Hundreds protest health cuts TERRACE -- With chants urging the goverament to stop pending health cuts here, more than 300 people marched Friday from Mills Memorial to the farm- ers market. There they heard speaker after speaker say that phone calls and letters to Skeena NDP MLA Hel- mut Giesbrecht and health minis- ter Elizabeth Cull are needed to get the message across. Hospital Employees Union ‘lo- cal chairman and march organizer. Elaine Pigeau said she disagreed - with those who said - residents - should not be scared by. spreading news of the cuts. - ; "] think we- ‘want ta: ‘scare e them so damn much’ they'll ‘write ‘those letters. They'll Pug the govern- ment so much we'll get the level of funding we need," she said to applause from the crowd. Mills Memorial announced 10 days ago it was closing 22 of its 89 beds and cutting 10. positions because of a budget freeze or- dered by the provincial govern- ment. That freeze, because of inflation and wage contract increases, _ amounts to'a budget deéficit of - $525,000, John: ‘and Dorothy . Oman : - celebrated their 46th wedding an- niversary by attending the protest. "Pm-a heart patient. I can tell yon I’ve had excellent care with ‘Dy. ‘Phillips and the staff. I'd: be dead without them," said John Oman. Dorothy Oman, who has seen the hospital located in three dif- ferent places over the years here, said they could not live in Terrace if services were cut, , "We couldn’t afford to fly down. there (Vancouver) every time we would have to go," she said. Skeena NDP. MLA Helmut Giesbrecht told the crowd that the government is shifting health money away from hospitals to community-based care. He said he’s continually made the argument that Mills deserves sufficient money to maintain ser- vices. "There are still meetings going on, That's the only reason I've - gat some optimism,” he said. Giesbrecht said a number ‘of hospitals had their budgets frozen Karlsen, if their coverage areas had stable and young populations. He also said the provincial government has its own budget deficit with which it must cope. And while Giesbrecht said he could understand why people were angry, he told the crowd "they should spare a little bit of that” for the previous govern- ment, That remark drew cat calls from several members of the crowd, One of those people, Karl called Giesbrecht a "mouthpiece." "All you hear is the same thing over and over again," said Karlsen of new governments blaming old governments for bad news. Cont'd A2 JOHN AND DOROTHY OMAN spent their 46th wedding an- niversary at Friday's march in protest of spending cuts at the hos- pital. A heart patient, John credits the hospital and physicians for his continued well-being. ITs SAFE to. go’ * back ia the water at _ of the local Water Rescue Team made’ sure of that with an, off-shore sweep of beaches at Furlong Bay and the picnic site near Willlams: Creek, Scouring the bottom for any debris. which could injure swimmers or paddlers, their search turned - up this litter container which had been thrown into the lake’ by “. else Lake. ‘Members . some o thoughtiess visitors, Above, Joe Mandir (eft) and ‘Paul Kelly literally roil’ out the barrel. Kelly later sald-the divers had: . found both beach areas “surprisingly clean”. The Water .Res-: cue Team will be back out at the lake July 12 when they will .: be on stand-by ‘during the awim section of the. ‘Skeena valay Trlathiori, he ‘added, Hunter nabbed in sting The price of ‘TERRACE -- $2,500 was the Price Ludovic Laigle agreed to . pay to illegally hunt a grizzly bear here -- and that’s exactly how much a judge decided to fine the French poacher on Friday, Laigle -- a big game hunter from France «- was the victim of a carefully executed sting opera- tion run by focal conservation of- ficers. , He’d been unsuccessful in a previous bear-hunting trip to B.C., court was told, and he still wanted to get a trophy grizzly bear. So be wrote to a taxidermist, asking for help in getting a local resident to hunt with him -- in exchange for hav- © ing him do the taxidermy work. The taxidermist tumed the letter over to district conservation of- ficer Peter Kalina. Kalina, writing under an as- sumed name, corresponded with Laigle over a period of months as they arranged his trip to Terrace, In those -. letters, Kalina repeatedly wamed Laigle’ that such a hunting trip would be il- legal and that: the ? authorities * local might catch him. “You must be aware that what you and I will be doing is against the law,’ he wrote in one of the letters entered in evidence. In an- other: ‘I also do not want to be caught so you can understand we , must work together. What would you say if the wildlife authority were to question us?”’ Laigle wrote back that the “hunting police’ didn’t worry him. “Of course we keep secret our agreements between .us and we Want to spare you and us any trouble with the hunting police,’” he said, ‘We will keep silent,”’ Afier agreeing on a price of $2,500 for the hunting trip, he ar- rived here last week for the big day of hunting. Two men chauf- fered him up the. Exchamsiks “River on Thursday in a loud jet boat, scaring away. any nearby bears. They returned to Fishermen’s Park empty-handed, and his com- ‘panions -- a conservation officer and an RCMP offi cer =- read him his rights, Lalgle’ was held in custody deciding: to plead - guilty Friday ‘to ‘the charges of overnight, a Cc hunting bear without a licence and bunting as a non-resident without a guide. He flew back to France that afternoon. The travellers cheques Laigle planned to pay his hunting com- panions with turned out to be the - very ones that were confiscated to pay his fine. Provincial. court Judge P.R. Lawrence said the $2,500 fine was generous to Laigle, adding be had been considering a fine more than double that amount. Laigle was a member of a big game hunting club in France and had been on safaris in Africa be- fore, His previously clean record will now show a poaching con-. viction in B.C. and Canada, and: that record is being forwarded to Interpol. Drillers slake. _ city’s thirst — " TERRACE -- Eureka! The city’s search for an un- derground supply of drinking ". water appears to have finally suc- *- ceeded. Putting down ‘yet another test ~ hole at the corner of Frank St. and Hwy. 16, the drilling crew found what it was looking for last Wed- nesday moming. Cool, clear water and lots of it While . cautioning = more thorough tests would be needed to be sure, city engineering direc- tor Stew Christensen said initial indications were it was ‘‘pood potable water’” belt of ‘‘good sands and gravels’’ extending from 98ft. to 260£t, be- low the surface, Drilling was stopped. at. that point when large boulders were encountered, he added. As for the potential flow from the source, Christensen said an- other well would have to be drilled before that information was known. However, before that happened, “There's a Jot of questions we have to answer,’’ he added. For example, the city would Three signs missing locating three large signs first put up last year to help publicize the ~ annual event, At-four feet. by cight feet in * = size, the signs were made last -.” year and designed to be used over “and over again, says Riverboat -. Days spokesman Mary Ann Bur- dett. Organizers don’t think the signs were stolen, just removed by somebody for safe keeping until necded for this summer. "We believe somcbody is look- ing after them for us, but we don’t know who," said Burdett last week. Information on the signs can be ‘phone in to Burdett at 638-1827 cor to Maria Thomsen at 638- 1854, he emeanentay dhe, project ii, his: yehgs. Hevsaid the test hole showed. a, have to decide whether to” go” straight to a full production well and, if so, what'size it should be. Another factor to be considered is the well and pumphouse would stand in the path likely to be fol- lowed one day by a proposed rail- Way overpass. Money at least will not be a problem if the decision should be to go with a production well. Christensen said with" drilling costs of close to $65,000 and some engineering costs to be added in, more. than $300,00 is left of the $400,000 set ssite Co for "He understood that Would” be ‘enough to complete it. - As for how long it would take to have a production well up and running, Christensen said it was impossible to predict at this stage, “Although the test well was be- tween the railway tracks and: the highway; any . production well would be located on the. south side of the tracks. Hooking ‘the well supply into the 10 inch water line running out to Skeena Sawmills would mean laying a connecting pipe under the tracks. That, in turn, would require CN’s permission to shut down rail traffic while the work was done. “ "We have very liitle control over the timing of that,” Christensen pointed out. Northwest Roundup clty and the state of Alaska have agreed to split the costs _ terminal here. Details of the split weren't releas