Whump, whump, whump Thank you, Jim Registration down There are fewer young people signed up for hockey here than last year\SPORTS B5 Community band director Jim Ryan | gives his last concert Skeena Cellulose tries new ways, | to muffle noisy whole log chipper\NEWS A10 Saturday\COMMUNITY B3 WEDNESDAY © NOVEMBER 11, 1998 ANDARD - 93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST VOL. 12.NO.'34': Work sought for local loggers By JEFF NAGEL WEST FRASER is looking tor ways to let its contractors go logging next year even though very little new wood will be needed to feed the sawmill here. The company last month -warmed it would necd to log only about 165,000 cubic metres in 1999 in order for Skeena Sawmills to operate on a skeletal one- shift-only basis after a federal work- sharing program runs out in March, The result would be minimal or even no work for most of the company’s log- ging contractors. — West Fraser woods manager Scott Marleau says the firm has responded by exploring ways to export logs from some of its licence areas so loggers can con- tinue to work. Contractors need to maintain cash flow to stay afloat and pay their overhead and machine costs, he noted, And West Fraser needs its contractors so it’s positioned to resume full logging if and when depressed markets rebound. “They have good people they want to keep employed, and they have their own payments and overheads to maintain,’’ Marleau said. ““We feel that we have somewhat of an obligation, maybe not legally but morally, todo what we can,”” The company might pay contractors to log in certain areas and export the logs elsewhere, Or it could sell standing timber at ne- gotiated rates to contractors, who would in tum sell the wood on the open market. Marleau said a number of options are being examined, but no decisions have been made. “We haven’t managed to do anything yet, but we're working on it,” he said. ‘‘We can choose to not Jog. That’s a very real option —- it’s what we're doing right now,”’ he said, ““Or we can say is there a mill out there on the coast or is there a market that does require logs, can we sell them our logs and then recover the costs of silviculture and road devel- opment.” ‘ The company is permitted to ‘export logs without limit from its Nass licence, but would have to seek ministry permis- sion if it wanted to export volumes from its other holdings to destinations outside the province. **You can arguc those logs should~be going to this mill, but if you take that stance and the mill only requires one shift, then you keep people unemploy- ed,” Marteau said, Alm-Wood Contracting controller Justin Rigsby said most contractors will be seeking other sources of work, but also welcome any options West Fraser puts forward, ‘We're looking at any way to try to keep working,” Rigsby said. ‘We employ 40 people in logging for West Fraser and they had basically told us we won't work next year,’” “So the idea is to come up with some solution whereby we keep our guys . working and try to generate a way that both partics can continue operating so to speak,’’ Kalum Forest District manager Brian Downie is also interested in seeing any proposals along those lines. “Anything they can to do assist their contractors in keeping going is clearly positive for the district and the Terrace area,”’ he said. Marleau said keeping loggers working also has a trickie-down effect in that it also helps keep other employees work- ing. “There are all these other jobs affected by the sawmill not requiring logs,”’ be noted. ‘‘If we don’t harvest this year we don’t plant trees next year.’ “But if you manage to do a little bit more logging, you keep silviculture jobs, you keep planning jobs.” At the same time the company is con- templating exporting more logs, it’s also importing them. Marleau said West Fraser has just pur- chased a barge fuil of logs from Van- couver Island because they were cheaper than logging in this area. “These days you have to be creative in how you make ends meet,” he said, « The Forgotten War DEL HOLTOM holds row of decorations earned was tc bomb Japanese-held territory in Burma, Get off the fence, Gosnell tells locals JOE GOSNELL challenged Terrace business and politi- cal leaders to ‘‘get off the fence’? and decide whether or not they support the Nisga’a treaty. “We're goitig ta live side by side with you folks here,”” the Nisga’a Tribal Council president told a select group of local city councillors and business ex- ecutives at a luncheon here Thursday, “It’s time to get off the fence and make a de- cision.” “You're going to be for the treaty or you're going to be. opposed,’’ he added, Gosnell said the Nispa’a have made tremendous con- cessions in negotiating the treaty and highlighted the Nisga’a promise of allowing reasonable recreational ac- cess, including hunting and fishing by non-natives, in their territory. “The general public will have access and I dare any other property owner to fol- low in our footstpeps and al- low hunting and fishing on private property,’’ he said. Asked whal the main benefits to his people would be, Gosnell cited the poten- tial for individual Nisga’a to get tide and ownership of their own homes once the Indian Act is removed. “Queen Elizabeth owns the land on which my house Stands today,”' Gosnell said, ‘She holds it in trust for my benefit. And so it is will ail other reserves across Cana- da.’’ “That’s not te way you folks live. And we don’t want to live that way ci- Joe Gosnell decades will instantly cease once the treaty takes effect. “It’s nota quick fix,” he said. Speaking later, Gosnell said he’s appreciative of the stand taken for the treaty by Terzace’s mayor and some councillars. But he said he’s interested in seeing Terrace businesses — who he called benefi- ciaries of the treaty as well: — also taking a stand. *“"We do business with the business communily here and T see that business con- “You're going to be for the treaty or you're going to be opposed,” tinuing if nol improving in the years ahead,” he said. ““Business people, I’d like to hear your views. Stand up and be heard.”” Gosnell said the Nisga’a simply want what every- body else has. “T envy you people here. I look out the window and I see a major highway, black- top,’’ said Gosnell. **We're in the rainy sea- son now, we walk around in mud.”’ ‘*We envy what we see around us. We want to be at the same level, nothing more, nothing less,’’ Gos- nell continued. He said there will be op- portunities for joint ventures using resources that will go to the Nisga’a when the treaty comes into effect. Openness rules subject of forum THE RULES for openness and accountability of city councils and regional dis- tricls are being revamped and lacals get their say at an open house here Nov. 26, ' Monicipal affairs minister Jenny Kwan will host the mecting in Terrace — one of five in regions across the province — in preparation for new legislation to be in- troduced next spring. open debate and will include oral presentations from the public and round table dis- cussions. “7 want to hear from the public on local government accountabilily,’? Kwan said, “As municipalities and regional districts gain more autonomy, itis my responsi- bility to cnsure that open- ness and transparency are preserved at the local Malaya and other countries. The war In that part of the world was known as the Forgotten War be- cause it didn't get a lot of attentlon, For more an Hottom, please turn to Page B1. for his service during the Second World War. Sec- ond in from the left is the Burma Star, which was awarded to those who served In Southeast Asia. He was a nosegunner in a B-24 and the mission level.” The accountability consul- tations are part of a three- year plan to overhaul the Municipal Act. On the table will be issucs such as conflict-of-intercst, in-camera mectings and election financing. The format is to encourage ther.” . Nisga’a spokesman Nel- son Lecson said he’s very oplimistic, ‘but no one should think the problems of Surgeons frustrated over money Pacemaker installation stop possible LOCAL SURGEONS want to stop doing pacemaker installations at Mills Memorial Hospital and divert the money that would have been spent on operating room time to doing hemia repairs using new equipment purchased last year. In a report to the Terrace and Area Community Health Council, surgeon Dr. Jim Dunfield, who is also the chief of medical staff at Mills, said he and anoth- er surgeon took’a course in hernia repair using the new equipment last ycar but haven’t been able to caity- any out. “We have been unable to fund. this procedure and the general surgeons are becoming increasingly frustrated about this,’* said Dunfield in his report. “To free up some funding for this Tam most likely going to be cancelling the pacemaker service we provide to the Pa- cifie North west.”’ Dunficld acknowledged that this would mean having pacemaker patients go else- where for the service, The pacemaker cancellation option would seem to. continue. a controversy ‘that began fast ycat when specialized endoscopy equipment worth more than $220,000 was purchased, The suggestion then was thai the new equipment, in which probes are inserted into a patient for examination and surgery, would save money, time and patient discomfort when compared to traditional surgery, In the case of hemia repairs, the proce- dure is called laparoscopy and uses the endoscopy equipment. But the hospital’s operating room budget went into the red despite the premise that the new equipment would lead to greater efficiencies and reduced expenditures, And thal lead to suggestions surgeons and the health council were at odds about allocation of operating room time and money. Dunfield did acknowledge in his report that there remalns a problem in balanc- ing the operating room budget. Tertace Community Health Council chair Larisa Tarwick said the council has not yet made a decision on Duntield’ $ proposal. ‘‘We have asked for more information on this issue,’’ she said, Tarwick did say that only one of the. hospital’s two operating rooms is in use when the endoscopy operating suite is occupied. **So we have nol expanded the service. The plan is to be more effivient and in’ . this case, that means more day surgery and this is happening,” Tarwick said. - “Our goal is to provide a service to our patients and we will keep doing that,” she added.