Reinventing Via for high-end tourism /33

Johnny Depp sweet as can be as Willy Wonka /25

Athens hurting one year after Olympics /8

China races to expand nuclear power /38
$1.00 (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2005

Forests minister rejects NDP's pine beetle plan
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman is dismissing a call by the provincial NDP to establish a special committee to develop a plan for dealing with the fallout from the mountain pine beetle epidemic. "We went out with an MLA committee two, three years ago, we came up with a pine beetle strategy. I guess they haven't got the time to read it," Coleman said. That committee prompted an increase in the annual allowable cut so beetle-killed pine could be logged before it goes to waste. Since then a community advisory group has been established in the Cariboo, and another is in the works for the Bulkley-Nechako area, including Prince George. And $50 million in the name of the pine beetle was added to the Northern Development Initiative, raising its fund to $185 million, in the run-up to the last election. Coleman said those groups will look at the long-term impacts for their areas and at ways to restructure and brace their economies for the day the pine trees run out in about 10 years. The NDP's forest and range critic, Bob Simpson, and Opposition house leader Mike Farnsworth sent a letter to Coleman Thursday urging the committee's creation. The fact that federal Industry Minister David Emerson has ruled out a $1-billion aid package for B.C. shows there is a lack of a comprehensive strategy beyond raising the annual allowable cut, Simpson asserted. "In recent weeks, it has become clear that the federal government is not prepared to sign an aid package for communities impacted by the epidemic because the BC government has not produced a comprehensive plan," said Simpson. "To date, the province has not been able to put forward a long-term strategy that adequately addresses the economic impact on forest-dependent communities." Coleman said he's continuing to seek the $1 billion and characterized the NDP's move as an attempt to upstage the B.C. Liberals, even though action is already being taken on the issue. "It's just rhetoric as far as I'm concerned," he said. -- See related story on page 3

U.S. opens border to live cattle
Canadian Press/Citizen staff U.S. Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns opened the border to Canadian cattle Thursday hours after a federal appeals court dismissed arguments that imports could spread mad cow disease. American officials have already been in contact with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to prepare to certify cattle for shipment, said Johanns. "Because the (court) ruling is effective immediately, we are immediately taking steps to resume the importation of cattle under 30 months of age from Canada." Devastated by the ban on cattle that began after Canada's first mad cow case in May 2003, Canadians were jubilant. But they tempered their reaction by warning that there's another legal hurdle to cross on the long-term fate of the border later this month. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was released Thursday after a one-day hearing in Seattle. The court overturned a March ruling by Montana judge Richard Cebull, who sided with the protectionist ranchers' group R-CALF and temporarily blocked the border from reopening as expected. Cebull is holding his own hearing on the issue July 27 in the Billings district court, where R-CALF will argue vigorously for a permanent ban on Canadian cattle and beef products. B.C.'s agriculture minister and Prince George North MLA Pat Bell, said it's huge news for the province's beef producers. "It validates the safety of our beef and beef products and it really ensures a long-term sustainable future for our industry," he said. Canada is not as reliant on the U.S. as a market as it was when the crisis first began, Bell said, " but when you have them back in the mix, clearly it's going to have a dramatic impact on our industry. "This is about the best news we've had in a long, long time." -- See PLEASED on page 7; related story on page 5

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

GOING WITH THE FLOW -- Communities In Bloom judges Dave Milton and Michael Pascoe took to the Nechako River for a paddle with some local `voyageurs' during their visit to the city.

High : 15 Low : 10 page 2

Vandals target vehicles in neighbourhood rampage
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff David Morrison had the shop vac out, trying to suck up the millions of glass shards all over his truck seat and on his driveway. It's the second time in recent memory he has performed this same operation. "It wasn't even locked. This was just mischief," said Morrison, who lives on the 6500-block of Simon Fraser Avenue. Three blocks down another pile of glass glistened where vandals hit another vehicle window. "I had a toolbox sitting right here and they didn't try to take it. They were just smashing glass to hear it break." He warned his wife Sharon to watch where she stepped in her bare feet because the glass fragments had sprayed far into the driveway and all the way across the interior of their truck. She was disgusted. "He's going in for cancer surgery next week," she said. "If they only knew. This is not what we need. We've had our house broken into, our shed, now the truck twice. We put up security lights, put in an alarm, put bars on the door, the club on the steering wheel. I think I might have to start sitting out here in my rocking chair with a shotgun," she said, finally injecting some humour into a bitter morning. The Morrisons are not in a neighbourhood where vandalism and robbery comes immediately to mind. Neither are the other places that were hit. Upper Uplands, Van Bien Place, Redmond, Ford and Clapperton were also apparently part of the same rash of broken car windows. These are streets with boats and RVs on the property of well-kept homes with trim lawns and blooming gardens. "We could hear them coming," said Niki Lehoux, who has a pile of glass to sweep up in front of her Van Bien home this morning. "They came down one side of Clapperton, we could here the smashing sounds as they came, they wheeled in here, went around the loop, back out onto Clapperton and we could here them doing the other side of Clapperton. They were going too fast to be on foot, and too fast to stop and get out at each car. The smashing windows was like a rhythm, they were going so fast." Lehoux and her boyfriend gave chase, but they were gone too fast to even get a look at the vehicle. It all took place around midnight. A quick look around the neighbourhood revealed more telltale piles of window glass on other blocks. "It was pretty crazy here for the first hour," said Helga Knechtel at All-West Glass. She said it was a Thursday morning that rivaled any Monday morning after a weekend of broken windows. "It is all the driver windows that we're dealing with. One vehicle had to get a window from out of town, the rest we can all do today." Each victim of this vandalism spree will be out-of-pocket their deductible, which is usually about $200. "That is thousands and thousands of dollars in wanton damage," said RCMP Const. Gary Godwin. "We had 22 vehicles that were vandalized and no theft just in the VLA area, and another 13 in the College Heights area." Police did get a basic description of the vandals. Witnesses report at least three younger males in a small, newermodel truck (perhaps a Dodge Dakota or Ford Ranger), darker in colour. One of the males was riding in the box of the truck and would jump out to smash a window and jump back into the box again. That suspect was wearing a toque with a peak on it. "We desperately need information on this from someone who maybe saw something or someone who knows of anybody who was out in a little truck like that," Godwin said. At least 16 different streets were involved in the spree. "It would be interesting to know what that was fuelled by," Godwin said. "There will be a broader investigation done on this." Anyone with any information is asked to call the Prince George RCMP detachment at 561-3300 or the 14hour anonymous Crime Stoppers tips line at 1-800-222-TIPS/8477.

TV times
INCLUDED TODAY
INDEX
Ann Landers . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . 38-40 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . .3,5,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 17-23 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Coming Events . . . . . . . .2,37 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Entertainment . . . . . . .25-27 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Lifestyles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,15

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

0

58307

00200

5

NEW LOOK -- A construction worker, top left, does repairs at the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre Thursday. Work began in April after water was found leaking through the stucco exterior. Officials say they have experienced problems in a few areas with the metal sheeting originally planned to re-cover the outside and are now thinking of using brick instead. They said the changes will not add any additional costs to the original estimate of $5.3 million.

1757 Nicholson St. (250) 562-6647
1-800-381-4227

CD Decks Subwoofers Amplifiers
Starting at

TENT SALE
Starting at

at Pine Centre Mall 9am - 9pm July 16
00468492

$

99

99

$

39

Starting at

99

$

49

99
Pine Centre Mall � 563-4447
468435

SWITCHBOARD: 562-2441

CLASSIFIED: 562-6666

READER SALES: 562-3301