a2 Castlegar News May 27, 1990 LOCAL/PROVINCIAL NEWS LOCAL/PROVINCIAL NEWS Ne Nec se rtm Legalese is history VICTORIA (CP) — British Columbia's legal documents will soon be written in plain English thanks to a new provincial progr Attorney General Bud Smith an- nounced funding of $1.5 million for a Plain Language Institute to ‘‘oversee the introduction of simple and clear language into legal documents used by government and the business community.”’ The program, which will be spread over three years, will be financed join- tly by the government and the Law Foundation. The changing of government documents from legal jargon into a Jury reports in truck trage jy inquest Among other recommendations: © The B.C. government should request its Alberta to enforce hi © British Columbia should adopt and enforce the ‘ion with the National Safety Code and amend the commercial vehicle ion program rule book to state that all backing must be removed for a better visual inspection of TAKING SHAPE The jury recommended the exit, a main arterial to the city, be closed suggested an alternative exit design. The Highways Ministry added and simplified signs direc- ting traffic past the exit after the accident. The “This is really just a starting point, they're only \recommendations,"’ said James, who helped organize a truck drivers safety committee after the accident. “Now someone has to take the recommendations and make sure the ministries do something with them."” The jury heard that a truck with misadjusted and ex- cessively worn brakes sped out-of-control along a city street before hurtling down the hill. The inquest was told that truck driver Travis Penner of Red Deer, Alta., was inexperienced and it was his first trip through British Columbia. Some people believe he exited Yhe Trans-Canada Highway by mistake at a confusing interchange onto Columbia Street. KAMLOOPS (CP) — British Columbia has to get tough on truck maintenance and to help train drivers if it hopes to avoid accidents such as the one that killed five people here last fall, a coroner’s jury said. The jury returned 13 recommendations after deliberating for more than five hours at the end of a seven-day inquest into the Oct. 27 accident. A tractor-trailer loaded with steel beams ran out of control down the city’s Columbia Street hill, ploughing into 13 cars before bursting into flames. The truck’s driver and four others died in the crash and 15 other people were hurt. Don James, whose four-year-old son was killed in the accident, said now the real work begins. BRIEFLY From Wire Service © Review and upgrade the standard manual for way signage in Canada to allow for better signs in lem areas such as the Columbia Street interchang brakes should be fined $500 per axle, the In addition, more commercial vehicle inspectors should be hired to catch rigs in poor condition. © Install brake inspection pits to improve inspections by drivers and inspectors. Harcourt accused of fence sitting VICTORIA — NDP Leader Mike Harcourt is getting splinters from fence-sitting, says Premier Bill Vander Zalm. Vander Zalm made the remark in the legislature as New Democrats tried to get him to on the prop federal abortion law. “I undoubtedly will be criticized (in an election campaign) for too much leadership and the leader of the Opposition will be criticized for no leadership,’’ Vander Zalm said, skating around the abortion issue. “The fence is getting so uncomfortable that he’s never in the Hosue anymore. He’s getting splinters from his fence-sitting and he’s probably consulting his doctor.”” Vander Zalm, a Roman Catholic, is opposed to abortion. He refused to answer Opposition questions about whether he believed abortion should be a Criminal Code matter. He said there must not be any urgent provincial concerns if the NDP were asking about federal matters. The abortion bill goes to a vote in the Commons Tuesday. The law would amend the Criminal Code to prohibit abortion except when a doctor determines the mother’s life or physical, mental or psychological health is threatened. Couvelier crunching numbers VICTORIA — Finance Minister Mel Couvelier has accused Opposition Leader Mike Harcourt of misleading the public about how provincial tax will be calculated when the federal goods and services tax- comes in next year. He was responding to a question in the legislature from a member of his party who said he read a Vancouver Island newspaper column written by Harcourt who said the six per cent B.C. tax will piggyback the GST. 's disturbing me because it’s clearly not true,’’ Couvelier said. “I find it most unfortunate and irresponsible that a duly elected person should be travelling the province at public expense, deliberately misleading the public he is alleged to be serving.’’ Couvelier has said in the past the province plans to calculate its tax on cost of the good or service only and not after the GST is added. Harcourt was visiting various areas of the province and not in the legislature this week. The seven per cent goods and services tax is scheduled to begin Jan. Rural homeowners given time VICTORIA — Rural homeowners in British Columbia have an extra few days to pay their property taxes this year. Finance Minister Mel Couvelier said'the deadline will be July 9 because tax notices are being mailed out a week late, on June 7. The delay is to give the ministry more time to put reforms in place as a result of province-wide tax hearings. The deadline extension is only for this year. Couvelier said next year rural taxpayers will have to pay by July 2, the same as all other Property. owners. Nurses back to bargaining VANCOUVER — Negotiators for 2,400 nurses and their employers have returned to the bargaining table in Victoria. ives of the provi! nurses will make’a counter-proposal to the government’ 's May 5 contract offer, said Heather Leighton of the B.C. Nurses’ Union. The nurses have been without a contract since December. They work at public health clinics and government-run institutions throughout the province. Leighton, said wages and job security are the major outstanding issues. The ni have asked for an average raise of $800 a month, which they say wire them parity with nurses at acute care hospitals. «! By CasNews Staff A group of 33 international students — including two refugees from Poland — got a brief lesson in Canadian civic government from Castlegar Mayor Audrey Moore on Friday. The students, who will take English courses at Selkirk College Cestlegar mayer Audrey aoe givesa group of the during: the summer session and stay on for courses in the fall, got a brief explanation of the mayor’s role and the election process from Moore. Selkirk College information of- ficer Joe Lintz said 38 more inter- national students from Japan will arrive in July and host families in 1g Selkirk College a brief lesson in vic visit to city na on Friday. rennin more students from Japan will arrive in Castlegor in July and the college is looking for families to billet the stu: Moore offers quick civics lesson + —CosNews photo house a student for two weeks and to house the students for a month. a second family could take over Lintz said college officials for the remainder of the student's realize the timing conflicts with stay. the vacation schedules of many families and therefore the college is prepared to accept ‘‘shared’’ arrangements for that period. In other words, one family could the Castlegar area are still needed Any family who would like to participate in the Homestay Program should contact the college. plain English was one of the key recommendations of the justice reform commission, which gave its report to the government last year. “British Columbians have a right to understand the laws that govern them,”’ said Smith. ‘‘We need to make sure legal services and legal documents are understandable to everyone.”” He the i of BUD SMITH weekends, so people don’t have to take time off work to deal with things like small claims suits or traffic tickets. But Smith said experiments with the institute during debate on his spending estimates in the legislature. But Smith said another initiative of the commission isn’t doing as well as and evening court sessions in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey and Victoria have shown that “there hasn’t been as big a demand for the services as some had thought theré LOTTERIES The $1,000,000 winning number in Friday’s Provincial lottery draw is 3859034. There are also subsidiary prizes. The winning numbers drawn Friday in the B.C. Keno lottery were 5, 8, 10, 13, 21, 28, 31 and 54. winner of the jackpot of $1,664,446: The four Extra numbers for British Columbia on Wednesday: 11, 13, 15, 17. The winning numbers Wednesday in the B.C, Keno lottery: 2, 11, 20, 37, 38, 45, 49, 56. The winning numbers drawn Thur- sday in the B.C. Keno lottery were 4, 24, 35, 43, 49, 51, 53 and 56. The winning numbers in Wed- nesday’s Lotto 6/49: 3, 4, 13, 25, 29, These numbers provided by The Canadian Press must be considered unofficial Health minister canned VICTORIA (CP) — The provincial deputy health minister was fired last week after the cabinet got a special report on his expenses. Stan Dubas, a top bureaucrat for more than a decade, was dismissed the day after Comptroller General Brian Marson gave the report to Finance Minister Mel Couvelier. Couvelier would say only that Mar- son’s report was based on ‘‘an in- vestigation that has taken many mon- ths to complete.” Sources told the Vancouver Province that Marson’s investigation had focused on Dubas’s travel expen- ditures. According to the 1988-89 public ac- counts, Dubas spent more than $48,000 on travel, almost $20,000 more than any other deputy, and $12,000 more than any cabinet minister. Theatre continued from front page “‘buy-a-seat’’ drive similar to the suc- cessful ‘‘buy-a-brick’’ fundraising ef- fort which raised money for the Aquatic Centre. He noted that other cities the same size or smaller than Castlegar already have community theatres, most established in the local high school. Information the projects society provided to council states a com- munity theatre with a seating capacity of about 300 ‘“‘appears to be a minimum for a city the size of Castlegar.’’ The theatre will be incorporated in- to SHSS as part of the refurbished school. Waste continued from front page dous waste management schemes. The corporation, which has a first- year budget of $2.2 million, will be run by a ministry-appointed board of directors and headed by Alan Carr, a 41. Bonus number: 33. There was no Reward continued from front page FOR THE RECORD wearing silver wire-framed glasses, a blue jacket with a Kawasaki label in- side, dark grey corduroy pants and grey shoes. Credit for the photographs from the USCC’s annual Youth Festival was inadvertantly omitted from last week’s issues of the Castlegar News. The photographs were taken by Cheryl Calderbank of Robson. Anyone with information should contact the Castlegar RCMP or the law firm of Skogstad and Co. in Nelson. ¢ Central Foods Parents Katie and John Derhousoff said last week four searches of the Columbia River as far south as China Bend in Washington have been con- ducted with no results. Searchers in Washington combed the China Bend area for two days with two dogs, the Derhousoffs said As well, the area atound Castlegar has been searched, they said. former deputy en- vironment minister. Elizabeth Cull, NDP urban development critic, claimed credit for the NDP ‘‘embarrassing’’ the gover- nment into action. x But she said the Environment Ministry is only shuffling problems from itself to a corporation and not consulting with residents who may not want treatment facilities in their communities. I don’t see an awful lot new in this,”’ she said. ‘I think it has the real potential to create conflict.’” Fields Overwaitea Premier e e © Shoppers e continued from front pege SuperValu Zellers tons all tyers rece build pressure on the holdouts. yo flye: nd ould like to do In what phone our Cirevletion Depertment ‘ot Ghiz of P.E. 365-7266. - Ni porters, were first to meet Mulroney in an apparent bid to ikely to be Mulroney’s toughest day, Joe » New Brunswick’s Frank McKenna and "s Clyde Wells are due today. Bourassa closes out the session Monday morning, af- ter which Mulroney is expected to announce a first ministers’ conference to settle key differences over Meech Lake’s recognition of Quebec as @ distinct society, federal Provincial vetos over Senate reform and the role of the ‘ic duality across Canada. IN MEMORY Anastasia Bonderoff Anastasia (Nora) M. Bonderoff of Salmo passed away Wednesday, May 16, 1990, in Kootenay Lake District Hospital in Nelson at age 84. Mrs. Bonderoff was born on Oct. 15, 1905, near Verigin Sask., to the family of Misha and Avdotia Poogochoff. The family moved to the Brilliant-Castlegar area in 1913. Anastasia Poogochoff and Wasili Bon- deroff were married in 1923. They moved to Salmo in 1935 where she resided until her death. Anastasia was a member of the Canadian Doukhobor Society. She was very hospitable, she loved to knit and sew and was an ardent gar- dener. Anastasia is survived by her husband Wasili (William); two sons, Nicholas and wife Molly of Castlegar, Philip and wife Vera of Crescent Valley; one daughter, Winnie and husband Mike Planiden of Erickson; 10 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren. Anastasia was predeceased by her parents; one brother, Sam, and two sisters, Mary and Helen. She was loved by all the members of her family and will be dearly missed by all. Funeral services were held in the Salmo Doukhobor Hall on Friday, May 18 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, May 19, from 10 a.m. to noon followed by internment at the Boulder Cemetery. Edward Quintanilha Edwardo Quintanilha of Castlegar passed away Wednesday, May 23, 1990 at age 54. Mr. Quintanilha was born Oct. 13, 1935, at Vila, France do Cam- po, S. Miguel, Azores, Portugal. He came to Canada in 1968 and settled in Penticton for a short while and has lived in Castlegar since 1969. He was employed at Westar Timber. Mr. Quintanilha was a member of St. Rita’s Catholic Church and the Portugese Social Centre. He is survived by his wife, Maria at the family home; two sons, Edward and Gerald of Castlegar; four daughters and sons-in-law, Olga and Carlos Jacinto, Claudina and Lou Cancela, Betty and Neil Smitheram, and Sally and Daryl Bojechko, all of Castlegar; seven gran- dchildren; one brother, Jose Rego Quintanii ind five sisters, Esara, Delphina, Maria, Dulinda and Maria Jose. Funeral services were held Friday and Saturday at St. Rita’s Catholic Church with burial at Park Memorial Cemetery with Fr. Her- man Engberink officiating. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Castlegar Funeral Chapel. Netti Kanigan Netti Kanigan (Masloff) passed away May 16, 1990, at Saskatoon University Hospital at age 57. She was born Dec. 3, 1932. Mrs. Kanigan is survived by her husband Mike Kanigan; mother Nellie Masloff; brother Bill Masloff; and sisters and brothers-in-law Vera and Ed Pruss and Jane and Leo McDonald. She was predeceased by her father William Masloff in 1982. expected. The commission proposed having courts sit in the evenings and on would be.’* later this year. The pilot projects will be evaliated project Colanie Avenue. ‘The ‘$6 million project will provide an extended-care beds as well as a new dietary department to serve ‘oe hospital. to take shape eset the intersection of 10th Street and beds and 25 CosNews photo NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFLY From Wire Service Yeltsin loses MOSCOW — Boris Yeltsin failed to republic. Asa result, a fresh list of presidential nominations must be submitted to the Russian congress, or parliament, and it was uncertain whether Yeltsin would be on the list. Yeltsin is considered one of Mikhail Gorbachev’s main rivals, and and Communist party leader. The radical reformist won 503 votes, 28 short of the necessary majority of the 1,060-member congress. His main rival for the Russian , hardline C party i y Ivan Polozkov, received 458 votes. Soviet PM issues appeal consumers to stop their panic buying of food, triggered by his announcement of plans for sharp price increases, and urged legislators to quickly approve economic reforms. fe) deputies in “*T am appealing for restraint and calm,’’ said the haggard looking Ryzhkov, his voice ragged from fatigue. “*Fension is growing. We're getting a lot of telegrams expressing concern: ‘How are we going to live?’ '’ he told the Supreme Soviet parliament that must approve his economic plan. Ryzhkov’s plan proposed tripling the price of bread and other flour-based products on July | and increasing the prices of most other consumer goods in January. Independence natural WEST BERLIN — Lithuania’s premier said her rebel Baltic republic could be independent in two years and that attempts to stop that process could cost Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev his job. Kazimiera Prunskiene said the independence movement in the Baltic states and events in the Soviet Union are natural processes that cannot be stopped. in a runoff election Saturday for the presidency of the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union’s largest his failure to win the runoff was a major victory for the Soviet president MOSCOW — A beleaguered Soviet prime minister has appealed to ano- vote aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov’s government. Gorbachev, appeared to rule out special measures to speed up ignty, saying the Pl for a period of no less than five years. Asked about this, Prunskiene said, ‘‘I believe it is also possible to achieve (independence) in up to two years.”” Rebels break off talks MANAGUA — Contra rebels broke off disarmament talks, accusing the Sandinista-dominated army of killing 14 disarmed guerrillas and 100 civilians in northern Nicaragua. The conservative government of President leta Chamorro, which succeeded the leftwing Sandinista administration a month ago but left Sandinistas in charge of the military, promised to look into the report. a communique initially charging that five disarmed Contras were killed and nine others were missing after a May 18 army massacre near Waslala in Matagalpa province, 250 kilometre northeast of Managua. Defence Ministry spokesman Carlos Lara called the charges “totally false.’” Reading encouraged CINCINNATI — A television station broadcast a half-hour of silence to encourage families to read. Viewers who tuned to Cincinnati television station WLWT at 7 p.m. Friday for the syndicated program Inside Edition instead saw this message: Please take this time to read. There was no sound. The program was called Read Every Day System, or REDS, and preceded the telecast of a baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Montreal Expos. It was part of an educational project by the station that has included half-hour prime-time specials and public service said the station plans similar telecasts in the future. “*They probably won't be half-hours, but they will be projects designed to get children to read,"* Abromatz said. Contra commander Oscar Sobalvarro and other rebel leaders issued announcements on education, station manager Cliff Abromate said. He Serial killings suspecte SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — In scenes grimly reminiscent of the beginnings of the largest unsolved serial killings in the United States, police in Washington state are again investigating the deaths of prostitutes whose bodies were dumped near a river. But investigators say that while there are similarities between three recent slayings and the unsolved Green _River killings some 500 kilometres to the west, they do not believe the crimes are linked. “It’s reckless to say there is no possibility’’ of a link, said Capt. T. Michael Nault, head of the King County police major investigations unit» that includes the Green River task force. But the differences between the two make such a link remote, he said. The Green River serial killer is blamed in the deaths and disap- pearances of as many as 49 women — many of them prostitutes — in the Pacific Northwest between mid-1982 Finta fou TORONTO (CP) — To an out- sider, the image of Imre Finta as a ruthless officer ordering the torture of helpless people doesn’t seem to fit At 77, he looks like a gentle gran- dfather. Whichever way the picture is viewed, the passage of 46 years has blurred its clarity. Finta was acquitted Friday by an Ontario Supreme Court jury of bar- baric treatment of Jews in his native Hungary during the Second World War. He's the first person tried under Canada’s 1987 law on war crimes and crimes against humanity Bent and ailing, Finta is an unlikely shadow of the dapper paramilitary police captain the prosecution said he Spokane police search for women’s murderer and early 1984. “The Northwest is a particularly at- tractive area for a serial killer to traverse,’’ Nault said. ‘‘That is primarly because of the region’s per- ceived remoteness, its lesser per capita law enforcement, and even its reputation for a more laidback law enforcement.”” Police are investigating eight such “‘serial phenomeria’’ on the West Coast, including the slayings of 42 women in the San Diego area, Nault said. Citing FBI statistics and experts on serial crimes, Spokane police chief Terry Mangan said as many as 50 serial killers may be at work at any time in the United States Police said the three women whose bodies were found on the banks of the Spokane River had links to Prostitution in the East Sprague commercial district just east of down- town Spokane. All three women were-shot several times with a small-calibre weapon before their naked or ‘semi-nude bodies were dumped, police said. Mangan was chief of police in Bellingham, Wash., when its in- vestigation into a double homicide helped break Southern California’s Hillside Strangler case. He said it is possible that there may be additional victims whose bodies have not been found. The Spokane investigation is run by a sergeant and four full-time detec- tives, said Lieut. Jim Hill, head of the Spokane police major crimes unit That is the same size as the current nd not guilty was in Nazi-occupied Hungary in 1944, He was charged with confinement, kidnapping, robbery and man- slaughter in the deportation of 8,617 Jews from the Hungarian village of Szeged. The victims were herded off in cattle boxcars to slave camps in other Nazi-occupied countries. Could that man be the same kindly host who wined and dined celebrities at his Toronto restaurant? His accusers said his past included chilling tales of their loved ones suf- fering under his hand: the screams of the mentally handicapped in cap- tivity, the filth and stench of the crowded boxcars, and the deaths of the elderly and sick. Before boarding the train, wit- nesses said, a woman gave birth to her child in a muddy brickyard while of- ficers jeered her. Families were separated. Some committed suicide. Finta, who became a Canadian citizen after the war, had his first brush with the Canadian courts in 1983 when the CTV program WS named him as the leader of the Hungarian police unit that deported Jews to concentration camps. He sued the television network, and he and CTV both sent lawyers to Israel, Hungary and Austria to gather videotaped evidence from witnesses, for use during the civil trial. But in 1986, Finta withdrew his court action on the advice of doctors, saying his health was so poor a lengthy trial would endanger his life. Tactics provoke spat OTTAWA (CP) — A failed effort to scuttle the government's abortion bill provoked a spat in the Commons as Conservative and Liberal MPs ac- cused New Democrats of not playing fair. At issue was a procedural move by the NDP late Thursday night aimed at cutting short debate on Bill C-43 and effectively killing it , Government House leader Harvie Andre said the handful of NDP_MPs who engineered the incident had broken an all-party agreement gover- ning debate on the controversial legislation. He won support from Liberal Peter Milliken, who summarized the agreement simply: ‘‘The intention was there be no surprises. The NDP denied the charges, saying the fine print of the deal didn’t rule out the tactics they used. “Our honor is unblemished,” asserted Rod Murphy. Rob. Nichol parl House after the Liberals and Tories decided not to put up any more speakers. The New Democrats moved a quick motion asking unanimous con- secretary to Justice Minister Kim Ca- mpbell, suggested outside the Com- mons that the incident could poison relations between the parties on future House business. “‘If that’s the attitude they want to take, I guess forewarned is forearmed and never trust a socialist,’’ said Nicholson. The confrontation arose Thursday on the final night of debate for the bill, when a half-dozen NDP mem- bers found themselves alone in the sent to the bill. But Conser- vative Andre Plourde, who had been relaxing in the members’ lobby and following debate on television, came racing into the House to shout ‘‘No."” The NDP then claimed no quorum — 20 members — was present. But the Tories rousted members out of of. fices and homes across Ottawa to Produce a quorum in time to keep the bill alive. Dawn Black, the NDP women’s critic, was unrepentant Friday, saying her party is committed to using any trick it can to block the bill. Green River Task Force, which at one time employed 65 investigators and cost more than $12 million US over five years. . “*We were a little better off than the Green River investigation because we had (the slayings) associated with a serial crime’ right away,”’ Hill said. “*We have a computer program that has been in place since the secoad in- cident. It’s a matter of making sure we don’t repeat someone else’s errors.” Police in King County, where many of the Green River victims were found in brushy ‘‘cluster_dumps,’’ were criticized for not recognizing soon * enough that serial crimes were being committed. Spokane investigators began looking into a poésible serial crime af- ter the second body — Nickie Lowe, 34 — was found March 25. By the time the body of the third victim, Kathleen A. Brisbois, 38, was found May 15, police had met with the Spokane County Sheriff's Depar- tment, which contributed a detective to the investigation. Citizen power pondered WINNIPEG (CP) — The federal government will consider the idea of an environmental bill of rights that would give ordinary citizens increased power to fight polluters, Energy Minister Jake Epp promises. Several participants in hearings on the federal green plan recommended some kind of bill of environmental rights, though each suggestion dif- fered on what it should include. “I found it interesting that the recurring theme of an environmental bill of rights comes up,’’ Epp told about 200 people at the first of a cross-country séries of discussions on the green plan. “I'm trying to take seriously that recommendation."’ The green plan discussions will cover 17 cities in the next month — the next stop is Halifax on May 28-29 — and result in the drafting this fall of a five-year federal strategy. The consultation process is expected to cost more than $3 million. Industry representatives, environ- metalists, bureaucrats and politicians who participated in the Winnipeg sessions separated into groups Thur- sday and reported back Friday with their recommendations. Three groups suggested a bill of rights. One said citizens should be em- powered to sue suspected polluters, whether or not they were personally harmed. This was inspired by a lack of trust in government or industry to Protect the environment.