ll a a all Le at eo lt lt aa Fire setter sought Library bonus Enough A blonde teenage male is the © RCMP's chief suspect aftertwo fires at Safeway\NEWS AG | | The library has hit the $65,000 oS. mark to help pay for its expansion | project\COMMUNITY Bi | | Terrace Timbermens’ generosity. ended at this year’s Oldtimers tournament\SPORTS C1 | : "WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 22, 1995 By JEFF NAGEL ORENDA’S TIMBER licence should be taken away if the com- pany doesn’t keep its promise to the northwest, says Terrace mayor Jack Talstra. He spoke out last week against 4 proposed buyout of Orenda Forest Products by a New York- based syndicate, The plan {s to divert Orenda’s northwest timber to Gold River on Vancouver Island, where OFP Acquisition Corp. wants to re- open a closed newsprint mill. The idea is getting a cool recep- tion in. the northwest, where : Orenda has logged for nearly 10 years on the promise of establish- ing some kind of processing plant in the region. Talstra was a strong supporter It's very strange THE BEST intentioned’ legisla- tion can sometimes produce bizarre results, Take the Freedom of Informa- tion-rand:: Protection: o£: Privacy... Act and the B,C, Winter Games, Responding to the usual pre- event request from the Terrace Standard, the games office sup- plied the names of all Terrace athletes participating and their sports, But a covering letter pointed out that under the Act, the sex and ages of the athletes could not be included, That, explained games execu- tive assistant Glenda Rae, is be- cause those details are considered “personal information’’. And under the act, personal in- formation provided to a govern- ment institution fora certain pur- pose cannot be passed on to an- other institution — including newspapers — for their purposes, Rae admitted the games events sometines throw up a contradic- tion. Having complied with the Act by withholding specific iden- lificalion of the athlete’s gender, it then gives itaway by noting the individual is competing in male or female hockey, Asked why athletes cannot be asked to sign a waiver allowing the information to be released, Rae said that would be ‘‘an ad- ministrative nightmare.” The reason was most registra- tion forms were completed by the team manager or zone representa- tive for the parlicular sport. “The athletes don’t sec the {orm,’? she said, adding it was therefore not possible to geta sig- nature from each athlete, Rae also pointed out there were potentially serious implications from the release of information that could identify someone, She confirmed an athlete or theit legal guardian could ask that even their name to be withheld. Rae recalled an occasion when this. had happened, a single mother asking the name of her child not be published, Watershed restoration of Orenda’s plans to build a $4140 million high-tech pulp and paper mill south of Lakelse Lake. Orenda bas so far not come up with the financing needed for the mill. It has asked the province for a loan guarantee but has been told it should first demonstrate finan-- cial support. “TE Orenda cannot live up to its initial commitment, it seems to me they do not deserve a windfall out of this,’? Tatstra said, ‘Either they live up to their anticipated commitments or they retum the timber supply to the province and - let somebody else do it.” More than half of Orenda’s wood is vital to Skeena Cel- lulose’s pulp mills at Port Ed- ward, just outside of Prince Rupert, Talstra noted, Heritage gown IT'S HERITAGE Week next week and Miss Terrace candidate Kylie Oman sets the tone by wearing an antique 1939 Ivory bridal gown. The gown was originally wom by Mary Brownlie, mother of Terrace resident Marilyn Davies, Kyile's vell is from Montreal, vintage 1897, The ensemble will be just one of several to be featured Feb, 26 at the Terrace Regional Museum Society's "100 Years of Fashion" revue, It opens at 2 p.m. in the arena banquet room. — More on Orenda: a Repap, Orenda tangle In war of words, Page A5 Company execs poised to cash in, Page A5 m Orenda to test mobile chipper, Page .A5 And any remaining wood in the licence not needed in Prince Rupert should be used to set up some kind of value-added plant in the region, he said, “The wood should not go out of our region,”’ Talstra added, Talstra said Terrace councillors hope to meet with their counter- parts in the region to prepare a regional consensus position on Orenda should a proposed licence transfer go to public hearings, “To have any chance of being heard at all we have to be togeth- er and speak with one voice and speak as loud as we can,’? he said, . —— ; Also angry at the idea of Orenda’s wood going south is Nisga’a Tribal Council president Joe Gosnell, who said he’s astounded the idea hasn't drawn mass protests yet. , “If T was a worker in a mill in Port Edward, { would be‘up in arms,’” Gosnell said. “I would expect people to parade in the ‘ streets, Why not? Their jobs are threatened,” Orsenda’s forest cence in the Mezladin area falls mostly within the Nisga’a tand claim and the Nisga’a have long protested the tate at which Orenda has been cutting timber there. Gosnelt also expressed doubts as to whether Orenda is adequate- ly replanting trees there. He said the rate of logging Should be reduced and said the Nisga’a are ‘‘absolutely op- posed’? to the timber or fibre going elsewhere in the province. **We think it should be retained in the region to protect the jobs of people here,’? Gosnell said, Both Prince Rupest city council and Stewart mayor Andy Burton also oppose transfer of the wood --75¢ PLUS 5¢.G5 VOL.:7.NO. outside the region, Orenda had initially proposed a ~ mill much cioser to Stewart, but abandoned that plan and proposed the mill site near Onion lake, be- tween Terrace and Kitimat. After that, Stewart mayor Andy Burton says he strongly doubted Orenda’s commitment to any part ‘of the northwest. “They've been playing silly bugger with us and Terrace for the last six years,’’ Burton said. But. he suggests Terrace was blinded by thé possibility of get- ting a’ big-money mill; ‘I tried to teil them “Don’t be fooled — they didittous’,?. . Burton also said any proposed change in Orenda’s licence is an Opportunity to ensure northwest mills have a secure wood supply. City blasted _ for fee By MALCOLM BAXTER © justify a huge hike in Aquatic Centre user fees for youth groups make no sense, says a Blueback swim. club official. Club president Candice Kerman made the statement after a close examination of last year’s city budget and projections for 1995, The club is up in arms over ‘city plans to increase the youth group pool rental fees by 38 per cent in - July. ; In a presentation to council, Kerman questioned - the city’s own figures, . ; She pointed out the 1995 budget — which includes the July hike — predicts total pool revenues will be $346,567. : Yet that figure is nearly $1,000 less than the pool actually took in last year. os “What is: the rationale?’’ she asked council. - And noting pool revenues in 1994 were $31,000 higher than originally forecast, she asked ‘if council would apply that surplus to this year’s operations. : That, she pointed out, would reduce still further the amount to which the taxpayer subsidized the pool. : Kerman also wanted to know why other youth sports groups such as sofiball, baseball and.soc- cer were excmpt from paying maintenance for their fields, “This appears to be a direct dis- crimination against those children who use structured indoor facilities,’’ she suggested, Charging the proposed rate in- creases had lille or no relation to operating costs, she added, “They simply provide council with a means to gouge a few sclect taxpayers of this com- munity,” The recreation user fees in- creases are also cause for concern for the Terrace Child and Youth Committee. - FIGURES USED “by "the “eity/to"* "Tinea letter to counell eons" heads Kerrle Reay and Graham Kay said the increases will make it more difficult for moderate and low income families to use those facilities. Le “While commending the city for giving price breaks to families on social assistance, they asked council consider the impact of the proposed increases ‘‘and the fu- ture implications. for the: well being of the community as a whole," vo Both . : presentations . were referred to, this Friday's recrea- _ tion committee’ meeting, to. be held in council chambers at noon, Meanwhile, Terrace. Minor Hockey : finds itself frustrated with the situation, ‘President Brian ' Downie ex- plained the group finds itself caught in a vice: on one ‘side the threat of sharply increased fees for use. of the icc, on the other a: continual whittling away at the number of ice hours they get. - It’s gotten so bad, he added, . there were ‘suggestions the. ofga- nization may have to reduce the number of players it will tke next season in an effort to im- prove the quatity of hockey’ for. those who are allowed to register. “It’s depressing,’' Downie ad- mitted, ned “T ‘don’t think ice users - are given credit for the contribution they make to the community,”’ he continued, BO ‘Pointing out young people here need something to do over ‘the winter, he said minor hockey did - a good job of providing fun and teaching team work and skills. *. “Another source of discourage- ment for ice groups is council’s hardline. position on a second sheetoficen 5 0 Noting his own team has played 35 of its 40 games this season on the road, Downie said’ that was. both tiring and expensive, -... . plans to accelerate what gets approval and money, would be possible to draw up a pains" in 1994, its inaugural needed to stabilize banks and year was a proposed year, rehabilitate streams. organizational change. In 1994 For the most part, he said, Although $2.2 million had assessment of projects “was Work under the program dealt been earmarked for work in handled out of the ‘regional with road deactivation -. the region, he said office with the result that there closing old logging roads --_ significantly less than that had were only four, and. often. just: simply because the plans todo been spent because of two staffers trying 10 cover :the. those projects had already uncompleted projects owing to entire teglon, ae of the Skeena Watershed .0¢ef.drawn up and approved, weather problems and cosis of - That had © proved “an Committee's - weekend. , However, some. clearing of others coming In under budget Ampossible: task," he added... workshop held here, Johnston _dsoris from guilles had taken projections, He anticipated. the’ problem ” whic admitted the program had “habitat ag well elk Of fish _ One of the reasons Johnston, Would be solved this year by to. experienced “a lol of growing". AS Wel: as: © Work cnticipated imptovement this’ having program co‘ordinatots. ‘whi in place on a district by district basis. Backed up ‘by technical assistance from the regional office: +~ biologists, THINGS WILL be better in 95, That's the prediction of Doug Johnston, Skeena's regional co-ordinator for ‘the Watershed Restoration program. - Addressing a Sunday session Once a project is approved timetable of .wo k to. be done at that level, he added, over a'period.of years.. responsibility: for overseeing . “Johnston y its execution. will be at ‘the district fevel, yore with a proposal for . consideration could’ contact him ‘at the Environment minisiry office in Smithers... However, he,. cautioned, before that contact is made the. proposer. should have ‘contacted ‘all parties wilh an interest in the. watershed.