2006-11-17

VOL. 4 ISSUE 46

—

ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006

—

WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA —

$1.50 HOME DELIVERY (HST included); $2.00 RETAIL (HST included)

STYLE 21

GALLERY 18

Remember these?

Legwarmers are back

Mary Pratt: the prints, the paintings, the person

Clearwater clearing out?

Fish processing company moving senior management from Grand Bank to Nova Scotia IVAN MORGAN

C

learwater Seafoods is moving three senior management people from its clam-fleet division in Grand Bank back to Nova Scotia headquarters, The Independent has learned. Grand Bank mayor Rex Matthews says he’s concerned, and wants more information from the company.

“We decided that for good management and operation reasons it makes sense to have our key onshore fleet management people working together in the same office,” Eric Roe, chief operating officer for Clearwater, tells The Independent.

“So what we will be doing over the course of the next six months or so is three positions will be moving to our fleet office in Nova Scotia.”

Sources tell The Independent the moves are a sign of things to come, with the company planning to eventually move its fleet from the island’s south coast, a charge Clearwater denies. In St. John’s this week to speak to the Board of Trade, John Risley, chairman of the board, said Clearwater has no such plans. “No that’s not true at all.”

Roe says there are no further personnel changes planned for Clearwater’s Grand Bank operations.

“All the support people will still be in Grand Bank, it has no impact or effect on the rest of the operation or the processing plant in Grand Bank,” he says. “The Atlantic Pursuit and the Atlantic Vigour will continue to land in Grand Bank. The third boat in our fleet, the Concord . . . lands in Argentia and it will continue to do so” The announcement was news to the mayor of Grand Bank.

“I guess from my perspective I did hear a rumour the last couple of days — nothing from the company,” Matthews says, adding the news is worrying.

“Clearwater has not informed the town on their rationale for making this change,” he says. “Even though the company has made a couple of decisions over the past couple of years that have not been positive for the town, Clearwater still See “Looking for,” page 2

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Rather than us concentrating our effort on fighting for our members, we’re spending too much time fighting with each other.”

— Chris Henley, candidate for NAPE presidency.

See page 11

LIFE 17

Actor and Rabbittown Theatre owner Aiden Flynn SPORTS 29

A duo of formidable first-years could be future of Memorial’s women’s basketball Paper Trail . . . . . . . 10 Book review . . . . . 20 Bond martinis . . . . 23 Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Classified . . . . . . . 32

Capt. Chad Belbin, a member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and Memorial University student.

Paul Daly/The Independent

$8,000 a month

Newfoundlanders serve in Afghanistan to help pay off education NADYA BELL

C

apt. Chad Belbin of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment says serving in Afghanistan helped pay for his university, but being a student in the reserve forces has its problems.

“We’re in a Catch-22: I have to work to study, but if I work I don’t have time to study,” he says. “I went to Afghanistan to help wipe out my debt — and I wanted some experience.”

Belbin, 27, earned $8,000 a month during a five-month tour of duty in Kabul in 2005, before the Canadian Forces moved from Kabul into the more dangerous Kandahar

region.

Even so, Belbin says the work was intense, especially when fellow soldier Pte. Braun Scott Woodfield died in December 2005 when the vehicle he was riding in rolled over on patrol.

“It was pretty emotional — everyone is like family over there, it affects everyone,” says Belbin, who, as an officer, monitored troops on patrol and updated them on intelligence.

“The beauties of being on officer — it was about 17 hours a day, seven days a week.

There was no time off,” he says. “Part of the officer training is dealing with stress — and they put you through it to test how you react with it.”

Belbin also led training programs for the troops that tested them on safety procedures and the rules of engagement. He says he felt

good about the work they were doing in Afghanistan when he saw pictures of people they were helping.

“The drug lords would go around to the orphanage and buy young girls to sell them,” he says. “But because we had patrols they weren’t able to.”

Belbin says he made enough money in the reserves while completing his bachelor in business administration to avoid getting a student loan, and he graduated with only a small line of credit debt.

“As an officer the money is phenomenal.”

Belbin, a Corner Brook-native, was not alone in Afghanistan as a student looking to pay off debt … or as a Newfoundlander.

“Practically everyone I talked to over there See “They’re still looking,” page 11

Victim mentality Harry Tucker of Bell Island returned to Newfoundland four years ago from New York, where he provided strategic and tactical IT guidance to the largest firms on Wall Street. Tucker, 41, moved to the St. John’s area to try and turn things around; he had visions of making a difference “on a larger scale.” Today, he and his family are preparing to move back to the States. Tucker says he couldn’t overcome the “victim mentality,” the “can’t-do” attitude. “I don’t want my kids growing up in a place that believes it is defeated.” Tucker says he will return to visit, but not to live. “I wouldn’t even retire here.”

By Harry Tucker

T

he media is abuzz these days over allegations of conflict of interest regarding the government intention to invest in a new fibre-optic link with the mainland.

Before the fuss over this development, we were bombarded by the supposed disaster brought on by outmigration. As we continue to lament about how opportunity continues to pass by the province for greener pastures elsewhere, how can we be sure that we are not manifesting that which we so vehemently complain about?

It seems that people often complain about lack of opportunity here. When opportunity is presented, the same people complain that they don’t like it for one reason or another. They never offer suggestions to make an opportunity better — they passionately want the current opportunity to be killed.

If the opportunity is killed, this allows them to revert back to their original complaint that nothing good happens here. This is victim mentality, plain and simple.

If I were an investor viewing Newfoundland from abroad, I would see the province as a place where opportunity is not embraced — conflict is the preferred model. If many people here focus on the downside of every opportunity and fight it as strongly as we appear to be fighting each one, how do we set ourselves up as a shining light for investors to think about investing here? I posit that we are creating our own reality and, in fact, have mastered the ability to do so.

People refer to out-migration as a big evil demon that needs to be stopped. Out-migration is a symptom See “Law of attraction,” page 4

2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

‘Half of us are defective!’

Patrick O’Flaherty says province’s illiteracy rate doesn’t tell the whole story

T

he illiteracy rate in Newfoundland in 1900 was calculated at approximately 25 per cent. In 1914-18 the percentage of illiterates in the Newfoundland Regiment and Newfoundland Forestry companies was 17 per cent. We perhaps can’t extrapolate that percentage onto the entire population, but at least it’s evidence that illiteracy by then had declined.

Since 1918 vast amounts of money have been spent on schools, education has been made free and compulsory, teaching has improved, books, magazines and newspapers are found everywhere, and generally every facility has been offered to make people literate and knowledgeable. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that illiteracy in the province has continued to decline. My own experience as a teacher and observer and canvasser tells me that this is so.

Newfoundland is now a literate community — defining literate to mean simply able to read and write.

Despite the often-heard claim that illiteracy is a major social and economic problem here, I don’t think it is one.

Still, some illiteracy persists. How much? What percentage of the Newfoundland population? That depends on what studies you read and which ones you believe. Figures of 31 per cent, 44 per cent, and even 50 per cent float from some sources. A week or so ago I read a comment by the

PATRICK O’FLAHERTY A Skeptic’s Diary vice-president of the local branch of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, in which he said, quoting an international literacy survey of 2004, that 50 per cent of the working population in Newfoundland “does not have the skills necessary to fully function in a knowledge economy.”

Half of us are defective!

These statistics, to me, are ludicrous and insulting. But, as I said, a certain percentage of Newfoundlanders are indeed illiterate. Why are they so?

Various reasons come to mind, including parental neglect of their children’s education. Some people also have a real disability when it comes to learning to read. Others dropped out of school before they mastered reading.

There is another reason that I can best explain by referring to the case of the famous hockey coach and TV commentator Jacques Demers.

ADMIRABLE SUCCESS Demers’ biography appeared in 2005. He admitted that throughout his career there was something he kept hidden: he was illiterate. Note: his career as a hockey executive and ana-

lyst was not disadvantaged by illiteracy. He succeeded admirably while being illiterate.

The “problem” he faced, as he made clear, was in the attitudes of employers towards illiteracy. They would not have accepted that an illiterate man could function in the positions he held.

They would have fired him if they knew. The tendency to treat illiteracy as a blight or disease caused him much suffering during his career.

Look at his skills. As a coach, he had to assess hockey players’ abilities, provide on-ice training and off-ice leadership, make (or share in) decisions about hiring, trading, and demoting players, argue with managers and owners, deal with the media. In short do whatever had to be done to create a winning team.

As a TV hockey analyst, he clearly had highly developed verbal skills, in both English and French. This shows that reading is not the only means to acquire such skills.

All of us, literate and illiterate, learn how to use words — not just from books and newspapers — but from listening to radio, TV, movies, sermons, songs, speeches, prayers, jokes, and of course, incessantly from talking.

Montaigne says “the most fruitful and natural exercise of our minds is conversation.”

You don’t need to be able to read to do certain complex jobs well. Demers’ career proves that. And after all, how

much is the ability to read and write used in many of the occupations around us? Mining, for instance.

Fishing. Building houses. Soldiering.

Loading and unloading. Driving a ferry to and from Bell Island. The skills for these and many other tasks are acquired mainly through intuition, repetition, and imitation, not from reading manuals or books.

My point is this: another reason some people fail to develop reading and writing skills is that they don’t need them to do their jobs.

That limited reading skill, or the entire absence of it, is a drawback in many jobs is plain enough, but it is by no means a sure sign of incompetence.

Nor should the ability to read be automatically regarded as ensuring superiority. The “higher education” supposedly conferred by reading, for instance, is no guarantee of enhanced political awareness or conscience.

Many highly book-educated citizens have no interest whatever in politics. A lot of them were among the 57 per cent who didn’t vote in the recent byelection. Some of history’s biggest scoundrels have also been big readers.

As the writer Bruce Powe remarked, reading “is no guarantee of anything at all.”

Patrick O’Flaherty’s Lost Country: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland, 1843-1933 was published in 2005.

John Risley Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Looking for a full explanation’ From page 1 remains the economic lifeline of this community. I wouldn’t want anybody to forget that. They still employ many of our people on a year-round basis.

“As a town council we will be looking to the company for a full explanation as to why this move was necessary and required and any further implications on the Grand Bank operation,” Matthews says.

“From our perspective down here, no rural community in Newfoundland and Labrador wants to lose — or can afford to lose — one job. Especially here, where we have senior jobs.”

Matthews says he is surprised the cuts are coming, as Clearwater moved its fleet-management division from Nova Scotia to Grand Bank only last year, making extensive renovations — and a considerable investment — in the plant at the time.

“What the company told the Town of Grand Bank was it was for business and economic reasons that they were moving from Nova Scotia to Grand Bank, because that’s where their fleet was to, and that’s where the work was being done on their boats, and for all kinds of economic and business reasons it was in the best interests of the company,” he says. “I would assume if they are moving back they must be using the same rationale — it probably didn’t work out for them.”

Roe says the move is simply a management adjustment. He says Clearwater operates a number of vessels, and having senior fleet management people working together, sharing their combined expertise and experience, makes sense.

He says the management shift to Grand Bank was to oversee the transition of their move from Nova Scotia to Grand Bank.

“We thought with that transition it made sense to have the management there to oversee the transition and the consolidation of our business in Grand Bank. Having completed that transition we think that now it makes sense to have our senior fleet people working together under one roof,” Roe says. “I think it will make our overall fleet operation — including the management at the senior level of our clam fleet — better.”

Matthews says he would like to see Clearwater revise its communications policies so the town doesn’t learn bad news through the media.

“The company’s communication policy should be reviewed really — we shouldn’t hear this indirectly or through outside sources — no way. I think the company can do much better — I mean to me this is an unacceptable way to be delivering bad news.”

He says the town’s relationship with the company has always been frank, and he is sure they will get an explanation from the company as to what they are planning to do.

“Whether or not we like it I guess is another matter.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

SCRUNCHINS A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

This week’s Scrunchins begins with the funniest shows on CBC Television (and I’m not just saying that because they’re blocked with Newfoundlanders) — The Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. John Doyle, The Globe and Mail’s television columnist, questioned recently what exactly the b’ys are smoking when they come up with their material. The drug isn’t illegal, Doyle writes, “it’s the drug — and sin — of sneering.”

Imagine crackie Mark Critch picking Rick Mercer on the likes of former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, asking Valerie Pringle how much Clarkson would fetch on the Canadian Antiques Roadshow. Not as much as an original John Crosbie parliamentary action figure, I bet. A red laser shoots out from the doll’s eyes (when they finally open), and tequila shot-glass missiles shoot out from the arms of his seal-skin coat …

JUST FOR LAUGHS The four-day Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival got underway Wednesday, featuring 29 troupes from New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, St.

John’s and elsewhere. Steve Cochrane (formerly of Channel 9 in Town), a member of the Dance Party of Newfoundland, told the Toronto Star (see page 24) his four-man troupe identified a vacuum and decided to fill it.

“We just sort of decided Newfoundland’s been renowned for sketch comedy, there are no sketch comedy troupes on the go, we’re all half-decently funny, why don’t we do something?

“Poverty’s kind of hilarious. I find that gets people looking to laugh a lot,” said Cochrane, who openly criticizes the province’s government as “selfserving career politicians.

“If we didn’t laugh, we’d kill ourselves.”

an audition scene. Once the top candidates for each role in The Interior are established, viewers worldwide will be able to vote for their favourite candidates. St. Croix says he’s had 9,200 hits — 8,600 more than his nearest rival. Who says acting is all about talent …

Waterloo (Memorial 20th); leaders of tomorrow, Alberta (Memorial 20th).

MAKING THE GRADE Maclean’s also include the average final-year grades of first-year students entering university from high school or Quebec’s CEGEP program.

Memorial students came in 36th, with an average of 80.4 per cent. An A minus still isn’t bad …

MEISEN AND MEN On a serious note, Maclean’s magazine’s Nov. 13 edition includes the annual Canadian university rankings. But before we get to how Memorial fared, the Maclean’s feature also included a special feature on the pay package for university presidents. MUN’s Axel Meisen is paid $238,546 a year — which is three quarters of the way down the presidential list. (Indira Samarasekera of the University of Alberta made the most, $556,000.) The magazine included other salaries to compare to the university pay: Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, $7 million US a year; U.S. president George Bush, $400,000 US; Prime Minister Stephen Harper, $297,522 Cdn; Premier Ralph Klein of Alberta, $145,380. Incidently, Premier Danny Williams would make more than Klein if he didn’t give away his salary to charity. Newfoundland politicians are

FAN FAVOURITE Actor Harold St. Croix of Pointe La Haye, St. Mary’s Bay, is a one-time competitive runner who has been trying to break into the film industry for years, with bit parts in movies like Chicago with Richard Gere and The Hurrricane, with Denzel Washington. There’s also the much lesser known Horrorween (such is the life of a struggling actor).

St. Croix is now hoping to land a gig on a new American TV series to be shot next year. The story revolves around a young religious couple called to become jungle missionaries. The series starts shooting early 2007 in the Amazon rainforest, and takes a new approach to casting where any visitor at www.theinterior.tv is invited to upload

paid better than their Alberta counterparts. Sounds about right …

SURVEY SAYS Maclean’s surveyed high school principals, guidance counsellors, university officials and the business community across Canada to come up with its ranking of 47 universities. Here’s how Memorial did in the four categories: best overall, Alberta (Memorial, 21st); highest quality, McGill (Memorial 22nd); most innovative,

COUNTER POINT Of course, university isn’t for everyone — a degree doesn’t guarantee success. Barry Fitzgerald of St. John’s was recently named the 2006 Jobber News Counterperson of the Year.

The award, created in honour of Abe Schwartz, who spent more than 50 years behind the counter as owner of 100-year-old British Auto Supply in Toronto, recognizes the importance of front-line workers to the success of an automotive parts supplier. Fitzgerald, 38, a counterperson at Colonial Auto Parts in St. John’s, said he was shocked and honoured by the recognition. He’s slated to pick up his award at month’s end in Toronto.

“I’m overwhelmed by it,” said Fitzgerald. And so he should be … ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

Not making the grade Heavy vehicles, poor construction cause road ruts

By Ivan Morgan The Independent

H

ighway ruts are a clear indicator of poor highway construction, says a Canadian highway expert. While heavy or overloaded trucks can cause ruts to form, Dr. Ralph Haas, professor emeritus at Ontario’s University of Waterloo, says weak design and poor construction allow it to happen sooner rather than later. He says financial pressures on government, as well as the trucking and construction industries, all contribute to poor construction and degradation of highways.

“Newfoundland isn’t unique. Our competitive bidding process is low bid wins,” Haas tells The Independent. “It has some advantages, but if you bid too low and you have to cut corners, then we as taxpayers get shafted.”

Haas explains the conditions that lead to ruts forming on highways. He says it isn’t wear as much as it is downward pressure on pavement.

“What actually happens is that when you put a wheel load on it, under certain conditions the material tends to flow out laterally. It happens because of more traffic, heavy loads, higher temperatures of pavement, possibly the composition of the material itself on the surface — the recipes for designing these things have to be very carefully put together — and of course the construction. If you don’t get enough density — if it isn’t compacted well enough — you also contribute to the problem.”

Haas says rutting on relatively new highways like the Outer Ring Road in St. John’s should not be occurring.

“Ideally, it shouldn’t happen at all — or it should be minimal,” says Haas.

“Categorically, anybody could say it just shouldn’t occur this early, and even if it does occur later on in the life of the pavement it should not be a hazard.”

Haas, who was awarded the Order of Canada (“I went through with Dan Ackroyd, can you imagine.”) partially in recognition of his work on highway construction and maintenance, says ruts are a big cause for concern.

“Normally — and this is a high generalization — you really should be get-

Road work on the Outer Ring Road

Paul Daly/The Independent

“From Stephenville to Corner Brook — you haven’t got the grooves in the road like we do here by Holyrood or the Outer Ring Road or places like that.

And you still have the same amount of heavy duty trucks coming into St. John’s from Port aux Basques. So if it is the weight alone that is doing it, why doesn’t it do it out there? It just proves there’s no base to the road.”

Jimmy Keating, retired provincial government highway worker. ting in the order of 15 years — especially out of important roads like that, and hopefully even more before you have to do any real rehabilitation.”

The first section of the Outer Ring Road was officially opened on Nov. 25, 1998. The provincial government has been resurfacing sections of it over the past week.

Jimmy Keating, a retired provincial government highways employee, worked on the province’s highways for more than 20 years. He says some stretches of provincial highways are in poor condition.

“We have the worst highways around, especially the Trans-Canada from Goobies to St. John’s,” says Keating. “Right now the highways are in the worst shape that I have ever seen them. For the Trans-Canada highway it is really a sin. Anyone who drives past Holyrood — have you seen the grooves in it?”

Haas says ruts are a hazard that cannot be ignored. He says the rule for highway departments across the country is to be concerned if a rut is deeper than about 15 to 20 millimetres (3/4 of an inch).

“If you are getting water standing in them — worst thing is you get bald tires combined with that, and high speeds, it is a recipe for trouble.”

Haas says the closing of weigh stations can lead to overloaded trucks, which can cause serious damage to highways.

“It is not a simple linear added-on effect if you get overloads. The effect is basically compounded,” says Haas. “If you overload a truck by 10 per cent, you don’t create 10 per cent more damage, you’re probably going to create 25 to 30 per cent more damage than if you

had it at the legal limit. It’s very, very damaging.”

Haas says the pressures on trucking companies to overload are obvious.

“Let’s face it, if you can get by with overloading, there’s a hell of a temptation to do so. Because it is operating costs, it is revenue,” he says.

Keating says overloaded trucks aren’t the main problem. While he says he is not an expert, he says he can see the damage and thinks he knows the cause.

“From Stephenville to Corner Brook — you haven’t got the grooves in the road like we do here by Holyrood or the Outer Ring Road or places like that,” says Keating. “And you still have the same amount of heavy duty trucks coming into St. John’s from Port Aux Basques. So if it is the weight alone that is doing it, why doesn’t it do it out there? It just proves there’s no base to the road.”

“If you had a good base you would never have that happen,” he says. “It was badly made to start off with.”

Haas says ensuring a highway is properly built is key.

“Construction, supervision, and inspection are absolutely critical. I can’t reinforce strongly enough that the design may have been great, but if you don’t build it right, or choose the wrong materials, you invalidate the design,” he says.

Keating says good work can stand on its own.

“Take the St. Lawrence highway. It was done 35 or 40 years ago. I know they did a bit here lately, but that lasted 35 or 40 years, with a perfect base and perfect everything into it, because it was done properly,” he says. “And that, like I said, is strictly my opinion.”

Haas says financial pressure is usually at the cause of poor highway design and maintenance.

“The department of highways there — I’ve known a lot of the guys there for years — they’re highly competent guys, they’re as competent as anyone in the country, but they deal with limited resources, people, money and so on, and maybe it is even a little bit worse in Newfoundland than other places,” says Haas. “It’s not Alberta.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

Compare the thousands of dollars in extra value packed into every special edition

07 Accord SE: get it all... + a lot more!

2007

ACCORD

2007 Accord Sedan Special Edition 5-speed

• Power moonroof • 16-inch Alloy wheels • Rear disc brakes • 6-disc In-dash CD changer • Driver’s Seat with power height adjustment and

750

$

$

298

from

BONUS

Special 3.9% 48 Month *

0 Security Deposit Lease

• • • • •

$

¥

se or Choo cial e p S d r Acco

%

Accord Sedan SE

‡

All Honda vehicles are delivered with a full tank.

th 60 Maonnce Fin

†

Test Drive the All-New CR-V for a Chance To Win One of 22 Genuine Honda Snowblowers Valued At Over $2,000 ¥1

www.honda.ca

All lease and finance offers are from Honda Canada Finance Inc., O.A.C. *Lease based on new 2007 Accord Special Edition 5-speed (CM5577J) for 48 month term, OAC. Monthly payment is $298 with $3,657 down payment or equivalent trade-in. Payments include $1,310 freight and PDI. $0 security deposit required. First monthly payment due at lease inception. Lease rate is 3.9%. 96,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.12/km for excess kilometres. Total lease obligation is $16,307. License, insurance, applicable taxes and registration are extra. Option to purchase at lease end for $12,720 plus taxes. †: 3.9% purchase financing for up to 60 months available on new 2007 Accords, O.A.C. Finance example based on a 60 month finance term, OAC: $20,000 at 3.9% per annum equals $367.43 per month for 60 months.

Cost of borrowing is $2,045.71, for a total obligation of $22,045.71. ¥1: A total of twenty-two (22) Grand Prizes [Honda Snowblower, model number HS622TC with a retail value of $2,107.86 including taxes] will be available to be won in Atlantic Canada at the end of the contest. Entrants must complete a qualified 2007 Honda CR-V test drive and the contest ballot in order to enter. Other conditions apply. No purchase is required to enter. Contest closes January 2nd, 2007. Full contest rules are available at participating dealerships. ¥: Maximum value of bonus gas offer on 2007 Accord is $750 including taxes, OAC. Gas offer applies only to new in-stock 2007 Accord models purchased/leased between November 1 and November 30, 2006, OAC. Limited time offers. See your Honda dealer for full details. .

Kenmount Road 579.1999 / 800.667.9900 www.cityhonda.com

3.9

manual lumbar support Leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob Illuminated steering wheel-mounted audio controls Armrest with locking trunk pass-through Illuminated vanity mirrors Security system

4 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

State of the nations Observations on the state of Ottawa-NL relations

By Ivan Morgan The Independent

A

Harry Tucker

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Law of attraction’ From page 1 of another problem. That problem is lack of opportunity for people, young and old, to follow their ambitions from the perspective of their careers, their families and their long-term interests. Lack of opportunity is not the only reason, however. If you have a friend who constantly complains and laments about how sad their life is, you tend to want to spend less time with them as they drain the energy out of you.

On a larger scale, if you are a forward-thinking individual who wants to cultivate opportunities wherever possible and you are surrounded by people who prefer to stay mired in negativity, you choose to disassociate yourself from those people, even if it means you need to leave your province.

This represents a symptom of an even larger problem. That problem is the reluctance of many people to embrace an outlook of abundance and prosperity. When a new idea comes to light, I rarely hear people say, “Let’s get it done,” or “It’s not bad, but we can improve it by doing this.”

I do not see collective intelligence strive to make the idea the best one possible nor do I see energy invested in making the idea stronger. I see people invest their energy into shooting the idea down, with the amazing knack of manifesting an infinite number of ideas as to why something should be stopped instead of why the idea must be allowed to grow. Imagine the opportunities that would exist if we could put the same energy into supporting, incubating and improving proposals as we do in promoting the death of ideas.

Now people are criticizing Premier Danny Williams’ contacts as far as the fibre-optic opportunity is concerned. Like it or not, in the real world of business, you are only as powerful and capable as the network you are a member of.

This is a fact of business life and it is how business gets done. If I were investing the province’s money into such a project, I would rather do it with people that I know and have confidence in rather than invest money in a complete stranger.

The Sprung greenhouse comes to mind.

I would suggest to people who excel at generating idea killers (private citizens, government representatives, etc.) to hold their tongue and fol-

low the golden rule of “don’t criticize an idea unless you have a way of making that idea better.”

It is easy to be critical of anything. It is much more difficult, albeit much more productive, to be critical of an idea because you see a shortcoming that needs to be shored up in order to help the idea be even more assured of success.

I returned home four years ago from New York to contribute to the local economy. In several weeks, I will have returned to New York for good. Why are we (and many people I associate with) leaving? We are leaving because we feel that many in this province do not want success and this is contrary to our outlook that opportunity for success exists everywhere.

I would suggest that we keep the law of attraction in mind. We do indeed receive what we focus on the most. This is not a mystical law steeped in silly, ancient lore. When we promote an atmosphere of positive-idea generation, strong investment opportunity, forward thinkers and excellent business opportunity, we will attract others with ideas and money who want a piece of that action. This causes the opportunities to expand and multiply, creating wealth and opportunities in turn. The process feeds on itself and grows faster than anyone can keep up with it.

If we choose to be a culture that complains about everything, criticizes everything that happens and looks for the stake-in-the-heart that will kill every idea, then the message we send out is “stay away, your ideas, investment capital and energy are not welcome here.” We then architect the very thing we spend so much time complaining about.

So the next time a new idea is presented to the public, think about this. Our actions and our words will either contribute to the success or the failure of that idea. Your actions and response to that idea will produce a result, good or bad.

Which result do you want to be responsible for?

It is easy to be responsible for failure. Being responsible for success is much more difficult, but the rewards are much greater.

Harry Tucker (A New Yorker in a Newfoundlander’s body), Topsail (soon to be New York, again; this time by choice) htucker@dynamexconsulting.com.

Health and Safety Committee and/or Representative/Designate q Do you have a health and safety committee or a health and safety representative/designate for each of your workplaces? q Are these people trained in occupational health and safety (appropriate to provincial and federal requirements)? q Are they submitting appropriate reports to the Commission?

If you can answer YES to these three questions, then you have met Criteria #2 of PRIME's Practice Incentive.

CONTINUE the trend earn financial rewards through For your step-to-step guide to meeting PRIME's Practice Incentive requirements, visit www.whscc.nl.ca or call 709.778.2922 or 1.800.563.9000

PRIME The new standard for determining your workers’ compensation assessments

rift in relations between the Williams and Harper administrations can be directly attributed to concerns that the federal Conversatives will not keep their election promise to remove non-renewable natural resources from the equalization formula, a number of politicians say.

Ironically, the person best qualified to speak on the state of relations between the province and the federal government, the province’s representative in Ottawa, John Fitzgerald, was not permitted to talk to The Independent, a decision of the premier’s office.

“For the most part, what I do and what I am doing is much more in the nature of what civil servants do, and as a result of that, it has been judged best that I am not going to do interviews or comment on stuff,” Fitzgerald says from Ottawa.

“There is a communications procedure and a communications director. The premier speaks for the government.”

Gerry Byrne, Liberal MP for Humber-St. BarbeBaie Verte, points to issues like the failed bid to get an environmental indemnity in Argentia, or the failed bid to have Andy Wells appointed head of the C-NLOPB as evidence of deteriorating relations.

“It’s been in a steady state of decline, to the point where it is reaching freefall,” Byrne tells The Independent. “You could list off a number of what could be viewed in the grand scheme of things as just normal transactional issues between the federal and provincial government, but the answer coming from Ottawa on each and every one of them is Norm Doyle (top), Gerry Byrne.

Paul Daly photos “No, no, no, no, no, no.”

Byrne says the premier is communicating his “At some point you have to reach agreements tenacity to Ottawa through these smaller fights, developing a reputation as someone who won’t and deals with people like prime ministers and business heavyweights . . . if you attack them like take no for an answer.

“This is political communication for anybody a savage how can you expect that at some point you and everybody who wants to watch, including the are going to cut bait and reach some agreement?”

The Liberal MP for Bonavista-Gander-Grand prime minister,” he says.

“The state of federal-provincial relations now is Falls-Windsor, Scott Simms, sees federal bureaunot what it should be,” says St. John’s East cratic interference as another cause of poor federalConservative MP Norm Doyle. “But I never really provincial relations.

“What is happening right now between Harper worry too much about it, because the nature of federal-provincial politics is that both levels of gov- and Williams is being exacerbated by the bureaucracy,” says Simms. “They don’t create flexibility ernment are in an adversarial role.

“I have been around since 1979 and I saw Brian within the system to allow people to act. That’s Peckford and other provincial and federal leaders why the premier right now has to pound his fist on going at it from time to time at each other— clash- the table to be heard.”

Simms sees the premier’s ing — because of their own parinsistence on Harper keeping ticular issues.” his promise as similar to his Doyle says the equalization stance with former Liberal conflict will resolve itself, and prime minister Paul Martin.

Newfoundland and Labrador “What is happening He says the federal bureaucrawill be treated fairly. cy tries to convince politicians “I’m the eternal optimist here. right now between that their promises are not I believe our province is going to realistic. be treated very, very fairly when Harper and Williams “Paul Martin told me perit comes to equalization. I know is being sonally … the reason why he (provincial Finance Minister wanted to get this done was Loyola Sullivan and (federal exacerbated by the because he knew that Finance Minister) Jim Flaherty Newfoundland and Labrador have already had meetings, and I bureaucracy.” was a basket case for debt and can tell you there was no great it wasn’t fair. level of concern at that time that Scott Simms “Now what happened …

Newfoundland was going to be was that the bureaucracy got treated unfairly.” involved. They started slowly He says he can understand the pulling back by saying ‘Look, premier’s concern about losing you can’t do this because you’ll screw the system.’ the benefits gained from the Atlantic Accord.

“That’s when Martin’s people — in other words “We don’t want to see that pulled back in some other fashion, whether it be by equalization, the politicians — should have put their foot down whether it be by the non-renewable resource for- and said ‘Look, we have to live up to this.’”

Simms says he believes that the federal bureaumula or what have you.”

Doyle says the prime minister assured him, after cracy is once again trying to thwart a political agenhis run-in with Williams at the recent Tory conven- da. He says he read a federal government publication in Gander, that his government was totally tion issued along with the last federal budget, which was critical of the Atlantic Accord. committed to the province.

“And when I read it I thought ‘I heard this “It was a bit of a rough meeting in the daytime between the two, but the prime minister said to me, before.’ This was the Finance Department who got ‘Look I want to help Newfoundland in every pos- to the minister and said ‘Look, this is the way the sible way I can, not withstanding any disagreement system works; this is what you should be saying.’

“When they say to us, ‘You can’t get this money we might have had at this meeting here today.’”

Doyle feels strongly that despite the strained from the Accord because it will ruin the equalization program’, do they bother to look at the popurelations, the province will be looked after.

“I believe this is going to be OK, and we are lation numbers for the past six years for Musgrave Harbour? No, they don’t,” he says. “To them numgoing to come out of this just fine.”

A senior Conservative politician who asked to ber are numbers, that is the problem with bureaucracy. remain anonymous was not so sure.

“We are so regulated. Sometimes I wonder why “It is quite obvious to anyone who has a grain of sense if you are going to attack like a madman the we don’t hand the political agenda over to the audileader of the government in Ottawa, that has to tor general. She is the ultimate opposition right make the state of relations completely abysmal,” now.” ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca says the one-time politician.

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 5

Ban on bottom trawling won’t help stocks as much as quota cuts: federal scientist OTTAWA

By Nadya Bell For The Independent

W

hen it comes to the impact of bottom trawling and overfishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Jake Rice knows what he’s talking about. He was the federal scientist in charge of groundfish when the stocks collapsed in the early 1990s.

When Rice got the job in St. John’s in 1988, he had to tell people and politicians there were no fish left.

“We live in a society where people do shoot the messenger, and I was forever going to be associated with being the person who had brought that bad news to Newfoundland and forced it down everybody’s throat,” Rice says in an interview for The Independent at his Ottawa office.

Rice now works as director of research and advice with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, approving all scientific information used by the government.

He says bottom trawls — a type of net that drags on the ocean floor to catch bottom-dwelling species such as cod and flatfish — were partly to blame for the fishery shutdown.

“Reductions in catch were necessary, quickly, and reductions in catch lagged about two years behind the science advice for four years,” Rice says.

The reduction eventually came in the form of a fishing moratorium. Leading up to the collapse, 38 per cent of the total Atlantic shelf was trawled (following the moratorium trawling was limited to eight per cent).

But after completing a study last winter on how bottom trawls affect the environment, Rice says changing gear types won’t help groundfish stocks recover.

“The Atlantic cod stocks, if we continue to exploit them at the rate we are exploiting them now — whatever the gear we use — we can expect it to con-

Jake Rice, director of research and advice with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans

tinue in the state it is in now,” Rice says.

“The stocks are probably not measurably lower than any time in the last 10 years, it’s not measurably larger either.”

Trawling is destructive, but Rice says it is not much worse than other types of fishing. He says quota reductions would help the fish more so than simply switching gear.

“Any reduction in fishing mortality for any reason would improve the health of the stocks that are currently depleted,” Rice says.

“A ban on trawling that simply meant other ways of fishing — kept the fishing mortality at the same level would have a very very negligible impact.”

Scientists may say trawling is not a huge problem in Canadian waters, but internationally the effects of trawling are

being hotly debated as environmental groups call on the United Nations to ban deep-sea trawling. Negotiations are slated to take place this week in New York.

Canada currently has six protected marine areas where trawling is banned (including waters off Eastport, Bonavista and Gilbert Bay off Labrador), and Rice says more will be designated soon.

Scientists are studying uncharted marine areas to determine where trawling would do the most damage.

Places with calm water and rocky, coral-covered ground tend to have fish that reproduce slower, and are the most damaged by trawlers, according to a study Rice carried out with a number of other scientists. They videotaped the ocean floor and compared trawled and untrawled areas.

Rice says places like the Grand Banks with flat or muddy bottoms and a high turnover of fish don’t suffer that much — even from frequent trawling.

Bruce Chapman, a representative of the shrimp and groundfish industry in Ottawa, says fishermen only trawl occasionally, and usually in small areas.

Vessels also tend to fish areas that they know well, with some areas fished six times a year.

“A fisher trawl these days is $200,000, and plus on the water you don’t want to waste time, so we don’t want to do it in areas where we can damage our gear.”

According to Rice, Canada’s current conservation strategy is to ban fishing in the most sensitive and untouched areas, a game plan Chapman agrees with.

“If you look at the Grand Banks, most

of it is a gravel pit,” he says. “But there may be areas within the Grand Banks that are considered to be sensitive, and we would consider working with the government to identify those and conserve them.”

Greenpeace doesn’t have a problem with Canada’s internal policy on trawling, but they and the Ecology Action Centre, an environmental group in Halifax, are opposed to Canada’s position in UN negotiations.

Canada’s approach to trawling in international waters is the same as its domestic approach — identify a sensitive area and ensure a ban is enforceable, then stop fishing in the area.

The United Nations passed an international ban on drift nets in the 1980s.

Mark Butler from the Ecology Action Centre says a similar approach would work with trawlers, although there’s quite a difference between domestic waters and the high seas.

“On the high seas there is nothing, there’s no patrol boats, there’s no quotas.

It’s a wild west so you can fish where you like, when you like, and catch what you like. Nobody’s watching you, you’re not reporting to anybody.”

Butler says Canada should move faster to protect marine areas, such as the Labrador coast where trawling for shrimp is having a devastating impact.

Until the UN can regulate fishing in international waters to make fishermen use the gear properly, Butler says there should be a moratorium.

Canadian officials say banning deepsea trawling internationally would be hypocritical if they allow it in their own waters.

Countries supporting a ban on deepsea trawling include Finland, Brazil, Chile, Belgium, Netherlands, and France. Among those opposing a ban are Spain, Russia, Japan, and Korea.

‘My name will be cleared’

By Don Power For The Independent

E

Ed Byrne

mbattled former Natural Resources minister Ed Byrne will take a seat as a backbench MHA when the House of Assembly reopens Monday, although he won’t comment on his long-term future in politics.

“Absolutely,” the Tory MHA for Kilbride said Thursday when asked about his plans for Monday, Nov. 20.

Byrne invited reporters for a series of one-onone interviews, his first interaction with the media since his sudden resignation in June.

He resigned his ministerial post after auditor general John Noseworthy uncovered an alleged series of misspending of constituency allowances. Byrne and three other current or Paul Daly/The Independent former MHAs were named by Noseworthy in

You’re busy, your phone shouldn’t be.

You focus on what you do best, let us do what we do best.

We’ll answer your calls, take the sales leads, and pass them on to you. And we’ll do it all at a surprisingly affordable cost.

Call our award winning answering services and find out how we can help your business grow.

1- 8 88 - 693 -2255 • 709-722-3730 • www.telelinkcallcentre.com

the scandal.

“I’d obviously hoped that by now this matter would have concluded itself,” Byrne says, “but I clearly believe that once the facts are all known that my name will be cleared.

The political veteran has been an opposition MHA, government House leader and minister.

Monday will see him in another role.

“I’ll play the role of the government backbencher,” Byrne said in his living room, while lawyer Bob Simmonds and media liaison Ed Hollett listened intently from the kitchen. “I’ll take my seat. The people of Kilbride elected me to do so, and I intend to fulfill my obligation.”

Byrne says the past four months have been difficult personally, and for his family — which includes a young son and daughter. However, he says through his constituency work, which he continued to do since June, he received pos-

itive support from constituents, as people “reserved judgment until this matter has been concluded.”

While Byrne’s immediate plans are to resume his place in the House, he wouldn’t discuss his long-term future, although he says he’s made a decision. Byrne says an announcement on whether he will seek re-election next October will be made in the New Year.

“The allegations are serious and they needed to be treated as such. I’m dealing with them in that way, in the manner in which they should be dealt with,” he says. “I believe that once all this is concluded that my name will be cleared.

What happens after that, life goes on, and it must go on. It’s just an unfortunate situation, but a situation nonetheless, that I’ve got to deal with and deal with appropriately. That’s exactly what I think I’m doing.”

6 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

The Danny-Christ Before I begin …

RYAN CLEARY

Dear editor, You know there’s something big on the go when Loyola Sullivan sends out for a new boutonniere. I saw him on NTV with the surprising news that we are officially back in the hole. It seems that Terra Nova has had a few problems and revenues aren’t flowing as expected. I would like to take this opportunity to urge the public not to panic. This is just a test.

This is a mere demonstration of what it will be like the day the last barrel is pumped. As everyone in Newfoundland should be well aware of by now — everything has its limits. When she’s gone, b’y, she’s gone.

Oil has very definite limits.

Eventually it will be gone; there is no doubt. You can’t argue biomass, virtual population analysis, or bottom trawling bans when it comes to oil. There’s an end in sight and no one will say they didn’t see it coming.

Of course, this whole setback with Terra Nova is really just a minor delay.

We’re not as far in the hole as we have been, and the oil is still out there. What about we pay you next week? But then you have to ask yourself, isn’t the price

Fighting Newfoundlander of oil going up?

My point is that to spend every cent of oil revenue in the here and now is like winning a 50/50 draw and going on a two-week binge. Great while you’re at it, but you’re in an awful state when you’re done. I would like to urge every citizen of this great province (inside and outside the overpass) to consider what will happen when the last barrel is sopped up.

The question then: How best can we ensure that this windfall benefits the current and future residents of this wonderful, terrible place?

Michael Walsh

I

apologize for starting my column with a letter to the editor. But it came in late and there was nowhere else to put it but on the seat with me.

The letter writer was going my way anyway, down the road towards Dannyland.

Hold on to your drawers, I’m not out

to pick a fight with the premier. Today I want to take a different tack and only talk about his positives, good things about the millionaire Townie lawyer who’s only out to save us. The Newfoundland media is all too often accused of harping on the bad stuff.

They won’t be able to say that about me after chewing on this: a couple of sticks of Dantine to freshen the Conservative breath.

It’s hard not to admire Danny for his sacrifice. He’s got more money than Loyola Sullivan would know what to do with, and still slaves away every day in Confederation Castle while being whipped on his naked back the entire time he’s at it. The Second Coming is no easier than the First. Danny-Christ, the good twin, brother of the hateful Anti-Christ.

Danny may be out to turn this place around, but he should know by now that Newfoundlanders aren’t into change. We’d rather tear an idea down than help build it. It’s our Newfoundland nature to kill and destroy. So says the Bell Islander on the front page this week who’s returning to New York where he made his fortune, because his homeland apparently doesn’t want or appreciate his help. Harry

Tucker, a graduate of Cabot College’s computer science course, class of ’83, doesn’t want to raise his kids in such a negative atmosphere, and he has a point. People aren’t only leaving here for opportunities in the West; they’re leaving because opportunity dies in the East. Tucker doesn’t expect that to change for a generation or two, by which time the oil will be gone and we’ll be back to fish.

How hard must it be on the premier to face the frustration every morning?

Then, when Danny finally makes a move to change the image we see in the mirror, his picture-plant logo is transformed by the ungrateful public into evil tendrils that turn around and bite him on the arse of his hockey pants.

Now the Liberals are after him for giving $15 million to his buddies. But what about the point that the deal will be good for the province and may eventually end up saving taxpayers a fortune by breaking the Aliant monopoly?

Can’t Danny ever get a break? He can’t help it if his friends are captains of local industry, tied into half the deals going down around Town.

The opposition will be out for fibreoptic blood when the House reopens on Monday (which isn’t really fair — the

Liberals are just pissed because Danny called them scaredy cat losers for failing to field a candidate in Signal HillQuidi Vidi). The premier will be on his feet more often than not. If that wasn’t bad enough, Danny has to face the disappointment that was his No. 2, Ed Byrne, who’s back in the legislature for the first time since resigning in June.

The allegations of misspending must have been a terrible blow to the premier, who has enough to deal with without getting bogged down in the political muck that this place is made of. Give it to Ed, he still has the balls to go to work in the same office he’s accused of ripping off (no worries with Bob Simmonds at his side).

Behind the scenes is Danny’s relationship with Ottawa, which is in the toilet. It was just last week that Fisheries Minister Tom Rideout told the Senate committee that custodial management should still be implemented. Didn’t Tom hear that Loyola Hearn has the overfishing solution in the can?

Or was that a quiet shot across the Harper bow? Danny’s a fighter but it’s hard to win when the world’s against him. ryan.cleary@theindependent.ca

YOUR VOICE ‘Standing up to tell the truth’ Dear editor, I compliment the unnamed law student for standing up to tell the truth about the pitfalls of the legal profession (I never said one bad word about lawyers … until I went to law school, Nov. 10 edition).

Whether we’re discussing lawyers, policemen, doctors, nurses, politicians, contractors, trades people, retail businesses, and many clergy, etc. — most do not have the “best interests” of the general public at heart. We live in a world that is “deceived and being deceived” by the motives and objectives of these professionals.

My first impression of lawyers was based on my father’s insightful definition of a lawyer. I won’t spell the title of their profession the way he would spell it — many would be offended at the truth. But my father

always said, “a lawyer is one whose profession teaches him how to make the truth look like a lie, or make a lie look like the truth, and his/her reputation is more important than the guilt or innocence of the defendant.”

According to the unnamed law student, there’s a lot of truth in that statement. In all the professions I have mentioned above, there is a tremendous amount of influence peddling.

I have had little experience with the legal profession — policemen, courts, lawyers and judges — but enough to leave me with the impression that it is at times arrogant, out of balance, biased, prejudiced and suffering from tunnel vision. One thing that few of them are taught — think before you act, and what goes around comes around.

Gerald Lush, Paradise

Colonial Building’s ‘dignity’ has been lost Dear editor, Noreen Golfman’s column (Vive la rénovation! Nov. 10 edition) is right on the mark. The Colonial Building is one of our most historic sites and occupies space in an historic precinct and to relegate our old parliament building to a tourist site flies in the face of all we hold dear.

First of all, after it has been restored to its original splendor, it should be returned to the jurisdiction of the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

The Colonial Building should be used for parliamentary committee hearings and important public events. The opening of each new session of the House should take place there with the Speech from the Throne read in the legislative council chamber now that the archives have found a new home at Fort Townshend.

With all due respect to Brian Peckford and his colleagues, our present parliament building has been described by Dr. Golfman as “a 1960 art-deco oddity, likely to look even more peculiar as time marches on.” I totally agree. When the palace of Westminster (British parliament) was destroyed by German bombs, Churchill was advised by his colleagues to rebuild on a larger scale so it could accommodate all 600-plus Members of Parliament. He wisely declined, saying in effect that by

‘Justice is not being served’

restoring the chamber to its original grandeur it would thereby retain a sense of drama for important parliamentary debates. Our House of Assembly, whilst it can accommodate many more people, looks like what it is — a paper mache television studio. The dignity and sense of history of our old parliament building has been lost for future generations.

I too applaud Premier Danny Williams for his decision to make provisions in the budget for its renewal. The last time it was used for an important state occasion was when I chose it as the site of the first public swearing in of a lieutenant governor. I hope the advisory committee of experts set up to advise the government will take this into account.

James A. McGrath, 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.

PUBLISHER Brian Dobbin EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Cleary MANAGING EDITOR Stephanie Porter PICTURE EDITOR Paul Daly PRODUCTION MANAGER John Andrews

sales@theindependent.ca • production@theindependent.ca • circulation@theindependent.ca All material in The Independent is copyrighted and the property of The Independent or the writers and photographers who produced the material. Any use or reproduction of this material without permission is prohibited under the Canadian Copyright Act. • © 2006 The Independent • Canada Post Agreement # 40871083

The Independent welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words in length or less and include full name, mailing address and daytime contact numbers.

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

Dear editor, Deborah Burton’s guest column in the Nov. 10 edition of The Independent (‘When a dead child is valued less than a poached moose’) was right on the mark. She said it all and said it well. I fully support individual rights and the right of a person to legal representation.

We live in a great country.

Having said that, however, our sentencing protocol, largely based on precedent, needs an overhaul … badly. The tail is wagging the dog. Victims’ rights take a back seat to the rights of the accused. There is a legal axiom that says it is better to have 99 guilty persons go free than to have one innocent person wrongly convicted. In the Robert Parsons case, however, it is the circumstances surrounding the accident and not guilt or innocence that is in question. So why the leniency? Then, to rub salt in the wound, the right of appeal allows for the possibility and (God forbid, the likelihood) of a reduction in an already ridiculous sentence for the loss of a young life.

The bold-faced legal attempt to turn the accused into some sort of victim must be sickening to the Matthew Churchill family. It is high time to get the dog wagging the tail again. The legal system may be functioning but justice is not being served.

Wayne Green, St John’s

Rod Churchill, father of Matthew, holds a family picture in a St. John’s courtroom.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Slippery slope’ Dear editor, Our community is justifiably upset and angered by the circumstances surrounding Matthew Churchill’s death.

But Deborah Burton’s personal attack on Robert E. Simmonds, QC, the lawyer who was hired to represent Robert Parsons, is out of line. Does Burton really believe that Simmonds has a “blatant disregard for Matthew, the Churchill family, and public safety.” I doubt it.

In our democratic society all those accused of crimes are presumed innocent. All are entitled to due process and legal representation. Simmonds is not making a living “off the heart-

For shame break and devastation of others.”

Rather, he’s ensuring the rights guaranteed through the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are respected.

Recent history in Newfoundland (eg.

Dalton, Parsons and Druken) reminds us of the importance of having a fair hearing before the courts, in all cases.

We can make no exceptions to these safeguards. Burton pays lip service only to this principle when she says, “I agree with due process …” when, in fact, she appears to argue for an exception “but in this case...” Careful, that is a slippery slope.

William H. Goodridge, Q.C. Stewart McKelvey, St. John’s

Dear editor, Deborah Burton’s admonition of defence lawyer Bob Simmonds’ comments following the Matthew Churchill verdict echoed my feelings on the whole disgraceful affair. It could have been headlined on page 1. Troubling to me was the grief Simmonds laid everywhere but where it belonged. And I still can’t figure out why the case was dragged out for 19 months — another crucifiction for the Churchills. Shame on the lot of you.

Robert O. Kieley, Conception Bay South

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 7

‘Government is bankrupting us’ I am a socialist. I believe in socialism. But is it working? We live under a crippling tax regime.

Besides the money that comes out of our paycheques, there is tax on everything we buy, taxes on the companies where we work, and no lack of little fees, “extra costs” and charges that government and government agencies charge.

In another life I used to teach people how to use accounting spreadsheets on their computers. As a simple exercise that would be relevant to most everyone, I would get my students to calculate what tax bracket they were in — not the one calculated for the yearly tax forms, but the one you really pay. I would get them to start with the amount they paid in income tax the year before, then get them to add all those “extras” and calculate their real tax bracket.

They found the exercise instructive in more ways than one.

But who minds paying taxes when it pays for all the goods and services government provides?

More and more people, that’s who. It

IVAN MORGAN

Rant & Reason

was almost always a shock to people how much tax they really pay. And the problem with complaining is you are either considered a right-wing ideologue, or you’re adopted by them for what you say.

I have been told I am getting “more conservative.” I assume by that they mean smarter. I ain’t no Conservative.

Socially I believe we have a long way to go with women’s rights, protection of minorities, rights for gays and lesbians. The “war” in Afghanistan is a disastrous mistake — our soldiers need to come home.

But I think government is bankrupting us, and is for the most part a colossal waste of money.

I worry what is going to happen when lots of people start to think this way. What happens when people real-

ize they aren’t getting as much for their money anymore? We are paying the same or more, and getting less. What happens when more and more people begin to realize that it is their money that politicians squander on schemes for their buddies?

Or more likely, what happens — and this day is coming — when government tells us we are on our own, but we have to keep paying them?

The truth is, with rising costs in health care and education, and infrastructure (bridges, schools, hospitals) that needs rebuilding, I fear governments, at every level, are going to have to start making really tough decisions.

Reality check: We are still paying off the money we borrowed to build schools, hospitals, and bridges that are now falling apart. Where is the money going to come from? Our population is aging — where will the money come from to keep an aging population going?

Old-fashioned socialists say corporate tax. But corporations are moving to other countries and training people who

will work for pennies, without social safety nets. We are buying their goods.

One of the ideas of socialism is that we all pay into and share things like education and health care. But university education is once again becoming a privilege for the wealthy. Can healthcare be far behind?

What happens when people start asking questions like: Why are we paying to support something we cannot get access to? What happens when most taxpayers start to realize they are paying for a university that their children cannot afford to attend?

It won’t be the poor who starts the fuss. They’re too busy trying to keep it together. It won’t be the rich either. It will be the middle class who first starts asking these questions.

What will happen to the Williams administration if taxpayers start getting angry? No doubt the opposition would try to capitalize on that, but without new ideas, it isn’t the current opposition who will get anywhere.

It will be someone angry — someone who will tap into the anger that is sim-

mering in the body politic. I fear it will be someone truly conservative — with all the social conservative baggage in tow.

The middle class is slow to rile, but once riled, look out. Look what happened in Ontario when the taxpayer got mad. They elected Mike Harris.

I am told I am being unreasonable when I try to calculate the percentage of my taxes spent on the silly Newfoundland and Labrador logo, or the cash donation to the fibre-optic consortium, or whatever.

I am told I am a hothead when I rail against a stupid report or government publication — like the Vision Newfoundland magazine circulated last week full of good news about business in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Why was that published?

I am a socialist, but I see tax dollars squandered by the millions. Do I see a Mike Harris-style government in our future? Will taxpayers in the province snap someday? Or is the question why have they not snapped already? ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

MID-YEAR UPDATE

YOUR VOICE What does cancer society do with its cash?

Dear editor, I read with interest the letter to the editor Where have all the donations gone? (Nov. 10 edition). The writer asked important questions about how charities spend our money. I am also concerned about this topic. I am especially concerned about where the money that we give to the Canadian Cancer Society goes.

This question was made real to me a couple of years ago when a friend of our family died from cancer. The young man was self-employed and worked long and hard at his chosen career. When he was diagnosed with cancer he had to stop working because the chemotherapy and radiotherapy rendered him too ill. When the cancer abated he went back to his work and was happy for some measure of health. However, the cancer came back less than a year later in a different organ. He was told the only alternatives left for him were experimental treatments not covered by MCP or his private insurance.

Like a lot of us, he did not want to accept the cancer sitting down and went to the cancer society to try to get support for the experimental medication.

He was turned down because he made too much money the year before. After a few months without work, and with the continued deterioration of his health, the man ended up on welfare.

He eventually passed away.

Penniless, his relatives paid for the burial. The Canadian Cancer Society did not help him and neither did social services until the very end.

The pamphlets available from the cancer society say that so many dollars go to research and prevention and so on. What do they mean by prevention, is what I ask? Are they telling Canadians to eat organic food? We all know pesticide-free products are better for us. Beef is subject to question and is banned in countries under the European Union. What about the products we wash our hair and clothes with … when is the Canadian Cancer Society going to insist that government make laws to ensure that companies let us know when their products have carcinogens in them as listed by the World Health Organization.

I don’t see any effort from the cancer society or the Newfoundland equivalent to encourage people to use safer alternative hair dyes or to stop using them altogether. As far as I am concerned these groups should be at the forefront of engaging the consumer in steering clear of products that contain potential carcinogens.

In the long run it’s up to individuals to do their own research and, if anything, ask the cancer society to put out pamphlets on carcinogens in the products we use every day.

Margaret Osbourne, St. John’s

‘Overall impressions revealing’ Dear editor, First, just a few comments on Ivan Morgan’s ‘Blip or bomb’ article in the Nov. 10 edition. Giving $15 million to three powerful and wealthy corporations is not my idea of money well spent, either functionally or ethically.

This assumes, of course, that the money was a gift, an incentive to do the project.

If, on the other hand, this new venture can be sold or generates an annual profit and dividends to shareholders, will the public, through the government, receive its proportionate return on investment? We bluster to Ottawa about an equity position in the offshore, so why not this also?

Which is it, a gift of $15 million or an investment with expected “hard returns.” The competitive and other “soft returns” are obvious.

Also, I noted with interest John Crosbie’s observations and comments (End in sight, Nov. 10 issue) with respect to the wild fishery worldwide.

The facts he has stated and his overall impressions are quite revealing. I was particularly interested in the ratio of wild fishery production to aquaculture worldwide, and even more so, in

Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan released the mid-year financial update Nov. 16. The province now forecasts a $39.8 million deficit for 200607, compared to the expected $6.2 million surplus projected in March — largely due to the shutdown of Terra Nova. The House of Assembly is back in session Nov. 20.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Insightful and informative coverage’ Dear editor, I am a second-year “fast-track” nursing student enrolled in a fourth-year seminar course at Memorial University. Reporter Mandy Cook’s article (Norris Arm clinic closing, Nov. 3 edition) included some really helpful statistics and is sure to be

Did you know that, by a similar kind of logic, there is apparently no shortage of nurses in Newfoundland?

of interest to my nursing classmates.

The statement by Dr. Ed Hunt, medical consultant for the Department of Health, that he is unaware of any shortage of doctors in central Newfoundland is very interesting given that the two physicians, nearing 60 years of

age, work 60 to 80 hours a week to try and provide care to their clients. Dr. Hunt’s view seems to be at odds with the complaints one hears from family, friends and acquaintances trying to get appointments.

Did you know that by a similar kind of logic there is apparently no shortage of nurses in Newfoundland? Thanks for your insightful and informative coverage.

Tamara Biehn, Mount Pearl

‘Not much value for our tax dollars’ John Crosbie

Paul Daly photo

the ratio-trending pattern developing as of recent years. So while I understand his pessimism towards the wild fishery if present practices continue, I would caution him about his conclusion. The wild fishery is already in the intensive-care unit, if not on its way to the morgue, but the seafood industry, ironically, need not be ruined.

The trend in the growth of aquaculture will continue and future generations will enjoy cultivated ocean- and fresh-water products. I’m sure John Crosbie meant as much.

Robert Rowe, St. John’s

Dear editor, I enjoyed your column, Happy MakeWork Day, in the Nov. 3 issue of The Independent about make work projects.

There are six people on a program in Brighton where I live that need the magic number of 420 hours to qualify

for employment insurance. The number of hours needed: (1) 141 hours; (2) 183 hours; (3) 241 hours; (4) 315 hours; (5) 340 hours; (6) 390 hours.

No. 6 had 30 hours work in the last 1 1/2 years and I believe 20 hours was obtained as a scrutineer when the

municipal election took place in September, 2005 and 10 hours when there was a byelection in November, 2005. Not much value for our tax dollars.

The author asked that his name and community be withheld.

‘You said you would help me’ Dear editor, I am writing you about the Whitbourne Boy’s Home. I was also a victim from 1969 to ’72. I was also sexually abused and badly beaten. My lawyer is Bob Buckingham. I am married and have a 26-year-old son. This happened to me over 35 years ago.

Please Danny Williams help me,

because it was your law firm that I first approached and you said you would help me. Now you’re in the government, you have turned your back to all of us. When your son was badly beaten you cried for justice. So please help me to close the last chapter of my life.

Robert Pennell, Corner Brook

Danny Williams

Paul Daly

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

8 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 9

IN CAMERA

Straight shooter On Nov. 19, Independent photo editor Paul Daly will officially release Straight Shooter, his long-awaited book of photography. The collection features Daly’s pictures from around the world, gathered from 25 years in the news, arts and travel business. On these pages are a small sampling of photographs taken in this province, and are included in the publication.

Below is an introduction, to both the book and the photographer himself, written by Daly.

M

y great uncle Bronko was a newspaper vendor in Dublin, Ireland. Bronko (and I still don’t know his real name) is my grandmother’s brother. Every day after school, beginning at age 13, I had to relieve Bronko so he could pick up the late edition of the papers.

Standing there, collecting money, I wondered why people ran for the paper before racing off to catch their bus or train. I would see the same people every day, summer, winter, spring, and autumn — the paper was obviously important to them.

One Sunday I saw an old movie on

television, Teacher’s Pet, with Doris Day and Clarke Gable. Gable was the crusty, hard-boiled editor of a big-city newspaper. Gable makes it known from the start of the movie he believes journalists should learn the hard way and enroll in the school of hard knocks. There’s a scene in the movie where he tells a young lad in the newsroom how he started off as a copy boy, and that the kid should stick with it and work hard.

That was my first glimpse inside a newspaper. Okay, so it was a Hollywood newspaper and it was the 1950s, but I was fascinated.

Back in the real world, it was 1981.

And the next day, as I left Bronko’s paper stand and went to catch my bus home, I built up enough courage to go into the office of The Sunday Tribune.

With my newfound knowledge gleaned from the Hollywood movie, I nervously asked for a job as a copy

boy — not that I knew what a copy boy did.

The receptionist, God love her, called upstairs to the office of Jim O’Shea, the general manager.

“Come back tomorrow,” was his response. I did. The newspaper office was on the way home from Bronko’s stand, so every day for a week or more, I stopped in and the receptionist would call upstairs.

Back came the same reply: “Come back tomorrow.”

As the week went on, the receptionist greeted me by name and as she called upstairs it became “that young fellow is here again.”

For some reason I didn’t take it as rejection, I just kept stopping by.

I guess I wore the general manager down because one day he came charging down the stairs.

“Come back tomorrow,” he barked, “at 9 a.m. to start work as a copy boy.”

I found out that a copy boy ran around like a madman, collecting bits of paper from reporters, running it to the editor who scratched and slashed at it, then running it to the typesetter … this was before the days of computers and e-mail.

I also had to jump on my pushbike and cycle to the courthouse, concerts or events, pick up film and bring it back to the office to be developed and printed. I ran out to get coffee and cigarettes, and to the occasional bookie.

It was crazy and I loved it.

My heroes at the paper were the photojournalists. At about this time, one of my Dad’s cousins, an amateur photographer, came by the house with his camera. In awe, I held it in my hands and felt empowered. The next day I took my savings out of the bank and bought an Olympus OM1 — actually, I bought two. Real photojournalists always carried two cameras and

two lenses.

My time at The Sunday Tribune didn’t last; the paper went bankrupt.

I didn’t have the heart to go to another paper. A few years later, when I heard the news that Vincent Browne — the managing editor of Magill, a current affairs magazine in Ireland — was relaunching The Sunday Tribune, I found my way to the new office. As I walked inside, I saw familiar faces, people I hadn’t seen since the days of the old Tribune. I don’t remember asking for a job, but I started work immediately in my old job as a copy boy.

I spent any free time I had in the photo department. I was fascinated by the darkroom. Photographers had a way of bringing images to life. They had their favourite film, and a particular way of processing it. They patiently explained the subtleties of creating an image. The powers-that-be realized it made more sense to station me in the

photo department, and that is where I was permanently assigned — I could have kissed Vincent Browne.

I was now photographic assistant.

My duties were all-encompassing. I collected, processed, developed and printed film, remembering the preferences of the individual photographers. I was a sponge, and the more I learned, the more they taught.

Two big men took a special interest in my tutelage: Eamonn Farrell, a gentle soul, was picture editor and encouraged and led by example; and John Carlos, senior photographer, a perfectionist from the way he dressed to the composition of his image. Both men were great orators — the stories they could tell. Often I was with them when they held court at Toners on Baggot Street, an infamous watering hole for journalists. I think I learned as much about life as I did photography from these men.

During the workday we often went for lunch at the café in the National Gallery of Ireland. We went early and walked around the gallery, studying the paintings. We discussed composition and, if the paintings had been photographs, the camera settings and lens that would have been used. How would the subject have been lit?

These two men created a photography course for one. To this day, if I find myself in a gallery or with a book of photography, I study the images and consider the techniques — it’s amazing what sticks with a person.

I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel around the world, camera in hand. In the past 25 years I have seen tremendous changes.

We were still using 1940s technology in the 1980s. Before the age of cell phones and pagers and the electronic transmission of digital images, we had film — film that had to be shipped back

to the newspaper for processing and printed by deadline.

Sometimes, we got creative and gave the film to a pilot to guarantee a speedy delivery. We will always have deadlines, but with the advent of computers, the deadline has been accelerated and now all we need is a phone line.

What hasn’t changed is that a reporter and photographer must still meet with the people involved and tell a story in as true a manner as possible.

The photographer is responsible for taking an image that tells the story without words; pictures speak every language.

Newspapers and magazines now access images from photo agencies around the world. My good friend Eamonn Farrell now owns and operates Photocall Ireland, a Dublin-based agency. John Carlos is still a working perfectionist.

Then there’s me. Twenty-five years

after Jim O’Shea gave me that first job, I’m photo editor at The Independent, a weekly newspaper in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and have produced a photographic book of my own.

Life is good.

The launch for Straight Shooter, published by Boulder Publications, will be held at Bianca’s Bar, St. John’s, Nov. 19, 2-4 p.m. All are welcome.

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

10 • INDEPENDENTNEWS

YOUR VOICE ‘Not just about fish in a pond’ Dear editor, I am writing regarding the proposed copper-zinc mine in central Newfoundland at Duck Pond that has been purchased by AUR Resources.

The area has a lot of natural beauty, but I have read some government statements and worry about the impact the proposed mine will have on the environment.

I have been told there are two ponds in this area that are teeming with fish. The ponds are to be completely filled in to accommodate the mining project. It is not just about the fish in a pond, we’re also talking about a whole ecosystem that will be destroyed. Having seen numerous mining and other projects come and go in the province, I am worried about the effect the mine will have on other wildlife in the area. I am also concerned about chemicals leeching into the ponds and reservoirs.

Trapnell’s Jewellry

Where is the environmental impact statement? The minister is quoted on the government website saying he finds the AUR Resources environmental-impact statement to be satisfactory. The environmental-impact statement should have been carried out by an independent body. I can assure you potential eco-tourists do not want to come to Newfoundland and Labrador to see the environmental damage that has been caused by the mining industry.

There are ways that industry can work with government and communities to ensure that the wildlife and health of all of the people in the area are not negatively affected by industry, or at least the least amount of harm is done. I only hope that’s the case in this situation, but it seems like that is not on the agenda.

Harry Street St. John’s

Paul Daly/The Independent

Final sale A jewel of our downtown is gone, another icon in swan song; perhaps a bar will take the slack, and join the others in the pack.

Expand George Street to make Georgetown, though upper levels one will frown; bar flies will surely like the size, and space it serves for ale and song.

Nearly all our former landmarks lost to progress and to big-box gloss; to say that Water Street is old, belies the fact that it’s been sold.

All sales are final, signs will say, they’ll never see another day; the death of old St. John’s is sealed,

no cute façade can have repealed.

Just Chafe’s are left of that old crowd, to sell their suits, of which they’re proud; all other family fares have fled, or else their wares are put to bed.

It’s sad to say farewell again, and write them off as old, has-been; for Trapnell’s graced our arms and necks, but now they’ll fade as old rejects.

Rejected, relocated, razed, the legacy hardly ever saved; attempts at resurrection pale, against the ruin of the final sale.

Bob LeMessurier, Goulds

The Daily Colonist, November 1891

AROUND THE BAY On the evening of Saturday last, a man was charged with having violently broken two doors and thereby forced his way into the office of Messrs. T. Chancey and Co. and there made use of violent and threatening language to Chancey, who is also a magistrate. The man did not deny the charge against him, indeed his conduct before the magistrate was anything but penitential. He was therefore given over to Row, the Constable, who felt a very reasonable unwillingness to proceed by himself to Harbour Grace without being provided with a horse.

It was then between 8 or 9 o’clock at night, the night was dark and boisterous and rainy. The road to Harbour Grace through the woods at a distance of four miles; rough, uneven, and solitary; and Carbonear with its four thousand inhabitants without a place of safety to confine murderers, or midnight ruffian, the drunken or the disorderly. Row at length mustered some six or eight publicans who were special constables and marched off with the prisoner.

— The Star and Conception Bay Journal, Nov. 26, 1834 YEARS PAST Plans are being made to lay telephone cable under the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland, says Dr. Frank B. Jewett, president of Bell telephone laboratories at Pasadena, California, who terms present overseas service by radio “rather unreliable.”

— The Liberal Press, St. John’s, Nov. 15, 1930

AROUND THE WORLD I have submitted to your Government through Sir Julian Pauncefote, a proposition to the effect that American fishermen shall have the privilege of entering the harbours of Newfoundland at all times to purchase bait on the same terms as Newfoundland fishermen, and the privilege of trading and selling fish, oils, etc., subject only to such customs duties as are imposed upon Newfoundland vessels similarly employed; also the privilege of the winter frozen herring fishery without restriction. In return for this we ask that the product of our Newfoundland fisheries — fish, oils, etc. — and our crude and unmanufactured minerals, admitted to the United States free of duty.

— The Weekly Record, Trinity West, Nov. 8, 1890.

EDITORIAL STAND Is the ill treatment of the unfortunate patients alleged to be practiced by the keepers at the Lunatic Asylum merely exceptional or is it systematic?

Rumours have reached our ears, pointing to the maltreatment of the poor sufferers, at the Lunatic Asylum, who, bereft of all power to aid themselves, are at the mercy of the humanity or inhumanity of their keepers. The near relative of an official of the Government, suffering not from insanity of any violent type, but from a sort of morbid melancholia was placed at the Asylum for a few weeks.

At length a revelation was made to the effort that this woman was receiving insufficient food, and that of a wretched quality; that her health and cleanliness of body were sadly neglected, and that her own fine and neatly made underclothing was being appropriated and coarse and ragged linen substituted. If harsh treatment may be

applied to the better and more comfortable class of patients, how must these unfortunates be dealt with who have no friends to look after them. When these things are not done in the green leaf, what may not be done in the dry?

— The Register, St. John’s, Nov. 8, 1880 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Sir – The recent turn of events in the affairs of the Co-operative Society would have been pure comedy, were it not for the rather disturbing effect it may have on the future of the Co-operative Society, and of the wider society of our Island. Apart from the somewhat childish nature of the original barroom incident, and the subsequent buffoonery of the board of directors, one senses dangerous submerged reefs and shoals. The only valid reason for the existence of a co-op is love, and if you don’t love people, how can you hope to make it work? I’m trying not to use the word “socialism” but it’s not easy. So now when anyone asks what happened to the Fogo Island Shipbuilding and Consumers’ Co-operative Society, you can say: “It died from a lack of love”; or alternatively: “It got a transfusion of love, and hence its bouncing good health.” I wish I could hope for the latter to occur. Love and Peace, Edward F. Healy.

— Fogo Islander, November 1972 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “The shooting gallery will be in full swing tonight at the bazaar, and several of our leading sportsmen are going to contest. The target will be a lighted candle, and Mr. Jas. E. Kent, the young Nimrod of the Commercial Bank, says he “can snuff it three times out of five.”

— Newfoundland Colonist, St. John’s, Nov.4, 1891

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTNEWS • 11

Offering a louder voice

Chris Henley taking on Carol Furlong for NAPE presidency, says next leader to set tone for union in the coming years

By Don Power For The Independent

tack.

“The primary function of a union is to care for the well-being and livelihood of its members,” he hen NAPE members vote for a new says. “And as a public sector union, part of our leader next spring, that president will role is to keep our employer in the public sector not only represent the 20,000 members accountable for the decisions they make that across Newfoundland and Labrador — the winner adversely affect our membership. will embody a shift in the ideology of the union.

“I don’t think that job is currently being done At least that’s the belief of one of the people in properly. It’s not like it used to be in terms of the running for the union’s top being out in the public criticizing post. government.”

“I don’t think that job Chris Henley, a senior More than just looking for a employee relations officer with pay raise and a big corner office, is currently being NAPE, will face incumbent though, Henley sees his potential Carol Furlong in a battle for the rise to the presidency as a waterpresidency of the province’s done properly. It’s not shed moment for the union. largest public sector union.

“Sure it is,” he says. “The reallike it used to be in “I’m suggesting that Carol ity is, if the majority of members Furlong has not shown the leadterms of being out in support me for the presidency of ership in NAPE that NAPE NAPE, then they are suggesting needs in order to maintain its the public criticizing we need to continue to go down a voice within our society,” road where we make our employgovernment.”

Henley stated in announcing his ers accountable for decisions they intentions Oct. 26. make that adversely affect our Henley’s dissatisfaction with members.

Chris Henley Furlong’s work is evident.

“If they choose to support the NAPE, he says, “has lost its existing president, then what way” under Furlong. they’re doing is sending a message that we have “It’s flailing in the wind,” he tells The turned a corner, and we’re no longer going to be Independent. “It’s always been a solid entity, and advocating on behalf of our members, at least it’s not a solid entity right now.” publicly.”

For decades, NAPE has played the role of unofIt would be a fundamental shift in the way ficial opposition to the provincial government. NAPE has operated.

Fraser March, Dave Curtis, Tom Hanlon, Leo Chris Henley calls himself a “generalist.” More Puddister — NAPE’s leader was always front and than anybody else at NAPE, he says, he’s had a centre criticizing government, be it PC or Liberal. hand in many of the various sectors of the union, It was, if you will, the public watchdog. which could serve him well in the spring vote.

“When NAPE spoke, people listened.”

From transition talks on health to public sector Unlike her predecessors, however, Furlong bargaining to spearheading the move for new clasdoesn’t step in front of a microphone at every sification and the move to a joint trusteeship of the opportunity. She prefers, she says, to work out the pension, Henley says he’s done it all. problems in the backrooms, quietly, away from After graduating MUN with a commerce degree the limelight. That, Henley feels, is the wrong in 1980, he worked for the department of Finance

W

Chris Henley, an employee relations office with NAPE.

as a tax auditor. Three years later, after asking some pointed union questions, he was invited to a meeting (“sucked in,” he says without regret). In 1990, he became NAPE staff.

“I’ve always had the ambition to run the union at some point or another,” Henley says.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” he says of Furlong’s work. “I don’t believe our membership believes we’re serving or representing their interests. The union is starting, in certain areas, to falter. I intend, if elected, to correct that problem.”

The irony of this president battle is not lost on the Gander-born, St. John’s-raised man. Henley understands that unions represent solidarity, togetherness, and an all-for-one, one-for-all mentality.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Yet the very institution that employs him is — in Henley’s mind — a house divided.

“There is some division, obviously,” he says.

“Rather than us concentrating our effort on fighting for our members, we’re spending too much time fighting with each other.”

He calls it “destructive.”

But he doesn’t think there’ll be any lingering bitterness after the election. NAPE members know the game. Internal politics haven’t changed, he says. “You get behind the leader … Once the collective decision is made, talk of solidarity kicks in and everybody moves in that direction. Those who have an opposing group are democratically out-voted, and they toe the party line.

“That’s the way the process works.”

‘Still looking for more people’ From page 1 was a Newfoundlander,” he says.

“They’re still looking for more people.”

Belbin says 22 people from his unit in St. John’s are currently training to go to Afghanistan in the New Year, and about 80 per cent of them are students.

Student reservists, who make up 40 per cent of Canada’s reserve force, are regularly asked to volunteer for

Canada’s overseas mission to Afghanistan. There are 2,300 Canadian troops serving in the NATO mission, including 300 reservists.

Students serving overseas must arrange with their school to take time away from their studies. For engineers or other professional students, keeping their spot and year in a program — without being forced to re-apply for admission — can be an issue.

With the growing manpower require-

ments, the Canadian Forces Liaison Council — a military lobby group — is asking Canadian universities to formally support students like Belbin by signing a declaration and offering time off school. Memorial University has already signed on.

The universities agree to defer exams that conflict with the reserves’ training schedule and re-admit students to their programs if they take time off to serve overseas.

In the Ottawa area, one student who served in Afghanistan in 2005 is back at their studies. Like Belbin, he says the money and the experience convinced him to go overseas.

Cpl. Anwar Massoud used the money from his tour of duty to pay off a $20,000 student loan from his undergraduate degree in film studies at Carleton University.

“There was no way I would be able to pay for my debt without a grand sum

of money like that,” says Massoud, 25.

Belbin says he won’t be heading back to Kabul — or Kandahar. After receiving his degree, he returned to university to study accounting, which he hopes will get him a full-time job outside of the military.

“I really enjoyed it over there. I was planning to go back, but I have a girlfriend now,” Belbin says.

“It’s a lot nicer being at home and actually able to spend time with her.”

mercedes-benz.ca

B- CLASS

$

*

319 4.5%

The Mercedes-Benz Wrap Up Event

PER MONTH WITH $3,140 DOWN AT

NO FIRST MONTH’S PAYMENT & NO SECURITY DEPOSIT †

*

BASED ON A 39 MONTH LEASE MSRP STARTING FROM

$

31,400*

THE MERCEDES-BENZ WRAP UP EVENT is here with no first month’s payment and no security deposit on all new B-Class, C-Class, E-Class, M-Class and R-Class, including 4MATIC™ permanent all-wheel drive models. Hurry to your local Mercedes-Benz dealer for a test drive. The Mercedes-Benz Wrap Up Event is here for a limited time only.

673 Topsail Rd.

TOM WOODFORD LTD.

364-9888

© 2006 Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc. *Lease offer based on a new B200 Compact Sports Tourer available only through Mercedes-Benz Financial O.A.C. for a limited time. $319 per month for 39 months. Down payment or equivalent trade of $3,140 plus applicable taxes due at lease inception. MSRP starting at $31,400. A.L.R. of 4.5% applies. Total obligation is $15,262.

18,000 km/year allowance ($0.20/km for excess kilometres applies). Freight/PDI (up to $1,795 – dealer may charge less), licence, insurance, taxes and PPSA are extra. Dealer may lease for less. B200 TURBO shown with optional Sport Package. †First monthly payment (up to $1,000, including taxes) and security deposit waived on all new, in-stock 2006-2007 BClass, C-Class, E-Class, M-Class, R-Class, including 4MATIC™ models. Offer does not include G-Class, GL-Class or S-Class 4MATIC™ models. Offer ends December 31, 2006 and may not be combined with any other offers.

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

12 • INDEPENDENTWORLD

VOICE FROM AWAY

Ties that bind

Carolyn Slade may love life in Alberta, but she cherishes her Port au Port roots

By Geoff Dale For The Independent

A

fter only a few moments talking with successful businesswoman and municipal politician Carolyn Slade, it becomes abundantly clear she has two homes close to her heart —Newfoundland and Alberta.

A native of the fishing community of Mainland on the tip of the Port au Port Peninsula, Slade and her husband Keith made the move to the culturally diverse regional municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alta. (which takes in Fort MacMurray) in 1979.

The cross-country trek to a region known for its fly-fishing, canoeing and off-roading through sand dunes came only two years after she completed a mechanical engineering technology course at the Marine Institute in St. John’s and barely a year following their marriage.

“Syncrude Canada had just started operations in Fort McMurray,” she says. “So Keith, who is from Stephenville, came out to explore employment possibilities. Friends of

Carolyn Slade

his had found work and he got a job in quick order. Within a couple of months, I moved up.”

After years of living in oil-rich western Canada, she reflects on both her East Coast roots and a rich and productive life thousands of kilometres from Newfoundland.

“I’m the oldest of nine children,” she says. “Many of my family have moved away but my parents (Murdoch and Gladys Barter) are still in Mainland and I have a brother and sister who live in Newfoundland. One of my brothers

works here part-time but he has family and a residence back home.

“I think Newfoundlanders have a certain style that makes us who we are, regardless of where we live. We’re friendly and don’t have a lot of hangups. One strength that has carried me through life is my ability to be flexible.

I’m happy, work from a positive perspective and care about people.”

From day one, Slade became an active member of the local community — participating in little league, the local chamber of commerce, sitting on a landlord and tenant board and volunteering for the Salvation Army, where she keys in on the need for housing and shelter for the homeless.

“Within a month of moving here I had a job with Alberta Power, which started their offices in Fort McMurray,” she says. “After two years, I joined the Alberta Mortgage and Housing Corporation, working in the land development sector for 10 years.

“Before getting into local politics, I sat on a number of boards and committees. I worked for six years with a municipality as a project manager for

the urban parks program. Basically, I’m always looking at ways to make a difference in the community I live in. This is a great community to raise a family, to advance and get involved.”

In addition to her wide range of community-based pursuits, she is a regional vice-president of Compass Group Canada, a company that manages work camp facilities in and around Fort McMurray for Suncor Energy and Canada Natural Resources Ltd. And if those activities weren’t enough to cram her already jam-packed schedule, she’s into her second term as an “urban” municipal councilor for Wood Buffalo.

With the tragic death of her son Justin two years ago in a highway accident, she says much of her work on council is related directly to the improvement of local infrastructure.

While she, her husband and daughter Wendy (who works in Calgary) enjoy successful lives out west, Slade says the ties with Newfoundland remain strong.

“With so many Newfoundlanders moving out here over the years,

because of the Syncrude opening, we have a lot of friends from back home,” she said. “Now we’re into second and third generations. When we do retire, we will certainly spend a lot of our time back home.

“I don’t think there is any place on earth more beautiful than Newfoundland in the summer. I’ve traveled all over and been on cruises to places like Puerto Rico but each time I come back home and see the ocean and talk with the people, it makes me understand and appreciate the miracle of life.”

Meanwhile, with balmy summer weather months away and the residents of Fort McMurray already enduring an early winter, she jokes about the current heat spell gripping the region, hitting the mercury at a whopping – 8 C. “It got down to –18 C in early November and there is plenty of snow,” she says. “For us eight below is really a warming spell and we’re enjoying it — if you know what I mean.”

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

Montreal police in ‘men-only’ uproar

W

hat to do if you’re a policewoman trying to take a statement from a Hasidic Jew who refuses to look at you, never mind answer questions?

In Montreal, an internal police document recommends stepping aside and calling on a male colleague, advice that has infuriated some officers, and the union that represents them.

The guidance is contained in a slim newsletter the Montreal police service says is meant to promote cultural sensitivity, but critics see it as the latest in a series of cases where civil rights collide with efforts at “reasonable accommodation” of religious and cultural minorities.

The issue is a major topic in Montreal, where a litany of analogous incidents has come to light in recent months, and where pundits are suggesting the outer limits of official multiculturalism have been reached.

The question has even prompted the provincial government to set up an expert committee to provide advice on how to craft reasonable

accommodations in public institutions like schools and hospitals.

But there are clearly still some kinks to be worked out.

The piece in the police newsletter, which the service stresses is not formal department policy, is headlined “Sometimes being ignored is respectful.”

It then explains the cultural sensitivities of Hasidic Jews and says “your role, as a professional, is to facilitate exchanges with your interlocutor. In some cases, that could mean bringing in your male colleague to intervene.”

The president of La Fraternité des policiers et policières de Montréal, which represents the city’s 4,200 cops, said it was “discriminatory” for the police service to give such advice.

“We support reaching out to cultural groups.

It’s to our members’ advantage and they do it every day, but saying that it’s OK for someone to tell a female officer to step aside and let the men take over is just going too far,” said Yves Francoeur, who demands the police service

retract its stand.

Police spokeswoman Melissa Carroll said “this is not a new policy” and the passage in a column in the October issue of the internal newsletter L’heure juste — presented as a hypothetical scenario involving a robbery in a Hasidic bakery — simply serves to inform officers about situations they may encounter.

In some Hasidic communities — which observe an ultra-Orthodox form of Judaism — scriptural interpretations forbid men from interacting with, speaking to, or touching women to whom they aren’t related by blood or marriage.

Constitutional expert Julius Grey warned against the type of advice in the police newsletter, saying it risks doing more harm than good.

“We should only make accommodations in order to help people integrate. I’m opposed to the ghettoization of people,” said Grey.

— Torstar wire service

Ottawa’s muddy message hurting our image Conservatives ‘trying to twist Canadians into unnatural positions’ OTTAWA

By James Travers Torstar wire service

political advantage in a Rubik’s cube conflict.

Instead of balancing Israel’s right to defend itself with civilian safety and Lebanon’s frailty, Harper tilted. He joined Washington in giving Tel emember when the world liked what it saw Aviv carte blanche while pounding at home on the in Canadians and Canadians liked what wedge Conservatives hope to drive between they saw in the mirror? Those memories Liberals and Jews. are fading fast and the mirror is suddenly distant.

Canada is a bit Middle East player and carries It’s tempting to blame Conservatives for a only proportionate blame for so weakening national image losing its lustre. But temptations Lebanon’s government, and indirectly strengthenare famously deceiving and often wrong. ing Hezbollah, that another civil war looms. And An administration selling itself as “new” is here at home Harper’s polarizing is just one construggling through a slough of old problems. tributing factor to the emerging consensus that a Among the troubling things Liberals left behind government given a minority in the last election are chocoholic energy consumption and a foreign can’t be trusted with a majority in the next. policy skewing away from comfortable norms.

Why that’s so has a lot to do with the image What makes that particularly thing. A country that embraced vexing for Stephen Harper is that fiscal conservatism in the last his predecessors were more decade of the old century shows adept at muddying the water than few signs of turning its back on clearing the air. Signing the social liberalism in the first History predicts Kyoto accord left the impression years of the new.

Liberals doing nothing were Yet Conservatives keep trying trouble ahead for any doing something. to twist Canadians into unnatuTheir offshore performance ruling party that fails ral positions. From John Baird’s was another shell game. Hardly financially meaningless but to control the anyone noticed Canada was lossymbolically revealing program ing its Middle East balance even slashes to Vic Toews’s dangerdiscrepancy between ous scheming to make judicial as it abandoned its non-proliferation leadership by joining more political, its objectives and the appointments Washington in accepting India Conservatives are locating far into the nuclear club. away from the urban majority’s national image.

Lest we forget, it was Liberals political sweet spot. who accelerated away from UN Sure, it’s refreshing to see a peace missions and toward more prime minister doing what he politically and ideologically believes rather than what advischarged U.S. operations. While sometimes com- ers think voters want. But it’s neither uplifting nor pelling, those sorties created the impression that a courageous for Harper to pander to simplistic concountry once known for punching above its victions or to stay home rather than face criticism. weight diplomatically now wants to slug it out Still, there’s a correcting mechanism built into militarily. federal governments that are self-destructive.

If Conservatives are guilty of much — opinion History predicts trouble ahead for any ruling party polls support that verdict — it’s that they are that fails to control the discrepancy between its entrenching those trends and making the image objectives and the national image. indelible. To fiddle with Marshall McLuhan’s sigFor all their faults, Liberals recognized that risk nature aphorism, Conservatives are Canada’s gar- and, guided by Jean Chrétien’s sure instincts, bled message. compensated with decisions that were riveting How poorly it’s being received is evident in and distracting. They chose style over substance Environment Minister Rona Ambrose’s Nairobi on the environment and married wisdom with reception. Seeing featherweight Ambrose cast as a cunning in staying out of Iraq to first go to pollution heavy evokes unsettling projections of Afghanistan. Even so, that wasn’t enough to save what’s next: burning flags and “Canuck go home” them in the last election. Voters took a hard look chants? Well, not immediately. Fortunately, per- at ethics and decided they didn’t like Liberals. ception lags behind reality and it will be a while Come the next election, maybe as early as before Americans rip our Maple Leaf off their spring, Canadians will be looking in the mirror backpacks. and may well decide they don’t like how others Still, action and inaction have consequences. now see them or how they see themselves.

Consider what’s happening in Beirut only months If that’s our image, Conservatives will be on the after an inexperienced Prime Minister tried to find way to becoming another distant memory.

R

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006 — PAGE 13

Geoff Moyse of Mulligan’s Irish Pub on George Street in St. John’s.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Banker to bartender Geoff Moyse is ‘green’ but eager to run George Street’s latest Irish pub

By Mandy Cook The Independent eoff Moyse used to make George Street “rounds” before he settled into the security of a family and manager’s position at the Toronto-Dominion bank in St. John’s. Now, after a 10year absence from the worldfamous party strip, Moyse is moving on from the world of power suits and power-point meetings to kegs of Guinness and fiddlers’ jigs at the newly minted Mulligan’s Irish pub.

The bar replaces Irish stalwart O’Reilly’s Pub, which has moved two doors down to the old Bender’s location. Moyse says there’s enough room for everyone.

He says some of O’Reilly’s regulars are even checking out Mulligan’s, which features live music seven nights a week.

“There are so many great traditional Newfoundland bands that need venues, like The Punters and

G

The Planks, and all the patrons who want to see them play.”

Newfoundland and Labrador has a long history of pubs and bars.

According to the Newfoundland and Labrador Book of Everything, in 1726 there were 450 families living on the island and 65 drinking establishments. The City of St. John’s alone had 42 homes and 16 taverns way back then.

Today, the number of licenced liquor establishments in Newfoundland and Labrador is pegged at 600, with 52 in downtown St. John’s alone.

Mulligan’s opened up for business at the end of October — a traditionally slow period for George Street — but Moyse isn’t worried.

He’s planning ahead in anticipation of the busy run up to Christmas and even into the New Year.

“Pretty much everybody from the beer distributors right on down to the door people say it’s a very slow month but certainly as you get into December and people come

home from out of town and the Christmas parties, it gets very busy and that’s historically how it’s been for a long, long time,” he says.

“Then maybe a slow down through January and February and then St. Paddy’s day will be a huge day for us. We’ve already started planning for it now because you have to.

“It’s more than a day, it turns into a weekend or a three-, four-, five-day event sometimes so we want to make sure we have the right entertainment and everything

in place so we can make it a real big splash for everybody.”

Moyse says he “loved everything” about his tenure at the bank, and could never have predicted he would end up minding a pub on George Street. He says the opportunity fell in his lap and decided he would take the plunge — after careful consideration with his whole family. Moyse says it is a total life change.

“It’s very different for sure, it’s been an adjustment for everybody, for me and my family,” he says.

Bar stats Number of bars in Newfoundland and Labrador: 600 Number of bars and pubs in downtown St. John’s: 52 Number of Irish pubs: 9 Total revenue of province’s pubs in 2005: $10 M Source: St. John’s Downtown Development Commission and Newfoundland and Labrador Book of Everything

“The hours are a big adjustment for me and my wife, being away from home a lot and missing suppers with the family and even some of the events in the evening, but it’s part of getting this place up and running and getting it going smoothly so eventually I can step away a little bit and leave it in the hands of my staff who I trust.”

Moyse says Mulligan’s has received a lot of help and support from the George Street community.

He says they’ve received a warm welcome as the “new face” on the block. For his part, Moyse wants nothing more than to remain true to their mandate and their roots.

“This is a long-term plan for me and I keep focusing on the goal five and 10 years down the road. It takes time to develop a clientele and develop your own reputation.

We’ve got our mandate to stay traditional and Irish and we’ve been working towards that from day one.” mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

Teaching children money values ave you even noticed among your children, that financial values are as varied as the personalities themselves? That kid A can barely get 24 to 48 hours from allowance time before he’s broke, while kid B manages to get all the way to the next allowance day and still have a few shekels? Interesting, isn’t it? It’s all about money values and the developing personalities of the little people in our lives.

Those of us in the business of helping families with their finances have a variety of beliefs and values that go along with the concept of children and money. Some of us don’t support the concept of an allowance at all. In other words, “if you don’t work for it, you don’t get it.”

H

AL ANTLE

Your Finances Others abhor the concept of expecting the child to work — they believe that weekly allowance is outward confirmation for our children; a time for them to see for themselves the value we place on them as members of our family. We want them to be able to make choices and to pick the goods and services that are important to them.

Still others, and I fit in this category, believe in a parent/child financial relationship that is reflective of both these value systems. We think our kids

should perform some type of task in The tasks our children are expected order to “qualify” for an allowance. to complete should be something simHowever, it should be minor and reflect ple, like taking their own dishes to the their age and skill sink after a meal, set. At the same sorting her or his time, we simply laundry into piles, We financial counselling give them some or picking up cash because we toys. It should be types believe the ideal want to. measurable so starting point for While I believe you, as the parin a little work for ent, can see evian allowance is at the the allowance, I do dence of complenot subscribe to the tion. start of kindergarten. notion that an Before money allowance should became so virtube used as punishment (“if you don’t al, its use was also an ideal way to help eat your carrots, you’ll loose your teach math skills. I remember showing allowance”). When was the last time our now 22-year-old when she was six your employer penalized you for poor or so how a dime was made up of 10 nutritional habits? pennies or two nickels. How many pen-

nies does it take to make up a dollar? If you already have 10 nickels, how many pennies are necessary to get you to 75 cents? These were wonderful opportunities.

We financial counselling types believe the ideal starting point for an allowance is at the start of kindergarten.

We all recognize that others with greater expertise in matters relative to the growth and development of children may have other views — just the same, this particular view is ours.

I believe the appropriate starting level is felt to be about $2 per week.

It’s important that allowance day be the same day each week. So set one, and keep it there.

See “Your kids grow up,” page 14

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

Available this fall. To preorder your copy, contact

Boulder Publications at 895-6483

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

14 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

Size matters

Ontario, Quebec to build power grid link

Cooke Aquaculture finds strength in big numbers

By Ivan Morgan The Independent ooke Aquaculture’s approach to its largest production cost — fish feed — is size. Like poultry, swine or any other similar farming enterprise, the cost of feed is often what makes or breaks an aquaculture venture. The answer for Cooke Aquaculture is economy of scale. In other words, the more fish they raise, the more feed they buy, the lower the price.

“It comes down to economies of scale, which is why when we moved into Newfoundland we negotiated this large project with both levels of government,” says Nell Halse, Cooke’s director of communications.

“You have to do it on a major scale; you can’t just start with a couple of little farms. The farms themselves have to be large to justify the capital costs.

If you have a large operation then you have some buying power with the supplier — including the feed companies.”

It was the cost of feed that spelled the doom of earlier aquaculture ventures in the province. Small aquaculture ventures cannot compete with larger industrial operations like Cooke, which has been buying up smaller operations for the past few years. Cooke now has farms in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.

Cooke is a private company, and there is little information regarding their financing, but they are growing rapidly.

“We are already a major purchaser of feed in Atlantic Canada,” says Halse. “And those are the same companies that supply feed to the Newfoundland operations.”

Shur-Gain, a subsidiary of Maple Leaf Foods, will probably be the major feed supplier for Newfoundland operations, although Cooke buys from

C

ntario and Quebec have agreed to spend $800 million building a new transmission link capable of carrying 1,250 megawatts between the two provinces.

Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan calls the project a “first spike” in a national east-west electricity grid that could see Ontario become a bridge between Quebec and Manitoba.

“This link will allow us to significantly increase our access to clean, hydroelectric power from Quebec,” Duncan says.

Ontario can currently import up to 3,500 megawatts from the United States, mostly from high-emission coal-fired plants in Michigan and New York. Hydro-Quebec has wanted to build such a link since the late 1990s but didn’t have enough exportable surplus power to make it worthwhile. That changed this spring, when Quebec Premier Jean Charest committed $25 billion toward new hydro power projects.

The Nov. 14 announcement marks a commitment from Ontario to invest $124 million in two-way transmission infrastructure so it can accept the power from Quebec, which is spending $684 million on its side of the border.

Duncan says the link, on top of giving the province access to cleaner power during peak times, will also provide stability and reliability to both Ontario’s and Quebec’s grids.

“The blackout of 2003 and the ice storm of 1998 saw efforts to share electricity between the two provinces hampered by inadequate transmission,” he said. “This project will prove vital if such circumstances ever arise again.”

Ontario is also exploring transmission projects that would tap hydro power from Manitoba and Labrador.

— Torstar wire service

O

A farmed salmon.

other competitors.

“We buy feed from all three companies. It is the quantity of feed we buy that allows us to negotiate a very good price — and there is more than one supplier so they are all competing for the same business.”

Cooke has a policy of vertical integration in all manner of its operations.

Feed production, says Halse, is one area they are interested in.

“Ultimately it would be nice to make our own feed, but it has to fit into our overall business plan, and it has to be financially viable,” she says.

Paul Daly/The Independent

“At the moment I think we have an edge just because of the quantity of feed we purchase.”

Halse says there are no plans to produce feed in Newfoundland, but the idea is not ruled out.

“We would be looking at any opportunity to expand our operations so we can cover the full value chain. That is something that is very important to our business — we have our own hatcheries, our own plants, we own our own trucking companies, we make our own nets and cages.”

“A smaller company that has to

depend on another supplier doesn’t have the same flexibility. We are able to adapt our technology to suit the environment we are going to be in — so it is economy of size.”

Cooke’s Aquaculture, as well as the federal and provincial governments, are investing $155 million in fish farming on the island’s south coast, generating over 200 full-time jobs.

Over the next three years Cooke’s Aquaculture will generate an estimated 17,800 tonnes of salmon, worth $86.5 million. ivan.morgan@theindependent.ca

‘Your kids grow up only once’ From page 13

or less frequently if your personal schedule is tight, take your child and While you may prefer to pay every the container to the bank of your choostwo weeks, recognize that this little ing to make a deposit. mind will need to evolve into a money Don’t be embarrassed if the total is manager, and so keeping matters sim- only a buck or two, it won’t bother the ple is an urgent requirement. As well, bank. They are looking for success like give your little ones an allowance made your son or daughter is demonstrating, up of a variety of and the money they’ll “change,” particularly make in the mortgage when they’re starting they advance to them out in kindergarten.

25 years will more Don’t be embarrassed in Encourage them to than make up for the decide and plan. inconvenience of a if the total is only a Cajole and direct monthly deposit of them into three areas, buck or two, it won’t $2.50 right now. even for their modest Ask someone at the bother the bank. $2 per week: how bank to show your much will they spend, child the inside of the save, and give? Be safe. They’ll be happy cooperative and heap to comply and the liton the praise even if in the “give” cate- tle one will be amazed. gory, only several pennies will go to Increase allowance amounts on birthcharity. days by $1 per week to age 10, $1.50 Find a piggy bank or some other type per week to age 14, and $2 per week to of vessel or container — something as age whatever. Your 9-year-old should simple as a yogurt container will work. receive $6 per week while your 16This is for savings. Once each month, year-old gets $17.

You’ll also need to monitor lifestyles.

If your 15-year-old is getting into trouble and the allowance is adding to the problem, then a long hard look is in order. You may find it beneficial to seek other professional help to deal with these kinds of problems; they’re not financial in nature. Whatever the case, don’t wait — your kids grow up only once.

Reading to your children is another ideal way to instill financial values. The children’s section of your local library or bookstore will usually have something appropriate and which can result in a discussion between you and your child. One of my favourite books from this vein was Ginger and Pickles by Beatrix Potter. We read this one many times in our house. There are dozens of financial concepts and money information tucked inside this piece of very intriguing and classic children’s literature.

Al Antle is executive director of Credit Counselling Service of Newfoundland and Labrador

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 15

Taking off Calgary businessman makes a go of hot-air company in Grand Bank

By Pam Pardy Ghent For The Independent algary businessman Harold Warner developed Dynamic Air Shelters out of his passion.

Already a skilled hot-air balloonist and renowned balloon designer, Warner began creating promotional shelters out of the product he knew well —balloons. There is a twist to his entrepreneurial tale that makes not only what he does, but where he does it, unique — 100 per cent of the Alberta-based company’s production is done out of two buildings in Grand Bank on the Burin Peninsula.

“We had a plant in Calgary but every time our employees drove home at the end of a shift they saw a dozen sandwich boards offering them a dollar or more an hour more than what we were paying,” Warner tells The Independent.

The booming Alberta economy was robbing him of his skilled workforce.

A contract with Kiewit brought him to Newfoundland. “I had a large contact, and I knew I didn’t have the ability there,” Warner says of Calgary, so he took a serious look at the island. He found a suitable building available in Grand Bank and set up shop. “I just said, let’s do it, and went for it,” he says.

While there were challenges, Warner discovered a few things. “I always knew I had a great product, then I dis-

C

covered that I also had uncovered an amazing group of people who displayed guts and commitment. They had a job and they wanted to keep it,” he says. “These people continued to develop their skills, so I shut production down in Calgary, and we built on the strengths we had uncovered in Newfoundland.”

Warner trained three individuals from the area on design, and made-toorders are created, cut, manufactured, set up, tested and shipped out from the Grand Bank facility. Duane Bourgeois, supervisor at the site, says once Warner makes a pitch to a client and it’s accepted, his team takes over. The designers work from computers overlooking the production floor. “The only limit to what these guys do up here is their imagination,” he says of Dynamics design team. “While the focus of our business is the manufacturing of promotional, industrial and medical shelters, we can also design a golf, pool or skating rink shelter if that’s what someone needs,” Bourgeois says.

Each design is broken down into panels that the machine cuts, he explains. Then, welders and sewers take over. The 28 employees can work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day to complete a project. Most staff also have an open employment insurance claim that will cover them if things should slow down, though Bourgeois says that isn’t

Dynamic Airshelters on display.

something he sees happening much at all. “We are just flat out here, and I see us being that way for a while,” he laughs.

Dynamic Air Shelters has an interesting set up, and behind the warehouse-style building the latest project is hard to miss. A 62 foot x 82 foot “balloon” in a field in Grand Bank isn’t the novelty it once was, however. “The town is really co-operative, and the community in general have been fantastic and supportive.”

The inflatable shelters offer customers the ability to host functions and entertain clients while promoting their

identity, products and services with their logo displayed for all to see in a novel way. These “buildings” have the look of a hot-air balloon and they attract attention. They can be mobile, temporary shelters, or permanent onsite facilities. The shelters are convenient to transport and are easy to set up and take down. They are also safe — no nails, no wood — just vinyl and air.

“If one of these things comes down in a natural disaster situation, the most you will get is a slap,” Bourgeois boasts.

Transportation right now, he explains, is his biggest issue. “It takes

four days to get a parcel from Calgary to Grand Bank and that’s a ridiculous amount of time when you consider I can get one to Moscow overnight.”

Warner says he’s confident that setting up a business based in Newfoundland was the right thing to do. He had the product and he was thrilled that rural Newfoundland had the talented people he needed to be successful. A company without that combination is dead as rocks, he says.

“I’m proud to be able to show that outport Newfoundland has more to offer the rest of the world than quality fish fillets.”

There are only two products for which an extended warranty makes sense, the group said. They are rearprojection microdisplay televisions, because replacing the bulb costs three times the extended warranty, and Apple computers, because they come with only 90 days of technical support.

Other unreliable products, such as laptop computers, which break down 43 per cent of the time, and desktop computers, which break down 33 per cent of the time, do so after the typical three-to-four-year warranty expires, and in most cases are cheaper to replace than repair, he said.

In comparison, the breakdown rate

for a TV is 8 to 10 per cent.

As for iPods, the problem is usually with the battery and it’s cheaper to buy one from a third party than pay the $50 to $60 extended warranty the store charges, he said.

But if you are intent on purchasing peace of mind, the consumer group recommends checking first with your credit card issuer. Some cards include as much as a one-year warranty on products purchased with the card.

And if you’re still determined to buy the extended warranty, don’t pay more than 20 per cent of the price of the product for which it was purchased, Consumers Reports said.

Extended coverage a waste, magazine finds

By Dana Flavelle Torstar wire service hen it comes to most consumer electronics and major appliances, buying the extended warranty is “money down the drain,” according to consumer research.

While highly profitable for retailers, most extended warranties are “notoriously bad deals” for consumers, according to the publishers of Consumer Reports magazine.

That’s because, contrary to popular belief, most consumer products are generally reliable and well made, said North America’s largest consumer product testing organization.

In the U.S., consumers will spend $1.6 billion (U.S.) this holiday season buying extended warranties for everything from laptops to flat-screen TVs, the New York-based non-profit magazine publisher Consumers Union said this week.

The organization, which counts 300,000 Canadians among its magazine readers, was unable to supply separate figures for Canada. But its claims are based on a survey that included products sold in Canada.

In all but two cases, buying the extended warranty would be a waste of money, the magazine publishers said.

Few products break within the extended warranty period and, when they do, the repair rarely costs more

W

than the warranty would, the consumer group said based on decades of product testing. In fact, for products under $200, it’s rarely worth repairing.

“Betting on an extended warranty is a sucker’s bet,” Consumer Reports senior editor Tod Marks said in an interview.

The profit margins on some extended warranties can be as high as 50 per cent, according to Consumer Reports magazine — far higher than on the products they cover.

Ontario’s Consumer Services Bureau, a provincial government agency, said it’s up to consumers to decide whether to purchase a warranty.

Canadian retailers say they offer consumers extended warranties because some people want them.

“It’s a bit like buying insurance, I guess. You don’t expect things to go wrong. But, if they do, you know with the protection agreement you have that peace of mind. That’s really what we’re selling,” said Vince Power, a spokesperson for Sears Canada Corp., the country’s largest appliance retailer.

“The reason we offer them is because there are customers who want them,” said Lori DeCou, a spokesperson for Best Buy Canada, the country’s largest consumer electronics retailer.

Neither retailer would comment on what percentage of customers opt for these contracts, nor how much money they make on them. Sears’ appliance

sales associates work on commission, Power said. Best Buy’s sales associates don’t, DeCou said.

Some sales associates make questionable comments while pushing them, Marks said.

“I went undercover in August at a major home improvement centre and was told, ‘They’re all made in Mexico now and God only knows what goes on down there.’ It’s fear mongering,” Marks said.

Apart from cars, which weren’t included in the survey, Consumer Reports said the most commonly purchased extended warranties are for TVs, computers and large appliances.

art director Newfound Group of Companies, an international resort development company newly listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, is seeking an experienced Art Director for our in-house marketing department located in our St. John’s, Newfoundland office.

The ideal candidate is an exceptional designer, and strategic thinker, with good copywriting skills, able to conceive and win creative pitches, and gain client confidence.

The selected candidate must be a creative problem solver, able to deliver artwork from concept through to final production.

Candidates should be hands-on, able to juggle multiple projects and meet deadlines.

We’re looking for a smart, charismatic, innovative pioneer.

This is an exciting opportunity to work closely with our small, talented team, and collaborate with our UK-based agency on high-end, international advertising.

To apply, email a covering letter with your most recent resume and portfolio attached to employment@newfoundgroup.com Competition closes: November 24, 2006

EFFECTIVE OH&S COMMUNICATION IN YOUR WORKPLACE PREVENTION WORKSHOP SERIES - Communication

This practical workshop will provide OH&S professionals and other stakeholders with an overview of communication process as it relates to the management of your occupational health and safety program.

Participants will gain knowledge of: ] the legislative requirements for communicating health and safety issues in the workplace; ] the role of communication in building an effective OH&S program; ] a strategic, effective communications policy/procedure; ] prime requirements for communicating to workplace parties; ] the communication team: who should be involved and what are their roles; ] what should be communicated and documented; ] and much more.

Date and Location l St. John’s, Holiday Inn Monday, December 4

Workshop time 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

REGISTRATION IS FREE To register for workshops please call Valerie Ducey at (709)778-2926, toll-free 1-800-563-9000 or e-mail vducey@whscc.nl.ca Visit our website www.whscc.nl.ca

PRIME

16 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INVENTORY RED ALERT

9PC PACKAGE EVENT! †

Public Notice - Surplus Freight Furniture has just made a large surplus purchase of brand named livingrooms. Truckloads of sofa sets, glider w/ottomans, 3pc coffee tables and designer lamps will be grouped together to bring you unbelievable savings on 9pc Packages. Over 200 different combinations will be offered at extremely low prices. Inventory will be sold on a first come, first served basis. We offer Same Day Delivery and all customers will have the option to choose now, pay later with our 5 Star Layaway Program. Hurry down for best selection!

Choose A 3-Piece Table Set #3623

#3612

6 Different Styles and Finishes To Choose From!

3-Piece Table Sets Include: 1 Coffee Table and 2 Side Tables

#3702 #2221

#2213 #4710

Then Choose 2 Decorative Lamps

Add A Glider/Rocker & Matching Ottoman

6 Different Colours To Choose From!

4 Different Colours To Choose From!

#6117-BK

#6117-WN

#7291

#6167

#7292

And Finally Choose One Of Over 30 Different Sofa & Loveseat Sets Or 2pc Sectionals!! $

748 Sofa & Loveseat

848 Sofa & Loveseat

ONLY

9-PIECE

$1028 9-PIECE Package Price

Package Price

$

$

#2000

948 Sofa & Loveseat

$

$

Package Price

848 Sofa & Loveseat

$1128 9-PIECE Package Price

868 Sofa & Loveseat

ONLY

$1128 9-PIECE Package Price

#3300

$

$

ONLY

ONLY

968 Sofa & Loveseat

$

#0200

998 2pc Sectional

ONLY

ONLY

9-PIECE

$

$

1148 #0300

998 Sofa & Loveseat

ONLY

ONLY

$1248 9-PIECE $1268 9-PIECE $1268 1228 9-PIECE Package Price Package Price Package Price #1100

#3510

#2369

#4600

5-Piece Dinettes At Factory Direct Prices! • Same Day Delivery! • Buy More, Save More! *

168

3-Piece Dinette $#0919

Only

Only

Only

248

5-Piece Dinette $#2100

298

5-Piece Dinette $#1223

Only

418

5-Piece Dinette $#1072

Get A 2nd Nightstand For 1/2 Price With The Purchase Of A 4-Piece Bedroom Set! Chest Also Available!

Chest Also Available!

Set Includes: Dresser, Mirror, Headboard and Nightstand

Only

548

4pc Bedroom Set $#2200

Set Includes: Dresser, Mirror, Headboard and Nightstand

Chest Also Available!

Only

568

4pc Bedroom Set $#8200

Chest Also Available!

Set Includes: Dresser, Mirror, Headboard and Nightstand

698

4pc Bedroom Set $#0253

Free Bed Frame With The Purchase Of A Premium Mattress Set!

Sleep Aid TWIN ...... 109 ea. pc.

FULL ....... $139 ea. pc.

QUEEN ... $154 ea. pc.

$

$

154

Queen Size each piece 5YR PRO-RATED WARRANTY

Posture Care TWIN ...... 144 ea. pc. $ FULL ....... 164 ea. pc. $

$

Chiro Firm

194

QUEEN ... 194 ea. pc.

Queen Size each piece KING ....... $216 ea. pc. 10YR PRO-RATED WARRANTY $

Set Includes: Dresser, Mirror, Headboard and Nightstand

Only

728

4pc Bedroom Set $#4700 Quality Mattresses Starting At Only!

$

76

Any Value Plus Twin or Full Set

Sunrise

214

TWIN ...... 149 ea. pc.

FULL ....... $194 ea. pc.

QUEEN ... $214 ea. pc.

Queen Size each piece KING ....... $223 ea. pc. 15YR PRO-RATED WARRANTY $

††

Only

$

269

TWIN ...... $199 ea. pc.

FULL ....... $249 ea. pc.

QUEEN ... $269 ea. pc.

Queen Size each piece KING ....... $263 ea. pc. 7YR NON PRO-RATED WARRANTY

$

††FREE Bed Frame with Purchase of a Premium Mattress Set. Premium Mattress Sets Include: Sunrise, Nordic Rest, Supreme Comfort, Majestic, Elite, Platinum Comfort and Hampton Pocket Coil. Mattress Fabrics Vary By Store Location. Advertised mattresses sold in sets only.

See store for individual mattresses at factory direct prices. King sets consist of 3 pieces.

ST. JOHN’S 22 O’Leary Ave. (709) 726-6466

Across from Avalon Mall next to Avalon Software Open To The Public

Mon-Thurs: 12-8 • Friday: 10-8 Saturday: 10-6 • Sunday: 12-5

We Accept: Cash, Interac, Visa, Master Card, American Express Cheques, FREE Layaway Locations Also In: Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia & Newfoundland

For A Location Near You Call: 1(866) 929-9949 Or Visit Us At: www.surplusfreight.ca

†Tables, Fabrics, and Colours May Vary by Store Location. 9-Piece Packages Include: Sofa/Loveseat Set or 2Pc Sectional Set; a 3-Piece Table Set #3623, #3702, #2221, #4710, #2213, or #3612; (2) Lamps #6117 or #6167 any Colour; and a #7291 Glider/Rocker & Matching Ottoman, any Colour. *Same Day Delivery valid on in stock items only.

StJ_Independ_11.5x21.5_SEC.indd 1

10/19/06 10:56:41 AM

INDEPENDENTLIFE

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006 — PAGE 17

Aiden Flynn

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Moment of inspiration’ Aiden Flynn of Rabbittown Theatre on the trials and tribulations of the stage and an occasional break-in

I

t’s an unseasonably warm November morning and Aiden Flynn winds his way through the labyrinthine halls of his

MANDY COOK Rabbittown Theatre in St. John’s when he realizes something is amiss. The company’s cashbox lies open on the floor and the money gone — the empty box preceded by two dusty boot prints on the stool below the window to Flynn’s office.

It is the fourth time the one-time Seventh Day Adventist School and radio station at the corner of Linscott and Merrymeeting Road in the centre of St. John’s — now the headquarters of Flynn’s teeming and prolific Rabbittown Theatre — has been “ripped off.”

He figures the thief took advantage of activity at the building the day before to stage the robbery.

The following day, the 34-year-old lanky and dark-haired actor/director/producer entertains the idea of leaving the life of a professional artist behind. The break-in weighs

heavily on Flynn’s slim shoulders. Each is being part of the group that produced many monetary loss to his fledging theatre edges it of today’s mainstays of Newfoundland thecloser to the financial edge. atre: award-winning Jillian Keilley and “Sometimes you really consider it, espe- Robert Chafe, singer and actress Petrina cially on a day like yesterBromley, and director day,” he says, disappointDanielle Irvine. ment evident on his finely “We lived in the Reid thefeatured face. “I’m a rea“When you’re young atre,” he says. “Literally. sonably intelligent person, I You’d blow off all your could be out there making a it’s how theatre really classes, you’d show up at 9 decent salary at something. a.m. and leave when securishould be. Lock Why am I going through ty kicked you out. We’d just this for?” hang out and someone everyone in a room Flynn is half joking, but would be working on someit’s obvious he could never thing and you’d get up and and go at it.” quit on his dream. He’s show it to somebody and worked too hard and, as you’d pass it along and Aiden Flynn they say in the business, the we’d say that’s a good idea show must go on. for a show — we should do He and his father Neil that. When you’re young keep the theatre building up it’s how theatre really and running. It’s no walk in the park. should be. Lock everyone in a room and go at Rabbittown Theatre is the latest in a lengthy it.” list of production companies Flynn created Flynn credits the freedom his teachers and since he graduated from the theatre stream mentors awarded the aspiring thespians for flowing from Memorial University’s English their success. He says people like Denise department. He says one of the proudest Lynde and Dick Buehler “turned a blind eye” accomplishments from his theatrical training to their antics and let them develop and hone

their craft. Michael Cook, the British-born playwright of Newfoundland heavyweights Jacob’s Wake and Therese’s Creed, as well as Flynn’s acting coach, tried his utmost to weed out the weak on the first day of class but Flynn would have none of it.

“He was a real character,” says Flynn. “He came in and he had on this Denver Broncos jacket down to his knees and these big rubber boots and had the beret going on and he was working on a cigarette and he came in and sat down and said, ‘Look at all of you, guaranteed by the end of this class, half of you will quit.’ It was nuts. It was absolutely crazy.

And I thought, yeah, I can get behind this, definitely.”

Flynn adopts a hilarious and somehow simultaneous menacing and gravelly tone to impersonate his past instructor.

Sitting at a little café table in his box office, surrounded by a dozen promotional posters from past Rabbittown productions — ranging from the holiday-appropriate A Christmas Carol and The Woman in Black to rambunctious improv nights — Flynn isn’t the least pretentious.

See “You have to see,” page 18

Paving paradise Lobby grows to save Signal Hill from development I think of the children who will never know, intuitively, that a flower is a plant’s way of making love, or what silence sounds like.

— Barbara Kingsolver

O

ne summer’s day a few years ago, we were climbing the Southside Hills in St. John’s to go swimming in the pond at the top — the one the Americans made during the last war by damming a stream or two. Halfway up, we stopped to rest, turning towards the sea, and I watched the gannets, dropping like feathered missiles. My father used to say I ate like a gannet, the inference being that I was ruthless at the dinner table, greedy and gobbling, eating too much too

SUSAN RENDELL Screed and Coke quickly.

“I’m glad we’re not part of the States,” my companion suddenly said, apropos of nothing. So was I, for reasons running the gamut from the invention of pantyhose to the C.I.A. “Why?” I asked, meaning why are you saying that now?

“Because,” he replied, flicking his head at the other side of the harbour, “if we were, I bet there’d be a roller coaster ride around Signal Hill right

now.”

I looked over, and the blinds on my imagination clattered up before I could grab the cord. I could see it — worse, I could hear it — screeching cars, screaming occupants. Coney Island on The Narrows. The day suddenly seemed cooler. But then I remembered: that could never happen here.

The Johnson Family Foundation — those wonderful folks who gave us the Grand Concourse — is currently in the process of, if not exactly turning Signal Hill into Coney Island North, doing something just as bad in kind, if not degree.

The foundation is in the early stages of building an “interpretation park” behind the Geo Centre on Signal Hill. Between 13 and 40 acres of land in a

valley, some of which borders a fen (a bog, b’y) will be covered in trails, story boards and exhibits, including root cellars, Inukshuks and fireplaces (rock stuff) — possibly even fountains and replicas. According to an employee of the city’s real estate division, more land in the vicinity is marked “requested occupancy” on the maps.

Resistance to the development is mounting.

Why? There are several issues at stake. One is due process, which appears to have been ignored entirely. Another is ecology: wetlands are sensiSee “We think,” page 20

Hallelujah!

It’s time for Handel’s Messiah.

Penni Clarke

David Pomeroy

David Malis

Wendy Hatala Foley

Join the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonic Choir and our four soloists for this glorious music. Newfoundland soloists Penni Clarke and David Pomeroy are enjoying flourishing careers. Baritone David Malis sings regularly with the Metropolitan Opera and has been to Newfoundland several times before. Newcomer Wendy Hatala Foley completes this outstanding roster. It’s a traditional way to begin the Christmas season.

Friday & Saturday, December 15 & 16, 2006 Basilica of St. John the Baptist—8pm Marc David conductor

Tickets: $26/22; $21/18; $14/12 Available at: NSO Office 722-4441; Bennington Gate, Churchill Sq. 576-6600; Jungle Jims, Torbay Rd. 722-0261; Jungle Jims, Topsail Rd. 745-6060; Belbin’s Grocery, Quidi Vidi Rd. 576-7640; Provincial Music, Campbell Ave. 579-2641; The Guv’nor, Elizabeth Ave. 726-0092. Not available at the door.

Peter Gardner General & Artistic Director Marc David Principal Conductor

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

GALLERYPROFILE

‘It’s beautiful for me’

By Stephanie Porter The Independent

M

ary Pratt’s latest exhibition has been touring for over two years — organized by the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Sask., it’s also shown in galleries in Fredericton, Halifax, Stratford, Sudbury, Kitchener-Waterloo and Wolfville. After its current stint at The Rooms, Simple Bliss: the paintings and prints of Mary Pratt, will continue its travels with a stop at the Equinox Gallery in Vancouver.

But Pratt is obviously and especially delighted to see her work in her longtime hometown, in the facility she lobbied so passionately for — and designed by her former brother-in-law, architect Philip Pratt.

“I’m so proud of this building, I really am,” she says, looking around the ample space and high ceilings of the provincial art gallery. “It is hard to get used to on the skyline, I admit that. But when I get in here, I’m surrounded by the things I like to be surrounded with.

And we can finally have major paintings here.

“It’s all fallen into place the way I told Brian Tobin it would.”

She’s equally proud of the work on display, which marked a new foray for the accomplished artist.

Simple Bliss focuses on work Pratt produced between 1993 and 2003.

Present are a variety of Pratt’s paintings from the period, easily recognizable in their sumptuous colours, technical flawlessness, and glistening and glowing attention to light and reflec-

MARY PRATT

peach?” she asks, still in awe. “I think nine blocks would have been necessary for that one peach. It requires a particular kind of mind to do that …”

To help visitors understand the Visual process, the exhibition includes 40 of Artist the actual woodblocks used (on both sides) to create one print. Each one is tion: the garden-fresh raspberries, beg- painstakingly hand carved; it could take ging to be tasted; the promise of a piece 18 months of work to finish one of the of poppyseed cake, waiting behind more difficult pieces. To produce the glass; the warmth of an open oven and entire series, Arikushi was paid a salary the golden-crisp turkey inside.

by Pratt (and her dealer) for 10 years.

But there are also a series of prints, “I’m used to seeing these prints entitled Transformations. Made in col- now,” she says. “For people who aren’t, laboration with Japanese master printer they need to see these blocks, so they Masato Arikushi, the group of still-life see how complicated it is — and that it work — each piece celebrates a differ- is possible.” ent fruit — was Pratt’s first foray into She remembers watching Arikushi that kind of artistic doing the prints. He collaboration. didn’t take any measShe admits she or make reg“I think nine blocks urements was “very much istration marks — he’d against making would have been nec- set up the paper, add prints,” until she saw the colour to the block the standard of work and “he’d pivot on one essary for that one Arikushi could profoot and whack, it peach. It requires a duce. Indeed, at first would be in the right glance, most viewers place. would think the particular kind of mind “He didn’t do a lot of prints were indeed extra prints in case he to do that …” paintings — not the made a mistake. He result of a complex was … you dream of Mary Pratt and time-consuming that kind of thing.” series of woodblock And though Pratt carvings. only speaks English, Pratt walks over to one of her and Arikushi, Japanese, they learned to favourite pieces in the collection, a pile communicate through colour and the of peaches inside a plastic container. subtleties of her art.

She points to one of the peaches, fuzzy (As a side note, though Arikushi is a and inviting. leader in his field, he cannot make “How many colours are in that enough money printmaking for himself

Actual woodblocks used to create Mary Pratt’s prints.

and his family — currently, says Pratt, he cuts meat in a Japanese restaurant.)

“This was originally meant to be a show of prints,” says Pratt. “They added the paintings afterwards. I’m glad they did, because it allows for a larger show and it does show the difference between the very deliberate prints and the paintings, which I simply stumble across.”

Meaning, she paints things one might see on any day, usually in the kitchen, garden, or dining room. She lavishes all her attention — and months of effort — on elevating jars of jam, a plate of fish, or a pomegranate, to high art.

“I guess the reason these things were important to me was because I decided they were going to be,” she says.

“They’re usual … but they’re never usual. It’s beautiful to me — I’m still sucked in by it.

“When I compare my work to the old Dutch masters who did still life, they’d

Paul Daly photos/The Independent

hang up rabbits and so on … I like mine better. They were men and they were using things that women used — they often had women in there skinning rabbits or preparing fish or whatever, but they didn’t do it themselves. They didn’t know what it was to fillet a fish.”

Whereas Pratt has always put great importance on her family, home, and raising her four children — a part of her personality very evident in her work.

“People don’t understand how difficult it is to raise children to take their food seriously, to take all of that seriously, and make it not seem hard to the children,” she says.

“There are many who think women are somewhat simple-minded if they devote their time to bringing up the children, and I think there’s nothing harder … this was my chance to try and do this right.”

Simple Bliss is on display at The Rooms until Feb. 4, 2007.

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

‘You have to see where the path goes’ From page 17 The next project to occupy Flynn’s considerable focus is a half-hour television pilot spearheaded by Ken Pittman and Ed Martin of Best Boy Productions entitled The Wrongful Dead. Flynn plays an artist inspired by stories

gleaned from cemetery gravestones. As Flynn puts it, it is “kind of like CSI but for stories and history, kind of forensics for folklore.”

Flynn grew up in Rabbittown, two doors down from the theatre, and played in its paved courtyard as a young boy. It wasn’t until the building

was offered up as a rehearsal space that he learned about the theatre in the basement.

He’s come a long way since then.

“The thing that I love about being on stage or in front of the camera, or what I consider to be the greatest part of producing, is the idea,” he says.

“It’s like improv too, a great idea that you have in the moment that’s a really great premise or a thought and I’ll go check that thought out and see if there’s something there. That’s what I love about acting — that moment of inspiration or creation that sort of leads you down that path and you have to see

where the path goes.”

Aiden Flynn next appears in The Story of Bobby O’Malley, playing at the Rabbittown Theatre until Nov.26.

For information, call 739-8220. mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

THE FORGOTTON BOUZOUKI

POET’S CORNER Lost books of Island Cove It is only now— That the winds there blow low and slow.

And I ask.

Will my spirit for evermore fly over that land wash along the sea shore ?

My heart aches no more but my voice listens to the echoes.

St. John’s only Greek band, The Forgotton Bouzouki (above) play Nov. 18 at the D.F. Cook Recital Hall at Memorial University. The concert, In Mid Atlantic, will also feature the Balkan music of Sveti Ivan and the African sounds of Dzolali. The show starts at 8 p.m.

Barstool office

The ups and downs of playing music for beer swillers and lotto jockeys SEAN PANTING

State of the art

F

or working musicians in Newfoundland and Labrador, playing music for money most often means playing it in a bar.

Bars are fun places to go socially, and I’m not going to try and deny that there’s an upside to having the pub as your office: beer at work, anyone?

And no, it’s not like we’re working in a coal mine or doing maintenance on the reactor core, but from the late hours and deep fried mozza sticks to VLTs and bar fights, bar life is fraught with hazards.

The first and most obvious health risk of bar life is the booze itself. Bands may not always like it, but in the end bars are not in the music business. They exist to sell liquor. That’s how they make money, that’s how they stay open, and ultimately that’s why they hire musicians — to bring people into the bar so they can sell them beer.

Pour your heart out in song as much as you want, make the art you want to make, but in the final analysis, when we play music in pubs and clubs we are at least 50 per cent beer salesmen. Because booze equals money in the bar world, beer is used as a kind of currency.

Free drinks as part of or, depending on who you’re dealing with, in lieu of your pay are commonplace, and you don’t have to look far to find the victims of that economy.

Aside from alcohol, there’s the volume.

Now I enjoy the odd bit of loud music. My guitar amp and I certainly can’t claim to be part of the solution when it comes to eliminating excessive noise, but all the same, even I

can get a bit overwhelmed by the sheer sonic any other source. I don’t doubt it. Short of barrage of a bar in full swing on a Friday selling crack, there’s very little else that the night. government could do to make a $62 million If you’re standing next to the speakers profit while perpetuating such human misery. while a band is playing — even an “acoustic” They’re running adds telling people not to be band — you’re definitely looking at nerve at it, though, so I guess they figure that lets damaging sound levels after an hour or less. them off the hook.

Add to that the sound of a In that way, it’s not unlike bunch of revelers screaming the approach they’ve taken to make themselves heard to everyone’s previous secA lot of musicians over the general din and ond-favorite barroom activiyou’ve got an eardrum-bustty, smoking: penalizing resent having to ing cacophony to rival a 747 everyone who buys, sells or taking off or a high-rise compete volume-wise smokes cigarettes, printing demolition in progress. warnings on the packages with the crowd, but A lot of musicians resent and treating anyone with gall having to compete volumeto light up in a public place for me it’s not the wise with the crowd, but for like Charlie Manson while me it’s not the raucous talkthey rake in the profits. raucous talkers or ers or whooping drunks that From a workplace safety get under my skin. It’s the whooping drunks that point of view I’m certainly lotto-jockeys — a row of glad of the smoking ban. sullen-looking faces illumi- get under my skin. It’s Musicians, bartenders and nated by the sickly glow of patrons are all better off for the lotto-jockeys the VLTs. It’s depressing it. And it looks like the ban with a capital D. didn’t bring on the apocaThe bar environment isn’t lypse after all. I have no always the best venue for getting your heart- doubt owners took a hit; I know some didn’t felt sentiments across in the first place, but survive, but at the same time the air is breathplaying to the machines is a soul-sucking able where I have to work and for that I’m experience to rival any other. The worst are grateful. the familiar faces, the ones you see week after I don’t mean to hack on bars. Bars have week after week. They’re always out there, been good to me. But there are days when I but they’re never listening. You can play their wonder what it would be like to work somefavorites all night long, but they’ll never crack where safer, somewhere quieter and cleaner. a smile. There’s a reason for that, of course. Maybe somewhere with cubicles … hmmm It’s because they’re losing their life savings … on second thought, I’ll see you at the bar. one spin at a time.

For many bar owners, VLTs are the only Sean Panting is a musician, writer and thing keeping the business afloat, and the actor living in St. John’s. His column returns province makes a fortune on them, money Dec. 1. they argue could not possibly be matched by www.myspace.com/seanpanting

YOUR VOICE

Resignation letter Arts council executive steps down over limited funding; government indifference and interference Editor’s note: the following letter was written to Tourism Minister Tom Hedderson, with a copy forwarded to The Independent.

This is actually less than it was in 2003-04, when it was approximately 2.8 percent.

Support for the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, in fact, is the second lowest per fter serving for four and a half years as capita in Canada, while the average income a representative of the writing com- for professional artists in the province munity on the Newfoundland and (according to the latest Statistics Canada figLabrador Arts Council, I am resigning my ures) is only $16,925 — well below the position. As I do so, I would like to draw your Canadian average of $23,490. attention, and the attention of the arts commuFor comparison purposes, it is worth noting nity and the general public, that your department’s to the following matters.

2006 budget allocation First and foremost, I can for the creation of I have lost confidence in “tourism products” is no longer work as a board member of an organization $2 million, double council’s effectiveness, over that was created primarily the amount allocated to to represent and support our its political will to speak the arts council for supprovince’s professional porting artistic products. artists when the council’s There is an additional out, to defend its mission and mandate cannot $11 million in the budget legislative autonomy, be fulfilled because of woefor “tourism marketing” fully inadequate funding. and close to $10 million to advocate strongly on for the arts and culture I am, of course, heartened by your government’s outcentres and The Rooms. behalf of professional spoken appreciation and By contrast, total addisupport for the arts, culture, tional funding for the artists. and heritage of the entire culture and herprovince, but your departitage sector (excluding ment is not seriously the arts council) is addressing the imbalances, inequalities, and approximately half those figures — $5.6 milshortfalls in its financial support of the arts lion. These funding figures speak for themand, in particular, of professional artists. Its selves. It should be pointed out that only about funding priorities, it seems to me, are serious- one-third of the arts council’s budget of $1.1 ly askew. million goes directly to supporting the creWhile your 2006 Blueprint for ation of new artistic work, and that the averDevelopment and Investment in Culture pro- age artist grant last year was only $1,734.00. claims that “artists and their creations are the Grant applications, both the arts council’s and heart and soul of cultural activity,” that “sup- the Canada council’s, allow $2,000 for one porting professional artists and the creative month’s living expenses. process are central to this blueprint,” and that To move from the arts funding picture to the “the arts council is the vehicle by which the council itself, I am also greatly concerned that artist is supported for creating new work,” the the arts council’s mission and mandate are council’s 2006-07 budget of approximately being undermined in other ways. Our legisla$1.1 million is only about 2.7 percent of the tive autonomy and our operational integrity total Tourism, Culture and Recreation are being threatened by government indifferDepartment’s $43 million budget. ence and interference. Council’s independ-

A

ence from government, our so-called arm’slength status, is being eroded. Government regularly turns down our nominations for new appointments to council and selects their own nominees.

Secondly, council members — 12 in total — are always reduced in number because of government’s failure to appoint new members promptly. At the present time, two positions on council, representing theatre and music, have been vacant for over a year. This situation is not the exception, but the rule.

Thirdly, government regularly attempts to screen our annual report before it is officially submitted. This report is supposed to contain recommendations to the minister regarding the state of the arts in the province and has to be tabled in the House of Assembly. I am not saying, of course, that all these are intentional attempts to weaken the arts council, but this is certainly what their overall effect is.

Finally, I have tried to deal with some of these issues from within council, through regular government/council communications channels such as our annual report, but I have been unsuccessful in doing so. I have now lost confidence in council’s effectiveness, its political will to speak out, to defend its legislative autonomy, to advocate strongly on behalf of professional artists.

At the present time, I feel there is no room on council for an outspoken, independent voice, especially one that wants to send a strong, frank message to government, which is our role and our legislated right, under the Arts Council Act, to do.

I ask you, as minister, to address the issues raised above, so that the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council is able to fulfill its legislated mandate as a truly autonomous organization representing the artistic and economic best interests of the professional artists of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Paul Bowdring, Co-vice chair Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council

Underneath huge moose logo.

Teachers wanted for Canada.

Beware.-Weaklings need not apply.

And I was no weakling.

Was I betrayed by a false ego?

Will I ever know?

School readers and geography textbooks Parcelled with black tape and white string.

Posted surface mail that June From Leim an Mhadaidh county Derry.

To Island Cove Newfoundland.

To wait my September arrival in Grenfell’s land of ice and snow.

Those books proclaimed He is not one of us.

Had I come to a New World?

I do not own any land.

But I felt like Captain Boycott.

And I could not get a boarding house.

Late at night I wonder What happened to my books?

By Micheal O’Boyle St John’s.

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

20 • INDEPENDENTLIFE

The minds of the higher animals

Burin native Ken Babstock up for prestigious poetry prize. It’s well deserved, says Mark Callanan Airstream Land Yacht

By Ken Babstock House of Anansi Press, 2006.

O

n Nov. 21, the results of the 2006 Governor General’s Awards will be announced. If Ken Babstock’s opinion, as expressed on a recent episode of the CBC’s Weekend Arts Magazine, is to be taken as educated, then his third and latest book of poems will be beaten out by Dionne Brand’s collection, Inventory.

At risk of wasting good money on a lame horse, I’d rather not make pronouncements on the outcome, but what I will say on the subject is this: Airstream Land Yacht deserves to be in the running.

Named for a line of recreational vehicles and campers, the likes of which convey sun-basted retirees from coast to coast and gravel pit to gravel pit, Babstock’s book is a virtuosic display of poetry’s ability to bend rhyme and rhythm to intellectual enquiry. Unlike its namesake, this is no lumbering behemoth but a slick ride with a professional driver who, though he may have a certain sadistic thirst for shaking up his passengers, is undeniably in control.

There are remnants here of the nitrofuelled narrative lyrics that have earned Babstock a widespread readership. In Ataxia, snow is “like atomized iron, part chandelier part bomb”; in Franconia, the speaker recalls gravel

MARK CALLANAN On the shelf that “popped / like gunshot up under the chassis.” Windspeed, the story of a kite-snipping crime, comes closest to Babstock’s vintage attitude and swagger: Colin moved first, sidling over near a glib little pilot and flicking open a Leatherman blade. I went with it, thumbing the grind-wheel of my Zippo under the thin string nearest me. It left as if snipped. A parent saw what his boy had lost and ran over full of hot air …

But as a whole, the book reflects a definite shift in the author’s angle of attack.

The biggest difference between his last collection and this current one is that the landscape itself has changed, widening from the exterior world of action to include the interior realm of consciousness and thought. This interior/exterior divide is addressed, among other places, in The Minds of the Higher Animals. “Now, Reader,” the poem instructs, “make / a face that’s meant to express some woeful sense /

of pity and surprise, while feeling a cold sickness underneath.”

Despite “the very Fifties idea … / that we alone are responsible for our own / consciousness,” the final poem of the collection denies the existence of that conscious choice. In Compatibilist, the speaker forgives his brother for selling off his record collection “immediately, without choosing to”; love is the trump card here, the defeater of the theoretical.

There are poems in Airstream Land Yacht that are difficult to comprehend.

The Sickness Unto Death, and Harris on the Pig. Found assimilates text from the two books mentioned in the title to create a semantically correct, if absurd, found poem. Others purposefully elide complete understanding. The subject of The Brave (“That’s not what we liked.

It wasn’t for us. / It was pinned to a stream. Ear-marked.”) remains unclear, though the poem seems to suggest that the forming of perception is more important than the subject itself.

And though many of these poems dally in the neighborhood of the cerebral, emotion is at the heart of their search for meaning. Pragmatist attains spiritual sublimity by combining nostalgic reflection on a dead grandfather with playful literary association. From Under a Quicklime Veil features “love letters on brown / deli paper by those who, / when they say heart, mean heart.” In The World’s Hub, love oneups Descartes by proving the existence

Ken Babstock

of the speaker’s old neighborhood.

It is likely that some fans of the more visceral Mean and Days Into Flatspin will be frustrated by the often slippery nature of this new collection, but their patient reading will be rewarded. In Airstream Land Yacht, Babstock has built a bridge between the mind and its echoes in the physical world; tackled the metaphysical question of existence in 100-plus pages of poetry and done so in memorable style. Whether it wins a Governor General award or not, this is a book deserving of our attention.

Mark Callanan is a writer living in St. John’s. His column returns Dec. 1. www.markcallanan.com

Men at work behind the Johnson Geo Centre on Signal Hill.

Paul Daly/The Independent

‘We think we have ourselves covered’ From page 17 tive environments, home to waterfowl and delicate flora. The area in question is Crown land, and the foundation has acquired a longterm lease for its use.

That doesn’t sit well with a lot of people, including Lorraine Michael, the new MHA for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, whose constituents have been calling and e-mailing her office, and even dropping by, to express their opposition to the project.

Michael told me she is “concerned about the role of the provincial government in passing over Crown land without an environmental assessment regarding the use of those lands.” Her office is gathering information; she says they’ll have more to say later.

Even though it’s Crown land, the area is within the city limits — meaning permission and permits are required. In a recent CBC radio interview, Mayor Andy Wells said what the foundation is doing is “a permitted use in the area,” although he apologized for not bringing it before the public. “We did do it at a private meeting, but it should not have been done at a private meeting, that was a mistake.”

Alison Dyer, a resident of Signal Hill who is helping to organize the backlash against the project, says Councillor Shannie Duff told her the city did have a meeting with the Johnson Foundation — but it had nothing to do with permission for the project. Duff said the meeting was about funding — the foundation was looking for municipal money for its proposed development. No plans were submitted, no permission sought, no permits issued.

WILD BEAUTY IN CITY LIMITS Dyer says the city has a long history of handing out permits after work has been completed, “if you have deep pockets, if you’re a developer.” She told me that people from as far away as New York, “people who have visited St. John’s and remember the fen,” have been posting their opposition to the development on her web log. People who come here, she says, because they can find interpretation centres anywhere, but not “a place of wild beauty” within city limits. “I think they (foundation officials) are coming from a positive place,” Dyer told me. “I just think they’ve gotten bad advice.”

I’m not inclined to be as charitable as Dyer.

According to Ted Blades, host of CBC radio’s On the Go, Paul Johnson, head of the foundation, said that if they “stopped to consult the public at every step they’d never get anything

done.” When did Johnson get elected? And by whom?

“It isn’t a coal mine, it’s not a golf course,” Charles Cullum, the project’s architect, said in a recent interview. According to Cullum, the development will attract tourists and school children; the handicapped will have access to the area. Even the “old and doddering,” as Cullum described himself, will be able to get at it.

Cullum’s Johnson Foundation colleague, Addison Bown, was less charming in his defense of the project. Bown has publicly referred to opponents of the development as “barking dogs.”

When I spoke with him, Bown told me he didn’t want any more media coverage. “No comment,” he said. “We think we have ourselves covered.” (Now there’s a comment, one I haven’t heard since my PR days in the provincial government.)

I persisted. A lot of people are concerned there wasn’t due process in this case, I said.

“You don’t have to get a permit before doing a bit of landscaping in your backyard” was Bown’s response. “No, but this isn’t a backyard, it’s Signal Hill, it belongs to the people of St. John’s,” I replied.

“It belongs to the Johnson Family Foundation,” said Bown.

Landscaping is hardly the term for what the foundation has planned. Land raping is more accurate. They’re not planting petunias: they’re looking to “develop” a large tract of Signal Hill, which local artist and Quidi Vidi resident Ray Cox calls “an iconic place,” recognized and cherished far beyond the boundaries of the city.

Apart from the usual stick-it-up-your-arse approach to city planning practiced by the current city council, apart from the possibility the park may harm a sensitive environment, apart from the disturbing fact that the colonial mentality is still alive and kicking (the hoi polloi into its perceived place) in these parts, there’s more at stake here.

This development is just one more toll of the bell for the St. John’s that used to be a vital city — a real city, like Paris, which, incidentally, laughed so hard at the kind of architectural theories responsible for obscenities of the Ring Road variety that architects who espoused them had to go to North America to wreak urban havoc.

That was in the early part of last century.

Some, at least, of the continent’s cities are starting to recover, thanks to the New Urban movement, which is against cars, big ugly

buildings and “gentrification,” and pro pedestrians, mixed-use neighbourhoods and preserving wild places adjacent to cities (“metropolitan gardens”).

But, as usual, Newfoundland is behind the times, buying into outmoded and toxic concepts.

The glossy destruction of the city core which began in the ’90s is creeping up the hill.

It’s difficult to live downtown anymore. You can reside there. But you can’t buy a pair of ordinary socks or a cheap plate of fish and chips or smell the good solid stink of a fish plant or drink in a pub with the people who work in that plant. The heart of St. John’s is now an urburb — an urban suburb — and it seems the urburb would like an urburbian park in the vicinity.

SKIRTING THE BULLDOZERS Too bad for the people who live in Quidi Vidi and on the hill; too bad for their children, who used to skate on Frog Pond, now landfill.

Too bad for those of us, children and adults, residents and tourists, who cherished the valley and the fen for giving us whatever that intangible thing so necessary to the human soul is — the thing that no man-made structure is capable of offering, except perhaps the great cathedrals.

Late one afternoon last week I skirted the bulldozers, those metal gannets, behind the Geo Centre, and walked on gravel until I came to the marsh. There was a birch tree beside it with a head of funky malted-mustard tinted leaves, back-lit by a sky so candy floss pink it would make you question God’s gender if you happened to be a religious fundamentalist. It was so quiet you could hear yourself not think. So quiet you might find all kinds of gods there eventually — maybe even the god of yourself if you stayed long enough.

C.S. Lewis, author of the enduring children’s classic, The Chronicles of Narnia, said that the Mountains of Mourne of his Belfast boyhood were a powerful stimulus to his imagination and even to his faith; dramatic and mysterious, they conjured up the realm of the divine for him, and later became part of the landscape of Narnia.

As far as I know, no one has ever been inspired by an interpretation park to write great literature — or even a limerick. Wait a minute. . .

There once was a hill, wild and sweet, Which measured the seasons by feet, Of children and birds, Not tourists in herds, Until its foundation got weak.

INDEPENDENTSTYLE

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006 — PAGE 21

She’s got legs Love ’em or hate ’em, legwarmers are showing up on local legs this fall

By Mandy Cook The Independent

T

hose of us who recall sitting glued to the tube watching Fame, the TV show centered around a New York City high school for the performing arts, will instantly recognize the cozy tubes of warmth that went from the dance studio to the street back in the ’80s — a.k.a. “the decade that style forgot.”

This time around, however, legwarmers are a lot less slouch and a little more upscale.

First popping up, as usual, in Japan’s trendsetting avant garde shopping neighbourhoods a couple of years ago, legwarmers started traveling west and getting airtime in both Geri Halliwell’s (Ginger Spice) and Jennifer Lopez’s Fame- and Flashdance-inspired videos.

Halliwell’s It’s Raining Men featured a full-on leotard and headband revival, while J-Lo’s I’m Glad saw the singer not only sport a pair of legwarmers, but also the welder’s helmet of Jennifer Beals’ 1983 construction-workerturned-dancer character in Flashdance.

Local seamstress Charlotte Reid of Charlottestreet designs says she’s always been inspired by dancewear, but her legwarmer creations crafted from recycled sweater sleeves are more practical than just a warm-up accessory — they are to be used to literally warm you up this winter.

“I’m just trying to keep warm,” she says. “I design things I think will help me keep warm in the winter because I’m always cold. I can’t not wear my jeans, and jeans are so cold, but with the legwarmers over them they’re super-toasty.

It’s also a solution for wearing skirts through the winter.”

Reid says her legwarmers are different than older versions because she sews them with a flare at the bottom, as opposed to the more “poufy” and elasticized look popularized 20 years ago that scrunched up above the sneaker.

Reid’s flared legwarmers are fitted more to the leg but come down to cover the shoe — even showing up paired with a slim high heel or a miniskirt with stockings.

Charlottestreet legwarmers are all one-of-akind and feature colourful panels with raised surged seams or straight-up stripes with an elasticized top to secure them in place. Available in two lengths — thigh-high versions retail for $60 and below the knee sell for $40.

Whether the whole ’80s throwback makes you a wee bit nauseous or you embrace the age of aerobics and the films of John Hughes, the Flashdance flashback is in full effect — at least for this chilly season. Let’s see those jazz hands, everybody! Smile! mandy.cook@theindependent.ca

Legwarmers by Charlottestreet, $40, available at the Funky Fine Divine Craft Fair at the St. John’s convention centre, Nov. 16-19 Paul Daly photo/The Independent

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

22 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

‘I can lift my head up’ Weighed down by self-doubt, Leia Feltham gives herself a good talking to

I

t’s not easy being your own worst critic. I sow all the seeds of doubt and help them grow. In my head it’s my own voice that says, “you can’t do it.” A little self-criticism can push a person to reach their potential, to go above and beyond. Too much brings you down to a place where nothing will ever be good enough. I’m trying to sail to the horizon, but I know I’ll never get there because it only seems to move further away.

A few weeks ago I walked across the stage of my high school and accepted my diploma. I didn’t trip (very grateful for that) or drop anything. Even though all went well, I didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment that I should have.

There has always been one person I can never please — and that’s myself.

Where it all started I don’t know. If I want I can trace it back to my childhood, where I was often nervous and shy. In an unfamiliar place I would

LEIA FELTHAM Guest Column perch nervously on the edge of my seat with my mouth glued firmly shut. I was never certain of what to say or how to act so I avoided any chance of embarrassment altogether. Eventually I let that go but other habits die hard.

I know the top of my shoes like the back of my hand, so to speak. My head is rarely held high, being too heavy with the weight of doubt. The hardest part of university for me has been coping with all the demands that school, as well as my own mind, has placed on me — while still trying to believe I can make it through and be successful. I often wonder what it would be like to face the day staring it straight in the

eyes and not be afraid.

I’d like to walk into a room and have an air of self-assurance that will command attention. That people will listen to what I have to say. That may never happen. At the very least I want to write and for people to take notice. If my words reach one person, affect anybody, then that’s one step towards the person I want to be.

Being confident will not only help myself, but also my future children.

They will need someone to look up to who can show them that they don’t have to wander down the road of neverending worries. They deserve a clear path to their dreams and I want to see them reach each one.

Looking down from the stage on Graduation Day, and seeing a friend looking up at me and knowing he was proud, made all my self-doubt seem irrelevant. I felt I had no right to be disappointed in myself when there is

Cooking with (flying) aces A

s I look at the strange patina covering the metal, a wash of history comes over me. Some 60-plus years later, they are still in perfect condition. In a very strange but wonderful way you can still hear the throbbing of Rolls-Royce engines at full throttle before taxiing for another important sortie. I’m looking down at a piece of history, part of my family’s history. A part of my history.

When I was young, my summer vacations were spent either here at home, where I frolicked or played, or in south Wales, where everything was old and full of adventure.

Spending summers in the U.K. were dedicated and magical affairs.

Everything was different, from the traffic direction to the local shops. They had candy shops where you could buy candies by the quarter-pound from large storefront jars.

Comic books were ink and newspa-

NICHOLAS GARDNER

Off the Eating Path per affairs — and were weekly purchases, along with strangely named candy bars like Twirley Whirley and Flake. For me, those weeks of summer were an adventure and a time to see my grandparents.

My grandparents, both of whom served during the war, always had good stories to tell me. My grandfather was a signalman in the Navy and grandma was a “plotter” for the RAF. The stories were just like the movies, but I will admit that grandma was always more forthcoming with her adventures.

But it wasn’t all stories and candy.

While my grandfather would conscript me to work in the garden, raking,

weeding or cutting logs for his woodburning stove, grandmother fed us with sturdy and refined cooking. But always, she cooked with her Spitfire pots.

During the summer of 1940, Lord Beaverbrook made a special appeal to the people of England to help support the production of Spitfires by donating everything aluminum to the war effort.

As the war began, there was a limited supply of metals and alloys to go around, and demand was growing as the fighting cranked up. So my grandmother donated her saucepots to the cause — which in turn were melted down for the war effort.

At the end of the war, and newly married, she needed pots again. The government melted down all sorts of materials, but grandma’s new kitchenware was special. She had pots made of Spitfires.

Supermarine Spitfires became the

I often wonder what it would be like to face the day staring it straight in the eyes and not be afraid. someone who believes I’m capable of achieving anything.

I never felt before that I deserved that kind of unconditional love and support, but it’s time I gave myself a chance.

Stubborn as I am, I don’t want anyone to know there’s a crack in my armour.

Yet I can’t lie either. I’m human and therefore flawed — but that doesn’t mean that I am a disappointment.

heroes of the battle of Britain. The small, nimble, deadly aircraft were responsible for keeping Britain safe.

Their sorties are the mark of legend and lore, and their pilots, Aces. At the end of the war, the war machine stopped and the country began its journey back to normal.

For the people who donated to the cause, the government would return to them what they had donated. The aircraft — the protectors of the nation — would be melted down and returned to the people as pots and pans. Yes, it could be true. These are sturdy, heavy, all clad, solid aluminum pots. No steel inserts. No funky designs. Just functional, but quick-heating, pots.

Perhaps I am a helpless romantic who believes in the story — that something as simple and as uplifting as cooking hardware could be made with the famed aces of the battle of Britain, returning the country from war and

That truth is freeing. It allows me to move forward and leave behind all that I’ve held on to for safety and in fear.

I’m young, so I have all the time in the world to change — for the better.

I think now I can begin to lift my head up and see all that I’ve been missing. No one deserves to be the greatest obstacle in her own life and I’ve been standing in my own way for far too long.

I should be unapologetic for who I am. I can be brave and strong, offering no excuses for what makes me happy. If I can do that I will see a face in the mirror that can smile back at herself. I’m tired of sailing. I want to find a place to call home where I can watch the sun set on that impossible horizon and know I’ve found myself and where I belong.

Leia Feltham is a first-year student at Memorial University. Her column returns Dec. 1.

helping bring it back to where it was before — a powerhouse of Europe. A peaceful tool for the nation coming from a deadly weapon of the sky is poetic.

Over the past summer my grandparents remodelled their kitchen and along the way, they gave me their pots. Now, in my kitchen I have a large piece of history: Spitfire pots. They are twice as old as I am, and far from worn out.

In using the pots, I am retaining that connection to the past. I remember how difficult it must have been to help a nation at a time of war, and what it must have been like to receive the gratitude of the nation when it was all over.

Every time I pull them out, I am reminded to take time and remember how they came to be — my grandmother and her Spitfire pots.

Nicholas is a food writer and erstwhile chef now eating in St. John’s. nicholas.gardner@gmail.com

Chef shakes up flavour

By Susan Sampson Torstar wire service

I

accidentally concocted something yummy while testing the Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker.

I was randomly tossing in everything from garlic to star anise. But that’s the idea.

The British chef started tinkering with this invention four years ago, looking for an alternative to the mortar and pestle.

The Flavour Shaker is meant to prepare rubs, marinades, dressings and sugar blends in small, make-it-and-use-it-now quantities. You throw ingredients into the egg-shaped bottom, toss in a heavy ceramic white ball, screw together the two halves and shake. Make sure the gadget is tightly sealed; you don’t want a projectile to take out your eye.

It’s the sort of kitchen tool you’d expect from the hyperactive hunk. The more vigorously you shake, the better the mix. But this is not a blender; you’ll get a chunky paste, not a smoothie.

In tests, the Shaker bruised and tore parsley, pulverized capers and crushed star anise into powdery bits — but not powder. A garlic clove was broken into bits. A sun-dried tomato in oil proved hopeless. So it’s best to pre-cut some ingredients. The tool is supposed to work on citrus zest, nuts and

bay leaves as well. (I didn’t try these.)

Things go smoother when vinegar and oil are added to the mix. In fact, the Shaker’s best attribute is inspiring the preparation of creative salad dressings.

The construction of the 5 3/4-inch tall Flavour Shaker seems solid enough, but I’m always surprised at the price of these trendy gadgets. It’s $29.95.

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTSTYLE •23

DRINK

Nobody does it better When it comes to the martini, says Nicholas Gardner, James Bond displays his usual impeccable taste

By Nicholas Gardner For The Independent

I

n the movie world there are some catch phrases that will never die. Clint Eastwood’s infamous “Do you feel lucky, punk?” speech from Dirty Harry. Or the Bible-quoting hitman Jules in Pulp Fiction, who memorized Ezekiel 25:17: “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.”

But of them all, there is one infamous line we all want to quote — even just once, at some classy bar: “Vodka martini. Shaken. Not stirred.” We all want to be as cool as Bond. James Bond.

Friday, Nov. 17, is reason to have a martini, as Casino Royale, the 21st movie of the quintessential martini drinker, James Bond, comes to the big screen.

The character of James Bond is smooth, dashing, and dangerous — as is his drink. The novel,

by Bond creator Ian Fleming, was written in 1953

and hardly made a splash on the literary scene. It wasn’t until 1962 when a suave Scottish actor uttered the famous line, and launched Sean Connery as an international star.

The Bond Martini is described fully in the novel Casino Royale as the Vesper — named after Bond’s love interest. However, in the novel he drank a gin martini, which most connoisseurs of the cool drink believe is a better flavour.

The Vesper, for all of you, is this: • three measures of gin (Gordon’s) • one measure of vodka (Russian or Polish) • half a measure of Lillet vermouth Shake until ice cold. Garnish with a large, thin slice of lemon peel.

SHAKEN - NOT STIRRED A shaken martini is different from stirred for a few reasons. The shaking breaks up the ice and adds more water, slightly weakening the drink, but also altering the taste. Some would say the shaken martini has a “more rounded” taste. Like the way

a drop of water added to a single malt scotch changes and rounds out the flavours.

Others say shaking causes molecules (aldehydes) to bond with oxygen, resulting in a sharper taste. Shaking also adds bubbles, which can lead to a cloudy instead of clear drink. However, some martini lovers believe the vermouth is more evenly distributed when shaken, thereby altering the flavour and texture of the beverage as well.

Casino Royale launches the mythology of Bond and martini. However, it isn’t until the second novel, Live and Let Die (1954) that Bond changed his mind and switched to vodka, never to return to gin again.

However, our international man of action is never too far without a drink — or for that matter, a good woman — nearby. Bond is an anachronism: a relic of the cold war, so his drinking habits reflect the tastes of the time.

James Bond drinks a lot throughout the movies, and especially the novels. Martinis, champagne (Bollinger RD or Tattinger are his preferred

brands); sake (You Only Live Twice); mint julep on Auric Goldfinger’s ranch (Goldfinger); vodka straight up (Tomorrow Never Dies); bourbon in M’s office (The World is Not Enough); brandy with soda (Thunderball).

Bond knows how to order a drink — with class.

He knows what he wants and how to get it.

Me, I like it his way: vodka martini, shaken — not stirred. The way a martini should be.

Consumers struck with celebrity fatigue

By David Graham Torstar wire service

W

hen Welsh beauty Catherine Zeta-Jones was summarily dumped as the face of American wireless communications provider T-Mobile, bloggers went ballistic.

Example: Blogger One: “I couldn’t believe it when I was filling out a customer comment card after I bought my phone.

They asked why I chose T-Mobile, and actually listed Catherine Zeta-Jones as a choice. I thought to myself: ‘They gotta be kidding. Who would actually buy a phone for such a dumb reason?’”

Blogger Two: “I buy everything based solely on celebrity endorsements.

If Wilfred Brimley had been pushing sex changes, I’d be a woman right now ... Why? Because celebrity is an important concept, which we should support and promote forever. Celebrities make our society better. Now I have to go vomit to the point of dry heaves.”

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Reuters

Blogger Three: “She definitely made me pay attention to T-Mobile.”

Reaction to the termination of the star’s multi-million dollar contract was intense, as thousands of ordinary men and women weighed in on the role of

celebrity as pitch person.

But one thing’s clear. If this trend takes hold, stars will fall.

Could it be true?

Are celebrities out?

Are models in?

Over the past 10 years or so, Hollywood A-listers such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Angelina Jolie have pushed fashion models off magazine covers and squeezed them out of lucrative ad campaigns. But there is suspicion these high-profile hucksters haven’t been doing a very good job at boosting company profits.

So market watchers are wondering if the suits are going back to Plan A, dropping the expensive celebrity contracts and reverting to the use of ordinarily beautiful models.

“Studies show that consumers are sick to death of celebrity spokespeople,” comments ShoppingBlog.com.

“Major firms such as Louis Vuitton are dumping the celebrity spokesmodel idea and going back to models for upcoming ads.”

TASTE

Have your way with potatoes

By Susan Sampson Torstar wire service

S

pices add bite to potato dish.

Here’s a side dish that lets you get fancy without a lot of fuss.

CRISPY MINI POTATOES WITH GARLIC, GINGER, CILANTRO & PEPPER Adapted from The Passionate Cook: The Very Best of Karen Barnaby.

Barnaby is a Vancouver chef.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

• 1-1/2 lb (700 g) mini red potatoes (1-1/2- to 1-1/2-inch diameter), scrubbed • 1/4 cup water • 4 cloves garlic • 3 tbsp coarsely chopped ginger • 1 tsp sea salt • 1-1/2 tsp coarsely ground pepper • 2 tbsp canola oil • 2 tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro • 2 green onions, thinly sliced • 4 to 6 lime wedges In large pan, bring potatoes and enough water to cover them to boil on high heat. Reduce heat to medium and

cook until barely tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. Cool to room temperature.

Cut each potato in half.

Meanwhile, put 1/4 cup water, garlic, ginger and salt in small food processor or blender. Blend into fine paste. Add pepper. Pulse briefly to combine.

Heat oil in large, non-stick skillet on medium-high. Add ginger paste. Cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes, until oil separates from paste. Add potatoes.

Cook, turning frequently, until crusty brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Turn heat to medium if necessary.

Stir in cilantro and green onions.

Serve garnished with lime wedges.

Louis Vuitton has returned to professional models after relying on actresses such as Jennifer Lopez and Uma Thurman. But for their fall/winter 2006/2007 advertising campaign, they have shot models including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Canadian beauty Daria Werbowy.

As well, ShoppingBlog.com asserts, “Angelina Jolie’s ads for St. John Knits have not helped sales of the troubled line and the Sarah Jessica Parker ads for the Gap were widely rated in focus groups as ‘annoying.’”

Despite the blog’s comments, the authors are still aware that stars shone brightly across many advertising campaigns for years. Connections include Nicole Kidman and Chanel, Gwyneth Paltrow for Estée Lauder and Charlize Theron for Christian Dior.

But evidence that the tide is turning cannot be ignored.

“The pendulum’s swing back to models reflects what some fashion marketers are calling “celebrity fatigue” the Wall Street Journal wrote last summer.

A-list entertainers are so overexposed that “there is a major lack of trust,” commented Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, a New York consulting firm.

“Ten years ago, having a celebrity in your ad would class it up,” Robert Thompson, founding director at Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, told the Wall Street Journal. “Now there’s something cheesy about it.”

Even the marketing bible Advertising Age seems conflicted. Last February, the publication quoted Lucian James, the president of the research and strategy company Agenda: “Celebrities are a good proxy for the brand, telling the customer directly what to buy. When it looks as though a celebrity genuinely loves a product and it seems organic, it has a strong power in the marketplace.”

Then, more recently, Jonah Bloom, editor of Advertising Age commented that the idea of celebrity has lost its lustre. “People don’t hold these icons in such high regard any more.”

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

24 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE

Canuck yuks at sketch fest Dance Party of Newfoundland join international acts in Toronto

By Bruce Demara Torstar wire service

A

comic tradition with deep roots in Canada is staging a comeback.

Entering its second year, the four-day Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, which began Nov. 15, features 29 troupes from places like New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and Newfoundland, 50 per cent more than its debut year.

It’s part of a revival of the comedy genre that is happening across the continent, said festival co-producer Paul Snepsts. “Sketch is hot,” said Snepsts, a member of Toronto sketch troupe Boiled Wieners.

“Sketch comedy is definitely on the rise,” said Alex Zalben of New York City’s Elephant Larry, a troupe formed almost five years ago by five former college buddies.

“We’ve had a crest of stand-up comedy, then a crest of improv and now sketch comedy is just beginning its gigantic tsunami wave,” Zalben said.

Sketch comedy goes all the way back to Vaudeville, Snepsts noted, featuring short, funny and often-bawdy skits, and continued in Canada through CBC Radio in decades past.

Look no further than The Frantics, The Kids in the Hall, CODCO and SCTV to see the strong tradition that has always existed in Canada, though it has been noticeably absent over the past decade.

Steve Cochrane, a member of the Dance Party of Newfoundland, said his four-man troupe identified a comedic vacuum and decided to fill it.

“We just sort of decided Newfoundland’s been renowned for sketch comedy, there are no sketch comedy troupes on the go, we’re all half-decently funny, why don’t we do something?” Cochrane said.

“I think Canada’s ready to put the next generation out. There’s a lot of audience (desire) for it. It’s great.”

It’s clear that there is some recent growth in public interest beyond late-night TV fare like Saturday Night Live and MADtv. Brent Skagford, whose troupe MANboy from Montreal is a relatively new player, said audi-

Jonny Harris, Dave Sullivan, Steve Cochrane and Phil Churchill are Dance Party of Newfoundland.

Paul Daly/The Independent

ences enjoy the “accessibility” of sketch.

“You can throw together stuff quite easily and people don’t mind so much if your production values are very low. They’re much more forgiving when you’re changing hats every scene to put together a different character,” Skagford said.

But in the Monty Python tradition, most sketch troupes are either all-male or strongly dominated by men. Among the rare exceptions is Los Angeles-based Keilly & Roeters, Kirsten Roeters and Suzanne Keilly.

“That’s how Suzanne and I found each other. Both of us have played the girlfriend or the nurse or the wife; we never got to do the funny roles even when we were in a sketch comedy group,” Roeters said.

They turn their gender to their advantage as part of their act.

“Despite the fact that we’re in pink frilly underwear and all that, (our comedy) is considered incredibly dark. We’ll see what Toronto thinks,” Roeters said.

So what makes great sketch comedy? Most

agree it starts with the writing.

“We’re writers first is the way we like to think about it. We start with a funny idea, we work on that, we hone that and when it’s absolutely perfect ... we tear it apart and write it again,” Zelban said.

Eric Toth of the Imponderables — four guys who met at Hamilton’s Westdale Collegiate — said since sketches are generally three to five minutes, keep it short, satirical and with a bit of a bite. “It challenges society and can be a bit risky and edgy. I don’t think it should be safe,” he added.

Geography can occasionally play a role, said the Newfoundland-born Cochrane.

“Poverty’s kind of hilarious. I find that gets people looking to laugh a lot,” said Cochrane, who openly criticizes the province’s government as “self-serving career politicians.

“If we didn’t laugh, we’d kill ourselves.”

Snepsts agreed. “My personal theory is that most comedy is derived from identifying somebody else’s suffering ... and being somehow happy that it’s not happening to you.”

EVENTS NOVEMBER 17 • Funky, Fine and Divine fine art and craft show, St. John’s Convention Centre. Continues until Nov. 19.

• The annual Marine Show, Mile One Centre. Continues until Nov. 19.

• The Fall From Here’s debut CD release party. All ages welcome, doors open 5:30, St. John’s Curling Club.

• Provincial Wrestling Alliance’s one-year anniversary show, Masonic Temple, Cathedral Street, St. John’s, 6:30 p.m • Wayne Johnston’s The Story of Bobby O’Malley, adapted by J.M. Sullivan, starring Petrina Bromley, Neil Butler, Aiden Flynn, Mark O’Brian, Berni Stapleton, and Adam Brake, Rabbittown Theatre, 7:30 p.m. until Nov. 26, 7398220.

• The Salmonid Association of Eastern Newfoundland’s annual moose stew supper, St. Theresa Parish, Mundy Pond, 6 p.m., 722-9300.

NOVEMBER 18 • Powers Court Coffee House, open mic, St. Thomas of Villanova Parish Hall, CBS, 7:30 p.m., 834-3842.

• In Mid Atlantic, concert featuring The Forgotten Bouzouki, Sveti Ivan and Dzolali, at Memorial University’s DF Cook Recital Hall, 9 p.m.

• Masterless Men 15th anniversary celebration, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

• An Evening of Burlesque, presented by Neighbourhood Dance Works, LSPU Hall, 8 p.m.

• The Outfitters annual winter gear sale and swap, 220 Water St., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Continues noon-5 p.m. Nov. 19.

NOVEMBER 19 • Family day at the Memorial University Botanical Garden, 737-8590.

• Funeral for an accordion: a tribute to Frank Maher’s 53 years with his Hohner 4-stop accordion. Guests incude Anita Best, Pamela Morgan, Jenny Gear, Sandy Morris, Dave Panting, The Auntie Crae Band and more, 7 p.m., Masonic Temple, Cathedral Street, St. John’s.

• Straight Shooter: photography by Paul Daly, book launch at Bianca’s Bar, Water Street, St. John’s, 2-4 p.m.

• Students of Ed Roche art exhibition and sale, Holiday Inn St. John’s, Salon B 2-9 p.m.

NOVEMBER 20 • The BitterSessions presents MUN’s own Klezmer group, Bitters Pub. Field Hall, 216 Prince Phillip Parkway, St. John’s, 8 p.m.

NOVEMBER 21 • Andy Jones in performance, LSPU Hall, St. John’s, 7534531. Continues through Nov. 25.

NOVEMBER 22 • Weekly afternoon concert by David Drinkell, Cathedral Organist, 1:15-1:45 p.m., Anglican Cathedral, St. John’s.

• Night Kitchen at folk night at the Ship Pub, St. John’s, 9 p.m.

• Michelle Wright’s A Wright Christmas, Mile One Centre, St. John’s, 8 p.m.

• Maura Hanrahan will be reading from Domino: The Eskimo Coast Disaster, 7-9 p.m. at the Labrador Friendship Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, 1-866739-4420.

• Tony Kenny Christmas Show, St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre, 8 p.m.

NOVEMBER 23 • From The Book of Newfoundland ... improv featuring Aiden Flynn and Tim Ronan, at Rabbittown Theatre, 7:30 p.m., 739-8220.

• Melissa Stylianou Trio, presented by the St. John’s Jazz Festival, 8 p.m., MUN D.F. Cook Recital Hall.

IN THE GALLERIES • New work by Will Gill and Anita Singh’s Germination Series, at the Leyton Gallery of Fine Art, Baird’s Cove, St. John’s, 722-7177.

• Painting in the Garden, group exhibition at Memorial University Botanical Gardens, until Dec. 1.

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

• Melt, an interactive video installation by Toronto-based Michael Alstad, at Eastern Edge Gallery, Harbour Drive, St. John’s • Flattering the Masters III exhibition and fundraiser, on display until Nov. 26, RCA gallery, LSPU Hall, St. John’s.

• The Basilica Museum Christmas exhibit Away In A Manger featuring nativity scenes from around the world opens Nov. 19.

NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006

What’s new in the automotive industry

FEATURED VEHICLE

The 2007 Volvo XC70 is the perfect blend of ruggedness and luxury.

The available dynamic stability traction control system means no terrain is too rugged, and the Scandinavian design turns heads wherever you go. The XC70 boasts a 2.5L, 5-cylinder turbocharged, 208 horsepower, all-aluminum automatic engine with 5-speed driveradaptive geartronic which allows you to slip into manual steering for extra control. Available features include a Dolby Pro Logic II 5.1 Surround Sound 6-disc audio system, dual screen rear seat entertainment system with DVD, and dual-zone electronic climate control, which maintains chosen temperatures on either side of the cabin.

For the driver: highly adjustable seat and steering column, active bixenon headlights, power driver’s seat with memory function, auto dimming rearview mirror with compass, and rain sensor wipers. The 2007 Volvo XC70 is available at Global Imports, a division of O’Neill Motors, located at 934 Topsail Rd. Picture taken at the Railway Museum on Water Street in St. John’s by Paul Daly.

Wing and a prayer W

hope

hen an engine anything and call it what you won’t start, your want, unless it’s supposed to day is shot, frustrabe an airplane — then it’s just tion sets in and money usualnot funny anymore. ly flies out the window. It It was a typically beautiful could be any engine, from a afternoon at the airport in lawnmower to the family car, Merida, kids and dogs frolbut when an airplane engine icked on the tarmac next to a won’t start, much emphasis decrepit old plane. In the disMARK may be placed on the gravity tance, through the waves of WOOD of the situation. heat dancing on the ground, This actually happened to immaculate AMC Pacer WOODY’S an me in Merida, Mexico en approached and parked in route to Del Carmen where I WHEELS front of the window where I was working at the time. I was standing. like Mexico, you can rig up just about The epitome of Mexican Aviation

Authority emerged from the car, a pilot in a beige uniform who tousled a kid’s head, threw a stick to the dog and walked up the steps of the piece of crap airplane.

About a dozen local hombres headed out to the same plane and a stewardess beckoned me, the only Gringo, to join them. We all boarded the museum piece, there was a bead curtain over the cockpit and I took a seat next to the wing on the right.

She must have been a lovely aircraft in her prime, which would have been when they were adding sound to black and white movies.

The left engine started fine, the right one turned slowly and after a few attempts, the pilot beckoned the ground crew. A pair of hombres drove up in a pickup truck with a ladder, crawled up on the wing next to my window and opened a hatch on the motor.

He jabbed in a screwdriver and gave the universal thumbs up, try-her-now signal. She fired up, black smoke billowing out of the exhaust. The ground crew battened down the hatch and left us sputtering and spewing on the tarmac. Even the kids and dogs were amused. The pilot revved the guts out of the old engines, black smoke howl-

ing out of the one next to me and we limped down the runway. About three quarters down the strip he locked up the brakes and we skidded to a halt. Not enough speed to take off.

This had no effect whatsoever on the other passengers. I did my best not to show any emotion and blend in.

Besides, if I acted up and tried to get off I’d probably be pistol-whipped and tied to my seat.

We limped back to the end of the runway again and he revved her up as only a fearless Mexican pilot can. He let off See “The day after,” page 26

For every question there is an answer.

Hope through education, support and solutions.

We’re here.

1.800.321.1433 www.arthritis.ca

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

GETTING AIR

INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 27

Building character IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT WALKING TO SCHOOL IN AN ICE STORM, WRITES LORRAINE SOMMERFELD, BUT THAT’S PART OF IT

T

he part I’ve always hated about Because of this, I feel obligated to struction, our core is well oriented for working, besides the actual make the boys walk, too. I am very those with walkers and scooters and working part, was commuting. intent on building character. My father wheelchairs — those I think of as I’ve walked, I’ve biked, I’ve driven, let slip one day that while he indeed “other-wheeled.” It’s not just about I’ve taken the bus, and I’ve had to brave harsh cars. Sidewalks are smooth, ramps are taken the train. If I could Saskatchewan winters to get gradual, and most lights are timed well. have a superpower, I’d pick to a one-room schoolhouse, he These nods to a gently aging poputeleporting, so I could just got to take a team of horses to lace also take into account the not so twitch my nose and throw get there. My nine-year-old old, something I’m thankful for. I read the hassles of all of them out self couldn’t imagine a more of other parts of Ontario that haven’t the window. magical way to commute. discovered this should be a priority: I’m almost there. I just Come to think of it, I still Maintaining the independence of those walk down the stairs now to can’t. that already have it severely limited. the kitchen. It’s as freeing as So far this year, my lads As I pass my unknown traveler every LORRAINE you think it would be. I have have managed to avoid walkmorning, I applaud his strength at the SOMMERFELD no complaints, and neither ing each morning in several same time I start worrying about the do my cats that take turns ways. Jackson, 12, elected to coming snow and ice. I’m ashamed of shedding on my lap all day. play the trombone, which is my whining self for cursing problems My lap that is still wearing bigger than that are petty, and pajamas until noon most he is. He inconveniences that days. often needs a ride. don’t exist. One day Both boys are attending the same Marc, 15, plays footof bad weather could school now for the first time in several ball and usually manApart from the current literally stop him in years. I went to this same school and ages to be on crutchhis tracks; a run of it ongoing construction, could remove so my father made me walk unless the es more often than wind and rain were fierce enough to not. many physical freecarry children away like Dorothy’s He too, often our core is well oriented doms from a life that house in The Wizard of Oz. I swear he’d needs a ride. They rig have a surfor those with walkers doesn’t rather have put stones in our pockets their inconveniences feit of them. than give us a lift. I pretty much agree consecutively, and I and scooters and wheelI’ve debated stopwith him, though. I’m tired of seeing think they’ve walked ping and talking to packs of little under-exercised kids pil- twice in two months. chairs — those I think of him, asking him all ing into mini-vans every day for a fourI’m not minding as the questions that as “other-wheeled.” block ride to school. much as I should, plague me, the ones Remember the Ice Storm of ’72? I however. Every day that he long ago do, because my father made me and my as we wind our way faced and overcame. sisters walk to school. We slid all the through the downWhy do I notice way there in our nasty little red boots town streets, I see a man in an electric this man every morning? And why do I with the side buckle (the kind you wheelchair. His agility with the chair never stop and interrupt his journey? pulled on over your shoes) and arrived leads me to believe it has been a part of Because his daughter is sitting on his at an empty school. Nobody else’s his life for a long time, despite his rela- lap, her seven-year-old face laughing fathers had made them come to school. tive youth. Anyone younger than me is into the crisp morning air.

Not even the teacher’s fathers. We slid a youth.

Her daddy is taking her to school. home.

Apart from the current ongoing conwww.lorraineonline.ca

POWER SHIFT

Honda's rider Maikel Melero of Spain performs a jump on his motorcycle during a freestyle show in Madrid Nov. 11.

Victor Fraile/Reuters

BMW plans to move to bigger office in Ontario

By Tony Van Alphen Torstar wire service

B

MW Group Canada plans to leave Whitby and build a new headquarters in Markham, Ont. to allow significant growth.

President and chief executive Lindsay Duffield confirms the company will construct a 60,000- to 70,000-square-foot facility near Highways 404 and 407.

BMW’s new headquarters will open in the second half of 2008 and employ 200 to 300 people in financial services, human resources, marketing and national sales, Duffield says.

The company has no land for further expansion at the current headquarters, where BMW has operated for about two decades.

Duffield would not disclose the price of the new headquarters. Based on the typical cost of office space in the Greater Toronto Area, the price might come to $12 million to $14 million, plus the cost of land.

“It will have very good highway visibility,” Duffield notes.

SALES DOUBLED The company’s sales in Canada have almost doubled since 2000, to 21,551 in 2005, and should surpass that number this year because of a major increase in models and the addition of the Mini brand. BMW has also been overhauling standard operating processes and customer relations and expanding dealerships across the country.

Duffield says BMW has been working on extending its slogan, the “ultimate driving experience,” so customers receive similar top treatment.

BMW will have automotive neighbours in its new location.

The Canadian headquarters for Mazda and Suzuki are in Richmond Hill, and Hyundai is in Markham.

Honda plans to build a new headquarters in Richmond Hill during the next two years.

BIG BOOST Industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers said head offices represent a longterm job and economic boost for communities that can be more valuable than assembly plants, starting with higher employee wages.

Headquarters are also more secure employers because auto plants compete for the assignment of producing products, and need strong consumer demand to maintain job levels.

subaru

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

26 • INDEPENDENTSHIFT

Racing talent finally getting opportunity W

hen Shane Jantzi won the Larmour in karts.

Formula Car Magazine CanAnd Stewart is doing this out of the Am Cup race for Formula goodness of his heart, to make a contriFords at Mosport Oct. 1, he had his bution to Canadian motorsport. He said own cheering section. last winter that he would offer up a test A busload of friends and co-workers to the winner of the FF series as well as from Maisex Seeds Inc. in Tilbury, to the winner of the Brian Stewart including his boss, Dave Baute, were Karting Championship (administered on hand to see the 35-year-old sales by Lynda Chiovitti of the Simcoe Kart manager capture not only the cup, but Club and including the Inisfil Kart his third consecutive Ontario FF Club, Waterloo Regional Kart Club and Challenge Series championship — his Point Pelee Karting). fourth since 2000.

Now he’s putting his Of the 14 races in that money where his mouth is. series, he won 11 of them and “I have the track at was second in the other three.

Homestead for a few days to Oh, and in the years since the test a couple of American turn of the century when he guys — Brad Jaeger, who’s didn’t win the championship, been running the Star Mazda he was second in the standings series, and Andre Villerreal twice and third once. and so it’s not really going to NORRIS Obviously a race driver of cost me anything extra to put MCDONALD superior talent. But also a guy Shane and Patrick in the car with limited opportunities — to see if they can pass the until now. test.

For the first time in the his“If they do, they get that tory of this latest FF champicompetition licence, which onship, there was a pot of gold is a huge prize. You never at the end of the rainbow: an Indy Pro know what can happen in professional Series test for the champion that could racing these days and if somebody sudlead to an IRL competition licence for denly needs a driver, they would be 2007 and, perhaps, the opportunity to qualified.” strut his stuff in the near-Big Leagues.

Although Larmour will get an equal Jantzi, of Ayr, Ont., who won numer- opportunity, you can tell that Stewart is ous karting championships going back pulling for Yantzi to shine. to 1986 before moving into Formula “I’d really like to see him in the car,” Fords, will be at Homestead-Miami Stewart said. “I know what it’s like to Speedway next week to take that test. be a winner and not have a chance at a He’s going to wedge himself into a future.

Brian Stewart Racing Indy Pro Series “I told Shane that I intend to run two 450-hp rocket and drive it (aim it, is fully-funded cars in the Indy Pro series more like it) around the high-banked, next year. But I have three cars and I’d 1.5-mile south Florida oval raceway at like to run a third car in the Freedom about 190 miles an hour, give-or-take 100 in May (the Indy Pro support race an mph or two. for the Indianapolis 500), the two U.S. He’ll be able to do that for most of Grand Prix support races in June and the afternoon. If there’s time on the Chicagoland, the last race of the IRL Friday at the end of the week, there’s season, in September. the possibility that he’ll get the chance “If he could cover my expenses (less to wheel the car around Homestead’s than $10,000 per) for each of those slightly longer road course. races, I’d like to give him a chance. We Jantzi is one of two Canadians being talked about this a few weeks ago and tested. The other is 19-year-old Patrick he said, ‘Don’t give up the seat,’ so Larmour of Woodbridge. They’re being we’ll see where we go from here.” given this opportunity by Stewart — a For his part, Jantzi is excited about Sutton-area resident who was a legend the opportunity. in the old Indy Lights series and is now “I’m 35 and I’ve been racing for 20 a kingmaker in the IRL’s major support years and not too many opportunities league — for winning championships like this have come along for me,” he this season in their respective disci- said. plines: Yantzi in FF, as mentioned, and “But just because I’m 35 doesn’t

TRACK TALK

French driver Sebastien Bourdais of the Newman Haas team spins his wheels as he celebrates after winning the Mexico City Champ Car Grand Prix Nov. 12.

Tomas Bravo/Reuters

mean I don’t have ambition, that I still don’t want the real thing.

“Which means I’m not taking this lightly. I stay in shape; I’m a marathon runner. I want to be the best that I can be in this car. Brian has given me a chance to get a licence and maybe run a few races and to show my stuff and I want to take full advantage.

“I know Brian. He wants a guy in his car who knows how to manage a race and not stuff the thing into a wall. I’m that kind of driver. I want to show him what I can do.”

Jantzi is no stranger to the Pro car.

Stewart took it to Mosport that Sunday in October and the FF champ had a crack at it then.

The car was like a big cat, ready to pounce. Jantzi was out in it for a halfdozen laps and looked like he could hardly wait to turn it loose.

Get ready Homestead: Shane’s coming.

2007 FIT

No-Charge Automatic

2007 Civic DX 5-speed sedan/coupe

198

$

2007

FIT

Limited Time †1 Of fer!

*

125

From

$

Special 4.9% 48 Month Lease $

0 Security Deposit

BONUS ¥

5-passenger 2007 Fit Sport

se or Choo ecial it Sp Civic/F

%

2007

CIVIC

5-passenger 2007 Civic Sedan DX

4.9 th 60 Maonnce Fin

500

$

†

2007 Fit DX 5-speed or Automatic **

188

$

From

Special 5.9% 60 Month Lease $

0 Security Deposit

Fun on the run comes in two exciting sizes in the 2007 Hondas.

BONUS ¥

The award winning Honda Civic and the smart new Honda Fit deliver more class-leading safety, exceptional fuel efficiency, striking style and the fun to drive spirit that you’ve been looking for...

Civic...

8 YEARS STRAIGHT

†1

North American Carof theYear †2

Best New Economy Car †3 Automobile Journalists Association of Canada

honda.ca

TEST DRIVE CR-V For Your Chance To

WIN

¥1

Test Drive the All-New CR-V for a Chance To Win One of 22 Genuine Honda Snowblowers Valued At Over $2,000 No Purchase Necessary.

.

07 Honda: the power to have more fun x2

All lease and finance offers are from Honda Canada Finance Inc., O.A.C.*Leases are based on new 2007: Civic Sedan DX 5- speed (model FA1527EX)/Civic Coupe DX 5-speed (model FG1127E) for 48/48 month terms, OAC. Monthly payment is $198/ $198 with $2,713/ $2,833 down payment or equivalent trade-in. Payments include $1,225/ $1,225 freight and PDI. $0/ $0 security deposit required.

First monthly payment due at lease inception. Lease rates are 4.9%/ 4.9%. 96,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.12/km for excess kilometres. Total lease obligation is $10,835/ $10,835. License, insurance, applicable taxes and registration are extra. Option to purchase at lease end for $8,320/ $8,418 plus taxes.**Lease based on new 2007: Fit DX 5- speed (model GD3727E) / Fit DX Automatic (model GD3827E) for 60 month terms, OAC. Monthly payment is $188/$188 with $2,615/$2,615 down payment or equivalent trade-in, respectively. Payments include $1,225/$1,225 freight and PDI. $0 security deposit required. First monthly payment due at lease inception. Lease rate is 5.9%. 120,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.12/km for excess kilometres. Total lease obligation is $12,859/$12,859. License, insurance, applicable taxes and registration are extra. Option to purchase at lease end for $5,093/$5,501 plus taxes. †: 4.9% purchase financing for up to 60 months available on new 2007 Fits and Civics (excluding Civic Coupe Si and Hybrid), O.A.C. Finance example based on a 60 month finance term, OAC: $14,000 at 4.9% per annum equals $263.56 per month for 60 months.

Cost of borrowing is $1,813.38, for a total obligation of $15,813.38. †1: No-charge automatic transmission only available on all new in-stock 2007 Fit Automatic models, OAC. ¥1: A total of twenty-two (22) Grand Prizes [Honda Snowblower, model number HS622TC with a retail value of $2,107.86 including taxes] will be available to be won in Atlantic Canada at the end of the contest – one (1) prize to be awarded at each of the twenty-two participating Honda dealers in Atlantic Canada. Entrants must complete a qualified 2007 Honda CR-V test drive and the contest ballot in order to enter. Prize may not be exactly as shown. Other conditions apply. No purchase is required to enter. Selected entrants are required to correctly answer a time-limited mathematical skill testing question before being declared the winners. Contest closes January 2nd, 2007. Full contest rules are available at participating dealerships. ¥1: Maximum value of 2007 bonus gas offers are as follows: Fit is $125, Civic is $500 (excluding Coupe Si and Hybrid) all including taxes and OAC. Gas offers apply only to new in-stock 2007: Fit, Civic (excluding Coupe Si and Hybrid) models purchased/leased between November 1 and November 30, 2006, OAC. †1: Based on annual sales by category in Canada as reported by AIAMC, January 2006 †2: North American Car of the Year awarded to 2006 Honda Civic at Detroit Auto Show January 8, 2006. †3: Best New Economy Car awarded to 2006 Civic Sedan by Automobile Journalists Association of Canada on December 6, 2005; www.ajac.ca. Limited time offers. See your Honda dealer for full details.

RALLY OF THE TALL PINES The Rally of the Tall Pines, the final event on the 2006 Canadian Rally Championship calendar, will be held

next weekend in Bancroft. More than 250 organizers and approximately 100 competitors (drivers, navigators and support staff) will arrive in the eastern Ontario municipality this week to familiarize themselves with the stage roads in advance of the competition on Saturday.

Antoine L’Estage from Saint-Jeansur-Richelieu, Que., is leading the standings. His co-driver is Nathalie Richard, from Halifax.

Interested? Go to www.tallpinesrally.com for more info …

CHAMPION OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO Warren Mahoney of Lefroy, Ont., was crowned champion of the Southern Ontario Sprints circuit at a banquet in Niagara Falls.

He beat runner-up Bob Crawford of Sutton and perennial challenger, Glenn Styres of Ohsweken. It was Warren’s second SOS title. His daddy, Dick Mahoney of Newmarket, who’s 61going-on-16, finished eighth …

STROKER ACE The worst movie about car racing in the history of the world, Stroker Ace, has surfaced on the Speed Channel. I’m surprised that Burt Reynolds, who starred, hasn’t bought up all the copies by now and burned them. The book was great; the movie’s a stinker.

Memo to Speed Channel: Red flag that embarrassment.

Mark Wood as a soltero hombre: part of the author’s 1982 Mexican work visa.

‘The day after never’ From page 25 the brakes and we hurried down the runway at a terrifically slow rate of speed, kids and dogs running alongside.

Maybe it was a gust of wind, it could have been the plastic Jesus on the dashboard, but we lifted and soared over the city. Crows and gulls flew by us in the same direction, except much faster. The stewardess handed out plastic cups

and poured generous shots from a bottle of Tequila, whether it was celebratory or consolatory would depend on the landing.

We eventually pitched on a dirt runway in Del Carmen and I asked the stewardess if they were going to get that engine checked. “Manana,” she replied.

A pretty way to say “whatever.”

Mark Wood of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s has a fondness for regular aircraft maintenance.

Canada’s drivers can cut greenhouse emissions

O

n Nov. 1, the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and Pollution Probe released Driving Towards a Cleaner Environment, a Healthier Future, with recommendations that, if implemented, could cut motorists’ greenhouse gasses (GHGs) by 30 to almost 50 per cent. The report integrates the role of the motorist, the road and the vehicle into a plan for improving the environment and makes several recommendations to the federal government, including: • Developing effective fuel efficiency standards by 2010 • Investing in roads and highways in order to reduce congestion and pollution • Supporting continued research and development of advanced automotive and fuel technologies On Oct. 16, CAA and Pollution Probe announced a partnership to address issues for consumers on climate change and clean air. This report is the first product of this partnership.

“Our report focuses on consumer-oriented solutions in contributing to a healthier environment while maintaining our mobility,” said

David Flewelling, President of CAA. “If it follows our recommendations, the federal government has a tremendous opportunity for leadership in implementing real solutions for Canadians concerned about climate change. We look forward to bringing more like-minded groups together in the future to offer real solutions.”

“We will see an attitude shift among Canadians if our recommendations, which support our earlier Three-Point Eco-Mobility Plan, are implemented,” said Ken Ogilvie, executive director of Pollution Probe. “The recommendations that we have in our report are sensible, because they take a balanced and realistic approach to mobility and the environment.”

Flewelling stressed that while there is a role for consumers to play, industry also needs to be part of the solution. “This report is written to address what the federal government can do to support consumer action. We need to remember that consumer motivation to be environmentally responsible will grow only if industry is held accountable as well.”

Driving Towards a Cleaner Environment is available at www.caa.ca/eco-mobility.

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

28 • INDEPENDENTFUN

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Even 5 What tots are taught 9 Spat 13 Reflected sound 17 Theme 18 Career golfers 19 Earthen pot 20 Become less reserved 21 Miniature abode 23 At the same time 25 Kind of curve 26 Citrus hybrid 27 Self-satisfied 28 Paddy grains 29 Paper source 30 “Those were the ___, my friend” 31 PC rival 32 For a short time 35 Cram 36 Wield 37 Quebec strongman, once 40 Buckets 41 Orillia folk festival 44 Bird w peculiar cry 45 End of Dec. 31 song 46 Alta.’s official tree: lodgepole ___ 47 Prov. with Golden Triangle 48 Inuit goddess of the sea 49 Aim 50 Immoral habit 51 Before: prefix 52 Giant N. Zealand bird, once

53 Place with lowest tide in Canada (Nunavut) 55 Summer time in Okotoks 56 Canada’s largest island 59 The Victorian, e.g.

60 Slugger 61 Very small bit 62 Luba of “Air Farce” 64 Scarf of a kind 67 Prov. with Anglo Tignish 68 ___ Tremblant, Que. 69 Sticky stuff 70 Enclose a present 71 Canoeing activity 73 Boyd of the guitar 74 Japanese capital 75 Sask.’s official flower: western ___ lily 76 Shortened alias 77 Restrain: put the ___ on 78 Go the whole ___ 79 Parasites 81 Love handles 82 Yemen’s capital 85 Sound of swine 86 “This ___ Has 22 Minutes” 87 Nurses 90 They always cry wolf 92 Awkward 94 Peel 95 Quebec’s official flower: ___ flag iris 96 Goatee site 97 All: prefix 98 Command to Fido

PROSTHETIC HYMNS

99 Egyptian Christian 100 Tear gas 101 Leap ___ DOWN 1 Fundy phenomenon 2 Altar exchanges 3 Anguillidae 4 Indian lentil dish 5 Farthest point of an orbit 6 Early French explorer who lived with Hurons and learned the language 7 “___ Fan Tutte” (Mozart) 8 Wind dir.

9 Kiefer’s grandpa 10 Intestinal obstruction 11 Official flower of Que.: blue ___ iris 12 Devoted follower 13 Moral precept of conduct 14 Quebec (Gaspé) mountains: les ___Chocs 15 Robust 16 Runs in the red 22 Chucks 24 Actress Fay (19072004) 27 Scandinavian reindeer herder 29 Scrabble draw 30 Answer a challenge 31 Provincial rep.

32 Cathedral recess 33 Mr. Gretzky 34 Certain Indian

35 Singer-songwriter Siberry (“Small Fires”) 36 Winter time in Whistler 37 Overfished Atlantic species 38 Hither and ___ 39 Cellular letters 41 Mineral that flakes apart 42 Terry Fox’s hometown: ___ Coquitlam, B.C. 43 Pull a fast ___ 44 You may turn over a new one on Jan. 1 46 Rodent of the Rockies 48 Seat for several 50 Action word 51 Summer time in Peachland 52 Crooner Dusk (Back in Town) 54 Harvest 55 Niagara Falls boat: ___ of the Mist 56 Cartoon sound effect 57 Arctic shelter 58 Words for people or things 60 Shut-eye site 61 N.S. town with Highland Village 63 Slangy assent 64 Map abbrev.

65 Fury 66 Winter mo.

67 Cushion 68 P.M. Pearson, to pals

69 Author Camilla ___ (Sweetness in the Belly) 71 It fastens a tent rope 72 Deficiency 73 B.C./N.W.T. river 75 Wander 77 Yukon park and

nature reserve 78 Sturdy 79 Turned on the lights 80 Map insert 81 B vitamin: ___ acid 82 Coronavirus of 2003 (Toronto)

83 Hit the runway 84 Singer Mouskouri 85 One place to spend kroner 86 Sarcastic laugh 87 Capital on the Tiber 88 Pinta’s sister ship

89 Recipe direction 91 Inuit broadcaster 92 1900 93 Actor Dupuis (“Maurice Richard”)

Solution page 30

By Levi Hansen

Bread. The third deadliest weapon on the planet.

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MARCH 21 TO APRIL 19) Restless Rams and Ewes might want to let others finish a current project while they start something new. But if you do, you could risk losing out on a future opportunity.

TAURUS (APRIL 20 TO MAY 20) The Bovine’s creative forces start revving up as you plan for the upcoming holidays. Some practical aspects also emerge, especially where money is involved.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Moments of doubt disrupt your otherwise clear sense of purpose.

Don’t ignore them. They could be telling you not to rush into anything until you know more about it.

CANCER

(JUNE 21 TO JULY 22) A planned trip might have to be delayed. Plan to use this new free time to update your skills and your resume so you’ll be ready when a new job opportunity opens.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUGUST 22) A flood of holiday party bids from business contacts allows you to mix work and pleasure.

Your knowledge plus your Leonine charm wins you a new slew of admirers.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) An unexpected act by a colleague complicates an agreement, causing delays in implementing it. Check out the motive for this move: It’s not what you might suspect.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22)

You might want to cut ties with an ingrate who seems to have forgotten your past generosity. But there might be a reason for this behavior that you should know about. Ask. SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) Be careful not to set things in stone. Much could happen during the next several days that will make you rethink some decisions and maybe change them.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) Your plans to help provide holiday cheer for the less fortunate inspire others to follow your generous example. Expect welcome news by week’s end.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) You’re in your glory as you start planning for the holiday season ahead. But leave time to deal

with a problem that needs a quick and fair resolution.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) The upcoming holiday season provides a perfect setting for strengthening relationships with kin and others. A new contact has important information.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MARCH 20) nstead of fretting over a cutting remark by a co-worker, chalk it up to an outburst of envy of your well-respected status among both your colleagues and superiors.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK: You instinctively know when to be serious and when to be humorous; attributes everyone finds endearing.

(C) 2006 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC.

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 PAGE 30

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

GETTING AIR

INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 27

Building character IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT WALKING TO SCHOOL IN AN ICE STORM, WRITES LORRAINE SOMMERFELD, BUT THAT’S PART OF IT

T

he part I’ve always hated about Because of this, I feel obligated to struction, our core is well oriented for working, besides the actual make the boys walk, too. I am very those with walkers and scooters and working part, was commuting. intent on building character. My father wheelchairs — those I think of as I’ve walked, I’ve biked, I’ve driven, let slip one day that while he indeed “other-wheeled.” It’s not just about I’ve taken the bus, and I’ve had to brave harsh cars. Sidewalks are smooth, ramps are taken the train. If I could Saskatchewan winters to get gradual, and most lights are timed well. have a superpower, I’d pick to a one-room schoolhouse, he These nods to a gently aging poputeleporting, so I could just got to take a team of horses to lace also take into account the not so twitch my nose and throw get there. My nine-year-old old, something I’m thankful for. I read the hassles of all of them out self couldn’t imagine a more of other parts of Ontario that haven’t the window. magical way to commute. discovered this should be a priority: I’m almost there. I just Come to think of it, I still Maintaining the independence of those walk down the stairs now to can’t. that already have it severely limited. the kitchen. It’s as freeing as So far this year, my lads As I pass my unknown traveler every LORRAINE you think it would be. I have have managed to avoid walkmorning, I applaud his strength at the SOMMERFELD no complaints, and neither ing each morning in several same time I start worrying about the do my cats that take turns ways. Jackson, 12, elected to coming snow and ice. I’m ashamed of shedding on my lap all day. play the trombone, which is my whining self for cursing problems My lap that is still wearing bigger than that are petty, and pajamas until noon most he is. He inconveniences that days. often needs a ride. don’t exist. One day Both boys are attending the same Marc, 15, plays footof bad weather could school now for the first time in several ball and usually manApart from the current literally stop him in years. I went to this same school and ages to be on crutchhis tracks; a run of it ongoing construction, could remove so my father made me walk unless the es more often than wind and rain were fierce enough to not. many physical freecarry children away like Dorothy’s He too, often our core is well oriented doms from a life that house in The Wizard of Oz. I swear he’d needs a ride. They rig have a surfor those with walkers doesn’t rather have put stones in our pockets their inconveniences feit of them. than give us a lift. I pretty much agree consecutively, and I and scooters and wheelI’ve debated stopwith him, though. I’m tired of seeing think they’ve walked ping and talking to packs of little under-exercised kids pil- twice in two months. chairs — those I think of him, asking him all ing into mini-vans every day for a fourI’m not minding as the questions that as “other-wheeled.” block ride to school. much as I should, plague me, the ones Remember the Ice Storm of ’72? I however. Every day that he long ago do, because my father made me and my as we wind our way faced and overcame. sisters walk to school. We slid all the through the downWhy do I notice way there in our nasty little red boots town streets, I see a man in an electric this man every morning? And why do I with the side buckle (the kind you wheelchair. His agility with the chair never stop and interrupt his journey? pulled on over your shoes) and arrived leads me to believe it has been a part of Because his daughter is sitting on his at an empty school. Nobody else’s his life for a long time, despite his rela- lap, her seven-year-old face laughing fathers had made them come to school. tive youth. Anyone younger than me is into the crisp morning air.

Not even the teacher’s fathers. We slid a youth.

Her daddy is taking her to school. home.

Apart from the current ongoing conwww.lorraineonline.ca

POWER SHIFT

Honda's rider Maikel Melero of Spain performs a jump on his motorcycle during a freestyle show in Madrid Nov. 11.

Victor Fraile/Reuters

BMW plans to move to bigger office in Ontario

By Tony Van Alphen Torstar wire service

B

MW Group Canada plans to leave Whitby and build a new headquarters in Markham, Ont. to allow significant growth.

President and chief executive Lindsay Duffield confirms the company will construct a 60,000- to 70,000-square-foot facility near Highways 404 and 407.

BMW’s new headquarters will open in the second half of 2008 and employ 200 to 300 people in financial services, human resources, marketing and national sales, Duffield says.

The company has no land for further expansion at the current headquarters, where BMW has operated for about two decades.

Duffield would not disclose the price of the new headquarters. Based on the typical cost of office space in the Greater Toronto Area, the price might come to $12 million to $14 million, plus the cost of land.

“It will have very good highway visibility,” Duffield notes.

SALES DOUBLED The company’s sales in Canada have almost doubled since 2000, to 21,551 in 2005, and should surpass that number this year because of a major increase in models and the addition of the Mini brand. BMW has also been overhauling standard operating processes and customer relations and expanding dealerships across the country.

Duffield says BMW has been working on extending its slogan, the “ultimate driving experience,” so customers receive similar top treatment.

BMW will have automotive neighbours in its new location.

The Canadian headquarters for Mazda and Suzuki are in Richmond Hill, and Hyundai is in Markham.

Honda plans to build a new headquarters in Richmond Hill during the next two years.

BIG BOOST Industry analyst Dennis DesRosiers said head offices represent a longterm job and economic boost for communities that can be more valuable than assembly plants, starting with higher employee wages.

Headquarters are also more secure employers because auto plants compete for the assignment of producing products, and need strong consumer demand to maintain job levels.

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

28 • INDEPENDENTFUN

WEEKLY DIVERSIONS ACROSS 1 Even 5 What tots are taught 9 Spat 13 Reflected sound 17 Theme 18 Career golfers 19 Earthen pot 20 Become less reserved 21 Miniature abode 23 At the same time 25 Kind of curve 26 Citrus hybrid 27 Self-satisfied 28 Paddy grains 29 Paper source 30 “Those were the ___, my friend” 31 PC rival 32 For a short time 35 Cram 36 Wield 37 Quebec strongman, once 40 Buckets 41 Orillia folk festival 44 Bird w peculiar cry 45 End of Dec. 31 song 46 Alta.’s official tree: lodgepole ___ 47 Prov. with Golden Triangle 48 Inuit goddess of the sea 49 Aim 50 Immoral habit 51 Before: prefix 52 Giant N. Zealand bird, once

53 Place with lowest tide in Canada (Nunavut) 55 Summer time in Okotoks 56 Canada’s largest island 59 The Victorian, e.g.

60 Slugger 61 Very small bit 62 Luba of “Air Farce” 64 Scarf of a kind 67 Prov. with Anglo Tignish 68 ___ Tremblant, Que. 69 Sticky stuff 70 Enclose a present 71 Canoeing activity 73 Boyd of the guitar 74 Japanese capital 75 Sask.’s official flower: western ___ lily 76 Shortened alias 77 Restrain: put the ___ on 78 Go the whole ___ 79 Parasites 81 Love handles 82 Yemen’s capital 85 Sound of swine 86 “This ___ Has 22 Minutes” 87 Nurses 90 They always cry wolf 92 Awkward 94 Peel 95 Quebec’s official flower: ___ flag iris 96 Goatee site 97 All: prefix 98 Command to Fido

PROSTHETIC HYMNS

99 Egyptian Christian 100 Tear gas 101 Leap ___ DOWN 1 Fundy phenomenon 2 Altar exchanges 3 Anguillidae 4 Indian lentil dish 5 Farthest point of an orbit 6 Early French explorer who lived with Hurons and learned the language 7 “___ Fan Tutte” (Mozart) 8 Wind dir.

9 Kiefer’s grandpa 10 Intestinal obstruction 11 Official flower of Que.: blue ___ iris 12 Devoted follower 13 Moral precept of conduct 14 Quebec (Gaspé) mountains: les ___Chocs 15 Robust 16 Runs in the red 22 Chucks 24 Actress Fay (19072004) 27 Scandinavian reindeer herder 29 Scrabble draw 30 Answer a challenge 31 Provincial rep.

32 Cathedral recess 33 Mr. Gretzky 34 Certain Indian

35 Singer-songwriter Siberry (“Small Fires”) 36 Winter time in Whistler 37 Overfished Atlantic species 38 Hither and ___ 39 Cellular letters 41 Mineral that flakes apart 42 Terry Fox’s hometown: ___ Coquitlam, B.C. 43 Pull a fast ___ 44 You may turn over a new one on Jan. 1 46 Rodent of the Rockies 48 Seat for several 50 Action word 51 Summer time in Peachland 52 Crooner Dusk (Back in Town) 54 Harvest 55 Niagara Falls boat: ___ of the Mist 56 Cartoon sound effect 57 Arctic shelter 58 Words for people or things 60 Shut-eye site 61 N.S. town with Highland Village 63 Slangy assent 64 Map abbrev.

65 Fury 66 Winter mo.

67 Cushion 68 P.M. Pearson, to pals

69 Author Camilla ___ (Sweetness in the Belly) 71 It fastens a tent rope 72 Deficiency 73 B.C./N.W.T. river 75 Wander 77 Yukon park and

nature reserve 78 Sturdy 79 Turned on the lights 80 Map insert 81 B vitamin: ___ acid 82 Coronavirus of 2003 (Toronto)

83 Hit the runway 84 Singer Mouskouri 85 One place to spend kroner 86 Sarcastic laugh 87 Capital on the Tiber 88 Pinta’s sister ship

89 Recipe direction 91 Inuit broadcaster 92 1900 93 Actor Dupuis (“Maurice Richard”)

Solution page 30

By Levi Hansen

Bread. The third deadliest weapon on the planet.

WEEKLY STARS ARIES (MARCH 21 TO APRIL 19) Restless Rams and Ewes might want to let others finish a current project while they start something new. But if you do, you could risk losing out on a future opportunity.

TAURUS (APRIL 20 TO MAY 20) The Bovine’s creative forces start revving up as you plan for the upcoming holidays. Some practical aspects also emerge, especially where money is involved.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Moments of doubt disrupt your otherwise clear sense of purpose.

Don’t ignore them. They could be telling you not to rush into anything until you know more about it.

CANCER

(JUNE 21 TO JULY 22) A planned trip might have to be delayed. Plan to use this new free time to update your skills and your resume so you’ll be ready when a new job opportunity opens.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUGUST 22) A flood of holiday party bids from business contacts allows you to mix work and pleasure.

Your knowledge plus your Leonine charm wins you a new slew of admirers.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) An unexpected act by a colleague complicates an agreement, causing delays in implementing it. Check out the motive for this move: It’s not what you might suspect.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22)

You might want to cut ties with an ingrate who seems to have forgotten your past generosity. But there might be a reason for this behavior that you should know about. Ask. SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV. 21) Be careful not to set things in stone. Much could happen during the next several days that will make you rethink some decisions and maybe change them.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) Your plans to help provide holiday cheer for the less fortunate inspire others to follow your generous example. Expect welcome news by week’s end.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) You’re in your glory as you start planning for the holiday season ahead. But leave time to deal

with a problem that needs a quick and fair resolution.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) The upcoming holiday season provides a perfect setting for strengthening relationships with kin and others. A new contact has important information.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MARCH 20) nstead of fretting over a cutting remark by a co-worker, chalk it up to an outburst of envy of your well-respected status among both your colleagues and superiors.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK: You instinctively know when to be serious and when to be humorous; attributes everyone finds endearing.

(C) 2006 KING FEATURES SYNDICATE, INC.

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 PAGE 30

INDEPENDENTSPORTS

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006 — PAGE 29

Brittany Dalton (right) arrives on MUN’s campus with a famous last name and plenty of game. Vicki Thistle (left) complements Dalton’s running and gunning style.

Paul Daly/The Independent

Young guns

By Don Power For The Independent

T

hey come from opposite ends of the spectrum. One is all basketball, all the time. The other can play any sport — and does.

One has been in the coach’s sights for at least a couple of years. He largely ignored the other player.

One is the third in a line of sisters who has doggedly competed with her siblings her entire life. The other is an only child who oozes athleticism but whose only competition comes from within.

Brittany Dalton is a talkative, outgoing point guard from Harbour Main who has been wowing basketball coaches for years. Vicki Thistle is a quiet, St. John’s kid who just finished her first season of varsity athletics at MUN — for the women’s soccer team — and lets her play between the lines do her talking.

But if this past Sunday at the Field House was any indication, this dynamic duo is the future of the MUN SeaHawks women’s basketball team.

Last weekend, MUN opened its 2006-07 season — a year in which the Sea-Hawks will play host to the CIS women’s basketball championship —

First-years Brittany Dalton and Vicki Thistle provide MUN’s basketball team with a formidable duo for now — and the future with a pair of huge wins over the Cape Breton Capers.

In the 75-69 win on Nov. 12, the two rookies showed fans what they could expect to see over the next four or five seasons.

Dalton scored five points and added three assists in 13 minutes of action, but more importantly, showed Partridge and the hometown fans the run-and-gun style that made her so successful in high school and which she dearly loves.

Thistle scored seven points in 18 minutes, but provided a much-needed energy boost to what looked like a lacklustre team to start the game.

What made the performances so impressive — aside from the fact they were first-year players — was Saturday saw Dalton a bit overwhelmed on defence (in three minutes of floor time) and Thistle sit on the bench.

“We’re lucky to get both of them,” says co-captain Katherine Quackenbush, MUN’s top scorer in both contests.

“They really add an extra dimension to our game. They’re rookies, but they can step in any game and play some big minutes for us. It’s been great having their athleticism be part of this team.”

That part was expected. On the team’s website, the season preview says Dalton “will bring size and athleticism to the guard spot.” Thistle, it says, “is a fierce competitor with a long history of accomplishments.”

Unfortunately for Thistle, those accomplishments didn’t impress Partridge. The veteran coach openly admits he underestimated the Bishop’s College graduate. In fact, he says, it was MUN athletic director Michelle Healey who sold him on Thistle.

“I don’t think I gave Vicki Thistle

enough credit as a player all the way through,” Partridge said after practice earlier this week. “Michelle Healey was the one who had to talk me into making sure she played here.

“I knew Brit could come in and play right away, but I was surprised with Vicki. I give her a lot of credit for sticking to it and wanting to play her when I wasn’t talking to her enough and really coming in here and proving she can be a big player at this level.”

Dalton and Thistle are the only firstyear players on the team, and even though their MUN careers are just two games old, are already invoking the names of another dynamic duo who led MUN to three AUS titles in five years — Jenine Browne and Amy Dalton, Brittany’s older sister.

Nobody dares compare them yet, of course, but the comparisons are obvious. Two potential stars arriving the same time, expected to carry the program for a couple of years.

“I think it’s that type of relationship,” Partridge concedes. “Maybe it’s not exactly those types of players, but I do believe it’s that type of relationship.”

Like the two graduated superstars, See “They’re rookies” page 30

A pat for Parfrey And other musings from a desk full of papers

Y

ears ago when I was a kid, Sunday dinner was the staple meal of the week. Rarely would a week go by that there wasn’t the full jiggs dinner-style meal on the table for our family.

Sunday dinner also meant Monday hash, that nauseating concoction of whatever was leftover thrown together in a frying pan and cooked one more time.

Dad loved it. I don’t recall ever having it.

For writers like me, providing you with a (hopefully entertaining) column each week in these pages is much like Sunday dinner. You want it to fill you up, with information, opinion and laughs. Sadly, oftentimes that means some things get left off the plate.

I’m not sure how many people actually have Monday hash anymore. But we publish on Fridays, and I generally have leftovers from news releases, games or events and functions that don’t get into print and end up needlessly in the trash.

So allow me to bring to you a compendium of thoughts that have gathered on my desk. It’s like a plate of hash,

DON POWER

Power Point except on Fridays.

••• Pat Parfrey is indeed a man of action.

When nobody else stepped up, Parfrey — rugby coach extraordinaire, sport enthusiast and kidney specialist — took the reins to get a new recreation centre built for the province.

He convinced the province to contribute $2 million to the project. He got the City of St. John’s to chip in with $1.3 million. He coerced ACOA to cough up $500,000. Then, to prove that this facility was necessary, he enlisted the help of some business friends, who collectively raised $1.02 million of private funds for the building.

On top of that, he put his own money where his mouth is. Not content to ask others for cash to help out, Parfrey has purchased the naming rights to the annex to the Swilers Rugby Club that will be constructed in conjunction with

the new Sport Centre, which will also be built on Crosbie Road.

Parfrey announced he plans to name the annex the Noel Browne Centre, after another of the founding fathers of rugby. A weight room inside will be adorned with Browne’s nickname, henceforth known as Riley’s Room.

Saturday night at Clovelly, these forces all came together at a dinner as Parfrey’s way of saying thanks. And while the evening was a small gesture in return for what the people gathered have donated, it was the thought that counts.

But from what I witnessed, if this group wants to raise more money — are you reading Rod Snow? — your best bet is to organize a roast of Parfrey.

One thing is certain: there’ll be no shortage of speakers or material to use.

••• From the outside, it looks like Doug Partridge has a job on his hands this season. The MUN Sea-Hawks women’s basketball coach already has his team into the Canadian University championship tournament, which takes place at the Field House this coming March.

So you may think the players will be complacent, and ride along with the knowledge that no matter what they do in AUS play, they’re going to the nationals.

Wrong.

“Every step of the way is built towards March,” says Sea-Hawk cocaptain Katherine Quackenbush. “We know that every step is important. If we get to March and we’ve got nothing underneath us, no foundation built, then you’re not going to do the things you want to do.

“We know we’re going to be in this tournament and we want to represent ourselves and our school well. Since May we’ve been focused on this journey.”

That, my friend, is what you call good coaching. Partridge has his club focused, and if last weekend is any indication, primed for another good season.

That’s why the man has won five championships in 15 seasons.

••• Finally, Newfoundland and Labrador’s five major midget hockey teams are in New Brunswick this week-

end for the Monctonian AAA Challenge.

Some people see it as a way for midget players who ordinarily wouldn’t be seen by scouts (like the Northern Huskies from Labrador, for instance) to receive some much-needed recognition.

I see it as a gauge to see how good the provincial midget league is. In provincial play, the St. John’s Maple Leafs are 14-1 and statistically have the top two goalies in the league (Evan Mosher and Kyle Downer) and seven of the top 10 scorers. The team has scored 114 goals, while allowing just 22.

Is the league unable to compete with St. John’s? Is the Leafs’ dominance good for the league? Can Rick Babstock’s team translate that local success to mainland wins?

Are the other teams that bad, or are the Leafs capable of winning a national midge title?

All these questions won’t be answered this weekend, but some truths will be exposed by the time the tournament wraps up Sunday. donniep@nl.rogers.com

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

30 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS

Finding north Always carry a compass, writes Paul Smith, and know how to use it

T

here are three items that you should never go into the woods without. In order of importance, they are: matches, a small axe, and a compass.

If you are forced to overnight in harsh conditions, fire is your best friend and hypothermia your worst enemy. Fire is the difference between life and death and you will need matches and an axe to ignite and sustain it. A compass will not make your unexpected night any more comfortable, but it might have avoided the dilemma in the first place. At least, it could help get your cold soggy butt to civilization in the morning.

My mother bought me the best compass she could find, a Silva Ranger, when I was a wee boy of 14 years. To this day I carry it, hung on a line around my neck, every time I venture away from civilization.

My mother was not an outdoors person and she knew nothing about compasses, but she worried endlessly about me going into the woods. For fear of me becoming lost, which was indeed a distinct possibility, she bought me the compass, and wisely I made the effort to learn how to use it.

I remember the first time it got me out of a jam. Late in the fall of 1975 my buddy and I were exploring a new rabbit-catching area, when it began to snow. It snowed so heavily that our visibility was cut to 200 to 300 feet.

Although we knew approximately where we were in relation to the road, we had no idea which direction would take us there. All the familiar landmarks were obscured, leaving us completely disoriented.

I pulled my compass out from under my coat and held it flat in my hand. As always, the needle pointed north and I spun the dial so that east, the way out, would line up in my Silva’s sighting

PAUL SMITH

The Rock

Outdoors mirror. Our compass bearing was 180degrees opposite to what we thought was the homeward direction.

Without the compass, we would have spent a cold night in the woods and our parents would have been worried sick.

No doubt, they would have called the RCMP and it would have been all very embarrassing for two budding woodsmen. We did have dry matches and an axe, so no doubt we would have survived.

Of course there’s more to navigation in the wilderness than carrying a compass — you have to know how to use it.

If my buddy and I didn’t know that east was out, we would have spent the night in the woods anyway, and my mother would have been disappointed in me.

My rule of thumb is this: know where you are and which way is out, at least approximately, at all times. If I hike into strange country, I always go in on a compass bearing and make mental notes of landmarks, trails and so on.

When it’s time to head home, I just take a bearing in the opposite direction (add or subtract 180 degrees) and trudge along, verifying the route with the familiar landmarks noted on the way in.

If fog or snow sets in you’ll have to put complete faith in your compass, and believe me, you’ll be thankful for the Earth’s magnetic field. Even familiar country becomes a foreign place in fog or snow.

A compass needle lines up with Earth’s natural magnetic field and points approximately north. Magnetic (compass) north differs from geographic north (north on a map) by an amount

Paul Smith photo

that depends on where you are on the Earth’s surface. In St. John’s a compass needle points 23 degrees west of geographic north, but in Trout River the anomaly is 28 degrees. This is called the magnetic declination and it is indicated on all topographic maps.

Unfortunately, the rotational pole of our planet does not line up exactly with its magnetic pole and to complicate things even further, eddy currents in the Earth’s magnetic field cause significant local variations.

But this does not alter the fact that if you walk into the woods by magnetic west you can walk out magnetic east no matter where you are. Declination is

only an issue when you are using maps to find your way.

If you have no map, you can find the declination from the North Star and your compass. The North or Pole Star is directly over the geographic north pole of the earth so it always points the way north — very convenient. Every woods person should know how to find it in the night sky. If you don’t, watch out for Finding North (Part II). Compare where your compass needle points with true celestial north and the difference is the declination at your particular location.

There are many ways to find north.

Some methods are natural, ancient and

simple — some are very sophisticated.

The GPS method is the most complex, requiring 24 geosynchronous satellites and a specialized receiver. A GPS receiver, in addition, can tell you where you are on Earth, which is a very big added bonus.

But you have to be in motion to get direction from a GPS — and what happens if the batteries or the unit itself fails? Always carry a compass. It is lightweight, dependable, and needs no batteries or satellites.

Paul Smith is a freelance writer living in Spaniard’s Bay. flyfishtherock@hotmail.com

Raycroft’s return still up in the air

By Kevin McGran Torstar wire service

A

ndrew Raycroft’s return to the Leaf lineup is on hold. The Leafs’ star netminder had hoped to play Nov. 16 night in Boston — where he injured his groin last week — with this weekend’s home game against the New Jersey Devils as a fallback.

Now even that date is in doubt as Raycroft, suffering from a groin injury, still feels discomfort when skating.

“The normal skating’s fine. If I was

a right winger, I would (play),” Raycroft says. “It’s just some of the little things I have to do to do my job right — (like) when I go down and try to extend. I’m not at a point where I can be explosive yet. It’s still a little weak. The good news is there’s no pain doing any of the other stuff.”

Raycroft skated and stretched in full gear but faced no pucks. He doubts he will practise soon, further entrenching his “day-to-day” status as the Leafs plan to take the cautious approach.

“You’ve got to be able to practise,” Raycroft says. “You can’t just jump in.

If it feels good Saturday, it doesn’t mean I’m going to play Saturday night.

“It’s not game-shape yet, but it’s better than it was yesterday and the day before.”

Head coach Paul Maurice said Raycroft would only return Saturday if he was able to practise full-out on Friday, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

“We don’t want questions about groins and our goaltenders,” Maurice said. “We’re going to leave him until he feels he’s not only healthy but has had enough practice days that he’s

Upon further review, it’s time to kill video review

By Chris Zelkovich Torstar wire service

I

f it hasn’t been done already, there should be a special room in hell reserved for whoever introduced replay review to the world of football.

Oh sure, it has saved a few teams from losing because of bad calls, but it’s done little else besides make long games even longer, give referees more camera time and bring excitement grinding to a halt faster than a Stephen Harper speech.

When done properly, it’s a minor nuisance. When handled badly, it’s a disaster.

Case in point: the review of Argo Ricky Williams’ fumble in the Nov. 12 CFL East final.

The game, which was bordering on dull in the first half, had picked up dramatically in the second with the Argos on their way back. But it wasn’t the fumble that killed the joy as much as the replay review.

After the officials ruled that Williams had fumbled after being tackled, Montreal Alouettes coach Jim Popp called for a review. That held up the game for an agonizing three minutes and 40 seconds.

And as if that wasn’t enough to get the remote finger itching, CBC announcers Steve Armitage and Darren Flutie made it intolerable by compounding viewers’ frustration.

Armitage offered, correctly, that the whistle had blown before Montreal recovered the fumble. He then wondered, incorrectly, if the review came too late because the Argos were already lined up for the next play.

Solutions for crossword on page 28

Flutie had to point out the absurdity of that comment before offering that the replay clearly showed Williams had fumbled. But he wasn’t sure what the rule was regarding the whistle.

“What is that?” he asked. “Inadvertent whistle blows the ball dead and you’ve got to stick with your call?”

But then Flutie seemed to switch directions, first offering it was a Montreal ball before saying that the Argos had a legitimate argument that the whistle killed the play.

But no explanation was forthcoming, though for some reason both Armitage and Flutie seemed convinced that the officials finally got it right.

“They got it right,” Flutie said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

“The perfect example of why they put in replay review,” crowed Armitage.

Actually, the real reason they put it in is that the CFL is copying the NFL. And the reason the NFL put it in was to satisfy all those gamblers who risk millions of dollars every weekend.

Even though it’s had more practice, the NFL doesn’t do this any better.

During last weekend’s New Orleans-Pittsburgh game, Saints running back Reggie Bush clearly fumbled the ball. Everybody could see it and replays left no doubt. But a review was requested, and an agonizing two minutes and 30 seconds later the obvious was stated.

Fans live with errors by the players. What’s wrong with the occasional gaffe by officials? At least the games would move a lot faster.

Solutions for sudoku on page 28

“We’ve got a good offensive team, we have to just keep going.” strong (enough).”

That means Jean-Sebastien Aubin will start in goal tomorrow night against the Bruins with Mikael Tellqvist as his backup.

Aubin will start his second in a row for the first time this season as the

Leafs try to build on their four-game winning streak.

“We’ve got a good offensive team, we have to just keep going,” says Aubin, who is 2-1-1 this year and has picked up 25 points out of a possible 30 dating to last season.

“I feel more confident in net and the guys are playing tremendously in front of me.”

Tellqvist, healed from his broken finger, will dress for the first time this season.

“I obviously want to play, but this is a step in the right direction,” he says.

‘They’re rookies’ From page 29 Dalton and Thistle were familiar with each other before MUN, having played on provincial teams and at the 2005 Canada Games together. Unlike the aforementioned, however, they won’t have to carry this team on their shoulders in their freshman season.

“With Jenine and Amy,” says Quackenbush, who played with all four players, “they came in with a group that was very talented, but there was a lot of pressure on them right from the start to show results.

“These guys probably feel pressure but they can relax a bit and learn from what’s going on and grow as players without the whole pressure of having to play every night.”

“There’s no pressure,” Thistle says. “It makes it easier for us because there’s not as much pressure when we go out there. If we can do better than expected, then that’s good. We can probably do more if there’s less pressure.”

Life at the AUS level won’t be easy for Dalton, who will be compared to her sister Amy at every turn. (Another sister, Megan, a third-year Sea-Hawk, plays a different style of game and doesn’t evoke the same comparisons.) But if the pressure of being the next Amy Dalton is getting to Brittany, she doesn’t show it. “(Fans) expect me to be like Amy,” she states confidently, and without airs. “I think it makes me play better. People expect you to play well.

You don’t really want to go out and hear, ‘I thought she was going to be better than she was.’ It makes me want to show them more, and that maybe, possibly, I’m better than Amy.” “She’s like Amy in a lot of ways,”

Quackenbush says of Brittany, “and she’s also very different. All the Daltons have that tenacity when they step on the floor, aggressiveness.”

Co-captain Krista Singleton calls it a “presence.”

Whatever it is, the chemistry between the players is evident when they’re runnin’ and gunnin’ up the court.

“She’s good,” Thistle says of her running mate, “and it makes my job easier. All I’ve got to do is run down there and she’ll get you the ball.”

“We play well together,” Dalton agrees. “I like playing with her a lot. We just know where each other is going to be, so it makes it easier.”

“We can see we’re going to have a great running team with Vicki and Brittany at the core of it, when our current group moves on,” Partridge says.

But that’s the future. This year, the girls want to help the veterans go out in style, with an Atlantic championship. That will permit them, they feel, to enter the national tournament on their own court through the front door, with no questions asked.

“Our goal is to win nationals this year.

Everything we do this year is with winning the nationals in mind. And we still want to win AU’s so nobody can say we don’t deserve to be there.”

But Dalton won’t be satisfied with one. She’s out to beat Amy’s three.

“I want to beat their championship record,” she admits. “They had three…

“One in the first year wouldn’t be bad, and we’ve got the team to do it.” donniep@nl.rogers.com

NOVEMBER 17, 2006

INDEPENDENTSPORTS • 31

Baseball’s first new pitch in decades?

Japanese ‘gyroballer’ inks megadeal with Boston Red Sox

By Allan Ryan Torstar wire service

D

eveloped by Japanese scientists, the “gyroball” may be a miracle pitch or a myth. But Daisuke Matsuzaka, one of the few pitchers on the planet able to throw it, is now on his way to fortune, if not necessarily fame, with the Boston Red Sox. For the sum of $51.1 million (U.S.), the Red Sox last night won the rights to shower millions more on this latest high-profile Japanese import.

But whether Matsuzaka, a star with the Seibu Lions since he broke in as a 19-year-old in 1999, is truly armed with the mysterious gyroball remains to be discovered.

Potentially the first “new” baseball pitch since Bruce Sutter sprung the split-fingered fastball on unsuspecting hitters in the mid-70s — the gyro has scads of hyperventilating hyperspacers convinced it could revolutionize the game.

Then again, even Matsuzaka, who won all three of his starts as Japan captured last spring’s World Baseball Classic, has been consistently vague when asked if a mastered gyro was, indeed, part of his repertoire.

“I have done it in a game, but not too much,” he told Yahoo Sports last spring. “Sometimes accidentally. I would like to make it my ‘out’ pitch but it’s not a miracle pitch.”

The Secrets of the Miracle Pitch, however, just happens to be the title of a 2002 book by Japanese scientists Ryutaro Himeno and Kazushi Tezuka that details their work with

computer simulations of various pitches.

In computing the biomechanics of a curveballlike pitch that greatly eases stresses on a pitcher’s arm, they came up with the gyro — a pitch born of the new “double-spin mechanics,” utilizing hips and arm, and thrown much like a football spiral.

For a right-handed batter facing a right-handed gyroballer, the pitch can start out looking like a fastball coming directly at him and then, with very little sink, will break sharply away — sometimes by two or three feet. Or so they say.

The gyro (long name: Demon Sphere Gyroball) has also been called the ghostball, the Sasquatch and the Bigfoot, owing to the few people who claim to have seen it thrown, never mind actually thrown it.

“I’ve heard about it all year,” said former major-league manager Bobby Valentine, who just wrapped up his second season as manager of Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines.

“I’ve looked for it. I’ve looked for it on film.

After he pitches, I’ve waited for players to start talking about the gyroball, and I’ve never heard anyone say it. You would think someone would mention it.”

Former Blue Jay pitcher Al Leiter doesn’t believe there’s a gyroball. “They can call it what they want. It’s a cut fastball.”

But there are believers, notably Will Carroll, an author and columnist for Baseball Prospectus.

“This idea that it’s a game-changing Bugs Bunny pitch is a little out there,” Carroll told

Japan's starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka throws a pitch during the World Baseball Classic final game against Cuba in San Diego March 20, 2006.

REUTERS/Mike Blake

David Andriesen of the Seattle PostIntelligencer last month. “It’s just a really good breaking ball and it really, really moves.

“It’s kind of like an inside joke for baseball, except it’s actually real.”

Himeno, the Japanese scientist, claims there are at least two other pitchers capable of throwing the gyroball in Japan and, closer to home, a 19-year-old named Joey Niezer is working on a gyro as a sophomore at Wabash College in Indiana.

Gyro or not, Matsuzaka, now 26, is considered among the best pitching talents available on this winter’s free-agent marketplace, which is why the Red Sox outbid a reported seven other teams

just for the right to negotiate with him. Boston now has 30 days to work out a contract with him and super-agent Scott Boras. If there’s no deal, Matsuzaka returns for another season with Seibu, who return the $51.1 million to Boston.

Chicago White Sox second baseman Tadahito Iguchi has faced Matsuzaka many times in Japan. “I don’t know what a gyroball is, but I can tell you this about Matsuzaka: He’s got a great fastball. Even when he’s behind in the count, he’s got so many pitches that he can throw to get the count even. He’s got so many pitching sequences that we all don’t know what he will throw because his form is so similar all the time. His pitches are just so dominating.”

Leafs D-man and a Baby ‘All of us are family members first,’ says Leafs GM after Kubina celebrate birth Paul Hunter Torstar wire service

P

laying defence is all about timing and control. But when it comes to nature, Maple Leafs’ Pavel Kubina learned it’s almost impossible to have either.

That led to quite a weekend. Oh baby, it was frantic.

Just as he was preparing to get on the ice last Nov. 9 for a game-day morning skate at Boston, Kubina got the call that his pregnant girlfriend Andrea was in labour and headed for the hospital.

Such a message can spark panic at the best of times but, add in the fact that Andrea was half a world away in the Czech Republic, and Kubina must have felt like he’d suddenly been paired with Wade Belak.

After a mad scramble, with the help and support of team management, Kubina was able to charter a plane for

CLASSIFIED

the 7 1/2-hour flight. Plans were already in place for the 29-year-old to fly home Nov. 12 for an anticipated delivery by Caesarean section the next day. But baby Tereza couldn’t wait.

“My focus was to be there on time but you can’t control nature, I was there a little late. I was there five hours after the baby was born,” said Kubina, back with the Leafs for their practice last week.

While Kubina missed the birth, he was able to make a special delivery of his own. When Tereza was born, she was taken to a different room in the hospital while her mother recovered from the effects of the anaesthetic. It was Kubina, moments after he arrived, who brought the baby to her mother.

“It’s an amazing feeling, when you get to hold her in your hands,” said the defenceman. “I was the first out of our families to see the baby. I brought the baby to her. I got the baby. I went to

my girlfriend. It was unbelievable feeling.”

Kubina’s ability to leave on a moment’s notice is also instructive as to how professional athletes are treated in modern times compared to decades past when the chattel weren’t freed for such mundane inconveniences such as births.

“All of us are family members first,” said Leafs general manager John Ferguson, whose wife is expecting the couple’s fourth child in the spring, fortuitously before the playoffs start.

“It’s an amazing feeling, when you get to hold her in your hands.”

“It’s about being a team and being a family and respecting priorities in life, first and foremost. These players need to be at their best on and off the ice, mentally, physically and emotionally. I think it goes a long way to provide that solid family base so they can do what they need to do when they’re at work.”

Kubina, who will be in the lineup tomorrow night at Boston, also did his part.

When he got sleep during his brief visit home, he tried to stay on Toronto time by going to bed at three or four in the morning, which would be equal to 9 or 10 p.m. here. He also tried to follow the progress of the team during its wins against the Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, games for which he was absent.

“I didn’t see any games but I saw the final scores,” he said. “The team is doing well. That makes it easier.”

But not easier to leave his girlfriend

and daughter, who are both healthy and doing well. Kubina said it was “very difficult” to get on the plane for Canada and he is hoping they can join him in Toronto in a couple of weeks.

Andrea was going to be with her boyfriend in Toronto during training camp but doctors at home advised her not to fly.

When Kubina faces Boston, it will be just the fourth game of the season for the defender Toronto signed as one of the prize catches in last summer’s free agent pool. He sat out the first game under a league suspension and he’s been nursing a knee sprain for the last five weeks.

“It’s good to be back. I feel like I missed a whole season already,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to coming back and getting used to the game.

You can practice as much as you want but the game is always totally different.”

INDEPENDENTCLASSIFIED FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006 — PAGE 32

FEATURED HOME 2 HOWE PL.

Photos by Paul Daly/The Independent

Executive beauty! Two Howe Place is everything a young professional, couple or a small family could ask for in a beautiful two-story, semi-detached home located in downtown St. John’s. This executivestyle town home with designer interior, hardwood and ceramic floors, a gourmet’s kitchen and remarkable finishes, was built and designed by Nolan Hall. It features a classic exterior with wood cladding, Victorian street lamps and cobblestone walks. And as it is located at the base of Signal Hill, you can walk to everything and take in the beauty of downtown living. With three bedrooms, two bathrooms, off-street parking, a fenced yard and landscaped grounds with a sundeck, this beauty won’t last long! You can view more on this downtown gem at www.mls.ca, MLS #114751 or by contacting Donald Pacholka of Coldwell Banker Hanlon at 746-8688 or online at www.coldwellbankerhanlon.com.

Southcott Estates