COUGARS, KINGS EAGER TO START SEASON – PAGES 12-13 MINE DISCHARGE IRRESPONSIBLE, CHIEFS SAY – PAGE 17
PRINCE GEORGE 0
58307
00200
HOMELESS ADVOCATE SUGGESTS TINY HOMES COULD HELP – PAGE 15
5
$2.00 Your community newspaper since 1916
Thursday, March 18, 2021
PGCITIZEN.CA
PRINCEGEORGECITIZEN
City slapped with CN crossing bill ARTHUR WILLIAMS
The taxpayers of Prince George are on the hook for more than $100,000 to upgrade the safety features at a railway crossing on Otway Road.
CN Rail is planning to install gates, bells, flashing lights and a constant warning time system at the crossing, located 4.2 kilometres northwest of Foothills Boulevard, acting director of civic operations Blake McIntosh told city council. The roughly half-million-dollar project is expected to be finished this month, he said. “A constant warning device is necessary to detect varying train speed for the new system to provide consistent warning time to motorists approaching the crossing. The addition of gates will further improve the overall safety at the crossing by reducing driver complacency and address existing roadway geometry and sightline concerns,” McIntosh wrote in his report to city council. “In 2019, the same system was installed at both the east Otway Road crossing and the Wilson Park access crossing as part on CN’s rail line twinning project.” See THIS on page 3
CITIZEN PHOTO BY ARTHUR WILLAMS
A CN Rail train approaches a railway crossing on Otway Road. The City of Prince George is being hit with a bill for more than $100,000 to upgrade the crossing.
SEX CRIME LEADS TO FOUR-YEAR SENTENCE A man found guilty of confining and sexually interfering with a seven-year old-boy a decade ago was sentenced last Friday to four years in prison.
His name cannot be published under a court-ordered publication ban against information that could identify the victim. Crown prosecution had been seeking
up to five years, while defence counsel argued for three years in a federal prison or, alternately, two years less a day in a provincial jail followed by probation of up to three years, the maximum allowed for time served in a provincial institution. According to a brief summary when submissions on sentencing were given earlier
this month, the man was in an extended stay with the boy’s mother and effectively acting as a stepfather. In August 2011, the man had been supervising the boy and his younger sister while their mother was at work. The court heard he had tied up both children and forced the boy to perform a sexual act on him.
The man, who was found guilty after a B.C. Supreme Court trial in Prince George, denies the acts and maintains his innocence. In a statement to the court, the boy’s father said his son continues to suffer nightmares and day terrors as a result. The allegations were first reported to police three years ago.