oavings eroded

Local businessman dips into ~
RRSPs to halt erosion of his
property\NEWS AS -

Marasportathon

Twelve local athletes prepare for
the most grueling 24 hours of —
their lives\COMMUNITY B1.

a

Oh so close

Local bowlers just miss golden.
debut at B.C. Winter Games in the
Comox Valley\SPORTS C1

"WEDNESDAY
MARCH 8, 1995

Orenda takes aim at its critics ©

NORTHWEST POLITICIANS
are acling irresponsibly by calling
for the cancellation of Orenda
Forest Products’ forest licence,
says a company official.

The cancellation call comes
from the Kitimat-Stikine regional
district in response to the plan by
a company to. first buy Orenda
Forest Products and then ship its
fibre south to help open a closed
newsprint mill at Gold River on
Vancouver Island.

Pulling the licence would put.
more than a 150 people out of
work and affect suppliers, said
Orenda vice president Frank
Foster.

“We were a litte surprised at
the reaction of the politicians,

particularly by the mayor of Ter-
race,’’ said Foster,

Terrace mayor Jack Talstra sits
as a regional district director and
has heavily criticized the planned
Orenda sale since if was annoutc-
ed in early February.

“It’s pretty irresponsible to shut
down an entire industry in the
Stewart region,” said Foster.

“We question whether haw
much they know of the economic
bencfit our forest licence brings
lo the Stewart area and indeed to
Terrace.”? ,

Foster said Orenda’s licence bas
generated $131 million in
revenue since granted in the mid-
1980s.

“A lot of that business flows to

Terrace. We have contractors
which buy their supplies in Ter-
race. Employees either live in
Terrace or shop there,’’ Foster

“If you consider the multiplier
effect, the benefit is that much
higher. | don’t know if the
politicians realize the economic
benefit that has come to the
region.”’

Foster conceded that northwest
citizens might be disappointed
because the planned sale puts in
severe doubt Orenda's plan to
build its own pulp and paper mill
between Terrace and Kitimat,

“We spent $4.4 million to de-
velop a project Belicve me, we
tried, We're bitterly disappointed
it hasn’t gone ahead.”?

*‘Given the state of the situation
in B.C. today, we had a very dif-
ficult decision to make,’’ said
Foster,

But he pointed out that there
will continue to be logging jobs
under OFP Acquisition Corp,
Orenda’s planned new owners,
and more employment with the
prospect of a chipper going in at
Stewart.

“‘OFP has already indicated it
wants to bring stability to the
region, And it’s indicated it won't
be sending wood to: foreign
markets,’’ said Foster,

“What we're trying to do here
is re-open a mothballed mill (at
Gold River) that'll provide a 170
jobs at least someplace in B.C,”?

a Family foibles

DEMENTED DAUGHTERS Joelle Walker (as ‘Gail’) and
Joan Sangster (as ‘Elizabeth') take to the stage in the In-
timate quarters of the McColl Playhouse Thursday night for
the opening of Escape From Happiness, George F.

Walker's adult dark comedy also features Patrick McIntyre,
Jennifer Kenney, and Terrace Little Theatre veterans Karla
Hennig and Alan Weston. Tickets are $12 at Carter's Jewel-
lers in the Skeena Mall. The play runs Mar. 9-11 and 17-19,

Big bucks forecast
to fix Lanfear Hill

REBUILDING the road up Lan-
fear Hill has all the potential of
turning into a mulli-million dollar
nightmare for taxpayers,

Erosion is gradually narrowing
the road, and rebuilding it has al-
ready been estimated at more
than $2 million.

It’s not urgent yet, and city
director of cnginecring Stew
Christensen says the existing road
could last another five or 10 years
even.

But it could also slide off ithe
hill next week.

Already, speed limits have been
lowered on the hill and the
sidewalk has been gradually slip-
ping away.

In some spots, orange plastic
bag filled with sand serve as
warming markers for pedestrians.

“The easterly portion of that
road could slide at any time,’?
Christensen told cily councillors
at a public works committee
meeting.

The problem, says Christensen, .

are a series of clay ienses in the
hillside that make it almost im-
possible to predict stability.
That’s the same sort of problem
that plagued road builders in

Prince George when they con- -

structed a new road up Cranbrook
Hilf to the University of Northern
B.C. campus,

The road there began sliding
and construction costs cventually
came in $16 million over budget,

A reason for looking at the is-
suc now is that city council has to
decide soon whether to allow a
proposed subdivision at the top of
the hill.

All the options listed in the
Study involve going lower down
the hill, rather than going further
west and cutting harder into the
bank,

Cutting into the bank, it says,
could threaten lots at the top of
the hill and cause land to slide.

“There are so many | in-
determinate costs of going wesl,

they. did. not .even make an:

estimate,’’ Christensen said,

Mayor Jack Talstra noted, how-
ever, that ifthe city allows houses
to be built at the top, it will lock
them in to going with the lower
routes.

Councillor David Hull echoed
that thought, adding that he didn’t
want to be 53 years old and hear
citizens complaining about ‘the
dummies that allowed houses to
be built. there and didn’t take
more of the upper bank.”

And the lower routes aren’t
without difficultics, cither, be-
cause of the expense of retaining
walls and the proximity to Howe
Creck,

“The retaluing wall would go
right. on top of the creek,’
Christensen said. ‘‘So there’s a
problem there.””

Cartying out further detailed
design of a route will likely cost
the cily around $150,000.

“The issue has been tabled. until
tomorrow’s: planning. committee
meeting, © to es

Foster said Orxenda isn’t sur-
prised at the opposition from
Skeena Cellulose to the planned
s2ale.

That company has two years
left on a contract to buy Orenda
fibre and says losing the supply
will threaten its Prince Rupert
pulp mill operations,

“It’s pretty clear they are out to
discredit us and to block that sale
and grab that fibre,” said Foster,

Yet he noted that as late as last
January Skeena Cellulose was
telling prospective money lenders
that it had an adequate supply of
pulp fibre.

“They knew then our fibre
would net be in their fibre bas-
ket,’’ seid Foster,

75¢ PLUS 5¢GsT
VOLATNO. 47 2

Frank Foster

Political hopefuls
keep heads down,
says Lib leader _

POLITICAL CANDIDATES for
opposition parties can find them-
selves targets of the provincial
government, says Liberal leader
Gordon Campbell.

Speaking here last week, Camp- |

bell said that’s why he doesn’t
expect candidates for his party to
declare themselves just right now
in this riding. ”

“A lot of the most capable
people might be frightened — no,
not frightened — but worried
about the impact government can
have not directly but indirecily,’’
said Campbell.

‘Tm not really talking about
the impact on them directly but
let's say one of them works for a
forestry company, There - are
things a government can do to
make it difficult on that compa-
ny,’’ he said.

“For a candidate who is on a
(municipal) council, the govern-
ment can say there’s no money
for something this year, perhaps
next year,”

Campbell made the remarks
wien asked about the interest
level shown here for the party’s
Skeena riding nomination.

The Liberal leader thinks the
election won’t be held this spring
and, as a conscquence, potential
candidates will surface when in-
dications of an clection are im-
minent,

Campbell said he’s talked to
four people here he feels will
make good candidates, .

But before local Liberals can
hold a nomination meeting, they
must meet two. conditions of the.
Liberal party. - so

One is to sign up as members at
least 1.5 pez cent of the Skeena
riding’s population and the other
is to raise at least $6,000,

Also in town last week was
Reform party leader Jack
-Wetsgerber. See Page A&.

Linda Hawes, a local busines-
‘person and member of the local
Liberal riding assoclation’s inter-
im executive, said 75 people have
already signed party cards. |

That’s under the estimated 450
people needed to meet the mem:
bership requizement,

- “E think we will have doubled
or at least triped that figure in the
next week,’’ said Hawes.

Helping the recruitment
campaign is a Vancouver-based
Liberal party phone bank which
is contacting people in the riding, :

Campbell drew approximately
30 people to a meeting at the Ter-
race Inn here last week. ;

LOOK WAY DOWN, City councillor Val George examines one of the more eroded portions of the
p the hill will be needed at a cost of more than $2 million. it's a pro-

Ject that’s not only castly

but complex because of what lies below t

he surface,