4 beast . ' * Because of their elemental simplicity, myths are often the most striking and powerful of all stories. Every culture has them and, as mythologists are quick to point out, the themes of these tales are surprisingly similar, Thus, the Gitksan storytellers dig deep into their oral archives and recount the tragic episode of the young, well-fed hunters who shot mountain goats they did not need, and left the car- casses of the animals to rot, A short time later, the story goes, the guardians of the goat, the Mountain Goat people, climbed from the precipitous slopes of the mountains overlooking K’san, sought out the brash young hunters and in- vited ‘them to partake in a wonderful feast to be held high up on the rocky ramparts where the mountain goat make their home. ‘hunters Page B BG - _ Terrace Standard, Wednesday; Mav 9. saan Taking directic It comes as no great surprise that the feast never came about. Before reaching the site of the proposed banquet, the Moun-. tain Goat people who, because of their superior agility were far above the young avenged their slaughtered brothers by rolling the first boulders of a slide that ~~ “buried their murderers. Similarly, there is a Nisga'a myth featuring another group of aboriginal. juvenile delin- quents. who decided to have a little fun torturing salmon with torches. For their perverse games the Nisga’a lads were rewarded, along with the rest of the Nass Valley peoples with an even more spectacular punish- ment than their. Gitksan counterparts. According to the legend, the crusty lava lying on the floor of the Nass Valley is mute testimony to the magnitude of nature’s On The Skeena displeasure at that particular sin, Myths are not just fables _— they also serve to inform suc- cessive generations. [t is not sur- prising then, that legends warn- ing against waste and the abuse of nature are universal, and the punishment for transgressors harsh, Through myth, previous generations can tell a people they are part of and dependent -upon the natural world for sur- | vival, Last Thursday, the leaders of the Haisla nation hopped in their cars and four-wheel drives and, together with other band “members and invited guests, drove to the Kitimat River with the express purpose of gill- netting steelhead. «3. The. Haisla don’t need any more fish flesh since the Depart- ment of Fisheries and’ Oceans permits them to fish seven days a week, 165 days a year with a ‘net not to exceed 50 fathoms’’ in the salty waters near their village. The Haisla are gill-.- netting steelhead at the peak of the run io make a point. It seems the band has unear- thed a document dated the third oF May, 1890, wherein Mr, . Peter O'Reilly — the Indian Reserve Commissioner of the - time — tells how he explained . “‘the benefits they would derive’ from having their reserves: ‘i defined’ to Chief Tsin-a-het-.. _ (Solomon) and the other native . People gatliered in the Kitimaat Village schoolhouse. O'Reilly assured the Kitimaats ‘‘that their right to hunt, and fish elsewhere as of old would sur- vive,*? The Haisla broadly interpret the commissioner’s remarks to _ Mean they have been granted the right to fish where, how and when they want to, determine how ‘the catch, shall be distributed and decide who will fish; The steelhead gill-net fishery i is just the first step in the exercise of those rights. Since the dawning of the so- “many aboriginal peoples in‘th their desire \ ‘aboriginal claim by successive -; provincial governments. their doo. the Haisla ‘tie a: watched thé forest“ ‘mining jin ‘their: valley - arid: industrial: . growth combined to dramatical- ly. reduce the once, abundagt a ge hatchery; i add to ie: frustrations, the" Haisld slikeiso province, have been thwarted.in “fo” settle their But there are better ways to make a political. point than at the expense -of the Kitimat steelhead, a fish with enough troubles of its own. The Haisla mythology, like that of other aboriginal peoples, surely has something to say about the abuse of nature. Gerald. Amos ‘and the other leaders of the Haisla should listen for the voices of their ancestors. SPORTS NE JEFF NAGEL 638-7283 | WS TERRACE STANDARD CALUM’S CORNER As the Stanley Cup teams headed into the conference Jinals last week, hockey widows and children deprived of their nightly dose of American. sit- coms breathed small sighs of — relief at the thought the end is almost nigh. : However, there is still a long way to *o HOF Vio of the poolsters=whose, fortunes: this... column has been following. Chicago dispatch St. Louis — for Stacy, it’s meat; for Martin, poison,.The disappearance of Brett Hull, the playoff’s leading point-getter at that stage, and team-mate Oates extinguished what slight. hopes of victory Martin may have yet har- boured. Left only with Kurri, Poulin, Ridley, Courtnall and an in- jured ‘Ciccarelli, he now joins Earl on the sidelines as a crest- ‘fallen spectator. The pool is now a head-to- head contest between Carl and Stacy and it is begining to look as if it will go right down to the wire. Like the Cheshire Cat he was so ably imitating only ten days earlier,.Carl's confident smile has’ slowly faded as Stacy, helped by the quick advance of Edmonton, relentlessly closed the gap through the divisional finals: ° “It. disappeared completely when, with all Carl's players sit- ting waiting for the next round, a final salvo from Denis Savard, Steve Larmer and Doug Wilson “eatapulted Stacy into a two -point lead. -: &dd Neely, Janney, Propp to that trio and Carl could see he faced an uphill battle. (For the record, ‘Stacy also has Bob Sweeney left, but with only one point so far his presence | does not exactly inspire fear and ” tdembling.) “That left Carl relying on . ‘Messier and Tikkanen to con- tinue racking up the points, Klima to wake up and two Bruins, Bourque and Carpenter, trying to match point-for-point the perfor- “mtance of team-mates held by ‘Stacy! At press time they were fall- ‘ing. well short of that goal and the gap was widening. “However, hope springs cter- nal in-the breast of a dedicated " poolster. If the current series progress according to Hoyle, all five of Carl's players will be : playing in the fina/ finals, giving ‘him. a one (okay, we forgot Sweeney — make that two) ‘player ‘advantage. - Will it then be Stacy’s turn to twist j in the wind as Carl enjoys eating away al his lead? Stay tuned. a ae PLAY BALL! season. WITH A windmill delivery, bantam girls softball pitcher Lisa Van Hulle proves she stilf has it. Hulle and Dawn Thompson (on first base) -- of the North Coast Ravens — are already locking ahead to the Summer Games. The Ravens, who were too strong for the rest of the local teams last year, have been split up among various other bantam teams for regular league play this year. Last Thursday's game was their second of the thmen rugby ‘team year, But that’s exactly what happened April 29, and the 16-10 defeat had Ter- race players blaming everything from early season jitters to the rare clear sun- ny skies over Prince Rupert that day. Northmen spokesman Dave Hull said the largely rookie Prince Rupert team demonstrated more consistency than the Northmen. echt LO tenet fame vt he RAPID-FIRE play kept Gino lamele and Dave Fraser-on the mov - during their squash playoff game two weekends ago. “We had more talent on the field, but they gelled together better,’’ he said, “Rugby is a game of errors, and we cer- tainly had a few, A few bad bounces, a few mistakes and you can lose a game, But there's nothing like a good Joss to humble ourselves a bit.’? The ball seemed to. .move vast distances up and down the field for no ‘apparent pre-determined reason. 12-4, Terrace opened the scoring after a lengthy offensive attack when J.P. Dodd crossed the try line for four points. The try went unconverted, and the Northmen carried the 4-0 lead | through to halftime. The humbling began early in the se- cond half, however, with Prince Rupert capitalizing on a penalty try and suc- cessfully converting it to take a 6-4 lead. It was a lead they would not give up, as Rupert went on to score again off a penalty in the Terrace zone to go ahead — Squash pionship. -. -» The Terrace swinger took the top spot by ; beating David Fraser, the number three seed, in . ‘the final match. Fraser pushed it to the limit,. _ forcing a tie-breaker that Brown fi finally won by a 9-7 score. . Fraser had earned the berth in the final by his upset victory over the tournament's top-seeded ~ player — ‘Gino Jamele —ona 10-9 tie-breaker win. Famele, finished in fourth place, bowing to. Gra Holkestad who defeated him to. take. - thir “o> ‘The club held the annual year-end spting: ; _ tournament at the squash court at Northwest ‘Community. College: : ‘ La Organizer Brian Draper sa sald the © Increasing fea | Pere | messi a tenn The Northmen came ative late in the game to make it.close. A Doug Wilson’ try — which he cqnverted himself.—. put: In a series of hard-fought games “two weekends ago, number two-seeded Lennox -Brown knocked off the competition to claim the "Terrace Squash Society’s 1990 squash cham- win. Brown claims title | TERRACE — quetball. growing,. it in Terrace,” : FI.) spar “A Wel're just desperate for aot court herb Fitness challenge isued TERRACE — ‘Kick Up Your Heels” is the slogan, and May 25th to June 3rd are the dates, With winter a distant memory and bikes now crowding the streets, focal organizers of Fitweck are urging those of us who haven’t gat involved yet to fi kk 4 along ate chem Bihis year willbe Terrace’s second Cor- porate Cup on May 30 — the day local businesses encourage their employees to participatein some physical activity for a minimum 15 minutes. Prizes are to be awarded for the highest percentage of par- ticipation and ihe largest umber of participants. And, prize or not, everyone who par- ticipates comes out a winner. The whole cily will again be competing against Prince Rupert and Kitimat in the an- nual Fitness Challenge. The en- tire community with the most participants on May 30 wins. Northmen fall i In rugby opener | PR. RUPERT -- Losing to Prince Rupert on the season opener was a tough pill to swallow for the Terrace Nor- which was undefeated in regular season play last them within two points. ” A hurry-up offensive : ‘came close . ” several times to giving Terrace the lead, - but. an unconverted ‘tryin the dying: minutes cemented Prince Rupert's 16-10" Hull credited Prince Rupert, with | hanging on despite a one-man Terrace advantage through most of the second. half after a Prince Rupert penalty. Referee Adrian Enright called the penal- . ty for unsportsmanlike conduct, sending a-clear signal such behaviour. “won't be. ‘tolerated. er popularity of squash is forcing the club to uy! coe to find more courts to use.» pes! “The court (at NWCC) i is booked solid through the squash season,’' a very enthusiastic club and we're at the Point. a where we need another court.” < The college's fitness centre has two racquet. courts — one for squash, and the other for rage he explained. “It's But because it's difficult to.r run,a full tourns: 7 ment on one Court, the club is trying.to have acl _ portable wall built, which would enable them to , also use the racquetball court, * 7 He said-a local-architect is don _ design the wail, and the club is hopi © support from the coltege for the’ plats: There “at least 35.active squash playeis:in Tertace, ~., Draper sald, and that number is continually ing to get.