Prince George Citizen August 10, 2019

was one of 15

Terry Fox Run gets a new lead organizer

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

The spirit of Terry Fox will remain alive in Prince George.

Ryley Newman was introduced Friday as the new lead organizer for the annual Terry Fox Run in the city, taking over from Scott McWalter, who has held the position since 2014.

A commercial account executive at Brownridge and Company Insurance, Newman has a background in event management and is also the event chair for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Prince George.

“I saw a good opportunity to carry on an ongoing tradition in Prince George,” Newman said during a media event held in front of the Terry Fox statue.

He recalled participating as far back as 2003 and added the exhibition on Fox and his 1980 Marathon of Hope was a source of inspiration when it passed through Exploration Place.

“It was a reminder of what it was all about and pretty awesome to see, so when the opportunity arose it seemed like a good fit for myself,” Newman said.

This year’s Terry Fox Run will be held on Sept. 15. For the second year in a row, it will follow a five-kilometre loop along the banks of the Nechako and Fraser Rivers and start and finish at Exploration Place.

Newman isn’t planning any major changes in the near term but said he will work to get more schools involved in the main event.

“I think this first year, I’ll kind of get my feet wet with it and see how things go,” he said. “I think there are some new ideas with different local businesses and vendors...but other than that, I’ll make sure everybody has a great time and make sure everyone learns about what

Terry Fox did.”

Under McWalter, the Terry Fox Run has drawn over 1,000 participants each year and more than $100,000 has been raised during his time as the lead organizer.

McWalter said the highlight for him has been seeing the legacy of Terry Fox being passed onto the younger generation as they participate in the run.

“You see their mom, dad or their grandparents talking to them about who Terry Fox was, and what kind of national hero (he was) and what he meant to our country and our province and our community,” McWalter said. “Just being able to instill all those characteristics into the next generation of the courage and determination and just that attitude of never giving up.”

It could be said that Fox’s legacy began in Prince George. He used the 1979 Boston to Prince George Marathon as a test run and came away confident enough to embark on his across-the-nation odyssey nine months later.

On April 12, 1980, he dipped his leg into the Atlantic Ocean in St. John’s, Nfld. to begin his Marathon of Hope. But, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, he was forced to stop his run on Sept. 1, 1980 in Thunder Bay when his primary cancer had spread to his lungs. He died on June 28, 1981, just one month shy of his 23rd birthday.

But his journey raised $24.1 million – a dollar for every Canadian at the time. And the pace has continued with hundreds of millions raised since then.

Newman will do a good job of carrying on the tradition in Prince George, McWalter said.

“He recognizes that it’s a ton of work and responsibility and he’s ready to take it on... I couldn’t have asked for a better successor,” he said.

• One of the event’s top fundraisers, Jim Terrion, was also on hand. Since 1991, he has raised $755,000 and aims to reach $1 million by 2024, largely by going door to door in communities along Highway 16 West.

B.C. man freed from Syria

The Canadian Press

BEIRUT — A British Columbia man detained in Syria since late last year became emotional Friday as he expressed his fears that he would never see freedom again.

“I thought I would be there forever, honestly,” Kristian Lee Baxter told a televised news conference in Beirut. He added, wiping his eyes: “I didn’t know if anyone knew if I was alive.” It was not clear when Baxter, who has been described by his family as a “world traveller,” was released from Syria. Lebanon’s general security chief, Abbas Ibrahim, said Lebanese mediation helped secure Baxter’s freedom after

his eight-month ordeal, adding that the Canadian would be heading home.

He said Baxter was detained for what Syrian authorities considered a “major violation” of local laws, but didn’t elaborate on comments that Syrian officials may have considered the incident security related.

“I would like to thank the Lebanese for helping me get free,” said Baxter, who is from Nanaimo and was detained in December in the war-ravaged country.

— see ‘THIS CASE, page 3

CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE

Photo hunter

Sophia Garbutt, 13, takes a photo of a flower during a photography scavenger hunt on Thursday morning at the WilderNess camp at Ness Lake Bible Camp. Garbutt

kids participating in the week long creative art/photography camp.

CITIZEN STAFF PHOTO

Riley Newman (left) will take over from Scott McWalter as the lead organizer for the Terry Fox Run in Prince George.

BAXTER

Stefan Freudentheil, an elder with a local Jehovah’s Witness group, explains some of the green and energy saving features of the new Kingdom Hall during a tour on Friday.

JW hall meant to be green friendly

Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

The new Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses is one energyefficient place of worship.

Located at 4336-15th Ave., next door to the old home for the congregation, it was the subject of an open house on Friday and in the course of providing a tour, Stefan Freudentheil emphasized the features designed to reduce its carbon footprint.

The central one is a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system that is tied into a motionsensing system. If it doesn’t detect movement for 15 minutes, it will turn off for that particular section of the building all buy itself. The same goes for the lights. Outside, the parking lot lights are now LED rather than halo-

gen. And radiant floor heating combined with a foundation that holds heat for a long time were among the other highlights listed.

“The system for air conditioning and heating will use outside air as much as possible,” he noted.

“So say our AC kicks in right now. It’s five degrees cooler outside, it will use our outside air to offset what it’s using in here because why use our cooling system more than it needs to be?”

Conversely, if the heating system fails and it’s -30 C outside, Freudentheil said he has been told the building is so efficient that it will take three days for the pipes to freeze.

“We haven’t tested this,” he cautioned.

Over the four months since it began holding services, Freudentheil said they’ve noticed a

63-per-cent savings in electricity and a 73-per-cent savings on natural gas consumption.

Rising difficulty with maintaining the old Kingdom Hall, which was built in the 1970s, combined with a worldwide push to build new ones and reap the economies of scale through bulk buying of materials in the process provided the motivation to embark on the project.

With the help of 296 volunteers, the Prince George Kingdom Hall was constructed over the course of 98 days and completed in late December 2018. It holds 155 seats making it the largest of its kind in Canada at the moment, according to Freudentheil.

“The efficiencies are great but it’s nice to be in a newer building,” he said. “It really helps everyone to feel invigorated when they attend.”

City’s unemployment rate 4.3 per cent

Citizen staff

The city’s unemployment rate stood at an estimated 4.3 per cent in July, according to Statistics Canada labour market survey numbers released Friday.

The figure represents a slight decline from 4.1 per cent for the same month last year and comes despite a 700-person rise to 51,700 in the number of people holding down jobs

Those seeking work is up by 100 to 2,300 and the total not seeking work is down by 600 to 18,900.

As well, the number of people of

in July

working age in the city is up by 800 to 54,000. Consequently, the employment rate stood at 70.8 per cent, up 0.6 points, and the participation rate was 74 per cent, up 0.8 points. In June, the unemployment rate was 4.2 per cent with 51,800 working, 2,300 seeking work and 18,700 not participating. The figures are based on a threemonth rolling average and do not separate part-time from full-time employment.

All three unemployment rate are accurate to within plus-or-minus 0.7 points, 68 per cent of the time.

Wage growth hits fastest pace since 2009, but economy sheds jobs

Andy BLATCHFORD

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Wage growth accelerated last month to its fastest clip in more than decade, according to numbers released Friday from Statistics Canada.

The 4.5 per cent burst came in a month that also produced lesspositive data: the unemployment rate moved up to 5.7 per cent as Canada shed 24,200 jobs.

The increase in wages – as measured by year-over-year average hourly wage growth for all employees – marked the indicator’s strongest month since January 2009.

The reading, one of several wage measures closely watched by the Bank of Canada, was up from 3.8 per cent in June and 2.8 per cent in May. In Quebec, wage growth sped up to nearly 6.2 per cent, while Ontario’s number was 5.1 per cent.

In terms of job creation, the economy saw its weakest threemonth stretch since early 2018. Until the spring pause, Canada had a been on a healthy run of monthly employment gains since last summer.

The survey found the numbers were nearly flat between May and July, a period that saw Canada add an average of 400 jobs per month. The agency cautions, however, that the recent monthly readings have been small enough that they’re within the margin of error and, therefore, statistically insignificant.

Even with the July decline, compared to a year earlier, the numbers show Canada added 353,000 new positions – almost all of which were full time – for an encouraging overall increase of 1.9 per cent.

The July unemployment rate remained near historic lows even after edging up to 5.7 per cent from 5.5 per cent in June.

The rate was 5.4 per cent in May, which was its lowest mark since 1976.

Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist for Capital Economics, said the wage data released Friday – along with other recent wage indicators – suggest the measures are finally catching up to the tightened job market.

Brown predicts that even with solid wage numbers at home, the Bank of Canada will likely have to address something much bigger in

The July unemployment rate remained near historic lows even after edging up to 5.7 per cent from 5.5 per cent in June. The rate was 5.4 per cent in May, which was its lowest mark since 1976.

the coming months: the weakening global economic environment.

“You’re now seeing this strong labour market in terms of the wage numbers, but we know conditions elsewhere in the world are deteriorating – so it’s certainly something interesting for the policy-makers to think about,” he said in an interview.

Capital Economics, Brown added, is among a minority of forecasting shops that predicts the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates in October to respond to fallout from an escalation in ongoing trade wars and weakening demand from the United States.

TD senior economist Brian DePratto wrote in a report Friday to clients that “the Bank of Canada remains caught between two opposing trends: relatively healthy domestic conditions, and a worsening external backdrop.”

He added that unless we see a marked shift in either of these, the central bank will “likely remain happy to sit on the sidelines.”

A closer look at July’s jobs numbers shows the economy lost 69,300 private-sector employee positions last month, while the public sector gained 17,500 jobs. Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick posted notable declines in employment last month – and jobless rates moved higher in each of the provinces.

Quebec and Prince Edward Island added jobs last month, the report said.

Youth employment fell by about 19,000 positions, pushing the jobless rate up 0.7 percentage points to 11.4 per cent. The number of positions for core-aged women – between 25 and 54 years old – dropped by about 18,000.

‘This

— from page 1

Ready to rock

Lee Aaron performs on stage at Exhibition Park on Friday night during the

case has had a happy outcome and I am delighted’

Andrea Leclair told The Canadian Press in January that her son messaged her daily because she was worried after he arrived in Syria on Nov. 26, but he went silent after his last message on Dec. 1.

Leclair described her son as “a world traveller and adventurer” and said he visited a village near the border of Lebanon at the invitation of his girlfriend’s brotherin-law.

She said Baxter was supposed to be home Dec. 13 and his travel visa to Syria expired on Dec. 12 or 13.

In a statement, Leclair said the family is grateful to Global Affairs Canada for working “consistently, relentlessly, and professionally” to get her son released.

“I’m ecstatic that Kristian is on his way home,” she said.

Lawyer John Weston, with Pan Pacific Law Corp. that has been working with the family, said he had not spoken with Baxter, but reports from Beirut where he was released are that he is in better health than expected.

“He’s obviously very keen to get back to his beloved Canada and his family and seems to be doing well. He’s been through an ordeal and we will know better when he arrives back in Canada how he’s

doing and how he rebounds for the long term.”

Weston said they aren’t aware of any charges that were brought against Baxter in Syria.

“There may have been some infractions relating to Syrian travel regulations but that’s conjecture at this point. What we know is that he was travelling in the Mideast, seeking to visit interesting places and wanted to go to Syria for those purposes, for purposes of visiting as a tourist.”

The federal government has been warning Canadians to avoid travelling to Syria since 2011 after the outbreak of a civil war that has attracted foreign powers and spawned a multitude of militias, including a new Islamist terror group, while leaving an estimated 500,000 people dead.

Canada severed diplomatic relations with Syria in 2012, expelling its diplomats and shuttering its embassy.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said she couldn’t comment on what the federal government might have done to help in Baxter’s release, but she used the case to remind Canadians about the dangers of travelling to unstable countries.

“This case has had a happy outcome and I am delighted and frankly relieved. And I wish the

best to him and to his family and loved ones,” she told a news conference in Calgary.

“This is a case that should remind us all to exercise a high degree of caution when travelling to dangerous parts of the world. There’s been a happy outcome here. Let’s not allow this to cause us not to be careful.”

Reaching out to hold the shoulder of Canadian Ambassador Emmanuelle Lamoureux, who also attended the news conference in Beirut, Baxter acknowledged the aid of Canadian officials.

“I’d just like to thank the Canadian Embassy for helping me,” he said.

Baxter’s release marked a “wonderful day for Canadians” said Lamoureux, thanking the Lebanese authorities for helping with this “wonderful outcome.”

Global Affairs said consular services will continue to be provided to Baxter and his family.

Baxter’s release marked the second time Lebanon has helped free a foreigner held in Syria. Last month, Ibrahim mediated the release of American traveller Sam Goodwin, who had been held in Syria for two months. The circumstances of Goodwin’s detention in northeastern Syria in May were unclear.

“I think the work and effort we

CBSA warns Canadians about phishing scams

The Canada Border Services Agency is warning the public about people posing as officials from the agency, who are asking for personal information, in a series of ongoing phishing scams.

The scams take the form of email, text messages or telephone calls asking for personal information including social insurance numbers.

According to a media release, these scams use false CBSA information to make it appear that the scammers are legitimate agency officials. Telephone numbers and employee names may appear to be from the CBSA, while mails may display CBSA

logos and email addresses to mislead readers.

While the methods used by the scammers, and the rational they provide to justify continued contact with victims, are varied and ever-changing, according to the CBSA, they are always designed to lure the public into providing personal information.

CBSA is reminding the public that the agency never requests SIN or credit card numbers by telephone or email.

If anyone receives a telephone call or an email asking for personal information or requesting payments from the CBSA, it is a scam.

The CBSA is asking anyone who receives these calls to report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

did shortened the period of (Baxter’s) detention. And as you see, he is on his way to Canada,” Ibrahim said Friday before Baxter spoke.

Syrian prisons are brimming with government opponents after nearly nine years of civil war.

Rebels were also responsible for a wave of kidnapping for ransom, while Islamic State militants beheaded foreign captives as part of their terror campaign. It is not known how many Westerners and foreign nationals are held alive in Syria, if any.

Ibrahim said the mediation

efforts put his country in a good light. Lebanon is struggling with one of the world’s highest public debts, a government deadlocked over personal rivalries, while the country’s most powerful political group is shunned internationally and facing U.S. sanctions over accusations of terrorism and for its close ties with Iran.

“To be honest, this benefits Lebanon generally,” Ibrahim said. “We need this image at the moment.”

— With files from The Associated Press

CITIZEN

first day of Cariboo Rocks The North.

Increasing number of new immigrants, refugees homeless,study says

Teresa WRIGHT The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — A growing number of newcomers to Canada are ending up in shelters or are finding themselves homeless, newly released government figures show.

Two new reports released this week by Employment and Social Development Canada offer a glimpse into the extent of the homelessness problem across the country and reveal the populations that are most vulnerable.

The national shelter study, which looked at federal data on shelter users between 2005 and 2016, found an “observable increase” in refugees using shelters.

In 2016, there were 2,000 refugees sleeping in shelters, not counting those facilities designated specifically for refugees – an increase from 1,000 just two years earlier when the figures first began to be tracked.

Tim Richter, president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, said he believes refugees are being forced to turn to homeless shelters because of a lack of housing capacity in areas where refugees are settling.

“Many of them are coming to Toronto in Ontario, and to Quebec, and in those communities, the rental market is just really tight and we just don’t have the capacity to house them,” Richter said.

“Homelessness is a function of housing affordability, availability and income. When you’re new to Canada, you generally won’t have the income to be able to buy a house, and there’s just not enough affordable housing options.”

Canada has been experiencing an influx of asylum seekers crossing into Canada “irregularly,” avoiding official checkpoints between the Canada-U.S. border in order to file for refugee protection without being turned away under Canada’s Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. Over 46,000 irregular border-crossers have been intercepted by RCMP since early 2017.

Many of them have been staying in Toronto and Montreal to await the outcome of their refugee claims, which has put pressure on temporary housing capacity in those cities.

The city of Toronto estimated in late 2018 that about 40 per cent of people using its shelters identified as refugees or asylum claimants. Other Ontario cities have been asked to help relocate refugees in order

to ease the burden on Toronto’s shelter system.

Meanwhile, a second study released this week by Ottawa that offers a “point-intime” snapshot of homelessness in 61 communities also noted a trend of homelessness among newcomers. It found 14 per cent of people who identified as homeless in 2018 were newcomers to Canada. Of that total, eight per cent indicated they were immigrants, three per cent identified as refugees and four per cent as refugee claimants.

The point-in-time study captures not only those using shelters, but also people sleeping on the streets, in transitional houses or staying with others. The 2018 study expanded its counts from 32 communities in 2016 to 61 in 2018.

Both studies also found Canada’s Indigenous Peoples remain vastly over-represented among the country’s homeless population. Almost one-third of shelter users and

those counted in the point-in-time report identified as Indigenous, despite making up only about five per cent of the national population.

It’s a consequence of multi-generational trauma endured by Indigenous populations in Canada, as outlined in the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the recently concluded inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, Richter said.

“This will require specific focus and specific investment if we’re going to help these folks.”

For those who do find themselves without a home, either for short periods or for those who are chronically homeless, their realities are stark and can be deadly.

A memorial dedicated to homeless individuals who have died on the streets of Toronto currently lists close to 1,000 names. Many are identified only as “John Doe” with the date they died.

NEWS IN BRIEF

But Richter said he is hopeful that things will improvements for Canada’s homeless. He pointed to figures in the national shelter study showing an decrease of nearly 20 per cent in the overall number of people who accessed shelters between 2005 and 2016. Occupancy rates have increased over that period of time, however, due to a rise in the length of time people were staying in homeless shelters.

But many jurisdictions have been taking the issue seriously and making significant improvements, Richter said, pointing to a decrease in chronic homeless numbers in places like the southern Ontario communities of Chatham-Kent, Guelph, Kawartha and Haliburton.

“We’re seeing that it is possible, and we know how to do it, it’s just a matter of getting on with it,” he said.

“I’m hopeful that we are going to see, now, consistent and focused trends going in the opposite direction.”

Camper injured in rare wolf attack

LAKE LOUISE, Alta. (CP) — A camper is recovering after being attacked by a wolf in Banff National Park. Parks Canada says the wolf attacked a tent early Friday morning at the Ramparts Creek campground on the Icefields Parkway north of Lake Louise.The person inside the tent had injuries to their hand and arm and was transferred to a hospital in Banff. Parks Canada says it found the wolf about a kilometre away from the campground and killed the animal. Investigators say no significant wildlife attractants or food were found inside or in the immediate vicinity of the tent. Parks Canada says it believes one wolf was involved and is calling the attack very rare. The campground has been closed as a precaution pending a full investigation.

Airshow asks public to keep drones away

ABBOTSFORD (CP) — Police and organizers of the Abbotsford International Airshow urge the public to leave their drones at home if they plan to attend the show this weekend.

A joint news release from Abbotsford police and the airshow says drone detection equipment will be used during the show and if a drone is spotted, police will be notified.

The statement says drones have been detected at several airshows across Canada over the last year, causing significant safety risks to pilots, aircraft and anyone attending the shows. Airshow spokesperson Jadene Mah says spectators must be able to enjoy the experience without having to worry about the consequences of a drone-related accident. Transport Canada classifies drones as aircraft and the person operating the craft as a remote pilot. Flying a drone near an airport or in close proximity to other aircraft is illegal.

Eating less meat good for planet, health: McKenna

OTTAWA (CP) — Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says the call to help combat climate change by eating more plants and less meat is fully in line with Canada’s new food guide recommendations. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report Thursday looking at land use and climate change. One conclusion was that the agriculture industry needs to make major changes to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including producing more plant-based proteins and less meat because plants need less land to grow and produce fewer emissions. Last January, the government updated Canada’s Food Guide, which also advised choosing plant-based proteins more often because they provide more fibre and less saturated fat.

A homeless person is seen in downtown Toronto on Jan. 3, 2018. Newly released government figures suggest a rising number of newcomers to Canada are ending up in shelters or are finding themselves homeless.

Health Canada changes aim to cut drug prices

Kristy KIRKUP The Canadian Press

OTTAWA

— The federal government is overhauling the way it regulates the cost of patented medicines, including ending comparisons to the United States – changes that Canada’s health minister is billing as the biggest step towards lower drug prices in a generation.

Health Canada’s long-awaited amendments to patented medicine regulations, unveiled Friday, include allowing the arm’slength Patented Medicine Prices Review Board to consider whether the price of a drug reflects the value it has for patients.

The list of countries that the quasi-judicial board uses to compare prices and gauge its own levels will no longer include the U.S. and Switzerland, both of which are home to some of the highest drug prices in the world. That’s a category that has also long included Canada, something Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said she’s determined to change.

“If we look at their health care system, and we also look at the economies... it is really hard to compare their health care system to what we have here in Canada,” Petitpas Taylor said.

“When we changed the basket of countries, we changed them because we wanted to make sure could compare ourselves to similar jurisdictions that have similar health care systems and also similar populations.”

Jane Philpott, Petitpas Taylor’s predecessor in the portfolio, announced in May 2017 the government was embarking on a series of consultations on a suite of proposed regulatory changes related to the drug prices board.

Philpott said the prices review board –first created 30 years ago to ensure companies do not use monopolies to charge excessive costs – was limited in its ability to protect consumers from high drug prices. The government expressed at the time it hoped to have the new regulations in place no later than the end of 2018.

It has taken a long time for the final changes to be put in place, Petitpas Taylor acknowledged, but she said that’s only because the government wanted to ensure it consulted with all industry stakeholders, patient groups, and people who worked in the field.

Prescription pills are shown in Toronto. The federal government says it is making changes that will give a quasi-judicial body the tools to better protect Canadians from excessive drug prices and make patented medicines more affordable.

Former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge was brought on as a third-party reviewer to conduct a cost-benefit analysis, said Petitpas Taylor, who anticipates the amendments announced Friday will save Canadians approximately $13 billion over 10 years on patented drug costs.

“We took our time, we did our due diligence,” she said. “At the end of the day, as Canada’s health minister, my number 1 priority is making sure that medication is available for all Canadians and when we say that Canada’s among the top three countries that pay the highest drug prices in the world, that’s just not acceptable.”

The review board now has the tools and information it needs to meaningfully protect Canadian consumers from excessive prices, board chair Dr. Mitchell Levine said in a statement.

The board hopes to have constructive talks with partners and stakeholders in coming months to make the necessary changes to its guidelines and put the regulatory amendments into effect, he added.

Petitpas Taylor called the changes a “huge

step” towards a national pharmacare plan – the public, single-payer system of drug coverage Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to pursue.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party appears poised to make its own proposal for a national plan a central component of its election campaign, dismissed Friday’s announcement as little more than a stall tactic.

“The best way Canada can lower the price of drugs is well documented: buying them in bulk using the negotiating power of a 37-million-person single-payer pharmacare plan,” Singh said in a statement.

“But big pharmaceutical and insurance companies don’t want that, so after meeting with them more than 700 times since 2015, Trudeau’s Liberals are stalling pharmacare, and therefore making life easier for big pharma.”

Innovative Medicines Canada, which represents the pharmaceutical industry, warned in a statement that the regulatory amendments would limit the access of Canadian patients to new, cutting-edge

treatments, and would also discourage investment in Canada’s life science sector.

“Our fear is that patients will be worse off,” said IMC president Pamela Fralick. John Adams, the volunteer chairman of the Best Medicines Coalition, a non-profit organization representing 28 national patient organizations, said Friday that he shares the concerns that patients will be adversely affected.

“If one drug developer decides not to come to Canada or to withdraw from Canada, Canadian patients will suffer and possibly die prematurely,” he said in an interview.

Adams accused Ottawa of ignoring input from patient groups, and said one of the key issues is that the government hasn’t examined drug access in the countries in the new basket over the past 15 years compared to Canada. The list now includes Germany, Japan, Sweden, the U.K., Italy, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, France and Norway. The former list included the U.S., Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, the U.K., Italy and France.

Answers could still come in B.C. homicides, ex-Mountie says

Colette DERWORIZ The Canadian Press

Investigators should be able to provide some answers about three homicides in northern British Columbia even though two suspects in the case are believed to be dead, says a former RCMP assistant commissioner.

The manhunt for Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, from Port Alberni ended Wednesday when two bodies were found in dense brush in northern Manitoba. Mounties have said it could be difficult to determine a motive if the suspects can’t be interviewed.

Peter German, who retired from the RCMP in 2012, said it will be hard, but there is already some key evidence available that speaks to motive.

“At least one of the individuals seemed to be highly influenced by violent video games,” he said. “His father has spoken publicly about what he believed would happen - death, suicide, going out in a blaze of glory.

“That all goes to motive.”

McLeod and Schmegelsky were suspects

in the killings of Leonard Dyck, a university lecturer from Vancouver, and American tourist Chynna Deese and her Australian boyfriend, Lucas Fowler. The bodies of the three were found in mid-July near highways in northern B.C.

Police initially treated McLeod and Schmegelsky as missing persons when their charred vehicle was found not far from Dyck’s body. The pair had told family and friends they were leaving home to find work.

But investigators later deemed them to be suspects and details surfaced about their use of video games.

One account showed Schmegelsky was a frequent player of a shooting game called “Russia Battlegrounds,” and both young men’s Facebook pages were connected to an account with a modified Soviet flag as its icon.

RCMP also said they were investigating a photograph of Nazi paraphernalia sent to another user by Schmegelsky, who was also pictured in military fatigues brandishing an airsoft rifle and wearing a gas mask.

During the manhunt, Alan Schmegelsky

told The Canadian Press that his son had a troubled upbringing and the father said he expected the young men wanted “to go out in a blaze of glory.”

German said investigators will look at the suspects’ social media accounts, any written documents and communication with family and friends.

“It’s surprising in this day and age with social media what you can find.”

The tougher problem, he said, will be determining why the suspects did what they did in the sequence they did.

It may also be difficult to determine why they ended up in Gillam, he said.

“Did they have some sort of a plan that flowed from a video game that they end up in northern Manitoba? What was the next step for them?”

The autopsies, which are being done in Winnipeg, could provide some answers about when and how they died.

German said the work in Manitoba will be complete once those results are available and officers are finished collecting any remaining evidence there, and police in B.C. will continue the investigation.

“At the end of the day, they will I’m sure provide some sort of a briefing to the public and certainly to the families to inform them of what has taken place.”

Sam Johnson said he hopes there are answers for the three families.

The southern Alberta resident is still waiting for answers after his ex-wife, Jane Johnson, and eight-year-old daughter, Cathryn, were found dead in their Turner Valley home in 1996.

It was initially believed they died from smoke inhalation, but an autopsy revealed Jane, who was pregnant, had been stabbed to death.

No one has been charged in the case.

“Obviously I’d like to know why and, of course, you’d like to see the people punished.”

After experiencing so much grief, he said, it’s important for families to get some justice.

“I feel horrible for the relatives of the victims (in B.C.) ... it’s senseless violence with no reason,” said Johnson.

“Somebody should pay when they affect your life that badly and that dramatically.”

Top bureaucrat salaries defy logic

B.C.’s Finance Ministry released details of management compensation in public sector agencies. These include Crown corporations, post-secondary institutions, health authorities and government ministries.

A close read shows blatant inconsistencies that defeat any attempt at rationality.

Let’s start with Crown corporations. The CEO of the British Columbia Lottery Corp. takes home $411,000 a year in salary and benefits.

That’s quite a bit more than the CEO of B.C. Transit earns, for reasons that are not easily explained.

B.C. Transit is constantly at the centre of demands for more service.

The lotteries corporation has a monopoly. It couldn’t fail to make a profit if it tried. What it has failed to do is stamp out money laundering at casinos.

Not all of that is due to leadership failures at the company.

Law enforcement has been lax, and neither the province nor the federal government, until recently, has been much help. Nevertheless, running the lotteries corporation is a breeze compared to handling the

transit operation. So why does the Lotteries CEO make more?

The CEO of the Insurance Corp. of B.C. is paid $468,780, a huge salary for a company bleeding money. Again, some of the fault lies elsewhere. But shouldn’t a CEO’s salary reflect the health of his organization?

Moving on to the post-secondary sector, the president of UNBC takes home $326,000 a year in pay and benefits. The CEO of the B.C. Institute of Technology earns less.

Yet BCIT’s budget is twice as large. So what’s the explanation?

It isn’t cost of living. Housing prices in Prince George are a fraction of those in Vancouver. How about health care? The CEO of Northern Health gets $382,000.

The CEO of Fraser Health, with a budget four times larger, makes less. Where is the sense in this?

We need to introduce a qualification here. The size of an organization’s budget is only one measure of its complexity. There are other factors involved.

However, there is a deeper issue. The deputy minister of health, who supervises all six health authorities, is paid $336,000. Yet

every health authority CEO makes more. How is this justified?

There are 25 publicly funded post-secondary institutions in B.C. The deputy minister of advanced education, skills and training is responsible for overseeing them.

Yet the president of just one of these institutions, UBC, makes twice as much ($602,000) as the deputy minister.

By any standard, the deputy’s job has far more scope and many more challenges than a university president’s.

Two realities emerge here. One is that neither rhyme nor reason can be found in many of these compensation packages.

Each agency supposedly follows the same formula for setting salaries and benefits. But as the figures show, that formula has more air in it than a hot air balloon.

The second takeaway is that the further a CEO’s agency lies from public scrutiny, the higher his or her salary tends to be.

This is most apparent in the huge gap between the compensation packages offered ministry officials, and the take-home pay of executives in universities or health authorities. Government ministries undergo extensive scrutiny by the legislature. Each is

Wrong spot for plant

The proposed Olefin petrochemical plant has secured 300 acres in the Willow Cale area of Prince George within the Prince George air shed.

This plant has a designation as “Industry, special heavy.” Under the City of Prince George’s bylaw 8256-2007, special heavy Industry is defined as “any offensive trade including processing or manufacturing uses such as an oil refinery;chemical or explosive or fertilizer plants. etc”

In a 2008 report, the Regional District of Fort Fraser and the City of Prince George identified only three sites as being suitable for new heavy industrial development. The Willow Cale area was not mentioned in this report. In fact, this report states “The city of Prince George’s air shed had been identified as not being able to accept additional air emissions without compromising the health of it’s citizens.”

These are very potent words of wisdom.

What is true then is still true today. As part of the community consultation, we were given the Nova Plant in Red Deer to make comparisons with. The emissions from the petrochemical and plastic plants in Red Deer, include 63 tonnes of fine particulates of which 50 tonnes are 2.5 microns or less, which are incredibly dangerous for human health. There is no mention or capture of nano particles which are so hazardous to plant workers. Red Deer also emits five tonnes of benzene, which has no safe lower limit in the air shed, and

which is well known to be associated with myelo-proliferative and other cancers. The emissions of volatile organic compounds, not currently monitored by the AGHI, are also very high.

A 2018 study from Sweden about a similar plastics plant found plastic pellet and smaller powdery plastic fugitive losses in the soil, water and wild life within 35 km of the plastics plant. As we all know plastics do not degrade and adversely interface with the biosphere with bio accumulation for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

This project, if it is to be built, needs to be built outside of the bowl with its already over polluted air shed and high population density.

As a community, we seriously need to consider this decision with deep reflection and not be blinded by overwhelming plastic gold fever. Sustainable, clean long term jobs and money are important but not at the cost of human health and environmental degradation.

Dr. Marie Hay, Prince George Arts centre needed

Interesting points of view on the performing arts centre. This is a discussion that has been around for the last 50 years.

There has been a great amount of input and expertise from many very qualified people who have had amazing visions for a cultural centre for Prince George. There have been many meetings, discussions, consultations and energy that has been applied to this very essential heart of a city.

An arts centre is a place where residents and visitors can participate in the visual arts and performing arts.

Visiting presenters, musical events and audiences need a place to be front and centre in our city. Anyone involved with the arts needs a place to share creativity and support. This creates community which is what gives a city warmth and vitality and is very much needed in this northern interior town.

All roads are coming through Prince George. There is a dismal array of warehouses on First Avenue, coming from the east and then up Queensway and out to the highway.

We need a destination place to attract people to visit the downtown. Welcome to Prince George is rather a misnomer, as there is no significant destination place to invite visitors. There are several hotels and new residential buildings. A beautiful arts and culture centre with studios and interesting shops would compliment the art gallery and the Civic Centre and make an exceptional place to visit.

The old BMO building is an inappropriate place for an art centre and a waste of money to try and make it work as a stop gap. Hopefully the development of a downtown arts strategy would encompass a beautiful centre with plenty of space to enjoy the music and arts of the community and brjng a real sense of community to our city. Also studies have proven that the financial value would far outweigh the many sport facilities.

Joy Cotter, Prince George

questioned in detail about its expenditures. Hefty management salaries would draw attention.

Post-secondary institutions and health authorities live a quieter life. Their compensation policies, by and large, escape attention. This appears a likely explanation for the largesse showered on management.

No doubt it will be claimed these agencies are merely keeping up with standards set elsewhere in Canada. But this is a weak argument.

An appointment in British Columbia is the ultimate goal for many public servants. There is no need to dangle whopping salaries to attract the best our country has to offer.

The provincial government hoped that by requiring public agencies to publish their compensation packages, the more indefensible practices would be eliminated. Obviously that hasn’t happened.

Most of the costs involved are ultimately borne by taxpayers.

It’s time the province got tough and imposed a salary framework more in touch with reality.

— Victoria Times-Colonist

Aging with pets good for health

Is home somewhere that you feel comfortable? Is it filled with memories of beloved friends and family – some of whom may be furry animals?

Researchers analyzed data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a national study of adult development and aging which recruited more than 50,000 Canadians between the ages of 45 and 85. They found that over one-third of older Canadians are choosing to age with pets and that, for some people, living with pets can increase life satisfaction.

My research focuses on social justice and aging, with a special interest in the human-animal bond. I recently collaborated on a report for the federal government on seniors, aging in place and community. When I researched community supports in Canada for this report, I discovered there is no government funding to help older adults care for pets.

This is unfortunate because the relationship between humans and non-human companions has become increasingly important to Canadians. While people and their pets may seem like a frivolous concern, people’s relationships with their pets impact wellness and health in perhaps surprising ways.

Helping people in financial need to pay for their pets is fiscally responsible, since maintaining the human-animal bond could reduce health-care costs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines aging in place as “the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently and comfortably, regardless of age, income or ability level.” Aging in place is associated with decreased depression, maintaining personal identity, staying connected with community, friends and family as well as avoiding the emotional and physical pain associated with leaving a familiar place.

For many older adults, pets are considered to be family members. Interactions with pets are not only important in terms of companionship, they are also associated with better health. For example, a study of people in Germany and Australia found that people who continuously own a pet are healthiest, visiting the doctor less often than non-pet owners. Researchers have linked the human-animal bond to reduced cardiovascular disease risk, lowered blood pressure and lower cholesterol.

Research also suggests people with pets are also less lonely, have stronger support networks and are often more involved in community activities. But many older adults do not have adequate retirement income, and in such cases caring

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for pets can become too expensive. Given the many quality-of-life and health-related benefits of pet ownership, developing community support programs dedicated to keeping pets and older adults together are expected to result in savings to health-care systems and social programs.

Another concern regarding aging in place with pets is the potential impact of climate change – and how this may impact health. Since climate change is predicted to result in more heatwaves, hot summers, droughts and flooding, there is the need to develop community support initiatives to prevent heat-related deaths among older adults. Older adults’ vulnerability to extreme heat is well documented, and is increased for those who have more than one illness as well as for those who are socially isolated. Many older adults may opt to stay in a hot home with their pet, rather than going to a cooling centre without their companion animal, particularly if they foresee no options for the animal’s care. By providing access to air conditioners, which low-income older adults can’t afford on their own, older adults’ heat-related suffering could be alleviated without concerns about abandoning their pet.

Plans to help older adults faced with climate-related danger should also consider that some people have chosen not evacuate severe weather situations when they are unable to bring their pets. Compliance with evacuation orders might increase if government programs were implemented to provide vaccinations for pets and to evacuate older adults with their pets so that they can go to emergency shelters together.

In the United States, there have been changes to disaster planning and disaster preparation exercises to respond to the rescue and care of companion animals. Ensuring pets are evacuated and reunited with their humans can be a positive influence on mental health after disasters. Integrating new initiatives within existing community supports to help older adults care for the animals that share their lives would be a win-win, promoting wellness and potentially reducing health expenditures. — L.F. Carver is an adjunct assistant professor at Queen’s University. This article first appeared in The Conversation.

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Voices in your head

Meet the actors specializing in audiobooks

Travis DESHONG

The Washington Post

David McKeel pauses.

The romance genre is unfamiliar territory for him.

He’s reading a selection from Cheris Hodges’s steamy novel, Recipe for Desire.

Where McKeel picks up, the protagonist, Marie, has sprained her ankle, and a millionaire hunk named Devon is driving her to Presbyterian Hospital in his red Ford Mustang.

A perfect time for some flirting.

“I will say one thing,” McKeel says, as Marie, “I never took you for a Ford man.”

He keeps his voice near its normal pitch; in the world of audiobook narration, modulating too much from one character to another is bad practice.

His coach, Johnny Heller, cuts him off.

He wants McKeel to put the emphasis on “you” instead of “Ford.”

“You can’t dance around what’s going on,” Heller urges him.

“There’s an electricity we’re missing right now!”

McKeel repeats the line, this time with the inflection in the proper place.

“Yes!” Johnny whispers as he follows McKeel down the script.

The two men are in the middle of a Thursday afternoon lesson in Studio A in the Edge Studio offices, perched on the eighth floor of 115 Eighth Ave. in New York City.

The green-and-gray studio is part lounge, part control centre.

Cream-colored armchairs and a glass-topped coffee table are arranged behind a metal desk with two speakers, two keyboards and two computer monitors.

Heller, sporting a red bowling shirt with stripes and checkers, is stationed at the desk, pen and notebook at the ready.

McKeel sits in the recording booth, a tight, green cube.

His script is on a stand.

The microphone apparatus cranes over his head.

McKeel, a Brooklyn-based 42-year-old working for an international humanitarian aid organization by day, is trying to get his break in an industry that’s been on an upswing.

Revenue for downloaded audiobooks has nearly tripled over the last five years, as recorded by the Association of American Publishers.

Audible, Apple, Google Player, and major publishing houses are battling it out for access to customers’ eardrums.

Ear buds are a routine accessory. People shop, they commute, they travel – and, while they do, they listen to the voices of strangers.

Strangers who are getting paid.

To read.

It seems like a dream, but in fact it’s a grind.

People like McKeel train at Edge

in hopes of becoming an audiobook all-star – like Dion Graham, who has narrated the work of James Baldwin, Dave Eggers and James Patterson; or January LaVoy, who has lent her voice to books by Nicholas Sparks, Marcia Clark and... well, James Patterson.

Being chosen to consistently narrate popular titles puts voice actors into a privileged position between the beloved author and their fans.

Yet the reality of the industry is not glamourous.

Many working narrators can barely eke out a living unless they’re holding down other jobs.

In New York City and Los Angeles, the country’s two capitols for audiobook work, narrators annually earn around $40,000 on average, according to Voices.com.

A large publisher might pay as much as $350 per hour, but smaller publishers might pay $50 or less per hour, with the rate tied to how long they say it should take to read a certain number of pages.

To make a decent return on your labour, you have to be good.

And if reading for audiobooks sounds easy, a few hours in the booth can be humbling.

“The analogy would be singing,”says David Goldberg, chief officer at Edge Studio.”Just because they have a good voice doesn’t mean they could sell you a tune.”

You need to speak unaccented American English fluently.

You need to be able to read a new script comfortably, no time for memorization.

Can you analyze the text in real time to know which words matter more?

Can you stay still for many hours at a time?

Can you read in a way that shows you remember what happened twenty pages ago?

McKeel, who goes by the trade name David Sadzin when he narrates, has been in the game since late 2017.

He narrated primarily nonfiction works, including Craig Seymour’s Luther, Dave Tell’s Remembering Emmett Till and Daniel Brook’s The Accident of Color.

A former theater actor and comic, he draws on the skills he honed as a live entertainer to inform how he performs when he’s alone in the booth.

“One of the tricks is to imagine that you’re talking to people,” he said the day before. “Having a sense of what it feels like to stand in front of a group of people and talk, that’s familiar. It comes in handy.”

But not every stage skill translates to narration.

And so McKeel comes here, to an eighth-floor studio in Manhattan, to learn.

Heller, his coach, is an industry legend.

He’s narrated more than 800 books.

He’s distinguished as one of Au-

dioFile Magazine’s Golden Voices.

He has three Audie awards and ten nominations (basically the Oscars of the voice-over world).

His copy of the Recipe for Desire passage is covered with carets, cross-outs and character notes in the margins.

As McKeel reads, Heller occasionally mutters phrases like “Look at her!” under his breath, as if to communicate telepathically how McKeel should inhabit a character’s mind and see what they see.

Marie and Devon – the would-be lovers – arrive at the hospital to treat Marie’s bum ankle.

There they meet a nameless nurse.

McKeel delivers the nurse’s line too flatly.

Heller stops him, again.

“Let’s cast the nurse,” Heller says, waving his hands like he’s conjuring a spirit. “Even though she’s a bit part, she’s still somebody. Is she old? She fat? Middleaged? A mom?” McKeel is quiet, calibrating.

Back to the story.

“‘Aren’t you Devon Harris?’” he says as the nurse, now more nasally and star-struck.

Heller cracks up and nods.

Stop and start, then repeat. McKeel barely makes it through a few paragraphs at a time before Heller walks over to reel off his thoughts.

Their dynamic is somewhere between friendly banter and office hours.

“Be careful with prepositional phrases,” Heller warns. “We normally say them too quickly and lose them.”

In the entire session, they dig into just two pages over two practice demos.

When McKeel’s on the job, he’ll fly through hundreds of pages with Heller’s notes on his mind.

Down the hall a few hours later, a bunch of voice-over first-timers crowd into Studio B.

A teenager, young adults, guys pushing 50, they’re all tense, arms crossed, fidgeting thumbs and bouncing legs.

These are the beginners for Investigate Voice-Over Class, Edge Studio’s introductory course that determines whether your voice can go places.

Paolo Fulgencio, a 31-year-old from Long Island, listed audiobook narration as one of his desired voice-over genres (Edge Studio coaches for more than twenty).

His preparation?

“I’ve been picking up reading a lot recently,” he said. “I’ve been reading aloud, practicing.”

It’s a start.

McKeel started out in that beginner’s class.

He has work now, and he’s made progress on the road toward that career breakthrough.

“I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to tell you anything today,” Heller jokes to McKeel as their lesson ends. “Because you were good. You were so good.”

WAHSINGTON POST PHOTO

Voice actor and instructor Johnny Heller, left, offers recommendations to voice actor David Sadzin during a recording session at Edge Studio in New York.

Upscale hotels pamper guests

Alyson KRUEGER

Special To The Washington Post

When Randi Friedman walked into her room at Las Alcobas, a boutique hotel in St. Helena, California, she felt like every detail had been planned just for her.

The layout offered unobstructed views of the vineyard outside.

The balcony had a gas fire pit and two rocking chairs; the fire could be turned on with the press of a button.

Waiting at the minibar was a French press with a tiny jar of coffee next to it.

The grounds were already measured; all she had to do was pour them into the press in the morning.

In her bathroom shower was a bar of handcrafted, grapefruit mimosa soap made locally by Napa Soap, which she could take home as a souvenir.

“I walked away feeling like I was taken care of,” said Friedman, a frequent traveler who works for Hearst Magazines in Manhattan, “like this hotel actually cared about me with the extra touches.”

Gone are the days when it was enough for a hotel to have rain shower heads and high threadcount sheets.

In a world where there are more hotels to choose from than ever, both luxury and business accommodations are focusing on the extras to set their hotels apart from the rest, said Barak Hirschowitz, president of the International Luxury Hotel Association.

“Great luxury hotels since the late 1800s have always focused on innovation and tiny details,” Hirschowitz said. “Cesar Ritz, considered by many the grandfather of the modern luxury hotel, was the first to introduce a bathroom in every room in 1893 at the Grand Hotel in Rome. Today, you wouldn’t imagine a hotel room without a bathroom, but back then it was a small detail that changed the industry.”

These days, he says, it’s other things that impress guests – such as floor lighting that activates when the guest steps out of bed to help guide them to the bathroom.

And the more extraordinary, the better.

“Today’s guests are very discerning,” said Toni Stoeckl, global brand leader of lifestyle brands at Marriott International, who oversees the Moxy, AC Hotels, Aloft and Element brands. “They travel a lot, and they want to discover something new when they travel. They want to have a story to tell.”

For Michael Schmitt, general manager of the Waldorf Astoria Chengdu, the best special touches are personal.

The hotel sends guests detailed questionnaires about the purpose of a trip, he says, so his staff can better anticipate visitors’ needs once they arrive.

“For us, innovation revolves around making the guests’ experience more comfortable, more pampered and seamless,” says Las Alcobas co-owner Samuel Leizorek. “I want to remind my guests that they have arrived.”

Some hotels are partnering with lifestyle brands to give visitors an experience to talk about.

Guests who book a suite package at Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts receive a lipstick created by French beauty brand La Bouche Rouge.

They simply dial zero for the concierge, choose a lip shade from a menu, and it’s delivered with a bottle of sparkling wine.

The guest’s initials are engraved on the lipstick case.

“We want our guests to remember that the French lip is a state of mind,” said George Fleck, vice president of global brand marketing and management for the brand. “It’s about bringing back the romance of travel.”

Sometimes that means maximizing the impact of the hotel’s location.

At the Waldorf Astoria Chengdu, in the heart of the Chinese city’s high-tech zone, window curtains automatically open as hotel guests step into their room, revealing an impressive view of new skyscrapers.

“When I travel, I want to feel like the hotel is better than my home,” said Ann Birns, a retired speech and language pathologist from Potomac, Md., who visited the property in March. “Unlike others who say you only sleep in your room, I love to stay in my room and enjoy it.”

Many hotels have special touches that provide guests with a sense of place, such as using certain materials in their design.

The lobby reception desk at the Hyatt Regency in Bangkok has panels covered in gold leaf, the same material as seen on Thai Buddha statues.

The lobby of the Buenaventura Golf & Beach Resort in Panama

City incorporates repurposed wood from the Panama Canal.

At the Hyatt Regency in downtown Denver, the concierge team offers free beer tokens for guests to use at an eatery across the street that serves a rotating list of handcrafted Colorado beers.

The Hoxton Hotel in Brooklyn displays books in its rooms that were donated by local business owners, artists and residents.

The donors write local recommendations for the hotel guests inside each book cover.

Jupiter Next, a hotel in Portland, Ore., partners with local businesses to offer special packages highlighting everything from doughnuts to tattoos to cannabis.

Other hotels are winning over guests by leaving presents for them.

Each Kimpton Hotel leaves a locally inspired gift in guests’ closets.

For example, in Palm Springs, Calif., guests receive a nine-inch emerald green statue of a camel.

It is a nod to an antiquated California law that makes it illegal to walk a camel down certain streets between the hours of 4 and 6 p.m.

At the Bankside Hotel in London, housekeeping leaves a yellow box of Guatemalan worry dolls on pillows. The instructions say that guests are supposed to whisper their anxieties to the dolls before they sleep, transferring them to the dolls and out of their minds.

Then there are the touches that are meant to go unnoticed.

In Marriott’s headquarters in Bethesda, Md., Stoeckl has a concept room where he tests every part of a hotel room.

“For example, we have many iterations of lighting systems to figure out the easiest way to maneuver them,” he said. “We don’t want to be one of those hotels where you have to wake up early to spend time figuring out how to turn on the lights.

“At the end of the day in our industry, a lot of the focus is on delivering unique, memorable experiences, and often those are achieved through very small moments.”

WASHINGTON POST HANDOUT PHOTOS

Top, the lobby reception desk at the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok has panels covered in gold leaf, the same material as seen on Thai Buddha statues. Below left, the Jupiter Next hotel in Portland, Ore., has partnered with Jayne, a local dispensary, for an “Everything but the Weed Kit.” Below right, at Kimpton The Rowan hotel in Palm Springs, Calif., guests can take home a nine-inch emerald green statue of a camel.

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Native fastball nationals returning to P.G. in 2020

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca

Having hosted the Canadian Native Fastball Championships in 2016, Harley Desjarlais thought Prince George was perhaps a decade away from hosting the event again. But it’s coming back to the city next summer. Prince George submitted the only bid last weekend in Winnipeg and the national tournament will return July 31-Aug. 2, 2020.

If it’s anything like the last time it came around, Prince George fastball fans won’t be the only ones to benefit. Prince George Tourism estimates the 2016 tournament and its 77 teams provided a $4.5 million boost to the city’s economy.

“We had it in 2016 and we didn’t think we’d be up in the queue for eight or 12 years so we’re quite happy to have it again,” said Desjarlais, the tournament organizing committee chairman.

“We had an indication that nobody from B.C. was bidding on it and we decided to put one together with the city of Prince George. There’s still a bit of hard work involved. We had to identify a title sponsor, we had to get a commitment for facilities, and we had to get letters of support from the surrounding indigenous community and Softball BC to show that the city was behind us.

“An event of this magnitude is perfect for a city of this size because the city is very appreciative of the impact it has. It tends to get lost in a bigger city like Edmonton or Winnipeg. We get excellent response and we consider the city of Prince George to be our partners in this.”

The 2016 tournament was well-attended and turned a profit, which Desjarlais says has been turned over to the local men’s and junior teams to fund their travel to out-oftown tournaments.

“To us, it’s not just about running the tournament, it’s about creating a legacy that allows us to grow the game,” said Desjarlais. “It’s not just a fastball tournament, it’s a cultural gathering. We have a lot of people in Prince George who have family right across the prairies and right here in B.C. as well. Traditionally they meet once a year (at the Canada Day tournament in Prince George) but this will be a lot bigger than

that and we’re really excited about it. We’re going to get a lot of the aboriginal organizations involved too.”

Desjarlais expects hotels and restaurants will be full next again year when as many as 80 teams in five divisions come for the three-day event. In case of weather delays, the fields at Carrie Jane Gray Park and Freeman Park will also be reserved for Monday, Aug. 3. Teams will compete in open men’s, open women’s, masters men’s, masters women’s and junior divisions. “It could be challenging because we have a finite amount of parks here, and we want to get everybody home by Sunday night,” said Desjarlais. The Big Guy Lake Kings of Prince George

Spruce Kings hire Leung, Drazenovic

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

The Prince George Spruce Kings have solidified their coaching staff for the upcoming season, announcing this week they’ve hired Jessie Leung as associate coach and Nick Drazenovic as skills and development coach.

Leung, 34, has B.C. Hockey League coaching experience as an associate with the Trail Smoke Eaters the past two seasons, helping the team reach the Interior Conference final last season, after taking the team two rounds deep into the playoffs in 2017-18. Prior to joining the Smokies in 2017, the 34-year-old New Westminster native built a 73-35-10-4 record coaching the Valley West Hawks in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League – three years as the head coach and three as an assistant. With Leung at the helm, the Hawks won the major midget league championship in 2016.

“I’m excited to be joining a firstclass organization in the Prince George Spruce Kings,” said Leung, in a team release. “As someone who watched the program from a far last season, I was impressed with the structure, execution and accountability demonstrated throughout the team.”

Leung will be behind the Kings’ bench with Alex Evin, who has taken on the role as head coach since the departure of Adam Maglio, who moved on to the

WHL with Spokane Chiefs.

“I’m excited to add Jessie to our staff,” said Kings general manager Mike Hawes. “I know that he will complement Alex very well. Our discussions with Jessie over the past couple of weeks have been very good. His knowledge of the game is exceptional and I’m confident that he understands what are expectations are as an organization. Our organization has taken a lot of strides forward in recent years and adding a good coach like Jessie will help us continue down that path.”

Drazenovic is no stranger to Prince George junior hockey.

A former captain of the Prince George Cougars, he was the WHL team’s director of player development the past three seasons, beginning in February 2017. After getting drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the sixth round in 2005, Drazenovic played nine seasons of pro hockey in the NHL and AHL before he retired in 2016.

“I’m excited to join the Spruce Kings and I’m excited to continue to help grow hockey development in the city that has given me so much,” said Drazenovic.

Drazenovic, a 32-year-old native of Prince George, is owner-operator of Northern Elite Hockey, a local organization which teaches skills to hockey players of all ages.

“I’ve known Nick for a lot of years and am very proud and excited to add him to our coaching

finished third in the open men’s division at the national tournament which wrapped up Sunday in Winnipeg. The Kings lost 4-3 in the A final to the Peguis Redmen of Manitoba, the eventual champions. Prince George went 3-0 in the round-robin, starting with a 15-0 win over the Peguis Chiefs. They beat the Standing Buffalo Dakotas 8-1, then beat the Ontario Smoke 4-3 on a walkoff double from Eli Jules.

In the A-B final. the Kings lost 6-4 to the Ontario Smoke.

The Prince George River Kings finished third at nationals in the 2016 and Desjarlais promised the Prince George men’s team will be even more competitive when it has home field advantage next year.

staff,” said Hawes. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our group. The finer points of the game that he will be able to teach our players is going to be incredibly valuable.”

Earlier in the week, the Kings acquired the rights to 20-year-old defenceman Sol Seibel from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in a deal for future considerations. Seibel was captain of the Silverbacks last season and has played 135 BCHL games. The Kamloops native played two seasons with the Vernon Vipers before joining the Silverbacks in 2017. He had 13 assists and 72 penalty minutes in 43 games last season for Salmon Arm.

The Kings have also traded 18-year-old forward Sean Donaldson to the Nanaimo Clippers for futures. Donaldson was added to the Kings roster last year in a trade from the Trail Smoke Eaters 13 games int the season. He picked up four goals and eight ponts in 37 regular season games for the Kings and also drew an assist in 17 games of playoff action.

“Sean is a good kid and a good player who just wasn’t able to reach his full potential with us because our team last season was deep and he didn’t get enough of an opportunity,” said Hawes. “He will get that opportunity in Nanaimo and I wish him nothing but success with his new team.”

The Kings’ training camp starts on Thursday, Aug. 22.

“We were really disappointed coming in third – even though it is in retrospect it’s not bad – because we wanted to come into next year as defending champions,” said Desjarlais. “We’re going to be very hungry next year and we’ll have as good of a team as possible for our fans. In 2016, a lot of us were more focused on running the tournament and the team was an afterthought. This time around we’re going to be a lot more focused on winning and putting the best team forward.” Prince George last won nationals 13 years ago, which marked the end of a seven-year stretch of consecutive Canadian titles, from 1999-2006. The Prince George Lumber Kings won it the first time in 1993.

Bantam Knights improve to 2-0

in Chilliwack

Ted CLARKE Citizen staff

After pounding the Queens Park Royals 24-2 in their opening game at the Baseball BC 15U bantam double-A championship in Chilliwack, the bats went silent on the Jepson Petroleum Knights of Prince George.

The Knights managed just two hits in seven innings against the Ladner Red Sox but still kept up their winning ways in a 1-0 victory.

Noah Lank’s line-drive single to centre field in the bottom of the second inning scored Parker McBurnie from second base with the only run of the game. Caleb Poitras and his relief help, Preston Weightman,combined on a four-hit shutout as the Knights to improved to 2-0 on Day 2 of the 10-team tournament.

The Red Sox threatened in the sixth inning after an error put the lead-off runner on base. A fly ball hit to Lank was turned into a double play when he threw to the shortstop Weightman, who tagged the Ladner runner trying to advance to third base.

In the seventh inning the Red Sox had a runner at third base picked off by a throw to Yandeau from catcher Brenden Gaboury. Weightman, who came in to pitch with two out in the sixth, ended the game with a strikeout.

Having just wrapped up the B.C. Minor Baseball 15U double-A provincial title on Tuesday with their 15-7 win in the final over the Cowichan Val-

ley Cowboys at Nechako Park, the Knights are going after their second B.C. championship this year. The winner this weekend will advance to the Western Canadian bantam double-A championship,

The Knights will be back on the field in Chilliwack today at 11:45 a.m. to face North Delta. Meanwhile, at the Baseball BC 18U midget double-A provincials championship in Burnaby, the PG Surg Med Knights opened with a couple of nailbiters.

They started their tournament Thursday with a 14-13 comeback triumph over the Tri City Thunder, then defeated the Vancouver Expos 12-11.

In the win over Tri City the Knights leaned on Jacob Ross’s relief pitching and overcame a 10-7 deficit in the seventh inning to beat the Thunder. Ross recorded seven straight strikeouts in that game as the MVP for Prince George.

In the Vancouver game, the Knights led 11-4 heading into the seventh inning. Brady Pratt was the game MVP for Prince George.

The Knights went on to beat Queens Park Royals Friday night, and will finish the preliminary round Saturday at 3 p.m. against Ladner.

The Baseball BC midget double-A champion will represent B.C. at the Western Canadian championship also set for next weekend in Strathmore. — see MOUNTIES, page 10

Pitcher Bryson Gould of the Prince George Junior River Kings starts his windup during the Canadian Native Fastball Championships in 2016.

Minor hockey alliance

— from page 1 Sunday in Kelowna, the Knights captured the BC Minor Baseball midget double-A provincial title, beating the Vancouver Canadians 9-4 in the final.

Two Prince George teams are chasing down BC Minor Baseball provincial titles this weekend, both in Mission. The LTN Contracting 15U midget single-A Knights dropped to 2-1 on the third day of their tournament, losing 11-4 to the Vancouver Mounties. The Knights started Wednesday with a 10-8 win over Cloverdale, then defeated the Mission Twins 6-1 on Thursday. Prince George meets the Vancouver Canadians today at 12:15 p.m., then will face the Nanaimo Pirates at 6:15 p.m. The PG Floor Fashions peewee single-A Knights shut out the Salmon Arm Hornets 10-0 on Friday, after dropped their opener Thursday 18-0 to Cloverdale Red Spurs. The Knights have two games on Saturday. They play the White Rock Tritons at 9 a.m., then take on the Ladner Red Sox at 3 p.m.

Red-Foley shines on mound for Blue Jays

ALTER The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Sean Reid-Foley is trying to prove he deserves to stay with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The right-hander’s performance against the New York Yankees on Friday could help his cause.

The Blue Jays starter threw five innings of one-run, five-hit ball and struck out five batters as Toronto beat the Yankees 8-2, tying the four-game series at 1-1.

“I’m just trying to figure out a way to stay here,” said Reid-Foley, who has bounced between Toronto and triple-A Buffalo this year. “I know that may sound a little weird, but the opportunities are here.”

Reid-Foley (2-2) walked two batters 64 of his 95 pitches were strikes, a ratio that impressed his manager.

“He’s got the stuff to pitch in the big leagues,” Charlie Montoyo said. “The prob-

lem is sometimes he gets wild and walks people, but today he threw strikes.”

The Blue Jays have struggled with pitching all season. They traded their ace, Marcus Stroman, to the New York Mets two weeks ago. Starter Aaron Sanchez and reliever Joe Biagini were both traded to the Houston Astros on July 31. Those moves have left large vacancies that players like Reid-Foley are hoping to fill.

“He’s definitely got more composed over the years,” Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen said of Reid-Foley. “He’s a fierce competitor, but he’s staying really composed and worrying about the next pitch.”

Teoscar Hernandez hit two home runs for the sixth multi-homer game of his career. Randal Grichuk and Jansen also hit home runs for the Blue Jays (48-72).

The Yankees (76-40) had their seasonhigh winning streak snapped at nine games.

Former Blue Jay J.A. Happ (9-7) strug-

gled with his control on the mound for the Yankees. He allowed six runs on four hits, walked three batters and allowed three home runs.

Grichuk opened the scoring in the first inning when he sent a 1-1 fastball from Happ over the left-field wall for a two-run homer, giving the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

The Jays added to their lead in the second inning. Hernandez hit his first homer of the game, a full-count solo shot for a 3-0 lead.

In the third, Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner was ejected from the game after arguing balls and strikes from the dugout during Cameron Maybin’s at-bat.

“I didn’t even open my mouth, which is unusual for me,” Gardner said.

After he was tossed, Gardner had to be restrained by Yankees manager Aaron Boone as he made his way to umpire Chris Segal.

On the next at-bat, Mike Tauchman hit a solo homer to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-1.

In the bottom half of the third, Toronto kept its inning alive when Brandon Drury was nearly out while trying to go to third base on a wild pitch. That mistake would have ended the threat, but Toronto challenged the umpire’s ruling that Drury was out. The call was overturned and the inning continued. Jansen was the benefactor as he hit a threerun homer over the centre-field wall to give Toronto a 6-1 lead.

In the fifth inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with two out. Didi Gregorius hit a hard liner up the middle, but Bo Bichette made a sprawling catch to end the inning and save what would have at least two runs for New York.

“He just wanted to assume or wanted to take a guess and he was wrong,” Gardner added. “And then he lied to me about it which was a huge problem, and that’s what made me a little upset.”

Mark Lamb, head coach and general manager of the Prince George Cougars, speaks at media event to

Cougars’

new minor hockey alliance which involves the city’s rep teams. Next to Lamb, from far left, are Andy Beesley, the Cougars vice-president, business; rep team head coaches Brent McIsaac, Mirsad Mujcin, Jason Garneau, Ryan Howse, and Tyler Brough; and Cariboo Cougars general manager Trevor Sprague.

David

A club no one wants to join

How Pittsburgh is reaching out to comfort El Paso, Dayton

HELLER

Karen

The Washington Post

A vigil would help. Yael Perlman would go to one Thursday evening. First, she needed to do something immediate and personal for the victims of El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and Gilroy, Calif. Write letters to the families of the murdered. That’s what she could do.

She thought about when her synagogue was attacked about 10 months ago.

A Saturday morning, before services, by a shooter spewing anti-Semitic statements, killing 11 and wounding six. In the days immediately after, Yael received a cache of handwritten letters from people who lost loved ones in other attacks, including 9/11, letters she treasures and displayed on the fireplace mantel for months.

So earlier this week, Yael, 18, gathered biographies of the victims and used social media to organize a letter-writing event. She put out a plate of grapes. Volunteers arrived Tuesday night, 46 in all, pens ready. On the first floor of her congregation’s new home, folding cafeteria tables were designated by city. Dayton here. El Paso over there.

“Conversation about the shooting here comes up every day,” Yael says.

“Grief doesn’t work on a deadline,” says her mother, Beth Kissileff.

Pittsburgh belongs to a club it never wanted to join, the sites of carnage caused by semiautomatic military-style weapons and hate. As the mass shootings proliferate, through Aurora, Newtown, Parkland and Orlando, these communities compose a loose network of trauma. After each massacre, survivors across the country offer messages of empathy to the latest community affected – while coping with a new surge of sorrow at home.

Most people in Pittsburgh can cite the date of its shooting, especially in the Jewish community of Squirrel Hill, home to a dozen synagogues in less than three square miles.

“Our parents would say ‘Where were you when JFK was shot or on 9/11?’” says Sigalle Bahary, 20. “In Pittsburgh, it’s become the same thing. Where were you on October 27?”

After the murders at Tree of Life synagogue, which also housed New Light and Dor Hadash congregations, the residents of Newtown, Conn., subsidized coffee for two weeks at Commonplace Coffee. There were conversations with people from Parkland, Fla.

A dozen members of the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center mosque, the site of a 2017 attack, made the 12-hour drive to offer solace.

To observe Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, an interfaith Pittsburgh group traveled to Charleston, South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where nine African Americans were murdered in 2015 by a white supremacist. At the end of the service, they were enveloped in a massive group hug from parishioners. People of Pittsburgh, particularly sensitive to carnage related to faith, reached out to residents of Christchurch after 51 people were massacred at two New Zealand mosques in March.

We live in a time of constant vigils staged in central squares and on church steps.

On Wednesday, Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community Center held a banner signing to honor the residents of El Paso, Dayton and this city’s Latinx community. Wishes were inked with silver Sharpies in the center’s central hall, which was decorated with photos of Pittsburgh’s paragon of kindness, Fred Rogers.

The centre held a similar signing after the mass shooting in Virginia Beach, which left 12 dead and four wounded. That was nine weeks ago. The JCC is the hub of the community, a bright and busy place, home to water aerobics for seniors, a fitness centre, lunch programs and a day-care facility teeming with irresistible threeyear-olds. It served as the crisis center after the October shooting. Victims, neighbors and law enforcement officials flooded in. One hundred volunteer therapists counseled 200 people in the first three weeks.

The city’s Center for Victims still counsels around 55 people. Trauma specialists here speak of concentric circles of need,

Above, Sigalle Bahary, 20, left, and Yael Perlman, 18, look through sympathy cards sent from around the world.

Perlman’s father is a rabbi of one of the three Jewish congregations attacked in Pittsburgh in October 2018.

Right, well-wishers at the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh sign banners to be sent to El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Below right, a sign on the fence across the street from the Tree Of Life synagogue.

spreading from the injured and people who lost family members to witnesses and survivors, then to first responders, members of the congregation, residents of the neighborhood.

People blocks away from the crime scene were traumatized. Dozens of emergency vehicles tore through Squirrel Hill that day. One woman, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, remains racked with fear when she hears an emergency siren on the sabbath.

“Each shooting that happens is a real trigger. This past weekend was horrid. I know what all those people are going through,” says Ellen Surloff, president of Dor Hadash. “We’re 10 months past the shooting, but in some ways, we’re nowhere.”

They were fortunate in many ways, congregants say. They were already members of a tightknit geographical and spiritual community. It strengthened in the wake of the tragedy.

Pittsburgh residents feel a particular kinship with El Paso, where the shooting was fueled by hatred of immigrants. The alleged Pittsburgh shooter posted anti-immigrant sentiments, condemning the Jewish community’s outreach efforts to the city’s large refugee population.

There is no road map to the healing. “I wanted to know what the future looks like,” says the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Rabbi Amy Bardack, a member of a committee planning a permanent resiliency center for victims at the JCC. So she called a rabbi in Parkland.

“They were several months ahead of us,” Bardack says. “February was their shooting.” Valentine’s Day.

Several months ahead, as though they were trains setting out from the same station on different dates, a cruel math problem.

“Other mass shootings that are hate crimes are retriggering,” Bardack says. “The high holidays are going to be hard. Fall, as we approach the anniversary of the shooting, is going to be retriggering. All of these touch points can be setbacks.” A trial will be retriggering.

“You have to make room for the pain in it,” Bardack says “It isn’t always the time for political action. You’re not making space for the enormity of the event.”

Carolyn Ban, a member of Dor Hadash who works on the committee helping refugees, was moved to political action. “This tragedy is not just ours, but that of the whole country. I could not sit still and do

nothing,” she says. In January, the University of Pittsburgh professor emeritus helped found Squirrel Hill Stands Against Gun Violence, a sponsor of Thursday’s rally and vigil. “How can you get past it when it keeps happening?” says Stefanie Small of Jewish Family & Community Services, the local partner with HIAS, the refugee group that was a target of the alleged shooter’s wrath. “It’s like the BandAid keeps getting ripped off again and again.”

New Light Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, Yael’s father, was in the synagogue on Oct. 27. “I was doing well until the weekend,” he says, referring to Dayton and El Paso. “I take this very hard. I feel a little bit helpless. I feel people are overwhelmed by all the stories on the news.”

He sits in his new office at Congregation Beth Shalom, surrounded by religious tomes. His congregation and the two others attacked haven’t returned to worship at the Tree of Life building. They may never return. Perlman took off all of July after tending to his congregation of 100 families for months. He looks exhausted.

“The trauma is just a day-by-day thing that we carry,” he says. “It doesn’t seem to go away.”

Squirrel Hill is a neighborhood of stately brick houses and verdant lawns, now placarded with yellow signs that read “No place for hate. Squirrel Hill” and Steelers signs joined by the Star of David. Stars swing from telephone poles and outside the shuttered Tree of Life temple.

Later this month, screens with

children’s art will be erected outside the building to make it look less like a crime scene.

“People want to pay respects. They want to say they’re sorry,” says Stephen Cohen, New Light’s co-president. “We call them trauma tourists. And the people come. And they come. And they come. Over and over again.” Certainly, they will come on Oct. 27. Later this month, the three congregations will announce plans for the first anniversary that no community wants to hold. After an interview at the JCC, Cohen leaves for a meeting with the local public station to discuss commemorative coverage. This, perhaps, is what residents of Virginia Beach, Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton can expect. After all, Pittsburgh is several months ahead.

WASHINGTON POST PHOTOS

Chaos explores a 20-year search for the truth behind the Manson Family murders.

The truer story of Helter Skelter

Greg KING Special To The Washington Post

On a sweltering morning 50 years ago this week, a maid arriving at a secluded Beverly Hills estate found a scene of horror: five dead bodies strewn about the isolated house, among them pregnant actress Sharon Tate, who had rented the property with her husband, director Roman Polanski. Blood was everywhere; it had even been used to scrawl the word “pig” on the house’s front door. The next night, grocery store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife were slaughtered in similar fashion, the killers again leaving bloody messages, including a misspelled Healter Skelter. America was terrified.

Nearly four months passed before the killers were arrested, a strange group of flower children who had lived at an abandoned movie ranch under the spell of their leader, Charles Manson. The murders had been bizarre, but the alleged motive argued by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi in court and expanded in his bestselling book, Helter Skelter, was even more so: an ex-convict who claimed to be both Jesus Christ and Satan, whose (mainly) middle-class followers had seemingly turned into drug-addicted zombies and killed to bring about the end of the world. The Bible and the Beatles’ song, Manson held, both predicted a race war, during which he and his so-called Family would live in a bottomless pit in the desert before emerging to rule the world. But as journalist Tom O’Neill shows in his new book, Chaos, Bugliosi’s flamboyant theory, rather than revealing the truth, merely concealed a tangled mass of contradictory motives in this most infamous of American crimes. Conspiracy theories have ringed the Manson case since 1969, with allegations of drug deals gone bad, CIA-sponsored mind control experiments, celebrity sex tapes and revenge after producer Terry Melcher (Doris Day’s son, who had previously lived at the Tate house) did not give the cult leader a recording contract. It’s a confusing, often conflicting journey down the rabbit hole, as I learned writing my 2000 biography of Tate. O’Neill attempts to burrow deep beneath the surface of the murders. This isn’t so much a history of the crimes as it is a chronicle of his investigation. It started as a feature for now-defunct Premiere magazine in 1999; it took O’Neill 20 years of intensive research, and hundreds of interviews, to bring his story to its ambiguous conclusion. Along the way, he found legal misconduct, suppressed information and loose connections suggesting a much darker picture of what may have led to the 1969 murders. It’s probably no accident that this book appeared after Bugliosi’s death in 2015: O’Neill uncovered troubling indications that the prosecutor may have withheld evidence from the defense and perhaps suborned perjury, strong-armed witnesses and lied during the trials, in an effort to strengthen his Helter Skelter motive. “Much of what we accept as fact,” O’Neill writes of the case, “is fiction.”

Some of O’Neill’s discoveries are stunning, especially when he’s discussing the inexplicable leniency shown by law enforcement officials and by Manson’s parole officer.

Both before and after the August murders, Manson and several members of his group were arrested for various crimes but never charged. O’Neill speculates that this may have led to some sort of later coverup, meant to conceal the fact that inaction may have resulted in additional deaths.

O’Neill worries that his explorations make him “one of ‘those people’: an obsessive, a conspiracy theorist, a lunatic.” Indeed, the last third of the book tosses in shadowy figures and their possible connections to Manson.

There’s the CIA, hoping to use unwitting hippies in San Francisco to study the effects of LSD; the director of the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic, investigating whether amphetamines led to violence; and even suggestions that a man tied to Lee Harvey Oswald assassin Jack Ruby may have crossed paths with Manson and used him in some kind of unofficial mind-control investigation. It’s all intriguing, perhaps even suggestive of some dark motive behind the murders, but O’Neill is unable to make the connections or even reach any firm conclusions: “I didn’t have a smoking gun,” the author admits.

There’s plenty of new information that makes Chaos a worthwhile addition to the canon of Manson literature, even if it ends without a unified theory of the crimes and their motivations.

“My goal isn’t to say what did happen,” O’Neill explains, “it’s to prove that the official story didn’t.” In that he succeeds.

Helter Skelter may no longer convince as a motive, but, with Manson’s death in 2017, it is unlikely that history will ever penetrate the remaining mysteries surrounding the grisly events that summer of 1969.

— Greg King is the author of The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria: The Sinking of the World’s Most Glamorous Ship, due out in April.

WASHINGTON POST HANDOUT IMAGE

Democracy’s crisis began in the 1970s

Mario DEL PORO Special to the Washington Post

Simon Reid-Henry’s Empire of Democracy is elegantly written and often intelligent, yet remains a fragmentary, incomplete and at times stunningly imprecise book. The point of departure, on which many historians of the modern world now focus, is the 1970s, when some of the current intractable problems were first incubated. To Reid-Henry, democracy is not a static and ahistorical system. It’s more fragile and vulnerable than we often realize, as its current crisis clearly reveals. The 1970s witnessed the convergence of multiple crises, political and economic. Industrial productivity – the measure of output per unit of input, which defines the basic efficiency of the economy – plummeted, and so did business profits; declining growth unexpectedly combined with skyrocketing inflation, driven also, but not exclusively, by the steep rise of the price of oil; nation-states struggled to include a more diverse, aging and demanding citizenry, and to preserve their sovereignty vis-a-vis technological changes and new forms of global financial speculation that transcended borders and faced an increasingly weak firewall in outdated national regulations.

The pillars of the post-1945 Western, affluent and partially redistributive society began to be inexorably eroded. That society had been based on the assumption that a stable equilibrium between liberty and equality could and should be achieved through economic growth and an expanding welfare state administered at the national level. From the late 1960s, that assumption was first challenged and then discarded. A political, social and even cultural realignment ensued. The timeline and intensity of this realignment varied, but no society examined here –in North America, Europe or Oceania – really escaped it. More and more global in scope, the “triumvirate power of business, banking and political leaders” had an easy game against a fragmented and weakened labor. Its objective was to restore both political stability and business profitability: to “save capitalism,” ReidHenry writes, more than “safeguard democracy.” Or, better (and more in tune with the title of the book), to radically rethink the meaning of democracy, subordinating the search for equality to a very narrowly defined conception of freedom, in which the private individual is the primary, and often the only, “political unit,” Reid-Henry contends.

A turn to monetarism – centered on the assumption that the key variable was the supply of money and empowering as never before the unelected officials of the Fed and various central banks – acted in combination with policies of deregulation that removed states’ controls on financial activities, competition for access to swiftly transferrable capital and a general effort to loosen the constraints on market activity. The weakening of national sovereignty was not matched by the effective creation of regional or global governance, often limited to ad hoc structures such as the Group of 6 (then of 7, 8 and 20) inaugurated in the mid-1970s. The new system was volatile, finance-dominated and centered on the towering figure of the citizen-consumer, the epitome of this new understanding of what freedom was and ought to be: the possibility to consume as never before, relying on easy and unregulated credit.

Reid-Henry narrates this story with elegance and gusto. He strives to leave no base untouched and jumps confidently from examining western Sydney’s urban transformation to commenting on Verona’s communist social clubs. Unfortunately, this confidence seems unwarranted, and the book is marred by inexcusable factual mistakes. Just to mention some of the most glaring: Alcide De Gasperi, Italy’s prime minister from 1945 to 1953, was not a “former resistance fighter”; in France the death penalty was abolished not in the early 1960s but in 1981 (with the last execution by guillotine taking place as late as 1977); when the Cold War crumbled, Charles Krauthammer was not “a young and soon to be famous political aide,” but a renowned columnist and a Pulitzer Prize laureate; during the Cold War the Balkans had been anything but “well within the Soviet orbit.” The paperback edition that this book deserves will certainly need much more thorough editing and fact-checking. Despite the impressive scope of the analysis, that analysis is nonetheless incomplete, insofar as it describes processes of global integration that would require the inclusion of other actors and stories, beginning of course with China and East Asia. The transformation of democracy and capitalism in the West cannot, in other words, be understood by isolating and disentangling just the West, as broad and flexible as we want it to be. — Mario Del Pero is a professor of international history at SciencesPo in Paris.

WASHINGTON

Empire of Democracy is the new book from Simon Reid-Henry.

Can’t sleep?

Here’s some cheap – and not so cheap – changes that might help

Eustacia HUEN

Special to The Washington Post

Brain research has shown how relevant sleep is to health, so it’s more important than ever to get a good night’s sleep.

In the bedroom, that means not just decorating in calming colours but also minimizing stressors and optimizing conditions for a restful night.

We asked some experts for advice and products to achieve that.

Minimize noise

A key obstacle to uninterrupted sleep is noise.

To reduce it, Brooklyn-based architect and designer Adam Meshberg, founder of Meshberg Group, recommends soundproofing the walls – building an additional thin wall in front of the original, adding a layer of QuietRock sheetrock, or sealing any cracks or gaps within the walls.

To a lesser extent, wallcoverings can also absorb sound, he says, though a padded wallcovering will do more than a simple wallpaper.

Cracks and gaps are also a problem when it comes to windows.

Restoring or replacing drafty windows won’t just improve your heating and cooling bills; doing so can make a huge difference in the amount of noise seeping in.

If renovation isn’t an option, some companies will install a thin window behind your existing window for extra soundproofing.

CitiQuiet in New York says it can eliminate 95 per cent of street noise.

For a simpler fix, getting an upholstered headboard (or a bed that comes with one) helps with acoustics, says Florida-based designer Adriana Hoyos.

Go for fabrics at least one millimeter thick; suede, velvet, leather and leatherette are stylish options for absorbing excess noise.

Andrew Bowen, director of staging at ASH NYC, suggests a combination of loose items – a large area rug (he likes the Rug Company’s Deep Pile Merino Natural Rug, $137 (all prices US) per square foot), floor-to-ceiling window drapery and a fully upholstered bed (he recommends Cisco Brothers’ April Modern Classic White Linen Slipcovered Bed, $2,375$3,000 at Kathy Kuo Home) – for a quiet, relaxing environment. Alternatively, try white noise.

A fan might do the trick, but Julien Baeza, assistant project manager at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles, suggests Spotify and soundscape machines.

Keep the lights

out

Lights out is essential to bedtime. In particular, avoid exposure to the blue light from LED bulbs and electronic devices, says Pablo Castillo, sleep medicine specialist at Mayo Clinic.

“The body reacts to this artificial light as if it (were) still daytime,” he said in an email, “and the pineal gland will stop producing the sleep hormone melatonin, resulting in poor sleep quality.”

That’s why you should stay away from bright light for at least three hours before bedtime, reduce screen time, and set devices on night mode an hour or two before bed, plus use blue-light-blocking coating on screens or glasses if you “use computers and digital devices heavily,” Castillo wrote.

To lightproof the bedroom, “blackout window treatments are a must,” said Greg Roth, a designer at Home Front Build in Los Angeles, by email. “Installing a cornice box at the ceiling level can help prevent light from escaping upward from the windows and reflecting off the ceiling.” Meshberg recommends the Shade Store and Somfy for motorized shades.

Go soft and simple

Simplify your space for sleeping only.

It doesn’t matter whether you live in a mansion or a studio, you can declutter for a calming effect,

according to Meridith Baer, founder of staging company Meridith Baer Home.

A sleep-friendly bedroom is like a “good snuggle” – one that makes you “feel embraced and safe,” like a cocoon, Alex P. White, a furniture designer and decorator based in New York and Los Angeles, said in an email.

So keep things “tonal and tactile with as many luxurious materials as your budget allows.”

As for decor, keep things light and uncomplicated, says New York designer Ryan Korban. He recommends using lightcolored paints that are warm and not stark (he likes Lily White from Benjamin Moore) and light-wood floors.

For the most soothing tone, Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, recommends sky blue, writing in an email that it’s a “positive color” with a sense of “dependability” that can help you fall asleep.

You can create a “blue sky” by painting the ceiling, Eiseman suggests. Make it high-gloss for more definition.

Follow a schedule

Not everyone needs eight hours of sleep, but to “avoid chaos in your circadian rhythms, it is suggested that you maintain the same schedule every day,” says Rachel Salas, sleep specialist and associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

“Lights in the bedroom should be dimmable or have the ability to adjust to a low setting,” Meshberg says.

They can help your brain transition to slumber mode. Go for bedside sconces or lamps (he likes the Pennant Wall Lamp by Andrew Neyer, $200-$300 at Y Lighting, and the Convessi Sconce, $495 at Restoration Hardware).

For frequent travellers and those working night shifts, a circadian lighting system, which adjusts from a warm color spectrum to a cooler spectrum and back to mimic natural light cycles, can be especially useful.

Such systems can “artificially create an ambiance that minimizes jet lag and allows for deep sleep,” Baeza wrote in an email. “Some sophisticated LED systems allow for automatic dimming and color changes over time.”

The brand Ketra sells lighting fixtures, bulbs and controls that can create such natural lighting and integrate with home automation systems.

Focus on the bed

No doubt, the most important component is the bed.

That’s why selecting the right mattress, sheets and pillows can help you get a good slumber. Meshberg recommends 200- to 300-thread-count organic cotton sheets such as the Classic Starter Sheet Set (starting at $93, Brooklinen) and the Italian Vintage-Washed 464 Percale Sheet Set ($369-$429, Restoration Hardware).

They “breathe well” and don’t get “too satiny and shiny” like sheets with higher thread counts. Also, “the quality and proper weight of your duvet and down comforter are essential in regulating your temperature,” Meshberg wrote. Generally, 700-fill comforters are best for winter and 600-fill works well during summer. (Fill refers to down; synthetics might be labeled as heavyweight or lightweight.)

He recommends the down comforters from Brooklinen ($199-$299) and the Organic Italian Vintage-Washed 464 Percale Duvet ($389-$449) from Restoration Hardware. For a mattress, he suggests Casper’s Original ($595-$1,195) or Wave ($1,345-$2,495) for those who prefer more support.

The Beautyrest Recharge Dawson 121/2-inch hybrid firm mattress ($1,299-$1,999, mattressfirm.com) works well for those sharing beds with restless sleepers because the memory foam won’t move around as much, Meshberg says. As for pillows, “synthetic is the best” because you can wash it, he says.

WASHINGTON POST PHOTOS

A sleep-friendly bedroom, top, is like a “good snuggle,” one that makes you “feel embraced and safe,” furniture designer and decorator Alex White says. Light floors, above, or a thick rug, below, lend themselves to a more serene sleeping environment.

Karin Lynn Dow Hoesel loving mother, grandmother, and friend. Karin, 54, of Prince George, BC and Houston, Texas passed away peacefully on August 6, 2019 after a brave battle with cancer. She was surrounded by her loving family and close friends. Karin was born August 17, 1964 in Prince George where she attended Van Bien Elementary, John McInnis Junior High School and Prince George Senior Secondary School. Karin found her true calling in helping others and completed her nursing degree later working at the Texas Methodist Hospital in Houston. She was hard working and would help anyone in need. She was generous, caring and truly loved and respected by everyone, brightening the life of everyone who knew her. Her kids and grandkids were everything to her. She was kind, fun-loving, with a quirky sense of humour. She was a passionate soccer player who considered her teammates as a second family. Karin is survived by her loving family, sons Korby (wife Maria, and son Miko), Keenan (partner Marisol) and daughter Kerstin (husband James, son Lennon and daughter Milo).

We love you Karin and will miss you dearly.

Vera Witt It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of our beloved mother and grandmother Vera Witt, surrounded by her family on July 28, 2019. Born June 9, 1925, Vera grew up on a farm near Soda Lake, Alberta with her parents William and Alice Mack and 2 brothers Mike and Sandy. She moved to Prince George in 1946, and married Howard in 1948. They had 2 children, Pat and Bill. Vera and Howard started their marine business in the early 60’s on the Old Summit Lake Road, later incorporating 1964 to Howie’s Marine Service Ltd moving to property on the Nechako River 1971. She was a founding partner of The Inn Flower Place. Vera loved to travel, gardening, needlework, reading and loved her pets. Vera was always there for her family and spent the last 3 years at Rainbow Long Term Care Home - her son by her side every day. Vera is survived by her only son Bill (Bev), grandchildren Coralea Rose, Jason Rose, Amanda (Stephen) Szerencsi, Danilea (Rob) MacLeod, son in law John Rose, and 6 great grandchildren. She is predeceased by her parents, loving husband Howard (2015), only daughter Patricia Rose (2010) and brothers Mike and Sandy. Special thank you to all staff at Rainbow. No service by request.

In Loving Memory of Darlene Pederson April 5, 1945 July 17, 2019

Darlene passed away peacefully July 17, 2019 after her almost 3 year battle with cancer.

As per Darlene’s wishes, there will be no service held. She will be laid to rest beside her parents, Clinton and Hazel Wedow, in a small private ceremony in Briarlea, Saskatchewan. Darlene leaves behind her children, grandchildren and extended family; Darrel (Roxanne) Clinton & Cole. Kim (Brian) Colton, Carson, Connor & Casidy. Kirby (Linda) Jessica & Charley. Cory (Amie) Hayden, Drew, Easton & Mathew. Lee (Don) Stephanie. John. Jody (Darcy) Jiliane & Kael. As well as her three sisters: Annette, Sharon & Lynne and many nieces, nephews and countless fantastic & loving friends. Special Thanks to Dr Powell at the PG Cancer Center and to all the nurses, care aides and staff at the Prince George Hospice House who were so very compassionate and caring in her time of need. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Darlene may be made to the Prince George Hospice Society. Darlene was a wonderful mother, incredible friend and beautiful soul.

She will be always loved, never forgotten & forever missed

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Adult & Youth Newspaper Carriers Needed in the Following areas:

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It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Sandra Waite. Her battle with illness is over. She is survived by her husband Mike, Children Danny Karen, Sherry, Kathy and Jo-Anne and ten Grandchildren in B.C. and her sisters Donelda and Ella-Mae and numerous nieces and nephews in Ontario. She was predeceased by her sisters Joyce and Iva and brothers Fred, Cecil, Melvin and John. There will not be a service at her request. In lieu of flowers

to the

the Beaverly Fire Hall on August 31st at 2 pm.

Mason, Bea (Beddow) Oct 20, 1935 ~ Aug 5, 2019

Bea Mason passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 5, 2019 at the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops at the age of 83 years. She was born on October 20, 1935 in Wycliffe, British Columbia. She is survived by her children Marty (Shannon), Joyce (Fred) Judy and David as well as her many grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was predeceased by her dad Andy and her mom Rena, sister Clem, first husband Don, second husband Bob and son Randy. Bea was very involved in the community including the Lions Club, Creekside Senior Centre, the museum, the Rod & Gun Club, and Crown Jewel Association. Her great passion in life was working with the Royal Canadian Legion. A Celebration of Life service will be held on August 17, 2019 from 12:00 - 3:00 from the Chase Community Hall at 547 Shuswap Avenue, in Chase, British Columbia. Memorial Donations may be made the to Royal Canadian Legion Branch 107, Chase, British Columbia.Online condolences may be made at www.tvfh.ca

Thomas ‘Tom’ Arthur Smyth passed away with his family by his side August 7, 2019 at the age of 79 years. He will be remembered and sadly missed by his loving wife Betty; children Christie (Dale) Young of Summerland, BC, Cindy (Claude) Bradley of Cold Lake, AB, and Julie (Dave) Quartly of Prince George, BC; grandchildren Rob Bradley of Edmonton, AB, Hannah Young of Summerland, BC, and Shaylin and Aidan Quartly of Prince George, BC; and brothers Bob Smyth of Kamloops, BC and Bruce (Pat) Smyth of Nanaimo, BC. Tom will be well remembered for his quiet sense of humor and love of family. He lived in Prince George for 46 years where he worked at Intercon Pulp Mill as an electrician for the last 30 years. He lived in Summerland for the past five years. He enjoyed participating in the Recope program. Condolences may be directed to the family through providencefuneralhomes.com 250494-7752.

Revenues of $150.000 plus annually from seasonal work Lots of opportunity to expand the business. Transition support available to the right buyer Serious Enquiries Only Office 250-596-9199 Cell 250-981-1472

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Developer pushes affordable housing

Natalie WONG Bloomberg

Mitchell Cohen writes policy papers and show tunes about affordable housing. He wears a pork pie hat, favors fleece over pinstripes and is easy to tear up when talking about local “empowerment.”

He’s also president of The Daniels Corp., one of Canada’s biggest developers.

The closely held firm has built about 30,000 homes around Toronto, a quarter of which were sold below-market prices. It’s also a lead developer in the transformation of Regent Park, one of North America’s biggest socialhousing makeovers – and the subject of Cohen’s musicals.

Being an affordable housing advocate and a big-time developer may not be a contradiction for Cohen. But he said governments are going to have to nudge more companies into action to tackle the growing affordability crisis.

“Without the government engagement, the private sector is not going to create affordable housing,” said the 68-year-old in an interview at Bloomberg’s Toronto office.

Cities from Sydney to San Francisco are grappling with how to do just that after years of relentless price gains. Berlin plans to freeze rents for five years. And in San Francisco, tech giants are trying to reverse some of the housing inflation their wages have helped create: Google has said it would spend $1 billion over the next 10 years repurposing its own land for residential use and incentivising developers to build affordable housing.

Toronto is no exception. Home prices surged 60 per cent in the five years through June and the vacancy rate for rentals is hovering near one per cent. Mayor John Tory has pledged to create 40,000 affordable rental units in the next 12 years and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing a $55 billion, 10-year program promising 125,000 new homes.

Tackling supply is key and that means developers have to be at the table, said Cohen, who runs the day-to-day operations of Daniels, which has averaged annual revenue of about $200 million in its last two fiscal years. The company was founded in 1983 by John H. Daniels, former chairman and chief executive officer of Cadillac Fairview, now owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

“Developers are creative, they will find a way to work within the

system,” Cohen said. Companies are becoming sensitized to the fact that affordability is becoming important, even if it might not be as

“crazy profitable.”

Cohen reels off a few policies that could work: intentional disposition of land, where governments sell or lease public land to developers on the condition they build affordable units; inclusionary zoning which requires developments to include affordable units; and down-payment assistance for first-time buyers – now part of the federal government’s platform.

“You want to create an environment where developers can not only live with but hopefully even become comfortable with the regulations because ultimately you want them to be your allies,”

Alan Mallach, a senior fellow at Washington-based Center for Community Progress, said.

Creating allies has been Cohen’s playbook since 1973 when he was working for the YMCA in Montreal. Tenants in the dingy complex that housed his office came in waving eviction notices.

The landlord wanted to demolish the site and build condos – they had 30 days to vacate.

“I saw how vulnerable people are and how close to the margins people can be,” he said. “All of a sudden, I was a communitydevelopment worker turned shitdisturber activist overnight.”

Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, was prime minister and had just created a national housing plan that offered funding for co-operatives to buy or lease land. It was the ammunition Cohen

needed: he marched 300 tenants to city hall to protest the demolition. Under the media glare, he negotiated with the landlord to build condos on half the land, and formed the co-op on the other. It had a 99-year lease and is still operating today.

Fast-forward nearly 50 years and Daniels is allying with the city of Toronto to pull off the massive renovation of Regent Park, a mix of subsidized and market-rate rentals and homes for purchase. After almost 15 years and a more than $1 billion investment from Daniels and the city, the 69-acre site barely resembles the crimepocked neighborhood it was.

Decrepit apartment blocks constructed in the 1940s and 1950s have been razed and replaced by modern new buildings. Once a no-go area for big business, brands such as Royal Bank of Canada, have moved in.

Daniels worked with Toronto Community Housing to build 3,558 units so far, of which about 30 per cent are considered affordable. Almost 2,000 more units are under construction. About half the roughly 2,083 people in social housing have a new home in the development. Others are waiting, have deferred or decided to move out.

Daniels invested its own capital alongside the city in the first two phases, sharing profits generated from condo sales. In the third phase, it bought the land from the city to develop several condo buildings, a seniors residence and a rental building. Toronto Community Housing owns the social

and affordable rental units.

Daniels is now up against Tridel Builders Inc. and Capital Developments on the final two phases of the project. Other developers are also expanding further into affordable housing.

“We built social, affordable housing right beside market housing, and we did it because we wanted to demonstrate that people were still going to buy and our land values were not eroded,” he said.

That bet has paid off. Townhouses that sold for $500,000 when the development first began, have gone for as much as $1.5 million. Purchasers can access various government-backed programs to get a on the first rung of home-ownership and rents in the social-housing unit are geared to income. But they’re close to $2,000 elsewhere in the development, nearing the downtown average, according to a broker in the area.

The gentrification is creating some tension between tenants who have lived in the community their whole lives and owners of the shiny new condominiums.

“It’s not equal,” said Kendell Campbell, 29, who’s lived in Regent Park since 1993 and now lives in one of the market-rent apartments. He points to the lush green balconies of the condos versus the sparser ones of the social-housing units.

Cohen’s fifth iteration of a musical about the revitalization will address some of that tension.

“We’re learning as we go,” he said. “We’ve been figuring this out day by day.”

Cohen’s ties to the non-profit sector run strong. Daniels has donated land and provided affordable housing to groups such as Habitat for Humanity and Covenant House. It sold units to Peel Living, resulting in one of the largest single non-profit developments in the country, he said.

Fostering community spirit is as important as delivering the housing, Cohen said. When he came across a group of Bangladeshi women in the neighborhood who missed gathering to sew he commissioned them to make a massive quilt to hang in the lobby of one of the new condominiums.

“It’s more than just buildings,” said Cohen, choking up as remembered the smiles on the women’s faces the day it was unveiled. “This is about empowerment and every single part of what we are doing there is about creating capacity in the local neighborhood.”

composite index closed down 63.19 points at 16,341.34 on the day, but was still up nearly 70 points over the trading week shortened by the Civic holiday. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 90.75 points at 26,287.44. The S&P 500 index was down 19.44 points at 2,918.65, while the Nasdaq composite was off by 80.02 points at 7,959.14. All three stock markets bounced back during a midweek rally after plunging as much as 3.5 per cent Monday on signs of an acceleration of the trade war between the U.S. and China. The selloff was sparked by China letting its currency fall to its lowest level in a decade and deciding to stop U.S. crop purchases in response to the Trump administration declaring it a currency manipulator. While the week ended up stronger than could have been foreseen, new signs of trade tensions surfaced Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump said the American government would not do business with Huawei and Trump indicated that he’s not ready to reach a trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy.

Eight of the 11 major sectors of the TSX closed the day lower, led by materials with First Quantum Minerals Ltd. losing seven per cent along with other big gold producers. The decreases came as the December gold contract was down $1.00 at US$1,508.50 an ounce after hitting a six-year high earlier in the week. The September copper contract was down 1.85 cents at US$2.59 a pound. Health care fell about one per cent even though CannTrust Holdings Inc. reversed an early share loss to close up more than 40 per cent despite announcing an independent outside auditor had withdrawn its endorsement of the company’s 2018 financial statements. The energy sector was the best performer, led by Crescent Point Energy Corp. and Encana Corp. with crude prices bouncing back from weakness earlier in the week on concerns that a slowing global economy would hurt demand. In addition, Saudi Arabia indicated it could be advancing the initial public offering of its stateowned oil company Aramco to early next year.

BLOOMBERG PHOTO

Mitchell Cohen, chief executive officer of Daniels Corp., chats with a reporter during an interview last month.

CP FILE PHOTO

The Regent Park Community Centre in Toronto was functioning as a round-the-clock warming centre during a cold spell in early January 2018.

Closing church giving $1 million to charity

The Washington Post

For 63 years, the low-slung, brick church on Twinbrook Parkway has proudly advertised its progressive values. Its logo incorporates rainbow colours. Its members march in Pride parades. A sign formerly on the front lawn declared, “All Are Welcome. Really.”

Twinbrook Baptist Church in Rockville, Md/, has long been a powerful advocate for a wide range of marginalized groups –from children with autism, to students with lunch-money debt, to LGBTQ Christians seeking a safe place to worship.

So when declining membership forces Twinbrook’s ministry to end this month, Rev. Jill McCrory says she’ll rest easy knowing that her congregation will build on its legacy by selling the church and donating $1 million of the proceeds.

“I’m proud of them for doing that this way,” McCrory said. “Many churches wait until the last minute, and they just dwindle and dwindle and dwindle.”

Across denominations, congregations are shrinking as Americans increasingly separate from organized religion. Fourteen per cent of Americans identified as unaffiliated in 2000, while 25 per cent labeled themselves that way in 2016, according to a report from the Public Religion Research Institute.

As a result, many congregations are forced to disband or to adopt a more financially sustainable model, said the Rev. Elizabeth Lott, the pastor at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans who writes about the challenges facing contemporary churches.

Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ga., sold its brick-and-mortar space to do more work in the community. St. John’s Catholic Church in Virginia, Minn., demolished its building to save money to accommodate the growth of the community’s only remaining Catholic congregation and its school. Fifteen nonprofits operate out of Lott’s own church, she said, while only about 80 people fill the pews on Sundays.

“There are churches that are not in denial, that are facing their grief head-on and that are trying to do this well,” Lott said. “I think the way to do it is to find out, what’s the real impact we can have?”

For Twinbrook, that impact involves selling the building to the Pentecostal church Centro Cristiano Peniel for less than the market rate. The Spanish-language congregation had shared Twinbrook’s space for 14 years, McCrory said, and Twinbrook wanted to enable them to buy the building. (McCrory declined to specify the sale price.)

“For us, it’s just a miracle,” said Angel Chavez, the associate pastor at Centro Cristiano Peniel. “Now we can worship (for) as many hours as we want, and we’ll try to invite the community.”

Twinbrook plans to donate more than $1 million of the building’s proceeds to 35 local organizations for school lunch programs, medical clinics, LGBTQ youth programs and

other community initiatives, McCrory said.

During its last weekend of ministry on Aug. 17, the church will present the monetary gifts to Nourish Now, the ARC of Maryland and Comfort Cases, among other groups.

The congregation, which consists of about 50 active members, chose to donate to organizations that share its progressive values, McCrory said. It asked groups it previously worked with to submit proposals explaining what it would do if it received a portion of the funds. The congregation then selected causes that would receive donations ranging from $2,000 to $250,000.

Community Reach of Montgomery County, an organization that provides housing, health care and other services for people in need, plans to use its $250,000 to open a diabetic center at its health clinic for low-income and uninsured adults, executive director Agnes Saenz said.

The organization also expects the money to help subsidize patients’ radiology and laboratory work.

“It’s the best legacy that Twinbrook Baptist can leave to our patients,” Saenz said.

Two years ago, church leaders said, Twinbrook’s congregation realized its numbers were falling and its days as a full-time ministry were probably limited.

People were moving out of the area and older members were passing away, making it hard to afford the maintenance on the

decades-old church building.

Church members considered switching to a part-time pastor or putting more energy into its outreach ministries, among other options. Ultimately, the congregation didn’t want to survive as if it were on hospice care.

Choosing to shut down before doing so was fully necessary, McCrory said, allowed the church to close with dignity because it had a choice in the matter. So did deciding to distribute the proceeds from the building.

“We’re not just going to close the doors and turn off the lights and say, ‘Rockville, do whatever,’” said Regina Gaither, chair of the church council. “We wanted to be able to give back to the community that this church was founded upon.”

Although Twinbrook has declared this period of time to be about “leaving a legacy,” the church appears already to have left a mark on its community. Since it opened its doors as a neighborhood church in 1956, Twinbrook has earned a reputation for welcoming all people in what Gaither called a “wide spectrum of unity.” The church belongs to the Alliance of Baptists, a group of progressive congregations.

Among its other ministries, Twinbrook has been on the front lines of local and national LGBTQ advocacy – counter-protesting the Westboro Baptist Church, helping to form the outreach group Montgomery County Pride Center and joining an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to rule that

federal law prohibits job discrimination against gay and transgender employees.

Twinbrook’s welcome of LGBTQ people mirrors its inclusion of African Americans in the mid-20th century, said Paula Dempsey, the director of partnership relations at the Alliance of Baptists. While some clergy were losing their jobs for welcoming black people into their congregations, Dempsey said, Twinbrook defined itself as a safe place for people of colour.

“This church is a model for how other churches that are seeing decline can... (pay) it forward – and instead of just spending out and spending out until they have nothing else, actually making a difference in ministry and their communities,” Dempsey said.

To Gaither, Twinbrook is defined by both its welcoming ministry and her family’s long history in the congregation. Gaither said her parents were among the church’s first black couples and her father became a deacon there.

Two years after her father died in 1991, Gaither said the church dedicated to him a stained-glass window in its north annex with a verse from the Gospel of Matthew about serving the marginalized. As long as that window continues to let light into Twinbrook, Gaither said the church will always be a part of her, and she of it.

“The name may change,” she said, “but that’s my family there.”

El Paso residents turn to Catholic traditions after massacre

The Associated Press

The growing memorial for victims of the El Paso massacre reflects the city’s deep roots in Catholicism: a painting of the Virgin Mary sits among teddy bears and candles embellished with religious imagery.

White crosses are adorned with countless rosaries.

Founded by Catholic missionaries, the largely Hispanic city has 75 Catholic churches, including many that are pillars of their communities. Their fundraising bazaars known as kermeses are treasured events that draw hundreds of people with homemade food, music and games.

In this time of tribulation, many of El Paso’s people turn to religious traditions for comfort and strength.

At Wednesday morning mass in St. Mark’s Catholic Church, 57-year-old Margarita Segura said the sermon about persevering in

one’s faith resonated with her.

“That’s what I’m drawing on right now,” Segura said, explaining that the community and the nation can’t let the shooting “break our faith.”

Hundreds of people come and go at the memorial just north of the Walmart where a gunman opened fire on Saturday, leaving 22 people dead and about two dozen wounded.

The white shooter reportedly targeted Hispanics, and eight Mexicans were among the dead.

The visitors drop off flowers, balloons, teddy bears and religious items.

Sometimes large prayer circles are formed.

Others sit vigil and pray the rosary, a string of beads with a cross at the end.

The rosary includes several prayers that take at least 20 minutes to finish.

Maria Tovar was alone as she silently prayed the rosary for the victims.

“So many things happen every day, and this is the way I find peace,” Tovar said.

The missionaries who founded El Paso mixed their traditions with those of indigenous peoples, said Father Arturo J. Banuelas, a lifelong resident who heads St. Mark’s.

That “created a vibrant new expression of faith, where faith was not associated any longer with just an institution, but a way of living that influenced people’s way of life and their values.”

Pope Francis’ visit to neighbouring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, three years ago drew tens of thousands of El Paso residents who crossed the border to see him.

Those who couldn’t get in stood in line for hours to pack an El Paso university football stadium, where the pope’s message was livestreamed. They cheered when his face came on giant screens.

So although many El Paso families might not necessarily be active in the church or even Catholic,

they participate in old traditions like quinceaneras – the celebration of a girl turning 15 – and baptisms and weddings.

The role of religion in American life has diminished over the last decade. While roughly 77 per cent of Americans identify with some form of religion, the percentage of them who consider religion important has dropped in significant ways, according to research conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2014, the latest available data.

Pew found that 53 per cent of people surveyed found religion to be important in their lives, compared with 56 per cent seven years earlier.

Banuelas faces that challenge every day.

He says it’s hard to attract young people who are unhappy with organized religion.

But he also sees a lot of young people looking for meaning in their lives and turning to the church to find it.

“I see that very strongly. There’s a deeper hunger among young people,” he said.

For 43-year-old Heather Leos, religion is a major part of her everyday life.

A Catholic, she walked with her daughters and did the sign of the cross in front of every victim’s cross at the memorial.

Standing on the asphalt under a brutal sun, Leos said she prayed not just for victims but for the shooter’s family.

She only wished she could have shown the young man love and hospitality.

Isela Munoz, a 50-year-old mother of four, is a non-denominational Christian.

At the memorial, she joined a spontaneous prayer circle with her two daughters, leaning her head against their shoulders.

“I just believe that now is the time for us to know the lord, know his word, to reach out to people that have never heard of his mercy and grace,” Munoz said.

Twinbrook Baptist Church in Rockville, Md., plans to sell its building and donate more than

local organizations for community services.