\COMMUNITY B1

Whistle stop |
Rail Baron explains why
stopping in Terrace tops
his list of favourite places”

In defence of...
Terrace’s top cop defends
officers’ actions while
subduing throat slitting

. Rescue Team has been given three awards.
. by‘an international association for its res-
_cue and recovery work.” “

closing
earlier

"METHANEX WILL close

"1 instead of in early Janu-
ary but that won’t affect the

‘down of both operations.an-. |...
’ nounced last month by the -
‘methanol company reflected

“* geached an agreement with _

_moving up the closure date

” Methanex had bought out the

_ Teleased at this time, he an-

‘the near future.

assailant \NEWS A13_

Fun on wheels
Sprockids clinic sees

more youth than expected |
“come out to learn biking ©

skills\SPORTS Bt 2

$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
(81.10 plus 8¢ GST
. outside of the Terrace area)

VOL. 18 NO. 26

THE ALL-VOLUNTEER Terrace Water

One was for the rescue of a ‘man who .
‘jumped off the old bridge that crosses the.

' Skeena River and two for the work mem-
“bers did in recovering the bodies of two ©
‘young people who went through the ice

on Stuart Lake at Fort St. James Christ- ,

_mas Day 2004.

-The awards on behalf of the Interna- ..
tional Association ‘of Dive Rescue Spe-
cialists were presented to two team mem-
bers who attended its annual conference
last week in Hartford, Connecticut.

Dave Jephson, who attended the con-
ference with’ Greg Bedwell, said the

Plant —

its Kitimat methanol’ plant -
two ‘months earlier than
originally announced.

It will now close Nov.

plant’s 137 employees, 22 of
whom live in Terrace. ~
They will still be able to .
stay on the payroll until the
end of March 2005 as first
planned. dq.
When Methanex bought —
the Pacific Ammonia opera-
tion - it sits on the same site
as the methanol plant - from
Mitsui, the agreement called
for Methanex to'supply am-
monia to the Japanese com-
pany until the end of this
year. . ope
The early January ‘shut- |

that’ condition.
However, Methanex an-
nounced last week it had

Mitsui and was therefore .

to November 1.
Kitimat plant ‘manager

SCUl

awards reflect ‘the skill, dedication and

" perseverance of the team’s volunteers.

“Not many people survive that,” said
Jephson of the man who jumped off the

‘old Skeena Bridge. “Our team members --
were on him right away: It ‘was a very .

dangerous rescue.”

That work drew-the award for most
spectacular rescue.

- The two other rewards for the Fort St.
James recovery recognized the 38 days
team members spent there looking for the

two teens and the use of sonar equipment *.

to help locate them.

“Tt was heart-warming to receive those ;
awards. It wasn't expected,” said: Jeph-"

son.
Team members spent 34 of the 38 days.

TERRACE

Be eco cee

in Fort St. James searching for Kora-Lee

Prince and Matthew Karey. Prince was _
found Feb. 2 of this year and Karey 0 on

Feb. 18:
- One team member, Sin Luc, spent the

James.

Jephson noted.

He. said recovery efforts typically we

y

- gin, after an ‘of-

ended and. are’

entire 38 days in Fort St. James, He was.»
one of the two Terrace divers, that found ;
'. Karey. ; ;
All told, team members amaséed more .
. ‘than: 1,000 hours of search time and 260 |
‘hours of travel time to and from Fort St.

there ‘to support

There aren’t many teams that have the

. ‘kind of training as the one here, and not’

“many that have. the time and resources to _

conduct extensive recovery operations, 7
_ "+ rescue. specialist conferences for years

where @ they can 1 both learn. from other

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

ficial. search has

conducted © ‘to’:
bring closure to |
the families of ©
those. who are:
missing. « _

“We . _-went
the family,” said
Jephson, of team
members — who
rotated in and out of Fort St. James while
on days off from their jobs.

“ Team members have been going to the

Dave Jephson

North America is making it a recipient of ’.

* a fair number of calls.. ; 7

Not as many people attended this °
‘year’s conference as in other years be-

eam wins major awards

‘ teams and pass along. their. own experi-_

ence.

each other. as the need arises, Jephson

- added.

“It’s questions: such. as: . what did. you.

: do i ina case such a as this and. what would-
you do,” he said. °

The team’s growing. reputation across

:

_ » That information ‘sharing ‘extends to.
“teams far and wide making contact with wos

cause a number of rescue diver'special-" °-.
ists are engaged in Louisiana and other ..

_Pplaces affected by Hurricane. Katrina,
said Jephson,

s B

Kevin Henderson confirmed

remaining two months of the *

ammonia supply contract.
Although financial terms

of the deal were not being

ticipated they would be in:

~ Henderson said moving |
up the shutdown would not |
change the originally an-
nounced lay-off date of the
end of March.

|| Fire and i ice

SHAUNCE KRUISSELBRINK; manager and ice technician at the Terrace Curling Club, holds a strand of
the black wool used to mark the hog lines.on the sheets. Kruisselbrink and three other club members -
worked to ready the ice for the upcoming season over several days last week. The six sheets were com-.
pleted so. league play could start this week. For more on the process of making i ice, turn to page B6.

MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

Police arrest’

‘By MARGARET SPEIRS. -

Telecommunications Workers’ Union members. arrested i in
Kitimat last week for violating a Supreme Court injunction

‘A LOCKED: “OUT Terrace Telus. worker was ‘one of two - :

by allegedly tailgating a vehicle driven by company manag- - -

ers on Hwy37.. | 6

The two unnamed people were released on a promise
to appear in person or by. an agent in Vancouver Supreme
Court today.

“My understanding i is the two. that were invoived., don’ t a
- believe they were in violation of the court order,” said Kiti- a

mat RCMP Sgt. Sukh Parmar.: “Tt 'S all related [to] the Telus 2

_ dispute.”

Parmar declined to release the - names of the two: men or

provide many details, but he said one is from Terrace while
the other provided a ‘Fort Langley, B.C. address. oo

. A press release from the Kitimat RCMP reported’ that at |
around 9:30 a.m. Sept. 24, officers were dispatched to inves-

tigate an erratic driving-complaint five kilometres north of

Kitimat on Hwy97 near Hirsch Creek.
A grey.Dodge truck tailgated a white Astro van, - and, at

one point clipped mirrors with a white Ford F350 attempting

to pass, the police reported.

The press release did not mention the alleged tailgating .
_ was connected to the lengthy Telus labour dispute, but did. . -.
say police were investigating the incident for possible Motor

Vehicle Act Violations and Criminal Code offences: «

The Dodge truck contained the two union members while

the Astro van contained the Telus managers, -

_. Union members now routinely follow Telus replacement oe
workers to job sites and set up what are called “flying. pick-
-ets.” A Supreme Court injunction, granted early'on in the —

labour dispute, states union vehicles must keep at least five .

vehicle lerigths away from a Telus vehicle.

Bruce Okabe, vice president of Telus Business Solutions, .

said two Telus pickets were following a couple of Telus

- managers to a job site too closely and sO were in- ‘violation

of the injunction.
He said 45 arrests have taken place i in B. c. and Alberta
and that all but two of the arrests were in this province.

“Some are pretty serious, some death threats or assaults,

Others are violations of the three metres rule or not follow- |

- ing five car lengths away,” he said. “From our perspective,

it’s unfortunate we have to go to court.”
Okabe said the reported problems. only apply to a ‘small
percentage of picketers.  *

Karen Whitfield, a business agent for the Telecommuni- —

‘cations Workers Union, said its‘two members will be: repre-

sented by legal counsel and won’t make a court appearance.
“I can confirm that there have been multiple arrests in

B .C. related to alleged violations of a a court t order," ‘she. said.
Yr

Gov’t acts to protect ft st workers _

- . By SARAH ‘A. ZIMMERMAN:
TWO PROVINCIAL cabinet ministers are taking action af-
ter a report released recently chastised the logging industry
for its dismal safety record in the bush and allegations that
safety is taking the back burner to making money in the for-
est sector.

The report, called A View From the Field, was written by

Terrace-based faller Mike McKibbin who is also the presi-
dent of the Western Fallers Association.

The report takes aim at man made and naturally occurring
hazards that make working in the bush particularly danger-
ous. It also points the finger directly at the logging industry
and its contractors for blatantly ignoring safety regulations
in the push to make money and increase production.

The scathing indictment of what is really happening on
the ground in the bush caused a flurry of attention among
regulatory agencies such as WorkSafeBC (WCB), the B.C.
Forest Safety Council and within provincial government
ranks.

Forest service minister Rich Coleman and labour minister
Mike de Jong met Sept. 27 with the fallers association, the

_B.C. Forest Safety Council, B.C. Timber Sales representa-

tives, WorkSafeBC and representatives from the logging

industry to discuss what action can be taken to minimize fa- ©

4

talities i in the logging sector.’
There have been 29 deaths in the forest sector this year,

including four fallers.

“We had a good meeting and we did make. it clear that

neither of us is satisfied with the numbers we are seeing,”

. said de Jong late last week. “The positive thing is that all the
stakeholders on this council [BC Forest Safety Council] un-

derstand it will take a concerted effort to change this culture

that has developed over the years.”
Though it may take time, forests minister Coleman said

the meeting ended with a list of changes to be implemented .. J

“Where we are going to go from here is basically we will

add to B.C. Timber Sales conditions for sale that people -

who bid on our fibre will be certified or qualified to work in
the bush,” said Coleman. B.C: Timber Sales is a provincial
crown agency charged with selling. crown-owned wood.

“It became very.clear that we are all sharing the same
concern,” said Colman. “This is not a time to sort of panic,
it’s a time to continue to build standards so we can protect
people from injury and death in the bush.”

He says certification for truck drivers to equipment op-
erators will be used to determine whether or not bidders are
qualified.

Cont'd Page A2

FALLER Johnny Myshrall now of Terrace, crouches ona springboard” while falling
a tree in the Queen Charlotte Islands in the mid-1990s. The practice allows fallers
to reach around trees which are situated on particularly steep ground. ,

es

Telus workers