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wends reggie pleasant a third year veteran witttthe toronto argonauts visited trie missionary church mens group last monday as part of the athletes in action program while he wathjpekking to the group pleasant madefriends with brad clubine 8 left and todd gilham 13 at right m v s c mm township of uxbridge final taxes the 2nd final installment of 1989 taxes falls due on oct 31 1989 please return complete bill with your payment if receipt re quired same will be receipted and returned to you to avoid penalty or interest charges payment must be received at the municipal office by the due date failure to receive a tax notice does not relieve the taxpayer from the responsibility of paying taxes sylvia robb tax collector outdoors photobruce stapley bagged bear a big bounty art briggsjude correspondent one time during the deer season i shot a bear it was up st ar li near haliburton and there was about four inches of new snow on the ground while checking for fresh deer tracks along a recent ly logged streambed i stepped into a snowcovered hole and got some water in one boot the best place it seemed to wr ing out my socks and to watch the surrounding landscape was part way up the slope having found a good location i brushed the snow off a nice flat stump and sat down to make the best out of an uncom fortable situation by first dump ing the water out toy hunting boot at that moment the bear appeared it was coming off the high ground heading straight towards me a large animated bundle of black fur ambling along in that typical halfrolling bear gait hobbling on one leg i steadied myself against the low stump as best i could then took aim and fired the bear dropped in its tracks but as i bolted another round into the chamber it was up and runn ing and it hadnt changed direc tion again the old enfield roared and again the bear went down but it didnt remain there now less than 50 yards away i tried to drop it again but it wouldnt stay down another shot rang out and then another and at a distance of less than 30 yards the bear swung- suddenly to my right and disappeared into a patch of low cedars it was only after i reloaded the clip that i noticed my bare foot was buried in the snow while that was the smaller and less exciting of the two bears our party of four got that season it created a few stories on its own that the larger bear never did as a budding taxidermist at the time i thought this was an ex cellent opportunity to tan a bear skin and gain the experience of making a rug while part of the tanning pro cess involved keeping the bear skin submerged in a barrel of tanning solution an equally im portant procedure was degreas- ing the skin with hardwood sawdust the sawdust was removed by hanging the skin over a clothesline and beating it with a flat stick early one afternoon i had just completed beating the stuffing out of my bear skin and was tak ing it off the clothesline when i noticed several school children starting to cut across our large corner lot the kids werent just content to take a shortcut behind the apart ment house they had to stop enroute arid pick my wifes garden flowers to take to their teacher this time luck was on my side for they hadnt noticed me quickly i slipped into one of the empty garages pulled the bear skin over me and tied it at my waist with a short piece of rope now with the skin over my head and my hands shoved into the bearpaw sockets i eased the garage door open and got down on my hands and knees the two little girls and one boy were watching the back door of the apartment building as they approached the girls were also holding small bouquets of daf fodils behind their backs up until that time i couldnt remember if i had ever previous ly growled like a bear however i must have been convincing on my initial attempt because when the door partially opened and i growled and jumped out and back in again the results were instantaneous the wideeyed kids took off down the driveway leaving a trail of scattered flowers best of all not one of the kids in connaught school ever used that shortcut again but that wasnt the end of that bearskins shenanigans a year later just after the deer season ended there was a late knock on my door i opened it to confront a very concerned young man do you have a bearskin for sale he asked with more than a touch of pleading in his tone when i told him i only had the one i was making intoa rug his eyes lit up ill give you 25 for it right now he said though that was a lot of money in those days i shook my head then he told me the strangest tale of how he had told his future wife that he had shot a bear if i dont produce the evidence he said shell lose faith in me and could even break off our engage ment i shrugged my shoulders and pocketed the 25 who was i to stand in the way of nuptial bliss even if i knew that one of the couple was telling a bear- faced lie