Serving Lake Erie’s North Shore Friday November 20, 2015
INSIDE Letters My compliments to The Lake Erie Beacon for running T.J. Pignataro's article concerning the Chemical effects on our groundwater and lake condiSTORY PAGE 2 tions.
Port Bruce Report Approximately 30 people attended the celebration event on November 4th. STORY PAGE 2
Be Active This Fall The new Elgin-St. Thomas Cycling & Hiking Trail Map highlights that Elgin St Thomas has so many wonderful ways to be active. STORY PAGE 3
Remembering The Big Fitz The 40th anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald The SS Edmund Fitzgerald is the largest ship to have sunk in the Great Lakes.
Media
Port Stanley Report Only this week we learned that a new CIBC ATM machine has been installed at the Foodland Store in Port Stanley, STORY PAGE 4
Saving the Straffordville Community Centre These controversial issues need to be dealt with by another and more formal and democratic process , STORY PAGE 5
Elgin Shoreline Management Plan Approvals The Elgin County Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) was developed over the past year. STORY PAGE 6
War of 1812 Veteran Graveside Recognition Project Over the first phase of the project we hope to honour up to 1000 War of 1812 veterans, STORY PAGE 9
LOOK AHEAD Community Events
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Classifieds & Service Directory Page 11 Business Roladex
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LEB Circulation The Lake Erie Beacon is delivered free of charge to over 6000 homes, apartments and businesses along the north shore of Lake Erie. In addition copies are available at selected locations in Rodney, West Lorne, Dutton, St.Thomas, Copenhagen and Port Stanley for a total print run of 7000.
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in a Lake Superior storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29. When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and she remains the largest to have sunk there.
Left: An underwater photograph of the Fitz pilot house sitting 530 feet (160 m) deep. Left Below: The ship is broken in half with the bow section sitting upright and the stern section turned over.
For seventeen years the Fitzgerald carried taconite iron ore from mines near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes ports. As a "workhorse," she set seasonal haul records six times, often breaking her own previous record. Captain Peter Pulcer was known for piping music day or night over the ship's intercom while passing through the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers (between Lakes Huron and Erie), and entertaining spectators at the Soo Locks (between Lakes Superior and Huron) with a running commentary about the ship. Her size and record-breaking performance endeared the Fitzgerald to boat watchers. fated voyage from Superior, Wisconsin, near Duluth, on the afternoon of NoCarrying a full cargo of ore pellets vember 9, 1975. En route to a steel mill with Captain Ernest M. McSorley in near Detroit, the Fitz joined a second command, she embarked on her ill-
freighter, SS Arthur M. Anderson. By the next day, the two ships were caught in a severe storm on Lake Superior, with near hurricane-force winds and waves up to 35 feet (11 m) high. Shortly after 7:10 p.m., the Fitzgerald suddenly disappeared in Canadian waters 530 feet (160 m) deep, about 17 miles (15 nautical miles; 27 kilometers) from Whitefish Bay near the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario — a distance Fitzgerald could have covered in two hours at her top speed. Although Fitzgerald had reported being in difficulty earlier, no distress signals were sent before she sank; Captain McSorley's last message to Anderson said, "We are holding our own." Her crew of 29 perished, and no bodies were recovered. Continued On Page 10
Lots of visitors Jim Taylor So were the big bucks, very big bucks, spent on turning the battered, little used, worn out piece of concrete jutting out into the lake, known locally as the west pier (as opposed to its eastern neighbour) worth it? The short answer is .... yes it was. In spades. From the vantage point of my living room window high on the bluffs I note there seems never a time when the “new” pier isn’t littered with locals ... and visitors. Lots of visitors And if you think that’s all well and good, but who really cares? And why was all that money spent just so local residents and visitors, could gawk at the gulls? And I admit I had some doubts.
Hey, I’m a journalist. I’m supposed to have doubts. And I still have some, well, quibbles, but .... A local shop owner was asked if she saw any change since the new pier opened. The question brought an immediate smile. She said there was a considerable pickup in business. And I’m sure if you checked with other local eateries and shops you’d get the same response. And let’s face it, tourism is the village’s biggest asset. Always has been, likely always will be. Even though it has long been subsumed by a political entity that is still a foreign body to longtime residents whose family put down roots in the village long before the turn of the century. Like mine. Ah, that’s the century before the last one ..... Well, you get the picture. Continued On Page 8