2 Castlégar News August 2, 1989 SPORTS BT Golf Tips a WAYNE GAMBORSKI a DENNY McARTHUR Last week we mentioned the three levels of the golf swing: laws, prin- ciples and preferences. Laws are the undeniable forces of nature and prin- ciples are the fundamentals which try to explain these forces. Preferences are the relatively minute variations in the principles. One individdal may prefer to grip the club in one of three variations: the 10 finger, interlocking or Vardon grip. There is no proof that one grip is ab- Solutely the best for all individuals, it is simply what is preferred by the in dividual. Let us introduce you to the ball flight laws. There are five ball flight laws; centre contact, arigle of attack, face angle, path, speed. The above laws are ranked by importance. The most important law being a prerequisite for the others which follow. The first law is centre contact which simply states that the face of the club must contact the ball The golf swing may seem good, but if we do not hit the ball, what use is it? The angle of attack will determine where on the club face the ball will strike. An ascending blow, where the club head is moving upward, will not result in striking the ball on the centre of the face. Rather the ball will be struck low on the face or be missed all together, respectively calling striking the ball thin ora whiff The descending angle of attack, the club is moving downwards, will allow the ball to be struck on the centre of the face. The angle of attack may be over-simplified here, but it is indeed a prerequisite for good quality golf shots. Continued next week Until then good luck and good golfing Swimmer plans marathon attempt VANCOUVER (CP) — Marathon swimmer Vicki Keith says failing to complete a swim across the Catalina Channel in California last week hasn't ters after arriving at Vancouver Inter national Airport “*No maticr what I do it will always be a first, whether it's a butterfly shaken her confidence for a challenge of the Juan de Fuca Strait next week “1 always do firsts,”’ she told repor A REE THANK YOU! The organizers of the Jim Young Celebrity Golf Tour- nament would like to thank the following for making the tournament such a success CORPORATE SPONSORS Celgar Pulp Co. Air BC Sandman Inns Columbia Brewing Co. (Labatts) HOLE SPONSORS Loomis Courier Service Mitchell Supply Anderson Insurance Klothes Kloset RHC Agencies Fame Construction Atco Lumber Moroso, Markin & Blain Petro Canada Pharmasave Tilden Gus Adams Honda Safeway Columbia Beverages Acklands Turf Products West Kootenay Power CKQR (stroke) across a channel or whether it’s a channel that hasn't been swum before. **Anything you ever see me doing, it will always be a first.”” Keith swam across each of the Great Lakes last summer, then last month became the first person to cross the English Channel using the butterfly stroke. The 28-year-old swim coach from Kingston, Ont., fought strong curren- ts, nausea and hallucinations during her attempt last Friday to become the first person to cross the 34-kilometre Catalina Channel using only the physically demanding butterfly stroke Keith gave up only 10 kilometres from shore after swimming for more than 19 hours. The strong current had kept her from advancing for the last 10 hours of her attempt SCUBA Only *165! EVERYTHING PROVIDED AT NO ADDITIONAL COST! *Full scuba diving certification Otters break records By CasNews Staff The Robson River Otters swam. in. Kimberley over the weekend for the last invitational “‘A’’ meet of the season. Swimmers receiving special recognition are novice Clayt6n Brown who captured a first place in both the 25-metre freestyle and 2$-metre backstroke. Aggregate swimmer Kristy Verigin in Div. 1 grabbed a gold and set two new pool records in the 100-metre freestyle and 100-metre individual medley. Kim Verigin also picked up a gold and broke two pool records in the Div. 3 50-metre freestyle and 100- metre freestyle Other River Otters to reach the final heats were David Shingler in Div. 3, Jan Holden, Heather Sutherlands and- Tenille Austin in Div. 4. Lee Holden and Scott Sutherland also competed in the finals in Div. 6 Next on the agenda for the swim. mers is the Kootenay Regional Swim to be held in Nelson Aug. 5-6. This meet will determine who qualifies to compete at the Prévincials which run Aug. 19 and 20 at the Brock Pool in Kamloops. Clark's back on the mend TORONTO (CP) -< Wendel Clark's back is feeling better and he’s got the golf game to prove it The Toronto Maple Leafs’ rugged left winger is responding to an off- season rehabilitation program in- cluding acupuncture treatments, Clark told the Toronto Star in today’s ditions. “I can golf now and I haven't been able to golf in two or 22 years without it bothering me,” said Clark in a telephone interview from his hometown of Kelvington, Sask. The 22-year-old forward said he has been doing five or six hours of therapy on a daily basis, and has been on a steady diet of acupuncture treatments in an effort to overcome the back troubles that have limited him to a total of 43 games in the last two seasons. DIVING SPLASHING START . . . Dustin Heagy (nearest lane) of the Rébson Ri off to a flying start in the at last weekend's Kimb r Otters gets it was the last vitetlomal n meet of the peur for the club. ley swim meet. Lions find buyer but price still undecided VANCOUVER (CP) — The B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football company has since expanded into real estate, trade and Their bid also includes Concert Pr c International of Toronto. League have found a buyer but have yet to agree on a price-tag, club president Norm Fieldgate said Tuesday Fieldgate said the Lions’ board of direct®rs has accepted a bid by a group headed by local businessman Steven Funk and rock music promoter Bruce Allen. The proposal has yet to receive approval from the club’s creditors. “This deal is not done,”’ Fieldgate told reporters at the club’s office at B.C. Place Stadium. ‘*Allen and Funk have a lot of work to do with the creditors and the league. It should take another four to five weeks.”” The Lions, community-owned since joining the league in 1954, have ac- cumulated debts of $8.9 million after losing $3.1 million in 1988 when the team reached the Grey Cup final. Funk, 38, is a Minnesota-born den- tist who moved to Vancouver in 1979. In 1985, he and two others formed a mineral exploration company called First Generation Resources Ltd. the banking. Allen, 44, is best known as manager of rock star Bryan Adams. Funk was in Winnipeg on business Tuesday while Allen was in Los Angeles Aquanauts race in Kimberley The Castlegar Aquanauts finished a strong fourth at the Kimberley Swim meet over the past weekend con sidering they only sent 24 swimmers The Nelson Neptunes won the meet with 310 points followed closely by the home team, Kimberley Seahorses, with 299. Third place went to Trail with 258, followed by Castlegar with 233, Colville with 138, Robson with 94, Grand Forks with 60, Beaver Valley with 44, Greenwood with 28 and Creston with 19. With only 24 swimmers competing, the Aquanauts still managed to pick up seven aggregate medals. Four silver medals were won by Graeme Redekop in Div. 1 Boys, Rob Case in Div. 4 Boys, Aimie Chernoff in Div. 5 Girls, and Jason Schuepfer in Div. 7 Boys. Bronze medals were picked up by Chris Cook in Div. 2 Boys, Ryan Yanigisawa in Div. 4 Boys, and Neil Jones in Div. 6 Boys. Coming up this weekend for the Aquanauts is the Regional swim meet in Nelson where the top three finishers in each event will qualify for the BC- SSA Provincial Championships to be held in Kamloops. Mid-Week Wrap-up Castlegar Realty SPECIAL DONORS A.M. Ford Denny McArthur Pro Shop A special thanks to all the golfers who participated. Sincerely, JIM YOUNG CARL HENNE PAT METGE ~e Here’s My Card my EWS Gary Fleming Dianna Koominott Caroline Soukoro! ADVERTISING SALES naGan Cv EGAR N' OFFICE 365-5210 CAS 70 pean with the completion of the course! Monday, August 21 Sunday, August 27 Sign up at Castlegar Sports Centre 365-8288 ee ee (FALCON PAINTING & DECORATING 2649 FOURTH AVENUE \ casteeGan 8 © \ a A. m. m. FORD RD SALES LTD. mene ac ves am TOLL Free 2 1.800-663-a966 ORIVEN A FORD LATELY: BASEBALL East Division Wallach, Montree!, 32; Guerrero, St hompson. San Froncisto Son Diego. 7, VanSiyke. Pittsburgh Home Runs — Mitchell, Son Fro son, New York, 26. eves 9, Roberts, isco, 33; Hohn Coleman, $1. Louis, 45, Young "“Piching (# Decisions) DeMartines, Montreal. 12 932 jorwin. Houston, 10-2, 633.216. Deleon, $1. Louis, 135; Belcher. Los MiWilliams, Chicago. 27, MaDows, Son West Division Ooklond rm ‘SALES AND TURNER Res: 362. Sonn” Ieeghary ican I, platen AUTOMOTIVE DIRECTORY 1507 Columbie Ave Castlegar COMPUTERIZED ALIGNMENTS 2-Wheet &4-Wheet Call 365-2955 Coltorme Edmonton Albuquerque Los Vega =-Colorade Springs Phoenix x-denotes won first holt CFL FOOTBALL Edmonton Coigory ac ison trom the New York Met rd later in th 08 the player to be jel Musselman Atlonte Hawks sign lorword Alexander Volkov to 1 sign guard Denny Young to ‘Miam: Dolphins sign guard Alvin Powell on tackle Rick Phikips, plete Sickle tm Eéotor en the 4 on de: George Fernon mn Rare bs ona-yomr conirast SWIMMING Robson River Otters at the Kimberley Swim Meet dos and forward tas Kristy Ver 00 1M. 1, SOR Ia, 50 Fly 2nd, 50 Bn Tet, 100 FR 19s, 508K ta tors Du: 197. 50 FR 9th, Aaron Bonahue $0 FR 7th, 50 Bx 71h, 300R 7m, 1OOER Ine Dor 00 I.MA. 6th, 50 FR 71h, 50 FL 9th, 50 BK hah, 3088 Brn 100 FR ot GIRLS OF MA Sth. 30 FR, 100 BK 2nd wn leds Costlegar Aquanauts ot the Kimberley Swim Meet hevice Girte Cook free 181, 25 back Ist; Miko Yonoguowe 25 res Im 2nd, 28 back 2nd Nothon Billor ich ath, ich — 100 Wi 4th, 50 4 100 tree ath, Michelle Streich — 50 fly 30 back ih 50 breast Sm Croeme Redekop 2nd, 30 back Vs", 50 br 100 > ana “ne Merrit Sth, Chod ¥ 30 tree Sth. 100 te , Sree eno Sst ee 2 344, 100 Hy 36d. 100 August 2, 1989 By ROB CARRICK ‘The Canadian Press Bobby Flood’s Scottish burr gets fierce as he talks about plans by Molson to parlay its merger with Carling O'Keefe into a fatter piece of the U.S. beer market. Flood, a 54-year-old Molson brewery worker, says he Expects his job of 16% years to disappear in the marriage of Canada’s second- and third-largest brewing companies. The deal is a hisr’s. **disgrace’’, he says, rumbling through ‘They don't give a damn about a guy who has'a house and mortgage.” Under terms of the merger, which received federal ap- proval in early July, Molson ahd Carlingywill spend $220 million over three years on plans that include construction of three super-breweries. At the same time, however, the two will eliminate 1,400 jobs and close seven of their 16 plants — in-Montreal, Vancouver, Lethbridge, Alta., Winnipeg, Saskatoon, St John's Nfid., as well as in Toronto. Molson and Elders IXL Ltd., the Australi conglomerate that owns Carling and Foster's beer, say the so-called rationalization is needed to cut production costs so the new company can better compete against foreign brewers. Flood works on one of the bottling lines at Molson’s Fleet Street plant in Toronto, a towering landmark near the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition that has spread its tangy-sweet brewing smells over the downtown for 34 years. SLATED TOCLOSE Sometime in the next 22 years the plant will close, its Production transferred to the more modern Carling plant in the city’s west end and another Molson plant in Barrie, BEER WARS! Molson, Carling merger a ‘disgrace’ Ont. Molson says workers who lose their jobs will get model severance packages. Flood scoffs at that. “At my age, who's going to hire me?" he says. “‘If push comes to shove. I'll have to go back to the old coun- try.”” Inside the Fleet Street plant, there’s little to suggest to the layman that the facility is outdated. On thie four bottling lines, about 3,600 bottles of beer per. minute are filled with Molson brands in the summer peak period, mere drops in the 600 million bottles the plant will turn over inayear Packaging operations are spread over three floors at the plant, which partly explains why it won't survive the merger while the Barrie operation will. At the Barrie plant, the three bottling lines and one canning line are a one-floor setup in which a two-level con- veyor belt can take in empties and spit out the same bottles, sterilized, refilled and relabelled, in about two hours. “From a management perspective, it’s a hell of a lot easier to operate on a single floor,” says Eric Ball, a plant supervisor. “It’s more streamlined and easier to manage.:’ FACE COMPETITION Ball’s words neatly sum up Molson’s strategy for dealing with the market conditions now facing Canada’s brewing industry. Though the industry was exempt from the free-trade agreement with the United States, Canadian brewers face relentless competition in several provinces from cheaper U.S. beer brands. There's also pressure from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the world’s trade referee, for Canada to lower the markup slapped on beverages The newly merged company, Molson Breweries, will imported alcoholic be Canada’s largest brewery and the sixth-largest in North America, with sales of about $2.3 billion and annual output of 3.8 bition bottles “This merger will make us the lowest-cost producers in Canada and enable us to be stronger and more competitive against foreign beer companies,"’ says Molson Breweries president John Carroll “We believe the merger will create a Very dynamic business." Key to the merger’s success is asserting the presence of Molson Breweries in the U.S.-market. Molson officials say they want to increase U.S.-bound exports to 40 million cases from the current 15 million. Canadian beer has about one per cent of the U.S. beer market, where imports are dominated by two powerhouse brands: Heineken from the Netherlands and Mexican Corona, says analyst Martin Kaufman. SMALL BUTIMPORTANT But even that small foothold represents a crucial market, says Kaufman, who follows the brewing industry for brokerage Nesbitt Thorison Deacon in Montreal “One per cent of a market 10 times our size is still im- portant,’ Kaufman says. “And 17 per cent of Molson’s total production goes to the U.S., soit’s particularly impor- tant to them.” Molson has a good chance of converting more Americans to Canadian beer, he says. ‘But I think 40 million (cases) is probably a little optimistic." Doing its best to appear unruffled by the merger-is Labatt, Canada’s former No. | brewer “This so-called rationalization is going to cause all kinds of disruptions,"’ says Ed Stewart, vice-president of corporate affairs for Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. “It’s one thing to say you’ re going to close seven plants, but we think it’s going to throwa big spanner into the works."” Yanks threaten with cut-rate suds By ROB CARRICK The Canadian Press Mike Cunningham says he prefers Canadian beer over Yankee suds, but under his arm are four six-packs of employee. says, emerging ningham, a 45-year-old Bell Canada “This stuff isn’t as good as Canadian beer, but'ih the summer all you really want to do is cool off,”” he from brewers enough to warehouse and distribute their product — an argument Ontario seemed to accept when it bumped up prices on a downtown Milwaukee's Best and other cheap For example, the Coors Brewing Co. plant in Golden, Col., the world’s largest, produced about 6.9 billion bottles of beer in 1988 with 7,000 workers. That works out to almost one competitive provincial Economist Bill Canadian brewers lack the Americans’ edge because of the barriers they've been given special protection Stanbury says organization on the rules in place and we've made hundreds of millions of dollars,"’ says Ed Stewart, president of corporate affairs for Labatt Brewing Co. Lid. vice- and because *American-brewed Milwaukee's Best “Well, the price is right,"’ says Cun- Breweries jockey Toronto liquor store. Until a July price hike imposed by the Ontario liquor board, six-packs of Milwaukee's Best in-cans cost Cun- ningham $4.70 compared with $6.60, including deposit, for domestic bran: ds. Even after the price increase, U.S. beer remains cheaper by more than $1 in Ontario. Cut-rate American suds first ap. peared about four years ago in Alber ta. Since then, they have become the toast of bargain-hunting beer drinkers and a nemesis for the Canadian brewing industry. Across Canada, American beer has about 1.6 per cent of the market, figures from the Brewers Association of Canada show In Alberta and British Columbia, however, U.S. brands such as Rainier and Olympia now claim at least eight percent of the market If American beer continues to pour into the Canadian market, brewers here say demand for their product will drop off and workers may lose their jobs. Canadian brewers believe they're being undercut on price because U.S competitors are dumping their product in Canada at less than the cost of production, or they're selling it to provincial liquor boards for less than they do to wholesalers in their home states. They liquor also boards complain don’t charge provincial U.S U.S. brands on July 10 Taxes also help bloat beer prices Sales taxes, excise taxes, duties and so on send about half the selling price of Canadian beer to federal and provin. cial coffers. OMITS POINTS The brewers’ list of woes omits a few key points, however First, there are the higher markups liquor boards slap on imported beer In British Columbia, for example, the markup is 83 per cent, compared with 50 per cent for Canadian beer. Second, U.S. breweries are more ef- ficient at making beer. million bottles per worker. Canada’s brewers, forced by provincial trade rules to have plants in provinces where they sell beer, produce six billidn bottles of beer annually with about 18,5000 employees, the brewers assoviation says. That works out to about 324,000 bottles per worker Cheap U.S. beer brands are sold to the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, one of the few provincial liquor authorities to release detailed pricing information, at a wholesale cost as low as $1.24 fora six-pack of cans. The comparable wholesale price for Canadian beer is $3.41. INDUSTRY FACTS AND FIGURES Here are some facts and figures on Canada’s brewing indusiry — The industry pumped $10 billion into the economy in 1988, accounting for 1.7 per cent of gross national product, the sum of all goods and services produced in Canada —It employs 18,500 workers — Beer sales account for a yearly tax haul by federal and provincial governments of $2.5 billion — Taxes account for about one half of domestic beer prices, the third-highest rate in the Western world. By comparison, taxes amount to about 14 per cent of the total beer price in the United States. — And, Canada is 14th in average beer consumption among 32 industrialized countries, with total sales for 1988 of about 6.2 billion bottles by the federal and provincial gaver- nments. As well as benefiting from higher provincial markups forimported beer, the brewing industry was exempted from the free-trade agreement with the United States at the insistence’ of Canadian negotiators. “This (the brewing industry) is a cosy little protected arrangement,’ says Stanbury, a professor at the University of British Columbia who specializes in competition policy. In the boardrooms of Canada’s brewing companies, however, it’s rapidly becoming plain the cosy days are ending For example, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the world’s trade referee, accepted a com- plaint last year from the European Community that Canada’s pricing for beer, wine and liquor discriminates against foreign producers “What's happening ‘now is that some of the brewers figure that under the longer term, the, present arrangement can’t last, that|GATT is going to require them, or their political masters, to have non-discriminatory markups,”’ Stanbury says To improve efficiency Molson and Carling are calling for the end of the in- terprovincial barriers. Molson and Carling’s argument to change the status quo doesn’t impress Labatt, the country’s No. 2 brewer “We've built ~the Labatt for market share “'We see no reason to change the rules to benefit our competitors.”” Budweiset —_ By ROBCARRICK The Canadian Press The boys at tiny Conners Brewery like to blow the froth of Molson and Labatt by dismissing the brewing gian- ts products as ‘‘guzzle beer.”” “You chill it, put it in a glass and it could be club soda,”’ says Alan Coles, chairman of Conners, an indepen- dent Toronto outfit that makes five preservative-free, un- pasteurized specialty brews. ‘I give a lot of credit to advertising people, making it appear these beers are different.”” Molson, which recently got federal approval to merge with Carling O'Keefe, and its main competitor, Labatt, produce about 120 brands between them, the Brewers Association of Canada says. Media Measurement Seryices says almost $100 million was spent in 1988 to advertise these brands. Market share is the best measure of how well advertising dollars are spent Figures fluctuate from month to month, but Labatt curren- tly has about 42 per cent while Molson has about 52 per cent A single market-share per cent can mean about $9 Molson leads in U.S. exports Here are some facts and figures on Canadian beer exports to the United States: — Canadian beer has captured just under one per cent of the U.S. market — Molson had 11 per cent of the U.S market in 1988, Labatt five per cent — Ranking of import beers in the United States: Heineken, brewed in The Netherlands; Corona, from Molson; Beck, from West Germany; and import Mexico; Labatt In 1988, 11.1 percent of Canadian beer produc tion was exported Price of a six-pack of cans of Carling O’Keefe’s Old Vienna in Buffalo, N.Y., in mid-June: $3.85 US, or about $4.62. Cdn. — And, the price of the same product in Ontario: $6.60. million in pre-tax profits, says Martin Kaufman, a brewing industry analyst with Nesbitt Thomson Deacon in Mon- treal. This summer the competition jis cutthroat because both companies are flogging dry beer, popular in Japan and starting to take off in the United States. It’s touted as a new beer — brewed longer to tone down the after-taste that may be Canadian beer’s signature. WHOLENEW BEER **We saw dry beer as an opportunity to create a whole new category of beer — I can’t emphasize how important that is,” says Gerry Frappier, director of planning for Molson Breweries of Canada Ltd “The last time the industry did something to innovate was when light beer was introduced in the early "70s."” Labatt’s Dry has a five-per-cent alcohol content at the regular price. “We wanted to avoid the premium price,"’ Armstrong says. “We also thought that with a trend toward moderation, (regular alcohol content) might be more responsible. But Frappier says Labatt’s Dry isn’t the real article. “‘It delivers on the basic claim of no after-taste, but they've made the mistake of not making it seem a different beer.”” Molson introduced its dry beer in March, beating Labatt by several weeks, but has so far distributed it only in Ontario and Quebec. Expansion to Alberta and British Columbia is planned. Labatt distributes its dry beer in all provinces except Adds Doug Armstrong, director of mar! ment for the Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd.: ‘*The beer market's 's been flat for five or six years and anything that stimulates interest in beer is important to us.”” The companies had different troducing the product to Canada Molson Special Dry is $.5-per-cent alcohol content in stead of the usual five per cent and the price is 10-per-cent higher than regular beer approaches to in- dd “While they did beat us in Ontario, we've scooped them nationally,"” Armstrong says. ‘*1 don’t think being first was a critical concern. Getting it right was."’ EDGE IN SALES But Neil Wickham, a brewing analyst for Canarim In vestment in Toronto, says Molson’s jump on Labatt has translated into an edge in sales of two- or three-to-one on markets where the two dry beers compete head-to-head. While Labatt and Molson play out the dry beer phenomenon, Conners and the other 25 or so micro- breweries in Canada go about the business of making their specialty products “‘Our biggest problem is keeping up with demand,”” Coles says, estimating his company is growing by 50 per cent a year. The 25 or so Canadian brewpubs, or bars that serve beer brewed on the premises, are also flourishing Meanwhile, the search for new ways to sell beer goes on, sometimes Veering into unlikely territory such as extra light beer, which has an alcholol content of 1.5 per cent or less and is gaining share in Europe. Newfies tops in consumption Here is a breakdown of how the provinces rank in beer consumption: Average per capita beer consumption was 81.46 litres nationally in 1988, down one litre from the previous year Newfoundland residents drank the most beer per capita — 89.54 litres. Ontario per capita consumption was next at 88.85 litres. Quebec 83.01 litres. British Columbia 77.08 litres Manitoba 74.18 litres Alberta 71.78 litres. Nova Scotia 70.62 litres Prince Edward Island 65.83 litres. New Brunswick 65.62 litres Saskatchewan 63.22 litres Canada is 14th in average beer consumption among 32 1987 figures — the East’ Germany, Czechoslovakia rank one, ptiorratt45,144,2-and-t3Otitres per capita respectively The British rank ninth at 110 litres per capi while the Americans place 12th at 90.1 industrialized countries. most recent available West and two and three in consum. show Germany