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Television....... .......27
World .......... ........8
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Teens in court after fracas in schoolyard
Citizen staff
A 16-year-old charged after a weekend fracas at a city elementary school has been remanded in custody until the continuation of his bail hearing July 24.
The youth appeared in provincial court Thursday for a bail hearing, with Judge B. L. Dollis presiding.
Another mid-teen youth appeared in court Wednesday, and was released under strict conditions into the care of his parents.
A youth of about the same age appeared in provincial court Thursday. He was remanded in custody until his next court appearance July 24.
Three city youths were charged after a Saturday evening altercation at Gladstone Elementary that caused head injuries to victims, included the use of bear spray as a weapon and culminated a shot being fired before police arrived. None of the youths can be identified due to the Young Offenders Act.
City air quality: Ups and downs
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen Staff
B.C. Environment’s air quality summary for 1996 shows a slight decrease in harmful fine dust and ash levels in the city over last year, but sulphur dioxide levels were higher than they have been in a decade.
Total reduced sulphur continues to remain at lower levels since 1990.
Levels of sulphur dioxide — the bulk of which comes from the Husky refinery and the pulp mills — is up because the crude oil Husky refines has more sulphur in it now.
But a $5-million project to reduce sulphur emissions at Husky Oil is expected to be finished in early 1998
When that kicks in it will cut 75 per cent of the sulphur emissions from the Husky plant and 50 per cent to the Prince George airshed, B.C. Environment official Dave Sutherland said Thursday.
“The (sulphur dioxide levels) are
going to come down, but it’s really impossible to predict how much,” he added.
Sulphur dioxide is a colorless gas that has a pungent odor at high concentrations. High levels can cause immediate irritation of the respiratory tract and worsen existing respiratory diseases.
The annual average level measured at the jail was 22.8 micrograms per cubic metre, less than the ministry guideline of 25.
On two days during the year, the level of sulphur dioxide exceeded the provincial government A-level objective daily average of 160 micrograms per cubic metre.
At the Plaza 400 measuring station downtown, the daily average was exceeded on one day.
Fine dust and ash levels dropped at monitoring stations at the plaza, Van Bien Elementary School, the CNR industrial site and the BCR industrial site.
It’s difficult to tell if the drops were due to beehive burner shut-
downs or kinder weather conditions, explained Sutherland.
Wind patterns and inversions, which trap pollution in the Bowl, contribute to higher dust and ash levels.
On 10 days during the year, dust and ash levels at the plaza exceeded government guidelines of 50 micrograms per cubic metre.
High levels of fine dust and ash can play a role in the development of many kinds of respiratory diseases, including asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and emphysema.
The plaza and jail stations recorded the lowest annual averages for total reduced sulphur (TRS) since monitoring began in the 1980s.
TRS describes a group of sulphur compounds that are byproducts of the pulping process.
The gases can effect lung and breathing problems.
TRS has come down since about 1990 when the three city pulp mills installed greater pollution controls.
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FRIDAY, JUNE 27,1997
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
$1.00 (HOME DELIVERED: 50 CENTS A DAY)
High today: 17 Low tonight: 10 Details page 21
TODAY
DONT FORGET YOUR UMBRELLA!
All this rain, thunder ‘not unusual’ for June
CITY
■ The coffeehouse concept is spreading in Prince George. Espresso bars, cappuccino bars — you name it, it’s out there.
But for the original, ‘50s-style coffeehouse complete with music, poetry, spoken-word art and dance, you need to go to the Urban. /25
SPORTS
■ The Prince George Cougars got a winner when they selected Zdeno Chara in the import draft. They hope they’re just as lucky this year as they went back to the Czech Republic for another defenceman — Petr Kubos. /9
Cornered by Baldwin Z,
Alcan increases spill into Nechako
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen Staff
Alcan has opened the tap on the massive Nechako Reservoir higher than it has in decades to spill the rising waters behind the dam.
The reservoir is being filled with the highest runoff from melting mountain snow packs since 1976.
Water flowing from the Skins Lake Spillway into the Cheslatta River and then the Nechako River, south of Fraser Lake, was increased to 12,000 cubic feet per second last Friday.
The dam level was only 10 inches below the normal full water level last Friday, said Alcan in announcing the increase this week.
The giant, aluminum-smelting company is not ruling out another increase, although it must consult with the provincial government’s water experts.
B.C. Environment doesn’t like to see water spilled at higher rates than 10,000 cubic metres per second (cfs) because it can cause bank erosion, localized flooding and harm fish habitat.
But B.C. Environment water expert Glen Davidson called that ceiling “artificial,” saying there is no “magical” safe number.
The giant, aluminum-smelting company is not ruling out another increase, although it must consult with the provincial government’s water experts.
And he said Thursday there have been no reports up river of serious erosion.
Downstream in the Prince George area is a different matter, where about 25 per cent of the Nechako River flow is from the reservoir.
There is “serious erosion” above the Pacific Western Brewery, at Cottonwood Island Park and at two homes along the river in Miworth, said Davidson.
The Nechako at Prince George is “virtually at the highest we’ve seen all year,” he said.
While there is concern about erosion in the upper reaches of the Nechako and Cheslatta River systems, it’s hard to say if that’s a bad situation, since that would occur naturally, observed
Davidson.
A river-based environmental group also said the high flows at this time of year are not necessarily negative.
“We don’t get too jumpy in the spring because this is mimicking what a normal river would be. . .
. this is what we wanted,” River Forever spokesperson Pam Sholty said from Fort Fraser. “It’s fall flooding that is just unacceptable.”
But Sholty added that she believes “more prudent” reservoir management is needed to avoid these forced spills.
“It’s not a bathtub.,” she said. “It doesn’t fill up over night. It’s the size of a small European country.”
In publicized information in the Citizen, Alcan said this week it may be necessary to request a further increase to 14,000 cfs.
Davidson agreed that is a possibility, but said Alcan hadn’t requested another increase yet.
“We’re getting a lot of wet weather, and if this went bad on us,” observed Davidson, “they’d have to look at pushing the flows up.”
Alcan water control officials could not be ' reached for comment on Thursday.
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen Staff
Those who think the severe thunderstorms this month are unusual are wrong, says a weather service specialist at the Prince George Airport.
“They are not unusual for this area at this time of year,” Teresa Gairns said Thursday.
“Normally we have five days in June with thunder and lightning. So far this month we’ve had four, so we’re right on track.”
The storms are the result of a low-pressure system just west of Vancouver Island which is sending a series of frontal systems across the province. “An active one passed through this morning, with storms associated,” Gairns said.
Because the air mass is unsettled, expect more thunderstorms between early morning and late evening.
“They depend on the sun to provide their energy and when the sun goes down, they dissipate,” Gairns explained.
We’re looking at unsettled weather over the next five to six days with a 60-per-cent chance of showers every day with a slight chance of thunderstorms.
A hailstorm Thursday afternoon caused devastation to gardeners in the West Beaverly area west of the city.
It started at 2:30 p.m. and pelted down hard for an hour, reports Sheila Crozman.
“It stripped the leaves from plants and the trees, destroyed our corn and zucchini and flattened our peas,” said Crozman. “The rhubarb has no leaves left. Even the stalks are peeled by the hail.”
At 5 p.m. Crozman’s eavestroughs were still overflowing with the marble-sized hail and the ground was still white.
When husband Bob came home from work, he drove over some hail on the road and suddenly found his truck sliding all over.
Even Crozman’s two ducks felt the deluge as
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
Pedestrian and cyclist scramble as rain and hall pound downtown at Third and Victoria.
they scurried for cover, heads tucked into their shoulders.
So far this month we haven’t set any records for rain in a 24-hour period. The record of 48.3 mm was set June 10,1972.
Last June produced a total ot 81.b mm ot rain and we had eight days with thunderstorms. The normal amount of rain for June is 64.5 mm. So far this month we’ve recorded 74.6 mm. The rainiest June was in 1993 when we received 157.3 mm.
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