eA4 Fire at home in Raspberry . sparks family’s awareness @ Robson volunteer firefighters called out twice last Saturday News Staff A fire Saturday morning at Keith and Sherry Watson’s home in Raspberry village caused little damage but was nonetheless a scary experi- ence, Sherry Watson says. “It could have been a lot worse but it is a scary thing how fast it happened, and with how many people were in the house, how no one no- ticed,” she said. “I mean here you are sitting around with friends drinking coffee and and there’s a fire burning under you, literally.” The fire, caused by an elec- trical short, started at about 11:30 a.m. on a shelf ‘in the basement storage area. Keith, who volunteeys with the Robson fire department, had it out “relatively quickly” using a fire extinguisher. The fire department attended to make sure it was completely out and to ventilate the home, Sherry Watson said. The fire charred floor joists above the shelf, and wiring and plumbing pipes running between the joists. Smoke caused damage throughout the house. Cleaners were in last week to get rid of what smoke they could and. to scrape the charred area. Sher- ry Watson said once the clean- ing is finished, the damage mostly smoke damage but at this point in time, we don’t know what we have to replace,” she said. Since the fire, the Watsons and their two children have been staying with family but hope to be back home next week. Also on Saturday, Robson fire fighters attended a small grass fire in Robson on the mountainside behind John- ny’s Grocery. The cause of that fire is un- known and was extinguished before causing any damage. NEW DIGS News photo: Rossland-Trail Social Credit candidate Walter Siemens ice by Thomas Bink opens his C. EX] D'ARCY chris ina. JOIN THIS EXCITING WEST KOOTENAY TEAM VOLUNTEERS WELCOME Castlegar - 365-3734 Trail - 368-3115 7, 1991 A7 @ ——* You're Invited This is your invitation to attend the Covenanting Service of Rev. Ann Pollock at Castlegar United Church on Sun., Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. when she is formally welcomed to our church and community. New Services Now Available = All New & Used Vehicle Registration and Transfer = Out of Province Vehicle Registration = Registration of Home Made Trailers = Social Services Tax Exemptions = Always Open Saturdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Cohoe Insurance Agency Ltd. 1127- a St., Castlegar '5-3301 “a sate octane cn ai a = PACKAGE #1 Fischer Ceramic Ski $350 NOW Salomon 447 Binding $140 Installation $ 25 TOTAL $515 $4 99° scot Double Lens Goggles $24.99 => PACKAGE #2 Fischer Kevlar Ski Tyrolia 540 Binding Installation TOTAL ES NORDICA 517 Ski Boots 10.00 => PACKAGE #3 Fischer Pro-Tec Marker M38 Binding Installation “449” Great Selection Up to Off CASTLEGAR 365-5588 368-6400 352-3200 TRAIL NELSON LET'S GO snow: JUNIOR SKI PKG. Complete — Boots — Bindings — Skis & Poles Changes continued from page A6 But there are also things a great newspaper pays attention to that are not readily apparent to its readers, although they should be reflected in the final product. I’m talking about things like integrity ‘ and ethics, things of the utmost importance to me personally as editor of The News. Too often I see stories in community newspapers which are there simply because the subject of the story — a business or individual — bought an advertisement in that paper, or the newspaper is trying to curry favor with some special interest group. That’s bad journalism, plain and simple, and it won't happen at The News. Beyer continued from page A6 Of all the papers that run my column, only two are still receiving them by mail. The others get them via fax or mo- dem. And instead of taking anywhere from two to five days to reach their destina- tion, it takes a few minutes by fax and meré seconds by mo- dem. Five or six years ago, the threat of a postal strike was enough to put the fear of God into me. Today, I couldn't care less. At the very worst, the strike has been an inconvenience to me. Cheques haven't been ar- riving on time, and that could cause a problem in the long run. You gotta eat, right? But even that problem could be ad- dressed. I could stop eating or make arrangements to have the cheques sent to me by courier. Tm sure that most busi- nesses are coping with the strike as well as Iam. And I’m equally sure that future strikes will have even less im- pact on Canadians. In the not too distant fu- ture, every household will have a fax machine, and it won't even need a special phene line. Most fax machines come with phones attached. What would Aunt Betsy do with a fax machine? She would send letters by fax to whoever now gets them by mail, and at a lower cost in many cases. The average fax machine sends between two or three pages a minute. To get a three page letter to anyone with a fax machine in B.C. costs about 30 cents if you send it between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m.A letter would cost you 41 cents plus GST. Sending the same letter by fax anywhere in Canada out- side British Columbia costs 83 cents — double the postage — but with the undeniable ad- vantage that it gets there now, not a week from now. Electronic fund transfer, still in its infancy in Canada, will also contribute to the eventual demise of the postal service. In the U.S., which is far ahead of us in that depart- ment, you can make any pay- ment to any company or indi- vidual from your home or of- fice computer. You can let the y transfer on the date due. But you can also make out a cheque on your computer to any individual or firm not on the list.of regulars. If the mon- ey can’t be transferred elec- tronically, it’s delivered by courier. The cost for all this is no more than you pay to your bank now. All of which doesn’t bode well for the posties. And while” I don’t have too much of a problem with their demands, I have grave doubts about the union’s apparent inability to recognize the real enemy, which is technology, not Cana- da Post. oe The average pay for a postal worker was about $14 an hour or $28,000 a year be- fore the strike. The union is asking for $17 an hour by 1993. True, a 20 per cent wage hike over two years is a little ludicrous, considering we are just climbing out of a reces- sion, but I’m sure the final ag will be here near that. What floors me is that the union wants 2, 700 part-time to b perma- that offers this service know which payments occur regu- larly and it will make the nent jobs. In the light of what I described above, that de- mand is unreal. That doegn’t preclude stories about our advertisers, but if they pay to have something written about them or if a story is part of an advertising deal, the package will be clearly labelled as an advertising feature. A great newspaper also pays attention to its use of the Simon Birch language. proofread hundreds of thousands of words each month and we don’t catch every typo or every grammatical mistake. But we do try because we believe it’s important. Finally, there’s the way the news is packaged. A great newspaper makes its information easily accessible to its readers. To achieve that goal, we intend to increase the use of digests, fact boxes, news-at- a-glance, weekly updates and other summaries that furnish a quick yet comprehensive overview of the news for readers whose time is already in much demand by other commitments — in ‘their busy lives. Which brings me full circle to the product you’re now holding in your hands. But this edition is just a start. While it reflects many of the changes we're making, we expect the product to continue to evolve over the next few months as we add more features or discover ; some things don’t work as well as we'd like. Over the next few weeks in The News, I'll discuss some of the other changes we're making and why we're making them in our attempt to become a great community newspaper. Meanwhile, News. enjoy The continued from page A6 the windshield after getting a whiff of Celgar? But last summer friends from Alberta put me straight. “This is absolutely beauti- ful,” they said, indicating the mountain of green that seemed within arm’s reach of my living room window. And that was before they saw the beach at Syringa (and the golf course; my friend’s a golf fanatic). Once they had stretched out in the hot Koote- nay sun at Syringa, there was no other place they .wanted to be. We went back every day. I tried to suggest that they might want to try one of the day hikes or a visit to one of our local attractions. No way. They only had eyes for the beach. If you've seen the lakes in Alberta you know why they wanted to spend so much time at Syringa. These friends have made the trek down from the frozen tundra of Edmonton to lie on the sand at Penticton every year for the last 12 or 13. They love the Okanagan. But not es- pecially because of Osoyoos or Kelowna or Penticton. They love the water and the warm weather. In fact, my friend says the Okanagan has everything the other, more exotic, vacation spots have: sun and sand. berta shoot by us on Highway 3 and travel the extra four hours to the Okanagan? (In- cluding our friends.) Things like waterslides, go-carts and bungee jumping may have something to do with it. But the Okanagan was a favorite vacation spot long before those attractions appeared. (In fact, I believe many of them ap- peared BECAUSE of the tourists.) Tourists skip by Castlegar because we don't LOOK like a place for tourists. Certainly we have magnificent surround- ings, but tourists want more. In fact, that’s one of Castle- gar’s biggest problems: it doesn’t LOOK much of any- thing. It LOOKS like a place where people get up and go to work and come home again. While we may lead very enjoy- able lives it’s not very ing to visitors. And that will have to change before Castlegar can ever hope to be a REAL tourist spot. CRIC CRTC ~ Public Notice 1991-87. RENEWAL OF BROADCASTING UNDERTAKING LICENCES DUE TO EXPIRE IN 1992. The Commission hereby announces that it has received licence renewal applications, some with amendments, for the following broadcasting undertakings. These licences expire on 31 August 1992 with an exception expiring-31 December 1991 and eight expiring on 28 February 1992 as identified in the Notice and, subject to interventions, the Commission proposes to renew them for a ‘an application for control of a licensee. 3. CASTLEGAR, B.C. Application (910815000) by VALLEY BROADCASTER LTD., (CKQR). Examination of vegar B.C. V1N 146. 87. CASTLEGAR, B.C. Application (911350700) by VALLEY KOR Castlegar, for approval to transfer the the wanster of 15,899 common s! ai the issued and outstanding. shares/from Gordon A. Brady and Serge Boundary Broadcasting Ld. ‘Exeminaion of application: 525-11th Ave., Cast further term. The Notice also contains BROADCASTING LTD. licensee effective control of the licensee. thi VIN 108. This Notice Canada | to transler the effective application: 525-111h Ave., Cast feeugh CRTC, Central Bulg Les Terrasses de la Chaudiere, 1 Promey and through the Portage, Room Burrard St., Box 1300, Vancouver, B.C. V6Z 2G7. Interventions must be filed with the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ont. K1A ON2, with proof that @ copy has been Served on the applicant on or before 27 September 1991. For more information you may also call the CRTC Public Hearings Branch at (819) 997-1328, CRTC Information Services in Hull at (819) 997-0313, Fax (819) 994-0218 or the CRTC regional office in Vancouver (604) 666-2111 ie Canachan Radio-television and Telecommunicahons Commss0 process is CRTC regional office: Suite 1380, 200 Conseu de la radiodittusion et des telecommunications canadennes OPEN HOUSE Stanley Humphries Secondary School will be holding an Gpen House on Thurs., Sept. 12 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Parents are Invited to: * meet the teachers * learn more about the educational program * learn about the Advisor System * learn about the Parent Advisory Council * tour the building