216 Saturday, March 21 1992 @ Computers take rec hockey title News Staff Only the end of the season and the Castlegar Recreation- al Hockey League champi- onship could end the roll Kootenay Computers was on. Computers beat Castlegar Sports Centre 5-3 at the Com- munity Complex Tuesday night to add the playoff title to its regular season crown. The win was Computers fifth straight in the playoffs and 15th in a row dating back to the last month of the sea- son. Dean MacKinnon’s second goal of the game with five min- utes left in the third period snapped a 3-3 tie. MacKinnon completed his hat trick two minutes later to ice it for Computers. Sports Centre’s goaltender Dan Wallace kept the game close with several key saves in a third period dominated by Computers. MacKinnon opened the scoring for Computers two minutes into the first period, then combined with defence- man Chief Mercer to set up Dave Terhune on the power play. Mercer also had a four- point night with assists on all of MacKinnon’s goals, while Gary Sauer assisted on the last two. Terhune was named the most valuable player in the playoffs. Sports Centre’s Lorne An- derson scored an unassisted power-play goal in the first pe- riod and Grant Pilla tied it at two with a goal from Anderson and Niki Hyson. Bill Nazaroff scored from Darwin Anderson -to give Computers a 3-2 lead it took into the third period. Computers Tim Swanson, named the league’s best goal- tender, was predictably solid. ATTENTION CASTLEGAR SLO-PITCH TEAM REP MEETING Wed, March 25 at Complex — 7:30 p.m. Please have team rep attend. League Entry Deadline: March 31, 1992 REGISTER AT COMPLEX $200 per team. TONIGHT SATURDAY MARCH 21. Castlegar Complex 6:00 p.m. Early Bird 7:00 p.m. Regular Games Have an evening of fun & support our local swimmers. enjoy a great season of baseball. The Castlegar Baseball Association welcomes all boys between the ages of 13 & 15 years to sign up for Babe Ruth Baseball before the March 28th deadline. Registration forms are available at the Castlegar Community Complex or from league officials on the following registration days: Castlegar Community Complex ¢ Sat., Mar. 28—9-5 p.m. Be Balls, and Gloves are all you need to Wed., Mar. 25—6-9 p.m. Safeway Store Sat., Mar. 28—-9-5 p.m. COME & ENJOY A GREAT SEASON OF BABE RUTH BASEBALL! Its Baseball Season Again Castlegar Little League welcomes all girls and boys between the ages of 6 years and 12 years interested in playing baseball to pick up a little i i form_before the Mareh-28 deadline. Registration forms are availalble at the Castlegar Community Complex or from league officials on the following registration days: Castlegar Community Complex Wed., Mar. 25—6-9 p.m. Safeway Store Sat., Mar. 28-9 -5 p.m. COME AND ENJOY A TERRIFIC SEASON OF LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL! ¢ Sat., Mar. 28—9-5 p.m. News photo Players from the Castlegar Recreational Hockey League champion Kootenay Computers celebrate on the ice at the Community Complex after their win. Tim Swanson, Darwin Anderson, Bill Nazaroff, Dean MacKinnon, Chief Mercer, Gary Sauer, Dave Terhune, Larry Walker, Dave MacKinnon, Ralph Humphrey, Bob Larsh, Brad Makortoff, Bill Lunn and Gerry Genshorek. League’s Best Namecl News Staff Gord Walker was a two- time winner as The Castlegar Recreational Hockey League this week named the recipi- ents of its individual and team awards. With 136 points, including 78 goals, for Castlegar Pres- sure Wash, Walker won the league scoring title and was named its most valuable play- er. Walker, who played stints with the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers in an six-year professional career, retired from pro hockey prior to the start of this season. Walker’s teammate and onetime minor-pro player Don Soroke was named_ the league’s best. defenceman. The rookie of the year award went to Woodland Park Shell’s Benton Hadley, who finished second in the scoring race with 44 goals and 108 points. Tim Swanson of league and playoff champs Kootenay Computers was selected as the CRHL's best goaltender. Computers’ Ralph Hum- phrey was picked as the most improved player and Larry Price of Banjo’s Pub, who was fourth in the scoring race with 103 points, was named most sportsmanlike. CAPITOL TRACTORS CASTLEGAR Is pleased to announce that effective March 23, 1992 we will be open at our new location at: 4130 Minto Road in Lo mi Saturday, March'21 1992 Nine toOFIVE woop PANEL The contentious softwood lumber dispute between Canada and the United States had its first airing Wednesday before a panel of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The three-member GATT panel was established at the request of Canada, which complained that the U.S. is using discriminatory measures against Canadian softwood lumber producers. G’DAY MATE B.C.’s second- biggest forest company, Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd., will have anew president this summer when lan Donald leaves to become chief financial officer of the company’s New Zealand parent. Donald has been FCC's president and chief executive officer since 1988 when the operations of Crown Forest Industries and B.C. Forest Products were combined under the FCC banner. LOSING GROUND The Canadian newsprint industry operated at 80 per cent of capacity in January, a decrease of 15 percentage points from an operating rate of 95 per cent in January 1991, says the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. The operating rate for the U.S. newsprint Ron Giles steers the ship at R G Marine Jonathan Green NEWS REPORTER : With a marine business established on a busy street rather than by the water, you might question Ron Giles’ business sense. And the Castlegar man knows that. “A lot of people are really skeptical of dry-land marinas,” he said. But, through utilizing the latest in technology, the owner of R G Marine says he is better off on terra firma. “I can actually do a better tune-up in the shop than I could in the water,” he said. Giles is a 17-year veteran of the boat business, a career he says didn’t really entér his mind during life’s formative years. “I didn’t grow up wanting to be a boat person,” he said. “We had one when I was a kid, but I wasn’t a fanatic.” After finishing high school Giles went the electronics route at Selkirk College, although he eventually found himself climbing the corporate ladder with Super Valu. But in 1975, he left the bright lights and life as an assistant manager at the supermarket and hooked up with a buddy who was interested in opening up a marina. “T hated it,” he said. “I’m glad I got out of the grocery business.” Giles said that, although his knowledge of boats was limited, the idea of being his own boss and trying something new interested him. “Everybody in the back of their minds wants to own their own business,” he said, “I had the opportunity, I stuck with it it and it’s been fun.” News photo by Jonathan Green Although he says people are skeptical-about a marine business that isn’t on the water, Ron Giles feels he can do just as good a job on dry land. The owner of R G Marine is a 17-year veteran of the boat business. year,” he said. But, unknown to him, the recession of the early 80s was just around the corner, and it hit the boat business hard. “That was tough because the boat business was one of the first ones hit,” he said. Giles said that when times were tough, the person who had to choose between making a payment on something like a house, car or boat dropped the one least necessary. “Usually it’s going to be the one most recreation oriented,” he said. “It was lean time, but we survived through that.” The marina stayed in the new owner felt that being on water would be better for business. “He thought a wet-marina was better than a dry marina.” Giles stayed with the company, and_ eventually brought it back to the original location on Columbia in the fall of 1988. Though he isn’t certified by any marine body or organization, Giles says hands- on work has taught him more than any course could. “T’ve learned more from years of fiddling in the shop than I did from going to school for any length of time,” he said. “I industry was 98 per cent, up from 96 per cent a year ago. In the 10 years that Giles and his friend operated Hennes Marina, he says there were both good and bad times. Although he is exclusively an Evinrude outboard motor dealer now, Giles said that Hennes put up some big numbers with Mercury outboards in 1979. “We were the fourth largest Mercury dealer in B.C. that business in the 100-block of Columbia Avenue until 1985, when the name and equipment was sold and moved up to Scotty’s Marina at Arrow Lakes. As a minor partner in the business, Giles didn’t have much say in the deal. “(My partner) wanted to do other things at the time, so we sold out,” he said, adding that basically walked in here with my toolbox and built it into a viable business.” For the last two years, Giles has gone beyond boats and motors and ventured “into snowmobiles, a move he says has paid off. “The snowmobile business, as a whole, is up, the marine business, as a whole, is down,” he said. Giles thinks the move in recreation today is toward individual rather than or group activities, which would explain snowmobiling’s increased popularity. “That just. seems to be the trend,” he said. He says the. boating season traditionally runs from the first of March to the first of September and, like clockwork, the snowmobile season begins. “It’s just like somebody turns a key,” he said. Working side by side with a full-time mechanic and full-time seamstress, Giles says he is happy with the way things are going at R G Marine. s _ “I like my job,” he said. “I don’t come to work hating the day before it starts.” And with that in mind, the Castlegar native says he’s quite - happy with life in the Kootenays. “I can’t imagine just picking up and leaving this.”