-. time,

BUDGET '92

_ Ice shee

TERRACE — Faced with insuf-
ficient ice time to meet current

‘needs and the prospect of in-

creasing demand in the future,
ice user groups have banded
together to lobby council for
construction of an additional

. facility,

Members of the Terrace Se-
cond Sheet of Ice Association

“turned out in force at a recent |

council meeting to put their case

-“and seek-money to carry out a
feasibility study,

Presenting aldermen with a

15-page document outlining the

current problems and reasons
why the city should give the pro-
ject the go-ahead, association
spokesman David Dediluke
maintained a second ice sheet

.. would be “‘a very important ad-

dition'’ to the city’s recreational

’ facilities.

- Pointing out the project

~ would bring both economic and

social benefits, he said a second
ice sheet would also strengthen

: Terrace’s role as a regional

recreational centre.

“Given ‘the demand for ice
1 Dediluke confidently
predicted the additional sheet

‘would be fully utilized. For ex-

ample, younger hockey players
here were only getting about
two hours ice time a week com-

- pared while three hours was the
. norm in other communities.

--It would also allow more
events to be staged such as a
summer figure-skating school
which’ cannot be held now
because the arena is booked
each summer for the hockey
school.

“In-its brief to council, the
association suggested a six-week
figure skating summer school

would attract a minimum of 20
- out-of-town participants, Based

on Tourism ministry estimates

David Dediluke

“People talking about
Terrace in another com-
munity are not going to
say we have the finest
pavement in the nor-
thwest, they're going to
say good recreation
facilities and good
amenities,” — Dediluke.

of visitor spending patterns,
that would inject $40,000 into
the local economy.

Another facility would also
allow additional hockey tour-
naments to be held and increas-
ed entries in existing ones. That
again would bring more money
into the community.

While conceding council fac-
ed ‘“‘some tough choices” in
preparing this year’s budget,
Dediluke wondered about the
relative benefits of having a
“‘nerfect road’’ or a new facility
which would be used by
thousands of people.

lobby

TERRACE — How great is
the need for asecond sheet of
ice?

Just ask Steve Smyth,
coach:-of the local Peewee!
hiécke¥:team:::He’s‘been ‘try-'
ing to get the Quesnel team
to come out here for the past
seven or eight years — he us-
ed to coach there.

He finally succeeded this
season, The plan was
Quesnel would play here last
Friday night and again Satur-
day morning before travell-
ing to Kitimat for two more
games.

But that’s not the way it
turned out. No ice time was
available on Saturday so the
Peewees had to settle for a
single game.

“To have them finally

The need Is clear

agree to come out and then
not be able to obtain ice was
really frustrating,’* ‘Smyth
said.

Recalling his, days -as the: |:
Midget Rep team coach three .. |:

years ago, he said lack of ice
time forced the team to play .
all its games from Noy. 2 to
Feb, 22 on the road, ‘‘four
months out of a six month
season.’?

If anything, he added, the
situation is worse today.

Smyth also pointed out the
call for a second sheet is
hardly new. The other day he
came across a press clipping
outlining the figure skating
elub’s call for a second sheet
— it was dated 1976.

“It’s something that's long
overdue for a town this
size,”’ he added,

SOON TO BE TWINNED? The number of groups wanting to use the
arena exceeds the hours available. Nothing can be done to change
the number of hours in a day so the only answer is to build a second
sheet of ice, say project proponents. However, council says it likely
won't be able to afford it.

Council warns the
cupboard is bare

TERRACE — Those wanting a
second sheet of ice will have to
settle for a bare-bones facility if
there’s to be any chance of it go-
ing ahead.

That ‘was .the: ‘warning
delivered'' ta Terrave: ‘Second
Sheet’ of Ice: association
representatives lobbying council

for $27,000 to pay for an ar- .

chitectural study on the propos-
ed facility.
The study would draw up a

detailed plan and cost estimate |

for the building and determine
whether there were. any
engineering problems with
siting the structure on land ad-
jacent to the existing arena.

It would also form the basis
of a referendum question the
association would like to see go
to the voters this fall.

The association proposes a
40,000 square foot building

QUESTION OF PRIORITIES? At the same time council is being t to provide another recreational ‘acilty,
the city’s tourism and economic development commission is complaining there’s no plan to eliminate

~ roadside ditches like the one above on Kenney St. or upgrade streets and sidewalks throughout the
community.

with ice surface, change rooms
and seating for 500 and
estimates the cost inthe $3.5-$4
million range..

However, alderman Danny
Sheridan said at that price the |

Her LC

city would’ probably | not be’ able’

to go ahead’ with the project’
even if it passed at referendum.

The: city only has approx-
imately $5 million left of its
available borrowing capacity,
he explained.

The library expansion project
-~ it goes to referendum in June
~- would reduce that by $1.3
million and any local improve-
ment projects (LIPs) on city
streets would eat away still
more, Sheridan added.

(To carry out LiPs, the city
borrows the money needed to
do the work and: recovers it
from property owners overt a
period of years through
municipal taxes).

Echoing Sheridan’s caution,
mayor Jack Talstra pointed to
the land slippage problems on
Lanfear Hill as an example of
where the city might also have
to do some substantial borrow-
ing.

Taistra said the city’s borrow-
ing power was set by the provin-
cial government and was tied to
the assessed value of properties
within its boundaries,

Therefore, unless and until
there was an increase in those
values, the city had to operate
within the current $11 million
limit set by Victoria.

“If you're serious about this,
it has to be a bare-bones type of
operation,” he told the approx-
imately 30 association members
attending the Feb. 24 meeting.

Council! ultimately agreed by
a four-to-one margin to include
the $27,000 request in the first
draft of the 1992 budget.

The request was one of the
items on the agenda of an in-
camera budget meeting held
Monday night.

Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 11, 1992 — Page AS

LETTERS

TO THE TERRACE STANDARD

Person

Dear Sir:

I am writing in response to
Randy Rodgers submission
of Feb. 26, 1992 entitled
‘Local wood for local use’’.

I work for Skeena
Cellulose Inc. (SCI) in the
woodlands division and
woold like to clarify certain
statements regarding Repap
posed by Mr. Rodgers.

Repap does not “...rape
off the local forests...”.
Timber is harvested under
licence from the provincial
government using en-
vironmentally sound
harvesting techniques and
following government agen-
cy approved plans.

Wasteful logging practices
are not accepted or carried
out by Repap. All wood
down to 50 per cent sound
volume (a | inch shell on a6
inch diameter log) is utilized.

Wood is sorted in the bush
for sawlogs, three standards
of pulp, telephone poles,
shake and shingle blocks,
boomsticks, bridge stringers
and totem poles.

The early 1980s practice of
leaving marginal pulplogs in
the bush remains in the past.

Local peopie do not
‘©... just scrape by...”’. Repap

Dear Sir:

Regarding the Feb. 26,
1992 column ‘Uncertainty
grips land claims’? by Mr.
Bill Vander Zalm, former
premier of British Columbia.

[ am in agreement with the
statements made by Mr.
Vander Zalm, He has the
respect of a lot of our peaple
and may have opened a lot of
eyes by these statements.

There are a lot of ques-
tions that need answering on
self-government: that the ma-
2 jority’: ‘ofius hiive!! yet “to °
‘ understand. Is compensation
already coming through, this
is within the Gitksan area
alone.

We have been living with
this land- claims issue: for
several years and when we
pick up a newspaper to read
we are all lumped together as
Gitksans and their land
claims. This is not so.

True, we have been
pressured into making deci-
sions we are not comfortable

Review

An open letter to: The
Hon. Dan Miller, Minister of
Forests.

When the major project
review of Orenda Forest Pro-
ducts’ proposed pulp and
paper mill near Lakelse Lake
was established last summer,
the powers-that-be invited
representatives of Terrace and
Kitimat, and the regional
district to sit on the steering
committee for the review.

understand that

proud

of company

employs hundreds of
“locals” directly and hun-
dreds more indirectly. The
numbers climb into the
thousands if the entire nor-
thwest region is considered,
‘Where has the previous
profit gone?’ The previous
profits have been invested in
the new $50 million sawmill
in Terrace and in the $250
million upgrade of the Prince
Rupert pulpmill. $100
million was spent on ‘‘...new
technologies to clean up in-
dustrial effluent and
waste...'’. Since 1990, a pra-
fit share program has been in
place for the employees in

. Terrace and Smithers.

If my response sounds bias
towards Repap, it is, because
1 am proud of the work done ~
by this company. In these
times of emotional forestry
debate it is more productive
if we can avoid distorting the
facts.

Anyone interested in learn-
ing more about Repap’s Ter-
race operations please call
635-6550. I’d be glad to set
up bush operation or mill site
tours.

Tim Fenton,
Area Superintendent
SCI

Eyes opened

with, only to realize after the
fact we are not told the end
results.

Half the people out here
are asking themselves, what
was the outcome of the CN
blockade? The end result of
closing in the village of Git-
wangak and other informa-
tional blockades within our
immediate area.

As members of the-
Gitksan society, we have a
right to know. On self-
“government, are people: Bo" |
‘ing 1o’end up liké the: peoples
at Boulder Creek? 2!

In my opinion self-
government is akin to
Quebecs distinct society. In-
herent means by birth.
Distinet society means
separate and different in
quality.

This is not being. self suffi-
cienl, it only means more
money from the government
by making threats.

Mary Dalen
Cedarvale, B.C.

Orenda

Terrace’s economic develop-
ment officer, for example,
participated fully in its
deliberations.

That strikes me as a bil
odd, given that the proposed
mill location is well outside
Terrace city limits. Mind

_ you, the City of Terrace an-

nounced (almost before the
project was even proposed,
such was their frenzy) that it
would try to annex the site

cont'd A6

The Terrace Standard
welcomes letters to the editor
on all topics. All letters must
be signed and carry an ad-
dress and local telephone
number. Addresses or phone
numbers won't be printed
with the letter, but they are
necessary for confirmation
of the letter’s authenticity
The writer's name will be
published. Requests for
names to be withheld may be

About letters

granted in extraordinary cir-
cumstances.

Thank you letters should
be submitted to the “Card of
Thanks’ section of the
classifieds,

Letters containing libelous
or objectionable matter will
be edited or returned to the
writer, All letters are run on
a space available basis, with
shorter letters likely to be
published soonest.

The Start is for people
"s learning how to read.

Moved

The Reading Place
has moved.”

It is in the Anglican
church building.

The Reading Place
helps people who want
to read.

The man in the pic-
ture is Nat Purcell. He is
‘in charge. .

The phone number is

625-9119.

Drop outs

Too many native
. students quit school.
A group wants to stop
that.
It is called the Su-Sit-
Tah Education Society.
Su-Sit-Tah means ‘new
beginnings’’ in the
Tsimshian language.

The group wants
native courses in the
schools.

It says that will help
native students learn
about themselves.

. The group also wants
to. give students
counselling, :