. out-of-pocket travelling for two days to §

. located - east of. Terrace, to’ appear

“y

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - AS

Crab size charges dropped ads case

_after tourist |

By MARGARET SPEIRS

A VISITING. angler from

Alberta will > not recover costs

appear.in court here only to have the one fisheries charge he faced thrown out.

Kim Paynter drove from his home in Edson, Alberta, 1,117. kilometres

in his own defence before

; Judge H.E. Seidemann Il

in Terrace Provincial Court Sept.,8.

mer. Despite an attempt to

Paynter says he measured

all of his crabs with a crab_ caliper, a device that deter- «mines whether the crusta- -

‘cean is at least 165. milli-

metres from tip to tip of its

body, and said they, all were Jarge enough to keep.

But on his way back to Alberta, at a roadside check outside Terrace, federal fish-

“eries officer Ricardo Correia measured all the crab and found one to be below the: size limit, by what Paynter —

said appeared to be just a millimetre. Paynter asked the officer

-for leniency, because he be-

lieved the crab was the cor-

rect size when caught and he ~ . had since cooked and frozen - the crab for transport back’

to Alberta. But Paynter was

given a fine for $150 and

was told he could appear in court to protest it.

Paynter wrote a. letter to

the court and the Ministry

after ff

He was protesting a $150 - fine for a charge of catching

. and retaining one undersized “

. Dungeness crab from a crab- — bing and fishing expedition » near Masset earlier this sum- _

have the matter heard in Al- - _ -berta.to avoid’ travel costs, oO Paynter had to appear here. _

‘Only one of the 20.crab. ° caught by, Paynter and his: wife was smaller than the — _ minimum required size.

SETI AET

plea

-KIM PAYNTER of Edson, Alberta incurred out-of-pocket. expenses, which he v won't ‘get back, while travelling here’

to attend court to argue a charge. of retaining one undersized Dungeness crab. Here he shows how he measured 20 crab he and his wife caught near Masset during a fishing trip earlier this summer.

MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

“of Fisheries and Oceans ex- plaining he believed the crab -

was undersized because it had been cooked and frozen before transporting it back to Alberta.., :

‘He included photos of a

crab. and its measurement.

before and: after freezing,

which he said ‘showed that.

it had shrunken about 3 mil- limetres.

“T told him it was because the crab was frozen. and if

he thawed it, he would see.” I. wasn’ *t. breaking the law,” “said Paynter, adding that

he brought a frozen crab to

court to show the difference

in size when thawed. Federal prosecutor Paul

REALITY CHECK

‘training.

student debts. |

it

their skills.

We need to close

the skills gap

Only 59% of our workforce has post-secondary education, yet .. _the BC Business Council says 73% of all new jobs will require post-secondary education and

But we're making it —_ harder to get the skills _

Since 2001, average tuition” fees have jumped by 98%... | Average student debt in

BC has climbed from $18,000 in 1999 to almost $25,000 currently. Provincial

_ funding needs to increase - by $200 million just to

- bring per-student funding

back to the 2001 level.

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATORS __ HAVE SOLUTIONS

WM Reinstate the BC Student Grant Program to help lower

@ Reduce tuition fees for students to make post-secondary - education more affordable. _

i Make adult basic education (ABE) tuition-free to encourage adult learners to upgrade

BM Increase per-student funding of public post-secondary institutions to at least 2001 levels.

Pakenham ‘told the court he’d only had a chance 'to review the-case the night

before and believed the crab - . could have been reasonably - allowed without Paynter be- =

ing charged. Judge’ Seidemann agreed

he would have’ reached the.

same conclusion and would

‘have found reasonable doubt

in the case.

Seidemann told: Paynter he was acquitted...

‘But when Paynter asked

if he had-any recourse to. . well-meaning. tourist would °

recover his travel and court costs he was told no. “There really isn’t. It’s

unfortunate he (Pakenham).

did not have the opportunity

Yer

{

FPSE

George Davison, Ph.D. _ HISTORY INSTRUCTOR | College of New Caledonia

CERT Eas stan wenn 0

to review the. matter. What: you paid is part of the price we pay to have a justice sys-

tem,” said Seidemann, add- .

_ing that Paynter would leave court without-a-criminal re-

cord, “

- Paynter,..who has trav-

“elled to B.C. to fish for the _past 20 years, says he and his __.

wife — who spent their hon-

.eymoon fishing in Kitimat ‘six years ago — have spent * several thousand dollars in ‘northwesten B.C. -

He’s dismayed - that a.

have to go through the has- sle of returning here to face a charge he feels shouldn’t have been levied. to begin

with. “We do our part to help the B.C. economy and spend

* Alberta money here,” he . ‘Said. -

While ctab fishing, he usually throws back about

_half.of what he catches be- ‘cause they’ re too small.

‘Paynter has lost his trust in fisheries officers and will

behave differently in the fu-

ture if stopped by them: ‘I’m not. going ‘to tell

them there’s a freezer in the - back of my truck,” he said.

“TI. won't be so*coopera- tive with them anymore.”

An attempt to reach fish- eries officers for comment was unsuccessful.

News In Brief |

‘Teachers ratify contract |

TEACHERS HAVE overwhelmingly ratified a contract giving them wage increases of 12 per cent over the next five years.

There’s an additional four per cent for. various pro- _ grams, including encouraging teachers to: work in rural . and remote areas, and a $4,000 signing bonus. 7

It’s the first contract between the teachers and. the provincial government to be negotiated without a strike or other problems. since province- -wide bargaining be- gan in 1994. | "More than 90 per cent of teachers approved the deal which was tentatively reached the end of June. _ The contract lasts until June 30, 201!. The four per cent over and above the wage increase includes atwo- [> per-cent allowance to offset the teachers financing their | © ve -own long-term disability y, program, 0.5¢ ‘per-cent incen- ‘ tive to encourage teachers to join rural and remote school districts, and 1.5-per-cent average wage increase _ to standardize salary. grids across districts. .

The agreement also gives teachers a $3,700 incen- tive payment plus $300 for reimbursement for supplies . for a total one-time payment of $4,000. This amount is pro-rated for those who have worked less than full time ‘during the past year.

Signing bonuses were a key feature of all public sec- tor contracts negotiated this year.

Safety first for youth

TERRACE, highway patrol officers are taking the mes-_ |. ‘sage of the importance of buckling up to secondary -f ~ : _ schools and town councils within their patrol area.

-Sgt. Don Murray said the rollover simulator, a de-.” vice that shows what happens when drivers and passen- gers fail to fasten their seat-belts and their vehicle rolls,

and an accompanying powerpoint presentation will be demonstrated’ to Caledonia Senior Secondary ‘School students at the R.E.M. Lee Theatre this Thursday, Sept. J 14 at 11:20 am. Officers will then take the rollover ° - simulator to Kitimat to show to secondary school stu- Po: dents later that day. . an re Demonstrations will continue in New Aiyansh one ‘Sept. 18, in Masset Sept. 20, in Queen Charlotte’ City — Sept: 21 and Prince Rupert on Sept. 26. 2 2 “Murray said the simulator owill be shown to Terrace Tose city council and the mayor as soon as a date can be fo scheduled. os. fe, on

lt S burning time

THANKS TO the recent. rain, conditions are right for

-{| anyone who has or who. wants to acquire a burning per- | mit during the current burning season that started Sept. :

1 and goes until Oct. 15.- =

' Permits purchased in 2006: aré é still valid, said Ter- :

, race fire chief Peter Weeber.

__» “We just ask people to keep a hose haridy and follow . the requirements on the permit,” he said, adding it’s im- portant to use common sense too, such as not burning if

the wind is blowing. ;

“FG

<KKO Federation of — Post-Secondary Educators of BC

en

-POST-SECONDARY. EDUCATION -

| BETTER FUNDING. BETTER FUTURES. |

TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PREMIER CAMPBELL

, In the last five years Ive seen a

Jot of. changes i in post- -secondary education. : But most of them have been in the wrong ‘direction. Sky- high tuition fees, the loss of counseling and support services, and chronic

education is an investment in our future. Let's make it a future where everyone benefits.”

under-funding from the

- provincial government 7 . have made it tougher for. | my students. Post-secondary

VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.FPSE.CA