“Ny

/ 8

Out of gas

Find out why a local fuel.

station’ s tanks are on
empty — = —
\NEWS A16

“

Addicted

‘A new committee looks for
community input to better
combat the problem of
addiction\COMMUNITY B1

Sisters on ice

, wo young girls take:
~ on the challenge of

competitive skating -

_ \SPORTS B7

Tg
$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST
outside of the Terrace area)

VOL. 18 NO. 35

» By DUSTIN QUEZADA.
THE FOUR-DAY school week is: hurt-
ing the city in its efforts-to attract new

business investment’ here, + Says one cily

_ councillor. |

Marilyn Davies says economic devel-
opment officers continue to get a poor re-
_ sponse from potential business investors
when: they learn schools are closed one
day a week.

Davies, the city’ 5 liaison to the Ter-
race Economic Development Authority
_ (TEDA), told council Nov. 28 the prob-
lem wasn’t brought up to her until three
weeks ago. ~

‘She said a person in town to examine

the industrial development potential of
the airport lands reacted loudly when the

four-day week came up as Davies pro-.”

moted the city’ Ss amenities.
“She says, ‘A four-day ~ week...a

what?’” Davies said, adding she conveyed
‘ the troubling conversation to TEDA.

Davies also introduced a motion at the
Nov. 28 meeting prompting city staff:to
send a letter last week to the school board
highlighting its concern.

“School board’ chair Lorrie ‘Gowen

acknowledges the situation is a “Catch-
22. ”

“We hear (the region) can’t attract
people and we can’t go back and get stu-

' force was bigger.

dents,” said Gowen in reference to declin-

ing enrolments the district has suffered in

recent years and: a main‘ reason the last
board moved to the shorter week.

Gowen said the last report the board —
‘ drew: up included comments from area |

businesses and that business representa-
lives consistently said the four-day week
wasn’t disruptive: and - that. the labour
That may be the case for established
businesses, but TEDA’s chair says it
hampers attracting professionals. "__
' “Regardless. of the academic argu-
ment...for the skilled groups, education
means a five- “day week,” said Campbell

www-terracestandard.com

Lack of sprinkler system
_ allowed fire to spread —

By MARGARET SPEIRS
SPRINKLERS COULD have saved
- the Manor Villa Apartment building’s ’
third floor from a blaze that left 20 resi-
dents homeless last week, according to

- the building inspector for the City of

Terrace. And only.one sprinkler would -

"have done the trick,he says.
“Once it goes off, the fire’s not go-

ing anywhere,” Bruce Miller says. “It

keeps the fire suppressed until ‘the fire

department gets there and puts it out.”
Miller says sprinklers aren't re-
quired except in: structures of a certain

: Size.

Manor Villa, located on the corner
of Agar Ave. and Kenney St., suffered -
a destroyed roof, fire damage to its third
floor and water damage to the first and
second floors from the Nov. 27 fire.

It may ‘not have been large enough

_ or built in a period when sprinklers

were required, Miller says.

According to the most recent build-
ing code, buildings up to three storeys
high that face two streets, like the Man-
or Villa, need to be at least 750-square
metres, about 8,000 square feet,: to re-
quire sprinklers, he says. » .

. The-Manor Villa doesn’t appear to
- be that large, he believes. About 90 per
cent of the time only one sprinkler goes

» Off in a fire, but that’s enough ot keep

a fire at bay until firefighters. arrive,
Miller says.
“Tt’s a fantastic lifesaving tool, ” he

_ says.

So ‘great that some ‘municipalities,

‘such as the City of Vancouver, have

recognized their importance and are
writing bylaws that require residential

houses to have sprinkler systems in-'

Stalled.

“They’re just the best thing to have _

in a house,” says Miller.

‘Insurance rates often decrease when
sprinkler systems are -installed and
there’s less requirement for fire halls to

be distributed around the community,

says Miller. Eventually Vancouver will
probably cut out some of its fire halls
because their response time will not
need to be as fast, he added.

Miller says the federal government
sets up a building code that provinces

consider when writing their own codes. .
- The code changes for different reasons,

‘and there should be a technical reason
for the change. The building code is as
much political as it is technical, Miller
says. .

_ The requirement for sprinklers was
removed in the code that lasted from

1978 to 1983, to save developers the

' because of the way the country’s con-

cost of installing them, but. luckily that

decision was reversed when a new code ©

was ‘prepared, Miller says.:
The national building code comes:

_ from the Canadian Commission‘ on . :
Building and Fire Codes Institute. for

Research and Construction. -

This national body establishes the -

building code for Canada but lacks the
jurisdiction to apply it to the provinces

stitution is written, Miller says.
The body conducts résearch’
prints: a code that provinces might

B.C. was prepared in 1998.

‘Miller says a new.federal code came

out in September and a new provincial
’ one is expected around April next year. -

Anybody can put in an application for

changes to the code, Miller says.

“You can say ‘I went downtown
and there’s all these obstructions com-
ing out of the grocery store and I think

_ we should have clear access,’ so you
can ask for it to be ‘changed, ” he.says *
as way of an example.

The person’s suggestion may not. .

automatically cause a change but if

enough people make’a point or if they _

have enough clout, it could have an

CONT'D PAGE A2

Co- -op deadline nears

Four-day w week s s outsiders |

Stewart.

“From an economic standpoint, we
have serious concerns about the role the

four-day « week plays in the marketplace

when trying to attract people,” Stewart.

said. -
“That could be the knockout factor.”
Lael McKeown, a TEDA director,
says she’s heard the.same thing. ©

“They hear about the four-day week
she’ said

and they say it’s appalling,”
of prospective Professionals looking to
move here. © .

. Both Davies and Stewart say they look:
forward to meeting with the new school

"Wednesday, December 7, 2005

board and getting a chance to learn more

about its position.
“We're definitely. going to be involved

with the issue.” Stewart said. “It s very. i

‘clear it’ 'S an untenable situation.”
-While the situation may. not be ideal, |

‘continue to make the best‘of it..

_ She says the two groups are ‘curently :
revamping an existing .joint-user agree-:

ment whereby schools facilities are made
available for city use and in exchange,

"students get use of the aquatic centre and |

_arena during certain school hours.

. °The'Coast Mountains School District . -
was the second in the. province to move ;

to > a four-day week, 202

AS
tweak a bit, he says. The last code in

PEOPLE ONLY HAVE until Dec. 15 to cash cheques they
may have collected from the former Terrace Co-op before
they become Stale-dated.

“They were issued on June 15 and because any cheque
is good for six months they must cash them by Dec. 15,”
explains Nirmal Parmar, president of the Terrace Co- “OP As-
sociation.

. The co-op is winding down its affairs and part of that i is

distributing its remaining equity to members.
People who may not or who have misplaced them may go
to the Terrace Co-op to collect one or have one re-issued. ~
“We are finding a lot of people who’s cheque was sent
_ to them and somehow the mail was displaced or got thrown
away,” Parmar says. “We just look it up and if they are hot
‘cashed then we issue them.a new cheque.”
After Dec. 15 people can bring stale-dated cheques to
‘the Terrace Co- -Op building where the date can be changed
. Manually, says board vice- -¢-president Norm Frank ‘

~ But that arrangement will only: be in effect until early j in
the new year when the remaining money from the liquida-
tion of the local co-op’s assets will go to the provincial gov-
ernment where it will be held in an account for people to
claim, Frank says. .

-Approximatley $350,000 remains to be distributed. That’s

“down from the $2.1 million the co- op started with in June. - |
“Phone us or tell your neighbours or friends and we will
try our best to see that people get their money,” Parmar

°

says.

However, members - must contact the co-op themselves
and have proper identification if they have moved. Cheques”
can’t be sent to a forwarding address if it is provided by a

- third party.
-  People-can collect cheques at the Co-op building at 2912
Molitor St. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through =

Friday. oy
_ They can also be reached at t 635- 9595,

“ Searchin G

for’

FRIENDS on ice. (above,
left to right) Chris Allison,

the Legros! backyard rink
on the bench as tempera-
tures remained steadily
below freezing. At. left,

Julien, had less luck with

McConnell. Avenue: near
the college campus. On

still adding water.
DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTOS

amara .

Gowen said the school board and the city. oo

: Rink rats

Austin Legros and Austin -
Turner skated all-week at. °

4 Legros’ s friend, Brandon’
Stella, with little brother.

their front yard rink on.

the weekend, they were =

“AWEARY GROUP gathers at the Kitsumkalum fire hall after another day of search-
ing Hwy16 between Terrace and Prince Rupert for Tamara Chipman. The Terrace
woman was last seen hitchhiking out of Prince Rupert Sept. 21.

- By MARGARET SPEIRS oo
TOM AND Christine ‘Chipman lean back on a sofa i in the.

Kitsumkalum Fire Hall after a long day of searching with six |

others for Tom’s daughter, Tamara, last seen hitchhiking out
of Prince Rupert Sept. 21.

The couple hopes to find the 22-year-old alive and well. ©

" “If she’s scared to phone home, she should get over it and
just phone,” Tom said, adding her disappearance is hard on

g the family. “Like every day we don’t find a body is good.” __

They’ve found riothing so far, just a lot of garbage.
The searchers spent Dec. 2 climbing Mt. Hays near Prince

_ Rupert. ©

Their days have been long, getting up at 6 a.m., meeting
at the fire hall at 7 a.m. and searching from when the sun
rises at about 8 a.m. until the light fades.

But they’re not about to give up.

Tom said Tamara generally kept in touch with them.

“It’s definitely out of character for her;’ Tom said, refer-
ring to the family not hearing from her.

“She’s pretty attached to her son,” he said of Jaden, 2,

who is living with his father. -
At first, Chipman said they figured she was . avoiding the

law. As a result of missing several court dates — the last time —

Tamara appeared i in court was August 30 this year — three
‘ warrants have been issued for her arrest.
~»He was out fishing until the first week of November -

he's an employee of Kitsumkalum Fishing — and returned to .

phone around, soon realizing she hadn’t contacted anyone.
' “At first it wasn’t so bad: We figured she’s going to call,

, She’s going to call,” Tom said. “Once the media gets involved

it kind of hits home, there’s something wrong.”
Tamara’s very outgoing and stands out in a crowd, Chris-

tine said. .

“If she’s somewhere, somebody will notice her,”

said.
Search team captain Don Roberts spoke of a theory he

she

- and another searcher had about Tamara’s whereabouts.

“She’s very vocal. She talks to lots of people. She didn’t
make it out of Rupert or to the highway,” he said.

CONT’D PAGE A9

t,