Free speech Time to celebrate The champions What do pepper sprayed protes- ters have to do with a Terrace aviation company?\NEWS A13 North Coast Distance Education School marks 10 years with an open house\COMMUNITY B1 A penalty shot and a couple of yellow cards prove decisive in | men’s soccer finals\SPORTS B6 WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 : ee Helmut Giesbrecht Letters weren't phoney — MLA HELMUT GIESBRECHT admits his recall campaign workers wrote letters to the editor for local people to sign and send to newspa- pers. But the MLA says that’s different from crcating let- ters and signing fictitious names to them —~ something that forced Parksville MLA Paul Reitsma to resign in disgrace this spring. ‘All the letters that were written were signed by living, breathing people,” Giesbrecht said. “There were no phoney letters, there were no fake letters.”’ 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST. VOL. 11.NO. 24 NDP recall defence faces probe A ‘covert operation’ including ‘dirty tricks’? Or a textbook well-organized political campaign? By JEFF NAGEL SKEENA MLA Helmut Giesbrecht-is rejecting suggestions his supporters did anything wrong in defending him against a recall campaign last winter. Elections B.C. on Friday appointed foren- sic auditer Ron Parks to investigate recall campaigns here, in Prince George and Comox. The Vancouver Sun on Thursday called the involvement In the campaigns of out- side workers a secret ‘‘covert operation”’ coordinated out of the Premier’s office. The newspaper also alleged financial ir- regularitics and characterized the use of Samplc letters to the editor were sent from a communi- , cations organizer in Victoria - to paid anti-recall workers in Prince George and Ter- * race, with suggestions they could be edited, signed and sent to newspapers. “Did we use some canned letters? Sure, what’s wrong with that?” "Did we use some canned letters? Sure, what’s wrong with that?’’ responded Gail Murray, who headed the — pro-Giesbrecht Skeena Tax- .. payers Association. She said letter preparation is often done in election campaigns, although she ad- mitted it probably happened more frequently in the recent recall campaign. Murray said it did not con- sist of campaign workers taking prepared letters around in an effort to find people who would sign them. What typically happened, she said, is a local person would come into the office, want to write a letter, but needed help doing so. “Tf somebody helped them to write them, what’s wrong with that?” Gies- brecht added. Giesbrecht said he has fre- quently helped write letters for constituents to sign who were requesting help from various cabinet ministers or arms of government. “That docsn’t make them fake letters,’? he added. “Some people have got to get a little bit real.’’ Murray said. she’s con- vineed the other sidé of the campaign also prepared tet- ters, “fake”? letiers to the editors prepared for distribution to local papers as part of a “dirty tricks’’ campaign. ‘It’s a load of crap,’’ Giesbrecht said Thursday. ‘‘It’s the biggest crock of horse manure I’ve heard in a long time.” “There was no covert operation. There were no dirty tricks. There were no fake ict- ters,’” he said. “‘It was a local campaign, we were in control and that’s it.”’ Giesbrecht and campaign organizer Gail Murray — his executive assistant who took unpaid leave io work on the pro-Giesbrecht campaign countering the recall petition — say they have nothing to apologize about. “Tt was a campaign just like any other campaign,’’ Murray said. ‘“We tackled this just like we would an election. This is the only way we know how to do a political fight — an organized campaign.” ‘But this time we didn’t just out-organize them, they didn’t have the support they thought they had to begin with.”’ The allegations of wrongdoing mn on several fronts. Outside workers Two workers — Susan McPhee and Sam Bridge — were paid to work on the campaign here for a few weeks each, Mur- Let estimates. He calls for three specific recommendations, ray confirmed. McPhee’s presence for two weeks was reported in news stories by the Standard as early as Dec. 23. Murray says had she been a secret, covert operative, an intervicw would not have been granted. Both workers were paid and their salaries and benefits are accounted for as part of a $4,200 item in the campaign’s financial dis- closure, Murray said. She said the campaign bad no involve- ment in bringing in a third activist, CAW Ontario organizer Buddy Kitchen, who the Continued Page A15 advocates pay to protect grizzly bears Gov't quickly submarines local biologist’s proposal By CHRISTIANA WIENS A LOCAL biologist says bear advocates should be allowed to compete against sport hunters to save grizzly bears from the annual hunt. By allowing. environmentalists to join. the lotlery. _system of providing hunting rights, they would final- ly get their say in the fate of B.C. grizzly bears, says Dionys de Leeuw. In his report, Limited Hunter Entry in British Columbia Bear Management the senior habitat biologist claims griz- zly numbers are exageeraled and based on ‘‘best guess” First, says de Leeuw, if 300 grizzlies are allowed to be killed, only issue 300 li- censes. Current policy en- compasses hunter success rales so that in the Skeena Region, for example, 500 li- censes are issued but only 10 to 20 per cent of hunters will actually kill a grizzly. Then, de Leeuw says the government should sell two types ‘of limited entry ap- plicatians — ‘‘kill’? tags for oe INS Dionys de Leeuw hunt. = Fall fever! READY FOR HALLOWEEN: That's four-year-old Jessica Cote and Jordan Anderson sitting in front of the Lilllan Schulte’s pumpkin harvest on south Kalum Street Wednesday. The Schultes also pulled in a great stash of butternut squash, watermelons and cucumbers from their garden. hunters and ‘‘protector’’ tags for those opposed to the That then pils bear advocates against hunters ina compe- tilion for far fewer licenses. His final recommendation asks the ministry. to make limited entry and bear population statistics available to B.C. residents, De Leetw then attacks the government for protecting and supporting ‘‘an infinitesimally small number of trophy hunters’® and ignoring the remaining B.C. population that oppose the sport, *'This is an injustice to the extreme,’” writes de Lecuw, The biologist sent his report to 91 ministry offices in- cluding regional staff, directors, wildlife managers, government-commissioned study groups and the ministry Continued Page A12 Busy lines block ambulance calls Cheap long distance plans cause delays in emergency response By ALEX HAMILTON EMERGENCY CALLS to ambulance dispatchers in Kamloops are sometimes getting busy signals because cheap long distance calling plans have caused tele- phone gridlock in the evenings. Several people have complained about getting busy signals when trying to call for an ambulance, sald B.C. Tel spokesman Kevin Noel. _ People in that situation should instead call the operator, Noel said. He said the situation is because telephone customers taking advantages of unlimited long distance plans have overwhelmed the network. “With the new $20 flat rate calling plan, . it’s tough to get a long distance circuit,’’ he said. ‘“'The new plan and other (com- panies’) plans have changed the nature of long distance on the network.”’ Noel explained that since Terrace’s emer- gency ambulance dispatch is in Kamloops, that long-distance number could be busy if all the circuits are being used. And that’s exactly what happened to Carla MacDonald when she called for an ambulance Sept. 10 after a 68-year-old din- ner guest, Marion Amado, fell unconscious at her party. She immediately tried the number again, thinking she had. dialed incorrecily. But when she got the same message, she was - shocked. “A message said all lincs are unayailable and to try again,’’ MacDonald said, ‘This woman could have died on my doorstep be- _cause all the lincs were busy. Ambulances shouldn't be busy —ever.”? After her second attempt at calling an am- bulance, MacDonald called the local fire department. When the fire fighters learned of the dilemma, they too tried calling for an am- bulance. When they got a busy signal, a crew was dispatched 10 the scene immediately. “This woman could have died on my doorstep because all the lines were busy. Am- bulances shouldn't be busy — ever.” _ “ eo The firefighters eventually got through to the ambulance dispatch service using a spe cial unlisted number. The ambulance arrived on the scene ap- proximately three minutes after the fire de- partment. a “This is a problem that we've noliced over the past weck,” said Bob Pearce, man- ager of communications for B.C. Am- bulance service. ‘'There have been several instances of delays from the Kamloops dis- patch.’’ To remedy the problem temporarily, B.C. Tel officials say ambulance caflers who can't get through can call the operator and he or she will place the call. “B.C. Tel is adding circuits as quickly as possible to ease congeslion,’’ Nocl- said. “Using the operator is a temporary’ solu- tion.” . This solution, however, docsn’t comfort MacDonald. von She tried calling the ambulatice for 30 minutes after her guest was taken: 1o the hospital. But cach time, she said’ she received a busy signal. a “City council needs to get. 911,’? she said. “How are people going to know ‘to call the operator when the line is busy?”