h amp season t on the P1soor Smashed Standard reporter has a. Local square dancing club Speedway fans witness go at a roster spot with with dwindling numbers looks metal carnage on final ’, 5 the second-year River for younger recruits stock car racing day , Kings\NIEWS A5 \COMMUNlrY BI \SPORTS B4 A \ -0 -0 $1.OO PLUS 74 GST -vl - ($1.10 plus 813 GST outside of the Terrace area) -00 -- , h I, School trustees won’t run again By DUSTIN QUEZADA that frightens two-term Terrace trustee Hal Stead- elected. 2 teacher’s strike.” A DIFFICULT three years for school district 82 ham, who’s undecided but leaning toward seeking Other incumbent Terrace trustees include Diana Kitimat’s King said a strike should deter candi- have left many incumbent board trustees choosing re-election. Penner and Nicole Bingham-Georgelin. dates from stepping forward. 0 not to run again in November. Steadham said he wouldn’t want to walk away Penner, who has served two terms, is undecided. “I’ve been through two previous strikes and ’ Of the nine current trustees, two have decided to with the problems that face the board. Penner-cited a combination of work constrainsts it’s part of what’s necessary to negotiate an agree- run again, two are undecided, four are not seeking “If I knew the majority were coming back, impor- and a frustration with the government. ment,” King said. “The decisions are out of our re-election and one didn’t return phone calls. tant decisions would be made,” Steadham said. She said her time may be better served in another hands in any case.” The board will be losing a lot of experience at a The 40-year teacher and administrator said with- avenue. “I don’t know how a strike would affect (pro- critical time and no one has,more experience than out a background in education it’s hard to under: “Before I was a board member, I was active with spective trustees),” said Gowen. “It’s always dif- Peter King of Kitimat. stand the issues. ’ a PAC (Parent Advisory Council) and I helped with ficult getting people for public service but it’s also King says the stress of the last three years lead “I’ve been forever in education, in the trench- ’ the district PAC,” said Penner. very rewarding.” him to seek a spot on Kitimat city council rather than es,” added Steadham, 63. “That’s why I’ve stuck “We’re.coming back to a time when parents need Despite the stress of the last three yeFs, King a sixth straight term with the school district. around.” to be empowered - and it can’t be the same parents said the present board is like others he has sat on. “With the four-day week, school closures, teach- Barry Pankhurst will seek another term and would all the time,” added Penner. “School boards are single minded in their de- er layoffs and support staff issues, I was at a point be the board’s longest serving trustee. As for Bingham-Georgelin, who couldn’t be sire to improve education,” King said. “They may where I felt I didn’t want to continue (on the board),” He said he also feels experience is essential. reached for comment, Gowen said her fellow trustee disagree on the paths, but they all want irnprove- King said. “And there will’be more cutbacks with a “We need experience, we need a strong voice in wouldn’t be running for a second term. ment.” drop in enrolment.” Kitimat,” Pankhurst said, who added he’d like to While the last three years have been a challenge, Dorothy Leuze, of Kit,imat, and Hazelton’s Jes- King, who said he stayed on the board in 1996 “to have a term as chair. new trustees could be starting a term while teachers sica Mikolayczyk will not seek re-election accord- fight for Kitimat” when the city was amalgamated Current chair Lome Gowen, from Thornhill, said are on strike. ing to Gowen and veteran Stewart trustee Donna into the district, feels it’s time for new blood. And she’ll be throwing her hat in one more time and may “Some (potential trustees) may shy away,” Stead- Caruso could not be contacted. it’s too much new blood, or potential inexperience, seek a spot on the provincial council this time, if re- ham said. “These people have never experienced a The school board elections are NoGember 19. i Crime rate -Police here inches probe its way higher fatal By MARGARET SPEIRS . 0 crash ,. ”. RECENTLY released crime rate statistics show Terrace’s crime rate is on the rise but still lower than provincial leader BY for crime rate - Smithers. SARAH A. Terrace’s municipal crime rate puts it in 13th spot on the ZIMMERMAN Municipal Crime Rate Report for 2004, released by the Min- TERRACE RCMP and the istry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. B.C. Coroners Service are Thk crime rate for Terrace was 197 crimes per 1,000 investigating a crash on people in 2004, up from 1888 in 2003 and 170 per 1,000 the Kitselas )Road in north in 2002. It’s also the highest crime rate logged for this city Terrace that left a local man since 2000. dead. Nonetheless, Terrace’s crime rate falls we11 behind pro- John “Jack” Smaha died aftkr the front end loader he ’vincial crime rate capital Smithers, second place Williams was driving “down the steep Lake and 1 1th place Prince Rupert. Smithers topped the list road went off the road and with a crime rate of 279 per 1,000 people, followed by WiI- down. a steep embankment liams Lake, whose population is close to Terrace, at 274. shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, Prince Rupert reported 202 crimes per 1,000 people last Sept. 16. year. The 65-year-old Terrace “We’re cer- man was the only person in tainly no worse the vehicle at the time of the off and in many “we’re Certahl!, no WOfSe accident. cases better off off and in many cases, better Police say a man on a than Other hub off, than other hub or core walk in the area discovered or core cities,” cities,” - Inspector Degrand the crash scene and called said Terrace the authorities. RCMP inspec- Terrace RCMP, the fire tor Marlin De- department and B.C. Ambu- grand last week. lance responded wuickly to While the crime rates should not be used as an indication the scene, extracted Smaha of the relative safety of one municipality over another, they and transported him to Mills are an indicator of the trend in crime in each municipality. Memorial Hospital, says While he can’t spiak directly to Williams Lake’s num- Terrace RCMP Const. Bruce bers, Degrand said in general the higher crime rate could be Lofroth. a result of that city having a different dynamic than Terrace Smaha died shortly after with regards to its core population. arriving to the hospital, he The crime rate only considers the permanent resident said. population, and not the transient population that visits town Police investigators were for shopping or to use other services, even though the visi- trying to piece together the tors can affect the amount of crime in a city. events leading up to the “If a disproportionately high number of people are using crash over the weekend. that as a service centre, you see a different dynamic than one Crash scene investigators with only half the people using it,” Degrand said. examined tire tracks at the Cities such as Sidney and Kitimat are similar in size to scene. Terrace but aren’t hub cities, which may result in a differ- \i 1 “We’re looking for direc- ence in their crime rates, Degrand said. Pumpkin patch kids tion of travel and scuffs,”o Sidney’s crime rate was 58 crimes per 1,000 people and I said Sgt. Don Murray, as Kitimat numbered 9 1 for 2004. NICOLE LOFROTH, 5, and brother Jack, 8, cozy up next to the pumpkins growing in their grandparents’ he examines the loader’s The B.C. municipal average is 132 crimes per 1,000 peo- garden. Not only are the pumpkins abundant this year, some of them, not shown, look to be‘ tipping the tracks. ple and the province overall numbers 125 crimes per 1,000 scales at 200 pounds. The children are looking forward to carving the pumpkins for Hallowe’en next “You can see it weaves.” people. The crime rate is the number of Criminal Code of- month. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO The appeared to come fences or crimes reported for every 1,000 persons. down the middle of the grav- 1 el road, which is fairly steep, and begin to Iead off the ,~ road to the left before veer- Shipping container security firm eyes Terrace ing sharply across the‘road where the loader crashed By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN tainer security system it’s developed. in the UK wants is to create a Greenlane for sense,” Elderfield says. “At this point we’ve down a short, but steep em- A SHIPPING CONTAINER security The security system, made of aluminum, fast tracking,” says Elderfield got a couple of different suggestions. bankment into the bush. ,systems manufacturer is taking a serious is installed on a container and operates using “It meets the requirement that homeland The announcement comes as good news The loader was lifted out look at moving some of its operations to the I a radio frequency.