Fall fair fun _Check out some of the winners at this year’s Skeena Valley Fall Fair \COMMUNITY Bi " f Top Marks Nass fishery is possibly best managed fishery in B.C., says top biologist \NEWS A12 Hola Terrace New coach ready to meet swim club and plan for the future \SPORTS B4 $1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST - ($1.10 plus 7¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) ‘AN: NDP governmeni “would te- open last. week’s deal between Alcan and the ‘province whereby the’ former will con- ‘tinue to sell surplus power it generates to B LC. Hydro after keeping what it neéds- ‘for a new $2 billion aluminum smelter at ‘Kitimat, says Skeena, NDP MLA Robin “Austin. ’ Austin says. Alcan will gain huge prof its from selling the surplus because it is «generated so cheaply at its Kemano hy-" “dro-electric generating plant. . He said it costs Alcan $5. to produce ‘one megawatt of ‘power yet it will sell the ‘surplus to B.C. Hydro for $55.a mega- ‘watt and more. “This is really a: give-away. of a pub- lic resource. If we were government, un- der no circumstarices would we approve that,” said Austin. Instead, Austin wants any surplus used in the Terrace-Kitimat area to provide i in- dustrial jobs... That’s pretty much in line with’ the po- sition of the Kitimat municipal ‘govern- ‘ment, which wants Alcan to use all of the power.generated to produce.aluminum. Austin said his position keeps intact the original intent of the first water for _ power agreement between Alcan and the province more than 50 years ago. “That . water was to. be used for in- TERRACE www.terracestandard.com. kill dustrial activity. in the: vicinity of the. _ ‘Works,’ “ said Austin, “using the word “works” as the generally accepted term for the geographic aréa around Alcan’ s _ Kitimat aluminum smelter. “I would say the Kitimat-Terrace c cor- ridor is in the vicinity of the “Works” and . that’s where it should be used, to create industrial jobs,”:he said. . Austin doesn’t question the $2 billion new smelter plan, saying it will safeguard jobs and replace an ageing facility. But those secured jobs, as many as 1,000 when the new smelter fully comes on line in 2011 and to be in place for at "least three decades, are, about 500 less . sell to B.C, Hydro. Tourism | groups get time - to sort out money dispute. By DUSTIN QUEZADA ‘TWO LOCAL tourism’ groups have until at least next month ‘to work out a dispute over control of the area’s lucrative 2 «per cent hotel tax. Members of. the Terrace Tourism Society and the City” “of Terrace’s newly-formed Kermodei Tourism agency had ‘ hoped the Kitimat-Stikine regional district; which set up a .by-law to collect the tax, would decide who would control « the money when it met in Hazelton Aug. 11-12. ; But the regional district didn’t want anything to do with the controversy, acting ¢ chair Joanne Monaghan said ‘last week. The city wants that money tobe used by Kermodei Tour- ism, the group it formed in late July, rather than by Terrace Tourism. The dispute also concerns how tourists are to be attracted here and what they do here when they arrive. - “They were looking for us to sort it out,” said Monaghan, adding the board told both groups they were simply fighting between themselves and to work it out together. The hotel tax added up to more than $92,000 last year and is currently administered by the Terrace and District Hotel and Motel Associatiori. A five-year agreement created through the bylaw states'the levy is to be collected by local hotel and motel owners and redistributed to Terrace Tourism by the regional district. | Scott Miller, president of both the hoteliers association and Terrace Tourism, says the former group won’t support the redirection of the two per cent tax to the city, leaving the regional district with a pair of options. “The regional district has two: choices,” Miller said. “Tt can transfer the two per.cent tax to the City of Terrace and collapse the tax or continue to give it to the Terrace Tourism Society. “If the city pulls the (hotel tax) funding, they’ll be in breach of the two per cent tax agreement — no one would collect the tax.” ; That leaves the stakeholders with the prospect of losing money that is generated from visitors, something none of the them want. “We'd like to see the tax stay in town,” said Kermodei president George Clark. ‘‘The two per cent tax might die or ~ does we will carry on.” ‘City council approved ‘Aug. 14. half - ~ or $26, 000 - of ; -ing to the consumer and we’re here for the consumer,” she Kermodei’s budget request for August to’ October. ; “City. councillor Carol Leclerc, who is responsible for tourism issues, said at the Aug. 14 council meeting. the city: would only support one tourism:entity. _ “I think if there are two tourism groups, it’s too confus said later in the week. “The City of Terrace is not prepared . to fund two groups.” — With the city no longer financing Terrace Tourism in fa- vour of Kermodei, it leaves Miller’s group needing to find” other sources. “For Terrace Tourism to continue, there.are ways.we can work around funding issues — there’s lots of room to ma- noeuvre,” Miller said, adding the society is an established one that’s eligible for grants. . Miller’s words do not sound encouraging ‘for those hop- ing Terrace Tourism would just concede to the new group. City councillor Brad Pollard questioned the wisdom of overlap between the two groups at the Aug. 14 council meet- ing. _ “These are things already being paid for by taxpayers,” said Pollard, in reference to such things that Kermodei Tour- ism will need to get started, such as.a website and guide. ~ So'far, there has not been’a meeting between. Terrace Tourism and Kermodei. “We’re willing to work with Ker- | modei Tourism and willing to broaden our mandate,” said Miller. Its mandate is to draw tourists to Terrace. Clark says despite Miller’s remarks, Terrace Tourism has ® yet to respond to a standing offer to meet and discuss how’ the two groups could work without duplicating their efforts. Clark says the invitation was Kermodei’s first order of business. “The invitation was made in good faith,” he said. “We want to see what can be resolved and to see tourism in ' Terrace reach its full potential.” The city has said it created Kermodei to create a broader tourism mandate. “Tourism is much more than marketing,” said Leclerc in reference to Terrace Tourism’s mandate. “Tt’s about developing, managing and marketing tourism.” Miller says Terrace Tourism has ‘a proven background and is willing to change for a win-win resolution. ) Big t ue ‘than’ the current Alcan workforce, he noted. ; ' - Some-of that difference could be made up by having the Alcan surplus power. _ Stay in the area for other development, . G Austin continued, . The new smelter will have a. capacity of 400, 000 tonnes of aluminum a year, 60, per cent more than the.current smelter. _ Advanced smelter technology means "Alcan won’t need to use all of the power . it can produce at-its Kernano generators, ‘- leading to the surplus which it will then | Alcan says itll. be. able to reduce its. workforce by attrition and retirements, RENEE Ewald needed all her strength to control “Enormous, " her Nicholas : White turkey that tied for fourth place at.the Skeena Fall’ Fair Aug.19. The fair was last weekend at the. Thornhill Community Grounds. . 7 Ican power deal — meaning: that ‘no current employees will lose their jobs as a result of the. new - smelter. For its part, the Canadian ‘Autowork- ers Union, which represents ‘the smelter » workforce, says power should be used for a * jobs and not be sold. “True job cand ‘community ‘security| ‘ must be the priority. This can only be ac- complished by utilizing all energy avail- able towards the production” of alumi- num,” the Union said in a press release. ’“A clear message must be sent to Al- “sean and the provincial government, that Cont'd: Page Ata "Wednesday, August 23, 2006 ” SARAH ARTIS PHOTO -it might. not but it would be a dreadful shame if it did. If it THE BANNER said one ‘thing but the reality was different as local residents are sfind- ing out after entering a draw during Riverboat Days. - i ‘Door prize draw wasn’t much — of anything for local residents | A RIVERBOAT Days society director says it'll tighten up its policies over who i is allowed to offer. goods and services at its functions after a slick telemarketing company purport- ed to offer door prizes in George Little Memorial Park the _ August long weekend. Instead of door prizes, the only thing. entrants received. was a lengthy phone call froma Florida-based company tell- ing people that a cruise they “won” was subjected to up-front payments for taxes and fees. - The callers from Great Vacations Destination Blue Green Corporation also said sitting through a time-share presenta- tion was mandatory. “We’ve learned a lot from this experience, let me tell you,” said society director Annalee Davis last week. “We’re going to make some changes in the future. I think we’re going to be dealing only with vendors we have dealt with before or who are local ones,” she said. - Great Vacations set upa table, entry box anda large ban- ner saying “door prize” in the middle of George Little park. in time for the Aug. 4 Riverboat Days ceremonies and it stayed there during the weekend’s music in park events. . Davis, said directors became curious about the company and the door prize offer after reading the fine print on its entry forms. “They said the prize didn’t include transportation or meals or anything like that,” she said. Directors then determined that the company was legiti-' mate but decided to ask its representative to leave anyway. “He got really belligerent and said that if he left, we’d have to pay the travelling expenses. We’re a small society and we don’t have that kind of money,’ ’ Davis continued. “And we had cashed the cheque (for. the fee] already. He ° “was very adamant he was going. to stay there,” she added. Davis said the company Tepresentative ‘did say there would be a draw but there was no sign of it taking place at " the posted time of 6 p.m. on Aug. 6.” . Another Riverboat Days society ‘directér, Andy. Web- ber; said Great Vacations will be discussed When. the society - meets to evaluate this year’s events.: “We always go over. what worked and whiat did not, 7 ‘said Webber. He did want to make it clear that the society had t no part , of the vacation company’s operation. - “I can tell you there was no draw of this type. offered either by the Riverboat Days society or by the city,” said. Webber. a The Florida company did register as: an official Riverboat Days. society vendor, listing itself as a travel company, and did pay the required $150 fee. Since the long weekend, both the RCMP detachment and. ‘city hall have received calls. from various people concerned ° about the Great Vacations sales pitch. There are reports that at least one locai person provided a credit card number in response to the’ company’ s sales Pitch. \ While operations such as Great Vacations Destinations "are not illegal, Terrace: RCMP Constable Rochellé Paten- aude said people should be extra careful when dealing with people over the phone. ; Cont'd Page A2