INSIDE
TDITORIAL ........................ Paje 2
SPORTS .............................. Page 4
WOMEN'S SOCIAL ............ Page 7
CLASSIFIED ........................ Pcge 10
COMICS ............................ Page 11
IHE
Dedicated io the Progress of the North
Phone LO 4-2441
Vol. 3; No. 44
PRINCE GEORGE, BRITISH COLUfvABIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1959
"WF'4 T H E R
Cloudy tonight and Friday with o few showers in the afternoon. Winds southerly IS. Low tonight and high Friday 30 and 42.
BV CARRIER S5C FEK WEEK
HAPPY REUNION occurred at the Prince George airport yesterday afternoon for the family of Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Shields, who were presumed lost for two days in their light aircraft. Their son, Bill, flew from Winnipeg to take part in the search. Beside him is his wife, Verna. The Shields' second eldest son, Roy is next to his mother and father.
Dog Food, Sugar Cubes ields Rations on Lake
j
"THIVGS are getting tough if humans have to lead a dog's life," forlorn look on Cindy Lou's face seems to say as she loolisfs into camera. Owned by Chs/rlie Shields, the dog be-eajJnc an indirect family provider as Mr. and Mrs. Shields had to live on dog food for two clays while stranded at a lake near Williams Lake.
Alcohol
In Verdict
A coroner's jury has found that two men died "while under the influence of alcohol" in a cabin fire east of FrJhce George last week.
Inquest into the , deaths of John Simpson, 54, and Paul Jlondin, 66, was held Tuesday evening.
The jury decided that the pair died between February 21 and February 23 in a cabin at Foreman, four miles cast of Prince George.
Evidence was hoard from a friend of the pair that they were last seen in Prince George on February 21. A taxi driver testified he drove them to their cabin the same afternoon.
Witnesses said both Simpson and Kondin appeared to be intoxicated.
Prince George pilot Charlie Shields,-inu 'iih .:'irc,13c-tty, who
�)icmii. iwn tlayn ttrru ivvcr nlRlilH
on a lonely lake in the Williams Lake area, yesterday told of how they survived the ordeal on sugar cubes and dog food.
They arrived back at Prince George airport at 3:45 p.m. yesterday and were greeted by approximately 15 relatives and friends.
The- Shields, when visiting friends in Vancouver last Aveek-end, were given a tiny pup which they named Cindy Lou.
They took no provisions except half a box of pup biscuits ami some sugar cubes with them on the flight from Kelowna to Prince George. XHItEE BISCUITS
"Wo ate only three biscuits each a day because we didn't know how long we'd bo on the lake," Mrs. Shields said.
The Shields had been the object of an intensive search by 2S BCAF and civilian aircraft yesterday, two days alter their borrowed Cessna 170 failed to appear in Prince George.
Mi: shields, a pilot instructor from the Second World War, flew into Williiims Lake alone yesterday morning. Ho had left his wife safe and healthy at Crooked Lake, t>5 miles east of Williams Lake.
. He said he had flown off course Monday when a heavy snowstorm was closing in.
He landed the silver and blue aircraft o)> Crooked Lake but the plane's wheels broke thnough a shell of ice and settled in six inches of water. BUIIjT CAMPKIUK
They climbed ashore, bull) a shelter and started a campfire. Then the couple broke open their peculiar rations of eight sugar cubes and half a box of puppy food.
Mr. Shields tried to get the plane airborne Tuesday after getting it on solid ice but agaht the craft broke through.
Your Citizen Carrier
Citizen c a r r i.e v Raymond Dirckx, M, oi' 1601 Qucensway, lias route A-26 consisting of 10 customers.
Raymond started delivering papers 'last summer during his vacation. He came from Winnipeg about 3 years ago.
His interests are stamp collecting and making m o d e 1 planes and boat.s. He has collected over $1,000 worth of stamps.
Raymbnd is the � only son f)f Mr. and Mrs. Cy Dirckx. and is a grade nine student at the Corfnaught Junior High.
He delivered another news-pap9jr -,heioro he started with the Citizen.
KA13IOAJ0
After stripping the plane and | leaving Mrs., Shields to lessen thes � puyiimii, liu .finally p:ot vhc plane in the air and flew it into Williams Lake. .
Mrs. Shields moved camp Tuesday while her husband walked around the lake in search of i\ road which would lead them back to civilization.
Mrs. Shields told friends that ('rooked Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes she has seen and that j;he would like to return to it this summer.
It is surrounded by mountains and steep, steel-gray slate cliffs.
The Shields' eldest son. Bill, who is taking a navigation course with the RCAF in Winnipeg, was flown to Prince
George in, a Mitchell aircraft and met his parents at the airport, -h*- *,
Although they had spent almost all of two days and nights awake, Mr. and Mrs. Shields did not appear over-tired.
Mr. Shields, unshaven, had burned a hole in the leg of a gray suit from the campfire.
They were brought back to Prince George in the Cessna 170 piloted by Pacific Western Airlines' base manager Bill Harvle.
Shields had borrowed the Cessna from a friend in Vancouver for the trip. They j had visited relatives In Vernon before taking off from Kelowna on the homeward journey.
Two To Be
The Prince George branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society will launch its annual fund drive March 1G.
This year's objective is 50,000.
Details of the drive will be announced later by Rev. Do� Corbet t, chairman of the publicity.
Elections will be held for two new directors to the board of the' Prince George and 'District Hospital Society at "an annual mooting next week.
The new directors will fill the vacancies left by .Iqhn Powers and L. L. King, whose terms of office will expire. Both vacancies are for two-year terms.
The meeting will be held in the banquet room of the Civic Centre at S p.m. March 10.
Members attending will also be asked to vote on
some minor amendments to a new set of bylaws adopted by the Society last year.
The minister of health and welfare recently approved the bylaws with the exception of the amendments.
Reports from all of the hospital board's committees will also be given at the meeting.
Current executive of the society is: John Powers, president: Milton Burt, vice-president; Bruce Thomson, secretary-treasurer; Canon T. D. R. Allen and L. L. King, directors and four appointees: W. D. Ferry, Aid. Frank Clark, C. O. Albins and Mrs. H. B. Ruse.
The former provincial government building will be turned into a modern store, it was announced today by S. S. Kresgc Company Limited. However, no construction dates have been set as yet.
I .). B Keachie of the company's real estate* department said the property was acquired "with the i'niention, in ^lue course, of erecting a modern' Kresge store."
Kresge's, an international novelty store,* submitted a bid in the amount of $1-11.000, almost double the amount of the sec-
ond highest bid submitted by
a local company!
"\<� decision hits been made ;is j;ci regarding the question ioi when we will commence
construction, nor plans been made
have
any n
store size," Mr. Keaehie told the ,Citizen.
The building which served. as provincial government headquarters in Prince George for nearly 30 years, was vacated last summer when the offices moved into the :> 1,800.000 structure in the 1G00 block Third Ave. - �
LSSLng
es
Could Cost $10
Police are beginning, to crack down on motorists who have not obtained the new 1959 licence plates.
Several car drivers and owners have appeared in city police court in the past few days and more were scheduled to come up this afternoon.
The usual fine, imposed by Magistrate P. J. Moran, is $10. However, there is no assurance that the fine couldn't be higher.
School
I Prince George Senior High School will be the centre of'high school drama activity in the northern interior when the first Northern Interior High School Drama Festival will be staged here March 13 and 14.
Eight one-act plays will
be put on by six high schools in this first venture of Prince George high school into sponsoring province-wide competition.
A. G. Stables, high school principal, told The Citizen the school hoped to go one step further next year and host a high school d r a m a festival for the entire prov-
He said the Department -)f Education and its community program branch had proved "most, co-operative" in aiding Prince George.
Meet Called On Accident Prevention
Groundwork will be laid Friday night for the establishment of an organization representing groups in Prince George and district which arc interested in accident prevention.
Harry Hamper, executive director of the B.C. Safety Council, will be a guest at a meeting �ailed for .s p.m. Friday ;;i cum-cil chambers at city hall.
H is expected a pro (cm exceu-tive will be named to guide the development of ;i local Safety Council. The election of a full slate of officers is expected to follow soon after.
Committees will be set up within the council to direct safety programs in such fields as the home, traffic, child and school, water, recreational, occupational and farm.
$500 Cost To Replace Ice Surface
It will cost the Prince George Lions Club $500 to have the Coliseum ice removed and replaced for their Automobile and Fashion Show March 13 and 14.
Coliseum manager Bill Woycik says it will take at least 12 hours to scrape the ice off with a planer and about the same length of time to put it hack.
However, most of the cost will go into replacing the ice for the March 15 hockey game, Mr. Woycik said. A refrigeration system has been installed below the permanent terrazzo floor.
Mr. Woycik said it would only he possible to put the ice back if the temperature doesn't go above 50 degrees above.
This will he the first time that the ice. has been removed and replaced in the new building.
Sun To Go Soon
fjrilliarit'sunshinc whien dried city streets of'the last remaining' winter'snow today, as not .(ex-pectcd to last much longer.
Public forecaster Vic JBicrnes-predicts (hat clouds "will" riipVtf in-tonight and bring' light raiii tviiiorrow.' .
A special adjudicator will be sent up to judge the plays.
Four plays are scheduled for each night, starting at 8 p.m.
Dawson Creek and McBride will stage two plays each. Single entries come from Fort St. John, Vanderhoof, Prince George. Senior High School and Duchess Park Junior High School.
"We'll be facing stiff competition," Mr. Stables commented.
"Some of the northern schools have been producing excellent plays in the past."
Conditions for Winter
Lumber production in the Prince George area climbed almost 25 per cent in January over figures for the same month in 195S.
Acting District Forester E. L. Young said the most significant feature of the January billing is that the number of sawmills is down from last year but production surpassed the 1958 figure.
A total of l(f,007,S:J!> cubic feet wcra scaled in the Prince George Forest District in January this year. Only 11,652,54!) cubic feet were scaled during the same month last year.
The Prince George Forest District includes ranger districts in this area along with those at McBride, Van-derhoof, Quesnel and the Peace River.
The biggest single producers were in the Prince George area where 10,065;041 cubic feet were sawn compared to 1,25(),3Q1 at McBride, 1,248,100 at Vanderhoof, ];524,o40 at Quesnel and. 1,913,967 in the Peace Rivor.
Weather conditions were generally favorable for winter production although an early spring break" up is threatening tp curtail operations a few weeks sooner than expected.
An industry-wide woodworkers' strike also threatened to cripple production.
Mr. Young predicted a favorable year ahead for the industry.
He foresees further consolidation among the plants. A dry summer, which could cause an outbreak of forest fires similar to last year, would also tie up logging and sawmill operations. ...
Leaving Key in Ignition Costs Motorist $25 Fine
A HUle known and seldom enforced section of the Motor Vehicle Act today cost a city motorist $25 in police court.
James lieastall, of Prince George, was fined $25 and costs when he pleaded guilty before Magistrate P. .1. Moran to a charge of leaving his car.key in the ignition1 while the car was unattended./
Though this part of the Act is not too well known, it is regarded as a serious offence and can be punished with a fine of up to $500.
Daily Temperature
/� 5 5 7 -.9 �// 15 15 \7 /9 21 25 Z5 Z7
ABOVE GRAPH gives the daily temperature range for February. The bottom of the solid column gives the lowest reading and the top the highest reading for the day. Maximum temperature of 47 degrees for the month is shown on. the last day while the minimum of 33 degrees below zero is shown on Feb. 11. All below-zero temperatures occurred during the middle two. weeks of the month.
�Graph by Vic Beirnes
Cold Spell in February Longest of Entire Year
The longest cold spell of the winter covered the middle of February, public forecaster Vic Beirnes reported today in the monthly; weather report, issued by the .local office of the .Department of Transport. .
'From .:F.eb\ 5 until Feb.. 20, the m.'evc'.lry stqyed below tl-jc freezing point d.ay and night. The cold ,snap reached its peak.on February. \\ with 33. degrees below zero, 10 degrees belov/ the cdldest 'temperature recorded in February; 1958, and six degrees below'- the_ average low'for the ln'onih. � '�
m'iie ccldeit Febiuary liiorn-
ing in the past 47 years was Feb. 11, 1030. with b2 below. The warmest was 5S above on Feb. 4, 1941.
The mean temperature for last month was four degrees below .normal.
Greatest one-day drop op rise in temperature was recorded Feb. XI with a -15.9 degree- gap.
.On 11 days, the mercury remained below 0, and on l'2 days, it! rose above freezing.
Precipitation was, approximately one-tenth of an inch above normal, as 13;8 inches of snow boosted the snowfall for the entire winter to 78.2 inches. The
record February snowfall occurred in l'J56 with 31.6 inches.
Sunshine was far above normal � almost 40 hours more than usual � and also the most in the' past 10 years. The 120 hours of bright"siinshine recorded last month came close to the February � record .'.of 130. -hours,' act in 1931.. In lD-'iG, the sun was out for only -10 hours. .
Wind velocity was. slightly above normal but was still the second lowest in the past six years. The windiest Februaiy was 1901 with an average speed of 11 miles-per hour.