ESTABLISHED AUG 71947 Lv. Canoe Solong to tne odvartesr 0 730 INCORPORATING THE AAID- WEEK MIRROR PUBLISHED Ser! 12. 1978-AUG. 27. 1¥80 PUBLISHER AUG 7. 1947-FER 15.1979 PUBLISHER — Burt Compbeil EDITOR — Ron Norman PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Harvey op sole coeyrsght non pe TWACE WEEKLY MAY 4 1 printed matter produced by Castle Mews Lid. Spr amon hat port and tht part only of the edvertaer shal 1 Difficult problems The new Castlegar council will face all sorts of problems over the next 12 months, but perhaps none more difficult than the city’s shrinking resource tax base Unless some way can be found to shore up the fast-eroding resource taxes, all municipal ratepayers — commercial in dustrial and in particular residen tial — will be hit with tax in creases. For instance, the city very nearly lost $100,000 in revenue it receives each year from Inland Natural Gas Co. Ltd. when the federal and provincial governments deregulated the natural gas in dustry on Nov. 1. In brief, Inland pays the city three per cent of all the gas it sells within Castlegar; it’s called fran chise fees. Inland was the sole supplier of natural gas prior to deregulation. However, as of Nov. | natural gas producers can sell directly to major industrial users such as Celgar Pulp Co. If that happens, the city will lose the $100,000 it receives from the gas Inland sells to Celgar. That didn't happen this year because Celgar decided to con- tinue to buy its gas from Inland But there's nothing to say it won't happen next year or the year after In another case, the provincial government has decided to eliminate the equipment and machinery tax. Hardest hit by this move, which is slated to take ef- fect in 1987, will be recreation funding Ald. Nick Oglow explained to council this week that while the regional recreation budget will in- crease just one per cent in 1987, taxes will jump by 4.3 per cent. The major reason for the tax hike is the removal of the and Remember en? 35 YEARS AGO From the Nov. 8, 1951 Castlegar News Basketball officially came into its own here in Castlegar on Friday evening when some 300 fans thrilled to the antics of the Iowa Ghosts in the Stanley Humphries high school gym: The Ghosts defeated the Trail Castlegar All-Stars 42-35. The All Stars came up with many fine plays in the game but it was Rennie Mitchell who was the star for the locals as he compiled a total of 12 points. ._ °« * At a. special meeting held last Tuesday evening in the commission office it was decided to build a six-foot wide sidewalk from Pine Street to the highway bridge and a further section from Rigby's Store to Ozeroff's. ° A snow blower for the Castlegar Airport arrived this week and will be operated under the direction of the machinery tax The solution seems to be to have other taxpayers pay more, cut ser- vices or a combination of the two. So fer council has tried to avoid any of those and has instead joined the Regional District of Central Letters to the Editor Kootenay in to the provincial government for help. But should Victoria turn a deat ear and the resource tax base con- tinue to shrink our new council will have to make some tough choices between higher taxes or reduced services Please address all Letters to the Editor to: The Castlegar News, P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4, or deliver them to our office at 197. Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, B.C Letters must be signed and in. clude the writer's full name and address. Only in very exceptional cases will letters be published without the writer's name. Never theless, the name and address of the writer must be disclosed to the editor Norman News out of Toronto last week seems to confirm what many around here had suspected: That B.C. Resources Investment Corp. all but gave away its Prince Rupert and Castlegar pulp mills when it sold them earlier this year The Ontario company that pur chased Westar Timber's Skeena pulp mill in June for’ $8 million (along with Westar'’s Terrace saw mill for which it paid about $30 million) has been told the mill now is worth nearly three times that much. Repap Enterprises Inc. has writ ten up the pulp mill and associated woodlands operations by $126 mil lion to $199 million. The increase in the mill's value is based on an appraisal by a Vancouver consulting firm. Not a bad deal, Where else can you get almost a 300 per cent return on your investment in less than five months? Not even Jimmy Pattison does that well. I'd say somebody at BCRIC got slickered by the boys from back prices rising, the Celgar mill will pay for itself in no time. But why would BCRIC dump its pulp mills, especially the Celgar mill which was one of the few com ponents in its forest products division that was making money? The answer is simple. Like other debt-plagued resource companies (Cominco, to name one) BCRIC embarked on a series of asset sales to cut its debt. And it's tougher to sell things that don't make money than things that do. . . . If you were curious as to why you haven't heard Rossland-Trail MLA Chris D'Arcy’s name mentioned in news reports about the B.C. Util ities Commission hearings into the sale of West Kootenay Power, it's not because the media has ignored him It’s because D'Arcy hasn't made a submission to the commission. Shocked? So am I, not to mention appalled. Not Bond is D'Arcy the east. And Repap must be all the way to the bank over the Skeena deal. Not only did it get a bargain on the mill, but the recent increase in pulp prices has allowed it to reopen the B mill that had been closed since March, 1985 due to poor markets. And though there hasn't been any word yet about the Celgar pulp mill, you don’t have to be John Kenneth Galbraith to figure out that it too was sold well below its true value Celgar sold for $95 million about $25 million more than the Skeena mill. And unlike the Prince Rupert deal, the Celgar sale did not include any woodlands operations But before you think that BCRIC cut a better deal with the Chinese and Paul Desmarais's Power Corp remember that the Celgar mill also had a lot more going for it — like profits. It was well known that Celgar carried Westar's pulp di vision for years. In fact, one of the biggest sore points around here was that profits from Celgar went to improve the Prince Rupert mill at a time when Celgar itself could have used some upgrading. Now, some in the community think that with pulp provincial ive for the riding soit ” affected by West Kootenay Power's sale, he’s also the New Democrat energy critic. If anyone should have made an appearance before the commission in Trail’s Crown Point Hotel, surely it should have been him Contacted at his home in Castle gar last week during the hearings in Trail, D'Arcy told a CasNews re porter he planned to make a sub mission. However, he said he wanted to wait until the agenda wasn't so crowded He never did get into Trail. Yet, as far as I know, he was in the riding. It's conceivable D'Arcy may have mailed his submission to the com mission (I tried to contact him Friday and Saturday but he was un. available). But that’s not good enough. He needs to show people here that he cares about the issues enough to present his arguments in person I would have thought he'd sit in on the hearings all week. The sale is one of the biggest issues to hit this area in years. D'Arcy by his actions obviously feels differently Bill will hike prices This letter is an urgent’ appeal for help to the people of Kootenay West — at least to all of us who care enough about preventing exhorbitant in creases in the price of prescription drugs. At the time of this writing, New Democrat MPs in Ottawa are staging a filibuster in the House of Commons, trying to prevent the huge Conserva tive majority in Parliament from intro ducing and ramming through a bill guaranteeing multinational drug corp- orations a seven- to 17-year period of exclusive rights for all new drugs after he bill becomes law Such a law would place Canadians in he same unenviable situation as con. sumers in the United States who have had 10 pay through the nose via their drug bills because of similar exclusive rights granted to big drug manu faciurers by American law Prescription drug prices im Canada are now among the lowest compared to other industrialized nations. But this has not always been the case. Prior to he introduction of legislation in 1969 licensing generic drug manufacturers to market copies of brand name pro ducts, prescription drug prices in Canada were among the most expen sive. As a result of this 1969 law, it has been estimated that Candians have saved billions of dollars on prescription drugs 211 million in 1983 alone. The best known example of the difference in price a law makes is the drug Diazepam. A brand name 1,000 tablet bottle of 5 mg tablets sells in the A senior’ I wish you would publish this open letter of protest against the ridiculous advertising of these frequent commer cials, particularly on TV You must be aware that the aged population of British Columbia is increasing year by year and members of this old and infirm group are among hose who spend most of their time watching TV I can pieture the futile horror or humor of the ads selling Head and Shoulders to. bald-headed oldsters, plaque fighte#s” for denture wearers and Maxithin# (for discreet comfort) for ladies in the 80 or 90 age bracket There is al@another large body of viewers: The under-privileged and un United States for $345.93 US. In Can. ada, the ‘generic “no name” equivalent of the same drug in the same quantity sells for $2.31 US. Canadian consumers save $343.62 US per bottle of pills because of the consumer protection provided by the 1969 Canadian law which the Conservative government in Ottawa is now trying to eliminate. nate. While this is only one example, the trend is borne out by a 1986 Ottawa Citizen survey of comparable U.S. vs Canadian products. The survey sampled 20 drugs used to treat dia betes, anxiety, insomnia, arthritis and urinary problems of which 15 were available in both brand name and generic forms on both sides of the border. The results: The survey showed that he purchase of 1,000 units of each of those 15 drugs would cost an average $42.41 US for the generic Canadian drugs and $349.80 US .for the brand name American equivalents. That's an average saving to Canadians of $307.39 in U.S. dollars even more in Canadian funds. The Conservatives say this trade-off will provide some new jobs for brand name drug manufacturers in Canada The industry and the New Democrats say (and the Conservatives don't dis. pure it) that it will destroy many existing jobs in the Canadian owned no-name generic manufacturing comp anies here. Given this information, I feel con fident that most of your readers will s lament employed. These people are seduced in to buying a new car with “5.9 per cent financing and no money down.” Pre sumably, this will enable them to pick up their groceries from the im poverished food bank in style Truly, this is an upside down world of fact and fantasy. We can't seem to distinguish between truth and fiction. Perhaps, I should take the advice of these commercials and color the white of my hair with Grecian Formula plaster my face and the wrinkles with Oil of Olay and start partying with pretty teenagers. Pat Romaine Castlegar Spend money here? Spend your dollars in Castlegar. That's a familiar refrain. My husband and I are both employed in the Castlegar area and we probably spend 90 per cent of our income in Castlegar, but poor business practices at certain places make it increasingly harder to follow this conviction My husband works long hours and most Sundays. I work shift work. We find this leaves us Thursdays or Friday evenings to do our shopping. On Thursday, Oct. 23 we went to the Castleaird Plaza Super Value about 8:30 p.m. at 8:40 p.m. there was an announcement on the P.A. system that Super-Valu closes at 9 p.m. Fine, that still left us about 15 minutes to shop. right? Wrong! At 8:45 p.m. off go half the lights. At 8:50 p.m. almost all the lights were off We meekly went through the check out, thinking that next time we should go shopping a little earlier. So on Friday, Oct. 31 we went earlier to the same store. We show up at about 7:45 p.m. and at 7:55 p.m. there is again an a uncement — the store will close at 8 p.m. Upon inquiry, we find that business has been slow for a couple of hours, so it was decided to close early But what about the 10 or 12 shoppers now in the store? Too bad. We parked our half-full cart gnd left the store with the firm resolve never to shop at this particular store again We then went up to Central Foods and did our shopping. The store was clean and well stocked. The staff was friendly and courteous, and best of all, the prices were comparable — and in many cases lower — than Plaza Super. Valu. We were impressed. We ended up spending over $260 From now on Central Foods gets our business. Never again do we have to put up with Plaza Super-Valu. Thank you Central Foods. Rudeness and inconsideration have no place in our strapped economic area. When certain merchants realize this, only then will Castlegar become a desireable area to spend your hard earned dollars. Frank and Karen Kerkhoff Robson agree that the bill must be stopped New Democrat MPs are filibustering the government bill in order to give us and other Canadians the time to make our voices heard before the huge Con servative majority rams it through If you care, write to phone your protest to your Member of Parliament today. Please send a copy of your message to Neil Young, MP, House of Commons, Ottawa K1A OA6 (postage free). Mr. Young is leading the New Democrats’ fight against the Amend ments to the Patent Act which are posing the threat, and your message will help us (o help you in your fight to keep Canadian drug prices low and help save the jobs we now have. Thank you for your anticipated sup port. Together we can win this fight on behalf of ordinary Canadians. Write or phone today Lyle Kristiansen President Kootenay West New Democrats People deserve better I am a West Kootenay resident who, after watching with dismay over the past several years the loss of jobs and people from my community, became a member of the newly founded Nelson. Trail and District Community Based Economic Development Committee (CBED). I felt that it was time to try and do something about the crisis un-employment and its devastion that was affecting everyone I knew Through the joint efforts of the committee members and their respec tive communities we are striving to find some means to stop the growing trend that is turning the West Koote n into an economic wasteland CBED, as its name suggests, places strong emphasis on local solutions to these problems. I was, therefore, very pleased to find economic-related issues being raised in Castlegar's aldermanic elections. Joe Irving in his speech at the Nov. 6 all-candidates forum stated his commit ment to jobs, local control and commun ity action. Irving's candidacy, I believe, offers the voters an opportunity through the electoral process to become involved in helping themselves and their community out of economic chaos. However, I am deeply concerned that any awareness the public has of Irving's platform presented at the forum must come not from their local paper's coverage of this meeting, but instead from the Trail Times and the local radio station's coverage. For, not only was there no mention in the Castlegar News’ article on the forum that these very timely and relevant issues were raised, but the candidate making the comments was also com pletely left out of the “coverage.” Does this mean that through its journalism the Castlegar News is attempting to limit the voters’ choices, or does it consider the subject matter avoided too “controversial,” or is it with the speaker wherein the problem lies? Surely, the people of Castlegar de serve better reporting from their city’s newspaper than this K. Cristofeli, Member of Nelson, Trail and District CBED Airport ( . 8 The Catholic Women's League held their monthly meeting at the home of Mrs. R. Fletcher, with 17 members present and one visitor. After the reading of the reports, plans were drawn up for the fall bazaar to be held on Nov. 22. 25 YEARS AGO From the Nov. 16, 1961 Castlegar News Commissioners Ron Giles and Jake Hendricks will seek re-election to Kin naird council in municipal elections to be held Dec. 7. Village chairman Carl Loeblich had indicated earlier that he will seek re-election. . . Castlegar scout Jim Cumming has received the Silver Cross for Gallantry, which was awarded him by the Boy Scouts of Canada in February 1961. Jim attended an Investiture Government House, Ottawa on Nov. 8. It was held by their excellencies the Governor-General and Madame Vanier, at which time Jim received the Silver Cross from the Chief Scout of Canada, Gen. George Vanier . . . Honorary custodian of the David Thompson memorial, located at the ferry, is now the Village of Castlegar At council's last meeting a letter was read from the department of northern affairs and national resources asking the village to take on the duties of custodian. Council decided the village would take on the job. . . Remembrance Day services in dis triet churches were well attended Saturday while the Legion Remem brance Day service at the cenotaph drew a large crowd 15 YEARS AGO From the Nov. 18, 1971 Castlegar News Saturday was Mike Sawchenko's day From 10:30 in the morning until late at night honors and tributes were heaped upon him. The initial occasion was the formal opening of the joint Kinnaird-Castlegar Centennial "71 pro ject, the reconstructed Doukhobor communal village Then in the evening, Mike Saw chenko was named Citizen of the Year . 8 6 The first guantlet in the forthcoming civic elections in Castlegar and Kin naird have been thrown down by Mayor Murray Little of Castlegar. At Castlegar Town Council meeting Tues day night he informed aldermen he would be seeking re-election Dec. 11 Following this announcement, Ald Ed Mosby and Ald. Andy Shutek stood up and announced they too would be in the running. * 8 6 Overnight break-ins in Castlegar and Kinnaird gave Royal Canadian Mount ed Police a busy Tuesday morning In downtown Castlegar five ad joining premises on Columbia Street were broken into through back doors and windows. In Castleaird Plaza thieves used a bit, brace and saw to force entry through the back door of one store. Castlegar jeweller Leo Bosse has been elected president of the Castlegar and District Chamber of Commerce 5 YEARS AGO From the Nov. 15, 1981 Castlegar News Castlegar’s all-candidates forum Thursday turned the spotlight on the mayoralty race between incumbent Audrey Moore and challenger Jim Gouk Moore and Gouk drew almost all the questions from the 50-60 people in at tendance as the city’s hopefuls evening. aldermanic settled back for an easy ° Castlegar teachers and school board Thursday reached a tentative contract agreement oe Rossland-Trail MLA Chris D'Arey squares off this afternoon against two contenders — Stan Lanyon and Martin Vanderpol — in the battle for the New Democratic Party riding nomination COMMUNITY NEWS Drawing, painting weekend Local artists willbe in- terested in a weekend draw- ing and painting workshop in Castlegar Nov. 22-23. Vancouver artist Ken Wal- lace will be conducting the two-day workshop in the up- stairs studio of the Kinnaird Library building Saturday and Sunday. A Penticton native, Wal- lace has established himself as a painter and film ani- mator. He graduated with honors from the Vancouver School of Art in 1973. He also attended the Alberta College of Art and the Banff School of Fine Arts. He has exhibited in eight solo shows and in several group shows across Canada. His animated film Thanks- giving has been widely ac- claimed and shown in num- erous international film fes- tivals. Wallace has taught draw- Vancouver, School of Art, MAN IN MOTION MONEY . . . Children and workers at Hobbit Hill Children’s Centre with jar of coins being collected for Rick Hansen's ing and painting at UBC, the Man in Motion wheelchair marathon for spinal cord research. The end of September and 75 children at the centre have been collecting the money since the are hoping to personally present it to Hansen when he passes through Castlegar next spring. — Costiews photo York University, and short courses for the Federation of Canadian Artists in the Bri. tish Columbia Interior. Wallace's Castlegar work- shop, geared to artists of all The West Kootenay Na- levels, will give participants tional Exhibition Centre will a basic knowlege of drawing present workshops for chil- learning and painting in acrylic and dren six to 10 years Dec. 6 craft. watercolor. Instruction will and 7. be on an individual and group ‘Basketry, basis and will include -lec- tures, slides, practical ex ercises, and field trips. The weekend drawing and painting workshop is offered by Selkirk College Contin- uing Education will provide opportunity to Weaving, as offered by Kathy Armstrong on Dec. 6, basic techniques while they make a small item to keep. Sandra Donohue, will pro- Registration for one or both of these days is limited, and children can register by children the phoning the centre. As well, the NEC will hold its second annual Victorian Christmas for Children Dec. 4 p.m. Young children will make learn some taught by 14 - 15 from 10 a.m. - MORE LETTERS Money wasted It was commendable the way our MP Bob Brisco rallied public opinion to oppose the federal electoral commis. sion’s proposed destruction of our riding of Kootenay West. However, on thinking about it, I realize that it was Mr. Brisco and his Conservative government that ap pointed this commission In 1983 an independent commission had studied riding boundaries and population shifts and had recom mended Kootenay West remain as is with the addition of Revelstoke to bring the population up to average. If the Conservatives had accepted that we could have uncertainty and commission's report avoided all this expense Had the Conservatives at least used the same independent commissioners as sat in 1983 they would have had people familiar with the terrain of the province and of commun Instead, we got somewhat ities and concerns. some bureaucrats sitting in Vancouver drawing lines to divide up the province with no regard “to community or commonality of interests Another example of waste of tax payers money and adding instability to our communities. While I was concerned about this disaster, I tried to phone Mr. Brisco's office in Castlegar and found no zenith phone number listed in the phone book What has happened to this toll-free telephone that former MP Lyle Kris tiansen had available for constituents in outlying areas to use in order that all people in the riding have the same opportunity to reach their member of parliament? Is Mr. Brisco trying to dis courage contact with our government, or is he just trying to penalize those in outlying communities, as well as those who live below the poverty line? What gives? J. Gravelle Nelson vide children with a valuable experience while enjoying this traditional 10 DECANTERS yy, Price Selection at Dutch, Prelude Stemware — = = ONC Me Wedgewood CRYSTAL Plus Many More Great Specials! $429 $7* $799 near PRE-CHRISTMAS SALE SALE SALE ENDED ONE MORE WEEK A good seletion of gift & entertaining items! Candles 10° Dripless. Smokeless. Red. smoneles tes (99° CANDLE HOLDERS Y Price Y Prioe 30% ot 2 Specialty LAMPS arl’s Drugs Castleaird Plaza 365-7269 “Workshop for kids Victorian Christmas decor- Registration for this week. ations, learn the art of the “kissing bough,” as well as is also limited. learning the rigors of life in the last century. New activities have been added to make this year's event even better. PRODUCE SALAD PACK Bunch of Radishes NAVEL ORANGES FRESH OLIVIERI’S PASTA ee Spaghets. Linguine or Fettuccine. 450 g Phe DOUBLE your MONEY BACK GUARANTEE FOIL COOK AND MELITTA COFFEE PREVALE SHAMPOO end for children ages six to 10 Our Action Ad Phone Nomber is 365-2212 1.49 ° 49 JUSTINE’S RESTAURANT On the Second Level at 402 Baker St., Nelson Offers the finest in dining in or — POTATOES ___ 10th Bag DATE NUT ROLL BorPee 212 ePee LIQUID PLANT FOOD , ag er 1.49 FRESH IMITATION KING KRAB MEAT FRESH DELUXE PUzA 1.49 1.49 2:1.49 OLYMPIC REGULAR WIENERS FRASER VALE FISH & CHIPS CHOCOLATE SPONGE PUDDING sich 2: 1.49 SOFTSOAP. 2:1.49 1.49 nz neeoon "A149 bail NOODLE ROMMANCE FRUIT NAPPY TOWNHOUSE WALNUTS Produ 1.4 9: SMOKED OYSTERS MALLORY surer HEAVY Duty BATTERIES — 1.49 spreao COUNTRY CROCK SPREAD »...0-<. .#0; PLAZA @§ Supervalu Open for Your Shopping Convenience OPEN SUNDAYS 1 1 a.m. = 5 p.m. Art Course Applications Deadlines Draw Near The Emily Carr College of Art and Design is ac- cepting applications December 5 for a Credit Studio Program offered through Selkirk College in Castlegar starting January 1987. information is available at your local Selkirk College oftice or contact: LAWRENCE LOWE AT (E.C.C.A.O.) IN VANCOUVER at 687-2345 VIOLETS or POTTED MUMS © ores ° FRESH FLOWER BOUQUETS ASST’D TROPICAL PLANTS. - CHICKEN THIGHS or DRUMSTICKS SHEPHERD'S PIES Stier BREADED CHICKEN CUTLETS HORS D’OEUVRES TARTS ie JOHNSON’S LIQUID VIVID LIQUID BLEACH 1.49 Mixes She D ROBIN HOOD CAKE 49 49 GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS! Brand Name onances’ 3: 49 coim Di LAD GLADE 2 DEODORIZER ANAODA SAFEWAY FEWAY Lim