PRINCE GEORGE
High today: 10 Low tonight: 4 Details page 2
Citizen
Cuts put school day cares in jeopardy
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff
School District 57 trustees are scrambling to find ways to keep school-based day cares open now that the rooms are no longer covered under the new Education Ministry funding formula.
Trustees heard the news just before this week’s school board meeting, said Bev Christensen, chair of the board’s management and finance committee.
“We’ll be looking for ways to accommodate the day-care operators, but right now we have no idea of what these will be,” she said Wednesday. “There will have to be a lot of talks.”
SD 57 secretary-treasurer Bryan Mix told the school board Tuesday that, since the province’s new funding formula no longer specifically recognizes the number of square metres in buildings and grounds or the utility costs to operate schools, much of the cost of operating school-
based day cares may fall to the school district.
“It’s just another nail in the coffin,” said trustee Lyn Hall.
“These programs are an essential part of the social and economic fabric of our community,” said trustee Fred McLeod.
Trustees agreed Mix should notify and possibly call together the day-care operators within 48 hours to discuss the situation.
“We can’t take money out of the general school district operating budget to subsidize day cares, since we’re so short of money already,” Christensen said. “We’ll try to see if we can resolve this in a way that they can continue to operate in the schools.”
Even after cuts and reallocations of grants that trustees made Tuesday night, SD 57 still faces a $6.6-million deficit for the 2002-03 school year.
It was in the 1990s that a number of school-
based child-care programs were developed in SD 57 schools in addition to those built on school property through the Education Ministry’s School-based Child Care Program, Mix said at the board meeting.
The programs operating in schools are generally partnerships with non-profit societies or licensed day-care providers.
The child-care programs run through the Education Ministry program are run by community associations. SD 57 has provided significant financial support to all, Mix said.
School-hosted child-care programs in SD 57 include a day care at Carney Hill elementary school run by the Carney Hill Neighbourhood Centre; those at Highland and Edgewood elementary schools, run by independent operators; and one at Ron Brent elementary run by the Ron Brent Community Association.
Day cares at Harwin, King George V and Spruceland elementary schools are run by the Family Y, Mix said.
Since heat, light, custodial, maintenance and snow removal costs had traditionally been covered by schools using provincial grant money, the groups paid minimal rent to the schools directly, and the schools could use the funds for their own programs, Christensen said.
Pre-schools at Kelly Road secondary school and Lakewood elementary school are operated under the joint-use agreement SD 57 has with the City of Prince George, Christensen said.
The province’s changes to the school funding formula will potentially have a significant impact on that agreement, too, she said.
The city pays the school district $200,000 annually for community use of the local school facilities.
Contractor to buy dome
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
The Roll-a-Dome has been handed a life line.
The Prince George Golf and Curling Club announced Wednesday it has inked a conditional $650,000 deal to sell the facility to local building contractor Vince Buljevic. It ends months of speculation and controversy on the future of the building after the PGGCC membership turned down a $1.5-million proposal to sell it and accompanying lands for a casino.
The deal still needs the approval of the club’s 800 members, as well as dty council’s approval. The golf and curling dub goes before council on April 22. A membership vote will take place May 6.
“Really, this ends up being a win for everybody,” said PGGCC president Andy Clough. “We had an initial offer last year not accepted by the membership. As it turns out, I think this ends up being better yet. It’s good for the dty, it’s good for the user groups, it’s certainly good for the membership.”
The dub wants to use proceeds from the sale to pay down its debt.
Clough said there’s also opportunities for the dub and the Roll-a-Dome’s new owner to work together to benefit each other. An enhanced recreation area will be good for everyone, he said.
Remax Centre City realtor Wayne Jenkins, who represented the buyer at the news conference, said Buljevic plans to improve the building, including repairing the leaky roof and adding a second hardwood floor to improve indoor sports. Buljevic is expecting a covenant would be put on the land restricting it to recreation, said Jenkins.
“He has had a dream about this building for many months, perhaps many years. And has hoped for an opportunity to buy the property and improve it,” said Jenkins. “He’s very much involved in soccer, and is a great supporter of many sports activities. He would like to see it known as a multi-purpose building for many sports and social events to work side-by-side with the golf course. He would like to see tournaments with out-of-town teams come here”
The news caught AI Work — who has leased and managed the Roll-a-Dome for the past two decades — by surprise. Work spearheaded a campaign to keep the aging building alive, collecting more than
12,000 signatures on a petition. Many user groups like indoor soccer, ball hockey and boxing supported his fight.
The building is also used for roller-skating, in-line skating, dances, weddings and banquets.
INDEX
Ann Landers........ ....17
Bridge............. ... .21
Business ........... .22-24
City, B.C...........3,5,6,13
Classified .......... .18-21
Comics ............ ....16
Coming Events...... .....2
Crossword ......... ....16
Entertainment...... ....17
Horoscope ......... ... .21
Lotteries........... ....15
Lifestyles........... ....17
Nation ............. ..7,14
Sports ............. ..8-12
Television.......... ....17
World ............. ....15
E-Mail address:
news@princegeorgecitizen.com
Our web site:
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.coin
Legal services cuts panned Shooting
suspect nabbed
by KAREN KWAN Citizen Staff
Staffing for publicly-funded legal services is being pared down even though a new regional centre in Prince George will have to serve a much larger population.
The Legal Services Society (LSS) has allocated 8.2 full-time equivalent staff to the centre, compared with 11.2 full-time equivalent employees currently working at the Prince George office.
With fewer staff, the regional centre is expected to serve the Cariboo and North Central region, mostly in administering the legal-aid program.
The new centre will include four staff lawyers, the same number currently working at the local office.
By September, seven regional centres across the province will replace all 60 B.C. offices of the LSS and 74% of staff positions will be eliminated.
No decisions have been made on the locations of the new centres, an LSS spokesperson said.
“Any cuts would undermine access to the justice system on an equal basis for all citizens," said Wiho Papen-brock, regional co-ordinator with the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union.
“The services are valuable. The offices are understaffed and underfunded to begin with,” he said. The BCGEU represents eight non-lawyer LSS staff.
The move comes as the society implements a 39% cut to legal-aid funding over the next three years, bringing the figure from $88 million to $54 million by that time.
Critics have already panned the centralization of services, which they say could make it more difficult for residents in outlying areas to access legal help.
But the province says a provincewide call centre and 24 local agents in other communities will help people access services.
Prince George lawyer Andrew Kemp, president of the Cariboo Bar
Association, said it’s hard to say whether fewer staff will lead to delays because they will be administering fewer services.
The real crunch, he says, will come June 1 when 24 courthouses in the province are closed, including the one in Vanderhoof.
Some people who don’t qualify for legal aid will represent themselves, slowing the process down, and cases from outlying arqas will be transferred to centres such as Prince George.
“It’s going to get very busy and the court lists are going to get longer,” he said.
On April 1, the LSS began phasing out legal-aid for all poverty-law cases, such as landlord-tenant and welfare disputes and most family matters and ceased offering summary legal advice.
The province recently announced $7.7 million in one-time grants to the society to reduce its deficit and help cover transition costs.
A 48-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a shooting in South Fort George on Monday.
Police located the suspect Tuesday night and brought him to hospital for a. psychiatric assessment. RCMP say the man could face charges depending on the outcome of the assessment. His name has not been released.
In the early-morning incident, a man discharged as many as five shots from a high-powered rifle along Quadrant Crescent. No one was injured by the gunfire. RCMP said they believed the shooting was sparked by an incident at the home of the man’s girlfriend, who lives on that street. But investigators didn’t know the exact cause or what the man was shooting at.
The man fled on foot before the police arrived.
Citizen photo by Dave Milne
THE FAIREST ONE OF ALL — Snow White, right, played by Brittni Lunn, meets with the seven dwarfs in the Spruceland Elementary musical production Mirror, Mirror, a spoof on the classic Snow White tale. The musical was performed by Jen Jensen’s Grade 5-6 students.
On Sit* finandng
Travelaire Genesis
SWITCHBOARD: 562-244?.
CLASSIFIED: 562-6666
READER SALES: £62-3301
E9
ft
058307001008