A i PAGE intion OurWitEws =) Dave McCullough Publisher Peter Harvey Plant Foreman Mark Davis Advertising Manager” Warren Chernoff Accountant Heather Hadley Circulation Manager Burt Campbell Publisher Emeritus Aug. 7, Feb. 15, 1973 Savages find forum Dave McCullough PUBLISHER Was it all that long ago that supposedly civilized men and women flocked to the stadium to watch savage barbarians batter each other in a cruel fight to the finish? About a week, to be exact. Sure, the Christians faced the lions almost two thousand years ago. And it’s true that cockfights, dogfights, bullfights and assorted other bloodbaths have entertained us for centuries. But we don’t have to travel far afield, and we certainly don’t have to go far back in time, to find examples of primitive savagery offered up in the name of entertainment. Last. Saturday night, Trail’s Cominco Gym was crowded with some 500 “sports fans” whose noble purpose was to indulge — quite vicariously, of course —. their lusts for jood. It’s difficult to be sure who deserves more sympathy: the poor souls who gamely clambered into the ring in quest of a Tough Man title and a $1,000 windfall, or the folks who paid for the privilege of attending the spectacle. Two groups of winners have emerged from this pathetic excuse for entertainment. One consisted of all the would-be competitors who wisely withdrew from the fray before it was too late. The other was the promotors, whose moral compasses apparently don’t prevent them from preying on suckers, as long as there’s a dollar to be made. And the losers? Well, those who absorbed — or administered — a thrashi are on top of the list. Like women who appear naked in magazines, they were exploited. Win or lose, they are victims. AdrianRAESIDE {aitlegar Nows Speed limits complicate drive Last week I looked at a few of the problems with the new three-lane pattern on Columbia Avenue north of the Highway 3 interchange. This week, I ‘want to turn to some of the problems drivers and pedestrians face on Columbia Avenue south of the interchange. And what better way to do that than take a drive down Castlegar’s main street? We'll start our trip Comments from the Crossroads started to accelerate to 70 from high speeds drivers try to pull out ont the highway. Not a good situation. Solution? Why not ha traffic slow to 60 km-h at the southernmost end of the city. We're coming down 37th Street from the Southridge Drive area to the stop sign on Columbia. We want to turn left to head Right up there with them is anyone who's ever come to the defence of boxing in the face of the sport’s many critics. If a Tough Man contest is boxing, then boxing should be outlawed. It’s nothing'more than an outlet for savagery, and the potential profit for its backers is hardly sufficient reason to allow it to continue. toward the downtown. Only one problem: the northbound cars are travelling at 70- kilometres per hour (and likely five or 10 kilometres above that, given the way many people drive these days), making it a little difficult tadurch out into traffic and accelerate quickly to 70 km-h. Meanwhile, southbound drivers have just before 37th Street and kick into*to 90 km-h farther down the road? I'm’ no highway engineer, but this seems a pretty simple and painless (not to mention inexpensive) procedure. We've made it onto Columbia headi: into town, having bolted to 70 km-h a just as quickly braked to 60 km-h ju before 32nd Street. Things are going pret smoothly until we get down to the area It’s 7:45 a.m. and some kids are wail Please see NORMAN pag Piano incident explains reckless friendship How do you spell Adrian Raeside? L*U*N*A*T*I*C, that’s how. The man’s a menace. Never mind all the nonsense about Twisted Years. OK, it’s funny So is Peewee Herman, but they won’t even let him into the movie theatres any more. Funny thing about Adrian, provincial, federal and wol rs. What I remember most aj the youthful Adrian. was politeness. That's g¢ Raeside being the most widely- published cartoonist in C: today. What I want to know is what the poor Russians have done to deserve having Raeside’s cartoons forced on them in Pravda, an otherwise fairly decent and intelligent publication. You may, from time to time, have come across the ramblings of some peculiar writer, unlike myself, waxing poetic about a picture being worth a thousand words. Well, let me tell you, I wouldn’t give a plugged nickel for one of Raeside’s pictures. Ugly cuss. More about his cartoons later. Normally, I Report i from: : Victoria would go through life, happily ignoring Raeside’s pretensions to art; I have even learned to live with the fact that his cartoons appear on the same pages as my columns. The only reason I’m writing this is to warn you, not to buy Raeside’s newest book — Five he was a perfectly well-adjusted guy when I first met him about 12 years ago. I was working for the Daily Colonist in Victoria at the time. - One morning, I saw this young chap in the editor's cubicle, forcing the poor wretch to look at what turned out to be some pretty sad excuses for cartoons. He introduced hi to me as Adrian Raeside. Raeside, it- turned out, produced his cartoons on Saltspring Island. No, really, cut from the outside world, surrounded by nothing but sheep and geriatric hippies, Adrian would comment on completely gone. By the time I said farewell daily newspapering in the e: 80s, Adrian had somehi managed to talk a lot Canadian newspapers i running his cartoons, and was setting his sights unsuspecting victims inj U.S. and abroad. Then came our first jj venture. Both aspiring enterprisers, we decided ta our wares at the a convention in Richmond British Columbia and Community News Association. To my best Saturday, November 2, 1991 WHAT’S ALL THE HOOPLA ABOUT ANYWAY? Oa All the hoopla at Selkirk College Halloween day was about Cam; wer ized by Keri Culli ( pus Rec’s C News photo by Ed Mills four hardy teams including the Hi who were orgar centre, silliness and was won by the school's cross-country runners. Who else? 1g). The 1.5 kil k, endurance and just sheer continued from page A6 to cross at the crosswalk to head to Kinnaird elementary school. A car finally stops to allow the children to cross. The students walk tentatively into the crosswalk, but have to wait for cars in the southbound lane to stop as well. By this time there are four or five cars lined up in the northbound lane. A car coming up on this line of traffic figures someone is turning left to head up the hill to the school, so it pulls out onto the gravel shoulder — without even braking down. It slams through the crosswalk at 60 km-h sending the kids flying. Out of the question? No. It nearly happened one morning OtherVIEWS went to cross at the crosswalk. Fortunately, I had stopped on the gravel shoulder (well back from the crosswalk) and waited for her to cross. For some reason I happened makes passing on the right easier. re Believe at or not, that intersection a posted speed limit: 30 km-h when children are on the roadway. Does to look in my mirror and was surprised to see not one, but three cars coming up fast on the line of cars stop; at the crosswalk. All three cars veered onto the gravel shoulder. I can only guess that they lgrhes I wee. cures around e yup so they thought the: would follow. if ” , They were behind me for a split second before they realized ybody obey that? If they do, I haven't seen it. if Some have suggested an adult crossing guard would solve the problem, but I don’t think so. Cars passing on the right can’t see the crosswalk until they’re right on top of it. By then it’s too late. What we need is stricter police enforcement and some sort of cr I was stopped, so just as quick]: they veered back into the line. But they had every intention of passing on the right and when I let my daughter off for school. Just as with the students on our hypothetical drive down pparliion 4 hers , my d ng through the crosswalk. It happens all the time at that intersection. It’s even worse the other way. because the intersection is so wide it On to downtown. Kids race across the street in front of our car on their way to the Aquatic Centre. Darned kids. Why don't they cross at a crosswalk. Oops, there isn’t one. From Kinnaird Hall to the Highway 3 interchange there is not one crosswalk. Yet it leads to one of the busiest facilities in Castlegar: the Community Complex, with the aquatic centre, skating rink, soccer field and baseball diamond. To make things worse, the complex is on the east side and the sidewalk on the west side. Either children must cross at an uncontrolled intersection or they must walk down the east side which doesn’t have a sidewalk. Solution? Paint a crosswalk. Things aren't all bad on Columbia Avenue. The city, to its credit, has improved street design on the north side of the interchange (for instance, the controlled entry and exit from the parking lot opposite the Oglow building). he But with the pressures and demands we are now seeing on Columbia Avenue, much more needs to be done. Beyer continued from page A6 recollection, that was in 1983. _ We rented the biggest suite in the Delta River Inn, complete with conference table and wet bar, which we stocked with ample supplies of beer, wine and spirits. Every bit of empty space ch yer with our We were open for business. I don't think we got any new clients that first night, but it gure was one of a party. . At one point, more than 200 people were in our hospitality suite, having a great old time. The only thing that was missing was music. “What we need is a piano,” said George Le Masurier, then editor of the Comox District Free Press. Someone remembered a piano in one of the conference rooms on the main floor, and George, ian and I set out to hijack the thing. “What are you doing with that piano?” the night clerk asked. “What piano?” George said. We beat a hasty retreat, tearing down the hallway with the damned piano in tow. The regular elevator was too small to accommodate the piano, but we found the freight elevator, and lickety split, we had that Piano in our ninth-floor suite. Tm. just mentioning this little to explain how a seri and thoughtful political columnist like me can be led astray be someone as reckless as Adrian Raeside. _ Since that infamous piano incident, Adrian and I have undertaken many similar joint promotion ventures and I got used to his strange ways, if not to his cartoons. And speaking of cartoons, ive ears, as the name of Adrian’s latest book would suggest, chronicles the wild and wonderful Vander Zalm years. And if I may be serious for a aes it’s a winner. you remember about the Vander Zalm years is that they were weird, even for British Columbia standards, this collection of cartoons will bring back the details. And just in case you believe that Adrian is a little cruel to his political victims, which he is, consider what he has to say in his own defence: “How many cartoonists close down hospital beds? How many cartoonists reduce welfare payments? How many cartoonists invade other countries?” Adrian Raeside’s Five Twisted Years, published by Sono Nis Press, Victoria, is now available in your book store, and I’m more than happy to help him flog it.