Ortega poised for comeback /15

Canucks win Flooding hits in last Washington, minute /9 B.C. /5, 14
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2006

Alicia Keys defends stars taking up causes /17

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Inquiry details factors in death of log trucker
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff It has taken nearly two years for the B.C. Coroner's Office to complete an inquiry into the death of Williams Lake log trucker Loraine Conboy. It's not the first lengthy coroner's inquiry into a log trucking fatal in B.C.'s Northern Interior, and logging sector representatives say the time it's taking to complete the reports is unacceptable. Conboy, 51, was killed when she lost control of her loaded logging truck at about 4 a.m. on Nov. 22, 2004, on a curve on Highway 20. Her truck crossed the centre line and crashed into a ditch. It was frosty, at -10 C, but the road was bare. Coroner Ann Smith found that contributing factors were fatigue, prescription drug use, excessive speed, and the fact Conboy was not wearing a seat belt. Central Interior Logging Association manger Roy Nagel said Monday that more timely reporting can lead industry to zero-in on a particular safety problem like substance abuse. It can also simply create more awareness, for example, on the importance of seat belt use, said Nagel. "Just that very fact coming out, may make somebody think about buckling up," he said. Asked why the inquiry has taken so long, B.C. forestry coroner Tom Pawlowski said Monday he did not know because he wasn't involved in the file. Pawlowski deferred questions on the inquiry to the northern regional coroner's office, which earlier had deferred questions to Pawlowski. The regional coroner's office in Prince George could not be reached for comment Monday. However, Pawlowski said that sometimes complex inquiries can be held up by information needed from other agencies, or follow-up actions. He said he was cognizant of the importance of timely reporting. "We're certainly hoping we will be able to co-ordinate a quicker turnaround," said Pawlowski, appointed earlier this year in response to a high level of forestry deaths in 2005. Nagel said he believes there's no reason that basic, factual information on log truck crashes could not be released almost immediately. The toxicology information, which is normally available within weeks of an autopsy, should be released right away, said Nagel. "There is in my mind just no acceptable reason for things to take this long," he said. The coroner's inquiry found that Conboy was ejected through the driver's side windshield. About 300 pills -- later identified as Tylenol 3s with codeine -- were found in a small plastic bag on the seat in the cab. Blood tests revealed a high level of codeine, enough to kill someone, suggesting Conboy had a high tolerance, the coroner's report said. The codeine would have slowed Conboy's driving reactions to some degree, as it affects alertness and can result in drowsiness, said the report. The toxicology results also showed that Conboy used marijuana at least four hours prior to her death, but she was not under the influence of the drug at the time of the fatal crash. -- See PILLS on page 3

Pub owner plans to fight smoking ban
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff Premier Gordon Campbell's weekend promise to ban smoking from all public places in B.C. by 2008 won't be the end of the matter, as far as Prince George Hotel owner Ted Coole is concerned. Coole, who says he's spent more than $100,000 on designated smoking rooms -- ventilated areas where smokers can light up without bothering the rest of the clientele -- has vowed to lobby the Liberal government to change its mind. "Obviously, as an industry, we are going to make an effort to see if there is a way of retaining these rooms," Coole said. "His announcement says 2008, that gives us a year and a couple of months to try and deal with the issue." Coole said Campbell's announcement, made Sunday at the B.C. Liberal party convention in Penticton left him "completely blindsided." Pub owners brokered a deal with the Workers' Compensation Board that, since 2002, has allowed them to use designated smoking rooms rather than banning smoking completely from their businesses. When they meet specifications, the systems leave the air smoke-free, Coole said, while servers need to go into the rooms only to bring in orders. "The premier has just walked away from what we would say is the perfect system," he said. Coole predicted a ban on smoking will only create problems with patrons sneaking drinks outside, and non-smokers having to breath in smoke at entrances to pubs. But Prince George-Omineca MLA John Rustad praised Campbell's promise. The Liberals' plan to make B.C. the healthiest jurisdiction in North America by 2010 played a role in the decision, he acknowledged, but was not as much a factor as the need to reduce the cost of health care. While he supports establishing a cancer clinic in northern B.C., Rustad said preventive measures also need to be taken. "If we're going to be serious about wanting to see cancer care in the North when we have significantly-higher rates of people smoking, part of that is also prevention and studies have shown that smoking is also linked to cancer," he said. Prince George Clean Air Coalition co-chair Bob D'Auray also welcomed the announcement. Designated smoking rooms do not work, he asserted. "You can't move the air out fast enough to make it safe," he said. The coalition was behind a controversial attempt in 2003 to convince city council to ban smoking from all bars, pubs and restaurants. Council ended up voting to allow designated smoking rooms to remain. The ban will also apply to casinos and community gaming centres. Treasure Cove Casino officials declined to comment. Campbell's anti-smoking measures echo the latest wave of smoking restrictions in other provinces, notably Quebec and Ontario, which have banned smoking in most public places. One June 1, smoking became illegal in Quebec restaurants, bars, private clubs, bingo halls and casinos, along with all other facilities open to the public. The Quebec law also forbids smokers from lighting up within nine metres of any doorway leading to a health or social services institution, college, university or child-care facility. In May, the Smoke-Free Ontario Act prohibited smoking in all workplaces and enclosed spaces open to the public. The Ontario law also bars smoking on patios with roofs. -- with files from Canadian Press

Citizen photo by David Mah

SWITCHING TO GLIDE -- Laura Hansen makes her way along the Otway trails in front of the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club lodge Monday morning, taking advantage of the freshly-packed snow for her first ski of the season.

LIVE Rail port feasible, study shows ree!
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Feed the needy
Tim Hortons is helping to feed the needy this Christmas. Included in today's Citizen is a paper bag which readers are encouraged to fill with non-perishable food items. Bags can be dropped off at any Tim Hortons in Prince George by Nov. 19.

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Annie's Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 27 Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Business . . . . . . . . . . . .22-24 City, B.C. . . . . . . . . . . 3,5,6,13 Classifi ed . . . . . . . . . . . 18-21 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . 17 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6,7 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-12 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,15

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by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff Asian demand for northern B.C.'s forest products could provide sufficient reason for a private company to establish an inland port in Prince George, consultants argue in a feasibility study released Monday. Enough product for a minimum 20,000 containers a year are needed to make an inland port worthwhile and there is a market for at least three times that amount of pulp and lumber from the region, Vancouver-based InterVISTAs Consulting Inc. contends. Moreover, the authors say Prince George is the right location for an inland port, also known as an intermodal container facility, because the city is within easy access to all the forest product needed to meet that demand. An inland port, combined with the container port now under construction in Prince Rupert, would "provide a short, fast, secure lower-cost route to Asia for B.C. forest products, over 40 per cent of which originate within a three-to-four-hour drive of Prince George," Initiatives Prince George corporate affairs manager Kathie Scouten said in a presentation based on the report. "An estimate of forest products produced in northern B.C. for Asian markets showed that pulp and lumber alone could create enough exports to support an intermodal container facility. "Based on trade today, it is estimated that 61,000 40-foot containers of pulp and lumber are moving from central interior and northern mills to China and Asia. Twenty-thousand containers is often considered the minimum level of activity required to support an intermodal centre, so this suggests that sufficient traffic is generated to support an intermodal centre.

Citizen photo by David Mah

Kathie Scouten of Initiatives Prince George explains the key points from the Northern B.C. Intermodel Cargo Opportunity Study.
"Any additional sources of containerized exports such as other forest products or specialty grains would increase the maximum number of containers which could be exported, and so this may be a conservative estimate." Being the closest major rail yard to the Prince Rupert container terminal and home to a large airport with plans to extend the runway to handle large cargo jets further enhances Prince George as the location for an inland port, Scouten said. Including labour at the terminal, trucking jobs, rail-related jobs and other employment, the centre could directly support up to 360 full-time equiva-

lent jobs. Once indirect jobs are taken into account, the number rises to 865 person years of employment, adding up to $44.2 million a year in salaries and wages. "This project will be developed by the private sector, and we know that there are already transportation companies engaged in developing this opportunity," Scouten said. "The intermodal has to be open when the Port (of Prince Rupert) opens, and we understand that getting it up and running would take anywhere between six and 12 months, so we should be seeing action very soon." If the runway at Prince George Airport is extended, Scouten said it may be enough for private investors to develop a major distribution centre that would co-ordinate partial stuffing of containers for transport by air, land and seas. "If other companies followed this lead, a cluster of related transportation businesses could develop along the (Highway) 16-97 transportation corridors. "This is what happened in Huntsville Alabama where approximately 7,000 people are now employed � this happened over 15 to 20 years I believe." Next steps include making potential investors aware of the study's findings -- it will be showcased last this week at a conference in Prince Rupert -- and developing a human resource plan to prevent a labour shortage from stifling the project. InterVISTAs was provided with $73,000 from such sources as the Northern Development Initiative Trust, the Community Futures Development Corporation of Fraser-Fort George and Initiatives Prince George to conduct the study. -- See related story on page 3

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