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High today: 25 Low tonight: 8 Details page 17
MONDAY, JULY 28,1997
PRINCE GEORGE
Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
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PAGE 13 Mrs. Dornbierer remembers it all
PAGE 3
Gay Pride Day set for Sept. 6 in city
CANADA
■ Around Winnipeg, a cuddly honey bear draws almost as many people as international rocks stars. For a few hours Sunday, about 40,000 people crowded Hundred Acre Wood in Assiniboine Park for the first-ever Winnie the Pooh Friendship Festival. /6
WORLD
■ While thousands of city residents went home thrilled from two days of aerobatics at the Prince George Airshow, in Brussels, Belgium, nine people were killed and 40 injured when an aircraft skidded onto the tarmac and burst into flames during an airshow on the weekend. /13
SHOWBIZ
■ Ben Elton, 38, a household name in England, is something of stranger to North American audiences, but he doesn’t mind. Considered a leading figure in a generation of British comics who emerged in the 1980s, Elton is performing this week at Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival. /15
BUSINESS
■ Alberta’s oilpatch can kiss goodbye those record low costs for finding new oil and gas reserves.. /20
Cornered by Baldwin tW7
"Stupid Aliens. Let’s switch tags and screw up their research."
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INDEX
Ann Landers..... .......12
Around Town---- .......12
Bridge.......... .......18
Business........ .......20
City, B.C........ ....3,5,11
Classified ....... ....16-19
Comics .........
Crossword ...... .......14
Entertainment ... .......15
Horoscope ...... .......18
Lotteries........ .......12
Lifestyles........ .......12
Movies.......... .......15
Nation.......... ........6
Sports .......... .....7-10
Television....... .......15
World .......... .......13
58307 00100 8
Airshow: What a success!
At the gate and in the skies, a winner on all counts
by KEN BERNSOHN Citizen Staff
More people attended the fourth annual Prince George Airshow Saturday than went Saturday and Sunday in 1996, said Marianne Hoffart, a member of the airshow executive.
Although exact ticket sales won’t be known for a few days, an estimated 10,000 people took in the two days of the show.
And the weather co-operated throughout the weekend with sunny skies and a background of high clouds so people could see the performers more clearly than they could have against a blinding blue sky.
The best news for the organizers was that the show went off without the word you never want to hear at an airshow, “Whoops,” being heard.
SEE ALSO PAGES 11,21
No one got hurt and there were no mechanical problems.
The thousands of people who went to the show Sunday saw a different show than those who came Saturday. On Saturday, the F-117A Stealth fighter did some passes over the airshow crowd, slowing down and turning so it could be seen clearly-
On Sunday the F-14A Tomcat which had been a static display on Saturday took off, did several passes over the crowd, then went straight up into the sky until it disappeared before heading south to an airbase near Los Angeles, where it was expected to arrive in time for dinner.
On both days the crowds saw his-
torical aircraft, including the famed B-17 Flying Fortress of the Second World War, modern jets including the CF-18 Hornet, old-fashioned barnstorming from a Stearman biplane and Bill Carter in the Esso Pitts Special, which lost a race to Scott Hammack’s jet-powered Smoke-N-Thunder dragster.
And they got to watch Royce Baar hang around a helicopter after being lifted out of the Stearman. Barr held on with one arm while the helicopter and the Stearman did matching hammerhead turns — going up until the engine was about to pause on the Stearman, then coming back down with a wind on his body usually seen only in violent storms.
The success of his year’s airshow assures another one next year, show president Randy Brazzoni said.
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
Diesel fuel flows down the connector road between the Hart Highway and Cameron Street Bridge after a Trlmac carrier and pup tank were damaged when the truck flipped while negotiating a curve.
Tanker flips, diesel spills near river
Fuel could seep into city wells, official says
Citizen staff tanker which was traveling from the The Prince Georg
iar Transnnrfatinn tankpr HiisWv Oil Rpfinprv nn Puln Mill RnaH Dpnartmpnt environment
Citizen staff
A Trimac Transportation tanker truck and pup trailer carrying diesel fuel flipped over Sunday while negotiating a curve midway between the north end of Cameron Street Bridge and the Hart Highway.
Both tanks were damaged and an unconfirmed estimate suggests 20,000 litres of fuel escaped from the
tanker which was traveling from the Husky Oil Refinery on Pulp Mill Road.
“The fuel area is contained. There’s no danger of the diesel running into the Nechako River, but there is a danger of it seeping into city wells,” city environment supervisor Bob Radloff said Sunday. Soil contaminated by the fuel is being removed from the site.
The Prince George Fire Department, environment officials, city crews and hazardous waste management were on site, resulting in a closure of the connector road for about five hours. There were no injuries. Clean-up by Tripar and Husky’s mobile clean-up unit continued Sunday after the area was isolated and the road re-opened.
Area native band condemns fishing of Stuart run on coast
Citizen staff
Further commercial fishing on the early Stuart run continues to earn the displeasure of First Nations in the Central Interior.
The Lheidli Tenneh Band, based in Shelley northeast of Prince George, added its protest to the fishery during the weekend when Chief Barry Seymour issued a news release condemning further fishing of the run.
Seymour said he feels pressure from commercial fishermen on the West Coast is leading the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to reopen fishing on the run, which contains the Bowron River sockeye run. The Lheidli T’enneh say the run is endangered.
“We anticipate it being quite low,” Seymour said. “The thing they (the DFO) don’t tell you about is that the Bowron run is intermingled with the early Stuart, so if they’re fishing the early Stuart heavily, it has a serious
BARRY SEYMOUR
impact on the Bowron run itself.
“DFO has only been recording the spawners since 1949, and at that time there was just a bit over 22,000. The 1993 cycle, there was only 1,184 spawners, so there’s been a steady
decline in numbers. That’s consistent with all four-year cycles.”
Seymour said this is the worst of the four cycles; he said not fishing the run is the only way to replenish the stocks. “That’s the only way you can deal with sockeye,” he said. “The hatchery approach doesn’t work with the sockeye as well as it does with the chinook.”
Seymour said in an earlier consultation process, it was decided to fish the early part of the Stuart run and leave the later part to help replenish the Bowron run, in order to keep escapement numbers high enough.
“They did not take into consideration the potential for the high mortality rate in the river from Mission (the counting station) to the spawning grounds.”
The DFO declined to comment on the situation since the person designated to deal with the issue was not available.
18-year-old killed at house party
Citizen staff
Ryan Sidney Smith, 18, of Prince George has been identified as the victim of a murder occurring at about 1:40 a.m. Saturday in the 1600 block on Fifth Avenue.
When Prince George RCMP responded to a complaint of a fight in progress at a house party, they found numerous young persons milling
SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441
around.
During a search of the area, police discovered the body of young man, who was taken to Prince George Regional Hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
Although a number of people have been questioned, police believe there are a number of people at the party
CLASSIFIED: 662-6666
who have not been contacted.
RCMP Cpl. Dale Einarson from the serious crime section is asking anyone who was at the party or who has information about the case to contact RCMP at 561-3300 or Crimestoppers at 564-TIPS.
The 1600 block is in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue and Vancouver Street in the downtown area.
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
John Mohr does aerobatics In his helicopter as he performs a hammerhead stall Sunday.
MARK MESSIER
Messier signing with Canucks, reports say
NEW YORK (CP-AP-Reuter)
— The Vancouver Canucks, who lost to Mark Messier and the New York Rangers the last time the Canucks made it to the Stanley Cup final, are reported to have lured away the disaffected free-agent centre.
According to broadcast reports Sunday night, the 36-year-old Messier has agreed to a three-year deal worth from $18 million US to $20 million with the Canucks after meeting with team owner John McCaw on the West Coast.
ESPN and UPN 9, a television station based in Secaucus, N.J., both citing unidentified sources close to the negotiations, reported that Messier has agreed to a deal. UPN 9 said the deal will be announced at a news conference today.
However, Reuters reported Sunday that the Canucks would hold no press conference today, but there would be a clarification of their offer.
“There will be an announcement Monday clarifying our offer to Messier,” said Steve Tambellini, the Canucks vice-president of business operations. “That’s all I’m going to say to you.”
On Friday, the Vancouver Sun reported that Messier and his agent-father Doug were pondering four or five lucrative offers — including the $18-million three-year deal from Vancouver.
Messier was going to start narrowing the field over the weekend.
“The $18 million for three years is pretty accurate,” said Len Messier, Mark’s uncle, when contacted last week. “They’re supposed to come to a decision soon.”
Canucks general manager Pat Quinn would not comment on the talks at that time and declined to acknowledge the Canucks’ bid.
The Canucks, who lost last year’s bidding war for Wayne Gretzky to New York, could consider Messier a good candidate to help get the most out of inconsistent star Russian wingers Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny,.
With Messier aboard, they could boast two top lines also including Bure, Mogilny and the current team captain, Trevor Linden.
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