Saturday, February 29, 1992 @

What’s on around the West Kootenay

upcoming event
or a regular
meeting and you
want it listed in
AfterHOURS, let
us know.
Call us at 365-
7266, fax us at
365-3334, or
drop us a line at
4 P.O. Box 3007,
Castlegar, B.C.
V1N 3H4.

DEADLINE.
Deadline for

CLUBS

CASTLEGAR
Banjo’s Pub
San Jose West
Tonight
9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Sunday, 8 p.m. to midnight
Budweiser Talent Search
Mondays, 9 p.m.
365-6933
Brewskles Pub |
Street Fire
Tonight
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.
365-2700
Dexter’s Pub
Crossroads
Tonight
9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m
Karaoke
Tuesdays, 9 p.m.
365-5311
Marlane Hotel
Exotic Dancers
Monday to Saturday
Noon to 12:30 a.m.
365-2626
f ROBSON
Lion’s Head Pub
Karaoke
Wednesday
8 p.m. to midnight -
365-5811
TRAIL
Crown Point Pub
Eastern Breeze :
Wednesday to Saturday
9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
368-8232
ROSSLAND
Powder Keg Pub
Rich and Famous
Tonight
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

CASTLEGAR
National Exhibition Centre
Inspired By Tradition:

by Joanna Staniszkis
March 7 - April 26

Table Of Honour:

An exhibition of place settings
and goblets created especially
for Government House in
Victoria

March 7 - April 26

365-3337

NELSON
Nelson Museum
An exhibition on the culture and

Acontemporary textile exhibition

~ ‘8rd Mondays, 7:30

history of Tibet
March 5 - April 4
352-9813

GRAND FORKS
Grand Forks Art Gallery
The View Into The Valley:
An exhibition of drawings and
paintings by artist Peter
Velisek
Feb. 20 - March 28
442-2211

MOVIES

CASTLEGAR
Castle Theatre --
The Prince of Tides
Tonight through Thursday
7 & 9:15 p.m.
365-7621
TRAIL

Royal Theatre
Bugsy
Tonight through Thursday
364-2114

NELSON
Civic Theatre
The Hand That
Rocks The Cradle
Saturday, 7 & 9 p.m.
Sunday to Wednesday
7:30 p.m.
352-5833

Beta Sigma Phi (Exemplar)
ist and 3rd Wednesdays, 7:30
p.m.

Various locations

Next Meeting: Mar. 4
365-3114

Beta Sigma Phi (Preceptor)
ist Wednesdays , 7 p.m.
Various locations

Next meeting: Mar. 4
365-3401

Beta Sigma Phi (Ritual of
Jewels)

2nd and 4th Wednesdays, 8
p.m. !

Various locations

Next meeting: Mar. 11
365-6892

Castlegar and District Senior
Citizens Action Committee
ist Tuesdays, 10 a.m.

Next meeting: Mar. 3
365-8237 or 365-0085
Castlegar City Council
Regular meetings

1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 7 p.m.
Council chambers

Next meeting: Mar. 2
365-7227

Castlegar Hospital Auxiliary
p.m.
Hospital board room

Next meeting: Mar. 16
365-6587 :
Castlegar Hospital Board
4th Thursdays

Hospital board room

Next meeting: Mar. 26, 7 p.m.
365-7711

Castlegar School Board
3rd Mondays, 7 p.m.

School board office
Next meeting: Mar. 16
365-7731
Castleview Care Centre
Auxiliary
4th Wednesdays, 1:30 p.m.
Castle View
Next meeting: Mar. 25
365-3754
Christian Women’s Club
2nd Thursdays
Fireside Inn
Next meeting: Mar. 12, 7 p.m.
365-7728
David Thompson Stamp Club
2nd Mondays, 7:30 p.m.
St. David’s Undercroft
Next meeting: Mar. 9
365-5496 :
4-H Meetings .
3rd Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.
Kinnaird Junior Secondary
Next Meeting: Mar. 19
365-2352
Grief Support
3rd Monday of every month
Home Support Office
Next Meeting: Mar. 16, 7 p.m.
365-2148
Hospice (Palliative Care)
Last Monday of every month
Next Meeting:-Mar. 30, 7 p.m.
Castlegar Hospital
Conference Room
Kinnaird Women’s Institute
3rd Thursdays, 1:30 p.m.
Next meeting: Mar. 19
365-5441
Kiwanis Club
Tuesdays, 6 p.m.
Fireside Inn
Next meeting: Mar. 3
365-2151
Knights of Pythias — Twin
Rivers i
ist and 3rd Mondays, 7 p.m.
Masonic Hall
Next meeting: Mar. 2
365-6149
Kootenay No. 9 Oldtime
Fiddlers
Monthly
2:30 p.m.
Senior Citizen's Hall
Next meeting: Mar. 29
359-7621
Kootenay Temple #37 Pythian
Sisters
2nd and.4th Thursdays, 7:30
p.m.
Masonic Hall
Next meeting: Mar. 12
365-5282
Lions Club
2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 7 p.m.
Sandman Inn
Next meeting: Mar. 10
Regional District of Central
Kootenay
Various Times
Nelson
Next meeting: Mar. 7, 9 a.m.
352-6665
Rotary Club
Tuesdays, 6 p.m.

Sandman Inn
Next meeting: Mar. 3
365-2780
Selkirk Toastmasters
2nd and 4th Mondays, 7 p.m.
Selkirk College, Room B17 _
Next meeting: Mar. 9
365-6442 or 367-6549
Selkirk Weavers and Spinners
Gulld

3rd Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m.
Castlegar Doukhobor Museum
Next meeting: Mar. 18
365-5918

SHSS Parent Advisory
Council

4th Tuesdays, 7 p.m.

SHSS Library

Next meeting: Mar. 23
365-7735

Strokers Club

2nd Wednesday of each month
11. a.m. to 2 p.m.

Senior Citizen’s Hall

Next meeting: Mar. 11
359-7480. or 365-3540

TOPS Club

Tuesdays, weigh in 6 to 7 p.m.,
meeting follows

Next meeting: Mar. 3

Back of Health Unit

365-3114

West Kootenay Family
Historians

1st Monday of every month
Next meeting: Mar. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Downstairs, Castlegar Library
365-6519

West Kootenay Flyfishers
Club

Next meeting: Mar. 10, 7 p.m.
Aasland Taxidermy

365-8288

West Kootenay Naturalists
Association

Last Monday of every month
Selkirk College, 7:30 p.m.
Next meeting: Mar. 30
365-4933

Women’s Aglow

Monthly

Next meeting: Mar. 4,10 a.m.
Legion Hall
365-3279 -

Vancouver Children’s:Choir
Brilliant Cultural Centre
Saturday March 7, 7 p.m.
Tickets available at Carl’s Drugs
and Pharmasave

365-3613

Dr. Colin Rose

Discussion on breast cancer
Monday, March 9, 7 p.m.
Legion Hall

- 365-6498

OUR ACTION AD
PHONE NUMBER
IS 365-7266

@ Saturday, February 29, 1992

OurPEOPLE |

Trouble in the

@ Are they bad news or just °
misunderstood? Everyone has their
opinion — mostly negative —about the
young people who hang out at the place
known as Wizard’s Palace. So what’s
their story anyway?

Glen Freeman
NEWS REPORTER

The namé Wizard’s Palace stirs up thoughts of
mystery and, imagination, creating a picture of
Camelot and Merlin the Magician.

One can almost see'the sorcerer in his pointed
hat stirring up a steaming potion in his dark,
lonely dungeon. :

However, when one walks into the Wizard’s
Palace on Castlegar’s 2nd street, reality pounds
Fantasia from the mind forever.

As you push your way past the cracked-glass
door, you can almost taste the tobacco in the
thick, stale arcade air.

Poor lighting makes you strain to see a naked
concrete floor.

Except for-a poster of a well-proportioned
model sporting a bikini and a sultry smile, the
walls too are bare.

The only magic to be found in the Wizard's
Palace is the magic of outdated technology, as
machines suck in quarters and spit out hours of
colorful video game action.

The faded green felt on a pool table attracts a
more traditional-minded gambler, one who wants
victory over flesh and blood, not’ just a bunch of
chips and processors.

For some people, this dingy room may look
more like a South American prison cell than a
local business, but to the 20 or so regul

News photo by Ed Mil

ars who i i ; e ;
frequent it, the Wizard's Palace is Koma, Some people think these kids have turned. their backs on Castlegar, while others say they are misunderstood.

“There’s no other place to go in Castlegar,” said
one unidentified young man.

“You can bet I wouldn't be hanging out here if I
could get a job.”
_ The kids who hang out at the Palace have —
justly or not — received a bad name in the past.

They’ve been called skids, stoners, head-
bangers, scum, hoods, losers and a number of
names that can’t be printed in a newspaper.

“They don’t deserve those names,” said Harry
Zaitsoff, owner of the Wizard’s Palace. “There are
one or two bad apples, but most of these kids are
no problem at all:

“I think that us adults forget what we did

when we were kids,” added Zaitsoff.

But these young people don’t look like
anything you'll see on ‘Happy Days’ re-runs.

Their hair is long, their faces have forgotten,
how a razor feels. They sport shirts that read
‘Metallica’ and ‘Harley Davidson’. Just looking at
them can be intimidating.

“That’s why we get most of our hassle,” said
one 23-year-old who didn’t want to be identified.

“We don’t look like everybody else, so people
get scared and call the cops.” . ,

And the police act.

“I can’t even walk through the (Kinsmen) park
without being busted,” said the 23-year-old.

“A couple of times I’ve been playing hackey-
sack in the park and the cops come by because
the neighbors complained. If I had short hair and
nice clothes, they’d have left me right alone.”

Const. Al Brown of the Castlegar RCMP

“I think that they get more complaints from
people in the area than are really justified,”
Brown said.

“As far as I’m concerned, they’re no big
problem in Castlegar. Sometimes they do
consume liquor in the park and cause excessive
noise, but not often anymore.”

And Brown insists that the kids who hang out
at Wizard’s are not harassed by the police.

“We don’t single people out,” Brown said.

“Appearance doesn’t matter to us — if you’re

“Castlegar is paradise. I love this place,
but these kids really are messing it up.”

breaking the law, you get charged.”

Getting charged is just fine with another
Wizard’s parton, who also didn’t want to be
identified.

“We haven’t done anything in the park, but we
sure have been blamed for a lot of stuff,” he said.

“I thing they should raise the fine for stuff like
vandalism to $1,500, then less people would do

it.

And that’s the only thing in common the ‘skids’
have with residents from around the park.

“They don’t. live here, and they don’t belong
here,” said one concerned resident. .

“They think we are picking on them because of
the way they look, but that’s crazy,” said another
homeowner. “I would call the police no matter
who was openly urinating in a public park.”

Still another resident insists that the kids
antics go beyond just tasteless.

“I have been threatened, my kids have been
threatened, I see two or three drug deals here a
week. I have a very uneasy feeling that I’m
always under the gun.” he said.

“These kids have no excuse for loitering here.

“City council has made sure there are plenty of
recreational things to do here. If Castlegar is too
eas for them, there are busses leaving every

ay.

“Castlegar is paradise. I love this place,”
continued the area resident, “but these kids
really are messing it up. I don’t know what the
solution is, but something has to be done.”

Castlegar may be paradise for some home
owners, but the Wizard’s kids aren’t overjoyed.
They do have solutions to residents problems,
though. ae

“For me to be happy,” said. one of the young
men, “I would need a job and a better place to
hang out. That would make everybody around
here happy.

“And I wish people would just leave us alone.
We're just like everyone else. Don’t bug us and we
won't bug you.”

Nobody can agree on a solution to this, one of
Castlegar’s growing pains, but everyone would
like to see it resolved. !

“My Lord,” said a resident, “it would take a
magician to make this place a happy
go nag again.”

ly Merlin could whip something up in hi
own Wizard’s Palace. ° ot es