invisible price hike 4 Airlines make money off Terrace- Kitimat Airport headtax. \NEWS A110. Back from nationals Jamb o on Five swimmers in the junior nationals last week, find out how they swam.\SPORTS BE. | WEDNESDAY - August 4, 1999 Terrace Scouts return from a rockin’ time at the provincial Jamboree. \COMMUNITY B1 ANDARD $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area). VOL. 42 NO. 17° school site yet to be chosen Number of factors are involved THE SCHOOL board has yet to determine where exactly it wants a re- placement for Skeena Junior Secondary School to go. But it has decided the Grade 8 to 10 school to replace the aging Grade 8-9 Skeena building will go some place close to Caledonia Senior Secondary. There are four options adjacent to Caledonia — to the north, at the west end which would be cleared by logging the large stand of trees there now, be- tween the tennis courls and the R.E.M. Lee Theatre and immediately west of the school. , lary easurer, said the board is leaning toward building the new school as close (o Caledonia as possibile so it will be casy to build walkways between the two buildings. That way, the schools can more casily share facilities, like a metal shop, instead of building two separate ones, he said. Yet it is important the schools remain - independent operaling entities, Piersdorff continued, because then each one is then entilled to approximately $200,000 in- basic operating grants from the educa- tion ministry. Piessdorff explained the schools can as independent schools in order to get those ministry grants. Much of the same equipment in the current Skeena school can be moved to use in the new school to save money. “There isn’t a whole lot of money for replacing materials,’’ Piersdorff said. The education ministry has budgeted about $12 million dollars for planning and construction costs of the new facil- ity. But additional moncy will be needed to tear down the present Skeena school. The school board and the planning committee have yet to determine the types of programs the new school and Caledonia will offer. “That has to be known first as it will in- + That came after the education ministry fluence the building plans and design of the new school. It turn, that will determine where on the Caledonia prop- erly the new school can be built. “All the ‘decisions relate other,’” Piersdorff said. Those details should be ironed out by September, he added. School construction isn’t slated to be- gin for another two to three years, kkk tok A new 250-student elementary school on the bench won't be built any time soon, since the board only recently chose a new building plan. to each rejected the: board’ S origital design plans. The education ministry now wants school districts to choose from standard building plans in order to save on overall casis, The education ministry rejected the plan the board chose last December be- cause the costs of making changes re- quired to suit students needs were too costly and couldn’t fit within the minis- try’s pricing guidelines. The district is now waiting for govern- ment approval for the new plans it has chasen. Barry Piersdorff, school district secre- Crime rate could rise THE TERRACE RCMP detachment is reorganizing the way it records crimes to accurately reflect ihe num- ber of calls officers attend. The Terrace detachment, as well as several other detachments across the pro- vince, have been grouping together smaller complaints and disturbances where no arrests are made into one central file. If officers were called to a fight, for example, and then couldn’t find the brawlers once they got lo the reported location — that call would now be recorded as a sepa- Tate instance. By changing the system, Terrace’s crime rate, a fig- ure used in part to determine slaffing needs at B.C. detachments, would _ rise, said Inspector Doug Wheler of the Terrace delachment. An area's crime rate is just one part of the equation that gocs into determining how many officers are needed, he added. As it stands now Terrace’s crime rate fell lo 146 of- feaces per 1,000 people in 1998, The 1997 crime rate was 170 offences for cvery 1,000 people. The = atest ~— available stalistics, for the first three months of 1999 show aa 18 per cent drop over the same time period Jast year. Wheiler said thal’s con- sistent with current crime lrends across B.C. where crime dropped 11 per cent over the same time period last year. He added there could be many reasons for the drastic decline including public perception of staffing levels. ‘In some situations it could be good enforcement, it could be individuals have tot called in, or maybe they think that if they do phone in there won't be any one there,’’ he said. Terrace’s 1998 crime rale measures more than 50 of- fences per population belaw municipal detachments in Smithers and Prince Rupert, which has a 189 incident per populalion crime rate. Only neighbouring places of Kitimat and Hazelton. measured lower with 132 - and 92 crimes per 1,000 . population. have interlocking timetables, but will act: IN A POOL OF MUD: Jennifer Hegan oversees the building of a berm at the Willow Creek culverts July 29. The berm will allow juvenile salmon and cutthroat Creek rebuilt for salmon A TERRACE consulting company and the transporta- tion ministry is looking for locals willing to care for parts of the Spring Creek watershed, now that juvenile ’ salmon have access to Wil- low. Creek. spawning grounds, | a “Everyone can have a hand. In = restoring, the siream,”! said Heather Gall of Triton’ Environmental Consultants, adding that by taking ownership of the Stream people may become a little more cautious on how to approach the stream, The problem at Willow Creek, said Gall, is that ju- venile fish just couldn't jump high enough to get into two elevated culverts, thereby gaining access to rearing grounds on the tiorth side of Willow Creek. trout to get to the rich rearing grounds north of Johnson Street. The project, paid for by fisheries and transportation ministries, started last week, So the consultants, togeth- er with the highweys minis- try and natural resource stu- dents from northwest com- munity College used ’ $80,000 of federal fisherics money to build a berm to taise water level below the culverts. The crew also armoured, or lined, the shores beneath. the culvert with large racks to stabilize the clay-based shore. The rocks also dissipate the force of the runoff dur- ing high water and provide crevices for salmon and cul- throat trout to hide. As overflow water streams out into the lower Willow, It will drop into a scrics of Uhree steps or pools that spread the force of the water ‘and ensure the life of the pool. Nass road clears tricky bear hurdle IT LOOKS as if a $30 million road to connect the Nass Valicy village of Kincolith with the rest of the world will go abead. - Officials from the federal and provincial governments and the Nisga’a Tribal Council have worked out a deal to safeguard and monitor grizzly bears along the 24km road roule, A provincial wildlife biologist had originally said the threat to the grizzly population came from the road itself and from increased contact by humans afterward. But the design of a key bridge has been changed and a 10-year monitoring and enforcement program will be put in place, says another provincial official. David Johns of the provincial government's environmen- lal assessment office says the 10-year program is worth be- tween $500,000 and $600,000. Worries about the grizzly bear population had been the main environmental problem oudined in various environ- mental studies connected to the road. Those studies formed part of the application made by the highways ministry for a permit carlicr this summer to the environmental assessmeut office. The project ‘‘las been accepted by the provincial government as far as meeting the specifications,” said Johns. He described moves to improving grizzly bear protection as lengihy. ‘ “There was the assurance wanted that the bear popula- lion will be sustainable,” said Johns. What will be put in place might even cause there to be more grizzlies, he added, All issues raised by the mu Tsimshian want access to oolichan camps along the Nass. See Page Az. mu The project is over the alloted budget — sort of. See Page A2. Nisga’a have been dealt wilh and the federal govern- ment needs some clarifica- tion only on some ilems, said Johns. There is one outstanding issuc brought up by the Tsimshian and thal’s access to some oolichan fishing sites. This is under discussion. Public comment on the project clased July 23 with just one received — a query about bald eagles, said Johns. Environmental officials are now going over the report and, if no other problems surface, a project certificate could be granted by October. Highways ministry official Dave St, Thomas said the de- sign of one bridge over a river was changed so. it will be longer than first envisioned. That means there will be more space underneath so as to protect a grizzly bear migratory path, he said, The 10-year monitoring and enforcement program in- volves having wildlife officials keep an cye out along the road route, Nisga’a Tribal Council official Collier Azak said the number of grizalics along the route may not be as high as first thought. “The area may have the potential but not the actual num- bers,” he said in comparison to other grizzly bear habitat areas Which have received protected stalus when it comes to development. Construction, once an environmental permil is received, could take up to three years. A land link fo Kincolith has been wanted for years and became possible five years ago when the federal and provincial agreed on a cost sharing formula.