WHITES Car thefts put squeeze on insurance rates The province-wide Combat Auto Theft program marked its first birthday this week with over 25,000 participants. The CAT program was launched last year by all British Columbia police de- partments and detachments. “The.CAT program is one of the most effective and simple ways to prevent au- to theft,” says Const. Jan Vine of the Vancouver Police Crime Prevention Unit. “Program participants simply place a CAT decal in the rear window of their ve- hicle. “The decal tells police the vehicle is not normally operated between the hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. An officer spotting a vehicle being operated during those hours will assume it has been stolen and will proceed accordingly,” Vine explains. So far in B.C., only two vehicles with CAT decals have been reported stolen. Both were recovered. To participate in the program, mo- torists must pick up, fill out and mail in CAT registration forms. CAT registration forms are available at all BCAA Service Centres, ICBC facili- ties, Autoplan agents and police depart- ments and detachments. The completed registration forms should be sent to BCAA for registration. BCAA will then mail the applicant a CAT kit, which contains a yellow-and- black decal to be placed in the rear win- dow of the vehicle. “We are very pleased with the re- sponse to the CAT program during its first year of operation,” says Patti Bac- chus, a BCAA Senior Public Affairs Offi- cer. “We’ve had more than twice as many participants sign up than we projected.” Preventing auto thefts cans save British Columbians money. “Auto thefts cost B.C. motorists a lot of money in claims and drive up insur- ance costs,” says Kim King of ICBC. “In the first six months of 1992, ICBC paid out almost a million dollars a week for theft-of-auto claims”, King said. Partial funding for the CAT program is provided by the B.C. government and the Ministry of the Attorney General. 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Ph. 365-7266 SPOT FOR RENT PH. 365-7266 CASTLEGAR IMP©)RT CENTER EXPERT SERVICE FOR DOMESTIC & IMPORT VEHICLES 365-5111 .C.G, PROPANE SERVICE CENTER GOVERNMENT INSPECTION FACILITY » SERVING THE CROSSROADS OF THE KOOTENAYS SINCE 194 Wednesday February 10, 1993 T5¢ NewsFLASH sole - ~ XN AY Mix of cloud and sunshine to- morrow through Saturday. @ NEWS COLUMN Editor Scott David Harrison reflects on his 16-month experience at the Castlegar News — a job he will sadly miss after the paper an- nounced its closure on Monday. page 6 @ OUR PEOPLE Well-known writer Helen Potrebenko made an an- nouncement at a Selkirk Col- lege reading last week that left some people with their mouths open. Now she wants to re- scind the comment — maybe. page 9 @ LOCAL SPORTS Continuing their tournament mastery, the Stanley Humphries senior girls basket- ball team retumed from Vernon Sunday with yet another addi- tion to the local high school’s Our People In Memory Recycling and You Local Sports Action Ads ; News photo by Cori Jackson What better thing to do after lunch than curl up with a good book, and five-year-old Gerrad Krachefels does just that at Castiegar’s Hobbit Hill Children’s Centre. TH END — Wi Castlegar News shuts its doors NEWS STAFF ; The Castlegar News is no more. Facing mounting losses, parent com- pany Trinity Holdings (N.A.) announced the closure of The News. The shutdown was one of three made by Trinity Monday, which also closed its Whistler Citizen and Squamish Times operations. “The saddest thing of all of this is that our employees will lose their jobs and the communities they’ve served so well will be losing newspapers with strong traditions,” Trinity president John Ec- cleston stated. The closure of The News means the loss of 14 full-time, nine part-time and 130 carrier jobs. The shutdown also af- fects the West Kootenay Connector, a once-weekly publication of the Castlegar News. “It hurts,” Editor and Acting Pub- lisher Scott David Harrison said. “I’m devastated and everyone I work with is devastated. “Tm used to writing the news, not making it,” he said. ; Harrison reflected with pride on The News, saying he was just a small piece of a large tradition which spanned gen- erations. The Castlegar News first opened on Aug. 7, 1947. “It’s a sad day for everyone here, in- cluding the community,” Harrison said. “I just hope that people will continue to take a keen interest in the world around them and make sure they get honest an- swers to honest questions. “I have no regrets about my time at The News,” he continued. “It’s been tough at times, but I’m proud of what we — as a hard-working group of people — have done. There are some things we have no control over and the closure of the paper is one of them.” The News will continue to operate out of its Columbia Avenue location until March 26. Its office hours will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. MORE COVERAGE, PAGE 3 GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN — THE CASTLEGAR NEWS 1947-1993