Nash touted as best in NBA /8

Urban decay can kill small cities /6
SATURDAY, MAY 7, 2005

Rolling Stones hitting the road /27

Animation students enjoy huge demand /42

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

Candidates square off over beetle
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

SHOWTIME -- The Quinson elementary choir performed Friday morning at Salmon Valley elementary for students from Shady Valley elementary, Bear Lake elementary and Salmon Valley elementary.

Canfor to sell Valemount mill
Canfor Corp. issued a short statement Friday afternoon it has reached an agreement to sell its Valemount sawmill Northwest Specialty Lumber for $3 million. The value of the existing inventory at the sawmill, 300 kilometres east of Prince George, will be added to the selling price. The sawmill is the major employer for the 1,300 residents of Valemount. Canfor revealed it was selling the mill this February. The company said a more-suitable owner could do some proper investing in the mill.

Unemployment hike riles NDP
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff Prince George's New Democrat candidates on Friday attempted to undermine the Liberals' claim the region's economy is on the upswing, pointing to unemployment figures for April that increased to 10.7 per cent. The unemployment figure is up from nine per cent in March. But the Liberals said the NDP have missed the bigger and longer-term picture, which is that there's regularly a seasonal increase in the jobless rate in t he spring, and there has been an overall downward trend since the Liberals came to power in 2001. "Gordon Campbell has abandoned the so-called heartlands," charged Prince George-Mount Robson NDP candidate Wayne Mills. "As long as his friends in downtown Vancouver are happy, he thinks he's doing a good job." Mills said the Liberals continue to take credit for the low interest rates and high commodity prices he says have helped the province's economy as a whole. He said he doubts the Liberals will take credit for what he characterized as Prince George's poor performance. However, the jobless figure trends support the Liberals' contention the economy is improving. While the jobless rate did increase in April, it's 2.5 per cent below the 13.2 per cent figure posted during the same month last year. The monthly unemployment rate hit a 15-year low of 6.5 per cent in November and December. The last time the monthly jobless rate was 6.5 per cent was in September 1989. The annualized unemployment -- Wayne Mills r a t e h a s a l s o been falling in Prince George. According to B.C. Statistics, unemployment dropped to 9.2 per cent in 2004, its lowest level since 1989. The jobless rate peaked at 14.8 per cent in 1998, under an NDP government. The number of people employed over the age of 15, was 46,500 in 2004, the second highest figure in the past two decades. The annual job figure has increased by 3,500 since 2001 when the Liberals swept to power with a 77-2 majority. The only time there were more jobs in Prince George, at 47,300, was in 1996. The annual figures show a loss of 4,300 jobs by 2001, a five-year period when the NDP was in power. -- See MLA on page 3

High : 13 Low : 2 page 2

drive! fr ee t
with a

2005

"Gordon Campbell has abandoned the so-called heartlands."

twis

E-Mail address:

news@princegeorgecitizen.com
Our website:

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com

INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . .46 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .32-34 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . .3,5,6,13 Classified . . . . . . . . . . .18-22 Comics . . . . . . . . . . .28,35,36 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Entertainment . . . . . . .25-27 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,15

by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff Provincial and federal forestry scientists have estimated north-central B.C. will be facing a significant decline in its timber supply within 10 to 15 years because of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. For the heavily forest-based communities in the region, that projection has raised the spectre of a major economic downturn. Preliminary work done by the Canadian Forest Service has shown that even a small drop in the amount of timber that can be logged in the Prince George area will have a significant impact on the economy, causing thousands to lose their jobs. Not surprisingly, addressing the future issue has been a part of the Liberal, NDP and Green Party's platforms in the May 17 election. The New Democrats have promised to return gains in Crown timber harvesting fees from increased logging to communities impacted by the beetle epidemic. The $40 million from the stumpage fees promised this year is meant to help communities prepare for the future when the timber-supply decreases create job losses. The Liberals have said they will contribute $50 million for a similar effort, which will flow to the existing Northern Development Initiative, which already controls $135 million from the sale of B.C. Rail to CN. The Green Party has also said an emergency fund has to be created using stumpage from overcutting of beetlekilled forests to help communities, although they didn't put a dollar figure to the fund. Prince George-Omineca Liberal candidate John Rustad said the $50 million contribution to help communities cope with the beetle epidemic is just a start. He said it's also meant to compliment an additional $100 million set aside for the B.C. Forests Ministry to deal with the epidemic in the next three years. Rustad said other ideas worth exploring include extending the shelf life of beetle-killed timber, getting replanted forests ready to be logged more quickly and accessing timber from other areas, including north of Fort St. James. "Our government has been very progressive about looking forward and creating a plan," contended Rustad, a forestry consultant making his first foray into provincial politics. "(We're) trying to look at what the future may be,

as opposed to simply reacting to the realities of the day." He criticized the NDP for not taking the fledgling beetle epidemic seriously enough in mid-'90s. Prince George-Omineca NDP candidate Chuck Fraser said the NDP's plan to funnel increased stumpage into a fund to help communities is different than the Liberals' strategy. The NDI regional boards are made up of municipal leaders and MLAs. Fraser said the increased stumpage will go straight back to impacted communities. Those communities, including First Nations, will have autonomy over the fund. "None goes to Victoria," said Fraser, a social worker and former B.C. Rail conductor. He said it's important local communities have direct control over the funds as they will be facing "a lot of devastation" in 10 to 14 years. Fraser said it's also important to direct part of the increased cut to secondary manufacturing. Right now, the forest sector has been gearing up for the increase in logging, which was given the green-light by B.C.'s chief forester in the past two years. Two separate logging increases -- including an unprecedented five million cubic metre boost announced last fall -- have increased the allowable harvest by 80 per cent in the Quesnel, Prince George and Burns Lake areas. It has created more work for loggers and truckers, and many sawmills are running on three shifts. Some companies -- including Canfor and Dunkley Lumber -- have already undertaken upgrades and expanded their capacity to handle the beetle-killed timber. More are underway. That's the right decision in the shortterm, said United Steelworkers-IWA local 1-424 president Frank Everitt, who represents thousands of sawmill workers in the Northern Interior. But he said the bigger concern is what will happen when the timber supply drops in the next decade. The provincial government and major forest companies should both be contributing to a fund to retrain forestry workers, said Everitt. -- See MIXED on page 3

Police hope drawings crack case
Citizen staff The Prince George RCMP have used the help of forensic specialists to put together a drawing of what a person might have looked like using a human skull found nearly a decade ago. The human skull was recovered in June 1996 in a remote area near Hixon, about 60 kilometres south of Prince George. The investigation has determined the skull was from an adult man, probably between the ages of 35 and 55. The man likely died between two and five years prior to the find of the skull in 1996. The man had at least one solid gold crown that may have been visible when he smiled. The RCMP stressed the drawings are a facial approximation of what this person might have looked like, created as a result of the joint efforts of a forensic odontologist and a forensic artist. If anyone has any information on the identity of this person, contact Cpl. Heidi McGibbon of the Prince George RCMP at 561-3300 or call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-2228477.

0

58307

00100

8

Composite drawings based on skull found near Hixon in 1996.

Our students deserve more than promises
BC Liberals promised to protect education. Since then they closed 14 local schools
� Blackburn Junior Secondary � Hart Highway Elementary � McLeod Lake Elementary � North Nechako Elementary � Fort George South Elementary � Gladstone Elementary � Highland Elementary � King George V Elementary � Meadow Elementary � Mountain View Elementary � Seymour Elementary � Haldi Road Elementary � Lakewood Elementary � Wildwood Elementary

Kids Matter. Teachers care. On May 17, vote for public education.
A message from the Prince George Teachers' Association
Authorized by the Prince George District Teachers' Association, registered sponsor, Carolyn Rowland, President, 250-562-7214.

SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441

CLASSIFIED: 562-6666

READER SALES: 562-3301