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‘OTTAWA (CP) |\~ The

LEGISL Aiea tyrwapy coup. 77/78

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PARLIARED 2 Gurhioliaey

VICIUALA, Ce”

_ Té¥ies

Progressive Conservative
government will introduce
legislation thia week to enact
two of its major campaign
promises — 8 freedom of
information act and a plan to
reduce the burden of mor-
tgage interest and property
taxes paid by home-owners.

Just how far those plans

_ Proceed, however, seems to

rest: with the Opposition
Liberals.

Prime Miaister:-Clark and”

Government House Leader
Walter Baker made it clear
last week they want speedy
handling of a number of
measures firat announced In
the budget speech: of the
former Liberal government
Jast November,

The meagures are in effect
but never got parllamentary
approval because the
Commons was dissolved for
the May 22 election,

#61

to make two

The Conservatives : have
warned that the two
measures they plan to in-
troduce could be held up if
the Liberals drag their feet
on matters the government
now considers . mere
housekeeping.

Among the budgetary
measures never enacted into
law are reduction of the
federal sales tax to nine per
cent from 12 per cent,
doubling the income-tax

deduction to $500 for employ-
mentexpenses, reductions in
unemployment insurance
premiums for both workers
and thelr employers and tax
incentives to encourage
businesses to Jocate in
poorer regions and to in-
crease the amount they
spend on research,

Also before the House are
estimates providing for

current and capital spending .

which were not approval

i" ;

Mn.

Monday, October 22, 1979

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Frl.till9 pm.

CARSON CITY, Nev.
(AP) ~~ Jease Bishop, 1
tough-talking murderer
who sneered at attempts
to save him from the
Nevada gas chamber,
was executed early today,
the third man put to death
in the United States in the
last 12 years.

“This is just one more
step down the road af

_ life," Bishop told Charles
‘ Wolff,’ state prison
director, in his final

wy ee ie Ree det

Moments later, he was
strapped in a- freshly
painted death seat and
green curtains went up in
the gas chamber, Bishop
smiled at a reporter
among the 14 witnesses —
13 men and a woman —
standing on an adjacent
room.

a too

“He looked each of us in
the eye, I think,” sald Tad
Dunbar of KOLO-TV in
Reno, one of those who
. Watched the 46-yearold
former paratrooper dle
for the murder of a
Maryland man.

Bishop shook his head
and said nothing, Cyanide

Assoclated Press
reporter Brendan Riley
was one of the 14 persons
to witness the execution
today of Jesse Bishop at
the Ne-vada state prison,
Here ts hia account of

chamber,

By BRENDAN RILEY

CARSON CITY, Nev,
CAP) — It was 11:45 p.m.
when we entered the
witness room,

Dr. Richard Grundy
walked into the room and
warned us that this was a
“dangerous procedure,''

If there were any
problema such as leakage
of the gas, “you should
‘hold your breath and
move out” in an orderly
fashion, Grundy told us,

Seven of the nine small
windows in the witness
room were left open ae a
precaution. The cold
hight air swept into the.
Troom and a ventilating
fan whirred in a corner,

There were no chairs in

CARSON CITY, - Nev.
(AP) — The execution of
Jesse Bishop leaves the
death row population in
the United States at 664,
Bix of them women.

The next scheduled
executions are in Georgia
where five convicted
murderers have dates
tet: James Lee Spencer
on Tuesday; Bob Redd on
Wednesday;
Roosevelt Solomon on
Friday; Terry Lee

Bishop's death in the gas °

Van.

Bishop’s

pellets fall into a0 aid

sashing y
gas. Bishop wrinkled his
nose, seemed to search

the room and breathed |

deeply several times, ra

s eyes rolled upwa

his head fell on his cheat
and then snapped back,
He took another deep
breath and closed his eyes
— for the last time.
Bishop’s face reddened,
saliva ranfrom his mouth
and hia body shuddered.
y 2B; berles -- of. ‘cons:
vulsive jerks, it was over.

~ Qne witness went down

_ on” one knee, but
recovered and stood up
again.

Wolff had, offered
Bishop, 48, a chance to
appeal even ‘to the
point at which the
prisoner, clad in blue:
denim pants, a while shirt

‘and white .socka, was
brought into the chamber
and atrapped into the
death chair.

But the feisty prisoner
said no, just as he earlier
spurned offers to see a
minister before going to
his death. Wolff sent the

the tan-colored room,
‘Two bright ‘light bulbe in
plain opaque fixtures
hung above. A_plaatic-
lined garbage can and a

roll of tollet paper satina |

corner for anyone who
became sick,

Some of the witnesses
talked to each other. One
asked another whether he
had ever been to an
execution before, Another
asked whether he had
played any basketball
lately. Others asked what
time it was, I stood next to
the only woman witness,
8 reporter,

At about 12:10 a.m. the
guards rolled up the
green shades on the
outside of the death
chamber.

Bishop was brought into
the chamber. He was
strapped in one af the two
death chairs that ara alda
by side,

He was wearing a
starched white shirt, blue
denim pants, white socks
and was shoeless,

Goodwin, Noy. 16; and
Wilbur May, Nov. 30. But
states prisons spokeaman
Sara Passmore said she
believes Georgia's next
execution ‘‘Is still a year
away,”
, Other than those five,
few persons on death row
have had execution dates
set and prisen officlals
say ail of those dates are
ukely ta be ntayed by
court appeals and stays.
An Associated Presa

last stop

prison chaplain to see the
convicted murderer on
his last day.

‘Bishop had told
authorities: “I-helieve in:
Jease Bishop. 1 don't
believe in any religion, I
don't believe in God."

. Prison officials
Pronounced the execution
complete at 12:21 a.m,
Moments later, Gov, Bob
List, who had refused

sought by

cl rend bon ;
gga, oh. mbehall,-.-g Vo
sal convict had paid = gwice ‘married and the

due

Last-minute appeals to
two U.S, Supreme Court
justices were turned
down Sunday. Bishop had
not authorized them.

“He was genuinely not
afraid to die, waist
anawe-inapiring "a
brother, eho did not want
to be identified, had said
after a recent meeting.

Bishop dined late
Sunday on a final meal of
steak, sent hid com.
pliments to the cook, and
refused to pick up
telephone provided him
80 that he could file an

An eyewitness account

The only person he
acknowledged in any way
was reporter Mike
Donahue of the Las Vegas
Sun, who had become a
trusted friend.

Bishop stared at the
guards who were about to
turn the toggle switches

to release the gas rather ~

_ than look at the wit-

nesses,
He showed no sign of
being nervous.
The cyanide pellets
were lowered into an acid

bath. Bishop made what ©

appeared to be @ thumba
down motion at the mo-
ment the pelleta were
lowered.

One of the reporters
apperently became faint,
He fell to one knee but
then brought himself
back up to witness the
execution. .

Bishop wrinkled his
nose; he seemed to
search the room and
breathed deeply several
times,

His eyes rolled upward,

Bishop leaves 564 still

check of the 50 states
shows that about four-
fifths of the men. and
women under death
sentence are in states in
the Deep South,
Thirty-five states have
the death penalty, but
besides Bishop, only: two
other men have been
executed in the last 12
years, during which time
the U.S. Supreme Court
first ruled against the
_Geath penalty and then

the

mer A Pe

appeal on his own —
Something he refused to

-Bishop, a decorated
Korean War paratrooper,
wes a heroin addict and

. professional robber. He
said he robbed a country
store at 15 and was
working on a county road

_ Bang a year later,
He had spent more than
20 years of his life in
prison -- mostly for
robbery and drug-related
ts. ‘Stil; ‘he’ was

father of two children.
Bishop's execution, the
firat in Nevada in 18
years, was the second
time this year that a mian
had been put to death in
the United States by
government order. John
Spenkelink died. in the
Florida electric chair on
May 25 afler a desperate
court struggle to live,
The only other
execution this decade was
the death of Gary
Gilmore, who, « like
Bishop, spurned appeais
to save hia life. Gilmora
died before a Utah tiring
aquad in January, 1977.

His head fell on his chest,
Then his head snapped
back. He took another
deep breath and closed
his eyea, His face red-
dened, saliva ran from his
mouth and his body
shuddered in a eserles of
convulsive jerks.

Twice while Bishop was
being executed I thought I
could amell the gas
faintly,

Then a guard came Into
the room and read the
official announcement.
Jesse Waller Bishop had
died at 12:24 a.m, .

Hefore we were allowed
to leave the room we had
to sign witness sheets,

The prigon au-
perintendent then
signalled for the guards to

lead us oulside the roam,
past the door of the still-
locked death chamber
and downstairs to a bank
of telephones,

- As I and the other
reporters sprinted for the
phones, I hearda prisoner
shout from his cell: ‘I
hope you trip.”

to die

ruled’ favorably on
rewritten state death
penalty laws.

The method of
execution In 16 states is
the electric chair, Nine
states have gas cham-
bers, four use hanging,
four states — Texas, New
Mexico, Idaho and
Oklahoma — call for
lethal injections, and
Utah offers the choice of
hanging or the firing

_ Squad,

before the spring election
campaign.

Treasury Board President
Sinclair Stevens has said the
government recommenda
passage of the estimates but
does not take responsibility
for them.

The freedom of In-
formation bill is intended to
Rive the public access to all
information except in cases

ON

of national security or in-
ternal matters of cabinet.

The mortgage interest and
property tax bill provides for
tax credita of up to $375
during the 1979 income tax
year and rising to a
maximum of $1,800 a year
once the plan is in full force
in 1992,

Liberals and New
Democrats have said they

SKI HILL

will push for more aselstance
to low-income home-ownera
and tenants. Social Credit
MPs endorse the plan in
general terms and the bill is
not seen as a threat to the
survival of the minority
government,

Standings in the 202-seat
Commons are; Conservative
136, Liberal 113, NDP 26,

promises good

Social Credit 5 and vacant 2,

Other bills to come up for
debate this week are
ameniments to the Old Age
Security Act, a bill
demanding _ parliamentary
approval of increases in
postal rates and legislation
to increase grants to local
governments for federal
property located within their
boundaries.

Citizen’s eall —
for an inguiry

By ED YUDIN
Herald Staff Writer
Agroupof Terrace citizens
are calling for on in-
Gependant inquiry into the
Management and
operational cost of Kit-
sumkalum ski mountain.
A petition containing
upwards of 250 signatures
was presented lo the board of
directors at Satur-
day's regular meeting of the
Regional District of Kitimat-
Stikine board members,
Co-presenters of the
petition, Rod Gillis and
Debra Wall, claimed the

operational expenses of the *

publicly run ski hill were
increasing at an “excessive”

rate. Citing a series of ar-

ticles run by the Herald, he
noted that two ski hill
operators, Paul Dietrich in
Smithers and Cecilia O'Neal
of Tabor Mountain outside
Prince George both agreed
that certain expenses such
as salaries were out of line.

“We're afler clarification
and we fee] management is
in question here” sald Gillis.

He says sii hill manager

, Jos Konst had other interests

which could be construed as
conflicts of interests. Ac-
cording to him, Konat
operates two ski shops in
Smithers, and is involved
with the construction of a 23-
apartment block in Terrace.

“The manager of the hill
should pay full attention to
the hill not to other things,”
he said. ‘‘The. manager
should be on the hill 100 per
cent of the time during the
ski season.”

Gillis went on to question
the increase in certain ex-
penses such as staff salaries,
and fuel costs. The people
were “being given a snow
job” on the operation and
expenses of the hill.

“We were dissatisfied with
statements made by people
involved in the thing and we
didn’t feel that things were

made too clear as to the
expenses and the $37,000
deficit is still not clear, it
keeps jumping back and
forth from $97,000 to $29,000
to $34,000." he said, in ex-
Plaining why a petition was
Started,

In answering — Gillis’
charges, Regional District
Administrator John Pousette
explained the role capital
costs played in the hill’s
operational deficit, The new
T-bar is costing $161,000,
$28,000 more than was raised
through taxes. The hill hes
had to pick up that overrun.

“If you take just
operational costa without the
capital expenses, we would
be $2,000 in the good,”' he
said,

Other unforseen expenses
such as the imminent
replacement of the rope tow
on the small bunny hill and
legal expences incurred by a

-law slit were cited as

reasons for the deficit.

After the meeting Debra
Wall was asked if she was.
satisfied with the ex-
Planation of the regional
district board.

“T can’t say E was totally
satisfied and F don't think it
50 much myself, it’s the
public that should be made
aware of what the ex-
penditures are," she said in
reiterating a call for a public
inquiry. “Is it up to each
person to come to the
regional district and agk?"

Just talk

EDMONTON (CP) — Pre-
mier Peter Lougheed said
today a published Ottawa
report saying that the
federal and Alberta
governments had agreed toa
$-2-barrel oll price increase
for next year was "purely
speculative.”’

Thom says this area

has been blackballed

By ED YUDIN
Herald Staff Writer
George Thom says he's

“completely disillusioned” activily has almost ground to

sagt’ tute ged
eg ry Ra ie

GEORGE THOM

- with the treatment the

Northwest is receiving.
The Kitimat Mayor claims

a

a halt because of a ‘lack of
decision" at the provincial
level, and speculates that
*political blackballing” may
be. the caumec ec

“We heard so much when
the Clark government was
elected, there was a big
uproar about political
patronage and all the parties
were objecting to it,” he
said. “I’m just starting to
wonder in the back of my
mind if there is just such a
thing as political black-
balling,”*

As Thom sees it, the at-
titude of government has
changed since the defeat of

Cyril Shelford and Iona.

Campagnollo and the
election of NDP represen-
tatives Frank Howard and
Jim = Fulton.

““Certainly we're nol
getting very far with
government since the
situation happened,” he
suggested.

Whatever has occured has
not taken place without a

fight, explained Thom, aa he
pointed to the recent Cable

car subdivision problem.
The refusal of the
* governnient te‘grant Kitimat

ferry service particularly
irks him. While Thom a
prime supporter of the

Skoglund Hotsprings
development, he argued that
“it will never be -

economically viable until
Buch a time as there is a
ferry service into Kitimat.”
Highway 25 should also be
established as an in-
terprovincial highway, he
reiterated.

Thom indicated he will
approach Jim Chabot, the
minister of lands, parks and
housing about the Hotsprings

an,

“I'm concerned that if the
Province doesn’t do it
properly, it won't develop to
it’s true potential and will be
a cost to the people.” The
Kitimat mayor sees the
development as a start to an
overall recreational plan for
the Pacific Northwest.

Police investigate Mills |

Terrace RCMP have
completed their
preliminary investigation

Thornhill

development

is planned

The firat step towards a
multi-milllon dollar housing
development in Thornhill
was taken Saturday with the
Reglonal District of Kitimat-
Stikine agreeing to
recommend removal of
parts of lot 839 from the
agricultural land reserve.

Toynbee, Brother, and
Miller, the development
company which owns the lot;
is proposing to develop a
total of 182 lots in the Krumm
Road, Churchill Drive area
over the next ten years,

into alleged financial
irregularities at Mills
Memorial Hospital.

According to a police
spokesman the = in-
vestigation centred on
expense account
irregularities, though no
persons involved were
named.

The findings of the
RCMP have been for-
warded to the crown
prosecutor. There was no
Indication at this time
whether criminal
charges ares con-
templated.

Hospital board
chairman, Wayne Epp,
has steadfastly main-
tained there were no
financial problems or
discrepancies at the
hospital, although it has

been known for some
days now that police were
conducting an in-
vestigation there and
have been going through
hospital files.

Hospital Administrator
John Allen resigned over
a week ago and he and
Epp have maintained
that the resignation was
due to illness. Other
sources have revealed,
however, that some
members of the board
were concerned about
Allen’s handling of ad-

ministration of the
hospital.

Mills Memorial
Hospital has been

plagued by resignations
of late, seeing six
department heads resign
in the last few months.

“It’s all news to me,”
Epp said today of the
police investigation.

Shooting

angers

natives

MONTREAL (CP) —
Angry Indians from nearby
Caughnawaga Indian
reserve plan to lay charges
against two Quebec
provincial police officers
today after a pollceman shot
and killed a 26-year-old

Indian early Saturday
evening.
Several children § and

relatives were watching
when David Cross was shot
in front of his home after he
hit a police car with a pool
cue,

Kitimat bank robbed

bag into his car, according to police.

Three Overwaitea employees carrying the days’
receipts to the bank were robbed at gunpoint by an
unidentified man Saturday evening, Kitimat RCMP

said

The three, whose names were not released, were

carrying a bank bag with a substantial amount of cash
and cheques from the Overwaitea store in the City
Centre shopping mall to the Canadian Imperial Bank
of Commerce branch also located in the mall, when a
man wearing a stocking mask over his face and
brandishing a hand gun ordered the three ta ter +--

The man, whose description is very sketchy, was
sitting in the car. He is described as wearing a
mackinaw-type jacket, wearing a stocking mask and
is either bearded or unshaven. '

The car is described as elther a 1967 or 1968 Chrysler
four-door hardtop with a black vinyl roof and a gold
bottom, It also has a small trailer hitch. No license

plate number is available,

Kitimat RCMP say that investigation into the

sshhory is continning an a nrinrity haeic

AO eth