CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1990 ’ Tonight ond Thursdoy with snow flyer cumulations, Low tonight -2° _Higb Thursday 1°. The outlook mainly cloudy with snow flurries Probability of precipitation is 30 per cent tonight ond 50. per-cent Thursday Cloudy Very little ac 2 Sections (A & B) Rylee Jean Brodman arrived at 7:56 p.m. Jar. 2 and has the honor of being Castlegar's first baby of the new decade. Rylee, who weighed in at seven pounds, five ounces, is the first child for Angie and Tom Brodman. INSIDE Button designed page A2 Lottery | numbers The winning numbers drawn Tuesday in the B.C. Keno lottery were 1,9, 22, 33, 37, 44, 48 and 50. Woman charged with murder pearance is scheduled for Feb. 5, in By CasNews Staff A Grand Forks woman was ordered held in custody today following an ap- pearance in Castlegar provincial court onamurder charge Grand Forks RCMP charged Roxanne Lee Murray, 26, with first- degree murder following the shooting death of her 41-year-old husband at the couple's home in Grand Forks on New Year’s Day. Her next court ap: Castlegar. She will be held at the Oakalla women’s unit until then, a court spokesman said A Grand Forks RCMP spokesman said Roxanne Murray called police to the couple’s homé. Police seized a shotgun at the scene and took the woman into custody. Grand Forks RCMP would not comment further on the case saying it is stilLunder investigation ONE-QUARTER NORMAL SNOWFALL stress December ‘89 greenest ever By CasNews Staff It's official. December 1989 was the greenest ever in Castlegar as the Castlegar weather office recorded just 17 centimetres of snow during the month, eight centimetres less than the previous low of 25 cm recorded in December 1985 The amount of snow which fell last month is only 23 per cent of the normal 73.2 cm for the month. “And it’s 1% metres — yes, metres — short of the record 167.9 cm of snow which fell on Castlegar in December 1968 Keeping the area from drying out completely was 29.8 millimetres of rain in December — 89 per cent of the nor mal 33.4 mm which falls in the month Total precipitation — rain and snow combined — was 43.3. mm; 44 per cent of the normal 99.6 mm for the month “A strong ridge of high pressure which persisted over southern B.C through December diverted most Pacific disturbances well to our nor th,” the monthly surnmary from the weather office says. December was also warmer than normal with a mean temperature — the average of all the highs and laws recor ded — of 0.2 C. Normal for the month is -2.6C. However, the warmest month ever recorded was December 1979 with a mean temperature of 1.3 C. The coldest December on record is Decem ber 1983 when the mean temperature Te warmest day was Dec. 6 with a high of 7.7 C. The record for the mon this 11.6C. set on-Dec. 27,1980, The cofdestday last month was Dec. 18 with a low of -8.2 C. That temperature was well off the record low of a bitter 30.6C set on Dec. 30, 1968 Even though December was warm, it was dull The weather office_recorded 21.8 hours of sunshine — 63 per cent of December's normal 34.6 hours However, it still beat the dullest December on record, 1969, when the sun shone thrugh the clouds for just 14 hours. The sunniest December on record is 1983 with 64.9 hours: * Ferry users — won't give up ~By CasNews Staff AB.C. Supreme Court decision last week which ruled the federal gover nment has a ‘‘perpetual obligation’’ to provide rail service between Esquimalt and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island has given the Robson-Ra%pberry Ferry Users Ad Hoc Commijittee one more to fire at the provincial government in the commit tee’s continuing atte: to convince Victoria to restart the cable ferry ser vice between Robson and Castlegar, the committee’s lawyer said Tuesday Terry Dalton pointed out that Chief Justice William Essen speaks of ‘the obligation of honor and good faith” in ruling that Ottawa must. provide the rail service. In addition, Dalton notes the Tesponse-to the ruling by B.C. Attor ney General -Bud Smith whé said the province ‘‘will now seek Canada’s assurance that-it” will move im- mediately to meet its legal, historical and moral obligation to maintain the E and N passenger service.” Dalton said the provincial gover nment is taking exactly the same position in the Robson ferry issue as the federal government took against the province in the E and N railroad issue. “Just as obligations of, honor and good faith are intended to bind two governments, it should be only that much more clear that these obligations are much more important with respect to a government being bound to its owncitizens,"’ Dalton said x Dalton alsonbted that the provincial government is anxious to keep running a train service whieh carries 45,000 passengers a year while it has shut down the Robson ferry which.cartied 955,800 passengers a year Dalton indicated the ferry commit tee will c&intinue to look for ways to support its case with the government He said the committee members will now wait for Premier Bill Vander Zalm's announcement on his future plans; expected in two weeks, before Planning its next strategy in an attempt to get the ferry running again Highways Minister Rita Johnston and Provincial Secretary Howard Dirks, Nelson-Creston MLA and for mer Minister of State for Kootenay, have both stated publicly the-ferry will never run again. Bath have also stated they support Vander Zalm as leader By CasNews Staff Terry Dalton says he has once again been left wondering where the provincial government's priorities are following the nouncement last week that the government will widen to, four lanes the entire length of the Okanagan connector section of the Coquihalla Highway while con tinuing to adamantly refuse to Priorities wrong, lawyer says restart the Castlegar-Robson ferry. In making the announcement last week, Highways Ministér Rita Johnston ‘was quoted as saying, “By next:ski season, the Okan- agal fl be a great weekend get- away for Lower Mainland skiers.”” Although he gave Johnston the benefit of the doubt by saying she might have been unfairly quoted, continued on page A2 MP protests rising _cable TV charges By CasNews Staff Kootenay West-Revelstoka@MP Lyle Kristiansen has levelled a blast at in creasing prices for basic cable television service In a letter to the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission, the NDP MP protests what he calls a *‘trend’’ towards more specialized programming which he says has led to increasing basic service charges, a news release from Kristian sen’s office says “Offer no more — charge us less,” is Kristiansen’s battle cry, the release says “In my rural riding, constituents have told me that they do not want more programming for an increasing basic charge, but rather good reception of existing channels without specialty programming the release says Kristiansen wrote in his letter to the “RTC, the federal government agency which regulates cable television com panies. The CRTC will consider such issues early this year But Lynn Greentree, manager for Shaw Cable in Castlegar, Trail and Nelson areas, said Shaw’s customers locally have been receptive to the addition of new specialty channels Greentree ‘said ‘*76 to 77 per cent of the company’s customers did nc reject a package of six new channels including The Sports Network system the LYLE KRISTIANSEN . ‘charge us less Muct Music and Arts and Entertain offered last fall that’ people channels could be wr ng,’’ Greentree said today He added that Shaw Cable original hearings before the CRTC on he new channels as well.as now, ad ment “To say don’t want mere little in the Vocates offering its customers ac hoice of whether or not to subscribe to new channels Kristiansen, in his letter to the CR TC, also denounced a mechanism tha’ currently allows cable companies to charge customers a fee, rolled into the basic service, to recover $0 per cent of capital spending over five years. Kri stiansen points that the basic charge should already. cover such costs, and that the charge continues evenafter the debt is paid off “With cable companies in Canada out earning perhaps 28 per cent return per . year, they will find little sympathy with Canadians who do not want, to get more, and do not want to pay more for what they get,”’ Kristiansen said ‘Simply put, cable companies are earning much to the generous current formula that allows amortizing into the basic cable service charge of SO per cent of expenditures. Many sub scribers run businesses themselves, and can rightly point out that they cannot ack up their retail prices or hourly ser vice rates to recover store or office This system should too justify five-year capital enovation costs end Kristiansen tells the CRTC that basic cable service subscribers know rolling further specialty programming into the basic service would cost individual subscribers for that not special channels far more each, but consider it immaterial so few.of.my constituents want further specialty channels, that they are intolerant of a larger and more ex a the pensive basic-service MP says package,” POPULAR PLACE . . . Castlegar's new Aquatic Centre was the place to be Tuesday as crowds lined up to buy tickets for the first day of public swimming at the facility. The pool will have its grand opening Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. There will also be free public skating at the Community Complex from | p.m. to 3 p.m ontyews phot