Russell Review Box 359 ® Russell, Ontario © Phone 445-2080 Vol. 2, No. 16 'You make the News" Carnival Queen Diane Wo es Kim Eadie and Deanne Ruest are ready to Rowsell. March 4, 1977 uters and Princess- travel the Carnival Parade route. -- Photo by M. Russell Winter Carnival Wrap-up Favoured with ideal weather conditions and excellent parti- cipation, the Russell Winter Carnival, the best ever as described by some, was a huge success! Diane Wouters, 17, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Wouters was chosen Russell Carnival Queen '77. Ten lovely hopefuls competed to win the coveted 'crown. Kim Eadie, 16, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Eadie was chosen First Princess and Deanne Ruest, 15, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Ruest was selected Second Princess. The Community Hall was filled to capacity for the colourful pageant and the _ interesting programme which included a hilarious whistling act, "The Brown Derby Boys", as well as local talent. Following the huge success of the Queen Pageant, one might think that it would be hard to duplicate another exciting carn- ival activity but. . . Teams from Hawkesbury, Nepean, Kingston, Ottawa West, Smiths Falls, Pembroke, Brockville and South Ottawa competed in the 1st Annual Midget "A" Hockey Tourn- ament. From the opening ceremonies and the face-off Friday night to the last whistle Saturday night, fans were treated to some super hockey. The Ottawa West Golden Knights, also the Ottawa area's Wrigley Tournament represent- ative, won the Lions "A"' Trophy. The Hawkesbury Hawks were the "B" Champions. Denis Lapensee, Captain of the Knights was chosen the most valuable forward. The combination of Bruce Jones and Kevin Gomes took the best goalie award and Hawkesbury's Daniel Franche won the best defenseman award. | personally would like to thank all the people and there were quite a few, for the help and assistance in the staging of the Russell Winter Carnival '77. My thanks again to you. Your 1977 Carnival Chairman George (Perky) Eastman Draft Submission to County in support of up-grading of the North/South Road through Russell The Township and residents of Russell are humiliated by the condition of the County roads between Autoroute 417, the Village of Russell and_ the southern boundary road. In winter the road north of the village drifts-in with the slightest breeze because it is lower than the surrounding terrain. In spring it is impassable because in one section it is covered with six to ten inches of rutted ice and in other sections it just disappears in potholes. In summer it is passable when the graders go by but after the dust suppression it is not graded and becomes undrivable. The road south of the Village and a few miles north is paved but in various stages of degradation. In twenty years it has been patched and repatched and occassionally some of it has been repaved but it has never been adequate for long. One of the present Township Councillors can recall writing letters to the editors of Ottawa newspapers about this road 15 or 16 years ago. In retrospect it seems impossible that the road today is in the same condition as it was two decades past. On one occasion at least, samples of the paving compound used on this road were taken to the Department of Transportation and Communications which after analysis advised that the paving contained so much kerosene that it would not bond properly. The residents have accepted as a fact of life the indifference of a County Seat that is fifty miles away but now they are truly humiliated. They should be proud to have the name _ of their community emblazonned before the world on the autoroute-exit- sign at Boundary Road: the district has beauty and spirit, it is bilingual, it has extensive parks well maintained, it is well-planned and growing in an orderly way, it has one of the highest real-estate ratings in the area, and it is strong-willed and industrious: but the world which exits from the Autoroute in search of Russell finds instead an unmarked deteriorating trail indicative of a rural slum in a_ second-rate township, not, in fact, the most prosperous and fastest growing community in two counties. Who else is asked to suffer a connection like this with Highway 417? St. Isidore? St. Albert? Limoge? Vankleek Hill? Not-at-all! In fact the only major unpaved county roads in Cambridge and Russell are from Casselman to Lemieux, and north of Russell. These two roads are_ hardly comparable in importance: but it is not enough even that the Russell district has been ranked in the past with Lemieux at the bottom of the scale of economic importance, even Lemieux has now been served with an access to the 417 built to hwy. standards. County representatives must realize how critically their actions are being watched at this time. The residents of Russell area are bitter about the political inequity they have endured for generations and sensitive about their minority status. They drive out of their community in any direction and find good paved roads that have been in place for fifteen and twenty years and are not breaking up, and they ask "Why"? What the residents are watch- ing for now is a county road built to the standards of the road be- tween Highway 417 and Lemieux. (Residents wishing to support this petition should send letters or post cards, very soon, to the Roads Committee, County of Prescott & Russell, L'Orignal, Ont.) Sidewalk Talk by Mark Van Dusen North Road for Fools but... If you think that Russell is becoming too cityfied, as they say, try driving the North Road in a blizzard. There are few places on earth where a storm is felt with more fury. The road, which runs from the village to Highway 417 and resembles a cow path at the best of times, can be an_ arctic nightmare at its worst. Unprotected from the ravages of winter, the North Road can trap the unwary traveller in blinding, howling whiteness. Even in mid-winter, mountainous snow- banks which line the road barely break the wind. Wind. It screams across the flat surrounding farmland with all the vengeance of hell unleashed. Soon after the snow begins to fly, the road becomes and ever- narrowing chain of _ billowing drifts. Within hours, it is obliterated, impassable to any Car. A pickup truck, higher and less susceptible to the clutching drifts, recently tackled the road in a snowstorm. The vehicle crawled to within a mile of the village where any further progress was barred by a drift no deeper than the others but some 40 feet wide. It was night, the headlights washed out in the swirling flakes, the engine kept stalling as the result of snow backing up around the spark plugs. It was cold. Luckily home was reached after backtracking up one con- cession, getting stuck and rescuing one couple stranded in a Car. On another day, there were no less than three cars abandoned along a one mile stretch of the road. On the day after the late January blizzard, even following the snowplow' was __ useless because huge chunks of snow and ice rolled back into its tracks as quickly as it moved them aside. The stories abound. Last winter, visitors destined for the home of Kevin and Kathy Hamilton became disoriented on the road and took a wrong turn at Dead Man's Curve. They were soon stuck. The only sign of help was a distant light which, it turned out, was much farther away than it appeared through the wind- whipped curtain. A passenger, numb with cold and severely frostbitten, finally reached the farmhouse. The smattering of residents along the road have welcomed many a lost traveller who might otherwise have perished in snowstorms over the years. Doctor Kinnaird tells of how a team of horses was used to plow a path for him to drive back to Russell after a call to the Stanley farmhouse along the road. The road had become impassable to his car within the relatively short time he was at the house. A longtime Russell resident advised a more recent arrival that only a fool would drive the North Road at any time during the winter much less during a blizzard. The more recent arrival had been about to tell of his perilous journey down the road in a snowstorm the day before. Needless to say, he skipped it. Still, if you want to be reassured that you' re living in the country, away from the fast- paced city, take a drive on the North Road in a blizzard. If that doesn't convince you nothing will. « Better still, take the word of a fool who is learning to stick to better roads. ed sen Costumed kiddies were out in force at the arena for judging on Sunday. -- Photo by M. Rowsell. Russell Snowmobilers showed top form in their Parade exhibit. -- Photo by Mrs. R. Harrison.