WEDNESDAY January 8, 1992 Vol. 2- No. 6 SHARLENE IMHOFF Sun Editor While Meningitis has claimed a 16-year-old girl from Montreal as its latest fatalit > an 18- -year- old male from Trail tory condition in Trail Regional Hospital after early detection of the disease. According to officials, the youth pital on January 1, and is doing well. Dr. Nelson Ames, medica health officer for the Central Kootenay Health Unit, says this particular case was discovered in its early stages, one of the reasons why the youth is recovering quickly. Christina Pauze, the 16-year- old from Montreal, died in hospi- tal shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday. Panze is the eighth young person. to die of the disease across Cana- da in recent months. According to Dr. Ames, Meningitis occurs when one of many bacteria types lead to an infection in the lining of the brain. One type of bacteria, called Hemophilous Influenza, is quite common in small children, although only a small number of cases d velop into the feared A taking any chances. Hemophilous Influenza is now available in Castlegar for children under the age of 18 months. While parents in other centres have had to take their children to the U.S. in order to receive a pre- scription, Pharmacist Tom Biln, who works at Pharmasave, says the vaccine has been available in Castlegar since November. Cashspiel won by the local Van zerloo rink Weekend prepares curlers for Zones/9A ‘Leading the way in supporting local business’ Meningitis case surfaces in Trail Health unit says youth is recovering “Since first receiving the vac- cine we have filled between-10- 12 prescriptions,” said Biln. The pharmacist was quick to add this doesn’t mean there were 10-12 cases of Meningitis in chil- dren under 18 months. Instead, it proves that parents are very con- cerned about some of the symp- toms their child might have and are not taking any chances. The vaccine, symptoms their child might have and are not Canada, a drug maiiufacturing company in Kirkland, Quebec. “We currently have three pre- scriptions waiting to be picked up,” said Biln. The vaccine is also available at Carl’s drugs in the Castleaird laza. A second serious type of bacte- —————— See CONCERN 2A eee Castlegar community services faces increase in ‘crisis calls’ Officials pinpoint need for low-income housing BRENDAN HALPER Sun staff According to Tish Lakes, director of the Castlegar and Dis- . trict Community Services, there wag an increase in cases over the holiday season. “We noticed an increase for what we call ‘crisis calls’ this year over previous years,” Lakes said, adding that crisis calls usu- ally come from regular clients who.are having a hard time get- ting through the holiday season. According to Lakes this can Mmm' good! be brought on by a number of things, including financial rea- sons as Christmas can bring on added stress to those members of the community who are already poor. “Also, with adults, their mem- ories are not of holiday dinners, but rather of mom and dad get- ting drunk and fighting,” she said. “A lot of people who have had to be separated from their families for these types of rea- sons get a hard reminder during the holidays.” These people who find them- SUN STAFF PHOTO / Shariene Imhoff Krystal Poznekoff, age 2, knows the true value of-a good hotdog doesn't necessarily include the bun— and who cares about a little bit of dirt anyway? count on a family for closeness or Lakes also pointed out the fact that the days are shortest during the holiday season. “The shorter days actually do have a negative effect on people,” she said. “It seems to be a pretty heavy combination—it means a little extra work for our staff.” However, she feels this may not be so much an increase of people in need, but rather increased community awareness causing those in need to be more willing to come forward and, “Not just sit and suffer or get drunk.” Lakes added that people com- ing forward hoping to break the cycle of generational emotional and family-related problems at a positive thing. Community Services intake worker Carla Staff said there were a fair number of new case intakes in the weeks preceding the holidays. “It started to heat up in early December,” Staff said. “Decem- ber is a difficult month—there is ooo, See CRISIS 2A ——— A sobering experience Sun Staff The RCMP checked 2,515 vehicles between December 8 and January 3 as part of their Christmas CounterAttack pro- gram. During that time they handed out two impaired driving charges, 11 24-hour suspensions and issued 38 warnings and 21 Alert tests. Ten traffic tickets were issued for various offences but there were no collisions involving injuries and only one where the damage exceeded $1,000. LEGISLATIVE LTRRARY HN HHA BEE IES MICTORIA BI Oh Baby! The New bundle of joy has arrive Proud parents say new son doing well/3A The Castiegar Sun Snow Joggers! ” ates » 2s ae MIXED Weather 3A 75 Cents + G.S. SUN STAFF PHOTO / Brendan Halper Rick Turner and pal, ‘Sounder’, braved the heavy snowfall and slush of January 2, to take a run along Broadwater Road. Public assistance sought to crack poaching case Sun Staff A Castlegar conservation offi- cer is requesting the public’ assistance in locating the people or person involved in a poaching incident involving a calf-elk. According to Michael Krause, a conservation officer in charge of the entire Castlegar district, a calf-elk was freshly killed on December 26 in the Robson- Brilliant-Pass Creek area. After removing the hind quar- ters, the poacher or poachers dumped the carcass in a ditch alongside the road leading to Verigan’s tomb. j BEESESISS The animal was found on December 29 by a local resident. “Poaching is a hard crime to pin down. We know it happens, but many times it's hard to find the carcasses,” said Krause. The conservation officer said RUBES limited entry for calf-elk hunters ended December 10, 1991. “The B.C. Wildlife Federation pays rewards for tips which lead to the conviction of an offender. All tips are confidential,” he fin- ished. By Leigh Rubin