Saturday, December 14, 1991 @ (‘§$ YOUR CASTLEGAR SAFEWAY , ) Wishing You Greetings of the Season PEPSI OR 7-UP 1.48 Potato Chips Nalley's ¢ All Varieties g- 1.18 Coke or Sprite Frozen Canada Grade A Regular or Light. 2 L. Bottle. Plus Deposit Potato Chips Old Dutch « All Varieties 200 g. & over $2.58/kg. Ib. TOUPIE HAMS Reg. or Western * Boneless * $4.37 4S Plus Dep. Regular or Diet IMPORTED CELERY $1.30 KG. ..99 MANDARIN ORANGES From China 1 Prices in Effect Sun., Dec. 15 - Sat., Dec. 21 Monday - Wednesday Thursday & Friday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. CERVALET & GENOVA Hungarian ¢ 100 g. White or Whole Wheat ob «49 FRESH PIES Apple or Pumpkin « 8" BLACK FOREST HAM Slived or Shaved ¢ 100 g. Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. SAFEWAY We bring it all together # We reserve the right to limit sales to retail quantities. 60SECONDS It's that time of year again boys and girls. The News is ~eady to ship your letters off to Santa, but before we do, we’d -. like the rest of Castlegar to = know what you want under = your tree Christmas morning. page 9 Be LocaL SroRTs _| The Castlegar Rebels might have made their point in a bench-clearing brawl in Nelson Friday, but they didn’t get any ® points in two important week- * end games. page 11 The face of Castlegar is changing. And changing for the better, according to several lo- cal officials. page 16 The News is changing its hours during the holiday season. On Friday, the office will close at 3 p. Christmas Eve, it will close at 4p.m. The office reopens on Dec. 27 for normal hours. Farside Harrison After Hours Our People Local Sports Work Place Action Ads ednesda December 18, 1991 BES 75¢ News photo by Ed Mills Twin Rivers Elementary School teachers Eileen Gritchen (left) and Brenda Balahura constructed this gingerbread village, which they are going to raffle off, among other prizes, during family night at the school Dec. 18. Students and teachers at the school are trying to raise money tor a Grade 6 field trip to Calgary this summer Referendum stalls at red light @ Small turnout spells end to Scott David Harrison EDITOR Castlegar drivers hoping to trade rocky roads for smooth surfaces have hit a red light. The city’s hastily assembled road ref- erendum was defeated Saturday by a margin of 82 votes, 461 to 379. Another 16 ballots were rejected. The vote means the city has been de- nied permission to seek a loan through the Municipal Financing Authority for up to $1.286 million. It also means the city’s five-year road rehabilitation pro- gram has hit the skids. “Ihave no idea what happened,” Ald. Lawrence Chernoff said. “I don't know what else could have been done to ex- plain the importance of this program.” Chernoff was the main proponent of the road rehabilitation program. The al- derman in charge of roadwork, Chernoff pointed to a low voter turnout to help ex- plain the referendum’s downfall. Lamenting that low turnout, a disap- pointed Mayor Audrey Moore said “12 per cent of Castlegar voters decided the referendum for everyone.” Only 20 per cent of the city’s eligible voters cast ballots, leaving the mayor wondering what more has to be done. “Sometimes you have to work harder to get the message out and that’s what we, as a council, will have to do.” Moore wasn’t buying into the theory that the no vote meant citizens were re- belling against council. Instead, she said “I would like to think that people were voting against the question in front of them.” But she did admit that the city could have done a better job of informing the voters. “I will take some of the responsibility for (the no-vote),” Moore said. “If citizens are feeling that they have no say in what is going on, we're going to change that. We're going to try to correct the process for the future.” Moore said citizens will see a change this April when the city holds a public meeting on its 1992 budget. She said Castlegar will make the budget process as public as possible, opening the books to scrutiny and the floor to debate before. “We certainly want to hear from our citizens and we always want to have in- put,” she said. Returning to the rejected referendum, Moore wouldn’t guess how much a no vote would cost the city and taxpayers. “It’s hard to say. We have to do road work in small increments and that al- ways costs more.” more referendum news page 2 THE NEWSPAPER YOU’VE COME HOME TO FOR 44 YEARS