Dave McCullough Publisher Scott David Harrison Editor Bob Proctor Marketing Manager Mickey Read Composing Room Foreman Warren Chernoff Accountant Mary Ann Fullerton Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus L.V. Campbell Aug. 7, 1947- Feb. 15, 1973 Saturday, January 2, 1993 @ OurWiEWS ‘it takes | courage ockey is a fun game. A fast He And, sadly at times, hockey is a violent game. That violence was in full evidence on Monday when the Castlegar Midget Reps took to the ice against their Kelowna counterparts during the final of a post-Christmas tournament in Penticton. It was supposed to be an exciting game, a contest between the tourney’s top two squads. The excitement never happened, though, as Kelowna decided to replace snap shots with cheap shots. After two periods and seven minutes of butt ends and two- handers, one Castlegar coach had seen enough. John Ray removed his players from the ice. The move was met with little opposition from his players, who must have felt like saplings at a gathering of the Paul Bunyan Fan Club. Coach Ray and his Midget Rep players must be congratulated for showing the courage to say enough is enough. It was obvious that the hockey game was over — at least for one team — and the garbage was just beginning. Castlegar didn’t want any of that garbage and they begrudgingly walked away from an ugly incident that was getting uglier by the minute. Sure, Castlegar may have lost the game and the tournament. But, in doing so, they came away with something that no trophy can replace — self respect. AdrianRAESIDE e € the time-honored tradition of the great newspapers of our day (and, admittedly, a few not-so- great newspapers) I offer up some predictions for 1993. Jeanne Dixon = was unavailable, but I think if you keep track you'll see that mine hit the mark as often as hers. © On Feb. 2, Groundhog Nyuk, nyuk... welcome to 1993 | Comments from the ¢ Liberal leader Gordon Wilson will star in a remake of the hit film Revenge of the Nerds. Former Liberal house leader David Mitchell will co-star as a jock who pretends he is a nerd but is unmasked in the end when it is proved he really doesn’t need glasses. The Social Credit Party Day, Premier Mike Harcourt Crossroads will disappear from view. will see his own shadow and (Oops... sorry. This was go back to sleep for another six weeks. No one will miss him. When he wakes up he will decide to make Feb. 2 a provincial statutory holiday: Harcourt Day. eee ¢ Constitutional Affairs Minister Moe Sihota will be appointed to a special committee to develop a new constitutional package. The other appointees will be basketball great Larry Bird and movie character Curly Sue. Nyuk, nyuk. leftover from last year). Mike O’Connor, president of the Coalition Unaccepting Rash Bureaucracy, will take a run at the mayor’s chair. But he won't be alone. A half-dozen other CURB members will also seek the position. To help members make their choice, CURB will hold a series of primaries beginning in Southridge and running north through the Kinnaird Bench, Meadowbrook, Grosvenor, Woodland Park, please see NORMAN page 7 een TE “Streef WALI Question: Where would you g Paul Lindon Robson “Cayman Islands because it’s warm.” eo Mike Dunlop Castlegar “Calgary. That’s where I’m from and I don’t mind the cold.” Peter Kinakin Castlegar “Stay here and enjoy the cold weather.” Ted Crosfield Ootischenia “Bali. I would love to watch them do woodcarvings.” o if you could escape our winter weather? Mandy Derhousoff Castlegar “Hawaii because it’s warm.” @ Saturday, January 2, 1993 Please address all letters to: Letters to the Editor Castlegar News P.O. Box 3007 Castlegar, B.C. V1N 3H4 or deliver them to 197 Columbia Ave. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and not longer than 300 words. Letters MUST be signed and , include the writer's first and last names, address and a telephone number at which the writer can be reached between 9am. and5 p.m. The writer's name-and city or town of residence only will be published. Only in exceptional cases will letters be published anonymously. Even in those cases, the name, address and phone number of the writer MUST be disclosed to the editor. The News reserves the right to edit letters for brevity, clarity, legality, grammar and taste. Other VIEWS | Letters icoWHE EDITOR The following is a letter written to CBC Radio in response to the question ‘Can you live a full life in a small town?’ I listened with much interest to the responses to last Sunday’s question on Cross-Country Check-up. “Can you live a full life in a small town?” But, alas, my listening was cut short, somewhat ironically, when the water main broke at the back of the yard and I joined a handful of my small town neighbors to repair it. From the comments I heard in the first part of the program, I got the feeling that some listeners were a bit bewildered by the nature of the question, and I think I understand why. If I could speak for a minute on behalf of small-town Canadians, who are generally modest folk, a more appropriate question might be: “Can we live without small-town Canada?” I say this not out of arrogance or small- town pride, but because I truly believe, as Woodrow Wilson once said, that “the history of a nation is only the history of its villages written large.” In Canada, this is reflected most obviously in the fact that the small-town folk in our fishing villages, mining and forestry towns, prairie farming communities, etc. have formed the backbone of our largely resource-based economy. But much more importantly, the type of caring community spirit which pervades these small towns (and was duly reported by your listeners) has directly fostered, for example on the Prairies, the development of things like Medicare which all Canadians, both urban and rural, today hold close to their hearts and consider to be something which distinguishes us all as Canadians. My point is simply this: in these times when words like “rationalization” and “globalization” are being bandied about by both big business and government, and when governments such as our own federal Rural life is the life for Robson listener government are, in their turn, almost scathingly turning their backs on rural Canada through such things as massive postal closures, we need rural Canada more than ever to remind us of what is truly important as a nation, that is, caring for each other as human beings and putting the good of the community above narrow self-interest. This, to me, is a “full life.” And this, I know in my heart, is what rural Canada is all about. So, on behalf of all of us in the “nether” reaches of the nation, including my neighbors on the Robson water board who successfully worked to repair our water main this past Sunday, a hearty “Best of the New Year” to you at CBC and to all our urban and rural brothers and sisters in the rest of Canada! Richard Widdifield Robson John Ray, To: BCAHA, Victoria tournament. between the other three teams. GAME # | 1 3 From: Parents of Penticton Jaycee Midget AAA players. Re: Midget AAA Tournament in Penticton, Dec. 27 and 28. Because we strongly suggest that no disciplinary action be taken against the Castlegar coach, we would like to present information in support of the walkout action taken by him and his team during the final period of the final game of the above Total penalty minutes per team for the entire tournament were: Penticton 105; Westside 81; Castlegar 86; Kelowna 164. Please note the following chart which indicates the contrast between penalty minutes recorded during games involving the Kelowna team and the penalty minutes recorded during games Castlegar minor hockey coach did the right thing The following is a letter written by the Penticton Jaycee Midget AAA hockey team to the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association, supporting actions taken by Castlegar coach (* Denotes Kelowna games) A less objective point of view is that the tone of the Kelowna play was decidedly unsportsmanlike and not in keeping with the principles of the Minor Hockey Association. Penalties were incurred by many Kelowna players, not just one or two. The officials for each game, although performing their duties with responsibility, were incapable of witnessing the wide variety of infractions behind the play. The style of leadership that exists with the Kelowna team causes deterioration in the quality of play, resulting in unnecessary injuries and is detrimental to the image of hockey. Castlegar was justifiably uninterested in exposing their players to this negative and dangerous situation. Hockey is an impressive game which inspires youth to strive for excellence, physically, mentally, socially and emotionally. We do not want this to be undermined by undisciplined and/or misguided behavior. Kelowna’s performance during this tournament was entirely in keeping with their apparent 7 Totals Penticton | 18 8 Westside | 12 Castlegar 0 Kelowna 16 105 12 81 86 mail. 164 participating players, Totals 30 28 philosophy of play during the regular season of the Okanagan Mainline League and we are concerned for the safety of Please respond to our concerns by obvious action and by return Parents of Penticton Jaycee Midget AAA players continued from page 6 Oglow Subdivision, downtown and Arrow Lakes Drive. The campaign will culminate in a wild and woolly convention prior to the November municipal election where O’Connor is chosen to carry CURB’s banner. But then through a strange twist of fate he decides to give it all &p and open a tap dancing school. eee ¢ Incumbent Audrey Moore de- cides to run for another term and announces she intends to break Prince Rupert Mayor Peter Lester’s record for longest-serving mayor. Her first move is to change her name to Peter Lester. She tries to enter the CURB primary race and the move meets with some success until she is recog- nized ata rally in Meadowbrook. “Hey, no kidding,” says one of the other candidates when in- formed of the incident. “Which one was she?” eee * Castlegar voters will go to the polls to cast their ballot for yet an- other paving referendum. And again it will go down to defeat. “Sure those roads need work,” says one opponent. “But the city should have been doing this all along. I can’t support a referen- dum.” Meanwhile, small children and Sprints go missing in some of the larger potholes on Columbia Av- enue. eee * City voters will also have a say on a referendum for a new firehall. It, too, will be rejected. “Sure we need a new fire hall,” says one opponent. “But the city should have been doing this all along. I can’t support a referen- dum.” eee ¢ A new mall will be proposed for Castlegar. The developer will be a Vancouver-based, Calgary- raised, Toronto-educated man named Don U. Believit. Work on the mall will be set for April, but the first trees won’t be torn up until August. Workers will really get down to business in No- vember when a couple of front-end loaders push some dirt around. Actual building? That’s a pre- diction for next year. eee * Water levels in the Arrow Lakes will drop to record lows as B.C. Hydro sends water south toa drought-stricken U.S. under the Columbia River Treaty. It gets so low that Robson resi- dents can walk across the riverbed to Castlegar. Rossland-Trail MLA Ed Conroy, looking to put a posi- tive spin on the disaster, com- ments: “Look at it this way, we’ve saved ourselves $26 million — the cost of the new bridge.” Happy New Year everybody!