The jury trial of a local man for
murder ends in a verdict of
manslaughter\NEWS A7

do. WIRNELS

Terrace Little Theatre’s summer
drama camp is proving to be
popula‘\WCOMMUNITY B1

WEDNESDAY
JULY 17,-1996-

MILLS MEMORIAL Hospital employ-
ets gathered in front of the hospital yes-
terday to protest a massive round of
layolt uotices affecting registered and li-
ceased practical nurses.

More than 20 people kave or will soon
receive notices from the hospital <in its

atiempt to balance a budget hit hard by

successive years. of freezes...
“This isn’t about nurses losing their

jobs. 1's about nursing services that'll be.

alfected,’’ says’’ Hospital Employees
Union spokesman Elaine Pigeau:

“There'll be less ‘people: looking afler
the paticuls Uist are there, This is about
palicnt care and safety,” she added.

At the heart of the13 notices affecting
registered nurses and. an anticipated: 11
notices to be'given to licensed practical
nurses is the nced by. Mills’ to cut
*4100,000 fram its payroll to avoid run-
aing a deficit. .

What Mills is doing is re-organizing its
uursing services in an ailempt (o central-

orkers

ize operalions,

It has wiped out existing nursing posi-
tions and created new ones on its main
medical services Moor and in its emer-
gency. room.

Hurt the most by the re-organization
are licensed practical nurses who will
lose the equivalent of 8.5 full time jobs,

That’s because, the new | registered
nirsing positions will cover work now
done by licensed practical nurses. And
Tegistered nurses will take over the job
responsibilities of licensed practical
nurses in the emergency room.

Hospital adininistrator Michael
Leisinger predicts. there'll be a loss of
15 full time registered nursing positions
once the re-organization takes hold. —

‘It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of
how we’re going to accomplish this,’’
said Leisinger of the re-organization and
layoffs.

The notices set in motion a complex
scries of events for the nurses.

protest

PeeWee girls went down south
and are now back with a
championship\SPORTS BS

Mills Memorial may be cut-
ting its nursing staff but the
other half of a cost reduction
plan is still in the air. That
story on Page Ag.

Registered nurses are now open to bid
on the new registered positions created.
And senior ones can use ‘‘bumping’’
tights-contained in their contract to take
jobs covered by those with lesser
seniority.

Licensed practical nurses can also
bump but because there will be fewer li-
censed positions open, there’s a chance
they can move into non-nusing jobs also
covered by their Hospital Employees
Union.

Hovering over the layoffs and re-
organization is a new collective apree-
ment between the hospital and its em-
ployces which provides far job security
for those affected.

The new agreement guarantees laid off
employees at least 12 months of work by
declaring them supernumerary,

That means they'll still be put on work
rotation and still get paid while the
bumping and re-organization shake
down. ,

“For us it means having an extra pair
of hands to help out with the work,’”’ said
Leisinger.

He hopes that the surplus workers will
ease the hospital’s over time budget by
filling in for vacations and for other ab-
Sences,

And Leisinger’s optimistic that most if
not all of those affected will ultimately
end up with a job when the process has
ended through normal staff turnover,

RD:

hospital cuts

93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST
VOL. 9 NO. 14

All of this means- the anticipated
$400,000 wage savings will ‘take some
lime fo come about because of the job
security agreement.

Mills will keep track of the wages paid
lo the surplus workers as it has been told
those costs will be covered by. the
provincial govemment,

“We don’t have that in writing, but
that’s the plan,”’ said Leisinger.

kkk ak
SIX BEDS are being closed on the hos-
pital’s medical/surgical ward until. the
beginning of September.

It’s part of a regular summer cutback
that’s being accompanied by the closure
for the same time period of one of the
hospital’s two operating rooms.

That drops the number of available
beds al Mills to 36 from 42 for the: rest of
the summer.

The bed and operating room. closures
are an attenipt to cope wilh summer va-
calions. .

aw Waiting game

retirements and the like.

Orenda licence
hearings set for
next weekend

REPAP’S BID to take over Orenda
Forest Products goes before public
hearings in the northwest July 27 and
28.

Three government MLAs are to hold
hearings in Terrace, Kitwanga and
Stewart over the two weekend days.

They’ll then file a report with forests
minister Dave Zimnhelt who has to give
his approval for the transfer of
Orenda’s forest licence to cut wood in
the Meziadin area to Repap.

Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrechl,
Bulkley Valley-Stikine MLA Billy
Goodacre and Yale-Lillooet MLA
Harry Lali, also the parliamentary sec-
tetary to the forests minister, are to
conduct the hearings.

Although Repap announced in April
that it had reached a $25 million deal to
buy Orenda, the hearings were delayed
because of the May provincial election
campaign period.

The hearings are being held on the
weekend because of the NDP govem-
ment’s slim majorily in ihe provincial
legislature,

The three MLAs can’t get away dur-
ing weekday sessions of the legislature
for fear their absence could lead to a
defeat of the government should a cru-
cial vote in the legislature be held.

‘We have that narrow margin and

* just can’t risk it,’’ said Giesbrecht.

Gicsbrecht admitted that compressed
schedule will be tricky but said thal’s
preferable to extending the hearings
over several weekends.

‘'We’ve got to get it done, The com-
panies are looking for an answer,”’ said
Giesbrecht.

There’s no set time period in which
the MLAs must report to the forest
minister once the hearings have been

PATIENCE IS a virtue, especially whan it comes to fishing, Despite the record sockeye run at the Skeena's
mouth, anglers fishing for chinook upriver aren't having a banner year. That's Larry Botelho waiting for a held.

bite, Botelho was the first fisher at Ferry Island last Thursday, but by noon he hadn't had one strike,

THI CITY has two proposals from companies
wantin to build asecond sheet of ice but it’s doubt-
ful ifarea laxpayers will have a chance to vote on

the issue this fatl,

City administrator Bob Hallsor said yesterday
that there isn "t enough time to examine the -propo- -
saly, choose one ‘and prepire information fora refer-
endum to be held during the November municipal

elections.

“We have to involve the regional distric and
they den'tneet again until Augtist,” said Hallsor. -

sheet of ice.

for the project,

But Giesbrecht said a report will be
filed as soon as possible to prevent fur-

ther delays, Set

The hearings are to gather: public
opinion on the ramifications ‘of the pro-
posed takeover for employment, corpo-
rate concentration, wood use and wood
prices in the northwest:

Giesbrecht sat on a similar’ panel
several years ago concerning Repap
and wood in the Kitwanga area.

The majorily of the pancl’s business
will be done in public but there may be
times when people want to speak to
them in private, he said. ,

Small forest industry operators may
have worrics about expressing opinions
in public that could draw an adverse
reaction from Repap, Giesbrecht con-
tinued,

“They may be worried about. what
Repap might do afterward. Repap may
do nothing but there might be a certain
anxiety,’’ Giesbrechi said. ,

As it is, a number of smaller con-
tractors in the Hazelton area’ want
Repap’s offer blocked until the compa-
ny begins paying its bills on time,

Those contractors have already signed
a petition indicating that they shouldn’t
be subsidizing Repap’s — expansion
plans. ,

The Repap deal to purchase, Orenda
follows a failed attempt by a New York
consortium last year to take the licence
and ship the wood to a mill on 1. Van-
couver Island.

Most of the Orenda wood has been
bought by Repap for years, so the com-
pany views the purchase as securing the
fibre it already relics on.

The purchase would give Repap con-
trol over an additional 342,000 cubic
metres of wood, and help ‘buffer the
loss of as much as 170,000 ‘cubic
metres that goes to the Nisga’a as part
of the proposed treaty.

Repap will in turn offer the Nisga’a a
chance to buy 49 per cent of Orenda,

“And if one of the proposals looks at all realis-
tic, we have to do factfinding and number crunching
in order to present something to voters,” he added,

—. Council began looking curlier this year at the
idea of haying a private developer build-a second

“The city would buy a giamnicei block of ice.’
- time-as.a way of giving the developer a an economic —
. footing, lenving the developer’ free to incorporate
- other. fevenuie-producing 1 means: as way. of paying:

second sheet of ice,

There’s a possibility of taming over the existing
arena operations to the private developer,

The private developer idea follows the defeat
last fall of a referendum in which taxpayers were
asked for approvual to borrow money to finance &

One of the proposals is “from Community ”
Facilities Development Inc, of Edmonton while. the
other is a Vancouver consortium, That consortium
“includes the architectural’ firm: of ‘J.S. Lutsky

-ossibility of a fall arena vote doubtful

Although the plan calls for privite financing of
the project, voler approval is required as_it” HL
involve city land or buildings,

The current arena financing structure includes
the rural area surrounding Terrace and that means

regional district voters will be involved.

Architects which designed the new medical centte. :

~ Hallsor said it will.take al least a’ week before
city officials begin:to examine the two ‘proposals.

“We have to see if they are close lo the ballpark
that we wart to consider, ” ‘he sald. -