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THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2014
Councillor makes mayoral push
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     FICTION 2074  -
Charelle EVELYN Citizen staff cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca
  The upcoming municipal election is going to be about leadership, said Coun. Lyn Hall, and it’s his style of leadership he’s hoping the community will support when they go to the polls Nov. 15.
  Hall proclaimed his bid for the mayor’s chair Wednesday afternoon in front of a crowd of friends, family and supporters on the front lawn of City Hall.
  “You can’t believe how long I’ve been waiting to say that, how long I’ve been waiting to respond to the question and it’s good to get it out there,” said Hall. “I’m energized and focused beyond belief to do this job. I know it will be a tough five-month campaign but I’m ready for it, have a great team around me and we’re really ready to move forward on this.”
  The one-term city councillor and former School District 57 board of trustees chair was backed by his wife Lorelle and daughters Sydney and Jordan in the same place where he announced three years ago that he was leaving the school board behind for a city council run - a move Hall said was “a great decision.”
  The seed to step up to the mayor’s chair was planted upwards of eight months ago, Hall said.
                                                                                                                                                              “When I first decided to run
CITIZEN PHOTO BY CHUCK NISBETT
Lyn Hall announced his intention to run for mayor of Prince George at a news conference in front of City Hall Wednesday accompanied by his wife Lorrelle and daughters Sydney and Jordan.
 for council three years ago, I had no real plan about when I would make the move or if I would make the move,” he said. “A lot of people were contacting me, and that’s how this percolates. And as support comes forward, then you have to start to think about it and that’s what I did.”
   A Prince George resident for about 30 years, Hall has raised his family in the city and, alongside his job as an auditor, volunteered with community organizations such as the Child Development Centre, Special Olympics, B.C. Summer Games
 and youth soccer.
   Hall entered the local government field in 2001 with a byelection win that put him on the school board, alongside current campaign manager Michelle Marrelli.
   “For many years, tough decisions shaped much of my firsthand experience as chair and vice chair of the school district. During those years on the school board we were able to build a team around the table from a variety of backgrounds and political beliefs,” Hall said.
   “As your mayor that is what I
would bring to the table - the ability to build a team.”
There is a disconnect between residents and city council that Hall said he wants to re-establish and strengthen.
“We’ve heard that loud and clear, I don’t think it’s a secret. That’s about building a team where the community is comfortable and want to have us, I think, engaged more in what’s going on,” he said.
Hall pointed to issues such as the recent concern over the Hart Highlands sanitary sewer installation project.
  Hall was invited to and attended a residents’ meeting prior to a city-organized session on June 10.
  “The group wanted city council to be more informed about what was going on with the Hart sewer project and I think council does need to be participating in those meetings. It gives us a better idea [of] what’s going on,” Hall said. “I’m not talking about getting involved in the administration piece, I’m just talking about council being more informed.”
  Characterizing his leadership style as more inclusive, Hall said his focus as mayor would be to build communication channels, including copying the school district model of having council liaisons to various community groups.
  Leadership also means putting together a plan to deal with the city’s needs, according to Hall.
  “And at the end of the day, financial accountability to our community is imperative. How do we as mayor and council provide the services that we need, require and want within the existing financial constraints?” Hall said.
  Among the issues Hall said are going to be addressed over the course of the campaign are infrastructure needs, the performing arts centre, social responsibility, housing needs, how to spend federal gas tax revenue and strengthening ties with emergency personnel and schools.
  Hall is the second person to declare his candidacy to replace outgoing Mayor Shari Green. Former city councillor and onetime mayoral candidate Don Zurowski announced his candidacy on June 12.
Legebokoff admits having victim's cellphone
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
  A cellular phone police found in Cody Legebokoff’s possession was used by the teenage girl he’s accused of murdering, the court heard Wednesday when a statement of admissions was read into the record.
  The phone was discovered in Legebokoffs shorts at the time he was arrested on the night of Nov. 27, 2010 shortly after the body of Loren Donn Leslie, 15, was found in a secluded area off Highway 27 between Vanderhoof and Fort St. James, the court has heard in previous testimony.
  A statement of admissions sets out allegations the accused admits as facts proven without testimony.
  According to the statement, Legebokoff has also admitted that another cellphone, seized from the dashboard of his pickup truck, was used by him to exchange text messages with Leslie.
  A document was provided to the
jury as part of the statement as a true and accurate account of their conversations through the social media site Nexopia and text messages.
  Legebokoff has also admitted to buying a four-pack of Kahlua Mudslides, a four-pack of White Russians and a pack of cigarettes from a cold beer and wine store in Vanderhoof at 8:20 p.m. on the same night Leslie’s body was found.
  Crown prosecution is alleging the two met through Nexopia, Leslie using the handle “baathesheep” and Legebokoff using “onecoun-tryboy” with Legebokoff initiating a conversation with Leslie on Nov. 10, 2010.
  Further conversations occurred on Nov. 22, 23, 25 and 26, 2010 through Nexopia while they started to exchange text messages and, on Nov. 27, 2010 between 6:04 p.m. and 8:23 p.m. during which Leslie invited Legebokoff to meet her at McLeod elementary school in Vanderhoof.
  Legebokoff also urged her to not tell anyone and, in response, Leslie
said “well, we’re just hanging out right?, nothing sexual.”
  A Fort St. James RCMP officer pulled Legebokoff over at 9:35 p.m. after seeing his pickup truck turn onto Highway 27 from a rarely-used road without slowing down and then continuing on at above the speed limit.
  When blood was found on Lege-bokoff and in his truck, a conservation officer was called in to conduct an investigation into suspected poaching. When he found Leslie’s body at about midnight, Legebokoff was arrested on a charge of murder.
  Police handling of evidence continued to be a theme in other testimony Wednesday. When cutouts of a carpet and a couch with suspected blood on them were taken from Legebokoffs apartment, a brand-new and unused box cutter was used in each case, the court heard.
  In addition to Leslie, Legebokoff, now 24, is also facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Jill Stacey Stuchenko, 35, Cynthia Frances Maas, 35, and Natasha Lynn Montgomery, 23.
Top court to rule on Tsilhqot’in case
Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
  Resource development companies and First Nations, as well as the B.C. and federal governments, are awaiting what could be a pivotal Supreme Court of Canada ruling this morning.
  The court is expected to release its ruling in what has been called the Chief Roger William case or the Tsilhqot’in case. This legal action has gone through the nation’s courts for almost 25 years, stemming from a local First Nation attempting to block a logging operation from happening in a place they didn’t approve of west of Williams Lake in 1989.
  As the positions took legal shape, the case became an argument over whether or not any First Nations have the decisive voice in what happened on their land.
  “It is going to be a monumental decision, one way or another,” said Terry Teegee, tribal chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, a collection of B.C. Central Interior nations on whose territory much of the province’s proposed industry would be.
  “If it is favourable for the Tsilhqot’in, it affects everything - all the development in this province and really this country, especially matters like Northern Gateway,” said Teegee. “From a First Nations perspective at the community level, what is in question is how much decision-making power over development do First Nations really have?
                                                                                                                                      — see ‘THE ISSUE, page 3
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