Sweet meet Summer games excite- ment builds as teens prepare to hit the track and field\SPORTS B6 Highway of tears Police say there’s no pattern to the disappearances of women along Hwy i6\NEWS A8& a Kicking bud ® Terrace urged to get ready for the nation-wide Communities in Bloom contest\COMMUNITY B1. $1.00 pLus 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) sign or else, Veniez tells unions SCI boss sets Aug. 15 deadline for deal By JEFF NAGEL DAN VENIEZ has given Skeena Cel- lulose workers an ultimatum ~ agree to pay cuts by Aug. 15 or else the forest company’s mothballed operations will remain shut down until next spring, Skeena’s CEO laid out that stark choice at a chamber of commerce lun- cheon here Friday. “We cannot allow for this to go on indefinitely,” Veniez told the audi- ence in his first major address in Ter- race since buying ihe firm from the province in April. If workers sign the deal, all opera- tions would be up and running by Noy. i, he said. Their pay would be cut 20 Future of ferries up in the air By JENNIFER LANG BUSINESS LEADERS on the Queen Charlotte Is- lands are trying to get sup- port for‘their plan-to take” over and operate a ferry on a new northermnroute. Islanders worry the three times a week ferry service between the Ski- degate terminal and Prince Rupert will be cut back to just once a week, Dean Bergstrom of the Queen Charlottes Chamber of Commerce said. Right now, the Char- lottes chamber is applying for money to pay for a feasibility study into the plan. The chamber of com- merce hopes to duplicate the success of the people of Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. When cutbacks due to a Sagging fisheries and for- estry threatened ferry ser- vice there, local chambers of commerce joined forces to take over the service. They now run a ferry that offers twice daily ser- vice between Ketchikan and Hollis and have plans for a second ferry to sail between Wrangell, Peters- burg and Coffman Cove on the north end of Prince of Wales Island. Bergstrom said the Queen Charlotte Islands chamber wants to operate two ferries. The first would main- tain the run between Prince Rupert and Skide- gate Landing. be, gel ee LOCAL FISHERMAN Fred Philpott shares the north point of Ferry stand last Thursday with anglers from Alberta and Germany — and a healthy run of voracious sockeye salmon. JEFF NAGEL PHOTO per cent, among other contract changes. Wages at the Terrace saw- mill would range from $17.50 to $24.10 per hour. Veniez promised workers will also get a $5,000 signing bonus ~ an ad- vance on future profit-sharing that he says will help make up for pay cuts if everyone works to make the company succeed. Talks with all the unions, including the [WA at the Terrace sawmill, were to resume by this week. Union members face added pressure with Veniez’s vow to stay shut down until spring if there’s no quick deal. That’s because laid off workers’ re- ‘call rights expire after they’ve been out of work for 18 months. For the Terrace sawmill, shut down last September, that important date arrives next spring, Veniez said. It’s less than two months away for the Carnaby sawmill, which has been shut down longer. Although the existing contract and union would remain in place, the com- pany would then be free to pick and choose which workers it wants to re- hire after that point — or even bring in large numbers of new employees. “Seniority is gone,” Veniez ex- plained. “I can hire whoever [ want.” “Hopefully we'll get some logic and reason from these guys.” Veniez said the Aug. 15 deadline for agreement on labour contracts is necessary in order to begin logging road construction and other needed work ahead of a restart of operations. it wouldn't make econo- mic sense to restart be- fore spring, he said. “There’s a huge amount of work to be done,” he said. He said a deal is nee- ded in order for NWBC Timber and Pulp, which bought SCI in April, to get $100 million in fi- nancing. Veniez said he ac- Without a quick deal id cepts blame for poorly communicating to union members what is needed, “I probably did it too brutaily, ] Dan Veniez 17,2002 said. But he blamed union lea- ders for the impasse. “This is yet another union jihad against the dark forces of evil,” Ve- niez said. “This time it’s me. This time it’s their own community, their friends and their neigh- bours, which they're ob- viously prepared to sacri- fice in the name of pro- tecting an old collective agreement,” “Don’t you think it’s time for members of this union to say ‘Stop, we've had enough’?” he probably did it too quickly, and my demanded. “Why are we spending bedside manner probably stank,” he A second ferry would sail from Masset to Hyda- burg, Alaska, tying into the Prince of Wales Island ferry system. The second ferry would Continued Pg. 412 Gov't critics eyeing local elections By JEFF NAGEL OPPONENTS of provincial government cutbacks hope to field-slates of candi- dates for Terrace city council] and school board in elections this fall. Gail Murray, spokesper- son for the group, says about five potential candi- dates are now considering a run for either council or school board. She described them as “progressive thinkers” who believe in common sense and aren’t happy with what’s been happening. Murray said several meetings have taken place over the last two months under the banner of the Action Coalition of Ter- race — a group that formed earlier this year to fight provincial government cuts. She said it’s likely can- didates would run as a . Slate and share campaign organization and expenses. Sitting city councillors haven’! been tough enough in opposing provincial government service cuts, downloaing of costs and potential electricity dere- gulation, Murray said. - “They’re looking like Victoria’s lackeys and apologisis,” Murray said. “There are people thinking it's time to. have a change there.” | On the school side, Murray said there's dissa- Rail cops ticket anglers also sail from Masset to Port Simpson and Stewart, creating a “much needed circle route for tourist and commercial traffic throughout the whole north country.” A decision on the future of northern and mid-coast ferry service is expected before the end of the year. BC Ferrles has now re- leased a report outlining options for comment from communities. The provincial govern- ment will have to_ approve any plan to eliminate ex- isting BC Ferties routes. . BC Ferries officials Continued Pg. A12 By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN CN RAIL is being accused of insensitiv- ity to tourists and anglers after issuing a flurry of trespassing tickets to people for crossing its railway tracks. One loca! angler says he flatly re- fuses to pay a ticket issued July 6 for trespassing on CN property during a crackdown by railway police. Dean Porter says he and his son were at a popular fishing hole across the rail- way tracks just downstream from: the . Kalum River when the $115 ticket was issued. : The area is frequented by local an- glers and tourists bul is only accessible © by boat ot by crossing the train tracks, Porter says his:son and another boy were spotted on the tracks by a CN po- lice officer. Porter joined the boys and a loud confrontation ensued as he tried to plead for leniency. “He was rude — yelling at my son and this other kid,” Porter says. Porter says he tried to explain to the officer that he'd been fishing at that spot for nearly 10 years. “All I was trying to do was plead the fact that he was going to give us a ticket for something we've done and other people have done for many years,” he says. “Obviously he doesn’t know the local area.” But CN officials fear someone will get hurt by a train on that track section. “One of our CN police constables “was in Terrace last week specifically to see what could be done about the large number of people who are using our rail- way. as a foot path,” CN spokesman Graham Dallas said. - The fishing spot where Porter was ticketed has a stretch of railway tracks that run very close to the river. It’s not unusual to see people fishing from the tracks in lawn chairs, and that was something the CN constable was told to change, CN police Inspector Dan Ritchie says. He added this is not the first time tickets have been issued for trespassing in that particular area. “Too many people are seriously in- jured or die each year because of fast- “moving trains,” says Dallas, adding 22 trespassers died ‘crossing rail tracks in Canada last year. 7 Porter says he’s going ta dispute the ticket in court, adding at least 12 other anglers weren’t ticketed. _ The office of Skeena MLA Roger Harris received several calls from con- stituents concerned that- issuing tickets to tourists could have an adverse effect on tourism here in the future. tisfaction with, .the. fact school trustees agreed to slash the district’s budget, as well.as the way result- ing school closures and Staff layoffs were handled. Murray denied sugges- tions the group could use the municipal campaign as an organizational dry run for a possible recall cam- paign to unseat MLA Roger Harris this winter. While some local people favour a recall campaign, Murray said she opposes the idea and has tried to discourage it. Murray was consti- tuency assistant for NDP MLA Helmut Giesbrecht when right-wing petitioners unsuccessfully tried to re- call him. , Having seen its effects first-hand, she said, she'd never work on a recall campaign. “I don't believe in it,” she said. “I didn’t then and I don’t now,” “It becomes terribly di- visive for the community. H solved nothing. Helmut continued to be the MLA. But a lot of people spent a lot of time and money on it and a lot of angry words - were spoken between the two sides,” “Rager Harris was elec- ted as MLA here,” Murray added. “We have our kick at the can in the next pro- vincial election. ‘That's soon enough.” i RTER says he won't pay a trespassing ticket Issued by CN Rail. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO