Musicville | Musicians and enablers look to ramp up the live local music scene > -\COMMUNITY B1 Sky high \NEWS A8 Airport passenger levels reach numbers not seen since the late 1990s Golden guns Rod and Gun Club celebrates 50 years on historic military site \SPORTS B9 $1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST (81.10 plus 7¢ GST .. outside of the Terrace area) 7 VOL19 NO. 22. eee > Families of deceased men sue RCMP. By MARGARET SPEIRS THE RCMP and one of its officers are being sued by the families of two local men who perished in. _a devastating head-on collision near Williams Lake two years ago. The families of Dean Vaughn Gansen and Rich- ° ‘ard Bruce Brown are suing Williams Lake: RCMP Const. R. B: Jansen who was involved in a police Shortly after Const. Jansen began the chase, he | was ordered to back off to | km behind the vehicle. But Hart plowed his tractor-trailer head-on into Gansen’s and Brown’s tractor-trailer, killing himself and both men in the ensuing fire. © _ The coroner’s report indicated Hart was high on crystal meth at the time of the crash. Vancouver-based lawyer, Wes Mussio is taking ‘the officer and the RCMP to court on behalf of the - pursuit of the driver of a truck that crossed the cen- _ tre line, crashing i into the truck the, two Terrace men were in. The officer was pursuing David James: Hart after several motorists reported that Hart was attempting to run them off thé road on Hwy 97 outside Williams ‘Lake in the early morning hours of: Aug. 27, 2004. families of the deceased men. He’s also representing the families in a civil suit against ICBC before the Worker’s Compensation Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) to decide if the families will receive compensation for the deaths of the two men. . The RCMP may, in part, be at fault because of , how it dealt with Hart, Mussio said, If the police didn’t follow proper procedure dur- . ing the several kilometre chase and did something to entice Hart to drive the way he did, they are liable, _ Mussio said. ° : As to whether the officer in question backed off ‘when ordered to do so and may not be liable for Hart’s actions, Mussio said he’s had enough experi- ence with the police to believe otherwise. : “LT used to act on behalf of the police force in the City of Vancouver,” he said. Police will often try. to minimize their involve- ment when there’s a catastrophic loss from a police pursuit, he said..Something prompted Hart to keep on driving and maybe the reason was because he was Wednesday eepremoes = a60s The constable and the attorney general of B.C. are named as the defendants in the lawsuit because wt to sue the RCMP, the plaintiff has to go through the Ministry of the ‘attorney general... A date hasn’t been set for the trial but Mussio — believes it will run at the same time and before the same judge as the families’ civil case,against ICBC. - once the WCAT completes its findings. ’ That is expected two or three months from now. The trial will be in B.C. Supreme Court in Van- couver because the families are seeking damages.of - . more than $25,000; he said. The action against.the police is a “companion” suit to the other lawsuit so if the families can’t re-. >! cover damages from ICBC, they will have some re- GIANNINO Pretto and his wife Sheila won't lose their life s savings now that Shell Canada has agreed to buy out the local gas station owner, » ending a five-year battle with the company over who is responsible for contamination at the site. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN’ PHOTO " Gas station owner victorious — in five year battle with oil giant By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN SHELL Canada is buying out a local gas station owner after a five-year battle over who is responsible for contamination at the location. Giannino Pretto bought the gas station from Shell in. 1982 and discovered contaminated soil in 2001 while installing new underground gas ‘tanks. The discovery led to a lengthy closure that forced Pretto to lay off six employees until ex- _ pensive environmental testing and clean up could be completed. Though he had contaminated soil removed from around those new tanks, other parts of the property remain contaminated. , While he was able to reopen for some time, he ’ was forced to stop selling gas last year because ’ he could not afford to pay for bulk gasoline ship- ments. Pretto was using his savings to pay for the gas after banks wouldn’t extend him credit be- ‘cause the contaminated !and could not be used as collateral. Since then, he’s been asking for Shell’s assis- tance to pay to clean up the site so he could once again obtain financing and run the business or else buy him out. Earlier this year, Shell paid for an environ- mental consultant to test the rest.of the site for the presence of hydrocarbons and the assessment . confirmed their presence. “This impact is common on sites where gas sta- tions have been operated for more than 50 years,” says Shell official Denita Davis. ’ The sticking point throughout the negotia- tions between Shell and Pretto was determining when the contamination began. Pretto has always argued the contamination predates his 1982 pur- chase of the site. Since last fall; Shell has maintained it would take responsibility for Shell caused contamination, but officials were unwilling to say the company . was responsible for the contamination until after the environmental assessment was complete. “The assessment did indicate that it found both pre and post-1982 hydrocarbon impact,” vis, adding the contamination is located through- out the property and is not isolated to one area. “The contamination is way beyond remedial action,” says John McMynn, Pretto’s accountant and longtime supporter. Neither Shell nor Pretto will say. how much he’s being paid but McMynn says it’s for more than market value of the property and includes a little “walking away” money. _ The arrangement alleviates Pretto from con- tinuing to incur more costs associated with the business and means he doesn’t have to pay to ’ clean-up the site. “It’s really just a result of both parties’ ongo- ing efforts to work together to find a solution that is mutually agreeable, which I think we have,” says Davis. The Prettos agree the settlement is fair and are relieved their life savings are not lost. Davis says Shell Canada will be removing its signs at the site and will not operate the station. says Da- © It’s expected the company will demolish the: building some time next month, but Davis says it’s too early to say what will happen with the property. ‘The battle between Shell and Pretto reached a fever pitch this spring when local business people, ‘customers and neighbours staged weekly rallies « at Pretto’s site condemning Shell’s inaction. The protestors believed Shell was responsible for the . contamination on the site and demanded it either buy Pretto out or pay for the’site’s cleanup. ' One private land owner erected a billboard along Hwy37 urging people to boycott Shell for not cleaning up at the Kalum St. location... The community support has touched the: cou- ple, who are still cautious about saying the wrong thing, lest they scuttle the deal with Shell. “Like I said, without them there was no way I would have gotten anywhere — six years Shell was in denial,” Giannino Pretto says. we . “Tf it wasn’t for the community, without them, -you know, there was no movement.” The public pressure appears to have urged the company to move negotiations along more quick- ly. - a “As soon as they were being questioned and taken to account for what they were doing by peo- ple in Terrace, Shell started taking notice,” Sheila ’Pretto says. “Mainly, I think Giannino and I really want to thank all the local people who have been so supportive — I think that is what made the dif- ference.” Cont'd Page A2 trying to get away from the police, Mussio said. course against the RCMP, he said. u School enrolment numbers here more predictable By DUSTIN QUEZADA | THE DAYS of wild fluctuations i in student enrolment num- _ bers appear to be gone but the Coast Mountains School Dis- trict 82 continues to see a steady drop in students. . School superintendent Rob Greenwood says the decline - is not unique to the district, rather it mirrors the provincial trend. ~ “Now, (enrolment numbers) are more predictable be- - ‘cause a lot of it is from the drop in the number of kids born _ and going through the education system,” Greenwood said, “Tm tempted to believe we’re looking at numbers dropping due to a drop in birth rate numbers.” Last week, Greenwood said the district’s projected stu- dent numbers for September are 5,558. That’s down 3.25 per cent from the actual figure from a year ago — 5,745. Last year, there had been a loss of 2.7 per cent of the population from 2004-2005. ; Greenwood, promoted last month to superintendent, said the district has witnessed three to four per cent declines after - ‘three years of drops in the five to seven per cent range. ‘A firm number will be unveiled tonight (Sept. 6 at.7:30 . _ p.m, at the district office in Terrace) when the: school board’ meets for the first time since June. Meanwhile, teacher staffing was almost complete last week, with the human. resources director confident. the re- ~ maining holes would be filled by this week. “By the time the paper hits people’s doorsteps (on Wednesday), we expect to have positions filled either by regular contract teachers or by teachers on call, ” said Frank Rowe. — - 7 The positions to ‘be filled: are not full-time. jobs, said Rowe, and under a new collective bargaining agreement, he - said those positions are becoming harder to fill. . “It’s tough to fill the small positions because it comes - down to a choice between benefits and seniority versus a ‘higher wage,” Rowe said. " _ That’s because teachers on call are now eligible t to re- ceive a higher salary (wages on scale) after a fourth day on any assignment. In the past, the higher earnings kicked i in after four days on the same assignment. However, teachers on call don’t receive benefits or’ se- niority that comes with a continuing ¢ contract. _ Rowe said he started the summer with 30 people on the teacher layoff list and only five — all in Kitimat — remain.” . ’ A handful of teachers on call from last year a are now em- “ployed on regular contracts. Officers slay _ 10 more bears By MARGARET SPEIRS — CONSERVATION OFFICERS cased 10 more bears that had come into town looking for food from residential _ properties late last month. Blair Thin, a conservation officer, oe ‘says the bears were put down between Aug. 17 and 30. And that number may.be higher because he believes the other two conservation officers here had to destroy bears during that time as well. i “The bears aren’t doing anything wrong. They’re just fol- lowing their noses,” he says. ‘The problem isn’t aggressive bears but the continual problem of fruit left on trees-long after it should have been picked, windfalls not being gathered daily and garbage cans ; being left out making them easily accessible to bears who are drawn into the city by the smell of rotting food and fruit. Thin says conservation officers have received about 670 complaints about bears this year in the region. More than 100 complaints are for the month of August alone. Even though someone may have lived in an area for 40 years and has never seen a bear, that resident still needs to clean up any attractants outside to ensure. bears will stay away. Cont'd Page A2