Legistative Lib:
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Victoria, B. C.

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Published at “The Crossroads of the Kootenays”

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VOL. 35, NO, 42

35 Cents

CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 1982

eRe.

3 Sections (A, B &C)

itger resigns as fire chief

By RON NORMAN
Eaditoi

AN FITGER
-nosupport |

and

Blaming lack of Sooperation aa psy from city couneil
of hi

fire chief Dan Fitger resigned hie week.
The 88-year-old Fitger was ‘the city's first paid fire chief
and his resignation has sparked a flurry of controversy both
b

inside and outside the 40.

Some firefighters have called | for a public inquiry into

the force's

council Tuesday

ruled out any public inuuiry. and will instead meet ‘with fire

. Officers later this week.

Fitger actually tendered his resignation last week and
had tried to keep the decision quiet until it could be dealt
with at the regular council meeting Tuesday night,

However, word of the resignation leaked out early

‘Tuesday morning.
Council, following a two-hour committee of the whole’.
which

ion,

effective June 1.

Fitger's

A 18-year veteran of the Kamloops fire department,
Fitger had been fire cheif here for nearly 18 months.

~ He said, “For the last four months things have been
waning” and he was “discontent.”

“Tfelt I

:. had not been able to accomplish what I had

set out to.— better‘fire protection for the city.”

Citing as an example of the lack of cooperation and
support from council, Fitger said that last year he fired a
veluntety fireman, bit counell forced. bin to reinstate the’

"He ‘said the move did not help his relationship with the
members. and virtually “handcuffed” him. °

“I began to feel alone,”

he said, adding that his

relationship with council and the firemen deteriorated to the
point where he felt like he'was walking a narrow path “with
alligators on one side and ‘crocodiles on the other.”

He indicated that his problem with council primarily’

were with Mayor Audrey Moore and not with the protective’
is. services committee, chaired by Ald. Carl Henne.

“I don't know what happened between the mayor and

$11,000’

damage
in fire
By CasNews Staff:

A freak accident is be-

lieved to have been the cause
of a Victoria Day fire at Kin-

naird Junior Secondary

School in which $11,000 dam-
age was reported.
Castlegar Volunteer Fire

Department assistant chief

Theron Isfeld told the Castle-

gar News the fire broke out ‘fs

about 10:30 a.m. Monday in

the home economics lab when

sunlight pee ips by a glass
the

northeast corner of the room,

went into” the ‘ceiling joists”

and over the wall into the ad-
jacent research room, Isfeld
said, ;

However, he said the fire
was contained to that corner
of the two rooms and was put
out by the first pumper truck
from the south end fire hall.

Firemen were alerted by.
the intruder alarm which was

triggered. The school's sprin- “

kler system also went into ®¥*

action immediately. ,

Isfeld. said four -pumper
responded to the call, though
the fourth was never used
and the third was used.only
for backup. He said the
school was full of smoke
when firemen first reached
the scene.-

Classes at the. 18-year-old
school were held as. usual

Tuesday, except in the home»

economics room. A total of 16
volunteer firemen responded
to the call, and news of the
fire brought a large number
of onlookers, ©

Embree

wants
hearings.

* By CasNews Staff

A Castlegar alderman.

Tuesday called for hearings
— either public or private —
into B.C. Timber’s proposed
effluent treatment facility at
the Celgar pulp mill.

Ald. Len: Embree told

council he’ hopes the provin-
* cial Pollution Control Board
. will hold hearings on new
pollution requirements . for
the mill's treatment plant
before making any decision
on a-pollution permit.
Embree made the. com-
ment in resp to a letter.

REAR ACCIDENT... Volunteer firemen break upper wiGdGae to let smoke out
during Victoria Day fire at Kinnaird Junior Secondary School.

—CosNewsPhoto by Lols Hughes,

College cuts courses

-The impact of the shortfall
between Selkirk College’s
budget request and the col-
lege’s allocation were an-
nounced Tuesday by prin-

cipal Leo Perra,

Most instructional and ser-
vice activities will continue
with some reductions in uni-

-versity transfer courses, car-

eer programs, vocational of-

ferings and support areas,
Perra said the college is
Li ‘ions, but

deleting. some courses from
its list of university transfer
offerings. The courses that
will not bé available in
1982-83' are: Anthropology
210/220; Biology 204/206,
208/210 and 214/218; Chem-
istry 212/218, a first year
French. course, a first yéar
Geography course, Math 105,
and a second year psychology
and gociology course.

Ae David Thompson-

Centre in Nelson,

added that the p re-
straint program does not
leave much room for opti-
mism.

In a move to close the gap
between the

program, which was. in jeo-
pardy, has been salavaged
through a last-minute de-
cision by the Ministry of
Education to provide addi-
tional funds to the college.

In the area of career
technology offerings:

e Selkirk College is re-
ducing the number of second
year courses in Business Ad-
ministration, however, the
two-year diploma program is
being maintained,

increases in the number

ae year will not
be d in anth:

and psychology and some
first year offerings in French,
seoloey and philosophy will

of students in the Nursing
and Electronics diploma pro-
grams will occur.

. @ the Office Administration
offered in Nelson

and
request, Selkirk College is

OTTAWA (CP) —. Pro-
gressive Conservatives de-
manded the resignation of

from city solicitor J. Galt
Wilson, who has been asked
to act for council on any
matters relating to the mill
effluent treatment facility.
. In his letter, Wilson notes
that B.C. Hydro's prelimin-
ary report on the Columbia
River water quality “clearly
indicates the serious problem
presently being created by
’ B.C. Timber."

The report — prepared by,

International Environmental
‘continued on page A2

lici G 1 Robert
Kaplan in the Commons on
Tuesday -after he admitted
writing character references
for two. former campaign
workers awaiting sentence
on armed. robbery convic-
tions,

Tory MPs raised the issue
with Kaplan and Prime Min-
ister Trudeau and accused
the solicitor general of vio-
lating guides ining cab-

mrte Physieal Education

judge, Barry Shapiro, re-
fuged! to allow one of the let-
ters to be read in his Bramp-
ton coukt last Thursday, say-
ing it’ ‘was in “poor taste.”
But." Trudeau - defended
Kaplan, saying the solicitor
general had not. attempted to
influence the'court in a sur-
reptitious way’and was only
trying to ensure that justice
was tempered with mercy.
Kaplan told the Commons
he did not try to hide his
representation in any way.

inet ministers from inter-
fering in the judicial Process.
An Ontario county court

“The was
made frankly, on the record,
and on behalf of people that I
know,” he said. :

and Trail will be retained,

Kaplan, onder fire for
writing letter to. judge.

Former Conservative soli-
citor general Allan Lawrence
began a concerted opposition
attack by asking Trudeau
whether it is still govern-
ment policy that cabinet
ministers should not attempt
to communicate with judges

about matters before the.
: g . * “It's not enough to depend
di and empl to

courts.

When Trudeau said the
policy is atill in force, Law-
rence reyealed the details to
the prime minister and asked
whether Kaplan had sub-
mitted his resignation or
whether Trudeau had asked
for it.

however, the number of
classes will be reduced from
three to two to accommodate
the legal secretary option.

e The Licensed Practical
Nursing program will be re-
duced from two classes to one
and the program will be
transferred from Rosemont
to the Castlegar campus.

e the Hairdressing. pro-
gram will also see a planned
reduction from three to two
intakes, F

Other changes include the
cancellation of the Adult
Basic Education course in
Winlaw and ‘the amalgama-
tion of the Midway and
Grand Forks continuing edu-
cation centres with peripher-
al services to smaller com-
munities,

Some Isyoffs may occur,
however most of the reduc-
tions in the college's per-
sonnel roster will happen
through attrition, shared
work, less part-time and re-
lief help and the non-replace-
ment: of some staff on as-
sisted and unassisted leaves.

“Revenue available for col-
leges depends on public sup-
port,” Perra said. “The Min-
istry of Education's ability to
receive a greater portion of
provincial: revenue depends
bane active support from the
public.

I," he said. He called it a “negative factor” and added, “Our
relationshhip has been petering out . . . I don't know why.”

But Moore refuted that claim said in an interview this
morning. “I had no knowledge he was having difficulty with
me personally. I thought we got along very, very well and
we had a good working relationship,” she said:

Fitger hinted that part of the problem with council and
the firemen was that he was the first paid fire chief.
“They're probably not aware of some of the work involved,”

he said.

He cited the department's officers as another problem
area. “They're all good people in their own right,” he said.
Yet despite their 16 to 20 years as volunteers, they “haven't
had the training to be good officers,” Fitger said.

He claimed that in some instances the officers were
“Timid” at the scene of a fire and in other instances they just

din’t know what to do.

However, he said that part of the problem is that the
officers Just don’t have enough firefighting experience. He
continued on page A2

COUNCIL PAY

ALD. CARL HENNE
+. defends council

Raise deferred

By CasNews Staff
Castlegar council Tuesday
agreed to hold off on its 10
per cent raise until Sep-

tember — but the decision 1.
: wasn't made without a fight

from at least one- alderman.
Council had’ intended to
pass a bylaw paving the way

* for the 10 per cent increase in

stipends. The bylaw would

‘have’ seen Mayor Audrey

Moore's .indemnity increase

“from $7,788 to $8,561 and the
* salaries for the six alderman

go‘ from’ $4,576.to $5,033. .
tee

be reviewed.

If the raise is approved’ in
September, the increase
would be retroactive to Jan.

Calderbank said he has
been under “quite a bit of
pressure” to hold off on the
raises until the fall when
council can review. the econ-
omic situation.

But Ald. Carl Loeblich said

council is “simply hiding our #

heads in the sand and not fa-
cing, the issue.”

‘T ‘think it’ absolutely rid-

iculous,” he said of the move
the raise. “We'

taken a big enough beating

now.” He noted that other

‘elected officials haven't taken

P-
similar action,
>

Ald, Len Embree said he
appreciated Calderbank's
reasons for holding off on the
raise, but warned “there's
going t to be a day of reck-
oning.”

He said council will be fac-
ing more than a minima! mill
rate increase in the next year
or two because it will have to
catch up — not only on’ the
stipends, but on “a lot of
things.”

However, he. went along
with the motion.

Just“last ‘month council
voted to reduce -the stipend
in ie from.16 per cent to

Peptent. ‘The money: from:
the five per cent laving will
be used to help build a-float. «

-for the annual SunFest-Par-

ade.

By CasNews Staif
A number of waterways
in both the West and East
Kootenays | including
Pass Creek — are posing
their most serious flood
threat in’ the last 10 years,

rally support for’ colleges.
Public support must come
from the community as well.
If the residents of the West
Kootenay want more college
services, they must take the
time to inform their elected
representatives,” he said.

the p Water Man-
agement Branch said Tues-
day.

Water Management
Branch technician Ken
Gorsline said in an inter-
view with the Castlegar

\_ News that Pass Creek has

Siete fe
FLOOD WARNING . . . Water rushes down Pass Creek. Water level could reach
flood proportions in the next few weeks with any combination of hot weather,
heavy precipitation or strong winds.

Flooding poses threat

been listed as a serious po-
tential flood threat.

He said any combination
of hot weather, heavy pre-
cipitation or warm winds
during hte next several
weeks could generate a
serious flooding situation.

Gorsline said the flood
threat is due to the un-
usually heavy winter snow-
fall and a coo spring.

He said Pass Creek is
the only area of concern in
the Castlegar area, be-

—CasNewsthoto by Chery! Wisthlow,

cause of development close
to the creek,

“Because of the typo-
graphy and developments
(in Castlegar), there are
not too many flood prone
areas,” he said.

Areas of particular con-
cern at this time are the
Duhamel and Cottonwood
Creek areas near Nelson,
Goat River area at Cres-
ton, Salmo River near Sal-
mo, Kaslo River area at

continued on page A2

/