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Treeplanters join renewed search for Nicole Hoar |
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Written by FRANK PEEBLES
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 08 May 2008 |
Tony Romeyn shows the Nicole Hoar awareness brochures he gives to treeplanters. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
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NICOLE HOAR
The Highway of Tears series of murders and missing persons is in the spotlight at IRL, a main forestry and mining supplier.
Store owner Tony Romeyn has set up a hospitality table with free muffins, drinks and other refreshments for the incoming army of treeplanters, and brochures about Hoar, perhaps the most famous treeplanter of all, are front and centre.
"We're telling them, look, you're off-road, you're in the bush, you're in those backcountry areas, so keep your eyes open for something," Romeyn said. "You never know what you might find, and she was a treeplanter, too."
Hoar had just finished her planting contract and was heading to Smithers to surprise her sister at a music festival when she disappeared. She was last seen at Highway 16 West and Gauthier Road on June 21, 2002. Since her colleagues at Celtic Reforestation knew she was done her work and her sister wasn't aware she was coming, there was a considerable lag time before anyone realized she was gone.
"It has been widely publicized. I know people in Newfoundland who are aware of it," said treeplanter Ian Stone. "It is good to see it publicized. Back in Newfoundland you feel safer hitchhiking or taking rides, but here it's different. It's not safe."
His brother Neil is also a treeplanter and he agreed that the brochures are important.
"There are so many new people who come treeplanting every year, it's good to see because you have to make them all aware. I warn the girls working on the blocks all the time about steering clear of hitchhiking," said Neil.
Celtic Reforestation shop manager Dan Ouellette is especially grateful for the warning materials. He knew Hoar and was part of the initial search that ranged from Prince George to Smithers and several other places.
"I was part of the search; so was the whole company," Ouellette said. "We shut down the company and the owner provided a lot of supplies and all of us. It was the biggest search in the whole of Canada -- 25,000 square kilometres -- and it is still a mystery."
He was impressed by the level of publicity and personal contributions that came to their aid, although it bothers him that the Highway of Tears had been claiming victims for years and for some reason Nicole's case rallied society. At least, he said, the issue is now national and in the public's eye and that is still real today, he said.
"Here at the office we changed our policies about how we operate between spring and summer plants," Ouellette explained. "We have a lot of workers from outside the province, outside the community. We decided the foreman has to know what those people's plans are and movements are in those times so we don't have a repeat of that event. You can't tell people what to do, where to go, but just have some communication."
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 May 2008 )
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