Glitter and glitz The Terrace Skating Club puts On a great show for 4 Job on the Hill Andy Burton reflects on his first year in office Taking on terror A special report from Ottawa on Canada’s this year’s Christmas carnival\SPORTS A16 as Skeena’s MP\COMMUNITY B1 , response to Sept. 11 \NEWS A5 | $1.00 pus 7¢ GST ($1.20 plus 8¢.GST. outside of the Terrace area) Health decisions now made in P.G. By ROD LINK MASSIVE CHANGES to the way health care is managed in B.C. are about patient services and not about money — at least for now, cabinet ministers said last week. Both Colin Hansen and Sindi Haw- kins, in charge of delivering and plan- ning health care, said eliminating more than 50 health care authorities in favour of five large ones will flatten oul levels of bureaucracy and provide better direct patient care. The changes will result in perhaps a savings of $20 million over three years — not a lot compared to the provincial health budget this year of $9.5 billion. In Terrace it means an end to the Terrace Area Health Council. For the northwest, it means an end to the North West Community Health Services Society and its board. Mills Memorial Hospital, Terrace- view Lodge - both managed by the health council — and all of the com- munity health operations of the health services society now fall under the umbrella of the Northern Health Au- thority (NHA). It’s based in Prince George. That authority covers hospitals, ex- tended care facilities and community health services in the area from the Queen Charlatte Islands to the Alberta border and from the Yukon border down to Quesnel. Eliminating administrators, boards and payroll and other services provi- ded by the old health care authorities will make patient care more direct and efficient, said Hawkins and Hansen. “We're getting government out of the business of direct involvement,” said Hawkins of one of the key com- ponents of this, the third re-jigging of health care administration in six years. Instead, the government will be signing performance contracts with the authorities and expect them to live up More on health changes on pages A13-A14 to their conditions. Those contracts will be twinned with a chunk of money for each authority. Hansen and Hawkins said money not spent on administration will then be better spent on patient care. The new authorities will have the freedom to spend their budgets as they see fit, so long as the performance contract standards are met, said Han- sen. “We're now developing needs- based funding levels so that the north gets its fair share of health care spending,” he said. Up to nine people will be named to the NHA board but that won’t be fin- ished for three or four months. Hawkins said the province will be looking for people who have the skills to manage complex organizations and millions of dotlars. A chair of the NHA has been named, Prince George forester Harry Gairns, and he and new NHA chief ex- eculive officer Peter Warwick will make key decisions for the next while. Topping their list will be designing a new administrative structure. Although the new structure is inten- ded to do away with the need for lots of administrators, Hawkins noted people will still be need to run hospi- tals and other heaith care facilities. “I can’t see a hospital running with- out somebody,” said Hawkins. Just exactly how a new governing system is supposed to make things betier remains to be seen. The north is being divided into what is being called heath service delivery areas. There will be three of them and one will be for the northwest. Each of the areas will have its own chief executive responsible for all fa- cets of patient care. Other matters such as payroll, fi- nance and human resources for em- ployees of the NHA will be managed out of central Prince George offices. Locals hammer offshore drilling By JEFF NAGEL FISHING GUIDES led op- position here Dec. 10 to opening up the north coast to offshore oil drilling, Numerous speakers at a public hearing urged gov- emment MLAs to abandon the idea of lifting B.C.’s moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration. Dustin Kovacvich, re-- presenting area fishing guides, said he fears dril- ling could damage fish stocks and threaten the area’s growing tourism in- dusiry. “As it stands now we're pretty much against it,” he said. Guide Jim Culp told of working for Shell Oil when it conducted the original seismic lesting for oi! in | Hecate Strait, Underwater explosives - used to test for oil some- times would leave dead salmon floating on the sur- face for up to a kilometer, he said. High earthquake dan- gers, hurricane-force winds and severe waves were all factors cited by opponents as increasing the risk of a catastrophic oil spill foul- ing B.C, waters. “Drilling in a geologic- ally unstable area is insan-' ity,” said Terrace resident Renee Mikaloff. Containment of spills will be difficull if not im- possible in extreme weath- er, Which is when mishaps are most likely, she added. Sierra Club member Robert Hart warned it would be “political and moral suicide” to proceed with offshare drilling with- out treaties settling Haida and Tsimshian claims to the seabed under Hecate Strail. Those who tout offshore oil as an economic saviour to the depressed region are irresponsible, said loca) environmentalist and fish- erman Bruce Hilt. . “Offshore oil and gas development is not going to save this region from a whole world of hurt In the. next few years,” Hill said. He and others predicted the jobs building rigs may Continued Pg. A13 m A friend remembered WELL OVER 400 people packed the Terrace Pentecostal Church last weekend to celebrate the life of local canservation officer Adrian Juch whe died in a car accident Dec. 8. Friends, family and members of the RCMP, B.C. Ambulance Service, Terrace fire department and the B.C. Conservation Officers Service packed the pews to pay their respects. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO. R ing too hard,” Beeton said. Kitsumkalum locks up gate to protest SCI talks THE KITSUMKALUM band locked. a gate barring logging trucks from the West Kalum logging road Friday in what it says is so far a symbolic gesture calculated to pet Victoria’s attention. Chief councillor Diane Collins says the band objects to the way the province is selling off Skeena Cellu- lose and wants a number of its issues addressed before it says it will allow industrial traffic on the road north- west of town, ; Since Skeena Cellulose isn’t Operating right now and isn’t expec- ted to for months, even if it is sold to Mercer International, gating off the road has no effect right now... But the move comes at a crucial moment in negotiations between Mercer and other parties, injecting - aboriginal groups. added uncertainty into SCI’s future. “What we're trying to do is grab the attention of the province,” Col- lins said. “There are environmental issues, there are aboriginal rights issues.” She fears environmental conces- Sions to Mercer wili mean poor for- est management in the years ahead. “Our valley is already extensively overlogged,” Collins said, “I don’t believe I can allow that to happen again without making some kind of a statement,” ‘She says Victoria should have more used SCI and its holdings to heip settle treaties in the region with The band also wants either the company or some level of govern- ment to clean up reserve land an SC] predecessor once used. And she says an agreement giving SCI access to the road has lapsed and would have to be renewed. Under that deal, she said, Skeena paid the band $15,000 a year for ac- cess to the road, $30,000 to help maintain it and a $0.25 per cubic metre royalty on any timber hauled out. The paymenis worked out to -§ $50,000 to $75,000 a year. Mercer would also have to pay the band to use the road, she said. Collins says it’s not the band’s in- tention to inconvenience recreation- al users of (he road, The band may open the gate for them beyond scheduled times, she said, or it may direct them to detour around the gale through a residential band subdivision. Grinches try to cart off Xmas kettle 7 By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN TWO Terrace men were arrested Dec. 10 after an attempt was made to make off with the Salvation Army Christmas donation stand and kettle from the Nquor siore on the corner of Eby St. and Lazelle ve, “Two males appear to be involved and they have both been jointly charged,” said Cnst. Brendan McKenna of the Terrace RCMP detachment. “They were apprehending fleeing from the scene by police,” Mckenna said. Fd Beeton, a driver for Dingle Dan’s Towing, was driving his truck down Eby St. when he saw a man running while car- rying a distinctive red stand and plastic bub- ble. Beeion stopped the tow “It was pretty heavy, | couldn't trie ay Stopped believe it when | and asked the young |, man what he was doing, picked it up, no He said the man drop- WONder he was. ped the bubble and stand hu ffing and and started running away. . n “He didn’t say anything puffing. he was huffing and pufff- Moments later Beeton said an RCMP member arrived on the scene. “I pointed out which way he went and the member apprehended him,” Beeton said. Beeton said the kettle, with stand, was returned to the liquor store right away, “It was pretty heavy, I couldn’t believe it when | picked it up, no wonder he was huffing and puffing,” Becton said. A short time later that officer apprehended a second man in the same vicinity, police said. The two men, aged 18 and 19, have been charged ' with theft under $5,000 and possession of stolen property. Their names cannot be released until their first court appearance in late January. GHIEF councillor Diane Collins watches as worker Ed Brown locks a gate on the West Kalum road.