3

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Back to work
A fired Telus. worker is.
~ pack on the job after
courts clearhim  _

_\NEWS AO

Band of brothers
Terrace twins go separate
ways but keep more e than one
common bond |
\COMMUNITY Bo _

He’ s the man
Terrace goalie gets top.
marks for AHL All- Star

game performance

__. ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST
outside of the Terrace area)

an

“By SARAH. A. ZIMMERMAN -

PACIFIC ‘Northern’ Gas: concedes’ the .
- closure of the Methanex facility i in Kitimat -

is factoring into its: request to: hike gas

. delivery 1 fees here by'22 per cent.

“The company has already. received in.
* tion’ fora residential customer,

terim approval to raise rates to residential

and ‘small’ commercial customers pend-
_ ing an. application tod provincial body to...
“make the hike permanent.

_ With the, price of. natural. gas also go-
ing up, ‘a: three’ per “cent ‘Tate increase is

also, being instituted to reflect the higher. a
cost of gas, says Greg Weeres, vice presi-.
dent ‘of. ‘operations, and: engineering for’
'-s PNG. Combined, the two rates add up to ~

~ customers here, Weeres says.

“Based on: consumption of “iypical”
residential users; Weeres: says customers -

: will see:their bills rise by an average of ©
- plan: and Skeena NDP MLA Robin Aus-

$13 per month or $160 per year.

_\ “That’s based on a typical consump- “
~ Signatures on a petition opposing: any rate ©,
» hikes. () nae :

“The. company is ‘asking the B. Cc. Utili-
ties Commission (BCUC) to. allow « it to"
-apply the $23.3 million contract buy- -out -
in yearly installments until. 2009, when’
the Methanex contract * was siipposed to

” Weeres

. Oo

says.

: beth Fletcher said in September 2005 the.
$23.3 million pay-out to end Methanex’s .
* delivery : contract with PNG early because.

of the closure was expected to cushion

residential cand ‘commercial customers
from. any increases through until 2009, he

that now doesn’t appear to’be the case.

~ And though ‘Methanex. official Eliza-. -

- tion it has reduced thé revenue that PNG - ¢
will receive by approximately. $10, 4 mil-

lion: per year,” Weeres. says.”
)Still, opposition is growing to. PNG’s

tin has already collected more. than 800

end.

The same hearings ‘will detérmine if -
' PNG gets its permanent 1 Tate’ hike. "

equitable way to © provide | that money to

our customers,” says Weeres. “That's re-

_ally what we are doing is taking that ter-

mination payment and. returning it to our

. customer.”

~ But that is not sitting well with many

northwestern residents who say they.
: shouldn’t be forced: to pay for hikes be- |
cause PNG lost'its biggest customer.

..Donna Booth; -a Terrace resident, is fu-

ious ‘about, the. proposed rate hike.
“She says she: doesn’ t understand. how

PNG can justify raising rates higher when -

. it ‘accepted | a pay-out on the termination ;

of the Methanex contract.

. She’ s been. doing: ‘everything she can

7

_ the Terrace woman, who has been granted

intervener status: at the BCUC hearings ae

scheduled for next month.

and watch my program ~ I refuse to turn
-my heat up.”

putting the thermostat at: 15 degrees Cel

. Sius and’never moving it from: that ‘spot, on

even during the coldest months... 0°
-“P’ve been freezing my butt off” ” days-

a light. the fireplace: to subsidize the: 7 2
heating, I make a hot: cup: of coffee . at...
night, sit-in my chair and puta blanket on se

The. last bill she feceived from PNG we
was $439 for the period Oct. 13-Dec.13° >
: and says that’s simply too. much. money oe
“to expect people to pay. | a

Cont'd Page. AQ:

Schools: face
yet more cuts”

By DUSTIN QUEZADA -

“We just believe that. that: is the ; most,_°.t to keep her heating: bills low — including, Fo eg:

“ae roughly. 1 Per ¢ cent overall rate: » hike for With Methanex closing. their T opera .

¢ . . : v

‘about $350,000 in the 2006-07 budget...

» and South Hazelton Elementary schools on notice was not

ina shortfall to pay. for-a five-day. instructional calendar. ...

an meetings: -on next year’s - school calendar, Greenwood: "ex-

Feb. 1

, ‘cation. programs; $50,000 from a 1:C drop i in building: tem-
“system. *
: * Greenwood said at the Feb. 1 meeting. -

: : zelton ‘schools or notice for closure, it teft'a-$350,000 gap.:

Greenwood said in reaction. °

* THESE TRIATHLON: skaters Won six medals at the Cariboo North Central Regional Championships in Fort St. John at the end of last
month. From left, Joanne Homeniuk, Ashley Thandi, Kelsey Minhinnick holds three of her four gold medals from the competition, Janet

_ that would add up to the $1.28 million.

; said. “The question is: what's the: impact. on the kids?”

Cont'd Page AQ”

Police | oust
- grow-' Ops

. POLICE. HAVE busted two marijuana. grow-ops. in
Thornhill, seizing. several plants and firearms. with
Ae charges: pending against several individuals.

Lewis and Hayley Lessard.. Absent from the photo is triathlon skater and medallist Jamie Penner. “s MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO.

First phase
at Mills done

-WORKERS: LAST week demolished the emergency room *
(ER) space at Mills Memorial Hospital to allow a complete

. renovation of the area. :

; It’s part of.a $1.9 million project which has’ already seen
‘the construction of an Intensive Care Unit (cu) on the hos-

_pital’s main floor, right beside the ER. a,

The ER hag been temporarily moved into’ the new Icu
space until that renovation. work is done toward the end of

~ March. &

When the new ER space is done, it will be occupied again.
and the ICU moved down from its current home on n the hos- .
pital’s second floor. |.

Northern Health Authority official Rowena Holoien said
the work has gone according to plan. - ;
_ “We've been really fortunate. The contractor has done a

_ great job and there has been minimal disruption,” said Holoi-
en of the task of running a construction project in the middle
of a busy hospital.

“The public i is going to be. astounded at what they’ see
when it is all done.”

_ The new ER space will. have one more patient care area
then before. Placing the ICU next to the ER will permit safer .
and better patient care and allow nurses from one unit to as- ©
sist those in the other.

_ + The Northern Heaith Authority i is paying for’60 per cent

of the cost with the North West Regional Hospital District,

vi a regional taxing authority, taking care of the remainder. A.

number of renovation and expansion Projects a are going on at

other northwest health care facilities.

“rant on'a | Clark St. residence around 3: 30a. m. Jan. 21,

say RCMP.” |.) “

_. They dismantled the g grow ‘operation and discovered

-. 37 plants, dried marijuana and unregistered firearms. .

. One man was arrested for cultivation of a controlled
_substarice and later released. : 5
". “There could.be several. different charges,” Paten-

aude said. “Our Practice is to. pursue charges: where ;

: evidence exists.” ~ .
. Community policing officer RCMP. Const: Ro- 7

. chelle: Patenaude couldn’t. specify what type. of fire- -
arms or how much ‘dried ‘Marijuana was found, .— | *

. vestigate, she said. -
| °°. In a‘separate incident, ‘Yocal. RCMP executed a:
“| search warrant on a Jackpine Flats residence on Jan. —

.- dismantled’ grow-op equipment. .
' , Charges are pending and police continue to investi-

MANUEL MARTINS: of Viking Construction tears apa metal al studing i in the emer-
gency room at Mills Memorial Hospital. it’s been gutted to make way for extensive
renovations as part of a $1.9. million project which will also see the intensive care
unit moved from the hospital’ S second floor to the main floor.

_ process of adding more plainclothes officers to inves-
‘tigate: narcotics activity. in the area. . :

= THE COAST Mountains School District will have to explore Qs
( other operational cuts it can make to be abie to afford. moving ..
B back | 'to-a five-day week after. trustees refused to put two 7 ys
‘schools on notice for closure — a move that could have saved

' C _ .Chair Lorrie Gowen’s motion to put E, T. Kenney Primary '

“Based onan enrolment drop of 200 students, the expected oo:
.. budget for the 2006-07 school year is $50,096,142, including .
$1.4 million in reduced costs. Yet the district still finds itself

-’ The shortfall for a standard calendar is $1.3 million, while mo
_ the deficit for an adjusted five-day calendar is $612,186. The ML ,
status quo four-day. week would see a $475,490 surplus.’ he! :
- Therefore, in preparation for the public consultation a

ae plored how to overcome the shortfall and made his Presenta- ~ ,
*. tion to trustees Jan. 21 and: to the public at the boaid, ! ecting eee

Other areas to 0 possibly cut were identified as: “$600; 000 a
~ from staffing for eight positions; $250,000 from Special edu- s

’ peratures; and. $30, 000. from taking: one’ bus. run out of the . *
“We didn’t look further becauise that was fat enough, " ; ;
But when trustees balked at putting the Terrace: and ‘Ha- .

- “We're boxed into‘not being able to offer ‘the’ five-day
. week school calendar without potential school. Closures,” _

. » {Later in the week, Greenwood. said: the district would’. -
simply have to identify areas to cut with amounts of money - 7

“It doesn’t matter...they’ re operational costs,” Greenwood.

1 : - "2 Seven local RCMP officers executed a. ‘search war-’, . 1

* Charges are still pending and police « continue to in- -[. ;

24 and seized a small number of ‘marijuana plants and. a

g gate both cases. . The RCMP detachment here is in the |

. rl