IHE
Dedicated to the Progress of the North
Phone LOgan 4-2441
Vol. 3; No. 231
PRINCE GEORGE, BRITISH COLUMBIA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1959
BY OAKRIKJI SSo PER WKKK
Window-Smashing Vandals Hit City Premises Again
(Following is a statement issued The Citizen today by Staff Sergeant �)� A. Knox of the Prince George Detachment, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, on the observance of national Safe Driving Week. Dec. 1 to 7. i
EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG and still going strong was .Martin Caine who, with his wife, cut the large birthday "cake at a party given in his honor Saturday night in the Prince George Hotel. Close to 200 persons attended the party for the pioneer district lumber company operator. �Citizen photo
Everybody agreed � it was the whoppingest birthday party Prince George has ever seen.
� - Iji^itv >f.i:*. *.fA> .'�?*-� 1 .>. w i i > v^.iiiic- svaH imi'i) in Cambridgeshire; England. Forty years' ago he came to Prince George. Saturday night he and close to 200 of his friends got together and had a rea^ ball.
For Martin Caine is one of
one
Prince George's best-loved citizens and it was his eightieth birthday last week so what would be more natural than to throw a big party for him in the Prince George Hotel banquet hall, hire an orchestra, bake a cake, and live it up?
They did, and martin Caine liiid a whale of a time. He danced to tiic music of the fivc/piccc Starlighters orchestra and was bussed by 80 local belles.
This kissing business happen' ed just after Martin cut the huge cake which featured � in candles � the numerals '8'. They threw an out-sized diaper and a baby bonnet on him, attaching a sign reading "150 years young."
From then on it was open season on Martin Caine as 80 lipstick-resplendent women lined up to give him a congratulatory kiss.
He protested not, but it was hard to tell if his red countenance was the result of blushing (unlikely) or of a liberal smattering of various lipstick blends. Anyway, from !) p.m. to the
ex-MLA and an octogenarian himself, proposed the toast as 200 glasses rose in unison.
At one point, the guest of honor and Air. Mclnius were joined by yet another octogenarian, Sinclair McLean, making the combined ages of the trio two-and-a-half centuries! Martin Caine is a pioneer of the Prince George district and its sprawling sawmill industry. He first arrived in Canada en route to the Yukon gold rush in 1898. but made it only to Rossland, B.C., where his money ran out.
Mining became his occupation until the Kaiser started getting ornery and he had to interrupt his trail of fortune to serve overseas in the First World War. He returned to Canada, and headed north to Prince George, arriving here in 1919.
Well, there wasn't much to greet him here in those days, bul he settled in and eventually became one of the district's most respected citizens. Work wasn't a dirty word to
contracted to slash limber on the original .Pacific Great Eastern railway survey. I k> operated the Shelley sawmill in the 2D's, gave it up in the slump, then started again just before the second world conflict. Then, in the early 40's, he set up the first planer mill in the Prince George district.
Today, 40 years after his arrival in tiie district, he is still active in his Caine Lumber Co. Ltd., keeping hours that would shame many men 30 years his junior.
In between, he found lime to be president of the Prince George Board of Trade, serve on the School Hoard, run for mayor (he was defeated by 24 votes) and take a generally active part in community activities. lie's been in the Rotary Club for years and was its president five years ago. He and his wife Errol have four children and seven grandchildren.
So it's easy to see why there was a "hot time in the old town" Saturday night when they threw a party for sterling citizen Martin Caine.
wee hours Martin Caine was the I this driving man. First he got toast of the town. John Mclnnis, | contrails to cut railway ties, then
Death Accidental
TRA IL (CP) � A coroner's jury ruled Mrs. Mary Konkin died accidentally when struck by a car on the highway near her Sa'hno home Efiirller this
j month. Driver of the car was
i Bruce Hurdle- of Trail.
Canada is about to enter Into Safe Driving Week for the year lUoll.
The Canada Highway Safety Council has again laid the plan before the Police Forces of the country ami they have taken up he challenge.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Prince George are ready to go ju.st that little bit farther in order to make Safe Driving Week a success in this area.
Good drivers are asked to continue their careful practices with just a little l>it more attention to courtesy and attention to the traffic regulations during the next week.
Our aim in Prince George is to bring to the attention of those drivers and pedestrians who have hot realized that accidents and deaths on the highway can h :i p p e n to them, t h r o u g h this bulletin a ri d through stepped-up police activities, that safe driving and safe walking pay huge dividends in life and limb.
It will lie our aim to set a standard of traffic safety that
fee the the IV
will be a mark to follow during the next .~>1 weeks.
Everyone is requested especially to be, more than ever, careful during Safe Driving Week. Drivers arc asked to remember to have their vehicles In safe condition, to drive with thought for the regulations unu always with courtesy.
At no time can a driver
he is the only driver on
road, there are always i
; cars coming towards you,
; destrians are requested to re-
. member to walk on the right
' side of the highway, to remem-
; her that drivers cannot always
! have full control of vehicles at
! slippery crossings and to wear
some light coloured clothing,
when walking at night.
Is it too much to ask that people drive cars with the same thought for other.- as they have when they are on foot amongsi other pedestrians, to remember this during Safe Driving Week and to co-operate with the Canadian Highway Safety Council ami your local police force, beginning next week and continuing all next year?
Window-smashing vandals struck again early Sunday for the second consecutive weekend, causing an estimated $400 damage to four separate business premises. Beer bottles were used in each ease.
A large plate glass window, the second is as many weeks, j were thrown from a passing ear was smashed at the Fourth and | and that there is a "good chance" Victoria Super-Value store. Re- j this week-end's vandalism was
placement cost is "over $150. Also smashed were windows at
caused by the same persons involved in last week-end's rash
the Strand Theatre, Princess Grill j of window smashing, and Goiden Pheasant cafe. No1 One peer bottle was found sev attempt was made to enter any eral feet inside tv.e premises of of the premises. the Princess Grill, indicating it
RCMP believe the beer bottles ;>�?.$ thrown with some force.
Presbfl
Sil k
A man who gave up the manager in Canada for Genei director of Presbyterian Me branch Friday.
Roy A. Hamilton met with local members of the Presbyterian Men at the home of Al Cordirier as one ston of his current trip to various B.C. centres.
Ho is setting up existing Presbytery Councils and leadership training groups both in Bible study, under the Swedish method, and general instruction on public speaking following the
position of general car sales al Motors to become national
n. was a guest of the local
Parliament to Debate Issue
By PAT DENTON
Next January, the question of whether or not to abolish the death penalty in Canada is going to be debated in Parliament.
The Citizen, in an attempt to discover the feelings of local people in this contentious issue, has interviewed a number of Prince George lawyers, criminal rehabilitation workers and average citizens.
Their opinions appear U) fall into three major classifications: Those who would retain capital punishment as practiced today. Those who would abolish the death penalty completely.
Those who would be in favor of abolition with certain exceptions, such as a mass murderer, killing of a policeman or jail guard during a prison break, or high treason.
The death penalty can be imposed in Canada at present for murder, certain types of treason and piracy with violence. The latter two are rare in modern-day Canada, so, to all intents and purposes, murder is the only crime for which hanging is mandatory.
One lawyer interviewed favors abolition not only because he believes capital punishment to be morally wrong, but because "punishment must be either a deterrent (to crime) or a means of reform . . . the death penalty ! does not act as a deterrent, and I
by its nature does not reform a man."
However, another city lawyer feels "a ease has not been made out in favor of abolition." Nor does he feel the penal code should be changed to include dc-gres of murder as in the United States.
Under the present Canadian jury system, there are only three verdicts possible in a murder trial: guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter or not guilty.
A third lawyer interviewed said he favors abolition of the (loath penalty both morally and on the grounds the jury system is not infallible, lie fell, however, exceptions would have to be made in extreme cases. WIDE EXPERIENCE
Two other local men who have had wide experience in the rehabilitation of criminals expressed their dislike of capital punishment. But both felt total abolition, while desirable, would not be feasible.
"Battle of The Beavers'
By JARVIS
"There isn't enough ro( that game warden. One of stayin'."
Ed Nolan was "mad".
The 68-year-old had just spent ; five days in jail, not because he had to ... he was trying to prove a point.
They'd found him guilty of not having a trapper's licence for nine beaver pelts in his possession. This wasn't justice, in spile of the trapping regulations, thought Nolan.
The beaver were taken on what he considered part of his 320-acre. farm at the east end of Francois Lake, where he has i lived 41 years � 32 of it alone. except for his beloved 1925-model Nash touring car. COURT ACTION
Warden Art Balcombc of Van-1 derhpof ("the" warden) "decided, however � after some four years wrangling with Nolan -i'-.:it li �" as Edward A. Nolan � tried for those years to get what is known j as a Free Farmer's Licence in order to trap beaver on the Nithi 1 River. He claims the beaver have
WHITNEY
>ni up there for both me'n us has eot to a,n. And I'm
made some of his land useless due to flooding.
This was the first year of the four he has gone ahead without a permit to get rid of the anim- j a Is.
The game department takes the stand" that the river � which ruts through Nolan's property into Francois Lake � is not his property. They 'maintain nobody can own any part of any provincial waterway.
Furthermore, there is an established trap line on that section of the river. Therefore, Nolan can not trap on the river, cither with the permit he has sought or with a regular trapper's licence. The free farm permit apparently allows killing of "nuisance" heaver only on private property. Two l'c.i ca:t:iot trap en t'le same trap line, even if they both have licences. It's first come, first served as far as registration of trap lines are concerned. GOOD MEAT
And. with the free permit a man can't use the beaver for his
own gain. (Nolan, who had his pelts taken away, said he was eating the animals. "Good meat, too.")
He claims that he got nothing from his land this year. His meadow is under water � as it lias been for the past four years - 40 acres of oat sheaves are under snow because he was in
jail when he had planned to take them in an?l his potato crop is still in the ground.
Nolan � a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania � who served with the U.S. Navy in both world wars, the last because Canadian forces wouldn't accept him � says he'll work in Burns Lake as a steam "'1"i'1""'" lhis winter, a job ha has held for three winters, in uniei ib e.ii. He gamed some practical experience in the navy, on the battleship "Arizona" which went down at Pearl Harbor.
The 68-year-old said he had S200 in his pocket when Van-dcrhof magistrate Dick Evans gave him a choice of '�Eighteen dollars or five days," but thought that by "coing to jaii hc-(] [jrjng
more attention to his "plight". And. he said he thought he" was making some point by going to i the "jug". -What's more, it's t'.ie only way I could get rid of that game warden."
Asked if he'd ever been in tiic pokey before Edward A. replied, "Oh, hell no. And, it won't be the last time either."
The game department has offered to blow up the beaver dams on the Nithi, but this apparently doesn't meet Nolan's approval.
After his release from the "house on the hill" here the determined old farmer said he was going to "stick with *er" in his attempts to get a free permit to rid himself of the flat-tails and threatened to "go right back and trap more beaver" in spite of his "friend" Warden Balcombe and the trapping regulations.
And so, the Nolan-Balcombe stalemate appears headed for still another round.
Nolan, told by his lawyers he was "not looking at the law as it actually is. You are Inok-ing at the law as you think it should be," still is determined that his land is his domain and the river is part of it so he'll trap beaver there. The old tinier � who. of a summer, usually travels to California in his ancient car. which, b> the way, runs like a top � has written many a letter to various important people of the "fix I'm in." Newton Gleacy, provincial agricultural minister, Cyril Shel-, ford. MLA for Omineca, and recreation minister Westwood are some of the people on his mailing list.
Meanwhile, the "Battle of the Beaver" continues.
Another man. directly concerned with law enforcement here, told The Citizen he believes it's rarely a prospective murderer says to himself "1 am going to kill so-and-so at 2 p.m. today." Murder is generally a crime of passion, of the moment.
The occasional one who does plan a killing certainly never expects to be caught, he says, and .'onsequcntly whether the punishment is hanging or life imprisonment - - neither would wove a deterrent to him.
Again, there are those who believe a murderer, whether his crime is premeditated or not, is temporarily insane at the time of its perpetration. But for a jury to find a do-fendent not guilty by reason of insanity, they must be satisfied that the person � at the time of committing the act � was laboring from such a defect of reason, from disease of the minds, as not to know the quality of
OPINIONS ON ABOLITION (Continued on 1'ngn 3)
course introduced by the Junioi Chambers of Commerce.
Mr. Hamilton, who left General Motors five years ago to take up his current work, is from Toronto. He was accompanied to meetings in Kamloons Saturdaj by Mr. Cordiner and Ken Lut-trell.
Other centres on Mr. Hamilton's itinerary include Penticton, the Kootcnays, Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Ku will leave for Toronto Dee. 10.
There arc about 18 members of the Presbyterian Men, comprising laymen of the Presbyterian Church, in Prince George.
Two brothers, believed Jiun.t-ing in the Salmon Valley about 20 miles north of Prince George off the Hart Highway, have been reported overdue to RCMP by a neighbor.
The men are identified as Lloyd Walter Lane and Keith Charles Lane. Their neighbor told police this morning the brothers had not been heard of since 9 a.m. Sunday.
Poliee said they would go out there today to determine if the sotting tip of a search party Would be necessary.
Suicide Verdict After Inquest
A coroner's jury brought in a verdict of suicide at the inquest Friday into the death of a 42-ycar-old South Fort George woman whose body was found in a cabin Nov. 21.
The verdict was that Edythc Lenorc Ogren "intentially shot herself in the chest thereby causing her death," sometime between 12:45 and 2:45 p.m. Nov. 21.
November came to Prince George accompanied by mild temperatures and it's leaving that way too. Sandwiched be-Iween, however, was a low of 31 below, the coldest temperature that early in the year since records were established here in 191G.
High of the month was Nov. 1 as the mercury soared to 51. ili^'h Sunday was a comparatively mild 42. tip to today, there .vas .29 inch23 of rain and 22.7 Inches of snow marked. Dividing >now figures by ten to get the ictual amount of precipitation, his fives a totr.l of 2.5t>. Normal is 2.03 for the month.
Today's forecast:
Cloudy, with a few snow Hurries this evening. Cloudy Tuesday with showers in the afternoon. Not much change in temperature. Winds light except southerly 2d in the afternoon. Low tonight, 23; high Tuesday, 40.
Married Com Given $20� Rne
An attempt to steal eight dollars worth of packaged meats from a city food market cost a married couple $200 when they pleaded guilty to the theft charge in poliee court Saturday.
Frank and Jolahka Skcrlak, Yugoslavian immigrants, told the court through an interpreter they were guilty 'but added "lots of people are taking more than we � but they go free."
"You thought you'd get in on the act loo, did you?" Magistrate Geopge Stewart asked. T h o r e was no reply.
Levying a fine of SI00 each, the couple was wanvPd a re-' currence of the offence would likely result in a jail sentence. Skerlak, a 28-yfear-oId mill-worker, paid the $100 and was given until Dec. S to pay the balance.
A 46-year-old man with 18 previous convictio.ns for drunkenness was piven two weeks to pay a $50 fine when he told the court he had a job to go to. Failure k> pay the fine in the tipulated time would cost Olaf Bjorne Thqi'bergsen 30 days of freedom.
A man who said he has driven since 191] was found guilty of failure to yield the right-of-way and lined $10. Henry Alfred li e a u s 0 j o n r, represented by counsel, had pleaded ncil guilty.
Kenneth McGillvray, 59, was fined $10 for intoxication in a public place,
General Meeting
The public is invited to attend a general meeting of th" Society for the Prevention of Cruelly to Animals tonight at 8 in tlhe rrin.ee George Hotel.
STUDYING PLAN for the setting up of leadership training courses in B.C. Presbyterian Men groups are Al Cordiner (left), president of the Prince George association, visiting Roy Hamilton (centre), national director, and Howard Barton, local secretary. Air. Hamilton was a visitor here on a brief stop-over Friday.
�Citizen photo