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Who's the news of 2014?

Who (or what) was Prince George's newsmaker of the year? Citizen reporters make their case below for who is most deserving of the honour but we'd like our readers to decide. To cast your ballot, just send us an email to page2@pgcitizen.

Who (or what) was Prince George's newsmaker of the year?

Citizen reporters make their case below for who is most deserving of the honour but we'd like our readers to decide.

To cast your ballot, just send us an email to page2@pgcitizen.ca with your choice and your reasons for your pick.

The deadline to vote is Monday, Dec. 29 at 5 p.m. The newsmaker of the year, as chosen by Citizen readers, will be announced in the Dec. 31 edition of The Citizen.

RCMP Cst. Aaron Kehler

As one of Canada's youngest serial killers, Cody Allan Legebokoff grabbed all the headlines when his case finally came to trial this summer but in my opinion, RCMP Cst. Aaron Kehler should be the newsmaker of the year.

As B.C. Supreme Court Justice Glenn Parrett put it, "we should all be eternally grateful to the very young and inexperienced police officer whose instincts were sound and on the money."

Kehler had been on the job for just 12-and-a-half months when, on the night of Nov. 27, 2010, he pulled Legebokoff's truck over along a remote stretch of Highway 27.

What started as a routine case of speeding eventually elevated to the discovery of 15-year-old Lorne Donn Leslie's body in some bushes off a rarely used spur off the highway that connects Vanderhoof to Fort St. James.

What followed was some impressive police work - specialists in interviewing suspects called up from Vancouver were in Vanderhoof the next day and parallels were soon being drawn between Leslie's death and that of Cynthia France Maas, 35, whose body was found in L.C. Gunn Park the month before.

Meticulous searches of Lebokoff's truck, the basement suite he once lived in and the apartment where he left at the time of his arrest uncovered an overwhelming amount of forensic evidence and by the end of it all, Legebokoff was convicted of first degree murder in the deaths of not only Leslie and Maas but two other women.

Arguably, a misplaced purse was the beginning of Legebokoff's undoing - that was what Kehler was delivering from Fort St. James to Vanderhoof when he saw Legebokoff speed away from the scene of what proved to be his final murder.

But had Kehler thought nothing of it, Legebokoff may well have gone on to kill some more.

- reporter Mark Nielsen

Greg Pocock

Greg Pocock was all in favour of climate change when he became the majority owner of the Prince George Cougars.

When he bought the WHL team in May along with John Pateman, Ray Fortier, Ernest Ouellet and NHL defencemen Eric Brewer and Dan Hamhuis, it marked the beginning of the Cougars' New Ice Age.

Pocock has long been involved in minor hockey as a sponsor and coach and his hands-on approach to running the Cougars organization has revitalized what was a moribund franchise. Under Pocock's leadership, the Cougars are spending more money on the players, including a new weight room, a revamped dressing room and more hotel stays to break up road trips. The team has increased its advertising and promotional budgets and fans are starting to show their appreciation by buying tickets for games. Attendance has picked up an average of 1,000 fans per game over last year's totals. This year's Teddy Bear Toss game drew 4,800 people, nearly double the crowd count from last year's game.

Pocock was greeted by a standing ovation from 1,500 people who gathered at CN Centre May 13 to meet the new owners.

"The Prince George Cougars are here to stay," said Pocock, managing partner of EDGEPRO Sports & Entertainment Ltd. "We did not buy the Cougars to sell it or move it or do anything but work our asses off to make it a success."

Pocock, 53, says having the leaders of prominent local businesses with strong ties to the community as ownership partners is key in restoring the franchise to its glory days of the late-1990s, when Cougars fans were known as the best in the WHL and their sea-of-white support was featured in a MasterCard commercial.

"It's critical, and that's why we brought this group together, because they have access to a different group of people and our engagement levels are going to go up from there," said Pocock.

- reporter Ted Clarke

Patti Knezevic

In 2014, Patti Knezevic appeared on national curling ice for the first time in 21 years.

The Prince George skip was added as a fifth player to Kesa Van Osch's B.C. championship rink that finished with a 6-5 record at the national Scott Tournament of Hearts Feb. 1-9 in Montreal.

The addition of the veteran skip turned out to be a brilliant one for B.C.

Knezevic appeared in four games at the Scotties, including two as a skip, when the flu bug hit the team hard, keeping the team in the playoff hunt.

They finished fifth overall, one spot out of a playoff berth.

Van Osch's rink won its first provincial title over defending champion Kelly Scott in January at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.

Knezevic and her crew finished fourth at the B.C. championship and received a call from Van Osch on the same night after she won the provincial crown.

"I was at home after the final and they called and asked me to join them," Knezevic told the Citizen. "What an opportunity - I said yes right away."

Knezevic hadn't competed at a national championship since her days a junior player when she skipped her Prince George rink at the junior nationals in Montreal in 1993.

Knezevic became the first Prince George curler to compete in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts since Diane Dalio appeared at the national championship in 1994.

Knezevic and her team of third Kristen Fewster, second Jen Rusnell and lead Rhonda Camozzie have already qualified for the eight-team triple-knockout 2015 B.C. Scotties championship Jan. 21 to 25 in Maple Ridge.

- reporter Andrea Johnson

Snow removal

If you picked up a newspaper, listened to the radio, watched a newscast or read a Prince George-based blog this year, chances are you saw some mention of the state of the city's winter roads.

December 2013 delivered a perfect storm of heavy snowfall, rain and an escalating labour dispute that some have pointed to as contributing factors to snow clearing being less than satisfactory into 2014.

In January alone, there were more than 20 letters to the editor printed in The Citizen with some mention of the snow removal. A handful of compliments, but the majority were complaints about ruts and residential streets being impassable.

The handling of removing snow from city roads never left the public discourse in 2014. It was the subject of multiple staff reports to council and culminated in the controversial outsourcing of a $131,000 review of the city's operations to an American company - in July.

That Mercury Associates review would go on to be a city council election talking point and led to changes to the public works department's practices.

- reporter Charelle Evelyn

Gateway Lodge

The announcement that Gateway Lodge would open its previously unused third floor to accommodate 15 complex care beds and 11 respite and convalescent beds was big news.

Lorna Dittmar, the Prince George Council of Seniors advocate spoke out about the closed third floor in June.

"When there's all these people needing care, being warehoused in the hospital, surely to goodness, with a third floor empty - I don't care that it was designated for a private partner and that it's for assisted living - I'm sure it can be converted for long term care because that's what we need right now to get those people out of the hospital," said Lorna Dittmar, Prince George Council of Seniors advocacy committee chair.

Six months later, Northern Health came with the announcement that the third floor of Northern Health's Gateway Lodge, which has been sitting empty since the facility was opened in May 2010, will now be renovated and opened in January or February to house 15 complex care beds and 11 beds for respite and convalescence.

In my opinion, there's nothing more important than an organization acknowledging a shortcoming and providing what is needed to the community. That's why Gateway Lodge should be newsmaker of the year. It took Lorna Dittmar to tell it like it is and for Northern Health to hear the call and answer it by making changes to a facility for the betterment of the Prince George community.

- reporter Christine Hinzmann

Striking teachers

When B.C.’s teachers voted in an 86 per cent block to strike in June, it launched the longest province-wide strike in its history.

The teachers took over the provincial - and local - conversation for months in a protracted and acrimonious battle that pitted them, parents and the provincial government at education odds.

The school year was cut short as teachers walked off the job, affecting exams, graduation ceremonies, extracurricular activities, sports seasons and delaying the start of the new school year by three weeks. It cost the the teachers millions in lost wages.

The negotiated end saw teachers sign a new six-year contract, something they had been without since June 2013. It included a 7.25 per cent salary increase over six years and improvements to extended health benefits and teaching-on-call rates.

The Prince George and District Teachers Association said many teachers were dissatisfied with the result, but retained their right to continue to negotiate class size and composition. It’s a key sticking point in the wake of two court decisions against the government’s 2002 removal of those clauses in the teacher’s collective agreement, a finding the province has appealed and will likely head to the Supreme Court.

Despite good partnerships between the players in District 57, association president Tina Cousins said the “tumultuous time” has had lasting effects in the months following September’s return to work.

“Those relationships were strained and they still continue to be,” she said.

- reporter Samantha Wright Allen

The political figure that stood out the most in the Prince George region in 2014 was the city's mayor Shari Green. She went from top of the Prince George heap to no elected mandate in a matter of a few months.

Although no City Hall controversy can be placed at her feet, leadership, vague as that can be, counts for something, and there were indeed 2014 controversies: snow clearing, downtown parking, rental suite fees, even a strike.

On the other hand there was also a negotiated contract with city workers, the opening of Kin 1, the Canada Winter Games set to start, judicial victories over recovery centre opponents and inattentive hotel landlords, and many other highlights.

When Green announced in May that she would not be seeking a second term as mayor, nor would she be running for a seat on council, it was not because she was tired of elected public service. She stepped instead into the federal ring, seeking the Conservative Party of Canada's nomination for the riding of Cariboo-Prince George with the retirement of longtime MP Dick Harris.

This move triggered two hotly contested election processes: a head-to-head mayoral showdown between Lyn Hall and Don Zurowski (the campaign was publicly praised for its civility) eventually won by Hall.

The other was the Conservative nomination process, the winner of that typically the victor on federal election day. Green came a distant third.

It is now unclear what Green's political future might hold. Her Conservative Party results call into question her electability, but there are lessons in loss and her municipal history gives her a formidable platform should she wish to enter other electoral rings in the future.