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_ outside of the Terrace area)

VOL.17 NO. sd :

By JEFF NAGEL _
‘A RELATIVELY dry’ summer

. moment.
But the disease that af Hlicts pine nee-
dies still threatens to kill thousands of

lodgepole pine trees in northwestern B.C.,

says, forest pathologist Alex’ Woods.

* “In-general this summer was quite
dry,” he said. “That seems to have slowed
down the progress of the disease.”

A flyover of some areas in September
showed little-evidence of the reddish nee-

2

ine blight i

northwest. has ‘helped beat back the -
dothistroma necdle blight. at least for the’;

‘dle discolouration that is the tell- tale § sign

of dothistroma. Its spores. spread fastest
in periods of rainy warm weather.

“ “We found much fess disease damage
than we had found in 2002." Woods said.

“But it’s still out there.”

He said some 10 percent of the 35.000
hectares of lodgepole pine growing in the
northwest could still die trom the blight,

And it’s not impossible that all the
pine in the region will cv entually fall vic-
tim, he said.

“If we have another real wet year like
we had in.°97 and *98 we could expect

in retreat

ta have just as bad a problem. again.”

: Woods said.

The blight hits young pine stands. of- .
ten just as “they” re nearing the point they
could be logged. ;

The most efféctive response is to re-

plant resistant -non-pine species under- -

neath dying trees.

So far,. Woods said. natural regen-

" eration of hemlock, cedar, spruce and fir

has been better than expected, meaning

less replanting may be needed than first

thought.
He's hopeful the blight may’ subside

after di y year

for now, but doubts it will be banished.

“The trend is toward increased [re-
quency of. wet summers, which could
place all of the lodgepole: pine at. risk,”
he said.

Woods said a review of weather. data
ox the past 50 years shows: that the —

1990s had four times as many major rain-

* storms in warm w eather as the preceding

four decades.
That’s a perfect receipe for dothis-
troma..,

“The fact that the 1990s were so much
Welter than the four or five previous de-

cades fils with climate change predic-
tions.” he said.
~ “Dothistroma looks:.to me Tike: a good
example of evidence of climate change.”
The forests ministry has already: spent.
hundreds of thousands of dollars tracking:
the spread of the disease. _—
Woods said trees ‘dying from dothis-
troma can be spotted along Hwy. 16 be- -
tween Terrace and Legate Creek, espe-.
cially at Hells Bells Creek. _
More than $1.! million has been spent.

_in the northwest since 2003 surveying or

Continued Pg. A2-

rustees _
cut dis rict

‘STARTING
RCMP will no longer be dispatched

YVONNE NIELSEN presented MLA Roger Harris with a petition calling on the government to create an ID card for people who suffer from
brain injuries and other. mental disabilities that ¢ can be difficult and frustrating to prove.

JENNIFER LANG PHOTO

MLA joins push for ID card

Advocates say it would help brain- -injured people prove their status

. By JENNIFER LANG
ROGER HARRIS is taking up a local

woman's fight fora universal ID card _

for people with permanent disabilities.
Skeena’s MLA has promised to raise

the issue with provincial government

cabinet ministers in the new year.
“Dactually think it’s a good idea, a
very good idea,”
Yvonne Nielsen, “1 dont know why
we can't seem to get this thing pushed
forward.”
~ Nielsen has spent 15 years trying
to convince the province to introduce
an HD card forpersons with permanent
disabilities, without much success.
On Dec. 17 she presented Harris
with @ petition signed by people who

_ support the idea and urge the govern-

ment to act.

Harris promised to deliver-the peti-
tion to the legislature when the next
seating begins in February.

aT m going to push this as hard as

RCMP dispatch moves to

By MARGARET SPEIRS
next fall. Terrace

‘locally.

The detachment joins the rest of
the northwest, from 100 Mile House
north, in moving its dispatch to
Prince George.

“It’s an efficient way to dispatch

officers,” Inspector Marlin Degrand
said. =
The 12 full-time Terrace dis-

patchers, or operations communi-
cations centre employces, have the
option of moving to Prince George

Harris told Terraces:

[ can,’
the issue with provincial government
ministers,
minister of state for mental health and
addiction services, in the new year.

“Thank you for your persever-:

ance,” he said.
Nielsen's campaign has been the
focus of renewed local support.

Both city council and.the regional

district have endorsed the cause by
sending letters of support to senior
provincial government officials.

But just last month Premier Gor-

don Campbell told Terrace mayor

Jack Talstra the province has decided

not to move ahead with a universal

identification card program, for now.
-Campbell ‘cited a government task
force recommendation that concluded
the program would not be feasible.
“Disability status is often only one
of several eligibility criteria for gov-
ernment programs.” Campbell said in

with their jobs.

Although Degrand isn’t sure if
the eight to 1-4 casuals have the same
opportunity, he said no jobs should
be lost with the move,

The dispatch area covers from

Prince George west to the Queen

Charlotte Islands, north to Dease
Lake and south to Bella Bella.

The public will still call a Terrace
number for police assistance.

“It won't be any different for us,”
Degrand said. ,

“We could dispatch from Sydney,
Australia and no one would know.”

"he said, adding he will raise

including Brenda Locke, .

a Nov. 22 letter to Talstra.
As well, the Persons with Disabili-

‘ties designation is not permanent. he

said, adding the designation is reas-
sessed at set intervals.

Harris dismissed
concerns, °

“1 think the issue may have been
that the programs have
qualifying factors. That's fine. f gel
that,” Harris said. “But there are some
minimum factors that apply across the
board for certain programs, also.”

Harris said it may not be possible

the premier’s

to include detailed information on the
~ card. but he supports the concept.

“It's a good first step.” . Harris
said..“The bottom line is people like
Yvonne have been asking for some-
thing that I don’t think is that difficult.
to improve their quality of life. Let's
iry and figure it out.” ,

Nielsen has an acquired traumatic
brain injury caused by a car accident,

Degrand said there will be a back-
up system just in case of any snags.

“Obviously. there will be a transi-
tion period where we can throw the
switch to have the calls routed, to
the other area,” he said, adding the

‘detachment will know right away if

there's any problems that need to be
ironed out. .
-Degrand says the dispatch cen-:

‘tre’s equipment. such as worksta-

tions, will move to Prince George.
The office space will be used by
another division of the detachment.
“We're trying to come up with

different ©

She calls ita hidden disability because
you can’t sce it just by looking at her.
“Lhave no ID proof,
ris. °
Brain injuries’can resull in perma-
nent physical, intellectual and emo-
tional: changes, from) memory and

speech problems toa lack of muscle

coordination.

Nielson has long advocited a uni-
versal ID card because it would offer
‘proof of a disability, sucheas a brain
or spinal cord injury. cerebral palsy,

she told Har- |

p Manager :

Latest effort to find savings -

- the district due > lo. ‘personal

By JENN IFER LANG

“A SENIOR position at the

Coast Mountains School
District has been eliminated
lo save moncy.

he administrative posi-

tion of Maintenance Superin-

tendent has been cut as part

“of departmental restructur-

ing.

We" re urying to find more
efficiencies,” school trustce
Peter King said, referring to
budget constraints that kept
the — cost-culling

year.
In addition to the shorter
week, the district has laid off
employces, including teach-
ers, to balanée the books. —

“People were asking ques- °
~ tions on when we were going,
to deal with our management _

structure,” King said.

The school
viewed the district's’ man-
agement structure over. the
summer. King said the board
wanted to wait until several

key financial decisions were.

completed, including»
school calendar.

Chuck Morris was recent-
ly hired as-the district’s new
director of facility services,
filling a position Jeft vacant
earlier this year by Pat Zinio,
who moved to-Richmond,

. The maintenance. depart-
‘ment’s restructuring follows

the

the departure of the - district's
maintenance superintendent,
When Robert Gilfillan left

epilepsye or other. neurological im-

pairmetis.

Nielsen said the card would be vol-
untary, and could simply be an add-on
to the B.C. Identity Card, i

Nielsen said it would be useful
ina variety of situations, including —

— whether it’s for medical reasons,

accessing government services and -

programs, discounts, in emergencies
or in dealings with police.

the east

a lot of different ways to use it right
now.” he said.. “There are a lot of
pressures with space in ‘the office
now.’

A decision for who will move
‘jnto the space remains lo be made
but there are several possibilities.

The options will be considered
and a decision will be made based
on priorities.

The radio techs. who maintain the
radio and the computer systems, in-
cluding the radio towers, are district
employees and will not be affected
by the move.

four-day”
school week in place this

board ’ re- ~

at Lights magic —

BRITNY CHARON examines an opening and clos-

ing Christmas present box at the lights display at
the home of Don Maitland on McRae Crescent. It
was one of the nominees in the Christmas Lights
contest. See results on page A3.

reasons, the board: decided

not to fill the position, secre-

tary-treasurer Marcel Georg-

es said. *

lnistead, the board | pied: io.

restructure_the mait cnance

department, ‘and © give’ the-
director of facility services

more responsibility. Morris,

who comes from the Langley

school district with 20 years

experience, will also be_re-

‘sponsible for capital planning

throughout district 82.
The :district. will. try. op-
erating the maintenance. de- .

"partment - ‘With. two. employ-

ees instead of three, Geor. ges
said. ns

on the workload,” he said.
“We're just. testing ‘the ‘wa-

ters right now to.see whether.
“we're able to run that way.”

The district has also cut

back a payroll clerk, ‘position

to half time, he added: -
Declining | enrolment and

the education iministry’s stu-

dent-based operating budget.

‘create ongoing financial pres-

sure. The district “is bound
to sulfer,” he said. “We are
making do with fewer finan-
cial resources.” 5
Georges «said education
minister Tom Christensen
has told school districts his
ministry is continuing to re-
view the funding. formula,
but so far, he’s given no indi-
nation on when ‘that might be.
complete,

i,

“We are keeping: an eye

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