And it’s a race the great escape Local Olympians Candidates are lining up to take over Mike Scott's job as Alliance MP for Skeena\NEWS A7 Establishing escape routes in case of fire saves lives and here’s how\COMMUNITY B1 The Special Olympics program is set to start up again for another season of sports\SPORTS BS WEDNESDAY. October 4, 2000 TANDARD $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) VOL. 13 NO, 26 | Docs halt strike for mediation AT LEAST one physician here’ hopes the beginning of mediation in hopes of permanently ending a doc- tors’ strike also marks the start of a change to the system of medical care in B.C. Internal medicine specialist Dr. Mi- chael Kenyon said what’s really nee- ded is a body that can run health care at an arms-length from the provincial povernment. “What you really need is to deal with somebody that isn’t worried about next year’s budget or the next election,” he said. “What you need is somebody that can work in the long term.” He made the comments as doctors here and elsewhere in the province re- turned to work over the weekend. Their return followed doctors and the province apreeing to mediation over the dispute of how much to pay rural doctors in order to recruit and then keep them. A three-member mediation panel lead by lawyer Alan Hope has until Nov. 15 to look at and resolve key issues be- hind the dispute. “If there is no resolution, Hope will telease non-binding recommendations, supported by at least a majority of the panel. Both parties will have 15 days to consider these recommendations,” a physician/government press release said over the weekend. Those issues to be gone over include retention premiums, on-call payments and ways to bind individual doctors to the terms of any agreement. These and more issues became cru- cial in rural areas after doctors in Prince George signed a deal with the province in June. Doctors elsewhere said that deal re- sulted in more rural physicians making less, causing trouble in staffing those rural positions. The province then made rural doctors an offer which was rejected on the grounds it was still less than what Prince George doctors received, That Prince George deal was to be fi- nalized late last week but was hung up at the last moment. As of the press dead- line, people from both sides were work- ing on fine details. Kenyon said he looked forward to a province-wide deal that made sense for everybody. “The next government may not be even better [than the current one], That’s why F want to see something long term,” he said. Government official Don Zadravec said the other two panel members will be appointed shortly. One will be named by the B.C. Medi- cal Association and the other by the pro- vince. In the meantime, Terrace businesses - are being urged to close down next Fri- day night to protest what the chamber of commerce is calling a health care crisis. Continued Page AS Dr. Michael Kenyon Eye doc issues leaving warning DR. STEVEN SHAVER is tired of being the piggy in the middle. That’s what the area’s only ophthalmologist says he feels like — the victim of actions by both Iocal surgeons and hospital ad- ministrators. “You know the game. Two big boys toss a ball back and forth over the head of a littler boy in the middle until he cries and goes home. Well, that’s me. The piggy in the middle,” said Shaver last weck, Up until a few weeks ago, Shaver’s biggest pro- blem was that the hospi- tal’s budget for eye surgery supplies was expected to run out by December. Mills Memorial Hospi- tal this year ended its pre- vious practice of subsidiz- ing eye surgery here over and above the amount of money Victoria provides. That had Shaver saying he can't stay here if he can't operate. Now he’s even angrier after other surgeons cut a deal wihout him, giving themselves extra operating room time while leaving Shaver out in the cold. Those surgeons met several weeks ago to split up operating room time that is available because the hospital has been un- able to find a second ob- stetrician. The meeting happened in Terrace while Shaver was working in Prince Ru- pert — despite his request that the meeting be held when he could attend, toe 3, " n a a Fish guardians COLOURFUL YELLOW fish symbols painted beside storm drains help remind us all not to pour anything down them that would harm fish. Sara Murray and Alisa Robertsen from the Second Kits Guides were out doing the painting a couple of Sundays age with the rest of thair group. It was also Rivers Day and that meant a clean up of the Howe Creek area, Cont'd Page A2 Commercial rates now_equal to homeowners Gas prices go up — again HOMEOWNERS across the northwest began paying 10 per cent extra Oct. 1 for natural gas and they face a further 15 per cent increase Jan. 1. Rates charged by Pacific Northern Gas (PNG) jumped Oct. 1 from $9.169 per giga- joule to $10,169. The utility wants the residential rate to climb again to $11.766 per gigajoule at the end of the year. That would sce residents paying well over double what they were two years ago when rates were $5.457. It means the average home- owner faces paying as much as $600 more on their annua! gas bill, The price hikes reflect what PNG itself has to pay for natural gas since demand increased duc, in part, to bur- geoning exports to the energy-hungry United States. _ Both proposed increases are subject to ap- * proval by the B.C, Utilities Commission at rate ‘ hearings expected at the end of November in Terrace, For businesses, the increases are even stec- per. The commercial rate leapt 23.5 per cent Sunday to $10.866 per gigajoule, PNG wants a further 14,7 per cent hike Jan. 1 to $12,463, In effect, the commiercial rate, until this past Sunday, has been lower than the residential one for some time, The immediate increases — prior to a hear- ing on the application - is justified, the com- mission says, because they help avoid even more extraordinary increases later. “The utility is claiming it needs these funds,” commission executive director Bill Grant said. “The commission staff have re- viewed the application and determined it is not frivolous.” If regulators don’t approve as large an in- crease as requested, PNG would have to re- fund the excess money it has collected, plus interest. For more, please turn to Page Al3, City urged to cremate pets By JEFF NAGEL THE PRACTICE of burying beloved pets in backyards or dumping them unceremoniously in bags at the dump may soon be over. City officials are pushing council to buy a ~ gremation/incineration system for animals that would be based at the Terrace Animal Shelter. “People are requesting more and more to have their dogs cremated so they can have the ashes,” said bylaw enforcement officer Frank Bowsher. Bereaved pet owners could keep the ashes in recepta- cles or else bury or spread the ashes in their yard, he said. That’s a lot easier, he noted, than attempting to bury - a large dog in a backyard. It also eliminates the potential for the nasty surprises that can happen when someone digs in the garden with- out realizing where Fluffy or Fido was interred. The pet crematorium would cost the city $41,000. But Bowsher predicts the city could quickly make’ that money back and start turning a profil by charging vets and the public to reduce deceased dogs and cats to ashes. Based on information from the unit's Florida man- ufacturer, he estimates the city could generate a net pro- fit of more than $150,000 over five years, “They're saying the money that could be made is quite substantial depending on how many people jump on it,” Bowsher said. “I really believe in the first two years we could make our money back.” The animal shelter - which euthanizes 100 cats per year plus a much smaller number of dogs — would inci- nerate those animals rather than the current practice of dumping them in a pit at the Thornhill landfill. The pit is covered with a steel plate unlil it’s full, when il’s covered with dirt and a new pit is dug. Bowsher said it takes a long time for the lethal drugs in the animals’ bodies to break down, and he worries wildlife could be contaminated. “EH they feed off of those animals they could die from the residue,” he noted. Some local vets also dispose of dead animals in the landfill pit, he said, while others freeze the bodies and ship them to Kamloops for incineration. The vets, who Bowsher said proposed the idea, would © pay the city $40 per animal incinerated. The general public would be charged $60 to $95 per animal, Bowsher is hopeful the service could also serve the region, with animals sent here for incineration by vets and animal shelters around the northwest. “They could ship them to Terrace and we could do it for them,” he said. The crematorium would be housed in its own small building with a smoke stack immediately adjacent to the Terrace Animal Shelter on Feeney Ave, He estimates that between the animal shelter’s own requirements and those of vets, outside agencies and the public, it could incinerate around 800 animals a year. Bowsher said it would open also up further. possibili- ties, such as an area in the animal shelter to house cre mated remains, or even a future pet cemetery. City council has agreed to consider the crematorium idea in its upcoming budget deliberations. oM Send a message™ A WEBSITE has been established on which people can leave messages of condolences concerning the death of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Tru- eau, The address is www.trudeau. gc.ca Messages will be forwarded to the family.