Legislative Library, Parliament Bldgs., 5O0L Victoria, B. C. vay ix4 Belleville $ Febl 29 Vol, 40, No. 62 4 Sections (A, B, C&D) Chilko kills sixth rafter ALEXIS CREEK (CP) — A treacherous section of the surging Chilko River claimed another victim Tuesday, three days after it killed five American i Williamson said the accident occurred in Lava Canyon, 55 kilometres west of here, where the five Americans died The accident raised British Columbia's whitewater rafting death toll this year to 12 people in four accidents. The latest adventurer to die was a West German, one of a group of .15 West Germans riding the river in B.C. about 300 ki north of V 5 Police did not identify the victim or any of the survivors, but said none of the survivors were injured. RCMP Sgt. Ken Williamson said the group was on a private expedition, and was not with any B.C. rafting company. “It was a private West German rafting company which flies all over the world, running white water,” said Tom Bugg, of Highland Helicopters in Williams Lake, 80 kilometres east of Alexis Creek. Bugg flew one of two helicopters used to rescue the survivors of Tuesday's accident. The West Germans were travelling in two inflatable rafts, Williamson said. ‘The lead raft struck a rock which deflated one of the raft's two pontoons, he said, and all seven occupants were thrown into the frigid, rushing water. The eight people in the second raft encountered no problems, and retrieved the victim's body. Bryan Fogelman, owner. of a Vancouver-based rafting company, said the Chilko is a tough river to navigate, and the sharp basalt rock of the volcanic canyon can be deadly for rafters thrown from their craft. “The Fraser (River) is « real pussycat compared to Lava Canyon,” he said. ‘The five Americans died after their 4's-metre raft struck a rock and turned broadside to the rushing water. In an instant, 11 of the 12 people in the raft, including * te SOD TURNER. . . One of 6 visiting Japanese studen. ts takes her turn at helping to plant a friendship aa tn tree during last day of classes Tuesday at Selkirk College CasNews Photo by Suri Ratton Tree planting marks end of visit By CasNews Staff A tree planting ceremony marked the end of classes for 26 visiting students from Japan at Selkirk College an Tuesday as all 26 received certificates of completion for English courses they had taken during the summer Masao Kawakami, director of the Rokukou Gakuen Foundation at the Aoyama Technical College in Japan presented the tree, a symbol of friendship, to both Selkirk College and the City of Castlegar. “It is a very great pleasure to plant a tree. | would like to thank all of you who attended this ceremony,” Kawakami said speaking through translator Sumiko Kembara. “This tree was not aware of its fate to be selected among the millions of trees. I hope the tree will take root firmly in the ground.” Selkirk College board chairman Dr. Jack Colbert accepted the tree on behalf of the institution and said he was pleased to have been able to meet the Japanese “] have been very fortunate to be on the board of Selkirk College at this time. I treasure the friendships,” said Colbert. He added that the tree represents the meeting and lasting friendships between Selkirk College and the Japanese students. Mayor Audrey Moore accepted the tree on behalf of the City of Castlegar and said she is looking forward to seeing more Japanese students visit Castlegar in future years. “It's a great honor for me to be here today. The visitors have enriched our lives by being here and we look forward to having your students come back in future years,” said Moore It has been a terrific experience for all of us. 'm pleased we are planting a tree that will grow and flourish.” After the speeches by the dignitaries, each of the 26 students took a turn depositing a shovel full of dirt into the hole in which the tree was planted and then went on to receive their certificates of completion by their two English instructors Alexia Turner and Michael Quinn. veteran guide Ron Thompson, were thrown into the water, said survivor Jack Collins, 55, presi and chief IIL, who retired a few years ago as a senior vice-president of officer of Clorox Co., and the only person left in the raft. Collins said the group looked on whitewater “as sort of a roller coaster.” He said the loosely organized group had been getting together every other year for about 15 years, usually to go fishing and rafting, sometimes to hunt. “] just spent 18'years of my life doing something that I felt was a good thing for people and for society in general,” a shaken Thompson said Wednesday. “J have to wonder now if it was worth it. Some of (those men) I knew for years.” Killed were Robert Goldstein, 50, of Cincinnati, corporate vice-president of advertising for Procter and Gamble, Richard O'Reilly, 65, of Greenwich, Conn., who operated his own advertising agency, Stuart Sharpe, 37, and Gene Yovetich, 41, both of Chicago and both senior vice-presidents and directors of accounts at DDB Needham Worldwide in Chicago, and James Fasules, 63, of Glen Ellyn, REFUGEE SEARCH DDB Autopsies were completed Monday in Vancouver, but the results were not released. An inquest has tentatively been set for Aug. 24-25 in Vancouver. An Australian and four British Columbians died on the Elaho River, near Squamish about 90 kilometres north of Vancouver, on July 1. One person died near Revelstoke in June. The latest accident came after word the provincial Environment Ministry was close to issuing a tougher set of i governing rafting. The review of regulations was sparked by the Elaho tragedy ; The Chilko is one of eight so-called regulated rivers, where rafting operators must be licensed and adhere to government standards established after a 1979 accident on the Fraser River which claimed three lives. The Elaho is an unregulated river. Masking failure OTTAWA (CP) — The air and sea search for a converted fishing trawler was a public relations stunt to mask a failed refugee policy, opposition MPs said Tuesday. But Immigration Minister Benoit Bouchard maintained the search for the MV Walvis was necessary. “T'd like to see the opposition parties tell us where they stand on illegal aliens instead of changing their posi tions every time circumstances change,” Bouchard said. An aide to Bouchard, Marie-Josee Lapointe, called the criticism absurd and said the government acted res ponsibly. x The Armed Forces, the Coast Guard and Fisheries and Oceans conducted a four-day search on the Atlantic Ocean for the Walvis, which was reportedly carrying passengers who planned to claim refugee status in Canada. The vessel was found in the English Channel on Sunday by British author- ities, but no passengers were found, New Democrat MP Dan Heap called the search of the Atlantic “a shocking waste of money, time and energy.” OVERREACTED? “It certainly would have paid for the processing of a lot of refugee claims,” the Toronto MP said. “The minister (Bouchard) either foolishly overreacted — one boatload of people doesn't con stitute a threat to Canada — or he did it deliberately to make people think there was a threat.” Liberal MP Sergio Marchi said the search was “an exercise designed to satisfy the massive public relations ap- petite of Prime Minister Brian Mul roney.” Marchi said Mulroney was trying to show he’s in control after failing to Refugees may exceed 30,000 OTTAWA (CP) — More than 30,000 people will claim refugee status in Canada this year, an increase of almost 67 per cent from 1986, Immigration Department officials predicted’ Tues day. Last year 18,282 people claimed re fuee status. By June 30 this year, 15,532 had done so There were 1,600 claims in 1980, 8,450 in 1981 and 3,300 in 1982. The number of claims rose to 6,100 in 1983, 7,113 in 1984, 8,374 in 1985 and jumped to 18,282 last year. People from El Salvador led the list of claimants in the first six months of this year with 4,010 claims. There were 1,674 claims by Brazilians and 1,636 from Sri Lanka. An aide to junior immigration min ister Gerry Weiner, Len Westerberg, said 90 per cent of applications under the 15-month-old refugée backlog pro- gram have been rejected because the claimants aren't considered genuine refugees. Anyone who arrives in Canada and claims refugee status must be given an opportunity to make a claim through eight stages that can take up to five years to complete In May, the government introduced bring in sensible refugee legislation in three years. “A search by a few boats might have been justified to prevent ships from dumping people on our shores,” Marchi said. “But a policy on the seas is no substitute for a solid refugee policy on land.” But Lapointe insisted the govern- ment did the responsible thing. DEFENDS SEARCH “We had intelligence information that justified very. very serious suspi. cions and warranted a search,” she said. Lapointe said the information inclu ded tips and information linking the Walvis to the Amelie, the ship that dropped 174 East Asians off the coast of Nova Scotia last month. The Immigration Department re- ceived one tip that the captains of the Walvis and the Amelie stayed at the same hotel in Rotterdam in late June, she said. “The opposition criticized us last time because the Amelie wasn't found. Now they criticize us for looking for the Walvis. Why don't they just tell us what they would do?” She said it will take several weeks to compile an estimate of the costs of the search because several departments were involved. SEX ABUSE AT CRISIS LEVELS By CasNews Staff A recent two-day workshop by the board of directors of Federated Wom. en’s Institutes of Canada heard how child sex abuse has reached crisis proportions. Research suggests that as many as one in two girls and one in three boys will be victims of unwanted sexual acts before the age of 20, according to a press release issued by the Grand Forks based B.C. Women’s Institute. It adds that 90 per cent of sexual abusers are men known and trusted by the child.. The two-day workshop held at Carl ton University examined child sex abuse in the context of total family violence. Beatrice Reeves, FWIC president, inside SECOND PLACE: meet in Kimberley last weekend Costlegor Aquanauts took an impressive second place finish at a swim urged the board, comprised of repre- sentatives from all 10 provinces, to speak on behalf of children as they are unable to speak for themselves. In B.C. plans are underway to collect information to compile into kits for distribution to the 15 women’s institute districts within the province. An introductory session on the topic will be incorporated into a seminar on leadership training already planned for mid October, to be attended by district representatives. Those attending will receive assis- tance in setting up a seminar to be held in each district. Results of the reports from the events are expected to con- tribute to long term plans, as well as resolutions and briefs to appropriate government departments. HELD PRISONER: Five Canadians were arrested and held in prison for 12 hours during a fact-finding tour in El Salvador... A2 TEAMING UP: Three disabled athletes hove joined forces to com- pete ina Nelson triathalon . . a3 BATTLING BRONCOS: The Castlegar Bronco All-Star baseball team came up with a respectable finish at the provincial baseball cham- pionship in Kelowna... 81 MUSQUODOBOIT HARBOUR, N.S. (CP) — One year ago, a middle- aged nurse from Moncton, N.B., left her family cottage in this tiny community 70 kilome: east of Halli x and vanished. After hundreds of hours or investigation, a handful of reported sightings and searches by aircraft, divers and civilian ground teams, police admit they are no closer to solving the mysterious case of Joan Marie Crowell ‘All that's known is that she got in that car, drove away trom the cottage and disappeared,” says RCMP Const. Gordon Barnett, the officer in charge of the case. “Neither she nor the cor have been seen since.” it was about 9 p.m. last Aug. 6 when Crowell, an attractive blond woman of 50, left her husband, Tedd, ot the cottage and clim- bed into their gold-colored 1980 Pinto. She told Tedd, qn air-trattic controller, she was going for a drive . RCMP, who do not know if they are dealing with a murder or 0 deliberate disappearance, have explored countless possibilities.“ Hundreds of kilometres of roads and highways leading from 6 to ine the system. a it Harbour have been searched