POTENTIAL TRAGEDY was averted when two young Bellingham skiers, who went missing Monday afternoon while skiing on Mount Seymour, were found in good health just after 4.a.m. near the end of Indian River Drive. Kevin Keithley, 12, and Troy Holmes, 14, were reported missing after they failed to meet Troy’s fa- ther, Bob Holmes, at 4 p.m. at the Mount Seymour parking lot. Holmes had last seen the two riding up the Mystery chair at 2 p.m. A Mount Seymour ski patrol search of the ski area came up empty handed and the North Van- couver RCMP were called in. Police subsequently called in the By MICHAEL BE News Reporter North Shore Rescue Team (NSRT) and the search was on in earnest with 20 NSRT searchers and one RCMP officer scouring the moun- tain for any trace of the missing boys. A Mount Seymour employee searching the area near Goldic Lake on a snow cat discovered ski Versatile hooks crane contract NORTH VANCOUVER- based Versatile Pacific Shipyards Inc. has been awarded an $11.4 million contract to construct two container cranes. “It’s a very welcome contract,”’ Versatile’s vice-president of mar- keting Quintin Watt said Monday. “And it’s also a breakthrough for us in the industrial field.” Watt said the cranes will be the first built by Versatile. Company president David Alsop has said the contract represents Versatile’s plan to diversify its operation into new industrial markets and thereby reduce its traditiona] reliance on shipbuilding. “It’s the sort of contract we are actively pursuing,”’ Watt said. The cranes, which will be used for ship-to-shore container move- ment, were commissioned by the Port of Tacoma and will provide work for 100 men over a peak period in Versatile’s North Van- couver and Victoria yards. The company has a 15-month delivery schedule for the contract. Watt said steel fabricating work for the cranes will be done in both yards, but the cranes’ final erec- tion will be done in Victoria. VERSATILE Pacific Shipyards Inc. vice-president of marketing Quintin Watt...‘‘it’s also a breakthrough for us in the in- dustrial field.”’ In order to help the company in its bid for manufacturing diver- sification, Versatile has teamed up with international market leaders in other industries. The crane contract will be com- pleted with technical assistance from Kone of Finland. ; Meanwhile, contract negotia- tions between Versatile and its 23 unions are continuing following a 96 per cent vote by workers last month to reject the company’s last contract offer. tracks trailing down along Scott- Goldie Creek. The scarch team followed the tracks heading towards Indian Arm while a se- cond team swept across towards the creck at the 2,500-foot level. The Canadian Coast Guard vessel Osprey was called in to sland by in Indian Arm with iwo NSRT members on board. The searchers found the boys’ ski poles but lost the shi tracks near the 2,500-foot fevel it the edge of the snow line, A NSRT team, backed by an RCMP dog team, assembled in the Woodlands area and began work- ing its way up the steep terrain Business ............. 26 Classified Ads.........38 Doug Collins.......... 9 Comies...............37 Dr. Ruth.............34 Food... ....--. cece ee dS Lifestyles.............93 Sports ...........066- 18 TV Listings «see What's Going On.......32 Wednesday, rain and windy. Thursday, mostly cloudy with showers. Highs near 10°C. Second Class Registration Number 3885 3 - Wednesday. LOST BELLINGHAM BOYS SPEND COLD NIGHT ON SEYMOUR around Sunshine Creek. The team found sets of footprints at the 2,100-foot level, but lost all track of the prints just before 1:30 a.m. Around 2:30 a.m. the dog team and NSRT members began comb- ing the area along Allan Creek. Voice contact was made with the boys at 3:58 a.m. An hour and a half later they were out of the bush and off to Lions Gate Hospital for observation. NSRT searchmasier Bert Batt said the boys had told him they in- itially got lost when they followed a track that went off the trail halfway down the Mystery run. They skied and hiked down the NEWS photo Torn Burtey February 17. pool 1988 - North Shore News mountain, fell several times and were lost in the darkness. The two fell asleep at 9:30 p.m. and woke up at 3 a.m. to the sounds of yell- ing and whistles and the red glow of NSRT rescue flares. Said Batt: ‘*The search teams did a hell of a good job in some very rough terrain. They worked their butts off.”’ The two skiers were released from LGH at 7 a.m. ‘‘They were fine. There were no. signs of hypothermia. We just wrapped them up in blankets and sent them home with their family,’ said LGH nursing director Gillian Harwood. Splish, splash ATTEMPTING am- phibiousness, these children discover that the wonderful world of wet can take a bit of getting used to. However, with the help of an inflatable turtle and William Griffia instructor Kathy Spittle it’s an enjoyable challenge. Swimming lessons for all ages are of- fered at North Shore rec- reation centres, and pro- vide an excellent way to get fit and have fun. Canfor defends overhaul scheme From page 1 stalled on boiler nurnber three. Jacks remains adamant that the terms of the extended variance order be met by its July 1 deadline, as he has been assured they would be by the provincial government, before any new amendment is con- sidered and before Canfor em- barks in 1990 on what it has said will be a $50 million upgrade of the mill’s air pollution standards from ‘B’ to ‘A’ levels. He said the speed with which his organization accumulated 5,000 signatures from West Vancouver, Howe Sound and the Gulf Islands residents in close proximity to the mill indicates the growing frustra- tion of area residents with con- tinued delays in requiring Port Mellon to meet the pollution stan- dards of its amended permit. The mill has never been fined or charged by the provincial gov- ernment even though it has never met all the conditions of its origi- nal 1978 pollution permit. “How many names do they want? 10,000?7’' Jacks asked. ‘‘We can get them. We have got a pro- blem here and the public wants it rectified. We only want one thing and that is for them to comply with their permit.’* MacMillan says the aim of the compeny’s air pollution program at Pon Mellon is to reduce the mill’s overall emissions in the most cost-efficient way possible and in- stalling a $10 million scrubber on a boiler that is scheduled to be replaced runs counter to that pro- gram. He said the bubbble system will only be used during the two-year mill overhaul period. Canfor announced the $50 mil- lion pollution upgrade as part of a $1 billion plan to modernize its 80-year-old Port Mellon mill. That plan, which would involve Japan’s Oji Paper Co. Ltd., is contingent upon the provincial government’s agreeing to what Canfor president Peter Bentley has called a short menu of requests from the company: government assurances that pulp mills in B.C, be given preferential treatment be- fore allowing the export of surplus wood chips; the usual industry dis- count electricity rates; and a new waste management permit from the Ministry of Environment. The new upgraded mil! will pro- vide up to 450 construction jobs, but no new mill jobs.