1 Safety first’ “HALLOWE'EN IS fun but parents and others are being reminded to make sure ghosts, goblins and such are visible‘in the dark. Chris- | topher ; Yoo, 4, is shown here holding a ‘Get Visible’ reflective sticker available at the offices of local optometrists. EG SEN int ee soe a re News In Brief ROD LINK PHOTO _ Enrolment keeps on dropping - - but the decline has slowed — ENROLMENT KEEPS slip- ping in the Coast Mountains school district, but the rate. has slowed compared to the , . . that’ was in between,” ‘Greenwood. ae | School district nancial " officials based its budget this - year on the in between figure: past several years, says a school district.official. - As of Sept. 30, there were | 5,744 full and part-time stu- dents registered, a drop of about 150 from June when the’ previous school year ended, says assistant super-. intendent Rob Greenwood. .Just several years ago, the district’s student population ; was more than 6,000.- Sept. -30-is crucial-as the: enrolment figure of that date is used to fix the grant the school district receives from 4 ‘the’ provincial government. “We had“ an optimistic prediction, a pessimistic pre- diction and then a prediction * said and it turned out to be very close to the actual Sept. 30 -enrolment number. “The decline is slow- ing. But have we stabilized? There is nothing to indicate that is happening,” Greenwood. | The school district, has been hit not only by the drop overall in students that has - said — “Rob Greenwood affected most other districts in the province but also by the economic decline of the past years here, which has ° ‘forced families to leave for other places. That . has sion to keep closed the brand ‘new Mountainview Elemen- ~tary School on the bench. Although the ‘provincial government has. given more ‘money. to districts hit par- ticularly hard by declining. "enrolment, ‘tightening of spending. Enrolment at Caledonia. _and at Skeena Junior seem there’s’ been a to be holding, said Green- wood. : But he noted that Skee- na’s figure of 607 is a drop from just several years ago “resulted in. . ‘school closures and the deci- a. when it was ‘in the 670 to. 680 range. - Greenwood was surprised , by the drop i in kindergarten — registrations -at_ Thornhill : Primary. Last year it was in > the 60-student Tange but this . fall it dropped to 42.. “It means last year + there were three classes and this “year . we’ re down to two,” Greenwood explained. - Overall, Greenwood said’ he’s worried about broad- based demographic : predic- tions he’s seen which indi- cate, the. school, population will drop by about half from |: what it was in the mid- 1990s to 2010. Bus change probed _ PEOPLE IN Terrace and the surrounding area will have a chance'to make submissions to the B.C. Passenger Transportation Board about Greyhound’ s request to cut bus service here from twice daily to just once a day. Greyhound applied earlier this year to chop its ser- vice between Prince Rupert and Smithers in half. But public concern has prompted the transportation board to hold hearings in Sandspit, Terrace, Prince Rupert and |. Smithers to give the public a chance to weigh in on the proposed schedule change. People wishing to make an oral statement at any of the meetings have to register with the B.C., Passenger Transportation Board and requests must be received by Oct. 28. The hearing i in Terrace is Friday, Nov. ‘5 from 9 am. - noon at the Terrace arena, © oe ° . Burn the house down TERRACE FIREFIGHTERS are burning down a build- ing Oct. 29 to update their experience with a realistic situation. Fire chief Peter Weeber | says the department plans to “torch a vacant house owned by Northcoast Equipment on the corner of Keith Ave. and Braun St. The building | will be lit and put out a’ ‘couple of times for practice before firefighters supervise its final burning. “We don’t get the opportunity to do training like this | with our new people very often,” Weeber says, adding the fire department will do some canvassing in the area ~ to inform people about the event ahead of time. Airport traffic dips compared to the.same period in 2004. : Airport figures indicate 73,464 people used the air-, port in the first nine months. of this year, 1,376 fewer.- people than the 74,840 users: ‘for the same time: * period in 2004. THE. NUMBER of people using the Northwest Re gional Airport is down slightly to the end of September Still, September's s figure of 8, 888. passengers was Q ~ more than the Sept. 2004 figure of 8,094 and was the . highest of all Septembers dating back to. 1998. Just two flights couldn’t land in September.due to weather;. making for 11 in all this year. That compares to the 19 missed flights up to the end of September in-2004. Improvements to the airport’s instrument landing.’ system: at the beginning of the. decade, allowing air-' craft to come in at a lower altitude. before pilots: have’ -to make visual contact. with the runway, have drasti- ° cally cut:down the number of missed flights. In 2002, . for instance, there were 142 missed. flights because’ of ; weather < or for other reasons. _ Side-swipe accident A HIT-AND- RUN driver seriously damaged ; a vehicle ‘in the 4600 block of Straume Ave. in the early morning of Oct. 15. The suspect vehicle, which is believed to be . an older model pickup truck, side-swiped the driver's _ side of the victim’s vehicle and then drove off. Anyone who notices an older pickup truck with damage td its passenger side, a missifig side mirror and’ red paint, which may have transferred from the victim’s” vehicle onto it, is asked to contact Terrace ‘RCMP at” 638-7400 or Crimestoppers at 635-8477. Don’t forget your 7 O% Customer Appreciation Card even on E-Cycles! BEST PRICE IN CANADA! New to the Hf LO) LOTS OF! EABRIC AVAILABLE! NEM Ww EABRIC JUST ARRIVED! $6.79" All real feathers, ‘masqurade or mardi gras masks. Many more styles. | | | Check Out These Electric Bikes Out! Maximum Speed: 32 km/h Range: 45 km Wheel:.16” Brake: Drum |i Carrying Capacity: 120 kg «“ TIP OF THE WEEK: Safety first this Halloween! When trick-or-treating, | make sure you and your children can be seen by using reflective tape on your costumes and by wearing a glow necklace. Whether you're looking for the ultimate workhorse or the epitome [« of recreation - you can’t go wrong with the most reliable ATV's on | m the planet. We put world-class engineering and build quality into ma each ATV, and you get more rugged dependability, more performance, more convenience, a better ride and a long, trouble- free, life span. From our powerful full-featured Grizzly 660, through . the rugged Kodiaks, Bruins, and right down the line’ through the: Sport ATVs and beyond. We've got a rough and ready, never-let-you- down four-stroke Yamaha, ATV for whatever combination of work and play suits you, whenever it suits you. Those boundaries sometimes blur, more power to you. You're doing life right. ~~ ~ “Bayt the Yamaha Kodiak 4 450 or Grizzly Winch | - ~ @YAMAHA === @YAMAHA| Parte & Accessories Pléces ot accesso The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - A3-