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Native students can learn from: aboriginal actors and herbologists in camps\COMMUNITY B3

Local mountain bikers grind gears — as they climb to prominence\SPORTS BS

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Gay tolerance rallies pl anned :

Crusader’s visit here

triggers opposition , By CRIS LEYKAUF RALLIES both for and against the teach-

ing of homosexual tolerance in schools -

are planned here for Wednesday, July 16, .

Controversial speaker Kari Simpson, head of the Langley-based Cilizens Re- search Institute, is to lead a rally that night at 7 p.m. at the Terrace arena. The group wants more rights for parents and wants to restrict the teaching of tolerance,

for what they call the homosexual life- style.

Simpson’s plans have sparked an op- posing rally — starting at the same time up the street at the Skeena Health Unit auditorium — to discuss why tolerance in schools is important.

. Simpson has spoken to more than 20,000 people throughout the province in the last two months, as she battles teachers’ efforts ito eliminate homophobia in the schools. -

In March, the B.C. Teacher’s Feder- ation passed a resolution to develop ‘‘a

program to eliminate homophobia and heterosexism in the B.C. public school system.”’

The information could be taught to stu- dents within the context of the Career and’ Personal Planning classes — mandatory for graduation. However, whether it goes ahead and what form it takes has not been decided,

The Citizen's Research Institute, of which Simpson is one of five founders, takes the view that homosexuality is an wnnatural lifestyle, and therefore shouldn't be portrayed to students as

being normal or acceptable. The Institute’s mandate is to protect

‘traditional family values.”

‘““We are not anti-gay,”’ said Simpson. *‘We promote tolerance and respect for the individual.’’

She believes parents have the right to control the moral. values taught to their children in schools. ;

When Simpson spoke at a Vancouver rally on June 7, protesters pushed, shoved and ripped up the signs of Simp- son’s supporters.

Pro-tolerance ally organizer Karla

Hennig, of the Terace Women's’. Resource Centre, isn’t predicting a violent reaction to Simpson’s rally here.

“The more attention you give her the worse it is,”’ sald Hennig.

But organizers of the Simpson forum, aren’t taking chances. Entry is by invita- tion only, and the back of the ticket reads, ‘‘organizers of this forum reserve the right to deny a pass or access to any person or person’s the organizers believe may be of a disruptive intent.”

‘Continued Page A2

Skeena solution

tions in Stewart/Hyder.

Mi Wearing the fiag

Canada Day celebrations. People gathered in Kitimat Tuesday for events that In- cluded the Kitimat Hill Climb. Drag racers from across the Northwest converged

for the event. Other activities on the nations included International Days celebra- a

Phone rate ‘greed’ assailed

BC Tel is aiming to

double local rates

By DAVID TAYLOR A FORMER MP is urging B.C.’s At- torney General to put a stop to what he calls the “rapacious greed” of telephone companies looking to in- crease lucal rates,

Ray Skelly, a former NDP MP. for North Island-Powell River is now ar elementary school principal in Green- ville. He says BC Tel’s proposed rate increases are wnfair and outrageous.

“This is a huge, multibillion dollar cash grab,”’ he says, “I can’t think of a bigger attack on the public purse.”’

Terrace residents have already seen thelr monthly phone rates increase this yeer from $13.50 to $15. And accord-

ing to BC Tel’s plan, the rates will go up by another $3 in January of 1998.

_ That’s just another step in the com- pany’s maarch to have basic local ser- vice rates doubled within four years — to between $25 and $30 per month.

BC Tel isn’t alone in their bid for higher rates. All nine provincial tele- phone companies across Canada have joined in asking the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for permission to hike their fees.

On May 1, the CRTC told the phone companies they could formally apply for the rate increases, making their ap- proval seem imminent.

If accepted, an extra $15 per month |

added to the 13 million phone lines in”

. Canada would net the telephone com-

panies some $2.34 billion in added revenue,

BC Tel alone could stand to make an extra $400 million annually.

According to Skelly, the increases are totally unjustified, so he’s asking B.C’s Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh to step in. .

Skelly says Dosanjh has the power under the Trade Practices Act to order a public inquiry into the rate in- creases,

And in a letter to Dosanjh, Skelly says if the CRTC doesn’t hold off with their decision until after the in- quiry, the Attomey General should seek a federal court injunction to pre- vent the application from proceeding.

Continued Page A2-

is weeks away

Gov't waits for analysis of banks’ proposals

By JEFF NAGEL DON’T EXPECT any last-minute deal that will keep Skeena Cellulose’s Terrace saw- mill from shutting down on July11.

Provincial government officials say it will take well beyond that date for consultants to give them an indepesident analysis of the restructuring proposal tabled by the Royal ind.Toronto Dominion-banks, | ¢- ;

At issue is how much money needs to be spent to modernize the aging and incfficient Prince Rupert pulp mill.

The banks say they want the province to put up a significant chunk of the $278 miJ- lion they say is needed over three years,

Determining the validity of that claim will take consultants ‘‘at least a couple or three weeks”’ and ‘‘probably closer to the end of the month,” Job Protection Com- mission managing director Eric van Soeren said Friday.

The consulting firm to look into the mat- ter hasn’t even been hired yet, he said.

- All statements by employment and invest- ment minister Dan Miller tend to confirm that the province will take what it considers the necessary time to consider the situation.

Van Soeren said the province and the banks are still far apart on issues other than the total amount of dollars needed,

“There are a lot of elements still to be resolved before any commitments can be made,’” he said. .

“We have said we are prepared to partici- pate financially,” Miller said Friday.

“We are lalking about a considerable amount of money. And it is the taxpayers’ money, so we're carrying out our duc dil- ligence on that.”

The Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada local 4 have also hired consultants to look into the banks assertion that a third of the pulp mill’s 750 workers must go to make the operation viable.

All logging ground to a stop on Friday and the Prince Rupert pulp mill shut down.

At least 500 loggers and contractors are out of work in the Terrace area, wilh anoth-

-er 250 mill workers to work their last days

next week.

The planer portion of the mill will con- tinue operating until about tbe end of the month.

Mills in Hazelton and Smithers are ¢x- pected to go down around July 11 as well.

A mass employment insurance claim tak- ing for the Prince Rupert pulp mill workers is underway there this week. Similar claim takings are expected in Terrace and the mil} gets closer to its shutdown date.

Skeena MLA Helmut Gicsbrecht said he’s getting less optimistic that at least a short-lerm shutdown can be avoided.

He said he has difficulty with the amount of money the banks are asking of the tax- payers, adding ihe banks are as much to blame for the situation as Repap manage- ment, ;

“The banks have a responsibility and they should be prepared to swallow real hard and not expect that they are going to come out of this with all of their money back,'? Giesbrecht said.

In the event the company ultimately goes bankrupt, he added, the province will look

~ out as much as possible for the contractors, " suppliers, and employees in the region.

“You can bet that every effort will be

made to ensure the banks pay and other -people’s pain is minimized,’’ Giesbrecht

LAST DAY: Truck driver Randy Kluss hauled his tast load of logs into Skeena Cellulase's yard on Friday. All logging anded, and the samwill closes July 11. -

said.

But Skeena Cellulose vice-president Rudy Schwartz is optimistic the operations will eventually restart.

“I’m confident we're eventually going to solve this,’”’ Schwartz said. ‘It’s In every- body's interest — the community’s, the union, the government, the company, the banks —— everybody. We'd certainly be doing the world a disservice if we didn’t find a way to solve this.” - ;

And Schwartz says selling the operations piecemeal is no answer.

Symbiotic relationships exists between chips, sawmills and pulpmills, he said.

No matter how efficient and profitable the sawmills are, he said, they depend. on the pulp milf to deal with the less valuable

: chips.

u Mayors met here from across the northwest last week, See story page A2.

‘*More than anywhere else in the pro- vince, the relatlonship between the saw- mills and pulp mill is absolutely key (in the Northwest),’’ ;

But while operations are winding down in ihe northwest, Schwartz says it’s too soon lo talk about possible layoffs at the compa- ny’s Vancouver head office,

‘We're going to be selling pulp for some time yet and we're going to be selling lum- ber for some time yet,” be said. ‘It (head. office) has a job to do, it has to get rid of product,”’ e

Community committees are being set up this week in each affected town to deal with displaced workers,

Michzel Riseborough, community ilaison officer for the Jop Protection Commission is behind the effort. It's being backed: by

‘the ministry of education, skills and train-

ing, Forest Renewal B.C,, and Human Resources Development Camada. .,