Ma knows best

Pioneer play depicts

Electric project
Maroon Creék to supply

Age vs. speed.
Teens rip along the

$1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST

THE

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($1.10 plus 7¢ GST: ,
outside of the Terrace area)

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VOL.19. ‘NO. :

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- Securi

By MARGARET SPEIRS.

MUCH-NEEDED ’ Victim
Assistance Program is losing volunteers

before they even get a chance to put their —
‘training. to.good.use, placing a strain on
the remaining volunteers and paid staff.

Sherry Pellegrino, program. manager
of the ‘Terrace RCMP. Victim Assistance

- Program.(TVAP) said in a recent report
to city council that it has experienced a -
dramatic ‘decrease in the number of its

volunteers over the past year.

Volunteers are key to the program.

which provides ‘advice and support as

victims of crime work their way through

the justice system.

cruiting and training new volunteers only
to have them leave. when their security
clearances take too long to be completed, ;

Pellegrino said.

-The group starts the clearance process

in advance of training in the hope that the
_ clearance will be approved shortly. after
training ends, but often that is not the ”

case and trained volunteers. are lost be-
fore their clearances are,approved..
The program maintained a number of

- long-time volunteer support workers for
at least five years but has lost a significant

number of long time volunteers over the

past year, which has led to a significant .
_ increase in the workload of paid staff and

remaining volunteers, she said.
Const. Rochelle Patenaude of Ter-

race RCMP: said the security clearance.
required for RCMP volunteers in. areas |

such as TVAP and the RCMP Auxil-
iary Constable Program is an indepth.
clearance, and is much more thorough.
and complex. than what's: required, for a,
school volunteer...

This is because the TVAP. or auxiliary ,

‘ volunteers have access to police and oth-

er files and to protected information.
These applicants must provide per-,

_ sonal history information i in writing that

is returned to the ‘RCMP detachment

whereupon an investigator is assigned to-

verify and determine if there is any. rea-

‘son the person should not have access to

protected information, she said.
“We strive to.complete these clear-

‘ances ; expeditiously, however as they are”
‘security clearances’ we do not rush them

through either, aid the constable.
This entire process from the day the

“applicant is:provided the forms to when
the’security checks are completed locally,,
and then finally sent to RCMP Headquar-

ters in Vancouver:for final approval can
take . several months, explained Paten-
aude.

Applicants: who have lived i in several
different residences and have had numer-
ous employers take the investigator more
time to complete the appropriate checks.

Investigators that are assigned these
security check files are also responsible

* for other police investigations | as well,
Said Patenaude. «

». That requires a great deal. of time re-

>
ak

ry Rippin

it up

A BACKHOE tears down the burnt part of a house at the corner of f Eby St. and Davis Ave. July 28. A blaze, believed to have been _
' started when an electrical cord short-circuited, charred a downstairs bedroom and caused smoke damage to the entire building in ~
. June. Two women and two children escaped unharmed. Owner Roger Leclerc said he’s planning to rebuild.

MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO ~

_ Huge highway job nearly done

THE PAVING crews have all but finished and all
that’s left-on an eight-year, multi-million project

to improve roads into and in the Nass Valley itself.
' is painting the lines.

“We expect the paint crew back Aug. 15 and

’ that should be it,” says transportation ministry of-

ficial George Lomas of the $51:525 million proj-

‘ect which -has replaced gravel roads with paved

ones.
Work included raising the roadbed in areas

which had been subject to flooding, four bridges

and a much straighter and safer route alongside
Lava Lake leading into the Nass Valley.

Paving crews last week were working on a few.
' areas to improve drainage, said Lomas. :
All told the Nisga’a, Highway project saw

93km of roads brought up to paved standards,
providing a more reliable, accessible and safer
route into and in the Nass Valley.

The result is reduced driving time between the

outside and the Nass Valley, opening it to eco-
nomic and social development.

The new road is expected to boost tourism
development in the Nass keyed on the Nisga’a

Memorial Lava Bed Park which is jointly man-

aged by the Nisga’a Lisims Government and the
provincial government. -

Lomas said the cost will come within his
$51.525 million budget.

“We’re within the boundaries [of the budget]
and that won’t change,” he added.

The project was to take seven years but delays

and fall weather last year delayed the final paving
work through the park and on to Nass Camp east
of New Aiyansh.

The project, which began in 1998, was not part
of the negotiations leading up to the signing of
the Nisga’a land claims treaty in 2000 but was re-
garded as vital if the social and economic goals of
the treaty were to be realized.

Originally sealcoating, a mixture of oils and

. gravel, was to be used as a surface based on a $41

million budget but that changed after the Lisims
government conducted a series of negotiations in

2001 shortly after the provincial Liberal govern-

ment defeated the NDP.

“They said sealcoating was pavement and we
didn’t agree,” Lisims official Collier Azak said at
the time.

As well, then- -provincial transportation minis-

ter Judith Reid said the original budget and expec- .

tations were based on what she called vague and

' inaccurate information in the first project agree-
ment struck between the Nisga’ a and the former .
- NDP government.

The decision to go with pavement added more
than $10 million to the original budget.
The work also provided jobs and training to

to improve Nass road system

Nass residents with the expectation the skills —
~ learned would lead to other employment.

At the start of the work under the former NDP
government, workers benefitted’ by government
policy which required companies to pay pre-set.
union labour rates under union agreements.

But that was done away with by the Liberals

shortly after they were elected in 2001..
This year the province gave the Nisga’a High-

‘way an official highway number, 113. It signifies _

the number of years it took after the Nisga’a first .
raised what they term “the land question” leading ~

‘to the 2000 treaty signing.

* The eight-year project is separate from the $33

‘million spent to build a road west from Greenville.

alonside the Nass River to Kincolith at the river’s
mouth.

That was completed in late 2002, providing for, oi

the first time a road connecting all of the villages .
in the Nass Valley.

Up until then, Kincolith residents used Prince
Rupert for most of what they needed, relying on
air or a ferry service and private boats.

That in itself has spurred economic develop-
ment in Kincolith which bills itself. as the “Sea-
food Capital of the Nass Valley.”

The cost of the Kincolith road was split be-
tween the provincial and federal governments
with in-kind work provided by the Nisga’a.

city’s history through enough power for 2,500 ¢ Speedway to victory at
nine memorable women houses to BC Hydro # Redneck Raceday
\COMMUNITY B1 \NEWS A7 \SPORTS BS

cess as soon as possible,” she- said.’
“We also factor the time required into

vise them from: the onset ‘the estimated
time required for the security cleararice.”

“our volunteer recruiting efforts ‘and ad-

In comparison, security. checks: re-

quested by local schools for casual class ; a .
volunteers normally include searches of —
three data bases and take. approximately “5

five to 10 minutes depending on: the ¢ com-,

plexity of the request...

These checks are completed by] RCMP

front counter staff weekday mornings.

Forest action
calls balloon”

- | By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN.

It’s a call that’s been made numerous times over the last

. two decades..

This time the calls are more. urgent because a high Ca-

Wes Cheston, a former assistant deputy forests minister,

port.

was specific on those recommendations and more in his re-

7 PEOPLE from virtually every sector of the northwest woods .
. -industry‘are once again calling on the provincial government .
- to designate the area a special economic zone for forestry. *

ys nadian dollar, a soft international lumber market:and-costly....._
”” softwood lumber tariffs are strangling an already devastated
‘ industry. The idea of a special economic zone in which com-
panies would pay lower amounts for the timber they’ ‘buy
* from the province and in which the province itself would
-. pay for roads to timber stands and spend money to boost sil-

- Viculture gained momentum in a 2000 report : commissioned
. by the former NDP government.

It was followed by a City of Terrace report, completed i in’

2004, and backed Cheston’s findings that high logging costs -
‘needed to be cut because of the law value of northwest: for- "
ests. é _

: “A special: ‘economic zone means that you a put a “wall
around an area of the province where you can be. very cre-
ative,” says Roger Harris, former junior minister of state for _
forestry. “Maybe we have a unique silviculture policy, may- oY

be a different Policy for BC Timber Sales — ‘when. you: say.

“special zone,” it really says nothing, so under that window

- you have to put. down a menu of options and choices. that

government can look. at doing in. that zone. which will get

things rolling again.”

By creating a special zone the government could: ‘spend

be all about forest health — the long term sustainability of a
vibrant forest industry.”

Cont'd d Page AS.

"SPENCER? S Hill, just outside of New.Aiyansh, -\
one of the last sections of an extensive Nisga’a High-

way construction project to be paved. The work began

in 1998. .

\ ERIC GRANDISON PHOTO

money on road building, silviculture or look at new. ways of .

’ licensing land and timber to encourage investment. . 7

- “Some of those will be controversial there. is- no: ‘doubt ne
- about it,” Harris says. “But at the end of the day this: should:

oat

“In our detachment we are aware that os .
an enhanced security check ‘takes a sige,
nificant ‘amount of time so .we-request'" *.
applicants submit the required: forms: PASe

- soon as possible in order to start the Pro- -

rte