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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16,1998
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PRINCE GEORGE
High today: 2 Low tonight: -7 Details page 25
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
by GORDON HOEKSTRA “There’s definitely a need for it.”
Citizen staff City council passed the first two
A planned project on the corner of readings of official Community Plan
Ospika Boulevard and Rainbow Drive and zoning changes Monday to allow
would help meet a community need construction of the 40-unit housing
for more subsidized housing, project that will take up a corner of
Elizabeth Fry Society president Ann vacant land at the edge of Rainbow
Howard said Tuesday. Park.
The project would be similar to A public hearing in fsont of city
one constructed on 15th Avenue last council is expected to be held in
year. It would include a mix of subsi- January.
dized and market-priced housing and There remains a number of other
some wheel-chair accessible units. hurdles to overcome, including get-
There’s a waiting list of 150 for the ting financing approval from B.C. subsidized townhouses in the 15th Housing, said Howard.
Avenue project, said Howard. “If everything went according to
our desires, construction could start in early spring,” she said.
The final construction costs have not been settled yet, but the similar 40-unit 15th Avenue project totalled $4.2 million.
The Elizabeth Fry Society would manage the project if it goes ahead, and the dty would lease the land to them.
Howard is excited about the project, saying the location is an ideal one as it’s right next to the park and close to shopping. Spruceland Elementary School and Lakewood Junior Secondary School are also right next to the housing project, she noted.
Usually, the subsidized homes are awarded to single-parent families, said Howard.
Of the 20 people who filled out response cards following a neighborhood open house Oct. 13, they were about equally split for and against the project, said an administration report to city council.
Residents were concerned about traffic congestion .during school drop-off and pick-up times. There was also a mistaken impression the treed lot was part of Rainbow Park, which it isn’t, said the report.
More from council, page 2
PAGE 15 •
Students describe holiday traditions
Major store in city seen as gateway, to the north
P Larry Bernard’s ties to Prince George run as deep as the Fraser River, and the former Cougars and Spruce Kings coach returns to his hometown tonight. /10
HEALTHFILE
by ARLENE WATSON Citizen staff
Frank Coates said he’s lost everything in the fire that engulfed his trailer Monday night.
The fire began at 10:30 p.m. and Coates was asleep in his trailer on Jade Drive in the Hart area.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Coates said Tliesday from his neighbour’s house. An estimate of the damages was not available, but Coates was told there isn’t much left.
“The cat came in, jumped on me and went nuts so I grabbed a blanket and pants and jumped out the window,” said Coates.
The fire moved from the front of the house to the back within about five minutes, said neighbor Laura Wickware. Coates ran over to Wickware’s house in the blanket to call 911.
Coates escaped with second-degree burns he thinks he sustained when forcing the screens off his windows.
“It’s just like I have nothing left anymore — everything’s gone,” said Coates. “I don’t know where to start or what to do. I think Fm still in shock.”
“It’s a week before Christmas and it’s just terrible,” said Wickware.
Coates said he’s also lost pictures of his kids and an elaborate CD collection that was his prize possession. He was living in the trailer by himself and said he has no family in town to help oat.
His neighbours have been very helpful bringing him clothes, a jacket and letting him stay with them, said Coates.
Timber harvest opinions invited
B.C.’s chief forester has invited the public to review and comment on timber supply review information that will be used to set the annual allowable cut. Public input will be accepted until Jan. 22.
A timber supply analysis report will be released in 1999 and chief forester Larry Pedersen will make his allowable annual cut decision in 2000.
Allowable annual cuts (AACs) are determined by the chief forester, who considers information ranging from technical forestry reports to public input and the government’s social and economic objectives.
For more information, phone Phil Zacharatos at 250-565-7125 or check the web at:
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tsb
■ The Christmas season is, according to a famous song, the most wonderful time of the year. That is, until everything around you goes wrong or gets on your nerves. /8
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Continuing a strategy of expansion throughout B.C., Lordco Auto Parts Ltd. is opening a store in Prince George, anticipating it will be its gateway to the North.
The company hopes the 12,600-square-foot retail/wholesale automotive parts and BHHHHHI equipment supply Lfl store is only one ■ of three or four ■ j
stores it opens in I . j
the North. The I ‘
Prince George IB store — across | j
from the College j
of New Caledonia ]
on 22nd Ave. — is L. '........... 1
set to open in mid-January. LANDERS
The company is also not concerned about the current economic downturn here, saying they’ll ride it out until better times.
“There isn’t a store that we have that’s not successful. Selection, service, price — we have them all,” said Lordco northern regional manager Dwayne Landers, who has been with the company eight years and moved here from Lordco’s store in Vancouver.
Lordco was started almost 25 years ago by Roy Lord and Ed Coates in Maple Ridge (they merged their names to form the company name)
• and has expanded to a 36-store chain that remains privately owned. In the early 1980s, Coates bought out Lord.
Stores are sprinkled through the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, the Kootenays aitd the Okanagan.
Prince Geqrge will be its most northern location and the company would like to get two or three more on the go — perhaps even another in Prince George, said Landers.
A staff of 15 will run the store to start but that could double if business is good, he added.
The company — which has 700 employees province-wide — pegs its success to meeting customer satisfaction. It has a delivery fleet of 180 vehicles to replenish store inventory.
Lordco had the building on 22nd Avenue built to their specifications. The store will carry a full range of parts and equipment that includes automotive parts and supplies, auto body supplies, high performance parts and accessories/industrial and welding supplies and garage equipment and professional tools.
CANADA
■ The Mounties main millennium troubleshooter says we should squirrel away a little food, water and cash—and maybe rethink our approach to tail buildings —when the clock strikes midnight on the year 2000. /9
■ Governments are gobbling up an increasing amount of the average Canadian’s income due to Ottawa’s partial de-indexing of taxes, says a new study from the C.D. Howe Institute. /16
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
Roxann Smith, Dave Milne and Patsy Connell, members of the Devonshire Crescent Block Watch, with Items for Christmas hamper for a single mom and four children.
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at a 50/50 draw during a Devonshire Crescent potluck dinner — an annual event.
E.Fry has a list of almost 10 clients still waiting to be adopted for Christmas, said Ann Howard, executive-director for the society. Many groups get involved in this and some get very generous donating everything right down to the tree, said Howard.
Lisa (not her real name) is a client of E.Fry and will have Christmas bought for her this year by some generous Prince George residents. She’s unemployed right now and seeking education to better the future for her children and herself.
She has four children ages two through 14 and said her budget just doesn’t allow for Christmas. Her mother lives in town, but other than that there’s no family around to help out, said Lisa.
“I use to lay things away (at a local store), but I can’t do that anymore,” said Lisa.
Lisa said she’s grateful to the anonymous family that’s helping her. “It’s a weight off my shoulders that I don’t have to worry about Christmas,” she said.
by ARLENE WATSON Citizen staff
Dave Milne says he lives in the best neighbourhood in Prince George.
Milne — a retired former BC Hydro employee — lives on Devonshire Crescent and is the captain of the Neighbourhood Block Watch.
Members of the Watch have joined together to adopt a family for Christmas. The group are busy gathering food, toys and other items they will turn over to the Elizabeth Fry Society (E.Fry) on Dec. 21.
Milne said the neighbourhood was matched with a family through E.Fry. They don’t know the names of the family members, only that it’s a single-mother with four kids, their ages and their likes and dislike when it comes to toys.
“Several of our neighbours have contributed and they’ll have everything to supply a good Christmas dinner,” said Milne. He said an 18-pound turkey waits in his neighbour’s freezer and the Teddy bears have been bought. Contributions are still coming in, he said.
The neighbourhood raised money for some of the trimmings
“See me again in two weeks. I’ll be back from my honeymoon by then.”
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Man convicted of city murder killed in jail
Lefebvre was found about 5:30 p.m. and was pronounced dead in hospital at 6:15 p.m.
Lefebvre was convicted in 1996 of the March 1994 murder of 25-year-old Todd Paul Bouchard at a biker club’s hangout on Cinch Loop Road near Highway 16 West.
Mission assistant warden Len Epp declined to say where the assault on
A man who was serving time for murdering a man at a bikers’ clubhouse in Prince George four years ago was killed in Mission prison this week.
Normand Lefebvre, 44, was taken to Mission Memorial Hospital following a fatal assault at the prison Monday, Corrections Canada said in a news release.
Lefebvre took place or whether investigators have a possible motive for the attack.
Mission RCMP are handling the investigation, and declined to comment until after an autopsy.
The exact cause of death was not released.
Corrections officials locked down the facility Monday night until fur-
ther notice. >
Epp said Lefebvre had been transferred from the maximum-security Kent prison near Agassiz to the medi-um-security Mission prison two weeks ago.
Lefebvre received a life sentence in prison, and would have been eligible for parole after serving 10 years.
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