Crash Investigation Took Way Too Long, Mother Says
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Road rubber Terrace teams up ~::.i': I/, i~iI :. Dinner is served • Think emergency vehicles Dozens of local athletes Three men competeilfor ~ that zip on our highways head off to the Northern one woman saffections use winter tires? Think B.C. Winter in the TLTrs again\NEWS A3 Games\SPORTS B7 latest\COMMUNITY B4 , ~ •= ~=.:• :•!~i:/~/:i•/¸ :•• i !: :••, I:!~•!CI '::i ¸~: $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Terrace area) 0 THE crrY OF [ L.T.,ERRACE...[ 25 ANNIVERSARY TANDAI 1)o ° 2003 . No budget miracles for trustees ./•/ By JENNIFER LANG wood confirmed Friday. the public would become more in- take Fridays off,' but there and the minister of finance IT'S DECISION TIME for school Staffing costs represent 85-95 per volved in the exercise. are still so many other de- to say that we need to step trustees. cent of the district's roughly $50 mil- But as of last week most of the tails to consider. up to the plate and~we They must chop as much as $5.3 lion in operating expenses. work had fallen to senior staff, who Meanwhile, Thornhill need to fund these things million from next year's operating Since the district expects enrolment were scrambling to assemble fact school trustee Lorrie adequately," Gowen said budget to balance the books, an exer- to drop by 350 students next year, it's sheets on the community and district Gowen says parents need at a press conference last cise that promises to usher in a new clear fewer teachers will be needed. impacts of dozens of ideas as tonight's to start lobbying the pro- week. era in public education - one with Greenwood said increasing every sec- Feb. 5 deadline loomed. vincial government for School trustees hold a spe- fewer schools, less teachers and sup- ondary class by just one student each "I am concerned that the details, more money. cial board meeting later on port staff, larger high school school would create about $300,000 in addi- the money, all of these things, need to Gowen was the Coast this month to discuss the classes.and even a four-day school tional savings. be double-checked," Greenwood said, Mountains school board's budget cuts. week. The other ideas - such as recruiting promising the fact sheets will be upda- delegate to a conference But it's possible any final Even though the Coast Mountains foreign students or corporate sponsor- ted over the next couple 'of weeks. on school district funding decisions would be made School District has been investigating ship - only create a significant budget Moving to a four-day-week, for ex- presented by the B.C. behind closed doors.: more than 50 different cost-cutting and impact when they're added up. ample, might save the district as much Teachers' Federation, Lorrie Gowen That's exactly what hap, •money-making ideas, those four op- Last month the district hosted a ser- as $1.2 million a year, mostly in bus- CUPE and the B.C. Fe- period with last yeads de- tions •remain at the top of list when it ies of working committee meetings in ing and custodial costs, Greenwood deration of Labour two weekends ago. cision to close five schools in the dis '~ comes to solving the budget shortfall, Terrace and the four other communi- said. Students would attend classes "We need parents to write, fax and trict and to delay opening M0untain~ assistant superintendent Rob Green- ties. Greenwood had initially hoped about 45 additional minutes a day and email both the minister of education view Elementary in Terrace. : Fish fees may bite tourism By JEFF NAGEL creases will lead visiting A-..MAJOR increase inanglers to-spend less"time fishing foes unveiled by - and less money - in Ter- Victoria will .dramat!ca!ly .,race, i " : ~ : i drive upthe 'COSt 0f:a : "That's": a .... lot :'= of northwest fishing vacation . m0neY,",: Northc0ast.~ An, for out-of-province tourists, glers' owner Leona Murray Their fees to fish classi- said of the classified wa- fled waters herewill dou -• ters daily prices.: "That's ble to as much as $40 per going:to' really harm'this day. area for tourism. ...... .". That alone adds up to "The one .thing. we "had an extra $400 for a family left was :-:fishing 'touriSm of four from Alberta that :and now we're going to wants to fish a class 2 chase ~it away, ~ added river here for 10 days. It would be $800 more if "The one thing they want to fish the area's prized class 1 rivers. we had left was And they'll also have to fishing tourism pay 40 to 50 per cent more and now we're for licences and other fees going to Chase it DEPUTY THORNHILL Fire Chief Wes Patterson surveys the burnt-out wreckage of a trailer in the Boulderwood Trailer Court in Thorn- that are all slated to jump a way." hill after a fire Jan. 31. Terrace RCMP say Patrick Douglas Harrison, the owner of the mobile home, has been charged with arson. on April I. B.C. anglers won't be hit as hard. Misty River Tackle owner They'll pay $36 for an Brian Patrick. : Man charged in trailer arson annual angling licence -a He said many visiting 20 per cent increase• But anglers will choose not to By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN vinciai court judge," said Sgt. Jas two neighbouring units• damage to neighbouring mobile The Thornhill fire • department homes may top $3,000. stamps for steelhead and fish classified rivers to A THORNHILL man faces arson Basi• salmon are jacked 50 per avoid the fees. Harrison was formally charged responded to the blaze at #89 Twenty-two firefighters respon- charges after his trailer burned to cent to $25 and $15. Patrick said that will the ground Jan. 31. Jan. 31 with one count of arson Boulderwood Trailer Court• just ded to the blaze and many were after 2 a.m. "I was actually one of on the scene past 5 a.m. By day- Non-residents will have meanmore overcrowding Patrick Douglas Harrison, 61, causing property damage. If found to pay $60 and $30 for at unclassified stretches of the first ones on the scene and it light, all that remained of the trai- turned himself in to RCMP offi- guilty, the charge carries a max- steelhead and salmon the Skeena like Ferry Is- was fully involved at that point," ler was a smouldering heap of cers at approximately 2:30 a.m., imum sentence of 14 years in jail. stamps. land and at the Kitimat just 20 minutes after Thomhill fire Local RCMP and the fire com- said Thornhill fire chief Art Hill. burnt debris. Nobody else was in the home Tackle shops and other River. ' fighters were called to his home. missioner are investigating the The fire was so hot it damaged at the time of the blaze and no in- tourist'dependent busines- He noted the Kitimat "He was arrested and lodged in suspicious fire which levelled cable and telephone lines in the juries Were reported, sos here worry price in, Continued Pg. A12 cells to appear in front of a pro- Harrison's trailer and damaged area and fire fighters estimate Crash investigation took way too long, mother says that a life was lost in the accident or the pain "Now that the charge has finally been laid a Teen driver now charged and worry such a long wait causes friends and fa- year later, everything has resurfaced," Ryan By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN mily of the deceased. says, adding the investigation's length had her MORE than one year after high school student The accident happened shortly after 8 a.m. wondering when there would be some resolution. Hannah Kantola died in a car crash, her teenage Jan. 24, 2002 near Thornhill as Kantola, also 17, The first delay came early when the collision friend who was behind the wheel faces a charge and her classmate were driving to school. analyst charged with the investigation, Terrace • of driving without due care and attention. Kantola, an aspiring actress, was the passen- RCMP Cnst. Eric Vachon, died unexpectedly in The driver cannot be named because she was ger in the 1990 Eagle Talon that police say lost the first week of March - just five weeks after 17 at the time. A conviction doesn't carry a cri- the crash. minal record because the charge is under the No end to the pain "Obviously you don't count on those sorts of • provincial Motor Vehicle Act. • See page A5 for a special report things," says Terrace RCMP Inspector Marlin The charge does little to ease the grief for Degrand. "It took some time for the notes, the HANNAH KANTOLA poses with fellow actor Hannah's mother, Terri Ryan, who says the in- on the del=ys some say re-victimize measurements and the file he'd generated on that Adam Kerby after Caledonia Sr. Second- vestigation leading up to the charge was fraught survivors. to be turned over and basically restarted and re- ary's 2001. production of Crazy For You. with unnecessary delays. analyzed by another traffic analystY "This is a lot of time and money being spent control while trying to pass another vehicle and All of Vachon's files were transferred to Smi- says of the collision report, adding he learned for undue care and attention," Ryan says, adding struck an oncoming Ford F250 pickup track. The thers RCMP Corporal Pat McTieman, the officer later it had yet to be completed.