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B16 Terrace Review — Wednesday, June 20, 1990

. year ago this week ----

by Tod Strachan

THE NURSES’ UNION SET UP
STRIKE HEADQUARTERS in the
old nurses’ residence beside Mills
Memorial Hospital a year ago this
week, It was the second week of
their strike and from this makeshift
office five shop stewards manned
the phones 24-hours a day in order
to schedule for essential service
levels.

Talks had broken off completely
following an offer from the Health
Labour Relations Association June
13 and hadn’t yet resumed. A
professional responsibility clause
giving nurses greater control over
working conditions had been
agreed on but wage discussions
were still poles apart: the BCNU
wanted a 20 percent raise in the
first year and seven percent in
each of two subsequent years but
the HLRA countered with only
5.5, 6.0 and 6.5, Other issues,
according to the nurses, included

Zs

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educational leave, shift differential
pay, and relative wage levels for
nurses who have two-year
diplomas, bachelor’s and master’s
degrees.

In the meantime Mills Memorial
management personnel were put-
ting in 14-hour days. Interim ad-
ministrator Shirley Bentley found
herself in charge of things, admin-
istrator Norm Carelius left for a
new position with the Ministry of
Health a few days earlier, and,
along with other management and
staff members, was preparing
breakfast, serving the other two
daily meals, cleaning, up, doing
housekeeping, taking out garbage,
doing switchboard relief and any-
thing else necessary to keep the
hospital running.

THE RAIN HELD OFF LONG
ENOUGH for the official
sod-turning exercise at Twin River
Estates a year ago this week. Man-

ning the shovel was Tony Pauls,
the driving force behind the sen-
iors affordable housing concept in
Terrace, Fred Berghauser, presi-
dent of the Skeena Seniors
Affordable Housing Society, and
mayor Jack Talstra.

"} thing it’s just exceptional,"
Talstra said to the 50 or so people
gathered for the ceremony. "We’ve
been looking for a number of years
for something that would anchor
the east end of town and I think
this is it."

ELSEWHERE IN THE COM-
MUNITY the Skeena Protection
Coalition was hard at.work devel-
oping a recycling proposal. Fol-
lowing a mid-week meeting the
group decided to focus on recycl-
ing as the best was to raise envi-
ronmental awareness in the com-
munity while at the same time
dealing with the specific problem
of waste disposal. Other commun-
ities had reduced their volume of
waste by 15 to 25 percent in the
first five years of recycling and
they hoped a proposal they were
preparing for Terrace council
would be the beginning of a suc-
cess story of our own.

AND A LONG-TIME RESI-
DENT WAS HEADING SOUTH.
George Blakey, who established
the first Terrace weather office in
1968 was on his: way to a new

posting in Kamloops. Blakey
arrived 21 years earlier on a tem-

porary mission for the federal

government but liked the area, in
spite of the unpredictable weather
that ruined many outdoor events,
and he decided to stay... just for a
while.

"| KNOW YOU WON'T LIKE
IT... BUT IT WILL HAPPEN."
These words, according to Cham-
ber of Commerce tourism
InfoCentre manager Bobbie
Phillips were spoken by then tour-
ism minister Bill Reid. Phillips
said Reid was referring to a Socred
plan to align tourism zones. with
their eight provincial development
regions. |

It was a plan that would disman-
tle the tourism structure already in
place and was opposed locally by
the Chamber of Commerce, Ter-
race city council and the Regional
District of Kitimat-Stikine. And
NDP tourism critic Jan Pullinger
was sympathetic. "Regional dis-
tricts and councils and the local
tourism industry have said they
don’t want to see North by North-
west changed,” she said, and, "The
government should listen to that
message and back off their planned
changes."

A NEW SAWMILL WAS
COMING TO TOWN and was to
be spewing out lumber by the end
of the year. The principals of the
new company, Kalum Wood Prod-
ucts Ltd., were Stave Forest Produ-
cts, Skeena Cellulose and B&l
Forest Products Ltd. of .Burnaby
and we were told it would create
50 new jobs in town; 25 direct and
25 indirect. Well, almost new jobs.
According to a company represen-
tative the new mil] was in anticipa-
tion of the closure of Skeena Saw-
mills who said they might be mov-
ing to Kitimat and was designed to
"take up the slack".

The new mill was to be located
at the old West Fraser shop about
two miles north of Hwy. 16 on the
Nass road and that location was
the source of, one minor glitch.
Access meant traversing about two
miles of the Kilsumkalum Reserve
but an agreement was quickly
reached where the mill would have
free access to the site in turn for
offering at least some of the new
jobs to Kitsumkalum residents.

AND SEVEN SISTERS VEN-
TURES was also in the business
news. They said they were going
to challenge the supremacy of the
Capilano Suspension Bridge as the
longest and highest suspension
bridge in the world. If the Seven
Sisters proposal became a reality it
would dwarf the 137 metre long

76 metre high Capilano wonder -

with a 250 to 300 metre long
suspension bridge. ;

OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

7 WAS APPARENTLY IN GOOD

ORDER. The Terrace Health Care

f Society announced a year ago this

MH week they had hired a Chief Exe-

TWIN RIVER ESTATES a year ago this week. Manning-a gold-plated shovel borrowed from Kalum

District. forest manager Gerry Dodd, Tony Pauls (ori
Fred. Berghauset (president of the Skeena Seniors’

ginator of the affordable housing concept) and
Atfordable Housing Society),

mayor Jack Talstra in

the'society’s official sod-tuning ceremony.

were helped by -

cutive Officer to replace the separ-

- ate positions of administrator at
Mills Memorial and Terraceview
Lodge, Michael . Leisinger, the

administrator of the Fort Nelson

~ hospital for five years, was on his,
” way ‘to’ Terrace and would take

over his: new position Aug. 1. °

"Yn addition to that, our local.’

ambulance crews ‘were apparently °

"the best in:the northwest. The beat

out seven other teams to win the
Workers’ Compensation Board
north coast zone annual first-aid
competition and were on their way
to Prince George to compete in the
provincial first-aid finals.

IN EDUCATION, eight Terrace
students were listed among 1,400
who collected their degrees at the
recent spring convocation ceremo-
nies at the University of Victoria.
They were: Bachelor of Arts:
Grazer Dodd, Amy Lloyd, Crystal
Thomas. Bachelor of Education:.
Patricia Philpot, Anita-Marie
Yorke. Bachelor of Science: Lanita
Logan, Sherri Oman, Anna Yan.

There were also a few Caledonia
students worthy of note and the
school board met at REM Lee
Theatre a year ago this week to
present certificates of recognition
to a number of graduating students.
Denise Cam, Andrew Davis, Josh
Eades, Janet Lennox, Tony
Marques, Nina Parr, Michelle
Rolfsen, Jeremy Smith, Tina
Thomas, Jeff Tupper and Becky
Wilkerson received certificates as
well as members of the Caledonia
Concert Band and badminton team
who each placed second in major
competitions.

Centennial Christian School
grade 4 to 7 students were busy
raising money to hetp support an
orphaned child in Africa and the
local Salvation Army Red Shield
campaign and Cassie Hall grade-6
French Immersion students were
raising money for a visit to Queb-
ec. Twenty-two Cassie Hall stu-
dents would be meeting their pen
pals at St. Jean Baptiste.School in
Dorion, Que. :

And just to keep the educational
wheels rolling, a consortium of
Northwest school districts had
established a teacher training pro-
gram in the region for those hold-
ing four year certificates and
wanted to get their teaching certif-
icates. The course would be
delivered by SFU through NWCC
and, it was hoped, would keep
teachers in the north.

IN SPORTS, Terrace’s senior
Babe Ruth selects won the zone
B.C. Summer Games berth for
boys’ baseball at Rotary Park a
year ago this week and would be
on their way to Surrey in mid-July.
They beat Houston two out of
three in a best-of-three series: 7-6,
2-4 and 12-5.

The Terrace Hotel crew surprised
everyone when they walked off
with top money of $1,000 at the
20-team fifth annual Big Bob’s
Ball-Banger mixed slo-pitch soft-
bali tournament in Terrace. The
Houston’s. Deans took second
place prize money of $700 and the
Al! Seasons Expose took third and -
$500 in cash.

The Terrace Sundance threesome
of biker Mike Christensen, runner.
Ed Ansems and swimmer Jocelyn
Coxford emerged victorious among

15 other tries at the annual Prince
Rupert Seafest Triathlon. The trio
completed the course in one hour,
15.38 minutes, more than three
minutes ahead of the second place
team. Rupert teams took second
and third place and Terrrace's
Colin Parr won the men’s individ...
ual section. — me