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Decision day.

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ov $1.00-PLUS 7¢ GST
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST
outside of the Terrace area)

| VOL.17 NO. 41

NDP pi

By JEFF NAGEL,

ROBIN AUSTIN is the NDP’s candidate i in
May’s provincial election after winning a
close three-ballot nomination battle Saturday
afternoon.

The Terrace social worker emerged the
victor from a field of four, defeating former
two-term NDP MLA Helmut Giesbrecht on

“We Sa very great honour to. be chosen by *

you,” Austin said in a short victory speech at

the Best Western Terrace Inn.
The four-day school week, the economy
and the privatization of government services
~ will be key issues as the campaign unfolds, he
predicted in an interview.
“| plan to hold Roger Harris and the Camp-

ferracestandard.com

k Austin for Ske

Giesbrecht had 106 votes on the first bal- ”
lot but never gained more, while’ nearly all
‘supporters of Peter King and Rob Hart — who
were eliminated after the first and second bal-.
lots — ev entually went over to Austin.

Despite surviving a historic recall cam-

ist [2nd [3rd] An
peared to be in play.
Giesbrecht | 106 | 106 | 107/
Austin ~~ | 95°}. 110 | 136).
‘Hart 50: |34 |x
‘King 1 [x [x

ena

anybody-but-Helmut”

the third ballot.

The final vote was 136 for Austin to Gies-

brecht’s 107.

bell Liberals responsible for the last three and

a half to four years,” he said.

He accused Harris of failing to gepresent

Skeena as MLA.
“He’s done hothing other than making |
* Austin said.

apologies for Campbell,’

‘ paign and later a battle with cancer while in
office, Giesbrecht said he could not shake the

Continued Page A2:

’

o

| a Wave of kindness

THIRD. GRADE students at Kiti K’san Elementary sold baked goods, toys and books to raise $305.78 for Asian tsunami relief Jan. 13.

a

The money is being matched by the school’ s PAC. See page B1 for more on similar efforts underway here,

JEFF NAGEL PHOTO

o

Big school decisions loom |

By JENNIFER LANG
WONDERING IF your school is
going to close next year?

Tonight's the night school trust-
ees are supposed to reveal their de-
‘cisions on how Terrace’s schools
will be configured next year,

“Phe plan is on Wednesday, we
will come together with a deci-
sion,”
said.

That means anyone
the mecting likely won't hear a lot

of debate from trustees, but they

will hear their rationale.,

On Saturday, trustees heard
series of presentations from school
planning councils at eight local
schools, as well as from the Ter-
race chapter of Canadian Parents

_ for French.
It was a last. chance to make a

Delays prolong haggling over sawmill

school trustee Didna Penner

altending’

pitch for or against the board's am-
bitious three-year plan.
The plan involves consolidating

primary and elementary schools

into K-7 schools, opening Moun-
tainview School as a neighborhood
school, and possibly moving the
French immersion program from

- two Southside schools to Uplands

on the Bench.

The three high schools would
also be configured differently, from
Grades 8-12, which jeopardizes the
future of Thornhill Junior Second-

_ury because of the size o of its énroll-

ment.

Last fall. the Coast Mountains
school board invested local school
planning councils with the job of

reviewing the plan.

“It's given us a little bit more in-
sight.” * Penner said.

“It's also given people more
insight that it’s not going to be
an easy decision cither way,” she
added. “I think in many ways it's
helping people to realize the diffi-
culty in making a decision. It isn’t
black or white. There are a lot of
variables.”

Trustees have also attended ase-
ries of meetings with teachers and
the public, Penner. said only Park-
side Secondary. and Thornhill’s
primary and elementary schools
don’t have a direct stake in the out-
come of in tonight's meeting.

Penner said people have ques-
tioned the merit of moving to com-

-mon grade groupings from K-7

— an idea that’s supposed to be. less
disruptive for students when “That
whole concept would potentially
generate upheaval.”

People have also questioned the

~ board's proposal ‘to move French

immersion to Uplands school, dis-
placing existing students and forc-
ing Kiti K’shan or Cassie Hall to
close.

“One of the things that people

have said to us is, ‘Is this realty
eyene

worth surring the pot over?

The past three years have seen.

school closures and the introduc-
tion of the four-day school week, an
issue that will resurfact at tonight's
meeting later on the agenda. :

Trustees hope to release. draft
school calendars for review — one
based on a four-day week, and at
least two based ona five-day school
weck — al lonight’s mecting.

That would set the clock ticking

on the 30-day consultation period
on school calendar decisions.

the court date.

strategy ap-

; Robin Austin

=a New climate ©
controls test |
teachers |

They shiver while district s saves |

-, . ‘By JENNIFERLANG °°
- SOME TEACHERS. -aren’t exactly - warming “up to the
school district’s new, energy-efficient, heating system.
“The centrally-controiled,. digital system is designed: to-
“save ‘energy costs, but since ihe start of the school year,
there have been complaints about chilly classrooms. |

Vera Lynn Munson, the president of the teachers’ union

says the recent cold snap has only made the situation,
worse.

“It's just been building,” Murigon said, adding teachers
vented their frustration to school trustees at a joint meeting
last week. “People have just run our of patience.”

The new system uses a variety of innovative features,
including sensors capable of detecting when a classroom
is occupied.

The temperature drops to a minimum level when the

classroom is empty, and rises to 21 degrees when it’s in
use.

The trouble is, it seems to take a while for the classroom
to warm up, Munson said.

“You can set it to be at 21. degrees at 8:30 a.m. but it’s
not instant,” Munson said, adding she’s received many re-
ports of classrooms as low as 17 or 18 degrees by lunch
time.

Excessive heat,has also been ; a problem, Munson said.
One report claimed the-heat was as high as 33: degrees. -

Right now, the heat in individual “classrooms is con-=
trolled by a central computer at the school district’s main-
tenance office, and by one laptop.

There are no thermostats, so teachers have to complain
to the principal, who in turn must contact the school dis-
trict for something to be done.

But Chuck Morris, the district’s director of, fac ilit ity ser: ,

‘vices, says that’s. going to change.

Sometime in February, principals will be able to adjust .

classroom temperatures by logging onto a website.
Morris said some of the complaints stemmed from‘ exist-

ing equipment that didn’t quite meet the demands of the

Direct Digital Controt heating system.
Those problems are being corrected as necessary.
Meanwhile, the conversion is nearly complete. Honcy-
well, the company that designed and installed the system,
has indicated the warranty period will go into effect Feb. J.
“What's happening now is just the fine-tuning process.”

Meantime, the district is.in contact with school princi-

pals ona daily basis. Complaints are dealt with immedi-
ately, he added.

“The cold classroom complaints are very minimal,” he

said, adding few reported temperatures have fallen below .

WCB guidelines.

“We are not having people work i in classrooms that are «

freezing cold.”
Otherwise, ‘the conversion is proceeding
added.
Some schools are already racking up the savings, 9 =>
“We've already begun to save money,’ "he said.

quite well, he

\

TFL as being problematic for their bid.

No deadline but Jan. .

27 court date looms

By JEFF NAGEL
A DEAL to sell New Skeena Forest
Products’ Terrace sawmill is still proving
elusive.

Receiver Larry Prentice, of Ernst and
Young Inc.,
come together by late last week.

Tt didn’t. a

“There are still several groups hover-
ing around that are all interested in sce-
narios that would see the Terrace saw-
mill reopening,” he said Friday.

“They’re not all coming at the thing
in exactly the same way,” he said. “In
some cases they’re only interested in the

had hoped a deal would -

Terrace sawmill. In other cases ‘they're
interested in the Terrace ‘sawmill and
other assets.” _
“It's a a bit of a mix and match at this
point.”
“Prentice won't say if theres a final
cutoff date when talks will end and he'll

turn the mill over to auctioneer May-

nards for liquidation.
“I don't have
the moment.” he said. “However we are
‘back in front of the chief Justice on Jan,
27."
“If there were a deal to’ be done that
would be an ideal opportunity to bring it
. before the court.”
Conversely, he said. if no deal is in
place then the option of sending the mill

’

oe

such a date in mind at

to the liquidator may well be before the
judge. -

Another wrinkle in the bankruptcy
proceedings is the legal fight over the

‘termination of local loggers” evergreen

contracts,

Contractors have appealed the B.C.
Supreme Court ruling late last year al-
lowing the bankruptcy to wipe out their
perpetual contracts to cut half the timber.
on Tree Farm Licence #1.

That appeal is ‘now slated to be heard ~

by the B.C. Court of Appeal Feb. 17,
Prentice said.

As a@ result the closing date for the
sale of the TFL to Prince Rupert area
band Lax Kwa’‘alaams has been pushed
back more than a month, until just after

“It doesn’t necessarily have an impact
on the sawmill deal.” Prentice said, but
added the band’s plans for the timber ap-
pear to be increasingly tied to the outl-
look for the sawmill.

“They're going to be generating
a large quantity of wood,” he said.
“They're very interested to understand
what the fate of the sawmill is going to
be.”

But Prentice said the Lax Kw’alaams
have
race mill a condition of the TFL sale.

‘Rudy Schwartz, a former Repap of-
ficial and part of a group of.ex-Repap
executives bidding for the mill, also said
he doesn’t see the delay in the sale of the

not made the operation of the Ter-.

“I don’t ‘think it creates any prob-

lems,” he said. ;
Schwartz declinéd to discuss their bid

further, other. than to say they have met ~

stakeholders in Terrace and were well
received.
City of Terrace of ficials said they are

examining a specific proposal from one

proponent, but are bound by a confidenti-
ality agreement not to reveal any details.
Prentice, however, said there was no
proponent at this point he would describe
as the frontrunner.

“I’m just going to ‘continue to deal
with these various interests and see if
something commercially. reasonable can
come together,” he said. .

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