Page 84 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 10, 1990 The tough. Melissa Poe has tong, silky blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a smile that would light up the darkest corner of the most troubled mind. When writing a story or. bending over a painting her hair gets in the way so Melissa ties it back into.a ponytail with a colourful rib- bon. Like most girls of ten, Melissa is still interested in dolls and spends a lot of time wat- ching television, but unlike most of. her . contemporaries, Melissa ‘is .an environmental activist and energetic member of Kids For A Clean Environ- ment or kidsFACE. A lot of air time on television these days is being devoted to environmental concerns. Somewhere between Mr. Rogers and Saturday morning car- toons, Melissa found herself drawn into a particularly com- she’s pelling program ' on en- vironmental ills. Young, im- pressionable and, like most kids, able to learn at light speed, Melissa readily absorbed 5 what she saw and became concerned, The deep and serious voice of the announcer said the United States of America, her country, was the most wasteful in the _ world and to reinforce that point they showed pictures of big yellow tractors pushing around yucky piles of garbage in the shadow: of trash moun- tains, ‘Many of our not-so-sanitary landfills are filled to overflow- ing and have had to, be closed,*’ said the announcer. The. amount of trash strewn along the curbsides of the large city near where Melissa lives told her what the man said was true, Melissa had difficulty understanding what the man gine by Rob Brown : called ¢ ozone depletion, but hav-- bing - been sunburned before, she, understood the power of the sun ‘and easily appreciated the concept of a hole inthe sky and how the sun’s rays would reach the earth with greater strength “and cause all sorts of problems for people. “By asking questions about the cat’s fiea collar and about what her dad sprayed on the lawn each ‘summer, Melissa had learned what a pesticide was. When the man on the program said in 1970 the companies who made pesticides sold five billion dollars worth and this year the “same companies produced. and sold fifty billion dollars worth, Melissa knew that 50 was ten times as much as five and thata billion was a very big number, . She also recalled the people handing out pieces of paper in- front of the grocery’ store. When she asked, her mom pa- tiently told her that the people picking grapes were being asked to work in places where they were exposed: to dangerous , chemicals and they wanted ' Melissa’s mom and other moms to stop buying ‘those grapes to make the company change their ways. and stop using these :..', dangerous poisons. Melissa doesn’t care much for a spiders and wiggly bugs, but: she - loves ‘animals. From the same unsettling ‘program ‘she learned - wild, exciting animals from all over the world were disappear- ing because the forests in which they lived were being destroyed. ‘When images of dead and dying trees — trees killed by rain turn- ed to acid — flickered across the - sereen, Melissa glanced outside to the tree in her front yard, the one from which her swing ‘hung, and remembered that rain fell on that tree too, Melissa intuitively realized a war had begun Outside and the oe bombs had begun 1 to ¥ fall, "She knew instinctively .that - the future and the past were at stake © af “nothing . meaningful .. were done in the present. ; And: she also knew that she would be.a grownup in the future and. she wanted it to be a nice ‘place. Melissa picked. up, a. pencil -and wrote to. the most powerful man in the world,‘ the prsident of the United States’ — cher : president _ George’ ‘Bush, She asked him what he was doing to ° protect and restore thé environ- ment she would inherit. . \ For along time there was no answer. Melissa “understood this, after all; her “questions ’ were tough ones" Bit: ‘finally an important-looking ‘letter ‘came through the mail. Melissa knew. right: away it was. from Mr. Bush. She opened it excitedly, * ‘Just say NO to drugs...’’ the - letter began. - JEFF NAGEL 638-7283. SPORTS NE TERRACE STANDARD -SPORT SCOPE- Hot darts packed into the Royal Cana- dian Legion in Terrace Sept. ‘28-30 for the annual Terrace Open darts tournament. Singles competition saw Kitimat’s Hugh Colquoun throw .winning darts — in- cluding a 152 finish in one of the final games ~—- to upset the- favourites and take the men’s title, David McKenzie was runner-up, The women’s singles title went to Annette Hiren, of Terrace, who defeated Kitimat’s Gail Gardner in the final, with Betty Schiemann to take the. doubles title, edging out Anna. Borck and Joyce Bradley. . In. men’s doubles, Terrace’s Pat Campbell and Tony Sousa took first, defeating Jurgen Schiemann, of Kitimat; and Paul De Jong of Prince Rupert. Mixed. doubles competi- tion saw singles victor Hugh Colquoun and Marg. Saulnier, of Kitimat, team up to beat-Chuck and Darlene Wilson of Prince Rupert. Half-marathon ORGANIZERS ARE hop- ing for a large turnout of runmers and walkers ai this weekend's Half Marathon. The Skeena Valley Run- ners club is holding the an- nial event — which will this year include five-kilometre, 10-kilometre and 21-kilometre circuits. The 21-kilometre half- marathon starts at noon Sun- day at Northwest Communi- ty: College. The five- and 10-kilometre events get underway at 1 p.m. The club urges everyone to - | get involved, and participate in whichever event best mat- ches thelr ability. The $15 entry fee covers the costs of a T-shirt, spot prizes, refreshments and awards for category winners. ‘| To: be.assured of getting your shirt size,: Teglster in advance | at All Seasons, 7 ~ Junior golf - ‘| THE JUNIOR: GOLF club wound up its’seasen with a 36-hole tournament. *- Devon Van Hulle took top spot for low gross, riding a 186° score to a. three-stroke victory over Brian Cox's 189 finish. Trailing with 194 and 195 were third-place Matt Soules’ and fourth-place Kevin Oates. « Intthe second flight com. petition,: Terry. Smith won. low. gross,’ atid Ryan Miller picked up low gross in third- fen ABOUT 70 avid throwers | Gardner then ‘teamed up- Back in A REPLAY OF ‘PLATOON’ or a hockey game? That might have been the question this Riverside Auto Wranglers goalie asked last Thursday night as he tried to repel what seemed like a continuous: stream of shots on goal. The oldtimer-division team was facing the new team in ‘the. rec “division < — “Al Seasons — arid eventually ended UB. on the losing. side of a 7-1 score. y New city squash king TERRACE — Final-round action at Terrace's season opener squash tournament saw Robin Grant cruise to an easy 3-0 victory over Steve ' Ross. The 33-year-old Grant — a South African physician who has recently moved to Terrace — brings a high level of competition to the. - northwest squash scene, said club spokesman Brian Draper. “If he played in the competitive © B.C. circuit, he’d be top-35 quite easily,’ he said, He said Grant's win over Ross — previously the top-seeded local player —. seemed ef- fortless. The local in-house tournament took place two weekends ago at the Northwest Com- munity College racquet centre, Third place went to Bob McMeekin, who defeated Draper 3-1, The winner of last’ Draper. _ Season’s year-end tournament — Lennox . Brown — was upset in the opening round by **We're becoming a really good little club here, ’ Draper said after the tournament. _‘*We've got to the point where we'll be com- ’ .petitive with the likes of Prince Rupert, It’s becoming very popular — even with the kids.” ~ He said a junior club has been started, in- y volving about 15 kids between the ages of 10 and 14 on Saturday mornings, Meanwhile, this week, squash players from | around the northwest are converging on Kitimat for the 2nd Aluminum City invitational squash tournament. Competition wraps up on Sunday, with $6,000 in prizes at stake. The ‘tournament is expected.to draw some of the top-ranked players in the country. Boxers at Diamond Belt TERRACE — Two Terrace boxers were in Vancouver this week to fight at the provincial Diamond Belt boxing tourna-, ment, Darren Bell and Joey Losler left for the tournament on Fri- ’ day. The gloved duo won several . provincial-level dournaments last season, including first-place _ finishes in their divistons at. the Jr. .Golden . Gloves boxing champlonships in Vancouver tm. E week's paper, Ih ot re at - Watch ‘for resulis in next ° * Joey Losier nament in Smithers, _ She said,’ ed up in the top-four. tournaments. - the Nass Valley. © date. . SCHOOL WATCH Cal girls top tourney TERRACE — Caledonia's senior girls volleyball team crush- ed all their opponents at a recent high school volleyball tour- Team coach Susan Springer said the Terrace team defeated all four other schools at the Sept. 22 weekend tournament — Houston, Smithers, Hazelton and Bulkley Valley Christian School. The first-place finish marked the beginning of what the team hopes will be a strong season. ' “Weve got a really strong team this year — a lot of power- ful hitters ‘and spikers,'’ Springer said last week. “They really seem to work well together as a team.” , __.Next tournament for the Cal girls is Oct. 12-14 in Prince Rupert, she added; and then the team will be playing every - weekend until the Novy. 17 zone playoffs. . . -**We should have a really good chance at niaking the zones and going down to the: provincials at the end of November,” ’ Staff sponsor Tom Hamakawa .said the senior boys : - volleyball team also has high hopes for the season, ". “The-team just: ‘completed a tough provincial tournament at ° “UBC,-and picked up several wins in spite of tough competi- - tion, The Cal team defeated Howe Sound and Abbottsford before falling to Kelowna and Seaquam — both of, which end- (Thornhill riding high| TERRACE — Thornhill Jr. Secondary spikers led. the. school’s junior boys team to vietory, In two recent volleyball ' Coach Ken Pound sald ‘the team picked up tournament : wias at four-team out-of-town fourneys in Prince Rupert and He named rookie Denny King ‘and the team’ 8 veleran cap- “ tain Kirk Muller as the driving powers in the two victories to" “Denny’s been @ real bright | spot for me ‘80. far this “season,” Pound sald, ‘He's a complete newcomer, but he’s : “already built himself up to a starting position. j “Pound said Thornhill 3x, Secondary will: co-host,’ along “with Skeenw: dri: Secondary, a major junior girls. volleyball ue ~ tournament (his weekend, as well as ajunior boys tournament : Ringette champs need ice TERRACE — Whether a group of local girls are able to join a northern interior ringette league depends on whether they get more ice time, ringette coach Merrill Myers says. “We're hoping to join. But it will depend on the ice time-here in Terrace,”’ he said. ‘‘It’s dif- ficult ta practise on one hour of ° ice a week.” The number of players in- volved is up this year to around 25 and Myers said they want to link up with other ringette clubs ‘in*h Houston, “Birns'Lake, Vanderhoof- anid: Prince George on a regular basis:’ Terrace's junior ‘C’ ringetle team won the provincial ringette champion- ship last year in Osoyoos. . “We're scratching about to get more ice time,'’ Myers said, “but in a city where ice time is at a premium, it's not easy.” Last year; the ringette team ’ ‘relied on hockey organizers to tell them when unused ice time ‘was available, he said. But more regularly scheduled ice would be ~ needed to join. the league, he ad- ded. Myers said enough girls: are “involved to form a junior team ' — made up of mainly 14- and i5-year-olds — and a petite team of younger girls. r «the: ‘fomowing w weekend ee