Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 58 • Issue 45
Erratic man yanks fire alarm then tries to abduct five-year-old at Thompson’s Highland Tower BY KYLE DARBYSON
KYLE@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
ROTARY FLAG RAISED AT CITY HALL NEWS PAGE 2
TRANSIT OPERATORS HAD 7 DAYS TO PREPARE PROPOSALS NEWS PAGE 3
SISTERS TAKE COOKING SKILLS TO NATION’S CAPITAL NEWS PAGE 5
Highland Tower residents got a rude awakening Oct. 28 when a man set off the fire alarm and then pulled a five-year-old child away from his mother as they made their way out of the building. The fire alarm was pulled around 8:20 a.m. and police arrived approximately 30 minutes later to apprehend the man who set off the alarm. Thompson RCMP detachment Insp. Brian Edmonds said officers arrested 33-year-old Shawn Packo. He is charged with assault, offences related to pulling a fire alarm and adult abduction of a person under 14. A fifth-floor Highland Tower tenant, who wishes to remain anonymous, witnessed the man who pulled the fire alarm’s erratic behaviour moments before the attempted kidnapping took place. Not only did he pull the fire alarm on the fifth floor multiple times after setting it off at the building’s entrance, but this resident said he tried to grab her son as well. “He was smaller, so I didn’t feel threatened by him. He seemed more
Thompson Citizen photo by Kyle Darbyson Tenants and members of Thompson Fire & Emergency Services subdued a man on the fourth floor of Highland Tower Oct. 28 after he pulled the building’s fire alarm and attempted to abduct a five-year-old child in the building’s stairwell. afraid, but he was grabbing at my son.” The man repeated this action a second time in the stairwell and managed to tear a five-year old child away from his mother as they attempted to exit the building. “He was really squeezing
him tight, which could have hurt him,” said the woman. “The child was just terrified, just screaming at the top of his lungs. And the mom was screaming at the top of her lungs.” Luckily, some fourth floor tenants managed to intervene at this point and
First water quality retest sample comes back negative for coliform bacteria BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
10TH SMALL BUSINESS EXPO BIGGER NEWS PAGE 6
OUTGOING TRUSTEES HAD LAST MEETING OCTOBER 23 NEWS PAGE 9
remove the child from the man’s grasp. “We ended up tackling him outside the door here. We held him and I got my son to go see if anybody else was available,” said tenant Rob Flamand. “Before we could really do much while still holding him down the
firefighters came through the elevator.” Flamand and the firefighters held the man down until police arrived. Highland Tower resident manager Teresa Bartz believes that the man didn’t know the family or really understand what he was doing, since it seemed to her that he was under the influence of some kind of drug. “He wasn’t in a proper mental state, that’s for sure,” she said. “He was definitely delirious. He really thought somebody was following him. Even on the video, when we watched him come in, he kept looking out the door. He thought he was being chased.” While the mother of the temporarily abducted child was disturbed by the incident, Bartz said she was in a much better state of mind when she talked to her two days later. “She said it was very traumatizing for her and her son. She said her son has calmed down a bit, but he’s still rather shaken.” Edmonds said the family didn’t report any physical injuries from this incident. This isn’t Bartz’s first encounter with the man, who she said pulled the building’s fire alarm around a
The first retested water sample taken after Oct. 31 samples triggered a boil water advisory for the City of Thompson water system came back negative for coliform bacteria Nov. 4, the city says. “The first round of water quality retests returned to us Sunday evening, testing negative for the total coliform bacteria that triggered the initial precautionary boil water advisory,” said a city news release sent out Nov. 5. “However, the advisory remains in place pending the results of the second retest. The Medical Officer of Health will make a determination on the status of the precautionary boil water advisory issued on Nov. 2.” Routine samples taken on Halloween came back positive for coliform bacteria
Thompson Citizen photo by Ian Graham A sign in the Thompson Regional Community Centre Nov. 4 reminds residents not to drink from water or taps due to a precautionary boil water advisory that was issued for the City of Thompson water system Nov. 2. on the afternoon of Nov. 2, prompting a precautionary boil water advisory to be issued. The reason for the two-day lag time is because the samples have to be sent
to Winnipeg for analysis and then be allowed to incubate for 24 hours before results can be measured, the city said in a Facebook post Nov. 3.
“The province of Manitoba’s Office of Drinking Water expects that results from the second retest will be available tomorrow by noontime, 12 p.m.,” said the City of Thomspon on social media around 4 p.m. Nov. 5. “Once the results are received, the province will advise the City of Thompson how to proceed, and an update will be posted shortly afterwards.” Until the advisory is lifted, water used for consumption should be brought to a rolling boil for at least one minute before being used to drink or make ice, to prepare beverages such as infant formula, to wash or prepare food including fruit or vegetables, and for brushing teeth. Water used for laundry or washing dishes does not need to be boiled and adults and older children that are able to avoid swallowing water can
wash, bathe or shower with it but young children should be sponge bathed. If boiling is not practical, bottled water should be used. Commercial, public and permitted facilities such as restaurants, health care facilities, day cares and other private facilities that provide food and water services must use a safe water supply such as bottled water to prepare food and beverages. Uncooked food and beverages prepared with tap water before the advisory was issued must be discarded. Beverage dispensers and fountains must be disconnected. The boil water advisory prompted Thompson schools to send out messages to parents Nov. 4 asking them to send drinkable water to school with students and to remind them not to drink out of water fountains or taps while at school.