Blues concerts fund guitars and lessons for students

Fri, 16 May 2008 21:59:16 +0100

The Blues Underground has donated guitars to 10 lucky Duchess Park secondary school students. They also get a set of group guitar lessons with instructor Dave Rubadeau at Sound Entertainment and, if they complete the set of lessons, they get to keep the brand new guitars. All of this is thanks to proceeds from the concerts put on throughout the year by the local blues music organization. "There are a lot of young people who want to learn, but they can't because they don't have guitars of their own," said Metin Toyata, music teacher at DPSS. "They are borrowing guitars from me all the time, and now those 10 will have that opportunity for their own instrument. Some are in bands already, some may go on to be professionals. They are usually not the kids who are in the band program playing an instrument...

Sidewalk mishap hurts senior

Fri, 16 May 2008 21:55:57 +0100

A Prince George senior citizen who was injured when she tripped on an uneven sidewalk is keen to inform city hall of the situation and make other pedestrians aware of the risk.When Inga Andrade, 73, crossed Fourth Avenue onto Victoria Street this week, she tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk she describes as being "ridgey" and fell hard.The fall stunned her a little and she had trouble getting up until a couple driving by who saw her fall, stopped to help her and took her to emergency.Andrade has a gash on her head that required six stitches, and has been left with a prominent black eye as well as a swollen and black and blue hand and arm."Why don't they fix the sidewalks. I'm sure I'm not the only elderly person that stumbles or trips on the uneven sidewalks? Seniors like to walk and lots of us don't drive anymore...

Aboriginal doctor picked to address medical grads

Fri, 16 May 2008 21:42:23 +0100

A Prince George doctor has been selected by all UBC medical degree graduates to give the address during the pre-graduation hooding ceremony.Dr. Nadine Caron, a local academic physician who's a member of the UBC Faculty of Medicine, has been invited by the medical degree graduates at UBC, the Northern Medical Program and the Island Medical Program in Victoria to address them with "words of wisdom" during the unique ceremony that dates back to the Middle Ages."I perceive this as one of the greatest honours -- to be recognized and given this opportunity by the newest colleagues of the medical profession. It's a phenomenal honour," said Caron.This event on Monday is "the graduation event" for these students because it's a traditional ceremony for medical students only, and stands apart from Wednesday's formal cap and gown ceremony for the hundreds of UBC graduating students, Caron said."There'll be...

UNBC students raising funds to help earthquake victims

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:39:50 +0100

A group of Chinese exchange students have come together to raise money to help with earthquake relief in China.Steve Xia, Daniel Li and Chuang Gao are on exchange to UNBC from Beijing. They decided to start a fundraising campaign when they heard about the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit their home country on Monday."I need to do something for my country ... so many children died there and many people lost their homes," Xia said. Xia, Li and Gao set up a table in the Winter Garden at UNBC starting Wednesday and they, along with about 15 other Chinese exchange students have raised $2,000. Of that total, $1,000 was donated by the university through the president's office. Askua King, acting UNBC English Language Studies co-ordinator, said students raised $540 on their first day."We ... appreciate how many people help us," Li said. He said...

Looking back, looking ahead

Fri, 16 May 2008 17:08:29 +0100

After a dozen years as mayor, Colin Kinsley announced last week that he won't be running for another term in November.The Citizen's city hall reporter, Mark Nielsen, sat down with Kinsley this week to talk about his time as mayor, the direction the city has taken under his watch and what his successor and residents can expect in the years to come.What have you been most proud of during your time as mayor?Kinsley said the "day-to-day pleasure" was helping people with small problems but while that may have been important, getting Prince George onto the "world map" was his biggest accomplishment."I thought from the beginning back in 1996 that Prince George was no longer in competition with other British Columbia municipalities ... it was fastly-approaching global competition to grow our economy. Intelligence is so rapid and capital is fluid and you can do anything anywhere, so getting us on that world stage...

Weigh scale tender deadline delayed

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:28:23 +0100

The deadline for submitting tenders to build a new weigh scale on Highway 97 South near Red Rock has been moved back by eight days.The deadline is now March 22, Ministry of Transportation spokeperson Jeff Knight, who characterized the move as a minor delay which should not affect plans to have the project completed by this fall.To replace the scale at the entrance to the B.C. Rail Industrial Site, the facility will be put in the centre of the highway and will feature weigh-in-motion and automatic vehicle identification technology, allowing trucks that are not overweight to continue on without having to pull into the scale.The work, which has been estimated at $25 million -- $5 million for the weigh scale and between $2 million and $3 million for the technology and $18 million for converting about five kilometres of Highway 97 South into four lanes.The weigh scale will be located at Anderson Road, about a kilometre south of Red Rock, 30 kilometres south of Prince George. Two intersections will have to be rebuilt -- at...

Prince George Citizen Syndication

Blues concerts fund guitars and lessons for students

Sidewalk mishap hurts senior

Aboriginal doctor picked to address medical grads

UNBC students raising funds to help earthquake victims

Looking back, looking ahead

Weigh scale tender deadline delayed