B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 11, 2001 TERRACE STANDARD ... SPORTS. —SKEENA ANGLER ROB BROWN Heart of the Park edman sat down at the table across from me. The gnome retreated to a dark comer under the head of a bull moose mounted so low on the wall that its bell almost touched the top of his head. A shaft of light filtering through a grimy window glanced off his thick glasses in a way that not only magnified them, but gave them a phosphorescent glow. Although it was hard to tell for sure, he seemed to be leering at Sharon in a way that was making her uncom-, fortable. She shot him a couple of withering looks, which made him retreat further into the shadows, but each time only momentarily. I tried to elicit information from Redman. Of the hundreds of interviews I’d conducted this one proved to be the strangest — and easily the most frustrating. To put him at ease 1 told about my quest to find O’Doul then spoke in generali- ties — about the rain, the valley, and so on. When the moment seemed propitious, | sequed into questions about the bizarre camp. Redman opened a white can, loaded his pipe with black tabacco, sucked the yellow flame from a wooden match into the brown bowl, and blew a cloud of blue smoke. Between draws he offered responses only distantly related to my inquires, punctuating his cryptic answers with a yellowed smile that was all mouth and no eyes. Even more disconcerting was ite way he in- troduced specific fragments of conversation about me, as if we were long lost pals, then moved on. For example, “How long have you been. here?” I asked at one point.. “Pm sorry to hear about your wife,” he shot back, “What? My wife?” “It’s not easy keeping the fire burning when it rains all the time. We make do though,” said Redman. And so the conversation went, competing monologues rather than dialogue, until I felt dis- oriented and angry, and, I had to admit it, a lit- tle worried. There was a thump followed by the com- plaint of an ill fitting door scraping against the jam. In strode O’Doul. Sharon gasped. In one hand he carried a string of dolly var- den, big beautiful ones, in the other a bronze and black steelhead. He kicked the door shut, stomped to what must have been the kitchen counter, threw them down, then turned. “Who are you?” he asked. Taken off guard, I repeated my assignment, awkwardly, like a schoolboy, 1 introduced Shar- on. O’Doul gave her a long penetrating look; his eyes glazed over, became distant; he shook his bald head, turned his lenses back on me, and refocused, “This is my kingdom,” he growled, peeling off his sopping wool shirt to reveal a chest cov- ered in lurid tattoos. “Here there is black and there is white; there is no gray.” “What about about the red blood?” [ asked and regretted it irmmediately. “Red Indians, that’s the only red we worry! about,” O’Doul spat out the words, “Red Indians supported by left wing government bureaucrats; * they’re out to take our land — Jand rightfully ours by conquest. But, they don’t come around here. They know better. They’re gutless.” Redman and the gnome were grunting appro- val, O’Donl was inches from my face now, I felt the heat from his crazy eyes on my face, and, recognizing danger, changed the subject. : “Nice fish,” I stammered. “What d’ja get ‘em on, Lures?” “Lures!” O’Doul laughed maniacally. “I have no use for those elitist pantywaists who use fish- ing rods. We fish explosives here, We're in lune with the natural rhythms of predation in my kingdom. The object is to get them all; search and destroy. [’m an animal. You’re an animal, We're animals and our role is to kill - often and a lot. We kill to eat, and we kill to share, and we kill to acquire power and stature ~ dominion over the lowly beasts and birds, like the Good Book says.” Sweating and ranting now, O’Doul’s anger, sup- ported by a chorus of yesses from his admiring mini- ons, was feeding on itself; there was no indication where it would stap. The gnome was waving his rifle. Redman, aroused and chanting unintelligibly, puffed on his pipe and belched clouds of acrid smoke. “Shut up Dad and sit down!” O'Doul fioze. He stared al the attractive young woman Standing behind me for a long time, He stag- gered backward, then shimped onto a chair, “We'll go now,” she commanded, 1 followed her to the boat, We jetted downstream threading our way through the swain. “| guess we both found our man,” Sharon said, “You still gonna write that article?” “No,” I said. “I’m going to write one about a skilled: and beautiful “yourig guide. named Sharon...Sharon O'Doul.” : Sports Scope Volunieers needed THE TERRACE Totem Saddle Club needs volunteers to help run the canteen this year. Time commitment is about every three weeks and during horse shows. Interested volunteers can contact Lyn Lavoie at 635-2793. Soccer coaches sought THE Terrace Youth Soccer Association is looking for coaches for all divisions. Coaches for both boys and girls teams are needed for ages six to 16, The soccer season runs from May to September and coaching courses will be held in April. be busy this month. tails. tion details. playoffs. now reigning champs. game series 2-1. If you are interested in coaching budding soccer players please call Les at 615-5445, Seniors playoffs start THE ZONE seven BC senior games athletes are going to The snooker playoffs take place in Prince Rupert April 14. The following week-end, April 21, Prince Ru- pert hosts the whist playoffs. And in Terrace April 28, the cribbage playoffs are set to go. Call Hugh at 635-3833 or Maxine at 638-8648 for de- Tennis takes off THE Terrace tennis club has officially opened the tennis season, The club has social tennis on every Sunday start- ing at 1:30 p.m. The club aiso meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Junior tennis begins in May. The first fun event day will be April 29 with a ‘Gotcha Tourney.’ Club memberships are $25 for the entire year. For more information call Ada Sarsia at 635- 9695 or Dighton Haynes at 635-2925. Fastball clinics set to go IT’S TIME to start thinking ball! With spring in full swing kids in Terrace will be picking up their bats and donning their gloves for another great season of softball. To kick the season off the Terrace Softball Associa- tion is sponsoring a player development clinic as well as an umpire clinic in the weeks to come. : The playes, development clini, April 20-22, wilt be headed up by. Ron Clarke, the coach -of ‘Canada’ s. women’s Glymipic fastball team. He'll be joined by the team’s catcher to teach players the fundamentals of soft- ball including throwing, catching and proper technique. Spaces are limited to 30 kids, ages 10-over, and 17 are registered already. Call Tammy at 635-7144 for registra- An umpire clinic is set far April 28-29. Mike Hornak, the Umpire In Chief for BC will be teaching the clinic. He was a member of the 1996 umpiring team at the sum- mer Olympics held in Atlanta and is bringing his exper- tise to Terrace for the first time. - He will be certifying umpires for the upcoming sea- son, The clinic is open to anyone interested in becoming an umpire. For more information call Mark at 638-0985. Terrace Minor Softball association is extending the re- gistration deadline for the upcoming season, So far only 73 kids are registered and the organisation is looking for 200 athletes. Call Tammy at 635-7144 for details. Correction LAST WEEK '’s Terrace Standard reported that the Back Eddy Bullies beat aut the Chapter One Aeras in the fi- nals of the Terrace men’s recreational hockey league In fact, it was the Aeros who won the series and are The Chapter One Aeros beat the Back Eddy Bullies by a score of 4-0 in the final game and won the three- Tradition of Loggers Bonspiel continues LOGGING has been at the heart of Terrace’s com- munity from the time this city was founded. In 1955 the old Terrace curling club was located where the current library is. That was the year that the first ever Loggers Bon- spiel was held and it has been a yearly event ever since. “In the early days we were all directly affected by logging. In those days logging was everything,” said the curling club’s manager Keith Melanson. The Logger’s Bonspiel became a major event that attracted loggers from throughout the region. It was an chance for the men to leave their work behind them, relax and have a great week-end of curling and camaraderie. Loggers who hadn't curled all year long would attend just for the fun of it, but “hot shot” teams would show up as well, said Melanson. “It was a real good mix of people,” he said. “It was a real fun spiel.” Forty-six years later the bonspiel is still going strong. Melanson expects that between 40 and 50 teams will attend, despite the conflict with the Easter week-end. This year there are major prizes to be had for the winners of the four- event spiel. ’ Two return tickets to Vancouver are up for grabs as well as an all inclusive ocean fishing trip for four to the Wilp Syoon Wilder- ness Lodge. The annual men’s bon- spiel. continues to attract’ curlers from far and wide. This year curlers from Dawson Creek and Rocky Mountain House, AB will take part. The bonspiel runs April 12-15. For more informa- tion call the Terrace cur- ling club at 635-5583. 638-7283 SIOBHAN Sloan McMullen demonstrates the ending pose for her floor exer- cise. The Terrace Peaks are having a greai season and just returned from a big meet in Prince George. They'll host their own meet in 1 Terrace April 28-29. Practice pays for Peaks By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN TERRACE’s tumblers train hard. Same of the young gymnasts spend up to 16 hours in the gym perfecting floor exercises, mastering balance beam routines and po- lishing their vaults. This year the hard work has paid off for the Terrace Peaks. Several of the local athletes consistently place in the top four at meets throughout the northwest. They continued that trend at their most recent competition in Prince George March 31 to April 1. The meet drow pymnasts from all over the northwest and gave some of the high- er ranked athletes valuable competition experience they don’t get at some of the smaller meets. Marla Schulmeister is one of those athletes. At 13-years-old she is competing ai the fevel four Tyro division. Rather than competing against other athletes at her level she’s forced to com- pete against her own personal best times al most gym meets. But the Prince George meet gave her an opportunity to take on other athletes in the same division — athletes two years older than herself. Schulmeister managed to nab fourth place with a score of 32.87, just 0.86 points behind the third place gymnast and a whopping 8.19 points ahead of the fifth place gymnast. Teammate Siobhan Sloan McMullen came out with an overall score of 31.87 in the level three Argo division, Level one Argo saw Terrace’s Jody Kucharyshen take the top spot over 21 other gymnasts with a score of 29,57, Teammate Erica Dykes wasn't far be- hind and took third place overall with a score of 29.08. The level one Midget division saw Kayla McColl scoring 29.29 which was good enough for first place out a field of 14 athletes. Nicole Pelletier placed fourth overall in the same division with a score of 27.92. Britt Anderson scored 27.57 and filled in the fifth spot behind Pelletier. Jenny Goddard rounded out the Midget division with a ninth place finish and a score of 25.75. The level two Midget division saw Jessica Ames oust Prince George's Brooklyn Ward for first place. Ames scored 31.1 overall, 3.24 points ahead of Ward. And the Terrace Peaks boys were also competing. The Cadet boys did not re- ceive numbered scores, rather they were awarded gold, silver and bronze rankings. Alex Meredith came home with three gold rankings, two silver and one bronze. He received the most gold rankings of the nine boys competing, Teammate Justin Schritt also fared very well receiving four silver, one bronze and one gold ranking. m Last chance! APRIL 16 is your last chance to take in some skling and snowboarding at Shames Mountain. The ski hili ts shutting down the lift and closing its: doors after a fantastic season of nice powder and great conditions. Pic- - tured above is Meagan Blow, 18, who took up snowboarding this winter.