Saturday, January 23, 1993 @ V7 ——> / ~r [ “ ~ } 7S). C2 Make sure your car is ready for foul weather VANCOUVER - As the mercury drops and the days get shorter, your car or truck needs some special attention to prepare it for the win- ter months. BCAA recommends you give your vehicle a check up to ensure the following are in good working order: ¢ Brakes - They should be properly adjust- ed and have good linings or pads. ° Lights - All lights should be working. Be sure headlights are aimed correctly. ¢ Battery - Tired batteries die in cold weather. Have yours checked and, if nec- essary, recharged or replaced. ¢ Cooling system - Renew the antifreeze every two years and flush out the cooling system if required. ¢ Tires - Be sure there’s ample tread on your regular, allweather or snow tires. Check tire pressure. If you have snows, have them put on before the snow starts to fly. ¢ Windshield Wipers - Replace worn-out blades. Fill the washer container with windshield washer antifreeze. ¢Exhaust System - A faulty exhaust can leak carbon monoxide and be life threat- ening. Have your’s checked by a licensed mechanic. ¢Engine Tune-up - Have the engine tuned for colder weather and be sure there’s suf- ficient antifreeze. © Belts - Check fan, generator, power steer ing and any other belts for wear and ten- sion. BCAA: Winter Maintenance If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you can com- plete much of the above check up at home. Oth- erwise, you may want to make an appointment with a licensed mechanic to have your car checked and winterized. To be fully prepared for winter weather, it’s a good idea to pack a ‘foul weather’ kit and keep it in your car during the winter months. Your kit should include: a working flashlight with lots of batteries, road maps, matches,(for heating keys to defrost frozen door locks), shovel and sand, ex- tra clothing, footwear and a wool blanket, ice scraper and brush, extra fuses, booster cables, warning light or road flares, first aid kit, high caloric, non-perishable foods ( such as nuts, raisins, chocolate) and non-alcoholic drinks, coins for emergency phone calls, names, ad- dresses and phone numbers of people to be called in an emergency, tires chains. Before setting out on any lengthy winter drive, check the weather forecast and local high- way conditions. The Ministry of Highways pro- vides a 24-hour taped road report available by calling 1-800-663-4997 (cellular *4997). DOWNTOWN SHELL REPAIR & SERVICE BCAA APPROVED 365-6133 975 Columbia Ave. Castlegar, B.C. TILDEN Columbia Avenue Castlegar - Rental Car Sales - Lease to Own * Short Term Leasing 1050 * Daily Rentals + Financing OAC : $ c GLASS & TRIM LTD. 365-650 365-7555 | inter! rent Members, Support Your Association 596 Baker St., Nelson * 352-3535 BIG QmIRES WINTER WHEELS MPV's, Mazda 626, 929, Ford Probe, Honda Prelude LIMITED QUANTITIES Take Off or New 1507 Columbia Ave. Castlegar - 365-2955 Plan your Autoplan \ with BCAA! BCAA @ 1986 NISSAN PULSAR 1973-77 DATSUN 710's 1973-77 DATSUN 610's 1978 DATSUN 510 four door NOW STRIPPING Western Auto Wreckers Granite Road, Nelson Ph. 354-4802 STAY TUNED WITH MAZDA Need a car? Need a tune-up? Need a set of tires? Need anything at all for your car? The local businesses featured in Wheels '93 can supply virtually all of your automotive needs! THIS SPOT FOR RENT TRAIL AUTO BODY LTD. Complete Paint & Body Shop Glass Replacement Serving the Kootenays Since 1958 2316-6th Ave., Castlegar - 365-5114 No matter how well Mazdas are built, they will require periodical tuning and servicing and that's where we tune in. We're a Mazda Full IS THIS SPOT FOR YOU? Ph. 365-7266 MISTER TIRE SALES + Alignment + Complete Mechanical 480 Columbia Ave. Castlegar - 365-7145 PH. 365-7266 - Brakes « Shocks CASTLEGAR IMP©)RT CENTER EXPERT SERVICE FOR DOMESTIC & IMPORT VEHICLES RENT THIS SPACE! | Ph. 365-7266 365-5111 LC.G. PROPANE SERVICE CENTER GOVERNMENT INSPECTION FACILITY SERVING THE CROSSROADS OF THE KOOTENAYS SINCE 1947 Wednesday January 27, 1993 T5¢ NewsFLASH VIM!7 Cloudy with rainy periods and achance of flurries. Probability of precipitation is 90 per cent. @ OUR PEOPLE The bureaucratic ties of red tape can be frustrating. But every now and then someone is willing to dive headlong into that sea of uncertainty in the effort to help out another hu- man being. page 9 @ LOCAL SPORTS Continuing their domination over teams below them in the KIJHL standings , the Castle- gar Rebels picked up a cool four points in weekend wins over Rossland and Columbia Valley. page 13 @ ARTS & LEISURE Jade Cropley entered her first poetry contest recently and chances are it won't be her last. Cropley came out a semi- finalist and her poem has been published in the National Li- brary of Poetry’s anthology. preview 3 Farside Harrison Letters Our People Local Sports 13 Action Ads 16 Calendar preview 2 Arts & Leisure preview 3 Homes preview 6 PAIR OF 11s News photo by Jonathan Green J.L. Crowe’s Denise Yee (right) looks to put some distance between her and Stanley Humphries’ Stephanie Rezansoff in the final of the Crowe Cageball tournament Saturday. Rezansoff and the Rockettes prevailed 52-45. For the story, see page 15. Pickets erected at Cominco @ Contracting-out dispute prompts Local 480 to set up ‘information picket’ outside job site Scott David Harrison EDITOR The United Steelworkers of America says it is time to dig in their heels. And they did just that Tuesday, erecting “an information picket” outside a Cominco job site, forcing a one-day work stop- page to a pre-fabricated steel and concrete storage facility. “The guys are saying enough’s enough,” Local 480 spokesperson Ron Schmidt said. The union is angry that Cominco has contracted out work for the storage facility to the Trail-based Fame Construction Ltd., a union firm. The steelworkers claim that Cominco is breaching a long-standing promise that it would employ con- tractors only with Local 480 consent. “It’s a promissory agreement that dates back to the late 1970s and Cominco knows that,” Schmidt said. “We certain- ly have no bones to pick with Fame Construction, but we have seen the company lay off so many of our guys, guys who can do this work. (Cominco) has cut our crew so damn thinly, that there isn’t enough crews to get the work done.” Schmidt, who said the union did not encourage the pickets, claimed Cominco wouldn't need Fame Construction if it would re-designate on-site carpenters and re-employee workers that lost their jobs during last year’s layoffs. The pickets, set up on public property outside a Cominco ac- cess road, caused no interruptions to work at the lead, zinc or fertilizer plants. _ Cominco’s Richard Fish called the pickets “illegal.” He said contracting out is an option the company has always had and it is now exercising. He suggested that workers should wor- ry less about who's building what and more about turning out marketable products. “(The storage facility) is something that a construction com- pany does much better than we do,” Fish said. “We are in the lead, zinc and fertilizer processing businesses, that’s all. We are not in the construction business and that’s what people must understand.” Schmidt took exception to that statement, saying Local 480 is proud of the construction work it has done, pointing to the new lead and zinc smelters. He said any thought that a con- tractor could out-perform Local 480 is “hogwash.” Schmidt could not say when or if the pickets would return, but he embraced the workers independent efforts. “Certainly, I support the workers. They are standing up to Cominco and saying no more.” Schmidt said steelworkers want the issue of contracting out resolved in a new collective agreement. Union workers have been without a contract since Sept. 30, 1992. Contract talks between Cominco and the steelworkers are continuing. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE SAYS MINIMUM WAGE HIKE WON’T HURT, PAGE 2