Legighy of Pari tamant BM " Victoria, Bel Ge ci) in Vev 14 Ney As Hi Ancona ane] he 3 A vs VOL. 37, No, 36 CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1984 per cent outlook, drier but cool and un stable. 4 Sections (A, B, C&D) Police investigate bombings By ADRIAN CHAMBERLAIN — 8 rite, . Nelso: MP Val based police bomb disposal squad continued their investigations today into a bomb’ blast Monday near Grand Forks, and the discovery of a bomb in Brilliant the same day. Sgt. Eli Tetrault of Nelson RCMP GIS Section said police “have no suspects” yet. A dynamite bomb damaged a utility pole in Gilpin, eight kilometres east of Grand Forks, at about 2 a.m. Monday morning, said Tetrault. But the tiny community, — populated mostly by members of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobor sect — suffered no power loss. The blast “didn’t even damage the wires,” said Tetrault. Another dynamite bomb was discovered later that morning by a CP Rail track inspector under the railway / tracks near the junction of Pass Creek Road and Broadwater Road in Brilliant — about 300 metres from the Castlegar Christian Academy school. Police directed children and staff of the school, housed in the old Brilliant School, to leave the premises when they arrived at 8:30 to begin classes for the day, according to principal Sally Crandell. It took a bomb disposal team 20 minutes to deactivate the bomb — completing the job at about 11:30 a.m., ac- cording to police. Police closed Broadwater Road for about a half hour while the squad worked on the bomb. . While Tetrault indicated that the children and staff weren't in danger because they were moved from the area, he added if the bomb had gone off “there's always a pos- sibility” people would have been hurt. Crandell said when she arrived at the school Monday for the first day of classes after the Easter break, the police greeted her with the news that “they thought there was a bomb in the area.” Realizing that telling the 20 school children who had arrived about the bomb might cause a panic, Crandell “told them they would have to go home because there was a problem to be taken care of.” ‘The children “thought there was a bear in the area,” she said. The bomb scare was a disturbing incident for the staff and 30 students in grades 3 to 12 who attend the school “I'm always concerned about the safety of the children,” said Crandell. “I certainly hope it would never happen again.” She said residents in nearby houses were also told to leave by police. Staff and students at the school returned at 12:30 p.m. Monday to resume classes “I don't know whether (the bomb) was a political thing,” said Crandell. “I really don't think it was directed at the school.” But a member of a group who met in Castlegar Tuesday to discuss relations between various Doukhobor sects in the Kootenays thinks the two bomb incidents may have been directed at their four-day conference. “We assume the bombs which were placed (Monday) have some relationship to our meetings,” said Mark Mealing. chairman for a core committee of the Kootenay Committee on Intergroup Relations. The group is sponsored by the B.C. Attorney General's Ministry, and was formed five years ago to look into Doukhobor relations, said Mealing. The conference is being attended by representatives of the orthodox Doukhobor sect — the Union of Spiritual continued on poge A2 City wages waron vandalism a _ Ve FISH TRAP . . . Fred Saliken of Robson (left) prepares to check out fish trap (right) with fisher s biologist Terry Clayton. The two are doing a study for B.C. Hydro at Pass Creek counting rainbow trout travelling up the creek to spawn. Story and more photos B3 CosNews Photo by Chery! Calderbonk PULP LOCKOUT BLAMED BCRIC reports $4.7 million loss VANCOUVER (CP) — After report- ing a modest profit of $13 million in 1983, British Columbia Resources In- vestment Corp. lost $4.7 million in the first quarter of 1984, company presi- dent Bruce Howe told the annual general meeting Tuesday. The recent labor dispute in B.C.'s pulp industry which shut the mills for 10 weeks this spring and weak coal markets accounted for the loss, Howe told about 600 people at the meeting. Continuing what has become a tradi- tion since the company was formed in 1979 by the provincial government to divest itself of its investments in the province's natural resource sector, the shareholders took an active role injhe meeting. They questioned Howe about the profit potential of its North Sea petro- leum investments, dredged up past deals with Edgar Kaiser that cost the company millions of dollars, they wanted to know about safety measures taken on the company’s new oil drilling platform in the North Sea and they chastized director Jim Pattison for owning a company that distributes pornographic magazines. But overall the meeting was more restrained than previous ones which on occasion had deteriorated into shouting matches. KEPT INFORMED “We like to think part of it is that we've got better informed sharehold- ers,” said Howe, who, acki ging But he didn’t have particularly good news for shareholders at the meeting. The company’s new petroleum assets are expected to perform well this year, forest products are also expected to improve and, based on the current out- look the company should turn a profit in 1984, Howe said. “However, in the coal sector the pri: mary market remains very sluggish: And, sinte coal operations account for the largest portion of your company’s asset base, a weak performance in this area~ could result in less than satis- factory profit picture for 1984.” the unusual nature of the company — more than half of its hundreds of thou- sands of shareholders’ have never owned stocks before — has gone to unusual lengths to inform shareholders of the company's activities. SCHOOL TAXES UP ONLY MARGINALLY By CasNews Staff A slight rise in mill rate for the Castlegar school district. means most area homeowners will be paying about $5 more this year for school taxes than in 1983. According to a budget comparison released when the school board passed its annual tax rate bylaw Monday, the mill rate now is about 6.25 mills — an increase of about eight/tenths of a mill from last year. The cost to a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000 is $624 — up $8 from last year. This takes into aceount a calculated decrease in) home values in the Castlegar area of 1.25 per cent over residenees worth $100,000, “most peo- ple will be paying $4 or $5,” said sec retary-treasurer John Dascher. Trustee Peter Kagis added that the tax increase is mainly “due to a de crease in asSessed value of properties,” not a school board budget increase. According to the budget comparison, the budget for 1984 is $10,046,443 — a $7,600 decrease over last year. The assessment for homes in the area for 1984 is more than $266 million — down from over $259 milion in 1983. The board has set out to raise $1,600,700 in taxes based on the value of The comp: d last week that it had agreed to a coal price cut from its Japanese customers. “We did better than the Australians and the American suppliers, but we had to take a price reduction of 74 cents a tonne,” he said, adding that coal sales volumes also have been reduced and the market will probably be consider- ably oversupplied for several years. Howe spoke in glowing terms about the company’s investments in the North Sea and showed the meeting a short film on the company’s South Brae oil-drilling platform which has just come into full production. “Our petroleum operations are ex pected to be the brightest performers. Total sales from 12 full months of production in the North Sea will generate months of production in the “Our petroleum operations are expected to be the brightest perform ers. Total sales from 12 full months of production in the North Sea will generate cash flows estimated at close to $100 million. This will make a sub- stantial inroad on long-term debt.” Howe has said that his immediate goal is to reduce the company's $f.2 billion debt and that his five-year goal is to have the company making $100 million profit each year. Although some objections were voiced at the meeting, B.C. Resources wil] go ahead witp plans to change its name to Westar Group Ltd., Howe said. The company will ask the provincial government to amend legislation so the name can be changed. Several sub- sidiaries have already changed their names to include Westar. Teachers and board agree on seniority By CasNews Staff Castlegar school board and Castlegar District Teachers’ Association settled — called the “Security of Employment Agreement” in a board press release made public Monday — is “a straight onan last dnesday that seniority in the event that a ial land and imp within the’ school district. The tax Féquisition for the City of Castlegar is'$854,998, and $746,702 for rural areas within the. district, ‘The school board also formally adop- ted its annual budget for 1984, with a gross expenditure of $10,710,701. ore af laid off as part of provin- m. i ‘Under Bill 8, any teachers laid off as part of schdol boards’ budget re- straipt measures are the onesywith the jeast seniority in the district. The agreement between the Castlegar school board and the CDTA clause,” said trustee George Anutooshkin, a member of the board's poliey committee. Although four or five teachers are scheduled to be laid off next Sep- tember, Anutooshkin said “hopefully they'll all. stay on.” CDTA president Mike Rodgers continued on page AS By RON NORMAN Editor Concerned about the sudden surge in vandalism to city property, Castlegar council and local RCMP plan to fight back. The city and police are preparing a program to wage war on vandalism. “We've been getting a program on (vandalism),” said RCMP Staff Sgt. John Stevens in an interview today. Stevens said Ald. Bob MacBain, chairman of council's parks and rec- reation committee, will be announcing details-of the anti-vandalism campaign shortly. MacBain recently told council he is “becoming increasingly concerned with the vandalism taking place in our parks.” He said it is reaching the point where taxpayers can no longer afford to, re- pair or replace damaged equipment. “I don't know what the answer is,” he said, unless it is repairing or re- placing the items on a monthly basis. City crews presently repair or replace vandalized items as soon as possible. “Perhaps we're going to have to do this less . . . often,” MacBain said. He acknowledged that it may be a “hard- ip” on the community. Still, he said it may bring the prob- lem to the attention of more residents. He said the public has to help the city combat the problem. But Ald. Marilyn Mathieson dis- agrees with waiting to repair damaged equipment. “Once things start to get run down, it invites more vandalism,” she ex- plained. She said the city should still repair or replace items immediately. Ald. Len Embree says the vandalism “is a social problem,” and pointed out “the success in trying to legislate against vandalism hasn't been that high.” nside TAKE A CHANCE: Would you endorse casino-gam- bling in the Central Kootenay Regional District? That's the question we put to Saman- tha Kelly and five other residents in our weekly On The Street feature. Find out their views on gam- bling... A8 Nelson mistake. but our anxiety about itis... BS “1 was tired and sat down in an empty wheelchair, atter returning to England. “Suddenly a nun wheeled mé off, and betore | could explain, the Pope blessed me.” Embree said he is “as appalled as anyone else,” but said it takes “public education to prevent vandalism,” not legislation. Embree suggested the city approach the schools to arrange a talk with stu- dents. Mayor Audrey Moore told of a recent case of vandalism where toilet paper had been strewn throughout a city park. She said it took eity crews an hour to clean up the mess. “That's a pretty useless occupation.” “It seems like it's consistent,” says city works foreman Jim Hendrickson. He said spray painting a stop sign may not seem like much, but it's ex- pensive to repair. It costs $19 for a new sign, another $19 for a post and about the same to pay a city crew member to install the post, he said. “You're looking at $50 to $60 for every stop sign.” Vandalism skyrocketed in 1983. Ac cording to city figures, it cost the city more than $4,000 to repair or replace damaged items in the first nine months of last year, compared to only $1,800 for 1982. But"both those figures have likely been topped in the first four months of this year. In March alone, the city suffered more than $3,000 in vandal ism. t came on March 11 when four youths in their mid-teens went on a weekend rampage in the city works yard causing more than $3,000 damage. In all, nine city vehicles were smash- RCMP tracked down the culprits within three days and turned them over to the probation service. The youths were placed in the diversion said the agreement defines varying levels of seniority in this order: the continued on poge A2 IT’S USELESS: Education Minister Jack Heinrich wasn't very en- couraging in his comments about attempts to reopen DTUC in NO PLAYBOY: The new head of First Choice pay-TV says one of the first things he may do is axe the Playboy channel. . . A6 A MIRACLE: DONCASTER, England — A British pilgrim to Rome says he stunned Vatican staff members and set off whispers of “It's a miracle” by getting up from his wheelchair and walking away moments after being blessed by the Pope. But Jan Lavric, an able-bodied doctor visiting Rome with a party of handicapped people, said Tuesday the whole thing was a he said VIOLENT CRIME: Canado's violent crime is not rising very quickly,