today in brief
CANADIAN sailors have been told they’ll get their traditional uniforms back by next summer. Page
UNORTHODOX Bill Vander Zalm can be expected to make Vancouver’s mayoralty race an interesting one. Page
RUNNING BACKS stole the show in balloting for the CFL’s Schenley awards. Page
THE KILLINGS continue as the frustrated Green River task force painstakingly checks out lead and after lead. Page
Index
Ann Landers .........25
......26,27
City, B.C....... ,...3,6,7,21
......14-19
.........16
..........4
Entertainment . .......8-10
Horoscopes _____
International...
..........8
......11-13
6, an overnight low of 2, 6.4 mm of rain and no sunshine.
The sun will set at 6:09 p.m. today and rise at 7:45 a.m. Thursday.
Citizen photo by Ric Ernst
Janice Dally is one of the crowd of volunteers who 15 will be admitted free today. Among the activities
have spent the day dressing up the Coliseum in planned for Family Night at the Festhall is the an-
, , , preparation for the Oktoberfest opening ceremonies nouncement of the winners of The Citizens’ cooking
Bring the Kids 5 p m today. Until 8:30 p.m., when the first beer competition. Advance tickets are available from the
kegs are tapped, it’s Family Night at the Festhall. Oktoberfest office, 1852 Third Ave. or Dandy-Lines
When accompanied by their parents, children under Crafts by Canadian Ltd., 1362 Seventh Ave.
GREAT RACE, HOMECOMING
City plans big birthday bash
by JOHN SPILKER Staff reporter Plenty will be happening in Prince George next year during the city's 70th birthday.
That’s what the Prince George Promotional Society found out during its first major public meeting Tuesday when about 20 community groups' spoke of their plans for events next year.
The society, which is co-ordinating these events, wants to hold a homecoming in early August so former residents can see how far the city has progressed, said society chairman Rod Maides.
" He said he hopes service groups, such as the Rotarians will encourage former members to return to Prince George for the homecoming.
In addition, Maides said the society is preparing a calendar of events and has come up with the anniversary logo of Look at Us
Now.
Mayor Elmer Mercicr told the audience of 50 people that next year's celebrations are a dry-run for the following year when hundreds of thousands of tourists will visit B.C. to see Expo 86.
He said the city must look at ways to “attract our fair share of the market pie.”
He added: “We’ve got to get a part of it. I’ve written letters to the premier and cabinet ministers and said let’s not make 1986 a birthday party for the City of Vancouver’. . We in the Interior have really got an opportunity to get in there and participate.”
Don Morberg. manager of the Greater Prince George Visitor and Convention Bureau, said tourists must be told what sm vices are available in Prince George and
what events are planned.
“A lot of people are coming here and saying ‘we didn’t know this is a city of 70,000 people and has all these facilities.’
“We’re going to get that information together ana get it out to them before they plan their vacations and give them the opportunity to stay here longer."
Lee Morris, a spokesman for the B.C. Yellowhead Tourism Association, outlined plans for the Great Race that will be held between McBride and Prince Rupert in May.
This year’s race will be a dry run for 1986, she explained.
The race, which is designed to attract media coverage from the major U.S. television networks and publications, will be held in about 10 legs. Each leg will feature races with different types of vehicles, which could include ultra-light aircraft, bathtubs, canoes, railway handcars and speedboats.
She said she noped each community along the race course would hold local events to tie in with the Great Race.
The association hopes to find corporate sponsors to donate prize money.
Other groups and organizations including the Folkfest Society, Studio 2880, Parks Canada and the Coin Club spoke of their plans for next year.
A spokesman for Parks Canada said the federal government department is celebrating the 100th anniversary of national parks next year and is organizing a canoe trip along the fur route between Fort St. James and Fort Langley.
CANADIAN GM PLANTS
Auto workers on strike
by Canadian Press
TORONTO — Picket lines formed outside General Motors of Canada Ltd. plants in Ontario and Quebec today as 36,000 workers walked off the job in a strike that could have a serious impact on the Canadian economy.
The walkouts, which started Tuesday night and this morning at five of the nine plants and spread to other plants when the noon strike deadline was reached, came after contract talks failed to produce a tentative settlement at a Toronto hotel.
Bob White, Canadian director of the United Auto Workers, said talks would continue as the two sides try to find some common ground that might lead to a settlement. But he did not appear optimistic.
White, pointing out this is the first strike against GM Canada in 14 years, laid the blame squarely on the company.
“This is GM’s strike,” he said. “They are trying to change the bargaining programs that our
union has had for many years.”
The company was forced to close operations early at nearby Oshawa and Ste-Therese, Que., when day shifts in the two centres failed to report for work. More than 10.000 workers were involved in the early walkouts.
The strike will have an immediate impact on the Canadian economy and GM’s operations in the United States, said Rod Andrew, the company’s top negotiator.
“I’m very sad for this stoppage,” Andrew said.
White said the latest offer, made Tuesday afternoon, differed little from one the bargaining committee rejected last week and contains proposals for concessions that were turned down in major talks during 1982.
The Canadian union is focusing on better wages, pensions and a reduction in work time.
Andrew said there has also been a philosophical difference over how to reward workers for good performance.
The iO • j • ______35c
Citizen
Prince George JL JL JIL. Wednesday, October 17, 1984
SUSPECT UNDER 'MANDATORY SUPERVISIOIT
Man
PRAIRIES GET TASTE OF WINTER
EDMONTON (CP) - Residents of Saskatchewan and Alberta, cursing as they tried to manoeuvre shovels and cars through a record October snowfall, got some good news today — the worst is over.
Weather forecasters said snow would continue to fall but would be much lighter than Tuesday, when a storm blew its icy breath across the Prairies, creating nightmarish driving conditions and closing schools aDd airports. Walking wasn’t easy either as winds gusted to 100 kilometres an hour.
D^ifting^ snow was expected to remain a .problem in open areas and temperatures could remain near freeing, but diminishing winds should ease the digging-out process.
The storm dumped 14 centimetres of snow on Edmonton and a further four to six centimetres were expected by Thursday evening.
Const. John Warden, a city police spokesman, said 200 traffic accidents were reported in Edmonton in the 24-hour period that began at 7 a.m. Tuesday, although there were no serious injuries.
Saskatchewan took the brunt of the storm. Twenty-eight centimetres of snow fell in Regina and Saskatoon and the airports in both cities were closed all day Tuesday. Flight schedules should return to normal today.
Police in Saskatoon reported hundreds of cars abandoned along roadways and numerous fender-bender accidents. A heart-attack victim had to be carried four blocks on a stretcher to an ambulance when the vehicle was unable to get through snow-clogged roads.
Winds up to 100 kilometres an hour caused an estimated $200,000 damage to docks and boats in the harbor at the Lake Winnipeg fishing community of Girnli, Man. Residents said the storm was the worst they had seen in 50 years.
Falling hydroelectric lines left several small communities around Winnipeg without power About 20 centimetres of snow fell Tuesday in southwestern Manitoba near the Saskatchewan border.
An 80-kilometre stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan, between Broadview and Moosomin, was closed for several hours.
Economic optimism
expressed
OTTAWA (CP) The unemployment rate could be reduced to seven per cent from its current level of 11.8 per cent within three years if the federal government made some common-sense changes to its economic policies, the Royal Bank of Canada says.
The prediction, which is very optimistic compared with other recent jobless forecasts, suggests a stable economic environment is needed along with continued anti-inflationary monetary policies and the elimination of certain government policies that affect wages and government-regulated prices.
A top priority is to cut $7 billion from the $30-billion deficit within three years by cutting government spending or, as a last resort, increasing taxes, the country’s largest bank said in a l,;ief presented Tuesday to the royal commission on the economy
charged in cabbie death
by BERNICE TRICK Staff reporter
A man charged with first-de-gree murder in the death of city cab driver Danny Bryce has been under mandatory supervision in Prince George since his release from prison April 30, says a spokesman for the Prince George Parole Office.
Matthew Gerald MacDonald, 33, was released on mandatory supervision from Kent Maximum Security Institute at Agassiz on a sentence due to expire Sept. 18, 1989, Brian Lang, a spokesman for the Parole Office said in a telephone interview this morning.
Lang confirmed records show MacDonald was sentenced to 17 years, eight months and six days in prison after being convicted of causing bodily harm with intent and assaulting a peace officer in 1971, unlawful confinement in 1974 and forcible confinement in 1976.
Lang explained mandatory supervision releases are made by law and not by parole boards.
Police arrested MacDonald at about 5 p.m. Monday in a downtown hotel, but no information was released until after his court appearance Tuesday afternoon. A spokesman said the information was withheld because police were still investigating his movements.
Staff Sergeant Jim Swanson is still requesting anyone who witnessed a man older than 30 years with short hair and wearing blue jeans running along highways or streets late Sunday night to contact police at 562-3371.
MacDonald was remanded in custody today until Friday, when the date for a preliminary hearing will be set.
Bryce, 31, was found dead in his Prince George Taxi cab from multiple stab wounds about 11 p.m. Sunday in a bush area in South Fort George.
Police believe he was the victim of a robbery.
A funeral service is set for 10:30 a.m. Friday at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Patricia Boulevard and burial will take place at Prince George Cemetery.
About 55 local drivers are expected to attend the service and will form part of the procession in taxis flying black flags in tribute to a fallen brother.
“We’re leaving only a five-taxi skeleton crew on duty at that time to serve those we have contracts with,” said Otto Doering, manager of Prince George Taxi Association.
Bryce’s sister Lorrie Quiring told The Citizen she and other family members feel “very angry about Danny’s death because he was such a kind and gentle man.”
She thinks her brother “probably didn’t want to give up his hard-earned money.”
“He had just been laid off his job with the School District and he needed every cent to pay his bills,” she said, adding, “He told us he only made about $27, after expenses, on a shift.”
Bryce was born in Williams Lake and came to Prince George as a young man where he worked as a tow truck operator and on the maintenance crew at School District 57 before following in his father’s footsteps as a taxi driver.
He is survived by wife Angela and daughter Melina, his mother and father, two brothers, three sisters, his grandmother and several aunts, uncles and cousins.
Yesterday today page 8
Sadrack says
Cool, mainly cloudy and continuing windy is the forecast for tonight and Thursday. Some isolated snow showers are expected in the area. The overnight low is expected to be near -7 rising to 3 or 4 Thursday.
During the past 24 hours a high of 6, a low of -2, a trace of snow and 5.5 hours of sunshine were recorded at the airport weather office.
Last year on this date we had a high of
4
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