Security force Find out what Canadian peacekeepers are doing in Bosnia Last year Local figure skaters enter their last season with the Terrace Skating Onening eyes A local group gears. up its efforts to promote understanding and diversity \NEWS A5 Club\SPORTS B5 — \COMMUNITY B4 a —e $1.00 pLus 7¢ GST ———? ($1.10 plus .8¢ GST...” ——— outside of the Terraca area) Band to restrict road By JEFF NAGEL THE KITSUMKALUM band says it will bar Skeena Cellulose - or future owners of the forest company — from using the West Kalum logging toad beginning Dec. 14 until a series of disputes are resolved. Chief councillor Diane Collins says the band will control traffic using a gate,’ making access to SCI’s timber holdings in the Kalum valley more difficult. Logging trucks would have to make a longer trip north around Kalum Lake and back to Terrace. One issue is a chunk of reserve land the band claims was contaminated by former owners of SCI when it was used as a log sort. The 50-acre site behind the Kitsumkalum gas station was used up until the mid-1980s and Col- lins said it may take millions of dollars to clean up. She said the costs should be borne by either Skeena Cellulose, the provincial government as majority owners, or else the federal government, which approved the lease. The band had wanted to develop the land into an RV park in recent years but that was aban- doned after they discovered wood waste, cables, and debris including a diesel tank buried there, .“"We can’t develop the Jand,” Collins said. She opposes absolving Mercer International absolved of environmental liability if it buys SCI. And Collins say she has grave doubts about a sale to Mercer, predicting it will lead to another “Repap situation” devastating the economy and the environment. “if a large multinational company moves into our region to conduct business as usual, remov- ing the remaining resource values in exchange for profits that are needed here in the northwest, there will be nothing left for the commu- nities and for our futures,” she said. Collins has also written a letter to the province seeking negotiations to hand land and timber in the Kalum valley over to the band. She argues breaking up SCI and doling its holdings out in the form of community forests to Diane Collins use Friday people in the region would go farther to aid the northwest than a sale to Mercer. She said Mercer wants to get SCI for virtually nothing and put little back into it, and in fact have locals put money into Mercer's pockets. “That doesn’t sound like a company to me that is concerned about the forests in our region,” she said. If the government is ready to essentially give Skeena Cellulose away, Collins said she’d prefer Victoria give il to northwesterners. “I'd bet my bottom dollar they'd look after the resource better than somebody who’s not willing to put their money where their mouth is,” she said. Collins said the band will open the gate from 8 to 9 a.m. and from 4 to 5 p.m. for recreational traffic. It may also open it on request. Coalition starts to protest cuts SOME CALL it the White House. Last used as an emer- gency shelter, the building on Hall St. is now the headquarters for a loose- knit coalition opposing spending cuts on the part of the B.C. Liberal govern- menit.. Carol Sabo of the K*san House Society, which is donating the use of the house, says there’s an irony involved because of the person who first lived in it — Terrace founder George Little. “The house that built Terrace is going te help save Terrace,” said Sabo. . “He built it with pride and it's a beautiful house.” The coatition came to- gether at a Dec. 4 meeting attended by more than 70 people. Furniture and of- fice supplies were moved in Dec. 7 by a steering committee chosen al the meeting. For now, the working title for the coalition is, “Have You Had Enough?” Hf that sounds familiar, it is because the same slo- gan was used by another kind of coalition in the late 1990s here and else- where in the province. Back then the coalition was a unite the right in Nov. 1998. The impetus led to a failed attempt to recall several NDP MLAs, in- cluding Skeena’s Helmut Giesbrecht, in early 1999. Sabo and others fear the coming budget cuts of the B.C. Liberal government: will hurt services for a wide range of people, par- ticularly children, hand- icapped people and those who live on low incomes. “We have to fight to save our social programs,” said Sabo. “We have to get it together or the whole thing will fall apart around us.” The K’san House Soc- iety runs sexual assault and vicitms of violence counselling programs, an emergency shelter, a 10- bed transition house and offers subsidies for those with psychiatric problems and women escaping vio- lent relationships, The vast majority of its money comes. from the provincial government. “I - guess there are two ways you can look at it,” said Sabo. “Do you keep quiet and hope they’ll pass you by or do you come out and say things are wrong. We're seeing an impact today, even before the “cuts,” THE HOUSE that Terrace founder George Little built is now the headquarters of a coailition protesting provincial government bud- get cuts. That's coalition organizer Maureen Bostock, left, ac- cepting keys to the house from Carol Sabo of the K’san House Soceity, the owners of the building. A small crowd showed up Dec. 7 for the occasion and to donate office equipment. government ministries are being asked to draft bud- gets with spending reduc- tions of 30 per cent and more. One of the organizers of the Dec. 4 rally is Gail Murray, Helmut Gies- brecht’s key assistant when he was the Skeena NDP MLA between 1991 and 2001. “People are only now Murray. The fear of cuts alone is having an impact on people, she said. “There are people worried about their jobs, about the whole social services net,” Mur- tay added. Among those speaking at the Dec. 4 meeting were teachers, students and so- cial workers. “There was some poli- | NDP or labour, it is a community group. We have an MLA who is not doing his job. We will be- come the opposition in this community if we have to.” Murray said there were some calls for current. Skeena B.C. Liberal MLA Roger Harris to leave his party and sit as an inde- pendent. The steering commiltee meets today to In the meantime, an of- ficial of the human re- ‘sources ministry said no - decisions have yet to be made on changes to sup- port payments. Mike Long was reacting to rumours that single par-' ents on social assistance will now have to find work once their children reach the age of one, The current provision from seeking work “until their children are seven. “All this is part of the core services review,” said ‘Long. “It is something that is being looked, Whether it is one year, or three or five or if it will change at all _has yet to be determined.” The ministry did send a letter in the summer tell- ing people who do collect support payments that their movement culminating in The exact nature of the Terrace in a massive rally culs isn’t yet known, but .. being tics, but not a lot,” said finding out how they are Murray. “This is not just impacted,” said SCI word expected this week CITY COUNCILLORS say this is the week they’ll likely — have to decide whether Terrace should join a proposed $20 million community investment in Skeena Cellulose. Community buy-in is a condition of Mercer Interna- tional’s bid for Skeena Cellulose, and that has led Ter- race, Prince Rupert and Port Edward ta closely consider the idea. Dec. 14 was set as the court deadline for a firm pur- chase agreement between the province and Mercer, without which SCI might be pushed into bankruptcy, Skeena MLA Roger Harris said he’s been told the deadline has been extended five days to Dec. 19. That would give a bit more breathing room for the towns. But as of late last week Mercer had not shared details of jts business plan with the towns, | Councillors say that makes it difficult to’ determine the merits of the investment idea. “We really know very little about how Mercer intends lo operate,” Val George said. “We’re not prepared to ga ahead and look at investing in any way in the operations until we've seen the details of how they’re going to run it. LT Councillor David Hull said it may be unreasonable to expect the company to divulge its corporate secrets, But he said some solution is needed that meshes Mercer’s position on ils privacy with local governments’ need to be open and accountable to taxpayers, — An attempt at a compromise has apparently been ar- ranged by Prince Rupert city officials. Hull said they have hired accounting firm KPMG to examine Mercer’s business plan on behalf of the towns. The consultants wouldn't divulge details of the plan but would provide an analysis of whether it’s a good idea for local towns to invest. “They’re supposed to be looking at it on our behalf and doing an assessment of the business plan on behalf of the communities,” George confirmed. But he said the KPMG analysis won’! be ready before Dec. 14. That still leaves council in the position of having to make a decision without it, George added. Mayor Jack Talstra said Dec, 7 Terrace won’t be part of.the KPMG analysis. He prefers having local experts analyze the Mercer plan. “Things like that go to our forestry task force,” Tal- stra said. “We want aur local people Teviewing that sort of thing and giving the local decision.” Hull said Skeena Cellulose accounts for 12 per cent - of Terrace’s economy. “It’s a big number dnd it can’t be ignored,” he said. “But it's still no reason to tread in foolishly and put tax- payers’ money at risk.” He said his biggest concern is the safety of the in- vestment. Unlike roads, buildings or other normal muni- cipal investments, shares in private companies can be- come worthless, Hull said. Bre-X gold, Nortel Networks and other companies ap- peared to be good investments before their share values plummeted, Hull continued, “That possibility of total loss is what scares me,” - Hull said. “That we may end up with SCI/Mercer shares that are nothing more than tacky looking wallpaper.” consider its next move. exempts single parents obligation is to find work. Calling R osswood is now a lot easier By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN THE SIMPLE act of picking up the telephone to make a call may be a run of the mill affair for most people. But to residents in Rosswood, mak- ing a phone call from their homes is a brand new feeling. That’s because telephone service was just hooked up in that community the end of November, and it’s chan- ging how people ga about their day to day business. : “It’s awesome,” said Rosswood re- sident Patty Scullion. “It’s really changed our lives.” Access to the internet, keeping in touch with friends and family and making a callin case of an emergency are just a few of the advantages to having land lines In the area, she said. Before the land lines were installed many people only used the pay phone at the Rasswood General Stare. Louise Parmenter, who’s lived in Rosswood -for. nearly 23 years, is thrilled to have the new telephone lines working, “It’s absolutely wonderful,” she said, Parmenter has always had phone service in Rosswood, but not quite like this, When she first moved from Ter- race to Rosswood, she and her husband relied on an old radio phone to keep in touch with relatives. But that had its disadvantages. “We started out with the old radio phone with no privacy whatsoever,” she said. “The whole world could hear every word you said.” Because the radio phone had no ringing system, it was left on at all times and a voice call was used, In recent years the Parmenters gra- duated to a cell phone. Requiring a specially designed antenna, the cell phone had to remain in the house. “You can’t walk around with it be- cause it’s anchored to this great big antenna,” Parmenter explained. — Though being able to keep in touch with people outside of Rosswood was possible, it has always been an expen- sive or inconvenient affair, she said. ed