»

G

PARTING SHO

JEFF NAGEL 7
A northerner. no more

T WAS with much trepidation that | rode north |

ona B.C? ferry more than 15 years ago to take a
job at this newspaper.” ° ad
There was the pitching of the boat, which

“seemed sure to go down just off Port Hardy. .

Then there were the many unknowns — such as
my new editor, who hired me over the phone sight
unscen, straight out of journalism school.

His name was Rod Link. He struck me as a master
schmoozer who first loosened you up then precisely
dissected what he was and wasn’t being told. Kind of
a used car salesman crossed with a brain surgeon.

He probably wore loud suits, I decided, and he
was certainly bald. I resigned myself to the likeli-
hood he would demand I chop off my long hair.

When I walked in the door I discovered my new
editor sported. longer locks and a bigger beard than
mine. (He still does.)

It was just the first of many surprises “the north
held in store:

My editor, I would learn n, is something of a genius

in our business.

Rod Link is the Wayne Gretzky of community
journalism. Anyone fortunate,cnough to skate with
him will put a lot of pucks in the net — and be the
envy of everyone in the league... —

He gave me free rein to cover the most fascinat-
ing stories in northern B.C.

In 1990, I was sent to ride ona helicopter north ©

to New Aiyansh. In the chopper ahead of me was
Social Credit premier Bill Vander Zalm. ,

The premier was ‘going to end a century of denial
and formally bring B.C. into negotiations toward a
treaty — the province’s first in modern history — with
-the Nisga’a.

It was a day of staggering celebration - and one
that would be replayed again over the years as the
actual treaty was negotiated and then ratified amid a
firestorm of political controversy. Some elders I met
that day would not live to see the final triumph. I
counted myself lucky to be a witness to history.

Another day of drumming, singing and dancing
in 1992 marked the raising of one of the first modern
totem poles in Gitwinksihlkw, the work of master
carver Alver Tait. i

At the feast, gifts were distributed in accordance
with Nisga’a custom. I got a baseball hat and a tow-
el, as did a couple of vacationing white seniors from
Houston. The young Nisga’a man at our table pa-
tiently explained the procecdings to them.

When he reccived his gift-—a jar of oolichan
grease — they videotaped his description of how the
oily fish are caught and rendered into pungent oil.
He opened the lid and handed them the jar to smell.
Then he whipped up his own video camera to record
their wrinkled-nose reaction and my laughter.

The same night I was asked to give a very young
Nisga’a couple a ride back south to Terrace. Thanks |
to the young woman’s sharp eyes, I saw my first and
‘only live Kermode bear in the wild.

If it wasn’t the Nisga’a talks, it was the Gitxsan
land claim court case, the cancellation of Alcan’s
Kemano Completion Project and, later, the collapse
of Skeena Cellulose.

The whole thing made this young reporter giddy.

Northern characters fascinated me.

People like Mighty Moe kept storming the office
demanding we take up their causes.

One day a fax arrived from a-hermit named Tom
Taggart, who lived near the border between Stewart

~ and Hyder, He wanted to-alert us that he was bracing

for an imminent RCMP attack.

“As with the Weavers of Idaho and the Branch
Davidians of Waco.” his fax read, “the Taggart com-
pound will be defended against the all- -pervasive fas-
cist menace.”

Another summer. our newsroom played host to a ©

strange 80-year-old man who claimed to be a former
reporter with the Toronto Telegram. :

Bob Reed said he was buildizg a ralt-to sail, down
ihe Skeena. He did. and although he was another
handful for police. I decided I wanted to be like Bob
when I grow up. ~

The northwest landscape was another wonder.

I canoed the Skeena. Kayaked the Charlottes.
Hiked the mountains. Smoked salmon with my
friend Claude. And crawled through the caves. be-
neath the volcano in the Nass lava beds.

One day my friend Henry and I were fishing from
his canoe in Work Channel when a grey whale sur-
faced right in front of us, close enough to touch. We
nearly fell out of the boat.

_ Fl remember all of it. Especially the litde things
like mecting evervone in Safeway and steering wheel
finger waves at the Old Bridge.

I don’t know if I deserved to hog this region and
its news for so long.

But I can tell you I'm sure going to miss it.

I’ve taken a new job with our company’s newspa-
pers in the Vancouver area.

A new young reporter is on his way north to Ter-
race to experience the wilds of northwestern B.C.

His name is Dustin Quezada. Treat him well, Ter-
race. And thanks. everyone, for everything.

iy
\

TERRACE STANDARD

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - B1

vn

638-7283

THE VISUALLy stunning House of Fiying Daggers is just one critically acclaimed movie coming ‘to Terrace | in the coming months.

Quirky films light up. the big screen.

HOUSE OF FLYING Daggers, the visually
arresting martial arts romance that’s being hailed
as a masterpeice, Kevin Spacey’s tribute | to ‘60s

crooner Bobby Darin, and the The Merchant of

Venice, starring acting powerhouses Al Pacino,
Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes, are all coming
to the big screen at a theatre near you.

*  They’re three of the five remaining titles in the
Terrace Not Paris Film Festival,continuing at the
Tillicum Twin Theatres on the last Wednesday of
the month to June.

But first, get ready for Beyond The Sea set for
March 23. Director, actor and singer (who knew’)
Kevin Spacey wowed audiences at its premiere at
the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.

B Drama daze

CALEDONIA Senior Secondary drama students Derek Lovell, Jay Ross and Roxann Jalbert
star in the upcoming performance of Give the Bishop My Faint Regards. The one-act play

tells the tale of two playwrights who haggle over who came up with the famous-.line, ‘

House of Flying Daggers, a martial arts epic
set. in China’s Tang Dynasty of 859 B.C., plays”
on April 27.

One critic described it as a feast in 1 blood, pas-
sion and silk brocade.

With action scenes as breathtaking as they
are beautiful (not to mention physics-delying),
the film is bound to draw comparisons to direc-
‘tor Zhang Yimou's previous 2004 effort, Hero
(2004) and Ang Lee's breakthrough Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

“Another critically- -acclaimed movie coming
‘here as part of the series is The Sea Inside, a pow-
erful depiction of quadriplegic’s fight to seek the
right-to die with dignity - thought-provoking and

the Bishop my faint regards.’ A sneaky reporter, played by Jalbert, catches the duo on tape
as they unravel the truth about who really came up with the quote. It’s one of six plays
featured in this weekend’s high school zone drama festival at the R.E.M. Lee Theatre. Three
different shows take to the stage March 4 and 5. The first performance of each evening

begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5.

SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

Give.

disturbing to be sure, and not likely to screen ‘as
"part of the Tillicum’s regular fare. .

The film tells the true-life saga ‘of Spain’s sRa-
mon Sampedro’s 30-year campaign for his legal.

right to commit suicide.
The final film is presented on June 15. It’s the
Merchant of Venice, directed by Michael Radford
(11 Postino, White Mischief, Nineteen Eighty-

‘Four). This screen adaptation of Shakespéare’s

play stars Al: Pacino as Shylock, the money
lender who demands a pound of flesh, Filmed in
Venice.

The series is presented by the Terrace and Dis-
trict Arts Council. on the last. Wednesday of the
month, at 7 p.m. only. ®

Amazing —
animals |
area

hit with

reac ers.

THE PUBLISHERS of
animals say the volume sold’so well, they’re
doing it again.

But they’ll need more stories about extraordi- .

nary animals from ordinary Canadians.

The first edition of Canadian Animals are --

Smarter Than Jack featured 91 stories about clev-
er critters sent in from towns and cities across the
country.

‘There were tales of bright birds, srieaky bears,

loyal dogs, brave kittens, and crafty raccoons.

The book was released in October. Since then,

it’s raised more than $15,000 for animal welfare
‘societies in Canada. ;
“We loved the book and we know. the public

loved il, So we urge anyone who knows a smart

animal to submit a story for the second book,” .

says Robert Van Tongerloo, of the Canadian Fed-
eration of Humane Socicties. ,

The books raise awareness about animal in-
telligence. and have been previously released in
New Zealand and Australia.

Along with the Canadian edition, the books
have raised a total-of more than $190,000 for ani-
mal welfare organizations. ;

The publishers are now also working on a
United Kingdom edition. ;

The second Canadian edition is due out next
October. ,

The deadline for submissions i is March 31.

Send in your true, amazing animal story now.
Submissions should be no longer than 1.000
words,

You're welcome to send in pictures of the ani- -

mal. .
Mail to Smarter Than Jack Ltd., PO Box 819,

Tottenham, ON, LOG | WO.

Stories can also be submitted online at www,
smarterthanjack.ca

a book about smart -