tative Library, a 3 Wea

501 Belleville st

Cast

Vol. 38, No.1

50 Cents

ki deaths in

By CasNews Staff

and News Services | Rossland coroner Dr. Bill Armstrong says there will likely be an inquest into the weekend deaths of two young skiers killed in an avalanche on Mount Neptune near Rossland.

However, Armstrong said that he won't make any decision on whether to call for an inquest until he’s had time to review data from Castlegar coroner Paul Oglow and a report by an avalanche expert, and until he's talked to Rossland RCMP.

“But it (the inquest) won't be right away,” Armstrong said in an interview today.

One area newspaper reported that the inquest would be held this month, while a Vancouver TV station reported an inquest is planned for March.

Jeffrey Elzinga, 22, of Calgary, and Peter Melatini, 24, of Rossland, were buried under an avalanche about 11 a.m. Saturday on Mount Neptune.

The two were members of a ski party. None of the other seven skiers on the helicopter skiing tour was injured.

Both Elzinga and Melatini were taken by helicopter to Castlegar and District Hospital at about 11:45 a.m., where they were pronounced dead on arrival.

Sgt. Gary Day of Rossland RCMP said he has “no idea” why the pair were taken to Castlegar hospital.

Sou! the first Castlegar baby born in 1985 — at C

‘ ORR é £ today (Jan.2), weighing in at it Ibs. three oz. “It’ nice,” said Mrs. Sookorukoff, who said her baby

and Di

provide for their y id son. * a nice present.” CosNewsPhoto by Adrian Chamberlain

CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 1985

vest ‘likel

“Somebody got it into their head that's where they should-go, and that’s where they were taken,” he said. handled the case Saturday because Armstrong was unavailable at the time.

Oglow said he decided to turn the case over to Armstrong because the deaths occurred within Armstrong’s

Castlegar coroner Oglow

Ogiow added that he called in an avalanche expert who went over the scene of the slide on Monday and Tuesday.

As well, an autopsy was completed Sunday on the two bodies. However, Oglow said the results of the autopsy won't be disclosed until the dead skiers’ families have been notified.

and staff

REGIONAL DISTRICT

Rossland

trips while its owner grieves the death of his friends

decides his company’s future. ° Canadian Powder Guides,

Skiing, was in its first year of operation after a name

Valkyrie tion when Melatini, a ski patrol

apprentice guide for the company, and Elzinga were ° “We are assessing whether it is appropriate to right now,” said ow: also the co-ordinator of the trip that took 10 skiers,

tor Peter Tatham, who w

continued on poge A2

Moore elected | acting chairman

By CasNews Staff

Mayor Audrey Moore has been elected acting chairman of the Central Kootenay Regional District board. Moore edged Area J director Martin Vanderpol by an 11-9 vote.

Moore will also sit as the chairman of the Central Kootenay Regional Hos- pital District board.

Area D (Lardeau area) director George Cady was elected regional dis- triet board

chairman. Cady also de-,

feated Vanderpol, but by a 13-7 vote.

Cady replaces Salmo director Ned MacNeil, who stepped down after chairing the regional board for the last six years, Vanderpol sat as acting board chairman and ch of the

regional hospital board for the last four years. In other regional district news, the

_ regional district plans to intervene at

the B.C. Utilities Commission hearing into West Kootenay Power and Light Co.'s application for a 4.6 per cent rate increase.

The increase was scheduled to come into effect on Jan. 1. No date for a hearing has been’ set.

The regional board will decide on Saturday whether to approve a request from the Kootenay Doukhobor His-

The regional planner has put to

regional

property and historical village build- ings.

The historical society has proposed a $2.5 million expansion which would in- clude some upgrading of the Brilliant Bridge and construction of additional historical

Mayor Moore recently said she hopes the regional board can help the Society. continued on poge A2

rict Hospital. Narelle was born at 8:54 a.m. Semen

‘Vigilante’ surrenders

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man who walked into a police station here and confessed to shooting four teenagers in a New York subway waived extradi. tion today, saying he would return voluntarily to New York to face at tempted murder charges.

Bernhard Hugo Goetz, 38, dubbed the “subway vigilante,” nodded his head “yes” during a brief arraignment in Concord District Court when Asso. ciate Justice Michael Sullivan asked whether he was willing to return voluntarily

Sullivan pressed Goetz, asking again whether he was willing to sign docu ments to return to New York, even though he had the option of staying in New Hampshire and fighting extradi tion.

“Yes,” Goetz said, almost whisper ing.

Earlier, Goetz had said he would fight extradition to New York, where an arrest warrant charging him with four counts of attempted murder was issued Tuesday. The warrant also charged him with criminal possession

inside

RESOLUTIONS: What is your News Year's resolution? That's what we asked six Castlegar orea residents in our weekly On The Street feature. Find out what they had to foy as

GRADUATES: Thirteen members of Selkirk College's Long Term Care Aide program graduates received their certificates and pins at a

recent ceremony .. . A

BAGGIES BAGGED: ROME — Plastic bags will be banned throughout Htaly beginning in January 1991, the Industry Ministry announced

today

All other packing and bags made with fibres that cannot be recycled will also be banned beginning the same date

The ministry said non-biodegradable plastic bags, used in supermarkets and in most shops, are considered a major pollution problem in many countries and have been animals when dumped into seas and rivers.

WE WON: Canada's junior hockey team captured the world junior championship Tuesday with a 2-2 tie against Czechoslovakia . . . B1

MARCEL WHO? Marcel Dionne has had one of the greatest careers in the NHL, but. he continues to. toil in relative obscurity because he

plays in Los Angeles . . . B2

killing fish and other

of a dangerous weapon.

Goetz was arraigned on a charge of being a fugitive from justice. He was ordered held without bail in Merrimack County jail. It was_not immediately known when he would be returned to New York.

The New York Daily News said Correction Officer Thomas Barton des- eribed Goetz as near tears during pro- cessing Tuesday at the jail

“He said, ‘I'm sorry for what hap- pened, but it had to be done,’ ” the Daily News quoted Barton as saying.

The newspaper also quoted a well. placed New York city police source as saysing Goetz was “adamant about not needing a lawyer” and was “seriously considering defending himself.”

Goetz walked into the Concord police station Mon, and said he was wanted in Mew York for a Dec. 22 subway showdown in which a passen- ger shot four youths and reportedly had asked him for money.

He told police that “he’s the person

that did the shootings,” said Richard ,

Nicastro, New York's chief of detec. tives. He offered no reason why Goetz rented a car and drove to Concord to surrender.

Concord police Chief David Walchak said Goetz gave details of the shooting that had not been made public.

The gunman had been dubbed the Subway Vigilante and Death-Wish Gunman by the city’s tabloids. Hun- dreds of callers to a police hotline supported the shooting — some urged that he run for mayor — and a graffiti artist scrawled Power to the Vigilante! N.Y. Loves Ya! on a wall at the East River Drive.

Police said they had been seeking Goetz after receiving a Dec. 26 tele phone tip. The caller said Goetz re sembled a composite sketch of the sub- way shooter, had a gun and had been mugged in 1981.

Police said Goetz, a Manhattan resident, is a self-employed electronics specialist with fo arrest record. Neighbors said he was active in com. munity affairs and tried to fight crime in his neighborhood, circulating pet- itions for more police protection.

By CasNews Staff

A few einpty Canadian Pacific Railway freight-cars slipped off the tracks in the Castlegar yard Sun day, but a CP Rail official says it's wo big deat.

“Those derailments happen of ten,” said CP Rail assistant super: interident Joe Cashin today. “Mind

you,

Cashin said

DERAILED . . . CP Rail crew works to get freight cars back on track following detrailment Sunday. No one was injuried in the mishap.

Snow derails freight cars

there hasn't Castlegar in years.” “snow caused about three cars to derail, resulting in “minor damage” to the ears, and no damage to the tracks. No one was injured.

According to Raspberry resident Ryan Wilson, an eye-witness to the

osNewsPhoto by Ryan Wilson

seene, three flat-beds and one box car left the tracks.

been any in

conditions”

The damage didn't cause any hold-ups_on_main lines because it happened in the yard, Cashin said The cars are to be hoisted back on the tracks by crane Thursday.