; workers.
poised —
to strike.

~ Jast week including rolling

cITy crews are already hard at work on some of the major capital

Swimmers buoyed
Wheelchair-bound visitors
to the aquatic centre
warm up to new lift
\COMMUNITY B1

\NEWS A3

Thefts abound
Terrace RCMP are having a
busy season with numerous
thefts in the area

Badminton boys
Local junior pair ready"
to.do battle on the court -
against the world’ ‘s best
\SPORTSB4

> $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST
outside of the Terrace area)

re)

“By SARAHA. ZIMMERMAN
CITY OFFICIALS. AND the RCMP are
investigating a bizarre act of vandalism which has
left people puzzled and several trees and bushes'in .
George Little Memorial Park hacked up.

Sometime in the early morning of July 10 an -

unknown man was seen cutting down the branch- —
es of a group of trees located immediately north
of the library next to the playground: at George
Little Park.’

Witnesses; inchiding RCMP officers who saw

the man, thought he was a City of Terrace mainte-

nance employee, but he was not.

The. small stand’of trees has become. some- -
~ thing ofa. hang-out for some downtown residents ©

who use the privacy the overhanging branches of-
fer as a hide-out for drinking alcohol.

As a result, the delimbing is in fact being her-"
alded by ‘some local residents.

“On many occasions I have been concemed re-
garding the surrounding trees near the children’ s-

park. ‘They seem nto hide many activities from the

_ general public,” says Terrace resident Bill McRae.
Jr.

- “Thave picked up drug and alcohol paraphemna-
lia, and seen people passed out among the trees.”

~ McRae says those conditions are unacceptable .-
in one of Terrace’s “most-used” children’s play-
~ grounds, He says public intoxication is not some-
thing young children should have to see.

“T believe that we should have the same laws .
concerning drug and alcohol, that. are. in effect” .
~ for our school grounds, used in our r local ‘parks,
' McRae says. "

“I'm very happy to see “that thé trees in ‘the
George Little. Park have been cleaned up.”
City Officials are condemning the act.

“I was very surprised that:a member of this.

community would take it into their own hands

-and come into George Little Park with a chainsaw -
* and do that to our trees,” says’ director. 6f leisure.

. Services Ross Milnthorp, adding there i is a $2, 000°

fine for the destruction of city property.

“We had a couple bushes in there that.we had” .
~ been maintaining for 20 years ‘that are ruined -

now.”

‘He says any concemed citizens should approach -
-the city with their concerns, Earlier this year those ~ :

particular trees had already been pruned up in an

effort to ‘free up that space because of. concerns

over vagrancy, Milnthorp says..:

He has worked with library officials and the a

-RCMP regarding the issue as well and says he is.

' pleased with steps taken to curb some of the pub-’

- lic intoxication seen there. That does not excuse a.

criminal act, however, he says.

The tree-trimming suspect is described a as hav- ~

». ing a slight build, blonde hair, standing. between _
five-feet-eight-inches or five-feet-nine-inches tall.

_and is believed to be about 50 years old.

The man is also believed to have left the park i in’
a newer model Ford pick-up truck. Anyone with
“information i is asked to contact. local RCMP.

ROSS Miinthorp inspects trees which were delimbed : ;
by a chainsaw-wielding vandal last: ‘week.: ‘Some’ area
residents ° ‘Say ‘they’ re happy” the. trees : have ‘been’. -

cleaned Up. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

‘employees who still work out »
-of Terrace could’be involved ~~

‘company ‘sits down with”

“B.C. ‘cities such as’ Prince ,
, «George.

‘pen by July 22, a full-blown
‘striké could be in effect, says. .

the 22,” Bell said late’ last
‘week. “Well they are not .

* pects to have the full coop-

Telus -

THE 32 unionized Telus .

in a full blown strike by the: -
end of this'week unless that

union officials to negotiate a a
new contract. oS

_ The Telecommunications
Workers Union initiated job
action in several. commu-
nities in B.C. and Alberta

one-hour sit-ins in northern -
‘Tf negotiations don’ thap-

TWU president Bruce Bell.
“They said they are going
to impose the agreement on. .

going. to impose it on this
union.”

“The Telus-- “employees
here work primarily as line _
technicians, splicers and.
equipment installers.

' That’s since the company
closed down its storefront
here several years ago.

Bell said if the union does
resort to a full-blown he ex-

eration of its membership.
The union voted 86.4 per
cent in favour of strike ac-.
tion a year andahalfago.
“J say this union’s soli-
darity is the tops,” he said.
“Unfortunately it’s going |
to be hard on the public and
in some places there is com-
petition and the company is
going to lose customers.”

@ Play time

"previous day. an
' “There was.a tremendous
amount. of. teamwork that

TWO-YEAR-OLD Isaiah Wright checks out the slide at George Little Memoriat Park July 42 12. See Page AS for

a photo essay. capturing the comings and goings of the park for that entire day. °
KAT. LEE PHOTO

Road reconstruction now car

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN -

projects promised in the city budget for this year.
Extensive work has begun on three major road reconstruction proj-

ects including the 3500 block of Munroe St, 4700 block of Loen Ave.

4800 block of Scott Ave.

The work on those roads represents the first projects to get under
way since the city abandoned its old system of assessing additional tax-
es to homeowners whose properties front on a street being resurfaced.

The old Local Improvement Projects system saw homeowners pay-

; _ ing a huge chunk of the costs of repaving streets.

Local Improvement Projects had been successful. when the local:

a economy was strong, but property owners have voted them down near-

ly every time in recent years.
The decision came after public works director Herb Dusdal warned
streets will continue to deteriorate unless the city switches toa differ-

. ent system.

Under a Local Improvement Project, if enough people on a resi-
dential street voted in favour, they'd ali pay 40 per cent of the cost of

_repaving. The city picked up the est.

And the city had. already boosted its ‘share dramatically over the

years — from a 20 per cent subsidy to 40 per cent then to 60 per cent:
‘in 2000.

Homeowners complained they did not want to pay property taxes
and then be dinged again for road reconstruction.

Now, roads which have previously been paved won’t see homeown-
ers hit with additional taxes to cover reconstruction. But owners of

properties located on roads which have never been paved before are

still expected to shoulder a portion of the costs under Local Area Ser-

vice which replaces the old Local Improvement Projects.

in order for it to proceed.
An example is paving slated for Keith Avenue later this year and a
portion of Munroe St. on the bench located between Halliwell and Gair

"avenues which is currently under way.

The Munroe St. project sees improvements being made on a 108
metre stretch of road between Halliwell Ave. and Gair Ave. at a pro-
jected cost of $58, 999.12.

By MARGARET SPEIRS:
EMERGENCY

“gat

of a Terrace man last week
on the Lakelse River, :
- Searchers. -

fell out of the boat he and his

_-wife were in July'11.
_.. The couple. were “thrown:
-from their. small fibreglass:
_ boat after it capsized near: a aa
‘log. jam ‘at about 215° Pm. >
“> you: are’ safe” on. ‘the water,” .
“ said Degrand, .

“police Say...
‘Brown’ s wife made it to
“shore but he did not.

‘His wife located CN rail

: ‘reminds “boaters . that’ they

are. legally required tocarry =‘

-lifejackets or personal:flota-

“ tion devices (PFD) for each

“person on board. -
‘Each:PFD must be prop- rons

‘erly fitted to the individual. -
Seventy-eight per cent of. .

‘those who drowned i in boat-

workers who assisted. with

contacting - the” authorities, ~

Police said. -
-“She saw.‘ her husband
“swept away,” said Terrace

“RCMP inspector: Marlin De-
grand, adding ‘an extensive

- search for the man ensued.’

Brown’s.body was-found -
in the river at 12:30 p.m. .
July 12 about three’ kilome-

tres downstream from where
he and his wife had been. the

. went into this search, ” De-
grand said.

Terrace RCMP, Terrace ;

Water Search ‘and Rescue,

Terrace Ground Search and -

Rescue, Provincial Emer-

gency Preparedness Terrace, ©

the Department of. Fisheries
and Oceans, Quantum He-
_leopters and CN: Rail took

life ound

° ‘workers: -
_ remi ding « ‘the’ public’. ;
,. to“always“wear'a lifejacket’ .
when boating ; after the death:

“say Wayne g
“Brown, 54, of Terrace wasn’t ~~
_ wearing a lifejacket when‘he’-

ital | ore

part ; in: ‘the extensive water
and land search:*""-- 2 a.

grand... 0 0.
‘the work they did for us.”: ©

.- Search. coordinator Earl.

Stewart confirmed the. cou-

_ ple: were not wearing Jife:
=: jackets. « wa! we
“It’s. “important to ‘wear

a lifejacket even, if you feel:

‘Se | i} i: ;
‘The Canadian Red. Cross

ing incidents were. not wear-
ing a lifejacket or PFD at the

"time of the incident whether .

or not it was in the ‘boat at

~ . the time, the group says.

Out of 122. recreational
boating drowning: victims in
1999, 36 were. not: ‘wearing

PFDs, 34 did not have PFDs
present, 29 were not wearing _

them or unspecified, seven
were unknown, 14 were
‘worn properly and two were
worn improperly. .

Over :70 of these drown-

"ings occurred in lakes, 30 in ”
- rivers and 18 in the ocean.

oject

- “The CN perionsiel have
‘béen'a tremendous: asset for
‘us: because they. were: able.
to-transport our workers in _
and out of the: site,” ” ’ said De-

““We- jeally: appreciated ce

Other capital projects the city is ‘looking at this year include spend .

ing. $243,755 on the Ferry Island upgrade. :
That includes a newly built shower and washroom facility, the cre-
ation of 35 new camp sites with electrical hook-ups, a new septic dis-

‘posal field and a children’ S S playground that was erected over the July

8-10 weekend.
The playground i is the centennial project shared by | the Skeena Val-
ley and Downtown Terrace Rotary clubs. It is wheelchair accessible.’
The remaining parts of the Ferry Island project is being ‘paid for

In general, those property owners will pay about 40 per cent of the "through a Softwood Industry Community Economic Adjustment Initia-

total costs of the project. In those cases 50 per cent of the property own- ‘
_ers affected by the proposed paving must vote in favour of the project

tive Grant of $216,000. -
The city is also looking to spend $300, 000 for a@ sewer treatment
plant upgrade that includes desludging and aeration of the facility.

Another significant capital project this year includes the building of:

a second well on Green St. adjacent to the existing Frank St. well.

- It will serve as a backup system as well as working in conjunction
with the Frank St. well during high demand periods.

The city will also start to focus on developing a plan for its com-
munity forest. ;

‘

y yO

ys