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Changes to the Agricultural Land Commission debated
A THORO-LY-GOOD SHOW Teresa MALLAM/Free Press
George Thorogood and the Destroyers gave 2,600 fans at CN Centre the real deal, rock n’ roll concert April 30. Their 40-year-strong tour took Prince George by storm and Thorogood – who last visited with his band nine years ago – promised to come back. Review on Page 6.
Cougars sale OK’d by WHL Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com It was a 15-year journey, it was a seven-month journey, or maybe it was a four-month journey. “I’ve mused about it with buddies for maybe 15 years,” Prince George businessman Greg Pocock said on the afternoon of April 30 from Calgary. “The process itself took about seven months, which was much longer than anyone anticipated.” Earlier that day, the Western Hockey League board of governors unanimously approved the sale of the Prince George Cougars to a group led by Pocock. Pocock is the leader of EDGEPRO Sports and Entertainment Ltd, along with Ernest Ouellet, Raymond Fortier and John Pateman. Current NHL players Dan Hamhuis and Eric Brewer, both former Cougars, are also members of the new
ownership group. The transfer marks the end of the Rick Brodsky ownership era. Brodsky brought the team to Prince George in 1994 and had owned it since. Pocock said the key moment came in December. “We commissioned a business evaluator to determine a fair price for the franchise. This was a guy I had worked with in the past, and I trusted his judgment. “He came back and said, ‘Greg, you’ve got to do this deal.’” WHL Commissioner Ron Robison said there were no surprises at the governors’ meeting. “They had a very solid plan in place. They have a lot of work to do, though. “We’re always looking for prominent local businessmen to be the owners, and having a pair of former Cougars in the group as well is great.” Although Pocock doesn’t expect the transfer of ownership to be complete until sometime next week, he and his
partners are already being involved in the team’s future. “We’re going to be meeting with the scouting staff tonight (Wednesday) for the Bantam Draft, which starts Thursday morning. They’ve done a real nice job of including us in their operations already.” The Cougars’ first pick in the May 1 draft was fifth overall and head scout Todd Harkins announced the team had chosen centre Justin Almeida, who played last year with the North Shore Winter Club. Speaking to Shaw TV after the selection, Harkins said: “We’re very excited to have him. He likes to get to the net.” The new ownership group has scheduled a media conference and public welcome for May 13 at the CN Centre. There will be free refreshments outside the arena from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. At 12:15 p.m., the media conference will take place, followed at about 1 p.m. by a cake-cutting ceremony and a meet-and-greet with the new owners.
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ALR changes discussed at meet Bill Phillips editor@pgfreepress.com The meeting opened with a news clip from Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick. The newly appointed minister acknowledged that government hadn’t adequately consulted the public before changing the Agricultural Land Reserve Act and that he would be holding a townhall to gather feedback. The 40 people, mostly farmers, attending the April 24 meeting in Prince George to discuss Bill 24 were appreciative of the chance to express their views at the meeting, and likely appreciative of the news the agriculture minister was willing to listen. However, it is likely all for naught. Core Review Minister Bill Bennett, who initiated the controversial changes to the Agricultural Land Commission and Agricultural Land Reserve, told the Vancouver Sun the same day that, even with Letnick’s promise of consultation, Bill 24 will not be substantially changed. That won’t stop UNBC professor David Connell, who hosted the meeting, from submitting comments given at the meeting to the minister. While the results aren’t really scientific, a straw poll held at the meeting didn’t support the changes. Attendees were asked to pin their vote on a board with options ranging from strengthening the ALR to enacting Bill 24, as is. The vast majority voted to either strengthen the ALR, keep it the way it is, or tweak it slightly. Enact Bill 24 had only one vote. Farmer Brock McElroy had one of the most poignant comments, saying he would support Bill 24 if the changes were going to help farmers, not other interests looking to develop farmland. “The farming community has to have incentive to stay on the farm,” he said. In announcing the changes, Forest Minister Steve Thomson said it is about allowing “home-based” businesses on farms, however when asked what constitutes a home-based business or what kinds of non-farm activities would be allowed, he said those are yet to be determined. Connell opened the meeting with a brief explanation of the changes, which will see the creation of two ALC administered zones. In Zone 1 (the Island, South Coast and Okanagan), ALC decisions will continue to be made on the basis of the original principle of preserving agricultural land. In Zone 2 (the Interior, Kootenays, and the North), ALC decisions will now, in addition to the original principle, include the consideration of non-farm uses. The ALC panels, of which there will be one in each of six regions, will, in Zone 2, be required to consider economic, cultural and social values when determining whether land can be removed from the ALR. They will also have to take into consideration regional and community planning processes and other “prescribed considerations.”
Bill PHILLIPS/Free Press UNBC professor David Connell hosts a meeting recently on changes to the Agricultural Land Commission act.
In announcing the creation of two zones, government has suggested that agricultural quality of land in Zone 2 is lesser than Zone 1, where changes won’t be made. Connell, and most of the farmers in attendance, disputed that contention, saying that there is plenty of Class 2 and Class 3 farmland (with Class 1 being the best) in the Interior. “Zone 2 does possess a lot of good productive farmland,” Connell said. So how much land are we talking about? A lot, and a little. Forty-nine per cent of the Agricultural Land Reserve land in British Columbia is in the North. That’s about 2.2 milion hectares. Lots of land. However, overall, the Agricultural Land Reserve currently only protects five per cent of the British Columbia land mass. So what did the farmers have to say? Phil Myatovic of Cariboo Growers said farmland has to be recognized as having value to all of society, not just farmers. Rather than splitting the province into zones, he said it makes more sense to have stronger protection on the more productive classes 1-3 and lessen restrictions on the lesser productive classes 4-6. Steve Sintich, who has had ongoing battles with the ALR, BC Assessment, and city zoning, said the ALC and ALR should be dismantled. “Land use should come under the jurisdiction of the regional district,” he said, adding such decisions should be made by elected officials. He said he has land that was assessed at $90,000. He sought to have it excluded from the ALR in order to develop it commercially. The ALR turned him down, but granted an exemption to land across the highway from his
property. The BC Assessment Authority subsequently revalued his property at $967,000 and the city now wants commercial taxes on $967,000 rather than farm taxes on $90,000.
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Other issues highlighted at the meeting included difficulty for farmers to have a secondary business on their property and difficulty to have secondary residences.
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MLAs travel Highway of Tears NDP group repeats call for government to take action Bill Phillips editor@pgfreepress.com
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The tour should have gone east-to-west rather than the other way. Three NDP MLAs started their tour of the Highway of Tears in Prince Rupert on April 21 and wound up in Prince George April 23. As they headed east, all the hitchhikers they saw were headed west, so they didn’t get to pick up hitchhikers and hear their stories. NDP women’s issues critic Maurine Karagianis, North Coast MLA, Jennifer Rice, and Victoria-Beacon Hill MLA Carole James (who left the tour partway through to attend a funeral) made the trip to highlight issues surrounding Highway 16, dubbed the Highway of Tears because of the number of women who have gone missing along the route. Hitchhiking is one of the common themes in at least some of the disappearances. “It’s been very emotional for us, it’s been very compelling,” Karagianis said. “We stopped along the highway and realized how vulnerable we felt. No cell service for hours at a time, great distances where you don’t see vehicles for a long period … It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to put yourself in that place and say ‘what if I had to hitchhike to a doctor’s appointment or get food for my children.’ I would be very vulnerable.” She said many people they met on their tour talked about people who have to hitchhike just to go to the corner store. “There are no options for them in these communities.” Bill PHILLIPS/Free Press The NDP are calling on the Liberal government to implement recNDP MLAs Maurine Karagianis, left, and Jennifer Rice meet with the Prince George media after ommendations of the Missing Women’s Inquiry calling for a shuttle touring the Highway of Tears. The trip was to highlight the dangers of the road and call on the bus along the Highway of Tears. government to institute safe public transportation between Prince Rupert and Prince George. “It’s obvious communities are ready to step up to the plate and nities and what is proposed with LNG and other resource development,” said Rice. make this happen as soon as possible,” Karagianis said. The two did not know how much a shuttle service would cost, but said the Liberal Rice said that during one of their stops in the Bulkley Valley, they were presented government should be meeting with communities to discuss what the needs are in with a report from 1998 that highlighted the need for better transportation along each community to find out what will work. Highway 16. “In any case, it’s a small price to pay,” said Karagianis. “The price is very small to pay “The communities that we spoke to thought it was really tangible and do-able conto save one life, let alone many lives.” sidering the amount of wealth that is generated from our resource extraction commu-
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John Rankin eyed the skies over Cottonwood Island Park uneasily. “It wasn’t supposed to rain today,” said the president of J.R. Canadian Mapping. “We can go if it’s raining, but it’s better if it isn’t.” Rankin was hoping for good weather on April 30 as he prepared to launch an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone. As he waited for a break in the intermittent drizzle, Rankin said this was a public demonstration of the drone, but it also was serving a purpose. “We’re doing a job here for EDI. We’re mapping Cottonwood Island Park, and specifically looking to map the course of a stream which runs through the park. It dries up every summer, resulting in a fair bit of fish kill, and they want to see where the stream runs so they might be able to come up with a way to stop it from drying up.” He glanced back up at the clouds above the park, then pulled out a walkie-talkie. “Are the parking lots clear yet?” he asked a couple of other people who were at the other parking lots in the park along the river. “NavCan regulations say we can’t fly over areas where people are, so we have to make sure the parks and parking lots are empty before we take off.” The pair of drones look like they are made of styrofoam, and Rankin explains that’s close. “It’s a form of styrofoam, but it’s tougher and more durable. We sometimes have crashes.” They’ve cut down the number of crashes over the past two years, since they started the drone project. “We’re basically building them from scratch, so we had no idea what kind of flight parameters we had. We had to experiment to find out what their stall speed was, how much of a bank they could make, everything. “There were a fair number of crashes.” The good news, he says, is the body of the
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the crowd of about 30 people who have gathered to watch the demonstration. When everyone is out of the flight path, he winds the launching mechanism up, places the drone in place, and, while Tennant holds the launcher steady on target, he pushes the control to get the drone airborne. “We developed a launcher,” he had said earlier, “because it makes things easier. We can still launch by hand, but having that propeller spinning that fast can be scary when you’re holding it.” The drone launches cleanly and sets off on its programmed path. It will be airborne for about 40 minutes. “Then the real work starts,” Rankin says. “We’ll hook the computer with the images up at the office and the computers there will probably go non-stop for a day or two to process all the Allan WISHART/Free Press information. J.R. Canadian Mapping president John Rankin gives an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, a last check before “Then we’ll see what launching it on a mapping run at Cottonwood Island Park on April 30. we’ve got.” drone is “semi-disposable”, so it’s not says. “It turns out there was no area Welcome to 10 crucial that it hold together after a there to launch or land the aircraft. flight. The important stuff is what’s Most of our flights ended with a inside. controlled crash.” “We have a camera in there, a GPS They switched target areas to ansystem, the motor for the drone, a other CNC area on the Hart Highwhole bunch of other stuff which is way. needed to collect the data during the “We gathered some quite nice data flight.” from that work. We were able to All the flights, including the one generate 3D images right down to the today, have all been carefully mapped individual tree branches.” out, and the route is stored in the They haven’t been able to compare drone’s ‘brain’. Just in case there are maps, though, since the ground mapany problems, though, there is a ping hasn’t been done yet. back-up system. He checks over the radio one more “We do have a handheld remote time. All the areas are clear. And RECOGNIZED BUSINESS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE controller we can switch to at any while the sky isn’t clear, at least it isn’t time,” Rankin says. raining right now. Last year, J.R. Canadian Mapping Rankin and project development had worked on a pilot project with manager Christina Tennant run one the College of New Caledonia to map more series of tests on the drone, ay you look at i one of the school’s research forests, making sure all the controls are funcGrama’s Inn offers you clean, comfortable rooms, t yw then compare its data to that from a tioning and the camera is working. reasonable rates, homestyle cooking from Grama’s ground-based mapping. “Can I get everyone to move that kitchen. Free wireless internet, kitchen suites, “That part didn’t go well,” Rankin way about 30 metres?” Rankin asks
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Teresa MALLAM/Free Press George Thorogood and the Destroyers gave 2,600 fans at CN Centre the real deal, rock n’ roll concert Wednesday night. Their 40-year-strong tour took Prince George by storm and Thorogood – who last visited with his band nine years ago – promised to come back.
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George Thorogood is not just good, he’s one of the best in the business. Time – 40 years of albums and concerts, and counting – has done
nothing but make this “Born SONG LIST to be Bad” blues rocker even better. He Born to Be Bad looks good, he Rock Party sounds good, Who Do You Love he plays guitar like he was born Help Me with one in his Night Time hands. And if he I Drink Alone wasn’t born BSB to be bad, he Get a Haircut learned to act bad... just for Got to Lose show. Move It On Over Dressed in Bad to the Bone black, he’s lean and full of The Madison Blues energy. He jokes around with the crowd, flashes lots of smiles and tells them what they want to hear – besides great music – managing to slip “Prince George” into song lyrics and dedicating Get A Haircut to “sophisticated” rock fans. That kind of natural ease and showmanship only comes at this level of a solid music career that spans decades and includes hundreds and hundreds of live performances. To be honest, rockers have a reputation. They like to party and play around. But I’ve never yet seen one who can flirt with an entire audience. Thorogood does. He turns his back, wiggles his bum, combs his hair with his back to the audience, turns around and, like a black panther, he paces across the stage with the mike in one hand and the audience in the other. Opening with Born To Be Bad, he had 2,600 fans in delirious frenzy in less than five minutes. He told the audience it had been “nine long years” since he and the band last played Prince George – too long, he said. Later on, he promised us to keep coming back here until the day he died. George Thorogood and The Destroyers left us all in a tizzy on April 30 at CN Centre with their 40 Years Strong concert. What a rock party. This one will be hard to top.
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Remembering those who died Mark Johnson is one of the lucky ones. He survived a workplace incident to talk about his experiences April 28 at the Day of Mourning in Prince George. And he doesn’t know how he survived. In September of 2006, Johnson was 21, working in a sawmill in Maple Ridge, just back from holidays. “I was good at what I did, cleanup,” he told a crowd of close to 100 people at the memorial on Patricia Boulevard. “The boss always asked
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me if I needed anything, and I just said, ‘Give me more work to do’.” On this day, he went under the chipper to do some clean-up. “I didn’t shut the machine off. My motto was, ‘What’s best for the mill.’ If the chipper was shut down, the rest of the line would get backed up, so I didn’t shut it off.” It was a job he had done before, but this time something went wrong. “There were some chips stuck hard between the belts, so I reached in to knock them loose. “The belt grabbed my glove and pulled my left arm in. “I lost all feeling in the arm, but I could still feel the pain everywhere else.”
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job if they have safety concerns.” Many of the speakers at the ceremony called for government to do more to criminally prosecute companies with unsafe working conditions, with Lakeland Mills and Babine Forest Products, the sites of two deadly blasts in 2012, coming under scrutiny. Ronda Roche’s husband, Glen, was one of those killed at Lakeland Mills. “You never imagine the possibility of him not returning home,” she said. “He called home to say good-
night to me and my son. “I wish I had known it was the last time. There was so much I wish I had said.” Last year in B.C., there were 128 work-related death claims accepted by WorkSafeBC. Of these, 67 were from occupational disease, mainly due to exposure to asbestos. Bob Matters, the president of the United Steelworkers Wood Council, summed up the purpose of the Day of Mourning simply. “Mourn for the dead, fight for the living.”
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Then he got pulled in to the point where one of the moving belts was against his back. “It didn’t hurt right away, because I had on a safety vest and a shirt, but it ate through them.” Johnson was trapped there for about 20 minutes. “The machine was still running, I kept yelling, but I figured no one could hear me.” Then he started praying. “I remember saying, ‘God, please make it stop’.” And the machine stopped. “A buddy of mine came over to see why the machine had stopped, and I yelled at him. He heard me, and got help.” Afterwards, Johnson found out nobody had stopped the machine. It had apparently stopped on its own. “I remember in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, asking the attendant, ‘Do you think I’ll play baseball again?’ That was the most important thing on my mind.” He had four surgeries in 15 days, and three months of home visits from nurses to pull the bandages off his back, taking off the scabs at the same time. “I was suicidal, but then I decided to do something good with my life.” He went back to school, got his diploma, and found a passion to share his story with others. “How many young people do you know who just fly into their job?” he said to the crowd. “I’m here to tell you, don’t let a young worker tell you, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what I’m doing.’ “Make sure they know they can refuse a WE SELL THE BEST OF SERTA MADE RIGHT HERE IN BC!
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TNW reveals play line up for next season
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town shoemaker who is also a curling fanatic. The last play of the season is a comedic drama, The Secret Mask by Rick Chafe which runs April 23 to May 13 and is the story of a man and his estranged son who, after 40 years apart, must step in and become his caregiver. With the conclusion of the current sea-
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son, artistic producer Samantha MacDonald bids adieu to Theatre North West. At the helm for three years, MacDonald paid tribute to the enthusiastic Prince George audiences at the world premiere and opening of Bemused on April 26. In her artistic producer’s notes, she said: “Bemused is a perfect way to wrap up my time here at TNW... Truly, you are an extraordinary group of theatre supporters – no one could ask for better.” Season passes for the entire upcoming season (four plays) are now available. Tickets for TNW plays can be purchased at Books and Company, 1685 Third Ave. phone orders 250-614-0039.
Allan WISHART/Free Press Prince George Mayor Shari Green, left, Juno Beach veterans John Kuharchuk and Armand Denicola and MLA Shirley Bond officially open the new location of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 43 on April 26. The main room has been designated the Juno Lounge, at the request of a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Juno Beach was one of the five beaches in the D-Day offensive of June 6, 1944. The photos above the door are of Kuharchuk and Denicola.
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ter World War I flying ace Billy Bishop. The Patron Saint of Stanley Park by Hiro Kanagawa runs November 20 to December 10 and is a Christmas fable for the whole family, set in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The Black Bonspiel of Wullie Mac Crimmon runs Feb. 12 to March 4, 2015 and features in the lead role a small-
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Theatre North West (TNW) has announced its exciting line-up of plays for its 20th anniversary 2014/15 season. Billy Bishop Goes to War, written and composed by John Gray in collaboration with Eric Peterson, runs Sept. 25 to Oct. 15. This Governor General’s award-winning musical adventure revolves around central charac-
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(limited time offer) Celebrating over 44 years of service in Prince George & Northern BC Allan WISHART/Free Press Relay for Life team lead Helen Owen, left, Allnorth representative Richard Fairservice and Relay leadership chair Davy Greenlees show off the special draw boxes which will be used to determine the winners of some awards at this year’s Relay, set for May 10 and 11 at Masich Place Stadium.
Relay for Life ready to go Vegas-style this year Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com Call it the Relay that never sleeps. This year’s Relay for Life for the Canadian Cancer Society will feature more lights and more fun when it takes to the track at Masich Place Stadium for 24 hours on May 10 and 11. At a press conference on April 29, Richard Fairservice of Allnorth, the event sponsor, said the numbers are looking good so far for the 22nd annual event. “At last count, we had 1,450 participants on 145 teams, and have raised $180,000 so far. That’s a great start.” Relay leadership chair Davy Greenlees said with the Las Vegas theme for this year’s Relay, there are some changes coming. “We’re going to keep things going through the evening and early morning,” he said. “The ‘Strip’ will be lit up Saturday night, and we’re looking at having live music in the evening, where we usually go to canned music.”
He also suggested those in attendance might want to keep their eyes open. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see some celebrities, like Elvis, showing up at some point.” As a matter of fact, participants are being encouraged to break out their own glitz and glamour as they walk around the track, raising funds for cancer research. And you don’t have to walk, as team lead Helen Owen suggests. “”Anyone who’s interested in doing a marathon will be able to do it. It would be 110 laps of the track at Masich Place.” There will also be a photo booth for individuals and teams, a Monopoly tournament for youngsters as well as a children’s tent, and a Closed Event blackjack tournament, with the top seven contestants advancing to the final table – at 3 a.m. on May 11. Many of the familiar parts of the Relay for Life are still in place, including the Survivors Lap at 10 a.m. on May 10, the Fight Back ceremony at 7 p.m., the Luminaries Ceremony at midnight, and the Celebrate ceremony to wrap things up at 10 a.m. on May 11.
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Wigmore publishes first novella Gillian Wigmore has written her first work of fiction. The book is called Graying. It is a novella about a main character, Jay, who, after going through a health crisis, travels to the remote and challenging Dease River in northwestern B.C. for a canoe and fishing journey. There he meets a stranger who accompanies him for part of his journey, then mysteriously disappears from his life. Wigmore has published three books of poetry, Graying is her first work of fiction. Mother Tongue Publishing describes the book as “a lean and intense tale that takes the reader to
haunting depths. [It is] a seminal and brilliant addition to a neglected genre.” Graying was launched April 3 in Victoria, April 5 in Vancouver and April 12 at Nancy O’s in Prince George, published by Mother Tongue Publishing Ltd. Wigmore has won many awards and garnered acclaim for her writing. The author/poet was a finalist for the 2014 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, finalist for the 2013 Victoria Butler Book Prize, a finalist for the 2012 City of Vancouver Book Award, winner of the 2011 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. In 2008, she won the ReLit Award (Caitlin Press, 2007).
Canadian Mental Health week May 5-11 Canadian Mental Health celebrates mental health week from May 5 to 11. CMHA’s Mental Health Week is a national event that takes place the first week in May to encourage people from all walks of life to learn, talk, reflect and engage with others on all issues relating to mental health. This week is designed as a celebration of mentally healthy lifestyles and positive attitudes, as well
as as source of information and support. Mental Health is more than the absence of mental illness, it is a state of well being and Mental Health Week reminds Canadians that mental health is an important part of their overall health. The Prince George Canadian Mental Health Association centre is located at 1152 Third Ave. For more information visit www.princegeorge. cmha.bc.ca.
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YardSale willing to pay the price Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com On the roller derby track, Karen Lucas goes by YardSale, and she has one thing she would like to change about her body. “I want my legs to look bigger,� says YardSale, now in her fourth year with the Rated PG Roller Girls, with a laugh. “I want to look more intimidating out there.� YardSale and the rest of the Roller Girls were in Chilliwack on the April 26 weekend to take on the NWO Wolfpack. They lost the bout 158 to 102, but, she says, that apparently was a good score for them. “We had three pickup players for the weekend, one from Quesnel and two from Squamish. The girls from Squamish knew the Wolfpack, and one of them told me, ‘(The Wolfpack) was shocked by how close you guys kept it.’ “Apparently they’re one of the better teams down there.� That assessment was backed up by someone else who was on the track for the game. “Crash Test, who was one of the refs for the game, came over to (Roller Girls coach) Loki and I after the game and said, ‘Really celebrate this loss, because that’s one of the best teams down here.’� For YardSale, roller derby was something she got into because, well, people already thought she was in it. “For years, people were asking if I ever did roller derby. I played ringette for a couple of years, and I did some roller-skating as a kid, but that was about it. “It didn’t take long to adjust when I started playing.� She has also found she enjoys being a jammer, the skater on the team who breaks away from the pack at the beginning of each jam and attempts to score points by lapping the players on the other team. “Jamming is not for everybody,� she says with a laugh. “A lot of times, it’s five against one when all of their skaters set up a wall to stop you getting by.� Her occasional feelings of frustration about this outnumbering wasn’t helped at a boot camp she attended in Kamloops. “We had a pro coach from the U.S., and all they were talking about to start with was ways for the wall to stop the jammer.
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“I eventually put up my hand and asked, ‘When are we going to get some tips on how to beat the wall?’� YardSale says it’s funny some of the things you notice when you go on the road. “Up here, you can take a look at a player’s skates and get a good idea for how much experience they have and maybe how good they are. “Down south, everyone has access to a skate shop, so they’ve all got nice skates.� This was also the first time this season they’ve played on a cement track. “It feels different. It’s faster going one way, but then it’s slower if you’re going the other way.� After talking to players on other teams and seeCourtesy NWO Wolfpack ing how they play, YardSale of the Rated PG Roller Girls gets caught in an NWO Wolfpack sandwich during a recent YardSale says she roller derby bout in Chilliwack. has discovered the best thing about the Roller Girls. 21 “People like being part of the Roller Girls. I’ve CK Series been on some teams where nobody gives you compliments on the bench if you make a good play. “Here, we do it all the time. I think it surprised the players we picked up on the weekend to hear compliments from us.� The Roller Girls were off lat weekend before hosting Energetic City from Fort St. John at the for Roll-a-dome on May 10. Its the last home bout of the season for the team. Doors open at 6 p.m., first jam starts at 7 p.m.
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Teen aiming for national title Kyla Arnett, 18, was recently named Miss Teenage Northern B.C. 2014. The second-year CNC business student is now out to capture the national title, Miss Teenage Canada, in Toronto in July. She wants to be the top candidate in raising funds for the pageant’s chosen charity, Free the Children. Her goal is is raise $8,000 to $10,000 for Free the Children, which supports impoverished families in poor countries such as Ecuador, Kenya and India. Funds raised by each candidate count towards their judging points for the title and the participant raising the most funds will go to a Free the Children site somewhere in the world. “More importantly, the funds provide food, clean water supply, new schools and even live goats to help them become more self-sufficient,” said Arnett who grew up in Mackenzie and graduated from high school in Prince George. Now a CNC Hu-
man Resources Management student, Arnett says she’s not really “into” beauty pageants. “I’m not a typical pageant girl. I’m more the type of girl to go and shovel horse manure.” What inspired her, she says, was the B.C. teen pageant’s slogan Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful. “I saw it as an opportunity to promote my own chosen platform which is to help children reduce the stigma around people with disabilities.” Kyla’s 13 year-old cousin Kirsty lives with a developmental disability. “I’ve watched her struggle by being labeled as different both in and out of school. I’ve seen the hurt when she’s been left out of birthday parties and other events,” said Arnett, who has a mission to find ways to educate and encourage people of all ages to include those with disabilities. She uses social media like Facebok to promote activities and programs such as the Therapeutic (Horse) Riding Group where she sees disabled children
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Prince George teen Kyla Arnett will compete in the Miss Teenage Canada pageant in Toronto in July.
become more confident and grow socially. As well as raising funds for Free the Children, each candidate must raise the $2,500 pageant entry fee within a designated six-week time frame. Arnett plans to organize events like bottle drives and dances to supplement sponsors’ support she has gained but she needs the support of the whole community to rally round her, says Annette Stevens, CNC communication services, in a press release. “I would like people to contact me with ideas,” said Arnett. “I’m willing to speak at events and use
my First Aid Level three skills where I can. I have a lot of volunteer experience and I’m pretty good a demonstrating products.” She and 64 competitors across Canada will also be judged on social media skills, promotion of their own platforms, fitness, an evening gown section and interviews during the five-day event in July. To help Arnett with any fundraising ideas, sponsorships or donations contact her via Facebook at www.facebook.com/ KylaMissTeenageNorthernB.C.2014 or her blog at missteennorthernbritishcolmbia.com.
Singer-songwriter Jasmine Netsena set to play Nancy O’s in Prince George 15
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421 Dominion St. PRINCE GEORGE BC V2L 5G1 250.562.2323 butterflythreads@shaw.ca www.butterflythreads.ca
She’s charmed audiences in Nashville, Texas, New York City and all across Canada before Jasmine Netsena from Fort Nelson, B.C., felt it was time to bring out a debut album. Take You With Me was released April 22 and local audiences can hear the singer songwriter when she
I wanted to make a record that could get on the radio. visits Nancy O’s in Prince George on May 8. Netsena grew up surrounded by the sounds of country, folk and blues, which she incorporates into her music. The lyrics come from her personal life and are strongly rooted in her homeland. She travelled to Whitehorse in 2013 with producer Bob Hamilton and the pair settled down to recording in Hamilton’s Old Crow Recording Studio with several guest artists. They created an album with a full, rich sound. “I wanted to make a record that could get on the radio” Netsena says on her website. That is how I first heart artists like Kim [Beggs] and Indio [Saravanja].” Music was a big part of Netsena’s life growing up in B.C. “My First Nation heritage is Dene and Tahltan and my grandmas would sing to me a lot, in their first language,” she says. “Those were mostly drum-based songs. My mum is a huge music fan and I grew listening to a lot of country and folk music, from George Jones to Neil Young and Bob Dylan.” Jasmine Netsena plays Nancy O’s, 1261 Third Ave. on Wednesday, May 8 starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door. For more on Nancy O’s visit www.nancyos.ca. For more on the artist visit www.jasminenetsena.com.
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Homesteader MEATS Celebrating May
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Ben’s Double Smoked Bacon 5 lbs Courtesy Barefoot Caravan World music band Barefoot Caravan plays Artspace on May 24. Tickets are at Books and Company.
Barefoot Caravan plays Prince George on May 24 Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com Barefoot Caravan hails from the Okanagan but they play music that comes from around the world. They also write and perform original music. The five-piece band’s upright bass player, who goes by the social media nickname “Stand-up Steve”, spoke to the Free Press recently. “We’re based out of Vernon and we’ve been together for about two years now. Right now we’re busy working, randomly, on four to six songs for a new EP and we hope to have the release party before we leave so they should hopefully be ready when we get to Prince George,” he said. Barefoot Caravan plays Artspace above Books and Co. May 24. For their visit to P.G., the band will perform as a four-piece with Steve on bass, “Moot” on guitar, Angela Roy on vocals and Taylor Poffenroth on drums. All accomplished musicians, the band members have a unique way with rhythm and harmony that magically turns songs in several languages into universal music that is both danceable and easy to listen to sitting down – although it’s likely to pull you onto the dance floor. Barefoot Caravan plays on outdoor stages and indoor venues, summer festivals, and in winter, they perform at house concerts, carnivals and in schools as part of artists in residency programs. “Music and the arts are a gateway to knowing ourselves,” it says on the band’s website. Besides playing music for enjoyment, the band writes that their goal is to re-connect people to the world we live in together. Steve, the band’s primary songwriter, agrees. “We take world music and traditional folk songs and we put our own arrangements to them, making them more upbeat and kind of reggae sounding. A lot of what we do is AfroCuban music or African. Last time we were in P.G., Earl [Krushelnicki] got us radio play on CFUR and so we’re happy to come up there again.”
Roy is a talented vocalist who sings in several different languages. “Angela sings songs in four African languages – as well as English, French and a language of the Caribbean,” says Steve. “Moot’s sister was friends with Angela and I met Moot at a jam session, an open mic, and we all just starting working together. You will hear three-part harmonies on the EP from our band. Moot does a lot of ritual music, I do a lot of the songwriting and it all fits with the world theme and with reggae.” How did they get their name? “We needed a band name so we brainstormed and bounced around about a thousand names. “That one stuck.”
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