Angelina Jolie applies to adopt Vietnamese child /35

saturdayREPORT
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2007

Prince George Mountie helps African war crimes investigation /13
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Log hauling regulations take effect
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff New regulations to reduce the number of hours log haulers can drive in B.C. -- an effort to reduce fatigue and improve safety -- have been implemented. The changes went into effect Thursday. More than a year in the making, the changes limit log truckers to 65 hours of driving and 80 hours of on-duty time a week. That 80hour-a-week work window is reduced from the current 105-hour work week allowed for log truckers. The changes had been expected to be implemented on Jan. 1, the same time as changes to federal trucking regulations, but were delayed while the provincial government clarified some legal technicalities. While the province had indicated it expected the changes to come into effect in early March, some industry players are unhappy with the way the changes have been implemented and communicated. Council of Forest Industries official Steve Kozuki said Friday he didn't even know for certain that changes had been implemented because he had not been able to obtain a copy of the new regulations. He said it made it difficult to comment. "It's very unfortunate," said Kozuki, who was involved in industry consultations last year to draft the changes. Prince George Trucking Association president Stan Wheeldon described the situation as chaos. He said he'd been receiving phone calls from disgruntled truckers since early Friday morning. He has also been told that truckers were already being ticketed for non-compliance. While the association was aware the changes were coming, the communication and timing of the implementation left something to be desired, he said. "The biggest thing is misinterpretation and the lack of effective communication, and big institutions, and the biggest one of all being the government, has the problem with that," said Wheeldon. MaryAnne Arcand, head of the TruckSafe program of the B.C. Forest Safety Council, said the short warning of the implementation -- she learned of it 72 hours before the March 1 date -- has caused confusion and concern. She said she also had reports of truckers being ticketed under the new rules. Arcand, who is headquartered in Prince George, has been trying to get information out to truckers via her program's newsletter. She also had not seen a copy of the new regulation until The Citizen shared a copy with her. The Citizen obtained the new 18-page regulation directly from the B.C. Ministry of Transportation. A read-through left her with questions, however, including whether all log truckers now had to carry log books with them to record information on their trips. That had been expected to be part of the changes. But a provision -- that allows truckers who travel within 160 kilometres of their home base to be exempt from the log book requirement -- appears to remain in the new rules. -- See TRUCKERS on page 3

Program stresses children's health
by BERNICE TRICK Citizen staff UNBC research showing a high risk of diabetes among c hildren has prompted a professor to develop a computer program for schools designed to tell students the importance of healthy eating and exercise. Dr. Hanh Huynh, with a number of partners, has developed a selection of screen savers for elementary school computer labs across Canada that advocate healthy foods and staying active to to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes. Huynh has been leading a Prince George research project since last year in elementary schools to establish the prevalence of overweight and obese children. It is estimated that 60 per cent of all cases of diabetes can be attributed to weight gain. Compared to what is considered the national standard, students at these schools are more overweight and obese, Huynh said. "We must do something about this," said Huynh, a professor in the Northern Medical Program at UNBC. "Type 2 diabetes in children was never even discussed in medical school 10 to 20 years ago. Now, we're seeing cases in children as young as four years old and doctors nationwide are scrambling to respond. "We have to get the message to children that eating healthy foods and being active is vitally important , and the best thing they can do for their future health," Huynh said. "This isn't the kind of work that will be published in an academic journal or lead to a cure, but we're hoping it will have a big impact, and it's one of the ways that the NMP can give back to the community." The new program, partnered by School District 57, the Vancouver Foundation, Canadian Diabetes Association and Concept Design of Prince George, was announced Friday. To download the screensaver, computers must have the QuickTime installed. The file is accessible from the NMP website at www.unbc.ca/nmp. -- See STUDY on page 3

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

SIGN OR SINE -- Bill Russell hangs the banner at Vanier Hall in preparation for the Prince George Citizen Regional Spelling Bee. The winner and runner-up among the 29 participants will represent Northern B.C. at the National Spelling Bee in Ottawa next month while the winner will also compete at the Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.

Area life expectancy lower than average
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff Life expectancy in the Fraser-Fort George Regional District continued to remain below the provincial average in 2005, according to t he latest health ministry vital statistics report released Friday. The report says the average life expectancy was 78.2 years in the Prince George area, 2.4 years less than the average for B.C. Northern Health chief medical officer Dr. Lorna Medd said the numbers reflect an ongoing trend of people in B.C.'s more urban areas generally living longer lives than those in the hinterland. "We have higher rates of consumption of alcohol, smoking, we have more people who are obese or overweight, which means fewer people are eating a healthy diet here, we have a higher rate of deaths from motor vehicle accidents," she said. "All of those risk factors show up in higher death rates from heart disease, stroke, cancer, pneumonia, other infectious diseases. You name the category and northern populations tend to be higher than southern populations." If there is a bright spot, it's that life expectancy in Prince George increased by a year since 2000, although the provincial average improved by 1.3 years over that time. "We seem to be moving in the right direction," said Medd. In 2005, life expectancy for women was 80.3 years and 76.4 years for men, compared to 80.1 for women and 74.7 for men in 2000. The average age in the region, which stretches from Mackenzie north of Prince George to the Alberta border east of Valemount, was 33.9 compared to 39.4 for the province as a whole. In 2000, the average age h e r e w a s 3 3 . 2 a n d 37. 6 f o r t h e province, reflecting the number of aging baby boomers.

Scoreboard won't be installed until June
by MARK NIELSEN Citizen staff CN Centre's new scoreclock won't be installed until after the hockey season is over, city hall said Friday. In a press release, the city said the clock, which will feature video replay, is now scheduled to be put in place in June. The original intention had been to have it up and ready before the start of the current hockey season and, once that date had passed, sometime over the winter when there was a break in use of the facility. But leisure services director Tom Madden said that turned out to be too difficult. "Due to the time required to install the clock, to test it and to train staff, and because of the CN Centre's bookings during the ice season, installation prior to this time was not achievable," he said. But he said the arrangements to install the clock have now been confirmed. The room housing the video control equipment is complete and installation of the control equipment should be completed in the next few weeks. Other work to accommodate the weight of the new unit will occur in May, in preparation for arrival of the clock to be installed in June. The total project cost has jumped to about $1 million from the original estimate of $850,000, with the extra $150,000 coming out of the city's capital expenditure reserve. The city has already secured a $520,000 zero-interest loan and a $330,000 g rant from t he province's Live Sites program for the project.

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