a enna Saturday, September 12, 1992 @ TheFARSIDE By Gary Larson My name's Hawold. Well, Wy tits Lunch Time, Supper Time, even when you don't have time... Anytime is Chicken Time, Anytime is Chicken Time! 2816 Columbia Ave. Pr at, Are you planning to retire-or have retired, and have a RRSP? Castlegar Savings Credit Union can assist you with a -z Registered Retirement Income Fund. CAS LEGAR SAVINGS CREDIT UNION "Your Community Financial Centre” 601-18th St. as 3026 Hwy. 6 Castlegar Slocan Park 365-3368 226-7216 DINNER ) SPECIALS 2D September 16 through 21 BUFFALO RIB ROAST The finest Buffalo cut of Rib slow roasted with Pine Nuts and Cedar Sprigs.Served with O'Jus. 6 oz. 8 oz. $ 14°" $ 16° SPRING CHICKEN Half Spring Chicken tly coated in seasoning. wen roasted and served $ 1 495 with gravy and dressing SMOKED LAKE TROUT Boned Lake Trout lightly smoked. Flame Broiled and served with a sweet onion butter. $ 14° la The Fireside Restaurant 1810-18th Ave. For Reservations Castlegar 365-2128 Selkirk enrollment climbs Corinne Jackson NEWS REPORTER Enrollment is up at Selkirk College and so arethe spirits of Richard Hallett. : The Dean of Instructional Support Services ie says the number of students on the Castlegar somgus is up from 1,272 to about 1,365. That is “We may have been able to hold larger class- es because of the new classroom block, but we will be examining this further and we'll wait until enrollment settles,” Hallett said. He said the higher enrollment figures are partly the result of higher university entrance requirements. “Students are a. 7.3 percent in- crease, Hallett said. “It. looks like . ‘Home study offers the opportunity for someone to take courses that are full at gity),” Hallett said. the campus.” — Selkirk’s Richard Hallett high good year. We-have lots of students,” he said. Hallett said that looking to their community college’s to get in (to univer- As well, he said, “whenever there is unemploy- people are always turned away from oe popular programs like nursing and aviation. However, he added that the college has been able to accommodate university transfer stu- dents. Hallett said that the new classroom block — to be officially opened on Oct. 2 — has created more space, allowing the college to facilitate the 7.3 per cent increase. ment we see more students entering the college system.” Selkirk College’s home study program has also prevented the school from closing the door on people who want to pursue their education, Hallett said. : “Home study offers the opportunity for someone to take courses that are full at the campus.” Castlegar’s tourist trade explodes NEWS STAFF Castlegar is doing record business. The city’s visitor informa- tion centre claims that the tourist trade is up 49 per cent from last year. The visitor cen- tre’s assistant manager says the West Kootenay in general is growing in popularity. Marcia Jackson says, “(tourists) might not know about Castlegar, but they’re here in the Kootenays and they come to check us out. “A lot of them ask what there is to do in Castlegar. Quite often people have their day planned by the time they leave here,” Jackson said. August and July were up five per cent from last year, and June saw a 26 per cent in- crease. Jackson says tourism in Castlegar may have flourished at a time when other areas of the province were suffering. “A gentleman from B.C. Parks says the parks stats were up in the Kootenays, and down in some other areas of the province.” Watch for the new THE WEST KOOTENAY cONNECT( coming this week! * W@ Saturday, September 12, 1992 “3a Ne Pha Lahn el SecondFRONT | CALL THE 8:30 a.m. to § p.m. Closed on weekends and statutory holidays. SUB RATES The News is published by Castle News Ltd. for Canwest Publishers Ltd. Mail subscription rate to The News is Merger leaves TimeAir in the wings Scott David Harrison EDITOR Castlegar’s TimeAir employees are wondering if the sky is falling. Ron Armbruster says he doesn’t know what to think about Wednesday’s merger between Air Canada and ,Canadian Airlines. That merger sees Air Canada take over 60 per cent of Canadian’s shares. The remaining 40 per cent will stay in the hands of Canadian’s owner, Pacific Western Airlines Corp. “It’s too early to speculate as to what will happen on a local level and what won't happen on a local level,” Armbruster said Thursday. “We'll have to wait to see where the dust settles.” Air Canada’s takeover bid comes following an ill-fated attempt by Canadian employees to purchase the financially- troubled airline. Armbruster said the employee-purchase plan was shot down because four provincial governments refused to provide financial assistance. Social Credit leader Jack Weisgerber called that a mistake. “The (B.C.) government didn’t support the employees at all and that troubles me,” Weisgerber said from his constituency office in Dawson Creek. “There are a lot a jobs at stake with this and I’m concerned. about what the impact of this merger will be both for air travellers in B.C. and nationally.” Weisgerber said places like Castlegar can expect a reduction in air services. He said that could be coupled by an increase in fares as the two airlines stop competing against one another. Armbruster admits that layoffs are on the way, he just doesn’t know how many and where. “They are coming, but as I understand it, it will be shared between the two airlines,” he said. “For the time being, the plan is to operate the two airlines,” Armbruster said. ae the short-term, that is what we will 0.” Armbruster would not speculate on the long-term plans for TimeAir or its service to Castlegar. - Canadian Airlines and TimeAir are the single biggest private-sector employers in the province with 6,000 workers. Nine of those work in Castlegar. If the merger is approved by the Competition Board, some 6,000 Air Canada and Canadian workers are expected to lose GETTING TO THE ROOF OF THE PROBLEM Twin Peaks Towing employees got a chance to put their expertise to work Thursday evening, as this upside- down Ford Escort had to be put right side up on the road to Selkirk College. Local RCMPare investigating. piso agama be News photo by Jonathan Green Hurricane helps lumber yards Neil Rachynski NEWS REPORTER The Hurricane Andrew tragedy in the U.S. has been a financial boost to West Kootenay sawmills. A number of area lumber yards are reporting increased revenue as a result of Andrew’s destruction. More than two weeks ago the killer hurricane ripped through the coastline of Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. The resulting demand for wood products has been felt at local sawmills. Pope and Talbot’s resident manager Bob Coutts says the price of lumber was driven up. “It’s not a matter of output. Ours is the same everyday,” Coutts said. “What there has been is a price increase. With our hemlock, the increase has been about 10 per cent.” Coutts says trying to navigate what may happen next to that price index is anyone’s guess. “Being a commodity market it’s like the stock exchange — it can change overnight. “Whether it’s the hurricane that caused it I'm not so sure but it certainly seems that this could be the case,” Coutts said. The vice-president of Kalesnikoff Lumber Ltd. says for a two-week period it was easy to sell their lumber. “We just had to make one phone call, and now we're back to where we have to make four or five phone calls,” Ken Kalesnikoff said. “I didn’t increase our shifts or the amount of our products. But it did raise the price and make it a little easier to sell.” “The total market was affected by one region that ignited it or sparked it all,” he said. “It’s supply and demand, plain and simple. They needed some wood, we had it, we gave it to them.” Kalesnikoff used the American lumber demand created from the hurricane to take a verbal shot at the U.S. for imposing a softwood lumber tariff in June. Kalesnikoff said, “it would have been neat if (B.C.) said ‘You want to put a duty on our wood — well now you can’t have it,’ but we can’t do that.” — Selkirk will investigate allegations @ Castlegar college will seek advice from legal counsel NEWS STAFF Selkirk College is launching its own: investigation into criminal charges against one of its students. A 17-year-old student stands accused of seven charges, including breaking and entering of a dwelling house, sexual assault with a weapon, unlawful confinement, threatening, illegal use of a bank convenience card, theft under $1,000 and possession of stolen property. The charges stem from an Aug. 27 incident which occurred at a Sixth Avenue residence. In a news release issued Thursday, Vice Principal Dale Schatz stated that “the matter is in the hands of the (RCMP) and the courts. “The college is investigating the alleged incident through its legal advisors... In the meantime, the college is maintaining close contact with the victim and counselling services are being provided.” When asked why the college is doing its own investigation, Schatz said “we just wanted to confirm whether we should be taking any action.” Neither Schatz, nor Selkirk information officer Joseph Lintz would say what the college plans to do. However, Lintz did say that “it would be inappropriate for the college to pursue any course of disciplinary action. “We have to be careful to not try this outside of court,” he said. “The suspect is innocent until proven guilty through due process of law.”