P R I N C E G EFOR ORGE C ITIZEN NEWS REOPENING – PAGE 3 READY TOURISTS P.G. BUSINESSES WELCOME U.S. BORDER PODCAST POSSIBILITIES STUDIO OPENS DOOR TO A WORLD OF PODCASTING – PAGE 7
PRINCE GEORGE 0
58307
00200
T H U R S D A Y , J U L Y 2 9 , 2 0 2 1 | A1
P.G. SENIOR’S WORK HAS TAKEN HIM AROUND THE WORLD – PAGE 8 5
$2.00 Your community newspaper since 1916
Thursday, July 29, 2021 PRINCEGEORGECITIZEN.COM
PRINCEGEORGECITIZEN
New pool project $1.5M over budget HANNA PETERSEN
Although the downtown pool replacement project is less than halfway finished, it’s projected to be about $1.5 million over budget.
The additional costs are associated with two main issues: primer failing on the pool’s structural steel beams as well as pipes and unsuitable soil found below the swimming pool tanks that had to be removed. In a report delivered at Monday’s city council meeting (July 26), acting director of civic operations Blake McIntosh, explained that in mid-December 2020 primer-coated structural steel for the new pool was delivered in “good order” and subsequently stored under cover on-site. But by early 2021, the city says it was evident that the primer had started to fail and would need remediation. The primer coat is essential to protect the steel against a humid environment. “To limit impacts to the construction schedule it was determined the best course of action would be to ship the structural steel offsite to a controlled environment and remediate the primer and a local fabrication shop,” said McIntosh. See ‘CITY INTENDS‘ on page 5
CITIZEN PHOTO BY JAMES DOYLE
The new pool under construction downtown is $1.5 millon over budget, according to a report that went before city council on Monday night. The pool is being built to replace the Four Seasons Leisure Pool which closed last year.
No extra jail time for robber who left victim with brain injury
ARTHUR WILLIAMS A robber whose daylight attack left a prominent local social worker with a life-changing brain injury will serve no additional time in jail. Marshall Randolph Schulze plead guilty to robbing Diane Nakamura on Oct. 29, 2018, when she was walking along Fifth Avenue near Quebec Street. As Schulze and Nakamura struggled for control of her bag, Nakamura fell and hit her head on the sidewalk, suffering a concussion that left her unable to work, sleeping 12 to 18 hours a day and feeling emotionally dead inside, according the victim impact statement she presented to the court in November. The attack happened just a month after Nakamura was named the Prince George Community Association’s Citizen of the
Year for her social work and advocacy. On Friday, Provincial Court Judge Michael Brecknell issued Randolph Schulze a suspended sentence, with 36 months of probation. In addition, Brecknell ordered Schulze to perform 100 hours of community service, donate $1,500 to the Prince George Brain Injured Group over the next three years and provide a DNA sample to the RCMP databank. Brecknell also issued Schulze a lifetime ban on owning firearms. “There is no need to incarcerate Mr. Schulze for the standard duration. What would that accomplish? The public is not in danger from Mr. Schulze as long as he maintains his mental health and sobriety,” Brecknell said. “The court’s decision may not find favour with Ms. Nakamura and her supporters… (but) his future
positive progress is exactly what she tried to achieve in her career.” Schulze spent 131 days in jail following his arrest and the Crown had asked for a sentence of 12 to 20 months in custody, followed by three years probation. In his ruling, Brecknell agreed with Schulze’s lawyer that his efforts to treat his drug addiction and get counselling, maintain a full-time job as a carpenter, and turn his life around following his release from jail constituted exceptional circumstances that warranted a suspended sentence. In a letter written by Schulze to Nakamura, which was read by his lawyer during his submissions to the court earlier this year, Schulze took responsibility for his actions and offered an apology for the harm he’d done.
The community is better served by allowing Schultze to continue his rehabilitation into society than by sending him to jail, Brecknell said. However, if Schultz violates “even one term of the probation order,” he will be back before the court in Prince George to face sentencing for his crime, Brecknell said. Schulze appeared in court remotely from Abbotsford, where he now lives. Following the ruling, Nakamura said she agreed with the judge’s decision. “Even though my life has been drastically altered by his actions, I agree with the judge saying that sending him to jail won’t be in the community’s interest,” Nakamura said. “He is young, and he has his whole life ahead of him.” — With files from Mark Nielsen