| | i i 2 bia ann emaae Ple yagi ree AD Rt ene mete ie FIT =A TT cinta ce ie a Ta _ “Poverty is not an upbeat topic. Nobody wants to talk _ about poverty; it never happens in our town, it’s always in the community next door.’ These comments came from a member of the Terrace anti-poverty group during their annual gen- _ eral meeting last month. Terrace rights advocate Ger- ald King says that poverty is on the rise, especially among women. As our society becomes more affluent, King says, more and more people are getting caught in the system. ‘‘A reflec-. tion of how crazy the world is getting is that the minimum wage is well below the poverty line. These people become the working poor.”’ Women are especially vulner- able to poverty because in many areas of the work force women still earn less than men; sole- - support mothers often do not get adequate or regular child support, and the money they re- ceive on welfare is not enough to . house, feed and clothe their families. Many older women are widows trying to live on fixed in- comes. King himself is well aware of what it’s like struggling to sur-_ vive on next to nothing; he spent five years on welfare, and work- ed several years in a soup kit-: chen. The emotional impact of poverty is as devastating as lack of proper food and shelter. For the first time since the Terrace anti-poverty group was formed in 1983, they have re-. ceived some funding from .the law society (legal aid) to operate in 1991. King says it’s a godsend because it means the office rent is paid for the year. In learner years, King admits, he has had to go door-to-door to collect funds from the public to pay the Gold fields update Two junior mining companies based in Vancouver will spend $400,000 this year exploring a 54-hectare property in the central Stikine River valley for gold. _ A report in the March 11 Northern Miner says Akiko-Lori Gold Resources and Omega Gold have struck an agreement to explore the Scud property in the area widely known as Galore Creek. Previous exploration by Corona identified copper and gold in the area. The two juniors have the option to earn up to 50 percent interest in the property from Corona by collectively spending about $750,000 in exploration in the next two years. A gold property north of Stewart is going into production if the government regulators approve the proposal. Wesimin Resources, which has dug up disappointing results from its Premier gold property, intends to exercise an option to spend $2.8 million and eam a 50 percent share of the nearby SB property from Tenajon Resources, a member of the Northair Group. Westmin has spent $1 million to daté exploring the property. | The production decision involves the 35 Zone on the property, with proven and probable reserves of 105,830 tons grading .289 ounces of gold per ton, along with assorted other mineral values. According to a March 6 announcement by Northair, Westmin intends to continue exploration in four other zones on the property. Mining of the 35 Zone is expected to be complete by the end of this year. The ore will be processed through Westmin’s existing gold mill near Stewart, currently shut down due to low or grades encountered at the Premier mine. Gulf International Minerals is considering further exploration on two of its five claim groups in the Iskut River valley during 1991. The company executive will recommend to shareholders that extensive drilling continue to further define ore bodies on the Inel and McLymont properties. Last year Gulf spent $2.5 million exploring Ine! and an undisclosed amount on McLymont. The recommendations for drilling in 1991 appear to be a program of about equal magnitude on both claim groups. A total of 12,000 feet of surface drilling is being suggested for McLymont, along with trenching and detailed surface mapping. The recommended program for Inel would involve 30,000 feet of under- ground drilling. | | North American Metals is hoping 1991 will be a better year for the Golden Bear mine:than 1990 was, although it is difficult to imagine how much worse it could be. After the mine development costs came in at nearly double the projected estimate, Golden Bear ‘was plagued by equipment problems and required major capital advances from joint venture partner Homestake to keep the operation going. The Homestake advances in 1989 and 1990 were repaid by “forward sale of gold from the mine. If all goes as planned by management for 1991, North American expects to realize 50 percent of the mine’s gold production — projected at 32,500 ounces — at a production cost of US$280 per ounce. In-mine exploration will continue to increase the status of reserves. , North American stock, is was announced March 13, was delisted from the NADSAQ trading system because the company's capital and surplus fell below the $375,000 minimum for listings. The stock will continue to be traded on the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Company management describe their outlook for 1991 as being “guardedly optimistic". _ Anti-Poverty Group still rent. As an advocate, a large por- tion of King’s job is going through tribunals on the clients’ behalf. Not only does the anti- poverty group deal with victims of poverty, it also works to pre- vent people from going into pov- erty. They deal with a wide array of clients who are trapped in situations that foster poverty. King says there is a greater need than meets the eye. “‘Ap- proximately 16,000 families in ‘this area are in some kind of need. I deal with a lot of land- _lord-tenant disputes (evictions), and people forced into welfare. We handled 71 cases in February, mostly Jandlord-ten- ant cases.’” The anti-poverty group is also involved with the food bank. Two things on the agenda are a food drive and the opening of a soup kitchen, one day a week, at the carpenter’s hall. They are also sponsoring a camp cook training course at Northwest Community College, which King says is an excellent course because it includes in- dustrial first aid. The idea U Terrace Review — Wednesday, March 20, 1991 Al5 behind anti-poverty groups is to not only help people in crisis situations, but to retain them so they can help themselves to im- prove their lifestyle. At an anti-poverty workshop held recently, Cindy-Lee Robin- son, @ rights advocate with the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities in Vancouver, said the idea behind the workshop is to assess the needs of this area. ‘‘Terrace’s main problem ‘seems to be lack of affordable housing. You have the home support services, handi-dart bus, and meals on wheels; all that’s missing is the housing. All these services are wasted if people can’t afford to live here because they can’t find an affordable house or apartment. So we’re discussing the possibility of housing co-op’s. We'd. also like to see available housing for women coming out of transition houses.”’ Something else Robinson would like to see is integrating the young and the elderly. “I hate segregation; the elderly are forced to live in one area while the young live in another. It’s as work to do not only ridiculous but creates negative sterotypes. Until recent times, we all lived together quite successfully for thousands of years. The biggest part of what. the coalition does is educate — peoples and governments.” Terrace anti-poverty group board member George Stanley said at last month’s annual general meeting, ‘“These sort of groups are what hold a com- munity together. It’s a sense of community responsibility.’’ The Terrace Anti-Poverty Group is located-at 200-4721 Lazelle Avenué. They can be contacted by telephone at 635 -4631. _ The Terrace Review is a member of CNA and one of 684 community newspapers across Canada with circulations totalling more than 5 million weekly. Hospital awaits WCB report on sterilizer inspection TERRACE — A sterilizer at Mills Memorial Hospital has been shut down pending the results of an inspection by the Workers’ Compensation Board. Hospital administrator Michael Leisinger said Friday the sterilizer, a sealed unit that uses poisonous ethylene oxide gas, was shut down March 9 after the detection badge a hospital worker was wearing showed exposure to the gas when the worker went off shift. . The sterilizer is used to decon- taminate fragile and sensitive medical and surgical instruments that might be damaged by normal steam sterilization. Workers who use the machine wear badges that are analyzed after they’re finished. In Terrace — The following convictions took place in Terrace adult criminal ' provincial court on the dates indicated according to information provided by the court registry. Friday, March 1 Howarde Gilbert Fowler was fined $400 and given a one-year driver’s licence suspension for impaired driving. Jeffrey Paul Hansen was fined $50 for a bylaw infraction. Glen Morris Sobchyshyn was fined $450 and given a one-year driver's licence suspension for driving with a blood alcohol con- tent over the legal limit. William Joseph Christiansen was fined $400 for driving while pro- hibited to do so by a court order. Robert Joseph Morrison was fined $75 for failure to comply with a probation order. Wednesday, March 6 Ben Belter was fined $50 for a violation of the Federal Fisheries Act. Rita Lorna Bowman was sen- tenced to two 30-day concurrent jail terms and placed under two concurrent one-year probation orders on two counts of theft over $1,000. Sterling Walter Kinney was sentenced to 21 days in jail and given a one-year driver’s licence suspension for driving with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit. Bradley Jason Harris was fined $250 for speeding in a school zone. Wilfred Derrick was fined $50 for illegal possession of narcotics. Friday, March 8 Rodney George Anderson was fined $400 and given a one-year driver's licence suspension for impaired driving. John Michael Schill was fined $40 for thefl. If the badge turns blue under ana- lysis, that indicates the worker has been exposed to the ethylene oxide gas the machine uses for steriliza- tion. Leisinger said the March 9 incident was the first of its kind at Mills Memorial involving the machine. The machine, he said, is about 15 years old and subject to a regular and rigorous maintenance program. Leisinger believes that consider- ing the badge analysis results the exposure would have been very light, between one-half and one part per million. Curent WCB standards consider exposure under 50 parts per million to be negli- gible, but new standards may be adopted scon that allow only one part per million. Leisinger pointed out that the exposure in this incident would probably meet even the more strin- gent standards. A news release issued March 13 by the Hospital Employees Union, bargaining agent for the worker involved, stated that a gas leak from a similar machine at Vancouver General Hospital in February forced the evacuation of patients and staff from a section of the building. The release also implied that the HEU had reported the Mills Memoria! incident to the WCB and initiated the inspection, ‘but Leisinger claimed the hospital took prompt action, notifying the WCB and requesting the inspection before the HEU did. The inspection took place March 14. Leisinger said the sterilizer will not be used again until the inspection results are known, and then only if the machine is safe. In the mean time medical personnel are using disposable versions of the equipment normally sterilized in il.