a

A2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Former resident is charged
after baby is found dead _

_ THE SUSPICIOUS DEATH of a toddler who lived here
. with her mother until recently has re-opened the debate
about how the Ministry of Children and Families handles
‘cases, particularly ones involving aboriginal children.

Hopé Lincoln, two and a half years old, was pronoqunced
“dead at RW Large Memorial Hospital in Bella Bella July 21

"after police and ambulance services responded to a call for.

help around 4:30 a.m. » | a
Her mother, Charlie Rae Lincoln, 20, was arrested and

, boot >
- appeared in a Vancouver courtroom July 26 on one-charge .

o

of second degree murder.

* Bella Bella RCMP, who did not reveal the cause of the

. child’s death, said the toddler would undergo an autopsy at
. B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Le

Hope is the fourth native toddler to die under suspicious

circumstances while receiving services from the Ministry of
‘Children and Family Development in the last five years.

. The mother. and daughter had moved from Terrace to

. Bella Bella to live with the child's father Philip Hall, who is
also known as Philip Blaney, in the spring. _

~~ Children and Family Development Minister Stan Hagen

- confirmed July 26 that the toddler was known to the minis-

“He said Hope was not in ministry care at the time of her
death, but “there had been ministry contact” with the child,

' He said he would like to say more about the case but was -

unable to do so because those “who receive services from
“law entitled to protection of their privacy.” .

._ Hagen said the ministry would conduct an internal review

‘into the: handling of her case and: the results of the probe

the Ministry of Children.and Family Development are by.

‘Old friends meet

TWO. LONGTIME employees with the Coast Mountains .

- School District have organized a reunion tea for current and
" ‘past employees. -.

8

‘

~ and maintenance worker Margaret Baxter had heard from
numerous people they’d lost contact with old colleagues.
So they,decided to do something about it.

_... “Lsaid, ‘Oh!’ Why don’t we have an event,” said Gibson, =f
. who has worked with the district for more than 30 years.

_ Gibson says she has no idea how many employees have
worked for the district in its many forms over the years. She
- recently.encountered an 86-year-old woman who used to

teach here and she had no idea she had been a former em-.

ployee. a oe, . .

- Organizers don’t know how many people will attend the
Aug. 6 event, being held during Riverboat Days, but they
expect at least 100 people. . . oe :

« It takes place from 1-4 p.m..that day at the Old Kalum_

“School on Kenney Street,behind the school board building.

“If it goes well, Gibson ‘said it could become an annual,

.. event.. >

| ‘A JULY 19 headline in The Terrace Standard indicated
the City of Terrace paid for the demolition of the apartment
* building on the corner of Agar Avenue and Kenney Street

that was heavily damaged by fire last year.
_ In fact, building owner Sat Gill paid for the demolition.

Start off your" : _
“fishing expeditior
Clam Chowder,

“Joyce Gibson, a payroll clerk with the district, says she

would be made public once the police investigation and re-
lated court proceedings had come to an end. ©

These reviews are common when a child who has had
contact with the ministry dies, he said.

. NDP children’s critic Maurine Karagianis said she specif- -

ically wanted the review into Hope’s case to look at whether

budget cuts or the regionalized structure of the ministry had .

any role to play in services available for Hope.
The family’s relocation to Bella Bella from Terrace
moved it from:one ministry region to another, she said.
Hagen stated his confidence in the ministry and its staff
and explained the ministry deals with 9,100 children in care,
half of whom are aboriginal. . a
: The BC Provincial Cororier’s Service and the North Dis-
trict Major Crime Unit in Prince George are investigating
the case. ; . - ae
_ Rae’s next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 17,
2006. ve .

ef

Central Flowers

would like to recognize

MAXINE SMALLWOOD

whose volunteer work and participation °
— in the community is truly inspiring.

_ Come in to Central Flowers to enter
“local heroes” in our draw.

aie CENTRAL
Sy FLOWERS

a -4619-Lakelse Ave:, Terrace

638-1900 * 635-5920 |

4

Recycling gathers momentum

THE BIGGEST lesson Heather Truhn

has learned since she and a friend started
a pick-up recycling business two months
ago is that people care.

“It’s been a pleasant surprise to see so
many. people who have made the effort
— collecting stuff in sheds, garages, base-

‘ments — not knowing what they are going

to do with it,” Truhn said.

The best example, she said, is a woman
who would store her plastics here for a
year then every summer drive them to Port
Coquitlam. ~ ;

The woman didn’t know the depot in
Prince Rupert recycled plastic.

é

Since Truhn and Kasey Lewis started

Do-Your-Part Recycling, their number of '
clients has doubled — “a rate we can han- -} °

dle,” Truhn said. . _
They now have about 70 customers,

and though that is not enough to sustain a _,

business in the longterm, they have plans
for expansions, she said.

The women of Do-Your-Part. spoke —
with Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan ©
Cullen about additional business. mo,

He’s ‘interested in is targeting remote

work camps. Some camps have up to 250
workers, which adds up to a lot of waste

anda lot of recycling, Truhn said. .

- BOBGOODWIN&. |.

f) Terrace Tourism
Society =

Mayor Talstra, oe - _

| What is your Signature worth?

Terrace Tourism Society has a detailed 5 year plan!
This 5 year plan was paramount to garnering
accommodation support to collect the 2% Hotel Tax for the -
external marketing of Terrace and Area. Amember of your.
council had.a séat on the Terrace Tourism Society Board
“as.a Director and had input.on this. 5 year document.

You signed the Memorandum of Understanding, dated.
November 17, 2004. As Chair of the Regional District |
you. drafted the letter and applied to the: Provincial

Government for the 2% Hotel Tax Funding on behalf of

_usall. Your letter to the province clearly states. what this .
funding would be allocated for. You increased Terrace.
Tourism: Society's funding so the process of collecting |
the 2% Hotel Tax would be seamless. Now after one 1
year 5 monihs into our 5° year agreement you wish to.
pull the tax from this volunteer non-profit organization. an

organization which has been successful at building the ”

of our entire Community.

You claim: Terrace Tourism: Society hasn't done a good |
enough job, no proof in this, just a claim. However,
Terrace Tourism Society has proof that we have met the

objectives of our strategic plan; have developed good
working relationships with other fourism associations
within the province of BC and with regional groups. We

have represented our membership in great marketing -
successes with . careful —

campaigns, measured our
monitoring of all marketing activities and passed a clean
financial audit. . All of these successes are documented in
Terrace Tourism Society’s 2005 Final Report which you

‘are in receipt of.

One reason City of Terrace and The Regional District

Kitimat Stikine agreed to work togther to insitute this tax

was because Terrace Tourism Society could not duplicate

already existing tourism initiatives. You knew this. You
‘signed it. Yet, under your new ’plan you will allocate 2%

monies to the Chamber of Commerce Visitor Information

in their 5 year strategic plan.

Center, duplicate product development that TEDA outlines

This new, larger mandate does not have the required
approval of 51% of the accommodation sector rooms

and 51% of the accommodation properties. This
accommodation approval is a Provincial Government.

requirement.

After failing in your first attempt to redirect the money from
Terrace Tourism Society to the City of Terrace, council is

now poised for a 2nd attempt to pull the 2% tax funding |
from Terrace Tourism Society by changing the existing

bylaw at the upcoming RDKS meeting in Hazelton on

| August 11th.

Terrace Tourism Society is continuing business as usual

| with our marketing initiatives on track for the 2007 year, |

but we are upset with having to fight to retain the 2%

funding as per signed contracts. We would like to be |

spending 100 percent of our time and resources on
fulfilling our goals of increasing tourism for Terrace and
area. a , a |

Again, | have to ask you, what is your signature worth?

Board of Directors
Terrace Tourism Society -

the.

ene eye
ek ee ee a 2 Seuares

partnerships necessary to gain this tax for the betterment

~ wa

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