Sports The Review - Wednesday, May 8,1991 — A388 Track athletes get taste of competition Peninsula track and field ath- letes were well represented on the medal podium during last week- end’s Dogwood Meet in Victoria: The meet, sponsored by the Victoria Track and Field Club and held Saturday and Sunday at UVic, gave Parkland Secondary school and Peninsula Track and Field Club members a taste of upcoming competition as the high school track circuit heats up. For the Peninsula Club, Gree Dingle placed first in the 100m and long jump in the boys aged 10 class. Mark Holloway was first in the 3,000m and third in the 1,500m in boys’ 15. Both times were per- sonal bests. Andrea DePol was first in the 800m and second in discus for girls’ aged 15, while Chad DePol won the senior men’s 3,000m. Matthew Baker placed first in the boys’ (age 11) 800m and third in the 1,500m. Malcolm Fiander was third in long jump and the javelin in the boys’ 15. Other Peninsula club athletes who had fine showings were “Cherie Hague, Tammy Wallace, Geoff Wallace and Katherine Mar- shall. Parkland’s Adam Street won the senior boys’ 100m and 200m sprints. Dana Keller placed third in senior girls’ 100m hurdles, Sean Lyon finished third in senior boys’ 400m, and Dan Lally was third in the senior boys’ 3,000m. In field events for Parkland, Leanna Webber won the senior girls’ discus and shot put, while Hana Dutemple was second in the javelin. Parkland tracksters also placed well at the Senior All-schools telays last week at UVic. _ Street was second in the 100m, Keller was fifth in her 100m race, and Kristi Gregory was third in the girls’ 1,500m. Tillers Wings Devils Flamingos Keating Fitness Sportstraders RCMP Imperial Inn Chris Cheadle (1) Greg Fletcher (T) Greg Wagnor (W) Dan Worrall (T) Norm Westhaven (S) Chris Wallace (T) Grant Sjerven (W) PANORAMA BALL HOCKEY LEAGUE STANDINGS EFFECTIVE MAY 6 GP W L T 3 3 0 0 3 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 3 2 1 0 3 1 2 0 3 1 2 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 SCORING LEADERS NV BOIMAHwWwW © AWBODNNNO > GF GA PTS ge ig 155 4 5 i 5 5 D8 4 i 2 10, 7 5 20 S530 = 20 PTS 1 8 7 7 7 v 7 An adventure with peacocks and bureaucrats by lan Cameron Special to The Review “Your damn peacocks chased my Cat under the porch and they ’re eating all his food. You want to come and get them?” said the voice on the phone. “Peafowl.” “What?” “The male is a peacock, the ~ female is a peahen, the collective is peafowl.” Silence. Then, “University is out for the year, isn’t 11? Why don’t you take a break?” By the time I arrived at his house 10 minutes later, the pea- fowl had wandered off home, so there was no need to round them up. He poured coffee and we spent a few minutes talking, mostly about peafowl. He wanted to know what theyre good for. I admitted they arcn’t much use, and they eat quite a bit, and they are a nuisance some- times. “Then why do you keep them?” he wanted to know. “Well, they're decorative. And they're interesting topics of con- yersalion. And you get to mect new people when they wander off.” He said that didn’t sound like much compensation, and better me than him, and we shook hands and I left. Later in the day I was at the municipal hall picking up my agenda package for the Monday council meeting when I ran into Maurice Michell, who owns Michell Excavating. “How are you doing, Maurice?” “Hi, Ian, the police just told me IS BY 0 omer ey Oe ae Pre eae 5 eee can’t talk, but if you want to see something interesting, I’ve got to go to Island View Road to see the nematode man. I’m thinking of dumping a loaderful of manure on him. Come on along, if you haven’t got anything else to do.” Well, with an invitation like that, how could I refuse? I rode over to Island View Road, crossed the highway, and found Maurice’s operation. On one side of the road was a big manure spreader spreading its load on a ploughed field, and on the other side of the road was an exact duplicate being loaded from a huge pile by a big yellow loader. | parked the motorcycle and waited for Maurice. By the time he arrived the spreader had finished its load and was back on our side of the road. The operators turned off their machines and came over to Maur- ice’s pickup. He introduced his operator, the farmer for whom he was loading, the farmer’s helper. We talked. He explained that the nematode man from Agriculture Canada had told them not to move any of the equipment until he had seen it washed. Maurice had various thoughts on the matter, which he expressed at length. After 15 minutes a car with “Acriculture Canada” on the door arrived. The driver got out and opened the trunk. We talked. Time passed. Finally I asked what the official was doing. “Probably putting on his special nematode clothes,” said Maurice. Then another vehicle arrived. The driver got out. They talked. They came up to us. The first arrival did the talking, and the contrast with Maurice was strik- ing. The nematode man was young, tall thin and wore cnotless oum boots and a shiny new baseball cap with “Agnculture Canada” on it. Maurice is a middle-aged, short, solid, and wore muddy boots and a cap that probably said something once, but is no longer readable. Maurice expressed his displea- sure about having to wait for the nematode man, with three machines and operators sitting idle at $60 per hour each. The farmer explained how he felt about having to pay for the wait, and predicted’ what the con- sumers would say about having the cost added on to the price of their vegetables. The nematode man explained that the manure pile is on Class A land, the field on the other side of the road is Class B Jand, and the barn, 200 metres along the road, is on Class C land. He explained the loader would have to be washed before it could go onto Class A land, and how it would have to be washed, and introduced the other official, who would inspect the washing to ensure no dirt remained on the loader to spread nematodes from one side of the road to the other. He explained the penalties for moving the machine without washing it. I surreptitiously wiped my boots, covered with mud from my garden, which is Class Z land at the best, on the grass before the nematode man could see the mud and arrest me. Finally the nematode man filled out a yellow tag and fastened it onto the loader to show it was in quarantine, took off his special nematode boots and wiped them with his special disinfectant cloth, and drove his car out of the dirt driveway onto the dirt-covered road: the farmer moved his infected tractor and spreader onto the loading area; Maurice drove off in his pickup with the treads coated in every class of dirt ima- ginable; and I rode home. As I rode, I thought about what I had just seen, and it occurred to me that the nematode man had a lot in common with my peafowl. Decorative, expensive, a chance to meet new people, and about as useful as tits on a bull. Now I don’t blame the nemat- ode man. He is what God made him, and no more to blame for what he is than my peafowl are to blame for what they are. But it wouldn’t be fair for me, who is willing to feed decorative but useless birds, to demand that my neighbor pay for the food or spend his time looking after them when he should be earning a living, and it isn’t fair that the federal government, which wants to keep decorative but useless bureaucrats around, should ask all of us to pay for them, and have our farmers waste their time when they should be growing food. The next day I went to the horse-drawn ploughing contest, across the road from my house, and there was the nematode man, ensuring the plows were washed before returning to whence they came. I hoped my peafowl stayed home, and didn’t fly over the road. I wasn’t sure how they'd take to being pressure washed. Tan Cameron is an alderman in Central Saanich who says he is willing to go to jail for farmers who break the ban on growing potatoes. MEMBERS OF THE Parkland Panthers and Mt. Doug senior girls’ soccer feams battle for the ball in recent league play. Park- land lost the game 3-0. Criterium comes to Sidney streets Downtown Sidney will be invaded by cyclists Sunday, May 19th, when the Sidney Days Cri- terlum winds its way around town streets. Races in a number of categories are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and wrap up by 12 noon. The route runs in a loop along Beacon Avenue to Second Street to Bevan Avenue up to Fourth Street and back to Beacon. The start and finish line is approximately at the intersection of Beacon and Third Street. Races will be held in four cate- gories. Women, veterans and masters begin at 10 a.m. and race around ®& the circuit for 10 laps. Estimated time for the race is 10 minutes. Following them, category four racers are scheduled to start at 10:20, do 25 laps, and finish at about 10:45. Category three cyclists take to the streets at 10:55. They do 30 laps, and are estimated to be done by 11:20 a.m. The final race features category one and two riders. It is slated to start at 11:30 and end at 12 noon after 35 laps are completed. Vets, masters and women may ride in Race One as well as their category race. There is no entry fee, and sign- 2 on will be held before the races from 9 to 9:55 a.m. The race, organized by the Vic- toria Wheelers Cycling Club, is open to B.A.B.C. licensed riders only. For more information, call 474- RACE (7223).