- SKEENA ANGLER |
ROB BROWN

AST THURSDAY morning I peored
over a steaming cup of coffee and,
with some difficulty, focused on the
Terrace Standard.

"Mills to cut beds once again" the headline read,
which, in my slowly waking brain, immediaiely
conjured up a picture of beds going through the
whirring saws at Skeena Cellulose.

Below was an item that had the directors of the
Regional District “casting their cyes toward
Thornhill’s sewer future Saturday".

I recalled the boyhood technique of plucking an
eyeball from one trout, impaling it on a hook then
casting |t into a lake to catch another. Naturally,
this Kind of eyeball casting was the first image io
appear in my mind’s eye,

Bul "Steelhead kill bothers gov’t", appropriately
edged in black and set prominently on the bottom
of the front page, was the story that put severe
strain on my moming brain.

According to the article, officials in Provin-
cialdom suspect too many Zymoetz steelhead are

being killed and may therefore close the river.

That seerned clear, but reading the remarks of
conservation officer Ken Fujino, things got
obscure.

"..80me anglers are following neither the bait.

ban nor the catch-and-release regulations. As
many as 80 per cent of the fishermen of the Cop-
per are deliberately breaking the rules," the paper

‘has Fujino saying, and "the remaining 20 per cent
" are committing fractions out of ignorance."

_ Yikes!

Some quick calculations convinced me that the
sum of 80 and 20 is still-100. Apparently officer
Ken’s reconnaissance convinced him all anglers

. fishing the poor Copper are breaking the law.

“spent a few‘afternoons on the river this winter,
If 1 broke the law I wasn’t aware of it. Perhaps I
don’t know the fishing regulations well cnough,

As for" commitling fractions out of ignorance",
this was the first time I’d come across this of-
fense, I (each fractions to my charges every year,
I can add, subtract and multiply them with some
facility, and on good days I’m. fairly adept at
dividing them, but committing rational numbers is
an operation I cannot do.

What I heard was largely
hearsay. It is foolhardy to
act on hearsay. -

Clearly something was amiss. Even the large

dailies manage to mangle the Englistl language. I
began to suspect a fraction of ‘‘infraction” -- one
fifth to be precise —- had fallen off in the rush to
deadline, sol phoned Officer Fujino.

He told me he hadn’t read the article and
hastened to add he’d been misquoted. [ read him
the cryplic paragraphs, whereupon he mumbled
something about going to the paper.

Did he think there really was a conservation

~- problem on the Copper? He thought ‘there was,

Had he charged anyone? Two people. Had he
received any reports of poaching? Yes, sore,
After that conversation, I was unconyinced he

had any basis to claim a serious problem on the .
Copper. [ then called a number of anglers who
_ have been fishing the river regularly.

Most had seen no evidence of wrong doing, a
few had, My investigations turned up one person
who saw sleelhcad killed and couple of incidents

" where people saw evidence of bait. Some anglers

reported seeing others acting suspiciously.

Nobody saw « conservation officer on the river.
This doesn’t surprise me: I’ve seen only two on
any of the rivers I’ve fished in the last five years,

What I heard was largely hearsay. It is
precipitous, if not foolhardy to act on hearsay.
Before conservation officers recommend draslic
measures, they need to spend a great deal of time
on the river and gather a lot of hard, first-hand
cvidence lo substantiate their position.

And even if they were able to prove poaching is
fampant, would closing a section of the river do
anything to solve the problem? ,

Poachers are self-centered, ignorant scum who
belicve laws apply to others, Very few fishermen
break the law. If the Copper is closed you can bet
your bait buckel poachers will continue to poach,
the only difference being they will do so without

_ fear of observed by ethical, law-abiding anglers,

The only intelligent way to address the problem
ls through enforcement. The number of officers
faust be inercascd, and government must look at
creative solulions like training and employing
river. guardians to watch over our valleys.

Tn the meantime, be calm fisherfolk and other
friends of the environment. Legiotis of poachers
are not descending upon lhe Copper River like
Huns and Vizigoths attacking Rome.

There are a few bad actors beating up on fish, as
there always are.. ke

Take advantage of this balmy winter and go

fishing,

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mee mt et eee eel ect

NORTHERN school wrestlers
made their mark at this year’s
provincial Age Class
championships, including one of
Terrace’s own.

“It's the best I’ve ever seen
him wresile,’’ travelling coach
Bruce Johnson said of Matt
Kerby’s silver _ medal _per-
formance.

However, Kerby had simply
been ‘outgunned?’ in the final.

“We're really pleased,’ said
Terrace coach Joe Murphy. ‘*It’s
quite an achievement.’’

The northern team was made up
of wrestlers from Terrace,
Kitwanga and Hazelton and was

accompanied by Johnson
(Kitwanga) and fellow coach Joe
Sullivan (Hazelton).

Although unable to make the
medals, the two other Terracites,
Greg Buck and Frank Carpino
both gave a good account of

Having seen Terrace in action

Locals take out

This weekend two local curling
foursomes try to next the next
step towards their respective
provincial championships.

In Senior Men’s, Wayne Epp's
crew will be in Winfield, near
Kelowna, trying to nail down one
of two Interior spots at the B.C.
championships.

. Meanwhile Ken Blanes’ mixed
leam will be taking on the Prince

at this and other competitions,
Johnson said there was ‘‘definite-
ly some wrestling talent therc,”’

However, he suggested, ‘They
heed to start off younger.”

How young? Kitwangan Wade
Apps is nine~years-old,

Wrestling in the schoolboy divi-
sion, he was facing kids four and
five years his senior,

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 2, 1994 -C1

Harris, a grade 8 first year wrest-
ler.

No opponent was able to even
score against him and in (he gold
medal match he recorded the
fasicst pin of the tournament: just
nine seconds in.

Not surprisingly, Harris was
named outstanding wrestler.

In other results, James Morgan

‘We're really pleased, it’s quite an achievement.”

JOE MURPHY

Only the eventual gold medal
winner could stop Apps, and even
then only by a single point.

Johnson said the youngster’s
fifth place overall finish at his
weight underlined ‘he has great
potential’.

But the most. oulstanding north-
em performance came from Jason

George zone winner in Smithers,
a best-of-three showdown for a
direct tip to the BCs which begin
in Kamloops Feb. 26.

_ Epp, third John Veldman, sec-:

ond Ken Hendry and lead Bruce
Carruthers earned their Seniors
berth by sweeping the zones held
here Jan 21-22,

Playing in a six-team modified
double-knockout, they took threc

z

took silver in the Cadet (15-16
years) S1kg, class, losing the final
lo last year’s provincial champion
and. Tyler Johnson (Cadets 57kg)
earned a bronze.

Terrace wrestlers will be back
in action this weekend when
¢leven take part in the Northern
B.C, Winter Games in Fort St.

MALCOLM B

Kerby grapples silver

John.

Apart from Kerby, Buck and
Carpino, the squad will include
Ajit Jaswal, Jim O’Brien, John
Veilleux, Shayne = Wilson,

Lakhbir Jaswal, Maudeep
Kandola and Philip Lincotn,

Murphy said the competition
would provide more valuable ex-
themselves, Johnson said.

He added Buck had lost a
couple of close ones on the way
to.a seventh place finish,

Noting the Age Class was one
of the biggest tournaments of the
scason and set ihe seedings for
the High School championships,
Murphy said il was a valuable ex-
perience for all three Terracites.

Based on the results, he indi-
cated Buck will likely drop down
a weight class for the B.C. High
School championships.
perience for the team, ‘‘especially
for the younger guys’'.

two zone titles

straight to sew up the A side then
added two more victories in B for
the title,

The final game saw them knock
off "93 zone winner Dennis Ames
of Smithers. ;

How does he rate his chances in
Winfield? ‘I’ve no idea,’ says
Epp, adding this is the team’s
first shot at the Seniors.

“But I’m looking forward to

ON GUARD. Sweepers Stan Petulac (left) and Tim G
final end in B event Legion Bonspiel action.

artiand bring in skip Rick Trogi's guard in the
Tragi’s Kitimat rink scored a comfortable win over

Folden of Hazelton. More than 50 rinks taok part in the bonspief which woulnd up Sunday,

oP

g On target
HOOP CHAMPS in get Knights of Columbus free
throw competition were Kaliopl Kollias and Kory Andersen (10
years), Jaclyn Bowen and Aaron Van Gelder (11), Hollyanne
Norman and Kevin Glitanders (12), Andrea Van Gelder and
Josh Straw (13). They're sean above (not in order) with
organizers Germano Carrita (left) and Gualter Rego. Fitty lo-
cal students turned out for Saturday's competition at Veritas
schoo! with the “home team” taking two . tiles, Uplands
Elementary and Centennial Christian three each, |

Salmon belts netted —

Jonathan Doane dominated - ;

UNSTOPPABLE.

Terrace boxers were just that at
the Salmon Beit championships
held Jan, 22 in Prince Rupert.

So much so that the only fighter
who managed to defeat a Terrace
entry was one of his own team-
mates,

Arron Petavello got Terrace on

the road to Its seven bout sweep -

with a 3-2 decision over Rabert
Carver of Palmer, Alaska in their
1251b, Intermediate clash,

Buddy Doane then took the
145ib, Jt. B belt with a 4-1 deci-
slon over Jess Staffen of
Whitchorse. ; ;

Brian Gervais made it three off
the rec! with a unanimous verdict
aver local Brace Buchanan at

~1701b, and Robert Doane dupll-.

cated in a 130Ib. match-up with
clubmate Stanicy Gostel.

That was ‘the first of two vic-.

tories on the day for Doane, the
other coming. when le moved to

-give-1451b, hometawner ‘Trent:
McKry. a. fight, agaln a unani-".. agains
oo. Palmer pigitist,

mous decision.

\ Mkewise fot the Jr, C150Ib,'tl

curling against some of the
people | faced when I was curling
competitive men’s,’’ he added.
“There a lot of familiar
names.”
The two teams coming out of
the Interiors will face the top pair

_ from the Pacific Coast in the Feb.

26-27 provincials 1o- be held in
Vancowver,

Ken Blanes, third Rusty Blanes,
second Ron Townley and lead
Paulette Patterson were tipped
up only once in their zone win.

Having won the A side of the
five team playdown, they moved
to the Bside to complete the job...

Howeyer, there they fell to
Atchison of Prince Rupert in the
semi-final.

Atchison went on the take B,

setting up a retum match playoff:

against Blanes,
This time, however, the Ter-
racites took no prisoners in a 12-2
rout of the coastal quartet.
Townley conceded the victory
was made much easier. as the
Atchison rink came out flat.
“They never even got on the

board until the seventh,” he ~
recalled. “For them, it was just -

one of those games.’? -

Although the Blanes rink has
taken the zone tille before, a trip
the provincials would be a first.

kkkkek

With entries for Terrace’s
Valentines Ladies bonspiel start-
ing to stream in, organizers have
announced the Feb. 14-16 event
will include a raffle to raise
money for the curling club.

The prize will be a retum tip
for two to Vancouver and include
accommodation, ——

"Spiel spokesman Marg Skead

said it hadn’t been decided yet -

just where to spend the moticy
Talsed,

However, suggestions to date. .

included the junior curling pro-

gram or an air-exchanger for the’ I

upstairs area,

Rupert opponent Bryan Gartner

in their Jr, B bout, the referec

stepping in to stop the contest: in

‘the third round. gh as
Terrace’s final victory came
from the gloves of Joey. Losler. -

(1351b.) who got the nod from all

judges over George Gordon of.

Whitehorse... ae

The main event on the 11-fight. ;
card saw Prince’ Rupert's Pacific:

Northwest’ champion: Steven
Jaeger take on Alaska . State
champion Jamie Bailey. °°..."

Jaeger came out..on the right: —
side of a 4-1 decision in the.

186lb. bout, a:

Other results saw the host club

pick up three victories, ~~

Tyler Fountain took a 4-1. deci. « |

sion over Nell MacDonald ~

White Horse (Jt. A 1061b.), Keli

‘Gurszki (190Ib.) won a,3-2 split
decision over . Alaskan . Robert
Muller - and -Don: . Prico

against Dominic Headley, anothe:

- SECTION C
AXTER 638-7283