THURSDAY, february 14, 2019 Vol. A-75, No. 7
Serving Fort St. John, B.C. and Surrounding Communities
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alaskahighwaynews.ca
“The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Tinker’s Dam About the North Peace.”
prehistoric bison dug up at site c
locals off to winter games
lng trades program booming
news A4
sports b1
Business A9
Province starts update to FSJ land, resource planning matt preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca
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Ice sculptor Slava Borecki, from Poland, carves out a sculpture in Centennial Park on Feb. 12, 2019, ahead of the High On Ice winter festival this weekend. The city is asking residents to stay out of the park and off the ice slides under construction until opening ceremonies Friday. The main parking lot access to the pool off 100 Street is blocked and will be closed throughout the weekend. Visitors to the pool are asked to use the back access off 96 Street, or park behind the curling club or Pomeroy Sport Centre. For a schedule of events, visit alaskahighwaynews.ca
Four suspects still at large in Peace Region drug investigation CONTACT US
matt preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca
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B.C.’s gang task force says there are four people still wanted in connection to an investigation into drug trafficking in the Peace Region. Alena Wallace, Paul Del Grosso, Danick Leger, and Jamie Cormier all have outstanding arrest warrants, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of BC said Thursday, February 7. Anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. The CFSEU began its sprawling, year-long investigation into street and mid-level drug dealers in July 2015, charging 43 suspects in June 2016, and seizing cocaine, fentanyl, an AR-15 rifle, meth, cash, and other weapons after a series of search warrants and traffic stops. A total of 29 people were arrested in police roundups in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek as part of the bust. So far, 21 have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty, according to CFSEU. Five were either found not guilty, or had their charges stayed. Of the 15 sentenced to date, 4,300 days of jail time has been handed out. Another six are still waiting to be sentenced. Six other accused are either on trial, or awaiting trial. See DRUG BUST on A3
Danick Leger
Alena Wallace
Jamie Cormier
Paul Del Grosso
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The provincial government is looking for public feedback as it updates a key document outlining resource management planning across 4 million hectares of land in the Fort St. John and North Peace area. The Fort St. John Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) is being updated as part of reconciliation efforts with the Blueberry River First Nation and other Treaty 8 First Nations, the province said in an information bulletin released February 7. “Since the completion of the Fort St. John Land and Resource Management Plan in 1997, Northeast B.C. has experienced significant growth,” the bulletin states. “The original plan identifies resource management zones and protected areas on provincial public land, setting out objectives and strategies for how the land and resources are managed.” The Fort St. John LRMP was started in 1993 to identify resource management zones and protected areas over 4.6 million hectares in the Fort St. John Timber Supply Area — about 1.5 times the size of Vancouver Island — and set strategies on how the lands were to be developed. The LRMP was adopted in 1997, and established the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area. The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development is leading the update to the plan after the province signed an agreement with Blueberry River to address concerns about the cumulative effects of resource development in their territory. An open house is scheduled Feb. 20 at the Pomeroy Hotel in Fort St. John from 5 to 9 p.m. Public comments are being accepted until March 6 at 4 p.m. The province has hired Urban Systems to gather community input on what changes might be needed to the plan through surveys, interviews, meetings, and open houses. A report on that outreach will released to the public in spring 2019, when technical planning work will also begin. See LAND PLAN on A8
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