Kitimat Northern Sentinel, April 01, 2015

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www.northernsentinel.com

Volume 61 No. 13

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

$

1.30 INCLUDES TAX

Group effort finds lost kids

Parker Graham, Elizabeth Stone, and Kali Graham, and of course Blue at the front, were found safe after many hours of searching when they went missing March 21. Cameron Orr

Cameron Orr It was a harrowing ordeal when three kids went missing on the Coho Flats Trail, last seen at 1 p.m. and not recovered until shortly after 10 p.m. on March 21. With an immense show of community support to find them the families are also keen to get word out that they are so thankful to have had the support they did. Elizabeth Stone, 11, Kali Graham, 9, and brother Parker, 7, had gone for a trail walk with trusty pitbull Blue, but the trail, in rough shape from the winter, resulted in the hikers getting disoriented and wandering off. It was an emotional reunion for them and their families that evening but speaking days later the children say they had plans if they weren’t discovered. “I was the one who was the bravest,” interjects Parker as the three describe their night. Elizabeth said they could hear cars at one point and followed creeks to work their way to the river from where they could likely find their way.

War of words reignite between DoK and Union Cameron Orr A letter released through Unifor 2300’s Facebook page slams the District of Kitimat administration and the council for being “negligent” as the strike continues. The union’s March 24 letter details the bargaining process to date, saying that the mayor and council’s strategy has seemingly been to “try and starve our members out.” However Mayor Phil Germuth finds

the union’s categorization highly unfair. “It’s one of the first mayor and council in history that’s met with the union. We met with them so we could hear their concerns and take those back to our negotiating committee to give them direction on issues that we wanted to see fix as much as we can,” said Germuth, referring to a sit-down meeting prior to the formal start of negotiations on the contract. “I think we still have a very

Winner of Beautiful Babies feature revealed. /page 5 Award given to shelter manager.

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fair offer on the table.” Germuth also noted to the union’s concerns regarding the “poisonous workplace” that has been referred to in the past that the number of grievances at the District doesn’t reflect that at all, and that if working conditions were bad he would have expected higher turnover over the past few years. In their letter the union says they’re “willing to resolve our issues amicably

through meaningful dialogue, but make no mistake we are in a WAR (emphasis theirs) and we will do everything within the context of the law to fix this broken workplace.” Continuing in their letter the union says that beginning on March 16 they began making headway on the issues of health and safety, training and seniority language. Continued on page 7

Eli sentenced for 2011 murder Margaret Speirs A Terrace man convicted of the second-degree murder of a Kitimat woman has been sentenced to life in prison and will not have the chance to get out of jail until he’s in his 30s. Tyler Scott Eli, 22, was sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole for 12 years for the murder of Maria Rego as ordered by Mister Justice Robert Punnett in Terrace Supreme Court March 25. “I do not find that he is not remorseful but I am of the view that he requires counselling and assistance to properly understand what he has done,” said Punnett in sentencing Eli. The murder and attempted murder were particularly egregious with no motive, understanding or reasoning and were against two innocent people asleep in their home, said Punnett. On October 9, 2011, around 7 a.m., Kitimat RCMP were called to a residence in the Whitesail area for an alleged break and enter with assault, whereby officers found a man and woman, who had been assaulted and were in need of immediate medical help, said police in a release at that time. Both went to hospital in Kitimat where the woman died

from her injuries and the man had surgery and was listed in stable condition, reported police. A 19-year-old man was arrested nearby without incident, said police. Kitimat RCMP, North District Major Crimes, Forensic Identification, Regional GIS (major cases) and E Division Serious Crime Unit were brought in to investigate. Eli’s trial took place over periods of time in May, June and August, 2014. On November 5, 2014, Punnett found Eli guilty of second degree murder, attempted murder and to break and enter. A charge of aggravated assault was stayed by the court. This past January saw a two-day sentencing hearing for Eli at which time Gualter Rego read an emotional victim impact statement to the court. Crown had asked for no chance of parole for 12 to 15 years, while defence had asked that Eli’s rehabilitation be taken into consideration because of his young age, said Punnett. Punnett was satisfied that a period of parole ineligibility must be more than 10 years.


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