The Terrace Standard, Monday, December 23, 1996 - C1

UNITY

INSIDE
COMMUNITY
EVENTS B2

SECTION B
CRIS LEYKAUF
638-7283

AT THE LIBRARY:
SHEELAGH MEIKLEM

A good read for
the holidays

ET WINTER winds blow as they
will, I will never know because |
am curled up in front of a fire with
a good mystery!

All year [ have been planning to list the ‘‘Top
Ten Murders That ] Have Read in 1996,”’ but
now that the time has come, the task scems
monumental. What criteria to use ?

My personal preferences are not reliable as
they depend on my mood at the time. Finally ]
decided that the books on my list must be ex-
press -trains, picking me up and carrying me
along willy-nilly to the final destination without
pausing for breath or thought —- the ultimate
great escape,

Dick Francis is the master in this category bul
his new book To the Hilt is not on the List simp-
ly because it is an obvious winner. He never
disappoints.

In the Presence of the Enemy by Elizabeth
George was a stand out. A fatter book than most
mysteries yet still ending too soon for me, this
is a story of a kidnapping that opens up many
cans of worms in high-powered British
households and leaves devastation in its wake.

The Girl Who Remembered Snow by Charles
Mathes introduces Emma Passant, an orphaned
magician who travels 1o San Marcos to discover

_. the truth behind ber grandfather’s death and the
meaning behind the theft of a model boat. It’s
an exotic locale that leads her to a shocking
secret concerning her own origins.

Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich is the
second entry in a series starring Stephanie
Plum, a bounty hunter in New Jersey with
plenty of attitude and lots of lethal weapons,
some of them encased in Spandex!

Footsteps of the Hawk by Andrew Vachss is a
gritty novel about Burke’s lalest adventure in
the grimy underbelly of New York. He de-
scribes himself as a ‘‘bottom feeder’’ yet al-
ways dispenses his own version of justice
against worse predators than himself.

Darkness, Take my Hand by Dennis
Lehane may be the best of the year. It is
a complex tale of betrayal and revenge
in Boston’s Irish community, involving
cops and criminals whose lives and
long-buried secrets have become inter-
twined with lethal results,

Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry is ihe
_ return of Jane Whitefield, a native American

who specializes in helping people disappear and
begin new lives with safe identities. In this case
she has two clients, an eight year old kidnap
victim, and a fess-than-innocent woman, both in
deadly danger.

Lily White By Susan Isaacs is an engrossing
novel about a lawyer who is representing a con
man who seduces loncly women and may have
murdered one of them. In the course of dis-
covering the truth about her client, she also dis-
covers some truths about her own life choices.

Darkness, Take my Hand by Dennis Lehane
may be the best of the year. It is a complex tale
of betrayal and revenge in Baston’s Irish com-
munity, involving cops and criminals whose
lives and long-buried secrets have become inter-
twined with lethal results.

The Litte Yellow Dog is Walter Mosley’s
latest Easy Rawlins mystery. This writer is the
poet of mystery novelists, his prase is so full of
image and metaphor. In this book, Easy jeopar-
dizes his hard won serenily and his job as a
janilor when he falls in lust with a teacher who
is promptly murdered,

This Far, No Further is a first novel by John
Wessel. His hero is fresh out of prison after
serving his sentence for murder, trying to
resume a career as an investigalor. His new case
invoives him in the life of an extremely kinky
plastic surgeon and his victims.

The tntruder is a gripping edge of the seal
book by Peter Blauncr. A man’s attempt to dis-
suade a street person from stalking bis wife
leads him deeper and deeper into a river of
trouble that almost destroys his entire family.

Soinething to look forward to in 1997: a
hardback debut for. Martha Lawrence with The
Cold Heart of Capricora, featuring parap-
sychologist P.f. Elizabeth Chase in her second
CASE,

All this murder and mayhem can be found on
the shelves at the library,.if I remember to
return them!

By CRIS LEYKAUF
WHEN SHE was 19-years-
old Janct Louie climbed into
a car with a drinking driver.
She had nearly finished high
school in her remote home
town of Iskut, south of
Dease Lake, and had plans
to become a nurse.

When the driver lost con-
trol of the car, Janet was in
the back seat sleeping. She
became a quadriplegic that
night and spent the next 11
months in the hospital.
Now, more than 30 years
later, the accident is still
responsible for even more
health complications.

A simple flu, which most
people can overcome in a
week or two, has kept her
bedridden for seven months.
She was recovering, when
the day of our interview she
had a relapse, and was too
weak to talk for more than a
few minutes,

Lying on bed in her
darkened room, her legs
look impossibly small under
the blankets, She can move
one arm just enough to grab
a straw of her drink, and can
turn her head to watch tele-
vision.

“Tm still angry at him,”
she says of the driver. She’s
never spoken to him since.
Ircnically, he’s recovered
from his injuries, and is now
married and living in Iskut.

Now Janet tells the teens
She meets in her trips to the
mall about how dangerous
drinking and driving is.
‘Do you want to end up
like me?”’ she asks the kids.

Despite what she’s had ta
overcome, Janet is amazing-
ly upbeat, and her longtime
friend, Peter Letendre, says
she’s an inspiration to him,

When they met 11 years
ago in Vancouver, Letendre
was her caretaker, but soon
became her friend. They
moved to Terrace in 1992,
and share an apartment set
up to accommodate wheel-
chair users,

‘We're companions, but
i’s like a marriage,’’ says
Letendre,

Janet is very dependent on
Letendre for basic life func-
tions.

For example, she can feed
herself, but she can’t cut
anything up. She can’l
Scratch her nose, get a drink

PETER LETENDRE has spent the last 11 years looking after his quadriplegic friend, Janet Louie. She was

badly inured when she was 19, the victim of a drinking driver. She's spent the last seven months bedridden
from a flu, and wasn't well enough to be in this photo.

of water on her own, and
when she’s sick she can’t
even cough on her own.

“The simplest thing is
something big lo us,” says
Letendre.

One of the hardest issucs
Janet has to deal with is that
she can’t have children.

“Tt really bothers her,”
says Letendre,

But there's joy in their
lives too. They both like to
go out dancing.

“T sit on her knee when |

waltz with her. People scem -

to understand and make
reom for us,”’ he says.

The people — of . Terrace
have been wonderful, says

Leltendre, particularly mer

‘who hang out in the mall.
“The young people seem
to: watch “oul for her,” he

says. “Even the street kids.

heip her out.” And the little

“The simplest thing is something big to us.’

chants in the downtown area
who belp her shop:
When she’s feeling good

Janet: will catch the Hand-.

iDART into town, go shop-
ping and talk to the teens

A reason to celebrate

LAST DECEMBER a local
family, the Rossiters, was
trying to cape with the
serious injuries their son
Blake received from a car
accident. The family was
faced with sudden expenses
associated travel and medi-
cal costs, and many Terrace
residents joined together to
host a very — successful
fundraising event. Now, 4
year later the Rossiter fam-
ily sends greetings from
Vancouver.

Christmas is a busy and
wonderful time or the year.
A time when we reflect on
family, values and hope for
the future.

A year ago Blake was just
emerging fram a coma of
six weeks. It was the result
of a traumatic brain injury
received in a motor vehicle
accident on November 4,
1995. He was gravely ill but
slill has a welcome smile for
his family and friends.

Suddenly we were rejoic-
ing, and Christmas turned
from a potential sorrowful
lime to a time of hope, Bul
we hadn't prepared and we
were in a panic to make
Christmas a celebration.

The next days were spent
decorating Blake’s hospital
room, wrapping presents
and making phone calls to
spread our great news, We
truly had a miracle as Blake
was given a five percent
chance of survival and now
had awakened.

Blake Rossiter

Over the last year Blake
has struggled through many
hours of physiotherapy and
achieved many daily func-
tions we lake for granted,

In his motorized chair he
ventures out into the com-
munity, does - volunteer
work, participates in the
running of the house he
lives in, and plays be guitar.

Blake’s foremost goals are «

to improve his guitar skills
and: td walk again. Despite
the —origitial prognosis,

Blake has accomplished
whal we were told he would
not. With his determination
and perseverance he = con-
tinues to surprise us all,

We have much to hope for

and to’ celebrate. this. year.

but we'll miss the aclivilies

_ going. on back home in Ter-
“race.” Thank -you for’ your

contlied support: |

Happy New-Yearl

-Mike, Lari, Wendy and

Blake Rossiter

Merry Christntas and

kids will chase afler her in
the mall; asking her for rides
on her chair. ©

Janet loves talking to the
kids, and she enjoys helping
others, he says. °

For example, both he and
Janet volunteer with the
B.C. Paraplegic Society, and
they worked to get better

‘ramps from sidewalks to the

streets,

It was a project Janet
started working on when she
realized she needed heip to
gel around a lot of areas.

“She docsn’t give up.
That’s what she’s taught
me. She has an inner
strength, and she’s given

(hat to me,” says Letendre.
“She's an. amazing
woman’?

America,

since,

Audubon Society.

seet)—- 1521

little harder to come by,

al 635-6984,

Bird count to
be delayed

THE TRADITIONAL Boxing Day bird count has been
moved to Dec. 29 this year. That’s the day when bird
enthusiasts will be out counting birds, noting specics
and adding them to the official totals across North

The tradition of counting birds during Christmas holi-
days was slarted al (be turn of the century.

In olden days a-Christmas Day tradition was for men
going out to shool as many birds as possible. Women,
on the other hand, chose to go oul to look, and
eventually count; birds instead.

Al the turn of the century the first official bird count
was organized, and it’s been growing in popularity ever

Taday the Christinas bird count is an annual tradition
in towns and cities throughout North America, All data
is officially recorded. and published yearly by the

In BC, about 20 communities participate in official
bird counts during the ‘last few weeks of December.
Victoria holds the. Canadian record for the most species

In Terrace, the average number of specics spotted
during the count is about 40, and has been as high as 56
says organizer Diane Weismiller.

She’s hoping the weather will cooperate this year,
and nore people will be out counting.

Last year only 12 brave souls ventured out in ex-
tremely windy weather, freezing rain and snow.

1 will cost you $5 to join in the official count put on
by the Audubon Society, and your numbers will be in-
cluded in their publication. However, if you want to
just'slay home and count the birds at your feeder for an
houror two, there’s ne charge Cor that.

This: year’s deeper. show accumulation means that it
will be harder for counters to get to those out of the
way spots. says Weismiller. But there could be an in-
crease in birds at the feeders because food could be a

“Hyou'd like to take Patt in the bird count, call Diane