Council gets report card The results are in | i | q I | ‘council was elected Here’s how © they’ re doing/NEWS AS iIt’s been just over a year since city Judges have chosen the winners | of. this year’s Christmas lights contest/COMMUNITY B1 Best of sports The year brought many sports memories as local athletes gave it their best/SPORTS C1 WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 28, 1994 ANDARD == 75¢ PLUS 5e GST VOL. 7 NO, THE TERRACE STAN- DARD is now a member of the B.C. Press Council. The council acts as the voice of provincial weekly and daily newspapers in making presentations to governments and other bodies Paper joins press council on various issues, It also acts as an impartial body to hear complaints from feaders about photographs and stories. The press council is taking a large leap in membership ef- fective Jan. 1, L995 with the addition of member newspa- pers of the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspapers As- sociation. able by writing the B.C, Press Council at Box 5414, Vic- toria, B.C, V8R 684. More information is avail- marc A PUBLIC watchdog is ready ta patrol the B.C. woods as soon as the Forest Practices Code is fully in place, Provincial forests minister Andrew Petter last week named the five individuals who will serve on the new body. Emphasizing the independence of the board and expertise of its members, Petter described it as an “important component of the Forest Practices Code,”’ Although part of its role will be to handle complaints: about forest practices, Petter pointed out it only becomes involved if matters cannot be settled within the forests ministry, He explained complaints should first be taken up with the local district manager. If complainants are not satisfied with the response, they. would then go higher in the ministry heirarchy — to the regional office or Victoria. If after all that they are still un- happy, the board would be the final stop. The board would in- vestigale the complaint and bring down a public report on its find- ings. While confirming the board had no power to overrule Forests min- istry decisions in such cases, Pet- ter maintained public reporting would bring pressure to bear. Westmin bows out of golden property WESTMIN RESOURCES won’t be bidding on a gold property just outside of Stewart. Company vice president Bruce McKnight said it didn’t like what it saw after examining Red Mountain documents, Red Mountain owner American Barrick wants to sell it and other properties it acquired when it bought out LAC Minerals this fall. Westmin had high hopes for Red Mountain because it needs ore to help feed its Premier mill, also near Stewart. Councillor wants freeze CONTRACTING OUT of city services will come to the forc- front in 1995 if Ed Graydon has his way, The city councillor wants a freeze on hiring city employees, He said he wants council to take a more ‘‘haads-on’’ approach to city staff changes, The intent is not to meddle but to give council a chance to change the city’s direction. when employees retire or move away, said Graydon, ‘*We should have a bit: more in- put into what happens,’ he said, “We just felt it wasn’t up to the Standards of what we want to in- vest in," said McKnight. ‘It just didn’t look as good as we hoped it would be.’’ He added that a confidentiality agreement signed with American Barrick as part of Wesimin’s ex- amination of Red Mountain pre- vented him from going into more details, McKnight did say Westmin does hope to strike a milling deal with Red Mountain’s eventual new owner. Westmin needs ore to keep its Council voted Dec, 5 to table the idea until January, The first city department Graydon says should be exam- ined is public works. “Tt always seems that contract- ing out is the last option they look at,” he said, “In my cyes, it should be one of the first op- tions.” He said the issue is getting big- ger because of recent discussions of - privatizing. commercial’ gar- bage collection. Another factor was recent “debate over replacing an aging. “With a board of this stature, the ministry is going to be pretty quick to listen,’’ he suggested.. However, he anticipated the clearer standrads contained in the Forest Practices Code would result in most complaints being settled at an carlier stage. Petter pointed out the board will alsa be able to initiate audits of forest operations. “They've been effective so far,’’ he said of harvesting and silvicultural audits. carried out to date. The board would establish the terms of reference and over- See implementation of those audits. Board chairman will be Keith Moore, 4 professional forester and 17-year resident of the Queen Charlotte Islands. A one-time government em- ployee, Moore has operated his own forestry consultancy busi- ness out of Queen Charlotte City for the past six years, Noting the board starls work Jan. 1, Moore said that would give it time to get established be- , fore the remainder of the Forest Parctices Code was enacted, Petter indicated that would take place over the next couple of months, Moore also pointed out the board had its own budget which Premier mill in business. The company opened the Premier mine three years ago but quickly discovered on-site reserves didn't mect expectations. LAC spent close to $20 million on the property and had filed preliminary development docu- ments with the provincial govern- ment, ‘In the meantime, Westmin is pursuing other contract milling work, including processing con- centrate being barged down from Cominco’s SNIP gold minc in the Iskut Valley. city backhoe. Rather than immediately replac- ing the machine, council is con- sidering leasing or contracting a private firm for that portion of the work, Replacement of aging equip- ment — be it garbage trucks or backhoes — tends to commit the city 10 continue providing the ser- vice itself, rather thin exploring options to contract out, Graydon and ‘other councillors believe privatization of some city services. would yield significant savings for. taxpayers. IT LOOKS like an old artillery shell placed inside an inverted _ tuba. But It's really weather observer Dan Morrison's method of measuring precipitation. When it snows, for instance, the brass tube Is taken Inside at regular Intervals. After the snow melts, the “water equivalent is noted in the official weather records. Morrison and the other. weather people work at t the ailtport, Wood cops get hing order | Andrew Petter would allow it to undertake field investigations where it deemed them necessary. Other board members are: a Jack Toovey, one-time employee of BC Forest Pro- ducts and Fletcher Challenge and now retired; a Cathy Mumford, a sil- viculture and agricultural con- sultant from the Cariboo; a University of British Columbia foresty department head Dr. Gordon Baskerville; and, a consultant Cindy Pearce who worked most recently on co-ordinating the province’s timber supply review process, So then it began to rain IT SEEMS as if the heavens opened up this winter, First came November’s record snowfall of 182.5cm, breaking a "mark going back to 1975 for the ~ month. That snow continued to fall for the first half of December: and “while the white stuff didn’t set any records, it was enough in just “two weeks to surpass the normal monthly average of 95cm. The December record was set In 1957 when 256.5cm fell. And then it began to rain, again not enough to set a new standard, but sufficient to set two daily -Tecords, Going into last weekend, weather observer Dan Morrison noted that 150mm of. rain had come down, neatly double what “the average rain that falls in De- -cember. While that seems like a lot, Morrison said the previous monthly December rain record was set just three years ago when 326.3mm af rain came down. | The two daily rain’ records ‘set this month were Dec. 19 when 56mm, fell and Dec. 21 when ; 53mm fell.