Taking measure
Crashing cars and doing
math is all in a day’s work
for one RCMP officer
\NEWS A5

| Thanks, dad ©

On the heels of Father’s
Day, columnist Ev Bishop
puts her gratitude in words’
\COMMUNITY B1

Appliances, paper bags

and a Crazy Canuck race

at the Terrace Speedway

| \SPORTS B4

$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST -
outside of the Terrace area)

-VOL.18 NO, 11

-Ore-carry

By! ROD LINK
‘ MINING company says it has found

-less' environmentally. controversial.
method of taking ore concentrate out of a
planned gold mine north of here.

NovaGold Resources now wants to
tum. the concentrate into a liquid: form
called “slurry” and run it through.a small-_
diameter’ pipeline running 100km east
from its Galore Creek property to Hwy37
North.

The concept means the company ‘has
abandoned a plan to build an industrial
haul road through the untouched lower
Stikine River area, prized by environ-

mentalists and the area’s Tahitan natives .
for its beauty, wilderness and wildlife’

values.

Stabber
beer oge
guilty:

By MARGARET SPEIRS _
THE MAN accused of
stabbing a Terrace RCMP
officer has been found guilty
by a Prince Rupert supreme -
court jury after a nine- day

Charles Joseph Costel-
lo was convicted of one
count of aggravated assault
and one count of assault,
dropped from one count of
assaulting a peace officer, §
June 16 in the stabbing of |
former Terrace RCMP Cst.
Cam Joseph.

He was found not guilty
of one count of attempted
murder.

. On Dec, 20, 2003, Joseph :
was stabbed with a large
hunting knife as he got out
of his vehicle while respond- _
ing to a disturbance that be-

_gan at Hanky Panky’s pub
around midnight.

He suffered a:13-cm gash
to his neck, which required
20 stitches to close, and cuts
to his face, Costello was ar-
rested at the scene.

-A pre-sentence report will
be presented here on Sept. -
‘19, before Costello is ‘sen-
tenced. Costello’s trial was
moved to Prince Rupert after
his defence lawyer, Terrence
La Liberte, successfully ar-
gued that it should not be
held in Terrace.

‘ La Liberte said a story in |
the Nov. 24, 2004 issue of
The Terrace Standard and
other reports about Joseph

NovaGold will still build a road. but
it will be to the north; just one lane'and
won’t be a heavy-use route for large ore-

carrying trucks, says Carl Gagnier, the .
‘company’s Galore Creek manager. :

“That route still presents its challeng-
es because of elevation on some sections
and it will be a difficult road to build, but
we believe overall we now have some-
thing we can work with,” he said. —

Natives and environmental groups had
been pressing NovaGold to abandon the
southern route in favour of a northern one
which would ‘have been more expensive
but less environmentally challenging.

The combination of a scaled-down ~
northern route and the slurry” pipeline '

came after the Tahltan asked NovaGold

- being presented: an award .
for valour arising from the |
assault would prejudice po-
tential jury members here.

Joseph has since been

- transferred to Penticton.

a Celebrating Aboriginal Day

KATHY WESLEY and Blaine Stensgaard show people around the Ksan House 20-pole teepee during the |,
Aboriginal Day celebrations June 18.

www ww.terracestandard.com.._

“pip eline planned —

to reconsider its plans and made some
new route suggestions, said Gagnier.
Slurry pipelines are not unusual else-

where around the world where road ac-
cess isn’t possible to ore bodies because
of terrain or high elevations, he added.

“There are installations that-are up to.
 300km long,” Gagnier added.

The planned six-inch. diameter pipe-

line would come out at Hwy37 near Bob |.”
-Quinn Lake, 409km north of Terrace.

It would then be filtered to remove liq- -
.uids, loaded onto trucks and driven south
and then west for shipping out of port fa- .

cilities at Stewart.

One environmental activist,
Hill from Terrace who works for the Ca-
nadian Parks and Wilderness Society, is

ara)

—

Bruce :

generally happy with NovaGold's new
proposal. «

we hope to work more with NovaGold as
it develops this proposal,” he said. —
Hill said the proposed southern. route

would have been 158km long involving

crossings over fish-bearing waterways.

“The Stikine is one of the most scenic

river valleys in the world,” said Hill.
“He. predicted massive Canadian and

‘American environmental and native op-

position had NovaGold stayed with its
first proposed southern route plan.

-NovaGold i is spending more than $20. -
million this year on the Galore Creek

“We think choosing a northern route.
' js a good and responsible decision and °

" Wednesday, June 22, 2005

potential : and in preparation for submit- oo

ting to a governmental environmental

‘assessment. That kind of spending has .

translated into a full-scale facility at Ga-
lore Creek for 175 people.
_° NovaGold is using a: Tahltan- owned
company for some of its camp facilities.
~ Workers are being flown in and out

from Terrace by helicopter. That contract

‘and other spending by NovaGold has
helped boost the local economy.
The company wants a formal e econom-

ic. feasibility study done next year ‘and -
wants to submit the project for environ-

mental approval by the end of this year...
A study based on 2004 information

estimated NovaGold could have a mine _

~ with a life span of 20 years or more,

Property | to better outline its gold mine

KAT LEE PHOTO

District shells out big bucks
to buy out two top execs

to replace them.

| Health travel .
help wanted _

_ THE NORTHERN Health Authority wants to spend upward oo
- of $4 million to improve ‘travel-for people needing medical
care within the region and to make it easier for people to

return home if sent outside of the area for. treatment.

It envisions regularly-scheduled shuttle service between

-Terrace-Kitimat and Houston-Smithers-Terrace and three
other ground routes to the east.

Such services would be subsidized but passengers. will
still pay some sort of fare, says authority. official Sean Hardi-

'” man whois overseeing the project. .
. Just as important, the authority is asking airlines to come
, up with the lowest fares possible and secure seating for |

people who have been flown by air ambulance for treatment
down south or out of the province and who need to return
once discharged: o

“In a perfect world all of these costs would be covered but
that chance of all costs being covered are pretty slim to not
at all, but we want to establish an arrangement for the lowest
possible fares,” said Hardiman.

Nearly 2,500 northerners are now flown outside of the re-
gion each year for treatment but the authority doesn’t know
how many are placed in the predicament of not having return
" trips already planned.

Hardiman said ground transportation could be provided
by existing companies or by new companies which could

: also use the program as a springboard for additional passen-

ger service between communities in the north. .

- “We will have controls to ensure those who ‘use the ser-
vice do. so for medical reasons and do not treat it as a shop-
ping trip or for some other reason,” he added.

’ Health officials will also work with physicians and hos-

Pitals to schedule appointments around the transportation
service days.

’ Having doctors and others know that. a certain amount _
of patients are arriving on a set date will make their service .
more efficient and avoid last-minute cancellations by indi- .

viduals who may not want to travel because of weather con-
ditions.
~ “Doctors will also know that their patients who need treat-
ment and who have to travel a long way will be able to make
their appointment and get that treatment,” said Hardiman. ~
At the same time, the health authority i is thinking about

~ Jetting out a contract to create a call centre for people who
need information about general medical services in their
community, about travel options and about locally-provided —

support services.
It won't give medical advice and is not intended as an

emergency health services line, said Hardiman.

“There are lots of groups out there who provide a ser-

vice and this would be one way to make all that information
available.at one place,” he said.

Cont'd PageA2 .

By DUSTIN QUEZADA

COAST MOUNTAINS School District 82 has paid out just.

over $180,000 in severance packages in the last year to two
top executives when their employment was ended.
Robert Gilfillan, the district’s former maintenance super-

intendent left last September, while Don MacPherson, direc- _

tor of human resources and labour relations lost his job this
past February.

School district superintendent ‘Randy Smalbrugge says
the severance money paid did not affect the school district’s
budget when it came to providing education services.

“The district is required to have an unfunded liability
fund,” Smalbrugge added in describing it as an amount of
money which can be tapped for unforeseen expenditures.

Gilfillan was paid $94,734.48 and was the victim of.

downsizing, as the district restructured the management of
its facilities, the superintendent added.

Two other lower level maintenance employees left at the
same time as Gilfillan and only two new people were hired

Chuck Morris from the lower mainland \ was ‘hired tore- (ei

place Gilfillan as director of facility services, while Mark
Marterison was brought on to manage custodial needs and
act as the occupational hazard safety officer.

The board also decided to buy out MacPherson’s contract
at a cost of $75,462.70 for what Smalbrugge would only de-
scribe as a “personnel i issue.”

“He didn’t fit i in with the direction we were taking with
human resources,” Smalbrugge says.

Frank Rowe, once the head of the local teachers’ union
who then returned to the classroom, took over as director of

‘human resources after McPherson left.

Smalbrugge says the changes are working out very well
on the operational side.

Morris brings 25 years of experience with the Langley
school district, while Rowe’s knowledge from his time with
teachers’ union has helped in his duties for teacher Staffing,
Smalbruege says.

Seed

| Off-roading

TYREL ORANGO waits patiently for a tow after steering his car into the infield. |
ditch during the bag race at the Terrace Stock Car Association’s Redneck Race-
day June 12. For more on the races, turn to page B4. MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

7

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