THE TERRACE STANDARD’S annual year in review of significant news events of the past year continues with April, May and June.
April
Kitsumkalum First Nation votes April 11 in favour of an agreement in principle, the preliminary step towards a treaty. 190 members vote ‘yes’ to proceed into final treaty negotiations with Canada and British Columbia while 108 members voted ‘no’.
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April 10: Terrace Downtown Area Improvement society responds to episodes of tagging on houses and businesses by committing to painting over the graffiti. RCMP launch probe which ultimately finds two youth responsible for marking up walls.
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Government officials try to keep thousands of dollars found inside a Davis Ave. house even though narcotics charges against a couple also found inside the house weren’t approved. The money, $21,480, was seized April 11 when police officers used a search warrant at the 4600 Block Davis Ave. home. This is a civil forfeiture case and the couple later challenged this in court.
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News comes out on April 19 that part of the old Co-op lands are to be sold to a Calgary-based developer called Superior Lodgings. The 2.7 hectare piece sells for $877,500 but an environmental certificate of compliance needs to be issued before the deal is finalized and money enters city coffers.
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Hundreds of cannabis advocates gather April 20 at the Terrace courthouse on Kalum to smoke weed and gather support for decriminalization movements including the application for a referendum later in the year. The event was sponsored by lotto mega-millionaire Bob Erb.
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Minerals North conference takes place at the Terrace Sportsplex April 24-26 with more than 750 out-of-town delegates coming to the successful event. The conference resulted in max capacity at hotels, motels, fishing lodges and other accommodations.
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A CN derailment happens near Cedarvale in the early morning hours of April 19. As many as 10 storage units, stacked two-high on flatbed cars, went off the tracks on a section of line running alongside the Skeena River.
May
Deputy Fire Chief Dave Jephson goes on an Enbridge-funded trip May 8 to see the progress of the cleanup of the Kalamazoo river in Michigan where a 1 million US gallon spill happened in 2010, and he prepares a report to city council on that topic. The crude oil spill hints at what cleanup efforts would look like if there was a rupture in the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline.
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LNG pipeline company Spectra Energy holds an open house as part of their environmental assessment for the as-yet-to-be named West Coast Connector. The approximately 102 kilometre underwater route through Nasoga Gulf is surveyed and compared to another longer one at 179 kilometres that passes by Kitsault.
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TERRACE SEARCH and Rescue undertook a dangerous rescue of a teen hiker who had fallen down Thornhill Mountain while hiking with friends May 21. After clearing an area on the hillside and assessing the landing area, search and rescue decided everyone would have to be evacuated by the technical “toe-in” method.
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A group formed to preserve band music education in elementary schools says it’s been given assurances there won’t be any changes the week of May 15. George Clark of the Dare to Dream Foundation says he was given those assurances in a meeting with senior Coast Mountain School District officials.
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May 14: provincial elections see the NDP win the Terrace riding, but lose provincially. Incumbent MLA Robin Austin received 5,102 votes, ahead of rival BC Liberal Carol Leclerc who received 4,739 votes. BC Conservative Mike Brousseau received 735 votes, or 6.79 per cent. Trevor Hendry of the BC Party received 254 votes or 2.35 per cent of the total. Absentee ballots add to Austin’s victory margin later on.
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May 22 sees a report of an incident involving a company misrepresenting themselves as an employee for mystery shoppers. This is just one of several scams reported this year.
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Ted Watts, a middle-aged homeless man in Terrace is physically assaulted and lit on fire by three men in south Terrace May 23.
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Council decides May 27 to accept a recommendation from the city’s development services department to pay what amounted to an additional $223,000 to redo the 4700 block of McConnell Ave. because the original tender came in $355,000 more expensive than what the city provided in the 2013 budget.
June
The Frank St. level crossing operated by CN Rail is ordered shut down June 11 by Transport Canada after a close incident involving a long truck. A petition gets brought forward to have it reopened by businesses on Keith Ave. The crossing reopens July 22 along with an announcement that new intersection lights will be put in Spring 2014.
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The end of June sees BC Hydro release their new cost figures for the Northwest Transmission Line. From the $400 million original cost factored in 2007, the price tag is now at $746 million. Provincial energy and mines minister Bill Bennett says he will “get to the bottom” of the increased cost.
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The final week-long public comment for the Northern Gateway Project begins at the Terrace Best Western on June 17. About 35 opponents and a few supporters of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Project present to the panel. The provincial government’s presentation rejects Enbridge’s proposed pipeline in its current form.
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Nearly 50 Coast Mountains School District (CMSD) school support staff workers stage an information picket June 20 outside of the school board offices on Kenney St., part of a province-wide effort to put pressure on districts to return to the bargaining table.
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Gun amnesty declared in June sees people handing in weapons from around their homes to RCMP, including several antique weapons.
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The city puts in a new bylaw allowing the city building officers to enter dwellings to make sure certain levels of maintenance are being kept up for heat, running water and mould control on June 24, called the Standards of Maintenance for Residential Rental Premises bylaw.
