Legal speed bump They’re back! An upset in the ongoing libel lawsuit between MP Mike Scott and ex-MP Jim Fulton\NEWS A415 Those arty, alternative films will run every second Monday night at the Tillicum\COMMUNITY B1 _| Pride on ice | Terrace figure skaters came back from Dawson Creek with six, count ‘em, Six medals\SPORTS B14 WEDNESDAY February 23,2000 $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST {$2.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of tha . Terrace area)... VOL. 12 NO. 46 College keeps key program NORTHWEST COMMUNITY College will con- (inue to offer students its natural resources pro- gram even though it will have to come up with $500,00 to do so. Forest Renewal BC (FRBC) has been giving’ the college grant money to operate the two-year natural resources program in ‘Terrace, Smithers . and Prince Rupert for the past four years. But the provincial crown corperation’s con- tract with the college finishes at the end of this school year, says acting college president Brian Lopston. _ “FRBC isn’t going to continue in the business of funding training,” he said. FRBC gets its money from provincial stump- age revenues but that’s been severely cut be- cause of the slump in the forest industry, Instead of dumping the natural resources pro- gram, which provides training in numerous areas of resource management applicable to the north- west, the college is working on a plan to come up with the money to run the program itself. Lopston said the two-year program, which of- fers a certificate at the first level and a diploma option afterward, will be saved because of the strong public demand for its courses. “Courses, like this, are valuable programs in this area,” Lopston said. “It’s relevant training for people who live here,” He added: “And there are jobs for those who take it.” There are now about 70 students in Terrace, Kitimat and Prince Rupert are enrolled in the program. Field sites are located within minutes of the campuses providing students with upportu- nities to combine the theory learned in class with hands on practical skills needed for employment in the natural: resources field. The courses are popular because credits can be added toward university degrees, Lopston said. The college is already working on a plan to. save $200,000 a year by reducing the program from five semesters to four. Terrace’s natural resources program coordina- ‘tor Trish Nuyten said reducing the semesters won’t affect the quality of the program. said. Nuyten explained the $200,000 will be saved by cupping the program lo 18 students, which means only. running one lab. More: sludenis means running two labs, which is costly. Lopston said the college has a planning pro- cess in place to identify how lo save the addi- tional $300,000 more needed tu run the program, ’ He’s confident the additional money will be found, despite the cotlege’s debt.” ; The college's $993,000 debt was accumulated over a number of years. “Last year we started paying it back,” Lop- ston said. “This year we'll be tackling it again.” Administrators expect the college to be out of eo RICK TERLESKY has bee By JEFF NAGEL TERRACE has gone satellite crazy, “The Terrace arca is growing faster than ei- ther the rest of the country or British Columbia on average,” said Bruce Barr, senior vice pre- sident of Star Choice, the leading satellite TV provider in this area. “It’s a real hot bed.” Bart said subscriber’ numbers here are around 1,000 — a-penetration rate about 20 per cent ahead of the national average. You don’t have to tell that to satellite dish retailer Colleen Austin, owner of Terrace- based Universal Home Entertainment. She won a trip for signing up more than 500 new Star Choice customers last year, It put her in the top five per cent of dealers nationwide. Rival service Express Vu doesn’t have as. much market share, but-still reports 267 sub- scribers in Terrace, around 200 in Kitimat and 344 in Prince Rupert. If most of those customers are former cable TV subscribers, the numbers represent a big loss of revenue for Skeena Cablevision, opera- ted in Terrace by Okanagan Skeena Group. Close to 1,300 satellite dish owners in Ter- race alone could represent at least $600,000 a year in lost cable revenue, | n so busy installing satellite TV dishes around town he had to clase his electronics repair shop for two weeks to keep up with the wark. He and other satellite TV dealers “Our business has doubled,” said Sight and Sound’s Tony Demelo. “It's scary what it must be doing to the local cable company.” He said many of his customers switched be- cause they’ve purchased higher resolution TV sets and now want the better video resolution and audio quality that only satellite delivers. | But he said another part of the equation is anger with the monopoly Skeena Cablevision has had up to now. Satcllite promises 130 video channels and 65 music channels — considerably more than what the local cable system can deliver — for less money. And although satellite systems cost at least $200, many locals are willing to put up the money to switch providers. Electronics Plus owner Rick Terlesky, who installs dishes in addition to running his Lazel- le Ave. clectronic repair shop, says he’s in- stalled more than 200 since mid November. He pinpoints the increase in business to re- cent cable service rate increases and a loss of some channels on some cable packages. That’s also when Star Choice and Express Vu slashed the prices of satellite systems. “The promotions came up and people just said to hell with it,” Terlesky said. “And the . A An say dishes have been going up al an astonishing pace. Terlesky was installing this dish on the wall of one of the apartments in the Twin River Estates seniors housing complex. Going crazy over dishes business just went crazy.” Sears Canada owner Dean Porter, who-re- ports selling around 30 to 40. systems per month, says even senior citizens are quick to buy satellites. Most of the people. buying dishes now are former cable customers, he said, rather than rural residents who never had cable anyway. “IF they're rural they’ve had it for a long time,” Porter said. There are downsides. ‘Unlike cable, where different TVs in different rooms can watch dil- ferent channels, satellite subscribers must buy additional receivers or base units to’ go with each TV. Satellite subscribers don’t get CFTK’s news and other local programming on channel 7 or Skeena Cable 10 community programming, which includes live local broadcasts like the . annual Rotary Auction, cily council meetings and election debates, : Okanagan Skeena Group, which is now owned by Quebec-based Telemedia, has put all of its cable operations up for sale. — Possible buyer Edmonlon-based Regional Cable Systems, is now conducting. an audit of OSG’s cable systems. “We've just made it ‘leaner and meaner,” she the red by March 2001. Youth detox facility to open A NEW $850,000 six-bed youth detox facility operated by Terrace and District Community Services Society should be ready te treat young people with addictions mid-April. It’s meant for people between 12 and 18 addicted to everything from narcotics to solvents. But it won’t be a medical treatment centre. Those requiring that level of treatment will still have. to go elsewhere. This is one of several such facilities being started around the province with the idea of putting services closer to where young people live. ‘Jacquie Stokes, children’s ministry official, said there are very few youth detox services in BC ~.and they are located in the Lower Mainland. “Overall the north has less services than the south — less opportunity for services,” Stokes said. oO The more services the government provides closer to the youths’ home communities, the easier it will be to stop the drift of youths from the here to Vancouver, said Stakes. “We don’t believe that anything good comes from youths with social problems drifting to the south, Youth have fewer positive supports if they fall. into homelessness in Vancouver and their addictions tend to escalate.” Stokes said the children’s ministry will try to bring northwest youth who have drifted to the south back here for treatment. , Terrace and District Community Services Society ex- ecutive director Mike Beausoleil is hiring workers and buying a building. Youth who need medical detox — those who suffer se- vere medical withdrawal or suffer medical complications arising from withdrawal — will be referred to Mills Mem- orial hospital or the adult medical detox facility in Prince George. Other youth detox facilities are being developed in Fort St. John, Williams Lake, Prince George, Surrey, and Vancouver. Intersection use called a danger A TERRACE citizen’s group says too many drivers are using a tight hand turning lane at the intersection of Hwy16 and Kenney for the wrong reason. The problem is that drivers approaching the highway on Kenney from the southside use the right hand turning lane as a shortcut into the Copperside parking lot on the other side of the highway. _ That means the drivers cut across four lanes of high- way. traffic and some do so without stopping or slowing down for oncoming traffic, says Dorothy Alway of the - local-community consultation group It, meets repularly with RCMP officers to talk about public safety and criminal issues. ; Local ICBC manager Frank Fekele, a member of the group, says the provincial insurance corporation knows the intersection -is a problem and that it is being inclu- Cont'd Page A2 CN guilty in trestle collapse THIS RAILWAY trestle bridge south of town collapsed in October, 1997, killing two workers who had been part of the reconstruction project. CANADIAN National Rail was found guilty Feb. 15 of failing to ensure the struc- tural integrity of a railway bridge that collapsed south of Terrace in 1997 killing two workers, ; William Hugh Carson, 34, of Kamloops and John Marti, 34, of Telkwa died Oct. 27, 1997 when waod- en trestles on the bridge they were working on. col- lapsed into a ravine. under FILE PHOTO the weight of a crane, - Carson was the crane operator in the bridge’ re- construction project bet- ween Tertace and Kitimat. CN. ‘spokesman Feeny could ‘nol whether the company will iry to: appeal the. Labour Code conviction, “We haven't hada “chance.to read the written transcript yet,” Feeny said. Compariy. lawyers argued -at trial that.Catson did not work for CN Rail Jim : siiy : when the accident hap- pened because he was working wilh Scott Steel Lid., an. Edmonton compa- ny, contracted ta oversee the construction, ~ Provincial court Judge. ~James- Jardine dismissed . that” argument. because Carson: Was paid. directly - by the railway and was us-~ ing CN equipment.: “CN Rail was “acquilted on four other Labour Code offences. The judgment follows a January, 1998 ruling by the Workers Compensation Board that Scott Steel failed to properly rep Scott: Stee! also faces WCB charges for the the bridge. , ‘death: of John Marti. That trial date has not yet been “set. : ~ CN Rail is scheduled to ‘be -sentenced March 21 ‘and faces’°a_ maximum penally.of $100,000.