PROFILE You too can Hama trek —= right here in Crescent Valley Business offers different hiking experience /4B WEDNESDAY July 3,.1992. Vol. 2- No. 27 How do you do? The Castlegar Sun Castlegar, British Columbia “If a llama’s ears are back, that means it’s checking us out,” says Bruce McPher- son of Kootenay Llama Treks. Selkirk College greets students from abroad JiM ZEEBEN Last weck, 45 students from Japan, Singapore and Malaysia were received at Selkirk College to begin a summer of studying English and Canadian culture in preparation for a move into the college system in September. The students come from Asian colleges which have set up links with Selkirk such as Aoyuma Technical College in Tokyo— Selkirk’s sister college. At the afternoon reception, the Intemational Department’s acting director Laurie Jarvis said, as well as learning about Canada, the students impart some of their By Leigh Rubin Try as he might, Edgar would have’a great deal of difficulty trying to skirt the iss culture on this community. “What a difference it makes to the college,” she said. “It is so important to have international students at Selkirk.” Craig Andrews from the Inter- national Education Department opened the reception and intro- duced Elizabeth Fleet from the College Board. After speeches by Fleet and several students, Bruce Rosen entertained with a short perfor- mance on the grand piano in the faculty lounge. Andrews and Fleet then pre- sented pins to last year’s students who were on hand to greet the See STUDENTS 2.sections 20 pages Ann Landers SUNNY Page 3A 75 Cents + G.S. No cause for alarm Company's legitimacy proves residents needn't wo SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Editor 7 Castlegar residents who stated they are concemed they may be facing a possible scam have noth- ing to worry about. A local woman who had called The Castlegar Sun on Monday, stated she and others were suspi- cious over “a company which was selling vacuum cleaners and giv- ing away trips to Hawaii.” After contacting City Hall, the woman was told as was The Sun, that no one fitting that business description had applied for a busi- ness licence. The information however, was false. In fact, a company called Tri-Tech Marketing Ltd., had reg- istered to City Hall for a business licence immediately upon arriv- ing in Castlegar. Based out of Vancouver, the company markets a home cleaning system called a Tri-Star Vacuum. The company which actually manufactures the product, which is sold both domestically and commercially, has been in busi- ness since 1947, “Residents can be assured that the company is completely legiti- mate, and that the product we advertise is widely used and sought after,” said Tri-Tech Mar- keting Ltd. President David Davidson. wDayidson, and two other col- leagues are visiting Castlegar ~ specifically to advertise and. pro- mote the popular cleaning device, which comes complete with a 25- year warrantee, As for the free trip to Hawaii, which created much of the local’s suspician, that is legitimate as well. As Davidson explained, a sur- vey that questions household appliances is first conducted by phone, which immediately enables the potential customer's name to be placed in a draw. “The company selects people at random for various different prizes, the biggest of which is a trip for two to Hawaii with airfare paid for one and accommodations paid for two, The trip, as Davidson explains, is offered through American Travel Incentives, based out of Pleasanton, California. The pro- motional package includes an eight-day-seven-night stay at a three-star hotel in Hawaii, “AIL we ask is that we can advertise the product to the win- ner and get their opinion on it.” Davidson says that in a town the size of Castlegar, about 25 per cent of the population could see the product. Norm Browning from Ootishe- nia, was one resident who was contacted by the company over the phone, He says the Tri-Star vacuum cleaner advertised and sold to him by Tri-Tech Market- ing is‘ probably the best cleaning unit he hids ever owned” | owne “There's absolutely no deceit about scam or deception from this company, Everything is perfectly legiti- mate,” Browning also plans to accept: the free trip to Hawaii he was Offered, and is gladly going to pay‘ the second airfare rate for his wife i when they leave this fall. “We both like to travel, so this RY ELE ELT LT ES “There's abso- lutely no deceit or deception with this company. Everything is per- feciiy legitimate.” — Norm Browning A satisfied customer is a great opportunity for us,” he continued. Browning also said that the ini- tial presentation made by Tri- Tech Marketing Ltd. was both pleasant and polite. “They are definitely not pushy- type people.” As for Davidson, he says the company will be in Castlegar for the next couple of weeks. ‘We're not doing anything that is illegal. All we're doing is try- ing to advertise a product which is not retailed in any store,""he~ ished. Fate of Kinnaird Hall anticipated BRENDAN HALPER Sun staff “The point of tonight's meeting is not for council members to sell us on an option for the hall,” said moderator and Kinnaird resident Bruce Gerrand. “This is a fact Gerrand was speaking to some 50 concemed Kinnaird residents at the hall on June 26. Residents got a chance to voice their opinions, concerns and sug- gest some viable options as to what the future of Kinnaird halt should be. Also present were several mem- bers of city council and Depart- ment of Public We ineering staff Ken Hample and Barry Comin. The Engineering/Public Works staff made presentations immedi- ately following Gerrand’s opening comments. They gave the approx- imate cost of upgrading the hall to meet fire and building codes, a grand total of $43,000. And approximately 4124,500 would be needed to renovate the hall aes- thetically, to make it more attrac- tive to possible user groups. Should it stay or should it go? SUN STAFF PHOTO Brendan Halper Residents of Kinnaird file into the hall on the evening of June 26 to express concems and put forth ideas in regards to the future of their hall. These figures prompted quick responses from many residents who claimed that the estimates were far too high and that the city was trying to,“intimidate us, and there’s no way it will take that much money to resurrect this hall,” said one resident. One thing Hample made very clear from the beginning however, was that no decision has been made. “Council has not decided to tear down the hall,” he said. “We're here to gather information from the public and bring it back to city hall According to Hample, the main issue for the city is one of economics. “There's not a lot of control as to the usage of this facility and we've found that in terms of usage and costs, our retums were only 10 per cent from user fees,” he said. “Our recovery of operat- ing costs is very poor.” The city identified the main user groups as Girl Guides, Brownies, Cubs, Scouts, Air Cadets, Castlegar Women’s Insti- tute, the Hospital Auxiliary, Pistol Club and some weddings and dances. Options presented by the city included: continuing as is, with the city subsidizing costs; com- munity group management with or without the financial support of the city; single user group man- agement; privatization through lease; or disposal of the land and/or the building. However, residents made it quite clear that disposal, as well as privatization, were unaccept- able. Use as an arts council theatre, recycling depot, heritage building See KINNAIRD 2A