singers
were too
weird

for some

COMPLAINTS about the
January performance here
by the Wyrd- Sisters
wouldn’t stop the Terrace
Concert Society from rehir-
ing the group, says society’s
president,

Karen Birkedal said she
received letters from society
members who walked out of
the concert because they
disapproved of the Wyrd
Sisters’ lyrics,

The Winnipeg trio and
their unique blend of folk
music are known 10 hit
audience members with
their powerful political and
social messages.

‘Although Birkedal said
she encourages and ap-
preciates the feedback, she
said it’s not the society’s
position to censor groups.

“We wouldn’t teil the
Wyrd Sisters what to sing or

“We wouldn’t tell
the Wyrd Sisters
what to sing or say
or do.”

say or do,’’ Birkedal said.

She said the letters spoke
against the group’s political
and feminist views,

One letter writer criticized
the group's condemnation
of cutting old growth forests
in Clayoquot Sound. Anoth-
er letter writer disapproved
of the Wyrd Sisters’ sexual
innuendoes, saying they
lacked good taste.

Birkedal said none of the
letters criticized the talent of
their music.

She said she’s happy for
the feedback because it
means that people paid at-
tention to Wyrd Sisters’
words.

‘*That means the arts mat-
ter to people in Terrace,”
she said,

Birkedal said she also
received letters of gratitude

and support from society”.

members who thanked her
for an interesting and in-
novative show.

Anyone who wants to
have a say in what acts the
society brings to town can
do so, Birkedal says, by
becoming a member and at-
tending the Terrace Concert
Society’s May 12 Annual
General Meeting. It’s at the
R.E.M, Lee Theatre at 7:30
p.m.

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AT THE POLLING BOOTH: Stella Gerow and Debby
McLeod oversee the Kitsumkalum Band Council elac-
tions Thursday, Feb. 25. One hundred and twenty

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 3 1999 - A3

eight Kitsumkalum people made band history by
voting in the band's first female chief, Diane Collins.
She started Monday.

NW cocaine kingpins
plead guilty, face jail

Terrace-based
dealer is slated for

sentencing Mar. 15

By SIMONE BLAIS
SMITHERS — A dealer from Van-
couver who supplied the northwest
with cocaine is behind bars, and his
pariner who sold the drugs in Terrace
and Smithers is scheduled for sentenc-
ing on March 15 in Vancouver.

The case involves one of the North-
west’s largest drug seizures ever in
the fall of 1996, when RCMP dis-
covered a solid kilogram block of
high-quality cocaine hidden in a rear
seat cushion of a rental car.

Brien Burchell, 36, from Vancouver
was sentenced to nine months in jail
after pleading guilty to charges of
conspiracy to traffic cocaine and pos-
session of cocaine. He appeared Feb.

10: in. B.C. Supreme Court in Van-,

couver;’” oe.

Two other counts were stayed
against Burchell.

David Edwardson, of Terrace
pleaded guilty to the same charges,
and is scheduled to be sentenced on
March 15.

According to Crown prosecutor
Brian Sedgwick from the federal De-
partment of Justice in Vancouver, Ed-
wardson was a drug dealer in Terrace

and was supplied by Burchell.
Co-accused Stanley Homeniuk from
Vancouver, who allegedly worked

. with Burchell] in the Lower Mainland,

received a stay of proceedings,

The charges followed a bust more
than two years ago on Hwy. 16 near
Smithers. Members of the Prince
Rupert Northern District, assisted by
the dog team out of Terrace, stopped a
grey 1996 Ford Explorer west of town
on Sunday, Oct. 6, 1996 shortly after
6 p.m.

The rented vehicle, driven by Bur-
chelj, was towed to the Smithers
detachment, where it was searched
and the drugs were uncovered.

Before they pulled over the vehicle
near Smithers, police were well aware
that Burchell was on his way to drop
off the cocaine to Edwardson.

The bust was the culmination of a
long, complex investigation involving
hours of undercover surveillance-and

_-thousands of recorded telephone con-

versations.

Asmed with a court order, RCMP.
‘had set wire taps on Burchell and Ed-

wardson’s phone lines and recorded
conversations between the two of
them for approximately six months.
Cpl. Bob Killbery, an officer at the
Prince Rupert North District who bas
followed the case, commented on the
number of conversations officers in-

rom

Terrace

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**There would be thousands (of con-
versations taped). And that would be
an accurate statement without any ex-
agecration,’’ Killbery said.

The case spent well aver two years
in the system before it was settled,

An extensive preliminary hearing in
Smithers provincial court and several
delays caused Crown counsel to seek
a direct indictment, sending the file to
Vancouver for trial.

Sedgwick said the case had dragged
on so long it could have been lost.

**Their defence lawyer had a strong
case in relation to a delay argument,”
he said. Although there’s no firm cut-
off date where a irial can be dismissed
because of delay, Sedgwick said the
case was getting close.

‘To get them convicted, the deal
was that we would ask for 6-9 months
(in jail) with respect to Burchell and

Edwardson, and let Homeniuk go be- -

cause the evidence wasn't that strong

. against him.”’

“My thinking was it’s best to get
these guys convicted of some offences
and get them some jail time,’’ he
added,

‘‘We very well may have lost all
three of them.

The lengthy case will come to a
close after Edwardson’s sentencing on
March 15.

News In Brief

Libs pick executive

CHRIS WOZNEY was elected president of Skeena’s
B.C. Liberal constituency association last week,

Also elected at the annual genera) meeting was vice-
president Lorne Sexton, who’s also the president of the
federal Reform Party riding association.

“Provincial Liberal policies are very similar to those
of federal Reform,’’ Sexton said.

Others elected to the B.C. Liberal exccutive include
Glen Rickard, Gerry Bloomer, Bill Sauer, Linda
Hawes, aud Rick Wozney, who was the party’s candi-
date here in 1996,

The constituency association can send up to 25
delegales to the party’ s 1999 convention n April 16-18 in
Kelowna.

Paramedicals reject deal

Paramedical professionals belonging to five out of the
six unions in the multi-union bargaining association
voted overwhelmingly to reject mediator Brian Foley's
proposal for a contract settlement. .

About 86 per cent of paramedical workers who are
members of the B.C. Government and Service Employ-
ecs”’ Union, United Food and Commercial Workers Lo-
cal 1518, Professional Employees Association, Hospi-
tal Employees’ Union, and the Canadian Union of Pub-
lic Employees rejected the report. The Health Scicnces
Associalion is the only union recommending accep-
tance of the Foley report

The majority of workers rejected the report because
some provisions would result in loss of pay and benc-
fits, Paramedical professionals include public health in-
spectars, alcohel and drug counsellors, psychiatric so-
cial workers, licensing officers, nutritionists, speech
pathologists, audiologists, and dental hygienists.

Orthopedics is for
Kitimat, minister says

Health minister Penny Priddy is emphatic that the
contentious orthopedic surgery program will remain in
Kitimat.

“The ministry and I both support the orthopedic pro-
gram in Kitimat,’ Priddy told the Kitimat Northera
Sentinel last Thursday.

She said with three big in-
dustries in the community, it
is important the service
remain there,

When asked if it was a
race between Kitimat and
Terrace to see who would
get an orthopedic ‘surgeon
first, Priddy replied, ‘‘No. I
understand that there may
be a locum going into Ter-
race, but no, The orhopedic [am . fee
Peas wut temain in Benny Priddy

scott Steel trial set
THE TRIAL. for an Edmonton company accused of
failing to properly secure a rail bridge that collapsed
and killed two men is set for November, 1999,

Scott Steel Litd., faces four charges under the
Workers Compensation Act after a rail bridge col-
lapsed between Terrace and Kitimat on Oct. 27, 1997.

The accident kitled Canadian National crane operator
William Carson of Kamloops and construction worker,
John Marti of Telkwa. Several other workers were also
seriously injured in the accident. The bridge collapsed
under the weight of a crane cartying a steel reinforce-
ment picce, Lawyers also decided to mect again here in

two months for a pre-trial hearing.

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