(One of a series of coiumns written during a cross-continental drive.) MANYBERRIES, ALBERTA — On a day that seemed better than other days, I met an old man in a far place who wore a T-shirt on which was printed: Manyberries is Not the End of The World But You Can See It From Here “‘That’s the place where | spent the best years of my life, in the Hungry Thirties," he said. ‘‘Of course there’s nothing left of it now. It’s all gone.”’ Given such an introduction, what man in his right mind could resist trying to find Manyberries? It’s not hard. The settlement has not disappeared. Drive south from Lethbridge. You can’t miss it. You can’t miss anything because anything is such a change . from the nothing all around you. - This is bald prairie. There is ‘nothing higher than a jackrabbit’s “ears except a small stand or two -of grain that the hail didn’t flat- ten. These, and Manyberries. ”. Yes, the grain elevators have .gone. The Canadian Pacific _ Railway has gone, pulling up its eel behind it. -No Mountie is here any more. _ First they took away the jail, and : then, with him having no place to put the customers, they pulled him :out also. ‘=. There are only about 100 people Jeft in the settlement and of them, -only one (count it, 1,.a single digit, OME I said) is a government ; emp loyee. Fle { is Jack Schacher, who is the Paul St. Pierre PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES postmaster as well as the local bulk fuel salesman for Esso. From Atlantic to Pacific to Arctic, there is no other com- munity in Canada with so low a count of public servants. The main street exists, although ‘a lot of the old buildings are gone. There remain 2 hotel and bar, a restaurant and a general store. . If there are other business enterprises, they are not imposing structures and are missing from this report. Sorry about that. On this day all the decent peo- ple of the town and a few of the ‘Citizens’ coalition _ honors local author RYE“ N: ‘O: W N°E D ‘-EEONOMIST, author and “free market advocate Dr. Michael A. Walker has been famed the winner of the £1992. Colin M. Brown Freedom Medal aad Award by: The National Citizens’ © Coalition (MCC). e medal and a $10,000 award il!-be presented to Walker at an : 28, 1992, dinner in Toronto. ‘An awards dinner will also be held in Vancouver, where he “resides, J: Recipients of the medal and --award are those who, in the view of. the NCC, have made an out- “standing contribution to the ad- vancement. and defence of political or economic freedom. ~ Walker, who is founder and ex- ecutive director of The Fraser I1- stitute, a Vancouver-based eco- nomic and educational organiza- :tion, isbeing honored for his’ tireless and successful efforts to “.$ystem, government spending and taxation. oo “““Micnael Waiker and his in- stitute, through publications and broadcasts, Mirable job for almost 20 years. ‘He is respected nationally and in- Nee carpets a the | est Qu . Wide seicction “4 Lowest Prices | in y town juaran Trade-Ins, repairs and handwashing " Qlfer ends September 10, 1992 ORIENTAL RUGS Lonsdal N. Vancouver 987-3365 have done an ad- - ternationally as a result,’* - said NCC president David Somerville. Walker has authered or edited 27 books on economic topics. As a journalist he has written more than 500 articles which have appeared in some 60 newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, the Wall Street Journal and the Van- couver Sun. He is also a regular columnist in the Vancouver Province, the Toronto Sun, the Ottawa Citizen and The Financial Post. . -The medal Walker will receive commeinorates the late founder of the NCC, who first started his crusade for ‘‘more freedom through Jess government”’ in 1967. Mr. Brown died on March 4, 1987. - Previous recipients of the award have been author/columnist Bar- bara Amiel, Trade Minister John Crosbie, author/columnist Lubor Zink, the late Stan Waters, Canada’s first elected senator, and entrepreneur Thomas Bata. The National Citizens’ Coalition is dedicated to the defence of Canada’s basic political and eco- nomic freedoms. other kind are down at the rodeo grounds, preparing for the Eighth Annual Jim Larsen Memorial Rodeo, which, beginning next day, will draw 2,000 or more visitors to Manyberries. Jim Larsen was a popuiar local rancher who was killed in a truck accident. After the funeral, people agreed that Jim deserved a memorial, and they thought the best was to start a rodeo and name it after him. His widow, Esther, a sprightly, jackrabbit-sized woman who has run the ranch for the last eight years, says the family had their doubts when the Larsen Memorial Rodeo was proposed, but they said yes, and now they are glad they did. Manyberries, says Esther Larsen, is not only failing to disappear, it is growing. There’s an oil patch next door, among the antelope and rabbits, and it has brought much money into town. In addition to the annual rodeo, Manyterries has a baseball team, and it participates in the Sage Grouse Curling Bonspiel. Also, it is a station on the Red ay INCLUDES ALL @ NEW ARRIVALS 4 Friday, September 4, 1992 - North Shore News ~ 9 The view from the end of the world Coat Route. “It starts in Fort McLeod and ends somewhere in Saskat- chewan,”' she says. ‘‘lt has some- thing to do with the RCMP, I think.”’ Do not trust Esther Larsen of Manyberries when she says she doesn’t know something. She pulls your leg. As another claim to remaining alive, Manybervies’ hotel (15 rooms, 23 beds) was host to Keith Spicer when he was probing the Great Canadian Angst. One of the participants in the great public debate was Doug Shepherd of the old prairies Shepherd family. He is a retired civil engineer. He injects himself into conver- sation in a friendly and cheerfully provocative way by pointing out that Sir John A. Macdonald was a cheat, a liar, a thief, a racist, a drunk and a fool. I may have missed one epithet but those will do. Mr. Shepherd belongs to a group called the Canadian Constituent Assembly, which is devoted to the restructuring of the nation. Membership has grown to BUTTERICK, MCCALL PATTERNS 45% OFF 20. He is the chairman. He loves history, and knows some. Where else in Canada has there not been a bank robbevy since 1916? The hills that rise to the south (yes, it’s true, not everything is rabbit height) are in Montana and called the Sweet Grass Hills. From them the whisky traders came north and next Sir John A. sent the Mounties west. Mr. Shepherd insists that Manypberries is not Manyberries. The proper name (English spell- ing) is Anoniskay. Be it also recorded that the In- dian people have forgotten more about this place than Sir John A. and his Mounties and ail the rest of us have yet learned. Truth, as close as can be ' calculated, is that you do not see the world from Manyberries. But you do see generations of men and women working their buits off, dreaming too much, worrying | too little, loving their land even if they don’t uaderstand it, and | laughing as they go. Long live Manyberries. P DISCOUNTS DO NOT APPLY TO $7.99-2.99 CLEARANCE FABRICS VOGUE PATTERNS ONLY AT GRANVILLE STORE SIMPLICTY PATTERNS NOT AVAILABLE AT GRANVILLE’ STORE * we . * - Ex . eo a VANCOUVER Fraser St. eS 7819 BURNABY VANCOUVER Matrotewn SiC 436-9430 2670 Granville 736-5004 “NORTH VANCOUVER - 1058 Marine De, (Beside Mark's Work Wearhouse) ™ 987-8611