The man who disappeared after the 2009 airport fire has been declared dead
Plus, finding a way to stop 200 birds from being killed flying into the windows at UNBC every year, why don't we have a 21st Ave, and PG RCMP will be among the first to wear body cameras — for a price
Warning: Details of suicide and sexual assault allegations.
On Dec. 19, 2009, a huge fire destroyed an airport hangar at the Prince George Airport. In the aftermath, one man was reported missing and a search for human remains in the rubble failed to turn up any evidence he’d been in there. Rumours of one form or another have persisted ever since then but in a just-released judgement reported by the CBC, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled that, for legal purposes, he died in the fire:
Her ruling came after [Vernon] Martin's three brothers petitioned the court to declare the 55-year-old's death and, in doing so, trigger an approximately $9-million life insurance payout. The four brothers together owned several companies with offices at the hangar where the fire occurred.
[The judge] declared Martin dead under the Presumption of Death Act on a balance of probabilities.
There’s a lot more to it then. In the court ruling, posted online it is noted that “Vernon was a holder of 16 life insurance policies which provides a pay-out of millions of dollars once a declaration of death has been made.” It also details some troubling information that preceded his now-presumed death:
In her ruling, Forth revealed that Martin was twice confronted with sexual misconduct allegations in the days before the fire. And, that five months after the blaze, one of his sisters found a fireproof filing cabinet from his office filled with a will written three days before the fire and a handwritten letter that Forth labelled a "suicide note."
There’s really not a need for me to go into it further here. As mentioned already, the story is told very fulsomely in this CBC report and you can read the details of the court ruling here.
Stopping bird deaths at UNBC
UNBC has a beautiful campus. It also has a lot of glass.
A UNBC PhD student has been researching how this impacts birds and estimates 200 are killed every year running into these windows. Fortunately, she’s also been testing ways to stop that and in a control area where polka dot film has been applied to windows, there have been zero hits. Story and pictures here.
This is gonna keep me wondering until someone finds the answer
Prince George RMCP will be wearing body cameras soon, and it will cost $$
Frontline RCMP officers in seven British Columbia communities are set to join a national pilot project to introduce body-worn cameras to the force.
B.C. RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said officers working in Ucluelet, Ahousaht, Tofino, Mission, Prince George, Cranbrook and Kamloops will receive training before incorporating the cameras into day-to-day operations.
…
Municipalities with populations over 5,000 are responsible for paying for the majority of the costs of the cameras, estimated at $3,000 per member, according to information shared with local B.C. governments in 2023.
News roundup
Interesting note from Nancy O’s owner Eoin Foley on the workforce in this story: “It wasn’t all that long ago, finding a workforce was challenging for small business people, like Foley. ‘Today is a completely different story on the labour front,’ says Foley. ‘We see a lot more qualified applicants. When you put out a job posting the turnover doesn’t seem to be as high as it used to be across the board.””
Sinclair siblings chasing World University Games biathlon berths.
Darrell and Gail Wolfe celebrate his 15 years at Gateway Lodge.
A sneak peek at The Patchwork of Talent Show at ECRA this weekend.
Couple of concerts for ya - Deadsexy with Crones tonight, costume party with doom/stoner-rock band Tarantula Hawk, prog-punk rockers Scribbens, and lo-fi bedroom rockers The Verdants at the Legion tomorrow.
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Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.
I'm super glad the student did the study, if it means the "Green University" will apply the dots to all glass services. However, this technology was already proven and could have been applied a long time ago preventing god knows how many bird deaths. Our migrating song birds (most of our birds) are on a rapid decline and window strikes are a big part of the story (cats and deforestation are the other main causes). The good news anyone can buy these dots and put them on the OUTSIDE of your windows (doesn't work if it's on the inside). Bird Canada reports that "Collisions with windows in residential and commercial buildings kill on average more than 25 million birds in Canada each year–and the majority of collisions occur at houses." I just bought myself a kit after we heard a bird hit our window. I bought mine from: https://featherfriendly.com/collections
You can learn more here: https://www.birdscanada.org/you-can-help/make-windows-safer-for-birds
Hey Andrew! Super quick correction: your title today says the fire was in 2019. Thank you for another awesome piece today!