The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 14, 1999 - BS TERRACE STANDARD ee ee em Baier Ee SKEENA ANGLER | ROB BROWN Trout fishing part Ill with something resembling scientific pre- cision; on Haida Gwaii/QCl all you need is a couple of names and a landmark. Wiggins and Richardson Roads are in my head and J already know where to find the Tiell river. This information leads me to and art gallery ‘and a woman with a pleasant smile who is sitting behind a desk and a computer writing what looks like a letter in Jong hand. “Can you tell me how io get to Bob Crooks’ place?’’ I ask. She is half way into her description when a flash from the past, complete with a headband, iong hair, and beads, comes through the door. ‘This is Bob’s neighbour,” the woman says. ‘‘He can give you better directions than I can.” This said, she looks at him, motions to me, and says, “he wants to know how lo get to Bob Crooks’ place,” The young anachronism nods then proceeds to tell me how to get to the Crooks’ residence in exquisite detail. I concentrate hard, trying to sort and file all the landmarks he mentions — large rocks, piles of drift wood, fence posts — in my memory, “The only problem,” he says when he's identi- fied the last thing io look for, is Bob's in Montreal.”’ formation ] would have given him,’ she says. “That’s OK,’’ [ say. “I enjoyed the trip.” After that I spent some time looking around the nicely appointed gallery and the book store, art supply complex upstairs. A number of the pieces decorating the walls are signed by Noel Wotton, a long time member of the Queen Charlotte Islands Branch of the Steelhead Society. “Is this Noel Wotton’s gallery??? I ask the woman. “I’m Rob Brown, I’ve known about Noel for a loag time.’’ “Hello,” she says, ‘I’m Barb Small,’’ then be- fore I can say anything else she gels up and opens the door. *“Noel,'’ she calls. “Rob Browa’s here,” A man with a handle bar moustache strides through the door. He’s wearing a beret, sturdy gar- dening clothes, and Haida Gwaii footwear of choice, gum boots. After brief introductions Noel ushers us out into his yard and beckons us to follow him on a tour of the grounds. He shows us some nicely developed raised beds, The soil on the Islands needs lot of fortification before it will produce. It’s obvious that Noel has put a lot of work into this garden and his grounds. “When we moved here it was just a logging slash by the edge of the road,’"he says with sweep of his hand. Cait and I sense his pride, and it’s justified. A short distance down the path from the art Gal- jery/book store is a nice house Noel and Barb rent out for two nights at a time, a kind of bed and breakfast plus. From there Noel takes us down another path to an artistically cut boardwalk set on stilts to lift it off the marshy pasture at the edge of his property, In the distance the Tiel] winds through the same pasture, “*Any fish around?’’ I ask. Noel tells us he came back from Vancouver the day before. As soon as he could, he went out to the river to check if the cutthroat were stil] there, He found they were. “You should walk down the road at the end of my place and do some fishing,’’ he added, * Noel then takes us for the rest of the tour, which includes a gnome-like hut with a shake roof bent in such a way that it looks like a giant acorn. Made by hollowing out a spruce stump 17 feet in diameter that he’d found on a cut block on Moresby Island, Noel is in the process of painting frescoes on the chiseled interior walls. There is a window, a Spartan bench and a stump, Guitar cases lie on the floor. , *"We have sing alongs in here. Do you play?” he asks, *‘A little,” J tell him, says. “T know those,”’ I tell him. Cait and I meet the dogs, a Chesapeake Bay retriever and an affectionate chocolate iab, After that we have snother look at the gallery, then bid our good-byes and drive on to explore Tlell. , Noel has planted the secd. I’ve just got 10 make a few casts. ] park the car, We make our way to the end of the road way then up a path that ends at one of those thick, wet, green, impenetrable forests. Next week cutthroat, Bob and Dress for Les... n big cities directions need to be given: The woman faughs. ‘“That’s the first bit of in- “‘All you have to know here are C, F and G,”’ he pee STEEERIKE: Brad Neufeld from Northwest Mer- chants men’s fastball igam goes for the fence at a practice June 10. The team plays in a Prince George Life in the fast lane The Northwest Merchants season | began May 15 but these players have been practicing for months. THEY SAY the road to success is long one, but the North- west Merchants never thought to take the saying literally. Seventeen Merchant players will drive to Prince George ° to play in a fastball league there almost every weekend this summer. And that doesn’t include tournaments in Vernon, Kelowna, or Williams Lake and extra mileage Hazelton, Kitimat and Prince Rupert players clocked when they trek here twice a week to practice, The players hope that by training bard (they started prac- ticing indoors last February), they will regain their 1998 league title and get to the provincials in Victoria July 23- 25. Last year, the team came in third at provincials, nar- rowly missing a chance at Nationals, Brad Neufeld was named tournament MVP, This year, the Merchants plan a top-two performance at provincials so they can go to the Nationals in Ontario Aug. 22 to Sep. 5. But as of June 12, they’ve won seven games and lost three. ‘It’s a slow start to the season,’ said a teas representa- live last week. “Typically, we do a lot better than this.” The players, who played together as juniors for years, de- cided to compele in Prince George to play more challeng- ing teams than Terrace had to offer. But that decision's taken a lot of commitment from " players when only two of 12 league games are played here. Their next league game here is June 26-27 against En- vironmental Days at Riverside ficlds, play starts at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m, TERRACE MINOR BASEBALL Vanderhoof wins local tournament By GREG COWMAN FIVE VISITING teams from Prince Rupert, Smithers, Houston and Vanderhoof tackled three house teams al the Junior Toumament June 4-6 at Rotary fields. Vanderhoof went un- defeated all weekend and finished with a 12-2 win over All Seasons in the A- event final, The B-event final saw lo- cal Kinsmen defeat Houston 14-3 and in the C-event, Pizza Hut beat out Smithers 11-6. Tournament — organizers were grateful for the weatherman's cooperation, who stopped the rain an hour before the first game on Friday, allowed some sun on Saturday and held off any precipitation until half an hour after the last journament game Sunday. Thanks go to all the participants, Jack Kelly's field crew, umpires and scorckeepers for keeping the field groomed and the weekend. In Icague play, the Kins- men took over Sole posses- sion of league standings after a June 9 game against Pizza Hut. The Hut lead throughout the game behind Jonathan Marcellin’'s five inning pitching performance, After a. pitching change, the battling Kinsmen scored four runs in the top of the sixth and held an to defeat the Hut 8-5. On June 8, SpecDee and All Seasons met to decide who would stay in the lcague basement. The Printers took an early lead that grew to eight runs by the start of the last half of the last inning, All Seasons came to bat and quickly scored three ruins before SpeeDee got two quick outs, But Ail Seasons would not be denicd and scored five more runs with the final cut coming on Corey Paulsen’s tag out at home on what would have been the win- games on schedule af] ning runina 14-14 game. League standings to June 9 G W L T GBL Kinsmen B 6 2 0 9 Pizza Hut 8 5 3 0 1 Speedee Printers §°-2 65 1 435 8.2 5 1°35 ]. All Seasons league-and is made up of Terrace, Kitimat, Hazelton and Prince Rupert players. They're getting ready to take on teams at a Vernon tournament this weekend. BATTER UP: Catcher Danny Beaulac and hitter Rob- bie Martins practice their game at Riverside Park June 10 in Terrace. BUFFED AND READY: Terrace bodybuilder Mark Dhami posing for judges at competition in Prince George June 5, Dhami qualifies for B.C. champs LOCAL BODYBUILDER Mark Dhami won gold in the light heavyweight division at the Prolab Classic Bodybuilding Championships in Prince George June 5. Dhami, 22, stole the men’s overall best poser award and finished second overall in the competition, The meet qualifies him for the provincial championships in Burnaby Aug. 21, Dhami won last year’s Western Canadian Natural Bodybuilding Championships in Mission, B.C, and planned to reattend the competition June 11, where competitors take lic detector tests and prove themselves sterold-ftce for at least five years to enter, 638-7283 Sports Menu Saturday, June 19 Fan Appreciation Day at the Terrace Speed- Way. Saturday and Sun- day, June 19-20 An- nual Gold Cup Fast- ball Tournament at Elks Park, Regional tournament runs 8 am. to 4 p.m. Satur- day and Sunday. Sunday, June 20 Fa- ther's Day, Sponsors Day at the Terrace Speedway. Sunday, Juna 27 Northcoast Rugby Union games at North- west Community Col- lege. Women's games Start at 12:15 p.m, men start at 1:00 p.m. Friday to Sunday, - July 2 to 4, Skeena . Valley Open Men's. Golf Tournament, Saturday, July 3 Community Day at the Terrace Speedway. Sunday, July 4 Coke Classic weekend at the Terrace Speed- way, Friday to Sunday, duly 9 to 11 Skeena Valley Open Women's Golf Tournament. Sunday, July it Northcoast Rugby Union games at Narth- west Community Col- lage. Women's games start at 12:15 p.m., men start at 1:00 p.m. Friday to Saturday, July 15 to 16 Skeena Valley Open Junior's Golf Tournament, Saturday and Sun- day July 17-18 Memorial Day weekend at the Tar- race Speedway. Sunday, July 18 McBike Cross Country race at the Spring Creek watershed in Terrace, Mountain Bike and Cross coun- try races. Call McBike at 635-5225 for more information. Sunday, July 25 Mul- tiple Sclerasis tourna- ment at the Skeena Valley Golf and Coun- try Club. Call the club for more information. Christmas in July at Shames Mountain, runs 12 noon to 5 p.m. Expect Santa Claus, candy canes and Christmas carols. Saturday and Sun- day, July 31 and Aug. 1 GM Good- wrench 100 at the Ter- race Speedway. Saturday, Aug. 14 Heart and Stroke charity tournament at the Skeena Valley Golf and County Club. Cail the club to join, Sunday, Aug. 15 Kid- dies Day and Last Points Day at the Ter- race Speedway, To get your game, event or meeting added fo the Terrace Standard Sports Menu, fax us at 638- 8432, atin: . Sports ment.