Podunk Below the Masthead (Monday, February 8, 2010)

Northern BC Games reviews, a quiet get together with the MP and council has enthusiastic debate over ANBT rent break, some of the items of note for the Monday news review.

Daily News, front page, headline story

AN IMPRESSIVE SHOWING AT THE NORTHERN B. C. WINTER GAMES-- The Daily News provides two and a half pages of review of the weekends activities, with a full sports page dedicated to the games, a photo page with some of the images from the weekend and a front page article which outlined the success of the games for local athletes.

Nathan Cullen held a small gathering of local residents taking in the discussion of his second annual economic forum. 20 participants sat down with the Skeena-Bulkley Valley, NDP MP, as he hosted the forum which examined ways to fix the local economy, among the concerns expressed during the session were a fear of a further exodus of university aged people, the litany of missed opportunities for the North coast and the perceived ineffectiveness of senior government programs to develop local infrastructure.

The Daily provides some further background on last weeks announcement of the proposed wood pellet plant for Terrace, one of the few signs of economic growth in the region in recent months. CFTK TV 7 News had the first report on the announcement posted to their website last Thursday.

The Sports section featured a review of a variety of sports from the weekend of action at the BC Northern Winter Games.

(Archive for Daily News Articles for February 8, 2010 )

The Northern View
After lengthy debate, City of Prince Rupert providing a conditional grant to All Native Basketball Tournament -- The Northern View once again makes good use of its website, with the first comprehensive report on Monday night's city council meeting where the seemingly controversial topic of a rent reduction for the All Native Basketball tournament was discussed and approved with conditions (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News

No new items posted to the CFTK website for Monday

CBC News, Northern British Columbia, Daybreak North
Taking on the HST -- The CBC reintroduces its multi media aspect of their website with a report on the northern organizer for the Fight HST group (listen to report here)

The full list of current Daybreak North interviews can be found here.
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Daily News, front page headline story

An impressive showing at the Northern B.C. Winter Games
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Monday, February 8, 2010

Prince Rupert welcomed athletes from all over Northern B.C. this past weekend, as the community hosted the 2010 Northern B.C. Winter Games.

Then, Rupert went out and dominated, winning more medals than any other region.

Because Prince Rupert was the host, they were allowed to enter athletes both as the “host” region and the “North Coast” region, and unofficially, won a combined total of 135 medals (team and individuals included).
That tally included 45 gold medals, 51 silver, and 38 bronze, including 59 of those from the Earl Mah Aquatic Centre by the Rupert Rapids.

“It was exciting,” said Rapids coach Chris Street. “This is a fun event … but for them to medal like this, it’s a break-through event for us.”

The other impressive performance came at the Lester Centre, as Rupert wrestlers won 10 medals in total, including a surprising gold medal from Kevin Vickers, who needed only 17 seconds to pin his competitor.
“We hadn’t taken him to a meet before, so of all the medalists, he surprised me the most,” said wrestling coach Doug Stevens.

Perhaps the most amazing team result for Rupert was a silver medal by the junior girls volleyball team. True, they fell in straight sets to the Peace River region in the final, but came up with arguably the biggest upset of the Games, when they defeated an all-star team from Prince George 2-1 in the semi-final.

“I think that was their gold medal,” said coach Stefan Delloch.

Close to 1,500 out-of-towners were in Rupert this weekend for the Games, including more than 800 athletes.
And many of those out-of-town visitors, by all accounts, were also impressed with the balmy winter weather, to the point where Games President Sandra Jones, at the Opening Ceremonies jokingly called it the “2010 Northern B.C. Spring Games, here on our little balmy island in the South Pacific.”

El Nino aside, the event was a huge success, with important dignitaries attending, such as Provincial Minister Ida Chong and Hereditary Chief for the Allied Tribes, Lawrence Helin.

Helin requested that all athletes enjoy the use of the land, but that they return it to the way it was once the Games are over.

Chong, meanwhile, talked about the success of a previous Northern Games athlete, who eventually went on to win a gold medal at 2008 Beijing Olympics — Carol Huynh from Hazelton, which inspired one of the loudest cheers of the night, especially from the Bulkley Valley athletes.

At the closing ceremonies, Treena Decker announced the final medal tallies, and then happily added, “Go Rupert!” to her speech.

For a more in-depth look at all the results from the Games, check out page 6, and more photos on page 10.