Eminem cancels tour of Europe /15

Another CN train runs off the rails /5
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2005

Former sex-trade workers hope to help others /13

Separatist link denied by new GG /7

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 57 CENTS A DAY)

Man discovers smallpox vaccine in garage sale purchase
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen st ff a A local man couldn't believe his eyes recently when his garage sale purchase contained a hidden vial of smallpox vaccine. Andrew Knickle said he unknowingly brought home the vial, which he found at the bottom of a box of sailing tarps he "haggled over for $3." "It was a kind of a hard plastic tube with a screw cap that was labeled smallpox vaccine," said Knickle. "It scared me. All kinds of things went through my head -- wondering if this could be meant for some evil purpose in this day and age of bio-terrorism." Knickle said he didn't open the tube, but said when he shook it he could tell there was something inside, which he presumed was the vaccine. The package from the Connaught Laboratories in Willowdale, Ont., was labelled with an expiry date of 1973. "I just wanted to get rid of it in case it was something bad. I wanted the right authorities to come here and deal with it properly." A public health nurse with the Northern Health Authority retrieved the tube this week. Dr. Lorna Medd, NHA medical officer, says there is no health risk attached to the vaccine. "We now have the vial in custody, and provincial lab officials have been helpful in directing us," said Medd. She said the "watered-down, cousin-of-smallpox vaccine, expired in 1973, so it would not be active." "In 1972, they stopped immunizing children for small pox. Our supposition is that this vial was somehow not collected from a military office, a health unit or a doctor's office, and it just got lost," said Medd. But Knickle still wonders what would have hapSubmitted photo

pened if a child had found it, opened it and drank the vaccine, which is labelled as grape flavoured. "Usually something like this is under tight control, and I think it's very unusual that it popped up in a box of tarps," said Knickle.

Burns Lake fighting sale of local mills
by ALW Y N N E GW I LT Citizen staff Officials in Burns Lake are trying once again to convince the Competition Bureau of Canada to reverse its decision to make West Fraser sell two of its mills in the city. Mayor Bernice Magee said uncertainty surrounding the sale is causing workers to leave the community in search of more stable work. "The fate of our community hangs in the balance," Magee said in a letter sent Friday to several government officials -- including Premier Gordon Campbell. "We want to get the attention of the competition bureau to let them know the decision they made is not favourable in our community," Magee told The Citizen Wednesday. Last December, West Fraser agreed to sell two of its saw mills in Burns Lake -- Babine and Decker Forest Products and their associated forest licences -- so it could buy Weldwood of Canada for $1.2 billion. The competition bureau forced the company to sell because otherwise West Fraser would end up wit h sawmills in four adjacent communities, which the bureau said would affect competition in the area. Magee disagrees and said she believes the bureau has erred, adding she understands why workers at the mill may want to move on. "Workers are leaving the mill because of job security," said Magee. "They have no idea what is going to happen locally." Magee also said the current delays in selling the mill will affect the longterm sustainability of the city's main industry. "With the pending sale, West Fraser is required to operate and maintain, but not to improve, so we have a short window here -- 18 months -- because otherwise the equipment becomes run-down," said Magee. But, Robert Lancop, competition bureau assistant deputy commissioner, said West Fraser is required to keep up t he mill until it is sold, although it does not have to upgrade it. "(Technological upgrades) typically cost a large sum of money and, f r a n k l y, t h e y d o n o t g e t d o n e overnight," said Lancop. "This facility is a very good facility; it should be very saleable." -- See RESIDENTS on page 3

Citizen photo by Dave Milne

GENERATIONS -- Ruth Cunningham bonds with four-month-old Madison Kopp during the annual Fort George Park seniors barbeque Wednesday. Madison is the daughter of one of the recreation staff at Simon Fraser Lodge, where Cunningham is a resident.

CEO quits company administering MSP, Pharmacare
by PAUL WILLCO CK S St erling New s VICTORIA -- The company already under fire for problems in delivering privatized MSP and Pharmacare services faced new questions this week after it confirmed its CEO had quit. Richard Mason resigned last week, less than five months after Maximus B.C. took over administration of MSP and Pharmacare services under a 10-year, $320-million contract with the provincial government. The resignation came after news reports revealed that Maximus had been penalized by the government for failing to meet its contract commitments for customer service. NDP critic Rob Fleming said the government should launch a public review of the privatization contract. "The sudden resignation raises serious questions about the management of B.C.'s Medical Service and Pharmacare plans," he said. "It's clear this scheme has gone off the rails." But the man who has stepped in to fill Mason's job on an acting basis said there's no reason for concern. Brian Pollick, Canadian managing director for Maximus, said Mason had resigned for personal reasons, in both the company's and his own best interests. Mason, who had been with Maximus since December, had done "an enormous job" preparing to take over the service delivery. "The transition actually went very well," Mason said. Attention has been focused on a couple of problem areas, he said, but the company had met almost all the contract performance targets. Maximus was fined undisclosed amounts for missing customer service performance requirements. Callers seeking MSP information were supposed to be answered within three minutes. Instead they were waiting five times that long. Applications were also taking twice as long to process as the company promised. Health Minister George Abbott has defended the deal. The contract will deliver savings and better service, he predicts. Fleming said there are enough questions that a public review is needed. -- See PRIVATIZATION on page 3

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Natives want feds to halt mine review
Citizen staff Four First Nations are waiting for a response after meeting with federal government officials last week to repeat their call to halt the environmental review of Northgate Minerals' proposed $200-million mine in northern B.C. First Nations spokesperson Justa Monk said during a press conference the federal government promised a response by no later than Wednesday, "but so far we have not received any reply." The First Nations -- the Gitxsan House of Nii Kyap, Takla Lake, the Tsay Keh Dene and Kwadacha -- issued a seven-point plan to the officials, beginning with halting the review. At issue is Northgate's plan to turn Duncan Lake, called Amazay in the Sekani language, into a tailings pond as par t of establishing a second Kemess Mine about 425 kilometres northwest of Prince George. Northgate Minerals has continued to say that using Duncan Lake to store mine waste is the best environmental option as it prevents oxygen from starting the acid-generating process. Northgate also says Duncan Lake is the only economically feasible option: $200 million versus the next scenario at $1 billion. But Monk said that's a nonstarter. "I'm hoping to hear that they're going to put a halt to this whole review and that they start at the beginning and that they get us involved from the beginning... and that Amazay Lake is not on the table. That other options will be looked at." Northgate already operates the Kemess South open pit gold and copper mine. Successfully opening the second Kemess North project -- near Kemess South -- would help secure the 350 existing jobs at the mine and the nearly $60 million pumped each year into northern B.C.'s economy on services, goods and payroll, half of that in Prince George. "We don't have anything against economic development, but we sure are concerned about the environmental impact of the fish in our water," Monk said. The First Nations are not only con-

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

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A visitor looks out onto Duncan Lake, known as Amazay in the Sekani language. cerned about the impact on Duncan Canadian governments, which would L a ke , w h i c h i s h o m e to s e ve r a l wrap up at the earliest in the spring species of fish, but the potential for of 2006. Right now, the bands are free to acid runoff into the Finlay River system, impact on drinking water, and have input into the panel's proceedthe impact on wildlife like grizzly and i n g s , a n d c a n a p p l y f o r p a r t o f caribou. $200,000 funding to help them take A three-person panel has already part in the review, but they have no been appointed to review the project, special status in relation to other a joint undertaking of the B.C. and groups.

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