Search for Cause of Fire Continues

Monday, August 25, 2008 03:58 AM

Prince George, B.C.- The search continues for the cause of the fire at the Columbus hotel which claimed three lives.

Although authorities have not yet released any official confirmation, it is most likely the remains discovered late Saturday are those of 67 year old Joseph James Arthur Delere, also known as “JJ”, and 50 year old William Bernard Peterson, known as “Bill”.

The two men have been missing since the hotel went up in flames Tuesday morning.

Housing has been found for the 6 people left homeless by the fire. Murry Krause with the Central Interior Native Health Society says the fire has underscored the need for affordable housing in this community. “Among my concerns are the other facilities that still exist in terms of how we house some of our poorest people. We have got to have a discussion about that in the community.”

Krause says there needs to be an examination of a housing strategy “We need to look at the inventory of housing, the whole spectrum, from shelters through to affordable, to supportive, to market housing. We need a long term strategy.”

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Posted on Monday, August 25, 2008 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 25 2008 7:06 AM

The downtown gets rid of one dive and can start the clean up of downtown and Murray wants it back the way it was.

Must be one of those two pronged approaches where you talk about cleaning up the downtown, while maintaining it exactly the way it was. I wonder what would happen if the needle garbage producer was to burn down?

What's the big deal if PG doesn't have a "downtown eastside" area like Vancouver? Is it the caring and cuddly councillors that are causing downtown to decay as they love it to death?

Posted by: REALIST on August 25 2008 9:18 AM

Wow. I know to ignore some posters but, still sometimes it is like a car wreck you can't avoid looking at and when you read it, it just gets scarier and scarier...

Posted by: caranmacil on August 25 2008 10:49 AM

Why ignore any poster? BEcause you dont agree? These forums have evolved into discussions rather than comments and that is a good thing. If you dont agree, debate.
I dont see much wrong with a little caution when it comes to Mr Kraus' call for 'affordable housing'. Is that what the hotel offered or was it a dump like those you see portrayed in the Province and Macleans magazine? I dont think we need any more (future) dumps in the downtown. Maybe we need to clarify: We need somewhere for destitute people to live but we dont want a place that is just going to be a future problem. SOund impossible? maybe it is. One thing is certain: the downtown hotels is this town, like those in Vancouver , are not the jewels in the downtown crown.
PS i missed the friday FFA and all the hullabaloo about editing / removing posts and posters. All i can sya is that i hope this is kept to a minimum. There is a fine line between moderating and censorship. If we stray into the latter we might as well close this thing and just send each other emails.
PPS I would NOT recommend signing your name to your posts, even if Mr meisner suggests it is the gutsy way to do things. I have written to the paper a few times and received quite a few phone calls afterwards from people who looked me up in the phone book. Not exactly what i had in mind...