Christine Dalgleish
My nominee for newsmaker of the year has got to be Melanie Porter, the nurse who kept her cool while a bear ambled up to her late on Nov. 4 while she was smoking on her porch in Quesnel.
And licked her hand.
Through the whole thing, Porter remained calm and then totally freaked out afterwards.
I believe because she did not scare the bear by reacting like most of us would, she saved her own life. It was the very best outcome of any too-close-for-comfort bear encounter I have ever heard of and Porter needs to be giving lessons on appearing chill on the outside while silently screaming on the inside to get through what I have no doubt was the most terrifying moments of her life.
Arthur Williams
One newsmaker this year stands head-and-shoulders above the rest, even though its only 100 nanometres tall (0.0001 mm) and weighs about a femtogram (0.000000000000001 g).
SARS-CoV-2 – also known by the aliases COVID-19, coronavirus, The Rona, COVID or corona – is a killer, and it is at large in Prince George.
With two weeks remaining in 2021, more than 16,000 residents of the Northern Health region were infected this year – more than 4,000 of which live in the Prince George local health area.
By the end of December 2020, COVID-19 had claimed 26 lives in the Northern Health region. By Dec. 14 of this year, that death toll had increased ten-fold to 266 lives lost to the pandemic.
The virus has continued to evolve – a case of the new Omicron variant was reported in the Northern Health region in December – and challenge public health officials.
As a result, residents, businesses, religious groups and non-profit organizations have had to try to adapt to constantly changing public health orders.
The virus has resulted in a massive vaccination campaign and small, but vocal protests.
Nothing in the news this year has had as much direct impact on the day-to-day lives of Prince George residents as the COVID-19 pandemic, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down heading into 2022.
Mark Nielsen
It wasn't the most significant story of the year, but Gil Graham's bout with a very-territorial black bear was the most memorable in my mind.
Sure, it occurred at a work camp in northeast B.C. and sure, he lives in Coquitlam, but I'm also sure it was a tale of survival with which many people could identify, particularly our many readers who making a living out in the bush.
Besides, he made it very clear that the staff at University Hospital of Northern B.C. had a big role to play in getting him onto the road to recovery.
Plus, those "fang holes" the bear left him with will surely be the source of wide-eyed curiosity from his grandkids.
Neil Godbout
My pick for the local newsmaker of the year is the George Street Parkade.
It was only this year that the true cost of the parkade came to light, sparking outrage from residents, much handwringing from city council, questions over who knew what and when in city hall, two external investigations into what happened, two Citizen editorials calling for Mayor Lyn Hall’s resignation and several Freedom of Information requests from The Citizen in an effort to get to the bottom of it all. By the time it was all over, Kathleen Soltis was out as city manager, replaced by former director of administrative services Walter Babicz.
If there is one issue that will dog any of the incumbents who choose to run for re-election in the fall of 2022, it will be their handling (or lack thereof) of the parkade cost overrun.
Click here to cast your vote for Prince George's newsmaker of the year in our year-end poll.
