan of Prince George Manor and friends Patty and Fern Anderson 1369 John Johnson � son who collected 10 by sing singing � ing carols at Christmas and who have turned their proceeds over to the Aurora School for handicapped children and to the Salvation Army Resting up while practically on the job Is assistant hospital administrator O J McDonald who was taken ill after Christ Christmas � mas and is recuperating in hospital Absent minded city profes professional � sional man walked into a local cleaners and told the clerk he had misplaced his laundry slip but wanted to pick up some shirts hed left there The obliging clerk tolled through mountains of shirts without any success in her search for the clothing Sorry she said I cant find them Then the light dawned The customer re remembered � membered hed left them at another laundry Exit red faced Twenty six Prince Georgians this weekend are packing their tropical shirts and teachware for a tour to Hawaii At last report the temperature Is 84 above and its been that way most of the winter While the tour is officially only one week many will be staying on the pacific Island for two weeks or more Ever wonder whatbecomesof cheques dated possibly Jan 2 1963 when they should be dated Jan 2 1964 Wllf Pattenden manager of the Royal Bank of Canada says we generally use a good deal of discretion at this time of year Meaning of course that if you did goof and wrote 1963 on a cheque yester yesterday � day or today it will more than likely go through h TtwWP JV Mrs Bridget Moran WeZ experencec V II Dallamore reglon- al superintendent of the wol ijij faro department said today Mrs Bridget Moran Is a long time and experienced wel jfaro worker I would feel that she gihas done this with tho sln ijijeere interests ofhorcllen- tolo tho community and tho departmental program In I- mind ho said J Mr Dallamoro is in chargo of thowelfarodepart- ment in tho entire Northern HIXON ACCIDENT Interior Tho Prince George offlco Is one of several dis districts � tricts under hlssuporvlslon Thore are four full time workors and two part time workers In tho welfare der partments officos In tho court house building In a sub office located In j tho Emplro Dulldlng sot j up mainly to handle welfare claims from unemployed j there aro three welfare j workers and an assistant i supervisor j Coast welfare workers say charges are true VANCOUVER CP Social workers here say they agreo wholeheartedly with a Prince George woman who claims DC Woman fined for obscenity Using obscene language toward a police officer brought a Prince George woman a 0O fine in magistrates court Thursday Mrs Dernadlne llerron 24 pleaded guilty to causing a public disturbance by cursing a police officer when he entered Dance Land dance hall on the Hart Highway Dec 27 Police said the accused woman had shouted an obscene epithet at an officer when we was making a regular check of the premises social workers aro overworked and their clients underservlced They blame an indifferent provincial government and say that although the number of persons to be helped has In Increased � creased there has been no staff lnciease In years The social workers with tho lightest case load In terms of numbers 80 to 90 a month are the one with the most difficult cases Multl - problom family cases of a more serious nature The aver ago case load for Individual social workers In this province is from 200 to 2S0 cases a month Thia dilutes tlte amount of assistance that you can give said a lower mainland official We spend most of our time coping with application for help not In actually helping ap applicants � plicants Facilities lacking for destitute children A Prince George socinl worker has sent Premier Hennett a blistering four page letter condemning a shortogo of welfare workers and facilities Mrs Bridget A Moran said her desk is stacked with files of both adults and children who desperately need care Howevsr they will not get what they deserve because she does not have sufficient time to give them adequate attention She charged Social workers every day have to deal with seriously disturbed children but we hove no psychiatrists no specinlly tralned foster parents no receiving or deten detention � tion homes to aid us Wo place children in homes that have never been proporly Investigated wo Ig Ignore � nore serious neglect cases be because � cause wo havo no available homos Social workers aro over overloaded � loaded with cases As a part tlmo worker she must copo with more than 200 cases Anothor workor in nor offlco handlos almost 300 Even if tho present staff of welfare workers was doubled wo would still bo In troublo Wo havo a poverty of ro- Hero Is a case which Mrs Drldget Moran related to Premier Dennett In her letter One of my clients a young widow with six children ap appealed � pealed to mo to holp her with her oldest child a 13-yoar-old daughter Tho appeal naturally was mado In the office sinco her file was one of those marked visit urgent that sits day after day In a growing stack It seems that this girl last spring developed a pattern of chronic running away Tho mother HVlng at that tlmo some hundred and fifty miles from a social worker handled the problem In obvious ways Her only help came from rel relatives � atives and a kind hearted young HCMP constable Finally In desperation the mother with her six children moved to Prince Ceorgo Tho pattern of running away con continued � tinued The girl camo to my office and I made some effort to get through to her mean meanwhile � while consulting with her school principal who had been a very real help Defore I had a chance to see her the second time this child again ran away and was absent this time for four days On her return mother and daughter came to my office The girl requested foster home care At this point I had only a nebulous knowledge of the girl sho was uncommuni uncommunicative � cative sullen Inarticulate All my experience in the de department � partment told me that this child should have been assessed by a competent team and the right setting found for her so that her problems could be worked out No home In fact however a competent team Is available to us only 1 12 days every two months Moreover far from a proper setting for her In all of Prince George I had only two alterna alternatives � tives to return her to her mother the mother feared this or one single vacancy In one FROM PG One killed four hurt A Prince George youth was killed and four others were in injured � jured after their car plunged into a ditch five miles south of Hlxon early today Dead is Kenneth Van Kough nett 17 nephew of the driver of the car Wayne Van Kough nett Injured in the accident were Marlene Linda Peters 15 of 1709 Queensway with head lacerations and later released from hospital Colleen Joan Peters 16 of 1709 Queens way a head Injury and In seri serious � ous condition Sharon Cavan augh 20 of 1709 Queensway bruises and a shoulder injury condition satisfactory Wayne Van Koughnett 31 of Merrlt Subdivision a fractured left arm and In good condition The dead youth son of Mr and Mrs George Van Kough Koughnett � nett of Merrlt Road was a grade If student at Prince George Senior Secondary school lie came here with his parents five years ago from Tisdale Sask The accident occured when the party was returning to Prince George after leaving Mervln Van Koughnett the driv drivers � ers brother at a sawmill 60 miles south of Quesnel The car at the time was travelling on a straight stretch of roaj which was free of ice police said total wreck The car was a DURNS LAKE Correspon Correspondent � dent Two children were Injured on Thursday night when the sleigh on which they were riding hit a truck on Highway ie pam Smith slx-year-old daughter of Mr and Mrs Archie Smith of Durns Lake and her eight-year-old cousin Leslie Koster of Prince George both suffered head injuries The children were sleigh rid riding � ing alone at 7il5 pm Leslie is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Dob Coster of Prince George sources that is pitiful Tho group for whom I am begging help will continue to cost money more and rnoro money So It becomes does It not a question not of whether wo will spend rnonoy but of how that monoy will bo spent Mrs Moran who graduated from tho University of Toronto with gold medal honors In phil philosophy � osophy and English has been a social welfare worker In DC since 1901 Slio startod at Hancy and later was transferred to Salmon Arm Home couldnt be found for 13-year-old girl foster homo that already had two teenage fostor girls I repeat I could not sit down quietly pick tho best foster homo homo for her in our wholo Prlnco Goorgo area we had ono vacancy for one teenager So I put her thoro Drank ink Within four days as I was preparing to eat tho evening moal with my family I re received � ceived a frantic call from tho foster parents this same young girl had swallowed a bottle of Ink I took her up to tho emer emergency � gency ward of our hospital an Ink - stained hysterical child The doctor who saw Iter assured me that no harm was done but ho wondered It she did not need psychiatric help He discharged her to me and I I had no alternative but to return her to her mother with the warning to hide asplrlni bleach etc The next day Idlscussedwlth her mother the possibility of laying a charge of Incorrigi Incorrigibility � bility and requesting her admis admission � sion to our reform school for girls Wlillngdon Wandering To both of us this seemed a drastic step in order to get the girl psychiatric help We decided In tho end to let the mother to try once more I returned to the office and spas spasmodically � modically and between other cases I started a report on the girl for Child Welfare Division Four nights later this child was found at 2 am clad only In panties and brassiere wand wandering � ering In a residential area so drunk that she did not know where she was The mercury stood at 10 degrees above zero and the snow was reasonably deep She was lodged In police cells The next day Friday 1 phoned Child Welfare Division In Vic Victoria � toria In this whole province I asked short of Wlillngdon School is there no pUce where this child could be assessed and supervised The answer was no apart from a two week assessment In Crease Clinic If perchance a bed were available and after the two weeks what Juvenile Court that day was a sad affair The magistrate pressed me for an alternative to Wlillngdon School I assured him over and over that there was none No foster home that we knew of could cope with this girl and her problems other Institutions clinics none I This Is terrible said the magistrate 1 disagreed I said It Is worse It is sick sick alckl and Vornon before moving horo In May 1954 Sho was super supervisor � visor of tho welfare offlco here In 1950 and 1957 when sho resigned to start raising a family Mrs Moran has been working part tlmo at the offices since 10C0 She told Premier Dennett currently holidaying In Hawaii of tho case of a 13-year-old girl ono of six children of a widow who lived IGOmllosfrom Prlnco George and who had a chronic pattern of running away Mrs Moran said thoro was only ono foster homo vacancy in Prlnco George and tho girl was put thore Four days lator tho girl was In hospital aftor swallowing a bottlo of ink Four nights later she was found in her underwear wander wandering � ing through Prlnco Goorgo drunk with tho temperature at 10 above Mrs Moran said she found thoro was no place outside of Wlillngdon Koform School In Durnaby noar Vancouver whuro tho girl could receive holp Somo of tho files labelled Visit Urgent havo been sit sitting � ting on her desk three or four months sho said Each of them represents a problom perhaps a serious fi financial � nancial difficulty porhaps what may bo called a social problem A few represent problems that a psychiatrist rather than a social worker should assess Many of tho files covor mothers widows or deserted wives who struggle to raise largo families without tho holp of a husbandorfathorIdaresay this stack of files marked Visit Urgent could Involve as many as 150 people Mrs Moran said as each Now Year approaches sho hope hopefully � fully thinks that things will improve next year and that somehow in somo way I will bo able to give better service to my clients However each year the serv service � ice she Is able toglvedeterlor ates because of an accelerating case load I find myself cutting a sorry figure indeed a sort of frantic Peter rushing madly from hole to hole In the dike The holes seem to grow in number but the extra fingers just arent there Mrs Moran told the premier that If her dossier was an Isolat Isolated � ed case she probably would not bo writing him However every day social workers throughout DC are called on to deal with seriously disturbed children We have no psychiatrists no specially - trained foster par parents � ents no receiving or detention homes to aid us We place children In homes that have never been properly f Investigated We Ignore serious neglect cases because we have no available homes Inadequate Yes Danger Dangerous � ous Yes The welfare department needs extra staff to find and Investigate foster homes Workers are needed to reunite parents with their children Above all we need badly and urgently mental health facili facilities � ties at both the child and adult level There Is no point in thinking that the needy children and adults will simply go away she said Instead the welfare re requirements � quirements will compound as each year goes by The group for whom I am begging help will continue o cost money more and more money Mrs Moran said It was not entirely a question of a lack of funds Just how money Is being spent