B4 ' ! CASTLEGAR NEWS, Aygyst 2, 1981 Britain’ returns to reality By Jeff Bradley LONDON (AP) — After the fairy-tale wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Britain has returned to the harsh reality of its decaying cities, antiquated economy and strife-torn pro- vince of Northern Ireland. As the honeymooners flew to Gibraltar to embark on a honeymoon cruise, the pomp and circumstance of Wed- nesday’s ceremony watched by millions worldwide re- ceded further into memory. The Financial Times com- mented Saturday “It will be to a Britain stripped bare of bunting that the Prince and Princess of Wales return from their honeymoon in gentler climes.” The London Times said Britain now must face “All those harsher realities of national life.” Among those realities are: Riots in Liverpool, Lon- don and other cities where joblessness, decrepit hous- ing, alleged police harass- ment and racial discrimina- tion led to unprecedented scenes of looting and burning earlier this month. VIOLENCE CONTINUES —The crisis in Northern Ireland, where the outlawed Irish Republican Army is fighting to end British rule and 12 years of the sectarian strife have claimed at least 2,124 lives. The IRA is focusing its campaign on the Maze prison's hunger strike to the death to gain political prisoner status. —Unemployment at_ its highest levels since the Great Depression. More than one in nine people — 2.85 million Britons — are out of work, a rate of 11.8 per cent. Selling a ouse: KARIN GUSTAVSSON ‘Well cover it all...for you. (WARIN GUSTAVSSON Castle Realty A sinking pound sterling, which Friday hit a three-year low of $1.84. The pound was worth $2.48 six months ago but has been hurt by high U.S. interest rates and falling world oil prices, blunting the effect of Britain's virtual self-sufficiency in North Sea oil. —An annual inflation rate of 11.3 per cent, down 10 per cent from a year ago but still above Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatch- er’s single figure target. RESTORES CONFIDENCE A piece of good news for the government in the 21- week pay dispute with civil servants that produced a number of strikes by 580,000 hite-coll: in ploy nine unions, They had sought a 15-por-cont raise but se- ttled for 7'/s percent, after an original government offer of six per cent, The settlement came 24 hours after the wedding, when this class-divided c- ountry seemed to have its confidence and purpose re- stored. ‘ Almost a million people — from skinheads, the young white rightists involved in some of the recent riots, to stockbrokers—gleefully celebrated wedding day in the streets of Loadon. Peoplo shared food and drink, joined in songs and cheered the Royal couple with ardor. Yard set up its most elaborate security op- eration in’ history but only 10 pickpockets and other nor City complaining | to ombudsman VANCOUVER (CP) — The The weekly New Scientist of Powell River has complained to the om- numbers and must havo demonstrated to the world— full of potential tourists— that Britain is not’ going down the tubes in a blaze of riots, muggings and extor- tionate prices for goods.” prices for goods.” The conservative Daily Mail covered an entire page with editorial about the p: st government's decision to award the Vancouver Island natural gas pipeline project to B.C, Hydro without a public hearing. Describing the decision as “unjust, oppressive, or im- 1 ” opportunity to make its velws known about the project, and accuses Energy Minister Bob McClelland of making his de- cision ‘‘on the basis of ar- HOMEGOODS FURNITURE WAREHOUSE Tues. - Sat. 9:30 - 5:30 China Creek *Drive a Little to Save a Lot” bitrary and unfair pi Lidstone is a former exe- cutive assistant to Municipal Affairs Minister Bill Vander Zalm. Powell River council ‘has asked The also argues that McClelland failed to fol- Dr. Karl’ to in- tions, citing the happy cou- ple, the Queen, the police, the crowds, the horses, the weather and Britain itself as the “envy of the world.” Spill Alberta’s worst LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. (CP) — The contents of a burned-out chemical ware- house here have to be con- sidered ‘‘a big soup of chem- icals that are poisons,’ Al- berta environment official Jim McKinley said Friday. He said it will take another month and $100,000 to clean up what is considered one of the worst chemical spills in Alberta history. Information about the ef- fect of last week's fire began reaching the public Friday, after a week of revelations about spills of considered dangerous from a cleanup point of view.” Eric Hutchings, a provin- cial official monitoring the cleanup, said a wooden sec- ond floor holding about S00 containers of chemicals poses the most serious remaining threat. The containers hold gamas- san, a mixture of a icid through sanitary sewers. He said the sewer at the plant was shut immediately during the fire, preventing _ pesti- cides that did leak from flow- ing into the nearby Oldman River. News of the Lethbridge fire and its aftermath spread around Alberta shortly after of Fort and lindane, the latter des- cribed as a nerve poison sim- ilar to DDT. OFFICIAL WORRIED Hutchings was worried the floor might give way, sending the i of vinyl chloride monomer near Edmonton, and after com- crashing down onto other containers full of gromoxone. plaints about p ial un- i to oll Itis a p that can cause i and ion if sands companies for repeat- edly violating clean air laws. “We're treating it as the worst spill in terms of the number and combination of products involved,’’ McKin- ley, director of pollution con- trol for the said swallowed. McKinley said he is sure soil at the warehouse is con- d icals. He wan, a town about 25’ kilo- metres northeast of Edmon- ton, learned emical plants in the area have leaked excessive amounts of vinyl chloride monemer more than 400 times in the last two ears. Vinyl chloride monomer has been linked to cancer of the lung, liver, brain and kid- ney. vestigate both the basis for the decision and the manner in. which it was made. In a strongly worded, 12- page letter to Friedmann, lawyer Don Lidstone claims Powell River was denied an Medalist may not compete TORONTO (CP) — The man who won four gold medals for being the world’s fastest wheelchair racer might not compete in the 1981 Canada Games for the disabled because of the “ridi- culous” $250 entrance fee. “Where are we supposed to get that kind of money?” asks Chris Stoddart, 31, the winner of gold medals from 1974 through to 1978. Competitors in the week- long Canada Games for the Physically disabled, opening in the Metropolitan Toronto © borough of Scarborough Aug. . 28, have to pay a $150 The p department has said it will worried about the effect of any heavy rain that might fall over the site. of the Lethbridge spill. POISONS ESCAPE He estimated there were about 637,000 litres of various toxic chemicals in the Owens Distributing warehouse when it caught fire five blocks from a residential area last week, and about 136,000 litres es- caped. i Joe Sawyer, technical dir- ector for at Ciba- But said the city of 50,000 has avoided having not p Dow Chemical Canada Ltd. or Diamond Shamrock Gas Ltd. for violat- ing clean air regulations. Of- ficials prefer to work with the’ companies to improve their fee plus $100 to their national sporting body. Participating in the Games is expensive for athletes because national champion- ship games are never fed- erally financed, said Games low p di set out in the new B.C. Utilities Commis- sion Act and it’ describes McClelland’s powers under that act as dictatorial. The government an- nounced in February that Hy- dro would build a gas pipeline over a southern route from Roberts Bank, south of Van- couver, to a point just south of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. In doing so, it rejected two applications to build a north- ern pipeline from the Interior community of Williams Lake to Powell River, 120 kilo- metres north of Vancouver, and then over to the Island. Powell River wanted the northern route because it would provide the municipal- ity with natural gas service as well as allow the development of a $670 million fertilizer plant with accompanying economic benefits. Several organizations rep- resenting municipalities on the mainland and the island, as well as the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Victoria Chamber of Commerce, favor the northern route. Powell River council is also pngry that McClelland an- nounced the decision to let Hydro build the pipeline only two days after he told two Powell River officials that no decision had been made, and that they would have ample hai Charles Laberge. OLI is being underutil The provincial Open Learn- ing Institute is a service that is being underutilized and Geigy Canada Ltd., said Fri- day there were only about 68,000 litres of chemicals at the warehouse used by Ciba- Geigy and four‘other manu- facturers. “Any leaks would have been diluted by thousands of gallons of water from fire hoses,”’ Sawyer said. “They are all pesticides and they’re meant to kill. But there was no chemical there I VAIN MiRe/a\STUDENT WORKER. y area although it offers a valuable alternative for education. During the three years since it was established by the i enrol in pre-apprenticeship programs and needing to study the pre-requisites first; and people i For: people considering switching careers, Allen said the OLI office offers aptitude tests, and infor- career changes. Many of the OLI students do not want to have to go back to a classroom or to face the ge as @ post-secondary institution, the OLI’s enrolment has gtown from 750 students to 8,000 across B.C., but accor- ing to Thad Allen, the. OL! advisor serving this area, many people who could ben- efit from the OLI are unaware it exists. He believes the program is failing to reach many of the people it was supposed to be for; the people who do not have access to regular edu- cation avenues, or those wh want to avoid those avenues. He has talked to people living in rural areas who are un- aware of the OLI but who are interested in it after he ex- plains what it is. that school involves, and this pro- gram offers them a chance to attend school in the privacy of their home, he said. Others want to continue working while they study, or their jobs involve shiftwork, so their course has to be flexible, Allen continued. mation about the training, opportunities and drawbacks involved. It can do everything except tell them what they should do, Allen said. He said the local program also acts as an information centre and processing area where people can find out what is available in the edu- cation sector in the Koot- enays. There is a wealth of education opportunities avail- able in this region that people Cominco retirees reception Sept. 18 An afternoon reception for all Cominco retirees and spouses will definitely be Ph: 365-7235 or 368-9126 1 Le Canada ee What the OLI offers is, in held at the Cominco Arena on its words, is ‘‘distance edu- Sept. 18. The NOTICE Castlegar and District. Project Society MEETING at the Castlegar Arena Compiex Wednesday, August 19 at 7:00 p.m. IMPORTANT NOTICE to West K y Power Ci s In the event of an extended suspension of mail services, the following alternative measures are being taken by the Company to, ensure the ovailobility of electric service accounts to our customers. 1. Customers not re following places: Genelle: Snow Tralls Sales & Service . Castleger: KinickI’s Chevron a Power & Lig! . West Robson & Pass Creek: Johnnies Grocery & Gas . Payment of accounts moy be made at either your local West Kootenay Power office or through any of the Company collection agencies. Your co-operation will be oppreciated. iving their bills may obtain them ot the ’ ag. cation’? — ip i ion p with sends out invitations to all re- courses in adult basic edu- “There will be a memorial set up,’”” said Norman Stowe. ‘But what will be involved, whether it is a flame, the statue of Terry Fox now being neigher. p nor mu- nicipal government officials were ready to accept respon- sibility for after it. Finally, B.C.» Building Corp. workers who were look- ing after the flame on a. The logging ¥ warning was contained in a letter to''Benzett,' delivered last week.” Sage sem Th it, the association asked that the provincial govern- ment consider ordering the forest unions to put the com- panies’ last offer to their sensitive areas,” he said. Van Heek said he has re- cently been landscaping the Alberni to Tofino highway where about one million ple a year travel to the west coast of Vancouver Island. “I see that as an area of national importance,’’ he said. ‘‘We must not destroy the fascinating road through that area.’’ Hc has also done work on the Queen Charlotte Islands, the Valhalla mountains, Slo- can Valley and will soon start a project in the Rockies. A pro DRIVEW This rubberize DIESEL, impede pearan estimat Pathe phon chive sealer professionally a YS! PARKING LOTS ler wall retard GAS aging and maintain the ap of tresh new asphalt. For your FREE a gi supervised vote. . That offer contains wage increases of 14 per cent in the first year and 12 per cent in the second, plus a cost-of- living adjustment clause and a 40-cent increase in the tradesmen’s allowance. PPWC members in Castle- gar have already rejected the offer. CAT PI Morris, the original “9-Lives” cat, had a 24-hour plied on asphalt TENNIS COURIS OllL a | EASTMAN PAVING CO. LYD._ 354-4309 or 352-5855 ENERGY: built or else and whether it will be at B.C. Place,. Robson Square or an- - other location, isn’t-known.’? The flame was lit in Robson Square by Vancouver ‘Mayor Mike Harcourt during a can- dlelight ceremony honoring the late Marathon of Hope runner July 2. It was sup- posed to burn until a cure for cancer was found. Instead, the propane-fired flame encountered nothing but problems. It went out as GROCETERIA & LAUNDROMAT &.SHAKE SHOPPE We Are Open 364 packed away in a basement . site is until a. xO. a SPECIALIS aN Transmission Shift Kits In stock. 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Bob McClelland, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, will documentary on British Columbia’s energy future. screen this 30-minute Every citizen has a stake in this issue and should know how: the provincial government is working toward an energy-secure fuiure. te: TUESDAY, AUGUST 4th Location: UNITED STEELWORKERS HALL IN TRAIL. EVERYONE WELCOME NICK DANGER: Monday 'til Saturday, 8 p.m. - 24.m.. Top 40 Rock — A very entertaining Show Band with lots of surprises.