Saturday, March 14, 1992

THE FAR SIDE

By GARY LARSON

TESS Unvereat Prove Symocere

Ploeen,

“Hey! C’mon, Jed! . . . Ease up on them hammers!”

PolicCBEAT

Chad Madrigga, 19, rear
ended a 1987 Ford on 18th

Madrigga was charged with
cycling without reasonable
consideration after he went
through the back window of
the car and landed face down
on the back seat.

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Castlegar RCMP are inves-
tigating a March 7 hit and run
which occurred on Highway
3A at Glade.

Paul Poohachoff of Castle-
gar was driving his 1979
BMW when it was struck by
an older-model full-sized car
entering the highway from
Doukhobour Road.

Several people were treat-
ed and released from the
Castlegar hospital as.a result
of a two vehicle collision at
Highway 3A and Broadwater
Road.

eee
George Samarodin of
Castlegar failed to heed the
stop sign on Broadwater Ac-
cess Road on March 9, and
struck a car driven by Patricia
O'Dell of Trail.
eee
Charges are pending
inst 18-year-old Stacy De-
moskoff of Blueberry for a
March 10 accident on the
Highway 3 and Highway 3A
off-ramp.

There was extensive dam-
age but no injuries when De-
moskoff’s 1986 Ford flatdeck
veered off the road and hit two
utility poles.

eee

Michele Mitchell of Salmo
rear ended a 1991 Interna-
tional tractor-trailer unit
which had stopped for a flag
person on Highway 3 at the
Kinnaird Bridge on Wednes-

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Spring Chicken
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Cominco receives tax break

| @ Ailing company gets

helping hand from Trail

and Kootenay Boundary
saat boils Rates Ss

EDITOR (ex See
The City of Trail is throw-
ing Cominco lifeline.
Trail agreed in principle

break. May-

or Sandy

Santori said

Trail will

eg Meer Sandy Santori
break

equalling between $2 to $3.5.
million. The breaks would be
phased in over a three- to
five-year period.

“We know a $2 million
break won't save Cominco,
but we want to send a mes-
sage to the Cominco board
and the province that we are
willing to help this company.”

Cominco will pay some
$6.8 million in taxes this year
to Trail and the Regional Dis-
trict of Kootenay Boundary
this year alone. Provincially,
the giant lead and zinc
smelter will pay $10.5 million
in water taxes in 1992.

Santori said the provincial
government should. take
Trail’s lead and give the trou-

bled operation a break.

Cominco claims it haslost that could mean as much as
$100 million at the Trail op-

eration in the past two'years.

to Cominco. To the Trail area,

$4 million in the coffers.
Santori said Trail must

‘I’m not willing to call their bluff. There is too
a » “much at stake.’
— Trail Mayor Sandy Santori

In an effort to plug that fi-
nancial leak, the company
cut 500 permanent jobs. In
addition, Cominco plans on
cutting purchasing and
transportation costs.

Santori said those mea-
sure will save the company
$29 million 1992, but that’s
not enough. He said the gov-
ernment has to give Cominco
a break on its water taxes.

“The government has to re-
alize that Cominco came here
for a reason, cheap power,”
Santori said Thursday. “The
government has slowly taken

. away that cheap power

(through taxation). Based on
Cominco’s _ transportation
costs, they shouldn't be here.”

The province hasn't an-
nounced whether it will give
the company a break on its
water levies, but it has
promised to remove B.C. Hy-
dro’s tax-exempt status in the
Kootenays which could help
municipalities like Trail
make up the money it will
lose by providing concessions

give Cominco a break ifit is to
survive. He said the revenue
lost through those breaks
could be made up by increas-
ing municipal taxes, reducing
city services or both.

“It’s going to require a shift
in taxes, but we can’t go to the
taxpayers and say ‘Hey, your
property taxes are going up
by 100 per cent this year.’ We
have to phase it in over time.”

Santori said Trail itself will
re-examine its capital pro-
jects over the next three years
to separate “the need to haves
from the nice to haves.”

Asked if Trail citizens
would oppose tax hikes, San-
tori said council doesn’t have
much of a choice.

“T look at it this way,” he
said, “there are some people
out there who think Cominco
isn’t losing what it claims. ’m
not one of them.

“I’m not willing to play
poker with them,” he said.
“I’m not willing to call their
bluff. There is too much a
stake.” i

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@ Saturday, March 14, 1992

3m

T

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SecondFRON

B.C. constitutional forum gives
Canadians a chance to talk Canada,
Quebec and a reformed Senate

Scott David Harrison
EDITOR
The Great Canadian Debate has made
its way through the West Kootenay. ~
The Provincial Parliamentary Committee
on the Constitution spent eight hours in
Trail Thursday, compiling extraordinary
thoughts from ordinary Canadians.
“It was just excellent,” Robson’s Elmer

great.”

The all-party committee will use the
results from the Trail session — along with
others held throughout the province — to

Pellerine said. “I think this kind of thing is —

help formulate British Columbia’s position
on constitutional reform.

Based on. what Pellerine heard
throughout the day, he said area residents
share similar feelings about the land they
live in.

“I think people hit very close to the same
idea about this country,” he said.“We need
Canada for Canadians.”

“We should be very proud to be
Canadians because we have a great, great
country.” 3

Pellerine urged the committee not to
back a plan that would grant special status
to Quebec or any other group.

He said Canada flourishes because of its
difference and any recommendation
favoring one group over another would be
the downfall of the nation.

Canada debate rages on

“There shouldn’t be special status for any
ethnic group or Quebec,” he said. “We are
Canadians.”

Castlegar’s Ron Ross agreed. In fact,
Ross took it a step further, asking the
three-New Democrat, two-Liberal and one-
Socred committee to recommend a senate
reform.

Ross said Canada must incorporate a
triple-E senate (elected, effective and equal)

ince is given a fair

Ross said he hoped the wo A
in Trail would be considered. Anything else,
he said, would be a waste of time.

“As long as the committee listened and
reports on what was said, I think it will be
a good exercise,” he said. “If they don’t, that
would really be unfortunate.” é

2

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Ferry users
calling on
Liberals

i Ad Hoc committee looks to
B.C. legislature for final fight

Scott David Harrison

EDITOR

Terry Dalton can’t wait for the
B.C. legislature to get down to
business.

At that time Dalton will find out
whether the Liberal party has
joined forces with the Robson-
Raspberry Ferry Users Ad Hoc
Committee.

Not willing to surrender the all-
but-dead ferry, the committee is
counting on B.C. Liberals to resur-
rect the fight.

During a recent visit by four

These Italy bound Stanley Humphries students may have shoppin
teacher Grant Lenarduzzi has more cultural plans for them. Picture
Fayant, Todd Bondaroff, Lori Picco, Lori Baker, and Angie Maida.

News photo by Glen Freeman
g for shoes on their minds, but their
d here, from left to right, are Jennifer

members of the Liberal caucus, the
ferry users provided the rookie
politicians with a binder full of in-
formation, outlining their four-year-
old battle with the B.C. govern-

Scott David Harrison
EDITOR

century.

bids to take over operation of the hall.
Pakula said Thursday.

demolished.

Kinnaird Hall declared a heritage site.

Kinnaird Hall may just survive into the 21st

The fate of the aging structure will be decided
Tuesday when Castlegar city council explores two

“It’s great news for.the community,” Ald. Bob

Kinnaird Hall became the focus of much
debate in December when city council attempted
to decide its future. Saying the $79,000 needed to
bring the building up to safety standards
wouldn't be well spent, Ald. Jim Chapman called
the hall “a write off” and recommended it be

Demolition was just one of three options
council was considering at the time, but it was
the only one several residents heard. The others
were paying for the repairs or having the

Aging Kinnaird Hall lives
: The thought of flattening Kinnaird Hall

sparked criticism from several user groups in
Castlegar who claimed they couldn't afford to

hold gatherings elsewhere.

of the city’s pioneers.

will decide on two bids this week.

; remain, stan i Pakula r
a i ee FPFAALSLGELES HHL PLLA. eeoose oon Pe ooo £3: ve cep.

It also touched a nerve with long-time
residents who cried blasphemy, saying the
Kinnaird Hall had been built through the sweat

In January, council decided to put the hall in
the hands of the citizens, asking interested
parties to take over management of the Columbia
Avenue hall — structural deficiencies and all.

That plan appears to have worked as council

Pakula wouldn’t name the groups or
individuals involved in the Kinnaird takeover,
disclosed at council.

ment.

Dalton said that information
should supply the Liberals with
plenty of ammunition to bring the
ferry back.

“We want to see if they can move
things along for us,” Dalton said
Thursday.

If no action is taken by the Lib-
erals, or if the NDP rejects a plan
that would see the ferry reinstated
until a bridge is built, Dalton said
the committee would have no choice
but to reopen its lawsuit.

“We don’t want to draw focus on
our court case, but if the NDP re-
mains adamant about not return-
ing the ferry or building a bridge,
we will proceed with the court case,”
he said.

According to Dalton, the B.C.
Supreme Court has slated October
as a time when the Robson case
could be heard.

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