Neglected Terrace’s old pioneer cemetery might get a long-needed facelift — if it’s allowed\NEWS A3 Players wanted . The Terrace Northmen rugby club looks to | revitalize its league with | new members\SPORTS B4 $1.00 Plus 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) ANNIVERSARY 2003 OL. 16 NO.'7 -www.férracestandard inesday, May.21, 2003 Gov’t inept on power crisis — mayor ‘Nobody sharp’ monitoring Alcan By JEFF NAGEL MAYOR JACK TALSTRA is accusing the province of incumpetence in its handling of the Alcan power sales issue and industrial development. in the northwest generaily. He made the comments after city council met, chamber of commerce and Alcan representatives May 13 about the Alcan crisis. “We have poor representation in government today,” Talstra said. “My sense is these people aren’t as capable as they should be, What's most disap- pointing about it is you would think the Liberal government would be busi- ness-minded to some extent.” Kitimat council is poised to launch a court action to try to enforce con- tract. terms that Alcan’s Kemano power be used only for industry. . Officials there argue the province is making no effort to stop Alcan from gradually expanding ‘its ability to sell power atthe expense of aluminum ‘smelting, threatening hundreds of jobs at the smelter. ’ Talstra said he suspects Kitimat council has strong grounds to take its stand against Alcan power sales. And he said it appears the province has not paid close enough attention. “Nobody sharp is on top of these files,” Talstra said. “We're not on top of situations and not sharp enough to be on top of evolving situations in the —™@ More on Alcan power sales on page A5 world,” He said other provinces and U.S, states offer incentives to attract com- panies to provide guaranteed numbers of jobs — something B.C.’s government seems unwilling to consider. “Quebec has an industrial strategy,” Talstra said, “A lot of states have an industrial strategy. We need an industrial strat-— egy for the northwest.” Talstra als drew parallels be- . tween the govern- ment’s handling of the Alcan issue and . its sale- of Skeena: Cellulose just over a year ago. He said he suspects talks with early bidder Mercer International collapsed Talstra | because the province wouldn't negoti- ate extras to attract the firm in the way it was used to dealing with other governments, The comments came after a meet- ing in which city council debated the issue but emerged with no-firm stand with Kitimat against Alcan power sales, Council instead decided to tell the province it considers the Alcan. problem a regional issue, not one just: affecting Kitimat. Talstra said it may be useful to re- main neutral for now. “I don’t know what’s so sacred about having a posi- tion,” he said. “Because once you Continued Page A11 Deal aims |for Sept.15 LAURIE ALLEN and her family lald a wreath in front of ihe Ter- quest into the death of her brother Richard Allen. He died while in’ race ACMP detachment May 15 at the end of the coroner’s in- custody there July 4, 2001. SARAH A. ZINMERNAN PHOTO inquest urges jail re repairs May have prevented cell hanging By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN A CORONER’s jury says the drunk tank at the Terrace RCMP detachment needs a makeover to make it safer for prisoners. The recommendation to re- place the cell’s steel bars and mesh with a clear material came after a May 12-15 coroner's in- quest into the July 4, 2001 death of 29-year-old Richard William Alien. Alle.., a ‘member of the Liard First Nation, died: after threading his underwear through. the bars of the cell and hanging himself, the jury concluded. The recommendation was made “to prevent prisoners. at- taching clothing and doing bodily harm until planned renovations - are carried out at some later: date,” the jury’s foreman said. Cell renovations at the detach- ment will take place over three years with changes beginning in January 2004, says Terrace RCMP [nspector Marlin Degrand. The jury’s recommendation is - meant as an interim measure until those renovations begin. It will be taken into consideration but De- grand doesn't know if it’s physic- ally feasible or not. The jury also recommended guards and police officers be more’. vigilant when logging information about prisoners’ activities and be-- haviours in the cell block. Guards should bring relief up to date on- the activities of prisoners and be more vigilant of prisoners flagged _ on internal paperwork as being suicidal, the jury advised, The jury heard the testimony of . more than a dozen witnesses in ‘determining the facts surrounding Allen’s death. ’ The inquest heard he was ar- rested after he was found in a sto- ‘len pick-up truck that crashed into a ditch on North Sparks St. shortly after 4 p.m. July 4, 2001. He was arrested for impaired driving, re- fusing to provide a breath sample, theft over $5,000 and possession of stolen property. He began removing his cloth- ing once in the drunk tank, which was a concern because he could. harm himself-or. plug the toilet. Guards then took all his clothing except for his underwear, the in- quest heard. At 9:48 p.m. the detachment’s matron ~ a guard — found Allen “ paked hanging from the cell bars. by his underwedr. Two officers, ’ brought him to the floor and began CPR. Ambulance attendants ar- rived minutes later and brought Allen to Mills Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The inquest heard a closed cir- cuit camera outside the cell was at an angle that made it imposs- ible to see the corner of the cell where Allen hung himself. The | tape of the time period when Allen is said to have hung himself shows nothing for neatly 20 min- utes — something that concerns his family. , “I can’t see my brother's loca- tion in that cell,” said Allen’s sis- ter. Grace Allen, adding she viewed the tape numerous times. “Why doesn’t it show him walk- ing to that area? Why doesn’t it ‘show him taking his underwear off?” The jury éalled the closed cir- cuil monitoring system inadequate and outdated, but acknowledged it was upgraded soon after Allen’ s death. School band needs miracle mill start IWA members set to vote By JEFF NAGEL A DBAL struck between New Skeena Forest Pro- ducts and the TWA is ex- pécted’to put 160 workers: - back on the job at the Ter- trace sawmill by Sept. 15. If that doesn’t happen, each worker will get a $1,250 “poison pill” pay- ment, union president Dar- rel Wong said. “The company is hop- ing to restart operation prior to that date but they’re not committing prior ta that date,” he ex- plained. Wong said an earlier restart depends in large part on other factors af- fecting profitability —lum- ber prices, the rising Ca- nadian dollar, and the de- tails of any deal with the U.S. on softwood lumber. The téntative agree- ment was struck in the ‘early. morning hours of May 10 after two days of marathon talks. Members here were briefed on the agreement Saturday and are to vote on it this week. “{ don’t think there's | any better alternative right now,” Wong said. “This is the best agreement we're “going to get under the cir- cumstances,” The ageement includes a.20 per cent pay cut in exchange for profit sharing, The union gave up its demand for seven weeks vacation and agreed to the company’s offer of five. - And there are provisions for: flexible shift schedul- ing that are expected to allow the company to move from five eight-hour days per. week ta’ four i0- hour days. The agreement would expire Sept. 15, 2008. Other-key ¢lements:-*~ @ Workers get $1,250 each upon: ratification, plus three additional $1,250 payments at one- month intervals through the summer. A doubling of the. duration of seniority rights in event of future’ shut- downs. That means union workers would be shielded © from the threat -of loss of . seniority rights ‘for three years if the mill. shuts down, rather than the pre- sent 18 months. -All senior- ity rights are’ reinstated under the deal: although : they elapsed earlier -this spring. @ Benefits provisions are protected and = any coast-wide improvements negotiated also extend to New Skeena workers. M@ Wages and vacation provisions return to coast- wide negotiated levels in 2008 if there is no new agreement then. -. “Now it's time to see whether the profit-sharing system works and hopeful- ly to get back to work very soon and start putting some money in our mem~- bers’ pockets as well as help stabilize the com- munity of Terrace,” Wong said, The agreement follows negotiations. . that ‘ came close to a deal before cal- lapsing in December. “] thought we were going to get a deal back in December,” Wong suid, Continued Page A2 By JENNIFER LANG THE AWARD-WINNING band | program at Thornhill Junior Secondary School can. be saved, says one of the school district's top officials, Declining enrolment . Grade 8 and a switch to the se. mester system has created a: timetable conflict, Rob Green- wood, the district’s. director. of instruction Rob Greenwood said last week, me So far, Thornhill Junior. has .- been unable to schedule its band classes for the coming school year. “T's complicated by num- bers and it’s complicated by timetables,” he said. Just 54 students are. expected (o enrol in Grade 8.at Thornhill Junior this September. That's. -well below. the 8G to 90 new Grade , 88 the school usually welcomes each year.’ _ Jrist: 12 to-13 ‘are ‘expected too. sign up for Grade = band, That's” not enough students to meet class size requirements. Greenwood said he is work- ing with band instructors at Ter- race’s three high schools ta see if a solution can be found. “I wouldn't say that it’s dead in the water,” he said. “There - “We'll find a way, We're find- are serious problems.” Part of the problem is Thorn- - hill Junior Secondary is.a a small school; The answer may. be to com- bine band students 1 in Grades 8... 9 and 10. The school district intends to stick to a secondary school ‘ glass size ratio of 27 students to every one teacher for the com- ing year. “We're trying. to work this all out,” Greenwood added. ing ways for French immersion. Band shouldn't be that much of “oa problem,”: Viée. principal Scott Corp is - Continued page / A2 BAND TEACHER Michael Wen directs music students at Thornhill Jr. Secondary. JENNIFER LANG PHOTO