Computer savvy Young people learn the ins and outs of web design and computer Alluring city Recent statistics show there are more tourists coming to visit Meet the champs f After five rugged races this year’s Adventure: # Challenge champions are graphics\COMMUNITY B6 Terrace\NEWS Ai1 ae if crowned\SPORTS B16 $1.00 plus 7¢ GST ($4.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) [THE CITY OF: ANNIVERSARY 2003 “www.terracestandard.com | Wednesday, August 13, 2003 | Wood sales start new era: MLA -FOUR SMALL wood sales were put up for bid last week in what Skeena MLA Roger Harris expects will be a new kind of forest industry for the area. The four sales will be joined by two more this week, amounting to 30,000 cubic metres in total. They’re designed to be attractive to small loggers. And the wood will cost much less than it used to, providing more oppor- tunity for small loggers to buy the wood and to then find markets after it has been cut, said Harris. He wants the small wood sales to put people back to work in an industry that has been particularly hard hit in the Terrace area. Some of the sales. are around Terrace and the others are in the Hazeltons. The sales come under a new pro- vincial agency called B.C. Timber Unsafe old toys wanted HEALTH WORKERS here are collecting old, re- called, broken or otherwise unsafe toys and safety equipment for babies and children so they won't be “used again. The expense of equip- ment and toys for babies and young children might lead parents and others to unknowingly pass on items that are broken, unsafe, that have been recalled or are otherwise dangerous, says Ester Brisch, a regis- tered nurse with the North- ern Health Authority. “We don’t want old stuff to be recycled through garage sales of passed on to other children if it is no longer safe or usable,” said Brisch. The collected tays and equipment wil! be made unusable and safely dis- posed of, she said. Brisch and others will also be glad to check over any toys and equipment to first determine if they can be used again. “We also have a recall list for car seats. There's not one majer manufactur- er that hasn't had a seat recalled at some time,” said Brisch. , The list of items that will be taken in by the au- thority includes bicycle helmets, baby walkers, car seats, cribs, playpens, baby gates, high chairs and another other child- ren’s products. Those who do drop off any of the above items this month will receive either a $10 gift certificate or a $40 coupon book. More information is available by calling the health authority at 638- 2200. Sales which as of Aug. | had the way cleared 16 use a new system called variable pricing to establish. what is called the upset price for wood. That’s the amount the province needs to recoup to recover the cost of silviculture and road design, for in- stance, for each of the timber blocks it has putup for sale. ‘ “~The new pricing system has dropped the upset price by half in some cases and by even more in oth- ers. It’s one way of answering critics who say former upset. price amounts put the wood beyond the reach of small operators. “T think the average is $18 or $19 4 cubic metre [of sawlog volume],” said Harris. “The pulp portion remains the same at 25 cents [a cubic metre].” Some of the upset prices are as low B Climb hard TERRACE climber Trevor Reynolds lays back off a pumpy move.during the Azad Adventures outdoor rock climbing competition at Chist Creek forest recreation site Aug. 2. Reynolds was one of 32-climbers ‘from - Terrace, Prince Rupert, Smithers and New Hazelton who competed at.the event. Plenty of spectators were on hand to check out the action. It was also the fourth of flve Terrace Standard Adventure Challenge events, The series wrapped up Aug. 4. For details see page B16. SARAH A, ZIMMERMAN PHOTO as $9.34 a cubic metre. Still remaining is the bo- nus bid system, the price over and above the upset price, f& whichf represents any profit § the pro- vincia] govern- ment might expect fram the sales. Roger Harris The wood sales are the first in the province under the variable pricing system. Harris views the small wood sales as the beginning of a northwest effort to wean the area off of an overwhelm- ing dependence on large volume wood processors controlling large amounts of wood. “We have a very unique situation: here. The large mills are not working because they don’t want to. They’re not working for other reasons,” he said. And even if and when the large pro- cessors go back to work, Harris said that should not be taken as a sign things will return to the old days. “These are permanent changes in this part of the world,” said Harris of the move toward more small wood sales. “We need to change for the long term and that is what is taking place.” A collection of independent | and small operators, when taken. together, could have the same kind of economic impact as larger processors, he noted. ’ Depending upon the success and acceptance of the six small wood sales, which will be known by the end of this month, more wood could be sold in short order, amounting to an additional 107,000 cubic metres in the Terrace and Hazelton areas and also in the Nass. This additional amount, combined with the volume in the existing six sales, works out to 10 per cent of the wood under the control of the B.C. Timber Sales office here. But that would require the approval of senior executives not resident in the area. Cont'd Page A2 School lease could touch $20, OOO for. every month WORTH JUST under $5,400 each when it comes to pro- vincial grants, each student in the public school system is a precious commodity. They're even more valuable given a general decline in enrolment and that’s. what makes losing students to private schools such a serious issue, says Terrace Coast Mountains School District trustee Diana Penner. “Losing students would affect our remaining students when it comes to programs we could offer,” said. Penner, the board’s finance committee chair. “Our system has a large diversity of students. That’s the public school strength. Losing students gives us iess and less diversi- ty.” Penner’s comments a failed attempt by new Moun- tainview Christian Academy in Terrace to buy the schodl district's never-opened Mountainview Elementary on the bench. The academy now wants to lease the school. The district doesn’t want to have Mountainview occupied and has suggested leasing the closed Copper Mountain school instead. If the academy were interested, Penner said the price tag could reach $20,000 a month based net on building costs, but on the potential loss of student grants. “We would at least need to recoup our money in terms of what we would lose,” said Penner. She said she has gone over the academy's projected student population and that those figures match hers. Some of the academy’s students would come from other private schools and some from Kitimat and some from home schooling. While there might be a small immediate impact on the public school system, a larger amount would be lost through what Penner calls a “second wave.” Her position is that other existing private schools would lose some of their students to the new academy right away. That would free up spots in those schools for parents who now have children in the public schools but who have been waiting for private school vacancies. Penner believes up to 40 students would be lost from the district's schools in total. Another Terrace trustee, Hal Stedham, says making school facilities available to a competing educational system does not make any sense. “Ir’s like shooting yourself in the foot. Only this time, you are blowing -your foot off,” he said. The problem of leasing out Mountainview Elementary is that its newness and appeal would further accelerate the loss of students fram the public system, Stedham ad- ded. system,” he said. “That's a brand new school, And if anybody’s going to use it, it should be students from the public school Police remain leery of late bar closings By SARAH A, ZIMMERMAN AFTER A particularly busy August long weekend, Terrace RCMP mem- bers are reiterating their apprehension about extended hours for local bars. Friday Aug. 1 the Best Western Terrace Inn had extended bar hours for a special event and the next night the Coast Inn of the West was open until 4 am. to coincide with the Riverboat Days festivities, . Police say there was a steady stream of patrons leaving the bar after the 4 a.m. closing, dispelling theories that if bars are open later, patrons will leave on a more gradual basis. “T would have to say we are not in support of the extension of late night liquor hours just because of the de- mand it puts on the police service,” says Terrace RCMP Constable Na-: tasha Roberts, Prior to the long weekend, police told city council, which permilted the late closings, that they were not in fae "night in: the: drunk-tank ‘over the two: nights. rose from nine: last. year to 22 this year - 20 of those people were de-~ © vour, On a normal Friday or Saturday: night with bars closing at 2.a.m. police: consider the 4 a.m.-8 a.m. period to be slaw. a But over the long weekend they saw a dramatic increase in calls for that traditionally slow time, Roberts said. Last year. police responded to just eight calls over two nights during that slow period. That compares to 19 this” year, she said. And the total of drunks ‘spending | the tained after 4 a.m. “Overall there was a significant in- crease in public drunkenness and un- lawfulness and a significant increase in calls," Roberts said. “Tt appears to us that it’s directly related to the bars being open until four,” ‘She cautioned, however, . that the. long weekend, Riverboat Days festivi- “ties and homecoming activities may “well have added to the: increase in drinking and partying.” “That's: because another ale” riglit bar opening on July 19 proved rather uneventful for police. ; Roberts says her information shows nothing out of the ordinary happened on that night. The Riverboat Days weekend defi- nitely kept local police busy. respord- ing to 109 calls between noon Priday, Aug. f and noon Sunday, Aig. 3. -That compares to 91 calls for the same period last year - a 20 per cent increase, Police issued’ five 24-hour suspensions over the weekend and two impaired driving charges.