MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 201 4 | WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA
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CITIZEN PHOTO BY ARTHUR WILLIAMS/DAVID MAH
Prince George Heritage Commission vice-chairperson Ranjit Gill (left) and local historian Valerie Giles (right) present the Heritage Citiation Historic Places Award for 2014 to Bishop Stephen Jensen (centre, left) for Sacred Heart Cathedral, below, Saturday while cathedral architect Trelle Morrow (centre, right) looks on.
Cathedral earns historic nod
Arthur WILLIAMS Citizen staff awilliams@pgcitizenxa
  Sacred Heart Cathedral was recognized by the Prince George Heritage Commission for nearly 90 years of history on Saturday.
  The commission presented the cathedral with the Heritage Citation Historic Places Award for 2014 in a ceremony at The Exploration Place. Sacred Heart Cathedral, located on Patricia Boulevard, was originally consecrated as a parish church on Christmas Eve in 1924.
  “The parish Sacred Heart has been there nine decades in that spot,” local historian Valerie Giles said. “There has been two churches on that site.”
  The current building was consecrated in 1961 and rededicated as a cathedral in 1968, Giles said in a written statement.
  Bishop Stephen Jensen said the award is a recognition of the people who built the church and made it a part of the community and their lives.
  “This is a wonderful initiative, and we need it more now than ever,” Jensen said. “People of the faith have always had the impulse to act... to make the world more just... The history of our diocese in Prince George shows that. People of faith saw a need and took action.” Despite having more access to historic information and more ability to document history through electronic media, Jensen said, people today “know less of our history... than it used to be.”
One of the accomplishments of the Sacred Heart diocese was the creation of a credit union to provide loans and mortages to people who needed access
  to them, he said. That credit union has since become Spruce Capital Credit Union and continues to operate today.
    Retired architect Trelle Morrow, who designed the current cathedral, said the cathedral is an example of the changes happening in building design during the 1950s and ’60s.
    “In the 1950s we were going through an architectural revolution. It’s the ideas that really were important in church work,” he said. “In Sacred Heart we went with a vertical theme. That’s why it is 60 feet high inside.”
   Morrow said the committee he was working with at the time also felt it was important to use local materials - to put an emphasis on wood construction.
   The prominent use of wood has returned as a building theme, he said, and modern architects should look at the work he and his contemporaries were doing 50 to 60 years ago.
   “What it does is express how we were thinking in the 1950s and ’60s,” Morrow said. “Most of the churches in Prince George were built in [that time.] I was fortunate to be part of that.”
Cuts coming to arts groups
Charelle EVELYN Citizen staff
cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca
  Local arts groups used to a portion of their budget coming from the city will have a little less to work with.
  As part of the core review process, council agreed to combine the funding available for the social, cultural and community enhancement grants into one fund, called the myPG Social Development Fund.
  Under the new fund - that has one application and adjudication process instead of three - the city would enter into three-year agreements with successful applicants, according to the core review implementation plan.
  Traditionally, more than half of the $357,350 (55 per cent) available to local non-profit groups has gone to three organizations: Theatre Northwest, the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and the Community Arts Council.
  The Cultural Grants program provided Theatre Northwest and the PGSO with approximately 13 per cent of their annual revenue and seven per cent of the Community Arts Council’s income.
              In a report from the finance and audit committee up for council approval tonight, the recommendation is to enter into new agreements that even out those percentages to 10 per cent of the trio’s respective annual revenues across the board, freeing up another $27,000 for other projects by 2016.
  The committee is recommending the allocation for the three groups remain the same in 2014. In 2015, it would shift to 11.5 per cent for TNW and PGSO and
8.5  per cent for CAC before hitting the 10 per cent target in 2016.
  Ultimately by 2016, the PGSO would receive $15,000 less, Theatre Northwest would get $21,600 less and the Community Arts Council would get $9,600 more.
  The new myPG Social Development Fund would focus on projects aligning with the areas of clear identity and pride, cultural richness and safe environment.
Road works
  An extra $2.6 million worth of road and sidewalk work will be done this year with the extra federal gas tax money identified during the 2014 budget dis-
  cussions.
    In a report to council, operations superintendent Bill Gaal outlines a variety of gravel road, residential road and sidewalk rehabilitation and accessibility improvements to be tackled with Community Works Fund cash unspent and unallocated from previous years.
    The money will add to the already approved road improvement budget of $7 million and “allows for a small contingency for any unforseen expenses arising during the construction of these projects,” said Gaal’s report.
  Sewer sign-off
    Council will be asked to give first three readings to a bylaw implementing a new tax on Hart Highlands residents.
    The local area service bylaw allows for the homeowners getting connected to the the sanitary sewer main to be charged an extra line on their property tax until the $2.4 million city-fronted loan is paid off.
    One hundred properties from Berwick and Dundee Drives, Wallace Crescent, Wallace Place and a portion of Langley Crescent are affected.
Piers Morgan show done
The Associated Press
  LOS ANGELES — CNN says the prime-time talk show Piers Morgan Live is coming to an end.
  Morgan succeeded Larry King in the 0200 GMT time slot three years ago, but his show has had lacklustre ratings.
  CNN said Sunday that the show’s final airdate has yet to be determined.
  Morgan is a former British tabloid editor who turned to television, including stints as a
                                      judge on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice.
  He hosted BBC’s You Can’t Fire Me, I’m Famous and did interview shows and documentaries for ITV.
  Morgan told The New York Times that he and CNN President Jeff Zucker were discussing a new role for him at the channel. CNN’s audience has tired of hearing a Brit weigh in American cultural issues, Morgan said in a story posted online Sunday.
 Case now in hands of Crown, says WorkSafeBC
 —from page 1
   “[WorkSafeBC] was not using any standard major case management methodology. This approach left important issues partially or wholly unexamined,” said Crown’s statement. “Within the specific context of the Babine investigation, this approach has significant implications for the legal admissibility of evidence gathered by [WorkSafeBC].”
   McCloy declined to comment on WorkSafeBC’s confidence in its investigation methods or the likelihood of similar concerns being raised by the Crown in the case of Lakeland Mills.
   It is completely up to the Crown to decide what it will do with the information now, he said.
   A spokesperson for the Criminal Justice Branch was unavailable for comment as of press time.
   In the case of Babine Forest Products WorkSafeBC linked the explosion to the accumulation of sawdust and had recommended that charges be laid for:
 • Failing to prevent hazardous accumulation of material
 • Failing to safely remove combustible dust
 • Failing to ensure the health and safety of workers
 • Failing to remedy hazardous workplace conditions
   Since the announcement by the Crown in January, the B.C. Coroners Service announced it will conduct an investigation into the Babine explosion. In addition, last month Premier Christy Clark said she has appointed the B.C. Civil Service, deputy minister John Dyble, to review the WorkSafeBC investigation and Crown counsel decision.
   A spokesperson for Sinclar Group Forest Products, the parent company of Lakeland Mills, could not be reached as of press time.
   The rebuilding of Lakeland Mills began on July 22 and, in previous statements, Sinclar president Greg Stewart said he anticipates the mill will reopen this fall.
 Mill safety report pending
 WorkSafeBC expects to release a public report on sawmill safety in the coming weeks, spokesperson Scott McCloy said.
 Following the deadly explosions at Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake and Lakeland Mills in 2012, WorkSafeBC launched a series of inspections into the province's sawmills.
 "We began a new phase of inspections... that started on Nov. 1 and concluded at the end of January," McCloy said. "We will be able to have some information on that in a week or two"
 A previous update from the inspection process in August 2012 concluded "that both beetle-kill and green wood dust pose a high risk of explosion when the moisture content of the dust is below five percent and particle size is less than 75 micrometers. Dust with this moisture content and particle size is found on elevated surfaces [in sawmills] such as rafters, beams, inside dust collectors, and on the surface of air separation systems as well as in hot dry environments such as process equipment and light covers."
 In that update, WorkSafeBC urged employers to ensure dust isn't allowed to accumulate to levels where it could pose an explosion risk.
 "Generally we're seeing good progress on the part of sawmills," McCloy said.
                                                                                                                                           — Williams, Citizen staff
 Trio arrested in Esquimalt robbery
   ESQUIMALT (CP) — Three youth have been arrested following a takeover style robbery in Esquimalt.
   Victoria police responded to a distress call about a holdup at a local store on Saturday night.
   Police say three suspects entered the store, and pointed a gun and bear spray at the two employees.
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