Local news The Prince George Citizen — Wednesday, February 4, 1987 — 3 BOB MILLER City editor PUBLIC MEETING PLANNED THURSDAY Ambulance campaign picks up momentum by BERNICE TRICK Staff reporter Some residents in Prince George and North Central B.C. don’t intend to give up the Prince George provincial ambulance dispatch centre without a fight. A two-man protest committee established here last week has quickly swelled into a group of about 25 persons who intend to meet for the first time this week. Residents Dale Hynes and Tony Towers, who are organizing the committee, have called a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in room 1-112, Col- lege of New Caledonia, after hearing from people throughout the region. “Our main thrust will be an attempt to keep the Prince George centre here, where it belongs, to serve north central B.C.,” Hynes said. He expects the committee to launch a letter-writing campaign to government officials. Dr. William Simpson, regional medical health consultant, will be on hand to answer questions and relate the history of the ambulance service here. City hall will also have a representative at the meeting. The Health Ministry proposes to move the dis- patch centre to Kamloops by the end of the year as a cost-saving measure. Six Prince George employees and their families are expected to relocate in Kamloops which will result in both an economic and population loss here. The local medical community, city council, regional district and concerned taxpayers have all expressed concerns about the move. Some accuse the government of making the decision rashly, without informing taxpayers or involved agencies. “Ambulance personnel in Chetwynd knew nothing about this until reading it in the paper. But they know now and we expect to see representatives Thursday at our meeting,” Hynes said. Jim Tucker, three-year ambulance attendant based in Fort St. James, fears the relocation of the centre will affect service in his area. “It’s a bad move for us in the bush country. We cover a remote area including the Tache and Portage Indian reserves, Leo Creek and Germanson Landing which will not be familiar to dispatchers in Kamloops. I am concerned about the effect in communications and safety of patients,” he said. North Central Municipal Association president Len Fox has asked the Health Ministry to delay any decision until information has been issued and municipalities have had a chance to respond. PLEA FOR CO-EXISTENCE Native claims 'spiritual' by Canadian Press VANCOUVER - When native Indians profess ownership to British Columbia, they mean it in a spiritual rather than a strict legal sense, the chairman of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council said Tuesday. “Of course we own it, we’ll always own it, because this is where our roots are,” George Watts told more than 100 delegates to the annual convention of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union. “But our ownership isn’t in the sense of a real estate ownership : like people think and not in the sense of ownership that you dominate other people. It happens to be more spiritual than owning material things. "Think of it in those terms. . .and get on with what we’re really talking about and that’s how we’re going to co-exist in this country.” Watts criticized non-native businessmen for using scare tactics to turn public sentiment against land claim negotiations. But he also lambasted some native leaders who take the “lock stock and barrel” approach to claims, rather than backing reasonable negotiations. “I’ll fight any Indian leader who stands up and says we should go ahead and take everything and say it’s all ours and don’t give a damn about anyone else. “I have a son four years old and a daughter eight years old and I don’t want to be sitting around 20 years from now saying, ‘Boy, I sure feel good inside my heart because we got a land claims settlement,’ and then have to send my kids off to school and have them beat up or swore at or hated. “That’s exactly what would happen in this country if we don’t sit down and negotiate a resolution to our land claims in an intelligent manner.” Watts noted the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in December that native people have an aboriginal fishing right that takes precedent over sport and commercial fishing groups. But rather than quarrel over existing fish, groups should work together to improve stocks and stop degradation of water resources. HONGKONG BANK OFFICIAL History lesson offered by KEN BERNSOHN Staff reporter The new owner of the Bank of B.C., the Hongkong Bank, also owns 30 per cent of Cathay Pacific Airlines, shipping and transportation companies, stockbrokers, insurance firms, and even prints and backs the money used in Hong Kong. The new owners sure aren’t like the usual belt and suspenders (just in case) Canadian bankers. Reassurances about the Bank of B.C. were given when Edgar Kaiser Jr. was the head, and when Dale Parker took over as president he boasted it had the best reserves-to-loan ratio of any bank in Canada. Jim Cleave, executive vice-president of the Hongkong Bank of Canada, took a different approach dur- ing an interview in Prince George on Tuesday. “When the Japanese invaded China, the bank had to pack up and move south. During World War Two, the bank was run out of China, the Phillipines, Hong Kong. The assets ended up stored in the basement of the Bank of England. “As MacArthur moved north, the bank moved north as well. It was operational within a few months.” After the war, Hong Kong and China were flooded with counterfeit notes. “The bank honored them all,” Cleave said. A handful of years later, the present government took over China. “The Shanghai branch manager stayed. He was a stubborn Scotsman. He earned the grudging re- Barney Claries widow helps heart fund here February is Heart Month and the B.C. Heart Foundation annual fund-raising campaign kicks off in Prince George with special guest Una Loy Clark, widow of artificial heart recipient Barney Clark, attending a rally breakfast Friday. Barney Clark was the first patient to receive a permanent artificial heart. He survived 112 days. In addition to the breakfast with Una Clark as guest speaker, a celebrity fun L’\a clark auction will be held featuring three local “celebrities” who have donated four hours of their time to whoever is the highest bidder. Proceeds from the breakfast and celebrity fun auction go to the heart foundation. Tickets for the breakfast, which starts at 7:30 a.m. at the Inn of the North ballroom, are $20 and are available by calling 562-8611. This year’s campaign goal is $40,000 to be spent on research and education. Last year, in the Prince George area about $29,000 was raised and organizers want to increase the total by about $11,000. The main part of the campaign will start Feb. 11 and continue until the end of the month with door-to-door canvassing. It takes at least 150 volunteer canvassers to cover the. Prince George area and the more volunteers. the easier the job. according to foundation spokesman Carole Chalmers. Although the money for research leaves the city at the end of the campaign, it comes back to the area through the help it provides to heart patients. Chalmers said. The statistics show one in four people are affected by heart disease, so the foundation’s slogan: “We’ve touched the heart of someone you know,” applies to most people. The popular jump-rope-for-heart program, held in local elementary schools, will be featured during the breakfast with a performance by the local demonstration team from Beaverly elementary school. Last year, the students from Beaverly elementary raised more than $3,000 for heart research. As part of heart month, the third annual aerobathon will be held Feb. 12 with three different sessions. Top fitness instructors from Carney Hill Community Association. College Heights Community Association, Fitness First, Northwave, YM-YWCA and the Four Seasons Leisure Pool will lead participants through a variety of workouts. The Four Seasons Leisure Pool will be busy with the Fun Over 50 Aquafit session from 1 to 2 p.m. and a 90-minute Aquafit workout will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. A 90-minute workout will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Civic Centre. Cost for each session is a $2.50 drop-in fee, or bring your completed pledge forms and donations. The aerobathon, co-sponsored by the parks and recreation department, encourages participants to get their hearts beating for the heart foundation. High-risk dental clinic approved VANCOUVER (CP) - The provincial health ministry has approved construction of a special high-risk dental clinic at Vancouver General Hospital. “We are pleased to get started on this high priority project which should be completed in August 1987,’’ said hospital president James Flett. Bob Tivey, AIDS Vancouver director, said his group is relieved. “We do feel that the new minister of health is sensitive to all issues around the AIDS epidemic,” he said. The clinic will be the first in B.C. to offer care for people with infectious diseases, including hepatitis and AIDS. spect of the authorities,” Cleave said. Today, the bank has more branches in China than any other foreign bank, with offices in Shenzhen, Xiamen, Wuhan, Tianjin, Gangzhou (better known as Canton), Beijing and Shanghai, of course. It also owns the Marine Midland Bank in the U.S., the British Bank of the Middle East, a majority of shares in the Hang Seng Bank and the Equator Bank Ltd. in the Bahamas, plus enough other assets to add up to over $108 billion (Cdn). “Every single dollar deposited is guaranteed by our parent company,” Cleave said. For most depositors and people getting car loans at the Bank of B.C., the change in ownership means three things: less to worry about in terms of assets, a new name for the bank within two years, and a computer system in about 18 months that will let customers cash cheques in Singapore, London, Oman, France, Malaysia, and 50 other countries. This is true though banks in Hong Kong are far less regulated than those in Canada, or almost anywhere else. “The territory has about a dozen big, reputable companies of interest to big portfolio investors. These include the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. . .beneath this tier comes a demi-mode of creative accounting, ramps and difficult marketability in many stocks,” according to the Far Eastern Economic review’s Asia 1986 Yearbook. You’ll find the Hongkong and Shanghai written about, under a slightly different name, in James Clavell’s Noble House. Although it already has 1,200 offices in 55 countries, the bank is on an agressive expansion and diversification program. “Globally, the bank has decided to diversify its banking assets with a third in the Americas, a third in Europe and a third in Asia.” That’s why it started the Hongkong Bank of Canada in 1981, and why it bought the Bank of B.C., according to Cleave. “We decided we could benefit from the strengths and deal with the weaknesses. We feel there is value in the branch system and a large and loyal retail deposit base. “The only assets we did not purchase was a handful of loans, about $25 million worth, where litigation was attached, and the obligations the bank had for a new headquarters building. But we made a direct deal with the landlord. We also didn’t take a lawsuit brought against the CBC.” Foreign loans were purchased at a “deep discount,” Cleave said. “Hongkong and Shanghai does not expose itself to balance of payment loans. We make trade finance — short term — loans. We don’t make $l00-million loans to country X.” CANADIAN ADDICTION FOUNDATION 565-7305 Prince George Chapter BEER PRICES DROP Beer drinkers are paying less for several brands in B.C. liquor stores. Led by price reductions announced last month by the Pacific Western Brewing Co., the three major breweries followed suit with similar reductions on their discount brands. The new prices went into effect today. ■ Pacific Western’s Prince George-made generic beer, light beer and malt beer dropped by 40 cents to $8.55 (not including deposit) for a case of one dozen bottles. A six-pack of canned Pacific Draft is now $4.40 from $5.25 and one dozen bottles of Ironhorse Malt Liquor and Pacific Pilsner are $8.80 from $9.25. ■ One dollar has been slashed from the cost of a dozen Carling Black Label and Kronenbrau, La-batt’s Lucky Lager and Columbia Extra, and Molson Old Style, all now priced at $8.80. Carling’s Black Horse is $10.30 from $10.80. The major breweries’ premium brands increased by 50 cents per dozen last month to $10.80. Man arrested in fur theft A 26-year-old Prince George man is in police custody today in connection with the theft of furs from the Ontario Trappers Association following a break-in on New Year’s Day. The business at 3900 Hart Highway was broken into and a variety of pelts valued at about $35,000 were stolen, said RCMP. The man was arrested Tuesday and as a result of an investigation, RCMP recovered about $7,500 worth of pelts. He is expected to appear in Prince George provincial court today on a charge of possession of stolen property and on a charge of possession of a prohibited weapon, a nunchuka (a martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks joined by a chain). Police have not released the suspect’s name. Amm is currently seeking a SPECIAL CARE HOME for a young adult, with single woman or a couple, to teach daily living skills and to provide supervision in the home. This arrangement is intended to be short term depending on the development ol independence in the young adult. Suitable home will have no young children or pets For further Information pleas« contact S. Hill or P. Stuart at AiMHi (564-6408). School bus route hazards claimed Parents of children living in Miworth don’t want their children touring Cranbrook Hill on their way to and from school each day. During Tuesday’s meeting of School District 57 trustees, a delegation of parents from the area issued an appeal to change the route, especially during the winter, to avoid taking the students over the steep, narrow roads leading over Cranbrook Hill to Miworth. “This route is hazardous in the winter,” said Janet Shields, spokesman for the group. Between eight and 10 of the students riding the bus live on Cranbrook Hill and 25 students live in Miworth, she said. The group recommended the route be changed to permit the bus to drop the Cranbrook Hill students off at the junction of the Cranbrook Hill and Miworth Roads or. during the winter, the route be changed to permit the Miworth students to be dropped off before the bus climbs the hill to deliver the students to Cranbrook Hill. The recommendations were referred to the district’s support services committee for consideration. The committee is expected to report back to the board Feb. 17. Trustees did agree to add another bus to those serving the Blackburn zone. After hearing there were problems with overcrowding, double tripping, students waiting long periods for a bus and some students who were eligible for bus service who were not receiving it, they decided to add a sixth bus to the routes in the area. This will extend service three km into Perry Road for 11 elementary students and 2.2 km into Legault subdivision for 13 elementary students. , School district secretary-treasur-er Don Dunaway said it would take several weeks to make the changes to the routes. Clean-air policy backed The way has been paved for nonsmoking quidelines to be developed in schools and other buildings throughout School District 57. School trustees passed a motion Tuesday endorsing the clean indoor air bylaw adopted by the City of Prince George late last year. Within the city, the school district’s guidelines will conform with the city’s clean indoor air by-law and, in schools located outside the city, the board will promote the objectives of the city’s policy. Although no alterations will be approved to schools to develop a smoking area which is vented to the outside, some schools already have systems which would permit a room to the used as a smoking $24,000 DOLLARS "$24,000 DOLLARS lor a few hours of work doesn't seem fair." Fantastic New Money Making Program For FREE Information send Name & Address to FINANCIAL SYSTEMS Box 1301 Prince George, B.C. V2L 4V3 DIRTY CARPETS? Better Equipment! Better Cleaning! Faster Drying! Happier Customers! Carl’s Clean Care 561-0320 $ 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 NORTHAWKE MEDICAL CLINIC 7780 Hart Highway is pic5C?d to announce the association of MARC D. SHERKIN, M.D., F.R.C.P. (C) RESPIRATORY MEDICINE APPOINTMENTS BY MEDICAL REFERRAL ONLY Phone 962*9207 for an appointment area, said district superintendent Jim Imrich. Students throughout the district are permitted to smoke only outdoors. The city bylaw provides that no person is permitted to smoke in a public place, including school buses, but does permit the establishing of designated smoking areas in public places such as schools, provided the area is enclosed and the air is exhausted to the outside of the building. The]]'s WITHIN REACH HANDICAP INTEGRATION PROGRAM PEOPLES DRUG MART (Mori’s Pharmacy) College Heights Shopping Centre 964-4244 Prices effective Feb. 5th - 8th . \\ PARAMETTES Multi Vitamins Reg. $5.19 4Q SALE RI0PAN PLUS Antacid & Anti-Gas 350 ml, 60 chew tablets Reg. $4.39 SALE I s2.99 V SEMINAL 500 B-COMPLEX VITAMIN Reg. $8.99 SALE *5.99 HIBITANE ^ SKIN CLEANSER 110 mL. Reg. $3.99 SALE *1.99