ROB BROWN

HEN I WAS a boy Vancouver was”
more a town than a city. I don’t
tecall its population, but I do re-
member driving by the sign at.
Boundary Road that marked the line between
municipality and city: ‘Entering Burnaby’, ‘it

announced in black embossed letters, ‘Popula-_.

tion 100,000,’ The population of Vancouver at -
that time was probably about three times as
many souls, True, a city of 300,000 is quite big,

but it hadn’t then ‘reached the size where its
masses seem %o turn to fluid-and reach critical

velocity. When that happens things get strange
and hard and difficult: child hookers appear on
the thoroughfares, thumbing for rides in broad
daylight; florid graffiti, most of it unintelligible,
sprouts, spreads along walls like: moss; the
tempo of traffic quickens, the noise increases;
mush hour lasts most of the day and begins run-.
ning North-South as well as East-West; the air’
tums shades of grey and yellow and brown; the
smallest task becomes an aggravating hassle. -.
Through the picture window of my parents’
modest home — which is now valued at an im-
modest half a million bucks because so many
people inexplicably think Vancouver is a
Shangri-la —I look down over the beginning of
Hwy One, where the clots of cars crawl along
like corpuscles through sclerotic arteries, then
up and south where the once expansive skyline
is filling with high rise office towers and apart-
ment blockages, then seaward to the pulsating
organism of the city, sprawling’ over - the
landscape like a gargantuan grey jellyfish.
“*Can we go io Science World, Dad??? asks

my eight year old daughter Cait, standing at my - ;
shoulder, dearly wanting to’ go muck, with |

dinosaur bones: and see the OmniMax. 1} -agree

“because ‘Pve“been ait of the city for many’ |

years, because I wasn’t here acclimatizing,

toughening, while things were gradually spin-. -

ning out of control, Soon Karen, Cait and I are
boldly setting forth in the car, not thinking
about it being a long weekend, because in Ter-
race a long weekend is an additional day of rest
Without a bunch of attending complications.
Traffic is thick and fast. In half an hour we
pull into the Science World Parking Lot where a
burly attendant made gruff by overwork tells us
the lot is full, then points to an alternate asphalt
sea across the street. We cruise through the

overflow lot. Other cars are prowling too. Like

schools of metal sharks we cruise from lot to

lot, four in all, getting farther from the World of
Science with each. one..I begin to heat up,

threatening to bubble. over. ‘Screw it,”’ I say -
finally, ‘We'll drive into town, park in the
Hudson Bay Parkade and take the SkyTrain
back.” This we do, but nat as easily as I
anticipated. We climb up the concrete helix and
for the longest time it doesn’t appear there are
any bays at The Bay. We find one, though, It is
the second to lastand il’sontheroof. =

As the meter runs we scramble down tunnels
with the crowds to the SkyTrack. At one poiat I
hear heavy, quick footfalls behind us..I turn to
catch a glimpse of a grey haired gentleman
striding by. ‘I’m eighty-cight. Gotta keep
moving, Want to reach a hundred, If you stop
you die,’’ he bellows before disappearing down
the shaft. After a short wait we board ihe tram.
Steel wheels rattle-over steel tracks, Tired pas-
sengers shake from side to side, expressionless,
like china figures on a shelf A mechanical
voice, nasal, coated with tin, chanis the stations
until we get off at Science World, where there
are lines of people everywhere.

Science World, it turns out, has fascinating’
exhibits, if you can get to them. People are
everywhere, you'd think you were in Beijing on:
the Chinese equivalent of $1.49 Day, or in Cal--
cutta, or Mexico City. Many exhibits are inter-
active, which makes the kids think they’re com-
petitive, which in tum leads to a lot of shoving,
pushing, running and bumping, Naturally the
place is air conditioned —- everyone breathing
with the same Jungs, in effect. Everywhere we
tum something is after our moncy. As hard as
try, I. can’t convince myself that this experience
is even vaguely pleasurable, Numb, we spend
another couple of dollars on the Sky Train,’
return to the parkade, and leave eight more
bucks with the parking attendant.

After a week in the big city we're fried. I feel
better by the mile as we drive North, doing the

speed limit, being passed by everyone as if we —

were standing still. In two days we’re home,
After dinner on the first night back, I grab my
rod from the wall and drive leisurely up Hwy
16, On the way I stop at the tackle shop where
there are plenty of free parking spaces.
In the time it takes to drive a few blocks in
Vancouver rush hour traffic, I’m standing alone,'
_ Save for the eagles and gulls, on a river bar, I’
caich a fish an hour — three snow white. steel-

head, one a whopping forty inches. After beach-' _

ing and releasing the last fish, I sit down on-a’
log and think about how. I’m not going to take.
this place for granted anymore, ...’ oS

ete

THERE WAS no settling for
the runner-up spot this time
for local drag racer Rick
Letourneau.

Piloting his blue and yellow
Greek ‘Torch, Letourneau

blazed to victory in the Super-

Pro class at the Northern
Bracket. Nationals held in
Prince George.

Upwards .of 70 cars from.

across the north took to the
track at the North- Central

- Motorsports Park, Aug, 12-13.

_ Letourneau said he had t>

_make 15 runs over the course

of the weekend, five just to
move on from the semis to the
final,

The 'Torch qualified for the

run to the title on the Saturday,
posting an elapsed time of
9.774 seconds and clocking
137 m.p.h.

Working off a slower dial-in .

lime in the final, Letourneau
completed the quarter mile in

10.822 seconds (122 mph) to ~

win by 4/10ths of a second.
Although he admitted his
reaction times were. ‘‘all over
the place’’ Saturday, by Sun-
day he had got into the groove.
“T.ran consistent,’’' he said,
“that’s what made it work.’

Letourneau also pointed out -

a car’s performance varied

from course to course. ‘It’s

just different air.’’
Pleased with the way the car

was performing now, . he
noted, “It takes a while to get
all the bugs worked out.

The Northem Brackets was
also a chance to tum the tables
on Dave Saunders of Kitimat
and his Purple Pig who had
beaten out Letourneau at Ter-

Tace’s inaugural drag races .

held the previous'‘weekend.
“I had to race the Purple Pig
three . times over — the

weekend,” he grinned, adding
_the duo’s racing rivalry goes

back years.

Letourneau. will be back in’
Prince George this. weekend
for another two-day meet
featuring bracket racing and
Quick 8.

Torch burns brig ht in PG |

Tee:
er g's
popes

“THE TORCH caught fire in Prince George Aug, 12-13 the Super Pro class, He'll be back there this waekend

as‘Rick Letourneau steered his dragster to top spot in looking to pick up more trophies and prize money. -

Cowburn defends Fraser title -

THERE MUST be something
about playing on a Saturday
that doesn’t agree with Kim
Cowbum. .

. The Terrace golfer was back
in Prince George Aug. 12-13
as defending champion in the
Ladies Simon Fraser Open.

And, in a repeat of her per-
formance at the Open here,
Cowburn had her problems on
the first day. Do,

“T just couldn’t sink many
putts,” she said of her nine
over 81 tally. “‘I didn’t hit

Skaters
gear up
for new
season

WITH A slate of four coaches
in place and registrations un-
der way, the Terrace Skating
club (TSC) is ready for anoth-
er season.

Back for their second con-
secutive year of coaching TSC
are Jessica Lambright and
Nicole Page.

Lambright retuned to Ter-
race last year after putting in a
successful year with the
McBride club, She's. also
taught at the past two Fort St.
James summer schools,

Page joined the Terrace club
last year as well, having spent
a season in Vanderhoof as that
club’s lone coach,

Another retumnee is Shirley
Palahicky who comes back
alter a break for her third sea-
son with TSC. She has
coached figure skating for a
dozen years and skated for two
years with the Escapades ice
show,

Rounding out the talent pool
is Shelley Lefebvre who is
debuting as a coach with the
club, One of the highlights of
Lefebvre’s 16 year career was
a third place. finish in. the

Novice Ladies. at “Skate

many greens in regulation and
couldn’t rely on my short
game for the up and down
pars.”"

Fortunately, her chief rivals
were having problems of their
own, Joanne Mick of Van-
couver finishing in 80 with
Laura Kaufman of Williams
Lake carding an 82.

But, just as she had here,
Cowbum made her move on
the final day, putting together
a round which, although in-
consistent, was easily enough

for the victory.

Hitting solidly from the ice,
she missed only one fairway
on the way to a second round
74 which included five birdies.

“Unfortunately, I made four
bogeys and an ugly double
bogey,”’ she admitted, ‘but it
was good enough.’*”

Good enough by four strok
with Kaufman\posting a 77
and Mick 79. That left the duo
tied for second, Mick getting
the nod on the countback,

Also giving Terrace some-

thing to cheer about was Lynn
Price who took the low gross
in the second flight.

With the season about to
wind down at the Skeena Val-
ley Golf and Country club,
members are psyching up for
the club championships.

They get under way Sept. 9
with the Men’s playoffs, it’s
the Ladies’ tum Sept. 16-17
and the Juniors wrap it up the
weekend after that. All three
lournaments are  36-hole
events,

TERRACE SKATING club's registration session

Aug. 12 also gave young skaters a chance to check
-Out what was on offer at the equipment swap. The
new winter season gets underway late next month.

Niagara.

For those who missed the

Aug, 12 registration system,
TSC’s Barb Harvey says they

can pick up the necessary

forms at the arena beginning
next Monday, Aug. 28,

Just head into the ice area
and. take the stairs to the left.

"The forms will be in a box by |

the club’s office door at the

top of the stairs. |
The winter season programs
range from KidSkate for 3-5
year olds to Icebreakers for
skaters 18 years and up. And
there’s the CFSA test stream,
precision skating and competi-
tive skating.
~ For further information, con-
tact Harvey at 635-6992 but
‘before 9 am.

Shirley Palahicky