PRINCE GEORGE
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MONDAY, MARCH 20,
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Prince George police continue to investigate a hit and run at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday. A man in his early twenties underwent surgery on his leg Sunday night as a result of the accident/Police say they are looking for a dark vehicle that hit the man while he was walking along the 2300 block of Victoria Street. If you have any information regarding the incident contact Prince George RCMP at 561-3300 or CrimeStoppers at 564-8477.
COMMUNITY
PAGE 13
Running for a cure Cornered by Baldwin
DANCE FESTIVAL - Kyla Coole, in Class 904 Dancer’s Own Choreography - Solo Lyrical Jazz - 16 years and under competition, leaps to great heights at the 24th annual Prince George Dance Festival. About 320 youth between the ages of 3 and 25 will perform during the festival at Vanier Hall from today through Friday. An honours performance is slated at Vanier Hall Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to attend Friday's honours performance are available at Vanier Hall. For a complete page of photos from the festival see Tuesday’s Citizen.
WHL final dates in jeopardy
Forest Expo booked Multiplex five years ago
by JIM SWANSON Citizen Sports Editor
A scheduling conflict at the Multiplex involving Forest Expo and the Prince George Cougars has raised the possibility that the Western Hockey League team would not be able to host home games for a week in May.
Forest Expo, held every second year in this city, booked the May 11-13 dates in 1995 and has reserved the facility for shows in 2002, 2004 and 2006. Forestry show exhibitors need at least two days of set-up time at the Multiplex, Kin Centre and Civic Centre, so the last day the Cats could play a home game would be May 8. The ice will be taken out of the arenas for Forest Expo, and could be back in the Mul-
tiplex for May 15.
In order for this scenario to take place, the Cougars would have to win the West Division championship and advance to the WHL final against the winner of the East/Central. Should the opposition be Calgary, Swift Current or Kootenay (teams that will finish with more points than the Cougars and have home-ice advantage), the third and fourth games would be slated to be played in Prince George during Forest Expo.
“This is a tough call, but there are lots of other buildings where the hockey team has to work around events,” said Diane Rogers, who manages the Multiplex, Civic Centre and community arenas for the City of Prince George.
“This has happened to Brandon before, where they have had to go to Winnipeg (or Regina) to play in the playoffs. The Forest Expo people are all season ticket holders, and they want to make it work. We’ll do what it takes to make this work.”
The Cougars understand the importance of forestry to Prince George, but want to explore every option to allow fans the chance to see every playoff game possible.
“This isn’t Forest Expo’s fault, we have no problem with them,” said team business manager Dane MacKinnon.
“If it weren’t for forestry this city wouldn’t be here and neither would hockey, and if it weren’t for (the
Cougars) this building wouldn’t be here. We were hoping we could find some solution that was beneficial to all parties, including the 12,000 people who watched our two games this past weekend.
“We’ve looked at all the possibilities and all the teams we would play. We’d beg the other team to move the schedule around, fly our team around, but the Canadian Hockey League sets the dates. We’re told that all the buildings are occupied, but we’ve said we’ll do anything we can to be able to play games here. We’d move our stuff around, park anywhere, but we’re not in charge of the building or the facilities around here.”
Indeed, it appears the CHL is the
main culprit. This year’s Memorial Cup will be a week later than normal because of scheduling conflicts at the Halifax Metro Centre, site of the tournament. The WHL voted earlier this year to spread out playoff dates so there wouldn’t be a layoff for the league champion, a proposal the Cougars voted against because of the Forest Expo dates.
“In 1998, the WHL final was scheduled to end May 5, and the league changed that this year,” said Rogers. “There are other options if this happens. The Cougars could play in the Coliseum with video feeds to the Civic Centre. Obviously no one wants to go to another city, but the Cougars could play the games in Kamloops.”
Suspect sought in hit and run
Anti-icing tests get put on hold
by BOB MILLER Citizen staff
City public works will have to wait until next winter to adequately test the anti-icing and pre-wetting equipment it got this year through a partnership with the Insurance Corporation of B.C., says operations manager Frank Blues.
It’s been coo warm since the equipment became operational last month to test it, Blues said. Even with the spate of freeze/thaw conditions and snow this week, conditions have not been right to use the new systems.
Through a $38,500 grant from ICBC, a city water truck was modified to apply the anti-icing compound calcium chloride to city streets in a test area between 15th Avenue/Patricia Boulevard to First Avenue, and from Winnipeg Street to Windsor Street in the industrial lands east of Queensway. The compound resists packed snow and ice adhering to pavement, making plowing easier and better traction for vehicles.
A city sanding truck was modified to apply a pre-wetting agent, also calcium chloride, to the sand and salt normally spread on roads in winter. Pre-wetting raises the melting capacity of salt and allows sand or aggregate to melt into the ice improving traction.
Although it didn’t get to test the new systems this year, the city managed to use the calcium chloride compound it had on hand in its street sweeping operations last week, Blues said. The compound was sprayed on roads prior to sweeping to keep dust down and to allow sweeping operations to be done at night since it kept the road surface from freezing.
“Results appear good,” Blues said
During this week’s snowfalls, sand was used on roads in the Hart Highway area because sweeping has not started there, while road salt was used in areas that have already been swept, he added.
B.C. forest industry lags behind rest of country
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
The profitability of the B.C. forest industry has not kept pace with the rest of Canada because of increased wood fibre costs in the province, a Pricewa-terhouseCoopers report says.
The report concludes that provincial government policy changes that restore competitiveness will have a profound positive impact on employment and the B.C. economy.
“The contrast between British Co-
lumbia and the rest of Canada in the last ten years is startling,” said the report’s authors, who included Mike MacCallum. “The policy and taxation regimes under which the B.C. forest industry now operates have made the industry smaller and less competitive, while the industry in the rest of Canada expanded and earned a better return on capital.”
For example, since the early 90s B.C.’s lumber sector has not been as profitable as the rest of Canada, said
the report. In 1998, the B.C. Interior return on investment was 1.9%, while the rest of Canada averaged 14.3%.
The B.C. pulp industr/s profitability has also lagged behind the rest of Canada.
The report does not include the turnaround in the forest industry in 1999, where profits have been estimated at $600 million due to lumber price increases and cost cutting by companies and the government.
The report highlighted:
■ That B.C. wood costs have risen $129 or 110% per thousand board feet since 1989, compared to 31% for Ontario and 87% for Quebec.
■ The jump in B.C. was a result of cost increases from the Forest Practices Code — tougher environmental rules introduced in 1994 — and increased Crown timber harvesting fees.
■ The actual log harvest from Crown lands has been substantially lower than the annual allowable cut set by the province’s chief forester.
City model hits it big
by ARLENE WATSON
Citizen staff
The doors of opportunity in modeling just opened on an international scale for 15-year-old Michelle Claus of Prince George.
The local model is on her way to Japan at the end of the month following a contract she secured at the International Modeling Association of Canada Convention two weeks ago in Toronto, said Carolyn Sadler, president of LaMode Modeling Agency.
At the end of the month, Michelle, who has been modeling for LaMode for two years, is headed to Japan to work with World Top for three months, said Sadler.
During that time Michelle may find
her face on the covers of many magazine and in newspaper ads, said Sadler.
Michelle said she’s not nervous yet.
“I won’t feel nervous until I get there,” she said Sunday. “I just think it’s really neat to go somewhere like Japan and do something like this. It’s always been a dream of mine to model professionally,” said Michelle.
Sadler said the contract is a fantastic opportunity for Michelle. “They have Sony and many film companies there. There’s a lot of work available for models in Japan. One model from Australia has been working with World Top for seven years now.”
Michelle is one of about 20 LaMode models to achieve international contracts, said Sadler. It just helps to bring
Prince George to the attention of the international market, said Sadler.
Michelle’s mother Cheryl said she will be going with Michelle on the trip and that the excitement of it all hasn’t really sunk in for either of them.
“It’s a good opportunity for her,” said Cheryl. She said Michelle has worked hard at modeling and that it hasn’t always been easy. “We hope it will be a very good experience.”
“I’m excited for her and a little nervous. She’s still very young,” said her father Brian.
Photo submitted
Michelle Claus is a 15-year-old Prince George girl who will be going to Japan to further her modeling career.
“OK,OK, you got me.
You just couldn’t let it go, could you.”
Ann Landers.................15
Bridge......................23
City, B.C...............3,5,13
Classified ..............20-23
Comics .....................18
Coming Events...............15
Crossword ..................18
Entertainment ...........18,19
Horoscope ..................23
Lotteries...................15
Lifestyles..................15
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Nation.......................6
Sports ...................8-12
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World .......................7
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