Keeping fit while pregnant /25

Jessica Simpson releases CD, loses voice /15
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2006

Teen fiddler 11th at nationals /13

Seniors heading back to school /26
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Truck crash kills driver
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff The driver of a gravel truck was killed in a collision with a logging truck on Blackwater Road early Tuesday morning, the fifth fatal crash involving a forest worker in the past 12 months in the Northern Interior. The name of the 58-year-old Prince George man who was driving the empty gravel truck was not released, pending notification of the man's family. The name of the 27-year-old Prince George man driving the logging truck, who was uninjured, was also not released. The loaded logging truck was northbound, while the dump truck was southbound. The crash took place at about 4:40 a.m., 400 metres south of Minchin Road. "There's reason to believe the logging truck collided with the dump truck in the southbound lane," said RCMP Const. Madonna Saunderson, a spokesperson with the north district highway patrol. The crash took place on a long straight stretch with a slight curve. The gravel truck had extensive damage. Its cab was smashed, the hood was ripped off and the windshield was gone. The gravel truck's box was also smashed. The logging truck was less damaged. The driver side of the cab was dented and the mirror was smashed. Its load of logs had also been jarred. One log had been lost in the crash and lay on the road just behind the gravel truck, which was tilted into the ditch. Saunderson said neither alcohol nor drugs are suspected and road conditions were dry at the time. Trucker Rod Caron, who took the man's pulse to determine if he was alive, said it appeared the driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt as his body had gone through the windshield. There was a long line of logging trucks, perhaps as many as 60, backed south along Blackwater Road, which is heavily used for transporting logs to area mills. Truckers at the scene, who were waiting to move their loads, cited familiar concerns about their job, including inadequate turnaround times, speeding, long hours, and in this particular case, working the night shift. Log truckers had been moved to night shift last week, where they start in the evening, working a 13- to 15hour day and finishing in the late morning. They said it is hard on their bodies. The truckers are moved to night shift by the companies when there's a high fire danger. Caron said he believes speed is a ma-

Gaming centre hearing planned
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff Residents will have a chance to make their views known to city council on a proposal to build a communit y g a m i n g c e n t r e i n d ow n tow n Prince George. A public hearing will be held Sept. 11 after city council voted 5-2 on Monday night to pass the rezoning bylaw through first and second reading. The bylaw, if adopted, would rezone most of the downtown city block where Diamond Bingo Hall has stood empty since November 2001, to provide a new home for the Good Time Bingo Hall, and allow 100 slot mac hines at t he location in t he process. The slot machines are meant to draw in new players in the hope they would eventually develop an interest in bingo. While bingo offers a lower rate of payback -- about 60 per cent compared to 92 per cent for slot machines -- bingo is considered the more social of the two and some players prefer it because their money lasts longer over the course of an evening. Moreover, B.C. Lottery Corporation officials have said slots at the community gaming centres would take in smaller bets and yield smaller payouts than the ones at Treasure Cove Casino. John Major, who owns both Good Time Bingo and Treasure Cove Casino, has said Good Time's existing home is nearing the end of its useful life. Building a new community gaming centre would cost about $15 million, but would include an enhanced selfexclusion system, with facial recognition technology on the scale of the one now in place at Treasure Cove, for problem gamblers who voluntarily ask to be barred from casinos and bingo halls. Physical limitations prevent the system from being installed at the current location, Major has said. As well, he has said no liquor will be sold at the premises. Major has also said it would employ about 100 people -- 60 to 70 more than at Good Time Bingo -- and the majority of the new employees will be First Nations and Metis people. The plan is to tear down the Diamond building to make way for parking for the new community gaming centre along the southern half of the property. The gaming centre would cover about 30,000 square feet, making it 50-per-cent larger than Good Time Bingo. Also planned are six townhouses with underground parking for the northeast corner of the property along Quebec Street. They would be located across the street from the proposed Metropolis condominium development, if it's built. -- See UNITED on page 3

Citizen photos by David Mah

Blackwater Road traffic was blocked most of the day Tuesday, top, after a deadly crash. Stan Wheeldon, president of the Prince George Trucker Association, above, inspects the damage to the dump truck, whose driver was killed in the collision.
jor safety factor, noting that he had a logging truck rifle past him earlier that day while he was going 85 kilometres an hour. "If they don't do something about the speed out there, there's going to be more (expletive) stuff like this," said Caron, who has been involved in safety and training for Burke Purdon Enterprises, the log trucking firm he works for. There has been a push to increase safety by the provincial government and industry in the forest sector after more than 40 forestry workers were killed in 2005, more than twice the number the year before. -- See FIFTH on page 3

Local soldier back from Afghanistan
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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 27 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . 3,5,6,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 17-20 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 15 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,21,24

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by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff There were plenty of hugs and a few tears as a Prince George soldier returned home Tuesday from a seven-month stint in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ryan Zwicker, 29, who serves with the Canadian military police, looked unscathed and solid as a rock as he greeted his mother, Morleen Gauthier, and a number of family and friends who gathered at the airport. "I'm just so glad to have him home safe and sound," said Morleen, as she fought back tears. Zwicker said he has never doubted the reason for Canadian troops being sent to Afghanistan. "It gets a little harder with the loss of two of my friends, and some days you question why, but overall we know we're there for a good reason," Zwicker said. He added the Afghanistan people are "mainly uneducated and unaware of what's really going on. They just know what they're told by the locals, and it took quite some time for them to realize we were not Americans," he said. "Most know nothing about Canada or even that it's a country, but now they are recognizing our flag." The Canadian soldiers provide training to the Afghanistan people in first aid, security and other programs, he said. Canada is never far from the soldiers' minds, and they even have a small area at the base they call Canadiana. In March, Zwicker's parents circulated an 18-foot banner around the Prince George area that was filled with more than 1,200 supportive messages. The banner was given to Zwicker in London by his mother during an April furlough. The banner was the first to be posted in the Canadiana area, but others have appeared since then and the yellow banner is now posted in the military police office, Zwicker said. He said such gestures of support are most important to the troops who have no idea what people back home are thinking. "The best thing people back home can do is show their sup-

Citizen photo by David Mah

Ryan Zwicker received an emotional greeting Tuesday from his mom Morleen Gauthier at the Prince George Airport after returning from a sevenmonth tour of duty in Afghanistan. port in any way they can," said Zwicker, who showed a liking for military life from age eight when he became a member of the Navy League and later with the Sea Cadets. Zwicker is home until Friday when he returns to Halifax where he's stationed. He said he won't be sent on another mission for at least 18 months. But if they want to send him on another mission after that, he said he is willing to serve.

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