A2 Terrace Review — Wednesday, June 27, 1990 Verstrate named top business executive by Betty Barton ‘Saturday | evening ‘Terrace was introduced to the new Business Executive of the Year, Rod Vers- trate. Verstrate, a resident of Ter- race for the past 14 years, owns the Inn of the West, where the dinner and ’roast’ were held. ’ Business Executive of the Year is an annual honor bestowed by the Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce to a local business person who has contributed excep- . tionally towards the betterment of ' our community. Last year’s Busi- ness Executives were Marjorie and Mark Twyford, publishers of Close Up magazine and the Terrace Review. Verstrate was chosen from _ among six nominees, based on . Cight criteria —- the winner must -have owned or managed a business in Terrace over the past three years and the business must be profita- ble: It must be run with innovative management, have a community- minded approach and support local clubs or organizations, have strengths in marketing, financial and human resource mandgément, © portray a good corporate image, have promising future business prospects, and have created or improved the market::share by partaking of professional commun- ity and government resources. But the group attending the ban- quet never got to hear about Rod - Verstrate’s good works, because he was "roasted" to a turn. Bert Ljungh began the ‘roast’ with dictionary and thesaurus definitions of *manipulator’, and went on from there with stories of Rod’s Rod’s wife). Ed Heppner was kinder, calling Rod."a hard worker, a good friend and a good business. associate." Heppner has known Verstrate for 31 years. Alan McAlpine recounted that he and Rod had purchased a golf cart together. They both decided, "If it doesn’t work out, it'll be the cheapest settlement either of us has ever had!" McAlpine — also described the Verstrate home as "the modest little place at the "Ruthless" days (Ruth is: bottom of a gulch." “AY rather" risque photo enlarge- ment of Mr. Verstrate "doing his. business" was . presented by his general manager Debbie, _ Spear. ° She softened the: ‘blow. slightly. by. . ' describing Rod: a oe TD boss", The photo was ; auctioned off to Vern and Norah Ferguson for an even $70. Manuel DaSilva was a close second bidder. The, Fergu- sons promised that they would hang it prominently in the window of their real estate outlet in the -Skeena Mail. Interspersed with the *roasters’ “were draws for the raffles that Doug Smith was loathe to mention _ (after numerous Chamber meetings with ‘raffle’ on the agenda). With items donated by local businesses and individuals, 10 packages were raffled, Winners were Donna Lau- rent, Jim MacKay, Frank Donahue, Mike Horsberg, Pat Williams, Andrew Webber, Elonka Heppner and Peter Monteith. oo Ruth Hallock began her stand-up routine with the comment, "When I have something nasty to say >! a THE KINSMEN CLUB « OF TERRACE Congratulations to t the Caledonia Grads of 1990 | THE KINSMEN CLUB OF TERRACE WOULD LIKE TO THANK | THE FOLLOWING TERRACE BUSINESSES FOR THEIR DONATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE | - KINSMEN GRAD TAXI SERVICE AND DANCE VANS: Wilkinson Business Machines eae” Northern Drugs Ltd. fea Terrace Totem Ford (AVIS) iBAN Yay Specializing in Chinese Cuisine and. Canadian = Ss)“ 4606 Greig Ave. Terrace, B,C. Dishes for Take-Out