Yanks to get the Dill The Americans will be asked to pay for cleaning up a northwest toxic chemical dump/NEWS A9 Run for Terry This Sunday is the annual Terry Fox run to raise money for cancer research/COMMUNITY B13 Foundation is now officially i in : business/SPORTS C3 | Father and son remembered |. The Rick and Paul King WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 14, 1994 Garbage, f MARAUDING BEARS, attracted by garbage and rotting fruit, are keeping local conservation of- ficers busy. Conservation officers received 53 bear complaints in Terrace last week, according to conservation officer Todd Deveau. That’s more than a third of the 140 bear complaints they've received for all of 1994 to date. “A lot of it is people calling in sightings, even when the bear isn’t causing a problem,’’. Deveau said. ‘‘The bears are trying to fat- ten up before hibernation sa they're on the move looking for food.”” So far this. season, : he ‘added, conservation officers have relo- cated seven bears and destroyed eight. “T think a lot of the complaints we're receiving is the same bear,” added Terrace RCMP Const. Garry Swanson. Conservalion officer Martin Meldcris said the bear problem could be reduced if residents took precautions. The majority of ‘bear com- - plaints we're getting in the Ter- tace area have becn a direct result of improper storage of household garbage, compost and unpicked. fruit or rotting fruit on the ground,”” he said. “The number one item on their menu seems to be those nice juicy plums,” added Swanson. “‘When they can’t find that they go for garbage.” . . Residents’ failure to remove those attractants means they’re unwittingly luring bears into their backyards ~~ and then demanding the bears be trapped or killed. “Terrace is surrounded by prime bear habitat’? Melderis said. ‘‘Bears are going to con- tinue to periodically wander through town. People have to de- velop some degree of tolerance and respect for them.’’ . Melderis added that the two traps at their disposal are in use continuously at trouble spots. “*We try to set them sirategical- ly according to the number of complaints.” He said the main problem areas have been the bench near Soucie and Marshall, the south side of town along Graham and at Braun’s Island, Ferry Island and New Remo, Melderis said 1993 was a slow year with only 52 complaints. Two years ago, however, con- servation officers recorded 175 bear complaints. ‘Its not unusual for bears to become more active at this time of year,’’ Melderis added. ‘“‘It often coincides with the ripening of tree fruit.’” KKKKK Here are some tips to avoid bears: ; ‘Pick ripe fruit and clean up fallen or rotting frult. m Coat the top of your compost plle with lime to reduce the smell. mf Don’t leave garbage out- side, Mm Anything else outside that smells — barbecues, dog food, and even empty pop bottles — can attract bears. @ If you can scare a bear off on Its first visit to your yard, It likely won’t return. Follow up by cleaning up whatever attracted It In the first place. s Room at the inn THE BED and breakfast industry Is catching on In the Nass Valley. There's an increasing number of visiting government and other professionals needing accommoda- tion in the valley and more and more tourists are arriving each year to view the lava beds and to see other sights. That’s Lorene Plante of New Aiyansh outside of her hame. - She's combined her bed and breakfast with a gift and souvenir shop at the same location. See story Page AS, Residents nix mill deal ANY DEAL city councillors thought they had cut between Terrace Precut sawmill and its Braun St. neighbours is off. Neighbours met last Wednes- ‘day and told city officials the latest proposal — to grant the sawmill a special use permit so it can use an adjacent property for lumber storage’ subject to tight restrictions — is unacceptable, ‘The compromise, as I thought we had it, is down the tubes,”’ said councillor David Hull. *"We're back to square one."* At issue is sawmill owner Mo Takhar’s need to get neatby prop- erty to expand operations — and the neighbours’ concern that such expansion will change the charac: ter of their neighbourhood. In May, city council rejected Takhar’s original effort ta rezone the adjacent property from residential fo light industrial, on the grounds that it would extend a finger of industrial land into the neighbourhood. Takhar responded by getting a permit to open up Pohle Ave, — how just a bush trail between Braun St, houses — and transport wood on forklifts to another prop- erty he owns on Keith Ave, The suggestion enraged neigh- bours, who feared forklifts rolling between their yards would endanger children. Terrace Precut representatives told residents they had a choice — either agree to the original rezone, or accept the 20-foot- wide Pohle forklift route. At an Aug, 25 planning com- mittee mecting, councillors thought. they’d found a com- promise to satisfy both sides. Instead of rezoning the proper- ty, they would grant a special use permit allowing only certain uses of. the properly, and: including - onerous restrictions to satisfy the © neighbours. But resident Phyllis Mayner said people at the meeting initial- ly agreed to the idea because councillor Gordon Hull had said the city woulda’t have any legal defence to. prevent Takhar from using Pohle if he chose to take the matter to court, ‘Since then, Mayner says, resi- dents have researched the issue and concluded the city has plenty of grounds to deny the sawmill use of Pohle, ‘Mayner says there’s also tao much danger that a special use permit could become permanent, and eventually lead to further ex- pansion into the neighbourhood. Takhar’s original rezoning ap- _ plication outlined plans to devel- op a dry kiln at the mill, and resi-. ~ dents fear that could be just the start. “We don’t fcel. we should pay Mayner says, ‘‘We lose and he wins. That's not fair.”* Takhar knew what the zoning was when he chose to locale there nine years ago, she added. ‘I don’t think we should have to suffer because he needs more room, I think it’s bad planning on his part. He made the choice — not us.’* "We've lived with the mill and we're happy to live with it the way it is,’? Mayner said. ‘‘But there’s no way we'll be happy if. it continues to grow. Before we know it we'll have a full fledged mill,”? Councillor David Hull said the neighbours have extensively re- searched the issue and are meet- ing several times a week, “They are probably the most organized citizens group I've en- countered in my. time in civic “ iti * the ‘price for! ‘im to: grow,” e ae he said. ae 75¢ PLUS. 5¢ GST VOL. 7: NO. 22. EDITH KAWINKSY’S home on Highland Drive is the site of one of two live bear traps in Terrace set by local conservation of- ficers, The trap was set last Thursday after she and her husband reported that a black bear had taken the garbage from thelr porch in the late evening of September 6. Another trap was set on the bench in a yard on Sparks Street after a black bear was sighted eating fallen apples. | four. A 23-YEAR-OLD Terrace man convicted in the brutal rape of a local woman was sentenced Monday to four years in prison. Patrick Joseph Rinsma made a tearful apology before Supreme Court Justice J.S. Sigurdson be- fore being led away. A jury had convicted Rinsma- July 1 on charges of sexual assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement in the April 16, 1993 ailack at the Reel Ina. “I'd like to apologize,'’ Rinsma told the court. ‘‘I’m very deeply sorry about this, though I don’t remember doing it. I hope she can find the strength and courage to move on in her life."” Rinsma raped, sodomized and brutally beat the 41-year-old woman with a dog leash while she was trapped in his motel cabin, Although jurors rejected Rinsma’s defence of automatism - that he acted involuntarily because of a blow to the head - defence lawyer Jeff Arndt argued it should be taken into account in sentencing. “In a very real way, the ac- Rapist jailed — ) years . cused was not there when it happened," Amdt said Monday. Amdt noted Rinsma has ‘a. ~ minor criminal record, including assults, but noted none of the of-' - fences were against women. Justice Sigurdson said Rinsma’s remorse, age, and the ' fact the attack did not appear pre- -meditated were all” mitigating factors. ‘You are still young and have the possibility of rehabilitation,” he told Rinsma. Sigurdson said he took into account the six months Rinsma . has already spent in custody in arriving at the four-year | sentence. Crown prosecutor Henry Waldock had called for a five- © to-six year prison term, — Arndt had suggested three to four years was appropriate. ‘The maximum sentence fog the offence is 14 years im- prisonment. If granted parole, Rinsma could be released from prison 98 soon as 16 months from now. Rinsma is also prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years. MILLS MEMORIAL Hospi- tal is going to have its psychiatric ward beefed up if a recommendation made to health minister Paul Ramscy is approved. The recommendation stems from the allocation of 50 beds to central and northem B.C. They. became available when the Riverview Hospital in the out. the 50 beds and the remainder will go to other communitics, according to.the the. plan of a committee set up to decide what should happen. The idea is. to place more advanced psychiatric care ser- vices in northern and central communities, Leisinger | last week said i it is lower mainland was Phased : Mills is to receive seven of But Mills official Michael Boost for psych service possible still too carly for exact details. . “We don’t know yet if it’s going to result in more beds, in more money or money that will go. for other kinds of - . mental health ‘services,"* he = sald, Mills could very well be — able to re-open psych beds closed because of budget cuts | in recent years. “We were 16, We're now at 10, This is supposed to be new money resulting from the closute at. Riverview,’’. sald Leisinger. ; “Right now we're at the.ab-. ‘solute bare bones minimum — {in the psych ward), Some . people might say we are un- der staffed,”’ he added. Day programs and more dis- charge planning could also come about. if the recom- ° mendation is approved...