RIVERS
BANNER February 26, 2016
ersary v i n Celebrating our 107th An
Gazette-Reporter Serving the Rivers, Rapid City and Oak River areas for 106 years
Volume 108, Issue 32
Winning and training L
89¢ + tax
By Sheila Runions Banner Staff
ast August we reported on a home-schooled Harding-area girl who was competing at Western Canada Summer Games as part of Team Manitoba. Another report was published late last year announcing her wins in October and November tournaments. Her success continues at the tournament level and she continues to train with Team Manitoba. Melody Kroeker has been learning the art of judo for the past nine years and while her home club is in Brandon, she travels to Winnipeg once a month to train with the provincial team; Team Manitoba will
compete at Edmonton International March 12 and 13. As an individual, Melody will defend her provincial champion title at the annual provincial meet, this year slated for Virden on April 2; she also hopes to participate in national championships in Calgary May 12-15. On Jan. 23 the 16-yearold was in Regina with Team Manitoba where she fought four females in the under-18/ under-52-kilogram category, winning bronze. She also competed in under-21/under-52, against three competitors and she again claimed a third-place medal. More than 200 competitors from the Prairies and British
Columbia participated in this Saskatchewan Open. Two weeks later she met five more females in these two categories at an inner city tournament in our provincial capital; she won silver (under-18) and bronze (under-21). Melody’s mother (Laurie Kroeker) reports, “She has had consistent wins over a competitor from Saskatchewan, previously fought in the Summer Games, this competition year in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Using good, improved technique, strength and strategy has not gone unnoticed. In Saskatchewan she had six black belts, some who are former
Olympians, from across Western Canada take special note of her fights and lend their insight on how to fight more effectively. Melody immediately incorporated their advice on how to improve her fights. Melody fights hard and fast, making her competitors also think hard and work hard.” While at the Saskatchewan event, Melody was invited by a former Olympian to take part in a spring training camp in Alberta; this Olympian also offered a year of personalized intense training, also in Alberta. No decision has yet been made by the Kroeker family on these offers.
No Escape from Greatness By Sheila Runions Banner Staff
T
he headline of this story is the title of a book written by a man who spent one year of his life in Rivers and while he has few memories of town, several readers will be familiar with his family tree. His mother Laurie Plumb explains the history of author Jeffrey John Eyamie of Winnipeg. “Jeff’s grandparents moved to Rivers in 1952 from Bird’s Hill, Man. Walter “Wally” Pinniger was the owner of Rivers Sheet Metal until his death in 1960. He and his wife Myrle had three daughters, Janet, Laurie and Elaine. They lived and worked at 704 Second Avenue, the corner of Second Avenue and Quebec Street. After Wally passed away, Myrle married John Ruml and they had two more children, Adella and Tom. John was the owner of the Blue Boy Café (1953-58) and then Alexandra Restaurant in the hotel (195878). In 1969 their daughter Laurie married Lou Eyamie
(Royal Canadian Air Force) and moved to West Germany and Quebec, where Jeff was born in 1973. At two months of age, Jeff and family left the air force and moved to Rivers for one year. They lived in a fourplex on Fourth Avenue near the high school. His father worked at the hotel pub until the family moved to Brandon in 1974. Jeff lived in Brandon three years, Virden three years and then Winnipeg since 1981. Currently, Jeff’s cousin and family (Adella’s son, Cory Plaisier) live in Rivers.” Jeff’s 224-page paperback will be available the end of March. Published by Turnstone Press, their press release reads, “In it’s own right, it’s a very funny novel about one man’s futile attempts to escape his responsibilities from a small, fictitious town in southern Manitoba.” Turnstone Press was founded in a Winnipeg pub in 1976 to publish chapbooks by Manitoba poets; it is now a highly-regarded publisher in
Western Canada. They publish only Canadian authors or landed immigrants, with half of them being Manitoba writers and/or books with Manitoba content. Jeff’s edition is about Gabriel Pegg, who went from the penthouse to outhouse, after his shot at a serious acting career in Hollywood goes bust. Broke, behind on child support payments and a wanted man, Gabriel heads to the only place he has left — Greatness, Manitoba. He believes his destiny as
a serious artist awaits him, once he can rid himself of those pesky parental commitments. When Gabriel unwittingly signs himself up for six-days-a-week custody of his 11-year-old daughter, he realizes there might just be no escape from Greatness. Determined to make spritzers out of life’s lemons, Gabriel sets out to film his great artistic masterpiece, right there in Greatness, with the help of some willing and not so willing locals — insanity ensues. “Really funny and terribly dark, No Escape from Greatness explores artistic ambition, parental obligations and small town life with a wry and cynical eye,” reads the press release. The release of this book will be Jeff’s third novel; the first two were self-published. In addition to being a novelist, Jeff also has a background in screenwriting, perhaps most notably in the writers’ room of Less Than Kind (HBO Canada). His comedy pilot Split Level
was accepted by the National Screen Institute’s Totally Television program. A Manitoba book launch will be at McNally Robinson (Winnipeg) on March 24 at 7 p.m. His Calgary launch on March 31 (Owl’s Nest Books, 7 p.m.) will likely be attended by the Pinniger girls and Uncle Tom — all of them live in in that city. Turnstone Press has created a video to advertise the book; to view it go to youtube.com/ watch?v=9o-zVNIXIgU. You may also pre-order the book (at a 40 per cent discounted rate) from turnstonepress.com/fiction/no-escape-from-greatness. html. Script consultant/author Steve Kaplan says, “Beautifully written, sharply observed, warm, wise and funny, No Escape From Greatness is the thing we’ve all been waiting for — the great Canadian novel! If there is already one (what do I know? I’m an American!), then this one is the next one!”