‘Turn the tap

Local couple travels to.
Ethiopia bringing water
to a community without\ |
COMMUNITY B1

Polluted

The city’s list of vacant.
contaminated gas station
sites will very soon get
longer\NEWS AS

myttie bev! spe
SO Maen

Smashing good:
Young driver slams his
way to victory at the
Demolition Derby
\SPORTS B4_

$1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST
"+ ($1.10 plus 7¢ GST
outside of the Terrace area)

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN |

;to ponder s slot r

and it’s getting closer and closer to the northwest,

CITY COUNCIL must’ ‘grapple with the issue. of
whether or not to allow slot machines ina proposed’
community gaming centre to be developed at the.

Lucky Dollar Bingo Palace. °

‘The bingo hail’s owner John Becher and: repre-
sentatives from the BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC)
. appeared before council Sept. 11 asking it to con-
sider the benefits of approving the application. _
Council must consider two separate issues, one .
is to rescind a bylaw preventing the Bingo Palace,
which also applies to any other business, from hav-
ing slot machines in the community of Terrace.
_ And the second issue is addressing the request by . .
the Lucky Dollar Bingo Palace to establish itself as

a community gaming centre.

“Tt seems to be the trend in the province right now

, Lake,and Fort St. John.

said Mayor Jack Talstra last week.
“Community gaming centres are emerging in sev-
eral communities such .as Dawson Creek, Williams

”

their opininon on the proposed development. |

Only after that consultation period is over, which
will include a public hearing to discuss the issues,
will council make its decision. "

Several years ago

‘By February a new
gaming centre is slated *-
to open in Prince Ru-
pert.

John Becher: says
if the Lucky Dollar
Bingo Palace wants to
retain ‘its out of town

“You might remember what | said at
the time was that when you have an
issue that’s divisive in the community, if
‘council is divided the status quo should
-remain the same,”

- Jack Talstra

city council rejected
"a request by the: Best
Western Terrace Inn’s
then owner John Geor-
gillas to build a casino
in Terrace.
Much debate. hap-
pened and when’ it

customers, it too needs -

From Afghanistan |

PRIVATE GREIG-Hull-is.grateful to be _
- home safely. after“completing ‘his first _

tour of duty in what has proven to be

‘mal things,”

Canada’s most dangerous mission since
the Korean War.

Hull spent close to six months work-
ing in Afghanistan as an infantryman
with Edmonton-based 1st Battalion Prin-
cess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry,
where he lost friends and endured close

‘calls on his own life.

‘Now that he’s home, he’s trying his
best'to take it easy.

“I’m doing everything I can to do nor-
said Hull last week. “I’m
helping my mom ‘around the house and
spending time with my
dog Swoop.”

with tales of war —

-. By DUSTIN QUEZADA ; ~ Hull says his various training was hard

and thorough but limited in its ability to .

prepare infantrymen for everything.

says he learned to dig trenches when the
ground was frozen rock solid, |

Afghanistan is no Edmonton, espe-
cially in the summer.

‘Tt’s like hell on Earth,” said Hull,
recalling a day. he spent in the Afghan
mountains with 60-plus pounds on his
back while temperatures neared 70 C. “I
didn’t think it got that hot on Earth.”

The ‘fit looking Hull says most days
are boring, spent watching for threats to
the forward operating bases, or military

outposts away from the Kandahar air -.

‘field, that mostly do not
come to fruition.

Hull, a boyish looking
23-year-old, is home for

outside of Edmonton,-but
his tour of duty in ‘Af-

“It’s like God gives
close to a month before you a Squeeze. It
he returns to his garrison. hurts from head to —
toe,” —- Greig Hull .

It didn’t take him long
to be able to shrug off the
realities of war. _

tar lands, you'don’t hear

ghanistan is finished for
now. .

After the better part of six months
in the war-torn country, the Terrace na-
tive has a lot of experiences to share. He
sounds like a seasoned soldier, too, his

oe speech peppered with military acronyms.

He says despite the increasingly dan-

gerous mission in the central Asian coun-

try, he was eager to get there and start
doing the job. _

“Let’s get there and get it over with,”
said Hull of his thoughts en route to the
mission.

’ “Scared was not necessarily the word,

but nervous? Absolutely,” Hull added.

_. Hull's training consisted of 10 ‘weeks
in Quebec, followed: by eight weeks of
soldier qualification and a further 10
weeks of infantry qualification in-Wain-
wright, Alta. Before a mission, an addi-
tional two months ‘of field exercises are
completed. - .

DRILLING EQUIPMENT -hired by
a mining company is working on its |
mineral claims just off of Hwy37 North
near Iskut after one local woman was
arrested Sept. 9 at a blockade leading
to the location.

Lillian Moyer, 67, is due in court

in Terrace Oct. 10 for defying a court

order granted bcMetals to have the
blockade lifted. that was preventing
equipment from gaining access to the
Ealue Lake Road area.

Moyer’ S§ arrest was apparently sym-

‘bolic in nature to. back the assertions

of a Tahitan group called the Klabona

‘Keepers that the equipment . would

cause environmental damage by cross-
ing a fish-bearing stream called Coyote
Creek.

The Klabona Keepers are a group of
Tahltan out to stop industrial develop-
ment in and around the Klappan area,
describing it as a key environmental
and cultural area for Tahltan and other

- June when the company tried to cross

then apply for an injunction.)

‘As long as we’re not hit,
it’s good enough.”

But that early good fortune wouldn’ t
last and the ghastly realities of war sunk .

in for the infantryman.

_ On March 29, Hull would lose the
first of two of his good friends when Pte. °
Robert Costall of Edmonton, a machine-_

gunner, was killed in a firefight with in-
surgents north of Kandahar.

-“Firefights,” said Hull, chuckling ner-
vously. “It’s insane. Someone (fires) a
whole belt of ammo at you.

“While it’s. happening, there’s too

much to do to be scared — it’s impossible
to train to prepare to be shot at.”

_ Hull said he soon leamed to get
through the day and at its conclusion he ~

would enjoy a smoke, perched between
his shaking fingers.

At the beginning of his tour, Hull

called his mother every three weeks but

- that ended in- May when he was moved to

Tahitan woman defi

‘native groups.

~ beMetals filed for the injunction

Aug. 23 after a blockade prevented

their equipment from getting through.
The same also happened in mid- -

Coyote Creek but the company did not

Before Moyer’s arrest, a leading
B.C. native leader was asked to medi-
ate between the Klabona Keepers and .
the RCMP. ,

Ed John, an official with the First
Nations Summit, . was charged with
determining how best the RCMP could
enforce the order as well as providing a
way for the Klabona Keepers to repre-
sent their position. _

His appearance was based on a
protocol signed last year between the
RCMP and native groups that calls for
all parties to avoid as many problems
as possible when facing crisis situa-
tions. John spent. several days in the

approval.to become a gaming centre, in order to

draw people from surrounding communities.
Council agreed to go to a 30-day public consulta-

tion period which will allow people t to weigh in with

Such ‘as differing. climates, for. in-
stance. At the Edmonton garrison, Hull.

“After the: first mor-

them anymore,” he said. -

area-before Jeaving. ;
beMetals has already set out ‘suffi “

' cient reserves — and has the provincial |
and federal environmental permits —
for a copper and gold mine it calls Red
Chris and the new work is intended to
increase the known ore. reserves, says
_ company president Ian Smith.
_ He’s dismissing claims that Coyote
Creek has a history of bearing fish.

“There have been beaver dams for
some time. One broke and the fishcame &
down,” said Smith. “In reality that spot
~ is a ford and has been used as a cross-
ing for quite some time.”

Quite a few people have been us-.
ing the ford and a tote road going up
to the area where bcMetals has claims,
‘Smith added. People belonging to the . §
Klabona Keepers and others also said
there was an oil spill from equipment
going across the creek after Moyer was
arrested.

council was as split down the middle on the issue, forc-

ing Mayor Jack Talstra'to break the tie with a no,

‘vote — a decision he stands by today. =
“Oh, absolutely. You might remember what I.

came down to a vote, -

7

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said at the time ‘was s that when you have an issue —
that’s divisive in the community, if council i is “divid-
ed the Status quo should remain the same,’ “he said
last week.,,

The city stands to gain moneiarily from. the pro-©

posed development — it would receive 10 per-cent.
of the net profits which are directed to the provincial
" government.

. BCLC officials say the average slot rhachine gen-
erates approximately. $4,400 per year i in revenues for
municipalities.

If there were a 100 slot machines, that would add.

-up to $440,000 per year going into city coffers.

But Talstra said the. money is just one of. many ~
factors to weigh, adding potential revenues stem-
ming from the failed casino proposal would have
been significantly higher...

No date has been set for a public hearing.

g.

A>

‘SERRE
RAPE GAT EL:

vate
pore

PTE Greig Hull says he felt well prepared and well equipped for his part in the Canadian, mission, in ‘Afghanistan. He
recently returned from his first tour of duty there. -

© CONTRIBUT! ED PHOTO

a forward operating base (where he was

for four to six weeks at a time) with no—
communication unless he was injured.

That call came, too.
A light armourmed vehicle gunner,
Hull's job was to maintain and operate

_ the weapons systems on the LAV-IIIs ©
_— Light Armored Vehicles. His job was’

to protect and/or detect threats to the ve-
hicle from a distance.

-The vehicles’ are “incredible ma-

Cont'd Page A2

.

-Chines,” says Hull but they’re increas-

ingly the targets of improvised explosive -
devices-orlEDs.  .
-They’re not roadside bombs: as the

‘media likes to call them,” says Hull, agi-
’ tated.

“If they were on the roadside, nobody

_ would die,” he said. “They’ re big bombs
_ underneath (vehicles).”

Hull was in a LAV-III when its wheel

" pressed. the plate of one of.the explosive —

devices. Tt blew a hole through the bot-

_tom of the vehicle, sending him violently

upward into its ceiling.
He did ‘suffer’ minor bums. to his

left arm which left a smail scar in

addition toa ruptured ear. drum and whip-
lash.

_ “It’s like God gives you a squceze,”
he said, making a fist and tightening it. “It
hurts from head to toe.”

‘Cont'd Page A2-

LILLIAN MOYER is lead away from a blockade near Iskut which was Preventing
equipment from accessing a mineral claims site.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

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