today in brief
THREE Canadian airliners were targets of separate bomb threats during the weekend.
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JACK NICKLAUS won his sixth Masters title Sunday, an unprecedented feat by one of the greatest golfers of all. Page
EXECUTIVE SALARIES are still rising faster than wages for union members, accordmg to a Financial Times surve
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HERMAN
"Disgusting! Look at the size of her bathing suit."
Index
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Entertainment ... ....28,27
Movies........... .......26
Rolling Stone ....
Innovator Page 10
The
Prince George
Citizen
Sadrack says
Clear, cool, sunny weather today is expected to give way by Tuesday to cloudy weather with occasional showers and warmer temperatures. The overnight low will be near -2 rising to near 8 Tuesday.
Sunday's high was 5, the overnight low was -4, there was no precipitation and 7.8 hours of sunshine was recorded at the Prince George weather office.
A year ago today the high was 10, the overnight low was *4, there
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was no precipitation and 13 hours of sunshine.
Sunset today is at 7:10 p.m. and sunrise Tuesday is at 5:10 a.m.
40c
Monday, April 14, 1986
Absolute discharge for Rogers
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
- . For most people it’s a little early for tube riding, but er. The tube-riding duo were part of a group of divers early these prjnce George scuba divers enjoy an icy ride be- from the Prince George Underwater Club who partici-birds hind a river boat Sunday afternoon on the Nechako Riv- pated in the club’s annual ice flow float.
U.S. military buildup detected
LONDON (AP) — Eyewitnesses say U.S. air force tanker and transport planes have been flying into Britain for the last three days and British news media reported today the movements indicate a U.S. military buildup for a possible strike at Libya.
A U.S. air force spokesman, however, declined to confirm a buildup was taking place.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher remained silent on the possible use of British bases for any attack on Libya, but reporters said at one point Sunday, KC-10A tankers were landing every 20 minutes at Mildenhall base, 3rd U.S. Air Force headquarters in eastern England.
There were conflicting reports about whether Thatcher had agreed to a purported request from U.S. President Ronald Reagan for
Gas price takes a dip
The price of regular gasoline in Prince George dropped nine-tenths of a cent a litre early Saturday morning, making the average price 46.3 cents a litre from 47.2 cents.
Bob McLean, Imperial Oil company public affairs spokesman in Vancouver, said the price reduction came in response to one major B.C. competitor matching the cash discount price with a credit sale price.
In mid-February, Imperial Oil offered a two-per-cent discount for cash sale customers.
This is the third reduction in Prince George gasoline prices since March 27, when local stations dropped their price three cents a litre, to 48.7 from the 51.7 price established five days earlier. Gas prices started falling Feb. 20 from 57.7 cents per litre.
the use of British bases for a punitive strike against the government of Col. Moammar Khadafy, which the White House accuses of being a major force in international terrorism.
The Independent Radio News reported today that when Thatcher met Saturday with Reagan’s envoy, U.S. ambassador to UN Vernon Walters, “she is believed to have urged him to use British bases in England and Cyprus as a last resort.”
But the newscast said “there is no doubt that the Americans have brought in extra planes to back up their possible military action.”
A photograph of nine KC-10A tankers and C-130 transports close together on the ground at Mildenhall base in eastern England was on the front page of the tabloid daily Today.
VANCOUVER (CP) - Senator Ed Lawson. Canada’s high-flying Teamsters’ union head, has been trounced in a union election in his home local.
Lawson and his establishment-slate candidates were routed in an election for positions at the union's international convention in Las Vegas next month by a group of unemployed truck drivers led by a Vancouver mother of three.
“What rank-and-file member of a union who has been out of work for three years or more is going to support some guy who is flying around all over the place in hs own private jet airplane?” asked Diana Kilmury, who topped the polls with 1.243 votes.
Lawson got 803 votes, finishing 17th of 31 candidates seeking the 11 positions at the convention. He could not be reached for comment.
The 11 delegate positions were
Aircraft enthusiasts who log plane movements from outside base perimeters said there normally are two KC-lOAs a week at Mildenhall, but that by noon Sunday, 15 were parked there.
If an attack on Libya were mounted, the KC-10A tankers could give mid-air refuelling to British-based U.S. F-lll fighter-bombers.
The U.S. tankers and transports could also operate from the British base at Akrotiri in Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean to support the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, in other developments :
■ External Affairs Minister Joe Clark said Sunday in Jerusalem that Canada supports the U.S. in its intention to respond against Libya, but he urged against extreme action.
won by eight unemployed truck drivers on a reform slate, including long-time dissident Jack Vla-hovic, two independent candidates, and only one member of Lawson’s slate.
Lawson’s salaries and espenses are estimated at $250,000 a year. Because he is an international Teamsters’ vice-president, he gets his own private jet, which he keeps at Vancouver International Airport.
The convention election contest was the first time in 10 years Lawson faced rank-and-file membership in a ballot vote.
Vlahovic, who came second in the voting, said Lawson should resign because “he got beat in Canada’s biggest Teamsters’ local.”
The defeat means Lawson will not be able to participate fully as a delegate to the convention and will not be entitled to vote.
Clark said at a news conference in Jerusalem: “We have indicated our view that terrorism, which breaks the rules of a civilized society, needs to be responded to, that language alone is not enough, that if the state is involved in the act of encouragement of terrorism, that must be taken account of.”
But he said Canada had urged the United States “to avoid extreme action,” although he did not clarify what measures he believed should be taken.
■ Libya today denied American charges it has a hand in worldwide political violence and said the United States was “the power of official terrorism.”
Libya also warned any attack on it would be met by revenge abroad.
The Libyan People’s Foreign Bureau, or foreign ministry, quoted by the official JANA news agency, said Libya is against “all terroristic operations, hijacking airplanes and the murder of innocents.”
The statement came a day after a top U.S. State Department official said the United States would back away from a confrontation with Col. Moammar Khadafy’s government if the Libyan leader ceased plotting what the U.S. says are dozens of terrorist acts.
U.S. deputy State Secretary John Whitehead said U.S. authorities have information implicating Libya in the April 5 bombing of a West Berlin discotheque in which a U.S. soldier and a Turkish woman were killed, and that Libya was planning more attacks aboard.
President Ronald Reagan has indicated his willingness to order a military strike against Libya if its complicity in terrorist acts can be proven. Two U.S. aircraft carriers are now in the Mediterranean.
Both Reagan and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl have said Libya is a prime suspect in the West Berlin bombing.
VICTORIA (CP) — Former health minister Stephen Rogers was given an absolute discharge today in provincial court for his violation of the Financial Disclosure Act.
Rogers pleaded guilty Friday but Judge Michael Hubbard said his offence did not involve any moral turpitude and the act was little known until Rogers became the first person to be charged under it.
There must have been numerous other breaches of the act by elected officials, Hubbard said.
The publicity surrounding Rogers’ prosecution would serve as a warning to others to pay more attention to disclosing their finances, the judge said before granting Rogers an absolute discharge.
Lawyers for both the Crown and defence had asked for no further penalty for Rogers, saying his prosecution and admission of guilt were enough punishment.
Rogers resigned from the Social Credit cabinet to sit as a backbencher when he learned he was to be charged.
He said outside the court he intends to continue sitting as the member for Vancouver South and had no idea whether he would return to the cabinet.
Intergovernmental Relations Minister Garde Gardom appeared at Friday’s court hearing as a defence witness and testified Rogers is a conscientious and fair-minded person who is absolutely honest.
The defence contended Rogers merely failed to understand the requirements of the law and was not deliberately hiding anything.
Rogers was charged under the act for failing to file a complete written disclosure of his financial holdings. The law requires elected officials to give these details twice a year.
Violation of the law carries a maximum penalty of $10,000 upon summary conviction, but it is not considered a more serious indictable offence.
It was the first time a charge has been laid under the law, passed in 1974.
The charge said Rogers failed to disclose interest in land owned by Western Pulp Inc.
Other undisclosed holdings included a $18,000 debt to the Bank of British Columbia owed jointly with the operator of Star Leasing Ltd., and details of the voting shares in other companies held by Star Leasing Ltd. and Montgomery
Job hopes ride along with cargo
A trial cargo being sent to Quebec this month will help Gulf Canada Corp. decide whether to develop its anthracite coal mine at Mount Klappan in northwest B.C.
The $300-million, one-of-a-kind mine, 150 km northeast of Stewart, would employ up to 500 workers and produce 1.5 million tonnes of anthracite a year.
Two trial cargoes were shipped to Europe and Quebec last year, and a further shipment to Quebec will leave Stewart at the end of this month, said Lawrence Pituley, manager of Gulfs coal operations in Calgary.
Twenty-thousand tonnes of the coal was mined and processed in a pilot plant last year and trucked to Stewart in January and February.
Unlike other coal markets, the demand for anthracite remains strong, Pituley said in a telephone interview.
The hard, jet-black specialty coal has domestic and industrial uses. In briquet form it is used for home heating. It is also used for titanium smelting, electrode manufacturing and water filtration.
Investments Ltd. — Rogers’ personal holding company.
Rogers had listed Montgomery Investments Ltd. and Star Leasing Ltd. in his disclosure but did not mention their holdings.
Rogers did not make any statement in court. Defence lawyer Winton Derby argued that the act is complicated even for lawyers and Rogers’ failure stemmed from his ignorance of its requirements.
“He was caught by what I’m submitting to be a convoluted law. He made a mistake — he didn’t understand the law. He resigned and he’s here today. There was no profit to Mr. Rogers in any way at all.”
Special Crown prosecutor Leonard Doust said the act relies on the good faith of elected officials and the public expects a high standard of compliance from someone who holds a high office.
While deterrence should be reflected in sentencing, there is “very little to be gained at this point by the imposition of any further punishment,” Doust said.
SEE ALSO PAGE 7
Reforest funds: Hands off
KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CP) -The British Columbia government’s new $20 million reforestation fund will not be tapped for other projects as was a previous forestry fund in 1981, Forest Minister Jack Heinrich promised logging contractors Saturday.
Heinrich told about 500 people at the Interior Logging Association’s annual convention that the stand management funding for brushing, thinning and fertilizing is essential to protect new trees after they’re planted.
A five-year funding program set up to do this in 1981 “somehow evaporated” and was used for other programs he said. He promised the new fund will not be raided for other uses. “If you touch it, you do it at your own peril.”
Heinrich called on industry, labor and the federal government to boost the size of the fund.
The minister said the government will continue to put a lid of raw log exports because the situation was getting out of hand. Twelve per cent of the coastal cut is currently being exported as raw logs.
“We’re trying to keep this thing down because we should be processing as much as we can in British Columbia,” he said.
A group of Vancouver Island logging contractors and loggers staged a protest in Victoria Monday, complaining that the policy was killing jobs in the forest industry.
Heinrich also warned that the threat of the United States imposing countervailing duties will not disappear but he added he was hopeful they would not be imposed.
“We’ve got to work hard to preserve access to our markets.”
Heinirch said the government was committed to planting 200 million trees annually within five years, but cannot do so without using more herbicides.
“The public must understand that if reforestation doesn’t take place . . . there will be less wood to harvest . . . and it will affect employment in our industry.”
Teamster powers out
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