ive Library,

tiament Bldgs

Victoria,
VBV Ik4

Castlegar
to get UN

sador for Disarmament, says that
Castlegar will get an United Nation's
Association — Canada branch office in
the near future.

Roche, on the final stop ofa
cross-country tour, said Castlegar
would be an ideal place to set up a
volunteer-operated office of the UNA.

“I very much hope there will be a
development of the United Nations
Association here in Castlegar,” he told
reporters at a news conference this
morning at the Brilliant Cultural
Centre.

Rockettes
runners-up

Soccer
violence

page B2

501 Belleville St
Cc.
bi 28

Vol. 40, No. 100

BURNED OUT
garage destroy:

Tony DaCosta inspects
nan early-morning fi

mains of
Tuesday.

BRISCO, KRISTIANSEN

Free trade debated

By BRENDAN NAGLE
Staff Writer

The free-trade agreement with the
U.S. will benefit the West Kootenay,
says Conservative MP Bob Brisco.

“I think you'd see an expansion of
technology in terms of Cominco and I
think as well, you'd see an expansion of
the technology that is being-developed
on an ongoing basis by the industry and
government in terms of the forest
industry,” Brisco said.

Brisco made the comments in a
free-trade debate with former Koote-
nay West NDP MP Lyle Kristiansen
Tuesday at Stanley Humphries sec-
ondary school. The debate was held for
the school’s Grade 11 and 12 students
to provide them with a better under-
standing of how a free-trade agreement
with the U.S. will affect Canada's
young people.

Brisco opened the debate with a
short 10-minute speech outlining the
benefits of the agreement that is
expected to be signed by Canada and
the U.S. on Jan. 2, 1988.

“Youth unemployment is a very
critical issue,” Brisco said. “Sixty-five
per cent of unemployed youth who are

Christmas hamper
drive 'going well’

By CasNews Staff

More than 100 needy Castlegar
families will receive a Christmas
dinner, thanks to the Royal Canadian
Legion's Community Hampers pro-
gram.

“It seems to be going well so far,”
said Ruth Rourke, chairman of the
Hamper Committee.

Rourke said the committee will
probably be able to provide a hamper
for all of the 114 names on its list.

The list is comprised of names
provided by the Ministry of Social
Services and Housing, and “sometimes
people phone in with names,” said
Rourke.

The committee collects non-perish-
able food items, toys, and money at
drop-off spots located at the Legion and
the Rourke residence on 7th Avenue.

The Legion buys turkeys, oranges,
potatoes, and other food to fill the
hampers. A bag of candy and a toy is
included in the hamper for those who
have children, said Rourke.

The Castlegar veneer Fire
Department stages & toy drive every
year for the hamper fund. Rourke said
community groups such as the Tarry's
Fire Department, the Brownies, and

chureh groups also help out.

Stanley Humphries secondary
school students held a drive for toys
and food for the Community Hampers
program. Within school, home-
rooms competed see which could
gather the most food.

Rourke says the number of people
on the list varies from year to year,
but “we never keep track of it. It just
depends on how many are not working
or split up,” she said.

Rourke has been on the Hamper
Committee for about 13 years and says
she has seen some of the same names
on the list for several years.

“I wouldn't like to be in that
situation myself,” she said.

Rourke admitted the hamper pro-
gram can be depressing at times for
both the volunteers and the people who
receive the hampers.

“We had one woman that it took
two to three hours to stop her from
crying. I told her, Tll give you a
hamper this year on one condition: that
you don’t ery this time,’ ” Rourke said,

Donations will be accepted until
Friday when the volunteers start
packing the hampers in the evening at
the Legion Hall.

unemployed for°mofe than sit months
— 65 to 70 per cent of them are high
school dropouts.”

He said that education to Grade 12
and beyond is essential to the future of
young people in the country. To
compete in future high-technology
fields supported in tt gree-
ment with the U.S.’ Brisco said it's of
utmost importance for Canada’s youth
to get an education for the benefit of
the country and its people.

Kristiansen followed Brisco with a
10-minute speech of his own and im-
mediately tore into Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney's opposition to free
trade prior to 1985.

“It's no secret that the prime
minister . it least as late as 1985 was
adamant in his opposition to free
trade,” Kristiansen said. “How can the
government now justify such a com-
plete about face and proceed with an
agreement that binds this country for a
long, long period of time?”

Kristiansen, who said there should
be an election based on the free-trade
agreement because the Canadian
people should have the right to decide
whether to proceed with such a major

. » Stanley gp exper: secondary school

HAMPER HELPERS .
students with their contributions to

Arson is suspected.

CosNewsPhoto by Bonne Morgon

fssue, said the Mulroney government
jumped at free trade:to bolster its
sagging popularity with the Canadian
people.

Brisco bristled at the suggestion
that Mulroney started supporting free
trade in 1985 because of his party's
waning popularity.

The changing economy over the
two years from 1983 made a free-trade
agreement with the U.S. a good op-
portunity for.growth in the Canadiuan
economy, he said. He also said the
prime minister had made up his mind
to pursue free trade with the U.S.
before 1985.

“I remind you, however, that in
1985 it was the prime minister who put
that (free trade) committee on the road
to examine the free-trade issue and at
that time was supportive of the issue,”
Brisco said. “I would challenge that
reference (to Mulroney being against
free trade as late as 1985).”

Kristiansen said Kootenay West
would suffer under free trade with the
U.S. The area would lose its competi-
tive edge on power rates and see fewer
jobs in processing resources.

continued on page A2

rade 1}

school’s food and toy dri All

‘4 Sections (A, 8, €.& 0)

Garage fire

could have
been arson

By BONNE MORGAN
Staff Writer

The DaCosta family awoke to a
telephone call from neighbors early
y morning informing them their

house was on fire.

It turned out the DaCosta’s garage
directly behind the house at 112-8th
Avenue was on fire.

Castlegar Volunteer Fire Depart-
ment received the first call at 1: ,
and the fire was “fully involved” when
firefighters arrived on the scene.
Thirteen firefighters from the north
end firehall attended the blaze.

“It looks like arson,” said fire chief
‘People there

fact the family dog was tied up inside
the garage for the night, but was un-
harmed by the fire that totally
destroyed the garage.

“The person who set the fire put
the dog out. They untied the dog,”
DaCosta said.

He also told the Castlegar News in
an interview that this was the third
or fourth fire in the garage in the last
year.

Castlegar RCMP spent much of
the night on the scene with a tracking

dog.

The garage was insured and the
loss of the building and contents has
been estimated at $10,000.

The fire burned overhead tele-
phone lines and telephone service for a
block in either direction was out for the
better part of the day.

Blueberry water
supply a concern

By CasNews Staff
Blueberry Creek residents are still
hooked onto an emergency water
supply one week after 16,000 litres of
fuel oil spilled into its water supply.
Last Wednesday a tanker truck
tipped over on Highway 3 contam-
inating the Blueberry Creek water
supply approximately three kilometres
above the intake.

William Kavaloff, secretary of. the
Blueberry Water Improvement Board,
is worried the temporary line will
freeze in.cold weather.

“When I go to bed at night, I never
know whether there's going to be
water in the morning,” Kavaloff said.

Kavaloff said the 400-metres of
1%s-inch firehose running overground

continued on page A‘

a

donations will be handed over to the Legion Community Hampers

Program.

-CosNewsPhoto by Ron Nor mon