‘Ye 501 Belleville St Febs 28 recalled CasNews columnist John Charters writes of his friend, the lat Brother Francis Michael Dodson of Westminster | Abbey in Mission - . fir A small fire at the Castlegar Motel resul-. ‘ted in about $2,000 damage Thursday ... A3 bonus number was two. also subsidiary prizes. The six winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto - 6-49 draw were four, 17, 19, 25, 32 and 39. The ; The $500,000 winning number in Friday's Provincial lottery draw is 3828866. There are CHRISTMAS TREASURI clothing at Robs: WEATHERCAST Today: increasing clouds, snow beginning in the evenin, ing. Temperatures ranging from -15° to -10°. Tonight: periods Ef snow with Pos: sible Milder temperatures. Monday: periods of snow. Snow ware ely be issued. Highs near -4°. nings will fi CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1985 Vol. 38, No. 96 2 Sections (A & B}- . Amy Wocknitz (left) Craft Faire held Friday and Saturday at Robson Hall. CHRISTMAS HAMPER DRIVE GEARING UP ~ By SIMON BIRCH Staff Writer ‘The Castlegar branch of the Royal Canadian Legion is gearing up for its annual Christmas hamper —distribution-——and—the—list of needy families -in_the Castlegar area is growing daily. “The list is longer this year, definitely,” said Ruth Rourke, who organizes the annual hamper drive for the Legion. “We've got a long list from (the Ministry of) Human Resources and people are also sending in names,” she said. Rourke described the list as being four-and-a-half 14-inch pages, each with approximately 23 names of needy families. ‘That means the Legion already has a list of more than 100 names — so far. ~ ‘And it gets longer by the day. ‘As for donations, Rourke said the Legion is now receiving cash. Donations of food usually begin after Dec. 1, she added. 2 Bingo games are a major source of money for the hamper drive. Rourke said the recently-ended Robson bingo had money left over and donated it to the hamper fund. She said the organizers of the bingo were happy to have the money “go to good use and help needy people.” Dorothy MacPherson, chairman of the Legion's Thursday night bingo committee, said the Ladies’ Auxiliary will be holding two special Sunday night all-paper bingos with all proceeds going to the Christmas hamper fund. “Boy, do we need it,” MacPherson said. The special bingos are on today and next Sunday, Dec. 8. Games start at 6 p.m. The Legion's regular bingo is also a source of hamper donations but has recently fallen on hard times in the face of stiff ition-f th The Legion no longer holds regular Sunday bingos and recently changed to all-paper bingos Thursday nights, hoping to attract more patrons. rea_bingo: MacPherson said the crowds are picking up and the bingos -will continue to be a source of funds for the hampers. Rourke said the hampers will be distributed on Dec. 21, with the cut-off date for donations around Dec. 12. The Legion will accept donations of cash and non-perishable food until that time. Rourke said the hampers always go to the largest families first and that if a family member is unable to pick up the hamper, a Legion member will deliver it. Also included in the h: are toys d by —-CasNewsPhoto by Cheryl Colderbonk Board says tax figure ‘fictitious’ By RON NORMAN Editor The Central__Kootenay _ regional _ board doesn’t like the way Finance Minister Hugh Curtis does his sums and plans to tell him. In a letter to the Union of B.C. icipalities which was cii d to municipalities and regional districts ‘ around the province, Curtis says the government's plan to eliminate prop- erty taxes on machinery and equip- ment will have only a “modest” impact on the average homeowner. “The . . . tax increases on (resi- dential) properties will average, on a os the Castlegar fire department in its annual Christmas toy drive. Rourke said a meeting to organize the Legion's Christmas hamper drive will take place Tuesday. “We hope we have enough money,” she said. pr basis, about $10 per property per year,” Curtis said in the letter. But Reid Henderson, Central Koot- enay Regional District administrator, disagrees. RDCK tackles Moresby By CasNews Staff The Central Kootenay regional board tackled the highly charged issue of logging on South Moresby Island Saturday, but backed off before deciding whether to support or oppose the logging. af Iris Bakken, director for Area G. (rural Salmo), initiated the debate when she proposed the board support logging on South Moresby. However, chairman Cady asked Bakken to withdraw the prop- osal because the issue is presently before the courts. As well, Cady said the debate over logging could be “a very divisive thing.” _ But Dave Pearce, Area F (North Shore) director, d proposal, noting the board has tackled other divisive issues like nuclear war and abortion. Pearce also said South Moresby has a bearing on the Central Kootenay because environmentalists want the island preserved as a park. Parks versus logging is also an issue here, he said. “We have the same situation devel- oping around this area,” Pearce noted, pointing out that parks total 1,140 square miles of the 9,000 square miles in the Central Kootenay Regional Dis- trict. Pearce also’ dismissed the, Haida Indians’ claim to South Moresby and Lyell Island, calling it “a lot of PP‘ Bakken's “They are nothing more than immi- grants, just as you and I,” he said. The native Indian simply happened to be here first, Pearce pointed out, adding that gives them aboriginal “privileges”, but not aboriginal “rights.” “There is nothing in the Constitution to guarantee them these rights,” -he noted. : “It is at the consideration of the government of the day as to what is given.” ~ But Bill Cuthill, director for Area K (rural Nakusp), said he can't believe the “temerity”-of Bakken in proposing the resolution in the first place. He’ said South Moresby is recog- nized by the Haida as the birthplace of continued on poge A3 teld the regional board Saturday that Curtis's $10 is “rather a fictitious figure” and said the increase will be much larger for many Central Kootenay homeowners. In a report prepared last month for the regional board, Henderson said homeowners in the Central Kootenay will have to pay up to 41.per cent more in regional taxes if the government eliminates the equipment and machin- ery tax. ‘According to Henderson's figures, the Castlegar owner of a home assessed at $65,000 would have to pay $25 more, while the homeowner in Areas I and J with a house assessed at $65,000 would have to pay $28 more per year. Henderson said at that time the removal of the tax will have a greater impact on the Central Kootenay Re- gional District because of the district's large machinery and equipment tax base. Still, Curtis promised in the letter to continued on poge A - proposed for lake ‘The Christina Lake Expo Legacy Committee has asked the provincial government, through its Expo Legacy Fund, to establish a 16-hectare provin- cial-_park-at the south end of Christina Lake at a cost of $1 million. The committee, headed by Christina Lake it Dennis h ik, made the-proposal in a letter to MLA Jim Hewitt, the minister responsible for the legacy fund. In. an interview Friday, Schmunk said the committee sent the letter two to three weeks ago and has yet to receive a reply. “It's being reviewed by the (legacy) i in Victoria,” ik said. “The minister may come out here him- self when the legislature is not sitting.” Schmunk said the Parks Branch has already recommended a_ provincial park for the south end of the lake, but did not have money in its budget. Schmunk described the site — which features 600 metres of lake frontage — as the ideal location for a park because of its highway access and high visibil- ity.____ = = ‘The land where the park would be located is now owned by the Sandner family which used to operate a sawmill _on the site, Schmunk said. He added: that he has talked with members of the family and they have indicated they are willing to sell the land. In fact, Schmunk said, the family has offered to donate $100,000 worth of the property to the park. ~ The Regional District of Kootenay- Boundary has already rezoned the site to accommodate a park, Schmunk said. “It's now up to the three government bodies (the Parks Branch, the regional district and the legacy committee),” he said. . sae COLD WORK . . . Gerry Dilling of ction Shell. By CasNews Staff The icy Arctic seige is coming to an end. , A milder Pacific air flow is expected to reach the West Koot- enay today bringing an end to the record-shattering streak of cold temperatures. 4 Fittingly, the new weather pat- tern coincides with the beginning of a new month. to go out with an icy crunch. Two more record low tempera- tures were set at the Castlegar weather station this week along with three — and possibly four — more record low mean tempera- tures. Saturday's mean temperature was not available by the time the Castlegar News went to press, but weatherman Jim Richards said he was “pretty sure” it would be another record low mean. ‘That brings the total number of record low temperatures in Novem- ber to eight and the total record low means to 14 or possibly 15. _ Mean temperatures are the aver- age of the daily maximum'and min- imum temperatures. Inland Natural Gas struggles in cold weather to crack frozen ground in putting in a gas line at Jun- — CosNews Photo Record-setting cold spell nearly over On Nov. 27 a low of -16.8 more than doubled the old record low of -8.3 set in 1967. A low of -18.8 on the 28th easily beat the previous record of -13.5 established in 1975. In addition, a string of record low mean temperatures closed out the month. A. mean of -15.5 on the 27th shattered the record of -5.0 set in 1967. On Nov. 28, the mean was a bitter -16.6, breaking the old mark of -8.7 set in 1975. Nov. 29 had a mean of -13.8, sneaking by the previous record of -13.4 also set in 1975. And yesterday's mean was ex- pected to break a record. But West Kootenay residents will pay for the end to the bitter cold, according to the forecast from the weather office. Snow — and probably lots of it — will be here by tonight as a distur- bance is caught up in the milder Pacific flow. The weather office is calling for “significant accumulations” and probable snow warnings for tonight and Monday.