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Sentinel
Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 61 No. 36
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
$
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
Stacie Reis is lifted by love and support
Stacie Reis enjoying an afternoon at Tamitik Arena, on an outing from her hospital bed at Kitimat General.
More time yet for Kitimat road work.
/page 3 Trailer saved from a dip in the river.
/page 7 PM477761
Cameron Orr From the bottom of a 50 foot embankment the trees looked awfully high. Stacie Reis found herself contorted, her driver’s seat to her right, the cup holder above her, and her windshield smashed. She estimates now that she was unconscious for no more than 30 minutes, but it was the start of a 14 hour period trapped in her car. She remained certain that she’d be found when daylight broke. From what she remembers right before the accident that sent her Ford Escape over the edge of the highway between New Hazelton and Terrace, was a stop for an ice cream cone. Forever an optimist, she remembers it being delicious. Her story has captured the attention of the world over, from major media outlets in British Columbia to worldwide Internet outlets like Buzzfeed. She laughs when asked how she expected to have been made famous in her life. “I don’t think I ever thought I was going to be famous. It’s pretty funny,” she said. Her skills as a nurse — which she does for a living in Prince George — played a heavy hand in to how she got through that night in early July.
“I just prayed for 15 minutes or so, I was like ‘I need some extra strength.’” She saw her legs twisted in the wrong directions and straightened them out. “I just prayed for 15 minutes or so, I was like ‘I need some extra strength,’ and then I picked them up and moved the one and then I picked the other one and moved it.” She was in pain overall, but with the revelation of the extent of the number of broken bones she had, she says she wasn’t in nearly as much pain as she would expect under the conditions. The pain was nothing to the relief she felt in the morning when, some time after sunrise, she heard her name being called. A group of her friends from her church in Kitimat had found her. There were scores of other friends and family members elsewhere on the highway scouring for signs of her. Some people had gone out the moment they knew she was missing and spent the night in their cars searching while Stacie awaited in hers. Continued on page 9
Reclaim the River group hosts first in-person meeting of its followers Cameron Orr The group seeking a solution to the Kitimat River —and how people use it for camping — held their first in-person meeting August 28. The group had initially gelled on social media through Facebook and the leaders have taken the momentum to heart. While the turnout to their meeting was low, something they attribute to the slow pace of the community through the summer, they did get the mayor and some councillors out and they’ve received past reports on the river as well to help guide their thoughts. The group has always said it’s not seeking to outright ban people from using the riverbank, but given the ongoing question of the riverbank camping issue the grassroots team is looking to forge some sort of new understanding or arrangement that will lower the tension on the subject. “We had lots of positive input,” said Maryann Ouellet, one of the group’s founders.
The river report, which was done by a person based in Terrace, covers some of the challenges of the river, in terms of what can be developed or enforced and what can’t. “We have that [report] and we’ll have him hopefully as a guest speaker once school and everything’s returned and everybody’s settled down,” said Ouellet. She said a group goal is to regulate, in some fashion, riverbank camping. The group has gathered information about the potential of expanding camping in the area, putting proper sites in the area of the Giant Spruce, with the goal of putting people a short distance from the river rather than having them camping directly on it. “We would like to make sure it’s more regulated, give another variety of camping areas for people who want to come here and make sure things are being monitored more carefully,” she said. Continued on page 6