The Daily Herald-Tribune from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada • 65

rn Rill ICCI IMA Never on a Sunday? Humbug! Halloween is for the kids for goodness sakes It is a scarier world and far less innocent but should we unnecessarily visit that upon our kids? It'll not Halloweenk fault A few weeks ago yours truly dted the morning vista of Venus and Saturn Things have changed If you now venture out in the chilly pre-dawn air and the sky is clear say between 7 and 8 am you should see four planets: Brilliant Venus a spread-fingered span above the east-southeast horizon Jupiter half that distance a little to the lower left Mars just beginning to faintly appear yet a little lower left and Saturn high in the south about two spans to the right of Venus Such alignments not even counting the lunar eclipse Wednesday are often considered portentous Maybe Ralph consulted them for his announcement Monday eh? I did not All the same they do correspond with my retirement today from the Herald-lYibune 40 years and nine months after being hired by publisher Jim Bowes and editor Walt Nagel in January 1964 Ith not an outright goodbye as such ith sort of like til we meet again for the intent is to continue with Potpourri on at least a somewhat regular basis (there is after all 2B Or Not 2B to consider) and to lend the DHT a helping hand here and there with this and that on occasion My only immediate plans are to sleep in two or three hours beyond the newsroom usual Monday-Friday morning start time maybe to around 6 or 6:30 But for now thanks It been my privilege my pleasure Halloween used to be a pretty simple celebration Throw an old pillow case with two eyeholes cut out over a six-year-old and you had a ghost Daub some of mom's rouge on a child's cheeks and you had a princess If it was pancake makeup and an old shirt of dadh you were a hobo In my day one of the cereal companies used to put faces of Indians or cowboys or clowns or whatever on the backs of the boxes Colour 'em cut out string a piece of kitchen cord through two holes and voila! Instant costume Then armed with a shopping bag or a quart basket you'd make the rounds but only up and down one block of your own street You weren't allowed to go traipsing into the dark beyond your own neighbourhood Halloween goodies before the age of convenience consumerism were also simpler: A lot of those paper-wrapped toffee-like kisses no one likes getting anymore apples oranges popcorn balls Rice Krispie squares and blackballs that you spit into your hand every few minutes to see what colour layer was exposed now We'd often cry out! Shell out! The witches are out!" as we trod up the front steps of houses with a jack-o-lantem beaming from the window And on every block there was a least one old guy who when we expectantly demanded or would do a little jig or wiggle his ears or do a hand-stand cry wanted treats not but then smiling dole them out We very scary then nor did we have reason to be -well maybe when you got fed cold liver oil or one of those (ha! ha!) vitamin lozenges that tasted like iodine and gunpowder Ugh! There were no Freddy or Jasons or Chuckies Without TV only The Shadow or The Whistler radio shows might send a shiver up your spine We kids were more terrified that Tom Mix and his faithful steed Tony might be ambushed by ruthless rustlers or that some dastardly villain would foreclose on Gene Aulryfc Melody Ranch If you were frightened out of your wits it was at the movies when Bud Abbott and Lou Costello met the Wolfman or the Mummy or the Invisible Man or when Boris Karloff shambled about in Frankenstein or when Bela Lugosi fixed his unwavering black stare on a victim in Dracula Would Dorothy and Toto still get safely back to the welcoming embrace of Aunt Em the second time you saw the Wizard of Oz? Halloween no matter which day of the week it fell on was a simple affair just for kids When Nos 1 2 and 3 Sons were little not much had changed except that now they had a Luke Skywalker tunic or a Darth Vader cloak or a Ninja Turtle headband But the clowns and cowboys and hoboes and princesses were still there just as they will be this weekend Some people fear the world is a burbling cauldron of demonic worship that is especially blasphemous on a Halloween Sunday and that allowing little ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggcty beasties and things that go bump in the night to go trick-or-treating is sending us hurtling even faster to hell in a handcart Dorothy and Toto: Would the next time? they get back to Kansas Fall Mopar Value Line Brake Service Maintenance Service Wirranty on Velue Line brake pads ind shoes Sh your Reuter for complete oetiiis Replace Reds or Shoes no vtspocc rrofii noior UMpors Master Cyflndei Hardware Hoses Top-up Master Cylinder LmhahA Beaks AiU eMaeJIdleaaa Ifl R1Sp0CC DroKO nUM UOfiGRIOfl tfLube Oi and Htor Change lop-iip Mhshar Flukl tf1 Tim Rotation tfPMcaof Mind Inspection Provide Written Report on Findings vs-" 1 yJ Ms Ume' once again lo PlayM Take advantage of any one of our Fall Service Specials above and you'll receive a In and Win' contest card Scratch the box and instantly win a prize £very cowl a winner Convenient Affordable Only at your neighbourhood Chrysler Jeep Dodge Retailer While quantities last Service offer and pricing applicable only at participating DaimlerChrysler Retailers Maintenance Service includes up to 5 litres of Mopar Oil Some exclusions apply charges may be applied for diesel VIOs HEMI V8s fluid disposal semisynthetic and synthetic oils Price does not include taxes Retailer may sell for less Offer expires December 31 2004 Jeep is a registered trademark of DaimlerChrysler Corporation used under licence by DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc See your participating DaimlerChrysler Retailer tor complete details There's no better way to take care of your vehicle Ml prave It i I I.