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CITIZEN FILE PHOTO
Regional District of Fraser-Fort George director Bob Headrick, right, Los Keim and MLA Shirley Bond cut the ribbon to officially open the rebuilt Pineview Hall in October 2008. Headrick, who served as director for Electoral Area D (Tabor Lake-Stone Creek) for 30 years, died on Sunday.
Colourful, long-serving regional district director dies
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
Blame it on Trudeau.
Long-time Fraser-Fort George Regional District director Bob Headrick died Sunday. He stayed true to both his political beliefs and his sense of humour to
the very end.
“Weary of reading obituaries noting someone’s courageous battle with death, Bob wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctor’s orders, and the recent election of the Liberal party to the Canadian government,” Headrick’s obituary in Thursday’s Citizen states.
“Quite a character, quite a character, that’s Bob to the end,” said FFGRD chair Art Kaehn.
For those who knew him, Headrick will be hard to forget. He’ll be remembered both for his bombast and ability to make people laugh, and for a legacy of achievements he delivered during the 30 years he represented Electoral Area D (Tabor Lake-Stone Creek).
Headrick once said he was “turning right” and going to Alberta for vacation because he was getting a little too left wing.
On another occasion, when a meeting was getting slow, he went out into the lobby to have a few beers with some volunteer firefighters who had shown up.
One of his favourite phrases whenever funding to build or upgrade a sewage system was secured was that the community to benefit will soon be able to “start flushin’ without blushin’.”
Headrick did much more than keeping the mood light.
“I think the thing that really comes
m Weary of reading obituaries noting someone's courageous battle with death, Bob wanted it known that he died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to follow doctor's orders, and the recent election of the Liberal party to the Canadian government.
— Obituary
to mind is that he was a director and a person who really stuck by his guns and principles no matter what it was, through thick and thin,” Kaehn said.
Prime among them was putting the taxpayer front and centre.
“The bottom line was always the taxpayer. And those services he provided the leadership in helping introduce to the regional district were to serve the residents better and more effectively and for no other reason,” Kaehn said.
Headrick chaired the board for eight years in the 1990s. It was an often tumultuous time.
The provincial government mandated that all regional districts take on a solid waste management program.
The $48-million price tag created plenty of tension with Victoria, but Headrick “made sure we got the biggest bang for our buck.”
Headrick also drew a line when it came to a $50-million upgrade of what
was then the Prince George Regional Hospital.
“He stared down the Ministry of Health and said we’re not going to contribute any more than $20 million and the redevelopment of the project came in on time and on budget,” Kaehn said.
And thanks to Headrick, the FFGRD is the only regional district in the province that makes decisions on non-farm use and subdivisions for land within the Agricultural Land Reserve. Elsewhere in the province, that’s still done by the Agricultural Land Commission.
Headrick delivered for his electoral area, whether it be the Pineview Community Hall and daycare, added ball diamonds at Malcolm McLeod Memorial Park or restoration of Tabor Lake after a major fish kill.
Headrick was known as a big supporter of the volunteer fire departments. One of his last acts as a director was to get a backup water tanker for departments across the whole electoral area.
“When you look back it was pretty amazing the things that he was involved in and saw through during his time,” Kaehn said.
Headrick, who was a barber by profession, stepped away from the regional district in November 2011. At his last meeting, he received a standing ovation from colleagues.
It’s not clear how old Headrick was.
No birth date was provided in the obituary and his wife could not be reached on Thursday, but it’s believed he was in his 80s.
A memorial service will be held on Tuesday at the First Baptist Church on Gillett St., starting at 1:30 p.m.
“Not to worry friends, the kids have alcohol and food at the house on Stewart Road for those who wish to drop in later that evening,” Headrick’s obituary adds.
Hearts and Hands reopens store under new name
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
The conflict between Habitat for Humanity Canada and its former Prince George affiliate has taken a new turn with the local group resuming operations at the old Restore but under a new name.
Now known as the Salvage Store, the 220 Queensway location has been open every Tuesday and Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for roughly three-and-a-half weeks with former long-time Habitat Prince George executive director Jo-Ann Pickering managing the operation.
On Tuesday afternoon, there was a steady stream of traffic in and out of the store which sells used building materials and donated furniture.
“It’s amazing, we’re doing really well,” said Pickering. “The donations are coming in and people are more than willing to drop them off for us, they’re just appalled at what they (Habitat Canada) have done to us.”
In July, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Neena Sharma ordered Hearts and Hands to hand over all its assets, including the ReStore, to the national organization.
Sharma found Habitat Canada was entitled to disaffiliate the local group because it failed to live up to standards the national organization had in place regarding governance and operations.
Habitat Canada subsequently reopened the ReStore in late September, but only long enough to hold a clearance sale, before closing it down again.
Pickering said the move contravened a judge’s order to keep the store open at least until Hearts and Hands’ appeal of Sharma’s decision is completed.
“When we heard they were not supposed to do that, (close the store) I went and had the locks changed back,” Pickering said.
In a statement, Habitat Canada national director of affiliate relations Cathy Borowec said the store was closed because keeping it open was not “economically viable” for a variety of reasons including the costs of fixing a number of safety issues and making general repairs as well as its location and building layout.
But Pickering said the building passed a fire inspection this summer.
— see MORE LEGAL ACTION, page 2
Surgeries cancelled over power problems
Citizen staff
“Power irregularities” forced elective surgeries at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia to be cancelled for the day on Thursday.
The trouble arose during routine testing of the hospital’s systems this morning, Northern Health said in a statement, and some power systems, including the elevators, were affected.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we will be cancelling elective surgical procedures for the day,” Northern Health said.
The emergency room remained open, but people who do not have an emergency were asked to refrain from visiting the hospital for the day.
“Systems are being brought back online and tested to ensure they’re working appropriately,” Northern Health said in an update issued in the afternoon. “This will continue throughout the day.”
Early indications were that a transfer switch - a device that allows the hospital to switch from BC Hydro to a generator as a power source - needs to be replaced.
“We test our generator system on a monthly basis to find issues such as this to avoid them happening during an emergency situation,” Northern Health said.
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