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Calls for detox centre here renewed.

By DUSTIN QUEZADA

King of clean 4 PNG worker-has touched — the streets and hearts of - ‘Terrace for 20 years \COMMUNITY B1

Turn it up | The satellite radio craze has taken off in Terrace and locals love it \NEWS A12_

_ Young people travel to BC Summer Games for more than the sports

| \SPORTS B4

I ne nan. oe $1.00 PLUS 6¢ GST ($1.19 plus 7¢ GST outside of the Terrace area)

16,

WITHOUT A local detox centre, alcoholics hitting © rock bottom ‘in Terrace often: wind‘ up at Mills’

Memorial Hospital, where they’re destined. for the

"emergency -ward or the psychiatric unit if.they’re. - 7 ' deemed a risk to themselves or others. - That is a clear indication of a lack of service here,”

says a local addictions counsellor. °

_ “A detox centre] is needed,” said Doug Sandwell, . _ co-manager, with Northwest Addictions Services.

“T’m sure ‘those at Mills Memorial Hospital would

~ say the same. ’ “Neither option (psychiatric or emergency) per-

ceives themselves as a detox centre.”

Sandwell says the only adult medical detox. cen- ‘tre near here i is in Prince George and Northwest: Ad- dictions does refer people there. |

- However, the six- hour drive creates hurdles for

TERRACE

www terracestandard.com

«those in need of the services. Some people can’t

-afford to pay their way. (those on social assistance

-and First Nations do get a subsidy for travel), while others are simply unable to drive themselves if they have their own means of transportation. . oO “They? re unsafe on the roads,” said Rick Gremm,

_ the Northwest manager for health and addiction ‘ser-

vices with Northern Health.’ Gremm has been on the job, based i in ‘Terrace,

- since September 2005. after'a move from Prince’

George. He says outside. of community counselling, it quickly became apparent to him that’ there was a deficit of care..

Gremm says while counselling is vital and won't

be discontinued, it is usually sought by middle class

alcoholics, leaving the most vulnerable: to decline’ : _ further into alcoholism without treatment...

What’s needed here, adds Gremm, is a range of resources, from medical detox to “daytox” and day

programs. _ Not all northwest hospitals’ are able t to > respond to

patients in the medical detox Stage, though Gremm , . says the local psychiatric unit is beiter equipped than »

most.

‘vulnerable to seizures. ~ In coordination with . Northwest “Kddictions,

. Northern Health. plans to have tesidential recovery

units operating in Terrace this year.

“We need a residential recovery capacity in each’ cluster (Prince Rupert/Queen Charlotte Islands, Kit- -

-imat/Terrace and Smithers/Bulkley Valley)” in the Northwest,” added Gremm.

model of treatment, residential 1 recovery. would con-

- sist of:a few beds in ‘each community with supervi- sion from. life skills workers and ‘access to day pro- —

* SAM’ WILLIAMS, left, “and Ryan Kenny wait tor logs to‘be loaded onto Williams’ truck for "transport back to Kitwanga, where the Terrace Lumber Company had purchased them. Williams said the trip would be his second one to return lumber that day. ‘MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

Grim outlook for TLC’s future

Detoxing alcoholics ‘need ‘medical supervision ; during the first two to three days when they’ re most~

- In what ‘Gremm calls a more practical and robust :

Wednesday, July 2 26, 2006

grams.

fully managed,” said Gremm, adding such practical

issues as family, finances, work and. treatment must.

be addressed.

Sucha plan i is music to the ears 3 of Thornhill resi- dent Barb Barker, who is also the manager at the lo- -cal government liquor store. ,

Along with her boyfriend,” a drug. and alcohol

>» counsellor based in California, she is promoting the: : never-opened Mountainview Elementary. School on” the Bench be used for such an outpatient recovery

. centre. ~

“Tt’s.a shame to have a brand new school build- ing not being used that would be accessible to the

region,” said Barker, who says she quit drinking her- — - self last year.

‘Cont'd Page AS

- ere Hoteliers must | as approve city | quest for hotel

y tax money —

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

time.

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

THE , ‘TERRACE | LUMBER

Company's coffers are tapped and _ officials are considering selling off

equipment and other items at the mill if they can’t find an investor with deep pockets to pump much

_ needed money into’the operation.

- The sawmill has been shut down

: <a ge We . . - since mid-June after restarting brief-

ly following a previous five-week closure.in the spring.

The. mill’s been hit hard. by the ‘high Canadian dollar, soft. lumber market, steep softwood lumber tar-

iffs and numerous other factors and

the local investors who bought the

mill last year don’t have the ‘equity —

to withstand the market forces at

work; “And chairman of the TLC board of directors, John Ryan,

that’s just too long to continue incur-

‘ring costs on a’ monthly basis with-

out operating.

And without a white knight to put .

money into the operation Ryan says there may really only be one option. “The least favourable option, and

' the one that would be the most dif-

says the

company’ s lumber marketers are - projecting little market change for- another three to six. months and *

ficult for us all if we can’t secure. additional financing, is that the in- evitable would have to occur which - -is that we would have to consider selling the mill as a parts operation,”

Ryan said last week.

The company has offered to sell . - the mill to the Chinese investors who _ have bought the Prince Rupert pulp —

mill, but Ryan says it doesn’t look as though they are interested. -

The Terrace Lumber Company still owes. $950,000 to: the City of

_ Terrace after the city loaned that . money to it to help get the operation

off the ground last year. . oly administrator Ron Poole

says he’s confident that debt will be

repaid. “Our loan is guaranteed through

‘the mortgage on the property,” says

Poole. “It basically means if they .- sell or get rid of it or go bankrupt the

‘loan is secured as a a mortgage on the

property.” More than 60 unionized workers have been off the job for more than

two out of the last six months .

Rick Neuwirth, ' Steelworkers

‘Union third. vice president of local |

1-2171 which represents unionized. - workers at the mill, says: company

' officials are trying to be hopeful. *

Cont'd Page A2

- “THE C CITY of Terrace’: s request to the Regional District of . Kitimat- Stikine to redirect proceeds from the lucrative two " per cent hotel tax may not be successful, even if the regional district approves the request. ‘The City of. Terrace has asked that’ the money ~ which ‘o added up to more than $92,000 last year ~ be redirected to _ the city to help fund marketing and other initiatives that a “néw broad-based tourism body will-develop., But without ap- -proval from area hotel and motel owners, it won't happen. “If they wanted to redirect those revenues to a different o _ organization it would require the consent of the regional dis- . _ trict and the hoteliers,” says finance ministry Spokesperson - Robert Pauliszyn. Doe - “The fundamental principal behind the’ arrangements . is that there is:a level of consent. from the industry that is — “ " Pepsonsbile for collecting the tax to have a say where it is. _ directed.” -In most.cases, that “industry” i is the accommodation sec | tor because they are the businesses that collect the tax. . The president of the Terrace and District Hotel and Motel . _ Association says.in no uncertain terms that'its members are “Not prepared to approve the redirection of the money ; at this .

~“At the moment the: city. does not have the trust. or the. ~ faith ‘of the accommodation sector,” says Jacquie Munson, | president of the group that represents all of. the hotels and motels in the area who collect the tax. .

The bylaw which governs the two per cent, tax was passed. by the Regional District in'2004 — it is a five-year deal which | see the money collected by area hoteliers and redistributed ~ to Terrace Tourism Society (TTS) by the regional district.

The city signed on to a memorandum of understanding

with the TTS in 2004 agreeing the tax.should be levied at’ area hotels for the purpose. of external marketing and devel-

opment.

Munson says the hoteliers who worked to negotiate

deal in

“the 2004 did a lot of research on what they would be

. prepared to sign — when they entered into the.agreement she says it was with the understanding that the money would be ‘ used 100 per cent for external marketing.

City’

‘Ina

officials say they have no plan to stop using. thet two

per cent tax money for marketing, but feel other aspects of _ the tourism industry here have been overlooked by TTS., July 19°statement from Mayor Jack Talstra, he says: ,

the move to redirect the money to the city is not an attempt to take the money away from Terrace Tourism and use it for

By MARGARET SPEIRS

A LAWYER ‘representing the families of two men_

killed when a driver believed to be high on crystal meth slammed into them, will submit his arguments for financial compensation for the men’s dependents to the Workers’ Compensation ‘Appeal Tribunal (WCAT) by the end of the month.

‘Wes Mussio, who's representing the families of Dean Vaughn Gansen and Richard Bruce Brown, is confident that he will win the argument of whether ICBC owes a payout to the families of the two de-

' ceased,

“On these cases where a guy was potentially working, it’s about the best situation you can have,” Mussio said July 19.

FOP I Ona ye eee eT ee

Just before 5 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2004, David James.

_ Hart of Abbotsford was travelling northbound on Hwy97 near Deep Creek, B.C. when.his semi-trailer_.

unit collided head-on with the tractor trailer of Gan-:

-sen and Brown, who were travelling southbound. The

crash started a fire that burned up Hart’s vehicle.

A toxicology report, which was part of the coro- ner’s report, indicated that Hart, 33, had high blood levels of methamphetamine and amphetamine and

. detectable levels of cocaine in his system at the time . - driver,” Mussio said. “It’s not part of a truck driver’s »

of the accident.

The pathologist who prepared the report sug- gested that Hart abused methamphetamine and stated that paranoid psychosis associated with meth- amphetamine abuse might have played a role in the crash, the coroner said in his findings.

Hart also had: a history of driving offences and dmg use, the coroner reported.

A mechanical inspection on Gansen’s vehicle did five months to render its decision.

not find anything that could have contributed to the’ accident. Hart’s vehicle could not be inspected due to the heavy damage and extent of the blaze. Mussio said that ICBC was trying to argue that the- illegal drugs found in Hart’s body were work-related. “One of the arguments they’re trying to make is that using crystal meth is part of your job as a truck

job. It’s interesting that ICBC would take the tactic that part of your job is to take drugs. If the WCAT came back and said ‘you’re right’, [it would] sound a little odd.”

Another part of ICBC's argument is that the ergs:

7 te

\p .

other | purposes.

Cont'd 4 Page AQ

Lawyer takes ICBC to court over deaths of t truckers

tal meth. put Hart into a paranoid state and. therefore he’s not responsible for his actions. Mussio. believes that the board will take three to

If it does not rule in his favour, he won’t °t appeal

_.and doubts the defence will appeal either if it loses.

- “Unfortunately the way the system works is ‘the WCB has the final § say in situations of worker versus - worker,” he said. °

It’s difficult to appeal unless the decision is “out- landish” because Mussio would have to show that there was an administrative error.

“You never know. Unlike court where there’ S.

‘some predictability, the WCAT is unpredictable,” |

he said, adding the. WCAT doesn’t have to follow previous precedents unlike the regular court system.

4

Compete and play

“Addictions: are complicated by ‘other medical: ; and psychological needs and they have to be care- . -

Hh