I- Meters defeat us, downtown booster claims by JACK NITTEL Staff Reporter A downtown restaurateur thinks parking meters aren’t good for business and he’s going to fight city hall in court. John Forsyth. 29, appeared in provincial court Thursday and pleaded not guilty to 67 $20 parking tickets. That’s $1,340. He told Judge G.O. Stewart he wanted a trial and would act as his own counsel. Crown prosecutor Randy Walker stood up, unfurled a computer printout several metres long detailing Forsyth’s alleged transgressions over a three-month period, and told Judge Stewart he would have to set aside two days of court time just to prosecute the case. After setting a May 25 trial date, the judge suggested to Crown counsel that he work out an ‘‘accommodation’’ with Forsyth. Outside court, Walker said it was more difficult to prosecute a parking ticket than an armed robbery because the parking bylaw and the authority behind the bylaw is so complex. He said he was looking at an “accommodation” of about half of what Forsyth owes. Forsyth on the other hand isn’t sure whether he’d accept the deal. The way he sees it, it’s a matter of principle. As the manager of a new downtown restaurant he feels he’s doing his bit to revitalize the city’s core and argues that the biggest headache downtown businessmen have when they try to compete with shopping malls is parking meters. On top of that, he’s curious to.see how a trial will go March 16, when lawyer Keith Aartsen appears in court to fight 37 parking tickets he and his partner managed to collect. That trial is the continuation of a court battle that began four months ago when the original trial was adjourned after several hours of argument. Seems Aartsen obtained a copy of the bylaw from the city that was different from the one the Crown presented. Both were passed and went into effect the same day, but there were differences in the wording and the penalties. Aartsen said Thursday he and his partner already pay the city about $250 a month for seven parking stalls in a municipal lot adjacent to their law office and think that’s enough. Since the adjournment, the two lawyers have picked up another 30 tickets. None have been paid. Under the parking bylaw which came into effect a year ago, a $2 parking ticket balloons to $20 if it is ignored. Aartsen promises a long, drawn-out battle. “I’m even going to bring in the Magna Carta,” he said. Forsyth said he’ll be watching the March 16 courtroom manoeuvres with keen interest. Citizen photo by Brock Gable John Forsythe holds a computer printout detailing the H7 traffic tickets he received from city bylaw officers. CARTOONIST^ FLEES CANADA Herman dodges the taxman OTTAWA (CP) — Herman has had it with Canada! The tax man came once too often, and now Herman’s creator, cartoonist and Ottawa resident Jim Unger is going — to a $380,000 seaside villa in the Bahamas. Unger says he is fed up with Finance Minister Allan MacEachen’s November budget and “how all my tax money is going to support things I don’t support." The “deteriorating social fabric of North America” is forcing him to leave his Ottawa home where he lives with his parents within two weeks. Unger says his Herman cartoons, books, calendars, and other novelty items earn him about $300,000 a year, and he figures he soon will be paying about S3.000 a week in taxes. But “it’s not paying the money that I mind so much — it's what that tax money is going towards, creeping leftism, the breakdown of law and order and the spreading social-welfare system.” “When I'm paying taxes in a country. I’m condoning what that country's government is doing and there’s a lot of things happening here that I can’t ignore." Says a father to his son in the caption with one of his cartoons: “Some day you’ll realize people capable of running the country are too smart to get into politics." Before the November budget, people like Unger making large salaries could buy an income-averaging annuity in which they could spread out over several years income received and taxes paid. MacEachen wrote a budget intended to change all that for rich people he said were avoiding a fair share of the tax burden. Inn purchased for $ JO million ENDAKO MINE Layoff plan denied Staff Reporter Placer Development Ltd. is denying rumors that its molybdenum mine near Fraser Lake will be closed. Molybdenum markets have been bad for several months, and an employee said miners are concerned about possible layoffs. However, a company spokesman in Vancouver says rumors about closures or layoffs are just that — rumors. No public statements have been made to this effect, he said. Production of the mineral, used primarily as an alloying agent in the steel industry, was cut to an annual rate of 3 85 million kilograms in December from about 5 million kilograms. The steel industry has been hurt by faltering economic conditions. On Jan. 12, the company announced production would be reduced further to 3.25 million kilograms. Despite the cutbacks, no employee has been laid off, the spokesman said. The first reduction was accomplished by processing lower grade ore. In January, the volume of ore milled in the concentrator was reduced as an economy measure. This resulted in lower consumption of energy, grinding media, and reagents. National Caterers Ltd. of Vancouver announced today they have purchased the Inn of The North hotel from the Delta Hotel chain for $10 million. Craig Aspinall, spokesman for National. said Coast Hotels Ltd., as associate company, will operate the Inn of the North. With the purchase of the 160-room hotel, the company will now operate six hotels in British Columbia. In 1981, National Caterers Ltd., purchased The Discovery Inn in Campbell River and the Canadian Inn in Kamloops from the Delta Hotel chain 'KICKED IN TEETH' Otta wa - p r o v i n ces battle lines drawn THE VIEW FROM U.S. Metrics? 'Rubbish7 TORONTO (CP) — Canada will be at a “definite disadvantage” if it sticks to a schedule of full conversion to the metric system by the end of 1983, says U.S. Ambassador Paul Robinson. Robinson told a news conference “most Americans don’t like metric at all,” and predicted it would be many years, if ever, before the U.S. switches. Canada’s commitment to metrication whether or not the U.S. follows suit “might create problems” in trade between the two countries, which have long been each others’ major trading partners, he said. Asked if he thought the proponents of metrication in the U.S. would overcome their opponents, he said: “I hope not. I think it’s rubbish.” Parliament okays bank-profit probe by JIM TRAVERS Southam News OTTAWA — Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau has buried the concept of cooperative federalism, heaping scorn on what he considers to be provincial greed. “I thought we could build a strong Canada through co-operation, but I have been disillusioned,” Trudeau said Thursday. Speaking to reporters at his weekly press conference here. Trudeau warned that the days are gone when the provinces would be allowed to accept massive funding from the federal goverment and then “kick us in the teeth”. “The old type of federalism where we give money to the provinces, where they kick us in the teeth because they didn't get enough, and then go around and spend it and say ‘it’s all from us’. That type of federalism is finished.” He said Ottawa’s ability to control the economy and to finance programs in federal areas of jurisdiction would be jeopardized if the provinces were given the power and money they seek. In the past, Trudeau claimed, the federal government has tried to accommodate the provinces but the premiers did not appreciate that generosity. “There is no point in shifting powers and resources to the provinces because there is no stop.” he said. ‘‘The pendulum keeps swinging and we end up with a community of communities or a confederation of shopping centres.” Trudeau’s comments came at a time when the two levels of government are deadlocked over proposed cutbacks in federal funding for health, welfare, and post-secondary education. Commenting on the recent first ministers conference on the economy, Trudeau said he was disappointed that the two levels of government could not find a mutually acceptable strategy for the struggle against Canada’s economic woes. He blamed the provinces, claiming they would not budge from their argument that interest rates should be reduced. But in the same breath Trudeau dismissed the provii cial plan, saying it did not dovetail with federal economic thinking. The premiers complained after the conference that the federal government had stonewalled provincial proposals while refusing to make any concrete suggestions of its own. During the three-day meeting held in Ottawa earlier this month, the federal government made no secret of its plan to get more credit for its share of jointly-financed programs and projects. Trudeau’s blatant attempt to win the hearts of taxpayers irritated a number of Conservative premiers, including Ontario’s Bill Davis and New Brunswick's Richard Hatfield, who promised to erect signs praising the federal government as long as it does not cut funds or social programs. OTTAWA (CP) - MPs authorized an inquiry into bank profits Thursday, setting the stage for a politically charged battle over interest rates. The inquiry by the 20-member Commons finance committee was approved by all parties. The Canadian Bankers’ Association said its members would cooperate. The opposition called for an inquiry as interest rates soared. The profits of the chartered banks increased in 1981 to $1.7 billion, a 37.6-per-cent rise from 1980. The three parties appear to have differing approaches. While the NDP wants to expose what it says are excess profits, the Conservatives' main attack will be on government policy affecting the banks and their interest rate structures. Canada ousts nuclear arms OTTAWA (CP) — Defence Minister Gilles Lamontagne indicated Thursday the last nuclear weapons will be removed from Canadian soil soon, perhaps by the end of the year. "I think that as soon as we can get rid of them the better it will be," Lamontagne told the Commons external affairs committee. He said it will be time to get rid of nuclear weaponry when the first F-18A fighter plane arrives in October this year. American-controlled nuclear weapons are stored at Canadian Forces Base Com-ox, B.C. They are stationed there for use on Canada’s CF-101 Voodoo aircraft though Ottawa has renounced a nuclear role for C°nadian forces. The Voodoos will be the first planes replaced by the new F-18As, which will not be equipped to carry nuclear arms. As for the Liberals, MP John Evans said: “If all they're going to do is play political games with it, that’s offensive. Let’s do a thorough research job. not use it as a political whipping boy." Committee members said they wanted to get the inquiry going as soon as possible, perhaps next week. Approval of the inquiry ended a four-day delay during which the NDP sought assurances it would not turn into a public relations exercise for the banks. In response to that concern, the Liberals and Conservatives agreed to empower the committee to hire experts to help them and they left open the possibility of public hearings outside Ottawa. "My major concern is that the investigation be as thorough as possible," NDP finance critic Nelson Riis said in an interview. “We want to ensure there’s no whitewash, no PR job by the financial institutions." The NDP has accused the banks of gouging borrowers. It has proposed the government impose a low ceiling on mortgage interest rates, force the banks to set aside a specific amount of money for home purchases and tax away what it calls excess bank profits. Don Blenkarn, Conservative finance committee member, said his party sees the inquiry as a golden opportunity to put the government on the spot for its economic policies. The government, not the banks, is to blame for high interest rates, he said. “It isn’t that the banks are gouging anyone,” he said in an interview. “It’s just that they happen to be in a business where high interest rates increase their profits.” A Canadian Bankers’ Association spokesman said a rational look at bank profits would show they are “reasonable and in line.” HERMAN "Tell him! I was here first, wasn't I?" FEATURED TODAY Marijuana dangers A major U.S. study says the dangers of marijuana "justifies serious national concern.” Page 2. Rec groups worried Dire consequences have been predicted for Prince George sports and recreation services if proposed city staff cuts^are approved. Page 11. Index ..........20 City, H.C.............. ...... 3,6,7 International....... ........... 2 Classified............. ......21-32 .......... 15 Editorial.............. Entertainment...... ...... 18-20 ...... 11-14 THE WEATHER More snow is on the way this weekend and it’s possible enough will fall to break a monthly record for the second consecutive month. The weather office says we’re 17.5 cm short of the all-time February record and that is within reach by Sunday night. Temperatures will remain cool, with an expected high today and Saturday of about -13 and overnight low of-18. Thursday’s high was -14 and the low -17. There was no sunshine and 7.6 cm of snow fell. Sadrack says . . . Details page 7 This weather pattern is likely to continue until at least Tuesday. NOW HEAR THIS • Between gusts of snow, while driving down Peden Hill, a lady motorist weathering her first winter in Prince George lamented that spring won’t really be here until the flashing amber light at Coward Road starts turning red. • A Mackenzie homeowner is still scratching his head over a notice from the Canada Oil Substitution Program people point out his postal code was missing from a form he sent in to apply for the program. You guessed it—the notice arrived with is correct postal code included in the address on the letter. Seems a case of the left hand not known what the right hand is doing. i 4