TheFARSIDE By Gary Larson “OK, everyone just stand back! . . Anyone : —-see what happened here?” Bear parts trial on hold NEWS STAFF ‘Alocal man accused of illegally trafficking bear parts has had his trial put on hold — again. r the fourth time since six charges were laid against Jung Kaen Chang in March, his case was pushed back. Chang’s lawyer John Carpenter successfully got the case postponed on June 9 because charges were “vague.” “[’m looking for details,” Carpenter said. “I say ‘charges span- ning many months and all of B.C. are too vague. Crown council is currently attempting tomake charges more specific. Carpenter said his client would reappear in Castlegar court again July 7 where it is likely a plea will be entered. Chang has been charged with six offenses that allegedly took place in February, October and November of 1991. f Each count carries a maximum penalty of $5,000 and/or six months in jail. PolicCBEAT eee Police are investigating an accident which occurred on the Arrow Lakes Road near Hugh Keenleyside Dam. A vehicle left the road and collided with construction pipe Thursday. The vehicle’s driver was not at the scene when police ar- rived. : RCMP ask that witnesses to the accident contact them immediately. Ae A Salmo man and a Cran- brook man were charged with theft under $1,000 after they stole a pizza from a delivery boy Saturday night. Nancy Meredith was charged with following too close after she rear ended a 1992 Honda driven by Andrew Babakaiff on Highway 22 and 24th Street Saturday. : Three people received mi- nor injuries in the accident. eee Paul Joseph Drouin, 51, of Castlegar was charged with break and enter and theft af- ter he allegedly entered a Blueberry Creek residence and took a sleeping blanket. Beverley Zaytsoff Seniors Special June 24 & 25 ot the look? If not... call 365-3744 at the ANNEX 50% Off a. fey tke Wednesday, June 17, 1992 @ ) STEAKS | Zi A Centennial Packers BEEF BURGERS 450g. pkg. California Grown #1 ‘ornia Grown #1 GREEN CELLO GRAPES || LETTUCE Seedless ° 1.74 kg. Old Dutch | POTATO CHIPS Assorted 200 g. boxes NO KETCHUP 1 Litre ° Squeeze BUTTER 454 18 8 Limit 1 per $20.00 order Frozene 5 lb. box HOURS Mon.-Thurs. & Sat 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m Fri. 9:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m Sun. 10-5 p.m Fresh GROUND BEEF Lean e 5-8 Ib. pkgs Akg. Castlegar Foods or Hamburger buns e 12s i) Wednesday, Ju ne 17, 1992 : 3a Scott David Harrison EDITOR The Canada Post mystery continues. Despite repeated claims by Canada Post representative Ilona Beiks that the local outlet is staying put, Castlegar appears ready to fight the Crown corporation. “T’ll fight this as long as I can,” Councillor Bob Pakula told Beiks following her council presentation: “We have enough people hurting, we don’t need to hurt more people.” Pakula’s words were echoed by more than a few members of city council Tuesday as they tried to get to the bottom of well- circulated rumors that the local post office will be closed by 1996. Coun. Jim Chapman said any changes to the local office would be an insult to local postal employees. Mayor Audrey Moore told Beiks that Canada Post must remain a “good corporate citizen.” She said the removal of local jobs through any alleged reshuffling plans would constitute a breech of trust to all of Castlegar. Beiks couldn’t guarantee that the local office would stay open, though. Instead, she said that “nothing is happening in Castlegar, for now.” : i That didn’t sit well with several members of Castlegar’s postal union, who jeered Beiks. Beiks urged city council not to get caught up in the scare tactics of Rural Dignity Canada and its B.C. director Sandra Groepler. : “(Rural Dignity) is a vested-interest Canada Post staying put... for now group committed to undermining all decisions by Canada Post regardless of their benefits to customers,” Beiks said, adding that the group is well financed by the postal union. Beiks later compared Groepler to Chicken Little, saying she is doing nothing put spreading harmful rumors. “I’m here to tell you that the sky isn’t falling,” Beiks said, “and I’d like to bring you out of Sandra Groepler’s fictional world.” Groepler defended her stance, saying Castlegar must keep fighting for full postal services. “Canada Post will close down Castlegar as long as we allow it,” she said. “We must get everyone involved to protest any move that is planned. And it is planned.” PLAYING WITH FIRE Seer a SecondFRONT CALL THE NEWS @General Inquiries 365-7266 OUR HOURS The News is located at 197 Columbia Ave. Our office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closedon weekends and statutory holidays. SUB RATES The News is published by Castle News Ltd. for Canwest Publishers Ltd. Mail subscription rate to The News is $37.50 per year. The price on newsstands is 75¢ for each edition. The price delivered by newspaper carrier for both editions is only 90¢ a week (collected monthly). GST extra. Second class mail registration number 0019. News photo by Jonathan Green Members of a B.C. Forestry Association firefighting camp at Lemon Creek set fire to a large trash pile at the Slocan dump Friday as part of their training and then practiced containment procedures until the fire was out. sunfest cancels — regatta Glen Freeman NEWS REPORTER Castlegar’s annual boat race has been sunk. A strike at-Celgar Pulp Co. - has forced the Inland Empire Outboard Racing Association to cancel what was billed as the biggest event of Sunfest. “Between the strike and the water level we don’t have a place to put the boats in the water,” said race co-ordinator Tom Hindley. The Columbia River has been at flood-level for some time now, but Hindley said it was the pulp strike that made up his mind. “(A Castlegar union representative) looked me in the eye and said ‘you cross that picket line and we’ll have a bloodbath,” Hindley said. “We don’t want any of that.” But a Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada Local 1 Wi Chairman calls for province to step in and end water dispute with United States Regional district joins water war The letter says the RDCK has suffered more from the Columbia River Treaty than any other area in the province. The RDCK also blames Neil Rachynski NEWS REPORTER help save the water in the local reservoirs. normal, seasonal levels, now.” provincial politicians. The provincial government is being urged to The Regional District of Central Kootenay has written a letter to B.C. Hydro and numerous government officials asking “that every effort be made at the corporate level as well as the political level to bring our lakes and reservoirs to RDCK chairman George Cady realizes the province is obligated to the Columbia River Treaty, but says pressure must be applied to the “Where there’s a political will, there’s a mechanical way,” Cady said. “With the Columbia River Treaty negotiations, only the issue of power and money are on the table, not water levels.” . some of its woes on what it calls “the heavy hand” of B.C. Hydro. give (the States) so much,” Cady said. reservoir immediately. feet and 1,444 feet. “B.C. Hydro can say ‘no, we’re only going to He says the situation may require the attention of an international joint commission. Even Kootenay-East MP Sid Parker is getting involved. Parker has asked the B.C. government to protect the water levels in the Kookanusa A report from Parker says Montana’s Libby Dam has increased its draw from 8,000 cubic feet the per second to 22,000 cubic feet per second. As of Tuesday the water level in the Arrow reservoir at the Hugh Keenleyside Dam was 1,417 feet. B.C. Hydro says the normal operating range for the Arrow reservoir is between 1,378 representative said he doesn’t know about any threats. “As far as I knew (the regatta) was going to be on,” said Mike Babaeff. “We were even planning on moving the picket line away from the viewing area.” Hindley said he was sorry that the event had to be cancelled, but added that his organization couldn’t afford to wait to see if the strike would end before the Sunfest. “We have racers coming from California and all over, so we had to make a decision now. “It’s just a crummy deal for poor people in the community. They worked hard for this and now they don’t get to see a race.” A Sunfest committee news release said that “an alternate date is being considered.”