B6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 13, 1996 DAVE TAYLOR = EN. GLE _ROB BROWN Hard times he wind has stripped the trees. The sky is gray. The river is slower, darker. ] look for riffles that were Tuns a month ago, Some of them make me wish I’d brought my rod. There aren’t a lot of fash at this time of year, but there are surprise fish, rare jewels, found when the river : is free of corpses, I have some business to do in Smithers. I hurtle along in a rental car, a Geo, with a purple paint job, that looks like plastic plum on wheels. I’m surprised the machine wasn’t called a Geode by ad men, to conjure up the explosive image of a compact, rock-like, volcanic object with a glittering interior and hard outer shell the minds of prospective customers. Luminescent green dials give a fragile glitter » and glow to the interior of the litde mini com- pact. I fiddle with the AM/FM button as the CBC signal is mangled in canyons between Cedarvale and Kitwanga. I manage to hear a fuzzy interview between a Peter Gzowski's sur- rogate and a university professor who laments the plight of physicians whose delicate profes- sional equilibriums, in her opinion, may be dis- turbed in these turbulent times of debt driven downsizing and cutbacks. At one point the woman says something to the effect that we don’t want doctors thinking we regard them as mere civil servants. I think about how influen- avetighthe radio and TV.can be and how, perhaps, . 245NCx Should be, more worried. about the effect :, |...mythologizing in the mainstream corporate. media has had upon the morale of civil servants. Civil servants are, after all, the people who ensure the services we pay for through taxes are delivered to us, an enormous army serving every level of government composed, with only a few exceptions, of decent, hard-working people who take care of everything from brief. ing cabinet ministers to sewage disposal. Yet, somehow the media, in its fervent desire to pro- mote corporatism, has constructed a civil ser- Vice strawman which it knocks down again and again to foster the fraudulent notion that government is too large. For corporations and their apologists, government is always too large since it is the greatest obstacle between them and runaway profits gained through rampant ex- ploitation unfettered by such impediments as human rights, adequate working conditions and laws against environmental degradation. The radio signal is stronger again as I climb the hill out of Trout Creek. Bob Sharples reads the news: Premier Clark will make a deep inci- sion into the civil service. My roots go back to the Prairies, to Saskatchewan where my grand- father was solid member of a fledgling party called the CCF. Thirty years ago I worked for Tommy Douglas and a few years later for Grace McInnis. ] remember their speeches. I remei- ber their humanism, their great abiding concern for all people, Glenn Clark’s actions do not fit that tradition. Throwing people out of work is always bad economy ultimately, [1 does injury to the memory of the Winches, Tommy Douglas and Grace McInnis. Of course the opposition is not upset at the job cuts. They love tightening other people’s bells. They’re upset that Clark chose to ignore the gloomiest economic forecast prior to the clec- tion. The loss of a few jobs in the forest industry as a result of a government initiative to save a small chunk of old growih forest is met with vehement indignation by the right, yet the loss of over 3 thousand jobs in the government ser- vice arouses scarcely a peep. At Smithers [ stop at a tea room for coffee. Rafe Mair, a prominent castrato in the Corpo- rate Choir, is singing a hymn to privatization. ‘‘The signs arc everywhere thal we can no longer afford our medical system,’ he chants. [ get up to leave. “Where are you going?’’ asks the proprietor. “I can't listen to that,’’ I say, whereupon the only other patron, a young girl smoking a cigarcttc, turns and assures me that, **Rafe is usually pretty good.” According to Ralph Nader, the Canadian health care system is the best in the world. When it is crippled thanks to the efforts of people like Rafe Mair, I wonder who will pay for the heart problem or lung cancer this young lady’s tobacco addiction will have caused, It wan’t be ber buddy Rafe who can afford the bes! health care but doesn’t want to pay for any one else’s, Business done, ] leave Smithers in a snow storm. The landscape suits these hard, mean- spirited times. The last faded colours of fall are barely discernible through the snow, but they are there, promising another spring. 638-7283 Skeena girls on a ro OUR SKEENA girls’ volleyball team looked almost invincible No- vember 2 at a tournament in Smithers. And those convincing wins should give the team some momentum as they head into the Northwest Zone Championships this weekend. The girls started the tournament with a close match against Centen- nial Christian school. The match was marked by strong individual play and some lucky breaks that put the girls an top. By their second match the girls were warmed-up and ready to play. They thoroughly dominated first Houston and then Smithers. Both games saw Skeena cnuise to victory in straight sets. Those viclories set Skeena in the finals against Hazelton. Our girls took the first set 15-11, but showed some difficulties in the second and lost 15-9. That sent the match to a final third set. Hazelton came out strong and took a commanding lead thal saw them get to match-point, at 14- 10. But the Skeena squad showed a lot of determination and under ex- treme pressure they pulled through to take (he game with 16-14. Coach Frank Marrelli says the team showed real guts to hang on at match-point. Outstanding _ per- formances were noted from Nancy Arbuah, Heather Kelly and Paula Teixeira. This weekend the girls head down to Kitimat for the Zone Finals and Marrclli says they should do well. **T think our chances are pretty good given our recent _per- formance,” he says. ‘‘We can give ‘aityone a run for their money.” To prepare for the finals, the girls are--having practice games this weck against top-notch foes like the Skeena boys team and the senior girls team from Cal. “‘We want to give them some competition to keep them on their toes,”*’ Martelli says. ‘To keep their heads up and the momentum going,”? THE SKEENA girls volleyball team showed some muscle at a tournament two weekends ago in Smithers, Now they're busy practicing for the Zone Finals in Kitimat this weekend. Shames petition circulated A ‘~PETITION asking Shames Mountain to remain on “Tt was a decision based economics,” winter. Says “Ti’s a shame thal some of open on Mondays and Tues- days is getting signatures from dozens of skiers in the Terrace area, The popular ski hill is cur- rently scheduled to be open for five days each week, from Wednesday to Sunday, and closing on Monday and Tuesday. Shames’ manager Tim Mel- lon. “If we have a success- ful season, we'll try to be open seven days a weck next year.”” The petition asks Shames to stay open because many people have ta work on weekends, and those people might not get to ski this these people won't be able to ski on their days off,”’ Mellon says, ‘‘But we will be open seven days at peak times, like Christmas.”’ Mellon says the bill will be open every day from Sat- urday, December 21 to Sun- day, January 5 to accom- modate holiday skicrs. The ARENA NOW! # Arena enthusiasts TIRED BUT wanting to be heard were Adam and Robert Garten-Zutter, They were at the all candidates meeting last Thursday to show support for a second hill will also be open from March 15-23 straight, as well as Easter Monday. With the Northem BC Winter Games coming up in February, Shames Mountain will have to accommodate both athletes and recrea- tional skiers. The hill will host three events: giant slalom, snowboarding and luge. Bul Melon says the events should prove. excellent for spectators and shouldn't have too much effect on skiers out for a day on the slopes. ‘Our goal is to make the events the best they can pos- sibly be without impacting recreational skiers,’’ Mellan says. ‘It’s going to be a great show.’” Big plans for new mountain | bike club A LOCAL MOUNTAIN bike enthusiast is looking to put together an organized mountain bike club in Terrace that he hopes might give rise to national-level athletes. , Former national-level racer Mike Christensen says there’s lots of potential for northwest racers in this grow- ing sport. “Some of these guys have done some really impressive things with very little coaching,’’ he says, One of those guys is Adam Spensley. So far Spensiey has been in two races and won both of them. Thal kind of performance is what led Christensen to sponsor him through his store, McBikes. Christensen says that he would eventually like to sponsor and coach three to five riders in Terrace. And he wants to bring the provincial coach up from Vancouver to do a clinic. sheet of ice. Robert had been up since 4 am. for a practice with the Terrace Peewee tep team. He says another arena Is desperately needed, “There are lots of good bike-trails around here if you know where to look.”' -Mike Christensen- “The riders will benefit from coaching input,’ he says. “[ want to eventually hold a series of races in the north- west to help develop the young guys.’’ oe Christensen also says he'd like to get input from recrea- tional riders, He’s working to organize some club-type rides so people can learn new trails and looking into put- ting together a map of arca trails, “There are lots of good bike-trails to ride around here,’’ he says. “‘If you know where to look.”’ Anyone interested in the club can call 635-5225.