2004-07-18

Vol. 2 Issue 29 St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador Sunday, July 18-24, 2004 www.theindependent.ca $1.00 (including HST)

A newspaperowned and operated in

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Quote of the Week

InternationalForbes editor murdered

8

SportsShamrocks

Page 25

GalleryMargaret Ryall

Page 14

Life & TimesSealer Jack Troake

Page 21

Science of numbers

DFO says salmon budget stable, province (and federal scientist) say otherwise

First poaching charges to be laid by Williams’ government

By Ryan ClearyThe Sunday Independent

Almost five weeks after the seniorsalmon scientist with the feder-al Department of Fisheries and

Oceans (DFO) in St. John’s said the sci-ence budget had been cut in half since theclosure of the commercial fishery,department officials still can’t saywhether Rex Porter was on the money.

Porter also told The Sunday Indepen-dent in mid-June that stocks of Atlanticsalmon are as desperately low today asthey were in 1992 when the commercialfishery closed. He said scientists are at aloss to explain why, a mystery fueled bya lack of science.

DFO has produced figures that, at firstblush, would appear to dispute Porter’sclaims. Jan Woodford, DFO’s communi-cations chief in the province, says thedepartment’s direct budget for salmonscience has actually increased since 1992,when the commercial salmon fishery wasfirst banned.

The science budget that year was justover $460,000, compared to the $765,000set aside this fiscal year.

Those figures, however, don’t includefunds that were available through feder-al-provincial, cost-shared agreements,which are thought to have increased theoverall budgets substantially.

Woodford says department officialshaven’t calculated those amounts, infor-mation The Independent would have torequest officially through the federalAccess to Information Act. That processcan take months, and the media is oftencharged huge research fees.

The health of the province’s salmonstocks returned to the spotlight recentlywhen the provincial governmentannounced it would be directing 20 of itsown conservation officers to patrolsalmon rivers, a federal responsibility.

In mid-June, Porter, who’s beenunavailable for an interview since then,said some salmon stocks on the island’ssouth coast are actually in worse shapethan when the moratorium was handeddown.

Porter said salmon numbers are healthyenough in the river systems, but the fisharen’t returning from sea, a mystery that

Whale talesTourists love the tour-boat show; experts study impact on wildlife

By Stephanie PorterThe Sunday Independent

It’s a good week in Bay Bulls. “Thisfeels like, what, the third day ofsummer? About time,” Melissa

Angel says, relief visible in her grin asshe squints up at the sun. “And thewhales — you should see the whales.”

Angel is a tour guide for O’Brien’sWhale and Bird Tours, one of at leasthalf a dozen boat tour operations basedin the Bay Bulls-Witless Bay area, 20minutes south of St. John’s.

The number of visitors has been a lit-tle lower than usual so far this year —as many tourist operations are findingacross the island — mainly because, asAngel says, “the weather’s been crap-py.”

But with this week’s sun and warmthcome the people. There are over 50lined up for this particular weekdayafternoon boat trip, all eager to see frol-icking whales, and check out some ofthe millions of seabirds off the coast.

There are also two biologists on theboat, graduate students from MemorialUniversity. They’re researching andevaluating the effect of tour boats onwildlife — and the impact of the expe-rience on the people who take the tour.

“We’re trying to find out and beaware of, if we’re having a negativeimpact in our environment,” says JoeO’Brien, who founded the tour compa-

ny with his brother Loyola, and sister,Ann.

“Because we were fishermen bytrade, and we saw the fishery starting todecline and the writing became evidenton the wall that there was going to bemajor problems … We didn’t want birdwatching to go the same way as the fish-ery.”

This is the 20th season of whalewatching tours for the O’Briens, whohad the first such company in the area.

“We didn’t really know this wouldwork until we saw the expression on the

faces of our first guests, we knew thiswas a shoe-in … until tourists startedpointing out the attractions, we didn’tknow what we had.”

The idea obviously caught on withother entrepreneurs — and a whole lotof tourists, some from just up the road,others from around the world. There areplenty of folks from Ontario on this trip,and at least one couple from New York.

The passengers enjoy a smooth rideaway from the wharf. Angel’s at themicrophone, and gives a quick historyof Bay Bulls, then a rundown of what’s

ahead for the two-hour tour. Visitors canexpect to see some of the four millionseabirds in the Witless Bay EcologicalReserve, some quick glimpses of thesmaller minke whales, and, if all goeswell, some serious humpbacks.

A careful look out to sea reveals anumber of spouts breaking the surface.The sight bodes well for the trip.

The rules? Hold on, says Angel, and if the

whale’s on your side of the boat, sitdown so others can see.

The boat reaches the nearest island,part of the Witless Bay EcologicalReserve. Kittiwakes, murres, puffinsand other species line the rocks. Cam-eras click, and many giggle at the noto-riously awkward puffins in flight.

After a few minutes, Angel makes theannouncement many are waiting for:Time to get close to some whales.

Today’s captain, Mike O’Brien (ayounger cousin of owner Joe) takes overthe mic. As he guides the boat towardssome of the spouts, he explains a “codeof conduct” the organization has adopt-ed: No closer than 100 metres to thewhales (unless the animals choose tocome closer), and no more than twoboats near a given whale at a time.

“We don’t want to fence them in,” hesays.

By Alisha MorrisseyThe Sunday Independent

With dozens of contracts expir-ing this year in the publicand private sectors, 2004

may well be labelled the year of thestrike in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Economists have differing opinions asto the reason for the labour unrest.Unions and employers continue to buttheads on job security, sick leave, con-tracting out, seniority, pensions … the listgoes on and the chasm widens.

Doug May, an economics professor

with Memorial University in St. John’s,says the province is heavily unionizedbecause a large number of employeeswork in resource-based industries, or aspublic servants. Both sectors are tradi-tionally union strongholds.

May says the economy is coming outof a slump, which may be the reasonunions and companies are bargainingharder for new, more lucrative contracts.

“It’s a better time to strike than ifthings are really in a downturn and (in)doldrums where companies are fighting

‘Little piece of the pie’Labour action slows production across province;

unions, management, fight for ground

Continued on page 15 Continued on page 11

Palm SundayIlse Lea reads palms at a psychic fair being held at the Holiday Inn in St. John’s this weekend. The native of Germany says her vision helped her cheat death as a childwhen she refused to cross a particular bridge. See story page 23.

Continued on page 2

Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

It’s humpback season in Witless Bay.


“He (a hunter) arrives at hisdestination on Friday nightand he can’t hunt becauseit’s dark. He hunts on Sat-urday, but has no luck, and

on Sunday, you can onlyimagine his disappointmentwhen he sees Mr. Moose and

he can’t shoot him.”

— MHA John Hickey on Sunday hunting

By Jeff DucharmeThe Sunday Independent

While the media oftenrefers to it as a 10 percent cost-cutting exer-

cise, Human Resources andEmployment Minister Joan Burkesays government’s ongoing “pro-gram renewal” doesn’t have aspecific savings target.

“It never really was a 10 percent exercise, but that was our pre-budget exercise leading into ourfirst budget,” Burke told The Sun-day Independent.

The Tories introduced their firstbudget in March.

In a bid to reduce an $827-mil-lion deficit, governmentannounced it would cut 4,000 jobsover four years and launch a so-called program renewal.

Burke won’t guarantee the pub-lic-service bloodletting is over.

“I would think yes, there will besome cuts and some cost-savingmeasures, but they have to bedone not just for the sake of cut-ting and saving money,” saysBurke. “They have to be donebecause we see a need for change

and we see a need to update orbecome more efficient or that wecan do business in a more efficientmanner.”

Burke says her government isnot on a job-slashing safari whenit comes to the public service.

“Our mandate is not to go in andpurposely try to reduce the publicservice …”

Burke says there’s no hard andfast timeline when it comes to theprogram.

“Program renewal is going to bean ongoing process and all depart-ments and boards and agencies ofgovernment are involved in the

process right now. It’s one that’sgoing to be fairly time consumingand it will unfold over a number ofmonths.

“ … this whole renewal processmay take a number of years beforeit’s completed.”

Being “creative” and having“no doors closed” has been part ofthe mantra, says Burke, addingprogram renewal isn’t only aboutsaving money. Rather, she saysit’s about government becomingmore effective and efficient.

In a January memo to PrimeMinister Paul Martin concerningrevenues from the Atlantic

Accord, Premier Danny Williamsexplained to Martin the steps theprovince was taking to get its fis-cal house in order.

“We are also undertaking acomprehensive program reviewexercise, evaluating every govern-ment program and eliminatingthose that are considered ineffec-tive and inefficient,” Williamswrote in the letter, obtained byThe Sunday Independent throughthe Freedom of Information Act.“We are using certain criteria suchas public interest, efficiency,affordability, value for money, andthe role of government.”

remains unsolved because of alack of science.

Natural Resources Minister EdByrne, whose departmentassigned the conservation officers,says DFO isn’t providing enoughsupport to salmon science to tryand turn the stocks around.

“No they’re definitely not,” hetold The Independent.

“They’re not doing their job interms of science … anyone in theindustry will tell you that, scien-tists themselves will tell you that.DFO hasn’t made the investment.”Conservation officers with theprovince are said to have arrestedas many as eight poachers sincethe stepped-up enforcementbegan. Porter, too, warned thatpoaching is a serious problem,likely contributing to the contin-ued collapse of commercialstocks.

“The question for DFO is whyhasn’t there been a more concen-trated effort in terms of enforce-ment?” Byrne asks. “We couldcontinue to argue that point but thetime has come for action to betaken.”

Asked how Porter, DFO’s topsalmon scientist, could have beenso wrong in terms of the sciencebudget, Woodford hesitated.

“I don’t want to be put in a posi-tion where I dispute what one ofour scientists said because I don’tknow the context in which he

made those comments,” she says.“What I would say is that DFO’sinvestment in salmon science …has been consistent over the last10 years. What is different is thataccess to different funding sources

aren’t there at the same level theywere in the past.”

At least four salmon countingfences have closed in recent yearsaround the province, but Wood-ford says scientists aren’t so inter-

ested in counting fish since thecommercial fishery closed. “Youhave to know how many of anyfish there are so you know howmany fish you can take out.”

Asked whether the salmon sci-

ence budget is where it needs tobe, Woodford says all departmentswould welcome more funding.

“That’s a fact of human nature,”she says. “It’s up to the scientistsand departments to identifyresearch priorities.”

In a report released in earlyJune, the Atlantic Salmon Federa-tion said wild Atlantic salmonpopulations in Eastern Canada andthe United States have dropped tohistoric lows.

In the absence of strong domes-tic and international governmentaction, the report predicted thatwild salmon will eventually van-ish from North American rivers.

For his part, Porter said fundingisn’t available for scientists todetermine what’s happening tosalmon when they leave theprovince’s river systems for theocean. “It takes a lot of resourcesto go out and study what’s hap-pening to salmon at sea and wehaven’t been able to do that.”

There are 186 licensed salmonrivers in Newfoundland andLabrador with approximately 69per cent of all Atlantic Salmoncaught in Canada coming fromthese waters.

Critics have charged that thenumber of river guardians hired byDFO has been reduced by a thirdin recent years, a charge thedepartment denies. While thenumber of guardians is down, offi-cials say, the number of weeksthey work has increased.

‘Not doing their job,’ Byrne NEWS The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

From page 1


The recreational salmon fishery is in full tilt.

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Program renewal will roll out over time; more cuts likely

The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004 NEWS


The number of patients lan-guishing on the waiting listfor cardiac surgery in the

province won’t decrease so longas Newfoundlanders and Labrado-rians live the way they do.

George Tilley, CEO of theHealth Care Corporation of St.John’s, which runs the Health Sci-ences Centre, the province’s maincardiac care unit, admits cardiacdisease is a “major problem.”

In responding to accusations ofexcessive wait times, incompe-tence and political interference lev-elled by one of his own surgeons,Tilley told The Sunday Indepen-dent money won’t solve all theproblems.

“What is it that makes us sick inthe first place? That’s where wereally have to go,” he says. “Solifestyle, our eating habits, getting

physically active … if we don’tdeal with it at that level, we willnot have enough money in healthcare in this province.”

Newfoundland and Labrador hasthe highest incidence of heart dis-ease in the country and one of thehighest in North America, accord-ing to cardiac surgeon Dr. KevinMelvin, chief of cardiac surgery atthe Health Sciences Centre.

Melvin slammed the health carecorp. in last week’s edition of TheIndependent, which quoted Melvinin various correspondenceobtained through the Freedom ofInformation Act.

He wrote that the corporationdeserved a “prize for incompe-tence,” and that this province hasthe highest incidence of cardiacillness on “the globe.”

Tilley says he understandsMelvin’s concerns.

“I understand from Dr. Melvin’scomments that he’s frustrated with

some of the obstacles in achievingour overall target of 20 surgicalcases per week.”

Newfoundland has twice therate of heart disease compared toCanada’s healthiest province, B.C.

The province’s total health carebudget stands at $1.2 billion — athird of the government’s overallspending.

Currently, there are 15 cardiacsurgeries carried out a week, butMelvin contends in his memos that13-15 new cases are added eachweek.

“The prospects for the summerare pretty dismal in terms of oper-ating time and cancellations unlessthere is a serious change in attitudetowards this service,” Melvinwrote in a May memo.

The cardiac wait list currentlysits at approximately 300 cases.Almost half of those cases havebeen waiting for two months.

“In fairness to Dr. Melvin, he’s a

very competent, skilled physicianwho’s given yeoman service to thisprovince,” says Tilley. “He wantsto do more because what he’s see-ing is a problem growing …”

With the challenge of recruitingand retaining health professionalsthat support departments such ascardiac surgery, Tilley says theproblem just compounds itself.

“So regardless of whether oper-ating rooms were dedicated solelyto the cardiac program, were iso-lated from any of the bumps, hewould still have that problem.”

The corporation has taken“unprecedented” steps to decreasethe waiting list, including raisingthe cardiac department’s budget bysome 49 per cent over the last fouryears. In a bid to get a better han-dle on where resources should befocused, a waiting-list manage-ment program has been imple-mented.

“… surgeons will identify the

patients on their list and we willretain that information so we’llknow how many people are actu-ally waiting out there,” says Tilley.“What we obviously want to do ismake sure we are getting the mosturgent patients (into surgery)whose condition may deterioratethe longer the surgery is put off.”

While hospitals across the coun-try have seen their budgets(salaries not included) rise by sixto eight per cent over the last cou-ple of years, Tilley says his budgethas only increased two per cent.

Added to a lean budget is thefact that the Health Sciences is ateaching hospital that requires thelatest in technology.

“Being a teaching hospital, theother thing you are expected to dois you’ve got (to have) the latest intechniques so you are training yourstudents on today’s and tomor-row’s technology and not on yes-terday’s.”

Deadly habitsMoney alone won’t cure what ails cardiac surgery: Tilley

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‘Normal is gone now’Parents say video game had role in son’s death; medical examiner rules accidental


Mary Hodder describesher first visit with atherapist after her son

died. She was asked what madeher angry about 12-year-oldRyan’s death. Mary told the doc-tor she accepts the fact she can’tchange the what-ifs — What ifshe had been home? What if shehadn’t let him play the videogame?

Mary told the doctor the thingthat made her mad was that herson died alone. If Ryan hadscreamed for help, there was noone there to hear.

Mary sits beside her husband,Clayton, on the couch in the liv-ing room of their Torbay home.The couple maintains their com-posure; not a single tear falls asthey talk about their son’s life,and the way he died.

They had left their home for acouple of hours when Ryandressed in his sister’s wetsuit,similar to the armour worn in aviolent video game he had beenplaying, and went to the base-ment.

Mary and Clayton say their sondied imitating a scene found in avideo game, one they refuse toname.

When they returned home,Mary and Clayton knew immedi-ately something was wrong. Thevideo-game system was on pause,which they don’t allow their fourchildren to do.

Clayton went to the basementand found Ryan. Mary stayedupstairs in the kitchen with theirdaughter to keep her away fromthe scene, shouting CPR instruc-

tions to her husband.Mary and Clayton say they’re

grateful they found Ryan insteadof one of their other three chil-dren. Mary says the only othervivid memory she has of that June13th night is of a man in a blueuniform bypassing a stretcher,scooping her son up in his armsand carrying him out of the house.

Dr. Simon Avis, the province’schief medical examiner, releasedhis report this week into RyanHodder’s death, ruling it an acci-dent.

“We have determined there wasno intent to terminate this indi-vidual’s life,” he says. “It was aterrible accident.”

Mary shares a birthday with herson, but she swears she’ll nevercelebrate it again.

Clayton constantly correctshimself when talking about hissix-person household; it’s fivenow.

Mary says the worst thing is

that there’s no one to blame forhis death. Still, she blames herself— and the video game.

“If I had known the game wasthat ugly he wouldn’t have beenplaying it.”

Clayton says he watched Ryanplay the game, but suspects hisson avoided the gruesome partswhen he was in the room to avoidit being taken away.

Clayton and Mary say parentsshould familiarize themselveswith video-game ratings. Theywarn parents to take note of theirchildren’s playing times and findout just what they’re playing.

They want other parents tolearn from their situation.

“If we help save one life I’ll behappy,” says Clayton. “If we savetwo, I’ll be elated.”

Ryan was the baby of the Hod-

der family. Memories are all hisparents have left. Mary and Clay-ton describe their son as a gener-ous boy, a smart boy, one whoused big words.

“Ryan was the type to tell methings, whether I wanted to knowthem or not,” Mary says, smiling.

She says two days before hisdeath, Ryan told her he wanted tolearn to play guitar.

“He had guitar hands,” Marysays of her son.

Mary says Ryan was planning avacation to his grandmother’shouse for the summer and waslooking forward to travelling theworld in a “peace bus.” Ryan toldhis parents that when they went toan old-age home he would get thehouse, because “the youngestalways gets the house.”

Mary says her son was a nor-

mal child who loved candy,telling jokes, and giving gifts.Shortly after his death, Maryreceived one note in particularfrom his school friends explaininghow Ryan would always playwith other children who had noone to play with.

Ryan and his brother, Alex,shared a room. Alex wants noth-ing touched or moved, not Ryan’sclothes or toys. She says she can’tleave her children alone now.

For the first 24 hours after thetragedy the family was in shock.At first, Clayton says the familylived minute by minute, then hourto hour and finally now, a fewweeks later, they’re living day today.

“That normal is gone now —we’ve got to start from scratch,”Clayton says.

Ryan Hodder (above) died June 13,a death ruled an accident. His par-ents, Mary and Clayton, say a videogame may have played a role in thedeath.


NEWS The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

Letters to the Editor

For a journalist, public rela-tions is the afterlife. It’swhere reporters go when

they pass on to the other side. Or so the media joke amongst

themselves, knowing, in unspokenterms, it isn’t so funny. Havingcrossed over, a journalist can neverreturn. Much like death, right downto the Irish wake.

PR is all about spin. Not only ofthe message, but, for a talentedfew, of the reporter. A good flack,as journalists know them (most sayflack like cop; a rare few furioustypes like pig), directs the medialike a traffic light; a bad flack caus-es accidents — bloody, politicalones are the worst.

A bad flack fails to clean up amess before it stains, a good flackcatches the food as it falls from hismaster’s mouth.

The best flack regurgitates amessage like a bird feeding itsyoung. From the nest looking up,the worst politicians smile, dayafter day, as they swallow, and likeit.

As one of our crowd recently putit, “Reporters are nerdily Liberal-minded folk. When we say, ‘Doesthe public trust us?’ we mean, ‘Dothey think we’re accurate?’”

Accuracy is the essence of thejob, but there’s more to it than that.Reporters, good ones, have stan-

dards such as balance and objec-tivity, resourcefulness and energy.Good ones piece together the newsas they harvest it; bad ones takewhat they’re given, and like it.

In the end, journalism is a hardlife all the way around. Bad looksand bawling outs, pennies andprickly pinches.

There aren’t many old reporters(hacks as they’re known) on thebeat, a young person’s job. Oncethe babies need new shoes, it’s timeto move on. Public relations is thenext natural step, often an encour-aged one. Who knows the mediabetter than one of their own? PRsalaries are better. Better hours,better benefits, better lunches(excluding the stuff they catch inmid-air), better lives.

Maybe not lives. Certainly not inthe case of the poor flack in Con-federation Building who wrote apress release last fall headlined,“Red Tape Reduction Task Forceestablished.” The flack, really andtruly, wrote about a new layer ofred tape created by government toinvestigate the red tape created bygovernment, the pot squealing onits best friend, kettle.

“Its mandate is to identify oppor-tunities to reduce, streamline oreliminate the burden of regulatory‘red tape,’ which can unintention-ally act as a barrier to new job cre-

ation and business growth, espe-cially for small business,” the newsrelease read.

Take a breath … now continue.“The work of the task force is to

be undertaken in a manner thatdoes not compromise the funda-mental public policy objectivesassociated with government’s reg-ulatory actions, such as the protec-tion of the environment or work-place health and safety.”

The task force was to present areport, a “comprehensive” one, tothe minister of Industry by this pastJune. The Sunday Independentcontacted Industry’s current flackabout the status of said report, butan answer wasn’t forthcomingprior to press time.

Apparently the red tape is thickto this day.

Flacks deserve a break, reporterstoo. They both have jobs to do,contact is almost daily. The rela-tionship is comparable to the sheepdog and coyote in the Disney car-toon. Carrying lunch pails, the dogand coyote meet in the morning,punch-in at the time clock withpleasantries, try to kill each other,desperately, from 9 to 5, and thenpunch out together at day’s endwhen the whistle blows.

“See you in the morning,Ralph,” says the sheep dog.

“Later Sam,” replies the coyote.

Nothing personal, just a tug ofwar for the truth. That’s a lesson forthe flacks with the federal FisheriesDepartment. There’s nothing sinis-ter about asking whether thesalmon science budget has beencut, although there’s somethingwrong with refusing to provide ananswer after weeks and weeks.

So much is wrong with the fish-ery these days. So much could befixed if the public was made awareof certain facts. Has a single for-eign ship ever been penalized forillegal fishing on the Grand Banks?

Is it so wrong to expect ananswer?

Flacks have a responsibility tolook after the lines of communica-tion, not to turn on and off the tapsat a whim, depending on how theinformation makes their masterlook. There’s a certain greater goodthat must be kept in mind. In theend, public relations isn’t such abad place to end up, as long as theflack walks towards the light.

Ryan Cleary is managing editorof The Sunday [email protected]

Hacks and flacks

Dear editor,

July 1, 1916 was a definingmoment for Newfoundland andLabrador in our history. Our

sense of belonging and hope areembodied in the brave spirit of ournative sons, many of whom paidthe supreme sacrifice at BeaumontHamel on that day.

As a young boy growing up inGander, I remember being atMemorial Day ceremonies with myfather, a Second World War veter-an, and mother, on a tarmac near a

hangar. It was a solemn occasion,punctuated by proud dress, wreathlaying, a gun salute, silence and abugle stir. I felt goose bumps. As Igrew, I began to understand why Isaw a tear on a man’s cheek and aquiver on another’s lips. Of 801who went over the top from trench-es, only 68 made roll call the nextmorning. Despite the tragedy andthe struggle, there was pride in ourpeople and hope for our future.There was belief in the cause tofight for what was right and demo-

cratic.Today, in our place in Canada,

we are very much in the trenches.Most of us are accepting of a cul-ture of defeatism (Conservativeleader Stephen Harper), a legacy ofdependency (Prime Minister PaulMartin) and the status quo that thecurrent Canadian political system iscontent to place us in. We’re givingup and, pretty soon, if we don’t findanother way to get our pride andconviction back, it will be too late.It’s time to turn it around.

The NLFirst party will go overthe top in the next federal election.We are forming up and organizinga wonderful array of talent for theright cause.

Our aim is not just to put in ashowing, but to win all seven rid-ings in the province, as well assome in other areas in Canada wellpopulated by ex-pats. Canada willhear our message and understandwhy we feel like we do.

Fred Wilcox,

‘Time to turn it around’The Sunday Independent welcomes letters to the editor.Letters must be 300 words inlength or less and include full

name, mailing address anddaytime contact numbers.Letters may be edited forlength, content and legal

considerations. Send your letters in care of The SundayIndependent, P.O. Box 5891,

Station C, St. John’s, NL,A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at

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© 2004 The Sunday Independent

PUBLISHER

Brian Dobbin


What did Hitler’s invasion of Rus-sia, Paul Martin’s election planand the Sound Symposium’s

harbour symphony have in common?They all looked good on paper.Now before readers lunge

for their computers to dashoff abusive e-mails, let mejust say that I am a hugeSound Symposium fan, sup-porter and admirer. I wasprivileged to know the lategreat Don Wherry, if onlyslightly, and proud to say Iwas young enough to takehim as I found him. He possessed vastamounts of those most treasured humanqualities — talent, modesty and simplehuman decency. It is only in his hugeabsence that I realize what a terrific humanhe was.

He left us this event as part of hisremarkable legacy. And what an amazingevent the Sound Symposium is. It is DonWherry’s great gift to us all. It was hisalmost single-handed effort to get us allthinking about music, and about sound.

I am a music freak and have a great pas-sion for every possible type of music (withthe exception of country music, which is— of course — an abomination in the faceof God). The Sound Symposium hasalways challenged, pushed the envelope,forced me to think outside the box (orwhatever cliché you want to use) about myidea of what music is, or can be.

Thanks to many years of attendingSound Symposium events I have grown asa music aficionado (that’s Italian for “fanwith a dictionary”). A lot of what I listenedto I thought was brilliant. Some of it Ithought was dreadful noise.

That brings me back to the harbour sym-phony — it is dreadful. I understand mar-keting. I understand that — on paper —the harbour symphony is a wonderfulthing. I know it is intriguing to visitors. Iknow this because I have had visitors sayto me “This sounds intriguing.” I haveactually sat with a few poor deluded soulswhile they smiled and said they liked it. Iunderstand that people actually make theeffort to be downtown to hear it. For thesereasons, I understand and accept the har-bour symphony.

But I don’t like it.I work on Water Street in St. John’s. I

have for many years. For some of us who

work on Water Street the harbour sympho-ny is a torment, a once-every-second year,week-long, lunch-time pain. It’s horrible.It’s noise. It doesn’t work. It is supremelyannoying.

Once upon a time, longlong ago, in the hiddenechelons of Coca-Cola’scorporate headquarters,some idiot closed his brief-case with a decisive thudand, smiling, said “Right.So it’s agreed. We willchange the formula andtaste of Coke.”

In retrospect, not such a hot idea. Nei-ther is the harbour symphony. I don’tknow about the people who “compose” forthis event but I hope they aren’t spendingany more time on it than I do on one ofthese columns. If you do, I have a messagefor you: You can’t tell.

I am sure it is fun to write. And I am sureit is a grand lark to (and I use this wordwith some trepidation) perform. But as aworking stiff I have to confess the thing isa torment. It’s always a surprise. It alwayssneaks up on me. More often than not itfinds me toiling away, hoping against hopeto maybe sneak away early on a warmsummer’s afternoon — or at least not haveto work too late. It always jumps me.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOnnnnnnk. Herp. WUUUUUUUUULLLLLL.Oh. No. Not again.When I was little I once complained, to

my extraordinarily wealthy, refined andsophisticated grandmother, that I did notlike the smell coming from a nearby fishplant. I remember it as it was the only timeshe ever struck me. She slapped me hardacross the face.

“Young man,” sniffed the wife of aWater Street merchant, “Never ever com-plain about that smell. That is the smell ofmoney.”

You can say what you like about WaterStreet merchants, but the successful onesknew where their bread was buttered.Truer words were rarely ever spoken. So Iguess I should just shut up and suffer.With all the tourism and attention theSound Symposium attracts, and the manyremarkable benefits it has brought to ourlittle town, I guess the harbour symphonyis just the sound of money.

Ivan Morgan can be reached at [email protected]

Sound of successRant and Reason by Ivan Morgan


Derek Holmes, left, and April Norman are part of the crew recreating advertisements thatonce appeared on historic downtown St. John’s buildings. The program is being paid forby private businesses, many of whom are having their old ads repainted.

Old sell

Dublin - October 2004San Diego - January 2005

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Since Memorial Universitygot up and running in 1949over 74,000 degrees have

been granted to more than 50,000students.

Of the total graduates, an esti-mated 72 per cent are currentlyliving right here in Newfound-land and Labrador.

Axel Misen, Memorial’s presi-dent, says that’s “pretty good,”similar to the statistics for otherCanadian universities.

“I don’t think we should expect90 or 100 per cent … and I thinkone can expect and should expectsome mobility,” Misen told TheSunday Independent. “Seventyper cent are staying and 30 percent are leaving, as opposed to 70per cent are leaving and 30 percent are staying.”

The program most demandedby students is medicine. Misensays there are 10 applications forevery seat in the faculty.

Pharmacy, engineering andbusiness are also popular coursesof study.

Misen says students who comefrom smaller communitiesaround the province generallydon’t return to those small com-munities, although there are nodefinite statistics to back that up.

“I think the prominent numberare staying on the Avalon Penin-sula,” he says.

When it comes to employmentrates after graduation, there’s nogeographical breakdown. How-ever, there is a 70 to 80 per centrate of employment for graduatesof Memorial, Atlantic Canada’slargest university.

Memorial turns out 2,000 freshgraduates a year.

There are certain things youjust don’t do, things thatonly the pathetically

stunned attempt.Things such as spitting into the

wind or looking down the barrel ofa loaded gun, for example. Nowstupidity is often fuelled by alcoholor drugs, but, more often than not,thick people often have a predis-position to acts of stupidness. Ifbreathing wasn’t a mostly auto-matic function, one that they havelittle control over, they’d forget tobreath — under the influence ordead-straight sober.

Such was the case in Dinning-ton, England, when David Walkerwent on a bender. After quaffingdown 15 pints of beer, the 28-year-old got into a brawl with a long-time buddy over who would payfor the ale the two consumed. Andwhile there’s no question it was aworthwhile topic to debate, theprice Walker eventually paid was alittle high.

The British boozehound ranhome from the pub in a rage andretrieved his sawed-off shotgun.To avoid the gun being detected,Walker shoved the gun down hispants — important point: Both thegun and he were loaded.

And yes, you know what hap-pened next.

One should almost be able tohear the skin-scrunching grimacesof the male gender as they readthis. Oh the pain of it all.

With the shotgun planted firmlyin his trousers, this British dunder-head stumbled back to the pub,which had closed by this time. Atsome point, the gun went off while

still pointing in the direction ofyou-know-where.

In an effort to avoid beingpopped by the British bobbies, thisshot-gun totting drunk hid the gunin a trash bin. Walker then crawled(it’s a miracle the man could evenmove, let alone remember wherehe lived) back to his house. Let’snot forget that Walker was stillunder the influence of some 15pints.

Shortly afterwards, Walker

underwent emergency surgery.Doctors still can’t say whetherWalker’s injuries will leave himsterile.

One can only hope that Walker’simproper storage of a firearm hasleft him unable to procreate. Wejust don’t need people like Walkerreproducing at will — we’ve gotenough morons spreading theirprogeny throughout this mudballwe live on. This isn’t forced steril-ization, but it is fortunate steriliza-

tion.According to his lawyer, he’s

still in “quite severe pain.” Really?You’re kidding, right?

Walker has been charged withpossession of a prohibited firearm.

His story to the cops is one of atotal memory blank (not to men-tion a complete and utter lapse ofreason). Walker says he was sim-ply too drunk to remember why hereturned home, why he got thegun, why he shoved it in his pants

and how the gun went off.Personally, it would be more dis-

turbing if this twit actually didremember why, and how he man-aged it.

The judge in the case, RobertMoore, said in his decision thatwhile there were some mitigatingcircumstances — Walker’s over-whelming level of stupidity beingat the top of the list — he simplycouldn’t lessen the mandatoryminimum sentence of five years.

“The shooting of yourself isplainly an exceptional circum-stance which is capable of reduc-ing the sentence,” Moore said.“But in this case, I am quite cer-tain, it does not justify reducing itbelow the statutory minimum.”

Let’s hope that the judge actual-ly meant that if stupidity is to be amitigating factor in the duration ofprison sentences, then the sentenceshould be increased based on thelevel of stupidity — and notdecreased.

There’s no word yet on whopaid the disputed bar tab that wasresponsible for the moment ofmonumental stupidity in the firstplace.


Is that a shotgun in your pants or are you stupidOpinions Are Like... by Jeff Ducharme

Where have all the alumni gone?

Memorial University students, for the most part, are right here at home

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Photo by Jeff Ducharme/The Sunday Independent

West coast chromeHundreds flocked to a car show recently in Stephenville. Dozens of cars and motorcycles came from as faraway as St. John’s to take part in the show that was organized by the Western Newfoundland Antique andUnique Auto Club. The show, usually held on Main Street, had to be moved into the Stephenville Domebecause of rain.

Happy Valley-Goose BayBy Bert PomeroyThe Sunday Independent

Labrador’s lone conservative MHA isat odds with Environment MinisterTom Osborne over the issue of Sun-

day hunting.John Hickey says he is disappointed with

the minister’s decision not to hold publichearings on the issue this year.

“The minister is very much aware of myviews,” says Hickey, an avid hunter andstrong advocate for lifting the ban that hasbeen in place since 1863.

“I’ve expressed my thoughts to otherministers, to the premier’s office and to therest of caucus. This is an issue that has tobe reviewed.”

The previous minister responsible forwildlife, Paul Shelley, announced sixmonths ago that public consultations wouldbe held on the issue sometime this year.Osborne, however, stated recently that

government is not prepared to rush into theissue at this time.

“This makes absolutely no sense,” saysHickey. “Sunday hunting may not be forareas like St. John’s, but it is for rural areasof Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Hickey is calling on all supporters of lift-ing the ban to lobby their MHAs to “bringthe issue back on track.”

Lifting the ban, says Hickey, wouldboost the province’s outfitting industry andbring it in line with other jurisdictions.

“We have an American hunter planning atrip and he’s considering on coming toLabrador, but when he finds out that hecan’t hunt on Sunday he looks elsewhere,”Hickey says. “This is an archaic law, andit’s time we got with the times.”

In recent years the government has lift-ed bans on shopping and selling beer atretail outlets on Sunday to boost provincialrevenues. He says lifting the ban on hunt-ing would do the same.

“Hunters put a lot of money into the

economy and they would put a lot more inif they could hunt on Sunday,” he says.

“Right now, a hunter spends hundreds ofdollars on fuel, food and ammunition andtravels many miles to hunt. He arrives athis destination on Friday night and he can’thunt because it’s dark. He hunts on Satur-day but has no luck, and on Sunday, youcan only imagine his disappointment whenhe sees Mr. Moose and he can’t shoothim.”

Although he would like to see the banlifted throughout the province, Hickey sug-gests the government should look at firstdoing it in Labrador.

“I believe we can have some compro-mises,” he says. “Sunday hunting should beallowed in remote areas of the province likeLabrador. I’d have no problem if govern-ment wanted to lift the ban in Labrador asa pilot project. I am sure it would be wellreceived.”

Hickey says he doesn’t buy argumentsthat the ban should remain in place for reli-gious reasons or to protect other outdoorenthusiasts who head out to the country onSunday.

“I have never heard of a berry picker

being shot in the wilds in December or Jan-uary or any other time of the year,” he says.

“If you don’t want to hunt on Sundaybecause of your religious beliefs, then whycondemn those who do?”

Aboriginal people are permitted to hunton Sunday, Hickey adds, even if they arenot from this province.

“This past winter we had aboriginalhunters from Quebec come in to Labradorand take caribou on Sunday, yet a personwho lives in Labrador year-round will beprosecuted if he does the same.”

The ban, adds Hickey, has also madehonest people criminals.

“The truth of the matter is that there arepeople out there hunting on Sunday. Theyshould not be in a position of choosingwhether or not to break the law.

“This regulation is senseless and it has tobe reviewed.”

Minister Osborne did not return calls foran interview.


Senseless regulationLabrador Tory MHA disappointed with decision not to review Sunday hunting issue

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If you are interested in becoming a Sunday Independentcarrier, fill out the information below and mail to:

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“This past winter we had aboriginal hunters from

Quebec come in to Labradorand take caribou on Sunday,

yet a person who lives inLabrador year-round will be prosecuted if he does

the same.”

— MHA John Hickey

Photo by Bert Pomeroy/For The Sunday Independent

John Hickey


Two shaggy, 20-somethingmen sit at the mouth ofMcMurdo’s Ally, facing

Water Street in downtown St.John’s.

A modest cardboard sign — onethat’s travelled from Ontario withthe Peterborough natives — layson the sidewalk in front of them,announcing they are travelling andin need of money for food.

Greg Hebdron and Jeff Cartthank passers-by, lawyers andbankers and other well-to-dos,who place little mounds of quar-ters, dimes and even pennies intheir outstretched hands and on thesign.

Mike Caine is another home-less-by-choice traveller. Like Heb-dron and Cart, he decided to trav-el the country before “growing up”and “settling down.”

Caine says it took him twoweeks and seven rides to get to St.John’s from British Columbia —just him and his tent.

The men sleep under the stars inplaces like Bannerman and Victo-ria parks. They move to homelessshelters (or any available couch)when the weather’s bad.

Figures aren’t available to showthe number of homeless in the city.It’s generally believed the home-less population rises in the sum-mer.

For these people there are shel-ters, temporary or emergencyhousing for relief from the ele-ments. For random travellers, how-ever, there’s no hostel — a placefor backpackers to sleep and get ameal for a cheaper price than amotel.

Jim Crockwell of Choices ForYouth, a non-profit shelter in St.

John’s for young men, had to turnaway Hebdron and Cart recentlybecause all the beds at the shelterwere full.

He says he sent them to theWiseman Centre, another emer-gency shelter.

The Choices For Youth centrehas only been open since May andalready Crockwell has had five (orsix) travellers. He says there’s atrend developing.

“They’re going cross countryand then they end up in St. John’sand they’re looking for the hostelsituation down here,” Crockwellsays. “There probably needs to beone opened here in the summermonths.”

Crockwell says the homelesstravellers haven’t been an incon-venience.

“As much as we’re not a hostel,the guys that we’ve housed havebeen very low maintenance, theycome and they do their thing,they’re never much trouble.”

He says the shelter staff andclients are entertained by the sto-ries of the travellers.

The facility has only nine beds,however, and Crockwell doesn’tknow how long the facility cancontinue to provide non-emer-gency services to the homeless-by-choice.

On a recent weekday night, Cartand Hebdron say they’re staying atthe Wiseman Centre, knowingthere will be a hot meal and softbed for them there until someonein greater need comes calling.

Caine says a hostel would begood for others but he’s indepen-

dent and avoids homeless shelters.He chooses to sleep in his tent oron any floor that’s offered.

He says it’s the St. John’s hospi-tality that keeps him here. He can

make $60 a day on the street andhas three friendly homes to visitfor a meal or shower when heneeds it.

Hebdron and Cart say there’slittle money to be made in the citybut don’t complain as they haveenough to eat. They say the mostthey have made in a day is $50,whereas in Montreal they couldmake upwards of $200 a day.

“Squeegee is looked down uponhere,” says Cart, explaining thatplenty of money can be made onthe streets of big cities cleaning carwindows.”

Caine points at his sign thatreads, “Travelling and hungry,anything helps.”

He says he’d rather someonebuy him a coffee or a meal andhave a chat with him. He neverdirectly asks for change — choos-ing “Nice day, eh?” or “Smilingreally does make your day go bet-ter” — as invitations for donations.

It’s too bad Caine, Cart andHebdron didn’t keep journals oftheir travels — it would mak agreat book and an even better bed-time story for their children whenthey finally do “grow up” and “set-tle down.”



John Efford’s month on thefederal election trail left himwith a bad taste in his mouth.

The federal minister of NaturalResources is fuming and says he’sjust the man to clear the waters.

“You’re talking to the championnow,” Efford told The Sunday Inde-pendent when asked if he wasgoing to champion the cause ofcleaning up the province’s watersupplies.

After a month on the hustings,Efford says what he saw come outof the taps in communities through-out his riding of Avalon was simplyunacceptable. The quality of thewater in the Bellevue area and St.Brides on the Southern Shore final-ly sent Efford over the edge.

“The water down there, youwouldn’t even give it to an animalto drink let alone expect a human todrink it,” says Efford. “They cannotdrink the water, I don’t even knowso much if they could shower intoit.”

There are approximately 80 com-munities across the province thatdon’t meet federal water qualitystandards. An equal number stillexceed acceptable levels of tri-halomethanes (THMs) — a knowncarcinogen.

“I don’t know how serious it isand how much damage it’s doing topeople, but I know one thing: Iwouldn’t drink the water during theelection and I wouldn’t expect any-one else to drink it.”

Efford says he intends to meetwith the province in an effort toclear the waters for Newfoundlan-

ders and Labradorians.“It’s a federal, provincial prob-

lem,” says Efford. “It’s not thepoint of laying responsibility onany one person or any one organi-zation or any one town or any onegovernment — municipal, federalor provincial.”

Provincial Environment Minis-ter Tom Osborne says he welcomesEfford’s comments and echoes hisconcerns.

“We’ve taken the issue of water(quality) very seriously and it wasan issue for our leader Premier(Danny) Williams when he becameleader of our party and premier ofthe province. It was a top priorityfor him as leader and for myself asminister.”

Osborne says his department haslaunched an aggressive strategy totrain municipalities in water disin-

fection. When chlorine is used todisinfect water, it reacts with organ-ic matter and creates THMs.

“ … first and foremost we focuson disinfection of water, that is thesafest thing you can do with water.If we are not able to properly dis-infect the water, then we look to (a)boil order which will ensure from abacteriological perspective, thewater is safe to drink.”

According to government’s ownfigures, 17 per cent of communitiesin the province have no chlorina-tion system or ones that aren’t oper-ating.

Environment will spend $1.3million on water quality this year,which will include a number ofmobile-training units.

The units will criss-cross theprovince and train municipalemployees responsible for chlori-

nating water supplies.Municipal Affairs will spend an

additional $250 million on munici-pal infrastructure — much of it onwater systems.

Efford says there is $69 millionsitting in the federal/provincialinfrastructure fund and he wants tosee that money directed towardsfixing water quality in thisprovince. The program is costshared 50/50 between the provinceand the feds.

“I mean this is the year 2004,”says Efford. “With all the technol-ogy and all the money that’s beingspent in Newfoundland andLabrador on many other thingsother than clean drinking water,maybe it’s time we started concen-trating on the most serious problemfirst and deal with others after-wards.”

Water not fit‘Wouldn’t give it to an animal to drink,’ Efford says

Homeless by choiceIncreasing number of ‘adventure tourists’ living on the streets of St. John’s


Greg Hebdron and Jeff Cart form Peterborough, Ontario.


Aplan to introduce a walk-in clinic at the Janewayemergency department

has been put on the back burner.“(It) has been unusual to have

these extremely long waits, sowe’ve not progressed with itbecause the need from our viewhas not been there on a frequentbasis enough to warrant it,” Dr.Wayne Andrews told The SundayIndependent.

In documents obtained under theprovince’s Freedom of Informationact, Andrews, co-clinical chief ofthe child health program, wrote,“We need a clinic where thesepatients can be seen — (it) wouldincrease the standard of care.”

But Andrews says things havechanged since last October, whenthe memo was written, and theJaneway rarely sees patients wait-ing for more than two hours, aperiod of time deemed acceptableby the Health Care Corporation ofSt. John’s, which runs the hospital.

Peak emergency hours at theJaneway are 7 to 9 p.m. The intentof the clinic would be to deal withless serious health problems.According to a recent StatisticsCanada study, 3.6 million Canadi-ans don’t have a family doctor andmany are forced to rely on hospitalemergency rooms for health care.

“I started this two years agowhen we did have, at one pointduring the wintertime, you know,four- or five- or six-hour waits, butthat does not seem to be the issueright now,” Andrews said in theinterview.

In another December 2003memo, Andrews discussed the

issue with the Janeway’s directorof emergency, Dr. Carlos Enriquez.

“Some weeks ago I believe Isent you an e-mail asking you toconsider how we can have addi-tional coverage in the ER of theJaneway when it is extremely busyor how we can develop a walk-inclinic,” wrote Andrews.

In response, Enriquez said it wassimply a matter of not having theresources.

“There (have) been numerousmeetings trying to deal with thisproblem and possible solutionshave been discussed, but the fact isnothing has been done because thebottom line is that requires moneyto resolve it,” wrote Enriquez

Andrews says it’s not only amatter of money, but who will staffthe clinic.

“It becomes a very logisticalissue of getting the persons to do(it) within what period of time,who’s going to fund it, becausefunding is often an issue.”

While wait times at the Janewaymay currently be acceptable and a

bright spot in the province’s healthcare system, Andrews knows that aparent with a sick child in theirarms doesn’t see it that way(patients are graded on a slidingscale of one to five, one being themost serious).

“In fact, someone who is a one,they’re in a life threatening posi-tion and five could be a sore toe. Itcould be a cold, I mean things thatare important to the family, but inthe scheme of things are way downon the list of priorities,” saysAndrews.

In 2003, Janeway ER staffreported 15 to 20 people per daywalk out due to excessive waittimes.

According to Enriquez, bringingin more pediatricians during peakhours would reduce wait times,although the cost could reach$200,000 a year.

“Those are the most reasonablesolutions, but again, do we havethe money?” Enriquez asked in amemo to Andrews. “If we (had) themoney, as it is, we do not have themanpower so (we’ll) need torecruit more physicians.”

Enriquez even suggested doctorswho don’t specialize in pediatricshelp out during peak times. Pedia-tricians at the Janeway gave theplan a thumbs down.

Andrews says if wait times doincrease again, they have a numberof options waiting in the wings.

“There are all sorts of optionswhen trying to reduce wait times:More doctors in the emergencydepartment, nurse practitioners,which is an effective way of seeingthe lower grades of illnesses, walk-in clinics or fast-track clinics orhaving GPs (general practitioners)open clinics in the hospital.”


By Clare-Marie GosseFor The Sunday Independent

Newfoundland and Labra-dor’s famous floatingicons are on their way out

for another year, melting away fastto memory.

Luc Desjardins, an iceberg fore-caster with the Canadian Ice Ser-vice, says although iceberg num-bers are still extensive along theLabrador coast, they’re “meltingquite nicely.”

There are currently only 10bergs off the island’s east coast.Desjardins says iceberg numbershave been fairly high this year,which isn’t out of the ordinary con-sidering numbers vary from year toyear.

“Definitely, at the beginning ofJune we had a tremendous amountof population off the coast and thatlasted pretty well until the end ofJune,” he says. “By the third weekthe bergs had already started melt-ing quite rapidly, so we were seeinga natural attrition.”

Over his career, Desjardins saysmanagement of the unpredictableicebergs has been efficient enoughto avert any serious disasters. Thisyear is no exception, although therehave been some unofficial reportsof damage incurred by ships col-liding with bergs.

The main concerns of CanadianIce Services, he says, have cen-tered around oil platforms on the

Grand Banks. “We had some ice island frag-

ment that showed up again towardsthe early part of the spring and itdid cause a bit of concern for theoffshore oil industries,” Desjardinsadmits. Fortunately, the islandbroke up into various manageablepieces, which stayed out of theimmediate path of the platforms,meaning they didn’t have to bemoved and the oil flows remainedintact.

Desjardins does mention one sig-nificantly unusual iceberg incidentthat occurred just over 10 yearsago, when the Queen Elizabeth IIreported a surprising encounter.

“I remember a huge icebergsighted in the middle of the ocean,halfway between here and England,it was reported by the Queen Eliz-abeth II, and that piece was humon-gous … six kilometres by five kilo-metres by 400 metres high.”

He says it was “very strange”

because such a huge berg shouldhave been detected before itreached “halfway across Europe,”leading many people to questionthe validity of the sighting. Theincident was never confirmedbecause the original report to Cana-dian Ice Services inexplicably van-ished, and the QEII’s company inEngland oddly refused to discloseits log.

Marketing specialist SandyHickman says the beauty and

unpredictability of icebergs givestourism in the province good mar-keting fodder.

“They are mother nature’s behe-moth,” he says. “The only placeyou can see them is here, and if youcombine that with the humpbackwhales … well that’s a big thing forus, there’s no question about it.”

Hickman says the local tourismindustry doesn’t keep official trackof how much money icebergs gen-erate, but that it’s definitely signif-icant.

He says the further north you go,the better the iceberg sightings are.Popular places for tourists includeSt Anthony, Twillingate, and theViking site of L’Anse aux Mead-ows.

Iceberg expert Stephen Bruneaurecently released an updated fifthedition of his book Icebergs ofNewfoundland and Labrador, pub-lished by Newfoundland andLabrador Tourism. The small bookserves up a wealth of information,citing historical memoirs of firstencounters, displays of pho-tographs, maps and charts, andsome little known snippets of triv-ia.

“The average iceberg weight forthe Grand Banks area is one to twohundred thousand tonnes, which isan iceberg about the size of a cubic15-storey building,” the book reads.

As for the average age of an ice-berg, try 15,000 years.

‘Mother nature’s behemoth’Don’t expect many more icebergs to float by the province’s shores, the season’s almost done

Rev. Douglas L. BestOct. 23, 1920 – Jul. 16, 2004

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23

“His life on earth was a personification of his love for God, his family, friends and parishioners. In turn he will be

forever remembered and ever loved”

Until we meet again.


Walk-in health careIdea of “fast tracking” children through Janeway ER put on hold

“There (have) beennumerous meetings

trying to deal with thisproblem and possiblesolutions have been

discussed, but the fact is nothing has been

done because the bottomline is that requires

money to resolve it.”

— Dr. Carlos Enriquez

MONDAY, JULY 12Vessels arrived: Turaq, Canada,

from Iqualiut; Stena Forteller, Swe-den, from Halifax; Maersk Chigni-to, Canada, from Hibernia; AtlanticKingfisher, Canada, from TerraNova; Alex Gordon, Canada, fromWhite Rose.

Vessels departed: Maersk Pla-centia, Canada, to Hibernia; Cabot,Canada, to Montreal; L.E.Niahm,Ireland, to sea; Maersk Chignecto,Canada, to Hibernia; Shamook,Canada, to Hearts Content; MarineEagle, Canada, to Harbour Grace;Marine Voyager, Canada, to Har-bour Grace.

TUESDAY, JULY 13Vessels arrived: Alex Gordon,

Canada, from sea; Rotterdam,Netherlands, from New York;Dove, Canada, from Wiffin Head.

Vessels departed: AtlanticOsprey, Canada, to Glomar GrandBanks; Stena Foreteller, Sweden, toCorner Brook; CSO Constructor,Bahamas, to White Rose; AtlanticHawk, Canada, to Bay Bulls; Rot-

terdam, Netherlands, to Greenland.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14Vessels arrived: Akademik Ioffe,

Russian, from St. Pierre.Vessels departed: Atlantic Beech,

Canada, to Bay Bulls.

THURSDAY, JULY 15Vessels arrived: Atlantic Osprey,

Canada, from White Rose; MaerskChancellor, Canada, from WhiteRose; Cicero, Canada, from Mon-treal; Atlantic Beech, Canada, fromBay Bulls.

Vessels departed: Atlantic King-fisher, Canada, to Terra Nova OilField; Akademik Ioffe, Russia, toIqualiut; Dove, American, to WhiteRose.

FRIDAY, JULY 16Vessels arrived: NoneVessels departed: Maersk Chan-

cellor, Canada to Grand Banks;Atlantic Beech, Canada, to CouteauBay; Hudson Bay Explorer, Cana-da, to Bay Bulls; Tuvaq, Canada, toMontreal.


When it comes to the fish-ery, I feel a bit like oneof those washed up

actors hawking snake oil on theboob tube.

“I’m not a doctor, but I used toplay one on TV,” the old line goes.Well, I’m not a fisherman or amarine biologist, but, as a reporter,I used to cover fishery stories.

I realize fishermen hold a fargreater stake in the industry than Ido. Still, I’ve always been a bitwary of the notion among some ofthem that the fishery is an exclusiveclub that won’t tolerate scrutinyfrom lay people.

I recall one Bay of Islands’ fish-erman complaining to me that ataxi driver, for example, has noright to comment on the intricaciesof the fishery.

Well, I feel that a cabbie pos-sesses one essential quality thatmany fishermen and politicianssometimes lack — detachment. Ataxi driver’s income or politicalfuture does not hinge on whethershe’s allowed to chase down thelast few cod that remain off ourshores. While the taxi driver maylack expertise and experience, shecan at least provide some observa-tion.

At no time was the need fordetachment more evident than inthe debate over whether to reopenthe northern Gulf of St. Lawrencecod fishery this year.

Gulf cod are not quite on death’sdoorstep, but they have been beat-ing a path toward it for many years.

Northern cod are considered anendangered species; Gulf cod havebeen classified as threatened. (Afew steps away from extinction.)

Last year, former federal Fish-eries Minister Robert Thibault wasso alarmed at the state of the Gulfcod fishery that he decided to closeit — despite an outcry from EastCoast fishermen and politicians.

“Our scientific assessment paintsa very grim picture of the future ofthese stocks if fishing is to contin-ue,” Thibault said in April 2003.

Today, a little more than a yearlater, and the picture supposedlyisn’t so grim anymore. CurrentFisheries minister, Geoff Regan,announced in May of this year a3,500-tonne quota for the northernGulf cod fishery and a 3,000-tonnequota for the southern Gulf.

Critics accused Regan of playingpolitics with a threatened specieson the eve of a federal electioncampaign. The minister respondedby saying last year’s conservationmeasures had helped the stockrebound to the point where a smallfishery could be justified.

I don’t pretend to be God. I can’tsee inside Mr. Regan’s soul todetermine whether he is sincere.However, the fact remains thatcredible organizations such as thefederal government’s own Com-mittee on the Status of EndangeredWildlife in Canada (COSEWIC)still regard northern Gulf codthreatened.

COSEWIC designated thespecies as such in May 2003, andthe scientific data collected sincethen has not convinced the commit-tee to change its mind.

Regan based his decision on therecommendations of the FisheriesResource Conservation Council —a group made up of DFO scientistsand industry stakeholders. Thissame group recommended openingthe fishery last year as well, butThibault chose to close it down any-way.

Regan would be remiss in hisduties if he did not consult with theindustry. Input from the major play-ers is essential; they have the mostat stake and should have consider-able say. But are they detachedenough to look beyond survivingthis year?

The Gulf cod fishery means agreat deal to communities on thesouthwest coast and NorthernPeninsula. While some expertsinsist the fishery should be sus-pended for another eight or nineyears, many people on the westcoast legitimately wonder how theycould hold out that long.

So, Regan had a difficult choiceto make between what the scientistswere telling him and what the fish-ermen were demanding. He choseto give the northern Gulf fishermena 3,500-tonne quota, whichincludes fish caught in the sentinelfishery and bycatches from otherfisheries. Compared to past quotas,that’s not a lot of fish. Then again,there aren’t as many fish aroundanymore.

The season is starting latebecause fishermen couldn’t agreeon whether to limit the fishery tohook-and-line or to allow gill nets.Such nets, when they’re lost at sea,continue killing fish for years.Nonetheless, Regan decided toallow them.

Somewhere in downtown CornerBrook a cabbie rolled her eyeswhen she heard the news. But whatdo people like us know? We’reonly hacks, and hack drivers.

Frank Carroll is a journalisminstructor at the College of theNorth Atlantic’s Stephenville cam-pus.

He can be reached at [email protected]

Secrets of a Fisheriesminister’s soul

West Words by Frank Carroll

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July 18, 2004

The Sunday Independent

IN CAMERA

‘Everybody likes whales’Photos by Paul Daly/Story by Stephanie Porter

IN CAMERA The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

Code ofconduct

Eyes widen, mouths open and fingers start to point as ahumpback surfaces nearby, flashing his dorsal fin andcurved back. Another. And again.

It’s a few minutes coming, but finally, the money shot:A whale dives, flicking his tail sideways towards the boat.

The passengers applaud — and hold on tightly to therailings as the swells suddenly grow and the boat dipssharply.

It’s time to move on to calmer waters, into Witless Bay,where the captain has spotted a couple more whales.

An even better show: A mother humpback and her calf,at play. The youngster rolls, flaps his pectoral (side) flip-pers, and even breaches out of the water, while the momsticks close, pulling off a few tricks of her own.

“That’s an example of how comfortable the mother iswith us being here,” the captain points out. “She’s just let-ting her calf play as he’d like.”

Jon Lien, an honourary professor of research at Memo-rial and renowned whale expert, also of the St. John’s-based Whale Research Group, has been involved in thestudy of wildlife/tour boat interaction, both in this area andin St. Anthony.

“The study is not yet complete,” he says. “But it looksas though, if practices in the code of conduct are adoptedby the operators, it does minimize the impact of the boat’spresence on the whales.

“Basically, if the boat allows the animal to control theinteraction, it can approach the boat as closely as it likes.And they do this for inexplicable reasons. But if the boatschase and pursue the animal it does affect their behaviour.”

Lien says Witless Bay is a critical habitat for whales,offering an ideal place to care for their calves, feed after awinter of fasting, and rest. As such, the area must be pre-served. To date, he says long-term studies on the effectstour operations may have on the animals haven’t been car-ried out.

As for the impact on the whale watchers, Lien says pre-liminary studies show that little real education occurs onthe boats — although those aboard generally describe theexperience as educational.

“Whale watching is popular and combines the experi-ences, novel for many, of being out on the ocean, seeingthe bird islands and birds … unfortunately, there are veryfew studies that demonstrate gains in conservation attitudesand conserving behaviours.”

Lien makes another key point, certainly not lost on theO’Briens, who continue to provide funding for some of theresearch. “As people really like whales and don’t wantthem harmed, the code (of conduct) is really a marketingtool for the operators.

“Because the customers are concerned about impactinganimals, they also are the best means to ensure compliancewith proper boat behaviour.”

As Joe O’Brien puts it, “We need to do everything wecan do to make the research credible so that we can assureeveryone that we’re not having a negative impact —because everybody worries, ‘Am I doing somethingwrong?’”

O’Brien reflects on the changes to the area since tourismpicked up, remembering when, not even two decades ago,visitors could barely find a place to buy a cup of coffeesouth of St. John’s. And he never imagined how his ownfamily business could grow.

“Looking back, no, 20 years ago I had no idea that I’dhave a cocktail cruise built on a beach and a dinner showand 10 actors coming out from the city to create a murdermystery show.

“No, I never thought we’d have people from Seattlewant to experience the Newfoundland experience … buttimes change and you’ve got to change with the times.”

The two-hour tour has stretched to two-and-a-half hours.As the boat makes its trip back to Bay Bulls, Angel pro-vides a little more entertainment with a lively Screech-in.

Sun-kissed and smiling, everyone on board appearshappy with the trip, looking back through digital pictures,already reminiscing about what they saw.

“A whale in the water with his tail stuck up to tourists,you can’t buy it,” says O’Brien. “Everybody likes awhale.”

[email protected]

From page 1

The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004 IN CAMERA

The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

The Gallery is a regular feature in The Sunday Independent. For further information, or to submit proposals, please call (709) 726-4639, or e-mail [email protected]

Margaret Ryall

Margaret Ryall says she’s comingfull circle. She’s about to openan art exhibition that will

“bridge a 30-year interruption in art mak-ing” — and she’s holding it in Duntara,the small Bonavista Bay communitywhere she was born.

The title of the show — and the themeeach of the 24 pieces in it addresses — isTransitions. Her first solo exhibitioncomes as she’s settling into her secondcareer.

“It’s definitely a transition in life,” shesays. “I’m going from a very structuredcareer, to breaking out and trying to dowhat I probably should have done in my20s.”

Ryall was always interested in art anddesign as a child. She designed hookedrugs, designed and sewed her own clothes,and redid her bedroom as many times asher mother would allow. As a teenager,she wanted to become a fashion designer,but received little encouragement fromher family and the community.

She turned, instead, to education — andsays she had a fulfilling and rewardingcareer as a teacher, education administra-tor, and curriculum specialist. She stilldoes some teaching at Memorial Univer-sity (“I can’t let go,” she says).

When Ryall retired from her positionwith the Avalon East School Board threeyears ago, she gave herself a gift: A three-week painting vacation in France withsome friends.

“Standing in the fields in France, Idecided I had what it took,” she says. “Idon’t do anything in half measures … thisis not a hobby.”

Since then, Ryall has taken more artclasses, done her own research, andbecome familiar with a variety of media,including acrylics, collage, and oil pastel.“I still don’t know where I’m going,” shesays, “but I had to create a lot of experi-ences. I’m equally comfortable in anymedium; very often I choose the mediumto match what I want the piece to say.”

The floral pieces in Transitions comefrom the artist’s observations and reflec-tions on growth and change in the naturalworld — and how it relates to the changesin her own environment. She says mount-ing the exhibit in her studio by the sea feltnatural, the appropriate backdrop for herwork.

Ryall sounds relaxed. She speaks likesomeone who is at ease with herself andwhere she is. She agrees with the assess-ment.

“I had no idea what was in my mind,”she says. “I had a very busy job, I didn’tknow how much of my personal beingwas consumed by my work.

“Now my mind is decluttered, and I seethings I’ve never noticed before.”

She appreciates the gifts of time andflexibility retirement offers her.

“I’ve only just begun,” she says. “I’malready planning a second exhibition.After two years of painting any and everyold thing in any and every way possible,I’m finally finding direction, and generat-ing a lot of ideas.”

Transitions opens at Ryall’s SeasideStudio in Duntara, Trinity Bay, on July 25.It runs until Aug. 22.

“If you can find Duntara on the mapyou will find me,” Ryall laughs. “We’rethe last house on the point.”

Visual Artist

Gallery

July 18, 2004


BUSINESS & COMMERCE

Paul Daly/The Sunday Independent

John Cabot stands with the strikers during this spring’s public-sector strike.

‘Ripples through the entire economy’for their survival, when profits aren’t fat.Well now that you see that there are largerprofits you’re probably not only moreinclined to strike, but to bargain a little bitharder because you know the companiesare able to bargain too,” says May. “Youwant to get a little piece of the pie.”

In a recent statement, Employment Min-ister Joan Burke said the number of collec-tive agreements expiring this year is up byas much as 30 per cent compared to previ-ous years, “making 2004 a busy time forthe province’s labour relations agency.” Todate, Burke says, the agency has success-fully negotiated 45 contracts.

Those contracts don’t get the publicity,however, not like a 28-day public-sectorstrike or three months of job action byAliant employees.

Reg Anstey, president of the Newfound-land and Labrador Federation of Labour,has another theory as to why unions andemployers are clashing across picket linesand bargaining tables: The provincial gov-ernment’s successful, hard-line stance withNAPE and CUPE.

“In bargaining, there’s a pendulum thatsort of swings back and forth,” Anstey toldThe Sunday Independent. “You got a peri-od of time when things go fairly easily atthe bargaining table and then you get intomuch more difficult times like now …when you’ve got governments taking thatkind of approach on collective bargainingthat spreads into the private sector as well,”

Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan dis-agrees with the Anstey’s line of thinking,claiming the province has nothing to dowith private businesses and their collective

bargaining.“The business sector doesn’t always have

to go hand in hand with the governmentsector,” Sullivan says.

Businesses operate to make a profit, hesays, whereas the government just wants abalanced budget.

Wade Locke, another economist atMemorial, makes the point that labourunrest often causes a negative perception

when trying to attract business to theprovince.

“If you get a reputation as being in anarea where there’s a lot of militancy and alot of strikes and a lot of downtime, that isnot good in the overall scheme of things,”says Locke. “It’s a piece of information thatmay have implications for them (businessowners) and they process it whatever waythey process it,” he says, adding investors

may walk away from the province becauseof the labour unrest.

Sullivan, May and Anstey disagree withLocke’s theory, saying any business personwith any sense would look at the trackrecord and make an informed decisionbefore making any long-term investment.

“My experience with people of capitalwho want to invest is that they’re not entire-ly stupid and they can kind of read and theycan read a little bit of history and, in fact, ifyou were to look at last year we had thebest (least amount of strikes) record inCanada,” says Anstey.

May says the positive aspects that union-ized work brings to the province far out-weighs the temporary slowdowns in pro-duction.

“Unions don’t necessarily lower produc-tivity as many people think,” says May.“They do increase wages and benefits andthey do, in fact, reduce wage disparitiesbased on gender and race.”

May says there are negative factors too.“The workers aren’t earning the same

income (when on strike) and we saw this inspades with the public-sector strike … thatthis just ripples right through the entireeconomy. The workers aren’t getting theirpay cheques, they aren’t out there buyingautomobiles, they’re not spending the sameamount on fast food — so those groups layoff workers and this is what the economistsrefer to lovingly as the multiplier effect.”

Anstey says unionized workers willalways compete with non-unionizedemployees who often work at cheaperwages and without benefits.

“We’re not going to put in jeopardy allthose things we stood on picket lines for, tobid lower in order to retain our work.”

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Government of Newfoundland and Labrador:Newfoundland Association of Public and Private Employees and the CanadianUnion of Public Employees — Legislated back to work after 28-day strikeThe Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers Association — deferred negotiations andwill continue under previous contract.Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses Association — deferred negotiations and willcontinue under previous contract.Association of Allied Health Professionals — deferred negotiations and will contin-ue under previous contract.The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Association — extended negotiations toavoid binding arbitration.Abitibi-ConsolidatedCommunications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union — Ratified agreement on Fri-day nightIron Ore Company of CanadaUnited Steelworkers of America — Currently in negotiationsAliantCommunications energy and Paperworkers’ Union — Talks broke off Friday andfour-month old strike continues.Wabush MinesUnited Steelworkers of America — On strike since July 12.Corner Brook paper mill, KrugerInternational Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers — Work-to-rulestrategy currently in place.Canadian government — Parks CanadaPublic Service Alliance of Canada — Currently in negotiations and in legal strikeposition Aug. 2.

This year’s job action

From page 1

BUSINESS The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

The Sunday Independent is now located in the Neal Building, 50 Harbour Drive, 3rd Floor.

Drop in and pick up a copy today!

WE’VE MOVED!

Home at last

Myles-Leger bankrupt, but first-time home buyer finally moving in


Joanne Fennelly finally gother home. Fennelly, who hadplanned to move into her first

house May 20, has been in limboever since: Before the deal couldclose, Myles-Leger — the devel-opers of her future property on theformer Belvedere Orphanage landin St. John’s — filed for protec-tion from its creditors.

Between late May and now, shesays she had very little idea whatwas going on, only that she had toput her belongings in storage,move back in with her folks, andwait.

A meeting of Myles-Leger cred-itors was held in St. John’s on July15. During the proceedings, thecreditors defeated the company’srepayment proposal, meaning thecompany is considered bankruptand its assets will be sold off bythe receiver to pay its debts.Secured creditors will be the firstto be repaid.

Fennelly signed the closingpapers on her home the very nextday.

“I think they started the process(Thursday),” she says. “That wasthe date on the documents …There are three of us that will bemoving in on my side of the streetnow.”

There are others, consideredunsecured creditors — including acouple on the other side of thestreet, where the homes are not asnear completion — that aren’t solucky, and may not even havetheir entire deposit returned tothem.

Fennelly is, of course, pleasedthe whole thing is over with. Buthaving been through the ordeal ofthe last two months, she’s still a lit-tle hesitant.

“Now I haven’t got the keys yet.I’m waiting until I hear from myreal estate agent again and I getthem to really celebrate,” she says.

“But I’m pretty sure I’ll be mov-ing in this weekend … It’s abouttime.”

Premier Danny Williams says he wants tostrengthen the relationship between Irelandand the province, but not through Toronto’s

Pearson International Airport.Since his recent trip to ink business and cultural

agreements with Ireland, the premier has been push-ing for a direct air link back and forth across thepond to the Emerald Isle.

In a meeting with the Taoiseach, Prime MinisterBertie Ahern of Ireland, Williams discussed theflight plan.

“I’ve also raised an issue with him on the possi-ble air link between Ireland and Newfoundland andLabrador,” the premier told The Sunday Indepen-dent just hours after landing in St. John’s via theToronto hub.

According to Williams, visitors have to flythrough England to travel to Newfoundland. An AirCanada spokeswoman told The Independent there isa flight from Toronto to Dublin that continues toShannon, Ireland, and back to Toronto.

“Air Canada currently has no plans to service thatroute,” she says.

Michael Ahern, the Irish minister for internation-al trade, also promoted the concept of a direct flightduring a recent visit.

“That would establish a real direct presence,” saysWilliams.

Recently, Continental Airlines established a directflight from St. John’s to Newark Airport in NewYork.

— The Sunday Independent

Premier wants direct connection to luck of the Irish

Air Canada’s creditors are in line for poten-tially lucrative equity stakes in the newcompany, say analysts expecting them to

vote next month in favour of the airline’s plan toreturn to profitability.

The last of Air Canada’s unions ratified a cost-cutting agreement with the airline this week, leav-ing an Aug. 17 creditors vote in Montreal on theairline’s proposed restructuring plan the remaininghurdle before it can fly out of court protectionbefore its Sept. 30 target date.

At first glance, the plan would appear unpalat-able to creditors, who claimed to be owed billionsat the start of the restructuring process in April

2003 and are in line to receive as little as six centsfor every dollar they were owed.

But in exchange, they’ll get a nearly 46 per centstake in the new airline and the right to purchasean additional 42 per cent stake that will be under-written by Germany’s Deutsche Bank.

That stake could be worth plenty if Air Cana-da’s business plan succeeds — and some industryobservers are betting that it will.

“I see plenty of upside — no debt and a 30 percent (reduction) on costs, and really no interna-tional competition,’’ says Rick Erickson, an inde-pendent airline analyst based in Calgary.

— Canadian Press

Air Canada flying high?

The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004 BUSINESS

Off the shelvesLiquor corporation pulls magazine off racks; ad mistakes Newfoundland for Cape Breton


Newfoundland looks anawful lot like Cape Bre-ton in the latest ads pro-

moting the province’s best-known rum — Screech, an adcampaign created by an Ameri-can firm hired by the liquor cor-poration.

A misprint in the Newfound-land Liquor Corporation’s publi-cation Enjoy shows a dotted linefrom Jamaica, where the liquor ismade, to the province, where itsbottled.

Only the dotted line pointsdirectly at Cape Breton, withNewfoundland printed over it.

The liquor corporation haspulled copies of Enjoy off storeshelves, although 60 per cent ofcopies are already in circulation.

Melissa Watton, spokeswomanfor the corporation, says a draftcopy of the ad was printed in thesummer edition of the magazine.

“In June we became aware thatthe current edition inadvertentlyfeatured a draft ad on the backcover instead of the final proofed

ad,” she says. “The message ofthe ad was understandable andfine however, there was a graph-ic error that we picked up on.”

On May 28, The Sunday Inde-pendent reported that the newScreech ad campaign cost$55,000 Cdn, a design contractthat was awarded to SwardlickMarketing Group based in Port-

land, Oregon.At the time, Watton said the

American firm was hired becausethe corporation was trying tolaunch Screech in new marketsoutside the province.

Ryan Research and Communi-cations, a St. John’s-based com-pany, was contracted to conductmarket research in the province,Nova Scotia and Ontario.

“It’s unfortunate that the draftwas published but steps havebeen taken to ensure the proper adis placed in all future publica-tions,” Watton says, adding thecorporation would not be reprint-ing the magazine (or at least theparticular Screech ad) because ofthe high cost.

According to Watton, there has-n’t been any reaction one way orthe other to the misprint.

The new label created in theStates includes a picture of old St.John’s with fishing schoonersmoored in the harbour.

A compass design is inlaid overthe picture “Famous Newfound-land Screech” across the top.

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Changes at workers’ compBy Alisha MorrisseyThe Sunday Independent

Aprogram to rehabilitate injuredworkers at the Miller Centre in St.John’s closed July 9, but a similar

service, offered by a private company,should be up and running by month’s end.

Injured workers have been treated at theLeonard A. Miller Centre for more than adecade, but when the Workers’Assessmentand Diagnostic Centre shut down there wasconfusion as to whether workers’ compen-sation was privatizing its services.

George Tilley, CEO of the Health CareCorporation of St. John’s, which runs cityhospitals, says when workers’ comp gavenotice of a public tender early in 2004 thehealth care corp. decided not to bid.

Valerie Royle, executive director ofworkers compensation (formally known asthe Workers’ Health, Safety CompensationCommission), says the changes are not a“privatization.”

She says the service was always private.

It just so happened that the private servicewas run by a public institution, namely thehealth care corporation. Royle says thepublic tender process ensures a fair playingfield.

Tilley says there won’t be any layoffs asa result of the service changing hands,although one employee (a kinesiologist —a person who studies the movements of thehuman body) has chosen to move on.

Royle wouldn’t release the name of thecompany that will be taking over the reha-bilitation program, saying the contract has

yet to be officially signed.The health care corporation will contin-

ue to focus on the services the Miller Cen-tre is known for.

“What we’re doing is just regroupingnow and making sure that we use the staffthat we have in the areas where there’s (the)greatest need,” says Tilley.

“If there are services in the private sectorthat can respond to it then let the privatesector take over because it’s not a publicly-funded service.”

Royal says the cost per year for a multi-disciplinary rehabilitation program, similarto that provided by the Miller Centre, couldcost between $750,000 and $1.2 million,depending on the number of clientsreferred.

Still, she says the cost of providing theservice through the private sector should becheaper than what was spent at the MillerCentre.

“That’s not necessarily our driving force,but it’s certainly a nice thing to have if it’smore efficient.”

“If there are services in the private sector that can

respond to it then let the private sector take over.”

— George Tilley

Companycharged up

Blue Line Innovations of St. John’s willbe part of an energy management pro-gram in Ontario.

The program will be run by HydroOne, Ontario’s largest electricity dis-tributor, and use Blue Line’s real-timemonitoring device that will give cus-tomers the ability to track how muchelectricity they use and what it’s costingthem. Blue Line has developed a unitcalled The PowerCost Monitor that willbe installed in 500 Ontario homesincluding the cities of Timmins, Peter-borough, and Brampton.

“Our smart technology will put elec-tricity users in control of their con-sumption by providing a real-time pricesignal,” said Blue Line president Mau-rice Tuff in a press release.

“We are well positioned for furthergrowth as Ontario moves to adopt smarttechnologies that will inform peopleabout their consumption and their sav-ings possibilities.”

The NewfoundlandLiquor Corporation’s

publication Enjoy showsa dotted line from

Jamaica, where theliquor is made, to the

province, where its bot-tled. Only the dotted linepoints directly at Cape

Breton, with Newfound-land printed over it.

The offending Screech ad, in which Cape Breton is labeled as Newfoundland.

July 18, 2004


INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Photo by Savintsev Fyodor/Itar-Tass Photos

The funeral for the editor of the Russian version of Forbes magazine, Pavel Khlebnikov, took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow, on July 14.

Russia ‘soured’ on democracy‘If the murders of journalists mean anything, it’s that they have been doing their job well’

NEW YORK By Stephen Handelman

When PaulK l e b -n i k o v

arrived in Moscowas a young Americanreporter in 1993, he found himself in afront-row seat to a mob war. “I oftenfound my protagonists being killed beforeI could interview them,” he wrote in thebook he later published about the “banditcapitalism” that plagued post-CommunistRussia in the 1990s.

In May 2004, 11 years later, he had ahappier story to tell. Inaugurating the Russ-ian-language edition of Forbes Magazine,for which he had become editor, Kleb-nikov announced at a Moscow press con-ference that the murderous era of Russianfree enterprise was “already in the past.”

He may have been tragically premature.On July 9, at about 10 p.m., he was gunneddown as he walked from his Moscowoffice. Klebnikov, 41, died in the ambu-lance taking him to hospital. He left behinda wife and three young children.

As the post-mortems begin, the outrageover what appears to be the first contractkilling of a Western journalist in Russia isalready morphing into a campaign that hasturned Klebnikov into a symbol of thecrippled state of Russian democracy. Kleb-nikov was too self-effacing to ever con-

sider himself a symbol. When I last methim a few years ago, he had few illusionsabout journalists’ ability to stand for any-thing but themselves.

But he believed that getting facts on thepublic record made it possible for eventroubled societies to make honest choices.We talked then about how Russian jour-nalists were paying a heavy price for seek-ing out those facts.

Dozens of reporters, broadcasters andeditors from Russia and other former Sovi-et states had been killed since 1991. Manyof them were conducting investigationsinto organized crime or government cor-ruption. Dozens more have been savagelybeaten.

Since 2000 alone, at least 13 journalistshave been murdered.

In an ironic touch, the Public Broad-casting Service in the U.S. aired a BBCdocumentary asking “Who is Killing theJournalists of Russia?” the night beforeKlebnikov was shot.

In most of the cases, the murderers havenever been identified, much less prosecut-ed.

“This shameful record of impunity isone of the reasons these murders continueto happen,” says Ann Cooper, executivedirector of the New York-based Committeeto Protect Journalists. “It sends a chillingmessage to Russian journalists, and a ter-rible message to the rest of the world aboutthe Kremlin’s indifference to press free-dom.”

It took Klebnikov’s murder to alert theKremlin to the fact that it has a public rela-tions problem.

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinovhas announced he will personally takecharge of the Klebnikov investigation.

That’s helpful, but here’s the bitter irony:Things are worse for journalists than in thefinal years of the Soviet era.

By the late 1980s, Russia’s press wasenergetically probing the dark corners ofSoviet life and history. So-called “glas-nost” (openness) created the climate for thecivic activism that helped end the Sovietempire.

Earlier this year, Cooper went to Togli-atti, an auto-industry town 1,100 kilome-ters east of Moscow, where the crusadingeditors of a newspaper that exposed linksbetween the local government and criminalinterests had been assassinated 18 monthsapart.

“When I got there,” she recalls, “thereporters were already so depressed theydidn’t believe anything would everchange.”

Glasnost was a fading memory evenbefore Klebnikov died. On the night of hismurder, one of Moscow’s most popular TVtalk shows — “Freedom of Speech” —aired for the last time, the latest victim ofpolitical pressure on the Russian media.

But it would be wrong to perceive Kleb-nikov’s murder as the final proof that pressfreedom — and with it democracy — haveentered a black hole in Russia.

There’s no doubt that Russians havesoured on their experience with democra-cy so far. Polls consistently show Russiansfavour order over the free-wheeling chaosthey lived through over the past decade.

But the freedom to make the powerfulsquirm isn’t easily surrendered once it iswon. If the murders of journalists meananything, it is that they have been doingtheir job well.

Klebnikov may have touched a sensitivenerve. The Forbes’Russian edition, whichhe introduced at his May press conference,named 36 Russian billionaire entrepre-neurs — representing one of the world’shighest concentrations of wealth.

“Journalists and people involved inmedia have reason to fear for their lifewhen someone else’s money is talked orwritten about,” observed Moscow-basedcommentator Peter Lavelle.

We may never know who was angryenough at Klebnikov to kill him. All weknow is that, like the Russian journalistswho preceded him, he lost his battle.

But as long as there are people whorefuse to let these deaths pass in silence,the war is far from over.

Stephen Handelman, a columnist forTIME Canada based in New York, is theauthor of Comrade Criminal: Russia’sNew Mafiya. He can be reached at [email protected]. His next column for The Independent will appear SundayAug. 1.

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For a guy who lists his regu-lar evening activities asweight training, soccer, golf,

softball and swimming, a move tothe one of the most obese cities onthe continent (second place,according to the latest poll) tooksome getting used to.

Andrew Scott, originally fromUpper Gullies, Conception BaySouth, now lives and works inHouston, Texas.

“The fact that you can play golfand soccer all year round ismagic,” he says when asked whathe likes most about his currenthome.

But is it tough to be around somany unhealthy people?

“It’s fine … the gyms aren’t thatcrowded,” he says with a laugh.“The city is trying to kick-start ahealth trend, but there’s so muchgreasy, fatty food — brisket, grits,white gravy, etc. … and that’sbesides all the Mexican food —that I really can’t see it ever chang-ing.

“The saying ‘everything is big-ger in Texas’ certainly applies tothe food portions here … There arean awful lot of gyms and fitnesscenters, but people just do notwalk. A lot of streets don’t havesidewalks, and people drive every-where.”

Scott, a graduate of MemorialUniversity’s faculty of commerce,now works for Technip Offshore,in the contracts department. Thejob involves risk and contract man-agement and analysis. “It’s diffi-cult to describe … I spend a lot oftime trying to see the big pictureand trying to be creative.”

Scott says one of his goals wasalways to see the world, and do itby working in different places. Itwas a co-op placement in 2001 inParis, France that led to his currentposition. “After I graduated, mycontacts in France had all relocat-ed to Houston, Texas so I decidedto move to there for the same com-pany, after several name changes.”

He finds the pace of life is moreleisurely in Houston than Paris,though he’d like return to Francesoon. He enjoyed the buzz ofactivity there, the atmosphere, theproximity to so many other coun-tries and cities.

“Even sitting in a café watchingpeople go by is more exciting there… I thought it was great, and the

bars don’t close,” he says, reflect-ing on his time in Europe.

“The work there is a lot moreconcentrated. You work less hours,but there’s also a lot less time tosocialize during the day.”

But Texas — which surprisedScott with a blast of 30C heat at 9p.m. as he walked off the planethat first day — has won a place inhis heart, too.

“My first impressions were thatmy stay there was only temporaryand I would move back to Canadaas soon as possible … the chaos ofthe highways was almost too muchto bear, but the weather gets a holdof you and you end up staying,” hesays.

Scott’s workday is long, offi-cially from 7:30 a.m. until at least5:30 p.m.

But whatever he finds strange,he’s certainly not alone. He saysthere are at least 10 other New-foundlanders working for the com-pany. Houston is a transient city, headds, and he meets many people

from Canada who are there for theshort term.

While he says the standard ofliving is quite high — and Texans

love to show off their affluence inthe most materialistic ways —Scott finds the biggest cultural dif-ference between where he is now

and his home province is con-sciousness.

“I think, as a whole, Newfound-landers are a lot more aware ofwhat’s happening in the province,even the country,” he says. “AllNewfie jokes aside, we’re a fairlyswitched-on population. Housto-nians don’t know what’s happen-ing in Dallas, let alone the rest ofthe U.S.”

And then, he says, the peoplejust aren’t as friendly.

“Let me qualify that, the peoplehere are very friendly, but noteveryone would go out of theirway to help you out if you were ina bind. It’s strange, but I’ve trav-elled quite a bit, and the Rock isstill the friendliest place to visit.

“Probably not the most objectiveopinion, I know.”

Scott says the majority of hisfriends in Houston are British,because he finds they have a sim-ilar sense of humour. While thelive music scene isn’t much good,the sports — at both the profes-

sional and local levels — are great.“Oh, and you learn very quickly

not to discuss religion or politicswith a Texan,” he says, adding thatthe pros of the Texas city, in hismind, vastly outweigh the cons —especially since he can’t stand coldweather.

Although he misses the family,friends, and safe environment backin Newfoundland, he doesn’t seehimself moving back soon.

“I am used to the chaos, actual-ly,” he says. “It takes a while, butI finally got used to it. My parentswere quite surprised when theycame here, because the city is lit-erally a series of 10-lane highways,without a lot of scenery.

“I’ve yet to buy a 10-gallon hator cowboy boots, so I haven’t beenfully assimilated into the Texanway of life, but I’m getting there.”

Do you know a Newfoundlanderor Labradorian living away? Con-tact us at [email protected]

The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004 INTERNATIONAL

‘Everything is bigger in Texas’Great weather and sports keep Andrew Scott happy

in the second most obese city on the continent

“The saying ‘everything is bigger

in Texas’ certainlyapplies to the food

portions here … Thereare an awful lot of

gyms and fitness centershere, but people just do not walk. A lot

of streets don’t have sidewalks, and people

drive everywhere.”— Andrew Scott

Photo by Richard Stockton/Index Stock Imagery

Houston is “literally a series of 10-lane highways,” says Andrew Scott — but he found that it is possible to get used to the chaos.

Voice From AwayAndrew ScottIn Houston, Texas

INTERNATIONAL The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

DUBLIN, Ireland The Associated Press

From millionaire-row man-sions to heroin-hit welfareprojects, Ireland is now one

of the most prosperous butunequal societies on Earth, theUnited Nations suggests.

The annual UN Human Devel-opment Report for the first timeplaced Ireland among the top 10developed countries in an annuallist based on each country’s aver-age income, educational levelsand life expectancy.

But a parallel finding, measur-ing the level of poverty in theworld’s 17 most highly developedcountries, placed Ireland secondfrom the bottom — just above itsprimary economic role model, theUnited States.

“Ireland has a long way to gobefore it’s a place where every-body is respected and has enoughto live life with dignity,” says Rev.Sean Healy, who directs the jus-tice commission of the Confer-ence of Religious in Ireland, anassociation of 12,000 Catholicpriests and nuns.

The UN Poverty Index has con-sistently rated Ireland as havingthe highest percentage of poorpeople in Western Europe, some15.3 per cent of the country’s 3.9million residents. The UnitedStates came in at 15.8 per cent.

The Irish government, whichtakes pride in Ireland’s Europe-leading rate of economic growthover the last decade, accused theUnited Nations of relying on out-dated statistics and on measuring“relative,” rather than “absolute,”poverty.

Relative measures definepoverty in relation to the averagewage, no matter how high, where-as the absolute poverty methoduses more fixed tests for deter-mining poverty, such as the abili-ty to pay for home heat and to eata balanced diet.

The Irish Times, Ireland’s news-paper of record, rejected the gov-ernment line in its lead editorial.

“It is not good enough to rejectthese findings by quoting differ-ent indices of poverty. ... Irelandis an unequal society in whichmany remain socially excluded,”

it read.Dan McLaughlin, chief econo-

mist at the Bank of Ireland, saidhe agrees with the government’sview that real poverty in Irelandtoday is at a historic low ofaround five per cent.

“I’ve never understood thepoverty thing coming from theUN and other sources,”McLaughlin says. “They saypoverty when they mean relativeincomes, and, of course, the rela-tive gap between the richest andpoorest is growing. But by theirlogic, in a land where the averagewage-earner is a millionaire, thensomebody on 500,000 a yearwould supposedly be poor.”

McLaughlin contends that theCeltic Tiger economic boom inIreland since the mid-1990s hasimproved virtually everybody’sopportunities and standard of liv-ing.

The rapid infusion of employ-ment from multinationals wooedto Ireland by its EU-low corporate

tax rates has reversed Ireland’straditional emigration and cutunemployment by a third to just4.3 per cent.

He concedes, however, that Ire-land’s growth statistics can mis-lead. A major component of the

Irish gross domestic productincludes multinationals’ profits,which are largely taken out of thecountry. This distorts the per-capi-ta figure for Irish incomes.

“There’s also a big differencebetween personal incomes, whichhave soared in Ireland, andnational wealth, which still has alot of catch-up to do,” McLaugh-lin says.

“I doubt anybody drivingthrough France or Germany, andobserving all their developedinfrastructure built up overdecades, and then coming to Ire-land would conclude that Irelandwas the wealthier nation.”

For many Irish people, theCeltic Tiger has meant having theright to work in their homeland —but in a country where the cost ofmost things has soared, particu-larly property. Many first-timebuyers now must borrow morethan five times their annual salaryand seek a loan from their parentsto claim a mortgage.

Healy, the Catholic priest andpoverty activist, says most ofthose living under the poverty linein Ireland today are in householdsled by people who are elderly,disabled, too ill to work, or inunpaid work as caregivers.

Such households — represent-ing more than 700,000 people —don’t benefit from Ireland’s buoy-ant job market and require decentwelfare support, but benefitshaven’t kept pace with the econo-my, he says.

The average single person’swelfare cheque is the equivalentof $220 Cdn weekly, whereas thepoverty line is $293 Cdn.

“Ireland has not succeeded inbalancing the social with the eco-nomic. We have focused primari-ly on boosting the economy andfailed to tackle poverty,” Healysays. “But for the first time in ournation’s history, we actually havesufficient wealth to eliminatepoverty — if we have the politicalwill.”

Divided countryCeltic tiger economy increasingly makes Ireland land of princes and paupers: UN

Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland!

Young traveller children at a halting site in Blanchardstown in Dublin.

“I’ve never understoodthe poverty thing comingfrom the UN and othersources.... But by theirlogic, in a land where

the average wage-earneris a millionaire, thensomebody on 500,000

a year wouldsupposedly be poor.”

— Dan McLaughlin, Bank of Ireland

Economist

Naked Protest

GAUHATI, IndiaIn a highly unusual protest,some 40 women stripped nakedand staged an angry demonstra-tion at a paramilitary base innortheastern India to protest thedeath of a 32-year-old womanwho they say was killed in cus-tody.

With nothing but banners tocover their bodies, the womenstood in front of the AssamRifles headquarters in Imphal,capital of Manipur state, anddemanded the culprits be pun-ished.

Some of the banners read,“Indian Army rape us” and“Indian Army take our flesh.”

The women alleged that sol-diers of Assam Rifles raped, tor-tured and then killed ThangjamManorama.

Assam Rifles is the main

paramilitary force fighting sep-aratist insurgents in India’snortheast. Manipur, whichshares a porous border withMyanmar, has 17 insurgentgroups, most of them fightingfor independence from India.

— Associated Press

No colour coding

WASHINGTON The United States has dumpedplans to colour-code air trav-ellers according to their per-ceived terrorist threat level infavour of a voluntary system ofsharing personal information.

And many observers are hop-ing the contentious idea forscreening domestic and interna-tional passengers won’t regainfavour after the U.S. electionthis fall.

Plagued for months by logis-tical problems and criticismfrom privacy advocates, airlinesand some legislators, HomelandSecurity Secretary Tom Ridgedecided to pull the plug thisweek on the $100-million USproject.

It would have collected pas-senger names, addresses, tele-phone numbers, birthdates anditineraries from airlines andreservations companies, thenchecked the data against crimeand commercial databases.

Suspected terrorists and vio-lent criminals would be codedred and forbidden to fly. Yellowwould indicate the need for asearch and questioning, andgreen would mean standardscreening.

“I’m sure the election playedsome role in this,’’ said BarrySteinhardt of the AmericanCivil Liberties Union in NewYork.

— Canadian Press

International Briefs

July 18, 2004


LIFE & TIMES

‘A good living’Jack Troake, (almost) retired sealer, reflects on the ups and downs of a life at sea

TwillingateBy Stephanie PorterThe Sunday Independent

To find Jack Troake, oneonly has to ask. A waitressat the Harbourview Restau-

rant in Twillingate scrawls downthe phone number, no explanationrequired. Another describes howto find his home — accurate direc-tions, but a little difficult to followfor someone not from the area.

Another question, this time to awoman walking a small dog alongthe twisting road.

“Sure, I know where he is,” shesays with a grin. “I’m his daughter.I live right here, and he’s rightthere, behind his house, probablystill out in the garden.” She pointsnext door.

“We all live around here.”Troake’s yellow home is direct-

ly across the road from the water,with a clear view of the other side

of Twillingate, population 5,000.It’s the house he was born andgrew up in — and he never had farto walk to work in the morning.

Troake is a veteran sealer andfisherman, work that remains inhis blood and in his family to thisday.

“I half-retired four years ago,”says Troake, nearing 70 years ofage. “Now I go around the garden,do all the maintenance on the ves-sel … change the oil, keep an eyeon the tanks. I’ve been runningthat for 33 years, you know exact-ly how everything is.”

His son now operates the boat,but Troake’s been out in it morethan once this year, fishing crab orhunting seals.

Troake still listens to CBCRadio’s Fisheries Broadcast everynight (he’s been interviewed morethan a few times by the show’sreporters), still keeps on top of theindustry that’s been his life. And

he’s still outspoken.“Fishing – you make a good

living,” he says. “But the way it’sgot now, you’ve got so many reg-ulations, so many people tellingyou what you’ve got to do … mostof the senior bureaucrats are inappointed positions and nobodygives a damn what they know orwhat they’ve got to deal with.

“They bring up these stupid reg-ulations they use it in the name ofconservation. I doubt there’s manypeople in the White Hills (St.John’s headquarters of the federalFisheries Department) that knowsmuch about conservation by thestupid things they do.”

He picks an example, one grat-ing on his mind today. The crabfishery, which had been closed inthe area for the past few weeks, isabout reopen — on a Saturday at11 p.m.

“Who in the hell opens up afishery 11 o’clock at night?” he

says. “You laugh at it … then yougets pissed off.”

Even so, Troake will head outon the boat Saturday afternoon,filling in for his son, who’s takinghis son to a hockey camp. Thecrab fishing trip, the last of theseason, will run five or six days.

“I don’t look forward to goingout for these trips, but you’ve gotto do what you’ve got to do —you get a few days of good weath-er, you’ve got to grab it.”

In spite of the talk about poli-tics, Troake appears content in hiscurrent stage of life. He gives atour of his backyard garden. “I’ma retired fisherman turned amateurgardener,” he says.

He points to the onions, beets,parsnips and carrots he’s planted.The soil is shallow, so he’s usedfish pans as planters, filling eachwith topsoil and careful rows ofseeds.

Keeps him busy, he says.

Troake adjusts the faded base-ball hat on his head, and pulls apack of cigarettes from his sun-faded coveralls. He lights up asmoke and sits down on the edgeof his garden, motioning to do thesame.

Troake’s put in a lot of years onthe ocean — more than 50, he fig-ures. He’s worked hard, put in thelong hours, made his life.

He’s seen ups and downs in thesealing industry. This year was anup.

“The weather was pretty good.We had a lot of fog, which issometimes a hindrance, but thistime, you find a bunch (of seals),you could stow away and the fogwould cover you.

“We’ve got an awful lot of ves-sels at it, so the hiding was good.”

Prices were also decent, anaverage of $55 a pelt. It’s lower


Continued on page 23

LIFE & TIMES The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

Local Spins by Rick Bailey

Sound advice for summerAwakening to the mad variety of the Sound Symposium

Ihad the pleasure of being invit-ed to the 12th InternationalSound Symposium in St.

John’s, and if you’re familiar withthe festival, you’ll know it’s anexperience like no other.

From July 8-18, local and visit-ing artists from around the worldgathered together to demonstrateand explore the broad spectrumwe call sound. Not limited to areasof contemporary classical, jazz,improvisation, drumming, worldmusic and more, this event alsodelves into sound sculptures,dance, experimental instrumentsand multimedia art. If you want anastonishing journey for your sens-es, the Symposium will guaranteeyou that. Here’s a recap of myweekend exploits:

On Thursday July 8th, I caughtthe tail end of a show at the LSPUHall and saw the Zari Trio —beautiful vocal harmonies andstrummed exotic instrumentsunlike anything I’ve ever heard.The lute-like panduri and complexancient music from the GeorgianRepublic, located just below Rus-sia, were simply astounding.

I then made my way to the ShipPub for the first Night Music ses-sion, featuring a set by The BlackAuks, Newfoundland’s premiereimprov group. They had their reg-ular menagerie of devices, fromkeyboard cacophony, bended gui-tar, banjo, drums and bits of metal,to bells, horns, saxophone, whis-tles and squeaky toys. After somelengthy compositions, guests wereinvited to join the jam. It was thefirst night, so the reception was ini-tially slow, but entertaining.

Saturday evening (July 10) atthe arts and culture centre startedwith The Scruncheons — theMemorial University PercussionEnsemble established by DonWherry, founder of the SoundSymposium. Their tribute to himencompassed soft ringing soundsfrom varied parts of the room, con-verging from the aisles to the stagefor the gradual percussive boilingpoint, with additional crashes fromthe rafters. I found it difficult todetermine which sounds camefrom where, which is the wholepoint of the Symposium, if youthink about it.

Next, Loose Confederacy gavea local multimedia opera of sorts,with large video playback mixedwith acting, dancing and song. ALittle Place was big on sexy, long-ing, jealous relations between theprincipal characters. Fast-movingvisuals and bodies, romantic odesand electro-dance beats made it apalatable mix, vague and arty, but

left somehow incomplete as it wasan excerpt in development.

Rob Power and NSO Stringslaunched next into Wabana, Gre-gory Michael Hawco’s concertofor marimba and strings — a dark-er, odd-timed piece that churnedwith an almost progressive rockfeel. The string orchestra blazed insections, and I love the sound ofmarimba, and didn’t realize howlarge an instrument it is.

The show ended with FineKwiatkowski and Mechan-ique(s) — a German improvisingdancer with amazing flexibility,moving under a spotlight in jerky,mechanical gestures, backed by anoisier soundtrack from the visit-ing trio, which included baritonesax, and laptop-manipulated voiceand guitar. It was longer than mostexpected, but still a fascinating andbewildering display.

The Discounts at the Ship’sNight Music afterwards was not tobe missed. These local guys are awell-known band for their signa-ture fun, funky jams, and visitingSymposium participants unawareof their all-night good vibes leftbetter informed in the morning.The regular outdoor percussionparade led to a short dance party atthe back of the building, and theevening was abuzz with guest jam-mers and the ever-present festivecrowd. Good times for all, just for-get about the sleep.

On Sunday (July 11) afternoon,

with much thanks to Craig Squiresand his car, I witnessed Robocho-rus — a group of robot-like cre-ations, with speaker bodies andopen-circuitry heads found in adark basement room of the artsand culture centre. A motion sen-sor brought the machines to life,turning on lights and activating aCD of looped sound – therebyallowing personal interaction withthe humming chorus.

Upstairs in the carpenter shop, asound art trio, Mannlicher Car-cano, used tape playback, spin-ning metal apparatus, delay effectsand other amplified creations tocreate an eerie ambient soundtrackfor the classic film Nanook of theNorth. Seeing the icy lifestyle inflashing black and white imageswas enough to keep me there forthe duration, with ghostly voices,whistling and gnashing. Visionsare equally important in theprocess of sound.

The evening brought me toMUN’s D.F. Cook Recital Hall forJames Tenney, performing amind-boggling piano work, Con-cord Sonata by Charles Ives, withMichelle Cheramy on flute for abrief moment at the end. Whatmade this truly amazing was thatTenny barely followed the scoreand played from memory.

A pause before people piled infor the next show, which beganwith George Morgan and AlisonBlack — executing Morgan’s

active composition, Knockturn #8,for piano and violin. I’ve seenMorgan’s percussion skill severaltimes in the past, but it’s a real treatto see his impassioned fingers flyacross the keys.

John Power and Phil Yetmanwere next, and played two vibra-phones and a glockenspiel withmultiple mallet and bowing tech-niques in Duane Andrews’ compo-sition, Away. Andrews’ pieceattempted electronic tones with the

instrumental ensemble, and adamn fine job, indeed.

Neighbours Percussion Triohad veteran musicians John Wyre,Bill Brennan and Rob Power witha wonderful show on Noah bellsfrom India, mbira from Zimbabwe,and the marimba. The Wyre com-position, titled Noah’s Bells, was acalming and unique blend of tex-tures. Splendid.

Rufus Cappadocia was theshow’s highlight, though, in one ofthe most dazzling displays of tal-ent. The modest and soft-spokenman played his self-designed five-string cello in a flurry of eastern-sounding innovative funk, chattingcasually with the audience inbetween. He played with the fervorof a virtuosic rock guitarist, andstunned those in attendance.

If your ears need fresh, uncon-ventional sounds to perk them up,the Sound Symposium is yourevent. Alas, the next opportunity toexperience this wonder of localand international sound will be in2006. Their website(www.soundsymposium.ca) hasmore from this summer’s fun, ifyou’re interested or want to findout more.

This year awakened my senses,and surely the future will holdmuch more for the Symposium.Until then, I’m exhausted.

Rick Bailey is a radio DJ andmusician. His next reviews willappear August 1.

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Photo by Paul Daly/The Sunday IndependentPaul Panhuysen, a sound artist from the Netherlands, installed his Long Strings sound sculpture from the top ofCabot Tower during this year’s Sound Symposium.

than last year, but higher than heexpected.

“We’ve still got crab andshrimp, that’s keeping us afloatnow, but we’ve got serious prob-lems with our crab, and the shrimpis marginal.

“But the seal hunt is a positivething. Where we are now, fromwhere we were … The strugglewe had, and the abuse we had totake …,” he says, alluding to the

long (and on-going) debate withanimal rights activists about theworth of the seal hunt.

“They’re not telling the truth,manipulating people to makemoney. They don’t give a damnabout the harp seal.

“I was talking to a gentlemanand his wife there the other day,from California. We got talkingabout fishing, and you must bringup the harp seal hunt in EasternCanada, you’ve got to. She didn’thave any problem with (the hunt).

“She knows the fight. She saidit’ll never go away, but that’s peo-ple that were born into plenty andthink that’s the real world. Theynever worked with their hands,

they sweat a bit they go to a doc-tor. But life is not like that.”

The sea has been Troake’s life.It also took his son, Garry, in asealing accident.

“My youngest son died fouryears ago this October, Thanks-giving Day, it was,” he says,before the question can even beasked.

“But that’s life. Like my dadused to say, ‘B’y, grab yourself upby the slack of your pants anddodge along.’ Because all you’redoing by moaning and groaning ismaking everyone around youuncomfortable.”

Troake bristles at the notion thatsealing, or the fishery, is a difficult

living. In spite of everything, heappreciates what the industry hasgiven him.

“No one’s telling you to get upin the morning and go out on thewater,” he says. “That’s up to you.You go out, put in a full day … oryou could stay in bed.”

He looks around. He likes thatmost of his family live within astone’s throw of his own house.He likes that people out his wayown their land and homes, builtand expanded as they could affordto. What they own, they own, hepoints out, and at the end of theday, that’s a good feeling.

He enjoys the pace of life. “It’sbeautiful, beautiful country, a great

place to live and rear your kids,”he says. “There’s not too muchtrouble they can get in.”

Troake stands. The sun is edg-ing closer to the horizon andthere’s more to be done in the gar-den before the day is done. “Idon’t know, just plug on I supposeand do the best you can, and hopeyour old-age pension cheque don’tget cut off.”

He offers his hand, dirt from thegarden ground into the callusesand crevices. The handshake isfirm, accompanied by a warmsmile and a parting wish to match.

“Be happy and content,” hesays. “And the rest will fall intoplace.”

By Clare-Marie GosseFor the Sunday Independent

Walking into the psychic fair at theHoliday Inn this weekend isoddly like walking into a small

business convention. You have your standslined up against the walls and helpfulleaflets and signs guide you around. Admit-tedly the snacks on hand are fortune cook-ies, but really…

Where’s all the flash and panache? It’s allvery down to earth and sensible.

As someone who has never had their for-tune read, was strictly warned against allaspects of the occult as a child, and evenfeels a bit shifty reading the occasional horo-scope, I walk over to the coordinator KeithAtkinson warily.

Atkinson is a psychic reader from Toron-to and has been reading professionally since1980. He says he “always knew” he had apsychic talent.

“Use it or go nuts,” he says, adding that ifhe doesn’t practice, the energy turns inwardsand he has nightmares.

He enjoys helping people though, andsays many clients have later contacted himto say he changed their lives.

His message is: Pay attention. Forinstance, Atkinson once predicted winninglottery numbers for someone who didn’ttake his advice, and they missed out on awhole pile of cash.

I tell him the main reason I’ve never beento a psychic reader is that I’m scared of hear-ing something bad, and he laughs ruefully.

“What’s to be afraid of?” he asks. “There’sno such thing as bad news. But as he hypo-thetically explains to me that losing a job ora relationship can develop into somethingpositive, I begin to get nervous, wondering ifhe’s trying to tell me something.

Time to move on.Most of the readers at the stands offer a

wide range of spiritual mediums, from tealeaf readings, to psychometry (the art ofdivining meanings from personal objects)and yes, there are some crystal balls as well.

One stand advertises Shiatsu and Reiki.

Shiatsu is a form of oriental massage thathelps to alleviate stress and physical ail-ments. Reiki is a Japanese healing tech-nique that involves channelling universallife force energy. Practitioner DebbieCameron gives me a Reiki demonstration.

She instructs me to suspend my hand facedown, and draws both her hands over andabove. As she strokes the air, I feel a warmsensation across my knuckles and my palmgoes cold. She tells me that I am a veryhyper person, constantly thinking, andunable to switch off. I’m not sure about this.I have my hyper moments, but I have anawful lot of comatose ones too. On the otherhand, I do ponder a lot and I’m happiestwhen busy.

My favourite experience is at psychic Ilse

Lea’s stand. Lea was born in 1939 war-torn Germany

and moved to Canada when she was 26. Shelooks like your favourite aunt, and is veryeasy to be around. She says her mother andgrandmother were both psychically gifted.Wary at first, she was unable to deny hergenes for long, and remembers one particu-lar incident that occurred when she was achild.

“I wouldn’t go over a bridge. My mothersaid we have to, to catch our train. I said,‘I’m not going,’ and I threw myself on thefloor. Normally I was a very good child, butI wouldn’t walk over there.” The nextmoment the bridge exploded. It had beenharbouring an un-detonated bomb.

As she sits with my palm in her hand, she

tells me what a strong lifeline I have, andsays I’m old-fashioned in love and will onlybe in one major relationship. But best of all,she tells me that in my former life I was ahigh priestess.

Apparently I rebelled after falling in lovewith a dark-haired man, and we were bothexecuted for our romantic sins.

You may discard it as nonsense and egostroking, but for the record, she told PaulDaly, The Independent’s picture editor (whowas a teacher in his past life) somethingscarily accurate about his younger years.

So I’m off to tell as many people as pos-sible about my tragically beautiful past exis-tence. I don’t care if they don’t believe me,because a high priestess is above needing theapproval of anyone.

The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004 LIFE & TIMES

Psychic energyThe psychic fair provides a wealth of insight — and a glimpse of a tragic past life

‘The abuse we had to take …’


Kith Atkinson is the coordinator of the annual psychic fair.

From page 21

LIFE & TIMES The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

How not to wear panty hoseIalmost died. From embarrass-

ment that is, and even todaywhen I think about it I still get

that sinking feeling. But then,within seconds, I laugh at thememory of it. Still, for a youngaspiring marketing executive itwas an hour or so of living hell.

I was living and working indowntown Toronto and had justfound my way into the world ofmarketing and communications.We were working on a new fallpromotion for a client and I wastasked with meeting their nationalmarketing director to review thedetails. I was more than pleased atthe opportunity, which was sched-uled for 9 a.m. on a Mondaymorning.

Sleep was difficult Sundaynight. I remember laying in bedgoing over and over the informa-tion in my mind, until finally drift-ing off into a deep sleep. When Iawoke the next morning I imme-diately knew I was in trouble.

My alarm hadn’t gone off. Damn. It was already 8 a.m.

and it would take at least 30 to 40minutes to drive to the meeting. Ididn’t have much time or manychoices.

I grabbed the outfit I had worn

to church the day before — navypants, light-coloured blouse andnavy blazer. It would do just fine.I jumped in my car and flewthrough the morning traffic.

I pulled into the parking lot atprecisely 8:50 a.m. Perfect. Iwanted to make a good impres-sion. The receptionist showed meto the marketing director’s office.It was impressive. There was alarge mahogany desk and won-derful leather chairs. I made amental note to have an office likeit someday, but we were soondown to business.

I leaned over to collect filesfrom my briefcase when some-thing caught my eye.

“Oh my God,” I thought tomyself. Hanging from my pantswere the panty hose I had wornwith the outfit the day before.

Oh no. This wasn’t good. I start-ed to sweat and feel a little sick.

“Coffee?”“Yes, I’d love a cup.”That might buy me some time,

but no such luck. The nationalmarketing director buzzed thereceptionist and she brought in thecoffee.

“Focus,” I told myself, but dis-tracted I was.

Then I had a brilliant idea. If Istepped on the end of the pantyhose that was sticking out andgently pulled, maybe I could getthem out that way. I could thentuck the panty hose into my brief-case and no one would be thewiser.

To summarize the situation: Iwas presenting to a major client,drinking coffee and trying to freepanty hose from my pants.

It wasn’t my day.The plan seemed simple

enough, but the execution was lessthan flawless. As it happened, the

panty hose were occupying bothlegs of my pants and freeing themwas impossible, no matter hownonchalantly I pulled.

I was actually making thingsworse. I had only succeeded indragging about six inches more ofthe panty hose from the pants,hardly the fashion statement I wastrying to make.

The presentation continued. Itwent well and the marketing direc-tor didn’t seem to be aware of mypersonal struggle. That was good,because I was only catching everyother word and feeling sicker aseach moment went by.

Time for plan B, stuffing thepanty hose further up my pantlegs. Yes, that could work. I casu-ally pushed my chair back a littlefrom the desk, exchanging ideasand taking notes as I went. Then Icrossed my legs so that I was clos-er to those damn panty hose.There, I could reach. At that pointI was very grateful for themahogany desk, which wasshielding me from total embar-rassment.

Stuffing the panty hose backinto my pants worked better thantrying to pull them out and finallythere was nothing showing. What

relief, and the meeting was almostover.

I slowly put all of my files backinto my briefcase and thoughtabout my options. Was there awashroom close by? No.

I had no choice but to take slow,deliberate steps toward the exit.

The hallway seemed longer onthe way out and I walked muchslower than normal.

Concentrating, I remember feel-ing the panty hose slipping. I wasat the reception desk when I feltthem starting to escape.

Finally, I was out of the build-ing. The panty hoses were slippingmore by then. When I got to thecar the panty hose were actuallydragging on the ground. I quicklyjumped into my car and tuggedand tugged until those blastedpanty hose were free.

Since then, I check the legs ofmy pants before every presenta-tion.

[email protected]

Cooper’s CrissCross is a typical search-a-word puzzle except you must first decipher the word list based on the clues provided before searching. All of the clues will have a Newfoundland and Labrador flavour. Good luck!

The word list and Answer grid can be found on page 26.

Created for The Sunday Independent by John Andrews

THIS WEEK’S THEME:

SUMMER EVENTSBay _____ Klondyke Days Arnold's Cove ____ Festival Folk Festival in _____ Park Harbour Grace ______ _____ Blueberry Festival Festival of _____, ArgentiaPeter ____ Festival, Bowring ____Peace __________ Street Festival Argentia _____ Fest Fox Harbour Summer _____ _____ Pea Festival, Salmon Cove St. John’s Regatta, _____ VidiBay De Verde _____ Days

I’se The Girl by Deborah Bourden

When I awoke the next morning I

immediately knew I was in trouble. My

alarm hadn’t gone off.Damn. It was already

8 a.m. and it would takeat least 30 to 40 minutes

to drive to work. I didn’t have much time

or many choices.

July18, 2004


SPORTS


The Shamrocks go to bat during their July 15th game against the Guards. The Shamrocks won 8-0.

‘Only interested in one thing’Shamrocks focused on staying atop senior baseball league standings

By Darcy MacRaeFor The Sunday Independent

There hasn’t been a champi-onship hangover for theShamrocks this season.

After capturing the St. John’sSenior Baseball League title in2003, the Shamrocks have pickedup right where they left off, boltinginto first place from the first day ofthe season.

The key to the team’s success issimple, says head coach Bas Whe-lan.

“Our biggest asset has been pitch-ing. Our pitchers have been nothingshort of great.”

Mario Tee has led the way on themound for the Shamrocks. Thesavvy right-hander picked up hissixth win of the season July 15when he limited the Guards to justfour hits in seven innings. Whelansays the combination of Tee andfellow pitchers Bob Kent and ChrisWhelan give the Shamrocks a start-ing rotation any senior team wouldcovet.

“Mario was the MVP last seasonand he’s off to another great start.He’s already 6-0,” says Whelan.

“Bob and Chris have also beensolid. Bob is just two years out ofjunior, but he’s pitching the ballreally well. Chris was away takingcourses, but since coming back he’sbeen a wonderful asset.”

The contribution the pitchershave made so far this season is notlost on their team-mates. Third base-man Brent Powersays when he andthe rest of the teamsee a solid pitchingperformance itinspires them topull out all the stopsdefensively.

“If our pitchersare going to give usan opportunity towin, we want to make all the playsbehind them,” says Power.

While the club’s pitching has hada huge role in the Shamrocks’ 10-1start this season, timely hitting andsmart base running are also impor-tant to the team’s success. Whelansays young hitters such as Powerand Mike Pottle have helped jump-start the offence thus far.

“Mike leads off and is batting

around .400. Brent is batting secondand is also batting close to .400.Those two are quick on the basesand have been real table setters forus this year,” says the coach.

While Pottle and Power (whoboth also play for the junior Sham-rocks) are offensive sparkplugs,

Whelan says veter-an hitters such asSean Gulliver, KirkFlemming, AndrewSimmons and BillyBuckingham helpkeep the entire line-up focused in keysituations. This mix-ture of youthfulexuberance and vet-eran savvy has ledto big hits for the

Shamrocks in crucial situations. “We always seem to score runs

when we need them,” says Whelan. Although several of his players

sport impressive numbers this sea-son, the Shamrocks’ bench bosssays batting averages, homerunsand earned-run-averages don’t mat-ter much to the club. Instead, hesays the team is only interested inone thing.

“The team has 10 wins and that’swhat is most important to every-body,” says Whelan. “The biggeststat to them is that we’re in firstplace.”

That team-first attitude is exactlywhat the Shamrocks need in orderto repeat as league champions.Whelan knows that despite the greatstart to the season his team hasenjoyed, they will need to continuesacrificing personal goals in orderto win a second straight title.

“When you’re the defendingchampion, everybody is gunning tobeat you,” Whelan says with asmile. “Hopefully we’ll be up to thechallenge.”

With 10 wins in their first 11games, the Shamrocks admit thatthe possibility of another leaguechampionship is already on theirminds. As far as their young thirdbaseman is concerned, there wouldbe no better way to end the season.

“Anything less than a champi-onship is a disappointment,” saysPower. “We came into the seasonlooking for the championship andthat’s still our goal.”

[email protected]

Atlantic Industries Limited

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We ManufactureCorrugated Metal Drainage Pipe • Engineered Retaining Wall SystemsEngineered Bridge Structures • Guiderail Highway Safety ProductsCorrugated Structural Plate Pipe Arch • Welded Wire Gabion Baskets

www.ail.ca St. John’s: (709) 738-2772 Deer Lake: (709) 635-2159

“When you’re the defending champion,everybody is gunning to beat you. Hopefully

we’ll be up to the challenge.”

— Bas Whelan

SPORTS The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

I tem: Darren Langdon hasfound a new team (and newhome) in New Jersey.

Comment: He may not be thegoal scorer to play alongsidePatrick Elias or the defensive for-ward to help Martin Brodeurbackstop the Devils, but that does-n’t matter if you can still fill a voidand bring something to the table.

Deer Lake-native Darren Lang-don, 33, has landed a contract thatwill see him in a Devils’ uniformthis season. After New Jersey lostTurner Stevenson to the Philadel-phia Flyers, the Devils found them-selves one tough guy short. To helpfill the void, they signed Langdonto keep a physical presence in thelineup. Langdon is well aware ofhis role and is sure to fill it well.

It was nice to see Langdon in aMontreal uniform last season, buthe moves to a very competitiveteam that has a legitimate shot atwinning a Stanley Cup. Langdonstands six-foot-one, 205 pounds andled the Habs in penalty minutes lastseason with 135. In 507 careergames he has tallied 16 goals and22 assists to go along with his 1,229penalty minutes. He’s sure to add tothese penalty totals this year withthe Devils. Unlike the Canadiens,the Devils are known for their phys-ical toughness and have a host ofplayers who can hold their own.That means Langdon’s role couldbe focused, seeing him in the penal-ty box a lot more than on the ice.

Item: Pablo Carral caught a sou-venir at the Euro 2004 that hasproved to be quite the catch.

Comment: Remember that out-standing game between Englandand Portugal at Euro 2004? DavidBeckham missed his second penal-ty kick of the tournament, a kickthat sailed high above the net. Infact, it sailed straight into the standsand into the hands of Spanish fan,Pablo Carral.

After being offered almost$30,000 Cdn from a British news-

paper, Carral decided to post theball on an Internet auction site tosee its true worth. After an openingbid of one Euro, the Adidas ballmade in Thailand received almost150 bids. The ball has managed toattract bids of $16.4 million Cdn,and promises to make Carral a cer-tain millionaire. Carral will have towait until July 22, when the auctioncloses, to claim his purse.

Although Beckham missed thekick, it was still considered one ofthe best games of all time, one thatinvolved the world’s biggest sport-ing star. I’m sure no one wouldhave predicted a $16-million offer,but these things happen. Sportsmemorabilia can be a gold mine,especially when a star of Beck-

ham’s stature is involved. We haveseen similar situations with thehomerun accomplishments of MarkMcGuire and Barry Bonds. Fansfight tooth and nail to get theirhands on a piece of greatness.

Item: Shaquille O’Neal has beentraded from the Los Angles Lakers.

Comment: The Lakers shockedthe world by trading superstarShaquille O’Neal to the MiamiHeat. The move will bring Shaqback to the state of Florida wherehe began his career with the Orlan-do Magic.

Going the other way is a load oftalent that includes Lamar Odom,

Brian Grant, Caron Butler, and afirst-round draft pick. That’s quite alot to give up, especially afterMiami had a great run in the play-offs. So was the deal a good one forthe Lakers? Most people will thinkthe Lakers are crazy, but with a dis-gruntled Shaq on their hands, theydid a good job.

A number of superstars are onthe rise, including Tim Duncan,Kevin Garnett, and Lebron James,but most players realize Shaq isthe still the most dominant player inthe NBA. Question is, how longwill Shaq last? His huge body takesa beating every time he hits thecourt. I believe he has at least threegreat seasons left in him. After that,who knows? History shows us thatbig men in the NBA tend to havemore health problems and shortercareers than other players.

One thing’s for sure, Shaq will berespected in Miami where herejoins an old Lakers teammate,Eddie Jones.

In an interview, Jones said herealizes the team will be dumpingthe ball down to Shaq wheneverthey can. Shaq’s numbers shouldsoar in Miami where he will have apart in the development of U.S.Olympian Dwayne Wade. Waderuns the point-guard position inMiami and is coming off an incred-ible rookie campaign.

Week in Review by Shaun Drover

Deer Lake’s Devil; Langdon has new home

Find it allin

This newspaper has something for everyone

Local news. Human interest stories. Bold opinions. Great photos. Sports and much more.

Merrymeeting RoadOld Placentia Road

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The provincial govern-ment has announced$7,000 in funding for the

Northern Peninsula summergames, to be held in RoddicktonJuly 21-22. The central summergames to be held in Botwoodhas been given a cheque for$5,000. The central summergames will be held Aug. 16-18.

Both games are made possi-ble through a sport bi-lateralagreement between the Depart-ment of Tourism, Culture andRecreation and Sport Canada.

“I am pleased to work in part-nership with Sport Canada toprovide funding for regionalgames across the province,”says Tourism Minister PaulShelley.

“Regional games provide agreat opportunity for youth inthe province to participate inorganized sport while acting as acatalyst to get more youthinvolved in physical activity.”

The Northern Peninsula Sum-mer Games are aimed at thoseages 8-15. Four sports will beplayed during the two-dayevent, including basketball,floor hockey, softball and soc-

cer. Approximately 300 athletes,coaches and officials are expect-ed to participate.

“This two-day event providesa unique opportunity for youthon the Northern Peninsula to beactive, healthy and learn to playnon-competitive sports,” saysJennifer Porter, regional gamesco-ordinator.

The Central NewfoundlandSummer Games are designedfor those athletes 16 years andunder. The events include ballhockey, basketball, soccer, soft-ball and volleyball. The gameswill have participants from fourcentres, including Botwood,Bishop’s Falls, Grand Falls-Windsor and Springdale.Approximately 200 athletes,coaches and officials are expect-ed to participate.

“Over the last several years,our Central NewfoundlandSummer Games have becomethe focal point of the summerprogram,” says Edward Evans,Botwood’s town manager. “Out-side of skill development, andfun and enjoyment, friendshipsare made among young peoplethat last a lifetime.”

Although Beckhammissed the kick, it was

still considered one of thebest games of all time,one that involved the

world’s biggest sportingstar. I’m sure no one

would have predicted a$16-million offer, butthese things happen.

Let the Games begin — and be financed

ROBERTSFOGBANNERMANREGATTABRIGUSFLAGSPANPARKACHORDGEORGESQUIDFESTIVALBEACHQUIDIHERITAGE

Solutions for puzzle on page 24

The Sunday Independent, July 18, 2004

The Sunday Independent has received tremendous feedback

regarding our colourful and gripping photography. Our photo team, led

by Internationally recognized and award-winning photo editor Paul

Daly, captures the essence of Newfoundland and Labrador in every

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make up this province, each photo is truly representative of the place

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Events

JULY 18• Open Studio Weekend continues,sponsored by the Craft Council ofNewfoundland and Labrador. Siteslisted in the Studio Guide, available atvisitor information sites, studios, gal-leries, and at the Devon House CraftCentre.• Family day at Memorial’s Botani-cal Gardens, St. John’s, 10 a.m.-5p.m., 737-8590.• Sound Symposium presents a fam-ily concert featuring Sea Strands, anexploration of Islands with EricWest, Catherine Wright, Alan Rick-etts and Leonard Sperry, LSPU Hall,St. John’s, 1 p.m.• The Legacy of Emile Benoit, St.Andrews Church (the Kirk), St.John’s. Presented by Sound Sympo-sium, 7 p.m.• Sound Symposium finale: Improvnight at the LSPU Hall, St. John’s,8:30 p.m. For more, visitwww.soundsymposium.com• Shakespeare by the Sea presentsAs You Like It, Cabot 500 theatre,Bowring Park, St. John’s, 6 p.m.,576-0980.

JULY 19• Weekly healthy garden workshopseries, facilitated by Dr. WilfNicholls, 737-8590.

JULY 20• Live! On the Lawn Theatre,Hawthorne Cottage, Brigus. Plays areperformed Wednesdays, Fridays andSaturdays at 3 p.m.• Book signing: a new edition of Dr.Elliott Leyton’s Dying Hard: Indus-trial Carnage in St. Lawrence, New-foundland is officially launched,LSPU Hall, St. John’s, 5-7 p.m.

JULY 21• Salvage: Story of a House, written

by Michael Crummey, presented byArtistic Fraud of Newfoundland, 8p.m., Commissariat House, St.John’s, 739-5091.• Folk night with Zari at the ShipPub, St. John’s.

JULY 22• Seniors’ day at MUN BotanicalGarden, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 737-8590.• Salvage: Story of a House, writtenby Michael Crummey, presented byArtistic Fraud of Newfoundland, 8p.m., Commissariat House, St.John’s, 739-5091.

JULY 23• Iron Skull folk festival, Belleoram,Fortune Bay, 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Continuesuntil July 25, 881-6441.• Free lunchtime concert, Cabernetat the St. John’s City Hall courtyard,noon-12:45. • Dungarvin play at Erin’s Pub,Water Street, St. John’s.

JULY 24• The Cape St. Mary’s PerformanceSeries presents singers Joy Normanand Simone Savard-Walsh, poet Vio-let Browne, and musicians Lori Heathand Glen Nuotio, 7:30 p.m., Interpre-tation Centre, Cape St. Mary’s. • My Way: A musical tribute toFrank Sinatra, Stephenville TheatreFestival, 7:30 p.m., Stephenville Artsand Culture Centre, 643-4553.• Town of Placentia’s annual regat-ta, 727-0978.• North West River beach festival:Folk music for the family on NorthWest River Beach, Labrador, 497-3339.• Dungarvin play Erin’s Pub, WaterSt., St. John’s.

OTHER:• Stephenville Theatre Festival pre-

sents a dozen different plays through-out July and August — usually two orthree a day. For festival schedule andinformation, visit www.stf.nf.ca orcall (709) 643-4553.• Theatre Newfoundland’s GrosMorne Theatre Festival featureseight shows this season. For showinformation or tickets, visit www.the-atrenewfoundland.com or call 1-877-243-2899.• Seasons in the Bight/The NewFounde Land Trinity Pageant:plays, dinner theatre, concerts andthe pageant, Trinity. Runs until Octo-ber 11 (pageant to August 31) 464-3847.• Rum, Romance and Rebellion,cultural and literary walking tour ofSt John’s, Tuesday-Thursday, 6:45p.m., LSPU Hall, Victoria St., 364-6845.• Where once they stood, O’Boyle’shistoric walking tours, daily 10 a.m.at the Fairmont Newfoundland Hotel,St. John’s. Reservations required,364-6845.

IN THE GALLERIES:• Travelling Light, with works byDoug Buis, Catherine Kozyra, RyanBarrett and more, all inspired by thePouch Cove environment, JamesBaird Gallery, Water Street, St.John’s, until July 27.• Artist Statement by Stephan Kurrand Bad Ideas for Paradise by EmilyVey Duke and Cooper Battersby,Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s. • Annual Members Exhibit, CraftCouncil Gallery, Devon House, St.John’s, until Sept. 3.• Summer Songs featuring the workof 15 artists at the Leyton Gallery ofFine Art, St. John’s, 3-5 p.m.• MUN Botanical Garden’s 27thannual garden and nature art exhibi-tion, 737-8590. Until August 1.

2004-07-18

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