PAGE 6 ju s Sore thumbs. ne a BY RICK MUNRO en if ever you chance to speak with a modern day hitchhiker in British Columbia never mention or even remotely utter any. words dealing with Highway 16 west, This section of road stretching from Prince George through Terrace to Prince Rupert apparently rings a sad bell for yetyan. hikers of the area and you are certainly fixing for a swift thumb in the eye if you enter upon any dialogue over the matter. Spokesmen from the Cool Aid lodging and feeding centre in Prince George this month said that many summer hikers staying here over night are raising their thumbs in anger and bitter protest over the regular sland-offish techniques” applied by motorist using the western section of road. “Sure,” one irate hiker started, “they will zip by with new campers and trailers and man they just regard us as part of the scenery,”* Other veterans of the road say that scenery is not quite the word used to describe themselves and that “roadside amusement shrines” would be more fitting, “T have often had to dodge some maniac driver who obviously gels his daily kicks from steering the frant hood of his Volkswagen at an innocent hitchhiker or two and then finishing the thing off waving peace signs. It kind of shakes-your nerves.” Driving a Volkswagen myself I collected these comments and others too gruesome for print as I made my fifth journey in lwo years over the slretch of pavement in mention, Driving this road either to or from my job at the Terrace Herald brought me in contact with many successful and not so successful hikers. With all the luggage space a Volkswagen can offer I still experienced difficulty at the beginning of my most recent journey in finding someplace {o sit after all my necessary gear had been packed. This lack of available car space excluded me from being a larget of the hitchhikers protest and although a collection of suilcases and card board boxes offer little in the way of conversation the situation presented me with the chance to be objective in every journalistic sense of the word. Speaking with hikers at overnight hostels, gas filling stations aud cafe restaurants I became a liltle more road conscience and aware of the bad reputation hikers particularly give our norihwestern route, Leaving Smithers one morning last week caught mein a slight Stale of forgetfullness. ‘ I'd spent approximately a half hour traveling and close to another hour in stopping and managing something to eat when I came to a startling realization. The realization was indeed startling because literally it formed the shape of my chief Piece of luggage which had been forgotten at my previous night's lodging quarters and which conlained several valuable pairs of under shorts and overpants, , T retraced the mornings drive back to Smithers and just outside the town limits I noliced three lonely hitchhikers who - had not moved one inch from the roadside space ] had earlier seen them occupying. Nol setting any time qualifying records in recovering my luggage 1 returned to the highway and again saw the three melancholy thumbs. . A total lapse of three hours had not turned their facial expressions any closer to satisfaction and even the periods of drizzling rain seemed to point to their doom. I could only stop my car after seeing them for a third time and 10 this day I apologise for misleading their hopes for a ride--if I am at all responsible for such a deed. T explained my situation and they in turn gave a low Spirited reply. | Two members of the party were young females, The third, a man in his middle twenties, wiped the rain drops from his forehead and expressed shock over the lack of rides, ; He’ described ‘the stretch’ of road leading west of Prince George as being a thumb disaster. He said a female is usually the surest bait for luring motorists but (here just does not appear to beany suckers on the road. From Vancouver through to Alberta his tactics prospered for miles and it was not until Highway 16 that he and the girls began: doubting their choice of direction. , _ Whereas the thumb is considered a valid ticket for traveling in the lower mainland of B.C. and across Canada's main west-east highway system it is often considered invalid around the Terrace area, if at all considered. The southern roadways are congested with transients, Scatlered along the roadsides they appear to be in no sel age categories. Thro Though the majority of hikers I’ve encountered this year have filled the young pre-college group, others have ranged from babies in papoose type haversacks to grey haired grandfather lype locking gentlemen carrying walking sticks. Rides seem to be plentiful in the south but do not quite match the number of requests, The hikers I have met have no real positive answers as lo the causes of poor hiking in this area however, They say the ralio of. vehicles to hikers here is equal to the southern figure bul still there are more sore thumbs being raised in anger up here. One boy from Toronto enroute toPrince Hupert said coming to this area is somewhat similar to revisiting the roads of Saskatchewan. ; . He claimed that either B.C. drivers were as prone to ignore {he majority of hikers as were Saskatchewan motorists this summer or the problem here is simply that Saskatchewan lourisis compose 4 main stream of traffic, Some hikers have a theory which couid correlate motoris(s of the twa ‘provinces. They say that the few news tragedies involving hitchhiking (including robbery, rape and various KITSELAS CANYON, the most treacherous spot along the Skeena River, is also one of the mast beautiful, At this site, a Hroup af archaeologists are looking for artifacts relating to the history of the Tsynisian Indians in this area,’ “400 blood donors. | ».-meeded each day | “The: Red’ “Cross "Blood ‘Transfusion service is going int: /o-it's twenty-fifth year: in Canada with the first blood clinic held in Vancouver, . British Columbia in-1947, |. _ Since then the need for blood and blood products has grown ‘enormously as stirgical and me- dical, techniques have developed and populations in our ' communities have increased. Blood donors have to retire at age 65 and of course more and more willing and devoted donors are reaching that age ons there is a constant ti.cn-over in most clinics, [t has been suggested that each one of us be responsible for another donor when we attend a clinic. In this by retiring or “on the move" donors will keep the cut up to guota at the blood bank. To illustrate the growth of this life-giving service it now takes 1900 ‘donors a week or approximately 400 donors a day fo take care of the 30,00 patients a year in B.C. - Yukon increase af patients comes about also in the use of bload fractions, for example, haemophiliacs use 17,000 units of Factor 8 a year. This is another modern use for blood. | : Consent, boys-may donate at! each year—others are on the | move and for many other reas- | way the new donors that are so Ji necessary to fill inthe gaps left J“3 who have need of blood, This. THURSDAY, JULY 29, # among the many that have beg ‘ discovered through researc : aid and extend life. ’ If you are between the ages 18 and. 65, or with andl are in good health, you 4m contribute to this miracle flues Give life - give blood, He oe “When your ‘don't know whi } to tunto..& TURN 10. US Witte CONFIDENCE ~ FUNERAW ‘Phone 638-2444 Perera name! 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This sport offers more danger than hilchhiking bul they say if you are out of bread and your thumb is unseen, your roadside | a | Pleas unheard, how in the world doyou travel or find work, by All of my acquaintances agreed that there is no guarantee ot . hitching a ride everytime. | - . : Maybe a forehead sticker illustrating thai you as a hitchhiker | have passed a national Hitchhikers Examination or have: ” - attained the Good Hitchhiking Seal of Approval might prove a successful for unlucky hikers. on « pn'ich packages, one to make up for the "fridge", one to keep handy when ..__ __ everyone shouts "more". a6 O a I'm sure if the federal government made drastic moves ii” . changing the hikers around: with the motorists the whole . problem could be - mo, -_f'm sure if the federal government made drastic moves in changing the hikers around with the motorists: the ‘whole 4. .< ‘problem could be easily ard quickly solved. 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