The Prince George
Citizen
 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9,1991
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                                                                                            Low tonight: -35 High tomorrow: -25
 Almanac for the ‘90s
 In search of unity
 Jenkins makes Hall
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 8
 13
 NBC reworks its lineup 16
Cold severs power to subdivision
                                                                                                                   by ARNOLD OLSON Citizen StafT
   It was so cold Tuesday it stopped electricity to about 160 homes in College Heights, sending some people to the nearby College Heights Secondary School to keep warm.
   Canadian Press weather statistics listed Prince George as the coldest place in Canada Tuesday, colder even than such Arctic communities as Alert, Inuvik and Cambridge Bay.
   The day’s bitter cold set two Prince George records for Dec. 8, a high of -36.9 and an overnight low of -41.5 — the coldest maximum temperature since 1953’s -25
and the coldest overnight low since 1980’s -37.
   People in this region, held in an icy grip for days on end, can look forward to some warmer temperatures by the weekend, when the mercury is expected to climb to a balmy -5, with overnight low a mere -17.
   Keith Monroe, B.C. Hydro area manager, said the 5:45 p.m. College Heights power outage was caused by a malfunction of a splice in the electrical service loop that feeds Domano Boulevard and Gladstone Drive residences. It lasted about nine hours.
   “This was probably the heaviest
load, ever, on that circuit, because of the weather,” he said.
   He said household circuits are being used for auxiliary heating, and when people started turning on the stoves to cook supper, the load became too much.
   Heather Marshall, whose Imperial Crescent home was without power last night, said “It was a real thrill for our cousins from Norway who were visiting us...We shipped them off to another house and stayed up and stoked the fire, to keep the plants and the fish alive. It must have been really tough for people in the crescent I know who don’t have fireplaces.”
   At Rosemary Pisatcky’s home,
the fireplace was also put in use, but by the time the electricity came back on, the thermostat read 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 Celsius), she said.
   Because the power lines in that area are all underground services, access to splice boxes and transformers was difficult to find, Monroe said.
   "Once we found the fault, we had power restored in about an hour.”
   The power came back on at 2:33 a.m.
   Because of the cold, the city’s Provincial Emergency Program volunteers were called out to assist
homeowners. Many of them never got to bed until about 6 a.m.
   Bruce Williams, the city’s director of administrative services, said the city got into the action.
   "We set up an emergency response centre at city hall and a reception area at College Heights Secondary School.
   The response centre received about 12 calls during the night, some of them from people asking to have RCMP patrols watch their vacated homes and others getting information about what to do while the power was off.
   He said people were told to leave a tap running to prevent pipes freezing over and to flush
the toilet frequently to prevent it from freezing over.
   “The estimate we have is that it takes an average Prince George home about five or six hours to cool to the freezing point”
   College Heights fire fighters were alerted because emergency home heating sometimes causes house fires.
   The power outage wasn’t the only problem during the day.
   Prince George drivers racked up a total of 40 accidents Tuesday.
   “That’s usually what we would get on a winter weekend,” said RCMP Sgt. Garry Rogers of the city traffic section.
                    Winter wonders aren’t held back
by MARILYN STORIE Citizen Staff
So what do you do when it’s too cold to go skiing?
Well, in Prince George you bike. You walk. You jog.
“Sure I’ve been riding it right through the cold spell,” said Nathan Geller on Thursday afternoon. Seeing him perched on a mountain bike on a Victoria Street sidewalk, we had to ask.
“This,” he points to his bike, “is the only super-efficient design (for transportation). It’s going to replace those dinosaurs in a few more years,” he adds with a sidelong glance at the car.
“I’ve been biking out to Six Mile (Tabor) Lake and Purden,” he said, shouting the words through a double set of ski masks. Appropriately enough, Geller was just on his way to the YMCA for a workout before heading back to Tabor Lake.
Whether it’s the indomitable spirit of the north or pure unadulterated bush madness shining through, it’s apparent that not everyone allows cold weather to put the freeze on their regular activities.
Amazingly, we discover one city man heading down Victoria Sreet in a wheelchair. Wayne Buwane is on his way to the Royal Bank. “I’m just going up to the bank to pay some bills,” he explains. With a little help from passers-by he gets there, too.
Aside from farmers coaxing frozen vehicles to life in order to truck hay out to livestock, trappers checking traplines, meter readers reading meters and outdoor workers working, why would any of us go outside?
Well, boredom, for one.
“Aw, I’m going over to the comer store,” said Jason Brockman, a boy we spot running down a College Heights side street. For Brockman and other area children
  who haven’t been attending school during the cold spell, the charm of staying home and watching videos is beginning to pale.
    Passing cars provide a cold weather orchestra for die-hard pedestrians, with strange thumpings, creaks and groans. City buses roar ragggedly past in the ice fog like ghostly combines.
    Not everyone is going to work. The odd store downtown is shut. Outer glass doors on commercial buildings such as those at the provincial courthouse are temporarily frozen shut. The sum total of shoppers in Zellers on the main floor at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday was three.
    Just how much downtown Prince George has been looking like London in the foggy, smoggy 1880s became patently obvious when we decided to look for the sun.
    About eight kilometres west of the city centre it’s safe to turn off headlights. The ice fog is almost gone. Drive a further two kilometres west and the world is bright sunshine and sparkling snow.
    Dogs waiting for the mailman — doomed to disappointment because even the mail has slowed in reaction to the cold — look up from the shelter of a snowbank at the end of their road with momentary interest. Then each tucks his legs back into a fetal position of warmth. A crow, his feathers ruffled to the size of an overcoat, waddles down the road. Thirsty cows stand patiently as a rancher moves purposefully down to the pond to break the ice for them.
    It’s winter, but it’s clean. No wonder country residents are so smug.
Citizen photos by Dave Milne
 Wayne Buwane, left, and Nathan Geller don’t let -40 temperatures Interfere with their regular routines.
 Talk results unclear
Mohawks, police clash on Kahnawake reserve
  GENEVA (Reuter) — A meeting between U.S. State Secretary James Baker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz on the Persian Gulf crisis ended after about six hours of talks Wednesday, but results of the meeting were not immediately clear.
   Baker said he would hold a news conference shortly. Aziz said he would also speak to reporters later.
   Baker was unsmiling as he came out of the meeting. Aziz had the same smile he had been wearing all day.
Premier postpones address
  VICTORIA (CP) — Premier Bill Vander Zalm has put off plans for a provincewide address, a news release from his office says today.
  The release says he has rescheduled the speech. None of the major networks, however, had agreed to give him air time for his planned Jan. 17 talk to the province.
  Vancouver-based CBC and BCTV were considering granting him free air time, while the city’s other station, CKVU, refused the premier’s request.
  "Vander Zalm said today that he considered it unusual that BCTV executives originally wanted veto power over derails of the speech prior to granting him permission to air the address,” the release says.
  The premier used free air time last Jan. 17 to tell the province he wouldn’t quit although speculation was rampant his unpopularity in public opinion polls and six straight byelection losses would prompt his resignation.
  CHATEAUGUAY, Que. (CP) — Unarmed Mohawk Warriors kept a close watch on police this morning after 20 people were injured and shots were fired Tuesday in brawls on the Kahnawake reserve.
  “They’re circling around here,” said one Warrior, who this morning was manning, along with three other men, a checkpoint just off the Mercier Bridge to Montreal.
  The Mohawks had blocked the road into the village with railroad ties and the men had been at the checkpoint all night.
  “They’re harassing us and they’re trying to provoke something,” said the Warrior, bundled in heavy winter clothing, his face covered by a scarf.
  Mohawks and police clashed twice on the reserve Tuesday, then separated when Indians fired warning shots in the air.
  Today, a provincial Transport Department employee reported hearing gunshots from the south, I
side of the bridge, said Const Pierre Rochefort of Quebec provincial police.
   He said the employee works in a little ofllce at the foot of the bridge, checking traffic and operating a lights system that regulates traffic.
   Rochefort said the man left the office immediately and called police.
   The Mercier Bridge, closed most of the summer by Mohawk Warriors, was shut down again temporarily Tuesday afternoon during the worst violence since last summer's Mohawk crisis.
   A white attendant at a nearby gas station worried the situation may degenerate into another standoff like last summer “The SQ (provincial police) better watch themselves. They can't keep doing that stuff. The Mohawks -won’t rake it.”
   New Brunswick native leader Roger Augustine, head of the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                * M
Union of New Brunswick Indians, also warned of more uprisings.
   "I am not one to support violence, but I think in some situations it's the only way to get the attention from government,” he said Tuesday. During last summer’s Oka uprising, he was one of several moderate native leaders who called for a peaceful end to the standoff.
   Kahnawake Grand Chief Joe Norton, who Tuesday urged the Quebec and Canadian governments to remove provincial police and RCMP from Mohawk territory, was to meet today with Quebec Public Security Minister Claude Ryan.
   Ryan earlier defended police, saying he accepts full responsibility for their action, and promised “the government will do whatever is necessary to assure the public’s protection.”
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INDEX
Ann Landers .    . . 12   
Bridge.....               
Business ....    10,11    
City, B.C. . . . . ..2,3  
Classified . . . 20-24    
Comic.....                
Commentary .     ____5    
Crossword . . .  . . . 22 
Editorial ....   ____4    
Entertainment    . . 16   
Family.....      . . 12   
Horoscope . . .  . . . 23 
International .           
Movies.....      ... 16   
National ....             
Sports.....      . 13-15  
Television . . . . . . 23 
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INMN
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