www.pgcitizen.ca
THE
PRINCE
GEORGE
CITIZEN
MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012
BEST
front page
Kidding around at the triathlon
SPORTS 9, 11;
FOCUS 17
Els wins
Open
SPORTS 16
No
end in sight
NEWS 7
Quebec
unrest
endures
CANADA 18
Theatre
slaying
victims
ID'd
WORLD 19
GRANDMA
AWOL
Michael Jackson's mom lost, found
A&E 23
Newsstand $1.50 incl. tax | Home Delivered 69c/day
BEST
all-round
newspaper
CITIZEN PHOTO BY DAVID MAH
A Ford Expedition SUV rests in the ditch of Highway 97 after rearending a GMC Jimmy on Saturday morning in front of the BC Hydro building.
Driver ‘shot off like a bat out of hell’
Morning crash hurts two, knocks out power: police
Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca
A motorist is suspected of drunk driving on Highway 97 and rear-ending another vehicle while fleeing police Saturday morning.
A crash between the two vehicles resulted in non-life-threatening injuries to both drivers.
According to police, the impact shot the northbound vehicles over the centre meridian, across both oncoming lanes, and to the opposite side of the highway near the 22nd Avenue intersection. The suspect’s vehicle, a green Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle, collided with a hydro pole, knocking out power in the area, before coming to a stop in the ditch.
The other vehicle, a black GMC Jimmy driven by a 63-year-old man, came to rest on the west shoulder of the highway after it had apparently rolled and made contact with a light standard. The impact crumpled the back end of the Jimmy and caved in the roof on the driver’s side. The driver was admitted to UHNBC with undisclosed injuries.
The two drivers were the only occupants of the vehicles. The driver’s side airbag of
mWe were kind of stuck there for awhile. There were actually more people upset about [Tim Hortons] than they were about us not being open."
— Bill Lamb, assistant manager, Princess Auto, after a highway accident knocked out power to the store
the Expedition deployed and the driver, a 29-year-old with a novice driver’s permit, was taken to hospital for minor injuries and is now in police custody.
“He was fleeing police,” said RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass. “At Highway 97 and 16 the officer turned on his lights and [the suspect] shot off like a bat out of hell and a few seconds later the collision happened.
“It’s clear that speed and alcohol were factors.”
According to police, the suspect recently moved from the Fort St. James area to
Prince George.
He will face several Criminal Code charges that will be recommended to provincial Crown council.
The accident, at about 7:30 a.m., happened in front of the BC Hydro offices and crews didn’t have far to go to restore power.
About 370 residences were affected in an area bordered by Abbott Crescent to the east, Ospika Boulevard to the west, 20th Avenue to the north and south to Athlone Avenue.
Power was restored at 10:15 a.m.
About 20 customers who lined up to get into Princess Auto for its 8 a.m. opening were turned away and before the lights went back on an additional 40 people were left waiting in the parking lot. Saturdays are the busiest days for the auto parts/hardware retailer.
The accident also knocked out power at the adjacent Tim Hortons restaurant.
“We were kind of stuck there for awhile,” said Princess Auto assistant manager Bill Lamb. “There were actually more people upset about [Tim Hortons] than they were about us not being open.”
Power at Pine Centre Mall was also knocked out by the collision. Northbound highway traffic was reduced to one lane and southbound traffic was rerouted while RCMP investigated the scene.
HEALTHCARE
Fort St. James desperate for docs
Peter JAMES Citizen staff pjames@pgcitizen.ca
The doctor will be in at the Fort St. James emergency room for the rest of the month, but it’s not enough to solve the medical crisis in the community, according to some local residents.
With just one full-time doctor in town, the ER has been open inconsistently and that’s creating confusion for patients.
On Wednesday, Fort St. James resident Dave Marshall needed to see a physician to get the stitches in his leg checked out — he’d been cut after a fall on a fishing trip last week. He had seen a note posted in town saying the there was no doctor available in Fort St. James so he drove to Vanderhoof. The emergency room there refused to see him since a doctor had been subsequently located in Fort St. James.
Marshall had to head back up the highway to get treatment making what could have been a short visit into a full-day endeavor.
“I think we need some doctors here really fast,” Marshall said. “We need doctors up here bad. I’m not sure how we’re going to get them in, but I think Northern Health is going to have to step up.”
There is some temporary relief coming. Northern Health has secured locum coverage for most
You have to phone
mat nine o'clock in the morning and try to get an appointment for that day... Some of them are thinking about moving, their conditions are becoming more acute and less treatable.
— Sue Amyot
of the rest of July, which will keep the emergency room doors open for now.
It will be open beginning Saturday at 8 a.m. through Monday at 8 a.m. It will also be open on an alternating day and overnight schedule through Aug. 1. A spokesman for Northern Health said work is still ongoing to find a more permanent solution and an announcement is expected shortly.
Sue Amyot, a retired nurse living in Fort St. James, said the lack of doctors is causing a host of problems in the community, particularly among seniors. She said some people
with chronic conditions are unable to secure appointments.
“You have to phone at nine o’clock in the morning and try to get an appointment for that day,” she said. “Usually within 15 minutes the appointments for that are filled up, so they’re not even bothering to go for checkups right now. Some of them are thinking about moving, their conditions are becoming more acute and less treatable.”
Amyot was working in Fort St. James when the emergency room opened in 1972 and worked there for 25 years. She’s worried about what will happen now if there’s an emergency and no doctor to deal with it. “It’s like someone having a baby here and runs into trouble, that half hour or three-quarters of an hour mean life or death,” she said.
The July/August edition of the BC Medical Journal contains an employment listing for four general practitioner positions in Fort St. James. The advertisement emphasizes “a substantial recruitment incentive” and “high-income potential” for doctors who sign on for a two-year commitment.
Amyot said in addition to the financial package, recruiters should emphasize other aspects of the community such as its access to the outdoors.
Today's Weather ANNIE'S MAILBOX 23 CROSSWORD 24 CANADA NEWS 18
Hi+21° BRIDGE 23 A&E 23-24 WORLD NEWS 19
^' Low+12° HOROSCOPE 2 CLASSIFIEDS 20-22 SPORTS 9-16
Wwffl COMICS 24 LETTERS 6 OPINION 6
See page 2 for more details and
short-term forecasts
Contact Us
CLASSIFIED: 250-562-6666 READER SALES: 250-562-3301 SWITCHBOARD: 250-562-2441
58307 00100
058307001008