ly probe New tendship centre Terrace triathlete

i

| Ray Warner bikes more than
-250km a week in preparation for
the nationals\SPORTS B6

A new building for the Kermode
Friendship Centre means more
programming\COMMUNITY B1.

The provincial government hands.
out a cool half million for a
porcupine Study\NEWS PAGE A5

WEDNESDAY
JULY 10,1996 _

CITY COUNCILLORS are retreating from
their decision to convert the city fleet to General
Motors cars and trucks after stiff opposition to
the move from other dealerships.

Council voted 3-1 Monday night to revisit the
issue.

Val George, Rich McDanie! and Ed Graydon
were in favour, with public works committee
chairman Gordon Hull opposed. (David Hull
and Ruth Hallock were absent).

The committee of the whole will debate the
issue again next week.

Council last month voted unanimously to
adopt a policy of gradually replacing its fleet of
trucks and cars with GM vehicles, instead of
going out to tender to various local dealers.

That incensed dealers like Terrace Totem
Ford's Jake De Jong and Terrace Chrysler’s Rob
Onstein.

De Jong appeared before council Monday

| City flip-flops on truck

night and told councillors there is no way to
guarantee taxpayers aren’t petting hosed with-
out a bid system.

“The taxpayers are going to end up paying
more,” he said. “If no bids are being taken
you're going to end up paying whatever they
want.”

“It’s public money you people are dealing
with. People deserve the best deal for their
money.”

Gordon Hull defended the decision, saying
that with about three-quarters of the 35-vehicle
city fleet GM already, it makes sense to switch
and save money by carrying only one set of
parts and having city workers service just the
one brand. .

“It makes them more efficient,” Hull said.
“And the public is constantly at us to be
efficient.”

He also noted that the city can still call for

bids from other northwest GM dealers if there's
some reason to be concerned about the price
quoted to them locally.

He noted that the shift to fleet pricing means
generally uniform vehicle pricing across the
country for buyers like the city,

“Just because we've decided to go with GM
for a while, it doesn’t mean it will be forever,”
Hull added. “Right now it makes the most
sense.”

De Jong said it would definitely anger him to
see the city go to GM dealers outside of town
and not tender to other dealers locally. ;

“Somebody is going to think that someone
here is on the take,” he said.

George said he’s prepared to rescind the
policy.

“I think Mr. De Jong made some very good
points,” George said. “I’m prepared to admit I
don’t think I paid sufficient attention to it and

Stream
savaged

A THORNHILL land-
owner is being investigated
for damaging the shores of
and waters of Thornhill
Creek.

Enviranmental conserva-
tion officers received a com-
plaint. from a neighbor -F
downstream that the waters
of the creek were frequently
becoming laden with silt

Upon investigation, the of-
ficers discovered that a
property-owier upstream
had removed ail of the
vegclation from the areas
along both sides of the
creck, known as the riparian
zane.

“This has had a substan-
tial impact on the ereek,’’
says conservation officer
James Hilgemann. ‘‘The in-
tegrity of the bank has been
destroyed.”

Hilgemann says that the
owner removed approximat-
ely 150 metres of trees and
bushes from the riparian
zone, right down to the
waters edge. The owner ap-
parently was planning on
pulling ina pasture.

“Depending on the results
of our investigation, charges
could be laid,” says Hil-
gemam.

Hilgemaun points out that
the riparian zone is very im-
portant to streams and wild-
life. He says that trees and
bushes in the zone shade the
waler, helping to keep it
cool. They also keep the
banks in tact — preventing
erosion.

Hilgemann says that the
stream has a good fish
value, containing lots of cut-

throat trout. He is concerned

ne about what effects the
- removal of vegetation might
have.

“There is quite substantial
damage,’’ he says.

The owner is facing pos-
sible charges under both the
fisheries and waters acts,

“m Hold on!

TERRACE WATER-SKI Club member Mark Poppleton carves a nice turn during a run on Lakelse Lake,
Last week, the lake was host to a British Cotumbia Water-Ski Association ski clinic. The ski-school catered
to all ages and abilities of skiers. Organizers say that it was a huge success, despite the somewhat spotty
weather and they hope to turn it into an annual event.

Nv

By DAVE TAYLOR
SEVENTEEN acres and four bears.

have, and it’s keeping them up at night.

kids play in the backyard.'’

ing the family for three weeks.

That’s what Doug and Debbie Middleton

“We've got a sow and twin cubs living in the
back,”’ says Doug Middleton. ‘‘She’s becn
gieat — never bothers us. But I can't let the

What does bother the Middlctons is a large,
ghostly white Kermodei that has been terroriz-

. “He's been getting into our garbage and our
grain,’ says Debble Middleton, “Ard he bas no ermodej .
fear of dogs or people. He’s a royal paln. I’ “'The.conservation guys came wp and left 4 trap,
haven’t had a decent night's sleep in weeks.’

The Middlctons live right across the road from
the Terrace dump. They point out that they
never had a bear problem before the dump put
up an electrified fence.

Now they have four.

Debbie says that she doesn’t understand why
they would put a fence around a dump that is
due to close within two years.

“They just dumped the problem in our laps,’
she says. ~

Doug Middleton Is shocked about just how
brazen the bears can be,

“The kermodei is what geis me,’! he says.

but the bear just laughs at it. He bas no fear. 1

buying policy

I'm prepared to reconsider it.”

George said council can go with an open bid-
ding process and still go with GM vehicles
based on the efficiencies unless there’s a signifi-
cant difference on price.

“We have to be fair to the other dealers in
town,” added Graydon.

Councillor McDaniel congratulated George
and Graydon for deciding to join him in opposi-
tion to the policy, stating he was the only one
who voted against it.

In fact, McDaniel did not raise his hand for or
against, according to administrator Bob Hallsor,
and, under the Municipal Act, an abstention is
officially recorded as a vote in favour.

Hull maintained the decision was the right
one and said council knew it was going to take
heat on the issue.

“As soon as you exclude someone from the
tendering process, someone‘s upset.”

Fish runs
look strong

WHAT'S SHAPING up to be a bumper year for most fish
runs on the Skeena means a commercial aboriginal fishery
will go ahead this year.

Federal fisheries issued licences last week granting the
Tsimshian, Gitxsan and Lake Babine Band initial allocations
of 15,000 sockeye salmon each.

_., .hat number is expected to increase as the season goes on, .
says Dayid Einarson, area chief of fisheries management at
DFO’s Prince Rupert office. — a

Tsimshian. natives are carrying out fish wheel selective -
fisheries around Terrace and are conducting beach seining fur-
ther down the river. ae ;

So far, the sockeye run is coming in larger than the 3.5 mil-
lion fish expected, oe

. “There are weekly escapement targets, so the number that
they’ve got will likely go up if we get a good run,” Binarson
suid last week. The sockeye are considered surplus, over and
above the amount needed for spawning, native food fish and
sport fishing.

“We now have a
surplus of 100,000
(sockeye) in the riv-
er. Using a risk-
averse approach we
consider that 50 per
cent of that is
harvestable.”

Last year, the
three native groups ended up taking a total of approximately
200,000 surplus sockeye.

‘At this stage it is early in the run, so we are being cau-
tious,” Einarson said of the allocativn.

By Sunday the sockeye run was looking even better, with
450,000 fish up the river as of July 7, compared to the target
of 200,000 fish.

An exceptional run is also shaping up for chinook, the lar-
gest, most prized salmon. Run-strength estimates generated by
the Tyee test fishery so far suggest the chinook run is the
second best on record and wel! ahead of most years.

Coho haven't started entering the river yet, but reports
from the outside area suggest good numbers. Pink salmon,
however, are not forecast to return in strength next month,

Meanwhile, at the mouth of the Skeena, a downsized com-
mercial fishing fleet was working on its third sockeye opening
late last week, .

“The catches are good for this time of. year. The fleet is
down about 300 boats from last year, so that’s a real bonus to
the fishermen who are fishing out there because with less
competition they should be able to catch more fish, I would
think,” Einarson said. , ;

M Selective gillnets
tested, Page A7

M Specialty fisheries
under claim, Page A9

The strategy is to hit the fishery hard carly on in the season
to avoid unintentional by-catches of steelhead and coho, con-
sidered weak stocks,

“Basically, the strategy is to fish really hard in July and
back way off in August, August is when the coho and stcel-
head move through the fishing area.”

An overall. plan is worked out in conjunction with the
Skeena Watershed Commission, which consists of commer-
cial, aboriginal and sports ishing representatives.

Ghost bear haunts family

came out of the house one time and he was
standing at the end of the porch. He didn’t
move, just looked at me,”’

Debbie Middleton says that the bear has been
responsible for a number of sleepless nights,

“The dogs go nuls and keep everyone up,”
she says. ‘‘But If we let them in, then we have
to watch our pig pen all night.’’

Their visitor isn’t any showing signs of leay-
ing either, In fact, his nocturnal escapades are
increasing in frequency. He now shows up al-
most nightly.

Continued Page A2