istative Library, “arliament Bldgs,, 501 Belleville Victoria, B. G, Feb: 28 Kinnaird elementary school students took part in a special arts night this week... A6 Youth Festival Some scenes of this weekend's 41st annual USCC Union of Youth Festival are captured in photographs taken at the first day Saturday... A3 ber was 43. Provincial lottery draw is 2506696. @ winning numbe Pick were: 12, 20, 24, 27, 29, 50, LOTTERY NUMBERS The winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto 6/49 draw were 3,7, 15, 19, 31, and 34. The bonus num- The $500,000 winning number in Friday's drawn on Friday in The 52 and 53. scholarship Jopan 2 Off to Japan Stonley Humphries secon- dary school student Tere: Lamb has won a special’ to study in _ Castlégar News Vol. 41, No. 41 60 Cents Rk yi CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, MAY 22, 1988 WEATHERCAST showers this evening. Hi 28° y will see sunny skies with cloudy periods and @ tew showers. Chance of precipitation 30 per cent by this afternoon ond 40 per cent 3 Sections (A, B & C) Robson ferry vigil continues By CasNews Staff It’s not the Pacific Princess or the Queen Mary but Robson residents are staying aboard the vessel 24 hours a day in their attempt to keep it operating between Castlegar and Robson. The cable ferry has been serving the area for the last 75 years and the protesters’ presidential suite is a small trailer parked on the vessel with a large sign on it which says “FERRY HQ.” While the accommo- dations may be spartan at best the protesters don’t complain because they really believe the ferry should be the provincial government's res- aboard the vessel to prove their point. Robson resident Debbie Horst and Raspberry resident Paul Tuph- olme were working the morning shift Friday starting at 7 a.m. Horst — a self-proclaimed domestic engin- eer — and Tupholme — a member of the Robson volunteer fire depart- ment — are just two of the people who have been taking watch duties on the ferry. “The shifts vary,” Horst says of the hodge-podge schedule the pro- testers use. “People work it out be tween themselves.” The shifts during the daylight hours are usually about four hours long and the protesters pass the time by playing cards on the picnic table set up on the ferry or just talk ponsibility. And they are staying WATCH CONTINUES . . . (From left) Jerry Descham- ps, Veronica Pellerine, Paul Tupholme and his two about the latest developments con. cerning the service. The overnight watch shift is about 10-12 hours long with at least one person keeping watch. All shifts have at least two people on board at all times and the overnight guards take turns staying awake while the other rests in the trailer. The schedule isn’t usually set before hand. People just tell organ- izer Fern Allam when they can make it and she tries to fit them in as quickly as possible. “It depends on what hours you're working,” says Tupholme. “ fit in a time when you can get free.” The daytime protesters usually pack a lunch or even walk up to the nearby Lions Head pub for a bite to eat. Some don't even bother. children Eric and Matthew hold down the fort on the Robson-Castlegar ferry at Robson. CasNews photo by Brendan Nogie “I'm going home for breakfast,” says Horst as 10:30 a.m. rolls around and Veronica Pellerine re- places her. “I just drink lots of coffee on the morning watch,” she says pointing at her thermos and smiling. Pellerine will stay until 2 p.m. and Tupholme will, too, until the re placements come. The vigil continues. You just Rain does little for drought By CasNews Staff Despite above normal rainfall, the provincial Water Management Branch in Nelson says the drought situation in the Kootenays has improved little. After completing a check of area snowpack levels on May 15, snow water levels were found to be 53 per cent of normal in the East and West Kootenay basins, according to Dwain Boyer of the Water Management Branch. Boyer said the situation is not that bad at higher elevations, however, with the Upper Columbia basin meas- ured at 90 to 100 per cent of what it should be. Winter snowpack conditions were low and the spring runoff came early due to warm weather, said Boyer. “We can anticipate a low water supply this year,” said Boyer. He said recent rainy weather — which was slightly above normal in April and the first part of May — has improved the overall water supply outlook, but not enough to alleviate concerns. “Below normal snowpack and groundwater levels still give concern for water users,” he said. “We'll just have to hope for precipitation to make the drought condition’s impact less serious.” - CPR gave just not viable By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer CP Rail says it can't compete with truck traffic and that’s why it has asked the federal government's per- mission to abandon 161 kilometres of rail line between Castlegar and Mid. way. The National Transportation Agency of Canada will hold a public hearing in Castlegar Tuesday at the Community Complex beginning at 10 a.m. to deé- termine if the branch line should be abandoned. The rail line has been losing money for years. Agency figures indicate the rail line lost $1.4 million in 1984; $2.3 million in 1985 and $644,086 in 1986. The rail line — which was first used for servicing mines in the area — has been declared an “unviable operation” by the rail company. CPR spokesman Don Bower told the Castlegar News the line is no longer economical because trucks are far better at servicing the area than the rail company. He also said the fleet of rail cars carrying lumber and wood chips is deteriorating and the railway can't afford to replace them without substantially raising its rates. “We're priced so low now to be com. petitive we can't renew the fleet,” Bower said in a telephone conversation from Vancouver. “It’s not economic and it’s not viable.” A steady increase of truck traffic in the area the stretch of rail line serves has cut the need for raiJ-hauling ser. vices, Bower contends has virtually changed to ‘FITNESS WAR' DECLARED ON TRAIL, NELSON By CasNews Staff Castlegar has declared war on Trail and Nelson —at least for one day. And it’s mere a-fitness war than anything else. Wednesday is Participaction Challenge Day across Canada and Castlegar has been challenged by both Trail and Nelson to see which is the fittest city in the West Kootenay. Last year Castlegar was rated ninth in the province with 59.43 per cent of its population participating. This year the city is hoping to top that. The Castlegar and District Recreation Department, which is coordinating the challenge here, is urging the citizens of Castlegar to do anything for 15 continuous minutes that will make their hearts beat faster and in doing so beat Nelson and Trail. This activity could be anything from cutting the grass, planting a garden, ironing clothes, playing tennis, going for a brisk walk, playing ball or taking part in one of the many activities that the recreation department is offering. Just keep in mind that activity can be very simple or off the wall just as long as the heart rate is increased. Then, when the activity is completed, just call the recreation office at 365-3386 from 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. and register the activity. Recreation department staff will be going to area schools to help them with their activities during the day. At the Castlegar Community Complex from 10 - 11 a.m. there will be a giant aerobic class. By evening those who still haven't done an activity can come to the complex and take part in the many activities that the recreation department is offering. There will be tennis, volleyball, fitness class, rollerskat- ing, group walk, children's fitness class and cycling. Refreshments will be available to add more fuel to GETTING READY . . . Castlegar residents are all set to take on Nelson and Trail in the Participation Challenge Wednesday. the fitness fire. All this activity will get underway at 6:30 .m. If none of these activities falls into your schedule, why not grab your fellow workers, and instead of taking that 15-minute coffee break take a 15-minute exercise break? If you work ina store, grab your customers and form a conga line and have a ball. What could be a better way to do something just a little bit different that you always wanted to do and show Trail and Nelson that Castlegar is the number one city in the West Kootenay? all trucks,” Bower said. “You just can’t move small volume, short-haul econom. ically (over the rail line).” John Pratt, Celgar Pulp Co.'s traffic and shipping superintendent, echoed Bower's comments, saying the pulp mill has steadily increased its use of trucks for hauling wood chips. The rail line has tried to compete with the trucks for the wood chip market and Pratt said the rail company can ho longer compete because it needs new chip cars and the capital cost of purchasing the cars will be passed on to Celgar. “They wanted substantially higher rates and a longer contract in order to justify replacing the chip car fleet,” Pratt said. “They wanted 30 to 50 per cent more for chip hauling in order to cover capital costs of new chip cars.” Pratt said the mill is currently expanding its chip-handling facilities to accommodate more trucks. Celgar is instaliing a chip truck unloading facility that could handle up to 120 trucks a day, Pratt said. About 60 trucks a day are currently unloading chips at the mill. He also said the number of rail cars unloading chips at the mill varies, with the maximum number being 15. But the rail company's bid to aban- don the line has been met with staunch opposition. Nelson Mayor Gerald Rotering has sent a letter to the federal agency office in Ottawa outlining that council's opposition to the closure. Nelson coun- cil voted unanimously to oppose aban- donment of the line at its May 16 meet- ing. “Operation of the branch line is re- quired in the public interest,” council said in the letter. “We simply must retain and utilize every economic support and development tool at our disposal.” Castlegar council also plans to make a presentation opposing the line abandonment at the hearing. Meanwhile, unions representing CP Rail workers will also be at the hear- ing. Gary Kennedy, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees in Western Canada, said the closure of the line is just a continued on page A2 West Kootenay Power on short list By The Canadian Press VICTORIA — West Kootenay Power and Light Co. is among the short-listed bidders for B.C. Hydro's natural gas division on the mainland. “We're pleased with the offers,” Energy Minister Jack Davis said in a news release. “Proposals for Mainland Gas, for example, were far in excess of the rate base price of $580 million.” Davis also reiterated the govern ment's promise that legislation will be introduced to guarantee fair prices for natural gas consumers for three years. After that he said it will be stringently regulated. Negotiations on all four divisions of Corp. of Winnipeg; Pacific Rim Gas Inc., a subsidiary of Hong Kong and China Gas Co. Ltd., which is the sole distributor of manufactured gas in Hong Kong; and Pan’ Pacific Utilities Corp., a management-led employee group which is in partnership with Great Lakes Power Ltd., a wholly. owned subsidiary of Great Lakes Group Inc. of Toronto. The Victoria gas division has Inland Natural Gas, Inter-city Gas and Pacific Northern Gas — a subsidiary of West- coast Transmission — biddihg. for it. The freight division has four bidders — Essex Morterm Holdings Ltd., based in Windsor, Ont.; Itel Rail Corp. of San F i Pacifie Northern Rail Con- B.C. Hydro are expected to conelude in mid-July. West Kootenay Power's connection is through a consortium called British Columbia Energy Inc., — a consortium of First City Financial Corp. Ltd& owned by Samuel Belzberg, and West Kootenay Power, whose parent com pany is UtiliCorp United Inc. of Kansas City, Mo. Other bidders for the mainland gas division were Vancouver-based Inland Natural Gas Co. Ltd.; Inter-city Gas tractors Corp. of Langley and Seanix Technology Inc. of Vancouver. For the research and development division, the government “has short- listed four bids. They are a joint venture by Alean International Ltd. and Teck Corp.; an employee group represerting about 70 per cent of the division's Ebco Industries of Vancouver; and Sy- nex International, a Vancouver-based company.