14F lavors BOTTLE DEPOT Beer & Pop Boitles 4636 Lazelle Ave. Terrace, B.C, Open 10a.m.-6p.m. dally except Sunday Fri. till 9 pam. bt By GREG MIDDLETON Herald Staff Writer Dan Doyle, _ the department of highways engineer for the Terrace yegion described damage fo the Williams Creek bridge,. about 19 Terrace woman stabbed A lmg-standing dispute @upted into violence here Sinday evening, leaving one Terraca woman in hospital after being kicked and slabbed. The attack, which resulted in a@ city-wide search by police for the aasailants, saw RCMP arrest at least one person, — _ Police would release no dblalls at press time kilometres south of Terrace on Highway 25 was the most serious he’s ever seen involving a bridge and a vehicle. The boom of a backhoe Hiding on a flatbed truck tore out the overhead FIRE Terrace RCMP say a forest fire is burning about two miles east of Legate Creek on Highway The fire, which police reported to forestry, involves about two acres. Police discovered the fire while on the way to attend an acddent near Kitwanga, No details of the ac- cident or further details an the extent of the forest fire were available rc dys yk - vee . a ore PTORTA 8 C TERRACE-KITIMAT (Monday, September 24, wi 20c Volume 73 No, 184 ) a f batteries, open Mon. a (RUPERT STEEL & SALVAGE LTD. ~ Seal Cove Ri., Pr. Rupert 624-5699 WE BUY copger, brass, all metals, all us - We are beams on the bridge at about 6 p.m. Friday. The beidge was closed for nearly 24 hours as high- ways department maintenance crews had to cut away the twisted steel girders. _ Sandy Middleton, the driver of the truck, owned by Dragon Lake Equipment, was hauling the Hitachi backhee back from Granite Creek when the accident happened. “fF thought the truck was going to flip over,”"Middleton said. “It happened so fast I din’t have time to think about it.’’ Middleton said he was going about 40 miles an hour at the time and 4 didn’t think there might be a problem getting under the bridge as he had hauled the same piece of equipment down on the Tuesday before. “The truck was all over the road like a pretzel," Union accepts deal VICTORIA (CP) — Members of the B.C. Government Employee Union have voted. by nearly 76 per cent in favor of a three-year agreement giving them wage increases of almost 30 per cent over the life of the contract, ‘ This motorcycle accident Sunday was among things k Union secretary John Fryer said Sunday the agreement was a fair one in view-of the bargalning climate this year, not as good as some contracta, but better than others. He said the only thing that mattered was that more than three-quarters of the union's more than 30,000 members were happy with the pact. Earlier Sunday, 362 computer operatora — members of the union em- ployed by the Crown owned B.C, Systems Corp. served 72-hour strike notice. Fryer said the systems -+.» “AtlonS appears un- willing to go along with the pattern of agreements ana that strike action will be taken at 12:01 am. PDT Wednesday unless there is a break in the dispute. The master contract ap- proved by union members in weekend balloting provides for eight-percent com- Supporting beams torn from sides of bridge Poa by Grae misdtn | Backhoe hit the bridge but stayed with truck | RIPS OUT SUPPORTS Middleton said at the bridge. throwck Sat., 8 a.m.-5 pa He said the scene Friday, while a backhoe started to come welder worked on the ‘vif the truck as he came backhoe so it could be off the bridge and that he : reloaded on the flatbed. Middleton said the boom must have bounced @ as he camd onto the Cont’d page 8 a) f ‘pounded wage increases: Other benefits include cent, ~ Serer eee ee eee eee Sees Sees each year for three yearafor vacation, subsidies for : a total increase of 20.7 per isolated workers, Improved : vacation benefits generally = and higher shift premiums * Myer val Pe ies broke down at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and the union served strike . rotice. ~ This means that the base rate for a~-first-level office assistant will rise from $063 a-month now to $1,000 a month by Aug. 1, 1861, Canada’s losses in the million By PAT HRUSHOWY EDMONTON (CP) — Vanada could lose about $495 million year” unless the federal government ralms its natural gas export price to match the price Mexico has just negotiated in an agreement with the United States. Augustine Barrios Gaméz, Mexican ambassador to Canada, said in an interview Sunday the $3.285 a thousarid cubie foot obtained by the Mexicans Is ‘‘good ex- perience for Canadians’ to follow in setting a price for natural gas sold to the U.S. The current export price for Canadian natural gas is $2.80 a thousand cubic feet, which is set by the federal government through the National Energy Board. There are no immediate plans to revise the export price which was just in- creased toits present level at the beginning of August, Under current export con- tracta Canada ia selling about one tilllon cuble feet of natural gas to the U.S. each year, of which 85 per cent comes from Alberta and the balance from British Columble. The 465-cent difference between ihe Canadian and Mexican export prices means Canada would be underselling its natural gas by about $465 million a year. Old hospital showing its age By ED YUDIN Herald Staff Writer The Kitimat General Hospital is showing Its age says hogpital administrator Jack Green, soa team of provincial governement c Kitimat in the near onsultants will be coming to future to recommend ways to improve the institution's efficiency, “The hospital was built 20 years ago and it's not as efficient as { used to be," explained Green. “We're expecting a team of consultants to look at the heating, air circulation, and insulation systems in the building.” The hospital is oversized which Green says results in extra wasted expense. Green is hoping the government will pump new funds in to modernize the run. building. He says money would be saved in the long Another problem is the hospital's size. The in- stitution was orignally designed toserve a community of 35 tho usand people. So a lot of space is simply left unused. ‘We've got rooms we don't use, and rooms that were never finished,” he said, The hospital administrator is anxious to make use of the available space. “What we're looking for is some suggestions on how we can use that space to provide better services to the. community,’ ’Green said. Presently some of the area is used by the Child Development Centre, and Skeena Health Unit, There had been talk of a rehabilitation centre, but Green. says there isn’t sufficient demand here to justify it. for such a facility Other possible uses could include an aleohol detoxification centre. Green is interested in using the space forany worthwhile project involving medical or mental health.