Page B4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 5, 1990

olutants pi

It’s the end of July. I’m out
of the door at ten and off to the
Skeena to show my flies to some
salmon.

From the top of Kalum hill I

can see airborne effluent from.
Kitimat drifting down _ the’

Lakelse valley and along the.
Skeena toward Prince Rupert.

Since the large beehive burner at.
Skeena Cellulose has been‘ shut -°

down the air in.town is much

cleaner, but: I can: still see the -

smoke from burning at the
Thornhill dump.

The Kalum River is high and
full of glacial silt, I notice the
burner at Bell Pole is not
belching out as. much white
smoke anymore.

It’s ten-thirty and it's very
hot. By the time I’ve reached
the river, I’m bathed. in
perspiration, Waders are not
ideal for hikes on hot days. It’s

a relief to. stand in the cool
water.

_ Fishing the Skeena is a
rhythmic, routine undertaking.
1 move down the strand slowly

and economically, covering as

much water as [ can, Unlike
trout fishing, almost no concen-
‘tration is required. The som-
Tiolent motions” of casting
“become automatic. I wait for
the pull of-a fish to trigger the
predatory instinct and to bring
me back to the fishing.

During the extended lulls, I
find myself getting involved
with the scenery. A salmon
floats downstream and. comes
mto rest in the shallows of a
sand bar far out in the river. In
minutes crows and gulls are
squabbling over the carcass.

An eagle emerges: from the
brush on-the far side. He flies
low over the waterr with silent,

The Skeena
Angler
by Rob Brown

strong strokes. ‘There is.a blur
of white and black wings and a
great clamour as he settles down
beside the fish and a Feeding
order is established.

On the lower. Skeena there i is
always wind. It builds in veloci-
ty as the day runs-into after-

noon, whipping upstream and.
disguising the combustion of -

the sun, '

As afternoon becomes even-
ing the angle of the sun is, obli-
que. The rays catch particles
suspended in air and create
shafts of light. I can see clearly

PORTS

to the first valley, a half mile
downstream, but net beyond.
Despite the wind, haze still

obscures the distant draws, Is it.
so-called atmospheric haze, or.

has ‘the. ‘amount of . effluent
we've’ pumped into the. air per-
manently ‘put vistas into soft
focus?

Lately I’ve been spending a
lot of time looking into and
thinking about distances.
Earlier in the summer 1 made

three trips to the Kitimat River.

Each ‘time Kitimat was buried

K

underneath a pall of effluent,

. visible’ from ‘the hill, above the

orange bridge.

’ Another time we took a trip
to Prince Rupert, Crossing the -
bridge over Galloway Rapids,
we could barely see the stacks of
the Port Edward-pulp mill. The .
acrid smell of sulphur dioxide
forced me to roll up-the window. -

‘and close the vents. The deadly

smog covered the entire bay. -
- A recent trip :to Vancouver

-provided more opportunity for

observation. There were beehive
burners: — machinery. the
government promised to ban
over two'decades'ago — ~ fouling ;
the air in Smithers.

As we approached Prince
George, the brown haze sising

‘above the horizon suggested a
‘forest fire. The fire turned out

to be the air in Prince George.
We marvelled at the people

scurrying about in the-éoiled at-.
mosphere’ unaware’‘or "un.
concerned about the: rotten alr’

they-were breathing," .

Haze followed us:
‘reached Clinton: ° From that
‘quaint cowboy town ‘to Hope,

the distant. trees were sharply.

focussed. But as we descended

into the Lower Mainland, the _
smog returned, For me this was:
particularly depressing. >

remember the clear contours of
the mountains there from. my
boyhood. = «

> “Jf all the énvironmentalists

got their way,’’ said a commer-
cial fisherman:
guardian on a recent-trip up the.
Exstall River, ” “everything:

would come to a halt-in. this

country.”
’ “Everything will come to :a°

‘grinding and permanent halt if - ,

they don’t,” I suggested.

JEFF NAGEL 638-7283

S—

TERRACE STANDARD» |

-SPORTSCOPE-

Expose

slo-pitch

a.
champions

“WE ARE THE CHAM-
PIONS...”’

Or so the cherus probably
went in the All Seasons Ex-
pose dugouts after the Ter-
race mixed softball team clin-
ched the provincial senior ‘C’
slo-pitch title last week in
Surrey.

The B.C. Softball-
- sponsored provincial cham-
‘pionship tournament: ended
with the: Terrace team
defeating Richmond 5-4 in
the Aug. 26 final. All
Seasons Expose player Rick

Miller was named tourna-
ment MVP.

Sign-up
time again

SCHOOL'S BACK, the
weather's changing, and so
are the sporting seasons,

With the arrival of
September, youngsters of all
ages start to irade in their
ball gloves for hockey skates.
And Terrace Minor Hockey
is ready.

Registration gets wnder-
way for the new minor
hockey season this weekend
at. the Skeena Mall.

Girls' and boys’ ice hockey
sign-up is scheduled for 6
p.m, to 9 p.m. Friday and 10
a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday,

Golfers
contribute.

A SENSE OF CHARITY
brought local golfers out in
droves last week for the
fourth annual Charity Golf
Challenge. -

The 72 golfers par-
ticipating in the nine-hole
scramble raised nearly
$3,000. ...

Organizer Debbie Mein-
tyre said the money was
‘donated to the R.E.M. Lee
Hospital Foundation, to go
towards the purchase of a
CAT scanner. |

“The weather cooperated
‘and it was a great time,” she
said.

The overall grand cham-

made up of Richard Barnett,
Dave Lane, Barbara Riding
and Gus Gerdei.
‘Closest-to-the-pin winners
were. Cassie Beall, who pick-
ed up a: mountain bike, and
Debbie Carruthers, who won
an airline flight. The prizes
were. awarded at a banquet
following the event.

event’s.sponsors and those
who made donations. a

Police brutality?

olice bruta ty?
SHOWING SCANT DISREGARD for their own speeding awareness campaign, members of the |
local R.C.M.P. detachment spent the evening roaring around the bases in dishing out a brutal: -

beating to a media team in last week's softball mis-match. Abave, one of the unfortunate victims,
CFTK's Heather Logan, is seen’ valiantly vine to strike back?

“~

off his “normal

‘dominate the master

aS

Rugby

Northmen. mulched |

Ansems _

third at |

UBC

_ TERRACE — Local Masters

division runner Ed Ansems rac-
ed to a bronze medal finish two

‘weekends. ago in Vancouver at .

‘the 10-kilometre *B.C.- Road
Running Championship.
Ansems ran about a minute
) 10-kilometre
time, crossing the line in just
‘under 35-minutes. He was a
minute back of the first place
finisher in the over-40 division.
“T ‘don’t know what went
-wrong,” he said last week. “‘I

“Was about a minute off my

‘usual time. If I’d been able to
do that, I would have been right
there.”

The Aug. 24 race boasted
near-ideal weather and
temperatures al the two-lap

course around the University of .

B.C. campus in Vancouver.
Ansems was also one of

-several Terrace runners among

the 72 racers at the Smithers

- Fall Fair five and -10-kilometre

races, “Twelve or 13 of our club
members made it out there,’’ he
said. “It was good to see.””

continued to
men’s

‘Ansems:

Leategory | in the northwest, runn-

vice

ing a 34:35 10-K to capture first
in that division and third place
overall.

‘A. second. ahead. of him ‘Was
Teivaée’ 3 Colin Parr, who’ ‘took
second overall, behind race win-
ner Richard Harrison of
Smithers who broke the line at
32:47, Gord Buxton of Terrace
was fourth overall at 36:50.".

‘Another local masters run-

“ner, Merve Crawford, picked
up third in the over-40 with a
time of 40:25. Terrace’s David
Shepherd ran a 38:15 for ‘first
place in the 19-and-under j junior
men division.

Diana Wood, of Terrace, was
the first woman across the line,
finishing at 43:23. And Rose
Schibli, also of Terrace, was se-
cond in masters women with a
time of $1:25.

In the five-kilometre race,
Gail Sheasby was the only Ter-
race runner in the top spots,
taking third in women’s open
with a 23:43 time. Telkwa’s

Peter Douglas had the best 5-K —

time, finishing at:17:12.

Northwest runners are now
gearing up for the All Seasons
Half Marathon 5 and 10-km
races on Oct. 14.

ail we.

turned river:

‘Cycler close to.
B.C. team spot .

pionship:- went to “a team

Mclntyre thanked all the |-

_TERRACE — Although they finished the yeat
with the best record in the North Coast Rugby
Union, the Terrace Northmen were less than in-
vincible at the annual Seven-a-Side tournament
in Smithers.

Clearly taking late-season lessons from ‘the.

Toronto Blue Jays, Terrace’s pigskin passers had
their butts ground into the muck by scores. ‘too
embarrassing to print in these pages. _
Bul, just for the record, here:itis. ~~
Blanked by ridiculously high. tolals (how does
50-0 sound?) the Northmen were destroyed twice

by the suddenly dangerous” ‘Smithers Camels”
before coming up with a win and eventually,

fighting their way into the final. Whe

To be somewhat charitable to our hometown
squad, they did divide their forces: between two-
teams: Terrace ‘A’ and Terrace 'B?, Northmen ©

coaches probably did it in the spirit Of fairness
and balance, but it merely meant double the fun

for their arch-rivals, the Smithers Camels. 2".

It should also be noted that rugby ' with: seven

~~ players a side is usually’ a sire “ticket to

outrageously high scores. The. August, tourna-
ment in Smithers was definitely no .exception._
_ The Camels warmed up-with'a 40-0. pounding

of the Fort St. John Moosemen, before nuking..
‘Terrace ‘A’ 44-0, The. now-feartome ‘Smithers’
“seemingly
~ scoring. at will, on'their way toa 500. bauhier. a
The ‘Northmen's A" seam got jack into it'with ,

unit then demolished Terrace BS

a 12-6 victory over the Sods — a thrown-tugether
team of-Prince George and ex-Snithers players,
That set them up to-redeem themselves in. the
final against the Camels.

Scrambling action early in the contest even--

tuafly gave way to a flow game, which Smithers

_ broke vpen in the first half with an unconverted

try in the Terrace end: Bul this time the Nore
thmen came back, Scoring quickly and conver-

ting for a 6-4 lead.

The startled Camels — trailing for the first

-time in the tournament — slowed the game down

and patiently picked - “holes in the: Terrace
defence, They. worked-their way to an eventual
tournament-winning 21-14 viclory — narrow ‘by

; tiny rugby standards.
The Terrace teams settled for second and sixth

in the tournament. The humiliation in Smithers

. put an end to eight consecutive years of Nor-

ihmen domination and Camel second-place:

; finishes at the tournament. ce,

But while the Camels’ “season is over, the Nor:
thmen have the smug satisfaction of preparing
‘for their international - tour. to Hawaii next
month. ye

Seventeen local players flyt to Honolulu Oct. 4
for the week-long 32-team. Hawaii Harlequins
World: Invititationa
there until Oct..15 ia ong ‘time to forget th
‘Smithers Sev a-Side outhament,

ournament. They'll be.

TERRACE — ‘Cycle racer Mike Christensen capped a great :
season of racing this year by winning the Mount Seymour hill
climb.

By taking first place in category two al the Vancouver race,
he was upgraded to category one and is heavily favoured to. be:
named to the B.C, provincial (eam next year.

‘The wit: came hard on the heels of a seven-day staged race
in Washington state, which Christensen had to drop out of on:

’ the second day due to illness, ~

“The competition was fierce, I was really sick, so I decided ©
to drop out after the second siage,” he said last week, The
imini-tour was a pro-Am race, with half ihe riders there Pro-'

' fessionals, and several were Olympic medalists, .
‘But with Mount Seymour, I finished off the season with 2 .
_ win,”' Christensen sald. ‘'The season went exceptionally well |
. for me — I'm a year ahead of what I expected af the beginn-
ing of the year and the coaches (on the B,C, team) are looking - ;
really favourably al me for next year, It looks really good for |
me to make the team." :
‘He's now, ranked eleventh in the province, and with'B. c.
--feam coaches planning a “developmental year’’ next,season, -
“young. riders like (he. 21-year-old Christensen: have a good :
shot at gelling on. ;
_ The Terrace cycler plans to work and train here through the -
- winter before leaving for the Lower Maintand next spring, He:
. wants to train hard there for a month ‘and’a, half, and then’ |
leave for Europe. |

in here, L think It: twit really. be:

' . \

ae es peace te th 9 (Mt din the” abn: time’ eebena®y I * tb ee ne

“The kind of experience you can gain’ in ‘eyeling in Europe. a