a a Hats for Cubans Hearing aids in Africa fields\NEWS A12 Local CUPE workers collect hats for Cubans working inthe Terrace health workers help out the hearing impaired in Zimbabwe\COMMUNITY B1 Rugby ruckus The Terrace Northmen are the 1997 El Nino Classic champions after a big win\SPORTS B8 * WEDNESDAY December 23, 1997 ELVES AT the North Pole have filed a petition to recall Santa Claus, This sets in motion a 60-day period in which the elves have to pother enough signatures to justify removing Sauta from his position. “It doesn’t matter if you've been bad or good, just sign for goodness sake,”’ said elf R.E, Form who is in charge of the Committee to Recall Santa, ‘‘T say Crash Kris Kringle,’ Elves say they don’t have a specific reason to recall Santa, except that per- haps he wears a funny red suit and Pp makes people work Christmas Eve. it “He doesn’t represent us,’’ said Form. “Look at him, all round and jolly. How’s he supposed to take care of the needs of us little people? If he spent half as much time at the north pole helping us put together toys as he spends sliding down chimneys and eating cookies and milk, we wouldn’t be complaining.” Santa calls the allegations “ridiculous’’, saying he trusts the other elves and reindeer not to be dazzled by the rhetoric of the recall campaign. “This is clearly an abuse of the recall rocess,”’ Santa says.’ “I’ve worked hard as St. Nick, It’s not easy to fly all over STANDARD Santa target of recall campaign the planct in a single evening and drop off billions of presents. My list just keeps growing and growing. You try keeping track of who's been naughty and who’s been nice all year long.”’ At issue is whether Santa should be held accountable for statements 2 year ago that there would be a milk and cookies surplus to be shared with the elves, In fact, there was a deficit, leading elves to proclaim that Santa concocted a «milk and cookie lie.” Meanwhile, Santa’s reindeer ave spear- heading their own anti-recall campaign. “We may be in front of him on the sleigh, but that just means he’s behind us all the way. Santa can’t be distracted by this campaign. We are a herd —- we think as one and act as one,” said a Teindeer press release. And, to show what he says is the fri- volity and flawed nature of the recall legislation, Rudolf has filed his own petition which states, “‘Because we can’t blame everything on the Grinch, we demand Santa Claus be recalled.’’ “Santa stood up for me one foggy Christmas eve,’’ Rudolf said, his nose glowing in anger. 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST VOL. 10 NO: 37 kaakk There are also rumours at the north pole of another petition — this one to recall Frosty the Snowman. Frosty’s northern constituents com- plain that because there’s no sow this year, there’s no point in having Frosty around, Old Man Winter, who's heading up this recall campaign, is having surprising success. If he can convince another 4,000 or so grumpy old folks to sign, then Frosty's going to Florida. ME aT OTT ats 1 ge PENS . wat pepupeeaeentePeE , Fa eMag eRe He tip NE Mew LEM? ner TY o Happy holidays WAITING FOR SANTA: Erin Teolis, a Grade Three student at ET Kenney primary school drew this picture In anticipation of a visit from jally old St. Nick. She’s just one of the many local children who will hanging their stockings by the chimney with care tomorrow evening. “ Gov't, bank intervene — in SCl creditors’ vote ; By JEFF NAGEL LOGGING contractors here are furlous after the province and TD Bank rammed through a deal that could see them get just 10 per cent of what Skeena Cellulose owes them. They’re planning a legal challenge to the company’s actions this week and may con- sider more direct action if the government doesn’t provide further assistance, The anger stems from the events of Dec, 17 when unsecured creditors were to vote on an initial offer of $10,000 and five cents on the dollar for the company’s unpaid bills. On the moming of the vote, the company unveiled an improved offer of $10,000 plus 10 cents on the dollar — with prospects for more if the company does well. — The province and the bank then used debt they hold in the company to bolster the ‘Yes’ side and swing the vote. Without that action, the proposal would have been nartowly rejected and the com- pany would have toppled into bankruptcy. But contractors were convinced they could have forced a better deal. “Big Brother looked after us,” said Ter- face creditors group: spokesman Justin Rigsby. “There’s a lot of unhappiness and a lot of rancor towards the government in the fact they purposely came in here and swung a vote and pushed through a deal that wasn't livable for a large number of people,” Deputy premier Dan Miller defended the move, saying it was needed to complete the efforts to save the northwest economy. “This was simply too important,” Miller told the Standard, ‘“We couldn’t in my view take a chance that this thing would go into bankruptcy.” Miller has committed to working through the Job Protection Commission and Forest Renewal B.C. to assist the hardest-hit con- tractors and prevent bankruptcies. “It’s difficult,’ Miller added, ‘Bul at least we've got the opportunity with a sol- vent company for people to get things back fo normal] over time”? Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrecht said a better offer wouldn’t hive come if the creditors voted no and the government hadn’t forced a deal. “It’s my information that the deal would have crashed at that point,” he said, adding the government wasn’t the only player in the decision, “It’s not just us, it’s Toronto Dominion as well.” Giesbrecht said the alternative would have meant contractors getting nothing, workers losing: their jobs, and the entire region's economy suffering. “THE END RUN AROUND THE CREDITORS ~~ “The deal is not a good deal,’’ he said of the offer to creditors. “‘But in this business it’s never a choice between a good deal and a bad deal. This is a choice between a bad deal and a worse deal.”’ Giesbrecht suggested that the logging contractors, ‘if they remain in a united gtoup, could yet bargain collectively for more assistance from the company. He noted that the company needs them to Fury erupts over ‘despicable’ act deliver wood to feed its operations. But Rigsby said although withholding service is an option, it is not the con- tractors’ first plan of attack. “People don’t want to break the law and they don’t want to jeopardize their con- tracts either,” Rigsby said. ‘“‘Whatever is done will be done within the bounds of the ' law."” 5 z Cont’d Page A2 Nelson honours friend FOR YEARS’ Nelson McGinlay has lit up his house and yard for Christ- mas. And each year he sits on his porch at night, dressed as Santa, to gather donations for various good causes. This Christmas McGinlay has a special reason for ac- cepting donations at his home on Hwy16 West. A good friend of his who used to fly up from Van- couver to help him wire his display died this past year. Jim Mortimer died of can- cer so all money collected up until Christmas Eve is . going to the Canadian Can- cer Society. “He scrounged what he needed and did it all for nothing,” said McGinlay of Mortimer’s work. “This is a good way to remember him —- to send something to the cancer society in his memory.”’ “Before Jim did his work, we couldn’t even tum on a light inside the home,”’ said McGinlay. To visit McGinlay's dis- play, head west on Hwy16 past Canadian Tire. He'll be on his porch be- ginning at 6 p.m. until 9 p-m. until Christmas Eve. Payout to double if pulp soars: THE CREDITORS could get almost twice as much as the guaranteed amount if Skeena Cellulose does well in any one of the next several years. The deal pushed through Wednesday by the province and TD Bank would give creditors $10,000 and 10 cents on the dollar up front. And they will get a bonus of 5 to 10 cents on the dollar if pulp prices go way up and the company can afford to- pay more, If the company sells its pulp for an average of US. — $625 or more a tonne in any of the next seven years, and has net cash flow of at least $50 million, creditors will get an extra five cents on the dollar that year. And, if the selling price averages US $725 per tonne, they’d get another five cents on the dollar, bringing the total paid to 20 cents on the dollar.