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Low tonight: 0 High Wednesday: 16
The Prince George
Citizen
TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1987
40 CENTS
Canadian wins at Cannes 5 Bilodeau tops collegians 11 World's behind Hansen 25
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City, B.C........... ........2,3 ........27
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IRAQI MISSILE KILLS 37 U.S. SEAMEN
Warning follows attack on ship
by Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon announced today that 37 seamen are believed to have died in an Ira-
?i attack on the USS Stark in the ersian Gulf.
Cmdr. Robert Prucha said 22 victims have been positively identified, and 15 were missing and presumed dead. The previously announced death toll was 28; at least 21 sailors were wounded.
Prucha could not say whether the dead were lost overboard or were still in the wreckage.
As a result of the attack Sunday night, President Ronald Reagan on Monday put American forces in the Gulf on heightened alert and warned both Iraq and Iran that their aircraft will be shot down if they threaten more U.S. ships.
“The mission of the men of the USS Stark — safeguarding the interests of the United States and the free world in the Gulf — remains crucial to our national security and :to the security of our friends
throughout the world.”
Reagan’s statement was coupled with a demand that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein immediately explain, apologize, and compensate the victims’ families and the U.S. navy.
Hussein expressed “deepest regret over the painful incident.”
The White House and Pentagon said the attack was inadvertent and unexplained.
The Pentagon said the Stark had at least a minute’s warning but did not try to shoot down the plane or the missile.
It was the first such attack on a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf, and the deadliest attack on any ship so far in the seven-year-ola Iran-Iraq war.
Fire flared repeatedly today on the Stark, halting its progress toward port.
‘The frigate has not moved too far from the location where she was hit last Sunday,” said a marine salvage executive speaking on
The USS Stark, a massive hole in her hull near the bridge, limps toward Bahrain.
condition 5f anonymity. The Stark was hit by a French-made Exocet missile about 80 nautical miles northeast of Bahrain.
The 138-metre guided-missile
frigate earlier had been inching toward Bahrain, towed by a U.S. warship with a second snip cruising at its side in what was described as “a funeral procession.”
Nizar Hamdoon, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, said Iraqi planes had meant to hit a suspected Iranian ship 30 kilometres from the Stark.
“I think it happens in every air force in the world, in every army in the world, that mistakes do happen,” he said.
“We have no evidence to indicate that it was anything other than . . .a ghastly accident,” said U.S. Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger.
Weinberger said American ships will remain in the Gulf.
Iran’s prime minister, Hussein Musavi, said the Gulf is not safe for the superpowers.
But the U.S. State Department said American “basic interests” in the region — an end to the Gulf war and a start to Arab-Israeli peace talks — remain.
Officials have been unable to explain why the Stark did not try to shoot down the missile or the plane.
All aboard!
The lonesome sound of a steam whistle is not a thing of the past as long as the miniature train at Fort George Park continues to operate during warm weather. Children playing ball
Alberta shudders in spring blizzard
. . .and in tomorrow's Citizen. . .
EDMONTON (CP) — A massive spring storm blasted into Alberta today with snow, sleet, rain, north winds gusting to 60 kilometres an hour and near-freezing temperatures.
Travel on Highway 2 south of Edmonton and highways west of Edmonton was not recommmended because of poor visibility and a buildup of slush created by the blizzard.
There were intermittent, brief power failures in Edmonton, one caused by a flooded transformer.
The branches of lilac trees, in full bloom, were forced to the ground by the weight of wet snow.
School bus service in the Legal area, 40 kilometres north of Edmonton, was cancelled for the day.
The weather office issued a heavy snowfall warning for most of
central and southwestern Alberta, including the Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Edson, Jasper and Banff regions.
A weather office spokesman said most areas could expect 10 to 15 centimetres of wet snow, with accumulations of more than 25 centimetres over the foothills and higher terrain.
One of the worst hit locations was the Ponoka area, 80 kilometres south of Edmonton, where 12 centimetres of ankle-high slush had built up on Highway 2.
The storm moved into the Edmonton area late Monday night with rain and thundershowers. The rain turned to snow as cold air was sucked into the storm system.
“I put in all my bedding plants yesterday,” one Edmonton woman said as she looked out her window in disbelief.
For hundreds of thousands of Dutch, buying marijuana is as simple as buying a six-pack of beer. Ten years after being decriminalized, soft drugs are an everyday commodity — and an almost forgotten issue — in the Netherlands. Wednesday’s Citizen includes at look at the situation.
Also planned:
■ Quadriplegics are able to utilize unused muscles through neuromuscular stimulation.
along the train’s route through the park will remember the “good old days” when it tooted its call for passengers to
board. Citizen photo by Lisa Murdoch
Premier and labor to discuss Bill 19
VANCOUVER (CP) - Premier Bill Vander Zalm will meet with B.C. Federation of Labor officials Thursday to discuss possible amendments to his government’s proposed labor legislation, the premier said Monday.
But Vander Zalm warned he will leave those meetings if federation officials insist the industrial relations reform act be withdrawn.
“If we see that we’re going to go
B.C. judge mourned
VANCOUVER (CP) - Mr. Justice Harry McKay died Sunday following a long bout of cancer.
“His great strength was in criminal law, which he always applied with tremendous common sense,” Chief Justice Allan McEachern said.
McEachern said McKay, 62, was proud of his small-town beginnings and the fact his father had been pit boss in a coal mine in the southeastern B.C- town of Femie.
In more than 20 years as a judge, beginning in 1967 as a member of the Nanaimo county court bench, McKay presided at many notable trials.
Among the notorious criminals who passed through his courtroom were child killer Clifford Olson, mass murderer David Shearing and Merrill Kivell, one of the men involved in the kidnap-murder of Vancouver housewife Sharon Bolli-var.
Do you like your job?
TORONTO (CP) — Nearly eight per cent of Canadians, or almost one million, work at jobs that hold absolutely no interest for them, says a Gallup poll released Monday.
But most Canadians, Gallup found, take at least some pleasure in their work: 40 per cent said they found their jobs “fairly interesting," and 51 per cent said their jobs were “very interesting.”
Young people find their jobs less interesting then do older people, the survey found: 11 per cent of those aged 18 to 29 reported that their jobs were “not interesting at all,” while just six per cent of people 30 to 49 gave the same response.
The survey is based on in-home* interviews with 1,013 adults between April 8 and 11.
places starting Thursday morning we’ll take time to rewrite the appropriate amendments,” the premier said.
“But if they (federation members) continue to say the bill has to be withdrawn, there won’t be much point in me sitting in. . .we’re not so flexible that we’re going to turn out the philosophy of the legislation.”
Tom Fawkes, federation spokesman, said Monday he was unaware Vander Zalm would be at the meetings. He said federation officials are scheduled to meet with Labor Minister Lyall Hanson Thursday.
Fawkes would not comment on whether the premier’s decision to attend the meeting is a positive development in the federation’s battle against the proposed changes to the labor law.
Although Vander Zalm would not give details of Bill 19 amendments the government would be willing to put forth, he was confident there would be some changes.
“I’m sure there will be some amendments. If there are changes to be made to make it more palati-ble to all concerned, I’m in favor of it,” he said.
But the government’s plans to push the bill through the legislature quickly remain unchanged, Vander Zalm said. The bill could be in committee “by this time next week” and amendments could follow soon after, he said.
Union leaders said the government’s haste to pass the legislation indicates Thursday’s meeting between the federation and provincial government is little more than a public relations ploy.
“The ship’s perfectly capable of defending itselt,” Weinberger said.
U.S. officials said the Iraqi plane was tracked by radar from the time it left Iraq, but seemed to pose no threat.
An Exocet hit the Stark on its port side above the waterline, penetrated the hull and exploded, touching off large fires that swept through a crew compartment where 25 of the victims died.
Pentagon sources said the ship was engaged in a sonar search for underwater mines at the time of the attack, barely moving.
Its weapons — including surface-to-air missiles and a 3,0u0-round-a-minute Phalanx anti-missile system. — were manned and about one-third of the crew was standing watch.
The Pentagon said efforts to discuss what happened with the ship’s captain, Cmar. Glenn Brindel, 43, were postponed while he directed firefighting and rescue efforts.
See also page 7
1.000 expected at rally
by DIANE BAILEY Staff reporter
Organizers are expecting at least 1,000 people to gather in front of the provincial building on Third Avenue Wednesday to protest provincial labor legislation.
The rally, slated to begin at noon, marks the next stage in the B.C. Federation of Labor’s escalating plan of action against Bill 19, the Industrial Relations Reform Act.
Results of votes opposing the legislation, conducted among unions affiliated to the federation, will be announced at the rally. It will also mark the beginning of a work-to-rule campaign and a ban on overtime.
Mike German, who is organizing the rally, said a crowd of 1,000 is a conservative estimate.
“The city has been very co-operative in getting hold of the RCMP to assist us if traffic control is necessary.”
The local labor council is not asking workers to walk off their jobs to attend the rally, saying labor’s fight is with the government and not with employers.
But if substantial changes are not made to Bill 19, the federation will recall its executive board to discuss job action.
How that job action will proceed will be decided at that time.
The government is expected to introduce amendments to the bill so committee debate can begin Wednesday, i
If Bill 19 progresses to third reading, there are provisions in the action plan for a provincial walkout. If the bill becomes law, a total boycott of the legislation would begin.
The bill is the first major rewriting of labor legislation in the province since 1973. It creates an industrial relations council headed by a commissioner with sweeping powers to intervene in labor disputes.
Teachers get cash support
HALIFAX (CP) - Nova Scotia teachers will give their British Columbia counterparts financial and moral support in their fight against provincial labor legislation.
Delegates to the Nova Scotia Teachers Union’s annual council meeting during the weekend decided to contribute $100,000 to a national teachers’ defence fund B.C. teachers can use to fight legislation they say would erode union powers.
The Nova Scotia union also unanimously endorsed a resolution to divest itself of British Columbia government bonds worth more than $650,000 to show its opposition to the legislation.
The B.C. labor legislation would make membership in the provincial teachers federation non-com-pulsory and allow teachers to organize at a local level only.