a14 Saturday, January 16, 1993 & @ Saturday, January 16, 1993 It was cold, there was snow on the ground and it was too early to think about riding a bus but it had to be done. Summing up all his strength, the sports writer dragged himself out of bed and into the cold for a ride that would take him to another time zone and at least an hour from the nearest Subway. His destination? Invermere. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was road trip time again with your very own Castlegar Rebels, a trip that would fall short of expectations. Let’s begin. Friday, Jan. 8 9:39 a.m. (PST) ‘Conquer the Kootenays, Rebels 1993’ is a go as the bus pulls away from the Complex. Rob is behind the wheel but doesn’t seem to know what happened to Gerry, the last driver. The betting is he’s sporting a jacket with extra long sleeves and lives in a room with soft walls. 9:43 a.m. Four words greet us as we hit the weigh scales in Ootischenia, four words we didn’t want to see — ‘Salmo-Creston Highway Closed’. This doesn't bode well. 10:01 a.m. Sitting beside yours tru- ly, forward Corey Flodell falls for the oldest bus trick in the book when he’s told the coach wants to see him. End result? Sports has his own seat. 10:07 a.m. Hitting the Playmor Junction, the players break out the cards to the strains of some Bon Jovi. Compared to the last trip, this is what is known as the lesser of two evils. 10:47 a.m. The lineup at the Kootenay Lake ferry terminal resem- bles Columbia Avenue just after 4:00. It doesn’t look like we'll be seeing Crawford Bay any time soon. 11:37 a.m. Taking a page from last trip’s notebook, forward Kevin Leiman resumes his bus wrestling ca- reer with forward Corey Ross, a two- time winner in October. The judges lean toward Ross in the early stages but award the bout to Leiman after some welcome assis- tance from defenceman Bill Brewer. 11:56 a.m. An overpaid and under- educated B.C. Ferries employee promises us the next available bus- sized spot on the ferry. A couple cars get waved on and then, out of nowhere, so is a big honkin’ Motorways semi-trailer. Our new friend escapes by jumping onto the boat. Thanks buddy. 1:08 p.m. It’s hard to believe, but we are finally afloat. Fifty-one min- utes later, we reach dry land for the stomach-turning ride down Highway 3A to Creston. Where's the Gravol? 4:08 p.m. (MST) Six hours and 29 minutes after leaving the Complex, we arrive in Creston, stopping for the Gravol that would have come in handy earlier in the day. 4:53 p.m. Begins with Y, is four let- ters long and rhymes with jack. 5:42 p.m. Dinner at Boston Pizza in Cranbrook, a building Leiman’s fa- ther owns. A man with no less than three jobs, Leiman Sr. has managed to squeeze being a dishwasher and Ne Jonny on the Spot JonathanGREEN shoe salesman into his spare time. At least that’s what the players say. 7:47 p.m. Ten hours after leaving, we arrive at Invermere’s Columbia Valley Recreation Centre to face the host Rockies, owners of the butt-ugli- est home jerseys in the league. 8:41 p.m. The Rebels hit the ice, 41 minutes later than the scheduled starting time. Two hours and 16 min- utes later, they leave the ice with their fourth straight loss, 7-4. Saturday, January 9 12:59 a.m. The bus pulls into the parking lot of Golden’s Rondo Motel, a building that looks a lot nicer from the inside than the outside. The room is surprisingly Hilton-esque. 10:23 a.m. Sports is initiated as a shoe check during breakfast results in his runners being accented by a taste- ful dash of ketchup. 11:31 a.m. Coaches Walker and Sauer conduct a team meeting. Sorry, Going over the pole to the East Kootenay no media. Where’s the 7-Eleven? 5:56 p.m. The team arrives at the local rink to tangle with the Golden Rockets, the KIJHL East Division’s worst team. Unfortunately, the Rebels make them look pretty good as they drop their fifth in a row, 6-5. 10:27 p.m. A rather silent bus re- turns to Chez Rondo. It’s safe to say the cancellation of the hot tub/pizza party isn’t a surprise. Sunday, Jan. 10 12:16 p.m. Walker and Sauer tell sports over half-an-hour that they’ve just about had it with the Rebels. The looks on their faces accent the fact they aren't kidding. 5:00 p.m. The bus pulls away from the arena after the Rebels end the streak with a 7-3 win over Golden. De- spite the win, the celebrating that took place on the way home in November won't be repeated. 7:51 p.m. The lights of Cranbrook are just a blur as the bus heads straight through, the penalty for a less-than-stellar road trip. 8:35 p.m. Begins with Y, etc. etc. 9:05 p.m. Silent prayers have been answered as the sign says the Cre- ston-Salmo is open. No need to take the polar route this time. 9:30 p.m. (PST) The Rebels are home in less than half the time it took to get to Invermere, about the only thing worth celebrating for the whole trip. It wasn’t as much fun as the last trip, but it beat staying home and hog- ging the laundry room all weekend. See you next season. Pee Wee Reps play payback with Lumby at Kelowna tourney NEWS STAFF The Reps opened the tournament Friday with a Given a chance to exact some revenge, the Castle- gar Pee Wee Reps did just that at a tournament in Winfield last weekend. Facing Lumby in the final, the Reps avenged a preliminary round loss to their Okanagan opponent as Bryan McCormack scored twice in a 4-2 win. Coach Jerry Antignani said the victory helps to detract from a disappointing regular season. “(Losing’s) been kind of tough on the kids so this tournament was a real morale booster,” he said. 7-2 over the hosts as McCormack had two goals and two assists. Their next game was a Saturday affair with Lum- by, one which Antignani said they should have won but didn’t, losing 4-3 on goals from Cory Quiding, Tyler Darnell and Jay Antignani. “I thought we outplayed them,” coach Antignani said, “but their goalie came up big.” Hitting the ice once more Saturday, the Reps rode Darnell’s hat trick to advance to Sunday’s semi-final with a 7-4 win over Vernon. In the semi-final, Rance Hall had two goals and an assist as Castlegar dumped Winfield 4-2 for an- other shot at Lumby in the final. Doing what they did in the first game and more, the Reps solved their final opponent to win. “Their goaltender was hot again, but he could on- ly hold us back so much,” Antignani said. “We kept plugging away, just kept coming and came up big.” McCormack led the way with his third deuce Collegians southbound NEWS STAFF With too much cold weath- er and snow to contend with, some Selkirk College athletes are heading south for a little training. On Feb. 7, coach Derek Peregrym and seven mem- bers of the college’s cross- country team will compete in California at the Long Beach Marathon. With the first meet of 1993 set for late February, Pere- grym said the marathon was the perfect opportunity for the team to do some off-sea- son running. “It keeps them motivated to train over the winter,” he said. q Competing in a race that is allowing for some 4,500 en- trants, Peregrym said what the team learns will be in- valuable. “It’s going to be interesting because of the eight, only two have run a marathon before,” he said. “It’s going to be a good experience for them.” A veteran marathoner, Peregrym said both he and Karl Schneider will be look- ing for personal bests. As for the others, covering the 42.2 kilometre course will be a personal best in itself. “Tll be looking to beat (three hours),” Peregrym said. “Karl’s trying to beat three-and-a-half. “The rest of them? Just to finish.” - quality puilding Here's My Card... si niry s Patuting = %, 4 2649 Fourth a Castlegar, B.c. v1 » B.C. VIN 25 365-3563 ' while Quiding and Reed Byers each had singles. Bob proctor Neal McKenna G ADVERTISIN eas OFFICE 365-7266 * FAX 365-3: Nine to FIVE Your business Is our business Neil Rachyski 365-7266 ‘SCENERY Three of the five tenants have been announced for the new Midtown Plaza. The obvious one is the credit union itself. Also going in will be the Plaza Bakery and Valhalla Physiotherapy Rehabilitation and Sports. There is no official word yet on what the other two businesses are. LEGAL ADVICE Selkirk College's Continuing Education is offering a two- hour program that deals with the legal issues of separation and divorce. The free session is Feb. 2 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The course will look at maintenance payments, child access schedules and grounds for divorce. Jim Pattison Industries Ltd. has bought $691,000 worth of common shares in International Innopac Inc. this week. Pattison now holds just over 43 per cent of the packaging company, a total of 1,506,162 shares. WorkRPLACE ome Sweet Home i Co-housing making sense with more and more British Columbians Penelope Hutchison CASTLEGAR NEWS SERVICE It’s child-friendly, it’s age friendly and it’s empowering. Co-housing is also making sense to a grow- ing number of would-be homeowners. Co-hous- ing sounds like a hippy word, but is actually a modern version of a European village pio- neered in Denmark in the late 1970s. The concept is fairly simple: The future res- idents of a small subdivision co-operatively plan, design, build and run their own develop- ment. In Langley, where B.C.’s first co-housing pro- ject is well underway, the Delta-based Wind- song Association has spent the last few years gathering interested residents, who meet on a weekly basis to discuss the kinds of housing they want, how they will design it and how it will be run. The beauty of the idea is that it is designed by its future residents. Once the association had decided on a plan, they hired a developer and started looking for a site. At the moment, they are eyeing a piece of land in Langley’s Walnut Grove and hope to start building early this spring. “I find it extremely exciting and empowering to make those kind of choices- of lifestyle,” Howard Staples said after a public information meeting in Burnaby recently, which drew more than 100 people. “It’s an innovative form of housing that al- lows people to enjoy the advantages of commu- nity living while having their own dwelling,” said Miriam Evers, who founded Windsong with her husband Howard Staples. Among those speaking at the meeting were authors Kathryn McCamant and Charles Dur- rett, whose Co-housing: A Contemporary Ap- proach to Housing Ourselves describes the im- portance of being able to design their own home. “It’s about taking control of your immediate environment instead of buying your home off the shelf from any developer,” says Durrett. “In most single family dwelling neighbor- hoods, you have little relationship with your neighbors. People drive up to their houses, open their automatic garage, turn on the mi- crowave, pop in a movie in the VCR and that’s their social life.” Most co-housing units are designed to be people friendly, with parking off to the side of the development and a path down the middle of the housing units. “People don't just live inside the house but in between the houses like old villages,” says Durrett. Co-housing units are owned by the residents through a strata-like arrangement, and most have a large common house where meetings, shared meals and parties are held. Some even have laundry rooms, workshops, day care cen- ters, craft rooms and a common store equipped with the basics where residents write what they’ve taken on a list and pay for it at the end of the month. Since Windsong was spawned, co-housing groups have formed throughout British Columbia. Cascadia Co-housing Society, based in Surrey, was created by Fritz Radandt to or- ganize co-housing developments in the Greater Vancouver area. “Cascadia is an organization of people that think co-housing is the greatest thing since sliced bread,” says Radandt. He has already identified nine core groups in the Vancouver area and southern Vancouver Island looking for locations to start co-housing units. One Vancouver group is considering the creation of a co-housing unit on the city’s west side. For all it’s warm and fuzzy feelings, co-hous- ing is no cheaper than buying a single family home, since residents are paying equivalent land prices in whatever area they choose to build and must fork over more money to build acommon house. But for many, the idea of building a little community in the middle of a sprawling urban mass makes the price worth it. I feel kind of sorry for north- end sewer users. The folks up there have been given a rate increase of $29 on their sewer bills to cover repairs to the system. Half of those improvements were done almost two years ago, they just haven't been paid for. The rate increase was effective Jan. 1. The city expects the money from the increase will be enough to cover the cost of the work. Actually, the $29 will be going towards the cost of the $200,000 loan that will be taken out pay for the work. The sewer rate increase is a done deal. The loan isn’t. If the majority of property owners on the system petition the city, the loan bottoms out. Keep in mind those who oppose the increase must collectively represent at least half of the assessed property value. If a resident doesn’t speak up the tie goes to the dealer — in this case the city. I’m not saying council’s we — The Bottom Line NeilIRACHYNSKI initiative should be defeated. But how do you convince those residents that their system is in such bad shape. It’s not as if you can just head out on the lawn with a shovel, look at the pipes and say “holy smoke, time for some line replacement here.” No, residents have to have faith that there’s a problem. And I bet there is one. All I have to see is the state of this city’s infrastructure above ground to imagine what things are like below ground. All I have to do is drive over roads with more potholes, dimples and smileys than a 20- year-old golf ball. All I need to see are those above ground cables that are about as classy as dog hair on a tuxedo. Granted, the Downtown Revitalization Committee has finally taken up that issue and something will be done about it. But you have to wonder what was being done in the past while the face of Castlegar was deteriorating. Look at what we need: ° anew RCMP building ° a new fire hall (that’s debatable) ° anew city hall building * proper recreational parks with decent facilities, ie. ball diamonds, hiking trails and track and field amenities © massive paving and road reconstruction ¢ downtown revitalization * a secondary access through the city (C’mon, the new bridge This shopping list will not take care of itself will only do so much) If all these problems exist at the same time, it stands to reason that the city’s sewer system is on its last legs. But it’s not like all these things suddenly turned archaic in the last year. Where were the planners and decision makers 10, 15 and 20 years ago? Certainly not in Castlegar. Those Elmer’s Glue solutions have left us in a mess. We have inherited a Pandora’s Box of nightmares that we will be forced to open. I can only imagine what all these basic facilities would cost. And while we wait and plan and talk and discuss and gather information and strike a committee and analyze findings and make recommen- dations and hold public hearings and take into consideration... Go with the flow, north-end sewer users. Let the city have its $200,000 band-aid so we can see some improvements in our generation.