by Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Aug 20/97) - In tattered runners, a T-shirt, jeans and a pair of suspenders, Keith Sharp, without representation went head to head with Crown lawyer Alan Regel who was representing the Worker's Compensation Board in territorial court last week in Rankin Inlet.

Sharp and his company, Ferguson Lake Lodge, faced charges stemming from Sharp's failure to follow the WCB Safety Act prior to an ice accident that occurred on April 28, 1996.

At that time Sharp's DC6 Caterpillar, which was hauling a train of supplies went through the ice at Yathkyed Lake several kilometres west of Rankin Inlet.

On Friday Judge Brian Bruser said the accident was preventable if Sharp, a former mayor of Rankin Inlet, had taken proper safety precautions and properly supervised his workers on the job.

Sharp was handed a suspended sentenced plus 200 hours of community services himself, 200 for his company and two years probation. He was also advised to take out a full-page advertisement in a territorial paper expressing an apology to the public for his crime.

The maximum penalty for each of the two charges is a $500,000 fine and/or one year in jail.

"The purpose of sentencing procedures is not to break the defendant," said Bruser.

Bruser said -- even though Sharp, 55, who has his own company and several pieces of heavy equipment, and no savings -- he could not ask him to give it up or sell it to help pay a substantial fine, possibly putting him in a position that he could not provide for his family.

Regel proposed that the court to find "creative" means for Sharp to pay WCB for what he had done.

WCB, in the beginning, were hoping to offset some of the cost they incurred compensating the victim who was injured in the accident by approximately $215,000.

In the incident, driver Norman Corrie, 57, who had a history of wandering off ice trails, missed a cat trail by nearly one kilometre. A trail had been outlined with snowblocks and snowmobile tracks by guide Tony Manernaluk, away from the thin ice noticed earlier in the vicinity.

Manernaluk was absent from his duty to guide the Cat -- he was asked to go fishing several kilometres away -- and Sharp, who was supposed to assume supervising duties, but instead was riding in the Cat train. This meant Corrie had to drive without proper supervision and guidance.

Johnny Kingmeatok, a laborer also on the cat train, was given no guiding responsibilities.

It wasn't until Kingmeatok heard the strange sound from the Cat that he discovered it was submerged underneath thin ice.

Kingmeatok and Sharp were both quick to come to Corrie's rescue.

Corrie told the court of his experience from which he lost his left eye and 60 per cent of his vision in his right eye. He has not worked since.

Bruser noticed Sharp's deep remorse, as Sharp broke down several times in court. Bruser added there was no intention to cause harm or to cut corners to save money at the expense of safety. He couldn't afford a lawyer the judge noted, and he was co-operative with officials and the court since the incident.

Bruser said the whole idea of this case was to bring attention to the public about the repercussions of neglecting safety and how important it is for companies to protect the public and their employees.