a eel ee At long, long iast . Witness to history. The province is kicking in $200,000 for the library expansion project/NEWS A10 Local lawyer returns from observing the South African elections/COMMUNITY B1 That's teamwork Local gymnasts combine forces for a provincial gold medal showing/SPORTS C1 _ WEDNESDAY MAY 18; 1994 TANDAR 75¢ PLUS 5¢ GST VOL. 7.NO. 5 Howe Creek land purchase fails By MALCOLM BAXTER A CITY attempt to buy land along Howe Creek has bogged down over price. Councillor Ed Graydon, chairman of the planning com- mittee, confirmed last week ef- forts to reach agreement with property owners Howe Creck In- vestments (HCI) had failed. The land in question is a 10 acre parcel at the foot of the bench escarpment between Eby St. and Skeenaview Drive. On April 2, 1993, Fred Ken- nedy of HCI applied to have the property rezoned R41, single- family residential. He indicated plans were to construct a 13-lot = Recipe for fun TAKE A SUNNY day, a generous portion of playground equipment, add some kids and fun is what you get. The slide is one of the mare popular piecas of equipment at the Elks Park on Agar and this young lade took full advantage of the weather to enjoy the slippery slope. subdivision. The planning committee of the council of the day recommended approval of the rezoning, noting the new Official Community Plan designated the land as low density residential. However, the proposal came under fire at a June public hearing by residents from across the com- munity who maintained the ara should remain green belt. The protest also led to the formation of the Terrace Green Belt association. With a decision postponed until afier the November municipal elections, the matter did not reap- pear on the planning committee agenda until three months ago. ~ Tt quickly disappeared from view again as the committee en- tered in-camera negotiations with the owners. Graydon said the committee had tied to come up with a “win-win”? solution, suggesting fhe city purchase the two-thirds of the property nearest the creek and allow development of the re- mainder. He also noted the land the city proposed to buy would have been the most expensive part of the property to develop. Graydon said the deal involved having an independent appraisal carried out with the city agreeing Fish deal helps By JEFF NAGEL AN AGREEMENT reached last week will extend the commercial fishing season to help fishermen qualify for unemployment {nsur- ance, . The deal to conserve Skeena fish stocks will allow the com- mercial fleet to fish for chinook salmon in June and coho in Sep- tember. Traditionally recreational stocks, coho and chinook have nol been targetted by commercial boats in recent years, Those special openings are to . compensate fishermen for major cuts in fishing time this summer during the peak of the sockeye Tun when .the Skeena's threatened steelhead also move into the river, . Sporisfishermen agreed to the tradeoff in order to get a 42-per- cent reduction in the number of . Steelhead killed accidentally commercial nets, But Northern Gillnetters Asso- clation spokesman Des Nobels said the carly and late openings won't: ‘be Jucrative because chinook and coho are fewer in number and lower in price than the more valuable sockeye. “It dgesn’t go any distance to make up what we’ve lost in the August |fishery as far as sock-. eye,” he said. The main advantage to the extra openings, he said, is that it will help fishermen work enough weeks to qualify for unemploy- ment insurance this year. New legislation will require fisherment to work 12 to 14 weeks this year — instead of the to pay the value ihat survey estab- lished. However, HCI would not settle for the appraised amount, asking instead for ‘‘one-third more,” Graydon explained. , He did not release the exact fig- ures involved. “They wanted tog much,” Graydon said, maintaining it would have been foolish for the city to pay the extra. “We're the keepers of the tax- payers’ money. Why would we pay more?” he added, Although Graydon anticipated HC] would now abandon it Tezone attempt, city planning technician Jack Heppelwhite said it had not been formally with- drawn as of last week. ‘'That’s something we will have to get an answer on,”’ he added, Confirming HCI could still de- velop two lots without rezoning, Heppelwhite said the city would have no control over the develop- ment in that case. That’s because the Municipal Act excludes single family lots from the controls of the develap- ment permit area system recently adopted by the city. However, he pointed out, the ‘provincial Environment ministry would likely require a setback for any development, usually SOft, from the creck, “Old Gimpy” killed AFFECTIONATELY known to many as Old Gimpy, an aging kermodei bear was killed by— hunters a week and a half ago. Local conservation officers say they’re investigating an illegal kermadei kill that took place May 5-6 and have so far laid no charges. 0.0. ‘““We have custody of the hide and the carcass,’’ said Terrace conservation officer Martin Melderis. ‘It will be preserved and retained as evidence.”’ He said he could not identify the dead bear. But Video Stop owner Jim Wold said photos of the kill were processed by his store and he is convinced the dead bear is a well- known kermodei that roamed the area southeast of Kalum Lake. The white bear was distinctive because he dragged one foot after being hit by a vehicle a few years ago. “We set some traps to have him caught and have a vet look at him,’’ said former district conser- vation officer Peter Kalina, now working in Smithers. ‘‘But we could never catch him.'” “Pm pretty disappointed,”’ Kalina added. ‘‘He was a regu- larly, regularly photographed bear — very well known in the area.”’, Photographer Mike Whelpley says Old Gimpy was so often photographed because he was rel- atively relaxed among people. “Even after he was hit by a PHOTO BY WAYNE TOPOLEWSKI vehicle he didn’t seem to be camera-shy or people-shy,’’ be said, Wold says he’s seen roll after roll of film come into his store every summer with photos of Old Gimpy. . “He was like a big pussy cat, rolling around on the grass," adds Wold. ‘‘For a hunter to blast away with a gun and blow him apart — it’s really upsetting.”’ Man who bilked $19,000 from senior gets jail time A MAN WHO bilked a local senior citizen out of half his retirement money has been sentenced to two years in prison, Calvin Lawrence Willis, 22, pleaded guilty to charges of thefi, fraud, and stealing a bank card. Willis took advantage of 69-ycar- old Roland LaPierre and plundered nearly $19,000 from the retired man’s bank account. The pair met through Willis’ girlfriend whose family are friends of LaPierre's. The court was told of how Willis heiped LaPierre get around and go to hospital to get medication. One day while at his home, Willis found the man’s bank cand — which had the security number written on the back of it. On every day for the next six weeks, Willis withdrew the maxi- fleet 10 in previous years — to qualify for UI. ‘It’s going to at least give them the weeks they’ve lost in that pe- tiod,’? said Nobels. ‘‘It will at least maintain their accessibility to the Ul system if they require It.** Wild Steelhead Campaign spokesman Robert Brown said some anglers may be angered by the chinook and coho openings. But he predicted few boats will target those stocks, due to a com- bination of better sockeye open- mum $400 from the account using ° automatic teller machines. ‘He was spending money like there was no tomorrow,”’ said Cpl. Rob MacKay of the Terrace RCMP, Willis’ spending spree included a used Toyota 4x4 pickup trick and nume¢rous pricey eddilions for it He paid for all of his purchases -— incl the truck -—- in $20 bills, court was told. LaPierre didn’t know how to use the bank card and never realized it was missing. Willis milked the account from Dec, 15 until Jan. 23, when a Bank of Nova Scotia employee — and friend of LaPierre’s —~ noticed the withdrawals and decided to investi- gate. The account was frozen immedi- ately, but by that time Willis had taken $18,490 — nearly half the $40,000 originally in the account. “These were the victim's only real savings for his retirement,” Crown counsel Paul Kirk told the court of LaPierre, described as a diabetic with a failing memory. Police could only account for about $12,000 of the money taken. They also seized $500 cash from Willis that he had not yet spent. Judge Paul Lawrence said . the victim was ‘very old, very vul- nerable, and very frail,’’ in sentenc- ing Willis. He also ordered Willis to pay $15,490 in compensation to LaPierre. The sentencing ‘ook place March 25. Originally from Slave Lake, Al- beria, Willis came here to, dodge numerous outstanding warrants for thefts in Alberta, net pogey ings elsewhere, and the hassle of using different net sizes for those species. : Sportsfishermen didn’t get the full 50 per cent reduction in the steelhead kill that Deparment of Fisherles and Oceans officials _ promised them two years ago. But they won a 25-per-cent reduction in the bycatch of the most threatened steslhead stocks — the early summer run sieel- head that return to rivers such as the Copper, the Morice and the upper Sustut. Steclhcaders clalm some of those mins are on the brink of ex- tinction, They had feared any overall reduction in the steelhead bycatch would come at the expense of the early runs. Earlier proposals had called for a reduction in Fishing In August —— when most steelhead run — to Cont'd Page Att