\
a _ Castlegar News September 10, 1986

Tuesday afternoon fire at the chapel house on

EVEN THOUGH ENROLMENT UP

Board faces $270,000
budget cutback

By SIMON BIRCH
Staff Writer
Enrolment in the Castlegar —

reduced the number of teachers by 25
over the last few years and set aside
$140,000 in the operating budget in

district i d by 36 stud:

the start of classes last Wednesday,
but the increase won't be enough to
stem a hefty $270,000 reduction in the
district's operating budget if the
Ministry of Education goes through
with its Sept. 30 mid-year enrolment
check.

That prospect has prompted the
Castlegar school board to write
another letter to the government ex.
pressing the trustees’ concerns about
the enrolment check and the inevitable
reduction in funds.

At the board's education committee
meeting Monday, trustees directed
superintendent of schools Terry Way
ling to draft a letter to recently
appointed Education Minister Tony
Brummet with a copy to Premier Bill
Vander Zalm. A previous letter to
former education minister Jim Hewitt
did not sway the government's deter
mination to hold the enrolment check.

But education committee chairman
Gordon Turner said there is little else
the board can do except write letters.

He noted that the board has kept
property taxes as low as possible,

of the decline —
all in an attempt to provide the best
education for Castlegar district stu
dents.

“We're being really accountable,”
Turner said. “I think this board should
make a statement immediately.”

‘Trustee Doreen Smecher, noting the
possible reduction in the operating
budget comes at a time when the
government is doling out money from
its three-year, $600 million Excellence
in Education fund, said it is “assinine
that we'd be given extra funds for new
programs” under the circumstances

“That's inconsistent. That's not good
education,” Smecher said.

The Castlegar board has applied for
$1.3 million from the excellence fund
but it is unlikely the district will
receive anywhere near that amount.

The funds are intended for areas
such as upgrading computer programs
and professional development for tea
chers, but~ Wayling indicated the
money could possibly be used to help
offset the reduction in the operating
budget.

As of Monday, 2,237 students had
enrolled in the district for a full-time

equivalent (FTE) enrolment of 2,149.5.
(Kindergarten students are counted as
half in the FTE enrolment figures
because they attend school for half a
day.)

That FTE enrolment is 104.5 fewer
students than the Ministry of Edu
cation estimated the district would
have when it calculated the district's
1986-87 operating budget.

Because the government provides
the Castlegar district with about $2,600
in operating funds per FTE student,
that means the Education Ministry will
cut the district's budget by $271,700 if
the current enrolment figures are the
same at the end of the month when the
ministry conducts the enrolment cheek.

Taking into account the $140,000 the
board set aside in its budget for the
enrolment decline, the trustees face a
shortfall of $131,700 in this year's
operating budget

One option for the board — besides
cutting back on this year's programs —
is to get ministry permission to run a
deficit this year. However, a deficit this
year would be the first thing charged
against the board's 1987-88 budget.

Whether the cuts come this year or
next, Smecher said, they will “throw

TWAE TO CLEAN UP .. . Castlegar firefighter starts to
roll up a fire hose in the smoky haze following the

Zuckerberg Island Heritage Park

CastewsPhoto by Simon Birch

Inquiry not public

By CasNews Staff

The British Columbia Forest Minis.
try's inquiry into Westar Timber's
undercutting of Tree Farm Licence No.
23 in the West Kootenay will not be
public, deputy minister of forests Bob
Flitton said Tuesday.

Flitton told the Castlegar News in a
telephone interview from Victoria that
Westar's business interests must be
protected during the inquiry, an
nounced earlier this week.

“There is some Westar business that
they don't wish to discuss in public —
development plans, future programs —
that are confidential in nature,” Flitton
said.

He said it is “not appropriate” for
other forest industry companies to
have access to Westar's plans.

But he added it is the ministry's
intention to allow public input into the

inquiry which he said will begin with 10
days.

The ministry has appointed Harry
Gairns of the Industrial Forest Service
in Prince George to chair the inquiry

to what the ministry is calling the
rationalization” of the wood supply on
TFL No. 23.

Flitton said it will be up to Gairns,
brother of Castlegar’s city adminis
trator Dave Gairns, to determine the
format and location of the inquiry.

“I have authorized the inquiry to be
held in a fashion deemed most approp-
riate by Mr. Gairns,” Flitton said.

He said he expects some of the
inquiry will be held in Vancouver since
most of the information the ministry
wants is from Westar, whose head
office is in Vancouver.

However, he added, “people will
have to appear from Revelstoke and
Castlegar,” but that it will be “up to

EVANS, SLAMS SOCREDS

Mr. Gairns to arrange that as he sees
fit.”

The B.C. Forest Service has said
Westar has undercut TFL No. 23 by
about 143,000 cubic metres a year. The
company’s annual allowable cut (AAC)
is about 1.2 million cubic metres a year.

Westar officials say the company will
need the full 1.2 million cubic metres
because of modernization and expan
sion of its Southern Wood Products
sawmill in Castlegar.

Meanwhile, Flitton said cutting
licences will be offered within the next
few Gays for 310,000 cubic metres of
timber advertised in the Kootenay
Lake area which once belonged to the
former-Westar Timber Kootenay For
est Products sawmill.

He said the ministry will be as “fair
and proportionate as possible” in its
allocation of the timber to smaller
companies in the area.

WKPL sale ‘a sell-out’

“The sale of West Koote-

nay Power and Light to the
American-based Utilicorp is a
sell-out, but it’s nickel-dime
compared to what's going to
happen when the Columbia
River Treaty is renegotiat
ed,” Nelson-Creston New
Democrat candidate Corky
Evans told a meeting Sunday
in Salmo.

“For the next decade,
power is the biggest issue in
this province,” Evans warned
in a news release. “What the
Socreds do with WKPL will
set the tone. If WKPL can be
owned by people in Missouri.
Site C ean be built by people
in California.”

Speaking to about 35 NDP
members, Evans expressed
concern over the sale, criti.
cizing the Socred govern
ment and Premier Bill Van
der Zalm for their policies
toward resource-based com
munities like the Kootenays.

Noting that Utilicorp paid
twice as much as the book
price of $48 million for
WKPL, the 38-year-old Win
law logger said it would be
the local users of the power
who would end up footing the
bill.

Any profits, he said, would
be invested not in the Koot.
enays, but in coal-fired utili
ties in the eastern US.,
which in turn dump toxic
sulphur dioxide into Eastern
Canada, .,

Evans said he favors the
sale of WKPL to any British
Columbian buyer so profits
would be channeled back into
the local economy

“There are two things
wrong with the Kootenays,”
said Evans. “Not enough of
us work, and we have the
highest amount of leakage in
B.C. — money leaves the
Kootenays and doesn’t circu
late. This is hurting us. The
sale of Utilicorp is leakage on
a massive scale.

“The name of the game in
utilities is ‘take-over’. There
is no telling who these people
will be owned by in three
years. They are a commodity
and can be traded like a com
modity.”

The forest industry in B.C
has one thing going for it
worldwide, said Evans, and
“that's that power here is the
cheapest in the world. But
the second interesting thing
about the forest industry is

that we do the least with the
wood after we cut it down.”

Evans said the paper in
dustry uses more power than
any other secondary wood
product industry, but “if we
sell our power, we sell out
the promise of future de
velopment of such an indus
try in this province.”

Evans sharply criticized
the current government's
handling of the WKPL sale:
“The word ‘investment’ has
been destroyed by the So
creds,” he said. “If you come
and buy something with the
people's money, and then you
take away control, that's not
investment, that's theft.”

He said New Democrats
will invest in people in their
communities. In the Koote
nays that means re-opening
the David Thompson Univer
sity Centre so young people
can receive their education
near home.

New \Berpocrats, he said,
are not promising megapro-
jects, but would give young
people schooling and jobs

He said party leader Bob
Skelly “is talking about
hiring young people to cut
brush instead of spraying it
with chemicals, and hiring

HOTEL

continued from front poge
I don't think we can do that,”
said

City tlerk Betty Price said the legal
opinion indicated “there is a foundation
there and there is a value attached (to
the foundation).”

She said it doesn’t matter whether
the foundation can be used for another
building. it still has a value and
therefore council can't demolish it

But Ald. Terry Rogers said just

Henn€

boarding up the hotel site isn't enough
He asked what council can do to protect
residents and neighboring businesses

Though Moore called the solicitors
opinion “pretty sound legal advice,”
she said council could seek a second
opinion. No one took up the suggestion

Moore added that the lawyer who
gave the legal advice is familiar with
Castlegar and knows the hotel prop
erty

them to replant trees. He's
talking about investing in
people and investing in the
land.”

Evans meets with village
councils this week in Nakusp,
New Denver and Slocan, and
will work at a voter regis
tration table Thursday in
Nelson.

Rate
hearing
slated

By CasNews Staff

The B.C. Utilities Com
mission will hold public hear.
ings Dec. 2 in Rossland into a
1985 application by West
Kootenay Power and Light
Co. for a six per cent rate
increase.

The four-day hearings will
take place at the Uplander
Hotel through Dec. 5. They
will reconvene Dec. 9 at the
commission's hearing room in
Vancouver.

West Kootenay Power ap
plied in November 1985 for a
six per cent rate hike. The
Utilities Commission ap
proved an interim rate in
crease pending the outcome
of the public hearings.

FOR THE
RECORD

The John Russell who
pleaded guilty last week in
Castlegar provincial court to
driving with a blood-alcohol
count over .08 is not John
Russell of Thrums

closed four rural elementary schools,

the whole system into chaos.

Premier seeks advice

By BRIAN KENNEDY
Press

Canadian

PRINCE GEORGE — The establishment of a premier’s
economic development council — and not an election date —
capped a three-day cabinet retreat which ended Tuesday.

i ill Vander Zalm said the council will comprise
a cross-section Of British Columbians who will advise him on
the province's econ ture.

“The economic developmeftt council will consist of two
approaches,” he said. “One will beestablished for Vancouver
to make it an international financial Cegtre and for this we
will bring in people with financial expertise to bring forth
the message to Ottawa.

“Similarly, we have a group of people to advise us on
other economic activities like attracting high-tech and other
industries to British Columbia.”

Vander Zalm said he wants to appoint the council
immediately.

The premier's economic strategy also focused on the

“strained relations between the province and ‘the federal

government.

The blueprint calls for the initiation of trade missions of
business and labor representatives to Ottawa to get more
federal money and contracts.

The plan also calls for a strengthening of B.C.'s
presence in the nation's capital

One suggestion is to make B.C. House in Ottawa active
again.

The government will intensify its reforestation and
silviculture program; possibly upgrade the B.C. Rail line
north of Fort St. James; investigate the opening of potential
power sites to development by. investor-owned utilities;
implement the recommendations of the Wilderness Ad.
visory Committee report and try to simplify the taxation
policy.

Vander Zalm admits many of the initiatives are not new
and he could not say how many jobs would be created or

ive the cost of implementing the programs.

Although Vander Zalm continued to be coy about an
election date, cabinet and the Social Credit caucus received
good news about their standing in the polls.

Visitors flock
to Castlegar

By CasNews Staff

Moving from a cramped, hard-to-find trailer into a new,
highly visible building seems to have paid off for the
Castlegar Chamber of Commerce which reports a whopping
several-hundred-per-cent increase in tourist traffic this
summer at its Travel InfoCentre.

Chamber administrator Ann Stasila said the Travel
InfoCentre averaged 245 visitors per week at its 6th Avenue
office during an 11-week period this summer.

That's a 345-per-cent increase over the average of 55
visitors per week during July and August 1985.

In a prepared news release, the chamber adds it had 360
telephone inquiries in what it calls “a very busy and
encouraging year for the tourist industry.”

A breakdown of the visits shows 26 per cent came from

itish Columbians, 49 per cent from other Canadians, 25
per cent from Americans and less than one per cent from
overseas

Nelson's Chamber of Commerce didn’t fare as well as
Castlegar, however

“Based on our in-office statistics, we've seen a 6'/:-per
cent increase over last year,” Nelson chamber president Bob
Allen says in a news rele

This year, 1.881 “visitor parties” representing 5,360
people visited Nelson's Travel InfoCentre compared to 1,911
visitor parties representing 5,032 people in 1985.

The number of people per party was higher this year
than in 1985, the release notes.

Meanwhile, the Castlegar chamber's directors are
concerned with the federal government's proposal to change
B.C.’s electoral boundaries and eliminate the Kootenay West
riding

The directors are seeking the public's concerns and
comments about the change so that the chamber can prepare
a brief to present to the federal government

The first Chamber of Commerce luncheon following the
summer break is scheduled for Sept. 18 at the Sandman Inn
with guest speaker Arness Cordick of Canarim Investment
Corp. Ltd.

One member of the legislature said a report by Jerry
Lampert, principal secretary to former premier Bill Bennett,
stated the party had one of the best showings in the polls
ever.

Lampert refused to confirm or deny polls were dis-
cussed at the meeting.

Vander Zalm mainjgins he has no election date in mind,
although he still refuses to rule out the fall.

“If 1am going to have a fall election I would have to call
it within the next month. I'm sure we shouldn't put the
voters to having to go through snow and ice in these
northern constituencies.”

David Poole, party executive director, told caucus the
party was still not ready but would be if an election was
called in September

Poole also warned members not to take the election for
granted on the charisma and popularity of Vander Zalm.

“I said that to the premier and he recognizes it. He said
to me, ‘get organized, get ready, so when I call an election
the organization is ready to go.’

Several caucus members are hoping the premier calls a
fall election

Rotary to
present award

By JOHN CHARTERS

Early in October the
Castlegar Rotary Club will
present its first annual ser
vice and hospitality award

The award, which will take
the form of a dinner and
plaque, is intended to make
Castlegar citizens more
aware of the need for and
value of courtesy and hos
pitality in the local service
industries.

The club has formed an
awards selection committee
headed by Jim Young, man
ager of the Sandman Inn.

Residents are asked to
pass on the name and place of
business of any person they
feel is a worthy nominee for
the service award to Jim
Young at 365-8444 or to the

SOCREDS

continued trom tront page

JIM YOUNG
heads committee

Castlegar Chamber of Com
merce office at 365-6313.

Closing date for nomina
tions is Sept. 30.

“coming down very quickly”
papers.

Two prominent possible candidates contacted by the
Castlegar News were non-committal about their possible
candidacies.

Mayor Audrey Moore of Castlegar said,
even thought atout it

to file their nominating

“I haven't

“Td have to have a lot more information before Td
consider it,” Moore said. “I'm the type of person who does
a little research before I get into deep water.”

But, she added, “There's been various people who've
suggested it (her candidacy).”

On the temptation to seek office Provincially, Moore
said, “I guess there comes a point in time where
everybody who's served a number of years at the
municipal level takes a look and says, ‘Geez, maybe if I
can't influence those decisions, maybe I could make
them.” :

Mayor Chuck Lakes of Trail said he will think about
seeking the nomination, but added that his candidacy will
“depend on a number of factors.”

Lakes said he wants to see who else is running before
making a decision. He said that if another candidate, like
himself, “has the concerns of the community at heart” he
would step aside and say, “Good luck to you.”

Like Moore, Lakes said he has had
people” ask him to seek the nomination

But Lakes, who turned 71 last week,
perhaps against him.

“I'm getting a bit long in the tooth,”

a number of
said his age is

he said

Castlégar News

. TREET “TALK

WHAT'S IN a name?

The same pay and the same hard work, says Lach
Farrell, who had his title changed in August to assistant
superintendent of the Castlegar school district from
director of instruction.

Superintendent of schools Terry Wayling explained
at the school board's education committee meeting
Monday that the title change “better describes the type
of things Mr. Farrell does.”

Wayling said Farrell supervises instruction in the
district, does some screening and-hiring of job applicants
and generally carries out the duties of the superintendent
in his absence.

Wayling added that the School Act provides for an
assistant superintendent in a district the
Castlegar's.

A VANCOUVER company has purchased the
Westar Timber Ltd. offices, shops and land in Nakusp at
a reported price of $200,000. Golden Coin Resources Ltd
plans to start a radar systems development factory in
Nakusp

Golden Coin is a Vancouver holding company owned
by California-based Dennis Conner. Plans for the
company include developing the site as a research facility
for radar systems for small and medium-sized airports
throughout the world

The company also plans to undertake research for
aerospace industries with major U.S. military contracts

Conner told the Arrow Lakes News that the
“wonderful environment” and the price were the deciding
factors in locating in Nakusp.

size of

To develop and test the radar systems for small
airports, the company plans to seek an extension of the

Nakusp municipal airport

Golden Coin, which plans to change its name
will lease back to Westar the old fire

Technologies Ltd.

to PMC

protection building and docks facilities

STRANGE POTATOES .. -
Potatoes usually have to
be planted in order to
bear more potatoes, but
not according to Mickit
Nazarov of Robson. He
came into the CasNews
office this week to show
a couple of last year's
potatoes which have
sprouted new potatoes.
Nazarov explained that
the potato shoots
turned inward instead
ot outward, eventually
producing new potatoes
inside the old ones.
Contigas Proto

Improvements to the shops and property will be
made in order to start up early next year. Conner hopes
to have 20 to 30 employees in Nakusp by next summer
and up to 60 employees by the following year.

ON NOV. 1, 1985 at 8:30 p.m. the phone line at West
Kootenay District Parks office opened for booking the
Slocan Chief Cabin in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park.

The cabin would be available for groups of 12 or less
from Dec. 1 — April 15 at a fee of $5 per person per night.
Ninety minutes later the cabin was completely booked.
Back-country skiers and tourers had flooded the line with
multiple callers and automatic dialers to try and secure a
reservation

In an effort to try and make the system more fair and
available to a wider group of users parks branch has
changed the booking system for the winter of 1986.

“This year we're going to a lottery system,” explains
visitor services officer Gord McAdams.

“On Sept. 15 we will begin accepting letters. The
cut-off date is Oct. 14. On Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. local time we
will begin drawing parties until all the dates are filled.

“Groups will be able to ask for a specific seven-day
period with two alternates. We know the system is still
open to abuse but we feel it will be more fair than the
panic to get a clear phone line.”

The cabin, surrounded by some of the best touring
country in the province, and some of the finest downhill
skiing, is obviously a popular destination for winter
recreationists.

Skiers interested in using the cabin should plan well
in advance to be sure their party list is in order and their
letter in the mail to arrive by Oct. 14.

AIR B.C. was in Castlegar in full force Saturday with
the first annual Air B.C. barbecue for area travel agents.

The gathering was held at the home of Castlegar
base manager Lucey Flynn. Among those present were
Bill Groth, operations manager; Rem Moore, sales and
marketing manager; and Reb Harris, Kamloops base
manager

The group of about 60 people came from six West
Kootenay communities to attend the end-of-summer
event. Prizes were drawn for air trips to places like
Hawaii, Reno, Kelowna and Vancouver.

Ozeroff funeral today

Margaret Ozeroff of
Castlegar passed away Sun
day. Sept. 7 at the age of 68.

‘A funeral service was held
Tuesday and today at the
Castlegar Funeral Chapel
with burial in the Brilliant
Cemetery

Mrs. Ozeroff was born Dec
26, 1917 at Ootischenia and

moved with her parents (o
Kylemore, Sask. when she
was a small child. She lived
there until moving to Blewett
in 1943.

On Dec. 7, 1943 she mar
ried William Ozeroff at
Blewett and then moved to
Pass Creek where she had
since resided.

Mortimer
either
great-grandchild: and
sisters, Olga Jmayoff

She was a member of the
USCC and for many years
taught the children’s Sunday
school. She enjoyed garden
ing and singing

Blewett and Mary Reibin

She is survived by her Kelowna
husband William; three sons,
Peter. Stanley and Cyril all of

Castlegar; daughter, Irene Castlegar Funeral Chapel

of Cranbrook;
grandchildren; one
three

of

Grand Forks, Helen Jmieff of

of

Funeral arrangements are
under the direction of the

Mon., Sept. 8-Sun., Sept. 14

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