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TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2006

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Child porn suspect nabbed outside local playground
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff A man wanted on a child pornography warrant in the Okanagan was arrested in Prince George over the weekend in front of a downtown playground. An alert resident called RCMP after recognizing a suspicious van, which allegedly followed children in the Pineview area last week. The 70-year-old driver was arrested Sunday afternoon on a warrant originating in the Okanagan. "He was arrested on an outstanding warrant for possession of child pornography. These charges stem out of an incident in Vernon," said Staff Sgt. Scott Sheppard. "I will add that there are no charges pending at this time in Prince George ... He has to answer for these matters in Vernon, but he remains a person of interest to us and we will run down whatever investigational avenues we need to." The Pineview children called police after they noticed a stranger watching them from a red 1990 Plymouth Voyager as they played in a park on Bendixon Road Aug. 22. They say the man drove along behind them as they walked home. They also noticed the rear and side windows of the van were covered with cardboard. -- See RESIDENT on page 3

Citizen photo by David Mah

FISH OUT OF WATER -- Lheidli T'enneh fisherman John Bozoki wrestles a five-foot sturgeon into the boat to untangle it from his net. The sturgeon got tangled in Bozoki's net while he was fishing for sockeye salmon Saturday at Stone Creek, south of Prince George. The sturgeon was quickly released.

Boulevard trees destroyed again by vandals
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff The trees along Ospika Boulevard near Tyner have been destroyed by vandals for the third time in the past year. Sometime Sunday night, eight trees were destroyed when they were hit by a vehicle on Ospika Boulevard. "It is a recurring theme, I guess," said Shawn Cook, parks operations supervisor for the city. "They hit linden trees again." City crews were out Monday morning removing what was left of the trees. Cook said the trees are about 15 years old and cost about $500 each to replace. "We have to do something," Cook said. "We have been thinking about a number of things, but we have to invest in the safety of the trees." An arrangement of large rocks in between each tree seems to be the most appealing option, financially and esthetically. "It is getting to the point where you lose eight trees or more, replace them at a cost of however many thousands of dollars, then they just come back and do it again," said Cook. "It becomes not worth it. We could go without trees, but I think that would look awkward, I think the public wants trees there, it looks great and in the decades to come it will be just beautiful along there." Cook's concern now is the vandals hitting again, like they did a year ago, before the rocks can be installed. On Aug. 23, 2005, a vehicle vandal crushed 13 trees in a row, then on Sept. 26, 14 more lindens were destroyed. No suspect has emerged. In one of the instances last year police found a vehicle hung up in a fence that they suspect was used, but it was stolen at the time.
Citizen photo by David Mah

City crews removed trees along Ospika Boulevard that had been ruined by vandals.

MPs likely to support softwood deal
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by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff It's unlikely that Stephen Harper's Conservative government will be toppled when the softwood deal is put to a confidence vote in the fall, say forest industry and political observers. Harper's government has said the deal is backed by a substantive majority of lumber producers and the agreement -- slightly modified since it was initialled last month -- will be put to the minority Parliament for a vote this fall. Harper said the vote will be considered a confidence measure, which could trigger an election if the deal is

defeated by the opposition parties. UNBC political scientist Gary Wilson said Monday he sees that as unlikely as it would require all the opposition parties to "gang up" on the Conservative government. Although all opposition parties have taken turns criticizing the deal, only the NDP has said, so far, that it will vote against it. Still, it would only take the support of one of either the Liberals -- which are leaderless at this time -- or the Bloc Quebecois to avert an election. The Liberals won't select a leader until Dec. 3, expected to be after the soft-

wood vote in Parliament. "The Liberals are in no position to want an election, so, I can't see them doing anything on any issue before they have their leadership convention," said Wilson. While the United Steelworkers has commented against the deal, the Bloc Quebecois was being urged by the Quebec Federation of Labour to vote in favour of the deal. Forest industry analyst Paul Quinn said the deal will pass through Parliament without much opposition. "Our expectation is that the Bloc will most likely support the deal as they current-

ly have no interest in trying to defeat the Conservative government, and the deal will inject much-needed cash into eastern lumber producers," said Quinn, an analyst with Salman Partners. The deal has received wide industry support -- although sometimes reluctant -- among companies with operations in B.C.'s Northern Interior. The deal is being supported by Canfor, the Sinclar Group, Pope & Talbot, Abitibi, Carrier Lumber, Dunkley Lumber, Brink Forest Products and East Fraser Fiber. -- See AGREEMENT on page 3

INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 27 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

Would-be thief zapped at power station
by STEPHANIE MORGAN Citizen staff A Prince George man was hit with 12,000 volts and 300 amps of electricity Monday morning after allegedly trying to steal copper from a B.C. Hydro substation. The man is in critical but stable condition at Prince George Regional Hospital. The unidentified 39-year-old man allegedly drove a vehicle through a line of posts at the substation, located at the bottom of Pickering Road. He then cut his way through two fences and gained access to the substation. He was zapped when trying to take live copper wire and piping. "There was a contact with a person; that's what caused the outage," said David Conway, B.C. Hydro's northern community relations manager. There is substantial vandalism to the substation, said Conway. "The power was off Monday morning at 4:50 a.m. and the police were notified an hour later." The outage affected about 150 customers on the east bank of the Fraser River, though a majority of the area is commercial and light industrial. "We located the individual in the truck at the scene, and he was subsequently taken to the hospital as a result of observations and conversations held by our (officer)," said Prince George RCMP spokesman Const. Gary Godwin. Power was back on around 7 a.m., though it was being fed through the Patricia substation. Conway said it will take a few weeks to get the damaged substation back up to safety standards, though it will be usable within the week.

Citizen photo by David Mah

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Some of the copper tubing that was being stolen from the B.C. Hydro substation on Pickering Road is seen above.

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