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" Scugog Citizen -- Tuesday, October 1, 1991 -- {da John B. McClelland "VIEWPOINT/COUNTERPOINT - A NORTHERN TALE The names Judy Hill, David Kootook and Marten Hartwell may not' mean a great deal to people iw Stugog. But when I saw thom printed in a newspaper article last week, they practi- cally jumped off the page. Talk about names from the Rast and a Fressed into duty (as were all German whole lot of memories. And not pleasant memories, either. Of the three names, Marten Hartwell is best known and may cyen trigger recog- nition among some readers of this piece. He was the the northern bush pilot who crashed his small plane in a remote area of the Northwest Territories in the late fall of 1972. By chance, I arrived in Yellowkiffc, about the same time to start work for a newspaper there. | was young and most certainly a "southerner" for my only expe- rience with Canada's far north had been what I read in books or saw on TV For the next few weeks Marten Hartwell's name was on my mind daily and appeared in a great many articles | wrote for the paper. And I never met the g Judy Hill was a Bris nurse who was in the plane with Hartwell grhen he crashed. She was killed almost nstanfly and Hartwell survived 30 days in the bush partly by cating her dead flesh. David Kootdok was a young Inuit, about 14 years old. He 100 was on that faeTul flight and survived the crash. But c died of starvation befgre the rescue =in Yellowknife, as did David Kootook, who was suspected of having appendici- s another person on board, an "is. r teams finally found Harwell, « There we Inuit woman, pregnant, who was having complications. I've forgotten her name. But like the British nurse Judy Hill, she died almost instantly in the crash. The Marten Hartwell story was big news in the NWT for weeks. After hist rescue and word "leaked" out that he sur- vived by cannibalism of a dead British nurse, the story became big news in the rest of Canada and many parts.of the world. « - I femember all to vividly.meeting reporters from British newspapers who showed up in Yellowknife to cover the inquest. All they wanted to hear about" wi the cannibalism angle of dhe story. In fact, one of them told me that his paper had traced Hartwell's roots in Germany and found out he had been with the Luftwaffe in World War 2. "Former Luftwaffe ace cats dead British nurse to survive in Camada's frozen north" was the story angle this guy wanted. And why not, his readers Hack in England would, excuse the phrase, "gob bleit up." ~ As itfumed out, Hartwell was indeed German and a teen-ager in the last months of the war. And yes, he had been boys his age) But it's doubtful he ever saw the inside of a plane, let alone fly combat duty. But I'm getting off topic. In the North, as I quickly found out, the sensational aspects of this tragic story were down-played. Long time northemers took a ho-hum attithde to the fact Hartwell ate human flesh to survive. That was nothing new, Things like that, and worse, happened all the time. Nofierners were more concerned about how Hartwell, an experienced pilot, got some 200 miles off course before he pranged his twin-engine Beechcraft into a wooded hill-side. Were lomatic nav- igation beacons 'working that fateful night? Were Hartwgll's instruments in the Beechcraft working properly? If not, why not? Was he qualified for night flying and did he have an {FR rating? If not, why did he take off from Cambridge Bay fora two-hour flight 10 Yellowknife at 4:00 in the afternoon at a time of year when it was alrcady=dark at that time of year? The answer to that was the mercy flight aspect of this sory. The pregnant woman needed emergency medical help Mercy flights are an everyday fact of life in the north. But this story brought into question whether Hartwell should have waited til first light the next day before taking off. Or should brave pilots take risks to save a life? * There were dozens of other questions northerhers wanted answered as well. Search and rescue tactics when planes go | missing, for example. Was Hartwell's plane properly equipped for winter sur- vival in the event of a crash. If not, who assures that every plane flying in the north is equipped? Was the emergency electron- ic transmitter working on his plane? If not, why not. The ELT activates on crash impact and sends out a radio signal to direct rescuers to the crash site. I covered the inquest called to find Please see NORTHERN, page 8 L "We used to go to a lof*of auctions. Frank bought everything. I needed some- thing to do, so I just decided | wanted to collect something." . That was 18 years ago. Now, Muriel Hoskin must have on¢- of the largest col- lections of "cream So most of her belongings = are being auctioned off, this Saturday, including the beautiful cream pitchers in her collection. Some are antiqued, some are fairly new, Some 'pitchers in the world. he last time the pitch- £rs were counted was a 'few years ago,and the total was 1,080, " there's been quite few after that, mrs. Hoskin says. She fig- ures there must be "about 1,400" pitchers in the collection now. Well, not quite. 1 took? five pitchers Home last Saturday, after spending an. hour with Muriel and her are dainty and flowal, while some are whimsi* cal, in the shape of ani- mals. "I read oncd, you should byy the ones you like," she said, and then added with a shy smile, "I found the ones I like are the most expensive!" When | asked her 10 choose her favourite, she couldn't do it. She loves them all and she "doesn't really want to* part with them. "I'll two lively daughters, Pat and Joan, at the Hoskin homestead just cast of Nestleton. They were cleanipg and packing things up, helping Muriel move from the house 10 an apartment in Port Perry. "I've got so much," she said, looking around her living room, " and there's not enough room for all of i." miss them, but what can you do? The apartment is already getting cluttered." It seems, | don't know, sad but appro- pnate, that a collection this gentle woman bought at 18-years worth of auction sales, is now being auctioried off. - "Auctions are a really bad habit," she says They can also change your life. - p-- [UNSOLVED MystErY =o What a sweet little gltl, with big eyes : and a pretty face just like her mom. Thissgood-looking family once posed far Port Perry pho- 'tographer W.H. Leonard, but noth- Ing else Is known sabout them. Can you Identify this family -- give'them a name for history's sake? : It you think you can solve this' week's unsolved mystery, call curator 'Gail Sheridan at ' Scugog Shores Museum -- 985-3589. = Scu606 CITIZENS "Here cgmes Santa Claus, flere comes Santa Claus, right , down Bathtub Lane. Covered In bubbles, washing away trou- bles, cleaning up + again!" If this photo of Steven Norton, at the gloriously ripe old age of four, isn't endligh to put you In the Christmas spirit, then perhapg you need to. wait a couple more months! . SNAPSHOT OF THE WEEK Meet Verna Appleton! A Scugog Citizen for 34 years now, Verna has worked for 26 years at the IGA and has seen lots of changes in Port Perry. Aside from the increased weekend traffic and the commef- cial «expansion 'into areas that were resi- dential, Verna still enjoys life in Port Perry. She loves to Send us your favorite snapshots -- of your family, your pets, your va | you're proud of! Citizen staffers Will select their favorite snaps and run them in this space. Then, atdfe end of the year, we'll have 4 panel of judges choose their favorite picture, and the photographer will win a brand new 35mm camera. Our address is 36 4 Water St., Port Perry. Bring them in! cdtion, whatever photo you've:taken and cook, sew, ang care for her grandchildren. Early fall is her favourite time of year for canning and preserving and weekend getaways to the trailer in Huntsville. Her advice to the young? "Get a good education and be nice to older + people." Good sense! ~r . -