LOTTERY NUMBERS The winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto 6/49 Uraw were 3, 13, 28, 31, 40 and 44. The bonus number is 41. The extra numbers are 9, 18, 69; 96. The $1,000,000 winning number in Friday's Provincial lottery draw is 2794433, Pioneer part 2 CasNews--cotumnist John Charters con- From Quebec Singer NHL e La) ~ results lucie ~Blue cludes his two-part feature on __ local pioneer Bill Waldie 1 AS Tremblay brings her bilingual performance to Nelson March 8 The winning numbers drawn Friday in the wc, fone lottery were 2, 3, 36, 41, 47, 48, 52 Lal * and The CasNews National League action. . up Saturday night's Hockey wraps unday Castl Vol. 43, No. 18 60 Conts ep Fm, CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, MARCH 4,1990 WEATHERCAST Today: Sunny with occasional bon: ds of cloud moving in from the south. Slight risk of showers. Highs 7-10. Monday: A little more cloud increasing the risk of showers Probability of precipitation is 20 per cent today and 30 per cent Monday 3 Sections (A, B&C) Mie DIGGING IN . . . Allan Verigin (right as the foundation for the Castlegar and District Ho: planned expansion that will include a new i tag PRR #) HORE R See see ) and Nick Voykin work alongside heavy equipment spital's new boiler room, part of the facility an @ new dietary department, is dug beside an existing hospital Wall. costiews photo by.Clouderte Sandeck Weather office boss forecasts move By C JDETTE SANDECKI Staff Writer The Castlegar weather office, currently housed at the Castlegar air- port, will likely move to within the city limits by the end of the year, of- ficer in charge Tom Willson said Friday. The weather office staff, who are Environment Canada employees, have been looking for suitable office space after Public Works Canada ap- Proved their proposal to move, Willson said He said the current location is becoming increasingly cramped as the weather office installs more modern French immersion equipment and computers. The move will make work easier for the staff and will be ‘‘very good” for the general public that relies on the office for information, Willson said. The use of computers wilt cut down on office costs and manpower and will also make the staff more ef ficient, he said. One of their main jobs is to formulate forecasts and “you can’t do that if you're tearing off teletype paper,’’ Willson said The Castlegar weather office, which covers an area from between Rock Creek and Osoyoos Revelstoke and Golden and the entire southeast corner of the province, to receives more requests for its services all the time, he said. Ski hills, the Ministry of Highways, the Ministry of Fofests, heliskiing companies, Cominco and—Celgar, construction companies and Selkirk College’s aviation and geography departments are just some of the organizations that request frequent weather information, Willson said. He said the flight service station at the airport, which provides weather and aviation safety information to airports in the region without control towers, will ‘‘pick up any slack’ at the Castlegar airport when the move takes place. \ sign-ups fall short By CasNews Staff A proposed late French immersion Program at Kinnaird Junior secon dary school will likely not gd ahead this year because not enough parents registered their children for the program, Castlegar assistant school superintendent Lach Farrell said. Only 19 children were signed up Saturday for the program which school district officials decided they could not justify running without at least 25 ‘students registered, Farrell said The program, which would begin in Grade 7, may be considered next year when changes to the district, such as a possible increase in enrolment when construction on the Celgar pulp miil expansion begins, may make the program possible, he said. Farrell said the number of parents who registered their children ‘closely reflected"’ the number of people who attended two information meetings on the proposed program held recen. tly at KJSS. Farrell said he hoped 25 to 30 parents would register their children “1 didn’t expect 45 people here” based on the interest shown at the in- formation meetings, he said Board calls for thorough review of Celgar expansion By SIMON BIRCH Editor The Regional District of Central Kootenay board of directors voted Saturday to support the provincial government’s major project) review sion, which undertake independent assessments of major projects such as the Celgar expansion. © The provincial government ensure that full and open access to infor- mation regarding all aspects of the process for the prop of the Celgar pulp mill in Castlegar on the condition the government—com- pletes fully the first two stages of the process, including holding public hearings on the project Project — including all government commitments for fun- ding—and— infrastructures be Provided to Celgar and the public. © Celgar be asked to provide the regional district with a copy of the company’s review of truck traffic ver- sus rail or barge service which it con- ducted in relation to the proposed ex- pansion project. Use of rail service or barges down the Arrow Lakes have been suggested as ways to alleviate the tripling of truck traffic predicted to occur asa result of the-expansion Project. continued on page A2 The one of five the board passed at its meeting Satur- day, also stipulates all concerns raised about the proposed expansion be “‘addressed and resolved.”” As well, the board requested the federal government step in and con- dyct its own environmental review of the Celgar project if the provincial government grants approval in prin- ciple to the expansion before comp- leting the first two stages of the major Project review process. The RDCK board also recommen- ded: ¢ Encouraging the provincial government to help provide inter- venor funding under the review process. The funding, would provide financial, help to individuals or groups, such as the Coalition for In formation on the Pulp Mill Expan- Director possibl By SIMON BIRCH Editor The Regional District of Cen- tral Kootenay board of directors agreed Saturday to support an ex- tension of the deadline the provin. cial government has imposed on Celgar Pulp Co. to meet environ- mental standards at the Castlegar pulp mill if the company’s proposed $630 million expansion project is delayed Area I director John Voykin s discuss e delay raised the issue of possible delays to the project during the board’s discussions of a number of recommendations it approved concerning the provincial gover- Nment’s major project review pr- coess through which Celgar is currently proceeding Some of the recommendations, such as a call for public hearings, if agreed to by the provincial government, could delay the ex- continued on poge A2 Second open ho By CLAUDETTE SANDECKI Staff Writer Celgar Pulp Co. officials decided Friday to hold an open house in Nelson on the proposed pulp mill ex pansion after reviewing last week's open house in Castlegar which attrac- ted approximately 165 people, Celgar’s industrial relations manager Ron Belton said Saturday Celgar officials considered the number of people who attended and the interest shown in the expansion Project, as well as the comments made, and decided to hold a second information session in another large centre in the area, Belton explained The Nelson open house will be held Friday, March 9 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall at 402 Victoria Street, he said Officials from Celgar be Present to answer questions again but will Belton couldn't say if members of the ~ provincial government overseeing the major project review Celgar is undergoing will attend Pulp mill manager Jim Browne said Thursday the Castlegar open house didn’t seem to fulfil its planned pur- committee pose because ‘‘more people came in to express positions than came in to look for information."" About 40 per cent of those expansion, about 40 cent were against and only about’ 20 per cent came looking for answers, Browne said As well, Browne said assessing whether the open house provided the information people sought was dif ficult and Celgar won't know if the Necessary answers were given until a later date ; Celgar provided information packages on various aspects of the expansion project and allowed material from the Coalition for In- use set formation on the-Pulp Mill Expan- sion to be displayed alongside Celgar material. Members of the review committee who attended the open house have submitted a report on their im- pressions from the public session but that wasn’t the main reason they were there, committee co-chairman Frank Blasetti said Friday The committee members were on hand to provide information on the review process and the committee does not intend to guage public opinion on the expansion project by what occurred at the open house or by what has been said in the more than 300 public submissions that have been received on the project, Blasetti said “‘Letters are not a poll,’’ he said, noting the federal and provincial government agencies represented on the committee are to look at the technical aspects of the project. The continued on page A2 Busing decision threatens athletics A decision by the Castlegar and District Teachers’ Association to not allow teachers to drive buses for extra curricular activities has put in jeopardy the entire athletic program at Stanley Humphries secondary school, says the head of the school’s athletic department Doug Hickey, who also coaches basketball at SHSS, said the cost of hiring bus drivers to teplag teachers who drive free of charge would amou more than $100,000. And if the Castlegar school board can’t come up with the funds, ‘‘it could potentially mean that there would be no athletics (at the high school) next year," he said **] am extremely disappointed,’’ Hickey said. ‘‘I will probably abide by the rules but I’m not in favor of them.** ~ The teachers union, at its regular genéral meeting Feb. 20, voted by a 22-10 margin to discontinue the prac tice which has teachers driving the buses used to take Students to extra-curricular events such as basketball and volleyball games. While the decision, which goes into effect Sept. 1, applies to every school in the Castlegar district, SHSS will be affected most because it has the most extra-curricular activities that require busing Before it comes into effect the Castlegar school board has to figure out a way to pay for bus drivers “I think that it’s to the point where we've (the teachers) put the board in a very precarious positien,”” Hickey said But CDTA president Joyce Adams said she doesn't see why the move should have any repercussions on the athletic program at Stanley Humphries or any other school in the district Adams points to the Nelson school district, which adopted a similar policy last year, as an example ‘Other school boards have done it, mainly for safety reasons, so I don’t see why Castlegar can't do the same thing,’’ she said Adams said the majority of the teachers feit teachers should stick to teaching and let qualified bus drivers do the driving “When a teacher works all day, then gets in a bus with a load full of children, and then proceeds to drive down the highway, it’s obviously not a safe situation,” Adams said. School board chairman Gordon Turner said the board will discuss the decision in its next closed-door meeting early this month However, he did say the move will put the board in ‘tremendous difficulty’’ because of the potential cost of hiring drivers. “Certainly the budget doesn’t look like there’s any room for an additional $100,000 for driving,’’ he said. ‘*1 guess maybe as well, the local CUPE group had been pushing to take over (driving the buses) and create a few more jobs for a period of time now. It’s a big blow to the high school’s extra-curricular program as far as I'm con- cerned,"’ Dianne McAfee, a coach at Kinnaird Junior secon- dary school who, along with Paul Medvedeff, brought thé motion forward at the CDTA meeting, said she can see both sides of the issue but believes the teachers made the right decision “‘I just fear someday, someone's going to have an ac- cident, and I just don't want to ldse one of my fellow teachers in an accident and I don't want to lose any children,’ McAfee said. ‘‘I Teally think it's (driving) a responsibility that shouldn't be on a teacher’s shoulders “If extra-curricular activities are a priority in this district, then the board will come up with the funding.””