4 dividually, has the-conven- on the fourth of August my two oldest girls, Allison. and ‘Jennifer, and I went fishing in “Tonga and got stoned..: Tonga is the girls’: name for ‘the windswept flats below the. Copper River’ Bridge. The girls: like the spot as a backdrop for | _ their play; I like it because. the: river runs through it; . °° Other people like the ‘spot ‘too: for some campers it was a quick layover, for others it was . a free parking place for months; for those who like to recreate atop dirt bikes and ATV’s, Tonga was a great place .to noisily churn up the landscape. In recent years, Tonga has become the focus of some con- cern for its owners the Kitselas Band and for the R.C.M.P. . because it has become a _ dragstrip for stolen vehicles, some of which were wrecked and burned on the site, The main road leading onto the -Copper . River Flats {everybody else's name for ~ Tonga) had been blocked. -I , turned south onto the dike and . parked. After I'd pulled on my ‘leaky waders and assembled my ‘rod, we walked along the dike, I hoticed’ D.B. | still .Joved R.S, heiroglyphs | adorning the bridge. We ducked under the span, and I bumped. my head on a -.crossmember, took off my hat, and rubbed my head vigorously, My ‘sentiments exactly, I thought as [ looked up at a four-letter word sprayed in red paint on the girder above, The girls scrambled off the end of the dike and began frolicking i in a backchannel as I picked my way gingerly down the shot rock thinking of the~ Judge from Georgia who had one of the giant granite chunks and that Grad ‘89 had been add- - ed to -the collection. of The Skeena Angler _by Rob. Brown | “fall ‘on his foot and drove home ° ; missing three toes. —- Flyfishing is not normally done while clinging precariously to dike walls by the aluminum cleated soles of one’s wading overshoes, but it can be done with the aid of. a two-fisted flyrod and, besides, this was not a normal place: this was the run where Mike Whelpley, running upstream on: his trusty jet sled Mileed, found .a television set floating downstream. Having no room for an RCA Victor, Mike neatly set the set ashore where a puzzled Barry Allen and I found it the next morning, ‘The run has been calfed Chan- nel Three ever since, .For my exertions, Channel: Three gave up a dolly varden and a newly arrived steelhead. While I was fishing, a>red . pickup crossing the bridge, slowed down, sped up again, then returned — travelling west this time — and repeated the. performance some five minutes - later. The sun was behind the mountains. I gathered up the - and together we retraced our route along the dike and under the’ now. shivering girls, bridge. When we arrived et the: - truck both the windshield and the back window were smashed, “Who. would have done such a thing?'’ 1 asked after geiting over. the shock of seeing such - violence: done to my poor *B3 . Datsun. , **Look. on the positive side, Dad, they didn’t steal the tapedeck,” said Allison, trying . to make her grizzled old pa feel better. We brushed the glass from the seats and drove through town. Bits of back win- dow tinkled to the road with each bump. ‘*Where were you parked?’ _ asked the constable, **On the up-stream side of the Copper River Bridge,’’ 1 replied, ““Indians,’” she said. ‘I doubt it,’ I said. “I don’t think I was on. their land, Besides, that's missing the point isn’t it? Even if I was parked on private land, smashed my car to bits.” “They don’t call us,’* she | said . cryptically then added, ° “What were you doing down there?” “Fishing.” “Are you licensed?” she shot et ‘back, making me wonder if. ; public relations is a. ‘required voy course in the Police Acadent mg these days. ’” We left a short time later with - a file number for (0.B.C.. :It was Saturday night. A police cruiser was pulled over, light flashing, to deal with a problem at the Inn of No Rest; A wed- ‘ding reception was. underway and tipsy men in tuxedos were roaming the streets. It was a full moon, and I felt like an inmate in a mental institution waiting for the red light at the end of the hall to turn green.so I could make a bid for freedom. © SEORTS 1 NE Colette st. Amour 638-7283 oo TERRACE STANDARD rSPORTSCOPE Terrace Inn first TERRACE — The Riverboat Days men’s slowpitch tour- nament saw the Terrace Inn edge rival SKB Molsons to win the tourney'’s champion- ship game. It was the team’s skilled defence and sacrifice plays that made the difference in the final games where they beat SKB 6-5 and 7-6, says player Ritchie Mallett. With their second local tournament win of the year, The Terrace Inn walked away with $1600 in prize money. The Molsons col- lected $1000, third place win- ner Mr. G's from Prince George picked up $600 and consolation round winner All Season's Expose went home with $600, Century race The 100 mile Skeena River bicycle race from Prince Rupert to. Terrace will be]. held Aug. 19, Taking five to six hours for a recreational rider to complete, the fourth annual “century race” starts at the McDonalds in Prince Rupert and ends at the Far West bus depot in. Terrace, says organizer Chiron Kantakis. Race start time is 10 a,m. for recreational riders and 11 p.m. for racers. Registration forms are available at Sun- dance Ski & Sports. - Helmets are mandatory, and all bicycles will be. in- spected. ‘in’ cycle. * ‘August 19 is the date for ‘Tthe--fourth: annual Round | Lake mini-triathalon. A ‘The race, which can be ‘completed as a'team or in- at tlonal running and bicycling | legs, but the swimming ‘leg |. i human-powered vessel. ‘|. And the judging system -Whas’ a twist: the person: or “|team finishing~ ‘the course ‘closest to their pre-race estimated : time: ‘will be the :. For’ more. Information phone Brian’ Irvine at BA6-5962. _ can be done with any type of TERRACE ROCKCLIMBER Murray Minchin, here hanging on by his toes and fingers, was one of more than 20 northwest climbers who gathered at the Onion Lake Crags for the Fight Gravity rocklimbers gathering. The climbers, some who had never climbed before, spent the weekend exchanging climb- ing techniques, meeting new climbing partners and fighting gravity. School a success TERRACE — More than 200 . hockey players from all over B.C, will be attending the local * ‘minor hockey league’s school : this month. = In its third season, the school ‘ {s coached: by: -by ’ National ©: _, Hockey League’ players Jeff | Sharples and ‘Wade Flaherty “among ‘others, _ Organizer Jake De Jong says. | thé school ‘‘has as many kids as:: oh it ican handle, and the word:¢ mouth. from the kids that: have: been here is that it's a success, ae Noting that the school Is the] | cheapest in Canada costing $100." 34 for a week" or $175) for’ w Y : toa De “J ong | feeli” amount of ice time offered — two and a half hours per day. The coaches, ‘‘basically volunteers that are paid a little money,” will be teaching the students, who are between five and 16. years old, basic hockey * A summer hockey league for ‘adults is-being held in conjune- tion with the school. eld every evening during the hool, ‘the games are open ta inyone ,’-with: applications able from Jake De Jong al TERRACE — He was hanging on with only his fingers and toes, legs shaking, spreadeagled on a vertical cliff 40 feet off the ground. And he was there voluntarily — one of more than 20 nor- ~thwest rocklimbers who gathered at the Onion Lake Crags last long weekend for the first annual Fight Gravity -rocklimber’s gathering, Camped_ at. the base of the crags, more than 20. novice and experienced . climbers from Prince George to Kitimat spent ‘the. weekend climbing, compar- ing techniques and meeting new climbing partners. Organizer Murray Minchin ‘plans to hold a gathering in a ‘different northwest city every year which would expose people to different areas. There is a written guide to climbs in the area, but Minchin says its very vague. Part of the weekend’s pur- ‘Pose was to get potential climb- ing partners together. The climbers there said its difficult . to find people to climb with in the northwest, and most ad- vanced climbs require two or more people. The weekend was a success on ° that part as many of the climbers were organizing future climbs together and exchanging addresses and phone numbers, Minchin says the Terrace area has amazing potential for clim- bing adding that the rock here is as good as that in Squamish, near Vancouver, which is rated among the world's top seven climbing areas. He says more routes in the northwest are being developed all the time — many taking as long as five: years to work out. > The climbers at the gathering were doing some bouldering, which is where you don’t get more that five feet’ off the ground, and longer climbs where the climber is secured by a rope hooked onto a harness. The rope is fed through hooks (called protection) which the climber place into cracks in the cliff wall. The rope is an- chored-by someone at the bot- tom who feeds the climber rope as they ascend — holding on if they fall. AS scary as it all sounds it is really quite a safe sport says Minchin — “unless you screw up.”’ “Tt is rare that. people get hurt,’’ he says although one climber, sprained his ankle dur- ing the weekend. “If you fall you'll only drop as far as to where the rope is hooked in.” Climbers often cut themselves on the rock while climbing and don’t realize it until, they’ve come down, says Minichin who had a fresh cut on his knee he didn’t remember doing. But it can be scary, says Ter- race climber David Myers."It has occurred to me that I could die, but you don’t dwell on that,” he says. “It’s a huge adrenalin rush,” “it is a calculated risk; a game, how far do you go before putting protection — in. Sometimes you put your protec- tion in, and you climb past it and you think ‘was that last one I put in safe. ” Likening climbing to gym- nastics, Myers feels it is also a creative thing; “figuring out the problems, moving this way or that way."” The personal challenge is the biggest part of it for Myers though. “Ie 5 not like a team sport; you're competing against yourself," ~ GYMNAST Elizabeth Thompson was one of many Terrace. - youngsters taking part In the Terrace Peaks Sumimer Gym- nastics Camp. Part of the preschool program, Thompson: : spent the week learning how to do rolls, use the balance » ~ beam and jump on the trampoline. Regular gymnastics classes start in September. a ewe oe BAAD dal tetas CES the : ove = should've called. ‘the police not. °: Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 15, 1990 — Page B33.