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July 17, 2010
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Seeking Vader
Police on lookout for ‘person of interest’ in missing couple case
 Postmedia News
   EDMONTON — RCMP have identified a “person of interest” in the case of a missing elderly Alberta couple - a man police described as dangerous and whom authorities said the public should not try to approach.
   At a news conference Friday, police identified Travis Edward Vader as someone they are trying to locate and talk to about Lyle McCann, 78 and his wife, Marie McCann, 77, a couple who disappeared somewhere between the Edmonton area and the B.C. coast.
   RCMP described Vader as a known drug user who could be in possession of firearms. He has multiple outstanding warrants, they said.
   The McCanns were last seen refuelling their motorhome July 3 at about 9:30 a.m. in St. Albert, outside Edmonton.
   The couple were headed to British Columbia to meet up with their daughter, but they never arrived.
   Their motorhome was found engulfed in flames at a campground, but there was no sign of the couple, and the SUV they were towing
                         behind the motorhome remains missing.
                           RCMP have said they are reviewing their handling of the case, and have been criticized on two fronts for their investigation.
                           On Tuesday, two residents in Prince George, came forward to report having seen an SUV matching the description of the McCann’s vehicle. The pair left without leaving contact information. Webb said that a civilian employee at the Prince George detachment failed to record contact information from the witnesses, which would be a breach of normal RCMP pro-
 VADER
 cedures. After they left, Prince George RCMP released a statement asking the couple to return.
   Another line of criticism has targeted a delay at the beginning of the investigation. Shortly after the couple was reported missing on July 10, RCMP revealed that the missing mo-torhome had been found on fire five days earlier near the Minnow Lake campground southeast of Edson, Alta. An RCMP member arriving at the scene was able to recover registration documents.
   Webb says finding a burnt-out RV did not automatically result in a comprehensive investigation into the whereabouts of the owner. Registration records only reveal basic contact information. Since vehicle thefts - even of mo-torhomes - are not uncommon, police did not investigate extensively. Webb says what was done next will be given particular scrutiny.
   “There were some steps taken trying to get in contact with the registered owner,” said Webb. “This is what we’re looking into; what was done next and was it done adequately?”
 CROCODILE ROCKIN’
  The legendary Elton John played an assortment of his chart-topping songs for a sold-out crowd Friday night at CN Centre. See upcoming issues of The Citizen for fol-lowup coverage of the show.
  Citizen photo by David Mah
Shop Free contest returns
  Citizen staff
    Prince George residents, are you ready to shop for free?
    The Prince George Citizen and Pine Centre Mall are excited to bring back the popular Shop Free contest.
    “We’re thrilled to have this partnership and be working with Sonya Hunt and Shelley Readman at the Pine Centre Mall to bring back this wonderful promotion,” said Hugh Nicholson, the publisher at The Citizen.
    “It’s one of the most successful promotions I’ve seen. It’s good for the paper, the mall, and most importantly, the consumers,” he said.
    Shop Free is a ten-week promotion that will run daily in The Citizen from Monday, July 19 to Saturday, Sept. 25.
    Everyone is eligible to win weekly prizes provided by Pine Centre merchants and the grand prize of $500 in gift certificates for a year, a value of $6,000.
    To enter, readers have to deposit their entries at participating Pine Centre merchants or The Citizen.
 Bear Lake byelection on the horizon
 Citizen staff
   There will be a byelection for the Bear Lake Community Commission this fall after commissioner Ed Gronning passed away last month. The commission provides administration of local services in the community of Bear Lake.
   Nomination forms will be available at the Fraser-Fort George Regional District office, the Bear Lake Community Commission Office and on the Regional District website at www.rdffg.bc.ca. The deadline for nominations is August 20 and the byelection will be held September 25.
 Half a million
 School district will shell out big bucks for early retirement incentives
 Mark Nielsen Citizen staff
   The school district will pay out $500,000 in early retirement incentives as part of its effort to reduce costs in the coming school year.
   In all, 20 employees accepted bonuses of $25,000 each, superintendent Brian Pepper confirmed this week, under a voluntary retirement incentive plan offered to 49 school district employees.
   The action will reduce the school district’s payroll by $1.6 million. Take away the $500,000 and the total savings is $1.1 million. “And that’s just in the first year, so it was a good move,” Pepper said.
   The offer was made to principals, vice-principals, education administration, non-union staff and members of the Construction, Maintenance and Allied Workers Local 2106 who were at least 55 years old as of June 30 and had been working full-time for the school district for at least 10 years.
   “The benefit was restricted to employees who were not covered by a collective agreement or were a member of the maintenance trades union,” Pepper said. “The rationale for the maintenance trades was that bumping outside of their trade was not possible; therefore, they did not have the guarantees of job security enjoyed by other unions.”
   In all, 11 district administrators, three exempt staff and six maintenance employees accepted the offer.
   School board trustees approved last month a $126.5-million budget after reducing projected spending by $6.2 million. Six schools were closed and two more reconfigured and the school district’s payroll was reduced by the full-time equivalent of 79 full-time positions.
   Trustees had intended to use prior years’ surplus to make ends meet over three years, but that plan was nixed when the Ministry of Education withheld funding to help contain the provincial government’s rising budget deficit.
   The school district’s budget is based on the fulltime equivalent of 13,555 students, 210 fewer than in 2009-10, and will be subject to change depending on a Sept. 31 head count once school is back in session.
   Pepper listed four other advantages to the move.
 He said involuntary separation can be complicated and costly, a fully-subscribed program could eliminate some across-the-board cuts, legal and outplacement costs are avoided and implementation of the plan avoids the payment of contracted severance.
   Pepper’s comments came after The Citizen obtained documents related to the offer through a freedom of information request.
   Candidates were given an application in which they were told why the district is making the offer.
   “These fiscal pressures are a result of declining enrolment and related reduced Ministry of Education funding,” the school district says in the preamble. “We are offering the voluntary retirement incentive plan to encourage an increased number of retirements to ease the pressure of proposed reductions to our workforce required to meet our restructuring needs.”
   Exempt staff were offered a lump sum payment of $25,000 and CMAW members were offered $1,000 for each year of continuous service up to $25,000.
   In exchange, they signed agreements barring them from working either full-time or part-time for the district for five years although the school district reserved the right to withdraw the offer at any time.
   Those who accepted are to voluntarily resign by July 31. No date was provided for when the offer was made but candidates were given until April 1 to reply.
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