as Castlegar News June '4. 1999

Slow
growth
forecast

| Office / Retail Space

Street-level air-conditioned office or small
retail space for rent in Castlegar News
building. Includes general office, private of-
fice, storage area. Landlord will do some OTTAWAI(CP)— A loit year-con
redecorating. Fax and photocopying service sumer spending binge is running out of
available to tenant steam as the composite leading in-
dicator rose in March by the smallest
, 197 ColumbiaA HOUNT since last sUMMeEF, EcOnOADISES
da. Phone 365-7266 said
*Canadians have been spending like
drunken sailors for four years and they
have run their savings too low and their
debt load too high, especially at these
interest rates,” said Mike Manford,
chiet ecoriomist at ScotiaMeLeod Ihe
Statistics Canada reported the
leading indicator, averaged over three
months to iron out statistical wrinkles,
rose by 0.3 per cent‘in March after
climbing 0.5 per cent in February
Weakness in the leading indicator
which keeps tabs on 10 important signs
in the economy ranging from furniture

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PRICE: $80.00 money is flowing through the country
PLACE: Castlegar, Sandman Inn points to slower economic growth
DATE: June 23 ahead, Mantord said

The leading indicator index rose to

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By ROB CARRICK
“Phe Canadian Press

grey suit and a paunchy older man all

their file,” says Austfjord, Equifax’s
corporate relations:

TRACK DEBTS

debts.

bureaus across the country

Austfjord says.

the right to view their credit files.

Check in the phone book under

by filling out a short form.

as adequpte identification is provided.

Checking your credit fi

‘A young couple in jeans, a businessman in a gaudy

room of the Credit Bureau of Greater Toronto.
One by one, they’re called by name and told to sit in
a small cubicle facing a glass partition. A clerk arrives,
asks for identification, then reads them the contents of
their credit file from a computer screen.
About 26,000 people stop by thee
fices in a downtown Toronto office tower each year for
a look at their files, says Linday Austfjord of Equifax
Canada, the company that owns and operates the
bur 1 and 46 others like it across Canada.
If they've been denied credit, they'll come to see

There’s also a large number who come out of

Privately operated credit bureaus are the main
keepers of information on how Canadians handle their

Major retailers and credit card operators pay a fee
to become credit bureau members. There are some 150

Members not orily request information for new
credit applicants but also supply information to help the
bureaus create credit histories for the files they keep,

In most provinces, there are laws that give people
find the office in major cities and most smaller centres.

It’s usually possible to walk in and set

Some provinces also make it legal for the file to be
read over the telephone or sent through the mail, as long

WORTH CHECKING
‘isn’t a yearly thing like

Credit bureaus
track your debts

getting your blood-pressure checked,’’ says Zelma
Reive, an expert‘on credit matters for the Consumers’
Association of Canada in Toronto.

“But sometimes something gets irito your file and
that’s why people should check their
fileon an ongoing basis."”

To correct an error, point it out to a bureau

sit in the waiting
never gets off

redit bureau's of

vice-president of
loan

Austfjord says

credit bureaus to Austfjord

e your file simply

representative, Austfjord says.

“We'll try to (check) the information,
“1 there's a change, we'll notify everyone who received
acopy of the file in the past six months.””

Austfjord says credit files have a standard format
First comes your name, birth date and address, theft a
section on employment. Following that is a list of all
inquiries made regarding the file and finally, the facts on
how you’ve handled each’ individual credit card and

Also contained are court judgments and bankrup:
curiosity, or because they’re going to be making a large —_tcies. Not included, Austfjord says, is ““chatacter or
credit transaction, like buying a mortgage.”” lifestyle information."

Information in Equifax’s 15 million files is updated
every 30 days, she says.

But contrary to what many people think, there is no
overall rating assigned by a bureau

The credit bureau doesn't make a decision on

your credit rating, it gives out factual information,

It’s up to the credit-giver to decide if your history
is up to thejpStandards.””

Still, files do contain assessments of each eredit ac
count supplied by the business giving the credit. The
rating system is a scale from one to nine, with one being
the model customer and nine being a “‘writeoff,”’ says

It’s a good idea to find out what creditors think of
you before you make any major financial changes, “like
starting a business, making a major purchase or getting
separated,”’ Reive says.

Despite her advice, though, Reive says she’s never
seen her own credit file.

“I assume it’s good. Every time | take my credit
card to the limit, they offer to raise my limit.”

she says

su

june 14, 1989 Castlegar News _47

Briefly

Credit card interest
too high, Blenkarn says

OTTAWA (CP) — Credit card users
are paying actual interest charges of
five to six percentage points above the
advertised rate in some cases, a
situation the government should
change, the chairman of the Commons
finance committee says.

Don Blenkarn told the consumer af
fairs committee that consumers are
paying the higher actual rates on
unpaid balances on cards that charge
interest from the date an item is pur
chased rather than the statement date

And when interest is calculated
through a complicated daily formula,
people can still be paying for a pur

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chase long after it was bought because
the interest keeps compounding

The two factors drive real interest
charges above the rate advertised by
some credit card companies.

‘I think people ought to be able to
calculate the interest they owe by a
simple calculation and the interest

ought to be charged only on what they
owe from the statement date," he told
reporters. :

“Right now they're charged on what
they did owe, not what they do owe,
back to the date they purchased the
goods.

GM goofed,
RV makers say

General
makers of

VANCOUVER (CP)
Motors goofed, say
recreation vehicles in British Colum
bia
A $l-billion redesign made the
automobile company’s standard-size
pickup truck about five centimetres
too small to accommodate the back
end of many truck campers.

At least one major GM truck dealer
took a truck back from a buyer and
refunded the purchase price because a
camper would not fit

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The problem involves campers with
self-contained toilets, said James Epp,
president of Fraserway R.V. Centre
Ltd‘ of Abbotsford, maker of Slumber
Queen campers

The rear end of the camper con-
taining the toilet is designed to fit
behind the wheel well of the truck

‘They streamlined the truck and
brought in the fender walls about an
inch and a half to qwo inches,"’ Epp
said. ‘*lt was a mistake on their part,
an oversight. They definitely
overlooked the camper market.’

Epp said some campers can be re-
jigged for $100 to $150 to fit the GM
truck

General Motors denies there is any
serious problem.

“This is the best.truck we've ever
made,"’ said Nick Hall, manager of
media relations for General Motors of
Canada Ltd. in Oshawa, Ont

He said a “‘slight taper on the tail
gate” is odynamic”’ and promotes
fuel efficiency

GM was aware some campers would
not fit and advised dealers before the
truck went on sale in the 1988 model
year, Hall said

But Edward Maquignaz, owner of
Pacific GMC Ltd., the largest General
Motors truck dealership in British
Columbia, said his company was
caught by surprise.

One of the first purchasers of the
new model complained that his camper
would not fit

“We gave him back his money,”
said Maquignaz. “But we only got
caught on one. All our salesmen now
ask if the buyers are going to put an

older camper on it

Paramedics prepare to vote

VANCOUVER (CP) Talks have broken off between 2,700 am
bulance paramedics and the B.C. Emergency Health Services Com

The paramedi who are members of the Canadian Union of Public
Employees, said they are preparing to take a strike vote.

CUPE spokesman Robin Jones accused the government of inter
fering in the négotiations.

He said the talks dfagged on for six months until the government
prepared legislation that would privatize the ambulance service.

Jones called the legislation a sledgehammer, saying paramedics can't
be expected to perform life-saving duties under present conditions.

New B.C. CUPE president chosen

KELOWNA, B.C. (CP) — Geraldine McGuire has been elected
president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in British Colum-
bia

McGuire, , Was elected at the union's annual convention and suc:
ceeds Mike Dumler who stepped down to seek a national office with the
union

McGuire was a bookstore employee at the University of Victoria and
the first woman president of the Victoria and District Labor Council

Uzbek grievances examined

MOSCOW (Reuter) — Meskhetians in Soviet Central Asia, many of
whom have fled murder and rape by Uzbeks, may be given a chance to
return to their historical homeland in southern Georgia.

Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov, touring areas of Uzbekistan in
which at least 90 Meskhetians were killed, proposed setting up a com-
mission of the new Soviet parliament to examine the turkic minority’s
grievances.

The Meskhetians have long called for a return to southern Georgia
from Soviet Central Asia, where they were deported by late dictator Josef
Stalin during the Second W orld War

Canada to accept more refugees

OTTAWA (CP) — Canada could allow up to 1,000 extra refugees in
to the country over the next year, Immigration Minister Barbara Mc
Dougall told a conference in Geneva

She expects that will-raise the total number of government — and
private-sponsored refugees to more than 25,000 this year

But she made it clear to the conference on Indo-Chinese refugees
Canada wants to see other countries — including the original homes of the
migrants — live up to international obligations.

Environbment strategy needed

OTTAWA (CP) — After years of criticizing U.S. laxity on air
pollution, some Canadian environmentalists are looking enviously at the
clean-air plan announced by President George Bush this week

Michael Perley, coordinator of the Canadian Coalition on Acid
Rain, said that Canada lacks an overall strategy like that outlined by
Bush

The plan calls for gasoline-fuelled cars in selected cities to be replaced
with new vehicles that operate on clean fuels like methanol, natural gas
and ethanol, at the rate of one million vehicles a year by 1997

The U.S. legislation would also require industry to use the best
available technology to cut toxic chemicals from air emissions

Under that approach, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
would seta standard based on the best technology currently available, and
plants would be required to meet that standard. Canada has no com-
parable rules.

Inquest granted into death

VANCOUVER (CP) — B.C. Solicitor General Angus Ree has
agreed to allow an inquest into the death of a Jehovah's Witness who
delivered twins by caesarean section, and then died after refusing a blood
transfusion

“Lam so happy the government has made this decision to reopen the
case because this will give us an opportunity to hear the truth," said Ed
monton resident helen Sorenson, 59, mother of Audrey Lawson, 31, who
died 18 months ago

Sorenson recently gained permanent custody of the twins,
Christopher and Keith, born in Burnaby General Hospital, east of Van-
couver, as well as Lawson’s two other children, aged five and seven. Their
father suffers from a degenerative disease and did not contest the custody

MP may enter Liberal contest
OTTAWA (CP) Jean Lapierre, the Liberal MP for Shetford
riding in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, said he is considering running for
the leadership of the federal Liberal party
Lapierre said in a taped interview with Nouvelles Tele-Radio, the
French-language radio-TV news service of The Canadian Press, he wants
to present himself as a regional candidate representing Quebec
However, he acknowledged he doesn’t have any financial backing
for arunat John Turner's job and said he and other regional candidates
are planning to ask the national party executive to put a ceiling on expen-
ses for all leadership candidates.

uscc
PRESCHOOL
REGISTRATION

Parents wishing to enrol their
child(ren) for the 1989-1990 year are
asked to attend an intormation
meeting on

Thursday, June 15

at 7 p.m.

at the Brilliant Cultural Centre
Children must be.age 3 or older toot
tend. I unable to attend, please
phone 399-4194 oF 365-3119 10 pre
fegister

COMMUNITY

Bulletin Board

LEARNING DISABILITIES ASSOCIATION MEETING

Wednesday, June 21, 7 p.m., Twin Rivers School Library. Guest speaker Prin
cipal Poul Phipps. Topic: Services and Facilities tor Elementary 1.0. Students
for Sept. 89

GALLERY OF THE KOOTENAYS
In Nelson, exhibits collages by Judy Wapp. June 16-30. Reception June. 16.
6:30-9:30 48

STRAWBERRY TEA AND BAKE SALE
Raspberry Lodge, Thursday, June 15, 1:30-3:00 p.m 47

ATTENTION ARTISTS!

Nelson Art Walk is interested in your work. 3 walking tour shows trom August
nber 30 in 10 ‘Gallery. spaces. For more information pick up forms

N.E.C. Costlegar or §.U.B. 711-10th Street, Nelson. 352-2402

1 to Sep’
ot the
47

JOB'S DAUGHTERS INSTALLATION
Welcomes you to the Public Installation of Miss Kim Richards Honored Queen
Elect and Officers, June 16, 1989. 2.47

CHRISTIAN WOMEN’S CLUB
Thursday, June 15, 7.30 p.m.. Fireside Inn. Iribute to Grads. Reservations 365
6025 247

STRAWBERRY TEA
Sponsored by Robson Evening Group, Friday, June 16, 1:30-3:30 p.m
Rec Hall. Door Prize, Boke Table, Craft lable and Grocery Hamper Rattle
Ad ion $2.00. Everyone welcome 3) 46

Robson

Coming events of Castlegar and District non-profit organizations may be:listed
$4 and additional words are 20¢ each. Bold faced
words (which must be used for headings) count as two words. The

here. The fist 10 words are
tra charge for a second insertion while the third consecutive insertion 1s
halt-price ond the fourth consecutive insertion is also half-price. Minimum
charge is $4 (whether ad is for one, two or three times). Deadlines are 5 p.m
Thursdays for Sundays paper and 5 p.m. Mondays tor Wednesdays paper
Notices should be brought to the Castlegar News at 197 Columbia Ave

COMMUNITY

Bulictin Board

Kaslo resident
wins writing prize

TORONTO (CP) Holly Rubin
sky, a former teacher in Kaslo, has
been named winner of the $10,000
Journey Prize for her short story
Rapid Transits

The Malahat Review, a literary
journal published at the University of
Victoria, received a $2,000 award for

irst to print the story
ney Prize was established in
Canada last year by James Michener to
talented writers in the
early stages of their careers..””

To finance the prize, he dedicated
the Canadian royalties from his novel
Journey

After moving from her native Los
Angeles in 1975, Rubinsky, 45, got a
job teaching in Kaslo, and occasionally
wrote stories for magazines such as
Redbook, McCall's and
Cosmopolitan.

She afd her husband Yari Rubin
skyj.one of the founders of the Banft
Writers Workshop, now live part-time
in Toronto and Kaslo.

Thank You

Castlegar Rotary Club wishes to thank the citizens of Castlegar |

for supporting the Suntest Pancake Breakfast

Special thanks for their community spirit and generous support

to the following suppliers
SUPER-VALU — CASTLEAIRD PLAZA * PURNEL DISTRIBUTORS
ICG LIQUID GAS * TROWELEX

:

EATING OUT

1er’s Day Guide to Dining Out

' Y

hie A e 4 Py

Aad al Beat
" é

Russian
& Western
Food Menu

NEW SUMMER HOURS
Mon 8a.m.-9 p.m.

rr

9-Piece Economy.
15-Piece Bucket. or

20-Piece Borrel of the

Best Chicken in Town!

oS

« ronyviconcea TRY OUR OUT DOORS
* Airsonanored EATING AREA

Sunday June 18

HAWAIIAN
$7 95

STEAK
DINNER “oriy

FATHERS WILL RECEIVE A FREE SOFT ICE
CREAM CONE WITH THEIR MEAL!

Live Entertainment!

Starting at 3 p.m.

Rose s Restaurant
500 ft. in on the Slocan Valley
Highway at the Junction of

Highway 3A
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
359-7855

Licensed Catering tor Weddings
Parties & Banquets

Treat ‘Good OI’ Dad
to Some Good 01’
Fried Chicken

FRI., SAT. & SUN.

ALL PAKS

INCLUDES:

Delicious Golden Chicken, Fries,

JoJos, & Homemade Salads!

JUST ONE CALL WE DO IT ALL!

365-5304

2816 Columbia Ave.

TREAT DAD TO DINNER
AT ONE OF THESE
FINE RESTAURANTS

Special for Dad!
Sunday, June 18

FATHER’S DAY
DELICIOUS SMORGASBORD

5 p.m. - 8 p.m.

=
‘Chinese Food

HOURS: MON.-FRI
Cominco

ond
Westor

vouchers
accepted

—}

SAT., SUN. & HOLIDAYS

EASTGATE GARDENS

932 Columbia Ave. * 365-7414

|

Fresh From Our Wok

1AM. -10 P.M.

4PM.-10 P.M. Book now

special
Grad night
Smorg!

e_,

For

Father's Enjoy a

Trail
Tradition
This
Weekend
At

THE COLANDER

Congr i Cc
We'll be open for your day, too!
Open 5-9 p.m. * 364-1816 © 1475 Cedar Ave., Trail

10 0z. New
York Steak

$ 1 0° i RESTAURANT

RESERVED FOR FATHER'S DAY
SUNDAY, JUNE 18 ONLY

PRIME RIB DINNER

$10°

BOTH SPECIALS SERVED
FROM 5 P.M. INCLUDE ALL
THE TRIMMINGS & EXTENSIVE
SALAD BAR.

HOURS:

8 0.m. - midnight; Mon.- Set.
8 0.m. - 10 p.m., Sunday
651-18th St., Castlegar
365-6887

Welcome to the

appercorn

Enjoy Our Superb Menu for

Father's Day
ond for

Castlegar's Graduation
“Fine Dining in an Elegant Atmosphere”

69 Peppercorn

at the TERRA NOVA MOTOR INN
1001 Rossland Ave., Trail

FOR RESERVATIONS PHONE 364-2222

Sunday-Thursday 5to9 Friday & Saturday 5 to 10

Fine
Dining
InA
Unique
Setting!

Father's Day is also the

At Lemon Creek Lodge Restaurant
we specialize in your family's day!

14 Oz. Porterhouse Steak $12.95!
Seafood Fettuccini $10.95
Enchilados, a Mexican Treat $8.95
. . . Or Order From Our Regular Menu!
Saturday and Sunday, June 17& 18
Call 355-2403 for Reservations

(SORRY. CLOSED FOR A PRIVATE PARTY, FRIDAY, JUNE 16.)

We Are Lemon Creek Lodge

Well Worth
the Drive! On Highwer

Seven Miles Nocth of W. te mw BC. VOG CO