% ~nv | | Congratulations to N RIGHT, BE Mr. and Mrs. Feldhoff of Kitimat, winner or our Seniors Club Draw and for Mr. Aage Engholm of Kitwanga, winner of our 25th Anniversary Draw. They each won fwo return tickets’ from Terrace to Vancouver and two night hotel accommodation. NECHAKO North Coast equipment operator, Sid Mills, stands next to the snow plough he uses to clear highways. Local loggers are calling for more stringent standards for highway maintenance, Road clearing standards are too low, loggers argue By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN NECHAKO North Coast may be meeting road maintenance standards as set oul by the ministry of trans- portation, but Bill Sauer says maybe it’s time to increase them. Sauer, manager of the Northwest Loggers’ Association, says truckers feel that highway conditions ‘in the Terrace area “are the worst they’ve ever seen.” He’s wondering if the government standards are adequate to keep our highways safe. “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see that if the roads are bad out there, you don’t just sit there and wait for the 4 cm to fall,” he said. “Just going by the letter of the contract isn’t doing what it’s sup- posed to be doing.” Sauer isn’t the only person con- cerned about the state of the roads. Skeena MLA Roger Harris said constituents are voicing concern aver road conditions and whether or From front | No reports on roads contactor or exceeding the guidelines,” Sauer said. The ministry of trans- portation keeps records of non-compliance reports filed to private contraclors. “So far this winter there have been no non-com- pliance reports filed to Ne- chako North’ Coast,” says Ministry communications officer Ron Wiebe. The last non-com- pliance report filed about the company was in 1996 and had to do with an issue of mowing grass, Wiebe said. Nechako’s officials said their employees take every traffic fatality to heart. “Tt’s a real tragedy for those men because they go out and do a good job then something happens in front of them or behind them,” said the company’s presi- dent, John Ryan. “And they take that really hard.” 60 days for McDealer A DRUG dealer here is in jail for 60 days after a judge ruled he targeted young people by selling next to McDonald’s. Darren Adrian Beau- lieu, 21, pleaded guilty in court here Jan. 11 to charges of trafficking me- thamphetamine and mari- juana. Prosecutor Jack Talstra said Beawlieu hid drugs on his girlfriend when police came to search his truck while parked in the McDo- nald’s lot, Talstra argued Bean- liew’s routine of parking and selling drugs next to the fast food outlet meant he was dealing in a public place likely to be frequen- ted by young people. That constitutes an ag- gravating factor under the Criminal Code’s penalties for drug trafficking, Talstra said, and called for 2 Stronger sentence than otherwise warranted. A further aggravating factor, he said, was Beau- liew's involvement of his girlfriend, a minor, Judge Paul Lawrence agreed ageravating factors were in play and took them into account in hand- ing down the sentence. not highways have been declassified recently. He says that is simply not true. “There has been, no change in classification,” he said. “My feeling is that the people who work for the Ministry of Transportation are very professional and are doing a good job,” Harris says. Highway classification for winter road maintenance is pri- marily based an the volume of traffic roads see. Highway 16 within Terrace city limits has the highest classification for winter road maintenance. That means it gets a high volume of traffic and is a heavy commuter traffic route. Highways 37 and 16 just outside the city limits have the second high- est ranking. Bill Sauer The ministry has a com- plex system of determin- ing when abrasives and de-icing chemicals are to be used on highways. Generally, roads within city limits have a shorter response time for crews to begin snow removal, ap- plying abrasives or de- icing chemicals. When there’s black ice on the roads crews are re- quired to start applying abrasives within two hours. They have three hours to get out to the highways with the lower clas- sification. .The same time periods apply to freezing rain. Crews. are required to start plow- ing highways around Terrace once 4 cm of snow falls. When slippery roads are found during patrols, contractors must apply abrasives immediately. ELAN travel 4553 Lakelse Avenue, Terrace BC. V8G 1P7 Tel: 635-2281 « Fux: 635-7695 ‘Mon. & Tues. 3For | 1 | ia 3 "Wed. a Thurs. ‘Smatt Pastas © 15 Wings 2 Pon 2 Garlic Toast”