re THE FAR SIDE By GARY LARSON Sor a as The action suddenly stopped while both sides waited patiently for the hornet to calm down. Castlegar opens talks for ‘awful’ streelights i Jim Chapman remains opposed to new lights Scott David Harrison EDITOR : Jim Chapman wants to know why the city’s in such a rush. The.Castlegar councillor is wondering why the city is en- tering negotiations with West Kootenay Power to purchase $96,000 worth of street lights che says are “awful.” “You’re rushing this for me,” Chapman told council Tuesday. “I can’t possibly sup- port these lights.” Chapman said any conver- sion from mercury-powered street lights to high-pressure sodium fixtures would be a waste of time and money. He claims the manufactur- ers “are pedaling” lights that breakdown, cast shadows and provide less light than the old ones. “The reports I’ve been get- ting from back east are getting worse every time,” he said. “People who are pedaling ~~” Not ’ Tie The Knot? ‘Karen Talyor & Rob Ganderton finally decided they're getting married. these lights say that they are breaking down quickly.” Despite his opposition, Chapman voted in favor of ne- gotiations with WKP, saying he still has. time to furnish council with a report that would convince the city to dump the plan. That report’ must appear before council on June 2. Some councillors ques- tioned Chapman’s reluctance and report, though. Coun. Lawrence Chernoff endorsed the lights, saying “the facts speak for them- selves.” Coun. Marilyn Mathieson criticized Chapman, saying the city has to move gheed with its conversion projéct. “We have been milking this one for two months, it is time that we decided something,” she told council. According to a city memo- randum, Castlegar would con- vert 314 street lights as an en- ergy-saving measure. Castle- gar can expect an annual sav- ings of $25,000 with the new lights. Noon-1 p.m. Sandman Inn $8.00 Non members $9.50 GUEST SPEAKER: Gord McAdams B.C. Parks To reserve or for further info: 365-6313 Jonathan Green NEWS REPORTER ‘The month of May has ee ead tine ay host.to some big || years. Wednesday, Cominco Ltd.’s Trail operations appeared to answer two charges under the Waste Management Act from an alleged incident last year. “It was to answer a charge regarding an (alleged) spill that occurred April 10, 1991,” said Cominco’s communica- tions director Richard Fish. The lead and zinc smelter was in court on one count of failing to comply with a con- dition of their waste manage- ment permit and one count of introducing business waste to the environment. Fish said the alleged spill occurred at the smelter’s zinc operations and involved a so- lution containing liquid zinc and cadmium. He said that when a pump system in the sulphite leech- ing plant failed, 12 cubic me- tres of a solution containing some 2,000 kilograms of zinc and 17 kilograms of cadmi- um spilled into the Columbia River. Cominco will enter a plea in Rossland court on June 15. News file photo “Since then, we've spent about $2 million on improve- ments to the containment fa- cilities,” Fish said. Conservation officer Ken McLennan said the charges were laid April 6 in Rossland Provincial Court by the Con- servation Officer Service. He said the service began its in- vestigation after Cominco re- ported the incident to the Ministry of Environment. “They’re required to report all spills under the Waste Management Act,” he said, “and a conservation officer was requested to investigate the spill.” Fish said the company’s lawyers were granted an ex- tension to June 15, at which time they will enter a plea. “Where it goes from there, I don’t know,” he said. Cominco has previously pled guilty to two similar in- cidents in 1989. : The first, in January 1989, was the result of an overflow at an effluent treatment plant that reached the river through a sewer. Cominco was fined $5,000 for that dis- charge. In April 1989, Cominco was fined $25,000 when a pump system failure caused 80 cubic metres of material into the river. If convicted under the two latest charges, Cominco could face fines of up to $1 million per count. a Lunch Box FRUIT DRINKS Case of 27-250 mi. California Grown CHICKEN Fresh or Frozen ¢ Utility 2.18 kg. HOURS Mon.-Thurs. & Sat.. 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. Fri. 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m Sunday 10-5 p.m. SPARTON APPLE Castlegar FOODS Save $5.00 off your family purchase of $50.00 or more (excluding tobacco and fluid milk) @ Saturday, May 23, 1992 3m dhe News SecondFRONT CALL THE NEWS @General Inquiries 365-7266 OUR HOURS The News is located at 197 Columbia Ave. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, statutory holidays. SUB RATES The News is published by Castle News Ltd. for Canwest Publishers Ltd. Mail subscription rate to The News is $37.50 per year. The price on newsstands is 75¢ for each edition. The price delivered by newspaper .- carrier for both editions is only 90¢ a week (collected monthly). GST extra. Second class mail registration number 0019. Lumber companies denounce tarif B Local mills busy playing catch up as U.S. maintains softwood lumber tax Jonathan Green NEWS REPORTER Although ‘a U.S. Department of Commerce announcement last week worked in Canada’s favor, you won't be seeing Bob Sloper doing cartwheels. “I guess it’s better news than the conditions we were working under a week ago,” said the spokesperson for Fruitvale’s Atco Lumber. “Now we have our work cut out for us to see if we can succeed to have it eliminated complete- y,” Last Friday, the Department of Commerce reduced a tariff on Canadian softwood lumber entering the U.S. to 6.51 per cent from 14.48 per cent. Though Atco’s sales south of the 49th parallel have since improved, Sloper said any tariffis a slap against Canadian suppliers. Although he “couldn't even guess” how much business Atco lost over the two months the higher tariff was in place, Sloper said signs in the U.S. point to a potential recovery. He said that factors such as low interest rates, increased housing starts, good weather and a shortage of product in the U.S. are good for Canadian dealers, but that things won't be turned around overnight. “All of the favorable factors are there, but there is still some (American) hesitancy and its all because of this duty,” he said. Favorable factors aside, Pope and Talbot president Abe Friesen said the short time the higher tariff was in place hit his company hard. “With the two mills (in Grand Forks and Midway), we probably paid $1.6 million in tar- iff,” he said, adding that over of a year that number could have risen to $10 million. Friesen said unlike smaller B.C. lumber dealers, Pope and Talbot’s sales didn’t suffer during the two months, though profits did. “All the volume sold, we just took a 14 per cent shellacking on it,” he said. Friesen accused the Americans of hypocrisy, asking how they can dictate where Canada’s logs go as export policies exist in the U.S. “From a technical point of view, there’s no way they can justify its being there,” he said. And Rossland-Trail MLA Ed Conroy agrees. “In effect, what they’re doing is dictating our export policy,” he said. “That's bull.” Conroy stressed his belief that the tariff is a ploy by US. president George Bush to get re- elected this year, adding the Free Trade Agree- ment is just as much to blame. i “It just show the flaws with the Free Trade Agreement,” he said. “It should be scrapped.” The U.S. International Trade Commission is expected to make a final decision on the tariff in June. SPLISH, SPLASH News photo Glen Freeman Students from the Woodland Park school took some time out after their swimming lesson Thursday to make some waves at the Castlegar and District Aquatic Centre. Postal officials visit Castlegar? Scott David Harrison EDITOR Canada Post is set to explain itself... maybe The Crown corporation has been invited to attend.city council’s June 2 session, in the hopes of nipping rumors of an impending postal closure in the bud. “We have a concern about the future of our post office,” Mayor Audrey Moore said Thursday. “We wouldn’t like to see our post office commissioned or local jobs to move out of the area.” Council isn’t the only one concerned. Sandra Groepler says most Castlegar businesses are concerned as well and she’s got the signatures to prove it. The B.C. director for Rural Dignity Canada has enlisted the support of some 100 businesses in her ongoing battle to keep the Castlegar post-office as it is. Groepler has been asking businesses to sign a petition stating that they wouldn’t accept a postal sub-station on their premises. .. “As far as I know, we are the only community in Canada that has done anything like this,” Groepler said. “Businesses are doing the community a service by signing the petition.” Groepler said there has been “very little opposition” to her petition. Groepler, who will be appearing before council on June 2, now wants city council to join the fight. “I’m asking them to be proactive and get involved instead of waiting until after the fact,” said Groepler, who contends that the local postal station will be closed by 1996. “It would be nice to have city council draft a letter opposing any es to postal service in Castlegar.” anada Post’s Ilona Beiks said any letter would be premature. “We are not doing anything in Castlegar,” she said. “At this point, we’re are not making any es. Beiks wouldn’t commit herself to the council session, saying the public shouldn’t have to foot the bill for travel costs everytime rumors are spread. “If there are changes planned, we'll announce them and let the public know like we always do,” she said. “It’s not an insidious plot.” Poll nixes works yard relocation Scott David Harrison EDITOR Michael O’Connor says the » community has spoken. The Coalition Unaccepting -Rash Bureaucracy president says results from its own poll prove that citizens don’t want the city works yard relocated to the Castlegar Industrial Park. “It’s the same old BS time after time after time.” — Michael O’Connor A preliminary count from the CURB public poll show 176 citizens against the move, while 10 favored it. One ballot was spoiled, according to O’Connor. “There were a lot of people that phoned, as well,” O’Connor said Thursday. O’Connor said he doesn’t expect the city to take the poll as an indication that citizens are opposed to the $875,000 expenditure. Instead, he said the city will “ignore the citizens, as usual. “I don’t think the city cares one way or the other,” O’Connor said. “They’re just going to go ahead and do whatever they want to do, no matter what people think.” O’Connor urged people to get involved in civic affairs, saying someone has to watch over municipal expenditures. “People are going to have to get vocal or we'll keep getting this stuff shoved down our throats. “It’s the same old BS time after time after time.”