THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 2017 VOL. 74, NO. 13
SERVING FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES
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AN UNFORTUNATE TRAP
Mutual fire aid agreement raises ire ALEISHA HENDRY ahendry@ahnfsj.ca
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Logan Wheat was one of many kids that had a truly dreadful time, a word which here means just awful, at An Evening of Unfortunate Events at the Fort St. John Public Library last week. Kids had to channel the skills of the Beaudelaire Orphans to solve a puzzle and set a trap for the sinister Count Olaf and his villainous acting troupe.
Rural crime down, arson on the rise ALEISHA HENDRY ahendry@ahnfsj.ca
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Arson was on the rise on rural properties, but most other crimes were down in 2016, according to the Fort St. John RCMP. RCMP detachments from across the region gave presentations to the Peace River Regional District on March 23, comparing the rural area numbers over the last two years. Arson on rural properties saw a jump from six in 2015 to 21 in 2016, which Inspector Mike Kurvers of the Fort St. John RCMP said wasn’t necessarily criminal acts. “There was not a lot of criminal stuff that happened,” said Kurvers. “A lot of them were accidents.”
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The Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society (WRS) saw an exponential increase in the number of people using its poverty outreach store in 2016. While the economy is slowly starting to bounce back, WRS Executive Director Amanda
McDonell claims self-defence as trial ends MATT PREPROST
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Sgt. Dave Tyreman and Inspector Mike Kurvers of the Fort St. John RCMP.
Sgt. Dave Tyreman noted that a lot of those arsons are vehicle fires, often referred to as “financial combustion fires” and mentioned an ongoing investigation of such an incident in Wonowon. “Any time you’ll get
someone torching a vehicle, torching a shed, torching a house, that’s considered an arson and most are currently under investigation,” he said. Other crimes have seen a drop in the rural areas. See CRIME on A7
Trotter said the need is still there. “The economy is coming back, but people are still coming in,” she said. “The need is still huge.” The first two months of 2017 show a slight decrease from the previous months, but is still high. In January of this year, the outreach store saw 579 clients,
149 of which were men. In February, 517 people accessed the outreach store, with 146 of those being men. The outreach store saw 5,436 clients in 2016, with 1,358 of those being men. To compare, the outreach store saw 3,285 clients in 2015, with just 562 of those being men.
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See FIRE AID on A15
editor@ahnfsj.ca
Economy slowly coming back, but need still there ahendry@ahnfsj.ca
The question of lives being at stake should the Canfor mill catch fire and which community was responsible to respond led to lengthy discussions at a recent Peace River Regional District meeting. A report with a recommendation to enter a five-year mutual aid agreement that would ensure that the Canfor mill would fall under the Charlie Lake fire protection area led several PRRD directors to question why the Fort St. John fire department wouldn’t attend such an incident. “What happens if there’s a great big fire at Canfor? It doesn’t sound like we’re working together on this,” said Tumbler Ridge director Don McPherson. PRRD board chair and Area C Director Brad Sperling was not pleased with the recommendation. “As far as I’m concerned if the city won’t, Charlie Lake is going to be there because I’m doing this for the people that live there, not for the city,” he said.
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Cody McDonell says he was defending himself when he punched Travis Waite in the face at a house party in Fort St. John nearly two years ago, and that Waite was still alive and standing when he walked away. McDonell took the stand and testified as the only witness in his defence in provincial court March 22. He has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter stemming from Waite’s death following the punch on May 18, 2015. The two men had only met once or twice prior to that day, McDonell testified before Judge Rita Bowry. Waite was one of many invited to celebrate the end of the May long weekend, first with some drinks down at the Beatton River, and then with a barbecue at a home on 115 Avenue, where McDonell rented a basement suite from Waite’s cousin, Gordon Leer. See MCDONELL on A12
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