TAKEOVER COMPLETED AS DROUGHT CONTINUES
City brewery gearing up to quench our thirsts
by JAN-UDO WENZEL Citizen Staff Reporter
Beer from Prince George could start flowing next month as preparations to start brewing at the former Ben Ginter brewery began today.
The first brew could be set Friday.
The plant became the property of Prince George Breweries Ltd. Wednesday after financial arrangements were completed in Vancouver.
The brewery, formerly owned by Ben Ginter, had been in receivership since January, 1976, and the sale had been approved by the B.C. Supreme Court at $1.5 million.
The new company is headed by Prince George businessman Bob Naismith. It received a $490,000 federal grant from the department of regional economic expansion and the B.C. Development Corp. guaranteed the mortgage.
The for sale sign which had perched on top of the plant since the receivership began was taken down Wednesday.
Naismith said the brewery has a capacity of two million barrels a year and 13,000 bottles per eight-hour shift. He will
employ between 35 and 40 persons and a brew-master is to be brought in from Germany.
The brand will be known as Pacific Gold and Pacific Light Gold, not Interior Gold as previously reported.
It usually takes about six weeks for beer to be ready from the day of setting the brew.
Aside from Naismith, the major partners in the new firm are Nelson Skalbania, Vancouver real estate dealer and
owner of the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association and James Mueller of Prince George.
But while the prospect of a new beer from Prince George is bright, it will not do much for the increasing drought of beer in the province.
The lockout-strike situation in the brewing industry goes into its second week today and most outlets are predicting they will be sold out by the weekend.
Some 2,000 hotel employees in the Vancouver area have been laid off because the beer parlors had to close.
There have been no layoffs in Prince George so far.
‘‘We still have draught and bottled beer, but the supplies are slowly dwindling,” one local hotel operator said today.
Meanwhile, there are no indications the strike-lockout will be settled soon.
The B.C. Labor Relations Board deferred a decision on the legality of the lock-out until June 23. The Canadian Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers asked for a cease-and-desist order to lift the lockout.
The strike at Carling O’Keefe and the lockout at Molson’s Labatt's and Columbia Brewery has idled about 1,400 workers.
The main obstacle in the dispute is the union’s refusal to bargain with the newly-frormed Brewery Employers Labor Relations Association which the union said is not accredited by the labor relations board.
The breweries have given bargaining responsibility to the association.
VICTORIA BLASTED
Tax 'rip-off' claim denied
TODAY
Tm undecided. I stiff don't know which leader I hmte the most"
FEATURED INSIPe)
'.-VII wv
Bear problem
Thousands of black and grizzly bears are losing their fear of man through increased contact with vis* itors to wildlife areas. It could mean an increase in attacks on humans. Page 33.
Is she in love?
Is a 16-year-old girl too young to be in love? Not at all, says the Youth Clinic adviser. Page 39.
World Cup
The Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina scored dramatic victories Wed* nesday to launch the second round of the World Cup soccer finals with a barrage of goals. Page 17.
Index
Bridge........................ .......23 Family.....................
Horoscopes............. ....30,31
City, International..........
B.C........2, 3,6, 12, 13, 14, 32 Morberg column... ..........12
Classified................... National..................
Comics........................ .......36 Sopow column....... ............6
Crossword................. .......22
Editorial..................... .........4 Television............... ..........36
Entertainment.......... .36, 37 Rolling Stone.........
c
THE WEATHER
J
The forecast for Prince George today is for cloudy skies with some sunny periods and a few scattered showers. Temperatures are expected to be cool today. Friday’s outlook is for sunny skies with some cloudy periods and warm temperatures.
The expected high today is 16, the low 5. The high Wednesday was 13, the low 9, with .7 mm of rain. On this date last year the high was 21, the low 7.
( NOW HEAR THIS)
# Last year at this time, a local fisherman claimed a fish jumped into his boat while he was fishing on Grizzly Lake. The jumper brought his catch up to the limit. Well, the technique must be a family secret as the original fisherman’s brother-in-law had exactly the same thing happen to him on the same lake last weekend.
¥
0 A reader says the provincial government’s “buy B.C.” campaign seems to be a failure if one counts the government as one of the biggest “buyers” in the province. As an example he presents a blue ‘B.C. Government’ souvenir pen. In small letters are written: “Made in Israel.”
• Noting Jaws 2 was opening at a local theatre, someone noted, “The shark isn’t related to the one in the first Jaws; but they did go to the same school.”
by TOM NIXON
Citizen Staff Reporter
QUESNEL - Quesnel Mayor John Panagrot today blasted Premier Bill Bennett and Municipal Affairs Minister Hugh Curtis for accusing B.C. municipalities of using changes in the assessment tax formula to “rip off” property tax payers.
In an opening address to the annual conference of the North Central Municipal Association nere today, Panagrot said Bennett’s remarks were “ill-timed and totally-uncalled for.”
“I’m sorry Curtis is not here,” Panagrot told 120 delegates from most central and northern B.C. communities, “I wanted to make him defend their accusations.
“They painted us all with the same brush.” He asked for a resolution from the conference demanding Bennett name the municipalities that are guilty as well as those that aren’t.
Bennett, and other members of his cabinet have said the responsibility for increased property taxes this year falls on the shoulders of municipal leaders, not the provincial government which he said has tried to set an example of tax reduction.
Municipal representatives, including those from Prince Goerge, however, say the tax increases are beyond their control, and are either because of the new assessment formula or the result of tax increases by school boards, the assessment authority and other such bodies.
Curtis was scheduled to address the municipal conference here early today along with a representative of the B.C. Ferry Corporation. The aircraft carrying the two was unable to land at Quesnel airport due to fog conditions.
Taxpayers in favor of revolt
SURREY, B.C. (CP) -More than 1,000 taxpayers declared Wednesday they are ready for a tax revolt, but they couldn’t agree on a target or a weapon.
The angry taxpayers jammed a hotel meeting room for a 90-minute gripe session that centred on municipal and school taxes, but covered all forms of government spending. A second group of about 100 persons waited outside the room for their turn.
They signed a telegram to Premier Bill Bennett protesting “the outrageous increase" in property taxes in this municipality southeast of Vancouver.
Robber hits gas station
An armed man robbed the Nechako Chevron Self-Serv gas station around 11 p.m. Wednesday and got about $500.
Police said the station had been closed when the man appeared with a gun. He forced the attendant to reopen the building and hand over the day’s receipts.
He fled on foot, police said.
RCMP described the man as being in his 20s, about five-feet, seven inches tall, weighing about 145 pounds and having black wavy shoulder-length hair.
The female attendant was not injured.
Cltiien photo by Tim Swanky
Lynn Simon is surrounded by 100,000 Yellowhead Dollars. The coins will be on sale at m m | businesses from McBride to Prince Rupert by early next week and are distributed by
money ror sale the Yellowhead 16 Travel Association to raise money for tourist promotion of the area along the Yellowhead Highway. The dollars will be accepted by most businesses as legal tender until Labor Day.
Subsidy of BCR a waste—expert
Young
cyclist
dies
Two teens sought after women shot
Citizen Staff Reporter
QUESNEL - University of B.C. transportation expert Karl Ruppenthal says it would be cheaper for British Columbia taxpayers to pay $35 million to people along the Fort Nelson branch of the B.C. Railway than to pay for the continued operation and upgrading of the controversial 120-mile rail line.
Dr. Karl Ruppenthal, director of the centre for transportation studies, told an unrecep-tive audience of municipal politicians here the $35 million cost of the rail line reconstruction and a $10 million annual operating cost that will increase to $30 million per year by 1999 is a waste of taxpayer’s money.
“Even though there are people who would be significantly effected by the abandonment of the line, there are other ways to use the money,” Ruppenthal told delegates to the North Central Municipal Association conference.
“You can give the people the money or use it for highway improvements. I think the re-
sidents might opt for direct payment.”
Ruppenthal said the payments could be used to offset increases in the cost of living, the cost of transporting products out of the area, and in the end, such a policy would prove much more beneficial than continued subsidization of an uneconomic form of transport.
“Too often politicians look at old easy solutions,” he said, “many which have been used in other areas of the world and have failed.
“It’s a shameful waste but politicians don’t have to pay
See B.C. RAIL page 2
Eight-year-old Jody Stafford of Prince George died in Prince George Regional Hospital Wednesday of injuries sustained in a car-bicycle accident Sunday.
The boy received head injuries and had been in the intensive care unit until his death.
Police said he was riding a bicycle when he collided with a car in the intersection of Victoria Street and Strathcona Street. The accident took place shortly after 1 p.m.
Funeral service will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. from Sacred Heart church.
Husky terms revised
CALGARY (CP) - Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Husky Oil Ltd. announced Thursday that the directors and managements of both companies have agreed on revised terms for Occidental’s acqusition of Husky.
The companies had announced Tuesday that Occidental would acquire the
common shares of Husky through an exchange offer of 80 per cent or more of Husky’s shares after Husky rejected an offer from Petro-Canada, a federal Crown corporation.
Earlier in the day Petro-Canada, announced it intended to make an offer to buy all Husky common shares for $52 (Canadian) a share.
BURNABY, B.C. (CP) -Police were searching for two teen-aged boys Wednesday night after a sniping incident in which two women were gunned down within an hour at the same intersection.
Police said two youths were seen in the area about the time of the shooting. One was carrying a handgun in a brown paper bag and the other had a .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle.
Police said Gwymeth Mary Clandinin, 65, of Burnaby, was shot in the upper back while crossing the street to a bus stop at Boundary Road and Hastings Street on the Vancouver-Burnaby boundary.
A short time later, Holly Ann Edwards, 18, of New Westminster, Vancouver was shot in the head while walking though the area. She was in serious but stable condition in hospital, while the older woman was treated and released.
Witnesses said Ms. Edwards, who was hit in the temple, told them she thought she had stumbled and injured herself but her condition rapidly deteriorated and she was taken to hospital where doc-
•DIFFERENCES' AT LAST JOB
New college principal defended
by JOHN POPE Citizen Stuff Reporter
The College of New Caledonia’s new principal will receive an annual salary here of $43,500 plus $85,000 to leave a school district in Toronto.
Charles McCaffray, former director of education for the North York Board of Education assumes his duties here July 15.
He was given $80,000 plus $5,000 in moving expenses by his former employer after having differences with the board during the third year of a five-year contract.
But college council chairman Ruth Rushant had explanations today for the Toronto controversy as well as for paying two people to do the same job at the college for five months.
Current CNC principal Dr. Fred Speckeen does not officially leave the post until Dec. 31 of this year.
Rushant said negotiations are now under way to settle the accumulated holiday time owed to Speckeen, who will presumably be leaving before the end of the year.
She declined to comment on the negotiations which are being held in private.
“There is a fair amount of time owed (to Speckeen) that hasn’t been settled yet,” explained Rushant.
She said McCaffray has four children and didn’t want to move them in the middle of a school year.
The differences he had with his board of education in Toronto were basically caused by the board’s failure to back him when he carried out policies it had requested, according to Rushant.
“I’ve checked out five references,” said Rushant, who headed the search committee for a new principal at the college.
“And they all recommended him very highly and volunteered that we shouldn’t be swayed by the problem in Toronto.”
“One person described it as a zoo and said no one should work there.” Rushant said the references she checked were the “most articulate people I’ve talked to in many a day.
“They all said he was extremely itel-ligent and creative. A man who moves fast.”
This view of McCaffray was backed up today by the education reporter at the Toronto Sun.
Harvey Shakter said Prince George is getting “one hell of a good educator” and that his demise in Toronto was a “classic case of an education bureaucracy suffocating a good myn.” McCaffray will be in Prince George this weekend to begin looking for a new home.
tors determined she suffered a bullet wound.
“I was walking across Boundary when I cringed in pain,” Mrs. Clandinin said in an interview at her home. “A man heard me cry out and came to my help.
"I could hardly walk but I managed to get home and call my doctor. Then I went to hospital and a surgeon took lots of x-rays. As soon as he saw the results he said it looked like a bullet.
• “I couldn’t believe it. I was just walking along, minding my own business. Now I’m in agony. I’ve never been in so much pain in all my life.”
Inflation: Liberals under fire
OTTAWA (CP) - Opposition MPs banded together in the Commons Wednesday to condemn the Liberal government as the most wasteful in Canadian history as shown by the current record levels of inflation and unemployment.
MPs roasted federal economic policies as they debated a Progressive Conservative motion criticizing the 10-year-old government of Prime Minister Trudeau for creating “an unmatchable standard of incompetence.”
Their comments came on the day that government figures were released showing the 12month rate of inflation at nine per cent and a day after Statistics Canada said there are 933,000 persons unemployed or 8.6 per cent of the work force.
BULLETIN
SPENCES BRIDGE, B.C. (CP) — Police said today a Canadian Forces truck has gone into the Thompson Hiver south of this southern Interior British Columbia community.
It was not know how many persons were in the truck when the mishap occurred about 8:30 a.m.
No further details were available.