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WEDNESDAY .
March 29, 2000

$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
($1.20 plus 8¢ GST outside of tha
: 2) Terrace area}! ">
VOL. 12.NO. 51

West Fraser eyes sawmill sale

By JEFF NAGEL
WEST FRASER is considering selling some of its
northwest B.C, operations, company officials have
confirmed.

Talks have taken place with possible buyers in-
terested in the company’s North Coast Timber saw-
mill and forest licence at Prince Rupert, said Bruce
MacNicol, West Fraser’s chief forester,

“We have had some discussion with some parties
regarding our North Coast licence,” he said.

He wouldn’t say how far any talks have pro-
gressed or whether the Terrace sawmill may also be
part of sale discussions.

“We're not actively trying to sell the opera-
tions,” MacNicol stressed. “We don’t have a big
‘For Sale’ sign up.”

Although company officials are trying to down-
play the idea, union officials and contractors believe

the northwest operations — which include Skeena
Sawmills in Terrace, the North Coast sawmill in
Prince Rupert and the Eurocan pulp mill in Kitimat
— will eventually be sold.

“We have heard the whole northwest operations
have been for sale for almost a year now," said IWA
Terrace rep Surinder Malhotra.

The company’s statements and actions also sug-
gest it’s not interested in staying here for long.

West Fraser officials have consistently said — as
recently as a business breakfast summit on March 8
~ that the company doesn't intend to put another
nickel into this area for the foreseeable future,

“There is no appetite from our company to spend
a lot of capital on the northwest,” Terrace sawmill
manager Lou Poulin said there.

West Fraser hasn’t operated the Terrace sawmill
normally for more than three years.

A series of logging and mill shutdowns that be-
gan in 1997 threatened to lead to permanent closure
of the sawmill here because of massive losses.

A federal job sharing program, then an ongoing
log export program and most recently a deal to cus-
tom chip logs for Skeena Cellulose have all been
used to help keep the Terrace mill doors open and
some of its workers employed.

At the same lime its northwest mills have been
on life support, West Fraser has starved them of
any significant share of its quota — the amount of
lumber the company can export without penalty to
the U.S, under the Softwood Lumber Agreement —
instead letting its more profitable interior mills cut
all the U.S.-bound lumber,

Placing some quota here would have been a life-
line to the Terrace mill and would have served asa
basic sign of confidence in this area — something

few here believe West Fraser has,

Talk of a possible sale now comes at the same
time as West Fraser has been revealed to be among
six forest companies negotiating secretly with envi-
ronmental groups towards a truce that would freeze
logging on parts of the coast for up to 18 months.

The idea that crucial negotiations over the future
of a key forest licence are being handled by a com-
pany with little demonstrated interest in staying in
this area makes contractors who rely on logging
here anxious,

“There's an air of uncertainty,” said Justin Rigs-
by of Alm-Wood Contracting, “IF they’re not cam-
mitted to spending any capital in the area in the fu-
ture one would be concerned as to whether they can
make any business decisions whatsoever because of
the uncertainty.”

Cont'd Page A2

A TERRACE RCMP officer has been
named in a $1.1 million lawsuit filed by
an Alberta resident claiming the police
force and some of its officers have de-
famed him by claiming an Internet busi-
ness he’s connected with is illegal,

John Van Deurzeii says Constable Liz
Douglas and four other police officers in
western Canada and the RCMP are
“holding hira up to public scandal, ridi-
cule and contempt” and are causing him
financial losses by saying Skybiz 2000 is
an illegal pyramid scheme.

The company says it offers website
services to people wha don’t have com-
puter expertise.

Those connected to Skybiz, also
called Skynary, earn a commission by re-
ferring potential customers to the compa-

ny.

A sales person then has the chance for
increased earnings when those he or she
has referred in turn refer other people.

- In a statement separate from the law-
suit, Van Doerzen said SkyBiz 2000 of-
fers email, the ability to browse the inter-
nel and the creation of websites for perso-
nal or business use.

The suit was filed March 21 at a Cal-

gary court registry.

It asks for $1 million in special dam-

ages and $100,000 in general damages.
Information in the nine-page suit out-

lines what Van Deurzen says are state-

ments made by RCMP officers, beginning

GOVERNMENT subsidies
to build housing projects
will become increasingly
Scarce, predicts a noted
B.C. futurist.

David Baxter of the
Urban Futures Institute in
Vancouver told delegates
ta the Northern Reflection
on Housing Conference
here March 24 that demo-
graphic trends will make
the job of combating

cult.

m@ Hockey stars
Terrace's Midget ‘AA’ assistant captain Mark Gagnon and a team mate take a break in a game against

Fernis. Terrace won the match 5-2, finishing with an overall record of two wins, tow losses and two ties.
Westside won the overall provincial hockey tournament beating Castlegar, who were favoured to win,

Lucky to be alive

A SUSPECTED propane explosion obliterated a camper-
trailer on Dairy Ave. on the bench Thursday morning and
left the man inside it lucky to be alive.

Terrace fire chief Randy Smith said the man may have
lit a cigarette and ignited propane investigators believe
was leaking from the trailer’s tank.

The 49-year-old man was taken to Mills Memorial
Hospital and treated for first and second degree burns
and other injuries, Smith said.

“There’s not much left of the trailer,” he said. “It’s
amazing. This gentleman is very lucky.”

Firefighters were on the scene quickly and extin-
guished the ensuing fire that had spread to the carport
adjoining the house,

- The explosion, at about 7:40 a.m., rattled windows and
woke neighbours for blocks around. Smith said the
people heard it as far away as Mountain Vista Drive.
-He urged people to check their tanks and equipment.
:“Everybody's pulling thelr RVs and tent trailers out at
this time of year,” he said. “If they have propane ap-
pliances with their camping gear it's imperative it be
serviced properly by. somcone who knows what they’re
doing.” rn

Baxter said.

Hahn,

tier t ate

THE RESIDENT of a camper-trailer parked at a residence on the 4800 Block of
Dalry March 23 was badly burned when it exploded, Firefighters suspect leak-
Ing propane was ignited when the man lit a cigarette,

homelessness mare diffi-

The aging population is
driving the increasing de-
mand for health care dol-
lars, he said, and afford-
able housing proponents
will find it hard to com-
pete with that agenda,

Taxpayers find it easier
to justify health care
spending —which they
may well use — than hous-
ing subsidies, which they
probably won't.

“More of us are selfish
about health care than
there are of us who are
generous about housing,”

He's also expecting
heightened demand for

8 Local RCMP officer

named in $1.1M suit
filed by Alberta man

last year in Saskatchewan, indicating
Skybiz is “an illegal pyramid scheme”
under the criminal code.

The information indicates the state-
ments were also made on various televi-
sion newscasts aired in February and
March of this year, ;
~~ And it quotes fram a March 1 press te-
lease issued by Constable Liz Douglas of
Terrace also indicating that “it is our opi-
nion that Skybiz 2000 is an illegal pyra-
mid scheme in Canada.”

RCMP public relations official Corpor-
al Grant Learned said last week he was
aware of the suit but neither the force or
its officers have been served,

In the meantime, a local man who is
part of of Skybiz questions the statements
made by RCMP officers,

Warren Peterson says he even chal-
lenged an RCMP officer last week to ar-
rest him if Skybiz is an illegal pyramid
scheme,

“E asked lim how come he wouldn't
arrest me because here I am, an obvious
admitted participator,” said Peterson
aflerward.

Peterson said he was also unsuccessful
in getting the officer to put on paper the
position of RCMP officers that the com-
pany is illegal.

“Pm just a businessman trying to start
a business and they’re trying to wreck it
before it gets off the ground,” said Peter-
son.

Housing money to tighten

safety and security.

That could show up in
the form of demand for the
type of gated communities
that are being built in the
US., he said.

Some of those projects
have successfully separate
themselves from their sur-
rounding municipalities,
he said, and as a result
pay no property tax.

Newer forms of housing
— particularly in areas such
as privately run seniors
care and new types of land
leases —will also pose
complex problems, Baxter
Suggested,

About 100 delegates
from across the province
were al the conference.

Groups wanted

B.C. PARKS officials here hope a new group campsite
at Lakelse Lake will not only encourage more business
but answer complaints from individual campsite userp)
The location’s adjacent to the day Use-picnic>iiae
Lakelse Lake and contains four double spois with an ac-
companying large, open fields says parks official Jamie

“It'll have a shelter, pit toilets, a sink area, tables
and beach access. It Is self contained to meet group
demand,” he said,

Group camping has taken place within Lakeise
Lake’s 156-site campground but there lave been com-
plaints from other campers of noise and activity because
of the nature of group camping, SB oe