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Published Every Thursday at “The Crossroads of the

NEWS

Voi. s, No. 40

CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA, THURSDAY, ‘OCTOBER 2, 1952

Kootenays”

PTA Seeks To Sponsor Activities For Youth

Meals for the teacher visitors to Castlegar during the forthcom- ing West Kootenay and Boundary Teachers’ Convention to be held at Castlegar October 16 to 19, and a discussion of organized youth activity for this district were among the items of business at the first meeting of the season of the Stanley Humphries Par- ent Teachers Association in the library room of the high school Monday night.

The meeting also decided to have the Association become a member of the Kootenay Society for Handicapped Children after Mrs. J. Marshall and Mrs. G. Martini had given enthusiastic accounts of meetings of the so-,| ciety they had attended as repres- entatives of the Association.

Both Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Martini were impressed with the seriousness of the meetings and the sincerity of the, members who, they explained, were most- ly parents of handicapped chil- dren. They also expressed sur- prise at the large number of handicapped children there are in the Kootenays. Said Mrs. Mar- tini: “I had no idea there were so many children in need.”

The motion that the P.T.A. be- come a member of the Society was made by D. Campbell, sec- onded by A. Harvey and carried unanimously, Teachers Must Eat

President Mrs. Martini’ report- ed that the billetting of teachers, the only item of unfurnished business from last season’s final meeting. had been taken care of. Billets for all the 450 visiting teachers have been arranged and the list turned over to J. H. Cor- bett. :

It was then revealed that the P.T.A. 's been asked to arrange luncheon and dinner for Friday of the convention. Miss M. Milli- can explain that during the con- vention, Castlegar’s population will increase by 450 from as far west as Grand Forks and as far east as Kaslo. Since there are not enough eating places in Castlegar to provide meals for them, she declared, “the best way to keep these people here is to plan meals for them.”

She reported that nine differ- ent organizations and groups have volunteered to help solve the problem by serving meals in the eight halls of the district. The meeting agreed to lend their as- sistance also by serving the noon and evening meals to two groups of fifty in the Twin Rivers Hall on Friday, October 16, and a catering committee was formed. Mr. D. Campbell volunteered to head the evening meal commit- tee if no lady volunteer were forthcoming.

Other groups in charge of catering during the convention include the Legion Ladies’ Aux- iliary, Mrs. Bystrom, the Girl, Guides, the Robson Women’s In- stitute, Kinnaird Women’s In- stitute, the Catholic Women’s League, the United Church Wo- men’s Association and the Ang- lican Church Women’s Associa- tion.

Let’s Organize Youth

G. Rice prposed as a project for the Association during the coming year, the organization of youth activities in Castlegar, de- claring ‘that young people here have not the organization they should have and need some sort of provision for their spare time. He explained that the program committee is arranging for a speaker on this matter at one of the future meetings.

A suggestion that Pro-Rec act- ivities could be-a start in this direction was made by J..A. Thomas, principal of the high school. He agreed that some sort of organized youth activity is needed. “There just isn’t any place for young people to go at night,” he asserted. “With the possible large influx of popula- tion, this could become serious.”

Other suggestions for youth activity included a reodganiza- tion of the Boy Scouts, introduct- ion of a navy cadet corps, a teen- town centre and greater Girl Guide activities.

D.C

+ nted

Crossing Lane Delay Not Jamieson’s Fault H. T. Miard Declares

Concern over what was des- cribed as “unfair criticism” of E. Jamieson, Public Works Superin- tendent for this district, in recent news items and editorials appear- ing in the press regarding cross- ing lanes for Columbia Avenue, was expressed in Castlegar this week by H. T. Miard, Divisional Engineer for the Provincial De- partment of Public Works.

Mr. Miard expressed doubt that Mr. Jamieson promised ap- proval of the pedestrian crossing lanes within a-week after appli- cation for them. Such matters, he explained, must be thoroughly investigated which “takes time.”

The public works officer ad- mitted there has been delay re- garding the matter but declared that this is not Mr. Jamieson’s fault. Part of the delay, he ex- plained, was because he himself has not been able to look into the matter until recently. The whole project must be thoroughly in- vestigated because of the large number of lanes applied for by the commissioners Mr. Miard de- clared. 1

New Kinnaird Pump In Operation Today

With the arrival of the long- awaited new water pump last

les are rapidly being overcome. The pump was installed in the pumping station on Tuesday and was expected to be in full opera- tion today. :

Mr. M. Dumont has agreed ‘+o grant the village an easement for a new road through his land to the pumping station, on the con- dition the village assumes full responsibility for any damage to the C.P.R. tracks, due to caving- in of ground. The proposed road will be extended from the pres- ent Dumont roa@ to meet the highway between Carlsen’s Building Supply and the Kin- naird Service Station.

Trail Optometrists Open Branch Here

Another optometrist firm will be opening new offices in Castle- gar Saturday morning. H. K. Naruse and K. A. Morrow, Opto- metrists, with head office in Trail and branch offices in New Den- ver and Nakusp, will open a branch office in Castlegar, Sat- urday morning at 9.

Situated in suite three of the Creighton-Horswill building, up- stairs, the Castlegar office will be open on Wednesdays and Satur- days from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Dr. Morrow, is a graduate of the College of Optometry of. Ont- ario last year, where he won a Gold Medal for Practical Opto- metry, will be in charge of the Castlegar office. Dr. Naruse has been an optometrist in Trail fo- twelve years. .

Legion L.A. Appoint Representatives To Zone Meeting fn Trail

Catering for the teacher’s con- vention here this month an plans for a Fall Tea and Bake Sale were discussed at the monthly meeting of the Ladies’ Auxiilary to the Canadian Le- gion, Branch 170 on Tuesday, September 26, Mrs. E. A. Mc- Donald presiding. A committee was appointed to handle the catering,

A new member Mrs. M. Mc- Donald, was initiated and ‘the transfer of Mrs. Mary Webster, formerly a Golden resident now living at Deer Park, was received and accepted. "i

Mrs. C. Woolls will represent the Auxiliary at the Zone Coun- cil meeting in Trail, October 4, and 5, with J. , Markin, the Auxiliary’s standard-bearer, also

was x head of a.committee to investi- gate the , matter and several members ‘volunteered to help

‘him [etn 2 J. Martel was put in charge of arranging transportation for everyone interested in attending the P.T.A._ meetings. The next meeting ‘is:to be held on October

Teachers Introduced’ Following the busimess session A

The members planned to visit Mrs. Foxlee, who has been-in ill

Mrs. A. Weir was appointed ‘to obtain the names and‘‘addresses of local men and women:who are serving with the Armed’ Froces, that Christmas parcels may, be sent to them. Mealy

Mrs. H. Bates and:Mrs. I, Riley were h for the ening. The draw: was won by: Mrs. D. Enoksen.

Continued. on Page 6 ah

Other members present’ be-

Sunday Kinnaird’s water troub- |

health .at her home this: week. |

Hearings Held Re Syringa Creek Thefts

Appearing in Castlegar police iary Magistrate William H. Tay- court this week before Stipend- lor. on five charges of breaking and entering of summer cabins at Syringa Creek, was John Stru- thers, a 19 vear old youth whose home is in Westwold near Kam- loops. He will appear in Nelson court to elect either speedy trial or trial before a jury. _

Constable Kenneth J. “Ritchie, Castlegar Detachment RCMP tes- tified at the preliminary hearings held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A statement of confession, singed by the accused. ‘and wit- nessed by Constable Ritchie was entered as were a mantel radio, a fishing reel, a small bag of flashlight batteries and a pair of denim trousers, identified’ by the Constable as some of the items missing from the cabins,

In his statement, Struthers ‘re- ported he had been an employee of the W. D. Moore Logging Co. near Vancouver until the wood- workers’ strike put him out of work, He then journeyed west- ward arriving eventually at Deer Park via Kamloops, Vernon, Kel- owna, where police picked him up when found loitering around {a used car lot and then released him, Pentictori,, where he was again picked up, for trespassing on the railway and told to leave town, and Grand Forks. r

Having trekked to Deer Park jfrom the railway tracks, the statement declared, he was hung- ry and broke into one of the cab- ins, taking some canned goods. The statement alleged that Stru- thers broke into another cabin there and then came to Castlegar j where he cached the items he jhad taken from the cabin, and ;then trekked to Syringa Creek. | Here, his statement asserted, jhe entered five other cabins and ;removed quantities of canned goods, and other items including a radio, flashlight and batteries, a windbreaker, a shirt,-a- .22-cal— ibre rifle with shells and a fish- ing reel, caching these nearby. All entries were made, Struthers de- clared in the statement, by j breaking the hasps on the door. | Connstable Ritchie _ testified that, having received a complaint from George W. Wilson that his summer home had been forcibly entered and a number of items removed, he patrolled to the area on September 11 and found that entry had been made into the cabin by forcing the hasp from the front door. Two davs later further complaints that the summer homes of . B. Reid, G. Fletcher and C. C. Jones had ‘been entered were recieved. The complainants are Trail residents.

On Monday, September 15, the Constable testified, he made fur- ther investigation and found the accused John Struthers in pos- session of a number of the miss- ing items, following which he led the officer to a cache of items in Castlegar. .

The accused, the constable de- clared, volunteered to give a statement when interviewed in Nelson jail on September 18. There was no inducement, threat or promise whatsoever to. induce the statement, he asserted.

The statement was read aloud in court. Struthers declined to make any verbal statement.

5 Cents Per Copy

Hearings Re Gelgar Postponed To Oct. 8

The hearing of appeals against

the granting of a forest manage- ment licence ‘to Celgar Develop- ment Co, Ltd. ‘in the Arrow Lakes area, has -been postponed from October 1 to October8, lo- eal Celgar office employees were advised from. Victoria last, Thurs- day. : Chief appeals to be heard will be those of the William T. Joyce Ca. of Chicago, the Michigan Trust Co. and Kootenay Forest Products Ltd. of Nelson.

Gordon Root, Celgar Public Relations Director and A. Brand- strom, Woods Manager for the company, made a brief routine visit to Castlegar last Thursday, conferring with the local office staff,

The taking of inventory in the Proposed licence area is well ad- vanced. A number of graduate foresters, including Fred Waldie, Jack McKinnon, J. Mitchell, J. Murison and J. Longworth, under the direction of Hugh Hodgins and Professor Carr, will be re- turning to their home office to make their report as the weather deteriorates.

Survey work and timber cruis- ing operations in’ the licence area have been proceeding all summer with Western Surveys Ltd. doing part of the surveying in the country North of Revel- stoke.

Trail Firm Buys Local Coal Business

It was announced this week that the fuel business of N. V. Defoe has been purchased by a Trail firm, Teahan’s Fuel and Trucking.

T. J. Teahan, well-known Trail business man -who has been a coa] retailer in that city for ever twenty years, is manager of the fitm which will operate its Castlegat branch from the office of the Arrow Motors Co. Ltd. The purchase takes effect imme- diately.

Mr. DeFoe retains his owner- ship of the transfer and excavat- ing portion of the business. He has been in business here since 1936 and now owns two trucks.

Hospital Society Discuss Area Of Improvement District

_The _Subject of considerable discussion at a meeting of the Castlegar and District Hospital Society in M. Moran’s office last week, was the boundary of the proposed Improvement District for Hospital purposes.

_it was decided: that the dist- rict should cover roughly the same area as the present Castle- gar School District No. 9. J. A. Williams and A. C. Sylvest were appointed to serve on an Im- provement District committee charged with mapping out the area to be included.

Exhibit A at the meeting was the certificate of incorporation of the Castlegar and District Hospi- tal Society.

It was further decided that the

di objective was a drive

-| New Officers For

Conservative Ass. Include Local Men

Among the new officers of the Trail and District Progressive Conservative Association, elect- ed at the annual meeting in Trail last Friday, was J. S. Roberts of Castlegar who became the first vice-president of the Association.

Two other Castlegar residents, George Miller and William Wal-

for membership, first to raise the necessary funds and secondly to

make the people of the district as:

hosnital minded as possible. aycxt meeting of the society

will be held on October 29.

ee se

New Officers For Teachers’ Association

A new group of officers for the coming term, were elected at the first meeting ofthe season of the Castlegar- and . District’ Teachers

die were elected ive mem- bers.

Guy W. Dpwnie, president; Ron Hill, Fruitvale, second vice-presi- dent; Mrs, I. B. Kenny, third vice-president; and E. B.. Scott; , Stanley ‘Austad, Oasis;*Dr. C, A. !H. Wright, R. A. Lawrie, I B. Kenny, J. A. P. Curtis, Miss Shir- ‘ley. Dougan, A. H. Freeman, H. M. Keys, K. McKee, H. W. George, Mrs, S. E..Angus and.C..E. Mar- latt, all of Trail, executive of- ficers. t :

sides those _ mentioned. ~ above were ‘Mrs. W. Smith, Mrs.: W. Rigby, ‘Mrs. A. Lampard, Mrs. W. -Houston,. Mrs.. H. Bate, and.one guest, Mrs. M. Gripich.

Other officers elected were: |,

~The newly elected are: W. J. Banigan, president; Mrs. F. A. Quance; vice-president;’ Mrs. R. McCabe, treasurer; -J. .D, Mun- day, secretary;-.G. Rice, Mrs. E. R. Smith and “Ri: E. ‘Cail, ‘Salary Committee; H..Bate, J. Charters and" Miss E. McKinnon, district ae representatives.

ie chai

\ equipped

Arson Suspect

s Confess

And -Retrac Confessions

Tug Arrives For New Barge Service On Arrow Lakes

The new tug and barge service on the Arrow, Lakes is being started this week. A 32-foot tug, “the Deer Park” arrived from shipyards at Vancouver last week and was launched at West Rob- son on Monday.

The Deer Park, an all steel ves- sel with accommodations ’ for three men, left for Arrowhead Tuesday where it will pick up its steel barge.

Two young Vancouver men, E. H, Bowman and C. W. G. Mac- Kenzie are operating the new service under the name of Inter- ior Tug and Transport Co. Ltd. They have contracted to haul concentrate from the Mastodon zinc mine near Revelstoke, to the Consolidated Mining and Smelt- ing Plant at Trail.

Barge loads of 150 tons will be towed down the river to Arrow- head and then down the Arrow Lakes to Robson, from where the concentrate will be transport- ed to Trail by truck.

Concentrate from the Sunshine Lardeau at Camborne, it is be- lieved will also be sent down the Arrow Lakes via the new barge service.

Both tug and barge were built in Vancouver. .

The steel barge to be used, also built in Vancouver, was as- sembled at the edge of the Col- umbia River near Arrowhead.

Village Bulldozer Arrives In Kinnaird .

Kinnaird’s bulldozer was delivered yester- dav by truck from Nelson where it has been undergoing necessary

recently acquired

repairs before delivery. Total st of the machine, not includ-

jing the cost of repairs unknown :as yet, is $3,500.

The plough on the machine is with a combination bulldozer and snow-plow blade and the unit has high wings on the side for handling heavy snowfalls,

The matter of renting the bull- dozer to private parties was thor- oughly discussed at last Mon- day's meeting of the village com- missioners, as a number of ap- vlications for use of the machine have been received. The matter was tabled until it is definitely known whether the work neces- sary in the village will leave the machine available for private projects.

The meeting also heard a reply from the Department of Health regarding the spraying of the garbage dump with disinfectant.

; They were advised this could be

done but it is not advisable to do so, because of the cost involved and this method not being as ef- ficient as periodic covering of the dump with a six inch layer of dirt.

The village clerk was instruct- ed to ask the federal government for codes pertaining to construct- ion of new buildings, e.g. plumb- ing, electrical fixtures, etc.

he commissioners decided to have a machine shed built for the housing of village machinery. The stricture is to be of rough construction and covered with aluminum sheeting.

U.B.C., would be among the speakers at the convention.

The program for this first meeting was. unique in that the guest artists and entertainers who performed at last year’s meetings, were all invited back again, to come solely as guests and enjoy, themselves., ,

R. Cail, master “of ceremonies, introduced those guests who were able to attend and reviewed the contribution .of each to the en-

2 of the

committees will be chosen by.the

new executive at a later date.

re A. ‘Thomas, chairman: of the rs’

outlined the progress in plans for the convention to be held here Octgber 16-19, He announ-

ston, mi

ter t portion of last years meetings, helping to make it one of the most successful years in the history of the association. The guest contributions of the past year as reviewed by Mr. Cail consisted of: two songs by Miss .. Doreen: - Francis, soprano,

After preliminary hearings in Castlegar’s Legion Hall before Stipendiary Magistrate Williarn Henry Taylor on Wednesday and Friday of last week, Paul Popoff and Nick Konkin, facing five charges of arson in the Brilliant- Castlegar area, elected on Sat- urday to stand for speedy trial before County Court Judge Eric P. Dawson after Mag. Taylor had committed them to higher coukt for trial.

Popoff is charged with wilfull setting fire to the Bloodoff home in Castlegar on August 30, to the Goloff Planer Mill at Brilliant on June 14 and to the Upper Bril- liant Community Hall on January 28. Nick Konkin faces charges of setting the Goloff planer mill and Brilliant Hall fires also.

At Wednesday’s hearing in Cas- tlegar, two statements of confes- sion signed by Popoff, in which he freely assumed responsibility for setting the Bloodoff fire, were entered as evidence. In two later statements, also entered as evi- dence, Popoff denied responsis j bility for any fires saying “We were instructed to burn. We get instructions to go to police and confess,” and charging also that he was intimidated into making a statement of confession by pol- . ice at the time of his arrest on Sept. 11. a

On Friday, testimony of witnes- ses regarding the Goloff planer mill and Brilliant Hall fires was heard. Both Popoff and Konkin were charged with setting these two fires.

A. G. Cameron, Crown Counsel, summoned Ira C. Marquis, sev- eral police officers, George Goloff iand Sam Gretchen to the witness |stand) Mr. Marquis, train con- | ductor from Nelson, testified how he and his train crew noticed thé Upper Brilliant Community Hall Fire on January 28, while their. train was standing on the pass track siding in Brilliant. I saw © the fire, Mr. Marquis repcrted, and sounded an alarm with the engime whistle, I then ran to the fire and began to look for foot prints in the snow. I found onc fresh set of prints that appeared to lead to the basement of the building.

The train conductor also re- ported finding a piece of burlap, fragments of a broken bottle and a bottle cap, all apparently satur- ated with kerosene. There was a strong smell of kerosene in the air also. These articles were turn- ed over to the police by Mr. Mar- quis. at Tadanac and were en- tered as exhibits at the hearings.

Regarding the planer mill fire, | George Goloff, owner of the des- troyed plant, placed his loss ut $45,000. Sam, Gretchen, guard at the Co-op Store in Brilliant r-- membered seeing the mill on fir> at 12:15 on the morning of Jun> 15, but did not see anyone aroun i the mill before the fire. Constzbie Ken Ritchie, Castlegar Detach- ment RCMP, who was patrolling the South Slocan area at the time, reported noticing the glow in the sky about 12:30 the same morn- ing. He proceeded at once tothe scene finding the mill totally en- veloped in flames when he ar- rived. He notified Staff Sergeant Mackay at once.

Constable J. R. Cline, Castlegar Detachment, revealed that Popoff ‘on Sept. 15, expressed a desire to make a statement. He was givcn the usual police warning, i.e. that he was not. obliged to say anyv- thing but that anything he might say could be used as evidence against him.

Popoff then; with no induce- ment or threat. whatsoever, gave a voluntary statement, Constable Cline testified. The statement was read at the hearings and en-. tered as evidence. In it; Popoff declared that in the spring of 1952, Konkin and himself decided to set fire to the planer mill, hav- ing burned the’ Upper Brilliant Hall previously. The statement alleged that the two accused set both these fires for the purpnse thatthe Orthodox Doukhobors would join the Sons of Freedom in their demands for relocation, and asserted that two,days before the fire, the two drained some gas from Konkin’s truck into bottles and-hid them in the bushes near the mill.

On the

'

night of the fire,. the

and ‘an eg by. Rev. L. C. John-

ced that the Hon. Mrs. Tillie Ral- of Mr. HEC. 1 ‘i

tendent; and Professor Daniels of

son atthe’ October meeting; an address by Dr. V. Goresky ‘and

‘

said, Popoff came to the mill alone, prepared a bur- |

, (Continued* on Page 5)