it’s-a great investment . Helping out victims Terrace has been the best place | to buy a house in northern B. C., | says a price survey/NEWS Ai2 . | A local group does much to ease — : the trauma felt by victims of crime/COMMUNITY BL Fleet of foot | ‘School cross country runners ; face their biggest test in season. ; finale/SPORTS ci WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26, 1994" ANDARD « 75¢ PLUS 56 st _ VOL.-7: NO. 28 City rejects Pohle wood haul route ~ By JEFF NAGEL CITY COUNCILLORS voted by a narrow margin Monday night fo reject the latest request by Terrace Pre- Cut to open up Pohle Ave. between homes on Braun St. Councillors’ Ed Graydon, David. Hull, ‘and -Rich McDaniel voted in favour of a motion to -reject. the’ mill's. permit application. - Councillors Val George and Gordon Hull opposed the motion. The narrow avenue that appears on maps is only a bush tratl, but would have given Terrace Pre-Cut, owner Mo Takhar a faster route to move wood from the mill to another property off Keith Ave for slordge. “If Terrace Pre-Cut wants to load a flat deck truck . and move the wood down Keith « Avenue, they are within their rights to do so,” Graydon said. “Bul to try and play hardball with the local neighbours is 4 ae Their big mistake,” “We owe il to the people of Braun Street to let them know where we stand," he said, adding that allowing loaded forklifts to run back and: forth in' residential neighbourhoods would be “ludicrous,” McDaniel said Takhar should truck his wood to the property on Keith Ave. until he finds a more convenient Storage sile. ““J'm concerned that we're doing things that are going to day ASHLEY FROESE gets a hand from Terrace comparison. Ashley and Nathan Roth were the lucky firefighter Ron Fleming (left) and Terrace fire chief duo who got to be fire chiefs for a day as part of Fire Randy Smith as she tries her hand at operating a Prevention Week. They visited both Terrace and hose that makes ‘the garden variety pale by Thornhill fire halls. discourage the development of this type of industry in this city," George-said, It's the third time this year — council has given thumbs down to Takhar’s plans.. They first rejected -- by a 4- - 2 vote -- Terrace Pre-Cut's request in May to rezone a Braun St. property adjacent to the mill from residential to light industrial. Residents had opposed that application on the basis that it would have extended _ capsized aowlTerrace -neur Delta.Creek..... «.... Eagles make a stand “ Logging road blockaded | CRUCIAL LAND claims talks are in trouble and Skecna Cel- lulose is making plans for a court appearance because of a blockade cast of here. ' Members of the Gitksan Eagle clan from Gitwangak have stopped Skeena Cellulose from building a logging road into terti- tory they claim as their own. A company hired by Skeena Cellulose to build the road into the Fiddler Creek-Bonser Lake flats area was first stopped Oct. 17, That location on the north side of the Skeena River has becn long planned as a logging site by Skeena Cellulose. It’s one of the reasons the com- pany Duilt a one-lane bridge across the Skecna River east of here on Hwy16 in the early part of the decade. Speaking last week, Skeena Cellulose official Ray Zim- merman said the company has a valid road building permit from the forest service and is going to ask for a court injunction to end, the Eagle blockade. “If something can happen be- fore the injunction, that’s great,”” added Zimmetman. ‘We ‘have . the right to access and. we're trying to get our work done,”’ He said the wood in the area Js crucial to help. feed. he compa ny’s sawmill heres: Ona larger scale, the blockade has caused the provincial govern- ment to stop negotiating a forest ‘use agreement with the Gitksan that’s lied lo their land claim. It marks a set back for a deal signed by the province and ther Gitksan this summer to negotiate the claim rather than continue on with court action begun by thes Gitksan 10 years ago. That court action, commonly called the Delgam Uukw case, features the Gitksan and the ~~ Wet'suwet’en making a claim for title 19 22,000 square miles of ter- ritory, The case has already been heard by the provincial supreme court and appeal court, It’s now before the Supreme Court of Canada but is on hold to determine if the negotiations can result in separate land claims agreements with the Gitksan and with the Wet'suwet’en, The forest use agreement is to set up procedures on native in- volvement in resource use deci- sions while the main land claims talks are going on. This agreement won't give na- tives a veto on resource use deci- sions but docs ensure their opinions must be considered. “We did not negotiate on the forest use agreement this week because of the blockade, We've suspended those negotiations un- til the blockade comes down,”’ a provincial aboriginal affairs min- istry spokesman said over the weekend. “The reason for that is that it is the policy of the provincial ‘government not to negotiate when there is a blockade,” said Peter Smith. He said the province hopes the matter is resolved before the main land claims talks between the province, the federal govermment and the Gitksan are scheduled ‘to ‘ resume. “We're going to wait and see what happens, We're not prepared .to comment on what might happen at that point,’’ said Smith when asked what will hap- pen if the blockade is still in place when the main talks are to take place. For more on the situation, please see Page A2. Pickers should be prepared MUSHROOM PICKERS have to learn to take miore safety and sur- vival precautions before going into the bush, says a northwest air searcher, Bringing matches, rain gear, some food and a ‘Compass are cs~ sential ‘to surviving and being found, . regional air. députy commander. for the Civil Air Search aud Res- says’ James. Gilham, ue Association. . Pickers who start a fire até gein- : erally found soon after a search begins, he added, People who can’t start a Firé and stand in the trees waving their arms are almost invisible to air searchers, ‘Unless you are an acilve participant in your own recovery air crews will have an extremely difficult time locating you,’? said Gilham. Gilham says cooler tempera- tures and lower snow levels mean lost pickers. are now in much greater danger hypothermia. Lost pickers who do manage to start a fire shoulda’t leave that area,. especially if a: plane flies nearby. It’s important to tell somebody where. you’re going and when you expect to réturn. Call that person when you do get back, | The RCMP. should be called when reporting overdue peopte. because of industrial zoning inte their residential neighbourhood. Takhar responded by getting permtts to develop Pohie Ave. and run foaded forklifts between the houses.on Braun to the back of his Keith Ave. - property. A real estate agent acting for Takhar then delivered what many residents took as an ultimatum -- either agree to the original rezoning request or see forklifts rolling down Pohle. Residents in September: River claims rejected a compromise proposal councillors that would have allowed Terrace’ Pre-Cut ‘to use the adjacent property, but under stringent restrictions timed at satisfying critics. By the time the issue came back to council's committee- of-the-whole a week ago, Takhar's permit to develop Pohle had expired, Councillors voted to: do nothing because there was no longer, any. application or request before them, fan Terrace man A 20-YEAR-OLD Terrace man is dead after a tragic canoeing accident in the Skeena River Saturday, Jared Wilkerson was one of three people thrown into the tiver when their canoe 14km west of | Murray Gillespie, 35, and Nathan Wilkerson, Jared’s 22- year-old brother, made it to shore and summoned help from a passing motorist. Jared Wilkerson's body was ‘ recovered the next day following a massive search, “There's no mystery here," said Terrace coroner Jim Lynch. *“It's a tough river." _ “They're a bunch of great kids, in good shape. They ate before they left. They did everything right. But the river is a difficult one," he said. RCMP Staff Sergeant John Veldman said that while Wilkerson was wearing a personal floatation. device (PFD), it lacked’ a C02 cartridge for it to. be effective. “It: was only partially inflated. PFDs must be in working order at all times, not. just inflated at the time of the emergency,” he- said. He said the life jacket was also. camouflage . green coloured, making it more difficult for searchers to spot yellow or orange. “T's not’ recommended: for _ anyone to be on that river with a canoe," Veldman: said: **It"” may look slow, but it's very unforgiving and has _ some rough areas.’ Involved in the search was the local water rescue team, the local land: seach’ and rescue team, : officers, parks branch officers and the local forest service which. used a -helicopter - equipped. with an. infrared device. We had 25 to 30 people on the second day," snid Veldman. ne Search officials credited. the involvement: of: Nathan Wilkerson in helping with the» | search. brokered: - by’ sthans if -it had. been: ‘bright, conservalion . By MALCOLM BAXTER KITIMAT-STIKINE regional district directors want the B.C. Lands branch to put the brakes on a proposed Thom- hill subdivision. Called the Thornhill Com- mons development, it is bor- dered by Paquette St, Century St, Crescent St. and Sharples Rd./Hwy 16 East. B.C. Lands proposes prepar- ing an overall development plan for the 56,5ha, site, then selling it off in phases to pri- vate developers for construc- tion and resale. A report prepared by McEI- hanney Engineering indicates the future population of the development could exceed 1500... The concept calls for a mix of housing including high density accommodation to achieve lower cost housing and a trailer park, However, an administration report ralsed questions as to fit in with long term land use patterns and about provision of water and sewer services. The report offered five op- tions ranging from allowing the development to go ahead within existing development how the development would - | District sewers. \subdivision plan by-laws to to putting the pro- ject on hold. ; Directors opted for the latter and will aske Lands to with- hold development until. -the- restructure study has been completed, Thornhill’s Oft- - | cial Settlement Plan is reviewed and water and sewer muasterplans developed. . “We don’t want to hold up - development,’’ said planning.’ committee chairman Dave Brocklebank, but emphasized the need for proper planning. In adopting this stance, the | board overturned a Thornhill: - Advisory Planning Commis-.-. sion recommendation, : On Oct. 12 that body voted 4-2 to allow the development to go ahead while at the same time beginning work on sewer . and water masterplans, It also wanted.to see mobile homes kept out of the initlal phases, preferring. average - price houses to maintain Prop- erty values. oe And while Lands had suig- gested allowing lots down to - 30) sqm., the commission contended people were ° at- tracted: to Thomhill by the. availability of larger fois and recommended maintalning the current 700 sq.m. minimum.