Prince George Citizen November 14, 2018 by Prince George Citizen

Wednesday, November 14, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Firefighters were called to a blaze at a vacant house on Fifth Avenue early Tuesday morning.

Firefighters douse early-morning house fires Citizen staff Prince George Fire Rescue firefighters found themselves doing double duty early Tuesday morning when two house fires erupted

in short succession. At 2:22 a.m., they were called to an abandoned home in the 1700 block of Fifth Avenue where they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the back side of the

building. They contained and eventually extinguished the fire but the building suffered major damage, PGFR said. Cause of the fire is under inves-

tigation. Twenty minutes after the first call, they responded to a call from a home in the 2200 block of Redwood Street for a fire that started in the laundry room.

The fire caused extensive damage to the laundry room and sent smoke throughout the home, PGFR said. A family of three was safely evacuated.

Man gets more jail time for shooting Sawmill workers call off rotating strikes Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca

A Prince George man was sentenced Tuesday to a further 23 months in jail for pulling the trigger on a woman in a targeted shooting in a local park. In all, Jeff John Lapier, 36, was sentenced to six years but received credit adding up to four years and one month for time served in custody prior to sentencing. He must also serve three years probation upon his release for the Feb. 15, 2016 incident in Moore’s Meadow. Lapier had targeted the woman, whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban, because she was a key witness at a trial, the court was told. She had been at Lapier’s apartment the night before and he pulled her aside to talk about the case. After about an hour, she went home but during the early morning hours on the day in question, Lapier and his girlfriend, Ashlynn Noel Ruth Forrest, picked her up at her home, ostensibly to go back to his home to do drugs. Instead, they took a circuitous route around the city and ended up at Moore’s Meadow. The child locks had been activated, so the woman had to be let out of the car.

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Lapier checked to see if either Forrest or the woman had cellphones, which they did not, and then told them he was looking for something he had stashed. The woman suspected he was actually looking to make sure the coast was clear and became fearful she was going to be shot. She pointedly walked in front of Lapier and Forrest, hoping she wasn’t going to get shot in the head, the court was told. Lapier fired off four .32-calibre rounds and three of them hit her. One hit her upper back and went through her lung, and the other two pierced her lower back on either side of her spine. The woman fell to the ground and Lapier and Forrest fled the scene. As they ran away, the woman held her breath because she could hear gurgling noises when she breathed. She managed to drag herself a short distance to the side of Foothills Boulevard and flagged a passing driver. Police and ambulance were called and she was taken to the emergency ward at University Hospital of Northern B.C. Her life was saved, but she suffered extreme injuries with lifelong consequences. Physicians removed about a foot of intestine from her but were unable to ex-

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tract one of the bullets. However, she did not provide a victim impact statement and instead has concentrated on getting her life in order. She’s completed one year of sobriety and is doing well, the court was told. As for Lapier, the court was told he is also a changed man. In the time he has been in custody, he has taken significant strides to rehabilitate himself and deal with his drug addiction. “I’m trying to do whatever I can to be better in life and never be in this court again,” he said when given a chance to speak. While he has an extensive criminal record, the last offence prior to the shooting was committed in 2010, it was also noted. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale agreed with a joint submission from Crown and defence counsels on sentencing. He called the incident “disturbing and serious” but also noted the progress Lapier has made. Lapier had originally been charged with attempted murder. But in late-October, he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of discharging a firearm with attempt to wound as well as aggravated assault. As for Forrest, the court was told she was a bystander who had no idea of Lapier’s intentions.

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Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff The union representing northern B.C.’s sawmill workers has called off its campaign of rotating strikes for the time being while also keeping an eye on negotiations to the south. In a statement posted Thursday on its website, United Steelworkers Local 1-2017 said it and USW locals based in Kamloops, Kelowna and Cranbrook have agreed with the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association to mediation through the B.C. Labour Relations Board. The IFLRA represents employers in the southern Interior. Mediated talks were scheduled for four days this week, the USW said, following an inability to reach a new agreement after the groups’ fourth bargaining session, which ended Nov. 1. “No job action will take place while the mediation process is engaged,” the local said. The local went on to say Canfor’s recent announcement to curtail production by 10 per cent, “looks more like a bargaining tactic than a reflection of

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markets.” It said Canfor reported “record profits” in the third quarter. Canfor reported third-quarter earnings of $125.3 million, doubled from the year before despite lower lumber prices, raising the year-to-date total to $407.3 million. However, the figure was down from the second quarter when Canfor took in $169.8 million. “Forestry employers across the province have expressed concerns regarding high stumpage costs. Based on last quarter’s lower lumber prices, that rate is expected to decrease accordingly beginning January of 2019,” the local said. It said the IFLRA has yet to match the last proposal put forward by the Council on Northern Interior Forest Employment Relations, the bargaining agent for 13 northern B.C. sawmills employing roughly 1,600 workers. “Meanwhile, CONIFER continues to demand the concession of working 40 hours at straight time if a statutory holiday falls on a rest day, among others,” the local said.

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