The Prince George Citizen ­ Thursday, January 15, 2009 ­ 5

Tenant tells court he smelled gunpowder
Citizen staff The B.C. Supreme Court trial for Leonard Freedom Ballantyne, charged with second-degree murder, continued into its second day Wednesday. The charge arose from a shooting in Fort St. John on Sept. 12, 2006. Defence counsel closely questioned a tenant of a Fort St. John apartment complex who said he went out into the hallway from his suite that day. He saw a man in the hallway and at first thought there had been a fight and that man had been punched hard in the stomach. The tenant went back into his suite. "When I went out there, I assumed it was a fight, and I didn't want to get involved," the tenant testified. However, a few moments later the tenant went back into the hallway again, court heard. "Later he (the man in the hallway) told me he was shot," the tenant said, who said he smelled gunpowder. The tenant also said that, in an earlier incident at the apartment complex, he saw a man with a chainsaw outside a vehicle in the parking lot. The trial continues.

Citizen photo by David Mah

SNOW GOES -- Dump truck loads of snow are still arriving at the Guay Road Snow Dump. The daily average is 250 -- last week with the record snowfall, 900 loads were dumped in one shift.

OUT OF MINUTES
Police talk about teen's last phone calls
by FRANK PEEBLES Citizen staff Police in Williams Lake revealed Wednesday that four phone conversations took place with Matt Armstrong in his final hours, but searchers were unable to find the missing teen before he succumbed to the cold. It was also explained that a stabbing incident that night also diverted police officers who otherwise might have helped find him sooner. The 18-year-old died of exposure New Year's Day after leaving a house party on foot and getting lost in the woods. The first 911 call came via Armstrong's cell phone at 5:02 a.m. "Over the course of these phone calls to 911, it is clear that Matt Armstrong was scared and very e m o t i o n a l , " s a i d W i l l i a m s L a k e RC M P spokesman Cpl. Marc Menard. "He provided the 911 operators with indicators that would suggest alcohol was influencing his behaviour. He clearly identified himself as Matt Armstrong and gave 911 operators his cell phone number. He told the 911 operators that he was lost in the forest somewhere off of Dog Creek Road. He asked for help and wanted police to find him. (He) could not remember what direction he took when he left the party at his friend's house. He indicated that his cell phone battery was running low so the 911 operator suggested they keep the calls short in order to conserve the battery power." Within 10 minutes of the 911 phone ringing the first time, dispatchers relayed the message to Williams Lake RCMP to begin the search. "The 911 operator was told that all the investigators were tied up at (Cariboo Memorial Hospital) and Riske Creek with a stabbing investigation," Menard said. However, Mounties understood the gravity of the situation and at 5:33 a.m., members went to work on locating Armstrong. However, another distress call interrupted, this time a disturbance in progress. One suspect was arrested, and afterwards Mounties went back to the task of finding Armstrong. They got to the Dog Creek area at 6:22 a.m. "Over the course of the next four hours, RCMP investigators conducted numerous inquiries with people who were at the house party and they searched for foot tracks in the ditches," Menard said. "The person responsible for the house party admitted to investigators that they had a large party and that lots of liquor and marijuana had been consumed. He told investigators that Armstrong was picking fights with people and was quite agitated. He guessed he last saw Armstrong just after midnight." Police were in contact with Telus, Armstrong's cell phone service provider, to try pinpointing his location using the cell. They were told that was not possible with only one tower in the area. A police service dog unit from Prince George was called in, as was a helicopter. The dog arrived and went to work but bad weather prevented the helicopter from flying. Cariboo Search and Rescue was also activated when a key piece of information gave a reasonable search area. "At 10:30 a.m. the investigators found a witness who told them that Armstrong was last seen on Dog Creek Road heading to Ottoman Road at approximately 3:30 a.m.," Menard said. "This is actually in the opposite direction to (his) residence. At 12:37 p.m. an RCMP investigator found footprints in the snow in an area off MacPhearson Wynd Road. The tread pattern appeared to be consistent with the boots worn by Armstrong. The SAR team started searching this location at 1 p.m. At 3 p.m. searchers found Armstrong's body in the snow in a wooded area beside Bond Lake Road and parallel to Dog Creek Road. "Whether there was more that could have been done to assist Mr. Armstrong remains to be seen and is certainly one of the things we are trying to find out with the review process," said Menard.

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Forest execs make pitch for help
The Canadian Press VANCOUVER -- Canada's troubled forest industry is getting a sympathetic hearing from Ottawa's decision-makers on the eve of the federal budget. Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt reacted positively Wednesday to a five-item set of proposed budget measures tabled at a meeting with forestry executives in B.C. on Wednesday. And the head of the Forest Products Association of Canada, who chaired the session, said package already has all-party support. The forestry sector wants the Jan. 27 budget to include:  Guaranteed access to reasonable credit;  Tax incentives for investment and innovation;  Government support for research and development, market development and product promotion;  Help with the industry's transition to becoming a bio-energy supplier;  Extension of the employment insurance work-sharing program. It's not a bailout, said association president Avrim Lazar. "All of that government can help us with, without bailing out and without subsidizing," he said after the meeting with Raitt. The minister was non-committal on what would show up in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget but noted some of the demands, such as thawing credit access, cut across Canada's manufacturing sectors. "The requests that we receive pretty much build on what this government has been doing," Raitt added. Money is already being spent to help natural resource industries develop and market products, she said, and the Employment Insurance work-sharing program is being used to keep mills open in resource-dependent communities. Both Raitt and Lazar acknowledged any measures directed to the forest industry have to be mindful of U.S. sensitivities over the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement. The accord, which ended more than five years of punitive U.S. tariffs on Canadian lumber, bars anything that smacks of subsidy. American industry groups have already filed two complaints that Canada is breaking the deal, which are undergoing arbitration. "We've been very clear with the government that we want them to protect and ensure that both industry and government respects the softwood lumber agreement," said Lazar. "We've also been clear that we don't want governments to hide behind it and actions can be taken that are acceptable under the agreement that will help the Canadian industry prosper." The forest industry has been struggling since long before last fall's financial meltdown. Almost before the ink was dry on the softwood deal, U.S. lumber demand began sagging as the country's housing bubble burst. The mortgage crisis only made things worse and now the economic malaise has spread to other wood-products sectors such as pulp and newsprint, and other regions, including the Chinese market. The association reported that more than 200 mills have closed in the last five years and tens of thousands of workers have been laid off. But Lazar stressed that the industry has a promising future. Today, it still accounts for 12 per cent of Canada's manufacturing gross domestic product, employing 300,000 people directly and another 750,000 indirectly. "We reminded the minister that the forestproducts industry in Canada employs more people than the automobile industry and the five big banks combined," Lazar said. The industry wants to keep forestry jobs in Canada, Lazar said, a veiled reminder the recent wave of mergers and consolidations has meant many companies now have U.S. operations.

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