see page 3 for .details ,
PRINCE GEORGE
High today: 2 Low tonight:-6 Details page 26
Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
//
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11,1998
80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 50 CENTS A DAY)
TODAY
PAGE 15
History of city goes on display
SPORTS
■ Don Sponagle of Prince George will meet Mario Lachoski in a junior welterweight bout in Edmonton Friday. The local boxer appears on the undercard to the Scotty Olson/Luis Briones battle billed as the “Doomsday” fightcard. /II
LIFESTYLES
■ Seniors have always been targets of scam artists. People with stories too good to be true have traditionally looked to the elderly in an effort to separate them from their savings. A new program hopes to help seniors deal with these scammers. /28
SHOWBIZ
■ This Titanic isn’t about to sink anytime soon. The movie was nominated for 14 Academy Awards. That ties it with the 1950 Bette Davis classic All About Eve for the most nominations in Oscar history. /19
CANADA
■ A Prince George woman slain in a domestic dispute at Cluculz Lake is among 14 Canadians to be awarded decorations for bravery by Gov.Gen Romeo LeBlanc. Hazel White will receive the Star of Courage posthumously. /7
Cornered
by Baldwin
E-Mail address:
pgcnews@prg.southam.ca [ j
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INDEX
Ann Landers---- ........17
Around Town ... ........17
Bridge......... ........25
Business ....... .....20-22
City, B.C........ .. .3,5,6,15
Classified ...... .....24-27
Comics ........ ........18
Crossword ..... ........18
Entertainment .. .....18,19
Horoscope ..... ........25
Lifestyles....... ........28
Movies......... ........19
Nation ......... .......7,8
Sports ......... ......9-14
Television...... ........19
World ......... ........16
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B.C. snowboarder stripped of gold
Olympian tests positive for marijuana; Canada appeals decision
CANAD;
REBAGLIATI
NAGANO, Japan (CP) — Another drug scandal has cost Canada a gold medal at the Olympics, but this time the debate is focusing on whether Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati deserves to be punished for marijuana use.
The 26-year from Whistler — who won the first ever medal awarded in the hip sport that made its Olympic debut here oh the weekend — was disqualified Thesday night from the Games and stripped of Canada’s
lone gold to date in Nagano.
The International Olympic Committee said Rebagliati had tested positive for marijuana, failing both parts of the drug tests medallists go through at the Olympic Games.
Canadian Olympic officials have appealed the decision.
“Ross has stated to us that he hasn’t used marijuana since April ‘97,” said Carol Anne Letheren, chief executive officer of the
Canadian Olympic Association. “He claims the small amount found in his system is due to the significant amount of time that Ross spends in an environment where he is exposed to marijuana users.”
Letheren, who referred to marijuana as a “social drug,” said marijuana is not performance-enhancing — adding it might be the opposite. “We believe that the penalty in this case should be that of a severe reprimand.” See also page 13
BARGAIN GAS — A traffic-control person was needed Tuesday as a long line of vehicles formed at the 15th and Victoria Overwaitea gas bar. The station lowered its price for a litre of regular gas to 39.9 cents
on Monday afternoon. Prices at most other gas stations in the city were 43.9 on Tuesday. >
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten ^
CUPE talks heat up
The pace of negotiations between the City of Prince George and the Canadian Union of Public Employees is speeding up.
The talks broke off Hiesday at 11:15 a.m. The union initially asked mediator Grant McArthur to book out of the dispute, a move which would allow a strike.
However, after talking with Mayor Colin Kinsley, the union has drawn up a proposal which will be discussed today, said union spokesman Bernie Schneider. McArthur is still in town, still involved in the talks, he said.
About 550 city workers have been without a contract since Jan. 1. One of the biggest issues remaining is how to approach the question of pay equity involving gender and type of work. Both sides say they want to address it, but disagree on how.
WAKE UP!
(it’s hockey time)
Worried about missing those mid-dle-of-the-night Team Canada Olympic hockey games? Molson’s Breweries to the rescue.
Call 1-800-MOLSON-l at least one business day before captain Eric Lindros and the boys hit the ice for a game and Molson’s will give you a wake-up call. Free!
Molson’s will also give you a wake-up call for when power forward Haley Wickenheiser and the talented women’s national team plays.
Pulp strike report draws little praise
by KEN BERNSOHN Citizen Staff
Industrial Inquiry Commissioner Colin Taylor’s recommendations t6 end the strike at Fletcher Challenge pulp mills are not getting rave reviews from either side of the dispute.
The longest strike in the province’s pulp and paper industry has idled about 220 unionized employees in Mackenzie plus more than 2,000 workers at Crofton and Elk falls. It began in mid-July 1997.
“Our only immediate reaction is we’re concerned about the cost implications of some of the recommendations,” said Eric Harris, chief negotiator for Fletcher Challenge Canada. “We’re going through a fairly complex process of reviewing the report. We’ve been instructed by the commissioner to have our response by Friday. We will comply with that request.”
Brian Payne, spokesman for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers of
Canada said, “We’re not happy campers.”
“We haven’t come to a decision yet, but people feel the report is unacceptable,” Payne said from Vancouver.
Payne, who said Taylor backed the company on major concerns, is recommending rejection of the report.
Among other proposals, Taylor called for flexible work practices which the CEP and the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada opposed.
Taylor also called for the company’s three mills to operate on Christmas Day with a $250 bonus for each employee who works on the holiday. In addition, Taylor felt that in return for Christmas operation, the company should pay a one-time $3,000 bonus to every employee.
Taylor also recommended a 16% wage hike over five years.
The unions were expected to make a formal decision about the report this morning.
Homeless shelter; comes under fire:
by DON SCHAFFER Citizen staff
Mayor Colin Kinsley got an earful Tuesday from downtown merchants concerned about a growing presence of street people.
Six members of the town centre business community visited Kinsley to tell him how threatened they feel by an influx of people patronizing the new emergency homeless shelter on Fourth Avenue.
Merchants say the shelter, which will run until the end of the month, is creating problems for their businesses.
“Some of the problems seem to be escalating,” Kinsley said after the meeting. “In the past, they seemed to be passive alcoholics or whatever. Now, they seem to be more aggressive, there’s more of them, and it seems to be creating more problems.”
Phil Halvorsen, operator of Mailboxes Etc. on George Street, said he was pleased the mayor is trying to put together a group of city staff — including city manager George Paul and the bylaw enforcement department — RCMP and others to try to solve the problem.
Halvorsen said street people are deterring customers from coming to the area. 4,It used to be that you’d get one or maybe two together,” he said. “Now, you get them in larger groups and they’re around more often.
“It’s not just the panhandling that’s a problem. There have been people pounding on cars, urinating on buildings, things we’ve seen very little of lately.
“In the last two years on George Street we feel we’ve made a whole lot of improvements.... But the situation now, it seems like we’ve gone back two years.”
Kinsley said he’s planning to draw from other resources, like the University of Northern B.C., to help him find solutions.
Custodian returns awards in protest of cuts
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen Staff
A veteran custodian who sustained serious injuries to protect students from outside attackers two years ago, has returned a letter of commendation and long-service pins to the school board to protest the latest round of cutbacks to custodial staff.
The spirit in which the awards were given has been destroyed, Rolf Gunderson said in a letter to trustees.
The main object of Gunderson’s protest is the board’s decision last month, based on a management task force’s recommendations, to reduce most full-time custodians’ positions to 10-month sessional appointments.
“I just didn’t like the way the trustees did it,” Gunderson said Thesday. “They went along with a group of upper management people with high
salaries — people who have never cleaned a classroom or cleaned a washroom — who came up with this brain wave.” Many custodi- mt-— ans will have to collect unem- 1 j
ployment insurance this sum- I |
mer, he said. j j
On Dec. 21,1995 Gunderson ji
and a teacher intervened to 1
protect students when three older teenage boys, former Prince George secondary school students, entered the PGSS cafeteria and started a fight with a male student.
Gunderson was hit in the face, GUNDERSON had his head bounced against a locker and suffered other injuries. He had to have stitches in his lips and mouth, suffered a broken wrist, spent the holidays in hospital and was off work for two months.
The teacher was also injured.
In January 1996 Gunderson received.a letter of commendation from then-school board chair Gordon Ingalls for his quick action. Gunderson has also received 15-and 20-year long-service pins and an Employee Service Award.
The board and administration have made it clear they do not value the contributions of loyal, long-serving employees, Gunderson said.
Morale among district staff is at an all-time low, he said.
“Mr. Gunderson is a valued employee, and it is unfortunate that he felt so strongly that he sent back the letter of recognition and awards,” said board chair Shirley Bond. “We respect his feelings.
“The board recognizes employees for the work they do in the district. Certainly these are difficult decisions to make, and we recognize their impact on our staff.”
Budget Rents, 5
LJ77 Victoria Street Budget
—j Downtown 960-4200 I Airport 963-9339
24 Hour Emergency Service 960-4200
SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441
CLASSIFIED: 562-6666
READER SALES: 562-3301
058307001008