Sharp shooter WHAT A SHOT! Water-gun slinger Tom Vu takes aim and fires ona sweltering day at Lakelse Lake, July 17 was Parks Day ‘93, and fun times were had by kids and adults alike, Events in- cluded a scavenger hunt and sand critter competition. For more park pix, see @ page AS. Gold miner happy with government © TERRACE —- Last month Jack Thompson was one of five mint- ng company presidents criticizing © the provincial government for killing the ‘Windy Craggy copper project. ; This month the president of Homestake. Canada says he’s happy with the provincial response to his company’s pro- - posed pald mine at Eskay Creek, “The attitude of ihe govern- ment has been quite cooperative. (Mines minister) Anne Edwards was up there and she, made the Tight comments.. The things she sald encouraged. wus,’’ said - Thompson. . One good point is that the pro- ject will be evaluated under cur- rent environmental review ‘guidelines and -not under. newer ones coming in as part of BIH 32, he said. - The bill’s provisions have been criticized ‘by industrial and busi- ness leaders. Edwards made a trip into the Eskay Creek area, considered the . ‘hottest gold play in Canada .in the late 1980s, two weeks ago. “I think they see a project that is easy to accept and one that can be approved,” Thompson added. “This project is designed prop- erly by a company with a good reputation and it will provide jobs in the north.’ Thompson’s also happy ‘that Edwards has promised. a resolu- tion soon to’ the issue of a provin- cial loan that was never made. The, $7 million loan deal was struck between the former. Social. Credit. government with Interna- tional’ Corona, since bought out by Homestake, to. help pay the - costs of a road Into the Iskut Val- ley from Hwy37. But the deal was put'on hold -when the: NDP government was elected and has been in limbo ever since, Called a loan, the $7 million was scheduled fo be repaid by userfees. The road was complcted at a * gost of $13.5 ‘million, making the provincial commitment — had It been paid.- — at approximately 50 per cent. “Pm quite optimistic,”* said Thompson of the pending resolu- tion. “She (Edwards) said it ‘would ‘be resolved in the ‘Text Couple of weeks.” Discussions have centered around the government deducting “an amount o£ money from taxes or other fees the mine would gen- erate, he said. “We recognize the provincial ‘fiscal problem, It would be die ficult for them to just give us the cash,'’ Thompson added. Yet he repealed his position on © Windy Craggy by saying that the ‘sum of: the provincial govem- Contd Page A2 Resident concerned about the danger of escarpment erosion TERRACE — The city could save green belt adjacent to Howe Creek by swapping some of its own land for the property Howe Creek Invesiments wants to de- velop. That was the suggestion local resident John Campbell put to councillors at last week’ S meet- in Preventing development al the foot of the Bench escarpment, he added, could avoid the erosion problems seen elsewhere along the hill, Howe Creek Investments wants to develop a 10 acre parcel ex- tending from Eby St. cast to the foot of Skeenaview Drive for single family housing. : It has therefore asked council to rezone the plot from Rural to Residential. . Although supported by both the city’s planning technician and committee, the proposal has drawn fire from residents throughout the community. Rallying to the defence of what they describe as one of the city’s most important green spaces, they have pointed out that area is home to a variety of wildlife. Campbell pointed out the new Official Community Plan (OCP) mentioned city-owned land else- where that was targeted ~ for eventual housing development. He suggested the city ~could swap some of that land. for the . Howe Creek Investment property. That would allow the developer to construct his sub-division Minister gets t TERRACE Environment minister John Cashore will go ahead with his visit to the Kitlope River valley two weeks from now. Conflict-of-interest com- missioner Ted Hughes “‘told him: not to cancel his plans,’’ said Bob Peart, Cashore’s ministerial as- sistant. from his Victoria office last week, Peart said Hughes hasn’t given - written reasons yet, but indicated his preliminary sense is that there John Campbell “We've learned nothing jrom our experience of road construction on the escarpment itself.”’ CAMPBELL while at the same time preserving the green area adjacent to- the ereck and avoiding the erosion problems he feared development at the foot of the bench would cause. “It might solve everybody 8 problems,” he added, Rarlier in his’ presentation Campbell had outlined his con- cems about erosion, To support his contention, he produced aseries of photos show- ing where erosion was already occuring on Lanfcar Hill and Skeenaview Drive. Allowing development at the is no conflict-of-interest or per- ception of conflict for Cashore making decisions on the Kitlope. The issue was first raised be- cause Cashore has a familly tie.to the Kitlope, His adopted daughter is Haisla, and ‘her natural father is a Kitamaat Village clder who was bom in the Kitlope and is a strong advocate of its preservation. . Cashore subsequently . asked Hughes for an opinion on the maticr. base of the bench, he suggested, showed '*We’ve learned nolhing from our experience of road con- struction on the escarpment Il- self.’’ Pointing out the OCP described slopes of more than 30 per cent as *“danger zones’’, Campbell added the slope of the bench escarpment was significantly more than that. Developments al the fool of the bench, he maintained, threatened the stability of the slopes above, As for the question of green belt preservation, he noted the section of the OCP dealing wilh: parks policy talked of promoling a sys- tem of walking trails through city and included thé Howe Creek trail in that system. ‘Section 7.1, for example, stated ‘council supporis the preservation of the bench . escarppment/Howe Creck...as green belt areas.’ : “There's a promise to‘ us here : that thesc trails will be. respected, : developed and _ Protected, " he sald. Campbell agreed ‘there would be @ cost to the city in protecting such natural areas, - However, if council - Supported the intent. of the OCP.in. that’ -togard, ‘‘People 30 years ‘from now will thank you.’? © In response, mayor Jack Talstra noted council had in recent years, aitempted to secure tenure to as much land as possible along the creek, . The city was usually able to ob- tain such land as a result of sub- division, he added. Peart said Cashore will armve in Terrace Aug. 2 and will then spend the next four days in the Killope. Skeena MLA Helmut Gies- brecht-is also going’ on the trip, and aboriginal affairs minister Andrew Petter Is also thinking about going. * The provincial government is to . decide by the end of -1995 whether to preseive some ot all of _ the 317,000ha watershed from logging. tel i . st rape ni SA REN He fet re danke ” esrb kimets r node ~ WRAP T UP - ‘Shirley ‘and Bob Sutherland of Haugland ‘Ave. were the proud 0 owners of | a + truly decorated car which they say was due to the generosity of the "Nighthawk exterior decorators.” They heard something during the evening on July 14, peeked out of their bedroom window, and saw a few kids daing the toilet paper deed. However, they weren't too upset - they found the Incident more humourous than harmful. - BEAUTY, ‘BH? “Volunteers “help ‘Inake Terrace a beau- - tiful iiploge, “COMMUNITY: