Legis Parliament Victoria, veV 1X4 Lora Bldgs.. Be. Ce ber of Commerce... A2 “Le: exhibit A. photography ex- hibit entitled Miners opens today at the West Kootenay National Exhibition Centre... A6é Investors take case to court Former members of the now de- funet Teachers Investment Housing cooperative will appear in B.C. Su- preme Court tomorrow in another attempt to get money and answers out of the provincial government. Alma McGauley, a retired Castle- gar teacher and head of the TIHC Liti- gation Committee, said the ad hoc group will seek a chambers’ application from a B.C. Supreme Court judge Monday in an attempt to sue the pro- vineial government for negligence. That move comes aftet Finance Minister Mel Couvelier Wednesday re- jected the litigation committee's re- quest for approval to sue James Henry Thomas, the former Superintendent of Credit Unions end ives, 2 well as the provincial government. McGauley claims that Thomas was negligent because he allowed the co-op's board of directors to enter into real deals when it had no authority to do so. But Section 175.1 of the Credit Union Act states in part: “No action or proceeding shall without leave of the minister be brought or taken against the superintendent or his deputy.” ‘We requested leave of Finance Minister Couvelier on Aug. 18 and yesterday (Thursday) we received a reply stating that the leave was denied. No reason was given,” said McGauley “We are quite angry about that. We have a minister of the Crown who is acting as judge and jury in his own case. If the government has nothing to hide, why are they denying us leave?” asked McGauley. “It's unfair that one minister can deny our request. We're justifiably angry,” she said. But McGauley added that the liti- gation committee will not give up its efforts to seek money and answers from the provincial government. “We will be going on Monday to seek a chamber's application before a judge to contest this. Any fair-minded person could not deny us a hearing.We do feel entitled to an answer. We still want to know what happened to our money,” said McGauley. About 45,000 investors lost a total of $70 million in retirement savings and investments. She added that originally the Tea- chers Investment Housing Cooperative was to provide mortgage and retire- ment money for its members. “The co-op exceeded its mandate and got into buying speculative real estate and should never have been allowed. It's negligence on part of the provincial government, and the former superintendent of cooperatives was negligent,” said McGauley. She added that she and her mem. bers are angry and disappointed, esp ecially because it took more than two months to receive an answer from Couvelier on the question of leave. “It's (leave rejection) an obstacle but we don’t think this will totally stop us,” said McGauley. The co-op went into “voluntary re ceivership” in November 1985. Mc- Gauley said that with interest, the losses have now reached about $100 million, and added that investors have only managed to recoup about 51 per cent of the lost money. An internal report ordered by the provincial government into the collapse of the TIHC was released Aug. 15 by Al continued on poge A2 Sunday Cas 60 Cents Vol. 40, No. 87 ROUND THE HORN . . . Highways Mini: struct retaining wall on Highway 6 at I > ry crews con- Cape Horn bet- trailers. ween Slocan City and Silverton. Highway traffic is WKPL rules out any rate hikes By BONNE MORGAN Staff Writer West Kootenay Power and Light put to rest Wednesday fears that a change in the company’s ownership would bring about rate increases. At the first board meeting in Trail since the official sale of the company to Missouri-based UtiliCorp United Inc., directors decided to hold customer rates at the 1986 level for another year. Richard Green, president of the UtiliCorp United, said the company won't seek a rate increase for 1988 because of the success of it's cost-con- trol measures. “Every aspect of the company has been scrutinized,” Jack Fisher, spokes- man for WKPL, said. He added general waste in many areas has been reduced. The $80 million Cdn sale of the power company was fiercly fought by area residents and provincial NDP opposition who speculated UtiliCorp raise rates to help finance other activities and export electricity. In other business at Wednesday's meeting, the board approved manage- ment’s recommendation to apply for approval to install a gas turbine generation facility in the Okanagan Valley 's really quite new for us. We don't. know,” (when or how long approval will take), said Fisher. The $83 million project will provide additional back-up and peaking generation capability and will postpone the need for a new $20 million South Okanagan substation for eight to 10 years. A specific site for the turbines has not yet been selected. WKPL president Joe Drennan said the utility has applied to the B.C. Utilities jon for an energy certificate for the project and West Kootenay Power staff is currently re- viewing possible sites and equipment alternatives. UtiliCorp reaffirmed its eommit- tment made during the hearings that local directors would hold a majority on the board and increased its member- ship from seven to nine. The board now has five independent local residents, continued on poge AS LOTTERY NUMBERS. The winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto 6-49 draw were 9, 16, 17, 24, 38 and 41. The bonus number was 10. The $500,000 winning number in Friday's Provincial lottery draw is 3041796. winning numbe: k draw Friday we 49 and 52. for the Lotto West- 3, 13, 21, 27, 43, 46, CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY ,,NOVEMBER 1, 1987 ai ~ — = te restricted to cars and single-unit trucks without CosNews Photo by Burt Compbell Donkey basketball CasNews sports col- umnist Surj Rattan gives his view of this week's basketball 3 Sections (A, B &C) Gate night explosion in Slocan By CasNews Staff Police and firefighters in Castle- gar, Nelson and Slocan responded to a number of fires Friday night in what is believed to have been pre-Halloween revelry. No injuries and no serious property damage were reported. A raging fire on Gate Night in Slocan was quickly brought under control by the village's volunteer fire department. The fire was reported about 11 p.m. Friday and was under control by 1 m. Saturday. A nearby resident said flames from the fire shot 20 metres into has taken place near the municipality's old car/truck graveyard. He said be and firemen saw several cans shoot high in the air as they exploded in the heat of the blaze. Meanwhile, Gate Night fires in Nelson resulted in about $3,500 dam- continued on peye A} Castlegar to seek ~ national parks office By RON NORMAN Editor Castlegar council agreed this week to approach Parks Canada about establishing a headquarters in Castle- gar. “Castlegar would be an excellent location for a Parks Canada office,” Mayor Audrey Moore said. Moore, who proposed the idea, suggested council write Environment Minister Tom McMillan and Kootenay West MP Bob Brisco with the request. Meanwhile, Ald. Nick Oglow pro- posed council ask CP Rail to establish a reloading facility in Castlegar. Oglow said the facility could create 50 jobs. He noted that the railw: will need the facility to load material and goods onto trucks bound for the Grand Forks area should its request to abandon the Castlegar-Midway line be approved. It’s a likely event the rail line will be abandoned.” Oglow addéd. However, council decided to shelve Oglow’s reloading proposal until after it has met with the Canadian ‘Transport Commission to voice op- position to CP Rail’s abandonment re- quest. Ald. Len Embree said he hasn't any problems trying to obtain a re- loading facility for Castlegar, but sug- gested, “It's very premature.” Embree said it wouldn't look right for the city to oppose CP Rail's abandonment of the Midway line on the one hand, while on the other re- ‘questing CP Rail to set up a reloading facility. He said it would appear the city sees the abandonment as a “foregone conclusion.” ‘Ald. Albert Calderbank agreed. “They'll think we're beaten before we start,” he said. Ald. Terry Rogers proposed post- poning the request and Oglow agreed.