Page 4, Terrace Bay-Schreiber News, Wednesday, November 13, 1985 ace Bay cehreiber > Our Opinion = is Ghost towns The Terrace Bay-Schreiber News is published every Wednesday by: : a Laurentian Publishing Co. Ltd., Box 579, Terrace Bay, Ontario, POT 2W0. . CG) } Telephone: (807) 825-3747. at EDITOR, 5 ieee ee eee Marilyn MoQuin -- RDUERTIOING os ee me Gigi Dequanne -(OPRIGE 6 es eR oe ee eee Gayle Fournier Ggu PRODUCTION MANAGER ....................-..-5.+05055 Mary Melo Not too long ago, in a small community newspaper guest editorial, we read this story. Jack Spike decided to go to the big city to do his grocery shopp- ing. He filled his big car with gas at the local service station and set off. Everything that Jack bought was such a bargain, that when he returned home to his little town, he told everyone about it. Soon almost all of the townspeople were filling their big cars at the local service station and heading off to the big city to get their good deals. This caused the local grocery store to close down, because it was getting no business. Things were not all rosy however, people started complaining that their big cars were gobbling up too much gas, so off they went to the city to buy little ones. They used so little gas, that the gas station had to close. Soon, the city deals were so appealing that the hardware store, the clothing store, and others, also had to close their doors. Since the townspeople had to go to the city now to buy everything they needed, they also started visiting the city dentists and doctors. Next the little town lost its dentists and doctors, their little hospital closed, and the residents, fearing for their safety, started to move to the big city, where they hoped to live happily ever after. We can all surmise how this story ends, the little town is no more. The moral being, that if we don't support what we have, like the dinosaurs of old, extinction may come to our town. The following letter was sent to Mrs. Mulligan, Lake Superior High's prin- cipal regarding the sports tournament in Nip-Rock on the November -- Ist weekend. -Ruth Mulligan Principal, Lake Superior High School, Terrace Bay. Dear Ruth: Every so often the adults in education have the op- portunity to observe the youth in our schools in the quality role we try so hard Black's cartoon face says so long Letters to the Edit to always strive for. This role was personified on two recent occasions in Red Rock by the Senior Boys' Volleyball Team from Lake Superior High School. These young men show- ed the skills that a Cham- pionship Team needs; they continuously demonstrated the determination and discipline that a Champion- ship Team needs; indeed, it was a class act. Throughout the N.S.S.S.A.A. finals number 10 and number | created a lot of fine execu- tions; as well, the defensive plays of no. 7 stand out in my mind. But what I remember most is the sportsmanship exemplified by the whole team. It was a team effort all the way. One final point, all too often we forget just what it is that pulls all of the ingre- dients together and makes it work. Although Doug Roberts would never say so, he knows as well as you and I, that you must have good coaching. The Lake Superior High School team reflects this fact. They are a team to be proud of. Yours sincerely, Ivan Bakk, B.A., M.Ed. Program Co-ordinator FT von'r Have AVoTE | "No Nonsense" Tips Cut an empty bleach bottle in half and rinse well. Use the top half as a funnel. Here's a great recipe to relieve sore throats and congestion -- add about 2 tbsp. vinegar and 2 tbsp. honey to a cup of lemon juice and heat thoroughly. This beverage will be hard to drink, but you'll feel much better afterward. Put fresh pine needles in the dog house or under your dog's bed to keep fleas away. - If you don't want your cat up on the upholstery, put a few mothballs in the cushion. Car lock frozen? Heat the key with a lighter or match and turn in the lock gently. Make an arranger for the bottom of your vase by tying together hair rollers. The ends of stems can be inserted into the centre of the rollers. It happened to Gordie Howe and Guy Lafleur. It happened to Pierre Trudeau and Northern Dancer. There comes a day when a guy simply realizes that the world has passed him by; that he's creaking along to a dif- ferent (and slower) drummer; that it is time to throw in the towel, toss in the sponge, hang up the saddle, cash in one's chips and call it a day. Retirement, we're talking about. Not for me... for him. That bulbous-nosed aging hippie squinting down at us from the corner of this column. He is ostensibly a cartoon rendition of your obedient scribbler. it is one artist's impression of the outcropping that blooms from my neck. As a work of (you'll pardon the pun) Art, it speaks for itself. As an historical document, it has one major flaw. eS ee ee more, anyway. I would like to think that I never did, but experience has taught me otherwise. When | first laid eyes on that car- toon, I freaked. *'Awp!"* I ex- postulated fluently as I dropped it on the desk of a colleague. **What in gawd's name is this?" My co-worker glanced at the art work, then looked me dead in the eye. '*Looks just like you,"" he said. Making a mental note to turn him in to the CNIB, I showed it to five other friends. They all said the same thing. One even suggested it wa" flat- tering. | swallowed my pride and dialed up the artist, -- one John Barclay of Thunder Bay. **The car- toon is.... fine, John,"' I muttered through gritted teeth. "I'll buy it." I'd always been fond of John SESE, ORES SIE aR OTE IE TP 8 ET as he was the only artist | knew who would work for a commission of two bags of popcorn, a six-pack of Cream Soda and a couple of back issues of "*Spiderman." The bearded ogre made his debut on Page Five of Lakehead Living back in 1977. Since then, he's gone on to... well, *"grace™' is perhaps not the verb I'm looking for -- appear, say, in the pages of about a dozen papers across the province. And every time I open a paper and see him leering back at me, I wince. I've tried to retire him. Once, I even hired a big-name Toronto car- toonist to take a shot at doing an *'im- proved"* caricature of me. The Hogtown Michaelangelo charged about five times more than Barclay and displayed about one-tenth the talent. The drawing he turned in made. me look like the result of a night of mad passion between Tugboat Annie and Jabba the Hut. | skulked back to the Barclay original. We've been together for the past seven years. Just me and Old Dou- ble Ugly up there. I write the words, he just smirks and takes the credit. But not for much longer. Merciful deliverance came last week in the form of a telephone call from my editor. **We're changing the format of the paper a bit," he said. 'Wondered if we could get a photograph to replace the cartoon?" Photograph? The editor wants to deep six the cartoon and replace it with a photograph? Hoo boy, could I supply a photograph! My left hand was still hanging up the phone while my right hand was looking up the number for **Karsh, Y."* in the Ot- tawa phone book. Then I remembered the other pro- blems I suffer from. Photographs. I am even less photogenic than I am cartoon-o-genic. I look lousy in photos. Granted, I'm no Robert Red- ford in real life -- but does that ex- plain why in snapshots I come out looking like Butch Cassidy's horse? No matter. I promised the editor that he would have a usable photo of me for next week's column. Right now, there are five rolls of mug shots being developed at the local film lab. Surely, one shot out of five rolls will do me justice... or in this case, mercy? On the other hand, who cares? Take another look at old Fur Face up there. I mean, what have I got to lose?