ive Library, Parli Victoria, B. c, VBV 1x4 Fab at Bldgs., 501 Belleville st 22. Cominco expansion Cominco president pand its zinc smelter at Trail... A2 Castlegar Thursday's town hall meeting... A2 LOTTERY NUMBERS The winning numb: bonus number was 6. The. winning numbers drawn Friday in The Pick lottery were 2, §, 12, 13, 16, 29, 33 and 37. The $500,000 winning number in Friday's Provincial lottery is 5075077. s in Saturday's Lotto 6-49 draw were 5, 14, 18, 24, 42 and 49. The NHL on Tv Castlegar area resi- dents will be able to watch the Oilers-Flames Battle of Alberta on TV cou Su » S Vol. 41, No. 33 Castlegar News NDAY CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 1988 Cloudy with sunny breaks and scattered showers today. There is @ risk of afternoon ond evening thundershowers. Highs hear 12° to 14°. Monday will be cloudy with sunny periods Chance of precipitation is 60 per cent today and 30 per cent Monday, 60 Cents 2 Sections (A & B) ERODED DITCHLINE . . . More than 200 feet of ditchline washed away on Highway 22 earlier this week when Sullivan Creek overflowed during a mudslide. The tm, et SH weatuerncasts ON THIRD BALLOT Kristiansen wins NDP nomination By RON NORMAN Edit itor There will be a fourth federal election campaign for Lyle Kristiansen. The 48-year-old former sawmill worker from Nelson captured the Kootenay West-Revelstoke federal NDP nomination Saturday at the Castlegar Community Complex, beat- ing Kaslo engineer Don Scarlett on the third and final ballot. Kristiansen tallied 381 votes to Scarlett’s 323. Steelworker represent- ative Ron Schmidt of Castlegar fin- ished third and Castlegar pharrfiacist Carl Knutson was fourth. “Tm pleased, at not only having received the nomination, but also pleased at the terrific display of enthusiasm and unity that we've seen from New Democrats from one end of Kootenay West-Revelstoke to the other,” Kristiansen told reporters. “It's heartening for anyone in this crazy business called politics. It’s particularly heartening though when you've been involved with it and sacrificed as much, not only myself, but those close to me and my family and my kids have done over the years.” Kristiansen, who is married and has three children, was first nominated in the old Kootenay West riding in 1979. He lost that election battle to Progressive Conservative candidate Bob Brisco. However, he was nominated again in 1980 and beat Brisco in a rematch. But in the 1984 federal election Brisco edged Kristiansen by 744 votes. In his acceptance speech Kristian sen said the nomination meeting's enthusiasm and unity is a warning to local Conservatives. “This should be a warning to the Mulroney Conservatives, regardless of whether it's Bob (Brisco) or whoever is the id in the next federal . toad between Trail and Castlegar was closed for about six hours before highways crews could restore single-lane service Cashews Photo by Brendon Nogle 3,000 HOMES AFFECTED election.” Later, talking to reporters, Krist iansen said he’s confident he can win the next election. He noted that in the last election he polled more than 45 per cent of the vote. “Most politicians that get 45.2 per cent of the vote win their seats. . . . It TEAMING UP « Lyle Kristiansen (left) and Ron Schmidt join hands in moment of triumph after Kristiansen was declared winner of the federal 1 pataee NDP K Complex y West-R i don’t want to predict anything .. . but I feel good about it, I feel positive about it.” Some 925 party members started the day in the chilly arena complex, but by the time the final ballot was held some 51: hours later, only about 700 remained. Kristiansen led from the first ballot, posting 329 votes to Scarlett's 279, Schmidt's 229 and Knutson's 76. Knutson was then dropped from the second ballot. The longtime NDP supporter said he was surprised at his poor showing on the initial ballot “I had estimated I had about double that support out there”, he told the Castlegar News, adding that he Saturday at the Community CasNews Photo by Ron Norman Scarlett gained somewhat on the second ballot, while Kristiansen and Schmidt stayed level. Kristiansen polled 328 votes to Scarlett's 306 and Schmidt's 234. But immediately prior to the announcement of the results, Schmidt strode to Kristiansen’s campaign table and grabbed a handful of Kristiansen's red campaign ribbons and stuffed them in his pocket. When the results were announced he quickly pinned a ribbon on his suitcoat, displaying his support for Kristiansen. Schmidt said he threw his support behind Kristiansen because “we need Slide severs gas line By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer A mudslide at Sullivan Creek Thursday ruptured a natural gas line forcing Inland Natural Gas to cut service to about 3,000 homes in the Castlegar, Robson and Genelle areas. The slide happened just one day after a mudslide in the same creek sent trees, mud and rocks crashing down onto Highway 22, closing the road for six hours, Wednesday night. “The gas was disrupted at about 6 p.m. Thursday night,” said Ken Zim. merman, district manager for Inland Natural Gas in the West Kootenay. “The line broke due to a slide.” The gas supply lasted until about 10 p.m. before the local reserves or “line pack” ran out. The cause of the slide which shut off gas to the area for approximately 12 hours was the same as Wednesday night's slide. “A beaver dam broke,” said Zim merman. “A big pile of trees and debris hit the pipe splitting it open and kept going past.” Zimmerman said there was never, any danger to the public. “It’s a very isolated area up there,” he said of the location of the gas line at Sullivan Creek which is located between Genelle and Trail. About 15 Inland employees and private heating contractors spent all Wednesday night and Thursday going to all the residences affected to turn off their gas metres as a safety precaution. The gas company called in service men from as far away as Kamloops, Kelowna, Vernon and Creston. “We want to make sure there's a pilot light on when we restore service,” said Inland regional manager Ron Bowman. “It's a safety precaution.” The men then spent Friday and Saturday reactivating the metres and gas appliances in the homes. Just one night earlier Highway 22 was closed near Genelle as a large beaver dam broke sending tonnes of debris tumbling down Sullivan Creek, clogging an eight-foot-diameter culvert that runs under the highway. The highway was closed to traffic from 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night to 3:30 a.m. Thursday morning when one lanc was cleared. The clogged culvert caused the water from Sullivan Creek to rise up the highway and spill down onto the CP Rail tracks below. The torrent carried mud, rocks and trees with it as it took out the ditchline on the west side of the highway for about 200 metres before spilling mud and water over the east side of the road foreing the closure of the rail line. “It eroded some of the ditchline and pavement on the southbound lane,” said Highways engineer Dave St. Thomas. “A very large pond emptied down the creek taking all sorts of debris with it.” ‘ continued on poge AZ KCTA budget cut $183,000 By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer The Kootenay Country Tourist Association's shared government bud- get came up $183,000 short of expecta tions, forcing the group to tighten its belt for the upcoming tourist advert ising season. The 34-per-cent reduction — down to $444,000 from the $627,000 originally requested — is a result of the provin- cial government's recent cutbacks in B.C.'s tourist industry funding. “program, the Funding for provincial tourism dropped $7 million this year to $42 million, compared with last year's $52 million allotment for the tourist industry. “We're asking all our operators to tailor their marketing programs so that we can fall within our budget,” KCTA president Charlie Cohoe told the Castlegar News. Under the provincial govern- ment's Partners in Tourism marketing KCTA matches the government's contribution. This year the government will kick in $222,000 with the 150 members of the KCTA matching that amount for a total of $444,000. The KCTA had originally hoped the government would approve the $627,000 shared-cost budget sub- mission for the year. “It's a little disappointing,” Cohoe said. “The funds are less than antici pated and may hinder our ability to promote.” continued on pege AI only takes a .1 per cent swing to tilt it from the Conservative columns to-the NDP columns. So it’s pretty tight. I had about 120 members pledged their support. who had working people in Ottawa, trade continued on page A3 Council hears concerns By BONNE MORGAN Staff Writer While only a third of the chairs at Thursday's town hall meeting were filled, Castlegar council was kept busy receiving “input” from residents and addressing municipal concerns. The informal public meeting was held in the Community Complex as part of Castlegar's municipal awareness week Issues brought forward by the group of about 20 residents and 11 former council members included tourism, traffic issues and council policy Traffic problems on Columbia Avenue dominated the question period. Former alderman Gerald Rust expressed concern about the area of Columbia Avenue at the interchange. He said the area is hazardous because traffic heading towards Trail often uses the right-turn lane at the interchange to pass main traffie on the right “Sooner or later there is going to be a fatal accident there,” said Rust Rust asked council to mark the lane as a “right turn only” lane. “It would stop the problem of people trying to cut into through traffic,” he said Ald. Albert Calderbank, chairman of the works and services committée, agreed the area is a “hazard” and said it would be considered. Rust also asked council to repair the sidewalk on 24th Street. “The main problem is with the sidewalk is it needs surfacing, he said, earlier saying the area “gets an awful lot of traffic.” Calderbank expressed concern with traffic making a left turn towards Nelson at the interchange when the light is red. Although the turn is perfectly legal, Calderbank said not everybody is aware of that, especially out of town traffic visitors. ® Former alderman Jim Gouk said something should be done for the traffic coming from Nelson making a left turn onto Columbia Avenue towards south Castlegar. “Something that is far more dangerous than the legal left turn... you have to thread through two lanes of south bound traffic, two lanes of oncoming traffic plus a lane of south bound traffic,” Gouk said. He also expressed annoyance with the traffie light on Columbia Avenue near Maloney Pontiac Buick GMC and asked that it be taken out of service or run as a flashing light. “If ever in the world or in my travels I have seen 1 useless traffic light, that has to be it,” he said. “It goes onto a flashing light at night and it doesn’t cost anything and doesn’t disrupt the flow of traffic.” Calderbank said he doesn't think the light was necessary and opposed its installation at the time. But he added at the time, it was thought there would be heavier development in the area when Safeway build a new store in that location. He also expressed a problem with left turn lanes, saying people were travelling in them and merging as through traffic. Calderbank said he felt a “safety island in the middle of Columbia Avenue (is) the answer.” Patrick Nekleva said he wants to see a sidewalk or at feast a gravel walking area along the highway towards the Crestview subdivision. Pat Romaine asked council to push the Ministry of Highways to build a road along the Arrow Lakes that would link Castlegar to Revelstoke. He said the road would attract tourists and provide access to hot springs and forest fires. Ald. Terry Rogers said council did discuss a possible highways link along the Arrow Lakes, but did not receive much encouragement from the Ministry of Highways. “We were assured it was going to remain a low profile (project), not necessarily with us, but with the Ministry of Highways,” Rogers said.