Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 59 • Issue 2
Missing 29-year-old Thompson woman found dead Jan. 6 outside a house in Eastwood Police say they don’t yet know if her death was a criminal matter NEW YEAR’S BABY BORN JAN 1 NEWS PAGE 2
OSWALD SAWH WINS NATIONAL VOLUNTEER AWARD NEWS PAGE 2
RCMP vehicles were at a taped-off crime scene at a house in Thompson’s Eastwood neighbourhood on the morning of Jan. 7, where officers had found a 29-yearold woman dead outside the previous evening. Thompson RCMP were alerted just before 6 p.m. Jan. 6 about a woman’s body outside of a residence on Queen’s Bay. Attending officers determined that it was a woman who had been reported missing on the afternoon of Jan. 3 Information posted on social media Jan. 6 said that the woman was Stephanie Munroe-Chartier. “It is undetermined at this time whether criminality is a factor in the death,” said an RCMP press release. The RCMP Major Crime Unit is assisting the ongoing investigation and an autopsy is pending.
Thompson Citizen photo by Ian Graham RCMP were at a crime scene on Queen’s Bay in the Eastwood area of Thompson Jan. 7 where a woman’s body had been found outside the previous evening.
Thompson Liquor Mart sells nearly 800 bottles of Westminster sherry in less than five full business days Over 1,300 bottles on hand at 3 p.m. Jan 7, 800 more than any other Manitoba store that carries it BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
NORTHSTARS START 2019 STRONG SPORTS PAGE 7
CURLER TURNS CALENDAR MODEL SPORTS PAGE 8
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries (MBLL) was criticized in a recent CBC article for its sales of low-priced sherry at an Ellice Avenue Liquor Mart in Winnipeg, but it’s possible the store in Thompson may sell even more of the $10 booze. From 2015 to 2017, the Liquor Mart at Ellice Avenue and Hargrave Street in Winnipeg sold 103,533 bottles of London Westminster Canadian Apera – priced at $9.64 (after going up from a price of $9.37 the previous week) for 750 millilitres, with 20 per cent alcohol. It is kept just steps from the till there, CBC said. But on Jan. 3, a product search on the Liquor Mart website showed that the Thompson store had more than 2,000 bottles, and they are kept behind the till here, so buyers have to ask for them. By Jan. 7 at 5 p.m., there were only 1,373, with
121 bottles having been sold in seven hours of business that day. The Ellice Avenue store had the second-highest number of bottles in stock in the province as of 5 p.m. Jan 7, with 523 bottles. An inquiry to MBLL regarding how many bottles of London Westminster are sold per year at the Thompson Liquor Mart has not been answered yet, but Thompson Recycling Centre manager Billie-Joe Thompson said the facility processed 13,500 bottles from April 1, 2017 to March 31 of last year, and 8,700 from April 1 of last year until now. MBLL provides $2,000 annually towards the bottle return program, which pays out 10 cents for each bottle, which are accepted in bags of 100. Thompson community safety officers disposed of nearly 2,200 bottles of liquor and picked up more than 2,000 bottles through the first 11
months of 2018, down 52.2 per cent and 45.4 per cent, respoectively, from the previous year, when they disposed of our picked up a total of about 6,500 bottles. The Thompson Liquor Mart may also refuse more customers for being intoxicated than the Ellice Avenue store – 5,500 in 2015 compared to 4,000 at the Ellice Avenue store in 2017. The Thompson Citizen has asked MBLL for the number from more recent years. Addictions Foundation of Manitoba spokesperson Jennifer Faulder told the Citizen in an email Jan. 4 that accessibility is only one factor in the addictions puzzle. “Making one substance more difficult to obtain will not necessarily lead to reduced addiction or problematic substance use,” she said. “Effectively addressing addiction and problematic substance use requires a comprehensive, collaborative, multi-sectoral
Thompson Citizen photo by Ian Graham Thompson’s Liquor Mart had more than 1,400 bottles of London Westminster Canadian Apera, commonly known as Westminster sherry, in stock at 3 p.m. Jan. 7, down from more than 2,100 on Jan. 3. MBLL pulled Kingsgaapproach. That is why any strategy to reduce addiction te35eserve Canadian Apera and problematic substance use off the shelves of the Thompneeds to be part of a broader son Liquor Mart in 2010 – and subsequently out of the store systemic approach.” Examples of that approach, completely – after then-mayor said Faulder, include an alco- Tim Johnston raised concerns hol strategy developed by the about it being sold. Kingsgate province in 2015 and the more Reserve is also 20 per cent alrecent Mental Health and Ad- cohol and sells for $9.99 for a 750 ml bottle. dictions Strategy.