THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 VOL. 73, NO. 84
SERVING FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES
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MLA Pimm MIA at first court date on assault charge Peace River North MLA will be arraigned Oct. 4 JONNY WAKEFIELD reporter@dcdn.ca
Peace River North MLA Pat Pimm did not appear at his first court date on an assault charge Sept. 13. Pimm, who is accused of committing assault in Dawson Creek on Aug. 13, was scheduled to make a first appearance on the charge in Dawson Creek provincial court. Instead, lawyer Greg Cranston spoke for his client over the phone from Pimm speaks at a Site C announcement in July. Vancouver. It is not uncommon for a lawyer to the Dawson Creek rodeo the day before to handle scheduling matters for a client at a announce details of the Site C dam agriculfirst appearance. ture mitigation fund with Agriculture MinPimm was arrested after an incident ister Norm Letnick. Aug. 13. The two-term MLA had been at Pimm resigned from the B.C. Liberal
caucus Aug. 15, citing allegations against him that required him to obtain a lawyer. A special prosecutor was appointed the next day. An assault charge was officially approved against Pimm Sept. 12. Crown prosecutors were granted a publication ban on the name of the victim at Tuesday’s hearing. He is also involved in a family law proceeding involving Jody Pimm, his wife. That file was opened Aug. 19, according to court records. Pimm is set for an arraignment hearing Oct. 4, where he is expected to enter a plea. Pimm continues to represent the region as an independent, and has not been found guilty of the charge. Pimm has not returned the newspaper’s calls for comment.
Sewage hauler ready for legal battle with PRRD
PEDAL TO THE PAVEMENT
JONNY WAKEFIELD reporter@dcdn.ca
been particularly difficult to establish classroom configurations with constantly changing projected enrolment figures,� the letter reads.
The owner of a Fort St. John sewage hauling firm says she’s ready for a legal battle with the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) over the company’s use of a third-party site to dump into the Charlie Lake Sewer system. On Sept. 8, the regional district board moved to begin legal action against sewage hauler Nor Vac Services, for dumping waste in the Charlie Lake sewer system at a residential connection instead of at its commercial sewage transfer station. The board gave the company five days to cease and desist before it commences legal proceedings at the B.C. Supreme Court. But Nor Vac owner Carol Kube said her company had no plan to cease and desist. She hopes pursuing the matter to court will help prove a point about what she says are a patchwork of rules for sewage haulers in the regional district. “By threatening me with Supreme Court, they’re not scaring me,� she said. “I don’t think the PRRD has any intention of making sure everybody has to comply with the bylaws. Why does Company A have to comply, Company B and C don’t, Company D does, and Company F does on Saturdays on Sundays?� She said the company plans to continue dumping into the system at a property in the 12000 block of the Charlie Lake Frontage Road, which the regional district identifies as a residential sewage connection. According to PRRD staff, Nor Vac wasn’t breaking any existing rules when it dumped sewage into the system at the residential hookup. However, the district moved last month to update its bylaws to prohibit what Nor Vac was doing, saying it put them at risk of fines from the province and health authority. Kube said Nor Vac hauls mostly residential sewage from septic tanks— not waste from worker camps or other industrial sites.
See SCHOOL on A8
See SEWAGE on A8
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Riders in the Tour of the Peace roll back into Hudson’s Hope Sept. 10 after the final leg took them to the Peace Canyon Dam before finishing at the W.A.C. Bennett Dam. The 144-kilometre ride took almost nine hours to complete to raise more than $15,000 for juvenile diabetes. Read more on B1.
Fort Nelson school enrolment difficult to project amid oil and gas crash, officials say JONNY WAKEFIELD reporter@dcdn.ca
Fort Nelson elementary students spent the first two days of school attending assemblies and catching up with friends. Teachers and staff, meanwhile, were counting heads. School District 81, located in the heart of B.C.’s oil and gas patch, has been forced to revamp how it puts together class lists amid an economic downturn that has made it difficult to accurately project enrolment. Unlike other districts, K-4 students in Fort Nelson will spend the first two days of school in their classes from last year while administrators gauge enrolment figures,
SD 81 PHOTO
J.S. Clark Elementary students will spend the first two days of school year 2016/17 in last year’s classrooms as district administrators take an accurate head count.
according to letter sent home to parents at J.S. Clark Elementary. They will then be assigned a teacher, with regular classes beginning Sept. 9. “With the downturn in the economy, it has
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