NEWS BRIEF MLA to probe constitution SKEENA MLA Helmut Giesbrecht has been appointed to an all-party legislative committee on the constitution. Constitutional affairs minister Moe Sihota has asked the committee to provide an interim report on constitutional change by Feb. 15. The committee is to provide advice to the government on constitutional issues, receive submissions from the public, and help prepare a constitutional conference representing the views of British Columbians. , Fourteen MLAs are to sit on the committee — eight New Democrats, four Liberals and two Socreds. Strike vote called STRIKE VOTES have been ordered at hospitals around the province by the Hospital Employees Union.. The HEU is blaming the Health Labour Relations Associa- tion (HLRA) for stalled contract talks involving most of its 35,000 members. “After the completion of our strike vote, HEU’s major goal willbe. fo return to the bargaining table to get. our members.a fair contract,’’ said union spokesman Carmela Allevato, ‘‘But if employers continue to press for insulting concessions, we will be ready to take job actions that put pressure on employers while having the least impact possible on patient care.” The union continued to fire barbs at the employer last week, releasing salary figures for hospital administrators. The HEU pointed to salaries as high as $200,000 for some administrators. The union said administrators received average pay hikes of 37 per cent over the last three years, The HLRA responded by pointing out that B.C. ad- ministrators’ salaries lag behind those of other provinces. “When you look at the salaries health care executives receive in other provinces, B.C.’s administrators are not in- dustry competitive,’’ noted HLRA president Gordon Austin. “In Ontario, for example, health care administrators earn up- wards of $300,000 to $400,000 annually,” No parking, anywhere To give crews a clear run at snow removal, the city has in- troduced a by-law amendment aimed at getting parked vehicles off the streets. The proposed regulation will allow the mayor to prohibit - parking on any roadway designated as a snow removal route for a specified period of time. It also defines ‘‘each and every” city street as a snow removal route. The amendment allows the city to either ask the owner of the illegally parked vehicle to move it or to have it towed away. The by-law change goes to committee this week. EE FOR 7 DAYS ONLY — PAY JUST 2.8% -—s QVER INVOICE ON ALL NEW ' 4991 & 92 CARS & TRUCKS IN STOCK. TERRACE — School trustees are going on a $1.3 million spending spree. Local schools could be get- ting everything from computers and books to furniture and new phone lines after the school board voted last week to spend its entire operating surplus. The $1.3 million worth of ex- penditures approved at the Jan. 14 board meeting include: © $400,000. worth of com- puters and other instructional technology, such as laser disk video systems, * $260,000 for networking of computer systems inside cach school, and to network the main office computer of each school with the school board office computer. © $150,000 to a contingency fund for construction of a daycare centre for the Youn Mom’s Program. e© $100,000 for extra telephones and phone lines. * $100,000 for school im- provement projects, such as sinks, blinds, shelving, ® $90,000 to improve the ap- peayances of the front entrances of schools. * $80,000 to instruct teachers on the new computer and net- working systems. The money pays for substitute teachers while regular teachers are undergoing training. * $60,000 for classroom resources to help with im- plementation of the Year 2000 education reforms. This could include learning centres, books, videos and other supplies. e $45,000 for library circula- tion systems at Caledonia and Thornhill Jr. Secondary, and a library security system at Skeena Jr. Secondary. * $15,000 to subsidize pur- chase of personal computers by teachers.. ; ® $10,000 for new Year 2000 materials and books for teachers to review. “This.is one-time money that -we will probably never have again,’’ said school board chair- man Edna Cooper. ‘So we wanted to spend it on things , that will help us fora long time in the future without having a continual expense in the budget every year.” This ad appeared in Vancouver Dec. 6/91. We will gladly beat any Vancouver pricing offering you (See Us Today) This Is a limited time offer, vet:icles must be delivered by January 31, 1992. Prices net of all rabates. Dodge Stealth, Diesel trucks and Dakota Pickups will be priced at 8% over invoice. Some restrictions may apply. + “a 4916 Hwy. 16 West or. No, 5958 OVER INVOICE TERRACE CHRYSLER LTD. 0 Yo 635-7187 Board spends $1.3m Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 22, 1992 — Page A3 surplus Edna Cooper The approved expenditures use up all of the $975,000 ac- cumulated surplus fer the 1990-91 school year, as weil as the projected surplus of about $325,000 expected for the cur- rent 1991-92 budget year. The school district saved money last year when Victoria cancelled the dual-entry kindergarten system. Revenue was up because a board office computer system change resulted in later-than-usual pay- ment of bills, and the district consequently received more in- terest. Also, more money was taken in when more Alaskan students enrolled in classes than had been expected. Cooper said some af the items, such as the front entrance improvements, will help im- prove morale. “Schools tend to be very utilitarian places,”’ she said. “Our objective is to make schools places where people want to be.”? . Other items, such as the add- ed telephone lines, are designed to help as teachers adapt to the Year 2000 education reforms. “Tf we want teachers to com- municate with parents on a amore regular basis, they’re not, going to doit if they have to run: down to the office and wait in line for a phone,” Cooper add- ed. Like a pro BRACING FOR impact, goalie Alan Austin takes a hard shot Saturday afternoon during a game of rollerblade street hockey in the Veritas school parking lot. Road company fined TERRACE — North Coast Road Maintenance has been fin- ed $200 for last year’s spill of PCB-contaminated transformer oil into the Skeena River. The area’s former road maintenance contractor was issued the ticket for introducing business waste into the environ- ment — a violation of the Waste Management Act. ' One of the. company's: trueks.:, sagged power lines. on'Sept. 30, toppling four B.C. Hydro ° transformers, which leaked oil into Howe Creek, Environment ministry of- ficials later determined the 88 gallons of tranformer oii that escaped contained low levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Four tests measured concentrations between zero and 12 parts per million — well below the 50 ppm threshold at which the substance is declared a special hazardous waste. ~~ CN GU iS ewi ai wide Now dt uy _ District conservation officer Peter Kalina said ‘the -company,: has 30 days to either pay: the.: fine or dispute it. REFILL CENTRE Re-fill Products NOW OPEN! 0/ OFF Save The Earth, Be Environmentally | Conscious And Save Money! __ Skeena Mall HAIRBUSTERS 635-2432