New health centre opens doors /13
Flames on way to Cup final /8

Mining sector on the rise /22

CITIZEN
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
date totals have sales at $64.9 million in 2004, well up from $35.85 million for the same period last year. For single-family homes, the average price this year to date in Prince George was $130,189 -- a 10-per-cent hike over $118,336 at the same time last year. Sales of homes is also up significantly, to 333 for the first four months of the year from 242 last year. Further, 117 homes were sold in April 2004, a 51per-cent jump from the 75 units sold over the same month last year. "If this continues it's going to be wonderful," said board president Daryl Muchowski, who narrowed the reason for the buoyancy down to confidence. "People's confidence is starting to come back what with the reports we're getting on the softwood lumber, the new stores that are coming into town, and interest rates are starting to creep so people are getting off the fence," he said. "We've been saying for a long time that we're at 40- or 50year lows on interest rates, and when they start creeping back up, people start thinking `do I want to get in at four and five per cent as opposed to sev-

PRINCE GEORGE

India names new PM /15

THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2004

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 56 CENTS A DAY)

Real estate sales soar
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff Prince George continues to be part of B.C.'s white-hot real estate market. While the B.C. Real Estate Association reported sales in April of more than $3 billion -- the second month in a row the figure has been reached -- the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board numbers show a big improvement from the same month last year. The value of sales in April 2004 reached $22.45 million in the Prince George region, slightly more than double that of April 2003. As well, year-toen and eight? Maybe I do.'" Prince George Home Builders Association pastpresident Jim Wallace echoed those comments. "People are a lot more confident, I guess is the way to say it," he said. "We even found with our home show here a couple of weeks ago that the people had a lot more positive attitude." According to city figures the overall value of construction in the city is down by about $8.8 million for the year so far, but the number of new home starts is up to 36, worth $4.6 million, from 18, worth $2.4 million, for the same period last year.

Feds grant $1.2M to help homeless
by KAREN KWAN Citizen staff Prince George has received $1.2-million from the federal government to help homeless people. Announced Wednesday, the funding, which will be handed out over two years, is aimed at five projects and comes under the National Homelessness Initiative. Projects in the city received $1.74 million during the first phase of the program two years ago. With $160,500 in additional funding under the program, support workers will be hired to assist tenants at the Bridget Moran Place low-income housing and shelter on Dominion Street. Audrey Schwartz, executive director of Active Support Against Poverty, which runs the facility, said workers will help tenants, many of whom suffer from mental illness and substance addiction, with basic skills such as hygiene, cleaning, shopping and budgeting. Tenants are required to care for their apartments. "Currently, our tenants receive very little support for maintaining their housing," Schwartz said. "And so what we find, because they're marginalized people, many of them have been homeless for a very long time, some even have never maintained their own home, and don't have the basic skills." The ultimate goal is to teach tenants the skills they need to live independently in the community, she said. Schwartz said the funding will also be used to extend staff hours to previous levels at the centre's emergency shelter. The money is enough to hire 1.5 fulltime equivalent support workers during each of the two years. In December 2003, the Prince George Community Plan on Homelessness was approved, identifying priorities including housing, health, and substance abuse issues. Under the federal program, which was launched in 1999, $1 billion will be doled out until 2006 to address homelessness in Canada. Other grants awarded under the program:  $148,000 for the women's homeless shelter operated by the Association Advocating for Women and Children.  $120,450 for Positive Living North to hire staff to help Aboriginal people living with HIV and/or hepatitis C with housing and nutrition issues.  $531,450 for the Prince George Nechako Employment and Training Association to co-ordinate funding that will address housing problems for the Aboriginal community.  $244,600 for the St. Vincent de Paul Society for its food hamper and soup kitchen programs.

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

GREASED LIGHTNING -- Reese Brunelle performs as Danny Zuko of Grease during The History of Rock and Roll show at the Multiplex on Wednesday night.

New schools will rival UNBC, Jago says
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff Two new universities in the B.C. Interior will present major challenges for UNBC and Prince George to continue growth of post-secondary education and the economy, says UNBC president Dr. Charles Jago. "Let there be no doubt about it, the Prince George advantage is gone," Jago told a Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday. "No longer is Prince George the only Interior B.C. city and the only city outside of metropolitan B.C. to have its own university . . . and our university is forecast to be the smallest of the three." Jago was referring to the B.C. government announcements in March to create a UBC Okanagan campus in Kelowna and expand Okanagan College of the Cariboo in Kamloops to "special purpose university" status. Although Jago said he supports the move because B.C. has been an underproducer of universities for decades, the reality is "the competition for students is about to heat up." He said the projected enrolment at Kamloops alone is much higher than UNBC's 3,600 students, with 9,000 fulltime students expected by 2010. The reality also is that there will be "intensified competition" among cities in B.C.'s heartland to strengthen their post-secondary sectors and economies on the basis of skills training and research and development capabilities. The Kamloops university is expected to generate $100 million a year in economic benefits to the Thompson-Cariboo region, and establish that city as the provincial centre of excellence for open learning, First Nations, sport, tourism and health programs. UNBC students drop between $80 million and $100 million annually into the local economy, and that is not a source of income that Prince George wants to risk, said Jago. He suggested that UNBC, CNC, the city, Initiatives Prince George and the Chamber of Commerce get together and rethink the strategy that can make Prince George a first choice for students. UNBC already has one major handicap due to the lack of appropriate recreational and athletic facilities. The Kamloops university, expected to open in spring 2005 and the Kelowna campus, expected to open in fall 2005, will both have top-notch athletics facilities, but it will be 2007 or '08 before UNBC gets its first-class athletics facility. Jago said the same positive and aggressive marketing approach by Initiatives Prince George to position the city to benefit from the 2010 Olympics is what is needed to attract post-secondary students, business, investment and people with knowledge and skills. -- See related editorial on page 4

High : 18 Low : 6 page 2

INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . .17 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . .3,5,6,13 Classified . . . . . . . . . . .18-21 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Coming Events . . . . . . . . . . .2 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . .17 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7,14 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

UNBC professors make top researchers list
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff Ten UNBC researchers have made the top 60 list of B.C.'s brightest stars in the world of knowledge. The researchers, involved in a host of projects -- from the composition of a fish's brain, to infestation of mountain pine beetles, to the evolution of right and left handedness, offshore drilling and how the universe began -- were written up in a special report by the Vancouver Sun citing about 60 researchers, plus some colleagues, at B.C.'s four universities. Here's a microscopic view of what UNBC researchers are up to:  Anthropologist Richard Lazenby is looking into the evolution of right-and left-handedness. He's discovered a larger-than- expected proportion of bones in the left hand are bigger than in the right, and he wants to know why.  Astronomer Valerio Faraoni is exploring how the universe began and how it may end by probing how gravity may have been different in the beginning.  With offshore drilling becoming a real possibility, environmental scientist Mark Rutherford is examining how certain kinds of grasses stimulate soil microorganisms to break down petroleum contamination.  Entomologist Staffan Lindgren is researching the infestation of the mountain pine beetles in B.C. forests, particularly where the beetle is spreading and why. He's also developed and patented a funnel-shaped trap to capture the bug. About 50,000 have been sold so far.  In genetics, Keith Egger is studying how climate change affects the genetic makeup of microorganisms and how warmer temperatures affect the ability of soil organisms to supply life-giving nutrients to plants.  Biologist Mark Shrimpton is looking at the mineral and chemical composition in fish brains to discover where they came from and how much time they spent in different areas.  Mathematician Patrick Montgomery looking at new mathematical models for curing of beetle-infested wood more efficiently. Since beetle wood is drier than normal wood, it needs to dry for shorter lengths of time. The question is how much shorter.  Psychologist Ken Prkachin is measuring the facial expressions of people in pain so health-care workers can gauge the level of discomfort, and thus, attend to patients accordingly.  Biochemist Chow Lee is examining why cancer cells grow so rapidly. He wants to find a way to control their aggressive behaviour in cancer patients.  Physics professor Moustafa Mohamed has invented a sensor to detect rock and sediment movements in a stream, which are major factors affecting salmon habitat. The sensor can also trigger traffic signals and detect burglars.

0

58307

00100

8

Choice is yours... only 7 left!
Life is good!
446983

FS275LE Stk #12231

FS261LE Stk #12269

$34,892 Was $44,408
FS261LE Stk #12232

$34,126 Was $43,434
2 0 0 3 T O P A Z F I F T H W H E E L S B Y T R I P L E E

FS270LE Stk #12272

$33,978 Was $43,245
FS275TE Stk #12254

S $34,554 Was $43,978
F242SSLE Stk #12279

OLD

$40,261 Was $51,241
FS250LE Stk #12268

$30,162 Was $38,388
FS305RLLE Stk #12304

$32,891 Was $41,861

$38,165 Was $48,574
805 1st Ave. Prince George 250 / 563-8891

1-800-563-8893
www.nrmotors.bc.ca Email: sales@nrmotors.bc.ca
DL# 7970

No Reasonable Offer Refused...

Open Monday - Saturday 8:30 am - 5:30 pm

EVER!

SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441

CLASSIFIED: 562-6666

READER SALES: 562-3301