Tree nursery clo

TERRACE — The Thornhill
tree nursery is closing, ending the
jobs of five full time people and
seasonal employment for many
others.

A decrease in demand for see-
dlings, a drop in their price and
changing forest practices are the
reasons, said: Charlie Johnson,
president of Pacific Regeneration
Technologies. which owns the
nursery and five others in B.C.

Pacific Regeneration was
formed -by Johnson and other
forest service employees in 1988
when ‘the provincial government
announced it was selling iis nur-
series as part of a privatization

program.

‘The annual seedling demand
has dropped from 300 million in
the last two or so years to be-
tween 220 and 240 million,’’ said
Johnson, *—

**Prices have also dropped, by
30 per cent over three years and
as a result we have to look at our
overhead costs and operating ef-
ficiencies,” he said.

Johnson estimated annual oper-
ating costs of the Thornhill nurs-
ery at $500,000.

Closure is to take. place in the.

spring of 1994, when a two-year

crop of seedlings planted this”

year is shipped out,

Johnson said the nussery’s cold
storage facility will keep operat-
ing as a marshalling point for sce-
dlings transported here from other
nurseries prior to being planted.

. And the company’s consulting
office based at the nursery will
Temain open,

Johnson said employees were
told of the closure in advance so
they could make plans for jobs
that might come open at other
company nurseries or for other
occupations.

Part of the drop in demand
comes from a finishing of a

province-wide effort to replant’

areas that had been left dormant

after being logged.

“The backlog isn’t totaily
caught up with but there has been
much progress,”? sald Johnson.

Pacific Regeneration was also
caught up ina change in provin-
cial government policy concern:
ing responsibility for replanting.

That policy makes the province
responsible for replanting areas
cut before 1987 and companies
responsible for areas they cut
after 1987.

The companies, in an effort to
save money, are now relying as
much. as possible on natural
regeneration of logged areas be-
fore buying scedlings. .

GHTERS | USED almost every piece of equipment at.
Ir. disposal to free a 24-year-old Terrace woman trapped in ~
ef;vel icle after a head-on collision last Tuesday. The crash.

Taid this week,’

"happened whén her'c car. met two racing pickup trucks heading
- east on Lakelse: Ave. Palice say whey, expect charges to be

Spe story on 1 Page:A2. o

Lo

cal teachers infuriated

over five extra minutes

TERRACE: — A few extra
minutes . in, ‘the classroom each
day has’ ‘Jocal teachers angry.

The: ‘school: ‘board added an ox

tra” ‘five: minutes a day at most

schools’ to: nicet’ education minis-
try require ent for: ‘the 1992-93
school'year.

“They've ‘gone the very quiet
route, of aiding these on to each
school, changing the bell times,”
said Terrace District ‘Teachers

Union president Cathy Lambright

last week,
The union is grieving, the move
to add the extra minutes. It con-
tends the district must negotiate
any such move and pay the
teachers for the extra minutes.
School district director of in-
striction Harold Cox:said the
ministry allowed districts to oper-
ate with only .187 school days —
instead of 190 — because of the

way holidays fall to create an un-

-usually short school year.

But at the same time Victoria
required districts to operate with
the same minimum number of
hours of instruction a year.

Because the school year has al-

the district cannot add extra days.
So in order to meet that require-
ment, said Cox, the district has

had to add extra minutes to each’

day to make up for the difference.
Lambright said teachers. take

the position that. the new “school |

timefables might apply to stu-
dents, but don’t apply to the
teachers unless: it’s negotiated at
the bargaining lable.

“We're ina Catch-22 sitation,””
said Cox. “We have to comply
with the law. They say it doesn’t
apply to them.”

‘What they’re saying is that
their contract supercedes the
law.”

_ feady been extended to June 29,

}.

Lambright says the union does
not recognize the calendar set by.
the board, which she says was de-

cided ‘‘unilaterally’’ last spring ~
_ have already been signed off, said

without the union’s agreement.

_ Cox said one solution to the dis-
pute, if an arbitrator rules in
favour of the teachers, might be
to simply cut two days out of ci-
ther Christmas vacation or spring
break and make those regular
school days.

The current contract requires
secondary: - “school teachers to

“work 27.5 hows per week and re-
quires elementary school teachers
to work 25 hours per week.

kkkhkk

Contract negotiations between
ihe TDTU and the school board
resume Nov. 17.

Teachers’ union president
Cathy Lambright said the board’s
initial ‘position calls for a salary
freeze. ,

Cal countdown

¢ Kermodes. tune up
for zone playoffs.

SPORTS * Cl

The union . bas ‘not
responded with a salary increase
demand.

Several non-monetary items
Terrace trustce Stew Christensen.

‘We're moving along very
well,” he said. “We have very
amicable negotiations and I think
we’ve made quite a bit of. Prog-
ress.”

Lambright said major issues
still to be dealt with include the
school calendar, ‘class sizes and
mainstreaming — the inclusion of
handicapped children in regular
classes.

Teachers say that without ade-
quate support, mainstreaming
causes an increased workload and
reduces the amount of time they
have to spend with the rest of the
class.

“Tt affects the rest of the kids in
the classroom,”’ Lambright said.

Raising volces
: COMMUNITY #

yet’

That means they replant to what
is needed to fill gaps not covered
by natural regeneralion, reducing
the number of seedlings they
have to buy.

Local forest district official Bob
Wilson said can wait between one
year and six years to see if natural
regeneration is taking place be-
fore going in to replant them-
selves,

“They’re taking a harder look
at the numbers and are looking
more carefully at natural
regencration,’” he said.

Wilson said it does not matter
where a seedling is grown.

ing ifs doors

Seedlings going to a particular
area are grown from seeds taken
from that site to ensure. com-
patibility and survival.

Logging. practices have also
changed in the past few ycars,
leaning toward smaller cutblocks
and away from large clear cuts
which further reduces the sec-
dling demand. ,

Johnson said the Thornhill nurs-
ery was always a risky proposi-
tion given the climate of the area,

“We don’t get the growing
days and there are very severe
outflow winds affecting the over-
wintering of trees,”” he said.

City traffic
fines drop

TERRACE — Fewer traffic tick-
cts are being issued this year and
people aren’t paying the ones that
are, says city permits director
Bob Lafleur.

He projected $20,000 coming in

from fines this year, nearly four

times what was collected last
year,
Although a. year-to-date total

had ‘not been calculated. yet,

Lafleur said there was no doubt
Tevenue was “‘way down’’,

Nearly haif of the fines remain
wapaid.

Lafleur said lack of manpower
is the reason.

The city started the year with
two ‘part-time”'by-law. enforce-
ment officers but that changed in
the spring when Fem Swecting
resigned and was not replaced.

Remaining enforcement officer

--Frank Bowsher doesn’t have alot"

of time on the strect once paper-
work and court appearances to
deal with disputed tickets and
olher by-law enforcement duties
are taken into account,

There’s also little time to col-
lect unpaid fines.

Estimating 45 per cent of those
ticketed simply
Lafleur added, ‘‘We have almost
a zero recovery rate because we
don’t have time to chase them
down.’

The reduced level of enforce:

ment has not gone unnoticed in

the community. -
““We've had complaints from

businesses over this summer

about lack of enforcement on our -
street traffic (parking) by-laws, ”

he said.

Some homeowners
nuisance or unsightly premises
problems in their neighbourhood
had also expressed’ dissatisfaction
with the situation.

‘We're getting some valid
complaints from people,” Lafleur
admitted.

Suggesting the city needed a

ficer, he. said it appeared. from
responses to a recent city survey
-that a lot of people felt’ the same
way.

full-time” by-law enforcement of-

ignored © it,

7 with 7

By-law enforcement will be dis- .
cussed at the city’s think tank ses- .

sion this weekend. a

sewer solution
vote In pipeline
for Queensway

TERRACE Another
referendum could be in store for
Thomhill residents as early as
Christmas — this time to decide
whether to go ahead with a new
$3-million sewer system for the
Queensway arca.

Les Watmough, Thornhill’s
director on the board of the
Kitimat-Stikine Regional District,
says a date for the referendum
should be set within two weeks.

The type of sewer system has
been decided, he says. It will be a
low pressure combination pump
and gravity feed system.

Individual homes will still have
septic tanks, but instead of pump-
ing out to a septic field, they’ll
pump out to the sewer Jine.

‘We know it works,’ Wat-
mough says. “It’s not totally ex-
perimental — it’s been done in
other places.” -

What hasn’t been decided yet is
how the tax burden for paying for
the system will be spread among
Thornhill homeowners.

Watmough said that’s
being worked out.

still

**We're trying to spread the tax

load evenly and not be unfair to -

anyone,’’ he said.

He said construction is expected
to begin sometime next spring if
the referendum passes,

If approved, the sewer system

would finally put an end to the’

sewage woes of area residents,
particularly those living on Bob-
sein Crescent.

Residents there have been
desperate for a solution since
health ministry officials cracked
down on homes with failed septic
systems last January. :

Health. hazard warning «signs
were posted in the arca, ad the
health ministry threatened to take
residents to court if action wasn’t
taken. —

In March the ‘provincial j govemn-
ment issued a final offer of a 75

_ per cent subsidy. ;

The Thornhill sewage problems

again put the Kifimat-Stikine

Regional District. on: the, pro-

vince’s list of waste: discharges.
and contaminated sites that. are
‘fa pollution concer.”

It’s the second time Thornhill
has appeared on the Hist.

IMPASSE

A

Victoria and Ottawa

remain at odds over the
Nisga’a land claim talks.

NEWS #9 |