Scott David Harrison EDITOR When you think of Trail, three things come to mind: the Smoke Eaters, baseball and Cominco. It’s the latter that has the city in an uproar. A three-part series published by The Vancouver Sun about Trail’s lead prob- lems has the City of Champions on the ropes. But like champions, Trail is fighting back. ° Mayor Sandy Santori says his city has been given a black eye by a care- less journalistic uppercut delivered by The Sun. Now, Trail has decided to trade punches. “We're going to make the news this time,” Santori promised. “We have to. If we sit back and take it, we’re guilty by implication.” The three-part series which has Trail in a frenzy was published Nov. 16, 18 and 19. It outlined the city’s struggle with lead contamination, including the problems children in Trail are having with alarmingly high lead counts in their blood. In addition, the articles, written by provincial reporter Terry Glavin, out- lined the pollution along the Columbia River as a result of Cominco, Trail’s sewage treatment plant and Castle- gar’s Celgar pulp mill. The articles examined Cominco’s re- quest for a four-year extension on its pollution requirements as well. Subsequent reports have followed, including one last Sunday by CBC Television. Santori didn’t attack the CBC broadcast. In fact, he applauded the CBC’s report on Trail’s lead trou- bles as being “balanced and fair.” “T agree that The Vancouver Sun did not create the lead problem in Trail. We're not blaming it for our troubles,” he said. “We know there is a problem and we're trying to deal with it.” Santori has issued a press release to B.C. medias defending the action tak- en by Trail to clean up its high lead counts. He highlighted the recent es- tablishment of the Trail Community Lead Task Force as an example of how the city is coping with and curbing lead contamination. The task force was set up in 1989 by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Environment, Trail and Cominco. Santori says the task force has in- creased public awareness to a level like never before and it is achieving its mandate of cleaning up the one-indus- try town. Santori saved his harshest words for The Sun and reporter Glavin. Hehas written a letter to The Sun protesting the three-part series, stat- ing the stories were “inflammatory, NewsFOCUS -TROUBLE IN TRAIL Mayor stands up to defend City of Champions Saturday, November 30, 1991 ™@ News photo by Mark Davis The Cominco smelter looms over Trail everyday. It's something Trail citizens have learned to live with. They have also learned to deal with the problem of lead sensationalistic and one-sided.” Santori has also demanded and re- ceived an audience with the Vancouver daily’s editorial board which he meets with next week. “I wouldn't want to call it a victory, he said of the meeting. “It gives an op- portunity to meet with The Sun and lution, whether they want to or not ries could have been written about Castlegar. “(The Sun) can do this to any com- munity at any time,” Santori said. “To- day, it was Trail with lead. Tomorrow it could be Castlegar with dioxins and fu- rans from Celgar.” Santori said one-industry towns are ‘Far too often, we také our citizens for granted, but that isn’t the case this time. They have rallied together and are saying . we’re not going to take this.’ —tTrail Mayor Sandy Santori voice our opinions openly with them and provide them with some facts. “We're not afraid of being scrutinized from the outside,” he said. “But for them to could be irreversible. He also cautioned that the same sto- faced with a dilemma that The Sun failed to recognize. He said Trail is Com- inco and Cominco is Trail. “We are partners in Trail,” he said. “Cominco is not our enemy, it’s our ally.” Santori said he will stand by the ef- forts Cominco is taking to clean its lead problem. He encouraged other one-in- dustry towns to do the same. Santori said the citizens of Trail have taken swift action to respond to the ar- ticles. He said said he is merely reacting the way citizens have asked him to. “Far too often, we take our citizens for granted, but this isn’t the case this time,” Santori said. “The citizens have rallied together and are saying we're not going to take this.” About fears expressed by some of his own citizens about raising children in Trail, Santori said they are unfounded. “The children of Trail are in very good hands,” he said. Santori said he will defend Trail wherever he goes. And he’s doing that. After The Sun’s articles, though, that job is getting a little harder. ‘Tm not accusing The Sun of pur- posely coming out and trying to destroy a community. I'm saying that based on the inaccuracies and sensationalism of ieee. articles, they have in fact done t” @ Saturday, Novembé; 30,1997 Slow death of AIDS knows no bounds @ West Kootenay not immune from deadly AIDS virus Scott David Harrison EDITOR AIDS is a disease that knows no boundaries. First thought of as a disease contracted by homosexual males, AIDS has permeated all categories of age, sex, race and religion. In the West Kootenay, there have been six known cases of AIDS Sunday marks the third an- nual World AIDS Day. A cele- bration it is not. Instead, Cindy Talarico wants the day to be one of re- flection in the West Kootenay and around the world. “It’s an educational oppor- tunity for everyone to become more informed about AIDS and the HIV virus,” the nurse with the Central Kootenay Health Unit says. Talarico is one of three nurs- es with the regional health unit that tracks sexually transmitted diseases. Technics Listen The science of sound 5 Change Your Mind! Change any four discs not in play. This top-open, 5-disc Rotary Compact Disc Changer puts you in charge * MASH 1-Bit DAC provides unparalleled sound * Digital Servo System adjusts to centre of each individual disc and automatically compensates for warping, scratches and dirt SL-PC505 Same as above without remote $299°5 AIDS cases in West Kootenay, the number of HIV positive cases is unclear. Those statis- While she knows of six ported in British Columbia in January 1983, there have been a total of 1,053 cases recorded. According to a Ministry of AIDS cases declining in 1991 The of Health announced this week the cumulative results of the B.C, Centre for Disease € 's AIDS antibody tests, covering 174,825 tests over a six-year period ending September 30, 1991. : AIDS virus antibody tests focus on persons at risk for infection with AIDS virus (HIV). A to- tal of 4,932 tests performed were positive for the virus: 3,353 were homosexuals/bisexuals, 190 intravenous drug-users, 63 hemophiliacs, 207 contacts, 17 prostitutes, 73 mul- tiple-blood transfusions recipients and 1,025 for which the risk category was not specified. There were also four positive results in newborns of infected parents. The statistics also showed that there were 142 positive tests on persons younger than 20 years of age. There 256 positive test results for women as well as 174 positive tests from per- sons for whom the sex was not : ‘The number of positive test results should not be confused with actual cases of AIDS. There have been 1,053 cases of AIDS in British Columbia since the first case was reported in Jan- uary, 1983, and of this group, 696 are deceased. Of'the 1,053 cases, $49 were homosexual-bisexual males, 37 were homsexuals who had used intravenous drugs at least once, ten were intravenous drug users, 15 were blood prod- uct recipients, 11 were hemophiliacs, and 20 were heterosexual transmissions. In six cases no medical history could be obtained, and three patients denied any risk behaviors. Two peri- natal cases have been recorded as well. : There have now been 210 AIDS cases reported for 1990 in comparison to 217 for 1989. This decrease in an annual AIDS cases is probably the result of three factors: 1. Earlier medical intervention delaying the onset of AIDS — this especially related to zi- dovudine (formerly AZT) therapy; 2. Possible increases in under reporting; and 3. 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While six cases of AIDS in West Kootenay may not seem like a large number, Talarico says it’s six too many. “Some of those people, I know have died,” Talarico said of the West Kootenay cases. “And others have moved away.” Talarico said people with AIDS and HIV positive tests have little available in the West Kootenay. Talarico would like to see a support network similar to AIDS Vancouver set up to help victims and their families deal with the trauma of the deadly disease. “We have to have something available, not only for the pa- tients, but for mothers to be able to talk to mothers and brothers to brothers,” she said. Up To Technics CD Players! $359°° SL-PD607 Same as above without remote $3 295 + Dealer may selbtor less. Dolby and the Double D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratones Licensing Corporation Now, Listen to What Your Authorized Technics Dealer Has to Say! PETE’S TViw.