THURSDAY, MAY 5 2016 VOL. 73, NO. 65
SERVING FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES
$1.50 INC. GST.
alaskahighwaynews.ca
“The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Tinker’s Dam About the North Peace.�
LACROSSE TOURNEY COMES TO FSJ
CITY TO SPOT CHECK YOUR BLUE BINS
R0011217497
NEWS A3
When You Are Out in the Field, Time IS Money.
THE KING TO GRACE THE LIDO STAGE
SPORTS B1
ARTS B5
HERITAGE HONOURS
Honeybees to land on council agenda
Call Us For ALL Your OilďŹ eld Needs QUALITY PARTS, EXPERT SERVICE!
MATT PREPROST PHOTO
Grade 6 Hudson’s Hope student Katie Norton and two of her peers will attend the 2016 BC Provincial Heritage Fair at the University of British Columbia in July. Norton presented her project on the Tsimshian to a panel of judges at the Northern Region Heritage Fair at Hudson’s Hope School April 27. Norton chose to present on the Tsimshian Nation because of her background—her family belongs to the Gitga’at Tribe, one of 14 that make up the Tsimshian, and her grandfather is chief of the tribe. Norton will attend the provincial fair with Grade 6 student Xavier Beam (Project: Elizabeth Beattie) and Isabelle Gamboa (Project: MichaÍlle Jean).
Fort St. John could soon have a new bylaw governing beekeeping inside city limits. Mayor Lori Ackerman gave council notice on April 25 that she intends to put a motion on the floor at the next meeting, set for Monday, May 9. The city’s current animal control bylaw bans beekeeping and apiaries in the city, but Ackerman thinks that can be revisited. “The Ministry of Agriculture has talked about this being a very untapped resource in our region and we have some local people who are very interested in the apiary business,� she said. In B.C., beekeeping bylaws are currently in place in New Westminster, Vancouver, Maple Ridge, Vernon, Delta and Surrey, according to the Urban Bee Network. Ackerman also plans to bring forward a motion on the city’s transit system to study the value of bus passes and their actual costs. “We’re going through a stressful time in the community, not everyone can afford to put fuel in their tank,� she said. “How can we assist families in getting around a little bit more?�
Warm, dry April pushes farmers ahead of schedule But more rain is needed quickly, area farmer says BRONWYN SCOTT reporter@ahnfsj.ca
CONTACT US
phone 250-785-5631 fax 250-785-3522 email circulation@ahnfsj.ca online alaskahighwaynews.ca facebook AlaskaHighwayNews twitter @AHNnewspaper
April showers might bring May flowers, but the warm, dry conditions last month doesn’t mean grain farmers in the Peace aren’t faring well. On the contrary, some are well ahead of schedule, with some “getting awfully close to being finished seeding,� according to Walter Fritsche, vice-president of the BC Grain Producers Association. “April being as dry as it is has definitely affected us,� he said. “We had very little runoff, and so our fields, they dried up considerably earlier than a normal year.� But the unseasonably warm
SUPPLIED PHOTO
Barry Critcher checks the seed placement on his farm just south of Taylor.
temperatures this April—the second warmest on record for Fort St. John next to April 1980— might hopefully translate into an early harvest.
“Our season is early this year, probably the earliest we’ve ever seen it,� said Irmi Critcher, a veteran farmer just south of Taylor who began working the
land in 1984. “We were able to go in the field probably about close to three weeks earlier than we usually do, and that hopefully translates into an early harvest,� she said. “The moisture right now is still OK, even though it was very dry,� Critcher added, crediting the snow melt that was retained in the soil. “We are seeding into good conditions. Whether this can be sustained now, I’m not sure. It’s dry, and hopefully we can look forward to some sort of moisture here in the next week or 10 days, just to replenish the moisture which is getting used by the crop and by these heavy winds right now.� See FARMERS on A7
Fossil protections to school bus funding
Resolutions up for debate at local government meeting MIKE CARTER dcreporter@ahnfsj.ca
Local governments from across the north and central interior of British Columbia will meet this week in Dawson Creek for the annual meeting of the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA). A number of resolutions impacting northern residents will be debated at the meetings, including a push for fossil protections, more municipal involvement in
wildfire management and a push to urge the province to give more consideration to the distance students travel to school when doling out bus funding to school districts. Fossil protections The need for fossil protections came to the fore last month, when an absent-minded hiker set a campfire on top of a dinosaur trackway in Tumbler Ridge. Although provincial legislation
likely won’t halt these incidents from happening, the incident highlighted the fact that B.C. is the only province in Canada without any law to protect and preserve its paleontological resources and fossil records. “Putting a fire on something like that is just incomprehensible stupidity,� Rich McCrea, curator of the Peace Region Paleontology Research Centre said. “If the province enacts legislation, it’ll give protection to all sites. This is a deficit that has to be addressed
PAVING Residential • Commercial • Industrial Roads • Driveways • Parking lots
on a provincial scale it’s not just these sites (in Tumbler Ridge) — it’s any number of sites, even ones we don’t know about yet.� School bus funding The regional district wants the Ministry of Education to consider the distances students in rural areas travel to school when handing out funding to school district’s for busing. See NCLGA on A14
FREE ESTIMATES
250.719.0686
COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL GRAVEL SALES AND DELIVERY Serving Dawson Creek, Chetwynd, Fort St. John & Surrounding Areas R0011154800