LIBRARY VICTORS
m
YEAR.,
i
VI
k\.-
>*
Jcfcoo/ Board Ads h End Shifting
Promise of an early''end to-shifting of classes in the city's elementary schools was given with the decision of the District ichoo! Board Tuesday night to proceed'with the immediate-srection of two portable schools.
Decision to go ahead Avith con- ���
[tnictii.ni of the portable schools '"i in a motion from building Wnmiueo chairman Harold Mof-
Onlj high school'cTasses will re-^in^ijfKgfilft after the addition-fciassrooms bring much needed *'ief i" ihe elementary situation.
No date has been set for com-Plction of the buildings-.. At least l*o weeks will be required for Hie construction of each structure, and r.,ii| weather is expected to hamj)i�,. tlfe building program for. 11 short while at least. , j
schools, which will .he prc-ied structures, will be do- they can be taken
Tli labri,
� After erection of the Central t-loinciitary School next fall, the
�N-t.-ilfie structures are expected ;'J !"1 used to relieve overcrowd-
.t!l '�'�i.diUons in the high school.
lil(1 portable schools will be'
"ll! "ii the south-end of the
school site between King George
i'l'nu'ntary School and the
!�!5h School. ,'..
One Hurt As Car Carrying Six Struck By Train
'One man is in good condU tion in hospitaThere and .five others were miraculously unhurt in a spectacularcollision Christmas Eve between a late model sedan and a CNR freight train at Giscome.
. Suffering a fractured arm and head injuries is Tony Guidi, of
Hockey At Last . 'n Prince George
Hockey i* hero at last.'' Tire 1'illl(V Ucorge^Limibermen hock-Y' ''"im^will get Us first taste �Wjhc-KQ tonigh't;
("'"-li Jack-Forscy stated, "All 'Winhera oil last year's team and �"'innc interested in making the Wini this year; report to the Civic A|1vtui before 7 p.nr. tojiight.,^
" anyone has their o\vh gear. jj ;is� hring it,,altfiTg. I Hope to '!\'o at k-ast -10 meh trying for "la-lt'nm." ' � �
'riiere will b0 ,U) public skating
uglit.
, W
paretto, R. MachowicnuK.rJoseph Burkatsky and T. Angemi Jr. and Sr.
The six were on their way to a Christmas Eve church service with Guidi at the wheel.
As the car rounded a blind corner where a temporary private rail crossing exists, it plunged into the path of a westbound freight locomotive.
T Dainage to the car was estimated at $000.'lt was carried up the .track Cor a short distance and .shunted to one side.
police say that both car and train were travelling at 20 to 25 m.p.h/ � . v
The train came to a stop after the" impact and its crew rendered aid to the occupanta^of"lhe car.. Train conductor^Kcl. Holt had Cuidi^-ancr Burkatsky put on -board and brought them to Prince George.
The freight arrived in the city -10 minutes late.
Burkatsky was treated for.superficial cuts arid bruises and discharged from hospital.
en
An Independent Semi-Weekly Newspaper Devoted to the Interest of Central and Northern British Columbia
Vol. 37; No. 102
(Two Sections)
Prince George, B.C., THURSDAY, December 30, 1954
$4.00 per year 5t> per copy
$60 Mil/ion Spree For City \n 1955
Prince George stands on the threshold today of a year of unprecedented prosperity, expansion and development in which it will become the headquarters for already-announced construction projects costing nearly $60,000,000.
With this expenditure already in sight, some city business leaders are predicting an era of industrial progress which may not end for 10 years, and which the more optimistic are saying will not end until Prince George becomes the second or third largest city in British Columbia. .,-"<
Natural Gas Transmission Line
Monday's Citizen Out On Tuesday
City stores and offices will be closed Saturday (New Year's Day) and will reopen for business Monday morning.
' The Citizen office will be closed for the holiday, and as a result next Monday's paper will not roll
Five Due Here Tuesday To Expedite P6E Groundwork
Top executives o-f the Pacific Great Eastern Railway will arrive here next Tuesday to expedite work on the first 64
miles of the northern extension.
Hon. Ray Williston, Minister of Education and Fort George MLA, telegraphed The Citizen from Victoria yesterday announcing the imminent arrival of a five-man team which will appoint a divisional engineer to get .the extension preliminaries underway.
.Mr. Williston said that timber sales and clearing on the G4-mi!o right-or-way "are to get immediate attention."
This means that the actual job of clearing the grade will probably commence well before spring
off the press until Tuesday, after ilv
publishing ! If weather permits.
which the schedule of
regular
Monday
and Thurs-1
party Chet-
Early in 1955 construction crews will commence work at a number of points throughout the province as the B.C. gas pipeline gets underway. An estimated $100,000,-000 will be spent in the province to take the line from a point near Dawson Creek- to the U.S.-B.C. border at Sumas and at another point immediately south of Princeton. �
Construction of about 320 miles of pipeline rwill jbe ..accomplished with Prince George as the main distributing point and headquarters.
This means that this district will benefit from about $40,000,00,0 of the total B.C. cost, and an estimated 50 per cent of this amount will stay in the district in the form of payrolls, equipment rentals and purchases, and supply pur-
chases.
Pipeline surveys have already been performed between here and Dawson Creek and work can start as soon as the builders get the final stamp of approval on their plans from the United States Federal Power Commission. First work crews are. expected to be in the field by May 31 and could arrive sooner.
Crews working between here and pawaon Creel^ to the north afiit 'Quesnel. to the south will be supplied, largely through Prince George.
Local heavy construction contractors are assured of full equipment hire ..on pipeline construction for the next two years.
Pipeline construction crews working both ways out of Prince George may employ upwards of 500 men.
Heading the five-man
"day will be resumed for the new'here will be Hon. Ralph year. wynd, Minister of Railways.
Two Killed, One Hurt In Crash At Clinton
Pacific Great Eastern Extension
Premier Bennett has announced that work on an initial $10,000,000 Pacific Great Eastern Railway extension will commence - out of Prince George as soon-'as 1955 weather permits.
Contracts are now in the process of being let for railroad con struction from Prince George to Reel Rocky Creek, a distance of 64 miles,,. The extension will necessitate construction of _a $1,500,000 '
bridge over the Fraser River less than a mile east of the city.
Reliable sources state that contracts for further extension of the PGE from Red Rocky Creek to Dawson Creek will be let before the end of 1955.
An estimated $5,000,000 of the total cost of the initial extension will stay in Prince George and district in the form of payrolls and local purchases. (See $60 MILLION SPREE, Page 3,
Roadblocks Halted 1000 Cars And Holiday Mishaps Lightest
Close to 1000 cars and trucks have been stopped by Royal Canadian Mounted Police here since a program of festive season roadblocks wasVinjtiated about a week ago.
Police officials, with less'Chr.ist-mas accident reports on their hands_than ever before, have pronounced the floating roadblock system a success.
Around 35 charges have been laid as a refsult of the program.
Only a few of these have involved liquor, -but police believe that this is the result of the wide publicity given to the floating roadblock campaign. �
Even Vancouver newspapers gave belated front page coverage to the Prince George police program for cutting down festive season accidents, and one wideawake head writer topped his piece with "A Cup for the Road, A Cop for a Chaser."
Hardly a city, motorist went through the holiday without getting stopped once, and many were stopped three'times. "
Police told of one man halted at a downtown roadblock," and sent home to get his driver's licence, who was;"stopped again on his way to get it.
Most offences for which drivers were charged involved infractions of the I3.C. Motor Vehicle Aqt.
The roadblocks, which shift from point to point throughout the city and district, will continue at" the'same frequency until after New Years, police say.
There was not a single serious accident in the city or nearby surrounding district over the holiday.
Thieves Strike In Below Zero Weather
Below zero weather last night was no hindrance' to the Prince George underworld.
The Interior Power Saw and Service Company, 140 Quebec Street, for the second time in seven weeks, had their premises broken into.
� Thieves did considerable damage to the^ windows and doors forcing-entry. Three power saws were among the articles stolen. A complete -inventory of the stock had not been taken at press time.
The thieves apparently tried to gain entry by jimmying the front door, with no success. They then broke the front window, scatter^ ing glass over the sidewalk, but still failed to open the front door from the inside.
Losing patience or lacking the -nerve to continue from the front, they proceeded to the rear of the building. The ,i;car door had iron bars that were welded across the window of the door. This didn't stop them. They broke the bars by using force. Then reaching1 inside they unlocked the rear door.
The power saws were taken from shelves in the front of the store. Value of the stolen- goods is approximately $1,000, until a further check-up can be made.
The. first robbery, wh|ch occurred in the latter part of October, netted the thieves about $600.
Travelling home for the CJhrist-mas holidays with their car'loaded with gifts, two Prince George employees, o� the B.C. Forest Serv: fee" riiet" death" D'eceiripef '22, at' approximately ll:0Q.-p.mv while another suffered only minor injuries.
Instantly killed was Peter A. Norman, believed to be the driver, whose body was found lying on the road beside the car.
Fatally injured was Miss Roberta A. Mclnnes, sister-in-law of B.C. Education Minister Ray Williston, who died in the Ashcroft Hospital the following day.
The third occupant of the car was Frank D. Jenkins, who received only minor injuries which were treated at the Ashcroft Hospital.
Reports indicate the cause of the accident "was the driver's failure to negotiate a curve in the road and that the vehicle then flipped over twice after going out of control.
Norman was a resident of Victoria, B.C., who only late -last summer arrived in Prince George to take charge of the Billing Department in the B.C. Forest Service. He lived with the George Dochertys, L590 Elm Street, Prince George.
He was an active member of the Prince George Lions Club, which held a short memorial service upon hearing of his death laut Thursday night at their Christ-
mas dinner meeting. He was "born in Burma' and was 30 years old.
In 1942, he enlisted in the Royal .Engineers,, serving, .in. England, "North" Xfnca, Greece arid Italy In 1947, he was Honorably Discharged.
The body of Mr. Norman was forwarded by Dwyer's Funeral Home, Kamloops, to Hay wards in (See TWO KILLED, Page 3)
Exact site and type of a bridge across the Fraser River a short distance northeast of the.city will probably be decided while the party is in Prince George.
One member of the team is A. L." Carruthers, the railway's bridge consultant. Others are J. C. Anderson, divisional engineer; W. W. Urquhart, location engineer; J. BriSadbent, construction manager.
New Year's Liquor Hours Extended
Dining rooms and dining lounges in which entertainment or dancing facilities are available will be allowed to stay open later than usual on New Year's Eve according to a cabinet order released at Victoria last week."
It is believed that qualifications for the extended^ hours privilege are such that only one city establishment will be able to take advantage of the order.
.Places, that can., qualify^ should apply to "trie Gqiior- Control Board for permission, Liquor Board Chairman Donald McGugan stated.
Regular closinR hour of 11:30 p.m. will apply to public houses and cocktail bars.
City Youth Dies In Gas-Filled
* Carbon monoxide death of a young Prince George man near Armstrong on Christmas Eve brought to three the holiday
toll here.
Two other Prince George residents, Peter Augustine. Norman and Roberta A. Mclnnes were killed last Wednesday when their car overturned on an icy road eight "miles south of Clinton.
Leonard J. Chat-well, son of Mr. and Mrs. E. Chatwell of Prince George was one of three persons who died from monoxide fumes on a secluded Okanagan country road.
The" 22-year-old youuh, who had recently moved to Lumby, was apparently ; returning to' Armstrong with two companions on Christmas Evq when ^the tragedy
occurred.
Reports indicate the three turned up a logging road off the main highway three miles from Armstrong, .and their 1937 model car slipped into a ditch.
The car was found on Christmas morning with the heater still running and doors and windows tightly closed. The car had run out of gas.
It is believed they decided to stay in the car until daylight with" the motor running .io. keep warm, and the deadly fumes seeped up through the floor boards. ..
Chatwell was born in Melford, (See YOUTH DIES, Page 3)
V\rs. Santa Claus arrived before Her husband at Prince George and District Hospital, bringing a cheque for $289.06 from Sigma Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority which represented two-thirds of the cost of two new wheelchairs, a crouperte and inhalator. Balance of the - cost came from a B.C. Hospital Insurance Service.grant. Seated in the wheelchairs are Mrs. Gladys Friend, chapter' president," who is handing the cheque to hospital administrator Bruce /'�Thomson. At rear is Mrs. Hazel Straw of the chapter's service committee.
'K.