Road to cost $30M The feds have already chipped in. theirshare forthe roadto- —— Puppy saved | S bar ‘ your engines! _ Police are looking for the person Moves are underway to start a lf who threw a dog into the Kincolith\NEWS A16 Skeena\COMMUNITY B3 WEDNESDAY APRIL 3, 1996 Orenda deal might mean good news 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST VOL, 8 NO, 51° Laid off workers wait for sale word _ IT’S TOO EARLY to tell if the proposed sale of Orenda Forest Products is good news for the more than 150 people who have been out of work since the compa- ny shut down logging last December. “This is too soon for me to make a comment,’’ said Pat Ogawa of Repap, the company that wants to buy Orenda. Ironically it was Repap who contrib- uted to Orenda’s shutdown late last year, Repap has a sales agreement with Orenda to buy up to 240,000 cubic metres of pulp and saw logs a year. But a strike at Repap’s Prince Rupert pulp and paper mill last year created a huge surplus of its own fibre which meant it didn’t need Orenda’s wood. Repap did order the wood in early 1995, before the strike, but then invoked a Clause in its agreement to cancel il later on in the year. And a pulp shortage carly in 1995 drove prices up so high fibre started pouring into B.C. from all over the world, causing a glut. ‘*The botiom just fell out of the market in a very short period of time,’’ said Repap’s Ogawa. ‘‘There were barges full of chips coming in from Chile.”’ This then dropped the price of pulp to the point it became uneconomical for mw Repap eyes Orenda wood as way to buffer losses from Nisga’a agreement — A11 m Second time lucky for forests company? — A11 Orenda to log and it couldn’t find other customers. Orenda did Gnd one customer in Alaska but found itself competing with Repap who was trying to sell its own surplus. The resulting shutdown by Orenda hurt residents of Meziadin and area who work for Orenda’s contractors and for the ser- vice industry which maintains logging equipment. Workers either tied to ride out the shutdown while others have tried to find work with other forest companies. The cancellation by Repap of its sales deal with Orenda had the potential to be- come a major sore point between the two companies. . But now, with the pending sale, the dispute will become null and void. That fibre sales deal between Orenda and Repap also caused friction between the two Jast year when another company tried to buy Orenda in carly 1995, Repap opposed that proposed sale, saying it needed Orenda fibre to supply its Prince Rupert pulp mill. That proposed sale fell through, putting Orenda back on the market in the hunt for a buyer, Orenda Forest Products vice president Frank Foster said he couldn't comment on any specifics surrounding the tenta- tive deal with Repap. And he said he couldn’t comment on any past history between the two com- panies, cree ery es THEY WERE made famous by the Gulf War and movie star Ammold Schwarzenegger has a garage full of them. And this week a four-wheel drive Hummer is being tested by New Aiyansh RCMP. The RCMP chose the Nass Valley because it has some of the most brutal on-road and off- road conditions being experienced by RCMP officers in the province. In use by the American military since 1982, the 4X4 Hummer has a standard 6.5 litre diesel and 16 inches of complete bottom clearance. It can travel up or down 60 degree grades and sideways to the point the horizon tilts. AJl told there are more than 150,000 Hum- mers (short for the official military designa- tion of High Mobility Multi-wheeled Vehicle) being used in the American military. But it wasn't until Arnold Schwarzenegger contacted manufacturer AM Gencral’s presi- dent personally that a civilian model began IT’S WIDER THAN a standard 4X4 and has 16 inches of complete ground clearance and that's dealer Phillip Rooyak- kers standing beside his Hummer. The vehicle designed for RCMP test movie star favourite production. A variety of models are now tailor made for industrial or commercial use. The B.C. franchise belongs to Fenders Leas- ing Sales and Service and one of its principals, Philip Rooyakkers, drove up the Hummer that’s now being tested in New Ajyansh. ‘There are benefits to police forces such as the RCMP, It can go into terrain no other vehicle can and come out again,”’ he said. The RCMP asked for the Nass Valley road test after watching it go through its paces at the Chilliwack armed forces base last year. ‘'They were seriously impressed,” said Rooyakkers of the Chilliwack test last ycar, “Hopefully B.C. will be the first (RCMP) division to take them on.” A basic Hummer costs $67,000 and 4 series of options can add up to $30,000. That’s a lot of money but the advantage, says Rooyakkers, is the vehicle’s durability and low maintenance costs which can make a the American military is up in New Aiyansh this week going through a series of road and off-road tests by the RCMP. They're evaluating the Vehicle for possible purchase. Hummer cheaper to own in the long run when compared to the servicing costs of standard 4 X 4 trucks, Rooyakkers also points to the ability of the Hummer to navigate up, over or around ob- Stacles that might stop other four by fours. A Hummer, he suggests, might not have been subject to the kind of gunfire inflicted upon a police 4 X 4 at Gustafsen Lake when it was forced to stop because a tree was cut down, blocking a road. Rooyakkers estimates that up to 25 per cent of the Hummers hell sell will be for civilian recreational use. The majority will go to resource companies, fire departments, police forces and other goverment agencies requiring off-road travel. Onc feature is an on-board air system permitting a driver to inflate or deflate the Hummer's tires according to the kind of road being driven upon. Socreds ready for a rumble SKEENA SOCREDS are well financed to fight the coming provincial election. The local constituency as- sociation already has more than $18,000 in its bank ac- count — a legacy left from the days when the party en- joyed the backing of indus- try and commerce. Control of the bank ac- count rests with the local constituency association and : qt that’s where it’ll stay, says Dave Serry, the party's Dave Serry Skeena candidate and president of the riding association. ‘*We're the only party thal bas local autonomy. Here we teli party headquarters what to do. The other parties have their headquarters telling them what to do,” said Serry. He said local Socreds have had to defend attempts by former Social Credit members who are now Liberals to get their hands on the money. ‘"We puta slop to that and the Reform party as well wanted to get their hands on the moncy,’’ Serry continued. The amount used to be higher — approaching $30,000 — but expenditures in the early 1990s have whittled the figure down. Local Socreds also sent an amount to party headquarters to help defray a debt of more than $1 million left over from the 1991 provincial election. “'The Liberals don’t have that,’’ said Serry of an election war chest. ‘‘All they have is glitz and glamour.’ He said the account gives local Socreds a solid financial base from which to conduct an election campaign. “I'm a Scotsman and I’m a frugal man. We’re not going to go out and spend it just because we have it,’’ Serry continued, “We're going to get a good investment for what we spend, just as if we would do if we were the government.”’ One recent expenditure by local Socreds was just over $700 to fly up party leader Larry Gillanders for a tour of the northwest to probe Socred election chances. A new provincial elections act, for the first time in B.C., sels maximum election expenditures. That figure for local constituency associations is $1.25 per registered voter. With under 20,000 registered voters in the Skeena riding, that means local Socreds are well-positioned for the com- ing spring vote. wkekkk While local Socreds have a candidate and are in decent financial shape, the situation ls much different in the North Coast riding. . Just two people showed up in Prince Rupert last week for a public meeting to talk about the party’s clectoral chances there. Party leader Larry Gillanders and other officials doubt if it will field a candidate there, saying they prefer to con- centrate their resources where they have better chances of success. Socreds in Bulkley Valley-Stikine — the riding that takes in the Hazeltons and Smithers — meet tonight in Smithers to consider running a candidate. local go-kart association in this : area\SPORTS C1 | Tsimshian talks move forward NEGOTIATORS ARE pouring over a preliminary version of how they'll go about settling the Tsimshian Jand claim. The framework agreement sets up the rules and procedures for negotiating an agreement in principle between the fed- cral and provincial governments and the seven Tsimshian villages. In tum, the agreement in principle will form the basis of a finai treaty between the three partics. The Tsimshian claim an area stretching from east of Terrace to Prince Rupert and portions of the coast and islands. Included in the seven Tsimshian vil- lages are Kitsumkalum and Kitselas in the Terrace area. Provincial aboriginal affairs minister John Pyper said the tentative framework agreement merely sets up how the nego- tiations will work, Negotiators could sign the framework agreement as soon as the third week of April when they are next scheduled to meet. The framework agreement also pro- vides for more openness and public in- formation than was provided for in the recenUy-concluded Nisga’a land claim agreemicnt in principle, The Tsimshian and the federal and provincial governments have agreed to uy and reach an agreement in principle within the next three to four years, There are 12 major issues up for nego- tiation, ranging from sclf government to resource control to financing to how a treaty will be implemented, The tentative framework agreement also addresses the touchy issue of over- laps — territory claimed by more than one native group. The Tsimshian will work toward set- thing those overlaps independent of its main negotiations with the provincial and federal governments. And they can turn to other options, in- cluding the B.C. Treaty Commission which oversees land claims talks, for as- sistance in resolving overlaps. The agreement also allows individual Tsimshian villages to negotiate specific deals with the federal and provincial governments. That's different from the Nisga’a nego- tiationa as they negotiated their agree- ment in principle as one group. Once signed, the framework agreement gives the Tsimshian access to money from the B.C. Treaty Commission to ne- gotiate an agreement in principle. Negotiators have already agreed among themselves that they waat to hald as many of the negotiating sessions as possible in Terrace, Prince Rupert or the seven member Tsimshian villages. Also beginning the road to a treaty settlement are the Haisla of Kitamaat Village.