. ~ spending $30,000 to determine what kind - of trauma services are now available in ‘the area and what’ s needed to overcome ' March 3 to show support for owner Giannino Pretto whose . . Line work Work’s begun to connect Terrace with more phone and cable. options | \NEWS Att Transformation _ Vancouver photographer 7 brings a cultural bonanza — in his multimedia show \COMMUNITY. Bi. Slugfest The River Kings duke it out with the Ice Demons at CIHL championship _ \SPORTS B4 — 4 $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST _ ‘($1.10 plus 8¢GST ~ outside of the Terrace area) " oye A, REGIONAL ‘taxing | authority . any gaps. -Gathering -this kind of information '.. will then form the basis of pushing for .. trauma services improvement, says Sha- * ron Hartwell, the mayor of Telkwa and chair of the North ‘West Regional Hospi- * tal District.’ - _- . It’s ‘also important to improve trauma ". services considering the economic devel- opment potential of the area which will pur more’ heavy. industrial. traffic on the roads and: inevitability | more accidents, .she added. “We know mining‘is growing in the . north and that will mean more traffic. "The [Prince Rupert container] port will -add more traffic and with more logging - trucks because of the pine beetle logging, . we need to be ready,” Hartwell said. ~ Doing something . about. the. relative lack of. trauma services in this area has already been a consistent theme of the Terrace medical community and of city council's health services committee. TERRACE ‘The: $30,000, which will come in the form of taxes levied by ‘the regional hos- -» pital district on regional homes and busi- = nesses, is being provided to a much larger ‘trauma study. being’ undertaken by a pro- vincial agency. dt means B.C. Trauma Services will be : “trict,” said Dr. Richard 4 Simons of B.C. ‘Trauma Services. Oe ue » Simons. and other trauma specialists. will visit the area in early summer as part e ‘able to focus on the northwest and pro-- _ vide specific information on the region. “We are well aware of the high injury - and trauma death rates in northwestern B.C. that are well above provincial and ‘national averages and we are delighted _ 7 to be in Parinership. with the ne hospital dis-* Rally backs — Prettoin : Shell dispute. _. By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN 3 DISPLACED EMPLOYEES, local business people and . | neighbours: gathered at the Kalum St. Shell service station tanks remain dry. Pretto has suffered financially since 2001 when he ex- hausted his savings | to pay for a costly, environmental assess- 7 ment and clea up of a portion of his property in the process - of installing a new tank farm at Shell’s request. Pretto and Shell can’t agree on who should take responsi- | bility for contamination that remains on the site. Because of that contamination, which reduces the proper- ty’s value, Pretto’s been unable to secure financing to pur- chase the gas in bulk from Shell to sell to his customers and : he hasn’t had gas in the tanks since late 2005. Shell Canada recently made an offer to Pretto to pay for an environmental assessment of the site but it is based on several conditions and Pretto has not yet accepted the offer. Pretto and his supporters believe the environmental con- * tamination on the site predates his 1982 purchase so Shell. |: Canada should pay to clean up the site or buy him out. They. - believe the discovery in 2001 of two underground gas tanks Pretto had never been informed were there,.adds credence.to . the theory the contamination was not caused by him. About 50 protestors carried signs in support of Pretto, including some of the six employees he had to lay off just before Christmas. a ' “I’ve been working here: for 12 years so I’ve had to learn to get back in the workforce,” says Valerie Brown, who par- . |. ticipated in the rally with her three daughters. ’ the kind of service to local people from someone who knows Skeena NDP MP Nathan Cullen also attended the rally. Both he and NDP MLA Robin Austin have written letters to Shell in support of Pretto. ° “ “This is about what business should be,” Cullen. said. “It’s about community, it’s incredible to see the support a business can get when a large. multi-national ignores the i in, terests of average, ordinary people,” he said. ; Others came to support a business owner they say goes. out of his way to help people in the neighbourhood. i “I know very well he’s helped out a lot of neighbourhood people here and he’s getting crapped on,” says Ron Floritto. Juliana White lives down the street from Pretto’s gas sta- tion and convenience store and has known Giannino. since - she was “kneehigh to a grasshopper.” - “To me, it’s typical of big business ganging up on the little guy,” White said. “For me, personally, Giannino gives Gov’t wants to reduce numbers [ “ABOVE Giannino Pretto is ‘surrounded by supporters’ _at the Feb. 3 rally at his gas station. Photographed at». right is Valerie Brown, one of Pretto’s laid off employ: ; ees, flanked by her daughters Ashley and Tyler. - : . _ SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO” ae 4 you- = he’ S the little guy who knows when you need to’ be left ‘ alone and who knows when you need a smile.’ ” Several of Pretto’s supporters hope the provincial envi- ‘ ronment ministry will get involved. . “I think it would be extremely advantageous for Giannino if the provincial environment people were involved with this,” says long time Terrace resident Ron Gowe. Roger Harris, a former gas bulk plant operator, says the problem lies with the cost of cleaning up contaminated sites far exceeding the value if the site were sold. - He says there needs to be a change in how companies can deal with the economics of cleaning up contaminated sites. “YT have no words to say, I’m just more than pleased,” fp , said Pretto of the support. “I don’ thavea way to thank these people.” of their information gathering ‘task. _ Hartwell said lobbying to ‘improve -trauma services backed by. solid informa- ‘tion will come in handy with moves now: afoot to. eventually. replace portions of. Mills, Memorial Hospital. » “We'll need to know. exactly "what’s required as “that planning proceeds,” ” She . said. ‘The North’ West t Regional Hospital 4 District runs from the coast into the inte- ° rior. Taxes it raises finance 40 per cent of. - construction and equipment purchases, at | regional health care facilities. : - Its board is made up of local govern- ment officials including ' ‘Terrace. ‘city “councillor Lynne ‘Christiansen: who . ‘is "one of its two vice chairs: ‘The hospital district; for instance,’ is. _intensive care unit at Mills:.Memorial — Hospital that’s now underway. as well as . the current renovations to the. xe hospital’ s _ emergency TOOM.. a — | by MARGARET SPEmRs _ getting better results,” FAR TOO many . native people are being sent to jail , given the overall number of native people in ‘relation to the population of B.C., says ‘provincial solicitor general John Les. - So his ministry is work- - ing on a plan to reduce the numbers sent to prison and _ cut the amount of repeat of- fenders while ensuring pub- lic safety. _ “We-know we have a specific problem here and we need to look at ways of said Les last week. He’s not sure yet what | termed restorative.” justice,.. which are aimed at divert- will transpire but did say ab- original customs will play a role in reducing the number of native people sent to jail. “Our overall objective is - to have.a system of correc- : tion, not just incarceration,” Les added... “Aboriginal people have practices ‘and customs in |& their traditions that might produce better results.” The provincial plan will only address people accused of crimes that could result in. ‘imprisonment of two years less a day. Potential sen- tences of two years or more are the responsibility of the’ federal government: The provincial initiative is not all new. There are ex- isting programs, generally ing those accused of crimes from entering the formal John Les justice and jail system in the first place. And the current criminal : ‘code provides judges with the option of using different sentencing provisions for native. people compared to. others in the criminal justice _ system. - But whatever happens, ’ Les said the safety of the . _ public. from: people who commit “crimes will -be the foundation. *“There will be no com-- promising public safety. That will be clear,” he said. Les added that any initia- . tives may differ in content. -around the province because — individual native groups’ have different ways of hand-" ing criminal behaviour. “We could be looking at what is culturally appropri- ate, whether it be programs or facilities,” he continued. Les said his ministry will concentrate on reducing the of aboriginal people being jailed | number of repeat offenders, . “Les said there is no: spe- .. cific. budget set up for his”. ministry’ s handling of the | issue and no timeline for any; ° implementation of whatever. is decided. This is a lot of work. I ; can tell you it won't be de- cided by Tuesday of next . . week,” he said. Some of: what the gov- ernment may have in mind was provided in the Feb. 14 Speech from the Throne: which opened the current. session of the provincial legislature. a It referred to community and to aboriginal courts ‘to take the pressure of the ex- isting court system. ny . ‘has been getting money from unsuspecting victims!" -seniors who answered. for money to aid in taking a- sick -] _ child to hospital for treatment of. for a donation to:-help: J. + Jenria Parks, the infant who underwent a heart transplant t ‘on senior citizens are cowards because. “you don’t see. [them] banging on your door or my door.” 2 0. ge _working. Incidents such as this should be reported i imme- the RCMP at 638-7400 or Crimestoppers, 635- 8477. POLICE ARE looking for help i in finding’ the woman who o “On-Feb. 21 arid 22, a female knocked on doors ‘along = the ‘4400 block of Lazelle and Park Avenues, asking the - in an Edmonton hospital late last: year.: - In the first case the woman stole money from ¢ a table . near the front door when the owner went into the back of the woman money. 7 Terrace RCMP Sgt. Bill Casault said people who prey He said scams like this don’t occur often in ‘Terrace, but when they do, the elderly may be victimized because: they. tend to be home during the day when others are. diately, Casault added. Those with information ’can call. : of q helped finance the construction ‘of anew. : | 7 _ “the house for a minute. In the other, the homeowner gave. 1.