Wcsicome to Terrace | Can you do it? These ladies rock A gateway concept aims to spruce. up entry points like the VIA rail station\NEWS A11L | The Kermode Friendship Centre challenges aboriginal smokers to butt out \COMMUNITY B1 McDougall rink advances to. >. provincial finals in Port Alberni\SPORTS B3 WEDNESDAY. January 10, 2004 www.beclassitied.com City will rebuild fence at the dump THE CITY will pay an es- timated $21,000 to rebuild ° the electric fence around the Terrace landfill next year. The fence is only five years old but has to be re- built primarily because the - landfill needs to expand its perimeter, says city spe-: 7% cial projects director Stew |; Christensen. The enlargement should $1.00 PLUS 7¢.GST_ {$1.20 plus 86 GST outelde of the Terrace araa) VOL, 13.NO.40. ocals are iving up their guns Some choose not to get licence By JENNIFER LANG NEARLY ONE dozen gun owners chose to turn their firearms in to the Terrace RCMP last week rather than apply for a licence. The majority of the firearms were handed over Jan. 2 and 3, the days immediately follawing the date new federal legislation requiring became law. ensure there’s enough toom to dump garbage for the next three years, by which time city and regio- nal district officials hope to have a new sub-regional landfill near Onion Lake established. A complete rebuild ra- ther than an expansion was also required because new . environment ministry regu- lations requiring the fence wires be stretched tighter. Christensen said mini- stry officials think a higher wire tension will make “it more difficult for bears to slither in between the 6,000-volt wires without getting a shock, “They felt a bear push- ing it would get the wire through the fur right into the hide if the tension was high enough,” he said. He said there haven't been many instances of bears sneaking inside the dump’s electrified peri- meter except last summer. Most of the time it’s been due to bears digging underneath the. fence to get in, or else getting through the fence when it wasn’t turned on full power. There were “some blems"” last. summer, he admits, when. the fence was being expanded slightly. The new alignment of the fence doesn’t follow the old one, he said,: so most of the new 800-metre perimeter will be on new ground. City council awarded the contract for the elec- tric fence rebuild to Margo-Score Fence Co., the lowest of two bidders. at Lakelse Lake Jan. & great way to bring in tha new year. li Splashing in the New Year JAKE BEANARD is just one of 40 peaple who took part in the Kinsmen Club’s Kermodal Bear Swim year participating in the frosty event. He says it's Last year Bernard and friends dressed as the Flintstones. 1. This was Bernard's second protest. race, law. It’s unknown if the gun owners did so as a form of “They just said they had chosen not to apply for a. licence,” said Ray Griffith of the firearms centre in Ter-' Most of the firearms were rifles and shotguns that were immediately deactivated. Under federal legislation that went into effect Jan. 1, ail gun owners in Canada are now required to have a valid firearms licence. Without one, they face a $2,000 fine or up to six months in jail. Those not wishing to obtain a licence are supposed to hand in their guns to police to be deactivated. As for those gun owners who managed to send in their application to the Canadian Firearms Centre in New Brunswick before the Dec. 31 deadline and are stil! waiting for their licence to be processed, Griffith ad- vised: “Be patient.” , He pointed out the federal justice department kas in- troduced a six-month grace period for those applicants waiting for their licence due to a processing backlog. Griffith said he suspects applications that were in the mail as late as Jan. 2 or 3 will also be processed. “I’m sure there will be some leniency.” The backlog does leave an unknown number of Cana- dian gun owners in legal limbo. Without a licence, they could have difficulty proving they’re not breaking the Griffith cautioned law enforcement officials like the RCMP have been instructed to use their own discretion when encountering someone in the possession of a fire-. arm to determine if the person is breaking the law. It’s still not known how many northwest gun owners Continued Page A2 Cheap air fares trigger complaint Hawkair accuses Air Canada of engaging in predatory pricing By JEFF NAGEL HAWKAIR AVIATION is accusing Air Canada of unfairly lowering its prices, contrary to special competition rules in place since its takeover of Canadian Airlines. The new Terrace airline has filed a formal complaint with Industry Canada’s Competition Bureau alleging predatory pricing by the national airline on its Air Canada has dropped its three-day advance price for a return ticket from Terrace to Vancouver from around $860 prior to Hawkair’s startup in September to around $345 now, says Hawkair co- owner Rod Hayward. ° “That's a pretty major drop in price,” he said. ‘The new price is uncomfortably close to Hawkair’s lowest regular fares of just | under $300 return, Hayward added. “They’re operating in a manner that is meant to run-us out of business or threaten our survival,” Hayward said. He said the competitition bureau should sort out whether the low fares are Terrace-Vancouver route. Gas hikes a factor Food bank braces for demand - THE TERRACE Churches Food Bank is gearing up for a tough win- ter, as Terrace braces for another hike in natural gas prices. “All things considered, it’s going to be a challenge for the next few months, here,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Terrace Churches Food Bank. Skyrocketing heating bills are: ex- pected to take a big bite out of food budgets in Terrace, where - almost 400 families are depending on -the food bank each month. : This month the food bank will | prepare 600 bags of. groceries. to make sure that-everyone who drops by during the distribution will have enough to eat, © BE Miller said the number of food bank recipients decreased this Octo- ber and November — but there’s ‘also been a drop in cash donations from: i coe meen 1 One of the more unusual seasonal of food’: the community, +. ©2007 Meanwhile, donations: items ore up slightly over 1999, Miller said. “We're still needing donations from February to April, if we're going to be opening the doors that long,” she added, “Every food item that is donated will be used.” Miller and two volunteers man- aged to sort through all the Decem- ber food donations to the food bank in a couple of hours last week. as they prepared for the distribution ‘taking place Jan. 15 to 18. ‘She said people remember the food bank at this time of year, even. ‘young people. s ‘. Miller pointed out that Veritas; ‘ Uplands and: Parkside elementary schools all donated food to the food bank. over Christmas.::- *~ In. addition, donations came from the. participating churches, as well: as individuals, -.. - ; donations came from a group of teenaged boys who collected food for the food bank as they went around town Christmas caroling. “[ find that just totally,” said Miller, struggling to find the words to express her delight, “It’s outstand- ing, it’s just outstanding.” Another source of donations are the drop-off bins at Safeway, Over- waitea and the Bargain Shop. The latter also collects spare change from customers and uses the money (o purchase food items from its own _inventory to donate to the food bank. Miller also cited Safeway’s in- ‘house food bank program as another valuable. source of donations. Custo- . mers. can buy prepackaged bags con- taining items for the food bank, “That’s an excellent package for ‘giving to families that do need extras,” she said, pointing out the bags contain fruit juice, pasta, soups “ and ‘other items ~ enough to help a big family stretch thelr food supply. Fy ee a pokes fy Pty 3 TERRACE CH justified, “Either they were gouging customers for years or else they’re losing money on this run now,” Hayward suid. Air Canada spokesman Dennis Erick- son says the $345 three-day advance re- turn fare — which is restricted to trips of two to three days in length — isn’t a per- manent fare but part of a four-month-iong special national promotion. The deal expires at the end of Febr- vary, he said, adding it’s normal to offer seat sales at this traditionally slow time of year. “It was a fare initiative that was de- veloped on a number of markeis where oe eee CY URCGHES Food Bank president Kathy Miller stocks r preparation for the January distribution. + we felt we needed to stimulate the. traffic,” he said. “I don’t know how many markets.” He said the cheap three-day fare is also available in Prince Rupert and Smi- thers. : Erickson said there ate now at least 17 different types and classifications of fares in and out of Terrace. “There is a lot of different product on the shelf right now,” Erickson said. Hayward contends Air Canada isn’t of- fering similar cheap fares on other routes where they don’t have competitition. Continued Page A2 + a 1 ‘ 7 " « « tos an Lae we € 3 @ shelves in