ages baa its Te ‘ Students from Darlene Schneider's class at E.T, Kenney combined their efforts to make ane gigantic Mother's Day card for the Herald’s Mother’s Day Contest open to youngsters between Kindergarten age and Grade 7. , B.C, Trustees - Want Teachers To Intern PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. (CP) — British Columbia sehool trustees decided on the weekend they want moderate leadership, more lay control of education and a one-year internship for all new teachers. They rejected radical change in their leadership Sunday in favor of moderation for achieving education goals in. voting the anual convention of the B.C. School Trustees Association (BCSTA). The 344 trustees attending the four-day general meeting: determined these main goals should be a one-year in- _teenship for all new teachers ‘and reductlon of school ore taxees>* Tega ARES te canter tbe ate “a ~~Absonteo RateDrops” | “@ To achieve this—and more than 40 other resolutions— they selected incumbent BCSTA vice-president Dave Kanda, from the Abbotsford school district, as theiz president, The 48-year-old: air line pilot won the two-year position with a-71 vote mergin on the second ballot over Rubymae Parrot of Saanich, Kandal was elected after a speech that stressed this yeor’s association theme of local control of education. STRESSED APPROACH “It’s allin the approach we take to change," said Kandal in an interview after his election. ‘It can be with fine sand paper or a rasp and I think the membership showed they do not want radical change.” Kandal said the rejection of Brian Westwood of Langley on the first ballot showed school trustees did not approve of a con- frontation approach in deal- ing with educational con- cers, . The school trustees narrowly defeated-by one vote-a motion that would have made public school teachers ineligible as can- didates for .school trustee. PRINCE GEORGE, ‘B.C. (CP) — Education Minister Pat 'McGeer sald Saturday that about 1.5 million student days have been saved during the 1977-78 school year because of efforts by school staff in British Columbia to combat absentecism. McGeer told the annual _ meeting of the B.C. School Trustees Association. (BC- STA) that while over-all attendance now is satis- factory, there are stil) “pockets of non-attendance” in every district. > Terrace RCMP News Charges are being laid inst a Terrace driver following a Saturday night accident on Kenny dear Highway 16 when the driver's truck was over- turned. . According to Terrace RCMP, the man drove his pickup into the electrical railroad crossing sign, overturnitig his truck. The man, whose name was not released, was not seriously injured in the accident. Thornhill Primary ‘school . was broken into sometime Sunday, and police are -anything wag suspecting juveniles are to blame. . The school was entered by: smashing a classroom . window which activated an alarm. .The culprits fled before police arrived. It is not yet known if taken during the break-in. . During the weekend, 15 persons were picked up for pubilc intoxication and eight of these lodged in RCMP cella overnight, seven drivers were picked up for driving with a blood alcohol level in excess of .08. Resolutions passed were: —that the association protest any increase in the basic mill rate beyond the 37.6 mill rate set this year; —that. the provincial government reduce the basic mill rate during the next five years so that only 25 per cent of the funding for the basic education program is raised through local property taxes; : —that the ministry of education be urged to grant learning assistant approvals at all grade levels. At present, they are mot given beyond the Grade 10 level. . The four-day meeting was toendtoday. .. ‘ : . “Attendance itself is not the problem but is only the symptom of a much more difficult problem,’* McGeer ai ; id. , McGeer said his ministry has completed an attendance survey and a meeting with trustees, teachers and principals will be held May 19 and 19 to discuss ways of remedying student ab- senteeiam. . The minister said that in answer to trustees’ concerns about local autonomy, an open market system in the hiring of ministry-employed superintendents will be implemented. . McGeer said districts will have the right to select their © own superintendents from an eligiblity list compiled by ministry and BCSTA representatives. At present, only the larger districta can select superintendents. McGeer sald that Section 168 of the Public School Act. has been revised with regard to curriculum and: selection of materials to give school districts more autonomy. - He sald his ministry is * developing a sample list of criteria to be distributed to districts to assist them in deciding what material to use, ( TERRACE-KITIMAT SHOPPING EDITI -, VOLUME 72 Na. 96 20° TUESDAY, MAY 9,- 1978 |. Kitimat, B.C. (CP) - The union representing workers 7 at Alcan Smelters and Chemicals Ltd. is deman- ding the. removal of a supervisor for ‘‘human experimentation" by ex- posing workers to what it gays aré unsafe con- centrations of benzene. In meetings with Alcan in February, the Canadian Association of Smelter and the chemistry laboratory ‘supervisor failed to monitor benzene levels and required an analyst with severe symptoms of benzene poisoning to continue working with the chemical. Qther workers, Says a ‘CASAW spokesman, have been to long-term. low-level concentrations of benzene since identified as medically dangerous. ‘ . . benzene Allied Workers CASAW aaid A recent United States government literature review conclusively linked to leukemia, chromosome disorders and malignant blood diseases, forcing the adoption of an emergency temporary standard ‘of one part per million ppm. . Benzene was banned last week aa a consumer product in the U.S. Following the U.S. studies, Canadian health authorities identified benzene as car- cinogenic and asked the provinces last June to drop the. permissible limits for benzene to one ppm from 10 . ppm. ; British Columbia stan- dards, set by the Workers Compensation Board WCB, have been maintained at 10 pom and a WCB spokesman said he could find no record of the federal com- munication. Neither could. officials of the provincial _ health ministry. Until laboratory analyst Tracy Harkness requested compensation for benzene poisoning two months ago, Alcan officials said they had conducted only two tests to de the concentration of benzene in the air. WCB representatives visit Alean frequently but checked benzene con- centrations inthe chemistry laboratory only once, on Feb. 7, when it accepted Alcan’s showing less than five ppm of benzene. “] am angry, worried and sick,” said Harkness, who says she experienced gid: diness, headaches, nausea and difficulty in breathing following exposure to ben- measurementa zene on several occasions in January and February. “The company should have been able to recognize right away that what was happening to ‘me was ben- zene poisoning,” she said. CASAW has taken up the fight for the lab workers. ~ “Thege lab workers aren't unionized and won’t com- plain about benzene because they're afraid for their jobs,"" sald Jim Brisebois, chairman of the CASAW occupational health com- mittee. ‘We found it our responsibility to bring the benzene to the company's .attention and ask them to discipline the supervisor." Alcan personnel manager Phil Gunyon said he iden- tified benzene as a possible serious problem to lab supervisor Dr. E, Cam- bridge, who reported he was - Alean Worker, Company, Doctor _ Differ In Benzene Poison Story satisfied benzene was .being properly handled in the lab at concentrations well within WCB requirements. Harkness' request for compensation benefits was turned down by an WCB claims adjudicator who replied ina letter dated April 19: “Since you appear to be et by the amell of a number of chemicals mentioned above it would appear that your symptoms are due to anxiety and not any effect the chemicals have. ‘Your claim, therefore © has been denied.”’ Harkness said her dif: ficulties with other chemicals arose only after repeated exposures to benzene. — cont, page 2 New Democratic Party in the Skeena riding is going into high gear in preparation of the coming federal election, according to local party leader Jim Fulton. Party members from all over the riding, from the Queen Charlottes te Smithers, met in the Terrace Hotel Saturday for the election planning meeting + because “we expect the election to be almost upon us," Fulton said. ' .NDP workers have already canvassed the riding to find out what issues the population considers im- portant, and these will form the basis of the party plat- form, he said: unemployment,’’ stated, particularly in relation to the closing of Granduc Mine in Stewart. Hundreds of millions of . “The biggest -desue is. Fulton’ NDP Prepares For dollars are going out of Canada to develop foreign copper mines, the NDP leader said, while the federal govenment refuses to spend a much smaller amount to keep a-Cnadian mine open. The result of the closing of Granduc will disrupt the job market in the Skeena area, he said. Those laid off from the mine will probably find jobs because of their acquired job skills, Fulton said, but other young people who do not have these skills will not be able to geton the job training and will therefore remain tmemployed. The cost of transportation and its effect on the cost of Jiving inthe. north.is. another. are sane in the riding, Fulton stdted. The Liberalg have not. properly managed the _ transportation issue, he Election claimed, and the result of the high cost of living has] hamper growth in the north, The value of the dollar, or “the seven-bit plece,” haa got to be brought up to par, Fulton said, and the party's answer to this problem-is to diversify the economy stabilize Canadian currency. Spin-off industries boost the local economy, ' and also produced for other, parts of the country. Fulton also sald be and the . NDP. -:. would continus.« for .. oppose the Dixon Entrance boundary change currently under negotiation between! the Canadian and U.S. governments, : “Bend over, pick up, and pitch in” will be the new exercise therapy for the Western Weight Controllers of Ladysmith when they jain over 150,000 British Columbians this spring in the largest Fitch-In campaign yet wnidertaken in the provnce. Pitch-In is aponsered by Outdoors Unlittered, the British Columbia Milstry of the Canada ‘Ltd. The Weight Controllers will be armed with some of Environment, ‘and Shell. the 45,000 free garbage bags doated by Shell Canada Ltd. for local clean-up and beautification projects when they declare war on litter, and excess flab, during the week of May 8 to 14 Participating groupe in the Qutdoors Unlittered cam- paign this week, in Kitimat are: Alexander Elemen- tary, Cormorant Eleme- tary, Nechako Elementary, and Roy Wilcox Elementary Schools. In Terrace, participating. groups are; Clarence GASAW Rejects Merger KITIMAT, B.C, (CP) — The Canadian Union of Smelter and Allied Workera {CASAW), representing workers at the — Alcan Smelter, has rejected a merger with the Canadian Association of Industrial, Mechanical and Allied Workers (CAIMAW), The 2,10-member union ‘| Firat Terrace Women's Institute donated a- sewing =, machine to the Three Rivers Workshop;, a facility for handicapped adults which Is financed largely through sales of tema made by people attending the workshop. : frerare Association for the M entally Retarded, Aima ott, president of the Women's Institute, Roberta Preece, another member, and Jan Themston, new ‘director of Three Rivers. yoted on the weekend #4 per cent to reject the merger. Klaus Mueller, national secretary-treasurer 0! CUSAW, said Monday rejection of the merger is a. missed opportunity for a big step forward for the union, but added CASAW will continue its close working relationship with CAIMAW. Michiel Elementary, Cop- offen cleaning up entire permountain Environmental — villagee,parks, campsites, Awareness Group, Thorz Jr, and Veritas school, — Highways, creeks, vacant: lots, cemeteries, and school yards from Grand Forks to Fort St. John will ail be picked clean of accumulated itter by Pitch-In par- ticipants, : In North Vancouver, senior citizens, members of- the North Shore Golden Rods and Reels, will be cleaning up British Columbia river banks and parks on their: fishing trips, Local groups undertaking Pitch-In projects in Maple Ridge will recelve pine seedlings from the Maple Ridge Oarks and Recreation Department to encourage community beautification. ‘Participation in Pitch-In has increased over 25 per- cent from 1977", said an Outdoors Unlittered spokesman, co-ordinators of the campaign. "Schools continue to be the most enthusiastic participants, Daye Maroney (left) and V.LP.6 examine floor plan of the Skeena Mall at reception in Lakelse Hotel following officlal “bolt tightening’ ceremony, Thur- or empty lols, as well as their ow school grounds’. Pitch-In ‘78 is belng held concurrently in the three western provinces for the fourth year. More than 1,700. organizations be un- dertaking local projects in Western Canada, Involving over 50,00) people who will be pitching in to improve their environment. Outdoors Unlittered Hits B.C. This is the eleventh year that Pitch-In, formerly Antl- Litter Week, has been un- undertaken in British Outdoors first year that Shell Canada Ltd. has | co-tponsoted the campaign in 8Sritish Columbia New Indian Dollars Series two of the highly successful Indian Heritage Trading. Dollars will be available throughout = the Province this month. . ,-The New series pays tribute to five more tribes of British Columbia, The Kootenay, Tsimshian, Okanagan, Carrier, and Shuswap. As withSeries One. they will depict famous Chiefs and Artists of these tribes. The second series is part of thefive year campaign of the North West -Indian Cultural Society to raise funds for the construction of a Cultural Centre and traditional village. . The New Series of Indan Trading Dollars will be struck in pure nickel, limited quantities of Silver and Gold will be avallable either singly or in seta of five, boxed in a special presen- tation case. ; ’ aday. afternoon. A number of tenants who will be leasing space in the Mall attending the celebrations. At the presentation were Jacl Cook, president of the ee ree nme em ae Sti 8 Al, eerrrhere athe ig