Trudy Klassen invites you to a truck rally – page 10 Kathy Nadalin profiles a one-of-a-kind Moose – page 13
Prince George Thursday January 23, 2020 Your community newspaper since 1916
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Moreareakids in poverty, report says Lori CULBERT/Postmedia Mark NIELSEN/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Citizen Photo by James Doyle
Guest trombonist Brian Wendel plays during the Prince George Symphony Orchestra’s Songs, Stories & Serenades concert on Saturday night at Vanier Hall.
Man guilty of drug, gun crimes Mark NIELSEN the damage found in the suite. Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A Prince George man who was the subject of an RCMP surveillance operation was found guilty of 14 drug- and firearms-related counts. Ricky Allan Frederickson was arrested on June 1, 2017, a day after RCMP began to shadow him. He was seen driving around the city in a large SUV and meeting up with people and stopping at locations known to police while also periodically returning to his 400-block Gillett Street home. Police had also determined he was moving into an 800-block Johnson Street home, apparently because he had been evicted from the Gillett Street one due to
Police moved in on Frederickson after they saw a woman stop at the Gillett Street home, leaving the door of her pickup truck open as she ran inside, to make what appeared to be a quick drug purchase. When she was pulled over, RCMP found needles and a flap of heroin in a glasses case in her purse, making Frederickson valid for arrest on a count of possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. Frederickson, meanwhile, had gone to a 1900-block Maple Street home. He stayed there for two hours and upon leaving was arrested. In the SUV, RCMP found a satchel containing large quantities of drugs, cash
and Frederickson’s wallet, along with a deconstructed taser, knives, a baton and a digital scale with drug residue on it. A lease agreement for the Johnson Street home with Frederickson’s name on it, and keys to the home, were also found in the SUV. In the master bedroom of the Johnson Street home, RCMP found a handful of firearms and a lock box that, upon being unlocked by one of the keys found in the SUV, was found to be holding more drugs. Other than a bed, there was not much left in the Gillett Street home. However, RCMP did find ammunition and digital scales holding residue from a variety of drugs in various locations. See JUDGE on page 4
Nearly one in five children living in the Fraser-Fort George Regional District live in poverty, according to a report released last week. First Call: B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition says 3,860 children, or about 19 per cent of those living in the FFGRD, live below the after-tax lowincome measure or 50 per cent of the adjusted median household income. The proportion is about on par with the provincial average but up from 17 per cent reported two years ago. The numbers issued Tuesday are from 2017 Statistics Canada data - the most recent available. It also says 52 per cent of children in lone-parent families in the FFGRD are under the mark, compared to 51 per cent for the province as a whole while seven per cent of children in two-parent families are in that situation, compared to 11 per cent for the province as a whole. The poverty rate for all those living in the FFGRD stood at 15 per cent, compared to 18 per cent for the province. In an interview, First Call provincial coordinator Adrienne Montani said the provincial NDP deserves credit for pledging to cut child poverty in half by 2024 but it will have to act with far more urgency in order to meet that target. Montani said she remains “cautiously optimistic” for two reasons. One is a pledge to fund the child opportunity benefit, which will provide tax-free monthly payment to families with children, pegged to a parent’s income, starting Oct. 1. The second is how quickly the NDP will continue its investment in affordable child care. In turn, Social Development and Poverty Reduction Ministry Shane Simpson said child poverty numbers have come down in recent years, largely due to a benefit plan introduced by the federal Liberals in 2016. See CITY on page 4