The Prince George
Citizen
TUESDAY, APRIL 23,1991
51 CENTS
(Plus GST)
Mulroney raps separation 6
Gorbachev in hot seat_________7
Oilers OT winners again 11
CNC foresees increase
High tomorrow: 15
TELEPHONE:
562-2441
20
CIRCULATION:
562-3301
THOUSANDS LEFT HOMELESS
Costa Rica quake toll climbs
SAN JOSE (CP) — Rescuers rushed today to aid people feared trapped under rubble afler an earthquake shook Costa Rica and northeastern Panama.
Authorities said more than 70 people were killed, 830 were injured and thousands are homeless.
Monday’s quake, measured at 7.4 on the Richter scale, inflicted its worst damage on Puerto Limon, Costa Rica’s main Caribbean port city.
Most of Puerto Limon’s 130,000 residents wandered in the streets all night, afraid to return to their houses amid continuing aftershocks, officials said.
There have been more than 300 aftershocks since the main quake
struck at 3:55 p.m. (5:55 p.m. EDT) Monday, the National Emergency Commission said.
There were fears the number of known casualties would rise as rescue workers flew into remote villages.
Henry Pardy, Canada’s ambassador to Costa Rica, said there were no reports of Canadians injured or killed but “we’re still doing some checking in the outlying areas.”
Pardy said Canada is considering a relief contribution.
“This place looks like one of these Hollywood apocalyptic movies,” Rigoberto Perez, a resident of Puerto Limon, said by telephone.
“It felt like the world was com-
Pub plan killed after neighbors launch protest
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen Staff
The development of a neighborhood pub at Bunce and Leland roads off Highway 16 West was shot down Monday night in a unanimous vote by Prince George city council.
Following a public hearing Monday, council found it could not ignore a barrage of opposition from the neighborhood.
Residents came in numbers to the hearing to protest on grounds of increased traffic, more drunken drivers, the unlit narrow and dangerous condition of Bunce Road, safety for school children and those using the road for jogging, cycling, horseback riding and other recreational activities.
Protesters outlined a need for sidewalks, street lighting, widened and resurfaced road and an upgraded intersection at Highway 16 and Bunce Road before giving consideration to a pub.
Council received about 30 letters and petitions containing about 170 signatures protesting the move and a 237-signature petition favoring the project.
An unofficial survey taken by protesters in a 500-metre radius showed 68 homeowners, or 74 per cent, out of 92 canvassed were opposed.
On the other hand, proposed developer Bemie Srochenski told council he, too, took an unofficial survey of the immediate area and had no problem securing 237 names in favor.
However, ‘hose in favor did not show up at the hearing to defend the development
Srochenski had no explanation except to say it’s usually those opposed who show i p to fight while those in favor never seem to bother.
It made a difference when it came time to vote on amending the Official Community Plan and rezoning the site to make way for the project.
Aid. Ron Thiel said he was swayed by the “lack of interest for a neighborhood pub,” while Aid. Colin Kinsley said,“I don’t see anyone here in favor of it.”
Aid. Don Bassermann said he hadn’t been aware of the “volume of concern” and Mayor John Backhouse said, “It’s incumbent upon council to preserve that neighborhood” when so many spoke against the development
“This is an application which doesn’t have neighborhood support,” he said.
Following the hearing, Srochenski said he has no immediate plans to look at a different site or consider other means.
Land claim action pledged
VICTORIA (CP) — Canadians must understand the plight of the country’s natives, Premier Ritia Johnston said Monday as she pledged to try to resolve issues important to aboriginal people.
“B.C. and Canada must come to grips with a simple and unfortunate fact — that the overall social and economic conditions of native people in the province of B.C. are not on a par with those of other British Columbians,” she said in a speech to the First Nations Congress annual convention.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was to address the convention today.
Johnston told about 200 leaders of B.C. Indian bands that her government is committed to negotiating land claims.
ing to an end as everything moved and heaved.”
“Rescuers are trying to pull out people who have been buried in their homes,” San Jose television reporter Pilar Cisneros told CNN.
She said bridges and power were down in Puerto Limon and residents lined cars along the airport runway and used their headlights to guide in relief aircraft.
The local hospital was badly damaged.
“Many hospital patients and those injured during the earthquake are being treated in an emergency tent set up in the street near the hospital,” said Red Cross spokesman Miguel Orozco.
In San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital
<^^CARAOUV^
Earthquake In Costa Rica
Caribbean Sea
Puerto limon
100 kilometers
of 890,000 people, the quake damaged buildings, snarled traffic and temporarily knocked out electricity and and telephone service. The 16-member Ontario junior soccer
team, in San Jose for a tournament, was safe.
The 14-year-old boys had returned from a tour to a volcano outside San Jose and were getting dressed for dinner at their newly constructed hotel when the building shook for about 45 seconds, said coach Gord Miller.
“I guess we were fortunate we weren’t out in the mountain roads,” Miller said by telephone. “Most of the boys were scared and shook up, but they’re in good shape.”
The team was spent about two hours standing in the street while the capital was hit by aftershocks.
External Affairs in Ottawa said none of the 540 Canadians regis-
tered with the embassy in San Jose were reported killed or injured. There was slight damage to the embassy.
Costa Rican President Rafael Angel Calderon appealed to the United States and Latin American governments for assistance.
He said a first planeload of American aid was arriving today, and a 15-member British rescue team rushed from London to help find people in the rubble.
Nicaragua was sending helicopters and Mexico and Venezuela promised help.
“Let us all embrace and may God help us so that we can help our brothers in Limon,” Calderon said in a radio broadcast.
JOB ACTION COULD BE SCRAPPED
Truckers optimistic about talks
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen Staff Independent truckers in B.C. may decide job action planned for June 1 is unnecessary if current meetings with government and industry officials continue to be productive, says Randy Peluso, president of the Western Owner-Opeia-tors’ Association.
The meetings have led association representatives “to believe a peaceful solution to the complex problems facing B.C. owner-opera-tors can be formulated,” Peluso said in a release from the association’s offices in Langley.
Association officials have been meeting with representatives of the Commercial Fleet Supervisors’ Association, the Canadian Vehicle Safety Alliance, the B.C. Safety
Council and the B.C. government’s motor carrier division, said Jack Winters, Western Owner-Opera-tors’ Association spokesman. Issues under discussion include truck safety and enforcing trucking companies’ published tariff schedules, Winters said today.
“If these meetings continue to be fruitful, the direct and aggressive action contemplated for June 1, 1991, may be shelved,” Peluso said. “However, the membership of the Western Owner-Operators’ Association and other owner-oper-ators of B.C. will have the final say.”
Peluso said meetings to consult with truckers about the next course of action have been scheduled for May 5 for members in southern
Vancouver Island and May 12 for members in the Lower Mainland.
Peluso and association vice-president Bob Jones are in the state of Washington today to meet with independent truckers who recently joined the Western Owner-Operators’ Association.
“So the Western Owner-Opeia-tors are international now,” Winters said.
Eastern Canadian independent truckers who were recently blocking southern Ontario border crossings have no direct connection with the Western Owner-Operators’ Association, but Washington truckers were asking Peluso and Jones questions about them.
If trucking companies in B.C. paid independent truckers according to their published tariffs, the
owner-operators’ earnings would rise 30 per cent right away, Winters said.
As it is, the companies undercut each other and take the difference out of the independent truckers’ pay. The truckers cannot maintain vehicles to meet safety standards unless they are paid adequately, he said.
Some independents will not haul to Northern B.C. because fuel costs here are much higher than in the Lower Mainland and some companies are not adjusting payments to reflect the variations, Winters said.
“They can’t afford it,” he said. “They’re running for fuel, and that’s iL They’re going broke and refusing to haul.”
i
COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE COSTS $32,000
GST employees rewarded with pin
by Southam News
OTTAWA — Revenue Canada is pinning the GST on its staff.
The department has issued a commemorative pin to the 8,000 employees who worked on the tax plan. The pins cost approximately $32,000 — roughly $4 each — and the final price tag includes a $2,200 GST charge.
“Your part in this accomplishment . .is sincerely appreciated. Please wear this commemorative pin with pride and my personal thanks,” Revenue Minister Otto
Jelinek says on an note accompanying the pin.
The small gold-colored pin has a stylish maple leaf emblem and the slogan “FST-GST, 1991” to signify the Jan. 1, 1991, implementation of the tax which replaced the former federal sales tax, or excise tax as it was known for many years.
“The GST is probably the largest tax initiative ever undertaken in Canada,” Revenue Canada spokesman Derek Johnston said.
“It’s a departmental initiative
and therefore the minister believed it only right to issue the commemorative pin.”
Opposition MPs say the notion of commemorating the GST with a decorative pin is ludicrous and they’d like to suggest where the Tories can stick them.
“You mean someone is commemorating the goods and services tax? What a sick sense of humor,” Liberal MP Don Bou-dria said Monday.
“It’s like commemorating the birthday of Atilla the Hun. Why would you want to remind any-
one about the fact that you did this?”
NDP MP Steven Langdon said it’s amazing anyone would want to commemorate one of the most unpopular taxes ever implemented in Canada.
“I suppose if you think of it in terms of battle ribbons for fighting an unpopular war, then it makes a little sense to give (the pins) to the public servants who were forced to work on it.”
Boudria said it’s appalling the government is wasting taxpayers’ money during a recession.
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