Aftermath | Man tells local students his harrowing tale of ‘drinking and driving \COMMUNITY B1 4 Represent People weigh in on what to do with B.C.’s electoral boundaries \NEWS A15 Guimuscled Past and present 2 Bantams battle it out on the ice \SPORTS B5 $1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST __» (81.10 plus 7¢ GST _ Outside of the Terrace area) By MARGARET SPEIRS where it can be reasonably expected that children under age 14 wil be Internet chat room last week. : Terrace RCMP arrested 18- ~year-old Lionel Smith i in Terrace after 7 the, 1 -year-old girl reported the chat room incident to her parents Nov. 13. According to Kitimat RCMP, the young man was held at the Ter- “race RCMP detachment overnight for a court appearance in Terrace © __ where he was charged with one.count of luring a child Nov. 14. The young man was released on strict ‘conditions including no un- supervised contact with any person under the age of 14, not to possess or access any computer and not to be within 50 metres of any location © -° POLICE ARE warning parents of the dangers lurking for children on _ the Internet after a teenage boy from Kitimat was charged after having - a sexually explicit conversation with a pre: -teen Terrace girl, in an disks. r Looking back NELLIE McFadden points out her former. student Pat Hall'in a photo of the 1961 Grade 4 class at former Riverside School. Mrs. McFadden, 86, was the teacher. See Page AS to o get é a closer look at the photo and hear stories from former students. c ep h girl present unless in the company of an informed adult. An informed adult would be someone over age [8 who knows about the accused’s alleged luring and his release conditions, which apply in Terrace and Kitimat, said Sgt. Sukh Parmar of Kitimat RCMP. Kitimat RCMP general duty officers executed search warrants on. two separate residences in Kitimat in the early morning hours of Nov. ° 14 and seized computers and other computer accessories. Parmar speculated that the computer accessories could be computer Search warrants were executed at two residences because it’s be- lieved that the accused had corresponded with the underage. girl from both residences, said Parmar. . Terrace RCMP became involved when officers here received a .com- 7 ad ~_ es mennnnanes — | eee ——— ooumnesnsoneaee US} 9 ne | |_—_—_______-ffv 6) i H " Wednesday, November 22, 2006 | plaint from the girl” s ; parents and, after making i inquiries, identified the 18-year-old male, said Parmar. “Terrace members located him in Terrace and arrested him,” said Parmar, referring to Smith. Parmar didn’t. know the exact location in Terrace where the young man was arrested. __.. . Terrace RCMP spokesperson Const, Rochelle “Patenaude declined .. to comment on the Terrace RCMP’s involvement in the case because it is a. Kitimat RCMP file. _ Parmar advised parents to be aware of what their children are doing | * on the Internet, how long they’ re on the Internet and what corréspon- ° dence is being exchanged — in short, to have a general awareness of -when their. children are on the computer and What sites they’re on. Seniors laud | affordable | housing plan By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN > rat SENIORS in the city can look forward to the addition of new. affordable housing units here after city council approved the -rezoning of a vacant downtown lot to allow for the proposed _ strata-style units. "owner and developer says he’s already getting phone calls from people expressing interest in buying the new housing units. “People are willing to put deposits down to secure their unit,” says Kevin Goddard of Deep Creek: Masonary. strata-style homes which are wheelchair accessible, all on one level with no basement. He plans to sell the units for between $100,000 | and senior’s housing because there is a demand for it* “Why do it? Because.the market says there is a big wait- ing list at Twin River Estates and it’s something with a small risk I can build and sell fairly easily,” Goddard says. Local seniors are excited about the proposed development given lengthy wait lists at other facilities in the city such as Twin River Estates and the Willows Apartments. “] think it’s a good thing, I was really.pleased.about it and I think it is definitely needed in Terrace,” says local historian and senior Yvonne Moen. “It’s needed:because at the Twin | River Estates they have almost a long waiting list.” _ - And she. says the site for the proposed units is'ideal be- - cause of its proximity to other seniors facilities such as the - Willows Apartments and the Happy Gang Centre. She also agrees the price point for the units is attractive for seniors on a limited income. _. The property located .at 3401. Kalum St. was rezoned from R2 - two family residential. to R4 - medium density DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO multi-family residential. - Snow hampers: ‘plex construction start tr City planner David Block says recent developments tar- geted to seniors are at the high end of the market leaving seniors on modest incomes with few options. 'struction in March 2007 and depending on the demand, more And since the Nov. 14 decision was made, the property’s a The townhouses will be smaller, one or two bedroom - $120,000 each and says he decided to build the affordable Goddard says he’ll first build six units, beginning.con- _ By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN HEAVY SNOWFALL in Terrace Nov. 16 put the | brakes on the initial stages of construction related work at the sportsplex site. Work began the day before on the relocating of a storm main which runs along the east end of the site, but the dump the next day meant work was stopped. “We're just going to wait for the weather, what elsecan you do?” says city director of leisure services, ‘Ross Milnthorp. The delay is not cause for concern. “Even if we have the worst winter on record and we can’t start until the spring, we still plan to be operi by early fall of 2007,” he says. And more information is coming to light about how. the build wil! proceed. Along with project manager Wayne Aussem of North American Ice Development, the city has decided to proceed with a core span building, a prefabricated Steel ‘building which doesn’t require interior columns or trusses. “The prefabricated wall panels are comugated and because they are corrugated they provide sig- nificantly more’ structural strength so you do not need interior columns and consequently you don’t need the foundations,” Milnthorp says. The move reduces the width of the new facility by an additional 12 feet, which translates into a cost savings of $150,000, Milnthorp says, adding the design is just as structurally sound as a tradi- tional building. “There are several of these buildings i in town, there are a number of arenas built like this in the Lower Mainland so we have checked into this ex- tensively.” units will follow. The two and half acre parcel i is centrally located near the © Farmers Market, grocery stores, the library, medical centre and all the amenities of downtown, which Goddard Says is, the real draw for many seniors. The development will begin on the Kalum St. ‘side of the property with access of Adams St. : A secured privacy fence will be built along Kalum St. and — ~ the entire compound will eventually be fenced off, similar to Twin River Estates, to prevent pedestrian traffic from going through the property and to provide additional safety and: security for the residents. First big dump of the season affects motorists and travellers | By MARGARET SPEIRS — LAST WEEK’S snowfall kept tow truck operators and city work crews busy cleaning the roads after the city got dumped on. The wet stuff covered local roads by the time most people were up and at- tempting the drive to work last Thurs- day, making the trip slow going wheth- er commuting from the north or south sides or Thornhill. By mid-afternoon, Pronto tow truck operator Tim Fleming said the compa- ny had received 19 calls that day. Dispatcher Amanda Fisher said the company was so busy Friday that none of the five tow truck operators were in the office. “Off hand, I’d say about 70 calls in the. last two and a half days,” she said, ' adding it had been the company’s busi- est time so far this year. Shawn Titterton, dispatcher for Riv- erside Auto Towing, said business had been fairly steady for the tow truck op- erators there. “TJ wouldn’t say we’re run off our feet but we’re definitely busy,” she said last Friday. Tow truck operators had responded to about 12 calls, including some for boosts and “break-ins.” People. will Craveiro, roads foreman for the City of Terrace public works department. “We knew the storm was coming,” he said, adding that crews were work- ing around the clock and started when ‘the snow began around 2 a.m. last Thursday. The city crews work with . three trucks, two graders, a few loaders start their vehicles and return to their © residences, locking themselves out of their vehicles, requiring someone to come help them get back in, she said. Terrace public works employees la- boured to keep up with the snowfall in the “extreme” conditions, said Henry and backhoes and assorted contractors, he said. Three snowplows are currently part of the city road crew with a new truck » expected to arrive by month’s end that can be used as a dump truck in summer and a sand truck in winter, he said. A road advisory for travel outside _ of town was lifted for local highways around 3 p.m. Friday except for travel up the Nisga’a Hwy. Cont’d Page A2 BOB PET! RAS clears snow from in front of his Halliwell Ave. residence. His snow blower made short work of the process. . : DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO Boe wet Helene STS ak ee ey eg gate wnat Te tad ee sgt ime cage eine ee eee ee