Tareas eas ttongs to Castae Rare td pe
trom

Tapes peeche, omgrernge sx prowded by the eawertaar shail romean oe

Closing

Parents opposed to the
Castlegar school board's decision
to close four rural elementary
schools must be ing just
what they had to do to change
trustees’ minds

No one envies school trustees
for the job they do. Trustees are
constantly placed in pressure-
cooker situations and faced with

parents and asks for their input,
it's presumed the input will have
some intivence.

But that doesn’t appear to be the
case with the school closures.

Parents at Blueberry elementary
school clearly indicated they wan-
ted the school to remain open.
More than 100 turned out for the
public meeting, some carrying

Yet, the board still closed the
school. it begs the question, “Why
hold the meetings in the first
ploce?”

WKPL sale

Cominco Ltd.'s sale of West
Kootenay Power and Light Co. Ltd.
took a sudden twist this week
when it was led the four

schools

Had the board already made up
its mind about what it intended to
do before the meetings? Ap-
porently so, otherwise, the Blue-
berry parents certainly would have
had more impact on the board.

tt the board had already made
up its mind on what was the best
move for the school district as a
whole, then it should have said
that and dispensed with the public
meetings.

As it turned out, the board gove
parents the impression what they
had to say would make a differen-
ce, when really it made no dif-
ference at all.

tf the board had thought that
closing the four schools was best
for the school district — and it
looks like it was the best decision
— why pretend that another
decision was possible?

It's not fair for government to go
to the people for an opinion and
then ignore that opinion.

takes twist

And anyone who has been to a
regional district meeting — at
least o Regional Distrct of Central

regional districts WKPL serves ore
interested in buying the hydroelec-
tric compeny and moking it a
public utility.

The idea has merit.

tt would ensure thot any
decisions concerning West
Kootenay Power would be made by
the communities affected. It's hard
to have any more direct input than
that.

At the same time the move

Waneto Plaza and head off on un-
friendly takeover by companies

districts decide to make a bid and
assuming that are the successful
bidder (both major assumptions), it
is not clear whether that would put
a lid on WKPL rate increases.

Certainly, as a public utility, the
regional districts could run West
Koetenay Power on a break-even
basis, rather than try to run up
profits.

Even so, its unlikely the regional
districts could maintain today’s

rates. Purchasing West

Kootenay Power — though no one
has put a price on it, at least not
publicly — would mean borrowing
millions of dollars, probably from
the Municipal Finance Authority.

While the funds would be
borrowed at the t rates
available, they would still hove to
repaid. And the only way to do that
is by dipping into customers
pockets.

But the debt costs ore only the
beginning. There are other con-
cerns. Hopefully, the regional
districts would establish a Crown
corporation to operate West
K

ry g — knows
idy
Despite all that, » there's little
doubt that as far as West Kootenay
residents are concerned West
Kootenay Power would be better
off in the hands of the regional
districts than in some company like

B.C. Hydro.

Allin
perspective

Westar Timber's sale of its
Skeena pulp mill in Prince Rupert
and its sawmill in Terrace will
likely have little effect'on the com-
pany’s Castlegar operations.

Hopes that Westar would pump
some of the $100 million it received
for the two mills into its Celgar
Pulp Operations were quickly
dashed by B.C. Resources Invest-
ment Corp. chairman Bruce Howe.

Mr. Howe made it clear B.C.
Resources plans to use the $100
million to reduce its long-term
debt.

In the same news report, Repap
Enterprises, the Montreal firm that
purchased the two mills, announ-
ced it plans to carry out a $40
million, two-year capital program.

The program will reduce produc-
tion costs, and improve efficiency
and the long-term competitiveness
of the Skeena mill.

Repap isn't the only company
making hefty investments in the
pulp industry. Crown Forest In-
dustries Ltd. also announced this
week it will spend $30 million
during the next year to improve
the quality of pulp used in newspr-
nt at its Elk Falls mill on Vancouver
tsland.

Power ind di of
the regional boards.

Still, there is bound to be some
political involvement in the com-
pany, just os there is now with B.C.
Hydro. It doesn’t take much
imagination to see regional direc-
tors trying to interfere with West
Kootenay Power operations for
parochial interests.

Those hard

Al Capone meet Alan Eagleson

Mr. Eagleson, executive direc
tor of the National Hockey League
Players Association, wants to
establish a multi-million dollar
post-coreer fund.

He says the primary goal of the
fund is to assure each NHL véteran
of 400 games a cash settlement at
@ set age after retirement.

Theat sounds reasonable
enough, until Mr. Eagleson gets to
the fine print: “I would like to get o
quarter-million bucks at age 50 for
each player . . . that's not a bod
torget.

__In.gase you missed that, he said

e million bucks” — as in

000. Each. Not bad indeed for

someone who plays a game for
tive yeors

But we shouldn't be too hard on

Westar Timber
plans to spend a grand total of $35

million over 10 years to modernize

Letters to the Editor

: Secure WKPL for future

Editer, Castlegar News:

I am in support of the regional
districts making an in-depth review of
the purchase of West Kootenay Power
and Light Co.

I am not in favor of Inland Natural
Gas getting into the monopoly position
of controlling both gas and electrical
distribution. The fact it is done in other
places makes it more likely Inland will
slip into the “corporate buccaneer”
category in which Kootenay West MP
Bob Brisco sees B.C. Hydro operating.
If this is the way B.C. Hydro operates
on the electrical how do they
operate on their gas side?

‘The securing of our natural resource
would control the energy price to help
entice new industry, as well as
economic living, for the benefit of all.
We would also secure our natural
resource from corporate flipping as in
real estate situations. We only have to
look to the East Kootenay coal mines
that are controlled by Japanese or
Korean owners. Unfortunately Wester
Mining is in this category, too.

The sale of the dams as a corporate
asset could result in ever-increasing
mortgages and thus ever-increasing
costs to captive consumers.

The fact that Cominco

Thanks
BCGEU

Editor, Castlegar News:

For over two years those of us in
Glade, Procter and Harrop have been
trying to see to it that our ferry service
is not interrupted during a government
employees strike. We wrote to the
government and the union on several
occasions.

The governmeng's replies have been
vague, contradictory and without
knowledge of our problem. Procter

is only

and control
stondards at its Celgar pulp mill.
That's $5 million less than what
Repap plans to spend in the next
two yeors and only $5 million more
than what CFI will spend this year.
Puts it in perspective, doesn't it?

luck NHLers

the NHL players. After all, they
only make a minimum of $70,000
for working nine months of the
yeor. Sure it's a little more than
B.C.’s minimum wage of $3.65 an
hour, but what the hay?

The bottom line is who
ultimately pays the shot for all
those hard luck NHL types? Why
the fan, of course

With that in mind, it would be
interesting it Mr. Eagleson polled
the fans of teams like Vancouver
Canucks, Detroit Red Wings or Los
Angeles Kings to see if
wouldn't mind kicking in @ few bills
to help pay for the quarter-million
dollar post-career fund of the likes
of Ron Delorme, Harold Snepsts or
Tiger Williams.

The answers just moy bring Mr
Eagleson back down to earth.

id were told they could take the
SalmoCreston highway. Obviously,
the government has no idea of the
geography of our area or where
Procter is.

Those of us in Glade were told we
could always get motel accommodation
during a strike. They did not say what
we should do about our farm animals as
motels do not allow cows or pigs in
their rooms even if we could afford

members, however,
were very cooperative. They answered
our letters with concern and invited us
to meetings to discuss our problems
and possible solutions.

In a letter president John Shields
says, “We found it very useful for Mr.
Branden and Mr. Steeves to meet with
your group. Subsequent to that meet-
ing, further deliberations resulted in
the decision of the union not to strike
the Glade and Harrop ferry services.
We have decided that we will not with.
draw the services of these members in
the event of job action in the gov.
ernment service.”

On behalf of the Glade residents, I
would like to thank the BCGEU for
listening to us and helping us where
the government would not do anything.

(Christine Cress

Glade

designating certain operations for sale
and not divesting itself entirely of its
electrical entity leaves room for
negotiations once all the facts are
known.

I think, however, our Regional
District of Central Kootenay as well as
the City of Castlegar could do worse

than secure this resource for its
citizens and those in the future.

The decision will probably be one of
the most important to be made during
the tenure of the presently elected
bodies.

Mel McMullen,
Castlegar

Slocan has history

it can be

Editer, News:

The article which appeared in the
May 25 Castlegar News regarding the
replica of a Japanese internment camp
cabin being constructed at the village
of Slocan was noteworthy.

The writer went on to say the
building will be billed as a Japanese
Internment Historical Information
Centre, and it will also serve as a
tourist information booth.

Then the statement was made that
the village doesn't want the replica to
end up as a tourist attraction. This is
made to sound like a fate worse than
death.

One would hope this was a mis.
understanding. Surely, the main merit
of the structure would be the attraction
of tourists with the resultant boost to
local merchants and economy

proud of

The time has surely come to cease
sticking our heads in the sand and
realize that every effort must be made
to attract tourists and meet their needs
if we are to survive as a business
centre.

Tourism.would seem to be our only
means of creating more jobs for local
people and making them self-suppor
ting.

Slocan has a history to be proud of
and capitalize on where tourism is
concerned, yet it boasts no museum or
other indication of the prominent part
it played in the days when it had a
population of 6,000 and was one of the
busiest and gaudiest boom towns in the
west.

Take a bow, Slocan, and share your
iNustrious past.

Mrs. M. Whitfield,
Slecan

Johnson's comments
make stomach turn

Editer, Castlegar News:

After reading the Wednesday paper
my stomach turned over what school
board chairman Kay Johnson said
about boarding up the school windows
in four schools.She said she hopes it
won't embarrass the communities. She
should be embarrassed for doing such a

last year, but now she tells a different
story.
The truth finally comes out about
what we people were facing for four
years. Schools superintendent Terry
Wayling said last year that things

for this year

opened; that the board saved funds and
had extra money. It was all untrue.
School trustees had it on their minds all
along to close the rural schools.

There was never any mention about
closing any of the city schools — only
ths cers! exteels'wese semeet =”
really unfair.

I don't see why we people from rural

It's fine to close the rural schools be-
cause those peoplp don’t count anyway.

As long as our children here in town
are safe, nothing‘else matters. Rural
children can get on buses at 7:30 a.m.
and come into the big city. There's
nothing wrong with that. They will be
packed like sardines on buses and come
to classes with 40 children per
classroom. Boy, will they get a really
good education!

All of us in rural areas should ser-
iously consider whether we should
spend our money in Nelson, Trail and
everywhere else except Castlegar.

Helen Tereposky
Pass Creek

eee ner er nieeretneemmmmmemenciinanninetei

_—_—_—_—___—E

Please address all Letters to the

Editor to: The Castleger News,

P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN

3H4, or deliver them to our office
ae

Remember
When?

35 YEARS AGO

From the June 14, 1951
Castlegar News

Another big step in the advancement

of education in this district was taken
when the local Kiwanis Club decided to

with great joy by the music students.
7 2 6

The Rose Cafe will open soon under
new management and will operate
under the name of The Castle Cafe.

Mr. H. Seto of Vancouver has leased
the premises from Mr. F. Eremenko
and is now arranging for equipment.

Chinese foods will be a specialty.

. 28 *

The C.M. and S. Co. played host to 52
Stanley Humphries high school
science students and their instructor,
Mr. J.A. Charters, when they visited
the Tadanac and Warfield operations
Friday.

._ 28 «

Building permits issued last year

totalled $544,000. This figure included
Humphries high

. 2. «©
Mr. A.A. Lamb and A.J. Martin
were official delegates to the Legion
zone council meeting held in New
Denver on the weekend. Their wives
accompanied them to the meeting.
. 2 *¢

‘The Lillian Killough Chapter IODE
held their last monthly meeting before
the summer holidays with the Regent

Castlegar

The Columbia River continued its
slow drop, going down .30 feet during
the past 24 hours. Reading this morn-
ing was 32.89 feet.

The ferry has started to operate for
passengers on a half-hour schedule
during daylight hours. Hopes to put the
ferry in operation for vehicular traffic
today were ended by the slow drop of
the river.

.

Joan Reed was crowned queen of the
roses at the Kinnaird Improvement
Society's 15th annual Rose Ball Friday
evening.

The crowning of queen Joan by
retiring queen Sharon Markle was the
highlight of the evening which saw the
Kinnaird Hall comfortably filled with a
happy crowd of young and old who
danced to the music of the Men of Note.

. 2 «

The day might come when the
department of transport will take over
the running of the Castlegar airport,
airport committee members Sam Muir-
head told Kinnaird council Monday
night.

For this reason, said Mr. Muirhead,
the three municipalities should contin-
ve their financial support of the
airport. Castlegar and Kinnaird both
pay $200 yearly while Nelson pays
$600.

. 2 «6

A bridge across the Columbia at
Kinnaird is on the drawing boards, the
Castlegar Chamber of Commerce was
told at its meeting last week.

Fred Pressacco, the group's roads
and bridges chairman said the Kinnaird
bridge is on the drawing board while
the McCrae Creek bridge will take
possibly 16 to 18 months to complete.

15 YEARS AGO
From the June 17, 1971
Castlegar News

The tourist booth operated by se
Castlegar and District Chamber
Commerce is to open by July 15.

At last Thursday's chamber meeting,
& group was delegated to travel this
past Monday to Christina Lake where
the booth is located and take the
necessary steps for its opening.

. 8 «

A local hockey figure, who has
credited hockey with giving him an op-
portunity to travel the world, is now
slated for a hockey job in Switzerland
this fall.

Harry Smith of Kinnaird, a former
defenceman with Trail Smoke Eaters,
is to leave Canada Aug. 20 to organize a
minor hockey system in that country.
He will also play on the A division
Cierre team in the Swiss hockey
league.

oe

Celgar's Caitiega and Prince Rup-

cent by July 1.
The orders, issued by the company's
head office in Vancouver, are e:

at: 197 Col
Castlegar. B.C.

Letters must be si;
clude the writer's full

ed and in-
nome and
ex tional
ished

and address
the writer must be disclosed to a
editor

The Castlegor News reserves
the right to edit letters for brevity,
clarity, legality end grammar.

MORE LETTERS :
Man volunteers plan

Editor, Castlegar New:

Along with the rest of the
cast of thousands, I'd like to
hereby declare myself a can.
didate for the leadership of
the Social Credit Party. I'm
sure the following eight-point
program will be of interest:

1. Create the Private Re
sources Investment Corpora.
tion by giving every loyal
Socred member 1,000 shares

of B.C. Hydro stock.

2. Appointment of Jim
Keegstra to the office of Om-
budsman.

3. Persuade Peter Pock
lington to become our Minis
ter of Labor.

4. Demand that every
minister of the Crown invest
in the area covered by
his/her portfolio. By looking
after their investments, min-

Where was Corky?

Editer, News:

Why wasn't Nelson-Cres-
ton NDP candidate Corky
Evans at the Salmo meeting
to hear provincial Industry
Minister Bob McClelland
Monday night?

Is he interested in only
those areas of the riding with
a leftward lean? If the NDP
won the next election would
Salmo be left out of the
scheme of things because
business people are trying to
do something for the area?

Should the Socreds form
the next government and Mr.
Evans win in Nelson-Creston
wouldn't he have to work
with the government to get
economic benefits for the
area?

No, I guess he wouldn't. It
would appear that we weuld
replace one whiner with
another.

Come on, Mr

Evans, tell

me I'm wrong; tell me that
you would support and repre-
sent the people — all of the
people; tell me that wild
horses kept you from the
meeting in Salmo.

One only has to look at the
legislative group in Victoria
now to see that the NDP isn’t
interested in mustering a
united front to fight the
Americans on behalf of our
loggers. Obstructionism to
get press coverage and per
sonal enhancement seems to
be the only objective.

I may be wrong, but it
would seem to be that Mr.
Evans also would only work
for himself and any socialist
friends. I hope I am wrong
but where was he? When he
could represent Salmo in the
next assembly, why couldn't
he come represent them
Monday?

F.W. Peitzsche
Fruitvale

Kempf a ‘tiger’

Editor, Castlegar News:

Til bet those left-wing
whiners down at the coast
are sorry they ever grabbed
a tiger like Jack Kempf by
the tail. Our new minister of
lands, parks and housing is a
real doer, as anyone who has
dealt with him knows. He has
tried to help our area on
various matters and I was
surprised at the energy he
seems to have.

Jack is one who makes his
decisions and then does
something about it. He
doesn't waste time taking
polls and testing the water;
he just jumps in and takes
care of the problem

T love how he handled this
low cost housing thing. His
wife (before he married her)
lived in one of these projects
and he moved in with her
when they got married. The
people who pay higher rent

rent

Jack could have stayed
there. There really wasn't
anything wrong with it; but
he moved out after all the
hubbub. Then realizing there
was something wrong with
the whole thing, he promptly
set up. a commission to
investigate low-cost housing.
I just hope for the sake of
those involved that every
penny and benefit our go
vernment gave to help the
needy can be account for.

I know that in the future
Jack plans to make sure that
money allocated for low
income housing goes to help
those it is ment to help and
those it is meant to help and
that it will be done in a way
the money available.

Iris Bakken
Salmo

isters would also be able to
manage their departments. I
call this a “two-track ap-
proach.”

5. Begin immediate plans
for Expo 96, thus allowing
the re-use of all those signs
with only minor modifica.
tions.

6. Demand that every
teacher work at least two
hours a day at physical labor,
thus ensuring that they have
“real jobs.”

7. Allow only the children

of Socreds to attend our uni-
versities, thus ensuring that
we don't educate any more of
those rotten socialists.

8, Stop wasting money on
civil servants by making all
those jobs into volunteer
positions.

I'm sure that with this plan
and the backing of party
members we can create a
province that really is a
haven for the truly wealthy.

Scouting needs
volunteers

Editor, Castlegar News:

Last spring I wrote a letter to the newspaper which was
in effect a plea to the community to support the Scouting
movement in North Castlegar. Many people called me to say
what a fine letter it was. I thought to myself, “Well, maybe

people are interested.”

Jim Waldie, who is now the District Commissioner,
went on community access television. We all thought that
would be sure to attract someone's attention. A meeting was
held. Aside from the people already involved and some very
welcome well wishers in the form of a few people who have
already given long hours of their time and talents to the
Scouting movement, there were two people at that meeting.
One of them, Dean Carter, agreed to become a Beaver

leader.

At first he was a little unsure, but as the year
progressed he found himself becoming more involved with
the kids and really enjoying himself. He really should be
congratulated for running an excellent program with lots of
help from assistants Margo Furtner and Mark Hamilton.

The other person at the meeting was Joe Duarte whose
son is in Dean Carter's Beaver colony. Joe Duarte decided
that while he didn’t want to be a leader he would help out on
the group committee, doing things like helping organize
bottle drives, receiving and relaying information on camps
to the leaders, and keeping finances for the various groups.

This job only takes a few hours a month and having
these things done right makes things run so much easier.
Joe has certainly helped a lot. In fact next year he will be
chairman of the North Castlegar Group Committee, and his
wife Maria has volunteered to do the books.

Great response from a city this size wasn't it? 1 am sure
that with all the young parents around and the numbers of
retirees, that there must be.more than two or three people
with a few hours they could spend*helping the youth of the
area. No special skills 'are needed, but all are appreciated.

They will also have the privilege of meeting some very
nice people already associated with the Scouting movement.
Perhaps some of the ex-leaders feel like getting back into the
movement. What all this is leading up to is we're going to try
again. We are holding a meeting June 18 at 8 p.m. in the
Scout Hall in North Castlegar, just up the street from the

library

We need leaders and we need Group Committee
members in North and South Castlegar and Robson.
Please help. This is a worthwhile organization and we'd

all hate for the kids to lose it due

participation.

to lack of adult

Mike Livingstone
Castlegar

apparently those
who can't éfford to pay high

Bridge results

Fifteen pairs of duplicate
bridge players competed
June 9 at the Nordic Hall in
the Joy Ramsden Bridge
Club.

The average score was 78

Winners were: first — Don
Ellison and Rob Troubridge
108; second — Mary Stewart
and Helen Batchelor 96; third
— Roh and Rita Perrier 91'
fourth — Sandra Broom and
Sally Walters 89'/2:; fifth
Libby Weaver and Hubert
Hunchak 81; sixth — Grace
Donaldson and Helen Fergu
son 79'/.

o-——

‘ ANNOUNCEMENT

West Kootenay Power ond
Light Company, Limited
pleased to announce the elec
tion at its annual meeting on
May 8, 1986 of Mr. J. S. McKay
to its Board of Directors

Me. McKay is Senior Vice
President, Operations of Wes!

capacities since joining
Company in 1969

Floors 3

9 (floors 10 - 14

slightly higher), chilled bottle of
champagne, 20% discount on

dinner in the “

Room

PER NIGHT, PLUS TAX
SINGLE OR DOUBLE OCCUPANCY

1881” Dining

Good March 1 thru June 30, 1986
For reservations (800) 848-9600

Canadian currency at par for room

Sheraton-Spokane Hotel

The hospitality peopie of TET

N. 322 Spokane Falls Court, Spokane, WA 99201 (509) 455-9600

Tou Free (BOO) 848-9600

‘ne Sheraton Spokane Mates owned by Spoke Lid and + operated under # hcense sesued by Sheraton inns Inc

The six winning

in Wednesday's Lotto 649
draw were 5, 14, 24, 27, 36
and 43. The bonus number
was 26.

jackpot -pool
$2,250,834.20 goes to the from
holder of a single ticket
bought in Ontario.

The second-prize pool,
awarded to those matching
five regular numbers and the
bonus number, had nine win-
ners of $59,139.60.

The third-prize pool

i

“It will be great to be on

awarded to those matching the spot when someone needs

five regular numbers, had me.”
418 winners of $973.70 each.

The fourth-prize pool,
awarded to those matching
four regular numbers, had
18,476 winners of $42.30
each.

In addition there

were
289,422 prizes of $10 awarded party.”

Smith who taught in Arm-

Hairdressers

head to Toronto

By CasNews Staff

Adena Tamelin of Castle-
gar, a hairdressing graduate
of Selkirk College, is on her
way to T to to compete
for a posit on the Canadian
Student World team.

Tamelin, 21, recently
placed first in the B.C. com-
petition which earned her
one of three B.C. positions in
the Canadian competition
June 22.

Tony Crosfield, 21, also of
Castlegar, placed second in
the B.C. competition and will
join Tamelin in Toronto along
with a student from Vancou-
ver.

The three will compete
against students from each of
the other provinces for posi-
tions on the Canadian team
will compete at the Hair
Worlds in Verona, Italy later
this year.

In the Toronto competi-

Prices effective Sun. Mon.. Tues. & Wed.

CARLIC RING
CIGARETTES
BENSON & HEDGES. CARTON OF

syaqre

COKE or or SPR RITE / $949

CHEESE SLI SLICES $ 37°

te reserve the ight lit quanto.
Prices limi stock on hand.

Y CENTRAL FOODS

. best in B.

tion, the students will be re- ot evening hair aye

quired to create,

“very. ele- Tamelin said. .

CASH BACK
DAYS

MONDAY, TUESDAY
& WEDNESDAY
SHOP MONDAY TO WEDNESDAY.

YOU COULD WIN THE PRICE OF
YOUR PURCHASE BACK

Put your name and phone number on your
receipt and drop it in the Barrel
located in Centercourt.

A DRAW EACH DAY

(TO A MAXIMUM OF $100)

Waneta
plaza