2006-10-27

VOL. 4 ISSUE 43

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ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27- NOVEMBER 2, 2006

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LIFE 17

LIFE 19

The day Brigus took on the boys from Boston

Sean Panting offers his cheap and creepy costume ideas

‘Abuse of power’

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

Former executive of Conception Bay development association accused of misuse of funds STEPHANIE PORTER

P

olice have begun a preliminary investigation into possible misuse of funds by the former executive of the North Shore Regional Development Association, which covers much of the north shore of Conception Bay, from Kingston to Caplin Cove.

The association’s new executive alleges thousands of dollars were directed into Northern Bay Sands, a park once owned by Ronald Johnson, a one-time head of the association and father of Tory MHA Charlene Johnson. The association also charges it has been “blacklisted” by Charlene Johnson as a result of raising a red flag, an allegation the MHA denies.

Cpl. Clarence Burgess of the RCMP’s Harbour Grace detachment confirms he’s conducting the investigation.

“I had one meeting with the new executive, in which they raised some concerns,” he tells The Independent.

“There were a lot of things they were uncomfortable with, in terms of how money (was spent and accounted for).

“They had a lot of unanswered questions, enough that they asked me to rule in or rule out.”

Sean Penney, secretary for the development association since March, says the last elections brought a wholesale change in the membership on the board.

And with that, he alleges, “the gravy train ended.”

The north shore development association, like many across the province, applies for and allocates provincial funding for community enhancement and other work projects. If a local resident comes up short after a summer at the fish plant, for example, the association may be able to designate short-term work so the worker is eligible for employment insurance benefits.

Penney says the new executive were not permitted to view the complete files of past activities and members. But he saw enough to raise concerns about “blatant nepotism” and “abuse of power,” and perhaps worse.

“I’m not saying directly that … any other past member of the executive committed any crime,” he says.

“But we did find a lot of questionable invoices and a See “Good or ill,” page 2

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “If I was a Newfoundlander and I had $5 billion dollars, why wouldn’t I have bought the North Atlantic refinery? … I think if I had the money I would have bought North Atlantic and I would have expanded it.”

— analyst Bill Simpkins, see page 5.

SPORTS 29

Don Power speaks with Fog Devil centre Nick Layton BUSINESS 13

Rolls-Royce in local fishing industry Life Story ............... 10 Noreen Golfman ... 19 Fashion & food ..... 22 Woody’s Wheels ... 25

Returning for its fourth season, The Woman In Black will once again haunt the LSPU Hall in St. John’s Oct. 31-Nov 4. The play features Aiden Flynn and Steve O'Connell, and is directed by Petrina Bromley.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Vilified, victimized, vindicated

Fishery expert Parzival Copes reflects on his controversial 1972 bombshell report predicting the demise of the province’s fishery

IVAN MORGAN

I

n 1972, professor Parzival Copes stood in front of a group of fellow academics in St. John’s and read to them conclusions and recommendations he had made based on his study of the Newfoundland fishery. The fishery was unsustainable, he said, and recommended an immediate vast out-migration of people to other parts of Canada as the only realistic solution.

His observations caused a firestorm in the provincial press, and his name became synonymous with pitiless Canadian arrogance.

Recently awarded the Order of Canada for his fisheries research, Copes recalls his remarks of 35 years ago.

“The basic problem was not that the fishery

was unsustainable — there were lots of fish resources, and they were valuable,” Copes tells The Independent. “The problem was Newfoundland had high unemployment rates and the fishery was being used as an employer of last resort.

“So they were stuffing people into the fishery and it meant catches per fishermen were low, and incomes were low, and also that the government had to support the fishing industry, which in terms of employment was the major employer in Newfoundland.”

The public reaction was swift and brutal.

Copes was savaged in the local press. He was lampooned, mocked, and railed against. At the time, it is said, the name “Parzival Copes” was a dirty word.

Yet time has proven the accuracy of his observations and conclusions. The province — especially in the fishing industry — has gone on to

Fighting fires

By Mike Flynn For The Independent

T

he province’s rural fire departments, once a bastion of male volunteerism, are having difficulty maintaining past numbers.

Many able-bodied young men are no longer in the province, having moved to Alberta or elsewhere for employment. The low birth rate is also resulted in a changing demographic — as Bay Roberts Mayor Glenn Littlejohn says, in 10 years, 50 per cent of the town’s population will be over 50. This statistic holds true for most rural communities.

The situation has forced many volunteer fire departments — which don’t normally accept new members over the age of 40 or allow them to remain as active members past the age of 60 — to reorganize.

reap what Copes warned the province was sowing.

He says the province’s approach to the fishery has never been realistic.

“The unemployment insurance scheme for the fishery really wasn’t insurance, it was much more than that, it was a subsidy. It was dressed up as an unemployment insurance scheme and so people paid into it and then they got money back if they unfortunately were unemployed,” says Copes.

“But everyone knew they were going to be unemployed. It was a seasonal fishery. And therefore it was not a viable system of unemployment insurance. It was not insurance — it was a subsidy.”

Born in British Columbia, Copes came to Newfoundland in the late 1950s to set up See “I was a little,” page 4

As rural fire departments struggle to keep enough volunteers, some say regionalization is the way to go — others disagree

In at least one part of the province a situation is developing, reminiscent of the war years, when the men were overseas. In Clarke’s BeachSouth River area, when a call was issued for volunteers to form a new fire department, three of the first seven respondents were women.

Conception Bay North, stretching approximately 100 kilometres along Route 60 between Brigus and Northern Bay Sands, boasts 10 volunteer fire departments.

Several neighbouring communities have separate brigades, with at least two emergency vehicles each. While the situation may be the envy of some rural areas, to others it may be a prime example of overkill and a redundancy of costly services.

The mention of amalgamation of services brings a mixed reaction.

The three larger towns in the area have

tremendous support from their local municipal councils and are satisfied with their fire protection services. Bay Roberts, Carbonear and Harbour Grace have a combined total of 17 emergency vehicles and 113 volunteers. For these towns, with a total population of 15,000, financial support isn’t a major concern.

Bay Roberts fire chief Clarence Russell says his town budgeted over $100,000 last year for his department for operating expenses, but he says application has been made to government for replacement of one of the two rescue vehicles.

Bay Roberts covers the largest geographic area in the region and responds to all motor vehicle accidents from Bay Roberts, south along Veterans Memorial Highway and a portion of See “The problem is,” page 11

2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 27, 2006

Every fisherman for himself I n Canada another major problem in the national fisheries is that the provinces constitutionally have a large measure of control over fish processing. Fish plants can only operate in a province with a licence from the provincial government. If they choose, provinces can also offer financial assistance or subsidy to help build fishing vessels or fish plants or for the purchase of fishing gear.

As journalist and author, Michael Harris wrote, “No matter how inefficient an operation might be it is always a major political issue to close a plant in places where there is no alternative employment. Weak businesses were routinely saved from what would be a normal bankruptcy in any other industry. Subsidies were paid to open new plants and then paid again whenever

JOHN CROSBIE

The old curmudgeon

over-expansion threatened to close them.”

As a result, by 1992 there was 50 per cent over-capacity in the fish-processing sector with every community exerting political pressure to have a fish plant located within its boundaries.

Fish processing plants in the Maritimes were estimated at 45 per cent overcapacity, with 65 per cent overcapacity in Quebec.

In December 1988, DFO scientists recommended that the 1989 total allowable catch (TAC) for northern cod

should not exceed 125,000 tonnes, which would have meant a 50 per cent cut to the 1998 TAC of 266,000 tonnes and social chaos.

In 1988, the inshore allocation alone was 125,000 tonnes, so if the total quota was reduced overnight to 125,000 tonnes, the offshore fishery would have been cancelled overnight, throwing thousands of fish plant workers and trawlermen out of work.

The seriousness of the situation resulted in a meeting of Canadian and NAFO scientists to assess the northern cod stock jointly at a special meeting of the NAFO scientific council in early June 1991. They jointly advised that the northern cod stock was tremendously reduced, spawning fish were at a dangerously low level and recommended that catches be kept to the lowest level

possible with stock rebuilding efforts enhanced. They jointly recommended that the TAC be reduced to 50,000 tonnes, which would not permit even the inshore fishery for northern cod to proceed along the northeast coast of Newfoundland, as well as Labrador.

The decision had to be made to close the whole northern cod fishery off the East Coast of Canada if the species was to be saved at all. Scientists advised that the moratorium on northern cod would have to be in force for two years, but that this should permit the stock to increase significantly with the spawning stock no longer at dangerously low levels.

Today, with the moratorium on northern cod in effect with little change for 14 years, there is little sign of any revival or rebuilding of the northern

cod stock. The eco-system is fundamentally changed.

Since 1992, the Government of Canada has significantly reduced the spending allocated to science, including reducing the number of survey trips and acoustic surveys, ignoring the need for increased spending advocated by the Harris Task Force and all independent knowledgeable observers from 1992 onward.

With the recent change of administration in Ottawa we must hope a serious effort will be made to avoid a repetition of the events that led to the closure of the northern cod and other groundfish fisheries in the North Atlantic.

There is no evidence to support the suggestion that Newfoundland and Labrador would have been better off if the province had had jurisdiction over the fishery. When we observe what the provincial government or other fishing provinces have done with the jurisdiction they have to license processing plants or to subsidize programs — permitting at least 50 per cent over-capacity, thus creating tremendous pressure to allow more rather than less fish to be caught, encouraging extreme competition in the catching of fish — it reveals our province and other fishery provinces are far more responsive to political pressures in fishery management and failing to improve the situation.

In the Canadian fishery it is still every man for himself and the devil take the hind-most as it has been from the beginning. Fishing nations — with the possible exception of Iceland, New Zealand and Norway — have undertaken little effective action to resolve these problems leading to the gloomy expectation that before this century ends, there will be little, if any, wild fishery left in our oceans, lakes and rivers.

‘Good or ill’ From page 1 lot of questionable bookkeeping and we found sufficient evidence that we believe the RCMP should get involved, complete a balanced and unbiased investigation, and then whatever happens for good or ill, let the chips fall where they may.

“And let the public know what the heck is going on.”

Meantime, Penney says the development association is having a hard time doing its job. He says they’re being “blacklisted” by their MHA, Charlene Johnson, and no longer receive reasonable funding for the community enhancement projects and other programs they’ve applied for. (The executive receives a 10 per cent administration fee from any funds received, which must cover their operating costs.)

Not so, says Johnson, Tory MHA for the district of Trinity-Bay de Verde, which covers the north shore area.

“My main concern is the people in the area, to get their hours, to help them become eligible for EI,” she says.

“They’re the organization in the area, so we did give them the money. They were one of three groups that got the highest amount, out of 11 or 12 in the whole district.

“From an MHA perspective,” Johnson says she’s not aware of the concerns of the new executive, but was recently contacted by them. She says they’ve agreed to meet Nov. 5.

She is aware of the police investigation. Johnson says she’s not concerned about what will turn up, but, “if there was anything done wrong, that’s not right either.

“There’s a new executive there now with the development association and I’m willing to work with them because they’re all constituents of mine,” the MHA says. “So let’s get past whatever bickering there is, so let’s move on for the betterment of the people.”

About the allegations of misspending, Ronald Johnson says, “the rumours are out there … it’s all hearsay, though. Until there’s a concrete accusation or someone says ‘this happened,’ then I’d address that.”

Cpl. Burgess says he hasn’t proceeded far into the investigation yet, but should have a “good idea” of the direction it will take within the next two weeks.

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OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

SCRUNCHINS BRANDING IRON Regular cartoon contributor Brad Cranford has come up with his own particular twist on Danny Williams’ new Newfoundland Labrador brand. Question of the week: would you brand your butt for $1 million cash? How much more would it take for you to admit it?

A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

D

rum roll please … The Independent is pleased to announce the winner of the name-your-MP contest. Last week readers were asked to come up with a name for each of Newfoundland and Labrador’s seven MPs. The name had to be either a fish or crustacean found in waters off our shores. It was Loyola Hearn himself who got the contest ball rolling, calling fellow Member of Parliament Scott Simms a shrimp.

Simms, who’s no parliamentary saint himself, threw the first spear across the carpet of the House of Commons by asking a question to the minister of flip, flop and flounder.

Without further ado … the winning entry was from Jim Combden of Badger’s Quay.

Loyola Hearn: jellyfish. Growing up around the stage, this fellow is slippery, hard on the hands and eyes; it has no bones, certainly no backbone. Minister Hearn appears to be slipping and sliding over every rock and around every stagehead rail. Messy.

Scott Simms: starfish. A small thing, easy to capture, has a bit of colour, attractive to some, sticks to rocks. Simms is on the rise — a little, at least. Among the seven, he would be the only star, even with a small “s.”

Norm Doyle: lump. He’s not really shaped like a lump, but he’s evolving.

The lumps I saw floated in the harbour, didn’t stir up the water … harmless creature with no great strength. That’s Doyle, a nice guy, floating nowhere in particular.

Todd Russell: squid. A Labrador retriever, he periodically squirts ink at Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives over military, airport, transportation, etc. for the Big Land. A

squid won’t squirt its defensive weapon unless you pull it from the ocean (my experience). Russell pulls out an issue once in a while, or he’s pulled out, and takes a shot. A squid has a tentacle for specific causes.

Fabian Manning: crab. Fabian was able to crawl out from under Danny Williams’ control, crawl into Ottawa, bite John Efford while crawling; presently he’s crawling a fine line between Harper and Williams over equalization, fallow fields, just about anything.

Gerry Byrne: eel. Both salt- and fresh-water eel. Gerry slithers all over the place on most subjects — a bit like Hearn. He twists and turns all the time. On the Atlantic Accord, I

don’t recall Byrne standing up for the province. I don’t believe he voted in the Commons, but slipped around all media questions. Eeeeellllll.

Bill Matthews: snail. I cracked many wrinkles as a boy. Slow as a snail … is Bill. I choose the snail metaphor from Matthews’ inaction on the Portnoy family in Marystown. I heard him on the issue a couple of times. Always slow to give a solid reason, to initiate an action. Bill is really a combination of crab, snail and eel. Is there a crsneel swimming around?

There is now. Congratulations Jim — an Independent hoodie is on its way to Badger’s Quay …

MERCER REPORT Middle Cove’s own Rick Mercer delivered his regular rant on his CBC Television show earlier this week … in support of our Danny.

Best lines … #1: Depending on who you ask, this past week Newfoundland picked a fight with Ottawa or Ottawa picked a fight with Newfoundland, and really I have no idea who threw the first punch, but I know this: right now the relationship between Stephen Harper and Danny Williams is about as friendly as the one between Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.

Oh, it is not good. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if at any minute, Danny went total Paul McCartney on us and tried to stab Harper in the leg with a broken wine glass. #2: This is the people of Atlantic Canada versus oil companies in Houston.

And I ask you: do you think anyone on God’s green earth believes that Stephen Harper is going to side with Atlantic Canada on this one? #3: In Stephen Harper’s Canada, Atlantic Canada and Alberta are treated very differently because as it stands now, oil companies in Alberta make money by finding oil and then producing oil. But they can make money in Newfoundland by finding oil and producing nothing.

And, unfortunately, nothing for Newfoundland, that’s a principle Stephen Harper will fight for.

Rick Mercer

Rhonda Hayward

RUFF RUFF Mercer’s blog has a great line about Peter MacKay’s alleged dog comment in reference to his former squeeze, Belinda Stronach. Quote: “Even the dimmest bulb in the House of Commons can muster up a dog joke. I’m sure by now you have heard them all. Hey Peter, you’re barking up the wrong tree (zing); yo Peter, let sleeping dogs lie (good one); or would the honourable member from Central Nova stop licking himself (a classic)?”

CREDIT CHECK Speaking of rough breakups … Loyola Hearn said recently, in tongue-in-cheek fashion, that he and Danny “unmasked” a sour side of Heather Mills-McCartney during the famous seal-hunt debate on Larry King Live in March.

“We’ll take some credit for that,” Hearn told reporters outside the House of Commons in Ottawa. At least Hearn can take credit for doing one thing while in cabinet …

SLAM DUNK Last and certainly least … the definition of a “newfie slam” as it relates to hunting — a caribou bull, a bull moose and a black bear, all in a week. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

Giving a dying river life Faced with declining salmon stocks and increasing poacher presence, some communities are taking matters into their own hands — and it’s working

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent

has been successful and has helped more than the salmon stocks.

Linda Davis, a spokesperson with DFO, says the group’s actions are “impressive.

“They took a dying river and gave it life,” she says. “When this group was in its planning stages, our salmon stocks were at a historical low and these rivers were pretty much dead rivers. Now what we have is nothing short of absolutely incredible.”

Residents, she says, have a role in managing their own resources and this has brought a sense of community pride in their stunning and productive river system.

Pond says the conservation group doesn’t want to see an end to angling. “Responsible anglers keep the poachers away,” she says.

A

vid angler Herb Simms of Seal Cove spent more than 40 hours salmon fishing this past season.

“Sixty per cent of all the Atlantic salmon rivers in North America are right here in Newfoundland,” he says. “Over 170 rivers, and everyone of them have been raped.”

The Northwest River, located near the eastern boundary of Terra Nova National Park in Newfoundland, was one of those — but it’s come back to life, thanks in part to the efforts of the Northwest River Conservation group.

In 1996, the situation was so bleak, Parks Canada closed the recreational fishery on the river — yet stocks continued to decline.

By 2001, only 152 spawners were counted in the area.

Priscilla Pond, of the conservation group, says those numbers caused action. In 2002, residents from Charlottetown, Port Blandford and Clarenville joined with Parks Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to try a new approach to revitalizing the salmon stocks. The plan included a community stewardship program.

“We increased patrols, and we focused on education,” Pond says. “Poachers out using nets at the mouth of a river won’t be as brave if they think an angler could come by.

“We get out in the schools and explain to the kids the life cycle of the salmon, how they grow and how they spawn, so they will be the next protectors of the river.”

Pond’s advisory group set a goal of 550 spawners for 2003. Targets were achieved and Parks Canada reopened the river to anglers. The stocks have continued to grow and in 2005, 1,501 salmon were counted in the region. The catch numbers for 2006 won’t be compiled until February, but anecdotal reports are promising.

Indications are this partnership approach

TOTAL NUMBER OF SALMON POACHING Charges laid 2006 season: 147 Total violations: 196 The difference accounts for seizures from persons unknown and written warnings.

STEWARDSHIP PROGRAMS IN THE PROVINCE • Northwest River Port Blandford • Ragged Harbour River • Bay St. George North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Group • Renews River (the newest initiative, only recently formed)

Despite threats to some of the stocks, salmon fishing is a thriving sport in Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2005, Newfoundland residents purchased 13,000 individual and 100 family salmon licenses.

Non-residents bought 2,200 individual and 150 family licences.

There hasn’t been a commercial salmon fishery on the island since 1992 (Labrador still has one, with a 55 tonne quota), yet salmon stocks aren’t doing much better in most areas.

Harry’s River, a popular salmon and brook trout river near Stephenville, held

3,000 large and 9,600 small Atlantic salmon between 1963 and 1967. In 2004, the same river was home to only 500 large and 2,800 small salmon.

“We aren’t doing a very good job at conservation with numbers like that,” Simms says, adding poaching is a bigger problem than many realize.

“No one minds a man taking a salmon home to feed his family,” he continues — but that’s not what most are doing. “Salmon can line up by the hundreds behind a gill net, cleaning out an entire run in no time, and when you jig a salmon you normally lose it anyway and you end up with a wounded fish that will die … poaching is a problem, but that the laws aren’t enforced is just as bad.”

Jim Francis, Clarenville’s conservation and protection supervisor says there’s no doubt a partnership model can be used to help reduce poaching and give a river life.

“There is no doubt in my mind that stewardship management programs save rivers where we can’t on our own as DFO employees, this group has had a profound effect on poachers in this area … This group, not DFO, restored the population of these rivers,” he says. “The beauty of a stewardship group is that they are dealing with their river, in their area, and they care that much more.”

Stewardship groups make it personal, he says, providing DFO with input into what the regional salmon management plan should be.

“These groups, not DFO, recommend an adequate fishing season, decide on quotas, and determine if there will be hook and release or no hook and release … they tailor a plan that suits their river and they monitor its success,” he says.

“This is their opportunity to express themselves as a community, and to affect regional change as opposed to watching the decline of the salmon and doing nothing.

“The bottom line is having a river you can fish on, that’s proof of the success.”

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4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 27, 2006

‘I was a little naive’ From page 1

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Memorial’s economics department.

He left in 1964 to set up a similar department at Simon Fraser University in B.C., but continued his study of the Newfoundland fishery.

Familiar as he was with Newfoundland, he says he was not really prepared for the reaction he received.

“I guess I was a little naive to start off with. I had not anticipated the extent of the negative comments on what I was doing,” he says, laughing. “I was somewhat taken aback by the response.”

He attributes most of the negativity to members of the media, who he says misinterpreted his findings.

“I knew there was a group of people in the press who thought this was a wonderful opportunity for them to slam a non-Newfoundlander who was attacking them.”

He says the reaction was, in a way, understandable.

“It was to some extent a defensive reaction. Newfoundlanders felt badly done by my criticism of Newfoundland.

I guess I was in a sense a major critic, although my own view was that I was trying to help — in terms of providing an analysis of what was wrong and what would be a realistic way of dealing with the fishery.”

Newfoundlanders may not have thought he was helpful, but he says his career got a boost.

“Professionally I was considered to have done a very good job, and it increased my prestige as an analyst,” says Copes.

The provincial government recently announced the start of a comprehensive consultation process on the future of the fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Copes would be interested in participating.

Would he tell them the same thing he did in 1972? He pauses for a moment and says, “Yes.” Copes is still optimistic about the future of the Newfoundland fishery — optimistic but unrepentant. He repeats

Parcival Copes

Greg Ehlers

Resettlement review Two rural communities request resettlement; provincial government still considering MANDY COOK

A

spokesperson for Municipal Affairs says government is still working on the cases of two unnamed outports that asked the provincial government to be resettled earlier this year.

John Tompkins, spokesman for the department, says the cases are still “under active consideration.” Municipal Affairs Minister Jack Byrne wasn’t available for comment this week.

The Independent first reported the story in June. At that point, the spokesperson confirmed three communities, not two, requested the province to be resettled.

Tompkins says he is still unable to reveal the names of the communities, saying only they are “all accessible by road.”

He says the names of the outports are

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Part of your community .

his mantra of 35 years.

“I think the fisheries in Newfoundland are sustainable, but an over-fishing process is not sustainable.”

He says success is still possible in the industry. He notes Iceland’s success, but notes the differences.

“For one thing, Iceland is a separate country … Newfoundland is a province, and there are no barriers to movement within Canada, and the Newfoundland economy is a vulnerable one in such circumstances,” says Copes.

“The Icelanders can subsidize all kinds of industry within Iceland … it won’t be as efficient an industry as in other places, but it will give you full employment. Newfoundland can’t do that because it is an open economy with respect to the rest of Canada.”

Despite the furor, Copes continued to return to Newfoundland annually for many more years to continue his research in the fishery. He says he never experienced any personal abuse for his writings.

“I would like to emphasize that, despite the criticism of me from many sources in Newfoundland, I have always had a lot of friends there who thought this was all nonsense and I have never felt uncomfortable going back to Newfoundland again and again.”

www.petro-canada.ca

being withheld because the requests came from individuals, as opposed to official representatives.

“We haven’t revealed the communities that we’re dealing with because they have no municipal leader who can be the official spokesperson to take consensus amongst them whether they have any concerns with this being public or not,” he says.

The communities are not formal municipalities, meaning they don’t have mayors and councils.

Three outports have been resettled in recent years: Great Harbour Deep, White Bay; Petites on the southwest coast; and Big Brook on the Northern Peninsula. The province usually only follows through with resettlement when the overwhelming majority of residents agree, and it’s deemed the move will save government money in the long run.

Families are usually offered compensation packages ranging from $80,000 to $100,000 (depending on family size), in exchange for the withdrawal of services and the transfer of their properties to the Crown. The Conservative government has said repeatedly it does not support “forced” resettlement.

Tompkins couldn’t say when the final decision would be made regarding the resettlement of the two outports. He says it could “take some time” to balance the costs of relocation against the costs of maintaining the community, to achieve a unanimous decision amongst the residents, and to consider the individual needs of each community.

“It’s a case-by-case thing,” he says.

Wayne Ruth, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Municipalities, says his organization has not received any notification about resettling the towns in question.

He says the federation has collaborated with Municipal Affairs on a new initiative known as the Community Co-operation Resource Centre. Such a venture would broker cost-sharing arrangements between communities in an effort to assist them in capacity building as opposed to resettlement. For example, the Town of Kippens is cost-sharing its garbage collection, animal, pool and cemetery services with the larger center of Stephenville.

But for the smaller communities without access to services or institutions, Ruth says he isn’t surprised to hear about requests for resettlements.

“When Petites was resettled, there were something like 16, 17 people there,” he says. “They had one teenage girl going to high school. It’s not a viable community, you don’t have a school, you don’t have the amenities. There were challenges for the provincial government to provide them with electricity.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

By Ivan Morgan The Independent

N

ot fielding a candidate in the upcoming Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi by-election has fuelled rumours the Liberal party is tired, old, broke and in freefall. Not so, say prominent Liberals, but a political scientist at Memorial University worries the party could face annihilation.

Professor Stephen Tomblin says the premier’s popularity is something Liberals should worry about. He draws parallels to former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna’s election victory in 1987, when he won all 58 seats in the provincial legislature.

“I think that anyone looking at the polls and looking at the popularity of the premier would have concerns,” Tomblin tells The Independent.

“Whatever side of the house you’re on.”

Danny Dumaresque, the new president of the provincial Liberal party, says he’s not prepared to grant an inch of political turf to Danny Williams.

“All I would say to him is, if that is the conventional wisdom on the hill right now than God Bless them because that is exactly where I’d like their frame of mind to be.”

Dumaresque says his party has been rebuilding, putting finances in order, and recruiting candidates.

The party had a successful convention in June, he says, and — for the first time in several years — have opened a new office and hired a staff person.

Liberal leader Gerry Reid says the party is working hard. He says having a fixed date for the election (Oct. 9, 2007) works to his party’s advantage.

He says his party recognizes the premier’s popularity, but says many Tory MHAs are nowhere near as popular. Dumaresque says his party has agreed to implement early nomination. He, too, says the Tories are not as popular as people think.

“The only reason that people are going to vote Tory is because of Danny Williams,” says Dumaresque. “It’s not because of the cabinet, it’s not because of the policies, it’s not because of their local candidates.”

“Let’s face it — there are a lot of them who were elected on the premier’s coattails last time around,” says Reid. “The premier has some current sitting MHAs and cabinet ministers that if they held a nomination in their district they could lose the nomination.”

He says the Liberals plan to have nominations in districts in early 2007, showing the public the calibre of candidates — and giving those candidates plenty of lead time in their districts.

He and Reid both say the Tories are vulnerable.

Tomblin is not so sure. He says the Liberal party

Paul Daly/The Independent

Neither down nor out Provincial Liberals say Tory MHAs ripe for picking in next election is in transition, and has had trouble mobilizing new ideas and new leaders. He says out-migration may affect the Liberals’ ability to campaign effectively against the Tories.

“A lot of the young people have just left the province,” says Tomblin. “The loss of that energy — whether it is in the volunteer sector or whether it is in public life — has probably made it more difficult to recruit across the province as well.”

Dumaresque admits his party has been struggling.

“I took over the presidency in June and I would

be the first to admit that it’s a formidable challenge, but at the same time I would submit to you that things are coming along quite well.”

Dumaresque says the party has made arrangements with the banks allowing them to build an election fund without fear of the banks taking it to cover the party’s debts.

Reid says Williams’ popularity will drop as the issues come to the fore. Out-migration, he says, will be a big issue.

“We need a government that cares for the entire province, a government that doesn’t want to see a

You’re invited to College of the North Atlantic’s

Economies of scale

Analyst says building new refinery possible, but comes at hefty price

By Ivan Morgan The Independent

O

il industry analyst Bill Simpkins pegs the price of a new refinery in Placentia Bay proposed by Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corp. at $5 billion.

A feasibility study is currently underway on the viability of building a second refinery near Come-byChance.

Irving Oil recently announced its intentions to build a refinery in Saint John, N.B., raising doubts about the practicality of another one in this province — although Newfoundland and Labrador Refining has said publicly there is room in the industry for two.

REFINERY POSSIBLE Simpkins, former Ottawa-based spokesman for the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, says a refinery in Placentia Bay is possible — but many factors, including cost, availability of markets, environmental concerns and labour force, must be considered.

He says $5 billion is also the price of the Hebron and Hibernia projects. A new refinery would involve a similar investment.

“That’s a considerable chunk of change,” Simpkins tells The Independent. “Investors would want to ensure they had a return.”

He sets the price based on the fact any new refinery would have to sell to international markets — Canada refines enough for domestic consumption. To keep unit costs competitive, the refinery would have to produce a large number of barrels daily.

He says Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corp.’s public statement that no new refineries had been

built in Atlantic Canada for the past 25 years is technically true, but not entirely accurate. Simpkins says refining capacity has increased through the expansion of existing facilities.

“Refineries like the Ultramar refinery in St-Romuald, Que. has doubled in capacity,” says Simpkins. “The Irving refinery has doubled in capacity.

It used to be around 120,000 barrels a day, and is now around 300,000 and they are probably going to double that size again.

“So if you are competing with the Irvings and Ultramar or you are competing with the Caribbean countries, you are going to be building a refinery of certainly more than 400,000 barrels a day.”

A refinery of that size, he says, will cost billions.

“Obviously, the Irving refinery is a concern …Whoever was going to invest in (a refinery in Placentia Bay) would have to look very, very carefully at what those costs were.”

He says economies of scale are the issue. Since 2000, viability margins for refineries have averaged below 10 cents a litre internationally. Profit is set over the long term at about 1.5 to 2 cents a litre.

“So you have to produce a lot of product,” says Simpkins, “and the disadvantage that you have in Newfoundland’s location is getting the product to market.”

Another concern for any refining project like this is the environment.

“I haven’t heard of a lot of communities welcoming refineries … That’s why they tend to be incrementally expanded in other places — because they’re already there.”

The environmental assessment process can be tough, says Simpkins, “unless you had a government that was

interested in it and would make promises to fast track the process.”

In refining, Simpkins explains, the price of the resource and the price of the product are fixed. So competitiveness comes from keeping production costs down: the larger, closer to market, and more efficient you are, then the lower the cost per litre.

He says having a guaranteed market and controlling costs is the key to success.

“You can’t undercut — the price of the product is set on an international scale — so it is having the market that is necessary.”

Simpkins says attracting investment for the project will be a challenge.

UPHILL CLIMB “It’s a lot of uphill climb before you could understand if you could make the finances or the economics work on a project of that nature. Nothing is impossible though.”

He says it’s an intimidating investment.

“Even Irving oil is now suggesting that they are looking for a partner, so even they don’t have deep enough pockets to go it alone.”

He says based on the kind of obstacles such a project presents, he wonders why this group of investors didn’t just purchase the North Atlantic refinery, which was recently for sale.

“If I was a Newfoundlander and I had $5 billion dollars, why wouldn’t I have bought the North Atlantic refinery? It was up for sale, it is an existing refinery,” says Simpkins. “If there was such an interest in a refinery I think if I had the money I would have bought North Atlantic and I would have expanded it.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

SHIPPING NEWS Keeping an eye on the comings and goings of the ships in St. John’s harbour.

Information provided by the Coast Guard Traffic Centre.

FRIDAY Vessels Arrived: Maersk Dispatcher, Canada, from Orphan Basin; Wilfred Templeman, Canada, from sea; Atlantic Kingfisher, Canada, from Terra Nova; Maersk Placentia, Canada, from White Rose.

Vessels Departed: Atlantic Osprey, Canada, to White Rose; Sir Wilfred Grenfell, Canada, to sea; Oceanex Avalon, Canada, to Montreal.

SATURDAY Vessels Arrived: Bear Cove Point, Canada, from FHG; Atlantic Eagle,

Canada, from Terra Nova; Maersk Detector, Canada, from Orphan Basin; Oceanex Avalon, Canada, from Montreal; Atlantic Osprey, Canada, from White Rose; Olivia, Norway, from sea.

Vessels Departed: Atlantic Hawk, Canada, to Terra Nova.

SUNDAY Vessels Departed: Maersk Placentia, Canada, to Rowan Gorilla VI; Cabot, Canada, to Halifax; Maersk Nascopie, Canada, to Hibernia; Trinity Sea, Canada, to White Rose.

MONDAY Vessels Arrived: Maersk Nascopie, Canada, from Hibernia; Cabot, Canada, from Halifax; Atlantic Hawk, Canada, from White Rose.

population that is heading for extinction, where you have a death rate that’s higher than a birth rate.”

Dumaresque is also confident. He says he is not worried about Williams’ current popularity.

“Six months is a hellish long time in politics,” he says. “The bottom line is yes, we are underdogs and yes, there is work to be done and absolutely there are formidable challenges to overcome when it comes to the political popularity of Mr. Williams, but the Liberal party is a brand that the people of this province hold very dear.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

Vessels Departed: Maersk Chignecto, Canada, to Hibernia; Cicero, Canada, to Montreal.

TUESDAY Vessels Arrived: Maersk Challenger, Canada, from Terra Nova; Cabot, Canada, from Halifax.

Vessels Departed: Atlantic Eagle, Canada, to Terra Nova; Maersk Placentia, Canada, to Hibernia; Olivia, Norway, to sea; Maersk Detector, Canada, to Orphan Basin.

WEDNESDAY Vessels Arrived: Maersk Placentia, Canada, from Hibernia.

Vessels Departed: Maersk Challenger, Canada, to White Rose; Corner Brook, Canada, to Corner Brook.

COLLEGE DAY Thursday, November 2 Find out more about your public college through: • campus tours • lab demonstrations • display of college programs and services • and so much more Contact the College of the North Atlantic campus nearest you for more details.

Come discover the benefits of a high quality education!

Proudly sponsored by Human Resources Labour & Employment

We’re so much more. www.cna.nl.ca | 1 888 982.2268

6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 27, 2006

Enough consulting A

ll we’re good for is ranting and roaring. We go off our heads at least once or twice a year but little changes besides the rise and fall of political approval ratings.

The clunker that is the ship of state continues on its course, listing and taking on water.

We’ve gone on and on for such a spell without taking action — particularly in terms of the fishery — that the original Rooms around the bay have long since emptied of fishermen and fish guts. Filleting fish may soon be a demonstration exhibit at the fancy new Rooms in Town. There’s hardly a soul left around to talk to, although that doesn’t stop Danny’s Rock groups from launching provincial tours in search of audiences.

Government plans to hold public meetings over the coming weeks on the four Fs — finances, forestry, fisheries and how we’re generally frigged.

What’s most disturbing is that not a single meeting, as far as I can tell, will be held out West, where half the outport population hangs their salt-andpepper caps and university gowns.

Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan is set to hold meetings in November on pre-budget consultations. That means regular folk will have a chance to tell

RYAN CLEARY

Fighting Newfoundlander Loyola where best to direct taxpayers’ money.

“Well b’y, spend it on me. That’s as good a place as any.” From there, the list makes its way through the standard priorities — roads, schools, hospitals, and jobs — with maybe a little something left over to paint the town hall and put down a boardwalk for the scattered tourist to take a stroll past empty saltboxes.

Next come public consultations on how best to “grow and diversity” the forest industry. A meeting is scheduled for Stephenville on Nov. 1 — which comes only about a year after the town’s mill shut down. The government delegation may arrive just in time to slip on hard hats and help sledgehammer a wall or two, so at least some guaranteed good will come out of it.

Then there are the upcoming meetings on the future of the province’s “most critical industry” — the fishery.

It’s been 14 years since the cod fishery

died and the idea has finally dawned on the federal and provincial governments that perhaps a “renewal” plan is in order.

The announcement was billed as a “critical step in the process to revitalize the fishery.” Other memorable quotes: “The level of co-operation between the federal and provincial governments is unprecedented”; “The fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador has sustained the province for hundreds of years, however, there is a clear recognition that the industry must become more flexible to compete internationally and sustain itself in the future.”

You don’t say — flexibility, what a novel idea. An extra fish or two wouldn’t go astray either. If it’s true that the best and brightest have already left or are booked to leave on the next passage, who exactly do the government delegations expect to consult with? Regardless, consultations should wrap up just in time for federal and provincial elections, so the whole process can start afresh with new administrations.

Something needs to happen — that much is clear — but what?

Public consultations around here are usually a clear indicator that govern-

ment doesn’t have a clue what it’s at or what to be at. Holding a meeting or two at least makes government appear busy, connected and caring.

Here’s an idea — how about government release its plans first, and then ask for public input. Most people think government already has its mind made up anyway — before taking a single shred of advice.

The most formal form of public consultation is the tried and true royal commission, the latest being 2003’s Vic Young report on our place in the Canadian federation. “All we need is love,” Vic told the masses. Danny must have missed this quote from the commission’s report: “It is entirely unrealistic to think that we could ever renew and strengthen this province without a positive relationship between our two elected governments.

“That is not to say that a respectful relationship between both governments rules out the need for strong actions from time to time.”

Would strong action include Danny kicking Stephen Harper in the head at a Gander hotel? Hard to say.

Saskatchewan has the right idea.

The premier with the Southern Shore name (meaning he’s got to be a good guy), Lorne Calvert, recently spelled

out that province’s intentions when it comes to equalization reform (Danny’s most recent fight) and the $800 million it could bring to the Prairie province. Calvert’s intentions are listed directly on the government’s website under the heading, “Imagine.”

“We will use that money in a variety of ways to grow the economy, create more jobs and give our young people a better future right here in their own province,” reads the government site.

“We will cut more taxes, pay down more of the debt, invest more in postsecondary education and skills training, build a stronger infrastructure (e.g. roads, schools) and generally build a better Saskatchewan.”

Sounds pretty much like what we’re looking for right here. Calvert launched a $300,000 public awareness campaign earlier this month to inform the people of Saskatchewan about equalization and how a fair deal could make life easier for his people.

No doubt we can rant and roar like true Newfoundlanders (and Labradorians), on deck and below even, but at some point we have to actually chart a course and sail it. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE Praying for a safe ferry crossing Dear editor, My girlfriend picked up a copy of the Oct. 13 issue of The Independent (she’s nuts about Justin Trudeau). I read The Independent from cover to cover. I enjoyed it. It was my first time reading it.

I have to agree with Ivan Morgan (Have I got a job for you) on some points. There is a lot that the premier can do for Newfoundland but is he going to do anything? A lot of people had hopes that Danny Williams would do something to get Newfoundland out of the mess it’s in, but I can’t see much difference today then it was a few years ago.

I am a student at the College of the North Atlantic and I am going to be heading out west — either to B.C. or Alberta — as soon as I get my diploma.

Meantime, I live on Bell Island and I go back and forth on the ferry every day to school in my sister’s car. I am not looking forward to this winter. I know only too well how tough it will

be on the ferry, if it runs at all. Even now I listen to the weather reports and look up the forecast on the Internet to see if it will be good enough for the ferry to land me safely on the other side.

From as far back as I can remember, my mother always said that premiers can come and go but none of them do anything for Bell Island.

Regarding the ferries — they replace one piece of junk with another piece of junk and we just hope we land on dry ground every time we step on one of them.

My mother gave me a St. Christopher medal. I also have my grandmother’s crucifix and I bought a four-leaf clover charm a few years ago. I take these with me all the time when I am traveling across on the ferry. I know it’s superstitious but it can’t hurt.

I’ll keep reading The Independent to keep myself informed.

Gary B. Clarke, Bell Island

From high hopes to ‘sad reality’ Dear editor, Three years ago in October 2001, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador embraced Danny Williams.

While congratulating him, I publicly and sincerely wished that he would succeed because our province needs our political leaders to succeed and move us forward.

Three years later, the sad reality.

Rather than stopping and reversing out-migration with his rural revitalization plan, over 15,000 extra people have left the province this past year alone. This is happening even though Danny’s rural strategy is in place, the Atlantic Accord is in place, record high oil prices are filling the coffers, and government is running a budget surplus. (There was no outmigration in 2001 before Danny’s time.)

Rather than making sure the Stephenville mill would not close on Danny’s “watch,” as he promised, the mill is not only closed, but permission has been granted for decommissioning the demolition. Danny pleads for forgiveness because he admits he was “politically naive” to

have made such a promise.

Was he “politically naive” when he promised to recognize the Metis, only to betray them (their own words) and weasel out from his written promise?

Was he “politically naive” when he used the legislature to strip the contract of over 20,000 public servants after promising them in writing to never use the legislature because it was improper and unfair?

Was he “politically naive” when he led the people of the Northern Peninsula to believe that 3,000 or more of them would be working on a tunnel to Labrador by now because, in his words, “it’s so close that I can’t believe it’s not already done?”

Sadly, the list goes on.

If Danny applies the same standard to himself as he is conveniently suggesting for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he will ask the people not to vote for him because he didn’t keep his promises.

If it’s good for the goose, it should be good for the gander.

Roger Grimes, St. John’s

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4 Ph: 709-726-4639 • Fax: 709-726-8499 www.theindependent.ca • editorial@theindependent.ca The Independent is published by Independent News Ltd. in St. John’s. It is an independent newspaper covering the news, issues and current affairs that affect the people of Newfoundland & Labrador.

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Letters may be edited for length, content and legal considerations. Send your letters in care of The Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at editorial@theindependent.ca

‘Disappointing display of reckless and careless cynicism’ Dear editor, So columnist Ivan Morgan (Have I got a job for you, Oct. 13 issue) is encouraging Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to run for elected office — not to make Newfoundland and Labrador stronger and more self-reliant — but rather to distract Premier Danny Williams with cheap shots while he and his ministers are working to make Newfoundland and Labrador stronger and more self-reliant.

Mr. Morgan’s writing is a disappointing display of reckless and careless cynicism. It seems he has nothing better to do than huddle with hecklers.

Mr. Morgan may not care that there are people in this province trying to do something constructive about the litany of challenges he rhymes off. He may not care that these challenges may only get

worse if those who can’t be bothered to help solve them instead spend all their time taking potshots at those who do.

I for one am glad to see that Premier Williams has taken the initiative to work on many of the issues Mr. Morgan comments on in his column, such as crumbling infrastructure. It is very easy for Mr. Morgan to sit at a desk and complain, but he doesn’t feel the need to mention government’s $2-billion infrastructure strategy announced in this year’s budget. Years of Liberal neglect are now being addressed by this government. Government has also invested significant funds to help address the infrastructure needs of our schools, along with major investment in the activities that take place within those institutions.

Mr. Morgan also comments on our

justice system, while seeming to conveniently forget that government has invested tens of millions of dollars to improve it.

Then we come to his comments on offshore oil and gas and the lower Churchill project. And it is here that I am at a complete loss to understand his rationale. One moment he chastises government for lack of action, but when it comes to two significant projects in which the premier has drawn a line in the sand and has said that these are ours and we should receive the primary benefit, Mr. Morgan scoffs. I am sorry, but you cannot have it both ways.

John M. Babb, President, Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador

Premier is so blue ‘he’s almost purple’ Dear editor, I received notification in the mail that we are now Newfoundland Labrador and our official symbol is an artistic version of three pitcher plants, looking like a cross between pictures I have seen of an opium poppy and an unripe bakeapple.

So I guess Danny Williams had nothing else to spend $1 million on so he came up with this? I think that $1 million could have been better spent paying for medications for marginalized people who have to choose between paying their light bill and paying for medications. It could also be better spent on literacy programs that Mr. Williams’ Tory friends, like Loyola Hearn and so on, have decided to withdraw funding from. The money sure could have been better spent.

Meanwhile, I saw Mr. Williams speak at the Women’s Film Festival and I have to say I almost fell backwards when he tried to present the idea that he was a red Tory as opposed to Stephen

Harper, who is obviously a blue Tory.

In my opinion, Mr. Williams is a blue Tory — he’s so blue he’s almost purple.

There has been nothing coming from the Williams administration to lead me to believe he is a red Tory.

I feel that Mr. Williams’ talk about red Tories and blue Tories is just a

pathetic attempt to win the soft Liberal vote in the upcoming byelection in Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi. There is no Liberal candidate running in the election so Mr. Williams is playing to the Liberal audience. Mr. Williams is hoping to win the Liberal vote for Jerome Kennedy who is running for the blue Tories in the byelection. Mr. Williams may also be trying to win soft right-ofcentre NDP votes with his rhetoric about red Tory versus blue Tory. I hope that the others present at the Women’s Film Festival were not so naive as to actually believe Mr. Williams and took it for what it was — politics and nothing more.

Meantime, the red, the blue, the orange, the green … it’s enough to give a fella a headache. I think I shall retire to my white down comforter and come back out when all of this is over.

Oh well, a guy can dream can’t he?

Harry Street, St. John’s

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

Why Clark Noble shouldn’t be pardoned

L

ast week Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day called for a review of the process of granting pardons to people convicted of violent or sex related crimes. A minor furor erupted over the fact that notorious pedophile Clarke Noble, a long time teacher at exclusive private schools in Ontario, had won a pardon that seals his criminal past, which includes violent sexual assaults against young men.

God help me for agreeing with Stockwell Day, but Noble should never have been given that pardon. I have a strong suspicion there is plenty more about that man’s past that needs to be examined. The basis of my suspicions?

He was my teacher in high school.

It is said there is no person more manipulative than a pedophile. That may just be true in Clarke Noble’s case. “Knobby,” as he was known to all, arrived at our school with great fanfare. He had convinced our headmaster to allow him to buy an isolated 11 acre island on Lake Temagami in northern Ontario and start a northern campus organized along the “Outward

IVAN MORGAN

Rant & Reason Bound” philosophy of learning.

We were the very first class that ever went. Here was the deal as I, a 15-yearold lad, understood it: the first week of October in Grade 10, we were all sent to a rustic but comfortable camp for a whole month. Try, gentle reader, to think back to your own school days, and appreciate what an absolute dream come true that was. Factor in that I was a boarder at my school. Multiply your joy by 10.

No classes, no classrooms; just woods, canoes and camping.

There was a catch. We all suspected Noble was a diddler (our ’70s term for a predatory homosexual pedophile). In those days, this was not something adults talked about. But there was no end of rumours about his past.

Noble walked with a long, confident stride, head always tilted back, jaw

stuck proudly out. From a wealthy and successful family, he was aristocratic down to his very marrow. He conveyed the attitude that he was just better than you — simple fact. He was patrician in bearing, arrogant and condescending.

He saw himself as a rebel. He wore jeans, denim shirts and brightly coloured ascots in place of the compulsory suit and tie the rest of us were all forced to wear. He held many of his colleagues in contempt, a fact he liked to share with his students. His classes were viewed as an hour off. He was contemptuous of the lesson plan. He liked to talk to us about his adventures around the world.

Noble wanted us to think he was cool, and a few did, but most of us thought he was a jerk, and a creep. But we weren’t going to risk pissing him off. We were wise to his game. If Noble didn’t like you, you didn’t get the perks. And there were real perks.

So the trick was to get Noble to like you, without falling into the trap of having him “like” you. It was a game and we thought it was funny.

Considering what we knew of his

past, the fact he had snowed our head- ing sex with young men. We didn’t master and teachers into setting up a care. We were callous, homophobic campus for adolescent boys on an iso- 15-year-old boys. What we didn’t reallated island on a remote northern lake ize was we were co-opted. only confirmed our opinion of how Ironically, Noble’s northern campus hopeless and clueless they were. Our program profoundly changed my life attitude was simple — for the better. That one month off during the month up north did school year was someteach me a lot about thing we wouldn’t dream myself. The campus of jeopardizing. But he was a remarkable wasn’t going to diddle any achievement — yet of us — that was for sure. today I have to wonder I can still recall, on a why he did it. And perfectly still April sadly, it would appear I evening, drifting along in am still learning from a canoe, a tin of Molson the experience.

Golden in my hand, pass- Clark Noble, 1974 For anyone out there ing around a joint and whose sensibilities laughing ourselves sick at the poor might be hurt by this little reminissuckers who were stuck in school. We cence, let me explain. That was the thought we were the smartest lads in truth. That’s the way we saw it then, Canada. What a scam. that’s the way it was, and that’s why Looking back now, I see that scam Clark Noble should never have been differently. Noble would never have given a pardon. That’s why young men tried anything with us. We weren’t vul- need realistic guidance and protection. nerable. He knew and condoned our beer-drinking and dope smoking. He Ivan Morgan can be reached at didn’t care. We suspected he liked hav- ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

DOG DAYS IN PARLIAMENT

YOUR VOICE No X for Danny Dear editor, I was recently called by a pollster asking if an election were held today who would I vote for?

I can assure everyone I would not vote for Danny Williams or the members of his kingdom.

There are a number of reasons why I would not vote PC. First, a couple of years ago my aunt and uncle who lived in rural Newfoundland had to move to a larger center because there was no dialysis within driving distance of their home. They could not get any help from social services because their combined family income was $300 over the amount social services allows. They had to pay rent for the first time in their lives, yet they had their own home in their own community that they had to close up and leave. My aunt did not last very long — she died of heart failure within a year of starting dialysis. The members of her family and extended family and friends said she died of a broken heart having to leave her home and family.

The second thing that comes to my mind is a former girlfriend of my nephew. She has been a Type 1 diabetic since she was around 10 years old. When she dated my nephew she ended up in hospital because she felt she had to cut down on her insulin because she could not afford it. She either had to buy food to eat or the

insulin — she could not afford to buy both. This happened since Danny Millions has come to power.

Thirdly, I am dismayed that the video lottery terminals (VLTs) are still in our neighbourhood bars. I know at least two people who right now are considering declaring personal bankruptcy because of their addiction to these machines. While it is anyone’s choice whether they play those machines, having them so readily available in our communities is too much of a temptation. As some people say, these VLT machines generate too much money for the government to get rid of them.

Finally, it is under the Williams government that the fishery has been practically destroyed. While there may be some species of fish still out there, the Williams government has seen fit to ensure that certain fisher persons can only sell their fish to certain buyers. Mr. Williams, who is a blue Tory in all respects, has regulated the fishing industry and taken the freedom away from fisherpersons.

Since Mr. Williams has taken office I think that the rich are getting richer and everyone else is getting poorer, and the rest of us are preparing to go to Alberta or strongly thinking about it. Vote for Danny Williams and his puppets … you gotta be kidding!

Fiona Reed, Goulds

Setting the bottom trawling record straight Dear editor, Ivan Morgan’s front-page story of Oct. 13 (‘Total Devastation’, Experts agree ban on bottom trawling would cripple rural Newfoundland), reflects much confusion related to an initiative currently before the United Nations General Assembly. This proposal would temporarily prohibit deep-sea bottom trawling in unmanaged areas of the high seas until effective management arrangements had been put in place. Canada has thus far opposed such a measure.

To set the record straight, if passed, this will have absolutely no effect on fisheries in Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone, or even the waters regulated by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), including the nose and tail of the Grand Banks.

This proposal would simply pause fishing in unregulated areas of the ocean until proper management measures can be put in place. It only involves high-seas areas and only affects areas where management regimes are missing.

Canada, and Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, have committed to protecting sensitive areas in our own waters and to improving high-seas fisheries management in areas such as NAFO. The moratoria being discussed is consistent with these commitments.

We have all learned painful lessons on how difficult it is to set and enforce sustainable fishing practices within NAFO and other managed areas on the high seas. Why would we hope or expect stocks to survive in those high-seas areas with absolutely no management, where there are no rules, no catch limits, and no enforcement to control the behaviour of foreign fishing fleets?

In that light, a moratorium on unregulated deep-sea trawling —until management measures can be put in place and in a way that does not affect Canada’s fishing industry — seems not just prudent but the least we ought to do.

Dr. Robert Rangeley Director, Atlantic Marine Program WWF-Canada, Halifax

Foreign Affairs minister Peter MacKay isn’t out of the doghouse yet. Peter Milliken, speaker of the House of Commons, said Oct. 25 he would re-examine accusations MacKay referred to Liberal MP Belinda Stronach as a dog — accusations MacKay has repeatedly denied. Stronach is shown here on a 2003 visit to St. John’s — back when she was campaigning for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Struggle will never end Dear editor, Keep up the good work. I enjoy reading your paper every week. The struggle for what belongs to the provinces will never end.

Check out this website from the Government of Saskatchewan —

www.imaginesask.ca.

Of course there is squawking about the money spent in this campaign telling the residents why the feds are responsible and not the provincial government for all the shortcomings out here. Your statements that the provin-

cial government should provide a plan and leadership (Dead reckoning, Oct. 20 edition by Ryan Cleary) are what’s needed in both provinces.

Brad Harley, Archerwill, Sask.

Putting words in Canadian wolf’s mouth Dear editor, Allow me to play devil’s advocate with respect to Our Terms, the brief statement of policies proposed by The Independent’s panel of experts. The panel’s statement of principles was concise and cannot be expected to reflect all the complexities of the issues. My own “Canadian wolf” responses can do no more.

Politics: The Canadian wolf has no objection to Newfoundland and Labrador voting as a bloc. Do so at your pleasure.

But if all provinces do so, you will simply break up the most highly respected country in the world. As for an elected Senate, let’s discuss it. But be aware that it’s a thorny and divisive issue.

Fisheries: Not only should we have a new structure for control and management of fisheries, it should be mainly, if not entirely, composed of maritime people. As for the issue of foreign overfish-

ing, these are international waters are they not? Custodial management are just words we slip in for sovereignty. So why not declare a 300-mile limit and get it over with? But if anyone thinks that this is the saviour of the wild fishery, you’re backing the wrong horse. I have three words for the long-term future of the fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador: aquaculture, aquaculture, aquaculture. The Canadian wolf would welcome this change in direction and focus.

Oil and Gas: The wolf tried to assist by taking an equity position in the offshore project to keep it going ... remember? But there should have been an option for Newfoundland to acquire this equity position under reasonable and predetermined conditions. A pox on our negotiators — a wolf is not a greedy animal, so let’s fix it.

Finances: There’s nothing equal in

Canada or anywhere else for that matter.

Equality on earth is a chimera, an ideal that can only be achieved in heaven or hell. Equalization is only a means to help, but basically you’ve got to come to your feet in action and do it yourself. Brian Dobbin for prime minister! The Canadian wolf agrees.

Transportation: Let me get this straight ... you want the wolf to underwrite the cost of guaranteed air links and yet you assume control over the province’s air space so that you can tax me for my guarantee? Is that it? Elmer Fudd wouldn’t agree to this much less the Canadian wolf. Try again on this one please.

As one reader, I express my sincere appreciation to The Independent and its panel members for their time and efforts.

It was a job well done.

Robert Rowe, St. John’s

OCTOBER 27, 2006

8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9

IN CAMERA

‘A long strange trip’ Over the past decade, Randy Dawe has made a name for himself as a local leader in digital photography — which gave him the creative control over his images he’d long craved. Splitting his time between lucrative studio work, commercial jobs, and artistic ventures, Dawe has put together a cross-section of his work for this, The Independent’s seventh guest photo essay.

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

W

hile some professional photographers were hesitant about trading their film cameras and darkrooms for digital gear and the latest computers, Randy Dawe jumped into the new technology with both feet.

Dawe, who has operated Randy Dawe Photography for the past 16 years, says he loved the sudden control it allowed. And although the cost output was significant (and ongoing) and he faced a steep learning curve, Dawe says embracing digital photography has opened a number of doors for him.

“I knew it was the way to go for me,” he says.

“When you can take a picture, see it right away, do

your adjustments and print it yourself — if you’re a photographer, you haven’t got to be real smart to realize this is probably the way it’s going to go.

“Really, I got into fine art when I got into digital, because I print everything; I have total creative control.”

Dawe’s bread and butter has always been studio portrait photography — children, families, graduates, pets. When he shoots for himself, he generally captures landscapes, devoid of people.

Both ends of his work are on display in his Elizabeth Avenue store — smiling young adults in cap and gown, expressive youngsters, pampered dogs, icebergs, outport Newfoundland, stark wilderness, computer-enhanced skies and water.

There are shots from trips Dawe has taken interna-

tionally — an expansive panoramic shot of the Andes; a lively South American cockfight — and in the province, including a striking picture of caribou remains, lit by a low sunset, in the Labrador wilderness.

Then there’s the commercial work: Dawe photographed the first four Targa Newfoundland events, a calendar for Snook, and a number of arts and business cover shots for local magazines.

Dawe tells the story of his career without fanfare.

Through luck and family, he fell into a profession he loves — and can make a living with.

“I started off in Gander,” he says with a laugh. “(Portrait photographer Lorne) Rostotski was there, he married my sister — so if he was into selling shoes I’d probably be a shoe salesman now.”

Rostotski set up a business in Gander in the early 1970s, and Dawe worked with him in the summers while in school, even travelling to Toronto with him in 1972.

Dawe went on to Memorial University, dabbling in a few different subject areas.

“I got the letter from the university after the second semester saying, ‘You should probably take the next year off,’” he says. “I was just bumming around and Lorne put together an apprenticeship program for me — and the federal government paid my salary for the first year.”

After the year was up, Dawe stayed on as an assistant to his brother-in-law. In the summer of 1976, he went to a school in Indiana run by an association of professional photographers, and took a

handful of courses. He came back to Newfoundland and Labrador, moved with Rostotski to St. John’s, and worked with him for another decade. In the late ’80s, Dawe struck out on his own.

“I caught onto it (photography), I enjoyed it,” Dawe says. “And after a while you end up and you realize, Geez, this is what I know how to do and I’m getting good at it, so why not? It’s been, as the Grateful Dead say, a long strange trip.”

Dawe has been on Elizabeth Avenue, in two different locations, for 16 years. He has three employees (including his wife, who keeps the books) who help with administration and framing, but Dawe is the sole photographer.

By now, he says, “I’ve learned I can survive on my own … I can afford to raise three kids and

everything else.”

He remembers well the years he spent shooting rolls of film and sending them off to the mainland for developing and printing. It was the way things were done, he says, but it wasn’t ideal.

“You’d send off your film, get your proofs back, and assume that’s what your picture was like,” he says. “The customer would look, you’d crop it, send it back, and they’d print it and if the guy was hungover the day he printed it, you’d get that hungover look on your picture.”

He says digital photography is, in a way, a return to the old ways of working — where the one photographer would take a shot, and work the image through all the stages to final print.

“They’d do everything, they’d have complete cre-

ative control over the end result,” he says. “When you gave your customer the photo, it was what you wanted it to look like. We kind of got away from that, through mechanization, big business and big labs.

“And then when I got into the digital, it was like … wow. Paul on the road to Damascus. It was a renaissance for me.

“Now, I shoot it, I edit it, I print it, and you don’t get it until you’re happy with it … and until I’m happy with it.”

At the beginning though, it was rough. The technology wasn’t great — and it was expensive. Dawe says he remembers sitting at his desk for hours, trying to get a print to look right.

“And I didn’t know who to call because no one

was doing it,” he says.

Over time, Dawe learned the ropes — he’s upgraded more than once — and had plenty of successful experiments along the way. He prints on different papers for different effects, leaving certain pictures dripping with colour, appearing more painting than photograph.

Whether working to satisfy his own creative and artistic needs, or those of fussy parents, pet owners, or magazine editors, Dawe says he enjoys his daily duties.

“It beats having a real job,” he says, laughing.

“It’s a challenge, every time it’s a challenge. And it’s nice to take pictures of people who come in and say, ‘I don’t take a good photo.’ I do well in difficult situations.”

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

OCTOBER 27, 2006

AROUND THE BAY In the late 1800s, trading was an established business here on the coast. One of the British trading companies, Hunt and Henley, occupied posts at Henley Harbour, Indian Tickle, and Pack’s Harbour. When the Hunt and Henley Threemasters arrived on the coast, people would say, “Here come the old foreigners.”

— The Cartwright Courier, Oct.31, 1968 YEARS PAST SHREWS COMING TO NEWFOUNDLAND The government of Newfoundland has given approval for the Forest Biology Division of the Department of Agriculture of Canada to introduce into Newfoundland from 30 to 100 specimens of the common shrew from New Brunswick, and the initial release will be made soon in an infested area of Larch timber near Gander. Control of the larch sawfly by parasites and insect predators has been tried and found to be ineffective. Predation by small mammals is an important element of the control complex in other parts of Canada but is lacking in Newfoundland because one of the most important predators, the shrew, is not found here.

The Bell Island Examiner, Oct.27, 1956 AROUND THE WORLD Premier Smallwood left here Monday on John C. Doyle’s private airplane for a visit to Europe. Following a business conference in London, the Premier and Mr. Doyle are expected to visit the Principality of Liechtenstein, where they have certain business to attend to. Liechtenstein is a tiny kingdom on the border of Switzerland and Germany, size and population about equal to those of Bell Island and Conception Bay. It is a favourite resort of international financiers because of its extremely liberal corporation laws, the ease with which international exchange can be arranged,

Kinatuinamot Ilengajuk, 1992

and the absence of taxation.

— The Examiner, St. John’s, Oct.22, 1960 EDITORIAL STAND For some time past, we have been making occasional enquiries as to the extent of probable loss in this locality by the Potato Rot. The difference in various lots is very remarkable, in some cases little loss is expected, in others fully one-half of the crop has already been destroyed, and in some few instances about one-third only is expected to be saved. This is a sad thing for many poor people, and will, we fear, be the means of compelling some to resort to the miserable alternative of applying for winter relief where little can be expected and less obtained.

— The Conception-Bay Man, Oct.15, 1956 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, I noted with interest the news reports on the Shop Closing question and I must say I’m really surprised at the attitude of some of our so-called ‘Smart Businessman.’ I’m talking about those who want to remain closed on Mondays. Don’t they realize that with the completion of the Trans Canada Highway construction and

the new access to Burgeo that they are really helping in every possible way to make sure that we lose a great deal of money to Corner Brook? Money that Stephenville needs. Money that they as small store operators could certainly use. And don’t tell me people will not go to Corner Brook to shop. They’ve been doing it for quite some time already and as the road gets better, more and more people will go to Corner Brook to shop at Millbrook or K-Mart … but you can stop it! All you need to do is open on Mondays like the remainder of the merchants in the province. Open your eyes and take a good look ahead … be Progressive … not Regressive. – A Stephenville Consumer — The Reporter, Stephenville, Oct. 24, 1979 QUOTE OF THE WEEK Several people have asked us, “Why do you print some of those foolish letters?” Our answer is, “Who is to judge whether or not a letter is foolish, and where would our freedom of speech be if we just printed the letters we thought good.” Our policy is to print any letters received, even if we do not agree with their contents.

— The Speaker, Conception Bay South, Nov.15, 1952

LIFE STORY

Fighting for women’s rights FANNIE MCNEIL (1869 – 1928)

By Keith Collier For The Independent

T

he women’s suffrage movement was a little slow to get off the ground in Newfoundland. Women had won the right to vote in New Zealand in 1893, in Australia in 1902, and in England and Canada in 1918. Parts of the United States allowed women to vote as early as 1869.

However, women in Newfoundland would have to wait until 1925 for their right to go to the polls.

But they might have had to wait a little longer had it not been for Fannie McNeil.

Fannie McNeil was born Frances Knowling on March 14, 1869. She was the daughter of George Knowling, an English merchant who had come to Newfoundland at 16 to work in his uncle’s St. John’s business.

Upon his uncle’s death, George Knowling inherited the business and became a successful businessman in his own right. He became involved in politics, supporting William Whiteway and the Liberal Party as well as serving on both the St. John’s Municipal Council and the Legislative Council.

George Knowling became a supporter of women’s suffrage in Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1890s, a time when suffragettes could not count on much male support.

Knowling clearly had the courage of his convictions, publicly debating the issue at the Church of England Institute.

It is little surprise then, that his daughter Frances — Fannie, as she was known — would inherit some of her father’s convictions.

She was not afraid to publicly pursue her goals.

Fannie was fortunate in the sense that her father’s success and her marriage to Hector McNeil, an accountant who worked with the Newfoundland Railway, allowed her to live a comparatively rich life. A lack of material wants meant she had the time, energy and resources to devote to other causes.

The cause Fannie McNeil was to become famous for was women’s suffrage.

The suffrage movement had been politically quashed when it first emerged in Newfoundland in the 1890s. While there were other attempts in the early parts of the 20th century, the political climate surrounding the First World War meant the suffragettes in Newfoundland and Labrador had to wait until the 1920s for their chance to have their right to vote recognized.

In 1920, Armine Gosling and Anna Mitchell started the Women’s Franchise League, a diverse group of women operating in St. John’s whose purpose was to campaign for the right to vote. McNeil became the secretary of this group, and her skills as an organizer and public speaker had much to do with their eventual success.

Operating out of McNeil’s home on Queen’s Road, the Women’s Franchise League began

their fight using all the tools available to them.

They published articles and letters in newspapers, visited houses and businesses asking women for support, and displaying advertisements on movie screens.

The League was in for a fight. The early 1920s were tough political times in Newfoundland, and the country was trying to operate under a staggering war debt while political groups were alternating between making and breaking alliances.

There were encouraging successes. In 1921, propertied women were given the right to vote and stand for office in St. John’s municipal elections, and in 1925, McNeil was one of three women to run for a city council seat.

Although the mere act of being able to contend a seat was a success, all three candidates were defeated.

To make matters worse, Prime Minister Sir Richard Squires refused to help their cause and actively worked against them, breaking promises and orchestrating the defeat of legislation.

A heavily signed petition asking the House of Assembly for the franchise for women was presented to the House, but it went no further.

Squires became embroiled in corruption charges, and a comment by McNeil that “at least one reason for this movement ... was the

political depravity in all our public affairs” probably didn’t help the suffragists’ case.

By 1925 a new government was in power.

Prime Minister Walter S. Monroe put his support behind the Women’s Franchise League, and in April 1925, women over the age of 25 finally won the right to go to the ballot box.

McNeil was one of the most important supporters and organizers of the women’s suffrage movement in Newfoundland. Despite the energy and time that this pursuit consumed, McNeil still found time to be active in the Current Events Club and the Ladies’ Reading Room, as well as founding the Newfoundland Society of Art. Unfortunately, she would not get the chance to exercise the franchise she had worked so hard to earn. She died on February 23, 1928, six months before the first general election in which women would have a voice. A scholarship was started in her honour, and her work was not forgotten.

“To Mrs. McNeil ... must be given the credit of pointing out to the women of the Colony and convincing them of the useful part they could play,” wrote her fellow suffragette May Kennedy Goodridge on Fannie’s death, “that ... it was unjust and even absurd to keep women from collaborating in public affairs.”

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

YOUR VOICE The small stream (for Aly O’Brien) Ancient tongue silenced to cold drafty houses.

Neglected, ignored and forgotten by those in the big houses.

You kept the space warm, a spark in the darkness.

Now a flickering flame of a desire that could not be

destroyed This single strand survives and grows, preserved safe.

English is the perfect language for fish merchants and rumrunners.

But you showed us how to

dance and sing.

My voice echoes into the barn barrel, and I am able to float along.

Happy to be part of the small stream.

Michael O’Boyle, St John’s

MOVING FORWARD

A tentative deal reached with the provincial government is a “compromise,” says Debbie Forward, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses Union. The agreement comes 16 months after the last contract expired, and must still be ratified by the union membership.

Paul Daly/The Independent

An alternative to MUN? Dear editor, I read with interest the plight of the single mother who wished to further her education at the graduate level (Education Denied? Oct. 13 edition).

Memorial University, which was the focus of the letter, is not unlike most of today’s universities elsewhere, and extremely unlike universities of an earlier era. Today, universities are in the business of self-perpetuation as much as — or maybe more than — they are in the business of education.

In an earlier era, a university was the coming together of scholars who had something to teach, and other scholars, who had something to learn. In general, prospective students were not asked if they had some pre-requisite level of “formal” education.

If a student-scholar wanted to learn, then he was accepted. He would find out soon enough if he had entered an avenue of study that was beyond him at that time and really needed to start at a prerequisite level of study. (And, less I be thought misogynist, let it be noted that, in those days, students were almost universally male).

Bottom line: Memorial University is caught in its own paradigm and will not be making any significant changes in our lifetimes. This is not a criticism of Memorial but a recognition of what MUN is, how it operates, and how it will contin-

ue to operate. One might argue that what MUN does it does well, even while recognizing that there are numerous people who cannot be served by it. There are numerous people whose educational needs cannot be met because of the rigidity of MUN and the other existing institutions in the province.

Clearly, as has been recognized elsewhere in Canada, we need many more institutions of higher learning, and we need multiple models of educational delivery. The private sector has taken over the domain of what was once the responsibility of the district vocational schools. Maybe it’s time to recognize that there is room for an alternative institution at the university level.

It is interesting to note that the demand for alternate institutions is being recognized across the country. Calgary’s new St. Mary’s University was prepared to open its doors with as few as 50 students. Imagine their surprise when they had to turn away students when their seating capacity of 300 was over-subscribed and they had to embark on a building program before they got their first year!

There is a clear need for at least one such alternative institution here in this province. Dare we?

R. Lloyd Ryan, Torbay

More independent voices the merrier Dear editor, The Newfoundland and Labrador Defense League would like to thank The Independent for the wonderful service it provides to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. It’s through independent voices like theirs that we all gain a greater understanding of our province.

The defense league is a non-profit organization made up of proud Newfoundlanders and Labradorians at home and around the world.

We are not affiliated with any political party.

The league came into being in September and membership has been growing steadily since.

Membership is open to anyone tired of the status quo in the province and is willing to stand up and be heard.

Newfoundland and Labrador is not an equal partner in Canada and the time has come for each of us to stand up and be heard. Since 1949 we’ve been nothing more than a resource-rich colonial outpost. Our resources and people have served Canada since Confederation while we’ve sunk further and further into obscurity.

We need a stronger voice than seven federal representatives, divided along party lines, can provide. The defense league intends to rally public support and ensure that Ottawa no longer ignores our needs.

The defense league is committed to the

advancement of our economy, political position, social standing and culture. Many of the problems we have today can be traced to decades of federal mishandling and a lack of provincial will on issues like the fisheries, natural resources and industrial development. The league believes increased provincial control and improved methods of managing and developing our own future is the answer.

Our people have survived for centuries using the resources at our disposal, including the fisheries, which were once the life-blood of this province. We believe all resources, whether on land or under the oceans, should be developed to maximize secondary and tertiary processing here, rather than exported for the benefit of others.

We intend to work within Canada to achieve our goals but we also recognize independence as an option. If you want to learn more about the Newfoundland and Labrador Defense League visit us on the web at www.nldl.org or e-mail nldl_nl@yahoo.ca Thanks again to The Independent and remember, Newfoundland and Labrador belongs to all of us, it needs a strong voice and that voice is yours.

Myles Higgins, Portugal Cove

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‘The problem is geography’ From page 1

Derek Ash, assistant fire chief with the Carbonear volunteer fire department says the Trans Canada Highway. The depart- the local town council is supportive. ment, which has responded to over 100 “We’ll have responded to approximately calls this year, is equipped with vehicle 50 calls before year’s end. Most of those extrication equipment and is trained in both are of a nuisance nature such as brush fires, high-angle and cold-water rescue tech- false alarms and malfunctioning burglar niques. alarms,” he says. “Although Carbonear and But, he says, his 33 fire fighters are Bay Roberts are about equal in size, we working on a rotational basis with three have fewer calls because we don’t respond members working offshore on a 28 day to (motor-vehicle accidents). on/28 day off basis and four more in “Harbour Grace has the vehicle extricaAlberta who are available for two-week tion equipment, so we see no need for a periods every two months. duplication of services … We are getting The department recently volunteered to involved in high-angle rescue, but, again, service the neighbouring communities of Harbour Grace is trained in cold water resNorth River, Clarke’s cue. So, in a sense, we are Beach, South River and practising amalgamaMakinsons until Jan. 15, “The aging population tion.”

2007 — stretching their Ash cautiously sugresources even further. gests further amalgamais a major concern.

Jeremy Hall, chief of the tion may be the solution The average age Cupids fire department, to a lack of volunteers. “It says his department lacks won’t work with just one among our members fire hall because the area the resources of Bay Roberts. His town of just is so spread out. We is in the high 30s, several hundred people would need three or four had 24 volunteer fire fightstations, instead of the although we’ve ers last year, but now has current 10.” only 13.

Carbonear has 40 volrecently managed to Hall says they were unteer firefighters and recruit four young forced to drop the North five vehicles including a River-Makinsons area last 30-year old aerial ladder men in their 20s.” year after their second truck. That vehicle, which pumper was taken out of serves the entire region, Sonya Williams service, leaving them with and a pumper, need just a single pumper and a replacement. rescue van.

Sonya Williams is chief Hall remains optimistic. He says the four of the 176-year old Harbour Grace volunneighbouring communities, along with his teer fire brigade. She says a number of her own, have applied to the Department of members are working out of the province Municipal and Provincial Affairs for joint or on offshore oilrigs and fishing vessels. funding to set up a regional fire depart“The aging population is a major conment. He says government looks favorably cern. The average age among our members at shared facilities and is hoping for a pos- is in the high 30s, although we’ve recently itive response. If that isn’t forthcoming, managed to recruit four young men in their then extra funding would have to be 20s,” she says. approved for Bay Roberts to maintain its But Williams is satisfied with the level of expanded level of coverage. protection all towns in the area receive.

Hall also feels that the province’s for“A regional fire department covering an tunes will improve and he envisions the area this size cannot provide adequate covday when the entire Conception Bay North erage. area will have a regional paid fire depart“The problem is geography. Right now ment. we have in-town protection and the Municipal and Provincial Affairs response time is excellent. This can’t hapMinister Jack Byrne was unavailable for pen if a regional fire station is located 20 or comment.

30 km away,” she says.

OCTOBER 27, 2006

12 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

VOICE FROM AWAY

At work in the happiest place on earth CBS native Jane Barnes represents Canada in Disney’s Epcot Centre theme park

By Devon Wells For The Independent

L

iving in Disney World may be every eight-year-old’s dream, but it’s one that usually fades as they age and forget the charm of Mickey Mouse and Goofy. Not so for Jane Barnes, who keeps the magic alive as a cultural representative at the “happiest place on Earth.”

Packing up just three months ago from her home in Conception Bay South, Barnes headed to Florida as part of Disney’s campaign to find native countrymen to work in the national pavilions in their Epcot Centre theme park.

“I interact with thousands of guests each day, telling them about Canada and specifically Newfoundland,” she says, writing from her housing complex just outside the resort. “It’s a dream for a Disney fan like me to be able to spend an entire year at Disney working and playing in the parks in my spare time.”

The 23-year-old has made a big jump to the Deep South. “From climate to culture, everything is different,” she says.

FAR CRY In particular, the living arrangements are a far cry from home. She shares an apartment with seven roommates who have come from all over to work in the park: France, England, Japan, Norway, and China.

Barnes gets a kick out of the diversity, though. “The best experience has been meeting all the other people working in the cultural rep program,” she says. “I have met lots of Canadians from all across the country … “[It’s great] meeting and living with people from different cultures, learning

The Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida

about their traditions and practices, and teaching them about mine.”

While her job is culturally enriching and even a little diplomatic, Barnes is quick to remind that Disney is still in an amusement park, so fun follows you everywhere.

“Epcot has been hosting an international food and wine festival for the past month,” she says. “And I recently

attended Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom.”

When she gets Disney-ed out, Barnes says there are still plenty of things to do besides hitting the concessions and riding Space Mountain — there are Orlando hotspots and chances to travel around the United States.

“People I work with are constantly

going on road trips or even flying over to the west coast,” she says.

Although Disney World is nestled on warm sandy beaches, the Canadian pavilion at Epcot tries to bring a little of the north down south. As a representative, Barnes doesn’t just teach visitors about Canada, but about her home province as well.

“Guests are always curious about

Newfoundland, many people never having met anyone from the province before,” she says. “Children love to tell you what they know about Canada and learn something new, such as the first few lines of I’se the B’y.”

Moments like these help keep some local flavour in Barnes’s life in the cosmopolitan cartoon playground, a feeling she misses dearly.

“There is nowhere quite like Newfoundland, and I think you have to leave to appreciate that,” she says.

“Canadians who have been to Newfoundland and Labrador and then visit the Canadian pavilion in Epcot always tell me that their visit … was so wonderful because of all the nice, friendly people they met.

“That makes me feel proud and miss home a little bit.”

Even though her year at Disney World has just started, Barnes is already thinking about returning under the alumnus work program, even if it means living away from home permanently.

“I really love working for Disney and unfortunately I can’t do that from Newfoundland,” she says.

Still, the homesickness gets washed away in a life of beaches, laughing children, and the classic Disney characters. Barnes encourages anyone with an interest in the program to really pursue it — in just a few months, she has made plenty of new friends from around the world and is having a blast in the sun.

“I may go to a theme park, shopping or I might plan to go to the beach.

There’s always something to do — it is very hard to be bored here.”

Do you know a Newfoundlander or Labradorian living away? Please e-mail editorial@theindependent.ca

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 2, 2006 — PAGE 13

Calvin Hare, senior service engineer with Rolls-Royce Canada Ltd., John Chaffey, third engineer aboard the Atlantic Kingfisher, and Wade Buell, second engineer.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Rolls-Royce on the water The onetime leader in luxury cars making waves in province’s marine industry

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent

T

he words Rolls-Royce still conjure up images of luxury vehicles — though the car business end of the company was sold to BMW more than two decades ago, in 1985.

Instead, Rolls-Royce has become an industry-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, air, and sea, with a strong and growing presence in Newfoundland.

Torgeir Haugan, vice-president of Roll-Royce Canada, Ltd., says the company provides local service and support — and he is proud of the growth his company’s marine division has taken, thanks in part to contracts in Newfoundland.

“Rolls-Royce Marine as a presence is only a few years old,” he

says. Now, out of 40,000 employees wold-wide, 7,000 work for the marine division. They have equipment on over 20,000 marine vessels.

“While it might not be huge, and not the main core of this business, it is certainly significant.”

Haugan says the company has six staff in Newfoundland, and 28 in Canada. The head office is in Halifax.

Rolls-Royce has some major marine accounts in this province.

They provide service and support to Clearwater, Fishery Products International, and to Atlantic Towing, who specialize in offshore support vessels, anchor handling, ocean and coastal towage, harbour and terminal towage, arctic deliveries/operations, vessel escort, and ice-breaking and barging services.

They have accounts with Can-

ship, which provides deep-sea domestic transportation of freight, and they have provided the gas turbines that create the power for White Rose. They also supplied the propulsion systems on the Terra Nova FPSO. Terra Nova was especially significant to the company. It was the fourth FPSO with Rolls-Royce equipment, and the first they had on North America’s offshore.

Haugan highlights his company’s marine business, calling it a global leader in marine propulsion, engineering and hydrodynamic expertise. Rolls-Royce, he explains, offers services ranging from vessel design and gas turbine engines to water jets and deck handling equipment.

The states goal for the business is to provide power, propulsion and motion control systems for high-

value vessels.

Rolls-Royce turned 100 in 2005 and boasts a broad customer base of 600 airlines (including Air Canada), 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter clients, 160 armed forces accounts and more than 2,000 marine customers, including 70 navies. The company has energy customers in 120 countries, and employs around 36,000 people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in 50 countries.

“Our goal here in Newfoundland is to provide the eastern industry with the tools and support needed to design a complete vessel that suits a customer’s requirements,” Haugan says. “We will help our clients achieve top efficiency and capacity with Rolls-Royce equipment in order to have fish packed and processed at sea if that is what

they require.” Haugan explains how the company’s trawl winch is perfect for the Newfoundland vessel.

“They are designed for extreme environments and rough waves and harsh weather, all of which Newfoundlanders are aware, and winches are key in the fishing industry.”

Haugan says Rolls-Royce forecasts an increase in the fishing industry and offshore activity on the Island, and they are gearing up to respond when that becomes a reality.

“There is an increasing demand within that market and we will respond accordingly and that will require bigger facilities here and that requires more people. Marine might represent only 15 per cent of the business, but it’s grown fast and we haven’t reached our potential here yet.”

What happens when Mom and Pop retire?

T

he vast majority of small businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador are family-owned and operated. According to the associate director of Family Business at Memorial University’s P.J. Gardiner Institute for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, in the next five to 10 years, over 450,000 Canadian family firms will change hands, which, in this province, translates to over 14,000 businesses.

Unfortunately, many of those small, family-owned businesses do not have formal succession plans. In those cases, when Mom and Pop retire, it means the business will probably just close for good, since there’s no next-

RAY DILLON

Board of Trade generation family member — or anyone else — to take over running the shop.

Why do we need to be concerned about this? Enterprising minds fuel the development of our economy. But, is the entrepreneurial flame fading in this province, as more of our young, bright, creative Newfoundlanders and Labradorians move away for big wages?

We had better not let that flame die.

With adequate support, knowledge, and skills, entrepreneurial know-how can be gained and entrepreneurial spirit can be coaxed.

Our school system obviously has a continuing role to play in this. And, there are numerous other sources of guidance too. For example, one of the programs at the P. J. Gardiner Institute, So, you want to be an entrepreneur?, is designed to provide fledgling entrepreneurs with the skills needed to explore, evaluate and develop their very own business ideas.

We can’t take for granted we’ll simply keep producing our future Craig Dobbins without creating the right atmosphere for that to happen.

Last week was small business week across Canada. As it is every year, it was a time to officially recognize the importance of our small businesses.

Not only do they create jobs, supply products and services, and drive economic activity — they embody the entrepreneurial spirit itself.

PROMOTING A CAREER Our small businesses are owned by our very own relatives and friends, and they’re the heart of our economy and our communities. They always will be.

As such, we need to encourage entrepreneurship and the growth of our small business sector as best we can.

Part of that involves promoting a

career in business to our young people.

Innovation, Trade and Rural Development Minister Trevor Taylor spoke at a Board of Trade luncheon to mark small business week, and delivered what I thought was a particularly poignant message. He suggested that if we want to guide our young people towards promising careers in Newfoundland and Labrador, if we want to open their eyes and their minds to the wealth of career opportunities available to them right here — as opposed to in Alberta — then they need the proper support and guidance.

Yes, our sons and daughters get most See “Knowledge,” page 14

A stunning collection of photography from the portfolio of The Independent’s own Paul Daly.

Available in November

14 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

OCTOBER 27, 2006

Facing the perfect storm Forestry industry officials say timing right for government study

By Ivan Morgan The Independent

I

FORESTRY FACTS

nsiders say the provincial government’s forestry industry competitiveness and strategy study for the island portion of the province is perfectly timed to address a host of issues.

The forestry industry is being threatened by what Jim Taylor, general manager of the Western Newfoundland Model Forest, refers to as the “perfect storm.” A rising American dollar, high energy costs, the softwood lumber dispute, pressure from foreign producers and other stakeholders, and a misinformed general public are all having a negative impact.

Pat Tompkins, woodlands manager for Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, says the whole industry is changing, and feeling the pinch.

“Our biggest single concern would be the gradual chipping away of our land base to accommodate other stakeholders, such as tourism and the environmentalist movement,” he tells The Independent.

Taylor says it’s getting harder for pulp and paper companies — the largest stakeholders in the industry — to compete with foreign producers.

“China is becoming the world’s factory,” he says.

“The Canadian pulp and paper sector can be generally characterized as being smaller operations, older operations. These new places in China, you’re talking brand new operations, huge mills, significantly larger than Canadian ones.”

Similarly, in South America, he says they can grow

Executive Opportunity in the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Service

Total provincial land area: 11 million hectares Land suitable for timber production: 3 million hectares Amount of land owned by Crown: 99 per cent Amount of land leased to two pulp and paper companies for 99 years: 69 per cent Number of newsprint mills: 2 Number of commercial sawmills: 700 Number of other sawmills: 700 Number of tons of newsprint produced in province: approx. 560,000 tonnes Number of board feet of lumber produced by 1,400 mills: 130 million Number of board feet of lumber produced by top nine mills: 110 million Source: government of Newfoundland Labrador

their fibre in half or a third the length of time it takes forests in Newfoundland.

He says the industry also suffers from what he calls the adverse impact of all the good intentions of the government and public.

“Tourism wanted to have a no-cut zone from George’s Lake right up to Gros Morne National Park

for tourism,” says Taylor. “It makes perfectly good sense, perhaps, from their point of view, but when you go right through the breadbasket of Corner Brook Pulp and Paper it’s a pretty serious issue.”

Tompkins says the government consultation could be a move towards a more rational approach to the industry as a whole.

“You can’t create a tourist industry and shut down the forest industry,” he says. “There needs to be a little more co-operation between the two sectors and a little more thought into how we go down the road for the future.”

Tompkins says the growth of tourism and environmentalism are costing the pulp and paper industry.

“I am not saying it is wrong — the movement to protect areas for pine marten or caribou — (but) all these things impact the amount of land available for the forest industry and all these restrictions add to our operating costs.”

Taylor says he hopes the consultation process addresses these issues.

“I think this is a characteristic of the Williams government, they like to look at the whole picture, so what you see is a bigger chunk of that picture.”

The study will take a comprehensive look at the province’s forest industry to identify potential strategic direction for the industry’s future. Province-wide public consultations have started.

Natural Resources Minister Kathy Dunderdale was not available for comment. ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is seeking a dynamic individual with a commitment to the public service to join the Executive Team. This motivated individual will be action and resultsoriented, possess strategic vision and strong leadership skills, have senior management experience, and possess well developed communication skills.

Assistant Deputy Minister - Department of Municipal Affairs As Assistant Deputy Minister of Engineering, Planning and Emergency Services you will be responsible for a specialized level of technical, administrative and management expertise in planning, monitoring, evaluating and directing programs and policies in three critical areas - engineering, land use planning, fire and emergency services. As a senior official of the Department of Municipal Affairs, you will facilitate the Department’s vision and oversee functions pertaining to civil, municipal, mechanical/electrical and environmental engineering; capital works programs; fire protection and life safety; and emergency preparedness. You will also support the

broader objectives of community development, land use planning and the preservation of the environment. You will provide expert advisory services to the Deputy Minister, provincial and municipal Government agencies, and other stakeholders as required.

As the successful candidate you will have considerable knowledge and have demonstrated skills in engineering, land use planning and emergency services. You will be innovative and strategic. Preferably, you will possess a degree in engineering or a related field, combined with significant relevant experience.

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Please submit your application, quoting competition #, to the Public Service Commission either by mail at 2 Canada Drive, P.O. Box 8700, St. John’s, NL A1B 4J6 or by fax at 709-729-3178 or by email to blush@ gov.nl.ca. For further information, contact Tina Follett, Director, Staffing & Compliance at 709-729-5820.

Knowledge is key From page 13 of that support and guidance from the classroom and from their parents (one would hope). But Taylor took the opportunity of addressing that luncheon audience to call on average businesspeople to take an interest and play a more active role in the professional development of our youth.

What he was driving at, in essence, is that many of our young people would benefit from receiving more mentoring. Not necessarily through formal programs, but by just being given some basic exposure to the workplace and the world of business.

With that bit of interest taken and exposure provided, suddenly the potential for prosperous and fulfilling careers in business becomes much more tangible and attainable to a young person still trying to identify his or her strengths and interests.

Perhaps this type of mentoring is part of the recipe for breeding more entrepreneurs in Newfoundland and Labrador.

PLANTING THE SEEDS Those relatively few young people who eventually become entrepreneurs probably have an initial propensity or desire to follow that path, particularly those in entrepreneurial families, who, at the very least, have been exposed to the ideas and opportunities associated with running your own business. For many young people, however, the seeds of entrepreneurship are never planted within them.

We should be encouraging more students to consider careers in business.

That includes rewarding careers as entrepreneurs and small business owners.

The basic principles of entrepreneurship should be introduced to young people early on, so that creating and owning a business, for instance, is seen as a perfectly attainable career.

Knowledge is key. So, too, is the entrepreneurial spirit.

It is never too early to give young people the guidance, knowledge and skills that are necessary to become successful entrepreneurs, and it is never too early to spark the entrepreneurial interests of tomorrow’s business leaders.

An enterprising mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Ray Dillon is president of the St. John’s Board of Trade.

OCTOBER 27, 2006

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INDEPENDENTLIFE

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 2, 2006 — PAGE 17

BRIGUSVS BOSTON BRUINS 50 years ago, the Boston Bruins toured Newfoundland, playing local teams at every stop

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

P

icture it: Bay Roberts, 1956. A thick fog surrounds the outdoor skating rink; rows of lights are strung above the ice. Snow, cleared from the surface, is piled up and over the boards — man-made drifts that serve as bleachers for a large crowd standing and looking down at the ice. Beyond the crunch of people, a ring of evergreen trees serves as the final backdrop.

At least, that’s how Roy Percy remembers the night the Boston Bruins came to play.

Percy, born and raised in Brigus, was 16 that year, and the captain of his school hockey team. His uncles played with “the heavy guys,” Brigus’ town team, which held the Conception Bay championship for some 15 years.

“I could skate pretty good when I was young, and when it wasn’t rough, they used to let me play with them,” Percy says. “We had really good, exceptional hockey players then.”

Brigus had an outdoor skating rink, as

most communities did at the time. It was regulation length and width, and got plenty of use during the season.

But it was on a new, outdoor artificial ice surface in Bay Roberts that the Bruins would skate on.

In 1956, the original six hockey teams were the extent of the NHL’s membership. “(The Bruins) were the first ones out of the hockey playoffs that year.” Percy says. “So they did this, with the brewing companies, they said they’d come through the Maritime provinces, and of course they ended up in Newfoundland.”

Percy still has the official program from that night. Presented by India Beer, the program lists short bios of the 14 Bruins taking part in the “1956 Newfoundland tour” — goaltender Terry Sawchuck (“one of Hockey’s all-time great goaltenders,” states the program), defenceman Bob Armstrong (“he has one of the hardest shots in Hockey”), Fern Flaman (“the handsome blonde”), Cal Gardiner (“a real pepper pot during a game”), and so on.

Four local teams — Brigus, Coley’s

Point, Bay Roberts and Shearstown — were asked to come play in Bay Roberts against the big guns.

“We were told the Boston Bruins were coming and that we’d all have about 15 or 20 minutes with them,” Percy says — and he’s pretty sure his Brigus was up first.

The reaction was quick. “I couldn’t get over the way they played hockey,” he says. “Fleming MacKell and Leo Labine, they’d skate backwards faster than anyone here could skate forwards.”

Percy jumps up from behind the kitchen table, where he’d been telling the story. Standing in the middle of the room, he holds an imaginary hockey stick.

“They’d get down like this, in a hunch, and they’d go down the ice, roaring and bawling at one another, hitting the sticks on the ice.”

But the Bruins weren’t out to put the locals to shame. “It was comical and a bit of fun. They knew we weren’t up alongside them,” Percy says. “She was blocked! And they put on a good show.”

Percy laughs again. “We had a fellow, Frank Connolly — now I’m not very tall, only about 5’8” but he was like this,”

Percy motions to his shoulder level. “And this guy was going down the ice flat out.

And we looked out, thinking, ‘Oh, he’s going to kill Connolly,’ but he just took him under his arm. He lifted Connolly up with one arm and went off with him! True as I am here.”

By and by, it started to rain.

“Someone had an umbrella, and fired the umbrella out on the ice. And Terry Sawchuck went out, picked it up and put it over his head … he skated down the ice, and he jumped up and sat right on the top of the net. He put the umbrella up, and held his hockey stick down.

“And we used to go in on him — they’d let us go in on him — but we still couldn’t get a goal.”

He laughs and tells more stories — about the puck being taped to a hockey stick at one point, botched face-offs, hammed-up goals, and so on.

When the Bruins had played all four teams, they asked to play themselves “so they could show us what they could do.”

They only had one goalie, so Percy’s See “Hello Canada,” page 18

LIVYERS

A man of few words and many instruments Allan Ricketts and other young rising traditional music stars take the stage this weekend

By Heidi Wicks For The Independent

A

llan Ricketts may only be 18 years old, but the music that resonates rich from his soul is as old and wise as his ancestors who gave birth to it.

Ricketts is one of three young musical phenoms who will be performing at Gower Street United Church Hall Oct. 28, in Second Stage Production’s Fresh Faces concert. Twenty-year-old Fergus

Browne-O’Byrne and 15-year-old Charlotte-Anne Malischewski will also be taking the stage.

While many high-schoolers have a purely materialistic, image-obsessed Simple Plan to Hoobastank through their senior year — just hoping they don’t land in a Puddle of Mudd — Ricketts is rooted and authentic for someone his age, citing Frank Maher of Figgy Duff as his hero.

Accordion, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin, tin whistle, fiddle and guitar —

there isn’t much he can’t play. Starting with guitar at 9, Ricketts has been full force ever since.

Ricketts regularly reels in patrons at O’Reilly’s Pub, and toured Ireland last April with a group called the Potluck Singers. He’s also created Ricketts’ Art and Entertainment, which catapulted him to become the recipient of the 2004/05 High Artistic Achievement Award and the 2006 Culture and Tourism Award.

Oh, and he’s also a visual artist, sell-

ing his work at Rock Crest Cottage Café in Pouch Cove.

Most recently, Ricketts has been recording his first CD. Although he has been a guest performer on compilation discs like No Place Like Home (2005) and Our Songs, Vol. III (2006), Ricketts is thrilled to fulfill this personal goal.

With help from Pat Moran at Avondale Music and a grant from the Music Industry Association (MIA), his creation will hopefully be under many Christmas trees this year.

Waiting for his sound check before a show at the LSPU Hall, Ricketts laughs at the madcap background noises that come from the stage, and discusses why he feels such an affinity for traditional music.

“It’s part of our culture, it represents Newfoundlanders, our way of life and the way we lived,” he says.

Dan Rubin of Blue Island Records and Second Stage Productions says See “Blowtorch pace,” page 18

add colour to your communication work that gets closer to your customer

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photo courtesy dave hebbard

OCTOBER 27, 2006

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

GALLERYPROFILE

S

askatchewan native and ceramicist Karlie King left her home province, a veritable clay bed and Mecca for ceramic art, for a province almost completely made up of rock. Three years later, she’s a freshly graduated religious studies student, and has managed to pull off a solo ceramics show despite the timeintensive demands of her masters program.

Clay Constellations, an exhibition of clay slabs depicting the 12 astrological constellations, is on display at the Craft Council Annex Gallery in St. John’s until Nov.1.

King, a brown-haired, blue-eyed pixie of a girl, attributes her love of ceramics to a high school art program, and, of course, the aforementioned Prairie geography.

“A lot of parts in southern Saskatchewan are clay — you go outside with your boots and you might even come back without them on,” she laughs. “You can literally go outside and sieve it once and it’s perfect clay.

It’s everywhere.”

King says the astrological series originated from her personal cosmic curiosity — and it could very well be linked to her thesis topic.

“My masters involved alternative medicine in terms of modern day magic,” says King. “I looked at people who allowed for a spiritual component to health and illness and similar concepts, such as energy.

“I’m a firm believer in astrology, it makes perfect sense to me. You look at how much the moon affects us, it only makes sense that massive bodies like

KARLIE KING Ceramics planets that are eight times the size would affect our body just as much — maybe eight times more than the moon.”

The cosmic designs captured in “earthly material” are mounted in astrological order around the airy,

white room starting with the first sign of the zodiac — the headstrong Aries through to the so very sensitive Pisces.

Each slab portrays the stars in gilt gold, while each one appears to be tangled up in, and secured in place by, looping arcs that remind the viewer of spinning orbits and celestial pathways, a pattern the artist says seemed natural.

“It kind of has an organic design to it because everything’s circular, right?” she offers. “Everything in nature is circular, so it works well in the formation of the stars to create that overall movement, whether they’re atoms or whatever.”

The mosaic-like pieces go through “quite a process” to become the finished work of art. The slabs must be rolled and cut, as each slab is composed of numerous individual pieces that must all be separated and divided with a compass, and then are flipped from back to front, back to front, as King perfects the pattern of each constellation.

“It’s almost like sewing. I work on the back of the clay so that when I flip it all the lines are clean on this side,” she explains. “It’s very similar to working with material. Working with clay, in between wet and hard, it’s a

bizarre texture, it’s very malleable. It’s similar to working with a really stiff fabric. I like sewing – there’s a lot of measuring and joining of seams.”

King plans on remaining in Newfoundland to pursue more ceramic work and her PhD on divination practices in the province. Asked whether or not she needs a break before embarking on yet another degree program, she says she is a very ordered and pragmatic person.

Spoken like a true Aquarius.

— Mandy Cook mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

The Gallery is a regular feature in The Independent. For information, or to submit proposals, please call (709) 726-4639, or e-mail editorial@theindependent.ca

Hello, Canada From page 17 uncle Charles stepped up to fill in.

“You can’t imagine. Charles wasn’t too bad a goalie, but he would be in goal, watching — they shot hard, but not at him — he’d be watching them come in … and then he wouldn’t even see the puck fly by.”

Percy says the crowd was in awe — this was before televisions were a household feature, and no one had ever seen hockey played at quite that caliber.

“Now we’d heard Foster Hewitt (the radio broadcaster known for his opening greeting: ‘Hello, Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland’) and hockey played on the radio, but we’d never seen anything like that and probably never would.”

Not that the local guys were unskilled — Percy says at least one player was asked to go back to the National Hockey League. (“He didn’t go, his father wouldn’t let him,” Percy says.)

Although Percy didn’t continue playing regular hockey once he left his hometown — he spent 37 years as a marine engineer, travelling the province and beyond — that day still holds a special place in his mind.

“I look at the hockey today, jeez, it’s not even worth looking at. Boston, they were the first ones out that year. What do you think Montreal was like at the time? Toronto?” He looks at the program and team picture he’s carefully kept with him for 50 years.

“I thought that much of it, I’ve kept this all these years.” stephanie.porter@theindependent.ca

Allan Ricketts, Fergus Browne-O’Byrne, Charlotte-Anne Malischewsk

‘Blowtorch pace’ From page 17 feeding young talent is essential in ensuring Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural longevity and sustainability, as stories told through song are one of the province’s strongest links with traditional culture.

“When I first heard Allan play three years ago, honestly, I thought, ‘God, this kid mumbles!’ — but since then, he has such an authenticity and passion about the way he plays, and he continues to evolve at a blowtorch pace.”

Most effectively, these youth are supported through grants from organizations like MusicNL and through their communities.

In addition to Saturday’s concert, there are other upcoming Second Stage showcases of local talent, including A Supper Concert with Night Kitchen (Nov. 25) and James Keeleghan (Dec. 1). heidi_renee79@hotmail.com

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

The Gutenburgs’ galaxy We should applaud the wacky couple from the west — and hope they understand the community’s need for the Masonic Temple

B

less the Gutenburgs, whoever they are. It is a shame no local investor has come forward with enough money or passion to invest in the restoration and refurbishment of the Masonic Temple in downtown St John’s, but we should probably be graceful and accept the Gutenburgs’ interest like the wise citizens we are.

By all reports the Gutenburgs live in Vancouver and are driven by a strange, even irrational compulsion to save historic properties all over the country. This is a bizarre eyebrow-raising preoccupation, let’s face it, one that makes you wonder what this B.C. couple might be smoking for breakfast, but we are in no position to complain when a monumental 19th-century structure is crumbling into the street and no one has been able to save it from neglect and a slow death by gravity.

It is not so much that the Masonic Temple is a stunning architectural achievement or even that it arrests the eye and inspires odes to beauty. If truth be admitted, it presides over the street like a cranky old aunt. But it sure has character and it is impossible to imagine the streetscape without it.

The pinky-brown bricks of its faded façade warmly complement the colours and the confident solidity of the nearby former provincial museum that looks up to it on Cathedral Street. The Temple itself squarely faces the wrought iron fencing of the leafy grounds of the Anglican Cathedral, and the general feeling of that particular section of town, with its steep sloping curves and inviting sense of proportion, is of an older, more genteel period of St. John’s life.

Just compare the difference of feeling you get between standing on the steps of the Masonic Temple, gazing either up and down or across the genial street, and standing on the shallow steps of, say, Atlantic Place, a few blocks away, where the vulgar signs of modern life have virtually obliterated the harmony of the space generated by and around the Temple. It’s so obvious what happens when we bulldoze or vulgarize older properties to make way for a quick buck or a phony dream. Ugliness creeps in faster than a developer with a fistful of dollars.

The Masonic Temple is worth saving

NOREEN GOLFMAN Standing Room Only to preserve the integrity of the street, of course, a street so steep that you practically need cleats to conquer it on slippery days; asthmatics will go out of their way to avoid it. Cowardly drivers prefer to park on more level roadways.

But the building is worth preserving if just to honour the countless events that have been staged within its quirky walls.

Readings, concerts, fundraisers, art auctions, concerts, dances, meetings, plays, birthday parties, weddings — even Catholic weddings — have all found a welcoming home in the spacious main floor rooms for many years.

An event at the Temple is almost always guaranteed to be lively, maybe even the best time you have ever had anywhere. That’s because the building, with its high main floor ceilings, is essentially unpretentious, easily transformed with some modest decorating into a disco, a sacred space, or a theatre, to name only a few of its functions.

Indeed, there is no building quite like it. St. John’s desperately needs the community space it offers, not only for artists who keep reinventing its purpose in increasingly startling ways, but also for anyone who needs a relatively inexpensive alternative to a church or a hotel. If those walls could talk, who knows what they would say about secret handshakes and other rumoured rituals practiced by Freemasons, but we do know what they could say about all the singing, dancing, and reciting that have graced that space for decades.

The Gutenburgs are suggesting they might need to work together with the arts community to help pay the bills and keep the lavatories cleaned. As appealing as this idea might be at first it just won’t work if whatever is meant by the “arts community” ends up being vaguely responsible for sustaining the operation. We have seen that model before and it’s deadly.

Today, the LSPU Hall, for all the generous government promises to refurbish its trappings, is still suffering under the crushing weight of its day-to-day costs.

The Masonic Temple, Cathedral Street, St. John’s.

Salaries have to be paid, lights have to hum, toilets need to flush. There is nothing romantic about that reality and no one really wants to hear about it or even donate money to solve the problems. Far sexier is the glorious refit campaign, after which plaques can be mounted and ribbons can be cut. But that will be then: what about now?

Surely, the Gutenburgs are to be applauded for their wacky, noble ambi-

Paul Daly/The Independent

tion. If they mean what they say and intend to preserve the spirit of the building, respect the history of the Freemasons and the multi-purpose functions of the main hall spaces, then we should be especially grateful.

But they also need to be advised that the Masonic Temple has become something like the people’s temple, cutting across all classes and needs, accommodating just about any creative, religious,

or social purpose one could possible imagine in the very heart of old St John’s. It is one thing to preserve the structure; it is another to maintain the open community-based dynamism of the place. Let’s hope the Gutenburgs get that message.

Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature and women’s studies at Memorial.

Her column returns Nov. 10.

Spooky costumes on the cheap Looking to confuse the kiddies and horrify the adults? Read on … candidate. People won’t know or care which one you are, but they’ll be plenty scared all the same. The look: blue suit, red tie. Alternatively, you can make it an orange tie and go as Bob Rae. State of the art For those in search of something truly otherworldly and sinister you can terrify one and all t’s only four days ’til Halloween, and if with your Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes or little you’re anything like me, you’re just starting baby Suri getup. The best and least labourto think about your costume. My many intensive option here is to don a pair of expenyears of experience in the theatre have given me sive-looking sunglasses and tell everyone that a certain flair for putting together Halloween Katie and the baby are home hiding from the outfits, and as I see it, it’s only right and proper paparazzi. If you’re pressed for more informaI should share that gift with the world. Here, tion, just say it’s a Scientology thing, you’re not dear readers, are some last-minute costume supposed to talk about it, and ask if they’d like ideas direct from me to you: to hear about your new movie instead. I guaranTo truly stand out in a sea of ghosts, witches tee they’ll give you whatever you want just to and vampires, you need to hit the party circuit get you off the doorstep. dressed as someone so evil, so terrifying, so For more of a Newfoundland flavour, you sick and indecent that their might consider an Andy Wells wickedness has been costume. You’ll need a beard and denounced by the Vatican maybe a chain of office, but Dressing up as itself. That’s right, we’re what’s really going to sell this talking about Madonna. one is non-stop, over-the-top She’s always been a trifle Canada’s beleaguered abusiveness. Spend a couple of creepy, but now that she’s hours in Andy’s shoes and gain a Prime Minister is a snatching children away whole new appreciation for the from their parents and dragsuper-scary, ultra-low stamina it takes to be St. John’s’ ging them back to her lair, crankiest man. As a bonus, you’ll she’s primed to give Michael get the punch bowl all to youreffort option. All Meyers and Freddy Kruger a self. you need is a boring Not stuck on the idea of imperrun for their money in the sonating a Townie? No problem. crazy menace department. suit, a boring haircut, Simply remove the mayoral chain The beauty of a Madonna to become a free-spending, public Halloween costume is the a total lack of funds-embezzling MHA. A wad sheer number of spooky outbills and a few fridge magnets fits you have to choose from. charisma and a pair of is all you need for a budget-conMy personal favorite would scious costume that oozes spinehave to be the ever-popular of cold, dead eyes. tingling terror, at least in political shiny conical bra and headcircles. set mike — a look that says Finally, if you’re looking to confuse the kid“I’m an insane telemarketer from the future, now give me your child before I poke your eye dies and horrify the adults (and who isn’t?), out with my bosoms” — but failing that, a there’s one costume guaranteed to do the job in three-sizes-too-small fuchsia leotard and ghetto fine style. Get yourself a Santa suit. The sight of blaster combo will be sure to give the little ones old Kris Kringle — accompanied by the wacky strains of The Hat I Got For Christmas Is Too nightmares for many Halloweens to come.

If you’re looking for an alternative to Big for an additional dollop of evil spookiness Madge’s non-stop glitz, glamour and excite- — will induce dread and revulsion in anyone as ment, why not go out this year as Stephen yet unprepared for the upcoming two-month Harper? Dressing up as Canada’s beleaguered Christmas shopping frenzy.

You probably won’t have too much trouble Prime Minister is a super-scary, ultra-low effort option. All you need is a boring suit, a boring locating a decent costume, either. I hear the haircut, a total lack of charisma and a pair of folks at your local Wal-Mart won’t be needing theirs until November first at the crack of 9 a.m. cold, dead eyes.

If you have trouble getting into character, when they start taking down the cobwebs and simply find someone who’s dressed up as jack-o-lanterns to make room for the fake snow George Bush and do whatever he tells you to. A and Christmas trees.

Happy trick or treating, everyone. word of caution: avoid Danny Williams’ house — it’s not a good time.

If Conservative isn’t your style, pick a Liberal Sean Panting is a writer, musician and actor livleadership candidate — any liberal leadership ing in St. John’s.

yF k n u ine F & Divine!

SEAN PANTING

I

at the

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20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTSTYLE

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 2, 2006 — PAGE 21

Cozy &chic Now is the time to luxuriate in a warm fall coat — before the season is spent

By Mandy Cook The Independent

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Ladies’ Sao Paulo coat, $379, provided by C’est Moi; Men’s Milestone coat, $495, provided by Byron’s Clothing for Men.

Paul Daly/The Independent

n denial about the imminent arrival of winter? Believe it: in just a few fleeting weeks the blazing crimson and orange leaves still attached to the trees will have all spiralled down to the ground and be replaced with the Dreaded Frost.

Which is why right now is the time to take advantage of our ohso-brief autumn season and wrap yourself up snug and chic in a fabulous fall coat. For the styleconscious, is there anything more satisfying than a long, sumptuous coat to meander in and out of shops in, finished with a cashmere scarf with cheeks pink from the wind off the water?

Cathie Fearn, an employee at C’est Moi, 188 Water St. in St. John’s, points to several different fall coats to choose from this season. A new Italian line of furtrimmed, down-quilted coats are fun, ranging in colour from pink to lime green to beige, but it is the longer “classic” styles that are still most popular.

The coat on Paula (far left) is a gorgeous, formfitting black and white number, with herringbone sleeves and pockets. Trimmed with black piping down the front and back and an oversized collar, it is glamorous and modern at once.

“You can wear it now — it’s actually perfect for fall and spring,” says Fearn.

Upstairs, at Byron’s Clothing for Men, Byron Murphy says he has the perfect fall coat for the no-fuss man. Pictured on Adam (near left), the Milestone coat is exclusive to his shop and is being snapped up by the man on the run.

A beautifully soft micro-fiber, stadium-length overcoat, it features a removable leather collar Murphy says is highly versatile.

“Guys want to be able to wear one coat,” he says. “If they go on business, they want to take one coat with them, something to wear with a shirt and tie and a suit or something to wear to the hockey game,” he says. “The collar allows them to have it both ways.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

Instant party – just add friends

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here are too many shows on television telling you how to throw a good party. Most of them involve the Martha Stewart-ization of house and home in order to impress your guests.

Let’s face it — Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are the party sort. We love a good time surrounded by friends and family. We’re also uncomplicated folk. Not simple, but humble and honest. A party for us is the pleasure of each other’s company and a good time.

Over the weekend my wife and I experienced just that — a good time with friends. We went out Saturday night to a concert and afterwards friends asked, “Hey, how about drinks

at our place?” Who can say no to an invitation like that?

The trick to a good party is sometimes in the planning and other times it is in the spontaneous invitation of a few friends in for a drink and light snacks.

There is no need to make it complicated. If you are the sort of person who likes a good bowl of nacho chips and salsa — then that’s all good. But if you want to make a couple of things to really impress without all the work, I’ve got the solution for you.

There are many great things to make, which are uncomplicated and are tasty as well as good for you. One of these is hummus. It’s a simple dip made from chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and

• Water as needed

NICHOLAS GARDNER Off the Eating Path sesame tahini. Here’s how you make it: HUMMUS • 14 oz can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) drained and rinsed • 1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste) found in grocery store in the international foods section • 1-3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped • Zest and juice of 1 lemon • Salt and pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Use the water to thin the paste only slightly. You are looking for a thick consistency.

Variation: add 1-2 roughly chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the mixer when you start. Get the ones packed in oil, they’re soft and easy to chop.

To go with this dip try pita chips. You could get some in the grocery store or make your own. Get the thick Greek pitas and cut one of the rounds into six.

Place in a 350F pre-heated oven on a cookie sheet for five to seven minutes, or until warmed.

Another good food for the fingers is

bruschetta. Although there are many variations of this type of antipasto — which is basically an Italian hors d’œuvre — I make a simple one, which can easily be made as a dip and will suit the pita chips as well.

BRUSCHETTA • 1/2 English cucumber, deseeded and diced • 1/2 red onion, finely diced • 1/2 red pepper, finely diced • 1-2 tomatoes, diced • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar • Olive oil • Salt and pepper to taste Continued on page 14

OCTOBER 27, 2006

22 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

TASTE

Pot pie gets a tastelift

By Jennifer Bain Torstar wire service

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eftover turkey or chicken work well in this modern potpie. It’s adapted from a recipe cookbook that author Elizabeth Brown created for The Marshall Field’s Cookbook: Classic Recipes and Fresh Takes from the Field’s Culinary Council (2006).

ANCHO CHICKEN POT PIE WITH CORNBREAD TOPPING Sweet and spicy, this cross between a potpie and a tamale pie boasts an easy cornbread crust. Tart dried cherries are sold at bulk stores, but you

could use dried cranberries (even cherry flavoured) instead. McCormick’s now makes ancho chili powder.

TOPPING • 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour • 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cornmeal • 2 tbsp granulated sugar • 1 tsp baking powder • 1/2 cup milk • 1 egg white • 2 tbsp vegetable oil POTPIE • 2 tbsp vegetable oil • 1-1/2 cups diced onion • 1 tbsp minced garlic • 1 tbsp ancho chili powder

• 2 tsp each: ground cumin, ground coriander, paprika • 1 cup ketchup • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar • 1/3 cup brown sugar • 1 cup dried tart cherries, chopped if desired • 3 cups shredded, cooked chicken • 2 cups chicken stock • 2 tsp salt • 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper For topping, in medium bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar and baking powder. Add milk, egg white and oil; stir well to combine.

For potpie, heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high. Add onion. Cook,

stirring, 5 minutes. Add garlic. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in ancho, cumin, coriander and paprika. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in ketchup, vinegar, sugar, cherries, chicken and stock. Bring to boil. Decrease heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes, until thicker. Season with salt and pepper. (Makes about 6 cups.)

Pour into casserole dish to fit or 8inch square baking dish. Dollop cornbread topping over top; spread as thinly as possible with rubber spatula.

Bake in preheated 400F oven 25 minutes or until topping is cooked through and filling is bubbling.

Makes 6 servings.

Happy 5th birthday, iPod

By Jen Gerson Torstar wire service

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hree iPods later, I call it the brick. But when I bought the blue Mini three years ago, I was addicted. Though it took a chunk out of my rent money, slithering through my pirated music on its glassy scroll-wheel caused shivers of techie delight.

It was love.

The iPod turned five years old last week.

While my affair with the Mini dwindled, I even-

tually traded up for sleeker specimens (iPod No. 2 was stolen. I’m not wanton.) Yet Apple’s MP3 player has never strayed far from my heart — or, since the aforementioned thievery, my sight.

But I am not its only mistress. The player has its buds in the ears of 60 million other people.

A recent poll conducted by Student Monitor found that college students think the iPod is cooler than beer. That statistic makes part of me want to weep for my generation. It makes the other part go, Ohh, pretty, shiny, bright colours that sing!

Others who have been seduced include Queen Elizabeth, George W. Bush and the Pope. (Think the papal iPod is white, to match the robes? Is it holy? Can it revive U2?)

But after five years and total market saturation, how long can Apple continue to ride the wave of its fans’ open hearts and pocketbooks into profitdom? Some tech-bloggers are grumbling that the player’s ubiquity has caused it to lose its edge.

Microsoft is about to release its hopeful iPodkiller, the Zune, replete with slightly improved features at the same price. And, last week Apple announced that 1 per cent of iPod videos were released with a virus for Windows — finally Apple is taking notes from Microsoft’s Rules of Engagement.

Will the iPod’s place as the iconic, electronic status symbol of our era be challenged?

Probably not, but the coming faceoff should be fun to watch.

Hummus is a simple dip made from chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and sesame tahini.

Floral, sweet and interesting From page 21 Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle in olive oil slowly and mix until it looks luxurious and glossy. Season generously with salt and pepper and taste again. If the balsamic vinegar is too acidic for you, add a small pinch of white sugar to balance the flavours.

The next ingredient is a tipple or two to make conversation flow. To go along with the food, pick up a crisp Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc like Lindemans Bin 95, which is reasonable at under $11. My favourite right now is the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc ($17.36). It has all the right notes — floral, sweet and interesting and it is sturdy enough to handle the acidity of the food.

However, there are considerations — some people don’t like wine. So why not try a cocktail or two? Classic gin martinis are perfect for this type of setting and it also lends that layer of sophistication some of us crave. But hey, we don’t have to get all fancy. If you like beer, then serve that too.

Just stay away from bitters or stout — they’re too heavy. Try Stella Artois ($12.61 for 6 bottles). It is light and acidic, with light floral and almost no hoppy aftertaste and clean to the finish.

To get this all together could take as little as half an hour — perfect for that spontaneous party after a concert, after a night out, or … just because.

Nicholas is an erstwhile chef and freelance writer living in St. John’s. nicholas.gardner@gmail.com

Funny girls Torstar wire service

E

strogen can be harder to come by in a comedy greenroom than a couch that’s remained untouched by bodily fluids. For this reason, non-male humourists will often get asked dramatic questions regarding their sex’s ability to perform comedy.

And yet women can make you laugh, I swear. I posed the most annoying question I could think of to some of the funniest comics in Toronto who also happen to have menstrual cycles: How is it that you’re a female and you’re able to make people laugh?

“I’m a girl? ... I was raised by wolves. That’s why I think.”

Katie Crown is online at http://www.myspace.com/katiecrown

“It’s definitely difficult. As you know, the Surgeon General has finally just acknowledged that until the age of 25 women deliver comedy at a frequency that can only be heard by children, dogs and dolphins. For the serious female comedian, this can mean a lot of surgery and/or studying with elocution instructors. So if you are in an audience and you find yourself laughing at a woman on a stage, you better believe that lady has physically put herself through the wringer to be there! On a personal note, how do I make people laugh? Simple. I hot glue a $20 under each and every seat. In Toronto, I am the Oprah of comedy.”

Lisa Brooke is a Second City alumnus “Boobies. It’s the same way Jell-O is funny. We’re not more prevalent in comedy clubs partly because after we turn 21 we become invisible and also because we’re always trying to have babies.”

Dawn Whitwell has her own website at http://www.dawnwhitwell.com

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTSTYLE • 23

Spider guts and other gross things usual. I mean, this was GROSS. By now the bus stop was filled with kids laden down with backpacks and the other boys got in on the act. No spider was safe. The girls didn’t run screaming like I had. This wasn’t new for them. Instead, they tried to be far away from the splatter, but not too far. They didn’t want to miss the action, but they also didn’t want to get icky. I was appalled.

Thank goodness the bus came.

The kids out here — especially the boys — do “icky” things. They play in the lamwash, filth all around, dead fish floating near-by, way too close to the sewer lines. They study moose poop and fox excrement much too closely for my liking.

They build lean-tos using rusty nails and bring questionable “treasures” into my home. If something smells, I check Brody’s pockets. I have found unjelled-jellyfish, rotten starfish, and many things I never could identify.

PAM PARDY GHENT

Seven-day talk

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took my son to the bus stop the other morning. It had been raining hard and I was going to sit with him in the van until the bus arrived. By the time we left, the rain had slowed, so instead, I walked him up the lane. We were early and alone, so we talked a little on this grey, foggy morning.

Words with more than one meaning is a favorite topic of his, and today was no different. “Seizure” was the one he had this particular day, and I struggled to find another meaning besides the medical one. He won that round when he reminded me of the one I should know from the news. “You know Mom,” he said. “Like search and seizure?”

I was impressed, and looked at my growing lad with pride and pleasure.

He would turn out fine, I thought.

CREEPY AND CRAWLY The wet of the day had brought out all things creepy and crawly. With every step, he reminded me to watch out for the worms and snails that lay around the road and on the grass. He was just such a “nice” boy, I mused, so incredibly easy to parent. What a genuine concern for all living creatures he has. I was glowing. Got that from me, I decided.

“Mom, look,” he said. “A daddy long legs.”

I stood back, and watched him with pride. “Yeah,” I said, “look how big he is, eh?”

My son reached out with his sweet loving hand, and next thing I knew, he placed that same finger right over the thing, and with a calculated (and, sadly, expert) jab, the damn spider exploded all over both of us.

“Brody!” I screamed. “That was GROSS.” He looked at me, smiled and said, “Thanks!”

No, I explained to him, not gross in a good way, but gross in an incredibly bad way. As in horribly, shockingly, terribly wrong. Never before had I ever see such a thing, I continued, what in the world would make you want to do that?

“Because mom,” he said, “then you can do this.” He then stuck that deadly finger in his mouth and

saucily sucked on it. I damn near died. I didn’t actually see any spider guts, but I knew the possibility of “yuck” was there, and that made me scream.

That was apparently the reaction he wanted.

I’d had enough. “I’m not staying around for this,” I announced.

I didn’t know what to make of it all. My sweet little boy, a murderer!

As I started for home, he saw another spider and performed his exploding spider trick again. I tried not to look, and kept on moving. I saw a look cross his face, and instantly knew that gut-filled finger was

The kids out here — especially the boys — do “icky” things.

They play in the lamwash, filth all around, dead fish floating near-by, way too close to the sewer lines.

Wish Book still beloved Catalogues still popular in the age of Internet — 1,000 pages just too slow to download

By Dana Flavelle Torstar wire service

Instead of s plate, it’s an entire place-setting.

Instead of a necklace, it’s the whole outfit. The retailer can showcase the product in a setting and he Sears Wish Book, the annual Christmas sell more stuff that way. gift guide from Canada’s largest cata“You can’t replace the quality of the image in logue retailer, arrives on the doorstep the catalogue. You could have higher quality with a thud in nearly 5 million homes across online but it would be prohibitively slow for Canada. people to download,” Okamura says.

It has done so every year for the past 50 years, This wasn’t always self-evident to the retailthis year being no exception. ers. In the early days of e-commerce, many comAt 1,000 pages plus, the glossy tome is among panies assumed the Internet would replace the the largest catalogues Sears sends out each year catalogue, he says. and also goes to the most After setting up Internet households. sites, they cut the number of “It’s greatly anticipated by catalogues they printed and cir“We still get letters Canadians across the country,” culated partly to devote from people who says Sears Canada spokesperresources to the new e-comson Vince Power. “We still get merce channel, Okamura says. say, ‘It’s only been letters from people who say, But most soon realized this was ‘It’s only been in the house a mistake, he says. in the house three three weeks and it’s already Sears Canada was among dog-eared.’” them. Power says that after weeks and it’s What? trimming its catalogue business already dog-eared.’” a few years ago, the company Have Sears’ customers never heard of the Internet? Do too began reinvesting in it. many of them live in small “Catalogue is still the way Sears spokesperson towns with low or no-speed customers like to shop,” he Vince Power access? Are they blissfully says. “Our online business is unaware of the sinful pleasures growing double digits but it’s of clicking and shopping in their PJs after mid- still a very small portion of our business.” night?

According to Power, the Sears website gets 33 Not at all, says the retailer. In fact, Sears million hits a year. Many are repeat visitors. But Canada also has one of the most-shopped web- most Canadians are still more comfortable maksites in the country. ing the actual purchase either over the phone or But what Sears and other catalogue retailers, in the store. from Williams-Sonoma to Victoria’s Secret, Even in the U.S., where consumers barely have learned is that contrary to expectations, the think twice about tapping their credit card into Internet has actually whetted consumers’ the computer, catalogues are still in big demand, appetite for printed matter. Not less. and retailers are figuring out new ways to use And, as Christmas approaches, the number them to boost sales, Okamura says. and weight of the books landing on consumers’ “The catalogue has changed from being a doorsteps is rising at an astonishing rate. sales channel. Now it’s more of a traffic driver Technology is a factor but not in the way you and branding vehicle,” he says. might think.

Unlike the Net, which sometimes contains an When it comes to photographs, the thing that overwhelming amount of information, a catahas historically driven catalogue sales, good old- logue is a pre-edited selection of key merchanfashioned printed paper is still superior to the dise. It simplifies the decision-making process computer monitor, says Jim Okamura, a retail for the consumer and allows the merchant to consultant with J.C. Williams Group Ltd. focus on the most profitable items.

For the average person with Internet access, it In a recent study of consumer behaviour, takes too long to download a picture that is made Okamura found 68 per cent of shoppers who up of more than 60 dots per inch, he says. But a bought something online had previously seen the paper catalogue can handle photos made up of item in the retailer’s catalogue. more than three times that many dots.

There doesn’t seem to be any more comIt all adds up to a far richer picture and one pelling reason than that to continue publishing that can include more than just the product. paper catalogues. At least for now.

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headed for me.

I’m a bay gal and I can handle a lot of things, but not that. I screamed (like a girl) and ran (like the almost 40-year-old I am), and he was still coming. I worked hard to keep his hands off my face.

I tried threats. “Do it and you’re history, buddy!” I warned. “No TV!” I yelled. On and on I went, one threat after another, but the thrill of covering me with spider innards was just too strong for this nine-year-old and he didn’t stop until he touched my sweater. He was going for my face, but I was fighting him off and fear and disgust made me stronger than

COVERED IN DIRT Everything those boys play with is covered in dirt — if I’m lucky.

There’s not much they do that I can label as sanitary. I cope by using three-quarters soap and a good dose of denial.

When my lad arrived home from school that day I told him to wash up for supper. He returned much too quickly. I was sure he didn’t go upstairs, but we ate anyway.

A little later I was in a panic. There was water all over the floor around the fish tank. As I searched for the source of the leak, my son patted me gently on the shoulder. “Mom,” he said, “the fish tank is fine. That’s where I wash my hands sometimes.”

Remember that word this morning, I reminded him, seizure? I was about to have one of my own. I lectured him sternly. His actions were, I told him, severely gross and disgusting.

As I was preparing for bed that night my son walked in on me halfway out of my clothes. “Mom!” he screamed. “That’s GROSS!” “Thanks,” I said.

The kid who squats spiders and washes up where our gilled-pets poop thinks I’m gross?

He must mean gross in a good way. Let’s go with that, shall we?

Pam Pardy Ghent lives in Harbour Mille, on the Burin Peninsula.

OCTOBER 27, 2006

24 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

Grocers plan for crisis New guide advises Canadian stores how to cope with a flu pandemic

By Susan Sampson Torstar wire service

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A model presents a creation by Russian label Fresh Art during Russian Fashion Week in Moscow Oct. 25.

Thomas Peter/Reuters

Time coming for ‘Brand Canada’?

By Bernadette Morra Torstar wire service

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ver the past few weeks, the fashion eyes of the world have been on the runways of New York, Paris and Milan. Now it’s L’Oréal Fashion Week in Toronto, and time for Canadian designers to shine.

But will anyone be listening?

There are almost as many fashion weeks now as there are weeks in the year. This month has already seen Lisbon Fashion Week, Ukrainian Fashion Week, Miami Fashion Week, Montreal Fashion Week and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in L.A. Presumably, all of the above are populated by designers hoping it is only a matter of time before they are “discovered.” In the meantime, most eke out a meagre living, surviving on miniscule orders from stores that may or may not pay, and the odd custom request.

In an ideal world, the designer with the most talent, not the deepest pockets, would win. But as is becoming clearer every day, the world is far from ideal.

The world order is shifting and it’s an uncomfortable process. But when the dust settles might Canadian designers emerge as a force?

Barbara Atkin, fashion director of Holt Renfrew, raised the question during L’Oréal Fashion Week’s opening reception.

“America and Britain have both

become targets of (derision) as their position as global superpowers and their attitudes to absolute dominion are met with mixed emotions.

“As countries like the United States, Britain, France and Italy no longer represent mysterious, idealized, distant and magical lands, consumers will be on the hunt for new countries in which to explore. Could Canada be the next niche premium brand to emerge?

“The real value of ‘Brand Canada’ has not yet been tapped.”

But the time might be ripe, Atkin proposes.

“Never before has there been such desire for the ethnic, the organic, the exotic. Canada might very well become the next ‘cool’ country to emerge in the global economy as ‘Brand Canada’ has a compelling story to tell based on a healthy economy, a growing multi-cultural population, a country concerned with preserving its environment, known for its quality, its ideas, and for its authentic neighbourhoods.”

Those who do know our designs see Canada as a hybrid of European sophistication with American ease.

But to truly get the world’s attention, Atkin feels we’ve got to develop fashions that are well-designed, wellthought out and relevant to consumers, that reflect the values Canada stands for, that provoke emotions and provide a strong, consistent, satisfying message.

anadian grocers are being urged to brace themselves for a flu pandemic, complete with public panic, absent employees and failing businesses.

“A pandemic will be different from anything we’ve experienced before,” says Boyd Neil, creator of a crisis manual for the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

“There’ll be a fortress mentality.

People will want to stay away from other people.”

As senior vice-president of the PR firm Hill & Knowlton Canada, Neil has counselled companies on how to cope with crises ranging from air crashes to financial malfeasance. He is the creator of a new guide on planning for and coping with a flu pandemic, an addition to the federation’s crisis manual.

Annually in Canada, about 8,000 people die of influenza. If a pandemic hits, between 11,000 and 58,000 people are expected to die, Neil says.

“It will cause serious social and economic disruption.”

Schools, malls, churches and banks would close. Transit systems would shut down. There would be quarantines. A pandemic, with “waves of sickness,” could last three to 18 months, Neil says. “It will be a marathon, not a sprint.”

Health organizations fear bird flu may mutate and spread through human-to-human contact into a worldwide pandemic. If that happens, the new guide notes that 15 to 35 per cent of the population will become sick,

according to an estimate from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Also, a 20- to 30-day gap is expected between the emergence of a virus and the start of a pandemic, with “the most deadly period” being the first 90 to 120 days.

Neil says people can hole up at home and conduct a lot of business via the Internet. But they also need food.

And that means contact with grocers — with the potential spread of disease.

“We are all in a people business,” he says.

Germs can lurk on cash registers, debit cards machines, counters and shopping carts, as well as on people’s hands. So grocers are advised to make arrangements to obtain face masks and gloves for workers, antibacterial wipes and cleansers, and shields to separate cashiers from customers.

Employees — and possibly customers — would have to be screened for signs of sickness, such as high temperatures and wheezing or sneezing.

Customers who appear sick may be barred from stores.

Neil suggests planning alternate ways of doing business with minimal contact, like Internet or phone orders, followed by customer pickups.

There should be a way to communicate with customers who have come in contact with a worker who later gets sick, Neil adds.

As for suppliers, grocers must find a way to ensure their food handling is hygienic and truck drivers and delivery staff are healthy.

Neil says the biggest problem for grocers may be finding enough employees to keep a store running.

Workers may be absent because they

are sick themselves or nursing family members, caring for children at home because schools and daycares have closed, or unable to get to their jobs because public transit is in disarray.

Neil suggests the grocers plan for a “supplementary workforce” in case a “critical mass” of employees is off sick. Where would these workers come from? He’s not sure.

It will be difficult to communicate with panicky, stressed and anxious customers, Neil warns, because they ignore facts, are less trusting and focus on negatives. He calls this “mental noise” and says it’s difficult to hear the voice of reason through it. Stores, for example, may have to decide whether to limit quantities of goods if a buying frenzy occurs.

“I think you’re going to see people do some stockpiling,” agrees Gary Sands, vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

Sands estimates there are 25,000 owners of independent and franchise grocery stores in Canada. About 3,800 are federation members.

If a pandemic occurs, he says, big chains can probably survive the hit.

But mom-and-pop operations may collapse.

Neil urges grocers to make arrangements for financial support ahead of time, just in case.

Grocers must do everything they can to stop the spread of disease for legal, ethical and business reasons, Neil says.

“How you will be judged will be by how much care you took to prevent contamination,” he told the grocers.

“Think of it in terms of protecting the reputation of your company.”

Church Hall, 8 p.m., 335-7007.

• Montreal Guitar Trio, Gander Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

• Battle of the Bands, Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts, Grand FallsWindsor, 8 p.m.

• Fog Devils vs. Lewiston, Mile One Centre, 7 p.m.

• NSO’s 16th Big Ticket Gala, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

Stephen Mallatratt from the novel by Susan Hill, starring Aiden Flynn and Steve O’Connell, LSPU Hall, St. John’s, 8 p.m. Until Nov. 4.

EVENTS OCTOBER 27 • Bitter Rose by Catherine Banks, starring Amy House, LSPU Hall, 8 p.m., 753-4531. Continues Oct. 28.

• The Cobblestones and Bobby Evans in concert, Labrador West Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

• Harbour Haunt, 351 Water St., St. John’s, 7 p.m. nightly (timed tickets for sale, 30 minute maximum line-up), 7541399. Until Oct. 31.

OCTOBER 28 • Fresh Faces, a concert by young folk performers Fergus Brown-O’Byrne, Allan Ricketts and Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, Gower Street United

OCTOBER 29 • Exhibition and sale of recent paintings

by Randy Blundon and Joan Roberts, Hotel Mount Pearl, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

• Montreal Guitar Trio, Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts, Grand FallsWindsor, 8 p.m.

• Fog Devils vs. Lewiston, Mile One Centre, 4 p.m.

• Active-Vision: live music for silent film Halloween Spooktacular II — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with The Black Auks and Pat Boyle, 7:30 p.m., Rabbittown Theatre, St. John’s.

OCTOBER 30 • MUN Pagan Society meeting, MUNSU Council Chambers at Memorial, 7 p.m., nf_pagan_society@yahoo.com or 739-8666 for more information.

OCTOBER 31 • The Woman In Black, adapted by

NOVEMBER 1 • Third annual St. John’s Storytelling Festival begins, with performances and workshops running until Nov. 5. Visit www.nlfolk.com for a complete schedule.

• Beauty and the Beast, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 8 pm.

NOVEMBER 2 • The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and MUN Lifelong Learning are sponsoring A Night with the Stars: Astronomy for Beginners, Thursday nights, 7-9 p.m., 737-7979 or see www.mun.ca/lifelonglearning.

• Light on the Land, nature and landscape photography by Dennis Minty opens, Bay Roberts Visitor Pavilion, Veteran’s Memorial Highway (Route 75), 7 p.m. On display until Nov. 26.

• Beauty and the Beast, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 8 pm.

IN THE GALLERIES • Greg Bennett and Louise Sutton, Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, until Oct. 28.

• Thaddeus Holownia: The Terra Nova Suite, The Rooms, until Jan. 7.

A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME IS ALL WE ASK. CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE IS OPTIONAL. Think it requires heroic efforts to be a Big Brother or Big Sister?

Think again. It simply means sharing a few moments with a child. Play catch.

Build a doghouse. Or help take on mutant invaders from the planet Krang.

That’s all it takes to transform a mere mortal like yourself into a super hero who can make a world of difference in a child’s life. For more information...

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland 1-877-513KIDS (5437) www.helpingkids.ca

OCTOBER 27, 2006

24 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

Grocers plan for crisis New guide advises Canadian stores how to cope with a flu pandemic

By Susan Sampson Torstar wire service

C

A model presents a creation by Russian label Fresh Art during Russian Fashion Week in Moscow Oct. 25.

Thomas Peter/Reuters

Time coming for ‘Brand Canada’?

By Bernadette Morra Torstar wire service

O

ver the past few weeks, the fashion eyes of the world have been on the runways of New York, Paris and Milan. Now it’s L’Oréal Fashion Week in Toronto, and time for Canadian designers to shine.

But will anyone be listening?

There are almost as many fashion weeks now as there are weeks in the year. This month has already seen Lisbon Fashion Week, Ukrainian Fashion Week, Miami Fashion Week, Montreal Fashion Week and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in L.A. Presumably, all of the above are populated by designers hoping it is only a matter of time before they are “discovered.” In the meantime, most eke out a meagre living, surviving on miniscule orders from stores that may or may not pay, and the odd custom request.

In an ideal world, the designer with the most talent, not the deepest pockets, would win. But as is becoming clearer every day, the world is far from ideal.

The world order is shifting and it’s an uncomfortable process. But when the dust settles might Canadian designers emerge as a force?

Barbara Atkin, fashion director of Holt Renfrew, raised the question during L’Oréal Fashion Week’s opening reception.

“America and Britain have both

become targets of (derision) as their position as global superpowers and their attitudes to absolute dominion are met with mixed emotions.

“As countries like the United States, Britain, France and Italy no longer represent mysterious, idealized, distant and magical lands, consumers will be on the hunt for new countries in which to explore. Could Canada be the next niche premium brand to emerge?

“The real value of ‘Brand Canada’ has not yet been tapped.”

But the time might be ripe, Atkin proposes.

“Never before has there been such desire for the ethnic, the organic, the exotic. Canada might very well become the next ‘cool’ country to emerge in the global economy as ‘Brand Canada’ has a compelling story to tell based on a healthy economy, a growing multi-cultural population, a country concerned with preserving its environment, known for its quality, its ideas, and for its authentic neighbourhoods.”

Those who do know our designs see Canada as a hybrid of European sophistication with American ease.

But to truly get the world’s attention, Atkin feels we’ve got to develop fashions that are well-designed, wellthought out and relevant to consumers, that reflect the values Canada stands for, that provoke emotions and provide a strong, consistent, satisfying message.

anadian grocers are being urged to brace themselves for a flu pandemic, complete with public panic, absent employees and failing businesses.

“A pandemic will be different from anything we’ve experienced before,” says Boyd Neil, creator of a crisis manual for the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

“There’ll be a fortress mentality.

People will want to stay away from other people.”

As senior vice-president of the PR firm Hill & Knowlton Canada, Neil has counselled companies on how to cope with crises ranging from air crashes to financial malfeasance. He is the creator of a new guide on planning for and coping with a flu pandemic, an addition to the federation’s crisis manual.

Annually in Canada, about 8,000 people die of influenza. If a pandemic hits, between 11,000 and 58,000 people are expected to die, Neil says.

“It will cause serious social and economic disruption.”

Schools, malls, churches and banks would close. Transit systems would shut down. There would be quarantines. A pandemic, with “waves of sickness,” could last three to 18 months, Neil says. “It will be a marathon, not a sprint.”

Health organizations fear bird flu may mutate and spread through human-to-human contact into a worldwide pandemic. If that happens, the new guide notes that 15 to 35 per cent of the population will become sick,

according to an estimate from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Also, a 20- to 30-day gap is expected between the emergence of a virus and the start of a pandemic, with “the most deadly period” being the first 90 to 120 days.

Neil says people can hole up at home and conduct a lot of business via the Internet. But they also need food.

And that means contact with grocers — with the potential spread of disease.

“We are all in a people business,” he says.

Germs can lurk on cash registers, debit cards machines, counters and shopping carts, as well as on people’s hands. So grocers are advised to make arrangements to obtain face masks and gloves for workers, antibacterial wipes and cleansers, and shields to separate cashiers from customers.

Employees — and possibly customers — would have to be screened for signs of sickness, such as high temperatures and wheezing or sneezing.

Customers who appear sick may be barred from stores.

Neil suggests planning alternate ways of doing business with minimal contact, like Internet or phone orders, followed by customer pickups.

There should be a way to communicate with customers who have come in contact with a worker who later gets sick, Neil adds.

As for suppliers, grocers must find a way to ensure their food handling is hygienic and truck drivers and delivery staff are healthy.

Neil says the biggest problem for grocers may be finding enough employees to keep a store running.

Workers may be absent because they

are sick themselves or nursing family members, caring for children at home because schools and daycares have closed, or unable to get to their jobs because public transit is in disarray.

Neil suggests the grocers plan for a “supplementary workforce” in case a “critical mass” of employees is off sick. Where would these workers come from? He’s not sure.

It will be difficult to communicate with panicky, stressed and anxious customers, Neil warns, because they ignore facts, are less trusting and focus on negatives. He calls this “mental noise” and says it’s difficult to hear the voice of reason through it. Stores, for example, may have to decide whether to limit quantities of goods if a buying frenzy occurs.

“I think you’re going to see people do some stockpiling,” agrees Gary Sands, vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

Sands estimates there are 25,000 owners of independent and franchise grocery stores in Canada. About 3,800 are federation members.

If a pandemic occurs, he says, big chains can probably survive the hit.

But mom-and-pop operations may collapse.

Neil urges grocers to make arrangements for financial support ahead of time, just in case.

Grocers must do everything they can to stop the spread of disease for legal, ethical and business reasons, Neil says.

“How you will be judged will be by how much care you took to prevent contamination,” he told the grocers.

“Think of it in terms of protecting the reputation of your company.”

Church Hall, 8 p.m., 335-7007.

• Montreal Guitar Trio, Gander Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

• Battle of the Bands, Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts, Grand FallsWindsor, 8 p.m.

• Fog Devils vs. Lewiston, Mile One Centre, 7 p.m.

• NSO’s 16th Big Ticket Gala, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

Stephen Mallatratt from the novel by Susan Hill, starring Aiden Flynn and Steve O’Connell, LSPU Hall, St. John’s, 8 p.m. Until Nov. 4.

EVENTS OCTOBER 27 • Bitter Rose by Catherine Banks, starring Amy House, LSPU Hall, 8 p.m., 753-4531. Continues Oct. 28.

• The Cobblestones and Bobby Evans in concert, Labrador West Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

• Harbour Haunt, 351 Water St., St. John’s, 7 p.m. nightly (timed tickets for sale, 30 minute maximum line-up), 7541399. Until Oct. 31.

OCTOBER 28 • Fresh Faces, a concert by young folk performers Fergus Brown-O’Byrne, Allan Ricketts and Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, Gower Street United

OCTOBER 29 • Exhibition and sale of recent paintings

by Randy Blundon and Joan Roberts, Hotel Mount Pearl, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

• Montreal Guitar Trio, Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts, Grand FallsWindsor, 8 p.m.

• Fog Devils vs. Lewiston, Mile One Centre, 4 p.m.

• Active-Vision: live music for silent film Halloween Spooktacular II — The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with The Black Auks and Pat Boyle, 7:30 p.m., Rabbittown Theatre, St. John’s.

OCTOBER 30 • MUN Pagan Society meeting, MUNSU Council Chambers at Memorial, 7 p.m., nf_pagan_society@yahoo.com or 739-8666 for more information.

OCTOBER 31 • The Woman In Black, adapted by

NOVEMBER 1 • Third annual St. John’s Storytelling Festival begins, with performances and workshops running until Nov. 5. Visit www.nlfolk.com for a complete schedule.

• Beauty and the Beast, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 8 pm.

NOVEMBER 2 • The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and MUN Lifelong Learning are sponsoring A Night with the Stars: Astronomy for Beginners, Thursday nights, 7-9 p.m., 737-7979 or see www.mun.ca/lifelonglearning.

• Light on the Land, nature and landscape photography by Dennis Minty opens, Bay Roberts Visitor Pavilion, Veteran’s Memorial Highway (Route 75), 7 p.m. On display until Nov. 26.

• Beauty and the Beast, Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre, 8 pm.

IN THE GALLERIES • Greg Bennett and Louise Sutton, Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, until Oct. 28.

• Thaddeus Holownia: The Terra Nova Suite, The Rooms, until Jan. 7.

A LITTLE OF YOUR TIME IS ALL WE ASK. CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE IS OPTIONAL. Think it requires heroic efforts to be a Big Brother or Big Sister?

Think again. It simply means sharing a few moments with a child. Play catch.

Build a doghouse. Or help take on mutant invaders from the planet Krang.

That’s all it takes to transform a mere mortal like yourself into a super hero who can make a world of difference in a child’s life. For more information...

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Newfoundland 1-877-513KIDS (5437) www.helpingkids.ca

What’s new in the automotive industry

OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 2, 2006

FEATURED VEHICLE

SUPERCHARGED Introducing the 2007 Range Rover Sport, the all-new sports-touring SUV from Land Rover. The Range Rover Sport boasts exceptional on-road agility, aerodynamic design and copious power produced by the HSE 390-horsepower supercharged quad-cam V8 six-speed automatic transmission. Also evident is the quality of the interior design which seamlessly integrates luxury and technology by providing premium-grade leather, automatic dual-zone temperature control, heated seats, rain-sensing wipers, DVD-based GPS navigation system, harmon/kardon® LOGIC7 surround-sound audio system and available DVD Rear Seat Entertainment System.

All combined, the Range Rover Sport makes for a traveling experience rivaled only by a first-class airline ticket. The 2007 Range Rover Sport is available at Global Imports, a division of O'Neill Motors, located at 934 Topsail Rd., Mount Pearl. Photo taken at Lester's Farm Market on Brookfield Rd., Mount Pearl, by Paul Daly.

Woods rigs never die …

Y

ou’d see them on the sides of the highway, reverence. noses poking out of the woods, taunting the I’ve always been fond of the notion of a woods pavement. Some retained their dignity, car- rig, but seeing as how there aren’t many deuce and rying at least the remnants of a cab; otha halfs around any more I set out to make ers shook off their rusty inhibitions and my own version by rescuing an aging ran with just a single seat behind a steermud-deprived, inner-city, four-wheel ing wheel. For modesty, there may have drive. been a wooden crate covering the motor The rig could retire from the pavement or at least a beef bucket over the exhaust to live out its remaining years in the pipe. Some had a full steel flatbed; most woods — an admirable send-off for a 16were stripped to the rails and ran bareyear-old Toyota 4Runner. boned.

It was a little crispy around the edges What really distinguished these but in incredibly strong running condition.

MARK WOOD machines were their six oversized In order to preserve the body I painted it wheels — you could tell at a glance that flat black with a roller and used a small WOODY’S brush to “cut in” around the windows. stumps snapped off when this thing was in motion.

WHEELS Like any good story, I laid it on thicker I didn’t realize the importance at the and heavier as I went, steam rising off the time, but I was admiring one of the most paint as I slathered it on. It was dry by the valued pieces of military machinery ever produced time I finished. The flat-black sheds every bit of — the M35 Supply Truck, more affectionately moisture with the slightest amount of sunlight, a litknown as the “deuce and a half.” tle trick I learned years ago. This is the best protecOver 800,000 were manufactured between 1941 tion you can offer, forget the wax, if you want to and 1945 with a 6-cylinder diesel engine powering keep an old machine show it the love and break out a constant six-wheel drive configuration, all with- the roller. out the benefit of power steering. It actually was a With a fresh coat of paint my woods rig looked five-ton truck but could carry two and a half tons better than my “winter” machine so I took the roller over anything, which is how it earned the nickname. to it enthusiastically. Then my “daily” truck looked Imagine crawling out of the woods with one of neglected next to the others and I rolled a coat of those loaded down with a massive stack of “sticks.” paint on the back of that one too. What started out Years ago, when someone mentioned “woods as a little preservation project got out of hand and I rig” it meant deuce and a half — the two terms were ended up painting two and a half trucks. Now I’ve synonymous. Today they’re almost extinct, and got a flat-black fleet. whatever remains of them should be treated with On the weekends I throw my chainsaw in the

Mark Woods’ 1990 Toyota 4Runner, living wild and free in the woods.

woods rig and drive right up to my spot, hang my coat on a tree and get a fire going. Cut a few sticks and haul ‘em back to the hacienda in style.

She may only be a half next to a deuce and a half, but it’s the thought that counts. Getting a Christmas

tree should be lots of fun this year, cruising around in the woods looking for the just the right one.

Mark Wood of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s has a machine for every occasion.

26 • INDEPENDENTSHIFT

OCTOBER 27, 2006

Getting roasted over Schumacher O ne or two more words about Michael Schumacher, before we close the book on this

always dominates in F1. It’s the nature of the game. From Fangio (who used to commandeer his teamguy. mate’s car if his broke down) through Over the years, I have been on both Clark to Stewart and Lauda, Senna, sides of the fence about Schumacher - Prost, Piquet and Mansell, there’s and I still have the scars from all the always been a top dog. letters and e-mails to prove And speaking of teams, it. who can forget 1988, when I wrote columns highly MacLaren-Honda won critical of him and got roastevery race except one? ed — I mean roasted — for That Schumacher was daring to suggest that not strong enough to demand only was he not a sportsman that Ferrari hire the but that he was a cheater, to absolute best engineers and boot. designers to support him I also wrote columns say(Ross Braun, Rory Bryne, NORRIS ing he was the greatest thing et al) is a perfect illustraMCDONALD since sliced bread and got tion of his ruthlessness in roasted — and I mean roastthe pursuit of excellence. ed — for suggesting there Until Schumacher joined was anything even remotely the Scuderia in 1996, admirable about the guy.

Ferrari had done next-toTwo weeks ago, I wrote that the F1 nothing since 1979 (when Jody establishment was worried he would Schechter won the world champireally retire (and stay retired) because onship). He knew that the team needthey don’t have a superstar to replace ed much more than a good driver. him. It’s not that they don’t have great To illustrate: from 1991 through drivers in that series; there are plenty 1995, Ferrari contested 81 grand prix of those. What they don’t have is a and won exactly two. Schumacher personality who can be written up in joined the team in 1996 and promptly Paris Match or People or Sports won three of the 16 races held. The Illustrated and maybe even profiled momentum was kick-started and the on Sixty Minutes. storm was gathering. By the time Like Michael Schumacher.

2000 rolled around, Schumacher and Last Sunday, I was on CBC News- Ferrari were unbeatable. world and praised Schumacher for From 2000 through 2004, in which being — statistically — the greatest he won five straight world champiF1 driver of all time. onships, there were 85 grands prix So I got roasted — although, to be contested and Ferrari won 57 of them. fair, the people who wrote or tele- Schumacher scored 48 victories himphoned were the epitome of courtesy, self; Rubens Barrichello notched up decorum and class. They told me I nine. was cockeyed, but they did it in a Luca di Montezimolo, team presireally nice way. dent, and Jean Todt, team manager I just think people have become so (not to forget Bridgestone Tires and polarized that they have short memo- the Marlboro millions), must get ries when it comes to Schumacher. some of the credit for this but there Somebody — or some team — is no doubt that the only man who

TRACK TALK

Until Schumacher joined the Scuderia in 1996, Ferrari had done next-to-nothing since 1979 (when Jody Schechter won the world championship).

truly counted here was Michael Schumacher.

Could Damon Hill have done it?

Mika Hakkinen? Jacques Villeneuve?

Can Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, or Fernando Alonso at McLaren, do it now?

Make himself the centre of the universe?

Fat chance.

So love him or hate him (and there’s lots and lots to dislike), the jury is in and there is no doubt that Michael Schumacher was the greatest driver and the most dominant personality in the history of Formula One. BIT IN HIS TEETH If Schumacher’s car hadn’t suffered that puncture, he would have won last Sunday’s Grand Prix of Brazil. He came from dead last back to fourth and it was thrilling to watch a guy with the bit in his teeth charge his way through the field. If there had been a cartoon bubble over his car as he squeezed past Raikonnen late in the race, it would have said this: “Outta my way, junior. I’m comin’ through and nothin’s gonna stop me …”

Now, Bobby Rahal is not in

Michael Schumacher’s league. But Schumacher’s drive last Sunday was reminiscent of Rahal’s in the first Molson Indy Toronto back in 1986.

Rahal had been penalized for, first, passing the pace car and, second, for exiting the pits in front of the pace car. He was held in the penalty box for a total of 49 seconds. By the time he got back into the thick of things, he was way behind.

But, like Schumacher last Sunday, he simply refused to lose and fought his way back into contention and finally to the front of the pack, defeating second-place finisher Danny Sullivan by 2.5 seconds. It was poetry in motion …

CHAMP CAR Talking about NASCAR making overtures, the France-controlled sanctioning body just can’t stand anybody who has real talent driving in any other racing series in North America.

Which is why it announced this week that it had stolen A.J. Allmendinger away from Champ Car. They didn’t phrase it that way, but that’s what happened.

As soon as that young American starting winning races last summer, NASCAR had its eyes on him and, through Red Bull Racing (Brian Vickers and Bill Elliott are the drivers), made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. He’ll be in a Nextel Cup car as soon as the Champ Car season is over (unless his employer, Gerald Forsythe, fires him first and then he’ll be in the next available Cup race).

The powers-that-be at NASCAR could care less if unknown Europeans (Nelson Philippe) or old guys (Paul Tracy) win Champ Car races. But if you’re young and have charisma and can drive the wheels off a car or truck, NASCAR wants you and one way or another they’re gonna get ya …

Honda shuffles to boost Civic capacity

By Tony Van Alphen Torstar wire service

H

onda is jacking up production of its top-selling Civic compact car at its assembly complex in Alliston, Ont., to meet higher demand across the continent.

The Japanese-based auto giant say the company will start building up to 60,000 Civic sedans annually at its No. 2 plant in Alliston next April — boosting capacity of the popular model to about 250,000 at the complex.

Honda, which already makes about 190,000 Civics at the adjacent No. 1 plant, will make room for the car by gradually shifting production of the Pilot sport-utility vehicle from the No. 2 facility to its Lincoln, Ala., operation.

The Lincoln plant already makes the Odyssey minivan and Pilot. Tooling changes at that plant will allow for an increase in Pilot production.

After the moves, total output of several vehicles at the Alliston complex will remain at about 390,000 vehicles annually. The company reached a production peak of more than 392,000 vehicles at the complex, northwest of Toronto, in 2004.

Demand for the Civic has forced Honda to schedule overtime at the Number 1 plant in Alliston and another operation in East Liberty, Ohio, in recent months.

Honda’s Civic sales climbed 1.2 per in Canada; 7.5 per cent in the U.S. and almost 40 per cent in Mexico in the first nine months of this year from the same period in 2005.

While Civic sales slipped in the U.S. and Mexico during September, they surged 44.6 per cent in Canada.

Company officials attribute the decline in the other two countries to a lack of supply. The Civic, which features durability, excellent fuel economy and good resale value, has been the most popular car in Canada for eight consecutive years. Honda launched a redesigned and improved Civic in fall 2005.

Jim Miller, executive vice-president of Honda Canada Inc., said the company will be able to increase Civic output because it has flexible manufacturing in Alliston.

It marks the first time that the No. 2 plant will assemble a car since opening in 1998. The plant currently assembles the Ridgeline pickup truck, the Acura MDX and the Pilot, while the No. 1 operation makes the Acura CSX in addition to Civic sedans and coupes.

Discovery Channel and Mazda in sponsorship deal

D

iscovery Channel shifted into high gear for the launch of Star Racer. In a Discovery Channel first, the channel developed one-of-akind sponsorship opportunities for Mazda, Castrol and Edge Active Care.

Star Racer, which premiered Oct. 24, explores the world of auto racing, searching for fearless drivers who aspire to become the fastest driver on the circuit.

But not just fast — culled from two competing teams and facing weekly elimination, the ultimate winner will be the driver with the most technical acumen, split-second instinct and a mastery of the manipulation of speed.

With a judging panel that includes racing icon Paul Tracy, the winning driver declared as Canada’s newest racing star will receive the ultimate prize: a full-season sponsored ride on Formula Star Mazda circuit with the AIM Racing Team.

“Star Racer was tailor-made for these unique sponsorship opportunities,” says Sally Basmajian, VP of Sales and Marketing, Discovery Channel.

The series sees 16 competitors divided into two teams through the course of the competition. Discovery Channel and the series producers, Insight Productions, identified these two teams as a unique opportunity for integrated sponsorship, and forged partnerships with automotive maker Mazda Canada Inc. and Castrol motor oil.

As Team Sponsors, both Mazda and Castrol have team naming rights. Also, each sponsor receives tagged pre-promotion spots and an online branded Team micro site, hosted at StarRacer.ca (also integrated into Discoverychannel.ca), which features racer bios; a chance to virtually race the track with the official Star Racer flash racing game; unseen video footage and more.

Star Racer features a third sponsorship, collaborating with Edge Active Care.

The “Edge Ahead Star Racer Pool” offers a viewer the chance to score points along with the show by predicting who will be this year’s Star Racer.

Weekly and grand prizes will be awarded to the pool point leaders, including a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to race at the world-renowned Jim Russell Racing School in Mt. Tremblant, Quebec, where Star Racer was filmed.

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 27

Don’t talk about your woman’s bumpers IF YOU DO, WRITES LORRAINE SOMMERFELD, YOU’D BEST FOLLOW UP WITH A THREE HOUR BUFF AND POLISH

O

h, not again. Get a new analogy, guys. there have been some cars I have treated better If I see one more birthday announce- than others, but by the time the new car smell is ment where a woman is compared to a gone, I’m tossing coffee cups onto the floor car, I’m going to barf. mats.

A few months back, I saw a huge, long, Maybe some would argue that a woman expensive birthday notice that must should be flattered if a guy positively have cost the well-wisher a fortune. compared her to his car; she should be Beneath a photo of an attractive happy to be sharing the first place step woman, her loving hubby had crafton the podium of Things That Matter ed a long and well-intentioned verse The Most To Him, that he went to the that compared his love for her to his time and expense to discuss her chassis love for his car, awkwardly strugin the local paper. gling to rhyme her attributes from, That woman wouldn’t be me. Only I well, bumper to bumper. may make jokes about how many miles Unfortunately, a little of the love I have on me. Only I can kid with my LORRAINE SOMMERFELD got lost in translation. There were friends about dents and dings, about the predictable low-rust and bodywork and tune-ups and a lust for a mileage nods, but by the time he stow-away seat. poetically noted that her headlights I asked a man I knew once why men were pointed a little lower, I quit are prepared to spend so much time and reading. I’m sure his wife did likemoney on their cars. Why they will buy wise, and to paraphrase an old Seinfeld episode, every after-market accessory ever made, why “no birthday sex for you.” they will buff and polish for hours, why they Our old ’66 Rambler was named Betsy. I will clean the dashboard with a Q-tip. His reply don’t know why my Dad called it that, but he was succinct, and the reason we had no future would coo lovingly as he together — “because they stroked the dash, praying for don’t talk.” the ignition to catch, for the I’ve never thought of the Only I may make engine to purr. Maybe if he’d analogy in reverse; I’ve never paid that much attention to considered a car a guy. Would I jokes about how my Mom, he would have gotwant the same things? ten the same result.

Dependability, easy starting, a many miles I have When I was really young place to put my purse, decent on me. Only I can kid cup-holder, perfect body, built (in 1966 I was only two, so be quiet), I thought cars just for comfort and speed, corners with my friends about well, low maintenance, no discame with names, like people. I didn’t know Ole Betsy’s concerting noises and low dents and dings, name was really AMC emissions — yes, I guess I Rambler until I was seven or about bodywork and would want the same things. so. Of course later on in life I Maybe it’s my totally inferlearned that men often tile imagination, but I can’t tune-ups and a lust rename things they are particcome up with any birthday for a stow-away seat. message I would have pubularly close to, even when those things already have a lished that compared The Poor perfectly good appellation.

Sod That Lives With Me to anything else. A If my father had called my mother’s butt a car? A blender? A cabana boy named Sven? bumper, she would have ploughed him one. If Scratch that. My imagination isn’t as infertile he had published in the paper a list of her attrib- as I thought. utes as an automotive accolade, she would have Hallmark exists for a reason, to help the rest divorced him. And yeah, my Mom had a terrif- of us with the sentiments we can’t always ic sense of humour. My father was also smart describe. I’m sure today’s Birthday Girl is takenough to want to sleep beside my mother ing the expression all in good humour, though if instead of in Betsy.

I were her I’d demand all new rims, fabulous I understand the affinity many men, and some new seat covers and a three-hour hot wax with women, have for their cars. I get it. I prefer buff and polish to reward my tolerance. sheets and towels, a gene I inherited from my mother, though I don’t name them. Like men, www.lorraineonline.ca

Companies such as Tesla Motors in the U.S. are banking on a future where everyone will want an electric car. With its electric motor producing zero emissions, the Tesla Roadster (above) is breaking the link between traditional automotive performance and oil consumption.

Plug-in hybrids on a roll CLEANER CARS ARE POSSIBLE, MARKETABLE, AND MAYBE INEVITABLE. IT’S A GREAT OPPORTUNITY — THAT SHORTSIGHTED POLICY-MAKERS MAY BE SETTING THE CANADIAN ECONOMY UP TO MISS

By Tyler Hamilton Torstar wire service

A few weeks later, Bloomberg News — citing unnamed sources — reported that General Motors was developing a plug-in hybrid. GM vice-chairacific Gas & Electric Co., the largest utility man Bob Lutz has more or less backed up that in California, did something a tad unusual report, writing in his corporate blog last month last month. It added an insert in the bills of that the auto giant is studying plug-in hybrids and its 5.1 million customers, asking them to pressure “will have more to say about those soon.” the world’s largest automakers to design hybrid No doubt, they’re also facing pressure from the vehicles that can be charged from a 120-volt U.S. government. Because large-scale introduchousehold outlet. tion of plug-in hybrids has the potential to dramat“Imagine,” the utility said, “plugging your car ically reduce oil consumption, and therefore U.S. into a standard electric socket in the evening, then dependence on foreign oil, George W. Bush is all driving to work or on errands the next morning over the idea. without using a drop of gas.”

Last week, during a speech in St. Louis, the U.S. It then urged its customers to sign an online president once again preached the virtues of a petition, asking the auto giants to begin making plug-in hybrid world and emphasized the need for so-called plug-in hybrids. advancements in battery technology. A plug-in “The petition basically says, ‘If hybrid might not help drivers in you build it, we will buy it,’” rural Missouri or Texas, “but it’s PG&E vice-president Bob certainly going to help those who Howard says. “Automakers live in cities,” said Bush. “Most aren’t convinced there are folks in the cities don’t drive The good news? enough buyers. That’s why more than 40 miles, so you can PG&E is hoping to harness the envision consumer habits beginIt’s been slow to power of its 5.1 million cusning to change.” tomers.”

The numbers vary, but in the come, but interest Plug-in hybrids are similar to United States it’s estimated that regular hybrids, such as the 40 per cent of Americans travel in and acceptance Toyota Prius, but with one key no more than 32 km on an averdifference: They’re built with age day, and 60 per cent travel no of the plug-in larger battery systems that can be more than 48 km. Assuming charged by plugging the car into Canadian statistics are in the hybrid concept an electrical socket. They are also same ballpark, it’s fair to say that is beginning to take plug-in hybrids could easily suit designed to run in battery-dominant mode for the first 55 km, the needs of millions of hold in Canada. switching to the gas-powered Canadians. The market is there. engine only for long trips or to Telling, however, is that Bush assist in aggressive acceleration. wannabe Stephen Harper hasn’t “As now envisioned, plug-ins said a word about the technology, would be about 50 per cent more despite vague talk of imposing fuel-efficient than standard hybrids, because they mandatory emission targets on automakers and could run much longer on electricity alone,” cracking down on smog. according to a recent report from Fact is, if it were not for the Corporate Average AllianceBernstein LP, one of the world’s largest Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards imposed in the asset management firms.

United States in 1975, North American automakNever mind fuel-cell cars powered by hydro- ers would have been completely blindsided by the gen, which is a challenge to store and would Japanese. require a massive overhaul to our fuelling infraThe good news? It’s been slow to come, but structure. “Because most of the necessary infra- interest in and acceptance of the plug-in hybrid structure for plug-ins is already in place — many concept is beginning to take hold in Canada. homes and garages have outlets capable of B.C. Hydro, Manitoba Hydro and Hydro recharging plug-ins — the transition to plug-ins Québec are keen on plug-ins. All three utilities should be low cost.” took part in a National Research Council workNow, imagine the engine component of a plug- shop on the technology in July.. The workshop in hybrid is designed to run on biodiesel or 100 was organized to spark discussion and to help per cent cellulose ethanol. Under such a scenario, Natural Resources Canada formulate an R&D you’re off crude oil completely and tailpipe CO2 funding plan for plug-in hybrids, through its emissions are effectively carbon-neutral.

Program for Energy Research and Development.

Some automakers are finally getting the mesA mass-marketable plug-in hybrid won’t arrive sage. In June, Toyota announced that it is advanc- overnight, but if these low-emission vehicles do ing its research and development into plug-in hit the market a few years from now it would be hybrids and is “currently working on a next-gen- nice to know that we’re ready to accept them. eration vehicle that can extend the distance trav- Heck, it would be nice if we could build them. elled by the electric motor alone.”

That’s why we need to take it seriously now.

P

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Smolensky, who bought the company in 2004, said the decision was needed to secure the company’s future.

Founded in 1947, TVR is one of the few remaining privately owned carmakers in Britain.

— Torstar wire service

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The company, owned by Russian businessman Nikolai Smolensky, said production in Blackpool will be transferred to another European country.

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28 • INDEPENDENTFUN

OCTOBER 27, 2006

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Boletus mushroom 4 Skids 9 Pop’s partner 12 Humiliate 14 Science of light 16 Flecked stones 19 Brainy bunch 20 Côte d’Azur 21 Like the sounds in “un bon pain blanc” 22 Bad start?

23 Steals 25 “La donna e mobile,” e.g.

27 Get around moguls 28 Auricular 30 Place for cargo 31 Luxury leisure spots 32 Oats, e.g.

33 Endurance 35 Sets of letters 37 Zip 38 Welfare 40 Gambler’s cube 41 Collects 45 Soil turner 46 Actress Megan 50 Othello character 51 Alice ___, B.C. 53 S. African wine centre 55 Skir ___, N.S. 56 Alkali 57 Norway’s capital

59 Remain 60 Archaeological site 61 Heir, often 62 Knifes 64 There it is!

65 Prov. with Wild Horse, Stand Off and Westward Ho 66 Baking soda, e.g.

68 Fish, in Nfld.

70 Permanent resident of Nfld.

73 Hasty escape 74 Sold (Fr.) 76 Large 77 Rash 80 Originator of standard time: Sir Sandford ___ 84 African game 85 Overdue 86 Spanish painter 87 Comedian Cullen 89 Printing fluid 90 Percent of Canada that is arable land 91 She danced before Herod 93 Twilight, briefly 94 Stench 96 Speech 98 Birch 100 Central N.S. town 101 Indonesian skirts 102 Stringed instrument

103 Beer barrel 104 Like some letters from home 105 Take off DOWN 1 Output of Canadian writers 2 Tee preceder 3 Little legumes 4 Type of lumber used on houses 5 Adored 6 Inflammation: suffix 7 Fruit in pastry 8 Fragmentary 9 Lisa of the Louvre 10 Grandpa (Ger.) 11 Largest town on Queen Charlotte islands (B.C.) 12 Bullets, briefly 13 Whips eggs 14 Infectious particle of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease 15 Singer McLachlan 17 Superior and Chilko 18 Lost traction 24 Make hay ___ the sun ...

26 Duncan of dance 29 N.S. causeway 31 REM time 32 Examine by touch

34 Not: prefix 35 Gone by 36 Male goat 39 Electrical unit 41 ___ Craig, Ont. 42 Philippine volcano 43 Representative 44 Iceberg in a bowl 46 Mortal 47 Strangely 48 Ontario’s tree: eastern ___ pine 49 Beet product 52 ___ Peter to pay Paul 54 Cigar dropping 57 Peterson of jazz 58 Incentives 63 Public spat 64 Tot up 65 Sponsorship 67 European mountains 69 Prov. that touches four Great Lakes 71 Kind of girder 72 Vigour’s partner 74 November 11 honoree 75 Alien lore 77 Interior 78 Traditional Inuit food from narwhal 79 Swiss resort 81 French city 82 Sask.’s grass

emblem: ___-and-thread 83 Judge’s hammer 84 Present

86 Wins 88 Roman fiddler 90 Amphibian

91 Put in the hold 92 Apiece 95 Lode contents

97 Have a life 99 Floral neckwear Solutions on page 30

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19) This is a good time to speak out on a difficult situation. You’re known for your honesty, so people will listen and, perhaps, begin to make long-needed changes.

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22) You might feel you’ve dotted all your i’s and crossed all your t’s regarding that upcoming deal. But there might be some facts you’ve ignored. Check again.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22) Good news: Your outspoken views about a controversial onthe-job situation could find unexpectedly strong support from a most unlikely workplace faction.

TAURUS (APR. 20 TO MAY 20) The Bovine’s sharp business sense alerts you to question the positions of those trying to push the Bull into a deal. Demand to see more proof of what they profess.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22) Time for the Lion to be more physically active. It will help shake off any lingering Leonine lethargy and restore your energy levels, so you’ll be prepared for what lies ahead.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) You might have to draw on your reservoir of spiritual strength to help someone special through a difficult time. Your loving attitude makes all the difference.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Your quick thinking helps you get out of a troubling situation that was suddenly thrust upon you. You can expect to learn more about why it happened later on.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) Helping those in need at this time is laudable. But don’t ignore your own needs, especially where it concerns your health.

A medical checkup is a wise move.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) Your proven leadership qualities make you the perfect person to take on an important workplace task.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) Although some compromise

might need to be reached regarding your stand on an important issue, you’ll still be able to get the most crucial points across.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) A chance to make a career change carries both positive and uncertain possibilities. Best advice: Check it out thoroughly and don’t be rushed into a decision.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) You’re still a staunch supporter of one side of an important issue.

But be prepared to deal with new information that could cause you to question your current stand.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK: You’re perceptive and quick to act when you sense that someone needs help. You are an alwaysdependable friend.

Fill in the grid so that each row of nine squares, each column of nine and each section of nine (three squares by three) contains the numbers 1 through 9 in any order.

There is only one solution to each puzzle. Solutions, tips and computer program available at www.sudoko.com SOLUTION ON PAGE 30

INDEPENDENTSPORTS

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 2, 2006 — PAGE 29

Layton power Fog Devils centre’s strength is offence, but defensive awareness keeps him on the ice

By Don Power For The Independent

R

eal Paiement says Fog Devils rookie Nick Layton would make a great third or fourth line player.

The coach’s assessment is a compliment, albeit a weird one, considering that Layton is already playing on one of the Fog Devils’ top two lines. The New Brunswick rookie has impressed with eight goals and two assists in his team’s first 16 games. But what has truly impressed Paiement — the Fog Devils coach and general manager — has been Layton’s play outside the offensive zone.

“We need offence and he’s always been an offensive guy,” Paiement said prior to his team’s 5-3 win over AcadieBathurst Oct. 24. “But from last year to this year, there’s been a big change in the way he played, how much he was responsible without the puck.

“Of what he’s shown me, he could be put in a role player situation. And that’s what keeps him in the line-up.

“He’s not a liability when he’s out there. There are guys on our team who have great offensive upsides, but sometimes forget there are two teams on the ice. They’re more of a danger to put out there. They’re high reward, but also high risk.”

Layton has that high offensive upside to him, but there’s minimal defensive risk, Paiement says.

“If you’re only a pure offensive player and it’s not working,” Paiement says, “then you end up on the bench until you get your knack back. If you can be reliable defensively, then it keeps you in the line-up until you produce again.”

However, Paiement is quick to add that playing an offensive role on one of the top two lines “has to be his spot eventually.”

And that’s exactly where the Wheaton Settlement, N.B. native wants to be.

Layton tried out for the Fog Devils last year, as a known commodity to Paiement, who coached against the young centre in the New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island Midget AAA League in 2004-05.

Layton was returned to midget, though, where he turned it into a positive situation.

He finished his high school education (“and with good marks,” he adds). He flourished with the Moncton Flyers, winning the scoring title with 18 goals and 38 assists in 35 games and the regular season most valuable player award.

More importantly, however, he took the constructive criticism he received at the Fog Devils camp and used it to make himself better.

“He just didn’t go back home,” Paiement explained. “He changed the things he had to do to come back. Our scout said he took what we told him and put it into practice. So he has already shown he had a great desire to be here.

“It’s great to have a kid who wants to be here. There are a lot of kids who say they want to be here, but don’t do the things they need to do to be here.”

Layton echoes that sentiment. In midget, he played in all situations, which gave him a better understanding of the game.

“Getting the ice time and giving myself that opportunity to improve,

Fog Devil Nick Layton (No. 22) during the Oct. 25 game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titans at Mile One in St. John’s.

allowed me to come into this league as an 18-year-old, so I’m a bit more experienced than a 16- or 17-year-old,” Layton says of his final midget season.

“I take pride in my defensive play. I don’t want to be scored against.

“You play good defence, it’s going to lead to good offence. You just want to score goals when you’re younger, but when you get older you realize that if you want to play, you’ve got to play both ends of the rink.”

Although confident in his offensive abilities, Layton is surprised at his quick start. His only goal at training camp was to make the squad. But once the season started, injuries befell three forwards, and Layton seized his opportunity to get a regular shift and power play time.

“Obviously it hurts the team when you have injuries,” he says, “but it provides an opportunity for the younger, more inexperienced guys to prove to themselves that they can play major junior

hockey.

“I always thought I could play here.

It’s a dream come true. You worked all your life to get to where you are, and hopefully keep it going.”

So, too, does Paiement. The coach understands midget players only play a limited schedule, so there will be ups and downs in Layton’s play in a 70-game regular season.

But with his strength on the puck — which impressed the coach during Layton’s three-goal game against Cape Breton Sept. 29 — his defensive awareness and his desire to improve game in, game out, Paiement will find a spot in the line-up for him.

Whether that’s at centre — Layton’s natural and most comfortable position — or wing remains to be seen. Paiement says “the jury is out” on where he will end up.

“I think he feels more comfortable at centre,” Paiement says, “but it depends

Paul Daly/The Independent

on the other players you have. If other players fill the middle better than he does, or other players can’t fill the wing as well as he does, one or the other, then sometimes you have to make changes.”

The Fog Devils expect to get their injured guys back by the end of the month. That means some of the players who have been given ample opportunity to step up will be asked to sit down.

Layton has set a goal to play in all 70 games this year. Paiement says if he continues to be responsible on the ice that could happen.

“It means he’s going to keep on playing. I don’t know where, but he’ll keep on playing.”

For Layton, that’s all that matters.

“You want to play in every game and help your team make the playoffs,” he said. “To be in an offensive role and score 20 or 30 goals would be nice. But whatever can get the team as far as it can is the main goal.”

Downturn in golf industry not just a local concern

E

ver since my first issue of Sports Illustrated landed in the mailbox (Fernando Valenzuela, Will the Bubble Burst?, May 20, 1981), I’ve been a fervent reader of the best sports magazine in the world.

While the pictures always grab me, the stories leave me with a myriad of emotions. Not just a weekly sports magazine, SI provides many heartwarming features, tear-jerking articles, thought-provoking news items and memories of years ago.

But this year’s May 29 issue caught me off guard. That’s because in that issue’s Golf Plus section, a story in the magazine personally affected me for the first time.

Every year in October, I travel to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with 11 other guys from all over the province (I mean that literally: three are from Goose Bay, one from Deer Lake, two more from Bishop’s Falls, two from Mount Pearl and the rest from St. John’s) for a vacation in one of the top

DON POWER Power Point golf destinations in the United States.

To be fair, golf is just the excuse to get together. It’s not like any of us will ever make any amount of money playing the game. We’re basically a group of mid-to-high handicappers. (I know I will never be in Sports Illustrated for my golfing ability.)

One of the courses we routinely played in Myrtle Beach was Bay Tree.

The 54-hole facility, with courses named Green, Gold and Silver, was a regular on our list.

The Green course we played had a great history long before we started bouncing balls off those tall Carolina pines, sending black squirrels scrambling for their lives. It hosted a couple of PGA events years ago, and was the

first 54-hole facility in the region to open all at once.

And then, when I opened the May 29 issue, Golf Plus informed me that Bay Tree closed May 15.

A course that was built in 1972 for $1 million sold in 2006 for $20 million.

So naturally when we arrived in Myrtle Beach Oct. 12, I was very interested in seeing the courses and what had become of them. Driving south on Route 9, we noticed the distinctive landmark golf ball still towers over the trees. But upon driving by, the sight was a shock: once perfectly mown fairway grass now sprouted weeds up to my eyes. What was once a manicured stretch of grass was now abandoned and quickly becoming dilapidated.

Even the immaculate sand bunkers were filled with weeds.

It was actually sad.

Because of the courses we played this year, we passed Bay Tree virtually every day. We could see no work being done — it won’t actually begin until

January, when 500 condos and 900 single-family homes will be built — but we could see the deterioration.

The business of golf, I found out last week, is suffering the same downward trend in Myrtle Beach as it did this past summer in St. John’s.

Remember years ago, when people actually slept in their cars in order to secure a weekend tee time at Pippy Park?

Remember when hooking a tee time was like winning the lottery?

Remember when everybody and their dog golfed?

Not this past year. You would walk up to virtually any course at any hour and get a tee time. Every local course operator talked of the downturn in the golf industry.

That bubble from the past decade has burst.

Well, apparently Myrtle Beach suffers the same problems. In 2001, there were 120 courses. By December, that number will be reduced to 107. By

2010, experts predict another seven courses will close, bought up by land developers.

And it’s totally understandable.

Because there are fewer golfers, profits are down. Bay Tree’s owner says his courses rake in $100,000 in annual profit.

The developer walked in with an offer of $20 million.

You do the math.

I’m not saying the local courses are in danger of being sold for houses (although there was that rumour from a few years ago in which Clovelly and Bally Haly would swap keys, and Bas Dobbin would develop the land off Logy Bay Road). But if these courses are not profitable, and golfers don’t continue to play, who is going to operate them?

So where will that leave me?

Hopefully in Myrtle Beach in October … again. donniep@nl.rogers.com

30 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS

OCTOBER 27, 2006

A perfect stew Whatever else you do in life and the great outdoors, writes Paul Smith, never leave parsnip out of the stew

L

ast Sunday my eldest daughter, Megan, and I cooked up a delicious pot of moose stew. The smell of it simmering on the stove was mesmerizing. The household air exchanger spread the aroma all over the neighbourhood. I was forced to share with the neighbours.

I love stew and I’m a man who grabs opportunity by the horns when it presents itself. My daughter, who is training to be a chef, a Young Culinarian, I believe is her correct title, is home for a few weeks. I just bought a new anodized aluminium bake-pot that needs breaking in, and testing.

Also, I need to work on some new outdoor cuisine for next year’s salmonfishing excursion (I’m hoping to outdo Rod’s pan-fried cod fillet and tongues).

Add all this together and you get a father/daughter cooking session.

You can’t make stew without a bakepot — well, I suppose you could cook stew in a glass or Pyrex dish, but to me it lacks the wholesome full-bodied taste that comes from cast iron. My new pot is anodized aluminium, a compromise for mobility and ease of carry. I’ll have to see if my stew turns out as good as it does in cast iron.

I believe “bake-pot” is a Newfoundland term. Elsewhere they’re called Dutch ovens or camp ovens. The French call them Cocottes and in South Africa they are Potjies. Australian outdoorsmen have made a compromise similar to mine. They use Bedourie ovens in the Outback, which are made of steel rather than cast iron to spare their pack horses. Dutch ovens are thick-walled metal pots with tight-fitting lids. They distribute and hold heat

PAUL SMITH

The Rock

Outdoors really well and are ideal for slow-cooking stews, beans and roasts. Traditional Dutch Ovens have three legs, a bale handle, and a rimmed lid. The legs facilitate cooking outdoors with charcoal briquettes or a low fire, and the rimmed lid allows charcoal or cinders to be piled on the lid for even cooking. A pot with a handle can be hung chuckwagon style from a tripod of iron or even green wood.

Mine is a modern oven, fashioned from high-tech material, in the traditional style by GSI outdoors.

On with the stew: Megan has convinced me that prep is a good thing.

This means instead of winging everything as I go, now I plan ahead, prepare and measure out all my ingredients before I start cooking. This is how the professionals do it. Look out Rod — I’m going to be the star chef of salmon fishing camp next summer.

Megan and I peeled and chopped potatoes, carrot, turnip, and parsnip.

Whatever you do in life and the great outdoors, never leave parsnip out of a stew. While prepping the veggies, Megan and I chatted about spicing up the stew. My outdoor and wild game cooking has so far been limited to salt and pepper. Megan suggested fennel, coriander seed, and bay leaves in addition to my traditional black pepper and salt.

Fennel is a highly aromatic perennial

The author’s moose stew.

herb native to southern Europe and used widely in Chinese cuisine. Coriander was introduced to Britain by the Romans and is a key ingredient in traditional English black puddings. It is known to blend well with game and smoked meats. Why not moose stew?

Bay leaves are dried from an evergreen called Laurus that grows in the Mediterranean. They are famous in soups, stocks and stews. I’ve always claimed an open mind, and I certainly shouldn’t argue with a young culinarian.

Here we go.

I braised two pounds of cubed moose

Paul Smith photo.

and sliced onions in the bottom of my Dutch oven using olive oil. Fatback pork might be more appropriate out in the woods. When the meat browned I added water, sliced turnip, and parsnip along with the spices, salt and pepper.

There is nothing very particular about the amounts — just to taste. When the carrot had softened just a little, we added cubed potatoes.

The trick is slow cooking. Keep the heat on low, just enough to keep the pot simmering with the lid on. When the potatoes were done, we added a thickening of cornstarch and water. There’s a

Plenty going on — except good hockey

By Damien Cox Torstar wire service t may be the Ottawa Senators will enjoy not being the hunted in the Eastern Conference for a while.

That role this season has fallen to the unbeaten, untied and unbelievably fast Buffalo Sabres, a team playing so well it looks at the moment like 82-0 is well within range.

“They are a great team,” marvelled Ottawa coach Bryan Murray after his squad humbled

the increasingly leaky Maple Leafs 6-2 Oct. 24. “Geez, I wouldn’t mind being a little closer to them in the standings, though.”

All in good time. The Sabres will inevitably hit a rut in the road, while the Sens have already dealt with some early season problems and now appear set to more closely resemble the dominant Ottawa regular-season teams of recent vintage.

They have shaken off some surprising scoring woes to pound home 14 goals in their last two victories over the Devils and Leafs and a

Solutions for crossword on page 28

Solutions for sudoku on page 28

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power play that was horrifically bad early on was 2 for 5 Oct. 24 in a game that was strictly no contest.

“We’ve been going in the right direction for a little while now and it’s nice to get the results,” captain Daniel Alfredsson says.

“When everybody is going, we’re still a pretty good team.”

For now, however, the Senators should feel happy to let the Sabres get all the flattering press notices. That’s a large burden that grows heavy over the course of a season and the Sens know that by spring it can be a hindrance.

For the third consecutive time this season, the Battle of Ontario produced a dullish game without much emotion or intrigue. Perhaps Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk was trying to persuade new Pittsburgh Penguins owner Jim Balsillie of the potential value of a third team in the provincial NHL competition as they shared conversation.

The speculation that Balsillie might ultimately move the Pens to the K-W region sounds crazy, but people with as much money as the BlackBerry King can have such crazy dreams.

The business of hockey was in the air in general, with Darcy Tucker’s agent, Carlos Sosa, sitting high in the press box after meeting with GM John Ferguson earlier in the day.

No deal yet and quite probably no deal until sometime after Jan.1 because, until that date, Tucker can’t sign a contract with more than a 100 per cent raise on his current salary of $1.5 million (U.S.), and he’s aiming higher.

For the home side, it was a lamentable effort in losing a third straight on home ice, worrisome with five of the next six coming on the road.

The Leafs have now surrendered 10 goals in two games and 26 in their last six and are beginning to play more like the way many projected they would before the season started.

So, in a very different way, are the Senators.

thin line between stew and soup. I like my stew thickened just a little.

The stew was fantastic, with Megan’s spice selection adding an extra special zest. Stew is a hearty one-pot meal that can be prepared with any type of wild meat, either at home or in camp. I’m planning to get some friends together this winter for a day of ice fishing and stew cooked on the pond. Maybe rabbit stew. Stay tuned.

Paul Smith lives in Spaniard’s Bay and enjoys all the outdoors Newfoundland and Labrador has to offer. flyfishtherock@hotmail.com

Little downside for NBA cheats

Undetectable drug can boost players

By Dave Feschuk Torstar wire service

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rejigged roster has given the Raptors a pre-season shot in the arm. So how about a syringe to the buttocks for good measure?

There is a wonder drug on the market in which the NBA club might be interested. The substance, its pushers will tell you, “Increases Energy and Stamina!” Both could come in handy with the Raptors unleashing a run-like-theSuns, 100-shots-a-night offence. The drug “Burns Fat and Builds Muscle! Even Improves Eyesight!” There haven’t been many teams who have had much luck fielding a fivesome of near-sighted fat guys. It “Accelerates Recovery from Injury!” With the club’s best player, Chris Bosh, and its highly touted No. 1 draft pick, Andrea Bargnani, both nursing sore feet, it’d be nice to speed the healing for the Nov. 1 opener.

Anyone who has been reading sports periodicals knows what’s inside the vial: Human growth hormone (HGH).

And if you’re a pragmatist who Chris Bosh believes it’s only cheating if you get caught, HGH is a fountain of youth not to be missed.

Performance-enhancing drugs are in the headlines again.

But no one talks much about drugs in basketball.

Yesterday, somebody asked Bosh, the Raptors’ not-sobulky forward, if he thought steroids would be beneficial to an NBA player. “Of course it would help a guy in the NBA,” Bosh replied. He went on to give a number of reasons why he doesn’t take them, including their alleged ill effects on tendons and ligaments. “I want to play for a long time,” Bosh said. “You can’t play for a long time, getting big that fast.” Notice he didn’t say: “Because it’s wrong.”

While the NBA undertakes random testing of its players for a long list of drugs the NBA, like the NFL, doesn’t test for HGH. Says Billy Hunter, the NBA players association head: “We don’t participate in a sport where there’s a need for growth hormone.”

On that point we beg to differ. We’d like to hear a compelling reason why an NBA player wouldn’t take HGH or some other undetectable performance-enhancer. We’re sure there is one — email us if you find it. In the meantime, let’s go over some of the usual arguments against taking HGH: Because it will lead to a young demise. There are no clinical studies on the effect of taking Olympian doses of sports dope. And when you consider the sophistication of the chemists at the forefront of the performance-enhancing business — among them Patrick Arnold, the designer steroids developer whose interview in the Oct. 9 issue of Sports Illustrated was a window into the world of the testtube set — it’s easy to see how an athlete’s worst fears could be easily allayed.

Because it won’t enhance NBA assets like quickness and shooting percentage. Arnold, in the same SI interview, scoffed at the clichés about performance-enhancing drugs in skill sports. “A person taking testosterone is going to be focused and able to tune everything out,” he told the magazine. “That’s an aspect of steroids and how they affect hitting (a baseball) people overlook: Enhanced CSN (central nervous system) activation. It’s reaction time.”

Basketball is nothing but a game of reactions. So where’s the drug’s downside?

Because it’s against the rules. So is travelling. And when it came to light recently that members of the Super Bowl finalist Carolina Panthers were prescribed large doses of steroids and HGH in 2004, there was as much outrage registered as there is for your average dragged pivot foot.

HGH is on the NBA’s banned list, but it’s an unenforceable ban. And so the questions for the Raptors linger: Are you injured? Are you slow? Are you weak? Are you having trouble scoring in more ways than one? Then why wouldn’t you take the stuff? It’s a scary question, indeed.

You get the feeling no one really wants to know the answer.

OCTOBER 27, 2006

INDEPENDENTCLASSIFIED • 31

INDEPENDENTCLASSIFIED FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27-NOVEMBER 2, 2006 — PAGE 32

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