Page B4 — Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 19, 1990 Sorry, old friend. Dear Dan, It’s been a long time since 1 wrote -you, though it doesn’t seem: that long, Please forgive me,’ but your last letter — the - one. that came inside the Christmas . card showing an eagle ' ‘ona branch set against a snowy, blue winter sky — was much appreciated. I put the card on my fly-tying bench as a reminder that it re- -quired' a prompt answer, Now, almost a year later, [’'m asham- ed to find it buried under a pile of feathers and unread Outdoor Canada magazines. It’s amazing how we so often find ourselves giving priority to so many trivial tasks and neglect the really important things, like maintaining a connexion with an old and cherished friend. Anyway, I’m glad to hear your life is back on the rails and that you’re enjoying your new position, but I'm not surprised you miss the fishing, here in . Skeena. We had some wonder- ful times, didn’t we? Remember that bluebird spr- ing day when, we drove the car as far as we could and then hik- ed a long four miles atop the - crusted snow to the canyon on Lakelse River? You were just - teaching yourself, how to tie flies. E still vividly recall you holding up an awkward creation with a ragged wool body and disproportionate raccoon fur wing: “I call it the. Lakelse Locomotive!” you proudly pro- claimed as I looked on skep- tically. He’il be lucky to.catch a whitefish, 1 thought. Then, to my utter amazement, you pro- ceeded to catch twice as many steelhead as I, The fishing sure was spec- tacular then, but that glorious water from the canyon to the Clay Pool is not the same The Skeena Angler | by Rob Brown anymore, There’s only a thin strip of old trees bordering the river now, the light shines through them, and more than a. few of the remaining giants are yielding to the strong outflow winds of winter, The roads that carried the loggers in and the trees out have made access easier for all, You don’t have to earn your way to the river anymore, and as a result fishermen of every description prowl the banks tossing lures, fishing with bait or floating bits of plastic. Bot- tles and garbage are a usual sight on the game trails now. I suspect the spring steelhead are undiminished but there are more people fishing for them so it’s longer between hookups. There are other changes too, The old, so-called decadent timber surrounding the Herman Creek parking lot are all gone. Blackened stumps and twisted limbs cover the area. The land- scape looks like it’s in pain — you wouldn't recognize it. Maybe it’s just my imagina- tion, but. the wind seems stronger there now and I’m sure I smell the acrid stench from the Eurocan pulp mill at Kitimat _- more ¢ often than I did when we suited up there in preparation to . journey forth after summer cut- throat or autumn steelhead. Half of Mount Herman is bare now: it looks grotesque. 1 drove as far up the logging. road ~ as the little diesel would take me one day last summer. Ii gave me an excellent view of the lake and the valley. You wouldn't believe it, Dan, the valley is a crazy quilt of clearcuts. Mot only the main river, but all the critical arteries — like White Creek and Col- dwater — are threadbare, The foresters are going to hold a meeting in Terrace on the 17th of January.to solicit public opinion on what should be done with the remaining trees, It's ‘hard to believe that anyone would ‘suggest compromising the watershed even more, But I guess this is what the companies and the Ministry of Forests see as integrated resource i ‘ager ‘over- . cut a priceless watershed — one whose ‘fisheries and wildlife values far outweigh the: short term bang for your buck pro- vided by logging :—~ then magnanimously offer to share the remainder. What was that old Joni Mitchell lyric? “You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone,”’ Or something. like that. Anyway, what ‘Tm trying to say Danny — and I don’t want to ‘sound inhospitable — is don't bother coming up to fish the Lakelse for ‘‘old times’ sake" as you suggest in your let- ter. Even I don’t fish it much anymore. It’s too much like visiting a dying friend, . Listen, Pll try’an “rustle up some plane fare and some time, and fly down to the big city. We'll go out to a nightclub or something. Merry Christmas, Rob JEFF NAGEL 638-7283 SPORTS NEWS _ TERRACE STANDARD © SPORTSCOPE Michelle the magnificent LEAGUE-LEADING scorer and Simon Fraser University Clan star centre Michelle Hendry was named district player-of-the-month for November, Hendry continues to lead Clan scoring — as well as the rest of the district. in fact, Clan head coach Alison McNeil said Hendry’s 27 point per game average is currently the third highest in the entire NAIA (National Association, of, Intgr- :collegiate’ Athletics) | natiqnal ‘collegé basketball: league.” High-flying Hendry has been named player of the month in district one before, McNeil said. ““She’s been playing really well,”’ she added. ‘‘She’s off to a really good start this year.” The Clan holds down first place in district play with a 1-0 league record. The team has a total of eight wins and three losses, stemming from exhibition games against NCAA teams. The team is touring this week in California. Cal girls blanked out CALEDONIA'S SENIOR girls volleyball team gave everything they had, but finished at the bottom in the provincial championships. The Cal girls came up with one.win against Eric Hamber ‘Secondary in Vancouver, but failed to win the match. They lost their remaining matches to end up on the consolation side and finish 16th out of 16 teams. “They really played their ‘hearts out," team coach Sue Springer said. “They really worked hard and had a good time down there.” _ Eleven local girls made the trip to the Nov, 28-30 provin- cials. . They had beaten Kitimat a month ago to win the zones and the right to represent the region at the provincials, Cross-country zone try-outs THE ZONE TRIALS for the cross-country ski events at the Northern B.C, Winter Games and the Kitimat Open will be held Saturday, Jan. 19, at the Onion Lake ski trails south of Lakelse Lake. Race time is 11 a.m. Please pre-register by phoning Sue Thorne .at 632-7632. Registration will also be ac- cepted. at 10° a.m, on race any. STRONG STROKES: Twelve-year-old Dave Vanderlee powers his way across the pool en route to a third-place aggregate finish at the Terrace Bluebacks’ Dec. 7-9 swim meet at the local aquatic centre. Blueback swim club tops own meet Contributed Terrace Biueback swimmers hosted a well- organized Terrace invitational meet, and swam well enough to win the event, The Terrace swimmers turned in a 768 total ag- gregate performance, edging out Prince Rupert's 707 score. The Kitimat Marlins claimed third with 543 points, while the Prince George Bar- racudas were fourth with 491 and the Masset Eagles took fifth with 65. Local swimmers topped many events and col- lected a pack of aggregate awards. Tori MacKenzie won gold in senior girls, while Aimee Peacock — who broke the 30-second bar-. tier in her 50-metre freestyle swim — earned 4 gold in girls 13- and 14-year-old competition. In age 7 and 8 girls, Adrey Erb placed second for a silver, and Lisa Gardiner added-another silver to the Terrace tally with her aggregate medal in the 11- and 12-year-old girls division. . Nine- and 10-year-old boys competition saw Garth Coxford take the gold, with Clint Shep. a pard right behind him for the silver... 0 -- Dave Vanderlee placed third. In: the We and. 12-year-old boys division, and. Matt Clarabut also put in.a bronze performance in 13- to 14-year-old boys competition. Terry Llewellyn was second in senior. boys. Terrace’s seven-. and eight-year-old girls freestyle relay team also set a new pool record in that event in a time of 3:35.19. On the record- breaking team were Audrey Erb, Megan Corp, Jennifer Vanderlee and Randee Armstrong. A number of Blueback rookies competing for their first time put in good efforts at the meet, Congratulations to Randee Armstrong, Mikael Jensen, Tristen Brown, Sarah Thompson, Kyla Rice, Donelle Iamelle, Carrie Dupas, Renatta Wilson, and Clayton Thomas-Muller. Organizers called the meet the best they’ve ever hosted here, crediting parental support and volunteers, billeting and coaching. The next event In local swimming action Is a Christmas holiday training camp, followed by the age 10-and-undet: Mighty Tyke tournament - “Jan. 26-27— the final i meet prior t to ‘the Northern B. c. Winter Games, : : a storm Cal TERRACE — The rains came from the west and so did the Rainmakers. Prince Rupert Senior Secon- dary school’s senior boys basketball team flooded Caledonia’s Kermode boys with a deluge of baskets and re- bounds two weekends ago, seriously dampening spirits in the Cal gym. In the end the Makers hand- ed the Terrace boys a 94-72 defeat, a bitter pill after the Kermodes nearly beat Co- quitlam, thie third-ranked team -. in the province, in their season opener. Prince Rupert’s Ralph Bright powered the way to the Rain- maker victory with a 21-point performance. And on the girls’ side of the court the news wasn’t any better for Caledonia, where the senior girls were dropping a 51-42 deci- sion to the PRSS Rainbirds. The Terrace girls held a 26-16 lead going into the second half, but the Rainbirds outscored them 18-4 in the fourth quarter to steal it back. Rochelle Pelletier led Caledonia ~ scorings:-with 21 points, while Prince Rupert’ r) Joanna Vieira scored 31 for the *Birds. More diamonds? TERRACE — Terrace Minor Baseball representatives are looking for the city’s approval to begin developing a new ball .park on the bench with up to eight baseball diamonds. The ball park would be built on city property at the end of North Eby street on the bench and on an adjacent school district property, said city parks and recreation superintendent Steve Scott. The diamonds would be built with pitching mounds, and regulation distance fences for baseball — not softball — use. Scott said Terrace Minor Baseball wants to begin with construction of two or three diamonds and washrooms on the city property. It could slow- ly be developed to five diamonds on the city property, he said, and later an eventual three more on the school district property if the city were to ac- quire that parcel of land. ‘They don’t have any money for it right now,’* Scott said, “but I gather they would start chasing that after getting ap- proval.”” Terrace Minor Baseball cited heavy use of the diamonds at Elks Park by both minor | baseball and minor softball teams in their request for the new park development. Wednesday. the entire nation last year, Terrace was in 1976, _ for Saunders, course; Saunders added. to wea het ; Bowler throws a perfect 450 TERRACE — Greg Saunders figures he leapt high enough to touch the rafters at the Terrace bowling lanes last The veteran bowler rolled a perfect 450 — 12. consecutive « _ strikes — in his regular Wednesday night league game to. make five-pin bowling history at the lanes. “T'm still basically up on Cloud 9,"’ Saunders sald after the perfect game. ‘I’ve probably thrown 40,000 games, since I was 15, and this was the first time. Everybody's a been congratulating me all week long." ‘ Only one other 450 has ever been bowled at the Terrace lanes and only 13 of ihe rare perfect games were thrown in Saunders said lanes officials belleve his was the first thrown in B.C, this year. The only other 450 ever rolled In 7 And ance he played it under regulation match coud! tions, the game has meant quite the pre-Christmas windfall He claimed $1,000 cash and more than $250 in’ gift ce tificates and prizes from lanes sponsors. It also got him in- - to a draw with any other provincial 450 bowlers for an airline flight for two anywhere in the world. .-: “7 guess It's what you would call good timing," he bald. The perfect game also means he now has a defence when : his father talks about his two holes-in-one on the golf a He tays he'll never forget the final moment, “When ¢ threw that twelfth strike, I was probably.16 feet offthe ©” ground,” he sald. ‘*It was a personal dream conie: thie. ‘Bat. to me the most imaportand cng was fet my wil there,