Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 24, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Canada / world Winnipeg free press thursday june 24, 2004 . Fires have towns lives on hold every Effort focused on Blaze by Dirk Meissner l Lillooet . ? schools out exams Are off graduation ceremonies Are on hold and there a no tap water in local restaurants but that Sok because Lillooet did to Burn to the ground. Lillooet let up on its panic Button yesterday As airborne and ground firefighters announced they were successfully Cor ralling a massive Forest fire that has been threatening the desert like Interior . Community for almost a week. But a one hour evacuation Alert issued to the areas 2,700 residents stays in effect said the ministry of forests. And Lillooet appears to be the first of what could be Many communities threatened by wildfires this year As drought conditions fuel an earlier than expected Forest fire season. We re really getting a hold on it and with no unexpected weather or anything coming in i think we re going to make great Progress in the next couple of Days said Karen Hen Derson a forests ministry fire information officer. Despite the Ever present smoke Cloud Over Lillooet and the flying Ash a sense of Relief started to build on the Community a main Street where people routinely Stop their pickups in traffic to hold conversations with passing motorists. Most residents say they be taken the evacuation warning seriously packed valuables and made arrangements for pets and livestock. My trucks sitting at Home parked packed and if they give us an hour we re gone said Andrew thue. High school teacher Tom Willey said the fire put several important school dates on hold but plans Are in the works to extend the school year to finish exams and hold a graduation ceremony. Henderson said fire Crews have the Lillooet fire 45 per cent contained and every hour of Low winds on lightning free skies is making their Job easier. Almost 225 people Are fighting the fire along with 13 Heli copters and 50 pieces of heavy equipment Henderson said. Fire officials in Lillooet and across British Columbia Are enforcing province wide open fire bans and outlawing Camp fires some areas. In Northwest ., 375 people remain on evacuation Alert As a fire near Terrace grew five times its original size to one half Square Kilometre in one night. Near Vanderhoof a 30-Square-Kilometre wildfire forced evacuation of a logging Camp. ? Canadian press . Officer caught clubbing suspect los Angeles ? a police officer who helped arrest a Man suspected of driving a stolen car was captured on video repeat edly clubbing him with a flashlight after it appeared he had sur rendered. The incident which is under investigation by the los Ange Les police department began when officers began chasing a suspected stolen car said spokeswoman Sandra Escalante. To news footage shot from a helicopter showed the Chase end on a Compton Street and the suspect run away. After a Short Pursuit the Man appeared to surrender to an officer. After several other officers arrived the Man was forced to the ground where the videotape shows an officer striking him at least 10 times with a flashlight. Police did not immediately disclose the race of the officers or the suspect. ? associated press High court oks prisoners weapon by Julia Necheff Edmonton ? an Alberta prisoner was justified in carry ing a handmade knife which he used to fatally Stab another inmate the supreme court of Canada said in a controversial decision released yesterday. In finding Jason Kerr not guilty of carrying a weapon dangerous to the Public peace the supreme court said Kerr needed it to defend himself in a place one of the justices had earlier described As an armed the decision dismayed the National Union representing prison guards. It will Send the wrong message to inmates that its of to carry weapons and will make prisons even More dangerous than they already Are warned a Union official. No matter what the lawyers May say about whether its precedent setting or not we think its going to be. The inmates Are certainly going to take it that Way said Kevin Grabowsky Prairie regional president with the Union of Canadian correctional officers. ?. Its something that we re not allowed to do in Canadian Public ? Arm ourselves. Why is it of in jail said Grabowsky a guard at the Edmonton institution where the stabbing occurred. ? Canadian press ;