Lewi Slative Libr, . ar, Parlianent Sldgs * Victoria, B, c. V8V ix4 : * 501 Bellevir). * . Tri-City Castlegar Travis Gr Steve” Junker Spokane Chiets to.a 5- 5 tie with the Tri- City natives Premier changes Premier Bill Vander Zalm says criticism of his leadership spurred him to make changes in his administration . . ,A2 LOTTERY NUMBERS Thé winning numbers in Saturday's Lotto 6/49 draw were 3, 7, 18,21, 41 and 44, The bonus number is 32. The $1,000,000 winning number in Friday's Provincial lottery draw is 4519624. The winning numbers drawn Pick lottery were 6, 11, 17, 22, 29, 32, 44 and 52. For all the lottery results turn to page B3. Editor takes a predict Friday in The | | Minister election . . Election anyone? Ron Norman look at pundits have failed to when Prime Brian Mulroney will call the hoe Sy Castlegar News WEATHERCAST Cloudy today with light intermittent rain by evening. Highs 13, Mainly cloudy again Monday with a few showers gnd highs 13-15. Chance *ot precipitation is 50 per cent today and 40 per cent Monday 60 Cents Vol. 41, No. 77 CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1988 2 Sections (A & B) SURVEYING THE MESS . . . Rev. Jim Ferrier of Grace Presbyterian Church inspects mess in church kitchen left by vandals. Damage to interior of church and hall was extensive CosNewsPhote by Bonne Morgan Ty Church es trashed by vandals By BONNE MORGAN Staff Writer Members of Grace Presbyterian Church are picking up the pieces after vandals trashed the. church this week. Rev. Jim Ferrier said he opened the ‘dpors of the church Thursday morning to find the church had been vandalized. Pamphlets lay scattered all over the floor, one pane of a window looked as though it had been smashed by a book, a communal table was tipped over and the church's Bible was damaged. Wall hangings had been ripped from the wall, and Ferrier's gown had been “used as a mop.” “It looks in some way if Hurricane Gilbert did a bit of a detour,” Ferrier told the Castlegar News. But, the worst destruction occur- red downstairs in the church hall “It just got progressively worse the farther I went in,” he said Kitchen cupboards were rifled and everything in the fridge had been removed and smashed on the floor along with fruit punch crystals and coffee grounds. Cleaning solutions and powders had been thrown ‘round the adjoining room. POS rin hte ‘WILL CALL FOR BIDS Province to put ferry on bloc By BONNE MORGAN Staff Writer The Castlegar-Robson ferry will be offered for sale to the highest bidder in a few weeks, says a Ministry of Highways spokesman. Earl Lund, executive director of operations for the ministry, told the Castlegar News that he expects Highways should complete paper work to offer the ferry operation for public tender within a week and legal notices should be appearing in news. papers within two weeks. Lund declined to say whey the ministry has decided to offer the vessel for sale. “You have-to-realize it's been dealt with at very high levels,” he said: Lund said the new owner will be granted a licence to operate the vessel in order to take over its oper ation But a Castlegar lawyer represen: ting the Robson-Raspberr Ferry Users Ad Hoc Committee says the group has already bought the ferry Terry Dalton said Premier Bill Vander Zalm offered the ad hoc com ‘Gam By BRENDAN NAGLE Staff Writer A former Celgar Pulp Co. official has teamed up with Vancouver entrepreneur Nelson Skalbania to purchase a Revelstoke sawmill. Jack Heavenor, former manager of fibre supply at Celgar, is now partnered with Skalbania and Bill Nimolowicz at the Downie Street sawmill in a venture Heavenor said was.a “gamble.” Heavenor and his new partners purchased the mill earlier this year and started producing finished lum ber from timber they had to pur chase. But the ultimate success of the mill hinged on a provincial forest licence that attracted 11 applications, including one from lumber giant Westar Timber Ltd. The Downie Street mill awarded the licence last week and Heavenor said the mill will now flourish with the readily-available timber supply. “We took a gamble and it paid off,” he told the Castlegar News. “The future of this business without access to a forest licence would have been was mittee the ferry for $1 and the com mittee accepted “You can't offer for sale a ferry that we concluded the purchase on,” said Dalton. “I don't know how he is going to get around that,” he added, referring to the ad hoc committee's scheduled court action Nov. 28. The committee is challenging the eancellation of the Castlegar. Robson ferry operation in Nelson Supreme Court. It maintains the closure was done without public hearings or advance warning as called for under the highways Act In a letter to ad hoc committee member Darlene Schultz, Vant said the ministry intends —to—eall for proposals to have a private operator run the ferry. “The ministry is presently prepar ing this proposal call and I am confident that once this has been resolved, the ferry service will be restored and operated to everyone's satisfaction,” said. Vant in the letter dated Aug. 31. ble’ pa questionable.” Heavenor said that before.the mill was given the rights to cut the Crown-land wood, it had to purchase all its timber. Under the terms of the forest licence, the mill now has the right to cut 159,000 cubic metres of timber annually for 15 years Without the licence, Heavenor said it would have been difficult to operate the Downie Street mill “We vould only produce what we could buy,” he said. “It would have been impossible to operate.” Now that the mill has the rights to cut the timber it also has to meet the provisions set out by the provincial government. Heavenor said the government awarded the licence to Downie Street because it is committed to meeting all the government's re quests. “We are committed to putting in a small log-processing facility and are studying the possibility of a re manufacturing facility,” he said. But the government also requires the mill to create job opportunities, manage timber, meet provincial TERRY DALTON already sold ys off environmental quality standards and contribute to provincial revenues. As well, Heavenor has to make sure all types of timber — including good, average and decandent — is harvested. At least 25 per cent of the timber taken from the forest licence has to be taken from steep slopes. where harvesting is more costly. And the mill has to reforest where it has cut “It’s a standard forest licence agreement,” he said, adding that Downie Street will meet all of the government's requirements. “It secures the existing employ ment base of 90 jobs,” he said. “Up to another 30 jobs will be created if we go ahead with the remanufacturing plant.” He also said an additional 40 people will be involved in logging and re forestation “We'll cut about 45 millipn board. feet of lumber per year,” he said.“It provides us with 50 to 60 per cent of our log requirement.” Heavenor and his taking over an operation that in the partners are continued on page A2 HELPING frustrating, but she also said she can draw from her COPE WITH BLINDNESS phone up here.” thin in the area, district office in United Way funding Staff Writer Editor's note: This is the first in a series looking at local individuals and organizations that benefit from By BRENDAN NAGLE Kelowna. There will be month to provide some great demand, she says experience to help the other 20 peopie in the Castlegar area who are CNIB members. | “There's nobody here to help really,” she-Says. “That's why I'm the liaison (for the Castlegar CNIB) because if anyone wants to talk about it they can She says the CNIB resources are stretched very with one person in the regional Cranbrook and| another office in a person coming up next assistance, but there is a “If we have to go to the doctor's or something, you have to make that appointment for when you have someone at home to take you,” she says. “If She came to the door and led me into the dining room, apologizing for the mess in the kitchen because she was canning peaches. The aroma of the peaches filled the air inside the house as she came from the kitchen and sat down across the table from me Kathy Gregory is legally blind Gregory lost her vision seven years ago to an eye disorder known as histoplasmosis. The disorder is caused by bleeding behind the eyes. She now sees only four per cent of what she used to see seven years ago. “It’s just like a jigsaw puzzle and the pieces are missing,” she says from across the table. “I see four per cent of that puzzle.” Kathy is a volunteer member for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) which is one ‘of the many groups supported by the United Way Agency in Castlegar. UNITED WAY FEATURE you forget sométhing at the grocery store it's tough beans.” She says before she went blindishe used to be involved in all sorts of activities and work. Now she finds going into town on a bus is an intimidating proposition. People’s attitudes are also intimidating and sometimes make it difficult for the blind to do something as simple as ask a clerk the price of an item “If you ask the price of something their reaction would be to point to the price tag,” she laments. “If you say to someone I can’t see and you're looking at them, obviously they think that you can see. Therefore, their reaction I guess it's a nervous continued on poge A2 HALL RANSACKED . . She says adapting to blindness was a hard and being vandalized. . Hall in basement of church was in ruins after CosNewsPhote by continued on page A3