24 — THE CITIZEN, Prince George — Wednesday, January 30, 1985 B.C. GIVES GENEROUSLY Susanne Neuman, customs officer at Alaska-B.C. border, will leave the area unchecked when her office is closed. NO CUSTOMS CHECK Easy road to Hyder, home of legal weed STEWART, B.C. (CP) — The people of this remote British Columbia mining community will soon have a wide-open border to Alaska, and the usual intoxicating reasons for crossing it. But they don’* think it will make a whole lot of difference. Stewart is a town of about 1,000 at the north end of the Portland Canal, near the bottom end of the Alaska Panhandle. Across the border and three kilometres away is Hyder, a town boasting legal marijuana and 190-proof grain alcohol among its attractions. As of April 1, there will be no Canada Customs officer at the border to check Stewart residents heading home from a visit to Hyder. The federal government is closing the customs office as part of an effort to streamline operations and reduce costs. Locals in both towns say, however, it’s never been the tightest border crossing around, and anyone who wants to carry illicit or undeclared goods into Canada is doing it already. Hyder, a seven-business town with a population of about 90, is not connected to the rest of Alaska by road. Its U.S. Customs office has been closed for some time. People in Hyder go to Stewart for meals, to do their banking and to take their children to school. Stewart residents travel to Hyder to take advantage of relaxed U.S. liquor laws. Some of them visit Hyder to smoke marijuana free of prosecution. In Alaska, it is legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana (28.35 grams on the Canadian side of the border) for personal use. But the big sport in Hyder is becoming “Hyderized.” To become “Hyderized,” the visitor must gulp a potent ounce of Everclear grain alcohol. The drink is free to anyone who can down it without throwing up. Those who fail the test are expected to buy a round for the house. Sandy Kesterke, a bartender at the Glacier Inn in Hyder, said there is not much marijuana trafficking to Canadians, but added that the drug is passed around at parties. “I think that’s why Canadians come over here” Kesterke says, “to smoke.” She says Hyder’s home-grown marijuana is less potent than the 190-proof grain alcohol because the early winters don’t allow marijuana plants to mature. Dave Neuman, the operator of Seaport Limousine Ltd. in Stewart, says the Canada Customs office won’t be missed be- cause it was a headache from the start. He says the closure probably won’t make any difference to people in either town. “Right now if somebody wants to be legal he’ll go back and see the customs guy even if he purchases things after customs hours,” Neuman says. “Anybody that wants to be illegal can purchase after hours and of course doesn’t have to report it.” Neuman says marijuana crosses the border without many problems now, but believes more of it might find its way to Stewart once the customs office is closed. A news release issued this week by Revenue Minister Perrin Beatty said the public will be served after April 1 by the Prince Rupert customs office, 190 kilometres by air south of Stewart, but 470 kilometres away by road. Barry McKee, Customs regional operational review officer, says people who want to declare goods bought in Hyder can do so by mail. He said the Stewart office is already run on an honor system much of the time, because the customs officer is there only five days a week and the border is open around the clock seven days a week. The Stewart customs office is one of 18 being closed across Canada, but the only one in British Columbia. NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Public Hearing with regard to the following amendments to City of Prince George Zoning By-Law No. 3482 and the Release of Restrictive Covenant # P16763, will be held in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 1100 Patricia Boulevard, Prince George, B.C on Monday, February 4th, 1985 at 8:00 p.m. ZONING AMENDMENT 1. By-Law No. 4498 - Amends 3482 - That Zoning By-Law No. 3 482 be amended to effect the following: 1. to provide a requirement that all off-street parking and loading areas be dilineated with painted lines. 2. to provide that certain developments pursuant to the C-7 Zoning District be subject to Mandatory Development Permit provisions. 3. to provide the authority for Animal Control Officers to enforce the provisions of Section 24 with respect to the keeping of animals in certain zoning districts. 4. to provide for an increased minimum fine for violations or offences related to land use. 5. to clarify the definition of the term "Boarder". APPLICANT: City of Prince George 2. By-Law No. 4499 - Amends 3482 - That the portion of lane abutting Lots 9 - 18 of Block 13, Lots 1 and 2 and Parcel A (U16622) of Block 20, all of District Lot 933, Cariboo District, Plan 727, shown outlined in heavy black on the plan attached to the By-Law as Exhibit "A", is hereby rezoned from URS - 2A (Urban Residential) to C-5A (Highway Commercial) to facilitate the sale of said lane and subsequent consolidation with adjacent properties for utilization as an automobile sales lot. LOCATION: Lane between Jasper and Queensway Street. APPLICANT: City of Prince George. 3. By-Law No. 4485 * Amends 3482 - that Lot A, District Lot 8177, cAriboo District, Plan 26839 be rezoned from URM-3A (Multiple Family) to URM-2 (Multiple Family) to facilitate the removal of a restrictive covenant on the subject property and to limit development to 88 units. LOCATION: Corner of Ferry Avenue and Ospika Boulevard. APPLICANT: City of Prince George. , 4. Release of Restrictive Covenant #P16763 City Council will consider the release of the aforementioned covenant registered as a charge against the title of former Lot 1, District Lot 8177, Cariboo District, Plan 20375 on May 5th, 1980. The covenant restricted the density of an apartment complex to 85 units and is no longer required as development is complete. Future re-development of the apartment complex will be similarity restricted by the rezoning process pursuant to By-Law No. 4485. LOCATION: Christopher Crescent. A copy of the proposed By-Laws may be inspected at the office of the undersigned on any business day between the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (except Statutory Holidays). At the Hearing all persons who deem their interest in property affected by the proposed By-Laws shall be afforded an opportunity to be heard on matters pertinent to the By-Laws. G.W. BUCHANAN CITY CLERK CITY OF PRINCE GEORGE Hunger strikes a chord VANCOUVER (CP) — Hunger, whether represented by food lines at home or starving children in Africa, has prompted British Columbians to respond with unprecedented charity. “Everybody has been hungry at one time or another, so they can relate to it,” says Harvey MacKinnon, B.C. director of Oxfam, the international development agency that’s been at the forefront of the fund-raising effort for Ethiopia and the 24 other African nations hard-hit by drought and famine. Sylvia Russell, executive director of Vancouver’s food bank, said there has always been a myth in Canada that “if you worked hard and applied yourself and lived a clean life you’d be a successful person and would be financially secure.” But such a myth has been eroded, she says, adding that we have now reverted to an earlier myth of survival. “The necessities of life, food and shelter — those are things that people really understand. It’s a very basic survival approach to life.” The food bank issued its first appeal for public help just over two years ago, a time when “people were already convinced there was a crisis,” she says. “The need was clearly defined.” Abroad, the conscience of Canada and the rest of the developed world was pricked by television film first aired in Oc- tober, setting off a phenomenon MacKinnon and others doing international relief have never seen before. “Oxfam has been working in Africa for years and we’ve always been able to raise money at a certain level,” MacKinnon said. And we’ve been talking about the drought, about starvation, for quite a while. But stories in the newspapers hadn’t done it.” But the television images of “people dropping dead” created a different effect, he said. “I’ve never seen people respond this way before. We raised more money in the first six weeks than we had the whole past year.” The Red Cross in B.C. raised $500,000 in 11 weeks, about the same as Oxfam. 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