Hook, line and sinker

Brain power triumphs

Stars on ice

Guides and others sayhigher fishing fees mean tourists will go

elsewhere\NEWS A7

local physics

Olympian results were garnered by

students\COMMUNITY B1

Terrace hosts huge inter-club figure skating competition at the

WEDNESDAY MARCH 19, 1997

Repap creditors ba

' “Scott’s calls for investigations into the internal

LOGGING contractors and suppliers of Repap B.C. will be in Supreme Court Friday in the next stage of their battle to get paid.

The March 2 Ist court appearance is to give full hear- ing to Repap B.C.'s application to get protection from its creditors, ; co

The interim order granted March 3 under the Companies Creditors Arrangements Act froze an esti- mated $30 million in money awed to northwest con- tractors and suppliers for up to six months pending a full court hearing. ,

Justin Rigsby, chairman of the Repap B.C, Creditors Group, said the original pelition approved by the court gives too much protection to Repap B.C. and the banks

and too little to other creditors.

In particular, he said, it gives Repap B.C. the right to terminate contracts but actually requires contractars and suppliers to continue working for Repap B.C.

Friday’s court date follows a massive rally Tuesday in Terrace, where logging trucks jammed the town and politicians from all over the northwest added their voices to calls for more assistance to creditors.

Skeena MP Mike Scatt says it’s important to keep the

pressure on, adding he'll be writing to the court asking the hardship of the northwest be taken into account.

“The impact on this area is tremendous,” he said. “T'lt be asking the court to consider that and grant any relief possible to the creditors.”

93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST VOL.'9 NO, 49

ck in court Friday

finances of Repap have so far gone unanswered,

Toronto Stock Exchange officials said Friday they have received Scutt’s request but aren’t planning to take action,

Scott and others suggest that when Repap divided itself into B.C. and other subsidiaries, it buill a “fire- wall” separating the parent company from other debt- burdened arnis that could be amputated if necessary.

“This is wrong,” Scatt said, “It should not stand and it cannot stand and we are going to use whatever means we can {o see that it does nol stand.”

Scott says he will wavel to Montreal next Wednesday for shareholders meetings at which Avenor and Repap

program.

The first of several information meetings took place this moming in Hazelton with contractors and others who just yesterday joined with their Terrace counterparts in a massive creditors’ protest rally at the arena.

Capped for now at $15. million, the loan program approved late last week is the

shareholders vote on the proposed merger excluding Repap B.C.

Some northwest Repap shareholders have given Scot

their proxy, meaning he can vote on their behalf and possibly speak. Scott says he'll use that opportunity to highlight the unpaid bills in northwestem B.C. ““How can Repap shareholders, officers and directors walk away from their responsibilities and end up with significant cash in their jeans while these creditors po unpaid?” Scatt demanded, “I find it unacceptable and reprehensible that Repap shareholders will receive any value for their shares until these obligations are met.”

Scott suggested Repap’s actions amount to a “con- spiracy” to evade corporate responsibility.

Gov't doles out $15m for Repap loan program

NORTHWEST BUSINESSES burt hard by the Repap failure today begin learning the details of an emergency government Joan

The toan program is nearly three times the size as the one put together in the Gold- en/Revelstoke arca last year when Evans Forest Products went under.

A similar one brought in for Stewart-arca contractors burt by a Repap logging shut down there earlier this ycar has so far loaned $1.7 million.

Michael Riseborough, the provincial government’s northwest point man for Repap, followed this morning's meeting in Hazelton with one in Smithers this

largest of its kind ever put together in the

TERRACE LITTLE Theatre's latest production The Watering Place night. This drama of dark humour Is set in Chicago during the un

HA gripping performance opens at the McColl Playhouse tomorrow popular Vietnam War and explores how

violenca is passed down from generation to generation, For more on the play see page B1.

Creek damage charges laid -

FORMER CITY councillor and mayoral candidate the creek (known as the riparian zone), which runs across his

Gordon Hull was charged Monday with damaging the fish

habitat and shores of Thornhill Creek.

Hull was charged with one count of alteration and destruction of fish habitat under the Fisheries Act and one count of conducting work in or about a stream without

authority under the Water Act,

If convicted, he could face fines of up to $300,000 for the fisheries offence and $200,000 for the Waler Act offence.

The charges stem ftom June 1996, when Hull apparently removed about 150 metres of vegetation along both sides of

Thombill property.

Conservation officers were alerted to the problem when a downstream neighbour complained that the waters of the creek were frequenily becoming Inden with silt.

That is a concern for CO’s because waters in the riparian zone of Thornhill Creek support a healthy cutthroat trout population, Further downstream, five species of salmon use

the area to spawn and rear their young, *

, lo answer the charges.

'

Hull is to appear in Terrace Provincial Court on April 18

province.

cause of the Repap situation.

court-ordered protection.

from Repay.

Repap situation.

DRUG SNIFFING dogs may eventually be wander- ing the halls of schools here to belp combat what police say is rampant drug use among students and the community.

The idea was suggested to school district trustee Marj Brown at the last RCMP community consultative meeting.

Brown says she’s not es- pecially concerned about youth drug use here, but she says the idea of using the dogs is worth looking at

“We need to develop a closer working relationship with the police,’’ she says. ‘“Dmgs aren’t just a school problem or a police prob- lem, they're a community problem.”’

And Brown says bringing a drug dog into Terrace schools is nothing new,

“Parents who went to high school here can re- member it happening back then,’”? she says, ‘And it’s not like it’s definitely going to happen now. We are just looking at a constructive ways parents, teachers, sti- denis and the police can work together,”’

Terrace RCMP agree the problem is a community is~ sue, That’s why they would like fo work more with the schools — including possib- ly using a drug dog.

Legally, the police cannot search student lockers un-

Money is coming from Forest Renewal B.C, and it'll apply not only to jogging con-— tractors but to other ‘businesses who can demonstrate they’re in financial straits be-

Unpaid unsecured creditors had eny hopes of claiming money from Repap frozen March 3 when the company received

Each company is eligible for a maximum of $250,000 and it is only for bridge financ- ing to allow a business to carry on.

Loans won’t be provided to support cither the transfer of existing debt from a com- mercial lender or to replace money owed

Businesses must be locally owned and operated, be viable and must demonstrate that its financial problems are tied to the

afternoon.

Repap’s Terrace creditors meet with Riseborough tomorrow., In addition to Riseborough, the job pro- tection commission has stationed thiee

people in Terrace to run the loan program

depending Riseborough.

with the Northern Savings Credit Union. “Those numbers might be augmented upon

demand,’’ said

He described the job protection officials as experienced and knowledgeable as they worked together on the Evans Forest P1o- ducts bankruptcy.

“Things came together quickly,” said Riseborough of the loan program and other

government initiatives. '“This kind of situa-

Evans.’’

less they have reasonable grounds. However, since the lockers are actually school property, the police could conduct a search with the school board’s permission.

“We'd love to bring in the dog,’’ says plainclothes con- stable Rick Shaw. ‘‘They do it all the time in the States.”

Shaw says he’s concerned about the ease of access Terrace youth lave to drugs and the number of students who regularly use narcotics.

*"'We know of dealers whe sell right across the street from schools, including jun- ior highs and clemcntary schools,”’ he says. ‘‘Kids can easily go out on a break and buy drugs. It’s not un- usval for some of them to go to school high.”!

Drug enforcement officer Mark Landry agrees that it’s simply too casy for youth to get drugs.

‘We did a survey once that indicated 80 per cent of high school students here had tried drugs at least once,” he says. ‘That's very high.”

Shaw says the most com- mon dmg used is marihuana, although he points out that other drugs like cocaine, heroin and crack are also available.

And he says LSD ts making .

a big comeback. ‘Marihuana js considered

the soft drug,’’ he says.

‘But it's not safe. That's

tion is fresh with everybody. We have an excellent working relationship. Only four months ago we were all doing this with

Sniffing dogs wanted to combat drug abuse

Mar] Brown

the one that leads to the har- der drugs and all sorts of spin-off crime,”

Shaw says those spin-off crimes can include rob- beries, break-and-enters and others.

“A lot of these buyers are kids,”’ he says. ‘They don’t have jobs or money, 50 what do they do for income? They steal or break into cars and houses.”

Shaw points out that a concerted effort by police in the first two months of this year resulted in a 122 per cent increase in drug-related charges compared to last year, Over the same period, criminal code charges went down by 31 per cent,

“Pm not saying the drop in criminal code charges is entirely because of the drug busis,”” Shaw says. ‘But they have had an impact.’’