S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 26 NO. 26
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
More land to be sold
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ Heave! acklands grainger’s team kicks off the third annual Terrace Fire Truck Pull fundraiser for the United Way on Emerson St. Oct. 5. The men heaved their way to victory for the third straight year with the fastest time of 12.26 seconds in their first of two pulls and beating their fastest time last year of 12.36 seconds. The “bunch of big, strapping lads,” as emcee Nick Young referred to them, also raised the most money for a team with $1,375. The award for most spirited team went to the Hospital Heavers. Nine teams took part and raised about $6,000, said Kristine Kofoed, United Way community development and campaign coordinator.
“They just vanished.” By JOSH MASSEY THE LAST time Connor Sabo saw his older brother Michael, known to his family and friends as Devlin, and his friend Ike Murray was early in the morning on Sept. 22, 2013. The three had driven east of Terrace on Hwy16 before parking Connor’s truck and taking his boat across to the north side of the Skeena River to the Lorne Creek area to pick mushrooms. After mooring the boat near Lorne Creek, the three men hiked 15 minutes up a trail until they found pine mushrooms growing, and
had there split off. Connor, who prefers to pick alone, said he’d meet Devlin and Ike back at his boat by 4 p.m. Despite the fact that none of them had ever been on that particular hillside before, they were confident that the natural boundaries provided by the river, the hill top and two creeks on either side would make it easy to get back at the end of the day. A seasoned mushroom picker, Connor had invited Devlin and Ike along for fun. Both his brother and Ike were novice mushroom pickers, though Ike
had some picking and bush experience, while Devlin, though inexperienced in the woods, had his Level 3 First Aid certificate. When the pair didn’t return on time, Connor said he “kept walking back up the trail just screaming for them, hoping they would be walking down. But I just got no response.” Connor said he waited four hours, lighting a fire on the beach and even trying to catch fish because he was getting hungry. Eventually he decided to boat back across the Skeena River before it became too dark to run the river, leav-
ing a jerry can full of gas so Ike and Devlin could easily spark a fire. Before he left, he also wrote a message in the sand that said “gone for help.” All three had rain gear and food for a day. Since his brother had first aid training, Connor was confident they would be okay for the night. He returned the next day with Terrace Search and Rescue members, and continued searching with a growing number of search and rescue members and volunteers all week until the official search was called off on Sept. 29. Connor first went to the
spot where he had moored the boat the day before and where he had left a can of gas. It was untouched so he knew they did not make it back down to the river. Early on during the search, Connor found the most obvious sign of Devlin and Ike – four Safeway bags full of mushrooms and an imprint from one of Ike’s cork boots on a log. Experienced pickers would use backpacks for their mushrooms or buckets, leaving Connor convinced these plastic bags belonged to the missing pair.
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THE Kitselas Development Corporation has surfaced as the latest party to either buy or express an interest in buying land at the City of Terrace-owned Skeena Industrial Park located just south of the Northwest Regional Airport. It’s poised to buy 165 acres of land at the park in a deal worth $1.647 million, development corporation manager Jim Dopson said last week. But the deal also hinges on the corporation, which is the Kitselas First Nation’s economic development arm, in turn negotiating leases with two as-of-yet unnamed construction companies looking to set up operations on the acreage because of its central location. “We’ve been waiting for a few pieces to fall together for the development before we make the purchase,” said Kitselas corporation manager Jim Dopson, adding that he hopes to confirm the purchase by the end of October and that he is confident it will go through. “We should know by month end. We will have some statements of intent to work with,” said Dopson. “We were looking at purchasing at it and developing it with partners to take advantage of the pipelines and the different construction projects that are in the area.” The Kitselas Development Corporation is looking to lease out 60-75 acres immediately with development of that beginning next spring with members of Kitselas First Nation hired on as part of the agreement.
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Shut down
Benefit dance
Skating takes off
Local business unable to open for the year due to lack of fish \NEWS A22
Friends rally around local woman diagnosed with cancer \COMMUNITY A27
The Terrace Skating Club gets young skaters to come skate with them \SPORTS B1