He’s creating a stir

Wood wizard

Rookie triumph

being studied\NEWS A11.

The centuries old remains ofa}.
hunter found north of here are |

| Chad Buhr has won a provincial
-| Carpentry competition held in
| Vancouver\COMMUNITY Bi

fifth place\SPORTS

Jeff Frank went to his first-ever _
wrestling championship and won.

B6

WEDNESDAY _
April 26, 2000

TANDARD

$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
(31,20 plus 4¢ GST outside of the
“ -Jernraee area)

VOL. 13.NO.3

Bomb threats close school

By CHRISTIANA WIENS
SCHOOL BOARD officials are angry that a second
school bomb threat here in less than two weeks disrupted
classes at Skeena Junior Secondary School.

“This is an act of violence,” said board superinten-
dent Sharon Beedle after almost 600 students were eva-
cuated from the school Thursday, April 20.

“It has far-reaching affects on students and staff, it
creates anxiety and fear, and we do not want any part of
it,” she said. “If we ever find out who did it we’re going
to insist that the RCMP press charges.”

Beedle said the board is also considering a reward for
tips leading to the arrest of the callers.

“This is intolerable,” she said. “We never like to find
ourselves in a lime when our kids are not safe.”

Beedle said it's possible the second threat which
closed Skeena was a copy cat call of a first threat April
11 which closed Caledonia Senior Secondary.

“The more published this gets, the more other stu-
dents think this is a thing to do,” she said.

The first threat called into Caledonia resulted in stu-

dents being told the school had electrical and mainte-
nance problems. Students were sent home.

“We didn’t want to create a panic situation,” said
Beedle.

The Skeena threat April 20 was called in the day
after the RCMP mentioned the first threat at Caledonia
in a news release. ;

A secretary answered the phone call just after 1 p.m.
School administrators called the RCMP, Beedle and
sounded the school’s fire alarm to clear the school fast.

School students - some in gym shorts — were told to
go home without their jackets, house keys and back-
packs while RCMP dog handlers and fire officials swept
the school. a

Even though students weren't told about the. threat,
most figured it out by the heavy police presence and se-
curity at each doorway.

The threat also cancelled the school’s Spring Fling
set for the evening of April 20. The dance that had al-
ready been rescheduled from the week before.

Schoo! students, teachers and administrators had

spent hours preparing the school. And, in response to at-
lacks on women recently and reports of stalking, admin-
istrators were also telling parents to escort female stu-
dents to and from the dance.

Instead of being excited about the dance and the
Easter long weekend, teacher Greer Kaiser said students
were upset. “They were pretty choked,” she said.

The RCMP say threats can have a devastating effect
on student safety. “If they cry wolf, we may not react in
time next time,” said RCMP Set. Darcy Gollan. “You
let your guard down.”

Gollan said officers take every bomb threat seriously,
but, as their frequency increases, they could condition
themselves that the threat is not real.

“We don’t ever want to take this lightly,” he said.

Gollan added mest people don’t reatize the time and
money needed to call in the RCMP and fire departments
in emergency situations.

“Jf we ever find the person responsible, we will take
the appropriate action and charge them under the crimi-
nal code,” Gollan said.

Food bank sets

Sharon Beedle

record

for helping local folk

IF THE Terrace Churches
Food Bank was a business,
it would have seen record-

breaking profits over the

past six months,

The food bank had its.

busiest season yet,. dis-

“ tributing’ 3\747 ‘bagé~ of

food to local residents
from Octaber 1999 to April
2000 (excluding Decem-
ber).

Food bank co-ordinator
Kathy Miller said February
and March were record-
breaking distribution
months when 1,378 bags
were handed out.

“We were really busy
this year,” Miller said.
“Obviously some people
really needed help. Many
people are finding it hard
to stretch their money.”

Miller estimated that if
each bag of food is worth
about $9, almost $34,000
was spent on food for the
needy over the six months

operating season of the
food bank.

She said without local
donations and shoppers
who buy the $2 B.C. Shar-
ing Coupons, the food
bank wouldn’t exist.

“I know the $2 coypons

don’t seem like much, but
man, they make a huge
difference,” she said,
“Every little bit helps.”

She explained that
every cent donated goes
directly toward buying gro-
ceties. Every month, Mill-
er has to buy 1,200 cans
of tuna, 600 pounds of
rice, 660 dozen egps,
1,200 cans of vegetables
and hundreds of loaves of
bread,

She said it takes more
than 70 volunteers to pick
up food, package it and
distribute bags every
month. ,

“A little piece of them
Zoes into every bag,”

Kathy Miller
Miller said.

The food bank operates
one week each month be-
tween the fall and spring.

The exception is De-
cember because the Sal-
vation Army holds its
Christmas hamper program
then,

As the title indicates,
the food bank is a co-
operative effort on the part

f Dragon masters

KARLA HENNIG, son Alex and husband Graham Maguire are celebrating the newest addition to
their family — a fantastic dragon hand-made by focal artist Charlynn Toews. It's the latest in a
number of spectacular dragons Toews has painstakingly constructed out of plaster, on commis-
sion for local people. Dragon-building evolved out of Toews' other creations, demand for which
has been largely drivan by her son's voracious appetite for new and interesting objects of the
robot and dinosaur variety.

of local churches.

‘Martyr’ worries MLA.

SKEENA NDP MLA Helmut Giesbrecht
is worried that a provincial bear biologist
suspended for a report critical of govern-
ment hunting policies is being held out as
a martyr by those who want hunting stop-
ped altogether,

And he fears the suspension of Terra-
ce-based Dionys de Lecuw is being com-
bined with criticism of B.C. logging prac-
tices to hurt the economy.

“All this is now part of a greater de-
bate overseas and in Europe,” said Gies-
brecht last week. “I hear rumours that
people are saying if we allow the killing
of grizzlies, then perhaps they should
boycott B.C,”

de Leeuw was suspended without pay
for two weeks the end of March for a re-
port suggesting thal the level of grizzly
hunting being allowed is beyond that
which the grizzly population can absorb.

“What this has turned into is a debate
over the merits of hunting or not hunting,”
said Giesbrecht. “Instead, it should be a
debate over whether the information [in

de Lecuw’s report] is accurate to talk
about sustainahility.”

Giesbrecht’s reference to logging prac-
tices stems from the recently-revealed se-
cret talks between environmental groups
and logging companies to halt logging
along the coast.

By agreeing to stop logging, forest
companies hope to persuade environ-
mental groups to back off their interna-
tional campaign to boycott B.C. products.

"This issue is being used in a debate
we don’t need given the pressure on the
logging industry,” said Giesbrecht of de
Leeuw’s suspension.

Giesbrecht was critical of de Leeuw's
suspension, saying civil servants should
be allowed to present information on gov-
ernment policies without fear of reprisals,

He’s consistently asked that environ-
ment minister Joan Sawicki give de
Leeuw his two wecks of pay.

“T've been chiding her for not stepping
in,” said Giesbrecht, “She just shakes her
head.”

Treaty talks get hung up on ‘good faith’

By JEFF NAGEL
NEGOTIATORS have patched up a
dispute that last week threatened to
derail Tsimshian treaty talks.

For nearly two days April 19 and
20, it appeared the province might
walk away from the main table talks
taking place at the Kitselas commun-
ily hall.

Provincial treaty negotiator Lyle
Viereck sald the province was alarmed
about a Feb. 7 letter the Tsimshian
wrote to the province complaining
about the pace and scope of talks.”

in that letter the Tsimshian echoed
earlier statements of the First Nations
Summit ~ a provincial association of
tribal groups in treaty negotiations -
voicing frustration and urging B.C.
and Canada to “engage in good faith
fegotiations,”

The province in particular refuses to
entertain what the Tsimshian view as
key components to a treaty,

“B.C: maintains compensation is
not on he table, and those parts of our
ierritory- encumbered. by provincially
approved licences, permits and other

tenures are not on the table,” said the
letter signed by Tsimshian negotiators
Gerald Wesley and Robert Hill,

“The province has stated that there
is no room for revenue sharing and that
First Nations governing structures will
be ‘delegated’ in fashion.”

“There are many other examples
we can provide bul the bottom line is
you should not be surprised at our re-
newed, collective urging for good faith
negotiations.”
~.Viereck wanted the Tsimshian to
fetract of alter the letter or otherwise

get assurances that the group is not
accusing the province of negotiating in
bad faith.

He was refusing to continue talks
on other issues until the dispute was
resolved.

“The Tsimshian called on us to ne-
goliate in good faith and we needed to
clarify whether they thought we were
acting in bad faith,” he said.

The terms ‘good faith’ and ‘bad
faith’ have become highly charged in
the treaty negotiation areria since a
judge last year ruled there is a legal

duty of governments in treaty talks to
negoliate in good faith.

That was a preliminary decision in
ongoing courl action by the Qjxssieee
who can ~ if their treaty talKigapse
— resume arguing that the province ne-
gotiated ia bad faith with them be-
cause it was simultaneously conclud-
ing the Nisga’a treaty that the Gita-
nyow say infringes on their territory,

The province has taken very ser-
iously similar allegations of bad faith
lalks, up to and including halting

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