localnewsDaily Herald-Tribune, Friday, November 20, 2009

Swan City Rotary 

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DAVID BELL

THE CANADIAN PRESS

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. —Drunk drivers in Fort St. Johnare not getting the messagedespite ongoing police ini-tiatives and enforcement tocombat the problem, say RCMP.

‘‘There is still an impaireddriving problem in Fort St.ohn,’’ said Cpl. Tom Woodall of 

the RCMP Peace Region TrafficServices.

‘‘We are out to try and curbit,’’ he said.

‘‘Last year we were numberone in communities of our sizein the province,’’ he said of thedrunk-driving issue. A recent four-day check stop

blitz resulted in getting 53impaired drivers off the streets.Seventeen of them were crimi-nally charged, Another 31 people received

one-day suspensions and fiveothers were given administra-tive driving prohibitions.  Woodall said additional

resources would mean thenumber of drunk drivers would  just keep going up ‘‘becausethere are so many impaireddrivers out there.’’  Val Lamb, an emergency 

room manager at Fort St. JohnHospital, said she’s shockedat how many people who getbehind the wheel after drinking alcohol.

‘‘I am just astounded at thesenumbers,’’ she said, adding theproblem already strains limitedresources.

Lamb said a nurse trying toassess an injured drunk drivercan face a real challenge.

‘‘You have to assume it is thetrauma that is causing theiraltered level of consciousness,but the alcohol just cloudsthat.’’

Emergency room staff canalso be subjected to bothverbal and physical abuse fromimpaired drivers, she said.

Sometimes patients mustremain in care until the alcoholhas cleared their system, which

takes up a bed, Lamb said. Woodall said the deterrent

factor of check stops has shownsuccess in addressing the prob-lem in other communities.

‘‘Quesnel (and surrounding area in the B.C. Cariboo southof Prince George) is roughly the same size and they usedto have a huge problem butthrough enforcement and otherinitiatives they have drastically reduced impaired driving androadway fatalities.’’

The lack of a zero-tolerancepolicy for drunk drivers doesn’thelp, Woodall said.

‘‘I’d venture to say that it ispartly the fault of our govern-ment, in the fact that it is leg-islated, permissible to have acertain amount of alcohol inthe body,’’ he said.

‘‘If that (amount) was zero,there would be no questionabout people having doubts,’’as to their ability to safely drive.”

– Alaska Highway News

Drunk drivers not gettingthe message: FSJ Mounties

FORT ST. JOHN: No. 1 for impaired motorists

NICK KUHL Sun Media

Sharlene Hetrick simulates a rope toss, while Marilyn Glasgo looks on, during the Ropin’ without theRidin’ session at the 32nd annual Farm Women’s Conference at the Grande Prairie Inn yesterday.

GOTCHA!

ANDREW BERGLAND

THE CANADIAN PRESS

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. —  An annual meeting of B.C.’sbeef industry could be can-celled next year if participa-tion by producers continues todecline.

‘‘Basically, if we don’t keepthe numbers up, then we’retalking about cancelling thecongress,’’ said Jason McQuaig of the 2010 Peace Country Beef Congress.

‘‘It’s been dropping about20% each year, and that’s overthe past five years,’’ McQuaig said of interest in the annualmeetings that have been heldfor the last 12 years.

Next year’s gathering isslated for Jan. 8-9 in the North

Peace town of High Prairie.McQuaig said the poor beef 

market in North America andthe resulting exodus of peoplein the industry are among thereasons for the waning inter-est in the beef producers’ con-gress.

The ranching industry is ina brutal downturn that started with the discovery of bovinespongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Canadian cattle six  years ago.

McQuaig said he’s hoping new breeders who are produc-ing cattle in t he Peace Country  will make up for the loss, butthey will have to be convincedof the importance of attending such an event.

In addition to the prizesawarded at the congress,

producers who place well asexhibitors get noticed.

‘ ‘ It ’s a very prestigiousevent,’’ McQuaig said. ‘‘If you win it, it is good advertising.’’

McQuaig said low beef priceshave made life tough for farm-ers, but that only means they have to push their produceven harder.

‘‘When times get tough,advertising is one place youcan’t make cuts,’’ he said. ‘‘Youneed to let people know ‘I’mstill in the business, I’m stilserious about things.’’’

‘‘Everybody who is going out there to purchase animalsfrom the purebred exhibitors, well (the congress) gives themvery good exposure to thecommercial cattle industry.’’– Dawson Creek Daily News

Waning interest could mean cancellation

of annual Peace Country Beef Congress

AGRICULTURE: Next year’s event planned for High Prairie in January

JEANNE GAGNON

Herald-Tribune staf

The County of Grande Prai-rie is not expecting any pro-vincial money to deal with themountain pine beetle on itslands, said the reeve.

Everett McDonald said hecame back disappointed fromhis meeting with SustainableResource Development Minis-ter Ted Morton Wednesday, asthe minister was non-commit-tal to fund fighting the pest onmunicipal lands in the county.McDonald said the county isnot in the new control area.

“We are in what they calla holding zone now, whichmeans there will be extremely limited help from the provinceto deal with the (mountain)pine beetle in our area,” hesaid.

“Our South Peace Munici-palities group that has beendoing control work in the area will not be doing any work this year. We are disappointed that we’re not going to be receiving 

any assistance from the prov-ince right now.”

Money allo-cation to fightt h e p e s t o nmunicipal land  will be deter-mined at theend of Novem-b e r , D u n c a nMacDonnell, apublic affairso f f i c e r w i t hS u s t a i n a b l e

Resource Development, toldthe DHT earlier this week.

McDonald said he is awareof that announcement.

“But at this point, we’re nothopeful that we will receiveany from the conversations we’ve had with the minister.There isn’t a no but there isn’tmuch of a promise either. Itdoesn’t sound very promising that there will be any assis-tance.”

The South Peace Municipali-ties, made up of the Greenview and Spirit River MunicipalDistricts as well as the coun-

ties of Saddle Hills, Birch Hillsand Grande Prairie, will likely be disbanded if the provincedoes not provide funding, saiMcDonald.

“It was set up to deal withprovincial help and provinciadollars. If there is none there,there will be no benefit to keepthe organization in place,that’s for sure,” he said.

M o u n t a i n p i n e b e e t l e -infested trees on Crown lanin the Greenview MunicipaDistrict will be surveyed ancontrolled as part of a $25 mil-lion funding announcemenearlier this week to fight thepest.

The federal and Albertagovernments announced theinvestment to help contain thespread of the beetle.

This includes $10 millionfrom Ottawa, which will bring  Alberta’s mountain pine beetlebudget to $35 million, down10% from last year. The money  will be used to hire crews todetect, cut and burn infestetrees.

COUNTY: Lack of money could spell the end of South Peace Municipalities organization

No funding for bettle battle

McDonald

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