World
Horse killings 'dirty little secret' of U.S. horse industry. Page 11
Music
Music festivals are part of the northern summer scenery. Page 25
Nation
Charges against fishermen will proceed despite U.S. anger. Page 10
ports
Lumber Kings chase their second straight native fastball title. Page 13
Low tonight: 11 High tomorrow: 23
Details page 2
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
FEWER PEOPLE COLLECTING Ul BENEFITS
Job picture looking brighter
by Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Take heart, job seekers.
Strong employment growth helped trim the number of people collecting unemployment insurance benefits in May to the lowest level in more than four years, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
“There are clearly more jobs out there,” said Philip Cross, Statistics Canada’s chief economist. “The labor situation is improving.”
The agency said 898,000 people collected UI in May, down 2.5 per cent from April and the lowest level since April 1990.
The number of UI recipients also dropped because some people simply ran out of benefits, but Statistics Canada analyst Andre Picard said growth
in jobs was a bigger factor.
Picard said employment growth stalled in January but then produced
171,000	jobs between February and May.
The emergence of new jobs has benefited men a little more than women, the agency said. However, men were harder hit by layoffs in the recession because of slumps in male-dominated sectors such as construction and manufacturing.
Some recent examples of job growth include:
■ The planned recall of 900 people at three B.C. copper mines to be reopened late this summer because of rising world metal prices.
■ The hiring of 170 people at appliance manufacturer Cameo Inc. in Hamilton because of rising consumer demand for refrigerators and stoves. It’s the company’s first hiring in five years.
Statistics Canada said there were 244,000 new claims for UI in May, a 4.3 per cent drop from April and the lowest number since August 1981.
Picard said the decrease suggests fewer people are being laid off.
“It’s a good sign, for sure,” he said.
The national unemployment rate in June was 10.3 per cent, the lowest rate since October 1991 and a drop from 10.7 percent the previous month.
Analysts said the drop was mostly due to people abandoning the search for work rather than new employment.
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth will make her grand entrance Aug. 17 at the University of Northern B.C., sweep-^	ing	down the imposing outdoor staircase of the Cranbrook Hill campus to the circular outdoor courtyard below.
Fit tot Q Queen	The Queen will tread on brick that pavers completed in a herringbone pattern only a few days ago. With the
grand opening of the regional university’s main campus only three weeks away, a flurry of last-minute preparations is continuing.
PENTICTON	RESIDENTS RETURN TO HOMES
Forest firefighters busy in West
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen Staff
Ticket sales are breaking records for the three-day Salmon Valley Music Festival starting Friday.
“Ticket sales are three times what they were last year at this time,” said Gerald Pattison, founder of the festival and owner of the BL Ranch where it takes place.
“We expect anywhere from 40,000 to 50,000 people to attend this year. I hope we have to break the fences down to get them all in here.”
That’s up from 30,000 to 35,000 from last year’s festival, and a quantum leap from the 2,500 who attended the debut event in 1991.
Featuring country music stars from across Canada and the U.S., the festival starts at noon Friday and continues late into the night Sunday.
More than 30 performers include Suzy Bogguss, Pam Tillis, Carlene Carter, Sawyer Brown, Charlie Major, Prairie Oyster, and Ronnie Prophet, as well as Gary Fjellgaard, originally from Prince George.
The stage is 85 feet across and 40 feet deep.
There’s room for everyone, Pattison said. The total site, including 500 additional campsites developed for this year’s event, is close
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Ann Landers..............23
Bridge...................31
Business..............18,19
City, B.C...............2,3
Classified............29-35
Comics ..................27
Crossword ...............29
Entertainment ... .25-27
Horoscope   .............31
Lotteries................21
Lifestyles ...........21,23
Movies...................27
Nation...................10
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World ...................11
to 200 acres, and adjoining land can be leased if required.
“We’ve got space for 8,000 camping spots,” Pattison said, adding that there will be 38 food and merchandise concessionaires.
An amusement park will offer nine different rides for the kids.
An Edmonton contractor will provide 120 toilet units for the site. For information about tickets, call the Salmon Valley Hotline at 971 -2220.
The weather forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday calls for clouds with sunny periods and a 60-per-cent chance of showers or thundershowers. Highs will be between 23 and 25.
To get to Salmon Valley from Prince George, go north on the John Hart Highway (Highway 97) and turn right just past the Salmon River Bridge.
A shuttle bus will run every two hours to the festival from the Holiday Inn, the Inn of the North, the Yellowhead Inn, and the Overwaitea store on the Hart Highway.
A wheelchair-accessible bus, sponsored by McDonald’s Restaurant, will take disabled people to the festival Friday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. If you are eligible to use the Carefree bus service and would like a ride to the festival, phone the Handy Circle Promotions Society at 563-1852.
Farcus
by Canadian Press
Firefighters across western Canada are battling a series of forest fires, most of which sprang up after lightning strikes ignited bone-dry forests.
But one of the most serious blazes may have been caused by humans. Eighteen homes in or near Penticton, B.C., burned from a forest fire that officials say may have been deliberately set.
By Wednesday about 3,000 people had returned to their evacuated homes and were told the city was safe.
The blaze to the east of Penticton grew to almost 4,000 hectares by Wednesday, spewing thick, acrid smoke visible for many
A Penticton man building homes in Prince George almost lost his own house this week.
When Richard Terry was shown a copy of Tuesday’s Citizen with a front-page picture of Penticton houses threatened by fire, he tried to figure out where the photo was taken.
Then he realized it was his house shown with a wall of flames behind it.
kilometres, but was spreading east away from the city.
The Penticton fire is only one of almost 1,400 in British Columbia this fire season.
One of the worst was near the East Kootenay community of Invermere, where 50 firefighters battled a 400-hectare fire burning out of control.
The fire threatened the hamlet of Wilmer where some people left their homes, but no official evacuation order was in effect.
Two large fires near Kamloops had caused concern for the Forest Service, but they were being contained.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 34 fires in
He was shocked. But after a few minutes, “I went and bought a bunch of copies of the paper,” he said Wednesday in an interview.
“You watch TV and see the flames and then they say the wind shifted. I called this morning, and a realtor friend said the fire had been 75 yards away.”
Thanks to a wind shift, his house was still standing Wednesday afternoon, when Terry
Saskatchewan, most of them in the region north of La Ronge, said John Cook of the Prince Albert forest fire service.
These fires are small and don’t pose any threat to communities or tourist resorts, he said.
“The drying period over the last five or six days has increased the hazard across the north,” Cook said.
In Alberta, 49 fires have started because of lightning in the last couple of days.
Norm Olsen, a fire operations supervisor with the Alberta Forest Service, said about half the fires that started Tuesday night were still burning Wednesday.
Five of those fires were listed
was working, building at Brendan Court, a new development of duplexes and single-family homes across Cowart Road from College Heights elementary school.
He’s been in Prince George, working on the project since May 1993. His family is up here with him, and his second child was born here May 16 this year.
“My wife and I were talking last night and we’re sort of glad we’re
out of control, but Olsen said he expected all the blazes to be under control by tonight.
A lightning storm that hit the area Tuesday night carried a lot of precipitation with it, making it easier to control the fires, he said.
Paul Rose, a weather forecaster with Environment Canada, said lightning storm activity is expected to resume on Friday and continue over the weekend in Alberta and the interior of British Columbia.
The fire hazard was rated as high to extreme throughout most of Alberta and in the Northwest Territories. Crews have been trying to contain fires that have burned 800,000 hectares — already as much as last year’s total.
here. It would be too heart-wrenching to be there,” because if the fire comes, there’s nothing he could do to save the house.
However, for his long stay in Prince George the things he treasures most have been brought north with him.
Next month his work in Prince George will be over. He hopes to be able to return home, and not have to call his insurance adjuster.
Builder almost lost his own home
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“I’m here to appy for the job.”
PROSEBUSTERS ON JOB
Canadian Press
TORONTO — Ontario’s opposition Conservatives say bureaucratic jargon has cost provincial taxpayers.
Ontario’s Ministry of Education spent $10,500 to have a jargon-riddled internal document translated into plain English, Tory finance critic David Johnson charged Wednesday.
“The ministry employs 3,000 well-paid people, none of whom can write,”, he said.
A company called Prosebusters w'as paid to rewrite Common Curriculum, the ministry’s master plan for elementary education.
A spokesman said Prosebusters found the document defined dance as: “sequencing of movements.” Music was: “organization of sounds.”
Ticket sales soar for music festival
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