Wednesday, February 5, 1992 Afte‘rHOURS HAVE WE MISSED You? Ifyou have an upcoming event or a regular meeting and you want it listed in AfterHOURS, let reporter Donna Bertrand at 365- 3517, fax us at 365-3334, or drop us a line at What’s on around the West Kootenay | CLUBS CASTLEGAR Banjo’s Pub San Jose West featuring Gordie Merrill Tuesday to Saturday, 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. to midnight 365-6933 Brewskies Pub Hot Pursuit | Thursday to Saturday 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Exotic Dancers Mondays to Saturdays 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. Karaoke Talent Search Every Monday 9:30 p.m. Comedians Every Tuesday 9:30 p.m. 365-2700 Dexter’s Pub Karaoke Wednesdays, 9 p.m. Sidewinder Thursday 9 p.m. to-1 a.m. Friday and Saturday 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m 365-5311 Marlane Hotel Exotic Dancers Mondays to Saturdays Noon to 12:30 a.m. 365-2626 ROBSON Lion’s Head Pub Karaoke Wednesday and Saturday 8 p.m. to midnight ~ 365-5811 TRAIL Crown Point Pub Eastern Breeze Monday to Saturday 9:30 p.m. to 1:30.a.m. 368-8232 _ROSSLAND Powder Keg Pub Men In The Making Thursday to Saturday 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m 362-7375 NELSON Boller Room Nightclub - Comedians Wednesdays 9:30 p.m. | 352-5331 ART GALLERIES NELSON Nelson Museum Exhibition of paintings by artist Helen Friesan .. Feb. 3 to Feb. 29 352-9813 GRAND FORKS Grand Forks Art Gallery Siddiq Khan: Still Life Drawings and Drawing the Line: Children’s Drawings To Feb. 29. 442-2211 TRAIL Trail Society for the Performing Arts Performance ’91 Oscar Wilde in Earnest Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m. MOVIES CASTLEGAR . Castle Theatre Cape Fear, 7 and 9:15 p.m. Starting Friday Beauty And The Beast, 7 p.m, Weekend Matinee, 1:30 p.m. For The Boys, 8:30 p.m. 365-7621 TRAIL Royal Theatre Star Trek VI 7&9p.m. Starting Friday Beauty And The Beast, 7 p.m. The Last Boy Scout, 9 p.m. 364-2114 NELSON Civic Theatre Tonight Beauty and the Beast, 7 p.m. For The Boys, 8:30 p.m. Thursday | Black Robe, 7:30 p.m. Starting Friday My Girl & Cape Fear 352-5833 ' Beta Sigma Phi (Exemplar) 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. : Various locations Next Meeting: Feb. 5 365-3114 Beta Sigma Phi (Preceptor) ist Wednesdays , 7 p.m. - Various locations Next meeting: Feb. 5 365-3401 Beta Sigma-Phi (Ritual of Jewels) 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m. Various locations Next meeting: Feb. 12 365-6892 Canadian Cancer Society (Castlegar Unit) 2nd Monday of every other month 7:00 p.m. Castlegar Health Unit Next meeting: Feb. 10 365-6498 Castlegar and District Senior Citizens Action Committee ist Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Next meeting: Mar. 3 865-8237 or 365-0085 Castlegar City Council Regular meetings ; ist and 3rd Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Council chambers Next meeting: Feb. 18 365-7227 Castlegar Hospital Auxiliary 3rd Mondays, 7:30:p.m. Hospital board room Next meeting: Feb. 17 365-6587 Castlegar Hospital Board 4th Thursdays Hospital board room i Next meeting: Feb. 27, 7 p.m. 365-7711 Castlegar School Board 3rd Mondays, 7 p.m. School board office Next meeting: Feb. 17 365-7731 Castleview Care Centre Auxiliary \ 4th Wednesdays, 1:30 p.m. Castle View Next meeting: Feb. 26 365-3754 Christian Women’s Club 2nd Thursdays Fireside Inn Next meeting: Feb. 13, 7 p.m. 365-7728 David Thompson Stamp Club 2nd Mondays, 7:30 p.m. St. David’s Undercroft Next meeting: Feb. 10 365-5496 Kinnaird Women’s Institute 3rd Thursdays, 1:30 p.m. Next meeting: Feb. 20 365-5441 Kiwanis Club Tuesdays, 6 p.m. Fireside Inn Next meeting: Feb. 11 365-2151 Knights of Pythias — Twin Rivers 1st and 3rd Mondays, 7 p.m. Masonic Hall Next meeting: Feb. 17 365-6149 Kootenay No. 9 Oldtime Fiddlers Monthly 2:30 p.m. Senior Citizen's Hall Next meeting: Feb. 23 359-7621 3 Kootenay Temple #37 Pythian Sisters 2nd and 4th Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Masonic Hall Next meeting: Feb. 13 365-5282 : Lions Club : 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 7:p.m. Sandman Inn Next meeting: Feb. 11 Regional District of Central Kootenay Next meeting: Feb. 15 Slocan, 9 a.m. Slocan Inn 352-6665 Rotary Club Tuesdays, 6 p.m. Sandman Inn Next meeting: Feb. 11 365-2780 Selkirk Toastmasters 2nd and 4th Mondays, 7 p.m. Selkirk College, Room B17 Next meeting: Feb. 10 365-6442 or 367-6549 Selkirk Weavers and Spinners Gulld 3rd Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. Castlegar Doukhobor Museum Next meeting: Feb. 19 “ 365-5918 vs SHSS Parent Advisory Council 4th Tuesdays, 7 p.m. SHSS Library Next meeting: Feb. 25 365-7735 {x * Strokers Club 2nd Wednesday of each month 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Senior Citizen's Hall Next meeting: Feb. 12 359-7480 or 365-3540 TOPS Club Tuesdays, weigh in 6 to 7 p.m., meeting follows Next meeting: Feb. 11 Back of Health Unit 365-3114 West Kootenay Family Historians 1st Monday of every month 6:30 p.m. Castlegar Library Next meeting: Mar. 2 365-6519 West Kootenay Flyfishers Club Aasland Taxidermy Tues. Feb. 11, 7 p.m. 365-6067 West Kootenay Naturalists Association Last Monday of every month Selkirk College, 7:30 p.m. Next meeting: Feb. 24 365-4933 Women’s Aglow Monthly Next meeting: Mar. 4, 10 a.m. Legion Hall 365-3279 ‘SPECIAL EVENTS Kootenay No. 9 Oidtime Fiddlers Garage and Bake Sale Saturday, Feb. 22 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Seniors Hall 359-7621 a j LEGION BRANCH 170 Please recycle The NEWS 365-7017 HOURS: Mon.- Thurs. * 3 p.m.- 11 p.m. Fri. & Sat. * Noon- 1 am. Band a Occasions) GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS every third Tuesday in month 7:30 p.m. + THURSDAYS - Bingo — Early Bird 6 p.m Reg 6:30 p.m. (Licence No. 772268) | +» SATURDAYS - 5 Meat Draws 4-6 p.m. GUESTS WITH MEMBERS WELCOME! @ Wednesday, February 5, 1992 Safe Home gives women a Way out Glen Freeman NEWS REPORTER Leigh Simms wants Castlegar resi- dents to know that local women are be- ing battered. Simms, the newest employee of the Castlegar Women’s Association, was hired to raise public awareness and as- sist battered women. She is helping women who are abused by establishing a Safe Home Program, much like the system she or- ganized in Nelson. The system, which places*abused women and their children in a volun- teer’s home for up to three days, has been very successful in other areas. : “It’s a wonderful program,” beams Simms. “It has given real help to countless women all over.” However, Simms has been given what appears to be an impossible task: “I have been given 14 weeks to set up this project. I hope we can do it jus- tice.” Doing it justice would include train- ing five volunteer residents of Castle- gar for a period of six to eight weeks. “Volunteers are the backbone of our program. They will not have any out-of- pocket expenses, and their identity will be carefully maintained.” Doing Simms’ job justice would also involve educating the people of Castle- gar on the issue of violence against women, a task she doesn’t expect to ac- complish in 14 weeks. “The Ministry of Social Services has funded this project, and that’s terrific,” insists Simms, “but there’s never enough money. Unless we get dona- tions from concerned citizens, we'll have to rely on the press and word-of- mouth to educate area residents.” Those donations, Simms says, are tax deductible. Simms, who has also worked with Nelson’s Drug and Alcohol Task Force, insists that anyone is capable of being violent. “One of the interesting aspects of family violence is that there is no typi- cal profile of an abuser. It crosses ab- solutely every boundary — socio-eco- nomic, class, educational. “It happens in every single culture,” _Simms said. And it happens to many more peo- ple than one would expect. “One in 10 Canadian women will ff " . 1 h in their rel rey OurPEOPLE SAYING NO TO VIOLENCE News photo by Glen Freeman Leigh Simms is the Castlegar Women's Association latest member. Fresh from Nelson, Simms is trying to establish a safe home network in Castlegar, but to do that, she needs a number of volunteers. ships,” Simms said. “But that’s a con- servative estimate. I think it’s more like one in six women. “Commonly, men who abuse have ei- ther been abused themselves or have seen violence in their own families, but that’s neither a guarantee nor a limi- tation on who can abuse.” Simms will be the first to tell you that wife abuse is not a new issue. “Tt has been around forever, and at one time, wife abuse was even sanc- tioned by law.” In fact, this is where we get the term Rule of Thumb. According to an American law not repealed until 1874, a man had the le- gal right to “chastise his wife with a whip or rattan no wider than his thumb.” When the law was finally struck from the books, a U.S. court ruled that if no permanent injury has been in- flicted, it is better to draw the curtain, shut out the public gaze and leave the partners to forgive and forget. “That’s insane,” Simms said. “The sad fact is every time a woman or child - abused, permanent injury is inflict- Likewise, Simms feels neighbors should not turn a blind eye to family vi- olence. “If someone knows that a man is beating his wife or child they should phone the police and say ‘Hey, my neighbor is beating the hell out of his wife’. The police will respond,” promis- es Simms. “The Castlegar RCMP have been very helpful so far, better than most units, and we’re excited to be working with them.” - But physical cruelty is not the only form of violence that the Safe Home Program will deal with. “We will assist victims of emotional, psychological, and even sexual abuse. All they have to do is call,” she said. “Emotional and psychological abuse often go undetected, but are forms of vi- olence and must be confronted. “One of the hardest problems is the fact that many people deny abuse ex- ists.” says Simms. “Unless we address it, it’s here to stay.” But Leigh Simms continues her quest with a smile. “We'll see a change.” she assures. “Maybe not in my lifetime, but it'll happen.” ¢ For more information, or to offer your assistance, call 365-2104.