The Prince George Citizen - Monday, March 3,1997 - 3 Second Front Armed robber sought Citizen staff Police are looking for a man who held up a convenience store. At 4:23 p.m. Friday a lone man entered the 7-11 store at 1588 Spruce St. wearing a black ski mask, mirror sunglasses, a blue denim jacket and black jeans. The man demanded cash, produced the butt end of a gun and received an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect fled on foot. The man is described as being of slim build or five feet, seven inches to five feet, 11 inches tall. Anyone with information is asked to call RCMP at 561-3300 or Crime Stoppers at 564-8477. Victim named Bruce William MacDonald, 42, was the man killed when hit by a log truck on the Pelican Forest Service Road Thursday RCMP released the name Sunday. Police and the coroner’s office are continuing their investigation. Stolen car A white 1990 Acura Integra was removed Sunday from 2033 Bowser Ave. It has the licence number PAK 668. If you are following this stolen car or see it occupied, call 911 immediately. Do not try to stop the vehicle or the occupants. If you have information on any vehicle theft, call Crime Stoppers at 564-TIPS. Fatal crash leaves void in many lives Moviegoer fatally shot NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. (CP) — \ firefighter and his friend tried to resuscitate a fatally shot man in a movie heatre, but after a few ragged breaths re died. “All of a sudden we heard shots and ;aw two men running for the exit,” ;aid firefighter Noel Hickey >vho sat ust four rows behind the victim. “We thought it was part of the movie it first, but people were running werywhere,” he said. A gangster shooting was just to start n the movie when the real shots rang rut. The victim, Mohammad Mirhadi, vasn’t as lucky as the film star. Police say the shooting may be gang-mlated. by KEN BERNSOHN Citizen Staff Death is easy to ignore when it doesn’t affect us. We see a 30-second story on television or see a name in the newspaper and that’s it. But the five young people who died in a head-on collision with a logging truck near Dome Creek last week were more than names. They were part of our community, and their passing will have a lasting effect. It already is. A graduate of Prince George Secondary School, accident victim Shane Edward Mazur, 20, used to spend a lot of time at Betty Landry’s house, because her son Rene was Shane’s best friend. Betty opened her house immediately after the accident so friends of those COUNCILS GIVE VIEWS ON LIQUOR, GAMBLING by Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Three-quarters of B.C. mayors and councillors are against pool halls selling alcoholic drinks and oppose the expansion of gaming in restaurants. They are slightly more supportive of allowing liquor stores to open on Sunday — only 58 per cent oppose the notion. Fifty-two per cent don’t want liquor stores to accept credit cards. The views of the municipal representatives are contained in a survey conducted by the Union of B.C. Municipalities for Tex Enemark, the former civil servant hired by the province to study changes to B.C. liquor laws. Enemark submitted his report to the ministry of the attorney-general on Friday. His mandate was to review five proposed changes to provincial liquor laws: opening liquor stores on Sundays, licensing billiard halls, use of credit cards in liquor stores, licensing so-called U-brew operations and entertainment and gaming in restaurants. But civic politicians who responded to the survey failed to endorse any of the proposed changes. On Sunday, Enemark would not disclose what recommendations he had made, but said the study played an important role in his report. He was less concerned with the numbers in the survey, which he called “pretty unscientific,” than he was with the written comments of the 145 civic politicians who responded. “I took a lot of confidence out of the general comments that were made by the UBCM people,” he said. Enemark believes local politicians have a good grasp of what’s on the minds of British Columbians. Groups representing restaurant and bar owners have been lobbying Victoria to update liquor laws they term antiquated. who died would have a place to gather. It’s been a place where they could share their memories and not try to hold back their emotions. At one point Landry had 30 people in the house at the end of last week, and five stayed overnight Friday. The people grieving were too upset Saturday to share memories of their friends with others. Derrick Dias Barata, 19, Correlia Britt Dahl, 18, Dennis Joseph Geizer, 24, and David Jason Marshall, 22, were the others who died in the accident. The founder of the Rodena Ukrainian Dance Company, Shane Mazur was an accounting student at the College of New Caledonia with a grade average close to a perfect 4.0. He was a budding entrepreneur who eventually wanted to start his own business, said his father Edward. David Marshall will never get to see his son Joshua, 2, grow up. Marshall worked at Shopper’s Wholesale and Rosel’s Restaurant, but one of the loves of his life was the outdoors, spending a lot of time each sum-mer hiking, according to Michelle Thomas. Dennis Geizer had a ski trip planned with his fiance Sheri Mazur, and was going to go to the College of New Caledonia in September to start a millwright’s course. After graduation he planned to get married. A member of the Rodena Ukrainian Dancers, he was active, camping, swimming and involved in sports, according to Sheri. He also enjoyed working on cars, and helping her dad. Having earlier studied at Blackburn Junior Secondary School, Derrick Barata was finishing his Grade 12 course at Prince George Secondary School. He was planning to attend the College of New Caledonia to study mechanics and related fields, said his father, Tony. He liked to play soccer, and was a member of a community men’s team. “He enjoyed the outdoors and fishing,” Mr. Barata added. Correlia Dahl had also studied at the Blackburn school, but was not currently a student. ■ A notice in the Saturday Citizen about a bursary in honor of Shane Mazur had the wrong address. D.P. Todd Secondary School’s address is 4444 Hill Ave., Prince George V2M 5V9. Citizen photo by Chuck Nisbett ASTRONOMY AS ART — David Dodge, Pacific Space Centre production technician, adjusts the Starlab projector prior to a workshop at the Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum Saturday afternoon. Dodge presented Tours of the Stars, a planetarium-style show in the Starlab portable planetarium. The event was well attended. Police back the! VANCOUVER (CP) — The Vancouver police are backing Const. Dave Hancock, the officer found liable for shooting a Stanley Cup rioter in the head with a plastic bullet, police spokeswoman Const. Anne Drennan said Saturday. “We fully support Const. Hancock and support the action he felt he had to take that night and will continue to support him,” she said. In a 100-page ruling, Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen found Hancock was not justified in shooting Ryan Michael Berntt on June 14, 1994 — the night a riot broke out in downtown Vancouver after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final to the New York Rangers. Cohen said the shooting — the second time Berntt was shot that night with an Arwen crowd control gun — amounted to assault and battery. But he found that Berntt was a riot ringleader and 75 per cent responsible for his injuries because he had refused to leave the area when ordered by police after he was shot the first time. $1 million needed for rescues VICTORIA, B.C. (CP) — Search and rescue volunteers need $1 million more to preserve lifesaving operations on the west coast. The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary has asked the federal government to increase its national funding this year to $2.5 million from $1.5 million, said Alex Muir, president of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, Pacific branch. Without the extra money, the volunteer network will have a hard time training people in remote communities, such as those on Vancouver Island’s West Coast, and maintaining the level of service its volunteers provide year-round. chalssahcc School The Prince Oeorge Independent School Society Quality Independent Education INFORMATION REGISTRATION NIGHTS Wednesday, March 5,1997 7:00 pm 1919 - 17th Avemrae 111 ' ' T- For More Information Call % 562-8345 Fostering Educational .Excellence February warm, sunny and a bit wet by PAUL STRICKLAND Citizen staff February paradoxically had more sun and more rain than is average for the second month of the year in Prince George. The city received 14.1 millimetres of rain and 27.8 centimetres of snow last month. That combined to produce a total of 38.1 millime-res of precipitation. Normally in February Prince George gets only 8.2 millimetres of rain but receives 31.6 centimetres of snow. These combine to produce 35 millimetres of precipitation. “So this February was above normal for rain and below normal for snow,” said Teresa Gairns, weather services specialist in Prince George. Much of the extra rain came on Feb. 15, when 10.5 millimetres fell on the city. But we had 92.3 hours of sunshine last month, compared to the normal 84.2 hours of sunny weather. “It was definitely sunnier than we would usually expect,” Gairns said. Not surprisingly Prince George set a record for a daytime high temperature for Feb. 16. That was 9.5 degrees, breaking the previous highest maximum for that date of 8.1 degrees noted in 1977. Overall average temperatures were higher last month, Gairns noted. The mean maximum temperature for the month was 1.9, and the mean minimum, the average of overnight lows all month, was -7.5. The mean for the whole month — the average of all the high and low temperatures — was -2.8. Normally the mean maximum temperature is -0.7 and the mean minimum is -10.3, providing for a overall mean temperature for the month of -5.4. “We were warmer than normal,” she said. Public works crews this winter have clearly had more work to do clearing snow from city streets than in most years. From the start of the season through Feb. 28 this year, the city got 217.8 centimetres of snow. Average snowfall from the beginning of the season through the end of February is 197.3 centimetres. Social worker’s memory honored Citizen staff A Celebration of Social Work event will honor the memo ry of Sheila Bitschy of Prince George and, at the same time, establish a new UNBC bursary in her name. Bitschy, a professional social worker, was killed in a car accident Nov. 6,1996 on Highway 16 West. Her death was a tragic loss, says Annette Dowling, a social worker with Intersect Youth and Family Services, who worked closely with Bitschy. “Her compassion and belief that service providers needed to be responsive to a family’s needs in a holistic manner were a driving force in developing the concept of Intersect,” said Dowling, who describes Intersect as an integrated agency offering a whole variety of services to children and families. That was just one of Bitschy’s innovative ideas. She was also instrumental in developing the Northern Child and Family Clinic, based locally, but with a mandate to serve northern B.C. It’s unique around the world, said Dowling, explaining the SHEILA BITSCHY staff is a multi-disciplinary team of pediatricians, a mental health therapist, social worker and public health nurse to provide assessments where child abuse is suspected. Bitschy worked for several years as area manager of Family and Children’s Services where she took on bureaucrats standing in the way of change, and was an advocate for children, youth and families “in the truest sense in that she was willing to address issues at both individual and systemic level in order to get the job done,” said Dowling. The Celebration of Social Work begins at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at UNBC with a buffet dinner, entertainment and a silent auction. Tickets at $25 are available at Intersect at 562-6639, UNBC Child Welfare Research Centre 960-5714, Ministry for Children and Families 565-6220 or Beth Chamberlain at 565-6876 (days) or 562-4033 (evenings). Money raised at the auction will be di vided between the Bitschy and Northern Branch bursaries. Bursary donations will be received at the event or any time at the bursary fund department at UNBC at 960-5756. NEWS TIP? 562-2441 Local 382 Contaminated Sites Regulation Industry Information Session BC’s new Contaminated Sites Regulation comes into effect April 1, 1997. The Ministry of Environment, Lands, and Parks will be holding an information session in Prince George to provide industry and related sectors with an overview of the regulation’s requirements and processes: Monday, March 10,1997 Registration: 8:00am - 8:40am Session: 9:00am - 4:30pm Ramada Hotel 444 George Street Prince George Registration fee for the session is $100 per person (cheque only). Registered participants will receive a copy of the Contaminated Sites Information Binder containing relevant legislation and supporting materials. In addition to the full-day session, a two-hour public information forum will be held in the evening from 7:30 - 9:30pm at the Civic Centre, 855 Dominion Street,This session is free of charge & does not include a copy of the information binder, Those wishing to attend the full-day session, should register by March 6,1997. To register for the full-day session contact the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks in Prince George (565-6135), Williams Lake (398-4530) or Smithers (847-7260) ^British Columbia Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks SMA69071 Does your M-l-G-R-A-I last longer than your You may have the kind of migraine that outlasts your medication. And then... the pain comes back again. But now, your doctor could have good news. Find out more. Call 1-800-726-6697 Ji SMA68810 SANDOZ Division of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. M&97-02-3550B