The Terrace Bay-Schreiber News is published every Wednesday by Laurentian Publishing Limited; Box 579, Terrace Bay, Ont., POT-2W0 Tel.: 807-825-3747. Second class mailing permit 0867. Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Assn. and the Canadian Community Newspaper Assn. . . « - - Wednesday, Match 8, 1989. ~ General Manager......Paul Marcon Editor...................... David Chmara Admin. Asst..........Gayle Fournier Production Asst...Carmen Dinner Single copies 40 cents. Subscription rates: $15 per year / $25 two years (local) and $21 per year (out of town). Drugs, alcohol an hockey don't mix Take one good hockey player, mix in a bad attitude, a considerable problem with alcohol and cocaine, and what have you got? A person by the name of Bob Probert facing a maximum 20 year prison sentence and up to a $1 million fine for allegedly smuggling cocaine into the United States. Here's a prime example of how the abuse of drugs and alcohol can ruin a person's life. Probert had everything going for him. A large salary and loads of talént to back it up would seem to mean he had a long career awaiting him in the NHL. _ But after last week's incident, and the subsequent charges laid against him, Probert's career is now in a shamble. Not that it wasn't in bad enough shape before these charges. He had been suspended indefinitely in September after breaking team rules. He was reinstated but again removed from the team with pay on January 26 after showing up late for a game. He returned February 26 but played very little. And now, because of the smuggling charges laid against Probert, NHL President John Ziegler has announced Probert is suspended from playing in the NHL for life. The NHL is definitely making a statement that it will not tolerate the use of drugs by its players. Considering the seriousness of the charges, this may seem an appropriate move. However, Probert hasn't been found guilty yet, let alone been to trial. I think Ziegler's move against Probert is somewhat premature. Other notable players have been.suspended. for their involvement with drugs. Borje Salming (eight games), Don Murdoch (half a season) and Ric Natress (30 games) to name a few. When U.S. customs officials searched his car they found suspected amphetamine tablets, empty beer and liquor containers, drug paraphernalia and cocaine. After entering a plea of not guilty, Probert was released on $50,000 bail and must undergo urinalysis testing and drug counselling. For a man who had it all, his career, let alone his personal future, is certainly in jeopardy. It just goes to show how drugs can ruin a career and a life. wants to hear from others concerning history of town Dear Editor: merely an editor - published in I am a Jack Fishite. Claiming 1986 with the assistance of the that right, on Sept. 1927, when at government. the age of 18, I was hired as teacher I am interested in.communicat- of school section 21, Jack Fish by ing with graduates and friends of T. A. Nichol, CPR Station agent, each class of 1935 and 1936 - who post-master and secretary/treasurer succeeded me as teacher, to discuss of the school board. remarks made by Clem in his arti- This position I held until June cle written for the history of Jack 1935. After my: marriage that year, I resided in Jack Fish until 1955 House. when I moved to Schreiber to teach No phone calls please. grade 5 and 6 at Holy Angels Katie Cosgrove (maiden name School. This I held for about 8 | Verdone) years. : Box 435 I have just finished reading a Schreiber, Ont. history of Jack Fish - no author, POT 280 Fish entitled Little Red School - Letters to the Editor are always welcome. Please address your letters to: Editor Terrace Bay/Schreiber News Box 579. <= Terrace Bay, Ont. POT 2WO In order that we may verify authorship, please include your name and phone number. Feel free to use this forum to express comments, appreciation, inform or advise people on anything of public interest. decrees that both swine and cattle must have access to straw and litter. Swedish pigs may no longer be fed and bedded in the "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.") George Orwell, Animal Are some animals more equal than others? Do we put Jonas Salk on trial as a virus mass-murderer? Animal Rightists come in all stripes -- from reasonable to whacko. of torturing cats? You'd have to be a Mengelian maniac to oppose most of the thoughtless cruelty we inflict on Farm. I think the angriest I ever saw my father get was the time the young cowhand broke his 'cane over a balky cow's snout. My father, who wasn't a big man, grabbed the kid, who was. He spun him around and hissed in a voice that would've done Dirty Harry proud, "I warned you before about hurting animals. You're fired." Believe it or not, a lot of folks thought my father overreacted. This was in the days of horsewhips and electric cattle prods. People didn't think a whole lot about animal rights. Times change. I wish my old man was around to tell me what he thinks of legislation passed by the Swedish Parliament this past summer. It's a Bill of Rights for animals. It grants inalienable grazing rights to Swedish cattle, outlaws tethering for pigs, same enclosure. And drugs are out. Swedish animals can have antibiotics or hormones only to treat existing diseases. _ There are signs on this side of the water that we too are softening our attitudes to our fellow tenants. Last month, Cornell University announced it will not be accepting a million dollar research grant from the Federal government to study drug abuse. Reason? The methodology of the research project involves pumping cats full of barbiturates, then withdrawing the barbiturates By , to "scientifically evaluate" what happens. You don't have to be Banting or Best to guess that what happens is not pretty. It's also pretty useless. Science libraries already groan under the weight of data obtained from studies of human barbiturate dependence and withdrawal. What's the point animals, but the scary thing is -- where do you draw the line? " Arthur Black Some of the hard line animal ° rights activists maintain that you and I have no more rights than any other creature on the planet. So what -- do we give chickens the vote? There is in New York City, an organization called PAWS -- which stands for Pet Access to the World. PAWS mission: To open up the doors of New York's finest restaurants. . . to lapdogs. New York City, like most quasi-civilized centres, has health laws that bar pets from food service areas. PAWS thinks those laws are discriminatory and is campaigning to have them changed -- so that Momsie Womsie can share her eggs Benedict with Ookum Snookums, I suppose. It's easy to dismiss the whole Animal Rights movement as a hallucination dreamed up by loonies who hand-feed their Pomeranians and believe that egg yolks have feelings -- but it's not that simple. I know meat eaters who laugh at vegetarians. I also know that if I could get them to spend half an hour in a slaughterhouse, they'd eat nothing but celery sticks for the rest of their lives. Me? I eat meat -- but not pate de foie gras. Not after I found out what they do to geese to make their livers taste like that. Don't eat veal either -- not after I found out the tenderest veal comes from calves that never taste grass or see the sky. That spend their entire short lives cooped up in a tiny stall in a darkened barn. I guess you could put me down as a half-animal rightist. I'm not likely ever to sign up with PAWS, but I can't pick up those squeaky clean shrink-wrapped packages of chops and steaks at the supermarket without wondering about the animals they came from. Which I'm pretty certain would give my old man a chuckle or two. He may have been soft on animals but he was no sentimentalist. He was a salesman. Black Brothers Livestock Inc.