B2 CASTLEGAR NEWS, JUNE 12, 1983 Soccer star. out of VANCOUVER (CP) — Canada. will play without prize striker Branko Segota when the national team meets Scotland: at Empire Stadium today in the first of a three-game exhibition ser- ies. Segota has an attitude problem and does not have the commitment of other ” Canadian players to the na- tional team, coach Tony Waiters said this week at a news conference. Waiters said Segota re- fused to play in the opening game of the Scottish series, but was willing to. play in later games next Thursday at Edmonon and Sune | 19 in Toronto, “We made it clear { to him that he should | play the entire series, or not at all,” Waiters said. “He chose not to come. “The choice was a good choice by Segota. He has not shown the same commitment as the boys who are here.” TOP THREAT The Yugoslavia-born, Tor- onto-raised Segota plays for Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League. He has played for Canada since 1980 and is con- sidered the country's top goal-scoring threat. Watiers said Canada will Gu-Dor Sports Castlegar elahat 1 p.m, and3 p.m. G. games start at 6 p.m. INOR BAI 6:90 p.m.; Mo and Team 3 vs. Team 2 Field Nelson, Pony Field; Mosquito 6:90 p.m., Kinnaird middle field, FASTBAI paird Park, 6 p.m. MINOR BALL — Mosquito 6:30 p.m. Kinnaird snide feta Pirates, channel 9 $01 Biunione: Rangers vs. West's. Sports Castlegar. SUNDAY Auto RACING — Labatt Grand prix of Canada, at 10..m., chan- FOOTBALL — USFL:10:30.0.m., chan GOLF —LPGA: Champlonship ‘inal ¢ ey 11:30 a.m., channelé. SENIOR BASEBALL — KISBL: Double header, Cardinals at Chew- Grand Forks at Orioles, 1 p.m. at Fruit- vale, Grand Forks af Orioles, 3 p.m., Fruitvale. MONDAY FASTBALL — Commercial League: Kalesnikoff vs. Thrums at In- land Park, Northwest Homes vs. Labatts at Kinnaird Park, both = Pony League: Team 2 vs. Team 3 af the Potiy josquito League: Kootenay Savings vs. Klothes 6:30 p.m., Kinnoted aia idle Field. 9.& 10 year olds: Castle Sevings practice, KISS; Division Sports Hut, DQ vs, Maloney’s; Division 18, BASEBALL — Molor League: ei 30 So p.m. , channel 4, MINOR BALL — Tadpole League: Team 4 vs, jo League: Raiders vs. Seth Martin, gam CER — Bantam: "Recland vs. Castlegar at Rossland, 5:30 9 & 10 year-olds; Bartle & Gibson vs. Castle Theatre, ‘Kass, ope m., Division 6: Tu-Dor vs. Celtics. WEDNESD, eague: Klothes Kloset vs. Raiders, pee EA commercial League: Thrums vs. Labatts at Thrums pasieatl”” = Major teogue: Montreal Expos at Pittsburgh pete fad Teall vs. Worfield at Slenmarryi and ve Trail vs Beaver Valley at Tadanac, both gam d 10 year-olds: Bartle & Gibson practice, KISS, WE WILL SELL YOU Only the Bike for reoabia YOUR SIZE AND. CAs YOUR NEEDS! series oppose Scotland With many seasoned international play- ers, like goalkeeper Tino Lettieri and defenders Bobby Lenarduzzi, Bruce Wilson and Bob Iarusci, plus a “new brigade” of developing young, . stars. . “The new brigade are not just along for the ride,” said Waiters. “We are looking towards the future, towards qualifying for the 1986 World Cup.” Waiters singled out young players like Igor Vrablic, 17, of the Canadian Olympic team, Terry Felix of the NASL Vancouver Whitecaps and Norman Odinga of Ed- menton Eagles of the new Canadian Soccer League. ’ “his is a very strong Can- adian team,” added Waiters, “and we know we're playing a top-class team in Scotland, a team which has been in the last three World Cup finals. “We want to be entertain- ing in these three games, so we've got to play well against the Scottish team. We're not as world-wise yet as Scot- land, but that will come.” Scotland will have prize striker. Charlie Nicholas in the lineup. Nicholas, 21, ag- reed Friday to sign with Ar- senal of the English First Division. 3 Celtics vs. » Team 2 at Field 1 ‘olt League: ‘Castlegar Colts vs. ‘arling O'Keefe vs. Hi-Arrow vs. Northwest Homes, at Kin- as ot 5:30 REMINDER Clarke's Pool — 750 - 10th Ave. Registration for Mother and Tots and Pre-School Yellow Level June 15,9.4.m. to Noon, © Lessons June 20 to 24 i Phone 365-5106 for information. REGIONAL RECREATION COMMISSION#1 CANOE COURSE... Rod Irwin of the recreation depar- tment shows some of the finer points of canoeing to Be careful Editor's Note: This is safe canoeing week and the fol- lowing article is reprinted from the Ontario Paddler. . . . The spring runoff is just beginning. Excuses are made, people suddenly be- come. “sick” on a Wednesday afternoon, Phones ring, wild drivers terrorize the high- ways, and crazy paddlers wearing only little red bath- ing suits.are seen walking on the shores of so called “creeks.” They are off for their first paddle of the year. Spring trips down swollen rivers and creeks, especially the first trip, demand ex- cessive caution and extreme awareness. Raging spring banks, es- look ,back to complete this perfect setting. The current picks up. Headed for the out- side of the bend, you are sud- denly shocked out of your dream by. reality. You are | headed straight for a fallen tree, you.wére too late. Get- ting Snarled in the branches - you fallin upstream, the eur- rent, “you against. the braii 5. You're stuck. Can't move. Can't breath. Can't be -helped fast enough. And find happiness in heaven. A tree is not a rock. It is unforgiving. It is not to be fooled with. Give wide berth when you see one. Watch out going around bends, and in known trouble spots. Re- member, some of the best . pecially in. bends, often fell- ing trees that become strain- ers. The tentacle-like bran- ches act like a sieve; letting: : the water -through but :not objects. Fallen trees represent the most river hazard have died this way. But what if? If in your boat, lean into the tree, so the current pushes your bot- tom ‘up. Depending ‘on’ the situation, it may be' better to paddle straight into it, and | : hope you stay straight. Be that all paddlers are. exposed to, especially in narrow chan- nels — dangerous because they are unpredictable. A tree may fall between your slast run and your present one, and it can happen any- where — dangerous because, chances of survival are slim once caught. Imagine it: drifting around a bend just reveling in the fact that you are once again in your element — the water, trees, fresh spring air. You Vilas to appeal ‘VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. (AP) — Tennis star Guiller- mo.Vilas, who faces a one- year suspension and a $20,000 fine for allegedly ac- cepting a tournament appear- ance, guarantee, will appeal the action, his lawyer said Saturday. Vilas. ake in London to close your eyes tightly in order to protect them from twigs. There is 4 reasonable pos- sibility that you may pass through the branches going over or under the trunk of the tree. If it is obvious that’ you will not pass over or under, try to climb out on the Nelson plans 10kmrun The City of Nelson is plan- ning a 10 km footrace for _ Saturday, June 18. It's being dubbed the “Be- tween the Bridges Run” and gins at the new Taghum Bridge, 6:5 km west of Nel- son on Highway 3A ‘and ends at the North Shore Bridge at Lak he start of the 1e Wimbleda tone: nament June 20, in: which’ was expected to play, said lawyer Thomas Betz Jr. ~~ Betz saidVilas was inno- cent of the accusation, made Wednesday ! by the Men's International Professional Tennis Council. -The fee is “payable by 8:30 a.m. the morning of the race. For more. information, con- tact Bill Dove at 521 West Gore St. Nelson or telephone 354-4260, KOKANEE SPRINGS June 12 — Zono 1 Horseshoe Pitching Playoffs, Kinnaird Park June 13 — Ladies’ Asuabics, 12-1, Brandson Pool, $1.00 1-2, Robson Poo June 14 — Masters sui, "8:30 - 9:30 P.m., Brandson Pool. June 18 — Drop tn Fitness, 7 - 8 p.m., Robson School, $1.00 June 16 — Public Swimming, 3:30 - 5 p.m., 7 - 8:30 p.m., Brandson Poo! - mallee Skog Cancelled. 9 — Little Lassie Friendship Tournament, Kinnaird Jun Summer Programs and Swim Registration, 6 - 8 .. Complex. Offic from persons Interested in inatructing “Mom & Mo” and Playgroup pro- prams during the fall, Forms available at the Recreation Of. ice. Deadline: June 2601 - 6th Ave., Castlegar Phone 365-3386 GOLF RESORT _ other gu: all are invited. The race be-”. éanoe: class on the Arrow Lakes: Today marks the end of safe canoeing week. —tosNewPhota by Genga ution canoeing! ‘trunk, where you will at least be above water. If swimming and you get caught, make a desperate attempt t to wrench yourself free immediately. Don't. wait to gain: strength’ : ‘first, you. won't. "This article is blunt. So is « ‘the cold herd Foally, now: ing the danger, being extra alert on ‘swollen rivers and creeks, and knowing. you have the paddling skills that qualify you for this water, push the hazard back into the level of an acceptable risk. Remember the danger, be careful and alert. ~ Local senior David Dale -of Christina Lake fired a - three-round total of 230 Friday to finish third in the provincial senior _ men’s golf championship at 108 Mile House ard Williams ke. “Homer draws fine CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Cubs outfielder Jay John- stone said he has been fined $100 after hitting his 100th” career homer in the sixth .inning of Thursday's game against New York Mets. Johnstone led off the sixth and ran the count to 3-0. He was given the “take” sign, * but swung away and belted a home run. Manager Lee Elia acknow- ledged that he had levied the fine and said, “What else could I do?” Johnstone greed. “If he doesn’t fine me and somebody else does the same thing but pops out, how ‘would he be able to fine the ” he said. third in B.C. ‘Strikeouts don't —~makea pitcher. By Tho Associated Press A bit of trivia. What does Theodore, Amar Lyons. not ‘have in common with Steve Carlton? >. Better known as Ted Lyons, the Sunday piteher, this ‘major league baseball Hall of Famer hurled 594. games for Chicago White Sox from, 1923-46 — some 21 years. and 4,161 innings. Lyons ended his career with 260 victories, ‘He pitched from the era of Walter Johnson to the heyday of Early Wynn, but there is one thing he never learned. He just couldn't throw, the ball ‘past the batter. He ‘ended his career with only 1,078 strikeouts — an’ average of only one batter for about every four innings he pitched or a little more than two a game. Philadelphia left-hander Carlton, baseball's new strikeout king? with 3,628, averages 7.25.strikeouts per game. : “in his best season, Lyons was 22-14 in 1927, striking out only 71 batters in 807 2-3 innings. Carlton, in his) moat prolific year of 1972, the first of his four Cy Young’ ‘Award seasons, was 27-10 with 310 strikeouts in 246 : innings. | , A lot of other pitchers have had, great seasons ‘or careers without striking out a lot of, batters, Eddie ‘Lopat, the great New York Yankees’ left-hander, ‘was/21-9 in 1951 with only 93 strikeouts and. 16-4 in 1953 with 50 strikeouts. More recently, Randy Jones won the Cy Young Award with San Diego Padres in 1976, going 22-14 with 98 strikeouts in 315 innings. Mark Fidrych had only. 97 in his 19-9 rookie-of-the-y season in 1976 with Detroit: =~ ’ STRIKES OUT 78 And Tommy John was 22-9 in 1980 with the Yankees, striking out only 78 batters. © The point, of course, is that the ability of a Hall of Fame pitcher cannot always be measured in strikeouts. Take, for example, Nolan Ryan of Houston Astros, who broke Johnson's record of 3,508 serikoauls in April before being passed this week by Carlto: Ryan leads all pitchers in strikeouts on game with an average of 9.44, yet his lifetime record is only 208-187.; He has been a 20-game winner only twice. When his name comes up for Hall of Fame consideration, the debate will be heated. fi Not so with Carlton. It has been said before but is worth repeating: Carlton's strik are a byp! of his He strikes out batters because he's good, not vice versa: “He is like any good, or great, pitcher,” said St. Louis shortstop Ozzie Smith. Bill McGhee of battled cold, rainy conditions to shoot a final round eight- over-par 78 and capture his second B.C. senior men's golf championship. The 68-year-old McGhee, who won. the, title. in, 1978, finished with | a three-round --total of 225 over the Williams “* Weekend suatiners opts fea series Lake and 108 Mile House golf Sho courses, four shots better than Harry Donaldson of tos Victoria. Donaldson closed sonFroncisco with a 77. Doug Bajus of North Van- couver, the champion the 9 past two years, started the day five shots back of Mc- Ghee, his. playing partner, but pulled even after nine holes. He ran into trouble on the back nine, however, and fin- ished with a 78 and ‘tied for third at 230 with Dale. Bruce Pelmore of Victoria shot 77 and finished at 231, fon one shot ahead of Herb Fritz of Vancouver and Alan Se- nior of Victoria. Fritz had the day’s best round, a 74, while Senior closed with an 81. Ghicago7 S1-Louiag ere ’ Houston 2 San Diego, pberoh. 8, saver, Son Diego, Hendrick, St. Wilson, Donaldson, 62, was the low net winner with a 208 total. 2 Shicoge cubs, place oyttislder Leon Siscbled lst; recall eutlbetder Torn Gront from Des Pittaburgh Wiese reactivate cher Don Robinson; assign pltcher Randy Niemann to Friday Results Reweat ofthe Pe ke Coast Leogus. 47 ‘Son Antonio Spurs nome Mortis MicHone hod cood end npn ti 0a ore yoor ee roornalt Chicogo Bers sign © oHfensive guard Rob Koneos Ci aS Soin estes at Weshington Redshing alga cornerback Dorrell Green to live one) tracts. Sea uaeance IBILGEAS Montreal, 17; fey, eit pune batted tnt Murphy, Atlonto, 46; Stolen. Basear ‘Sax, tos Angeles, 21: ‘York, 20, euvchieg (6 Extends an Invitation to You during June to come play our course and become eligible f aired Gall Wookond Soe your Pearson eaceme eligible for end of June. Zone 4 and 5 membars. Remember our special rates, For more Information, call 227-922 KOKANEE SPRINGS GOLF RESORT (fully licenced) Crawford Bay, B.C. [Water safety quiz answers. The answers to your Wednesday Water Safety Quiz are as follows: 1) If you get into trouble there will be no one there to help you. Use the Buddy System. 2) In an area where the water is clear and a lifeguard is on duty. 3) Wade in slowly. Don't dive or jump. 4) No. The other person may not know how to swim or survive in the water. The other person or yourself may be injured. 5) Yes. You never know what can happen. Remember you cannot swim if you're + Sailors Toron ‘Soklar SERBISE SBNRERY BRRNNB' | > Feegygey Baltimore Boston 0. Oetroit? Cleveland 1 New York 7 Milwoukee i Texas 4 Minnvoto 3hicage 1 ant Koneas cing Sooo on nnes 6) Yes. See above No. 6. 7) Hang onto the overturned boat by locking your wrists and call for help. Never try to swim to shore. 8) The lifejacket will turn you over and keep your head out of the water, a PFD will not. 9) An inner tube — it floats. 10) Rough water is dangerous and sere, is the possibility of being struck by lightning. If lightning strikes the water everyone in it will receive a shock, possibly a fatal one, as water conducts electricity. Give voureett one Point for each correct answer. If ou ly, you have some basic water Srey knowledge, but could still learn more. If you answer less than eight correctly, do not go near the water! Sign up iminediately for a water safety P: at pool. diess lives are lost every year due to unsafe water practises and ignorance: There is no excuse for it. Being water wise and knowing how to swim will stand you in good stead the rest of your life. Swimming and water activities can be enjoyed well into your later years as well as now. Respect the water, enjoy it safely ( and have funt Seeesenet Seuuceuuage au 208 13 Mlanesota, 20; “ciao. Iwaukee, 5; Wil ne aivaine 5: Wintield, le, Chicago, 13; la, 13; Brett, aga iy, ree eautoris ten. ta Montreal 14 Ottawa 4 Teronto 24 Hamilton & Saloon 26 Winnipeg 4 + B.C, 52 Edmonton: pat Hellcat dat: Cardinals 8, Oriolea 9 1, Beaver ¥ sal Tossa alley 4 AlCicchett. aoe 2 Fop 10 (Minimum 16 Meek V., 29; Robivon, hon, Orioles, 16; DurrollSt- Denis, Cordiaal 76. Cran een. Gr mean STEERS ETS eee 11 » alatre rtd LINDA HALL— NS Getting to Know Your Neighbor a JOE CUSHNER ‘Cominco’ Ss doodling cartoonist First of all there's a bird nesting in the chimney. Then, farther over, the roof is in desperate need of repair. Right underneath we see a poor fellow — we assume he is | _, the man of the house — lazing around on his bed smoking a gigantic cigar oblivious to the little boy who is having a great time playing inside a large plastic bag. In the next room a little tyke is into the aspirin jar (the lid doesn't look very ‘childproof")' while his brother is drowning. in the shower. Around and about the house are all sorts of disasters -; or potential disasters, dogs running under ladders, paint’ spilling, not-so-well-patched ‘electric cords ‘strung here and there, children running into them, kids eating the * leaves of poisonous house plants... Sound like home? Let's hope.not: This large two-page spread of mishaps : around the house is entitled “Safe At Home?” and was a "part of a Cominco Magazine’s:home safety contest and .drawn by commercial artist: Joe Cushner. This cartooning is typical of Joe's work. As I leafed through old issues of the magazine I saw: hundreds of examples of Joe's style, His, precise little cartoons of people doing the most amazing’ things. That. kind of “find-all-the-things-that-are-wrong” ‘picture that you studied and studied when you were a‘child. For 83 years from 1948-1976 Joe worked for Cominco. For all but the first three years, he was their artist’ and loved every minute of it. Ever since he was a boy growing up in Alberta, art and drawing have been his favorite activities, “I used to get away with all kinds of things because I could draw,” he told me laughing. “One year I didn't even have to take the final examination because I was doing art work, something for the school. Oh, I got away with au sorts of . things! - “T used to like drawing most anything, ‘put my biggest drawback was lack of money and supplies. I'd have to beg, borrow and steal. It was during some hard times back then and even the school would help me out. They would. give me paper for jobs I would do.” parents were poor, Joe said, and weren't able to him in’ art supplies, nor’ did‘ they really encourage ery much. “They said, ‘Why don’t you take up) ~ mechanics: or some trade?" Winning a few of the prestigious ‘Royal Drawing’ Society Awards in school made Joe decide to stick with an art career. “That was quite the thing. I had about three or four scholarships.” After high school Joe enrolled in the Calgary Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (now S.A.1-T.) and for five years studied under such artists as A..C. - Leighton, a Royal Academy watercolorist; and Nicola D. E. Grand Maison, a well-known western Canada artist. -He had hoped to strictly study commercial art, but was persuaded to take fine arts’ half the time. “That was probably the best thing to do. The more fine art you have, the better commercial artist you are. In fine arts,” he explained, “you do landscaped, still life, sculpture, those kinds of things, and in: commercial art ++. any one of a thousand things that a business might need.” He also spent some time at ‘Banit studying with Walter Phillips, famous for his’ prints and watercolors; and A. Y, Jackson. “With him, we'ended up climbing a " mountain, and-he gave a demonstration in art.” Five years later, in 1985, Joe come to B.C. looking for’ work. He immediately went'to , Cominco and applied for work asa commercial artist; a1 we need an artiat for?” Joe po work elsewhere, at a bakery for a time, in a garage, but.all the while Joe. continually knocked on‘Cominco's door trying to convince thera | that yes, they pally did need an artist. The lucky : reak finally came in 1943. “They didn’t give mea job. unt then, Iwas working in a garage. The wages weren't very high. I couldn't make . ago ofit, and in the meantime I got married. The war was JOE CUSHNER «+. loved every minute on and I had to go to selective service, and they told me that with the war effort and everything, I'd have to go to work for Cominco, I said fine, that’s where I wanted to ‘work “anyway!” Joe was put in the steam plant where he stayed for three years, still trying to convince the powers-that-be that what they really needed was a full-time artist. But his art expertise did not go unnoticed. He entered and won all of the safety poster.contests sponsored by the company, and as his posters began to bé hung up around the plant, people began to notice. Three years later Cominco hired its first full-time artist, and Joe was given his own studio and almost more work than he could handle. In fact a few years later they had to hire an assistant for him. His time was spent partly with the Safety Department and partly with the Cominco magazine which he helped to set up. He did designs and “cutaways” of their various of for retirement parties, maps- which always had to be you do designs and logs, 1 ing, maps and ly correct, and then his safety posters which was met with, “What do | 'LEGAR NI JUNE 12 CASTI EWS, 1983 =o WINNING ENTRY . . . Cushner drew this cartoon — entitled “Safe at Home?” — In 1968, as part of the were hung in strategic locations throughout, _ buildings. Whenever there was an accident it was Joe's job:to go to the scene and reconstruct that accident in cartoon form. Looking ‘at a’ poster is‘a lot more ‘effective, hé’ states, than having the employees read a long and boring memo on what they should or should not have done. “I enjoyed my work tremendously,” he says. “It was right up my alley. I was what you. would call very versatile.” Numbers of times Joe was called upon to do things he'd never tried before. Whenever he was asked " he always answered, “OK”. He even did sculpture and wood carving. Besides his work at Cominco, Joe's commercial art ventures still hang all over town. Chances are you've seen a few of them; the Castlegar Savings Credit Union sign, the sign for Cohoe Insurance. A cartoon poster of ladies golfing is still on the wall at the Castlegar Golf Club, and he's done numerous caricatures of the curlers at the Curling Club. Currently he’s working on a large detailed scale drawing of the Castlegar golf course which will soon be on the wall at the clubhouse. Hobbit Hill's integrated program is a success ~ By DIANE STRANDBERG both systems (regular day Staff Writer While child care advocates across the province celebrate day care week which ends today, the director of Castle- gar’s Hobbit Hill centre is care and special needs pro- grams) because we have both blanket funding from the provincial government for day care and federal funding for special needs programs,” Laf aaa focusing on more concerns. Cathy Lafortune is trying to determine whether an innovative program she has piloted for the past year has been successful. “So far, I can see an ex- cellent response,” the arti- culate director of the pre- school development centre id in an interview this week. Lafortune has’ just re- ceived the first of about 60 questionnaires sent to par- ents of children attending Hobbit Hill last week. And she says parents are ex- tremely supportive of the program that integrates special needs children with typical preschoolers in a ‘nur- sery school atmosphere. Previously, the centre md run This enables the Hobbit Hill program to be more cost effective as staff can work with both special needs and regular children at the same time. As well, Lafortune says the integrated program can provide a smaller staff/child ratio than either a normal day-care centre or a special needs program. Hobbit Hill averages about seven chil- dren to each worker com- pared to the standard of eight to a worker. An: integrated program such as the one Lafortune began last summer intro- duces children with handi- caps or learning disabilities to peers in the same age group. This, says Lafortune, special needs and veauln children. The fledgling integrated - program isa first in the West Kootenays. Centres in Trail and Nelson remain segre- gated. But the trend toward integrated day care is grow- ing, especially on the coast. “We have the strengths of for the special needs child that he wouldn't otherwise get from a child confined to a wheel- chair. At the same time, the’ Hobbit Hill program is flex- ible enough to provide in- dividual attention for regular children who may be weak in one area of development and strong in another. - “We're trying to assess the needs of each child, to put them where they would be the most effective,” says La- fortune. “There is always so much more than each one of them can offer and by using the other kids as resources, no one gets lost in the shuf- fle.” Probably the most impor- tant aspect of the integrated program is that it provides a bridge of acceptance for the typical child who might otherwise never have the opportunity to meet or make friends with a special needs child. “We are shaping attitudes of the future,” Lafortune added. The 82-year-old mother of two — with another on the way — agrees that day care in the province has improved over the years. As the parent of a disabled Cominco Magazine home safety contest. Only half of the cartoon is shown here. Although now because of arthritis he finds himself limited in what he can do, throughout the years Joe has Z enjoyed his | many jaunts into “fine” arts, He has Sone, in oils and w: complete with impish grin, done when the boy was a child. Some of his finer works have been shown in art shows through the K - in Trail and Castlegar. Joe and his wife Olga have lived in both Trail and Castlegar. Their son Jerry is now living and working in Kimberley. When his son was Scouting age, Joe was a leader for six years, and each winter Joe's favorite hobby was curling. “That was my main deal. I was fairly good at it. I didn’t win any major awards but I enjoyed it.” Joe also golfed, although he said he would never claim greatness in this field. One of the’ things Joe has always liked about commercial art is ‘that “you don't have to worry about how good it’s going to turn out. Cartooning can be pretty poor and still be good.” and p re- tarded 11-year-old child, La- fortune has experienced the . trauma of trying to find ade- quate care for her son at a ,HAVING FUN .. . Cathy Lafortune and children from Hobbit Hill Day Care Centre. * brought a to show me a portrait of his son, Jerry,’ iiirenniiiescominnil vue nto nnn —CatNewsPhoto by Dione Strandberg time when society was just realizing the need for special needs programs. “It was basically Jeffrey and me against the world with neither of us having the skills to cope with it,” La- fortune recalls. At the time, Lafortune was a single parent who needed to make some sort of a living for herself and her child. She struggled by taking sewing and odd jobs she could do at home. Now, with increased gov- ernnient funding there are more opportunities for work- ing and single parents as well the parent of a handicapped child doesn’t mean you can't work.” Lafortune also noted that and cen- as parents of disabled chil- dren. ‘With programs like Hobbit Hill, Lafortune noted, “being tres such | as Hobbit Hill, which encourage parent in- volvement, are helping par- ents to better meet the needs of their children. “There is a recent trend to involve parents rather than say, ‘We're the professionals and we know what's best for your child,” ” Lafortune added. Meantime, the results of the questionnaires will be re- ported during the annual general meeting later this month of the Kootenay Col- umbia Child Care Society, which administers the Hobbit Hill centre. SOME