islative Librar. liament Bldgs., Victoria, B. Ci 1X4 V8V 2 VOL. 35, NO. 1 35 Cents CASTLE Fabs 28 Published at “The Crossroads of the Kootenays” “CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1982 CAIMAW, STEEL MEET WITH LRB MONDAY _ Cominco union war heats up . By CasNews Stal and News Services ; A bitter four-month organizing row between two rival f unions will shift tomorrow from Cominco Ltd.'s Trail and |; Kimberley operations to the B.C. Labor Relations Board, ed officials will meet with both sides to discuss whether a hearing should be held on a representation vote. The Canadian Association of Indusirial, Mechanical and ‘ Allied Workers says that an official three-day count last week «by the board found that the nationalist union had signed a 4 comfortable majority of Cominco employees currently represented by the United Steelworkers of America. “We have enough to qualify for a vote and the Steelworkers, who say they aren't afraid of a vote, | should let # . us have one,” said CAIMAW vice-president Peter Cameron. CAIMAW successfully raided the Steelworkers at Alcan's Kitimat operations during the 1970s. A victory in the Kootenays would almost double CAIMAW’s 5,226 membership and replace the Steelworkers as the top union in ‘the B.C. ‘mining industry. = In Trail, Steelworkers Local 480 president Ken Georgetti sadmitted CAIMAW could be close to a majority, but said hisi i. union still wants the results declared invalid because, the raid + Casting jeaves in plaster of paris is Megan MacMillan, @. participant in children’s activities held st the. National Exhibition Centre during the Christmas COLDEST SINCE 1928. ‘extended beyond the normal three-month time limit. WANTS SUPERVISORS EXCLUDED Up for grabs in the raid‘is'a bargaining unit of 4,850 maintenance and production workers at Cominco operations in‘ Trail and Kimberley. Among those employees are 100 ‘supervisors who CAIMAW wants excluded from the unit —a request opposed by the Steelworkers. WEATHERCAST weother with highs of overnight lows of -12%, 2 Sections (A & B) The total size of the unit would swell to about 6, employeos if office and technical staff are included CAIMAW is not seeking to represent them. ° If an official hearing is held, the major issue will be the Steelworkers’ contention that CAIMAW’s four-month raid violated the board’s policy limiting all raids to three months, The raid began Aug. 4 and the Steelworkers have argued — that CAIMAW should have submitted its cards by Nov. 4 instead of Nov. 80 when it officially applied for the vote. CAIMAW has argued that the board's three-month policy is a flexible guideline designed to apply in nornial circumstances but is not appropriate for a raid to represent workers at the largest industrial complex in Western ‘Canada, Cameron said few raids aré for bargaining units for more than 800 members with the vast majority of raids for units of between 13 and 20 members. “Camerei kutw the size of the unit when he started so why didn’t he go +o the board and ask for an extension then?” Georgetti ssid. “It's too t= change the rules. He wants to play by one set of rules and have us play by another. Well, he can't have it both ways.” Meanwhhile, LAB registrar Ron Bone said official results of the card count won't be made public until after tomorrow's discussions have been completed. Bone added that any release of the official results is up to either CAIMAW or Steel. Bone said the LRB's investigation last week involved checking CAIMAW's membership cards against company employee lists. New Year's Eve very quiet By CasNews Staff New Year's Eve was re- _ But the driver was caught asa result ofan accident — were in fact no greater than Wiesner vehicle also received an average weekend, 4 $1,600 damage. markably quiet in Castlegar this year — at least as far as the police were concerned. HONOLULU (AP) — ‘Ar: not a police roadblock. Despite the. BATmobile / being out in full force,’no charges were Jald, im pall cue. But he called if off after rangements have been made’ tentative financing by the to reseue a Canadian manand CBS network fell svar : his two “daughters from: re- due to the « season. The casting was ‘én exercise in studying the fossil proce: Polar Bear swim By Brace Levett VANCOUVER (CP) — Ten minutes ahead of time, 1,189 . brightly costumed swimmers —and one nudist — into the frigid. waters of English Bay for the 62nd annual Polar Bear Club's New Year's day dip. - ’ Water temperature was '8 Celsius, one degree warmer than ‘the air temperature, making this the coldest event by ‘one degrev:since 1928, A light snowfall, “later whipped by brisk winds into a veritable blizzard, kept the carnival crowd of spectators - down to an officially esti- mated 16,000. Last year, when conditions were about 10 degrees warm- er, the.crowd estimate was a generous €0,000 and a record 2,046 took the plunge. Swimmers registered from as far away as Norway, Peru, Japan and ‘Australia. The spectators, garbed in everything from top hats to toques and raccoon caps; Hawaiian shirte and. parkss, paid hawkers $2 for half a dozen roasted chestnuts, bought balloons from a fat lady and‘ drank booze From paper cups, Party-goers, still function- ing from New Year's: Eve . -eelebrations, turned out in harem pants and ballet alip- pers. Kids tobogganed ‘down the slopes onto the snow- covered sand aboard thoir plastic Christmas sleds. The swimmers themselves were no less colorful. One team, wearing antlers, pulled Santa into the en- closure on a sleigh. A one- legged man limped into the .gea. with his “ prosthesis wrapped in a green. garbage: bag. a Cominco pollution fines are ‘unfair treatment By CasNows Btatt The a dect of the Em- ployers’ Council of B.C. says the penalties levied against Cominco “for violating air- borne standards at its Trail smelter répresents a case of’ unfair treatment by . the Workers Compensation Board of B.C. Bil ;Hamilton made the comment in a recent Can- adian Press story on unsafo working conditions. : .. Hamilton'said Cominca,“in- vested hundreds of millions of dollars in their facilities up there” but the board took the” position that’ the company would be subject to the $24,000-a-month ponalty “un- less Cor 3 whole facility and rebuilt it.” The compensation’ board refunded -the penalties. to . Comineo,. but the board ‘is now reviewing the situation after protests by beth: the dustrial, Mechanical a AL lied Workers, and the United « Steelworkers of America. Hamilton. said often “a company mak eres ty, vestment that is totally ac- ceptable within the legisla- tion and the attitudes of the mineo tore down the © However, he «said, atti- tudes and requirements may change 10 or 15 years later. “If it’s a whole plant or a major portion of a facility, it's” simply not, economically pos-- sible to make changes over a short period of time,” he said. But Hamilton said he is not opposed to tougher’ penalties : against employers ’‘respon- cont on page A2. go. in- Brrr Just off-shore, hundreds of boats lay at anchor, ranging from schooners with Christ- mas trees at the masthead, to power cruisers and tugs. Windsurfers in wetsuits swept through the fleet, one to be accorded a bull-horn greeting of “Happy New Year, turkey.” Police boats worked like cutting-horses to keep the swimming area. clear. At was one of the boats that toyched off the stampede into the surf by firing off a signal cannon 10 minutes before the officia! start time, The oldest registered swimmer was Bill Powell, 85, of Vancouver. One perennial who turned out for the 50th time was a 70-year-old blind ' woman, annual event ever since Pan- tages, the late theatre-owner and restaurateur, led kindred souls into the water for the first time in 1920... “They would go back to his Place. for a banquet and éel- ebration afterward,” said ‘Ted Calder, promotion chief for The Province. Today, the event is led by grandson Peter Pantages and the club members repair to his ‘penthouse for revival ceremonies. “Organizers keep to a strict half-hour limit for the swim- mers. ee One of ‘the paige ex: planned to penses facing Sorenson was The spokesman‘attributed the quiet evening to people deciding to enjoy themselves at house parties ‘rather than hitting’ local: night spots. Castlegar x occurred at.4 a.m. Friday on Columbia. Ave. at 18th Street. Police report a 1981 van driven by Victoria Labram of Castlegar received approx- imately $1,500 damage. when it was in collision with a 1973 pickup driven by Shelly Wiesner of Robson. The No injuries were reported. ‘The accident is still under in- vestigation, In other police news: e A break and enter at a private home in the southern ry: try was gained through a. bed- room window ,and an. undis- closed amount of money was taken. The investigation con- tinues. : e The wire fence surround: ing the Imperial Oi bulk plant was discovered -cut Wednesday, but nothing was reported stolen. Five killed in murder/suicide fly the 500 tical ‘miles to Paimyra on Tuesday. He will pick up John Harrison, 89, .ability insurance policy $6,000 for a $6million li- that the owners of Palmyra re- and his daughters, Micki, 20, quired of anyone Tanding and. Kristen, 18, and zeturn there. them to: Christmas Island, | The Harrison's were mar- said Coast Guard spokesman ocned at Palmyra, 1,100 nau- Bob Baeten. tical miles south of Honolulu From Christmas Island the when their boat, the trim- Harrisons will be flown te aran Sisyphus, lost its mast Honolulu on Wednesday in.a storm and ran aground aboard Air Tungaru, Baeten said. The arrangements were made by Harrison's family and friends in Canada. on a coral reef. Tho coast guard said ita planes were too large to land on the atolls airstrip’ and, because the Harrisons were Initially, Honolulu pilot in no immediate danger, Fred Sorenson planned to fly coast guard rules prohibited to Palmyra to ‘make the res- ue a smaller plane. Polish deputy PM's son defects LONDON (REUTER) — Arthur. Rakowski, son of Polish Deputy Prime Minis- ter. Mi w Rakoswki, has asked for Political asylum - *, in West Germany after flee- The swim has been an” ing there four months ago, the Sunday Times of London said. The paper, in today’s edi- tion quoted Arthur Rakowski as saying that since he left Poland he had had no contact with his father, who was res- ponsible for negotiating with the Solidarity free trade union before its suspension last. month, including during the elder Rakowksi’s visit to" Bonn last week for.telks with West German government officials. | * - He decided to apply for political asylum last month before martial law was im- posed in Poland and with the hope of eventually taking his family to Australia, the newspaper said. - ’ Arthur Rakowski, 25, wos living in a small hotel.in Wiesbaden with his wife Anna, 22, and son Adam, two, and had been trying to get work as a welder. Since has has no work permit and does not speak German, he has spent most of his time at the hotel with fellow emi- gres. “With so many. American troops around, I don't feel safe here,” he was quoted as saying. “If the Russians were to make a move, this would be the firat place to go. In Australia I would feel far enough away from threats to start a new life.” ELYRIA, OHIO (AP) — man shot his two children, wife and mother-inlaw to death Saturday in a crowded shopping mall parking ot, then shot and killed himself, police said. Elyria. officers said they were at a loss to explain why Clifton Snowden, 21, of North Olmsted shot the women and children before shooting him- self in tho head with 2 .22- calibre, ivug-barrei pistol around 2 p.m. Snowden died: about two hours later at Elyria Mem- oria! Hospital. The victims were identi- fied as his.wife, Patricia Snowden, 20; Ellen Mahon, 49, of Nerth Elmated, and the couple's children, Shyls Ann, 8, snd Amber Lyn, i. One of the children died on the way to the hospital and the other shortly after arriving. . Snowden's mother said at the hospital that Snowden and his wife had been having marital troubles, but she did not elaborate. TO CALL FAMILIES “We have no idea what happened or why. W contacting the families,” said police Lieut. L.J. Jezewski. The shootings occurred in the crowded parking lot at the Midway Mall on Elyria’s north .side, about 56 kilo- metres west of Cleveland. Police said several people heard the shots and rushed over. One witness carrying a child was shot at, police said, but she was not hit. Her name was not released. . Police said at least eight shots wore fired and possibly as many as 12, Each of the four victims was shot in the torso or chest. The women were found outside the family's car, and children were found in the front seat. Snowden was’ found outside the car. “We haven't had anything like that — not five people,” Jezewski said of the incident, in this city of 65,000. By CasNews Stalf It’s already Jan. 3 and Castlegar still doesn't have its New Year baby — but we came oh so close. With less than four hours to go until 1982, a young Castlegar coaple gave birth toa six pound, 15 ounce girl. That was the last local birth to date. The lucky paronts are Ar- thur and Karen Lane, 1645 Columbia Ave. Their new daughter — Pennie Kathleen — was born at 8:05 p.m. Dec. 31 and joins two brothers, Michael, age six, and James, 2%: Arthur Lane, gineer at Cominco, said Sat- urday the baby girl was duo Dee. 31. Lane said he didn't have a preference for the day the young girl was born — Dee, 31 or Jan. 1. He said he felt he would be “a winner either, way.”