A4 January 3, 1988 ESTABLISHED AUG. 7, 1947 INCORPORATING THE LV CAMPBELL CIRCULATION MAI NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT, Full complete ond Jn o proals engra Castlégar News AARAADER OF THE B.C, PRESS COUNCH {AD With MIRROR PUBLIBMED Sart” 13, 1978-AUG 27, 1980 PUBLISHER AUG. 7. 1947-68. 19, 1979 Ron Norman. PLANT FOREMAN — Peter Harve OFFICE MANAGER — L copyright in any printed ms dn hot OSMZ WICK WEEKLY MAY 4, 1900 Burt Campbell do Kos! ing Hadley Produced by Conte News Lids oP. 0h. provided iny the adv ‘ond that port only of shall remain in ond Goodbye 1987, hello 1988 A lot of good things happened in Castlegar in 1987. For many, the high point was Main in Motion Rick Hansen's visit in early May. Mr. Hansen caused all of us to stop and rethink our attitudes about the disabled and about ourselves Then there was the construction and opening of the $445,000 library. The library has proved so popular, services and .programs are bursting at the seams. And the historic CP Rail station was moved from its familiar loca tion at the junction of the tracks, across the way to a permanent location at the foot of 13th Avenue and 3rd street. The move drew huge crowds, many of them old time residents who recalled the Station in Castlegar's early days SunFest took place more than a month earlier than usual in 1987 and was given a facelift that made the annual three-day summer celebration one of the most suc cessful in recent memory. After months of restoration the chapel house on Zuckerberg Island was officially ‘re-opened Please address all Letters to the Editor to: The Castlegar News, P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. VIN 3H4, or deliver them to our office at: 197 Columbia Avenue, Castle- gor, B.C Letters must be signed and inciude the writers tull name and odd: Only in very exceptional cases will le! be published without the writer's name. Nevertheless the name and address of the writer must be disclosed to the editor The Castlegar News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality and grommor and over at the airport, million terminal building expan- sion got underway. Celgar Pulp Co. confirmed its plans to spend up to $48 million modernizing its pulp mill, while a $20 million upgrading program at Westar Timber’s Southern Wood Products sawmill continued Of course, 1987 wasn't without its trouble spots, like the industrial park debt which is still unresolved, and the 17-week Cominco strike. But on the whole, Castlegar moved confidently ahead in 1987 And 1988 should prove just as in- teresting. On the horizon is a 60- bed addition for the Castlegar and District Hospital and continuatién of the modernization programs at Cetgar pulp mill! and “the SWP sawmill. Who knows, there may even be a new mall this year. This year Castlegar will also ex- perience the- excitement of the women's World Cup ski races. Though Rossland’s Red Mountain is hosting the March races, many of the skiers will stay in Castlegar, along with hundreds of media and race organizers. Then there's the Keenleyside Dam generating project. Provin- cial Energy Minister Jack Davis is high on the $860 million project that could be the biggest boom in Castlegar since the dam was con- structed more than 20 years ago. It's clear Castlegar and _ its residents have a lot to look for- ward to in 1988. But we must remember it takes people to make good things happen; people who are positive about their community and confident of their abilities. It’s a new year and that means one thing: New-year predictions. What does 1988 hold in store? The tabloids have their own answers to that question. People like Jeanne Dixon predict everything under the sun, including no doubt that Eliz abeth Taylor will marry an extra terrestrial only to divorce him/her. it a few months later, citing ir reconcilable differences. But the tabs’ predictions pale in comparison to mine, which came to me in a caffeine haze as I sat with my head slumped over a cold cup of coffee at my typewriter. At least mine should be more reliable. Kootenay West MP Bob Brisco will continue to pump millions of federal tax dollars into this riding, but will still trip up over phil osophical issues like refugee legis lation. He will finally call it quits, renounce his Canadian citizenship and set up practice as a chiropractor on a small South Seas island. He will eventually return to Canada as g, refugee following political violence on the island. But he won't be allowed in under the new refugee regulations. Rossland-Trail MLA Chris D'Arcy will disappear on a Castle gar-Vigtoria flight. D'Arcy will sage, reappear six months later, telling all he was kidnapped by his own NDP party. He will take his seat again in the provincial legis lature and try to re-open the legis. lative prayer room. Mayor Audrey Moore will try to kill two birds with one stone in a bid to promote Castlegar as the centre of the universe and sell off industrial park lots. She will suggest to Premier Bill Vander Zalm that he move the parliament buildings from Victoria into the industrial park. She even offers a break on the lots and city taxes. But Vander Zalm rejects the offer because the ‘park land isn't privatized. Taking a page out of the B.C. Government Employees’ Union bid Ron Norman for the Highways maintenance con tracts, Ald. Len Embree and the carpenters’ union will purchase enough: shares of Kerkhoff and Sons Co. to take eontrol. They then turn it into a union shop and get back all the jobs they lost to the non-union firm over the last number of years Former Kootenay West MP Lyle Kristiansen decides he’s also had enough of politics after losing the Kootenay West NDP nomination. He considers an offer to become executive assistant to Nelson Mayor Gerald Rotering, but turns it down to take a part in a musical in Malkin Bowl's Theatre Under the Stars series in Vancouver. ~ ’ Iris Bakken formally goeston Premier Bill's payroll as his i:PR person. But she loses her job when the position is privatized and she is underbid by, who else, Fred Peit- zsche? The Castlegar-Robson ferry will be bought under the privatization program by the same person who buys the Castlegar liquor store. The new owner will then shut down the liquor store and open it on the ferry, charging a fee to get on the ferry at the same time. The new owner? Jimmy Pattison, of course. Premier Bill will get the priv- atization bug and’ decide to put his premier’s position on the block. The lowest bidder is Fred Wilson of the B.C. Communist Party. And that’s the end of privatization. Airport weatherman Tom Willson decides to try to fill Kootenay West MP Bob Brisco’s shoes and runs as an independent. Willson's slogan? “Don't spit into the wind.” His opponent's slogan? “It doesn’t take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” And of course, work on a new mall will begin in 1988. Ground-breaking will take place in May with con- struction soon to follow. Oh, alright, the last prediction is a little far-fetched. { the $2 x UI ° FRVILEGEDP Remember The New Year was celebrated. in style by the residents of Castlegar and district. Many entertained in their own homes while dances were held in Kinnaird, Castlegar, Playmor and the Castle Theatre had a midnite Frolic. *_ * « A Kiwanis Club luncheon was held to meet Lieutenant Gov. Everett Jenne of District Six. Mr. Jenne in- stalled the 1948 officers of the Castlegar Club..The -whole slate’ of officers from the previous year was retutned for 1948. © ene Stewart Granger and Anne Craw- ford starred in the motion picture Caravan. It played at the Castle Theatre. * * Letters to the Editor Plans prep: by R.W. Haggan of Rossland were submitted for approval, showing the subdivision of the N. Oswald property for the new location of the Transportation Society and the Forget privatization 1987 has been a traumatic year for Canada and particularly so for British Columbia. Take for example the plan to Privatize highway maintenance in our province. There is nothing that more quickly puts politicians and govern- ments out of favor with their electors than poorly maintained winter roads. Several weeks ago while returning from Kelowna, my wife and I had a very harrowing five-hour drive on treacherous roads that had not been plowed or sanded. No doubt the crews were caught off-guard by this first sudden snowfall of the season, but all throughout our life-threatening trip I kept asking myself this question: Is our non-consulting provincial government — with its irrational determination to privatize highway maintenance — undermining the morale and the per. formance of the highway crews? It seems very likely. Former highways minister Alex Fraser and several past deputy min. isters — men who should know what they are talking about — are seriously concerned that this ill-advised priv atization will lead to inferior mainte- nance, dangerous winter roads and higher-costs of supervision, in other words, a higher cost for lower quality performance. Added to this will surely be other serious problems such as large numbers of competent, experienced workers unemployed, and equipment storage yards full of high cost equip: ment purchased with our taxes sitting there rusting or being auctioned off at giveaway prices. As for the suggestion that em ployees become entrepreneurs and buy up the maintenance system: Having worked for this department in the past I know that for the most part highway workers — like most Canadians — just want to do their daily jobs and be free to go fishing or do their gardening on weekends. Surely, they have no more capital lying around than the rest of us have. To suggest that they would suddenly be ready, willing and able to come up with very considerable finanees and be willing to undergo the risks linvolved in taking over district highway maintenance would seem not only ridiculous but facetious as well. In the Interior and in the north of our province, where highly critical plowing and sanding is required for at least six months of the year, highway maintenance is a heavy-duty, life-and. death responsibility that our provincial government should not be jeopardizing in any way. In mountainous areas such as the Rogers Pass — where annual snowfall can be as much as 50 feet — there is no place for a hodge-podge of small, uncoordinated private oper. ations. Highway maintenance — like forest fire protection — is primarily a standby type of job. When there is no emergency it is not generally expected that highly energetic projects will be Merchant needs better attitude Having lived in Castlegar for three years, I have always tried to shop locally. Yet, another bad experience has proved to me that it is justifiable to shop out of town. My three children and I were recently in the local family shoe store buying winter boots for my son. I re ceived poor, pushy service, and at one point was told it was too bad I wasn't willing to spend the $30 on boots for my five-year-old, at which point, I collected my children and left the store. I don't think it is up to anyone to decide how much I should spend. It seems if this merchant wants people to shop locally, thus supporting the community, it would be a definite asset to adopt a better attitude! undertaken, providing that when the crisis is on — whether it be ;heavy snowfall or forest fire — the mien and equipment are ready, willing and able to deliver. As in all organizations, of course, there is room for improvement on the part of the B.C. Department of High- ways. The department could do with a better image — a situation which both management and employees should definitely be trying to improve. And if the BCGEU has been overly demanding when negotiating on the part of government employees, then this union must bear some of the blame for the precarious- predicament in which our highway system now finds itself. The union's proposal to bid for takeover of the entire maintenance program — and hold it for a future more responsible government — ap- pears to be a commendable idea. How- ever, I doubt whether the premier would allow this to happen. In the final analysis, the question to ask ourselves is this: What will this privatization scheme accomplish? A large number of qualified, experienced people will be pushed out of their much-needed jobs. Those who succeed in being hired by the private contractor are likely to find themselves working at much lower wages. Highway safety which is “touch and go” at the best of times — especially in winter — will tend to be jeopardized, and govern- ment supervisory costs are almost sure to rise. So the end result will be that we can expect to pay more for a lower quality performance. I would say this to our govern. ments and politicians — both federal and provincial — who persist in op pressively barging ahead with their schemes without consulting the people: They can expect to go unceremoniously “down the drain” at the next elections — and they will not be deserving of any sympathy for their defeat. The best New Year present our premier could give to the people of this province would be to forget once and for all about his ill-conceived scheme of privatizing highway maintenance. Harry Killough Castlegar Our ‘uranium folly’ By CAL SANBORN (Calvin Sandborn is staff counsel for the West Coast Environmental Law Association). Ten thousand years from now, who will remember privatization, union-busting, or proposals for a 12-month school year? Yet, long after B.C. Place and the Coquihalla Highway have crumbled to ancient dust, our descendants may remember and curse the Vander Zalm government for \s most lasting legacy — authorizi iz uranium development in this provjfice. Uranium mining and milli inevitably release radiation into the environment — radioactive dust and gases into the air, radium into the water, radioactive tailings onto the ground. Worse, such radiation may remain dangerous for a period of time which greatly exceeds the span of recorded human history. Little wonder that official B.C. Medical Association policy states that it is “irresponsible . to allow further development of uranium mining and reactor con struction until a safe, proven, perm anent disposal technology is developed for the wastes that have already been generated.” Our uranium folly may well be remembered internationally as well. Canada’s uranium — exported~ along with our reactor technology — has already enabled both sides of the India. Pakistan feud to develop atomic wea pons. We have contributed nuclear technology to such stable and demo cratic regimes as the Argentine junta and the government of South Korea. If a third world war does destroy the planet, Canada will have played a “world-class” role. After all, we are the largest exporter of uranium in the world. Contrary to the spirit of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Canadian uranium is used in the nuclear weapons of the United States, Britain and France. Ironically, there is strong evidence that some Canadian uranium has found its way into Soviet warheads. Some would say such activity makes us a Partner in Enter. prise. Others would say it makes us a Partner in Armageddon. In 1979, Victoria appointed the Bates Commission to study the uran- ium issue in depth. However, when the 1980 uranium moratorium was an- that it is again legal to develop uranium in B.C. — yet the development will take place without the benefit of the full public inquiry that Victoria promised us in 1979. Two-thirds of the Bates Commission's scheduled expert wit- nesses have yet to give their oral testi mony, and the commission has yet to- hear the bulk of the evidence on issues of it control, safety, and ethics. If the province intends to develop uranium, at the very least we should give the issue the benefit of a careful and complete Royal Commission study. The roster of eminent international scientists who were to be called by the B.C. T Co. . 28 « Collinson'’s General Store adver- tised a special children’s lunch menu with prices ranging from 25 cents to 30 ‘cents. ee It was announced a Kindergarten class would open up in the coming week. Parents who wanted their pre- school age children to attend could contact Mr. Ohlausen. 25 YEARS AGO From the Jan. 3, 1963 jar News Celgar expected to spend as much as $250,000 on plant changes to improve product quality, plant flex- ibility and increase efficiency. The $250,000 was to be added to the original budget forcasted for 1963. . * « A new 42 ft. by 120 ft. equipment shed was under construction for the department of highways. The building was to serve the Castlegar-Kinnaird area and provide space for the depart- ment to house and repair winter equip- ment. * 28 « The year-end report of the public works committee of the Village of Castlegar was presented at council's last meeting of 62 by Comm. V.R. Cook. The department had laid 4,935 ft. of sidewalk, 2,365 ft. of reinforced re- taining walls, five catch basins and a drainage field for each and 3,000 ft. of blacktop. * It was reported that Castlegar sold its oldest fire truck to the district of Casino for $380. ss Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea starred in Ride The High Country at the Castle Theatre. . * W.K. Gwyer of Trail was ap- pointed general manager of the West Kootenay Power and Light Company. 15 YEARS AGO From the Jan. 11, 1973 jar News It was reported that the town of Kinnaird was considering the purchase of a 100,000 gallon tank to be used for additional water storage. The price of the tank was set at $19,603. * © « The Castlegar Public Library an- nounced it will increase the number of board trustees to nine members from seven. * 2 « Two Castlegar Crisis Intervention Centre received a-$17,832 grant from the federal government to operate a crisis centre available by telephone 24 hours a day. * 28 « PWA's flight 601 from Vancouver to Penticton and Castlegar was hi jacked by an unemployed 26-year-old salesman a week earlier. The hijacker demanded $2 million. The hijacking ended without incident and the man was apprehended by the authorities in Vancouver. 5 YEARS AGO From the Jan. 1, 1983 Castlegar News A precedent-setting severance pay cheque awarded to West Kootenay teachers was a positive step in guar- anteeing security for teachers said the Castlegar and District Teachers As presid Bob Cacchi * 2 6 The Kootenay Society for the had cleared the. first B.C. Medical A should be allowed to testify at public hearings, along with other public interest experts. We owe such a careful study to the B.C. miners who face increased cancer rates, to the neighbors of uranium de- nounced, the was pre maturely terminated. The commission was unabl® to hear the evidence of two-thirds of the experts scheduled to testify, including the vast majority of public interest witnesses. In February of last year, Victoria lifted the uranium moratorium. But the government has refused to reinstate the Bates Commission. The upshot is i who face the prospect of radioactive air and water, and to the people of the world who face the con- sequences of future Chernobyls and Hiroshimas. We also owe it to unborn generations of British Columbians who — bereft of a vote in the last election — will nevertheless be the ones to inherit the wind, the’ water, and the radio- active tailings. hurdle in a bid to establish a-garden nursery in the Castlegar area. * 8 6 Local skiers on thé Canadian Na- tional Ski team faced a $15,000 debt that made it difficult for local skiers to continue training. Felix Belezyk, Stan Hanson and Brian Fry were all affected by the debt. * 8 6 Striking construction workers at Tumbler Ridge were ordered back to work by the B.C. Labor Relations Board which ruled they could not — to work alongside non-union By MICHAEL