istative Library.

Partiament Bldge., 501 Belleville St

Victoria, B. Ce

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~ Casth

Vol, 40, No, 96

CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1987

A Sections (A, 8.C®D)

SEARCHING FOR CLUES . . . Castl:
Bob Mann sifts through rubble for

MOM AND
DAUGHTER
FLEE FIRE

By SURJ RATTAN
Staff Writer

A mother and daughter escaped
injury Tuesday morning when a
power pole came crashing down
near their Castlegar home causing
their television set to implode. The
implosion in turn ignited a fire
inside the house.

Castlegar Fire Chief Bob Mann
said the power pole snapped, and
the line fell onto a cable TV wire
attached to the side of a house at 901
Merry Creek Road just after 7 a.m.

“The hydro line came down. The
power line hit the cable on the side
of the house and that's all that’s left
of the TV,” said Mann, pointing to
the charred and shattered remains
of a small TV set outside the house.

“The hot wire made contact with
the TV cable and the TV set just
imploded. They're lucky it wasn't a
26-inch TV,” added deputy fire chief
Theron Isfeld.

Brenda Robinson, 31, who has
lived in the house for six years with
her 11-year-old daughter Annie
Louise, said her immediate concern
was to get her daughter out of the
house.

“The first thing that came into
my mind was panic. I just thought to
get my daughter out of there. I
knew the pole was out immediately.
I just ran down to my neighbors and
then called the fire department,”
Robinson told the Castlegar News.

“It all started with the pole. The
TV was actually the last thing. It
took all of about two minutes. My
daughter was pretty shaken up by
{t,” said Robinson.

Mann said he did not know if the
TV set was plugged in “properly.”

“We didn’t imagine there was a
fire inside the house. A Mountie

r Fire Chief
clues to fire at

cable TV wire.

whimpering

turned out to be
said Mann.

smoke detector

in it.

IMPLODED TV . . . Fire chief Bob Mann and firefighter Larry Bosse
inspect remains of TV set that imploded when power line fell on

came up to the door and heard some
inside.
there were people in here but it

He added that while there was a

home, it did not have any batteries

“That could have been a serious

Merry Creek Road home Tuesday morning.

CosNewsPhoto by Ron Norman

2%

CosNewsPhoto

situation half an hour earlier if they
had not been getting up at the time.
Most of the damage is smoke and
water . . . it’s just one hell of a
mess,” said Mann. There was minor
damage but a dollar figure on the
damage is not yet known.

Robinson and her daughter are
staying at a local hotel for the time
being.

We thought

a big black cat,”

installed in the

Turner chosen
to head board |

By RON NORMAN
Editer

Gordon Turner was elected chair-
man of the Castlegar school board at
the board's inaugural meeting Tuesday
afternoon.

Turner, who took over as acting
ehairman last summer when former
chairman Kay Johnson moved to the
Lewer Mainland, was the only trustee
nominated for the position.

Rick Pongracz was elected vice-
chairman, also by acclamation.

The five newly-elected trustees —
Tony Guglielmi, Doreen Smecher,
Mickey Kinakin, Ed Conroy and
Evelyn Voykin — were officially sworn
into office by secretary-treasurer John
Dascher.

Kinakin and Voykin declined to
say the oath of allegiance out loud, and
instead signed a document containing
similar wording.

In some brief remarks at the close
of the meeting, Turner urged trustees
to work together.

“I hope that we can all work
together in a spirit of collegiality,” he

He added that while trustees may

GORDON TURNER
++» work together

table, so that when they leave the table
they are still friends.

In addition, Turner announced the
chairmen and members of the board's
standing committees. They include:

Relations Counell, with Conroy as the
alternate. ci

Conroy will represent the board on
the West Kootenay Branch of the B.C.

argue about various issues,
will be best served by tackling the
issues and not individual trustees.

Pongracz and members Conroy and
Turner; building, energy, and grounds

Education Centre — Guglielmi; Tarrys
elementary — Conroy.

Chairman gets raise

By RON NORMAN
Editor

Qastlegar school trustees voted
Tuesday “to ‘give boatd chairman
Gordon Turner a $1,500 raise. The 25
per cent increase pushes Turner's
annual indemnity to $7,500, up from
$6,000 last year.

The board also established a sep-
arate indemnity for vice-chairman Rick
Pongracz. Last year the vice-chairman
received the same indemnity as
trustees — $5,000.

This year Pongracz will get $6,250,
an increase of $1,250 or 25 per cent.

The other five trustees will not get
an increase this year. They will receive
the maximum allowable

the Ministry of Education's
guidelines.

Trustee Doreen Smecher was the
only trustee opposed to the increases.
She pointed out that Turner will be at

the maximum amount allowed by the

“The chairman has not been at
max,” Smecher said.

She noted that Castlegar trustees
received a $1,000 increase last year.

“I think with the raise that we got
last year . . . that that’s adequate.”

Smecher also disagreed with
creating a separate scale for the vice-
chairman, pointing out the position
doesn't carry any additional duties.

But trustee Ed Conroy defended
the like, saying when the ministry

Conroy also noted that the in-
demnities follow the guidelines set out

“They are the maximum,” she

Trustee Tony Guglielmi asked
what would happen to the funds if the
trustees didn't approve the increase.

Secretary-treasurer John Dascher
said the funds could be used elsewhere
within the school budget.

PP! year
“our school board was very prudent.”

And he pointed to the amount of
work and the time involved in the
chairman's position as reasons for
supporting the increase.

“I don't have a problem with it at
all. I think it’s fair remuneration for the
work we do.”

Shaw Cable to look
at adding channels

By CasNews Staff
and News Services

Castlegar cable subscribers could
receive a few specialty channels as part
of their basic cable package by next
September.

The Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunication Commission an-
nounced Monday its decision to allow
cable companies to carry up to 10 spec-
ialty channels as part of basic cable
service. A CBC-operated all-news
channel, a children’s channel, and a
religion channel, are among those
chosen to be added to basic cable
service.

However, Shaw Cable manager
Lynn Greentree said the local cable
company has not. yet received the
report from the CRTC, and so has not
decided what to do with the new ruling.

If cable companies decide to carry
some of the specialty channels, those
channels will be broadeast to all of their
viewers. The cost will not exceed $1.40

Johnston announces meeting

Community leaders from the Koot D
Region will gather in Creston on Saturday to discuss the
provincial government's new decentralization initiative.

Rita Johnston, Minister of State for the Kootenayg, and
her Parliamentary Secretary Nelson-Creston MLA Howard
Dirks have invited MLAs, munincipal and regional political
Jeaders, business people and associations from across the
region to attend.

- “I hope at this time, together with your all-important
assistance, to begin to formulate a plan of action for the
region,” Johnston said in her invitation. “This is the first of
many opportunities you will have to be a contributive voice

in the ic and social of the Koot

Dirks added: “Our intention is to canvass community
leaders and the general public from one end of the region to
the other, to consult and gather information on regional
needs and priorities.”

‘The meeting, to include a luncheon at noon, will be held
from 11 a.m. -5 p.m. in the Creston Room of the Creston and
District Community Complex.

“This meeting will serve as a starting point to bring
decision-making closer to the people it affects. We are
looking towards a truly grassroots process,” Johnston said.

continued on poge A2

am ding to the CRTC.

The commission has also ruled that
The Sports Network and MuchMusic
will become part of the basic cable
service where carried.

The Family Channel, which will
feature Disney programming, will be
offered only on pay-TV.

Most of the new services should be
on the air by next September, the

during four weeks of hearings on 21
applications last July. Critics said it

would mean cable 's would be

forced to pay for services they didn't
necessarily want.

However, CRTC chairman Andre
Bureau said Monday the decision was
aimed at insuring the success of the
new channels and heading off further
incursions by U.S. services.

“It is clear that Canadians possess
the initiative, the entrepreneurial
spirit and creative drive to create these
new services. Unless these energies
are tapped now, however, the in-
creasing accessibility of foreign, mainly
U.S., specialty services will mean that
the opportunity for Canadians to
receive these types of new services
fromi Canadian sources could be lost,”
Bureau said.

continued on page A2

Baby death
court case
postponed

By The Canadian Press

ROSSLAND — A _ Rossland
woman charged in the death of her
two-month-old baby will appear in pro-
vincial court for plea on Dec. 14.

Colleen Taylor, 22, was charged in
September with criminal negligence
causing death after Tanya Taylor died
in hospital earlier that month.

Taylor was to have appeared in
court Monday but the case was put
over for two weeks.

Dolls on