B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 21, 2003 SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN ward earth, SKEENA ANGLER | ROB BROWN * Taimen 6 oan looked up from her magazine and glanced at Billy. He was gazing out the window, watching the baggage handlers scurry around the tarmac. There was dull thumping in the belly of the jet. The last of the passengers were taking their seats, A portly man plunked awkwardly into the seat next to her, “Sorry,” he said as his elbow hit hers. Joan pulled her arm away. “Tt’s fine,” she said, but it wasn’t really. His upper arm was pressing into her shoulder. She wanted to pull away but couldn’t. She squirmed, trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable, a feat she quickly realized was probably impossible given the irritatingly small seats. As the flight attendant went through her panto- mime, the portly gent continued to work at get- ting comfortable. Joan turned to give him a pointed look, Before she could he looked at her and smiled. His smile was all mouth — yellowed teeth with overly long incisors slanting backwards from overuse, Joan guessed, and thin, papery lips the colour of onion peel. The eye twinkle that ane- mic smile desperately needed was absent. In- stead there was a dull glint on the metal part of the marbled plastic and meta! frames that Joan — recalled from the time, 10 years ago, when she clerked in the optical department of a large drug store chain to pay rent and college tuition. The frames were out of style even then. The man had half a head of straight gray hair combed. ‘severely back in’ a (vain: attempt? to _ _ cover his’ tonsure. “ etd or He was wearing a rumpled gray suit the same vintage as his glasses and a florid Hawaiian shirt open at the neck to expose a gilt chain that barely girded his thick neck. “Where you off to?” he asked. Joan smelled something that reminded her of burning rubber. “Vancouver then Tokyo,” replied Joan, imme- diately regretting having mentioned the Japa- nese capital, a likely conversation starter. “Tokyo, eh. The littke woman and I went there in ‘68, for the Olympics.” Joan noticed a silver crucifix in the man’s lapel. The plane left the runway. Joan felt as if a firm but gentle hand was pushing her into the back of her seat. “Too crowded for me. I’m a small town boy. What're ya goin’ to Japan for?" Trapped now, Joan smiled politely. “Uh...fishing.” The man cocked his head and raised his left eye, “Well, we’re not fishing in Japan. We're stop- ping over there briefly then going to Seoul.” “They have sport fishing in Korea?” “No. We're only stopping there too. We’re going to Mongolia.” Joan realized that this last statement had done nothing to relieve the man’s puzzlement. “Taimen — they have ‘a salmon called Taimen in Mongolia — they’re the biggest salmon in the world.” “We have wonderful salmon fishing where I come from,” said the portly guy, seizing the opportunity to turn the conversation to familiar ground. “Yep, some of the best in the world -— well, at least, it used to be good back when I was mayor. But in the last few years it’s gone down- hill quite a bit.” Joan was tempted to ask why, but didn’t, in hopes of terminating the conversation. It didn’t matter, the man volunteered the information anyway. “Some people say the fishermen who net the mouth of the river took too many for too many years. There were fish farms on the coast too. The Greens — the environmentalists — blamed thern...” “The farms?" “And the loggers — blamed the loggers for cut- ting down too many trees — claimed they wrecked the little streams where the baby sal- mon grow up.” “Oh,” said Joan, fearing the conversation was about to take a sharp and ignorant turn. “If you ask me, though, it’s them seals, more seals than ¢ver before. They’re eating all the salmon. But it don’t matter much anymore any- way. We got oil deposits off the coast. All we gotta do is tap into them and we’re all gonna get rich. The Lord is. good. He believes in growth.” , Before either Joan, or Billy, who was listening - incredulously now too, could say anything, the lights went. out, and: the aircraft plummeted. to- To be continued. TERRACE STANDARD 638-7283 Mi Let ‘er rip Stephanie Fletcher unleashes a pitch during a May 13 Terrace Sawmills. Team Canadian Tire won this one by a close score Mincr Fastball game between Ganadian Tire and Skeena of 14-12. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO Northmen 7 5 2 if numbers need a boost RUGBY ain’t what it used to be — at least not in Ter- face, says team organizers. This year’s rugby club said. But this is an opti- tmistic goal as even finding enough people for two teams of seven has been 8:00 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Northwest Community College, with no out of town games : quired for a game. has had a shortage of play- tough. ers due to declining inter- est, says Northmen spokesman David Hull. “Rugby has waned in past years and we're hop- ing for some revitiliza- tion,” he said, So far, the Tuesday and Thursday practices have consisted of less than the minimum of 14 players re- interest. join the team. said. “We hope to form three teams with a minimum of seven on each side,” Hull Players suggested the growing popularity of soc- cer may have stifled some But there is still time to “The beauty of this pro- gram is it really opens it up for new players,” Hull Hull added that rugby is a good choice of sport for people who don’t want to commit to travel. Practises are from 6:30- scheduled. “We're going to work on really balancing the teams,” he said. A home and away game might be looked into with more sup- port. Experience isn’t neces- sary to play the game. “All you need is a pair of cleated ‘shoes,” Hull said, Anyone 16 years or older is invited to come out. For details call David Hull at 638-1327, Ladies post speedy ymkhana THE LADIES dominated .the Mother's Day gymkhana at the Thornhill Commun- ity Grounds posting the fastest times in all five events and also broke some best times set April 27, says Totem Saddle Club secretary Marly Cox. Senior rider Amy Hayduk posted the fastest time in pole bending with 24.038 seconds, beating the previous time by al- most a full second. She also nabbed top spot inring spearing in just 9,448 sec. _ Senior rider Lyn Lavoie continues to beat her own times in barrels posting a time of 16.638 seconds. She also claimed the fastest time in figure eight, with ‘19.498 seconds. Flag picking went to Amy Hayduk with a 9.616 second time. “The masters group has grown to 11 ri- ders but Dan Muller took all the first place ribbons,” says Cox. In Junior A Brittany Johnson nabbed four first place ribbons riding Buck — ring spearing in 17.725 and flag picking in just 13.318. In the figure eight her time was 22.170, and poles was 37.828. Junior B rider Neoma Patterson on ‘Chance, once again swept all five events : with times of 14.294 in rings, 13.697 in flag, 21.518 in figuee eight, 30.972 in poles and 18,390 in barrels. In Junior C Michaila Heighington took first in barrels, poles, and figure eight and Joey Muller on Nevada took first in rings in 18.405. “Junior D was the competition of the -. Katrinas,” says Cox. ‘Katrina Fisher tock all five first place “ribbons again,” but her competition this _time-was° Katrina Friesen: who took four. times second place finishes, . “Lead Line is becoming a heated group,” Cox says, adding the young riders are keep encouraging leaders to go faster, Jennifer Rempel and Amanda Stella took first in rings, Jennifer and Kalen Re- mpel took first in flag and in poles, new rider Desiree Roun and Kalen took first in figure eight, Kalen took first in barrels with Jennifer second and Amanda third. “Some of these riders may start riding without being led so they can pick up some faster times,” Cox adds. Clear round days saw seven riders turn out with Nancy Hogue, Amy Hayduk, and Maureen completing all six rounds with no rails dawn. Greg Wilson only missed one rail in his six rounds. Kelsey. Mon- aghan managed five clear rounds. Fillers are now required under the jump rail which made: the jumps a little different May 11. “Some of.the horses may have found them a liltle scary but they got used to them.” The club's newest event, percentage days, saw nine riders riding the tests ran- ging from Intro to F4. Nancy Hogue rode Juno in-F4 receiving a percentage of 58,3, Kirsty Evans on Tegan did Training Test 1 and 2 and received 59 and 57.3 percent. Lynne Eastman was back riding and rode the Intro test on Kaledun receiving 53,6 percent: Natasha. Candelora. judged the ‘event = pointing. out how. td improve their tests, Po | Biking Shames Mountain Hill Climb May 4, 2003 Peewe ver Kurt Gasser DNF Terrace * Minime 1989-90 Mattias Muller 1:01:53 Terrace Stephen Chapman = 1:02:15 Terrace Cadet 1987-88 Skye Jonas 42:35 Hazelton Jeff Chapman 50:07 Terrace Jesse Shaasby 51:42 Terrace Junior 1985-86 Kristian Gough 47:27 Terrace Tyler Sheasby 49:58 Terrace Olivier Drouin 51:08 Terrace Senior 1964-84 Gralg Richey 41:20 Smithers Peter Krause 42:06 Smithers Jon Lambert 45:31 Terrace Veteran Men 1954-63 Willie Muller 50:47 Terrace Ernie Hidber 1:06:04 Terrace n e Rod Freeman 52:43 Terrace Bruce Chapman 1:10:00 Terrace JEFF BARNETT works on the rear axle of #10 hobby after it was broken during the B Hobby heat. Racing action wows crowd HUNDREDS of fans packed the stands at the Terrace Speeday May Lf for the first side-by-side racing of the season. Bobby Barnett won the B Hobby shootout in car #10 only to lose a rear tite in the heat race. “He was coming out of corner number four when the’ axle broke and one of his rear tires took off down the track,” says fellow driver Debby Reinhardt. “I was ra- cing right behind Bobby and had to do some quick -man- +, euvering to avoid hitting the rolling tire.” ‘The next race day is this Saturday with the Street. ‘offering helpful hints’ to. the riders by - Challenge. See next week's issue for fll em race day re~ sults.