Fag 8:10 loads: a day from, ahi
; Nesta. Kitwanga: operation + te

Selig aks Feiner seed Pi

“TERRACE — Skeeia MLA
and crown lands minister Dave

Parker says he thinks he has a

“way to build a road into the
‘ gold-rich’ Iskut Valley north of
‘Stewart. -

. Negotiations between mining

“companies and the provincial .
» government have run into dif-
ae ficulty ‘over haw much should

be: Paid. by the ‘parties involved, *

Speaking last week, Parker :

said he has '‘a viable alternative

to ensure the road's built” that

“will be presented to the Provin-
- cial ‘cabinet, :

Parker declined to give
‘details, saying the proposal

Sere A NATROL SE oem

must first be approved by the

‘provincial government. -

. “Pm not in a position to do
that yet,” he said; .
~ Parker has‘ said before ‘he ex-

; pects: the road to be approved,

built and open later this year.

‘The fiews follows word that -

the mines minisiry i is preparing
8 series of options for presenta-
tion to cabinet on constructing
the 72km road from Bob Quinn
Lake on Hwy37 into the Iskut.
It’s estimated ‘cost is. $12. $
million, .

A cost-benefit analysis
prepared by: the provincial.
government earlier this year

Ma te ana

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PaRcranent =, ASSERR

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Ray, CARIN
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said northwest cities and com-
panies would gain by the road.
Supplies, equipment and
-employees are now flown in and
out of the Iskut through
Wrangell, ‘Alaska, ;

And: ‘although the province
and” mining ~ ‘and. ‘exploration
companies say. they agree with
building. a road-into the Iskut,
they can’t agree on sharing its
construction costs.

The. ‘government cost-benefit
analysis suggests mining com-
‘panies. (in . particular. Skyline
Gold which operates the Johnny
Mountain: mine and Cominco,
which is developing the SNIP

~~ Outdoor education

: STHAT'S ET; Kenitey student Willie Gardon taking
Witt: MacKenzie,. MacKenzie’ 's bean. explaining so:
School. forthe past, three years : for tore on va

i
veto

a look ata coyote akin courtesy of focal flapper
mé of the facets of trapping: and of wildlife at the
pring, see. Page AS,

TERRACE — lia the wake of
- Skeena Sawmills decision to

shut down its ‘third shift and -

production cut backs at other
northwestern operations, the
manager of a local. transporta-

_ ton company says his company:
: will have to lay off employees.:

. Confirming | ‘the decision

‘Would likely-be made this week, .
. Excel Transportation's - Marty

McKee sald‘up' to six-of its 30

drivers arid two of. its four

nigchanics {will Aikely_ be af-
fected. oy

The company has already cnt t
‘hours, from’ 12. to.

its drivers”.

McKee said Excel has been
_ Operating found. the clock since:
1985 on ‘twoe12 hour shifts haul-

-ing: transport:, loads: of: chips. .
That. tio longer : “was, possible’
when Skeena. Sawmills cut: one .
ahift, " “uneconomic for Westar. >...
“It doesn't make 4 heck ‘of a.
oo ct sense. ‘The. government

- . Sawnnllls.

will close the end of this month,
. McKee said the economic loss

would 20 beyond its employees m

(drivers earn ‘between —
$45,000-$50,000 a yeat) and be
felt in other. areas..
.. “There'll. certainly. be’ | lot -

* Jes: money spent in the Terrace

area,’? Excel operations

manager Florent. Foucher:

agreed, adding it: would: not be.

“easy. for the company. to. find:
hauling :work to make up for.
reduced. demand - from’: ‘the.;

“The: contracts ‘out.

‘there are limit

“Foucher said Westar had: told »
Excel the production’ cutbacks"

“were due to a timber; shortage
caused, in part, by the continu-
ding export of raw logs. ‘High de-
mand from Pacific Rim coun-
tries had driven up the price of.
timber to. levels which made
Purchases on the open: market

ad at least, take some | in

~ Hauling layoffs coming

ported should be made available
.to northwestern mills,

While echoing that sentiment,
"MeXee said there was also a

lesson ta be learned by local '

‘Operations. The Japanese are
00d ‘at what they do,” he
‘pointed out, "They take the raw
‘log and they don’t waste a bit of

‘it. We've ‘got to educate ‘our .

-: (mills) to do the same thing,”

property) pay 75 per cent.

€ companies ' have
countered with their own study,
stating they should pay between:
12 and 18 per cent.

(Neither the government nor
the mining companies have for-
mally released their respective
studies.)

The companies have also said
the province should build the
road and recover costs through
charging a toll. ‘They’ add that
logging companies would also
benefit from the road,

No formal negotiations have
taken place since the mining
companies’ report was com-
pleted late last month.

tok tek tok
In the meantime, a mines of-
ficial .is meeting this Friday
evening with the Kitimat-Stikine
regional district to discuss the
province’s cost benefit analysis.
That meeting takes place in
private, regional! district
economic development officer

_ Andrew Webber said, in order

to give all parties a chance to ex-
change views.

Karen Konchorada, a provin-
cial mines ministry of ficial,

‘described the closed meeting as

a **consultation’’ process.

' She said the province wants
to avoid negotiating its position
in public.

E STAN :

Se oe iat a od
a .

Dave Parker

Parents object
to learning way —

TERRACE — A new method of
teaching at a local school has
some parents saying their
children are suffering as a
result.

The parents of one. class of
Clarence Michiel Elementary
students say they don’t want
their children: taking part in
what the school district calls
“cooperative learning.”'

That method is considered a
forerunner of the proposed
Year 2000 educational changes,
In part, the method advocates
breaking .up of classes into
smaller groups in which
students work together.

used in the:classroom force the
brighter students -to “carry the
weaker ones, ~

The methods may work well

in supporting students who have
trouble, but parents say it's be-
ing done at the expense of over-
achieving students.

“Our children used to be
straight-A. students — but they
aren’t anymore’ says William
Porter, whose daughter is in the
Grade 6 class. “They’ve gone
from ‘Let’s get up early and go
to school’ to ‘Forget it, it’s not
worth it,’”

Chicken
can turn

By JEFF NAGEL
TERRACE — Local chicken
farmer Stan Kinkead has found
a way to avoid having his opera-
tion closed down.

Kinkead has been charged
several times by the provincial
government, investigated by
health officials and criticized by
his neighbours over the disposal
of chicken manure,

The problem — a huge field’

of manure:—- may now be the
key to a new and environmen-
tally friendly business venture
that will .save his Samson’ 5
Poultry Farm.

The solution: composting.

Kinkead said last week a com-
promise with ‘the environment
ministry means he will go ahead
with plang to recycle manure by
composting it, mixing it and
selling it as high-quality potting

‘They've lost their desire to
achieve,”’ said parent Elaine
Auriat, ‘‘They’re extremely
unhappy and unproductive. The
challenge is no longer there.”

A school district represen-
tative said cooperative learning
is being used to phase in parts of
the Year 2000 program. ‘There
are very big changes coming,”’
Paul Axelson said. “‘And we're
not going to be able to imple-
ment them all on-a particular
day.”

The parents also want to
know why they weren’t told
cooperative learning would be

- used on their children.
’ But. some parents. say: the | 2
group learning. methods being -

Axelson . said _ parents ..of
children at Thornhill Primary
school — where four classes ate
involved in-Year 2000 pilot pro-

jects — were told in advance

and were allowed to opt out if
they didn’t want to be part of it.

‘We were never told at the
beginning of the year — no one
ever asked for our permission,"’
Porter’ said of the Clarence
Michiel situation. °

Axelson said letter grades will
be much less important under
the Year 2000 plan, adding the
education ministry has sug-
gested they will be eliminated
from report cards starting this

‘manure
profit

soil. .

He said he hopes to begin
construction next month of a
composting building and a con-
crete pit, and expects to hire six
more full-time workers if all
goes according to plan,

“T believe the problem will be
solved,’’ Kinkead said, ‘‘And
it’s probably going to generate
as much revenue as the farm
itself.""

Kinkead last year found
himself at adds with enforce-
ment officers of the environ-
ment ministry’s waste manage-
ment branch and, ultimately,
the legal system.

He complied with orders to
change his method of disposing
of dead birds, but he called
court orders directing him to
remove @ large manure lagoon

cont'd AZ

fall. ‘They are saying at this
time that letter grades are not
appropriate for the intermediate
program (which will replace
Grades 4 through 10).

Porter said students are ac-
customed to the letter grade
marking system. “Grades are
all they’ve known,”’ he: said.
‘How are parents supposed to
know how their kids are doing
without some measuring
stick?” .

Clarence Michiel principal
Dave Crawley said he was advis-
ed not to comment publicly on
the issue. ‘‘We're treating this
as .an internal _ personnel
matter,’” he said.

“Teachers generally have us-
éd aspects of cooperative learn-
ing for some time,’ Axelson
said. ‘The grouping of children
to cooperatively work on things
has been done for years,’’

Both Auriat and Porter have
requested transfers for their
children to a different
classroom, but school district
officials say there isn't. enough
Toom, ;

The parents say they’ve
demanded changes for a month
but haven’t gotten anywhere.

“We're really frustrated, and
we're not getting a lot of sleep,’’
Porter said. “The school system
stresses communication and
respect. We haven’t seen any of
it so far.”

“IF changes aren’t made, we
want out,” said Auriat.

‘ter of rights being.
by the Hazelton _