TERRACE
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S TANDARD
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VOL. 25 NO. 1
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Deal in works to keep gym open By JANINE WORKMAN THE KITIMAT-Stikine regional district is in talks with the Coast Mountains School District to keep the Thornhill Junior Secondary School gym open after the school closes for good in June. The gym is the largest in the area and keeping access is regarded as critical for local sporting groups.
Thornhill Junior is to close in June because of declining enrolment. During debates on the school closure the loss of the gym was an issue brought up time and time again as sports groups spoke of its value to the area. Thornhill regional district director Ted Ramsey said while he doesn't have a date to finalize anything he
expects the regional district and the school district will come to an agreement. “It's in the process and it's pretty positive,” Ramsey said last week. One option would be for the regional district to lease the gym from the school district. “I don't want to see it boarded up. I want to have access to it,” Ramsey said,
noting the building’s value to the community of Thornhill. Thornhill school board trustee Gary Turner was also optimistic the two local public sector entities could reach a deal. “I'm hoping we can come to some kind of agreement,” Turner said. The school district has already taken the position that it won’t use any of its own
money to keep the gym open for sports groups, but is receptive to any groups who want to come forward and work on a solution. The gym is used by sports groups such as the badminton and archery clubs, as well as indoor volleyball and soccer leagues. “It is critical for us to have a facility of the quality of the Thornhill school to
maintain our program,” said Norm Parry, president of the Terrace Badminton Club. Parry said with high ceilings and six badminton courts, the gym offers more than other school gyms. “If you take a major facility like that out of the basket of facilities ... then everyone will have to try and share the remaining few,” Parry said.
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City recycling goes private THE CITY of Terrace is closing its drop-off recycling depot beside the George Little House in favour of one to be run by the Waste Management firm. The new depot will be located at the Waste Management location on the north side of Keith Ave. between the building containing the St. John Ambulance and Medichair outlets and Superior Propane. The new location will come at no cost to either the city or Terrace and area residents, a key consideration in the city decision to close down its pilot depot which has been open since last November. The city does not have a contract with Waste Management, but as the company is going to offer the service privately, there’ll be a savings estimated at $50,000 this year. “They’re doing this at no cost so it’s pretty unique,” said city official Tara Irwin of the Waste Management offer. “We have decided not to duplicate the service.” The city depot had been regarded as a pilot project intended to test the idea of having residents take their own recyclables to a centralized drop off location. “Residents can drive up and there will be bins,” said Irwin of the Waste Management plan. “For the first little while at least it will be open 24 hours.” No official date has been set for the new site’s opening, although it’s anticipated to be ready in early May, she added. Waste Management is currently paving the site where bins will go, and will use a bailer for compacting materials. The depot will accept the same materials the city does now – cardboard, plastic, paper and metals. But it won’t be taking in compost, something the city depot does now. The city’s self-serve depot is part of its program, being worked on in conjunction with the Kitimat-Stikine Regional District, to keep garbage from being taken to either the city or regional district dumps. Opened as a pilot project last November, the city hired local recycling company Do Your Part to process material dropped off and Geier Waste to take the material to Do Your Part. Local metal recycler Bold Salvage placed a bin at the site for metal and the city placed its own bin for compostable material.
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■ Bass TINZEL UY, a member of the Caledonia Concert Band, and her bandmates get some advice from an adjudicator after the band’s performance at the Pacific Northwest Music Festival April 14.
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The Rock
Room tax sacked
Moving up
Church celebrates 25 years of serving and caring for the community \COMMUNITY A17
Terrace loses room tax due to lack of support from the hotel sector \NEWS A9
Former Terrace minor hockey player awarded scholarship \SPORTS A26