Plucky pickers Terrace a hotbed for harpists participating in. _music festival 7 \COMMUNITY B1 . ‘So long, Friends and family mourn the Passing of © Bud Kirkaldy | ‘\NEWS Ag. Woe ] Youth rides again Popular biking clinic _ returns to teach skills and two-wheeled fun .\SPORTS B4 | fl $1. 1.001 PLUS 7¢ GST. i, - .... ($1.10 plus8¢GST. outside of the © Terrace area) ys SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN “CITY officials continue: to look at ways of. _ building a second ‘sheet of: ice/sportsplex, — ~ including: revisiting t the idea’ of acting as” its own contractor.- : ms suppose it’s one way of trying to manage « costs,” Says . councillor. Brian” '. Downie,’ adding council is prepared to” ~ look at all options to shave costs... “We've. briefly discussed that but I. ° * don’ t know: if.that’s the diréction we are going,” says’ councillor. Brad Pollard; - adding other options have been discussed - as part of council brainstormiiig. The city earlier this month cancelled ° . any immediate plans ‘to attach a. second | -sheet of ice ‘to the current. arena: when - bids outstripped the ‘money it had. ; Other options include speaking to oth- - er. communities who have built similar projects for less money and even looking — ‘into the’ feasibility of buying an existing : | structure and moving it tothe site. That, however, poses a ‘number of po- - tential problems. : . “Honestly, we do want to do this in a.-- cost effective manner but nobody wants - ” says. ~,to have. a Piece of garbage. either,” ~ Pollard. Council i is ‘unified i in its desire to make _ the: project'a reality, but the current cost “is simply’ too high, he and other council- . & lors said. ~ The lowest bid on the project | came. ‘back i in February at $10.54 million. ‘That represented a jump of $1.8 million from the Previous attempt to tender the Project. . in the summer of 2005. idea of how to proceed... would fight; to. get the sportsplex’ built, the project’s cost reality. _ “As the new guy, you have all these. ~ great ideas and after a few. months on. _council you realize . the. economics ‘ine *. volved,” says Pollard. “Yes, it would be. - it-or-lose- it deadline of March 2008... -It-also includes..an ‘unconditional. $1 million provincial grant obtained in: 2005, : Just Prior to > the he provincial election. . ‘nice to have:a.5,000 seat arena and. oh, $35 million for it?” e , eo ‘p 7 : says he’ s leamed a lot. The sportsplex. remains a priority for ” 2006 and- Mayor Jack Talstra: says he’ hopes. to see. the fundraising. committee .. ' fired up.again once council has a better : Many. councillors ran their fall cam- paigns last year .on the premise. they. - leaving many councillors frustrated with my God, where are we: going: to get ‘the: ° Since: ‘becoming. a ‘ councillor, Pollard His training Paid ¢ off “ys SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN - GEORGE KOZAK is thrilled to-hear BC: . Ferries will no longer.allow crew members: to sleep below the water line of its vessels » after a hole was torn in the side of his room when the Queen of the North ferry ran "aground last week causing it to sink. «..Water poured into the.sleeping quarters of Kozak, a Terrace resident and an eight-year . staff member with BC Ferries, ' shortly after. midnight March 22 when the ferry rammed into jagged rocks on Gil Island. ' “It just ripped it open,’ "he said last week, from his home in Terrace.: And for that reason, BC . Ferries an- ° nounced less than.72 hours after the ferry sunk that crew accommodations will be - moved above the water line. ‘When we did the evacuation and what- ‘not with the crew cabins being below. the | water line there was water coming into the ‘crew accommodations,” don’ t-want that to ever happen again.” ‘Kozak couldn’t agree more.. “T think it’s a smart move because the wa- ter was coming into my room,’ ” Kozak says. , _ “I don’t want to'see that anymore:” _ , Kozak was asleep when he felt the ferry » hit ground. + “J felt the first touch and I figured we - were making a landing, we were parking and ” figured ‘oh, what a rough landing,” and then I felt the second hit and I knew something . was wrong,” he recalls. “That? s when the’ water started coming in the room.” Kozak says he didn’t have time to feel afraid’ or scared, he just knew he had to get: ‘out of there and help passengers and crew members off the ferry. “We're trained to do a job ‘and we're trained to save people, and the crew and I ’ guess that’s all that kicked into my head,” he says. “Grab your pants, put them on, grab ‘your shoes, don’t worry about socks, grab "your jacket and run...that’s what L did and” — the rest was history.” Kozak was the chief cook on the. run from JEANNIE WESLEYS and Gracie Holland carry the Highway of Tears banner near Smithers. Centre is Birgitte Bartlett from Terrace. ‘says BC Ferries’ spokesperson Deborah Marshall. “And. we. Page. Al4. “Prince Rupert to. Port Hardy b but c once. the fer- ry started to go down he switched immedi® : ately into his passenger-control role... - “Keeping them ‘calm, cool’ and. getting ~* them ready for the rafts, making sure you have your head count and you don’t lose : anybody and keeping them calm and cool - that’s what passenger control was, all about,” he says. » ; yey se a He was s responsible for checking rc rooms in| ‘one portion. of the boat and rounding up 24° passengers and making: Surethey got safely: . ‘into alife boat. — we He’ll never forget the faces of those peo- . ple, he’says. - oy Passengers such as “Terrace couple Ed me and Barb Kenney have been praising. the «— quick action and diligence displayed by the : - vessel’s crew members. “They were certainly banging on doors. - says Ed’ Ken-— 299 and saying ‘everybody out, ney, a.retired high school teacher. - “They were very efficient, very: profes- . sional.” ~ .Crew members. were asking if anybody was separated from check,” says Kenney. But Kozak says the passengers should also be recognized for how well they dealt with what was frightening situation. “I was very proud of the way the passen- _ gers listened to me as I took charge doing passenger control, ” Kozak says. _ “All T have to say is it was a rude awaken- ing and we did our job.” . Two other Terrace residents were also working on the Queen of the North: Roxanne Wagner and Paul Scodane were | back.i in Terrace last week after the incident. | ~ they both worked in the kitchen on the © ferry. ; -For more from local residents on the. sinking of the Queen. of the North, turn to . Somebody they were with as a buddy system : worked | ‘thoroughly EE rounding up the passengers, getting them . into lifeboats and life rafts and off the ferry ". to safety, he says. “They did at least four head counts that I 7 remember them doing it in the life boat, they “I think even though you lose some of the naivete — I. don’t think it really chang- “es what: you want for the | community or -- what the community wants for itself, but .” you have to put: it into economic terms,” he says.» - ~-Talstra says the plan'r remains ‘the s same - “a two-pronged attack to’ raise . More money and to. cut costs. ° >. ; ‘The city’ “has Toughly_ $4. 5 million raised in money, pledges and offers of gifts- -in-kind.. That includes a federal-provincial in-. frastnictire grant that comes with.a use- - $keena. NDP MLA. ‘Robin “Austin 7 : : " says he’s committed to making. sure that ‘money remains on the table until the'city’ comes up with a plan or ‘ifi it changes the eee nd scope of the project., ““My role is, should they change. their * mind between now and 2008, I would do - i. whatever I can to make sure that’ monies : that were’ Promised are > delivered,’ ” ‘Aus- oN tin. said. - “He'd s says he’ d like to see the city fave . a much larger facility that includes a con-.- ‘ference centre and a youth centre, not just” : om a'second sheet of ice. “I think i in the long _run, that would certainly help us because) |. ~ of course it gives people living here abet- 3 * -.,ter quality of life and gives other people a’) «<4. “reason to come here,” he said. “But that's ' a decision that’s up to the city.” ; Four-way fixed up - ; _THE TRANSPORTATION _ ministry": , . of Highways 16 and 37. . There’ll ‘ be | larger. traf- hand tuming lanes ‘and re- ton manager Don Ramsay. . ‘itis, butit could be. more vis- me ible, he said. : ‘ - pearance,” a ‘four-way § stoy tL cial highway. o “The. biggest. « ‘problem - seems: to'be traffic from’ the ° - - east, from’ people who may °~: «have never: ‘encountered .it before.” Tye Personally wit- ~ ona rovin- . through. They missed it” he: “less ‘understat Bk ye Crews , will ‘also: install west to’ warn motorists that » Ramsay wants.the work the project ‘close ‘April 4 4; . Transportation engineers » 7 had looked at the idea of re-_ . ~. placing the intersection with. a traffic circle but decided TERRACE RESIDENT George Is Kozak was aboard the Queen ‘of the North as a cram -one isn’t SEAS, Ramsay’ = “Member the night it sank. ° Tears walk numk ‘SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO i ‘spending Bee ~ $400,000 - ie -improve ’ “the. £ _ four-way stop at the junction ae fic islands, new signs; new.” - warning. signals,, wider. right: » paving: of the.’ intersection °° “area, ‘Says. local -transporta- oa There’s nothing’: wrong: a with the intersection the ways |... “The biggest problem 1 re g . lates to. its’ under-stated ap- _ said . Ramsay. ine | 5 noting it‘is unusual ‘to have’ *. | * said: “This work will ‘update aa ~ the intersection: and make it. 7 ~ rumble strips ‘on, ‘Hwyl6 7 fos ~Teading to ,the intersection .- : "from the. east. and from the "°° | they are approaching a stop... wo. start right, after Easter, if: possible, ‘and finish: before - - : } ‘the’end of June. Tenders for. es INTERIOR NEWS PHOTO "By MARGARET SPEIRS . ONE WOMAN’ S mission to raise praiesiees about the number of missing and murdéred. women along Hwy16, dubbed the Highway of Tears continues when a large group of walkers is i. scheduled to arrive at a symposium on the i issue in .- | . Prince George tomorrow. Moricetown resident Florence Naziel, who began her journey when she left. Prince Rupert March 11 and walked io Terrace, rejoins a group: . that’s grown larger along the. way for the final leg. " into Prince George. They’ re timed to arrive for the’ opening ceremony of the Highway of Tears Sym- , posium at the.CN Centre. Naziel reached Terrace March. 17 with a police : escort and accompanied by about a dozen walkers, : including Tom and Christine Chipman, parents of the missing Terrace. resident Tamara Chipman, and Chipman’s aunts Lorna Brown and. Gladys. . Radek, who came. up f from Vancouver to walk: Radek, who has a prosthetic leg, continued . from Smithers last Wednesday, March 22, joined by about 100 people, including Matilda Wilson, — mother of murdered: teen. ‘Ramona Wilson, Wik ® and, un: oe Burns Lake and that native ‘friendship centres and... - . son’s family, the Gitxsan Spirit Walkers, expectedly, Naziel. ° : " “She just can’t. get enough.” said’ ‘Naziel’s oe . daughter, Priscilla, who drove the pilot car during * ‘her mother’s journey to Terrace..." “She’s. supposed to [go home]: but she ended up walking on Wednesday to Houston and again . ‘to Burns Lake yesterday sol | guess: she is s going again.” then tagging off to: another until the total: distance of about: 35km had been trekked each day. o That quick pace may put them into Prince’. . George ahead of schedule, . which would allow . te tte -» Three women: from; the: ‘Vancouver. ‘Eastside "Women" s Centre, who’ also ‘walked from: Ru- pert to Terrace, were expected. to return, perhaps with some elders, to-continue the walk to Prince 4 f “George, ‘said Priscilla. Priscilla, who drove to Bums ‘Lake to ‘meet up ; * with the walkers last Friday, said that while some: _ of the group’ who left Smithers stopped a short . distance out of town, a core group-of about 20°: people’ continued, with ‘one person walking and : ‘She said more walkers: joined t the: group: pin’ other. groups’ ‘along the way provided. meals. Priscilla.expected the Chipmans, who" ‘had to - we 7 j “return home for work after journeying to’ Smith-",. © |: - ef, to: rejoin the group for. the final leg into. the wi symposium tomorr ‘Ow.’ ‘At the symposium. will, be v various native ledd-. a , ~.ers and other politicians, including provincial so= 0 j lictor general John Les. Senior RCMP officers will: ».- «f ‘also be on hand and will be outlining the status of © ~~ ‘the various investigations relating to the.missing..- *” and murdered women. To date, police officers say. . they cannot-establish a link between between. any. oe “of the missing and murdered women. _ “No other events’ are planned after the sympor, _ Sium but the walk could turn into an. arinual event, 7 said Priscilla. 7 She ‘said her .mom wants. to challenge other people, whether: aboriginal . or non-aboriginal, = ‘to walk to Vancouver to the Pickton farm where Willy Pickton is alleged to have killed 26 women. His trial is currently underway.