September 26, 1990 PROVINCIAL NEWS AUTOMOTIVE SALESPERSON Castlegar News ‘Sleazy' media setup, says Zalm VANCOUVER (CP) — Premier Bill Vander Zalm lied to the public about his ownership of Fantasy Gar- dens and the legi should be was any merit in doing this (tran- sfering shares). “So I guess | went under the wrong recalled to deal with it, NDP Leader Mike Harcourt said, Vander Zalm, meanwhile, claimed he was the victim of a zy"’ medi campaign. and his own “stupidity, and said he was unaware that he had majority control of Fantasy Garden World Inc. Vander Zalm was responding to a Vancouver Sun report Saturday that said he owned 83 per cent of Fantasy Garden World Inc. That company sold the Richmond, B.C., theme park to a Taiwan-based conglomerate for about $15 million earlier this month. The premier has repeatedly told reporters that his wife, Lillian, owned a majority interest in Fantasy Garden. Harcourt said the legislature is the place to discuss the issue. “It is clear that Bill Vander Zalm has lied to the public about his owner- ship of Fantasy Gardens,"’ Harcourt said “He has responded disgracefully."” “It’s disastrous,”’ said Harcourt “‘How can a businessman take the premier at his word; Or the natives with whom he is supposed to be negotiating land claims? They can’t.’" The speaker of the for a long time and you don’t question these things between pa ” Vander Zalm said the Vancouver Sun exploited the issue to damage his government's chances of re-election. Vander Zalm stepped down as a direc- tor of Fantasy Garden World in 1986, BUSINESS DIRECTORY TELEPHONE 365-5210 the year he was elected premier, and declared on his financial disclosure form that his interest was at least 30 per cent. Although he said he was unaware that the shares had mot been tran- sferred, Vander Zalm said it was on the public record. “The Vancouver Sun could have released this information two years ago. Why do you think they sat on it? And when they thought there was going to be an election, they give it front-page headlines. The Vancouver Sun is owned by the Toronto-based Southam Inc Managing editor Scott Macrac denied Vander Zaim’s accusation that the Sun had withheld the information about his ownership position until it could use the information to hurt his election chances. who will show i We require an automotive, car or truck solesroceess and di remuneration. fers excellent opportunity to make above era Please prepore resume and contoct D. ASHMAN A.A. Ford Ltd. 2795 Highway Drive, Trail Phone: 364-0202 copy wells excepecd peed tes ar Nope, Ss tertke aaah ot ciohers SECTION ~ Where You Belong, Brian L. Brown CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANT 270 Columbia A should rule on whether the premier had lied to it, said Harcourt. The premier’s role in the gardens has been raised many times in legislative debates and Harcourt said his staff was searching records for any statements Vander Zalm made regar- ding his ownership of the 8.5-hectare property. He said he did not recall telling reporters Lillian was the majority shareholder. But a tape of a conver- sation between Vander Zalm and reporters last Wednesday clearly reveals the premier saying ‘‘yes”” when asked if Lillian held the majority of shares. * Later in the day, Vander Zalm said “he did not know he owned 83 per cent of Fantasy Garden World. “If there is one thing I can be ac- cused of — and one hates to admit this — it’s stupidity in the sense that when the transfer took place of direc- torship and of officers, I just assumed that the shareholdings were being altered,’’ he said. “I checked as recently as today and I guess I was unaware that the ac- countants and the lawyers looked at this and decided that in order to tran- sfer shares, even between spouses, you have to declare value. “And the moment you declare value, of course, you get into capital gains. They, (lawyers and accountan- ts) I'm told now, didn’t see that there USED TRUCKS "90 Chev Silverado %-ton, full load, save over 5000 on new price! 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WASHERS & DRYERS 364-1276 Roofing WICKLUM ROOFING CALL LORNE 352-2917 “FREE ESTIMATES” ROOFING * Guaranteed Work * Fair Prices © 40 Years in Business © Free Estimates JAMES SWANSON AND SONS Ph. 367-7680 Septic Service COLEMAN COUNTRY BOY SERVICE 365-5013 3400-4th Avenve Castlegar HOMEGOODS FURNITURE WAREHOUSE Genéile — Phone 693-2227 Open 9:30-5:30 Tues. to Sot Window Coverings Z LEVOLOR VERTICALS HORIZONTALS PLEATED SHADES Our policy “7 HOMEGOODS FURNITURE WAREHOUSE Genelle — Phone 693-2227 Open 9:30-5:30 Tues to Sat Sex charges rock ene Mormon sect Trial draws attent By DOUGLAS TODD Vancouver Sen CRESTON (CP) — The historical display om the school wall served to remind the gitts, who wore frilly. pionces-style dresses, and the boys, who wore short- cropped hair. an Se ectens Oy wore bern ee Bom ion to colony Both Blackmore and Palmer, who rebutted most ac- cusations against the colony, refused to answer when asked how many wives they lived with — other than to say about half the 35 men im the colony had two wives or more. No male member would allow a reporter into his home or to talk to his wives or children. Colony members show noticeable physical E to those who settled im this bush farmiand in the shadow of the Purcell Mountains in 1947, and who were “cxcom- municated” from the Mormon church for refusing to give up their belief that men should kecp several wives. Although the reclusive 350-member B.C. colony is now embattled by sex cases and its first taste of media publicity, colony bead Winston Blackmore is adamant his sect, called The Unised Order Effort, is the Truc Mormon church — the true church of Jesus Christ. “Ploral marriage was taught as ciernal and un—~ changeable and never-ending by the Mormons (who outlawed polygamy 100 years ago). If it. was good enough then, it’s good enough now I haven't seen anything that’s better than what we've got,” Blackmore said recen- thy, during a rare tour of parts of the church-owned 162- hectare, 20-home colony Eastier im the week, sect members had chased repor- ters away from their community at the end of a dead-end road next to the B.C_-Iidaho border, threatening to shoot But after talking with United Order Effort prophet The sect was set up by U.S. exiles during an cra when state were im jail. Since their arrival, local farmers, loggers and merchants in this town of 5,000 people have largely ignored or tolerated with amusement the group's Blackmore, 34, had to deal with the buzz created cartier this month by a tiral involving a colony member charged with six counts of sexual assault against two of his three wives, two of his 20 children and a scp daughter. The man’s half-brother was convicted of sexual assauk a few years ago, and another member is im court facing molestation charges. Meanwhile, RCMP Cpl. Wayne Conicy said pole America, can garner a prison sentence of five years in Canada. “Our people are angry. Wouldn't you be?,”” said Merrill Palmer, principal of the sect’s B.C -government fimanced school. “Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed over angry members of the community. Things like this have a ten- dency to pull each other together.”” such as Joyce Blackmore say vir- tually everyone im the B.C. colony is the child or gran- dchild of just four men: Ray Blackmore, Charles Quin- ton, Elvin Palmer and Daimin Olen. She and other critics feas im-breeding could produce low intelligence in of- fspring. The sect” s leaders dictate which women marry which men. They say their prophet receives the message Ex-member Debbie Palmer was a typical young = She had to become one of the wives of her uncle, who was im his 50s, when she was only 15. Other teenage girs had to marry-men more than 40 years their senior, say ex-members. Some men fathered more than 40 children. Palmer and other ex-members were nervous, even fearing for their safety, when they made their complaints public. At the least, the women worried their tenuous links to children or siblings remaining in the colony would be permanewntly cut. They said colony men generally don’t help with child- raising. young children do long hours of manual labor, leaders teach astronaut Neil Armstrong never landed on the moon and the sect’s various prophets have often predicted the end of the world. “*There’s many good people in the group and I don’t want to see the children hurt, but I want people to know just how much power the leaders wicid,"” said Palmer, 34. ““We were taught that we were the chosen people, the elite core of God, superior to all others. And because of that they thumb their nose at the law over polygamy and teach members, especially women, not to associate with Colony members would willingly take poison if that’s what their leader wanted, said ex-member Aloha Boch- mer, 68, who once shared a husband with two other wie “The only reason I'm talking is there’s a whole lot of young people im there getting hurt. It was mostly work when | was there (two decades ago). We never had birth- days or Christmas.”” Ruth Barton, who once belonged to the United Order Efforn colony located about 10 kilometres south of Creston, said she had a lot of trouble breaking free from the polygamists. Constantly taking orders from male patriarchs, she said she and other women came to the point where they “*lived im fear and couldn't think any more."’ After leaving the United Order Effort more than a decade ago, Barton became embroiled in a more extreme polygamous Mormom splinter group, Church of the NS WAS Keone A Public ottention Iandsa <“ \ 4 | ashy a been focused recently on the small town of Lister, 20 kilometres , where the United Order Effort, a pore poles polygamy, has been rocked by the trial of one of its aphecaaroent on sexual abuse charges. Lamb of God, that had escaped to Mexico from the U.S. to avoid polygamy charges. The late leader of the Mormom splinter group, Ervil LeBaron, was convicted in 1980 of murdering the leader of a rival polygamy colony in Salt Lake City, according to the authoritative Encyclopedia of American Religions. Thirteen other polygamy-practising Mormons were murdered in the 1970s before LeBaron was arrested. There is no evidence of such criminal activity in- volving members of the United Order Effort, which is by far the biggest polygamy-practising Mormon group with an estimated several thousand members, mainly in Hilldale, Utah, Colorado City and Creston The Encyclopedia of American Religions calls the United Order Effort ‘“‘the strictest of the several polygamy-practising Mormon groups” which “‘live out- side the laws of . . . the U.S. (and Canada). Most have retreated into the desert and mountainous regions to escape legal and social pressure.”” Town probation officer Barry Neufeld said until recently townspeople have been largely ‘‘indifferent’’ to the colony and the rumored polygamy of the men, whom Neufeld described as ‘trough and ready logging types’’ who keep their women indoors when he visits: Although the colony remains largely insulated from Creston, he said some people are concerned some colony women live on welfare. Non-colo@ residents, he believe: “You can have as many wives and as many kids as you want, as long as you support them.’” During a short visit with the deer-hunting, church- going, hockey-playing men who run the remote colony, Blackmore, looking stocky in a tight blue blazer, laughingly mocked those who would refer to his group as a “‘bizarre polygamous cult."” Blackmore — who owns an airplane and runs a trucking and logging company employing sect members — denied his colony abuses child labor, has erratic academic standards in its schools, demands members give all their money to the church or takes advantage of women By CasNews Staff Vathalla Society director Grant Copeland chuckied when a was suggested the environmental view. “If we're expenses taken donations. We All of the work of the direc- tors of the Valhalla Society is not paid.”” he said im a recent imter- from government and it’s all from public donations. We have no support from government and it’s all from public donations “Maybe it’s because we work so hard that they're (Ceigar expan- sion supporters) impressed that we're able to get a lot done. But it’s not because we have a lot of money. We don’t."" Copeland says intervenor fun- ding would speed up a teview Process such as the one Celgar is currenly undergoing and points out that mega-projects such as the proposed expansion involve highly technical procedures which create questions among the public. lucky, we get the care of through have no support “It’s not unreasonable for us to request that there would be inter- venor funding provided to deal Valhalla Society director says funds scarce with these questions,”’ he said, adding that such funding is Proposed in revised federal en- vironmental review process guidelines. Copeland said public support of environmental groups is growing. “That support is being ex- pressed through the incredible in- crease in membership of the front- line environmental organizations like the Western Canada Wilder- ness Committee and particularly Greenpeace in the last few years,"” Copeland said. ‘‘People are put- ting their money doesn’t money. have a around in their zero funds.”’ sure we're going to get their sup- port on this (expansion issue). So it’s a growing public support but it “It’s nothing compared to what this company. (Celgar) is flaunting They can afford to spend millions on this campaign and we've got Supporters of the Celgar expan- sion project, such as the Citizens a Clean Celgar Moder- nization, are opposed to gover- nments providing intervenor fun- ding and point out that the Castlegar Chamber of Commerce raised some $50,000 to pay for an independent analysis of the social and economic impacts of Celgar’s project there and I'm for whole lot’ of PR campaign They say environmental groups who claim to have widespread public support should easily be able to raise money for similar studies. Non-stop smiles to Vancouver. AN AIR CANADA CONNECTOR 4irBC You choose an airline for schedule and service. And AirBC offers the best of both Our schedule puts a definite emphasis on getting you from here to there as smoothly and quickly as possible. And our service is everything you'd expect of an airline that’s grown to be the largest regional airline in Canada. 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