FIRM CONTINUES TO DO ICBC WORK
'Crying' about rate criticized by body shop owner
           by DON MORBERG Citizen Staff Reporter
  The co-owner of one of the Prince George body shops still doing ICBC work says the companies accepted the rate offered and should now stick with it.
  Wayne Sponaugle. co-owner of Eastway Autobody, said the time to complain about ICBC’s rateof $25.60 an hour plus paint and materials was in April when the rate was announced, not now.
  “Not one shop refused that rate when it was announced. I don’t think people should accept a contract and then start crying about it months later. They should have refused it then and there.”
  Sponaugle’s shop has been the scene of irregular picketing by body shop owners and workers since it went back to doing ICBC work. On one occasion punches flew between Sponaugle and a picketer.
  Pat Franklin of the bodyshop owners association said the owners originally accepted the ICBC rate, but that rate be-
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Prince George
25e	Vol. 25; No. 168 Thursday. August 28. 1980 Prince George, British Columbia
Thursday. August 28. 1980 Prince George, British Columbia
came inadequate when the shop workers received a rate increase in July. He said Sponaugle was originally with the shop owners, but changed his mind when he thought more money could be made while the other shop owners were refusing ICBC work.
Sponaugle says he changed his mind about the association because he did not like the way it was being run.
  ‘‘We talked with our employees and they said they were willing to work for the ICBC rate, so we work for it." he said.
  “The time to do something is when the new rate comes down next April." he said. "That means the shop owners will have to take a little less between now and then, but they made their btd so now they must sleep in it."
  Sponaugle said he did not feel it was fair for a person who
has an accident to pay the $300 deductible and then have to pay another $200 or $300.
  Sponaugle said he was making money in his shop at the $25.60 rate. "I don't think there is a tradesman in this town can’t take an ICBC sheet and make money on it, if the estimate is done properly.” Most of the estimates are. he said.
  Sponaugle and his partner and two other body men work in his shop and do between $30,000 and $50,000 gross business a month.
  ICBC pays $25.60 an hour plus $7.20 an hour for painting materials and $3.20 an hour body shop materials. The tradesmen get about $12.40 an hour and the shop pays materials cost and overhead, Sponaugle said.
  He said most of the body shop owners involved in the dispute were honest. hardworking people who were out to get the best deal they could. He said he disagreed with some of the association members, “who are out to control things. It’s a big mess right now; it’s been all blown out of proportion.”
  MONTREAL (CP) -Nine convicts at maxinium-security Laval Institute laid down their weapons, released the last of their hostages and gave themselves up today, three days after they seized the hostages following a bungled escape attempt.
    Guy Verreault, spokesman for the federal penitentiary service, said two of the hostage-takers surrendered shortly after 10 a.m. EDT. They stripped to their underwear. were handcuffed and then taken away.
    “At the same time, the hostages walked off all at once,” said Verreault. “We knew it was over then.”
    The seven remaining convicts then stripped and surrendered one by one. They threw their pistols and homemade knives over a nearby fence.
    The convict identified by authorities as the leader of the group, Roger Duhamel. was the last to surrender. Verreault said there were no conditions attached to the surrender of any of the -hostage-takers.
    There were eight hostages still being held at the time of the surrender. Three others of the original group of 12 captives had been released earlier today, and yet another was released on Tuesday, one day after the incident began.
    "The hostages appeared to be relieved although they’re very tired,” Verreault said. They were taken immediately to a prison infirmary to have medical examinations.
    “It happened very fast,” said Verreault, adding that it was unclear whether all the prisoners decided to give themselves up at once, or whether the surrender of the first two prompted the others to give themselves up minutes later.
  BULLETIN
  VANCOUVER (CP) — Insurance Corp. of B.C. reported today u $ 15.5-million operating loss for its auto insurance scheme Autoplan during the first six months of 1980.
   Bob Kgby, spokesman for the Crown insurance firm, attributed the loss to increased claims, spiralling costs of vehicle repairs and higher-than anticipated claims costs.
   Kgby said a continuation of the trend will affect next year's premium rates.
College registration
Citben photo by Brock Cablr
 College of New Caledonia students registered for classes Wednesday as part of a process that will finish next week when part-time students register. New students in the university transfer program will register Friday. All interested students may pick up class schedules at tne student service centre.
SCRAPS BALANCED BUDGET
Carter proposes tax cuts
'Harvester'
  WASHINGTON (AP) -President Carter today prop-. osed $27.5 billion in 1981 tax cuts for individuals and businesses as part of a U.S. election-year economic program that also aims to create one million new jobs in the next two years.
    Carter also requested congressional authority to spend an additional $3.6 billion in 1981 to retrain workers, weatherproof homes, maintain highways, build ports, boost research and development and help economically distressed counties and cities.
    In addition, he urged Congress to work fast to extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks to help workers laid off by the recession. Benefits currently expire after 39 weeks. This would cost S1.35 billion over two years.
   The president officially announced the economic program in a White House address to an invited audience of rep-
 resentatives of business, labor, consumer and environmental groups and members of Congress.
   Treasury Secretary G. William Miller told a news briefing earlier that all of the tax initiatives and virtually all of the spending proposals would not be proposed as legislation until January. The tax reduc-
 tions would go into effect Jan. 1, retroactively if necessary.
   The wide-ranging package would increase the proposed federal deficit by from $8 billion to $10 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, bringing the projected budget shortage to nearly $40 billion. Only five months ago. Carter was championing a balanced bud-
 get as the key to his then economic policy.
   Beyond economics, Democrat Carter’s thrust has political import. It is seen as his answer to a $37-billion tax-cut plan proposed earlier by Ronald Reagan, his Republican rival for the presidency in the Nov. 4 U.S. general elec-' tion.
Newspaper probe hinted
  OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government is considering convening an inquiry into the activities of the country’s two major newpaper chains, which closed daily newspapers here and in Winnipeg Wednesday as they consolidated some of their holdings.
   Jim Fleming, minister of state for multiculturalisin, emerged from a late-afternoon cabinet meeting saying he was shocked at the loss of the
 Ottawa Journal and the Winnipeg Tribune and promised unspecified action within a few
 days.
  He said Andre Ouellet, minister of consumer and corporate affairs, will contact his departmental officials immediately “to see if there has been any criminal activity in what happened.”
   “It is shocking to see two major corporations apparently working in concert to
 shut down two major newspapers,” Fleming told reporters.
    If it appears there is nothing in the present combines legislation to stop the actions of Thomson Newspapers Ltd., which closed The Journal, and' Southam Inc., which killed The Tribune, cabinet “will look seriously” at the possibility of an inquiry into the issue, he said.
See ulso pages 2,7
Key issue remains in Poland
  GDANSK (AP) - ThePolish government has agreed to most of the strikers’ demands but progress has yet to be made on the key question of free trade unions, the Communist regime’s topnegotiator said in a recorded message today as the crippling walkout entered its third week.
  The message from Deputy Premier Mieczyslaw Jagielski did not elaborate. It was broadcast by Gdansk Radio after Andrzej Gwiazda, one of the strikers’ negotiators, told reporters: “There is general agreement between strikers and the government on forming free and independent trade unions.”
  Gwiazda made the statement Wednesday after he and other strike leaders held their second bargaining session with government negotiators at the giant V.l. Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk, where the mass walkout began Aug. 14 and now counts at least 300,000 workers in all four corners of Poland.
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(featured inside]
MONTREAL PRISON
Hostage drama ends peacefully
   Employees of International Harvester Co. of Canada Ltd. in Prince George, on strike since Aug. 8, have reached an agreement with the company, says a union spokesman.
  Rick Callaghan, Prince George shop steward for Lodge 1857, International As-sociaiton of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said today the 19 local employees return to work Friday morning.
   Callaghan said the union has signed a two-year contract, details of which will be released next week.
Bank rate up again
  OTTAWA (CP) - The Bank of Canada rate rose to 10.74 per cent Thursday from 10.45 per cent last week, a move expected to lead to higher interest rates for business and consumers.
Tentative coal agreement expected today
Citizen News Services
   A deal between Japanese steel industry companies, B.C. and the federal government was expected to be made today.
   The coal companies involved are Denison Mines Ltd., Teck Corporation and B.C. Canada Ltd., T. Nemoto is representing the giant NKK Corp. of Japan.
   A meeting was scheduled for today, during which a memorandum of agreement for sale of 5.3 million tonnes of coal from northeastern B.C. was to be signed.
   Premier Bennett said, “I will be presenting my final persuasive arguments," regarding trade between the Japanese and B.C.
   Signing of the memorandum would not be the final step, but would lead the way toward further negotiations
 for the $5 billion deal.
   Bennett has vowed there would be no provincial subsidies for the coal companies.
   "I’ve told them ... if you’re going to make untoward profits . . . then we’ll put in a coal royalty and get them back.”
   He also said B.C. would build a spur line into the coal fields, which extend from Chetwynd in a southeasterly direction to the Alberta border.
   Development of those fields would be immediately beneficial to Prince George which would become a supply and transportation centre for the new industry. When coal is shipped westward to Prince Rupert, which is to have improved port facilities to handle the coal, it would pass through Prince George area.
   Construction at Prince Rupert, rail
 lines, coal cars and town sites in the coal fields could total $1 billion.
   A spur line alone would cost about $400 million.
   “1 don’t want to get into arguing costs,” Bennett said.
    -“I’ll build a railway just like I build a highway . . .
   “Traditionally highways and railways have been built with no capital cost recovery. This is the first one that has a mechanism for triggering cost recovery ... the first railway that hasn’t been subsidized.”
   Referring to Japanese buyers, he said, "I think they’re going to have to get a substantial bonus over Australia (which also sells coal to Japan) and I think we’ve convinced them all.
   “I think we can get that differential.”
   Bennett added that, “The problem will be the freight cost, so the northeast (coal) is not so much higher than the southeast.”
   Industry Minister Don Phillips was enthusiastic about possibilities the agreement would be signed.
   Earlier reports indicated the mining companies and the CNR were only about $1 apart on the rate - the cost of transporting the coal out from northeastern B.C. fields to port at Prince Rupert.
   Phillips, who travelled CNR’s northern line last weekend with several federal cabinet ministers, wheat board and railway officials, said one way to reduce the freight rate is to increase the heavily subsidized Crowsnest Pass rate for grain.
TODAY
 “Coffee, tea, or Cuba?"
Tough game ahead
  Canada, represented by Trail, won its first game at the Little League baseball world series, but faces powerful Taiwan today. Page 14.
 Spruce Kings win
  The Prince George Spruce Kings won the first game of their exhibition hockey series in West Germany. Page 15.
Index
Business..........................8, 9
 City, B.C....................2, 3, 33
Classified.....................16-24
Comics...............................28
Crossword........................18
Editorial..............................4
 Entertainment...........28, 29
Family.........................34, 35
Horoscopes.......................12
International......................5
National..............................7
Sports.....................13-15,38
Television.........................29
 • As a mark of preparation, the hunter training instructor referred to a short chunk of emergency rope, asking: “How would you start an outboard motor if its rope breaks?” Some wit piped up, “Push start?”
 • One of the best acronyms we’ve seen has just been coined by the University of Nova Scotia: Design Analysis of Moisture Penetration — DAMP. Now there’s a word that says what it means.
 • Damage estimates for vandalism Saturday at the Pinewood Elementary School spiraled more outside Prince George. It was initially set here at $50,000 to $100,000 which grew to $500,000 to $600,000 when reported on a Kelowna radio station. After the mess was finally cleaned up, the estimate was $20,200 and it could be less than this because some of the damaged material will be repaired rather than replaced.
★
     Got a news tip? Call The Citizen’s 24-hour news line at 562-2441.
strike ends	NORTHEASTERN B.C. PROJECT
   This month we’ve had rain galore.
   We sure as heck need no more.
   The weather office says this month’s rain total is far above normal monthly totals already: 101.5 mm against 73.4 mm., and there’s more to come. Today’s forecast is for cloudy with sunny periods, with a few afternoon showers and nighttime thundershowers. Friday’s forecast is for sun with cloudy periods.
   Today’s expected high is 15 and the low 7. Friday’s forecast high is 15 to 17 with a low of 5, while Wednesday’s high was 12 and the low 8. A year ago today the high was 27 and the low 11.
   Sunset today is at 8:(13 p.m. Sunrise Friday is 5:0b a.m. and sunset is 8:11 p.m.
Detuils Page 2