Inside
◆ Missing woman P. 8 ◆ Second Avenue response P. 5
◆ Moustache massacre P. 3 ◆ Pets need people P. 12
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WEDNESDAY, September 5, 2012
VOL. 35 NO. 27 $1.34 inc. GST
NEWS BRIEFS Cullen battles over final hearings on Northern Gateway Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen is fighting to be able to raise certain questions at the final hearings for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel. Final hearings are a chance for intervenors to ask questions of experts and Enbridge about the project, but are strictly controlled in terms of what can be discussed. New information can not be submitted in the final hearings, instead, questions will be limited to information on the public registry, ie. already presented before the review panel. Cullen, who would like to be able to question federal departments at the hearing has been countered by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Attorney General. While the letter from the Department of Justice argues the topics Cullen proposes are not directly related to the evidence. Cullen, alternatively, says the topics “are in fact related to testing the credibility of the evidence that has been filed on the record.” A decision on whether Cullen’s line of questioning would or would not be allowed had not been made by press time.
Miss Quincy and The Showdown rocked the stage at Music on the Mountain. For more photos of the three-day festival, see pages 6 & 7. Ruth Lloyd Photo
Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier
MoM breaks even
It was sunshine, some sand and sweet music, but it wasn’t just a beach party. The Music on the Mountain festival had their most successful year yet, essentially breaking even for the first time, and they give all the thanks to the community support from sponsorship and volunteerism. “We had such a broad spectrum of people there from the community,” said Lionel Conant of the Music on the Mountain Society. “We bring all this talent, but without the audience and the volunteers, it just doesn’t go off. We really, really pulled this together as a community.” With large donations coming in this year from a number of local businesses and organizations, including the municipality and local First Nations and a signifi-
cant grant from the provincial government coming through with an extra $10,000, MoM finally found itself in the black in 2012. The festival ran for three days again on August 24, 25, 26, and drew music lovers from Fort St. James, Vanderhoof, Prince George, Quesnel, Williams Lake and beyond. Conant said the group plans to continue to grow the festival in the future, with the help of the community. There were more kids at the festival than in past years, he said and more weekend pass-holders and more campers on site. The live music was incredible, crossing a number of genre lines, including everything from folk to bluegrass, punk to hard rock, there was a bit of everything for everyone. Miss Quincy and the Showdown rocked the house and put on three sets - one
each day - of everything from rockabilly to country covers in their own style. The group was ending an eight-month tour which crossed Canada and also went abroad to include Europe. While their Friday night set was not as tight, the mellow Saturday night “B” stage show of country covers showed another side of the talented women’s skill set, and the Sunday show was every bit the Miss Quincy a person could hope for. There were a number of highlights, with Folky Strum-Strum being mentioned by a number of festival-goers as an amazing surprise, lead singer Iyan Bruvold has a voice every bit as unique and plaintive as Eddy Vedder, only he sings while also rocking the banjo. Members of the group, from Rolla, B.C., host the Sweetwater 905 Art Festival each year, now the first festival in central B.C. of the year. The Steve Brockley Band, High Soci-
ety, Broken Mirrors, Kate Reid, Corwin Fox, Blackberry Wood, Linda McRae and many, many more artists brought their talents together to make an amazing “lastival.” Another highlight was the on-site painting being done by artist Crystal Charlotte Easton. Over the entire festival, Crystal worked on a large painting she called “Mothers and Sons” which was up for silent auction the entire time. On Sunday, after finishing the incredible painting, she presented it to the crowd and to the winning bidder, Kelly Inden and Fireweed Collective Society. She called the group’s purchase of the painting “soultouching” and she tearfully acknowledged the group’s importance to her, as she had helped to found the group when she lived in Fort St. James. Easton now lives in Nanaimo, B.C., but returns to Fort about twice a year to visit family and friends.
September ER update Due to challenges securing locum coverage, the emergency room in Fort St. James will experience a temporary closure for the month of September. Northern Health will provide updates should the status change. Northern Health has secured additional coverage for the clinic with a Nurse Practitioner and locum physicians. The Nurse Practitioner will be at the Nak’azdli Health Centre on September 14 and 28, and at the Fort St. James
Medical Clinic September 7 and 21. Locum physicians will be at the clinic each Tuesday, along with September 21 and 27. Besides the dates listed above, the Fort St. James Medical Clinic remains open. Please note the following: Hours of operation are Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. • Closed from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Appointments can be booked by calling 250-996-8291.
• Only same day appointments will be booked. Prescription refills are available on Wednesday’s from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at: • The Fort St. James Medical Clinic • Lakeside Pharmacy The clinic is closed on statutory holidays. The Stuart Lake Hospital emergency room is the only department affected by these closures.