So 4 s a2___ Castlegar News _vecember 22, 1985 Briefly MOSLEMS ARRESTED BEIRUT (AP) — Authorities have arrested three Lebanese Moslem men they claim are Israeli agents responsible for planting bombs that killed 121 people and, wounded 473, state-run Beirut radio reported Saturday. i * The broadcast, which interrupted regularly scheduled programs, quoted authorities as saying all three men admitted being Israeli spies. It said two of the men, Shafik Mneimneh and his son; Mahmoud, both Moslems, were the first to be arrested “in connection with an ugly moral crime.” MANDELA REMOVED JOHANNESBURG (REUTER) — Black national- ist activist Winnie Mandela was forcibly removed from her home in white Johannesburg’s satellite black town ship of Soweto on Saturday after prolonged refusal to return to banishment in a remote part of South Africa. One witness said one of the policeman who evicted her pointed a gun to her neck as she was dragged from her home to a waiting police car. But government restrictions on her movements were relaxed and police sources said she is spending the night at an Indian township outside Pretoria, the capital. FREEDOM URGED BEIRUT (AP) — Ki British - journalist Alec Collett urged British officials in a videotape made public Saturday to free Arabs held in Britain so Lebanese Moslem extremists will release him after nine months in captivity. “I assure you that time is short,” Collett stressed. . His appeal came amid a Christmas flurry of efforts to obtain the release of American and French hostages held by Shiite Moslem extremists in Lebanon. Terry Waite, envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury seeking to free four American captives, said in a telephone call to news agencies in Beirut ~he wants to meet with Collett’s captors.” ‘WEATHER SYNOPSIS: A next two days, valley cloud casionally in the interior. Temperatures will continue to ridge of high pressure centred just ‘and may allow significant amounts of cloud to will persist with copiou: off the coast of B.C. appears to be weakening, netrate the interior next week. However for the 3 amounts be mild through Monday. ‘of fog on the coast and oc- B.C. residents more concerned about jobs VANCOUVER (CP) — British Col- umbians are more concerned about lead-mining jobs than about the pos- sible health effects of lead in the envir- onment, says the chairman of a federal gover studying the problem. “Almost everybody we heard from was far more worried about the pos- - sibility of loss of jobs, the writing off of assets, the abandonment of the (lead) industry, than they were worried about health and- environmental ef- fects,” Kenneth Hare said this week after two days of- hearings. Hare said both and a decilitre of blood is considered safe. But Hare said there is no real safe level, because even the lowest detec- table levels of lead have interfered with “heme-synthesis” — a process relating to the manufacture of blood. But Hare also noted there is no hard clinical evidence yet. conclusively proving that lower concentrations of lead are harmful. United States studies have estab- lished a correlation between high blood pressure in middle-aged~ whites and high lead levels in their blood. There also are studies suggesting lead causes ioral in childfen. unions in British Columbia stressed the adverse economic impacts of stricter lead standards on an industry that'is struggling for its survival. A major exception was the B.C. © Medical Association, which urged the commission to ask Ottawa to reduce lly eli lead iti to gasoline. Cominco Ltd. has major lead smel- vin ‘The B.C. Medical Association brief says there are major clinical problems With the cardiovascular and. respira- tory systems at blood levels of 80 micrograms a decilitre. It says there is information indicat- ing that children with relatively low blood lead levels (30 micrograms a decilitre) “show evidence of learning disorders, attentional deficits and dys- ters in both Trail and Ki B.C. The issic FROM RATE INCREASE WKPL gets reprieve The B.C. Utilities Commis- sion has granted West Koot- enay Power and Light Com- ypany a reprieve from a huge. rate increase in the cost of power it buys every winter from B.C. Hydro. The break for WKPL comes just over a week after the BCUC adjourned a hear- ing into the rate dispute be- tween WKPL and Hydro. Hydro representatives at the hearing told the BCUC that the Crown corporation was not properly prepared to granted the adjournment. This week, the BCUC ruled that because. WKPL was prepared to proceed with the hearing, the company would not-have ‘to pay the full increase Hydro is asking for until the hearing reconvenes in April. Instead, WKPL will pay Hydro a 3.75: per cent in- crease in the interim. The commission also ruled that Hydrp must repay any extra money WKPL ‘has already paid and pay the from the Crown corporation in 1978. The latest dispute involves a sig per cent increase in the cost of power WKPL buys from Hydro and a six per cent hike in the wheeling rates. Wheeling rates are the rates. WKPL pays to B.C. Hydro for transmitting power over the Crown cor- poration’s transmission lines. The increases could cost heard submissions from Cominco and the cities of Trail and Kimberley, but none from the B.C. Environment Min- istry. “The thing that worries everybody in the Interior is whether they're going to have a job next week,” Hare said in ~ an interview. “If I lived there, I would feel the same way. That looms much larger in their eyes than the environ- mental issue we're charged with.” EFFECTS IED STUD! The commission is looking at the health ,and environmental effects of lead, which is toxic when it enters the human bloodstream in high concen- i In lower i the effects are not clear. Currently, the federal government has a blood-lead standard in which a concentration of 25 micrograms of lead ‘Hare said there used to be “quite a few children in eastern Canada” with these problems, but recent surveys show their numbers-are dwindling. One explanation might be a decrease in lead entering the environment through gasoline additives, the largest single source of lead in the environ- ment, said the commission. Leaded gasoline spreads about 6,000 tonnes of lead into the air in Canada ‘each year, mostly in urban areas where traffic is heavy. - The commission's initial report «in September said this is a sharp decrease since 1973, when an estimated 14,000 tonnes was released. Hare, provost of Trinity College in the University of Toronto, has pre- viously headed inquiries into nuclear waste disposal, acid rain and nuclear winter. WKPL an ic $4 mil- lion a year and the company SEATED ! pases su ) December 22, 1985 Castlegar News a3 Groups respond to Canada's needy By CHISHOLM MacDONALD The Canadian Press Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat, Please to put a penny in the old man’s hat. - — Beggar's Rhyme Times and values have changed since those lines were written, but the theme remains the same: the yuletide season can be a sad and lonely time for the poor. Far from fireside warmth and cheer, countless thousands of Canadians are walking the streets in despair with no visions of sugar. plums or even a meal. Charitable organizations-are seeing those hardships first-hand and are responding with modest handouts — not only in soup kitchens and hostels, but with additional food and gift baskets for folks who have a’ place to call home but meagre meals to put on the table or toys to put under the tree. “Christmas?” mumbles a 52-year-old man on his way to a free lunch at a Toronto mission. “I call it just another blue day, a really blue day.” It's much the same picture across the country. Sylvia Russell, executive director of a Vancouver food bank that feeds over 14,000 people a month, says it always counts'on goodwill at this time of year, and it’s getting it. WANTS SURPLUS She also hopes there will be a surplus to carry the bank through the first two months of 1986 because contributions usually fall in January. The last distribution this year will be on Dec. 23 and the next one won't be until Jan. 8, Russell said, “so we expect a record number — more than 3,300 people —.on Dec. 23.” Russell and others see a change in the type of people who line up for. food handouts. More people between the ages of 18 and 25 are showing up, as well as pre-seniors “who have worked all their lives but are now out of work and will probably: never work again,” Russell says. There are also more women. : David Northcott, director of Winnipeg Harvest, which ~ defend its case because it is in the process of applying for its own rate increase. costs of the one-day hearing. WKPL and Hydro have been arguing over rates since has said it would have to pass the increase on to its 96,000 supplies food to about 40 agencies in the city, says he hasn't noticed any increase in requests for food service at this time ‘of year. Winnipeg Harvest , distributes surplus food from farmers, wholesalers, manufacturers and contributions from the public. The poor are grateful for efforts on their behalf. “Thank God there are a lot of places like this that give food handouts,” says Jim Mitchell, 24, en route to the dining room at the Scott Mission in Toronto. “People don’t come here for Christmas. just because they're poor. A lot of people are just lonely.” The mission will also give about 3,900 Christmas hampers to needy families. Maj. Reginald Newbury, senior ini: at the i Army's - Harbor Mission in Toronto, is expecting 1,200 for Christmas dinner. The House of Friendship is delivering 1,400 Christmas food hampers to needy people in and around Kitchener, Ont., about 200 more than it did last year. | ‘The non-profit organization stocks baskets with a wide assortment of canned goods, fruit, cookies, margarine and butter. The average value of a basket is $35. Tony Bender, a:co-ordinator of the program, said the House of Fri also pi gift ce: that may be used to buy meat at local supermarkets. The Salvation Army is especially active in Glace Bay, a Cape Breton coal-mining town of 23,000 with an unemploy- ment rate of about 50 per cent. It hopes to supply a Christmas turkey to welfare recipients and others in need, and the local food bank is preparing special food packages for the holiday season. The bank is giving out boxes of food staples to between 260 and 300 familes this month, with additional treats not included at other times of the year. “We blitzed the town (for donations) a couple of weeks ago and the response was tremendous,” says Sonny Wadman, who runs the bank. “I'm very pleased because it shored up our inventory and it’s going to be a long winter.” Light Special elections in school districts VICTORIA (CP) — Education Min- ister Jack Heinrich, who fired the Vancouver and Cowichan school boards last May, announced Saturday that special elections will be held Jan. 30 in those two districts. The two government-appointed trus- tee who have been running the dis- tricts since the controversial firings will be “out of their jobs once the newly-elected boards have been inau- gurated, Heinrich told a news confer- ence. The Education Ministry will pay for the elections in both districts, he said. Heinrich had refused to allow elec- tions as recently as this fall, and ap- pears to be bowing to sharp criticism of his handling of the. issue. The minister, however, said he changed his mind after the government recently decided to return to school boards the power to collect residential ‘education government back in the _what's ‘envisaged here.” he said. He Eric Buckley, president of the B.C. to fire two school boards was one of the School Trustees Association, welcomed biggest political controversies in Brit-, the announcement. ish Columbia during the year. “Our association has called repeate- Cabinet's use of its powers under the dly for restoration of democracy in School Act to dismiss elected trustees. Vancouver and Cowichan,” he said. and replace them with government “We have continued to press the case appointees was condemned by the very strenuously, more so since the opposition New Democratic Party as a refusal to call an election in November, threat to local democracy. ve it’s had some effect on his Heinrich first fired the Vancouver School Board on May 6, saying he had p no choice because the board submitted ed a government decision “to: place a budget that was $14 million above provincial guidelines. The minister in- sisted that he was upholding the law. He appointed Allan Stables, a retired superintendent of schools, as the official trustee. hands of the people once again,” Buckley said. “Anybody with taxing authority must be accountable to their electors.” Buckley is cautious about the return A week later, Heinrich fired the of taxing authority. “We don't really Cowichan School Board. It was the last have any details about the process or holdout among about 34 B.C. school boards which had originally defied hopes that in future school boards will government guidelines. There are Hostage drama ends NANTES, FRANCE customers in the Kootenays school taxes in the new fiscal year. “With the return of taxing authority, I want to ensure that in all cases, also’ be able to tax. non-residential altogether 75 school districts. properties, and the province will in- Special trustee Cory Holob was sent crease education grants. to Cowichan to find ways of trimming. Hydro asked for and was WKPL first bought power and South Okanagan. “FAIR WAGES WANTED narrow.” Some of the more than 50 manacled to their captives, VANCOUVER (CP) — Union officials have asked f N ewan ti iS hooke r law od, now in effect Expo 86 chairman Jim Pattison to ensure construction workers at the fair site are paid in accordance with Expo's fair wage policy. Colin Snell, secretary-treasurer of the B.C. Council of Carpenters, said his union and the B.C. and Yukon Building Trades Council have appealed directly to Pattison because other Expo officials have refused to discuss allegations that workers are being “cheated” by i sub-conti By JANET STEFFENHAGEN OTTAWA (CP) — Public tors. Snell said about 50 Expo workers have filed affidavits with claims for wages owed amounting to about $100,000 against 14 different companies. MILK PRODUCTS TAINTED LONDON (REUTER) — A British food pany between. prosti- tutes -and their customers was outlawed Friday as a bill giving police-broad powers to stop street soliciting received royal assent in the Senate. The new Criminal Code amendment came into effect immediately, empowering police across the country to arrest hookers and their cli- bas told distributors in more than 40 countries to withdraw its milk products from sale after an outbreak of food poisoning among babies. A spokesman: for Farley Health Products, a leading British producer of baby milk foods,’ said the directive applied to three baby products, Oster Feed, Oster Milk Complete Formula and Oster Milk Two, as well as to Complan, a milk-based nutritional supplement used by adults. The action followed the discovery by a public health laboratory in London that 41 babies fed with Oster products had suffered diarrhea as a result of salmonella poisoning. The British Health Ministry on Friday advised parents to stop using the Farley baby products and the firm told domestic distributors to remove supplies from supermarket and pharmacy shelves. THREE DIE IN EXPLOSION NAPLES, ITALY (AP) — An explosion ripped thorugh a petroleum storage depot in this port city Saturday, killing at least three people, injurimg more than 160 and touching off an oil-fed blaze that raged into the night. é One person was listed as missing and presumed dead. Cause of the blast is unknown. From 700 to 800 firefighters were called in from throughout south-central Italy to battle the blaze, and air tanker planes dumped fire-retardent foam on the flames, said Renato Profili, a spokesman for the Naples city government. BAIL OUT PLANNED KAMLOOPS. (CP) — The British Columbia government has come up with a plan to bail out cash-starved Expo 86 societies, including a Kamloops group that lost up to $80,000 from an ill-fated lottery and the Island 86 lottery in Vancouver Island. Tourism Minister Claude Richmond said in an interview that, upon receipt of an audited statement, the government is prepared to consider an assistance plan. It will be based on a formula under which the government will cover $2 for every dollar the region or municipality covers. ents they icate with one another in public for the sale or pur- chase of sex. The maximum fine upon conviction will be $2,000 and six months in jail. Justice Minister John Crosbie, who has had to de- fend the bill from critics ever since he introduced it in the Commons in June, insists po- lice will exercise discretion and won't lay charges on the basis of a wink, a wave or a nod. But at least one~ urban ~police force was planning a major onslaught against the sex trade. The Calgary vice squad said Thursday that of- titutes, he said, adding that street business will die down within a week. ~ The new law isn't designed to end prostitution or resolve any of the social and econ- omic problems that drive some people to sell their bod- ies. Crosbie has promised to ii di broader “toon, (REUTER) — The bloodless end to the 35-hour hostage- taking drama in Nantes on Friday night was hailed on Saturday as a success for France’s new anti-terrorist squad. y has before they can be i 5 Since then, prostitutes erupted over the role of the have moved to streets and into urban neigh- borhoods — flagging cars‘and propositioning pedestrians. Vancouver, Calgary, Saska- Niagara Falls, Ont., Toronto, Halifax and Mon- treal have had the most in the new year as part of his. government's response to recommendations from the Fraser. committee, which spent more than a year studying prostitution and pornography in Canada. The bill is designed as a short-term measure to force prostitutes from the streets and satisfy angry urban resi- dents from Vancouver to ‘Halifax who have long com- plained that indiscreet bar- tering in the streets is des- troying their neighborhoods. Although street soliciting has been prohibited under the Criminal Code for many years, there have been few me Court of Canada t prostitutes must ficers will be hook- ers for any signal they might have to potential customers — including a wave of the hand. “There are certainly lots of ways. we can prove why they're out there,” Staff Sgt. Dave Morrison said in an interview. “We'll certainly be picking them up.” SEES DETERRENCE Crosbie told reporters ear- lier that the new legislation will serve as a deterrence rather than a weapon and he said he expects few arrests. Provisions enabling the police to charge customers for the first time—will dis- courage men from cruising the streets in search of pros- ing and pe: Winning numbers drawn The six winning numbers in Saturday’s Lotto 6/49 draw were six, nine, 14, 26, 36 and 46. The bonus number was 42. The $500,000 winning num- ber in Friday's Provincial _lottery draw is 2742629. There are also subsidiary prizes. Several municipalities tried to pass bylaws to stop the sex trade but the Su- preme Court ruled in several cases that the Constitution makes control of prostitution a federal responsibility. Prostitution itself isn't a criminal offence, although many related activities are — including the operation of a common bawdy house and living off the avails of pros- titution. New Democrat Svend Rob- inson, who vigorously op- press and ision during the siege. The three gunmen who surrendered at the airport where they were taken after chaining themselves together with their captives. The gunmen had threat- ened to blow themselves up with hand grenades if the police hindered their escape. Apparently, they surrend- ered after being persuaded that no country would give them asylum. in Paris hailed took 32 during an armed robbery trial in Nan- tes ASsize court on Thursday the outcome and praised the negotiating skill of Robert d, leader of the were Pp ded to give themselves up at Nantes air- port and were back in jail. The gunmen's leader, Ge- orges Courtois, 39, and his fellow-accused, Patrick Thio- let, 24, were on trial for armed robbery when a for- mer cellmate of Courtois, convicted armed robber and self-styled Moslem militant Abdel Karim Khalki, 30, stormed into the court and handed them guns. Five men and four women forming the jury in the Nan- tes trial were among the hos- tages released from courtroom in stages during country’s newly-formed anti- terrorist squad, RAID, who spent five hours in the dark with the gunmen and two : hostage judges in a car which took them from the court- house to Nantes airport. However, questions were being asked about the res- ponse of the media to the gunmen's “invitation” to film and record their statements during the courthouse siege. Quest-France, the coun- try’s biggest selling news- paper said Saturday it re- the’ fused to carry material or photographs which could icize violence, adding in posed the law, e gunmen and police. an editorial: “Sometimes the foreign reporters who cov- ered the courtroom siege said they had noted hostility in the attitude of the local pop- ulation, shocked and alarmed by the invasion of TV teams and heavily-armed riot police and the enforced closure of two nearby high schools. “We've never seen any- thing like. this in Nantes be- fore and we never want to see it again,” a resident said. The news chief of France's second state television chan- nel, Pierre-Henry Arnstam, who refused to screen film of the gunmen threatening their hostages in court, told the pro-government Paris newspaper Le Matin: “These shots were taken by a team’ from FR-3 (the third channel) at the demand of the gun- men. “It is as if they were saying: ‘Not only are we taking people hostage, but television, too.’ Well, I say no.” . Despite the peaceful out- come, the right-wing news- paper Le Figaro on Saturday attacked what it called “the flouting of justice and the says it is excessive and rep- resents an attack on freedom . of speech. The last two hostages were freed when the gunmen, gap between information and ridiculizing of the police by incitement to violence is very second-rate crooks.” Services mark birth By CasNews Staff Churches in the Castlegar area will be holding various " services to celebrate Christ’s birth. St. David's Anglican Church will have a Christmas Eve service. Carols begin at 10:45 p.m. and the service will start at 11 p.m. A family and communion service will be held at 10 a.m. on Christmas Day. The service will include the blessing of toys. Rev. Charles Balfour will be presiding. St. Peter Lutheran Church will hold a Christmas Eve service at 8 p.m. with Pastor Terry Defoe presiding. There will be no Christmas Day service: = St. Rita’s Catholic Church will have a children’s service at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve. At 9:30 p.m. a service will be held at St. Maria Goretti Church in Genelle. A midnight mass will be held in Castlegar. A Christmas Day service will begin at 11 a.m. Rev. Herman Engberink will preside over the services. Christmas services at Calvary Baptist Church will begin today with the choir performing a contata entitled, An Old Fashioned Christmas with Ken Nelson leading. The church's Sunday School concert will be held at 6:30 “YEAR RECALLED | p.m. A Chri: Eve service will take place at 6:30 p.m. with’ Brian Reid leading. E At 10:30 a.m. Christmas Day a carol sing and message lead the carol sing and A Christmas Day service will begin at 10:30 a.m. with Rev. Morley Soltys leading. A watchnight service will take place at 6 p.m. on Dec. 31 with youth pastor Doug Nakashoji presiding. Grace Presbyterian church will have a Christmas Eve candlelight family service at 7:30 p.m. There will be no Christmas Day service. Castlegar United Church will hold a Christmas Eve family service at 7 p.m. with singing and candlelighting. A communion service will take place at 11 p.m. Rev. T Bristow will officiate the services. A. community carol service will begin at 7 p.m. tonight at Robson Community Memorial Church. . : Castlegar Church of God will hold its regular morning worship service at 11 a.m. today. A family Christmas Eve service with candlelighting will begin at 7:30-p.m. There will be no Christmas Day service. Pastor Ira Johnson will preside over the services. Castlegar Evangelical Free Church will hold a family service at 11 a.m. today. A Christmas Eve candlelight service will take place at 7 p.m. A New Year's family service will be held at 11 a.m. on Dec. 29. Pastor Tom Mulder will -lead the services. Full Gospel Fellowship will hold regular services today at 9:45 a.m. (Sunday School), 11 a.m..(morning worship) and 6:30 p.m. (evening fellowship). A Christmas Eve service will also be held at 6:30 p.m. There will be no Christmas Day Seventh-Day Adventist Church ‘in Trail. will hold regular Saturday services. Pope stops a car at a JUST CHECKING ... . Castlegar RCMP Const. Mike block on Columbi other drivers. The Castlegar RCMP as well as police in Avenue as part-of the provincial government's Counter Attack program to combat CASTLEGAR RCMP drinking By CasNews Staff all the trimmings if you commit a breach of the peace over the holiday. At the RCMP lockup in Castlegar it'll be “business as usual” over Christmas, says ‘Staff Sgt. John Stevens. That means lawbreakers will be treated to “institutional meals,” he says, listing the unappetizing sound- Don't expect turkey dinner with ~ Business as usual ing bill of fare as “TV dinners and toast for breakfast.” Of course, Stevens adds, the meals will be “excellently prepared by our qualified and talented staff.” You'll probably be lonely as well because Stevens says the Castlegar RCMP doesn't get many guests over * the holiday, although he adds “the law of averages” means “there will TSR INL LE TE SEA out in.force this.holiday season. around the province are again CosNews Photo by Simon Buch be somebody over.” And don't expect either. Stevens says RCMP follow the “usual procedure” over Christmas. For example, impaired drivers will be invited to the detachment for a breathalyzer test. But depending on the circum- stances Stevens says, they “may not be heldat all” and released on their own recognizance. sympathy financial decisions are made by locally- elected board members,” he said. Nine trustees will be elected in Van- couver for nine months, until regular elections originally scheduled for next fall are held,» In Cowichan, on Vancouver Island, five trustees will be elected for- nine months and four others for 22 months, because of the biennial cycle of the dis- trict’s school board election process. School boards’ taxing authority will be confined to residential properiti “We think it’s about time said Jim Bowman, spokesman for the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, about the an- nouncement. about $300,000 from the budget. A challenge of the government's action by five of the nine Vancouver school trustee failed in July following a He said there was no reason for the —B.C. Supreme Court—ruling—that-the— to call the school elections, and sug- gested it may be timed in preparation for a provincial election, which many speculate would be held next year. * The government's decision last May ___ government to have-waited-until_now— provincial _law_was_vyalid.— aa The court heard and then reserved decision earlier this month on a petition by three Cowichan parents who wanted a school board election in their district. + which account for between eight and nine per cent of the total budget, Heinrich said. Non-residential taxes generally account for about 34 per cent of the budget, and the rest comes from the province's consolidated revenue. In. 1983, legislation giving the province the power to supervise school budgets and cap spending in effect let the ministry set the mill rate and take all taxing authority away from the boards.— Heinrich said the move was then IEEE EO ELE LE EE Peking church reopens PEKING (AP) — Teresa Ma stopped attending Mass in 1958 when the Com- munists closed Bei Tang cathedral. On Christmas Eve, she will return for a midnight mass celebrating not only Christ's birthday but the reopening of the century-old church. “I've been waiting for this day,” said Ma, 65, who talked as she worked on imitation stained-glass panels. The Gothic-style Catholic cathedral, built with imperial blessing in 1887, has been occupied by a school and an elec- trical goods factory for 27 years. Mao Tsei-tung’s government severed relations with the Vatican in 1957 and closed many churches claiming the number of Catholics had declined under Communist rule. “I remember that last day here,” said Ma. “I didn’t know what to do or where I'd go.” By the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, most churches, temples and mosques were shut, desecrated or destroyed. Under Deng Xiaoping, some freedom of worship has been restored and hun- dreds of holy places have been re- opened. Last May, the government allocated one million yuan ($312,000 U.S.) for the renovation of Bei Tang, or northern cathedral, also known as the Church of Saint Savior. It becomes the third and largest Catholic church in the capital, after the Nan Tang (southern cathedral) and St. Joseph's. Church leaders claim 30,000 followers in the city and. more than three million nationwide-—.less than one per cent of Chin&’s 1.04 billion people. An unknown number of Catholics stiil loyal to the Vatican continue to worship in underground “house chur- ches” and up to 20 priests who refused to break with Rome are imprisoned. Castlegar generous towards hamper fund By CasNews Staff Despite early concerns that enough donations wouldn't come in, the Cc: branch of the Royal Cana- No paper Wednesday The Castlegar News will not publish Wednesday as employees and manage- ment observe the Christmas and Box- ing Day holiday. The next issue of the CasNews will be Sunday, Dec. 29. The TV Week listings from Thurs- day, Dec. 26 through Wednesday, Jan. 1 would normally be in Wednesday's issue, but are contained in this issue. dian Legion’s 1985 Christmas hamper drive has been labelled a success. Ruth Rourke, chairman of the Le- gion’s hamper fund, said Thursday “the support has just been marvelous. “The people have really donated and organizations that supported us in the past, this year they gave us more. It's really fantastic.” Rourke said the Legion has food for 124 hampers, enough to supply every family on its list of needy families. Friday afternoon, it looked like someone dumped half a grocery store's worth of food in the Legion, with packages of dry food, cans of soup and vegetables and bottles of juice piled high on long wooden tables. - Rourke said the food —.including a shipment of fresh. vegetables from Grand Forks — had to be sorted in time for Saturday's distribution, which took place from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. In addition to food, the hampers also included toys collected by the Castle gar fire department. Volunteer fireman Jim Fishwick said Friday “we're very pleased” with the support from the community. “We just took all the stuff down to the Legion. We, had a heck of a big pile,” Fishwick said. Rourke added that the Thrums fire department had kindly volunteered to help deliver the hampers ‘in that area. Although run ragged organizing this year’s hamper drive, Rourke summed up the effort by saying. “it gives you a good feeling.” necessary to control spiralling school budgets, and now the problem has been curtailed. By CasNews Staff A skier injured on Red Mountain Tuesday remains in a coma in stable but critical condition at Kelowna hos- pital. Douglas James Hendrickson, who turns 35 on Monday, had fallen while skiing on the Southern Comfort run shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday morn- ing. Rossland RCMP say he was sub- sequently transported by air to Kel- owna hospital. The former Castlegar resident who resides in Regina, was visiting rela- tives in the area. Ski Area manager Bob Steckle said he isn't sure what happened to Hen- dricksoh, noting that information on “the~accident is still being compiled. Steckle earlier said that there were no eyewitnesses to the accident, but added it now appears that a witness has come forward. ~ . Steckle said that Hendrickson was found “very quickly.” The accident was. reported to the ski patrol by some skiers. Hendrickson was found three quar- ters of the way down the Southern Comfort run. 2 Steckle said the snow on the run was “pretty sdft.” Kids win It was an avalanche! That was how the judges from the Castlegar and District Library described the ~hundreds of entries in the second annual Castlegar Library/Castlegar News Christmas short story con- test. Winners of the first ($15), second ($10) and third ($5) prizes in the three categories were: Ages eight and under:, David Pucci, Shannon Carter and Darren Pottle. Bradley Zaytsoff and Mike Byers received honorable mention. short story contest prizes in Ages nine, 10. and 11: Jodie Dechkoff, Mark Janzen and Chris Brady; .with Brian Port, Daniel Kooznetsoff and Daniel Fodor get- ting honorable mentions. Ages 12, 13 and 14: No first place winner though Matthew Loukop- oulos was second and Christine Paisley third. Honorable mentions went to Wendy Hall, David Turner and Carla Miscavitch. Thanks to the library board judges for all their hard work — and it was hard work! CHRISTMAS GLOW . . . Bright-shining lights at Castlegar residence grow brightly amid the night sky. Cortemsrnoto by Bon Norman