. 0 Shedding light " By DUSTIN QUEZADA - referendum to decide if city residents want slot machines. Artists and tourists alike enjoy the early returns of - Nisga’ a carving shed \COMMUNITY Bt Soccer slam ' Caledonia senior boys rule at first tournament of the new season \SPORTS B5 ‘ Talking tourism Delegates gather here for the Northern BC Tourism . Association conference \NEWS A12_ $1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST ($1.10 plus 7¢ GST | . outside of the Terrace area) MAYOR JACK Talstra says he'd be in favour of holding a - Talstra, who broke a tie on council last week that did; away . with plans by the Lucky Dollar Bingo Palace to install slots, . says. a referendum would accurately judge the community’ Ss. “wishes on the matter. | ‘Judging what the community wanted whien it. came to slots was difficult, he added. “Council is divided on the (slots) is- sue and that generally means the community is divided on’ the issue,” Talstra said late last week. “There are reasons on both sides to consider.” _ Talstra’s ‘support of a referendum to decide the issue . comes after describing : ‘slots. asa form of * ‘aggressive. gam- bling.” bling and against. aggressive gambling for the community as a whole,” said Talstra last t week following the decisive Oct. 17 city council meeting. . And if voters. were ever to : say ‘yes’. “to slots in 1 the. city, | Talstra. favours a. trust or foundation so that the. profit from chines at the bingo facility. 4 Talstra. . ; Based on ‘opinions from a Oct. 16 public meeting, the — “On principle, rm personally against agressive gam-. it s been taken.” Talstra’s tie- “breaking vote that did away with the Lucky -t ‘Dollar plan represents: the second time in three ‘years city: . -- council has rejected gambling expansion. - . Talstra also broke a tie on council in 2003 when: the Best a "Western Terrace Inn presented the city with a casino plan. — This time council was asked to do away with a bylaw prohibiting slot machines and video lottery terminals.: . » Citing ‘the societal. cost of aggressive gambling as being too high, Talstra’s opinion proved to be the fatal one to the - efforts of local businessman John Becher to’ install slot ma- “I would say ‘no’,to slots and:* yes’ toa referendum,” said naysayers outnumbered the slot machine supporters, said the - _ mayor, but that didn’t make it easier to do, what he felt was best for the community. - . Along with the social problems. slot machines might « cre- . ate, ‘Talstra said revenues that would come back to the.city © would likely be offset’ by the need for more police officers were crime to also rise. re) Cont'd 4 Page | AI4 7 | —_—— — —_ ees tae | i Slots would “be, given back to the same people from whom ee, By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN. -Company’s sawmill'as a whole entity-has fallen through, paving the way for the two-day auction- ing off of all the assets today and tomorrow. Last Wednesday, Oct. 18 was the drop. dead date for the unnamed company to put some mon- _ ey on the table. Despite negotiations with TLC of- ficials, the deal fell through. “They didn’t come up with any money, let me put it that way,” confirmed TLC chairman John .Ryan. “They still expressed great interest in doing it but they didn’t have any money, so, I was put- ting all my shareholders at ris That group still has the opportunity to buy the whole mill, but it would have to make an agree- ment with Maynard’s, the auctioneers hired to sell of the mill’s assets. That auction is scheduled for today and tomor- ~ row, Oct. 25 and 26, and will include everything AUCTIONEER MIKE Seibold will be busy at the Terrace Lumber Company, site this week. | Mill auction starts tor day __ from rolling stock; vehicles and hand tools to large ‘industrial pieces of equipment such as debarkers, A LAST minute deal:to sell the Terrace Lumber . guide grinders and the mill’s dry-kiln. The company is expected to get a minimum pay out of roughly $2.5 million for the assets. That was the guarantee given by Maynard’s to the receiver in charge of overseeing the bank- " ruptcy proceedings of former owner New Skeena Forest Products last year after talks between the receiver and two other groups were called off, paving the way. for the TLC purchase. And just last week the company also made the 73 acres of land the mill sits on available through the auction. The land will be sold: as three parcels and auctioneer Mike Seibold says the company has a minimum figure it wants for the parcels, but added that number is confidential. If the company sells the land, the sale would have to at least cover off the $950,000 loan it has as the mortgage through the City of Terrace Legion Ave. location. ANTI- SLOTS advocate > Darryl Anaka presented a petition to council at'a public meeting Oct. 16 opposing the Lucky 0 Dollar Bingo Palace’s plan to install slots at its SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO ‘Hawkair strikes a deal to sell HAWKAIR HAS reached a tentative deal that will see the local company sold to an Alberta aircraft charter company called Bar XH for $1 and to receive a loan to help pay its creditors, - Supreme Court, also means a strengthening of each’ compa- ~ ny’s charter operations while continuing Hawkair’s sched- _uled air service in the northwest.and northeast. | wl The Oct. 20’court hearing was critical to Hawkair as it had to show substantial progress was being made to restruc-. ture its operations. Creditor protection status was extended ¥. to Jan. 15 to allow Hawkair and Bar XH to finalize their ar-. ; » Hawkair originally paid for them and troubles with meeting . ee “the payment schedule was one of the reasons the company - sought creditor protection : status’ ‘in Oct. 2005. | oo TREY = .. company’s sole director, hopes Bar XH will get a. better: Te-, ception from IMP which had sought a court-order: to: have : _ the aircraft returned. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO and would have to involve the payment of the $781,137 in back taxes it owes the city for 2006. In addition, the company is expected to get a rebate of some of the softwood tariffs it paid to * sell lumber into the United States now that anew softwood lumber deal has been inked. | Ryan won't disclose the amount of that rebate, but confirmed it is in excess of $1-million. Compared to the hundreds of millions of dol- lars major forestry companies are expecting to receive in rebates, Ryan says TLC’s may seem small, but he expects it will make’a significant difference to the local company. ’ “It’s part of our desire to make sure > that we do the right thing as much as possible,” Ryan says. The company owes $950,000 to the City of Terrace and has 10 years to repay the loan. City officials say the exact repayment schedule. is confidential, but have confirmed the company has not yet made a payment on the loan.- Cont'd Page A1 1 rangement. A crucial part of the deal calls for Bar XH to try , 3 to reach a deal with the company that sold Hawkair-the two - - Dash 8:100s it now flies or failing that, to ‘find other aircraft...” _Hawkair has spent the last’ year trying to re-do its original ~ Dash 8 purchase deal with Maritime-based IMP. Group Ltd. : :. to lower its payments. . ‘The aircraft are now considered worth less than what : Hawkair chief executiye officer Rod’ Hayward. “also. the “It’s not adone deal with IMP by any means ands we ‘may os not be ; able to secure those aircraft but that’s our hope,” said . " Hayward following last week’s B.C. Supreme Court date. Bar XH has been operating since- 1967 and: has. bases j in | Medicine Hat and Calgary. _ It services Alberta’s oil and gas industry with charters. and has an ‘air ambulance contract with the ‘Alberta gov-. ernment in addition to servicing aircraft belonging to other companies. IMP was the only company, in court Jast week to object to 7 -an extension of Hawkair’s protection status. Earlier this year _ it was saying ‘it had a deal in place to send the two Hawkair Dash 8s to an American company. It’s been trying to get its aircraft back for months but has not been able to convince ‘the Supreme Court to grant its ‘ wish. | . Even if Bar XH can 7 t reach a deal with IMP to keep the two Dash 8s, Hayward’s confident replacement aircraft can ‘be found. .He said Hawkair’ 's cteditor protection status didn’ t put it in a favourable position when it was all by itself in trying to put together financing for a new deal with IMP or ‘to find replacement aircraft. Hayward added that it-was too early yet to indicate how the ownership structure would work stemming. from any | Bar XH/Hawkair relationship. Cont'd Page A2 Grizzly bears force schools to shift routine — By MARGARET SPEIRS SCHOOLS “CHANGED their routines to protect students from grizzly bears i in lower Thornhill last week. According to Dighton Haynes, prin- cipal of Thornhill Junior Secondary - - School, students stayed inside for physed class rather than go outside and some who normally walk home even took it ‘upon themselves to call a parent for aride after school. The school received a press release from Terrace RCMP Oct. 18 waming about a grizzly bear sow and two cubs, feeding on garbage in the area of Moun-. ‘tainview Ave., Crescentview Ave. and ‘Sande Ave. in lower Thornhill. Haynes said students were warned against going near the wooded areas where bears would likely be found. “We were trying to make sure stu- dents were aware of bears in the area,” he said, adding staff wanted to ensure ‘ students wouldn’t travel alone and would Stay away from isolated areas. Students often walk to the Copperside store at lunch and then go to the isolated area near the regional district. Haynes couldn’t say how many stu-: dents called for a ride home because so many students have cell phones and use the pay phone at the school, but wasn’t surprised that some may have called rath- er than walk home. Thornhill Junior Secondary School. has about 240 to 250 students. : About two-thirds, or between 160 to 170, of the students take the bus, leaving only 40 to 50 who walk home. The safety measures continued for the rest of the week. ' Bears have been | in the area of the -school in the past but with less attention to them than this year. “T think every year people’ S awareness becomes greater,” Haynes said. Thornhill Elementary School princi- pal Phillip Barron said he heard reports from parents about the bears and reacted accordingly., _ “We've kept them in for the last three days now. They’re in during all break — times,” he, said Oct. 19. All students who walk or ride their bikes contacted a ‘parent to be picked up after school, he said. About three-quar-" ters of the 320 students ride the bus. Everyone was handling the change i in : routine in stride, he said... “You know they want to be outside playing,” he said.about the students, add- ing even the teachers would prefer to be outside supervising. - It’s a little bit of an inconvenience but: better than the alternative, he said. Barron recalls other times when the school was on alert after bear sightings but this is the first time a grizzly has been a concer. >The “intent ‘is’ to’ restore’ “Hlawkair’ 's: ‘fitiandial’ ‘stability. by Moe. clearing its. debts’ and take it out of its year-long, court-ap- - .-proved creditor protection status. ©. oe “The deal, details of which were Teleased Oct. 20:i ‘in ‘B: Cc. eee ee