Issuu

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

These are the students from Harwin Elementary who will be hocking papers this morning for the annual Raise-A-Reader campagin. The school was a recipient of one of the grants distributed throughout the area.

Raise-A-Reader day raising funds for literacy Christine HINZMANN Citizen staff chinzmann@pgcitizen.ca There will be groups of orangeclad volunteers located at strategic spots throughout Prince George this morning between 7 and 9 a.m. as Raise-A-Reader once again collects funds for literacy programs in Prince George. Residents who visit any McDonald’s, Ritual Coffee, Books & Co., Denny’s, Zoe’s, the College of New Caledonia, UNBC or the Telus office on Sixth Avenue, will have the opportunity to donate to the literacy cause as volunteers offer The Citizen newspaper. Marnie Alexander, community coordinator at Harwin Elementary School, said not only are the students recipients of grants from Raise-A-Reader, they have volunteered on Raise-A-Reader day for the last eight or nine years,

as well. Alexander and 14 students and their families can be found at the 15th Avenue McDonald’s and Starbuck’s bright and early this morning. MLA Shirley Bond is a perennial volunteer who helps promote literacy in the province. “I am always so impressed to see students from Harwin Elementary as part of the Raise-A-Reader team,” Bond said. “They bring so much energy and make it a really fun morning. What a great way for them to learn firsthand about giving back to the community. We hope lots of people will come by and make a donation and let the students know how much their volunteering means.” Bond will be volunteering with the Harwin students because she knows how important these literacy programs are to everyone. “I try to participate in the Raise-A-Reader fundraising event

every year whether I am in Prince George or working somewhere else in the province,” Bond said. “I love to read and I can’t imagine what it would be like to struggle reading a bus schedule or your prescription. By supporting the Raise-A-Reader program it means extra support for literacy programs and supporting children and families who may need some extra help.” Harwin has been the recipient of numerous grants from RaiseA-Reader and last year Harwin Elementary received a $2,500 grant, Alexander said. “The grant went in part to our Read and Run to the Sun program,” Alexander said. “The kids were raising money to go to the Vancouver Sun Run (10 km run) so it was a literacy and fitness based program.” Children had to read 1,500 ageappropriate pages from teacherapproved material to reflect how

many kilometres Prince George is from Vancouver and back. The children had to provide a variety of projects about what they read, including book reports and dioramas. The children also participated in a running program three to four days a week from September to April. “It was a cool program,” Alexander said. “It was a pilot project and it went really, really well.” There were 20 students from Harwin and 20 students from Spruceland Elementary who went on the trip. Part of the grant also went to a Dr. Seuss-themed literacy week at the school, which hosted a book fair that included all the students. Part of the literacy week was a reading challenge where each student could read with a family member for 20 minutes a night, bring back the form once the chal-

lenge was met and there was a prize drawn where the winner got an iPad. “We had great involvement in that and during Literacy Week we had guest authors come into the school to read to the children,” Alexander said about the annual event. It’s important for the children to participate in the Raise-A-Reader fundraiser, she added. “Even if we don’t apply for grants we promote literacy and volunteerism,” Alexander said. “I think it’s really, really rewarding for our kids and it’s important to give back because we’ve always had a ton of community support for everything we do in our school. So I think it’s really important for the kids to give back.” For those who can’t attend the locations where fundraisers will be, there’s still a chance to make donations online at raiseareader. com/donate.

Council lowers business licence fee in giving initial approval to cannabis bylaws Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca City council voted 6-3 Monday night to significantly reduce the fee the city will charge retailers for a business licence as part of passing a series of bylaws and a policy in the lead-up to legalization of cannabis next month. Those who set up shop in the city will be charged $1,000, well down from the $5,000 staff had recommended in the name of recovering the costs related to policing, bylaw services and public education. Coun. Garth Frizzell suggested $1,000 as an apt amount. Municipalities are seeking a 40-per-cent share of the provincial government’s excise tax on cannabis, but how much local governments will receive remains up in the air. “On the side of not wanting to prejudice them toward keeping the money in the

Today’s Weather Hi +8° Low +3° See page 2 for more details and short-term forecasts

LOCAL HOROSCOPE OPINION NEWS MONEY

provincial coffers, I want to protect us by having a high fee,” Frizzell said. “But the small business person in me is saying ‘look, this first year we’re not going to get a flood of people and we’re uncertain of what the revenues are going to be on any side,’ so my inclination... is to take that fee of $5,000 and bring it down.” Coun. Brian Skakun followed up with a motion in support of Frizzell’s suggestion. He called $5,000 “unfair and excessive” and dismissed the need to charge the same rate as other communities. Council had been told $5,000 is at the lower end of what other municipalities are charging. “We have a lot of entrepreneurs in the community that really want to step up and run legitimate businesses selling a quality product that isn’t contaminated,” Skakun said. “We want to take some business away from organized crime and I think this is the perfect opportunity.”

1-5 2 6 7 8

SPORTS A&E COMICS CROSSWORD CLASSIFIEDS

9-10 11-12 12 12 13-16

If the stores prove to be putting a strain on policing, council can always come back and increase the fee, Skakun added. At $280, liquor stores are charged significantly less and Coun. Terri McConnachie said she did not see much of a difference between them and cannabis stores in terms of cost to the city. On that note, planning and development general manager Ian Wells said the city’s fees will be going through a review that should be ready for council by late next year. Coun. Frank Everitt said he’d be more comfortable with $2,000 or $2,500 but was willing to go with $1,000 and “correct if needed” at a later date. Mayor Lyn Hall took the same position. Coun. Murry Krause said the reduction might encourage owners to manage their businesses well because if they cost the city a lot to deal with, the fee could be increased in the future. Councillors Albert Koehler, Jillian Mer-

Young named player of the year SPORTS 9

www.pgcitizen.ca

rick and Susan Scott voted against the motion. Koehler said he is simply “against this stuff” and suggested the fee be doubled or even more to “make it difficult for anyone to obtain this stuff.” Merrick said the rate proposed by staff is evidence based and does not impose a significant barrier to entry given the relatively low costs businesspeople otherwise face to open a store. “If we look at restaurants, for example, the licensing is very cheap but a commercial kitchen can cost you upwards of $40,000 or $50,000,” she said. “A cannabis retail facility would not, infrastructure wise, be an expensive business to do. You could do it out of a closet and a bookshelf.” In all, council passed three bylaws and a policy related to cannabis through first and second reading. A public hearing on the items will be held on Oct. 1 with final readings slated for Oct. 15 if they remain unchanged.

Newsstand $2.00 incl. tax Home Delivered 95¢/day

58307

00200