__ SKEENA°ANGLER. | __._ ROB BROWN Dangerous. waters ast May I travelled to the Queen Charlotte Islands, (or Haida Gwaii, if you wish} with my daughter and menibers of ber swim club, Jt was the first time I’d seen the northerly tip of the North Island, and I was struck by the raw, clemental power of the place, One morning our host, Peter Buck, drove me out to North Beach. We crossed some tea dark creeks the islanders calf rivers, then bumped over a road through a very dark and very green, moss-. floored forest. At road’s end we got out and walked along the hard sand toward Rose Spit, A couple of trucks roared past us, one heading back toward town, the other heading north toward the spit, the hazy oulline of which Peter and I could just make out in the distance, “The wind pushed bard, almost bowling us over with intermittent gusts. The sea hissed. The wind roared. Great piles of logs and kelp littered the ’ beaclics, _“Sometimes,”’ Peter yelled over the wind, ‘‘the Sea just coughs up its riches. A few weeks ago the beach was covered with scallops. People drove out from town and loaded up their trucks.” “How many?” [ asked. “Ten thousand,..as many as fifteen thousand,” he answered. Nestled in the distant haze we could make out the faint oulline of the Rose Spit. Peter, a forester ‘with a deep love of the outdoors and the islands, told me about his adventures circumnavigating the Charlottes, something-he’d done twice, Even told in the gentle understated manner, Peter has, the narrative, full of giant swells and the sound of waves crashing against dark shores, "was stirring and a lite frightening. The Haida thought the seas surrounding Rose Spit was the well spring of all life said Peter. From his description of the powerful seas sur- "rounding it, the sea lion raokeries, the millions of birds, and the abundant marine life, including the great rus of salmon the swim by the spit bound for rivers all the way from the mouth of the Nass to Northern California, it was easy to see why this WAS 50. The next day I breakfasted in a cafe in Massett before embarking on a cutthroat fishing trip to the Yakoun and Tell. 1 read the local newspaper and sipped my coffee, . The woods were down. The economy was shrinking. The minions of MacBlo talked about ‘the possibility of keeping the mills open if they could get concessions from the workers. The ' same old stuff, I thought, noting that there was no mention of the fact that the same company, Mac- Blo, and their quantity driven, forest depleting, high production agenda was in large measure respousible for the economic woes of the island, And, then there was the edilorial suggesting that there ought to be a reexamination of the pos- sibility of oil exploration off our Northern Coast line, People tend to lose their bearings in times of economic uncertainty. [ thought of Rose Spit and ] remembered the early ’80’s when tes! holes were drilled off Morseby Island by PetroCanada and the boys from Chevron Corp. There was serious talk about an oil port in Kitimat in those days. The Socred government was all for oil, predictably, but fears for our coas- tal fishery led to the creation of the West Coast Oil Exploration Panel. The panel held hearings in 15 coastal com- munities. After that they took a trip ta Scotland to . Study and assess the effcets of oil exploration and development there. To no one’s surprise, they found that safe oil exploration was not possible in the volatile seas off our coast. Following their recommendations a moratorium on exploration was added to the moratorium already in force for tanker traffic along the saine coastline. ‘T's taken almost 20 years for the cycle of boom and bust forestry arrive at the bust side again, Added to the economic woes associated with this is the fact that years of over fishing encouraged by imprudent management has Ied to a similar collapse in the fishing industry too, Dan Miller, formerly of Port Ed pulp, now the Deputy Premier and the minister responsible for oil, will soon make recommendation to cabinet on North Coast oi] exploration, Let’s hope Mr. Miller understands that the He- cate Straight, Dixon Entrance, and the West Coast of the Charloftes are as dangerous as they are rich; let’s hope he understands what the Haida * know, namely, that the seafood from that volatile ‘marine comucopia has sustained the coast for mil- ~lennia. Let us also hope that the minister of oil ‘ considers the burning, broken tanker floundering of Coos Bay Orcgon and the two container ships adrift off the Scott Islands as well as the contribu- lion, the burning of fossif fucls has made to the _ ; global. green house before be makes his recom- ‘‘mendaliotis, ‘FOR THE Terrace women’s soccer team, WAY TO GO: Terrace's women's soccer team celebrates their performance at the Northern B.C. Winter Games. At back: Naomi Thibodeau, Sam Mackenzie, Alex Hassett and Duncan Stewart. Front row: Liz Smaha, Natalie Wiens, Donna Monteith and Candace Mathewson. Missing: Leanne Kennedy, Sheila Denomme, Tanya McCul- lough and Heidi Siebring, Locals bring home gold from games metre free swim. Petra Robinson won two golds in 100-metre breast and 200-metre medicy. And Jenince Barton and Thomas winning in Prince Rupert was all in the defence. Kermodes show _ With solid goal-tending and a more than a few breaks’ in front of,.ile ‘net, the “12- member: team outplayed fand out-scored | - Prince Rupert’s ‘LA’? tean. The group effort cited one gold medal in Terrace’s total haul of 172 medals — 71 gold, 59 silver and 42 bronze. And leading our contingent of 192 athletes and coaches was Terrace’s - Blueback Swim Club, who always turn in a strong performance in the pool. Demetzer walked away with five golds “apiece, Brenna Stemer, Kaya Dpwns and Judy Stevenson also tumed in gold-medal... performances, Not to be forgotten, special olympic swimmers Sheila Alleman, Medrick Dun- can, Donna Brooks and Arlene Lindley also turned in gold-medal swims, Al the shooting range, marksman Bill Watson won gold in the mens, A-class, 16- yard singles competition and long singles Spirit.in defeat Whiterock Warriors surprised by local talent THE CALEDONIA senior boys’ basketball team played a heart-felt game Saturday, Feb. 6 against B.C.’s second best “AAA” boys’ basketball team. With 3:17 left on the clock in a game agains! the Whiterock Christian Warriors, the Kermodes were heading down the comeback trail by scoring a serics of three- pointers in a 51-61 game. Then Whiterock grabbed the ball. When our home-lown crowd started chanting “‘de-fence, de-fence, de-fence,” the mantra only seemed to encourage Whilerock’s 200-plus pound player, Chad Clifford. He scored two points bringing the score to 51-63 for Whiterock. Add a Warrior foul shot and Terrace was left 13 points behind with only 2:29 on the clock. “When Terrace’s Braden Meashaw’s shot bounced off the rini, the crowd sighed collectively, And when the Warriors scored a three-pointer, the gaine’s adrenaline seemed to fizzle into a series of score- less end-to-end rushes, . Terrace drew another foul and coach Cam MacKay called a time out. Both teams huddled and players eyed the clock — 1:28 remaining. MacKay gol out the drawing board and out- lined a battle plan, But Clifford took the foul shot and scored one poiut, then another to make the score 51-69 Whiterock. Not willing to give up, Christian Diserto and. Kevin Braam worked the ball back up the court. The play looked promising. Diserto passed the ball to Braam who criss-crossed the court and handed it back to Diserto. race. Teammate Vic’ Dean won the mixed doubles mixed class aiid mid-range singles shoot, Numerous wrestlers and karate athletes showed their strength an the mats, And Terrace’s crack mixed valleyball team nade up of Rod Funk, Adri MacKay, Bruce aud Mark Neid, Ryan Netzel, Monica Rauter and Krista Souies turned their spikes and digs into gold while at the games. Together swimmers contributed 30 gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze medals to Terrace’s tolal. Evan Palahicky — who recently made Canada’s top 25 list in the breast stroke — won gold in 100-metre breast stroke with a lime of 1:19:78, He also won the 200-metre breast stroke. Teammate Kyle Narzt walked away with an easy seven gold medals in everything from the 100-metre backstroke to the 50- —— “Whiterock is a better team, but on a giver SHAMES' LIFTIES: Shames crack team of lilt operators take a break from helping day they can be beaten,” children and beginners get on and off ski lifts safely. Back row: John McCormick, . Jamie Austin, Jason Batjer and Pat Tobin, Frent row: Reesha Wolfe, Andrea Townsend, Greg Moore and Roy Shelford. Working Shames’ slopes The crowd held its breath. Then the Warriors stole the ball and got their basket. With 1:04 left in the game, Caledonia was behind 20 , points. . The Warriors fouled Diserto and set him up for two JUST HOW FAST does personable and helpful. ment prograin at Humber shots. He scored two points and shortened the spread, Shames chair lift go These essential staff are College in Ontario, where One minute and two Whiterock shots laler, the game anyway? stationed at the top and bot- he studied outside opera- elded 53-75 Whiterack to the supportive cheers of devoted Well, according to the tom of the blue chair, t-bar tions, ski facility layout and basketball fans PI es hill’s lift operations and and handle-tow lifts. They design, snowmaking, The kids sla ed with a great deal of heart and effort.” inaintenalice supervisor, greet skiers and snowboar- grooming, ski schools, + pray 18 , ; bane MacKay said after the game. ‘‘Whilcrock is a beller team, John McCormick, the blue chair is running at just be- low full speed at 2.2 meters per second, Which means it takes 10 minutes to get from the base area to the top of the lift. “We want it to be fast and efficient without any safety conceris,’” he said, ders, organize the imarshall- ing -arca and assist customers with loading and unloading on the lifts. McCormick and other working supervisors traln all the lift operators on equip- ment, procedures, public re- lalions and safety, Daily inspections are done on the lifts with regular inarketing and risk manage- nent He came to Shames for his field placement in Novem- ber, 1993. And he began his career in Ihe snow Industry at age 14 as a part-time Lift operator, McCormick also works closely with maintenance technician Peter Marshall bul ona given day they can be beaten,*’ MacKay was particularly proud of the boys’ defensive efforts and ability to keep the Warriors to a manageable point spread after Whiterock stomped Prince Rupert’s Charles Hays Secondary 95-50 in an eartier pare, The Whiterack coaches were actually afraid Terrace wotld catch wp, MacKay said, and played their first string in the second half — something they didn’t do against a bigger Charles Hays team, kkk kk He supervises Shames Mountain’s lift operators, affectionately ‘ known. . by some as ‘“‘lifties’’. And they're: getting rave ‘yeviews this year for ‘being __ Check out the Kermodes at their last home tourtiament . Feb, 24-27 at the Caledonia gym. Teams from Kitimat and Prince Rupert battle Terrace’s tough team at the Noritawest -Zone Championships. The winner will attend the B.C. boys provinicial champlonships in Vancouver March 9-13, and = outdoor = operations inanager Gordon Russell to inaintain © Shames’ © four” power generators,’ tmechani- - cal conveyances and lifts. reports going to the Ministry of Highway's acrial tram- ways division. - , “McCorntick” - graduated from. the ski area manage-