assiar Gourier the Voice of Cassiar Country JULY 1986 10 cents Miners Association formed A meeting held June 17th in Dease Lake of the Dease/Cassiar Miners Association saw the formation of a lobby group for area miners. Meeting chairman Lloyd Stock said 49 people, including six government officials from the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Finance, attended the meeting. Stock said they have been working on establishing the association for a year. “We want legitimate input into mining regulations and decisions,” he said. At the meeting the members discussed a proposal to move the Liard Gold Commissioner from Victoria to Cassiar. At the present time this district is the only mining division of 24 in the province which doesn’t have the gold commissioner and mining records in our own location. If the gold commissioner was moved to Cassiar maps, aerial photos and up-to-date staking records would _be available locally. Stock said the government officials reacted positively to the proposal and asked that the association formalize the request in a letter to the Min- istry of Mines and Ministry of Finance. If the proposal is approved the Liard Gold Commissioner would be moved to the Government Agent’s office in Cassiar. The local miners association is also trying to get relaxed standards of the Waste Management Act for placer miners in this area. Stock said the placer miners feel they deserve special conditions because they are not adding anything to the environment, but are only moving around what is already here. The Waste Management Act applies to a broad range of people from placer miners to pulp mill operators. Stock added that there are large contractors with big equipment down south who would like to come up here to placer mine but with the present regulations it is too expensive. -At the June meeting the constitution-and.by-laws.of the association were read and a membership drive was held. Three directors were appointed: Ed Asp for the “Dease Lake area, Steve Simonovic for Cassiar and Ron Bergeron for the Watson Lake/Highland River area. To become a voting member of the association one must have a free miners license and pay $25 yearly. People without free miners licenses may become associate members, also for $25 yearly. Recreation Conference Held in Cassiar Cassiar held the regional conference over the week- end of June 6, 7 and 8th, with recreationists coming from as far away as Atlin and Whitehorse. All in all, there were 15 people present including the Cassiar Community Club staff. The conference took place in the Lions Den and, as usual, everyone came away with some problems solved, new ideas and new programming. The Conference opened with the recreation reports from the various participating communities, and plans for the direction each community is taking in the future. The Conference dealt with programs from the var- ious communities, and most of them passed handouts, letting everyone at the conference have the opportunity to take these handouts back to their respective commun- ities to see if some of the programs would work there. Information was presented pertaining to the B.C. Recreation Facilities Association, and the B.C. Recrea- tion & Parks Association, and the difference between the two organizations. At the wrap-up session, personality trait ‘testing was done with the materials Gary Periard picked up at the U.B.C. Facilities Conference. ‘ In closing, resolutions were passed and ideas were given for the next conference in Atlin (to be held on September 27, 1986) and ue, Yukon Recreation Sem- inar. - School Board opts out The B.C.S.T.A. represents only a small caucus of politically active Lower Mainland members is the feeling of the Board of Stewart S.D. No. 88. Therefore, on May 13, 1986, the Board resigned from the B.C.S.T.A. Two other school boards, Fort Nelson and Prince George, had previously resigned A Stewart School Board member said he expected other northern districts to follow suit. Joanne Voss, chairperson, Stikine School District No. 87, said “The B.C.S.T.A. has a lot of potential. It has helped us a lot, especially the seminars for new trustees, legal advice and resource material.” She said the Board has _no plans to drop out of the B.C.S.T.A. at the present time. Local athletes and volunteers honored “4 j i Back row | to r: Lee Coran, Chuck Malloy, David Andrews (accepting for Danny Andrews) : Front row | to r: David Madore, Karen Farrell, Michelle Billingsley, Kate Elhorn (accepting for Warwick Elhorn), Dyonne Zubek The Ist Annual Sportsmans Dinner was held in set up for the banquet, and thanks also to Dave Chapple Cassiar at the Recreation Centre on Saturday, June 14,....who.provided music forthe occasion free of. charge. | 1986. It was a night that the Cassiar Gommnrey Club recog~ nized its various volunteers and athletes by having a ban- quet in their honour, and by choosing the top athletes and volunteers in their respective categories. The special Head Table guest was Mrs. Betty Fox, who spoke to the people at the banquet, about Terry and his Marathon of Hope. She spoke of the events leading up to the run, and the aftermath. Betty spoke very sincerely to a group of eager youth, and her speech ended with a standing ovation. The Master of Ceremonies duties were ably handled by Peter Novak from C.B.C. Whitehorse wile managed to keep things in order. Following the banquet,'a Family Dance was held and the event finished close to midnight. We would like to thank all the people who helped to Danny Andrews I OOS EE EE School Board receives delegations The Stikine School Board received several dele- gations at the June Ist meeting held in Atlin. Vic Wells representing the residents of Good Hope Lake, requested that the Board consider re-opening the Good Hope Lake school. He also asked that native studies be included in the curriculum and that the Good Hope Lake school board trustee be continued. The Board has agreed that the re-opening of the school will be considered after enrolment is determined for the Fall of 1986 and after information has been gathered so projections of enrolment can be viewed on a longer term basis. The cost of re-opening the school is estimated to be about $150,000. Mike Ferrier also appeared before the board as a representative of the parents of Atlin students entering grade 10 in September. He reported that the parents felt the offered curriculum for grade 10’s was question- able and not sufficiently adequate to encourage the three students to attend Atlin school next year. He said that all the parents have alternate plans for the students’ grade 10 studies next year. As a result the school beard approved discontinu- ation of grade 10 in Atlin for the 1986/87 school year. Nancy Mitchell was received by the Board as a rep- ‘resentative of the Stikine Teachers Association. She pre- sented a comparison of work hours of various employee groups. She requested that the Board consider a provision for teachers in the school district to have more prepar- ation time. This request follows a movement by teachers throughout the Bugs Continued on page 16 The overall winners are as follows: YOUTH VOLUNTEERS Michelle Billingsley David Madore ADULT VOLUNTEERS Lee Coran Charles Molloy YOUTH ATHLETE Dyonne Zubek Warwick Elhorn ADULT ATHLETE Karren Farrell COURT NEWS Court was held in Cassiar on June 19, 1986 with Judge D.B. Overend presiding. JACK CHIEF; charged with one count of assault with a weapon and two counts of common assault, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on the first charge and six months imprisonment on each of the two lesser charges. These are to be served concurrently. The charges arose following an incident May 15, 1986, at Camp Creek; located about nine miles south of Good Hope Lake. On the day in question Jack Chief, apparently intox- icated, assaulted a woman with a knife. She received a cut to her thumb which required stitches. Another woman and her four year old son were also assaulted when they attempted to assist the victim. Chief-pleaded guilty to the charges. He has a lengthy record which the judge said contains about nine convic- tions for driving offences and seven assaults. In addition to the prison sentence the accused is prohibited from possessing any firearm, ammunition or explosive for five years after his release from prison. MAURICE BEAUDOIN was fined $25 for selling six cans of beer to an out of uniform police officer. Beaudoin pleaded guilty to the charge. The incident occurred at Mighty Moe’s Place on Highway 37 on July 31, 1985. The court was told that the police officer drove into Mighty Moe’s Place in an unmarked vehicle and began discussing fishing with Beaudoin. The officer asked him if there was a liquor store around and Beaudoin offered to sell him a half pack of beer for $8. The police officer purchased the beer and then left. An hour later the police Continued on page 16