LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY PARL LAMENT VICTORIA BC VEY LAS LHIN WEUNESVAT October 4, 1995 BU LLDINGS ine Castlegar Su SEASONAL Weather Vol. 5, No. 46 ‘The weekly newspaper with a daily commitment’ 84 Cents + G.S.T. Forestry report biased, Conroy s IE IMHOFF in Editor Rossland-Trail MLA Ed Conroy is calling a Price Waterhouse report into the future of forestry commissioned by the Forst Alliance “tailor-made to suit an agenda.” And that agenda, says Cunroy, is to continue doing the easy thing —overlog. “The people who sioned this report produce ‘Let's all just forget about sustainability. Is that what they'd have us do? What a bunch of dinosaurs!’ — MLA ED CONROY On the recent Forest Alliance report future of B. C." s forest ind does not lie in producing boards and shipping them to Washington for remanufacturing, which is currently the practice. The own ability to remanufacture — this is where jobs will be created.” Forest Alliance Chairman Jack Munro announced last week that changes in forest and land use policy made by the NDP govern- ment could reduce annual timber harvest by 17 per cent and eliminate more than 46,000 jobs province-wide. Policies such as lowering the Allowable Annual Cut (AAC) come under fire in the report, as does the new Forest Prac- tices Code. Conroy said it would have been easy to appease big industry and just keep the status quo that allowed continual overharvesting of B.C. forests. “The facts were there. If we don’t lower the AAC there won't be anything left to cut. And even big i understands this logic,” said Conroy, who admits that of all the issues he See FORESTRY A2 tatistics say one thing, wait-list says another KAREN KERKHOFF Sun Staff If you're a local resident needing an extended care bed in Castlegar forget it—no one on the extended care wait list has been admitted to an ded we need more extended care beds Right now we could use about 20 more beds,” Talarico told trustees. But not according to the Ministry of Health, whose long-term care beds needs are strictly determined by care bed at Mountain View Lodge since June of last year. Ken Talarico, administrator for Castlegar and District Hospital told board members last week that the extended care bed situation is critical. “The plain and simple fact is that “It's based actual fact, we Statistics say there's a surplus of beds in the West Kootenay. In Castlegar, in to do something about it,” What is especially vexing, said Talarico, is that there are beds sitting on population and age will change have a shortage. We need said Talarico. Who better ta.take on a scary ride than yo three-day midway held behind the Hi Arrow Up and away! — SUN STAFF PHOTO/Jett Gabert ur own mom, as this tyke did during the Hotel in Castlegar last weekend. vacant at Castleview Care Centre on 14th Ave. But because the Ministry of Health doesn't recognize those beds as being ministry sanctioned, the beds remain empty while potential patients waiting for a long-term care bed con- tinues to increase. But Talarico is hop- ing that with intervention and luck that “Toby, Egeland (administrator for Castleview Care Centre) has applied to the ministry to have the facility des- ignated as a multi-level facility.” Board member, and local physician, See BEDS as Keenleyside construction could wait SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Editor The $500-million installation of generators at the Keenleyside dam near Castlegar might not come off as quickly as previously thought. Rossland-Trail MLA Ed Conroy said that while Keenleyside is ready to go, if a buyer can’t be found for its power in the immediate future, its pri- ority will likely, be bumped but not cancelled. Con- roy also admitted that in terms of cost-effectiveness, Keenleyside is third behind the Waneta and Brilliant projects. “At this time I don’t care where we start and 1 don’t think any construction worker living in the area cares where we start, as long as it does start,” Mother tells court of 5-hour torture said Conroy during a Sun interview, Friday More than an economic shot in the arm, Conroy acknowledges that the entire development of the lower Columbia would be more akin to an economic intravenous pole, since the dollars would continue to flow over a long period of time. However it is the Keenleyside project that has been most anticipated by the Castlegar business community and trade unions With i ing with West K Power after the collapse of the Bonneyville agree- ment, Conroy says it is possible that prep work can continue at Keenleyside. “Early construction work could begin on the pow- erhouse that will be located just above the dam. Part of this would include pushing back the Robson road for approximately 2 km,” said Conroy. While the MLA said this latest series of events have nothing to do with vote-buying, he stressed that development of the lower Columbia will not happen if either the Liberals or BC Reform are in power. “I have no doubt in my mind that the other two parties would cancel this project.” Conroy ended by saying that since he was first elected MLA he has made his goals clear, though he admits the Keenleyside project is something he would have liked to see well under way by now. “(The Keenleyside project delay] is not blacktop politics. It is something I have been working towards from the very start. Things have happened with this project, such as Bonnyville’s cancellation, that we could never have predicted. There’s no way any of this could be orchestrated to fit an election.” MICHAEL LAYCOCK STERLING NEWSPAPERS CRANBROOK — The mother of two murdered children told a court Monday of a five-hour ordeal of torture at the hands of her 20-year-old stepson. Debora Warsing, 36, said Kristian Wars- ing tried to strangle her, bound her hands and assaulted her with a hammer, a wood- en piggy bank, a gun butt and a barbecue skewer. At one point, she said, she was violently awakened from an exhausted sleep following a struggle with Kristian. “The next thing I knew, my eyes flew open and I had the barbecue skewer in my neck,” Debora Warsing told Cranbrook Supreme Court. “He was ramming it back and forth.” Kristian Warsing is charged with first- degree murder in the deaths of his eight- month-old half-sister Shannon and Monday mayhem Traffic was jammed for more than 45 minutes and some nearby residents were voluntarily evacuated from their homes after city crews hit a gas line in the 1500 block of Columbia Avenue, early Mon- day morning. Police and fire department officials were on hand, as well as reps from BC Gas. Because they were using an outdat- ed map, the public works crew did not know that a gas line existed in the area. The crew was repairing a water ser- vice leak beneath a city boulevard when the accident occurred seven-year-old half-brother Stuart on May 27, 1994, at the family townhouse in Spar- wood. The two children were found dead in the home by police. Both were stran- gled. Kristian is also accused of attempting to kill Debora Warsing. Debora said she grabbed her neck and pretended she was dying, but Kristian stabbed her again. Finally, she managed to pull the skewer out of her neck and push Kristian down a staircase. She chased her stepson downstairs, was stabbed several times and headed for the front door. She managed to get partly out the door and scream “Help me!” before Kristian dragged her back into the home. He then tried to ram the skewer through her eye, she told the jury. Then Kristian locked the trons door and went back and forth between the kitchen window and the phone. During these trips, he said, “In a half hour he'll be here, and it'll all be over.” She told the court he added: “He better not be late. Plan B isn't going the way it was supposed to.” Finally, Debora bolted for the door and escaped, screaming. She said that shortly before the attack with the skewer, Kristian had leaned on the metre-long makeshift weapon as if it were a cane and told her she should not worry about the children because they'd been chloroformed and would have a good sleep. “He said, ‘Let's put it this way. I'm being paid to do a job’. and that someone was coming to pick him up. “I asked him if it was his father and he just laughed.” The trial continues Castlegar celebrates World Teachers’ Day SUN STAFF Teachers in Castlegar and across the country are celebrat- ing World Teachers Day Octo- ber 5 — declared by the United Nations Education, Sci- entific and Cultural Organiza- tion last year. Local teachers’ association president, Margaret Hill, thinks the idea of a ay to recognize teachers is good one. “These are tough and uncertain times, when society and Profile page Bl the their jobs.” But it is the added pressures placed on teachers, from crowded classrooms to higher expectations from society on what should be included in a teaching curriculum, that has resulted in World Teachers Day being established. Students, and society in general, are relying on teachers now more than ever before. In this atmosphere, says Hill, teachers not only provide children with the tools to face changing world, they local commu- nities expect even more of their schools than in the past,” said Hill. Not only are schools respon- sible for helping stu ‘ents reach their full potential, they are also a key element, an anchor, says Hill, of any neighborhood or community. “As someone who is elected by other teachers, I see every day the commitment to commu- nity that teachers view as part of also help to provide a source of stability and Teassurance “We like to think that teachers and parents working together is an excellent example of commu- nity development,” said Hill. Teachers in Castlegar and all across the province will be wearing ‘Proud to be a Teacher buttons on Oct. 5 and will meet for an informal celebration after their workday concludes Dr, Robert Streich told board mem- bers that there’s an easy and obvious to the | 4 “Funding should follow the patient instead of the bed.” That way every person who needed a bed could get one, whether there were enough desi, beds or not. Last Friday, Talarico, Egeland, Rossland Trail MLA Ed Conroy and Duncan Dodds, of continuing care, had a meeting regarding the bed Roberts has ‘party’ after murders JODY LAMB STERLING NEWS SERVICE "NELSON — The mother of murder victim Susan Roberts told a court Monday that the last words she heard from her daughter were: “I love you mom”. Joyce Hall said she returned home from an outing with her husband at 11 p.m. on July 18, 1994, to find a message from 24-year-old Susan on their answer- ing machine. “She said something like ‘Hi mom, hi Walter, it’s Monday night at 9 p.m. Just wondering if you were coming into town tomorrow to visit me. I’m tired tonight so call back tomorrow morning.’ And then she said, ‘I love you mom’,” Hall said. An hour after Susan recorded the message, she was dead in her C k home, left gled with a rope in her bedroom, which was set ablaze, Nelson Supreme Court heard. Susan’s husband Dean Christopher Roberts is accused of murdering her and their 13-month-old twin sons Josiah and David. He is also charged with attempting to mur- der his three-year-old step-son Jonathan. The jury also heard from two witnesses who said the day after a memorial service was held for Susan, David and Josiah in Cranbrook, Roberts had a “party” at his father's house while his father and step-mother were away. Shirley and Walter Sutton said Roberts and about halfa dozen other people showed up at the house around midnight. “ loud,” Shirley said, adding the about 5 a.m. Roberts has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder The trial, which began last week, is expect- ed to last another three weeks. International Students give free thank you Fourteen students from all parts of Cana- da and India are taking centre stage in a colorful and lively bid to publicly thank the residents of Castlegar for hosting them for the past 10 weeks. “We have been given so much hospitali- ty and had such a wonderful time that we wanted to say thanks to the people of Castlegar,” said Meena Yadav, 22, a com- merce student from University of Lucknow in central India. The free show will be held at Stanley Humphries Secondary School tomorrow (Oct. 5) starting at 7 p.m. Singing, dancing, comedy skits and a play will be featured. Canada World Youth, the sponsoring organization of this visit to Castlegar, arranges work/study exchange programs around the world. Fire season facts are positive KAREN KERKHOFF Sun Staff Although the fire season started out ominously in the Nelson region this year, total fires to date are at only 10 per cent compared to last year. But firefighters weren't idle. From June 18 to July 7, 319 firefighters from B.C. helped battle blazes in Ontario. Later, during part of one and S 420 B.C. fi; once again assisted in Ontario, while 90 assisted in Quebec. As well, throughout the summer tankers and personnel from B.C. were dispatched to Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, NWT and the Yukon. Last year's fire season in the Nelson region, with 1041 fires as of Sept. 25, 1994 will more than likely go down in history as one of the “hottest”, but it's possible that this year’s comparable total at 175 will also make the history books. In total there were 4.555 hectares of land destroyed by fire this time last year compared to 227.2 this year. Even though there have been nine forest fires See FIRES a3 Call Marge at 365-5266 for your subscription to The Castlegar Sun