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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16,1996
PRINCE GEORGE
Serving the Centrol Interior since 1916
Who’s guarding our PM?
by Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Jean Chretien’s man-of-the-people style is putting his life at risk, a security expert warned Thursday after the latest mishap involving the prime minister.
Chretien’s desire to meet and greet the public could eventually prove disastrous, said Alan Bell of Intercon Security in Toronto.
“How many warning signs do we need about Chretien before someone’s going to do something about it?” asked Bell, a diplomatic protection specialist.
“He’s got to start toeing the security line sooner or later.”
Chretien scuffled briefly Thursday with a labor demonstrator, grabbing the man by the neck and pushing him toward police after a Flag Day ceremony in neighboring Hull, Que.
It was the latest in a string of episodes involving the prime minister and security.
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INCLUDED TODAY
The RCMP said they’re satisfied adequate measures were taken to protect Chretien, including during his walk through the crowd after the rally.
“He was surrounded with security personnel at all times,” Sgt. Andre Guertin told a news conference.
Analysts say it’s difficult to protect someone who wants to chat with strangers.
“When a high-ranking VIP like this moves into a crowd, basically his security team lose control,” said Bell.
Crowd settings give protective staff little time to react in an emergency, said John Thompson, a secu-
rity and terrorism expert at the Mackenzie Institute.
“If you have someone who likes to get out and mingle and shake hands and say hello, there’s not much you can do,” said Thompson.
“It’s something we have to live with.”
The RCMP seem resigned to Chretien’s wandering ways.
“It’s his own free will as to where he wants to go,” said Guertin. “We are tasked to provide the security.”
Art Hanger, the Reform party’s critic on RCMP matters, said “there’s obviously a security problem” with current practices.
Last November, a prowler with a jackknife broke into the prime minister’s residence and was apprehended by police after coming face-to-face with Chretien’s wife outside their bedroom. The highly publicized breach deeply embarrassed the RCMP, which beefed up the prime minister’s security.
CP photo
Prime Minister Jean Chretien scuffles with protester on Thursday.
14-HOUR ORDEAL ON FROZEN LAKE
by DAVID HEYMAN Citizen staff
Marty Fehr doesn’t remember crashing into the wall of ice on his snowmobile.
He doesn’t remember tumbling about 100 feet across the ice.
He does, however, remember the sight of his friend Jim Plumridge arriving 14 hours later to rescue him.
“I was happy to see him,” he says, smiling, from his wheelchair at Prince George Regional Hospital.
Marty, 27, was snowmobiling with his father Oscar and several others on Trembleur Lake near Fort St. James last Saturday when his father decided to leave for home.
Marty tried to catch up to his dad a few minutes later when he hit the wall of ice.
He brushed himself off but the concussion left him delirious and he vainly kept trying to start his wrecked vehicle.
His father drove on unaware he was being followed and Marty was forced to spend the night on the lake in minus 15 C weather. He was warmly dressed and had a helmet but he kept slipping in and out of consciousness and frostbite eventually turned his toes and the fingertips on his left hand black. His right hand is OK, though, because he kept using it to try and start the snowmobile.
The accident may have been bad luck but the rescue was good luck. Because the rest of the group thought Marty was with his dad, no one knew he was missing.
He was rescued only when Plumridge and others spied what they thought was an ice fisher at the other end of the lake and went to say hi.
Plumridge carried Marty away on the back of his snowmobile and arranged for someone to call an emergency plane which came quickly from Fort St. James.
Marty was taken to Prince George Regional Hospital with neck injuries and frostbite but was released a short time later, though it’s likely some of his fingertips and toes will have to be amputated.
He returned to PGRH Thursday because the doctor
Citizen photo by Chuck Nisbett
Marty Fehr is recovering in Prince George Regional Hospital.
was worried some blood vessels in his neck hadn’t healed properly. His neck struck the top of the snowmobile’s windshield when he crashed.
Both of Marty’s parents were with him in hospital Thursday and they have nothing but praise for the emergency workers, hospital staff and especially Plumridge for their efforts.
Nisga’a deal details bared
by Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — More than 100 years after their chiefs journeyed to Victoria seeking justice, the Nisga’a moved closer Thursday to being masters in their own land.
Negotiators for the Nisga’a and the federal and B.C. governments initialed a massive agreement-in-princi-ple, the result of 20 years of on-again, off-again talks. It covers virtually every aspect of life for the people in their remote homeland in northwestern British Columbia.
The tentative deal gives the Nisga’a 1,930 square kilometres in the Lower Nass valley — land that will not be a reserve because the Indian Act will no longer apply.
The 5,500 Nisga’a, more than half living outside the designated territory, will also receive $190 million.
“I want to apologize to Chief (Joe) Gosnell for it taking so long,” federal Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin said at a packed news conference where people in traditional garb pounded drums and sang.
“When we went through our cabinet process, (the prime minister) winked at me and said, ‘Go for it.’”
The deal has been endorsed by the federal and provincial cabinets and Nisga’a leaders.
When the tentative deal is ratified, likely within two years, it will be the first modern land-claims treaty in
B.C. history.
But it will have to endure many months of public scrutiny and fine-tuning in areas not completely addressed in the document.
The provincial government will undoubtedly deal with the agreement gently, since it must call an election this year and doesn’t want to alienate non-native voters.
Highlights of the agreement:
Money: — The 5,500 Nisga’a will receive $190 million.
Land: — 1,930 square kilometres of territory in the Lower Nass River area of northwestern B.C.
Taxation: — Exemption from sales tax will be phased out over eight years after deal is ratified, and over 12 years for income tax.
Fishing: — Nisga’a will be entitled to about 18 per cent of the allowable catch of the Canadian Nass River salmon. Will also get some sockeye and pink salmon for commercial purposes.
Forestry: Will manage their own resources and collect stumpage after a transition period.
Self-government: Will have a central government and four village governments.
Policing: Nisga’a government will be able to provide full police services. Force must meet provincial standards. Will also have own courts.
More details, page 8
INDEX
Ann Landers.................18
Bridge......................36
Business ................22,23
City, B.C............3,8,13,15
Classifieds..............33-38
Comics .....................28
Commentary ..................5
Community Calendar 14
Crossword ..................28
Entertainment 27-29
Horoscope ..................36
Lifestyles...............17-19
Movies......................29
Nation.......................6
Sports ..................10-12
Television..................29
World.....................9,20
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HEALTH
■ Doctors have long suspected that sudden stress can cause cardiac arrest, and the Los Angeles earthquake two years ago has given them
dramatic proof. A review of L.A. coroner’s records show that five times more people than usual died of cardiac arrest on the day of the quake. Page 32
LIGHT SIDE
■ An apparent tragedy became a comedy of errors when a tiny mutilated body sent to a medical lab for an autopsy turned out to be a doll. Page 7
DRIVING
■ If the young guy in the car beside you is wearing his baseball cap on backwards, steer clear. He
probably figures he’s so cool he’s automatically a hotshot driver and that self-image slots him into high-risk category, according to ICBC. Opinion, page 40
WORLD
■ The policeman who came out of a seven and one-half-year coma recently has undergone an operation that could put him under again. Gary Dockery awoke suddenly last week and began talking to his sister. Thursday, doctors performed an operation to drain fluids from Dockery’s lungs. They said the anesthesia could return him to the coma. Page 20
Tomorrow
Take a look at the school-by-school averages for last year’s Grade-12 provincial exams in nine core subjects for the school district’s high schools — Duchess Park, College Heights, PGSS, D.P. Todd, Kelly Road, Mackenzie, McBride and Valemount.
The below-average results highlight the reason the school board has set up a task force to review academic achievement in the district.
IT! MONEY Cu CONCEPTS
The Money Management People
RRSP Specialists
Allan Johnson
February 29th, 1996 Deadline For Your 1995 RRSP Contribution
RRSP Planning FREE One Hour Financial Consultation
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406 - 550 Victoria St. Prince George, B.C.V2L 2K1
TELEVISION
■ Avid fans and readers of Soap Opera Digest picked the hottest soap actor, actress, newcomer and romance, among other categories, in an awards show televised this week. Lynn Herring, pictured, was chosen Hottest Female Star. Page 27
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