A Charlotte County Christmas…

By CHUCK BROWN
(With apologies to John Mason Neale and Good King Wenceslas)

Good King Jed Purcell looked out, over good St. Stephen
Potholes they lay all about, deep and most uneven.
Brightly shone a thought that night, though the banks were cruel
When a premier came in sight, setting costs for fu-u-el.

“Hither Hendrik, stand by me, King Jed told his town clerk
Yonder premier, what’s his deal? Why is he such a jerk?”
“Worship, he’s from Fredericton, capital of N.B.
He’s the guy who rules this place, you can call him Shaw-aw-ny.”

“Will he help us fix the roads, if we ask him nicely?
And my heat bill is a load, could he come de-ice me?”
Mayor and clerk they set off fast, to ask for some money,
But the premier told the two, go jump into Fu-un-dy.

Our friends in the U.S.A., way across the border
Aren’t so friendly now-a-days, always snapping orders.
We just want our milk and gas, no need for a report.
There’s one question they must ask, Do you have a pa-ass-port?

In St. Andrews, Johnny Craig, fretted over water
He spoke out on everything, cause he thought he oughta
Jamer’s quarry, L-N-G, any cause he’ll take it
If he doesn’t understand, he’ll just have to fa-ake it.

Cruise down country, there you’ll find, fish and chips and Doucet
He’s got energy to burn, and Lord knows we’ll use it.
St. George is the new boom town, everything is there now.
Subway, cop shop even Tim’s, in that tiny tow-ow-own.

Look way up to Ottawa, Harper’s still in power.
Our man Thompson’s by his side, for at least the next hour.
But the others want them gone, formed a coalition,
Call it courage, call them fools, but they’re on a mi-i-sion.

Back here in our small-town homes, we’re just glad it’s Christmas
If we were anywhere else, surely we would miss this.
Friends and family warm our hearts, and in peace we can sleep
And we’re thankful for their warmth, cause that oil ain’t che-ee-eap.

FEEDBACK

Good morning all the way from Calgary AB ,where its a cool -14 brrrr !! I want to thank you, so much for putting The Saint Croix Courier online. I'm getting a paper
sent to me too and I can catch up on news here. I'm missing home at times and wonder what's going on, this way I don't have to wonder (oh so much). I can come on here and see it. It's a treat I will enjoy having and I don't have to watch the calories ahah.
Keep up the good work, Keep up the great pictures.
Have a good day
Kelly G

You may already be a senator!

Hey, the prime minister just handed out a whack of appointments to these $134,000-a-year, pension-for-life, indexed-for-inflation positions. You could be one of them!

DVD REVIEW: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

3.5 stars out of 5

JOHN GARDNER
This Week on DVD

The Emperor is dead, or is he?
The first emperor (played by martial arts expert Jet Li) of China has it all. He has conquered the seven kingdoms. He has built a system of defences, and can field a million man army, but it all only lasts so long.
Enter the comely witch played by Michelle Yeoh. Lusted after by the emperor, and won by his general. The emperor gets the ultimate prize, eternal life, but at a cost.
Skip ahead a couple thousand years to the late 1940s. Rick and Evelyn O'Connell have retired from the life of excitement they once knew. It's been over 20 years since Rick and Evelyn first battled the mummy in The Mummy. Rick (with Brendan Fraser in his third appearance as the adventurer) is learning how relaxing fishing can be while Evelyn (now played by American actress Maria Bello) is promoting her second book and struggling with her third. Their palatial English manor house is as comfortable a place as you can imagine for relaxing with your feet up, but the couple is bored with the genteel life.
The O'Connell son, Alex, is off at university. Or so his parents think until they run into him in his uncle Jonathan's bar in Shanghai (John Hannah reprises the role, with comedic flare). Alex is now making some very exciting discoveries of his own, and is just about to announce to the world what he has found – a discovery so great that he will no longer be known as Rick and Evelyn's son, but they will be known as his parents.
Now, with all the major players together for the first time in the movie, the real fun begins. The mummy is trying to raise his army again and the O'Connells are trying to stop him.
The chase scene through the crowded streets of Shanghai is made all the more lively by a moving pyrotechnic display, a 2000-year-old emperor driving a cart with killer hubcaps, and a fresh take to the term “headless horse man”.
Director Rob Cohen makes ample use of the classic scenery that is China. The Great Wall, the terra cotta army, even the 1940's style China map. There is no mistaking where this is. That having been said, you also have to remember that although Cohen takes advantage of the history of the region, this story in no way pretends to be historically accurate. The Terra Cotta Army does exist, but was not found until 1974. The Great Wall did exist at the time of Emperor Han, but was rebuilt into what we would recognize today about 1,400 years later. It was also interesting to note that one of the most unbelievable things in the movie was the various traps which protected the tomb, even though they did exist, and to this day slow work on excavating the site.
Although Bello was panned in her role as Evelyn, not having seen the first two mummy movies, I could not compare. Personally I thought she worked very well.
The movie has a very strong flavour of Indiana Jones with it's1940s adventuring spirit. The excavations were monumental in scale, with more weapons built into the scenes than a James Bond Aston Martin. I am giving this movie 3.5 stars, just because of the pilot with no self-respect. Yetis doing happy dances, and a yakking yak.
The movie is listed as PG-13 for violence.

Movies for this week on DVD are provided by Movie Gallery in St. Stephen.

Vincent Massey Elementary holds Christmas concert

For more pics, see the Saint Croix Courier, Tuesday, Dec. 23

Barb Rayner photos

Hey kids!

Guess what SANTA BROUGHT!

COMMUNITY SUPPORTS WOUNDED SOLDIER, FAMILY

John Gardner/Courier
Lisa McKinney, centre, holds one of the many yellow ribbons being worn in the community as a show of support for her boyfriend, Pte. Christopher Deering, who was wounded last weekend in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. Friends Erin Gullison, left, and Jessica Brown helped make the ribbons.


By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca

ST. STEPHEN – Yellow ribbons have sprouted up all around town tied on lampposts, street signs, porch pillars and trees.
The ribbons are a message of support and prayer for Chris (Rooney) Deering, son of Greg and Patty Deering, who was seriously wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device on Saturday, Dec.12 that killed three other soldiers on duty with him in Afghanistan. All four were based at CFB Gagetown with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.
Leah Nixon, her husband Norman, and friend Heather Wilcox, were out in the middle of a major snowstorm Wednesday, Dec. 17, tying ribbons on basically everything that wasn’t moving.
Their children, Zack and Samantha Nixon and Joel and Megan Wilcox, were on the same school wrestling teams with Deering for years.
“They’ve all been such a tight knit group for so long,” said Leah Nixon. “My oldest son Zack and Chris grew up together. They’ve been wrestling together for years. They graduated together. They’re very close.”
Nixon said Deering’s nickname from his wrestling days is “Rooney”, a name his friends still use while they are frequently e-mailing or chatting on Facebook with him while he is in Afghanistan where he was shipped in early September.
“They’re all so tight,” said Nixon.
She said Deering’s wrestling family has been very concerned about him since they found out about his being wounded.
Nixon said she felt she wanted to do something to show the members of the Deering family that people were thinking about them so on Wednesday morning she called Wilcox and said, “Let’s go ribbon tying.”
The two women bought out all the yellow ribbon to be had at the Wal-Mart and Mardens stores in Calais and, with the help of Nixon’s husband, started tying ribbons.
They started at the cenotaph on Milltown Boulevard and worked their way down that street, up King Street and along Union Street, the street on which the Deerings live, fingers freezing but pushed by determination. They made their way to St. Stephen High School and tied some ribbons there.
“We just feel so helpless. All our kids are hurting right now,” said Nixon, adding that because of the years of friendship, it sort of feels like it’s her son lying in a hospital bed in Germany.
“We want to show the family we’re thinking of them,” she said. “By tying the ribbons we feel like we’re doing something. We’d like to rally the community to do the same. Get some positive energy focused. Tie a ribbon and say a prayer.”
She said all Deering’s wrestling buddies are talking about travelling to Halifax to see him, if that’s where he is sent following his medical treatment in Germany.
“When that flight comes in his (wrestling) family is all going to be there,” she said.
The yellow ribbons are spreading. Teachers at schools in the community have donned tiny yellow ribbons on their collars, shirts or sweaters. SSHS students have made some to wear as well.
Deering’s girlfriend, Lisa McKinney, said the support from the community is overwhelming.
“All the support has been amazing and there are so many people in the town, including family and friends all over Canada, wishing Chris a fast recovery. We appericate all the thoughts and prayers but keep them coming, because there will still be a lengthy recovery when he’s back in Canada,” she said.
One St. Stephen woman is even decorating her Christmas tree with nothing but yellow ribbons.
Crystal Madsen is an aunt of Kayla Madsen, the St. Stephen woman whose boyfriend, Pte. Justin Peter Jones, was killed in the same bomb blast that wounded Deering.
Jones was from Newfoundland but spent most of his off duty time in St. Stephen with Kayla and her family.
“My tree has been up and there wasn’t an ornament on it,” said Madsen on Thursday. “I told my daughters this morning that I thought it would be appropriate to decorate the tree with yellow ribbons, not just for Justin, but for all the boys, in their memory and in their honour and in hopes for Chris Deering at this time.
“I think it would be a good idea if everybody put at least one yellow ribbon on their Christmas tree,” said Madsen.
Madsen described the fallen soldier as “just amazing.”
“He had a smile for everybody. My whole family fell in love. It’s a big loss. This boy who is so amazing, he’s just gone.”
She said the song by Jo Dee Messina entitled, If Heaven Was Needing A Hero is the song now that the family thinks of when they think of Pte. Jones.
Kayla flew to Trenton, Ont., where she met up with Pte. Jones’ parents for their son’s repatriation ceremony when his body was returned to Canada on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
“She’s holding strong right now because she’s a soldier’s girl. He was the most positive thing that could have happened to her and now he’s gone,” said Madsen.
Before she left for Trenton, Kayla said she and Pte. Jones had plans to be married when he finished his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Lieut. (Navy) Brian Owens, the public affairs spokesperson for CFB Gagetown, said he could not formally release the name of the injured soldier or any information on his condition.
However he did talk about the battalion and their role.
There are 100 members of the 2nd battalion, RCR in Afghanistan as a security company for the Kandahar provincial reconstruction team, comprised of different agencies, both military and civilian, working on the development side of the Canadian mission in that country.
The reconstruction team determines what is needed, said Lt. Owens, things like wells, ditches, roadways, schools and other infrastructure “anything to help the people get back on their feet.”
“It’s a complex process to find out what’s needed,” said the lieutenant. He said local communities determine what projects are needed.
He said it is the job of the 2nd Battalion, RCR, to ensure the safety of the workers and other personnel involved in the reconstruction because there “is still that element that is averse to the development of Afghanistan.”
Deering’s company is due back from its six month deployment in February
“We do pray they come through without any more deaths and injuries, but it is a possibility,” said Owens.
He said it has been a very hard week at the base.
“The deaths of three soldiers hits the battalion very hard. Everyone knows everybody.” He said the military’s main concern now is to take care of the families of the fallen and injured soldiers.

War hits home

Pte. Christopher Deering, the son of Patty and Greg Deering, of St. Stephen, was injured in a bomb blast Saturday that killed three Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Three killed, one wounded in blast
Saint Croix Courier
December 16, 2008

By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca

ST. STEPHEN – An explosion in Afghanistan Saturday, Dec. 13, that claimed the lives of three soldiers stationed at CFB Gagetown in Oromocto and injured a fourth, has rocked the worlds of two local families.
One young woman is mourning the loss of her boyfriend of two years while a mother and father are anxiously awaiting news of their wounded son.
One of the soldiers killed, Pte. Justin Peter Jones, of Newfoundland, was the boyfriend of local resident Kayla Madsen, who is the daughter of Connie Madsen.
The injured soldier, Pte. Christopher Deering, is the son of Patty and Greg Deering, of St. Stephen. He is expected to make a full recovery from injuries he sustained during the same bomb blast that killed Jones, Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton, and Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin.
All four soldiers are members of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment. The vehicle in which they were travelling struck an explosive device on a road in southern Afghanistan.
Deering’s father said his son and the other soldiers were on patrol investigating a report that an improvised explosive device was being planted on a highway outside of Kandahar City.
His parents declined to reveal the extent of Deering’s injuries except to say they were multiple.
“They expect a full recovery,” said Greg Deering. “He’s got a lot of injuries, multiple injuries.”
“He’s had multiple injuries, there’s no question,” said Patty Deering.
She said the military has been incredibly helpful keeping the family informed of her son’s condition.
Mrs. Deering said that her son was scheduled to be evacuated from Afghanistan by air to a medical facility in Landstuhl, Germany on Monday, Dec. 15, around 6:30 p.m. AST. In Germany, Pte. Deering’s condition will be assessed by a United States medical team through various diagnostic tests, she said.
After the assessment, his parents say they have been told Chris will be sent to a hospital in the Atlantic provinces, and mentioned Halifax or Moncton as two likely choices.
“It depends on where his needs will be best met,” said Mrs. Deering. “I don’t think he’s mobile.”
Monday afternoon, Madsen was on her way to the Fredericton Airport and a flight to Toronto where she would meet with the parents of Jones.
“We’re going to Trenton tomorrow so they can bring back his body,” said Madsen.
The bodies of Jones, Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton and Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin, all from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment based at CFB Gagetown, were scheduled to return home to Canada on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
Madsen said she last spoke to Jones Friday night, the day before his death.
“Just the way he was getting on, he obviously knew it was a dangerous mission he was going out on,” she said.
She said when she heard about the explosion and the deaths, “I had a bad feeling that something had happened.”
Madsen said she spoke with Jones’ family and asked that they call her with any news.
“His father called me and said he was dead,” said Madsen.
“I called up the military to see if it was true, hoping to God that it wasn’t,” she said. “They put me on hold, but I could hear them talking in the background saying ‘she already knows’.
“They came back on the line and said someone would call and explain what happened.”
Madsen said she was told officially that the vehicle in which the men were travelling ran over an IED, but she said she later spoke with one of the soldiers who had been with Jones.
She was told the soldiers were taking turns on who would get out of the vehicle and walk along the road, looking for IEDs hidden in culverts or other areas.
“So the boys got out of the vehicle, the LAV, but Justin and Hamilton and Curwin and Deering stayed in,” said Madsen. A LAV is a light armoured vehicle.
“If they were out of the vehicle they wouldn’t have got killed,” said Madsen.
Madsen said she and Jones were not officially engaged, “but that’s all we talked about.” The couple had been together two years and Jones had spent many weekends in St. Stephen with Madsen’s family and friends. Jones called her mother “mudder” in his Newfoundland accent, Madsen said, adding “we always had a laugh or two.”
Madsen said when Jones came home on leave Nov. 15, he gave her a little frog that was supposed to contain a ring. But he explained to her he hadn’t been able to find the lover’s knot he was looking for since they were only available in Dubai.
“He was very romantic,” she said with a laugh. “He gave me a necklace instead and promised me when he came home he would marry me.”
Jones turned 21 on Nov. 24.
“It’s still hard to believe,” she said. “He’s been talking the past week now that he’s going to get out of the military.”
Madsen said she’s running the gamut of emotions from mad to sad and back to mad again.
“Right now, I’m more mad than anything,” she said. “It’s weird. He was my life and I was his. He’s made that awfully clear to numerous people. I keep getting messages and stuff.”
Both of Deering’s parents said it was hard not being with their injured son and as of Tuesday morning they were making travel plans.
Greg Deering said his son is “seriously injured” and did not want to comment further.
Master Warrant Officer Douglas Libby, of the 1st Canadian Field Hospital unit at Petawawa, is home from Ottawa visiting his parents in Old Ridge. Libby is the former company sergeant major of the military hospital in Kandahar.
He said Deering is in excellent hands whether he has been treated by Canadians or Americans in Afghanistan.
Libby said trauma casualty care personnel or a medic travels with each patrol in the field.
That person would have provided the initial first aid after the explosion, said Libby, and called for either an airlift or a road move for the injured soldier.
Injured soldiers are taken to the nearest medical unit where an assessment would be done on the extent of injuries and a decision made on whether surgery is necessary.
The wounded are then transferred accordingly.
“Sometimes members are transferred to an American facility (in Afghanistan) if it is closer,” explained Libby.
He said the weather plays a major role in that decision, with the frequent sandstorms at this time of year, as well as what gun fights or fire fights would be raging in the area.
Once a wounded soldier is treated at a forward operating base (FOB), he or she is airlifted to another medical base where life saving surgery or surgery to save limbs is performed.
Cosmetic surgery or further surgery to aid in rehabilitation takes place at Landstuhl, Libby said.
Libby said the military frequently flies family members to be with their injured loved ones.
He said one could perhaps read between the lines if the military has told Deering’s parents to stay put for the meantime.
He said Deering’s physical injuries would heal in time, but said the mental trauma Deering has suffered from being injured in a blast that killed three comrades will need attention too.
Deering is a 2006 graduate of St. Stephen High School and was active in wrestling competitions throughout his middle and high school years.
His mother thinks the close family type atmosphere of the wrestling community is what prompted her son to seek a further feeling of brotherhood in the armed forces.
She said she and her husband tried to dissuade their son from joining the military, saying try university first.
Deering went to the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton for a year, but really made up his mind to join the armed forces.
“He felt drawn to it,” said Mrs. Deering. “We had a plan all ready for him. He just didn’t bite,” she added with a laugh.
“Christopher is doing what he wanted to do,” she said. “It really is a calling.”
The Deerings have two other sons, Jeremy, 24, who lives in Ottawa, and Nicholas, 21, who lives in Fredericton, neither of whom is in the military.
It was about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, when two military personnel showed up on the Deering’s doorstep in St. Stephen.
While Mrs. Deering agreed that it was a terrible feeling to see the men at her door, she stated.,“My gosh it could have been a hundred times worse.”
“My soul, we’re lucky. We get to still have him.”
She said she never in her dreams expected to have to go through something like this.
Mrs. Deering said the military support for her family during this ordeal has been second to none.
“The communication is just incredible, they are so supportive,” she said.
She and her husband appreciate what they have described as the incredible support they are receiving from friends and the members of the community.
“I think it’s just incredible how many people praying, and are continually asking how they can help,” said Mrs. Deering.
New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham issued a statement on the death of the soldiers from Gagetown. He said it was with great sadness that he learned Sunday morning of the deaths of three soldiers who were members of a Quick Reaction Force with the Canadian Forces’ provincial reconstruction team.
“They were killed ensuring that the way was clear for their fellow soldiers to continue to help the people of Kandahar and province to rebuild their communities and their lives,” said the premier.
“Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

Water rates rising

THE TOWN OF ST. STEPHEN is proposing an increase of 13.5 per cent in utility billing, which means the average annual residential water bill of $405 will jump $55 to $460.

In today's LOOKING BACK column we note that 60 years ago the rates jumped from $10 per year to $12.

Do the math - in 2068 your water bill will be approximately one kajillion dollars.

QUARRY OPERATOR EYES EXPANSION

... And opposition lines up to fight it.

IN TODAY'S COURIER WEEKEND

The Play's The Thing opens Friday

SSHS Tackles Lighting Issues In Theatre
This Years Drama Production Part Of Greater Cause



Friday Decmeber 12th will mark the first of three shows of the 2008 Fall Drama Production at St. Stephen High School called "The Play Is The Thing". Written by teacher, Mr. Neil Grant, the play depcits the story of a young man who, after showing up late for auditions to a play, gets trapped in a world of music and theatre and is desperatley looking for a way out.The production is unique this year because in addition to having current students fill roles in the play, alumni are also returning for a few cameo appearances. The performance will happen on Friday Decmeber 12th and Saturday Decmeber 13th, both shows at 7PM and a Sunday matinee at 3PM (Decmeber 14th). The general admission is an $8 minimum donation

This will be the Drama Groups 36th production but this time the production directs it's focus at not only providing the opportunity to the students of the High School to partake in the arts, but is also fundraising for their lightining system and theatre upgrades. Last year the lighting system in the theatre took a turn for worse, as it completely shut down, leaving the tech crew, and directors with very little to work with in terms of lights.Since that incident, a Campaign was initiated to help raise funds for to purchase the new lighting system, and all equipment needed to go along with it.

The Save Our Theatre Campaign was an initiative which was given life last year with its first fundraiser being the successful Charlotte County's Got Talent. More fundraisers will take place and the managers behind the campaign hope to be able to realize their goals of a new lighting system in the near future. Total cost of the upgrades are estimated to cost $50,000.00.

RUMOUR BUSTERS

RUMOUR BUSTERS
Living in a small community, you know just about everything about everyone and they know everything about you too.
And sometimes when people don’t know what you’re up to… THEY MAKE IT UP!
The Saint Croix Courier wants to help. If there’s a rumour going around about you and you’d like to clear it up with the truth, let us know.
Send your rumour-busting info to:
editor@stcroixcourier.ca or fax to 466-9950. You can also write it down and mail it or drop it in the mail slot at the Courier office. Please include your name and phone number.
GUIDELINES: Keep it simple, keep it short, keep to the point. Please don’t comment on ongoing legal issues. Do not libel or defame others (sorry, but rumour busters is all about YOU and clearing your own good name). Not all submissions will necessarily be published and all submissions are subject to editing for length or content. Submissions may be published in print and/or online.

DO NOT ENTER

We're getting reports from the RCMP that drivers are confused by the new four-lane highway and are entering via the off ramps.
Be careful out there...

SILVERKINGS GM HAS ADVICE FOR NEW CHARLOTTE COUNTY TEAM

BLACKS HARBOUR SILVERKINGS GENERAL MANAGER ANDY MORAN reacts to news that the Port City Thrashers are coming to St. Andrews...


"It's good for the rivalry and great for the league. They better get tough
if they want to play Charlotte County Hockey.
"A couple of weeks ago I was
sending e-mails back and forth to Murray Knox when the Thrashers were first
thinking about making the move and I told him the style of hockey you're
playing isn't going to work down our way, and he said 'what do you mean?'
and I said, because you guys have no toughness, you go up and down the
rink, you don't check, you don't take penalties, that's not what people
want to see. It's senior A hockey. If you want to go to the bingo hall
it's next door."

BREAKING NEWS

SPORTS REPORTER JEREMY TOWNES has just received confirmation that the Port City Thrashers of the Southern Hockey League are moving to St. Andrews. The St. Andrews Thrashers play their first home game in their new home rink this Sunday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. VS the Nackawic Hawks.

Word is the team could make the move permanent for next season and adopt the name St. Andrews Senators, a tribute to one of the town's prominent hockey teams of the past.

The move means Charlotte County now has three of the league's six teams and it should turn the Battle of Charlotte County into an even more intense affair than ever.

For details, see the Saint Croix Courier, Tuesday, Dec. 9.

Santa Claus is Coming to the Border Town

SANTA'S HELPERS BONUS PICS

NB gov't introduces same-sex benefits

Same-sex benefits legislation introduced (08/11/26)

Nov. 26, 2008

FREDERICTON (CNB) - Same-sex common-law partners in New Brunswick will be entitled to the same benefits and be under the same obligations as opposite-sex common-law partners under legislative amendments introduced today.

These changes, introduced by Attorney General T.J. Burke, honours a commitment made in the Nov. 25 throne speech. They are part of the Modernization of Benefits and Obligations Act, an omnibus bill that would amend more than 30 acts and regulations.

"I am pleased that our government is moving forward with changes that would bring New Brunswick in line with other Canadian jurisdictions by respecting the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision, M. vs. H.," said Burke.

In that decision, the court in essence held that same-sex and opposite-sex common-law partners must be treated equally.

"Benefits and obligations have already been extended to those in same-sex relationships in different areas, but they are not necessarily reflected in legislation," said Burke. "Our intention is to bring all pertinent legislative and regulatory provisions in line with other jurisdictions across the country, and to ensure that all people living in a common-law relationship are treated fairly and equitably in New Brunswick."

The bill would also incorporate gender-neutral terminology in references to persons in common-law partnerships and marital relationships.

08/11/26

I Love This Town...

Dollarama -- a documentary

Happy Feet

Katrina's Dance Works, St. Stephen, Beginner Tap with Shawn Byfield...

His name is Earl... and he's lucky to be alive

By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca

ST. STEPHEN – Earl the dog is going to look like he’s had a head transplant.
At least that’s what veterinarian Dr. Trevor hall told Earl’s owners, Sharon Caswell and John Harding, of Oak Hill, before he took the nine-month-old puppy into surgery to repair a deep gash around Earl’s neck caused by a wire snare.
The snare, fashioned from thick wire cable, had cut about two centimetres deep into the neck flesh of the shepherd-husky mix after the animal became caught up in the common trapping device.
The wire was still embedded in Earl’s neck, with the end dangling free where someone had cut him loose, when the dog showed up on his owner’s doorstep after having been missing for two-and-a-half weeks. He was happy to see his family, but was emaciated, his neck bloody and torn. Caswell estimated the animal has lost about 30 pounds. Mayfield Veterinary Clinic vet technician Tricia Richardson said Earl weighed 51.2 pounds when he went into surgery and confirmed his drastic weight loss appearance.
“How could someone do that to an animal? If you’re going trap, be responsible, check your traps,” said an angry Sharon Caswell. “I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen done to an animal.”
Earl was rushed by his owners to the clinic shortly after he turned up on their Oak Hill doorstep Friday. Dr. Hall scheduled immediate emergency surgery.
“He’s lucky the wire didn’t sever his jugular vein or his windpipe,” said the doctor as he finished cleansing the deep wound and began to stitch up the flesh.
“It’s going to sting… when he comes round,” said the doctor as he worked, adding that besides antibiotics to fight possible infection, Earl will also be given painkillers.
Hall said snare traps should be outlawed.
“Snaring should be banned. It’s inhumane,” he said.
“This guy was just galumphing along and the next thing you know he has something sawing through his neck. What if it had been a child?”
Veterinarian technicians Richardson and Heather Sweeney assisted in Earl’s medical care before, during and after surgery.
Sweeney showed off the large wire cutters that they had to use to cut through the heavy, multi-strand wire embedded into the dog’s flesh.
“This is tiny,” she said as she reconstructed the loop.
“The more he struggled, the tighter it got.”
“I can’t imagine the pain he went through,” said Richardson, who added that the wound on Earl’s neck smelled “putrid” before it was cleansed. Richardson said she was amazed the dog survived so long in all the rainy and cold weather. She said the pup was so skinny his hip bones and ribs were sticking out. Richardson speculated the dog survived because he was in such good shape, had a thick coat and a strong will to live.
Caswell said she had given up hope that Earl would ever return.
“I gave away a new bag of dog food to my son just Thursday night,” said Caswell.
Her son, she said, laughing, has returned the bag of food.
She was sitting at her computer the next day around noon when she looked out the window into the yard and saw Earl.
“I was so excited. I didn’t see the snare on him at first,” said Caswell. She brought the dog inside and then noticed this “thing” on his neck.
“I tried to cut it off, but there was no room to put the pliers in.”
Caswell described the dog’s neck as covered in blood.
“I knew it was digging in. I felt so helpless, but Earl was being just as sweet and loving as he ever was.”
The couple has searched long and hard for Earl, calling for him, driving around the area, visiting neighbours, and putting an advertisement on the local radio station.
They figured since he was so friendly, he’d either hopped into someone’s car or that he had adopted another family, just like he had adopted them when he showed up on their doorstep in the middle of the night when he was about three months old.
“It never even dawned on me that someone would have a snare,” said Caswell.
Caswell admits she knows dogs shouldn’t run in the woods and said Earl normally doesn’t leave the yard. The worst thing for her, while Earl was missing, was not knowing what had happened to him
Earl is now resting comfortably at home, healing from his ordeal.
“He’s being very quiet,” said Caswell.
“It’s going take a while for his spirit to get back to what it was. The wound is healing well and he’s eating a lot. We’re trying to get him fattened up again. I brushed him good. He’s happy to be here.”
Caswell said she and Harding didn’t get much sleep over the weekend. Every time they hear Earl move, they check on him.
“We watch him like a hawk,” said Caswell, explaining they want to make sure he doesn’t scratch all those stitches in his neck.
Caswell said she and Harding are going to talk with the Department of Natural Resources to see if they can get any information that might lead to identifying the trapper who snared their dog.

BLACK FRIDAY INFO

The Wal-Mart ad is here... courtesy of blackfriday.info

http://www.blackfriday.info/sales/wal-mart-black-friday-ad.html

See you there at 5 a.m. (US time) sharp.

I'll be wearing MY NEW SHOPPING SUIT

THIS JUST IN...

Actual quote from the Courier newsroom scanner.

2:57 p.m.
PARAMEDIC: She has a candy up her nose. More specifically a Strawberry Runt in her left nostril. Vitals are good. ETA is in three minutes.


Also if anyone in scanner land can decode this one, please do. Heard Thursday morning...

PARAMEDIC: Grab me a couple of lumpages and I'll meet you in the cabbage patch.

O Canada

Courtesy of Bev Gayton Morrow

Cory Comeau vs Matty Walsh

Courtesy of Bev Gayton Morrow

Seahawks-Silverkings preview

Friday night. 8 p.m. Border Arena. St. Stephen Seahawks v Blacks Harbour Silverkings. Feel the LOVE

We Will Remember

Photographer Chuck Brown's images from Remembrance Day services in St. Stephen.

Number One Threat to Journalists

Cute little puppies

EDITORIAL

A lot of hot air

COURIER WEEKEND Friday, Nov. 7, 2008

Shawn Graham and his Liberal government have given New Brunswickers some serious homework to do – namely trying to figure out the newly-announced home heating assistance program known as the Warm Hearts, Warm Homes plan.
Here’s your problem:
If Cold Person (CP) is living in a rental unit where Landlord (L’s) idea of efficiency is hanging towels over the windows to cut out the draft and Temperatue (T) is dropping at a rate of 5 C per week and Income (I) is unchanged at $18,500 per year because he obviously doesn’t have a well-paying government job and his boss is a miser, does Cold Person (CP) qualify for government help?
The answer is simple. Cold Person (CP) will give up trying to find out if he qualifies when he realizes how much of a pain in the butt (numb though that butt might be) it is to get help from the Graham Liberals.
It used to be that all New Brunswickers who earned less than a certain income got a cheque for $100 to help stave off the winter chill. Some of us are fortunate enough to view that as a paltry amount but to someone who gives serious thought about whether to go cold, or hungry, that money can be awful comforting.
But Ebenezer Graham did away with that aid package this week and announced a replacement program that’s available to applicants who are in an “emergency situation” and who agree to attend credit counseling sessions in order to get their handout. We’re not sure what credit the low-income earners need counseling on but we’re pretty sure it isn’t their trust funds or stock portfolios.
Oh, and since those in need obviously can’t be trusted with the government money, the credit will instead go directly to NB Power or Enbridge Gas or whoever else is supplying the heat. So if you’re a low-income household but you don’t own a home, if your heat bill is buried in your rent, guess what you get? Nothing! But take comfort, your landlord’s heat bill will get credited.
Warm Hearts, Warm Homes? More like Cold Hearts and Numb Skulls.
The Department of Social Development is also offering money for people to retrofit their homes to make them more energy efficient… ah home renovations! That’s just what’s at the top of New Brunswickers’ minds who are living on Mr. Noodles and keeping the thermostat cranked barely high enough to keep the pipes from freezing.
The former home heating assistance program was meager at best but at least it was simple to understand and it was of some benefit to 55,000 New Brunswickers. It’s telling that at a news conference announcing the new program, Energy Minister Jack Kier couldn’t even warrant a guess as to how many New Brunswickers will get help through the new program. Kier told reporters he doesn’t know how many people will apply.
If the ultimate goal of this program is to help cold, needy New Brunswickers, it’s too confusing, too misguided and destined to fail. More cynically, if the goal is to offer a plan that will confound and confuse and that few people will ever bother applying for… it’s going to be a roaring success for the Liberals. Raises all around?

It's news to Lamrock

Saint Croix Courier
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Page A-1
Sanchez controversy misses minister
Gay author captured national headlines but story never reached Lamrock’s ears

By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca

ST. STEPHEN – The controversy last month surrounding a presentation at District 10 schools by a gay author who writes novels for gay teens made headlines in newspapers around the province and nationally.
It was a hot topic in the electronic media with hundreds of comments posted in online forums.
But New Brunswick’s Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said he wasn’t familiar with the story of Alex Sanchez nor was he aware of the public outcry that followed objecting to the cancellations and calling for the resignation or firing of District 10 Superintendent Keith Pierce.
The school talks by Sanchez, an award winning author, were cancelled after some parents strongly protested his appearances at St. Stephen High School and Fundy High School. Sanchez spoke instead at a church in St. Andrews. Some students who attended the talk said they wanted to let the province and the country know that Charlotte County is an accepting and tolerant place and that the actions of school administrators do not reflect the attitudes of all students.
District 10, which sponsored the author’s visit along with the Charlotte County Rainbow Support Group, has offered different explanations for the controversial on-again, off-again speaking engagement. District officials said a scheduling conflict led to the cancellation.
Either way, the first that the education minister said he heard of it was when he was questioned about it on Friday, Oct. 31, after arriving in St. Stephen to make a community schools designation announcement for St. George Elementary School and Milltown Elementary School.
“I certainly wouldn’t jump into an issue I just learned about here,” said Lamrock.
But Lamrock said he wanted, first of all, to make it clear that the school districts, not the province, hire school superintendents.
Then he stated that Pierce was an excellent superintendent.
“He’s gotten results here in literacy in community schools that I applaud and I certainly would not talk about a staff person’s performance in public and certainly wouldn’t do it on something I just heard about,” said Lamrock.
He said that in the province’s educational mandate, “When Kids Come First,” it is recognized that schools have to be “safe spaces for all kids.”
“Even good people of different ideas, different faiths can find common ground on one thing - that all kids should come to school feeling safe and secure in who they are,” said Lamrock.
“We’ve got to find ways to have schools that certainly recognize diversity and are safe spaces for students who are gay and lesbian or are going through that process.
“In any discussion with the district, those are the principles I would take forward.”
Lamrock concluded his statement on the topic by saying, “Whatever our different views of morality, we can all agree we have to recognize and tolerate that there is diversity and that our schools, all of them, are under a mandate to be safe spaces for gay, lesbian and bisexual students.”



EDITORIAL: Lamrock’s ignorance plea comes up lame
Saint Croix Courier
Tuesday, Nov. 4
Page A-4

The biggest headline maker related to education in New Brunswick in the past month was a nixed school visit by Alex Sanchez, an award-winning gay author who writes novels for teens.
Sanchez was supposed to speak to students in two Charlotte County high schools last month but those engagements were, depending on which spin you listen to, cancelled due to complaints from parents, scuttled due to scheduling conflicts or postponed until District 10 administration could hear the talk and decide whether it is appropriate for students. We’re still not sure which reason is correct. We’ve heard them all.
The Sanchez story reverberated far beyond Charlotte County and New Brunswick. It made headlines nationally and online forums were filled with chatter as hundreds of people weighed in on the issue of whether a homosexual author should be permitted to make a presentation to students. The subject remains a topic of conversation in our Letters to the Editor section today. The story was widely reported in print, on radio, TV and the web. It was and is big news, a hot button issue if ever there was one.
It’s only natural, then, that when the education minister came to St. Stephen on Friday we wanted to hear his take on the issue. After all, students were upset, parents were confused and the district superintendent was under fire. Keith Pierce said his e-mail inbox and voicemail were full of messages, some rather nasty. Students said the whole issue made them feel like they live in a backwards backwater where homosexuality was shunned and where gay students had best stay in the closet. Ironically all these feelings reached a boiling point amid plans for a pink day at schools – a day in which all students are encouraged to wear pink as a symbol of tolerance for all and a sign that bullying and abuse have no place here.
So, over to you Mr. Lamrock. Your thoughts?
Turns out a question from a reporter was the first he’d ever heard about the Sanchez controversy. That’s what Lamrock said Friday and he said it with a straight face. A story on the issue published Oct. 21 in the Woodstock Bugle-Observer suggests Lamrock declined to comment on the issue. Whether that means he knew about it but chose not to comment or could not be reached for comment could be open to interpretation – but it doesn’t look good.
For our education minister to miss this story is unacceptable. To be in the know and playing dumb is much worse.
Lamrock, and all our provincial ministers, don’t make a move without being overseen and advised by a posse of Crackberry-twiddling assistants. Surely one of them has a Google news alert for “education” and “New Brunswick.” Surely one of them reads the papers or watches TV. Surely someone in the department could have suggested that Mr. Lamrock might want to check out this little story in Charlotte County that has attracted national attention.
Saying he didn’t know a thing about the story is either an admission that he’s out of touch or a poor attempt at feigning ignorance to avoid the question. Neither scenario is befitting the province’s education minister.

EDITORIAL

Tony the pussycat

Home support workers in New Brunswick are trying to present a united front in their quest to earn the kind of wages their brothers and sisters who work in nursing homes receive.
They deserve it.
Home support workers care for the elderly and sick in the patients’ homes. They give them a good quality of life and help them stay in their comfortable surroundings longer than they could without help. They perform the same types of services as nursing home workers but for less pay. The home support workers are paid by the Department of Social Development while nursing home funding comes from the Department of Health.
The workers believe their best shot at getting the pay they deserve – and they do deserve it – is to go public and to speak with one voice. They’re trying to get the story out to politicians and the public. This week they grabbed the ear of Charlotte-Campobello MLA Tony Huntjens who listened, agreed the workers are underpaid and said he’d take the issue to Mary Schryer, the minister responsible for Social Development.
Will anything be done about the problem, Huntjens was asked.
“No,” he said, adding that his job is to bring issues to the minister’s attention but that he can’t force her hand.
Pardon?
Talk about a culture of defeat.
Is that really the role of an opposition MLA? To make the government aware of problems? Or is it to apply pressure, to negotiate, to be persistent and dogged, to question, to fight, to force government’s hand and make those in power do what’s right?
And if Huntjens is so certain Schryer won’t listen to his and the worker’s concerns, does that make this week’s meeting and the ensuing campaign a pointless exercise?
Maybe we’re simply seeing a tired politician, who has served many years with distinction, winding down on the opposition backbenches. Maybe we’re seeing cynicism and maybe the comment has more to do with Huntjens’ opinion of Schryer than his own willingness to go to battle for these workers. We hope we’re not seeing a reflection of the real attitudes of the opposition because just bringing the matter to the attention of the minister isn’t good enough. Not for the home support workers or the constituents of Charlotte-Campobello.
We remember Tony Huntjens the tiger. If indeed his political career is about over, let’s see him end with a roar.

EDITORIAL

Gas problem passes

Passamaquoddy Bay’s uncomfortable gas problem has passed… for now. While at times over the past few years there have been as many as three liquefied natural gas projects in the works on the Maine shore of the bay, there are currently zero.
None of the LNG developers have applications pending before any of the Maine agencies that regulate such projects. This comes on the heels of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) dismissal of the grandfather of the LNG developments, Quoddy Bay LNG. After FERC cut Quoddy Bay loose, company president Don Smith – who calls his project responsible, environmentally friendly, safe and necessary while critics call him a carpetbagger with dollar signs in his eyes – withdrew his applications with the state.
Smith said he’ll file again at an undetermined date – a fitting sentiment on Halloween. Just when you thought it was dead… LNG is back from the beyond! It’s alive!
But that’s the wishful thinking of a desperate opportunist who’s looking for love in all the wrong places. The LNG projects proposed for Passamaquoddy Bay – bringing tankers through treacherous waters to gas terminals on pristine shores -- have been nothing short of bizarre. Those who don’t want to see an LNG industry in Passamaquoddy Bay, namely all of Canada and a healthy segment of the American and Passamaquoddy Nations, can enjoy a victory. The LNG monster has crept back to the crypt for now but be sure, it may well rise again.

MORE ON THE ALEX SANCHEZ DEBATE

NORTH HEAD BAPTIST CHURCH'S RON FORD HAS A REPLY TO THIS LETTER... READ IT IN THE SAINT CROIX COURIER, TUESDAY, NOV. 4



School administrator needs homophobia training
COURIER WEEKEND
Friday, Oct. 28

I am writing in response to School District 10 Superintendent Pierce's letter in Tuesday's Courier (“Sanchez controversy a learning experience”, Letters to the Editor, Tuesday, Oct. 21).
I was happy to hear from him and get a better understanding of the reasoning that went into the school district's decision to cancel Alex Sanchez' talks at schools in St. Stephen and St. George. I was also disturbed to hear that he has been receiving such disrespectful e-mails and messages. It is always disappointing to learn that people who supposedly want tolerance can act with such intolerance themselves.
I can understand Mr. Pierce's and others' pride in what they have done to encourage a safe and welcoming environment for all students, including Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian, Transgendered, Questioning (GBLTQ) youth. A lot has been done. But how sadly ironic, then, that in dealing with this event, the district actually perpetuates homophobic thinking.
Mr. Pierce defends the district's decision by stating that they needed to listen to Mr. Sanchez's message before allowing him to speak at the schools. But if the district is indeed committed to increasing the tolerance and understanding for gay and lesbian youth in the schools, why didn't they just call Mr. Sanchez and see if he would be an appropriate speaker to foster this message? Jumping to the conclusion that the speaking engagements needed to be cancelled suggests a level of homophobia at play here. Why, because a speaker is going to be talking about gay issues, is that alone enough to get the speaking engagements cancelled?
I am also concerned that Mr. Pierce wrote that he now knows, “exactly how some of our students must feel when they are targeted because of their choices and decisions.” I do hope that Mr. Pierce understands that for GLBTQ youth, this is not a choice. Seeing it as a choice is one of the biggest misconceptions around sexual orientation, and is the reason behind a lot of the intolerance out there. If it is a choice, they can choose not to.
Being attracted to someone of the same sex is not a choice or decision. It is part of who you are. There is a difference between being disliked for something you do and being hated for who you are. There is also a difference between receiving demeaning messages briefly as an adult, and receiving demeaning messages over and over and over again as a teen, when you are still developing your sense of who you are. As a psychotherapist with almost 20 years experience working with GBLTQ adults, I have seen time after time the devastating effects of our societal hatred.
Lastly, while I appreciate that the controversy around the school district's decision has opened debate about this issue, I was disappointed that Mr. Pierce did not acknowledge the damage that the district's decision may have caused for GBLTQ youth in Charlotte County. As reported in the Courier, this decision was made by the district after they received complaints from a small group of parents. As role models for the youth in their care, choosing to cancel the talks tells the students that gay rights are not worth going the extra mile to protect. I do wish that Mr. Pierce had realized this and apologized to the students. That would be some great positive role modelling!
I fully appreciate that the school district and all involved only had the best of intentions and, I imagine, have learnt a lot from this experience. Perhaps in the fallout from this event, the district could arrange some education for themselves – teachers and administration – to increase their understanding of what homophobia is and how to address it. Negative attitudes and fears around homosexuality are so insidious that often they go unrecognized by those who are not GBLTQ themselves.

Liz Neve, MSW
St. Andrews

PACKAGING PET PEEVES

In Tuesday's paper we went off on excessive packaging in an editorial sparked by... well... World Vision Canada. We feel terribly guilty for picking on World Vision for mailing out catalogues packaged, for some reason, in plastic egg cartons.

Anyhoo... now that the business of picking on charities that help the needy children of the world is behind us, we want you to tell us your packaging pet peeve! WHO ARE THE WORST PACKAGING OFFENDERS? HAVE YOU INJURED YOURSELF ON A BRATZ DOLL PACKAGE OR A MCFARLANE COLLECTIBLE CLAM SHELL? Tell us about it in the comments section.

Chicken plucker at large

I seem to have misplaced my portable USB drive. If anyone sees it around it's a 1GB USB drive on a key chain. It's white with yellow and red on it. Other than that it's fairly non-descript except that it's shaped like a chicken.
Also, I received what looks like some sort of ransom note that makes me think perhaps my chicken USB drive was not lost but.... MURDERED! I mean... STOLEN!
If you find it you can leave it on my desk, no questions asked. (Other than, "Why did you steal my chicken USB drive?" and "Can you wait here while I call the police?")
Thank you.



So... Mr. Big Man Editor, are you feeling like a big man this morning after PICKING ON WORLD VISION CANADA IN AN EDITORIAL...?

Excessive packaging has got to go… and not in the landfill

With Christmas shopping season about to kick into high gear it may be time for consumers to start thinking as much about the wrappings as they do about the goods they’re purchasing.
Packaging has gone from a simple protective wrap of paper, maybe cardboard, to a high-security, highly decorative art form that’s wasteful, annoying and sometimes dangerous. Many a wound has been opened by shards of plastic from the clamshell-style hard casing that seals everything from action figures to digital cameras. CBC Marketplace reports that 300,000 Americans visit hospital emergency departments each year due to packaging-related injuries, mainly because in attempting to get at their goodies they’ll stab and slash at the plastic covering with anything handy – scissors, screwdrivers, cleavers…
And it isn’t just toys, electronics or other consumer goods that come with too much baggage. Over-packaging has become almost unavoidable. The morning paper comes sheathed in plastic, rain or shine. Don’t subscribe? Your weekend flyers will still arrive, wrapped and ready, whether you want them or not.
In the grocery store, shelves are filled with unnecessary packages and wrappings. Colourful peppers come pre-packaged in clear plastic. Clamshell containers protect precious tomatoes and berries. In the dairy case, consumers face an array of choices – plastic jugs, waxed cartons or plastic bags?
A section of the Grassroots Recycling Network website deals with excessive packaging and asks readers to chime in about what they see as the worst offenders. And as much as we talk about trying to clean up our act to leave a better world for our children, it is products aimed at kids that are among the worst offenders. Reader after reader named kids ready-to-eat lunches as the worst offender because of its plastic tray, individually-wrapped food items all covered in a cardboard wrapping. A lunch pack that includes sauce packets can contain as many as four layers of packaging in one little container. And just as bad as the packaging itself is the message it imprints on young children – that this is how their food and other goods should be packaged. Fast food meal packs – also aimed at kids – are also packaging nightmares. And any parent who has spent Christmas morning trying to free a Barbie doll or Spider-Man figure from its plastic showcase knows how much plastic, wire and cardboard goes into each and every one of those toys.
Excess packaging can also come in surprising forms. A package arrived in the newsroom last week, unsolicited. Inside the almost-shoebox-sized cardboard box was a layer of bubble wrap and inside that was a plastic egg carton. Inside the egg carton are a glossy gift catalogue and a plastic keychain that doubles as a computer USB drive shaped like a chicken.
On opening, the first reaction is who is sending this box of garbage? Crack into the egg carton and you see the catalogue is from World Vision – an organization charged with the noble goal of helping children and families in developing countries. The plastic egg carton is supposed to illustrate that some of the gifts in the catalogue include livestock such as hens and roosters. But what it really illustrates is a blatant disregard for the average consumer’s distaste of waste and excess.
The egg carton is recyclable (where such recycling exists and only if it lands in the hands of someone who is a recycler). But why would an organization like World Vision want to burden the recycling system with such an utterly useless item in the first place.
It’s a gimmick and obviously someone in the brain trust felt it was needed to gain some attention. Unfortunately in some cases the old adage isn’t true and there is such a thing as bad publicity. The egg carton and plastic chicken computer drive project an image of too-smart-for-their-own-good marketing and of excess and extravagance, not of need. It’s a major turnoff for potential donors.
In the UK in 2007, more than 100 Members of Parliament backed a newspaper’s campaign to stop wasteful packaging. The Independent newspaper estimated the average family blows 17 per cent of its food budget on packaging, generating 4.6 million tones of garbage a year.
Here at home, we can help convince manufacturers that we don’t want all that packaging. We can stop buying goods that come in such ridiculous layers of packaging. We can pass our concerns along to manufacturers and store managers. We can ask our Members of Parliament to help put a limit on how much packaging is too much or to enact legislation forcing retailers to take back packaging if consumers return it to the store – at least then it’s the vendors and not the municipalities who are paying to dump the waste.
Over packaging is an issue the average person actually has some power to change. You may be only one person but you are holding the cheque book, credit card or billfold. And that’s power.


What’s your packaging pet peeve? E-mail editor@stcroixcourier.ca or visit SAINTCROIXCOURIER.BLOGSPOT.COM to find this article and comment on it.

Music Man changes tune

Bill Conley, morning announcer for WCRQ 102.9 The Border, is on the move.
Startng Monday, Nov. 3, Conley takes over as Morning Announcer at Classic Hits WQDY/WALZ, and Program Operations Manager for all of WQDY Inc's radio chain: WQDY, WALZ, and WCRQ FM's in Calais, Maine.

Field issue still open

By KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca

ST. STEPHEN – Don’t write off having new town-owned soccer fields just yet.
A motion to re-introduce the building of two new soccer fields to the tune of $400,000 will be back on council’s agenda early in the New Year, according to a press release issued Monday, Oct. 27, by Councillor Robert Tinker on behalf of Mayor Jed Purcell and Councillor Ralph Williams.
The press release also noted that the mayor has refused to accept Williams’ resignation as chair of the Community Services Committee and, after some discussion, Williams has agreed to continue to chair the committee. It was also stated a more complete study package on the project would be provided to councillors for their perusal.
The firestorm over developing town-owned land on Boundary Street into two new soccer fields, a project initiated by the former town council, erupted at the council’s regular monthly meeting Oct. 20 when the three newly-elected councillors - John Quartermain, Ken Parker and Gavin Toumishey - voted against what the two veteran councillors – Williams and Robert Tinker and the deputy mayor, Jim Maxwell - expected to be a simple reaffirmation vote supporting the spending of $400,000 to develop two new sports fields. To break the tie, the mayor cast a nay vote.
Outraged, Williams resigned his post as chair of the town’s recreation committee, saying he felt that by voting against the motion the mayor had expressed a lack of confidence in his judgement.
Later, in an interview, Williams stated his reason for resigning.
“If I’m on a committee and I’ve spent two years working on a project and in a tie vote he votes against me, then he’s essentially saying, ‘Well, Ralph, I just don’t think you know what you’re talking about’.
“So I felt fine, if that’s the case you really don’t want me chairing your committee,” said Williams.
However, Purcell said he had to vote nay because of the way the motion was worded.
“The way it was brought to council, a decision had to be made. I wasn’t going to be wishy-washy,” said the mayor. “The homework wasn’t done on it. It really shouldn’t have gotten on the agenda.
“When I voted, I had to break a tie. I said, ‘Okay, that doesn’t mean you can’t come back for it.’ No, it is not off the table altogether and that’s what I said to Ralph, and he got pretty emotional about it, which I understand.
“I just said come back with your proposal,” Purcell said. “There’s nothing that councillors can’t bring back to the table.”
He said he had spoken to Williams at lunchtime the day of the council meeting and asked Williams if he had spoken to other council members about the motion.
Purcell said that’s what he feels should happen with motions like this.
“If somebody’s not going to support them, they should fess up.”
Both Williams and the mayor agree this project should have been discussed at the committee level before it was brought back to the council table and that’s what Williams is hoping will happen.
He is blaming the way the vote went on the new councillors’ lack of knowledge about the soccer field project.
In December of 2007, the former council voted to authorize the town’s recreation director, Mike O’Connell, to continue with his preparation of conceptual design plans for the construction of two new soccer fields on land it had purchased for $115,000.
The town had allocated $300,000 for the construction of those fields in its proposed capital expenditures budget for 2008.
Later that same month, council voted to approve the capital expenditures budget now containing $400,000 earmarked for the construction of two new soccer fields. The loan for the money for the project was approved by the province’s Municipal Capital Borrowing Board, which Williams said wouldn’t have happened if the board didn’t think the town could handle the expense.
The $100,000 increase in the project was explained by then-mayor Allan Gillmor who said the town was upping the ante to allow for contingency costs, a parking lot, landscaping and a field house. The field house was suggested by several presenters during a Citizens Recreation Forum held to hear how citizens wanted to see their tax dollars spent and what facilities they wanted the town to provide. While a civic centre was the number one project residents wanted to see happen, new soccer fields were a close second.
In December of 2007 Gillmor speculated the new, town-owned soccer fields would be ready for use by the summer of 2009.
Williams said he thinks there is a perception, by new council members in particular, that there is an overwhelming mandate to cut expenses.
“Everything’s too much and they’ve got to get it down. And fiscal responsibility is always right. There’s no way you can argue against that,” said Williams.
He said he agrees that any budget the size of St. Stephen’s is going to have some expenditures in it that could be cut back or cut out and that councillors need to look at some of the things they have routinely approved.
“But I think at the same time it’s key to any elected official to remember that you’re elected to represent people and they want services as well as fiscal responsibility,” Williams said.
“I think they were just simply not willing, interested or informed on the public desire for this and I’d like to think if they were aware of that report, or had sat in on those (recreation forum) sessions, they would probably have voted differently,” said Williams.
He said part of the problem can be blamed on the flood of information new councillors receive when they are elected to council and not having a chance to do their homework on every issue.
Williams said he can understand councillors’ concerns about funding for major road projects, and the proposed civic centre, but said the new soccer fields were the only major capital recreational expenditure the town had on its horizon for a while.
“Recreation in the Town of St. Stephen right now is just more or less sitting still or treading water as fast as it can,” said Williams.
“As far as any move forward, improvement, upgrade or addition, we don’t have any more capital items in the hopper for this. This is the only capital item we have for a couple of years for recreation,” Williams said.
“If we don’t do something to upgrade our recreation, we’re sending a message and not the correct one.”
Williams said council has talked about sending a message about being open for business. “One of the things that tells people you’re open for business is that you invest in recreation, invest in culture, invest in those things that attract people to your community.
“One of the things people look at when they’re considering moving here is the quality of recreation and culture. I’m afraid council just doesn’t seem to put that all together,” said Williams.
Williams said he discussed putting the soccer field reaffirmation on the council agenda with the town’s CAO Hendrik Slegtenhorst.
He said when he spoke with the CAO he said he told him he didn’t think the new council members were up to speed on the issue.
“I said we needed to get them up to speed on this,” said Williams.
“I think he felt it had been done in committee and they were ready to pass a motion just reaffirming the soccer fields. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case,” said Williams.
He said he felt it was unfortunate that Quartermain, chair of the town’s finance committee, was the first to speak out against the $400,000 expenditure for the soccer fields.
“John was the first speaker and he spoke in favour of having it cut because of fiscal responsibility, that is one of John’s main concerns. With that, I was playing defence before I even realized I was in the game,” said Williams.
Mayor Purcell said he feels there should have been a recommendation made by the recreation committee to a council meeting before the soccer field item made it to a council agenda.
He said what he would like to see clarified is the cost share agreement between the town and the school board over the existing playing fields, owned by the province, but maintained by the town, to the tune of about $20,000 per year.
This agreement, however, doesn’t give the town any say in how or when the fields are used, said the mayor.
He promised he would review the requests made by residents during the Citizens Recreation Forum.
Meanwhile, Williams said he’s not about to quit council or the committee system, although he did state he preferred the old committee system where all the councillors sat in on all the committee meetings instead of each being appointed to just two town committees.
“Everybody was at the table when issues were discussed,” he said.
Under the new system, when something comes to a vote, two things can happen, said Williams. The first is that people make up their minds on a situation with limited information or they can, if they don’t understand what’s going on, “trust the people on that committee and trust that they are making wise decisions.”
What Williams said he would like to see happen is for the mayor to put the soccer fields issue back on the table at a committee of the whole meeting which brings all of council together and have background information and reports available.
“This has been a researched item; it’s not coming out of the blue. Once they have the documents, then they can decide if they want to do it or not,” said Williams.

Who should be on our Wall of Fame?

By JEREMY TOWNES
Courier Sports

The New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame has put out the call for nominations of individual athletes, teams, and builders who have left their mark on sport in the province and I think St. Stephen should answer the call. Sure, there are plenty of worthy applicants in the area.
If you mention the idea to anyone almost instantly certain names come to mind. Don Walker, the Pat Riley of Spartan basketball with his slick hair, tailored suits at high school games, and more provincial banners hanging at the SSHS gym than any other coach.
The St. Stephen Wheels, a dominant junior hockey team in the ‘80s that Jamie Waycott and his rebellious mutton chops used to lace up for. And let’s not forget the 2008 Mighty Blues of the Rusty Blades League with their flawless 6-0 record. Chuck Brown comes into the newsroom daily asking when the elite Blues he tends the goal for will grace the sports pages, so here you go Chuck.
There have been plenty of incredible athletes, coaches, and teams to come out of St. Stephen and many of them are worthy for the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, but in all reality the likelihood of induction is rather slim. So I propose St. Stephen and any other community in the region put some serious thought into its own Sports Wall of Fame – a wall for athletes, teams, and builders from the community, to be recognized by the community.
When towns like St. Stephen, St. Andrews, and St. George take into account making their own Wall of Fame, the possibilities become endless for worthy inductees.
Several towns around the province have begun these Walls of Fame. They can usually be found in a prominent building in town. St. Stephen has three great choices that also see a lot of foot traffic making any one of them excellent locations for a Wall of Fame. The tourist information centre is a fine spot to show off the local sporting achievements, as is anywhere in the Ganong Building, and lastly the Town Hall with its future always hanging in the balance, may serve as the best spot to recognize sport in our community and be a reason to salvage the aging building. A county-wide Wall of Fame should most definitely be part of the plans for the proposed Charlotte County Civic Centre.
If anyone wanted to seriously consider this idea it could be brought up at the next Town Council meeting with the details of location, criteria for recognition, and any other point of interest to help get the ball rolling, and I would certainly do my part, because teams like the Mighty Blues only come around once every couple years, and we can’t let their achievements disappear with time. I would never hear the end of it from the goaltender in the next cubicle.

JEREMY TOWNES is the Courier’s sports reporter. E-mail him at sports@stcroixcourier.ca

Readers ask very little for their $1.13

- Source unknown

I'm going to give $1.13 (plus HST) to the newspaper staff. Divide it
up any way you wish.

Now, for that money I am giving you tonight, I want you to deliver
tomorrow to my house a newspaper that will contain more reading than
the current bestselling novel. I want all the news. And I want every
bit of it to be fresh.

I want pictures of all the local accidents, fires, meetings and events
that I'm interested in - and I don't want to see any that offend me
either.

I expect you to tell me who dies, who was born, who was divorced and
who was married in the last week, including the last 24 hours.

I want to know what those guys in the government are doing with my tax
money. I want to understand all the important plans and results, but I
don't want to have to waste more than a couple of minutes on your story.

I want to read just as much about the New Democrats and the Greens as
the Conservative and Liberal parties.

Don't tell me you can't do it. That what I invested my $1.13 for. The
only reason you won't do it is because you haven't any competition.

I want all the supermarket prices, a list of people with used cars for
sale, the movie and TV times, and the closing stock market prices.

If I break the law, I don't you to print my name in the paper. And if
I have a friend who's in trouble, you can leave him out, too. But: I
want to know everyone else who is in trouble, by name.

Another thing: I'm sick and tired of misspelled words in your paper.
For $1.13, you ought to do better.

By the way: I eat promptly at 5 p.m. and my paper better be at my
front door long before that. (Not on the steps, not in the rain, not
in the yard.)

When I meet you in the street, I expect to hear all the inside dope. I
expect you to serve as publicity chair for every committee in town.
And if I call the paper and ask how many kids Al Capone had, or what
round Dempsey knocked out Tunney (or was it the other way around), I
expect you to know and tell me.

Right then. So I'll leave you to it.

Questions remain in cancellation of gay author's appearance

Courier Weekend
Friday, Oct. 17, 2008

ST. STEPHEN – While there has been much made in the provincial and national media of the cancellation of the scheduled talks by gay author Alex Sanchez in two high schools, no one from some of the groups sponsoring or hosting his visit is offering any opinion on what has happened or why.
Jamie Waycott, principal of St. Stephen High School, where one of the talks was scheduled to take place next week, said he has been directed by School District 10 superintendent Keith Pierce to forward all media calls through his office.
However, Pierce was unavailable for phone calls Tuesday, Oct. 14, and will be unavailable until next Monday.
Jay Remer, a member of the Charlotte County Rainbow Support Group, which booked Sanchez, said the school district was helping sponsor Sanchez’s trip here from his home in Florida. Sanchez was also to speak at Fundy High School. Sanchez writes novels aimed at gay teens based on his own experiences growing up gay.
Remer said Sanchez will speak on Monday, Oct. 20 at the Wesley United Church in St. Andrews at 7 p.m.
Remer described the school district as initially enthusiastic about Sanchez speaking to the students at the two high schools, but said that after receiving some complaints from parents, the district decided to cancel the speaking engagements.
Other reports indicate there may have been some scheduling difficulty after the two days off this week for teacher professional development.
Meanwhile, the students at SSHS are in the midst of planning a day (Oct. 24) when all students will be encouraged to wear pink as a sign of support for tolerance, equality and acceptance.
Hundreds of comments have been lodged on the CBC website. One comment noted how St. Stephen was getting a bad reputation because of the action the school district took, for whatever reason.
St. Stephen Mayor Jed Purcell said he didn’t understand the school district’s decision.
“I don’t know where they are coming from,” said the mayor. “I’m surprised they cancelled.”
“You can’t give kids too much information.”

School district cancels gay author's school appearances

Saint Croix Courier
Tuesday, Oct. 14

ST. STEPHEN – Students at St. Stephen High School and at Fundy High School in St. George will have to travel to St. Andrews on Oct. 20 if they want to hear what gay author Alex Sanchez has to say.
Sanchez, who writes novels aimed at gay teens dealing with issues they have growing up, was scheduled to speak at both high schools but because of a protest voiced by a small number of parents who were strongly opposed to his appearances, District 10 decided to cancel his speaking engagements at the schools.
Jay Remer, a member of the Charlotte County Rainbow Support Group who booked Sanchez, said that while he was initially mad when he learned of the school board’s decision and the reason for it, that anger turned to disappointment. He said he and his group respect the school board’s decision.
Remer described the school board as initially very enthusiastic about Sanchez speaking to the students at the two high schools, The board was helping sponsor Sanchez’s trip here from his home in Florida
“But word got out in the community,” said Remer.
He said some parents telephoned the schools and strongly voiced their disapproval. He said he was told the schools felt they did not want there to be a negative impact on the progress they have made “teaching and promoting tolerance of all people”, so they cancelled Sanchez’s talks.
In a strange coincidence, the students at SSHS are in the midst of plans to stage a day, Oct. 24, when they will encourage their classmates to wear pink in a show of support for tolerance, equality and acceptance.
Remer said the schools should be commended for work they have done on tolerance and bullying and said he’s sure their decision to cancel Sanchez’s visits did not come easily.
“The schools, in all fairness, thought about this long and hard. We respected the decision we couldn’t hold events at schools,” he said.
Remer said a talk by Sanchez is now scheduled for Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Wesley United Church in St. Andrews. Sanchez is also scheduled to speak the next evening, Oct. 21, at the Mary Oland Theatre at the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John at 7 p.m.
“We were going to be able to reach so many students,” said Remer of the cancelled appearances at the school. But he added that his organization didn’t want to be forcing anything on people.
“The principals have made a lot of effort in teaching tolerance. It’s really a matter of continuing an educational process that’s been going on for ages,” he said.
“Within another generation, sexual orientation, as far as a measure of a man, will have no power at all,” Remer said.
Remer, who is gay, said he wasn’t surprised there were those who opposed the school talks by Sanchez.
“I’m 57 years old, and I’m quite used to hearing a lot of negative input. I’m hoping the people who are going to be lucky enough to listen to him will be blown away. He’s going to give a great talk. It’s a privilege to listen to him,” he said.

Was it a boat christening?

Or was it the murder of two innocent bottles of Alpine?

CALLING ALL HALL OF FAMERS

The NB Sports Hall of Fame is looking for nominees. Who could be under consideration from Charlotte County?
Leave a comment or e-mail sports@stcroixcourier.ca



N. B. Sports Hall of Fame calls for nominations
October 15, 2008
FREDERICTON - The New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame has put out the call for nominations of individual athletes, teams, and builders who have left their mark on sport in the province.
The deadline is January 15, 2009 and nomination kits including forms and complete information on eligibility are available from the Sports Hall of Fame in Fredericton by telephone 506-453-3747, online at: http://www.nbsportshalloffame.nb.ca, or by e-mail at Deborah.Williams@gnb.ca.
Athletes are eligible for consideration if they have been retired from competition for three years and teams must not have competed as a unit for at least five years. Candidates in the builders category, those whose contributions or achievements were as coaches, officials or administrators, are eligible whether they are still actively involved in sport or retired.
To be eligible in the veterans' category which was introduced in 2004, the candidate must be at least 70 years of age and have been retired from sport for at least 35 years.
A maximum of six candidates, including one in the veterans' category may be elected annually. The Sports Hall of Fame currently has 201 inductees.

THAT ONE

After much discussion and analysis on John McCain calling Barack Obama "that one" we in the newsroom have decided that, intentional or not, the remark carries racist overtones. Also after much discussion and analysis, we decided we want Chinese for lunch.
Comments?

ELECTION FORUM

XXX will (should, might) win the election Tuesday. Discuss.

Comment on the local race in NB Southwest or get on your soapbox to discuss the federal campaign.

Who's smashing election signs?

Are you a sign smasher? Do you know one? Comment anonymously and tell us if you're doing it for fun, to make a political statement or to try to sabotage other campaigns.

Residents oppose Sunbury Shores rezoning

I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed rezoning of the parcel of land on Joe’s Point Road, PID # 01323559, as requested by Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre Inc.
This land should definitely remain zoned as environmentally significant because it is exactly that. It is one of the very few scraps of natural landscape left within the Town limits. The negative impact on the water, trees, plants, birds and wildlife on this tract of land would be major and irreparable. Such destruction of natural habitat is completely contradictory to everything Sunbury Shores has stood for since its founding as well as contradictory to all the environmental goals of the Town of St. Andrews and Canada as a whole at this pressing time of global change.
The Town has more than enough overpriced, oversized summer residences to accommodate non-residents. Adding a few more at the cost of our environment would be imprudent at best, the tax dollars negligible to the costs incurred by development and the potential sale proceeds would not resolve a management issue at Sunbury Shores now or in the years to come. Please do not rezone this land.

Mary Casement
St. Andrews



Sale of Sunbury Shores land unethical

I have been following the ongoing story line regarding Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre for the past number of months with some disappointment.
I personally am left scratching my head over this one.
How can an organization that is supposed to be built on the connection of art and nature consider it ethical to sell out nature in favour of its existence? I was looking on their website and was completely dumbstruck to see in their open letter that this will have no effect on the town and that there will be seven tastefully built estates on the land. It is personally shocking how an organization like Sunbury Shores could even put out a media piece with those words in it.
Let me tell you one thing there is nothing tasteful about a housing development taking over green space. And to use a line like it will be beneficial to the town because of the tax dollars it will generate seems very corporate and anti-environmental.
I understand the pressures that non-profit organizations like Sunbury Shores face, but I also always believed that non-profits existed for the benefit of the communities they served. In this case it seems that they are saying that the environment is going to take a back seat to saving some man made structures. Well guess what we can always build a building but you never get a green space back. Sunbury Shores may well get there $400,000 for an endowment fund but how is that going to help in the long run. If what they are doing currently just isn’t sustainable than perhaps they need to take a longer look at what they are doing and if it still has relevance in its form.
The second part of this equation lies with our town councillors. Once again I am confused how we can be so adamantly opposed to something like an LNG facility across the river, yet at the same time continue to consider these types of development that take away the natural beauty that we all find so inspiring. Maybe we need to start looking after our own house (no pun intended)!
We seem to be under constant bombardment of these types of developments in the town. Look at what we have lost just over the past decade and the loss of waterfront views due to housing construction. I implore the town to keep this land as green space.
I have definitely become jaded over the years from seeing these things play out and in the end happen; and I have to admit seeing that no trespassing sign go up on the Two Meadows trail was painful to swallow. If there was ever a community of people who I would never suspect of doing this it would be a group of artists and naturalists. From my viewpoint it does nothing but alienate the people the organization serves and more importantly potential clients of the organization. Where is the leadership when we need it most from this organization – step up be brave and innovative and don’t give us a corporate message of its our land and we can do with it as we like. There are many in St. Andrews that see Sunbury Shores not as that building down on Water Street but that Nature Trail and I wonder within the town if you asked people to choose what they would pick a building or nature?

However I don’t want to just pick away at Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre. I must also look at myself and my fellow citizens. Art, culture and the environment are magical components that make communities thrive but are always taken for granted and thus under funded. We need to support these areas by being proactive both with our time and with financial support. I have personally benefited from Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre’s existence having used that trail over the years as well as taking courses at the centre.
It would definitely be a great loss to see the organization disappear but I would put forward not as great as losing this green space.
Surely there must be another way because I fear if this sale does happen not only will we lose a precious piece of nature but we will eventually lose Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre!

Jonathan Foster
St. Andrews



Sunbury Shores must preserve nature trail


We are writing this letter regarding the rezoning request of Sunbury Shores to allow the development of land that has been used for close to 40 years as a public nature trail here in St. Andrews.
Although Sunbury Shores may indeed have the legal right to sell the land, we share many concerns with others in the town about the impact of any residential development on this property. And, given the mission of Sunbury Shores, to explore the connections between art and nature, we feel strongly that the organization has the obligation and responsibility to its members and to the town of St. Andrews to maintain the land on Joe's Point Road, a very special and rare piece of open, natural land within the town, as a nature trail.
We recall the fascinating evening we spent on the Sunbury Shores trail two or three years ago, exploring owl habitat and learning various owl vocalizations with guidance from a visiting ornithologist from UNB, as well as great times walking our dog and also skiing and snowshoeing on the trail in winter.
Many people have expressed the view that St. Andrews should retain as much green space as possible, especially given the loss some years ago of the trail from Katy's Cove to the Bar Road, when the town declined to take ownership of the railway right of way. Visitors and residents alike have historically been attracted to St. Andrews because of its walking trails.

Sunbury Shores should revisit its decision to sell this property. If the organization is having financial difficulties, it should have a membership drive, solicit grants and donations, do a capital campaign or through other activities, solicit the support of the town and its residents in order to resolve these problems. The town should also do its utmost to support and direct Sunbury Shores to assure that the trail remains in its natural state and open to the public.

Should this development of high-end "trophy" homes become a reality, we are also concerned that the adjoining property belonging to UNB will fall into the hands of a developer. Regardless whether or not this is a real possibility, St. Andrews has a plethora of homes on the market, and there seems to be no logical reason (aside from greed) for building more homes when there is so much available housing in the town.

Perhaps the town should strike a deal with Sunbury Shores and UNB to create a permanently protected park on this property. Many residents who feel strongly about retaining this lovely piece of nature for the enjoyment of everyone would likely be willing to support this effort financially and/or with volunteer time.

Isn't it worth a try? We sure think it is.

Lee Ann Ward and Larry Lack
St. Andrews