were preaent from ‘RADIO & CITIZEN'S BAND |. (praviosy ~~ KITIMAT Lower City Centre Mall VOLUME 71 NO. 12 TV thé“herald Serving Terrace, Kitimat, the Hazeltons, Stewart and the Nass TERRACE, B.C. “632-4721 469 City Centre {. DOUGLAS {\ CHANNEL — \ REALTY LTD. ora KITIMAT “DEAL WITH THE FRIENOLY FOLK”, | Firemen quick fo.scen e By JOANNE AMES. _ Herald Staff Writer A blaze that spread: through the Flynn Apart- ment block in Terrace, Tuesday, has left five families homeless and wreaked fire or smoke e to a-‘number of the ta. No one was in- 9 > The fire department was first alerted to the scene at 11:25 yesterday thorning by a resident of Park Manor, an apartment building directly across from the fire, As smoke became more visible, the depart- ment n receiving a number of call.s There is a false ceiling, in effect a double, attic ‘ing the a ents, Accor fre Chief Cliff Best, the fire was able to travel a long time through this attic area before any smoke or other signs of fire became visible." As a result, the fire had a start by the time fren / emen and equipment had been called. The first truck left the hat before the call was . o fire trucks and a total of 23 fwi time firemen ‘and “Gone volunteers arrived ’ - Jeter than the full-time men because they had te be given calls about the location of the fire. " All the residents of the apartment building were rep arrived, Noone was hurt, as far as the fire department knows. It took about forty-five minutes to get in to the ‘actual fire. Holes had to be chopped in the roof to get at the flames; After that, the fire was brought under control, Ther ats inthe bullding. apartnen' . Only four or five of them are fire damaged. They are primaril e apartments at e back of building, ‘near the storage area where the fire apparently started. _ There is fairly heavy smoke damage throughout the building, including the new portion where fire did not actually touch the premises, ‘The building was insured. An estimate of the damage will be made tomorrow. Arson is not suspected at eee , arding an appareni failure of the alarm system, Mr. Best surmised that the wiring for the system may have been damaged by the fire in the attic. Further investigation is pending. 632-2024 “volunteers .- - orted to be out of the | building “when firemen WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1977 tt tm arena. By JOANNE AMES - Herald Staff Writer The first person I saw who lived in. the Fiynn Apartments didn't say very much. She was shaking, trying not to cry. “My Httle girlis at school. Isent her to school this morning,” she said, then looked at the burning building. “There's a brand new colour TV in there. Two of them.” Mrs. Poppy, who lives in the apartment building across the ‘street told the woman she had some children’s clothing she could give her for her little girl. The woman’s face stretched and crumpled. Tears came. She leaned against Mrs. Poppy and cried a moment. adys Phillion, who lived in Apartment 7, got out with the clothes she was wearing — jeans and a T-shirt, no shoes -— and her two children. “I've got a 10-day- old baby,” she said. Her _ other child will be two years old at the end of this month, “I don’tknow where I'd be if I lost them.” She was holding a cat, one that is a neighbourhood stray, who she said comes to her - apartment regularly. The cat was uneasy. Gladys held BC TEL Rates ringing _ OTTAWA (CP) — The British Columbia Telephone Co. was given permission Tuesday to increase most of its telephone rates by an average of about 15 per cent, despite stiff opposition and a record number of com- plaints about the company’s service. The Canadian Radio- television and Telecom- munications Commission (CRTC) shaved only about §3 million off B.C. Tel’s ; proposed increase that would have added bout 343 million a year to the com- ny’s coffers. Last year, .C. Tel took in $435 million. The rate increases, ex- pected to take effect in- nabout two weeks, drew 1,200 complaints and criticisms from the public. That is 50-per-cent more than the number of com- ments Bell Canada’s latest rate increase proposal drew, although Bell is about eight times larger than B.C. el. Even the CRTC raked B.C. Tel over the coals for the quality of its service, describing some aspects of the service aS wUn- satisfactory, unacceptable and saying It needed significant improvements, In handing down approval of the rate increases, the CRTC ordered immediate improvements in B.C, Tel’s billing procedures, its method of handling com- plaints and its repair ser- vice. Almost 25 per cent of HAG peri in - Saltiat ake roaring. in :the;* ‘double a nat..the fire, fetch sate go ne ewstelia “They've given up on it Terrace firemen fight the flames in the attic of the Flynn Apartments It took about 45 minutes to ge an “ it and tried to calm it down. ’ Her hands, as she petted the cat, were shaking like the . other woman’s had been. Looking at the smoke and ‘the firemen, she said, “My mom lost her youngest, my baby brother, in a house fire in Prince Rupert last year. I don’t know what would happen if [lost my kids. I’m glad I got them out. The rest... “T think this place is a goner,”’ she said. The girl who had first spotted the fire came and knocked on Gladys’ door, and made sure she got out. “I think it started at the back of the building, in the apartment across yard from mine.” I thanked her for talking to me. She said, ‘Yeah, and looked at the. burning building again. Marlene Gagnon was the first to spot the fire. She said she woke up because she was having a nightmare and noticed smoke a’ the back of the building. She got a friend, Rod Duncan, out of ‘his apartment to help her. “I y bange near da .your door down, eh?” she said to him. She phoned the operater. “T just screamed at her to higher equipment that has been re- paired after a customer has complained breaks' down again within a month, the TC said. Other common objections raised to B.C, Tel’s rate in- crease were lodged by senior citizens, the poor and roups representing the 0. They sald the proposed in- creases would cause undue hardship on customers with low or fixed incomes and that it would deprive them of a basic necessity. Acknowledging this roblem, the CRTC made e@ unusual. move of or- dering B.C, Tel to examine the feasibility of providing a discount to such customers as the Bell system offers in the U.S, with the hel hanged on all fet the firé department, She idn’t say anything except “Yes, right away.” Then, of Rod, she the doors in the building to get people out, “Tm not sure if there’s anyone still in there, we banged on all the doors, I , You know 1 pushed the alarm and it didn’t even work!.People could have got - out a lot faster if that alarm had worked,” The alarm rang intermittently during the fire as the flames reached different parts of the building. Rod Duncan said, “Look, there’s a fireman right in that apartment. We should t him to hand out that * Marlene looked ovar. and said, ‘Yeah, you should tall that guy to hand out the "EBook at them. Those firemen look like they're making no attempt to save the building. They’ve given up on it.”’* Marlene shook her head angrily. ‘All my pictures are in there.” “Tf anything is left, it'll be too water damaged to be any good,” said Rod. “Why wouldn’t they let us take anything out?” Duncan asked. “All our stuff is still Inthere,” “All my wedding pictures are in there,” arlene said, “and all my _ pictures of my kid.” There were a few toys and a box of disposable diapers, and a baby pack on the grass beside her. The baby was at the house across the street from the apartments. “We took the by there when we came out.” “There goes our roof! It’s falling in.” Robert Duncan pointed to a section of roof at seemed to be giving away. “What the hell are w going to do now?” ; “Well, there goes my place,’ Marlene said, and she bit her lip. When tears came to her eyes, she covered her mouth with one hand. Then she repeated, “All my wedding pictures are in there.” She picked up what she had had time to gather up, a laundry basket and a suitcase .with clothes in on Little Street, just behind the t through the’ roof and various yents tothe worst of the fire which was - te $e them, and walked down the road with an older woman who appeared to be a friend. Someone who had heard about the fire on the radio as they were coming in to town snid they .could see the smoke of the fire all the way from the old bridge. He said the Flynn Apartments used to be the old ‘Terrace hospital. Earlier, one of the people who lived there had told me; “There's a lot of feelin against this place: I hear one woman standing over there say, ‘“You mean people actually live there?” T felt hike telling her to i-off. Yeah, people live there! Bitch. Who does she think she is? I-told her, ‘Try it, you'll like it.’ Just because it’s old, everybody thinks it should be condemned or something? They're probably happy it’s burning down.” . : Hawks TEL AVIV (AP) Israel's governing Labor party suffered thumpin defeats Tuesday in nation elections and the head of the © right-wing Likud opposition claimed victory. Likud leader Menahem Begin—who takes a much tougher line on trading occupied Arab territory for peace agreements than has Getting in between the buildings, this foursome of fighters tries to cool down: PARLIAMENT © NILCTORIAs B.C. Today... yav 1x4 AUG/76 ee ares Ae the sides of the building and get into one of the windows at the rapidly spreading ’ flames. LABOUR TURFED OUT the Labor leadership— told exuberant followers early today he expects to form the next government. Labor has been the governing force in every Israeli government since ‘jndependence.in 19438. The Labor party, stained by corruption scandals and hurt by a troubled economy, was trailing in many areas COUNCIL CAN'T NIX SEX SHOP LICENCE. OTTAWA (CP) — A. municipal couneil is not empowered to withhold a business licence on grounds - of protecting community moral welfare, the Supreme Cqurt of Canada ruled today. It said in a 5-0 judgment that the municipal council of Prince George, 8B.C., wrongly refused to issue a licence to a person wishing to open a sex shop. The business licence application was made b John Payne to open an adult boutique called the Garden of Eden. Council denied the application by citing a section of the British Columbia Municipal Act which says a licence can be refused if at least two-thirds of the members of council agree. . . The B.C. appeal court quashed the council resolution saying pratection of public morality against a lawful business is an irrelevant ground upon which to deny a licence. po Pe a en ee ee in early returns. Ballots are counted by hand and complete results are not expected until later today. ; Computer projections based on more than 20 per cent of the vote and a sampling of polling stations pave the Likud 42 seats in the 120-member Knesset (parliament) and Labor 32. Labor had won 51 seats and Likud 39 in the 1973 election. Political observers noted the law does not require that the party winning a plurality be automatically granted the first chance to form a government, but that practice always has been followed. .The newly formed Demo- cratic Movement for Change (DMC), which has promised to work for domestic reform, appeared to be on its way to capturing 16 seats in the Knesset. Israeli television predicted the National Religious party (NRP) would win 11 seats. “It's an earthquake,” said DMC leader Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, who was al take over in Israel Likud headquarters. The DMC announced pefore the election that no decision had been made on | whether to join. Labor or Likud in a coalition. It said that decision would be made by its central committee. Shimon Peres, acting prime minister and Labor party leader, said his party as “suffered a hard blow." ‘It is surprising and painful,” he said, adding that it might create a situation with the Labor and Likud blocs “neutralizing each other.” He blamed Labor's losses on the DMC, worldwide inflation with Israeli prices soaring 388 per cent so far this year, and the change in U.S. presidents. Peres said uncertainty about U.S. President Car- ter's Middle East policy left the Israeli public ‘not as sure as it was about where it stands.” The bespectacled, 63- year-old Begin was ap- plauded as he entered the Likud headquarters.