LCEGISLATIUr irom LEGISLATIVE LIBRARY @5/@1/96 BUILDINGS BC vay PARL. LAMENT VICTORIA CAN QRS SPORTS Page B16 The Castlegar Sun Wednesday, October 4, 1995 1X4 r mee | 1994 WEDNESDAY October 11, 1995 Weather The Castiegar Sun The weal newapapal a day commitment The Groat Pomrsin) Initiative a bitter Vol. 5, No. 47 Dalton 84 Cents + G.S.T. Business of the Month Second storey escape ladders? / Firesafe Prevention Services * Saba Robertson, a Castlegar régident, is dedicated to making the Kootenays aware of simple ways to promote fire safety in the home, by dealing with one of the more common causes of residential fires, un-safe chimneys. Soot and creosote are dangerous substances to deal with. Equipped with precise brushes and a powerful vacuum system called the ‘Sootsweeper’ those dirty by-products will be removed safely from your home. How safe is your chimney? Do you have smoke and gas alarms? Extinguishers? GIVE YOURSELF PEACE OF MIND! 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His latest travels are taking him to Langley, where he will speak to yet another injured workers group, and then on to the Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, where he will speak to various employers. “People now want to hear how WCB could be made sig- nificantly better in order to truly help the injured workers it sup- posedly represents,” said Dal- ton, during an interview with The Castlegar Sun a One member of Dalton’s lis- tening audience while in Van- couver will be Jerry Lampert, a former high-ranking official with the Vanderzalm administra- tion. Lampert now represents employers’ interests throughout the province. Part of Dalton’s message focuses squarely on the upcom- ing election. “Whether the election is held in the fall or spring, if the gov- ernment does not establish a Royal Commission nor makes See DALTON A2 Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater better not find this 250-300 pound Great Atlantic Giant pumpkin grown by Len Donald! Helping size up the pumpkin are the Lamont brothers(Ir): Dillan, 4, Josh, 10, and Lyle, 7. L KAREN KERKHOFF | Sun Staff pill to swallow according to the Drug Interaction Caution: Due to a recent initiative by the Ministry of Health, taking cer- tain medications in B.C. could be dangerous to your health. That's the word the B.C. Pharma- cy A iation and the P i cal Manufacturers Association of Canada are sending out to Pharma- care recipients. The Oct. 1 implementation of ref- erence-based pricing, now means that those who rely on Pharmacare, mainly the elderly and disabled, will be caught in a government web of cost-cutting measures. Essentially, reference-based pric- ing is a plan by Pharmacare that lim- its the. amount it will spend on covering prescription drug claims.) If the patient is prescribed a more expensive drug, the patient must pay the difference between the govern- ment subsidy and the manufacturers’ price. Specifically, now that refer- ence-based pricing is a done deal, Pharmacare will only pay for just one “reference product” in each ther- apeutic group of medicines. Derek Desrosiers, director of Pharmacy Services of the B.C. Phar- macy Association, ¢xplained the Gahger in limiting choices of thera- peutic medication Here's how it works. In the H2 Antagonist category (a group of medications which treat hiatus her- nia, ulcers and excess stomach acid there are mainly four medications with varying costs; cimetidine, rani- tidine, famotidine, nizatidine. Based on equivalent doses and maximum daily amounts cimetidine costs $8.58, ranitidine $26.40, famotidine $35.70 and nizatidine $51.30. Phar- macare will now only pay, you guessed it, $8.58 for any of the medi- cations within that group. While that sounds innocuous enough, Desrosiers pointed out that SUN STAFF PHOTO/Jeff Gabert Facts book there are only two ‘Serious listed for raniti and famotidine, four for nizatidine, but a whopping 46 for Pharmacare's choice—cimetidine. “That tells you a little bit about these drugs,” said Desrosiers. But worse yet, cimetidine is known to cause confusion in the elderly, the very age group which would utilize H2 Antagonists the most Local senior, Isabel Gerrard, 78, is disgusted with a government which once again targets the elderly, most of whom have limited income to begin with. “God forbid. This is really attack- ing the seniors again,” she said. Gerrard wonders how reference- based pricing will affect her in par- ticular. She is asthmatic and requires four different inhalers and an oral medication to control the disease. Greg Ziegler, pharmacist manager for Castlegar People’s Drug Mart said that in reality many people will get a double whammy at the end of the year when claiming prescription costs over $600. “The credit [for over-cost allowed medication] would not be allowed towards the maximum amount in the year.” Ziegler also said there is a lot of confusion amongst patients on what reference-based pricing means. “They feel they are not allowed to have the drug they're used to. That's not true—but Pharmacare will only pay the cost of the drug they recognize.” He also acknowledges that seniors are going to be the group which is most widely impacted by the Phar- macare decision. It should be pointed out that the verdict isn*t in yet on reference- based pricing. There is little evidence upon which to base judgements about the See PHARMACARE A2 Canada Post changes 520 rural addresses Local businesses on WCB list SUN STAFF Three Castlegar employers are folding more than 10 feet high without compulsory guardrails; while Online was fined $3,500 and $7,000 for violations relat- on the Workers’ C Board's hit list. Kootenay Stucco Contracting Ltd., Lindco Construction Ltd., and Online Constructors Ltd have been fined by the WBC for various infractions contrary to industrial health and safety regulations. Lindco was fined $1,500 for lack of guardrails on scaffold- ing; Kootenay Stucco has been fined $3,500 for erecting scaf- pensation ing to at ph testing and confined space. According to WCB there are 11 deadly sins. They are: Logging compa- nies allowing unauthorized workers in the felling zone; logging companies failing to use fall snags; logging compa- nies leaving trees which are partially cut at thé base stand- ing; logging companies using domino falling procedures; workers allowed in excavations which lack adequate support of properly sloped sides; workers allowed to work on electrical equipment without it being locked off; workers working too close to electrical conduc- tors that could hopper "live"; : KAREN KERKHOFF Sun Staff tive on how to do this,” she explained. Now, thanks to Canada Post, Miller and other Some Robson and Pass Creek residents are singing the blues to the tune of “Please Mr. Post- man” after receiving notice that their addresses have changed. As of last Sunday, some 520 residents and busi- nesses now have to change their mailing address, personal cheques, letterhead, business cards and exposing danger of health or + Limb; fail- ure to provide proper pr other related items due to the switch. Robson resident, and owner of the Robson from dangers that cause chronic health effects; failure to pro- vide rollover protection on log- ging vehicles and; improper seat belt use and installation in logging vehicles. I d Bed and kfast,. Linda Miller said she's angry because Canada Post chose to change without or notice. Some residents only received notice of the plan three days before it was implemented. “Maybe we would have had a different perspec- area have a huge job and major expense ahead. “IT had 1,000 pamphlets printed up; now they'll basically be of no use to me. It’s a lot of expense. But what can you do?” ~ Castlegar’s Canada Post superintendent Gerry Remming, said the change was brought about by a g tural p in the need for two contractors ‘to deliver the mail instead of one. The short notice was necessary said Remming to ensure that residents didn’t start using their new until it was And although the notice states that Canada Post will be supplying residents with free change of See MAIL a3 Accused killer slept with former girlfriend, court hears STERLING NEWS SERVICE NELSON — Dean Christopher Roberts had sexu- al relationships with two women in the weeks fol- lowing the murders of his wife and twin sons, a jury heard Friday. Roberts’ former girlfriend Angela Ewert told Nel- son Supreme Court she began a sexual relationship with the accused about two weeks after his wife Susan, 24, and their twin sons, David and Josiah, were slain Ewert said she received a telephone call from Roberts a day after police found Susan’s body in the couple's blazing townhouse on July 18, 1994. “He saitt-there was a fire and Susan was dead. One of the twins was missing, David was in hospital and Jonathan was fine,” Ewert told the seven- woman, five-man jury. She said she spent a week at Roberts’ side at B.C Children's Hospital in Vancouver, where 13-month- old David laid in a coma for six days before he died. The 25-year-old added she spent the night of July 20 with Roberts at Vancouver's Easter Seal House after he was told police had found Josiah's body. She heard Roberts crying in the bathroom. When she opened the door it appeared he had been banging his head against the wall “He was upset, y Ewen said The next time w Roberts was at the memo- rial service for Susan, David and Josiah on July 29 in Cranbrook. A few days later she called off her August 20 wed- ding to her long-time boyfriend, Ewert told the court She said she realized her relationship wasn't what it should be after listening to people describe how per- fect Dean and Susan had been for each other. A week later, Roberts picked her up and the two stayed overnight in a motel in Tofino, where they had sexual intercourse for the first time since their break-up in 1990, she said She added their relationship continued until she broke it off about a week and a half before Roberts’ arrest on September 24. “I finally realized what I was doing. It was wrong It was getting to be too much,” Ewen told the court She said Roberts had discussed marriage and chil- dren and he had showered her with a number of gifts, including a leather jacket and flute that had belonged to Susan “He told me I was the only thing kecping him together,” she said However, before the relationship ended Ewert introduced Roberts to a couple named Gary and Debbie, who she later found out were undercover police officers. Ewert said Debbie offered her $500 if she would drive a car back from Lethbridge. Ewert agreed to do it as long as they would stop in Cranbrook on the way to see Roberts. The former girlfriend said when she lef} Leth- bridge she drove off in one direction and Roberts and Gary drove off in another. Roberts later told her he had moved a motorcycle to Vancouver in the back of a truck, she said At about the same time, court heard Roberts was involved in a sexual relationship with Pamela Mikkelsen in Cranbrook Mikkelsen said she and her husband Randall, who first met Roberts a day before the memorial service See ROBERTS a3 For all your local news and sports — The Castlegar Sun