CASTLEGAR NEWS, December 21, 1980 C'svery-own food people wish you and you HOSTESS BRAND FOIL WRAPPED WHOLE OR GRY-O-VAC HALVES BONELESS AMS PER LB SIDE BACON SWIFT'S PREMIUM SLICED 500 GRAM PKG re COIL GARLIC BULK STYLE PER POUND (i YOUNG TURKEYS |FROZEN - 20 POUNDS AND OVER Ya FROZEN GRADE ‘0.20 STURKEYS:2"..: A . OUND CANADA 18 a DOLE FRUIT CANNED (a FAMILY ORANGE, Cee 6" FLOZ POP: GINGER ALE, RO Gis PER BEER or ONE PACKAGE a8 berosir Tomato Clam ce oz FAMILY INSTANT © COFFEE BRAND NESCAFE Kernel Corn GREEN GIANT 22, TNS |_| JUICE TOMATO 48 FL OZ TIN LIBBY BRAND FANCY QUALITY IS JUMBO YAMS OR SWEET POTATOES | 3Sm MIX OR MATCH - Ae ORD IS GUARANTEED B.C’S VERY-OWN FOOD PEOPLE. IN THE CHAHKO MIKA MALL, LAKESIDE DR., NELSON SIZE 30’s AJIM PATTISON COMPANY. 5 RE OUNE Kfuay, oo Vw. By JOHN A CHARTERS . ‘GIFTS AND BEYOND d PRICE’ “He who loves with pur- ity considers not the gift of the lover but the love of the giver.” — Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ . Christmas ‘is the tradi- tional time of gift-giving, yet, sadly and all too often, one gets the feeling that the gift and the giver are valued more in the monetary value of the gift.than in the spirit and sacrifice of the giving. In the spirit of the sea- son, therefore, I would like to offer a story, seen from a ‘front-row seat’, to counter. this depressing feeling, to suggest that there are, in spite of the emphasis on’ materialism in this present age, gifts from the heart — gifts beyond price. ‘IN FORTRESS ORTONA’ The story begins against the background of the Italian Campaign of the Second World War in the city of Ortona. Ortona is a port city on the Adriatic Sea and be- strides the main road and rail routes ‘to west and north Italy. * 2 It was ‘Christmas of 1943, and the German forces, pursued by the Canadian First Brigade, were making a" rapid but orderly Tetreat north to the ‘impregnible’ Hitler Line, With the pbvious tactic of checking the allied advance.and buying time to strengthen the line, a brigade of elite German paratroopers had heavily fortified the city, and were quite prepared to , hold it to the last man, Two. Canadian _battali- ons, the ‘Seaforth Highland- . ers’ and the ‘Edmontons’, supported by tanks and artil- lery, were sent in to grant them their wish. German engineers had blown’ in the buildings on many street corners, creat. — ing piles of impassible rub- ble; they had mined streets and. booby-trapped door- ways; every house had be- “IT WAS NOTHING” In the church a Christ- mas mass was in progress while just opposite, across the street, a group of Can- adians were involved in a JOHN CHARTERS’ oS Reflections & Recollections A gift beyond price Eventually the para- troopers were driven out of the'.city, taking with them not only: their. dead and wounded, but all the avail- able food for miles around. come a miniature fortress, and every window a machine gun nest, to be taken and re- vicious grenade ang machine gun battle with a German section further away. Every fon of mo taken only after the bii hand-to-hand fighting, . Every ‘street was swept by sniper — fire, mortar and artillery-fire, and had become aliteral ‘valley of the shadow of death’. The long line of supply trucks and the re- inforcements moving along the road to the city and the equally long line of heavily- laden ambulances leading away from it gave grim evi- ‘dence of the terrible cost, of war. 2 LIFE GOES ON Yet, in spite of the terror, death and destruction on all sides, by day and night, some Italian families, com- posed mostly of women, chil- dren and old men, still clung: to'the ruins of their city, preferring the known terrors of war in the vicinity of their own homes, to the-unknown terrors of war in the shat- tered countryside. So there they stayed, cowering, hungry and sleep- less through the. long days and nights in cellars and in the sanctuary of the large Church of Santa Maria on the edge of the city. It was a small boy from one of these latter groups, who precipi- tated the story of the unique gift-giving about which I wish to write. \ brought ap answering, snarl- ing hail of fire, every shift of shadow, a crashing grenade. Suddenly, from the church, and into this parti- cular ‘valley’ there darted the small boy. Halfway across the street he. stopped, too terrified to move in either direction to safety. In the “space of a heart-beat of the consternated silence in which this took place, a young Can- adian lieutenant with the al- Most reflex spontaneity of war, and still holding his ‘tommy-gun’ in one hand, took three great leaps to- ward the terror-stricken child, grabbed. him firmly by the collar and without break- ing his stride dashed up the steps of the church and through the door to safety, as a hail of bullets cracked and screeched behind him. Once inside, he: thrust the child into the arms of his almost’ hysterical. mother and, brushing aside the chor- ous of “grazia, grazia” (thank you | thank you), with a mmut- The pursuing army had little to give civilians so close to the front, so that-the sur- vivors, other than_a couple of nursing mothers and the children, with whom the oc- cupying troops shared their. rations, soon began to feal the bite of hunger. ABANQUET — FOR ONE When almost s week had . passed, the Heutenant, who had ‘survived, the battle and was with the occupation troops in the city, received several Italian visitors, “Food?” He “was sorry but .. “No, ‘no, not food. He was to come.” “Trouble?” “No, no trouble. Just please to come.” So he came, led by his guides over the once deadly ‘piles of rubble and through the ‘scarred and empty streets until they came to a house with a walled garden on the edge of the town. Someone was playing an ac- cordian and there was the’ sound of much talk and lau- ghter. He was ushered through the wooden doorway with “prego” ate a ah he thrust his way through the throngs of well-wishers and rejoined his men by ,another route, to continue-the interrupted bus- iness of war. * Eight-course dinner smallest in six years . TORONTO (CP) — A Christmas dinner.to be pre- pared by an Aurora, Ont., couple is guaranteed to. change just about anyone's constitution — Canadian or otherwise — mostly by put- ting on -pounds. _ Linda and Duff Steele are serving an eight-course dinner on Dec. 25 that's a reproduction of what families enjoyed 200 years ago. Roast goose stuffed with sour cherries, apples and prunes, a baked trout'served with a rich oyster sauce, onions stuffed with corn and sausage and five delicious desserts are the best of their dinner for eight. The ' Steeles say they have updated these contemporary tastes, Goose makes a tasty, festive dish for the holiday, costing about $1. pound more than turkey. Steele figures you will need about one pound of uncooked goose for each guest being served. If you * buy a larger bird and have leftovers don’t feel that your money's wasted. TRY GOOSE PATE There are recipes for tasty pate that makes great use of goose | Steele, grocery production manager with Canada Pac- kers, Ali dinners are geared to the respective theme in food, drink and decor, The Dickens Christmas featured lots of mulled wine and cider that imparted a “spirited glow,” said Steele. The Victorian Christmas featured a- Christmas tree decorated with: period trim- ming: Popcorn, cranberries and h cookies. While the Steele dinner sounds elaborate, it’s actually the simplest Christmas din- ner the couple has prepared in six years, “We started with a Rus- sian-themed Christmas and worked through French Can- adian, Dickensi: dishes with spices to reflect and Victorian themes said Forest. land on decline VICTORIA (CP) — A government's forest’ and . range analysis report which forecasts B.C.’s forest. land base will be reduced as much as 22 per cent during the next 20 years is conservative, says a brief to cabinet. The brief, presented by a group of industrial asso- -ciations, trade unions, envir- onmental and professional groups, says the figure will go higher unless the gov- ernment pulls back on its .program of auctioning off parcels of Crown forest land. They urged the govern- ment to move quickly ‘in completing the forests min- istry program for defining provincial forests. Jack Toovey of the Asso- ciation of B.C. Professional Foresters, which headed the delegation, said the groups are concerned about the alienation’ of prime forest land to “hobby farming" through the lands ministry's auction of Crown land.- At least 16,000 hectares of Crown forest land, classed as 50 per cent arable, already have been processed through public auction ‘and further ‘ applications to purchase’ are coming in at ‘an alarming rate, the brief.says. «3. “Many of these forests contribute to sustained yield calculations, Harvest rates will have to be adjusted downward as more lands are lost,” the brief says. “Professional foresters in the Interior report: that some of the public auctions involve sale of lands already well stocked with healthy, young forests, only ‘one-third mature, but advertised at an upset price far below the value of the standing crop of trees.” Toovey said the govern- ment claims there is no conflict between the lands ministry's auction and the forest. policy. Clay Perry of the Inter- national Woodworkers of America said the province “is getting into a very serious situation with the timber supply.” Don Knoerr of the B.C. Federation of Agriculture, an unusual ally with forestry groups, said his organization is concerned that the land being put up for public auction is not being properly utilized. He said many of the parcels barely meet the min- imum agriculture component, of 50-per-cent arable land and people are being led to be- lieve they can get a_ little Piece of farmland them- selves. ‘ Every Christmas dinner regardless of theme ends with several desserts and al- ways Steele's mother's plum pudding. - The couple start plan- ning their annual Christmas feast as early as September, reading through old maga- zines and making trips to the library to secure authentic recipes. This helps establish what summer or fall produce is requred. And what will the theme be next Christmas? Steele says “there's this Swedish dish that calls for a double loin of pork . .:." to be met by a considerable group of people led by a woman whom he now remembered vaguely as the mother of the lost boy. Crying a welcome in Italian . she‘embraced him and kissed . him on both cheeks, where- upon to his mounting ¢ embar- shrugs and waving hands, Only the longing eyes gave away the evidence of the growing pangs of hunger. A GIFT BEYOND PRICE More food and more wine until he groomed in- wardly with the physical dis: comfort of overeating and the mental discomfort of the | knowlege of what sacrifices this woman and her relatives must have made to provide this feast for him, But to have refused would have been the cruelest insult, Eventually, his hosts permitted him, amidst mére demonstrations of affection, to return.to his quarters, filled not only with food but a new respect for fundamental values. . : The offering of the wid- ow’s mite in the New Testa- ment and the offering of the foust by the grateful family of Ortona are proofs, in spite of frequent signs to the -op- posite, that the spiritual ele- mental of love was then, and is now, stronger than the physical drive of hunger. It was their greatest possible gilt in exchange for his gift of the life of the little boy — a gift beyond Price. ° Ps. People in this gen- eral area of Italy are once again suffering death, the - loss of homes and the pangs of cold and hunger. I trust that each one of us is doing what he or she can in this time of ‘gifting’ for the sur- vivors by supporting the Italian Relief Fund. 2 “HO, HO, HO, Merry Christmas and happy eating.” Cominco has been giving out Christmas turkeys for its employees and retirees for more than 50 years. This from Santa, year, Santa Claus was on hand at- Tada Hall. In all, Christmas turkeys were given out. Here retiree Lucy Dolsen receives her bird more than 7,200 —Comince Phete Canadian industry may get boost from airship system EDMONTON (CP) — Piasecki Aircraft of Canada The Heli-Stat uses the buoyant lift of a helium- filled, helicopter cockpit flies the Heli‘Stat. The other’ three. Ltd. hopes to ii d an airship ion to Canada and he was variously shaken hands with, embraced, patted on the back with all the happy hubub of south Italy, while being propelled at the same time toward the-centre of the garden, Here, a, table covered with a white tablecloth; dec- orated with fresh flowers and laden with bottles of wine, small dishes of meat, salad, sausage, cakes, fruit and a huge platter of Italian spag- etti, was set — with one place. Ina minute they had him seated. In seconds his plate was filled, heaped with meat, spaghetti and salad and his glass filled to brimming, and he was urged to eat. By word and gesture he invited them to sit and join him — in vain. A glass of wine? Of course to drink his health. The food? An eloquence of voice, ges- ture and expression empha- sized that it was all for him. Was he not a hero?:Had he not saved the bambino? But of course. Therefore he must. eat. - And eat he did—to have his ‘plate piled agaid with food. He drank — to have his glass re-brimmed by eager hands. He protested — to have his protests swept away in gay shouts and elaborate within two years. Dick Bird of Ottawa, a Piasecki director, said a pro- totype airship now is being constructed in the United States for scheduled delivery to the ‘U8. forest service in 1982." Plans are to use the airship system in the timber, oil and other resource indus- tries to transport and posi- tion oversize and heavy equipment and in aerial ‘har- vesting of timber. Bird said he is optimistic a Canadian verticle-lift air- ship will be available about six to eight months after the U.S. model is finished. Called. a -Piasecki Heli- Stat the airship combines the lifting capabilities of a blimp and the lift and control of four interconnected helicop- ters, 2s The interconnected structure which holds the helicopters is rigid but the airship is a non-rigid model. Bird said the prime ad- vantage of: the combined one-millie t airshi envelope to otieet the empty weight of the helicopters and the interconnecting struc- ture, CENTRAL CONTROL . . .Four H-34 helicopters, each with 1,625 horsepower, are connectéd fo a central control to provide payload lift, Bird said the helicopter controls make it possible to execute precision hovering required for successful heavy vertical lifting. A-pilot in the left rear are each manned by a flight engineer. The vertical-lift aircraft is 83 metres high and 45 metres wide. The prototype now under construction will be test flown at the U.S. naval air. station. in Lake- hurst, NJ. ‘Under an agreement with the .U.S. Navy, pro- curement agent for the forest service, Piasecki Aircraft Corp. will provide a proto- type model to lift about 22 tonnes externally at a for- ward speed of 60 knots. Teachers want temporary truce VANCOUVER (CP) — The B.C. Teachers’ Feder- ation wants a temporary truce in its dispute with the provincial government over pension indexing. Federal president Al Blakey | said teachers in. the p is full use of the teiee power of ’ the helicopters. - “When you start up a helicopter to fly it takes most of the power just to keep it oe the ground. That leaves a ‘s 79 locals are being asked to postpone fur- ther job action over the pen- ‘sion issue for six weeks. During that: period Blakey hopes the province keep pace with inflation. | Ina telegram to Premier Bill Bennett, Blakey said he hopes the cooling-off period would make it easier to re- duce polarization and to A larger version of the . craft is designed to lift 68 tonnes at 73 knots. The Heli-Stat has been under design development since 1974 and in'1980 thé U.S. Congress provided fund- ing for a flight demonstration for harvesting of inaccessible thin : ibér, ‘ “Bind said interest inthe project has been expressed by a number of agencies in Canada, including Foothills Pipeline Co. of Alberta and Tri-Mac Consultants of Al- berta. He said the Alberta and British Columbia provincial governments and the federal department of industry, trade and commerce have also had discussions with Pi- asecki about the proposed vertical-lift system. se Another airship com- pany, British Airship Indus- tries, has developed a range of cargo-carrying airships and expects to put the first one in the air next spring. The 49-metre, no-rigid craft, with a two-tonne payload, can be used for freight and itime surveillance work. enter However, Blakey says the six-week cooling-off per. iod will not completely halt CONSIDERS USE OSLO (CP) — The Nor- He says action which doesn’t affect teachers’ school work, such (8s evening rallies or of the will reopen di on mall p ge of the avail- able power to lift a payload.” lation which limits open- ended indexing of Pensions to legislature, will continue dur- ing January. wegian of the Royal Dutch- Shell Group of Companies bas not deter- mined how it will explit its huge natural gas discovery off Norway's coast. The field is northwest of Bergen. ‘ ‘Christmas joy — and sorrow Christmas comes (this week. I should tell you about. Christmas '78, Angelika and I were living in Yellowknife,. NWT. Keith and Hugette Blisset had invited us over for _ ner, Now, in the NWT, you ‘don't leave your home, es- pecially if you live in a trailer, as we did out in Northlands, without some fear about pos- sibly having your place freeze up before you got home. Our place was easily three miles from Blisset’s, who had a magnificent. cedar home ‘way down in Old Town, not far from Rainbow Village ‘and just beyond the float base. (Anyone who has been in YK knows about, the village. It's a collection of tiny government-built houses painted — you guessed it — all colors of the rainbow.) We walked to Blisset’s. It seemed the bottom had fallen out of the thermom- eter. It was rather chilly but no mosquitoes. We were decked out in our parkas, thick mittens, mukluks,. wind pants and balaclavas, so really didn’t mind the walk. It wasn't a hardship for us because we knew that’s the way it had to Eva Thompson (who plan to . visit us in Castlegar this New Year's); Mike ‘Van Duffelin, an exquisite photographer you'll read about later today, and a whole lot of other notables of the day. with hosts and companions to match, anda view unequalled anywhere ... Things turned a bit sour a week later on New Year's Eve, or thereabouts. Angelika and I were ‘Editors are people, too By DON HARVEY — sort of” (Linus) be. (Although I was almost mummified from a car acci- dent the previous April, we didn’t like to be waited on — and still don't. So we walked.) : The companionship we encountered was beautiful. There were Brian and . The food? Indescribable — turkey, wild goose, wild duck, caribou, whitefish, arc- tie char, ham (our contri- bution — it went like wild- fire, thanks to Angelika’s prodding) — you name it, and all the fixings to boot. An absolutely fabulous dinner alone in our trailer when a knock came at the door. It was Mike Van Duffelin, the photographer, He lived right behind us in a much smaller trailer, maybe 8 x 16. A few weeks earlier, Mike, Angelika, his brother Fred and I had been sipping coffee together in the Yellow- knife Inn's Miners’ Mess. Angelika was working as executive secretary to the general manager (Ted Sab- ine) of Canadian Arctic Co- operatives Federation Ltd. at the time and so got involved in helping to arrange various meetings that required the attendance of out-of-towners from across the vast NWT. Fred was an out-of- towner. He was the co-op manager at Holman on Vic- toria Island, up in the Arctic Ocean, The meeting came and went. Over coffee, Fred told us that once he got home, he planned to go hunting after Peary caribou, a rather small dappled specimen, I under- stand, found only on Victoria Island. Fred made a mistake and became a statistic. He went out alone, His temporary overnight camp eventually was found with tell-tale indications showing he had left without his mittens, rifle, matches or snow knife. A few caribou carcasses were on the sled behind his skidoo. . Searchers found plenty of polar bear tracks among the rocks, but no Fred. I was talking with Brian. Thompson of TravelArctic recently and Fred hasn't been found yet. A memorial service was held for Fred at Holman last spring. Mike came from Ot- tawa, where he’s working as a free-lance shutterbug. (Look for his stuff in National Geographic magazine; he's occasionally in there.) Anyway, back around Xmas-New Year's ‘78-29, Mike came to us. I'm grateful for that. I'm accustomed to that sort of crisis, because for a few years I was a lay minister in the United Church of Canada. As Linus - said in “Peanuts,” “Editors are people, too, sort of." I love people. Have a merry, merry Christmas — and don't forget its true meaning.