Vol. 2, No. 1 Russell eview January 17, 1976 Box 359 ® Russell, Ontario © Phone 445-2051 A view of Concession Street looking north from the bridge. These farmers are headed home with Frost and Wood machinery brought in by the Ottawa and New York Railway. Give us a date, anyone? Seventy-one entries participate The Russell Bogie Benders Snowmobile Club held a success- ful Rally on Saturday, January 10th. 71 entries participated in the day's activities. The hidden time set for the rally was two hours and 58 minutes. Winner of the rally was Gertrude Millaire with a time of two hours and 57 minutes. In second place was Barry Rom- bough at 3:01; 3rd, Barry Hicks, 3:02 and 4th, Reg. Cayer at 2:53 minutes. The first machines left at 1:30, the starting time, and the last entry was away by 2:30 p.m. The winning trophy was presented by the President of the Russell Club, Rejean Paquette. Trophies had been donated by Glen Harten, Chantal Develop- ment, Commercial Hotel and the Russell Hotel and were presented at a Rally Dance held at the Russell Arena on Saturday night, following the rally. Community Bulletin Board R. A. Executive meeting -- First Monday of each month. Public Skating -- Friday, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Sunday, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Ringette -- In full swing every Sunday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. More players are needed to complete a team. Further information can be obtained from Theresa Griffith or Merrill McVey. Ottawa Oldtime Fiddler's Asso- ciation -- Present a night of dancing and entertainment, January 21st, 8:00 p.m. in the Russell Public School Audito- rium. Sponsored by Friendship Circle Senior Citizens. Admission $1.00. Advance tickets on sale from Mrs. Robert Wade or Hugh Latimer. Money in aid of purchasing cutlery for Arena Dining Hall. Lunch served. Everyone Welcome. Water under the bridge We're still getting a busy signal from Ma Bell concerning our calls to Metcalfe and Chester- ville. Do we hang up for good, or do we call again? For a variety of reasons this edition of the Review is over a week late. We're trying to become a little more regular and hopefully will settle down to once every two weeks by this spring. How do you like our new look? We know a lot of you got rather partial to the 'passion pink", but maybe the pictures can make up for the loss of color. This format is one heck of a lot easier to produce, hopefully giving us more time to give you more news by Don Woodcock RED OF TOOTH AND CLAW .. I can't find a Horned Owl in Little's ravine this winter. A while back somebody shot the one living there. Shot it, I guess, for no other reason than the peculiar kick out of killing, some people seem to seek. What makes the slaughter of this creature so difficult to accept is the fact that a Horned Owl provides a valuable, dependable and necessary control on the small rodent population. The farmer whose land that owl was guarding ought to be very angry. Sometimes I hear the excuse that the "urge to kill" is a heritage from our distant, carnivorous, animal-like past. We hunt and kill in response to latent instincts still potent in our genes. Nonsense. Us humans are all too quick to blame such tendencies on some instinctive sub-human urge. Phrases such as "acting like an animal' or "beastly behaviour" give a clue to the general opinion of animal behaviour, one to another, but it's not our ancestry that leads man into senseless killing. That's just an elaborate excuse. The fact is that exhaustive and detailed scientific studies show that the predatory animals simply don't have those "beastly", 'blood thirsty' tem- perament we so blithely assign them. Practitioners of the discipline known as Ethology, which is the study of NORMAL animal behaviour. How these behavioural traits came about and what they seem to tell us about human nature is worthy of a few moments thought. Animals, for example, simply and items of interest. Adverti- sers' proportion of space remains virtually the same, and we think it looks a little sharper. Nobody lived in Russell very long without knowing Jack Twiname. Jack was a one-man cross-section of this village: a teacher, a scholar, a gardener, a churchman, a curler, a family man, a neighbour and a genuine friend to all who knew him. The hurt and shock we felt as we heard that he'd been taken from us indicates the respect and affection we all had for him. Jack, the greatest lesson you ever taught was the example you lived -- it will be a better world if we can follow it. Man and His World don't fight with one another except for very special reasons. The great antlers of a moose are not for fighting or defence. A moose fights wolves with it's hooves. The antlers are used in tests of strength with members of the group during mating time. These battles are not great gory duels to the end, they are sparring matches -- a testing and measuring device. When serious fights between animals do occur they invariably result from trespassing -- a threat to home or mate. If another member of the species invades a home territory the owner attacks in earnest but, again, a real battle seldom results. The interloper instincti- vely knows he's got a weak case and is generally bluffed down. Predators don't go about urged on by savage thoughts of the kill. A fox kills a mouse with the same detached, emotionless efficiency as a butcher slaughters a steer, or a farmer kills a chicken. In most cases death is quick and unexpected. A rabbit doesn't spend his life in constant terror of owls. Normal learned and instinctive precautions are taken of course, but when attack comes the rabbit often never sees the owl at all. No, predators are not vicious, bloodthirsty killers -- any more than we are when we kill for food. So when man kills for no reason whatever, except that '"'urge", he is acting like a man not like an animal. And, since man prides himself as the only creature able to "reason" and "'think" and have a "'conscience"' one has to wonder to what use these marvellous abilities were being put when the owl was shot. Watch for Carnival 76d This was Carnival 1975