The Castlegar Sun Prank sends residents fleeing banging on apartment doors while attempting to help evacuate. Residents remained outside for close to an hour while the “fire” was being investigated and the complex had been ventilated. — RCMP and the ambulance service also responded to the call, There were two fire trucks and 21 firefighters on scene. Police continue their investigation. fee #0 Wednesday, November 8, 1995 Deadline for submitted copy: 4:30 p.m. Thursdays south fire halls arrived, they found the “smoke” was in fact a cloud of chemical dust. Rempel wasn’t amused by the prank, which he says could have quickly turned sour. “That was a stupid thing to do. It goes beyond stupid. There were babies out in the cold and with all the emergency vehicles rac- ing through town, there was a risk of accident. KAREN KERKHOFF Sun Staff A Hall prank invdlving a 20-pound fire extingui sent 135 Selkirk Manor resi- dents fleeing from their homes. Gerry Rempel, Castlegar’s fire chief, said a call came in at 8:23 p.m. last Tuesday night reporting a fire at the apartment complex I'm not very impressed with that one.” But when firefighters from the north and One woman, said Rempel, injured her hand ATTENTION!!! | Cost-cutting measure Don't Miss This One concerns local officials Thursday, Nov. 9 ¢ 9:30 PM | asen xenxnore the principle of frugal spending, ~ FREE SEMINAR ~ INVESMENT OPPORTUNITIES For Topay! Eldon Worobieff, Investment Advisor with Nesbitt Burns, will be presenting investment opportunities for our times. Topics will include: een he wonders what the ultimate + Foreign Opportunities Wednesday, November 8, 1995 The Castlegar Sun Halloween keeps firefighters busy KAREN KERKHOFF Sun Staff Local RCMP and firefighters were kept busy Gate Night and Halloween evening attending calls. Oct, 30, firefighters were called out to extinguish a fire set in a dumpster behind Valley Video on Columbia Avenue. At 11:34 p.m., they attended the torching of a storage shed behind Dairy Queen in the Castleaird Plaza. On Oct. 31, at around noon, firefighters were called to a diesel spill in the Castlegar Inn i lot near Columbia Avenue and 17th Street. Fire chief Gerry Rempel said a diesel Storage tank mounted on @ pickup truck was the source of the leak. Firefight- ers applied Sorbant (an absorbant material much like Peat moss) to mop up the leak. City crews then spread sand over the leak. Mi later, firefigh were d to Peoples Drug Mart on Columbia Avenue. Rempel said the fire alarm was due to a faulty alarm system. Police News Cpl. Dave Beach of the Castlegar RCMP said Halloween night was fairly quiet, with the exception of two Crescent Valley teens who were out to “paint the town.” The two, both 18, have been charged for spray- painting manufactured homes near the Castlegar airport. When apprehended, the duo were found carrying paint, paint balls and slingshots in a backpack. Beach also reported a bystander had a Roman Candle fired at her from a passing van. Standard Halloween fair, such as egg throwing, was also reported. Rossland, however, fared worse than Castlegar. At around 4:30 p.m. that day, fire crews ded another diese! fuel spill at the Shell cardlock facility F igh ded six calls, the worst being at Cook Avenue School, where vandals used gasoline *RRIFs + Fixed Income (GIC alternatives) Location: Fireside Motor Inn — Banquet Room 1810 - 6th Avenue, Castlegar, B.C. Tuesday, November 14, 1995 7:00 p.m, ~ 9:00 p.m. Suzanne Bachelier 1-800-416-2882 If you are unable to attend the seminar, please call to receive your free copy of The RRSP Book. JD) NESBITT BURNS KNOWLEDGE ig POWER Saturday, Nov. 11 ¢ 8:00 pm Sun Staff THE BABE RUTA A.M. FORD of Trail, B.C. a a Cm all for guung bead, but not when ie comes te masquicves. Especially ones whe dune and dash. So wher. he furushed his forearm buffet, | saw red. - Neon red, and tok off after hum. Soon on Shaw Cable WORLD SERIES a noe fit look at the 1995 Babe Ruth World Series held in Trail THIS AD DONATED BY ... 7 “ut was tume te make the proper untreductumns. Mosguite meet windshield. Windshield, masquite. Arguably, a fly matter would've been caser, but net nearly as sacutyung. Now it's personal 1996 Neon Ex 21N Package: ¢ 2.0L 16V 132 hp SOHC engine ¢ 5 speed manual transmission * Dual air bags * Side door impact beams ¢ AM/FM stereo cassette with 6 speakers 7135 $750' GRADUATE REBATE ¢ Rear spoiler ° 14” deluxe wheel covers ¢* Dual outside remote mirrors ¢ Fuel economy-5.6L(50)/100 km (mpg) -8.3L(35)/100 km (mpg) $9S" Induding Freight cost will be. Initiatives to reduce the cost of building public schools in the Province are being met with cau- tion by a local school official. The initiatives include creating standard design plans for elemen- tary schools, reducing the current unit rates used to control con- Struction costs and piloting a partnership between the private sector and government to provide school facilities. But Everette Surgenor, super- intendent for the Castlegar school district, said while he agrees with hwy** city** hassle free test drive of the Neon Ex 1-800-333-3678. “What kind of infrastructure will they [generic schools) have?,” said Surgenor. “They should have the ability-to uti- lize technology-and use the tools for learning in the post- industrial age. Personalizing schools has a lot of merit and it doesn’t cost a thing.” Surgenor believes generic schools might be limiting, point- ing out today's schools incorpo- rate other learning functions within their walls while expand- ing learning opportunities beyond orthodox parameters. “I think the ministry of educa- tion still sees schools as buildings with traditional structures and I don't think that's how it's going to be. I'm not convinced all schooling will take place only in the school.” But Education Minister Art Charbonneau touts the benefits of standard design plans, which the ministry hopes school districts take advantage of. And the ministry is willing to put its money where its mouth is. The carrot to encourage districts’ acceptance of generic designs is cold, hard cash. “As an incentive to encourage districts to use ministry stock plans when planning, school dis- tricts will be able to keep half of the money saved on reduced planning fees for use on future capital projects or equipment ‘in their district,” said Charbonneau. He added $600,000 would be saved if districts use generic design plans. Sell it in the classifieds! Custom Silk Screening t on 6th Avenue. Rempel said it appeared the spill was caused by overfilling a tank or the nozzle fell Out of the container it was filling, causing a “couple gallons” of diesel fuel to spill. Sorbant was used to mop up the spill. to set playground equipment on fire resulting in $1,000 damage. Searches of youths found gasoline, fire starter, charcoal. briquettes, rubbing alcohol, Molotov cock- tails, eggs and drugs. KAREN KERKHOFF Sun Staff A group of West Kootenay nurses are monitor- ing the effects of “New Directions”. The West Kootenays Research Group (WKRG) specifically are studying the effect on patients of early discharge from hospitals. Registered Nurse and Selkirk College instructor Marg Nickle said the idea to research the effect of early discharge came about during a nursing con- ference held in Castlegar in March, 1994. “One thing that kept coming up was early dis- charge,” she said. “Patients were being discharged Nurses study early discharge But that has now changed—much to the con- cern of some health care professionals. “Now they go home in two to three days,” said Nickle. Nickle said the focus of WKRG is to compile data for a report, utilized to reduce patient risk and re-admission. Collection of data has just begun and Nickle said results won't be available for sev- eral months. “We are trying to find out what they say they need as opposed to what we say they need.” Castlegar, Trail, and Nelson hospitals have agreed to allow two researchers to speak with patients who then decide if they want to be part of the as soon as it looked like they were ing. No one knew what sort of support they got once they got out. There was a big knowledge gap.” The early discharges are a result of the Ministry of Health’s cuts to facility funding. But nurses and other health care practitioners, while complying with New Directions, found early discharges have negative impacts. “A lot of patients were getting into trouble. The [medical] support [once they returned home] just was not there. Patients were coming back to hospi- tals too frequently and sometimes in worse shape.” In the “old days”, patients recovering from gall bladder surgery were discharged in six or seven days. , Prepare patients for early discharge. “We have the cooperation and support from the three local hospitals. The nursing directors have been positive about the project from the beginning.” When completed, the report will be submitted to the participating hospitals to help them adequately “We think it's going to be useful in a practical way. It will not be an evaluation of the individual hospital's discharge process. There will be no fin- ger pointing,” assured Nickle. The $30,800 project, a first of its kind, will be featured in the B.C. Nursing Magazine and was funded by the B.C. Medical Services Foundation. B.C. toughens welfare rules KAREN KERKHOFF _ Sun Staff Out-of-province welfare appli- cants can kiss their would-be assets goodbye. uate, has been recent University of Victoria grad- with another province or territory. B.C. residents who have been out of province for less than six months are also exempt from the ry req Other changes, expected to Effective Dec. 1, welfare applicants from other provinces will have to wait three months before they are eligible to collect welfare benefits in B.C. Social Services Minister, Joy MacPhail announced the latest action last week saying the province's first priority is B.C. residents. “Federal cuts to social pro- gram funding have left us no choice. Our first priority must be providing assistance to British Columbians in need,” said ‘MacPhait Bud Godderis, of the Castlegar Advocacy Group, opposes the move, saying that once again, the is " and not the disease. “It's bad enough now for the poor, but to place the blame on them for these problems isn’t acceptable. They don’t want to be jpoor,” said Godderis. Instead, said Godderis, the government should be looking at | “ways to increase employment ities for all k “The main problem is that ‘there are a lack of jobs. So it’s fine and dandy to say that 60 per cent are employable men,” said Godderis, referring to statistics in a press release which said that 60 per cent of welfare recipients from out-of-province are employ- able males. To emphasize his point, God- deris said one of his daughters, a Auto Glass Replacement Towing 1995, out-of-province residents joined B.C. welfare rolls at a rate of more than 2,200 a month, It’s expected the residency require- ment will save taxpayers $25 mil- lion annually. During the first nine months of this year, new arrivals from other Provinces accounted for an aver- age of 2,241 new welfare cases a month. But MacPhail assured residen- cy requirements won’t affect families with dependents who have lived in B.C; in the past three years and are ing to B.C. under specific agreement +2 BEDROOM & 2 BATHROOM * BUILT -IN VACUUM * SKYLIGHT IN KITCHEN + BUILTAN DISHWASHER + SOME BASEMENTS Save taxpayers up to $7 million a year, are: + Effective Dec. 1, the ministry will no longer replace lost or stolen cash or endorsed welfare cheques. The ministry will con- tinue to replace lost of stolen It’s projected that there will be a $3-$4 million saving annually. + Also effective Dec. 1. Addi- tional funds for work clothing and work ion will only be provided to recipients who have confirmed employment. Projected savings are some $3 All the Features You've Been Looking For! + LEVEL ENTRY + FULLY LANDSCAPED * WAR ROUND MAINTENANCE + PRIVATE FENCED YARDS + RECREATION CENTRE 3 FLOOR PLANS TO CHOOSE FROM SHOW HOME OPEN DAILY Stellar Place SUN STAFF PHOTO /Karen Kerkhoft Rash of car thefts hits area Rockin’ robber A thief gained entry to Tulips Flowers downtown Nov. 3 by throwing a rock through a win- dow and stealing a small amount of cash. Police are investigating the incident. Stolen Police are reminding residents to lock up their possessions after a rash of thefts from area vehicles and garages last week. RCMP say a fanny pack was stolen from a vehicle parked at Canadian Tire sometime between Nov. 2-3. On Nov. 5, thieves made off with CDs after gaining entry to an unlocked vehicle in the 100 block of 104th Street in Blueberry Creek. As well, numerous items, including tools, were stolen from an unlocked garage in the 100 block of 100th Street in Blueber- ry Creek the same day. A brown leather purse was stolen from the change room at the Pioneer Arena Nov. 5. Police are investigating all the above complaints. Slow down Cpl. Al:Hudema of the Castle- gar RCMP ativises motorists con- cemed citizen groups will be using the newly-acquired speed reader board at various locations through- out the area. The board, which is being used at problem speeding areas, is intended to show drivers their travelling speeds. Shoplifting A 69-year-old Castlegar woman was arrested for shoplift- ing by store security at the Zellers store in Trail on Nov. 3 The woman allegedly stole a $27 hair dryer. Her name was not released pending the laying of formal charges. a JORDANS FURNISHINGS CONFIDENCE SINCE 1929 PUBLIC NOTICE Jordans floorcovering representatives will be in the Nelson area, Friday, Nov. 11; Saturday, Nov. 12 and Sunday, Nov. 13. We will be in the area both to serve previous and new customers, and will have a wide range of Jordans fine floorcoverings samples — in carpets, vinyl, and hardwood. AT LOW, LOW PRICES Please call Chad Cyr at 1-800-227-9536 prior to Nov. 10 to make an appointment for a free home estimate or consultation. As always, we look forward to satisfying your floorcovering needs in the Nelson & Castlegar area. JORDANS 215, 2469 Highway 97, Kelowna CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-227-9536 PUZZLES 550 PIECE ASST. $999 POP-0-MATIC TROUBLE Sing Along Lyric Play Along with Book with Tape Characters & Tape TEA SET $44” $19% $4999 | LITTLE TIKES | NESTING FARM NI $4 p39 $949 SLUMBER PARTY POLLY POCKET STAMPING HAIR CARE SOFT PONY ( HRY SI ER Plymouth Jeep Eagle C.D. - We Wouldn't Forget You! -Family & Friends. 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