Thursday, March 19, 2009

Podunk Below the Masthead, Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The St. Patrick's Day edition of the Daily News features a marine activist and author, a review of your dietary requirements and a look how the Hecate Strait Employment Development Society may be a winner as employment numbers decline.

SHADOWS OF THE PAST - TWENTY YEARS AFTER VALDEZ, ALASKA-- Monday's front page featured a look at the examination of the impact of oil spills on the environment, featuring a conversation with Doctor Riki Ott, a marine biologist, activist and author who was in Prince Rupert on Monday for a speaking engagement. The article featured a look at the oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 and the lessons that should be learned from that event.

March being nutrition month provided the paper with the chances to examine a more healthier approach to our diets and how teaching property nutrition early on will help promote a healthy lifestyle.

Page three reviewed the dip in employment numbers in Northern BC and how the local Hecate Strait office may benefit from an influx of mature workers and the unemployed looking for job skills. Kathy Bedard outlines how those arriving at Hecate Strait should be preparing for the long haul and not to expect instant employment results in these times.

Though she did identify one bright spot locally as the soon to open Home Hardware Building Centre though in the article it's location was wrong, as it's to be found in the Rupert Square and not as outlined in the paper as in the Ocean Centre Mall.

Bedard champions the Home Hardware opening as just the beginning of better things for the city suggesting that we are on the upswing and by December Rupert should be in a better position. Though she didn't elaborate in the article on the scope of her enthusiasm for the local economy and what these good news developments may be.

Page five provides a look at PNG's plans to match Terasen Gas' moves to lower rates in April. though there seems to be an inner conflict on the proper spelling of the name of the gas company which services the Lower mainland and southern Kootenay's.

And despite the date, the paper manages to go twelve pages without a mention of St. Patrick's Day, something that runs counter to most publications across North America which always seem to revel in the festivities of the day.

Total pages in Tuesday's paper (12)

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