Brangelina hit the screen...

Walking into the office of the future /33

U.S. wants beef ban lifted /36

...in Mr. and Mrs. Smith /25

FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2005

$1.00 (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

West Fraser wins lumber tariff case
HALIFAX (CP) -- A trade tribunal has ruled that the U.S. government should repay $29.6 million in anti-dumping duties collected from West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., government and company officials said Thursday. International Trade Minister Jim Peterson, speaking in Halifax to a lumber industry convention, disclosed that a NAFTA panel had ruled in favour of West Fraser and a West Fraser official said in an interview it estimates it is owed $29.6 million US collected as part of the long-running software lumber dispute. Both West Fraser and Peterson cautioned the U.S. government could appeal the panel's ruling or seek to delay repayment but they said the panel's ruling was good news for the company and the Canadian softwood lumber industry. "West Fraser is going to be entitled to return of its duties. We want to see those duties returned because that's what the international trade law says," Peterson said during his speech. The minister cautioned in an interview that the U.S. commerce department has a history of simply appealing the decisions -- a source of mounting frustration to the Canadian government. However, West Fraser vice-president Bill LeGrow said from Vancouver that the company is pleased the panel rejected the U.S. claim that West Fraser wasn't entitled to a refund of anti-dumping duties paid in recent years. He said the panel's ruling is significant for the whole industry. "The big benefit here in addition to just the dollars is the precedent it sets for the $4 billion dollars that are sitting in U.S. treasury. ... This is a small version of the bigger case," LeGrow said. In 2002, West Fraser was paying an anti-dumping rate of 2.2 per cent on its softwood lumber exports. In April 2004, as a result of a previous NAFTA panel, the anti-dumping rate was reduced to 1.79 per cent. LeGrow said it's possible that the U.S. commerce department will file an appeal.

MLAs get pay raise
by PAUL WILLCOCKS Sterling News Service VICTORIA -- Liberal MLAs got a 10.1-per-cent pay hike Thursday in their first official day on the job. Premier Gordon Campbell announced the big increase as the Liberal MLAs took the oath of office in the legislature chamber. B u t C a mp b e l l said although Liberal MLAs would get an extra $6,900 a year, taking t he wage to $75,400, it isn't really a pay increase. "They didn't get a pay raise," he insisted. Liberal ML As CAMPBELL took a voluntary five-per-cent pay cut in their base pay in 2002, he said, and haven't taken any of the annual cost-of-living increases since then. A stronger government financial performance means it's time to restore the pay cut and take the wage increases LiberaL MLAs missed, he said. "It's a signal that this is a new legislature," he said. "They didn't have to take a freeze, they took a cut for four years." The two New Democrat MLAs in the old legislature, Jenny Kwan and Joy MacPhail, didn't take the five-per-cent wage cut and have received the annual increases. Campbell noted that when the Liberals introduced the wage rollback in 2002, they said it would only be for three years. -- See JOBS on page 3

Citizen photo by Dave Milne

TEAMWORK -- Courtney Reich, top left, captain of the orange team, steadies a column of scrap wood as her teammates prop it up as part of the tower power contest during sports day at Cedars Christian school.

High : 19 Low : 11 page 2

Man found hiding in women's washroom
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff A woman says she discovered a man hiding in the stall of the women's public washroom at Fort George Park Wednesday afternoon when she took her young daughter in to use the facilities. She said she and some other parents and staff from The Exploration Place chased the man off and called police, but the man was not located. "We were at the water park," said the young mother, who wishes to remain anonymous. "I was walking up the hill to the washroom, my three-year-old had to go pee. I saw this man pacing back and forth, always looking over his shoulder, looking really agitated. As I went in one entrance -- there are two ways in -- I heard a door close at the other end. It didn't feel right so I checked under the stall doors. I could see his feet. His feet weren't pointing towards the toilet like he was peeing, they weren't positioned like he was sitting on the toilet, he was tucked in the corner of the stall behind the tank. My friend was outside and she came in and saw this too when I started calling (for help)," the woman said. "I grabbed my daughter and ran out and started yelling really loud and some other moms came up. He ran out the back and said `Oh, I was just in the wrong one' but no, he wasn't. He was up to something, I don't know what, but by the way he was positioned, it wasn't anything usual." The man retreated away from the park and went first into The Exploration Place, but the witnesses alerted staff who followed him at a safe distance as he disappeared into the Gyro Park bathrooms. By the time police arrived, he had eluded them altogether. The young mother got a good look at the suspect. She described him as a haggard-looking Caucasian in his late 40s, cleanshaven face with a thin grey moustache, long grey ponytail almost to his waist, black windbreaker suit, grey T-shirt, a baseball cap and his shoes were black with red laces and red piping. "I got a good look at his shoes," she laughed. She warns caregivers to be mindful of their children and women to avoid being alone in confined public places at all times. All too often, she said, she sees unattended or loosely attended kids playing at Fort George Park. "It really bothers me," she said. "People in Prince George sometimes think we are still a small town, but we're not and we have big-town problems."

E-Mail address:

news@princegeorgecitizen.com
Our website:

http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com

INDEX
Ann Landers . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . 36-38 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . .3,5,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 16-22 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Coming Events . . . . . . . . 2,35 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Entertainment . . . . . . . 25-27 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,15

Residents rally around downtown bakery
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff The phone has been ringing off the hook at the Pastry Chef Bakery. Owner Petra Haus said she has received between 50 and 60 local calls supporting her stand to speak out in The Citizen about the problem of used syringes and needles in the alley behind her downtown shop. "We support you. Just don't close down," the people said to Haus, who complained the city was not doing its part in cleaning alleys. "I'm so tired of it all, I just feel like closing the door," Haus said in a story in Wednesday's Citizen. The city came through for Haus, sweeping the area so clean "they even took the little weeds growing along the sides of the alley. Our alley has never looked so clean for years, and even pedestrians walking in the alley are commenting on how clean it is," Haus said. She also had a surprise visit from a man from Grande Prairie, Alta. "He said the city there would welcome my bakery and would support me financially with the move," said Haus, who does not intend to leave Prince George, but appreciated the offer. Darlene Mulholland, the owner of Darlene's hand-woven garment store, which is next door to the bakery, says there's another side to the George Street story. "I think George Street is starting to turn around. There's an antique store going into the former Monkey Forest and Kathy's Quilts store moved in during the past month. There's an indication of the faith in George Street in the number of buildings being purchased rather than rented," said Mulholland, who noted her landlord has "spent a fortune" on renovating her store. "There's lots of positive energy down here and parking is much better since the casino moved," she said. "I admit the back alleys can be a mess, and the city could do more to support us, but the story about the bakery gives a negative look to this area which isn't really there," Mulholland said. "I think the alleys will always be a problem because of the number of drug and alcohol addicts we have relative to our population."

0

58307

00200

5

We have exactly what you are looking for! Life is good!
Topaz T242LE Stock #12837 Was $29,569

KENT McPhee TONY Mulder RON K ushniruk SID McKnight MAURICE Martin DON Schwab Special of the week! Special of the week! Special of the week! Special of the week! Special of the week! Special of the week! Special of the week!

$25,900 $23,500 $19,995 $25,900 $59,879 $59,900 $31,900
Was $26,935 Was $23,290 Was $30,037 Was $69,495 Was $70,550 Was $37,254
805 1st Ave. Prince George 250 / 563-8891

Rustler RT244 Stock #12680

Okanagan Eclipse Stock #12776

Rustler RW264 Stock #12807

Titanium 26E31DS Stock #12662

Titanium 29#34RL Stock #12631

810 Snowbird Camper Stock #12527

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

No Reasonable Offer Refused...

00471485

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

EVER!

SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441

CLASSIFIED: 562-6666

READER SALES: 562-3301