Pubdate: Sat, 05 Mar 2005 Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Prince George Citizen Contact: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350 Author: Mark Nielsen, Citizen staff Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Rochfort+Bridge (Rochfort Bridge) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) DEAD OFFICER MOURNED BY LOCAL RESIDENTS One of the RCMP officers gunned down near Mayorthorpe, Alta., is remembered as kind and fun-loving by a Prince George woman who knew him through her job and the school her children attended. "He was just so kind-hearted, a real gentle spirit, but also fun, he would come up with a joke," Lynn Giese said of Peter Christopher Schiemann, 25, one of four officers killed Thursday when a raid on a marijuana grow up went awry. "He was just fun to be with." Giese was a church secretary when Schiemann's father, Don, was a pastor at St. Matthew Church in Stony Plain, Alta., just outside Edmonton. As well, her two children attended the church's school at about the same time he did. "It was a small school, probably 150 kids from Grades K to 9, so they all knew each other," she said. Giese and her husband Greg moved to Prince George in 1992 and are members of the Zion Lutheran Church congregation, while their son and daughter both live in Edmonton. But they kept in contact with the Schiemanns, exchanging Christmas cards every year and paying visits whenever they were in Edmonton. Giese said Peter had long wanted to be a Mountie and knew he had been in Mayorthorpe since at least 2003. "That was his chosen profession, that's what he was always aiming for," she said. "He wanted to be on the force." The incident occured on a farm just outside Mayorthorpe, a small farming community of 1,600 people about 130 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. The farm's owner, James Roszko, 46, who was also found dead, has been identified as the shooter who killed the four officers. Schiemann was also known to Zion Lutheran Church pastor Alan Visser. Peter's father is now the district president for the Lutheran Church of Canada's Alberta-British Columbia District. Schiemann's office is based in Edmonton, but Visser said he's paid visits to Prince George as part of his job. As well, Visser said Peter Schiemann was heavily involved in getting a young adult ministry started in the district before he joined the RCMP. "Like everybody else, I have questions about how it happened, but I guess the thing that surprised me the most is how much it has personally affected me even before I knew Peter was one of them," he said. "I'm surprised at the intensity of it, of my reaction. I'm trained not to be extremely emotional in situations like this and I'm surprised at how close this has brought me to tears." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake