Page 2, THE HERALD, Wednesday. August 16, 1978. Vio Jolliffe : . In MY OPINION In yesterday’s HERALD Alderman Vic Jolliffe discussed Mayor Thom’s move to have Terrace pickup the total’ Kitimat-Stikine share of the costs of the proposed new Health Centre which is to built in Terrace. Today, Jolliffe concludes his article with the following attempt"... to dispel some of the myths that may have produced the current uneasiness between our two communities over payment of the respective costs of the health facility.” - : During the debate on whether Tetrace should rezone land for the Health Centre and Court House facilities, one Terrace Alderman, Alderman Soutar, issued a statement to the media wherein he claimed that Terrace would receive from the Provincial Govern- ment, one hundred thousand dollars per year in taxes. When the Provincial Government announced that they were going to build these new facilities in Terrace, it very naturally started off a chain reaction. The first was a move by some of our local en- trepreneurs to option certain land presently zoned residential, and then offer same to the Provincial Government. The land in question is up on Park Avenue, Another move, and a natural one, was for the local architects to offer their services to the Provin- cial Government to design the facilities. Their offer at first was turned down. However, the Provincial Government, through their crown corporation, B.C.B.C., reversed their decision after the local ar- chitects had lobbied the Regional District, and the Mayor of Terrace, to intercede on their behalf. ere are two architectural firms in'Terrace - one was give the Health Centre, and one was given'‘the Court House. The next problem came when B.C.B.C. found that the land that they owned and proposed to build on was . zoned Residential R3. On April 24, 1978, a motion was made by Alderman Cooper, seconded by Alderman Soutar, that “correspondence be forwarded to Mr. Cyril Shelford, MLA for Skeena, advising that the District of Terrace accepts the choice of location for the courthouse and health centre facilities as decided upon by B.C. Building Corporation.” This motion should have been ruled out of order, as the intent would be to bypass all the zoning regulations and public hearings, but, as it was not ruled out by the Chairman, a motion to table the matter until negotiations were completed was put to the meeting and passed. This was necessary because Council wanted to know what the develop- ment costs would be to the taxpayers of Terrace, and requested a meeting with B.C.B.C.to discuss same. After this there were telephone calls back and forth from Victoria, Alderman Soutar, whose firm stood to gain by architectural fees of approximately a quarter of a million dollars for designing the facility, was told that he may well have a conflict of interests, and it was suggested to him that he bow out of the Tax-Sharing For New Health Centre deliberations. This, he did at the Council table. However, he continued to lobby the public through the news media, and published articles in which statements were made that the District of Terrace would receive, and I quote, ‘the complex will con- tribute in excess of one hundred thousand dollars every year to the Terrace coffers, one million dollars every tine years and further that present taxes are approximately eight thousand dollars per year from the twelve acre Kalum Street site” - both of these statements are incorrect. : There is no correspondence at tity Hall that would indicate that taxes of a million dolJars, or any other figure, will be paid to the District.of Terrace on this land: and the second statement ig also untrue, as all * the Government landis tax-exempt and has been since. they purchased it. Alderman Soutar had obviously nol checked his facts. On the other hand, B.C.B.C., crown corporation of government, had made demands for certain off-site services; sewer, water, paved roads, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and the District of Terrace said they were- prepared to discuss and share the cost of these - the total costs would be in excess of two hundred thousand dollars to the taxpayers of Terrace. Alderman Soutar quite naturally became exasperated with the slowness of negotiations, he, afterall, was waiting to put pen to paper so that he could start to earn his commissions or designing the Court House. Meanwhile, back in Kitimat, the Mayor was reading and hearing all about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Terrace was going to make on the deal,. and things got further complicated when, after the rezoning was completed, the Mayor of Terrace got on the bandwagon and came out with a statement that upped Soutar’s original claim that Terrace would be making one hundred thousand dollars a year on the deal. and made it a hundred and fifty thousand ollars. When the Health Deaprtment informed the Regional District that they were expecting the Regional District to pick up twenty percent of the capital cost of the Health Centre - and bear in mind that this means that the City of Kitimat pays the largest portion of the Regional District taxes - the Mayor of Kitimat, quite correctly, asked for a reconsideration of who should pay the bill. 1 do not believe that the Mayor of Kitimat intends to ‘block the building of the Health Centre. I do believe that some of our junior aldermen should be a little more cautious in their public statements when they can have an adverse affect on community develop- ment and start a dispute with Kitimat that could he very costly to the taxpayers of Terrace. An old quotation seems appropriate ((never insult an alligator until after you've crossed the river.” 12 Years Ago He Invested $5,000- Now «oie Heads: NMining Co. Worth Millions! EDMONTON (CP) -- The man whe guided Precam- brian Shield Resources Ltd. through its first shaky years of existence says the ex- perience had its share of frustrations. But for company president Earl Curry, it was worth it. “We always wanted to do our own thing,” said Curry, recalling the days 12 years ago when he, his brother John and eight friends threw in $5,000 each to found what has become a diversified and promising young company. “Wehad a very modest be- ginning and it is com- paratively a modest com- pany now. ... But we've made a lot of mileage aut of the money we've had to spend,” Through compulsion rather than ~~ choice, Precambrian has grown nloratie small mineral ex- ploration company operati in the Northwest repriteriee into a firmly established business with interests in oil and gas, minerals and real estate, spread over two provinces and two terri- tories. ACTIVE IN PEMBINA Perhaps the most promising venture is Precambrian’s growing involvement in the intense oil and gaa play in the West Pembina area of central Al- berta. Precambrian recently an- nounced its intention to begin test-drilling in West Pem- bina acreage in which the company has a 6.12-per-cent interest. Precambrian's growth has been calculated to overcome what Curry sees as the in-, dusiry’s intrinsic bias against small companies.’ Accumulation of vast amounts of capital is dif- ficult for a small company, but through a process Curry calls ‘‘finessing and fi- nancing,” Precambrian has attained some stability and thrived. The company went public in 1973 and its shares trade on the Toronto Stock Ex- change. Precambrian has interests ranging from 3.3 per cent to 9.9 per cent in 13,600 acres of West Pembina. While. the interests ‘are modest, they arespreadover a large area. “It’s significant when you consider the elephantine nature of the project,” said- Curry. . Cataract Operation Now A Breeze SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. (CP) — Shirley Cameron recently underwent cataract operations on beth eyes to correct what nught hast been inevitable blindness. Twenty years ago, & cataract operation was difficult and risky, with the patient having to be sand- agged into immobility during the recovery period. Now, the development of cobweb-like sutures, one- third the size of human hair, improved instruments and magnification have reduced the hazards of the operation. Mrs. Cameron: said In an interview she entered the hospital four days prior to the first operation for blood tests and was home again two days after surgery. Cataracts occur when the lens of the eye, normally transparent, becomes cloudy, causing much of the light needed for good vision to be blocked out. Mrs. Cameron was told she had cataracts in both eyes when she went fo her op- tometrist late in 1976 to get a- new prescription for her eyes 8, DEVELOPED QUICKLY The optornetrist told her the cataracts might take four or five years to develop and that she could choose her own time for the operation.” But the cataracts progressed rapidly until Mrs. Cameron could not read without @ magnifying glass, could not drive, nor sightsee on a trip to Seatland. . Last November she had her first operation, for cataracts in the right eye. “After the operation, everything was very, very bright,” she said. “T couldn't belleve I'd lost as much sight as 1 had. AndI had no depth perception, 10 I couldn't do things like pour a cup of tea without missing the cup.” More recent surgery was undertaken on her other eye, making use of a microscope with ocularsfor magnification of the eye of up to 18 times. In the same area, Pre- cambrian has a 20-per-cent interest in a gas plant and interests of 10 to 20 per cent in three gas wells. “But our eggs are not all in the same basket," Curry said. Precambrian wili be involved in the drilling of at least six additional wells in Alberta and British Columbia during the next winter. By pooling its resources with other companies, Precambrian has been able to develop its interests at relatively small cost. With Numac Oil and Gas Ltd. it has interests in about 22,700 acres in Alberta outside of West Pembina. The company began by ex- ploring for minerals in the N.W.T., but a stagnant mineral industry forced it to look elsewhere. It acquired a 21.6-per-cent interest In a real estate com- pany—Bellaita Develop- ments Ltd., which owns and operates three commercial properties in Yellowknife and is developing another in Whitehorse. “IT don't doubt we would have survived (without diversification),’’ say: Curry. “But it would have been difficult.” - (QUEENS - Study at Over 40 degree-credit courses are Home Shift work, icy roads in winter, small children at home, long distances (o travel need not . prevent you from earning a university degree. Queers University at Kingston SMALL FIRMS HAM- PERED Curry, who at 50has been § in the industry for more than - half his life, says a com- bination of government red tape, difficulty in raising capital and environmental regulations make it almost impossible for a small company to survive in the N.W.T. . “The really negative forces for exploration north of the 60th parallel are the overly restrictive’ en- vironmental laws in the N.W.T, and the problems re- lated to aboriginal claims." ' Despite this, Precambrian has maintained its interests in northern mining and expects its Yukon gold venture to generate a profit this -year. Equipment problems and heavy rainfall resulted in an operating loss last year but Curry said the continuing high price of gold is reason for optimism. About 30 per cent of Pre- cambrian’s seven million issued shares are owned by United States shareholders, but. it's not something that concerns Curry. “If Canada is going to at- tempt to become self- sufficient energy-wise, we need all the exploration money we can find." available through independent study programs Correspondence students receive course outlines, audio cassettes and library books in the mail. Our instructors are as _close as your telephone. If you can’t came to us, we will try ta come to you. Earn part of your degree at home. We will be glad to send you a list of courses [ and discuss the program with you, Give us a call or write. Admissions Officer Part-Time Studies Faculty of Arts and Science Queen's Univdtity Kingston, Canada Kl. 2N6 Telephone: (613) 947-328) oe eee new factory wrapped | Pratt's Mattress Warehouse, 19 Napa. Nortrvidge. MICE. J Oks roducts ® ALSO Nature! 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Contact the “Recycler of Unwants,” the classified de- partment of the Daily Herald. You will be pleased with the fast, speedy results. As fast as a phone call, _ results happen! | READ FOR PROFIT e USE FOR RESULTS CALL 635-6357 Terrace/Kitimat DAILY HERALD eee 4 a : a