The Castlegar Sun Wednesday, December 2, 1992 Castlegar needs accessible taxis, says owner disabled indi- Sun staff viduals. The funding is available for hicles fi " A y isa right and a privilege that most of us. have come to expect, but for people with disabilities for ity to the disabled, or new begin which are already transportation may not always be available, The Abilities Awareness Advi- sory Committee is attempting to offer accessible transportation for those individuals anew program being offered by the Federal Government called “Assistance for Accessible Air- port Ground Transportation.” The new program, which has been in use since April of 1992, For taxis the federal govern- ment will pay 50 per cent of new vehicle costs, to a maximum of $20,000 each, or to a maximum of 75 per cent of conversion costs, whichever is less. For retrofits, the government will pay 75 per cent of costs to a maxi- mum of $15,000 each, whichever is less. West Kootenay Kabs owner and Operator, Dan Chicoine, said Cc SUN STAFF November 27 was a lucky day for Castlegar RCMP officer Con- stable Stu Schmidt, but not a very lucky day for his cruiser. Schmidt had parked his police cruiser, a 1992 Chevrolet Capri, on the shoulder of Highway 3, while attending ~ cane of a lumber chip ee ‘eine bya Kalesnikoff employee, was on its way to Celgar when it side- @ Hospital Continued from 1A retracted his earlier remarks re; ing accreditation. “I retract everything I ever said about the accreditation pro- gram. It was remarkable to have someone come in and say you were really good. The whole experience was a real morale booster. My recommendations about time and expense were Some of the debriefing com- ments offered by CCHFA to Castlegar Hospital were: Castle- gar Hospital is one of the best hospitals they have been to; staff demonstrated caring attitudes, like a family; Castlegar hospital is a hospital to be proud of, and was a first class hospital; there are well trained physicians, the Intensive Care Unit is an excel- lent unit, with well documented clinical records; and there are excellent management services, Ken Talarico was to be com- mended. Castlegar Hospital should receive formal accreditation rat- ing by February of 1993. breakins Three downtown businesses Castlegar RCMP say that it Downtown businesses suffer overnight appears that money was the object of the unlawful entry. The imvestigation is still con- tinuing, and identification offi- cers will be examining the of the b for fur- the time of the accident, there were no charges laid. New point system will target bad drivers KAREN KERKHOFF Sun staff The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is cracking down on irresponsible drivers, and those individuals who attempt to defraud ICBC. A series of strong measures aimed directly at offenders, will insure that the cost of bad driving habits rests squarely on the shoul- ders of the bad drivers, instead of the general public. ICBC Trail and Nelson Man- ager, Dan Moores, said the new initiative is fair to those drivers who are paying for the bad habits of other drivers through increas- ing insurance premiums. “There has been complaints in the past from good drivers asking why are they paying for the bad drivers. This will help go towards our initiative, which will have bad drivers picking up the costs for their own driving. This will be a good initiative for the province, and for our community.” The Minister responsible for ICBC, Moe Sihota, said ICBC studies show that motorists with penalty points are much more likely to be pe rover in traffic ther evidence or clues. than those without any points, and the new strategy is ly has a need for accessible taxis} and! he hopes nie abbeplevtan Cue this service to those who need it. “We're planning on taking a good look at it. It can definitely be used in this area, the commu- nity is big enough for this.” But Chicoine has a probl Under Chicoine's current oper- ating license, he may only oper- which will prevent him from acquiring funding for the Project. In order to from the federal government, West Kootenay Kabs needs to be a licensed carrier. Chicoine is in the process of trying to acquire the nec- essary licensing, which will then make him eligible for the funding. A letter of application for carrier licensing was sent out to the federal government by Chicoine last week, and he hopes to-be licensed within the next two months. of the funds must establish and maintain the airport taxi service in the long term, and must contin- ue to operate the vehicle in Cana- da for at least two years, a condition which Chicoine is unable to honor now. But when Chicoine receives the required carrier license he ds to pursue * taxis’. “If I can manage financing, or whatever, I will still try to [pro- vide accessible taxi service).” and Sale. Rusty Hyde (forefront), claps along with the Old Time Fiddlers at the Castlegar Rail- way Station Museum, last Saturday during the Pre-Christmas Arts and Crafts Show ‘SUN STAFF PHOTO /John Van Putten targeted to hurt those drivers where they will feel it the most...in the wallet “We must get tough with bad drivers, so cabinet today has approved a substantial increase in driver penalty point premiums.” The point value increase will take place January 1, 1993. Currently, six points will result in a $175 premium, however, under the new scale an individual can expect to pay $245. Nine points under the current scale will cost $325, but January 1 that will increase to $500. Under current regulations, a person is not penalized if their total accumulated points is lower than five, but under the new sys- tem a person can expect to pay when only four points are accu- mulated. Sihota said the studies also show that drivers with just four points are up to ten times more likely to have an accident, while those with 15 points are 80 times more likely to have accidents. ICBC is also examining a range of options to penalize those drivers who have frequent at-fault claims. Some of the penalties being considered for these drivers are: further penalty sanctions through the claim related scale; China delegation tells of experiences overseas Castlegar, Celgar pulp mill shared their experiences of China with a group of approximately 60 people at the Fireside Inn November 24. The dinner and presentation was hosted by Castlegar Kiwanis, and included a video of C: gars delegates trip to China. The presentation featured the formalization of twinning between Selkirk College, Celgar pulp mill and the city of Castlegar with China. It is hoped the twinning agree- ment will promote social, eco- nomic and cultural understanding between two diverse countries. Castlegar’s Mayor Audrey Moore, one of the delegates who attended the formal twinning said, “T think it opens us all up to a bet ter understanding of our world, and understanding of other cul- Moore also said that even though the countries are very dif- ferent there is an important asset we all share “Children and music are the universal |; of und because of the many Cs in the words Castlegar, Celgar, Canada, and China. The Cs remind the Chinese of the moon...a symbol which is considered good tuck in China. B. of the nomic value. Last year foreign students spent approximately $700,000 in fees to Selkirk College, and another $700,000 in the Castlegar ing. Through them the world will become closer.” While in China, Moore pre- sented officials from Yeuyang with a flag of Castlegar, while representatives of Yeuyang pre- sented Castlegar with a silk u The signing of the he epars was accompanied by bands play- ing, and the exploding of fire- crackers, a display that Moore and the other delegates greatly enjoyed. “It was an impressive ceremony,” said Moore. Celgar pulp mill manager, Jim Brown, also accompanied the del- egation to China. Yeuyang also has a pulp mill, and Celgar exchanged technical information with representatives from there. Brown said the Celgar pulp mill was very well received the Chinese now refer | to Celgar as “Moon Brand Pulp”. Besides strengthening bonds between and China, for- eign twinning also has an eco- y- The presentation by the twin- ning delegates was filmed by Shaw Cable and will be shown Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 8 at 10:30 am. Harsh weather results in accident Wayne Sherstibitoff, 31, of Castlegar lost control of his vehicle on slippery roads, entered a ditch, and rolled his vehicle, a 1979 GMC pick-up. Sherstibitoff and his 39-year-old passenger received minor injuries in the accident. The accident occurred on Waterloo Road in Ootischenia Nov. 29. Sh loff’s vehicle d approximately $3,000 dam- age. No charges are being contemplated. Woman charged for illegal U-turn There was approximately $5,000 damage to two vehicles after Chery! Hillier, 32, of Castlegar made an unsafe u-turn on Highway 3 at the Highway 22 off-ramp. Hillier's vehicle collided with a vehicle driven by Robert Dunlap, also of Castlegar. A 16-year-old passenger in the Dunlap vehicle was transported to Castlegar and District Hospital for examination. Hillier has been charged with making an unsafe U-turn. higher deductibles for those fre- quently at fault; and possibly the. refusal of collision coverage, Refusal of collision coverage could have serious repercussions. Most banks require collision cov- erage before a loan is granted to purchase a vehicle. Sihota said that under the current system, insured drivers are paying for the actions of people who cheat ICBC through false claims for fire, theft, and vandalism. “The vast majority of honest people are paying for the actions of a few dishonest drivers. We are taking action against those who cheat the system.” ICBC has also formed a spe- cial unit that will help identify drivers who attempt to cheat the system by paying lower penalties than they should Drivers who are guilty of at- fault accidents, and transfer vehi- cle ownership in order to avoid higher premiums, will be more easily identified by the newly formed unit which will use ICBC’s computer data base to assist in identification. Drivers who dishonestly declare their vehicle to be in a less expensive use category will also be identified through com- puter searches, and Sihota said such offenders will not only be charged with fraud, but may be refused insurance as well. “For those convicted of fraud against ICBC, consideration is being given to a policy to refuse both collision and comprehensive coverage for a period of three years.” The new measures are part of some actions which are already underway at ICBC. Earlier this year ICBC announced that a pro- gram to control the increasing cost of whiplash was being implemented. The corporation has adopted a policy to reject whiplash claims resulting from minimal, or no damage collisions unless there is some objective proof that an injury has occured. Sihota said that since the new whiplash policy was initiated, it appears that the policy is success: “We have established a set of firm and fair guidelines, and early signs suggest this approach is working extremely well. Since late September a tele- Phone tip line has been in place for people who wish to report fraud, exaggeration, or the wit- nessing of accidents. ICBC reports that the tip line receives about 25 calls a day. Creators Syndicate, inc. |-B ©1992 Leigh Rubin! By Leigh Rubin Leon was devastated. He just didn't know how fong he could go on living atter his wife threw him out. Wednesday, December 2, 1992 The Castlegar Sun ag KAREN KERKHOFF a neighbor's home. The Cassidys have a two- Sun staff year-old daughter. 6th Avenue, Nov. 27. hours containing the blaze: A South-Castlegar home, located at 2505- sustained approximately $50,000-$60,000 damage, when a fire started Two fire trucks from South Castlegar, and one fire truck from North Castlegar, with a total of 14 firefighters, were on the scene at 10:33 am., and spent about one and a half The owners of the home, Dwayne and Lynne Cassidy, were not in the home when the fire occurred. However Lynn Cassidy returned home to find the fire in progress. Cassidy then called the fire department from basement.” smoke. extensive smoke of elimination. Although the cause of the fire is still under investigation, Castlegar Fire Chief, Gerry Rempel, said he is fairly certain of where the fire started. “The fire appears to have originated in the Rempel also said although some of the damage to the home was caused by fire, a major portion of the damage was due to “There were some flames, but there was When a fire occurs, , Rempel said that determining the origin of a fire is a process Volunteer firefighters called to South-Castiegar home ¢