Tex-Mex singer Freddy Fender dead at 69 / 17

Liberal hopefuls trade big blows /7

Two weekend wins for Cats / 12
MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2006

Two more soldiers die in ambush / 14
$1.00 (HOME DELIVERED: 59 CENTS A DAY)

Downtown woes worse, says business
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Some downtown business owners are complaining of one of the worst summers in memory for crime and social decay in the city's core. Major events have emanated from the downtown lately: the suspicious fire that burned the B&B Music complex and adjacent businesses on George Street; a good Samaritan beaten after intervening in a domestic dispute on the street; an assailant who used a cattle prod as a taser in a large altercation outside a nightclub; a late-night melee involving several males targeting a lone male, which resulted in five gunshots; a single suspect who apparently jumped two random passersby only minutes apart in a pair of unprovoked assaults for money. All were in the heart of downtown and Citizen staff all since August. The head of the RCMP in "I've been here 12 and a half years and the last six P r i n c e G e o r g e b l a m e s months are the worst it's teenagers and young adults ever been," said Mike Calle- from the city's suburbs for waert, proprietor of Rocket- much of the indecent behavfish Productions, a down- iour and problems seen downtown. town recording studio. Commenting on crime and His wife Yvette runs Sarita Computers near social problems in the city's T h i r d A v e n u e a n d downtown core, Supt. Dahl George Street and she Chambers said it is imporc o n c u r s . B r e a k- i n a t - tant to recognize the differtempts, needles and con- ence between the street peodoms, groups of tran- ple and what they mean to sients, hookers plying social conditions and the t h e i r t r a d e a n d o p e n par ty crowd's impact on drug transactions are all downtown conditions. -- See PARTYING part of their routine, she on page 3 said. "They (street people) hide their booze in the garbage cans," she noticed. "They pour it into a paper cup, so if the cops come by, it looks like they're just sipping water, but then they go get refills from the bottle stashed in the garbage can. "I don't know where they come from, but come down here at 5:30 any night and they come out of the woodwork." They believe a concentration of social services and pawn shops in the downtown are contributing factors. They also advocate for a large indoor/outdoor facility for street people to go to socialize, have coffee, stay warm, keep dry, be safe, get help if they want it, but come and go as they please at any time of the day or night. With no home base, they are forced to roam the streets. -- See CITY on page 3

`Burbs' partly to blame?

Citizen photo by David Mah

PLAYING WITH FIRE -- Rodeo clown Dennis Halstead not only made the crowd laugh at the West of the Rockies Pro Rodeo Championship Finals, held on the weekend at CN Centre, but he also thrilled them by riding through fire on a motorcycle. For a full round-up of the event, turn to page 12.

Homeless Awareness Week starts in P.G.
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff There's much more to homelessness than living under a bridge or in a cardboard box, says the steering committee co-ordinator of the Prince George Community Partners Addressing Homelessness. "There are many different faces to homelessness," said Kerry Pateman. "Some people stay with friends; some are just a paycheque away from being homeless, some are in a facility like a hospital because they have no place to go." "It takes a community of caring people to find local solutions," said Pateman, who is coordinating the first Homeless Awareness Week in Prince George, which starts today. The aim is to learn, listen, educate the public and find solutions to the problem. Since it's difficult to obtain actual numbers of homeless people in the city, members of Community Partners Addressing Homelessness conducted a one-day survey Oct. 5 of social agencies providing services to homeless and at-risk people in downtown Prince George. "The survey was intended to capture a glimpse of the scope of homelessness on a given day," said Marianne Sorensen, executive director of the Quebec Street Women's Shelter. On that day, 116 individuals accessed emergency shelters or transition houses because they were without safe housing. They included 51 men, 49 women, nine children and seven youth. That same day there were 574 meals served by agencies to families, couples, singles and youth, and there were an additional 285 dropin visits recorded at agencies. "The survey did not include services outside of downtown serving homeless and at-risk people," Sorensen said. "Many people rely on neighbours, friends or family to assist them in meeting basic needs. Others are forced to bargain with people who exploit them in exchange for meal, a couch to sleep on. Still others sleep outside for most of the year, often unnoticed by most of the community." The survey results demonstrate "a significant homeless crisis in Prince George that affects men, women, children and youth -- it affects us all," said Sorensen. The committee, made up of 25 partners ranging from B.C. Housing, mental health organizations and the City of Prince George to social service agencies like Elizabeth Fry Society, St. Vincent de Paul and Native Friendship Centre, work together to address issues, reduce discrimination and find solutions to homelessness. -- See ACTIVITIES on page 3

LIVE ree!
F
FOR A YEAR

P.G. advocate shocked by Citizen honour
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff T h e e p i to m e o f t h e i m m i g r a n t h a s reached the pinnacle of local culture. Baljit Sethi was a new Canadian, decades ago, but to this day she stands for the people who come to our community from afar. Her 30-plus years with the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society has made her the primary welcoming committee for foreigners tr ying to make this city home. That work, advocates said, made her the winner of the 2006 Prince George Citizen of the Year. "I was not expecting it. It was a shock for me," SETHI Sethi told the Citizen af ter the announcement Friday night at the gala ceremony hosted annually by the Prince George Community Foundation. "Being nominated I was quite satisfied, but when they announced the winner, I was shocked." Those who know Sethi are not. Yes, what she does is a job. She is paid to helm the IMSS. She designs programs and initiates outreach professionally to those from other nations and cultures. Yet it is said almost by rote that she goes above and beyond the call of duty. -- See SETHI on page 3

CONTEST

District, parents make headway on special needs
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff The parents of Allison Seymour, a Grade 4 student with Down syndrome, are now satisfied with the school district's treatment of their daughter. Victory is not complete, however. Since the start of the school year, the girl has only had a teacher's aid in the mornings, meaning her afternoons had to be spent in the principal's office for supervision. Nukko Lake elementary school principal Bill MacIver is a certified special-needs instructor, but Allison's mother was not satisfied this was the best educational route for her little girl and she was hurt the school district would be so indecisive about the programming for such a special student. A meeting on the subject was held late last week between district officials and the Seymours. "The meeting was fabulous," said mother Kim Seymour. "They have come up amazingly with a really good plan for Ali, and a really great plan to implement it. She has aids, lots of life skills planning, they have structured her Independent Education Plan better, so yeah, I was really impressed. They told us they wanted to focus on Allison's best interests and that is what they did." -- See NO LONG-TERM on page 3

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INDEX
Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . 15 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 20-22 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 17 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6, 7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 23

Citizen photo by David Mah

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FELINE -- Grizzebella, played by Beverly Smith, sings a solo in a rehearsal of Cats on Sunday. The production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic is scheduled for Oct. 17 to 28 at the Prince George Playhouse.

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