january 20, 2012

POLICE: Road crash statistices released for North region A4Friday, January 20, 2012

Newsline 250-564-0005

w w w . p g f r e e p r e s s . c o m

Is the gay marriage debate back on the table in Canada?

A3

DELynDA [email protected]

Twenty-eight positions have been cut at city hall one day after a report from city manager Derek Bates stated $1.7 million in personnel reductions need to be made to help achieve a total of nearly $2 million in reductions and a bal-anced budget with a 3.12 per cent tax levy.

Of these positions, 19 are vacant, so nine full-time positions currently filled will be cut.

The 28 positions are in parks, community policing, the CN Centre, the Civic Centre, devel-opment and transportation, long-range planning and park planning as well as communications.

The cuts are expected to save the city $2 mil-lion over three years.

Mayor Shari Green said that the current coun-cil has been in place six weeks, and during that time has considered the realities of the bottom lime and considered the citizen’s hard-earned tax money.

“We’ve asked hard questions and turned our eyes to building the future not mortgaging the future,” she said. “It takes willing and coura-geous leadership to make change happen.”

In another bid to save money, the city’s contri-butions to IPG and the library will remain at the 2011 level, Bates said.

Green said that at the end of 2011 council was faced with up to an eight per cent tax increase, something they did not find acceptable. Instead they asked staff to come up with scenarios with an increase between two and four per cent.

What was brought back included a labour component. She said the cuts will not, however,

Cityaxesjobs

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DeLynda PILON/Free Press

Protestors marched from the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council office to the Ramada Wednesday night in protest of the Enbridge joint review panel hearing held at 6 p.m. that evening.


Beating drums, First Nations’ voices raised together in song, and signs plastered with slogans like Say No To Enbridge greeted the Enbridge joint review panel at the Ramada Wednesday night.

About 100 protesters marched from the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council office to the hotel where the hearing was held, unified by a cause in spite of the frigid temperatures, which dropped below minus 30C.

Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee said the protest wasn’t just about the pipeline itself, but the process as well.

“The issue is about more than whether or not they approve the project,” he said.

There is no clear path to deal with First Nations issues, he said, in spite of the fact much of the planned line will cross traditional land. He added as of yet there has been no opportunity to speak about the safety of the proposed

tanker traffic either.And, he said, to many First Nations

people it seems like the outcome of the process has already been decided, no matter what issues are brought for-ward.

“The joint review panel is quite limit-ing,” he said.

Protesters left their signs at recep-tion and joined a crowd which grew to about 300 strong within a lounge at the Ramada.

Joint review panel member Sheila Leggett provided some information about the process and introduced the two other panel members with her, Ken-neth Bateman and Hans Matthews.

Two presenters were on the evening’s agenda. The first spoke about the pos-sible cultural and environmental harm the project might cause while the sec-ond took a scientific approach to the pipeline, explaining a number of calcu-lations which concluded the energy put into retrieving the dilbit (diluted bitu-men) would not be worth the amount of sweet crude oil extracted.

Gary Ducommon with the Metis Nation of B.C. was the first presenter. He shared a short history of the Metis in B.C., and said Metis people have been a documented population in the area since 1793. They are now one of the largest populations of people along the pipeline route. Although the Metis are not against the project, Ducommon said they are very concerned about some aspects of it and believe these issues need to be looked at more closely.

For example, the pipeline will cross three watersheds. The rivers running through those watersheds extend to the Hudson’s Bay, southern and northern B.C. and the arctic.

“More specifically, the Metis people in B.C. are fish eaters,” he said.

Although there is not much oppor-tunity to harvest salmon in the Prince George area anymore, the pipeline proj-ect brings forward the issue of cumu-lative affect, he said. With changes in water temperature and habitat degrada-

Protestors greet panel in P.G.

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Prince George Free Press

POnD HOCKEy: West Lake the site for championships A15


The Keg Restaurant is set to reopen in mid-March

A8Bill phillips 250-564-0005 [email protected]

Up Front■ GAy mArrIAGE

Local couple worried about changesLaw may be changed, and there are concerns about other ‘shenanigans’

Stacey and Sussanne Skidmore-Hewl-ett live together in a cozy home in the city with their pug/pom cross dog and two cats that could pass for twins.

Their home, in the early evening, is redolent with the odour of fresh coffee and something that reminds you it’s dinner time as a pot simmers on the stove. A few soft blankets hang on com-fortable looking chairs and a couch. The news is playing on the television and, since it’s after 5 p.m. in Prince George in January, the lamps are aglow, with the laminate floor reflecting the shine.

Outdoors it is cold, that one week of winter that makes the north gasp has come with a vengeance. Within their home it is warm, comfortable, and very much the same as a multitude of other homes within the city.

The one difference is this married couple happens to be of the same sex.

Rehashing whether or not same sex couples should have the right to be married seems like an enormous waste of time to Stacey Hewlett.

“My first reaction is frustration. Why they care about who’s marrying who is beyond comprehension. Sussanne is the love of my life. I married her,” she said. “There are young kids dying of drug overdoses. There’s HIV. There’s more poverty than ever. So many disgusting things are happening in our province.”

The flurry of reports spawned last week when a federal lawyer argued in court that a same-sex marriage held no legal validity if the couple who wed lived in a jurisdiction that doesn’t rec-ognize such unions did strike a nerve with Sussanne, who has a long-stand-ing passion for politics. She remains concerned that opening the legislation in order to add whatever legalese needs to be put in place to allow for divorces for gays who married in Canada because the union wouldn’t be legal in their own area, which is what some articles reported was afoot, might lead the way to some other back-door she-nanigans, however she is as frustrated over the entire issue as her wife.

“There are too many other things going on in the world that need atten-tion,” she said.

Though there is still a long way to go in educating some people to be respect-ful – not that long ago Stacey was ver-bally attacked by a group of men sitting on the deck at the BX Pub screaming things like ‘dyke’ at her – both women agree there have been many positive changes as well.

Sussanne mentioned the gay pride parade and the snowflake ball. She

said a few tick-ets to the ball are sponsored, allowing youth who might be fearful of talk-ing about where they are going and why to par-ents, to attend.

“I felt privi-leged to be in their presence,” she said. “It’s so nice to see them being comfort-able in their own skin.”

She added the addition of the Gay Straight Alliances in most schools, with the excep-tion of Duchess Park, has really made a differ-ence with accep-tance.

Stacey men-tioned that, sta-tistically, at least 10 per cent of the population is gay. Many youth who don’t have the blessing of the great friends and support-ive family members Stacey and Sus-sanne are both surrounded by, wind up leaving their homes and heading out of small towns for bigger centres, thinking there will be more acceptance there.

“Then they get there, and they are overwhelmed,” Stacey said.

But, in spite of the continuing uphill battle in Canada for gays, it is still one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to gay rights.

Both women remain concerned about other areas of the world, where gay marriage isn’t an issue considering it is actually illegal to be gay in the first place. For example, in Uganda, you can get the death penalty for being gay, she said. For a bird’s eye view of how gay people are treated in the world, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country_or_territory.

Stacey said she knew she was gay by the time she was 14/15 years old.

“Well, forever really,” she added. “It was definitely a struggle, but I had a great support network. I needed to feel comfortable with myself before coming out.”

“We are both fortunate. I have amaz-ing parents and they are good rela-tionship role models. They are loving, caring and supportive, but it was still scary. I was 32 when I came out. I knew in my early teens, though, that I was attracted to women.”

Then the right relationship came along, and though it didn’t end in mar-riage, it did help Sussanne decide that she would never be in a romantic rela-tionship with a man again.

Stacey and Sussanne were friends for many years before romance blossomed between the two. When it did, they were both certain, in short order, they had found exactly the person each was looking for and got married in July of 2010 surrounded by 150 family mem-bers and friends.

Sussanne’s son walked them down the aisle and people later told the cou-ple it was one of the most beautiful lov-ing ceremonies they had witnessed.

Sussanne said she knows Prime Minister Stephen Harper has publicly stated the government will not re-open the issue of gay marriage, but still she worries. She is concerned about other

more vitriolic members of the party who’ve spoken loudly and at length against gays having that right. Stacey wonders how some would react if they discovered one of their children was gay.

“What are you saying to your young children? What are you saying to the general public? That it’s not okay to be different?”

“We are of the opinion you are born gay. You can’t control it,” Sussanne said.

“There are still places you can send children to cure ‘the gay’,” Stacey said.

She added, even if the unthinkable happened and gay marriage became illegal, it would not change her rela-tionship with Sussanne. In her heart, they will always be married.

“It will just change the way we do our taxes and benefits,” she added wryly. “I think it’s ridiculous that people who don’t like my lifestyle think I’m going to change it because of their opinion.”

Instead of spending energy on that, both women agreed it is time to take on some of the bigger issues out there.



Sussanne Skidmore-Hewlett and Stacey Hewlett relax at home with the family dog. Both women beleive there are many more things to be concerned about locally and in the world than same sex marriage.

Cutting through all the numbers on col-lision statistics in the North District leads to one conclusion, according to Insp. Eric Brewer.

“There is a direct cor-relation between the number of people we have on the road and the number of fatals,” he told a press confer-ence Tuesday morning. “When we’ve had the funding to allow us to put targeted enforce-ment on the roads, the number of deaths and injuries goes down.”

The North District covers about three-quarters of the prov-ince, and Brewer said on a good day, they have about 89 people on the road. With so few people covering so big an area, there was a need for a strategy.

“In about 2002, traf-fic services took a look at itself internally. We were looking at statis-tics for individual offi-cers, such as tickets, which generated rev-

enue and paperwork, but we weren’t target-ing driver behaviour.”

That changed, and the first idea was to look at where collisions were occurring.

“We defined three high-crash zones in each area, and started paying more attention to those areas. In 2010, we compared the stats from 2009 with previ-ous years.

“Those high-crash zones had disappeared from the numbers. Targeting them had worked.”

Brewer said there was one very impor-tant other aspect.

“We didn’t see a ‘bal-loon’ effect. We didn’t fix it here and see it get worse over there.”

Under different pro-grams, Brewer said, the RCMP have had opportunities to put more people on the road, targeting specific areas and behaviours.

“Any time that extra funding dries up, the fatals go back up.”

The graph of total fatal victims in the dis-trict shows a steady

decline from 2004 to 2009, then a jump in 2010. Brewer said there was, again, a correla-tion with numbers of people.

“We got IRSU (Inte-grated Road Safety Unit) funding in about 2004. We used that to put more people on the road, and the fatals dropped. In 2009, we saw some of that

enhanced funding dis-appear, and the fatals went back up.”

Over the past few years, Brewer said, North District has targeted a number of driver behaviours, and seen results.

“We started with seatbelt enforcement, and the number of unbelted fatal victims has fallen almost every year.”

Recently, the target has been impaired driv-ing, whether by alcohol or drugs.

“Drug impairment is becoming an issue,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we have drug recognition experts at all roadchecks now. We took a number of drivers off the road this past season because of that.”

Now, the focus is also turning to aggressive driving, which includes distracted driving.

“You can’t stop at an intersection these days,” he said, “without seeing someone texting with their phone on the steering wheel or down in their lap, or talking on the cellphone. The number of fatals where distracted driving was identified as one of the causes has gone up.”

Even as the number of fatals drops, Staff Sgt. Pat McTiernan cautions they don’t anticipate getting down to zero.

“There will always be some fatals we can’t control at all, whether it be someone hitting a moose or someone having a medical prob-lem which results in a fatal collision.”

■ rCmP COLLIsIOn stAtIstICs

More officers, fewer deathsALLAn [email protected]

Allan WISHART/Free Press

Insp. Eric Brewer shows on a graph how the number of fatalities on North District roads has decreased over the past few years.

tion already an issue, Ducommon said there is concern another stressor might add to the problem.

“There is a huge concern other stressors may tip those popu-lations over the edge where they are unavail-able to Aboriginal peo-ple here,” he said.

Mountain caribou, he said, are another species important to the Metis which may be at risk.

“Food security, that concerns us because it is intertwined with our way of thinking. When we lose that we dam-age the way we teach and practice our cul-ture,” he said.

He said the Metis Nation of B.C. will make a final decision about whether or not to support the pipeline in a meeting in March.

“But, having said that, people have seri-ous significant concerns about this project going forward,” he said.

C.J. Peter Associates Engineering of Prince George made the sec-

ond presentation, dis-cussing the energy used versus the energy gained with the proj-ect.

Christopher Peter began by explaining several formulas and calculations the firm put together to extrap-olate the amount of energy used versus the amount gained.

The energy used begins with the extrac-tion process, which he said is energy intensive with bitumen deposits being melted out pri-marily by steam and, increasingly, using natural gas to create the steam, with a mar-ginal electric element involved.

Pumping and trans-portation also require an energy output, he said.

Between 150 and 190 tankers would likely move the oil each year, beginning at Kitimat with a stop for refu-eling in China, then offloading in Australia.

Refining would extend more energy, a process that requires hydrogen, not only to remove the sulphur but for hydrocracking.

The final number was, for every barrel of oil used, 2.41 would be

created.Norm Jacob, also

with C.J. Peter, said that

societies that ignore this calculation, called Energy Return on

Investment (EROI) fail, and compared energy usage to the biological world.

“When animals extend more energy than they get from a food source, they die,” he said.

He said further cal-culations would have reduced the EROI for the Enbridge project even more.

“It became clear to us the inclusion of a full second order EROI would have further reduced the number,”

he said, then asked the EROI be given sub-stantial weight in any decision made about going forward with the project.

Audience applause met this request, how-ever Bateman men-tioned the information shared did not meet the requirements of an oral presentation. How-ever, he as well as the other panel members thanked the pair.

The panel will be back in B.C. Feb. 2, in Fort St. James.

impact policing nor the fire department and there will be no reduction in the snow removal budget nor road rehabilitation.

Bates said the next step will be for administra-tion to evaluate the capacity of the remaining staff regarding service standards, and advise council regarding gaps and deficiencies.

Coun. Brian Skakun, who voted against the provisional budget on Jan. 16, said one of the reasons he did so was because he isn’t sure the cuts will actually save the city money.

“My main concern is I am not comfortable with the service levels. Will the city be saving money or losing it because they are not able to deliver services?” he asked.

Skakun added he would have liked to see open public discussion about service levels, and said he feels it is unfortunate that didn’t happen.

from PAGE A1

Skakun still has concerns

Engineering numbers show low returnsfrom PAGE A1


Gary Ducommon (centre) takes a seat in the audience after his presentation on behalf of the Metis Nation of B.C.

Time to get things done■ OPInIOn

The Prince George Free Press, founded in 1994,is published every Wednesday and Friday inPrince George by Prince George PublicationLimited Partnership. Contents copyright of

Prince George Publication Limited Partnership.


Opinion

BillPhillips

Regional Editor

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This Prince George Free Press is a member of the British Columbia Press Council, a self-regulatory body governing the province’s newspaper industry. The council considers complaints from the public about the conduct of member newspapers. Directors oversee the mediation of complaints, with input from both the newspaper and the complaint holder. If talking with the editor or publisher does not resolve your complaint about coverage or story treatment, you may contact the B.C. Press Council. Your written concern, with documentation, should be sent within 45 days to B.C. Press Council, 201 Selby St., Nanaimo, B.C. V9R 2R2. For information, phone 888-687-2213 or go to www.bcpresscouncil.org

RoySpooner

Sales Manager

Time is a curious concept. We use it every day both to our advantage and detriment. We make appointments with others so we don’t waste time waiting around to see them and we get very agi-tated when either you or they are late. Time and how we use it can be a source of stress.

To regulate our lives to doing things at a specific time requires some sort of instrument. As far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans there was an attempt to get some sort of regulation by using devices such as the sundial. Unfortunately, sundials slowly changed bit by bit as to where the shadow fell. Not very accurate and not in the least bit por-table, so it had very limited use. If an ancient Greek was dropped into our world, he would look a little silly trying to pack his sundial around so he would not be late for his next appointment.

Using some sort of instrument in those ancient days was the domain of the urbanite. The farmers and oth-ers simply depended on how high the sun was, what time of year it was, and what the various animals were doing. If you have had any experience with animals, you will be aware of how close they can keep track of time. Some of it may perhaps be induced physically, but it is amazingly accurate. The herd of cows will head for the milking barn very close to the same time every day. Your pet dog likely starts to agitate for its meal within minutes of the regular feeding time day after day.

In the modern world, we have become slaves to the clock. Go to work at this time, eat at that time, to bed at a regular hour.

Plan every minute of the day and make every minutes count. Regularity, of the time sort, is valued highly. There are an amazing number of employers

who respect the arriving to work and the leaving of work at precise times more than productivity on the job. The economic cost of that point of view is beyond calculation.

It is amusing to watch some offices where the majority of people working there arrive and leave within a couple of minutes of the same time every day. That is behaviour one would relate to a robot rather than a thinking human being.

One frequently sees a driver pushing their way through traffic because their time is just more important than the time of anyone else. They invariably like to think of themselves as highly productive, and important, individuals. They are so upset when their time is abruptly taken up by a

traffic patrolman who has pulled them over for some offence. They may have gained a couple of minutes by behav-ing like an idiot and lost 15 or 20 min-utes while they wait for the patrolman to process their offence. They are usu-ally slow learners.

Perhaps the worst abuse of time is convincing ourselves that we do not

have enough time. Driven by the clock, we spend a frustrating time trying to do it all. Time manage-ment is simple and leads to a much less stressful life. We need to spend time with our families and friends as well as working. We need to make time for recreation and relaxation.

We all have 24 hours in a day and an amazing amount of it is wasted. One simply has to establish what your priorities are and do them. None of us can do it all.

If necessary schedule your family, recreation and relax time and stick to your schedule. Make the activities that make life really worthwhile your pri-orities.

OnsideVictORBOWmAn

The public simply has a right to know.And, a city council and mayor that got elected based on

promises to open up city hall should be demanding that the public knows.

News this week that the city’s legal costs for the Brian Skakun trial are not being disclosed has angered the public and it should be anger-ing city council members who campaigned on creating a “transparent” government.

The excuse that such information is protected under attorney-client privilege is just that … an excuse.

It’s inexcusable for the public to be denied access to such information.It is within the power of Mayor Shari Green to order the information

to be made public. She, instead, deferred to the wishes of council. Fair enough.

It is within the power of council to order the information to be made public.

We await the next council meeting to see whether council has the integrity to make good on their campaign promise of being more accountable to the public and tell the public how much the Skakun legal wrangling cost the taxpayers, or whether they will abrogate their elec-toral assertions and flip the public the bird.

Onus on councilto lift shroud

Mayor Shari Green and council are not done.The 28 positions eliminated this week at city hall are

just the beginning. We expect the number of positions eliminated to be between 40 and 50.

The slashing has just begun. They didn’t even wait until the core review is completed. And, as we discovered this week, when Green speculated during her campaign that changing the face of city hall could be done without laying people off, she was only referring to the core review. Little did we know that the plan was to lay off people before the core review, which brings into question the fiscal prudence of spending $350,000 on a core review when council seems to be forging ahead with changes anyway.

Moving this quickly, just six weeks after taking office, also brings into question how well thought out these changes really are. Granted, we don’t need to pay a consultant to study it for a few months, but we only hope there is a rationale, other than politics, behind the changes made.

And, as we already mentioned, they’re not done.This council is using a time-honoured political strategy of get in, move

quickly, and then spend the rest of your mandate working towards re-election by being gracious, caring leaders. The idea is to get all the ugly stuff out of the way during first 90 to 100 days in office. Do all the stuff that won’t play well in the public out of the way early. There will be some negative press and then people will get on with their lives. Then focus on being nice. Remember Gordon Campbell laying off thou-sands of civil servants within a year of being elected in 2001? For city council, the real test on how they dealt with trimming costs at city hall doesn’t happen now. It happens three years from now when they seek re-election and the test will be whether staffing levels at city hall have remained at the reduced level or ballooned back up.

History has shown that politicians who campaign on slashing the civil service, get elected on that promise and then carry it out, often leave office with their successor running the same campaign. If city hall has been reduced by 28 positions this week, with possibly more to come, will it still be at that low level a couple of years from now when the real-ity of operating a city gets in the way of political promises?

Lose it, but canwe keep it off?

Free Press reserves the right to reject unsigned letters. Letters are edited for brevity, legality and taste. Contact Editor Bill Phillips, 250-564-0005

The Prince George Free Presswelcomes letters from our readers.

Send submissions to 1773 South LyonStreet, Prince George, B.C. V2N 1T3.

e-mail - [email protected]


Viewpoints

Coffee with a reporterStories come to reporters in a variety of

ways. News releases, press conferences and phone calls are some. Sometimes you might think whatever story you have in mind isn’t worth a phone call or visit to the newspaper’s office, but is it worth a cup of coffee?

Reporter DeLynda Pilon would like the chance to hear what you have to say so every Friday at 11 a.m. she will be having a coffee break at Zoe’s Java House at 1251 Fourth Ave., and is hoping you will drop by to chat. Or just stop in and introduce yourself.

11 a.m. Fridays at Zoe’s Java House at 1251 FourtH avenue

I recently had the pleasure of hosting my ninth BC Natural Resource Forum and can say without a doubt that it was another great success.

Knowledgeable leaders from across our province and country came together to collaboratively find ways to capitalize and expand on the opportunities our natu-ral resource sector provides our province. I want to thank everyone who helped make this forum such a great event. The present-ers, industry leaders, government repre-sentatives, all other participants, including Premier Christy Clark, made this a forward-thinking and innovative experience for all those in attendance.

Those who attended were fortunate to listen to some of the leaders of our prov-ince who will guide our province through

the coming years and help create jobs and strengthen our economy. Leaders like Robin Silvester, the president and chief executive

officer of Port Metro Vancouver. Robin spoke at the forum and shared his experiences and future visions about what lies ahead for British Columbia and how impor-tant ports will be in B.C.’s future. They are gateways to the Asian

markets across the Pacific Ocean and expand our abilities to spur economic growth via trade.

The demand for products from British Columbia is soaring in places like China and India. Lumber exports to China are at an all-time high with that country’s rapid urbanization and recognition that wood is an environmentally sound building material, which has increased demand. Lumber isn’t the only resource China looks to our prov-

ince for either, as everything from metals, to potash, to wheat and grain are high on Asia’s list of necessity.

The forum’s theme was “2020 North – A Clear Vision for the Next Decade” and with discussions about the current $2.9 billion in capital investment with another proposed $62 billion in the years to come, it’s no won-der things are looking up for northern Brit-ish Columbia.

With all this investment, our natural resources sector will need highly-skilled workers to build, operate, and support the current and future infrastructure. The Northwest Transmission Line, Site C, and Liquid Natural Gas plants will need a skilled workforce. Our local northern high-school students have opportunity at their doorstep with so many future job openings, now is a great time to invest in yourself and go to trade school. They are the next wave

of skilled trade workers who will support and strengthen our province in the coming decades.

The great thing about this forum is the support it received. Premier Christy Clark has seen the potential that northern B.C. has and wants to capitalize on the opportunities it offers. Successes in the North have a ripple effect throughout the province and I for one am encouraged by the vision she has for rural and northern B.C. and province-wide.

So as we move forward, we know that getting our natural resources to market, continuing to increase the number of skilled workers we have, and spurring economic growth will be the keys to our success. I’m thrilled so many people participated in the BC Natural Resource Forum and heard the vision so many knowledgeable leaders shared, so that we can work towards this goal and achieve success together.

MLAReport

PAtBELL

Forum brought out areas to address in future

When cold is the only thing that mattersAt 40 degrees below

zero, the only thought is survival.

Boots crunch across the snow, coughing winter’s dry speech, and the black and early sky is spar-kling jewels scattered on the purest velvet cloth. The cruel cold and silence of the void is plainly visible but the moon, what is left of it, ignores its backdrop and shines on, a vain and shallow actor.

After unplugging the block heater and a half-hearted attempt to fold up the stiff power cord in the dark, retreating behind the wheel is a shallow victory. The fan is hissing but the console is still stingy about dispensing warmth and the skin on the cheeks, the only exposed part of the entire body, has pulled tight, des-perate to protect the blood and bones from the frigid air.

In reverse, the vehicle complains, first startled and then stunned at the

audacity of its driver to demand movement on a day when the only natural

thing able to stir are the branches in the breeze. All of the plastic components insist they were not made for this moment.

Finally in drive, the vehi-

cle begins to dole out some artificial heat and the ped-als respond to the touch but the tires roll gingerly, like a dog wanting to raise its paws after every step on the ice.

The voice on the radio is salvation, the words unimportant but the sound itself is warm, a compan-ion through this frigid nightmare. They say they can’t provide warmth over the airwaves but they can. If they just held a micro-phone to the sound of a coffee machine gurgling and chuckling like a baby before spilling hot, life-giving blood into its glass decanter, that would be a real blessing.

Just stop talking, please, and broadcast the sound of the coffee machine or how

about hydrogen and oxy-gen molecules slam danc-ing with each other in the confines of a kettle?

Or the seductive mist of a hot shower or the muscu-lar jets of a Jacuzzi tub?

Do not broadcast the sound of any creature, like buzzing bees or gossiping and flirting birds, because

wherever they are at this wretched moment, they too think only of survival.

When the sun finally rises, it is just to taunt and antagonize, reminding all human eyes who glance up at her with frustration how far 93 million miles really is. Its light feels like it took 8,000 years, not

eight minutes, to get here. The blue in the sky is a thin veil, promising only a short respite from the dark.

At workplaces and pub-lic spaces, discussion is ani-mated and only about the cold because enduring and surviving together unites all peoples.

And then the sun

retreats, taking its blue scarf and frail light with it. And the vehicles scurry across the unforgiving roadways, back to their homes. Later, their owners slip under many blankets with prayers on their lips for a warmer tomorrow.

Outside, the air is as still as a predator.

Roughcuts

NeiLGODBOut

Editor:Re: Weather has definitely changed,

Free Press, January 6.Glaciation periods can last from

20,000 to 100,000 years; interglaciation periods are of a much shorter duration – 10,000 to 20,000 years.

As little as 12,000 years ago, two kilo-meters of ice sat right here where we live. This ice sheet covered all of Can-ada, part of the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Most of that ice was gone in 12,000 to 14,000 years. What remains is in the high northern and southern latitudes and will continue to melt at an acceler-ated rate. In simple terms, Mr. Lough-ery, less ice to reflect the heat into space equates to a warmer planet.

Environmentalists use 450,000 years ago as a benchmark to start and advance to the present in an attempt to give credibility of the hypothesis of anthropological forcing causing climate change. To help you understand the significance of 450,000 years to environ-

mentalists, it is the lowest CO2 count in 350 million years (average count over that time frame is 12 to 1,500 ppm).

Extensive glaciations began approxi-mately 60 million years ago, sequenc-ing CO2 into the earth, gradually low-ering the CO2 level until the flatline of 800,000 to 450,000 years, at which point the ppm count began to increase as the earth released its sequenced CO2. Shorter duration of glaciations, coupled with loner interglaciation, is speculated to be the cause of this process.

The rapid climate change you speak of due to the use of fossil fuels over the last 150 years comes from Mr. Mann’s hockey-stick graph. Mr. Mann’s work has never been validated as he will not allow the scientific community access to work that led to his conclusions. The IPCC also refused to have their work peer-reviewed to ascertain its validity, consequently information pulled from their files at East Anglia University pro-vided that had no regard for science,

or the world as a whole, and lied with regard to the causes of climate change.

In January 2010, Mr. Andrew Weaver, one of the most respected and promi-nent scientists within the IPCC, left them in disgust at the disclosure of this information.

When giving his assessment of the impact the 2010 Winter Games had on climate change, David Suzuki made this statement “during the warming phase,” which alludes to a natural phe-nomenon.

Dr. Suzuki is a very intelligent man as well as a dynamic speaker and knows precisely the meaning and context of every word he speaks. With that statement coming from Canada’s leading environmentalist there should be no doubt remaining in the minds of the environmental movement about the cause of climate change. Natural phenomenon.

Larry BarnesPrince George

Nothing unnatural about climate change


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Congratulations! For anyone with the slightest trickle of entrepreneurial blood flowing through their veins, it’s a glori-ous day when the boss offers to pay you as a con-tractor rather than as an employee.

As an employee, you worked hard to gain your employer’s trust, earned your stripes, and got the contract.

Then comes the agonizing chat about how much to charge. This is when bud-ding contractors need to sharpen their pencils. When it comes to business expenses, the boss will have a clearer view. Unless he is willing to share finan-cial details, most employees will be ill-prepared when it comes to figuring out how much to charge for their services, and most tend to bid too low.

Here are nine expenses that need to be covered in your hourly rate, if you’re going to survive the transition from employee to contractor.

Employer Payroll Burden. This amal-gamation of costs is often referred to as Mandatory Employee Related Costs

(MERC’s). It includes the employ-er’s portion of employment insur-ance, pension, holiday pay and any other employee benefits.

Insurance. You’ll need liability insurance and, as a contractor, you’ll be responsible for paying

premiums for your own Worker’s Com-pensation coverage, as well as providing mandatory insurance for all workers under your employ. To learn about WCB costs, go to www.worksafebc.com and look up rates and classifications.

Rent and Utilities. Your business will have to have a home, and for many bud-ding contractors that will be somewhere at your personal residence.

Bookkeeping and Accounting. As a small business owner you’ll need to keep accurate records and complete year-end financials for tax purposes. Equally important, you’ll need to know, as owner,

where you’re at financially at all times throughout the year.

Legal. You’ll want a lawyer’s help in developing your agreement with your former employer, and there will be other legal purchases, such as licenses and per-mits.

Marketing, Advertising, Sales. Even though your first contract fell into your lap through the good relations you’ve built with a current employer, you’ll soon be buying business cards and learning how to get the word out about your ser-vices.

Tools and Equipment. As a contrac-tor, you may need to supply tools and equipment that previously were provided by your employer. You’ll need to factor in the purchase cost, as well as the cost of repairing, maintaining and replacing equipment.

Office Expenses. In today’s work envi-ronment, it’s difficult to imagine a busi-ness without a telephone, Internet access, some sort of mobile, and a computer-fax-

printer. There will also be a desk, chairs and something to store files and docu-ments in.

Bank Charges and Interest. A business needs its own bank account, independent of your personal account. If you bor-row funds for business purposes, you’ll be paying interest on those funds until they’re repaid.

The Canada Revenue Agency is the final authority when it comes to deciding whether you’re an employee or a contrac-tor. To locate tests that help to determine whether or not you’re an employee or a contractor, do an Internet search using the keywords “employee vs. employer.”

As a contractor, if you’re charging any-thing less than double what the employer paid you as an employee, you’re prob-ably not charging enough to cover your costs. Your appetite for contracting is more likely to grow if you start out with a healthy pricing strategy..

Dan Boudreau owns RiskBuster Business Plan Oasis and Blog at www.riskbuster.com.

BoudreauBiz

DANBOuDrEAu

Making the move from employee to contractor

Keg Restaurant includes little and big ideasSometimes, it’s the little

things.“I had noticed a lot of

times there would be a small tissue on the floor outside the women’s wash-room,” Prince George Keg Restaurant owner Kelly Nordin says during a tour of the facility. “I always wondered why someone would drop one there.

“Then I asked some-one and she said women didn’t want to use their just-washed hands to open the door.”

And so the washrooms at the soon to be reopened restaurant will have sen-sors installed to open the doors for customers.

That’s one of the little things Nordin is proud of during the tour, but there are some big things too.

“Over that fireplace,” he says, walking through the lounge, “will be a 65-inch TV, and there will be two 46-inch ones behind the bar.”

Construction workers are still in many areas, but it’s easy to see how things

are coming together, and how the whole restaurant will look when it reopens in mid-March.

There’s another sign of how close the Keg is to reopening. On a couple of occasions, the tour has short interruptions as Nor-din takes in resumes from people interested in jobs.

“A lot of our manage-ment people have been on training programs at other Keg Restaurants,” he says. “The Keg will send up trainers two weeks before we open to work with the employees, and they’ll stay for a week after we open to make sure there are no problems.

“A lot of times when a restaurant opens, people don’t want to go there right away because they want to let them work the bugs out. We won’t have that problem.”

Nordin anticipates the Keg will employ about 150 people, and there are almost as many amenities for them as for the cus-tomers.

“We have a staff lunch-room which actually has a couple of tables in it

which will be used in one of the private dining rooms when it’s in use, so the employees will have the same tables and chairs as the customers.”

The private dining facil-ities, he feels, will be the best in the city.

“They’re designed for private dining or for meet-ings. The main private room can seat 10 or we can move a wall out of the way, bring in the other tables and seat 30.”

That room will also have a 55-inch TV on one of the end walls with WiFi and a docking port.

“You can bring in your computer, hook it up to the TV and be ready to go for your presentation. You can also have your pre-sentation transmitted to the computers of the other people in the room.”

The private dining rooms are separate, but still feel like part of the res-taurant, thanks to the use of wine racks and sound-proof glass to isolate them from the main dining area, but still allow some vision into the restaurant.

“Everything here is

top of the line,” Nordin says, noting the tiled floors extending form the entrance all the way through to the kitchen and the offices at the back.

“We wanted the whole building to feel like one building, without that separation you often get between the dining area

and the work areas.”Patrons of the previ-

ous incarnation of the Keg may wonder about the oldtime photos which adorned the walls. Nor-din says the new Keg will have a whole new look.

“We donated a lot of the pictures to The Explora-tion Place and the Railway

and Forestry Museum. A few we kept for our back offices, to help us main-tain that link to the past.”

As for the rest of the restaurant, “it will be all original artwork on the walls. The Keg designers have our colour scheme and they’re working on it now.”

ALLAn [email protected]


The exterior work is almost finished, the “Now Hiring” sign is out, and the Keg Restaurant is on track to open again in mid-March.

rOBBIE Burns: Scottish tradition returns on Jan. 28 A13

The PGSO and Cantata Sing-ers celebrate a diamond jubilee

A11

w w w . p g f r e e p r e s s . c o mteresa MallaM 250-564-0005 [email protected]

Community

IndIe FolkArtspace above Books

and Company will be hosting indie folk-pop group Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk on Thursday, Feb. 2. “Music is common ground. It allows you to connect with people you may never have been able to connect with otherwise. I love that,” she says. Opening will be Jamie Bell and Derek Joyce. Tickets for the concert are $10 at Books and Company.

CInema CnCThe Mid Winter Series

features four Cinema CNC movies: The Skin I Live In (Jan. 21), The Artist (Jan. 28), Le Havre (Feb. 4), and The First Grader (Feb. 11.) All shows are in Room 1-306 at CNC. Showtimes are 7 and 9:30 p.m. Passes are $24. Single tickets are $8 regular, $7 student, senior, unemployed. Available at Books and Company and CNC Bookstore.

FIddlIn’ FIesta Saturday, Jan. 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cold Snap event: a family free fun multicultural event for kids and adults with lots of lively dance music. Fiddling trio Season on hand to teach step dancing. Latino DJ music and Latino dance steps taught by local Latino-Canadians. French Round dance ends the session. Bannock and fruit served. Connaught Youth Centre.

Free PressPlaybill

■ CHAD BrOWnLEE

From the ice to the country stageFormer Canucks draft pick opens for Dierks Bentley on tour

Chad Brownlee remembers the moment he knew hockey wasn’t for him.

“I had gone to a (Vancouver) Canucks camp, but I got injured so I played a year in the minor leagues. I had lost all my love and motivation for the game, but I hadn’t really realized it.

“Then, one game, I was sitting on the bench watching the clock tick down at the end of the game and I realized, I didn’t want to spend my life watching the clock tick down. So at the end of the season, I quit hockey and got into music full time.”

He admits it wasn’t an easy decision, since “everybody knew me as a hockey player.”

But, if five B.C. Country Music Association awards last year are any sort of measuring stick, it was a good decision.

“I was lucky to meet the right people when I started my music career. That got me where I am now.”

Where he is now is opening for Dierks Bentley on a western Canada tour which sees them at CN Centre on Feb. 17. The tour starts Feb. 15 and Brownlee’s new album, Love Me or Leave Me, hits the stores on Feb. 14. He says that wasn’t planned.

“We had the release date for the album set before we had anything final for the tour.”

This won’t be the first time Brownlee has been on the same bill as Bentley.

“I played a show with him in Ontario last summer. I just stood at the side of the stage and watched him. He’s just a great entertainer.

“I didn’t get the chance to talk to him then, but I’m hoping I will during the tour.”

While fans can expect to hear

songs from Brownlee’s self-titled debut album and Love Me or Leave Me, he says he’ll have some other songs in the set.

“I’ll probably throw in some covers, songs I like singing.”

That could be from any number of artists, from current performers like Jason Aldean, Eric Church and, yes, Dierks Bentley to older artists like Garth Brooks.

“I’ve always been a country

fan. I overplayed Garth’s Greatest Hits album. I think I just about wore the needle through both sides.”

Country isn’t all he listens to, and he thinks that makes him a better songwriter.

“I appreciate good music, no matter what genre it’s in. Some-times I’ll really dissect a song, try to figure out what makes it so good to listen to.”

One thing he has learned over the years about writing songs is that “you can’t force creativity.”

“You have to capture a moment in a song, and I find it’s important to get my ideas down on paper right away, even if it’s not com-plete.”

That’s where co-writing comes in. Sometimes the songs you get aren’t the songs you planned on.

“I was writing with Michael Farren, and the song just wasn’t coming together, so I told him, ‘Just play something on the piano that comes out of you’. He started to play this piece and I got caught in it right away.

“I started putting words to it, and within about an hour, Leave Here Dying Young was finished.”

As for the other song, it never did get finished.

Brownlee says he’s already got a start on his third album.

“It was tough to pick songs for this album, in a good way, because we had a lot of good ones. Some of the songs that didn’t make this one might make the next.”

That wasn’t the case with Love Me or Leave Me, though.

“All the songs on the album, now that I think about it, were created after the first album. The vibe of that album was differ-ent.”

Besides country music, Brown-lee knows he and Bentley have another common interest: hockey.

“I know Dierks is a big hockey fan, so I’m going to bring my skates and stick in case a shinny game breaks out.”

And if it does, will he lay the body on Bentley?

“Probably not,” he says with a laugh. “Although if I’m the last man back and he’s coming in . . .”

Chad Brownlee and Dierks Bentley play the CN Centre on Feb. 17. Tick-ets are available at all Ticketmaster locations.

ALLAn [email protected]

Photo submitted

Canadian country star Chad Brownlee will be opening the show for Dierks Bentley at the CN Centre on Feb. 17 – and looking for a shinny game.

Bonnie Hickey says the reason she takes part in the Relay for Life has changed over

the years.“I’ve come full cir-

cle in the Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back order,” Hickey told those gathered for the kickoff to the 2012

Relay for Life in Prince George. “I started doing the relay to hon-our my Aunt Yvette, who died from cancer in 1994, and to remem-ber her life.

“Then, in January 2004, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. When I started the relay again, I was cel-ebrating being a sur-vivor and helping to fight back against can-cer.”

In February of last year, Hickey lost two friends to cancer.

“Now, I’ve come full circle to celebrating their lives.”

For young Ashley Clarke, it’s personal.

“I relay because I’ve lost family members to cancer,” said Ashley, sporting an Ashley’s

Angels jacket mark-ing previous relays. “I don’t think cancer is fair, because they were good people.

“I will fight back.”This year’s event

will be held at Masich Place Stadium on May 12 and 13. Margaret Jones-Bricker, regional director of the Cana-dian Cancer Society, says Prince George is unique in Canada.

“Prince George is the only 24-hour relay in Canada. Almost every-one else only does 12 hours.”

Funds raised by the

teams who enter and by other donations go to a number of pro-grams, she said.

“We have a Work-place Wellness Pro-gram, the Tan-free Grad Program for high-school students, and others. We also use the funds to help with the Kordyban Lodge and to fund research.”

Teams can register online now, says team lead Helen Owen, and there are some incen-tives to do so.

“We are very excited to offer a discounted fee of only $10 until

Jan. 31. As well, every team with a minimum of 10 participants will be entered into a draw for a luxury tent for their use during the relay.”

Last year, 121 teams raised $370,752. This year, the goal is 130 teams.

To help teams reg-ister and to give them more information about the relay, an open house is being held at the Canadian Cancer Society office at 300-500 Victoria St. on Jan. 23 from 4 to 7 p.m. Teams will have the opportunity to reg-ister online (and get the early-bird rate).

While the relay is not a race, for those involved, it is a race against time to find a cure. Jones-Bricker sums it up.

“We’re making prog-ress with each stride.”

Relay for Life comes full circle for HickeyALLAn [email protected]

■ mAy 12 AnD 13


Cancer survivor Bonnie Hickey speaks at the kickoff for this year’s Relay for Life about how her reasons for taking part in the relay have changed over the years.

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Tonight at the Proms is the Jan. 28 Prince George Symphony Orchestra concert at Vanier Hall.

In celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Dia-mond Jubilee, guest conductor Dr. Calvin Dyck will direct the evening, joined by the Prince George Cantata Singers and other VIP guests, in a wonderful collage of traditional and patriotic nostalgia.

“On the Canadian side of the pond, we’ll bring you the recog-nizable Royal Fanfare for Expo ‘86 written for the opening of the world exposition by Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second,” said PGSO general manager Ruth Langner.

“There will be a lovely piece written by the famous Canadian composer Michael Con-way Baker, Through the Lions Gate,” she added.

Langner lists some of the evening’s many highlights.

“How about our national anthem, Oh Canada, blended with our unofficial anthem,

Hockey Night in Can-ada? And to herald the true Canadian spirit, the PG Cantata Sing-ers will present Four Strong Winds and Fare-well to Nova Scotia. Special guest, all the way from Kelly Road Senior Secondary, is Mark Whalley who will make his debut with the PGSO.”

She suggests audi-ence members bring their Canadian flags.

“The Proms wouldn’t be the Proms without Elgar’s Pomp and Cir-

cumstance, Arne/Sar-gant’s Rule Britannia and Parry’s Jerusalem.

We can’t take you to Buckingham Palace but the festivities extend

beyond Royal Albert Hall.

“ We have just learned that the Foreign Com-monwealth Press has announced the Privy Purse has been loos-ened and ‘Queen E.’ (Odelia Kranz of ECRA Drama Club) will be on hand to open the concert escorted by the Rocky Mountain Ranger Cadet Corps.”

Guest conductor and candidate for the posi-tion of music director of the PGSO, Dyck

has played a number of seasons with the PGSO. He has also acted as adjudicator for the Prince George Music Festival and has performed in recitals.

Tickets for the Jan. 28 performance of Prince George Symphony Orchestra’s Tonight at the Proms are available at Studio 2880 and the PGSO offices.

Call 250-562-0800 for more information. Concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Vanier Hall.

The Rotary Club of Prince George Nechako has handed out more than half of the donations it received for Operation Red Nose this year.

Six youth and amateur sports groups whose members put in 25 man-nights or more in this year’s campaign received their funds at a recent volunteer and sponsor awareness evening.

The largest donation went to PG Nighthawks, which received $3,000 for boys and girls club programming. Members worked 75 nights in total.

RCMP volunteers worked 26 man-nights and four other groups worked 25 man-nights over the 10 nights the service operated in 2011. Each of those groups received $2,000.

The RCMP volunteers gave their donations to Special Olympics Prince George.

AiMHi will use the funds for its children’s lifestyle program; Job’s Daughters will use the money for its camping program for youth; Pre-vent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) program will use its donation to fund this year’s program; and the Prince George Pub-lic Library will use its funds for the Books for Babies literacy program.

The remaining funds will be handed out to other youth and amateur sports groups on a case-by-case basis.

Red Nose distributes donations

■ PGsO

A diamond celebration for the QueenTonight at the Proms brings British and Canadian music to the concert stagetErEsA [email protected]

Photo submitted

Dr. Calvin Dyck is guest conductor for the Prince George Symphony Orchestra’s concert Tonight at the Proms Jan. 28 at Vanier Hall.

Jack Hooper says it seems a lot of people still like the old ways of doing things.

“The 1-800 number is still No. 1 for get-ting tips,” says the

president of Prince George Crime Stop-pers. “We’re getting more on the website, and now we have some people using the text option.”

In 2011, Crime Stop-pers locally received more than 750 tips,

resulting in 31 arrests, with awards approved in 25 cases for the tips.

“We get a good percentage of tips on drug-related cases,” Hooper says, “but we get a lot for the Top 10 Most Wanted as well.

“It’s actually a pretty broad range of cases we get tips on.”

Last year, those tips resulted in almost $7 million in illicit drugs being recovered as well as almost $200,000 in property. The more than $7 million recov-

ered was the most in the 20-year history of the program in Prince George.

Since 1991, tips through Crime Stop-pers have resulted in almost $33 million in illicit drugs being recovered as well as

more than $2.8 million in property.

While the 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) remains the way most people leave an anonymous tip, the group’s website at www.pgcrimestop-pers.bc.ca can also be used and, starting in 2011, tips could also be texted to CRIMES (274637), entering “PGTIPS” and then providing the infor-mation.

Hooper says the website provides peo-ple with another ser-vice as well.

“They can go to the

website and click on a link there to see the local RCMP’s Most Wanted list. It’s always up-to-date, and you can leave tips about anyone on it.”

January is Crime Stoppers Month, and after being at UNBC for the Northern Tim-berwolves basketball games on Jan. 14, Crime Stoppers vol-unteers will be at the Coliseum on Jan. 28 for the Spruce Kings game against Vernon. There will be free give-aways and the chance to win an E-Reader.

Crime Stoppers numbers climb in 2011ALLAn [email protected]

■ mOrE tHAn $7 mILLIOn rECOvErED


A young visitor to The Exploration Place is dwarfed by the ferry lizard skeleton which stretches from one area of the museum into the next.

Stretched Out

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If you’re Scottish – and even if you’re not – there’s nothing quite like the fun, food and camaraderie of a tra-ditional Robbie Burns Night.

Excalibur Theatre Arts Company has been hosting the cel-ebration (usually held near the famous Scottish poet’s Jan. 25 birthday) for several years.

The 2012 Robbie

Burns Night is again being held at the Ramada Hotel.

Ticket sales for the popular event have been brisk, Excali-bur’s Dave Leach said Wednesday. Steeped in Scottish tradition, the Robbie Burns Night will fol-low much the same format as last year, he said.

“Nothing has really changed for us because this is a tradi-tional event. We will have several members

of the Legion Branch 43 pipe band, the tra-ditional roast beef and haggis dinner and DJ and dancing.”

To this, the compa-ny’s co-owner artistic director and danc-ing instructor – also Leach’s wife – Bonnie Leach adds,

“There will be a 50-50 draw, silent auc-tion and, of course, performances by Excalibur’s Highland dancers.”

A Burns Supper is a celebration of the life

and poetry of Rob-ert Burns, author of many Scots poems. Common in Scotland and Northern Ireland, they now take place all over the world, especially in places like Canada, the U.S., Australia and Hong Kong where there are expatriate Scots.

The highlight of the evening is the entrance and grand presentation, usually on a silver’ tray, of the haggis followed by a toast and Ode to the

Haggis.The supper – tra-

ditionally the main course is haggis with mashed potatoes – includes a Toast to the Lassies, Reply to Toast of the Lassies along with other toasts and speeches and readings of works by Burns which may include Parcel O’Rogues, A Man’s a Man, The Twa Dugs and Holy Willie’s Prayer.

Everyone drinks a toast to Robbie Burns (Scotch whisky is

often the preferred alcoholic beverage of the occasion).

Come out and enjoy Excalibur Theatre Arts Company’s annual Robbie Burns night at the Ramada on Satur-day, Jan. 28. Seating is

very limited. Tickets $30 general, $15 chil-dren seven to 12, free for children under six, available at Excalibur Theatre Arts Co., 1648 S. Ogilvie St. Doors at 5:30 p.m. Dinner at 6:30 p.m.

■ rOBBIE Burns nIGHt

Preparing for the haggis, toast and dinnertErEsA [email protected]

Free Press f i le photo

Solveig Mathers dips into dinner at last year’s Robbie Burns Night at the Ramada.

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A14 Friday, January 20, 2012 www.pgfreepress.comPrince George Free Press

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mILLEr: two local schools use hockey as a teaching tool A18


Thomas Speirs fights his way to national silver

A19alistair Mcinnis 250-564-0005 [email protected]

Sports

top athleteUNBC Northern

Timberwolves fifth-year forward Jennifer Clyne was named the PacWest Athlete of the Week in women’s basketball for her efforts last weekend.

In UNBC’s 92-43 win over the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Eagles on Friday, Clyne recorded 20 points. In the Timberwolves’ 90-59 victory over the Langara College Falcons on Saturday, she had 10 points.

A Prince George product listed at 5-foot-11, Clyne is captain of this season’s UNBC women’s team, a student graduating with a business degree this spring.

UnBC B-BallThe UNBC Northern

Timberwolves resume their PacWest basketball season on the road this weekend.

The men’s and women’s teams will be in the Lower Mainland to meet the Douglas College Royals this evening and Columbia Bible College Bearcats on Saturday.

Both teams are coming off home-court wins at the Northern Sport Centre, over the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Eagles on Friday and Langara College Falcons on Saturday.

RolleR deRByThe Rated PG

RollerGirls are holding their first bout of 2012 on Saturday night, a home date at the Roll-A-Dome.

First whistle for the battle between the Prince George squad and a visiting team from Grande Prairie is scheduled for 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. and tickets are $10.

sportsshorts

■ POnD HOCKEy

Regional championship hits iceCold weather is making a habit

of following the B.C. Northern Regional Pond Hockey Champi-onships.

Granted, this is only the sec-ond annual event of its kind at West Lake. But just like a year ago, when organizers were making final preparations at the tournament site in frigid tem-peratures, crews have spent the last few days braving well below seasonal temperatures to get the provincial park in order for the event.

But there has been one notice-able difference, something orga-nizer John Reed said has left the frozen playing surface in better shape.

“We haven’t had the same amount of snow that we had last year so that really makes it a lot more manageable from a rink construction standpoint,” said Reed, the tournament direc-tor for the B.C. Provincial Pond Hockey Series. “As a result of that, the ice has been in better

condition to start with as a base, so the base is phenomenal. It’s really good.”

Reed was interviewed by the Free Press on Wednesday morn-ing, at which time the Weather Network was calling for flurries on Friday and Saturday. Reed, who noted they’ll have snow-clearing equipment on standby all weekend, doesn’t see flurries as a bad thing.

“We actually need a little bit more snow for rink boards, so it looks like we’re going to have the snow that we need for that as well.”

Wednesday’s forecast also pre-dicted a significant rise in tem-perature over the course of the weekend, from a low of -33 C on Friday to a high of -2 C on Sun-day. But Reed wouldn’t down-play the impact this week’s cold snap has had on entries, with 18 teams on the schedule, lower than the total of 27 participating squads in last year’s inaugural event. The registration deadline was on Tuesday.

“But a good majority of the teams that were in it last year are

coming back and we have some new teams, so that’s all positive,” Reed said.

The BC Pond Hockey Series online registration form asks for entries to apply to play in one of nine divisions, including three groups for women. But with numbers lower than organizers had hoped, they’ve simplified the tournament to a two-division schedule for players 19 years and older. Fifteen teams will play in the men’s recreational division, with the other three in the men’s competitive group.

The men’s recreational divi-sion is a merger of teams which had each entered in one of three groups: the men’s recreational 19+, men’s masters recreational 35+ and men’s senior masters open for players 50 years and older. Reed noted that in an effort to level the playing field, each 50+ team gets a five-goal handicap when they play 19+ squads, while any 35+ team gets a three-goal handicap in games against 19+ teams.

Each participating team will play five round robin games. The

playoff round in each division will feature one semifinal contest followed by the championship game.

Action is scheduled to get underway this evening at 6 p.m., with the playoff round beginning on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

More information on the tour-nament and the BC Pond Hockey Series is available online at www.bcpondhockey.com

nOtEs:Rules – Game play is four-

on-four, with a maximum of six players per team. Teams change on the fly. Each game will be a maximum half hour in length (two 15-minute halves), but will end sooner if either team scores 10 goals before the allotted time is up. There will be no icing or offsides called, and goaltending is prohibited. Sticks are to be kept below the knee and pucks cannot be raised above knee level. Slap shots and hand passes are pro-hibited, while goals kicked in will be disallowed.

ty-ing it up

ALIstAIr [email protected]

turn to PAGE A17

Prince George Spruce Kings goalie Ty Swabb sits on the ice in an attempt to cover up the puck during their B.C. Hockey League road game against the Chilliwack Chiefs on Jan. 13. The Chiefs edged the Spruce Kings 4-3 in the contest. The same two teams are meet-ing in a Coliseum doubleheader which began last night. They play tonight, 7 p.m. at the Coliseum. Jenna HAUCK/Black Press

Perhaps the most telling note from the Prince George Cougars’ 5-0 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings in Edmonton on Wednesday night was the three-star selection.

Oil Kings goaltender Laurent Brossoit, who got the shutout, wasn’t one of the three stars.

That’s what happens, though, when a goalie faces 16 shots in the first period and just 10 in the rest of the game. The Cougars outshot Edmonton 16-8 in the first period and were outshot 47-10 in the final two periods.

Included in the 16 shots in the first period was a penalty shot from Greg Fraser, after he was hauled down on a breakaway. He couldn’t beat Brossoit, and neither could any-one else on Prince George.

At the other end, Cougars goalie Drew Owsley was blitzed by pucks in the last two period, and only some great saves kept the game from being a complete rout.

The biggest problem Owsley had was

Michael St. Croix, who picked up a natural hat trick for Edmonton. Single markers came from Tyler Maxwell and Cody Corbett.

The Cougars were shut out in six power-play chances, while Edmonton scored two of their goals in three chances with the man advantage.

The Cougars continue their Alberta road trip with games in Calgary tonight and Red Deer on Saturday.

The loss didn’t hurt the Cougars in the Western Conference standings, as Victoria also lost Wednesday night, 2-0 in Moose Jaw. The results mean the Cougars, with 32 points, remain in ninth place, one point behind Vic-toria with two games in hand. The Everett Silvertips, however, closed the gap on the Cougars with a 3-2 win over Kelowna on Wednesday. Everett is now just five points behind Prince George, but the Cougars have a game in hand.

Tonight’s game in Calgary is a rematch of a Dec. 28 game at CN Centre, which saw the Cougars down the Hitmen 3-1. Saturday’s game will mark the first meeting this season with Red Deer.

Next home games for the Cougars are Jan. 27 and 28 when they host Everett.

Alistair McINNIS/Free Press

Prince George Cougars defenceman Dan Gibb skates the puck through the neutral zone against the Lethbridge Hurricanes during their Western Hockey League game on Saturday night at CN Centre. The Cougars downed the Hurricanes 4-2 to sweep the week-end doubleheader.

■ ALBErtA trIP

Cougars shut out again

All standard penalties will be called. Major penal-ties, which include u n s p o r t s m a n l i k e conduct and fighting, may result in a player ejection if an intent to injure is evident.

A full list of rules is listed on the BC Pond Hockey website.

D i m e n s i o n s – Games will be played on ice sur-faces 75x150 feet in diameter. The nets are six feet wide and 14 inches high. Four separate ice sheets have been cleared for the event, two for games, one as a spare playing area for back-up use, and one as a public skating area. Reed complimented the efforts of two key individuals who led efforts to prepare the ice: Brent Thiessen and Terry Kenmuir.

E q u i p m e n t – Skates, a stick, ath-

letic support and hel-met are required for each player. Elbow pads, shin pads, gloves and pants are recommended.

Costs – The full pay-ment for each team to enter was $520, money offsetting a variety of expenses. These include costs associated with equipment, lighting, fuel, snow removal, pumps, hoses, trucks, accommodation and prizes. Close to 15 volunteers are help-ing stage the event, with the support of a variety of sponsors.

Move – Originally scheduled for Tabor Lake, unforeseen cir-cumstances led to organizers relocating the tournament back to West Lake. Reed noted that West Lake will be the event’s permanent home.

“As it works out, it’s a better venue, there’s better park-ing and this BC Parks is a great partner to

have,” Reed said.Support – The BC

Pond Hockey series is supporting the Central Interior Fire Chiefs Association. Players are encour-aged to bring dona-tions, which can be dropped off at the Fire Rescue Command trailer throughout the weekend. The funds

will go directly to the Enderby Volunteer Fire Department in support of the Memo-rial Scholarship fund, which was estab-lished in the name of Daniel Botkin, one of its firefighters. Botkin lost his life in the line of duty just before Christmas.

The Kootenay Ice visit the Cariboo Cou-gars’ barn this week-end as the last place team in the 11-team BC Hockey Major Midget League.

They occupy the basement with a record of two wins, 21 losses and three ties (2-21-3). They’re 31 points behind the second-place Cougars (17-7-4).

Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague is warning his play-ers not to take the Ice lightly.

“I expect them to come and pound the crap out of us, that’s what I think they’re going to do,” he said. “Realistically they’re a team, they’ve got a banner in their locker room that says

spoiler.”The Cougars are

coming off a successful four-point weekend, sweeping their road doubleheader against the Vancouver North East Chiefs in Coquit-lam. They downed the Chiefs 5-4 on Saturday and 5-2 on Sunday.

While the Ice only sport two wins, one of their victories came on the weekend, a 3-2 tri-umph over the sixth-place Greater Vancou-ver Canadians (12-10-6) on Saturday.

“They’ve got noth-ing to lose and that’s a scary team to play when they’ve got noth-ing to lose,” Sprague said.

After meeting Koo-tenay, the Cougars will prepare for another road doubleheader, Jan. 28 and 29 against the North Island Sil-vertips in Nanaimo.

ALIstAIr [email protected]

Cougars get sweep on road

West Lake move will be permanent one

Free Press f i le photo

Players battle on the ice during last year’s inaugural B.C. Northern Regional Pond Hockey Championships at West Lake. This year’s second annual event runs from Friday to Sunday.

from PAGE A15

“It was probably more moving for us. It was a pretty emotional experi-ence.”

- Marnie Alexander, community schools

coordinator, Harwin

Just imagine the fol-lowing scenario on a cold Saturday night in January:

Your child sits down in front of the televi-sion to enjoy the Habs or Canucks Hockey Night in Canada game. (Notice how I didn’t say Maple Leafs.)

So, your child wants to take the next step and watch a game in person, so that night you take your son(s)/daughter(s) to the local Prince George Cougars or Spruce

Kings home game. That’s quite a double-header with a six-hour hockey fix.

Now, your child is so enthused with the game, that in addi-tion to watching on the tube or at the rink, he/she wants to play. Doesn’t this complete the ultimate hat trick?

For a kid growing up in Northern B.C., or most parts of the country, the afore-mentioned picture is a common occurrence and is even taken for granted. But what if, as a parent, you had to tell your child “I’m sorry, you will not be

able to play this year because as a family we are not in a position

to register you in hockey.” In many cases, this state of affairs is reality.

For select students at Harwin Community School and the Aboriginal Choice School, a void in this area has been filled as there is now an opportunity to play and learn about the game. And best of all, the Goals and Dreams Academy is free to participants.

The vision is to pro-vide an opportunity for some children to build hockey into their lives.

“Our students are given specific coach-ing around the actual skills of the game and they are playing games against each other,” stated Marnie Alexander, Harwin community schools coordinator.

Twenty at-risk students in Grades 5 to 7 (10 per school) were selected from an

interview process to participate in the pro-gram which consists of two eight-week sessions during school time on Monday and Wednesday morn-ing at the Kin Centre. Transportation, uni-forms, equipment and certified instructors are supplied, and costs are covered by grants and donations.

The boys and girls who are taking part get much more than a hockey experience. The objectives of the program include pro-moting athletic and academic excellence; lifelong learning; student achievement; healthy lifestyles and nutrition; and positive role models. In addi-tion, the academy is designed to increase the students’ connec-tion and contribution to the school and to help students cooper-ate by socializing in group settings.

Let’s keep in mind that kids are kids regardless of upbring-ing, financial status or physical/mental stature. While many youths likely con-sider it a right to play hockey, others are just thrilled to get a chance.

“Our students were so beyond excited and some of them actually could not stop grin-ning. Some of them looked like they were going to cry. It was really moving for us. It was probably more moving for us. It was

a pretty emotional experience,” said Alex-ander, who is now in her fourth year at Harwin.

“We actually had one student that shared that he had hopes to do this when he was younger and that his Mom had ini-tially put him into it,

but then due to health issues, he had to go and live with extended family and that oppor-tunity never came for him. He was pretty much on the verge of tears as he shared how this opportunity had never happened in his life and now he was having it.”

We have all heard the expression “build it and they will come.” Well, the Goals and Dreams Academy has now been “built “and 20 students attending Harwin Community School and the Aborig-inal Choice School are delighted to “come”.

Sometimes, it’s the simple things in life that are appreciated the most.

From the Quote Rack:

Former interim MLB commissioner Bud Selig has been given a two-year extension until 2014. He took the posi-tion temporarily in 1992. Even Brett Favre is say-ing, “Dude, give it up already.”

Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto,

California (www.left-coastsportsbabe.com)

And in case you missed it:

“The Greatest” just celebrated a birthday. But enough about Tim Tebow.

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the Opinion 250. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to [email protected].

Academy gives kids a way to play hockeyHart Beat

HARtLeymILLEr

Graeme CORBETT/BlackPress

Nolan Hanson, right, of the College Height Cougars looks to make an outlet pass before Austin Richardson of the host Fulton Maroons can intercept at the 11th annual Maroon Corporate Classic Basketball Tournament on Friday in Vernon.

need SOme help

Prince George boxer Thomas Speirs could be seen sporting a sil-ver smile this week.

With a medal around his neck, he had something spe-cial to show off for his efforts inside the boxing ring. Earning a medal from the the Canadian National (Senior) Elite Champi-onships was a first for the 21-year-old Spruce Capital Warriors Box-ing Club member.

His feeling was likely different in the ring on Saturday in Cape Breton, N.S., where he lost by a wide margin on points to Quebec’s Jonathan Savard in the 81-kilogram national final. But on Wednes-day, only a couple of days after returning home, he appeared to be in anything but a foul mood.

Call it silver all you want. But to a pugi-list who was compet-ing in only his sec-ond nationals, a boxer who’s been training in the sport regularly for five years, it may feel as good as gold these days. He took the defeat in stride.

“He was really good, and just a little bit too much experience,” Speirs said of Savard, Canada’s elite A team representative in the weight category.

Positive results instil confidence in athletes. While onlookers in Nova Scotia may have been wondering where Speirs came from, a more common ques-tion he may get asked in Prince George is, what’s next?

Speirs plans to enjoy his accomplishment. Considering he may have been the busi-est boxer at nationals, with four matches in five days, he can’t be faulted for taking a break.

Speirs is interested in continuing to com-pete in amateur cards in B.C. and Alberta, with one long-term goal in mind.

“In the end, I want to go pro,” he said. “That’s what my goal is, get paid for it. Get paid to get punched.”

Speirs opened his schedule by defeat-ing Stephen MacGil-livary of Alberta 26-23 on Jan. 10. The victory improved his record against MacGillivary to 3-0.

“But this time I

was the most nervous because it was my first fight, and I knew he was going to come at me hard because I beat

him twice before,” Speirs said. “I knew he wanted to beat me.”

On Jan. 12, Speirs edged Ontario’s Dana

Hassan 15-14. Then came the semifinal round on Jan. 13 and another Speirs victory, this time a 22-18 tri-

umph over Andrew Gardiner of Manitoba, a national elite B team member

Spruce Capital War-riors coach Wayne Sponagle made the trip to Nova Scotia to corner Speirs and Rob-bie Cusine. Cusine lost 28-25 to Nova Scotia’s Steve Lalancette in a 64 kg tilt on Jan. 11, a result which Sponagle felt was unfair.

Sponagle described Savard as a hard-punching southpaw.

“It’s hard enough fighting a southpaw as it is, when you fight a southpaw who is very defensive, it makes it that much more,” he said. “Not only did Thomas do so well, when we first got back (to Nova Scotia), the team wasn’t together at all, everybody was going their own way, we couldn’t get the team spirit going. But Thomas pulled the team together. It was Thomas that got everybody going.”

InnEr CItyInner City Boxing

Club coach Bob Peg-ues knows the results

of his boxers could’ve been better at nation-als.

While national elite A team member Kenny Lally did as expected and won the 52 kg title, Jag Seehra took home bronze after suf-fering a disappointing loss in the 60 kg divi-sion semifinal round.

With a berth in the gold-medal match on the line, Seehra dropped a 21-15 deci-sion to Ontario’s Josh O’Reilly on Jan. 12.

Pegues said Seehra wasn’t mentally focused.

“He was throwing ones and twos, no combinations, his bal-ance, he was just com-pletely off his game,” he said.

Lally defeated Sam-uel Robichon of Que-bec 16-6 in the 52 kg final on Saturday.

Pegues will enter Seehra in the Final Team Selection from Feb. 28 to March 3 in St. Hyacinthe, Que., where he’ll try and retain his national elite B team 60 kg position.

“Sometimes he needs a wake-up call,” Pegues said.

Speirs strikes silver at second nationalsALIstAIr [email protected]

Alistair McINNIS/Free Press

Spruce Capital Warriors Boxing Club member Thomas Speirs shows off the silver medal he earned at last week’s Canadian National (Senior) Elite Championships in Cape Breton, N.S.

Courts kept busy over the holiday seasonIn Provincial Court in

Prince George on Dec. 21:

Brian A. Bobke was found guilty of failing to provide a breath sample when ordered to do so, fined $1,000, assessed a victim sur-charge of $150 and prohibited from driv-ing for one year.

Terilyn R. Haskell was found guilty of unauthorized posses-sion of a firearm and contravention of stor-age regulations for firearms, sentenced to one day in jail, placed on probation for 18 months and prohibited from possessing fire-arms for 10 years.

Chad M.G. Tresi-erra was found guilty of failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking or recog-nizance, sentenced to one day in jail and assessed a victim sur-charge of $50.

In Provincial Court in Prince George on Dec. 22:

Larry J. Heppner was found guilty of driving while suspended, fined $500, assessed a victim

surcharge of $75 and prohibited from driv-ing for one year.


Mark A. Mitchell was found guilty of failing to attend court when ordered to do so and sentenced to one day in jail.

Corey T. Tom was found guilty of failing to comply with a con-dition of an undertak-ing or recognizance, sentenced to one day in jail and placed on pro-bation for 12 months.


Doris A. Nieder-mayer was found guilty of possession of stolen property with a value less than $5,000 and placed on proba-tion for one year.

Mario M. Pierre was found guilty of failing to comply with a con-dition of an undertak-

ing or recognizance and sentenced to 60 days in jail. Pierre was found guilty of a sec-ond count of failing to comply with a condi-tion of an undertaking or recognizance and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Pierre was also found guilty of fail-ing to comply with a probation order and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Catlin J. Williams was found guilty of failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking and sen-tenced to seven days in jail.


Donald G. Witso was found guilty of robbery, sentenced to one year in jail and received a lifetime pro-hibition on the posses-sion of firearms. Witso was also found guilty of a second count of robbery, sentenced to three years in jail and received a lifetime pro-hibition on the posses-sion of firearms.

In Provincial Court in

Prince George on Jan. 3:Skyler D. Brennan

was found guilty of theft of property with a value less than $5,000, sentenced to 22 days in jail and assessed a victim surcharge of $50. Brennan was also found guilty of utter-ing threats, assessed a victim surcharge of $50 and placed on probation for one year. Brennan was also found guilty of driving while prohibited, fined $500, assessed a victim surcharge of $75 and prohibited from driv-ing for one year.

Charles M. Van Somer was found guilty of speeding, fined $200 and assessed a victim surcharge of $30.

In Provincial Court in Prince George on Jan. 4:

Shelley A. Bunting was found guilty of driving while pro-hibited, fined $500, assessed a victim sur-charge of $75 and pro-hibited from driving for one year.

Grady M. McNaugh-ton was found guilty of possession of a con-trolled substance and fined $750.

Shawn A.J. Stew-art was found guilty of driving while pro-hibited, fined $500, assessed a victim sur-charge of $75 and pro-hibited from driving for one year.

Tammy A. Stock was

found guilty of fail-ing to comply with a probation order, fined $150 and assessed a victim surcharge of $22.50.

Cecil R. Woodcock was found guilty of driving without due care and atten-tion, fined $500 and

assessed a victim sur-charge of $75.

In Provincial Court in Prince George on Jan. 5:

Cade T. Belanger was found guilty of two counts of theft of property with a value less than $5,000, sen-tenced to 59 days in jail and time served of one

day and placed on pro-bation for one year.

Allan R. Castonguay was found guilty of failing to provide a breath sample when ordered to do so, fined $2,000, assessed a vic-tim surcharge of $300 and prohibited from driving for one year.


Signal malfunctions don’t care about the weather, which is why this pair of city workers were out Wednesday trying to fix the crosswalk signal at 15th Avenue and Nicholson Street.

cOld WOrkFree Press

Court docket

A24 Friday, January 20, 2012 www.pgfreepress.comPrince George Free Press

january 20, 2012

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