CASTLEGAR NEWS, January 18, 1984 me Mike Gallo buys final ‘Co-op Last: month Mike : Gatlo” bought his last ‘Co-op’ pass and in so doing. marked one more mile-port in the history of Castlegar. He not only ended 2 continuous 40-year association ,with. Cominco, but terminated a’ 40-year membership in one of Castle- gar’s oldest public institu- tions — the Castlegar .Co- operative Transportation Society. In_.all. that time, in spite of roads, weather and’ jod,-- Mi proudly, the, buseg.. missed only: twice, in getting him through ,to work. Mike, whois the ourth son of Joe Gallo, ploneer rail. the | Keotenays, hasten: to'point-out that-in spite’ of his: long -association* with ‘the ,Soctety,.» and: an early shareholder, his isnot a charter, That honor’ belongs: to his older: brother,’ Steve Gallo, who hag,been, with the Co-op since its ‘ incorporation in 1938, and who retired in 1976 after 38 years with.the ‘Co-op’ and 40 years. with, Cominco. In fact, Steve was a member. of an earlier, infor- duced a demand for more transportation and on Oct, 6, 1938, the Custlegar Co-oper- ative Transportation Society was incorporated with Gus Deitrich as first president, Jim Finch taking care of re- garage was started on. the site of the old community hall where for 99 years the mem- bers used to-hold their very’ popular Transportation’ So-° ciety ' Annual’ Ball; after * which time it horned down JOHN CHARTERS’ 00]: at Crowe for. veral@mears, ‘and coaching’ many. to their tickets in |. his spare time, Human organizations, like chains, act as binding agents between’ People and com: Reflections ze Recollections ; 2 night. ‘Occasionally, with the, pairs and 40 charter mem:" bers (including the original: 17)’ filling the tanks and buses became virtually. im- Co-op garage was built, Doug Watson becanie the first gar- age mechanic, In 1940, young Mike Gallo, after a variety of jobs, went to work for Cominco in the steam plant, bought his first pass in the Co-op and drove bus for the next 10 years. In spite of the war, mem- bership doubled and trebled so that it became necéssary in 1940 to hurehiase 16-17 new 936 et “group which included "Mie Jenks, Gus Deitrech, Nels Hansen, Lou Watson,. Van . Steinberg, Dick Gopp, Paul Lichte, Ralph Trussler and . eight others, The? 17 men clubbed together and bought their first vehicle, a seven- passenger 1932 Buick from +John Waldie for $300. This noble ‘beast’ carried all the Later, in that sanie year, the new Co-op faced a serious challenge to its existence —a rival transportatlon group from Trail, nicknamed the ‘Dog-catchers,-started up in” Castlegar, and offered cut- rate fares. Half of the mem- bership of the Co-op left to take advantage of the. re- duced travel cost. The Castle- _shifts faithfully to and from gar members, faced with a_ co over ice and rutted gravel roads until” it was rammed-close to the present Kinnaird Fire Hall by a July 1 celebrant, The car wert to the junk yard headed” for reduced ope! voted to raise the fares from 45 to 60 cents per day,. increased their volunteer la- bor, and ‘hung-in.’ The rival company, caught between an scrap, and the went to Dr. Goresky for re- pairs, ° With no funds, Gus Deit- rich visited the Dominion Garage and negotiated the purchase of a new '37 Chev, with a contract that had. 17. signatures and’ no down payment. ~ Until this time the Village of Castlegar had had to ob- tain its water from wells or from the CPR watertower and the shortages eaused by the war, collapsed, leaving the field to the Society. ‘As the war progressed, buses, ‘became virtually im- possible ‘to get so that an interesting variety of ve- hicles had to.be bought and pressed into. service. One such ‘‘was a “former ‘hearse, bought in Calgary-and: modi- fied-as a bus with Mike as driver. It became the source a serious i ‘husnor: such ,as passengers, who had : to sit-sideways being invited the Castlegar water. works with a pump to obtain water . from the river located near the old Co-op ‘garage. -With _ this mich- improved water supply, people from Trail started to build here in‘ in- creasing numbers and the population started: to -rise . peas This in turn Be in .a/-grave-yard voice, . to ‘slide-in”’ Unhappily, the ‘side setting’ caused some mem- bers to become ‘seasick’ and the car was soon taken.out of service. By.1955, with a: member- : : ship of two‘the Co-op -had outgrown its old quarters near the theatre, and a new /Erma. Bombeck One night'we ware sitting’ around and somecho . suggested we list the ten most significant contributions to the quality of our lives. Most of theny were quite predictable. ‘Electeicity, fire, the automobile, television and panicillin: were mentioned. Some.were quite personal and included the Pill, polyester, 10-ft phone cords and locks. for- bathroom doors. | thought the whole conversation was quite super- ficial. What we were talking about was the one‘ thing . that made an impact_on your life and indeed made it * possible for you to surviveron this: planet. For me, there was no question. The No.1 choice was the pacifier. How many women would not be with.us today were it not for that little rubber/plastic nipple that: you jammed ina baby’s face to keep him fromcrying? Today, it's as much a part of a. baby's face as his nose or ears, but 30 years ago the pacifier was con- sidered a maternal crutch:. a visual that arinounced to - the world, “I can't cope.” : was a closet pacifier advocate, So were most of my friends. Unknown to our. mothers, we owned 30 or 40 of those little suckers which were placed strategically around the house so that a cry could be silenced under 30 seconds. Despite the fact that bottles were boiled, rooms were disinfected, toys wore her- metically sealed and germs were fought one-on-one, the. pacifier’ was considered a temple that was somehow gorm- proof and cbove sterilization. Despite the fact that we found them under beds, buried in sofa cushions, thrown in ashtrays and buried in:the garbage, no child ever got sick from “fooler around the mouth.” I shall never forget’ the day my mother dropped b unexpectedly and found’ a pacifier in her grand- daug ter's mouth, “What is this?” she demanded, waving the flat. tened nipple on the plastic ring before my eyes. “Anugly fever blister?” offered. “It's a pacifier. Where did you get it?” “Under the counter at Randall's drugstore.” “Do you know if you keep using this pacifier, by the time this baby is four years old, her teeth will come in crooked and her mouth will have.a permanent out" y “Do you know, Mother, if | diz aot use that pacifier, 1 ray ¢ never, permit her to be four?” - iongers of the pacifier have brought it to the He betel ility ‘it deserves in this country. Some day it be elevated to the’ position for which it was destined. After all, what other force in the world has the power to heal? To Stop tears? End. suffering? Sustain life? Restore world peace? And is the elixir that guarantees mothers everywhere the opportunity to sleep a + perchance todream? and the. properly taken ‘over’ by the Co-op. On Oct. “31, 1955, Bteve =: Gallo, -one of the first dir. ii ectors, cut the ribbon — new building. ‘From 1937 to 1950," Steve .. said, “the‘society was instru- mental in the development Castlegar and. was the-.lar; est co‘op: transportation soci: ety in Canada at the tine. ‘The society's front ‘service: department, over the. years, he also noted, had utilized by the’ reside Castlegar and: district In:the:médntime, in 1942, Mike: Had mfrried pretty. “irene Tedesep3 of. Trail, and, the-couple: hadifour children .— Gary, Ddé2ld, Maryellen “unehall! 8 "ald Gordon, “hearing-. * Possibly. because a ie eredibly mild and: anow-less winter, Angelika and Ihave - grown restless and are ‘eager to ‘get out and‘'find “our. dream lots of unfenced ‘land s with plenty of swamp. Why the swamp? Because we'd like to attract waterfow] and spend time watching the’ would be posted, at course: no bunting. ° “This part of BC. is ab- solutely gorgeous. and its people, for the most part, have been just super to us, Castlegar and area will pros- per in the years. ahead and we'd like to participate ‘as the community struggles ‘to find : ita identity, Attitudes change want and then move. a double-wide: on toit. ~ * But that’s: going to take ~ lots of: money We, too, would like to ‘win a major lottery, or in some way come.into a pile ee of greenbacks rather quickly. me (After ‘all, land prices are going up. ‘They'll likely never tion period at the'end of each regular meeting. Here's your chance.to fire away and ask. the mayor and aldermen any question you have, Pity more, folks don't | use it. e = of kindness. While it's cer- tainly true’ the. Castlegar .: Th ue today with an act Beinga velledinat * {s' something nobody’ seems: to associate with being’;a “Needed and dedicated human S beings | © * 4 Sure, you can go for, phe osts ". without haying a real cris! we seed sown, 'thatwe “should : cut down'on the RCMP staff. me lerstaffed. Anyone ¢: Can see that. We pay: for; eve! ‘else in relation to ite as ‘Indo, on ay ur police forée igh uf, ; test, elephant “sale all had ‘many: cellent, donations fom wen: By’ THE CANADIAN - PRESS - Charles ‘Templeton is: take ig sim at the theatre. He's © just finished writing his first play,’ ‘a’drama titled The Cosy. .: Tearoom. | The Third Temptation, his test. novel, is being” pub- lished in the U.S, by hilsreeel and Morrow, and: city of Calgary failed io} pave . the .way for Toront Nov tional Ballet School to ope branch in” the’. West, Pe the director . is: Betty Oliphant. wilitbe “a » judge at this: summer's pres- which . could’. easily ,.invol your life, or someone. el but the’ possibility. 1 ni for’ many students.Next "° vyear, should Wo ba e'another. j nom{nations. he films: *. Roch Carrier's, Bory, A Sufi haip a: aires eet annually. : ‘in Canada, the committee has ©; ant is keep well away ‘Producer “Denis Heroux : représents: moyies ‘and the other: -members | are’ from: , from ‘attacking an - indivi. °. doal's character, even a an edi- tor’s. Character assassination comes with a high price tag. .. However, should anyone -: write: “a false ’ ‘statement’ about a man to his discredit,”” “(thank you, Mr. Justice Cave : back in 1882), the best way to ‘slowly as a Pines grows, but’. : change they will. 5s - Although hornina big: city, I lived most of my formative years in small “communities : across Canada. It pained ime, when the: time came as I ": grew older, to go back to big cities to take’ opportunities that, over.the years, helped me acquire various skills as a. of: that. inhabit such places. the land Seven and one half tables. took part in play at Monday... evening’s Joy Keillor Bridge Club with the following re- : pu! North-South with an aver. age of 86, First,’ Dr.’ Ron Perrier and Hubert Hunchak with 41; second Grace ‘Don- - aldson and Jean Fischer with 38" and third-Clara Johnson: > and Connie Miller with.37%. East-West. with :an. 31 average. First, Agnes. Charl- Both: Angelika and I. were jelighted’ when. the oppor-, ‘tunity came for mie to become editor of the Castlegar News, > Back to a'smaller‘community where we wouldn't be lost in anonymity. We. were aware, though, that 1 would become and meet so many’ friendly encouraging telephone calls, It's rather nice to work on ‘a’ ‘progressive: “newspaper that, believes in. freedom of the’ press, refuses to-muzzle:. its’ editors, and eagerly. en- courages community: partici * pation in its pages. There e Some newspapers, even in. ha ton and Bev Swain w with 38%; | Ted Vockeroth Sr. and Ted - Vockeroth Jr. with 87% and . Rita Perrier and Heather Pottle with 88%. Iexpect to be around for’ ite a while. In fact, we Lintend to sink ouf roots here. ; That's why we're so all fired smiling people ani to receive * Nem encoisra: ges CC unity i what it pub. ines: that deeplter my occasional pratfall ee English. Tangeanes television viewers the night of Nov. 21. Dallas watchers. totalled « 6,754,000.:The ‘figure would » have been even higher had *: CBC. ‘shared the program ° “with ‘its’ affiliate ‘stations. < Seen on all CBS' stations in the U.S., it attracted 83 mil- lion viewérs for a.76 per cent , are of the market, LOS ANGELES (AP) - 3) Mike. Weaver, the. World - Boxing. Association Heavy- “weight champion, has pull out’ of next month's ‘sched- : > tranamission:(C-4) 75%4 ask for nUTPMENT RENTALS 263- 33 a es 4 iealeeal ad 00: 0: castis = SES rota: