'/Wrr
High today: 8 Low tonight: 2 Details page 2
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
Serving the Centro I Interior since 1916
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5,1996
80£ENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 50 CENTS A DA
Nobody wanted this $60,000job
by Canadian Press
WINNIPEG — With a $60,000-a-year salary and a full benefits package, this was one job Greg Robinson figured he’d have no trouble filling.
He figured wrong.
After a year of advertising in union halls throughout Western Canada, Robinson and his employer, Landis & Gyr Powers, Inc., have drawn a blank in their bid to recruit an experienced journeyman refrigerator mechanic to service con* il systems in commercial buildings around Wimiipe;
They’ve even tried ent nechanics from other
heating and air conditioning firms.
No luck.
So on Tuesday, Robinson had a summer student don a sandwich-board advertising sign and parade in front of the firm’s office in the hopes of catching the eye of a passing journeyman refrigerator mechanic.
Loris Loewen, an official with the province’s education and training department, said it’s surprising the job hasn’t been filled.
There were 51 qualified refrigeration and air-conditioning mechanics collecting unemployment benefits in Manitoba as of March of this year.
Screwdriver all that’s needed to escape new jail?
Nurses claim layoff total has increased
: by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen Staff
* The B.C. Nurses Union says jhey’ve been told 70 registered nurses will lose their jobs at Prince George Regional Hospital, but the top administrator at the hospital says it’s nowhere near that number.
Prince George nurses have been bracing for massive layoffs at PGRH since April, when they found out the hospital planned laying off up to 55 registered nurses and replacing some of them with less-educated, lower-paid licensed practical nurses.
The 28-day, May provincial election put the hospital’s plans in limbo, but now the 296 part-time and fulltime registered nurses (RNs) are concerned the layoff potential has increased.
BCNU regional representative Maxine Armstrong is also unhappy with the layoff process — ward-by-wrard as opposed to hospital-wide — she says will unfairly affect seniority.
“Our concern is that this is sup-
The hospital is changing the mix of nurses — many other hospitals in the province have a mix of RNs and LPNs — in an effort to tackle an estimated $2.5-million operating budget shortfall this year.
posed to be done in consultation with the union and it hasn’t. And the numbers have been increased “ said Armstrong Tuesday.
But Lucy Dobbin, the executive director of the hospital, says 70 nurses won’t be laid off because vacancies need to be filled that nurses can have. Dobbin said she won’t know exactly how many nurses will be affected until June 17.
“I think they’re just upset it’s actually going to happen,” added Dobbin. “We’ve had the discussions, but the
reality gets closer and closer and it’s hard.”
The nurses could get some job protection if the Health Employers Association of B.C. votes in favor of a contract settlement put forward by mediator Vince Ready.
The employers will announce their decision Friday.
The BCNU has already voted in favor of the two-year deal, which gives the nurses a one per-cent wage increase in the second year and one-year job protection.
But the hospital will go ahead with plans to change the mix of nurses, re-introducing licensed practical nurses (LPNs) to the hospital, said Dobbin.
The hospital is changing the mix of nurses — many other hospitals in the province have a mix of RNs and LPNs — in an effort to tackle an estimated $2.5-million operating budget shortfall this year.
The BCNU says the changes will hurt patient care.
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
WISH GRANTED — Stephanie Rhodes, a leukemia patient at Prince George Regional Hospital, is cheered by a new doll and having her picture taken. One of her fondest wishes was to have her picture in the newspaper. She wanted everyone to see what she looks like without the surgical face mask she wears to protect her from other people's germs and infection. Story, page 15.
by DAVID HEYMAN Citizen staff
The two prisoners who escaped from the Prince George jail last week probably used a simple screwdriver to remove a window and make their break, says a government spokesman.
“If it wasn’t a screwdriver, then it was something that was fashioned into one,” says Chris Beresford, with the corrections branch of the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Beresford admits the screws on the window were common ones and needed no special screwdriver to undo, unlike the other windows at Prince George Regional Correctional Centre. Within hours after the escape, officials took out screws on three windows, including the one in question, and replaced them with
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
Two Inmates who escaped last week from the new jail in Prince George (background) might have used a common screwdriver like the one pictured here.
uncommon ones much more difficult to
remove.
Beresford says he’s still not sure how the escapees got the screwdriver and wouldn’t confirm it was stolen from a repairman. He said earlier the escape was planned and “would have taken some degree of coordination”
PGRCC district director Brij Madhok also didn’t know how a screwdriver might have got in the wrong hands but said prisoners have learned how to make a variety of tools. A screwdriver could be made, he said, by sticking the melted end of a toothbrush into a screw before it hardens.
Madhok refused a request from The Citizen to view the reinforced windows. He said a report on the escape should be finished and
released to the media by Friday, at which time the window may be shown.
One of two PGRCC investigators, director of operations Gerry Miller, says the report could be finished earlier than Friday but refused all other comment.
Two men escaped from the $43.7-million jail Thursday night by removing the window, running across a yard and scrambling over a fence. They were captured Friday in the Lower Mainland shortly after their stolen vehicle hit a police spike belt and struck three other vehicles, including a police car.
William Slade and Daniel Szpyt face several charges including: dangerous driving, possession of stolen property, obstruction of justice, possession of a narcotic (cocaine) and causing a police pursuit.
INDEX
WORLD
Ann Landers.................18
Bridge......................25
Business ................20,21
City, B.C..............3,15.17
Classifieds..............24-27
Comics .....................22
Commentary ..................5
Community Calendar 16
Crossword ..................22
Entertainment...............23
Horoscope ..................25
Lifestyles...............16,18
Movies......................23
Nation ...................6,14
Sports ..................10-12
Television..................23
World...................... T8
5830?
00100
■ Hundreds of plainclothes police kept tight watch over Tiananmen square on Tuesday to prevent any unrest on the seventh anniversary of the bloody military crackdown of the student-led democracy movement. While things were quiet in Beijing, 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Paris (pictured above) to mark the anniversary. Page 7
SHOWBIZ
■ Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim did not have
Little Richard in mind when they wrote the songs for West Side Story. Yet, there he is, singing I Feel Pretty, on the new disc Songs of West Side Story, along with some of today’s hottest pop, country, jazz and rap artists. Page 23
ADVICE
■ Her husband started chatting on the Internet “just for fun” and within a few months left her for a bevy of “loves” he found via computer. Today the couple is living apart but getting counselling trying to save the marriage. He’s still on the Net. What are their chances? Ann Landers. Page 18
FOOD
■ To get dad out of the hammock or off the couch this Father’s Day try lighting a fire under him — better yet, light it in the barbecue and see how fast he moves. Page 19
BUSINESS
■ Lana Streckenbach beat the nine-to-five blues last summer with a decision that many of us would love to have the option, or courage, to make. She’s opened a petting zoo, Noah’s Ark Adventureland, at home on Swanson Road up on Cranbrook Hill. Up and Running. Page 28
COMMUNITY
This morning’s top local headlines:
Safety campaign targets youth /page3 Tossed’ kittens find new homes /page 15 Environment Week display set /page 15
E-Mail address: CITIZEN@NETBISTR0.C0M
SPORTS
■ The Colorado Avalanche cooled the surprising Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final Tuesday night. Colorado won 3-1. Page 10
SHEL N. JACOBSEN
MNANv * Al >UVK'|> INC
ou Wouldn’t Give Your Wallet To A Stranger - Meet Man Who’s Managing Your Money!
Tried & True - The AIC Advantage
Warren Buffett Style of Investing with Wednesday, June 5, 1996
Johnathan Wellum princc GLoi£,c;yic Ccntrc
Vice President, Portfolio Manager, AIG Group of Funds I •JU p.m.
JACOBSEN FINANCIAL • SECTOR SECURITIES
1460 Fourth Avenue, Prince George, B.C. 1-800-957 RRSP •
This material does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy
SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441
CLASSIFIED: 562-6666
READER SALES: 562-3301
058307001008