Spend it on snow.
One woman has a better

Grappling greats
Check out the highlights

use for city money than

birthday cards for _
seniors\NEWS A15

of a recent Ju Jit Su
tournament here
\SPORTS B5

A new book celebrates

& the heritage and culture
g@ ofthe people ofthe.
robin\COMMUNITY BL

$1.00 ptus 76 GST Pie eat teintetennr :
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST

outside of the Terrace area) ————ae

——

has cy ==s

'. TERRACE | i at?

aan

———

—— eb

ANNIVERSARY ————

i

2003

Terrace should
benefit from hydro

power, says mayor
By JEFF NAGEL
TERRACE may go to court to advance
its own goals once Kitimat launches its
legal challenge to stop Alcan from selling
power, Terrace mayor Jack Talstra said.

Kitimat is sending its lawyers to
court to try to enforce the criginal 1950
agreement that limits electricity sales to
the “vicinity of the works.”

Talstra said if Kitimat’s court action
asks the judge to define the vicinity of
the works as being Kitimat only, Terrace
may seek intervenor status and argue
against that point.

“We would argue for a broader
definition than just Kitimat,” Talstra said.
“We would argue Terrace be included
within that definition.”

The rigid Kitimat-only definition
would preclude Alcan from selling
power to a new industry that might want
to set up in Terrace, he said, '

“Alcan may think that there’s a second
plant needed in the area,” Talstra said.
“They might want to locate on the Onion
Lake flats, for example. Or a value-added
plant might be needed in the area.”

“You don’t want lo tie Alean’s hands
so narrowly,” he added.

City council would have to agree for
Terrace to enter the legal fray, Talstra
noted. And he said Kitimat’s lawyers
have not yet actually filed the action.

“Its hard to comment until they
actually do it,” he said. “It might just be
a negotiation type of ploy they’ve put out
there. Or maybe they really do mean it.”

Kitimat officials said last week they
will begin tripartite negotiations with
the provincial government and Alcan in
parallel with the court case.

They predict the legal filing will come
either late this month or early in January.

Many in Kitimat believe the future
size of Alcan’s .smelting operations
there and the number of jobs depend an
whether Alcan must use all the power
it generates or whether it can export as
much as it wanis.

The idea of a widened definition of the
vicinity of the works — that might harness
unused Alcan power for other industry

NORTHWEST COMMUNITY College welding students Myles Sampson and Candice Dignard crafted the stainless steel capsule which
will contain items about 2003 Terrace that will be enjoyed by city residents 75 years from now. The capsule will be buried at Heritage in
Park and its placement there will be among the events taking place at the park Dec. 27 to officially wind up this year’s activities marking
the city’s 75th anniversary. Christmas carols and hot chocolate will also be on hand.

Capsule to preserve history

Wednesday, December 10, 2003"

| City could join in on Alcan suit

outside of Kitimat — is one that has been
advanced by Skeena MLA Roger Harris
and vigorously opposed in Kilimat.

Kitimat officials have denounced it as
adivide and conquer strategy designed to
lure neighbouring towns like Terrace to
Alcan’s side.

But Kitimat administrator Trafford
Hall is this time welcoming Talstra’s talk
of joining the action.

And he thinks it could make the two
towns allies rather than adversaries in
court.

“Tt might be wonderful,” Hall said.
“We would very much appreciate the
City of Terrace joining the. District of
Kitimat in enforcing and securing the
public policy intentions of the Industrial
Development Act.”

consultation.

didn’t elaborate.
Annesley
said she did
not receive
a response
from trustees
the weeks
following that
board meeting,
prompting her to
issue a reminder
in person at the
Dec. 3 board
meeting.

He said it’s the first time Kitimat
has heard that Terrace council might
participate in the court action,

“We must talk to them,” Hail said.
“It’s an opportunity to join forces.”

Hall said the exact definition of the —

vicinity of the works has never been
debated much. -

“We’ ve always just presumed i it to be
Kitimat,” he said. “It’s only ever been

Kitimat. "

But he opened the door to discussions
to alter that — if doing so brings Terrace
on board in forcing Alcan to limit power
sales to a defined area.

‘T'd much rather see. deeply
discounted. power going to Terrace than
Cont'd Page Ai6

Group still
waiting for
school OK

By JENNIFER LANG
A PARENT group that’s working on a proposal to turn
Mountainview Elementary into a French Immersion school
.is still waiting for a response from the school board.

In early November, the. Terrice ‘chapter of “Canadian
Parents for French asked the school board to consider taking
proposals from the community for Mountainview, a brand-
new $3.2 million elementary school that never opened due
to budget constraints.

CPF president Darcie Annesley had asked trustees to set
a Dec. 12 deadline for proposals.

Since some of the proposals could involve closing
other schools, that would leave plenty of time for public,

On Nov. 5, then-chair Peter King confirmed the school
district was considering opening up Mountainview but he

More

inside
‘mi Trustees

elect new

board chair,
AQ

TERRACE AS it is today is to be buried
in Heritage Park to become the history of
tomarrow.

A collection of photographs, maps, menus,
newspapers, advertising flyers, tax assessement
rolls and even a small, stuffed toy kermode
bear will be placed into a stainiess steel
container, sealed and the placed into the ground
at Heritage Park.

A boulder of at least several tonnes will
go on top and a plaque affixed to the boulder
stating that the capsule should not be removed
and opened until 75 years have past.

The time capsule commemoration event
takes place in the afternoon of Dec, 21 at

Heritage Park in conjunction with the 75th city -

anniversary closing ceremonies,

five years or so and decided it would fit well

with the city's 75th anniversary.
- “We want to say to those people 75 years

from now this.is what your cily looked like 75

~ years ago,” said Schneider.

He contacted Northwest Community
College welding instructor Peter Haigh who, in
turn, contacted Eurocan in Kitimat, It supplied a
stainless steel pipe of about 22 inches high and
16 inches wide.

Two of Haigh's welding students, Myles
Sampson and Candice Dignard, crafted a
bottom plate and a top cover which will balied
on once the capsule i is full, - .

This. is Sampson's

second interestin g

community. project, He was one of the welding.”

~ students who last year made the aluminum
It's the brainchild of Willy Schneider who

has been mulling over the concept for the past -

kermode bear with the number ‘75’ in it that is
now attached to the old Skeena bridge.

‘The boulder comes
Northcoast Construction.

A group from the city’s 75th anniversary
committee has been gathering material for the
capsule and met last week to sort out what will
go inside, When the material has been gathered,

from Nechako

the capsule will be taken back up to the college .

for sealing.
Haigh said either a gasket made oui of

rubber or a high-quality two-part expoxy will.

be used to seal the top lid.

He's also going to. purge . the capsule of
oxygen with an inert gas, more than likely

argon, to there is no air inside to eat away al
‘organic material such as paper.

Paper items will be wrapped in special
paper to keep them from deteriorating, added
Schneider.

“It hasn’t been decided yet,” board chair Lorrie Gowen
told Annesley, adding the board planned to discuss
reconfiguring schools and new graduation requirements at a
closed session later that night.

But as of Dec. 5, Annesley still hadn't heard from the
board. .

Meanwhile, CPF has developed a detailed proposal that
will be submitied to the district this Friday.

“We can’t wait for them,” she said.

CPF is holding a public meeting tomorrow night at Cassie
Hall Elementary to gather input from teachers, principals
and parents.

The CPF proposal would see the K-7 French immersion
program move from its present home at Kid K’Shan Primary

-and Cassie Hall into Mountainview.

Annesley said the move could help ensure the program’s
survival because it would attract more students. CPF is also
working on a plan to introduce a “fate” French immersion
program that would start in Grade 5 or 6, boosting
enrolment.

Union braces for long strike

Hy JEFF NAGEL
NOBODY WANTS to go on strike —
Ron Thyr.

But he. and other unionized loggers and mill
workers here say they’re bracing for a long haul
on the picket line now that coastal forest industry
talks have collapsed.

“I worked probably two weeks this year — all
year,” says Thyr, who drew his last paycheque as
a marker man for Terrace Timber last January..

“T'm now a fish guide in the summer for a local
lodge.”

Jeast of all

work in November, when’ West Fraser ordered
a short-lived restart of reerng in anticipation. it
would reopen its sawmill JaneS..-

“But the chances of the mill firing up on

Other loggers on his crew pot a few weeks of .

schedule got much more remote with Friday’s
meltdown in: talks between the Industrial Wood
and Allied Workers Union and the companies’
bargaining agent — Forest Industrial Relations.

Tt caps what. has already been a long, ‘tough

year for [WA members here.

West Fraser's sawmill workers have been laid
off since June asa side effect of the now-settled
strike at the company’s Kitimal pulp mill.

. Even workers for New Skeena Forest Products,

-who are now “outside the coastal dispute because
they agreed to cut their pay by 20 percent, are still

waiting to bé recalled ta work,

IWA strike captain Tony Taphouse says most °
‘union’ members have seén their employment
~- insurance run oul and the few still-on El drop, off...
~ ently i in. the new Year: -. 7

“Most of us are pretty desperate,” he said.
“Our only source of income is strike pay.”

Many are trying to supplement that with
any sort of work they can get, he said, from
landscaping to tree-topping.

What makes it all more difficult, he says, 35
"Aistening to local people who don’t understand
‘why ‘workers are hoisting picket signs at a time
"Like this.”

Taphouse:said the union had no choice but to

‘strike once FIR imposed acontract on its members

and that move ‘was upheld in an extraordinary
decision of the Labour Relations Board,
"It left us with no other choice but to go on

strike,” he said, “If we had worked under that

RON THYR, ¢ one of the unionized contract ger for

West Fraser, does picket line duty.

mo

ella -