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What a year it was: part II

Here is a roundup of the second half of 2014 in Terrace news
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Photo #1: Annual upkeep of the Old Skeena Bridge underway last summer. Photo #2: Old Terrace Herald clipping of City Hall on opening day in 1964.

July

Details emerge about a housing mega-complex planned for a section of land bounded by Kenney and Park in the horseshoe neighbourhood. Calgary-based Coast to Coast Holdings Inc. says it plans to build what could be more than 180 apartment and townhouse units. The company begins its construction with a small complex later in the summer.

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Councillor Marylin Davies, a Terrace resident of 51 years, announces she is moving to the city of Courtenay on Vancouver Island to seek relief from a nagging medical condition in the warmer climate, leaving a spot to be filled in the November 2014 municipal elections.

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The city announces that the first of several factories to be developed by the Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone out at the industrial park will be an alfalfa protein extraction plant to employ approximately 170 people.

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The Tahltan Central Council elects a new president, Chad Norman Day, who has served as a Tahltan band councillor. He replaces Annita McPhee, council president over three two-year terms. Day received 404 votes to McPhee’s 251.

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Terrace RCMP inspector Dana Hart orders an investigation into a steroid ring involving four former Terrace officers. The incidents happened more than two years before, and now that the disciplinary reports about them have been concluded and released, Hart talks about the situation for the first time.

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Northwest leaders form the Northwest BC Resource Benefits Alliance (RBA) which brings together mayors and other municipal leaders in a unified front to negotiate a deal with the province that would see provincial money allocated for infrastructure and services needed due to pressures of industrial expansion. RBA is asking for $500 million to $3 billion over several years, similar to long-term deals forged in other districts.

August

Nisga’a LISIMS Government inks one of several major agreements of the year with aboriginal affairs minister John Rustad and NLG president Mitchell Stevens signing off on an agreement which will enable the NLG to collect property taxes from non-Nisga’a citizens who live on Nisga’a lands and have taxing authority over industrial installations.

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Terrace fishing guides and their clients receive a letter from the Gitxsan Treaty Society (GTS) saying that action would be taken to halt fishing and industry by non-Gitxsan in their 33,000 square kilometre traditional territory because of overlapping land claims issues with Kitselas and Kitsumkalum.

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After a construction effort that took over two years and hundreds of millions of dollars of government financing to finish, the 344 kilometre Northwest Transmission Line powers up.

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HeartWarming kidney transplant story emerges with Palwinder Thandi receiving a new kidney from her friend Megan Hoole.

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Regional District Director Doug McLeod resigns after fighting for two years for his constituents, saying that decisions at the regional district are being made behind closed doors.

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Tahltan Activists, the Klabona Keepers, block access to the Red Chris mine on Aug. 8 in light of the failure of the Mount Polley copper mine breach in the Cariboo. Later in August, the Tahltan block the highway to protest the over-hunting of moose.

September

The City of Terrace loses a court battle to protect the Spirit Bear name from being used on a logo for a brand of alcohol. Kelowna-based Urban Distilleries, which produces a line of Spirit Bear gin and vodka, wins battle and Terrace later drops the trademark.

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Terrace council reveals a new bylaw aimed at relieving the shortage of affordable housing in Terrace. The Affordable Housing Fund Bylaw lays out a framework for accumulating money in an account specifically allotted for housing-related projects.

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Yellowknife-based Air Tindi announces a thrice-weekly flight service to Masset from the Northwest Regional Airport.

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Students return to school after the teachers strike ends Sept. 22 after missing the first three weeks of classes in September and the last two weeks of classes in June.

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Rural residents outside of Terrace learn they will be on the hook for $200 a year for refuse collection which creates backlash from frustrated rural residents.

October

Allegations of steroid use become a factor in a civil suit filed against RCMP officer Const. Brian Heideman who allegedly assaulted Robert Wright at the RCMP detachment. The case is amended to say that Heideman was ingesting steroids “which caused him to be unduly aggressive and violent with the plaintiff...”

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City council votes unanimously to sink approximately $69,000 into the continued environmental rehabilitation of the former Terrace Co-op lands on Greig Ave in anticipation of a hotel being developed there.

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Family and friends of missing First Nations woman Lana Derrick organize a rally outside the Terrace RCMP detachment calling for a national inquiry into murdered and missing women.

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A video of a Terrace RCMP striking a young man during an arrest spurs internal investigation at the detachment.

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Tahltan president Chad Day comes under criticism for comments made about the Klabona Keepers who were blocking access to the nearly-completed Red Chris  mine.

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The Building of five new units at the Tuck Ave. Seniors home is completed thanks to group effort between churches, the city, the a federal housing agency and volunteers.

November

THE NISGA’A Lisims Government finalizes a deal with the provincial government for a several million dollar payment related to the First Nation allowing the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission line on Nisga’a Land.

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TWO Kitimat residents question the payment by Rio Tinto Alcan of the salary of a provincial environment employee involved in issuing permits for the company’s $4.3 billion Kitimat aluminum smelter modernization project which adds to their original claim that Alcan should install sulfur dioxide scrubbers.

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Carol Leclerc gets voted in as new mayor to replace outgoing mayor Dave Pernarowski. She wins by a comfortable margin with 1,456 votes compared to the 969 gathered by councillor Bruce Bidgood.

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Student enrolment is noted to have declined, with school officials citing the departure of families because of high housing costs as one reason.

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a 50-PAGE report comes out on the tailings pond design of the not-yet opened Red Chris gold and copper mine owned by Imperial Metals which outlines 22 recommendations that should be followed before the mine goes into operation. It was paid for by Imperial Metals and commissioned independently by the Tahltan.

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councillor Lynne Christiansen makes case for limiting fireworks to Halloween day and not the full week which the current bylaw allows.

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Former mayor Jack Talstra is given the status of Freeman of the City. Talstra dies from pancreatic cancer in December.

December

Red Chris mine owner Imperial Metals is granted an injunction preventing the Klabona Keepers from blocking access to the property off of Hwy37 North near Iskut.

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City council votes to not interfere with Thornhill’s incorporation bid.

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Local first Nations negotiators argue that a single-minded focus on developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry is getting in the way of treaty negotiations.

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Skeena NDP MLA Robin Austin adds a political opponent to a defamation lawsuit stretching back to the May 2013 provincial election campaign. Originally filed against Jim Lynch for comments made during the election, now Michael Brousseau is added to the defamation suit.

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The regional District of Kitimat-Stikine decides to sell the MK Bay Marina to the Haisla after years of operating the business.