BINGO! High-tech computerized bingo terminals are coming to Challenger Alexis Ahrens isn't letting her wheelchair get in the way of hitting the trails\SPORTS B5 A cormmunity mourns * Residents and emergency crews mark Sept.11 Terrace\NEWS A3 | attack\ COMMUNITY B1._ $1.00 Pius 76 ¢ GST {$1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) -TERRAC =STANDARD “Terrace ia B.C.‘ 2.001 Forestry Capital” Loggers picket TD bank over Anger over unpaid bills starts to boil over into blockades, boycotts By JEFF NAGEL FURIOUS loggers began a campaign of direct action Sa- turday to force either the TD bank or Victoria to pay Skeena Cellulose’s bills. It started at an emergency meeting that morning with talk by some contractors of blocking any shipments of lumber or logs out of SCI's yards. By that afternoon, contractor Bryan Halbauer parked two massive front-end loaders out- side the bank. They were emblazoned with slogans like “T.D. stole my money” and “Shame on T,D.” The huge loaders could like- ly only be moved by cranes, and serve as a heavy metal picket line. “These are going to be parked here until we all get paid,” vowed Halbauer, who is owed nearly $100,000. Other loggers began to blockade entrances to SCI’s vww.terracestandard.com sawmill and log yards here Sa- turday. culture and other contractors are owed millions since the courts granted SCI protection from its creditors Sept. 5. Government officials say they had to seek protection after the TD bank demanded payment of all SCI debts total- ling $350 million and began bouncing SCI cheques. They say they had a plan Logging, road-building, silvi- that should have seen all con- tractors get paid before SCI’s line of credit ran out — a plan that went off the rails when the TD stopped cooperating. Contractors say Skeena Cel- lulose officials assuréd them money was there to cover all work done up to Aug. 10, and in some cases up to Aug. 31. “It appears to me the TD Started turning cheques back even though the cash was Seniors smoked SENIORS were shaken but safe after a small fire smoked up the Willows apartment complex Thurs- day afternoon. Firefighters cleared the building of smoke and helped residents outside — carrying some to safety. “The fire was contained to one apartment in the kitchen area,” said fire chief Randy Smith. ‘The occupant of. the apartment. had inserted a tray of food into the oven which had a foam liner on it, he said. The liner caught fire creating a small fire and lots of smoke, Smith said. The Kalum St. complex has doors that close at var- ious points when the fire alarm goes off, so the smoke was contained fair- ly well, he added. Firefighters did remave two residents out of their ground floor apartments by - lifting them up and over balcony railings. Both of those residents were taken to Mills Mem- orial Hospital. “My understanding is at this time they are both okay,” Smith said. Smith estimated damages at $2,000. the FIREFIGHTER Peter Weeber lowers a resident of the Willows apartments into the arms of paramedics. Seniors there were smoked aut after a Sept. 13 cooking fire in one apartment. JEFF NAGEL PHOTO Mourners comfort local U.S. citizens By JENNIFER LANG TWO AMERICAN ex- patriates were surprised and touched to hear hun- dreds of Terrace residents singing the Star Spangled Banner Friday. Both the American and the Canadian anthems were sung after speakers remembered the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist at- tacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, and pledged solidarity with the U.S. Lorraine Merrill wiped tears from her eyes during the moment of silence. “] feel extreme grief,” she later said, still clasp- Flyers wi By SARAH A, ZIMMERMAN MORE AIR travellers can now expect to have their carry-on luggage searched before they board a plane at the Terrace airport. Transport Canada is- sued increased security measures for airports in the wake of the Sept. 11 ter- rorist air attacks in the US. “The presént practices . regarding security will continue,” ‘Terrace-Kitimat ing a small American flag protectively in her hands. Merrill is a 57-year-old U.S. citizen who now lives in Terrace with her Cana- dian husband Larry. Her four children and one stepson live in the States. “They're all safe,” she ‘said, But she was stricken by the sight of her former country under attack. She could do little more than helplessly watch the iragic events unfold on her television screen for four days straight last week, It made her feel a long way from home indeed. Airport Society president Frank Hamilton said. “And there may be an increased check on carry- on baggage.” But otherwise air pas- sengers here may notice few. changes to security measures here, A spokesman for local airline Hawkair Aviation said the biggest change: flyers will noticed is in- creased scrutiny , of ; their. carry-on baggage and a’ Tes striction on certain items. “That’s my country. That’s where my children were born.” She ventured out on Friday to attend the mourning event at the Ce- notaph at city hall. “I was comforted to hear that Canadians were grieving, too.” So was Northwest Com- munity College student Barbara Hammer, who was born and raised in Virginia. Hammer said she once worked for the U.S. depart- ment of defence in Wash- ington, D.C,, although nat in the Pentagon itself. “I’m really comforted by this service because “The security intention is to remove anything from carry-on that can be used as a weapon,” said Haw- kair co-owner Dave Men- zies. Airlines have always been ‘required to check a certain amount of carry-on baggage. That percentage has now increased. However, for security “reasons, officials.are not ‘aaying exactly: what per-. centage of bags will now be checked. ahem ew Nae Tame baa Sp Agate Ae Me Fe ee I'm so used to being criti- cized,” the 42-year-old Ki- timat resident said. “I was really surprised by this.” She said it’s a shame Palestinian and Arab Americans are now being targeted by some as sca- pegoats, “T know how they feel,” she said, explaining Amer- icans living in north- western B.C, face discri- mination from their Cana- dian neighbours, too. “Americans are very afraid to say they’re Amer- icans because people say mean things,” Hammer said, ll face more baggage checks “We received direction to remove from all passen- gers, and for that matter flight crew members, any knife or knife-like object,” Menzies said. Swiss army knives, lea- thermen, razor blades and butane lighter refill coritai- ners are also no longer: permitted in carry-on bag- gage. So far, passengers are taking the random checks in stride, © Continued Page A2 Continued Pg. A14 By JERF.NAGEL.. THE FRONTRUNNER to buy Skeena Cellulose is a scavenging specialist that picked over pulp and paper companies in the for- mer East Germany after the col- lapse of communism there. And Swiss-based Mercer Inter- national is now poised to do much the same in northwestern B.C. Parallels abound between .Mer- cer’s potential purchase of Skeena Cellulose and how it acquired for- mer East German mills. in the early 1990s. As with the B.C. government today, German officials were re- portedly “desperate” to sell gov- ernment-owned companies to pri- vate buyers. © In particular, reported the Fi- nancial Times of London in 1993, the government privatization agency was frantic to unload sta- UNPAID LOGGERS put pressure on the TD Bank Saturday by putting equipment and banners in front of the bank. ‘Vultures’ descend — on Skeena Mercer International is a scavenger with Vancouver roots, analyst says’ te-owned Dresden Papier, | one. ‘of: East Germany's biggest paper pro- ducers that was suffering. huge: losses because its main market —the Soviet Union = collapsed.’ As with the B.C, NDP" s appro More inside .. m@ Mayor fears Mercer is . another Repap, AS M Loggers pressure Skeena MLA, A5 val of a $110 million capital up- grade for Skeena Cellulose, the Treuhand privatization agency in-- vested 100 miilion marks (equal to Cdn $126 million) to install new equipment at Dresden “to prepare it for privatization.” Continued Pg. A5 SOLACE SEEKER: Lorraine Marl holds an “American flag as she listens | to her national anthem being sung at a day of mourning event In Terrace,