a POP RL LTE: { coos CASTLEGAR NEWS, June 6, 1982 —SAFEWAY'S paisa tae Libray WEATHERCAST eran Blugs: ts : ‘ Sunshine Thursday with a high In ctoria, B. C.- - : mid 20's and a low of 5*, This V8V 1x4 ‘ x trend should continue into the ‘Sugar Plum Vac Pac 06/3439 — Be ef Ses kg +30 EE Bone cud $Q40/, $199 Sausage Sticks $ Olympic. Assorted Varicties. 500 9 Pkg. each@ ’ Luncheon Meat _. 938° Sliced. Safeway. *Pork & Bacon *Summer *Salami. 175 9 Pkg. each A Sliced Bologna ea s] fe Fletchers: 375 9 Pack | Mock Chicken Loaf], Sliced. Fletchers. 375 9 Package ..... -each Pork Sas Golden Fry. Maple Leaf. Frozen. 500 9 pkg. Pork Sausage Meat Pies - "99 Sclinelder’s. *Steak or *Chicken. Frozen. 400.9 pkg. « each Whole # . Frying Chicken Serving Suggestion Fresh Canada Grade A SAVE -4Q° a Pepperoni & Cheese oe Soe ke °2.59 All Dressed So package vn". - each 2. 79 |: FRESH FRYING CHICKEN PARTS Chicken | Breasts...._....5 $57" 9939 Chicken : 05 Drumsticks ...... 1 oh 2229 Chicken - 29 Hien BRST? Chicken C€Ahi 2 = eae $909 Published at “The Crossroads of the Kootenays” VOL. 35, NO. 46 35 Cents CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1982 aie. 3 Sections (A, B& C) “Apart By CasNews Canada Mortgage and Housing » this week released its latest statistics on apartment ‘vacatiey rates in. the Kootenays, and the figures confirm what maby have known for some time now — the number of yacant apartments has skyrocketed. And the reason is simple — the curtent economic climate. Castlegar’ 's apartment vacaticy rate, for instance, is now 10.2 per cent. CMHC reports there were 20 vacant units out of a total of 192 recorded in its April survey of Castlegar. That's a far cry from the corporation's November ment vacancies soar survey in which just one per cent of Castlegar apartments were vacant, The survey cites “unstable economic forecast” as a major reason for the high Castlegar. apartment vacancy rate in ‘That's the same reason for the high vacancy rate in the other five West Kootenay centres surveyed. Fruitvale showed the highest vacancy rate with 25.7 per cent of its apartments vacant. It has only.74 apartment units, but 19 of them are not occupied. Rossland was second on apartments vacant — 12 of 60. the list with 20 per cent of its Trail was a distant third at an THEY TOLD ME THERE'D BE DAYS LIKE THIS. . Shrine Circus lion-tamer “Tarzan” looks unruffled as lion during pe: ‘shows his the Castlegar community complex. ey.at —CasNewaPhoto by Cheryl Wishlow 11.3 per cent vacancy rate. Of its 388 apartment units, Adare vacant. Nelson has.a 10.1 per cent vacancy rate — 23 of 227 units, while Warfield recorded a 5.2 per cent vacancy rate or five of 96 units vacant. Just last November Nelson boasted a zero vacancy rate and apartments were i: to find. there are no vacant apartments of the 1,110 apartment units surveyed. Golden recorded the highest vacancy rate — 10.9 per cent — though most of that was because of vacancies in one project. By comparison, Trail had the highest vacancy rate last November — just 2.3 per cent. Meanwhile, in the East Kootenay the vacancy rate is low in five of seven centres surveyed. In Sparwood, Elkford, Fernie and Invermere/Windermere CMHC reports that reported a 9.9 per cent rate, C though CMHC says the increase is due to three new apartment buildings comiing on stream. Kimberley had a 3.3 per cent vacancy rate. The survey covered all rental apartment buildings and rental townhouse projects with six or more units which had been on stream a minimum of six months. DISARMAMENT REFERENDUM ote will go ahead > By CasNews Staff and News Services oer council will ap- arently proceed with a refer- endum this November calling for‘nuclear disarmament den pite a warning Tuesday from Municipal Affairs Minister Bill Vander Zalm that mu- nicipalities do not have the authority to hold such a ref- erendum: “The Municipal Act is very i “specific,” Vander Zalm said in van interview in Victoria. “It ‘says the council: may, by by- ‘law, provide for referendum” but only with those matters over which council has power ‘to deal: with,’ and‘ obviously “the..couneil would not have power to deal with world dis- armament.” But Castlegar Ald. Len Embree said Tuesday night, “Peace is everybody's busi- ness and nuclear war is in the interest of everybody.” Embree who initiated the local referendum, said council investigated the cost of hol- Embree said that the dis- armament issue had remain- ed outside the spectrum of partisan polities until Vander Zalm's statement. He ac- cused Vander Zalm of playing partisan politids with the issue. . se Embree added that he is “really encouraged" by the lobby and said ing the in conjunc- tion with the November el- ection and found it will cost less than $800. He called that “a small price. to. pay. for people to have their say on disarma- ment.” “It’s a matter of cents, pennies” for the individual taxpayer, he added. : ‘new ‘penalties. VANCOUVER (CP) — The Insurance Corp: of B.C. will impose’ unlimited " penalties on bad drivers‘under a new ‘Autoplan ‘rating scale an- “nounced today. ‘The new scale, which pro- vides an additional fourth- year discount for safe’ dri- vers, il go inte tect duly 1 for the pensive for'them to remain behind the wheel.” The new scheme is a sharp “contrast to the present sys- tem, which provides three “levels of discounts on a base rate of 100. USES BASE BATE Under the current scale, a driver's mandatory coverage driving ert but new Plan given green light By CasNews Staff After years of negotiations ‘and a series of delays, the provincial Environment and Land Use Committee Tues- day gave final approval to the Lower Arrow Lakes resettle- ment plan, The plan calls for B.C. Hydro to sell back more than 80 waterfront lots between Robson and Broadwater to former waterfront property owners whose land was ac- quired by B.C. Hydro for the Arrow dam project in the 1960s. The ELUC gave Hydro permission to sell 14 parcels in Broadwater, 10 in Renata and six in Cayuse Creek. The parcels will be sold this sum- mer to those eligible to pur- chase. At Deer Park, Hydro is permitted to sell lots prior to the installation of services, with the Mipistry of. Trans- portation and- Highways to accept an “irrevocable letter ‘of credit” from Hydro to pay for the services, The two-year development requirement was waived due to the fact that crown land is not Involved and because. of the special circumstances of the case, Lower Arrow Lakes resi- BC Timber denied one-year extension By PONT Korean The 2 oie Ministry of Environment’s Waste Man- agement Branch has turned down a request from B.C, Timber for a one-year ex- tension of its current pollu- tion contro! permit at Celgar pulp mill, and told thb com- pany it must complete the mill's pollution upgrading by Dec. 31, 1984 as scheduled. Castlegar council. was in- formed of the decision in a letter from H.P. Klassen, as- sistant director of pollution contro] for the Waste Man- agement Branch. ‘Ald. Len,iEmbree wel- comed the -decision, ‘com- menting, “I'm quite pleased.” Embree added that he is still “befuddled” as to B.C. Pimber's reason for applying for the extension. He noted that when the. company ap- plied for. the new permit four Embree, “That runs true to. form for B.C. Timber in their to or five years ago it indi d it wanted to complete the upgrading by Dec. 31, 1984. Embree also called “annoy- ing to say the least” B.C. Timbers application for an extension without notifying council. He said the company has “no excuse at all” for an ‘ex- tension and added that the mill has been “polluting the river for the last number of years.” He said if granted an ex-- ‘tension, “We won't have a river left." Mayor Audrey Moore said Celgar pulp mill manager Wilf Sweeney informed her that the company will be ap- pealing the Waste Manage- ment Branch decision. “I'm not surprised,” said Under its current permit, B.C. Timber is)required to meet a “B” standard of effluent pollution, though a preliminary draft of B.C. Hy- dro's water quality studies has shown the mill often fails to meet that standard. However, by Dec. 31, 1984 the mill will have'to meet an “A” effluent standard. That means the company must in- stall new chemical spill and settling basins, as-well as a seven-day aeration lagoon, and a new outfall and dif- fuser. The new, lagoon and two settling basins ‘are to be located on the west side of the Columbia River adjacent to Keenleyside dam. dents’ committee chairperson Nesta Hale welcomed the de- cision, saying members are “elated that the ministers have responded so positively and so quickly.” . Hale received word of the decision in a letter from ELUC chairman and Envir- onment Minister Stephen Rogers. The ‘decision approved proposals put forward by the residents’.committee at a meeting in Victori with Rog- ers, and cabinet ministers Jim’ Chabot, Alex Fraser, Jim Hewitt, Bob McClelland, ‘Don Phillips and Bill Vander The residents’ committee was represented by Wally © Penner, John Connelly a con- sultant to B.C. Hydro and Ernest Collins of B.C. Hy- dro. The plan had been given approval last fall, but was delayed by the ELUC when several problems arose. At the meeting, the resi- dents committee presented a brief which outlined moves to clear up the problems, which would be. environmentally sound and which would re- duce costs. The plan also calls for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to discuss the future oper- ation and maintenance of water systems with the Cen- tral Kootenay Regional Dis- trict, Hale. said the residents’ committee is “pleased that by eliminating a costly subdivi- Continued on page A2 charges will not be levied until Jan. 1, 1983. “Theoretically, there is no limit to the ‘aniount of the premium a really bad driver might face after.a year or two. for frequent claims,” said cor- poration president Tom Hol- mes. “We hope these measures will encourage some drivers to shape up. There will come a point when the cost of renewing their insurance will be extremely high for many serieent prone. vehicle own- ve This new rating scale Stes and any 1 optional coverage is taken as his base rate. After one year of safe driving, a driver gets dis- counted to 85 per cent of the base rate. After two years he pays 75 per cent of the base rate and after three years he pays 67.5 per cent of the base rate. Under the current system a driver never paid more than 100 per cent of the base rate. . The Crown corporation earlier announced plans to apply special penalty pre- tmiums to drivers at fault in but the plan never not but treats Serene equally,” he said. “It will ef- fectively “identify the bad drivers and make it very ex- Soobotin found guilty Kelvin Soobotin, was found guilty Tuesday of went into effect and was withdrawn when the provin- cial government introduced legislation that provided tougher penalties for bad drivers. Under the new system, a fourth-year safe driving level will reduce a safe driver's premium to 65 per cent of the base rate. But for each accident in which the driver of the car was at fault, the car's insur- ance goes up three Steps | on murder following his trial in Castlegar provincial court and will be sentenced July 8. Soobotin, who had entered a not guilty plea, elected to be tried by judge without jury. He faced several other charges, including forcible seizure, kidnapping, confin- ing an individual against her will and detainment for illicit- sex and rape — all in.con- nection with a Nov. 17 inci- dent in Genelle involving a 17-year-old Trail woman, al-~ leged to be Soobotin's girl- friend. All but the attempted murder charge were dis- missed. the op di table. BASE INCREASES For example, an at-fault accident when the base rate is 100 moves insurance ay- able to 180 per cent of the base. A second accident would move the premium to 175 per cent of the base. A third accident takes it to 250 per cent of the base. There is no maximum lim- t. Each year of safe driving moves the premium down one setp on the table. When the new scale comes into effect July 1, all pre- mium holders will move one step down on the scale. “politicans will listen if they're forced to.” Council agreed to hold the referendum after receiving a letter from” Ottawa Mayor Marion Dewar requesting such a. move. Dewar said Ottawa city council had ap- proved the referendum in response to a request from © Operation Dismantle a dis- armament action group. “I believe these referenda can place significant pressure on these invalved | in the ar- “Pament race’ if enough mu- nicipalities poll their citi- zens,” Dewar said. ‘The, letter was sent to more. than 1,000 Canadian mayors with municipalities whose population was more than 2,000. Vander Zalm was asked by reporters about the issue af- ter several municipalities in- dicated they were consider- ing rescinding their refer- endums. He said councils oculd find themselves in jeo- pardy of legal action by res- idents. “I suppose anyone, a tax- payer, could challenge. a council as to the vailidity of: them spending tax dollars to hold a referendum. This may happen or it may not happen, but certainly council should be aware of what is in the Municipal Act.” The Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility is ac- tively urging various levels of government to hold pleb- escites throughout Canada on the disarmament question. Local coalition organizers. , -say 12 municipalities includ- ing Castlegar, Vancouver, Kamloops, Prince George, Vernon and Duncan’ have agreed to hold referendums on the question. Their suggested referend- um reads: “Do you support the goal of general disar- manent and mandate your government to negotiate and impelment with other gov- ernments the balanced steps that would lead to the earliest possible achievement of this goal?” CAN'T HOLD IT Kelowna council shied away from approving a ref- erendum Monday after it was advised by its administrator and lawyer that it was out- side of their jurisdiction. Vernon, council will con- sider a motion to rescind a plebescite’ approved ‘last month after receiving similar advice. Vander Zalm said he un- derstood why. some munici- palities would approve such a referendum. He said they may fear that the public _ would consider their rejec- tion of it as an indication they support the nuclear arms race. “One thing certain, I'm sure that if the question were . put I, may family, everyone I know would vote for it, and I guess the vote in Surrey (Vander Zalm’s riding) would probably be 99.8 per cent in support of the referendum question. It’s one you could hardly vote against unless someone felt they should vote against it simply on the principle that it is not within council jurisdiction. * “It certainly makes one question the validity of spending tax dollars on such a referendum when we know what the answer will be,” he said. Chamber looking at a new location By RON NORMAN Editor The Castlegar Chamber of Commerce is looking into re- locating its office and tourist information centre in the proposed Boel shopping plaza on Columbia Ave. just north of the Hi-Arrow Motor Hotel, Castlegar council learned g Tuesday. . Planning committee chair- man Ald. Bob MacBain said developer Paul Boel has ag- reed to lease part of the site to the chamber for 10 years at no charge, if details can be worked out. MacBain said the agree- ment came out of a June 1 planning committee meeting with Boel and chamber pres- ident Mike O'Connor. MacBain said Boel is “very favorable” to the arrange- ment, which would see the chamber lease the triangular portion of the northwest cor- ner of the site. The only re- quirements on the chamber would be to pay taxes and related expenses for the property. The chamber office and in- formation centre is currently housed in the bottom of the Realty World Castle Realty building, about halfway be- tween the downtown core and Castleaird Plaza. Boe] told the meeting he could not finalize the lease arrangement until his agree- ment with Canada Safeway is completed. He added that the Hi-Arrow and Shell service station adjacent to the site have legal agreements to provide parking in the event of development of the site. MacBain said Boel’is still waiting to hear from Safeway on a proposal to build a 28,000 square foot supermar- ket and 42,000 square feet of retail space. He told the planning com- mittee he will meet with them to define parking re- quirements for the - first phase of the plaza once his agreement with safeway has been finalized.