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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2012
A deadly crash season
Proudly serving Williams Lake and the Cariboo-Chilcotin since 1930
VOL. 82. No. 92
SANTA’S COMING TO TOWN SATURDAY
On the National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims Nov. 21 ICBC released statistics for the North Central region. In the last five years, 328 people have been killed in car crashes in the North Central region, with an average of 66 people killed every year. Speeding is the leading cause of car crash fatalities in B.C. On average, 27 people are killed each year in the North Central region in speed-related crashes. Each October there is an average of 24 crashes resulting in injuries or death in the North Central region due to people driving too fast for the conditions. That number more than doubles in December to 50 as the driving conditions worsen.
$1.34 inc. HST
Monica Lamb-Yorski photo
Santa Claus made a brief visit to the lakecity on Saturday for the Pet Photos With Santa event held at the Williams Lake Veterinary Clinic and will be coming back to town in style on Saturday with a full parade. The Santa Parade kicks off at 11:30 a.m. from the corner of Seventh Avenue and Oliver Street at Lake City Ford and will carry on to Spirit Square at First Avenue and Oliver Street for all kinds of merriment including free burgers, hot chocolate, horse drawn carriage rides, music and other entertainment. Pictured here having their pictures taken with Santa last Saturday are Ryan Moore and his three-yearold black lab Bubba. Funds raised help the SPCA.
Inside the Tribune NEWS Council raises taxes again.
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SPORTS A12 Boxer heads to Moncton fight. COMMUNITY A20 Santa Parade this Saturday. Weather outlook: The outlook is for a warmer weekend.
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WL prolific offender program exists Monica Lamb-Yorski Tribune Staff Writer Williams Lake city council wants a prolific offender program back in Williams Lake as soon as possible; however, the RCMP say the program is still active in the city. At the regular council meeting Tuesday, Surinderpal Rathor asked council to endorse finding funds as soon as possible for a program that would identify individuals responsible for using weapons, such as machetes and bear spray, and that they be dealt with accordingly. Council also passed a motion to set up a meeting with Williams Lake RCMP Inspector Warren Brown. “Last week my phone started ringing off the hook with people telling me they are afraid to go out. They were telling me that people are using weapons during the day. People are calling the police. It’s the same people that are committing the crimes day after day.” The Williams Lake RCMP told the Tribune the Prolific Offender
Monica Lamb-Yorski photo
Williams Lake RCMP Staff Sgt. Ken Brissard.
Program is still up and running. It’s never stopped, despite the withdrawal of funding from government in June 2012. “Locally it was .4 of a human re-
source position so what’s essentially happened is ourselves and the other agencies that are involved with the prolific offender program have continued with it, as it was, prior to June, and are doing it off the side of our desk. Instead of that .4 person doing the administrative work, the RCMP have taken that on,” Staff Sgt. Ken Brissard said Wednesday. At the end of the day, the RCMP and the other partners involved in the program, saw value in the initiative so they’ve continued with it. Nothing’s changed other than the funding component. “We meet regularly and had our prolific offender meeting yesterday. I believe right now we have 12 who are identified and know they’ve been identified as prolific offenders. We reach out to them to try and offer them assistance, “Brissard said, explaining two of the 12 have been “voted off the list by the group.” One because he has been relocated and the other because of his inactivity. “It’s a success story. Can we attribute that 100 per cent to the fact
that he was in the prolific offender program? No. There’s nothing to say that because of the program he’s changed his behaviour, but I know it’s helped.” Brissard admitted he’s an optimistic person that sees the “glass half full”, and “yes” there are ebbs and flows in crime rates in Williams Lake. “Essentially the way we’ve put it here in the last few months is that we’ve had a perfect storm. We had a group of about 12 people all out of jail at once. I’m not minimizing that, but I think you have to say it’s a small percentage that create havoc for the mass majority. You make your own luck and we were lucky because we’ve got some naughty people behind bars again.” A core group of agencies working in areas such as probation, housing and mental health team up with the RCMP to administer the program, all “bringing something to the table.” See PUT Page A2