NEW TRANSIT SYSTEM STARTS HERE IN SEPTEMBER
Bus fares to increase under three-zone scheme
Citizen %
Tuesday, June 13,1978 Vol. 22; No. 114 Prince George, British Columbia
by TOM NIXON Citizen Staff Reporter
Basic one-zone bus fares will increase a dime to 35 cents for adults when the new city transit service begins in September.
Council Monday approved transit planners’ proposed fare structure and confirmed a service plan proposed last month.
The bus fares will be 35 cents for one zone, 50 cents for two and 75 cents for three zones for adult riders. Senior citizens, students and children from five to 11 years will pay
25 cents, 35 cents and 50 cents. Infants ride free.
The zone system and inter-zonal fares remain the same as currently used by Prince George Transit Ltd., the city’s present service.
Student rates will apply only to those under 21 going to elementary or secondary school, and only from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on school days. Otherwise, those older than 11 years pay adult fares.
Students and senior citizens must present student cards or provincial pharmacare cards as proof of status.
Geographically, the bowl area is zone one, Nechako-Hart Highway zone two, and College Heights, zone three.
B.C. Transit Authority planner Larry Miller told council the rates are similar to those used by recent provincially-planned transit systems in other interior communities.
Miller said also that no changes to the service proposal are indicated by the results of a number of public meetings held last month here.
“We were disappointed at the turnout (a total 52),” he said, “and no changes are indicated.”
That means the bowl area will get half-hourly service on four routes from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. with hourly evening service to 10:30 p.m.
College Heights gets service half-hourly during morning and afternoon rush hours from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., with hourly service during the mid-day
hours and on Friday evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The Nechako-Hart Highway service will be hourly from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with evening service Fridays to 9 p.m.
Exact times for the various routes are still to be announced.
Transit planners are currently working out details of three shopping centre main terminuses and the downtown bus main stop, Miller said.
Proposed bus stops are to be reviewed in about a week with council.
Miller said a draft bylaw authorizing the new service and a proposed contract form for going to contract tender for a private company to supply the operating service also will be prepared in coming weeks.
lie also said a system of special passes and tickets is being given a trial in Kelowna and won’t be used here until the transit authority can evaluate costs and benefits.
Miller was asked to report on the costs of free passes for senior citizens. He said only Prince Rupert currently allows seniors free bus travel. Municipalities must pay full costs of such passes.
13 DROWNED
Canoeing trip ends in death
TODAY
7f God had meant us to be without inflation he'd have let the hot air out of politicians."
FEATURED INSIDeJ
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Celebrity cook
Bruno Gerussi of CBC-TV’s Celebrity Cooks talked with Citizen family editor Bev Christensen about his love of good food.
Page 31.
All-out war?
The signing of an under-age junior may mean all-out war between the National Hockey League and World Hockey Association. Page 13.
Growing problem
Wayne Whipple, 26, has ballooned in weight from 230 pounds to between 600 und 700 pounds. It may have something to do with injuries he suffered in an accident, but no one can say for sure. Page 30.
Bridge................. ...............19 Family.......................
Business............. Gardening column..
City, B.C..........2, 3, 9, 25, 27 Horoscopes............... .......28
Classified........... .........16-22 International............
Comics................ ...............29 Nationul....................
Crossword......... ...............18 Sports........................ ..13-15
Television................. .......29
Entertainment.. .........28-30
THE WEATHER
The forecast for Prince George today is for cloudy skies and showers and cool temperatures. Wednesday is expected to be sunny and warmer with afternoon cloudy periods and scattered showers.
The expected high today is 17, the low 5. The high Monday was 19, the low 5, with 5.8 mm of rain. On this date last year the high was 21, the low 3.
[ NOW HEAR THIS)
t If all goes well at the takeover of the former Ben Ginter brewery here, residents will soon be able to drink local beers named Interior Gold and Interior Light Gold, the brand names chosen by Prince George Breweries Ltd. the gold represents the forest industry and the labels will carry pictures appropriate to that industry. Wednesday, the final papers will be signed for the takeover.
• Noting nine “transferred” dogs in the pound-keepers report, an alderman asked how one goes about “transferring” a dog. "You change him into a cat,” answered Alderman Don Wagner quickly. Transferred dogs are those carried over from one month’s report to the next.
• The things smokers will do for a cigarette! A King Drive resident was awakened by his doorbell at 6 a.m. Monday and went to the door to find a woman who said she was visiting down the road, and hadn’t been able to find any stores open to sell her cigarettes. The man didn’t have any cigarettes, but said he was sure he had a cigar around somewhere. The woman accepted but was considerably disappointed when the cigar couldn’t be found. She eventually did get her cigarette — after ringing two more doorbells.
VILLE MARIE, Que. (CP) — Twelve schoolboys and a teacher spent 12 hours in the frigid waters of Lake Timiskaming Sunday before they drowned. Coroner Leonard Julien of Rouyn, Que., said today.
The tragedy occurredl after a group of 27 boys, aged between 10 and 15, and four teachers from St. John’s School of Ontario, in Claremont, northeast of Toronto, began canoeing up Lake Timiskaming, about 370 kilometres northwest of Ottawa. Police said the 18 survivors were found on the western shore of the lake Monday and were in good condition after being treated for shock.
Earlier, police said they believed there may have been another person missing, but later said the dead and survivors all were accounted for.
Dr. Julian said all the victims were wearing ‘‘good life jackets... attached to the neck and stomach,” and that autopsies performed on about seven victims showed they did not die of exposure as had been speculated earlier.
He said they drowned despite wearing the life jackets after taking in water because “there were very, very high waves” on the lake at the time.
Dr. Julien said there is a pos-sibilty that the victims were suffering from exposure before they drowned.
However, he said that cannot be determined until the autopsies are completed.
This morning, as the skies cleared and cold winds fanned the lake on the Quebec-Ontario border, police began a helicopter ferry service to bring the victims and survivors from the remote hunting lodge where they were kept overnight.
A provincial police spokesman said the victims would be removed first in the ferrying operation, which would take at least three hours to complete using a helicopter which carries a pilot and three passengers.
Meanwhile, a group of about 25 parents who arrived in a chartered bus from the Toronto area about an hour before the airlift began were taken immediately to a building near the civic centre in this town of 2,500 residents, most of whom are French-speaking.
News of the tragedy came Monday morning after a helicopter pilot on a routine flight over the lake noticed an overturned canoe, with the bodies of a boy and an adult tied to it.
See also page 7
Husky Oil turns down Crown firm
CALGARY (CP) - Pet-roCanada announced today that it would review its position with respect to Husky Oil Ltd. of Calgary, in light of the acquisition of Husky by Occidental Petroleum Corp. of Los Angeles.
Petro-Canada, a federal Crown corporation, said in a statement that it was advised of the Occidental proposal to acquire Husky late Monday night.
Husky and Occidental announced earlier today that the directors and managements of both companies had agreed the acquisition be made through an exchange offer of 80 per cent or more of Husky's common stock.
An offer by Petro-Canada to purchase Husky was discussed Monday by Husky’s board of directors.
Citixen photo by Tim Swanky
Heidi ho!
Heidi, the seven-year-old St. Bernard, looks as though she’s just paid a visit to the local taxidermist. But she’s just visiting a South Fort George friend who has understanding m,jrfa|,c ThQ rimco fomiiw « hr>iQ m
their fence so their dog can belongs to Penny Balaski.
g masters. The Guise family left a hole in Keep an eye on what’s happening. Heidi
933,000 IN MAY
Jobless tally down
Two fires controlled
OTTAWA (CP) - The number of unemployed fell by
66.000 during May from a month earlier to an actual level of 933,000, Statistics Canada reported today.
But the jobless rate, adjusted for seasonal variations, remained unchanged from the previous two months at a postl930s high of 8.6 per cent of the work force.
The number of unemployed peaked at 1,045,000 in March, before falling to 999,000 in April. In May a year ago, there were 824,000 on the jobless rolls.
The actual jobless rate in May was 8.4 per cent, down from 9.3 per cent in April but well above the 7.7 per cent actual rate in May last year.
The number of people working was up to 10,118,000 last month from 9,752,000 in April. A year ago, there were
9.822.000 working.
Job opportunities for men improved slightly in May, but for women unemployment rates rose. The jobless rate for men aged 15 to 24 eased to 15.8 per cent from 16.1 per cent in April, while for men 25 and over it was unchanged at 5.4 per cent.
But for women in the 15-to-24 age group, unemployment increased to 14.2 per cent in May from 13.4 per cent in the previous month, and for women 25 and over it rose to eight per cent from 7.8 per cent.
Unemployment rates, seasonally adjusted, fell in six provinces in May. But the rates rose in four others, including the industrial provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec that have the largest provincial work forces, as well as in Newfoundland.
As in the past, Newfoundland had the highest provincial unemployment rate. It had 17.9 per cent of its work force jobless, up from 16.3 per cent in
April and the highest rate this year.
Prince Edward Island’s unemployment rate eased to 10.1 per cent in May frm 11.1 per cent in the previous month. The rate fell to 10.8 per cent from 11 per cent in Nova Scotia, and to 12.9 per cent in May from 14 per cent in New Brunswick.
But in British Columbia, unemployment rose to eight per cent last month from 7.7 per cent in April.
Two small forest fires, started by lightning overnight at Nukko Lake and Alexa Lake, are now under control, a fores! service spokesman said today.
Tom Waller said both fires are approximately one-half an acre in size and were detected early.
Waller says six men are supervising a total of 17 fires in the Prince George district, all of which are in the "mop-up” stage.
The fire hazard level in the district is moderate except for Hixon and Valemount where it is low, Waller said.
7Collect your own taxes'
VANCOUVER (CP) -Mayor Jack Volrich said Monday he will ask the British Columbia legislature to force school boards to collect their own taxes.
This would have the effect of making school boards directly accountable to the public, while separating school taxes from city taxes, Volrich said.
If this request does not succeed, he said he will ask the legislature to give municipalities the authority to approve school board budgets, a power they had some years ago.
The present Schools Act requires municipalities to act as agent for collecting school taxes, meaning that aldermen "are getting a lot of heat” from taxpayers complaining about the total tax bill, Volrich said.
Quebec will get rebates
OTTAWA (CP)-The mystery of how Quebec will be get its money under the federal budget was solved Monday when Finance Minister Jean Chretien made an off-the-cuff announcement he will stick with his plan to give taxpayers in the province 1977 income tax rebates.
For two weeks, Chretien resisted all Opposition and press efforts to get him to specify exactly how Quebecers will be paid. All he would say was he would decide between his early plan of 1977 tax rebates or a second plan to cut 1978 income taxes.
The rebate is to give Quebecers the money the province would have received if it had agreed to a federal government proposal to make an across-theboard cut in its eight-per-cent sales tax.
The minister’s announcement means $85 cheques to the majority of Quebec taxpayers could be in the mail within a few weeks.
However, taxpayers will not keep the federal money long. Their provincial government has already announced it will take it from them in some manner-higher provincial income tax or some more "imaginative” method.
The Quebec government told the federal government in a letter last week it is willing to accept either 1977 rebates or 1978 tax cuts.
Chretien said the government will again limit debate on the tax bill.
Clause-by-clause debate on the bill, which began last week, must be completed by next Monday under the time limit Chretien announced.
INFLATION INDEX FIGURES
Food bill: be prepared for shock
OTTAWA (CP) — Consumers should be in for a nasty shock Wednesday morning. The news over corn flakes and eggs will probably be that inflation spurted way ahead during May-perhaps the highest monthly rise since the pre-wage and price control days of 1975.
The devil behind the push in the consumer price index is food prices. They went up an astonishing 4.1 per cent in the month to May 5, according to a recently released survey by the Anti-Inflation Board. That was by far the largest increase since the board began keeping score in 1975.
The AIB has reported that food price increases have since modelled. but
that will not help Statistics Canada's May figure for the consumer price index.
The statistics gathering agency collects its food figures at the beginning of every month, and last month that was just after food prices reached a peak, according to the AIB.
The board’s figures show that food prices rose by almost two per cent in the last week of April alone.
For consumers it should mean they will be told on Wednesday that inflation surged ahead by more than one per cent in May, and the yearly rate, which was 8.4 per cent in April, will be back up very close to the nine per cent mark.
It won’t be happy news for the government, which in the past month or so
has enjoyed a respite after a string of bad economic reports on unemployment, the dollar, and until last month, inflation.
But last month’s decline in the inflation rate was largely due to cuts in provincial retail sales taxes worked out by Finance Minister Jean Chretien and eight of the 10 provinces.
The inflation figures this time will not benefit from any kind of ta’X cuts — except for Quebec where an eight per cent hotel tax was dropped in the latter half of April. However, this will have a negligible affect on the inflation count.
Food is one of the most important elements in inflation — about 25 per cent of the consumer price index is composed of food items.