ce CastlegarNews August 8, 1990 LIFESTYLES Commando now animal-rights advocate PENNIAC, N.B. (CP) — Bruce Cumming was trained to kill quickly, silently and without remorse. Now, he literally won't swat a fly. Cumming’s conversion from com- mando to animal-rights advocate has been long and difficult, kind of life-threatening tense standoffs he thought he'd left behind in the Middle East. In 1944, as a captain in the British Parachute Regiment, Cumming led an elite anti-terrorist squad into Palestine. In the late 1970s, as a professor of biology with the University of New Brunswick, he moved to Penniac, a small rural community near Frederic- ton, where he has spent the last decade in open warfare with trappers and hunters. “I have seen death and destruction and having seen it, I know there’s nothing glorious about it,” says Cumming, 65, who is about to retire from his teaching post. “It’s terrible to take a life un- necessarily. I’ve come to. that realization slowly. But now I don’t even swat mosquitoes; I just wave them away.”” There are a lot of mosquitoes in the area of the home he shares with his wife, artist Marion Cumming. Evergreen Farm is like an enchan- ted fairyland. Beautiful plants grow in untamed profusion around the quaint clapboard house. A thick evergreen forest stretches in all directions, a haven for birds, small animals, deer, moose and bears. “There’s a real pleasure in *the feeling of affinity with nature,’’ says Cumming who, like his wife, is quiet- spoken and gentle — almost ethereal. “‘['m trying to create a habitat for animals."* But to the Cummings’ great distress, their Eden had its snakes. Two days after Christmas 1982, Cumming was out gathering moss on his property with his black Labrador, Tina, when he heard her yelp in pain. It took five hours of searching in deep snow to, find the terrified dog, her muzzle caught in a trapper’s snare. Eight years later, Tina still bears the scars In a way, so do the Cummings. After the incident with Tina, Cumming searched his property and removed or closed all the snares he found. He asked local trappers not to set any more snares on his land Then Cumming was visited by provincial game wardens who warned he was breaking the law by tampering with snares. Technically, Cumming had even broken the law by removing the snare from Tina. The encounter—galvanized—the Cummings. They were no longer sim- ply dispassionate animal lovers. Cumming began an all-out cam- paign of letter-writing. and public ap- Pearances to promote his message that animals are not in the world sim- Cumming made the mistake of telling the court it had been *‘eviscerated.”” Harper complained that Cumming might as well speak Sanskrit ‘m thankful that I don't have to ke courses from him,’ the judge grumbled. He described Cumming as **more stupid than criminal."" Cumming was convicted of com- mon assault and given an absolute discharge. But to this day he is deeply bothered by his encounter with the justice system and his inability to get his point of view across. “This incident emphasized to me that if humans could be treated this way when they tried to defend the rights of wild animals not to be wan- tonly killed or abused, it wasn't likely the animals themselves would be af- forded any real justice in their existence."” But the ordeal had its bright spots. Friends and supporters hotly defended the Cummings’ right to keep their property free of hunters and trappers. There were appeals to the provin- cial government and, as a result of the Cumming case, laws governing hun- ting and trapping were recently amended to allow people to post signs on their property expressing their wishes. Still, taken its toll on the stress of the battle has the Cummings. They're not sure they'll stay in New Brunswick where hunting is passionately defended as a right and a way of life. “I've pr I can here,’ way, I thin| manmade environment than environment you can't protect. ably accomplished what says Cumming. “‘In a I'd now rather live in a a wild BUSINESS DIRECTORY TELEPHONE 365-5210 New insertions, copy h News will be accepted up to 5 p. m. Nooeday, rem 26 eg ae pebicar a September. Brian L. Brown CERTIFIED GENERAL ACCOUNTANT 270 Columbia Avenue Castlegar © 365-2151 Gordon A. Read & Co. Certified General Accountant Office 368-6471 Residence 365-2339 1250 Bay Ave., Trail Air Conditioning ARROW LAKES AIR CONDITIONING am Refrigeration fir “| don’t need to learn fending: It’s all on TV.” Now Has a Full Line of LAZER XT AND LAZER 128s EX South Slocan Junction 359-7755 a SERVICE TELEPHONE NUMBER: Mon. ply for man’s c ¢ — they deserve respect and protection. “There are some estimates that there are as many as 20 million other species, and yet it’s as if in our own minds, the way we behave, we've the only species that matters,’ he says, adding that he and Marion are now strict vegetarians. By Janette * Certified Electrologist * Blend & Thermolysis Method * Persenal Filaments & Sterilization Standards ec Although the Ci stance against hunting and trapping on their 80-hectare property was well known, they had several more unpleasant en- counters Their lives were threatened. by anonymous phone callers, and one evening a section of their property mysteriously burned Then in November 1987, during hunting season, Cumming stopped two hunters who had shot a deer near his house. With a pickaxe in one hand, the slim six-foot activist confronted the armed hunters and grabbed the dead deer. The hunters were angry and Cumming held the axe defensively while waiting for the police. The hunters were fined $100 for discharging a firearm within 300 metres of a house. Cumming was charged with assault. His trial before provincial court Judge James Harper is still talked about in legal circles. 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The only thing Knows for sure is that Reed Byers, 10, (second from left) is getting squeezed in this squeeze play. omens proto by Ed Mulls B.C. to join Ottawa in land talks, premier says By DEBI PELLETIER HARRISON HOT SPRINGS, B.C. (CP) — Calling it a historic day, Permier Bill Vander Zalm said the B.C. government will join the federal government in attempting to negotiate Indian land claims. Vander Zalm, however, said the Provincial government cannot accept the concept of aboriginal title, which the natives say is intertwined with the issue of land claims. The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs defines aboriginal title as collective ownership and management of its land all its resour- ces. “It’s, I believe, a historic day, a great day,” Vander Zalm fully this will lead to a peaceful and fair settlement of, if not all, most of the outstanding issues.”” The B.C. government previously maintained that land claims was a federal sibility. Native leaders were unimpressed by Weather VANCOUVER (CP) —. Parts of the Carmanah Valley on Vancouver Island and the Seymour demon- stration forest in North Vancouver have been closed because of extreme fire hazard conditions. Mill, Bloedel k Jack Dryburgh said the lower Car- manah Valley, designated as a park by the province, is not affected by the closure. But the forest company has closed logging roads leading into the upper Carmanah, Haddon Creek and the Walbran drainage area until the southern island region gets some rain The Seymour demonstration forest closure will remain ip effect ‘‘until the weather cools off and there is suf- ficient rainfall,’’ the Greater Van- couver regional district said in a news release. Forests ministry spokesman Norm MacLeod said Thetis Lake park in the Victoria area has also been closed, in had settling respon- the announcement, saying it con- tained nothing new since the provin- cial government had already said it was discussing the issue of land claims with the federal government. “I don’t think he really said anything,’’ said Bill Wilson, president of the First Nations Congress. ‘‘We had hoped he would come up with some kind of initiative that would have involved the province in a realistic manner. “Instead he’s continuing the federa-provincial football game about whose jurisdiction it is. That’s not leaderhip."” Frank Collison, vice-president of the Haida Nation, criticized Vander Zalm for the decision on aboriginal title “Our position_is that we have to have .absolute and complete recognition of aboriginal title to our lands,"’ he said. ‘‘That’s our starting point and we have to begin from that Point otherwise there is no point in discussing anything else."” Vander Zalm, however, said the view of aboriginal title that natives would own the entire province ‘‘lock, stock and barrel,’’ was unacceptable. **Now I don’t believe that’s the view held by all, perhaps even a majority of the native chiefs. But we do lack a clear definition."” Saul Terry, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said native leaders throughout the province are angry that the government won't recognize aboriginal title, which he said ‘‘wouldn’t cost the province a penny.”” Terry said he believes Vander Zalm is posturing and electioneering in making the announcement now, and is attempting to scare non-natives by saying Indians want possession of the entire province The announcement was made at Harrison Hot Springs, 100 kilometres east of Vancouver, where Vander Zalm and the Social Credit caucus have been holding a retreat. Natives have laid claim to more than two-thirds of British Columbia. closes forests addition to earlier closures of Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver and the Lion’s Bay watershed. MacLeod said the ministry had debated whether to lift some of the closures, * but abandoned the idea because of the ‘‘tinderbox con- ditions.”" “If we don’t get a break in the weather I think people are going to Start to see an expansion of (those closures),"’ he said, adding that areas that are currently under campfire bans may be upgraded to partial or complete closures. While the forest fire season started slowly because of the wet spring, MacLeod said the dampness also spurred growth of fine fuel grasses that are usually where fires begin.”’ “Grasses that are usually ankle- high are now waist-high,”’ he said. “with a drier than average late sum- mer . . . about the last thing we need is @ lot of man-caused fires right now.”* The ministry released new figures for two uncontained fires burning near Pemberton, north of Vancouver. One near Tenquille Creek grew to $75 hectares in size from 400 hectares, while a second blaze, 65 kilometres northwest of Pemberton, had burned cover 1,500 hectares, up from 1,200. MacLeod said the new numbers didn’t ‘represent any real growth in terms of fires taking a run or them having lost any control lines,’’ he said. “After the smoke started to clear away from larger fires it allowed us to plot the boundaries more ac- curately and get a clear sense of what is burnt and what isn’t."" More than 150 new fires started this week, for a total of 218 fires burning in the province. To date, there have been more than 1,400 forest fires this year. Campfire bans are in effect in Dun- can, Port Alberni. Report criticized Some issues not addressed, By CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Staff Writer Members of the Coalition for In- formation on the Pulp Mill Expan- sion (CIPE) are disappointed with the lack of new information in Celgar Pulp Co.'s second report on the en- vironmental impacts of a proposed pulp mill expansion, CIPE co- chairman Bob Lerch said. The five-votume report, released in July, gives plenty of details on issues covered in Celgar’s first report but does not touch on a number of issues CIPE wants to see addressed. Lerch told the Castlegar News Thursday following a CIPE meeting. For instance, the issue of carbon dioxide is not discussed in the air emissions portion of the study, Lerch said. Carbon dioxide, the main gas responsible for the greenhouse effect and global warming, is a major con- cern for CIPE members, he noted. As well, there is a problem with the data on air emissions from effluent settling ponds, Lerch said. However, he declined to give details, saying the-.researchers who have found problems with pond emissions do not want their findings announced yet. Sealing the ponds in some form of CIPE says dome could rectify the situations Ler- ch added. The Celgar study also omits the costs to taxpayers of moving wood chips by truck, Lerch said Truckers don’t own the roads they travel on and they pay only a percen- tage of the maintenance costs of the highways, while taxpayers pick up the rest of the tab, Lerch explained But transporting chips by rail or barge incurs no costs to area residents, he said. Railway lines, for instance, are owned by rail companies and the the fibre total that already have pulp mills to serve, he said. And the water toxicology tests may not be reliable since they are based on the death rate of trout in con taminated water, Lerch said. Other studies have indicated trout are one of the most adaptable fish and may be able to survive high levels of con- tamination, he pointed out. Lerch said CIPE members are worried the three-member federal- provincial review panel that is studying the report will be biased because of the “‘pro-business stance’’ of the panel members. Ass well, the 45- day period for public review of the report is too short considering the volume of information contained in the study, he added. Alan Ferguson, the panel’s executive secretary, has said the 45-day period is a minimum and could be pay for e of the lines, Lerch said. Lerch said the figures in the report listing Celgar’s cost for transporting chips by rail are ‘‘outdated and ob- solete.?” The numbers are based partially on maintenance costs for CP Rail’s “‘aging fleet’’ of cars and the new cars need less maintenance, he said. “(The figures) don’t really mean a jot,”” Lerch said. The report also ‘‘juggled around a Jot of numbers”’ such as the figures on which the fibre supply totals are based, he said. The report incorporates areas into if the panel members want further data from Celgar. But despite the problems CIPE members see in the report, ‘I’m still optomistic the problems can be solved,"’ Lerch said. “*The company needs to move a lit- tle further, especially in (the area of) transportation.” Lerch said a number of CIPE members are on vacation and the group will have more to say on the details of the report when it has had time to read the study more thoroughly The panel will hold public hearings on the expansion proposal in the fall Put offer in writing, doctors tell Victoria VANCOUVER (CP) — The provincial government will have to put its latest offer in writing before B.C. doctors will vote on it, says Dr. Hedy Fry, president of the B.C Medical Association Association directors met for five hours Thursday to review the offer put forward July 19 by Premier Bill Vander Zalm. “The board found the offer in- teresting,”’ Fry said. ‘‘It’s not exactly what (the association) wanted and some felt it’s not.the best they can do, but it’s better than anything we've had so far.”” Fry said the government's position on several issues, including costs of computerization and the goods and services tax, has to be clarified before the board will consider the offer “The premier has promised to look at these issues, but we've had Promises before,’’ Fry said. ‘‘(The board) wants to see the offer in writing before they will consider sen- ding it out to the membefship."’ Fry said the government's latest of. fer had ‘good movement in fees, but not close to what we wanted.”’ In previous negotiations, the government offered over-all Medical Services Plan budget increases of 6.5, 5.9 and 5.6 per cent, which effectively increase fees 2.85, 1.5 and 1.2 per cent. The doctors were seeking 5.47, « Vancouver, $.52 and 5.35 per cent annually.in a three-year contract The province's 6,000 doctors have been embroiled in the fee dispute with the provincial government for 17 months. On May 8, the doctors started a series of rotating study sessions throughout the province in North where a field hospital resembling the set of the television series MASH was set up, The sessions never disrupted surgery or emergency services but some patient visits were rescheduled. The physicians also held demon strations on the steps of the B.C legislature cd Karrie Faucher, 15, gota MIRROR IMAGE CLEAN job Ltd. this summer, and if she keeps pre ang = dag ve so ‘sent thet you can see yourself in them she'll probably be welcomed back next year. co y Pontiac Buick GMC