We Phew ey oe ee ee we ee Wednesday, September 16, 1992 EE ee getiy EEE spaccooe ‘Pet: 2 doge, Bubbles & Chiquita Vehicle: Bike _—- @ & i » rae. i. ees SUN STAFF PHOTO /John Van Putten Bill Gynrkovit (foreground), directs John Postnikoff towards the hot spots during a grass fire Monday afternoon. The fire covered a 50 by 75 foot (15 by 22.5 meters) area just north of 37th Street. Fire Chief Gerry Rempel said “This stuff is quite dry, we had a dry summer and it's not over when it comes to the brush." Rempel also noted that although the B.C. Forest Service fire warning is only at moderate, Castlegar is still at risk. _School construction on “schedule, on budget | JOHN VAN PUTTEN : Sun staff ‘ Construction at Stanley | Humphries Secondary School is ahead of schedule and on budget. The $4.5 million construction Project was started August 1991 ‘ and was projected to be complet- ed February 1993. “Everything except the activi- ty room will be completed by the : end of October,” said Andy "| Boolinoff, Maintenance Supervi- ‘sor for School District No. 9. Even though the total cost of {the project will remain under : budget, changes to the contract have resulted in an extra $387,762.40 being As well, an extra $53, 480.79 + has been allocated for future ‘-ch to the area, shop area, and an upgrading of the parking lot The administration was in need of “a complete upgrading.” according to Assistant Superin- tendent Lachlan Farrell. Changes to the parking lot were “needed because the ground stability was less than desirable,” being built on an old creek bed, Boolinoff said. Even with additions the entire project should remain within the set budget, according to Booli- noff. Disruption to classes has been kept to a minimum by having the majority of the loud and disrup- tive work completed during the summer months. “What needs to be done now is done mainly after school hours,” Selkirk College No show for puppets but message sti JASON KEENAN Sun staff The puppets didn’t make it, but the performers did. What was supposed to be a performance of Puppets against AIDS became a question and answer period on the impact AIDS is having in South Africa And it is difficult to divorce the question, of AIDS from a host of other factors, including vio- lence against women, apartheid, and incest. “AIDS can be related to other social problems in South Africa,” said Sibongile Jack, one of the performers who answered stu- dents’ questions at Selkirk Col- lege on Monday. About 75 students were at the session, many asking questions about the spread of AIDS, and how puppetry is used to try to slow that spread. Though AIDS is more wide spread in other parts of Africa, the politics of South Africa have made it a difficult disease to deal with. “One thing we need to under- stand about South Africa is we are still living under minority rule,” said Nyanga Tshabala, who became involved with Pup- pets against AIDS as an actor. AIDS is compounded in the : Women wait for federal answers Conroy and Evans waiting for government to explain ax-job | SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Editor Two West Kootenay women = are still waiting for the federal government to tell them why they were bounced from the Central Kootenay Community Futures Katrine Conroy and Bonnie Evans, the wives of NDP MLAs Ed Conroy and Corky Evans, .« Teceived second-hand verbal , motice from the federal govern- ment that they did not qualify to sit on the Central Kootenay Com- munity Futures Committee, a funded board that iden- tifies employment and training a» heeds in the region. At first thought, both women _» believed the government might question a conflict of interest, but »even Ted Hughs, the Conflict of : Interest Commissioner for B.C., stated there could be no conflict +: Of interest since the program is +, federally-funded, not provincial- r ly-funded. Both Conroy and Evans were » Fecommended by outgoing board » Members, the usual practice for the federal Minister of Employ- ment and Immigration, Bernard Valcourt. Tt was this approval that was refused. While the two women were told by the provincial Communi- ty Futures office about the minis- ter’s decision earlier this summer, 1'm a Iittle disillusioned by the whole thing.’ — KATRINE CONROY Bounced from Community Futures they have yet to receive an offi- cial letter or even a phone call Stating the minister's reasons for his decision “I'm a little disillusioned by this whole thing,” said Conroy. “It’s hard to get involved in something and then be told you're not acceptable.” Even officials from the provin- cial Community Futures office i Final app: of all appointments must come from elem e ee a e ed d the reason behind the decision—and have yet to receive an adequate answer. Phillipa Rowcliffe, a consul- tant for Central Kootenay Com- munity Futures, has her office based in Vancouver. She finally received a letter from Valcourt's office, though it fails to provide an explanation for the minister's decision. Instead, the letter lists the federal government's two new appointments to the board Ruby Streloff, from Castlegar and Jan Angrignon from New Denver. The letter, goes on to State that the new appointees will be valued for the “significant assets they represent as promi- nent leaders with the business community and area.” “The letter does not give specifics as to why [Conroy or Evans} did not meet with approval,” said Rowcliffe Gary McCandlish, previous chairperson of Community Futures, sent a letter to the minis- ter’s office after he was told of Valcourt’s decision. He has never received a response either. “I haven't received anything from the government which would explain why Katrine Con- roy and Bonnie Evans can not sit on the board,” he said. received Nyanga Tshabala didn't need the use of puppets to convey his mesage about the impact of AIDS in South Africa to students at Selkirk College, Monday. black community by the contin- ued segregation of health care While 'the whites have access to the best in medicine, the blacks do not. This is one of the biggest ways Canadians can have an impact on AIDS in South Africa. “We really need your support, since most people who need help with AIDS are blacks,” said Jacks. That support needs to go to organizations concerned with community-based primary health care programs. And Canadians can help send a message of hope to South Africa. “South Africans need to see each other like Canadians do — as people. Not you are white, you are black, you are green, you are short, you are tall,” said Jack. Puppets against AIDS was founded in Johannesburg in 1987, and it was taken to South African communities missed by AIDS education programs by the African Research and Educational Puppetry Programme. The cross-Canada tour that began in August has been sponsored by OXFAM (Canada). Puppets are used to covey messages about subjects other- wise difficult to talk to people about - sexuality and politics. “There are many things you can do with a puppet that you can't do with a live actor.” Education through puppets SUN STAFF PHOTO / Jason Keenan was an answer to the first shock campaign on AIDS that left black South Africans with the impres- sion it was a disease of whites, and visa versa. “The way it was presented to black people was racist,” said Tshabala. Puppets allowed them to move beyond race, and get to the core of the problem - slow- ing the spread of AIDS. “The puppets are grey, so they can be identified as any colour.” By wrapping an important message in entertainment, it’s easier for people to absorb the facts about AIDS. “The information goes out quite freely without a stigmatiza- tion of people Police seize marijuana after car accident Sun Staff Castlegar RCMP seized $200 worth of marijuana and several hydroponic grow fights from a pick-up after a single car accident Friday night The two occupants fled from the scene on Highway #3 east of the Kinnaird Bridge before police and ambulance arrived. The pick-up received approxi- mately $1,500 in after it hit the ditch while coming from Nelson on highway #3A. The driver, Jason Verigin, 22 of Grand Forks, appeared at the police office and filed a state- ment, the accident is still under Man accused of sexual assault released Police looking for second male possibly involved Sun Staff Judge Ron Fabbro released the Selkirk College student who is facing seven charges, including sexual assault with a weapon and robbery. The student appeared in provincial court for a second bail hearing last Wednesday for a breach of his release The accused, who was arrested Sept 3, is a young offender and can't be identified under the young offenders act. Therefore, details of the new Conditions can not be released because of the publications ban placed on the hearing. The publications ban prohibits the media from releas ing any information from the bail hearing or conditions of the release The accused will make his plea at the next scheduled court appearance on October 28 Meanwhile, Castlegar RCMP have confirmed that they are looking for the identity of a sec- ond male suspect who might have been involved in the crime Investigations are continuing. Wednesday, September 16, 1992 The Castlegar Sun The Constitution Local Reform Party candidate advocating the ‘No’ vote SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Editor resulted in his candidacy, Gouk compared the unity package to New Reform Party candidate Jim Gouk is warning residents of the Kootenay-west Revelstoke riding that the new unity package is a bad deal for B.C.. During a speech to voting dele- gates at the final Reform Party nomination meeting, which False calls less frequent JOHN VAN PUTTEN. Sun staff The number of false alarms to ring at the Castlegar Volunteer Fire Department has decreased over last year. From January to September 1992, 21.7 percent of the alarms proved to be false. Last year at this same time, 44.2 percent were false. “We are doing pretty good this year,” Fire Chief Gerry Rempel said. The numbers are based on this year’s 92 responses with 20 false alarms compared with last year’s 70 calls, with 31 false alarms. The figures were in a report to city council by Fire Chief Rem- pel. “The report has served its purpose,” said Lawrence Cheroff the id in South Africa, in that it pits East against West, French against English, male against female and Central Cana- da against everyone else. “They call it a unity package, but it serves to sow the seeds of disunity in Canada,” said Gouk, calling the new deal a “centralist package.” ‘ “The power in Canada has always been central, this unity package ensures that it will stay that way.” Gouk cites the fact that Quebec makes up 25 per cent of the coun- try’s population, yet will always hold a significant portion of rep- resentation. “Why should B.C., which is growing in numbers, settle for less representation than Quebec, which is currently decreasing in population,” he said. The Reform Party of Canada has voiced its opposition to the deal, and is urging Canadians to vote no in the upcoming national referendum. Gouk said he is hop- ing to spread that message throughout his riding, because he feels that the package only deter- mines what the West must give up, in order to keep Quebec in. “Quebec wants to maintain their French culture, well that’s a very good thing, but the rest of Canada should not have to pay for it through under-representa- tion.” Gouk said that regardless of the package, deal or no deal, if Quebec truly wants to separate from Canada, the unity ‘deal will not stop it “Quebec is going to do what Quebec is going to do.” Gouk said the new package has also failed to address issues regarding resources and provin- cial powers—which should be determined before a vote takes place. “Canadians have been asked to vote on a package which is incomplete in the first place.” Gouk said he will continue to focus his energy into promoting the “No” vote on the unity pack- age, until the national referendum is held in October. Socred leader says no to constitution JASON KEENAN Sun staff Premier Mike Harcourt might have given the Socreds the magic bullet needed to start rebuilding their party. Social Credit Party Leader Jack Weisgerber said Harcourt failed British Columbians at the recent Charlottetown constitu- tional talks. “Mike Harcourt wasn’t strong enough for British Columbia,” said Weisgerber. The premier’s lack of a plan will hurt the province if the constitutional reforms are approved in the Oct. 26 referendum. the City C illor who req d the report. City Councillor Jim Chapman, said “it was very in depth, our fatio is very good.” Castlegar’s 21.7 per cent was quite good compared to Nelson at 35.1 per cent, Quesnel at 33.6 per cent and Kimberly at 21.5 per cent. The false call-outs have cost the city $706.80 which is based on the number of firefighters responding to each call. “It's well in hand, if the situation persists, then we will bill the individual,” Chapman said. “The city of Castlegar receives for and to the college through the fire pro- tection agreement, therefore these are not an expense to the city,” Rempel said. All of this year’s false alarms except one, have been.“alarm system activations. Automatic fire detection systems can and do activate for a number of reasons, accidental, weather, electrical power surges, defective smoke or heat detection equipment, ly located or improperly “AS once said — if you don’t stand for something, you'll fall for anything.” For the Socred leader, there are five major flaws in the accord: the enshrinement of Quebec as a distinct society; a guarantee to Quebec of 25 per cent of seats in the -House of Commons; the granting of native self govern- ment without a definition of what it means; a senate that is equal but “not elected in the sense of the word”, and far from effective, and an amending formula that favours Central Canada. “You really paint yourself into the corner.” And the NDP’s proposal to split B.C.’s six senate seats equally between men and women isn’t equality to Weisgerber. “I think it makes a bad deal even worse.” He said seats should go to the most deserving i JACK WEISGERBER “What you have to do is create an atmosphere that encourages women to run for public office.” While all parties are working towards this goal, Weisgerber said the NDP has a better option to promote gender equality in politics. “If the NDP feel that strongly on it, they should field an equal number of men and women did: c regardless of gender. “My sense is that most women are at least as offended as most men. They want to win in a fair contest.” He also said it is undemocratic to legis- late that four women couldn't be elected, a p ility with gender- and poor i e of systems.” The one exception was called in as possible house fire that tured out to be flames caused by the flairing off of propane tanks. The majority of false alarm calls have been to Selkirk College and The Sandman Inn. Those two places make up 55 per cent of the calls. “Selkirk College has recently completed construction of the res- idences as well as a new class- room wing and many of these alarms were due to the construc- tion, alarm tie-ins, etc. I expect alarms to the main campus build- ing to decrease once all the con- struction work is completed.” “The type and location of heat detection appears to be the cause of the majority of these alarms (at The Sandman Inn),” Rempel said. The problem with repeated false alarms at any given location is the possibility of falling into the cry wolf situation, “This applies not only to the staff of the facility, but to the fire department as well. When these occur with great frequency, the alarm system begins to lose its effectiveness and the real thing could easily be initially interpreted as just anoth- er false alarm,” Rempel said. “There was some updating needed at the Sandman and I think the updating has been done,” Chemoff said, referring to the number of false alarms there. * With the new residences at Selkirk College there may be an increase in responses “only because they will be fully occu- pied, normally it takes some time to get the bugs worked out of a new system. With close to 100 people you always have people burning toast, and setting of the alarms,” Rempel said. reserved seats. Gaining real equality for women is a more subtle process. Educating JOHN VAN PUTTEN Sun staff The inequality of the package is another sticking point for the Socred leader. “The goals of a constitution should be designed to see provinces and people treated equally.” He said the accord fails to fulfill this on all fronts. Weisgerber said he’s not afraid to come out against the agree- ment. “We are being told that if we do it this time, the country will break up.” Weisgerber said we were told that when we “were coerced into approving Meech Lake.” When that accord failed, Canada didn’t “The amending formula is probably the most unsatisfactory [part of the agreement] for us,” said Weisgerber. “The crux of the issue is — if you accept this deal you make it virtually impos- sible to make changes.” That inability to make changes will make any desires for change a constant friction that cannot be stopped. “You've got to look at what sort of Canada you're going to have if you have this deal.” young moms begins the option of being a full time student, half or quarter time stu- A new progr to dent, at they can fit into their young mothers to return and complete their high school educa- tion is in the future for Castlegar. The program will offer a num- ber of different options for course load and location of classes. “We have 18 young women who wish to participate and com- plete their high school educa- tion,” Assistant Superintendent Lachlan Farrell said. The feasibility of the program was discussed at the School Dis- trict No. 9 board meeting held Monday night. Some of the options for the young mothers are to take corre- spondence courses, to enroll in the Adult Basic Education (ABE) course at Selkirk College or at Kootenay Columbia Child Care Society, where babysitting will be available so the young moms can work in one of the separate rooms “We have some viability to the program, we are so close to our first count enrollment, we are pretty tight at this time,” Farrell said. Five of the women are under 19, for which full funding is The qualify as adult students and funding is calculated as to the number of course content hours. One course is based on 80 hours of class time, a full course load would be eight classes or 640 hours. With this program there is Final enrollment numbers for the school year are based on the number of students enrolled on September 30. “If you could get the numbers into the program the board would support the program, if we approve now, and the numbers don’t come in, then what?” Everette Surgenor, Superinten- dent of Schools said. “It is difficult to get up the nerve to go back when you are a young mother around other teenagers,” School Board Trustee Joanne Baker said. The program received the sup- port of the Board of Trustees. Sabotage at WKP JASON KEENAN Sun staff vandalism. WKP employees were also put at risk due to the A pair of sabotage incidents at West Kootenay Power's opera- tion in Kelowna put the public at a large safety risk last Friday. “Sabotaging the system shows a disregard for the public safe- ty,” said Mike Bradshaw, direc- tor of community and public affairs for the central Interior power utility. The damage to the WKP power system left portions of East Kelowna and Orchard Park without power, causing several dangerous situations. With traf- fic lights out on the busiest street in downtown Kelowna, the risk of traffic accidents was high. The outage also put seniors at risk “A number of retired people in the area are on some form of home care,” Bradshaw said Some of them, on respiratory and other life support systems had their lives imperiled by -the “Operating in the dark around transmission lines show a disre- gard for the safety of others.” While WKP managers and supervisors were dealing with the damage done to a trans- former at the Big White Ski area, somebody entered the company’s Hollywood substa- tion and cut off power to part of the Kelowna area by tripping a breaker switch The locks at the substation had been jammed, and manage- ment had to climb 12-foot fence around the site to reset the switch Luckily, Bradshaw said, the Staff were already on the East side of town, and could respond to the outage within 10 minutes. If they had been on the west side, power would likely have been out for a couple of hours. “I think people can draw their own conclusions as to what sorts OUTLOOK: The forecast for cooler temperatures. Temperature: Max/Date Precipitation: Rain Number of Hours 35.4 gram and a few hay farmers are region on Sunday afternoon. Forecast provided by The South - WEATHER _ Wednesday; Sunny with a 40% chance of showers. Highs near 23°. Outlook for Thursday and Friday: scattered showers and A LOOK BACK AT THE PAST WEEK: Min/Date 24.7/20th 0.0/18th Snow TT 0.0 A series of weak disturbances embedded in a cool north- westerly flow provided fairly cloudy but dry conditions through most of the week. Forestry’s fall slash burning pro- high pressure, which may have begun to build over the at Castlegar, B.C. ARROW LAKE RESERVOIR FORECAST Sept. 19-1409.8 Sept. 26 - 1411.0 Mean 11.5 Total TR Normal Number of Hours anxiously awaiting a ridge of - East | Interior ‘Weather Office JASON KEENAN Sun staff The Social Credit party is charting the long and winding Socreds set to rebuild largest provincial party in Cana- da - only the Parti Quebecois is larger. And a constituency action plan will attempt to har- ness that Support. “In each rid- road back to thei gov: side of the house in Victoria. For party leader Jack Weis- gerber the main instrument of that charting is rebuilding that support at the grass roots level. Being reduced from ruling the province to being the second opposition party in the 1991 provincial election taught the Socreds a valuable lesson. “The party lost touch with their membership. They were no longer dealing with issues,” said Weisgerber, who was in Castle- gar last Wednesday as < part of a pulse taking trip through B.C.. That wake up call was almost natural for a party that had gov- emed the province for most of the last 40 years. “Those things happen to political parties after being in power for as long as we were.” Weisgerber said it was a variety of factors that led to the collapse of the Socreds, and he would not blame former Premier Bill Vander Zalm for the decline of the party’s fortunes. “There were a number of events over that time.” The tide is turning, and he said the province has begun to forgive the Socreds for the past. “My sense is that over the last three or four months... is that most people have recog- nized that’s behind us now.” His party base will provide him with the opportunity to rebuild. With over 45,000 party mem- bers in the province, Weisgerber said the Socreds are the second ing like the one here - among those 75 con- stituencies there are 45,000 members - we have to refocus those energies and get those people to understand how we'll move forward.” While Weisgerber admits that the rebuilding will be a big job, he said that the party's long- term history is an asset. “We're a pasty that first of all has a _ history in British Cc of good gov that has provided growth for most of the last 40 years.” Being a B.C.-only party will help with the second part of the rebuilding process — building credibility in the legislature and the publics’ eye. “We will show ourselves, over a period of years, to be capable, and better informed than the government and the other opposition party [the Lib- erals),” said Weisgerber. “We have always been a B.C. party, and can speak for British Columbians.” The first opportu- nity to speak for the province has been provided by the recent Charlottetown constitutional agreement. “It’s the first of a series of issues — getting our- selves to stand for something in British Columbia.” He also said the party’s con- vention at the beginning of October in Abbotsford will be the next milestone. “It’s an y for party in British Columbia to take the [province's] pulse.” of characters would do some- thing like this.” In a press release issued last Monday, the International Broth- erhood of Electrical Workers stated that it was concerned about recent events occurring in the Kelowna area. It mentioned the reported damage to WKP property, and the attempt, by a person unrelat- ed to the dispute, to run over = WKP puts public at risk IBEW picketers. “The union does not condone such action and hopes that cool heads prevail on all sides, including the public,” the release stated. Bradshaw agreed that outside the realm of what either side in the dispute considers reasonable. He added that the matter is now in the hands of the RCMP. Continued from 1A and the IBEW back to the table “Hopefully, we'll be able to do that soon,” Cott said. At the current time, he said energies are focused on getting the those two, and the OTEU would be the next step. “Obviously, if we can get the IBEW on side, then we can deal with the OTEU.” Any deal would have to involve both unions, since if a deal is reached with one, it would still refuse to cross the other union's line. “The two [unions] generally try to settle at the same time,” Stromberg. The 180 members of the IBEW walked off the job July 17, they took with them 115 members of OTEU, who had refused to cross the picket lines. The OTEU were in a legal strike position, but didn't officially go on strike until Aug. 30.