Page 4 November 1982 Cassiar Courier Erickson C reek Column See —— by Pat Lewis Beaton Erickson Gold Mine has taken the first steps towards increasing its ore production. Last month a sixteen ton ball mill arrived on site from Ontario and crews are now in the process of installing it. The new ball mill is expected to increase ore production from the present 100 tons per day to around 175 tons per day. There was tension and excitement at Erickson when a 65 ton crane lifted the new ball mill onto a cement pad next to our existing mill — Surface Superintendent Tom McGrail called out instructions to the crane operator via the company’s mobile radio while onlookers held their breath during the tricky operation. /t will take several weeks to connect all the various parts of the ball mill and there are lots of bets on for the exact date the new ball mill will be operational. The ball mill is the third step in our milling process. The ore first passes through the jaw crusher, the core crusher and then the ball mill, where it is ground into a powder, Any material too large to pass through a-fine screen is recycled through the crushers. E.G.M. mill consultant Roy Gould of Golden, B.C. was on hand for the arrrival of the new ball mill. Roy has in- stalled about 25 mills at mines throughout B.C. He was at Erickson when the existing mill was put into operation in December 1978, amidst temperatures dipping to 50 de- grees below. The weather was a little more co-operative this time! Mill Superintendent Jasman Yee is hoping to have the new ball mill on stream before the cold weather sets in. Other happenings at Erickson this month: Goodbye to shifter Donny McLennan, who has returned to Whitehorse for the curling season. Donny is another old-timer who is full of stories about mining in days gone by. He was the former owner of the Carcross Hotel and has many friends around northern B.C. and the Yukon. Goodbye also to our baker, Elsie Schmidt, who kept the bake table full of delicious goodies and always had a smile to share. We’ll miss her. Hello to her replacement, Margaret Prest, who is not new to Erickson. Margaret was one of the first cooks to work here. Welcome also to Frank, Mary and Tina O’Grady. Frank has joined Erickson as a Shift Boss. ORO OU: Will Cassiar lose movie channel? Commercial cable TV operators in the North are upset by the recent press release issued by the Minister of Communications, Mr. Francis Fox. The release was pertaining to the CRTC’s stand on the pirating of American TV stations. However the press release did not say exactly how this would affect Northern operators. A spokesman from the CRTC said that a letter will be sent out to commercial operators advising them to cease and desist using American stations. If they con- tinue to do so they risk having equipment seized and forfeited to the Crown and also being taken to court. Private dishes are not affected by this unless they are rebroadcasting the signal. Mr. Werner Schneeberger, the owner of our local cable system WSTV supports Mr.Pat McGeer, the B.C. Minister of Science and Communication, in his request for an open sky policy. He thinks that private cable operators should be able to make their own arrangements. As things stand, in order to protect Canadian businesses the govern- ment will not allow private operators to purchase American pay TV. Mr. Schneeberger said that in 1979 the government stated that they would leave remote communities alone until Canada had a pay TV system of its own. To date 7 licences have been issued by the CRTC, but no Canadian pay TV systems are in operation yet. Cancom has applied to amend satellite broad - casting licences. They would like to put ABC, CBS and NBC as well as PBS into their package to sell to operators in Canada. A hearing is set for Nov. 22nd, at which time an investigation will be made into how the signal will be received and how the package will be sold if the licence is granted. ON nN TB Dt a nto Sep gn ts lig he es Fire Department News On September 28, 29 and 30th, Bruce Hall and Jack Tyler were in Cassiar to conduct an In—Field training ses- sion. Bruce and Jack are from the Fire Academy in Van- couver and have travelled throughout the province train- ing volunteer firefighters. During the three days we cover- ed Fire-fighting strategy, Protective clothing, Nozzles and Hoses, Pumper Operations, Ladders and Car Fires. Most of the time was spent actually doing the work. Fire Fighter Ted Krawezyk enjoyed rolling hoses so much that he re- quested we do it several times — they happily obliged him. When the officers were called up to show their stuff dur- ing the car fires Tony Coran was quite surprised to find three cars on fire instead of the usual one. Bicester wee CASSIAR FIRE FIGHTERS BRUCE HALL AND JACK TYLER PHOTOS BY CIRO Since its start in 1979 the Fire Academy of the Jus- tice Institute has had training contacts with just about every Volunteer Fire Department in the Province. This year alone they have had 17 In-Field sessions covering 75 Departments. The excellent training we have received from the Academy is certainly appreciated. We would like to welcome Art Cuthbertson and Cyril Habjan as new members to the Fire Department. Winter is closing in on us and it is a time for increased house fires. Furnaces, fireplaces and other fire hazards should be checked so we can continue to reduce the pos- siblility of fires. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Another point is wood fired smoke houses. These should be kept well away from existing buildings because of the possibility of fire. We would like to thank W.S.T.V. for their donation to the Fire Hall extension. Lioness News by Pam Krawczyk The Lioness Club held their first Children’s Halloween Costume Party on Sunday, Oct. 3lst. It was a very successful party and everyone who came had a great time. Our biggest project this year is our Annual Christmas Bazaar to be held on November 13th at the Rec Centre from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The proceeds from our Bazaar will be used to support our Foster Child for one year. We are also hoping to get enough extra money to help pur- chase badly needed equipment for our hospital - a fund ‘we will be working on throughout the year. We appreciate your support and hope to see you on November 13th at our Bazaar. Anyone wishing to contact the Lioness Club on anything please phone: Lioness Rita Brown - 778-7216 Lioness Cecile Beaudry - 778-7883 “Lioness Ida Walters - 778-7792 ten tar . Who’s News WAYNE CONLEY Our new man in Blue is Constable Wayne Con- ley. Joining him for his three year stint in Cassiar is his wife Debbie, and children Jessica (8), Sarah (S$), Matthew (3) and Angela (1). Wayne joined the R.C.M.P. in Ontario in 1975 and after training was stationed in Lady- smith . In 1979 he transferred to Nanaimo and was stationed there until he moved here this Fall. Wayne’s hobbies include hockey, sports, fishing and hunting, all of which he can pursue while he’s in Cassiar. Re, FRANK MATJAZ A very welcome new face at the retail store is Frank Matjaz , who is the new butcher. We have heard lots of positive comments about the recent improvements to the meat counter, all attributed to Frank’s.efforts. Frank and his wife Ivanka and two daughters Natasha and Andrea moved here from Calgary, Alberta. He and his family enjoy skiing and hiking in the mountains. Cassiar reminds Frank and his wife of their home town in Slovania, Yugoslavia. Y LAURA NORDQUIST Welcome to Laura Nordquist and her young son Andrew. Laura is our new Figure Skating in- structor for this year. She skated out of Port Coquitlam Figure Skating Club and was an am- ateur coach for four years. We hope she enjoys her stay in Cassiar. = \ BOOKGREWI EW) by Bill Morrison Sports Illusion, Sports Reality: A Reporter’s View of Sports, Journalism and Society by Leonard Koppett . (Houghton Mifflin, 1981, 296p.) In this book a veteran sports journalist presents us with a distillation of a life time’s reflection on major league sports, its relation to journalism, and its influences on American society. The ‘illusion’ is that the outcome of a major league game is important. Owners promote the illusion because it sells tickets. Fans accept the illusion because it provides them with a convenient escape into’a world of clear cut rules and precise outcomes that is so attractive when the world is so complex and ambiguous. Newspapers foster the illusion because sports sells papers. Radio and televi- sion foster the illusion because sports provides hours of cheap broadcast material and high advertising revenue. Even city, state and federal politicians capitalize onthe il- lusion to win votes. (In the days when there was a major league baseball team in Washington, D.C., it was thought to be right and proper to invite the President of the United States to throw out the first ball at the start of the season, What is really revealing about the importance of the sports illusion is that the President felt obliged to do it!) The ‘reality’ is that sports is a big business, with pro- fit as its basic motive. The sports business and the news media are involved in a symbiotic relationship: sports needs media coverage to encourage and promote the illu- sion; the media need sports to sell papers, in the case of newspapers, or to bring in advertising revenue, in the case of radio and television. The sports syndrome has a pro- found influence on American culture; attitudes relevant to the playing-field find their way into popular attitudes about politics, which is bad, and war, which is disastrous. The book, which derives from a series of lectures on ‘sports culture’ Koppett gave at Stanford University in the late 1970's, is divided into four parts. In Part |, ‘The Sports Business’, Koppett traces the history of the big leagues, and the structure of the sports enterprise. This section gives the reader, among other things, the background he needs to understand the strikes that are so prominent a feature in the sports world today. Part Il, ‘Journalism’, is a coincise textbook on the functions, methods and obligations of journalism. It deals with newspapers, radio and television, books and maga- zines; and the probes the thorny question of ethics in sports reporting. Part Ill, ‘The Cultural Interaction’, moves from facts to opinion. It is sound and measured opinion, however, that warrants serious consideration. Koppett points out that it is not correct to say that sports causes attitUides and practices in society; it is however, correct to say that sports reflects social attitudes, and powerfully reinforces them. The enormous popularity of competitive sports in America is, first, a reflection of American society, which has seen life as competition ever since the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock and began competing with the natives for possession of the land. It also, secondly, rein- forces the competitive model of society, and extends that model into many areas where it is not healthy. We natural- ly speak of political elections as ‘contests’ or ‘running matches’, and the language of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ ex- tends itself from the playing field to elections, as though the only issue involved was who beats whom. Military fig- ures, who hold the very existence of the world in their hands, talk about war as a ‘game’, with ‘us’ and ‘them’ as clear-cut as the home team and the visitors are to the en- thusiastic fan, and with ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ as simple as the teams in a game. To apply the simple logic and struc- ture of sports played by the rule book to international politics and military strategy is to court disaster. In Part IV, Koppett briefly gives some ‘Immodest Proposals’ that would improve sports in America. Here he moves beyond “big league’ sports, which has occupied him in the other three parts to sports in general. His chief crit- icism is of ‘amateurism’. as that is defined by the Internat- ional Olympic Committee. When it was invented in the 19th century, ‘amateur’ status was a way of preserving sports for the wealthy who could afford to train full-time without any financial remuneration; it kept the ‘riff-raff’ out of the gentlemen’s clubs. To compete at the world level today requires a person to be a dedicated and well- trained professional; to pretend otherwise is to maintain the hypocrisy that vitiates both international sporting events and college sports, where forged papers and phoney grades are the stock-in-trade of the sports scholarship, This is a fascinating book about an important subject. My only regret is that Koppett, who is otherwise a good stylist, should constantly treat the word ‘sports’ as a plural noun. ‘Sports’, as a subject, is singular. = : aaa ES ed Concert Season Cancelled After considerable debate and despite a super effort to sell tickets, the Concert Society finally made the decision to cancel the 1982—83 season. The main reason for this decision was that only half of the required number of season tickets had been sold, which would have meant that the deficit would have been too great for the Society to pick up. A number of people were very disappointed by the can- cellation of the season and, bearing this in mind, the Society has arranged to bring in the Symphonie Canadiana Concert, as planned, Tickets for this concert, to be follow- ed by a wine and cheese party, are on sale at $10 each and are already selling extremely well. if the concert is successe ful the Concert Society may bring in the Pacific Ballet on a similar basis. Your views on this would be appreciated. The executive appreciates that in these uncertain econ- omic times, many people are reluctant to plan a whole season ahead and hopes that the present method of bring- ing in the concerts will help the Concert Society to remain a viable organization during these difficult times. After three successful seasons, many people are reluctant to see the Society fold. Various fund-raising events will be held during the year, The first of these will be a Bazaar & Bake Sale to be held on November 20. Klondike Nite was also to have been held on this date but has been postponed until early in the new year. Also in the new year will be the ‘Prelude to Spring’ Dinner. The executive would like to thank everyone for their past support and look forward to continued support in the future. seksi eogaieaieseaeaeok - Special Thanks by Brian Beaudry As a father of teenage sons, I would like to thank Eugene P. and Gary P. who were in charge of various government and Brinco projects, for putting our young teenage sons and daughters to work over the summer holidays. It gave them something to do and put a little money in their pockets; also a lot of pride.It also made some very substancial improvements to our community, es- pecially the parks, streets and we even got a new tourist campsite for future use underway. Hats off to the young men and gals that put extra pride into making our town more beautiful to the eye. Our Lady of Lourdes Annual I’ea, Bake-Sale & Bazaar | coill be field Saturday No at Ske Shee Centre 1-3p.m. RAFFLE Ist Prize - DECORATOR TRUNK 2nd Prize - GINGERBREAD HOUSE 3rd Prize - TOY TICKETS - $1.00 each DONATIONS OF HANDICRAFTS — KNITTING, SEWING, CROCHETING, OTHER CRAFTS AND BAKING WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED’ vember 27k FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PHONE JOAN HABJAN AT 778-7363 Cassiar Courier November 1982 Page 5 Parent Advisory Council by Carmen Bondensen The Parent Advisory Council met on Wed., Nov. 6, 1982 for another regular meeting. Shirley Vickery has joined us as the Teacher Representative. Most of our meeting was concerned with what is going on at school this term, but you'll find that the school reports on that topic thor- oughly in another area of this paper. Parent Advisory Council members have been asked to pass around some Parent Surveys. Please take time to fill them out. It is not a waste of time, your ideas will be considered. More parent involvement within the school is encouraged. In the new school there will be a room wherein a hot food outlet could be set up. An- other suggestion for the same space would be a school supplies store. Parents, how do you feel about these sug- gestions? Would you be willing to support and volunteer to help run either facility? | Also you are welcome to submit suggestions of a name for the new school. (If you wish to name it after a person it must be someone not living.) The units for the new school are all in and installed. At the time of this meeting the roofing was being done. The latest projected date would be the end of November, however, optimists feel that that it could be sooner. Bill 89 School Services (Interim) Act by the Honourable William N.VanderZalm, Minister of Education, was explained. At this time the Bill has not been passed but if it should be, it will affect this School District. You will probably be hearing more about this one. The next meeting is on November 3, 1982 at 7:30 p.m. at the School Library. LIBRARY NEWS by Bill Morrison Beginning October 31st, the Library evening hours will be extended to 9:00 p.m. These ex- tended hours will remain in effect until the end of February. The Library hours are: Sunday 2to4 6to9 Monday 6 to 9 Tuesday 1 to4 Thursday 1 to4 Friday 6 to 9 rd