aT fae’ Deed INSIDE Alderman reacts, p.4 | ' . ee LEGISLATIVE PA RU ATEN T ' _ ie Te Rt c ey care oa “+4§ ; . your new restaurant for : Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, , International culsine. nape en Crafts are stressed at “t ao LS a . se : 5 j ,. | eee gk wire tee ON, Be ae. ; we y , 4 pan ed 3 e cee ment AES ah oii cae TAR AEE ccenmoninitnemecoenme ot . a LOCKED IN THEIR SMOKED-FILLED C ie in Tennes ‘ et lel Pet se tall rire iene iad erties nasal the Nass Elementary Secondary Schoo! in New tf ) ce h erald "The Right Sound At The Af- ( fordable Price 7 Sony = Precision . : ; Bell Driven Turntabie Reds for sale? p.5 ELLS see prison blaze COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) — Forty-two persons, most identified the youth as Andy Zimmer. The badly burned prisoners or visiting friends or relatives. air conditioning ducts. | said one jailer was in the : a At the KALUM MOTEL. Serving Terrace, Kitimat, the Hazeltons, Stewart and the Nass $159.95 CD Bwy. esi, Lerrace 4607 LAKELSE AVENUE, Grad supplement. { A 635-2362 VOLUME 71 NO. 39 Price: 20 cents MONDAY, JUNE 27,1977 J | PHONE 658-8810 | PP! t, insert. of them Maury County jail youth was in critical Fire Chief Billy Thurman year-old building when t prisoners, died Sunday ina condition in a Nashville hos- said the burning padding fire broke out, but w smokey fire that pital. material gave off a toxic unable to evacua ; asphyxiated most of them “Me and another officer gas, butsaidhe was not sure everyone. , before they could be re- leased from their locked cells. Officials said they thought drug him out,” Farmer said. ‘‘He said he set it. “He has caused a little trouble. He’d been stopping whether that, or the smoke, which he described as similar as that from a burn- ing tire, caused the deaths. There were about persons in the building, 58 them prisoners. The re the blaze was started by a upthecommode andbeinga “The fire itself was no Wérevisitors, most of who. cigarette in a padded cell little unruly, so we put him problem ... It didn’t take the Jeaving at the end housing a prisoner confined in the padded cell.” fong to bring it under “€ Gay’s one-hour visitir for disciplinary reasons. Chief Deputy Bob Farmer said a 16-year-old Wisconsin runaway who was pulled from the padded cell told him he set the flames. He Kitimat Vancouver could be replaced by Edmonton as “the supply point for the whole Northwest” if the government does not change ’ its mind and establish a Tsawwassen to Kitimat ferry service, according to Skeena MLA Shelfrd. Randy Dow, assistant administrator at Maury County Hofpital, said there were several women among the dead. But it was not known whether they were * Vancouver needs service Responding to the government’s proposal to begin a Tsawwassen to Prince Rupert run‘in the fall, Shelford says, ‘“‘As far as serving truck traffic from Vanouver and Western U.S. to Alaska, Prince Rupert is not a suitable location.” * Shelford requests Gallagher to carry out a control,’’? Thurman said. “We had a smoke condition there—that was where the trouble was at.” ¢ The building was not heavily, damaged by th flames. - Fort persons were treated for injuries, said Andrew Earl of the Tennessee bureau of criminal identification. A sheriff's office Spokesman said smoke from é blaze spread in the 60- person capacity jail through period. The spokesman shid eac cell had to be opene individually, that there we no master locking syste where all jail cells could & opened at the same time, “All the victims had gx down on the floor as far a they could, laying down 1 get some air,” sai Columbia Police Chie Edward Holton, “All of th bodies were on the floor, } seemed Jike most of th Victims were lifeless.” _ CANADA DAY PARTY SET FOR THE WEEK By BRIAN GREGG Kidmat Editor Aiyanch gl 2 letter to Charles ‘Survey of oe Tt thee Kitimat has begun a week-long series of festivities to , - ’ : : . , ‘Gallagher, genera companies S| : celebrate na Day. Beginni , - Here, Peggy Johnsen and Veronica Eli work on a pattern they've created in thelr manager of B.C. Ferries, would prefer Prince Rupert Friday, merchanls in’ the community wil oe onan ( | fi elford charges that or Kitimat, ials. , _ Home Economics Class. (More photos from the school, pride of the new Nishga Shelford already taking “Tam sure if you do you "On ‘Tuesday, June 28, the public is invited to attend the School District on page three.) vated when’ the biggest customer for Ter- Nobody takes ‘ wsasenFOR BCR'S.FORT NELSON LINE the credit (blame?) _ overfot Vancouver more each year", : will find they wouldn't accept the risk.in wintth e 90 “-miles:in coming to Prince Rupert,” he says. ~ | ° Te there is’ no. Kitimat” service, Shelford claims that trucks will “‘take the inland route from Edmonton to Prince Gorge, which Queens Contest speaking and talent show at Riverlodge beginning at 7:30 p.mContestants includeAnna Marie Ga (Italian Canadian), Karin Bernaur (German Canadian, Yvonne . Meirer (Kiwanis), Caroluglulin - (Elks), Brenda Weitman (Kinsmen), Iris Holderbaum (Jaycees), Emily Pereira (Lions ‘Nataliai Viveos (Rod . ‘GN Club), and Carrie Paul (Gyro). The Queens ball will be held June 30 at Riverlo ge beginning at8 p.m. There will be a beef buffet dinner, ‘+, FORT NELSON, B.C. . The hearing was told the —_Thetotal loss projectedby assistant to B.C. Rail vice-- 1977. In reality, the Wuldn’thelp the Northwest and can-can daacers will entertain during the evening. . (CP) ~— The royal extension was “‘one of the 1981 is $111 million plus $50 president Mac Norris, said projected revenue Yor this at alt most important Kenny Stockton and his band, from Nashville, will ‘commission. on British greatest railway fiascos of million planned had no idea who set the year stands at $5 million. thing in the Future will be the perform. Cost is $20 per couple and there is free wine and . Columbia Railway affairs our time” and that in just upgrading. completion date in 1968. Walter Shtenko, chief of vin of energy in moving: cigars. : ' was unable todiscover atits six . bearinghere Friday who the line h Neh was who fo as run up $74 million in staggering 270 erailments said Ritchie. “Asa manage: Berwvices, tesitified that half th , t Merchan Fastbail Club. -. “someone on high” was sses, which represents in the last two years and a ment groun we were to roblems increased on the -way up the province to . .. gave the order to build the $100,000 for each of the 700 total of 75° operation build Che extension at the line with the laying of track Kitima, with no fuel except, On Jaly 1 from 9 A thee rae. the SPCA will sponsor 250-mile rail link from here “Fort Nelson jobs dependent disruptions. same time we were told to without ballastino. This that used by the ferry, and P 8 * y * to Fort St. John, B.C. . Hf you notice = an ~ . abundance of yyxetis and . fghhhglyxx44'’s in today's . paper, don't be distressed. - . ¥You aren’t caught in the : midst of -a language you “* ‘don’t understand. IVT‘ ‘. *, OUR COMPUTERS, .- Yesterday, just before our 4° Mewspaper ‘“‘wet t bd”, they » wevolted o 5 taking contrtl uf , simple and's and but’s and «/* transforming them into. “ftighhgs’s and By ROOHR LESLIE Gun Business Writer ‘\IMERRACE — It's bad enough when yous ‘basefactor, the forest industry, sud- a senly seveals w'stingy stresk, sending your .. wottlcars tothe fairer fields of Fort McMur- of Fort St. John or to the growing lines the'downtown UIC office, == = = - dthe merchants who have to close, and: the new homes that have to. sit — ° that's dito discouraging. . Se JBub-whep your mayor'of four years, a ‘forest worker, has'to leave for a better job - . péompeet in Vernon, then embarrassment : + fe adited to the economic injury. _ \ Rerrace has seen it all. Nothing has been. dals northwest timber. town in its “+” ily from heady boom town four years ago. * It's gotte from the high with its influx of ra, merchanis and “entrepreneurs,” 4g the low with its, boarded store windows, empty homes and 25 per cent unemploy- - ment. | a « ‘The boom and bust that seized Terrace . have. been well documented. The town’s "... Kertunes peaked in 1973, when the prov- - Yiee's forest industry had its best-cver ’ year and Terrace loggers rode the crest. * But with a lumber ‘market that started ~ §o sour. in 19M fie troubles began, and by - the following summer 15,000 coastal log- ‘Perk wore teed off, The slump was aggra- years of operation the The line has experienced a “It was someone on high,” on B.C. Rail. 2 SORRY XXVS$$Q00"s...drivel for the reader. Aud we're sorry, --Parts are being flown up right now for our secondary, back-up machine, two days after parts for our primary machine were bumped off the flight from VVANCOUVER. - -Hopefullt, wil be rectified by tomorrow. So in theta- time, enjoy youtthtr7xx. -osthditor, ° The latest, at Fllah Lake last week, will put the line out of action for at least four weeks and could cost more than $500,-000 to repair. More than 130 lumber mill workers in Fort Nelson have been laid off as mills seek alternative means of transportation. The decision to build was made July 8, 1968. MET DEADLINE B.C. Rail officials testified Friday that they were given a tight completion time which was apparently met by September, 1971, when the line was ready. for use. Gordon Ritchie, executive start the work on the line toward Dease Lake.” Ritchie said instructions were given by former B.C. Rail vicepresident J. 5. Broadbent but. it was not known where those orders originated. sO The Crown railway’s ‘ board at the time included Social. Credit cabinet ministers and was chaired by former premier W. A. C. Bennett. REVENUE DOWN Expected use of the line was based on four studies, Ritchie. _ said, - | predicted B.C: Rail revenues of $20 million by which. the railway’s engineering created depressions. “During the laying of steel, plywood was placed on one large section of the grade under the ties in order to sustain the loads,’’ said Shtenko, who added the line Was so poor at one time that repair crews followed freight trains on the line and waited for derailments. Shtenko agreed the line could be called ‘‘one of the greatest railroading fiaseos of our time'’ and estimated it would cost $375 million’ today to build the line from scratch. trucks The presentation of Miss Kitimat 1977 will take by the save two drivers on the 900 from Vancouver to Kitwanga,”’ Shelford states. ii such a link is established, ‘‘Terrace already has the supply facilities which will become the service centre of the p.m. to 6 p.m. in the arena, situated in the lower - Northwest.’ parking lot area. A “drunk tank ” will be provided y the Lions, Shelford also tells: GTALLAGHER THAT A Kitimat service in conjunction with a Prince Ronnection “will help both areas, and I would expect it will increase tourist trade in the Northwest by five or six times.” ; beginni _ Face loggers, the government-controlled Canadian Cellulose pulp mill in Prince Ru- pert, made plans to close for conversion. CabCel and other buyers of pulp logs were also faced with large stock piles of logs following the three-month pulp stike in 1976. The high inventories led to cut- backs by Crown Zellerbach, MaeMillan Bloedel and other loggers working the Ter- race ares. : And Terrace was hit harder than its neighbors in the northwest. ‘Ten logging contractors, including two of the majors, pulled out; several mer- chants went under; the jobless rate ranged between 20 and 30 per cent; and over 2,000 people left town, leaving an estimated 450 homes on a depressed real estate market. The Terrace bust was the most publi- cized in the province, It got national atien- . tion and both. major provincial parties jumped in —«the MDP used the bust as a base for complaints, the Socreds as a base for promises, But there are fewer loug faces amoung the 15,000 people here than the publicity would suggest. "A lot of people don't consider il ade- | ‘pressed area,” said Jim Switzer, assistant manager of the Canada Menpower Centre . in Terrace, “but outsiders do." Recalled one .main street merchant: “When the boom peaked in '73. AS OTHERS SEE US it was the newcomers that got excited and ran around buying up everything that was- n't nailed down.” oe The longtime merchants here: will tell you Terrace didn’t suffer, or at least not as. badly as thought on the outside. Business definitely slipped for downtown husiness- men, but it was the carpetbaggera who really got stung. Locals say the businesses that went under were the new arrivals, the ones that came in with the boom within the last five years. .: “The town is resilient,” says one cloth- ing store owner. Four years ago people were concerned that:development would, be too fast, that the growing pains would be acute, And now it’s gone to the other . extreme. But in two years, it will all be forgotten.'” . But others want to remember the bust. The jobless rate is still 20 to 26 per cent, social assistance continues to pour in and some think changes are needed. But what sort of changes? As usually happens in resource towns that sidd, the cries immediately went out for secondary industry. Bring secondary industry into Terrace, a manufacturer or.two, and those nasty swings in our economie fortunes will be ironed out. Every town wants it but few et it. oo é In Terrace. the Terrace Development Corporation (TDC) was set up to nurture this secondary Industry cure-all. Support- ed by a Local Initiatives Program grant, a second floor walk-up office and one tele- phone with a long cord, the TDC spent the winter examining possibilities and re- ‘searching its end product — a book called Opportunities Unlimited in Northwestern _ British Columbia. The TDC and its director Rod Fowler found two things — the opportunities were limited, and the initial expansion must come from within. ' “There's no point in us trying to get ‘ Noranda or some other giant in here,” Fowler said. “The community doesn't want large industry. A copper smelter, for instance, wouldn't’go down that well, We must get things going locally first. And once the locals develop some businesses others will move in.” What does Fowler have in mind? Having stressed the use of local labor and local materials, Fowler has a few Suggestions: raising rabbits, dehydrating potatoes, mushroom growlng, potlery, and furniture making. ; But for larger scale industry that will soak up some of the 20 per cent unemploy- ment In Terrace, the forest industry still dominates. “Secondary industry that's not tied ta forestry doesn't make sense,” seid Royal Bank manager Peter Konkin.. "I can’t Legion from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., should delight those people who are hungry for novelty. Both events take Place in the upper city cntre parking lot. From 1 p.m. to 1:20 p.m, the Kitimat General Hospital will spon or beraces at the hospital exit near the Haisla-Lahaka traffic lights. For the adults who want some light refreshment the Jaycees’ Beergarden will be servi from 2 For the more sober crowds the Lions will host the Kids Carnival at 2 p.m. on the Super TAL AKING LOT. There will also be kids sports sponsored by- the Legion on the grass fieldb beside Super Valu. The Kinsmen parade will get underway at 1 p.m, ning at Alexander School and travelling along Kingfisher, Haisla-Lahaka to the lower parking Jot in the city centre. Following this the parade awards and freckle contest will take place from 2 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. think of a secondary industry of any size that would work in Terrace; we're too far from the markets, And it doesn’t make sense to ship in the raw material and ship out the product.” As for logging, most feel it will not re- turn to 1873 levels. The days of large scale logging are probably over for Terrace. The best and most accessible timber has al- ready been cut, plus the timber reserves were overestimated. . Terrace may have to settle for the less exciting but more stable role of reglonal centre. . “Our best chance for growth is as a-re: gional service centre," sald Konkin. And the government and its agencies are co- operating, B.C\ Hydro is putting in a $8 million north coast divisional centre to service the area from Houston to the Queen Charlottes, and the regional health unit has heen expanded. Terrace also was named this year ag one of two headquar- ters fora new highway region. It’s changing the complexion of the town,”’ said banker Kenkin. “We're less susceptible to boom and bust, to cyclical influences.” But Terrace is keeping its head this time when recovery and growth are being dis- cussed, The bust has frightened ‘a few, and there’s a long history of development Taken from the Van. Sun schemes that haven't developed, Steel mills, copper smelters, ports, major transportation networks — they’ve all been promised for this corner of the province, and Terrace has been at the centre, ; And the tantalizing proposals continue. There are hints of a new ferry run be- tween Vancouver and Kitimat which would send more traffic and business through Terrace. Transport Minister Jack Davis talked glowingly last fall of a “highway on the water" to carry large trucks, trailers, and maybe cars between Vanecuver and Kitimat. And this, of course, would neatly link in with the $80 million upgrading of highway 37 which runs north to the Alaska Highway. There’s talk of 2,000 trucks a month using the new transportation sys- tem, most of which would pass through or be serviced from Terrace. But Terrace is cautious. “Ef there's another boom in Terrace, it wan't be allowed to take its own head," said development watchdog Fowler. "'Ter- race is more susplelous, more gun-shy now, and things would be kept under con- trol another time.” "TERRACE: The highs and lows of boom and bust f