Space probe touches comet /14

Retro country a hit for young Texan /16

Mould problem Canadian dollar hits reserve tumbles on homes /5 markets /22
TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2005 80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

`I don't want to be hunted down'
Karla Homolka makes TV plea after release from prison
MONTREAL (CP) -- Convicted killer Karla Homolka had only just slipped out of her "prison of stone" Monday when she appeared on television to profess penitence for her unspeakable past and to assure Canadians she's not the monster she's been made out to be. In confident French, honed during a 12-year jail term that ended Monday, Homolka told RadioCanada, CBC's French-language network, that she can't forgive herself for her crimes -- crimes she was forbidden to talk about in detail as part of her controversial 1993 plea-bargain agreement. "I don't want to be hunted down," said Homolka, who looked drawn, weary and nothing like the giddy young woman Canadians came to know via clips of videotapes broadcast over the years. "I don't want people to think I am someone who is dangerous who will do something to their children." She said she often cries and is filled with remorse for her black past with ex-husband Paul Bernardo, with whom she participated in the rape, torture and murder of two Ontario schoolgirls, as well as the drug-rape death of Homolka's own 15-year-old sister Tammy. "I think of what I've done and then often I think I don't deserve to be happy because of this," she said. -- See HOMOLKA on page 7
CP photo

Karla Homolka spoke to CBC's French network after her release from prison Monday.

Northern pipeline moving forward
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff Enbridge Inc. is set to announce this week it will start field work on its proposed $2.5-billion pipeline from the Alberta oilsands to B.C.'s northwest coast, the latest step in pushing the mega-project forward by the end of the decade. "We're initiating what we believe is significant environmental, engineering and land work to support the proposed development of the Enbridge G a t e w a y p r o j e c t , " s a i d D 'A r c y Levesque, vice-president of public and government affairs for Enbridge. While the project is still in the planning stage, Enbridge announced earlier this year it has reached a memorandum of understanding with PetroChina International Company Ltd. to cooperate on the development of the Gateway pipeline. Enbridge is continuing negotiations with producers in the Alberta oilsands, which it's hoping will lead to "commercial certainty" needed to allow the pipeline to be built, said Levesque. Enbridge is competing with a rival proposal from Terasen Pipelines. Both are meant to provide additional pipeline capacity, needed as crude production from Alberta's oilsands is expected to double by the end of the decade. "We work very closely with the oilsands producers and we're very confident the Gateway is really the right expansion," said Levesque. "More than $55 billion in announced capital investment projects are either underway or planned to produce bitumen and synthetic crude from the oilsands." Enbridge hopes to have commercial arrangements complete this year, putting it in position to have the pipeline in place by 2009 to early 2010. Enbridge's proposal is to build a 1,200-kilometre pipeline to carry Alberta oilsands crude from Edmonton to Prince Rupert or Kitimat, where it would be loaded onto supertankers to be shipped to markets in Asia or the U.S. It's expected the pipeline will follow existing rights of way, possibly along the Yellowhead Highway corridor, including through the Prince George area. The company has chosen a northwestern route over a southerly route terminating in the Lower Mainland because that route posed more technical and environmental difficulties. As well, the Port of Vancouver was not capable of handling the largest oil tankers that would be the most efficient to carry crude to Asia. The new pipeline would also require regulatory approval from Canada's National Energy Board, which would trigger a comprehensive environmental assessment that would likely include public hearings. Levesque said Enbridge is now also considering building a second pipeline next to the crude line, which would carry condensate, a product used to thin heavy oil for easier transport by pipeline. There's a shortage of condensate in Alberta, and the idea is for tankers to carry condensate from Asia and return with crude oil, explained Levesque. The proposed pipeline would pass through the traditional territory of many First Nations in northern B.C. Unlike Alberta, most B.C. bands have unresolved aboriginal land claims and are calling for more consultation and accommodation on industrial development and resource extraction. Earlier this month, an aboriginal consultant for Enbridge delivered an overview of the project to the annual general assembly of the Northwest Treaty Tribal Nations in Terrace. That community, 580 kilometres west of Prince George, is just inland from both Kitimat and Prince Rupert. The tribal group represents more than 50 First Nations in northern B.C. -- See NATIVE on page 3

Photo by David Mah

Dr. Max Blouw, left, vice-president of research at UNBC, talks about the confocal laser microscope Monday at the UNBC medical centre with federal industry minister David Emerson.

UNBC gets equipment funding
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff T h e fe d e r a l i n d u s t r y m i n i s te r brought close to $900,000 to UNBC Monday to help the university build forestry research and strengthen economic development throughout the Prince George area. David Emerson, on behalf of the Western Economic Diversification Corporation, announced $311,168 in funding to expand the I.K. Barber Enhanced Forestry Laboratory with a 2,000-square-foot, two-storey addition to house 10 offices for faculty, students and researchers. An investment of $365,311 will help UNBC purchase a laser scanning confocal microscope in the Dr. Donald Rix Northern Health Sciences Centre to provide unsurpassed detail of three-dimensional specimens. The microscope is valued at about $680,000. Medical researchers can visualize normal or abnormal cells structure and function, while other researchers can examine the structure of living plant and animal cells, minerals and organic compounds. UNBC also received $200,000 to purchase specialized equipment for its renewable energy and environmental research & development centre. The centre will provide support to northern companies exploring the potential of turning wood waste into energy. With a number of companies exploring the potential of production of liquid fuels from wood residues, the centre is expected to stimulate the creation of new products. Emerson, making the announcement to about 60 people gathered in the Bentley Centre, said "UNBC has become a fundamental force in Prince George. Every time I come it just blows me away," said the former Canfor CEO. "I see the changes that have come over Prince George, and we're heading into the good times right now." He said during a roundtable talk with movers and shakers in the community, discussion revolved around renewable energy, environmental issues and "major adjustments coming at us in the coming years." "It is fundamentally important as we move forward to make sure that the people we are educating are trained in the technologies out here in the world" and that they are available to communities like Prince George. "Technology is going to drive the economic future," Emerson said. Although he described the funds announced as "modest", Dr. Max Blouw, UNBC vice-president of research, said "I can tell you it is important capital to build what we need in this region. Our students will have leading-edge technology and industry partners." -- See RESEARCHERS on page 3

High : 17 Low : 11 page 2

City forgives gallery debt
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff City council voted unanimously Monday night to forgive the remaining $250,000 the Prince George Regional Art Gallery Association was trying to raise as its share of the cost of the Two Rivers Art Gallery. The move comes about four months after PGRAGA had made the request to council, which in turn was turned over to staff for a report on possible options. The PGRAGA had reached 81 per cent of the $1.3 million it had intended to raise towards the $5.1million project, completed in 2000, but ran into trouble with businesses who fell short of living up pledges they had made. Because the plan was to have the balance paid off by 2010, the amount works out to a loss of $50,000 a year, which would have gone into a city endowment fund. But since the fund's balance ranges between $9 million and $10 million, the impact on the city would not be that significant, council was told. Even so, it took some persuasion to get all council members onside. -- See COUNCILLORS on page 3

Man eludes gun attack
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff One of the eight bullets shot into a house on Victoria Street Sunday night grazed the leg of a resident who was watching TV. The 20-something man, who withheld his name, said he was relaxing in his front room with one of his three pitbulls when suddenly the air was full of breaking glass and the sound of gunfire. The young man dove onto the floor, banging his face in the process. Bullets continued to hit his house. Two rounds sailed through the picture window he had been sitting in front of, one cut through the front door, one lodged in the arm of the chair he was sitting in and one bit an angry red streak across his ankle, but only inflicted a scratch. "The guy must have psyched himself up with some heavy drinking to miss me the way he did," said the man who lives in the 2300 block of Victoria Street. "He missed me with all eight shots, except for the one that grazed me." -- See SHOOTER on page 3
Photo by David Mah

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

0

58307

00100

8

RCMP officers inspect the bullet damage at a home on Victoria Street.

SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441

CLASSIFIED: 562-6666

READER SALES: 562-3301