THURSDAY, APRIL 27 2017 VOL. 74, NO. 17
SERVING FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES
$1.50 INC. GST.
alaskahighwaynews.ca
“The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Tinker’s Dam About the North Peace.”
NEW PARK FOR PUPS WANTED
YOUNG FLYERS LAND ON U15 + U16 ROSTERS
SHOWCASING THE GROOVE OF THE NORTH
NEWS A3
SPORTS B1
MUSIC B5
TAKING TO THE STAGE
ALEISHA HENDRY PHOTO
Esther Li plays Allemande from Partita, no. 2 in D minor by Bach during one of her adjudicated performances at the Peace River North Festival of the Arts. The festival runs all week and wraps with the Best of the Fest honours concert on April 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the North Peace Cultural Centre.
THE RACE FOR PEACE RIVER NORTH
When You Are Out in the Field, Time IS Money. QUALITY PARTS, EXPERT SERVICE! HoursMon-Fri: 8am - 5pm Sat: 8am - Noon
ALEISHA HENDRY PHOTO
Jeff Richert calls money the “root of all evil” in politics, and as such is keeping his campaign costs down as much as possible.
Observant, patient work ethic the key to success for independent candidate Jeff Richert ALEISHA HENDRY
After Hours - Leave Message
Rob Fraser.
Returning to the grassroots Refocusing the northern vision ahendry@ahnfsj.ca
9224 100 Street, Fort St. John, BC (250) 785-0463
BRONWYN SCOTT PHOTO
There’s a dichotomy when it comes to Jeff Richert. At 36 years old, he has the laid-back, relaxed mindset of a Gen-Xer, with a Millennial drive to get things done and make change happen. Like many adults his age, he’s on the cusp of both and belongs to neither. Something of an outsider candidate, Richert walks the line of potential politician and everyday guy in a way that those towing the party line can’t quite achieve. This was apparent during an all candidates forum at North
Peace Secondary, where he chose to remain seated when it was his turn to talk, unlike his older counterparts that stood to address the students. “I’m on your level because I work for you,” he said at the time, making him seem like the “cool older brother” who can still remember what it was like being a teenager, but with the age-comes-wisdom of a seasoned grownup. He acknowledged this while sitting at a table in the North Peace Cultural Centre concourse, chatting about his platform, his work ethic, and his more relaxed stance to the campaign. See RICHERT on A10
Fate has had different plans for Rob Fraser, who had wanted to be a military man as a kid BRONWYN SCOTT Alaska Highway News
“I had it in my mind that I was going into the military,” Rob Fraser says, reminiscing about his youth and sipping a freshly brewed mug of coffee in his little campaign office on 100 Avenue in Fort St. John. “I come from a military family,” he explained. His father, grandfather and greatgrandfather were all veterans, as well as his grandfather on his mother’s side. As a boy, Fraser was a cadet. He joined the marksmanship team in high school, and won medals at the BC Winter Games in Prince George in 1978. He
PAVING 100 Canadian
Residential • Commercial • Industrial Roads • Driveways • Parking Lots
also practiced martial arts, and won medals in that same Winter Games for judo. “These things that I was doing as a child, well, as a young adult, was aiming at going to the military: martial arts, the marksmanship, great. I wanted to go to RMC, the military college. I had good grades in high school because I was preparing myself to become an officer and get into officer school,” he said. That plan didn’t work out for the now 57-year-old Mayor of Taylor, but the path he’s taken— in health and safety, as an entrepreneur and a politician— has “worked out just as well,” as far as he’s concerned. See FRASER on A9
FREE ESTIMATES
250.719.0686
% COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL GRAVEL SALES AND DELIVERY
Owned
Serving Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Fort St. John & Surrounding Areas
33490