News In Brief _ The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 28, 1994 - A3 Bruin invasion continues Violence, crime targetted . A CONFERENCE being held here this weekend will aim at in- creasing understanding of the causes of violence and crime. ' Called Building Safer Communities: Making it Happen in the North, the three-day session opens with presentations by provin- cial Attorney General Colin Gabelmann and Judge Cunliffe Baractt of Williams Lake.Barnelt has for a number of years sup- _ ported efforts 10 get native peoples directly involved in the work- ings of the justice system, ..» Put together the Kitimat Women’s Centre and the BC Coalition for Safer Communilics, the conference begins Friday. Locals only could cost BC RESTRICTING Small Business Program timber sale bids to coni- panics located in the area the wood comes from could resuit in the province getling a lower return on its timber, says Forests minister . Andrew Petter, Petter sounded that warning in a letter to Skcena MLA Helmut Gicsbrecht in which he also repeated jobs were the key in his de- cision to award a northwestem timber sale to the Victoria Plywood Co-operative rather than local bidders Terrace Pre-Cut ‘or Goyert Sawmills of Kitimat. _ Petter said VicPly and Goyert ticd based on their value-added capability and amount of their bonus bids. However, VicPly won out because it was more labour intensive and employed 200 people, ‘I felt that the continued employment of a large group of British Columbians was in the overall provincial interest,” be maintained. Legal aid dispute ends AN AGREEMENT in principle has been reached between the province and legal aid lawyers. The deal includes the hiring of 90 new staff lawyers up to Dec. 31, 1995 by which time an independent evaluation on staffing levels is expected to be completed. A commtittee will also be sct up to review pay scales. Legal aid lawyers will go back to work Oct. 1 assuming 3 a mem- bership vote ratifies the agreement. Reform to stage TV meeting THE REFORM Party of Canada is holding what it calls an elec- tronic town hall meeting this coming Monday, Oct. 3. The program will be carried live on community cable channels across Canada (6 p.m. on channel £0 in Terrace) and viewers will have an opportunity 10 make their views known on questions con- cerning national unity and Quebec. Anyone unable to watch the show can phone in their answers at 1-900-451-4841 (English) or 1-900-451-4032 (French) between now and next Monday. Campbell promises charter LOCAL GOVERNMENTS will be better off financially if the Liberals win power at the next provincial election. That promise came from Gordon Campbell in an address at last week’s Union of BC Municipalities convention in Whistler. Campbell said the charter would ensure crown corporations would pay full property taxes and require 75 per cent of all traffic fines collected by the police to go back into the communily for policing | and youth programs. ; ~ He also promised that revenue collected from stumpage fees _would stay in the region from which it was collected, 4640 Keith Avenue Terrace, B.C. V8G 4K1 BEAR IN THE AIR: one of the numerous black bears invading the city ended up well and truly treed in a 4600 block Loen Ave. cottanwood last week, Conservation officers shot the bear but in- stead of falling out of the tree it became wedged in the fork of a branch. Initial attempts to bring the bruin pack to earth involved borrowing the Thornhill Volunteer fire department ladder truck: and sending up firefighter Dean Prins (above) to do the extraction; When that, didn't work, city Jecrea-: tion department foreman Tim Taront ‘donned spurs..climbed the tree and freed tha carcass.’ "phone (604) 635-7767 OF 635-7886 Fax (604) 635-7174 We're moving to a new location soon. And we don’t want to carry all the stock. So we’re going to sell it to you. - es EVEIYThING 1S crores \IDEO TAPES WALKMANS PORTABLE STEREOS © TOYS TAPES & ane . TIMEX WAT ors 0/ RADIO oY CRs ONLY 0 Reg lular Price! (except ah and related products) $199.00 SINGLE CASSETTE CD PLAYER RCD830 Reg $189 DOUBLE CASSETTE _CDPLAYER: | a RCD&20C Reg $299 ~ PALMCORDER } 21" COLOUR TV ~ CT-5340WC Reg $969 NH AM 26° COLOUR TV. COLOUR Ww CT-8331WCX Reg $599 BLOW-OUT SPECIALS - WHILE STO oo sRUHICK Reg $749 “SCX953, Reg $850 _VC-E806N Reg $799 ~ FULL SIZE VHS ~ CAMCORDER -SCF712C Reg $849 "BOOK SHELF STEREO CD SYSTEM MAx460 B00 Look For More In-Store Specie | - Sorry, no rainchecks - _ HURRY - SALE ENDS OCT. 7. -MID SIZE CAMCORDES $450 | 1994 HAS TURNED into the year of the bear in Terrace. In the last two and a half weeks the number of reports of maraud- ing bears has doubled to more than 300. That’s nearly twice as many complaints as conservation of- ficers received in all of 1992 and | six times as many as they . received last year. “As of Friday, conservation of- ficers had killed 17 bears in the Terrace arca and relocated anoth- er 10, “It’s way up,” conservation of- ficer Martin Melderis said of the numbers, ‘But it’s way up all over the province. It looks like the same problem is every- where.” The marauding bears have be- come accusiomed to looking to human habitation as a source of food, he added. Conservation officers have been calling on residents to make sure fruit has been picked from fruit trees and that garbage isn’t left outside, “The majority of people have cleaned up and that’s definitely helped out a lot,” Melderis said. But he also noted that if bears find food at even a couple of houses, they will make that a reg~ ular. part of their tour, and will pass through neighbouring yards on the way. Melderis said he was called to one yard last week and found that owners Icft a veritable smorgas- bord for the bear to feast on. “There were gatbage bags right on the front steps and the ground next door was liltered with ap- ples,’ he said. ‘‘There was no surprise there.” Bear action last week peaked on Tuesday when conservation of- ficers caught one bear and shot two others that had been eluding traps for several weeks. Melderis adds that an area isn’t necessarily safe once conscrva- tion officers capture or shoot a bear, ‘*Terrace is full of bears,’’ he said, ‘People shouldn't assume that just because we take onc away there aren't any more.”’ Melderis expects bear activily should begin to decline in dhe next week or 50.