|Council Shorts Pave plans will go ahead -SPARKS ST. residents on the bench and the southside will get their road repaved whether they like it or not. Councillors agreed last week the city should override the ab- “jections and pave Sparks from Haugland to Keith Ave. and from Gair to the Kitselas Ac- cess road, The cowncil-initiaied Local: Improvement Project (LIP) on the southside to pave and in- stall sewer at a cost of $22.33 per frontage foot was opposed by 51.6 per cent of the Sparks St homeowners there, But they represent only 45.2 per ‘cent of the assessed value of the property. Residents must have a major- ity of owners representing More than 50 per cent of the Property value opposed to. defeat a council-initiated LIP. The project on the bench was opposed by 44.4 per cent. of Sparks homeowners, represent- ing 48 per cent of the assessed value. ; The North Sparks LIP will pave. the street al a cost of about $12 per frontage foot. Both projects were recipients of substantial , government in- frastructure grants which cut the cost of the LIPs. Finance committee chairman David Hull shook his head with disbelief that some resi- denis would still oppose them. “A 66 per cent discount and they still don’t want it,’? he said. ‘“How much cheaper do they think it will get?”’ _ “Ask the people on Twedle who are paying $67 per foot.’? Road push called for RUTH HALLOCK is worried: there’s already ‘oo much road work planned for 1996 and that much of it again may ,not get cémpleted,” EAT ah The city is projecting ayear™ ‘end surplus itt all accounts “of just over $3 million in various accounts because a number of | proposed public works projects ‘couldn’t be completed. In some cases contractors were too busy or were com- “tnitied elsewhere. City hall’s reorganization alsa contributed to delays of soime projects this year. “*We beiter get it done in 96, because that’s an election year,’” Hallock said. - She said she doesn’t view it as wise to leave large public works projects straddling be- tween the terms of two city councils. ‘96 will be the catchup year, I suspect,’”’ councillor David Hull said. Rail crossing ‘gates wanted CN RAIL is asking the city to pay about $18,500 towards the installation of a flashing cross- ing light and crossing gates ‘wher the mil line crosses Frank St. ‘But so far city officials aren’t , eager to hand over any money. ~ They’re asking for a better ‘breakdown of the anticipated costs. And they suggest the [city may opt out of paying for “} the crossing gates. ~ Councillors echoed the con- cern of director of engineering Stew Christensen that the gates will be expensive to neplace if they're broken by big trucks, “He predicted annual maintenance costs of more J than $10,000 with the gates, — ~ | Without them, the cost would | decrease -but the city would ‘Tikely still pay CN about ‘$4,000 a year to maintain the lights”) —- a figure that astounded councillors present. “Christensen sald Transport ‘Canada has designated the | crossing a dangerous intersec- Hon. | Sidewalk work approved THE CITY will pay an estimated $23,400 to rebuild the decaying sidewalk and curb in front of the Terrace Inn building on Greig Ave. Councillors last week recom- ‘mended. council approve the work, | Northwest. Comnfi Native | needs prompt new post NATIVE students at Northwest Community College in Terrace. will find a new service available to them this year. Mae Derrick has taken on the position of First Nations Student ~ Access Coordinator. The students Derick will be aiding come from diverse back- grounds. There are 24 native communities in the college area, - representing seven different cul- tural groups. _ Her position was created as a result of an examination the col- lege carried out last year of its re- lationship with native com- munities, From this also came a recom- mendation to establish a first na- tions education council. The plan is to have the council in place by year’s end and have it work towards common goals in education and training needs, The motivation bebind the col- lege's actions does not come fom a growing number of native students enrolling in programs in the college. In fact, Derrick con- etded, the college doesn’t even know how many native students it has. Nor is NWCC unique in creat- ing the post. There are 23 other first nations co-ordinators at post- secondary institutions across the province, AS PART OF Orientation Week at the Terrace campus of Northwest Community College, students placed pins in a map of B.C. indicating where they came from. That’s Charlene Ottenbros above. One of Derrick's first priorities will be to establish a talking cir- cle which would meet in the evenings. The talking circle would be the first of many ways Derrick hopes to make native cul- ture visible on campus, “ll be helping to promote cul- tural awareness, as well as help- ing students overcome barriers to successful learning,’? she ex- plained. As part of raising that aware- ness, Derrick plans to meet with Students to organize a feast and an Orientation session which will explain ‘the sweat = lodge ceremony, All cultures will be invited to lake part in these and other events, in an effort to promote CTOSS- cultural understanding, She will also be organizing a cultural competency program for college staff and the public, College facts JUST WHAT. happens-behind the wails of the,; Northwest) Com- munity College campuses: across the region? Who's studying, what do they spend and what does it ‘cost to run this post-secondary in- stitution? Just over 40 per cent of all stu- dents at NWCC attend college in Terrace. The next thiee most pap- wlar campuses are. Prince Rupert at 19.4 per cent, Kitimat at 11.9 per cent and Hazelton at 9.5 per cent, These communities are fol- lowed by Smithers, Houston, Nass Valley, Queen Charlotte Is- lands and Stewart. . The college region stretches across 130,000 sq. km. and has a population of. approximately 90,000 people, . ; In October last year the college counted 1,028 full time students, 522 part time students and an Im- pressive 7,731 students enrolled in night school and general inter- est programs. The average age ‘of the typical NWCC student was 29 years old, and 59 per cent of all students were female. The shrinking num- ber of male students seems to fol- low a national trend in post secondary education, as_ women are increasingly outnumbering men at these institutions. What does il cost to enrich the minds of all these students? The gross annual budget for the 1995/96 school year . is $18,030,000. Your average full time student chips i in $1, 188 of that fi figure. . 3026 Highway. Featuring one of the best - oo warrantles in the business. Trade om most new Mazda’s im stock: Murry, this is a liemited time offer! IT JUST FEELS RIGHT In