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The Prince George
Citizen
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1986
40 CENTS
Waldheim has admission 6 Ontario's forest woes 34 What do your eyes say? 39
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City, B.C.......... .2,3,11,24,25
.......16-23 .........26
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BURNS LAKE WATER THREATENED
IWA strike cost
causes dissent
by DIANE BAILEY Staff reporter While the International Woodworkers of America looks at borrowing $10 million to bolster its strike fund, the contributions of members at one area mill are being held back at their request.
Bruce MacNicol, general manager of Fraser Lake Sawmills, said about 58 per cent of the 280 workers there petitioned the company not to deduct a strike fund assessment of $5 per working day from their paycheques.
. He said the company is trying to determine its legal responsibilities.
“On the one hand we have received notification that this deduction should be made. On the other, we have received a petition from a group of employees stating they do . not want the money deducted,” he said.
“Basically we are bystanders in the whole issue.”
He said the money is being deducted from employee paycheques and is being kept in an interest-earning account until the company “receives legal direction on what to do with it.”
The mill has written the employment standards branch of the Labor Ministry, asking for direction, said MacNicol.
At a meeting in Vancouver on Wednesday, the IWA was given authority from its 13 member locals to borrow an additional $10 million from within the trade union movement to finance the strike.
The union, which has already borrowed about $4 million, spends about $800,000 a week on strike pay. The $10 million would last until nearly the end of January.
“I would sure as hell hope it’s not necessary,” unjon leader Jack Munro said in Vancouver. “But the members are determined, they’re sure as hell not going to walk away
.. .and in tomorrow's Citizen...
In Friday’s Halloween edition, The Citizen tells the tale of a woman who didn’t believe in ghosts — until she moved into an early 19th century farmhouse.
Also planned:
■ A look at horror movies through the years.
■ Mutual funds attract millions of Prince George dollars.
from this strike. There’s far too much invested in it.”
The Fraser Lake mill was one of several in the north that rejected the assessment plan in a referendum, causing some dissent in the ranks.
Striking workers from Northwood and Canfor mills showed their displeasure by setting up a wildcat picket line that shut down Lakeland Mills in Prince George for several hours.
Several days later, strikers passed out leaflets at The Pas Lumber, where workers also rejected the proposal.
Blanchard acknowledged there are members on the job who are unhappy about the assessment, but
added the union won 65 per cent acceptance of the assessment plan provincially.
“There are some hotbeds around, some individual groups at work that object to it,” he said.
“But this union has always operated according to the majority.”
He added that the strike fund needs the injection of money provided by assessing the approximately 10,000 IWA members not on strike - and more.
“It is nowhere near enough,” said Blanchard.
The strike fund pays a married person whose spouse is not working $70 a week. The rate drops to $55 a week if the spouse is working or if the person is single.
$1-billion contract going to Quebec?
WINNIPEG (CP) - Prime Minister Brian Mulroney says a lucrative CF-18 maintenance contract should go to Canadair of Montreal instead of Bristol Aerospace of Winnipeg because the West has already received aid, notably $1 billion in farm assistance, the Winnipeg Free Press said today.
The newspaper said Mulroney told the federal Conservative caucus that another reason Canadair should get the work is that it’s Canadian. while Bristol is owned by the British firm Rolls-Royce.
The paper adds that the prime minister said the decision will be made by cabinet on Friday.
Canadair and Bristol have been engaged in a fierce struggle for the contract to service Canada’s new fighter aircraft. The 20-year contract has been estimated as worth between $1 billion and $1.8 billion.
La Presse in Montreal says the federal government decided to award the contract to Canadair 10 days ago.
The reports enraged Manitoba Industry Minister Vic Schroeder, who said the $1 billion in federal farm aid has nothing to do with the issue. The money was for all farmers coast to coast, including Quebec, Schroeder said.
He also said it would be hypocritical of Mulroney to penalize Bristol because it is a foreign company when the prime minister has de-
clared Canada open for investment and has already sold de Havilland to the U.S.-based Boeing Co.
Manitoba Premier Howard Pawley said he wants Mulroney to deny the rumors.
Hospital union holds pact vote
Health technologists at Prince George Regional Hospital will not interrupt services today as they vote on a contract proposed by industrial inquiry commissioner Fred Long.
The Health Sciences Association said Wednesday that its members would walk off their jobs at B.C. hospitals to conduct study sessions, starting at noon today.
But local spokesman Fred McLeod said Prince George members voted not to hold a study session. Instead, meetings will be held after each shift.
He said local members do not favor short-term job action.
“If they are going out, they are going out and not coming back.”
The union executive has recommended the industrial inquiry report be rejected.
It said the offer of a 10.2-per-cent increase over three years was not adequate.
The union will be announcing the results of the vote on Nov. 3.
FIGHT AGAINST CANCER
Fonyo at dad's bedside
VERNON (CP) — Cancer runner Steve Fonyo visited his dying father Wednesday and promised at his bedside that he would complete his Journey for Lives run through Britain.
“My dad said to me: ‘make sure you finish the run,’ and I promised him that I would." Fonyo said after the visit.
The one-legged runner cut short his United Kingdom run after leaving here a month ago to raise money for cancer research in Britain. He raised $13 million in a run across Canada that ended in the spring of 1985.
His father, Steve Fonyo Sr., 58. drove the support van for most of the journey and now he has been given little time to live because of lung cancer
Fonyo and his sister. Suzanne Krupa of Vancouver, said they had a good talk with their father during an hour-long visit at Jubilee Hospital here. Then they went to the family restaurant in this Okanagan community to be with their mother. Anna, who was serving dinners.
When he arrived on a connecting flight from Calgary at Kelowna airport, about a 30-minute drive
from here, Fonyo said in an interview that his father’s health is not very promising.
“I’ve been told that the doctors aren't going to be able to help him any more,” he said. “All we can do at this time is pray and hope that they’re wrong.”
He also met briefly* with Premier Bill Vander Zalm, who kept a government jet waiting for half an hour after his mediation efforts in a civic workers dispute.
Vander Zalm grasped Fonyo with both hands as they met on the tarmac and they talked quietly as they walked toward the terminal lobby.
At the Calgary airport, Fonyo appeared preoccupied and had to regain his composure once while talking to reporters about his father’s condition.
He said he has no regrets about starting the run because at the time his father’s illness was not so advanced.
“I dedicated the run to my father,” said Fonyo, 21. “We had a discussion before we left and he supported me.
“It's very hard for me to explain my feelings. I’m sure if you were in my position you’d understand.”
by Canadian Press
BURNS LAKE — This central British Columbia village is seeking a new water supply after learning that its present source of supply periodically contains high levels of a cancer-causing substance.
Mayor Bill Gilgan said today council originally learned of the existence of trithalometheanes in the water supply in a confidential provincial Environment Ministry report received two years ago. But a followup study indicated last summer that at certain times of the year the level of the substance, formed by the reaction of chlorine with sediments in Burns Lake, rises as high as four times the acceptable level.
“I am concerned about this, as most people here are, but we have been assured that our cancer-inci-
dence rate among residents is not higher than anywhere else in the province at the present time,” Gilgan said.
He said the water system was installed in 1948 and “it’s possible that tne problem has always been there.”
The report was released to residents about two days ago. Many residents already bring in their own drinking water from other sources Decause they don’t like the taste and color of water from the lake, Gilgan said.
An engineering firm has begun a well-drilling program on Gerow Island, about a kilometre from here. Gilgan said he hopes the drilling is successful because the alternative, a water purification plant, would cost millions of dollars.
Prince George residents can have a howi this Halloween by attending the Monster Splash Friday at Four Seasons Leisure Pool. Friendly ghosts and goblins will join swimmers for games, stunts, contests and other surprises in the haunted fun house.
Children from five to eight years are invited from 3:30 to 5 p.m., while those eight and older are invited from 8 to 10 p.m. Tickets, at $2.50, may be purchased in advance or at the door.
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
City gears for night of goblins
City Crews are taking every precaution to make the city as safe as possible Friday for spooks and goblins enjoying Halloween.
City engineer Ernie Obst reminds residents that retail businesses selling fireworks are required to obtain a permit and individuals purchasing fireworks are required to obtain permits from either of the downtown, Ospika, Austin Road or Vanway firehalls.
Sale of fireworks is restricted to the period Oct. 27-31.
Some community associations are expected to sponsor local fireworks displays.
The city’s public works division is making every effort to avoid having any open excavations or trenches throughout the city during Halloween and unused barricades and construction traffic signs will be picked up to avoid unauthorized traffic diversions.
City security patrolmen will be on duty at city departments like the pound and sewage treatment plant as well as parks and recreation facilities.
A Spruce King hockey game is scheduled for the Coliseum and a Halloween party at Four Seasons Leisure Pool.
Extra security is being provided at schools and reserve fire crews will be on call for any emergencies.
Spruce Capital Radio Club will have 25 radio-equipped vehicles on street patrol with communication connections to the RCMP.
VANCOUVER (CP) - Jimmy Pattison is known as a tough businessman who sticks to the bottom line but on Wednesday he paid $18,000 over the list price for a used robot.
Thousands of sentimentalists and bargain hunters flocked to B.C. Place Stadium to bid on and buy mementoes and memories from the Expo 86 world’s fair that drew more than 22 million visitors.
And it appeared the euphoria generated by the seven-month fair was still there as Pattison — through an agent — paid $53,000
United Way
'mailer'
included
The residential mailer for the Prince George and District United Way’s annual fund raising campaign is included in today’s issue of The Citizen. ‘
The mailer is used for Prince George residents to contribute to this year’s campaign goal of $300,000.
The United Way’s campaign involves no door-to-door canvassing. The residential mailers give everyone a chance to make a contribution to the campaign total, which is distributed between 18 member agencies and two associate agencies in the community.
"How could anyone flush a goldfish down a sink?!"
for fair mascot Expo Ernie.
Pattison purchased his pint-sized pal that looks like a midget in a space suit at Expo’s liquidation auction even though the jet-setting millionaire was in Amsterdam at the time. Pattison delegated Expo board member John Newton to do his bidding.
“I told him (Pattison) that I could build him a new one for $35,000,” said Newton. “And he said, I don’t care. I want to buy Expo Ernie because there’s only going to be one Expo Ernie.” .
Newton — chairman of Expo’s disposal committee — said $53,000 was a bargain for Pattison, who will put Ernie to work promoting the Jim Pattison Group.
But Pattison didn’t get Ernie without a fight. Vancouver businessmen Dennis Tucker and Chuck Saunders also wanted the talkative electronic ambassador who toured the globe to promote the fair. But Saunders admitted they couldn’t beat Pattison.
“It’s like Pattison buying his own son back,” said the restaurateur. “He would have gone a lot higher.”
The bidding war was just part of the action at the two-day closing out sale.
The stadium looked like a bargain basement as thousands of shoppers crammed into the domed facility to buy thousands of signs, posters, flags, and fixtures from the world’s fair.
Pattison ended up on both sides of the auction block His Expo office furniture went up for sale right after Ernie. With Social Services Minister Claude Richmond wielding the gavel, Pattison’s desk went for $2,200 and his chair for $900.
Pattison who worked for the Expo corporation for five years at $1 a year, displayed the Rolls-Royce he purchased for $2.3 million from Beatle John Lennon at the fair. Then he gave the vehicle with its psychedelic paint job to the provincial government.
# “I can tell you, Ernie, that you’re going to a good home,” Richmond said •after the robot purchase. “It’s got a swimming pool and everything.”
Ernie replied: “It’s a little better than the broom closet I’ve been in.”
Expo Ernie to get
a home with pool