Saturday, February 1, 1992 @ ~Y is = te = — ww = lf you have an upcoming event or a regular meeting and you want it listed in AfterHOURS, let drop us a line at P.O. Box 3007, Castlegar, B.C. N1N 3H4. DEADLINE What’s on around the West Kootenay CASTLEGAR Banjo’s Pub Roughshod Tonight 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. to midnight _ 365-6933 Brewskies Pub Carson Coal 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 365-5311 Mariane Hotel Exotic Dancers Monday to Saturday Noon to 12:30 a.m. 365-2626 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 No Excuse 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 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 > Trall Society for the Performing Arts Performance ’91 Oscar Wilde in Earnest Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m. MOVIES CASTLEGAR Castile Theatre Tonight through Thursday Cape Fear 7 & 9:15 p.m. 365-7621 TRAIL Royal Theatre Tonight through Thursday Star Trek VI 364-2114 NELSON Civic Theatre Tonight through Thursday Beauty and the Beast 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) 1st Wednesdays , 7 p.m. Various locations Next meeting: Feb. 5 365-3401 Beta Sigma Phi (Ritual of Jewels) 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, 8 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: Mar. 9 365-6498 Castlegar and District Senior Citizens Action Committee ist Tuesdays, 10 a.m. Next meeting: Feb. 4 365-8237 or 365-0085 Castlegar City Council Regular meetings 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Council chambers Next meeting: Feb. 4 365-7227 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 Next meeting: Feb. 28, 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 Auxillary : 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 fe 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: Jan. 28 365-2151 Knights of Pythias — Twin Rivers ist. and 3rd Mondays, 7 p.m. Masonic Hall Next meeting: Feb. 3 365-6149 Kootenay No. 9 Oldtime Fiddlers Monthly 2:30 p.m. — Senior Citizen's Hall Next meeting: Feb. 23 359-7621 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: Jan. 11 Regional District of Central Kootenay Next meeting: Feb. 15 Nelson, 9 a.m. 352-6665 Rotary Club Tuesdays, 6 p.m. Sandman Inn Next meeting: Feb. 4 365-2780 Selkirk Toastmasters 2nd and 4th Mondays, 7 p.m. Selkirk College, Room B17 Next meeting: Feb. 11 365-6442 or 367-6549 Selkirk Weavers and Spinners Gulld 3rd Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. Castlegar Doukhobor Museum Next meeting: Feb. 19 365-5918 SHSS Parent Advisory Council 4th Tuesdays, 7 p.m. SHSS Library Next meeting: Feb. 25 365-7735 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 in6 to 7p.m., | meeting follows Next meeting: Feb. 4 Back of Health Unit 365-3114 West Kootenay Family Historians 1st Monday of every month 6:30 p.m. Selkirk College Library Next meeting: Feb. 3 365-6519 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: Feb. 4, 7 p.m. Legion Hall 365-3279 Senior Citizens Association No. 46 Whist games to be held Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. at the Seniors Hall. Registered Nurses Association of B.C. Castlegar chapter meets Tuesday, Jan. 28, 6:30 p.m. for dinner and election of officers. Fireside Inn @ Saturday, February 1, 1992 _OurPEOPLE Veteran writer still telling tales about his Castlegar Glen Freeman NEWS REPORTER Found: Local hero, author, entertainer. Has gray hair, sometimes wears glasses. Answers to the name John A. Charters. alt To know Castlegar is to know John A. Charters. Born in Vancouver in 1916, Charters moved to the West Kootenays in 1947. The area has never looked the same. Putting pen to paper, Charters has helped Castlegar come alive in the pages of his poems, articles, and short stories. For him, everyday is a new one and its been that way ever since he began writing in the 1930s. ere is a sense of creation when you write,” says Charters. “You work on an, inanimate object and gradually something takes form.” . His latest creation, entitled Over My Shoulder, is great “bathroom reading” according to Charters. He calls it that because each article takes about six to minutes to read. ‘Castlegar is not just a city like other places. It’s not confined by city boundaries.’ — John A. Charters Over My Shoulder is a collection of Charters’ newspaper articles, plucked from his 30 years in the business. While 30 years is ancient history in the newspaper world, Charters’ articles are still as informative and amusing as ever. In one article from September 1952, Charters defends the idea of equal work for equal pay — an issue that still today draws controversy. Other articles in Over My Shoulder were written only to entertain, a task they undertake effectively. * For example, in a pre-highway Castlegar, a young Charters was enlisted by the Department of Highways to record traffic flow. After many boring hours of counting the few cars and trucks that drove past, two students cycled up. They were promptly “persuaded to ride several times back and forth in front of our checkpoint,” reasons Charters. “They were, of course, duly recorded on:each pass in the proper column in our official.records.” Highway construction began shortly after. Charters, whose quick thoughts are a r feature to Castlegar News readers, has a love for Castlegar that is unmatched by any other. “Castlegar is not just a city like other places,” he insists. “It’s not confined by city boundaries.” And Charters continues to spread the word about the city he has fallen in love with. Currently, he is working on an article about the city for an issue of the Beautiful British Columbia magazine. Elsewhere, Charters is using it as the backdrop to his latest project, a children’s fantasy novel titled Tamar and the Dragon Tree. The novel, which should attract a whole new generation of readers, was inspired by his granddaughter and a strange tree discovered on Zuckerburg Island — a site he views daily from the comfort of his livingroom. According to Charters, Tamar will be available News photo by Glen Freemar, When it comes to telling the tales of Castlegar history, no one does it better than veteran writer John Charters. Charters is back at it again, putting out his new book Over My Shoulder. this year “if someone lights a fire under me.” This is not the first time that Zuckerburg Island has inspired Charters to write, though. “Several years ago,” he explains, “Parks Canada was having a centennial celebration. They put out a writing contest on the topic of.a famous pioneer person.” Charters chose to write about the island’s last resident, Alexander Zuckerburg. He was promptly awarded first prize in the English Language category. As much as Castlegar’s elder statesman loves his city, Charters has another love — travel. While on a trip to England last fall, Charters made a point of visiting Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. With pen in hand, Charters wrote a boyish account on the life of Sherwood’s most famous criminal, Robin Hood. Charters’ article found its way into the pages of the Vancouver Province. : Charters is loyal not only to Castlegar, but to his Scottish roots. He talks (and writes) in volumes about lochs and kilts and bagpipes and In fact, he naturally dons a Scottish accent as he tells of a battle between the Sutherland i ders and the Russian Cavalry. The Scotts only defense was“a thin red line, Suh!” he barks with a grin. Grinning is something that Charters does a lot of these days. At 75 years old, he still takes the dogs for their daily exercise and enjoys playing an active role in city life. He has been a member of the local Castlegar Rotary Club for 23 years and has no intention of quitting. To know Charters is to know a man of wit, zeal and opinion. And, whether you agree with him or } not, he is worthy of attention. But Charters says he’s one story that Castlegar has to offer, and he should know. After all, when it comes to telling tales of The Crossroads of the Kootenays, nobody does it better that John A. Charters. :