SPONSOR

by Tod Strachan

A record stiowfall all but closed
roads in the area Monday after-
noon. Intersections were blocked,
vehicles were stuck almost every-
where, school buses were stranded,
slides closed Highway 16 on both
ends of town and the CNR line
east of here... and in the middle of

_ it. all this confusion the Terrace —

Fire Department had a trailer fire
to deal with.

According to Terrace weather-
man Harry Earle, the storm began
Sunday afternoon, and by the time
it was over Tuesday morning the
area had been socked with a total
of 100.6 centimetres (39.6 inches)
of snow and 20 millimetres of rain.
On Monday alone 82.8 centimetres

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(32.6 inches) of snow fell, setting

a new 24-hour snowfall record for
the month of December.

The previous record was set on
Dec. 12, 1978, when the area pot a
50.6 centimetre (19.9 inch) dump
of wet, heavy, snow. This year’s
storm was at least relatively dry.
Monday’s snowfall was far from
an all-time record, however. That
24-hour record belongs to Jan. 17,
1974, when we got 103.1 centi-
metres (40.6 inches) of the white
‘stuff and a close second is still
safely held by Feb. 18, 1972, when
102.4 centimetres (40.3 inches) of
snow were measured.

Is there more of the stuff
coming? Some is predicted, but in
the words of Harry Earle a repeat
of Monday is "very unlikely". We
just don’t get that sort of thing two
times in the same week. At least
we never have. But then again... If
it does happen, December would
have a very unique record all its
own.

Breaking records was the last
thing on the minds of Terrace

motorists Monday. Residents try-
ing ‘o navigate roads and streets
were faced with ruts deeper than a
car tire and snow banks where no

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a ~aesgage of
nd warning

and her companion
Uldyiun, avunpu. ied by public health
nurse Jane McKillop, were in Terrace
over the weekend as part of a speaking
tour. Larkin, 19, is infected with HIV but
her strong point is her message — see

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1990
Vol. 6, Issue No. 49

Phone 635-7840
Fax 635-7269

The corner of Atwood and Greig was a replay of every intersection in downtown Terrace Monday. A
dramatic daylong bout of heavy snow choked off movement on local streets and highways until well into the

late night hours.

Local RCMP ponder budget cut impact

TERRACE — An unexpected
new set of federal budget direc-
tives that cut $14 million from the
RCMP operating budget across
Canada will affect the Terrace
detachment, but the Officer-in-
Charge doesn’t know yet where
the cuts will fall here.

"We haven't had a chance to
assess it yet,” said Inspector Larry
Yeske last Friday. "We're hoping
it won't involve cuts to service,"

The cuts won’t mean a reduced
force in the areca, Yeske said, but
added that it could mean officers
who are transferred to other juris-
dictions won't be replaced as
rapidly as usual.

Areas of operation that may be
cut include travel, meaning that the
RCMP will look twice at prosecu-
tions that require members to
travel to other jurisdictions to
testify. Yeske said the Terrace
detachment hasn’t received a dollar
figure on the cuts that will be put
in effect here. "We’re still gather-
ing information," he said.

Any cuts in service will have to
be discussed with Terrace city
officials, Yeske noted, because the
RCMP have a service contract
with the city. No date has been set,
but city administrator Bob Hallsor
said December is a bad month,
with council meeting only once

and a full agenda set for that mect-
ing. Januaty, he said, is a more
likely time.

Superintendent Pickell, the
Officer-in-Charge of the Prince
Rupert subdivision, said, "I can’t
see the cuts hitting us opera-
tionally." If anything, he said, the
cuts will "put us more in tune with
watching what we're spending."

In some minor cases the RCMP
might look twice at going through
with a prosecution that isn’t cost

effective. Pickell said for example
that a charge carrying a $100 fine
might be dropped if it involved
spending $1,000 to fly a witness
from a distant area in to give

evidence. "Let’s face it, reality is
reality, and I think the public
would agree that a case like that
would not be cost effective," he
said.

In cases of significant conse-
quence, he said, like impaired
driving or major theft, the prosecu-
tions will go ahead ‘as usual.

Drug trafficking cases are often
expensive to investigate and pro-
secute due to the amount of time
required to gather evidence and the
length of the ensuing court cases.
Pickell, however, said that drug
investigations will continue in the
subdivision. "We would go ahead
with it as long as we have the
information," he said.

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