DIRTY CARPETS? SALES TAX CREDIT NOTICE Prince George Bulkley Valley Progressive Conservative Riding Association will hold its ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING On Feb. 12th, 1987 at 7:00 p.m. at the Yellowhead Inn, Prince George, B.C. R.J. Stewart-President Amrn is currently seeking a SPECIAL CARE HOME for a young adult, wilh single woman or a couple, to leach daily living skills and to provide supervision in the home. This arrangement is intended to be short term depending on the development of independence in the young adult. Suitable home will have no young children or pets. For further Information please contact S. Hili or P. Stuart at AiMHI (564-6408). BALMY MONTH FOR CITYA January was milder than normal In Prince George and produced, less than half the usual amount of snow. But the weather office says it isn’t a case of the greenhouse effect »< beating the ozone theory — they credit “the boy.” One group of scientists has been warning that increased carbon di-.p oxide concentrations from industry and automobiles will raise theA*> earth’s temperature about five degrees Celsius. That’s called the/, greenhouse effect. Another group has been warning that using hair spray and other aerosols has peeled back a bit of the upper atmosphere, which could lead to another ice age. The ozone theory. But the wejther office says January was warmer because of “El Nino,” which means “the boy” in Spanish. This is an unusual warm ocean current which both appears and disappears and changes direction without warning, affecting weather patterns. Whichever theory you prefer, there were more days where weather patterns were a southwest flow than normal, so we shipped our usual weather elsewhere. If you bought a snowblower this year, with a “no snow” warranty which provides a discount if there’s less snow than usual, January was kind to you. We had 27.9 centimetres of snow instead of the usual 61.1, but we had 5.2 millimetres of rain, up from the normal 4.1. The lowest temperature of the month, —17.8 on Jan. 14-15 was ■ balmy compared to the record —50 set in 1950. The average high temperature for the month was —3, 7.2 degrees « above normal. The average minimum temperature —6 was 8.6 above', normal. The average temperature for the month was —4.2, 7.9 degrees above normal. The highest temperature for the month was 6.3 degrees set on Jan. 30, which is less than half the 12.8-degree record for January, set in 1981. New this year is a federal sales tax credit for which you may be eligible. Come in and find out how our tax preparers can determine the largest sales tax credit to which you are entitled. You could get more than you bargained for at HH BLOCK , THf INCOME TAX 8PCCUUJ8T8 Open 9 a.m. • 6 p.m. Weekdays (j 9 - 5 Saturdays • Phone 564-0344 Mastercard & Visa accepted at most area locations 1262 3rd Ave. 6563 Hart Hwy ? Also in this location during regular Jtcre hours; SEARS . Better Equipment! Better Cleaning! Faster Drying! ' Happier Customers! Cart’s Clean Care 561*0320 Local news The Prince George Citizen — Monday, February 2,1987 —3 BOB MILLER it City editor City signs recovered About a dozen Prince George city traffic signs have been recovered following an P.CMP search of a local residence. Police said the signs, valued at about $700, were recovered last week. No charges have been laid and the investigation continues. Banking bonanza doubted by Canadian Press Cultures explored Whether you’re thinking of an overseas vacation, or want to learn more about the background of the people you meet, put someone else’s background in your foreground. To celebrate “multicultural” month, displays and talks will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. each Sunday at the public library: • Modern China with Lily Chow, Feb. 8. • India with Brij Madhok and Jayshree Patel, Feb. 15, • Malaysia, with Lucien De Silva, Feb. 22. • The Republic of Germany, with Detrich Elias, March 1. • Thailand, with Muriel Gustav-son, March 8. The displays, slide shows, films and short talks are jointly sponsored by the Immigrant and Multicultural Society and the Prince george Public Library. Due to limited seating, tickets will be available in advance at the library and the Multicultural Society office, 1306 Seventh Ave. The library will also feature a special photo display Feb. 15 to 21 during the city’s official Heritage Week. VANCOUVER — There won’t be any new glass towers sprouting in the downtown skyline and no wave of blue-suited financiers disembarking from fleets of executive jets when Vancouver becomes an international banking centre. In fact, once Parliament passes enabling legislation, Vancouverites probably won’t even notice that their city has joined the likes of New York, London, Hong Kong and certain Bahamian islands as a hub of international finance. More importantly, the designation will do little to thin the ranks of British Columbia’s unemployed. Michael Goldberg, a commerce professor at the University of British Columbia, said the designation will create a few hundred new jobs at most. Aside from a few technicans and tradesmen adding an office or two to facilities plus some extra accountants and money managers, to handle international transactions, foreign banks need to expend little effort. “Of itself, an international banking centre is not going to generate many jobs." says Graham Clarke, chairman of the Vancouver Board of Trade. He and other backers prefer to talk in terms of long-term potential, of what could happen. The international banking centre designations for Vancouver and Montreal will come in the form of Income Tax Act amendments that will allow banks to conduct international transactions involving foreign currencies without being subject to Canadian taxes. International banking centres have existed for more than 20 years. The United States passed legislation in 1981 allowing individual states to set up international banking facilities. So far 24 have done so. Canada is simply playing catchup, says Clarke, adding: “What we’re doing is creating a lure.” The convenience and security of being able to deposit and borrow money in a Canadian tax haven is supposed to attract foreign businesses, which in turn will draw other types of activity with them and perhaps take advantage of other services offered. Ultimately, the breaks given international banking transactions could be expanded to a wider array of services, establishing the cities as international financial centres and important contributors to the B.C. and Quebec economies. That’s where the real job and revenue prospects are, said Clarke. Eugene Nesmith, president of the Vancouver-based Hongkong Bank of Canada, says international finance will eventually attract other businesses traditionally drawn to capital markets like stock brokerage firms, bond and currency trading houses and banking insurance companies. Citizen photos by Lisa Murdoch Miworth carnival Snow gets awfully heavy when it’s packed into a giant ball, like the one Brian Juelfs, left, Jonathan Edwards and curly-haired Tysen Hanson struggle with during Saturday’s Miworth Winter Carnival. Inset photo shows the lads taking it easy with the snowball when it was so small there wasn’t room for everyone’s hand. The children’s snowball rolling contest was one of many activities for the 15 Miworth families talking part. SEX EDUCATION AIDS policy hit Citizen news services VANCOUVER - Premier Bill Vander Zalm will have to take full responsibility for all teenage AIDS cases, if he continues to oppose sex education in B.C. high schools, a member of St. Paul's Hospital’s AIDS care team said Saturday. “I think that if the premier persists in his stand, he will have to take direct personal responsiblity for every teenage case of AIDS that occurs and maybe even for every case of teenage pregnancy in a Vietnamese New Year Viep Vu, 76, who moved to Prince George from Vietnam in 1982, joins Loi Dang, 9, and Chanh Dang, 7, as they fill their plates with Vietnamese delicacies during Vietnamese New Year celebrations Saturday, welcoming 1987 which they term the Year of the Cat. More than 400 Vietnamese and their guests attended the party, which included the feast and a program of songs and dances. It is estimated more than 200 Vietnamese people now make their home in Prince George. Citizen photo by Lisa Murdoch high school,” said hematologist Dr. Hilary Wass. Vander Zalm, a devout Roman Catholic, has opposed sex-educa-tion classes for high school students that would include teaching them how to prevent sexually-transmitted diseases. He has said that they should be taught to abstain from sex to avoid diseases just as they are told not to drink and drive. At a one-day conference on women’s health issues at the University of British Columbia, Wass told about 340 women and physicians that ignorance is not a protection against sexually-transmitted diseases. “I think there’s a fine line between educating the public and panicking the public,” she said. “There’s always going to be the rednecks who want to go out and kill all the fags and there’s always going to be the bible-belters who think that everybody ought to be celibate and that will cure the problem.” AIDS cases in British Columbia are expected to double to 200 this year from 100 cases in 1986. And Wass said more women in heterosexual relationships will become victims of the deadly disease which attacks the body’s immune system. While admitting condoms have a failure rate of anywhere from 2.6-to 17 per cent, Wass said condoms are still the best protection from AIDS. “Obviously condoms aren’t perfect, but they’re a whole lot better than nothing,” she said. “It’s known that the virus cannot penetrate the intact latex any more than sperm can, but you can’t guarantee the condom won’t break or tear.” The hematologist said advertising is an important tool in educating the public about the dangers of indiscriminate sex and cited the hard-hitting advertisements in Great Britain that promote “safe sex” through the use of condoms. She said condom advertising on television similar to those now being aired on Los Angeles stations could be helpful. Wass blasted media reports that described AIDS as the Black Plague of the 80s saying that AIDS is different “because we can avoid getting the infection.” But she said it will be 1995 before a plateau is reached. $ E4BUTMI S 2 TAN BUCKS GOOD FOR $2.00 OFF ANY PACKAGE OF TANNING ONE PER PACKAGE #201 - 1488 2nd Ave. 562-7024 3673 Massey Drive 563-4475 Expires Feb. 28, 1987 Big dam project 'not too far off7 by Canadian Press VANCOUVER — The controversial Site C dam in northeast British Columbia will be built in the “not too far off’ future, hopefully to supply the United States electricity market as well as the province’s energy needs, Premier Bill Vander Zalm said Sunday. Vander Zalm, speaking on his monthly open-line radio program, said he recently met with elected representatives while in Washington and New York and found they were very interested in potential B.C. power sales. He also said that results of a seven-month study into the feasibility of building the dam to supply the U.S. export market will be released shortly. “Yes, it will be a reality,” the premier said, answering a caller’s question. “I think the day is coming and it's probably not too far off. “I think you and I will see it built. And I’ll probably have a say in how it’s done or negotiating the agreements. They’re not far away.” Later, Vander Zalm declined to tell reporters when he will make an official announcement about the dam, a pet project of former premier Bill Bennett. “I don’t know how long it will take to negotiate all the agreements but I can tell you we’re working on it regularly, on a daily basis, even now, and I expect that things will start coming together fairly quickly,” he said. In August, newly appointed Energy Minister Jack Davis was skeptical about the economics of the Site C dam proposal. “We’ve got more dams than.we need,” he said, and stressed the need for more energy sales outside the province. Vander Zalm said Sunday that he knows people are concerned that the construction of Site C dam would flood land in the area, but that he believed water resources should be harnessed “wherever possible environmentally in a good way. “If ihe price is right, and I stress that’s going to be the bottom i ij | line for our negotiations, Site C could be a big boost to the ecoiiQ; my,” he said. ' After the show, broadcast frorri CKNW and relayed throughout tHe province, Vander Zalm left for a 13-day trip to the Netherlands. City council • A public hearing into a plan tq move a group home for the mental; ly ill to the Lalonde subdivision, west of College Heights, will resume during tonight’s city council meeting. Lalonde residents had protest'll the proposal of Bea and Jeffery McGowan to move their group home from the Bowl to the residen; tial area. A hearing last month was adjourned to give the McGowans the chance to talk to the residents. In other business tonight, council will: ■ Consider a five-year capital spending plan. ■ Hear a report on the shape the city’s social services from the .ocial advisory committee. ■ Hear a presentation from th£ parks and recreation commis^ibh on how Prince George can bid "Oft future summer and winter Canada Games athletic events. fPrince Ocorgc & "District Community 5\rts Guncil