Back in cabinet Heirloom spuds? Mind games Helmut Giesbrecht gets his Gardeners plan to swap unusual A sports psychologist helps second chance to serve as a potatoes and more in the name of swimmers put mental power minister\NEWS A9 heritage\COMMUNITY B1 behind their strokes\SPORTS B5 VOL. 13 NO. 46 I1 O WEDNESDAY O February 21, 2001 to to lm,:,-,,,,,,~.~[.~.i.]r~ |T'- $1.00 p,us 7¢ GST oo ($1.10 Plus 8¢ GST outsideof the Terracearea) i TANI[)ARD p,. Parasite numbers here a mystery Blastocystis cases off the chart in taminated food or drinking cystis here. water. "Most likely the vast major- Terrace compared to other cities Like many other gastroin- I Blastocystis - cases per year I ity of it is being spread person- testinal organisms, it can be to-person," he said. BY JEFF NAGEL race, whose numbers also take avoided by frequent hand-wash- It's also possible people are OFFICIALS are at a loss to ex- in villages north along Hwy 37. ing, proper food-handling proce- being contaminated by infected plain why a parasite is infecting That compares to just five dures, and treatment of suspect T'rrac'/N°rthr,nce-t.rtwater, such as a private well or people in Terrace in numbers reported cases in Prince Rupert, water. other drinking water source. far higher than the rest of north- Kitimat and Smithers com- But locating the source of 40 -I Smithers He says there was a pipe western B.C. bined. the parasite in the Terrace area coming out of the ground that 20 -I ..................................................... The organism - called "We are getting s0me ser- is proving complex. was used as a drinking fountain blastocystis hominis - is be- ious numbers here," says Doug Quibell says the health unit right next to the Eby St. fish lieved to cause lengthy bouts of Ouibell,' the unit's eommnnie- has tested and ruled out the 1992-2000 hatchery near the Howe Creek diarrhea and nausea, and a gen- able disease specialist. possibility that the bug has con- trail. eral malaise. The bug is transmitted per- taminated local water systems. The health unit ordered the Northwest Health Unit statis- son-to-person, such as by shak- "City of Terrace water is great." and possibly a drinking water pipe uprooted when the water tics show it caused 49 reported ing hands or touching infected fine, and Thornhill water is But he said the health unit officer who would both invest- cases of illness in 2000 in Ter- door handles, and through con- fine," he said. "They're both plans to hire a summer student igate the prevalence of blasto- Continued Page AIO Counci' dividec Natural gas how nc. procla, jumps again CITYCOUNCIL Up 42 per cent from September how to fix its pol: LOCALS ALREADY hard hit by a Jan. 1 natural gas suing proclamatio immune to futu price increase got more bad news with another jump - plaints Of discrimJ 10 per cent- as of Feb. 1. City staff craf Combined with the 16 per cent average increase as of licy that would Jan. 1, natural gas users are now saddled with a 26 per proclamations an cent hike very early in the new year. set up a "registry In dollars and cents, the average homeowner will now vances" - a sys he paying upwards of $2,000 a year or a vi~tual doubling used in Kitimat. of the cost over the past Several years. All requests Back in July 1998, residential customers paid $5.46 a noted in the reg gigajoule compared to $13.065 as of Feb. 1. staff would send PNG, which also serves customers in the northeast, explaining that a didn't raise rates there as of Feb. 1. ing the group wel That's because the company buys gas under different activities. contracts for that region compared to the area from Van- By eliminating derhoof to Prince Rupert, said Vanderlee. clamations, the ci He noted that the Jan.1 residential increase for the no longer be haul( northeast was 32 per cent, more than the combined Jan. the B.C. Humax 1 and Feb. 1 increases for this area. Commission on Be that as it may, prices per gigajoule are still lower nation charges - a in the northeast than they are here. pening for council As of Jan, 1, the price was $9.488 in Fort St. John to proclaim a g compared to $13.065 here. day last summer. Some of that is because there's less distance between But the regis the wellhead and consumer, said Vanderlee. collapsed last we While these latest price hikes have yet to fully show enough councillol up on utility bills, Pacific Northern Gas (PNG) officials : opposition to the say they're dealing with an increasing amount of phone council sent it calls by people having a hard time coming up with the committee for a re money to heat their homes. Councillors R But because PNG has to buy the gas itself and be- Daniel and Lynn( cause it simply passes along the price it pays, there's iansen opposed t little it can do, says company official Ron Vanderlee. noting the automv "We are advising people to go on the equal payment wishing letter c plan," said Vanderlee. viewed as city By doing so, gas users avoid as much as possible high ment of the cause. prices based on winter consumption by making 12 equal "I don't think we should payments over the course of a year. be wishing something (hat Blooms in February The equal payment plan is, however, subject to may not be acceptable on changes as a year goes on based on whatever hikes that YES, EVEN in the dead of winter you can grow sunflowers. Local gardener Carol Sabo harnesses everything that comes in," may take place in the meantime. high-powered grow lights to produce sunny yellow blooms and chase away the winter blahs, She's McDaniel said. Vanderlee said PNG will work with its customers as also enjoying fresh cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and basil. Councillors David Hull much as possible when it comes to paying bills. and Ron Vanderlee were But there's no way a customer can avoid eventually in favour of the policy. having to pay for what they consume. "If the Ku Klux Klan "We will work with people, but it is a two-way street. They also have to show they are willing to pay," he said. sends a letter I'm sure ad- Trustees nix request for "We are a private enterprise." ministration has the good PNG has 40,000 residential, commercial and other sense not to send good customers and has cut off just two of them in the last wishes," Hull said. month, said Vanderlee. In earlier committee- extra day out of school He declined to say how many users are in payment level discussion, mayor Jack Talstra had said he By JENNIFER LANG ,'I feel this issue mains adamant that an additional arrears, but did say the number is higher than last year. too opposed a registry, be- • SCHOOL TRUSTEES have shot could be dealt with non-instructional day is necessary. Lower income Canadians are recelving a $125 federal lieving that city council down a request from teachers for an in the existing non- "Schools are required to have cheque and the province is applying a $200 credit to fu- should retain the authority additional non-instructional day to in s t r u c t i o n a 1 plans in place to deal with violent ture B.C. Hydro bills to offset heating fuel increases. to approve or reject pro- address health and safety concerns days," Weeber incidents," Rowe said, pointing out clamation requests, of school staff and students, said. "It is certain- that school districts, along with other I ~ "I feel this council has The Terrace District Teachers' ly an issue that workplaces in B.C., are required .to PNG rateincreasesl 998-2001 I the right to be dzscermng,'• ,, Union had asked the board to write a should be on the have safety and violence plans in t4 ..................... hesaid "Ithastherih.g tto letterofsupportbackingarequestevery, agenda on place, aswell as policies dealing [ ' I " I~ [ make ;ud,,ment calls on - from B.C. Teachers' Umon to the non-instructional with how violent students are dealt 13 .......................................... O b U . ), . .... hv.,.,~,~ hoo;~ ,, Education Ministry asking for an ad- day. with. s .. ii i!II i ! !i i !i i !i !! !i! ! ! / Ill C°mmerclal i t ,4 .d .. A2-The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, I:ebruary 21, 2001 Hospital to probe reasons why doc isn't doing c-sections SENIOR HOSPITAL offi- about jumping in with two the "personality rift, yes, cials are meeting this feet. I wanted to hone my said Kuntz. "I know they week to figure out why a skills," he said. do not get along." local doctor is so far un- Foude decided to do 20 Kuntz now has a copy able to do emergency cae- caesareans under supervi- of Fourie's Nov. 27 letter UCC IS NOWACCEPTIN6 KAMLOOPS: sarean sections at Mills sion, the number which is and he says it will be dis- A GREATSMALLOTY Memorial. generally regarded as the cussed when he meets APPLICATIONSFOR At the heart of the si- target in order for physi-" with Fourie and the hospi- TRANSFERTO: The main campus of UCC is located in Bachelorof SocialWork Kamloops, a great small city of 8o,ooo tuation seems to be a clans to be certified in tal's new chief of medical that offers a lifestyle with the b~st of clash of styles and perso- B.C.