Pollution in the

Columbia River

CALL THE
NEWS

Our office hours
are Monday to
Friday, 8:30 a.m.
to Sp.m.
Closed on
weekends and

statutory
holidays.

News photo by Ed Mis

Stanley Humphries secondary school's Sénidr gifs Volleyball team was on its game but still lost to a
Kelowna schoo! in the finals of the Kootenay Classic last weekend. See story in School Sports, page B3.

Logging policy debated

@ Socred rep disagrees
with other candidates on
need to restrict timber
harvesting on private land

Thomas Bink
NEWS REPORTER

Logging restrictions on Crown-
owned land should be placed on
privately owned land as well to
ensure B.C.’s forests and water-
sheds are protected, NDP Ross-
land-Trail candidate Ed Conroy
said Thursday night.

“There's absolutely no control
over private land logging in B.C.,”
Conroy said. “That’s just wrong.”

Conroy, along with the three
other tandidates in the Rossland-
Trail race — Angela Price of the
Green party, independent candi-
date Chris D’Arcy and Paul John-
ston of the Socreds, who filled in
for absent candidate Walter
Siemens — spoke to about 50 peo-
ple at an environmental forum
sponsored by Selkirk College's
continuing education department
in Trail.

Conroy criticized the govern-
ment policy by which companies
buy Crown land, log it, and sell it
privately, an act that he said

would not occur under an NDP
government. Conroy said he owns
some forest land which has been
logged.

“You can drive by it and hardly
tell it’s been done,” he said.

Incumbent MLA Chris D’Arcy
agreed with Conroy.

Siemens opts out, page A3

“The Forest Service regulations
should apply when it comes to tim-
ber removal,” D’Arcy said. “The
regulations need to be the same.”

But Johnston said there should
not be restrictions placed on private
land logging.

“Private land is private land,”
Johnston said. “Hopefully, people
who own land have good, family-
oriented values.”

“Trees grow again,” Johnston
added later.

Price said the community affect-
ed by any logging should dictate the
policy.

“Land and water are our com-
mon property and must be our
common responsibility,” she said.

Among other environmental is-
sues discussed at the forum was
the need for cleaning up the

Columbia River.

Conroy said cleaning up the riv-
er is a political priority in the area.

“We've got to clean that up,”
Conroy said. “That’s not tolerable.
Once that water hits-a pulp mill in
Castlegar, it’s unfit for consump-
tion.”

Both Conroy and D’Arcy had
some ideas for what Cominco Ltd.
could do with the 400 tonnes of slag
they currently dump into the river
every day.

D'Arcy suggested the slag be
stored on land in s. Con-
roy said the slag, which is an inert
material like sand, could be used in
building highways.

“We've got something we can uti-
lize here,” Conroy said. “We don’t
need to dump it in the river.”

Johnston said there isn't a grow-
ing slag problem in the Columbia.

“I don’t think there’s a big con-

cern for more slag in the river,” he
said.
Price said it is Green party poli-
cy to stop effluents from polluting
water systems, noting that the
Columbia provides drinking water
for thousands of Americans in
Washington state.

“We can’t say just because
they’re American that we can pee

ednesday
OCTOBER 2, 1991
aie.
75¢ @ 2Sections, A&B

60SECONDS
le NEWS BRIEF

Japanese teachers
to visit four schools

Four schools in the Castlegar
schoo! district will host five teachers
from Japan starting Saturday.

The district is one of four in the
province selected to participate in a
Ministry of Education program called
Japanese Teacher Training in B.C.
Schools.

Stanley Humphries and Kinnaird
Junior schools, and Robson
and Woodland Park elementary
schools will host the Japanese teach-
ers.

The purpose of the program is to
provide the Japanese teachers with
the opportunity to experience the B.C.
school system through active partici-
pation and interaction with teachers
and students, school board chairman
Gordon Tumer says in a news release.

“This program will undoubtedly be
one of the highlights of the schoo! year
for the participating schools and | am
sure that our visitors will return to
Japan with a treasury of unforgettable
memories of their visit to our district,”
Tumer says.

The Japanese
until Nov. 3.

teachers will be here

Selkirk Saints undefeated

page B1

@ WEATHER