1999: The Year in Review

JANUARY

• Deb and Darold Fellers are the parents of Dawson Creek’s New Year’s baby, Kiana.
• Us Old Boys, Lawrence McGillvray, Allan Grayston and John Dobrowski, three local artists unveil their work at the Dawson Creek Art Gallery.
• The City of Dawson Creek pays out $43,345 in employee bonuses.
• The waiting list for orthopedic surgery has been cut dramatically, the hospital says, since the Workers’ Compensation Board started paying for an extra surgery day.
• About 150 people show up at a town hall meeting called by city council to present an overview of the work done by council.
• The last of four new ‘Welcome to Dawson Creek’ signs are installed at the entrances to the city.
• The Airport Cafe closes due to a lack of customers -- a petition by the owner is futile.
• Renette Benning becomes the new owner of the Silverado Inn when she buys it from the City of Dawson Creek. The city took ownership of the hotel and closed it when it failed to pay taxes for four years.
• Peace River South MLA Jack is promised a gasoline prices review by B.C. Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh. The MLA agrees to take part in the review.
• Inge-Jean Hansen is awarded the Governor-General’s medallion for outstanding achievement on provincial examinations.
• CJDC-TV celebrates its 40th anniversary.
• The Junior Canucks have a 20 game winning streak after beating the Grimshaw Huskies 8-1.
• Lake View Credit Union relocates to its new building.
• The Tempest hits the stage at Unchagah Hall, the play is made up of 50 South Peace Secondary School students.
• The enforcement of fire codes forces Dawson Creek schools to remove student art from hallway walls.
• City plans to get young offenders to wear special overalls while doing community service. Council’s vote passes.
• An explosion at the Solex gas plant in Taylor causes the temporary evacuation of the town and millions of dollars worth of damage.
• The use of special overalls for young offenders is deemed illegal and they will instead wear the same uniform as a city worker. But the Community Justice Program says it won’t send people from its program to work for the city.
• Peace River South MLA Jack Weisgerber makes a plea for closing the weigh scales at Pouce Coupe, which are considered a menace by most truck drivers.
• School art is put back up on walls as a result of a provincial compromise with the schools.
• Former Dawson Creek resident Roy Forbes is nominated for a Juno Award.
• Illegal VLTs are operating in Dawson Creek bars, a Peace River Block News investigation learns, but local police say their hands are tied without witnesses.

FEBRUARAY

• A dynamic voltage restorer is installed behind the George Dawson Inn where tests on this experimental model will be done at Northern Lights College for the next six months.
• Plans for a new Safeway store are in the works.
• The South Peace Health Council reports that it is running some $255,700 below budget. This is almost eight times as high as the anticipated $33,000 they were anticipating.
• The Lake View Credit Union opens the doors to its new building with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
• Peace River South MLA Jack Weisgerber is found not guilty of shooting an out-of-season decoy that had been set up in a farmer’s field by conservation officers.
• The Peace River South School Board re-confirms that children with failing marks in school will not repeat the entire grade.
• The lead engine of a CN freight train slips off the rails south of Dawson Creek and diesel fuel spills onto the ground. Two CN employees suffered minor injuries but no one else was hurt.
• The orthopedics program at the hospital is swamped, but under-funded by up to half a million dollars, hospital CEO Rick Robinson says.
• An announcement is made that the orthopedics program at the Dawson Creek and District hospital will be suspended for three months.
• Work on the Alliance Pipeline starts, the line is designed to carry natural gas from western Canada to the Chicago area market centre for distribution throughout North America.
• Meetings held this week will determine whether the orthopedics program at the hospital will continue.
• A development permit is issued by city council for a new Safeway grocery store to be built at the corner of 8th Street and 112 Avenue.
• Drug awareness program coordinator in the Peace-Liard region, RCMP Const. Grace Arnott, announces that Const. Russ Greer will soon be ready to teach the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program that was developed in Los Angeles to help keep youth off drugs.

MARCH

• Lesley Dampier, an agricultural sciences student from Dawson Creek, receives the Premier’s Award, one of 18 $5,000 scholarships to put toward university expenses.
• Bruce Hutton, president of the Law-Abiding Unregistered Firearms Association (LUFA) speaks to a crowd of more than 200 people who came to hear his views on the federal firearms registration law.
• Low oil prices and restricted cash flow are to blame for slowing the northeast British Columbia oil and gas industry Greg Stringham, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Vice-President of Marketing.
• Influenza is suspected in two deaths in the Peace River Haven over a two day period, Peace-Liard Medical Health Officer Dr. Kay Wotton confirmed today.
• The Dawson Creek Symphonette and Choir plays La Belle Helene on its first of two performance days.
• The annual Rotary auction is again a grandiose success, with proceeds around $80,000.
• Pickets are up in front of the Dawson Creek Society for Community Living offices as part of the province wide strike of community social service workers.
• After 67 years in business Jack Patterson’s Menswear is closing its doors. Doug Patterson says that there are no more family members willing to take over the store.
• Transportation and Highways Minister Harry Lali announces a $15 million road improvement program in the South Peace constituency in the coming year.
• Hegge Construction starts stripping the old curling rink roof which will be removed before construction on the new one begins.
• The Junior Canucks win the North West Junior Hockey League championship trophy. They beat the Slave Lake Wolves 7-3 and won the series 4-2.
• The City of Dawson Creek awards management of the Dawson Creek Airport to Frontec, who will also be responsible for developing and promoting the airport.
• Pouce Coupe council is told that the building where they are holding their meetings has structural problems and a new building is being pursued.
• A new publisher is appointed to the Peace River Block News. Bruce Lantz replaces Margaret Forbes who leaves to pursue other interests.
• The Peace River Regional District board of directors passes a budget that will feature tax cuts for taxpayers throughout the Peace River region.
• An explosion levels the Nice and Bright Laundromat at 10:45 p.m., the cause of the explosion is unknown. Later investigation determined the cause of the fire was a gas leak from within the Nice and Bright Laundry building.
• Demolition of the old Dawson Creek Curling Rink reveals heavily rotted roof support beams indicate the ceiling could not have been repaired.

APRIL

• Louisiana Pacific begins the dismantling of two beehive burner systems to make way for a more environmentally sound system.
• Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin visits Dawson Creek after being invited by the Liberal Prince George-Peace River Constituency Association.
• The City of Dawson Creek awarded a $149,500.40 contract to replace 43 hydrants in the city.
• The RCMP reveal they seized 10 Video Lottery Terminals from a local premise last month along with a considerable amount of cash.
• A groundbreaking is held for the massive 56,000 square foot lodge that is to be built on the shore of Moberly Lake.
• City police make a drug bust which results in nine arrests, all suspects are facing charges of either possession of cocaine or marijuana or possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.
• Mayor Blair Lekstrom suggests the new site for the motocross track be given a test run before council decides to give the project the go ahead.
• The Elks Club and the Royal Purple have raised $32,500 toward a new rescue vehicle for the city.
• William Stevens, a marketing specialist, says the best way to market the Peace is by equating it with the word pristine.
• The Kiwanis Trade show draws more than 10,000 people and made $3,000 more revenue from the gate than last year.
• Louisiana Pacific announces a major forestry investment of $283 million today that will fund new mills in northeastern British Columbia and create some 567 jobs. L-P will also make $25.5 million worth of improvements to existing operations.
• Bullmoose coal mine in Tumbler Ridge will lay off 68 employees due to a backlog of coal inventories in Prince Rupert.
• Close to 200 delegates from the North Central Municipal Association are in Dawson Creek for a convention being held over the next three days.
• The South Peace community Resources Society ‘s Violence Against Women in Relationships Committee is recognized across the province with a ministerial award.

MAY

• Dawson Creek Mayor Blair Lekstrom is elected president of the North Central Municipal Association (NCMA) during the annual convention, held here. It’s also announced that Dawson Creek will host the convention again in 2000.
• It’s announced that the Dawson Creek and District Hospital has been given the green light to do $180,000 worth of upgrades to its kitchen.
• Construction of a moto-cross track at the Heritage Industrial Park is given council’s endorsement, but not without some concern about the noise. They agreed to have the next council review the impact on nearby residents in a year’s time.
• The city cuts the tax rate with a couple of cents, effectively holding the line on tax requisition for the sixth year in a row.
• Energy and Mines Minister Dan Miller announces that the April sale of oil and gas rights brought in $12.5 million Ñ a 172 per cent increase over the total brought in for the April 1999 sale.
• The ambitious Moberly Lodge project is put on hold. Project backer Wayne Christensen says the project has been shelved after a ground water study shows that the $10 million structure on the shore of Moberly Lake would affect the water table if there is heavy rainfall. A scaled-down version is in the works.
• Five members of the Citizens On Patrol receive awards for their service. Staff Sergeant Gerry Falk and Coun. Frank Grant formally thank Terry McFayden for 15 patrols, Brenda Letcher for 25 patrols, and Jill Northan and Iona Hasz for 50 patrols.
• The South Peace Health Council is running a 1.4 per cent deficit on budget of $27, 665,000.
• Though a direct link could not be established, the South Peace Health Council says two staff members at Peace River Haven had the flu first, which had five residents die from respiratory complications.
• Mining Week turns out to be little cause for celebration in Tumbler Ridge following hundreds of layoffs at the Quintette and Bullmoose coal mines. The events are limited to some ads in the newspaper and a Mine Manager’s breakfast.
• Backers of the Alliance Pipeline project announce construction will begin in August. The Canadian portion is to stretch 1,560 km. from southern Saskatchewan to the Peace, with 760 km. of lateral pipeline. Between 400 and 500 construction jobs are to be created.
• Environment Canada says the cold spell is nearly over, and all snow should soon be melted in the Peace.
• Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh is in Dawson Creek to announce $16,000 in funding for a new youth crime prevention program. The Nights Alive program is designed to get bored youth off the street by finding things for them to do at night in the Mile Zero City.
• The Dawson Creek Municipal Library will receive $46,346, municipal affairs minister Jenny Kwan announces. The grant is used to purchase new materials.
• A $500,000 expansion and renovation of the Peace River Block Daily News building is announced. "This will enhance the work environment for our staff and will make the plant something Dawson Creek can be proud of," says publisher Bruce Lantz.
• A 43-year-old Tumbler Ridge man is charged with two counts of second-degree murder following a fatal hit-and-run accident that claimed the lives of Paul Trevisanutto, 32, and Doreen Dupras, 38. Police say Raymond Albert Dupras, the estranged husband of Doreen Dupras, fled the scene after striking the pair with his pickup truck as they walked along Mackenzie Way.
• Former mayor Bill Kusk decides that he will run after all in the coming local elections. Kusk says he changed his mind after watching the current mayor and council abuse the users at the city’s fall fair grounds. Current mayor Blair Lekstrom announced earlier in the month that he will run again.
• South Peace Secondary teacher Mary-Ellen Gaudet is among eight cyclists who embark on a 955 km. cycle from Vancouver to Mackenzie to raise money to combat cancer.
• B.C. Health Minister Penny Priddy announces $20.5 million funding for the South Peace Health Council, an increase of more than $500,000.
• A call goes out for host families for university students from Osaka, Japan. It will be the 10th successive summer in which students from the university have come to the Peace to work on their English.
• An estimated 70 bags full of clothes, as well as several large boxes of donations are collected for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency which will send them on to needy families around the work. Peter, Maija, and Elsa Vesaniemi spearhead the effort.
• A $6.5 million interpretive centre focusing on the 16th engineering wonder of the world is planned for NAR Park. Despite the hefty price tag, chamber of commerce manager Wayne Dahlen says the intent is to build and operate the centre at no cost to the city.

JUNE

• The South Peace Historical Society express concern about locating the proposed Alaska Highway Interpretive Centre at NAR Park. Members say the project could be a white elephant that will cost too much money and encroach on parking space.
• Fifteen paramedics finish their course-ending exams, the first batch of students under a new system that sees Dawson Creek becoming one of two training centres for this work outside of Vancouver.
• Don Pettit wins a 1999 Minister’s Environment Award for his long-term advocacy for environmental issues in Dawson Creek.
• The B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission decides to stick with its original plan to redraw the boundary between the two Peace Country ridings. Although an unpopular move, the commission says the only other alternative would be to amalgamate the two into a single constituency.
• The South Peace Health Council (SPHC) votes 8-3 to go ahead with a non-smoking policy that will restrict employees to smoking only in designated areas, starting Sept. 30.
• A fuel bin explosion rips through the Louisiana-Pacific oriented strand board plant. No-one was hurt in the incident, that occurred at 7 a.m.
• Work progresses on a $40,000 revamp of the old library building, which will become the new City Kids Day Care facility. The move will mean that the city will no longer have to pay rent to the school board.
• Tyler Marion gets ready for the World Skills Competition after qualifying in the carpentry division earlier this month. "It’s something that doesn’t come along everyday for you, and it gets pretty exciting," he says of the competition, set for Nov. 11-14 in Montreal.
• The Dawson Creek and District Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 55th year of operation.
• South Peace students James Brown, Julie Reene and Karen Kirk are selected for this year’s representatives for our area to participate in the Shad Valley program. Shad Valley permits these students to spend the summer at a university working at entrepreneurial and scientific projects.
• Tumbler Ridge’s Quintette coalmine wins gold at a mine rescue competition in Revelstoke.
• Council approves a scheme to decorate the city’s fire hydrants. Inspired by what he saw in Dauphin, Manitoba, Lions Club member John Birnie offers to organize a contest to turn the hydrants into works of art.
• The South Peace Health Council is given $617,265 extra money by the government to help it make its computer systems year 2000 compatible.
• Rick Hall is presented with the Ifor Jones Memorial Award for the 1998-1999 Rotarian of the Year.
• Leonard and Molly Donaldson are presented with the L.B. Thomson Conservation Award. Presented by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, it acknowledges their work to restore 25 acres of their farm to natural habitat, as well as planting some 10,000 tree seedlings in the process.
• B.C. Retail Council vice president Kevin Evans says Dawson Creek is a bright spot in an otherwise morose retailing industry. Local retailers concur. "Locally, we’re different because we’re not in the same conditions as the rest of B.C.," says City Furniture owner Ted Sandhu.
• Organic Bakery owner Franz Nefele says he may have to close down his business if Berkley Petroleum goes ahead with plans to install a gas well on his farm. Nefele grows organic spelt, a special type of grain that can be eaten by people allergic to wheat. He’s worried about the effect that flaring may have on the integrity of his crop.
• Another 125 workers at the Quintette coal mine in Tumbler Ridge are given layoff notices. Management points to the struggling Asian economy. The layoffs bring the workforce down to 500 people at the mine. But mayor Paul Kealy says the town is far from dead and that it means they’ll just have to work harder to diversify.
• The so-called Berlin Wall of Dawson Creek comes crashing down when BC Rail and Canadian National Rail an agreement comes into effect. It allows BCR to cross 17th Street, into CN territory on the east side of town so that they can pick up rail cars from CN’s facilities, as well as their own.
• A composting demonstration centre is opened behind Spruceland Manor. The centre is meant to educate locals about the benefits and methods of composting as a way to reduce the amount of waste that goes into area landfills.
• The June sale of oil and gas rights in B.C. brings in $2 million, well down from the $5.1 million generated by the June sale in 1998 and the $21 million in 1998.
• After 23 years as a crossing guard, Bill McCarlie retires. "I’m going to miss the kids," he said as he guided children from Canalta School across 108th Avenue.

JULY

• A two-year apprenticeship program in heavy duty mechanics is announced by Northern Lights College. The program will be offered in combination with the college’s commercial transport technician program.
• Al Berkner’s remote-control mini-loader pays off. Thanks to a story in the Peace River Block Daily News, news of his invention, reaches Leon’s Manufacturing Corporation in Saskatchewan. Not only is Berkner invited out to show what he did, but he comes back with a brand new mini-loader in exchange for his help.
• The B.C. Peace is a bright spot in an otherwise floundering provincial housing market, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation says. Year-to-date starts in Dawson Creek are up 50 per cent in Dawson Creek and up 26.7 per cent in Fort St. John, compared to a drop of 31.3 per cent for B.C. as a whole.
• Numbers released by B.C. Stats show that the Peace’s unemployment rate for the end of June has tripled over it was at the same time in 1998. The rate sits at 9.5 per cent, compared to a rock bottom 3.1 per cent a year ago.
• Major changes are being made to the welcome sign at Fynn’s Corner, in place since Expo 1986. The large white letters are being taken out and a bright new sign reading "The Mile Zero City - Where the Adventure Begins" will be put in its place.
• Thanks to provincial authorization, the Tomslake Fire Department can now legally cross the Alberta border to help neighbouring communities put out fires there. Even though it was against the law, technically speaking, Tomslake firefighters had been crossing the border to help out residents in Gundy for years.
• Ben Heppner, the opera-singing pride of Dawson Creek, says he’s proud of being named to the Order of Canada.
• The aircraft maintenance business Northward Air will be packing up from the Dawson Creek airport and move to Grande Prairie. While Mayor Blair Lekstrom says they had to cancel the lease of the company because owner Larry Moody refused to take out liability insurance, Moody says there was a lot more to it than that and he’s just moving his business.
• Long-time Dawson Creek volunteer Cecile Guay says she’s surprised and please that she’s a recipient of the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award. "It feels good to be able to do something, and after so many years, finally get some credibility," she says.
• Head librarian Mary Toma announces she’ll be leaving the job after 11 years so that she can move to Manitoba to care for her elderly mother. "That is my sole reason for leaving," she tells Dawson Creek. "Manitoba will have to go a long ways to match you

AUGUST

• The last grain is processed by the Cargill elevator in Dawson Creek. As of the afternoon, the long-time landmark is closed, set for demolition later this month.
• Twenty-nine students from Tezukayama University in Japan arrive in Dawson Creek for a month-long stay with local families as part of improving their English language skills.
• It’s the last day of work for 125 people at the Quintette coal mine in Tumbler Ridge. For those out of work, an industrial adjustment centre will be opened in a few days, offering access to Internet and job search sites, as well as help with job-hunting skills.
• Thousands line the streets to take in the parade that kicks off the 78th annual Dawson Creek and District Fall Fair and Exhibition. During the Fall Fair and Stampede, two foreign film crews take in the festivities. A Chilean crew is shooting an episode of Cachureos, a popular children’s TV show in that country. A Chinese TV crew also strolled the grounds. In addition, a three-camera crew from the Makin’8 television series and videos filmed all the rodeo events.
• The two judges in Dawson Creek to evaluate the city for the Communities In Bloom competition come away impressed by the way such environmental matters as sewage treatment and waste management are handled here.
• Louisiana-Pacific announces the woodlands office will be moved to a new location on 116th Avenue, east of 8th Street. More room is needed, says woodlands manager Martin Scholz, because L-P has promised to build four new mills in the Peace. They hope to be in their new home by mid-September.
• Schools in Rolla, Arras, Farmington, Groundbirch, Hythe, Tomslake, and Tupper Creek are among the 92 in B.C. get funding from the federal and provincial governments for Internet service this fall.
• In what residents say sounded like an explosion, part of the transmission tower for NTV is toppled by vandals. The antenna and the top 140 feet of the 260 foot tower is broken off. "We found one guy wire had been cut, we think with a hacksaw, and another guy wire had its turnbuckle completely unscrewed," said NTV engineer Glen Foisy. An emergency antenna is brought in and the station is back on the air, but at about one-tenth of the normal power.
• The jobless rate for the Peace reaches 10.7 per cent for July, unprecedented in recent years.
• Bee keepers join grain farmers in lamenting the poor state of agriculture in the Peace. Early frosts, a cold spring, and a hot summer have meant few blossoms from which the bees can collect pollen to make honey.
• In a surprise turn of events, Dawson Creek is awarded the 2000 Northern Wood Forum. The news comes after Vanderhoof went so far as to print T-shirts and hold a kick-off barbecue in anticipation of being named the host by the Central Interior Wood Processors Association, which chose the Mile Zero City instead.
• Peace Air announces that Dawson Creek will be part of a new route that flies passengers from the Peace to Edmonton. The service goes into effect on Sept. 13.
• A ground-breaking ceremony for a new, 204-bed student dormitory at Northern Lights College is held. To be built east of the pottery building, the building will cost $4.5 million. Prince George North MLA Paul Ramsey is on hand for the ceremony.

OCTOBER

• Aspol Motors in Dawson Creek is not only still in business, but will be expanding service, the dealership’s general manager Danny Schilds says. Aspol is now a Ford Custom Dealership and in time will also offer no-appointment lube and oil service and a Young Drivers of Canada program.
• The refund system for drink containers is expanded with drink boxes, drink pouches and gable top cartons. The DC Recycling Centre now pays full refund on all drink containers, except for containers for milk and milk products.
• Canadian Tire is eyeing Dawson Creek. In answer to rumours, Mayor Blair Lekstrom says the retail giant is indeed looking to opening a store in Dawson Creek.
• Local resident Bernice Ashley, 69, has her first solo flight from the Dawson Creek airport and is well on her way to becoming a recreational pilot.
• A trade mission from the North West Territories descends on Dawson Creek to look for ideas and trade and joint venture possibilities that the whole northern area can benefit from. In Dawson Creek, the group toured industrial facilities and spoke with the chamber of commerce.
• A groundbreaking ceremony is held for the construction of a seniors complex opposite the hospital on 13th Street. The 18-unit condominium complex should be ready for occupancy sometime in 2000.
• Dawson Creek singer/songwriter Montgomery Steele sets a new Canadian record with his fifth single hitting the charts of RPM magazine. The debut CD "First Time Out" is the first 100 per cent Canadian content debut CD to ever have five consecutive top 30 hits in RPM.
• Dawson Creek is the bright spot in the province with housing starts up by 107.3 per cent in the third quarter, compared to the third quarter last year. For the whole of northern B.C., housings starts are down 35 per cent.
• The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announces it will put 30 Tumbler Ridge homes on the market, sometime in early 2000. The houses are 30 of 100 CMHC picked up from Quintette coal mine after the mine went in receivership in the 1980s.
• Land owned by the Grace Lutheran church on 17th Street is being considered for 14 units of social housing for seniors and special needs people, council learns at its Monday meeting. The project is in cooperation with the Dawson Creek Society for Community Living. Patrick Michiel, administrator for the Dawson Creek Society for Community Living says the social housing development proposed for 17th Street is only one of three or four the society hopes to build in the next few years for slightly-handicapped people to live on their own.
• Drug enforcement in Dawson Creek is improving, says RCMP Staff Sgt. Gerry Falk. The number of arrests for drug-related offences to the end of September this year stood at 164, compared to 121 for the same period 1998.
• The Dawson Creek and District Hospital Foundation gets a sizable donation of $150,000 from the British Columbia Gaming Commission for Direct Access to Gaming Revenue.
• Canadian Tire will indeed open a store in Dawson Creek next year, Mayor Blair Lekstrom announces. The store will be built on 8th Street and 120th Avenue and will employ 40 to 50 part time and full time people.
• The oil and gas rights sale for October nets $22 million for the provincial government. This brings the total sales for 1999 to date to $144 million, well ahead of the $87.5 million at the same time last year.
• Residents of the Peace River Regional District will soon be able to dial 911 for emergency as the service is expected to be in place by the November 2000.

NOVEMBER

• A social housing project planned on Grace Lutheran land on 17th Street comes under fire at a public hearing at city hall. The Dawson Creek Society for Community Living plans to build 14 units for low-income seniors, low-income families and handicapped adults who, with a little help, could be living on their own.
• Building inspector Greg Dobrowolski report that with a permit for the structural skeleton for the new Louisiana-Pacific veneer plant for $1.756 million, construction in Dawson Creek has reached $32 million this year.
• Youth drug rates are up on this region, a survey amongst South Peace youth reveals.
• More than 20 people brave the cold waters of Rotary Lake in the annual Polar Bear Dip, to raise money for the Salvation Army emergency food service.
• At a public meeting, Louisiana-Pacific officially announces the new veneer plant, while donating $200,000 to the City of Dawson Creek towards a new swimming pool.
• About 700 people come out to the Remembrance Day ceremonies at Unchagah Hall and the celebrations afterwards at the Royal Canadian Legion.
• The Kelly Lake Cree Nation, one of three organizing bodies of people living in the aboriginal community of Kelly Lake, says it has filed a land claim with Ottawa.
• Marj Monlezun is chosen as Citizen of the Year at the annual President’s Ball of the Chamber of Commerce. Nodes Construction was named Business of the Year.
• Calvin Kruk wins the chamber of commerce magazine cover contest with his painting of a grain elevator at dawn.
• The Kiwanis Enterprise Centre is chosen as having one of the most innovative entrepreneurial programs in Canada, by the Canadian Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurship at its annual conference in Banff, Nov. 11-13.
• Though the result is not immediately known, Dawson Creek apprentice-carpenter Tyler Marion becomes the world’s 10th-best young carpenter at the World Skills Competition in Montreal, Nov. 11-14.
• City council passes a rezoning bylaw that paves the way for a 14-unit social housing complex to be built on 17th Street.
• Six Agricore workers in Dawson Creek join the strike that started two weeks ago in Manitoba and has been spreading westward. The main issue for the workers is the difference in the contracts between the former Alberta Pool and Manitoba Pool workers, joined into Agricore in Oct. 1998.
• Mayor Blair Lekstrom wins the municipal elections by a landslide with 89 per cent of the vote. Voted into council are also Calvin Kruk, Mike Caisley, Bud Powell, Bob Gibbs and Alvin Stedel. Albert Erbe is re-elected for PRRD Area D and Moon Mah and Jim Noble are re-elected to represent Dawson Creek on the School District 59 board.
• Oil and gas rights sale nets $9.1 million for the province.
• Following the Kelly Lake Cree Nation who explained their land claim to the Peace River Regional District Nov. 12, the Kelly Lake First Nations address the PRRD explaining they want to build their community without land claims.
• Canada Safeway opens its new store in Dawson Creek. The store is 15,000 square feet larger than the old one and has about 11,000 new items.
• Wheelchair accessible buses make their entry in Dawson Creek and the first users give it a thumbs up.

DECEMBER

• Outgoing city councillor Frank Grant is awarded a life-time membership to the Dawson Creek and District Chamber of Commerce for his amount of work Grant has done for business in the community of Dawson Creek.
• School District 59 thinks it may have found a solution to poor air quality in school buses in the form of a specially-designed air exchanger/heater, for times windows can’t be opened because of cold weather or extreme dusty conditions.
• Ophthalmologist Dr. Simon Holland celebrates 10 years of service in the Peace. Holland says the Peace is still one of the most under-served areas in the province for ophthalmology.
• The new City Council is sworn into office by Judge David Levis. Mayor Blair Lekstrom also hands out the portfolios. Coun. Bob Gibbs gets the finance portfolio.
• School District 59 recognizes three long-time school district employees by naming facilities after them. Names are the Dave Nybakken Technology Centre, the John Kendrew Education Centre and the Pat O’Reilly Outdoor Education Centre.
• Residents in the Blockline Road area are fighting to keep a section of forest untouched by logging activity for the Louisiana-Pacific oriented strand board mill. Forest district manager Terry Dyer says the concerns of the residents will be taken into account in the decision-making process.
• A province-wide survey of former college students reveals Northern Lights College ranks first among 21 institutions. The Student Outcomes report rates NLC particularly high in overall satisfaction with studies, quality of teaching and usefulness of training in performing one’s job.
• The December sale of oil and gas rights brought in $24.4 million to the government, bringing the total for 1999 to $176 million, which is nearly double 1998’s $96 million.
• The housing proposal of the Dawson Creek Society for Community Living on 17th Street is assembling a waiting list. Community Living executive director Patrick Michiel says the list will help the society’s plans to build more than 30 units of low-cost housing around Dawson Creek.
• BC Rail locks out its employees, effectively blocking a lot of industrial rail transportation from wood mills, coal mines and grain elevators throughout the north. Industry is scrambling to find alternate ways of transportation following the lockout of BC Rail’s 1,600 unionized employees.
• Five native youth have graduated from a unique course which enables them to help their peers who have gotten into trouble with the law go through the court system more smoothly. This will not only save court costs, but may end up getting the youth more lenient sentences because of lack of frustration by the court system.
• The mild weather has set five record warm days between Dec. 19 and Dec. 28 for the South Peace, Environment Canada reports, including the warmest Christmas day on record at 9.4 C and a record high on Dec. 27 of 13.5 C, compared to the previous high of 8.0 C reached in 1979.
• The Peace River Block Daily News names Dawson Creek Mayor Blair Lekstrom as newsmaker of the year, and the unprecedented $32 million of new construction in the city this year as news event of the year.