Art smarts

Why some high school

students here have better

grades thanks to art class

\COMMUNITY B3

Going up
Rising building material costs
plague northwestern health
care construction projects
\NEWS A14

Hockey highlights
CIHL league prez Bobby
‘Love comments on the:

River Kings first season
\SPORTS B4 |

-$1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST
($1.10 plus 8¢ GST_
outside of the Terrace area)

-VOL.17 NO. 48

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

THE CITY of Terrace is going'to act asa

banker for sawmill workers and others by
fronting $950,000 toward the purchase

“Of the New Skeena Forest Products mill

here.
- Approximately one-third of the mon-
ey — $325,000 — will be paid on behalf

: Of members’ of the IWA-Steelworkers

union, who expect.to be working at the
mill when it re- ‘opens.

Details. of what is a complicated fi-
nancial structure scheduled to stretch out —
over the next 10 years, were outlined last

week by Terrace mayor Jack Talstra.
_ The union workers will repay the: city ,

over the next five years through payroll
deductions i in return for making the lump
sum available immediately.

And the Terrace Lumber Company,

will then have 10 years to repay “the city
for the entire $950,000 loan.

__The city will then repay the union
workers from the money it gets from the
mill. ”

All this’ ‘essentially places the city a as
a financial middleman through . which
money will fiow back and forth.

The $950,000 is part of the estimated

$3 million the Terrace Lumber Company

, needs to raise by the closing purchase
" date of March 31.

Talstra said he’s optimistic other par-
lies are interested in entering into a simi-
_ lar arrangement as the union.

. “If everything goes well and this thing
isn’t in bankruptcy again, then they get

their money back,” he said of the union

and other potential partners.
Talstra did.say the city was assuming

www. terracestandard.com

TERRACE

' The city originally. offered to front
$750,000, but since the Terrace Lumber

Company deal was struck to buy the mill.

and save it from being auctioned off,
that amount has risen to $950, 000, said
Talstra. °

The union money is ‘more than the

$175,000 workers agreed to pay in Janu-.

ary, when another company was interest-

-ed in the mill.
How much money each worker will _
pay depends on how many shifts the mill:

might run and how many hours per day
each employee, works, union executive
Surinder Malhotra said.

Before the mill shut down its: opera-.
tions in 2001 there were 160- 175 union *
"members at the mill. -

Malhotra said if the mill runs two!
shifts, he expects 130-135 > employees: to

sity to act as banker for mill bu

"He said he’ § never seen a financial
partnership like this one established ibe-
fore.

“T've been involved with the: local

union for 28 years,” Malhotra said. “This
is the first time we’ve done this here.”
And with a pool of workers eager to

_get back on the job, Malhotra said he

doesn’t expect to hear much grumbling

_ from the membership about the rise in its |

contribution.

--' “You're asking the. question, ‘do’ you

want people to starve?’” he said. “Tti is a
question of survival.”

- Malhotra did say the union still has to
work on the fine print.

““We have to workout the details. Peo-.

ple might retiré in five years; so how will

they be paid out?” Malhotra said. “Some .

people quit, so how will they be repaid?”
_ Talstra said the 1 $950, 000 loan will not

“Wednesday, March 9, 2005

amount to an ownership stake in the Ter-

race Lumber Company, adding the city .
isn’t necessarily interested in having any- ~

one sit on the company ’s board of direc-
tors. o

“We're looking’ at that. There are alot

of liabilities involved with being a direc-
tor so we are taking a look at. whether or
not we even want to be‘one,” he said.’

-with financial statements - on how ‘the
company is doing.” “
The company has yet to hire a general
"manager and has not yet! released any in-
formation as to the make’ UP « of its’ board
of directors. 7 et

mill « open within three. to: ‘six months.

The lumber company still needs to ses ;

cure wood to mill and a place to. ship it its

va

“But certainly we. would: be: provided

o Portrait

founder George Little and
“which

, Julia Little, a daughter in

~ tea beginning at 2 p.m. at.
~ the George Little Room at

1930s. The George Little

- ficial opening of the house

"

formed by local investors to buy the mill,

some financial risk.

be onthejob. .°...,

perfect

PORTRAITS OF | city

wife Clara will hang in:
the George: Little “House
officially _ opens
tomorrow. On the left is
artist Aline Norstrom with —

law of George and Clara.
The house, located at the.
foot of Kalum beside the
Sears outlet, opens at 10
a.m. with tours. Music fol-
lows at 1 p.m. and skits
at 3 p.m. There’s also a

the Coast Inn of the West.
It features a fashion show
and a miniature village of |
Terrace as it looked in the

House also contains the
VIA Rail station and that
will be noted with the ar-
rival at 5:35 p.m. tomor-
row of the first VIA train
to stop at the house. It'll
even go through a cer-
emonial banner stretched
across the tracks. The of-

takes place at 6 p.m. with
a ribbon cutting and dedi-
cation. Local and distant
members of the Little
family will be on hand for
the opening. March 10
has also been declared
Founder’s Day as it is
the 100th anniversary of
the arrival to the area of
George Little. He snow-
shoed up from Kitimat.
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

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Gov’t gives $1 m to sportsplex ©
in bid to ease rising build costs |

THE CITY OF Terrace is receiving $1 million
from the provincial government today to help de-
fray the growing cost of its planned second sheet
of ice sportsplex project. —

- The money comes from a special $236- million
account announced by the province in its Febru-

ary budget and is on top of a $2-million commit- .

ment made two years ago by the province and
federal government.
. Skeena MLA Roger Harris, who lobbied for

the money, said it will help deal with the growth

in construction material costs of the-past several
years,

Once pegged at $4 million and then at more
than $6 million, city officials are now refusing to
release current sportsplex cost projections.

The new sheet of ice will go in between the
current arena and the aquatic centre.

“There’s been growing pressure because of the
construction boom going on around the province
and because of the growth of the economy in Chi-
na,” said Harris.

He said Terrace mayor Jack Talstra made trips

to Victoria to also lobby for a financial infusion ~

and described the mayor as being very patient in

his pursuit of help. ;
To date, the city has a $450, 000 pledge from
Alcan, the. $2-million federal-provincial grant

(which it must use soon or. lose it) and approxi--

mately $300,000 in cash or in kind donations.
“This will take an awful lot of pressure off of

the mayor and his council in order to make this.

work,” said Harris.

- The $236-million fund, from which the $1 mil-
lion i is coming, must be allocated by March 31, the
end of the provincial government's fiscal year.

Harris said the province had money tucked
away for use in a new federal-provincial infra-
structure program, but decided to go ahead with

its own allocations after the feds became late in

deciding what they wanted to do.’

He described the sportsplex project as impor-
tant to the city because it will add to the quality of
life here, an important consideration in attracting
people and new. business.

“This community is really the hub of the area,”

_ said Harris. “‘That’s the reality of what it has be-

come, It’s not that it was designed to be this, but
it is the hub for the service sector and businesses
have chosen it as the hub.”

a: The MLA estimates that $10 million in fed-

eral-provincial infrastructure money has come to
the Skeena riding in the past-several years.

In the recreational project category, Kitimat
has received $2-million fora pool upgrade, the

‘Snow Valley Ski Club has received money to in-.
stall lights at its Onion Lake trail system and the’

Totem Saddle Club has received money for a rid-
ing arena at the Thornhill Community Grounds.

A further $2 million went to the airport here to.

pay the lion’s share of a $3 million runway exten-
‘sion project.

That work is to start this spring, with a planned

completion date in July.

oe oe oe
The official announcement about the $1 mil-

lion takes place this morning at city hall and is-

the first official function to be attended by Har-
ris since his February heart attack and subsequent
‘open heart surgery.
The MLA has been out walking each day to
slowly build up his strength.
“I’m going to walk there,”
trip to city hall.

said Harris of his

chips.

Shell finds gas
— up north ©

- SHELL CANADA has found coal bed methane natu-.-
‘ral gas in the Klappan area north of here, but much
more work needs to be done-to determine if there’ S.
enough of a supply to set up commercial drilling. -

“The reality is we need to learn more about the re-
source to see if there is the possibility of commercial
activity or not,” said company spokesman Jeff. ‘Mann
. last week.

He said it was not unusual to find coalbed methane
because its very properties make it resident to under-
ground coal seams.

“Very large portions of the ; area contain coal and
that is very well known,” Mann added.

Shell drilled three test wells last year and did seis-

‘mic work. Mann declined to describe exactly what
Shell’s exploration engineers discovered.

Shell is the only energy company in the Klappan
looking for coalbed methane natural gas thanks to ex-
_clusive rights it purchased from the provincial govern-
ment last year.

Mann said it is too early to indicate what kind of
field work Shell needs to do to build on its natural gas
discovery or if it will do any field work at all.

That uncertainty is driven by an internal political
rift within the Tahltan community which has resulted
in Shell backing off until the situation is resolved. .

For more on the Tahltan, see Page A10