ATTENTIVE AUDIENCE . . . L.V. Rogers school in Nelson was the site fora weekend environmental conference, Get High on Nature; put on by the Nelson school district. Opening night Thursday saw good attendance for a speech by Senator Herbert Sparrow and a slide show on the Amazon rain forest. Nelson hosts conference By PATRICK FOWLER Special to the Castlegar News Nelson district's mental Get Nature, got underway Thursday with a slide presentation on the Amazon rain school environ conference, High on forest and an opening address by Senator Herbert’ Sparrow who warned about the Canada Sparrow, a farmer from Ngrth Bat tleford, degradation of soils in Sask., and chairman of the Senate committee on and warned that Canada could destroy its standing agriculture, fisheries forestry soil in 30 to 40 years unless measures are taken to conserve the resource I have never spoken to what I would consider a more important body of people because it is you who are in terested in the problems and in the future that will do something about this very problem and get the message across to other pegple,”* Sparrow told which included seven Stanley the audience students from Humphries secondary school in Castleg The slide show, presented by Jeff Gibbs, a University of B.C, student in international relations, year-old focused on the difficulties encountered Brazil who say the government is exploiting by natives in Brazilian them and their land The Brazilian government wants to harvest large tracts of rain forest and the aboriginal people say they have not been consulted and that their habi being destroyed, said Gibbs, who is founder of the youth group, Natural Herit at is conservation pe Foundation He explained some of the steps being taken to try to stop the cutting of the trees in the rain forest **L enjoyed the slide show the most because of the courage the natives showed while they were fighting for their land,” said SHSS student Heidi Smee. Fellow student. Amy Polonicoff agreed “The slide show was my favorite (part of the evening), gave me a she said. ‘It new perspective of the problems the native people of Brazil are faced with. People need to get more involved in the environmental issues.” The continued and Saturday with more guest speakers and a series of workshops on environ conference Friday mental issues. Bridge continued trom front page bridge proposal before the end. of the month. *They didn’t say no,"’ he said Moore said it will take three years to build a bridge across the Columbia River from the proposal stage to com pletion and indicated the government must act soon if a bridge is to be finished to with the $630 million pulp mill expansion In my view, that commitment’s got to come very, very soon,”" “| really think it’s got to be done the same time (as the mill expansion) if coincide the mayor you and | are going to be able to move up and déwn Columbia Avenue A stud by the city’s Transportation Working Group made public earlier this month estimates the number of truck movements in of the city along Columbia Arrow Lakes Drive will increase to 115,889 a and out Avenue and year in 1992 when the expansion of the mill is expected to be completed from the 1988 level of 41 Tepee continued from front page 300 a year — an have led forcing the to a permanent injunction general contractor, Bill Berg, to halt construction on the road as well as a court decision forcing Berg the trespassing on band property Evans said he still plans to seek an to pay band damages for injunction against Berg but no court date onthe matter has been set Fry said despite the band’s disillusionment with the court system the native people want to stay in the area and protect the burial site even though the road is nearing completion Rocky Vanlerberg. the Ministry of Highways road, said Friday the road should be completed in the next week or two project manager for the although the bridge, which along with the road will link the communities of Vallican and Passmore, will take longer Deck concrete the bridge the week of Nov may be poured for 6 to 10, he said, if the weather remains favorable Carl's Fields Overwaitea Safeway Shoppers SuperValu Zellers Not oll flyers receive tull distribution A these e phone our Circulation Department at 365-7266 almost threefold increase Moore that many truck movements in 1992 will be ‘‘almost unbearable’’ unless the -trucks ~are diverted from travelling through the city what form of will take place untila In the meantime. ‘remedial work bridge is built remains to be And the fate of the idle Robson ferry remains adrift if itis seen “Whether the ferry runs in the in Moore siaius of the ferry “That may be part of the interim solution. It's being worked on Moore terim, | don’t know,"” said, when asked if the was discussed at the meeting Joining and Maddocks on the Castlegar delegation were Lorne Parnell, director of Celgar’s expansion project, representing Stone Container Gorp., which earlie took over co-ownership of the pulp mill bought control of Con solidated Bathurst from Power Corp.; Mr. Yao, chairman of the joint management committee, representing the China_International Trust Invest Corp. (CITIC), Pulp Co.; this year when it co-owners of Celgar Fred Parker, Celgar’s manager; Cam Barlow, area manager of Westar Fim- ber Ltd.’s Southern Wood Products operation in and Kevin Lagan, engineering public works for the City of Castlegar ment supply Castlegar; director of and Slocan man sentenced By CasNews Staff A Slocan man pleaded guilty Oct. $ to cultivation of marijuana and was fined $3,500 or, in default, sentenced following the than 1,500 Kootenays to six months ig, jail recent seizure of more marijuana plants in the during a sweep of the area by police, a Nelson RCMP subdivision spokesman said Rolf Essars, 40, pleaded guilty in Nelson provincial court to cultivation RCMP said Four other area residents are charged of 85 marijuana plants and will appear in Nelson provincial court in connection with the seizures. Kenneth Greger, 37, and Elizabeth Sheets, 43, both of Winlaw, have been charged with possession of 16 cultivation and marijuana They will appear in court Oct. 30 plants Yves Lemelin, 27 will Oct possession of seven marijuana plants. , also of Winlaw, appear 23 on charges of The plants were seized from 10 areas around the region in late September by the Nelson RCMP subdivision’s drug section, assisted by the Kelowna R¢ MP air section and members of various Kootenay RCMP said at the time detatchments, the Former resident guilty By CasNews Staff A former Crescent Valley man wa found guilty Oct. 12 in Kamloops county court of eight counts of in decent assault and four counts of sexual assault Sam Alex Konkin, 59, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 23 for the offen ces involving three females. The often ces took place between January 1977 1984. One took place in Crescent Valley and the and June of the offences rest occurred at or near Kamloops, in Scotch Creek and Monte Creek, both cast of Kamloops, and in Vancouver, Kathe LeReverend who prosecuted the case forthe Crown County Judge Kenneth Houghton dismissed a 13th against Konkin who pleaded not guilty said a spokesman for court charge to the charges Sept. 5, the spokesman said A person familiar with the case who asked not to be identified said Konkin snow living on the Lower Mainland Hearing slated By CasNews Staff A preliminary-hearing will be held Dec. 12 in Nakusp provincial court in the case of five adults, all related, who are charged under the Narcotic Con trol Act, a Nakusp spokesman said William, Elizabet, Valerie Robert Hockman and Debo are charged with posse court registry and ah Loring on of a nar cotic, possession for, the purposes of trafficking and cultivation” of marijuana, the spokesman said The five were charged after Nakusp RCMP, assisted by the Nelson RC MP's Drug 742 marijuana plants in Edgewood July 21 street $236,000 at maturity, according to police The seizures came after RCMP, ar med with search warrants, investigated Section, seized with a value of two residences, police said The RCMP found three hydroponic growing rooms two fields of the plants College board wants tower open ByC Si tec! program ar Selkirk, one of Selkirk College's board, of gover nors voted unanimously last week to send a letter to the federal Ministry of Transport asking that full service be maintained at the Castlegar airport, board chairman Elizabeth Fleet said The request comes in the wake of Transport Canada’s recommendation that thé control tower at the airport be shut down because the number of flights in and out of Castlegar don’t justify, the operation of the tower as well as a flight service station. Fleet said the board supports the concerns of the college's aviation technology department staff who s the tower is essential to the pirate | just six colleges across Canada offering such a program, But, she added, the board members, as residents of five communities in the West Kootenay, were also voicing the concerns of the entire regiorabout the possible reduction of services at the Castlegar airport if the tower is closed. Transport-Canada officials. say no decision on the recommendation to close the tower has been made or is being considered The college board ‘meeting, held Tuesday night in Greenwood, coin cided with a meeting in Castlegar bet West Kootenay politicians, business leaders and representatives of ween AGAINST NURSES the aviation industry on Castlegar air- port issues. The group emerged from the meeting with a consensus that Transport Canada should not close the tower in part because of the unique setting of the airport ina narrow valley surrounded by mountains. The group concluded that closing the tower would also lead to a decrease the Castlegar airport In other college board news, the board congratulated Selkirk College president Leo Perra on his election as president of the 19-member Council of Presidents of B.C. Colleges and In stitutes, Fleet said Violence increases VANCOUVER (CP) — Hospital administrators are concerned about the increase in violence against B.C nurses and will try to find out the cause, John Braddock, B.C. Health Association spokesman, said incidents of which is “There are always violence against worrying for us and is of concern to us,"’ said Braddock Workers’ this is nurses, “If the Board says BCHA will be negotiating WCBand discussing their findings.’ The nurses on the job is escalating at an Compensation increasing, the with the incidence of violence against alarming rate which outstrips the rate of violence experienced by Vancouver police, Jerry Miller, spokesman for the B.C. Nurses’ Union, said Friday “AL legst on the last year’s figures, our concern is that the number of nur ses’ claims are not stabilizing and are said Miller the police claims increasing dramatically,” By comparison, n to have stabilized. Statistics based on board violence against nurses increased 36.1 per cent between 1987 and 1988, while the in violence police increased 3.2 per cent Braddock ‘aid the Hospital continued from front page compensation wage-loss claims show that increase against the association, ton bid $6.7 million and set completion at 52 weeks while Marbella Pacific Construction trd- of Detta submitted a bid of $5.5 million with completion also set for 52 weeks Nu-Tech Construction Lid. of Castlegar entered a bid for $6.1 million but Dalla-Lana said the bid would be rejected because the company — which won the contract to build the new aquatic centre in Castlegar — did not submit a bid bond, a document that guarantees the com legal pany will do the work as set out in the bid A note with the bid explained the bond included because the project was ‘over budget" — meaning the company knew its bid was over the budget set for the project, Dalla-Lana was not said Talarico said Friday he didn’t know if the project, slated to begin in early November and take about 12 months to complete, will be delayed by the review of the bids The expansion will include a new 35- bed intermediate-care and 25-bed ex tended-care facility, as well as a new dietary department to serve the new beds and the existing hospital The provincial government will be tesponsibte for-60-per-cent-of the $3:7 million funding ap proved by the RDCK, Talarico said, that the entire project, including expenses such as ar planning, is set at $4.9 construction adding cost of the chitectural million Lottery numbers which represents 160 hospitals and continuing care facilities in the provin ce, was unaware that the rate of violen ce was an issue until it was informed of the statistics. “We don’t know if itts-increases from the mental patient cases, or whether it is because of staf fing issues, so those kinds of factors we will obviously be Idoking into,”’ he said ‘People expect hospitals to be safe streets, or places and they're not, at least not for people who work there," said Miller The board showed that 76 wage-loss claims were due to violence in 1984 That number climbed to 108 by 1987 and nearly doubled to 147 claims by 1988. The violent acts range from kicks, punches and bites to more serious in juries such as beatings or rape, accor ding to Katheryn Wellington, the union's health and safety officer Priest charged with sex offence NELSON (CP) A Catholic priest from Toronto has been with sexually Roman charged assaulting a young girl The priest, from the Scarborough Foreign Mission Society, will appear in provincial court here Nov. 14 to set a date for a preliminary hearing Judge Ron publication of the priest’s name when the man appeared before him Monday Usually, such.a ban is placed on the name of an accused if it would tend to identify the victim case, the Fabbro banned However, in this victim's name is different from the accused The priest, who was released on an undertaking to appear in court, was ordered not to be in the presence of any female under 19 years old except in the company of an adult of the child’s choosing The charge involves a July 1985 in. cident in the Nelson avea involving a girlunder 14 In the last year, a dentist with a high community Catholic monsignor were convicted on a num ber of sexual assault charges involving profile and a young people. ao —< -* eee See al SCANNING THE BIDS . . . architect Fred Dalla-tana looks over one of the tenders Thursday for the contract to build an extension to the Castlegar and Dist + Hospital. All the bids came in over budget. In memory The following are the winning num bers drawn in Thursday’s lottery B.C. KENO — 2, 10, 12, 17, 21, 28, 37 and 48 The following are the winning num bers drawn in Wednesday's lotteries LOTTO 6/49 — 1, 24, 28, 40, 46and 49. The bonus number jack pot of $8,000,000 was won by one ticket purchased in Quebec The four extra winning were 33, 68, 74 and 94 B.C. KENO — 04, 17, 19, 20, S3.and 56 was 39. The numbers 27,50, These numbers, provided by The Canadian Press, must be considered Lind May of General Hospital at age 37 She was born Oct. 12 Linda Gayle 1952 and then Robson. She enjoyed her f She iy survived by her fiance and Gordon Penny of Calahoo, nieces and nephews ! day, Oct, 23 Bristow will officiate Funeral arrangements are Funeral Chapel Gayle May obson passed away Oct. 21 in . at Nanaimo and moved to Nelson at an carly age where she received her schooling. She | Belle Esawoloff of Raspberry Village; sister Alta neral service will be held at the Castlegar Funeral Chapel on Mon 23, at} p.m. with burial at Park Memorial Cemetery. Rev, bed under the Kelowna ater Moved Lo Castlegar riends, gardening and animals Joe Gorkott of Robson; her mother, and broiher-in-law Heather 3 and severalaunts uncles, cousins direction of the Castlegar % in the efficiency of flight scheduling at Wy October 22, 1989 Castlégar News 43 Briefly Railway workers walk off job- VANCOUVER (CP) Workers at Southern Railway of British Columbia walked off the job early Friday, a move that could affect B.C car dealerships expecting rail shipments of their 1990 models Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Office and Technical Employees’ Union. are pressing for ‘their first collective agreement with ITEL, Rail Corp. of ) Francisco, Which purchased the former B.C. Hydro rail division last year Southern Railway handles about 65 per cent of the new cars coming into British Columbia at its Annagis Island facilities in suburban Delta, Of the company’s unionized employees, 153 J 30 belong to the office workers’ union re (ranisit union mem: bers Group claims antibody found TOKYO (AFP) they have developed an antibody capable of killing cells infected with acquired immune deficiency syndrome The antibody leaves normal cells intact, said the group comprising experts from Yamaguchi University in western Japan and the Tokyo metropolitan government A group of Japanese researchers said Saturday Details of the development are to be reported to a meeting of the Japan Cancer Association scheduled for next week in Nagoya, central Japan Border to be less restrictive MOSCOW (AP) — The KGB plans to cut the restricted Soviet border zones it guards to one-10th of their current size and take down the wire in many areas, top officials of the agency told a Soviet legislative Committee barbed Border-crossing procedures will also be simplified, Tass said in a report on a session of the new committee that oversees the KGB and the Defence Ministry Vladimir Kryuchkov, head of the KGB, told the panel there was no reason to maintain such a large border zone, the news agency said. It did not specify the total area of the zone that the 200,000 border guards protect now, or how it will be reduced in the future British actor-director dies LONDON (AP) — Sir Anthony Quayle, the actor-director who built Stratford-upon-Avon into a centre of British theatre, died Friday at his home Quayle, 76, had been suffering from cancer, said his agent, Laurence Evans. A versatile classical actor who created a memorable Falstaff at Strat ford in 1951, Quayle had been in the theatre nearly 40 years before tasting boxjoffice success with his role in Sleuth in London and New York in 1970. Earthquakes hit China BEIJING (AP) — A flurry of earthquakes that hit northern China this week destroyed 27,500 homes and left more than 50,000 homeless, Radio Beijing said The broadcast also said there have been 1,500 aftershocks, four bet ween 5.0 and 6.0 on the Richter scale, since the initial tremors devastated farming villages late Wednesd: There were no new reports of casualties in the official news media, which have carried little coverage of the quakes. Official reports Friday said 29 people were killed and more than 150 injured y and early Thursday Storms sweep over Britain LONDON (REUTER) — Winds of up to 160 kilometres an hour and torrential_rainstorms. raged across western England and South Wales Saturday, uprooting hundreds of trees, flooding roads, ripping off roofs and blacking out villag The London Weather Centre said the gales, which struck the coastal counties of Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, were sweeping north through the country. There were no reports of injuries In Devon alone, 200 trees were uprooted, some blocking major roads, and electricity supplies were cut when winds brought down cables Some channel ferry services were cancelled and a helicopter was called out to rescue the crew of a lifeboat stalled of fthe south-eastern English coast Battery car to be shown TOKYO (AFP) — The Dream Mini, a battery-powered car seating two persons developed by Chubu E} be exhibited at the Tokyo Motor show this week, the company said Satur day tric Power Co. Inclin Nagoya, will The car features a battery that can easily be charged from wall outlets. Company officials said the running cost of the Dream Mini was estimated at about 40 per cent of operating gasoline-powered mini cars with engine capacities of less than 550 ce’s It can go 70 kilometres on each charge, with atop speed of 70 km-h. It weighs 785 kilograms, is 1.43 metres high and 2.4 metres long The company plans to market the Dream Mini in a few years after conducting further tests, officials said Excited dog shoots master MAYVILLE, Wis. (AP) Tetricving- a pheasant that it danced into.a shotgun trigger and the blast in. jured the dog's master Christian Dobberpuhl, 7 A hunting dog was so excited after . who had to have shotgun pellets removed from his foot, doesn't bear his pet any ill-will The dog is a good dog,”’ Dobberpuht said Dobberpuhl and a friend, Frank Coch, bagged two birds during the expedition on Wednesday. After returning with the second bird, the dog triggered a 12-gauge shotgun lying on the ground, Dobberpuhl said “It’sa funny thing, you know: ‘Dog attacks man.” But itwas a freak accident,”’ Dobberpuhl said. Baby survives three-story fall WASHINGTON (AP) thrown out of a third-floor window by her mother Friday when she landed A three-week-old girl survived being in mud left by days of steady rain, authorities said She has a skull fracture, she appears to have a femur fracture and we're concerned about intra-abdominal injuries,"" Dr. Bruce Klein said *Ithink she isa very, very lucky baby Salonda Ray originally was listed in critical condition in hospital but her condition was later upgraded to serious. The child's mother, Mary Ray, 22, was led out of the apartment complex smiling and talking to herself as neighbors jeered. As she was placed ina police squad car, she turned toward television cameras and said My, I feel good Superior Court Satur day on charges of assault with intent to kill, officials said. * She was to be arraigned in D.C Krenz reported invited to Moscow EAST BERLIN (CP) Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev telephoned Egon Krenz Saturday and invited.the new East German leader to Moscow, the official ADN news agen- cy reported Fhe-news-agency said Krenz, who succeeded Erich Honecker on Wed nesday as the ruling Communist par- ty’s leader and head of state, would visit Moscow soon It said Gorbachev again congratulated Krenz on his becoming the new East German leader and that Krenz told his Soviet counterpart that the ‘‘solid and unbreakable fraternal ties between the two parties and the two states were fundamental for the development of socialism in East Ger many.”” ADN quoted Gorbachev as saying that top priority must be strengthening solidating peace Meanwhile, given to socialism and con tens of thousands of East Germans, many clutching can dies, marched in silence th Dresden ugh the message to Krenz to keep his word on promised reforms. The demonstration on Friday was the first big Krenz replaced veteran hardline leader Erich Honecker on Wednesday in order to streets of in a protest since defuse East Germany's deepest crisis since a failed workers 1953 Inthe latest sign of a softer approach under Krenz, East Germany announ ced that the 60,000 East Germans branded traitors for fleeing to the West via Czechoslovakia East uprising in and other bloc countries since the summer are welcome to return The East Germans travelling to the West from Prague have committed the crime of **fleeing the republic” in har dline Communist Foreign Ministry spokesman Wolfgang Meyer said they are welcome back “We and woman,"” Meyer said in a televised in “We will help afl those who want to return, provided no important eyes, but need every man every terview reasons stand in the way, to find their feet again in their homeland Meyer also urged East thinking of joining the Germans exodus to reconsider in the light of a planned new law officials would travel-starved East Germans passports have said give and make visiting the West easier Krenz, out to shed) the hardline reputation he established under Honecker, has pledged to open up the news media, promised easier travel and talked to the Protestant Church, which is playing a key role in the growing op position movement Krenz said the biggest obstacle to travel is West Germany’s refusal to recognize East German citizenship. Other economic East German leaders say problems also pose con siderable obstacles, because East Ger convertible mans need travel inthe West currency to East German marks are not conver tible to currencies tested on inter national markets and therefore no real value in the West Dorothee Wilms, who heads West Germany's Ministry for Inter-German Relations, Bonn that West German authorities will not change its have said in position on the East German citizen ship issue and charged that East Ger many already receives millions of dollars’ worth of hard currency from West Germany “If East really want to allow their citizens free travel German officials to the West, then they should use some of this mone: Wilms said in an inter with West ZDE television network view Germany's In line with the promised new ap: proach, East German authorities an nounced Friday an end to the ban on the radical Soviet magazine Sputnik, imposedtast_November_on_grounds. that it was anti-Communist Krenz is also promising a shake-up of the problem-laden centrally-plan ned economy, which has failed to produce the consumer goods many of the disillusioned citizens who went West say they wanted the chance to en joy Protestant Bishop Werner said after he met with Krenz on Thur that the Leich sday former security chief, June for its a_pro-reform drive, went to Leipzig on Oct. 9 to en who praised China in military crackdown of sure police did not attack marchers there ON TO BIGGER THINGS B.C., was seen off by family and friends like Darla L Castlegar's Judi Closkey, who recently became Miss Interior ing (left) Saturday as she headed for Toronto and the Miss Canada pageant which will be televised Oct. 30. Weather worsens, rescues continue SAN FRANCISCO (CP) winds and colder Rain, temperatures were drive homeless expected to into shelters, slow. rescue efforts and possibly even touch off further lan dslides thquake-shaken Northern California. **Right. now, we're gearing up for a influx of Matt McLaughlin, a relief co-ordinator in Santa Cruz County south of San Fran. 10,000 displaced some have been sleeping outside At the fallen stretch of double-deck Interstate 880 in Oakland, the massive this weekend across ear large people,” said cisco, where an estimated residents have been and dig to recover bodies was suspended Friday night after workers felt the roadway shake Work to shore up I-880 was to con through the tinue night nature inflicts further hardship on the unless area On Friday, the state officials raised the estimate of damage from Tuesday's killer quake to $5 $ billion US, and coroners reported 54 bodies had more than a dozen victims from under been recovered as workers dug tonnes of Oakland So far, 33 covered inthe treeway rubbie There freeway concrete in bodies have been un have been no killed or quake, the Canadian Consulate in San reports of Canadians injured in the Francisco said Friday BUSINESS SURGE Building supply stores rushed to fill orders for glass, plywood, cement, flashlights, power generators — and tarpaulins to shield from the rain Rain also raised the threat of ad ditional _landslides_in_ the mountains north of Santa Cruz, where 60 homes destroyed in Boulder Creek, atown of 6,800. but all my already have been I's a dangerous area here) My you go down with the ship said Todd Viele, . who degided to stay More than 1,500 aftershoc stuff is dogs are here. 1 figures Where do you go? ks have hit the area since Tuesday On Friday, an aftershock centred about 11 kilometres southwest of Los Gatos caused additional landslides in the area south of San Francisco BUSH TOURS CITY U.S. President George Bush went to San Francisco on Friday and toured ravaged areas to offer.sympathy and aid 1 am deeply moved by this, sad dened in some ways, yet very stimulated by this team effort,”’ Bush said Relief aid continued to stream into the area Friday. But the most urgent requirement was for money to help relocate homeless families from shelters to temporary living quarters such ay hotels, a Red Cross official said About housed in 30 shelters in the region af Red 5,000 people have been fected by Tuesday's quake, the Cross said Members of the San Francisco Gian ts, participants in baseball's suspended World Series, shelter Friday visited a downtown to hand out souvenir balls, caps and T-shirts to families left homeless by the quake Estimatés for reopening the main lifeline San Oakland, the Bay Bridge, slipped to at least a month. between Francisco ana Engineers hoped to use a floating crane to lift the fallen 200-tonne, 15 metre-long highway span onto a barge this weekend and begin repairs, the transportation department said At Stanford University Alto, 24 definitely closed in near buildings were In San Francisco’s Marina district, an upscale neighborhood lifestyles crumbled along with stucco where condominitims and posh apartments, artwork, furniture and knickknacks into car’, ons and even laundry bags Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said 000 of its still without electricity and 74,000 had no residents stuffed clothes, toy wa customers were gas for cooking and heating. San Francisco residents were warned by city Arlo Smith to beware of people trying to take advan- tage of them because of the quake “*We have reports of scams ranging anywhere from price gouging on bot- Uled water tp fake inspectors telling people to get out of their houses and then robbing the places,” he said prosecutor Quake | would be SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) If victims of the San Francisco area earthquake decide to sue the state of California for injuries, losses or relatives’ deaths caused by the collapse of state-built struc tures, they face a long and complex process. State law gives the state design defect immunity, That means the state cannot be sued because of a basic defect in the design of a public-works project; such as a highway “That will be an issue in any lawsuits filed relating to the collap: sections of Interstate 880 freeway or the Bay Bridge, said Alan Ashby, spokesman for the state attorney general Victims who believe the state was ses of toblame for their losses can’t go in to court as quickly as if they were suing a private person or business “Before you can sue the state, you have to file a claim,” said Curt Sonderland of the state Board of Nobody has yet filed a claim with the state relating to the earthquake The Board of Control staff looks at the claim, from Control solicits a department and response the state allegedly at fault makes a awsuits complex recommendation to the board. The board has members, the director of the General Services Department, the controller and a governor’s appointee. The board then decides whether to pay the The payment must be approved by the legislature. However, Sonderland said the board routinely rejects a claim, such as one that might larise from the bridge or 1-880 collapse, if it is ‘ta complex issue of fact and-or three claim. state law.”" “*This-enables the individual to sue the state and go directly to court," he said He said it normally takes the board 45 to 60 days to process a claim He said the board was never in tended to determine complex legal liability questions and its members are not judges Civil lawsuit settlements or judgments would also have to be approved by the legislature, which h and lawsuit judgments in the past. The plaintiff has little recourse if the has rejected both claims legislature rejects the said Ashby payment, 1982 report warned of soil becoming liquid SACRAMENTO — (AP) Geologists warned a Canitorntr gover nor’s panel in 1982 that soil beneath the section of Oakland freeway that earthquake, killing dozens, would probably turn to collapsed in Tuesday's liquid in a big quake Inaddition, two structural engineers said Friday the elevated portion of In terstate 880 probably would not have fallen had its columns been reinforced with steel and concrete The 1982 report by tbe state Depar tment of Mines and Geology said, in part: ‘The downtown Oakland is expected to be elevated section through extensively damaged. Liquefaction nd related ground failures will occur’ in a quake with a magnitude of 8.3 on the Richter scale of ground motion Chief Jim Drago said transportation spokesman I don'Ugnow if our people ever saw that particular report One thing I can tell you is we're assem bling all soil studies and everything else that might help us understand what happened." Tuesday’? earthquake registered 6.9 and killed scores of people, injured as almost 3,000 and caused more than $4 dition US in-damagenitiatestimates indicated. State transportation officials have long been aware of soil poor con. ditions in the area, but there may have been “unusual subsurface conditions that we didn’t know about freeway was built 32 ye when the rs ago, said transportation director Robert Best Late Friday, Best said the wreck of I 880 was “‘a derelict hulk" that would be pulled down from end toend There's no question of repairing John Kariotis, one of the engineers “Of course, the soils had a lot to do with the offering criticism Friday, said collapse. Go back and look at pictures of Oakland in 1916. “It wasall marsh that was filled in.”* Kariotis Calif. expert in effects, and in San Fran a South Pasadena earthquake engineer Loring Wyllie cisco, said if -880"s columns had been additional crete, the elevated section probably girded in steel and con. would not have collapsed.