ye Looking back » Examining the stories and people who made headlines this year \COMMUNITY B1 | (7 Greetings More former Terracites: send you messages from all over the globe -\NEWS A3 Rewind Take a look at the year in sports achievements in Terrace \SPORTS B4 $1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST ($1.10 plus 7¢ GST > outside of the Terrace area) B VOL.19 NO. 38 | Help for chrot rs sought PLANS ARE underway to have an out- reach worker at the RCMP cells when- ever a person picked up for public intoxi- cation is released after sobering up. : The goal is'to reduce the number of | ‘chronic repeat drinkers officers pick up | by having a worker offer information on . counselling and other services, says the commanding officer of the RCMP de- tachment here. im This is not a criminal problem. Iti isa social problem. It is a disease. We incar- cerate people for their own safety,” said Inspector Dave Fenson. °“‘Clearly «what we’re doing now is not a deterrent.” - . The great majority of intoxicated peo- ’ ple RCMP pick up are adult males, show statistics. gathered between Jan. 1 and* Sept. 20 of this year. : . There were 360° adult males s followed ‘by 90, adult. women, 30 young females and 16 young males involved during that period. In all, RCMP officers respond to ap- proximately 1,000 calls a year regarding public drunkedness. °" That amounts to a lot-of police time dedicated to the problem. “Obviously if there is something we can do to be proactive, to provide.a deter- rent, that's what we'll do,” said Fenson.’ He said officers can spent a lot of time on a public intoxication call depending ‘on the situation. “If there’s a call and we go out we may have to look for a person. If it’s | downtown, we could go down the alleys. ‘We really don’t want.to ‘have something happen. to the person,’ * Fenson said. The RCMP statistics also indicate that _ 20-25 people are responsible for. about half of the incarcerations. Fenson said that’s a rather arbitrary figure and changes constantly but that it ~ does show there’s a core of. people offi- cers know need specific help. “Actually one of our officers was able to spend a bit.of time with one of the ' people and help him get in touch with his family. But that can be very demanding . on a general duty officer and there are, other service providers out there,” said . Fenson. The outreach worker will come from Northwest Addictions Services, one of several agencies’ sitting on the Terrace . Interagency Committee on Chronic Al- cohol Abuse formed in. the fall by the. RCMP and chaired by Fenson. A start t date and: details have yet to be a. fi nalized, said Fenson, and the project, once underway, will undergo a three- month trial and then be evaluated. ’ _ Fenson said he and the detachment began gathering statistics and gathered agencies such as the K’san House So- ciety, the Terrace Public Library, North _ West Training and others together after a growing number of people in the com- munity began saying there was a problem with,chronic public drinking. While the ‘perception is that public drinking is concentrated in the downtown - core and in George Little ‘park, that’s not the case, indicate RCMP statistics. _ Those. statistics show that chronic ‘public ‘drinking spreads throughout the “downtoWn area and that the majority ‘of people arrested for intoxication aren’t in-: volved in criminal activity... 4 7 Wednesday, Decem per Fenson said the issue is complicated because homelessness is involvedinsome | "cases and that people who are homeless do not have a safe place to go. . The K’san emergency shelter, won t accept peopic who are drunk. *And that’s all'the more reason tocome = - up with a new way of handling matters by putting in place proper facilities, Fenson added. oo. " The new ‘committee’ s long term goal is to establish a detox centre in the north- - west: because the closest.one is now lo- _cated in Prince George. _ “That’s a long: way to go,’ * said Fen- oy son who said that hospitals in the:area ~~ and the regional psychiatric unit here. are , Sometimes called upon to provide detox oS services, . : Te S really 1 not, their role,” he said. 4 ’ had 13 inches and the other had a few inches,” _ press manager Bobby Parmar. “Now it’s just the clean-up, getting everything dry and, eavy rain floods city By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN a A TORRENTIAL downpour Dec. 18 led to flooding i in sev- _ eral parts of Terrace and Thornhill. ‘Many streets and neighbourhoods found themselves un- der water particularly in the Horseshoe, i in Thornhill and it in downtown Terrace. ms “I’ve been here for 23 years and I’ve never seen this kind. Sy of water,” says city roads foreman Henry Craveiro. The hardest hit areas were in the Horesshoe and in nu- merous spots downtown, including the 4600 block of Greig Ave. which literally left‘at least two businesses under water for the bulk of that day. The Best Western Terrace Inn was forced to shut its doors after water rose up over the sidewalk and into the basement of the building threatening the hotel’s electrical equipment. Totem Press, also on the 4600 block of Greig, found itself surrounded by water and much of it entered the building “We had two rooms that were totally flooded, one room says Totem washing the floors -and walls. We’re just hoping the walls don’t retain moisture for too long and develop mold.” - Craveiro says the city system just could not deal with the amount of water coming down, especially from area creeks and run off stemming from Terrace mountain. “T stationed men at all these locations but with all the silt and gravel and- branches coming down it was tough,” - Craveiro says, adding as soon as one drain was unclogged ‘the water would fill it causing problems at other locationsy. By 6 p.m. the rain had abated and much of the visible flood water had disappeared. The city called in all its regular workers, pulled crews from other departments and hired in- _ dependent contractors to help with the clean up effort. Nechako Northcoast general manager Peter Lansdowne says his crews were also working to capacity and needed cx- tra help to deal with the sudden storm. “We had all our guys . - in and we had huge overtime costs,’ "he said. Thornhill saw the most: trouble with roads being cov- ered and ditches overflowing, says transportation manager Don Ramsay. “There were many. instances in the region of drainage capacity being insufficient,” says Ramsay. “It was mostly a capacity problem, the culverts and ditches were un- able to handle it.” Environment Canada reports show 94mm of rain fell Dec. 18, but that’s not the.record for one-day rain fall in Terrace. That was set Dec. 7, 1990 when 114 mm fell came down. The heavy rainfall also led to debris and gravel spilling on to Hwy 37 near the Kitimat River Bridge, causing the highway to be closed from 6 p.m. until 10:30 a.m. Dec. 19. The Shames Mountain road was also closed for two days after receiving two metres of snow on the mountain. Mill land sale still up in the air , By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN THE TERRACE Lumber Com pany’ s former sawmill is still being picked apart piece by piece as negotiations continue to sell the company’s 73. - “acres of Jand to a group of out-of-town investors. ‘That group of investors, which calls itself Ter- race Forest Products. has already paid deposits to certain people and businesses who bought parts - of the sawmill at the Maynard's auction here Oct. "25 and 26. “The auction garnered about $2.4 million but ‘much of the equipment and buildings is worth — far more intact. But dismantlers have no- choice but to continue taking the mill apart because of a ~ deadline set for early spring to have all items off _ the property. The purchasers of: any items from the mill site ~ have commitments to remove their items by early ~ in the new year. According to Gus Nehring of. Bold Salvage, ‘which bought buildings and equipment at the acu- tion, dismantling had to start by Dec. 15 in order .to be on schedule to meet Maynard’s deadline of | having the site cleared. Terrace Lumber chairman John Ryan says the potential buyers are well aware of the need for workers on.the site to meet their commitments. “It’s because the obligation of the purchasers’ commitments to Maynard’s and TLC so yes, they need to continue their jobs,” Ryan said, or else they need to somehow make alternative arrange. ments. that have expressed’ interest also appreciate this difficulty. They recognize the sense of urgency of - it-all,” said Ryan, There are no more ongoing “face to face nego- SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO » “It's difficult isn’t it? 1 think that the parties tiations between TLC and the potential buyers.as . NORCO Septic Service worker Derek Euverman packs up hosing used to pump: out flood waters during Dec. 1 8 S “heavy rainfall here. Homes. : - and businesses were flooded because the drainage system could not keep up with the downpour.» ~ all the work ahead lies between the two: groups’. . : lawyers. - There is a completion date 0 on the potential sale but Ryan says he can’t divulge that information: © “Yes there is, but that’s private ¢ at this point,” Ryan said: © His company remains in ‘creditor proteation and has until Jan. 19 to come up with a Plan’ to” propose to its creditors. Power line decision date draws near THE PROVINCIAL government is ex- | pected to announce early next year an ambitious plan to push electrical power up Hwy37 North, providing. mining ’ companies with the kind of dependable power they need to bring ore bodies into production. Estimates place the potential cost at approximately $500 million, easily sur- prassing the $160 million container port now underway at Prince Rupert, and -making the project the largest single northwest expenditure since Alcan built its Kitimat smelter in the early 1950s. The provincial power grid now stops at Meziadin Junction on Hwy37 North, 150km north of Kitwanga. Any electric- ity beyond that comes from diesel gen- erators, The lack of cheaper and more depend- able power from. the provincial grid is - being called a:damper to development of the area by politicians and companies and that has lead to a concerted lobbying effort to have the provincial government build a power line up along. the 7 Hwy37 North corridor. Hints of a’ 2007 announcement have been coming from B.C. Transmission . Corporation (BCTC) officials as it is the provincial crown corporation which would organize construction of any new . power line. The corporation‘was once .e part of B.C. Hydro but was split off to act as a stand alone business to transmit power gener- ated by B.C. Hydro and by other generat- ing companies. . ‘BCTC has been gathering information for the past several years on power line. potential north of Meziadin Junction, say -Officials, except that it has no concrete plans in place when it comes to detailed studies and construction. "But BCTC officials have been more forthcoming speaking to Alaskan offi-. cials and have been talking about a deci- sion being made early in 2007. That’s because Alaskan public ‘offi- cials and private companies. want to de- velop hydro electric facilities and sell the’ power to other American states. But to have that happen, they need a power line running from Alaska down to the B.C. Hydro grid at Meziadin sO. it could then flow through to the other “American States. Terrace mayor Jack Talstra, who was in Ketchikan, Alaska last week at a meet- ing of Alaskan officials, said BCTC vice president Bruce Barrett, who was also - work at the Skeena Substation electrical complex located just outside Terrace and _ more work along the current 209 km line ~ at the session, spoke of a decision being made early in 2007. “[ don’t think ’'m telling stories out of school here,” said Talstra. -“We were pleasantly surprised at what he had to say,” said Talstra of Barrett’s comments. “We think it’s a great thing.” Talstra was accompanied on the trip by Terrace city councillor Rich McDan- iel and both were invited because they _also hold positions with the Kitimat-St- - kine regional district. Based on the information BCTC has -'so far, Talstra says it wants. a 287kV line running north of. Meziadin Jhinction. That’s the same size as the line that runs from Kitimat to Terrace. That would also” require significant corridor connecting that location to Me- ziadin Junction. The plan for now; says Talstra, is to “build the new line about. 140km from Meziadin Junction up Hwy37 North to. Bob Quinn Lake. - Cont’d Page Bs