2007-05-18

The chairman of the boardthat oversees Newfound-land and Labrador’s off-

shore oil play has written theprovincial and federal ministersof Natural Resources to com-plain about public commentsmade by fellow board memberand St. John’s Mayor AndyWells.

In a letterobtained by TheIndependent, MaxRuelokke, CEO ofthe Canada-New-foundland andLabrador OffshorePetroleum Board,says comments byWells thatappeared in theMarch 2007 edi-tion of OilWeekmagazine violatedthe board’s conflict of interestguidelines.

Referring to the C-NLOPB’srecommendation to approveHibernia Management andDevelopment Corporation’srequest for an amendment to theHibernia South developmentplan that was rejected by theprovince, Wells said, “As far asI’m concerned, the board didn’tproperly handle this … it wasincompetent.”

In an April 27 letter to provin-cial minister Kathy Dunderdaleand federal minister Gary Lunn,Ruelokke wrote “such com-ments speak to the integrity ofthe board and are clearly incon-sistent with the principle thatmembers shall act in good faith

with regard to the general inter-ests of the board …”

“Well if it does, too bad,”Wells tells The Independent.“Ruelokke and company are fedup because I supported theprovince’s decision with respectto the Hibernia South applica-tion as opposed to supportingthe companies and the federalgovernment.”

The letter also states thatWells made the public state-ments even though he had par-ticipated in the decision and “not

expressed hisconcerns at thetime or engagedsubstantially indiscussion priorto the vote on thedecision.”

Wells sayswhen the motionwas made toapprove theapplication at theboard he was theonly one who

voted against it. He says the votewas 6-1.

“If they didn’t know my posi-tion on the matter that’s theirproblem,” says Wells. “Perhapsthey were sleep-walking.”

Ruelokke quotes a section ofthe conflict guidelines that saysboard members “shall not dis-cuss matters arising from boardmeetings with any person otherthan full- or part-time membersof the board” or anyone elseunless they have the permissionof himself as chairman, or one ofthe ministers.

Ruelokke notes he did notgive Wells — or any other boardmember — such permission.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK“It’s all right for people to say ‘You guys get up andvote against the budget,’ but boy I’ll tell you, thereare consequences … sorry, that’s not on.”

— Conservative MP Norm Doyle. See page 4.

See “The public,” page 2

Hockey night in RiverheadDanny Cleary brings the cheer back to Harbour Grace

VOL. 5 ISSUE 20 — ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR — FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, MAY 18-24, 2007 — WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CA — $1.50 HOME DELIVERY (HST included); $2.00 RETAIL (HST included)

WhippingWellsSt. John’s mayor says complaint attempt to stifle debate

Life Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Noreen Golfman . . . . . . . . . . 17Woody’s Wheels . . . . . . . . . . 29Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

GALLERY 18Christine Koch’snorthern exhibition

STYLE 23A look at the jewelry of DonBeaubier and Wesley Harris

Detroit Red Wings fans in Riverhead — led by Kevin Cleary (foreground), father of NHL star and local boy Danny Cleary — during the Western Conferencechampionship game May 15 against the Anaheim Ducks. Detroit won 5-0. Nicholas Langor/The Independent

LIFE 17Annual Festival of New Dance warming up

BUSINESS 13Northstar Network signs bigdeal with Lockheed-Martin

RIVERHEAD, HR. GRACE

An explosion of red greets everyonewho enters Mark Reynolds’ house,a striking contrast from the aging

wooden houses and broken pavement ofRiverhead, a corner of Harbour Grace nearthe rusting Kyle.

The town seems to have lost most of itscheer. Houses are for sale throughout thecommunity. Further down in HarbourGrace, the historic cathedral is crumblingand many buildings on Water Street havebeen abandoned — even the colours of theSpirit of Harbour Grace, a famous oldplane mounted at the head of the harbour,look faded.

Look past the boarded windows and youwill see the home of champions.

Curler Jamie Korab won gold. NeilCleary, Danny’s older brother, hoisted theHerder this past April. And now DannyCleary, a right-winger for the Detroit RedWings, could be the first Newfoundlanderto win the Stanley Cup.

Danny springs over the boards on thebig-screen TV in the living room packedwith family, friends and the town mayor.Forget Detroit or Anaheim, tonightRiverhead owns the title of “Hockeytown.”

As Danny collects the puck all hands aresucked into the television, cheering as if hecould hear their voices from a world away.Everyone agrees: “Detroit gotta’ wintonight, definitely.”

The hockey star’s father, Kevin Cleary,sits on the edge of the couch, arms crossed,leaning forward toward the TV — focused.

Proudly wearing his son’s No. 11 jersey,he’s a self-described hockey fanatic.Although Kevin is friendly and can tell youanything about the Red Wings, don’t both-er him during the game.

Kevin has spent countless hours watch-ing Danny play, in both the Harbour Gracearena and the fabled Joe Louis Arena inDetroit. Amidst the beer, profanity andjokes he can still concentrate .

JOHNRIETI

Cupids crossroadsPlanning for Cupids400 going strong; organizers itch for federal commitment

CUPIDS

The Cupids400 celebration is at acritical juncture. Three years from2010, which will mark four cen-

turies since John Guy set up the firstEnglish settlement in Canada, and theevent organizers are on pins and needles.

On one hand, the province gave them ahuge boost a month ago, with a $2.1 mil-lion commitment and a plug in the recentSpeech from the Throne.

On the other, they’re still looking foranother $9 million from the feds, and it’snot coming easily, in spite of vigorous lob-bying efforts and the considerable ground-work volunteers have laid. Politics being

politics, especially these days, it’s safe tosay they’re concerned.

Event general manager Peter MacKenzieand archeologist Bill Gilbert — the manwho discovered Guy’s 1610 dwelling 12years ago — hope to fly to Ottawa nextweek to pitch their case directly. As theysee it, the birthplace of English Canada isnot something to be taken lightly.

“Not to disparage our boy Cabot, but hemight have shown up here, he might havestayed for a few minutes and went on, butJohn Guy is different than any of that,”MacKenzie says. Guy and the 38 otheradventurous settlers came to start a newway of life.

“He came over here, they knew theywere coming to stay, they brought all thetools they needed, they brought all theworkmen they needed, the fishermen, theboat-builders … this was the first English

colony in Canada.”“There’s a lot of firsts here,” echoes

Gilbert. “The first brewhouse in Canada,they built the first ships here, the firstsawmill, first grist mill, the first Englishchild was born here, in 1613.”

It brings to mind recent and much-pro-moted provincial celebrations likeCabot500 in 1497 and the 100th anniver-sary of Marconi’s wireless trans-Atlantictransmission in 2001 (dubbed “Receivingthe world”). Both were promoted on agrand scale by the province — and boastedsummers filled with activities and specialevents.

“With all the mess and all the lawsuitsthat followed those, because of that itseems the government has decided not todo that kind of thing anymore,” MacKenzie

IVANMORGAN

STEPHANIEPORTER

See “We’re doing something,” page 8

See “My b’y,” page 33

“This board needs to get involved in discussing some of the issues with

the public.”

Andy Wells

2 • INDEPENDENTNEWS MAY 18, 2007

Rallyingcry

May 11 was a unique day for me. I found myself infront of a microphone, but not in the usual spot.Usually I’m locked away in a tiny studio, where

it can often feel as if I’m talking to myself. Hosting a radioprogram can leave you feeling a little isolated. That feelingwas not a problem on that May day.

I was tasked with being master of ceremonies for theTrust and Confidence Rally on the steps of ConfederationBuilding. It was a beautiful day in St. John’s with temper-atures hitting 15 degrees. The organizers had asked me tobe the MC and I wasn’t so sure about taking on the job.What if people didn’t show up? What if we embarrassedthe province? My nerves were raw.

This “people’s rally” to voice opposition to the Harpergovernment’s changes in equalization was a real risk. Ifenough people did not show up to make the event a successmainland commentators would deem the matter closed.The rally could hurt — not help — and no one wanted that.

As is often the case with a rally, people will try and esti-mate the size of the crowd. The numbers for this oneranged from 1,500 to 3,000. By the time Wince Cole com-pleted his set of songs the steps of Confederation Buildingout to the parking lot were full. I pegged the number at2,000, not including all of those public servants looking outthe windows.

By the time I called everyone to order and invited WardPike to lead us in the singing of the Ode to NewfoundlandI felt confident the event would go well. The crowd sangthe anthem with a gusto not often heard. The Ode holds aspecial place in our hearts, but on this day, on those steps,it seemed to take on a deeper meaning. “As loved ourfathers so we loved,” sang the crowd, and they were trulybelting it out.

I had a list of speakers covering various walks of life —labour, students, teachers, health-care workers, police andmunicipal leaders. We even heard from Ryan Cleary, theeditor of this august publication. He said a lot of our chal-lenges were our own to conquer and conquer them wewould. He left the stage to thunderous applause. Actually,everyone who spoke received a huge response. Cleary wassupposed to be the lastspeaker, but in my zeal Ihad dropped someoneoff my list. ComedianKevin Noble — famousfor his interpretation ofJoey Smallwood — wassupposed to have beencalled up earlier.“Should I drop him orask him to come up?” Iinquired of chief organ-izer Peter Whittle?

“Call him up,” Petersaid, and I did. Kevinwas funny, gave every-one a reason to laugh,not only at himself, butalso at ourselves, and heleft the audience feelinggood.

It was time to end the event and when I started to wrap itup a chant of “Danny, Danny, Danny” started. The premierwas out in the crowd somewhere. Before the event startedhe told me he would not be speaking because arrangementshad not been made with the other parties in the House. Itwas obvious he was excited at the turnout though, and heweighed into the crowd shaking hands with anyone whoreached out to greet him.

The crowd continued to call for the premier, so again Iturned to our chief organizer. Peter said to invite him up. Iwent to the microphone and asked if the premier wouldcome and address the group. A huge cheer went out andafter a minute of waiting he was there. He said above thenoise that he wanted to make sure the other parties wererepresented before he spoke.

Talk about your strange luck. A young boy in the frontwanted to speak on behalf of the children in the province. Itold the premier the story and he said to give the young manthe microphone. His name is Tristen Lee. He is 10 years oldand he was great.

I have no idea how it got done, but by the time youngTristen finished his few remarks Lorraine Michael of theNDP was with us, and George Sweeney of the Liberals wasthere as well. The premier spoke, as did Lorraine andGeorge, and Liberal MP Scott Simms concluded the eventby recounting how a federal politician once told him he hadto vote with the province on the Atlantic Accord and voteagainst his party. He said the advice came from LoyolaHearn.

I left those steps that day feeling pretty proud. I won-dered if people who were not there would call the rally asuccess. In the end, it did not come down to the numbers.

It came down to seeing that crowd eat up every wordspoken. It came down to hearing them sing the Ode withsuch passion.

In the end, the numbers didn’t matter. For a brief momentin time a group of Newfoundlanders and Labradoriansstood on the steps of our legislature and cheered for thosewho spoke of our pride and spoke of our future. It was thefeeling, not the numbers, that mattered. The rally was asuccess to me.

Randy Simms is host of VOCM’s Open Line radio program.

[email protected]

RANDY SIMMS talk

“That’s a load of crap as far as I’m con-cerned,” says Wells. “This board needs to getinvolved in discussing some of the issueswith the public.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s an attempt tostifle legitimate public debate and public dis-cussion on important matters that the boardhas got to deal with, and I’m not going toabide by that. I was appointed by theprovince to represent that point of view.

“If the board deals with a matter that Ithink is in the public interest, and I disagreewith the board’s decision, I will make it

public. “I think the public are entitled to know how

this board operates. Ruelokke and companydon’t like that. They’re old-line bureaucrats,they’ve been around since time immemorial.They’ll go through the platitudes about talk-ing about public disclosure but they’re notreally seriously interested in it.

“In my view there’s kind of a disdain formedia and for public disclosure.”

Ruelokke, contacted by The Independent,says he doesn’t comment on letters he writesto ministers.

“We don’t ordinarily do business thatway,” says Ruelokke. “I don’t have any com-ment on that letter at all. It’s a letter that in

my capacity I wrote to the ministers and asfar as I am concerned it is correspondencethat is private between the board and thoseministers and I wouldn’t therefore see fit tocomment on it.”

Dunderdale says this is an internal matterinvolving Ruelokke and Wells and she is notprepared to comment.

Attempts to contact Minister Lunn werenot successful.

Andy Wells was Premier Danny Williams’choice to head the C-NLOPB, but a SupremeCourt decision supported an arbitrationpanel’s decision that Ruelokke be appointedchair.

[email protected]

Commissioner John Roil determined a proposed change to a municipal boundary by the City of Mount Pearl is not justified this week. The independent review states thedisputed land in question, the old Sprung Greenhouse property, is to remain within the limits of the City of St. John’s. Above, St. John’s Mayor Andy Wells with capital cityin background. Paul Daly/The Independent

BOUNDARY LINES

‘The public are entitled to know’From page 1

I left those steps that day feeling pretty proud. I

wondered if peoplewho were not therewould call the rallya success. In the

end, it did not comedown to the numbers.

MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 3

A weekly collection of Newfoundlandia

Stephen Maher of the HalifaxChronicle Herald wrote a columnrecently that fairly well sums up

Danny’s relationship with StephenHarper. Note the headline: Williamsprefers using hakapik to deal with PM.(A hakapik, according to Wikipedia, isa multi-purpose hunting tool — aheavy wooden hammer on one end(used to crush a seal’s skull), and ahook (used to drag away the carcass) onthe other. More on the trusty hakapik ina moment.)

The article that followed the headlineread like this: “Danny Williams isoffering Stephen Harper nothing butpain: scorched earth and poisonedwells, the flaming sword of the offshorepetro-jihad.” And that’s pretty much thelay of the land.

Maher went on to describe Williams’style as “guerrilla politics,” and “whatis strange about it is that it does notleave any compromise open to Harper.”

Maher says the traditional positionfor a premier in a feud with the primeminister is to offer both a fist and anopen hand. “Mr. Williams, on the otherhand, is offering Mr. Harper two knob-by fists, a bloody hakapik in each.”Maher’s column was prominently dis-played on page six of the SaturdayChronicle Herald. Front and centre inNova Scotia, inother words …

PICKING AWAYBack to the

hakapik … it wasonly in September2006 Danny saidhe wanted Ottawato ban the club.The premier saidhakapiks provideammunition toopponents of thehunt, a standbacked up by thepresident of theMagdalen IslandsS e a l e r sAssociation at thetime.

But then JeanClaude Lapierrealso said it’s difficult to find anothersafe method of killing seals because thehakapik is handy for steadying sealersas they jump between pans. In fact, the1986 Royal Commission on Seals andSealing in Canada found that the club-bing of seals, when properly per-formed, is at least as humane as, andoften more humane, than the killingmethods used in commercial slaughter-houses.

MAJOR GAFF Gaffs were prohibited for killing

seals in 1967. Hakapiks were onlyallowed on the Front in 1976 (and threeyears later in the Gulf). According tothe law, hooded seals that are shot mustalso be clubbed, and a seal must bedead before being skinned. Seems likecommon sense to me. As for Williams’attempt to ban the hakapik, federalFisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said inSeptember 2006 he would consider it,although he ultimately decided againsta ban. Would it be legal for Hearn tohakapik Danny upside the head? WouldDanny be permitted to politically skinHearn? Either way, a political reputa-tion or two will be clubbed to deathafter the upcoming federal and provin-cial elections …

COWARD CENTRALA final note on Danny … the April

23 edition of Canadian Businessincludes a five-page spread on the pre-mier. The headline ran like this:Danny’s war (in bold), followed by Hesays he wants Newfoundland to be thenext Norway. But is he turning it intothe next Venezuela? One of the fewinteresting quotes was by John Meaney,general manager of East Coast opera-tions for Q’Max Solutions, a Calgary-based drilling fluids company thatarrived in Newfoundland in 2002 with

a contract atWhite Rose.

Meaney saidthe public needsto be providedwith real data onthe oil industry’spotential, andthose in theindustry need tovoice their con-cerns. “Right nowno one is saying aword,” he says.“It’s all rhetoricthat’s comingfrom the premier,and everybodyelse is a cowardwhen it comes tospeaking up. Idon’t understandit because every-

body has a significant investment downhere.” Maybe they agree with Danny…

PICTURE PERFECT Newfoundland and Labrador’s

newest phone book is out, with a love-ly hand-drawn cover picture of Aliantemployees and volunteers. The picture,coloured with crayon, was chosen fromover 1,000 entries in a contest “invitingchildren from across the region to show

us how Aliant helps in their communi-ty.” Only the picture on the province’sphone book was drawn by DanykaLeclair of New Brunswick, of allplaces.

That reminds me of Liberal leaderGerry Reid’s criticism of the provincialgovernment this week for giving thecontract for the provincial park reserva-tion system to a Quebec call centre.Reid questioned the level of knowledgethat Montrealers have of the geographyof Newfoundland and Labrador. SaidReid: “I am certain the Government ofQuebec is not looking to use call cen-tres in this province for informationregarding their provincial park sys-tem.” Reid scored on that slap shot …

TOILET TEMPESTS The wildest press release of the week

goes to the St. John’s franchise of Mr.Rooter.

Read the headline: Before face-off,check bathroom to deflect plumbing

problems. The release warned home-owners of various dangers that gohand-in-hand with hockey playoffs.“Hockey fans pack into homes for par-ties, and the extra guests put an extrastrain on the toilet.” Maybe so, butOttawa games must put more strain ontoilets in these parts than Detroitmatch-ups. You can’t leave the TVwhen Danny Cleary is on the ice …

LIVING DEAD The past seven days were police

week, in case you didn’t know it, andthe RCMP ran a special program atStella Marris school in Trepasseyaimed at spreading the word about thedangers of drinking alcohol and usingdrugs. Called Whiteout, staff and stu-dents were randomly picked to havetheir faces painted white, with a causeof death affixed to their chests. ANewfoundland twist on the classic,Return of the Living Dead B’ys …

ROCK AND ROARSome of Newfoundland and

Labrador’s “finest authors” will be pro-filed June 7 on Bravo! with a one-hourdocumentary special called SpeakingVolumes: A Literary Roar from theRock. Authors will include Lisa Moore(Open), Michael Winter (The Big Why),Wayne Johnston (Thr Colony ofUnrequited Dreams) and MichaelCrummey (The Wreckage). Accordingto the promo: “Featuring interviewswith the authors, book readings and theday-to-day life of writers working inNewfoundland” — though Winter andJohnston have been based in Torontofor years — “the documentary theo-rizes the wealth of authors and storiescoming out of the small population, theinfluence of Confederation and thechallenges of defining the voice ofNewfoundland.”

Or maybe we just have something tosay …

[email protected]

SCRUNCHINS

YOURTOWN

Aiden Morrissey captured these winter scenes around his hometown of Brigus. Your Town is open to amateur photographers across Newfoundland and Labrador. Please send submissions to picture editor Paul Daly [email protected].

Michael Winter Michael Crummey Wayne Johnston


By Mandy CookThe Independent

The typically convention-heavy months ofMay, June, September and October in St.John’s are swelling to include earlier and

later bookings — even extending into the leisuremonths of July and August.

Mike Buist, general manager of Destination St.John’s, says the “exotic” lure of the capital city hasresulted in a busy conference season, although thenumber of events and delegates has dropped in thelast two years.

“We set a record for rooms sold and had sevenmajor events in April,” he tells The Independent.

Buist says the prolonged convention schedulecan be chalked up to several causes. In addition toan increased number of national associations gath-ering for events, delegates are willing to travelmore. Buist says reasons for coming to the portcity aren’t necessarily weather-dependent andtherefore people will travel earlier or later in theyear.

“In lots of cases people are going for businessreasons or going to enjoy a sport or cultural eventthat’s not weather sensitive — it doesn’t have to be95 and sunny.”

This month, the Canadian Library Associationwill bring 1,000 delegates to the city. June will bea slower month, but there will be 500 delegates

arriving in July for the Festival 500 ChoralFestival and another 900 people with the CanadianAutoworkers’ Union in August.

On the west coast, Darren Martin of TourismCorner Brook says the city is expecting 175 dele-gates at the Oil and Gas Symposium in June andanother 100 for the Conference of ProvincialCommand. Although numbers are down for 2007,Martin says 2006 was a banner year and expectspast successes will contribute to future bookings.

“The meetings and convention sector can onlygrow in the region as businesses and organizationsrealize not only does western Newfoundland pos-sess first-rate facilities to house their meetings andevents, but also has the outdoor adventure oppor-tunities to offer outside the boardroom.”

Buist echoes the same advantages in St. John’s,but stresses the region must aggressively pursue itsshare of the competitive convention marketbecause “nothing sells itself.

“It’s the combination of urban infrastructure andunique rural experience that I think sets our desti-nation apart and makes us that much more attrac-tive.”

Buist points to a 2005 study by MemorialUniversity economist Wade Locke that breaksdown the economic impact conferences have onthe eastern region by hotel, restaurant, entertain-ment and supplies. Locke found the industry tocontribute $20 million per year to the economy.

Despite the drop in overall num-bers, Buist is content with the 250-500 delegate, medium-sized con-ventions booking consistently fromApril to November.

“We don’t mind as long as thebottom line is heads in beds.”

[email protected]

By Ivan MorganThe Independent

Norm Doyle takes exception to publishedremarks made by fellow ConservativePeter MacKay saying government MPs

were “happy” to vote in support of the federalbudget, and would not have been thrown out ofcaucus for voting their conscience.

“No. That wasn’t the case at all,” Doyle tellsThe Independent from Ottawa. “I mean I don’tknow where Peter got that idea, but obviouslyhe wasn’t aware of the consequences. I don’tknow why he wouldn’t be, but the consequencesof voting against the budget would be to leavecaucus. Absolutely.

“No doubt. One hundred per cent absolutelysure.”

Doyle says he voted for his party’s controver-sial budget — which contains the equalizationformula Premier Danny Williams claims repre-sents a broken election promise by StephenHarper — on May 15 because of the benefits itcontains for the people he represents.

He says the $1.6 billion earmarked forNewfoundland and Labrador includes funds forprojects in his riding — he lists the Torbaybypass road, the Flatrock marina and the east-west arterial road as priorities — which wouldgo ahead if, and likely only if, he voted with hisparty.

He bristles at the notion he does not careabout the equalization issue. Equalization, saysDoyle, is going to be important in Canada for“years and years and years to come” but he hasonly “one shot” at seeing through projects forhis riding.

He says he and his Newfoundland MP col-leagues are working to find solutions to theequalization flap, but adds, “I couldn’t put outexpectations to the people of Newfoundland andLabrador that we are going to be able to makeany substantive changes.

“I’ve got concerns about equalization that arejust as valid as anyone in the provincial govern-ment. They don’t have ownership of this file atall. We all have, as Newfoundlanders andLabradorians, great concerns about any reduc-tion in funding that might come toNewfoundland.”

Doyle, who has announced he won’t be run-ning in the next federal election, says the proj-ects he is working on are also important to peo-ple in his riding — and important to provincialMHAs and cabinet ministers too. Yet he says hewas pressured to vote against his own govern-ment’s budget.

“Now where does that place me? It places me

between a rock and a hard place here.” Doyle has no doubt about what would happen

if he voted against the budget.“I’ll be sitting down in the back of the House

somewhere on the opposite side saying ‘Well,gee, I had a good shot at that. Too bad it didn’twork out.’”

Besides, Doyle says, voting against the budg-et would have made no difference, as the billpassed by 60 votes.

“It’s all right for people to say ‘You guys getup and vote against the budget,’ but boy I’ll tellyou, there are consequences — even for the peo-ple who are asking you to do that,” says Doyle.“Sorry, that’s not on.”

Doyle says his 25 years in politics inNewfoundland have proven “Kenny Rogers gotit right” — not only do you have to know whento “hold them or fold them” but also know howto work hard, how to pick your fights and howto live to fight another day.

He says in politics “you’ll get absolutelynowhere unless you can compromise … I don’tthink people generally are aware of what we’retrying to do up here.”

Doyle says the flap over equalization willeventually pass, and it would be “tremendouslyhelpful” to see a sign there is a desire to get theprovince and the federal government back ontrack and talking again.

A quarter-century in politics has not madeDoyle immune to some of the nasty commentsmade by people about his decision to back thegovernment he represents.

“It’s very difficult. It’s a good question. Beingtold you’re a traitor to the province by voting forthe budget is very hurtful. That’s all I can sayabout it — it’s very hurtful.”

[email protected]

A second mistrial has been ordered in the case of Dr. Sean Buckingham (shown above during a previous court appear-ance). The Newfoundland Supreme Court made the ruling in the physician’s case due to an outdated juror’s list. Policeallege Buckingham traded prescription drugs for sex. Paul Daly/The Independent

MISTRIAL DECLARED‘Between a rock and a hard place’Norm Doyle on realities of voting against federal budget

Norm Doyle Paul Daly/The Independent

‘Heads in beds’Convention season stretched; numbers still down

Year 2007 2006 2005 2004Number of events 77 77 99 96Number of delegates 19,000 19,000 25,000 20,000

(est.)Source: Destination St. John’s



The provincial electoral officehas begun a door-to-door cam-paign to build a new voters’ list

for the October election, but no specialprovisions are being made to accom-modate the thousands of people work-ing in mining camps and other tempo-rary work facilities elsewhere inCanada.

In fact, there are no hard numbers onhow many people are currently work-ing the “six and two” — those whopunch in a shift of six weeks thenreturn to the province for two weeks‘rest.

Memorial economics professorDoug May says he thinks there aremore than 20,000 people “commut-ing” between their homes inNewfoundland and Labrador andworking in other parts of Canada, butcautions there are no real statistics toback his estimates.

“The bottom line is we just don’tknow, and we probably really wouldlike to know and should know,” Maytells The Independent. “It’s a very

large social phenomena.”The province’s new chief electoral

officer, Paul Reynolds, says there areprovisions in place for people whowish to vote but will not be in theprovince on election day. Peopleworking in other parts of Canada whoare “ordinarily a resident of a districtin Newfoundland and Labrador” haveoptions.

SPECIAL BALLOT“If they are not going to be home,

they can make application to have aspecial ballot, to vote by special bal-lot.”

Reynolds says an upcoming amend-ment to the legislation will allow aperson to apply for a special ballotfour weeks before the writ of the elec-tion. The ballot will be delivered andcan be returned by mail.

Although a person may be workingin northern Alberta, if the workerdetermines — and people have thatright — their primary residence isNewfoundland and Labrador, thenthey are enumerated in the town theyare living.

The enumeration, which takes place

this month, will be finalized on June24. After that, potential voters who arenot enumerated will have to contactthe electoral office in order to beincluded on the new voter’s lists.

Reynolds says no other provisionsare in the works to accommodate thissection of the electorate. He notes thatin the 2003 election, 10,567 mailed invotes, while 11,095 voted in theadvance polls.

A total of 277,538 people voted inthe 2003 provincial election.

May says, while seasonal workersare nothing new in Newfoundland andLabrador, the “six-and-twoers” are arelatively new phenomenon.

“The question is that if this is soimportant, then how come we don’thave this information?” asks May.

“I don’t think it is an insignificantnumber … It could be as high as20,000, or something like that.

“It’s amazing that we don’t knowmore about this phenomenon, which isextremely important to the provinceand to many rural communities in it —not only in economic terms, but also inthe social context. It’s huge.”

[email protected]

Will mainland commuters vote?More research needed on ‘six and two’ shift

FFAW president Earl McCurdysays his members would like tosee the sale of FPI go through.

“The clear view that emerged fromour meetings is that our membersthink it is time to turn the page,”McCurdy tells The Independent.“They’ve been through a lot of turmoiland would like to see the sale takeplace.”

With plants in Burin, Marystown,Bonavista, Triton, Port Union, Port auChoix and a cold storage facility inSouth Dildo, FPI employs approxi-mately 1,700 unionized workers and150 management. The fate of the com-pany is of the utmost importance to the

economy of rural Newfoundland, saysMcCurdy.

Under the sale agreement, were it toproceed, Highliner would purchaseand operate the Burin plant, whileOcean Choice would take over theother locations.

A recent vote by the Fish, Food andAllied Workers’ union accepting thelatest wage offer by Ocean Choice is abright spot in an otherwise difficultyear.

The sale of FPI is stalled by a dis-agreement between the federal andprovincial government over control ofgroundfish quotas. Ice on the northeastcoast is hampering the beginning of

the crab, lobster and shrimp fishery,and workers there are facing idleplants and expiring EmploymentInsurance claims.

Were the sale approved, the unionwould have to go back to the tablewith Highliner as they have no con-tract agreement with the company.

McCurdy says his membership sim-ply wants the FPI issue settled and anend to the turbulence of the last fewyears.

“By and large the membership isprepared to take a chance on what thefuture might bring.”

— Ivan Morgan [email protected]

FPI sale should go through: McCurdy

WEA

THER

REP

OR

T The classic debate every May 24th weekend is whether thisparticular one is the coldest, wettest, foggiest, mistiest, windi-est, sunniest, cloudiest, greyest or rainiest ever. TheIndependent attempts to stimulate the age-old camping debatewith these weather statistics — temperature and precipitation— from each of the past 20 years, compliments ofEnvironment Canada. The forecast for this coming Saturday,May 19th, by the way, is 18 degrees with a 40 per cent chanceof precipitation.

— John Rieti

YEAR TEMP. (degrees C) PRECIPITATION (mm)

1987 2.6 51988 24.2 01989 15.2 .21990 3.3 37.81991 6.7 11.91992 5.5 2.51993 22.3 7.71994 8.7 .81995 9.1 17.11996 10.4 01997 5.8 14.71998 9.1 17.11999 12.5 4.82000 12.8 02001 10.3 .22002 15.8 18.22003 7.5 02004 10.8 02005 6.1 3.62006 11.8 0

No snow was reported, although nighttime temperatures droppedbelow freezing. — Environment Canada


Invitation to the danceAQuebec television crew

dropped by The Independent aday or two after the recent

Throne Speech, the one where Dannybroke the news that, after decades ofbeing treated like an unwanted sisterin Confederation, it turns out, low andbehold, that we’re actually Cinderellasin our own house.

Mainland media, when they para-chute in every now and then toobserve the natives, don’t quite knowwhere to turn when they hear backtalktowards mainland Canada — the rebelNL yell.

Come-from-away media are oftendirected to The Independent, wherethey’re almost guaranteed a hard-done-by tale (good central CanadianTV to accent our whining welfareways). The Pink, White and Greencharge of the fightingNewfoundlander is replacing a fisher-man in oilskins or overturned dory asthe cliché image of this place. Thealien tendrils from last year’s pitcherplant-logo didn’t quite stick as a defin-ing brand.

“Do you not like Quebec?” askedthe Quebec reporter.

“No b’y, it’s not like that,” was myreply. “I can’t remember meeting a

Quebecer I didn’t like. They seem likegood enough people from the scat-tered one I’ve come across.”

More power to Quebec for protect-ing the distinct society and culture thatit is.

But then we’re just as special — Imade that point too.

Now that you mention it, Mr.Reporter, there is the old festering sorethat is the upper Churchill. The con-tract numbers are worth repeating,which I did, directly into the cameralens: our loss from the upper Churchillis estimated at $1.3 billion minimumevery year. Quebec rakes in $1 billiondirectly, and we make $75 million.Hardly seems fair. You wouldn’t thinkthat members of the same Canadianfamily would treat each other so poor-ly.

Those kinds of lopsided numberscould lead to a grudge, and they have,although we’re not about to go to warover it.

“If the ordinary people of Quebecknew of that imbalance would theythink we had a legitimate beef?” wasanother point I made to the camera.

The Quebec reporter caught me offguard when he commented that Iseemed upset — “mad” even. But thenI suppose I am. The fishery bothers memost, and how the Government ofCanada wrote it off for dead years ago.Life may be draining from rural areasall over Canada, but outmigration hereis tied to the failure of a fishery, whichhappened on Ottawa’s watch. I can’tlet that go.

Our forefathers left us the legacythat is the Grand Banks ofNewfoundland. When the oncemighty cod fisheries died we turnedour backs and gave them the furtherdisgrace of a pauper’s funeral,although headstones are appearingnow in the form of abandoned out-ports.

The May 11 rally on ConfederationHill was the first sign of life aroundhere in more than a decade. The lastpublic rally I remember was back inthe mid 1990s when Tobin reigned inOttawa. The “last, lonely, unattractivelittle turbot” was left clinging to theGrand Banks and all the Turbonator

could do was paint the poor fish’s fin-gernails a bright red and display hiscosmetic talents for all the world tosee on a New York wharf.

There hasn’t been much of a rally-ing cry around here since then, whichwas what was so nice about the recentrally. There’s life in our fish bones yet.

I’ve been criticized personally forgiving a speech at the event. Punditspoint the finger and say it’s finallyclear that The Independent has anagenda. You’re damn right we do —that agenda is Newfoundland andLabrador.

The paper has an agenda the sameway the Globe and Mail has a centralCanadian Conservative agenda. Thesame way that Le Devoir has a Quebecagenda. The same way the HalifaxChronicle Herald has a Nova Scotiaagenda.

The Independent’s focus is on allthings Newfoundland and Labrador.That doesn’t mean we have a bias —reporters with this paper would neverignore the other side of a story if itdoesn’t conform with the NL-first atti-tude.

Does the local Business Post havean anti-Danny Williams agendabecause editor Craig Westcott has an

apparent intense hate out for the pre-mier? As one letter writer put it (seebelow), Westcott has turned into amedia “shock jock.”

Does CBC Radio’s David Cochranehave a bias when he tells the St. John’sBoard of Trade that “when everybodyis nodding their heads in agreement, Ithink it’s the journalist’s role to shout‘bullshit’ from the back of the room.”

Is that the only role?Journalists in these parts have been

trained to build and destroy. WhenWestcott was the editor of theNewfoundland Herald he spent histime throwing palm leaves at Danny’sfeet. When Danny got in power hecrucified him.

No wonder leaders are so hard tocome by.

Cochrane had it right when he toldthe board of trade that people “need tobe free to question, challenge and crit-icize their government without fear ofreprisal or of facing a public challengeto their patriotism.”

At the same time, journalists need tobe free to question this province’splace in Canada without fear of mediareprisal or of facing a public challengeto their journalistic integrity.

[email protected]

‘Taking a stand’

RYAN CLEARYFightingNewfoundlander

YOURVOICE

‘You have compromisedyour journalistic integrity’Dear editor,

With regard to the May 11Independent article headlined Recorddemerits by Mandy Cook, I have thesame name as the person with thedubious distinction of owing the mostin traffic fines. I am a law-abiding cit-izen and, needless to say, I am notthat person.

I am concerned, however, thatyour newspaper so flippantly makesaccusations against people withoutmore specific information regardingtheir identity. Does this not make anyother person with the same name

somewhat suspect? How are peopleto know the difference? If this muchrequired “specific” information isnot available then maybe you should-n’t publish the article. Are you notconcerned about damaging the repu-tation of innocent people?

I feel that by publishing this infor-mation without sufficient detail yourpaper has done an injustice and, inmy opinion, you have compromisedyour journalistic integrity.

Paul F. Hennebury,St. John’s

All material in The Independent is copyrighted and the property of The Independent or the writers and photographers who produced the material. Any use or reproduction of this material without permission is

prohibited under the Canadian Copyright Act. • © 2007 The Independent • Canada Post Agreement # 40871083

AN INDEPENDENT VOICE FOR NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

P.O. Box 5891, Stn.C, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador, A1C 5X4Ph: 709-726-4639 • Fax: 709-726-8499

www.theindependent.ca • [email protected]

The Independent is published by Independent News Ltd. in

St. John’s. It is an independent newspaper covering the news,

issues and current affairs that affect the people of

Newfoundland & Labrador.

PUBLISHER Brian DobbinEDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan ClearyMANAGING EDITOR Stephanie PorterPICTURE EDITOR Paul DalyPRODUCTION MANAGER John AndrewsADVERTISING DIRECTOR Sandra ChartersSALES MANAGER Gillian FisherCIRCULATION MANAGER Karl DeHart

The Independent welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words in length or less and include full name, mailing address and daytime contact numbers. Letters may be edited for length, content and legal considerations. Send your letters

in care of The Independent, P.O. Box 5891, Station C, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5X4 or e-mail us at [email protected]

[email protected] • [email protected] • [email protected]

‘Unfounded, misguided judgments’Editor’s note: the following letter waswritten to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix,with a copy forwarded to TheIndependent.

Dear Star readers,I am writing in response to a letter

(‘We are turned off by your premier’)that appeared in the May 11 edition ofThe Independent, a weekly newspa-per in Newfoundland and Labrador,by Helen Hollingsworth of Saska-toon. It seems she is offended andembarrassed by our premier, DannyWilliams.

To Ms. Hollingsworth and all thosewho feel the same, I am sorry to hearthat, but the most important thing isthat the people actually living on thisisland are absolutely not embarrassed.This is the first time in my life that wehave had someone who will take theCanadian government to task fornational inequalities. If you feel it

necessary to boycott our province ittruly is your loss. Supporting theother Atlantic provinces is your pre-rogative, but just so you know, theirpremiers support us, as much as yourown premier (Lorne Calvert) does.Danny Williams is fighting alongsideyour premier for all our benefits.

I am also sorry for your Newfound-land and Labrador friends for howthey feel, it does make me sad toknow fellow Newfoundlanders andLabradorians have lost sight of thebig picture.

Lastly, regardless of Danny’s facialexpressions, it is not nice to judgepeople on such a thing. He is quitehappy and extremely proud. Perhapsyou should come here and see andlearn for yourself before you makesuch unfounded, misguided judg-ments on people.

Stephanie Stoker,St. John’s

Editor’s note: the following letter waswritten in response to a recent post bylocal blogger and Telegram columnistGeoff Meeker. A copy of the letter wasforwarded to The Independent.

I completely disagree with yourassessment of Ryan Cleary’s atten-dance at this May 11 rally, Geoff.

Cleary is a managing editor of anewspaper. He is also a resident ofthis province who takes an open standon what he believes is best for it. Iadmire him for that. There should bemore like him.

More media should openly bringforth their beliefs and positions andnot hide behind the thinly-worded veilof media objectivity. Do you think forone minute that those who watch orread various media think them to beunbiased? If you do then I suggestyou are indeed gullible in the utmost.There are times (David) Cochranemakes me cringe with apparent bias.(Craig) Westcott makes me cringeeven more but then again that’s howhe gets his status. A media shock jock.

Labeling The Independent as acheerleader for Williams andCompany should be beneath you. I

would expect this type of behaviourfrom Ed Hollett as illustrated in hiscomments. The mere mention ofWilliams’ name sparks rage within hissoul and a possible bubble in his sub-stantial brain. Hollett and his disciplesare constitutionally incapable ofaccepting that the Williams govern-ment can do anything good. Hiswhole approach is so out there that Isuspect it does him more harm thangood. At times I find it predictableand boring. Are you going that way?

Did you attend the rally? Did youhear what was being said by all otherspeakers? They spoke of supportingthe province’s position in dealing withOttawa. Were all of them shilling forthe premier too? Was LorraineMichael or George Sweeny shillingfor the premier? Were all those whospoke as representatives of their vari-ous organizations?

I submit they were supporting aprinciple on the prime minister’s fail-ure to hold to a promise. They weretaking a stand on their beliefs. Youmay not necessarily agree with thembut at least they take one and are pre-pared to be public with that. Theywere supporting a principle and not a

personality. If the media or any part of it sees

itself on some sort of an ethicalpedestal then I encourage it to have agood look at itself. Media has a longhistory in Newfoundland andLabrador as favouring one side or theother. Mention the Daily News, theShoreline, NTV and yes, your reveredSunday Express. I have heard manywho believe they were Liberal rags orTory rags or Smallwood boosters ormerchant money past-times. Thatdoesn’t make it true though.

I take issue and disagree with RyanCleary and/or Danny Williams onmany things. I compliment them forspeaking at the rally. I compliment allwho came out on that sunny Friday tohave themselves heard. I complimentThe Independent for its stand. I com-pliment The Independent for standingup for the province.

It’s sad though when it appears thatyou want to set yourself on a pedestalto preach media ethics. It doesn’t suityou.

Mike Kehoe,Paradise

Editor’s note: the following letter waswritten to Conservative MP FabianManning, with a copy forwarded to TheIndependent.

Dear Mr. Manning,

You sir, are not speaking for mewhen it comes to anything that youhave done with this budget. I find itinsulting the way you have treated themembers of your riding. How dare youmock us like you have been doing.

I can only hope that in the next elec-tion, you sir will be put into retirement.I don’t understand for the life of mehow you can be so smug and think thatyou are untouchable. John Efford was

one of the best MPs that this provincehas seen, with an abundance of gooddeeds behind him when he made hismistake, and it cost him dearly.

I would like to think that you aredoing this because you are still new tofederal politics. But I am sorry to say, itonly looks like someone out trying toclimb that all-important ladder on yourprovince’s back. Let’s hope I amwrong, but I don’t think so.

Good luck, Mr. Manning, in yournext career, because I don’t think forone minute you have a future in federalpolitics after this mess. If you do thenthere has seriously been a miscarriageof justice done to Mr. Efford. As far asI am concerned, if he had to pay the

consequences for what he did (and hisparty came through) then you and Mr.Hearn should also look into retirement.I will be taking Mr. Williams’ adviceand voting ABC. Don’t bother knock-ing on my door next time

Amanda McCarthy,Upper Island Cove

‘Good luck, Mr. Manning, in your next career’

SaskatchewanPremier Lorne Calvert.


YOURVOICE

Dear editor,As a long-time supporter of and sub-

scriber to your wonderful paper, I feltcompelled to drop you a line to compli-ment you on the wonderful speech yougave on Confederation Hill on May 11(A copy of the speech, ‘Too long wehave be been silent’, by Ryan Cleary,appeared in the May 11 edition). Not

often have I been so moved or had myexact feelings so eloquently stated.Keep up the great work on the paper;keep putting forth those wonderful ideasyou have. There are those of us out herelistening and agreeing and slowlybecoming the not-so-silent majority.

Rick Brown,Mount Pearl

No little boy was more enamouredof the American space programthan I. Named Ivan, I also had a

secret affinity for the Russians, eventhough their technology always seemedso shabby and out-of-date. But their cos-monauts weren’t. Yuri Gagarin, the firstman in space, was my hero. When I wentinto space, I dreamed, as a Canadian Iwould refer to myself as a cosmonauttoo, not the harsher sounding astronautthe Americans preferred.

Such are the dreams of little boys. Mydreams did come true to a certain extent,as I did grow up to be a space cadet. Buttravel to outer space? Alas no.

And sadly, my admiration of NASAand the men who built it has faded too.Gus Grissom (whose middle name wasIvan), Wally Schirra, Buzz Aldrin, JohnGlenn, Scott Carpenter, Neil Armstrong— these men were heroes of mine —fabulous adventurers whose names rolloff the tongue.

But when I grew up I learned of somenames that didn’t. Jerrie Cobb, Gene

Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, IreneLeverton, Myrtle Cagle, Jane Hart, JerriTruhill, Rhea Hurrle Woltman, SarahRatley, Bernice Steadman, Jean Hixson,and the twin Jan Dietrich and MarionDietrich.

These women, known as the Mercury13, trained to be astronauts, but werenever given the chance to be astronauts.Not because they weren’t tougher,smarter, stronger, braver or more capa-ble, but because they were women. Theyfared every bit as well as the men inNASA’s brutal training regime, but weredropped because they were women. Thatwas reason enough in 1962.

They even went to Congress to pleadtheir case. Didn’t work.

In 1962 the Russians sent Valentina

Tereshkova into space. I was soimpressed when I read about it. A littleboy needed ammunition if he was todefend his cosmonaut heroes, and I wasproud of the Russians for being so pro-gressive.

The truth was less inspirational. It wasfear of being “beaten” by the men ofNASA, who were training the Mercury13, that motivated the men running theRussian space program to fire a womaninto orbit.

For almost three days Tereshkova —who was not a pilot — lay strapped help-lessly in her Vostok 6 capsule as it circledthe Earth, with little to do except arguewith her male supervisors about a fatalmiscalculation she had noticed thatground control had not.

She managed to convince them to fixit, saving her life. It ruined her career.Women who take the time to read thestory will, I sadly suspect, understand.

I have often wondered why the storiesof the Mercury 13 and of cosmonautTereshkova were not better known. Why

isn’t this story a blockbuster feministmovie or book? Tom Wolfe’s The RightStuff was. It was a book about the menwho were the first astronauts. The titlerefers to the qualities NASA looked forin their candidates. They had to possessthe “right stuff.”

A book on the Mercury 13 by authorMargaret Wietekamp is called RightStuff, Wrong Sex.

A friend of mine — who is no fan offeminism — says feminism allowsunqualified and incompetent women toget ahead in their careers, often at theexpense of qualified men. He’s right —but that’s not the point.

What my friend doesn’t see is thatonce upon a time it was only men whogot ahead. Such was the plight of thetough, driven women of the Mercuryspace program. Tereshkova’s “success”scuttled her career too. She was neveranything more than a propaganda tool.

It isn’t that some women who don’tdeserve promotions get them because offeminism; it is feminism that protects

women who do deserve promotions andsuccess.

Are there lots of unqualified, stupid,incompetent women out there in jobsthey got only because they were women?You bet. They stand shoulder-to-shoul-der with their unqualified, stupid, incom-petent male counterparts.

The tragedy is the Mercury 13 nevergot the chance. The chance to crumble,or screw up, or triumph at what theywanted to do.

And I never got the chance to grow upwith them as my heroes.

What might it have been like to seewomen, alongside men, pioneering the“race for space?” What would the firstwoman on the moon have said? Wouldshe have radioed back to her child? Herown mother? Would she have para-phrased Neil Armstrong “This is onesmall step for a woman, but damn wewomen rule!”

We don’t know because it didn’t hap-pen.

[email protected]

Last in spaceWhat would the first woman on the moon have said? We’ll never know

IVAN MORGANRant & Reason

‘Not often have I been so moved’

e love celebrations too.

‘Timely and thought provoking’Dear editor,

I just read your speech ‘Too long we have been silent’on The Independent website. Indeed, it’s timely andthought provoking for us to realize that today it is uswho will shape the future of our province, its place inCanada and Canada’s in the world.

In August 1948, during a pre-Confederation inter-view with CBC radio, Joey Smallwood echoed that“Within one year of union, there will be no people in

Canada happier to be in Confederation than the peopleof Newfoundland.”

I feel that even Quebecois are happier at the unionthan many of our kinfolks across the island and inLabrador. Please continue to inspire us.

Ajmal PashtoonyarLL.B. candidateFaculty of Law,

University of Ottawa

With his hand over his heart and holding the Pink, White and Green Matthew Della Valle sings the Ode To Newfoundland with the crowd at the “Trust and Confidence” rally in front ofthe Confederation Building May 11. Paul Daly/The Independent

Dear editor,A word or two on your speech, ‘Too

long we have been silent’ by RyanCleary, published in The Independent’sMay 11 edition.

The National Convention of 1946-48gave rise, among other things, to Cashin-ism and, even worse, Smallwoodism. Asthe lamb was laid out for the slaughter,the vultures of commercialism, oppor-tunism, politics, and ideology moved infor the kill. They all blustered the mostpedantic and accusatory rhetoric. Nomatter the merit of your current cause,your speech is a fine example in theCashin lineage and, if you will forgive anopinion, is stylistically out of character.It is not your masterwork.

My point today is not to challenge thetenets of a 60-year-old debate nor yourspeech, which, along with others, couldnot outdraw the Deer Lake Red Wings ata rally. But I would like to make a fewobservations on the logic and implica-tions of your questions as they mightapply to Labrador.

Labrador has its own flag, its ownanthem, and its own quite distinct historyof being exploited. Ask yourselfLabrador — why have successive gov-ernments, and therefore the people ofNewfoundland, treated you the way theyhave since the Imperial Privy Councildecision of 1927? Ask yourselfLabrador — where is Voisey’s Baylocated? Ask yourself — why is thepost-mining production of Voisey’s Bayore located anywhere but Labrador? Askyourself — what happened to theLabrador fishery, your fishery? Askyourself — where is the greatest singlesource of clean renewable energy, bothwater and wind power, available on thisearth? Ask yourself — who has yourtimber rights and how many paper millsare located in Labrador?

What is it about you that makesNewfoundland proper think they candeal with you the way they have for aslong as I can remember? Ask yourself— why don’t you fight back?

You must realize what a marvelousprovince, territory, or independent coun-try Labrador would be.

Robert Rowe,St. John’s

Dear editor,The May 11 rally on Confederation

Hill was a meaningful step for thefuture of Newfoundland and Labrador.It was a success not because it wasabout politics, ideology or human sen-timent, but because it was an honestexpression from 3,000 of our peoplewho have been silent for too long —silent of the pain in our hearts causedby the long unjust treatment by ourfederal government.

Too long have we quietly acceptedthe violation of our constitutionalrights to personal dignity, family struc-ture and proper access to our provin-cial resources.

Too long have we laboured under theleeching and usurping away, by bigbusiness and Ottawa, of the essentialopportunities provided by ourresources. Similar opportunities are nottaken away from other provinces, butinstead given rightfully to them. Wedemand to be treated the same as otherprovinces.

Our problem is not that our provin-cial government is fighting too muchwith big business and Ottawa, but thatwe have not been fighting enough. Our

solution lies in continuing the presentbattle until our rightful destiny as apeople is achieved.

Some people may believe we can’tcorrect our situation; we are tooinsignificant to be heard by Canadaand don’t have enough seats inParliament. I remind you of the Bostontea party in which a few men didn’twant to pay an unfair tax on British tea.They threw the tea in the harbour indefiance. Out of that simple act by afew men came the United States ofAmerica.

On May 11 the people ofNewfoundland and Labrador finallyspoke from their hearts. They sent amessage that we will no longer acceptwithout resistance, without a fight, thesame abusive disrespectful treatmentby Ottawa. We will fight for our right-ful place in the society of Canada. Wewill fight with the strength of 10because our hearts are pure and ourcause is just. We will fight withweapons of integrity and principle,regardless that others fight us withbetrayal, disrespect and deception.

Phil Earle,Carbonear

‘Not your masterwork’

‘Fight with the strength of 10’Dear editor,

Based on media guesstimates, the patriotic rally on Confederation Hill onMay 11 fell far short of the multitudes anticipated. Media icons forecastedin excess of 10,000, but only a couple of thousand turned out. Will main-land media view this as another newfie joke?

The faithful throngs of the capital where Danny Williams’ support bor-ders on the insane did not march to the divine steps to touch the Messiah’sgarment. Surely, from among 100,000 faithful souls, 10 per cent couldhave stumbled up the hill. The weather was lovely, and speakers well cho-sen. A Confederation coffee break would have brought 1,000 outside for awhiff of patriotic air and a glimpse of the great one.

I don’t deny there were more spirits than bodies present. But what hap-pened to the hundreds of Pink, White and Green zealots? Where were ourfuture students from Pouch Cove to Paradise? The premier, like all of us,refers to the youth as the foundation of our future. Do they like school thatwell? At a time when relationships with Ottawa are icy and dark, whenWilliams is worshipped on an unparalleled level by huge flocks, I fail tosee why the sheep did not follow.

Has Williams reached the pinnacle of his popularity? Has Danny’s attitude,fueled by unprecedented adoration, driven him to the extreme, with regard fornobody but himself? I gather from Stephanie Porter’s recent photo essay, Inthis corner …, May 11 edition, that our history of flags half-mast, marches,black bands, days of mourning, name-calling and personal attacks on anyprime minister, serves to feed a premier’s ego, but rarely benefits the people.

We have three choices: stay as we are and develop on our own, deal withOttawa in a dignified and intelligent manner, or get the hell out of the union.Whatever path we choose, we will have a decade of struggle, but I believe thateven if our standard of living never reaches that of Upper Canada, our quali-ty of life is far superior to any I’ve witnessed on the other side of the Gulf.

Jim Combden,Badger’s Quay

‘We have a decade of struggle’

says. “They’ll support us — but we haveto take this idea and run. That statement inthe Throne Speech was the first indicationthey’re fully behind us.”

The Cabot400 committee has big plansfor the $12 million. They want to expandand renovate the current museum into afull-scale modern interpretation centre;they plan walkways and period gardens;the site of Guy’s first dwelling needs to befurther excavated and properly developedto show it off to visitors (“right now youjust walk into a potato garden on threepieces of private property”). And thenthere’s the celebrations themselves. Not tomention the harbour and communityclean-up and other smaller projects,which will require further funding at thecommunity or regional level.

MacKenzie hopes the interpretationcentre will be ready to open in 2009,which means the construction crew wouldhave to break ground this time next year.And the architect, researchers, interpretersand storyline crew need enough time to dotheir part.

“If we don’t get a commitment in thenext few weeks, we’re going to startfalling behind,” he says. “And if we don’tget it by the end of the summer, we won’tbe able to open in 2009, which will leaveus scrambling in 2010. We’re at a criticalpoint.”

But hardly at a standstill.•••Linda Kane is the curator and life force

behind the award-winning CupidsMuseum. She moved to the town of 700 inthe late-1980s, and “had an urge” toshowcase its rich history. Besides the sig-nificant artifacts on display — whichcame from the dig site down the road —all the items in the museum were donatedor are on loan from members of the com-munity.

There’s the massive Union Jack thatwas given to the town in 1910 for its 300-year celebrations (a replica now flies infront of the museum during the summerand on special occasions), clothing, jewel-ry and kitchen, workshop and generalstore items. Kane carefully shows off themost recent donation, a wedding dressworn in Cupids in 1884, sent to the muse-um by the bride’s descendants in NewJersey.

The second half of the museum isdevoted to Present, Miss!, which Kanedescribes as “a lighthearted look at educa-tion in Newfoundland.” Based on oral his-tories given by 13 local senior citizens,and designed to look like a one-roomschoolhouse, the exhibit has proven a suc-cess among adults and children.

“And there’s a corner devoted togenealogy research,” says Kane. “Peopleare mad about genealogy! It’s a big hobbynow, and we have the 1610 list … anyonewith the name Butler, Taylor, or LeDrew,those would be of special interest.”

The museum attracts about 3,000 visi-tors a summer, and has been experiencingannual traffic increases of 10 per cent ormore in the past couple of years.

Like many organizations in theprovince, Kane was counting on govern-ment funding to hire two summer studentsto help run the facility this summer — butso far, the federal government hasn’tcome through.

She says she worries the museum won’tbe able to open full-time for the season —there’s only so much she, and the othervolunteers she counts on, can do.

•••Bill Gilbert also takes great pride in his

work in Cupids. Since 1995, he and hiscrew have discovered the remains of four17th century buildings and more than122,000 artifacts. Hundreds of clay pipeshave allowed him to date Guy’s home at1610 — and to say it burned to the groundin the 1660s, though the site remainedoccupied until the turn of the century.

The archeology lab is in the same build-ing as the museum. Walls and tables arelined with plastic boxes containing recentfinds — pieces of pottery, glass, brick,metal and clay. His team is painstakinglyrebuilding a window of fragile greenglass.

The dig site itself — tucked in behind asmall residence — is still covered withgravel for the season to protect it from theelements. But Gilbert paints a vivid pic-ture of Guy’s life and habits, and of theimportance of his findings.

“I never expected it to still be in theground, not to this extent,” he says. “I justfigured someone would have built a bun-

galow or something and would havedestroyed most of it.”

Since his initial find, Gilbert says thearcheology has proceeded slowly butsurely, “in dribs and drabs.” Like themuseum, he’s pushed on, relying on thestrength of volunteers and sheer determi-nation when outside support wasn’t forth-coming.

“A lot of people would have given upon it,” he says. “I don’t know if I’m stupidor what. There have been years wehaven’t been able to start until mid-August.

“But I really believe in it. If we hadn’tdone it that way, it just wouldn’t have got-

ten done.”•••Roy Dawe, a lifetime resident of

Cupids and president of the town’s histor-ical society, among other communityorganizations (MacKenzie dubbs him theCupids version of the King ofKensington), says he’s been workingtowards, and rallying support for, the2010 celebrations for 25 years.

“Mind you, we’ve done a lot of projectsin the meantime,” he says, “but as Peterreminds us now, we’re down to 900 andsome-odd days.”

Dawe would like to see his town takeits place in the national history books.

Until now, he says, the significance ofCupids has been largely overlooked — hehopes all that will finally change in 2010.

“As an amateur historian, I’d like to seeNewfoundland’s history become a part ofCanada’s history,” he says. “Canadian his-tory is Champlain going up the river in acanoe and all that … but the reality is theEnglish settlement was occurring in 1610and that’s where English Canada began.

“When (tourists from outside theprovince) come and hear about what hap-pened here, they say, ‘How come we don’tknow about this?’ And immediately theirbrains click in — someone has missed theboat somewhere. I know it sounds corny,

MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTNEWS • 98 • INDEPENDENTNEWS MAY 18, 2007

INCAMERA

‘We’re doing something for the country’While theC u p i d s 4 0 0organizers laythe ground-work for aprovincial fes-tival in 2010

— and lobby for the fundingthey need to make it happen— they’re also hard at workkeeping their award-winningmuseum and rich archeologi-cal site moving ahead. Photoeditor Paul Daly and manag-ing editor Stephanie Porterspent a day in the smallConception Bay community.

From page 1

but we’re doing something for thecountry.”

Waiting for federal funding is doinglittle to dampen Dawe’s spirits, or thecommitment of anyone involved inplanning to celebrate John Guy’s set-tlement.

“We’re certain that the political cli-mate will eventually ease,” says Dawe.“But we’re still going to have a party.It just remains to be seen how big itwill be.”

See related story page 10.

[email protected]

“Preparations for Cupids in 2010 are currently underway, and My Government will be ready to invite the world to a celebration truly befitting the long, proud history

and culture of Newfoundland and Labrador. There is much to celebrate, and we will not be

shy in showcasing our very best.”

— From the 2007 Speech from the Throne, delivered by

Lieutenant Governor Ed Roberts April 24, 2007

Archaeologist Bill Gilbert.



Ever since British aviators Alcockand Brown lifted off fromLester’s Field in St. John’s on

June 14, 1919 to complete the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic, the capi-tal city has served as Point A for count-less quests by other would-be recordbreakers or just plain adventurouseccentrics. Some beat the odds and aresuccessful. Some … well, not so much.

There are questionable accounts ofattempts at crossing the Big Pond in ves-sels little more than the size of a teacup.People shake their heads and wonderwho’s going to foot the bill when thenext hang-glider announces he’s launch-ing himself toward England, requiringnothing but a good gust of wind offSignal Hill. Others head in the oppositedirection, declaring they will crossCanada — all 7,314 kilometres of it —on a tricycle.

The question remains: what wouldpossess someone to start such an epictrek?

Many embark on ambitious adven-tures for altruistic reasons, raisingfunds for a particular cause. Eg Waltersof St. John’s says he didn’t have a“crazy death wish” when he had thechance to boat across to Scotland inAugust 2004.

He was traveling in a 10-foot Zodiacinflatable speedboat when a roguewave “exploded” through his tiny cabinand began to take on water. Rescued220 miles off the coast of Iceland, he

says he just wanted to generate moneyfor the Community Food SharingAssociation during the slow summermonths.

“The hardest thing to do was to takethe phone and leave a message with mygirls’godmother that we had catastroph-ic boat failure and it didn’t look like wewere going to make it,” he remembers.“I said three times, ‘Look after my

girls,’ and then I had a great sense ofpeace after that — whatever was goingto happen was going to happen.”

Rich Ralph of Vancouver recentlydipped his rollerblade wheel in St.John’s harbour and headed westwards.Like Walters, he too wants to raisemoney and awareness — but in Ralph’scase it’s in tribute to his 26-year-oldfriend who is battling cancer.

He says the response he’s receivedfrom drivers along the TCH is “amaz-ing” and they have set the standard forthe rest of the country.

“Once I got started people werepulling over in front of me and handingme money,” he says, while waiting on apart for his broken-down safety vehiclein Corner Brook. “When I think of the400 highway series in Ontario with

eight lanes of traffic — there’s actuallybeen cars going along and stoppingright on the highway, which is unheardof where I’m from.”

Perhaps the most obvious “grand”voyage would be the re-creation ofAlcock and Brown’s historic flight.Mark Rebholz piloted a replica VickersVimy biplane from St. John’s to Hole8A of the Connemara Golf Links inClifden, Ireland with billionaire SteveFossett in July 2005.

A fire fighting pilot, Rebholz readaviation history books and the accountsof early flights as a child. Flying out ofthe St. John’s airport and seeing specta-tors gathered on Signal Hill, Rebholzsays he felt a historical connection fly-ing over the same places Alcock andBrown did — such as Quidi Vidi,where the early duo assembled and test-flew their craft. He compares the expe-rience to today’s galactic frontier.

“The modern version of that is flyinga space shuttle and going to the moon,”tells The Independent in a telephoneinterview from Arizona. “I feel I hadthe same kind of adventure Alcock andBrown had.”

Then there are those who are decid-edly unimpressed with the wholeendeavour. Mayor Andy Wells says thephenomenon is getting a little tired.

“A lot of it is getting to be a bit ho-hum, don’t you think? There’s peoplebiking, people riding, people skate-boarding across Canada. I think thenovelty aspect is pretty well exhaust-ed.”

[email protected]

Come springtime, adventurers launch ‘crazy death wishes’ from St. John’s

From left: Pete Bray, John Wills, Mark Stubbs and Jonathan Gornall leave St John’s on June 30, 2004. Paul Daly/The Independent

By Paul ButlerFor The Independent

“We would have you takewith you a small numberof evrie kind of (animal)

male and female … with the care ofherdsman they shal escape from wildbeasts and so increase and multiplie…”

If these words seem tinged with anOld Testament-aura of destiny, there isreason. The above quote is from theinstructions of the Bristol-basedNewfoundland Company sponsoringJohn Guy’s voyage to Cupers Cove —now Cupids. This was the dawn of thecolonial age.

Guy’s enterprise was not a seasonalventure, but a major undertaking thatparalleled the contemporary colonies inJamestown, Virginia, and Champlain,Quebec.

The Newfoundland Company hadbeen granted a royal charter by James Iand its objective was to colonize thenew land and begin industries based onlivestock farming, lumber and mining.

“The colonists,” according toCupids400 general manager PeterMackenzie, “were well-selected arti-sans and tradesmen.”

And the enterprise got off to an aus-picious start. In his October 1610 letterhome to the company, John Guy spokeof the “goodness of the harbour, thefruitfullness of the soyle, the largenesof the trees.”

He concluded there was “… nothingeto make a flourishinge Country but cat-

tle and the industry of men.” The ani-mals Guy brought had survived thejourney well, and the expeditionunloaded 10 goats “well, stronnge andlustie like of this countrie,” as well aspigs and poultry.

The first two winters were mild andthe labours of the colonists provedfruitful. The island’s first loggers wereable not only to fell trees but send thetimber back to England on the sameship that had brought them. They madesalt for the burgeoning fishery and builtboats. By 1612 — because of the threatfrom pirates — they had also fortifiedCupers Cove with three mounted guns.

The colonists successfully began theprovince’s first farms, as the companyhad instructed, raising and breedinganimals.

The human contingent was bolsteredin 1612 when Guy, who had traveledback and forth more than once, brought16 women to the colony. On March 17,1613 a son was born to the wife ofNicholas Guy: this is the first recordedbirth of a European descendent withinany of those territories later to becomeknown as Canada.

In time the colony’s population dis-persed. Guy himself went back toEngland. Many planters relocated toHarbour Grace in 1617. But asMackenzie points out, the success ofCupers Cove was that “it planted theseeds of settlement.”

Paul Butler is a St. John’s-basedauthor.

www.paulbutlernovelist.com

First days in CupidsThe Union Jack still flies in Cupids. Paul Daly/The Independent


INVITATION TO TENDER

COMMODITY ITEM TENDER NUMBER CLOSING TIME OPENING TIMEDump Truck Hire (Avalon) TP107001693 June 1/07 June 4/07

4:00 P.M. 9:45 A.M

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Electronic access to browsing and downloading these tenders is a non-fee tendering service offered by the Government Purchasing Agency. These tenders may be obtained by logging onto www.gov.nl/tenders

If there are any problems in obtaining these bid documents via the Internet, please contact the Government Purchasing Agency at 709-729-3348.

LIFESTORY

‘Little delightful twists in life’Writer, artist and educator a gentleman to the end

ALASTAIR MACDONALD1920-2007

By John RietiThe Independent

Alastair Macdonald was every bit the gentlemanin his final days, as he was over the course of hislife. The poet, who also wrote history and was a pro-fessor emeritus of English at Memorial Universityof Newfoundland, passed away peacefully amongstfriends in early May.

Helen Peters, a close friend and fellow academic,remembers rushing to the hospital to visitMacdonald, only to find the Scottish-born 86-year-old enjoying tea and toast in bed. She saysMacdonald was too enthusiastic about his new bookof poetry, The Cyclic Variations, and its launch partyto worry about squaring up his estate.

Peters fondly remembers her last visits withMacdonald, where she got to see him craft whatwould be his final poems.

“He had a wicked sense of humour,” she says.“His newest poems are all about Newfoundlandweather … they start in January and the poemsabout winter go on forever … the spring and sum-mer poems are very brief.”

Macdonald published eight books throughout hiscareer, including collections the poetry If MoreWinters, or This the Last, Landscapes of Time, andA Different Lens. He also wrote a satirical bookcalled Flavian’s Fortune and several academicworks about the life of Thomas Gray, a famous 18thcentury English poet.

His poems often reflect on natural scenes, but hissense of humour, extensive travels, and fine educa-tion from universities like Aberdeen and Oxfordallowed him to write about just about anything.

Peters says Macdonald was fascinated in the “lit-tle delightful twists in life,” a phrase that mightdescribe his own eccentric character as well.

Macdonald prided himself on being a classic gen-tleman, says Peters. He had “beautiful manners,”always wore cuffed shirts, never jeans, and had acollection of 18 gold watches which he made sure kept the exact time.

When he traveled, Macdonald would hide his watches in an unmade bed, because he thought thieveswouldn’t look for them there.

When Macdonald moved to Newfoundland and Labrador, he rented houses during the winter, andtravelled back to England or Scotland in the summer.

His poems detail his visits to France and Italy, or sometimes even boyhood journeys he took on bicy-cle. Young travelers will still appreciate the fleeting romance of poems like The Train She Sat In.

Fellow poet Roberta Buchanan says she appreciated the way Macdonald crafted his poems to makethem elegant, yet simple. Many of his pieces are short, a sharp contrast from his academic work, whichhe couldn’t bear to edit.

Buchanan and Peters worked with Macdonald for a summer at the North Library of the BritishMuseum in London. “He was a true scholar, always in the library working on something,” says Peters.

That summer at the library they discovered he was quite shy around women, especially when he wastrying to work. Buchanan remembers him being perturbed by a woman who kept admiring him when helooked up from his books. His solution? “I’ll cross my eyes at her and stick out my tongue.”

Macdonald never married, but had many friends who would invite him to dinner or talk with him atthe university. “He was a very formal lecturer, but he was deeply concerned with his students,” saysBuchanan.

He was also a great painter and cartoonist. He gave up painting because it accumulated too quickly tofit in his condominium.

His publisher, Breakwater Books, chose to use one of his caricatures for the cover of the recentlyreleased The Cyclic Variations.

[email protected]

It has always been like this for meLooking at the moving pictureOthers are making, finishingSince when little trying to puzzle outThis world I don’t yet understand

— Alastair Macdonald, Looking OutFrom If More Winters, or This the Last

Courtesy Breakwater Books


Dear editor,I just read the May 4 Independent article, ‘A

piece of the action’, by John Rieti. David Vardy of the Harris Centre is, if nothing

else, wise to suggest a logistical study to figure outthe costs and potential rewards of an Atlantic gate-way in Newfoundland.

An Atlantic gateway is being proposed becausethere is a growing need to link North Americanmarkets to areas such as Asia and Europe. It is alsobeing proposed because many larger ships are hav-ing trouble fitting through the Panama Canal andfinding ports deep enough to accommodate them.

Skeptics, and I am sure there would be many, areprobably sitting home contemplating the foolish-ness of studying “using an island with no road orrail links to the mainland as a gateway.” I believethese skeptics to be short sighted.

In early March I had the good fortune to do somework in a couple of Asian countries, one of thembeing the city state of Singapore. At 704.0 squrekilometres, Singapore is the smallest country insoutheast Asia. Metropolitan St. John’s, by the way,is 804 square kilometres.

Rather than discounting itself as a small islandwith no road and rail links, Singapore is a majorAsian transportation hub, which bills itself asstrategically lying on the “midpoints of sea and airtrade routes” (sound familiar?). Its port is currentlythe world’s busiest in terms of total shipping ton-nage. It handles a quarter of the world’s shipping

containers as the world’s busiest container port,and an enormous amount of crude oil as the world’sbiggest ship refueling centre; all this from a tinyisland with no natural resources.

In fact, Singapore’s transportation industry com-prises over 10 per cent of its GDP. To give a clearpicture of what that means, Singapore is the 17thwealthiest country in the world, has a foreignreserve of $139 billion US and its quality of life isranked the highest in Asia and 11th in the world byThe Economist magazine.

Our skeptics will say it is easier for ships to loadup at their home port and bypass Newfoundland. InSingapore, however, the port is so competient atorganizing containers that it is actually faster for aship to use the Singapore port than travel directly toits main destination.

A colleague of mine told me of a book he recent-ly read which stated Newfoundland and Labradorwill see few benefits outside of cheaper freightfrom the Atlantic gateway concept (a component ofAtlantica) in its current state. With that in mind,and the potential we hold due to strategic location,members of the business community would bestserve all of us as Newfoundlanders by offering Mr.Vardy and the Leslie Harris Centre all the moneythey need to examine how we can get as large apiece as possible of the Atlantic gateway action.

Todd Benson,Nova Scotia

A piece of the Atlanticateway action

Dear editor,My name is Holly Rideout and I am

originally from the small town ofCottlesville, one of 37 communitiesand five islands that make up theprovincial district of Twillingate/Fogo— renamed The Isles of Notre Dame. Iam currently seeking the PC nomina-tion for this district that is my home.

A fisherman’s daughter in a family ofnine children, I feel I understand theneeds and issues facing residents andwhat it takes to survive in outport

Newfoundland. I am part of a fourthgeneration family who has lived hereall their lives and continues today. Myeight brothers and sisters live inSummerford, New World Island areaand are actively involved in the fishingindustry.

I share a great love for ruralNewfoundland and am concernedabout the very survival of these islands.The decision to run was not an easy onefor me. However, it is something that Ihave thought about for several years

and I know if given the chance I willmake a difference. When someonefrom the district whom I have greatrespect approached me to run, I knew itwas the right time.

GREAT IDEASI am young, enthusiastic, hardwork-

ing and committed to the people ofthese islands. I have great ideas for jobcreation, improved infrastructure andtourism.

My background includes over 18

years working in tourism inNewfoundland and Labrador in sales,marketing and management. I wouldprovide a strong voice for the people ofThe Isles of Notre Dame.

This new name symbolizes a newway of thinking that we have to recon-nect and unite as one, that workingtogether is the only way to insure afuture and provide for a stronger voicewithin government.

Holly Rideout, St. John’s

A ‘strong voice’ for the Isles of Notre Dame

“Working together is the only way to insure afuture and provide for a

stronger voice within government”

YOURVOICE

Time for actionSkills task force suggests first steps towards closing local labour gaps

Aweek or so ago, the provincialgovernment released the finalreport of the Skills Task Force,

a group consisting of about 20 repre-sentatives from government, the post-secondary education system, organizedlabour and the private sector.

The report laid out 50 action itemswhich the key stakeholders hope willhelp meet Newfoundland andLabrador’s current and future labourmarket demands.

Coming up with meaningful recom-mendations was a daunting task, to besure. For years we have been sayingNewfoundland and Labrador mustcome to grips with the skills challenge— but exactly how we go about doingthat, the actual tangible steps we need

to take, haven’t been nearly so readilyidentifiable or executable.

Business has often emphasized thatthe education system must be respon-sive to industrial needs for qualifiedworkers. But it’s debatable whether anyheadway has been made over time onthat front.

So it’s promising that, as a province,we are taking a long, hard, critical lookfrom a multi-stakeholder perspective atwhat our challenges are, and how we

can meet those to build the labour mar-ket we will require down the road.

The provincial government hasalready set aside over $9 million toaddress immediate needs in theprovince’s education and apprentice-ship systems, including beefing uppost-secondary programming in skilledtrades and technology within the post-secondary public college curriculum,standardizing apprenticeship examina-tions, and promoting opportunities inthe workforce for traditionally under-represented groups such as women andaboriginals.

An industrial coordinating commit-tee will be established to pinpoint spe-cific skills required by industries andlarge-scale projects. Obviously, that

effort needs to link into education poli-cy, program development and delivery.

One of the priorities for industry andemployers, as suggested by the taskforce, should be to provide increasedemployment opportunities for co-oper-ative education program students,apprentices and engineering and tech-nology students.

All this is well and good, and themembers of the task force deservekudos for the work they’ve done indefining some of the main restrictionson our labour market development andtheir potential solutions.

At the end of the day, however, ourability to attract and retain skilledworkers and compete with other juris-dictions all comes down to the opportu-

nities — or lack thereof — thatNewfoundland and Labrador has tooffer.

We’re competing with the magneticpull of Alberta and other provinceswest of here, where there are big wagesand jobs aplenty. The local evidence ofthat seemingly indomitable force isabundant. Alberta job fairs, employ-ment advertisements in local papers,direct flights to Calgary and FortMcMurray lands of plenty indicatewestern Canadian industry has found amarket here to tap for available workersat a time when labour is at a premiumacross the country.

These migrant Newfoundlanders and

See “We need to demonstrate,” page 14

INDEPENDENTBUSINESSFRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, MAY 18-24, 2007 — PAGE 13

Northstar shiningNL aerospace company signs contract with Lockheed-Martin, more work to comeBy John RietiThe Independent

Northstar Network, a New-foundland and Labradoraerospace, defence, marine

and homeland security companyrecently signed a $6.3 million con-tract with Lockheed-Martin, one ofthe world’s top aerospace compa-nies, to provide a repair packagefor cargo planes.

Company president HowardNash has been working towardsthe deal for almost 10 years andhas invested over $50,000 in theproject — and the payoff has beenworth it. Nash tells The Indepen-dent there’s more to come.

When he brought eight Lock-heed-Martin executives toNorthstar’s production plant inGander in early May he heard thewords he’d been waiting for.

“One of the comments theymade was ‘you’re part of the fami-ly now, once you’re part of thefamily we’ll look out for you,’ they

told us that there will be more busi-ness coming our way if this con-tract works out the way we hope itwill,” Nash says in an interview athis St. John’s office.

Nash, along with engineeringmanager Jeff Fry, must now pro-vide the mix of parts and materialsthat will add more than 15,000 fly-ing hours — that’s up to 20 yearsof service — to each aircraft.

Fry says they’ll meet the chal-lenge by adding new materials andapplying the latest technology tothe P3 Orion cargo planes thatwere designed 50 years ago.

Currently 18 countries use theaircraft (in Canada it’s known as aCP-140) for everything from troopdeployment to maritime patrolling.Northstar’s first contract is forNorway’s fleet of six, but more arelikely to follow.

Further, because Northstar hasbeen approved by Lockheed-Martin as a repair company, it canexpect calls from clients needingwing repairs or overhauls.

“There’s more money in repairand overhaul than in upfrontsales,” he says.

But it’s not just airplanesNorthstar is working on. They’realso developing components forplanes with airlift capabilities, hel-icopters, search and rescue planes,unmanned planes, ships, sub-marines, heavily armoured vehi-cles and even personal bodyarmour systems.

It’s an incredible assortment ofwork, but one the company isorganized to handle.

“We can’t be experts in every-thing … we’re a systems integra-tion house, our role is to provide atop level assembly and testingfacility,” says Fry.

While the company does its ownin-house work and has severalniches of expertise, they outsourcewherever possible to keep costsdown. Nash has developed a list ofpreferred affiliates that includesseveral Newfoundland andLabrador-based companies, pro-

viding everything from steel workto electronics.

Nash’s networking has allowedhis company to compete in termsof price, value and capability. Healso has the advantage of a federalgovernment that is investing heav-ily in its military.

Nash says the Canadian govern-ment is slow to announce mostmilitary acquisitions, which result-ed in a slow start up for the compa-ny. Under the current government,business is booming.

“The Canadian government ismaking announcement afterannouncement … we have in-roadsto just about every announcementand we’ll get some part of the con-tract,” says Nash.

Ottawa has already spent $20billion on new equipment andNash expects $10-$12 billion morein the coming years. Nash says thisspending is overdue and not neces-sarily in response to the conflict inAfghanistan.

“The timing is right for the mili-

tary to build up what it didn’t havefor a long time,” he says. “Our mil-itary people are in harm’s way,they need to have the best of equip-ment and support to do their jobs.”

Nash keeps a spreadsheet withevery project in North America,who’s in charge and what compa-nies are likely to get it. He alsokeeps detailed brochures of everyproduct and service his companyoffers, something he says is key togetting clients to sign quickly.

It’s working. Nash estimates thepublicly traded company — listedas Northstar Electronics — is nowvalued at $20 million. This year thecompany has tripled its sales andquadrupled its staff to 20, a trendNash says will continue.

Northstar Network’s biggestchallenge in the future will bekeeping up with the work.Lockheed-Martin told Nash thatsoon he will have to say no to somecontracts — something Nash islooking forward to.

[email protected]

CATHYBENNETT

Board of Trade

Northstar Networks president Howard Nash peers through an advanced SONAR system in his company's lab in St. John's. Paul Daly/The Independent

14 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS MAY 18, 2007

Taxman callingProvince collecting on taxes owing for more than 15 years


The provincial government is still actively col-lecting school tax, even though the tax itselfwas repealed in 1992.

By the end of 2006, the debt was $22 million, owedby approximately 10,000 accounts, says a Financedepartment spokesperson. That’s a far cry from the2004-2005 fiscal year when $46 million was owed togovernment, with over 30,000 accounts in arrears.

The spokesperson said government would be col-lecting all of the remaining money owed.

People have contacted The Independent to claimgovernment is demanding payments for school taxarrears, with interest, as far back as 1981.

The spokesperson said government currently haseight permanent and part-time staff dedicated to thecollection of tax debts, including school tax.

School tax was collected in the province prior to1996 under provisions in Term 17 of the Terms ofUnion, which protected the province’s denomination-al school system. By 1991, there were 22 school taxauthorities across the province. People paid schooltaxes of $90-$130 annually, regardless of theirincome, and businesses were taxed based on theirproperty tax. The unpopularity of this tax system ledto its abolition in 1992.

When the Williams government came to powerthey began an aggressive campaign to collect out-standing debts owed to the Crown, including schooltaxes. In May 2005 NDP leader and Signal Hill-QuidiVidi MHA Jack Harris stated in the House ofAssembly the interest burden on the accounts, manyof them going back 13 years from that date, was puni-tive, sometimes amounting to far more than the orig-inal amount owed. Then Finance Minister LoyolaSullivan replied debt relief options were being con-sidered. In July 2005 the Tories announced an interestrelief package for people who voluntarily paid beforethe end of that year.

Since that time the government has been using thetools at its disposal to collect school taxes. Thespokesperson said this was in keeping with a “bluebook commitment” the Williams government hadmade during its election campaign.

Collection starts with a written request to pay, andcan include garnishing wages, the issuing of a lien onthe debtor’s property and through the sheriff seizingand selling off assets belonging to the debtor.

Since February 2005 the provincial governmenthas been able to intercept federal government incometax refunds and GST credits and apply them againstdebts of people they have listed as owing school tax.

[email protected]

Labradorians are not forced to go elsewhere forwork — but the opportunities outside theprovince are so much more plentiful.

Demographics are not weighing in our favour.The province’s population is on a downwardtrend, and there are fewer and fewer young,working-age Newfoundlanders andLabradorians.

In the meantime, we are laying the ground-work for the future development of lowerChurchill hydro, a mega-project that willrequire a large supply of skilled workers. Theresimply aren’t enough of them in Newfoundlandand Labrador for projects of that scale.

We can’t just assume that if we build it, theywill come. We will need to look outside theprovince and will have to be proactive in com-peting for those workers.

In last month’s provincial budget, the govern-ment indicated it is formulating a plan to attractlarge-scale companies to set up operations in theprovince. Whether the targets are manufacturingfacilities or other industries, those companies

will want to know about the local supply ofskilled labour.

Newfoundland and Labrador is facing aCatch-22. We need ample opportunities, in theform of well-paying jobs, to keep people hereand recruit skilled workers from outside theprovince, thereby bolstering our labour force.

But, in order to support new employers inproviding these jobs, to attract new business,and to meet our industrial demands, we need todemonstrate that we have a ready supply oflabour in the first place.

The Skills Task Force outlined some firststeps for stakeholders in our economy, and weall need to pull on the same oars if we are even-tually going to close critical labour gaps andoptimize our workforce.

It’s only when more opportunities comeknocking that we’ll be better positioned toattract workers and stem the outflow of humancapital from our province.

Cathy Bennett is president of the St. John’sBoard of Trade.

Originally founded in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Newfound N.V. is an international developer, sales

agent and operator of up-market resorts. With its head office in The Hague, The Netherlands,

Newfound N.V. is traded on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange and is the parent

corporation of a diverse group of international companies, with offices in the United Kingdom,

Canada, United States, and the Caribbean.

Newfound’s vision is the creation of environmentally sustainable, up-market luxury resorts which

incorporate the social, physical and cultural elements of the local environs.

Newfound is currently seeking two lawyers interested in working towards this vision, for its offi ces

in St. John’s and Humber Valley Resort, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Legal CounselHumber Valley Resort Corporation - Humber Valley Resort, Newfoundland, Canada

Competition # NNV 2007 – 004

Reporting to the Senior Vice-President and General Counsel for Newfound N.V., you will be

challenged with the pivotal responsibility of executing commercial, financial and real estate

transactions which are instrumental to the development and sustained growth of Humber

Valley Resort. As a member of an international legal team, you will lead the Resort’s Legal

Department and be responsible for its effective and positive management. Working closely with

all departments of the Resort, you will participate in decision-making on many issues that affect

the long term development and operation of the Resort. You will be expected to:

Oversee the conveyancing of land to international clients;•

Present management reports in a timely manner;•

Project and meet cash flows from land sales and construction receivables;•

Effectively manage all aspects of the Legal Department;•

Consult on all legal issues affecting the Resort; and•

Interact daily with international clients.•

The ideal candidate will be an outgoing, confident and dynamic individual with experience

in commercial, real estate and corporate law; be a member in good standing with the Law

Society of Newfoundland and Labrador; and demonstrate superior written, presentation, time

management and communication skills. Experience in condominium, property development

and resort-related law is a definite asset.

Applications must be received by 4:30 p.m., May 25, 2007.

Please quote competition # NNV 2007 - 003 and/or NNV 2007 - 004 when forwarding your

resume, cover letter and references in confidence to:

Derrick White, Senior VP & General Counsel

Newfound N.V. - 187 Gower Street, Victoria Hall, St. John’s, Newfoundland A1C 1R2

Fax: 709-754-8411 Email: [email protected]

www.newfoundgroup.com | www.humbervalley.com

Associate Corporate CounselNewfound N.V. - St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

Competition # NNV 2007 – 003

Reporting to the Senior Vice-President and General Counsel for Newfound N.V., you will be

involved in a variety of commercial matters, corporate governance, international contract

negotiation and drafting, and property transactions, and will work closely with key business

units. You will participate in decision making on issues that affect the development and operation

of the company. Specifically, you will be expected to:

Assist with the preparation of periodic reporting and correspondence with AIM (London Stock •

Exchange) and other regulatory bodies in connection with securities and/or governance

compliance matters under Canadian, Dutch and UK Law;

Provide guidance and education to directors, officers and others regarding compliance with •

securities and corporate laws, Board and committee independence requirements, governance

best practices and fiduciary duty requirements;

Prepare agenda, materials and proposed resolutions for the Company’s Board and Committee•

meetings;

Negotiate, prepare and/or review legal and other documentation, and provide oversight and •

supervision in connection with general corporate compliance and transactional work;

Perform other reasonably related legal and/or business duties and functions as may be •

assigned or required including negotiation of resort development related agreements;

Present management reports in a timely manner; •

Be available for international travel; and•

Interact daily with international business partners.•

In this position you will also liaise with and be part of a international legal team supporting

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individual with excellent communication skills and judgment, and are a member in good standing

with a recognized Law Society, this is the ideal position for you.

‘We need to demonstrate that we have a ready supply of labour’

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TERMINAL EXPANSION

The St. John’s International Airport Authority announced it closed a $55 million private placement bond issue thisweek. The cash will allow the facility to resurface the secondary runway, expand the terminal building, upgrade thewinter operations vehicle fleet as well as add new passenger services for 2007. The airport is the tenth busiest air-port in the country, up from 14th place. Paul Daly/The Independent

From page 13

MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTBUSINESS • 15

16 • INDEPENDENTBUSINESS MAY 18, 2007

Dear editor,I write in response to the comments about the

city’s ambassador program and the economic ben-efit of the cruise ship industry to the local econo-my in Patrick O’Flaherty’s column of May 11,Dear Patrick …

Contrary to his assertion that “cruise ships addvery little to the economy,” the cruise ship indus-try makes a significant contribution to the city.

In 2007 the 12,669 passengers who visited thecity contributed over $2 million to the St. John’seconomy. Those statistics are based on our ownsurveys of passengers and industry standards.They do more than “buy a postcard or souvenirtrinket.” They go on organized tours, visit ourmuseums and historic sites, and many have lunchin one of our restaurants. This year we expect tohave 22 ship visits with over 25,000 passengersand an estimated contribution of over $3.5 millionto the local economy.

As to the ambassador program, the city is veryappreciative of their voluntary efforts. We have 30ambassadors and have received a good responsefrom out latest advertisements seeking newrecruits. There is a place for voluntary work in our

community for activities like the ambassador pro-gram. Here is a sample of what passengers sayabout our ambassadors and our civic welcome:

• Your red coat greeters were valuable. Theywere on the streets even helping people ….

• Best group of local ambassadors we haveencountered at any of our ports around the world.

Star Princess• Your ambassadors were very informative and

helped my wife and me very much. I have aVERY positive impression of St. John’s.

As to his suggestion that deputy mayor DennisO’Keefe and I should volunteer our efforts to greetvisitors, I can advise your readers that we both do.The deputy mayor is chair of the city’s cruise shipcommittee and is heavily involved in greetingevery cruise ship that comes to St. John’s. I waschair of the local organizing committee for thelargest conference ever held in St. John’s — the2005 FCM conference, and spent many 16-hourdays alongside our ambassadors and city employ-ees to help make the conference the great successour evaluations said it was.

Ronald G. Penney, LL.B.,Chief Commissioner and City Solicitor

YOURVOICE‘We love your city’


Dave Gardiner, member ofthe East Rock Crew,explains the origin of the

dance movement associated withsampled re-mixes and repeatedloops so that breakers — as thedancers prefer to be called — cancontinuously “break to the beat.”

“B-boying is street culture,” hesays. “It comes from grassroots,people in their basements or com-munity centre — it comes fromnothing. They take the music andtheir personality and they startinventing.”

Gardiner and his St. John’s-based dance group are gettingready to bring the house down —for the second year in a row — inthe upcoming hip-hop/funk extrav-aganza finale of the 17th annualFestival of New Dance in St.John’s. This year’s event takesplace May 22-27 at the LSPU Halland other offsite locations.

If it was anything like last year’sshow, the East Rock slow promisesto be a crowd-pleaser.

“(Last year) was awesome — theplace was blocked with everybodyfrom three-year-old kids to grand-mothers,” says Sarah Stoker, artis-tic liaison with the festival.

Although hip hop-style dancing— typically associated with TheWorm and back spins — is not thefirst thing that comes to mind ascontemporary dance, by Gardiner’sdefinition, it’s a perfect fit.Contemporary dance embraces allmovement outside the traditionalsphere, celebrating unstructuredwork and welcoming unconven-tional methods.

Gardiner says breaking is afreestyle dance, originating fromdancers who squared off in break“battles” at the end of the block orthe schoolyard. Each combatantconceives and self-styles newmoves in a circle setting.

Just as the genre may be some-what new to the dance festival, theaudience component is new to theEast Rock Crew — though theywelcome it with open arms.

“Having these shows reallypushes us because we have a goalthat helps us train harder and makes

us better dancers,” says Gardiner.“Being in contact with (festivalorganizers) and having their atten-tion helps us to develop ourselves.”

In recent years, festival memberssuch as Stoker recognized theimpact hip hop was making on thelocal dance scene. So much interestwas building in East Rock Crew, aBritish Columbia-based dancerwho specializes in a fusion of con-temporary dance and hip hop wasbrought in by the festival commit-tee to workshop with the b-boys.

ENVIABLE SPOTThe results were obvious. Not

only were the Crew slotted into theenviable closing night spot in theFestival of New Dance, they wereone of six dance groups in thecountry accepted to perform at the

Canada Dance Festival in Ottawain June.

Incidentally, Canada Dance hasgiven this year’s show a hip-hoptheme, something they’ve neverdone before.

Stoker says it’s all part of a“criss-crossing” effect happeningin the national contemporary dancescene. She also says it’s an organicmethod to cultivate the small butfiercely devoted core of local danceenthusiasts.

“It’s an outreach tool becausewe’re always trying to increase ouraudience base, we’re always tryingto get more people to shows, so it’sa really positive way to support theEast Rock Crew and get peoplewho wouldn’t normally be comingto the festival to come out.”

Gardiner agrees. He says EastRock Crew’s inclusion in theFestival shows the significance ofhip hop in the culture of theprovince’s youth. He says the styleof dance has become accepted as a“legitimate” art form, somethingthe Crew craves and nurtures byparticipating in the festivals.

As for this year’s performance,

Gardiner says audiences should getready to be entertained. An hour-long set will see the five-man groupperform choreography they havedeveloped as an ensemble, plusindividual breakdown moves.There will be humourous theatricalelements and contemporary danceaspects absorbed from their localdance peers.

But Gardiner is most excitedabout the live music component inthe form of musical guests FunkyDory. He says the show will be“high energy and visually dynam-ic.”

Stoker is delighted to have thebreakers aboard. She says theiryouth and vitality is a good sign thelocal contemporary dance scene isalive and well.

“Hip hop is great because it’scompletely inclusive and the EastRock Crew is all about that: posi-tivity.”

For a full schedule of Festival ofNew Dance events, visit www.neigh-bourhooddanceworks.com.

[email protected]

INDEPENDENTLIFEFRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, MAY 18-24, 2007 — PAGE 17

The ugly, the bad and the good …City councils have the power to make or break the aesthetics of the town they govern. Too bad St. John’s suffers from a constant lack of vision

Have you been following theracket they’re having up inOttawa? I’m not talking about

Stephen Harper’s make-up assistant,Stéphane Dion’s disappearing act, orGilles Duceppe’s sudden reversal of for-tune, but about the city itself.

Writer and Carleton teacher AndrewCohen has just published a book calledThe Unfinished Canadian in which hepretty well tears a giant strip off thetown he has called home for severalyears. Like many who spend a lot oftime in the nation’s capital, Cohenadmires the natural beauty of the site inwhich the city is nestled, but he deteststhe built culture that is an affront to both

beauty and humanity.There are fewer travel fates as dire as

having to inhabit a downtown Ottawahotel on a Sunday night, as I often do.Block after block of concrete and glassmonoliths, the wide forbidding streetsare as empty as a prime minister’s prom-ise. I often wonder why they don’t filmcar commercials on Ottawa streets aftersix in the evening, since they have that

ready-made peoplelessness about them,as if all the citizens had been suddenlykidnapped by alien space ships. Ottawaafter dark is an evacuation zone.

Now, it is not entirely surprising thatmany of those citizens are furious aboutCohen’s denunciations, fighting back onthe open lines by extolling the city’svirtues and insisting on its deserved rep-utation as a “great place to raise kids,”the kiss of death to edgy fun if there everwas one.

The built culture of St. John’s is notdominated by modern ugliness in theway Ottawa — with notable exceptions— is, but the random condo-develop-ment, view-blocking indifference of so

many recent modern mistakes threatensto inspire a book like Andrew Cohen’s.St. John’s will never produce that for-lorn tumbleweed and steel feel thathaunts Ottawa after hours, but it is cer-tainly marked by enough missed oppor-tunities to make an urban aesthete weep.

Surely, the garbage-cover law is themost glaring, if not the most recent,example of how we, too, know how touglify a streetscape. The whole damnbusiness raises urban stupidity to newheights of embarrassment, and that’ssaying a lot. Not once in the decades Ihave lived on my street have I ever seengulls, cats or a hungry homeless guyattacking the neatly clustered garbage

bags in front of anyone’s house. Notonce have I ever seen any of my neigh-bours putting their garbage out beforethe designated time of morning.

But because of the return of this idiot-ic, invasive and rights-denying bylaw,all the good citizens of the town nowplay a part in contributing to a colossal,dumb exercise in ugliness. It is as if wewere taking Kool-Aid once a week,compelled to surrender our minds to theirrational ravings of a cult council. Wecan now look forward to an entire sum-mer of our streets littered with blood-redblankets and plastic green netting,

See “Made of,” page 21

NOREENGOLFMANStanding Room Only

Dancing in the streetB-boys to close Festival of New Dance; hip-hop stylings now recognized as ‘legitimate art form’

“B-boying is street culture”

Dave Gardiner

Pictured, left-right: Matt Power, Tony Ingram, Jeremy Brown, Greg Bruce and Dave Gardiner of East Rock Crew. Nicholas Langor/The Independent

18 • INDEPENDENTLIFE MAY 18, 2007

GALLERYPROFILE

CHRISTINE KOCHVisual Artist

When Christine Koch movedto Newfoundland fromAlberta 20 years ago, she

immediately felt an urge to head north.Bit by bit, she’s gotten there.

“There was something about thewilderness and the lure of the north,”Koch says. “It’s a very raw landscape. Iwon’t say I felt very comfortable in it,but it’s very strong.”

As is her most recent work —inspired by the rocks, water, ice andtundra of parts of Canada few peopleget to see.

As well as her studio in downtownSt. John’s, Koch maintains a homeand studio in Woody Point. The land-scape of Gros Morne National Parkhas dominated and inspired much of

her recent work.Koch has also travelled through

remote areas of Labrador and, in 2005,was thrilled to spend three weeks onBaffin Island.

“The Labrador Long-RangeMountains are similar to parts of GrosMorne, they’re like that, only more so— they call it the Big Land for a rea-son, it’s more rugged and much moreuninhabited,” she says. “Gros Morneseems really civilized after Labrador.And Baffin Island is exponentiallymore so.”

Koch, always a believer in makingone’s own opportunities, arranged astint as a visiting artist with theCanada-Nunavut Geoscience Office.She secured sponsorship from DeBeers (an international mining compa-ny) to help defray the considerable costof northern travel.

She was flown to Pond Inlet, well

towards the northern tip of BaffinIsland. There, she was picked up andflown to the CNGO field camp, whichshe would share with 17 scientists.

“It’s beautiful country up there,” shesays. “I went out nearly every day inthe helicopter … I got to see a lot of ter-rain, mostly inland, then we’d fly out tothe coast and then we’d fly furtherinland to the ice cap … it was just spec-tacular.

“Basically, I’d tell them where Iwanted to work and they would dropme off.”

Koch always had an armed assistantwith her. Although the only polar bearsshe saw were from the helicopter, thedanger was ever-present.

Some days, Koch spent her entirework time in one position, studying anddrawing the landscape. Other days, itwas too chilly to sit still, and she’dmove around.

“It’s not a playful landscape likeGros Morne, it’s not recreational. It’sharsh and desolate and vast and cold”— in spite of 24-hour daylight.

Over the past two years, Koch hasturned some of the many drawings andphotographs from that trip into paint-ings and linocut prints. The ever-grow-ing body of work shows the drama andharshness of the landscape — but alsocelebrates its untouched magnificence.

“I’m still figuring out (how to cap-ture that),” she says. “Most of theworks I’ve done so far are sort of small-ish … I’d like to start working largerand I’m still figuring out how to treat itappropriately.”

Koch has already shown some of thework publicly in Calgary, Waterloo andHalifax, and Rock Water Ice: Studies ofBaffin Island is currently on display atthe Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum inIqaluit until June 10.

“I was really pleased to be able toshow it up there, near the source and tonorthern people,” she says. “I’m hopingfor more opportunities to show it in thesouth in public galleries, to share myexperience because so few people getup there. It’s part of the Canadian psy-che and so few Canadians get to see it.I feel privileged.”

Although Koch says she gatheredenough material to last her for years,she’s eager to head northward again,and is looking to make contact withanother field camp that might be inter-ested in hosting an artist.

“It’s frustrating because there’s somuch land and so little time,” she says.“Three weeks is not long — we werejust stationed in one little camp andalthough we did travel around quite abit, there’s so much more.”For more, visit www.christinekoch.com.

— Stephanie Porter

They’ve had ups and downs duringtheir 44 years together, but in the20 years since Grant and Fiona

Anderson moved to her grandparents’idyllic lakeshore home, their lives havebeen enviously blissful. As their twilightyears approach, their relationship hasendured setbacks but becomes that mag-ical blossom they probably envisionedwhen they were first married.

Unfortunately, adversity isn’t selec-tive, and the Andersons discover thatFiona is in the early stages of what isbelieved to be Alzheimer’s disease.Hailing from the academic world, theydo as much reading on the subject aspossible, preparing themselves for theinevitable.

When a critical stage of the inevitablearrives, however, Grant’s heart tries torule his head. Despite their plans, hebecomes increasingly reluctant to admitFiona into a nursing home, his trepida-tion fuelled by the policy that the patientis to have no contact with anyone out-side the facility for 30 days. In all oftheir years together, Grant has neverbeen away from her for that long.

What must be done, is done, althoughGrant maintains contact with one of thenurses, Kristy (Kristen Thomson, in asolid supporting performance), whohelps temper his anxiety. Still, after the30-day hiatus, he shows up at the homelike a well-mannered teenager on hisfirst date.

To his chagrin, Fiona doesn’t knowwho he is, and has become attached toanother patient, Aubrey. Grant’s dismayis further complicated by his own guiltyfeelings regarding his indiscretions fromlong ago, leaving him uncertain whetherFiona really doesn’t remember him —or is simply giving him a taste of hisown medicine.

Alice Munro’s short story The BearCame over the Mountain, which manyof her readers claim amongst theirfavourites, is adapted for the cinema asAway from Her. Since the movie’s firstopening at the Toronto InternationalFilm Festival, established actress SarahPolley has been showered with praisefor this, her debut in the director’s chair.

As significant — though often over-looked, despite receiving an award from

the Writer’s Guild of Canada — is thefact Polley’s work behind the cameraalso includes writing the screenplay.

In the past half-dozen years, Alz-heimer’s disease has been near the coreof a couple of motion pictures that havetranscended the kind of maudlin dramathat gave television movies such a badname in the final quarter of the last cen-tury. Both Iris and The Notebook exam-ined how this disease affects the afflict-ed and their loved ones, and have doneso without cheap melodrama. While TheNotebook has been a big hit with theyounger set, primarily for the romanticaspect of its story, Iris is the picture that

more deeply probes the anguish thatbuilds during the progression ofAlzheimer’s.

With Away from Her, we see anotherfacet of the condition, as the character ofGrant is neither directly responsible forFiona’s care, nor is he able to commandher attention and spend the time with herin the way he would like.

What Sarah Polley has drawn fromthe story and presented to the screendemonstrates the kind of confidence thatcomes from hard work and insight, ask-ing questions and finding answers.Deliberately paced, with an occasionalheavy-handed moment, Away from Hercomes across with a delicate grace andsensitivity that is still too rare at themovies, and certainly not at the hand ofa filmmaker so young.

As an actress, Polley is frequentlysought by directors. Although it’s oftendifficult to hire her, she’s reportedlyeasy to work with from a filmmaker’s

perspective. In this case, she seems tohave turned things around. Workingwith Gordon Pinsent as Grant and JulieChristie as Fiona, Polley has drawn per-formances out of them that I’d be sur-prised to see bettered for a long time.

Already boasting a fine resumé,Pinsent turns out the performance of alifetime. American audiences only had aglimpse of his talent in The ShippingNews, while most of us have grown upwatching him work his particular magic.But even the most astute of us are sureto be blown away to discover that afteralmost 40 years, we haven’t yet experi-enced the depth and breadth of hisrange.

Likewise, although it’s been a fewdecades since Christie took home herOscar, anyone looking to give her anoth-er one doesn’t have to make any excus-es. In a role that is both physically andpsychologically challenging, there isn’ta moment that seems less than genuine,

nor one that doesn’t keep us hanging onfor the next.

Beautifully filmed and assembled,Away from Her is a triumph for Polley aswell as the cast and the crew. More thanthat, however, is the care and thoughtthat’s gone into telling the story andbringing it all to life — with respect forMunro’s story, the talents of allinvolved, and the audience’s intelli-gence.

There’s hardly a moment that sug-gests that we are experiencing anythingless than the best these folks could offer,and fortunately, it turns out to be amotion picture that is sure to remainamong the year’s best.

Away From Her is currently playingat Empire Theatres Studio 12, St. John’s.

Tim Conway operates Capitol Video onRawlin’s Cross, St. John’s. His columnreturns June 1.

MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTLIFE • 19

TIM CONWAYFilm Score

High praise for Away from HerIn latest film, Gordon Pinsent delivers ‘performance of a lifetime’

Away From Her 110 min.Starring Gordon Pinsent, Julie Christie

1/2 (out of four)

Going out in the boat seal hunting with rubber clothes on.I smell the salt water.It is strong this morning.It’s rough on the water.A seal pops up in front of the boat.Bang! The gun goes off.The seal is dead.We quickly go and get the seal before he sinks.It is scorching because of the sun.We go home and pelt the seal.It is suppertime.We put the seal in the roaster and eat him for supper.Another day is over.Can’t wait for the next seal hunt!

Jadon Elliott, age 8Campbellton

POET’SCORNER

Seal hunt

20 • INDEPENDENTSPECIALSECTION MAY 18, 2007

The world is coming to New-foundland in the form ofFestival 500, an international

non-competitive gathering of choralmusicians from 12 different countries.

According to volunteer chair, HarryConnors, last year’s show saw morethan 1,200 participants from all overthe world come to St. John’s, NorthAmerica’s oldest city, to sing theirhearts out.

“It was something to hear these near2,000 voices sing the Ode to New-foundland at the grand finale last year,”Connors says, excited that, in somesmall way, Newfoundland and Labra-dor touched so many visitors to theprovince.

It was, he says, something to experi-ence.

“Participants showcased their talentsand we exposed Newfoundland to theworld,” Connors says.

Festival 500 is all about sharing,explains executive director Peter

Gardner. “This festival is about thesharing of skills, the sharing of voices Isuppose, in a program that is unique,intimate and close up in a rather exoticsetting,” he says.

“Newfoundland is an exotic destina-tion, you don’t come here for a cheapweekend, it must be by choice,”Gardner says. And that’s exactly whathappens with this one-of-a-kind festi-val. Participants must apply and care istaken to select the best. “More choirsapply than are accepted,” stressesConnors, adding performing here isconsidered a privilege.

Festival 500 received 75 applicationsfrom choirs for the 2007 festival, butonly 32 were invited to perform. Againthis year, choirs will come from all overthe world to participate. Besides allover Canada, choirs from Australia,Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Mexico andNew Zealand will take part.

Performers are responsible for get-ting themselves here. “When you con-

sider choral groups are coming from allover the globe, that can be an expensiveventure and it seems to stop no onefrom participating,” Connors says.

Once here, groups must secure localaccommodations. “Imagine the boost tolocal hotels and bed and breakfasts, torestaurants, to shops, store and bou-tiques,” Connors says, stressing theglobe-trotting choral performers arealso tourists taking advantage of every-thing St. John’s has to offer. “Somemight sightsee, others go for adventuretours, more visit our museums and takein cultural events,” Connors says, butall have one thing in common — theyspend money right here.

It’s estimated that more than $1.5million was generated locally in oneweek during the 2005 festival, Connorssays with pride. “We make our contri-bution to the economy,” he says with-out hesitation.

The kick-off to this year’s festival isan a cappella group out of Chicago. Ac

Rock is slated to perform a variety ofselections from doo-wop standards tomore recent rock favourites May 21 atthe Gower Street United Church,beginning at 8 p.m. “You shouldn’tmiss this,” Gardner says, proclaimingtheir look, style and sound to be “differ-ent from anything you have heardbefore.”

Connors says he doesn’t think youcan measure in dollars what the eventmeans to Newfoundland or to partici-pants from around the world. “How canyou measure the experience of beinghere? How does that impact anyonedown the road?” he asks.

Connors expects those who visit willcome back, and at the very least, inspireothers to “come have a look around ourprovince.”

Show organizers hope the sameapplies to those who come to enjoy thesounds of choral music at its best. “Ifyou have been before, please return,and by all means, take along yourfriends,” Connors says.

Event organizers encourage every-one to head out May 21 to celebrate themusic of the 1950s-’90s at the firstevent of Festival 500 2007. Tickets forthe Ac Rock concert can be purchasedat Bennington Gate and Fred’sRecords, the festival office at 738-6013and at the door.

Singing their hearts outCoro de Ninos y Jóvenes Ars Nova

“Participants showcasedtheir talents and we

exposed Newfoundland to the world.”

Harry Connors

MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTLIFE • 21

Arguing his caseHoly Heart student having national and international debating successBy Kyla BruffFor The Independent

Holy Heart of Mary High School studentSam Greene is the only Newfoundlanderto qualify for this year’s Canadian high

school debate team. Greene, 16, participated in a qualifier tourna-

ment in Ottawa earlier this month. He recentlyfound out he’d earned a spot on the national team,which will compete in the Pan-American Games inBermuda in September.

To prepare for the tournament, Greene will trav-el to Calgary in July for an intensive debate camp.The camp focuses on improving style and how toapply debates. Greene says he’s prepared for criti-cism.

The expectations are high, but Greene says heisn’t anxious.

“After you do it enough, it stops being an issueof being nervous, because it becomes almostmechanical. You can’t totally shut down and be amachine about it, but there’s a technique to it, likethere’s a technique to a sport,” says Greene.

“You get in the right head space and you just dowhat you’ve practiced. Once you do it enoughtimes you’re so used to it that the nerves go away.”

Making Team Canada is not the only recent suc-cess for Greene. He was the only Newfoundlanderto participate in the World Individual Debating andPublic Speaking Championships in April, and thefirst to ever place in the top 10.

That event featured 80 competitors from 15countries and was held in South Africa. Greene fin-ished in seventh place overall and third in thedebating category.

He attributes most of his success to the work hedoes on his own time and his speaking style.

“You have to absolutely know so much stuff,”says Greene. “It’s beyond just reading the news-paper every day. You have to read the Economistand a bunch of different newspapers; books andstuff that actually prepare you with the informa-tion you need.”

Greene says he tries to present his points as hewould in a real life situation. He wins over audi-ences and judges with his conversational style andthe believability of his arguments.

“I try and get the judges on my side, because alot of people when they argue are belligerent ormean,” he says. “I try and have something that realpeople can connect with, not just something for afew debaters that do it all the time.”

Although Greene names Winston Churchill andBill Clinton among his favorite speakers, he sayspolitical debating is not comparable to competitivedebating.

Greene started debating formally in Grade 8.Both his sister and father were debaters, leading tohis pursuit of the craft. His step-dad is also anacclaimed debate coach who has helped him alongthe way.

Greene is already helping other young students.He coaches the junior high nationals team, a groupof dedicated debaters that have gotten hooked ondebating at a young age.

As the high school representative of theNewfoundland and Labrador Speech and DebateUnion, Greene believes debating should be amandatory subject in school.

“It teaches people how to actually speak in frontof a crowd and to communicate ideas to people ina clear and organized way,” says Greene. “It alsoteaches them how to analyze, argument, think crit-ically and use information to construct a line ofreasoning.”

Still unsure of his career plans, he says the skillshe has learned in debating will apply to whateverhe decides to do. With his various interests and tal-ents — Greene also plays trumpet in jazz band,concert band and jazz combo, and sings in cham-ber choir and concert choir — he has manyoptions.

In the meantime, Greene is excited aboutupcoming tournaments and the possibility of get-ting a debate scholarship from an American school.

Kyla Bruff is a Level 3 student at Holy Heart ofMary High School.

strewn messily all day about lawns and side-walks while their owners remain at work.

What’s more insane — the bylaw, our tacitcomplicity in it, or the city’s fervent determina-tion to penalize anyone who doesn’t tuck theirgreen smurfs of garbage in for the morning?

The most recent example of municipal nutti-ness is the graffiti debate. Honestly, does coun-cil think it’s going to put an end to tagging tun-nel walls by sandblasting fresh markings? Youhave to admire the audacity of the wall writers,who are now as openly challenged to renewtheir graffiti campaign as any teenager who wasever advised that marijuana led immediately toheroin addiction.

With all due respect for those earnest StJohn’s councillors suggesting discipline andpunishment, waging war against graffiti with awhistle-blowing regime and a lousy $500reward for snitching merely reinvents the gener-ation gap, and makes the enforcers look ridicu-lous.

If Ottawa is a useful example of what hap-pens when large, ugly glass boxes take over acity’s core, Philadelphia is a brilliant example ofhow to deal with urban blight. In 1984 thatAmerican city started something called thePhiladelphia Mural Arts Program, or MAP. It

was all about fighting graffiti, not with angerand old-fogy condescension, but with art.

Philadelphia hired a well-known mural artistto contact graffiti writers and encourage them tochannel their urges, so to speak, into large andlovely images. These young men and women,city-funded paint buckets in hand, got so caughtup in their teacher’s lessons they ended uptransforming both the city’s massive concretewalls and their own lives. In effect, the ragingscribblers turned out to be the willing agents ofthe city’s beauty and their own education.Today, the MAP project is a model of urbanrenewal and a vehicle for neighbourhood revi-talization. Everyone wins.

It’s an amazing accomplishment, butPhiladelphia now boasts over 2,700 murals,more than any other city in the world. Penaltiesand threats and sandblasting didn’t stop thegraffiti — art did. And, let’s be straight — citycouncillors with vision and focus made it hap-pen in the first place.

When all is said and done, I’d rather not be inPhiladelphia, but it would be so much morecomforting to have some of that city’s goodideas percolating through council chambers.

Noreen Golfman is a professor of literature andwomen’s studies at Memorial. Her columnreturns June 1.

Model of urban renewalFrom page 17

Debater Sam Greene in front of Holy Heart. Nicholas Langor/The Independent

22 • INDEPENDENTSPECIALSECTION MAY 18, 2007

For six months of the year, AnneKeeping’s home away from homeis an 18-foot trailer parked in a

gravel pit off the Burin PeninsulaHighway. No matter the weather, if youwant to find her after the long weekend,look no further than Baie De Leau Road.

“We spent Mother’s Day weekend get-ting the camper ready,” she says, addingthe threat of two centimetres of snowdidn’t dampen her spirits. “Gravel pitcampers are a hardy lot,” she chuckles,“weather surprises are to be expected inNewfoundland.”

Dave Petten, manager of St. John’s-based Islander RV, says everything fromRV sales, service and rentals have beenoperating at full tilt.

As always, he says camping is popularin the province.

“Campsites around the province havehad to expand to keep up with thedemand for more people with largercampers.”

Petten says if he could find a way toinstall a pool inside one of his RVs itwould sell. Trailers can be elaboratespaces, he says. “We’ve had them withthree televisions, washers and dryers andfireplaces.”

While some go “all out,” most peoplestill enjoy camping on a smaller scale.

Lorraine Burton, manager of TheScout Shop in St. John’s, says outfittingfirst-time campers is one of the benefitsof her job. “Someone will come in withtheir child to pick up a few things and thenext thing you know they are reminiscingabout their first pocket knife, or their firstcamping trip.” Burton says she has beenbusy selling everything from flashlightsand water bottles to backpacks, sleepingbags and tents.

If renting a site on a campground isn’tfor you this long weekend, why not expe-rience nature with a professional?

Stan Cook, operator of a sea kayaking

adventure tour business out of CapeBroyle, says the May 24th weekend willbe a busy one. “The phone starts ringinglike crazy once the long weekend hitsand people realize that summer is here,”he laughs.

Cook takes locals and tourists on whathe calls “soft adventure tours,” and saysyou don’t need to be an expert to enjoyyourself. “I have had everyone from an80-year-old nun to a six-year-old girl outon the water,” he says. Kayaking can befun for anyone, he adds.

Ed English, owner and operator ofCorner Brook-based Explore Newfound-land, says the season for businesses likehis is from May through September andbeing busy this long weekend is “all apart of it.” English owns two lighthouseinns that he says provide the ideal spot

for viewing icebergs, whales, and every-thing else nature has to offer on thenorthern tip of Newfoundland. “I swearsometimes you can step off the rocks andwalk onto the back of a humpback whaleif you wanted to,” he says.

Keeping says seeing the local wildlife— her fellow campers, in other words —is enough for her this weekend. “Thesocial side of being down over the road ispart of why we enjoy it so much,” sheexplains, adding she doesn’t mind latenights and early mornings on occasion.The first long weekend attracts everyone,she says, and that adds to her excitement.While she is busy planning what sheneeds for her three days “away from itall,” she says she can’t stop smiling. “AllI can say is come on Friday.”

— Pam Pardy Ghent

24th of May, time to get away

INDEPENDENTSTYLEFRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, MAY 18-24, 2007 — PAGE 23


Sparkly things. Girls go ga-ga overthem. Like magpies, our eyes getwider and rounder in direct pro-

portion to how much a piece of jewelrytwinkles. We are entranced by the lightand how perfectly turquoise shoulderdusters bring out the hue of our sky blueeyes (with gold flecks).

Not to mention how the ritual of self-adornment allows for one last confi-dence-boosting touch before headingout the door — whether sprucing up aplain but classic crisp white shirt oradding the finishing piece de résistanceto a dramatic evening gown with aplunging neckline. Women know thatextra something-something will makethe difference between so-so and spec-tacular.

Wesley Harris, a jewelry designer

Preciousgems

Local jewelers on their glittery craft and their love of the ‘provincial stone’

who makes his home in Corner Brook,knows this too. Shiny jewels are asappealing to those wearing them as tothose making them.

“It’s an enhancement (for the body),”he says. “I like the reflective property ofthe metals. The precision I can achievewith metals is different from clay orcloth or paper. I’m attracted to the tangi-ble materials with the stones and thecolours, and with faceted stones at leastthere’s very often a play of light.”

A jewelry maker for 35 years, Harris’work is innovative and beautiful.Unimpressed with commercial jewelers’settings, he invented his own to createless “clutter.” His stones are set with thefewest prongs possible — drawing themetal around the gem instead of secur-ing it with visible claws.

See “Baby sculptures,” page 28

Red jade and garnet necklace, $425, and Carnelian earrings, $130 by Donald Beaubier. Provided by Devon House. Paul Daly/The Independent

24 • INDEPENDENTSTYLE MAY 18, 2007

TASTE

By Susan SampsonTorstar wire service

Here’s a full-flavoured butlow-cal alternative forlovers of eggplant dip. Serve

it with toasted pita at snack time. Oruse it like a condiment.

SMOKY EGGPLANT DIPAdapted from Healthy Helpings:

800 Fast and Fabulous Recipes forthe Kosher (or Not) Cook byToronto’s Norene Gilletz. The dip isgood for a day or two. Each table-spoon has 6 calories and 0.2 gramsof fat. Liquid smoke is sold in somesupermarkets.

• Vegetable spray to taste

• 2 eggplants (about 1 lb/450 g each)• 2 green bell peppers• 1 onion, peeled, halved• 1 clove garlic, peeled• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro• 1 tsp ground cumin• 1/2 tsp granulated sugar• 1/8 tsp liquid smoke• 1 tsp kosher salt• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Spray baking sheet lightly withvegetable spray. Put eggplants, pep-pers and onion on sheet. Bake in pre-heated 400F oven until onion is soft,about 40 minutes. Remove onion tolarge plate. Bake until eggplants aresoft, about five more minutes. Add

eggplants to plate. Bake until pep-pers are soft and browned, about fiveminutes further. Add peppers toplate. Let sit until cool enough tohandle.

Toss garlic into food processor withmotor running, to mince. Add onionto food processor bowl. Pull off anddiscard stems and skin from peppers.Split peppers. Scrape away seeds anddiscard. Put flesh in food processorbowl. Add oil, vinegar, cilantro,cumin, sugar, liquid smoke, salt andpepper. Pulse to chop coarsely.

Cut eggplants in half lengthwise.Scoop out flesh and drain well.Discard skin. Add flesh to foodprocessor. Pulse until puréed but stillhas texture.

Makes about four cups.

Big on flavour, small on calories

Get fired up to meat your matchBy David RiderTorstar wire service

Ted Reader, chef, author and bar-becue expert, woke up in aChicago hotel room at 3 a.m. lit-

erally drooling, he says, thinking aboutthe 24-ounce rib steak he’d devouredfor dinner.

Well, almost devoured. He remem-bered he had a leftover chunk stashed inthe mini-bar. A flurry of sheets, a flash ofteeth and it was gone. “That was one ofthe best steaks I’ve ever eaten,” he sayswistfully.

Scott Thompson, a grill chef atBarberian’s Steak House, has for 22 yearsworked what is essentially an indoor bar-becue, coaxing an average of 120 steaksper night to flame-licked perfection formeat lovers including actors AlecBaldwin, the late John Candy and theTrailer Park Boys.

You can often find Thompson workingthe Weber in his backyard, making him-self … steak. “You want good flavourthat stays,” he says, “like once you eat it,you say, ‘Damn, I can still taste the beau-ty of that steak.’”

These men know, and love, their meat.On cuts, seasonings and grill tech-

nique, you might not expect Reader, theTV host of King of the Q and famous forfearlessly grilling pretty much anythingon anything, to agree with a chef from anold-school steak house. But they had fewbones to pick with each other’s pro-nouncements.

Thompson steers home barbecuers torib-eyes (flavourful, tender, usually bone-less cuts of prime rib), rib steaks (rib-eyeswithout the bone) and strip loins (bone-less beefsteak cut from the top loin mus-cle of the short loin). At home, he’s alsopartial to tenderloin.

Thompson points to a rib steak’s heavymarbling — the white lines of fat that,when grilled, dissolve and make the meatjuicy, tender and flavourful. “You wantthe marbling on the inside where the eyeof the round is,” he says.

Reader’s top grilling steaks, in orderof preference, are: rib steak (bone in orout), New York strip loin, T-bone andfilet.

“People say filet is the most tender,which it is, but it doesn’t have a lot of fatand fat is flavour,” he says. Reader trimsoff the outside fat after grilling.

So do you have to pay a lot for a goodsteak? Thompson says butcher shops arebest but, if you prefer the grocery store,you can get a decent grilling steak for $10to $12. Avoid the pre-packaged stuff, hesays. Ask the in-store butcher how longdifferent cuts have been aged (moistureevaporates and natural enzymes breakdown hard connective tissues with aging)and get him to cut it for you.

Reader, an admitted “steak snob” whohas happily paid $20 for a single cut, tellspeople: “Buy the best quality piece ofmeat you can afford.” Less expensive butpotentially delicious cuts include flank,sirloin and hanger, he adds.

When it comes to flavouring meat,both Thompson and Reader eschew mari-nades and go for simple spice mixes thatcan be put on even five minutes beforegrilling. At home, Thompson usesBarberian’s secret-ingredient spice ($5 ajar), often mixing it with jerk or other sea-sonings. Reader is a “salt, pepper and gar-lic kind of guy.”

For the grilling itself, both say youcan’t beat lump hardwood charcoal(Barberian uses Maple Leaf brand, whichretails for about $20 for an 8-kg bag) forflavour, although gas and infrared canyield great results.

Thompson starts his fire with a fewlumps of charcoal and then adds more,letting it burn for about 20 minutes to getto searing heat. For a thick rib steak, he’llput it on the “hot spot” to sear in flavourfor a minimum of five minutes, with flipsto get the criss-cross marking, and thenmove it to a “warm spot” for, say, 25 min-utes to get to his preference of well-done.

Reader, who likes his steak two inchesthick, sears for about five minutes a side,then closes the lid and lets it “roast” onindirect heat for about 15 minutes to get itmedium-rare.

Both chefs say the biggest mistakemost grillers make is to continually prod,flip and pierce the meat, draining outflavour and toughening it. Thompsonsays: “Know your fire; don’t play withthe meat.”

For greenhorns, Reader advocates con-sistency. “If you don’t want to screw itup, you find one cut of steak you like, onethickness and one weight and you learnhow to grill it perfectly.”

But, at the end of the day, he adds,there really is only one rule: “Make yourbelly happy.”

Breathe through a strawfor 60 seconds.That’s what breathing is like with cystic fibrosis.

No wonder so many people with CF stop breathing

in their early 30s.

Please help us.

1-800-378-CCFF • www.cysticfibrosis.ca

Iknow it happened, cause my gutsare a little raw, my head has a slightthrob and I feel sleep-deprived. My

jaw aches from all the smiling I’vedone, my sides are cramped and mythroat raw from laughing. I’m baskingin the glow of the good-natured jokesfriends and family are tossing my way.

My plaque follows me from room toroom (well, not all rooms — it mightget steamed up in there) and when Ivisit my outport neighbours I bring italong, in case they want to have a gan-der.

“Everything’s in order,” my fathersaid to me on the phone before I left St.John’s to head on home out of it.

“For what?” I asked. “For the motorcade we have

arranged for you from Bay D’East oninto Harbour Mille,” he deadpanned. Ithought he was serious for a fewmoments and wished my eyes weren’tso damn bloodshot and my hair such amorning-after-the-night-before mess.

“Everyone else is going to have tomove out of the harbour to make roomfor her head,” one sister told my moth-er. “She was bad enough when she wasfamous in her own mind,” anotherjoked.

I laughed and giggled at it all untilmy husband’s “Here’s something elseshe won’t dust” line made me cranky.But I got over it pretty fast. After all, Idid win.

I know I should try and be a littlemodest. Before I went to the AtlanticJournalism Awards in Halifax I wasreminding everyone who wished meluck that the real honour was in beingnominated, but allow me my moment ifyou can stand it.

Going to Halifax and attending theawards show was a high on its own. Mymother, who was getting her arse thereno matter what, enjoyed prepping forthe trip. We shopped for new dresses,had our nails done (we selected match-ing diamond tips) and had our toestended to.

We endured a last minute diet that wedidn’t really follow and, of course, wehad our hair done. Mother and daughterbonding at its best.

There was a bit of drama in the midstof the preparation. My husband Blair,who has been working in Alberta sinceMarch, was given an unexpected 10days off. He would be arriving in St.John’s a few hours before I was flyingto Halifax for the awards presentation.

Considering the piece I had beennominated for was about him goingaway for work and how difficult thatwas to deal with, I wondered what todo. He encouraged me to go enjoymyself, so I met him at the airport intime for him to see me off on my ownflight. The only things I gave him thatnight were the keys to the can and aquick peck.

My best friend since kindergartenmet my mother and I in Halifax and wespent a few hours shopping, laughing,eating and reminiscing. The trip wasalready a success.

Then there was the awards show andthe win. I will never forget the emotionon my mother’s face, or the joyfulsqueals of my girlfriend. I dialed myfather on my cellphone and brought iton stage with me so he could share inthe moment. Before I started to speak, Iheard my father say, “I knew you coulddo it.”

I must admit that this award for fea-ture writing has very little to do withme.

First, if my father hadn’t encouragedme, I might not have bothered to sub-mit any pieces for publication at all.Dad covered my shifts at the store andtook as much as he could on his broadshoulders so I could do what I love —write. My mother cooked many mealsand lightened my load when deadlinesmeant I was pressed for time. The restof my family read whatever I sent themand proclaimed each piece to be “bril-liant.”

Then, there was The Independent. Itis probably fair to say I harassed RyanCleary to get that first shot at getting inthe paper. Weeks when I didn’t make itin, I sulked and made sure I got a storyin the next edition. He was patient withme at times, and quite crotchety at oth-ers. But he encouraged me, and thatwas the greatest kindness he could haveshown a wannabe writer.

Then there’s Susan Rendell, a fellownominee in the feature-writing catego-ry. I remember picking up TheIndependent one weekend and seeingher piece, Sex and the City, on thecover. I started reading in the driveway,

and struggled my way into the house,not able to put the paper down. I waswrapped in her words and lost in theimages of a St. John’s I didn’t evenknow existed. When I discovered I wasnominated in the same category asRendell, and for such a brilliant pieceof writing, I admit I felt pretty damngood — and not very confident.

But then, I heard my name, and thatwas pretty darn wicked.

Some could say it’s tacky to writeabout winning, maybe boastful even,but I don’t mind. I will eventually catchup on the lost hours of sleep and myhangover will soon be a faint memory.My plaque will eventually find a per-manent place on the wall of my saltbox— when it is done visiting neighboursof course — and I might even dust it onoccasion.

If I don’t get a chance to clean it off,I could always write about how mypoor husband has to come home everysix weeks from Alberta to dust myaward. That’s funny stuff worth read-ing. My father thinks so anyway.

Pam Pardy Ghent lives in HarbourMille. Her column returns June 1.

MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTSTYLE • 25

Winning is ‘pretty darn wicked’The lasting effects of accepting an Atlantic Journalism Award

You can’t tell a book by its cover, but you cansurely learn about a town by its Yellow Pages.I’m not talking about the infrastructure of the

city — the buildings, the businesses, the centres ofhigher learning — I’m looking for takeout menusfrom the local restaurants.

There was a time when the St. John’s Yellow Pagesrestaurant section was a bland list of forgotten places,dominated by the holy trinity of takeout — pizzajoints, fish and chip shops, and Chinese restaurants.This is not the standard anymore.

St. John’s is growing, and by all accounts, becom-ing more cosmopolitan by the day — and I don’t meanin the way in which drink menus are produced.

Over the weekend my wife and ran I around the cityenjoying the day after a great luncheon at The Rooms.There, the food and the company were paired with acommanding view of the city. We watched as theclouds gobbled up the remaining blue sky and waitedfor the splat of fat raindrops to sound off the tin roof.

When we arrived home after speed grocery shop-ping we sat down and caught our breath.

Just because I can cook does not necessarily meanthat I want to cook all the time. We didn’t have theenergy to go out, so we reached for the phone book

and decided stay in and have some food and amovie — the best date idea we’d had in ages.

When we looked I thought OK, Chinese, whatcould be more movie friendly that that? I mean,every New York movie has at least one scenewith the main characters eating Chinese foodout of those square cardboard boxes.

But we wanted something different. Curryfrom India Gate, the local curry house,sounded good at first, but we realized wealready had a curry feast earlier in theweek.

The pizza chains and independentstores running through the city deservesits own phone book section, but weweren’t in the mood for the hour-longwait to have it delivered. Such is the lifewhen ordering out.

Then we spotted it: Sun Sushi. In themiddle of the phone book is a series ofmenus from various places, and Sun Sushiis there with a good chunk of their menuprinted in black and white.

We ordered 20 pieces of sushi with theSpicy tuna roll. And as if there was a bonusgoddess watching over us, we got an extraCalifornia hand roll because we ordered over$30 of sushi. Twenty minutes later I was at therestaurant eagerly awaiting our order and excitedto take it home.

PAMPARDY GHENT

Seven-day talk

Itching for an instant fine meal at home? Think beyond pizza and fish and chips

Takeout for the betterNICHOLASGARDNEROff the Eating Path

Sushi goodness from Sun Sushi on Duckworth Street in St. John’s Nicholas Gardner photoSee “Just a phone call away,” page 28

SPRING

A special 6 week series brought to you by


In his 21 years in business, RayJohnson of Cangro Services Ltd. inCorner Brook says he has seen big

changes in how homeowners view theirliving spaces.

“Outside was for working in,” hesays, but that isn’t the case today.“People live as much outside as inwhen the weather is nice, and a privateyard with a comfortable deck is onecreative way to extend the boundariesof your home without beating down orputting up walls,” he says.

If families are spending time outside,then they need a homey place to do it in.It’s Johnson’s job to see that goalachieved. “Products need to be asaffordable as possible while maintainingas much quality as possible,” he says.

Of course, besides meeting budget,outside expansion projects must alsomatch an individual family’s need.

Johnson says he fields calls all yearround as homeowners plan and plot fortheir next project. “The first question ishow much, but to know that you needto have some questions answered,” hesays. “If someone wants a fence builtthen knowing why will help guide us sowe can help you better.”

The two most common answers hereceives to the question of a new fence?

Security and privacy.For some families — usually those

with children or pets — safety is a con-cern when fencing a backyard.Understanding the need will help deter-mine what product is best to use. “Inthese circumstances, clients usually shyaway from pressure-treated products sowe suggest vinyl materials.”

For mature families, pressure-treatedwood might be the way to go, he advis-es, or a chain link with privacy slats.Costs for all types of fencing can varydepending on corners and gates,Johnson warns.

Paul Porter, an independent contrac-

tor in Conception Bay South, says ifyou are thinking about adding on toyour home, you can bank on spendinganywhere between $85-$100 a squarefoot. Most requests he receives are forquotes on expanding a kitchen or foradding a den, office or family room.

“I don’t know why folks want somuch cupboard space,” he laughs, pon-dering the popular quest for biggerkitchens, although he can understandhow a den, office or family room cangive a growing family more space.

There are ways to get extra livingspace, Johnson says, while enjoyingnature at the same time. The answer isa deck or patio.

When it comes to decks, Johnsonsays there are options to suit each need,including pressure-treated, manufac-tured, plastic or composite lumber.“Decks are for entertaining and relax-ing and the size is restricted only by thedimensions of the property and howmuch green space you want,” he says.Multi-leveled decks are becomingcommon for larger properties or forfamilies with children.

Johnson says as long as there is roomfor a barbecue, a table and some chairs,most are satisfied, but he is seeing atrend towards the more elaborate. “I’veseen everything from hot tubs to out-side propane fire pits done with naturalrock around it for a great setting in thebackyard,” he says.

It doesn’t matter how old your homeis, a deck is a good fit for almost any-one, he says. “We are getting back intothe outdoors — even if it is only in thebackyard,” Johnson laughs. “It doesn’tmatter if you have an older home or ifyou are rejuvenating an older one, adeck gives you a chance to expandwithout actually building on an extraroom with a roof.”

— Pam Pardy Ghent

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Whether building or renovating your home, we go the extra mile to provide our customers with all of the tools they will need!

22 Blackmarsh Road, St. John’s 576-4091 • Corner Brook 1-877-934-4712 • Grand Falls, Windsor 1-877-669-9206

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MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTSTYLE • 27

On deck and below


It’s a really good deal. For $36including all taxes we had a sushifeast, beautifully created. It was likesomething out of a picture book. Therewe were watching our movie andmunching on sushi. We felt like wewere in a very big city.

Perusing the Yellow Pages is as funas walking down the street, lookingfor the enticing smells to beckon youin for a meal. I enjoy takeout. There issomething very family-friendly aboutit — you can have all the flavors of the

world delivered to your door and youdon’t even have to dress up to have afancy meal.

Here are some tips about getting themost out of your takeout:

Look for places you haven’t tried.Like any food experience, it’s all in theexperimentation. If you’ve heard thata place is good, then sometimes it isbetter to take a risk and find out.

Call restaurants that don’t delivertoo. Try fine dining. It won’t have theambiance or the service, but if you’rein the mood for that baked halibut atyour favourite lunch spot, maybe

they’ll pack it up for you if you pick itup.

Think outside the box. Sometimesfor a special night you can have foodmade from your favourite restaurantand have a quiet dinner at home.Sometimes the best things are the eas-iest things.

Having a good meal can sometimesbe a chore, but with takeout, it’s just aphone call away.

Nicholas Gardner is a freelance writerand erstwhile chef living in St. John’s.

[email protected]

“I’m always striving for that effort-lessness, so there’s no evidence of astruggle,” he says. “The finished prod-uct always looks like it was meant tobe.”

Harris favours sterling silver becauseof its substantial strength to securestones in place, but loves gold for itsstable quality — the purity of the metalmeans it won’t tarnish. His choice ofstone includes opal, agate and motherof pearl, but he says Labradorite is oneof his favourites.

He’s currently hand-carving a piecein order to drop some yellow citrineinto its centre, and will shape a clasp ofmorning glory flowers to attach for apendant.

“I’m really attracted to ourLabradorite, which is brittle — it’s adeuce of a stone to work with. Itcleaves easily in layers so you have tobe careful it doesn’t split, but it’s justworth it because it’s a beautiful stoneand has such a lovely iridescence.”

Bay Bulls-based jewelry makerDonald Beaubier is also a fan of theshimmering blue-green stone. He sayshe tries to get as much localLabradorite as he can, but it is “tricky”to get good pieces. Depending on howit’s mined, it can easily fracture. Heorders some of his supply fromMadagascar and Finland, and acquiresother exotic stones such as onyx,moonstone and amethyst from as faraway as Bangkok.

Beaubier likes to mix metals, com-bining silver and gold to showcase thedistinctive elements. He is also keen toplay with textual contrasts – polishing

some surfaces while engraving patternsinto others. Beaubier says his “babysculptures” are informed by hisbeloved landscape around him, refer-encing the water and the land into hiswork. Crafting glittery treasures, hesays, allows for a mutually beneficial

experience.“I like the fact that jewelry is a very

intimate thing. It’s worn on some-body’s body and it becomes almost partof a person in a way.”

[email protected]

MAY 18• 1919 Race to fly the Atlantic withMike Wilkshire, Admiralty House, St.John’s, 7 p.m., 748-1124.• Tea, guest speakers and conversa-tion, Seniors Bridging Culture Club,Seniors Resource Centre, St. John’s, 2p.m., 737-2333.• Colleen Power, Aneirin Thomas andPaul Curnew at the Rose and Thistle,Water Street, St. John’s, 10:30 p.m.

MAY 19• The Latest in Archaeology at theColony of Avalon, free public forumwith Memorial archaeologists JimTucker and Barry Gaulton, Dr. LisaHodgetts from the University ofWestern Ontario and Mr. Paul Berry ofthe National Currency Collection, Bankof Canada, Fairmont Newfoundland,1:30-4 p.m.

MAY 20• Watoto Children’s Choir, fromKampala, Uganda at Elim Tabernacle,corner of Ropewalk Lane and EmpireAvenue, 11 a.m., free. • Sunrise Concert with EtobicokeYouth Band, Cape Spear, 5:17 a.m.• Rummage Sale and Fair for thewhole family, magic, games, moviescreenings, face painting, button-mak-ing, hoola-hooping and more, EasternEdge Gallery, 72 Harbour Drive, 10a.m. – 6 p.m.

MAY 21• Festival 500, AC Rock, an a cappellagroup from Chicago, Gower StreetUnited Church, 8 p.m., 738-6013.

MAY 22• International Day for Biodiversitylunchtime lecture with MadonnaBishop, MUN Botanical Garden, freeadmission, registration not required,12-1 p.m., 737-8590, www.mun.ca/bot-garden.• Annual Festival of New Dance, per-formances, dance films, classes, work-shops, and choreographies by local,national and international artists, LSPUHall, 3 Victoria Street, St. John’s, 753-4531, continues until May 27.• Historical Walking Tours back inoperation, Fairmont Hotel, CavendishSquare, Tuesday and Friday mornings,75 minutes, contact the reservation hot-line, 364-6845, www.boyletours.com.

MAY 23• Experience the East Coast Trail

with guest speaker Darlene Scott, A.C.Hunter Library, 7 p.m.• Chris Badcock at Folk Night, theShip Pub, St. John’s, 9:30 p.m.• Tour the Battery exhibit, The Rooms,2 p.m.• Women’s Job Talk: Interview Skillsand the Hidden Market, St. John’sWomen’s Centre, 150 LeMarchant Rd,6-9 p.m., 753-0200.

MAY 24• Back in Motion presented byDanSing Performance Studio, LabradorWest Arts and Culture Centre, 944-5412, continues until May 26.• Celebrate 50 Years of CommunityLiving, The NL Association forCommunity Living family conference,Capital Hotel, Kenmount Road, St.John’s, May 24-26, for registration call722-0790, or email [email protected].

IN THE GALLERIES:• Series of abstract paintings by localartist, Gordon Laurin, LSPU HallGallery, 3 Victoria Street, St. John’s,until June 3.• Eastern Edge Gallery celebrates TheYear of the Craft, 72 Harbour Drive, 3p.m., 739-1882, until June 16. • The Battery: People of the ChangingOutport tells the story of The Battery,of dramatic social, cultural and eco-nomic changes occurring in many out-port communities, The Rooms, level 2,until September 3.• Brian Jungen’s Vienna, giant sculp-ture in the form of a pristine whaleskeleton suspended from the gallery’scathedral ceiling, until September 16. • Natural Energies by Anne MeredithBarry (1931–2003), including 90 workscreated since 1982, The Rooms, level 3,until September 30.

EVENTS

Just a phone call awayFrom page 25

From page 23

‘Baby sculptures’

Pieces by Wesley Harris, clockwise from top: sterling silver and mother of pearl moustachecomb, large Labradorite pendant, and gold (gold ore and yellow gold wire) pendant.

What’s new in the automotive industryMAY 18-24, 2007

FEATURED VEHICLE

Time to ignite the crotch rocketsThis is a difficult season, to be

sure. For the first time, as long asI can remember, the

deadline for removing stud-ded snow tires has beenextended for a full month andwe needed it too. Freezingrain plagued us only recentlyand though it may be halfwarm for a day or two hereand there, I don’t expectrelief any time soon.

That won’t stop the hardybikers from rolling out theirmachines. Like wasps emerg-ing from a woodpile after along winter sleep, they’ll roararound in defiance of thecold. This is the beginning of their sea-son and they’ll take it by force if theyhave to.

It’s not really fair to categorize bikersas an overly spirited bunch, but it’s true— they’re all fanatical. There’s some-

thing about the thrill of riding thatpropagates the devil-may-care attitude

and the camaraderie of ridingin a small pack that brings outthe best in people. I’d like tothink that if one feels moreconfident, or even happierwhen riding a motorcycle,then that’s what they shouldbe doing. Perhaps that’s whythey start their season regard-less of the weather.

Bikers, like any species,can be further classified intogroups (all equal of course),according to different stylesof riding. This is a generaliza-tion for the purposes of enter-

tainment and should not be quoted as areference for any sociological research.

We’ll start with the cruisers, general-ly large bikes — lots of chrome, lowseats, and wide handlebars. This is thesort of machine gentlemen prefer, look-

ing for that bit of youth after beingresponsible for so long. A lot of peopletake stock of their working lives andrealize that they deserve a little reward.Go ahead, have some fun, buy the bike.Cut this column out of the paper andstick it on the fridge.

The street bike preferred by theyounger crowd is a racer, or in slangterms, crotch rocket. Low, narrow han-dlebars and a high seat give the desiredeffect of crouching over the bike. To theuntrained eye they look uncomfortable,however, they’re far more ergonomicand comfortable than cruisers. Therider’s weight is supported by theirarms and lifted slightly by wind pres-sure, while their legs are bent to furtherabsorb shock. Cruisers usually ridewith their feet forward with out-stretched arms, taking all bumps direct-ly on the spine. Just thought I’d throwthat bit of information out there andclear that up. Rockets are comfortable

to ride and a lot of fun. There’s nothingquite like carving up a twisty road bythe sea on one of those. Been there,done that, and lived to type about it.

The real fun — the sick fun — is inthe dirt. In the past couple of yearsmotocross bikes (also known as dirtbikes) have become wildly popular.These are all strictly off-road racers andcapable of ridiculous stunts. A monstertruck show wouldn’t be complete with-out some kid jumping a bus and hang-ing off a bike about 50 feet in the air.They can wheelie all day and tearacross an open field at highway speeds.It’s the only bike you’d want to take outin wet weather and flick some mudaround. You can even stud the tires inthe winter and rip around in the snow.Motocross bikes are practically inde-structible and are designed to take thefall. An acceptable practice for an out-of-control wheelie is to jump off andrun. Usually the bike just wobbles a bit

and flops on the ground. Once in mylife I caught up to it again. It was a finesummer day, I was doing a wheelieacross a field and I leaned too far back.I hopped off, started running while itrolled ahead of me. I caught up to thebike and hopped on again; luckily peo-ple were watching, otherwise no onewould believe me.

Been there, broke that and lined up atthe hospital.

There’s one more thing I shouldmention, the only gender-specific refer-ence I made was about gentlemen andcruisers, and even then, only out of def-erence of age and politeness. Girls ridebikes too, more than ever before. Theyride cruisers, rockets, motocross bikesand I couldn’t be happier for them.There’s no one cooler than a girl on abike.

Mark Wood of Portugal Cove-St.Philip’s is still just a kid on a dirt bike.

MARKWOOD

WOODY’SWHEELS

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30 • INDEPENDENTSHIFT MAY 18, 2007

OK, so I could have written a column thisweek about Denny Hamlin. TheNASCAR Nextel Cup

Challenge goes May 19 at Lowes MotorSpeedway in Charlotte (8:30 p.m.Newfoundland time, Speed Channel)and an examination of Hamlin’s whin-ing in recent days could have been gristfor my mill.

Oh, you haven’t heard? Hamlin want-ed somebody fired after some lug nutswere dropped during a tire change atDarlington last weekend. He said thesubsequent delay cost him the win.

I could have gone along with that ifonly Hamlin had suggested that he,himself, be fired after he lost the racefor his team at Phoenix a few weeks agowhen he was caught speeding on pit road.

But I didn’t hear a peep out of him then. So I’ll take a pass on Denny Hamlin.Or how about that Lewis Hamilton? He’s taken

Formula One by storm! He’s the youngest driversince Bruce McLaren in 1960 to be leading theworld championship standings and everybody’sall excited!

I say big deal. He’s driven in four Grand Prixraces and he hasn’t won one yet.

Back in 1996, his rookie season, our ownJacques Villeneuve was already a winner afterfour races. And he’d won a pole, too — somethingthat young Hamilton hasn’t done yet either.

I’ll get really excited about Lewis Hamiltonwhen he gives me a reason.

So I’m going to talk about a couple of Canadianracing books that have just gone on sale and I urgeeach and every one of you to go out and buycopies because they are both wonderful.

The first one is The Chequered Past (Sports CarRacing and Rallying in Canada, 1951-1991), byDavid A. Charters, a professor at the University ofNew Brunswick.

This is a remarkably well-researched work.Charters, an active amateur racer, spent monthsgoing through the records of the CanadianAutomobile Sport Clubs and reading scores ofperiodicals and newspaper clippings. He conduct-ed interviews with nearly 40 of the giants of the

sport and corresponded with more than a dozenothers.

He started this project back in theearly 1990s and he hadn’t expected itwould take so long. “I’m a military his-torian by trade, and I run a research insti-tute at the university, so I did this in myspare time,” he said. “I figured it wouldtake me five-to-seven years; I didn’texpect it would take me 18.”

The book was worth the wait, though. Charters’ thesis (he’s an academic,

after all) is that sports car racing inCanada, which really got going in theyears following the Second World War,was initially a sport organized by thecompetitors for their own enjoyment. Inthe following 40 years, it gradually

transformed into a spectator spectacle organized,promoted and exploited by commercial interests.

It’s a great read and Charters has made aninvaluable contribution by researching and writingit. Published by University of Toronto Press, it’savailable at bookstores everywhere.

The second book is by west coast racer, race-cardesigner and constructor and racing historian TomJohnston. Called “Westwood, Everybody’sFavourite Racing Circuit,” it tells the story ofCanada’s first purpose-built road-racing track thatopened for business in the Vancouver suburb ofCoquitlam on July 26, 1959.

One nit that I have with the first book is a lackof illustrations, something the Westwood book hasin spades.

For instance, Johnston reproduces a page from aSports Car Club of British Columbia newsletter in1958 in which vice-president Claire Wilson urgesmembers to “Stop smoking! Stop drinking! Takethe bus!” in order to give every penny possible tothe Westwood building fund.

There are other photos of great races, greatseries and great drivers. There are reproductionsof posters, pit passes and programs. The last chap-ter, entitled Faces of Westood, includes mug shotsof just about everybody who turned a wheel there,from the famous to the not-so-famous — about300 in all.

It is published by Granville Island Publishing.

MAY 18, 2007 INDEPENDENTSHIFT • 31

Two new must-read Canadian racing books

‘You’re filling out a toe tag?’POLICE OFFICERS NEVER KNOW WHAT — OR WHO — THEY’RE GOING TO HAVE TO FACE

Itold the boys I was going out on ashift ride-along with OPP ConstableLinda Dean. I told them

she was coming to the house,and they were to come down,say hello and behave.

“Is your gun loaded?” wasthe first thing Marc, 15, askedher.

“Can I see your handcuffs?”followed Jackson, 12.

I groaned. Such nice boys.As we turned to leave, shelooked up at Jackson andasked for her cuffs back.

I was looking forward to thisride-along. I already knew a lotabout what a cop does. We alldo, right? Wait for the nicest guy outthere to barely break the speed limit, flaghim over and give him a hard time. Whatelse was there to know?

We swung out onto the busy highway,

checking for aggressive drivers and theunbuckled. As Dean explained the radar

system to me, I looked up. Akid was running across thehighway. Sputtering, I pointedand helpfully yelled “there’s akid running across the high-way!” I felt let down as I real-ized my first big cop momentwas going to be somethingmundane.

Only, not. She’d seen himbefore I had, and smoothlypulled the cruiser onto theinside shoulder. Cars allaround were already braking.She pulled up beside the kid.Who wasn’t a kid. He was a

man, straddling the barrier, and all of asudden I realized that if he bolted, he’dbe dead. And I’d be a witness. And Iwanted to go home.

Dean hopped out, talking over the

noise of traffic the entire time.“Buddy, what are ya doing? You can’t

cross the highway like this, come on,what’s your name …”

I sat in the passenger seat, and in thatmoment, I realized I could never be acop. Every 10 seconds the scenario waschanging, and getting scarier as it went.What had been a kid running across theroad was now a man who was beingasked if he was armed. A constructionworker late for work, he’d decided dodg-ing traffic made sense. He wasn’t armedwith weapons, or apparently commonsense.

Dean made him put his bag in thetrunk, and plunked him in the back seat.The inside of a cruiser is jammed withtechnical equipment, and feels quitetight, especially with a guy in the backwho is being asked if he has any priors.

As Dean called in the Artful Dodger’sID, the disembodied voice crackled back

a code that made her grab the phone. Shestayed calm, but something hadchanged. My heart rate ticked up. Shehad a gun and a bullet-proof vest. I had anotepad and a non-bullet-proof OldNavy tank top.

Another cruiser appeared, ostensiblyto help escort us to the exit. We were tak-ing Buddy to his job site. Dean calmlytold him to get his act together, deal withthe problems, and keep off the highway.She didn’t give him a $110 fine, but along warning about ending up dead.Contrary to what some of us believe, thiscop, at least, is more carrot than stick.

Afterwards, she told me he had a his-tory. The other cruiser was back up, incase. I didn’t want to know in case ofwhat, so I didn’t ask.

On an undivided highway, I savedsomeone coming in the opposite direc-tion a speeding ticket because Deankindly didn’t want to slam my head into

the side window doing a two-point turn.Yeah, they can catch you coming andgoing.

Every time we pulled up behind astopped car, I realized an officer has noidea what they were about to deal with.Tinted windows must be the bane oftheir existence.

As we pulled up behind an SUVpulled way off the highway, Deanradioed in to check on an abandonedvehicle.

“Now, what I do is fill out this tow tagin advance, so I can deal with whateveris going on and not get tied up in doingit at the vehicle,” she started, showingme a yellow tag with a string on it. Iwent white.

“A toe tag? You’re filling out a toetag?”

She laughed hard enough to wake upthe guy sleeping in the SUV.

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Denny Hamlin celebrates by spinning his tires REUTERS/Charles W Luzier

32 • INDEPENDENTFUN MAY 18, 2007

WEEKLYDIVERSIONSACROSS1 Not fem.5 Prov. with heaviesthailstone (290 g)9 Apron part12 In addition16 Pinnacle17 Raise18 Sphere19 A little too smooth20 Of the conversion ofheat to energy23 Organic soil matter24 Rocks on edge25 Pen points26 Limping27 Halifax summer time28 Basic unit of heredity29 Foggiest city: St.___, Nfld.30 Canadian film award33 Humdinger34 It’s often clawed35 Molecule part38 Longtime CBC hostMaitland39 Hoover and Aswan40 Author of English “OCanada”41 Yes in Ypres42 Tot’s time out43 Nanny’s young44 Merry45 Colony insects46 Icy48 Cut back49 An educated ___

50 River throughRevelstoke, B.C.54 August57 Give a loan58 Fuzzy thinking62 Imitate63 ___ Callan (RichardB. Wright)65 Hydrochloric ___66 Foofaraw67 Have being68 The ups and downsof fashion69 Conduit70 Rivulet71 Moral obligation73 Med. feeders74 Rodent75 Worked on a piano76 Fox we won’t forget78 Brewing choices79 Curved bone80 Vanquished one81 Work of P.K. Page82 Like Rick Mercer’sshow86 Composure87 Agreeing in size ornumber89 Hurricane of 195490 The sun (myth.)91 Lunch hour92 Victorian expletive93 Mid-month, once94 Some cards and tags95 Like a moist com-plexion

96 Cabbage cousin

DOWN1 Young crooner Dusk2 Belly malady3 Peter Pan pirate4 Sure5 Comedian Martin ___6 Assists7 Best scenery in 5A8 Dog-houses9 Layered ice creamdessert10 Jim’s second wife(“For Better or ForWorse”)11 British BroadcastingCorp.12 Female graduate13 Sedimentary rockoften with fossils14 Run before the wind15 Green lights, forshort19 Iran’s ruler, once21 Ancient Iranian22 Japanese aboriginal26 Under the Volcanoauthor28 Tooth foundations29 Lock up30 CBC radio’s longest-running show (1937-59): “The Happy ___”31 Mideast airline32 U.S. wine region33 Spoon

34 Park on L. Erie:Point ___36 Power cuts37 Fail to hit39 Clock face40 What a wonderful___ ...”43 Slay44 Mazo de la Roche’sfictional mansion45 Self: prefix47 “See you later!”48 Wharves49 Neuter51 Seafood in sand52 Witches’ religion53 Dismounted54 Deciphered55 Beige56 Set apart or isolate(people)59 Secure60 Keep the motor run-ning61 ___ turkey63 Sound of someinsects64 Comedian Eugene(“SCTV”)65 Diving birds69 N.W.T.’s official gem70 Actor Saul(“Unforgiven”)72 Some votes74 Quick look75 Balkans leader, once77 Rod and ___

78 Hacksaws, e.g.79 Saving for a ___ day80 Laundry unit

81 Goad82 Put in the hold83 Indian music form

84 Roman, e.g.: abbr.85 Surrender86 Fraternity letter

87 Greek letter88 Fish eggs

Solutions on page 34

ARIES (MAR. 21 TO APR. 19) Untangling personal problemsmight take more time than theimpatient Lamb expected. But it’simportant to hang in there until allthose knotty situations arestraightened out.

TAURUS (APR. 20 TO MAY 20) You still need to work out last-minute snags in your dealingswith a rival. Hold your grounddespite a perceived lack of sup-port. Things should turn aroundbefore you know it.

GEMINI (MAY 21 TO JUNE 20) Best not to delay preparing for thatupcoming family event. The soon-er you get things started, the betterchance you have of finding poten-tial problems and making neededchanges.

CANCER (JUNE 21 TO JULY 22)

The romantic Moon Child mightbe reluctant to see the realitybehind that “ideal” situation. Butby midweek, the practical Crabemerges to help clear away themoonbeams.

LEO (JULY 23 TO AUG. 22) Although the Big Cat might bereceptive to more “purr-suasion”to get you to agree to a workplacechange, make sure you can distin-guish the fine line between factsand flattery.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 TO SEPT. 22) Your positive attitude in the work-place helps to get you noticed bythe right people. Now go aheadand use some of that new self-con-fidence to help shore up a person-al relationship.

LIBRA(SEPT. 23 TO OCT. 22)Although you might still have towork out some problems with a

business partner, things go moresmoothly on the home front. Aninvestment opportunity mightneed more study.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 TO NOV.21) Don’t be reluctant to act on yoursuspicions. Even if others seenothing wrong, the astute Scorpiocould sense an underlying prob-lem that isn’t always obvious onthe surface.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 TO DEC. 21) A new opportunity presents someobstacles that need to be dealt withas soon as possible. Delayingaction in hopes that the problemswill go away could be counterpro-ductive.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 TO JAN. 19) A friend or family member’srequest might carry some hiddenfactors that could later createproblems. Be sure you know all

the facts before you make yourdecision.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 TO FEB. 18) A setback in implementing a plancould turn out to be a blessing indisguise. Use the downtime torework your original conceptsand see where changes could bemade.

PISCES (FEB. 19 TO MAR. 20) You might not be consciouslyfishing for compliments, butadmit it — won’t you feel greatwhen your efforts are noticed? Soaccept the praise gracefully.You’ve earned it.

YOU BORN THIS WEEK Your love of beauty in your per-sonal life extends to your efforts toprotect and preserve the naturalworld around you.

(c) 2007 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

WEEKLYSTARS

CHUCKLE BROS Brian and Ron Boychuk

Fill in the grid so that each row of nine squares, each columnof nine and each section of nine (three squares by three) con-tains the numbers 1 through 9 in any order. There is only onesolution to each puzzle. Solutions, tips and computer programavailable at www.sudoko.com

SOLUTION ON PAGE 34

INDEPENDENTSPORTSFRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, MAY 18-24, 2007 — PAGE 33

As a lifelong sports fan, I’vewatched many events, both inperson and on television. If I’m

in a location and there’s a sportingevent taking place — especially some-thing major league — I’m all over it.There’s not much I won’t watch, andthat includes figure skating and bowl-ing. (Cricket I can do without, andrugby matches are far more entertain-ing when you’re at the pitch than on acouch removed from the action. I don’tconsider poker a sport, so that’s noteven on the list, although I havewatched from time to time, to solve therare case of insomnia I may have con-tracted.)

One major event I recall missing —

totally my fault — was a 1994 WorldCup soccer match in Orlando betweenIreland and Belgium. We were in theFlorida city on vacation, and landed thevery same day of the game, unbe-knownst to me at the time.

Later that night, however, in a smallpub in Olde Town in Kissimmee, wewere treated to a raucous evening ofrevelry with the fans of both sides, whotook turns chanting the songs they had

sung that afternoon in the cavernousCitrus Bowl in Orlando.

You could tell these fans were rabidsupporters of their country, and theirfootball team. Ardent doesn’t comeclose to describing their devotion. (Iremember one guy telling me his wifegave him a three-week U.S.A. WorldCup vacation — Orlando, Chicago,New York — for his birthday, eventhough he needed to secure an extraweek off from his boss. After telling theboss where he was headed, the bossbooked time off and traveled with him.)

But I’d never been in a stadium withfans as rabid and as excited as Saturdaynight at Mile One, when the WWEcame to town. I was never a wrestling

fan, and don’t follow the current crop.My nine-year-old, however, does. Withtickets in his pocket for months, hewaited anxiously, bouncing off anywall for the past two weeks.

“Dad, I can’t wait for Saturday.” “Dad, how much longer before we

leave for Mile One?” “Dad, I can’t believe I’m going to see

John Cena!”Saturday, he was totally psyched out,

waiting for the big event. Me, I spentthe day looking for earplugs to save myhearing.

(I even convinced him to write aboutit afterwards: “Of all the wrestlers, Iwanted to see John Cena the most,” heslowly typed into my computer. “He’s

my favourite wrestler. I was so excitedto go to my very first WWE match, andJohn Cena was there. But during thefirst match, the best thing happened.My friend William got picked out of thecrowd to be manager of the match. Itwas a sick night.”)

Upon arrival at Mile One, you couldfeel the buzz and excitement from thefans, and it was difficult not to getcaught up in it. I wasn’t excited aboutwatching any of the matches, but myson was, so we got there nice and early.He talked of Cena, the Hardy Boys andsome guy called The Great Khali.

I tried to settle in for what I expected

Cena ’nuff WWE wrestler John Cena and crew produce entertainment spectacle that rocked Mile One

See “Dad, I can’t believe,” page 34

My b’y plays in the Big Leagues

DON POWERPower Point

He was there for Danny’s brilliant juniorcareer when he was dubbed “the nextGretzky” for his offensive skill — as aBellevue Bull, he scored 127 goals and 196assists in 220 games.

Kevin was also there when Danny struggledin his early years as a professional, bouncingbetween teams like Chicago,Edmonton and Phoenix andfrequently getting sent backto the minors.

This year Danny startedtraining with the same fitnessguru used by teammatesChris Chelios and MathieuSchneider, found happinessin his personal life by marry-ing and having a baby, andbecame a leader on the RedWings.

His father still tenses upduring games. Panic sweepsover his face as the AnaheimDucks threaten to score;relief comes in the form ofthe referee’s whistle. An early penalty for theWings worries the entire room.

Then, a moment of exhilaration as Dannybreaks in short-handed, winds up and wires ashot destined for the top corner. An out-stretched Duck’s defenseman deflects the shotjust high. Everyone in the room is severalinches high too, hovering above their seats,hearts racing.

Kevin is perhaps the only hockey fan whoenjoys commercial breaks, they’re the onlychance for him to relax without missing a sec-ond. When the stress gets to Kevin and hesteps outside for a smoke, everyone else focus-es more in his absence. Nobody dares take hisseat on the couch.

While he’s outside, the Wings snap in agoal. The celebration is a chaotic mix of noiseand high-fives often missed by hands thattremble with joy. The Red Wings jerseys, pic-tures, towels and banners that surround theroom make it feel like a stadium.

The cheer goes up again as Kevin comesback inside. Everyone is anxious to do theirbest sportscaster impression and tell him whoscored and how. They know how important thegoal is to Kevin. Together, they even celebratethe replay.

The buzz has barely died down before theRed Wings strike again, making it 2-0. There’sstill tension though, as Kevin and the otherhockey veterans know from past heartbreak, 2-

0 is the worst lead in hockey. On the ice, Danny is controlling the game.

He leads his checking line to numerous scor-ing chances and shuts down Anaheim’s coun-terattack.

Bearded and black-eyed, Danny is check-ing, racing fearlessly along the boards and dis-playing perfect puck control, stepping aroundDucks, feeding passes to his teammates and

constantly on the verge of agoal.

Of course, the living roomstill feels the need to coach:“Come on Danny, shoot it!”

Then, Danny snaps a wristshot on net from a sharpangle and everything goessilent for a split-second as thepuck disappears in a goal-mouth fray. It’s in. This cheeris louder, more intense andmore special than the othertwo: “Danny’s goal! That’sDanny’s!”

The goal is officially cred-ited to Todd Bertuzzi as itdeflected off his skate, but by

now even Kevin has declared this game aguaranteed win and a new chant begins in theliving room: “Stanley Cup and the Herder inthe River.”

With the score 4-0 and an Anaheim come-back unlikely, the room relaxes and there istalk about how to celebrate a Stanley Cup win.

Harbour Grace Mayor Don Coombs sayshe’s already had requests for Danny to speak atdinners and attend events outside the commu-nity, but both he and Danny want to keep theparty in Harbour Grace.

Coombs says Danny has expressed desire torun hockey camps for local kids and create ascholarship. He’s happy the kids have such astrong role model.

“Danny exemplifies what’s happening withNewfoundland today,” says Coombs. “He’sgot heart, he’s got soul, he’s got drive and he’sgot determination, that’s why he’s at where heis today.”

Children at Harbour Grace schools havealready sent Danny several e-mails wishinghim luck.

Reynolds says he and Danny have alreadytalked about the celebration — a paradethrough Harbour Grace, and only HarbourGrace, to Riverhead and a huge party.

Kevin won’t say how he’ll celebrate, but heknows he’ll put on his son’s jersey and watchevery game.

[email protected]

CLOSE TO THE CUPDanny Cleary is six wins away from winning the Stanley Cup, something no Newfoundlander orLabradorian has done before. Here are some of the closest:

Alex Faulkner, Detroit Red Wings, made the finals in 1963.Dave Pichette, Quebec Nordiques, made the semi-finals in 1982.Michael Ryder, Montreal Canadiens, made the second round in 2004.

Other Newfoundland and Labrador players who have made the playoffs include:Brad Brown, Keith Brown, Ryane Clowe, Harold Druken, Don Howse, Jason King, Darren Langdon andJohn Slaney.

CLEARY’S BEST SEASON YET

Regular season: 20 goals, 20 assists, 40 points in 71 games.Playoffs: 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points in 15 games.

— John Rieti

“Danny exemplifieswhat’s happening

with Newfoundlandtoday”

Harbour Grace

Mayor Don Coombs

From page 1

Detroit Red Wings forward Danny Cleary. Matt Sullivan/Reuters Kevin Cleary (right) cheers for his son’s team. Nicholas Langor/The Independent

34 • INDEPENDENTSPORTS MAY 18, 2007

Solutions for crossword on page 32

Solutions for sudoku on page 32

“The 24th of May is thequeen’s birthday — If wedon’t get a holiday we’ll all

run away.” I learned this succinct rhymefrom my mother while still young andimpressionable. Maybe it contributed tomy obsession with all things fishing andoutdoors.

At the time, I had no idea whichqueen she was talking about. I assumedQueen Elizabeth II — the lady in the bigpicture at school and looming over ourhockey games at Harbour Grace stadi-um. I recall how amused we were whenshe was struck with a slapshot from oneof the more powerful brutes on theSpaniard’s Bay school hockey team. Wewere an irreverent bunch.

Later I discovered, in Grade 8 historyI believe, that my mother was actuallyreferring to Queen Victoria who ruledthe British Empire from 1837 until herdeath in 1901 — hence Victoria Dayweekend. In the jubilant, preoccupiedworld of my youth, I hadn’t quite piecedthe obvious together.

So the birth of Queen Victoria isresponsible for the most celebrated ofall long weekends — the 24th of May,

our quintessential outdoor whoop ’er upholiday. There’s troutin’, camping, bar-becuing, kettle boiling, ATV riding —whatever turns one’s outdoor crank.

God love old Queen Victoria; she wasborn at just the right time to heave offthe winter blues and kick-start summer.

For many, the 24th of May is the startof camping season. Actually, it’s whenmost Newfoundland parks and camp-grounds first open their gates for theseason. Note the assortment of trailers,motor homes and campers parked alongthe highway by Butterpot Park, thequeue for that arcadia just outside citylimits.

And 24th of May weather isn’t typi-cally summerlike and balmy. On oneparticular Victoria Day, quite a fewyears ago — when the kids were weeand very energetic — I awoke in ourtrailer to an overcast sky and a thick

soggy covering of fresh snow. The ever-green boughs surrounding our campsitewere so laden their lower limbs laystuck on the ground.

Our lawn chairs, strategicallyarranged for wiener roasting around acamouflaged fire-pit, looked likestuffed white sofa chairs. My propanelantern, once hung from a tree limb, wasnowhere to be seen. I was not particu-larly excited. Without waking anyone Ilit the furnace to warm my spirits andmake the trailer comfortable for thekids.

The strike of match and brimstonewoke Goldie, my wife. She peeped outthe window and muttered somethingabout craziness, camping and living inNewfoundland. All I could muster byway of encouragement was cliché butpragmatic: “We’ll have to make the bestof it.”

I reluctantly ventured outside to getthe bacon out of the Coleman icebox.Wiping off four inches of snow withbare hands temporarily erased the fur-nace’s effect on my spirit. But I had aplan.

I slipped quickly back inside the trail-

er, trying not to shiver, and lied toGoldie: “It’s not that bad out, just a lit-tle chilly.” I lit the propane stove andwarmed my hands before digging thecast iron frying pan out of the cupboard.

Camping, especially when things getbumpy, is generally remembered asDad’s idea. The onus was on me tomake things right, or at least bearable.When the pan was ready I laid thosedelicious strips of smoked pig side byside in my mother’s old pan. Each pieceimmediately hissed and sputtered,releasing an intoxicating aroma. Tinyheads begin to stir beneath sleepingbags. “Oh Dad, that smells some good,”I heard.

“There’s nothing wrong with some-one cooking breakfast for me for achange,” added Goldie.

Could bacon and eggs atone forMother Nature’s impish 24th of Mayprank?

“How do you want your eggs girls?” “Yolks runny,” came the usual

response. I don’t know why I alwaysask.

The pivotal moment approached.Megan, the eldest by five years, was

inching her head up for a look out thewindow.

“Allison, Allison, get up and look outthe window! It snowed last night.There’s snow everywhere. We can makea snowman.”

Oh the resilience of youth! Had myfears been completely unwarranted?Were the bacon and eggs really neces-sary? It seemed to cheer Goldie up any-way. She was out of bed and had a potof coffee brewing. The smell of freshcoffee and bacon filled the tiny trailer— all was well with the world. I’llnever know what might have resultedfrom cold cereal.

After breakfast, the sun came out andthe youngsters made their snowman,complete with fishing basket and hat. Idug my lantern out of the snow andchopped firewood for another campfire.Kids really do know how to make thebest of things.

Paul Smith is a freelance writer andavid outdoorsman living in Spaniard’sBay.

[email protected]

‘It’s not that bad out …’Whatever the weather, make the most of May 24

PAUL SMITHThe Rock Outdoors

to be a very boring evening. Boy was Ishocked.

Now, I know wrestling is fixed (cho-reographed for those who refuse tobelieve), and although there were sev-eral “championship matches” takingplace, we knew no belts would changehands. Really, if you’re crowning a newchamp, you’re not doing it in St. John’s.

You’re doing it at Wrestlemania 40 inLos Angeles, or whatever numberthey’re at now.

But I’m here to tell you it was a fan-tastic evening of entertainment. Frommy son’s buddy dancing with the firsttag team winners to Cena coming backfrom the dead to beat Randy Orton, itwas a magnificent spectacle.

Was it sport? Probably not, becausethere was no real competition.

Was it entertainment? Absolutely.Was it exciting? Surprisingly, yes.

Say what you want, these are big guys.(One guy was six-foot-seven, 267pounds, and The Great Khali standsseven-foot-three, 430 pounds: hestepped into the ring over the top rope.Picture it.) They’re also very athletic.Some of those moves would be difficultfor small guys, let along these behe-moths.

One more thing: I’ve never heardMile One so loud, certainly not at FogDevils (or before that, Maple Leaf)games. Wrestling fans certainly occupya different demographic than hockeyfans. But give them credit. When itcomes time to cheer, boo or react, theydon’t need a scoreboard to tell themhow to do it.

[email protected]

John Cena (right, black shirt) wrestles Randy Orton at Mile One Centre. Don Power/For The Independent

“Dad, I can’t believe I’m going to see John Cena!”From page 33

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Canadian content challenges Toronto FC19 year-old Andrea Lombardo, who left at 15 to play in Italy, a bright spot

By Dave Feschuk Torstar wire service

If you’re looking for reasons why Toronto FChas won once in five tries, understand thatMajor League Soccer is like the Canadian

Football League in one respect: it has esoteric ruleslimiting the number of imported players on its ros-ters.

The difference, of course, is that Toronto is theonly Canadian entry in the MLS. So while the 12U.S.-based teams are permitted to stock the bulk oftheir lineups with players from the U.S. — theworld’s 29th best soccer nation according to themost recent FIFA rankings — the locals are forcedto employ a large handful of homegrown talent, orlack thereof.

Canada, ranked 94th on the planet, is the home-land of 12 of the 24 players listed on the roster onToronto FC’s website.

And when you consider the best young north-landers are playing in superior European leagues,the Canadian content regulations are not exactly arecipe for dominance.

“It does handicap you,” says Mo Johnston, theToronto coach. “I’m not going to beat around thebush. Some of the Canadian guys have found it hardto adjust to the MLS.

“Can they get there? A little bit of hard work anda little bit of fitness and hopefully they can pick itup.”

It’s not that there haven’t been bright spots carry-ing maple leaf passports. Andrea Lombardo, the 19-year-old forward from North York, ON comes intotonight’s game against Houston on an impressiveroll. He had a nifty assist in Saturday’s 3-1 win overChicago, a day after he was the man of the match inCanada’s 2-1 loss to Argentina in an under-20friendly.

“Did you see him against the Argentinians? Theywere kicking him and fighting him and they were inhis face. And he was very physical back. And thatshows he can play against one of the best national

teams in the world,” says Johnston.“He’s making the adjustment (to the MLS), but he

still needs to work hard.”He’s making the adjustment, perhaps, because he

left home. At age 15 Lombardo took his only realadvantage — an Italian passport by virtue of hisfather being born in Calabria – and combined it withhis only connection — a brother of a friend of hisfather’s with ties to an Italian club, Atalanta, knownfor its commitment to developing young players.

He sent Atalanta his resumé and landed a tryouton the condition he pay his own way to the club’straining facility a short drive northeast of Milan.And after a week of workouts, he signed a deal thatbegan a three-year journey as an Italian-based pro.

“It shows the kid’s got ambition,” says Johnston.“Kicking around here when you’re 16 years olddoesn’t really help you.”

For Lombardo, the challenges came on and off thefield. Arriving in 2003, he enrolled in the equivalentof Grade 12 in an Italian school, this while he wasmore than a year away from being fluent in the lan-guage.

“I had to take philosophy in Italian, and chemistryin Italian,” he says. “I mean, I wasn’t even going totake chemistry in English if I stayed here inToronto.”

For the record, he failed chemistry and passedphilosophy and graduated successfully. And as forhis athletic career, it blossomed in ways that wouldhave been difficult to achieve on these shores.

“Can (Canada) catch up to the Italians? I don’tthink so,” says Johnston, a Scot. “They’re the best inthe world. Are you ever going to win the WorldCup? Likely not. It’s like Scotland. We’re the same.But can you get better? Of course you can.

“Hopefully we can all make this thing better oneday. I may be Scottish, but I’m eating and sleepingand living here in Canada. I want Canadian soccer toget better.

“Because if it’s going to get better at the nationallevel, it’s going to get better for me on the club level.But Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

INDEPENDENTCLASSIFIEDFRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, MAY 18-24, 2007 — PAGE 36

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2007-05-18

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