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Lull in Spike battle

By BONNE MORGAN Staff Writer

A lull in the battle between CP Rail and residents opposed to the spraying of the herbicide Spike along area rail lines could heat up soon

Spraying elsewhere, A2

“We still have every intention of spraying,"’ a public affairs spokesman for CPR told the Castlegar News yesterday

The last group of residents opposing Spike left the tracks Tuesday morning after being assured that the rail truck used to apply the herbicide won't be back until at least Monday morning.

CPR spokesman Jane Mundry Said the company is currently applying herbicide in ‘the Vancouver region”’

Vol. 41, No. 68

following the departure last Thursday of the truck owned by Midland Vegetation Control Inc.

The truck left Brilliant after more than 100 demon- strators blocked the track at the Brilliant railway crossing

Mudry -said she isn’t sure whether the same truck applying herbicide in the Vancouver area is the one which left Castlegar.

According to the spray permit, an official from the pesticide control branch must accompany the spraying vehicle.

Stuart Craig, regional manager of the pesticide control program, accompanied the spraying vehicle last week, but is on holidays until Aug. 29.

‘We asked the Ministry (of the Environment) if they would appoint another officer and they said no,"’

said Terry Dalton, residents opposed to the spraying.

“The ministry has agreed to give us 12 hours notice said Dalton, adding that he feels confident the ministry will not break its word

of any further spraying,”’

He said protesters will be back on between Nelson and Castlegar on Monday to halt any spraying should CP Rail try to proceed.

‘My clients are completely and absolutely com. said Dalton although he believes now it is not

mitted,"’ likely CPR will continue spraying.

CP Rai!'s spraying permit expires Aug. 31. “Even if they end up getting the police down here and end up spraying, we've already beaten them,””

continued on page A2

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60 Cents

CASTLEGAR BRITISH COLUMBIA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24,

a Castlegar lawyer representing

the tracks

acceptable to all

said

GROUP OFFERS ALTERNATIVES

By CasNews Staff

A. spokesman for Citizens Against Spike says that CP Rail has ignored alternatives to spraying herbicides on its right-of-way.

Wayne Peppard, spokesman for the group which has opposed the spraying of the herbicide Spike along rail lines near its homes, says he has been! trying to meet with CPR officials in Montreal, Revel- stoke, Vancouver and Nelson.

Peppard said his group delivered a proposal to CPR on Aug. 15 outlining’ its concerns and sug- gesting a arp to beens to reach a compromise’

Several payee sone about 150 protesters success- continued on pege A?

Castlegar News

1988

WEATHERCAST

Thirty per cent chance of isolated thundershowers Thursday and Friday with highs both days of 28°. Warmer and drier conditions ore expected Saturday ond Sun day with highs around 30

4 Sections (A, B, C & D)

Ferry bid still up in air

By CasNews Staff

The offer by a local citizens’ group to purchase the Castlegar-Robson ferry for $1 is still up in the air, says the lawyer for the group.

Terry Dalton said Highways Min- ister Neil Vant has indicated in a letter to the Robson Ad Hoc Ferry Users Committee that negotiations for the ferry cannot begin until the City of Castlegar and the Regional District of Central Kootenay have officially rejected taking over the vessel.

Both Castlegar council and the tegional district board have passed motions saying they do not intend to operate the ferry and that they have no objection to the ferry users ¢om- mittee purchasing the vessel. How- ever, Dalton said the Highways Min istry is likely waiting for written con firmation.

The committee has offered to buy the ferry and operate it, provided it

continued on page A2

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page A2

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Cicarelli convicted

page B2

Special ‘friend’

page A7

GETTING READY «+. The start of achaeI is still two weeks away, but Castlegar school district main- tenance workers have been busy getting facilities ready for the onslaught of students. Brenda Binnie

k fence at Twin Rivers elementary school Tuesday. School building itself was also given a fresh coat of paint

CosNews Photo by Ron Normer

PUBLIC MEETING

Pool questions raised

By RON NORMAN Editor

The Oct. 1S referendum on the proposed $2.2 million indoor aquatic centre is really a choice between spending money on a new pool or on renovating the existing Bob Brand- son Pool, a Castlegar alderman said Tuesday

Albert Calderbank told about 40 people at a public meeting that the Brandson pool needs extensive re- pairs. He said residents can either pay for those repairs or put the money toward a new aquatic centre, but either way ‘‘we need a swimming pool for this area of some descrip- tion.”*

Calderbank made the comments at a meeting in the Community Com- plex sponsored by the Castlegar and District Projects Society, which

‘ing the pool

The pool proposal raised a number

of questions from those in atten-

dance. Some wanted to know why the society hadn't proposed an Olympic- size pool

“We couldn't afford it,"" society chairman Ron Ross

Ross said the Olympic pool is SO metres long and eight lanes wide, nearly double the size of the pro. posed pool, which 25 metres long and six lanes wide. He suggested an Olympic-size pool would cost $5 million.

“We're not hoping to train Olym- pic athletes here,'" Ross said, add- ing that local athletes will have to go elsewhere when the reach a certain level

As well, he pointed out there are only two Olympic-size pools in the province — one in Vancouver and the other in Victoria.

Several people wondered why the Proposal was reduced from $2.4 million to $2.2 million

“If we're going to do it, we might

replied

as well do it right the first time.” said one woman

But Ross said while the $200,000 reduction shaved 3,000 square feet off the aquatic centre — from 24,000 to 21,000 square feet in total — the centre still has all the amenities of the original project.

Ross added that if an adequate centre could be built for $1.8 million, more cuts would have been made; but it couldn’t.

“This is the minimum we think we want to put in . and the maximum the taxpayer can afford,’’ he said.

Ross said the pool deck lounge and seating area were reduced along with some of the shallow pool. However, he assured the meeting that there would be enough room to seat between 200 and 300 spectators for swim meets.

The pool will not have a diving board.

continued on page Ad

t

x on Pesticide

appeal

rejected

By BONNE MORGAN Staff Writer

The provincial Environmental Ap- peal Board has turned down an appli- cation to prevent the Arrow Forest District from using the pesticides Roundup or Vision near Nakusp

Two environmental groups went before the board in June to protest the use of the herbicide glyphosphate in the Summit Basin area.

The board ruled in favor of the Ministry of Forests and Lands, which holds the pesticide-use permit for the chemical in the Arrow Forest Dis- trict.

The Arrow Forest District had intended to treat 459 hectares of Crown land about three kilometres south of Summit Lake.

However, a forestry says the forest district won't spraying the herbicide this year.

“It's getting very late in the year," Tom Johnston said today. Johnston said the proper time for applying the herbicide is usually between July and August

As well, the forest considering opposition to the spray- ing and will be discussing the issue with residents concerned about the program

Johnston said the ministry is also looking at doing more manual brush- ing than has been done in previous years. Following refined forestry fig- ures submitted at the hearing, the appeal board changed the permit for

spokesman be

service is

half the amount of pesticide orig- inally approved.

The Vathalla Wilderness Society and the Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance charged that the active ingredients in the herbicides Round- up and Vision will cause serious damage to wildlife in the Summit Basin, seven kilometres south of ‘Nakusp. The groups said the chem- ical could contaminate domestic and recreational water bodies.

The panel hearing the appeal con- cluded that the treatment wouldn't reduce wildlife habitat or food sources in a ‘meaningful way.””

“Any ingestion of pesticide by wildlife using the area immediately following treatment would not occur in amounts significant enough to pose a threat to their health,’’ the decision states.

The three-member panel con- cluded after hearing two days of evidence that the permit provides adequate safeguards to prevent con- tamination of area water bodies. The permit doesn't allow pesticides to be sprayed within 10 metres of a water body

A spokesman for the Slocan Valley Watershed Alliance is unhappy with the appeal decision.

“It's kind of disappointing, but it is a victory because they are not going to spray."’ said Marty Lewis

Lewis feels that public pressure in- fluenced the forestry ministry to

continued on poge A2

Cominco sells steel company to IPSCO

VANCOUVER (CP) Cominco Ltd. has sold its Western Canada Steel Ltd. subsidiary to IPSCO Inc. for $18 million — but the deal won't save nearly 400 jobs.

Western Canada Steel's operations in the Vancouver area will be shut down on Sept. 9 as scheduled, said

Nearly sold, A4

IPSCO spokesman Mike Edge on Monday, ‘‘because of its inability to come to a satisfactory union con- tract."’

The union for the 364 workers had been trying to buy the plant in sub- urban Richmond from Cominco.

“While we do not preclude re- opening the Vancouver facility if an acceptable labor atrangement can be reached," Edge said from Regina, “we will in the meantime instruct Western Canada Steel management to continue the shutdown as plan- ned."

The union has already written to

the mill's new owners asking for a meeting to explore ways to re-open the plant, said Harold David, Local 6 secretary with the Canadian Associa- tion of Industrial Mechanical and Allied Workers.

But IPSCO president Roger Phil-

lips told a news conference on Monday that the company would talk to the union but would not sell its Vancouver-area operations to ployees

“The Vancouver facility will be closed when we take over Oct. 1 and the only way it will be reopened is if we renegotiate the contract with the union,"’ added Phillips.

Cominco announced the closing of Western Canada Steel earlier this month citing continuous losses and the failure to obtain relief from certain contract terms.

Western Canada Steé1_will operate as a subsidiary of IPSCO, Western Canada’s largest steelmaker, said Edge

IPSCO will continue to operate Western Canada Steel's recycling plant in Richmond, he said, and will retain its Si-per-cent interest in Hawaiian Western Steel Ltd. which produces reinforcing steel bars in Hawaii

Phillips said IPSCO will increase production at its Calgary plant and selling the Richmond operation to its employees would make it a compet- itor

In addition, he said the plant's location is a valuble piece of land.

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