The Castlegar Sun Wednesday, May 13, 1992 SHARLENE IMHOFF __ Sun Editor The City of Castlegar has just completed the first phase in its attempt to update the Official Community Plan (OCP), an important document which will serve as the official expression of policy fér the use of land, water surfaces, and for the pat- tern of subdivision and land development within the city. The first initial step, which involved polling local residents through mail-outs and local newspapers, has been success- ful said Joon Bahk, Engineering and Planning Technician for the city. The polling began in April and concluded yesterday, with 51 per cent of the city’s mail- outs being returned. “We sent out 465 question- naires and we have received 239 back as of today,” Bahk said. In addition to this, more than 50 residents completed and sent in the poll that was also placed in Castlegar's local papers. The official Community Plan Update Resident Survey asked i about the possibili of a recycling program, recre- ational facilities, city improve- ment and highway development just to name a few. With the information from local residents now in, the city will compile the data before sending it away to be placed into statistics. When the statis- tics are returned, the Official Community Plan will be com- piled over the next few months—and then will wait for adoption by city council. The Official Community Plan will serve as a guide for the city, guiding future plans and development of Castlegar into the next century. City reports great respons = Resign Continued from 1A for some volunteer work soon, and I've started to begin work on a family project that will involve seniors in the community,” i said. Officials from Chantelle Man- agement Ltd., the parent compa- ny of Castleview Care centre, Local RCMP preparing Sun Staff Police in Castlegar and throughout the province are tun- ing up their radar equipment and stocking up on ticket books in for the first of this Double exposure - Twin sisters Caroline and Chris- tine Archibald, age five, take a closer look at some of the students’ art work during the Castlegar and Dis- trict School Spring Festival of the Arts, held last week at Kinnaird Middle School. SUN STAFF PHOTO / Sharene Imhoff Robson residents give chase when prowler enters Police were called to a resi- dence in Robson after a prowler ‘was observed on a sundeck by the owners of the home. The owner of the home, could arrive on the scene. The incident happened Mon- day at 10:17 p.m. Police have no suspects and a description of the prowler was not included in the RCMP report. year's three enforcement cam- paigns against speeders from May 13 -19. Please stop speeding before. it Stops you, is just one of the sim- ple messages which is being relayed by community traffic safety groups like the ohe in Castlegar as well as ICBC. All three campaigns are tied to this summer's major statutory holidays because that is when accidents peak. The first campaign centres around the Victoria Day holiday on May 18. The Canada Day campaign runs from July 1-7, while the Labour Day weekend campaign runs from September In 1990, police reported that unsafe speeds were contributing factors in nearly 5,600 traffic crashes in which people were killed or injured. In fact, only failing to yield the right-of-way and driving without due care and attention are cited more frequent- ly as contributing factors. B.C. Hydro and JASON KEENAN Sun staff B.C. Environment and B.C. Hydro are working together to Save a unique stock of rainbow trout native to the Arrow Lakes. “You only find these fish in the Arrow Lakes,” said Jay Hammond, Fisheries Section Head of B.C. Environment. “They are a real heritage item for the area.” based out of Vancouver, could not be reached to comment on Ramage’s resignation. Currently, Chantelle Management Ltd. has placed Laura Cullens, an L e to OCP survey ploy from V: uver, at Castleview Care Centre on a temporary basis. eee ICBC President Tom Holmes said that “the upcoming cam- the high traffic volumes we tradi- tionally experience on holiday weekends. We want everyone to know this in advance because both ICBC and the police want to Planning and Development Clerk Caroline Rempel sorts through the responses to the Official Communi- ty Plaf survey which was completed this week by local residents. SUN STAFF PHOTO / Sharlene Imhott for holiday weekends see fewer tickets handed out and fewer people injured or killed on our roads.” This is the fourth consecutive year in which the police and ICBC have teamed up to combat speeding. During last year’s two-week campaign, which was keyed to the Labour Day weekend, police issued 19,386 tickets for speeding and a further 855 for excessive speeding. In addition, more than 9,300 written warnings were handed out. Bacal Recent Motor Vehicle Stats for the Kootenays (source: ICBC & RCMP) LOCATION No. Crashes % Dr. % % Dr. w/o Due Alcohol Unsafe Care Rel'd Speed % Fail Yield %Due % Fol. to to too Weather Close Nelson Sub-Division Castlegar Rural Castlegar Municipal Cranbrook Rural Cranbrook Municipal Trail Rural Trail Municipal ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE 16.4 2.4 15.1 11.3 12.1 19.2 29.4 17.1 10.4 16.7 12.1 18.4 19.2 18.4 2.4 18.6 4.8 9.1 23.3 11.8 26.8 22.1 33.3 48.5 6.1 13.2 2.6 38.5 7.7 22.4 41 Ministry of Environment teaming up to save fish In the early eighties, B.C. Environment attempted to cap- ture and breed these fish unsuc- cessfully, due to high costs, problems in rearing the fish to maturity, and difficulties in cap- turing adult fish. “Tt has been quite a number of years since we last tried,” added Hammond. “I think there is a greater chance that we'll get some fish, and some eggs and milt produced.” Hydro and B.C. Envi are funding the Mica Compen- Sation Program to attempt Tebuilding stocks of the trophy- sized race of rainbow trout. With yellow-coloured gill cov- ers, paired fins, and stomach, these fish, weighing up to 14 kg, are racially distinct from other trophy rainbow trout found in other large West Kootenay lake systems. Up to 15 pairs of spawning adults, which congreg: every of the Kinbasket Lakes. The spawning channel and hatchery were built with B.C. Hydro funds to compensate for fishery resources lost when the Revelstoke and Keenlyside dams were constructed. The flooding of the Arrow Lakes in 1969, and the subse- quent construction of the Mica (1973) and Revelstoke (1979) dams affected the stock by flood- ing and/or blocking access to their historic spawning and rear- ing areas. Only a few of the fish remain. Hammond stressed that anglers have an important part to play in helping rebuild the stocks. “We want to encourage anglers to release the yellow-belly,” he said. “The next step is to get signs up to help anglers identify these fish.” The signs will help sport-fishers differentiate between the Arrow Lakes trout, and the more common rainbows found in Kootenay Lake. the stock, and the i of local communities and environ- mental organizations, the min- istry and B.C. Hydro indicated that a final attempt must be made to preserve and enhance this race of rainbow. “We have to try one more time, because there are not going to be any left in five to six years,” warned Hammond. After the eggs and milt are spring below the Revelstoke Dam, will be captured in the pro- ject. The captured adults will then be taken to the Hill Creek Spawning Channel and Hatchery where they will be stripped of their eggs and milt (fish sperm), and set free in the wild An Edmonton company, R. L. and L., is currently collecting fish with an electrical current, said Hammond. They have done similar projects for B.C. Hydro in the past. “We know the ability of this company,” he added. H d explained, the offspring will be raised at Hill Creek and used to form a brood stock. These fish will be raised until they are mature, then eggs and milt will be collected from them. There will also be a constant introduction of eggs from wild fish in to the brood stock to ensure that the genetic pool of fish is not closed, said Ham- mond. The second generation hatch- ery fish will be raised to the fin- gerling or yearling stage, and then stocked in to Arrow and } By Leigh Rubin ! Wednesday, May 13, 1992 The Castlegar Sun Liberal critic endorses Castleview fight for beds Visiting MLA says empty, unfunded beds make no sense SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Editor Castleview Care Administrator Dianne Ramage was apparently The fight for more government funding to open additional beds at Castleview Care Centre in Castle- gar has gained another voice of support—this time from a mem- ul, though no word of additional funding has been made. Reid, who is also speaking to seniors in Trail this week, says the problem should be remedied ly by the gi “which p ised to keep families ber of the Official Opposition, Liberal MLA Linda Reid (Rich- mond East). Reid, who is the Liberal critic for the Ministries of Health and Seniors, feels her tour of the inter- mediate care centre for Castlegar seniors was well worth the trip. “To have fund- ed beds in this together.” “To have furnished rooms with beds sitting empty doesn’t make any sense,” Reid said. “The peo- ple from Chantelle Management have been in my Victoria office over a number of months because they believe they followed all the province should be a number one priority,” said Reid as_ she toured a wing holding 22 com- pletely furnished rooms with empty beds. Lack of gov- ernment funding and attention to the empty-bed situation at the care centre ‘There are enough people on the waiting list to warrant having both facilities In Castlegar fully funded and caring for seniors.’ Health and Seniors Critic steps that they needed to follow, in terms of hav- ing these beds funded.” Reid called the ministry's inability to make a decision on whether funding should be grant- ed unclear, and that her position of critic will allow her to — LINDA REID reached a crucial point earlier this year. It still might end with the centre closing its doors—ending 52 jobs and leav- ing an added 36 seniors without a home. Castleview Care Centre has a total bed capacity of 61, though 25 of these sit empty while a waiting list of 46 seniors continues to The Vancouver-based owners of Castleview Care Centre, Chantelle Management Ltd., said the cost of maintaining the build- ing were outweighing the funds coming in due to the govern- ment’s inability to provide money to open more beds. While the government is: only willing to provide funding for 36 beds, a recent meeting among offi- cials from the Ministry of Health, the City of Castlegar and former bring the issue forward in the legislature. Seniors in Castlegar do have the choice between Castleview Care Centre and Mountainview Lodge, the newest long term care facility at the Castlegar and Dis- trict Hospital, which was opened in June. This facility’s 60 rooms (35 intermediate and 25 extended care), were fully funded by the government and soon full, although it also has a waiting list of 48 people—tleaving Castlegar’s total waiting list of seniors at more than 90. “There are enough people on the waiting list to warrant having both facilities in Castlegar fully funded and caring for seniors,” Reid said. “This NDP government campaigned on their support for families, now they should come through.” Sides grow weary as health labour dispute awaits Munroe report JASON KEENAN Sun staff Both sides are awaiting the report and recommendations of special conciliator Don Munroe in the labour dispute between the Hospital Employees’ Union ({HEU] and the Health Labour Relations Association of British Columbia [HLRA]. “I want to try to remain posi- tive,” said Jean Weir, the Chair- person of the Castlegar Hospital Employee's Local. “We're tired of what's happening.” She warmed that report might not be the end of the story. “If it’s not ratified, we will be hitting the bricks very quickly,” Weir added. After the recommen- dations are released sometime this week, they will be sent to the HEU and hospital administrators across the province to be ratified, or voted down. The vote will be supervised by the Industrial Rela- tions Council, and the union has agreed to hold off further job actions until the ratification vote results are released. Weir said that the HLRA had offered the same 3.5 per cent wage increase that the B.C. Nurs- es Union accepted in April. “There is a big difference between 3.5 percent of our wage, and 3.5 per cent of the nurses wage,” said Weir. She said there is a large gap between wages for the two unions, and it would get bigger if the 3.5 figure holds. And she said the HLRA has failed to recognized one of the ‘SUN STAFF PHOTO / Sharlene Imhoff Liberal MLA and official critic for the Ministry of Health and Seniors, Linda Reid, toured through Castleview Care Centre Monday evening, during which she stopped to have a brief chat with resident Nora Postnikoff. Recent rediscovery rescues history Heritage society to refurbish Castlegar's first jail JASON KEENAN Sun staff The Castlegar and District His- torical Society landed itself a nice piece of heritage last week, with the rediscovery of Castlegar’s first jail. “This is history being rescued,” said John Coyle, president of the society. As a part of the Department of Highways site clearing to prepare for the building of the postponed Castlegar-Robson bridge, they purchased the house at 90 Columbia Avenue along with the 24 by 16 foot shed out back. “I think it’s great because Castlegar, being a young town, doesn’t have a lot of heritage buildings,” added Coyle. “It's a part of our past.” News of the availability of the jail came to Coyle down two paths. The first one started with Mayor Audrey Moore, who passed the news on to Bonnie Charters, who told Coyle. The other path started with the former owners of the “When the government first unions biggest d pay equity. “Hopefully, this will be the final chapter in this dispute,” said Martin Livingston, the HLRA's Director, Communications. The HLRA was disappointed that Munroe’s recommendations will not be binding. “This has gone on longer than is prudent,” Livingston said. It will likely take until sometime in June that results of the vote are known, he added. “We've done everything we can to reach a col- lective agreement.” “If the report is not ratified, I think it will fall into the govern- ment’s lap,” he said. “If the rec- ommendations aren't ratified, some sort of binding decision will have to be made.” pp us to buy the house, I mentioned the jail house to them,” said Susan Armstrong. She and her husband have been using the old jail house for the past year as a storage area. She said many long-time resi- dents of Castlegar told her and her husband of the historical sig- nificance of their shed. But her neighbour's testimony convinced her. “The man who owns the empty lot next to us remembers going into the jail house to get his drivers licence years ago,” Arm- strong added. “I wonder, if this building could talk, what kind of stories it would tell,” added Armstrong. “It must have been quite a place.” The jail is located right behind the Armstrong’s house, which Parents of young children urged to attend car seat safety checks Trained volunteers inspecting seats for protection SUBMITTED Each year in Canada, car crashes kill more than 70 chil- dren under the age of five and injure another 4000. Tragically, the correct use of approved child safety seats could prevent most of those deaths and injuries. Although it’s been mandato- ry in British Columbia since 1985 for parents to buckle their children into safety seats before taking them for a ride, Studies indicate that more than half of these seats are used incorrectly. That's why ICBC is co-spon- soring a free child safety seat check from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., June 10 at the Castleaird Plaza. Trained volunteers will check the safety seat in your car to see whether it’s been properly installed. They will also show you how to use the seat correctly so that your child receives the greatest degree of protection. For example, the seat’s har- ness system must fit snugly over the child. If more than tow fin- gers can fit between the harness System and the youngster, then it’s too loose and the child could be seriously injured in case of a crash. The safety check is sponsored by ICBC, the Central Kootenay Public Health Unit, and the RCMP. Prizes for the event have been donated by True Valu Hardware, West's Department Store, Von's T-Shirts Shop, The Book Shop, Partys R Us and The Picture Place. Super Valu and the Plaza Bakery are provid- ing refreshments. For further information, contact Karla Springinotic at the Kootenay Public Health Unit, 365-8525, or Jan Wise in the ICBC Traffic Safety Pro- grams Department , 368-4206 (collect). 4 l was the residence of Castlegar’s first police officer, George McAndrew. His log books, his uniform, and other assorted belongings are currently in the entrance way to the Castlegar Museum, run by the Heritage Society. With the railway line running right behind it, the thirties provid- ed some interesting times at the jail. McAndrew used to throw rail-ridding bums off the cars straight into the jail. The jail was built in about 1931 by Bill Waldie, who still resides in Robson. Coyle said that Waldie built the jail, and the house, on the condition that the government lease the buildings from him for five years. Coyle couldn't hide his excitement over the discovery, and the pending transfer of title to the building. A lot of details remain to be worked out he warned, including getting the zoning to locate the jail near the museum, moving the jail, and getting the extensive restorations underway. In order to get title of the building from the highways department, the heritage society has promised to move the jail by the end of September. “T'd like to move it to where it will stay so we don’t have to move it again,” said Coyle. Though it is still in relatively sturdy shape, it is still a 60-year old structure. The less moved the better. He added that once the jail is relocated and refurbished, the OUTLOOK: WEATHER _ The forecast for Wednesday; Mixture of cloud and sun with temperature highs into the upper teens and lows around 2 - 4. The weekend weather is shaping up to be a little bit warmer with mostly sunny periods and a few cloudy intervals. Highs near 20. 32.5/6 Rain Precipitation: Lo Number of Hours 58.6 A LOOK BACK AT THE PAST WEEK: Temperature: Max/Date Min/Date 3.2/9 Snow Mean Normal 15.8 Total 0 Lo Normal Number of Hours 419 warm air into the region west for the first half of record high temperatures taining much cooler and the airport. ARROW LAKE May 9 - 1425.52 REMARKS: A ridge of high pressure brought very . By mid-week a trough con- process. Temperatures did approach record low val- ues on the weekend. Gusty wind and showers accompanied this change but only 1mm of rain was recorded and the gusts were not unusually high at Forecast provided by The South - East interior Weather Office at Castlegar, B.C. from the south and: south- the period resulting in the unstable air reversed the ss Heritage society president SUN STAFF PHOTO JASON KEENAN John Coyle stands inside the recently rediscovered Castlegar jail, which will eventual- ly be relocated turned into a heritage attraction. McAndrew display will likely end up in the jail. All the parties involved, from the Armstrongs, to the highway department, the city of Castlegar, and the Castlegar and District Heritage Society share the credit for rescuing a piece of Castlegar history. Without them, our first jail might have joined a lot of our former heritage, under the wreck- ing ball. “It helps establish the heritage society a little bit more,” Coyle added. “I think we're very fortunate that we have a couple like the who want to see our history preserved, and have looked after the jail.” Kinnaird Elementary students have been making house calls recently, the most recent of which involved travelling to Castleview Care Centre to entertain residents as part of Easter celebrations. SUN STAFF PHOTO / Brendan Halper