by Tod Strachan With family belied in, you swing onto Paul Clark Drive and take the first left past the Kalum tennis court entrance, The 265-space parking lot is nearly full but you quickly find a free space and begin sorting out the wife and kids for the moming activities ahead, It’s April, 1992, and the occasion is the official ribbon cutting ceremo- ny at Terrace’s newest facility; a $4.5 million Community Confer- ence Centre. It’s a proud day for the com- " Munity. And after the predictable _utterings of MLA Whozit and Terrace mayor Whatzit you join hundreds of other residents who have shown up for the occasion to find out exactly why. But before you begin your guided tour, you pause to survey the setting and exterior of the 28,000. square foot single story building. With plenty of windows and ’ skylights, the moder, well-- designed Conference Centre is attractively sited at the northwest comer of a five-acre landscaped lot. To the south are the arena, pool and tennis courts. West of the centre are the courthouse and Willows Apartments. And to the north, framing the centre with its sunlit summit, is Terrace Moun- tain. All in all... not bad. Light filters into the massive 150x35 foot lobby through four "water-tight" skylights. As the awed gathering explores their new surroundings you spot three sets of double doors leading to the main attraction; an enormous 120x70 foot conference room divisible into two or three separate units, For Tractor deal finalized The bidding was close, but Ter- race city council has made their decision. The city is buying a new John Deere 450G crawler tractor complete with a Model 4000 winch from Coast Tractor at a cost of $57,000 plus tax. This was the unit originally re- commended by director of opera- tions John Colongard, but because the second bid was only $780 higher council wanted the Planning and Public Works Committee to take a closer look. The second bid came from Finning Tractor for a Caterpillar D3C equipped with a Carco Model 30 winch. — This second look, however, added two more items to the pur- chase. During the review of the pros and cons of the John Deere and Finning tractor it was pointed out by Colongard that a trailer . .would be required to haul the new ‘crawler tractor around the city. Colongard said he had already located a suitable trailer priced at $3,000 and this, plus a small asphalt plant ané Ferguson roller valued between $500 and $1,000, ' Jhave also been approved by coun- enema large gatherings, your guide explains, the room will seat an 820 delegate banquet or 1,344 person conference. Or divided into three sections, each room can host a separate event with 273 sitting down for dinner or 445 seated theatre style for a large meeting. It’s fantastic. At the rear of the conference room are three other sets of double . doors. These lead to the kitchen which is about the size of the main floor of the average home, a stor- age area of about the same size, a _ separate kitchen storage area, a loading dock and boiler and mech- anical rooms. . But there’s more, Through what you believed to be the west exit of the building is another hallway. Here you find two 40x30 foot meeting rooms — each with an accordion-style dividing wall — making four meeting rooms if needed. Each of these four meeting rooms will host a 50-person session. And for those who tend to wander at meetings, sliding glass doors in each room lead to the outdoor patio. Impressive. Wandering down the hallway you find the administration office at the front of the building; and another surprise. Beside the office is another set of doors that leads to something cailed an activity centre. The activity room, you're told, is also about the size of the main floor in the average home and suitable for about 58 people engag- ing in some type of hobby activity. ‘A bonus to say the least. Your tour has lasted almost two hours, though, and you're tired. And you’ve just discovered you’ve lost the wife and kids. Perhaps they're in the lobby. Get them together and let’s head for home. You head east from the activity room. Your experience in the bush tells you that’s the right way to go. Within a few feet, though, you run into another one of those some- times-annoying accordion walls. You grasp the handle, slide it aside, and... Wow! This is the biggest surprise of all. You've just discovered the lounge; complete with bar and bartender. They didn’t tell you this was in the plans. . You spot Whozit and Whatzit. Where else would they be? And there’s your wife. She’s with them. Where else would she be? But sipping wine at 11 in the morning? What kind of a place is this any- way? "Where’s the kids," you ask? "In the activity room," she slurs. "They’ve set up a day care in there." Wow! This really the - greatest! It’s almost too good to be true! Let’s party! .. And then you wake up; it was only a dream. But then, great things built ‘of dreams? Aren’t they? ; In truth, though, a Community Conference Centre is a little more than just a dream. The vision above was designed by Royce Conde Associates at the request of Terrace council and it was offi- cially released by mayor, Jack Talstra last Thursday. But don’t panic. They’re not levelling the lot just yet. The city has a plan and the realization of this dream hinges on a few important events taking place. . First, they want to present the concept to city residents. If the idea is approved at that level, they then plan to talk to the province and corporate donors about money. From the province they would like 50 percent of the cost. From cor- porate donors, as much as they will give. And from the taxpayer, whatever cost remains. AS was explained by Talstra, however, there’s a lot of hard work to do yet. Tourism and economic development officer Peter Monteith and Strong Communities facilitator Doug Smith have been given until mid-summer to sell the idea to the public and approach potential sponsors. This, if positive, could well jead to a referendum this fall, and if the project passes that little hurdle, design work would begin right away. Construction would be scheduled for the spring of 1991 and a tentative completion date has already been suggested by Talstra to be the spring of 1992. But what of the library expansion project? It hasn’t been forgotten, sayS Talstra. The referendum on this project has been set for the fall of 1991 and if the convention centre is shot down for any reason the library referendum would be moved to 1990. In that event, "It would be full speed ahead on the library,” said Talstra, It’s not a bad approach. And if Gilham at 635-9217. Ride for Sight this weekend Northwest motorcyclists will descend on Terrace this weckend to participate in the 11th annual nation-wide Ride for Sight. The bikers gather every year at this time to raise money through pledges and donations for the RP (retinitis pigmentosa) Eye Research Foundation and to have a good time. The national goal for raising money this year is $1 million, and 9,000 motorcyclists are expected to be involved. The weekend agenda includes a Motorcycle Rodeo and Show’n’Shine at the Terrace Arena Saturday afternoon, an: auction and dance at the Legion that night, a pancake breakfast Sunday moming, and the big ride to. Hazelton. LS For more information or to register for the ride, call James . ) ‘ Terrace Review — Wednesday, June 6, 1990 A3 Convention center? Step right in everything comes together, the residents a million or so. whole project might only cost city City to host native | land claims conference The City of Terrace has announced it will hold a conference dealing with Native Land Ciaims on Saturday, June 16. According to a city news release, the conference, entitled "Perspectives.90", will bring together both native and non-native leaders in an exchange of information designed to - provide a better understanding and appreciation of points of | view held by the general public. Mayor Jack Talstra says the idea for the conference came from north coast development region representatives who felt it was "time that ordinary citizens in our communities discovered exactly what land claims are all about". Talstra adds, "It appears that the province has difficulty in arranging these kinds of seminars and they asked the city if we would sponsor it." Talstra says the province has provided some money for the conference, but they hope to recover that from registration fees, The one-day conference will be held at the Terrace Inn beginning at 8:30 a.m, and will feature several sessions including current native and resource company business in the region, the legal perspective, the perspective from the Premier’s Council, specific local native issues and a closing panel entitled "Where do we go from here?" Guest speakers include MLA Dave Parker, Mintster of Native Affairs Jack Weisgerber, legal expert Harry Slade, ‘native leaders Cliff Bolton, Alvin McKay and Gerald Amos, and representatives from Skeena Cellulose and the Fisheries Council of B.C. The closing panel will consist of Terrace mayor Jack Talstra, local resident and pioneer Bill McRae, Nisga’a Tribal Council executive director Rod Robinson and Stewart mayor Darlene Cornell. There is a registration fee of $30. Tourism is a shared experience — between residents and visitors ... and Terrace has so much to share! Scenery that won't quit ... vast quiet spaces .., world renowned fishing... and friendly people! Survey results show that the friendliness isa majormemory for our visitors. Fay Leclerc (le-clair) came to Terrace as a child ... was a charter student at’ Caledonia when It opened .. and now works in M.LA, Dave Parker's Office. After thirty-four years, Fay finds it hard to imagine living anywhere elsel ;