Wednesday, April 8, 1992 THE FAR SIDE By GARY LARSON af the has the. fores' cut, but the mountains are Environmental disasters In a flea’s world Water woes continue Scott David Harrison EDITOR There may be relief in sight for water-weary residents of Meadowbrook and Highland Drives. City council all but rejected a plan Tuesday that would see 15 homeowners pay to have their water pressures boosted to acceptable levels. The plan called for the interested resi- dents to pay for some $2,500 of a $5,500 plan that would ele- vate their water pressures. “I totally disagree with this,” Ald. Bob Pakula said. “I think it is a city concern to pro- vide our citizens with the pres- sure they deserve.” The plan, sent back to com- mittee, would see the city pro- vide homeowners with $3,000 grants to install in-house booster pumps. The estimated cost of neighborhood upgrad- ing is set at $82,000. Elsewhere, Ald. Lawrence Chernoff rejected another pro- posal which would see im- provement to Meadowbrook storm drainage systems de- ferred to the 1993 budget. Chernoff said the city owes it to the eight residents who have street runoff flowing through backyards to make the $28,000 investment to im- prove storm drainage. A decision on both matters will he made in two weeks. | AVOCADOES on your circumstances. 601 18th St. Castlegar 365-3368 Castlegar Savings Credit Union offers competitive rates on Term Deposits. You can invest from 30 days up to 5 years depending CASTLEGAR SAVINGS CREDIT UNION aD 3026 Hwy. 3 Slocan Park 226-7216 Introducing . . . Beverley ’ Zaytsoff . 1" & Zon | HAIR ANNEX SPECIAL SENIORS APPRECIATION DAYS APRIL 29 & 30 50% OFF PERMS & COLOR TREATMENTS ENQUIRE ABOUT EVENING APPOINTMENTS... . 365-3744 at the 365-3744 500 g. pkg. 39 Mexican Grown #1 CREAM OF MUSHROOM 284 mi. 19 Or Outside Round ¢ Canada Grade A Beef ¢ 6.35 kg. 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Mail subscription rate to The News is $40 per year ($44 in communities where Jonathan Green NEWS REPORTER Regional environmentalists. are making their thoughts on logging at Lasca Creek known. Sunday, protesters concerned with the future of Lasca Creek and other area watersheds erected a tepee on the lawn of the government building in Nelson. The tepee was erected to protest a decision made by Forests Minister Dan Miller and Environment Minister John Cashore two weeks ago. That decision deferred logging in the Hasty Creek watershed for 24 months, while at the same time allowed road building in the Lasca Creek drainage area to continue, with timber harvesting to begin in the fall o0f1993. Hasty Creek was pardonned to allow the Stephen Owen-led Commission on Resources and Environment to carry out a second phase of regional land-use lanning. The road building activity at Lasca Creek will continue as the government decided there was no available timber for a log-around. Paul De Felice of the West Arm Wilderness Group said the tepee idea came about following a citizens meeting about government logging decisions with Nelson- Creston MLA Corky Evans March 29. Feeling frustrated after the meeting, De Felice said about 70 people met the next day to discuss ways of letting the NDP ay = HT News photo by Environmentalists set up a tepee on the front lawn of the government building in Nelson Sunday to protest the provincial government's decisions on logging in B.C.’s forests. Lasca protesters promise action government aware of how they felt. “We formed a circle and threw around some ideas,” he said. Although he didn’t want to go into detail, De Felice said the tepee is just the tip of the environmental iceberg. “We're just sort of playing it by ear,” he said. “When the time is right, we’ll do some further actions.” From Victoria Tuesday afternoon, Evans said he wasn’t aware of the protesters. “I haven’t heard from anybody,” he said. Evans said with the condition the B.C. forest industry is in, the protesters shouldn’t have expected to walk away from the meeting with a reversal on the Lasca Creek decision. “It isn’t always possible to give people more and still maintain a balance in society,” he said. Evans admitted the lengthy meeting was anything but a tea party, but didn’t walk in expecting one. “It wasn’t a love-in, I'll tell you that,” he said. “It was three hours of tough sledding.” Last fall, some 600 protesters set up a roadblock on Harrop Road, north of Nelson, to protest logging at Lasca Creek. The blockade resulted in 64 arrests, something De Felice says he would like to see avoided this time. “We’re trying to channel our energy positively,” he said. “We’re trying to get as many like-minded people together as possible.” One of eight forest areas considered contentious by the government, De Felice said his and other environmental groups expected a moratorium on road building and logging at Lasca. When only two of those areas received a ministerial reprieve, De Felice said the decision caught the WAWG off guard. “It was a real shock to find out (Lasca eek) wasn’t pa 0 he mandate,” he said. Miller was unavailable for comment. Cominco defaults on loan? Wi Provincial Finance Minister says $55 million ‘loan’ won’t be repaid by Trail smelter Scott David Harrison EDITOR Glen Clark says Cominco is one of British Columbia’s worst offenders. The Finance Minister said Monday that Cominco is one of three companies that isn’t expected to repay some $152 million in loans and loan guarantees. Cominco is said to owe the government $55 million, while Fibreco Export Co. accounts for $70 million and Cassiar Mines Corp. $27 million. Clark said the $152 million is just part of $300 million the government expects to lose hro n i oans Cha e esents- one- third of the government’s $1 billion in loans and loan guarantees. A Cominco spokesperson said he was surprised by Clark’s comments. Ralph Eastman said Cominco never got a loan from the government so there is nothing to repay. Instead, he said the B.C. government purchased 550,000 preferred shares in Trail’s lead and zinc modernization project in 1986 at $55 million. “I can’t comment on any loan defaults because there are no loan defaults,” Eastman said, admitting Cominco’s Vancouver headquarters have been besieged with calls regarding Clark’s comments. “It wasn’t a loan, it’s an investment in the company.” Eastman said the preferred shares investment covers a 20-year period, 14 of which remain. He said the dividend and redemption formula applied-to profit- sharing is based on the average price of lead and zinc during that 20-year period. Saying “metal prices haven’t exactly been booming,” Eastman said the government, like other shareholders, must be patient. “Like any other investor, there isa -certai government is sharing in that risk.” e Cominco example was just one of several-Clark revealed to show the extent of B.C.’s loan portfolio. It marked the first time a provincial government has compiled and released such information. Clark said some 100,000 companies and individuals have received financial support from B.C. He said most defaults were made through abuses of student loan programs. HEU continues strike actions Glen Freeman NEWS REPORTER _ The Hospital Employees’ Union continues to keep B.C. on its toes. Local HEU chair Jean Weir said workers from the purchasing stores and the processing and dispatch departments were pulled from their duties Tuesday. Housekeeping, processing and dispatch employees are off the job today. The Health Labor’ Relations Association claims HEU actions are harming B.C. residents, but Weir disagreed saying “we’re on strike against the employer, not the patients.” e as been ordere provide essential services, and Weir said that’s what the Castlegar hospital will get. “If full-scale strike action is taken, any family member will be let across the picket line to help their family or make sure they’re getting adequate care. We sure as hell don’t want anyone to get hurt while we’re out,” Weir said. “The HLRA would never let us hear the end of it.”