ornuggiers skunked It appears the new customs post at Stewart has slowed illegal traffic\N EWS AG. Rupert winners tourney\SPORTS A15 WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 20, 1996 The coast air agreed with Tae ‘Kwon Do enthusiasts at a recent. Volunteers wanted The local sexual assault centre needs people to staff its crisis line\COMMUNITY B4 | | 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST VOL,-9 NO. 32. Second mill issues call for h By JEFF NAGEL SKEENA SAWMILLS is losing $1 million a month and its owner, West Fraser, may not be able to keep the Ter- race mill open without a break on stumpage fees. Bruce MacNicol, West Fraser’s northwest operalions manager, issued that dire warning last Friday on the heels of calls from Repap for similar changes to stumpage rules in the northwest, ‘We are concerned about the economics here,’? Mac- Nicol confirmed. ‘‘We're looking at all of the options, We don’t want to shut down of curtail production, but we have to leave that option open,”’ MacNicol made similar statements in the spring warning about the possibility of some kind of temporary shutdown in the summer. That shutdown didn’t come, but the bad news has mounted this fall in the form of worse losses and limits to the amount of wood producers can export without penalty to the ULS. ‘The problems are not getting any better,"” MacNicol said Friday. The key problem is that the northwest coastal producers like Repap and West Fraser face a double challenge: forests with fewer of the lucrative sawlogs powering interi- or mills’ profits and more difficult, mountainous, and ex- pensive terrain. For every pulp log cut here, the local mills actually lose money, The result has ts skyrocketing logging casts leading to big losses. uy ‘We're not looking for a handout here,” says West Fraser woods manager Scott Marleau, “We're just looking for a fair evaluation of the cost of operaling itt aur areca.” Senior West Fraser officials met last week with forests minister Dave Zimbelt and deputy premier Dan: Miller to discuss the problems of the mill here. MacNicol said top company brass suggested ideas for al- leviating the problem here, but refused to disclose what those ideas were. **They’re in a tough position,’ admitted Marleau, ‘‘How YOUR DOG might not be an cxpensive purebred, but does he have a great batk? Or perhaps no other pooch can sil up and beg like he can? Than he’s a perfect can- didate for the Skeena Valley Kennel] Club fun day match, It runs from 7-9 p.m. on Nov, 21 at the Thorn- hill Community Centre. There are five events planned, including a woof- relay, where the first team to stop barking wins. Then there’s a doggy dash, recall relay and a joe pup relay. For that last gne dogs will do a combinatlon of one of the four — sit, down, rollover, stay, beg, jump-up, DEBBIE STAINTON’S german shepherd may only be two years old, but she’s got a couple of valuable skills mastered — like jumping up on her owner and barking. Those are two of the “tricks” dogs will be called upon to perform at the Skeena Valley Kennel Club's fun day match tomorrow night. Show dogs, mutts — all welcome speak, shush, and take it. And then there’s the doggy version of musical chairs. For this one the chairs are inside a rectangle, atid dogs atid owners walk on the outside. When the music stops the dogs have to stay outside the rectangis, while the owners rush for the chairs. Owners of dogs that tend to wander will likefy find themselves sitting of the Noor. Entry fees for this fun match are by donation. The. only stipulation is that your dog be on a leash, atid have, proof of up to date. vaccinations. For more info call > Sadie at 635-4217, do you unilaterally reduce stumpage rates when you've got 4 government operaling ina deficit?’ MacNicol said the company has been forced to look for policy changes to reflect the different operating conditions in this part of the province. When West Fraser’s acquisitions and capital outlay are laken into account, he said, its northwest operations have lost money over the last 15 years. “When you start to look at the numbers, you've got to wonder how long you can sustain these losses or if there is anything is'sight that’s going to change il,’”’ Asked what the company sces for the future, MacNicol is not optimistic. ‘We see a lot of red ink, and unless there are changes, we're going to have more red ink, which obviously is going to creale more concerns,”’ Marleau says the price of pulp logs are now at historic levels, and the price of saw logs is at a record high, yet the Cont’d Page A2 Mayor re-elected Voters return incumbents in most election races TERRACE VOTERS chose Mayor Jack Talstra by a 3-1 murgin al the polls Saturday to lead the city 10 the turn of the century. Yalstra racked up 1,806 votes to challenger Gordon Hull's 600 “ta” become Terrace’s: mayor tor