pmwmmamm SacOuub Wrgt ay. mmmtm Low tonight: -6 High Sunday: -3 Kkatfoi «UtetfjU. pAQt 2 J wmmmmmmmmmr INCLUDES PLUS! MAGAZINE The Prince George Citizen SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1988 40 CENTS ■nmaHn VICTORIA (CP) — One man is dead and another missing and presumed droWned after a practice session by a university novice rowing team turned into tragedy on a chilly, windswept lake Friday. Darryl Smith, a 19-year-old University of Victoria student, died in Victoria General Hospital of severe hypothermia. Fellow student Gareth Lineen, a non-swimmer who was to celebrate his 20th birthday today, remained unaccounted for after an intense search that was called off late Friday due to darkness. The two were part of a nine-member crew from the University of Victoria rowing club who were tossed into the waters of Elk Lake in Saanich, a suburb north of here, after winds of up to 60 kilometres an hour upset their light, shallow-draft rowing shell. Two of the oarsmen remained in the hospital’s intensive care unit, while the other five were treated at Saanich Peninsula Hospital and released. The eight oarsmen who were rescued, including Smith, spent up to 45 minutes clinging to their capsized boat before being picked out of the near freezing water. One received cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the lakeshore before being taken to hospital. Their shell was the second to spill after strong winds whipped up metre-high waves on the lake, a popular practice ground for Victoria’s strong rowing community. It was already dark when the frantic rescue effort began. “It was pitch black, freezing cold, with three-foot swells and whitecaps,” said Rob Stubbings, a Saanich firemen who helped pluck the oarsmen from the lake. “All we saw were hands reaching out of the water . . . they survived on pure guts and instinct . . . they encouraged each other, shouting to each other to keep holding on and keep alive.” Stubbings said it was sheer luck that he and fellow fireman Glen Goldie found the crewmembers hanging on to their overturned shell more than 45 minutes after the accident was reported. They hauled all eight into their tiny inflatable boat and headed for shore. A small flotilla of rescue craft then began combing the lake and surrounding shoreline for Lineen. It was near dusk when rowing coach Lorna Ferguson had ordered her two nine-man shells to end the regular practice session early due to the strengthening wind when the one nearest her 4,/2-metre motorboat capsized. All the crewmembers quickly clambered aboard her small outboard and headed for shore. But 15 metres from land the overloaded motorboat was swamped and the occupants had to swim the rest of the way. Meanwhile, near the middle of the lake, the second shell overturned. The chilled, sodden oarsmen first were taken to a lakefront home to dry off, then to hospital. The search for the missing oarsmen involved Saanich police, fire and emergency rescue crews, the RCMP, Coast Guard, private boats with searchlights and an Armed Forces helicopter which made one sweep of the lake before being forced away by 40-knot winds. Stunned survivors of the first capsized shell declined to comment as they watched searchers looking for their comrades in the second boat. Elk Lake is used year-round by several Victoria-based rowing clubs because the lake rarely freezes. Shovelling out Bowie faces AIDS test DALLAS (AP) — A Texas state district judge ordered British rock singer David Bowie to be tested for AIDS after a woman testified Friday the performer sexually assaulted her and exposed her to the virus. “No law says it can be done, but no law says it can’t,” said State District Judge David Brooks, who set no immediate deadline for the test, which will be given in Switzerland. Wanda Nichols, a 30-year-old makeup artist, testified Bowie assaulted her at an exclusive Dallas hotel Oct. 9 while he was in town for two concerts. A Dallas county grand jury reviewed the matter and declined to indict Bowie on Nov. 19. Bowie has said he was with the woman from early morning to late afternoon. He called the charges ridiculous. NOW HEAR THIS. . . ■ Members of the Harwin Community Association are overwhelmed with the response to their decision to resurrect their outdoor skating rink at Harwin Elementary school after a two-year absence. The turnout for flooding and snow-shovelling chores has been so good that one fellow was out until 2 a.m. one night grooming the rink during the current freeze/thaw cycle. Stella Silbernagel is smiling because she at least has a shovel to dig herself out from behind a the wall of ice and snow left by city crews who cleared on Fifth Avenue and other downtown streets Friday. More than a dozen car owners who parked on Winnipeg Street faced the same problem. Citizen photo by Lisa Murdoch Chip fees for pulp mills 'under consideration' by KEN BERNSOHN Staff reporter VANCOUVER — Pulp mills may. soon face a new government charge. Independent sawmills say they have to absorb all government timber cutting fees, that pulp mills don’t pay a penny, even though pulp prices are at their highest level in history. The provincial government has changes to the situation “under consideration,” Forests Minister Dave Parker told The Citizen Friday. Parker wouldn’t say what form a fee could take, or how much might be charged. Government timber charges were raised more than $480-million Nov. 1. “Remember, all licencees (firms with long-term harvesting rights), pay stumpage (cutting fees),” Parker pointed out. But the direct charges on logs harvested are on lumber and plywood mills since chips used to make pulp are a byproduct of lumber manufacturing. The value of chips is figured in the government’s complex pricing formula, but sawmills say there’s a surplus of chips in the province. That means sawmills haven’t been able to pass on the rise in government charges. When asked about this, Parker said, “you can say the problem is ‘under consideration’.” Other government officials say a decision on the issue is expected by the end of February. Independent sawmills now are paid about $55 for 1,000 pounds of chips, a “bone dry unit” in the Prince George area. “We feel the pulp mill contribution is paid through what we pay for chips,” commented Bill Hughes, Canadian Forest Products vice-president responsible for the firm’s three pulp mills. “This (stumpage) is taken into account in the negotiations with independent sawmillers.” The actual cost to produce a bone dry unit of chips in a mill is about $15, according to Hughes. “We don’t regard the stumpage issue as settled,” he added. In a speech to the Western Silvicultural Contractors Association, Friday, Parker said, “We want another federal provincial agreement (to follow the present five-year agreement), this a $600-million agreement.” That would make the new program twice as large as the current one which rehabilitates logged areas which have grown back as non-commercial forests, instead of ones suitable for use by the forest industry. This is the first announcement of the size of the program the provincial government is seeking. Negotiations on the new agreement are expected to begin this year. Parker and Prince George South MLA Bruce Strachan will visit McBride Monday afternoon. They will meet with residents who are dissatisfied with a recent Forest Service decision to grant timber near McBride to a Valemount mill. Ticket scam stuns Manitoba 2cQ9oaaoow f-1 StfylTTfy* -yj ‘*co'Z. ysfibrc 8077VL “I've just proved I don't exist. MM WINNIPEG (CP) — A prominent lawyer who was among a group of judges, lawyers and court officials charged in an alleged traffic-ticket-fixing scam jumped to his own defence Friday as the fallout from the arrests continued to stun the Manitoba legal community. “I’ve done nothing wrong,” said Winnipeg lawyer Jay Prober, who was arrested on charges of obstructing justice. “I hope the authorities will reconsider and drop the charges.” Prober was among 11 people Attorney General Vic Schroeder said had been charged by late Friday. Four more people were reported arrested during the evening. Schroeder said the group, including provincial Judge Robert Tru-del, two provincial court magistrates, a Crown attorney, and two prominent lawyers, were charged following an investigation of the handling of certain charges under Highway Traffic Act. The attorney general refused to provide details, other than to say certain items changed hands in exchange for inappropriate dispositions of charges under the act. He also said chief provincial Judge Harold Gyles, who was not charged, has been removed from his position because of questions about his conduct in the case and an investigation is continuing. Schroeder’s actions came so quickly they not only shocked the legal community, they caught the man who is expected to temporarily replace Gyles unaware. Arriving at Winnipeg International Airport from northern Manitoba late Friday night, provincial Judge Ian Dubienski learned of the ticket-fixing charges from a CBC television reporter who met him. “Why should I be the new chief judge?” asked a puzzled Dubienski, who is the associate chief provincial judge. “I don’t know anything about what happened today.” As Dubienski left the airport, he grumbled: “If it wasn’t for the CBC I wouldn’t know what the hell is going on.” Schroeder said the provincial cabinet, which removed Gyles, will probably meet this weekend to name an interim chief judge. Prober, a high-profile lawyer and prominent Liberal, refused comment immediately after his arrest but within hours was making the rounds of media outlets to try to clear his name. He said he would not normally comment on a criminal charge before the courts, but felt compelled to speak out because of the damage done to his reputation. Prober said the charge against him arises from his handling of a single speeding ticket for a client who had a valid explanation and was given a verbal reprimand. “I’m absolutely astonished by the charge,” he said. Clock ticking quake OTTAWA (CP) - When the big earthquake jolts Canada’s West Coast, federal scientists say, it could be far worse than the one that devastated San Francisco in 1906. There’s a 50-per-cent chance that British Columbia is going to be hit within the next 200 years by an earthquake 10 times more powerful than the one that opened a 500-kilometre gash in the San Andreas fault, says Peter Basham, the federal government’s top earthquake specialist. “That doesn’t sound too serious until you realize that the next 200 years includes tomorrow,” Basham told reporters Friday. The hazards are immeasurable, he says, because “we are not at the moment ready for such a large earthquake.” When the West Coast quake comes, it will cause damage in the billions of dollars and, depending upon what time of day it hits, could kill thousands, Basham says. There is growing concern about the earthquake threat, says Basham, a federal Energy Department official. But while “we expect to have time to get ready,” he says scientists are not sure governments are doing enough to prepare for the disaster. He told a media briefing that , scientists would like to launch a i six-year program to improve < their understanding of the forces that are building up along Juan de Fuca fault, just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, and will eventually break loose with a lethal vengeance. But they are still trying to define the kind of research pro- ; grams required and to persuade the government to fund those studies. . ; The national building code takes earthquakes into account to a certain extent. “In terms of the earthquake resistance of building designs,” 1 Basham says, “we are ready ' for anything we have seen histo- ‘ rically.” * But Canadians have never ! seen a quake measuring more ; than nine on the Richter scale. ; Basham says scientists expect • the major West Coast jolt to | reach or surpass that figure. | The 1906 California earth- ; quake is estimated to have mea- ' sured about 8.3 on the Richter scale. Every full number on the scale represents a tenfold increase in the power of an earthquake. More work is needed to improve the earthquake resistance of buildings — especially hospitals — and facilities like power plants and gas lines. A major West Coast quake, Basham says, will be at least as * powerful as the 1965 earthquake that hit Alaska. It will result from pressures along the line where the Juan J de Fuca plate and the North * American plate meet. The off- ! shore plate is continually trying * to slide under the continental -plate. ■ The fault line is different ; from the one in California, ; where the Pacific plate and continental plates are grating ! against each other, travelling in \ different directions. ; Scientists are also watching areas in Eastern Canada that are prone to earthquakes, although most of those tremors are less powerful than what is expected on the West Coast. The worst quake in Eastern Canada, off the south coast of Newfoundland in 1929, measured about 7.2. It generated a five-metre tsunami, or seismic sea wave, that caused serious damage to several Newfoundland coastal communities and drowned at least 27 people. ——■—imiMJ Our Olympic torch run 3 Debate on the economy 5 Cuba rejects Olympics 11 ...........7 ..........16 Gardening .................P2 .........8,9 Horoscope ............P12, P13 .......14-19 ...........6 ................11-13 ......16, P2 ............P14, P15 ........4, 5 *P_ Plus Magazine TELEPHONE: 562-2441 ONE DEAD, ANOTHER MISSING Winds capsize rowing shells ( <