The Castlegar Sun Wednesday, February 19, 1992 On top of the news... Faster than express... Cost-wise rather than pennywise. .. Aim for the TOTAL West Kootenay Market Place Your Advertisement in. . : ___A Total Market Coverage (TMC) — A Bargain Guide to the West Kootenay \& |) Disteibrited aa a (TMC) Supplement to All Nelson Daily News, Trail Daily Times and Castlegar Sun Non-Subscribers wily The Castidgar Sun snee Daily News LHETRAILTIMES 465 Columbia Ave. 266 Baker St., 1163 Cedar St. Castlegar Nelson Trail 365-2278 352-3554 364-1416 and their TOTAL MARKET PUBLICATION (TMC) TMC Circulation 24,199 935.5% Coverage of West Kootenay Market Another Sterling Newspaper Advantage ee SPORTS PROFILE LOC, Just how easy is it to ‘predict’ the weather? Profile takes a look at local weather men/1B Rockers and Season ends for two of Castlegar’s teams bels eliminated/9A Audiophiles preparing for’ a summer blast! i, Pete's Power Punch sure to please/2A moro The Castlegar Sun Vol. 2- No. 13 ‘Leading the way in Supporting local business’ WARM Weather 3A 75 Cents + G.S.T. r Weather man! Ron Lakeman checks out visual satellite w Interior Weather Office. For more details see Profile on page B1. —|{ SUN STAFF PHOTO / Brendan Halper eather information on his colour monitor at the South East Castleview empty-bed situation takes an ugly turn SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Editor Lack of government funding and atten- tion to an empty-bed situation at the Castleview Care centre in Castlegar has reached a crucial point, which could end with the intermediate care home closing its doors—ending 52 jobs and leaving an added 36 seniors without a home Both management and Hospital Emp: Union bers are di ding that the community of Castlegar and the Provincial government sit up and take notice to the problem which sees 46 peo- ple on a waiting list, some for almost two years. while 25 out of a possible 61 beds at the centre sit empty “(Closing the doors) is the sort of thing you don’t like to contemplate, but it is a Possibility,” said Roger Andrews, execu- tive director for Chantelle Management Ltd, owners of the facility. According to Andrews, Eugene Sko- retz, the owner who built the state-of-the-art facil 36 out of the 61 beds Skoret,, proceeded to build. “We have written correspondence between the Ministry and Mr. Skoretz stating the funding commitment was for 36 beds only,” McNeil said. “The Min- istry was already planning for Mountain- See JOBS 2A Charbonneau plays politics BRENDAN HALPER Sun staff British Columbia’s Transportation Minister Art Charbonneau visited Castlegar on Monday, bringing news which angered and disappointed many Robson, Blueberry and Castlegar resi- dents. Although Char- bonneau agrees with residents in respect to the great need for a link between the two communities, due to budget constraints, neither ferry nor bridge can be pro- vided. British Colum- bia’s deficit for this year, according to Charbonneau, is about $2.3 billion “I certainly can- not promise it (the Castlegar-Robson Bridge) for this coming fiscal year—we don't have the money,” said Charbonneau, to several hundred con cemed Robson and Castlegar residents during Monday night's public mecting at the Robson Community Recreation Hall. “But that doesn't mean the project is canceled, it simply means that we have to delay a year—and that of course is happening all over the province,” he told the Castlegar Sun prior to Mon- day‘s meeting. ART CHARBONNEAU The purpose of the public meeting was to; find out the current status of the Columbia River crossing between Castlegar and Robson, to hear public comments and questions about the Rob- son Ferry issue or bridge construction. Charbonneau seems confident the budget will eventually accommodate the proposed bridge, but not until next year at the earliest. “I think it's far more likely that we will have the funds then,” he said. According to Charbonneau, the Ministry of High- ways and Trans- Portation is taking the largest cut in funding for the year. “Somehow we have to get through this coming fiscal year with a severely cut budget,” he said, adding that there is a need to maintain $12 billion worth of roads and bridges throughout the province “Our entire infrastructure is falling into disrepair all over the province.” As for the Robson Ferry, Charbon- neau said he looked at the economics of reinstalling the service but, “The costs of doing that and the costs of operating it for... it might be a year, or two years, or three—it was just too great to justify See DISAPPOINTMENT 2A tuonaumesns LOttery freeze leaves local groups out in the cold ing that a definite need would be met and that government funding would Sun staff BRENDAN HALPER be made available for resi- dents to utilize the new Care centre replaced Rasp- Entertainment............... 2B Andrews continued. Edwards. But Margaret McNeil, tinuing Care division for Okanagan-Kootenay, dis- agrees, saying the provin- cial government was By Leigh Rubin RUBES 2-2 “You don't want to get on that guy's bad side... he has a lot of pull around here.” 4 > Creators Syndicate, inc ©1992 Leigh Rubin! Sun staff Lottery proceeds from break- beds. open tickets will no longer be dis- When completed in tributed among community groups April 1991, Castleview throughout British Columbia. B.C. Government Services berry Lodge, which pro- Minister Lois Boone imposed a vided care to only 36 freeze on the program, which has dents. . existed since 1988, after it was “You don't build that found to be illegal by Attorney- type of a facility without. General George Morfitt and receiving a commitment,” Deputy Attorney-General Bob Since it began, at least $6.6 regional director for Con- ‘million has been transferred Rash of conmiedionnine ny CROOKS nota crime wave JIM ZEEBEN breach of the law. See CRIME The West Kootenay has been hit by a rash of robberies and thefts over the last few weeks but, according to police officials, they don’t add up to a “crime wave.” Though this area is regarded as one of the safest in B-C, the vol ume of incidents is an example of how unpredictable crime can be “We've been really quite fortu said Corporal Brown. of Castlegar. “But if we star patting ourselves on the back today we'll directly from the Lottery Corpora- ion, to non-profit societies chosen by the ticket sellers. Boone halted the entire program because the Pub. money has been distributed to groups without going through the normal government lottery fund— a practise which is considered a The freeze is to last for 30 days while the program is under review and during this time 12.5 per cent of gross ticket sales will Be set aside for the groups which nor- mally receive the funds. ; Pump up the volume! Lions member Mark Zurek. into the community. The Castlegar Selkirk Lions have two of the break-open machines installed in Dexter's “They're probably some of the better-paying machines,” said According to Zurek, the Lions have generated around $14,000 from the two machines, in one year—money that goes right back “It’s going to cramp some of the requests during the time of the §—§ ————___ freeze,” Zurek said. “All we've got left (funding), is enough’ for: emergency situations. R “It doesn't just affect us...it, affects everybody.” Castlegar’s Sunfest Committee is another local group which will! be directly and adversly affected: by the Minister's decision. “We (Sunfest) have no Operat- ing capital now because of this,” said Derm Jackman. “It was out only source of income besides donations.” See FREEZE 2A Dale Buday is working on his truck’s audio system. in preparation for Pete's Power DA Punch. See Page 2A for story. SUN STAFF PHOTO / Brendan Halper