The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 15, 1998 - B1 ‘TERRACE STANDARD INSIDE SECTION B ‘COMMUNITY ALEX HAMILTON ‘EVENTS B2 638-7283 OMMUNI Around Town She’s got soul Local teen wins Prince | Rupert contest hands down MOVE OVER Mariah Carey, Geronimo. With a soft but booming voice, il’s no wonder this sixteen-year-old Terrace youth won the PNE preliminary talent search in Prince Rupert July 4. Singing a Patti Austin song entitled, ‘‘It might be you’’ Geronimo blew away the other 14 competitors. ““She won hands down,’’ said Bronwen Southerland, manager of the performing arts centre in Prince Rupert. **She truly has an amazing voice.”’ Geronimo’s win entifles her ta compete at the provincial talent search contest at the PNE in Vancouver at the end of August. And if she wins that, off she'll go to Toronto to compele nationally at the CNE. Geronimo was thrilled with her win. “Everyone who competed was really good, I was sur- prised that I won,’” she said, ‘‘I was really nervous at first but when I saw people clapping for me, I just calmed down and sang my best.’ Geronimo said she was ‘extra-nervous’ at the lime, since she originally believed her performance slot was merely a Tehearsal. Because of this, she had left her stage clothes at home in Terrace. “l had no idea it was the real thing,” she said. ‘*But I was ready. And my mom went to the store to buy me something to wear.’* Geronimo learned to sing, play the piano and write ber own songs in at a private school in Manila, She’s kept up her singing at school since moving to Terrace from the Philippines a year ago. ‘Singing is one thing that I can’t do without - ever. To tay friends and family, Pve always been ‘Rene the singer’.”’ Singing, she said, makes her feel good. ‘i can shout out my feelings. It’s productive venting out. That's why it's so satisfying.”’ Her voice, a mix between Maria Carey and Whitney Houston, is so strong and developed, its hard to believe it comes from her tiny frame. As she hits the high notes, one quickly realizes, she isn’t your average choirgirl. Hers is the kind of voice many adults yearn for. Although she'd like to be a professional singer someday, Geronimo also wants to have a stable job to fall back on. She said she wants to finish school before pursuing a sing- ing career. For now, Geronimo is happy with singing for her friends in the halls at school. How often does she belt out a ditty or two for her pals? “‘Whenever they ask me to!” she said, “I just love to sing.”? A tribute to Lynne, by Art Powell am sure many of you have been missing the potter Art Powell at the market this season. On Friday, March 13 an intruder broke into his home at Kitimat Village at 2:30 4.01. The burglar, wielding a screwdriver, brutally attacked Art and his wife, Lorraine. Art received major wounds all over his body, while Lorraine suffered chest wounds. The Powells spent a week in the Kitimat hos- pital and then went down South for a while to recuperate. Art visited the market last weekend to say goodbye. The Powells are packing up and moving to Southern Alberta. We wish them the best in their new home. * Before Art left, he wanted to interview me for the Farmers’ Market Column. The following is an article about myself, written by Art Powell. here comes Rene REKAKASABEERE RAGE EEE EEK AE AS A FOLK-ART PAINTER, Lynne Chris- tiansen, the regular writer of this columa, paints flower pois, cookie tins, milk cans and antique saw blades. She has even painted a kitchen sink. Lynne has deep roots in Terrace, and through contacts made at the market, has turned a hobby into a full-time occupation. ‘Her roots go back to the very early days of Terrace. Her mother, Grace (Little) Warmer of Sunset Street, is the daughter of Will Little, a brother of George Little. Her father came to this area from Sas- katchewan when he was three years old. Before she married, Lyane left Terrace to do mission work with the Catholic Church. She worked for two years at the Scarborough Mis- sion in the Dominican Republic and spent three years with the Oblate priests out of Tofino, Eleven years ago, she returned to Terrace with her husband Gary, intending to stay two months while he did the tile work at Mount Layton Hot Springs. They now have two children Marty, 10, and Danika, 8. *‘T have always been artistic,’’ Lynne said. “‘I used to do a lot of sketching and then made the transition to painting.” She would like to get back to sketching, but she said her work has taken its own direction, and the folk art painting has taken over. For a while, she did a lot of tole painting, a formal style of painting, which she found was a good Te eee B THEY MAY look like y to leam the medium. way fo tearm’ median ’ they’re dying, but most of Art school is a dream. Lynne bas never taken the litle tees in any formal training, but tries to attend a local SINGING STAR: Rene Geronimo, 16, won the PNE preliminary talent contest in Prince Rupert July 4. Trees beside saan aren’t dying I™ba affecting them,” said Chris Hansen, member of the Greater Terrace Beautifica- workshop each year, Lynne’s first sale was a sketch when she was 15, About six years ago, she started selling at -the Farmers’ Market, and has now made paint- downlown’s newest park are going to live, Many Terrace locals were concemmed when approxi- mately a dozen of the six- tion Society., “The problem is the dirt is dry.” Since new soil was laid when the trees were planted, ing a full time occupation. About 50 per cent of her sales are at the market and the rest are made _ from her home studio, Recognizing that agriculture is a part of Ter-. ' yace’s roots and believing the farmers’ market _ Makes a contribution to the community, Lynne the soil hasn’t been able to relain a lot of moisture. Hansen said one or two of the trees may die as a result of drought, but most of them year-old trees planted on Greig Avenue in the small park beside the Saan store began to tum brown and wither. " serves on the market’s board. LOCAL ARTIST: Here's Lynne Christiansen with her decorated pots at the Farmers’ market. The market is ‘open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m and Wednes- days at 4 p.m. The-market will be open until the end of October. But when a tree expert came to look at them, he found nothing wrong with the trees, other than the fact they lacked water. “It’s not a disease or bugs will recover now that a new sprinkling system was in- stalled last week. By next spring, she said, most of the trees will be healthy again. New youth job centre open THE ONLY limits on Terrace’s new youth centre are our imaginations, says Helga Kenny, executive director of Ter- race Anti-Poverty Group, which is responsible for running - the project. “Employment service is only the beginning,’’ she said. The new centre’s current goal is to help youths aged 15- 29 find and keep employment. Phones, faxes, a job board, answering machine, Internet _ access, resume workshops, and a job bank are free to use at | the cetitre, There are also couches and chairs in the centre so youths can wait for calls and chat about job hunting, “The centre is somewhere you can feel relaxed and ask questions,”'said Kenny. “It's not some big bureaucracy. ”’ Employment councillor Natasha Weitman will also be available to help youths find career paths and set goals, She'll help youths polish their resumes and hone their in- terviewing skills. Ta the future, Kenny Sces a youth centre enveloping a va- riety of different youth services including a probation of- fice, the Building Healthier Babies program and the Nights Alive recreation program. . But according to staff, the future of the centre is entirely up to youths and what they want. A youth advisory council made up of seven or elght youths will guide the direction of the centre, ““Maybe the youths will have a different vision of the centre in mind than W8,"", sald Joanna Parsons-Borovec, _ ., coordinator of the centre, ‘It’s completely-up to them.” ©. The centre and ‘Opportunities for Youth? Is located at 6- 4717 Lakelse Avenue. a Using their scraps QUILTING BEE; Donna Kelly, Julia San Juan and Laurie Mitchell have made 12 quilts for children at Canuck Place, a hospital for terminally tll children in Van- couver. The three women get together twice a week, and make their intricate masterpieces from scraps from other projects. Since each small place of fabric must be Individually cut, it takes them anywhere from 20 to 40 hours to complete one quilt, Mitchell will go to Vancouver to deliver the quills next month. Around Town Grad 89 volunteers needed Volunteers from grad 89 are needed July 25 to bartend and help out at the 1988 grad reunion, If you can help call Mui at 638-8928, There will also be a meeting July 20 at Art- istic Hair studio at 7 p.m. Child find program RCMP will be fingerprinting children at Canadian Tire July 31 from 12-2 p.m. Get- ting your children fingerprinted could help identify them should they go missing. Parents can fill out an information booklet while their child is fingerprinted so that if their child is ever lost, they can bring in the booklet and their child's fingerprints to the ’- RCMP. Approxitnately 65 per cent of miss- jing children are found through the’ finger- printing program. ‘No Soap-making workshop The Terrace Women’s Resource Centre will not be hosting a soap-making work- shop this week. Another workshop will not be rescheduled. Martial arts summer camp Sensei Marwan Abu-Khadra, former European champion, world champion and coach of the German national kickboxing team, is holding a martial arts day camp in Terrace July 20 to August 7. The day camp is suitable for beginners and blackbelis, and children can attend one, two, or three week camp sessions, Campers can expect to spar, stretch, play games, Icarm martial arts, kickboxing, ju- jitsu, and kata patterns, For more inforsiation phone 638-1955 or 635-3230 in the evenings,