NORTH / POLE ° Resources -ity study which, if enacted, «f§ ‘has entered into discussions ~ mill site. 7 spokesman for NPRI. “model.” ‘plan by NPRI to devolve’ Gift of food — Last-minute shoppers should think cuisine for | gifts sure to pleas \COMMUNITY B1 it’s about money The city approves fat budget for new tourism. group, cuts other off \NEWS A14__ On the sheets Curling club. welcomes the best juniors to the provincial championship \SPORTS B5 $1.00, PLUS 6¢ GST _ ($1.10 plus 7¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) Inc. (NPRI) has announced a wide-ranging — feasibil- . would change the face of the: _ Terrace and area economy. ° Details are hard to come by but it is known that NPRI. to purchase a large segment of the 73-acre former saw- “It’s extremely rare to find « a land parcel of this kind of calibre so close to a city and right next to a highway, rail : tracks and services,”. said a “We view the potential as having a huge upside particularly because of our demand-driven _ business That’s a reference to a SELF-STYLED Santa Express, in the form of the largest commercial production ‘aircraft in the world, could soon be making it home at the Northwest Regional Airpot here in Terrace provided. a complex business deal goes through. 7 between 550 and 800 people, depending upon the seating - configuration. “Just think.” We’ d only Vancouver a week. ‘Every- body’ goes down. together ‘and they all return together," said the spokesman. Their - cargo’ capacity is unparalleled in the Known aviation world. : “These aircraft have the range we need and the size : annual toy-based ‘commit- ments,” said the spokesman. “We must add that it was which made this. possible.” There is one drawback, however, ‘and ‘that is “Her- mans,” the hills at the south DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO _- end of the runway. certain aspects of its North Pole operation to a location more conducive to shipping _ and receiving large-amounts of Christmas-related’ _prod- ucts. 7) “Tn this particular circum- stance, locating close to the ongoing container port de- velopment at Prince Rupert is, we feel, a move that will solidify our business core,” "said the NPRI spokesman. — ' “The proximity. of the “ port to the Pacific Rim, from: ‘which we draw a lot of our . resources, makes this land _ tenure acquisition model a certainty.” “And when you consider -the far-flung railway sys-_ tem now in place, the North American continent is more accessible from Terrace now | than from the North -Pole,”. the spokesman continued. “We are very committed " study also concerns the pos- _ sibility.of purchasing the lo- to doing this deal and cre- ating a new industry in this town.” It’s not known if the ‘dis- cussions pertain to all or por-.. tions of the 73-acre sawmill parcel and whether NPRI is : the-coast. more interested in the main. mill site or the larger log ‘storage location. A key part of the NPRI- cal regional airline now con- necting the northwest with .” That’s because NPRI would need an air bridge to Ja its main’ "North Pole location ~ with the’‘one planned here i in ‘Terrace. “Obviously _ this “airline” has the experience and the - _ people and the infrastructure in place to handle our needs,” said the NPRI spokesman. The big factor, the “ spokesman continued, in the airline purchase agreement "for years as a problem when we require to fulfill Santa’s ° -only the runway extension: _is the size of plane requited. The airline’s.current fleet ~ is too small to handle NPRI’s expected air cargo demand. - So that’s: why NPRI is considering the purchase of at least two of the double-’ decker giant A-380 aircraft now being introduced to the world-wide aviation market. it comes to landing because. . they are so close to the air pot. “We'd have to blow. them up to: bring’ in. that-A-380,” said the NPRI official. “But that’s the price of progress.” | _ City officials were ata. sportsplex planning meet- ing and were unavailable for comment, Thieves strike at anti-poverty donation jars © By DUSTIN QUEZADA THREE JARS soliciting donations to buy Christmas presents for local children and youth have been stolen. The decorated glass jars were part of the Terrace Anti-Poverty Group’s Children’s Christmas Campaign and were taken from businesses and the library. . The'campaign’s organizer shrugs her shoulders in res- ignation. “It’s for kids for Christmas,” Stacey Tyers said, taking a break from wrapping presents for the campaign _last week. “It’s just sad that the change jars were stolen,” Jars were taken from the Terrace Public Library, Speedy _ Cash and from another location. Tyers says the person who phoned from Speedy was mortified because the jar was half full. desperation and it’s the desperate who make up Terrace Anti-Poverty’s clientele. “These are our clients,” Tyers said. “The people likely to steal are the ones that need-it the most.” The jars, 52 of them in all, went out to a variety of frequented businesses and public institutions. The money collected from the jars is going toward _making up any shortage'the group has when it has to buy presents for children and kids who didn’ t get sponsored in the community. “It takes the weight off,” said Tyers of the $300 that had been accumulated as of last week. _ How much was lost will never be known but Tyers says the group will follow the advice of one of the banks - where it had a jar. * , ‘The bank wants it emptied ‘regularly so that such a _theft doesn’t occur. police. . r “Obviously, the person who took them really neéd- help.” The jars remain out t until this week. The Children’s Christmas campaign workers will dis- ‘tribute more than 500 gifts tomorrow. ; The irony, says Tyers is that the crime was an act of _ Terrace Anti- Poverty did not report the incident to . ed them,” Tyers said. “If you’re that desperate, we can. STACEY Tyers says she feels sad that three jars 3 like these were taken from loca- tions in the city. The stolen money would have gone toward buying gifts for needy children and youth this holiday season. DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO - pany with property in the region. - Power line plan wanted | THE PROVINCIAL government needs to take a leadership role in providing power up Hwy37 North to ensure there’s an orderly approach to development, says an official from a mining com- Julian Kemp of London, Ont. -based Fortune Minerals says there’s huge potential for develop- ment in the region but only if the province takes the lead. Ati issue is the lack of power north of Meziadin . Junction of sufficient quantity to attract investors to promising mineral properties. Mines traditionally have used diesel fuel to _Yun generators but it’s expensive and becoming. uneconomical compared to other forms of power. There’s been an intensive lobbying campaign from politicians and companies to have the pro- vincial government extend the provincial power grid north of Meziadin Junction on Hwy37 North where it now stops. approach is needed. But there are also companies in the area pre- pared to manufacture their own power using re-: sources under their control in the area and that’s why Kemp says an overall provincially-guided “We feel the B.C. government and BC Hydro need to take the lead in this. This can benefit the province as a whole. You need to do it in a con- ‘trolled way,” he said. Cont’d Page A2 They can carry anywhere | - | Civic merger raises head» once again | By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN | t AMALGAMATING Terrace and Thornhill tops Mayor Jack / Talstra’s objectives for the next year as he gave his: annual "state of the city address.to the Terrace and District Chamber: 7 of Commerce last week. ae “I think we should go.to referendum i in the fall of 2007, ” Talstra said, asking the business community | to start talking and thinking about amalgamation in their every, day activi- . - ties to. promote the idea. “We see economic activity growing in Prince Rupert and a. - we know that will follow into Kitimat. om “If we don’t start developing some strategies right now we will become irrelevant.” . According to federal statistics for 2005 Terrace has.a population of 12,556 while the: most recent numbers for _ Thornhill and area, provided by the Kitimat-Stikine regional ” district, show a population of 7,870. Combining Terrace and Thornhill would create'a munici- _pality of more than 20,000 people, making it the second larg- est city in northern B.C. next to Prince George. That is what the city needs to put itself on the map and to” attract investment and opportunities, says Talstra. John T. aylor, the executive director ofthe Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce, says the: chamber supports Talstra’s initiative. Prior to the November 2005 election the chamber ‘had _ Prepared a report to city council urging it to begin pursu-- ing the amalgamation issue and though that didn’t happen -_— _at the time, Taylor says he’ s now glad to see the city talking referendum. ! co _ “The big thing is .we have no clout as a community of 12,000 people, but we have clout as 20,000,” Taylor says, adding a higher population means more money for services. ‘And he says that designation:as the second largest city in the northwest means it will change how potential investors . sitting in major urban centres perceive Terrace. -In 1997 a-referendum on incorporating Terrace and “have. to make one.trip to. They’ve been regarded Thornhill as a new municipality passed in Terrace with 87 : per cent of voters giving it the thumbs up. But in Thornhill the no votes came in at 58 per cent, while . 42 per cent of those who voted were in favour of the motion. . For the referendum to be successful, a yes vote had to be ~ obtained from both communities in order to forge ahead... At that time the province had committed roughly $5 mil-, lion to the new municipality if amalgamation were tO OCCUT. ' The money was promised as $2 million in cash and-$3 million ‘for items such as road improvements and other in- -frastructure items necessary for Thornhill. . Talstra.says it wouldn’t be unreasonable to. approach the province for $10 million this time around and use the’ money in Thornhill for service and infrastructure develop-. ment, such as road building and repair, bridge upgrades and: perhaps sewer installation. That would help unify municipal infrastructure between Thornhill and Terrace. Cont'd Page A2