Wednesday, November 11, 1992 @ TheFARSIDE By Gary Larson “Margaret! You? knowwwwwnnnnnn ...” Nelson prinicipal arrested NEWS STAFF _ Nelson City Police have arrested a 42-year-old school prin- cipal on a Canada-wide warrant. The warrant alleges 12 counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency. All alleged offensives are said to have occurred in Altona, Man., between 1971 and 1973 where the ac- cused was a primary school teacher at Altona Elementary. The alleged victims ranged in age from six to eight years of age. At the time of his arrest, the accused was the principal of St. Joseph’s School in Nelson. The accused has resided in Nelson for the past three years. ; With the assistance of St. Joseph’s, the Nelson City Police has initiated its own investigation into any related offenses which may have occurred at the school. PolicCBEAT Dr. Jon Van Vliet, 46, of Castlegar was driving west- bound on Highway 3 when the vehicle hit black ice, lost con- trol and hit the ditch Nov. 8. The four occupants in the vehicle were not injured and damage is in excess of $1,000. Shauna Hegan, 23, of Blue- berry was driving eastbound on Highway 3 when she stopped the vehicle because she was feeling ill. Hegan then started up the vehicle again and started driv- ing but lost consciousness, went across the highway and landed in the ditch. There were no injuries and there was some $1,000 dam- age to the vehicle. No charges are being contemplated. eee The driver of a vehicle that drove off the side of Arrow Lakes Drive near the old fer- ry landing on Nov. 8 is unde- termined. The accident occurred around 12:15 a.m. when the vehicle left the roadway went over the bank and rolled. Four occupants of the vehi- cle who received minor in- juries were treated and re- leased from hospital. The in- vestigation is continuing. eee Tony Lane of Robson was taken to hospitai with minor injuries after the vehicle he was driving failed to negotiate a corner Nov. 8 at 1 a.m. The accident that took place at Highway 3A and Broadwa- ter Access Road is still being investigated. eee Galena Hadikin of Pass" Creek was driving at 12:40 a.m. Nov. 7 when the vehicle she was driving ran off the roadway 10 kilometres west of Castlegar on Highway 3A. The accident which oc- curred in slushy road condi- tions caused some $1,200 damage. eee Cassette tapes and a Minol- ta quick shot camera were re- ported stolen from a vehicle parked in the 2100-block of 6th Avenue. There are no sus- ‘Housing crisis’ hits Castlegar @ Seniors survey revealing sad truth about local housing problems Corinne Jackson NEWS REPORTER Pandora’s box has been opened and it’s con- tents are not going to be easy to dismiss. Aseniors housing survey aimed at people 40 years and over is being completed “by a lot of under 40s,” Elma Maund said Tuesday. According to the survey’s project manager, “there is a housing crisis here.” The survey is being distributed from Shore- acres to Fairview to residents who are 40 and over, but Maund said people have been picking up the forms left at the Community Complex, the Castlegar and District Hospital and the Castlegar and District Public Library. “We are targeting 40-year-olds and up, but there is a housing shortage right across the board. It’s a family problem. “T didn’t foresee this. I set out to.address se- niors housing, but found out there isn’t enough housing period,” Maund said. “Seniors know it, students know it. City council doesn’t know it, I guess.” Maund said people had been asking her why the Castlegar and District Senior Citizens Ac- tion Committee had applied for a grant to car- ry out a survey instead of building housing. “We could have taken the money and bought housing instead of doing a survey, but how do we know what to build. You have to find out from the people what they want,” she said, adding that early returns are showing that the issue affects all age groups. “Our intention was to meet with local groups and agencies to develop a plan for putting more seniors housing in place, but they’re competing with singles, students and out-of-nesters. “By the end of May we better have some idea of what kind of housing we want for our se- niors,” she said. Maund also said, however, the area’s gener- al housing problem will not be swept under the rug. “A part of our mandate is to do continuing work,” she said. “It was a concern of some in- dividuals when we got the grant that the report not sit on a shelf. “Returns show there is.a lot of interest in the subject,” Maund said According to Maund, survey forms will be tabulated by the end of November. “Two months later, draft recommendations will go to the local advisory board. We will pre- sent a report and work on a continuation plan.” Survey forms are also available at the Shore- acres Thrifty Gas station, Thrums second hand store and the general stores in Glade and Tar- rys. Forms are to be returned by Nov. 15. e Silk & Dried Flowers © Arrangements ¢ Crafts © Antiques ¢ Baskets ¢ Candles ¢ Plush Toys ¢ Gifts O AVP IN-STORE SPECI 1 Doz. Roses With Baby's Breath and Greens. Gift Wrapped 1 Doz. Carnations With Baby's Breath and Greens. Gift Wrapped ENTER TO WIN 2 DOZ. LONG STEM ROSES A FLORAL CO. 301-11th Ave., Castlegar 365-5191 - 365-3117 i Wednesday, November 11, 1992 | @General Inquiries 365-7266 OUR HOURS __ The News is located at 197 Columbia Ave. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m Closed on weekends and statutory holidays The News is published by Castle News Ltd. for Canwest Publishers Ltd. Mail subscription rate to The News is $37.50 per year. The price on newsstands is 75¢ for each edition. The price delivered by newspaper carrier for both editions is only 90¢ a week (collected monthly). GST extra. Second class mail registration number 0019. Nelson police probe abd Neil Rachynski NEWS REPORTER Leads are being investigated into the alleged Nelson abduction attempts. Following the release of an artist’s drawing ofthe suspect, Nelson City Police have received about 70 phone calls of possible sightings of the man. “The investigation at this point remains sta- tus quo,” Sgt. Bob Henderson said. “We're just chipping away at it.” Police reported that on three separate occa- sions on Oct. 29, a man grabbed and allegedly attempted to abduct four Nelson youths. All the youngsters in Nelson’s school system have been accounted for and police have confirmed that’ no child was abducted. Further sightings of the suspect have sur- faced in Castlegar. In addition, Grand Forks have determined “he was not related” to the Nelson incidents. Schools in the West Kootenay have fallen in step with those in Nelson by keeping a watch- ful eye on their students during recess and lunch hours. In Grand Forks, Dr. D. A. Perley Elemen- tary School vice-principal Al Lebedoff said the school is maintaining a close communication with the city’s police force. “We heard the rumors and things from Nel- son... so we've kept in touch with the police and they’ve had nothing official,” Lebedoff said. “We're not panicking, but we're concerned,” he said. “We're keeping an extra eye out.” In Trail, one school has fast-tracked a plan to quickly report absentees. James L. Webster Elementary School prin- cipal Fraser East said his school should be 3a uction attempts ready to go with anew telephone system short- ly, It will allow staff to quickly cross-check stu- dents reported absent with those who haven't. East said with the use of the answering ma- chine system, it will cut down considerably the length of time it takes to report an absent stu- dent to the parents. “We're cutting it down from five or six hours to about one hour,” East said. In addition, East has passed along a letter for students to give to their parents from School District No. 11 superintendent Patricia Dooley that includes the drawing of the suspect. Following the reports of a possible abduction Oct. 29, Nelson City Police are asking residents to watch for a slim, white male described with grey hair, six-feet two-inches tall and approxi- mately 50 years old. He is said to have been driving a dirty white pick up truck with a canopy. RCMP state they have interviewed a man, but | REBEL RUMBLE Linesmen work to separate Rebel Kevin Leiman (11) and Spokane’s Ken Harding during a tussle in KIJHL action Saturday at the Complex. Leiman and the rest of the Rebels had the last laugh in a 5-1 win. News photo by Jonathan Green @ Rookie Castlegar city councillor told to follow proper protocol with city hall project Neil Rachynski NEWS REPORTER Castlegar’s newest city councillor is making waves. At the Nov. 3 regular session of council, Doug Green took the opportunity to bring up the proposed city hall renovations. But some councillors said Green wasn’t following proper protocol at the meet- ing. At the end of the session, council opened to new and unfinished business. “I raised the point... of renovating the new city hall plans,” Green said. “I wanted to throw it on the floor because I feel at this time... people are con- cerned where their tax dollars are going to be spent. “Now that the RCMP building has been passed we have to tell the citizens what we're doing with their money. “J just wanted to open it up for discussion,” Green said. He said his concern over the city hall renovations Green questions renovations is that the city is paying consultant fees for a project that might not see the light of day. But Coun. Lawrence Chernoff said Green picked the wrong time to raise the issue. “You've got to know what's going on in the process first. You can’t just walk in their and be up to speed,” Chernoff said. “You've got to learn to crawl before you walk.” Chernoff said, “that’s the way the process works. The (renovation) plans are still with the committee, and then they will come before council.” Coun. Jim Chapman also said Green had poor tim- ing. “He kind of threw that out at the wrong time,” Chapman said. “We had to find out if the building was sound. And how much it would cost to renovate,” Chapman said. “You don’t want to make a $900,000 mistake.” Green said the feedback he received from council when he raised the renovation issue was that “this is how we've always done it before.’ “J got that ‘(the renovation plans) are coming up’ and ‘what do you really want,” Green said. District awaits minister W@ Victoria has final ruling on Unsightly Premises Bylaw Scott David Harrison EDITOR George Cady wants Victoria to act. The chair of the Regional District of Central Kootenay says Municipal Affairs Minister Robin Blencoe is dragging his heels with the controversial Unsightly Premises Bylaw. “Oh God, it’s taking a long time,” he said Tuesday. “It’s unprecedented. If he wants to review every bylaw that we pass through his office, he may as well run the district.” The RDCK had hoped to have the bylaw which forces Area H residents to clean up their acts adopted “months ago.” He said objections from angry Slocan Valley residents has prevented that, though. “All because you have this small, vocal group raising hell, the bylaw has been delayed,” Cady said. “And it’s a vocal minority, too. It’s not even the majority.” The Slocan Valley Concerned Citizens Forum has fought the bylaw ever since it was first introduced, saying it has the support of Area H residents. Cady disputes that claim, though, accusing the vocal group of manipulating the provincial government. “They have been phoning this minister and I guess because he’s new, he’s afraid of screwing up so he keeps on delaying his approval.” Cady said should Blencoe approve the bylaw within two weeks, it could be adopted at the Nov. 28 board meeting. “It will get approved, it’s just frustrating waiting like this.”