Women getting their wings in Pakistan's military /40
FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2006

U.S. hit by Meteorites softwood to land at ruling /5 library /13

Bill Gates stepping down from Microsoft /22

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Area farmers praying for rain
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Area farmers are happy for any moisture right now, but they say a big downpour is what is really needed. They hope forecasters aren't teasing about the expected precipitation over the next few days. Donna Allen said there are cracks open in the clay like baby birds begging for a morsel from mother on her 160-acre spread in the Pineview area. "We definitely need some rain. We don't have irrigation," said Allen, who needs the hay to feed 26 horses on her Majestic Arabians farm. "The heat has really made the existing crop grow, but the newly planted fields are way behind. The new seeding is only half an inch tall." She said the shower Tuesday night only teased the dust. Three days of steady rain is what her crops need. Horses, she explained, need clean hay more so than cattle, and as a breeding operation she needs nutritious hay as well. Cattle can digest tougher, dustier hay, but they share the dilemma faced by virtually all large livestock in the area: grazing grounds can only feed them for a few months and then they have to have hay and grain. Alf Nunweiler has 80 acres of oats and barley, plus 350 acres of hay climbing out of his Reid Lake dirt. He needs it to winter his herd of cattle. He said the situation north of town is looking strong, right now, but this is a touchy stage. "It's not too dry yet, but it wouldn't take much more dry weather to turn things bad," Nunweiler said. "The crops seem to have gotten a good start ... A good rain now would really do us well. We had good rain in May, then this heat, so it looks good. But this is tomorrow country, and you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow." Western neighbours are in the same situation. "We got a rain a few days ago, and that made all the difference," said Smithers mayor Jim Davidson, who is a farmer. "It had been really dry, and it is still a little too dry, but that good rain in the middle brought everything to life. Nothing was happening, and that rain perked it all up." fpeebles@princegeorgecitizen.com

Citizen photo by David Mah

Donna Allen, owner of Majestic Arabians on Bendixon Road in Pineview, says her farm needs three days of rain to bolster her crop.

LOTTO NUMBERS CORRECTION
Don't throw away your lottery numbers from Wednesday night just yet. You might be a winner after all. The Citizen printed incorrect numbers in Thursday's edition, for which we apologize. The correct numbers from the draws of June 14 are: Lotto 6/49 -- 10, 11, 36, 38, 46, 48. The bonus is 26. BC49 -- 02, 04, 26, 28, 40, 42. The bonus is 44. Extra -- 04, 58, 70, 83.

Bomb threat closes high school
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Kelly Road secondary school was evacuated and cordoned off Thursday morning after a bomb threat was called in to police. It turned out to be a hoax. RCMP received a 911 call at about 7:30 a.m. from a lone male telling them he had been threatened, as had the school, by another student who claimed a bomb would be used. "The information was such that upon our threat assessment, we made a judgment call to put public safety as our number one issue, so we shut down the school and rerouted buses to Heather Park middle school," said Prince George RCMP spokesperson Const. Lesley Dix. "What made this different than the run-of-the-mill bomb threat was it did not come to the school, and I wo u l d s ay 8 5 p e r c e n t o f b o m b threats do," said School District 57 superintendent Dick Chambers. "The second thing that made it of greater concern were the details contained within the bomb threat. In general, the more specificity you get in a threat the greater stock you put in it ... None of the particulars were found to be reliable, in any of the details." After a few hours of investigating, the details contained in the 911 message, and sweeping the school for a bomb, police concluded the story was riddled with falsehoods. "I don't think it was a cry for help, I think it was someone causing serious disruption," said Chambers. "If we could have determined there was a t hreat made to t his student, we would have been sympathetic to that student, but as it stands ... it caused a lot of folks to be tied up, a lot of public service to be tied up, to say nothing of the disruption to the staff and students who should have been preparing for exams." Chambers stated that the caller would be investigated and, if possible, charged with public mischief. The incident brought numerous RCMP to the scene, two ambulances as well as several school district personnel. Police announced at 2 p.m. that the school was clear, but an award ceremony scheduled for Thursday night has been postponed. No e x a m s we r e s c h e d u l e d fo r Thursday, although some teachers confirmed they had classroom tests on the day's agenda. Some added it was the first time in decades of teaching they had seen a school outright evacuated for a bomb threat. Chambers agreed the evacuation was rare, but bomb threats are not. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if another school in B.C. weren't also threatened today," he said. "It is the time of year you can almost predict things of this nature." More counsellors than usual will be working at KRSS today.

Citizen photo by David Mah

Cpl. Lauren Weare was working two phones at once Thursday, relaying information about the Kelly Road school bomb threat.
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RCMP officials meet with families of victims
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Senior RCMP officials talked with families of the Highway of Tears victims in a private meeting Thursday in Prince George. Family members declined comment, but senior police officials spoke during an afternoon break. "We arranged to have a private meeting with a number of families who have had loved ones disappear or were the victims of homicide along the Highway of Tears," said Superintendent Leon Van De Walle, head of the RCMP's major crime unit in B.C. "There will be plans for other meetings ... nothing definitive has been set." Van De Walle said the meeting centred on updating the families on new steps the RCMP is taking. That entails collecting evidence from all Highway of Tears cases into a central database for an investigation of all the combined facts. A team of specialists has been dedicated by the RCMP to work exclusively on this task. Van De Walle would not say how many officers are involved. Van De Walle said it was also an important faceto-face session with the loved ones of the victims. The gathering included the family of missing hitchhiker Nicole Hoar, who travelled from Red Deer, Alta., for the meeting. "We have a good working relationship with the families," said Van De Walle. "This is the first meeting the RCMP has independently had with the families as a group." This gathering came about as a result of the Highway of Tears Symposium in March, where families were given a public forum for the first time. At that time, police officials committed to a series of meetings to improve face to face dialogue, and this was the first toward that promise. "We had an agenda for the meeting, of course, and gave them updates on the structure of the investigations. And they had questions for us," said Supt. Barry Clark, in charge of the RCMP's North District region, encompassing all Highway 16 communities between Prince George and Prince Rupert. "I am here primarily as an observer and as a resource for the families, to meet them and answer any questions they may have about policing in their communities." -- See FINAL on page 3

Coroner's report into forest crash finally released
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff It has taken two and a half years for the B.C. coroner's office to complete an inquiry into a logging crash on an icy road near Williams Lake, which killed Russell Lund. The length of time it has taken to complete the report is unacceptable, say forest industry representatives, as its conclusions could help raise awareness and direct preventive measures in a more timely manner -- in this case, issues like marijuana use, chaining up tires and wearing a seatbelt. Northern B.C. regional coroner Shane DeMeyer said Thursday there's no excuse for the length of time the inquiry has taken. DeMeyer became aware of the time the inquiry had taken following repeated requests by The Citizen for the coroner report into Lund's death. On average, it has taken about a year to complete coroner's inquiries into fatal log truck crashes in the Northern Interior. -- See POT on page 3

INDEX
Ann Landers . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Business . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . 3,5,6,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . .16-21,39 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Coming Events . . . . . . . . . . 35 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Entertainment . . . .25,26,28 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14,15

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