Friday, September 7, 2018 | Your community newspaper since 1916
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Hot wheels Prince George firefighters were called to put out a car fire on Highway 16 West in the Gateway on Thursday morning.
Pioneer doctor, author mourned Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Lyn Hall announces his re-election campaign for mayor on Thursday on the steps of city hall.
Hall makes it official Ted CLARKE Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca Four years ago, Lyn Hall announced he was running for mayor of Prince George. On Thursday, he announced he has no intention of leaving that position. He is the first and only mayoral candidate to declare he will run in the Oct. 20 municipal election. “It’s a great job and I feel so humbled to be able to do it,” said the 63-year-old Hall. “I am absolutely passionate about this community. It’s a vibrant city and it’s a city that has so much to offer everyone.” Hall says infrastructure improvements remain a top priority and he highlighted the need to work together with the federal government to secure grants to help the city pay for paving roads, building bridges, improving electrical, sewer and water services and upgrading telecommunications. His wish list includes hav-
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I am absolutely passionate about this community. It’s a vibrant city and it’s a city that has so much to offer everyone. — Mayor Lyn Hall ing the city secure the investment needed to build a data centre, which he said would create local jobs and boost the city’s technology sector. “Over the last four years we’ve invested over $24 million in refurbishing our roads, over $3 million in sidewalks, $150,000 in walkways, and $27 million in snow removal – these numbers are important and it’s important to talk about these issues because they’re the ones we hear loud and clear, year after year as city
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councilors,” said Hall. Flanked by his wife Lorrelle and daughters Sydney and Jordan, Hall chose the front lawn of city hall to announce his candidacy, as he did when he ran in the 2011 and 2014 elections. He hired a sound crew to set up speakers he thought would be needed to make his voice heard above the construction noise generated by the adjacent Park House condominium development. But he said construction crews agreed to shut down their activity while he made his announcement. He pointed to the site of the 153-unit condo development and the permanent residents it will attract as an example of downtown revitalization. “The Park House condo development is something we are extremely proud to have here in Prince George, it was a necessity,” Hall said. “We needed housing in the downtown and here we have it.” — see ‘NOW PRINCE, page 3
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It tells quite a story when being the author of seven books is not the most notable thing in the final chapter of a person’s life. Dr. Eldon Lee won a Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History Award for his efforts with the pen, leaving behind a library of a legacy, but his accomplishments as a writer and historian are on the inner pages of his life. The chief attribute of Lee’s life are the thousands of babies that were born into his hands, and the thousands of women who entrusted their healthcare to this dedicated physician-surgeon. Lee was devoted to northern B.C., based in Prince George since 1962 but responsible for patients across the breadth of the region. He was, when he first settled here, the only obstetrics/gynaecology specialist north of Kamloops. His family, despite their grief, spotted a comical glint when he happened to pass away this past Monday, on Labour Day. As devoted as Lee was to his day to day profession, he was also a champion for northern medicine in the broader sense. As a pilot, he knew better than most the value of building healthcare professional capacity in this area. He was an early advocate for the Northern Medical Program now thriving at UNBC (plus the additional medical professions at UNBC and CNC that complement the doctor training). For all his efforts and articulations, he was inducted into the Northern Medical Hall of Fame in 2017. His roots in this area dig deeply, back to his time growing up on a ranch in the Williams Lake area of the Cariboo. Coming to Prince George was like a trip to the big city, back in 1929 when he was but a boy of six. His first job, in fact, was for the Prince George Citizen when he moved to Prince George that year. He sold newspapers for five cents apiece, usually giving the
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LEE money to his mother for family matters but sometimes pinching a few coins for himself, buying the occasional candy bar at Candy Allen’s Confection Store on George Street. He even saved enough (75 cents) to get a pair of roller skates from Jake Leith, who had a hardware store on Third Avenue and, according to Lee, probably regretted the transaction thereafter since the boy “made a nuisance of myself” skating up and down the wooden sidewalks. “I came to Prince George for schooling and to Millar Addition School I went,” Lee told The Citizen in a 1999 feature story. “The school was situated just west of Connaught Hill and here my academic path was shaped in the formidable presence of Miss Eliza Milligan. She firmly believed that sparing the rod spoiled the child, particularly boys, and soon discerned that my education needed attention particularly when I said zee instead of zed.” He was born American, so it was a natural mistake. Lee was born on May 5, 1923 in Happy Valley, Chico, California. His immersion into Canadian culture was forged by the Second World War. Lee flew bombers for the Royal Canadian Air Force, enlisting at age 19 and participating in overseas missions. — see ‘I RECEIVED, page 3 and related story, page 2
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