Too aggressive? An interesting debate has raged this week in the Nelson and Trail daily newspapers over Castlegor's cy approoch to economic development. It seems jer cities are concerned that Castlegar is trying to “raid” facilities now located in Nelson and Trail. A contidential document inad- Castlegar is not only more central than Nelson, but Nelson doesn't even use the RCMP. It has its own police force. What's really at issue here isn't the RCMP headquarters or the customs wharf, so much as Castlegar’ 's approach to economic isn't Pp that Nelson and Trail are on the vertently released last week at a detensive. Both communities have meeting of the Nelson Economic Development Commission 99! d.a lack of c been hit hard by the economic downturn. And both are trying to hang onto every among West K Commission vi Heflin is quoted in the document as Saying that any approaches to Castl for mutual devel must be token with “A healthy degree ot caution because of the _the Castl 99! of team.” The document also quotes Marc Marcolin, chairman of Trail’s Community Economic Action Committee, as saying Castl busi: and g service they can. By the same token, it seems ridiculous to blame Castlegar for having on “aggressive” approach to Cc tax- Letters to the Editor payers would be unhappy if its council and economic development committee wasn't aggressively seeking out every economic oppor- tunities. As for other “raiding” com- should not be attempting to have nments presumably the RCMP di ters in Nelson or the customs wharf in Trail relocated in Castlegar. Mayor Audrey Moore has in turn denied Castlegar is after Trail’s customs wharf. But she has defended her city’s attempt to get the RCMP division headquarters. Mrs. Moore points out that CLASSIC BUILDING . . . Located at 114-4th St., on where they will locate based on a number of facts. If those facts say the customs wharf is better off in Castlegar, then it should be relocated here. It they don't, then it shouldn't. There's nothing wrong with being aggressive as long as it's all kept in perspective. this building was originally owned by Mrs. Zuckerberg and housed a beauty parlour. It is now home to Classic Fabrics. We have arich past This is Heritage Week in Canada For many of us in this part of the country that doesn’t mean very much, partly because in relative terms our heritage in Castlegar is about as old as yesterday's news. But it is also partly because we are simply ignorant of our local past. The Castlegar Heritage Advisory Committee is trying to remedy that with a series of special open houses that display our new-found heritage. Begining Monday and running again on Wednesday and Friday, the chapel house on Zuckerberg Island Heritage Park will be open to the public from 10 a.m.-3 p.m The venue switches to the CP Rail station at the foot of 3rd Street, which will be open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Satur- day. The really adventurous can take a closer look at the photographs accompanying John Charters’s column on page B4 and then do a walking tour of Castlegar to see, the historic buildings for them- selves. (The first police detach- ment and jail should be of real in- terest). And watch Wednesday's Castlegar News for another series of photographs which will give a glimpse of Castlegar's past. Castlegar does indeed have a rich past. It only needs a bit of dusting off to see it properly. LETTER Get act together Brenda Binnie’s Feb. 1 letter to the editor was of great interest to me, having been subjected to the same treatment myself. On Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. I took my ‘son to the Community Complex for a pro- gram session in which he was enrolled. Since I was at the complex, I decided to go to the office and enrol in the next program. The recreation “employee,” upon seeing me at the counter remained at her desk and demanded, “whadda you want?” I responded that I wished to enrol in a program, and she res- ponded, “You have to come back to night.” And that was the end of the discussion There appears to be conflicting in formation between enrolment times released to the local media and the rec- reation administrative staff. This con fusion is of little concern to me. All I can say is get your act together. I would remind the recreation staff that they are providing a service to the people of this community. Ina period of tough ie times, service organ- Ron Norman off sick izations must adopt the principles used by local business: Treat customers with respect, satisfy their needs, and hustle or you may go out of business. Valerie Kulbaba Castlegar Protest park changes Re; Mining and logging Kokanee Glacier Park; The provincial government's decis- ion to allow mining and logging within Kokanee Glaciér Park will do far more damage and will create few if any lasting benefits. Given the fact that wilderness related tourism has been growing while mining has declined during the last decade in the Koot- enays, the tourism revenue and jobs foregone as a result of further loss of our wilderness resource spells additional devastation of our already ailing regional economy. The gutting of our parks was a predictable outcome of. the recent re-election of the Social Credit government. Although the government has thus far failed to aet on most pro- preservation recommendations from its Wilderness Advisory Committee, ~ which members were collectively biased against wilderness preserva- tion, the government is proceeding post haste to open up our parks for mining and logging interests. The Wilderness Advisory Commit- tee recommended that publie hearings be held prior to making detailed decisions on Kokanee Glacier Park. But instead, the government has gone ahead without the beneficial wisdom which results from public input. The public trust has again been violated and our vast province continues to be ruled from Victoria. Most of the prime forested areas have been stripped from the park, including Timber Creek and Coffee Creek. The removal of these old growth forests, needed for shelter and as a buffer between the alpine areas of the park and surrounding logging and __mining activities, will cause irrever- sible in} Upon wildlife resources. The worst change is that the government has allowed mining to SFP doesn't need to log watershed Why is it that so often the public has to see the dangers of the actions of some large company making millions of dollars, or of the actions of our govern ment, which is supposed to be serving our best interests? I'm speaking of the many times that public awareness has caught a company or government at a practice which threatens our environment and/or our health and our children’s health. How many times do we have to fight it out over issues such as radi- ation, acid rain, PCBs and water pollution, before a suspected serious problem is stopped and really, honestly checked out and put in perspective to the whole picture? I see another issue has finally broken the surface and reared its ugly head in our area. The Forests Ministry and Slocan Forest Products want to log our domestic watergpeds before they have ak signed an agreement to do it extremely carefully, if at all, and before they have signed a legal document to be respon- sible if they screw up. Why is it that we so called “special interst groups,” the “citizen scientists” seem to have more sense than those “smart people” who make all that money? Slocan Forest Products just got another 20 per cent added to the amount of trees they can have, and they made more than $5 million in 1985. They don't need to log our watersheds or ruin our great potential for a major tourist trade. Could it be that when smart people start making all that money they get a little blind? Tunnel vision maybe? Or is it that they just don’t want to see? Keith Light Winlaw Water use deserves careful planning I am writing because I am deeply concerned with the future, not only the future of the Slocan Valley, which I have chosen as my home, but the future of British Columbia, Canada, my country, that I have travelled and loved and, in the broader sense, this planet. When I think of our basic needs — clean water, clean air and uncon taminated food — I am astonished by the lack of foresight of government agencies such as the B.C. ministries of forest and environment. The Slocan Valley is just one of many areas of this province where concerned landowners like myself are making their voices heard, protesting the lack of planning and control in the logging of our forests. Fresh water, forests and clean air constitute the wealth of this area and must not be squandered, but carefully managed and protected. If our water is ruined and our forest destroyed by in- discriminate logging practices, where will we go? There is no place to run any more! We have only the present to work with. If we don’t use it wisely, there will be no future. Water is our most valuable resource. It deserves our most careful planning. Government agencies should be the first to recognize the need for planning with a view to protecting water and forests. We all realize that logging is es- sential to the economy of this valley and province. But, if it is not done wisely, with a concern for the future, not only will it destroy its own natural resource base but our water as well. I love my home in the Slocan Valley. I fear for its future unless government officials, business interests, and local water users can sit down together peacefully and, with deep concern, work as long as ncessary, to develop a mutually acceptable plan for the use and protection of our watersheds. J3.M. Kimmel Slecan Ridge occur in 11 seattered locations within the park. It will be difficult to hike anywhere within the park without seeing or, hearing signs of mining development. While it is true that there are outstanding mining claims within the park that need to be dealt with, there are better ways to resolve this problem, such as fair compensation for legitimate. mining rights which were foregone when the park was created many years ago. It is clear that the government is responding only to industrial interests which greedly demand multiple use everywhere. Although the government proposes to add some areas to the park, including the timbered area -along Lendrum Creek, Kokanee Glacier Park as we know it today will be lost, reduced to those fragments of land which ‘generally lack significant mineral or timber value. There will be little left which is suitable for high quality world class recreation and the Parks Branch will have failed to uphold its dual policy mandate to manage the park for recreation and conservation. Our parks will be decimated to only the bare leftovers and remains from industrial use such as mere scraps of timber between clearcuts, mining dumps and eroded roads. About 12,000 people a year currently utilize Kokanee Glacier Park and this use has been recently increasing. Reopening mines along Enterprise Creek, adjacent to Kaslo Lake and next to Joker Lakes below Kokanee Glacier, will be extremely disruptive to re creationalists seeking a wilderness experience in the park. We know this is true from the irreversible damage done at the Scranton mine within the park. Since many of those who visit the park come from outside the Kootenays, additional mining activity within the park will cause a reduction in needed tourism revenue because these visitors buy services in Nelson and other communities in the area, services such as meals, accommodation, helicopter transportation, guiding and backpack- ing/skiing equipment. Our parks have been created to preserve a small representative vest- ige of our wilderness legacy for future generations yet to come. It is not too much to ask to add a few more areas without carving up our meagre parks system. If the remaining five per cent of our province which has been set aside from resource extraction in the form of parks, is opened for use by the mining and logging industries, which already have access to 95 per cent of B.C., we stand to lose something which could otherwise be very precious to our children and grandchildren. These changes must be protested now by everyone concerned. If the citizens of the Kootenays remain silent, the pristine character of Kokanee Glacier and’ other parks will be lost forever. Grand Copeland, Director Valhalla Wilderness Society Please address all Letters to the Editor to: The Castlegar News, P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4, or deliver them to our office at; 197 Columbia Avenue, Castle- gor, B.C. Letters must be signed and include the writer's full name and address. Only in very exceptional coses will letters be published without the writer's name. Nevertheless. the name and address of the writer must be disclosed to the editor The Costlegor News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality and grammar. and his wife. Neicberriegoyy = she was told g was a blazing inferno.” of the inhabitants Of the A special “pectiag ” the village commissioners was held on Monday night to go over the financial report for 1961 hae estimate the expenditures for this y At ibe the end of the year the statement showed a surplus of $18,300.26. While this amount included $3,000 sinking fund for five equipment, it leaves the village in a healthy financial position. ._ * @ Movies playing at the Castle Theatre include Show Boat starring Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner and Howard Keel. Borderline, starring Fred Mac- Murray and Claire Trevor, as well as The Luck of the Irish starring Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter. In order to form a sound opinion on the power controversy between Vic- toria and Ottawa, it is almost necessary to know as much about power gener- ation and the financing of hydro- electric projects as engineers and financial experts who have spent a lifetime working in these fields. Tomorrow evening a special TV show will present “Report on the Columbia” with Doug Collins on the CBC. The purpose of the program is to explain what is involved with the Columbia River and Peace River power developments and to present the views of the leading personalities involved with the controversy. * 8 @ A hydrogen balloon released by two Grade 10 Stanley Humphries secon- dary school students on Jan. 19 was found on Feb. 5 about 40 mint of has been returned to the owners. The father of Wes Langley of Hamil- ton found the yellow balloon on Feb. 5 about eight feet off the ground in a tree in the middle of what is known as the Sleeping Child Burn. Hamilton is about 300 miles from Castlegar. * 6 Milk is selling for $1.59 for a quart size at the Shop Easy store, while eggs are 99 cents for two dozen, oven bread sold for 33 cents for two loafs, and TV dinners went for 59 cents. 15 YEARS AGO From the Feb. 17, 1972 ar News To the casual viewer Blueberry Creek is a pleasant stream that starts at Nancy Greene Lake and tumbles its way down the Columbia in a carefree manner. But to those who study the creek it is by no means carefree and to help solve the malaise that has hit Blueberry, the water district has asked for a Selkirk student study of the watershed. The problems that have hit the 18 mile long stream are both new and old and the situation is now termed “grim” by those who watch it. * . Initial steps to obtain rezoning for the proposed boarding home for retarded adults in the 500 block Seventh Avenue have been taken by Mr. and Mrs. Richie Geronazzo. At town council Tuesday night they formally asked aldermen to set the wheels in motion for a public hearing on the issue. * 8 « The “American hippies and draft dodgers” in the Slocan Valley came in for sharp criticism in the B.C. Legisla- ture last week from MLA Burt Campbell. He said these people who “monopol- ize provincial campsites and drive the public from hot springs and other places by frolicking nude” were turning the residents of the lower Slocan Valley into second rate citizens. 5 YEARS AGO From the Feb. 13, 1982 Castlegar News More Castlegar businesses survived in 1981 in pretty good shape despite the bleak economic conditions. Sales decreased for some, increased for others and stayed the same for others, .ccording to a survey this week by the Castlegar News. Despite soaring interest rates, infla- tion and high unemployment, some businesses are still optimistic about 1982, others are not so optimistic and still others are playing it by ear. Se EEREEEEREEEEEee wattow, a ee at Pedage id + a pt? mM y Our ministries have made a sincere attempt over the past five years to reach agreement with the Alliance on these issues. go Ooh dlsterblownt thie Hine BO eo deliberate and careful planning of the integration of various resource uses to interfere with each other as little as possible and to complement each other as much as possible, giving due regard to the order of importance of each use in a particular area in an attempt to achieve the optimum social and economic benefit to the people of British Columbia.” Regarding liabiilty, it is the intention of the provincial government to make resource developers, not the government, liable for damage which they cause to water supplies. 2. Who makes | the final decision on whether or not an plan is app for implementation? The government's position is that all parties who will be Taxpayers can't afford increase To properly reflect the expensive for a small and économi¢ and financial con- poor town. dition of the ‘city and very We all have enjoyed-a Cad- many of our resitients we illac-type service from the cannot afford the expensive city. Now we need just a plans for our city this council Chevy-type service: practical has, nor can we accept the (like our street paving proposed 4.75 per cent tax plans). inerease. No increase or Herman J. Kemperman rather a decrease in taxes fits Castlegar the situation. “Nice to do” as it may be, we should for now forget: @ The “designed” beauti- fication of the Pioneer Arena and the downtown area. e Any financial commit- ment to moving the CP Rail station (except some city work crew assistance), e Restricted financial com- mitment on waterfront de- velopment (we know the fi- asco of the too elaborately prepared industrial park). Does a city of 6,400 people need an engineering services manager? No. Do we need fully cleared streets on Sunday or have ail the snow so carefully re- moved off our streets so often so quickly, or have park grass cut on Sunday? Do we need so many city trucks running around? No. Forget about relocating the service yard. It is very inefficient and very costly. Operations management sys- but bring you! CHILD TAX CREDIT If the Child Tax Credit is the only claim you'll make this year, r income tax retum to a participating H&R Block office. We'll accurately prepare it for just $10. And we guarantee it! 1245-3rd Street Castlegar 365-5244 appears to g the government's position on watershed jlvoring in their communication with Slocan Valley residents and the media. This is a great disservice to our staff who have worked long and hard with the Alliance in a sincere attempt to resolve our differences. Their actions do little to foster the trust and honesty which must exist between both parties if we are to be successful. For the benefit of valley residents .we would like to clarify the following matters which have been mentioned in recent Alliance news releases and ah information pamphlet distributed in the valley: “a e Our ministries both recognize water qaattg, quantity and timing of flow as being the number one priority in consumptive use watersheds. Brisco supports Wilson Kootenay West MP Bob Briseo has defended federal Finance Minister Michael Wilson's actions in prevent- ing the B.C. government's use of the tax system to help finance Skytrain. Last Friday Wilson an- nounced his intention to in- troduce amendments to the Income Tax Act to ensure that the special rules for providing income interest in a trust are limited to tes- tamentary and other non- commercial trusts. “Clearly the minister of fi- nance has acted in the best interests of all taxpayers,” in the