Prince George Free Press, March 28, 2014 by Black Press Media Group

FRIDAYMARCH 28

FOOD: Second in our series on feeding the city

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Barber’s days at Days Inn cut short Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com Georgio’s Barber Shop has been an anchor tenant at Days Inn downtown since August 1964 but with the landmark hotel now sold to new owners, barber George Blanis feels lost at sea. Within weeks, the Days Inn on Quebec Street will become a Holiday Inn Express and Blanis, 77, will have to find a new place to set up shop, he says. Still, he will miss the little barber shop that has become like a second home to him since he immigrated here from Greece almost half a century ago. Last Thursday he was stoic, but sad. “I thought I would be celebrating my 50th anniversary year here at the shop in October,” said Blanis. “Now I don’t know where I’ll be. They want me to move out at the end of the month and I am telling my customers as they come in that I will be moving. It is sad. There is a lot of nostalgia here for me. It won’t be the same, for sure ... but life goes on.” He points his barber scissors in the direction of commemorative photos on the walls, which includes one of his late father who worked alongside him for many years, and others of Blanis posing with famous faces. As he talks with the Free Press, Blanis is also busy chatting with and clipping the hair of one of his many long-time customers. He expects most of his cliTeresa MALLAM/Free Press ents will follow him to his new George Blanis with a customer, “Ron”, at Georgio’s Barber Shop in the Day’s Inn where, as he location. says on his business card, he’s worked for “49 years and still clipping.” “Some of them have been would always come here and get me to cut their hair or give them a with me since day one,” he shave. So there is a real lot of nostalgia here for me.” said, proudly. “From back when I first opened my shop. My dad Blanis says he will still be in the mood to celebrate his 50th year was a barber too, we had 15 years here working here together beat Georgio’s, whether the gathering is at the Days Inn or another fore he went back home to Greece. He taught me the trade.” His father has since passed away and George has fond memories place. “My brother Tom is coming over from Greece to help me celof him and the many famous people, hockey players, politicians, ebrate.” and other celebrities who have sat in his barber’s chair. There is lots to do to get ready and not much time but, Blanis “Prince George has been very good to me and my family. I really says he is telling customers as they come in that he will soon be cannot say enough about how they made me feel, like their own moving. He expects the move will be financially costly but it is goson. Then there were the famous people that I have met who have ing to be very emotional for him as well when his days at the Days sat in this chair. At one time or another, they’ve all been here, said Inn are up, he says. Blanis. “I am the oldest barber in Prince George – working in the oldest “Hockey legends (Guy) Lafleur, (Frank, Peter) Mahovlich, barber shop in Prince George. That’s really something,” said Blanis, Maurice Richard and so many others [prime ministers] Joe Clark, taking a chair cloth from his customer’s (and friend’s) shoulders (Pierre) Trudeau, (premier) Bill Bennett. We had a lot of good and brushing off the hair to the floor. times. Whenever they would come and stay at the hotel, they

Supt. Stubbs off to Ottawa Prince George RCMP Supt. Eric Stubbs has received a promotion to Chief Superintendent, Director General, of National Criminal Operations at RCMP national headquarters in Ottawa. “The last three years have been the most challenging and rewarding of my career,” said Stubbs. “I’m extremely proud of the members and staff who work in this detachment. They work so hard to make this community a safe place and have been relentless in targeting prolific offenders and driving down crime in Prince George.” During his tenure, which began in the spring of 2011, Superintendent Stubbs and the RCMP detachment have decreased the levels of violent crime in key areas including murders, with marked drops in many areas such as break and enters, assaults, and robberies. “I would like to thank Superintendent Stubbs for his hard work and leadership at the helm of our municipal detachment,” said Mayor Shari Green of the City of Prince George. “Among the many achievements that have occurred during his watch, I’d like to point to his dedication to reducing domestic violence, acting on the Downtown Partnership’s recommendation to create a downtown enforcement unit, and his valuable role on the Mayor’s Task Force on Crime. I wish him much success in his next role with the RCMP.” Previously, Superintendent Stubbs was the Officer in Charge of the Terrace RCMP Detachment. He succeeded Supt. Brenda Butterworth-Carr, who also left Prince George for Ottawa and now heads up the RCMP in Saskatchewan. A recruitment process is already underway to select a new officer in charge for the Prince George detachment.

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POLITICS: John Horgan looking to be next NDP leadr

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Can we feed the need? The face of poverty is changing and the number of mouths to feed is growing. The Free Press will be examining this topic in the coming weeks from the perspective of the users, providers and observers. Is our present system of providing food for our most vulnerable population in Prince George working? If not, what can we do to improve it? Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com Life on the streets in Vancouver was harsh but she got by. Most of the time she stayed in shelters at night. Now Jeannette Gagnon has an apartment in Prince George, she lives on $637 monthly that she receives in disability payments. She supplements that with what she makes selling her native art crafts. On Thursday, however, she found herself alone. No money left and days to go before her government cheque would arrive. Sitting in the cold, at the corner of 15th and Victoria as traffic whizzed by her, she held a sign that read Work 4 Food. For her this is just a setback. She still has her pride. In Vancouver, where Gagnon lived before coming to Prince George last year, people show they care, she said, by visiting the shelters for the homeless and handing out blankets to people on the street, especially during colder weather. “I was living in a shelter for one year which was next to the hospice house where my sister was until she died last spring,” said Gagnon. “I had nowhere else to go and I just wanted to be close to her.” The air is chilly. Gagnon shifts her position to get more sunshine on her face. She pulls a tissue from her pocket and dabs at her runny nose and tear-filled eyes. There is no self-pity in her voice. “I’ve met a lot of people here who are down and out,” she says. “Some of them live in tents, if you can believe that.” Gagnon considers herself lucky, she says, that she lives in an apartment even though the rent is $725 which gobbles up most of her money. The extra she needs comes from selling dream catchers and beaded earrings. She doesn’t mind working for the extra money, she just wishes it would stretch further and allow her to buy the kind of food she would like to eat, she said. “The cost of food is so high now, who can afford it? If I could, I would buy fresh fruit and vegetables. I would like to eat more healthy, eat more protein. Most of the people I know who live on social assistance eat a lot of noodles and Kraft Dinner, we live on a lot of bread and peanut butter. They think they are lucky if they get to go to the food bank.” Optimism is her saving grace. “Things will get better,” she says, smiling. She managed to get by until a few weeks ago, she said, when faced with new user regulations in place at the local Salvation Army food bank. “[Staff ] gave me a temporary card which is good for a month but they told me I had to get my proper identification and that my [Haida Gwaii First Nations] status card wasn’t enough. I need the government identification card and to get that I first have to have $75 for a copy of my marriage certificate before I can get

my B.C.I.D. And I don’t have money for that.” Gagnon, 57, has asthma, a chronic back condition, and has now been diagnosed with osteoporosis, she says. She admits to getting “cranky” with staff at the Salvation Army on her last visit and feels sorry about it but notes that “everybody is complaining” about the new identification policies. They have a hard enough time dealing with their dire circumstances, health issues and poverty, she says. (In an interview with the Free Press, Salvation Army administrator Capt. Neil Wilkinson said staff at the food bank, like anywhere else, doesn’t have to deal with people who are rude or disrespectful.) “A lot of people I know who live on social assistance can’t afford good food. Most people consider they are lucky if they can get food at the food bank. Some don’t even have that option.” As the reporter talked with Gagnon, a woman approached with a little boy (the 10-year-old identified himself as Aidan) and he handed the woman a small bag of groceries. She smiled and thanked him. “That was very sweet of him,” she said, placing the bag at her side. There have been acts of kindness from people in Prince George ever since she arrived last May, Gagnon said. People mean well but the city could do much more to help out the Teresa MALLAM/Free Press organizations who help put food in Jeannette Gagnon sits with a placard just off 15th Avenue and Victoria Street the mouths of people who need it, Thursday asking for food in return for doing work or she will sell her handshe says. crafted dream catchers. Gagnon, who is now on partial disability, has previIn her view, Vancouver is better ously lived in shelters in Vancouver and moved here last spring. able to deal with this social issue, perhaps because they have more But it’s not the size of the city or the apparent generosity of its people with more money who can help. inhabitants that makes life better for people down on their luck, “In Vancouver, people bring you homemade soup and stews, not knowing where their next meal is coming from, she says. and cups of coffee from Tim Hortons. My son, who is 30 and “Nobody will ever starve in Vancouver. Here, I don’t know. unemployed, is also living on the street and he told me people Just walking about as I’m trying to sell my jewellery, I meet a lot stopped in their cars and would give out warm things and blanof people and I’ve heard a lot of really sad stories. Like I say, some kets. I remember when I was staying in a shelter at Christmas people even live in tents. Everyone is just trying to get by the best time and they brought in trays of food.” way they can.”

No one should go hungry in the City of Prince George. There are no statistics to support that, says Bernie Goold, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul Society, but she believes it to be true. St. Vincent’s is perhaps the most well known and certainly the most often used of the downtown centres that provides food for people in need. Have they ever run out of food? “Never, not in the past five or six years at least,” Goold said in a recent interview with the Free Press. In fact, she noted, St. Vincent’s is often able to supplement their regular fare with special food items like fresh muffins and donuts to eat with tea and coffee. They also get fruit in season when Elks members pick up and deliver hundreds of pounds of pears and apples grown in the Okanagan orchards. However, most of the work of St. Vincent de Paul, a non-profit society, is done through donations of money (some from individuals, some from fundraisers) or non-perishable food items, says Goold. “When St. Vincent’s opens the doors each day, our volunteers welcome their ‘guests’, not clients. We offer them a warm place to come in out of the elements where they can have a sandwich and soup and enjoy the company of others.” In recent months, Goold has seen more seniors than ever before coming to the centre for

meals. She’s sure it’s not simply because we are generally an aging population, rather, she says, it’s because seniors can no longer make ends meet. They have been pushed to their financial limits, many of them living alone and being on low fixed incomes with rising costs of essential things like shelter and health care. “It is really sad to see these old people who don’t have enough money left over to buy the food they need. You see them in here especially towards the end of the month when they’ve run out of money and they are hungry and are still waiting for their old age checks to come in.” For someone who has seen the real face of poverty, perhaps most visibly in the downtown area but all over the city, Goold herself is amazed at the numbers of people they have helped. “We served over 93,000 meals at the drop-in centre this past year. We are open every day. People can come three times a day, Monday through Friday, and they can come two times on the weekends. No one should have to go hungry.” Despite the growing numbers of people in need, Goold is confident that the community will continue to support those who are truly less fortunate than themselves, year after year, even during tough economic downturns. “Over they year, you never forget the kindness of people,” she said. “Three cheers for our community, we are blessed.”

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Community Alert WA N T E D C Crime Stoppers is asking the public’s aassistance in locating the following pperson who is wanted on a British Columbia wide warrant. As of C 00900hrs this 26th day of March 2014, David Alexander AUGER (B: 1975-11D 110) is wanted on a British Columbia wide warrant for ASSAULT CAUSING w David Alexander BODILY HARM and 2 other charges. AUGER AUGER is described as a First Nations 173 cm or 5’8” male, 173 cm or 5’8” tall and weighs 96 kg or 212 lbs. 96 kg or 212 lbs. AUGER has black hair and brown eyes. AUGER should be considered violent.

WA N T E D Crime Stoppers is asking the public’s assistance in locating the following person who is wanted on a British Columbia wide warrant. As of 0900hrs this 26th day of March 2014, Allen Phillip MCGRAW (B: 1981-10-13) is wanted on a British Columbia Allen Phillip wide warrant for UNLAWFULLY IN A MCGRAW DWELLING. MCGRAW is described 175 cm or 5’9” as a Caucasian male, 175 cm or 73 kg or 161 lbs. 5’9” tall and weighs 73kg or 161 lbs. MCGRAW has brown hair and brown eyes.

WA N T E D Crime Stoppers is asking the public’s assistance in locating the ffollowing person who is wanted on a British Columbia wide warrant. AAs of 0900hrs this 26th day of March 2014, Kelte Oleen SIMON (B: 1980-02-29) is wanted on a British Columbia wide warrant for Kelte Oleen THEFT UNDER $5000. SIMON is SIMON 165 cm or 5’5” described as a Caucasian female, 57 kg or 126 lbs 165 cm or 5’5” tall and weighs 57 kg or 126 lbs. SIMON has blonde hair and brown eyes.

If you have information regarding these crimes call CRIMESTOPPERS

In Provincial Court on Jan. 6: Miranda M. McCook was found guilty of assault, resisting a peace officer, failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking or recognizance and failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking, sentenced to time served in jail and placed on probation for 18 months. Sabina Haskell was found guilty of theft of property with a value less than $5,000, received a conditional sentence of two months and was placed on probation for one year. Neal P. Johnsen was found guilty of assault, received a conditional sentence of 15 days, was placed on probation for

one year and assessed a victim surcharge of $100. In Provincial Court on Jan. 7: Merna J. Carpenter was found guilty of theft of property with a value less than $5,000 and sentenced to 45 days in jail. William J. Raab was found guilty of driving while prohibited, sentenced to 14 days in jail to be served on an intermittent basis, placed on probation until the expiration of the jail sentence, fined $300 and assessed a victim surcharge of $45. Randy R. Wanotch was found guilty of mischief, placed on probation for 18 months and assessed a victim surcharge of $100. Wanotch was also found

guilty of failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking or recognizance, sentenced to one day in jail and assessed a victim surcharge of $100. Derek K. Green was found guilty of breach of recognizance, sentenced to 28 days in jail, fined $1 and assessed a victim surcharge of 30 cents. Aron L. G. Johnson was found guilty of two counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, sentenced to 87 days in jail, assessed a victim surcharge of $200 and prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years. Donavan H. Smith was found guilty of possession of a con-

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trolled substance, sentenced to 21 days in jail and assessed a victim surcharge of $50. In Provincial Court on Jan. 8: Calvin C.R. Adams was found guilty of assault, placed on probation for one year and assessed a victim surcharge of $50. Travis I. Basil was found guilty of uttering threats and mischief, sentenced to time served in jail, placed on probation for one year, fined $10 and assessed a victim surcharge of $3. Basil was also found guilty of failing to comply with a probation order and a second count of mischief and sentenced to time served in jail. Basil was also found guilty of a second count of failing to comply with a probation order, sentenced to time served in jail, fined $10 and assessed a victim surcharge of $3. Tamara L. Dyck was found guilty of operating a motor vehicle while impaired, fined $1,000 and prohibited from driving for one year. Timothy J. Seymour was found guilty of failing to comply with a probation order, sentenced to 25 days in jail, fined $10 and assessed a victim surcharge of $3. Francois C. Meerholz was found guilty of failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking or recognizance, sentenced to one day in jail and assessed a victim surcharge of $100. Ashley J. Janczyn was found guilty of uttering threats and failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking or recognizance, placed on probation for one year and assessed a victim surcharge of $50. In Provincial Court on Jan. 9: Daniel T. Dupuis was found guilty of driving while prohibited, fined $500 and prohibited from driving for one year. James D. Poole was found guilty of theft of property with a value less than $5,000, sentenced to one day in jail, placed on probation for one year and assessed a victim surcharge of $200.

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Horgan won’t make mistakes NDP did in last provincial election, if he’s the leader poverty rankings is a hugely overlooked issue, ignored by the Liberals. He said he does not support the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, however took a softer stance on the proposed Kinder Morgan expansion, saying the pipeline right-of-way already exists and it supports existing jobs.

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Mike Farnworth. “Mike and I are very similar in outlook and attitude,” he said. “It’s a style question. One of the issues we’ve been hearing a lot about is that Adrian’s approach wasn’t sufficient to win over those people who don’t think about politics a lot.” He said a party and a leader needs something to capture those voters’ attention during the campaign.

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“I believe what separates Mike and I is that I’ll have a better chance of doing that than he will,” he said. “When people become comfortable with you, become comfortable with the message you’re delivering, they’re more likely to vote for you.” He fielded a myriad of questions from the party faithful gathered at the meeting. He said the province’s dismal last-place ranking in the nation’s

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John Horgan says not focusing on the Liberals’ record during the May election campaign was wrong. “It was a mistake,” he said, adding it’s not one he will make if he becomes leader of the New Democrats. But that doesn’t mean running a negative campaign. “I don’t think it’s negative,” he said during a stop in Prince George March 20. “Where I think we failed is that we didn’t remind voters of the Liberal record when we were putting forward our positive plan … ‘One practical step at a time’ was the theme and that wasn’t as exciting a ‘jobs, jobs, jobs,’ even though jobs were going in the tank, debt was going up and everything (Premier Christy Clark) said was counter to the reality that people have experienced since the election.” Horgan, who announced his candidacy for the leadership March 17, spoke to about 50 people at the Civic Centre. And, he said, he will be back often as the NDP leadership race heats up over the summer in preparation for a September vote. The Prince George crowd was generally appreciative and Horgan received endorsements from former NDP MLA Lois Boone and former NDP candidate and now Mackenzie North constituency association president Bobby Deepak. Horgan sought the NDP leadership last time around as well, finishing third behind current leader Adrian Dix and, so far, the only other candidate in the race,

He said he supports the Site C hydro dam project as a way to produce clean energy, but added it’s not needed right now. He does not support the proposed New Prosperity Mine that has been rejected by the federal government, but supports the expansion of Taseko’s Gibraltar Mine near Williams Lake, Mount Milligan and Red Chris.

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Sawmills and dust Gordon Hamilton Special to the Free Press PRINCE GEORGE – In the basement of Canfor’s Isle Pierre sawmill, plant manager Joe Kavanagh wiped his gloved hand across a protective railing and held it up, palm open. The glove shows a slight discolouration from a thin film of sawdust. Two years ago, that railing, in a remote corner of the mill basement, could have been blanketed in 10 centimetres of sawdust, he said. Now its depth is less than a tenth of a millimetre. With a simple gesture, Kavanagh has demonstrated how far the forest industry has come in controlling sawdust since it was rocked by two

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devastating sawmill explosions in early 2012. Those explosions, on Jan. 20, 2012 at Babine Forest Product’s Burns Lake sawmill and on April 23, 2012 at the Sinclar Group’s Lakeland Mills in Prince George, destroyed lives, spread fear and shook an entire industry to its core. Before those blasts, wood dust had been accepted as a part of sawmilling. The tragedies brought together the chief executive officers of the province’s 12 largest sawmill companies in an unprecedented initiative of cooperation to tackle the issue of combustible sawdust in B.C. mills. They formed what became known within the industry as the CEO Task Force. Their goal was to eliminate the threat of combustible sawdust in B.C. mills completely. It meant going through every ma-

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Special Report: Canfor commissioned former Vancouver Sun business reporter Gordon Hamilton to report on how the forest industry responded to the tragic sawmill explosions that occurred in Burns Lake and Prince George in 2012. Hamilton was granted access to two Canfor sawmills and interviewed company representatives spanning roles from the sawmill floor to the CEO. The articles detail the many measures the industry is taking to control wood dust, how the process unfolded in the aftermath of the incidents, and the science behind the response. This is the first of a three-part series. chine in 55 mills with an eye to dust sources were, and where the high-risk management. It took months of work areas were. and it took capital – Canfor alone is “We ranked our entire site,” he said. spending over $15 million on dust The CEO Task Force focused on three measures at its 14 sawmills in western key outcomes for B.C. mills: Canada. Most of that, $12 million, is •Studying the characteristics of wood capital spending on new sawdust extrac- dust in B.C. tion equipment. •The development of the audit In B.C. sawmilling history, there are protocol. now two eras that define the industry: •The development of education and Before Babine and after Babine. training materials for the wood prodAlthough dust suspended in the air ucts industry. has been identified as a cause of exploThe industry did not know for certain sions in other industries, before Babine, what caused the sawmill blasts until Jan. it was not considered to be an issue in 16, 2014, when WorkSafeBC released a B.C. sawmills. Dust control measures report that singled out dust build-up. often involved only maintenance workBut two years ago, at the time of the ers with brooms, shovels and air hoses. Babine explosion, the deadly power But within one three-month period, of sawdust in sawmills was not well two mills were gone. Four workers were understood. There was speculation, but dead and 42 people were injured, many no clearly identifiable characteristics of with serious burns. Overnight, the B.C. sawdust that’s a regular byproduct of sawmilling industry was faced with the milling and dangerous explosible dust worst crisis in its 160-year history. And that needed to be eliminated. at first, nobody knew for certain what There had been small explosions in was causing the explosions. pellet plants, but the two industries had Sawdust was enough of a suspect, not been sharing information back and however, that on April 24, one day after forth. Even the Steelworkers Union, the Lakeland explosion, WorkSafeBC which represents sawmill workers and ordered a province-wide safety review has a long history of aggressively pushfocusing on combustible dust in sawing safety issues, was as uncertain as the mills. industry and regulators about the cause The industry mobilized that same of the Babine explosion. day as well. The CEO Task Force also “Everyone thought that what hapordered risk assessments. That was pened at Burns Lake had never hapthe preliminary step to establishing a pened before and would never happen dust-control program, said Isle Pierre’s again,” said Bob Matters, chair of the Kavanagh. He was to find out where Steelworkers Wood Council, summing was dust the worst, where the ignition CONTINUED ON PAGE A7

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Something had changed called cants. Other equally large machines use band saws to break the cants down up the thinking both inside and outinto boards. At every step, tonnes of side the industry on the cause of the residual material – including wood chips, explosion. shavings and sawdust - are produced Further, there was no clear proceevery day. Containing wood dust and dure on an industry-wide basis on how collecting it at the source required new to deal with it. Sweep it up and the fine equipment and new ways of looking at particles escape into the air, enclose the the problem to make sure a solution in machinery and pressures are created, one area of the mill did not create an issue the dust can puff out somewhere else. elsewhere. The Lakeland Mills blast on April 23, The focus of Canfor’s $12 million capi2012, videotaped by nearby residents tal program has been on eliminating dust in all its horrific intensity, left no doubt at the source where it is created, said Ross something had changed in B.C. mills. Lennox, Canfor’s safety manager. Sawdust, and the possibility that dry “In doing that, we are better controlling timber killed by the mountain pine the amount of dust that is in our mills,” beetle had made it more explosive, was he said. on everybody’s mind. Controlling dust also meant an At the Isle Pierre plant, mill superoverhaul in thinking, Lennox said. The intendent Ron Morely recalled what it first thing everyone had to learn what is was like going to work that week. combustible dust and what conditions “People were justifiably fearful. Mills are required to make it explosive. The were exploding. Who would have Photo Submitted conditions, as well as the dust, needed to thought that was possible?” A smudge of dust is all plant manager Joe Kavanagh can collect on his glove from equipment be removed. Since that day, the industry has in the basement of Canfor’s Isle Pierre sawmill near Prince George. Sawmills have embarked “When we talk about combustible cleaned up sawmills by installing on a major dust mitigation program over the last two years. dust we are talking about material that is vacuum systems, eliminating level • Additional education and training for workers, managers and generally speaking, smaller than a grain of surfaces where dust can accumulate, building proteccontractors. The training programs are evolving as more becomes sugar, so we are not talking about all of the byproducts that may be tive barriers around dust-producing equipment and known about combustible dust. present in a manufacturing facility,” said Lennox. eliminating ignition sources. The sawdust initiative Also Canfor millworkers now have the phone numbers of senior At the Isle Pierre mill, that goal of sawdust management is well has been introduced in 55 mills, representing 12 major corporate executives. They can get through to the top if they see on the way to being achieved, Kavanagh said. The mill is constantly companies whose owners are on the CEO Task Force. sawdust issues that concern them. improving its sawdust control measures. At Canfor, five major objectives have been achieved Th e message to employees aft er the Lakeland blast was that even if During a tour of the mill, Kavanagh pointed out that the conveyor so far. They are: sawdust is just causing anxiety, “shut it down and get it fi xed. ” belts that carry wood chips and sawdust have been enclosed, some• All sawmills have undertaken a risk assessment “If they had any concerns they were to get in touch at any level times with barriers extending to the mill ceiling. Ignition sources, and developed a wood dust control program. Canfor of the company and shut it down until they felt confident with the such as lights and electrical equipment have been moved or condeveloped a standardized approach to wood dust and cleanup eff ort, ” Canfor CEO Don Kayne said. tained. Lighting has been converted to LEDs. And dust that escapes ignition source-management that’s now in place in all A key goal of the measures is to prevent dust accumulations of is cleaned up throughout the day by workers specifically assigned to its mills. Keys to its success are that a cross-section of over 1/8 inch, a standard specified in the audit. the job. employees and technical experts were involved in setAccomplishing all those goals was not a simple task. In a sawmill, “Every year we plan to get better until we can eat off the basement ting it up, and that wood dust management is now an machines the size of a locomotive convert logs into square beams fl oor, ” Kavanagh said. everyday expectation. • The introduction of a standardized auditing program that was developed under the direction of the CEO Task Force. This audit is required to be completed by an external third party auditor at least once every 3 years. Companies belonging to the CEO Task Force will be completing these audits this year. • Capital improvements: $12 million on technologies at Canfor mills aimed at capturing and removing dust at the locations it is being produced through the installation of ventilation systems. the summer season. In order to maintain Select Committee on Prince George’s 100th • Control over ignition sources, such as electrical the beauty of our cemetery, staff is removing Anniversary Celebration equipment or heat-producing lights. The goal is to Thursday, April 3, 2014 – 2nd Floor Conference faded, seasonal and weather-worn flowers, and reduce the risks of operating this equipment by introany non-compliant items from the cemetery. Room – 12:00 p.m ducing programs and engineered improvements that Residents wishing additional information UTILITIES NOTICE reduce exposure to wood dust. Some electrical equipcan contact Cemetery Administration at ment, for example, is now completely outside the mill. Fees for the January 2014 to June 2014 250-562-4661.

FROM PAGE A6

YOUR CITY MATTERS March 28, 2014

VEHICLE AUCTION THURSDAY SEPTEMBER • 6:30PMSHARP SHARP! THURSDAY APRIL 326TH • 6:30PM ALSO... SELLING 75-100 CARS, ON HAND 3-5TRUCKS, REPOS 10SPORT VEHICLES FROM ON HANDWILL WILLBEBEAPPROX APPROX 5BANK REPOS & 20&&VEHICLES FROM VANS UTILITY VEHICLES FROM MAJOR FLEET, VEHICLE MANAGEMENT LEASE, DEALER, PRIVATE &

CITY COUNCIL MEETING Regular Council Meeting Monday, March 31, 2014 – Council Chambers – 6:00 p.m.

COUNCIL, COUNCIL COMMITTEES, COMMISSIONS, AND BOARDS MEETINGS Advisory Committee on Development Design Wednesday, April 2, 2014 – 2nd Floor Conference Room – 12:00 p.m.

Utilities are due on April 4, 2014. Payments received after this date will be subject to a 10% penalty. For more information please visit www.princegeorge.ca or contact the Service Centre at 250-561-7600, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY The staff at Memorial Park Cemetery is currently performing Spring Clean-up duties, in preparation for Easter, Mother’s Day, and

INVITATION TO BID Invitation to Tender: T14-11 Landscape Services Kin 1 Closing Date: April 11, 2014 T14-12 IBM Equipment & Software Closing Date: April 7, 2014 For information concerning City of Prince George bidding opportunities visit BC Bid at www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca

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1100 Patricia Boulevard, Prince George, BC V2L 3V9 Tel. (250) 561-7600 • Fax (250) 612-5605 www.princegeorge.ca • ServiceCentre@city.pg.bc.ca

Prince George - NEWS - Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

www.pgfreepress.com

Follow the fashion colour trends this spring Do you want to put some colour in your life? Here are all the trendy shades to wear this spring. FASHION The entire contents of your spring wardrobe, whether clothing, shoes, handbags, or any other accessory, are going to be strongly inÀuenced by the favourite colours of designers at PANTONE® this year. Every season, this leader in the world of colour proposes shades that will steal the spotlight not only in the fashion domain but also in interior design. Here is the palette for 2014: • Freesia. A Àamboyant yellow with a Àoral inspiration. • Placid Blue. A sky blue that evokes peace and calm. • Violet Tulip. A romantic purple tinged with a touch of nostalgia. • Hemlock. A green reminiscent of this tree’s pale, Àat needles. • Sand. A neutral beige recalling summers at the beach. • Cayenne. A warm, spicy red. • Paloma. A neutral grey that sets off other colours to

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perfection. • Radiant Orchid. A true mauve, fresh and pure. • Dazzling Blue. The name says it all! • Celosia Orange. An orange that suggests a summer sunset. Don’t hesitate to pick up a few wardrobe and home décor items in these leading spring colours. Combine them to create some great looks: tribal and exotic; feminine and retro; or contemporary and elegant. Fashionistas can ¿nd out more at www.pantone.com/spring2014. BEAUTY The colour blocking trend seems to be here to stay for beauty products, including nail polish, blush, eye shadow, eye liner, and lipstick. Along with natural nudes, neon and pop shades are also hot tones.

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Prince George - NEWS - Free Press

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Legion looks ahead to re-opening Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com Bruce Gabriel is sure of one thing as he sits in the office of the new location for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 42. “This is the first and last time we’ll be doing this,” says the branch president. The Legion had been located on Seventh Avenue for years (past-president John Scott thinks it opened there in 1962), but is now close to opening at 1116 Sixth Ave. “There’s lots happening,” Gabriel says. “We’ve got people working on electrical and plumbing. There’s just so many little details that have to be taken care of.” Scott says with their first event, a Neil Diamond tribute act, coming up on April 4, the full facility won’t be ready. “The kitchen won’t be open, because we’re still working on getting the venting right. It should only be an extra week or two.” Another feature which won’t be completed in time (but for a good reason) is the access from the parking lot. The original plan was to have a riding elevator for wheelchairs, but, Gabriel

says, “the moving elevator wouldn’t work. So we’re getting a full elevator put in, and they gave us a very good deal on the new version.” They’ve been seeing a lot of support for the new facility, whether it’s a B.C. Community Gaming Grant or contributions from individuals, Scott says. “We got some donations, one was $60,000, another was $50,000, from individuals who wanted to remain anonymous. We also got $150,000 in a gaming grant. That was what we applied for, but you never figure on getting the full amount.” Gabriel says the donations will make it easier to complete the plans they had drawn up to start with. “We actually downsized from what some people wanted to see. Some people wanted us to completely gut the place and rebuild it. “We want it to be a nice place, so we looked at what we could do. We’ve got pretty much all new equipment with the warranties in place, so that will save us some money in the next few years and give us more money for operations.” As they sit in the office, Scott and Gabriel can look back and look ahead. “It’s been a long haul for a lot of us,” Gabriel says. “I met a lot of new friends while we were doing this.”

Allan WISHART/Free Press Royal Canadian Legion Branch 43 president Bruce Gabriel, left, and past president John Scott check out the new coffee machine which will be operating soon in the new location on Sixth Avenue.

Scott agrees. “It’s so good it’s happening now. We can see the light at the end.” The first major Legion event at the new facility will be the annual Vimy Dinner, set for April 9. The doors open at 5 p.m. with dinner

at 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the Legion office, 1116 Sixth Ave., until April 5, and will not be sold at the door. The grand opening for the new location is set for April 26, and plans are still a little up in the air

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for what all will be involved. “We’re looking at being open from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. that day,” Scott says. “We’ll probably have the ribbon cutting at 9 a.m., but we still have to work on the rest of the agenda.”

NATUROPATHY

Dr. Lawrence Brkich BA, LLB, ND phone: (250) 564-1700 | fax: (250) 564-5885 email: info@drbrkich.ca 1635 8th Avenue Prince George, BC V2L 3R4 www.drbrkich.ca

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Rachelle Delorey TFT-Algo CECP 250.961.0714 www.perpetualtransformation.ca

Prince George - NEWS - Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

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Prince George - NEWS - Free Press

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Happy birthday, Kordyban Lodge Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com Eleanor Bailey wasn’t sure what to expect at Kordyban Lodge. “My doctor told me I had to come to Prince George for treatment,” the Williams Lake woman said Friday, during a celebration of the lodge’s first birthday, “and to call the lodge to

arrange for a five-week stay. “I called, and one of the first questions I asked was, ‘Do I have to bring my own bedding and towels?’” She paused. “There was a short pause and then the very nice lady on the other end said, ‘No, we provide all that.’ “I’ve been here for four weeks now, and I found they not only provide towels. They replace them every day.”

Regional district adopts 2014 budget The Regional District of FraserFort George board approved the 2014 operating budget on March 20, which sees a slight taxation increase over last year. Operating expenditures for the regional district in 2014 will total $32.2 million, $416,000 less than the 2013 budget. Of the $32.2 million, $17.7 million will be funded through property taxation, which is an increase of $253,620 over 2013. Regional District Chairman Art Kaehn says the 2014 budget is a delicate balance between meeting the needs of residents in the region while keep taxation manageable. “We are pleased to be able to work within a budget that is consistent with Teresa MALLAM/Free Press 2013 requisition Sunita Pun performs a Nepali folk dance at the Happy Holi event at the Days’ Inn levels,” Kaehn said in on Saturday. The traditional Hindu celebraa press release. tion of spring is marked around the world Significant 2014 by wearing (friends spray each other with budgeted expendicolour or use washable powders) bright tures provided by the colours. district include solid waste management ($10.28 million); 9-1-1 emergency response services ($5.1 million); protective services ($4.4 million); and recreation services ($2.86 million) Kaehn said the regional district budget affects communities in the region differently, depending on variables such as services provided to that area and changes in property assessments. For example, regional district taxes for an average home in Prince George decreased from $152.75 in 2013 to $152.05 in 2014. In Mackenzie, where assessment increased 11.32 per cent, taxes for an average home went from $81.57 in 2013 to $94.04 in 2014. The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George provides 86 services to residents of its seven electoral areas and to the City of Prince George, District of Mackenzie, Village of Valemount and Village of McBride.

Holi Dance

Yovanka Adanic

Bailey’s stories about life in the lodge brought the ceremony to a humourous, yet touching, conclusion. Mary Kordyban, whose foundation donated $2 million to the construction of the facility, talked about how it had been everything she had hoped for – and more. “Come by here and chat with one of the guests, or just sit and hold their hand for a while. It’s always been a moving experience for me.” Coun. Lyn Hall, representing the city, spoke after MLAs Shirley Bond and Mike Morris, and said that while he usually enjoyed that situation, because, “I can just say, ‘Ditto’, and be done,” this time had a personal story.

“A friend of mine from Dawson Creek was diagnosed with cancer, and had to come to Prince George for treatment. We could have had him stay at our house, but he wanted to stay at the lodge. “He felt it would be a supporting environment, where he could be more comfortable because he could relate to the other people here, and what they were going through.” He said his visits to the lodge had made him aware of one important aspect of the facility. “It’s not just a great facility for Prince George. It’s a great facility for everyone in northern B.C.” That regional reach was spoken of as well by Canadian

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Grand Opening BRANCH 43 NEW LOCATION!

OPEN HOUSE Saturday, April 26 • 9 a.m.-1 p.m. We have booked some fabulous events over the next few months: • April 4 – Diamond Forever – Jason Scott’s Celebration of Neil Diamond • April 9 – Vimy Dinner and Presentations • April 26 – Grand Opening – Open House • May 23 & 24 – Classic Country – A wonderful duo performing as Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette • May 3 – A Walk of Honour – Red Shirt Marathon – Support our Troops – held in Fort George Park • June 20, 21 & 22 – Perfect Match – A female duo from Williams Lake • June 23-30 – Legion Week • June 23 – Legion Big Bike Ride – proceeds to Heart & Stroke Foundation • June 29 – Legion Week BBQ for families of our Community • July 25 & 26 – Steve Hillis – An exciting rendition of Garth Brooks

We owe HUGE thanks to Roy Spooner, Dean Friend, Art Collins and Ryan Kim for their generous donation of time over the last year, without them we could not have succeeded. Marvin Schaafsma (Wiser Construction) we thank you!! Andy Bridges – your help was tremendous! SPECIAL THANKS to Dorothy Tichener and to the awesome guys who built our bar: Jamie Matthe – Rick Matthe – Justin Kendrick – Kevin Foster

It’s been a long temporary closure and our Executive and Staff look forward to seeing all of you once again!

would like to invite her existing clientele and new clientele, to her new salon “Rock your Hair Studio”

1116 6th Avenue

1661 Spruce Street (beside Sylvan Learning Centre)

250-563-0043

Cancer Society regional director Margaret Jones-Bricker. She said more than 900 people have made use of the lodge in its first year of operation, including 173 guests from the central interior including Fraser-Fort George and the Cariboo regional districts. Another 252 guests have come here from the northeast, from as far north as Toad River and 432 guests have stayed at the Lodge from communities across the northwest, including Haida Gwaii. Bond summed up her feelings about the lodge quite simply. “It’s not a lodge, it’s not a house. “It’s a home.”

Email: legion43@shaw.ca

250.562.1292

Prince George - NEWS - Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

www.pgfreepress.com

“Northern Gateway is taking extraordinary measures to ensure marine safety—reducing tanker speeds on British Columbia’s north coast is just one.” - Chris Anderson, Master Mariner, Lead Marine Advisor, Northern Gateway Project

Meet the expert: Chris Anderson is a Master Mariner and port planning and operations specialist. He has substantial experience in the assessment and development of many terminal facilities on the Arctic, Atlantic, and Paciﬁc Coasts of Canada.

Northern Gateway has proposed tanker-related safety measures designed to maintain safe vessel transportation. These measures, together with lower tanker transit speeds in the coastal channels, not only reduce the risk of marine incidents, they also minimize potential adverse eﬀects on the marine mammal environment. ACTING ON EXPERT ADVICE Northern Gateway has consulted with many of the top experts in Canada and the world, including Chris Anderson who, as a Master Mariner and seafarer, has over 50 years of experience including the development of port and terminal facilities in British Columbia’s coastal waters and internationally. Acting on the advice of a team of experts, Northern Gateway committed to a vessel transit speed range from 8 to 12 knots. Anderson says, “Reducing vessel transit speeds through a conﬁned channel to within this range allows improved response from our escort tugs, substantially reducing the risk of a navigational incident, while maintaining safe vessel operation.”

initiatives that was put forward by Northern Gateway. As Anderson puts it, “Project-related vessels are capable of speeds of 15 to 16 knots. Many other oceangoing vessels can travel at even higher speeds. Northern Gateway is committed to reducing vessel speeds by as much as half that as an added measure of prevention.” GOING EVEN FURTHER TO ENSURE MARINE SAFETY In addition to reducing tanker speeds, Northern Gateway has committed to the use of two escort tugs for every loaded tanker associated with the Project, with one tug being tethered at all times. According to Anderson, “In the event of a mechanical issue, the tethered escort tugs can take over steering and braking which greatly reduces the risk of an incident occurring. This commitment will also help protect British Columbia’s north coast.”

BEYOND WHAT’S REQUIRED The commitment to reducing transit speeds is not a regulatory requirement, but one of many voluntary marine safety

ENDORSED AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS The Joint Review Panel’s endorsement of the Northern Gateway Project came after a rigorous, scientific review of the evidence, including Gateway’s precautionary approach to vessel speeds and escort tug standards. Northern Gateway is working hard to meet all of the final conditions set out by the Panel, the same way they are working to meet the five conditions set out by the Province of British Columbia. Northern Gateway is committed to doing everything possible in order to build a safer, better project.

Learn more at gatewayfacts.ca

Working in partnership with B.C. and Alberta First Nations and Métis Communities, and leading energy companies in Canada

www.pgfreepress.com

Friday, March 28, 2014

Datebook www.pgfreepress.com Friday Crown Market, Friday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., 3955 Hart Highway. Read-to-me Storytime, Fridays, 10-10:45 a.m., South Fort George Family Resource Centre, 1200 La Salle. Information: 250-614-0684.

Saturday Prince George’s 100-foot Diet, April 5, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Artspace. Information: Dave 250-963-8578, Krista 250-564-2116. Nechako Public Market, Saturdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 5100 North Nechako Rd. A Butler’s Market, Saturdays, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 1156 Fourth Ave. Bible talks, Sundays, 4 p.m., Columbus Community Centre, 7201 Domano Blvd.

Sunday Nechako Public Market, Sundays, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., 5100 North Nechako Rd. A Butler’s Market, Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 1156 Fourth Ave.

Monday Buckhorn

“GIVE A LITTLE… GAIN A LOT!” Canadian Breast Cancer Fdn Run for the Cure - Committee members are urgently needed to help with organizing the Run. Contact: Kim Hodge, khodge@cbcf.org 1-800-561-6111 ext 242 PG Youth Soccer Soccer programs for youth age 3 – 18, year round. Coaches & assistant coaches needed. Len 250-564-5900 or email: ofﬁce@pgysa.bc.ca Youth Challenge International - June 6 Challenge yourself and climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in support of YCI’s youth development programs to drive positive change! Registration is open until June 6th. Learn more email us at: specialprojects@yci.org For information on volunteering with more than 100 non-proﬁt organizations in Prince George, contact Volunteer Prince George

250-564-0224 www.volunteerpg.com

Improvement Area AGM, March 31, 7 p.m., Buckhorn Elementary. Tai Chi, Mondays, 1:30 p.m., Spruce Capital Seniors Centre, 3701 Rainbow Dr.

Cariboo Toastmasters meet Mondays, 7:309:30 p.m., Ramada Hotel, 444 George St. Information: caribootoastmasters. com or Laura (250) 9613477. Northern Twister Square Dance Club meets Mondays, 7 p.m., Knox United Church basement. Information: Gys 250- 563-4828 or Reta 250-962-2740.

Tuesday Rib lunch, April 1, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Spruce Capital Seniors Centre, 3701 Rainbow Dr. Bridge, Tuesdays, 1 p.m., Spruce Capital Seniors Centre, 3701 Rainbow Dr.

Center City Toastmasters meet Tuesday, noon, City Hall Annex. Information: 9164. toastmastersclubs.org. Buddhist meditation class, Tuesdays, 7:158:45 p.m., 320 Vancouver St. Information: 250-962-6876 or www. kmcvancouver.org. Spruce Capital Toastmasters meet Tuesdays, 7:25 p.m., 102-1566 7th Ave. Information: Tom 250562-3402. Sweet Adelines women’s four-part chorus meets Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m., Studio 2880. New members welcome. Information: Kathy 250563-5170.

Wednesday Bingo, Wednesdays, 1-3 p.m., Spruce Capital Senior Recreation Centre, 3701 Rainbow Dr. Whist, Wednesdays, 7 p.m., Senior Activity Centre, 425 Brunswick St. Hart Toastmasters, Wednesdays, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Hart Pioneer Centre. Information: harttoastmasters.ca CNC Retirees meet fourth Wednesday,

9 a.m., D’Lanos. Information: Lois 250563-6928. Army Cadet Rangers free youth program, meets Wednesdays, 6:30-9:30 p.m., Connaught Youth Centre. Information: Sondra 250-963-9462 or Andrew 250-981-8270.

A U T O B O D Y LT D .

Community Builder

Thursday Sustainability Showcase, April 3, UNBC, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Little Artists, Thursdays, 10:3011:30 a.m., South Fort George Family Resource Centre, 1200 La Salle. Information: 250-6140684. Prince George Grassroots Cribbage Club registration, 6:30 p.m. play 6:45 p.m., Thursdays, 3701 Rainbow Dr. Information: Gerda 250564-8561. Tai chi, Thursdays, 7-9 p.m., Knox United Church, 1448 Fifth Ave. Information: Lister 250964-3849 or listerchen@ shaw.ca. DayBreakers Toastmasters meets Thursday, 7-8 a.m., UHNBC Conference Room 1. Information: Heather 250-649-9591. BC Civil Liberties Union meets second Thursday of the month, 6 p.m., 1575 Fifth Ave. Plaza 400 Toastmaster Club meets Thursday, noon, Aleza room, fourth floor, Plaza 400 building, 1011 4th Ave. Information: 6252. toastmastersclubs.org/ or 250-564-5191. Prince George Toastmasters meet Thursdays, 7:15 p.m., AiMHi, 950 Kerry St. Information: pgtoastmasters.com, Joyce 250-964-0961. Old Time Fiddlers jam, Thursday, 7-10 p.m. Elder Citizens Rec Centre, 1692 10th Ave. ECRA Forever Young Chorus meet Thursdays, 12:45 p.m., ECRA, 1692 10th Ave.

Support Groups Singles and friends, social group of people of all ages and diverse backgrounds, meets Wednesdays, 7 p.m.,

First-prize winner of the 2014 Prince George Firefighters Harley Davidson Raffle, Greg Wacholtz of Telkwa, was presented with his 2014 Harley Davidson Softail Breakout Motorcycle on March 22. Melissa Veregin of Spirit of the North, Harley-Davidson store owner Len Hall, and local firefighters made the presentation.

Proud to recognize those who give in our community.

A U T O B O D Y LT D . 2065 - 1st Ave. • 250-563-0883 www.csninc.ca A&W on 20th Avenue. Wednesday Tops (take off pounds sensibly) noon, AiMHi, 950 Kerry St. Information: Diane 250-964-6072.

Prostate Cancer Support Group meets 7 p.m., last Wednesday of the month, UNBC Community Care Centre in BMO Building. Information: www. pgpcsg.org or call 250562-2825. Learning Circle Literacy Program works with adult learners and families on literacy, numeracy and computing skills. Information: 250564-3568 ext. 228, or literacy@pgnfc.com. Do you worry about the way you eat? Overeaters Anonymous may have the answers. Monday, 7:30 p.m., hospital, Room 421. Call Tanya 250-613-2823. Power Play, for children from newborns to five years old, Mondays and Wednesdays, 10 a.m.noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:30-3:30

p.m., South Fort George Family Resource Centre, 1200 La Salle Ave. Information: 250-6149449. NorthBreast Passage Dragon Boat Society meets first Thursday of the month, 7 p.m., Chronic Disease Management Room, UHNBC. Information: Anita 250-563-2949 or Betty 250-962-7985. Royal Purple meets second and fourth Mondays, 7:30 p.m. Information: Dianne 250-596-0125 or Jeanette 250-563-9362.

Metis Elders Craft group, Thursday, 10 a.m.-noon, Prince George Metis Elders Society office, 117 – 1600 Third Ave. (Prince George Native Friendship Centre). Prince George Quilters Guild meets fourth Tuesday of the month, Connaught Youth Centre, 1491 17th Ave. Registration 6:30 p.m., meeting 7 p.m. Information: Echo 250612-0499. Hospital retirees

Thank You Prince George For Voting Us Best Auto Body Shop! meet, first Tuesday of the month, 9 a.m., Prince George Golf Club. Information 250563-7497 or 250-5632885. Wednesday evening Tops (take off pounds sensibly), Spruceland Baptist Church, 1901 Ogilvie St. Information: Leona 250-962-8802.

Best Auto Body Shop

second Thursday of every month 7 p.m., 176 Aitken Cres. Information: Tammy 250-612-0085. PGRH retirees breakfast, first Tuesday of the month, Prince George Golf and Curling Club. Information: 250-5632885.

Prince George Genealogical Society meets the third Tuesday of the month, St. Giles Presbyterian Church, 1500 Edmonton St.

Prince George ATV Club meets third Tuesday of month, 7 p.m. Carmel Restaurant meeting room. Information: George 250-964-7907.

P.G. COPD Support Group meets Wednesdays, 1-3 p.m., AIMHI gymnasium, 950 Kerry St. Information: www. pgcopdsupportgroup.ca.

Free sports and recreation, Wednesdays, 2 p.m., 1160 7th Ave., ages 15-30. Information: 250-656-5278.

Prince George Stroke Survivors Group meets Wednesdays, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Elder Citizens Recreation Association, 1692 10th Ave. Information: Julia 250-563-3819, Roland 250-562-1747. La Leche League breast feeding support group meets the

Children’s choir, Thursdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Hartland Baptist Church. Information: 778-415-5000. Parents Together, a mutual/self-help support group for parents of teens, meets Mondays, 7:30 p.m., Intersect (basement entrance). Information: Carmen 250-562-6639.

The Community Datebook provides free community event listings every Friday. Submissions are accepted in written form only – dropped off, mailed or emailed – No Phone Calls please. Datebook runs as space allows, there is no guarantee of publication. Mail to 1773 South Lyon St., Prince George BC V2N 1T3. E-mail datebook@pgfreepress.com

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Friday, March 28, 2014

BILL PHILLIPS | 250.564.0005 | editor@pgfreepress.com | www.pgfreepress.com

David and DS The cousin that I never met I often hear the lament, especially That term, funny looking kid, and from people my age, that things were other cruel names, could follow a better when we were young. child with Down syndrome for the That is true of rest of their lives. Most of us never some things like understood why they looked differpenny candy, ent. We just knew they did. crewcuts and We now know Down syndrome cool cars with results from a triplication of the 21st passion lights. chromosome. And according to a But we still had media advisory issued on March 21, a lot to learn World Down Syndrome Day, that when it came to the condition affects 1 in about 691 how we treated live births in Canada. Over 35,000 people with Canadians have Down Syndrome. Down synI never met David. I wish I had. drome. Most of my life, I knew only that I am trying to TEA WITH TERESA my aunt who lived in Calgary had TERESAMALLAM had a baby but my grandmother told find a column I wrote about my brother and me the baby would this “issue” a few years ago but in the not be coming home. We thought he absence of that, I will simply say that I had died because my mother, who never knew David. He was diagnosed was very close to her sister, cried for at birth back in the 50s with having weeks. Still, no one in our family menDown syndrome at a time when the tioned him again. diagnosis was not as “easy” to make There were no birthday cards for with less knowledge and testing availhim, no reunion parties planned. able. There were no photographs of him in Somewhere on the hospital charts any of our family albums. When I was it was scribbled FLK which from my an adult, visiting my adopted cousin time as a nurse’s aide I know to stand and her family, my aunt told me the for “funny looking kid” – and often real story. there would be an order on the chart She and my uncle had been devasfor chromosome investigations. tated, she said, when told by “special-

ists” that their first-born (and only natural child) would be “far better off ” in an institution. That was the thinking of the day. My aunt and uncle visited David every Sunday at the institution. She said he was mostly in good health all his life until quite suddenly, when he was 9 years old, they were summoned to his side. David died from complications of pneumonia. They chose not to talk about David with family or friends, it was much too painful, and, said my aunt honestly, it was “a time in our history when there was a horrible stigma attached to mental disorders, mental illness and ‘retardation.’” Instead, they suffered in silence. March 21, World Down Syndrome Day, I got a media advisory in my inbox about the announcement of Canada’s first comprehensive medical and developmental clinic initiative for children with Down syndrome, hosted out of the Hospital for Sick Kids. There is a book Down Syndrome: A Whole New World of Perfect. There is research being done, there is caring, there is understanding. No, life wasn’t perfect back when I was young – or when David was born.

The jury’s out on headline writers A lot of Prince George residents have been getting a letter from the sheriff ’s department this week. No, they’re not in trouble. It’s a jury duty call. The letters are asking those called to show up at Kin 1, which is a little out of the ordinary, and the length of the trial is estimated to be six to eight months.

MAPLE REINDERS

or four times the norm. Should a reporter get a bonus simply for having the good luck of being assigned the big car crash down the street while the other reporter who researches shenanigans at city hall, but whose story isn’t read as much, not?

ADVERTISING OUT OF CONTROL Received an e-mail from a company called BirdFlight Media the other day. They were extolling the virtues of their new company (not in Prince George … yet) which uses the power of birds for advertising. For a small fee, they will create a small advertising banner for you and attach it to a bird that will, hopefully, fly around town all day and not south for the winter. Yes, this is for real. Same thing as an airplane towing a banner, only smaller, with a bird. They swear the birds are well cared for and not hurt. Everyone talks about the Internet bringing about the newspapers, but no one talks about the threat birds pose. WRITER’S BLOCK

Maple Reinders Group Ltd. was a winner of Canada’s Best Managed Companies program in 2010 and has demonstrated their commitment to the program and successfully reapplied for the designation as a Gold Standard winner in 2013. Yep, that’s the same Maple Reinders that’s six months behind schedule on building the new $38 million RCMP detachment in Prince George.

GREAT HEADLINE DEPARTMENT

“Risks abound as reporters play in traffic,” reads the headline It’s a great headline that is accurate, but not what you think it is. The headline showed up on BILLPHILLIPS BUSINESS OF THE GAMES a New York Times story about some newspapers paying reporters according to the amount of web Look out, the 2015 Canada Winter Games are coming “traffic” their story gets. down the pike faster than you can say “how can I do business It’s an interesting idea. Write a good story, you get some with the Games?” And it seems that a lot of Prince George traffic, and you get paid more. businesses want to do business with the Games. There were There are, however, some pitfalls. Important, well-written 108 businesses represented at the Games procurement workstories are not often glamorous (i.e. well read), but they shop Tuesday. should still be written. In case you have noticed, the Games are going to be huge On our website … as I’m sure with other media … a big in so many ways. accident, sexual assault, or murder will spike web traffic three The countdown is on. Have you volunteered yet?

Mother Nature calendar woes I sent a memo to Mother Nature earlier this week. In it, I pointed out the snow which fell in the city Tuesday night and Wednesday was rather poorly timed. “Spring, according to the calendars we have, started a few days before this snowfall, which means winter was once again intruding into another season, something I had hoped you, as Mother Nature, would have seen fit to put an end to.” I also pointed out the dates of the snowfall didn’t make sense going the other way, either. “If the snowfall was supposed to be an April Fool’s Day joke, then I would suggest it came along a few days too early. I would suggest you take a more careful look at your calendar when scheduling weather events for Prince George?” I tried to be as diplomatic as possible, because Mother Nature does have ways of getting back at you. I would prefer not to be the subject of a story in our paper about a man struck by lightning out of a clear blue sky. Shall we amble? • I have noted in the past that Prince George drivers apparently have bad memories. Within two days of the snow being gone from city streets, some drivers ALLAN’S AMBLINGS have forgotten how to handle it. ALLANWISHART I saw that again Tuesday evening as I was driving down 15th Avenue. It was snowing, not a blizzard by any stretch of the imagination, but it was quite cloudy-foggy and it was getting to the later part of the afternoon. That’s when I noticed the guy behind me apparently only had his running lights on. I say apparently because with the snow, it was hard to tell at times. Then one of the running lights lost a fair bit of its brightness (probably about to burn out), and I thought, ‘how appropriate to see a dimbulb driving with a dim bulb.’” • When I’m in the office in the evening, I will frequently find an NHL radio broadcast on the computer and listen to that while I work. And I have a question for the announcers of several of the teams. For how come why is it that players, especially defencemen, now “activate” during the play? I’ve always thought of ‘activate’ as sort of coming to life, and I doubt if the defenceman had been sleeping on the ice before the play. As far as I can gather, what they basically mean is that the player is moving, but there is seldom a direction given. Example: “The puck’s cleared around the boards, and Smith activates from the point.” Is Smith moving towards the puck? Is Smith skating away from the puck as fast as possible, having noticed the player with the puck tends to attract attention from opposing players? Is Smith now doing the Macarena out near centre ice? I could see any of those possibilities being covered by the word ‘activate’, so please, announcers, don’t get fancy. It’s just a game, and simple words work best to describe the action. • Earlier this week, I was heading home one evening, driving west on 15th Avenue. As I approached Foothills Boulevard, I saw vehicles on both sides of the intersection had slowed and stopped despite having a green light. When I got closer, I saw the reason. A small herd of deer were crossing 15th Avenue (and not even at the crosswalk), then bounding up the hill into the parking lot of one of the apartment complexes there. I have seen one or two deer at times in that area, but this herd had at least five. Just another reason to pay attention to what’s happening on the roads around the city.

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Prince George - VOICES - Free Press

Under its new regulations, the BC Government has set up an association led by big corporations to take over the local Blue Box recycling program throughout BC. If you look closely, you’ll see that of seven board members, six are executives of Toronto-based multi-national corporations, with the seventh weighing in from Montreal. How do you like that, British Columbia? This means, unlike the current program run locally by BC municipalities, this new program will be managed not by people whose first responsibility is our local environment, but rather, their Bay St. profits. That can’t be a good thing for BC. The most perplexing thing is that we currently have a Blue Box program that works, is efficient, and costs BC homeowners just

Friday, March 28, 2014

$35 a year on average. The new proposed system does not guarantee to keep our local environment as its ﬁrst priority, nor does it guarantee that there won’t be job losses here in BC. It doesn’t guarantee service levels, or say anything about how big business will pass along the costs to you when you go to pick up a pizza or buy groceries. Yikes! Perhaps this is why several of BC’s municipalities refuse to sign onto the new program, calling it a “scam.” Given that, maybe it’s time you called Premier Clark to keep BC’s environmental decisions right here in BC where they belong.

What’s going on here?

Email Christy Clark at premier@gov.bc.ca or call 250-387-1715. For more info, visit RethinkItBC.ca. #RethinkItBC. This Message is brought to you by:

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Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book. - Ronald Reagan

BILL PHILLIPS | 250.564.0005 | editor@pgfreepress.com | www.pgfreepress.com

If a tree falls in the forest

hen the Mid-Term Timber Supply Review came out a couple of years ago, it contained some dire warnings about timber supply in mountain pine beetle

hit areas. “In the Prince George Timber Supply Area, the pre-beetle allowable annual cut was 9.3 million cubic metres. The current AAC is 12.5 million cubic metres and the midterm timber supply projection is 6.4 million cubic metres per year,” it stated. That would see employment in the forest sector go from 13,371 before the beetle epidemic to 8,763. It stated that taking measures, such as allowing harvesting in old-growth forests could mitigate, somewhat, the job losses. The province struck a committee, headed up by Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad, to examine ways to mitigate the job loss. Suggestions have been put forward, such as eliminating viewscapes, logging oldgrowth forests, and allowing licensees to harvest marginal pine stands with the bonus they could “access the entire timber harvest land base.” The Forest Practices Board, however, this week threw another unforeseen wrinkle in the looming decrease in allowable annual cuts in mountain pine beetle areas. A report on the forest industry’s harvesting of beetlekilled timber confirms that industry has been meeting government’s expectations for concentrating harvesting on dead pine trees, but says the harvest of other kinds of trees is increasing more than expected in some areas of the province. “The switch from harvesting dead pine trees to live non-pine trees means the mid-term timber supply is starting to be cut now and not five to 10 years in the future,” said board chair Tim Ryan. “The issue, simply put, is that the more live trees that are harvested now, the lower the sustainable harvest level will be after the salvage program is finished. We believe the chief forester needs to respond to the rapidly changing situation with timely updates to the allowable annual cuts.” The majority of the pine trees harvested last year were dead, but over the last four years, the total amount of pine in the harvest has been steadily decreasing and was under 60 per cent of the harvest last year, he said. The Forest Practices Board is encouraging government to re-evaluate decisions about what should be harvested in those areas, taking into account the current dynamics of salvage harvesting. It’s sage advice and advice that should be heeded. The only question is whether our LNG-focused government will pay attention to what’s happening in the forests.

The more trees that are harvested now, the lower the sustainable harvest level will be. - Tim Ryan

Slow down your life Perhaps we all should have some self-imposed speed limrid of much of the repetitive drudgery our predecessors had its on how we lead our lives. to do. Along with those new tools and the 24/7 life we now We live in an age where getting lots done in the shortest live, we often simply add more pressures to our daily life. period of time seems to be almost everyone’s goal. From the We can become so overwhelmed that we forget to stop time we wake in the morning until we lapse into exhausted and enjoy the many simple pleasures around us. When is sleep, it is push harder and harder to cram a the last time you stopped and watched a pretty few more things into our day. We try all sorts of sunset? When did you last stop and have an things to shorten the time it takes us to do the enjoyable chat with the neighbour or friend you tasks in front of us. We try to be efficient and just happened to bump into? When is the last subscribe to mythical hopes such as multitasktime you just sat and let your mind wander with ing. Try as we might, life frequently seems as no particular destination? futile as trying to carry water up the hill in a There are many ways to un-busy our lives. bucket with a big hole in it. Even when we run Much of what we feel we have to do, we don’t. faster, we never get to the top with a full bucket. Take a hard analytical look at what eats up your When we were primarily an agricultural socitime and then decide what you can toss out ety, we were forced to live with the restrictions with the household trash. That time saved is of the weather and the needs of the animals we your very own time, so do not let anyone else ONSIDE cared for. Successful farmers were no strangsteal it from you. VICBOWMAN ers to hard work, changing demands, and some Make an appointment with yourself for a very long and tiring days. But not every day relax time. Give it the same commitment as any or every season was extremely busy. When livestock were other appointment. If you can find the time to keep your apbirthing their young, at seeding time, or harvest time, their pointment with your dentist, you can find the time to keep work seemed endless. They remained sane and healthy your appointment with yourself. because there was the offset of the other seasons when a Leave lots of time and leave early. If you have an extra bit minimum of chores required attending to and they could of time, you can use it to relax and that will make you feel rest and relax. better. Many of the farmers were excellent chess players and very If your world is spinning too fast, take a few moments often well read. They didn’t think of playing chess during to relax by deep breathing or some other stress-reducing haying time but when it was the middle of winter there was exercise. a lot of time left over after the daily chores were done. Don’t forget it is your life and you are the driver. There In the western world we have changed that. It can be are always others who will try to get you to conform to their daylight 24 hours a day thanks to inexpensive electricity. We particular stress track. Don’t let them win. have added a complex bunch of tools that do allow us to get There is a lot of help available but it all begins with you. circulation@pgfreepress.com | 250-564-0005

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This Prince George Free Press is a member of the British Columbia Press Council, a self-regulatory body governing the province’s newspaper industry. The council considers complaints from the public about the conduct of member newspapers. Directors oversee the mediation of complaints, with input from both the newspaper and the complaint holder. If talking with the editor or publisher does not resolve your complaint about coverage or story treatment, you may contact the B.C. Press Council. Your written concern, with documentation, should be sent within 45 days to B.C. Press Council, 201 Selby St., Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 2R2. For information, phone 888687-2213 or go to www.bcpresscouncil.org * Based on Stats Canada average of 2.2 person per household. ** CCAB Audit March 2013.

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Experience is the name everyone gives their mistakes. - Oscar Wilde

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Will the Performing Arts Centre be the legacy of one-term mayor and council? Editor: An open letter to Mayor Shari Green Here are my thoughts on the Performing Arts Centre: Once again I have to write to you, with a little bit of remorse for actually voting for you in the last election. I thought that the PAC initiative was defeated a couple of years ago, I thought the general consensus among the taxpayers of the City of Prince George actually expressed their thoughts back then. I am fully aware that you would like to have something that the people of Prince George could say, that’s what Shari did, I mean something of a legacy with your name attached. I was one of the people phoned by your choice of a polling company, and I wondered who thought up the questions, unfortunately I did not record the call, so from memory I will try to repeat the questions so people will get the idea. Q. Would I buy a ticket for any live production? Q. Would I attend live theatre if we had that? Q. Would I attend live dance if available? Q. Would I attend comedy acts if here? These were the types of questions asked, and a litany of others, along the same theme. The problem as I see is, If I answered “yes’ to any, then I was all for spending millions of dollars, I do not think anyone could answer that line of questioning. Yes, I might attend, if it looked like I would enjoy it. Yes, we already have live theatre here, they obviously were unaware of that fact. I think two theatre companies actually, maybe we should be looking at those numbers to check feasibility. I know the argument will be, but we can

get federal and provincial funding for this, Who, I might ask, do you think that money still comes from, “The Money God”. I hope the mayor and council remember back in the past when Cadillac Fairview was defeated, and so was almost the complete mayor and council. Remember when Parkwood was first thought of and council went against the

wishes of the people, and again they were almost completely changed at the following election? No wait, you might not remember, you likely were not here then, but I know some of the more senior councillors were, just remember. Shari, I think your legacy will be the mayor that most went against the wishes of

the people of the city, in so many different areas, and I would be happy with that. Do not put another project forward with millions of dollars for the taxpayer to take care of. There will be a change at city hall this fall, there are so many people that do remember. Bill Manders Prince George

Happy Holi

Teresa MALLAM/Free Press Mence Osei and her husband, William, take part in Happy Holi celebrations at the Day’s Inn on Saturday. Hosted by the Northern B.C. Hindu Society, the festival included delicious ethnic food, entertainment, presentations by dignitaries and, of course, colours.

Russia shows why B.C. is the better choice Bob Zimmer Prince George-Peace River MP The world continues to watch the situation in Eastern Europe. Russia has shown that they are not above annexing foreign territory in a bid to destabilize Ukraine. The Russians have claimed that they are moving to “protect” an area with an ethnic Russian majority, but to be perfectly clear – Russia is motivated by natural gas. Ukraine is strategically important for Russian economic interests. Russia has pushed hard to install and maintain friendly regimes in Ukraine since they declared independence. A subservient Ukrainian government means that Russian oil and gas companies have access to Europe. Russian control over Crimea also maintains Russia’s control of the Black Sea, and secures access to markets in the Mediterranean and beyond. What Russia is doing is a clear demonstration of why development of natural gas is so important for British Columbia. Our allies in Europe are dependent on Russian gas, so speaking out against Russian bully tactics on the international stage puts them in a very vulnerable position. Russia has shown in the past that they are not afraid to use energy as a bargaining chip to force their way. In 2006 and 2009, Russia shut their natural gas pipelines to Europe as a

pressure tactic against a pro-EU Ukrainian government. Russia is not shy about using their natural resources as political weapons against their enemies, or even to force allies to be more compliant. That is what they did in 2009, and now the European Union is put in a difficult situation where the supplier of 40 per cent of their natural gas is working hard to force the defeat of EU allies in Ukraine, despite popular Ukrainian desire for more cooperation with Europe. In contrast, Canada offers stable, democratic governments at all levels. British Columbia offers world-class infrastructure and ethical access to resources. The B.C. Peace Region is the hub of natural gas growth in Canada, with projects such as TransCanada’s Coastal Gaslink, and Prince Rupert Gas Transmission lines, looking to get our product to port in a safe and environmentally responsible way. Customers of B.C. natural gas do not have Bob Zimmer to worry, as Europe does, about energy being cut off as a means of political extortion, and neither do they have to worry about being seen to collude with dictatorial or violent regimes.

Europe is only now realizing that reliance on Russia for energy is risky. Russia is trying to recapture the influence it had on the world stage during the Soviet era, and has demonstrated that they can and will turn off supplies to Europe as political leverage. European nations are looking for alternate suppliers of energy, and they are looking across the Atlantic for solutions. B.C. is well positioned to take advantage of increased foreign demand in natural gas. The oil and gas sector is building its way to the coast, as the industry seeks markets beyond the United States. British Columbia is the only province with a coastline and the political will to develop the natural gas industry. Eastern provinces, like New Brunswick and Quebec, are saying ‘no’ to natural gas development. They seem to be unwilling to take advantage of Canada’s international reputation and high environmental and social standards. B.C. has no such qualms, and has prospered because of it. Northeast B.C. remains open for business, and as Russia has proven – reliable and democratic energy suppliers are a rare commodity.

Prince George Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

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Getting up and active with PAL strengthening activities that work the major muscle groups at least twice a week to help with balance and prevent falls for those with mobility impairments. Physical activity doesn’t have to mean playing a sport or going to the gym. Playing a family game of tag, going for a swim or taking a walk outside with the family pet or to the store to get groceries count towards the physical activity recommendations. Try out something new; you may find your new favourite activity! In any case, you’re bound to have some fun and feel like a happier and healthier you.

Spring is the perfect time to turn over a new leaf and start getting active. Introducing regular physical activity into your life is an important first step towards better health, a happier mindset, and more. The whole family will benefit from increased activity and getting on the road to a healthier lifestyle. There are so many known benefits to physical activity and an active lifestyle. Among them are a reduced risk of heart disease, premature death and stroke. Being active has also been proven to help improve self-esteem and confidence, help you sleep better, increase your energy and reduce depression, among many other things. Furthermore, it helps maintain functional independence, mobility, and bone health. For many of us, it can be quite daunting to take that first step towards an active lifestyle. And it can be more challenging to start something new without any help. The good news is residents of BC have access to a free physical activity counselling service called the Physical Activity Line (PAL). Through a phone call or online, qualified exercise professionals are available to provide exercise and physical activity advice and help you develop a customized physical activity plan for every member of the family, from children to older adults. When it comes to physical activity, more is better. To achieve the health benefits, it is important to try and progress towards the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines, which recommend at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day for children and youth and 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity each week for adults. Adults and older adults should also add muscle- and bone-

The Physical Activity Line is available Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m in the Lower Mainland, toll-free at 1-877-725-1149. For more information, visit www.physicalactivityline.com or email info@physicalactivity.com.

Other physical activity resources include ParticipACTION (www.participACTION.com) and Healthy Families BC (www.healthyfamiliesbc.ca).

In partnership with:

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Prince George - VOICES - Free Press

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Time to rethink recycling plan Laura Jones Special to the Free Press Last month Environment Minister Mary Polak announced what seemed like good news: small businesses would be “exempted” from the province’s onerous new packaging and printed paper regulation coming into force this May. Unfortunately, it looks like the real news for small business isn’t quite so good – many are not actually exempted and some will not survive. The new recycling policy fundamentally changes the current blue-box program. Instead of being run by local municipalities, the B.C. government has given control over the blue-box program to an unelected body called Multi Material B.C., governed by multinational corporations out of Toronto. If this has you scratching your head and

wondering what was wrong with the existing blue-box program, you are not alone. Opposition to Polak’s plan is growing. Last week, a coalition of B.C-based businesses representing agriculture, newspapers, landscaping, manufacturing, retail, wholesale, food, and waste collection sectors held a press conference to announce a #RethinkItBC campaign to fight the new rules. If small businesses really were “exempt”, why would so many of them band together against this new policy? Minister Polak did put in place some compliance thresholds around gross revenue, packaging volumes and number of locations. The problem with her approach is that the thresholds are too low and in some cases don’t apply at all. The bottom line is that too many small businesses are still being hurt by a policy that adds a lot of cost and bureaucracy for no environmental benefit.

For example, under the new rules franchises are not exempt. Several pizza franchisees have reported to us they will be paying between $200 and $400 a week in taxes to MMBC. Pizza joints don’t have fat margins and paying for this might mean selling another 100 pizzas a week – or passing those costs on to customers. Some small businesses are being bullied into compliance by big corporations. Several major grocery stores have sent letters to suppliers saying they will only do business with firms that are MMBC compliant regardless of whether they fall under Polak’s exemption. One went as far threatening to withhold partial payment as a fine for lack of MMBC compliance. These same supermarkets will not accept any price increases associated with compliance – small business has to eat the cost. In small towns, community newspapers

and local recycling depots are at risk of going out of business thanks to the new policy. B.C’s newspaper industry is facing $14 million of additional taxes. They will be paying 4,762 per cent (that’s not a typo) more per kilogram of waste than the equivalent program in Ontario. How many job losses that translates into has yet to be seen. That it is at odds with the government’s stated “strong economy, secure tomorrow” agenda is crystal clear. The only good news in this mess is that it is never too late to reverse course on bad policy. Premier Clark has shown she has the courage to admit mistakes and change course where necessary. It’s necessary now. The new recycling rules don’t work for small business or the communities they support. Laura Jones is Executive Vice President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. She can be reached at laura.jones@ cfib.ca. Follow her on Twitter @CFIBideas.

Rhetoric on the American right is troubling Paul Strickland Special to the Free Press Recently, in a short autobiographical essay titled My Twilight Years, actor Clint Eastwood wrote about U.S. President Barack Obama: “I voted against that incompetent, lying, flipflopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist, terrorist-excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, scientific and economic moron currently in the White House!” This is hardly moderate or responsible speech by a noteworthy man who was a key speaker at a major national political party’s convention less than two years ago. In rural Oregon a pastor of a small church has talked about using one of the guns in his collection to shoot Obama if he should ever visit his small town. This may be on par with an idle barroom boast, never really meant to be acted upon, but it hardly represents Christian principles as understood by mainline churches. And on Fox TV this week former U.S. defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld used at best ill-chosen words to criticize the Obama administration’s failure to secure a status of forces agreement (SOFA) with Afghanistan. The agreement between a host nation and a foreign military presence ensures the rights of foreign troops while distinguishing the relationship from a military occupation, according to an article Wednesday in Huffington Post.

“A trained ape could get a status of forces agreement,” Rumsfeld said, as quoted in an article in New Yorker magazine. “It doesn’t take a genius.” I haven’t been back to the States for about a year and a half, but it is surprising how much racism apparently remains. These are not opinions from a back hills district of Mississippi or South Carolina, but from a normally liberal ‘blue state’ and from elsewhere in mainstream America. Fanaticism on the right seems to be worse than at any time since the 1930s. In addition, pure mean-spiritedness is also at work among the farther right Republicans in Congress, especially those who are members of, or are influenced by, the radical Tea Party faction. The farm bill Congress enacted last month will slash $8.6 billion from food stamp aid over the next 10 years – about one-fifth of $40-billion cut sought by House Republicans, Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said Wednesday to Huffington Post. Here it isn’t so much racism that’s at work as the growing power of the laissez-faire capitalist ideas of novelist Ayn Rand, the Austrian economist Ludwig Von Mises and objectivist philosophy in general. Obdurate right-leaning religious fundamentalism is also at work in influencing negative policy approaches toward social programs established under former president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s and president Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great

Society program in the 1960s. In 2011 the Tea Party-controlled U.S. House of Representatives (the lower house of Congress where money bills originate) nearly shut down the federal government in a dispute over raising the national debt ceiling. Last October they did in fact bring about a government shutdown for more than two weeks in an effort to tear apart the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s attempt at a form of medicare for the general population, even though it had been approved by the U.S. Supreme Court and by voters in the 2012 U.S. elections. In so doing, the Tea Party Republicans courted a serious downgrade of the U.S.’s international credit rating. “The American right desperately needs to be reminded of the dangers of radicalism, of the trouble that often emerges when utopian ideals trump practical concerns about the actual lives of ordinary citizens, and of the problems that come when social cohesion and unity decline precipitously,” says Sheri Berman, professor of political science at Barnard College in Columbia University. “As the French Revolution made clear centuries ago, democracy cannot function when a significant sector of the population denies the legitimacy of the values, needs and goals of the rest of society,” Ber-

man writes in the Winter 2014 issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. “When you believe apocalypse is around the corner, any tactic becomes justified.” To a considerable extent in Canada, too, the neo-conservative (and, often, neo-liberal) approach of slash-and-burn is being thoughtlessly applied to essential offices and established institutions that are part of the social fabric of this country. We have to trace the source of political and economic philosophies that are in the final analysis destructive. For its part, the Conservative Party should return to a study of Edmund Burke and his advice to exercise caution.

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Health &Wellness

d n o y e B

A guide to healthier living!

Tufting is traditional handiwork Teresa MALLAM/ Free Press

Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com

Jean Walker is showing her moosehair tufting technique at a CNC Celebrates Aboriginal Culture event Tuesday at the Gathering Place.

Her art is very unusual and Jean Walker is not surprised that many people have never heard of moosehair tufting. She learned the technique long ago from her grandmother and other Metis Elders. It takes time and patience, she says, and each finished work is unique. On Tuesday, Walker was at CNC for their Celebrate Aboriginal Culture event at the Gathering Place. The three-day event brought together many First Nations artists and their work so that students could learn about traditional things like finger weaving, beading and drumming. Besides the art of moosehair tufting, Walker also learned and is now passing on to family members and students, traditional ways of doing colourful fishscale art and porcupine quilling. She’s

taught classes at the college and UNBC. “I’ve taught my daughter Kathy and my granddaughter Shyla about cariboo tufting but Kathy is allergic to fish so I can’t teach her about fish-scale art,” says Walker, laughing at the irony. Fish-scale art starts with a coarse, white fish (salmon are not used) that has scales at least as big as your baby finger, Walker says. “It takes about three days of washing to remove all the oils from the scales and make them ready for the dye. When you are dyeing the scales, you have to make sure the water isn’t too hot or you will curl the scales. I live in the North, so I use bright colours and floral patterns.” Indeed, her small, framed fish-scale works, which look much like tiny shells arranged into the shape of flowers, are done in hot pinks, deep purples and dark greens. And her moosehair tufting art (cariboo and deer hair is also used) is in shades of mauve, pink and turquoise.

Thinking thoughts of coming spring

Spring Selection has Arrived!

Lola-Dawn Fennell Special to Free Press Winter show seemed to be disappearing gradually. I was actually having thoughts about spring – weren’t you? – until this morning’s snowfall. I’m still looking forward to getting out

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on my balcony and organizing things for spring planting. Other P.G. seniors might be finding the approaching spring bringing up thoughts related to spring cleaning yards and homes. We can’t help you with any major spring cleaning, but we might be able to assist with light housekeeping and routine yard maintenance. Have you heard about the new Better At Home Program? What’s that, you ask? Come to P.G. Council of Seniors’ next Quarterly Membership meeting on Monday, April 7, 2 p.m. at the P.G. Chateau to learn all about the Better At Home Program and other available services. Did you know PGCOS’s Quarterly Membership meetings are open to everyone? They are. What else is happen-

ing with PGCOS and the Seniors Resource Centre? Beginners Computer Classes are still underway. There will be at least one more round of these classes before summer. Probably Skype and Facebook classes for seniors too. Call us 250-564-5888 to get your name on the waitlist. Story Cafe will be returning to the Seniors Resource Centre in May. This is a great opportunity for seniors to socialize and hear stories read aloud. I’ll write more on that next column at the end of April. I’m going to close my eyes and wish hard for spring sunshine now. How about you? Lola-Dawn Fennell is a young-at-heart grandmother, UNBC graduate and general manager of the Prince George Council of Seniors.

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Hart

Community News

McCormicks dance to top Sisters both qualify for Provincials from local festival with their exquisite ballet moves in a tribute to their late grandfather â&#x20AC;&#x201C; their number one fan, mentor and supporter. He passed away last year. The girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; dance number (there was a portrait of their grandfather on stage) was beautifully choreographed by Stephanie Bertoli and

Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress. com Nicole McCormickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s e-mail to the reporter on Saturday said it all: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great news!! Both girls made it to the Provincials which will be held in Penticton in June. Abbie was selected to compete in Intermediate Modern [category] and Caitlin for Junior Stage. They and I and their teachers are thrilled!â&#x20AC;? The news follows a March 21 Free Press story on the McCormick dance family, which focused on Nicoleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own experience with dance and how a few years ago she opened her own dance studio, Dance Your Hart Out in the Hart area. The 38th Prince George Dance Festival ran from March 15 to 21 with hundreds of dancers from all across the region performing at Vanier Hall in a wide variety of dance disciplines. Judy Russell Enchainement Dance Studio, Excalibur Theatre Arts Company and Zahirah Dance Studio were among the local dance studios represented at the festival. During the week, awards and scholarships were handed out and adjudicators had suggestions on how they could make their performances even more memorable. On March 20, Caitlin, 12, and Abigail, 16, who danced five solos each at the festival, danced in the lyrical duo category, placing first in their category. They performed in white chiffon-like costumes that moved gently

set to the Sarah McLachlan song, Angel. Nicole McCormick said that she owes her early dance training to choreographer/producer/ director Judy Russell and the girls, well, they say their mother has been their biggest inspiration so far.

Hart

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Save $ LUBE, OIL & FILTER Teresa MALLAM/Free Press Abigail McCormick and her sister, Caitlin, perform a tribute to their late grandfather with a lyrical duo number at the Prince George Dance Festival held at Vanier Hall. They danced to the beautiful Sarah McLachlan song, Angel.

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INDEX IN BRIEF

Announcements

Obituaries

FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENTS COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS CHILDREN EMPLOYMENT SERVICE GUIDE - PERSONAL BUSINESS SERVICES PETS / LIVESTOCK ITEMS FOR SALE / WANTED REAL ESTATE RENTALS TRANSPORTATION MARINE LEGALS

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Advertisers are reminded that Provincial legislation forbids the publication of any advertisement which discriminates against any person because of race, religion, sex, color, nationality, ancestry or place of origin, or age, unless the condition is justiĂ&#x201E;ed by a bona Ă&#x201E;de requirement for the work involved.

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Coming Events Buckhorn Improvement District AGM and Election of Trustees Monday, March 31st, 2014 7pm at Buckhorn Elementary School

Information ADVERTISE in the LARGEST OUTDOOR PUBLICATION IN BC The 2014-2016 BC Hunting Regulations Synopsis The most effective way to reach an incredible number of BC Sportsmen & women. Two year edition- terriďŹ c presence for your business.

Please call Annemarie 1.800.661.6335 email: ďŹ sh@blackpress.ca ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Do you think you may have a problem with Alcohol? Alcohol Anonymous, Box 1257, Prince George, BC V2L 4V5 Call 250-564-7550

Denied Long-Term Disability BeneďŹ ts or Other Insurance? If YES, call or email for your FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION

and protect your right to compensation. 778.588.7049 Toll Free: 1.888.988.7052 Julie@LawyersWest.ca www.LawyersWest.ca

NECHAKO RESERVOIR UPDATE

Information

Business Opportunities

Drivers/Courier/ Trucking

Career Opportunities

EXPANDING INTO PRINCE GEORGE! Includes Training

Visit website www.waterofďŹ ce.ec.gc.ca for up to date real-time ďŹ&#x201A;ow information for the Nechako River.

Call Dave for Franchise Presentation. 1.855.301.2233 www.bc.abuyerschoice.com

Contact Rio Tinto Alcan at 250-5675105 for more information. A recording of this notice is available 24-hours in Vanderhoof at 250567-5812

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Total snowpack: 69.6%long term average Visit website www.waterofďŹ ce.ec.gc.ca for up to date real-time ďŹ&#x201A;ow information for the Nechako River. Contact Rio Tinto Alcan at 250-5675105 for more information. A recording of this notice is available 24-hours in Vanderhoof at 250567-5812

FINALLY! in stock at the Crisis Centre $28.00

Cash or cheque only; or will invoice agencies if preferred. Please call before coming to conÄŽrm that a staÄŤ member is here to help you. Pick up only; no mailing in Prince George.

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Obituaries

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Richard Allen (Duffy)

Lougheed Born in Burns Lake March 23/62, Duffy had a heart attack March 8th and passed away in UHNBC March 15/14. Pre-deceased by parents Andy & Ollie Lougheed, and sister Toots Hinz. Survived by brother-in-law Ed Hinz; niece Sue (Tom) Burkitt; grand-nephews Robert & Michael Burkitt; best friend Carol Friesen; second â&#x20AC;&#x153;Momâ&#x20AC;? Karen Schultz; little buddies Saige & Jake; and 4 legged pal Maggie. He will be remembered & missed by many; extended family, his co-workers at Dollar Saver Lumber, & especially his Wednesday night bowling and Thursday night darts buddies. Thanks to assisting bystanders, paramedics, emergency room staff, and the wonderfully caring staff in ICU. Sue offers special thanks to Carol & Karen who shared in her bedside vigil. No service at Duff â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request but please join us in sharing stories and memories Saturday, March 29, 10am to 12pm, at Strike Zone Bowling Alley (2366 Westwood.)

ARE YOU THE NEXT MARATHON MAN?

Van Kamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Group of Companies requires Highway linehaul Owner Operators based in our Prince George terminal for runs throughout BC and Alberta. Applicants must have winter and mountain, driving experience/training.

Only those of interest will be contacted.

19 March 2014 Reservoir Elevation: 850.28 m (2789.65 ft.) SLS Discharge: 31.86 m3/s

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Reservoir Elevation: 850.23 m (2789.47 ft.) SLS Discharge: 34.99 m3/s

It is agreed by any Display or ClassiĂ&#x201E;ed Advertiser requesting space that the liability of the paper in the event of failure to publish an advertisement shall be limited to the amount paid by the advertiser for that portion of the advertising space occupied by the incorrect item only, and that there shall be no liability in any event beyond the amount paid for such advertisement. The publisher shall not be liable for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value of an advertisement.

Crisis Prevention, Intervention & Information Centre

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26 March 2014

AGREEMENT

Prince George

Employment

NECHAKO RESERVOIR UPDATE

BC Cancer Foundation Legacies Accepted. 604.877.6040 or bccancerfoundation.com

DISCRIMINATORY LATION

Announcements

Career Opportunities

We are looking for highly motivated, willing to learn individuals who are interested in becoming installers with our company. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the next Marathon Man email your resume to:

service@marathonltd.com

HEAVY DUT Y TRUCK SALES CONSULTANT

Inland Kenworth Prince George has an immediate opening for a Heavy Duty Truck Sales Consultant. We are looking for an energetic, self starting, team player with strong people skills and a positive work ethic. This position reports to the Branch Manager and has overall responsibility for the sales and market share growth of all new & used class B model trucks within a specific territory. The ideal candidate will be outgoing and able to relate with a diverse customer base both from large companies as well as individual operators. This is an opportunity to be part of an energetic, and highly successful selling team with a very positive future. Requirements: â&#x20AC;˘ Minimum class 5 drivers license in good standing - driving to customers in established territory is required â&#x20AC;˘ Above average communication skills â&#x20AC;˘ Computer literacy â&#x20AC;˘ Extremely well organized â&#x20AC;˘ Knowledge of the trucking industry â&#x20AC;˘ Truck sales history an asset Additional Comments: We offer competitive wages and an attractive benefits package. Only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted. Please send resume to Attention Rick Bruneski @ rbruneski@inland-group.com or drop off/ mail to 1995 Quinn Street V2N 2X2.

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CERTIFIED MILLWRIGHTS Across BriĆ&#x;sh Columbia

Tolko Industries Ltd. is currently seeking CerĆ&#x;ÄŽed Millwrights to join our teams across BriĆ&#x;sh Columbia. White Valley Veneer â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an Industry leading soĹ&#x152;wood veneer producer Armstrong Plywood â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a front-runner in innovaĆ&#x;on, safety, quality, and conversion costs. Lavington Planer Mill â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a primary manufacturer of dimension wood products. All of these divisions are situated in the fabulous North Okanagan Valley, Armstrong, Lavington, Lumby & Vernon oÄŤer outstanding recreaĆ&#x;onal and family living, with all the ameniĆ&#x;es at your doorstep. Lakeview Lumber â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a prominent producer of dimension wood products Soda Creek â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a top manufacturer of stud wood products Quest Wood â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a leading maker of dimension wood products These divisions are located in the heart of the Cariboo, in Williams Lake and Quesnel. The Cariboo oÄŤers unlimited year-round outdoor recreaĆ&#x;onal opportuniĆ&#x;es, and the communiĆ&#x;es bustle with the services and industries of an urban center. QUALIFICATIONS: â&#x20AC;˘ Journeyman Millwright cerĆ&#x;ÄŽcaĆ&#x;on; â&#x20AC;˘ Ability to read blue prints, plans and schemaĆ&#x;cs â&#x20AC;˘ Strong problem solving skills â&#x20AC;˘ Commitment to working safely coupled with strong communicaĆ&#x;on & interpersonal skills. â&#x20AC;˘ Ability to work independently with liĆŠle supervision â&#x20AC;˘ OrganizaĆ&#x;onal and planning skills as well as proÄŽciency in MicrosoĹ&#x152; Word, Excel and Outlook This is an excellent opportunity to engage in interesĆ&#x;ng work and in excellent working condiĆ&#x;ons in modern wood manufacturing faciliĆ&#x;es. APPLY TODAY! Our tradiĆ&#x;on of excellence is built on strong company values, a challenging environment, and conĆ&#x;nuous development. To explore current career opportuniĆ&#x;es and become a part of our community, visit our website at www.tolko.com and submit your resume by March 30th, 2014. We thank all candidates for their interest; however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

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, 1 , 1- , 9

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Prince George Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

CAREERS & OPPORTUNITIES 250.564.0005 | www.pgfreepress.com

FIND the staff you need... Now! To be included in the Free Press Careers & Opportunities Pages Call 250-564-0005

Friday issue: 1:00 p.m. Tuesday

Deadlines for

Enbridge collecting names for construction work

Slopes for Hope

Photo Submitted There was obviously lots of fun at the Slopes for Hope event at Powder King on the weekend. The “Everest-style” ski-a-thon was a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society.

More than 600 people and businesses have already signed up to an Enbridge Northern Gateway online database in anticipation of working on the planned pipeline to pump Alberta crude oil to a marine export terminal at Kitimat. Gateway official Catherine Pennington says the database is one way of finding out the skill sets of interested individuals and determining the capability of companies located along the pipeline corridor, which stretches 1,777 kilometres. “There’s been quite a good response so far,” said Pennington of the database, which went live in a soft launch the middle of last month. “What we’re really trying to determine is if there are any gaps in skill sets [for people] and business capabilities along the corridor.” Pennington said the database follows Enbridge’s commitments to establish community benefits arising from the planned construction of the $5.5 billion project. Following extensive hearings, the National Energy Board last December recommended approval provided Enbridge meet 209 conditions. The federal cabinet is expected to make a

BCIT offering leadership training workshops in P.G. The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) is offering a leadership training workshop for manufacturing businesses in Prince George on April 1 and 2. The Leading Organizations for Company Owners and Managers workshop is part of the Manufacturing Leadership Series developed by BCIT in partnership with Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) British Columbia. This program is part of CME British Columbia’s overall strategy to assist in developing the skills of employees in manufacturing companies across the province. “BCIT is thrilled to be working with CME and local partners to bring the specialized training that we have developed for the manufacturing sector to Prince George in support of the workforce development that we have all been concerned about,” said Veronica Madore, Manager, Corporate and Industry Training, BCIT School of Business, in a press release. This two-day workshop is designed to provide business owners and managers with the tools they need to

develop leadership skills that are vital to business success. During the workshop, participants will learn how to create a personal model of leadership, hone interpersonal skills, and develop skills needed to lead a team and an organization. “CME British Columbia is pleased to partner with BCIT, Initiatives Prince George and Northern Development Initiative Trust to bring the Manufacturing Leadership Series to Prince George. This program has been attended by many CME British Columbia members throughout the province and contributes to the overall leadership development within an organization,” said Kevin Davis, Director of Memberships and Strategic Partnerships, CME British Columbia. “It is critical that companies invest in themselves so that they are ready to capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead for Prince George and the rest of northern BC over the coming years. Programs such as this are part of CME’s overall strategy to assist in developing the skills of employees in manufacturing companies across British Columbia”

The workshop will be held at the Northern Development office on Fifth Avenue from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on April 1 and 2. Lunch will be provided both days. Registration is available at www.leadershipseriespg.eventbrite.ca. Prince George Association for Community Living We are currently recruiƟng male and female employees with full Ɵme or part Ɵme availability to create a posiƟve home life, support people when parƟcipaƟng in community events and assist with planning and implementaƟon of skill building opportuniƟes. You will also assist people with daily living skills which may include personal care. Requirements Ability to enroll in Community and School Support (CASS) Courses 140, 145, 130 & 150, (equivalencies may be considered). Experience with disabiliƟes; knowledge of conŇict resoluƟon/crisis intervenƟon; ability to organize acƟviƟes, establish rapport with clients, observe and recognize changes, and work as a member of a mulƟdisciplinary team. Valid B.C. Class 5 Driver’s License and Driving Abstract; work may require the use of a personal vehicle. Basic computer skills and physical ability to carry out the duƟes are also required. Excellent beneĮts and Municipal Pension Plan provided. With over 400 dedicated employees, AimHi provides advocacy, support and services to people who have special needs.

950 Kerry Street, Prince George, BC V2M 5A3 Phone: 250-564-6408 • Fax:250-564-6801 Email: recepƟon@aimhi.ca

decision about the project in June. Although the pipeline has yet to be approved, those who have signed up to the database could very well stand to benefit from what Pennington said is early fieldwork required by the NEB. The database is meant for individuals and companies located within 80 kilometres on either side of the pipeline corridor stretching from Alberta to Kitimat. Pennington said the database will specifically help Enbridge develop its commitment for aboriginal development. “There is provision to self identify [as aboriginals] if they feel comfortable,” she said. Speaking to a luncheon meeting in Terrace, Janet Holder, Enbridge Northern Gateway senior executive in charge of the project, said it had already spent $350 million on the project up to last December. “If everything goes as well as we hope it goes, we should be able to start construction in 2015,” she said. Holder did acknowledge that a number of court appeals have already been filed by groups opposing the project and anticipates more will be filed. - Terrace Standard

THERAPEUTIC YOUTH CARE WORKER PRINCE GEORGE, BC (1) FULL-TIME, (1) PART-TIME Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) is looking for Youth Care Workers for our Therapeutic Homes Program to provide direct service to children and youth residing in Carrier Sekani Therapeutic Homes. The YCW will work with a multi-disciplined care team and utilize a trauma-informed and strength-based approach to implement goal specific support to complex needs children and youth. Qualifications And Educational Requirements • Degree in Child and Youth Care or other related discipline; or • Diploma in Child and Youth Care with significant direct care experience Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities • Knowledge of First Nations culture and traditions (specifically Carrier & Sekani) • Knowledge of CFCSA Act • Knowledge of PTSD, traumatic-stress trauma-informed care and service systems

and

• First Aid Training Proof of qualiﬁcations, a class 5 driver’s licence and clear criminal records check will be requested from the successful applicant. TO APPLY: Send a cover letter and resume to: Email: hr@csfs.org Fax: (250) 563-3376 For a more detailed description of this opportunity and to learn more about our organization, visit www.csfs.org. CLOSING DATE: April 16, 2014

Prince George - CLASSIFIEDS - Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

Employment

Education/Trade Schools

Hotel, Restaurant, Food Services

START NOW! Complete ministry approved diplomas in months! Business, health care and more! Contact Academy of Learning College: 1-855354-JOBS (5627) or www.academyoflearning.com We Change Lives! TRAIN TO be an Apartment/Condominium Manager online! Graduates get access to all jobs posted with us. 33 years of success! Government certiďŹ ed. www.RMTI.ca or 1800-665-8339, 604-681-5456.

LOOKING for a lasting career with opportunities for growth and advancement? Due to rapid expansion in Northern BC, A&W is currently seeking Store Managers. If you have a proven track record in management and are energetic, hard-working, and enjoy a fast-paced work environment, a career with A&W may be for you. We offer an excellent compensation and incentive package. Locations: Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Smithers & Terrace. For more information, or to apply, send resume by email to will@christys.ca

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WANTED Vancouver Island and Lower Mainland opportunities. Top Wages & BeneďŹ ts. Relocation costs paid to qualiďŹ ed applicants. E-mail: hiring@ parkerjohnston.com or Call: (1)250-382-9181 CLEANING SUPERVISOR reqâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d. Sal: $18.00/hr. F/t, Pmt. 1+ yrs. exp. Duties: Supervise and co-ordinate the activities of cleaners. Inspect and ensure of established safety and cleanliness standards are met. Hire, train and schedule staff. Estimate and optimize budget. Lang: English. Contact: Harpreet from Northstar Janitorial Services in 193 Aitken Cr, Prince George, BC, V2L 4N3, BC. Apply at lehal1986@hotmail.ca Drivers needed.Class 5. Minimum 5 years exp. Must be able to drive standard. Call Keys Please 250-613-0203 after 1pm Steady/PT to vacuum, wipe & wash cars. Apply to Hands on Car Wash, 1956 3rd Ave The Prince George Sylvan Learning Centre is looking for certiďŹ ed teachers proďŹ cient in teaching reading, writing and math. Please drop off, fax or e-mail resume to: 1645 Spruce Street, Prince George, BC V2L 2R3; Fax: (250)562-7312; E-mail: slcprincegeorge@telus.net.

Home Care/Support

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Teachers PRIMARY Teachers Wanted in Shanghai Are you tired of being on the TOC list? There are opportunities for BC and Alberta qualiďŹ ed teachers at Shang Yin Canadian International Primary School in Shanghai. Successful applicants will teach Canadian curriculum in English. Contact Brian Butcher at bdbutcher@telus.net for more information.

Trades, Technical

Employment

Trades, Technical

3 positions: Picker/Boom Truck Operator, Winch & Bed Truck Operators needed. Generous signing bonus to right applicants. Valiant OilďŹ eld Hauling is a family friendly business based in Fort St John. We are looking for a CertiďŹ ed Picker/Boom Truck Operator for a 40 ton Picker, an experienced Winch truck Operator and an experienced Lo-bed Truck Operator. We offer competitive Wages and great work environment. Send resume to ofďŹ ce@valiant-hauling.com or call Jeremy at 1778-256-4258. Flexible work rotations a possibility. Serious applicants only. JOURNEYMAN or Apprentice Heavy Duty / Commercial Transport Mechanic wanted in Golden, BC. This is for you if you are an outdoor enthusiast. Position is full time evening shift 4:00 pm - 12:00 midnight Monday thru Friday. Rate of pay is competitive and will be negotiated based on experience. We invite you to become a member of our team. Please fax your resume and cover letter to 250-344-6622 or email manager@bnwcontracting.ca

LICENSED PLUMBER/ GAS FITTER Req. at Canuck Mechanical in Prince George. Must have exp. doing service work & be proďŹ cient with trouble shooting heating systems & plumbing problems. Top wages & beneďŹ ts Email resume to: canuckm@telus.net

Services

Financial Services

Legal Services

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Willing to pay premium wages, top beneďŹ ts in industry. For the right person Substantial signing bonus. PLUMBER With gas ticket, sheet metal furnace install experience. REFRIGERATION HVAC MECHANIC Lots of service experience. Must be top of your ďŹ eld. APPLY PERSONALLY TO FRANK WALSH - 250.372.5115 Fax: 1.250.372-5711 OR CHECK US OUT AT: www.jwalshandsons.com

Residential Care Workers wanted for 27yr Autistic Male. Requirements: Foodsafe, Level One First Aid, Class 5 Drivers License, Physically Fit Will train eligible candidates $18/hr , 8 hr shifts. Contact: caring8888society@gmail.com

JOURNEYMAN HEAVY DUTY MECHANIC is required for coastal logging operations near Woss, BC. Year round employment with full beneďŹ ts. Further details can be found at www.hdlogging.com Please fax resume to 250-287-9259.

Career Opportunities

GENERAL MANAGER / SALES MANAGER POSITION IN SOUTHERN CARIBOO / INTERIOR OF BC

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Billy Barker Casino Hotel CAREER OPPORTUNITY â&#x20AC;&#x153;HEAD CHEFâ&#x20AC;? position is a Full-Time Management job for a hands-on managing Chef to handle all aspects in the Kitchen at the Billy Barker Casino Hotel in Quesnel, BC. Must lead the kitchen team, possess excellent communication skills, leadership, and time management skills. Chef experience of no less than 5 years with a history of loyalty to one employer. Experience in hiring, training, supervision of up to 15 kitchen personnel, discipline and terminating exercises. Ordering supplies, scheduling of kitchen help. Must hold a valid WHMIS and FOODSAFE, and First Aid Level 1 certificate. Salary range is $40,000. to $48,000. per year, depending on experience. Apply via email to glizotte@billybarkercasino.com with detailed resume complete with references. â&#x20AC;&#x153;CHEFâ&#x20AC;? up to 3 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chefâ&#x20AC;? positions are available to commence by late April, 2014. The Billy Barker Casino Hotel in Quesnel, BC is looking for experienced and energetic people in our new kitchen, for preparing and presenting of all food items. Some supervision is required, and will work closely with the Head Chef. Ensure kitchen sanitation is maintained, all safety and security precautions are met and health standards are observed. Salary range is $27,000. to $33,000. per year, depending on experience. Apply via email to glizotte@billybarkercasino.com with a detailed resume complete with references.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY Plywood Shift Supervisor Canoe Forest Products Ltd., located near Salmon Arm BC has an immediate fulltime opening within the Plywood Department for a Shift Supervisor. Reporting directly to the Plywood Manager, the successful candidate will be responsible for the supervision of all aspects of the plywood manufacturing business. The position offers a challenging opportunity to an experienced, self-motivated, technically sound individual who can work with minimal supervision. Other prerequisites include above average interpersonal and communication skills. A thorough understanding of Quality & Statistical Process Control systems would be desirable. Preference will be given to those applicants who hold post-secondary education in Woods Product Manufacturing or Business Administration. Three to five years of related supervisory experience would also be an asset. Canoe Forest Products Ltd. offers a competitive salary and benefits package based on experience and qualifications. If you possess the skills and qualifications for this position, please submit your resume with cover letter, in confidence, by Monday, April 7, 2014 to: Human Resources Department Canoe Forest Products Ltd. Box 70, Canoe BC V0E 1K0 E: hr@canoefp.com F: 866â&#x20AC;?514â&#x20AC;?8773 www.canoefp.com Canoe Forest Products thanks all applicants for their interest; however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

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Prince George - CLASSIFIEDS - Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

Services

Merchandise for Sale

Real Estate

Rentals

Legal

Painting & Decorating

Antiques / Vintage

Misc. Wanted

Other Areas

Apt/Condo for Rent

Suites, Lower

Legal Notices

MILITARIA, Medals, Badges & Coin Collections Wanted. Major collector/dealer will pay cash for your collection. Call CEF 604-727-0137

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Telephone Services DISCONNECTED PHONE? National Teleconnect Home Phone Service. No One Refused! Low Monthly Rate! Calling Features and Unlimited Long Distance Available. Call National Teleconnect Today! 1-866-443-4408. www.nationalteleconnect.com

Misc. for Sale HOT TUB (SPA) COVERS. Best price. Best quality. All shapes & colours available. 1-866-652-6837 www.thecoverguy.com/ newspaper? STEEL BUILDING Sale... Big year-end clear out continued! 20x20 $3,915. 25x28 $4,848. 30x32 $6,339. 32x34 $7,371. 40x50 $12,649. 47x68 $16,691. One End wall included. Pioneer Steel 1-800-6685422. www.pioneersteel.ca STEEL BUILDINGS/Metal Buildings 60% off! 20x28, 30x40, 40x62, 45x90, 50x120, 60x150, 80x100 sell for balance owed! Call 1-800-4572206 www.crownsteelbuildings.ca

FIREARMS. ALL types wanted, estates, collections, single items, military. We handle all paperwork and transportation. Licensed Dealer. 1-866-9600045. www.dollars4guns.com

1 bdrm $590, 2 bdrm $675 Bachelor $480 Includes heat & h/w 1601 Queensway St. 250-596-4275 250-612-7199

Mobile Homes & Parks

FREE SCRAP CAR REMOVAL within 15 km

Commercial/ Industrial

P&R 250-963-3435 Email: prďŹ&#x201A;eet@telus.net

Midtowne

MEMBER OF

â&#x20AC;˘ 1 & 2 bedroom apartments available â&#x20AC;˘ Close to hospital & downtown â&#x20AC;˘ Rent includes heat, hot water â&#x20AC;˘ Elevator to undercover parking â&#x20AC;˘ Fridge, stove, quality carpets, drapes â&#x20AC;˘ Laundry on each ďŹ&#x201A;oor â&#x20AC;˘ No pets

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X CROSSWORD ANSWER TO PUZZLE NO. 442

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HARDWOOD MANOR 1575 Queensway Bachelor, 1 & 2 bdrm Suites Heat/hot water included

RETIRE IN Beautiful Southern BC, Brand New Park. Affordable Housing. COPPER RIDGE. Manufactured Home Park, New Home Sales. Keremeos, BC. Spec home on site to view. Please call 250-4627055. www.copperridge.ca

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Apt/Condo for Rent

Real Estate

Transportation

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Boats

To: Mark Gauvin and/or Gauvin Holdings and/or M & D Logging In accordance with Section 3 of the Warehouse Lien Act, Robo Transport BC Ltd. Hereby gives notice that our company has a lien upon property stored in our facilities by You, for your account, or in which you claim an interest, amounting to the sum of $13,365.45 and is due and described as follows: Freight from Goldbridge to Quesnel to Kamloops - $6063.75 plus storage costs from Oct 15 April 15, 2014 in the amount of $7301.70. Storage costs will accumulate at $38.00 per day plus GST. The goods against which the lien of this company exists consists of one JD-853G Buncher complete with buncher head, SIN # WC853GX003017 received on Oct 15, 2013 at 462 Dene Drive, Kamloops, B.C. We hereby demand that the amount of $13,365.45 be paid in cash, or by money order or certiďŹ ed check on or before April 15, 2014 and notify you that unless said claim is paid within the herein speciďŹ ed time, the goods will be advertised for sale and sold. The proceeds of such sale shall be applied to the payment of the amount due, including reasonable charges of notice, sale and advertisement.

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Paint Special 3 Rooms $589 incl. prem qlty paint, your color choices, 2 coats, ďŹ lled nail holes. Ceiling & trim extra. Free Est. HB Tech Painting 250-649-6285

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Friday, March 28, 2014

TERESA MALLAM | 250.564.0005 | arts@pgfreepress.com | www.pgfreepress.com SUN RUN Aboriginal Business and Community Development Centre has its Sun Run Fundraiser on Friday, March 28 (tonight). Loonie auction. Doors open at 5 p.m. Dinner served until 7 p.m. Moose Hall, 663 Douglas St. Tickets are $30. Only 100 tickets available. All proceeds will be used to help get ABDC participants to the Vancouver Sun Run April 27. Tickets available from Sun Run participants or at ABDC office located at 3855 15th Ave.

SENIORS SHOW Elder Citizens’ Recreation Association (ECRA) and the Forever Young Chorus presents Over the Bounding Main. The theme of the concert is a musical tribute to the songs of the sea and special guest is Carolyn Kelly. The concert runs tonight (Friday) at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 29 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. Admission $10 ($5 for children 12 and under).

MOUNTAIN SHOW There will be a new exhibit at Groop Gallery (1127 Third Ave.) entitled Mountain Diaries, featuring original artworks by Crystalynn Tarr. Opening night is Friday, March 28 (tonight) starting at 7 p.m. Mountain Diaries exhibit runs March 28 to the end of April. For more information the gallery website is www.groopgallery.com or phone Melanie Desjardines at 250-5611442.

JOHN HANNAM Singer songwriter John Wort Hannam will be at Artspace above Books and Company on Tuesday, April 8 starting at 8 p.m. The artist’s acoustic roots reveals a woven textile of metaphor, phrasing, irony and rhyme that reads with ease like well written prose. His music has both simplicity and a strong sense of musicality. Tickets are on sale for $15 at Books and Company.

The art of the skater Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com Calling it a thrill of a lifetime would be an understatement. Melanie Desjardines was still giddy with excitement Friday as she showed off her prized possession. Hanging on the wall of her Groop Gallery, a beautiful painting by former world figure skating champion Toller Cranston. The vibrantly coloured work of art “Florentine Muse” was influenced by his visits to Russia, says Desjardines. There is an amusing story about how she acquired the work of art: Desjardines and her husband, Sheldon, were vacationing in Mexico this month, staying in San Miguel de Allende where she knew Cranston had moved in the early 1990s after he retired from the world of professional ice skating. After time spent exploring the picturesque city with its lovely old churches, quaint cobblestone streets, Baroque and neoclassical style architecture, Desjardines decided to put her artist’s curiosity and sleuthing skills to work to see if she could find out where Cranston lived. Finding him turned out to be easier than she expected. Two local men gave her directions to a villa located several blocks away. She and a girlfriend found it with no problem, even though the other woman “chickened out” and stayed across the street when Desjardines went to the door, she said. “I just knocked on the door, a man opened it, and

Teresa MALLAM/Free Press Groop Gallery owner and artist Melanie Desjardines with an original work titled Florentine Muse, painted by former world skating champion Toller Cranston. She met the famous skater and artist during a holiday to San Miguel de Allende with her husband and was invited to Cranston’s home.

I asked, ‘is Toller home?’ and he invited me in. (The girlfriend joined in at that point) and then he just led us up these winding stairs, it was overwhelming. “Everywhere we looked there was hundreds of pieces of beautiful pottery and paintings. When we got to the top of the stairs there was a studio with mostly glass walls and it was all just breathtaking.” She laughs now at her bold move but the best was yet to come, meeting the man himself. When they reached an upper level of Cranston’s Mexican villa, they came to an artist’s stu-

dio with mostly glass walls and the sun streaming in. Desjardines couldn’t believe her luck. “Suddenly Toller looked out from behind a canvas and said ‘hello’ to us. I explained we were just a couple of crazy Canadians wanting to meet him. He just got up and said, ‘Come’ and we followed him into another room where he invited us to sit down and have juice with him.” After a brief tour, the women left but Toller, who explained he was busy making arrangements for a dinner party that evening,

invited Desjardines to come back with her husband for a longer visit the following day. “The next day Sheldon and I were sitting in his living room and all around us there were beautiful things. It was hard to keep your eyes from darting all over, it was just so stunning.” Desjardines said she and Toller talked about art (he invited her back for a future visit) and about his connection to Prince George. “He remembered skating in Prince George while he was on a Canadian tour and said how much the

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crowd almost revered him, was so excited to see him. He said actually Prince George was in the top three or so favourite cities that he’d had the pleasure of performing in.” Cranston was interested to hear from her that Prince George is hosting the 2015 Canada Winter Games, said Desjardines. For more on the story, including a video clip with Cranston about life in San Miguel de Allende (and a photo of him with Desjardines), visit the Groop Gallery website at www. groopgallery.com or go on Facebook.

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Curves Helps

Prince George - COMMUNITY - Free Press

Relay for Life numbers looking good Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress. com

Laura ALLGROVE/Special to the Free Press Prince George Curves members collected 420.5 lbs. of food during their 16th Annual Food Drive. All the food collected over the two-week food drive was donated to the Prince George Salvation Army. Showing off the food collected are Curves members Stephanie Clifford, Joyce Flores, Leslie Bush, Cheryl Carty, Elaine McIntyre.

Call out for Spamalot Judy Russell presents auditions for Monty Python’s Spamalot. First call for singer/actors aged 15 years and up is on Monday, April 7 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Wednesday, April 9 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the PG Playhouse. Please make an audition appointment by emailing your contact info to judydance@shawcable.com or leave a message at 250-563-2902. Anyone auditioning please be prepared to sing 16 bars of your best vocal audition piece. “We would prefer you sing something you are comfortable with and do not try to sing a piece from the musical. However, knowledge of the comedic nature of this production would be wise,” says Russell. “An accompanist will be available, so please bring printed music if possible.” Callbacks for specific roles will be chosen from this first audition process. Please be aware that all chorus roles in Spamalot are physically demanding with many opportunities to sing solo lines as well as part singing in the ensemble. This is a very physical show, so wear your sweatpants to audition. Showdates for Monty Python’s Spamalot are July 22 to August 3.

With six weeks to go before the 2014 Relay for Life, Helen Owen has one big concern about the fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. “There’s still a lot of snow to get rid of (at Masich Place Stadium),” the team lead for the May 11 and 12 event said. Apart from that, the numbers are looking good. “We have 967 participants registered on 115 teams, which is pretty much on track for what we had last year.” Those teams are starting to do some serious fundraising, with a number of events listed on the website at convio. cancer.ca (follow the links to find the Prince George Relay). One of the major events coming up is on

April 27 when the annual garage sale is held at Spruce City Fields, with a number of different Relay teams taking part. This was also a big week for the local organizers, as last year’s leadership team was recognized with a national award from the Canadian Cancer Society for its work on the relay. The team of Trevor Patenaude, Tyler Neilson, Davy Greenlees, Jill Greenlees, Les Waldie and Jayne Stevens has been chosen to receive the National Impact Award of Excellence Leadership. “It’s a very prestigious award,” Owen said, “and this is the first time it’s been awarded to any leadership team in B.C.” In 2013, the Prince George Relay for Life, which is the only 24hour relay in Canada, raised more than $548,000, trailing only the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne. Anyone wishing to

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Prince George - COMMUNITY - Free Press

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Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com Even with the Knox United church doors closed, soaring band music coming from Heritage Room was heard a block away. The Way Native Ministry band â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mel Aksidan on guitar, Cecil Barton, lead singer/guitarist, Lloyd Elson on banjo and Doug Venn on bass (Bernadine Tom and Missy Barton also sing for the group) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is in full swing Sunday. Ministry leaders Cecil and Verna Barton and Mike and Wendy Wale, both local pastors, along with evangelists Gerry and Beatrice Eppinga of Return to Jesus Christ Ministries stand momentarily to the side to let the congregation enjoy the music. It makes you want to get up and dance.

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Teresa MALLAM/Free Press Guitarist Mel Aksidan plays with the The Way Native Ministry band Sunday at Knox United Heritage Room.

The ministry sums the joyous noise in its pamphlet: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We love to sing, we love to dance, we love to shout, we love to cry, and we love to testify and most of all we love the Lord.â&#x20AC;? There is no set program for the service and people spill in from the outdoors, pour themselves a coffee and join in the singing. They clap their hands to the beat and, according to Eppinga, their numbers are â&#x20AC;&#x153;around 20 to 40 regulars â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with lots of people coming for the first time that we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know.â&#x20AC;? In that sense, The Way Native Ministry is like a local street ministry â&#x20AC;&#x201C; except that their services are held inside. But the â&#x20AC;&#x153;open armsâ&#x20AC;? approach to is much the same. No one is judged, everyone is welcome, says the evangelist who also works with Jesus Christ for First Nations. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This church is a little different than most churches because it is headed up by native leadership and

most people who attend are native people. When we got started, it took us a while to get our native people from sitting in the back rows,â&#x20AC;? says Eppinga. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now we do travel and do outreach services all over the North including Quesnel, Vanderhoof and Burns Lake.â&#x20AC;? Part of their vision, he says, is to meet people who have not aligned themselves with any church. Some people who come to the services on Sundays or to Bible study on Mondays, are people coming â&#x20AC;&#x153;fresh off the streets.â&#x20AC;? The Way Native Ministry has its Sunday service at Knox United Heritage Room, 1448 Fifth Ave. starting at 1 p.m. Bible studies start at 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays (follow Facebook for locations.) Individuals have an opportunity to minister, in word, in song or testimony. The Way Native Ministry is affiliated with the Return to Jesus Christ Ministry.

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Gauthier heals with his art Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com

Teresa MALALM/Free Press Artist and drummer Clayton Gauthier during CNC’s Celebrate Aboriginal Culture Days at the Gathering Place on Tuesday.

Art is healing, right? For Clayton Gauthier it is a rhetorical question. The Cree and Carrier artist and drummer from Lhts’u-musyoo Nation and member of the Beaver clan was at CNC’s Celebrate Aboriginal Culture event on Tuesday. He grew up in Prince George. From a young age, Gauthier has been spent exploring several different artistic mediums including drawing, painting, carving and mirror etching. He now teaches what he’s learned to aspiring artists. On Tuesday he was on hand to help students learn more about his culture and try their hand at making art. “Aboriginal art is based on animals and it is about teaching, it teaches about the clan system for instance, so it is endless,” he says. At his workshop in CNC’s Gathering Place, Gauthier has traditional drums, deer antlers and an array of paints. The creativity he leaves up to the students who stop by to ask him how it all fits together, the art, the music, the teachings. Students join him in drum playing. His artist’s statement says Gauthier has made art an active part of his life. “It gives him a feeling of serenity where he can feel good even through going through difficult times. Art brings Clayton a place in his life where his spiritual and physical being are connected.” He smiles and looks up at his display of art. “Art is healing, right?” The three-day workshop included tasting bannock, learning tra-

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Elders a key element for CNC Culture Days Elders and their teachings are a key part of CNC’s Celebrate Aboriginal Culture days which began Tuesday, said Rachelle Munchinsky, who helped to coordinate the community aboriginal education event. “We invited the Elders to teach the crafts to the students because that is so important to have them here. And also it was a year ago that we renamed this unique space the Gathering Place. We had out grand opening last year and we had much of the same [First Nations arts and crafts] workshops, so this celebration is a smaller and less formal event.” The workshops are primarily for students attending the college but anyone from the community could attend, she said. The idea of having the event spread over three days during the week was to accommodate as many students and their class schedules as possible. Not only could students learn about traditional medicine, weaving, beading, painting and drumming but they also got a chance to unwind.

“We found out when we offered dream catcher making workshops in December that it was a good de-stressor for students just before exam time, so they could clear their heads and just get creative. So right now we’re getting into exam time again and we thought this would be a good way for them to

ditional beading, weaving, carving and moosehair tufting techniques and Carrier language words. Students also had the opportunity to learn from and talk with First Nations Elders. One year ago, the former atrium at CNC became the unique Gathering Place.

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Teresa MALLAM/Free Press CNC students Calvin Tedesco, Elena Marie Pinder and Vicky Chan take instruction on beading techniques from Takla Lake First Nations Elder Julie Jacques.

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Relay For Life is an outstanding way to align your company with the fight against cancer and engage employees in the community, fostering employee goodwill. It is also an excellent opportunity to provide a valuable team building experience for your employees while raising funds to support the programs and services of the Canadian Cancer Society, along with funding important cancer research. Many Prince George businesses participate in Relay For Life on an annual basis. Our Event Sponsor, ALLNORTH is participating for the sixth year in 2014. Over the years, Allnorth has shown the power of Relay For Life and is a model for corporate teams. At Allnorth there are many important projects taken on each year, with new bridges, roads, and other Engineering and Field Services jobs being completed daily. But, none of the projects they take on is more important to them than Relay For Life, and that dedication shows not only in the huge amount of money they raise, but in the strength Relay has given their team. Over the last six years the Allnorth Allstars, a team of employees, family, and friends, have raised nearly $100,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society, and in

doing so their team has become closer than ever. With fundraisers designed to allow the employees to have fun, there is never a shortage of volunteers to get an idea off the group, and always a full team ready to support and participate. A big part of what makes this so special at Allnorth is that even though this teamwork pays huge dividends toward strengthening the relationships between coworkers, and motivating them to work harder for each other in their regular day-to-day jobs, Allnorth continues to focus on the value of this event for what it does for the community, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that genuine desire and sincere commitment that allows for the success. From the top down, Relay For Life is important, and from the bottom up, Relay is supported. The line between working hours and volunteer hours is blurred, but what is never forgotten is the end goal of raising awareness, raising funds, and celebrating successes in the battle against cancer, while honouring those who have lost the battle. For further information on registering a corporate team please contact Helen Owen at howen@bc.cancer.ca or 250-645-2364.

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Prince George - COMMUNITY - Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

Smith goes hi-tech

to line up his next singles Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com Dallas isn’t always in Texas. Last week, Dallas was in Hamilton, Ont. On April 12, Dallas will be in Prince George. Oh, this is Dallas Smith, Canadian country singer, we’re talking about. “We’re doing record release shows and some college circuit stuff,” Smith said from Hamilton last week. “Things are going great, but I really miss my little girl. She’s just two months old.” Smith will be opening for Florida Georgia Line at the CN Centre on April 12, and he says it’s a matter of knowing the right people. “We’re on the same label, we’ve backed each other in the studio. It’s great, because they’re one of the hottest country acts out there right now. “It was nice to get this kind of pat on the back from them, asking me to open the shows.” Smith released an EP, Tippin’ Point, in early March, and says the title could be a description of the reasoning behind the release. “We had five good songs picked out, but I didn’t want to rush the next album and put out songs I wasn’t happy with. We also wanted to get something out before summer, so we went with the EP.” Courtesy Strut Entertainment Smith and his label are also Canadian country artist Dallas Smith will be opening for using social media to get a read Florida Georgia Line at CN Centre on April 12. on what people like about the Wiseman group down there, ferent stuff. We still play Wastnew songs. so that’s some good writers. It’s ing My Time (by Smith’s former “You can get instant feedback tough, though, because we’re rock band Default); last night on Twitter so for what people doing so much touring right we did Fast Cars and Freedom, like. We also look at what songs now. When we get time off, I the Rascal Flatts tune. get a good reaction when we just want to go home, recharge “We like to catch people out play them live, and what singles and relax.” of left field too. We’ve done that do well on iTunes.” There’s another personal trait song by Lorde, Royals. It catches That can influence what songs that can also cause problems. people off guard, but they know get sent to radio as well. “I’m a real procrastinator,” it. Everybody has so many “A Girl Like You almost didn’t he says with a laugh. “I need to musical influences now, nobody make it onto the album, but it’s set the time aside, which is why just listens to one kind.” been in the top five for sales on writing with people in Nashville Well, Smith adds, he likes to iTunes, so it will probably be the is good. You’ve got a set time to listen to one kind of music. third single, after Slow Rollin’.” get the writing done, and that’s “I like to listen to good muNone of the songs on the EP it.” sic.” are written by Smith, but that Fans coming out to the show Dallas Smith will be opening doesn’t mean he isn’t writing. on April 12 in Prince George for Florida Georgia Line at the “We try to do Nashville trips should be prepared for almost CN Centre on April 12. Tickets to get some writing in. I’m in anything. are on sale now at all Ticketpretty good with the Craig “We like to do a bunch of difmaster locations.

PGSO preparing for ‘popera’ concert April 5 The PGSO will introduce “popera” to Prince George with their April 5 concert Vivace: Con Amore. This will be a concert of family entertainment combining the classic tunes and passion of opera with contemporary pop glamour and glitz, says PGSO general manager Marnie Hamagami in a news release. “Vivace is an all-Canadian quartet of young singers with an international reputation. Melody Courage, Tiffany Desrosiers, Marc Devigne and DJ Calhoun made their group debut in 2010 at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.” The ensemble has since toured extensively,

stirring audiences across the United States and Canada. Con Amore will be Vivace’s first concert with full orchestral back up, in new arrangements specially commissioned by PGSO music director Kevin Zakresky for this one night only performance. The PGSO’s Vivace: Con Amore concert is on Saturday, April 5 starting at 7:30 p.m. at Vanier Hall. Tickets are on sale at the PGSO office, through Ticketmaster and at Studio 2880 ticket centre. Check our Vivace’s website for samples of their unique look and sound at www.vivacemusicgroup.com.

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A massive 51,895 will park a new car on their driveway, 32,312 will house a sport ute in their garage, while another 28,395 will opt for a truck out front. Keith Morgan

Driveway readers to spend billions to buy a new set of wheels Driveway readers are in the mood to splash out an astonishing $3.6 billion-plus of their hard-earned cash to buy new vehicles this year. This is not some by Keith Morgan wild, optimistic prediction but a solid forecast based on what our readers revealed in a comprehensive survey conducted on behalf of Black Press by Pulse Research, a company with 30 years of experience in asking the right questions of consumers. In a series of wide-ranging interviews, Black Press newspaper readers from all over the province gave Pulse a comprehensive account of their spending plans. Their intention to spend $53.1 million on fish and chips, $45.8 million on tooth whitening, $13.1 million on tattoos or piercing, $9.1 million on pet toys and $1.9 million on tuxedos, raised some smiles. But the auto spending intent grabbed our serious attention. A massive 123,275 households will take vehicles for a spin and sign on the dotted line. A massive 51,895 will park a new car on their driveway, 32,312 will house a sport ute in their garage, while another 28,395 will opt for a truck out front. Most people surveyed knew what kind of wheels they would be looking for and what they were prepared to pay.

The sticker price range for most folks is $25Reacting to the Black Press/Pulse report he said: “Customers today are clearly taking advantage $30,000. However, premium car sellers will be of one of the most exciting times in automotive pleased that 13,708 plan to spend an average history. Dealers across BC are focusing like of $45,000 on one of their products. Another never before on creating a better buying expe7,883 will shell out an average of $64,413 for rience – a more enjoyable, more informed and refined vehicles in the $50-$75,000 price range. entertaining experience on-site and In addition, 2,937 more will spend online. It’s almost as if dealers are an average of $82,448 on luxury putting on mini Auto Shows every marques. day of the week!” An eco-conscious 11,750 houseHe continued: “There are more holds will fork out more than than 350 new car dealerships $30 grand for a hybrid or electric across the province, and new vehicle. Utilitarian minivans top ones popping up all the time, the shopping list at 9,791 homes, making this industry one of BC’s with budgets a shade under $30,000. Customers today most important. Not only because they generate more than $10 bilWe even discovered that readers are clearly taking lion annually in economic activity, would spend another $2 billion advantage of one but also because they employ on car servicing, preventive of the most exciting directly and indirectly, more than maintenance, oil changes and times in automotive 34,000 full-time people in the after-market products. Good more than 50 communities that history. news for used car sales: 105,750 they serve. The buying intent of households are prepared to spend Blair Qualey Black Press readers is terrific President of the New Car $1.69 billion on pre-owned, Dealers Association of BC news for our members and the nearly new, or whatever the curBC economy. rent parlance is for second-hand “I can hardly wait for the next few years. vehicles as they used to be called! Buckle up; it’s going to be an exciting ride.” Last week, Blair Qualey, the president of the Count on the Driveway team to supply you the New Car Dealers Association of BC, talked best and most current information each week, about the importance of his industry to this and on the drivewaycanada site, to help you province in his column here about the Vanmake the right decision in your car purchase. couver International Auto Show, which runs kmorgan@drivewaybc.ca until Sunday,

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Prince George Free Press

Driveway team warms to the Hagerty Spring Thaw event By Nigel Matthews The Hagerty Spring Thaw is a budget-minded driving adventure through British Columbia for pre-1979 touring and sportscars. And that was all cost conscious Driveway editor Keith Morgan needed to know to take part in this un-scored, non-competitive event, which takes place next month entirely within the province of British Columbia. “I spend the entire year driving new cars so this seemed like a fun way to spend some fun time in a classic,” Morgan explained. “My old friend George Holt, from Gabriola Island, has a rather fine 1954 Jaguar XK120 roadster so I’m going to ‘nagivate’ for him. Yes, knowing George I will

be doing more ‘nag’ than ‘nav’!” The drive starts on Friday, April 25, in Squamish and finishes in Hope, on Sunday, April 27. To ensure an “adventure”, the route will remain secret until competitors receive their entry packages at registration. Way-finding instructions will be detailed and clear, and will not require any calculations or rally knowledge. The event consists of 100 percent paved roads, with some mountainous terrain, and driving is scheduled during daylight hours. Car wash facilities are available at each overnight stop. The Morgan and Holt Driveway team will photograph the event and their journey along the spectacular 1,200km route over three days. The

account of their adventure will appear in Driveway and online at drivewaybc. ca in early May. Squamish Classic Car Adventures and the West Coast Rally Association organize the Spring Thaw and follow the BC Rally Regulations. The event is open to sport, touring and classic cars from 1979 and earlier. The organizers say that if people believe they have a unique car that fits, but doesn’t meet the age category they should make contact, regardless. Entry information can be found at: www.classiccaradventures.com/events/ hagerty-spring-thawclassic Nigel Matthews is the director of sales and marketing for Hagerty Insurance Canada. E-mail him at: nmatthews@hagerty.com

Confessions of a Curber It’s only been a month, but I can see myself selling cars for a long, long time. I feel like a new man. One evening, I was in line at the superstore. An elderly gentleman saw my shopping cart. I had a new digital tire gauge that I was going to give to my next buyer. Turns out he was looking for a used car as he’d recently given his car to his grandson. He just needed something basic. “This is your lucky day!” I told him. The old fellow was around my father-in-law’s age – close to 80. He walked with a cane and had two ear pieces. I was practically shouting to him. What an easy sale. I decided to give him a ride and show him the car. He went on to tell me about his young granddaughter, too. At any rate, we got to the car – it was a base model with an automatic transmission. “It’s perfect for you, sir!” I exclaimed. He got in and sat at the wheel. His face lit up right away. I could tell that he’d been a car enthusiast in his younger days. “Where’d you get this car, son?” he asked me. “It’s my dad’s old car – he passed away and I

“Somewhere along the line, the rebuilt status was dropped.”

just can’t keep it anymore,” I lied. In reality, I imported the car from Washington. It came with documents that mentioned New York State. The title was clean, so I assumed it was in good condition. I priced the vehicle quite high – well over its value. But he didn’t know, and he didn’t ask any more questions. I told him I had another buyer interested (another lie), and that he had to make a decision right away. With no hesitation, he got a bank draft and I gave him the keys. Like I promised, I threw in the new tire gauge. Marty gave me a wink and slowly drove off. Another foolish customer, I thought. No history report to keep me on my toes. And worse, he needs to get it inspected, registered and insured within 30 days - I didn’t bother. I just got my buddy in Bellingham to help me get it across. That evening, I took out the papers I’d received with the car. I decided to go over them more thoroughly. I guess I was a bit bored. Turns out, the vehicle had been registered in four U.S. states. Somewhere along the line, the rebuild* status was dropped. Probably intentionally. The inspection and ICBC will catch that. And who knows if the odometer is right? At least it’s no longer mine. *Rebuild – A vehicle written off as a total loss by an insurance company, then rebuilt and certified for use. This term does not describe a vehicle that has a new or repaired motor, transmission or other major part. Rebuilds offer savings when repaired well, but a buyer has a right to know it was rebuilt. But this buyer didn’t and Walt walked away with the cash.

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For more information visit www.ajac.ca. ^ 2014 Sierra 1500 with the available 5.3L EcoTec3 V8 engine equipped with a 6-speed automatic transmission has a fuel-consumption rating of 13.0L/100 km city and 8.7L/100 km hwy 2WD and 13.3L/100 km city and 9.0L/100 km hwy 4WD. Fuel consumption based on GM testing in accordance with approved Transport Canada test methods. Your actual fuel consumption may vary. Competitive fuel consumption ratings based on Natural Resources Canada’s 2013 Fuel Consumption Guide for WardsAuto.com 2013 Large Pickup segment and latest available information at the time of posting. **When equipped with available 6.2L EcoTec3 V8 engine. Comparison based on wardsauto.com 2013 Large Light-Duty Pickup segment and latest competitive data available. Excludes other GM vehicles. † Comparison based on wardsauto.com 2013 Large Pickup segment and latest competitive data available. Excludes other GM vehicles. †† The 2-Year Scheduled Lube-Oil-Filter Maintenance Program provides eligible customers in Canada, who have purchased, leased or financed a new eligible 2014 MY Sierra with an ACDelco oil and filter change, in accordance with the oil life monitoring system and the Owner’s Manual, for 2 years or 40,000 KMs, whichever occurs first, with a limit of four (4) Lube-Oil-Filter services in total, performed at participating GM Dealers. Fluid top offs, inspections, tire rotations, wheel alignments and balancing, etc. are not covered. This offer may not be redeemed for cash and may not be combined with certain other consumer incentives available on GM vehicles. General Motors of Canada Limited reserves the right to amend or terminate this offer, in whole or in part, at any time without prior notice. Additional conditions and limitations apply. See dealer for details. + Whichever comes first. See dealer for conditions and limited warranty details. ‡ 0% for 36 month lease available on all 2014 Sierra 1500 Regular/Double/Crew Cabs. Sample lease payments based on 36-month lease of 2014 Sierra Double Cab 4x4 1SA + G80 + B30 on approved credit by GM Financial. Tax, license, insurance, registration, applicable provincial fees, and optional equipment extra. Annual kilometre limit of 20,000 km, $0.16 per excess kilometre. Monthly payments may vary depending on down payment/trade. Example: Sierra Double Cab 4x4 1SA + G80 + B30 including Freight and Air Tax is $30,488 at 0% APR, $1,075 Down payment, Bi-Weekly payment is $139 for 36 months. Total obligation is $11,951, plus applicable taxes. Option to purchase at lease end is $18,538. ¥¥ 0% Purchase financing offered on approved credit by RBC Royal Bank/TD Auto Financing/Scotiabank for 48 months on new or demonstrator 2014 Sierra 1500. Example: $10,000 at 0% APR, the monthly payment is $208 for 48 months. Cost of borrowing is $0, total obligation is $10,000. Offer is unconditionally interest-free. ¥ $4,250 manufacturer to dealer delivery credit has been applied to the purchase, finance and lease offers of 2014 Sierra 1500 Double 4x4 1SA, and is applicable to retail customers only. $500 package credits for non-PDU models. Other credits available on select Sierra models. Offer ends March 31, 2014. ‡‡ Offer applies to eligible current owners or lessees of any model year 1999 or newer pick-up truck that has been registered and insured in Canada in the customer’s name for the previous consecutive six (6) months. Credit valid towards the retail purchase or lease of one eligible 2013 Chevrolet Silverado, Avalanche, GMC Sierra or 2014 MY Chevrolet Silverado or GMC Sierra or 2015 MY Chevrolet Silverado HD or GMC Sierra HD delivered in Canada between March 1, 2014 and March 31, 2014. Credit is a manufacturer to consumer incentive (tax inclusive). Offer is transferable to a family member living within the same household (proof of address required). As part of the transaction, dealer may request documentation and contact General Motors of Canada Limited (GMCL) to verify eligibility. This offer may not be redeemed for cash and may not be combined with certain other consumer incentives. Certain limitations or conditions apply. Void where prohibited. See your GMCL dealer for details. GMCL reserves the right to amend or terminate offers for any reason in whole or in part at any time without prior notice. XRetail and basic fleet customers who purchase or lease an eligible Chevrolet, Buick or GMC delivered from dealer stock between March 1, 2014 and March 31, 2014 will receive one 40¢ savings per litre fuel card (fuel savings card) upon payment of an additional $.01. Cards valid as of 72 hours after delivery. Fuel savings card valid for 800 litres of fuel purchased from participating Petro-Canada retail locations (and other approved North Atlantic Petroleum locations in Newfoundland) and not redeemable for cash except where required by law. GM is not responsible for cards that are lost, stolen or damaged. GM reserves the right to amend or terminate this offer and/or the program for any reason in whole or in part at any time without notice. Petro-Canada is a Suncor Energy business™ Trademark of Suncor Energy Inc. Used under licence. Cards are property of Suncor Energy. To protect your card balance, register online at www.petro-canada.ca/preferred today.

34 Friday, March 28, 2014

I can remember buying my first truck in 1986 like it was yesterday. It had to be a specific make and model: I was looking for. A Toyota 4x4 pick-up, black in color and it had to be in good shape. I wanted it to be bone stock with as little mileage as possible. I found one in the paper that was on the lot at a dealership in Surrey. Quickly I called them to inquire and they said they had a couple of people with deals written up, but Prince George Free Press

it didn’t look like they were going to go through, so if I wanted it I had better get down there right away (Naive at that age to fall for and old trick like this). I had to get a ride from a friend and I remember it was snowing so it was slow getting there. When I arrived it was running and they were anxious for me to drive it. I took it around the block and parked it in a vacant lot, hopped out and started to inspect it. I immediately noticed rust and some body damage. Clearing the snow off inside the truck box, I could see more damage. It looked like someone had dropped a bowling ball into it from about a high ledge. I could smell antifreeze and noticed some oil leaks. I headed back to the dealership disappointed. The salesman was there to greet me. He asked if I had any concerns and I started to point out the obvious. He quickly dismissed them as cosmetic and said

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do you want to write a deal on it because he has people in the showroom wanting to buy it. I told him I was not interested. On the ride home, I thought how quickly I had to grow up and look at everything as if someone was going to take advantage of me, sad reality. The next day I picked up the latest copy of Truck Trader and spotted the exact make and model I was looking for. I bought the 1983 edition for $9,000 from a family that

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only used it once a week to drive to Abbotsford and back to Coquitlam for supplies. It was perfect; funny how God puts things in your path and everything works out in the end. A week later I started to work on it. I acquired some used 33 inch tires and installed a 4” lift kit. I drove that truck every night after work to show it off. I washed it so many times I thought the paint was going to come off. A year had past and I purchased

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continued on page 35

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Chrysler wheels out its sedan segment slugger For example, the all black interior pays homage to New York City, the Linen and Black is Sausalito, California and the Blue and Black on the S model to Detroit. The centre stack can be adorned with either a 5-inch touch screen or the optional 8.4-inch. To me, the 5-inch screen seemed a little small, so I’d invest in the larger version. That said, it was still highly functional and easy to use. On the road, the 2.4L Limited shines brightest when on the highway and on long stretches of pavement. It has ability in the twists and turns, but to really get a dynamic feel, you’d need to opt for the S or C trim to put it in the Sport mode. In that case, you get a different suspension setup and steering feel to really allow you to have more fun in the captain’s chair. Back to the 2.4L though. In the city, I felt I didn’t need much more power. Steering feel is light and allows to car the move with ease at slow speeds and gingerly into parking spots. Overall, a pleasant drive. The second half of my day was consumed with the V6. Yum. The award winning 3.6L, Pentastar V6 packs 295 horsepower underneath its sparkling new hood. For a driver’s car, this is the one I’d pick. What’s more, you can configure this engine on all trims except the base LX. Additionally, you can opt for an all-wheel drive setup too. However, the AWD system needs to be paired with the V6. Getting into the sport mode, or fun mode as I call it, requires pushing down and turning the

Interco Tire and asked about some Supper Swamper tires. He said he had a set of 44x18.5x15 tires in his office that nobody has seen before. At that time the largest they made were 42”. I told him to send them to me I would figure out what I had to do to fit them under the truck. When they came in they looked big. So big I was getting worried. The custom leaf springs came back from the spring shop and I knew my calculations

were correct. With all the multiple shocks in place, chassis freshly painted, motor work done, a lower gears installed it was ready for the tires. I cleared away the debris pile that accumulated around my truck. Placed the floor jack under the rear axle and started to jack it up. With the rear tires on and clearing the fenders it was time to move to the front. When I started to lift the front I noticed how high the hood was getting, at that point I knew I had built a monster. With all the tires in place I slowly drove it out of the

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central dial/gear selector to the right. Make sure you push it down, otherwise it won’t go anywhere. And less fun will be had. When accelerating, there’s a little bit of a throaty gurgle that comes standard out of the twin exhaust pipes around back. It’s a nice sound and one that I enjoyed hearing over and over again. One thing I did notice is that the A pillar did have width to it, so visibility is a little trickier out the front. And with its sloping roofline, visibility out the rear could have been better. Thank goodness for the rearview camera. Along with its new bodywork and insides, there are over 60 standard and available safety features to keep both you and the 200 looking good and in one piece. The 2015 Chrysler 200 will be available in the second quarter of 2014. Visit www.chrysler.ca for more info Alexandra.straub@drivewaybc.ca

Memories continued from page 34

THROWBACK

shop. The sun gleaming down on the freshly polished paint and the smell of paint burning off the exhaust system still sticks in my mind. Outside it looked like a beast; people were slowing down to take a look. The show was a week later and I came home with first place. Mission accomplished. It was worth every penny of the $12,000 I put into it. Then I sold it for $15,500 in 1990 so that I could afford to get married . . . need I say any more? Tell me your truck story and please send pictures. ian.harwood@drivewaybc.ca

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Louisville, KY. - The 200 is not a new nameplate for Chrysler but the 2015 model is all-new from the ground up. This generation of 200 debuts the new “face of Chrysler” with its signature grille and logo. There’s also a standard set of rear LED tailamps, and the interior craftsmanship is much more impressive than before. This mid-size sedan is hoping to play ball – and win – against competitors like the Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Mazda6 and Toyota Camry, in an ever-aggressive segment. Using the baseball analogy with the 200 seemed apropos since the drive event took place in Louisville, Kentucky, the home of the Louisville slugger. Nevertheless, here are the meat and potatoes for the all-new vehicle. There are four trims of 200 available. First is the LX and that has a starting MSRP of $22,995. Then there’s the Limited, the S and the top-of-the-line C model. Regardless of trim, each comes with an industry first, also known as a 9-speed automatic transmission. My day started behind the wheel of the Limited trim with the 2.4L, 4-cylinder MultiAir engine (MSRP $24,995). This powerplant produces 184 horsepower and 173 lb-ft of torque. The interior reflects that of thoughtful craftsmanship and design. Soft touch materials are used throughout and the layout is easy on the eyes. Not to mention the abundance of cubbyholes in which to place personal items. On a side note, the interior colour combinations drew inspiration from various American cities.

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Prince George - SPORTS - Free Press

Friday, March 28, 2014

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‘Tanks’ for nothing, losers Tanking! That word with negative connotations becomes a popular focal point around this time of year. In sports, tanking is commonly referred to as purposely losing games with the objective being for a team to get a better draft pick the following season. Firstly, profesHART BEAT HARTLEYMILLER sional players do not intentionally try to lose. Pro athletes have enormous egos with great pride and dignity. In addition, a coach will never give a pre-game pep talk suggesting: “Let’s lose one for the Gipper”. There is no benefit to the players suffering defeat after defeat, however, teams can certainly utilize their roster so they don’t always have the best chance to win. Have the Philadelphia 76’ers purposely lost 25 NBA games in a row

(heading into Thursday’s contest in Houston) or are they just that awful? It is difficult to gauge intent, so to prevent teams from purposely attempting to finish last overall, the lottery system was created in the NHL (WHL) and NBA. Thirty years ago, this issue was prominent, yet every spring we reflect on the pros and cons of the worst team in the standings getting the best available amateur player. In theory, it should work that way. The New Jersey Devils were suspicious of the Pittsburgh Penguins throwing their last few games of the 1983-84 season to acquire the 1984 first overall draft pick – Mario Lemieux, who ended up saving the franchise. The Penguins finished with a mere 38 points, three less than the Devils. New Jersey got the consolation prize with the No. 2 pick, Kirk Muller, who turned out to be a very good player, but not close to the stature of 66, who averaged a whopping four points a game in his final year of junior. The 2014 NBA draft offers, by all accounts, marquee players at the top, including Canadian Andrew Wiggins (Kansas). The 76’ers will land Wiggins or another so-called franchise player, but we are only left to guess if Philadelphia’s lengthy losing streak is legitimate or not. If one looks carefully at its roster, on paper, they are as bad as advertised. Picking first overall in some years offers no guarantees. The Edmonton Oilers remain cellar dwellers despite having in their lineup the No. 1 player taken in three straight drafts: Taylor Hall (2010), Ryan Nugent Hopkins (2011) and Nail Yakupov (2012). In the WHL, the “Lucy” Prince George Cougars selected Jarrett Smith Lucy is a 6 month old Jack Russel Terrier/Cocker Spaniel. She is very high energy and will need a very active guardian. Lucy first overall in the 1994 wants to always be with people. If you are looking for a dog Bantam Draft, Ryan that will be able to keep you active she is the girl for you. Kerr with the top pick

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in 2004, and Alex Forsberg with the No. 1 pick in 2010. Smith underachieved, Kerr struggled and Forsberg (like Smith and Kerr) has failed to live up to his advance billing. It’s ironic that the two worst teams in the WHL this season, Lethbridge and Kamloops, did not win the lottery even though they had the best odds. Saskatoon did, but because of an earlier trade the Blades made with Brandon, the Wheat Kings will pick first. Something doesn’t seem right when a playoff team like the Wheat Kings will select ahead of the Hurricanes and Blazers, who clearly were the worst team in their respective Conference. There are some Vancouver Canucks fans that are actually hoping the team loses every game for the rest of the season even though they are mathematically in the race for the eighth and

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final playoff spot. The theory being, the club might as well get as high a draft pick as possible considering they are not a Stanley Cup contender. The NFL has not yet resorted to a lottery and the Indianapolis Colts can be grateful for that since they are reaping the benefits of taking QB Andrew Luck first overall in 2012. There isn’t a clear answer as to whether a weighted lottery is necessary. The cynics have their theories whether one is in place or not. Given that there appears to be a lack of integrity with many losing teams, the current system seems to suffice. And another 30 years from now, the debate will still be raging on. Yes, despite suspicions, we will truly never will know if the 83/84 Penguins purposely “tanked” or not. From The Quote Rack: It’s fitting that the Houston Texans traded quarterback Home of the Timberwolves Rep Teams Matt Schaub to the Oakland

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Raiders for a sixth round pick. Last year he set a record for pick sixes. Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California New York Jets QB Geno Smith says that the signing of Michael Vick is “awesome.” Makes sense, no matter how rocky Smith’s next season is, he still probably won’t be the most booed QB in town. Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California (www. leftcoastsportsbabe.com) 20th Century Fox has announced that they are working on a 3-D “Peanuts” movie starring Charlie Brown, hoping to hit the theatres by next year. That sound you hear is Charles Schulz saying “Good Grief ” as he rolls over in his grave. Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver (alwaysfunny.com/) Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio station 94X. He also writes for hqprincegeorge. com. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com. Follow him on twitter: @Hartley_Miller

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Prince George - SPORTS - Free Press

Derby plays well Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com The Rated PG Rollergirls came out second-best at their own tournament on the weekend, but it wasn’t a lost weekend by any stretch. “The tournament went amazingly well,” said Alicia Lock, who goes by the name of Lockdown on the track. “We got a lot of compliments from the other teams on how smoothly everything ran.” Going into the five-team event, the Rollergirls knew they would face stiff competition from the Kamloops Terminal City Deadlies, and that was exactly what they got. The Kamloops team beat the local squad in a bout Saturday evening, then beat them again in the final on Sunday to claim top spot. “It was a close game,” Lockdown said, “but the scoreboard didn’t show it. Coach Lime, from Kamloops, said watching the match, he thought it was a lot closer than what the score showed.” She said the Rated PG squad, “played very, very well.” “We stayed cohesive as a team. We stayed calm and positive no matter what was happening.” Other teams at the tournament, the first hosted by the Rollergirls, were the North Coast Nightmares from Terrace, Fire and Rage from Grande Prairie, and the Grimshaw

Allan WISHART/Free Press Members of the Rated PG Rollergirls form a defensive wall to try and prevent a jammer from the TCDD Deadlies of Kamloops during a match at the Northern Exposure Tournament at the Roll-a-Dome on the weekend. The Deadlies won this game, and also beat the Rollergirls in the final.

(Alta.) Grim Reapers. Lockdown says a tournament gives a team a chance to get a lot of games in quickly. “Grimshaw and Grande Prairie probably played what would normally be a full season of games just on the weekend.” With strong crowd support at the

Roll-a-Dome, she says the team will definitely hold a tournament again next year. Next up for the Rollergirls, the Grey team will be down in Quesnel to take on Gold Pain City on April 5 before hosting a bout against the North Coast Nightmares on April 19.

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Friday, March 28, 2014

Provincial silver medals for Midget Tier 1 Cougar team One local minor hockey team came back from provincial championships held last week with medals, as the Midget Tier 1 Cougars won silver in North Vancouver. The Cougars got the round-robin portion started with a 6-1 win over Hollyburn, then tied Kelowna 1-1. They came back to beat Juan de Fuca 4-3 by scoring a pair of goals late in the third period, then picked up a 2-2 tie with North Vancouver. The final game of the round-robin saw Prince George playing Semiahmoo, with a berth in the final on the line. Semiahmoo scored in the final minute to get a 5-5 tie, which knocked Hollyburn out of the final, leaving Kelowna and Prince George, both with two wins and three ties so far, to battle it out. Prince George got on the board in the first period and held the lead until halfway through the second, when Kelowna tied it up. Kelowna took the lead halfway through the third, and added two more, including one into an empty net, to make the final 4-1. The Prince George Midget Tier 2 Cougars were in Penticton for their provincials, and finished the round-robin with a tie and two losses. They dropped their opener 7-2 to Kelwowna, with Markus Plamondon and Carl Ewert getting the Prince George goals, then tied Saanich 5-5 in a seesaw battle which saw the Cougars fall behind 3-0 after the first period. Trey Nichol and Parket Dowhy got goals in the second to make it a one-goal game, and Prince George got goals from Mitchell Truefitt, Joshua Goyer and Dowhy to go up 5-3. Saanich battled back with a couple of late goals to get the tie. The final game for the Cougars saw them fall 4-2 to Ridge Meadows. Trey Nichol and Nicholas Potskin had the Cougar goals. For the Pee Wee Tier 1 Cougars, Vancouver was the site of the provincials and they came back with a 1-5 record. Their lone win was 7-4 over the host Vancouver Thunderbirds. The Pee Wee Tier 4 provincials were in Seafair, and the Cougars went 0-6 in the round-robin portion. The Pee Wee Female Cougars were in Surrey for their provincials, and came out dead even in the round-robin games, getting two wins, two losses and two ties. They beat Greater Trail and South Island by identical 3-0 scores, tied Kelowna 4-4 and Richmond 1-1, and lost 7-1 to North Shore and 3-2 to Surrey.

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Friday, March 28, 2014

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Northern Cougars’ season over Female Midget team drops best-of-three series Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com The season is over for the female midget Northern Cougars, and Mario Desjardins isn’t sure what happened. “As a coach, you’re scratching your head a bit,” he said after the Cougars lost their semi-final series two games to one to the Thompson-Okanagan Rockets on the weekend. “We had good practices coming in, but nothing really clicked all weekend.” The Cougars, who finished second in the regular season and had a first-round bye in the playoffs, won the opener at Kin 1 Friday by a 3-1 score. Tessa Hare, Hunter Mosher and Cassidy Bell had the goals for the Cougars, but Desjardins said he could already feel something was wrong. “From a coaching standpoint, I wasn’t happy with the way we played in the first game. We weren’t playing to the level we had played during the season. “I don’t know if it was the layoff after the end of the regular season or what, but we just weren’t clicking.” The Rockets tied the series on Saturday with a 3-2 win, in a game where the Cougars almost came back from a 3-0 deficit when Taylor Beck got two third-period goals. In Sunday’s deciding game, the Rockets

Allan WISHART/Free Press Players from the Northern Cougars, in white, and Thompson-Okanagan Rockets fight for the puck Sunday at Kin 1. The Rockets took the best of three BC Major Midget Female League semifinal with a 4-0 win in the third and deciding game.

scored twice in the first and won 4-0. “We came out strong in the second game,” Desjardins set, “but we got down 2-0 early. It was the same scenario in the third game.”

HOW TO PLAY: Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3 x 3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 only once. Each 3 x 3 box is outlined with a darker line. You already have a few numbers to get you started. Remember: you must not repeat the numbers 1 through 9 in the same line, column or 3 x 3 box. Answer can be found in classifieds. PUZZLE NO. 442

Desjardins didn’t fault the effort the Cougars displayed, but said it was just one of those weekends. “Our passes were just a little off all weekend. I don’t know if the bigger ice surface (at Kin 1) had anything to do with it, but we just weren’t on our game.” The Rockets advance to play the Fraser Valley Phantom, the regular-seaosn champion, in the final playoff round. There were lots of tears in the Cougars’ dressing room after

Sunday’s game, Desjardins said, but he expects the loss to be a learning experience. “The playoffs are a brand-new season. We can’t lose sight of what we accomplished this season, and this builds character for next season.” Next season’s Cougars could look a lot like this season’s, as Hare is the only player who will be over the age limit. Some of the Cougars may be getting some more ice time over the next few months, Desjardins

said, as BC Hockey starts to put together the team which will compete at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George. “BC Hockey has scouted all the teams throughout the season, and they’ll be picking the top 80 for a U18 camp in Salmon Arm in April. From there, the top 40 go to another camp in Duncan in May, and then they pick the team. “It’s a long road, but hopefully some of our girls will make it.”

Gymnasts bring medals home from meets It was a busy weekend earlier this month for one Prince George gymnast. Amy Hackle was competing in the Artistic Gymnastics Provincial Championship. Amy Hackle was also competing in the Provincial Trampoline meet. The good news was they were both in Kamloops, at the Tournament Capital Centre, but it was still a

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busy weekend. Hackle came back with a third in the Level 1 13+ Trampoline, an event won by teammate Caroline Kinnee. That finish was mirrored in the Level 2 14+ Mens Trampoline, with Isaiah Lui taking first and Ben Garcia third. Lui also finished third in the Level 1 13+ Double Mini Trampoline. Brook-Lynn Kinnee came back with three topthree finishes, as she was second in Level 2 14+ Tumbling and Trampoline and third in Double Mini Trampoline. At the Artistic Gymnastics event, Miranda Doerksen wound up with golds on the Level 3 Open 1998 on floor and vault, as well as a bronze in the all around. Alia Wilson scored gold on the bars in Level 4 Tyro and bronze medals on floor and the all round. She also qualified for the Western Canadian Championships, which be held at the end of April on Saskatoon. Naraa Little won silver in the Level 3 Novice floor exercise, and bronze medals went to Sydney Hamilton (Level 2 Tyro) on bars, Mekenna Parker (Level 3 Novice) on vault, Rhiana Palfy (Level 3 Open 1999) on floor, and Reid Powers (Level 3 Open 1999) on beam. Thee boys from the Prince George Gymnastics Club – Lane Oke, Evan Weis and Colbey Simunac – participated in their first Level 3 competition after spending last year at Level 1. The meet also saw Lina Goto move from the Provincial stream to the National.

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EARN GOOD MONEY! Work 1 day a week! Allan WISHART/Free Press Alison Bogle, left, is presented with a clock by BC Indoor Soccer League president Nathan Zurowski following a recent tournament at the Northern Sport Centre. The award recognized Bogle’s years as a director, president and past president with the league.

Bogle steps away from the pitch Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com Alison Bogle is taking a year off soccer. “I’ve been playing since I was 9,” Bogle says. “When I came back to Prince George from university, I became the president of the women’s outdoor league.” A few later, the men’s and women’s leagues amalgamated, and Bogle found herself helping with another kind of soccer – indoor soccer. “I started out as a director on the board,” she says, “then in the early 2000s, I became president for a few years. The last few years, I was serving as past president.” On March 16, Bogle was recognized for her years of service to the B.C. Indoor Soccer League with a special presentation at the conclusion of the Mr. Quick Soccer Tournament at the Northern Sport Centre. “I stepped down from the board last year, and this is the first year I didn’t play at all. My kids keep me busy enough these days.” She could see a few years ago the

day was coming when she would have to slow down somehow. “I tried playing both indoor and outdoor soccer for a few years, but when my games were at the same time as the kids’, it was a problem. I stopped playing outdoor, and this year, I stopped playing indoor. “I missed it a bit. The passion is still there.” Bogle adds there were other signs it was time to take a break. “You get to a point where the mind still thinks you can play at a certain level, but the body can’t keep up.” She says the two games are both soccer, but they’re totally different games. “In the indoor game, everyone is involved in the play because it’s a smaller field and it’s five-on-five. Outdoors, there’s more freedom and you’re out in the fresh air. It’s a different feel to each game.” When Bogle looks back at her time with soccer in Prince George, she’s amazed by the growth. “When I started, there were just five men’s teams. Now we’ve got 21 women’s teams alone. “There’s probably between 500 and 600 players today in the city.”

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Keeping an eye on the birdie just one of the things tested at badminton event at NSC Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com It’s a test event with a lot to test at the Northern Sport Centre on the weekend. The North Central Junior, Open and Masters Badminton Tournament runs Friday to Sunday as a test event for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Lisa Davison is the tournament chair as well as the sport leader for badminton at the Games, and she says there’s more to it that just setting up some nets and letting the players go at it. “We’re not using the existing courts,” she says. “We’re bringing in portable courts, which are the new standard for national and international tournaments.” The courts will be laid out over the floor at the Northern Sport Centre, and then the free-standing nets and posts will be put in place. “We’re testing a few things with that alone this weekend,” Davison says. “It takes a team of four people about two hours to put one of the courts down, and we have six courts to do. We’re going to be training people in laying the courts out this weekend, and we’re also going to be checking to see how well they fit in the space we have.” That space isn’t just the side-to-side dimension. “We need to make sure there’s enough room at the

back between the courts and the bleachers. We actually need to figure out how we can set up the bleachers with the courts in place. “We’ll also be checking out the height of the gym there, especially with the track running above it. I’m pretty sure that’s OK, but we need to be sure to meet the standards for the Games.” They will also be checking to see if the light shining through the windows Allan WISHART/Free Press presents a Kirk Rustad, left, Lisa Davison, Rea Barber and Malachi Rustad get some warm-up hits in before a practice at the problem for the Connaught Youth Centre on Friday. Local players will be taking part in a big tournament this weekend at the Northern Sport Centre. players, which Halifax. one important thing about their duShe’s continued with the sport bemeans they “I was excited to see the way the ties. cause of the fun factor. would have to cover them floor worked and how it all came “You don’t need to know a lot about “You can play at whatever level for the Winter Games. badminton to be a linesperson. We’re you’re comfortable with. There are As well as a new floor, the together.” Anyone accustomed to playing bad- trying to encourage people to come enough players in the club so beginwalls at the Northern Sport minton in their backyard or watching out of their comfort zone and take ners can find someone to play against, Centre will get a makeover it on TV will be in for a surprise this part in the Games as an official. Kids and so can the more experienced for the weekend. weekend, she says. who need volunteer hours for school players.” “The walls are white, “A lot of people are going to be can come out this weekend and volShe hasn’t played on the type of which is not a good backsaying, ‘That’s not what I thought unteer to get the credit.” courts they will be using this weekground for badminton, badminton was’. For the Games, the One of the local players who will end, but she has seen them in action. so we’re bringing in black goal is to have four linespeople on be competing at the Northern Sport “My daughter played in the highpiping to put on the walls. each game, as well as an umpire and a Centre this weekend is Rea Barber. school provincials in Kamloops, and We’re looking right now at service judge. “I’ve been playing since I was in they had these courts. It’s hard to say going 12 feet high, but that “For the Winter Games, the umGrade 10. Lisa and I were actually on how different they will be.” may not be enough.” pires and referees will be coming from the same team at Kelly Road, but we The weekend tournament at the Davison knows what the Badminton Canada, but we need to didn’t always play doubles together. Northern Sport Centre will have novlevel of work will be to get get the minor officials trained up.” I got into it because a friend of mine ice and competitive events, as well as ready for the tournament, She sees a lack of minor officials, and her dad played, and it looked like a para-singles wheelchair division and since she attended the 2011 but says people should be aware of fun.” a parent-child event. Canada Winter Games in

Canada Winter Games transportation plans in place, but nature will have final say Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com Phil Beaulieu knows there are some things not even the organizers of the 2015 Canada Winter Games can control. “You have to deal with the conditions nature throws at you,” the director of sports and venues said, speaking about planning for transportation to and from the Games venues. “We don’t foresee any insurmountable hurdles.” Three of the venues are outside of Prince George, all three involve skiing or snowboarding, and all three are unique. “We are treating them each as an individual venue,” Beaulieu said, “with a different transportation plan.”

Going from east to west, the first ‘outside’ venue is Purden Mountain Ski Resort, which will see the alpine skiing events. “We don’t expect Purden to be a problem in normal winter weather. We are planning to use motor coaches to get the athletes and coaches up the hill. We generally feel we have a lot of parking there, especially since we won’t need much of it ourselves for technical buildings and other Games uses.” If the weather gets a bit nasty, the plan is to have a fleet of school buses (with the district taking its spring break during the Games) with chains to get people up the road to the hill itself. “We’re also looking at having staff and volunteers park down by the log cabin, and use the buses to get up the hill as well.” Tabor Mountain will be the site for snow-

boarding, ski-cross and freestyle skiing, and Beaulieu sees few problems with transportation and parking at the resort. “The parking lot has been expanded substantially with the renovations the hill went through. Not all of it was available this year, and some of it will be needed for our operational vehicles during the Games. “We;re also looking at running a Park’n’Ride service from locations in the city out to Tabor.” Heading north of the city, Otway Nordic Centre will host the cross-country skiing and biathlon events at the Games. “Due to the layout,” Beaulieu says, “we probably have the most restricted parking area there. It’s also the site where we need to have more operational trailers, with things like waxing areas.”

With that in mind, organizers are looking at a few ways to alleviate possible problems. “We will have a significant Park’n’Ride program for not just spectators, but also volunteers and staff. The buses for the athletes will probably bring them out, then leave again and come back to pick them up later, rather than stay parked all day.” For locations inside the city, Beaulieu sees few problems. “The CN Centre complex, Duchess Park Secondary, the Northern Sport Centre (at UNBC), all have good parking facilities. We expect the CN Centre lot to be full for things like the opening ceremonies and major hockey games, but no more so than for a major concert.” As well, he says, people will be able to use the city transit system to get to the venues.