Podunk Below the Masthead, Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A close encounter of the Grizzly kind, the Daily outlines it final day and Walter Smith passes away at the age of 94, some of the top items of the news day for Wednesday.

Daily News, front page, headline story
CANNERY ROW GRIZZLY ENCOUNTERED A SECOND TIME-- More sightings of grizzlies in the Cannery row area near the North Pacific Cannery by Port Ed, including the close encounter of Marcus Griffin of Prince Rupert.

Details of the schedule for the National Energy Board's Joint Review Panel to look into the fate of Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline. Kitimat's session is planned for August 31 at 9 am at Riverlodge. The complete list of sessions can be found at this link.

Final confirmation of the final publication day for the Daily News was printed in the Wednesday paper, a page two notice that advised that the paper's last day of publication will be this Friday,  residents wishing to offer up their comments for the Friday paper can email their thoughts to editor@prdn.ca. For those seeking subscription refunds, the Daily advises that they will be mailed to the subscription address, less any amounts owing, they should be delivered within sixty days of Friday's edition.

(Daily News Archive for Wednesday, July 14, 2010)

Cannery Row Grizzly encountered a second time 
Joint Review Panel invites comments 
Tax exemption bylaw in the works
Mayor wants forestry office re-opened
Update in the courts

The Northern View
Prince Rupert booster and Freedom of the City Walter Smith passes away -- The weekly paper offers up the first notice of the passing of legendary Rupertite Walter Smith, the long time Prince Rupert resident, who was perhaps this city's greatest booster passed away on Tuesday at the age of 94, the Northern View offered up a review of his life on their website on Wednesday. (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Prince Rupert Port Authority celebrates a special cruise ship guest-- CFTK offers up a look at the arrival of the 500,000th cruise ship visitor to the city, as we outlined on the blog earlier today, the Port Authority and Adventure tours made it a special occasion with a trip of a lifetime for a participant in the Make a Wis program (see CFTK story here)

CFTK TV 7 News
New Economic Development Officer appointed in the North Coast -- CFTK's coverage of the announcement of a new Economic Development officer for the city (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Leader of the Green Party of BC makes a stop in Prince Rupert -- TV 7 follows the Green Party leader during her tour of the city on Tuesday, outlining some of her thoughts on her concerns about the city and region (see article here) (Sahar Nassimdoost's video report can be viewed here)


CBC News Northern BC Daybreak North
Daybreak North is only posting selected items on their website now.

The most recently posted items can be found on the archive page for Daybreak North click here

Daily News, front page headline story 
Cannery Row Grizzly encountered a second time 
By Monica Lamb-Yorski 
Staff Writer 
Prince Rupert Daily News
Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A second reported sighting of a grizzly bear near Cannery Row has been confirmed.

Marcus Griffin of Prince Rupert was hiking along the tracks last week when he encountered the bear about three km past Cassiar Cannery.

“It was a sunny day, I had a backpack on my back and I wanted to get a visual of some property I own on Smith Island across the water,” Griffin told the Daily News.

Suddenly he heard a stellar blue jay making a certain call, squealing on something, he explained, and he whistled back to let the bird know he was there.

About 30 feet away he heard a crashing noise and saw the grizzly.

“I backed up four or five steps to get a distance and he started coming at me. I’m six foot three and 225 pounds – he looked to be about three years old and 300 to 400 pounds. I bluffed, charged and started barking like a dog,” recalled Griffin.

The bear stopped, stared him down, and as Griffin continued to scream and yell, it stared back, but began to retreat.

“I couldn’t find a rock big enough along the tracks to throw, but he finally went off into the bush,” he added.

Once Griffin felt the bear would leave him to be, he continued hiking, but after reading in the Daily News Friday about the bear sighting decided he’d better let people know this bear isn’t afraid of humans.

“I noticed his tracks along the beach and was told by a forestry friend that he’s probably looking for new territory. My main concern is that he came at me and if someone was walking along and the same thing happened, they might not know what to do,” he commented.

Griffin is no stranger to the bush and has lots of experience hunting. He was attacked by a cougar on Vancouver Island once and ended up shooting it in self-defence.

“These days I’d rather shoot photographs of animals,” he suggested.

According to Griffin the bear is very light in colour with brown eyes and was probably munching on skunk cabbage moments before the encounter.

“He knew I was there, the wind was westerly on my back and he let me walk by within 30 feet of him. If it hadn’t been for that blue jay, I don’t know what would have 
happened.”