Exotic Christmas tree trimmings /37

World Cup draw favours Germany / 11
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2005

Retail therapy in the city by the bay /30

Today show marks 10 years on top /25

80 CENTS (HOME DELIVERED: 59 CENTS A DAY)

Crash kills log hauler
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff A 48-year-old log truck driver died Thursday morning in a crash on a back road near Houston. He's the fourth log trucker to die in the Northern Interior this year. Lloyd Edward Booth of Quesnel was working for John Himech Logging Ltd. of Houston, located about 300 kilometres west of Prince George. It's the 42nd death in the forest sector in the province in 2005. Houston RCMP said Booth was driving his loaded logging truck south on the Raspberry Forest Service Road and went over a steep embankment. The truck lost its load of logs, and the cab of the truck was crushed on impact. There was no survival space left in the cab, and the driver would have been killed on impact, said RCMP Sgt. Sheila White. The coroner's office and WorkSafe B.C. are also investigating. Himech Logging issued a statement, but declined further comment. "We are devastated by the tragedy and our thoughts are with the family at this very difficult time," the statement said. The company added that the man killed was a highly qualified and experienced logging truck driver. "Road conditions appear not to be a factor," the statement said. "A mechanical inspection conducted by the commercial vehicle investigation services indicates there was no mechanical defect." The company shut down its operations Friday and will also be closed Monday. The wood the trucker was hauling -- which came from the B.C. Timber Sales program -- was being delivered to Canfor Corp.'s Houston sawmill. The B.C. Timber Sales program was created recently after the province increased the amount of timber it puts up to open bid. The program accounts for about 13 per cent of the timber that is harvested in B.C., making it one of the biggest timber players in the province. With increased attention on forest safety recently, the forests ministry is set to use safety as a criteria in awarding timber through programs like B.C. Timber Sales. WorkSafe B.C., which said recently it was going to step up safety enforcement, has also told forest companies and B.C. Timber Sales it can't download responsibility for safety to contractors and sub-contractors. Ken Matthews, the newly-appointed manager of forest safety for B.C. Timber Sales, said the safety criteria had not been applied to this timber sale awarded last summer. But Matthews said Himech had been awarded other timber sales and was a good operator. "They've always done a good job," he said. Matthews said his initial information is that Himech Logging was the only operator on the logging road and the company was almost finished hauling the timber from the sale. Himech Logging was also taking care of road maintenance, he said. "The reports that I have were that weather conditions were good, and the road was sanded well," said Matthews. "It doesn't appear to be road conditions, although I don't want to rule that out. So, it's unclear what would have caused this." -- See ROAD on page 3

More money for schools
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff A second and even larger wave of funding will be coming to the Prince George school district, the education ministry announced Friday. The district is being asked to come up with a plan to spend an additional $1.5 million from the savings recouped during the teachers' job action, just two days after it was told it will get $544,645 also as a result of the strike. While the first announcement was part of living up to a recommendation to reduce classes sizes, made by industrial inquiry commissioner Vince Ready in his report on ending the dispute, the latest one is related to the rest of the money saved during the strike. "We said we would keep the savings from the teachers' dispute in education and we're doing that," said Education Minister Shirley Bond. The school district will have until Jan. 10 to submit a plan for the $1.5 million, working out to $100 per student, and guarantee the money will be spent by the end of the 2005-06 fiscal year. The deadline for the first half-million, which equals $35.83 per student, is Dec. 16 and is enough to hire 10 to 12 teachers. The first priority for the latest round of extra money is textbooks and learning resources, Bond said. "We are encouraging schools and districts to use this funding where it will have the most impact in improving student achievement," said the MLA for Prince George-Mount Robson. -- See DISTRICT on page 3

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

CHRISTMAS EXCITEMENT -- Arlette Naaykens and her 18-month-old granddaughter Alexandria look out the window at the Via Rail station as they await the start of the ninth annual Santa Train. The event is a fundraiser for the Salvation Army Food Bank.

High : 6 Low : -2 page 2

Safety board defends rail crash findings
by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff The Transportation Safety Board stands behind its conclusions about structural deterioration in a bridge 11 kilometres west of McBride where two veteran CN Rail employees were killed in an accident in 2003, says a TSB official. Responding to CN's call for the TSB to review and revise its findings, John Cottreau said, "The Transportation Safety Board will review any new information it receives concerning one of its investigations." The company has concluded the fatal derailment was caused by a rail that broke in the area of the 21st span of the bridge, Jim Feeny, CN Rail's director of public affairs, said this week. On May 14, 2003, two CN locomotives and four rail cars of an 84-car freight train travelling from Prince George to Edmonton derailed from a bridge and fell into a gully. The two CN crew members on board the lead locomotive, Ken LeQuesne and Art McKay, both 51, were killed in the accident. In B.C. Supreme Court this week, CN Rail was fined $75,000 on pleading guilty to one count under the Railway Safety Act for failing to ensure proper documentation and procedures concerning railway work, inspection and maintenance. Two charges under the Canada Labour Code related to the safety of the bridge were stayed. With the court proceedings now concluded, CN will invite the TSB to review the results of CN's own investigation and testing, "and it will request that the TSB reconsider its findings in light of new material evidence," Feeny said. "If there is new information, we will review it," Cottreau said Friday from Gatineau, Que. "We stand by our original report as we released it in March 2005 and the conclusions that were drawn in that report." -- See STRUCTURAL on page 3

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 17 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .46-48 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . 3,5,6,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Comics . . . . . . . . . . .28,35,36 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Entertainment . . . . . . .25-27 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,16

Downtown growth needs focus, expert says
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff A discussion paper on revitalizing downtown Prince George says some possibilities raised in previous studies are "simply out of scale" with what the city and the surrounding region is capable of supporting. The trouble, says Gordon Harris of Vancouverbased Harris Consulting Inc., is previous plans suggested Prince George ser ves a trade area of 250,000 people when a more reasonable number is 120,000. Consequently, said Harris, expectations were created "for retail growth in downtown Prince George that simply cannot be met" and led to a series of "grand initiatives" for which there is not yet a sufficient market population even with the economic rebound over the past few years. Those initiatives include a year-round downtown marketplace with a winter garden, an urban entertainment complex and "especially large-format and other extensive retail development." "These recommendations are simply out of scale with Prince George's consumer market and cannot be expected to proceed as described in the plans," Harris said. However, Harris still saw potential for a long list of possibilities raised in previous reports, "that can be introduced incrementally." His list starts with multiple-family housing, as well as housing for seniors and low-income housing close to amenities and public transit. "This type of investment would work to increase activity in the downtown core, supporting new and existing retail and service activity," Harris said. Following on an increase in the downtown population, Harris said a grocery store would be in order. While a year-round public market "is less viable than previously thought," he said a seasonal farmer's market facility has potential. -- See CONSULTANT on page 3

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