ES 6 Ten a eet oo aaa June 19, 1988 CPP OOP IST... aad Castlégar News saasnnan OF THE 8.C. PRESS COUNCH ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 1947 TWICE WEEKLY MA INCORPORATING THE MD-WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED SETPOIABER 121 \.V. CAMPBELL — PUBLISHER, AUGUST 7, 1947 . FEBRUAR’ SHER — Buri Compbell EDITOR — Ron Norman REMAN Fo Harvey } MANAGER — Gory Fieming OFFICE MANAGER — Linda Kositsin CIRCULATION MANAGER — Heather Hodley OTICE OF COPYRIGHT: Full, complete ond sole copyright in ony printed matier produced by Costie News Ata a vented in ond belongs to Conte News Lid. provided, however, that eopyiigny ie the sont wre tet ber prepored irom repro proce, sngrevingn, she pr canons ~ o Sink or swim? It looks like Castlegar-area residents will finally have their say on a proposed indoor aquatic centre. “Looks” is the key word, because the referendum planned for Oct. 15 is by no meons a sure thing. John Voykin, Area | director for the Regional District of Cen- tral Kootenay, threw a small wrench into the Castlegar and District Projects Society's plans for the fall ref. dum at the reg | board meeting Saturday in Nelson. Mr. Voykin said he can't agree toa reterendum until he knows more about the proposed facility. The stumbling block for Mr. Voykin isn't so much the proposed pool or the idea of going to referendum; he's unhappy with the way the Projects Society has presented-the proposal. He says he has yet to meet formally with the Society. And before he can agree to a vote, he wants to sit down with the Society and the other two partners — Area J and the City of Castlegar — to discuss the project. Presuming the pool goes to referendum — and despite Mr. Voykin's objections, it appears he favors a referendum — the ob- vious question is can it succeed? On the one hand, the vote comes at a poor time. School taxes have increased an average $55 this year, municipal taxes $12, and rural taxes have jumped substantially because of increases by both the regional district and provincial governments. Still, come October, those increases will likely have faded from most homeowner's memories. In this referendum’s favor is its date. Referenda are usually held in conjunction with municipal elections — the third Saturday in November — primarily to save money. But this referendum is going to the public in October, a month before the local elections. It means voters will be able to concentrate on one issue — the pool. As well, it means politicians attempting to get elected or elected won't be able to use the issue as a springboard into office. The poo! will be judged strictly on its own merits. The idea of an indoor pool has been floating around this com- munity for years and now residents will finally know whether it will sink or swim. , Norman So Ed Conroy is off the hook. Or is he? The Castlegar school trustee and trade unionist was cleared of assault charges stemming from last fall's postal strike after Judge Stewart Enderton granted a stay of Proceedings in Castlegar provincial court this week. A stay is about as close as Conroy can get to being cleared of any wrongdoing on that cool October night in front of the Castlegar post office. In the language of the courts, it means the assault charges have been set aside. The reason? Simple. Assault is a summary offence and any evidence must be brought forward within six months of the alleged incident. Since it has been eight months since the alleged assault, Crown counsel had to drop the case. In the process the Crown admitted it never proceeded further because there wasn't “a ial likelih a iction.” But there are a number of questions that remain unanswered. For instance, if the Crown didn't have enough evidence to make a case within six months, it presumably didn’t have enough evidence back in January when it laid charges against Conroy. If that is true, why were charges laid? Certainly, that night on the picket line wasn't a picnic. Tempers flared, tensions rose and feelings ran high on both sides. It reached a boiling point when a postal truck attempted to force its way through the picket line. The strikers and their supporters tried to prevent the truck from crossing while postal security agents and supervisors attempted to guide the truck into the parking lot. But was the confrontation an assault? Not according to Castlegar RCMP. Oh sure, Canada Post laid three assault charges following the incident, but the RCMP didn’t see it as assault. Staff Sgt. Jack Keddy pointed out at the time that the charges were laid a half hour after one of his corporals had talked with a Canada Post security agent and the alleged assailant. “Neither one of them at that time indicated any allegation off assault,” Keddy said. . Despite the Canada Post charges, Keddy maintained an assault hadn't taken place. He said an RCMP member was on the scene throughout the alleged incident and didn't see an‘ assault. At the same time Canada Post security People were videotaping the picket line from the roof of the post office. Surely, if there had been an assault, that videotape would have shown it. That was October. Four months later — in late January — Crown counsel officially charged Conroy with assault. Again, there are questions. Why the four-month delay between the alleged incident and the formal charges? And how was Conroy charged out of the dozens of people on the picket line that night who were shoving and pushing? If the RCMP believed there hadn't been an assault, why did the Crown proceed? While it is the Crown's duty to determine if charges should be laid in any case, presumably it does so based on evidence presented by the police. Of course, if it had been anyone other than an elected official charged with assault, the case likely wouldn't have drawn as much media attention. But it did. And Conroy says he's felt the effects. It seems to me Conroy is stretching it a bit to compare his case with Susan Nelles’s. After all, the Ontario nurse was charged with murdering several babies. Conroy faced assault charges which, though serious, are hardly the same. Nevertheless, I'm sure the charges affected his family life, his work and his position as a school trustee. I know at the time he was charged some in the i how stud. could respect an elected official who had been charged with picket-line violence. I know, too, if it had been me, the charges would have always been on my mind regardless of what I was doing. And even though the charges have been stayed and Conroy has been effectively absolved of any crime, it is not quite the same as if he had never been charged. And that's why I wonder if Ed Conroy is really off the hook. Legally, he is. But it will be some time before the cloud created by those charges blows over. “It does sound more practical than our B.C. method of five Premier drop-in visits." __Letters to the editor —————_—SESESESEEE__— Remember when . 35 YEARS AGO From the June 18, 1953 Castlegar News Castlegar's traffic by-laws have now been revised and brought up to date and are ready for enforcement by the RCMP, it was announced at the monthly meeting of the Castlegar Board of Commissioners Monday evening. e thin Walter Poohachoff, Donna Muir- head and Mel Gustafson were among the recipients of a record list of 29 awards presented at the 1953 Honors Day program in the Stanley Hum; Phries high school auditorium, Fri- day afternoon. * 8 «@ A program of top notch dancing talent by boys and girls of the Kin- naird class of Mrs. Frank Phillips, was cut short near its end Friday evening in the Stanley Humphries high school by a sudden electric power failure, thought to have been due to an electric storm. * * «@ The Castlegar village commission- ers are getting impatient with the lack of paid by some resi- Faith diminished Tam a volunteer in this community who takes great pride in what I do. I do not do these things for the accolades, but only ‘because of the good feeling one gets through contributing to the betterment of our community. During Sunfest weekend, hun. dreds of volunteers spent countless hours making sure this was one of the best festivals this community has ever seen. I believe we accomplished this task. Visitors came from as far away as Vancouver; Edmonton, Spokane, and even Australia, to partake in the various activities. The feedback we got was that these visitors enjoyed themselves immen- sely, and hope to return. So what could possibly happen to sour such a wonderful weekend for so many enthusiastic volunteers? For me, it was hearing that someone felt it necessary to walk away from the SloPitch Dance on Saturday night carrying the two tapping units for the draught beer. The immediate assumption was that it was a prank by someone slightly intoxicated. But as we sit here two weeks later, with no units returned, my hopes that the taps will be returned are growing: dim. To add insult to injury, some other dear soul decided it was necessary to take two sets of bases just purchased by the SloPitch League with money fundraised by your hardworking executive. These bases have “Castle- gar SloPitch League” written all over them — where is anyone going to use them with a clean conscience? What Feds ignore global I see that the local pesticide wars are starting up again. The. Nakusp Forest District wants to spray, and citizen groups are going to try to stop them. Pesticides are part of a larger problem. Because of their dramatic effects on life forms, it is easy to understand that extreme caution must be exercised in their use. Nevertheless a fantastic range of substances with no immediate affects on life forms at all are continually spread all over the environment, and these may turn out to be more hazardous in the long run if only be- cause their lack of immediate toxicity lulls us into complacency in their use. I wrote an essay on this subject, about the non-toxic group of sub- stances which have the unfortunate property of threatening the plane- tary radiation shield, which was brought to the attention of the prime minister of Canada. Although the essay called this civilization “already dead” because it continues to pro- duce substances that damage the ozone layer in the face of a scientific consensus that catastrophe may be irreversible already, the prime min- ister supposedly found it to be “in- sightful.” His office wrote me to say please send some comments to the environment minister, who would be listening. One paragraph I wrote was: “Why not disband Environment Canada so Canadians will not con- tinue to be misled by its existence that anything is actually being done to safeguard the environment? A major driving force for the creation of Environment Canada came from the widespread awareness in the 1960s that continuing to permeate the environment with parts per billion of thousands of different sub- stances would one day tragically backfire. Some totally unforeseen property of one or some of them acting together could really be a problem. Back then, biomagnification was the unforeseen property, and it was DDT threatening the extinction of birds on top of food chains. Tonnage of artificial substances pro- duced and the number of different substances continued to increase every year. Now it is CFCs and a few related substances threatening the extinction of all life on the planet. We can see very clearly how effective Environment Canada has been.” The idea that any existing political ism is an adequate response to this reality, which was first widely understood in the 60s, is ridiculous. This system has failed to respond, and continues to fail to respond. Under the pall of possible irrever- Time for Dirks to take After reading of Nelson-Creston MLA Howard Dirks's verbal ex- change with Rossland-Trail MLA Chris D'Arcy in the legislature re. cently regarding the Robson ferry closure, I feel compelled to comment. I don't see any “mixed message” in Mr. D’Arcy’s observation that, on the one hand the provincial government wants to be allowed their input into a federal decision, while on the other, they refused to allow local input into a provincial decision. The message I do see is that Mr. Dirks perceives the comparison be. tween the rail abandonment and the ferry closure to be a disservice to opponents of the former. Since he obviously supports the continuation of the rail line, I can only surmise from his remarks that he does not support ferry service for the resi- dents of Castlegar and Robson. I believe it is time for Mr. Dirks to take a stand on this issue — if not asa member of the legislative assembly, then as an appointed representative to the decentralization Process under a stand Rita Johnson, who is, I believe, Minister of State for this area. And if Mr. Dirks is not in favor of the continued government ferry service in our region, where does that place him with regard to the ferries in his own riding? Is the Robson ferry only the first of many to fall to privatization? We have emphatically stated that our com- munity is financially unable to bear the cost of either the ferry operation or the $1 million-plus dollars it will cost us annually to commute to Castlegar. How would the small communities of Glade, Harrop, and Procter raise the funds? What about the main lake ferries at Balfour? Mr. Dirks should take the oppor. tunity at this time to reassure his constituents, and others within the Kootenay Region that he categori- cally support the government oper- ation of all the inland ferries. If he cannot do so, then I have only one piece of political advice: Don't sell the chicken farm! Robson is wrong with people today? These incidents certainly leave one's faith in mankind greatly diminished! Please, if anyone out there has any sense of decency, put the bases and/or draught units in boxes and leave them where we can find them. Any anonymous phone call will help, (365-3270). Please restore a burnt-out volun- teer's faith in people, so I can continue to feel good about the volunteer work being done in this community, instead of just feeling abused. Also, many thanks to the many people who did work so hard to make Sunfest so much fun. Thank you. Katrine Conroy Castlegar collapse sible global ecological collapse, citi- zens find themselves organizing to combat the production of prepos- terous plastic foams. Travelling road shows like the Environmental Appeal Board are still on the loose, selling their snake oil. I challenge the Forestry Service to respond to this by being the good citizens they think they are and to hold off on these experiments with herbicides until the whole question of the control of artificial substan has been fu i dents to village ordinances and are adopting a “get tough” policy. * «© «@ The petition for incorporation of a Hospital Improvement District in this area, to finance construction of a Castlegar District Hospital, has met with overwhelming success. 25 YEARS AGO From the June 20, 1963 Castlegar News The resignation of village chair- man Aage Sylvest was called for by Comm. Frank Richardson at Castle- gar’s council meeting Tuesday night. . 28 « The building of the Mica Creek dam first with the High Arrow dam delayed until contentious points about it are ironed out was suggested here Monday by provincial Liberal leader Ray Perrault. * 8 « Two reserves have been set on Crown land thought suitable for a regional college while private prop- erty is also available for such a project, the Castlegar and District Chamber of Commerce was told at its meeting last week. * 8 -« A motion to set aside $10,000 for a wooden footpath to serve the Sher- biko subdivision ver the CPR tracké near Mitchell Supply was defeated at council's meeting Tuesday night when village chairman Aage Sylvest broke a tie-vote. * 8 « An executive for a tennis club to serve the Castlegar and district was elected at a meeting held Monday night in Kinnaird. 15 YEARS AGO From the June 21, 1973 Castl News in the light of the appa catas- trophe of ozone depletion. David Lewis Crescent Valley Father special As Father's Day is once more approaching, I recall from my years growing up in Castlegar that your paper often featured letters about special fathers at this time of the year. I would like to tell you about my very special father, Eugene Lapointe. You see, I have a unique opport- unity to measure the scope of my father’s love because I have been able to see how it has reached to the opposite side of our Earth. I have spent most of the past two years working in Ethiopia and Mozambique for an aviation company. My Dad's love and support has constantly been there, helping me through some of the very tough times that are inevitable in third world countries. My father has not had the opportunity to express his caring with material things very often. But living and working in places where the majority of the people possess only the rags they are wearing, you soon realize that material possesions are unimportant compared to relat- ionships anyway. The love and respect that my father shows for ine are what makes him truly special. The only thing that I regret is that I am not in a position to tell him that more often. (I tried to phone him from Maputo, Mozambique on his birthday last month. After several attempts which got me numbers in Manila, I finally got through to a lady Cc: Idi agreed Tues- day night to send a wire to Premier Barrett in an effort to expedite work on a storm drainage and curb and gutter program along Columbia Ave. . 8 @ A meeting to discuss the possible amalgamation of Castlegar and Kin- naird was scheduled to take place last night in the Kinnaird town office. * 8 6 The question of re-opening nego tiations for garbage pickup with Geronazzo Holdings was referred Tuesday to the sanitation committee for study and recommendation. . . An all-jet fleet for PWA in the next three years was stated as a strong possibility Thursday night by the company’s district manager Des Del- haye when addressing members of the Castlegar and District Chamber of Commerce at its last meeting be- fore summer recess. * 8 «© The municipal councils of the twin towns of Castlegar and Kinnaird both had words of praise Tuesday night for the initiative displayed by the two social studies classes at SHSS who conducted a recreational facil- ities survey in the area. 5 YEARS AGO From the June 20, 1983 News Cominco was fined $5,000 Tuesday for being tardy in reporting the discharge of over 100 cubic feet of mercury-tainted sludge into the Columbia River four years ago. * 2 “e The Trail Times won't have. its composing and printing facilities moved to Nelson Daily News offices, according to the vice-president of the Sterling newspaper chain. * 8 «6 The Castlegar school board has decided against having a Grade 1 Russian immersion program for this in Casth but she had never heard of my dad.) Thank you for the opportunity to express my appreciation through your news- paper. Cammy Lapointe Maputo, Mozambique * ee « Kootenay West Conservative candi- date Bob Brisco has lambasted the Liberal government for its repeated attempts to close the control tower at the Castlegar Airport. ———<____ . June 19, 1988 Environmentalists building coalition By DAPHNE BRAMHAM Press VICTORIA — Larry Berg left his wife and three kids at home early one morning last winter to stand in the mud and the rain for more than six hours before he was arrested. Berg, a fruit grower who lives on Denman Island southeast of Courtenay was thrown into a paddy wagon + along with 63 others over a period of three months — because he believes preserving a park is important enough to go to jail. The environmentalists — ordinary people ranging in age from 30 to 64 —hiked into a remote part of Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island to stop a rig from doing exploratory drilling. They disobeyed a court injunction, were arrested and now face trial, “It was a wonderful liberating feeling to make that kind of physical move for something you really, really believe in,” says Sandy Kennedy, a social worker from Denman Island, who was also arrested, She describes herself as “an incredibly law-abiding person.” Although some people. call them terrorists, environmentalists are changing the political and indus- trial climate in British Columbia. BREAK LAW It started in the 1960s with the founding of million hectares as parkland. That's an area almost 10 times the size of Prince Edward Island. Still, a new, specialized organization seems to spring up every few weeks to protect the hundreds of beautiful sites and numerous widlife species threatened by logging, mining or industrial wastes. MUCH TO SAVE People want to save the Stein River Valley and its Indian pictographs from logging. They want to save grizzly bears in the Khuzeymateen Valley, wolves in the northeast and peregrine falcons on the Queen Charlotte Islands. They want to preserve the first-growth trees on Meares Island. Derek Thompson, chief of park planning in British Columbia, calls their tactics terrorism and says it's encouraged by media coverage. But both Thompson and Jake Masselink, acting deputy minister of parks, say the environmental movement has forced positive changes. “We are getting better parks because so many people within society are now personally involved with the parks that are being established and how they are managed,” says Masselink. Environmentalists, however, are less certain about the scope of their accomplishments. Biologist Bristol Foster says more money is il now to support environmental causes. But in V. Since then i have continued to break the law in the name of saving the environment — a practice seemingly far more common in British Columbia than other provinces. They chain themselves to politicians’ desks, blockade logging roads and get in the way of drilling rigs. They join forces to save whales, seals and trees. “I think the environmentalists are building a very strong coalition in the province with native and church groups on justice issues,” says Joan Smallwood, Foster, the former head of the B.C. provincial museum, wonders whether there has been a real political change. TOO “With (B.C. Premier) Bill Vander Zalm, anything to do with the environment is ing a red flag,” Foster says. “We have made some gains, but generally it is too little, too late.” But governmnent officials aren't underestimating the power of environmentalists. environment critic for the pi New D be | believe that coalition will continue to grow and any government that ignores that is a foolish one.” Still, Environment Minister Bruce Strachan seems unconvinced. Strachan ridicules past attempts by Americans protesting the provincial wolf kill programs, but says he cannot ignore mass protests by British Columbians. IMPACT ON PARKS “Where there's good evidence that I'm not doing my job or that there is a definite initiative to change public policy, I will”, Strachan said. “In the case of the environment, it really hasn't changed my mind too much. “In the case of parks proposals, I guess there has been some movement there that I had to listen to and react to.” Smallwood says Strachan has had little choice but to listen as groups become more defiant in the face of government obstinancy. “He's certainly had a crash education in the last year,” she said. British Columbia, blessed with some of the most spectacular seenery in Canada, already protects 5.4 MP calls for halt to toxic dumping believes may force a fundamental restructuring of the B.C. economy if th public will to protect trees grows stronger than its desire to let forestry companies log. Or if the public will to protect wolves is stronger than its desire to let cattle ranchers survive. Or if the will to save seals who are literally eating into the viability of the salmon fishing industry is stronger than saving the fishermen’s jobs. “People are now saying there is value in a tree being left on the stump,” says Masselink. “They're saying we don't have to log, we can change our economy.” Fred Moonen, vice-president of the giant forestry company MacMillan Bloedel, says there were “flagrant abuses” in the early days of the forest industry, the itional mai: of the B.C, my. The forestry sector accounts for one of every five jobs in the province. “There has been a learning process in the -_- LETTERS Paved shoulder needed Regarding the Castlegar News report of Monday's accident on Cel- gar Road: The obstacle which the dump truck failed to observe and swerved to avoid was, in fact, another vehicle. The vehicle had slowed down rather than pass a bicycle on a narrow portion of road. Many cyclists use this road and the incident underlines the need for a paved shoulder, Denise Sylvest (an eyewitness) Arthritis group in Castlegar On behalf of the Arthritis Society, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the community of the exis- tence of a local branch of the society. A small group of concerned people have been asked by the Arthritis Society of B.C. to provide whatever support services that might he re- quired by patients of arthritis. This group has also been asked to become a member agency of the Castlegar United Way and to assist with the fund-raising campaign on behalf of the Society. Although our branch is very small at this time, we hope our members will soon increase. Of greatest im- portance is that the people of Castle- gar become aware of the existence of the branch and therefore, will begin to contact us if there is anything we can do for them. There are many people, old and young, who suffer from this crippling disease. We will work very hard on their behalf to increase funding for both research and medical services industry,” Moonen says. “Envir have prodded a lot of that learning. But Moonen believes environmentalists are becom- ing uncompromising preservationists with an endless agenda of what to save next. by partici actively in the local United Way. D.L. Chmara Castlegar Karl Hager Limb & Brace Ltd. Othotic & Prosthetic MONTHLY CLINIC * Artitical Limbs © Sports Injury Bracing It’s Time to Say **Thank You’’ Through * Foot Supports © Orthopedic Shoes * Body &Leg Bracing Air Canada’s “*Heart of Gold’? Award Do you know someone who goes ‘out of his or her way to make your community « better place to live? Air Canada and your communi newspaper would like to help salute these individuals.” You can start things off by Rominating someone you know Write the June 28 FOR APPOINTMENTS OR INFO CALL KELOWNA Collect 861-1833 Bo: Costleger, The Premium Savings Account High Yield With Flexibility! “226-7212 CASTLEGAR SAVINGS CREDIT UNION “Your Community Financial Centre” CASTLEGAR 601-18th St, 365-7232 Insurance 365-3368 CENTRAL FOODS SPECIALS OVERLANDER KRAFT DINNERS GRIMMS CORNED BEEF OR SHAVED oc. . saa fGED TEA tas 99° PARKAY We reserve the right to limit quantities Prices limited to stock on hand PRICES F as CENTRAL FOODS SUN., MON. OPEN SUNDAYS bene no TUES., WED. _We.m.-5 p.m. 2717 By CasNews Staff Kootenay West MP Bob Brisco has called for an end to the dumping of toxic wastes in an African country. Brisco told the House of Commons in Ottawa recently that he is opposed to Italy's recent dumping of more than 100,000 tonnes of toxic wastes in Nigeria. “Mr. Speaker, recently more than 100,000 tonnes of hot, stinking toxic waste from Italy were dumped in Nigeria in containers which were so hot that workers wearing rubber gloves burnt their hands when trying to handle them,” he said last week. “Canada must lead the way in bringing a halt to this practice of the poorer countries of Africa being pre- pared to receive the pollutants of other nations on the basis of cash return. The returns in terms of health are going to be horrendous.” Brisco said Nigeria sponsored a resolution against such action, but still receives pollutants from the U.S. and Europe. For Your Convenience We're OPEN MONDAY WIN TICKETS qT ribers names are listed below. it name . you're the winner of a Provincial ticket for deaws ter the san five Fridays! To pick up your FREE ets, drop into the News 1 or Wednesday until § Ba. ot phone 1065-7266 by 5 p.m. Wednesday to cloim, CASTLEGAR Find your name 365-7145 365-2955 365-2155 365-3666 365-3311 365-2175 365-7252 DEPARTMENT STORES atic Gy 365-3255 365-7782 310 Columbie Ave. ORE 1207-3¢d $¢ DRUG STORES 1128-3ed 8 CASTLEGAR NEWS 197 Columbia Ave in PRT 421 Columbie Ave. NELSON MAGLIO CENTRE 29 Government Rd 352-6661 RESTAURANTS BOSTON PIZZA Calgary Stampede: whaddda way t’go! Come, join us for our summertime fun and games. The city wide western whoop-up that'll have you dancing in the streets. The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede. Ten days of made-in-Calgary mayhem sure to add a kick to your trip. You saw us on TV... Now experience a Calgary celebration in living colour! Take in the half-million-dollar rodeo, world championship ch races, and a glittery outdoor stage ular. 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