Ald Terrace Review — Wednesday, January 2, 1991

| Looking back... from the beginning of 7 991

here’s one piece of news

that everyone looks for

this time of the year. In

1988, Narinder and Kuldip Gill
welcomed a six pound, seven
ounce daughter at 11:38 a.m. on
Jan. 3. In 1989, it was cight
pound, nine ounce Skylar Howard
who was grected by his parents,
Joanne and Bob Howard of Mezia-
din, at 2:50 p.m. on Jan. 1. In
1990, Jean and Tim Obzera wel-
comed seven pound, four ounce

Kierra at 7:30 a.m, on Jan. 1. In i

1991... If we don’t already know,
we will soon.

19838

ut just what sort of a

world greeted ‘these New

Year’s firsts of the past?

On Jan. 3, 1988, it was clear and

cold; the high was -8°C. The mood

of the city was warm, however.

We had just completed our Dia-

mond Jubilee celebrations and for

the Gill baby this meant more gifts

than usual for a baby of such
status.

City council confirmed that week

they should retain their policy of [

buying local. and local didn’t

mean Thomhill. The purchase ofa &

van was no problem, Totem Ford
out bid Terrace Chrysler so the
city bought a $16,254 Ford Aero-
Star.

The purchase of a couple of
economy cars, though, was not so
simple. The lowest bid | came from
Thornhill Motors, the highest from
"Terrace" dealers. Nissan, the
second place bid, was declared the
winner because they were located
within city limits. Alderman Ruth
Hallock, though, wasn’t sure...
perhaps Canadian-built cars are
better than foreign-built autos.

The Kitselas Indian Band was making visible progress toward economic independence through

last year. The structure of a traditional cedar longhouse was going up on the Band's reserve on
Kitselas Canyon, the site of a planned heritage park.

reasserting its culture at this time
Thornhill, jater to be shipped to

This prompted Thornhill Motors
owner Leo DeJong to attend the
next council meeting. He wasn’t
located in "Terrace" -+he admitted,
but he did do business here. And
why, he asked, was he asked to
submit a tender if he wasn’t

allowed to run in the race? The.

Hyundai he had offered, he said, it
would soon be built in Canada and
be as Canadian as any other com-

One of the major events of 1988 in Terrace was the official
opening of the Skeena Cellulose high-tech sawmill, called up to

that point
chief executive

"Project Starship". Among those attending were Repap
ofticer George Petty (second from left), Terrace

mayor Jack Talstra and Premier Bill Vander Zaim.

pact car on me market; they all
used foreign-made parts. After
much discussion, this car purchase,
which began about three, months
before, was sent back to committee
for further consideration.

Another issue in carly 1988 was
the pool expansion-bandshell pro-
ject. The province approved the
deletion of the bandshell from the
Expo Legacy application, leaving
the pool expansion as the only
project council would consider. By
the time the Gill’s New Year’s
event was six months old, though,
the bandshell would be built, by
community effort, and council’s
pool expansion would be... well,
delayed.

Other news of the day: council
elected to establish a Victim's

Assistance program, declined a *

proposal for a mobile home deve-
lopment at McConnell and Sparks,
were considering an application for
a Greyhound bus depot at Eby and
Park, and looking at the virtues of
rezoning the 4700 block of Lazelle
to Central Commercial. And out-
side council’s jurisdiction, the
Terrace postniaster said he was
powerless to do anything about
Canadian Airlines mail transport
record of late. He didn’t blame the
local office — the mail was being
bumped by CAI staff in
Vancouver.

Opposition to CBC’s dismantling
CFPR in Prince Rupert was under-
way but the promise of great
things from the mining community
helped bolster a little optimism. A
surge of exploration the year
before indicated that at least three
northwest gold mines could begin
work in 1988.

ealth care in our area was
leading the province
toward the future. The
boards of Mills Memoria! Hospital

and Terraceview Lodge’ merged to
become the Terrace Health Care
Society in the closing weeks of
1987, And there was another
upgrade to health care in the north-
west, A new alr ambulance agree-
meat had been signed. Under the
ierms of this agreement, the B.C.
Lions Society would pay the dif-
ference in cost for supplying a
twin engine MMB 105 CBS heli-
copter that would operate out of
Prince Rupert. The balance of the
cost was covered by Emergency
Health Services.

Rupert’s Christmas toumament, the
Totem Ford midgets captured a
Quesnel tourney, Terrace aioms
won the ’A’ side of a tournament
they hosted but lost the ’B’ event
to Kitimat, and in the bantam
division... well, that was a bit of a
disaster. A tournament scheduled
to take place in Kitimat was
cancelled after Prince Rupert
pulled out of the event. Prince
Rupert’s claim — a shortage of
players due to excessive injuries.
A freak wind that blew the roof
off a storage building behind Mac-

Education was evolving too. The
Terrace District Teachers’ Associ-
ation signed up 84 percent of its
members during a December drive
to convert the association inlo a
bargaining unit. We were told that
of those who had signed, 88 per-
cent were in favour of applying for
union certification.

School sports saw the Kermode
basketball teams in Salmon Arm;
performances they offered were
both good and bad. For the girls,
Michelle Hendry missed Lisa
Dams who missed the trip and
found she couldn't do it alone.
Hendry was the high scorer of the
event but her team finished out of
the running. The boys, on the other
hand, had a full roster and came
home with three wins. They later
chalked up another two wins at a
Coquitlam tournament. Then thers
was the annual grads tourncy in
Terrace. In 1988, the grads of
1980-83 captured the six-team
event. .

In minor hockey, Skeena Cellu-
lose peewees won gold at Prince

Kay's Funeral Home caused little
damage anywhere else... other than
a few downed power lines duc to
falling trees. But it was cold. Lows
were in the -13°C range while at
the very best highs only got up to
-8°C. But it was clear, the sun was
shining, fitting weather for the
dawn of a new year.

1989

or Skylar, the first week
of his life in 1989 offered
a teachers strike. Teachers
in the district had handed the
board of trustees 72-hour strike
notice, and, we were told, it would
be a long onc. Also a sign of the
times, the first real assessment of
highways maintenance under
privatization in our arca was done
by the Terrace Review, and North
Coast Road Maintenance won a
gold star from almost everyone we
talked to, Privatization in our area
had only been in effect for 30
days.
City council was considering a