Thursday, February 14, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
The College of New Caledonia gym floor was damaged on Friday afternoon when a pipe in a wall burst. The floor is likely beyond repair.
Broken pipe destroys gymnasium floor Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca A broken pipe has washed out the hopes of hundreds of athletes and thousands of students who use the College of New Caledonia gym. It was in use when water came cascading through a wall and rolling across the enormous floor, on Friday. “It was like a fire hydrant,” said one witness. “I have literally spent thousands of hours in this gym and it was brutal to watch its destruction.” “There was about three inches of water built up before the water could be shut off, and it all came in just a few minutes,” said
CNC spokesperson Alyson Gourley-Cramer. “It was one of our largest pipes that burst. We actually had one of our Kinesiology classes in the gym at the time. Within half an hour the water was gone but the damage was done.” It is not certain that a replacement will be required, but frequent users of the facility said the floor was not in prime condition in the first place, and the signs of the water’s destructive powers are in evidence since the flash flood. “We got people in to assess the situation, specialists in wooden gymnasium floors, and there is also the sub-floor to consider, but we have not heard back what the plan of action will be,” Gourley-Cramer said. “Wooden gym floors are extremely durable,
so I can’t say if it was due for a replacement or update anyway, but we do keep it in good shape and constantly maintain it.” It is a heavily relied upon facility in the city, one of the largest gymnasium spaces in the region. The Prince George Youth Volleyball Club is one of its most frequent users, but also badminton, wheelchair sports, basketball, martial arts, Cedars Christian School has used it as their off-site school gym, plus it is busy with CNC’s in-house functions like intramural sports, employee pickleball, the Kinesiology classes, and other college functions like exams, student awards ceremonies, plus various public events. It was a site used for the 2015 Canada Winter Games gymnastics events, it was
turned into a dormitory during the wildfire evacuations the past couple of summers. “We have a lot of community partners, some of them really long-standing, that utilize the gym. It is busy almost 90 per cent of the time,” said Gourley-Cramer. It is too early to know how these past practices will have to adjust for the future. The flood also caused the closure of the CNC squash courts, weight room, some classrooms, and the bouldering wall. These places did not get wet, the water was confined to the gym, but air quality testing had to be conducted on the adjacent rooms to ensure healthy breathing. That was completed and the green light given on Wednesday afternoon to reopen as soon as can be arranged.
Trafficking charges draw federal time Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Sage Bialuski has written and recorded the 2019 Para Nordic Ski Championships theme song.
Local songwriter pens Para Nordic theme Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff Whenever song and sport line up together in Prince George, it seems to be Sage Bialuski waiting at the finish line. The young singer-songwriter was only 16 when her composition Finish Line was selected to be the 2015 Canada Winter Games theme. Now, at age 20, she was commissioned to write the theme for the 2019 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships. She called the song Know My Name and she will debut the song on Friday night at the opening ceremony, performing it live with Curtis Abriel and Nick Tindale backing up her
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piano/vocal skills. “I’m really excited,” she said, then immediately added the confession, “I’m nervous.” It’s a constructive feeling for both sides of her Renaissance personality. In addition to her accomplishments in music, she is also a dedicated athlete. Her specialty is nordic skiing (check the last three letters of her family name: it was written in fate). “My whole life I’ve had this sports side of me and the music side of me,” she said. “Musically, I write a lot, composition comes easily to me, and the sports side has taught me the hard work that it takes to excel, and I’ve been able to translate that into a
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song that combines those things. It’s about how there’s no rapid route when you want to be the best, just hard work, consistency, everybody thinks you’re crazy for loving it so much, but you’re devoted to your passion, you push through all those days, and you go with your heart.” She flexes that sports dedication in her professional life right now. She has launched Bialuski Studios where she teaches piano students (contacter her through Facebook). It’s also where she composes a lot of her original material, starting with chords, progressing to melody lines, then lyrics form around those core sounds. — see ‘IT’S ABOUT, page 3
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A Prince George man was sentenced Tuesday to a further two years plus a day in jail for possessing fentanyl-laced heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine while out on bail on charges of possessing the same types of drugs from a separate arrest. In sentencing Jeffrey Austin Theriault, 26, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Francesca Marzari agreed to a joint submission from Crown and defence councils that called for 30 months in jail for possessing the heroin and concurrent terms of 24 months for the methamphetamine and the cocaine. Less credit of 180 days for time served prior to sentencing, Theriault has a further two years plus a day to go, which means he will serve the time in a federal institution. Theriault was out on bail facing charges from a July 2016 incident when, in July 2017, police had reason to believe he was again dealing in illicit substances. A search warrant was executed on a home in a local trailer park where police found Theriault along with 18.18 grams of fentanyl-laced heroin, 18.09 grams of methamphetamine and 11.17 grams of cocaine as well as $7,705 in cash, scales and packaging materials. In September 2018, Theriault
was sentenced to 20 months time served for the previous arrest, when he was found in possession of 24.33 grams of heroin, 247.12 grams of methamphetamine and 14.07 grams of cocaine. Theriault has a Grade 11 education and is qualified to work in the oil and gas industry but has earned most of his living in the illegal drug trade. He’s also had a history of using drugs and alcohol dating back to an early age and became addicted to fentanyl in recent years. He has also been unwilling to get treatment and counselling although he started but did not complete a program during his most recent turn in custody. However, Theriault has indicated he wants federal time to access the resources at that level. Theriault continues to face drug-related charges plus counts of assault with a weapon and unlawful confinement or imprisonment from an alleged Feb. 1, 2017 incident in Prince George.
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(Police) found Theriault along with 18.18 grams of fentanyl-laced heroin, 18.09 grams of methamphetamine and 11.17 grams of cocaine...
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