Harvard teen behind hot new novel /27
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2006

Earthquake Pipeline anniversary plan draws marked /15 support /22

Brides-to-be hit the gym before the big day /25

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Child centre close to fundraising target
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff The Child Development Centre is getting close to raising the $1.5 million it needs to pay for a major renovation to its facility. With the area's three MLAs handing over $75,000 from the provincial government on Tuesday, the CDC has covered about 90 per cent of its goal, said Mary Jarbek, community relations director at the centre. "We're waiting on a couple more grants that we have out there, but we're feeling pretty confident they will come through," she said. About 6,000 square feet of the building was renovated so that the day care and preschool rooms are all located downstairs and the therapeutic services -- occupational, speech and physio -- are all located on the main level where they have more room. "Previously we were so short of therapy space that we might have had several therapists in the building but they couldn't all treat children simultaneously," said CDC therapy services director Carol Oosthuizen. "Now, it means the children's' access to treatment has improved because we can have so much more going on all at the same time." She said it's also allowed the CDC to add a child psychiatrist to the staff. About 130 children attend the preschool and day-care classes downstairs, including the only toddler day-care program in B.C. And the support program for other child-care centres around the city is now onsite. -- See MORE on page 3

Pine beetle experiment fails to help
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff A trial program using a pheremone that repels mountain pine beetles, which was meant to help save healthy lodgepole pine trees in city residents' backyards, was not successful, the city said Tuesday. A total of 465 residents participated in the experiment, which was conducted with the help of the University of Northern B.C. and Phero Tech Inc. of Delta, which produces the pheremone product called Verbenone. The trial showed that while there were some sites where Verbenone helped marginally in Prince George, overall there was no difference between sites where the pouches were hung in trees and those where they weren't, said Mark Fercho, the city's environment manager. Verbenone mimics the smell that beetles give off when a tree or stand is full of beetles. "Under heavy infestations it's just not effective," said Fercho. Verbenone research was conducted in two other areas in the Southern Interior, Merritt and Lac Le Jeune. In those areas, which had light infestation, Verbenone was successful in repelling attacks when it was accompanied by complete removal of infested trees, noted Fercho. -- See TREE on page 3

Rupert terminal spinoffs studied
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff A Vancouver-based transportation consultant has been given $73,000 to draft a plan to help northern B.C. exploit the spinoffs from the Prince Rupert container terminal. InterVISTAs Consulting Inc., which hopes to complete the project by the end of August, will spell out the terminal's possibilities for inland port and intermodal facilities. The Northern Development Initiative Trust is contributing $20,000 while the remainder of the money comes from several other sources, including the federal and provincial governments and the Prince George Airport Authority. There is an immense growth in demand for shipment by container, InterVISTAs executive vice-president Mike Tretheway said at a press conference Tuesday. He said ports along the west coast, from Mexico up to Prince Rupert, currently have the capacity to handle 40 million containers a year and it's expected demand will have grown to 100 million by 2015. -- See CONTAINER on page 3

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Deputy Premier Shirley Bond presented the provincial government's contribution of $75,000 to the Prince George Child Development Centre on Tuesday. Thomas McCelland kept on playing during the presentation.

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Video links patients, surgeons
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff P r i n c e G e o r ge r e s i d e n t C a r o l Schwab no longer has to travel to Kelowna for clinical assessments following chest surgery in 2004. Since July of last year, she can now get those assessment from thoracic surgeons in Kelowna through a video hookup with Prince George Regional Hospital. The fact she doesn't have to travel, and the cost savings, are wonderful, said Schwab. She added that the assistance of a nurse -- Della Webb, a PGRH nurse who has been specially trained for the thoracic assessments -- is also a positive. "I just can't say enough about it," said Schwab, who had surgery in 2004 to remove the top ribs on both sides of her chest to alleviate a painful condition that affects circulation and nerves. The video link to PGRH is part of an expanded program started in 2003 in Kelowna to provide improved service to communities that don't have thoracic surgeons. There are only 10 tho-

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Alzheimer's research encouraged
VANCOUVER (CP) -- British Columbia plans to lead the world in finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, Premier Gordon Campbell said Tuesday in announcing $15 million in research funding. The money will go to the Pacific Alzheimer Research Foundation, a newly established charitable society whose mission is to eradicate Alzheimer's and related dementias. It's an issue close to the B.C. Liberal leader's heart. In 1999 he and his family climbed Africa's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, raising about $130,000 for research into the neurodegenerative disease, which results in a loss of mental functions. " " I t ' s b e e n 10 0 y e a r s s i n c e Alzheimer's was discovered." said Campbell. "We want to make sure that it's not 100 years until we find the cure."

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 26 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . .3,5,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 18-21 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 16 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,15

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

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A medical teleconference linked patient Carol Schwab and RN Della Webb at PGRH, in the monitor on the right, with Dr. Michael Humer and Health Minister George Abbott in Kelowna. racic surgeons in B.C., located in television monitors are used so the patient can also see what the doctor Kelowna and on the Lower Mainland. The video links are also in place in sees. A special lens in the remote locaCranbrook, Nelson, Trail, Williams tion can show closeup shots if necesLake and Kamloops. The program in- sary. Two-way audio allows the pavolves a nurse at the remote location tient, surgeon and nurse to communiwho runs the clinic and aids in per- cate. forming hands-on examinations. Two -- See LESS on page 3

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