yeeletative Library.

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Wietoria, B. Cc.
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nid weeks € red
7; lows 2. ‘Saturday's high ue 14
broke the record of 5 set in 1921.

Published at “The Crossroads of the Kootenays” _
CASTLEGAR NEWS, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY,,OECEMBER 28, 1980

VOL. 33 NO. 70 » 35 Cents

=

Freak weather

2 Sections (A &B)’

Weather proves
boon to hotels.

EDMONTON: (CP) " Saturday, Travellers strand-

Rain. turned to snow at

“higher elevations in Banff
and Jasper National Parks on
Saturday, making skiers hap-
py but leaving motorists
wondering when they would
be able to cross the border
from Alberta into British
Columbia.

The Trans-Canada and
Yellowhead Highways were
closed because of heavy icing
Friday, and remained closed

._Carter
“snaps
collarbone

WASHINGON (AP) —
President Carter broke his
left collarbone Saturday
when: he’ fell while cross-
country skiing down a slope
near the presidential retreat
at Camp David, Md.

White House spokesman
Rex Granum said Carter was
flown by helicopter to the

. Bethesda Naval Hospital out- -

side ‘Washington where
x-rays showed he had frac-
tured the clavicle near where
it connects to the breastbone.

“The president was ski-
ing down a slope when one of
the skis caught on a reck and
he fell on his elbow, left
elbow and shoulder,”

+ num said.
He said Carter 56, was

placed in a harness to keep.
his ‘shotilders’ “iimimiobilizea* *

and will have to wear it for
six ‘to eight weeks. Carter
does not plan to curtail his
activities and will go to New
Orleans as expected for the
Sugar Bowl.

B of M lowers
rates on loans
and mortgages

TORONTO (CP) — The
Bank of Montreal says it is
reducing t the interest’ on new
one- to fi

Gra--

ed in the mountain: national
parks scrambled for hotel
space. ~
Highway 8 across the
Crowsnest Pass, the only «
other road into the southern
half of B.C., was’closed for
several hours Friday.
The temperatire in
southwestern Alberta climb-
ed too high for persistent
icing. An RCMP’ spokesman
at Blairmore, Alta., said.Sat-
urday the highway was open
and would likely remain so
despite wind gusts strong
enough to réck parked cars.
“It’s just raining down
here. Last night, seven above
was the lowest it went.”
However, Banff RCMP
were advising motorists driv-
ing to the West Coast: to
avoid Highway 8 ‘because of
flooding in the.B.C. interior.
The nearest, open highway
was Interstate 90 through ‘|
Montana and Washington.
ESCAPE NOT EASY
At Jasper, there was lit-
tle prospect of easy escape.
Highways 16 to British Col-
umbia and 98 through Lake
Louise to Radium Hot
Springs, remained closed
Saturday. Highway 16 east to
Edmonton was open Satur-
day but described as treach-
erous, eee :
RCMP said the highway
to Edmonton might be closed
again if ice built up.
At least 20 cars and two
buses slid off Highway 16 be-
tween Edmonton and Jasper

AMBER DAWN COX bacaiva the best Hospital, weighed in at-seven pounds,

Christmas gift ‘her parents, Heather and

seven ounces, Her parents moved to

William, received. when she made her. Robson from Ontario six months ago and

appearance at.2:27.a.m.,
ber, who was. delivered
Perrier at: Castlegar

Dec,’25. Am-
by Dr. RV.
and ;District-:.*

her father works at %Cominco.

cause flooding

‘VANCOUVER (cP) mits

Freak weather has turned
the Christmas holiday into a
nightmare for thousands in
British Columbia as wash-

|. outs, mudslides, freezing rain

and threats of avalanches
closed all major highways
and rail lines into the prov-

- way and the CP Rail mainline
through the Fraser Canyon
was closed early Friday by a
washout 16 kilometres north-
east of Hope. Also severed
was the Canadian National
Railways mainline at Hope
after a river trestle was
weakened.

if MUDSLIDES

and

d with

closed the h Trans-

melting snow from
ably high temperatures dras-
tically raised river levels in
many southern areas of the
mainland, with Squamish,
Princeton and Hope the main
danger spots. :

Rain also forced closure
of highways on Vancouver
Island, while in the north, ice
and snow combined to stall
travel, 3

. At least $8 million to $4
million damage has bee done
to highways, with damage
reports still coming in, High-
ways Minister Alex Fraser
said Saturday.

Two helicopters and a
hovercraft were evacuating

é . d

Canada — the Hope-Prince-
ton highway — about the
same time.

Highway department
crews said the Trans-Canada
will be closed for at least two
more days because of the
large. washout near Yale.
RCMP said the- Hope-Prince-
ton will be closed near Yale.

Highway department
crew said the
will be closed for at Teast t two
more days because of the
large washout near Yale.
RCMP said the Hope-Prince-
ton will be closed until a
bridge, washed out 11 kilo-
metres east of Hope, can be-

of Sqi ant
Brackendale, two commun-
ities about 50 kilometres
north’ of Vancouver.
More than 600 people

“were evacuated from low-

lying homes in the area
Saturday and were. being
housed in schools at higher

PILING SANDBAGS
at Princeton

were at ree the best of their
lot. : 3
“Most of them are out .
skiing,” Leslie McKenney, a
clerk at Lobstick Lodge, said
by telephone from Jasper.
“They're taking advan-

tage of the goqd conditions. ,,

They got 18 centimetres of
new snow this morning.”
Mary Heaney, a clerk at

* the Mt. Royal Hotal in Banff,

said it was raining Saturday,
although the rain was turn-
ing to snow at higher ele-
vations where the ski slopes
are located.

“A lot of “people have

to 15.5 per cent from 15.75
per cent, effective Jan. 1.
It also announced a one-
percentage-point eut in in-
terest charges on all personal

loans made January under its ~

consumer loan plan, as well
as dropping interest on mort-
gages renewed in January to
14.75 per cent from 15.75 per
cent.

been ded here because
of the highways going out.
Everyone's keeping their fin-

gers crossed. Going to BC.

there’s no way.”

CLOSE HIGHWAY 1

RCMP at Banff said”
Highway 1 was closed west of
Lake Louisé because of gen-
eral driving conditions and
because of snowslides around
Golden.

Soldiers of Islam
suicide raids on Iraqis

‘ ‘BEIRUT (AP) — Iran
sald its “soldiers of Islam”
launched suicide raids on
Traqu positions at the be-
sieged oil refining city . of
Abadan on Saturday and en-

gaged. the invaders in hand- *

to-hand combat.

And Iraq said grenade-
throwing infantrymen: ad-

-vancing under a protective

barrage from tanks attacked
Iranian defenders on the
eastern and northern ap-
proaches to Abadon and its
helicopter gunships raided
the. refinery complex again,
setting new fires,

Neither side. gave any.
casualty figures for the ac-
tion at Abadan, a port city on
the strategic Shatt al-Arab
estuary. It has been under

Western separatism given
boost by new prosperity

OTTAWA (CP) —
, found prosperity has given

New-

strength to the separatist
movement in Western Can-
ada, says Stan Roberts, pres-
ident of the Canadian Cham-
ber of Commerce and former
president of the Canada West
Foundation.

The prosperity added to

western separatism, All of a
sudden there were people
who were active ‘business-
men, leaders in the busines
community who were iden-
tifying themselves as separ-
atists.”

Roberts, who said he is a
federalist, said there is a
potential flashpoint for west-

60-year-old gr makes
the threat of a western split
potentially serious, said Rob-
erts in an interview taped by
Standard Broadcast News for
broadcast Saturday.
“Western Canadians
have often felt like leaving
Canada,” Roberts said. “But

they never were able to!

afford to do it. The threat
now is real because Western
Canadians in all recent polls
have indicated that they felt
they would be more prosper-

n

“{ think it's sitting in
front of us all right now, if
indeed Mr. Trudeau proceeds
to patriate the constitution
with those amendments at-

‘tached to it.”

Roberts cited the
amending formula and prop-
osed entrenched bill of rights
in particular. He said the
charter is viewed in the West
as a method that could be
‘used in future to take natural

. Tesources from westerners.
OA

body who inter-

Roberts said the recent
federal budget and its energy
proposals had caused new
leaders to:emerge for. west-
ern separatism.

“Not.. political leaders,
but business leaders. All of a
sudden’ there..was a lot of
money in the program of

prets and studies the charter
of rights and who studies the
specific proposal that's asso-
ciated with equality and
‘equalization payments across
Canada can see that built
right into those statements is
something that a judge or a
Supreme Court could read as
a method of taking from the

provinces certain rights that
they hold now.”
The Canada West Foun-

‘dation is a non-profit organ-

ization that researches issues
of concern to Western Can-
ada. It is funded by the
governments of the four
western provinces, the two
northern territories and pri-
vate grants and donations.
In his new role with the
Chamber of Commerce, Rob-
erts said he would urge the
government to back off in
some areas of the proposed
new national energy policy,

particularly those programs .

siege since the first weeks of
the .war, now in its third
month.

Both countries reported

Government.
considering
increasing seats

VICTORIA (CP),— An
increase in the number of
seats in the legislature is
being considered by the pro-
vineial government. *

Premier Bill Bennett
says an ideal time to increase
the number of seats in the
57-member house would be
following next year’s prov:
ince-wide census.

The last increase’ took
place in 1978 based on rec-
ommendations in an interim
report on electoral reform by
Lawrence Eckardt, a former
"judge and former Social
Credit candidate, which led
to the elimination of two
ridings held by. tie NDP and
ereation of four new. seats.
There were 55 seats at the’
time. :
Eckardt was ordered to
limit any increase in the
number of seats to six be-
cause there is no space in the
legislature.

An earlier royal: commis-
sion, set up by the then NDP
government and headed by
former justice T.G. Norris,
recommended an increase of
seven seats to 62. F

“A major census only
comes once every 10 years
and we have some obvious
anomolies in representation

Bennett said in an

aimed at “Canadianization” of i

the oil industry.

. Inreferring to foreign oil
firms Roberts said: “I'm a
nationalist. But we need
those. and we need

He said Richmond, Del-
ta, Kamloops, South Okana-
gan and some northern rid-
ings are areas not properly
because of the

their expertise and we need
their rigs working in Canada
and exploring if we're going
to reach the kind of self-
sufficiency that we're talking
about.”.

. As for high interest
rates, Roberts said the Can-
adian dollar would “just dis-
appear in value if we didn't
increase interest rates as the
Americans did.”

population growth. All seats
he named currently are held
by the Social Credit party
which Bennett heads.

Health Minister Rafe
Mair has suggested the num-
ber of legislative seats be
increased to 70 or 80. Mair
also said he may not run in
the next provincial election
unless his Kamloops riding is
split up.

launch”

air and sea assaults and Iran
said its paratroopers were
fighting in northwestern
Kurdistan province, where
Iraq started a’ new invasion
last week.

Fighting was ‘epottea at
the Iranian highway town of
Susangerd, in the central
front, along with the Abadan
assaults at the southern tip of
the 880-kilometre -battle
lines. There’ was no inde-

vmeuny--,. WEPC piling, aindbags along —
river banks Saturday as the

Tulameen River began torise
again.’
Princeton Mayor Sandra

Hansen said emergency .

crews also were checking the
Similkameen River because
of an ‘ice-log jam upstream
‘from the community.

Emergency officials at
Hope said residents evacu-
ated Friday because of flood
danger were returning home
late Saturddy. -

About 60 residents of ai
expensive -new subdivision
were evacuated when RCMP
and emergency personnel
feared that collapse of a
logjam in the - flood-swollen
Coquihalla River would re-

pendent of the
claims.

Saudi’ Arabia reported

all 42 Islamic nations invited
to attend a summit meeting
Jan. 24,in Mecca, including

. Iran and Iraq, had agreed to

be present.

lease an eight-metre-high
wall of water on to the
community.

But police said later that -

water was making its way
around the jam, diminishing
the threat.

The Trans-Canada High-

Highway’ 16 — the Yel-
lowhead” from Prince
George to Jasper was closed
because of freezing rain,
while the Rogers Pass was
closed between Golden and
Field because of freezing

Highways oT and 16

~north, of Prince George, in
-almost the geographical cen-

tre of B.C., were open, but
visibility was reduced and
driving hazardous because of
blizzard conditions,

Hotels in Hope and
Princeton ‘were quickly
booked solid Friday, with
some stranded travellers be-
ing given shelter in private
homes. Buses crammed with
holiday travellers sat in Hope
until mid-afternoon, then re-
turned to Vancouver.

SCHOOLS USED
Many of those waiting in
Princeton were put up in

, Schools, but those were filled

by noon Saturday, an RCMP
spokesman said.

He said that anyone who
must travel from the Interior
to Vancouver should go to
Ellensburg, Wash., south of
Penticton, then drive west
through Washington State to
Seattle, then north to Van-
couver.

Highways crews were
working to reopen the Island
Highway between Qualicum
Beach and Courtenay - on
Vancouver Island, closed Fri-
day because of washouts,

The fishing villages of
Tofino and Ucluelet on the
west coast of the island were
cut off. from Port Albernie
along Highway 4.

Chilly. temperatures
set some records

By THE CANADIAN
PRESS

While temperatures
reached record highs at Van-
couver and St.’ John's, Nfld.,
on Christmas Day most com-
munities between them suf-
fered. through seasonably
cold. weather, much of it
breaking previous records.

It was the coldest Yule-
tide on record in Montreal
and Toronto.

And in Ontario and the
Atlantic Provinces, Christ-
mas Day brought bitter cold

temperatures with a -42.

reading in Bancroft, north-
east of. Peterborough, and
previous records set in 1872
broken with a -25 in Char-
lottetown and -28 in Saint
John, -N.B.

A weather office spokes-
man in Winnipeg said it was

cold across the Prairies
Christmas Day, a few de-
grees below seasonal norms.
* From indoors in Mon-
treal it looked like a picture-
perfect Christmas, freshly
fallen snow sparkling in the
sun, But at dawn it was -82
and only -27 at mid-after-
noon, breaking the previous:
mark of -26 set in 1968,

It was -27 in Toronto,
surpassing the coldest pre-
vious temperature of -21 re-
corded in 1968.

Meanwhile, in Vancou-
ver it was 14, surpassing the
previous record of 11 on

“Christmas Day in 1957. Rain

fell for much of the day.

, And in St. John’s, the
mercury reached 12 degrees,
five degrees higher than the
previous record set in 1966.

Trudeau says Canada
assert itself as a nation.

OTTAWA (CP) — Prime
Minister Trudeau; who says
he still plans to retire before
the next general election,
denies that his plans for. con-
stitutional reform are tied to
his i

“I feel that at some point
you have to tell Canadians:
‘Would you please make up
your mind? Do you want to
be Canadians first and Que-
becers and Albertans and

second, or do you

Trudeau, agreeing with
an interviewer's suggestion
that he had engaged the
public's interest in consti-
tutional matters as never be-
fore, said the deadlines he
imposed had generated that
public interest.

“I think nobody has
demonstrated that if we
waited another, two, five, 20
or 80 years 11 politicians (the
prime minister and 10 pre-
miers) would suddenly be-
come more perfect and more

-altruistic than they have

been for the past 53. There-
fore we had to use another
method.”

In an_ interview ‘with
Bruce Phillips taped for
broadcast today on the CTV
program W65, Trudeau said
that at some point in the life
of the country it must be
challenged “to assert, itself as
a nation and that is what
really I'm doing.”

really think that you are
Quebecers and British Col-
umbians and Manitobans and
then if you have moeny left
over you will also belong to
Canada?’ -
‘MUST DECIDE’ ©

“I'm telling you that my
analysis of the country is that
it has to be asked to make up
its mind,” said Trudeau, who
had originally hoped a new
constitution could be ready
for Canada by July 1, 1981.

Trudeau defended his
plan to include an amending
formula and a charter of
rights in the constitution be-
fore the British North Amer-
ica Act is patriated from the
British House of Commons.

“If Canadians say we'll
break this country up be-
cause some guy, some dicta-
tor up in Ottawa has given us
our own constitution, a
method of amending it and a
bill of rights, then I'd have to

“point out that this particular
resolution is not only sup-
ported by the Liberal party
but supported by the New
Democratic Party, it's sup-
ported by Premier (Bill)
Davis (of Ontario), it's sup-
ported by Premier (Richard)
Hatfield (of New Bruns-
wick).”

Of western separatism,
Trudeau said it is not a
passing ph The

we want more money from
that resource and we've said
that Alberta gets 45 and the
industry gets 45 and we get
only 10, and we think that is
not enough when we consider
that the money is coming
from the consumers of Can-
ada.”

Trudeau said the solu-
tion to the deadlock is more
negotiation and the federal

J to

problem has historical roots,
he said, “so I don’t think we
should lose our nerve and say
that the country is going
down the drain because we
hear provincial politicians
criticizing what the national
government is doing.”

He ‘denied ever having
confided to Joe Clark that he
had entered politics to ensure
Quebec stayed in Confed-
eration and that it would be
someone else's job to do the
same thing for the West.

Admitting there is a
deadlock between Ottawa
and Alberta over the de-
velopment of the oil sands,
Trudeau ascribed it to “a
clear conflict of interest. Al-
berta wants more money and

g Prep.
talk to Alberta again.

As for the higher energy
prices demanded by Alberta,
Trudeau said his government
is weighing the demands by
Premier Peter Lougheed
against the interests of Can-
adian consumers.

“There are lot of con-
sumers even in Alberta who
are benefitting from our
lower prices. The money isn't
going into the . (Alberta)
heritage fund but it’s staying
in the pockets of the farmer
and the truck driver and the
taxi driver and the house-

wife.

‘Lougheed has
Ottawa to accept a price for
oil that would be close to the
world level.

Sipeieienceeiineen et itaee Seed