serps STE

: LENd |

By NANCY LINGLEY |

: Lifeguard Chris Adams cheated and wore shorts under

This grass skirt. ‘SUN STAFF PHOTO / Nancy Ungley

By BARBARA TANDORY

‘Sun staff writer

When the Castlegar public
library carried a display of her
paintings last fall, Marjorie West
was surprised that many of the

pieces were recent work; painted ©

when she was 86.

A year older now, and still
painting, West reminisced in a
fecent interview about the stretch

her work is appreciated by the
community, and especially by ber
peers in the arts community. ~
“Marjorie is an inspiration to
all the local artists and we all
admire her work,” says Shirley
Torbic, a fellow member of the
Castlegar Art Club.

Torbic, who was a prime
mover in the establishment of the
art club, noted that West —
unable to participate in the club’s

Sun Editor

By anybody’s standards, the
,day’s events were a howling suc-

cess,
¢ The Aquatic Centre’s First
‘Birthday Bash kicked off with
three:-hours of family events last
Saturday ‘afternoon. The Penny
Carnival proved so popular that
prizes were in short supply an
hour before the .4’p.m. closing. A
cake walk, pic-in-face booth, dart
games, minor hockey shooting
challenge, and sporige toss, ‘along
with half-price’ skating’ and swim-
ming all added to the fun of the
aftemoon. .. \
That evening, the Centre went
Hawaiian, with hors d’eourves and
punch served poolside prior to the
luau feast and dancing in the hall.

An elimination draw for door :

prizes added excitement to the
evening, which tumed to despair

"as ticket after ticket was drawn

and, of course, eliminated.
The big winner of the elimina-
tion 'draw was Doug White. His

She painted her first portrait,
that of her husband, Ralph, not
long before he passed away in
1971.

Her mother also painted and
Marjorie recalls the smell of tur-
pentine — her mother’s painting
technique was oils — on coming
home from school when the fami-
ly lived in Kamloops.

“It’s funny, I didn*t want to
paint when my mother did,” West

of her life as an artist: i
I can’t believe how many I have
painted. My son has a household
of them in Vancouver.”
Although she considers her
painting a hobby, it has been 2
consumate hobby.
.> Her own large apartment is
also full of ber art and she’s been
suc selling her painti
Her sales at the library show have
gone surprisingly well for Castle-
gar where art is not usually a fast-
moving commodity.
West is respected as much as

routine of her
age — was recently named a hon-
orary member of the club, only
one of three persons to be so hon-
ored for past involvement of the
ari club.

“She bas been a member since
we started in 1982,” said Torbic.
“She's donated many paintings for
our club’s tea sales.”

‘West began painting not so
long before 1982, having started
about thirty years ago when, she
recalls, a friend was teaching a

She has p: a
painting by her mother, however,
as a keepsake of those times.’

- “I guess it runs in the family,
alright,” she says.

‘When she herself turned to art,
Marjorie chose acrylic, finding it
the easiest technique, and pastels
for flowers and portraits.

But she admires v and

ticket, the Inst in the barrel, won
him a flight to Hawail. Dan Gray's

ticket, the 100th drawn, (won ten ’

adult swim passes for Gray.:‘The.
150th ticket drawn belonged to
Judith Crosfield who received a’
-retum'ticket to Vancouver cour:
tesy of AirBC, The 200th ticket to;
come out of the barrel was good
for a $40 gift certificate: to.)
Gabriel's Restaurant for Lori Col-:
lier and the 250th ticket pulled
gave Fran Hilder 10 adult swim
passes, i i

When does being last
make you first? «

‘When the last ticket out of
the barrel wins the first
prize trip to Hawali. Right,
happy winner.Doug White
receives his prize from
Pat Metge, recreation
director. :

‘SUN STAFF PHOTO / Nancy Lingley

said.”

Ralph was a customs officer at
the Patterson crossing when she
married him but he soon went to
work for the new Trail smelter,
then called Consolidated Mining
and Smelting, not for long, how-
ever.

As Marjorie remembers, on the
Suggestion of her father, she and
Ralph bought Farmer’s General
Store in Castlegar and setiled here,
this time permanently.

Farmer’s General Store and
Post Office, located at the far west
end of the present-day West's
Department Store — where the
dry cleaners is now — became a
family business for the Wests as
soon as it was put up for sale by
Mr. Farmer, in 1930.

“My husb wasn’t

tried it after taking a workshop
with noted watercolor master Les
Weisbrich, who lives in New Den-
ver but has kept continuous con-

Portrait painting

‘Celebrate The Start Of "ag94"

with a
suse - "1991" Barrel Sale
© only “19.91 for a Barrel of 20 peices of ©
Golden Delicious Chicken :: save 5.08
-alltho Month of January: ©
<7)". Don't forget the Salad and Fries
ir, Westar & Cominco meal tickets accepted |

2816 Columbia Ave. |

with the Castlegar art

_ elub.

“There's something lovely
about watercolor — if it turns

, out,” mused West.

Surrounded by all that art and
memories, Marjorie West lives
alone, in a suite of rooms above
West's Department Store.

The department store was, of
course, named after her own fami-
ly, a Castlegar pioneer family.

“I'ma pioneer, alright,” she
agreed. .

West is, in fact, one of the few
people around today who not only
remembers the history. of the town
- but who helped to make that histo-

"Bom in Nelson, she lived in

+. Castlegar with her family until the
’ age of seven when the family

moved back to Nelson but then
retumed to Castlegar, where West
completed high school and after a
year in Victoria — where she
; attended the so-called Victoria
: Normal School — came to Castle-

¢ gar a trained teacher and taught

school for two years.

‘The year was around 1923-24...

“They. built‘'a school

working at the smelter so we sold
our car and we bought the store
and the post office,” she said.
“That's when it started to be called
West's.” 2

In those days, West remembers,
“that was practically all there was,
the store, the CPR station: and
Waldie’s sawmill. I guess we had
the only telephone exchange.
There was no electricity.” 3

But the air was clean back then,
the reason why her family kept’:
land in south Castlegar even after
moving to Nelson and her husband
decided to get out of Trail and the.
smelter.

“The smelter people started
coming (bere) for the pure, clean
air. It was just beautiful here,”

1n.1945, the Wests build the
present West's store and then had
an apartment built upstairs, Mar-
jorie still lives there, alone now .
since ber husband died and their
only son moved to’ Vancouver. i

“Lalways felt like it was home,
so Inever thought of moving.”

The a ent retains an air of
old time el in its poli

‘i ing the sparse population with

telephone and mail. We

+ “Time came when Ralph decid-
ed he wasn't going to open on
Sundays any more,” she recalled.’

'Marjorle West - artist and pioneer. sun stare eHot0, Barbera Terctory

Whittaker, disabled by illness,

"can no longer participate in those

sessions but West says she and
Dosie have only had their weekly
en as

““ThereWwas great indignation in
”

‘just been changing so.

lich, it’s not easy to remember

«. when those things happened.”
“Later, her husband Ralph
“devoted his ‘energies to the estab-
li of the Castlegar airport,

" wood interior, decorated lavishly

with Marjorie’s ‘art. “I just rent it,”
She said. :

“We had a Bank of Montreal

(in the’ store), where the: toy

d is now,” she said,

3} around the (later) Super Valu

) store downtown,” West said, ).
: adding that marriage to.Ralph
ted her teach

; West soon int
; ing career. Te

“Tn those years, if you married,

i you didn’t work anymore, she

“town’s business a

“xemembering that there was. also’
another, bank’ ocated there before ,
the store was,sold to its present
owne#s. 8 :

<7 In, the early days the store was.

‘very much at, th eof :the,,

ctivitics, provid- -

at first ‘a small landing field in the
apple orchards of Ootishenia. The
airport was even named after bim.
Marjorie says even now she bears
an ‘odd reference to “Ralph West
rt.” :
‘She lives alone but prefers’t
-;Paint in company of friends...

Over the years members of the ’

“focal ‘arts’ community have come

‘\t0.associate Marjorie \West.with 'a.\”,
group, of three: artists, including

also Doxice Crawford and Hope

ipted by the recent

*+ holidays.

“It really keeps your interest up
alittle better,” she remarked. 3

“Dosie and I were just talking
we wish we had something to tum:
us on,” said West, making it clear

: that what turns an artist-on is:

small things, like a pile of new..
snow capping a telephone pole...
Such is in fact a scene she caught :

in one of her paintings. * ee

With her-eye turned to-the arts :
of the community, Marjorie: West

_ feels that the schools now offer.
what.was missing in her. days

both a student'and a teacher

Jelasses,°.'

“There's so my art courses now.

“offered, ‘The fact that,they have. -
“Nighi schiodl ant is very good." °°!

fi

BUSI

NES

s-

This Selk

By NANCY LINGLEY
Sun Editor i

It's one field where there is no
Jack of employment opportunities.

“Everyone who wants.a job
will have a job," said Merle
Maerz, food trades instructor of
Selkirk College's Nelsoa campus.
“We can't fill the demand. The
demand is far greater than the stu-
dents we put out. And that’s right
across B.C., not just in the Koote-
nay region. I personally have ex-
students all across Canada. ‘There
are a couple in Quebec, one lady is
in Abbotsford, we have people
working at the Chateau Lake
Louise, and there are lots in differ-
ent hotels in the Kootenay Region.
There is opportunity almost every-
where there is people. If you are in
the field of food preparation, you
are guaranteed a job, provided you
want to work. This job does
require late hours and weekends.”

rk College c

man cook in 1967,
and his current class of cight
cooks-to-be were responsible. for
the Hawaiian luau served at the
Aquatic Centre Birthday Bash this
past Saturday evening. In addition
to Maerz's class, a half-a-dozen
students in the Selkirk College
Tourism, Recreation, Resort and
Golf Club Management program
;were on hand to serve hors
d’courves,

One downside to the business
of food preparation, explained
Maerz, was that the starting pay
‘was not outstanding, ranging from
minimum wage to about $7. per
hour. However, once a cook
becomes a chef or the manager of
a resort, the salary becomes repre-
sentative of the position.

“A chef, or executive: chef, in
hotel or resort areas, can make
from two to five thousand month-
ly, depending on the size of the
resort,” he stated, -

Students at the Nelson Selkirk

Cooking student Lawrence Crowe, formerly a Stanley
Humpries Secondary School grad, prepares a cheese

tray for the Hawaiian Luau.

npus may take Level I and
Level I in the Professional Cook-

tval ‘as well as a five-course meal :

ing Course. Level I covers’ short
order’ cooking, while Level II
camp and insti

cooking. Level III, for which stu-
dents must go further afield, is
“more into gourmet dining, fancier
cooking and concentrates on the
entre explained student Lawrence
Crowe, a Stanley Humpries grad
who is enrolled in the program,

‘The class is‘ currently complet-
ing Level I and the luau was
termed “extra-curricular”. On the
menu Saturday evening were four
roast suckling pigs, six hams with
pineapple glaze, garlic pork ribs,
honey/garlic chicken, roast pota-
toes, green beans with almonds,
various salads, cheese trays, pick-
Ie trays, and assorted fruits.

This was the third major gala
catered by the students who pro-
vided hors d’courves and canapes
at the Canadian Intemational Col-
lege in Nelson for the Music Fes-

Shawn Stratton, formerly of Williams Lake, who now :

ig Chicken breast with wine
and ‘grape sauce at the Savoy Inn
during the Festival of Trees,

“So far it’s deen fun,” said
Shawn Stratton a Castlegar student
of his first luau, He added that he
enjoyed working with food and
being in the kitchen and intended
to go on to complete the Level II
course,

Selkirk College has offered the
course for four-and-a-half years

+ and Maerz, who has been with it

since the beginning, ‘said that the
total cost for both levels, including
supplies, was about $1,500.

“The first level costs about
$1,000 because they have to buy

| their books, and knives, and uni- -

forms, etc.” said Maerz. “The sec-
ond year is just basically tuition to
the school. We generally have a
Pretty good group. I enjoy teach-
ing them. Otherwise I wouldn’t
have stayed with it for four-and-a-

calls Castlegar home, serves Pineapple-glazed ham to

luau diners.

Questions and answers to start the New Year right

Let me start the New Year
right as I dig in to the pile of
reader mail on my desk to dig out
answers to questions on capital
gains, pension income credit, sev-
erance pay, RRSPs, RESPs..:

“T have d capital loss on one of
my investments. How do I use it?
-DG

‘You may claim a capital loss
only against capital gains. You -
may no longer claim up to $2,000
of the loss against other income
as you could before 1985,

If you have no capital gains in
the current tax year against which
to claim the loss, you may go
back up to three tax years to
apply the loss against capital
gains you realized in those years.

If that still doesn’t use up the
loss, then you may carry forward
the loss indefinitely, to apply
against capital gains in future

years.

“If you have the option of
claiming either the capital gains
exemption or applying net capital
toss cany-forwards to eliminate
or reduce realized net capital
gains, consider clainiing the
exemption, since the loss carry-
forward rules may outlive the
exemption,” advises Ernst’ &

Managing Your Personal T:

‘In other words, use up your
capital gains exemption while it’:
still around. : ;

“What do you need to do to
take advantage of the pension ~
income credit?" -JO Set

/\You may, claim this credit 01
the first $1,000 of private pension
income - typically: the monthly: °

&

“\y RRSP. rollover

pension you receive from a former
employer (but not CPP or OAS).
If you have no private pension,
starting at age 65 you may create
your own private pension income:
{a) convert enough of your RRSP
to an annuity or RRIF to produce
$1,000 income a year, or (b) use
non-RRSP funds to buy a qualify-
ing annuity whose interest income
Provides the $1,000 you need.

: Most life insurance companies

and many other financial institu-
tions offer such qualifying annu-

Look into creatin; ig this pension
income as early as possible in the i

year you tum 65. :.'- Bs

“When I’ was laid off work, I
took legal action which resulted in
a larger severance p: e. Can I
claim my legal fees as a tax
deduction?” -RN

‘Yes, but:only against the tax-:
, able part of the severance pay...

You mentioned in your letter that
-you were advised to roll over all
your séverance pay to. your. RRSP.

“That means while you will declare

the severance pay on one part of
your return, you will then claim an °
offsetting deduction for. your

to claim your legal expenses,

So, for example, if you receive
$45,000 severance pay and had
$5,.000 legal expenses, you should
rollover only $40,00 to your RRSP
even if you were eligible to roll
over all $45,000. Then you would
claim the $5,000 legal expenses
against the remaining taxable sev-
erance pay.

“My trust pany insists on

Pletes four years of study. A less
structured RESP can provide more
flexibility.

You receive no deduction with
an RESP, but the money grows tax
free and this growth is only taxed
when the student gets it. ‘

You could invest yourself, ide-
ally to produce capital gains s you
could use your capital gains
ion. You would then con-

taking the administration fee for
my RRSP right out of my plan. I
fecl they should bill me so they
don’t disturb the monies in the
Plan. What say you?” -FP

I agree, but not only for that
reason. When you pay the fee sep-
arately, you may deduct it as a
“ charge” and so save tax.

“There are so many ways to
save for a child's post. y

. around” for an accountant as you

trol how the funds were used.

If you have a self-employed
business or revenue property, pay
the child to work for you and make
sure that money is saved.

“How the heck does one ‘shop

advised in a recent column? It’s
not like shopping around for a pair 7
of slacks! By the time you realize
the

ion that it gets ¢

Can you help?” -BD

In almost every case, start cut
by putting the child’s family
allownance into an account in the
child’s‘name (or in your name in
trust for the child). As the amount
grows, reinvest in term deposits,
:) Canada Savings Bonds and if you
“; have‘ at least a 10-year investment
horizon, perhaps some balanced

mutual funds,

The profits will belong to the

‘child for tax purposes. If the child

| doesn’t go on to higher education,

the ‘funds can be used for his or ber
other expenses.

; "The structured RESPs (regis-

» tered education savings plans) like

“the: Canadian Scholarship Trust
aR Sa Tieasarel

‘Teav-
ing no taxable, severance pay. In
this’ case, you' would have no tax-’
4uhle: severance pay. against, which

Schol-

is not right for you,
you could wind up destitute.” -WB
Try to get a personal reference.
Meet with the accountant. Explain
your needs and have a written list
of questions about the accoun-
tant's skills, background, etc. Talk
to the accountant’s other clients,
Once you make your choice,
communicate regularly, clearly
and fully with the accountant..
Review all work done for you -
and ask questions about anything
you don’t understand. 4

©. 1991

Mike Grenby is a Vancouver.
based columnist and independent
personal financial adviser, be! will
answer your questions as space »
allows in his column - write to him ’
c/o The .Castl Sun, 465

only {if the child goes on to higher
education and, in most cases, com-

4

lass is really cook

Selkirk College Food Trades Instructor Merle Maerz
gives one of the four roast suckling pigs a pre-luau
poke. There is no shortage of jobs for the course's grad-

uates, said Maerz.

If you have
something to sell,
the Sun classifieds
can help you

365-7848

WILLIE'S DELI
& DESSERT

HOMEMADE MEAT PIES
ASSORTED PARTY TRAYS

365-3306

&)
Sey
ma

NK

1540 Columbia Ave.
Castlegar

yf

[SSSSAASL GSAS SEES ews

replace your old
single pane glass
with warm,
thermopance units.

TIVVUIITUL UE

Cc ‘Ave. :C: BC,
VIN 1G8 ‘