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Those interested in government
options for Thornhill went to a
meeting last week\NEWS A8

receive advice on

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Female high school students ~

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choosing

| Jumping off cliffs is fun says one
_| person who is looking for kindred _
spirits\SPORTS C2 7

~ WEDNESDAY ©
MAY 3, 1995

THE PROVINCIAL government
wanis to setile the Nisga’a land
claim before the next clection,
says federal Indian Affairs minis-
ter Ron Irwin,

“I’s important to get a setile-
ment going into an election,?’
said Irwin last week. ,

That election could be called -

this fall, four years after the NDP
won power in 1991.

The contentious issue of land
claims is expected to figure

prominently as the provincial
Reform party and Liberals take
aim at the NDP.

Irwin, who is in constant con-
tact with John Cashore, his
provincia] counterpart, says he
understands the province’s posi-
tion.

“T know they’d like to have
something in placed by June,”
said Irwin of the province, ‘At
the least, they’d like to have the
broad principles in place,??

: ae fle Sy aan,
a Have map, will travel
TAKEN CAPTIVE at the beginning of the Second World

War, Basil Baxter made good use of a map smuggled into
his prison camp inside of a bar of soap, That's because he

“They want to have a setile-
ment with some clarity with the
Nisga’a so they don’t have to face
the paper tigers of the Reform
party and others,” he continued.

Irwin made the comments after
attending. the Nisga'a Tribal

Council convention in Kincolith
last week. .
They come at a crucial time for
the Nisga’a talks which have
been stalled because of a lengthy
provincial review of its negotiat-

r

spent the last months of the war marching 800km across
Europe, For more of Baxter's memories, and for a listing
of Victory in Europe Day events here, see Page AS.

ing position,

Nisga’a Tribal Council presi-
dent Joe Gosnell, re-clected by a
wide margin at the convention,
said he was frustrated by delays.

But he said his instructions’ are
to not leave the table until there’s
either a complete halt to negotia-
tions or @ settlement or a
stalemate is reached,

Gosnell said the political atmo-
sphere and public backlash
against land claim talks is eroding

By JEFF NAGEL
A YOUNG TERRACE hunter
found guilty of illegally killing a
well-known lacal Kermodei bear
last year has been fined $850,

Judge Herbert Weitzel riled
Friday that 19-year-old Ronnie
Richard Elorza made an honest
mistake in believing the cream-
coloured bear was a blond griz-
zly, but found that he did not take
the steps a reasonable » hunter
should in identifying his target,

Key to the case was evidence
that Elorza watched the bear for
only six or seven seconds before
pulling the trigger because the
bear was moving deeper into the
bush,

The incident happened May 5,
1994 on the Nelson Rd., off the
West Kalum road,

Elorza testified that he had seen
a blond grizzly in the area 10
days earlier and belicved he was
aiming at the same ariimal.

He ialntained under grueling
cross-examination that it never
accurred to hit it could be a
Kermodel or that there might be
Kermodels in the area,

“In my mind, it was a grizzly,”’
Elorza : said. “There was  ab-
solutely tio question,” ,

He glimpsed the bear out of the
comer of ils eye as he was driv-
ing along the road, he told court.
He stopped, Jumped out of his

| Hunter fined for

truck, loaded his rifle, and after
he saw a grizzly-like hump on its
shoulder, he fired,

“This all happened in a very
short period of time,” Weitzel
stated.

Elorza punched out his grizzly
lag and posed with his friends for
photos before moving the carcass
ta a more secluded location to
skin it, court was told,

black bears. Their light colouring
makes them relatively un-
coramon,

Elorza was fined $750 for the
first charge, and $100 for hunting
without supervision. The judge
did not register a conviction on
the illegal possession charge.

Elorza’s hunting privileges are.
suspended for one year with the
conviction. ;

“Tn my mind, it was a grizzly,

question.’?

There was absolutely no

bear kill

difficuit to distinguish them from
Kermodeis.

Hunter safcty training instructor
Gil Payne testified hunters some-
limes need to observe an animal
for hours before they can decide
it’s legal, a

Elorza testified he didn’t read
all of the hunting regulations
synopsis because he already knew
about Kermodeis,

“Most people took in ~ the

regulations for dates — they ©

don’t go through the whole

“synopsis,’’ he said.

‘

Hlorza said he didn’t realize it
was a Kermodci until his father
and a family friend told him so
the next day,

“Tt blew my fect out from un-
derneath me,”’ he told the court
“T was very upset,”

By that time conservation of-
ficers had been alerted by an
anonymous phone call, and came
that afternoon to the Elorza home
to question him and seize the
hide. Elorza co-operated, giving a
voluntary statement.

Elorza was found guilty of il-

legally hunting a Kermodei bear, -

possession of illegal wildlife, and
hunting as a minor without super.

‘vision, He was 18 at the time of.

the ineident.
Kermodei bears are a variant of

bearsaparh 0,
“And bécause some grizzlics ate"
“also very light in colour, it can be

The rifle he used — his father’s
Remington Model 700 7mm mag-
num —- will not be forfeited, ;

Weitzel said that as an experi-
enced hunter — and as someone '
who’s grown up in a city and
school that sport the Kermodei as
their symbols — Elorza should
have known better,

Because Elorza didn’t deny he
shot the bear, his defence rested

on the argument that It was a mis-.”

take any reasonable hunter could
have made under the circum-
stances, - a,
Several hunters and experts at.
the trial testified that it can be dif-
ficult-to tell grizzlies and-black :

>

_ black bear,

Because of that, he missed the
section where it says they can
range in colour, and that hunters
should pass up any light-coloured

Interrogated by prosecutor Paul
Kirk, Elorza denied that he could
have identified. the bear as a
Kermodei if he’d taken an hour to
watch it. ,

“Tt was a grizzly — I was posi-
tive in my mind.”? :

Kirk also argued Elorza should
have taken more time to observe

to. make sure the bear wasn’t a

sow accompanied by cubs,

Defence lawyer Doug Halfyard -

refused to admit the bear was Old

_Gimpy — 4 large Kermodei with
vavbad leg often seen‘along Kalum..J-’

Lake Drive,

Cont'd Page AiO

the NDP government’s resolve ta
deal address the issuc,

“It’s the political will that’s re-
quired,’? Gosnell said. “‘We need
some leadership to be shown by
the premier. He’s come under
pressure and he scems to be back-
tracking on what should be hap-
pening.”’

He predicted a near cessation in
talks as a provincial election
neais.

Chief provincial negotiator Jack
Ebbels conceded the approach of

By MALCOLM BAXTER
WHEN FOREST _ minister
Andrew Petter awarded a three-
year, northwestern timber licence
to a Victoria-based company, he
knew it was scheduled to shut

~ down in 10.months:- 2... .-

Yet six months after it was
made, he was still telling north-
westerners employment consider-
ations were the main teason the
award went to Victoria Plywood
Co-operative Ltd. and not to a lo-
cal company, _

The licence in question was
TSL A36554 and covered 77,457
cu.m. of timber south of Kitimat,

to be harvested within three’

years,

Four companies bid on the
wood: Ed Dobler Contracting and
Terrace Pre-Cut of » Terrace,
Goyert Sawmills of Kitimat and
the Victoria Plywood Co-
operative (VicPly). :
Dobler had proposed to con-
struct a piling plant in the Terrace
area which would have employed
14 people. _

Goyert was planning to pur-
chase a sawmill and remanufac-
turing facility, creating 13 jobs
immediately, that figure projected
to double over four years,

Terrace Pre-Cut’s planned ex-
pansion would have meant a sec-
ond shift and eight new jobs.

A storm broke in this region
when Petter announced May 31,
1994 the wood was going: to
VicPly. The angry response
prompted Skeena NDP MLA
Helmut Giesbrecht to ask Petter
for an explanation of his decision,

Petter did just that in a Sept. 14
letter, Noting the VicPly and
Goyert bids were ‘essentially
tied’? as far as the technical.

_ 75¢ PLUS 5¢ GST
VOL.8NO.3

Election hovers over land claim

an election is affecting the talks,

“Clearly the closer you get to-

an election, the more informed
any policy decision or discussions
are going to become by what J
call the pure politics of the is-
sue,”’ Ebbels said. “That's going
to happen with any government."’

But Gosnell says the issue will

still be facing politicians —

regardless of who’s in power —
after the next election,

For more on the Nisga’a talks,
please see Page All.

Wood went —
tocompany —
due to close ©

“the maintenance of an existing’ -
plant and the continued employ-.

ment of 200. people ‘at: VicPly:
were important considerations in.
making my decision.”’ -.

-More-than two: months ‘later, in:

a letter’ to Kitimat. mayor Rick
Wozney, he repeated the theme:
“Tt was felt ‘that maintaining
employment for.a large group of
existing workers was in the over-
all best provincial interest,””

In neither letter did he acknow!-
edge those jobs were alreacly
destined to vanish this spring,

Yet documents. obtained under
the Freedom of Information Act
show Petter was aware. ‘VicPly
was scheduled to shut down even.
if it got the wood.

On May 19, 1994, Petter
recieved briefing notes signed by
deputy minister Gerry Armstrong,

his assistant Janna Kumi and the.

executive director of timber ad-
ministration, J.J. Juhasz.

Their recommendation - sug-
gested conditions be attached to
the award, Cs

The first was VicPly keep oper-
ating ‘until March 31, 1995, as
Stated in its letter to the Minister
of Forests...’ an
- Condition three also referred to
“the declared shutdown of oper-
ations scheduled for March 31,
19S me

VicPly did not survive even that
long: Graham, Archdekin ‘of the.
forest ministry’s simall business
program. confirmed from. Victoria
last week VicPly shut. down its
machinery March 17, |. |

A week tomorrow the plant's
equipment goes to auction,

For more on the VicPly situa-
tion, please see Page A}.

DON’T FORGET: to take
those pennies you’ve got
squirreled away to the Terrace
and District Chamber of Com-
merce trade show _ this
weekend.

That's because the cham-
ber’s helping promote Penny
‘Power, a national effort to
collect pennies to help pay
down the national debt.

lion pennies — $10 million

places throughout the country,

Aad even more important {s

that it costs 1.5 cents ta pro-
.. duce each penny. .

_ saying that if pennies: aren't
_, kept in’ circulation, the mint
+ has to make more — at aN ¢X-

There’s an estimated 10.bil- .

— tucked ‘away in various:

That's’ another. way of.

Call going out |
for Penny Power

tra cost which only adds to
government expenditures.

The chamber will have a
wooden tarrel into. which
people can put theis pennies,

Tvit be located near the .
chamber tooth at the -center
court area of the trade show.

‘The trade show. opens this -
Friday at the Teyrace arena at
4 pm. It continues all day .
Saturday snd winds up on
Sunday at4p.m,

Canada Post representatives
will pick up the pennies when
the trade show closes and take
them fo the post office,

That’s because post offices
are the official’ ‘collecting
points for Penny Power, The
barrel is : being .: provided _
courtesy ofCanads Safeway, -