eA SRT Sati ara 1 SACO ti cae tae _ Legal ah: 4600 Block merchants face closure during midnight shopping special. TERRACE da agent VOLUME 71 NO. 147 20¢ THURSDAY. DECEMBER 1, 1977 Drop Fort Nelson VANCOUVER (CP) — Dropping Fort Nelson’s $100 million rail link in favor .of trucking op- erations will save millions of dollars without causing major social disruption to the community, the McKenzie . commission into. British Columbia Hallway affairs heard Tuesday. .. . Commission economist Brian Buchanon said closure benefits during the next five years in- clude fixed and operating savings of $34 million to $90 million. -Buchanon said social upheaval would be negligible because five- year projections show a net gain of jobs in the Fort Nelson-Fort St. John area in northeastern B.C. of 52 with the rail ex- tension in. ‘The loss of the line would not appear to. have a large or significant employment impact then ,.. the social dislocations associated with closure do not ap- ar to be significant," 2 said. By ROGER SMITH VANCOUVER (CP) — Progressive Con- servalive party sup- porters got a laste of what it's like to be parly leader Munday night, but Joe Clark said he'd already had enough. ‘The surprise second dessert ul a $125-a-plate fund-raising dinner here was coconut-cream pie, the same flavor as the pie that splattered Clark earlier in the day and made him the latest victim of British Columbia's pie-throwing crave. After 700° guests had finished the chocolate mousse listed on the menu, waitresses raded into the bunquet I with 70 pies topped with sparklers, Clurk declined his portion even though he had joked earlier in the day that pie wus why he had come lo The Fort Nelson line, plagued with washouls, as ‘cost $75 million in capital expenditures and has lost $25 million in its sixyear - life, Five-year forecasts predict a fur- ther $20 million loss. B.C. Rail plans to put an additiona into the. line in an ‘-upgrading project ‘starting next-“year, have forced the royal com- mission to consider filing - rt with the - an interim re; provincial cabinet before the. new year on whether fo close the line, Buchanon said that even optimistic traffic increases for the rail link merely bring bigger losses for B.C. Rail and costs of catering for extra traffic generated by a northern pipeline in- crease over-all losses by $4 million. “A five-year suspen- sion of the Fort Nelson extension would be a logical recommendation evolving from con- siderations of this report,” Buchanon said, adding thal only massive BC, “The real reason I'm here is to pick up my pie,” he told reporters ulter arriving from Ed- monten, “I understand that the Conservative pie $35 million -- new traffic loads via a completed Dease Lake line and an Alaska hook- up might change the situ- ation in five years time. Buchanon detailed the effects of trucking operations on the Alaska Highway and included in the iJist of benefits a reduced shipping - time 3 by rail: from 26 hour from Fort St. John to Fort ‘Nelson, to ‘just ‘eight hours via road. Rail line closure will double or treble traffic on the 250 miles of Alaska - Highway between the two communities, he said. A major portion of the road, awned by the federal government, is expected to-be paved by 1983. ’ Buchanon said trucking in the north is unique because labor shortages are chronic, and con- dilions call for specially- trained drivers who can cope with loneliness and danger, nevertheless if the initial choice were open today, Fort Nelson would have been better served by trucking rather © than rai Questioning-Coyote Brigade and later said his group also was respon- sible for the pie that hit Justice Minister Ron Basford during a recent Liberal Party caucus in husn't been delivered B.C yet.” . ; It was ready and Waiting at the University of B.C, and was delivered as Clark left a question- and-answer period with students. NOT CHARGED A man who had questioned ‘the Con- servative leader during that session, pushed through the crowd and landed the pie on the left side of Clark's head, The pie-thruwer was ap- prehendéd by RCMP officers, but was released after Clurk deelined to press charges, The man suid he is a member of the New The Anarchist Party of Canada (Groucho- Marxist) claimed credit for throwing the pie that hit provincial Human Resources Minister Bill Vander Zalm during last week's Social Credit convention. Clark's assailant, who is nota UBC student, had asked Clark during the question period about the security officers ac- companying him and aboul what would happen fo someone who threw a pie. Clark said he didn't think the officers were there to protect him against pie. pf 00S SE i there chet dae ow! tpt eee PP , LONDON (CP) — The Evening Standard: devotes almost.an entire ge today to analysing e actions of ‘Margaret Trudeau, estranged wife of the Canadian. rime minister, and concludes, *“She exists in.a fantasy... ‘world of her own, in- finitely more glamorous than the political one of het husband, which she le aad Alexander Walker, writing on “how MargaretTrudeau backed out of one limelight Into another,” says that “if any con- sistency in the way she’s -behaved since the break with her husband was confirmed, it’s in the fact that every act she has committed repudiates one kind of celebrity and at the very same time — seems to be seeking celebrity of another. “kind” Joe Clark’s visit to Vancouver com QUESTIONED FLAVOR “I can wipe off custard myself, or is it banana cream?” asked Clark. Replied-his questioner: “Custard, I believe.” Despite that hint, security personnel did not stop the man, who lofted the pie from about 10 feet away. Anticipating: such an incident, organizers of Clark's two-day visit had ‘requested extra security. About six RCMP officers were present when the pie was thrown. | Clark defended the Mounties during his saying that it is the overnment, not the CMP, that is re- sponsible for alleged illegal’ police activitles: “The strategy of the government is to blame the RCMP for decisions tuken by its ministers,” he said, _ He said break-ins and barnburnings are not Margaret is “Every act seems to reject him in an attempt to. validate her. Every swerve her career takes seems designed to prove _to Mrs. Trudeau her belief that she can he what she wishes— just by wishing... Walker reviews Mrs. Trudeau's past headline—grabbing activities and touches on “her plunge into phote- ‘journalism ... the attempt . to host an American show,” and ‘‘now ... the announcement of her role in a film that purportedly attacks the basis of Canadian society." Writes Walker: ‘The truth as I see it is that Margaret: Trudeau is a rather pathetic victim of a fortunately fairly high- elass sickness of our lime. I mean the insidious lure that people of mere glamor possess in the eyes of people of real power.” officers would undertake « on their own. “Mounties don’t act that way, unless they are under orders,’’ he said, “And the question we have to get answered in this case is who gave what orders to the RCM- Clark told party sup- porters that he senses a growing feeling of frustration among Canadians, a feeling that Canada's problems will prove impossible to solve. “As serious as the problems of the economy are... and as serious as the problems of unity are, perhaps the single mast serious problem we face as a country today is the sense thal we can't solve the problems." _He said a Conservative government would en- courage the private hassles won't stop midnight Twelve merchants in the 4600 Block Merchants Association face charges as a result of a municipal clampdown on an opeing hours by-law, The merchants on Lakelse Avenue are planning a ‘Midnight Madness’ special sale tonight which would have Stores re-opening from 8 p.n. to midnight. The municipality, however, is threatenin the merchants with lega retaliation because the evening hours are in contravention of municipal by-laws. The merchants are aware they are con- travening the by-law, but are saying this is a special case. ; “Everybody does it, but most of the time the city turns a blind eye,”' according to one 4600 block merchant. He gave examples of drug stores which are only allowed to sell tobacco and prescription drugs after hours, but actually sell all kinds of . merchandise, and another case when a large department store opened in the evening for an Qld Age Pensioner sale recently. Pay VANCOUVER (CP) — Shoppers Drug Mart has agreed not to accept British Columbia Telephone Co. phone bills and their payment at its unionized stores, Dong Booth a spokesman for the Telecommunications Workers’ Union said Tuesday. “We are contactin ~ grabber them collecting phone ‘bills during the period of the lockout,” ~Booth said. pegishadiin t4 pebDiwees | ee . ‘ ViGuuiias Pelee yeyeLa4 Tom Chesterman, licensing inspector for the municipal municipality, said he met “briefly’' with the merchants Tuesday morning and informed them that what they were doing was against the municipal by-law and they would be liable to charges. Chesterman did not indicate what the result tite ey fe! ree i comp. 77/78 tao Petes ri wha jh shopping of these charges would be, stating only that it would be up to the courts. Other by-laws are enforced, Chesterman said, to ‘the best of the municipality's’ ability. Merchants were ex- tremely reluctant to discuss details of the situation, stating only that because of advance advertising, they plan to go ahead with the sale. More by-law trouble FLORENCE, Ore. (AP) — The city of Florence has passed a law against sexual inter- course. - The prohibition against sex wasn't intentional. It somehow got into a new nuisance ordinance approved recently by the council. The ordinance says it’s illegal to have sexual intercourse “while in or in view of a public or private place.”’ What the city fathers (and mothers) were trying to do, was ban lovemaking in public places—and in private laces that can be seen rom public places. But nobody figured out until a few days ago that the wording of the new ordinance rules out sex in public or private. City otticrals are making no plans for enforcement. City Recorder Alice Hunt said the wording was supplied by City Attorney David Clark, who sees no humor in the situation. phone bills by mail About 10,000 B.C, Tel employees have been aff the job since Thursday following a series of rotating strikes. Service is being maintained by 2,000 supervisors. Booth said the union also is pressuring the company by attempting to get supervisors or- dered off sites were they are doing repairs. Meanwhile, “Laurelton Investments -Ltd. was granied a ‘B.C. Supreme Court injunction Tuesday which limits union picketing at its city building to two pickets at each of eight entrances. The firm owns a building housing 137 tenants including a B.C. Tel office. Construction work at the building was brought to a halt as a result of the picketing. Mr. Justice’ F. , Munroe ordered pickets to refrain from any acts of trespassing on..th firm's property and frttt threatening, intimidating or interfering in any way with persons seeking entry to the building. Airline licencing questioned in Manitoba OTTAWA (CP) — An air safety inspector was urged by a senior official last spring not to suspend the operating licence of a small airline to avoid ‘political embarrassment to Transport Minister Otto Lang, Progressive Conservative Dan MacKenzie said Tuesday. MacKenzie, MP for Winnipeg South Centre, read the Commons transport committee a copy of a telegram signed by R.L. Boldue, director of aeronautical licensing at the ministry of tran- sport, outlining reasons for not suspending the li- cence held by Tomahawk Airways, based in nor- . thwestern Ontario. The Winnipeg-based inspector was told he must ‘fully consider the sector, cut the cost of government,apply programs such as unemployment insurance differently in various areas and suggest mandatory sabbaticals “so that each senior civil servant will have. to spend two weeks each year living with the consequences of his regu- lations.” “We might take the deputy minister of transportation and ship him to Bella Coola (an isolated village on British Columbia's north coast) for two weeks,'' said Clark. “And sugges! that they ship his luggage." “'L could find 10 people in this room," said Clark, “who are better qualified to develop economic strategy for the real world than any com- mittee of deputy ministers." possibility of embar- rassment to the minister and any other potential political implications which may result from suspension action.” Published reports this week said a report by two transport investigators attacked what they said was lax enforcement of air safety rules across the country, particularly in northwestern Onlario. Lang said the telegram “has words in it that I don’t think are ap- propriate or wise or sen- sible.” He said he had in no way authorized such a message. SHOULD GET CHANCE The telegram, dated May 12, also said the airline operator must be given a chance to show why the licence should not be suspended and Lang said he agreed with is. ut He said the civil rights: of the operator and the. interests of the com-: munities served must be: considered. “ “The inspector cannot. be judge and executioner’ at the same time,” Lang _ said. ‘ MacKenzie presented a.. motion calling for Bolduc .. to appear before the. committee to explain. what he meant. ; He said later in an interview he is aware of two air accidents in recent years that resulted in 14 deaths and could have been prevented by more stringent en- forcement of regulations:: affecting light aircraft.: pleted by pie in face activities that RCMP i ' { q i i