tr islative Library,
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Victoria, B. C.

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Vol. 42, No, 2

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‘astlegar News

CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 4, 1989

60.Cents veal Sm.

WEATHERCAST

Tonight: Cloudy with scattered
snow showers, Lows 1" to .4'
Tomorrow: Cloudy with @
sunny breaks and scattered snow
Showers. Highs near -0. ‘The
outlook for Friday is cloudy
and cooler

2 Sections (A & B)

Council eyes tax hike for 1

By SIMON BIRCH
Editor

Castlegar city council is .busy
hammering out details in its $6.9
million provisional budget for 1989
which at present calls for a 4.5
per cent hike in municipal taxes,

But as is typical of budget
forecasts this early in the year,
Mayor Audrey Moore cautioned
against drawing any firm conclusions
from the figures in the provisional
budget until all the decimal points

“There's a lot of
take place,” Moore

She said council is
per cent hike to
city’s current level
the same “level
services”

Last. year, Castleg

value of $47,000.

are put in their proper places.

and quality of
in the face of declining
revenues from other sources and
anticipated increases in expenses.

paid $398 on a home with an assessed

But the increase — which
traditionally is lower when the final
budget is adopted in mid-May —
could be smaller if “all sorts of
variables” come into, play in the next
few months, Moore’ said.

“If -we--were to get
revenue from the provinée,
would help,” the mayor said.

Complicating the city's budget
process is the assessment of property
values in the city. The assessment
roll is set-fer two years and the latest

refinements to
said today.
considering a 4.5
maintain the
of spendirig and
increased
that

ar homeowners

FIRST OF THE YEAR

Ashleigh Catherine Koochin arrived at Castlegar
and District Hospital at 10:06 a.m. on Jan: 2 and
has the honor of being Castlegar’s first baby of
1989. Proud parents are Anna and Steve Koochin

of Brilliant. Ashleigh weighed in at seven pounds,
six ounces and measures 2012. inches. She is the
first child for the Koochins- who have been
married two years

CasNewsPhoto by Simon Bie

INSIDE

Sunfest
button

in Castlegar,
page A2
according to
figures.
The Canada Mort

Lottery
numbers

— from 5.6 to 45
spaces from Oct. 87

from 7.5 to 4.5 — in
ended in October:
The winning numbers drawn
Tuesday in The Pick lottery
were 15, 25, 30, 37, 41, 44
47 and 54
lining vacancy rates.
“I guess overall
pinpoint it,” he said o

due to the
economy.”

flect. those in -€

ing Corporation vacancy figures for
Castlegar show a one-percent decline

vacancy rate dropped three points

CHMC market analyst Jerry Dom
bowski said the tightening up of
vacancy rates in Castlegar is follow
ing a province-wide trend

Castlegar's dectining vacancy rate.
“It's currently a province-wide trend
improvement in

Vacancy-rate figures in Trail re.

rates dropped four percentage points

PRINCE RUPERT OPERATION

Rentals
scarce

By CasNews Staff
If you're looking for a place to live
it's going to be more
difficult to find a vacancy this year
recent

from 24 19.9 in the
sixth-month period ended in October
“All the work going on in Trail at
Comineo is having an_effect_on_the
vacancy rates there,” he said. “It
may-alsobe filtering over to the Cast
legar area.”

Dombowski also said.Selkirk Col.
lege students moving to Castlegar
for the fall semester had An effect on
the availability of living space in the
area.

“The college and enrolment will
have been responsible for part of
decrease in available space,” he said,
adding that the improving economy
is the main reason for the decline in
available rental space. “When the
economy improves, more people will
rent.”

Some_rural_areas_are_still-exper.
iencing extremely high vacancy rates
while others are very low x

Sparwood~ has a 49.6 percent
vacancy rate while at the other end,
Parksville has a 0.0 per cent vacancy
rate

to

government

gage and Hous.

in~ available
to Oct. 88. The

the six months

of dee

it's hard to
of the reason for
the

legar. Vacancy

assessment took place in the fall of
1988, Moore noted. She said she
hasn't examined the total roll yet,
but noted that the assessment on her
‘own home is down some 20 per cent

“That doesn't mean that’s the same
across thé ¢ity;”” Moore cautioned

And, she pointed out, the city has
seen a lot of new construction in the
last year.

“Whether that amount of new
construction-is enough to offset the
decline (in assessment values) we

said

the budget

which to give
Moore said.

from staff,”
given us some

Out-of-

haven't examined yet,”

On the éapital expenditure side of
ledger, :
presented council with three
worth of possible capital expend
itures from which council's various
standing’ committees
priority

“We've got som
Moore

technical

the mayor (and) there is
standing committ
prioritize what (he)

this year.”

some leeway for
es of council to
would like to see
city staff
year's

she noted there. will
‘some tradeoffs” before a
final decision is made on 1989 capital
expenditures.

However,
have to be
decide

1989,

must
to in

Couneil will hold a working meet
ing tomorrow to be “walked through”
the provisional budget, Moore said.

very good detail
said. “They've
priorities

bounds

skiers at risk

By BRENDAN NAGLE. ~
Staff Writer

For some, it’s the idea of skiing where nobody has
skied before. For others, it’s the juvenile notion that
rules were made to be broken. But for whatever reason,
skiing beyond trail markers and patrolled areas at
alpine ski facilities is dahgerous business.

Stephen Kemp's—death-is—chilling—proof—ofhow
dangerous skiing beyond marked trails can be. Kemp
perished’ in an avalanche Monday, skiing beyond the
marked trails at Blackcomb Mountain near Whistler. An
experienced skier, Kemp apparently took all the
precautions he felt necessary to ski the area but ended
up buried beneath two metres of tumbling snow

Last week, five teens skiing Cypress Bowl in West
Vancouver skied the out-of-bounds area-at the ski hill
But they were more fortunate than Kemp as they were
found cold, wet and weary after“a-seven-hour search of
the Lower Mainland ski operation.

However, the fivesome are being asked to foot the
$3,000-tab it cost Cypress Bow! to locate them.

Bob Steckle of Red Mountain is familiar with the
adventurous types who like to ski beyond patrolled
areas at the Rossland ski resort. But he said it is not a
problem because most of the out-of-bounds skiers at
Red are*+aware of the dangers and take extra
precautions.

“Back country skiing is popular in
people have been skiing that area since the ‘20s and
"30s," Steckle told the Castlegar News. “We don't
encourage it but most people who ski off the marked
trails are experienced and familiar with the area.”

But the ever-present possibility of an avalanche is
still of grave concern to Steckle. While all the known
avalanch areas within the marked trails are controlled
byRed Mountain staf and ski patrol members, the
out-of-bounds areas are not controlled and snow slides
are now an increasing threat with the onslaught of the
mid-winter snow falls.

“Those skiers (skiing the out-of-bounds areas)
would be most prone to coming into avalanche
problems,” Steckle said. “But not in bounds,
haven't had any avalanche problems.”

Only one person went missing at Red Mountain last
year and Steckle said the man was found within a day
after an RCMP- helicopter and an army of volunteers
scoured the area. But Steckle said the lost skier was not
billed for the costs incurred during the search

“We haven't had that

e area and

we just

situation it’s strictly

volunteer,” he said of the resort's search and rescue
efforts. “As for the RCMP chopper, don't know what
they do to recoup the expenses.”

Cypress Bow! ski shop manager Russ Parrot said
the hill’s attempt to get the five lost skiers to pay for the
search effort is intended to send a clear message to
other skiers who may think about skiing beyond the
marked trails

“It's not just for the money,” he said of the push to
have the teens pay the tab. “It's more to set an example.
We've got signs clearly marking the out-of-bounds areas
and we want to make it quite clear that we don’t want
people skiing there.”

He added that Cypress Bowl! will not take money
from the parents of the teens.

“We don’t want their parerts to foot the bill,” he
said. “We've offered to employ the kids to pay off their
share of the search expenses.”

Parrot said of the teens have already
committed to working on the hill to pay their share. He
said one of the boys will also come down and work
weekends to pay his share. There are still.two boys who
have not indicated whether they will pay or work but
Parrot added the ski area will get them to pay.

“We haven't called in the lawyers yet,”: he said.
“But its always a possibility.”

Whitewater ski area manager Mike Adams said
there have not’ been any problems with missing alpine
skiers at the Nelson ski hill for the five years that he's
Been there.

However, three years ago a ski tourer died in a
snow slide well outside the marked boundaries at
Whitewater where ski touring is popular among skiers.
Ski touring enables a skier to cross-country and
downhill ski at. the time without changing
equipment

Adams said the mishap occurred when a pair of ski
tourers ventured off to White Quéeh peak, just south of
the Whitewater alpine operation. The area is
unregulated and unpatrolled but popular among ski
touring enthusiasts. But the ever-present danger of an
avalanche caught up with one man

“Two guys went out and went missing,
The avalanche got one guy

Adams said the search didn’t take long: The man
who survived quickly brought rescuers to the scene
where his companion had perished

Adams was quick to point out the Whitewater ski

two

same

he said.

continued on page A2

Local CounterAttack
results excellent’

By CasNews Staff

Castlegar RCMP charged 12
ple with driving while impaired
during the holiday CounterAttack
campaign against drinking and driv
ing. Jan. 3, 1989

Cpl. Terry Hyland, the offic the 1,
charge of the program, said today the
results are “excellent”

“It certainly paid off,” Hyland said
of the 80.5 hours officers put .in on
road blocks this year, more than four
times the 18.25 hours worked last
year.

“The
there,”

people
peo-

The
er in

while impaired,

citizens like seeing us out
Hyland said, adding that

referring to the
one

commented
number of impaired drivers on
road this holiday season.
Castlegar
4,843 vehicles from Dec. 3,
more than
68 vehicles checked during the
same period last year when just
person_was charged. with
according
isties released today by the Castlega
RCMP detachment.
Hyland said the

lot of designated drivers this year
situation in which

RCMP

person refrains from drinking

as driver for his—or—her
less-sober companions

During the CounterAttack
paign, Castlegar -RCMP issued
24-hour roadsjde suspensions
They also charged
with traffic offenses
216 written warnings

the and} acts

the

op

cam
checked 12
1988 to
three times drivers.
drivers
one issued
driving

The number of collisions involving
drinking drivers declined to three
this holiday season fromthe four
recorded last year

Six people were
accidents during the

to stat

noticed “a
injured in motor
vehicle month

compared to five last ‘yar

expansion

Repap stud

Winter
getaways

page B3

VANCOUVER (CP) Repap
Enterprises is studying a $1 billion
expansion to its Prince Rupert pulp
and paper operation, a company
spokesman says.

The Montreal-based brest products
company says b@cause of the Canada
U.S. free-trade agreement, the ex
pansion may include a fne paper mill

Harry Papushka, Repapis exec
utive vice-president of pulp and the
head of its Skeena Cellulose_oper.

ation, said the move would buck
tradition and be a first for Western
Canada

A recent $75 million plant mod
ernization has pumped up production
and the plant managed a record 1,600
tonnes of pulp on Dec. 15

The figure is a far cry from the 800
tonnes produced when Repap took
over the complex from Westar
Timber Ltd. in 1986.

“We are going to expand Prince

Rupert and are looking at a new pulp
line which would cost between $600
million and $800 million, or a paper
machine at around $500 million or
both,” Papushka said in an interview

“This is certainly the ‘major
strategic decision we have to make
and there are some hurdies in our
way, such as adequate fibre supply.”
he said

Papushka said the Prince Rupert
expansion is only one of three major

projects that Repap is considering
He wouldn't give fur:
suggest when the expansion
take place

‘We are going to do something and
B.C. is hopefully number one in this
scenario,” he said

Papushka said that a go-ahead for
both projects would produce about
350 plant jobs and’ have a large
multiplier effect on jobs in the
region

ner details or
might

Adding a fine mill would

buck tradition, he

paper

said

The traditional wisdom is that you

build pulp mills near

and fine paper mills near people,” he
id

wood supply

There are risks in a paper mill and
it is correct the trade
agreement is helping our decision
making.” he said

to say free