Safety signs Primary schoolers learn the dos and don’ts of road traffic safety \COMMUNITY B3 | Banking on foed In 2005, the expected demand increase materializes at the Terrace Churches Food Bank \NEWS A9 fs ' Mountain madness Mountain bikers race the Root Chute course at Red $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) ‘VOL.18 NO. VIKING CONSTRUCTION of Prince George. has been chosen as the successful bidder to undertake an extensive renova- tion project at Mills Memorial Hospital. . The emergency room will be renovated 4H and the intensive care unit will be moved down from the second storey to the main floor beside the ER and.be housed in an addition. Viking Construction has a satellite of- fice in Kitimat and its bid for the work is $1.443 million. There were five bidders for the * Project. Northern Health Authority official Mark Karjuluoto said the price was with- in the budgeted estimate. “We're now moving to sign the official documents,” he said late last week. - An exact start date has to be decided and it’s not known how long the work might take. ; Undertaking construction ina hospital is tricky, particularly when it involves an emergency room, but planners are work- ing to minimize the impact on patients, ‘ services and employees, Karjuluoto said. Hospital reno A large-scale project involving a new intensive care unit going in right beside a re-done emergency room at Prince George Regional Hospital was accom- ; plished by first building the intensive care unit structure, he said. The emergency room was then moved in, its old space renovated and then moved back, Karjuluoto added. >» “When they were beside each other, it worked well,” he said. Health care officials say it'll be more . efficient to staff the ER and the ICU with nurses when the facilities are beside each” other _ Doctors favour the move as well be- cause it will be easier and safer to move "patients to the ICU from the ER. Work on the project was delayed when’ initial cost projections were overtaken by rising prices for material. But. the: Northern Health Authority said it would find the extra money from other sources. Also agreeing to the higher cost was the Northwest Regional Hospi- tal District, which draws its: money from 7 inesday, Junie 1,.2005 | . oing ahead | area taxpayers. The hospital district generally fi : nances 40 per cent of health care capital a construction and major health care equip: ment costs in the northwest. Similar cost pressures were. felt on © work. planned at the Prince -Rupert-hos- pital and at the Bulkley Valley District _ ‘Hospital in Smithers, The regional hospital district will now - _ contribute $2.14 million to the threé proj- pated. ects — $800, 000 more than first antici- -™@ Kick save GOALIE | Brandon: Stella makes. a pad save. on. ‘a shot from. Matthew Brown, while Curtis Hall’. (right) looks. for a re- . bound: ‘The three-on- I three hockey tournament _ * May 27 and 28.at Cen- - - tennial Christian School “attracted six adult teams | and. four youth teams. The tournament was held to raise money for. Julia Tuininga, who will bike ‘-across!‘Canada to cel-> ebrate the Christian Re- formed Church’s. 100th | ‘anniversary in. Canada, to foster Christian unity among churches, and to _ ‘support the development of mission work and new churches in communities across the country. KAT LEE PHOTO. By KAT LEE “rernace’s VISITOR informe: tion Centre is getting ready for a busy summer. The number of visitors to the lit- tle green house, which also serves as the business office for the Ter- race and District Chamber of Com- merce, on Hwy16 has increased throughout the years. “It’s gone’ up substantially,” says Debbie Simons, the Visitor: Info Centre manager. Ten years ago, the info centre -had 17 visitors in April. Last year in the same month, there were 181 visitors. This year, they’ve gained 1 more than 100 more to put the number of ~ April visitors at 303. And it isn’t even the busy sea- . ‘son yet; last August, the tourist centre helped 2,385 people. With the increased numbers - they’re getting this year, the info centre is expecting even more visi- tors than last year, Two summer students have been hired to keep up with the anticipated rush. The centre is on regular. hours (Monday to Friday, 8:30-4:30) un- til June 20. It'll then be open from ' 8 am. to 5 p.m. every day of the week. ‘Simons credits sporting events | ‘as one of the reasons for the in- crease in visitor numbers. “Terrace is getting recognized for hosting large events,” she says, mentioning a major provincial boys soccer tournament ‘Terrace ‘hosted last July. ' “They didn’t think we were ca- pable of hosting the event, and we * DANIELLE BILLEY and Debbie Simons are already busy at the Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce's visitor information centre. They’ve fielded more requests than last year for the same time period and expect to have a good July and August when the tourist season really takes off. KAT LEE PHOTO _ did a phenomenal job,” she says. “We got a lot of Positive feed- back.” There have been native bas- ketball tournaments and a major provincial hockey tournament this year. , outdoor activities are drawing peo- ple’s interest. Some people affected by the ‘ closure of Skeena Cellulose chose to start up adventure guiding and Besides sports, the scenery and bed and breakfasts and Simons says some of the businesses have . really started to take off. _ She sends out visitor guide packages worldwide upon request. “We're getting inquiries from all over,” said Simons. “We even had one from Iraq.” Locals also use the infocentre as a resource for hiking guides and trails or sport fishing tips. Some even drop by for advice on what to do with visiting family and friends. “We just have a wealth of infor- mation here, with hiking and bik- ing,” Simons says. The wall. of pamphlets and booklets at the:info centre has in- formation about Alaska and parts of northern Alberta, along .with activity guides and highlights of communities in the northwest, in- cluding the Nass Valley. All are free, except for a B.C. map that sells for under $5. @ Transition - house ion starts soon CONSTRUCTION IS to start this month on the Ksan House Society’s custom-built $1.4-million transition home and ad- ° ministration building. Deep Creek: Contracting Ltd..of Terrace was the success- . ful bidder of four companies with a price of $1.079 million. ’ The remainder is made up of architect fees, consulting _fees, the land purchase and other costs associated with the | project, Ksan House Society program director Jan LeFran- cois said last week. “It’s all well within our budget,” she said of the building . which will go up near the downtown core. Deep Creek Contracting has given the society a 33- week -construction plan but society officials want to be in and set up in time for Christmas. , The two-story structure will combine the society’s admin- istrative and counselling. services with its transition house, which are now in separate locations. Administrative offices are now in a converted house and the transition house-is in a building no longer. considered suitable. There is also no wheelchair access. The transition house portion itself in the new structure will have five bedrooms containing two.beds and two more rooms containing three beds. All told, the society has $945, 000 i in either secured fi- nancing and equity from real estate holdings and will obtain a mortgage to cover the rest of the cost, said LeFrancois, “But we are still fundraising,” she added. The project received a boost this spring when B.C. Hous- _ ing, a provincial housing agency, added $260,000 in addi- - tion to an earlier sum of $180,000. That news was delivered by Skeena Liberal MLA Roger Harris, defeated in the May 17 election. He also announced: an additional $33,650 to expand society services and another $9,056 for a child support worker. B.C, Real Estate Foundation also contributing to the Pproj- ect through a $75,000 grant. The society is also on a drive to raise money to equip the _ transition house rooms with new furniture for the te bedrooms and for several activity rooms. 7