-You’ve got mail - Surfing the ‘net at the library is so hot, librarians charted nearly 33,000 so far\COMMUNITY B1 ‘More year in review The second half of 1999's athletes, games, wins, losses and accomplishments\SPORTS B10 — Bursting with bears 4999 kept local conservation” officers hopping with bear complaints \NEWS A8 © WEDNESDAY - January 5 2000 MULTITUDES OF people had their Christmas holiday plans drastically changed when foggy weather forced the cancellation or delay of their flights throughout the northwest. For-those trying to get to the north- west or those trying to get out, it either meant rescheduling or long bus rides to and from various cities. For their relatives and friends on the ground, it meant numerous trips to air- ports at odd hours of the day-or night in hopes of greeting holiday arrivals. On one day alone, Dec. 21, the Tues- day: before Christmas bad weather closed airports in Smithers, Terrace and Prince Rupert. iod leading up lo and immediately after Christmas a “mess”. People bound for Terrace cither found themselves returning to Vancou- ver or diverted to airports as far away as Prince George for a long bus ride home. Baggage. either didn’t arrive or showed up hours or days later. Dean Brawn of Canadian Regional Airlines said just eight of its 24 sche- duled flights between Dec. 20 and Dec. 28 made it into Terrace. “That makes for only a 33 per cent completion rate,” he noted. OF the 16 cancelled, 14 were due to weather. The other two cancellations were for other reasons. — “We were able to put on some extra flights whenever and wherever we could,” said Brawn. He noted the northwest wasn’t alone as fog and cloud played havoc with flights from Nanaimo to the Okanagan. “It was just awful all over,” said Brawn. “Terrace and Prince Rupert were not being singled out by any means in terms of the weather.” Local travel agents fielded numerous calls from would-be passengers stranded because of the weather. “We had a lot of people in for re- funds. They just couldn’t get out of here,” said Claudia Moldenhauer from American Express Elan Travel. “There were people upset at the air- lines, but they did what they could. It was really tough,” she said. Uniglobe’s Diane Francis even of- fered Christmas dinner to one client stuck in town. “When you consider there are five flights a day scheduled, thousands of people were affected,” said Francis of the long stretch of bad weather. “We «id a lot of re-bookings.” Most affected were those who had booked connections out of Vancouver either directly with airlines, on the Inter- net or with out-of-town agencies, she said. “We couldn’t help them. We can’t gel into another agency’s computer sys- tem, It’s not our file,” said Francis. She recommended that people book $4, 00 PLUS 7G GST. ($1.16 plus 8¢ GST outside of the: a Terrace area) : VOL. 12 NO. 38 Weather grounds travellers with local agencies who can then help when things go wrong. Cindy Sabino of Carlson Wagonlit said her busiest time was the period just before Christmas. “The advice is always to book a full day before you have connections in Vancouver in case there is bad weather, But this time, even that wouldn’t have helped,” she said. People who chose not to buy insur- ance also had particular problems, Sabi- no added. ; Some local people opted out of the airport here altogether, choosing to drive to Prince Rupert themselves in hopes of having a better chance of making it on a flight south. One observer called the 10-day per- AGRE Tense, is Loading up THAT'S JOHN CORMANO loading luggage onto a baggage cart on Wednesday, Dec. 29. Cormano is one of many Avid Aviation stalf who make sure your luggage travels with you when you board a commercial aircraft at the Terrace Kitimat Airport.-Lug- gage handlers were kept busy this Christmas when flights were rescheduled due to foggy weather, Cheap rent expected to lure theatre crowds BOLSTERED BY a com- mitment made by the city to help meet expenses, the group now running the R.E.M. Lee Theatre has dropped its rates to attract more business and, it hopes, more revenue. There will now be three rate classes ranging from non-profit community group use to pure commer- cial performances, says an official of the newly-formed Terrace Community Pacili- ties Society. The cheapest rate will be $449 and the most: expen- sive $2,000, Martindale last week. . Included in all the ‘pack- ages are a coordinator and two technicians and use of all equipment without sur- charge with the exception of piano tunis. “The key here is we are getting rid of the head tax in. favour of these simplified rates,” said Martindale of a surcharge on each person 1 said “Bruce. that was brought in to cefer expenses, The theatre was operated for years by the schocl dis- trict but became a victim to budget cuts. The district had said all school-sanctioned events would be subject to. full costs. - This in turn sparked the creation of the facilities soc- iety as a-way to keep mak- ing the theatre affordable for community groups. The cily said last year it would give the. society ~ $10,000 for 1999 and up to $30,000 this year to make, “expenses as it worked on _ ways to. be self sufficient. _. “By lowering our fees. _we hope in particular to at- tract smaller groups,” said Martindale. "Our goal is to increase communily access and the greater the use, we hope the greater the revenue to break” “even and provide capital for improvements,” he said, use outside of. “Tf those groups do well, we will do well and that will help us out.” There is one wrinkle in ‘the rate structure — in only takes in the theatre. The use of the lobby is at . the discretion of the society. _. Martindale said the soc- iety will operate conces- sions duringintermissions as a way of boosting revenue. Should there not be an intermission, a further $100 will be charged. There is an exception for children’s shows should they not be long enough to justify hav- ing an intermission. “We see the lobby and concession. as an .area in which we would: build up the capital we need,” he said, | He added the society will entertain any potential rent- al use, up to and including weddings. “We're definitely wide’ upen to any suggestions as how we use that building,” Martindale said. Although the saciety is new, there is one familiar face. Tom Walker, em- ployed by the school district as the theatre manager, has now been hired in that capa- city by the society. Armed robbery i is seventh of 1999 TERRACE RCMP faced their seventh armed: robbery of 1999 when a man ‘walked into Copperside Foods store on ‘Clarke Drive in Thornhill Dec. 28. - Swinging an axe, the caucasian male, 5°5” to 5°9” in height, demanded cash. from a clerk, threatened store occupants and assaulted a customer before escaping with a small-amount. of money, The customer suffered minor injuries. ~The thief has.a medium build and: brown ¢yes and was last seen wearing. a light-coloured hooded “kangaroo-style” sweatshirt, light-coloured pants, black gloves, a black ski mask and tinted pre- scription-style’ glasses. Last year’s seven armed robberies was one more than the six committed in Ter- race and Thornhill in 1998, Three of those 1999 robberies included firearms while the other four involved other weapons including knifes and sticks. ~RCMP have laid charges in: three of those seven charges. -six armed robberies in Terrace and Thorn- hill, one of which involved a firearm. In 1998, there were Local specialist concerned with baby doc plan AT LEAST three pediatricians are needed in Terrace to establish a regional children’s health specialty service, says a local pediatrician. “You can’t provide a higher leyel of care unless you can have continuous on-call. And I think it’s unreason- able to expect anyone to provide more than one and three (nights on-call), said Dr. Jane Pegg, She’s one of two pediatricians in Terrace right now but is moving away nex March. There were plans to ‘add a third pediatrician here but now there's an arrangement to base that third specialist in Prince Rupert instead. With a pediatrician. already in Smithers, northwest health care officials plan to have four in place altogether. Prince Rupert wants a pediatrician to work with its obstetrician. Without a pediatrician, an obstetrician loses work and could leave, depleting the number of specialists at the hospital. The problem though is this concept would leave Ter- race with two pediatricians, one short of what Pegg said is needed to establish a true regional service here. . North Coast Community Health Council chair Tony Briglio says putting a pediatrician in Prince Rupert ts re- garded as solidifying a regional service. “Instead of doing our own thing, this is another mea- sure at sharing a service,” he said. A regional pediatric network with specialists in Smithers, Terrace and Prince Rupert would be much the same as an arrangement be- ™ tween general surgeons in the northwest to spell each other off, Briglio added. Pega said a regional pediatrics program would greatly improve the quality of pediatric care in Terrace, which she says has fallen dramatically over the past five years. “I used to provide a higher level of care compared to five years ago,” she said. “It’s a frustrating environment for me.” Pegg said the administrators at Mills Memorial Hos- pital haven't made an effort to make pediatrics a prior- ity. “We've gone from having a pediatrics ward and a _ filly staffed nursery to having two rooms on the main “ward which are variably used for pediatrics patients and a nursery that is staffed to the bare bones,” “Ti’s always a struggle to keep baby in there and there’s always a pressure to get a baby out.” In the past eight months, the hospital hasn’t accep- ted any transfers back from Children’s Hospital in Van- couver for recuperation after procedures were finished, Pegg said babics now have to recover in Prince George or Vancouver because there aren’t enough nurses _ here to take care of them. “This is a chronic problem,” Pegg said. “It has been very frustrating for me.” Keeping babies from coming home to recuperate re- duces her fees as well as the quality of care the hospital is able to provide. The cuts also affect families who now have to wait in Vancouver until their baby is healthy enough to go home. Pegg said the problem boils down to a nursing staff shortage. “There’s not enough nurses,” she said. “We don’t count on staffing the nursery so when ones needed it’s a big scramble.” One day fast month, when a baby was admitted, ad- ministrators told Pegg there weren't any nurses available to care for the infant. “I was asked to come and staff the nursery 4 Tibial iss. iiiiel she said. i When Pegg said that was unacceptable ant "told ad- ministrators to send an adult ICU patient elsewhere to free up a nurse, one was found. After almost six years in Terrace, Pega is ‘Moving to Nanaimo in March. She says il will be very difficult to replace her and that the remaining pediatrician will have a heavy work- Load. The last time there was a pediatries vacancy, i it took six months to fill.