Taking flight

Organizers are hoping for an.
airshow as successful as 1994’ S.
smash hit\NEWS A5

Mmped wo

Here they are _ meet Terrace’s
1996 Volunteers of the
Year\COMMUNITY B1

WEDNESDAY
APRIL 24, 1996

A Terrace woman overpowers.
competition at a regional body
building meet\SPORTS B7-

93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST
VOL. 9 NO. 2

Site clean up could cost millions

By JEFF NAGEL

PROPERTY owners on Keith Ave.
may be forced to clean up contaminat-
ed soil left by an old sawmill there,

Creosote contaminants left behind on
the old MacGillis and Gibbs pole yard
have entered the water table and the
wood preservative chemicals may have
spread to properties south of Keith
Ave, according to B.C. Environment
officials.

So far 10 property owners on the
north side of Keith - including CN
Rail, the highways ministry, the City of

Claim
critics
multiply

AN ORGANIZATION
that opposes the present
direction of native land
claim negotiation is making
inroads in Terrace.

B.C. FIRE (B.C.
Foundation for Individual
Rights and Equality} now
has 73 members in Terrace,
according to president Greg
Hollingsworth. The group
has nearly 4,000 members
province-wide,

Hollingsworth said a
large number of new mem-
bers have signed up in the
two months since the
Nisga’a concluded their
agreement-in-principle
with federal and provincial
negotiators.

“We've scen a real
movement since the 15th of
February,” he said.

Prior to the agreement
release, he said, critics of
the process focussed on the
secrecy under which it was
being negotiated,

“They now have
something concrete to look
al, and they’re not too hap-
py,” Hollingsworth said.

Labelled by some as
extreme, B.C. FIRE
describes itself as a pro-
vinee-wide grassroots
organization devoted to
promoting equality, the
rights of individuals and
freedom.

Hollingsworth says he
believes the land claim
issue must be settled, but at
the end of the day there
must be equality and
fairness.

“They are never going
to gel the people of B.C. to

Terrace, the Keith Ave. Mall,
Copperside Foods, Coast Tractor and
Norm’s Auto Refinishing — have been
given notice they'll have to pay for a
clean up.

They’re all sitting on what was pre-
viously the MacGillis and Gibbs site.
The land was first sold to CN Rail, and
then split up.

The main danger i is to fish if the chlo-
rinated phenols and petroleum hydro-
carbons in the groundwater were (o
spread as far as the Skeena River,
according to Environment Canada

waste management engineer Richard
Glue.

“Chlorophenols are a poison, a pesti-
cide,” Glue explained. “Aquatic life is
very sensitive to it.”

Government agencies want the pro-
perty owners to prepure a remediation
plan by July 31, and to provide an ont-
line of it by May 31,

Glue confirmed clean up of the con-
taminated site could be expensive,

“If somebody cleans up all the mate-
rial, all the ground to specifications, it
could cost several million dollars,” he

said,

Glue said it might be possible to
monitor the contaminants without a
full-scale cleanup, but added owners
would likely have to put up a substan-
tial security bond.

CN Rail carried out test drilling of
the site and at points along Keith Ave.
lastsummer.

But the letter sent April 11 by
Environment Canada and B.C,
Environment was the first time many
property owners heard they’d be held
responsible for the polluted site.

Emil Wirtl, owner of the Keith
Avenue Mall, says he had no idea there
was uny problem when he bought land
for his strip mall 10 years ago. .

“We haven't caused any pollution
there,” he said.

Cily councillors are reluctant to have
the city take a Jead role in organizing
the properly owners, “It’s ratlier seary,”
said councillor David Hull.

The cily has a water line easement.

Gine said property owners who
refuse to comply could face pollution
abatement orders,

accept provisions which
entrench racial discrimina-
tion in the constitution,” he
said. “Neither will the peo-
ple of this province accept
a government where demo-
cratic rights are tampered
with.”

= Ready for market

JUDY TESSARO is getting ready for the apening of the market, preparing some of her papular home-made
jams, The first farmer's market is on May 4. Tessaro is one of the long-time regulars at the market. Her
jams are made exclusively from Terrace fruit, soma grown in her own backyard. This year she plans to in-
troduce a new jam for First Nations customers — made from soapberries. Tessaro is always looking for jam
jars (baby food jars work well) and plastic bags, if you bring her some, she'll probably trade you some jam,

Ferry Island carvings defaced

WHILE STUDENTS and commun-
ily groups spruce up the cily,
someone else is out to deface
Terrace’s public art.

Recently ten of the Ferry Island
carvings were destroyed.

“It looks like someone hit thein
with a hammer,” says carver Rick
Goyette.

He carved nearly 30 old men’s
faces and other images into the big
cottonwoods along one of the Ferry
Island (rails, last spring and fall. The
carvings have become very popular

with families and others who use the
trails.

Goyette is worried the vandalism
reflects a disturbing trend in Terrace.
He paints to the flowers ripped out of
concrete plariters last summer and the
frequently broken mirror at the top of
the Kalum St, hill on the bench.

“Tt seems these people don’t have
enough to do.”

The carvings. that were destroyed
were all in one location, by a bench,

and include an intricately, detailed’

owl,

“The only ones that were damaged
were the ones | did in the spring,”
says a puzzled Goyetle.

He thinks the vandal may even be
someone he knows,

Goyette had intended on doing
more carvings this suinmer, bul for
now plans to hold off to see if any
more carvings are vandalized.

However, since the. vandalism a
numberof people have phoned him to
encourage him to keep carving,

“Pye: hada lot of support,” Goyette
says,

Rick Goyette

Nisga’a deal
‘not sell job’

NEGOTIATORS OUT explaining the Nisga’a land
claims agreement in principle are taking public comment
but don’t expect il to have a major impact on a final treaty.

How rouch influence public opinion will have on a final
treaty “depends on the topic,” says Patrick O'Rourke, a
member of the provincial negotiating team in Kitimat for a
public forum Jast Thursday.

“The matn items, we call them the assets, the land area,
cash, the number of fish — aren't likely to change. On the
basis of the agreement of all three parties, this is what they
want to do,” he said.

O’ Rourke said it is not the job of negotiators to sell the
AIP but to set people straight on what it contains.

“We simply explain the facts to (people), it’s not.our job
to convince people who think this is a wrong thing that it’s
aright thing. Probably more important is that the govern-
ment views il as the right thing to do, generally, to nego-
tiate treaties,” O’ Rourke said.

©’ Rourke and other negotiators received a mixed reac-
tion from about 25 people who came to the meeting.

There were specific questions on paragraphs of the
agreement-im-principle and what they wiil mean, as well as
some open opposition and open support.

The deal would give the Nisga’a about 2,000 square kil-
ometres of land, $190 million and rights to resource royal-
ties for forestry and mining. Self government and a share
of the Nass River salmon fishery are also'included.

Dave Serry, the Skeena Social Credit candidate in the
upcoming provincial election, opposed the tentative deal.

If provincial Crown land is involved in treaties, Serry
said, the province deserves compensation from the federal
government, B.C. can’t afford to pay ina climate of gov-
emment budget restraint, he added.

Deiter Wagner said no one denies natives are owed a
setilement for the treatment they've received under con-
federation, But he is worried that land claims agreements
will equate to sanctioning, South African-style apartheid in
Canada.

Nelson Leeson, a Nisga’a negotiator, tried to offer reas-
surance in saying the Nisga’a don’t want apartheid and da
want to negotiate their way into Canada. “If you look care-
fully, the laws in the AIP are to protect our language and
culture. Diversity can also be a strength,” Leeson said.

One audience member spoke up in support of the
Nisgu’a bul suggested the AIP wenl too far in the opposite
direction. “No disrespect to you bul | see this as a poor
deal, I hope you don’t compromise more,” he said. “You
should have gone for way.more land and less cash.”

Leeson said he believes the Nisga’a will have to Fight to
keep what is in the AIP because of political pressures
building against it.

Local man pleads
guilty to murder

A TERRACE man is to be sentenced May 31 in New
Westminster court for the 1993 murder of a Langley man.

Robert Wagner, 32, admitted to the second degree murd-
er of Anthony Kohlman who was 30 at-the time. of his
death. Also admitting to second degree murder is Wagner's
brother, Rory Wagner, 36, of Chilliwack and Gerald
Beaugrand, 36, of Surrey,

Crown counsel Sean Maddigan said the trio admitted to
abducting Kohlman on Oct. 20, 1993 and taking him to
Sumas Mountain near Abbotsford where he was beaten and
clubbed to death with stones.

The murder was in apparent retaliation for an alleged
sexual assault of a young girl-eight years earlier. Kohlman
was accused but acquitted of achurge of sexual abuse,

The trio had originally been charged with fi rst degree
murder and kidnapping. ; :

Second degred : ‘murder carries life sentence with no
chance of parole for 10 yeurs. Crown counsel Maddigan
suid he ls considering asking foro longer period before par-
ole is considered. ~