Sys?swampin«or hfi^ciirp orts
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Newsstand $1.50 includes HST Home Delivered 67C/day includes HsT www.pgcitizen.ca
Classified: 250-562-6666 Reader Sales: 250-562-3301 Switchboard: 250-562-2441
p/d&v.l UAvil
george it's jjjat matWifs to you
Frank Peebles Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
John Furlong was trekking briskly through Pine Centre Mall on Tuesday, Christmas shopping for his son.
Earlier in the day he gave a big present to the 2015 Canada Winter Games (CWG) organizers: the gift of his presence.
Furlong was the CEO of the bid group that won the 2010 Olympic Winter Games for Vancouver, and then led the VANOC group that carried the games off. He is also a former resident of Burns Lake and Prince George, and started on his path to Olympic celebrity by leading the organization of the Northern B.C. Winter Games.
Now his expertise is being tapped by Prince George’s group putting together the CWGs.
“There’s no Get Out of Jail card for me here,” he said following meetings at the Civic Centre with local Games officials. “I’m a friend of Prince George, I’ll always have a soft spot for Prince George, and I am happy to help.”
The visit is well-timed. The bid committee has completed its task, and won the Games over challengers Kamloops and Kelowna. A host society will soon be in place to build the CWGs to 2015.
Right now, though, there is no official authority, but a group of volunteers helping steer the process, and Furlong said this is the time to start setting up the vision for what this event will do.
“The No. 1 thing, I think, if I were CEO of these Games, I would want it to matter to everybody who lives here,” he said. “The most important decision we (VANOC) made was the first one: we committed to a vision. Be sure of what
John Furlong speaks to the media Tuesday afternoon after a meeting with the Prince George 2015 Canada Winter Games committee.
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
you want to do and stick to it. Anchor it in a set of core values. It has to inspire people to get up and out of bed in the morning.”
Games official Tracy Calogheros said their meeting with Furlong was finished far too soon.
“He’s certainly got a tonne of nuts-and-bolts information to share with us,” she said. “I have my pink notebook I’m writing it all down in. All we are doing is gathering it all in and he told us to call him again when it gets down to brass tacks.”
Calogheros said one of the hardest obstacles has been cleared: a clear demonstration of support has been given by the general public to
host the Games.
“This town wants these Games, this town has shown that,” she said.
Furlong’s advice to capitalize on this opportunity, she said, was “it might take a little more time, it might take a little more money, but do it right the first time. Once you have your focus, stick to your guns and do it right. The legacies are for the whole community.”
“There is no confusion here about who you are. You are the core driving force of the North,” said Furlong, urging the organizers and the public to reach out with these Games to the entire region, so the North as a whole feels
connected to the vision of the Games.
It was like that for the Olympics, said Furlong, when many from Prince George left work and made family compromises in order to volunteer in Vancouver.
That is the promise this event holds for the city, he said.
“There will be rocks in the road, but you have to move around them,” he said. “You beat some pretty hefty competition to win the Games, but I think you’ll have one of your best periods in front of you ... The athletes coming here are the best of all time in their age class. You’ll see Canada’s new heroes here.”
P.G. man arrested on child porn charge
The Canadian Press
A tip from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has lead to the arrest of a Prince George man who is accused of taking photos and video of his seven-year-old daughter.
The RCMP’s integrated child exploitation unit says it arrested a 41-year-old man from Prince George, who has been charged with possession, distribution and making of child pornography.
The Mounties say in a news release that American investigators tipped them off about a man sharing child pornography, and investigators believed the photos were “homemade” and that a child was at risk.
A search warrant was issued on the weekend, and police seized evidence that included pictures and videos showing the man’s daughter.
The man, whose name is being withheld to protect the girl, has been released from custody and is scheduled to make his first court appearance next month.
Cpl. Mat Van Laer, from the RcMp’s child exploitation unit, says the girl is now safe with her mother and no longer at risk.
Ashes long cold but Martin mystery lingers
Frank Peebles Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
One year ago, the NT Air hanger burned in a spectacular and as-yet unexplained inferno and co-owner Vernon Martin vanished in an as-yet unexplained disappearance.
“We can say without a doubt that he was not in the hanger at the time that it burned,” said Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass. “Mr. Martin is still missing. It is a priority for the detachment. The circumstances surrounding it are strange, that this man just disappeared, the fire, all of it.”
Martin’s pickup truck parked, abandoned, in front of the massive burning building punctuated the incident. Was it all a set of coincidences? Or is there something deliberate afoot?
“Fire investigators were unable to conclusively say that this fire was an arson. It might have been, but we do not know that for a fact,” said Douglass. “We did do a thorough search of the site with forensic anthropologist Dr. Richard Lazenby.
He is a UNBC professor and very experienced in these matters. We are very confident in his findings. It has been conveyed that there are no human remains in that building and that is more than enough for us to continue the investigation.”
The Prince George Airport tower is silhouetted by flames from the NT Air hanger fire in Dec. 2009.
Citizen file photo by Brent Braaten
Public rumours have run into wild territory. Everything from murder to suicide to amnesia to running off into deliberate obscurity have all been suggested. It has been said, without substantiation, that he was involved in criminal activity of his own and the disappearance has to do with that.
All that is known is, if alive,
Martin would be now 56 years old.
Only a few years ago, his wife passed away. Their daughter lives in the Edmonton area and he had been spending time there. He had also been developing a property in the Vernon area.
—See FIRE on page 3
J northern flCfllth
Judge tosses malpractice suit /3
P.G. stores happier this holiday /4
• •
opinion
Coroners service needs independence /6
photos
Teddy bears tossed /7
diversions
Annie’s Mailbox . . .2
Bridge ...........21
Comics ...........22
Crossword ........22
Horoscope .........2
Classifieds . . . 12-16
0 58307 00100
058307001008