Corbett's World '05

Pimm: A student of the game

2007-09-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

BERNIE PIMM is Troy Mick's No. 1 fan. Just ask him.
With Mick temporaily sidelined due to medical problems, Pimm, the 32-year-old teacher by profession and student of the game, has been given the role of head coach of the Vernon Vipers as they open the regular BCHL schedule tonight against the Williams Lake Timberwolves in the Multiplex.
"Whether I am called the head coach or not, the one thing Troy and I have always done is work together and make decisions," he said, following a recent Vipers' practice session. Then he reiterated his thoughts about Mick by saying, "One thing we never want to do is close the door on Troy Mick ever coaching again. So that's one of the reasons we're not definitive on what we're doing ... I guess, right now, I'm the head coach on an interim basis, and we're going to leave it at that, and just hope that Troy gets better."
Pimm and Mick worked together in the Western Hockey League with the Kamloops Blazers. "He (Mick) was the head coach and I was the assistant coach there. That was the first time he really got sick and I think coaching had a direct affect on that. (However), it is his illness so he should really comment on it."
Then he emphasized, "The bottom line is, Kaye, that I am here because of Troy Mick, basically to do what he wants me to do. So the door will always be there for Troy Mick to be the head coach for this season. He has instilled the kind of confidence and trust in me and we just tackle one day at a time."
Prior to Mick's situation, Pimm said that Mick was going to handle more of the managerial work.
"The way Troy and I were setting it up, I was going to handle a lot of the practices and the day-to-day preparations for the games with Troy going to handle more of managerial stuff and the day of the game, Troy would kind of take over (behind the bench). It was kind of a college model of coaching ... I was going to do a lot less recruiting and scouting and Troy was going to concentrate a little more on that with our head scout."
It was a solid combination, and even with Mick temporarily shelved, Pimm has a formidable team. He has surrounded himself with individuals that "played the hockey at a higher level than I did." They include Shawn Bourgeois (who looks after the forwards), Kori Davison (responsible for the defence) and goaltender coach Sean Mathiel.
"All these guys came up through the Viper system, so they are alumni players," he emphasized.
"I'm secure enough in my knowledge of the game, and my organizational skills and my ability to prepare properly," he said, adding, "I always thought it made sense to bring in people in the fold that played the game at a high level."
Although Pimm has certainly had service as an assistant coach and scout with the Vipers, he had decided to take the job as head coach of the Okotoks Oilers of the AJHL this season. However, he wasn't quite comfortable with his situation in Alberta and a phone call with Mick, who had just been named head coach and general manager of the Vipers, changed his direction.
"Actually, I got on the phone with Troy and indicated that a kid I had been recruiting for Okotoks might need a place to play and from that conversation Troy told me about the opportunity with minor hockey (in Vernon) and the need for somebody with this organization (the Vipers) as well."
By the end of July, Pimm, the experienced school teacher, arrived in Vernon with his family of wife, Shannon, and three children of Jordyn (7), Devin (4) and Hayden (1) to not only be the associate coach to Mick, but the director of Hockey Operations for the Greater Vernon Minor Hockey association.
With his elevated role for the time being as head coach of the Vipers, Pimm has a busy schedule. By 7 a.m., he is in the minor hockey office until about 12:30 noon and then he transfers his skill to his charges with the Vipers before heading home around 6 p.m.
In preparing for tonight's opener, Pimm said : "Right now, we're really concentrating on picking up our work ethic, to get the work ethic to the acceptable level that we want it ... we do that through practice and through meetings and now we're slowly instilling and injecting parts of our system."
And what is that system?
"We're going to be obviously aggressive defensive, which is a phrase I picked up from (NHL veteran and junior coach) Marc Habscheid."
To a novice, such as the Ol' Columnist, it means the tough Vipers are going to hog the puck this year and shoot on their opposition often.
Although he works long hours, Pimm professed a passion for the game while admitting, "I give myself a day off here and there and Sundays are important because it is family time." Then he went on to say, "In this game, there is down time in spring and summer and you have to take advantage of it."

Storm Stories. Part II

2007-09-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

KATRINA NOTEBOOK: Before shifting to rather placid Vernon and area, I took the opportunity to scour the newswires and websites for stories of the Great Hurricane, which one observer claimed was of Biblical proportions.
As a former columnist with the U.S.-based World Net Daily website (1997-2000), the Ol' Columnist "collected" a number of WND stories, which were noteworthy:
FAMILY FROM OVER 'OME: One involved the Scott family -- Ged, 36, his wife, Sandra, 37, and 7-year-old son, Ronan -- of Liverpool, England, who were in the Ramada Hotel in New Orleans when Katrina slashed into the U.S. Gulf Coast. Ged related it this way: "I could not describe how bad the authorities were, taking photographs of us as we were standing on the roof waving for help, for their own personal photo albums, little snapshot photographs." Scott then told the BBC News interviewer there were girls on the roof, calling out to be rescued and "(The authorities) said to them, 'Well, show us what you've got' -- doing signs for them to lift their T-shirts up. The girls said no, and (the rescuers) said 'well fine' and motored off down the road in their motorboat. That's the sort of help we had from the authorities." New Orleans is noted for women flashing their breasts in public during Mardi Gras. Scott also said that the relief operation was "horrendous" and noted policemen had taken "souvenir" photographs of stranded people begging for help.
NO PRAYER PLEA: Another WND story which caught my attention involved a woman named Ellen Johnson, president of the American Atheists. In no uncertain terms, Johnson said U.S. President George Bush and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco should stop praying for the hurricane victims -- now get this --"because it violates the Constitution." While people were in great need of divine intervention and comfort, Johnson was blathering on about religion activities behind some relief efforts. She was quoted as saying, "We're getting reports of how some religion-based 'aid' groups are trying to fly evangelists into the stricken areas and how U.S. Army chaplains are carrying Bibles -- not food or water -- to 'comfort' people (at the New Orleans Superdome). People need material aid, medical care and economic support -- not prayers and preaching. And listen to this: Dave Silverman, communications director for American Atheists, claimed "'God' was once again asleep at the wheel."
RABBI'S POINT OF VIEW: There was also a WND story out of Jerusalem, in which Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Lewin, executive director of the Rabbinic Congress for Peace, said: "Katrina is a consequence of the destruction of (Gaza's) Gush Katif (slate of Jewish communities) with America's urging and encouragement. The U.S. should have discouraged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from implementing the Gaza evacuation rather than pushing for it and pressuring Israel into concessions." The WND report noted that one week before Katrina made landfall, Israel carried out the evacuation of 9,500 residents from Gush Katif and four Samaria communities, kicking and screaming. The former Katif residents are still homeless.
EMOTIONAL TIME: Geraldo Rivera, a Fox News mainstay, certainly showed his emotional side as New Orleans residents were stranded inside and outside the wretched Convention Center. I watched with tears in my eyes as well as Geraldo sobbed: "Let them walk out of here, let them walk the hell out of here. Walk to some other town. Walk some place where you can help 'em. ... These people in the same clothes, where do you think they go to the bathroom? They don't wash their hands, they don't wash their face, these babies. What the hell?"
WADING TO THE RESCUE: Veteran newsman Ted Koppel also became part of the Big Story in the Big Hurt. It seems Koppel jumped into filthy water to help rescue a stranded woman -- Rosa Lee Branch, according to a NewsMax.com report. Rescuers loaded Rosa and her wheelchair onto a boat and Koppel got on board to interview here. "... When the boat reached the entrance to the Fairground Race Course, which is being used as a rescue staging area, the water was too shallow for its propeller to operate. So several officers and Koppel -- who had no wading boots -- jumped into the nearly waist-deep water to pull the boat the last 50 yards to dry land."
IT'S CERTAINLY NOT OVER YET: While Katrina died an agonizing death after destroying New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast, another potential deadly storm -- Ophelia -- is threatening Florida's Atlantic coast. Tropical storm warnings were posted along a 100-mile stretch from Sebastian Inlet to Flagler Beach on Wednesday. Where it hits land appears to be anyone's guess, but Lixion Avila of the National Hurricane Centre in Miami has been quoted as saying: "Anything is possible."
SHAKING IN INDONESIA: There was a report out on Banda Aceh, Indonesia Wednesday of an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale with the epicenter located in the Nicobar island area. In late December, a giant earthquake rocked Banda Aceh, with a resulting tsunami killing hundreds of thousands.
FINALLY: There may be another volcano in the making in the Cascade Range. According to an AP story out of Bend, Oregon, a recent survey shows a bulge covering about 100 square miles south of one of state's active volcanoes, South Sister. There are three other active volcanoes in that area -- Mount Hood, Crater Lake and Newberry.

Snippets of hope from the Storm

2007-09-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

WITH NEW ORLEANS Mayor Ray Nagin saying that 10,000 may have died from Hurricane Katrina's wrath in the Crescent City, there have been snippets of hope throughout one of North America's greatest tragedies.
E-mails and text-messages have uncovered stories certainly not seen on television.
This one comes from the Mobile, Alabama Register's missing persons' forum and reads with the overline: WE FOUND THEM!
Hey, we found Sheila Loden, Mary-Jean and Frank Dean, and Boyd and Sammy Albritton! They are alive and well. Phone lines are down in the area. They said that's the only reason they did not call. So other families please be patient as hard as it may be. Most people in the Popularville area are fine. Just have no way to make contact. Thank you, Red Cross. Most people left in a hurry and don't even have family contact numbers with them. Do not be alarmed! Keep praying!
SHELTER FROM THE STORM: One of those with a sense of hope in this terrible storm has been Franklin Graham, who has challenged Christians to open the doors of churches to the victims of Katrina. "There needs to be a challenge now to our churches, I know individual churches have done this. But this needs to be organized by the denominations themselves, where there would be a collective effort all across the Southeast of all denominations to take in families ... I think the churches of America can step up to the plate. If every church in the Southeast took in 10 families, this would put a big dent in this problem." Already, certain denominations are helping churches arrange shelter for displaced families such as Southern Baptist Convention -- North American Mission Board, Louisiana District Council of the Assemblies of God, Baptist Missionary Association of America, Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod, Presbyterian Church in America and Presbyterian Church (USA).
RED CROSS MOBILIZATION: With the American Red Cross launching its largest ever mobilization of resources for a single disaster, Don Shropshire of the Canadian counterpart said: "We have offered our colleagues in the United States our full support for this disaster. At present the American Red Cross has requested that the Canadian Red Cross send highly-trained disaster response volunteers and we are currently preparing our team to travel to the U.S. Then he added: "The Canadian Red Cross has received hundreds of calls from Canadians wanting to help the people impacted by this disaster and will accept funds designated for Hurricane Katrina." Already, 25 Disaster Services volunteers that will head for Houston include: Todd Weiss, Bridget Brown, Brenda McCarrell, Karen Charles, Ruth Brumwell, Mae Beauvais, Robin Bondy, Ted Giannini, Robert McLay, Suzanne Mariage, Bonnie Kearns, Peter Kearns, Pamela Whitnall, Heidi Gorham, Charles Newman, Oneil Ouellet, Deborah Stewart, David Arsenault, Mary Lou Leroy, Rylee Madison, Don Colp, Richard Harvie, Kent Leigh, Sandra Miller and Sandy Reynolds. These volunteers will help in managing 270 shelters and delivering some 500,000 hot meals daily.
A STORY OF SURVIVAL: In checking out the Mobile Register came this story by staff reporter Roy Hoffman. It read in part: "With sodden mattresses piled in the yard, and a tiny Buddha in the window, the Ngan family lingered on the steps of their Bayou La Batre home, telling of the day that nearly washed away their lives, and of a neighbor who appeared as if divinely summoned. "I was scared, so scared, and crying," said Chandara, the mother, of the rising waters of Katrina. As she spoke in halting English, the smaller of her seven children, ages 19 to 9, smiled and giggled. "We thought," said oldest son Sopheap, 19, helping his mother out, "it could have been the end." When Katrina roared in last Monday, Ralph Harbison, a carpenter who serves in the Bayou La Batre volunteer fire department, who lived next door, helped in their rescue.
IT WAS A STRUGGLE: One newspaper, the New Orleans Times-Picayune became a headline story. About 240 employees and some members of their families, including one 6-month-old baby, huddled in darkened corridors of the newspaper building, about a mile from the Superdome. In a New York Times article, reporter Lisa Guernsey related that the paper, with a normal circulation of 270,000 daily, had to report its biggest story in its history with "no electricity, no phone access and no place to work." They improvised by utilizing its affiliated website, www.nola.com ... Other newspapers also struggled with the Mississippi Press of Pascagoula being helped out by the Mobile Register and the Columbia, Georgia Ledger-Enquirer looking after the Gulfport, Miss. Sun Herald.
YOU CERTAINLY CAN HELP: There are some phone numbers and websites where those in the North Okanagan can help Katrina victims: Check out the Red Cross office, 2809 44th Ave. in Vernon (1-800-448-1111) or on the Web at www.redcross.ca ... Then there's the Salvation Army, 3303 32nd Ave., Vernon (1-800-725-2769) ... www.salvationarmy.ca.
ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FRONT: With head coach Troy Mick staying at home with a cold, the Vernon Vipers went on to the road to Penticton Friday night and were leading 6-2 over the Vees when referee Sadd Al-Jadir called the contest with 14 minutes remaining as the BCHL exhibition contest turned into a donnybrook. On Saturday night, the two sides were much more subdued at the Multiplex with the Vipers claiming a 5-2 win over the Vees in the final exhibition test. The Vipers open their regular season schedule on Friday night against the Williams Lake Timberwolves.

Drowning in water and tears II

2007-09-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

KATRINA NOTEBOOK: With the lawless Crescent City -- New Orleans -- and the U.S. Gulf Coast drowning in water and tears and, the not-so-remote possibility of wide-spread martial law being declared to protect the American fuel interests, the world now appears nervous about its future.
Between outright terror, in such places as London and Madrid and the shocking memories of 9/11 in New York City and Washington, D.C., could there be more disasters, either natural, such as America's Tsunami, or man-made tragedies in the near future?
As the former Middle East Bureau chief for a major news-gathering organization, based in Jerusalem, I have seen close up the terror that can paralyze that part of the globe. It was, and still is, the type of fear that grips the heart and soul of any human being.
As to the most recent U.S. catastrophe, on August 23, it began as a tropical storm warning for central and northwestern Bahamas. It was strange since tropical storms usually originate off the western coast of Africa and take about two weeks to strike the Bahamas or the U.S. coastline.
On August 24 -- a Wednesday -- the newly formed tropical depression had been upgraded to a tropical storm, named Katrina, and by Thursday, at 5 p.m, Katrina had become a hurricane. This tropical depression 11 had developed and hit southeast Florida in a period of only 72 hours.
Sweeping through the Gulf, the monstrous Katrina sideswiped the Big Easy and plunged into other parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and then headed north to die a slow death in upper New York state and Ontario.
However, New Orleans was still vulnerable and then the levees broke, pouring water from Lake Pontchartrain into the now-Third World city, filled with fires and gangs. It has become a hell on earth.
The U.S. has had its share of hurricanes and tragedies in the past.
On August 23, 1992, Andrew slammed Florida, leaving 180,000 homeless and causing an estimated $30 billion in damages. However, there has never been a storm such as Katrina with more than a million "refugees" from Louisiana and Mississippi expected to be housed in temporary camps.
MUSIC LEGEND MISSING: One of the great rock-and-roll stars, Fats Domino, appears to be one of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Now, in his late 70s, Fats has been reported missing. With 65 million record sales to his credit, he outsold every 1950s rocker except Elvis Presley. He exploded on the music scene with "Ain't That A Shame." Domino, a man from the Big Easy, took his place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
JUST WORDS (From Fox News): Danut Afasei, who claimed flooding had killed 13 people recently in his country of Romania, said: "Nature proved that no matter how rich and economically developed you are, you can't fight it." ... Britain's Queen Elizabeth II said she was "deeply shocked and saddened." However, Islamic extremists sneered by stating on the Net that "Private Katrina had joined the global jihad, or holy war. With "God's help," they declared, oil prices would hit $100 a barrel this year."
SAINTS GOING ELSEWHERE: With the Superdome in a sad state of disrepair, filled with stench and angst, is most certainly not going to be the home of the National Football League Saints this coming season. NFL boss Paul Tagliabue said the club will head to San Antonio, Texas for some rest in a hotel and then practice before taking off for Carolina for their regular-season opener against the Panthers on Sept. 11.

Drowning in water and tears

2007-09-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

WITH THE Crescent City -- New Orleans -- and the U.S. Gulf Coast drowning in water and tears and, the not-so-remote possibility of martial law being declared to protect the American fuel resources, the world now is extremely tentative concerning the future.
Between outright terror, in such places as London and Madrid and the shocking memories of 9/11 in New York City and Washington, D.C., could there be more disasters, either natural, such as America's Tsunami, or man-made tragedies in the near future?
As the former Middle East Bureau chief for a major news-gathering organization, based in Jerusalem, I have seen close up the terror that can paralyze that part of the globe. It was, and still is, the type of fear that grips the heart and soul of any human being.
Veteran Washington newsman Bill Koenig has outlined a Biblical connection between the disengagement process which affected thousands of Israeli settlers in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and Hurricane Katrina.
As he related, on Monday, August 22, the last Jewish settlement in Gaza was evacuated -- wrapping up Israel's historic pullout from the coastal strip after settlers held a farewell march behind Torah scrolls and a massive menora, then boarded armored buses and left.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas spoke by phone and expressed their commitmnt to peace -- the first conversation between the two since the pullout started. The leaders spoke for about five minutes, with Abbas telling Sharon, "We are your partners for peace."
The next day, August 23, the day after the Gaza excauation, the government of the Bahamas issued a tropical storm warning for central and northwestern Bahamas. (Putting this storm into perspective, many of the tropical storms begin off the western coact of Africa and typically take 10 days to two weeks before affecting the Bahamas, the Caribbean and/or the U.S. coastline. Not Katrina.)
By Wednesday, August 24 at 11 a.m., the newly formed tropical depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Katrina; and by Thursday, August 25 at 5 p.m., Katrina became a hurricane. In a period of only 72 hours, tropical depression 11 developed and hit southeast Florida (the only area untouched by the past six hurricanes) as a hurricane.
Then Katrina swung towards the Gulf, forcing oil workers to evacuate rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, stopping the production of 600,000 barrels of oil a day and closing seven oil refineries and a major oil import terminal. Then it side swiped the Big East and ripped the heart out of the Gulf Coast.
New Orleans appeared to be saved. However, the levees broke and water poured into the streets, sometimes as high 20 feet or more in height. The fires, the agonizing deaths made it hell on earth. And it continues even today -- another Black Friday.
However, what is the connection between the displacement of Israel settlers, who believed they had a right, in fact, a God-given right -- to the Land, including Gaza and the West Bank, and not their bitter enemies -- the Palestinians?
Koenig, in his book, 'Eye to Eye -- Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel' believes there at less eight major 'Acts of God' that coincides with the timing of U.S. pressure on Israel to give the Land (Israel).
Here are those eight, in Koenig's words:
October 30, 1991 -- President George Bush opens the Madrid Conference with an initiative for a Middle East peace plan involving Israel's land. On the same day, an extremely rare storm forms off the coast of Nova Scotia. It was tagged, "The Perfect Storm" and became a book and later a movie. There were 100-foot waves and pounded the New England coast, causing heavy damage to President Bush's home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
August 23, 1992 -- The Madrid Conference moves to Washington, D.C. and the peace talks resume, last four days. On that same day, Hurricane Andrew -- then the worst natural disaster ever to hit America produces an estimate $30 billion in damage and leaves 180,000 homeless in Florida.
January 16, 1994 -- President Clinton meets with Syria's President Hafez el-Assas in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes giving up the Golan Heights. Less than 24 hours later, the powerful Northridge earthquake rocked southern California. It was the second most most destructive natural disaster to hit the U.S. behind Hurricane Andrew.
March 1 to April 1997 -- The combination of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat touring America; Clinton rebuking Israel for not giving away her land for peace; and pro-abortion activity coincide with some of the worst tornadoes and flooding in U.S. history. On the very day Arafat lands in America, powerful tornadoes devastate huge sections of the nation, ripping across Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. Arafat's American tour also coincides with the storms in the Dakotas, which result in the worst flooding of this century, in addition to weeks of major storms throughout the Midwest. Arafat finishes his tour and leaves the U.S. and the storms stop.
January 21, 1998 -- Netanyahu meets with President Clinton at the White House and is coldly received. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refuse to have lunch with him. Shortly afterwards that day, the Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks into the mass media and begins to occupy a major portion of Clinton's time.
September 27-28, 1998 -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright works on the final details of an agreement in which Israel will give up 13 percent of the West Bank. The same day Hurricane Georges slams into the Gulf Coast with 110 m.p.h winds and gusts up to 175. The hurricane hits the coast and stalls. On September 28, Clinton meets with Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize the land deal. Later, Arafat addresses the United Nations about declaring an independent Palestinian state by May 1999, while Hurricane Georges pounds the Gulf Coast causing $1 billion in damage. At the exact time Arafat departs the U.S. the storm begins to dissipate.
October 15-22, 1998 -- On October 15, 1998, Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland, to continue the talks, which ended on September 28. The talks are scheduled to last five days with the focus on Israel giving up 13 percent of the West Bank. The talks are extended and conclude on October 23. On October 17, awesome rains and tornadoes hit southern Texas. The San Antonio area is deluged with 20 inches of rain in one day. The rains and floods in Texas continue until October 22 and then subside. The floods ravage 25 percent of Texas and leave over one billion dollars in damage. On October 21, Clinton declares this section of Texas a major disaster area.
May 3, 1999 -- This is the same day in Israel that Yasser Arafat is scheduled to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. The declaration is postponed to December 1999 at the request of President Clinton, whose letter to Arafat encourages him for his "aspirations for his own land." He also writes that the Palestinians have a right to "determine their own future on their own land, " and that they deserve to "live free, today, tomorrow and forever." That same day, starting at 4:47 p.m. CDT, the most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States sweeps across Oklahoma and Kansas. The winds are clocked at 316 mph. the fastest wind speed ever recorded.
These are a few examples of the many "Act of God" events that coincide with the timing of America's pressure on Israel to give up her land for peace. The Land that God gave to Israel as the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is documented by covenant in The Holy Bible, according to Koenig.
Then fast forward to late August, 2005 and the destruction of New Orleans and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
When Gaza was placed under a state of emergency, some 8,000 residents were evacuated, now New Orleans has been given a mandatory evacuation of 500,000 people. And while many Israeli Jews from Gaza were put in temporary refugees camps and tent cities, upwards of a million "refugees" from Louisiana and Mississppi will be housed in temporary camps.
It seems that the U.S. and Israel are joined together by some measure of tragedy.

Vipers' owner really cares

2007-09-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

DUNCAN WRAY is one owner who really cares.
Of course, it always helps when the turnstiles issues a healthy profit, but this personable man wants to see his Vernon Vipers succeed, not only on the ice, but in the schooling department.
That's readin' and writin' and whatever educational advantages he can give his boys that are recruited on a regular basis by a scouting staff that beats the 'bushes.'
"I'm very passionate about this league (the British Columbia Hockey League) and this level of hockey," he told me midway through the first exhibition game against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks at the modern and comfortable Multiplex.
"My objective in getting involved was seeing kids move to the next level -- which in our case is the big carrot at the end of the stick -- scholarship to college."
Dr. Wray, who when out of the arena, has a bundle of degrees behind his name, and specializes in oral and maxillofacial surgery in Vernon, meaning he extracts teeth, deals with jaw cysts and things like tumors (ouch, ouch), practises what he preaches. "I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for an education. If we can help kids get an education through their ability to play hockey, more power to them."
The Good Doctor is not a hands-off owner, he's definitely one who steps out and makes certain would-be Vipers get the full treatment.
And what's that, Doc?
"As far as recruiting is concern. they will come here, I don't necessarily go to them ... but for someone that's considered a good prospect we might invite them here for a weekend sometimes in either the spring or the summer. I will meet them and sell them our program."
So what is the program he's selling?
"It's the facility (the Multiplex) and also the track record we have in getting scholarships. We probably have 70 scholarships in eight or nine years, total ride scholarships to U.S. schools." Those NCAA Division One schools include North Dakota and Boston University.
He was quick to point out the differences between the BCHL Junior A level, which encompasses 17 teams, and the Major Junior Western League (which includes teams such as Kelowna Rockets and the Kamloops Blazers). "I think more mistakes are made at this level and that tends to lead to scoring opportunities ... leading to goals. I'm not saying that in a negative way in the terms of mistakes. Like any kid they are finding their way and learning the ropes. We give them the opportunity to be a little more creative."
With head coach and general manager Troy Mick, with his run-and-gun style of hockey, Dr. Wray sees a difference between this year's edition of the Vipers than last season.
"It's a little too early to tell right now, but certainly last year and the last few years, it has been a very defensive-minded team. I think our coach (Mike Vandekamp) at the time was happier to win a game 1-0 than he was to win 6-1 and that was his style. He liked the defensive style. With Troy (Mick) it's going to be more of an offensive-minded team and we'll win a lot of games with high scores."
The Doc discussed the hiring of Mick this way.
"This is our present coach's second run here with me ... he had left to go to the Western League. He had a few health issues there and had to step down. He was living back here after that, and when the opportunity came to re-hire him, I jumped (at the chance)."
For Dr. Wray, this is his 14th season as owner/He has lived in Vernon for almost 20 years.
"I was doing some work for the team prior to buying it," he told me. "I would do some of the facial injuries that they would run into during the course of the game ... and at the time the owner (Mel Lis) was looking to get out. At one time, he requested a leave of absence from the league. The league turned him down. He was getting a little tired of running it. He had been running it for five or six years.
"So I sort of approached him and said I would be interested in investing in it, figuring I'd be a part-owner with him or something, but it turned out he wanted to divest himself of the whole team, so here I am."
As for his aspirations for the Vipers, he said: "My hope every year is that we win the whole thing. That's the objective every year. I don't go into a season to have a so-so record, I go in to win."
And he's here for the long term.
"You couldn't drag me out of here with a team of Clydesdales right now."
THAT'S ICE: The second annual Ice Breaker night will be held Thursday, Sept. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. It's for season ticket holders and corporate sponsors ... The next night, Friday, Sept. 9, at 7, the Vipers open their season against the Williams Lake Timberwolves ... Since I have a schedule in front of me, here are the other teams in the BCHL besides the Vipers -- Williams Lake, Prince George Spruce Kings, Merritt Centennials, Cowichan Valley Capitals, Salmon Arm Silverbacks, Burnaby Express, Trail Smoke Eaters, Penticton Vees, Powell River Kings, Quesnel Millionaires, South Surrey Eagles, Alberni Valley Bulldogs, Chilliwack Chiefs, Victoria Salsa, Langley Hornets, Nanaimo Clippers. Whew!

Paul Lagace still waging 'war'

2007-09-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

IF THE Ol' Columnist ever went to war, I'd want Paul Lagace right beside me in the trenches. He's a man, who never gives up the fight, even against tremendous odds. He's also a retired sergeant with scars on his heart.
After years and years of battling the Canadian military, almost singlehandedly, he's releasing his paperback, 'Bullies in Power,' later this week and it's one as the blurb says "is written from the heart with a down-to-earth style intended to move the reader along a path of life as experienced by a family dealing with the challenges of poverty and racially-movitated abusive authorities. This book conveys a powerful message that love, hope and determination provide the tools necessary to overcome life's challenges."
During the course of nearly a decade, Lagace has told me a detailed story of his problems with a plethora of evidence. Now the general public will know of his plight.
It's also a love story, despite the paperback title.
Simply put, in 1979, the soldier, then a corporal and based in Kamloops, fell in love with a native Indian woman, named Amy. She had a small boy named Ken, and she was going through a divorce from a man named John.
Because of the legal system, Paul and Amy were prevented from legally marrying since as Lagace told a radio interviewer: "She would have lost her status and so would her son, but in the process she probably would have lost custody of her son as well because the status of the boy would have been in jeopardy and the natural father would probably have attempted to take custody of the boy."
The three, Paul, Amy and Ken, lived off base.
Then Lagace was transferred to North Bay, Ontario in 1982.
When he sought military housing, he told the base officials that he was living common law and had a dependent son.
"When I arrived there, we were placed on the list awaiting a PMQ (Private Married Quarters) and so we found it necessary to rent," he told the interviewer.
It was then Lagace had a rude awakening and what he considered outright discrimination.
During the official introduction to the base, a Roman Catholic padre, a major, opposed Amy and Paul's relationship and told him so.
"'Why don't you leave your Indian wife, send her and her son back to British Columbia, find yourself a nice Catholic girl, some of your own kind,' were his first words to me," said Lagace, who added that the major said: "You bring nothing but trouble to yourself."
It was the start of a litany of troubles for the Lagace family.
Later, the corporal was denied family medical, dental and other services, including moving allowances.
The "attitude and approaches" disturbed Lagace so much he complained to the Human Rights Commission, however, according to Lagace he had to wait for the internal redress of grievance, within the military. That grievance was never settled until December 1988 when a Federal Court told the military to change its policy concerning "common-law relationships."
In the meantime, Lagace told the radio interviewer: "They stopped all action for career advancement, including officer training plan ... they basically shut the door on it."
All because of his relationship with Amy.
In the Author House paperback (also available through amazon.ca in Canada), Lagace makes a scathing case, not only in his situation, but in other so-called questionable practices throughout the Canadian military, and he names names.
While the military might have tried to put a damper on Lagace's career, he gained a Bachelor's Degree from the Open University of British Columbia and in 1990 he was awarded the Governor General's Silver Medal for Academic Excellence.
After retiring from the Canadian Armed Forces in 1994, he became an addictions counselor and now is a client services coordinator with the AIDS Society of Kamloops.
When Paul and Amy visited my home, I could see the love and devotion they had for each other.
Sadly, Margaret Amy-Louise Walkem died on March 25, 2002.
However, Paul Lagace remembers her with these words in the paperback's dedication page: "My darling Amy, I have often envied your patience and tolerance as we walked our challenging path. Your quiet demeanour calmed many of those outside storms that accompanied me from work. My most wishful dreams of a soul mate could never compare to the enchanting reality of your gaze."
THAT'S ICE: Since I have been glued to Hurricane Katrina coverage on TV, I missed the Vipers' Blue-White inter-team game at the Multiplex on Sunday night. Play-by-play broadcaster Todd Miller filled me in with a report: Andrew Coburn and Wade Davison scored two goals each as the White side grabbed a 6-3 win over the Blues before 586 fans. Aaron Volpatti and Troy Cherwinski also contributed to the cause. Chay Genoway, David Arduin and Chris Cowell were the Blue goal-getters. Tonight, the Vipers open their exhibition season, at home, against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
IT'S MILLER TIME: The smooth-talking broadcaster had this to say about his job with the BCHL club: "Dr. (Duncan) Wray and the Vipers have given me a great opportunity here in a great city and, you know what, I love every moment working for this hockey club and the people I work with."

It's Miller time for the Vipers

2007-09-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

WHILE SOME do not know what they want to be even in later life, Todd Miller knew his future by the age of 14.
The youngster, who was prevented from playing sports because of a severe case of asthma, would listen to his hero, Jim Robson, doing play-by-play for the Vancouver Canucks and dream of being a broadcaster one day.
Then fate intervened.
When his father -- an RCMP officer -- was doing public service announcements on drinking and driving for the Merritt, B.C. radio station, he told the news director that his son, Todd, was interested in radio and "he might want to pursue it one day." So the youngster was given a tour and became "hooked" on radio.
"It was smack dab in the middle of the Canucks' playoff run in 1993 and what they needed in Merritt was a producer to actually physically punch in the commercials when Jim Robson went to break," remembers Miller.
So from there, he began his radio career, at the ripe old age of 14.
"So I'd get up at quarter to 6 in the morning, make my way to the radio station and sit there for three hours before I went to school" and absorb what the morning guy was doing.
When the Canucks made their long playoff run in 1994 against the (New York) Rangers, Miller was on duty "punching" in the commercials and learning.
From there, he advanced to doing the Saturday morning show on 'NL in Merritt in 1995 and he wasn't even 17.
"My mouth dropped to the floor. I was amazed they would have asked me ... because I had no education at all (in broadcasting). I think it was because I was keen and really had an interest in what was going on ... and they threw me an opportunity, so I accepted," said Miller.
With his foot definitely in the door, Miller did the Saturday show in Merritt for two years and one more year after he had finished his high-school education.
For the next five-six years, he did the play-by-play broadcast for the Merritt Centennials and even got in on the marketing end, however, when former Vernon coach Mike Vandekamp called him and offered him a play-by-play position with the British Columbia Junior A Vipers, Miller and his wife, Tiffany, moved to Vernon. That was some three seasons ago.
Now crowding age 27, Miller has broadcast more than 400 BCHL games, but he still gets "butterflies" and is presently doing his homework in preparation for his first radio broadcast of the season on 105.7 SUN FM on Friday, September 9 against the Williams Lake Timberwolves.
Miller has coupled the broadcasting end with being "director of corporate partnerships" which means assisting Jackie George in advertising and promotions.
However, with training camp and exhibition games now in full display, Miller has been concentrating and preparing for all 60 games he'll broadcast this season.
"I watch certain players (in training camp), watch their tendencies, how they skate, how they handle the puck, because once the season starts, I need to be knowledgeable about these players, especially if I have never seen them play before. So it's important over the next couple of weeks that I do my homework," explained Miller. "I want to make sure that I'm ready ... that I know everything about every player on this Vernon Vipers squad, not only for the Vipers, but for the other teams in this league."
What Miller sees is a "new-look" club, now under the tutelage of head coach and general manager Troy Mick.
Under former coach Vandekamp, the Vipers played a defensive style of hockey, according to Miller, but Mick brings a philosophical change. "He (Troy Mick) has said all along that he wants to see a high-flying, wide-open, run-and-gun style hockey, which is great for the fans. That's what fans want to see. They love to see goals, guys skate and handle the puck, so I'm really looking forward to it."
Then the fast-talking, fast-thinking Miller added, "I think we have the right guys, guys behind the bench and especially on the ice. You're going to see a lot of guys that are really talented with the puck, who will do some really neat things. It's going to be a nice change to what we're used to."
Miller said the Vipers, owned by Dr. Duncan Wray, had only a handful of players returning from last season, so competition will be fierce during training camp and the exhibition games, however, the club will still be counting on the likes of Cody McMullin (who led the team in scoring during the playoffs last season), Aaron Volpatti (still recovering from burns he suffered in the off-season), Wade Davison, blueliner Andy Zulyniak and goalie Jon Olthuis.
As for Miller's future, he said: "I started this whole career, doing play-by-play, with dreams of going to the National Hockey League, and now having a wife, and thinking in the next couple of years of having children, it's not necessarily about the National Hockey League ... it's now about supporting my family and doing what's right for them and what's right for me, personally."
Miller has an ideal situation as he said, "Dr. Wray and the Vipers have given me a great opportunity here in a great city and, you know what, I love every moment working for this hockey club and the people I work with in this organization."
Now, if you'll excuse, Todd Miller, the broadcaster, who overcame a serious case of asthma, he has "homework" to do.

So you want to be flawless

2007-09-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

So you're Flawless?
That's what I thought, however, I came across a hardcover book stuck way back in my bookshelf, which changed any haughty opinion that I had of myself.
Maybe, the bright yellow jacket turned me off from reading the 255 pages of 'Flawless!' before, after all its author, Louis A.Tartaglia, published it back in 1999 and even sent me a personal note with it.
When I started reading it this week, I quickly removed that yellow jacket and went thumbing through the 10 most common character flaws and what to do about them.
Right off , Dr. T. asks questions: How can you tell if you are possessed by a flaw?
1. Do you find yourself "upset" when you need to be calm?
2. Do you lie when it would be better to tell the truth?
3. Would you rather be right even if it wrecks a relationship?
4. Do you hate accepting responsibility and blame others even when you know you are wrong?
5. Does resentment feel like a perfectly normal civil right?
6. Do you worry about things you can't control?
7. Do you fear even when there is nothing to worry about because it feels normal?
8. Are you intolerant of people who are not like you even when you are interested in knowing them?
9. Do you use the excuse that when you are a victim whenever it is useful?
10. Do you try to force others to do things your way because you want them to like you?
11. Do you cop out with inadequacy even before you have tried your hardest?
12. Do you love to find fault and share it even when you are aware that it will hurt someone else?
13. Did you graduate from law school or become a politician?
14. Last but most important, do you find yourself using your most common flaw even when you don't want to?
And that's just the beginning of the tough, personal questions, and Dr. T. goes well beyond what you might get in asking Dear Abby or those self-help questionaires.
In 'Flawless!' Tartaglia identifies the 10 character flaws, in order of frequency: Addicted to Being Right; Raging Indignation; Fixing Blame and Nurturing Resentments; The Dread Seekers (Worry and Fear); Resisting Reality (Intolerance); The Poor Me or Martyr Syndrome; Self-regard Run Riot; The Excuse for Everything -- Inadequacy; Fault Finders, Hypercritical Pessimists; The Trap, Chronic Dishonesty.
Here's what Dr. T. had to say in the precede to 'Flawless!':
"Are you addicted to being right? Do you need to point the finger of blame toward everyone but yourself? When you get angry, does your upset quickly escalate into raging indignation? Then you, like many others, are suffering from character flaws that have undoubtedly held you back in your work, relationships, and life."
Then he added. "The good news is that character can be improved by working on the behaviour that undermines it ... Character flaws are just holes in our soul."
"Flawless!" the book drew high praise from fellow authors such as 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' co-authors, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield:
"If you'd like a flawless life and character, read, absorb, and use these principles and insights from my friend, Dr.T.," wrote Hansen.
"If you don't have any flaws you're not human. Making your life work involves admitting yout flaws and committing to change. Let 'Flawless!' be your life guide. This is a must read for all earthly beings," wrote Ken Blanchard of "The One Minute Manager."
Some of those character flaws drive the point home that you and I aren't perfect, well, maybe you, but not the Ol' Columnist.
Take Character Flaw #4 -- The Dread Seekers -- Worry and Fear.
Dr. T. asks: How do you know if you are a dread seeker?
1. Do you feel that you are leading a life of quiet desperation?
2. Do you feel you can never adequately worry about any situation?
3. Do you believe that God is smaller than your problems?
4. Are worry and fear inalienable rights protected by the U.S. Constitution?
5. Are you more concerned with things you have no control over?
6. Do you spend time trying to figure out problems that might not occur?
7. Do you dread, seek, i.e. worry about what you dread and then try to prove you're right to dread?
8. Do you gloat over how savvy your gloomy predictions of the future are?
9. Are you never too tired to worry?
There's more 'Dread Seekers' but let's skip to to No. 19: Is your nickname Doom and Gloom?
After reading Dr. T.'s book from cover to cover, perhaps, I should call my brother, Garry.
After all he's a trained psychologist.
IT'S FRIDAY & TIME FOR UNCLE JOHN'S BATHROOM READER: Some people achieve immortality because their names are associated with an item or activity. You know the names -- now here are the people:
R.J. Lechmere Guppy. A clergyman living in Trinidad. He sent several species of tropical fish to the British Museum, including a tiny specimen that now bears his name.
Dr. J.I. Guillotin. A French physician. Moved by mercy, he endorsed what he thought was a more humane method of execution than hanging. Ironically, the guillotine -- which he did not invent -- is now synonymous with needless and brutal slaughter.
Haile Selassie. The emperor of Ethiopia, known as "The Lion of Judah." His real name was "Ras Tafari" -- which explains the origin of the term Rastafarian.

The Art of Toothpaste Squeezing

2007-05-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

The Missus has issued another ultimatum: No more squeezing the toothpaste in the middle.
That's right. So you do it too.
In order to keep peace in my household, my analytical brain went into overdrive for a solution.
It was then that I encountered words of wisdom in the "Art of Toothpaste Squeezing" from something called Bonanza World and answers from some so-called experts.
Here's one from 'Shlynn': A thought-provoking question. How do you squeeze your toothpaste. Usually I'll buy the ones that stand on the bathroom sink, where it doesn't matter where you squeeze it, it always comes out. Unfortunately, this last time I bought the tube squeeze toothpaste (a topper squeezer is me), and now I have paste gook all at the top. Yuck!
From 'Camera_Chic': Usually I grab the tube and squeeze it from the middle. It annoys my sister a lot, though, and she always comes in after me and squeezes it up from the bottom.
From 'ALC': I remember when I was little my grandma taught me to squeeze from the bottom of the tube one night when I was staying over ... just stuck with me all these years ... thanks grandma! :)
From 'Shiva': Top squeezer for me. I remember trying to do the squeeze-n-roll thing once, but it always came unrolled so I gave up on that one.
From 'Jeanie Cartwright': I squeeze pretty much anywhere, but usually in the middle. However, every couple of weeks or so, I'll lay the tube on the counter and moosh all the stuff that's at the bottom up to the top so it's easier to squeeze. Hubby and I use different tubes of toothpaste so we can do whatever makes us happy and not have to worry about ticking anyone else off.
From 'Milesky1': We have a little plastic do-hickey that slides onto the bottom of the tube, and instead of squeezing, as you slide it up, the toothpaste comes out. I guess that makes me closest to a 'bottom roller squeezer.'
From 'Karine': I squeeze it from the bottom. I don't like to squeeze from the middle.
From 'Sammiandmilo': I squeeze it anywhere, then when it starts to run out I squeeze the toothpaste in the bottom to the top.
From 'Sissy': Wherever I grab it is where I squeeze it. Most times, though, it's in the middle.
From 'LifesMagic': I'm an anywhere squeezer and when I'm having trouble getting some out, I'll either squeeze from the bottom or lay the tube down and use something to push the paste up so it works again!
From 'Anna': I squeeze anywhere. I kinda have a toothpaste fetish, I love buying and using toothpaste, so when I've squeezed the bulk of the paste out I just use a different tube. My brother and I have had to buy separate toothpastes because he is a bottom and roll guy, he even bought one of those rolly things. Weird.
From 'Bonanzagal': I just squeeze anywhere, just as long as I get toothpaste!
So you see, Missus, I'm not insane. Maybe, a bit misguided, so now onto the next earthshattering question(s) from Bonanza World: Toilet paper, free end hanging over the top of the roll, or dangling out from the bottom? Then there's another puzzler: Kitchen sponges ... one for the dishes, one for the floor or single sponge only?
"Have you any more questions?" I asked The Missus.
"Just one," she replied. "When are you ever going to learn to read a map?"
They have a long-term memory, don't they?
It's been a dozen years or so since we took a 300-mile detour somewhere in northern Michigan.
WHAT'S AMERICA'S BIGGEST BEEF WITH BIKE GEAR? That's a trick question, you might ask. No, a new survey released by Bell Sports claims it's sore rears. It went on to say: While three-quarters of the 1,062 respondents ride less often now than in the past 10 years, 79 per cent said they would ride more often if their key concerns about bike riding were resolved. Then came the reason: "In the category of bicycling gear, the No. 1 complaint was hard seats. Fifty-seven per cent said they would prefer bike seats with extra padding for added comfort. Flat tires were the second most cited complaint, with 36 per cent of riders saying they wish they had tires that could immediately seal themselves after a puncture."
SPEAKING OF SORE WHAT-EVERS: In my Vernon travels, I have discovered the Spine & Sports Physical Therapy place (3607-31st Street -- Beside the Civic Arena, Phone: 558-9998). Maybe, it's not the spot for the Ol' Columnist, whose most strenous physical exercise these days is involved with the TV clicker (man, I have strong thumbs), but it's definitely the right place for children, youth and adults actively involved in sports. Top-notch physical therapists include Bob Powls, Cheryl Witter and Lisa Crockett. Now, folks, it's about this "thumb" therapy?
THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN: Heather Kjarsgaard of the Visitor Infocentre (on Highway 97 towards Kelowna) passes along this info that wineries are definitely the 'ticket' in the Okanagan Valley & Similkameen in 2005. One to check out in the Vernon area is Hunting Hawk Vineyards at O'Keefe Historic Ranch, 9380 Hwy 97 N. Phone: (250) 546-2164 ... www.huntinghawkvineyards.com

Ringing up another lockout

2007-05-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

It might be the heat, Bunky, but have you noticed that everyone is either on strike or in some sort of a lockout or a lockdown?
Maybe Uncle Joe's supplier of hot dog buns is working 24-7, but there are others with August heading towards Labour Day that choose to belly ache about their job situation.
Normally, I ignore the malcontents, but on the weekend I couldn't.
Striding towards my Vernon drugstore, two "lockout" folks -- Jordan and Tim -- stood on either side of the doors with placards and pamphlets in hand.
What's this all about? I thought. I knew this wasn't about another "strike force" such as at Mother Corp -- the CBC -- so it must be the ringy-dingy dandies with TWU (Telecommunications Workers Union), the unionized workforce at Telus.
What's the big deal? I murmured to myself.
Before I could say: 1 ... 2 ... 3, there was a lockout update in my paws with the blaring question: How can I help save jobs and ensure good service from Telus?
1. Call Telus and cancel one or more of your special calling features (call waiting, call forwarding, voice mail, smart ring, call alert, call display). If you pay your phone bill through automatic deductions, you could cancel that and request a printed copy of your bill and pay by cheque. To contact Telus and make changes to your special calling features, call them toll-free at 310-2255, or go to www.telus.com
2. Call Telus Mobility and make changes to your monthly cell phone plan. If you receive your Telus Mobility bill electronically, ask for it to be mailed to you instead. Cancel one or more of your special calling features, like call waiting, call forwarding or call display. To contact Telus Mobility, call them toll-free at 1-866-558-2273, or go to www.telusmobility.com
3. If you've experienced poor service or long delays from Telus, contact the CRTC and register an official complaint. Two years ago, when the elimination of thousands of jobs led to poor customer service, it was the complaints of thousands of Telus customers like you that forced the CRTC to order to act. To contact the CRTC, go to their website at www.crtc.gc.ca and click on "Complaints and Inquiries" or call them toll-free at 1-877-249-2782. To correspond with the CRTC email them at: info@crtc.gc.ca
Now, since I have related their solutions, perhaps, it might be a good time to play the numbers game, according to the TWU:.
Telus earnings, 2003 -- $324.4 million; Telus earnings, 2004: $658 million; Growth in earnings, 2003-2004: : 49%; Increase in Telus CEO Darren Entwistle's compensation, 2003-2004: 54% (to $6.55 million per year); Increase in Telus Mobility CEO George Cope's compensation, 2003-2004: 88% (to $6.74 million per year); Increase in Telus CFO Robert McFarlane's compensation, 2003-2004: 300% (to $4.05 million per year); Wage increases for Telus bargaining unit employees, 2001-2004: 0 per cent.
So now I was bogged down with a mass of figures, about the lockout that started in Alberta and B.C. on July 21, but what's the bottom line, Mr. and Mrs. TWU: "The members of the TWU have not had a contract since December 31, 2000 or almost five years ... The TWU would like nothing more than to sit and negotiate with Telus, but unfortunately Telus will not participate in this process."
POST-MORTEM: All weekend those TWU figures whirled in my brain; particularly the compensation data for the Telus heirarchy. Now, I really have a headache and that's what I went to the drugstore for in the first place: Some Tylenol.
FAREWELL TO 'UNCLE DUKE': There was a booming farewell for Hunter S. Thompson on Saturday night. Thompson, who was immortalized in Garry Trudeau's comic strip, 'Doonesbury' as "Uncle Duke," committed suicide six months ago at age 67. However, actor Johnny Depp and Thompson's widow, Anita, helped give him an irreverent sendoff in Woody Creek, Colorado. Some 250 relatives and celebrities, including Bill Murray and Lyle Lovett, gathered as Thompson's ashes were blown sky high amid a fireworks display. Thompson will be best remembered as the leader of "gonzo" journalists in which the writer becomes a central figure in their writings, such as Thompson in the highly-successful "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." "Uncle Duke" and others such as Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese pioneered this "New Journalism."
ANOTHER TRAGEDY IN NFL: Some four years ago with the temperatures hitting 110 degrees, Minnesota Vikings' Korey Stringer died of a heartstroke during training camp practice. Early Sunday, San Francisco OL Thomas Herrion died in Denver after collapsing in the locker room. Herrion was only 23. The cause of his death has not been announced, although Frisco spokesman, Aaron Salkin, was quoted as saying: "This is a colossal tragedy for the 49ers and the entire NFL community." There have been other deaths in the NFL besides Stringer and now Herrion. In 1979, tight end J.V. Cain of the St. Louis Cardinals died of a heart attack during training camp. On Oct. 24, 1972, Chuck Hughes, a wide receiver for Detroit Lions, died of a heart attack during a game between Detroit and the Chicago Bears.

Unforgettable Prince Stephanos

2007-05-02T13:12:00.000-07:00

Stephen Mengesha knows where the original Ark of the Covenant is located. He told me so.
In fact as a boy prince known as Prince Stephanos, this favorite great grandson of the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, spent time exploring the ancient city of Aksum, where the the most important, historical and religious object in man's history is likely buried in the bowels of an Ethiopian Orthodox church, St. Mary of Zion.
Others have written thousands of words about the Ark's supposed location, including the esteemed journalist Graham Hancock (author of 'The Sign and the Seal'), and even the Ol' Columnist, who spent time in Ethiopia and Israel on an extended search, which began in 1990 and continues to this day.
In a follow-up column to Thursday's 'Unforgettable' -- Gershon Salomon -- who believes he has been given the task of the rebuilding the Third Temple on Jerusalem's Holy Hill, Prince Stephanos believes the original Ark of the Covenant would be necessary for such an esteemed structure to be completed.
In the past, Prince Stephanos was instrumental in supplying me with valued information about Ethiopia's obsession with the Ark, which I have related in the three-volume 'The Glory of the King.'
However, sometimes, it's wise to look back on notes of conversations I had with him. With Israel so much in the news these days, this conversation was startling, for the Prince told me about a possible war that could rage over the Ark of the Covenant.
Corbett: What do you see as its future?
Prince: If it's found, and if it's such a sacred item for the Jewish faith, what's to stop Israel from waging war to get it back? It's not a matter of diplomatic negotiations or going to the United Nations. This is something the world Jewry around the globe believes it's necessary to build the Third Temple and if that's how important it is, the chances of Israel going to war to get it (are greatly increased). It's a fact that since Israel's creation, it has been inclined to strongly support Ethiopia, so the pressure from the Orthodox Jewish community in this case is there. They are not going to tell you, it's there. Absolutely not. But they also have a fascination of what if it's there in Aksum and if that's true we've lost it, so where is it, and if that story of Ethiopia's is true, then we want it. So there's pressure on whoever is in power in Israel to pursue the thought.
Corbett: Isn't it true there's a replica of the Ark in every Ethiopian Orthodox Church?
Prince: Yes, that's true. An Ethiopian Coptic Church can't be consecrated unless there's a replica of an Ark. In an Ethiopian Orthodox church there's a place for it and it's carved out of wood. It used to be carved out of marble, supposedly the same type of stone it was carved from originally.
In other conversations with the Prince, he firmly claimed there have been searchers for it, from Mussolini to the Israelis.
Corbett: What is the importance of the Ark?
Prince: The building of the Third Temple is the cornerstone of the revival of the Jewish faith and the coming of all Jews to Israel. Finding the Ark of the Covenant is paramount for this to happen and the coming of their Messiah. So even though it's unspoken, they're on the look out for it, and many times they have explored the possibility of the Ethiopian claim. It has been pursued by various people throughout history prior to the Italian occupation (through the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church) and after the restoration of the Emperor to the throne (in 1941). Even today, they're still looking for it.
Corbett: Is it possible there's an ark on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem?
Prince: The lack of an ark being mentioned in the book, 'In The Shadow of The Temple,' isn't evidence the Israelis don't care about it. After all it's the cornerstone. If you're going to build a temple, you have to have something to put in it and no where in Jewish traditions does it say that God is going to bring it down from heaven. There's nothing of that nature being mentioned in prophecy. The building of the Third Temple I just mentioned requires the Ark inside it or else it would be a meaningless building.
Corbett: I've read, probably in one of Grant Jeffrey's books, that during the evacations underneath the Temple Mount that they've spotted something that looks like the Ark. Is this a duplicate.
Prince: There is a duplicate Ark. The rabbincal council knows about it.
Corbett: There are lots of duplicates around. Isn't that true?
Prince: Yes. Finding the original Ark of the Covenant is an interest by the Catholic Church and the Pope during the 1936-1940 Ethiopian occupation by Italy and Mussolini and there's a good indication that the Catholic Church was looking for it.
Corbett: Was that one of Mussolini's aims?
Prince: Not Mussolini's, but he was persuaded by the Pope and, of course, the Pope has been criticized for blessing Mussolini's mission to Ethiopia because of that.
Corbett: What about Hitler, did he have any interest in the Ark?
Prince: No.
Corbett: The hit movie, 'The Raiders Of The Lost Ark,' was based on Hitler's obsession with finding religious artifacts such as the Ark. Was this true?
Prince: I never heard of Hitler's interest it. That's pure fantasy, but it would make a good movie, wouldn't it?

Unforgettable Gershon Salomon

2007-05-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

Gershon Salomon is the most unforgettable character I have ever met in my lifetime. And, strangely, enough, I met him on the streets of Jerusalem.
With Israel in the spotlight with the agonizing withdrawal of settlers from Gaza and the deadly shooting in the West Bank, my thoughts turned to Israel where I was a newsman in 1999 for World Net Daily and a number of other publications.
It certainly was a quieter time than the turmoil of 2005, however, Salomon's message remains the same: The rebuilding of a great Jewish sanctuary on the Temple Mount.
In 1999, thousands, and I was one of them, walked with Salomon towards the closed gates of the Temple Mount and later to other Biblical sites. It was a sweltering day and there aboard a flatbed truck was a massive rock, which Salomon designated the "Foundation Stone" for the Third Temple
On June 6, 2005, Salomon's group repeated the parade from Ammunition Hill to the Temple Mount as "another step in their godly end-time campaign to build the house of G_d."
Salomon believes the mission to rebuild the Third Temple came as a result of a life-changing experience, which occurred 38 years ago in 1967.
As a commander of an Israeli unit of paratroopers, he helped "liberate" the Temple Mount and Biblical Jerualem.
He described it this way: "It was after a critical time in my life after I had been seriously wounded in a battle in the Golan Heights against the Syrian enemy which had attacked the Israeli villages. In a great miracle, G_d, together with His brave Israeli soldiers defeated the Syrians and saved my life.
"He appeared in my life on that critical day and promised me that He had not yet finished with me but that He had something great for me to do in my life. He surrounded me with His angels as the Syrians later testified. They told the UN observers that they saw angels with their own eyes.
"After a year in hospital with terrible pains and struggling together with G_d Who stood with me to recover and be ready for what He would tell me to do, I volunteered back to my unit using two crutches and G_d continued to heal me."
When the Temple Mount was in Jewish hands once again after nearly 2,000 years, Salomon was elated. He felt, at that moment, G_d had saved his life and "that I should build His House."
Salomon 's tears of joy turned to sorrow shortly afterwards when Israeli Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan, had the nation's flag and the Star of David removed from where Salomon believes is the Holy of Holies and "placed it on the Western Wall of the Temple Mount which is the symbol of destruction and exile."
While he considered Dayan's decision sinful and anti-godly, Salomon re-iterates his mission to anyone, who will listen, and that is to rebuild the Third Temple and for that purpose he's still leads The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement. Unforgettable.
UPDATING THE UNFORGETTABLES: In 1999, Ernest Frank Mauck, aka Prophet Elijah, was locked up in the stark confines of the Kfar Shaul mental hospital on the outskirts of Jerusalem, for "mentioning the Name of Yeshua (Jesus) and issuing pronouncements that God was going to judge the city of Jerusalem and Israel unless "they repented of their evil ways." As I wrote at that time, Mauck, with his flowing wild mane of white hair, was mocked constantly for his appearance, however, he gained thousands of supporters."He's considered a kind and completely sane man despite the fact he has been lumped with the Denver-based cult that was thrown out of Israel and also with those with 'Jerusalem Syndrome.'" In 2005, Mauck has been living on the island of Cyprus and he has a world-wide audience, for he uses a website and e-mails to spread his "messages" of impending doom.
CHECK OUT THE MOTIVE: (From R. Kent Hughes' 1001 Great Stories -- Quotes): Lining Miami's Flagler Street are bautiful royal palm trees. One night vandals cut down six of the magnificent trees, and the city did not have the money to replace them. Then, at last, a donor came forward and offered to replace the lost trees. But while the former trees had been 15 feet tall and formed a perfect foreground for a big Delta Air Lines billboard, the new trees were 35 feet tall and completely hid the billboard. The donor? Eastern Airlines.
DOG DAYS (From 'A Hog On Ice' by Charles Earle Funk): These are the extremely hot days that, in the Northern Hemisphere, occur during July and August. It used to be the popular belief that this hot period was given the name "dog days" or "canicular days," because dogs frequently went mad in such weather. Actually the name has an astronomical source. It is the period in which the Dog Star, Sirius, the most brilliant star in the constellation Canis Major (the Great Dog), rises in conjunction with the sun. In ancient belief it was the combined heat of Sirius and the sun, while these two heavenly bodies are in conjunction, that brought about the sultry weather.
TO KEEP UNDER ONE'S HAT (Also from Mr. Funk): One would suppose that this warning would be as old as the first hat, but its actual history appears to have been no earlier than the closing years of the 19th century. What is kept under the hat, of course, is retained within the head; that is, it remains a secret.

Now, the rest of the story

2007-05-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Young Paul Aurandt had a smooth baritone voice, who while still in high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma went on radio in 1933.
This son of Harry Harrison Aurandt, a police officer, who died in 1921 after being shot on duty, and Anna Dagmar Christensen, quickly earned radio gigs across Kansas and Missouri and at KXOK-AM in St. Louis where he met Lynne (Angel) Cooper, the station's "women's news" reporter. On the first date, Paul Aurandt proposed to her and she soon became his wife, producer and editor.
According to his profile, he began his "News and Comment" for ABC Radio in 1951 and in 1976, he began his daily telling little-known anecdotes about famous folks or historic incidents, always with "a twist at the end."
Paul Aurandt and Angel had one son, whom they called Paul Jr.
So the other morning, I tuned to local radio and there were the dulcet tones of a broadcaster, whom I thought had died. But I knew he was very much alive, when Paul Aurandt, Sr. said those magic words: "Paul Harvey ... Good Day."
This prodded me into trying to find an original Harvey story, which I knew was buried in an aging scrapbook. It had Harvey's son, Paul Aurandt Jr.'s byline on it, but it was very much in the famous broadcaster's style.
It read (1980 Los Angeles Times Syndicate):
"He was lying there in the grass, hiding and thinking.
He had studied the little girl's habits. He knew she'd come outside her grandfather's house at mid-afternoon to play.
He hated himself for this.
In his whole miserable, messed-up life he'd never considered anything so callous as kidnapping.
Yet here he was, waiting for an innocent, red-haired, two-year-old child to come within reach.
It was a long wait; there was time to think.
Maybe all his life Harlan had been in too much of a hurry. He was five when his Hoosier farmer daddy had died. At 14 he dropped out of school and hit the road. He tried odd jobs as a farm hand, hated it. Tried being a streetcar conductor and hated that. At 16 he lied about his age and joined the army -- and hated that. too.
At 18 he got married and within months, wouldn't you know she announced she was pregnant the day he announced he'd been fired again?
Then, one day, while he was out job hunting, his wife gave away all their possessions and went home to her parents.
Then came the depression.
He tried selling insurance, selling tires. He tried running a ferryboat, running a filling station. No use.
Face it -- Harlan was a loser.
And now here was hiding in the woods outside Roanoke, Virginia, plotting a kidnapping.
He'd watched the little girl's habits, knew about her afternoon playtime. But this day, she did not come out to play, so his chain of failures remained unbroken.
Later in life he became chief cook and bottle washer at a restaurant in Corbin. And did all right until the new highway bypassed the restaurant.
He'd stayed honest -- except for that one time when he had attempted kidnapping. In fairness to his name it must be noted that it was his own daughter he'd meant to kidnap from his runaway wife. And they both returned to him, the next day, anyway.
But now the years had slid by and a lifetime was gone and he and they had nothing.
He had not really felt old until the day the postman brought his first social security cheque. That day, something within Harland resented, resisted, and exploded.
The government was feeling story for him.
His restaurant customers in Corbin said they'd miss him, but his government said 65 candles on the birthday cake is enough. They sent him a pension cheque and told him he was "old."
"Nuts," he said.
He got so angry he took the $105 cheque and started a new business.
For the man who failed at everything was Harlan Sanders. The late Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. And as Paul Harvey Aurandt would say in that smooth baritone voice: "NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY."
RULES TO REMEMBER (in the forecasting game) :1. Forecasting is very difficult, especially if it's about the future; 2. For this reason: He who lives by the crystal ball soon learns to eat ground glass; 3.Similiarly: The moment you forecast you know you're going to be wrong, you just don't know when and in which direction; 4. Nevertheless, always be precise in your forecasts because: Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a percentage point to prove they have a sense of humour; 5. Another basic law: If the facts don't conform to the theory, they must be disposed of; 6. If you've always had doubts about the judgments of forecasters, it's quite understandable because: An economist is a man who would marry Farrah Fawcett-Majors for her money; 7. By the same reasoning, your suspicions about the narrow range of most forecasts are justified: The herd instinct among forecasters make sheep look like independent thinkers; 8. When presenting a forecast: Give them a number or give them a date, but never both. (Remember, the preceding came from an unknown source).
ERMA BOMBECK ONCE WROTE: "If a husband watches more than three football games a week the wife should have him declared legally dead and have his estate probated." Ouch!

Summer doldrums, Part I

2007-02-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

escapism --n. tendency to seek distraction or relief from reality.
While the rest of the world was mired in political upheavals and storms in the Atlantic and forest fires in far southern British Columbia and nearby Washington State, the Ol' Columnist found himself "lost" in the late '50s. That's right, 1959, to be exact.
It surprised me to learn that my three favorite flicks of all-time were released that year: "North By Northwest," "Room At The Top," and "Some Like It Hot."
But "NbyNW" was showing on the small screen this weekend, and there I was stuck with Cary Grant in Lincoln's Nose.
While savoring the stylish "spy" thriller, there was so much I didn't know about the Alfred Hitchcock-directed flick, so I went searching for trivia.
Little did I know that there were two working titles: "Breathless" and also "In a Northwesterly Direction."
A bit of trivia told me that while the flick was in pre-production, Hitchcock had jokingly called it "The Man in Lincoln's Nose," a reference to the finale at Mount Rushmore.
On my research tour, here's some of what I found:
* James Stewart was very interested in starring in this movie, begging Alfred Hitchcock to let him play Roger O. Thornhill. Hitchcock claimed that 'Vertigo' (1958's) lack of financial success was because Stewart "looked too old." MGM wanted Gregory Peck, but Hitchcock cast Cary Grant.
* It was journalist Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. who suggested to Hitchcock the movie's premise of a man mistaken for a nonexistent secret agent.
Incidentally, Hitchcock had certain logistic problems. For instance, he couldn't get permission to film inside the UN, so he used a hidden camera to get the exterior shots and then Hitch recreated the rooms on a soundtstage; and then I learned the final chase wasn't shot on Mount Rushmore. Hitchcock couldn't get final permission to shoot an attempted murder on the national monument itself, so the director shot the scene in the studio on a replica of Mount Rushmore.
In the 1990s, the Missus and I traveled to Mount Rushmore and found the roads leading to those magnificent faces carved in the rock were clogged with advertising billboards. It was a major disappointment.
Before going on to the second and third "all-time" flicks in future musings, I wondered what the title meant: The trivia blurb said "the title might refer to Hamlet's line, "I am but mad north-northwest," where he tried to convince people of his sanity. The airline that they travel on (westbound) is called "Northwest Airline."
Of course, Hitchcock had to get in a cameo in the flick, which starred the masterful Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and it came during the opening credits. "Hitchcock arrives at a bus stop, but gets there a second too late and the door is closed in his face, He misses the bus," according to the blurb.
In the $$$ department, Grant fared well, receiving $450,000 for the movie and another $315,000 in penalty fees because he had to stay nine weeks past the time his contract called for. Of course, that's small compared to today's salaries, but remember this was 1959.
Finally, another bit of trivia: While at the Mount Rushmore location, Eva Marie Saint uncovered the fact that Grant charged 15 cents for his autograph. Well, a movie star has to pick up some extra cash somehow.
Incidentally, the Ol' Columnist once had movie aspirations.
In 1981, I was "The Viking" in "Running Brave," starring Robbie Benson and Pat Hingle. It was shot outside the federal pen in Drumheller, Alberta and in Edmonton and it told the story of a young Sioux Indian track star, Billy Mills, and how he conquered adversity and later went on to win at the Tokyo Olympics.
In my scenes, Billy's father played by noted actor, August Schellenberg, battled "The Viking" in a carnival ring. I ended up with a concussion and a few coins in my pocket.
Next time, if there's a next time, I want a more sensitive and sedate role.
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: The elite NCAA, south of the border, are in a rush to oust "hostile" and "abusive" American Indian nicknames during post-season tournaments. Here are a list of offensive mascots: Alcorn State University (Braves); Central Michigan University (Chippewas); Catawba College (Indians); Florida State University (Seminoles); Midwestern State University (Indians); University of Utah (Utes); Indiana University-Pennsylvania (Indians); Carthage College (Redmen); Bradley University (Braves); Arkansas State University (Indians); Chowan College (Braves); University of Illinois-Champaign (Illini); University of Louisiana-Monroe (Indians); McMurray University (Indians); Mississippi College (Choctaws); Newberry College (Indians); University of North Dakota (Fighting Sioux); Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Savages). Will such political correctness affect the pros as in Cleveland (Indians), Atlanta (Braves) and Washington (Redskins)? Nicknames which appear safe from any activists are: Toronto (Blue Jays), St. Louis (Cardinals) and Miami (Dolphins). However, in this day and age, and heightened sensitivity, you never know.
IN THE GRRRRRR! DEPT: Overloaded, speeding logging trucks on Highway 97 (between Vernon and Kamloops) swerving around corners, nearly toppling their loads onto unsuspecting vehicles.
NOW YOU KNOW: (From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader): In ancient Inca weddings, the bride and groom weren't considered "officially" married until they had taken off their sandals and traded them with one another.

Now that's a 'Dirty Job'

2007-02-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

Oh, give me a home
where the bison (or buffalo) roam
and I'll show you a dirty house!
Excuse my song-writing abilities, which are nil, but my grandson has served his penance as a "gut boy" at a nearby meat slaughterhouse, in slicing and dicing bison. It was a short-lived career. However, someone has to do it.
Such unsavoury jobs, however, are right up Mike Rowe's alley.
If you don't know who Rowe is, then tune in to the Discovery Channel some time and watch 'Dirty Jobs.'
During season one, he's been an exterminator, crab fisherman, blacksmith/farrier, pig farmer, chewing-gum buster, pigeon-poop cleaner-upper, garbage collector/recycling separator, shark catcher/tagger, car stripper, golf-ball diver, horse breeder, roadkill collector, bat-poop collector, mud gatherer, fish gutter, baby chick sexer, beer brewer, oyster harvester, sewer inspector, disaster clean-up crew member, demolition worker, worm-dung farmer, catfish noodler, septic-tank specialist and even worm rancher.
Yes, Mike Rowe is a dirty, dirty boy.
So it's not Masterpiece Theatre, however, 'Dirty Jobs' has become a major-league TV hit. Even The Missus tunes in, but then the Melville Spitfire has been known to ogle 'American Chopper(s)' on a regular basis.
But back to 'Dirty Jobs.'
In tracking down the 'dirt' about this program, I quickly learned how Rowe became involved with the show: He had studied history, English, communications, speech, music, drama and even a bit of philosophy and had even graduated from Towson State in Maryland. From there it was all downhill. After some acting jobs, 'Discovery' sent him to Alaska to work on a king-crab boat during the filming of 'Deadliest Catch' about the world's most dangerous job. From there, he found himself in 'The Sands of the Dead' in Egypt and as he said, "As a reward, I've been given 'Dirty Jobs.'"
Then Rowe proceeded to explain that being a would-be bat biologist ranked near the top of the worst jobs.
In an interview, Rowe said: "Bracken Cave is about an hour outside Austin, Texas, and home to 40 million Mexican free-tail bats. A bat biologist enters the cave once a month to check on the health of the colony. To do so, he must wade through three feet of guano (bat excrement) and make his way to the far end of the cave, where the bulk of the bats roost. The temperature is over 100 degrees. The air is filled with ammonia, and quite toxic. The bats, 40 million of them, are hanging overhead, urinating constantly, defecating deliberately and giving birth randomly. All the aforementioned substances are falling upon us. The guano that we're standing in is filled with billions of flesh-eating beetles, which survive on dead bats that periodically plummet from the ceiling. Bracken Cave is like no other place on Earth, and quite possibly the dirtiest hole on the planet."
So Mike, have you ever been scared doing a "dirty" job?
"I have a healthy fear of most dangerous things, but when you work alongside people who don't, you either suck it up or look like a sissy," he told the interviewer. "A few months ago, I was in Tampa, neck-deep in a muddy, slime-filled, methane-rich water hazard searching for used golf balls. (Yeah, it's a job). Though golf balls were my objective, I was focused mainly on avoiding the water moccasins and snapping turtles that seemed to infest this particular hazard. At some point, I stepped on something in in the murky, muddy ooze that shot out from under my feet with alarming speed. It was an alligator, and I haven't been the same since."
So, now that I have grossed you out and I've taken a shower, let's turn to something fab as in FabJob.com where Tag and Catherine Goulet have a flourishing business in telling folks how to get a real job.
On their site, the two Calgary-based sisters will tell you: How to become a professional organizer; a spa owner; an actor; an advertising copywriter; an archaelogist; an art curator; a book editor; a butler; a firefighter; a food writer (I would be great at that); an image consultant (what's that?); a pop star; a second-hand store owner; a television reporter; a yoga teacher (now that's twisted) and even how to become a movie extra.
But what about how to become a newspaper columnist?
My sage advice: Write about 'Dirty Jobs' and see how far that gets you.
IN PRIME 'REALITY' TIME: So, at present, there are only two Canadian-based reality shows on TV: 'Canadian Idol' and 13 episodes of 'Making the Cut', about young hockey players bashing their way to glory, some of which was filmed in Vernon. However, the Ol' Columnist is certain that a massive amount of 'reality' TV will seep across the border. Under the 'A' category, there's 'Adrenaline X' (NBC); 'All-American Girl' (ABC); 'All You Need is Love' (FOX); 'Amazing Race' (CBS); 'Ambush Makeover' (Syndicated); 'American Candidate' (Showtime); 'American Fighter Pilots' (CBS); 'American High' (PBS); 'American Idol' (FOX); 'Amish in the City' (UPN); 'Anna Nicole Smith Show' (E!); 'Anything for Love' (FOX); 'The Apprentice' (NBC); 'The Apprentice Martha Stewart' (NBC); 'Are You Hot?' (ABC); 'The Ashlee Simpson Show' (MTV); 'The Assistant' (MTV) and 'Average Joe' (NBC) ... And that's just under the A's ... Whew!
FYI: With the late Marilyn Monroe's latest 'revelations' in the news these days, did you know that Mick Jagger studied the way MM moved and learned to mimic her on stage? (A bit of trivia from 'Uncle John's Bathroom Reader')

Musty booknooks and polls

2007-02-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

So what happens, Corbett, when you suffer continuous brain drain?
Scratching what little hair I have left on this noggin, I replied: "I go to The Source."
"The Source" has a name, he's Brian Doling. He's the keeper of magazines and books, mainly old, and when in need of a column idea, which gets to be every day during the summer doldrums, my trusty steed (known as the Subaru) finds its way close to the Polson Park Mall and Doling's shingle, which reads: BJ's Books & Things.
For a scribbler, it's a haven.
Hidden behind the shelves of scattered books and magazines, sits Mr. Doling.
"I'm looking for something about Sayings or Myth Busters or Pet Peeves, something along those lines, do you have anything like that?" I whined.
Without hesitation, Doling guided me into one of the booknook's crevices, and there was a paperback, titled, "A Hog On Ice & Other Curious Expressions" that actually "eyed" me. The subtitle read: The Origin & Development of the Pungent & Colorful Phrases We All Use." The author's name was Charles Earle Funk.
"Is he related to Funk & Wagnalls?" I muttered to myself.
Then turning to the back cover, it read: Charles Earle Funk (1881-1957) was editor-in-chief of the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary Series. He wrote several other books on word and phrase origins, including Thereby Hangs A Tale.
"I'll take it," I said, shoving a five-spot into Doling's hand.
After speedreading its 214 pages, I found that "A Hog On Ice" is a treasure chest of common sayings in the English language that we use every day, in fact there are literally thousands of them and as the author writes: "They have come from all the trades and professions; they have come from the courts of kings and from beggars' hovels; they have come from churches and cathedrals and they have come from gambling halls and bawdy houses." And Mr. Funk went on and on to explain those "phrase origins."
Without delving into copyright issues and all that, let me briefly tell you about some of the phrases I have heard throughout my lifetime and see if they ring a bell with you:
In a Blue Funk -- The English phrase, "in a funk," was Oxford slang back in the middle of the 18th century, and seems to have been borrowed from a Flemish phrase, "in de fonck siin," which also meant "in a state of panic"; but no one has been able to to figure out why the Flemish fonck meant "panic."
Spick and Span -- The phrase has no other meaning than absolutely and wholly new.
Cock-and-Bull Story -- A story that stretches the imaginations somewhat beyond the limits of credulity.
Without explanations, here are a number of favorite sayings I have heard throughout the years: To cool one's heels; Dyed in the wool; To take the bull by the horns; Small fry; One-horse town; Red-letter Day; To rain cats and dogs; Till all the cows come home; To talk turkey; To eat humble pie; To split hairs; Best bib and tucker; To bark up the wrong tree; Once in a blue moon; Straight from the horse's mouth; To buy a pig in a poke; By the skin of one's teeth; Bats in one's belfry; and To shoot the bull.
Now you probably have heard those phrases and know their meaning, but, Smarty-Pants tell me what these mean: To come out at the little end of the horn; Not amount to Hannah More; Rope of sand; Sword of Damocles; Bull of Bashan or to Cut the Gordian knot?
And what about the book title: 'A Hog on Ice'? It seem Mr. Funk had a mother, who whenever she saw a pompous person strutting down the street, etc., etc., would always say that individual was "as independent as a hog on ice," meaning cockily independent, supremely confident, beholden to no one," according to the paperback's foreword.
NO ONE ASKED ME, BUT: The Ol' Columnist is on the verge of sulking. Why? No one, but no one has ever asked me what I think about The West separating from the rest of Canada. Have you been asked? No. So we both haven't a clue why Faron Ellis, a political science prof at the Lethbridge Community College, can claim 35.6 per cent of westerners agree with the statement: "Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country." When I checked out the Western Standard website (those were the folks that asked Ellis to conduct the poll) the headline screamed: A NATION TORN APART. Maybe so, maybe so. Now, Martin and the Liberals frustrate me as much as the next person in this vast nation, but to separate and go blindly into the future, without a solid game plan, now that would be ridiculous. But then again, nobody asked me for my opinion.
WORD FOR YOU, JAVA JUNKIES: Caffeine doesn't keep you awake by supplying extra energy; rather, it fools your body into thinking it isn't tired, according to a reliable source, 'Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.' Furthermore, when your brain is tired and wants to slow down, it releases a chemical called adenosine. This adenosine travels to special cells called receptors, where it goes to work counteracting the chemicals that stimulate your brain. Caffeine mimics adenosine; so it can "plug up" your receptors and prevent adenosine from getting through. Result your brain never gets the signal to slow down, and keeps building up stimulants. Now, excuse me, the Missus wants to know if I'd like another cup of tea.

Gretzky: A real class act

2007-02-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

Wayne Gretzky has all the qualifications of being the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes. He'll try anything once.
When the Ol' Columnist heard about The Great One becoming the 15th head coach of the NHL franchise which shifted out of drafty Winnipeg into the Arizona desert, I went scrambling for a TV video buried in a dusty cupboard.
It had a simple title: 'Gretzky & Corbett' ( Running time: Approx. 30 min.) The date was in the fall of 1981. The scene: A crowded Edmonton street and there, surrounded by teammates Cowboy Flett, Mark Messier and Brett Callighen, was Gretzky on horseback. It was the opening of the Great Gretzky's Western Corral -- a top-notch men's clothing shop.
Corbett: First time on a horse, Wayne?
Gretzky: First and last.
Corbett: What instructions did Cowboy (Flett) give you?
Gretzky: Pray and hold on.
Inside the store, I asked Flett what technique he had used.
Flett: One thing he did do was he got on the horse and he got off it ... Well, you know, Wayne'e been with me a couple of other times in different transactions with horses and he's been nervous before, but tonight he was calm, cool and collected.
Gretzky: It was the first time I ever rode alone. I was with Cowboy a couple of years ago, but he had to hold onto the reins, but (tonight) it was the first time I ever rode alone.
However, when I asked him to sing "Mommas. Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys," he refused, claiming he would do it on radio, but not on television. And then he blushed.
But what the piece of fading video told me, that a blushing Gretzky is not only the classiest athlete I have ever met, but he is also the most honest in a jaded world filled with puffed-up jocks.
He has surrounded himself with classy individuals as well, most notably, Phoenix general manager Mike Barnett. A former professional hockey player, Barnett was Gretzky's "confidante," during the years in Edmonton. Today, undoubtedly, the same formula still works in Arizona.
In Phoenix, he has put together a sharp coaching team in former Detroit Red Wings associate coach Barry Smith, former Coyotes player Rick Tocchet, and former interim head coach Rick Bowness.
When David Vest of the Arizona Republic asked him about the trio, the ever-modest Gretzky was quoted as saying, "I'm ecstatic to have this staff."
When veteran Jeremy Roenick was asked about Gretzky's coaching role, he was quoted as saying: "I think having him stand behind the bench is a great thing for the game of hockey, and we need that coming out of the lockout. He has so much pizzazz and he brings so much leverage to the game that it's a perfect thing for the National Hockey League to have Wayne more involved."
Gretzky has indeed had the Midas touch both as a player and as an executive with Team Canada and also as an 18 per cent owner in the Coyotes, so there's no reason to doubt he'll be successful in his new post.
There will be doubters, but The Great One can always remind them that he once coached a Canadian junior club for one game back in 1981-82. They won 7-0.
While scouting the wires about the Gretzky appointment, I uncovered a quote from John Iaboni of the defunct Toronto Telegram, which read: "There's a little number 9 in town who has ambitions of replacing Gordie Howe ... 10-year-old Wayne Gretzky has proven he can score goals, too." Ironically, Gretz scored 378 goals in one season in "atom" in 1971. I know, for I used to help Iaboni put the minor hockey page together for the Tely. And Gretzky's name was always prominent. So nearly 35 years later, the 44-year-old Gretzky is back in the headlines, where he belongs.
Although, I wasn't able to contact him yesterday in Phoenix, I knew he probably had become an expert horseman, but whether he can sing "Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys," on key, now that's another matter.
NOW THAT'S COSTLY: When Vancouver Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi flattened Colorado's Steve Moore way back on March 8, 2004, it not only caused 'Bert' a devastating suspension, but it cost him $501, 916.39 US in salary, according to the CBC website. That's a hefty price to pay, in any league. NHL head honcho Gary Bettman confirmed Bertuzzi's reinstatement, accompanied by a truckful of legalese.
MORE FROM UNCLE JOHN'S BATHROOM READER: The Quack: Dr. Elisha Perkins. Specialty: A contraption called, "the Tractor," patented in 1796. Treatment: The Tractor, which was made up of two rods -- one copper, zinc, and gold, and one silver, platinum, and iron -- was passed over a sick person. Perkins preached that it literally pulled diseases out of the body and patients such as George Washington and Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth of the U.S. Supreme Court believed him. Final Diagnosis: Medical experts of the day knew Perkins was a fake, but Perkins may have managed to fool himself. Armed with his magic rods, he traveled to New York in 1799 to treat the victims of a yellow fever epidemic that was sweeping the city. He didn't cure a single person and, a few weeks later, succumbed to the disease himself.

You're an ol' namedropper

2007-02-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

Your banker loves to give you greenbacks, right?
No, you say, well I have a few suggestions for you. Five, and possibly, 10, if you pay attention.
The next time you're in the Canadian Bank of Cheap Skates, tell Mr. Tightwad that you're a friend of Bill Gates.
Yes, that Bill Gates, who ranks No. 1 among the world's billionaires, according to Forbes Magazine.
Then if Mr. Tightwad doesn't choke on his pencil, tell him that Billy Boy, age 49, has a net worth of $46.5 billion and read him the Forbes' memo that claims Sir William (yes, he was given an honorary knighthood) is still pressing Microsoft beyond PCs into television set-top boxes, games, cell phones. Gates told his company researchers that "software is where the action is." Of course, Bill is diversifying his wealth, according to Forbes, because he sells 20 million shares each quarter and then re-invests in such hot commodities as Cox Communications, Canadian National Railway, etc. And then when he's not growing money trees, Gates gives it away -- some $27 million. His foundation, along with his wife, Melinda, fights infectious diseases, funds vaccine development and helps high schools.
Isn't Mr. Tightwad convinced you are worthy of a loan?
Well, here's another name for you: Warren Buffet, 74, of Berkshire Hathway, with a net worth of $44 billion. He's a major holder in such investments as insurance, energy, carpets, jewelry, furniture, paint (Benjamin Moore), apparel (Fruit of the Loom), American Express, Coca-Cola, Gillette, etc., according to Forbes.
After Gates and Buffet comes No. 3, according to Forbes, and that's Lakshmi Mittal, 54, from India, who lives in London, England. Overseeing the world's largest steel company, Mittal Steel, he has amassed some $25 billion. This father of two doesn't mind dropping a few dollars, in fact he spent $60 million to host his daughter's five-day long wedding celebration in Versailles last summer.
At No. 4, according to Forbes, is 65-year Carlos Slim Helu, who is worth some $23.8 billion from Mexico City. Cited as Latin America's richest man, this Midas is in communications with diverse holdings in retail, banking, insurance and autoparts manufacturing. In addition, according to Forbes, the widower with six children has invested heavily in Rodin sculptures and even restores colonial buildings in Mexico City's historic city centre.
Perhaps, the most flamboyant of the billionaires is No. 5 Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud with a cool $23.7 billion. From Saudi Arabia, this globe-trotting investor, at age 48, has a massive stake in Citicorp, and touts his wealth by taking ads out on CNN.
So there you have it, according to Forbes, the top five billionaires on the planet. Of course, since you're into name-dropping, don't forget to add six through 10: Ingvar Kamprad, Paul Allen, Karl Albrecht, Lawrence Ellison and S. Robson Walton.

O'REILLY GETS SECOND BILLING: As an avid Bill O'Reilly watcher on Fox, the Ol' Columnist was a bit surprised to learn that Greta Van Susteran's 'On the Record' had zoomed into the top ratings as she pursued the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. In case, you've missed the story, the Alabama teen vanished, almost into thin air, and has been nightly fare on U.S. networks. Van Susteran, who used to be at CNN, has "camped" out on the vacation island, and averaged 2.2 million viewers nightly during July. She bested O'Reilly eight times in the ratings, although Bill was off four of those nights. The lawyer has been a forceful interviewer in keeping interest in the tragic disappearance.

CARTOON NAMES: If you ever wondered how certain cartoon characters got their names, a peek inside Uncle John's Bathroom Reader might help. Take for instance Bugs Bunny. In 1940, cartoonist Bugs Hardaway submitted preliminary sketches for a "tall, lanky, mean rabbit" for a cartoon called "Hare-um Scare-um" -- and someone labeled the drawings "Bug's Bunny." Hardaway's mean rabbit was never used -- but the name was given to the bunny in the cartooon, "A Wild Hare."
PORKY PIG: According to creator Bob Clampett: "Someone thought of two puppies named Ham and Ex, and that started me thinking, So after dinner one night, I came up with Porky and Beans. I made a drawing of this fat little pig, which I named Porky, and little black cat named Beans."
ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE: Rocky was picked because it was "just a square-sounding kid's name. Bullwinkle was named after Clarence Bulwinkel, a Berkeley, California, used car dealer.
FOGHORN LEGHORN: Modeled after Senator Claghorn, a fictional politician in comedian Fred Allen's radio show.
So you're really that old, that you remember Fred Allen?

Clone this, clone that!

2007-02-23T15:54:00.000-08:00

The Mad Scientist was on the phone.
"Hey, Corbett, TMS here, are you ready to be cloned?"
"Uh, what?" I muttered, trying to wipe the sleep from my eyes.
"Do you want to be cloned?" TMS bellowed.
"Come on, who is this?"
Then the Ol' Columnist, warts, bumps and all, realized he was about to get another lecture in genetics.
It seems whenever there's a "cloning," such as the introduction of Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, earlier this week, TMS wants this planet to know that humans could be next on the list.
It seems unreal, but there's a possibility if you take a look at the cloning data: Sheep in 1996; Mouse in 1997; Cow in 1998; Pig in 2000; Cat in 2002; and now Dog in 2005.
Being uneducated in The Clone Age, I tapped into the details about the Sheep named Dolly -- the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell -- back on July 5, 1996 at the Edinburgh-based company PPL Therapeutics. In a BBC article, it read stockmen involved in the delivery thought of the fact that the cell used came from a mammary gland, so they gave her the name after country and western singer Dolly Parton. The cloned Dolly, bred normally on two occasions, according to the report, with a Welsh mountain ram called David. She first gave birth to Bonnie in April 1998 and then to three more lambs in 1999. However, a progressive lung disease led to Dolly's demise in February, 2003 at the age of six.
Then there was the Cloned Mouse in 1997. That would be Cumulina, who died of old age in August, 2000. According to the University of Hawaii medical school, Cumulina died in her sleep of natural causes at the age of two years, seven months. It corresponded to age 95 in human years.
Of course, since farming is my life, how could I forget about the cow, known as Kaga, No. 2, born in 1998. The cloned cow made headlines on July 11, 2000 when she gave birth, through artificial insemination at a research centre in northwestern Japan, to a newborn female, weighing 58.3 pounds. It was the world's first reported example of a calf being born to a cloned cow.
And now for those little artificial "oinkers."
It seems the scientists who created Dolly, also had a hand in creating five pig clones in March 2000. The PPL Therapeutics people said they hoped it would help meet the demand for pig organs if "they are approved for use in human transplants."
Incidentally, I almost forgot to name them: Millie, Christa, Alexis, Carrel and Dotcom.
In February, 2002 came the announcement out of Texas A&M of the first pet to be cloned -- a kitten called CopyCat, known as CC for short. According to a news report, CC was "a copy of her genetic mother, and not the tabby surrogate cat that actually gave birth to her."
When someone named Derek Conway from 'Cats Protection' heard about CopyCat, he said: "The cloning of cats interferes with nature and raises serious questions concerning whether a pet can ever truly be replaced."
It's certain some dog lover will have similar thoughts after Snuppy arrived on this planet via cloning.
This Afghan hound, created by controversial South Korean pioneering stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk, has obviously reignited a fierce ethical debate since scientists used a skin cell "plucked from another hound," according to the most recent issue of Nature.
With such an announcement, there have been renewed calls for "a global ban on the cloning of humans to produce babies."
Ian Wilmut, one of those "brains," who created Dolly from an adult cell in 1996, added fuel to the fire by saying, "Successful cloning of an increased number of species confirms the general impression that it would be possible to clone any mammalian species, including humans."
While the cloning of Snuppy appears to have re-opened the controversial door into the world of genetics, Dr. Hwang tried to shut it just a little bit by stating that cloning of humans was "unsafe and inefficient." Whatever that means. Of course, in South Korea, "human reproductive cloning is already banned."
However, that doesn't mean other scientists, in other nations, won't attempt to try to clone human beings.
SPEAKING OF CLONING, PART II: Whatever happened to the U.S-based company Clonaid or Dr. Brigitte Boisselier? It seems the controversial company and Boisselier have vanished into thin air, after announcing the birth of a "healthy cloned baby girl nicknamed Eve" back in December 2002? Clonaid and Boisselier were linked to a sect called the Raelians, fronted by Claude Vorihon, who called himself Rael, and claimed that humans were the result of a genetic engineering project run by "super-intelligent extra-terrestrials." So "beam me up, Scotty."
GETTING HIGH ON CURLING?: It's not a new story, but Joe Frans, who curled second on Wayne Middaugh's Ontario rink, received a two-year suspension for, get this, a doping infraction committed at the Brier in Edmonton. Said Frans: "I don't believe it. I drink a lot -- I'm a curler -- but I don't do drugs."
BELIEVE IT OR NOT: (From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader): The Inch in its earliest form was the width of a grown man's thumb. In the 14th century, King Edward II of England decreed that "the length of an inch shall be equal to three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end length-wise." This evolved into today's standard measurement ... So what about the Foot? Originally the length of a person's foot (obviously), it was later standardized in English-speaking countries to be 12 inches long, In other parts of the world, however, it could be anywhere from 11 to 14 inches in length.

Canseco and the 'Roids issue

2007-02-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

Jose Canseco believes he's been 'Vindicated.'
The other night on American television, the hulk and former Bash Brother with the Oakland Athletics was explaining the role he has had in steroids exposure and the title of his next book. His earlier book, called 'Juiced,' was a runaway bestseller and although he was "blackballed" by Major League Baseball, it seemingly set in motion for the doors to be opened for 'roid users in sports to be exposed.
After Baltimore superstar Raffy Palmeiro and Seattle pitcher Ryan Franklin were hauled on the carpet and banned for 10 games for 'roid use this week, there seems little reason to believe that other sports will not be ripped apart by the "better living through chemistry" philosophy.
Is major-league basketball next?
Is major-league hockey next?
Is major-league tiddly-winks next?
The infiltration of steroids and its affiliated "juice" seems to be prevalent among both young and older athletes.
Probably, the most startling news came from the New York Times this week, stating Palmeiro's positive steroid test was for the very powerful steroid, known as stanozolol. Apparently, the Orioles' slugger now has called the incident an "accident" and not a deliberate act.
Palmeiro tested "positive" for taking the drug known by the brand name, Winstrol. If that sounds familiar, the New York Times website connects Winstrol with Canada's fallen hero, the sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his gold medal in the 100-meter in 1988 after testing for, yes that's right, stanozolol.
Apparently, Raffy failed the test prior to the U.S. Congressional hearings, where he was so staunch in denying he had ever taken any steroids of any kind. Fibbing to the ninth degree seems to be the modus operandi for numerous athletes.
When Canseco testified before the U.S. body he was apparently isolated from his former fellow players and he claims that MLB and its leader, Bud Selig, has a great deal to hide.
Whether this is true or not, Selig and MLB should expose baseball's underbelly and clean up the sport and do it in short order, before any more damage can be done to America's pasttime.
In 'Slate', Bryan Curtis wrote: "Juiced' is a mesmerizing book, and not just because Canseco throws off stories like that without a trace of self-regard. Canseco has pulled off the impossible: He has written a giddy testimonial to steroids."
Of course, Canseco has, but while one can hold contempt for Jose, he, nevertheless, has pulled back the curtain on a dark side of sports -- not just baseball, but the entire athletic world.
According to Curtis, Canseco was only 5 feet 11 inches and a puny 155 pounds in high school and far from his present 6 feet 4 inches and 250 pounds and Jose has been been quoted as saying, "Steroids, used correctly, will not only make you stronger and sexier, they will also make you healthier."
In 1994, World Wrestling Federation owner Vince McMahon was cleared in his trial for conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids, however, his top superstar Hulk (Terry Bollea) Hogan, in the official court transcript, admitted some of the steroids he had used were Dianabol, Anavar, Winstrol, testosterone, and Deca Durabolin.
Now Winstrol has come to the forefront again -- this time in baseball.
With the Palmeiro and Franklin's suspension, perhaps, the U.S. Congress should take another closer look at the athletes' names that have swirled around the TGH issue such as NFLers Barret Robbins, Bill Romanowski, Chris Cooper, and Dana Stubblefield.
The late Ken Caminiti, the former Houston Astro and San Diego Padre, once told Sports Illustrated that drug use was widespread. "It's no secret what's going on in baseball. At least half the guys are using steroids." Caminiti died under strange circumstances.
.
NIKE STILL LEADS BY A MILE: Although there's still quite a gap in the running shoes biz, Adidas is about to gobble up Reebok for some $3.8 billion. What it means is that the world's second and third-biggest sports goods companies own more than 21 per cent share of the U.S. market with Nike far in front at 36 per cent. Incidentally, Reebok has the inside track on sporting euipment for the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. Now, I still have a pair of worn down ol' running shoes lying in a closet somewhere. So what are they worth? Did I hear someone say: I'll give you a dollar?'

SOMETHING ODD: In seraching for odd items for this Thursday column, the Ol' Columnist came across this news story out of Moscow. It seems Chechnya's government has banned slots because they consider them un-Islamic. Apparently , the one-armed bandits are popular, but Ramzan Kadyrov, one of the region's top officials, and the religious leaders and elders have banned them.

GONE TO THE DOGS: (From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader): Q. Is a dog year the equivalent of seven human years? A. No -- it is actually five to six years. The average life expectancy of a dog is 12-14 years. However, most dogs mature sexually within six to nine months, so in a sense there is no strict correspondence to human years.

TO ERR IS HUMAN: In the mad rush of Saturday night's CASCAR 300 at Sun Valley Speedway, the Ol' Eyeballs apparently deceived me, for race winner D.J. Kennington passed his rivals three laps from the mad dash to the finish, according to the official scoring sheet. Brad Graham and Don Thomson, Jr. finished a close second and third. Mea culpa.

When timing is everything

2007-02-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

For Peter Cadiou, timing is everything.
In fact during Saturday night's blistering Sun Valley Speedway 300, Cadiou as CASCAR's director of scoring and timing, closely watched a number of laptop screens as D.J. Kennington blazed across the finish line, only a miniscule 0.371 seconds ahead of Brad Graham with pre-race favorite Don Thomson, Jr. third, some 3.191 seconds off Kennington's pace.
Within minutes after the race completion, a printout sheet was available in Cadiou's "tower," with the order of finish and assorted details for the 29 cars. It was handed to inquiring eyes by Cadiou's daughter, Robyn.
While Cadiou monitored the various readings from the tiny tracking devices inside each race car and from wires implanted in the track itself, his daughter did the race charting manually.
It's actually been a family affair for the Cadious.
"My wife, Rose, used to do this. She was my main lap charter from Day One. She just retired at the end of last year," said the calm, cool and collected Cadiou, adding, "She just got tired of traveling. The stuff that goes on. So now she stays home (in Cambridge, Ontario)."
Actually, for Cadiou, timing and scoring for the 12-race CASCAR season, is just a sideline from his main profession as a computer programmer for Hammond Manufacturing, located in Guelph, Ont.
"These are usually one or two day shows," he explained. "So I can work all week at my job, leave home on Friday night, be at the racetrack on Saturday and then be home on Sunday night. That's most of the time."
However, when the CASCAR Super Series decided to swing west for the MOPAR 300 in Calgary and the Sun Valley 300, his schedule changed.
"I've been here, since a week Thursday," he said early Saturday night."We flew out to Calgary last Thursday and we did the same layout Friday and Saturday. A lot of the CASCAR teams went back home (mainly to Ontario), but my daughter and myself stayed out here, so we got a bit of a holiday."
Cadiou continued by saying, "We came out here (to the Vernon area) on Wednesday and toured around, but then we go back (to Ontario) the first thing Sunday morning."
His daughter, Robyn, lives and works in Cambridge, Ontario, "so we book our holidays around the races," he said.
While sitting in the "tower," prior to the late afternoon start of the Sun Valley 300, Cadiou reminisced. "I come from the old manual days," he said, but he acknowledges that the high-tech approach certainly has changed racing throughout the world.
"It has eliminated an awful lot of disputes," he emphasized. "The big arguments are not so much with the scoring, but living with electronics, it sometimes misses to. The arguments come when someone is mad at someone ... like the race director might order a black flag to someone, who obviously didn't think they did wrong ... so that kind of dispute still happens. Unlike it used to be when we did it manually and the argument would become: 'Aw, you missed me, I was out there the whole time.'"
However, while Cadiou and Robyn charted the race with high-tech gadgets and also manually, the REAL boss was the race director, Don Radford, from Windsor, Ontario.
"If he sees something he doesn't like, he'll tell the flag man or one of the pit stewards and tell them 'to talk to that guy,'" said Cadiou. "Some of the things we do is stop and go, which in this case, he gets a black flag and that's in the form of a penalty, which is not really serious. Something a little bit more serious, they'll come in for a stop and talk and the steward will talk to you for a few minutes and, of course, you lose laps.
"And then the next thing is to bring you in and tell you to fix it right, and, maybe, you can go if we like what you've done. That's basically the three levels."
Besides having a computerized advantage of timing and scoring these "big time" races, Cadiou pointed out the racing teams are also connected to the high-tech with their own TVs or laptops. "So they can look and say, 'Oh, I'm chasing so and so or I'm on lap so and so.'"
As for his future, Cadiou smiled and said: "I was thinking about packing it in, in the last few years. But then I wondered what I was going to do and so I'll think I'll hang in for a bit longer."

PIT STOPS: For those who missed the results, here are the top four finishers, who actually completed the 300 laps:: 1. D.J. Kennington, Castrol Canada Dodge, St. Thomas, Ont. (2:07: 3.144; MPH average: 53.058); 2. Brad Graham, Challenger Motor Freight, Glencoe, Ont.; 3. Don Thomson, Jr., Home Hardware Chevrolet, Hamilton, Ont.; 4. Peter Gibbons, Canadian Tire/Monroe C, Stouffville, Ont. ... The lone female in 300 was rookie Tara MacLeod of Innisfil, Ont., who wound up 15th after completing 295 laps ... There were five race cautions for 53 laps ... Checking out the final results: Jason White of Sun Peaks, B.C., 16th (295 laps); Shane Charlton, Kelowna, 17th (295); James Ward, Kelowna, 18th (294); Randy Kozek, Kelowna, 20th (284); James White, Kamloops, 23rd (261); and Sean Maltman, Vernon, 27th (85) ... Sun Valley is the first and only B.C. location to host the National CASCAR Super Series ... Western Series champion Kevin Dowler gave his Eastern Canadian counterparts a "pep talk" about Sun Valley. He was quoted as saying, "it's fast and it's been good to us. There's no other track like it in Canada. There are two totally different turns at each end of the track. There's progressive banking in turns 3 and 4, and turn 1 is just about flat. And there's a kink in the middle of the front straight, It's almost like a small road course or maybe like Richmond International Raceway, with alternate ends." Dowler finished ninth on Saturday night.

Fire season on the horizon

2007-02-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

When the Ol' Columnist began checking his old e-mails yesterday, one stood out from Saturday, August 16, 2003 and even though it was dated, it holds true today as the scorching sun continues to beat down on my valley and throughout the Okanagan:
It read: "I'm glad things are starting to get back to normal near your place. It was a strange drive to Penticton this morning, watching the yellow water bombers dip into the lake before dropping a fresh load of water on the Okanagan Mountain blaze. The fire, which began last night, had spread all around the mountain by mid-afternoon, blanketing nearby Peachland and Kelowna in a thick cloud of smoke. I've driven through burnt out Louis Creek and past the blackened hills near Whispering Pines -- but neither compared to the eeriness of my home town filled with wildfire smoke. Anyway, I'm sure you know the feeling after the events of this strange summer. Signed, David.
Besides the e-mail, David forwarded a story he had written for August 6, 2003. It read, in part: "Black smoke still curls from patches of Shea Alexander's backyard nearly a week after a devastating wildfire started alongside Highway 97 a stones throw from the teen's house. It's suspected the fire started after a driver flicked a lit cigarette out the window. Alexander, 15, stood in his backyard Wednesday surveying the blackened hillside his country home, a 10-minute drive from Falkland. He ventured up a narrow dirt road toward the highway to inspect what's left of his step father's workshop."
In a strange twist of fate, both the e-mail and the story were written by David Wylie, now the managing editor of the Vernon Daily Courier, and Shea Alexander, now age 17, happens to be the Ol' Columnist's grandson.
Since the 2003 fires, there has been a sense of "it could happen again," for the condiitions are very similiar to 2003 -- the oppressive heat and, of course, "idiots" continue to throw lit cigarettes out of car windows.
ANOTHER VIEW OF 'THE DAY FROM HELL': Wesley and Stacey Campbell, founders of Revival Now ministries based in Kelowna, were seriously impacted by the 2003 inferno. This is a portion of what they wrote for Canadian Christianity. com:
"For us, the whole fire ordeal has been -- to put it bluntly -- quite hairy! We were on holidays up north for a fishing trip with our friends at Stewart's Lodge, when the fire began. On Saturday, August 16, lightning struck in the centre of Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park, 20 miles southwest of Kelowna. Fanned by 70 kilometre per hour winds, the fire began to grow quickly. The location of the fire was directly across the lake from the house at which we are presently now staying (since we were evacuated).
"By Monday, August 18, the fire had grown to more than 2,200 hectares. It was starting to grow out of control, even with 40 firefighters, and helicopter and water bombers fighting it. Some 45 residents on Lakeshore Road were evacuated, as well as all the cabins at Chute Lake Resort.
"... As we drove home on Friday, we had no way of knowing what was coming. Really, no one expected it. We tried to call home many times during the nine-hour trip, but all the telephone lines were jammed. We had no way of knowing that Friday was turning into what reports would later describe as 'The Day from Hell.'
CUNNINGHAM IN THE RUNNING? On May 17, Juliette Cunningham had a "good showing" as the NDP candidate against the B.C. Liberal Party incumbent Tom Christiansen. While she lost in the provincial election, Cunningham told me yesterday she's seriously considering running for city council, whenever an election is called. So the political season is far from over for Cunningham, who has been serving as a school trustee for the past eight years. When I broached the subject of her running for Vernon mayor, she apparently has already scuttled that idea.
`REMEMBER ESKIMO PIES (From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader): Christian Nelson owned a candy and ice cream store in Onawa, Iowa. One day in 1920, a kid came into the store and ordered a candy bar ... and then changed his mind and asked for an ice-cream sandwich ... and then changed his mind again and asked for a marshmallow nut bar. Nelson wondered for a minute why there wasn't one candy-and-ice cream bar to satisify all the kid's cravings -- and then decided to make one himself: a vanilla bar coated with a chocolate shell. Once he figured out how to make the chocolate stick to the ice-cream, he had to think of a name for his product. At a dinner party, someone suggested "Eskimo" because it sounded cold. But other people thought it sounded too exotic -- so Nelson added the word "pie."
HERE'S ANOTHER ONE FROM 'UNCLE JOHN': From 1968 to 1979, Dock Ellis pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, and New York Mets. He won 138 games and played in twoWorld Series, but his biggest achievement was the no-hitter he pitched as a Pirate on June 12, 1970. Fourteen years later, Ellis revealed he'd accomplished this feat while under the influence of LSD.
FINALLY, ZOOM! ZOOM! What are you doing this weekend? If you're a CASCAR fan, then Sun Valley Speedway, a few miles from the Ol' Homestead, will be THE PLACE to be. Let's see, Friday schedule starts at noon with the gates open to VIP and pre-paid ticket holders and general admission at 1, with practice sessions from 1:30 to 3:45 p.m., time trials at 6 and 2 x 100-lap qualifying races at 7. And that's not all, for following the races, one of this Ol' Boy's favorite performers, Lee Dinwoodie, will be on stage ... On Saturday, more of the same, with the 300-lap CASCAR main event at 7 ... The Ol' Columnist will be there; stop by and say, "howdy."

UFOs, Ogopogo and Sasquatch

2007-02-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

It is the 'silly season.'
That's right, it's the time of year when the Ol' Columnist's thoughts turn to UFOs, Ogopogo and even Sasquatch.
So letting my fingers do the walking, I lifted the lid on the National UFO Reporting Center and found this July 14th story about some young lady in Scarborough, Ontario -- a suburb just east of Toronto.
"Star gazing and enjoying the cool breeze from the lake this evening, I was on my patio with my dog getting some fresh air. I saw something move across the sky above me, from east to west just over my head. Blinked my eyes to have a better look. When I refocused I saw an unusual object/objects. It was hard to determine if just one object or more then one because of the glow of lights on it/them.
"I can't give you a size because I"m not sure if it was more then one object or just one. There were three lights, in the shape of a triangle/chevron two bottom lights then one top ligh ... .in the direction of travel. The shape didn't appear to be all straight lines, it appeared shadowed in and curved a little on the inside like a chevron. It was a fuzzy outline and it's overcast tonight so I really couldn't make out if this was one object or not.
"The lights were not blinking like aircraft lights do, just illuminated, it wasn't a search light, spotlight or other regular type lighting, there was NO engine/motor sound, no propeller sound, no NOTHING! At first while I was watching it seemed to be moving at a fast pace like a streak above me which caught my eye ... I thought at first it was a shooting star. This craft/crafts, then slowed down almost to a crawl but still moving (slower then the speed you would see a satellite move in the night sky). Then it stopped but not abruptly, very gently and went the left (south towards the lake) then back to where it started from in the same line (east to west), then to the right (north) It came back to the original spot and began again traveling westward, towards the downtown or main core of Toronto.
"As I watched it, I noticed the speed was not consistent, very erratic like fast then slow but never jerky, very smooth but odd speeds. The speed seemed to move steadily after it did that little left right (north south) thing and began it's way west again. Eventually it was out of my sight.
"I remained outside for a while looking again and I know I will go back out again and look more. There was a small engine aircraft and a jet around the same time and area, one traveling east, the other south west (towards Toronto Island Airport). I've seen something almost identical to this with my father, in this same yard on this same patio and at the same time of year ... roughly 22 years ago. I was just a young girl then. THE ONLY difference, it was traveling from west to east and a bit lower in the sky. At that time there were (3) of them. I remember they were glowing and as I recall they looked, perhaps, with a green glow but not a dark or deep green rather a pale green, soft green.
"As for the other things, the chevron-shaped crafts .. .they look like the formation of how birds fly in a V but upside down ....the point is the direction it travels."
'Ms. Scarborough' continued describing her experience, but I wanted to focus on another unexplained phenomenon and that's Ogopogo.
On June 2nd, the headline in this newspaper read: Ogopogo searcher part of a strange breed. In it, Arlene Gaal explained her study of a strange animal that lives in Lake Okanagan in great detail. She also was certainly convincing in a well-searched Internet article which answered the question: Do you believe there is an Ogopogo?
"There is no doubt in my mind that there is an unidentified animal living in Lake Okanagan, whose name is Ogopogo. The Indians call it N'ha-a-itk. And it goes back three centuries in the Okanagan Valley."
When I read Tuesday's edition of the Kelowna Courier, a story by J.P. Squire got my attention for Arlene Gaal is liberally quoted and talking about a National Geographic TV special on Monday, Aug. 1 concerning a creature in the lake. I certainly will be tuning in, for it just might answer the ageless question: Is Ogie for real?
And then there's Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot and Yeti or Abominable Snowman.
However, we'll save those stories of the hairy creature for another day.
NOW THAT'S HOT: Sometimes I run across some gems. One that caught my eye was written by author, speaker, syndicated columnist and remodeled man, W. Bruce Cameron, in relating his time as a judge at a 1997 chili cook-off:
He described something called Susan's Screaming Sensation Chili this way: JUDGE ONE: A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers. JUDGE TWO: Ho, Hum, tastes as if the chef threw in canned chili peppers at the last moment. I should note that I am a bit worried about Judge Number 3, he appears to be in a bit of distress. CAMERON: You could put a hand grenade in my mouth and pull the pin and I wouldn't feel it. I've lost the sight in one eye and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My clothes are covered with chili which slid unnoticed at some point. Good, at autopsy they'll know what killed me. Go Sally, save yourself before it's too late. Tell our children I'm sorry I was not there to conceive them. I've decided to stop breathing, it's too painful and I'm not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air I'll just let it in through the hole in my stomach. Call the X-Files people and tell them I've found a super nova on my tongue.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Oops, Corbett forgot, but Cameron demanded the following blurb be attached to his chili copy: Copyright 1997 W. Bruce Cameron-- Please do not remove the copyright from this essay.

A false alarm -- this time

2007-02-23T13:25:00.000-08:00

The alarm bells sounded across the Pacific. Another major earthquake had hit near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that lie between India and Thailand late Sunday. There was even panic in Indonesia's Aceh province and also reports, according to AP news sources, that at least one coastal village in Sri Lanka had escaped to a Buddhist temple on higher ground.
Would this be another BIG ONE such as the combined earthquake and tsunami that had killed at least 200,000 unsuspecting people in the same areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, southern India, Thailand, and the Maldives back on December 26, 2004?
Fortunately, this 7.2 quake, without an accompanying tsunami, didn't wipe out masses of people this time, however, there's speculation it was just a precursor to another major disaster.
One Canadian, who was well aware of the alarm bells, was Dr. Dirk van der Meer, the 38-year-old Armstrong dentist, who had spent three weeks in May as part of the BC/FORT (British Columbia Forensic Odontology Research Team), which was sponsored by Foreign Affairs Canada.
"Are you going back?" I asked, point blank.
"No," was his answer and then he explained that Foreign Affairs Canada was discontinuing sending a dental forensic team as of August 31, but he went on to say international dental, DNA and fingerprint experts would still be needed
While there was a concerned tone in Dr. van der Meer's voice, he said he planned to lecture alongside of Dr. David Hodges in Prince George, B.C. in September and the dental forensic team, which he's a part of, would be represented at a conference to be held in Seattle in February, 2006.
As Dr. van der Meer explained in a mid-June column, he and Dr. Glenn Keryluk of Coquitlam, B.C. were called in to identify some of the tsunami victims by comparing data in the computer and also "spending time in the morgue, doing some final releases."
When I asked him at that time if he would consider returning to Thailand, Dr. van der Meer answered: "I'd go back in a minute if they asked me. It was quite an experience. I won't say I enjoyed it because that would be inappropriate, but I certainly valued the experience ... if not life changing, at least it was attitude changing, that's for sure."
While Dr. van der Meer still might be called if there's another devastating quake, I was curious as to what Canada has done, or will do, in regards to assistance.
On January 10, 2005, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced that Canada had agreed to a comprehensive package of up to $425 million spread over the next five years -- $265 million for humanitarian and rehabiliation assistance and $160 million for ongoing reconstruction assistance from 2005-09 to the affected region.
PM Martin was quoted. at the time, as saying: "Canada is among the most generous international donors to respond to this disaster with humanitarian and early recovery assistance ... Canada will ensure this contribution is effective and lasting."
In January, 16 organizations were eligible for matching funds. They included: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA Canada), Canadian Food for Hungry International, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, Canadian Red Cross, CARE Canada, Development and Peace, Doctors Without Borders, FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance Canada, Mennonite Central Committee Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, Salvation Army, Save the Children, UNICEF Canada, World Vision Canada and World University Service of Canada.
Of course, people always have doubts as to where the funds went and to answer those questions, the Government of Canada issued an update six months after the massive disaster.
This, in part, is what the update said: With support from Canada and other donors, UNICEF, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have together provided assistance to more than 2 million people in the affected areas. In addition, UNICEF has provided 1.1 million children in affected countries with oral hydration salts. In Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and other affected countries, IFRC has provided 840,000 people with assistance, including shelter, health care, water and sanitation, and counseling. In Indonesia, ICRC has performed 700 surgeries, treated more than 10,000 outpatients. provided 290,000 people with relief supplies, and cleaned 545 wells.
So Canada's chest should swell for a change. This nation has disbursed more than one-third of its funds ($159 million) and CIDA is funding 12 relief and early rehabilitation projects totaling $89.6 million, etc., etc.
While the millions of dollars can often boggle the Ol' Columnist's brain; let me just say, I'm proud to be Canadian. We can be a generous bunch of unequalled magnitude in a crisis.
NEXT: The second in a three-part series on 'Earth, Wind and Fire'!

YOGI SEZ (Gems from Yogi Berra, Hall of Famer and catcher for the New York Yankees): "You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there" ... "You give 100% in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough, in the second half you give what's left."

Watch out for flying hooves

2007-02-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

So there I was Boss, about to be trampled by the thundering hooves (or is it hoofs?) on Saturday night. There were Aaron, Aladdin, Buck, Clarissa, Drum, Khalydyn, Little Beaver, Rhythm, Rio and Sierra charging past me, and close enough to kick dirt in this ol' would-be cowboy's face.
Yes, indeedy-do, but as I always said, the open range is my life, to paraphrase Ol' Jim Taylor.
In case you are wondering if I've flipped out, I have for something called, 'The I.O.U. Land,' now playing (except Monday night) at Caravan Farm Theatre, out near Armstrong, until August 21.
In the program, it reads it's part fairytale, horse opera, part honkytonk comedy and based on Wagner's Ring Cycle.
"Okay, who's this Wagner guy? Wasn't he once married to Natalie Wood?" I had to ask.
"No, no, it's pronounced Vaaagnar. Richard Vaaaagner," The Opera Lady replied, looking down her long nose.
"So what's this Ring stuff?" I butted in.
"Well, you dummy, let me tell you it's comprised of four operas -- Das Reingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung that tell one long and exceptionally intricate story, which was based on Scandinavian and German sagas. Act One of the I.O.U. Land is based on Die Walkure, and Act Two is based on Siegfried."
Since I'm not about to tell you the entire plot, let me tell you that the Estelle Shook-directed 'I.O.U. Land' is a must-see for mid-summer watching.
In the cast are Kerriann Cardinal (Wynona Wolf), Ryan Cunningham (Billy Wolf/Billy Junior), Darren Hynes (Victor Snow/Big Mack), Michelle Latimer (Anna Bonita Snow/Chickadee), Donald Morin (Sam Wolf/Vagabond) and Courtenay Stevens (Junkyard Jimmy).

MOONLIGHTING ATHLETES: Since music is my life, here are some hits and misses: Shaquille O'Neal from the Miami Heat has put out five rap albums. It's a best bet, he'll be remembered for his basketball skills. Wayman Tisdale, the NBA power forward, who toiled on the courts for a dozen years, rates as a hit in the R&B and jazz field. Mike Reid, the one-time Cincinnati Bengals lineman, is another hit. Iin fact he earned a Grammy for writing 'Stranger in My House,' which Ronnie Milsap turned into a monster hit back in 1983. And what about pitcher Bronson Arroyo in the musical field? Well, BA, better stick to keeping my Boston Red Sox in the American League hunt.
ARSENIC AND THE KING: You might have read this elsewhere, but the madness of England's King George III might have been caused by arsenic. According to a Lancet medical research paper, Ol' George had five very public bouts of madness that caused his death -- blind, deaf and insane in January 1820. He ruled for nearly 60 years and now a team of scientists from Britain and Australia have found high concentrations of arsenic in his hair and it came from the antimony-based medicine he was given, sometimes by force.
HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: Once this Ol' Man had plenty of locks, but somehow my hair vanished and there's a small, shiny bald spot underneath the baseball cap. However, bald men in German have a serious problem. It seems that they can't get any government help in paying for the hair "rug." In a news story, a German court threw out a legal challenge by a bald 46-year-old man for a $530 toupee and added the state was not discriminating against men even though health insurance covers the cost of wigs for women. The court ruled, "In contrast to women, the involuntary loss of hair among men is common and accepted as nothing out of the ordinary."
FABULOUS FLOP (From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader): Studebaker Dictator -- Not exactly "the heartbeat of America" when it was introduced in 1934. According to one auto industry analyst, "after Hitler and Mussolini came to power, a name like Dictator was downright un-American." Yet, incredibly, the nation's #5 automaker stuck with it for three years.
SIDNEY'S THE NAME, HOCKEY IS HIS NAME: With the Pittsburgh Penguins about to hail Sidney Crosby as the second coming of Mario Lemieux, perhaps, you'd like to know about The Kid: Born August 7, 1987 to Troy and Trina Crosby; one sister, Taylor; the family currently resides in Cole Harbour, N.S. At age 2 1/2 he would play in the basement of their home, which his father had painted white and added red and blue lines. At age 3, Sidney started skating on ice. At age 7 he gave his first newspaper interview and was already on the radar of the sports press. At age 14 he was featured on the CBC's show Hockey Day in Canada. By skipping ahead, Wayne Gretzky told the Arizona Republic, in answer to a question if a player may some day break some of his records: "Yes, Sidney Crosby. He's the best player I've seen since Mario (Lemieux)." And what's more Ol' Sidney has arrived on the Net. He's at www.crosby87.com/ ... Check it out.
FINALLY: The Dodgers' original name was the Bridegrooms. Reason: Lots of newlyweds on the team.

Better than paint-by-numbers

2007-02-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

Doris Sims (Thompson) could be the female equivalent of Rembrandt in depicting wildlife with originals and lithographs. And what's more she lives about three miles from the Ol' Homestead where I have been known to be a serious paint-by-numbers 'artist.'
For years, I had often passed by her place on Salmon River Road, always muttering to myself, "Someday, I am going down that dirt road and just see who D. Sims (Thompson) really is and what her wildlife art studio is really like." Well, I finally did.
However, if I thought D. Sims was going to be an arrogant and eccentric artist, then I was completely taken aback.
After I introduced myself, a very modest Doris escorted me into her 'gallery' of magnificent paintings that range from ducks to bears to timber wolves, with price tags in the reasonable neighborhood of $400-$500 and sometimes a tad more.
For some time, I pondered over her books of art, and then it was time to leave this artistic sanctuary.
A hour or so later, however, she drove to the Ol' Homestead with her bio.
This is some of what I found out about this brilliant painter:
Doris Sims was born in 1944 in Grande Prairie, Alberta and at an early age she developed an attachment to animals and as a result, dragged home every stray she could lay her hands on. Sometime during her teenage years, Doris moved to Red Deer and spent as much time as possible on her uncle's farm near Pine Lake. This increased her affection and deepened her admiration for animals. She spent many hours in the presence of farm animals and observing wildlife.
Doris painted and sold a few paintings in her early 20s, but a husband and a home took precedence over her art work. The power of the canvas and the urge to paint her beloved subjects was, in the latter years of 1980, too great and she finally conceded to pursue a career as a wildlife painter.
In a short time her work was purchased by oil field companies, private, and corporate collectors. Her art has graced the covers of magazines (Alberta Fish and Wildlife) and many illustrations accompanied the written word in various publications. He art also was and continues to be featured on Christmas cards. Her work has also appeared in shows and exhibitions throughout Alberta. In 1990, "Golden Pond -- Mallards" was selected by Ducks Unlimited and Alberta Government Fish and Wildlife to appear on Alberta's second bird game stamp. In 1992 the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation-Canada made her their Regal Artist of the Year (1993) for "Spirits of Nature."
In the summer of 1993, Doris and her husband, Roger Thompson, moved to the Salmon Arm district of B.C. and in May 1994 her painting of a Snow Leopard and kittens won third place in an art competition held yearly through "Ducks Unlimited" for all of B.C.
While Doris should glory in her artistic achievements, she showed her modest side with these words: "My greatest goal is to keep learning, keep improving and, hopefully, people get as much satisfaction from my paintings as I get doing them."
She readily admit there has been a down time in her work in the last few years, but she said there have been strong incentives to continue her work.
Then she added these words: "It takes years to become a good artist and I am just beginning. I am both pleased and surprised it went this far as fast. Now I would like to get a lot more into wildlife photographing as well and, of course, ducks. Keep improving with art work and help with the preservation of wildlife when I can."
Doris Sims (Thompson) can be reached at 250-379-2706
.
IT'S SHOWTIME: In one of the most rustic settings in B.C., 'The I.O.U. Land' is playing at the Caravan Farm Theatre in the Armstrong area (check out www.caravanfarmtheatre.com. for details) every night at 7:30 p.m. except Mondays until August 21. It's a new play with music by Linz Kenyon and based on Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. So what's the jest of it, pardner? Well, rodeo champion Sam Wolf loses his land in a game of poker ... His lawyer son Billy is supposed to win it back ... Like a chuckwagon wreck at the Calgary Stampede, everything goes wrong. Hey, there's more on the billboard: Star-crossed lovers on the run, murder, betrayal, wild riding cowgirls, enchanted poker games, the Custer longknife, a ring of fire and a sleep of 20 years. I'm going to check it out on Saturday nightl. If you want tickets, call (250) 546-8533 or toll free at 1-866-546-8533.
THAT'LL COST YOU: Did you know that Classic Collectibles (www.classicauctions.net/) holds the record for top prices obtained for a game worn jersey (1973 Bobby Orr -- $135,000 USD), for a Stanley Cup ring (1961 Bobby Hull -- $85,000 USD), for a game used hockey stick (1971 Jean Beliveau -- $17,500 USD) and for a Stanley Cup trophy (1957 Jean Beliveau -- $42,000 USD)?

Researching the 'garbage'

2007-02-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

The Melville Flash was fuming. She had discovered my stack of research materials.
"So, you call this research, this is garbage," The Missus said in her most dictatorial tone. Quickly, I tried to hide the latest copies of the 'National Enquirer' and the 'Globe' from her sight lines.
"But, I was just trying to dig out a column for THE paper," I muttered.
"Sure, you were," she retorted, with a slight sneer. And then she followed it up with "So, Big Boy, what did you learn from these sordid tabloids?"
"Well, Martha's going to wed some tycoon after dropping a whole bunch of pounds," I said.
"Hey, let me see that."
The Missus was hooked. I had mentioned those magical words about someone losing weight.
Maybe, I can get out of this mess, I thought, as I quickly turned to Page 26 of the 'Globe'.
"See," I said, "just look at this headline, 'Domestic diva sheds 75 pounds to bag billionaire Mr. Right.'"
"How'd she do that?"
"Well, it says right here that a chef from one of New York's upper-crust restaurants put the 63-year-old household queen on a delicious but effective diet."
The Missus wanted me to read on. So I did.
"Martha had ballooned to almost 225 pounds, and when she landed in jail she decided to get her weight under control for good. By dieting and doing yoga, she's lost weight. And now she's ready for a slinky wedding gown and a new life with Charles."
"So, who is this Charles guy?"
"That's Charles Simonyi, the billionaire computer genius," I said, smugly, as if I travelled in those circles.
Since I knew any talk of losing weight would get her interest, I started thumbing through the National Enquirer and boom! there on Page 66 the headline bellowed: 'Stomach surgery saved my life and helped me go from size 78 to 18.'
"I don't think I should read this story," I said.
"And, why not?" came the reply.
"Well, this woman ... her name is Debra Joines ... underwent gastric bypass surgery. It seems ol' Deb used to weigh 619 pounds and after a 16-hour operation in a New Orleans hospital, she woke up with a new stomach, held together with 450 stitches and staples, and now weighs 223 pounds."
"Maybe, you should have the operation," The Missus said, in her most endearing voice.
"Maybe, I should."
"Well, what else is there in that rag?" she asked.
"Look at this. There's a new Graceland report that claims that Elvis' body is gone."
"Really," she said.
"That's right, there's some yahoo from Missouri who spent 2,500 of his own smackeroos to run DNA tests on tissue samples taken before and after Elvis' death and they don't match."
Of course, The Missus didn't want to hear my Elvis story for the 387th time.
But you haven't heard it, have you?
Well, a long time ago, it had to be in the 1970s, when Elvis was a part-owner or backer of the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League, a gang of us from Toronto found our way to Memphis for a game in the Liberty Bowl where we had a chance to visit with some friends such as former Toronto Argonauts head coach Leo Cahill and quarterback extraordinaire Dick Thornton.
Following the game, there was an invitation to show up at a Memphis mansion and we were assured Elvis would be there.
As the Toronto gang exited the Liberty Bowl, I looked toward the stadium elevators and saw the top of Elvis' head and then he was gone.
Incidentally, Elvis never did show up at the mansion.
And now you know my Elvis' story.
"So, what else is in the Enquirer?" The Missus asked.
"Well, here's one just for you, Sweets."
I began reading a story entitled: How to banish age spots.
"It says right here there's a lot you can do to banish those ugly brown blotches on your skin."
"So that story was just for me?" seethed The Missus.
And now you know why I slept in the spare bedroom the other night.

FINALLY FROM UNCLE JOHN'S BATHROOM READER: Covering a yawn -- People once thought that their souls -- or perhaps even their life forces -- could escape during a yawn. They covered their mouths to prevent this and, since yawns can be contagious, to try to keep people around them from "catching" the yawn. The apology after a yawn originated as an expression of regret for having exposed people to mortal danger.

Get ready for some heat

2007-02-23T08:58:00.000-08:00

With Hurricane Emily slashing her fury on places such as Cancun, the thoughts turn to something few of us can do little about -- the weather.
However, one thing that has changed since the Ol' Columnist was a young 'un, and that's the accuracy of the forecasts. Someone in your family, I'm sure, always had a comment about the "predictions." "They never get it right," mumbled Grandpa as snowflurries battered the window panes instead of rain drops. Then he always followed it up with "See, I told you, they always get it wrong."
However, such is not the case anymore.
In fact, the weather has become one of the most popular subject on both sides of the border and even on the Internet, it's the hottest subject of the day. If you're interested, and I know you are, then go to either www.theweathernetwork.com/ or www.weather.com/ and check what's in store.
Yesterday, with the sun beating down on the Ol' Homestead, I decided to scurry around the www.theweathernetwork.com/ site and checked in with meteorologist Lloyd Butler, to find out what we can expect in British Columbia and beyond.
The following are Butler's words: "After a cool start to the summer, western and southern sections of British Columbia can expect above average temperatures for the rest of the season thanks to warm waters in the Gulf of Alaska, which are also helping to keep large portions of Nunavut and Yukon warmer than usual ... As the summer continues, the southern coast of British Columbia should also see the weather dry out. Overall though, precipitation totals are expected to be near normal. Elsewhere, in the province, some areas can expect to end the summer with higher than normal precipitation as a result of the rain received during the month of June. Meantime, residents of the southern interior will look back on the summer of 2005 as a dry one overall."
So, Weatherman Lloyd seems to believe Vernon and area is in for a hot, dry spell.
Let's hope, it's not close to what has happened in Ontario and western Quebec. The coroner's office in Toronto, according to a CBC News indepth story on heat waves, identified three heat-related deaths so far.
The story went on to say that June 2005 was "also a bad month for heat-related deaths in other parts of the world. In Italy, heat killed at least 18 people. In Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, officials say more than 500 people died from it in May and June."
As some of you know, the Ol' Columnist once lived and toiled in the Toronto area and that's one place I wouldn't want to return to -- at least not just right now.
Canada's biggest city has been going through the throes of a sizzling summer. In the past, the average -- including daytime and nightime temperatures -- was 17.9 Celsius for June. However, last month, it zoomed to 22.5C. Since I haven't been able to figure Celsius and Fahrenheit, all I know is this Ol' Coot would rather go to somewhere where it's cooler and away from those kind of temperatures.
Environment Canada meteorologist Peter Kimbell had these words: "We've smashed the normal temperature by almost five degrees. It's a significant record. The previous record was 21.7 C in 1949."
In the same CBC story, Kimbell warned that June's hot weather may extend throughout the summer. "We are forecasting the temperature to be above average for June, July and August. But you have to take that with a grain of salt because of our record. Three-month forecasts are very difficult to do," he said, in the report.
While the Okanagan groaned about steamy weather yesterday, Toronto and the Windsor area suffered through another extreme heat alert. In fact, it was the eighth straight day that T.O. boiled in Hades-like temperatures, hitting in the 33 C range.
Ouch! Ouch!
So what does the forecast mean for other parts of Canada? According to the CBC News report, there's more rain in store for the already drenched Prairies, who have suffered 50 per cent more than usual this year. For Ontario, the heat wave is expected to slowly fade and rain will become the norm except in southwestern Ontario, where it will continue to be dry. Quebec, where serious fires are now burning, will get cooler and in the Maritimes, it has been cool, but in the next few days it's expected to warm up.
And what about the Okanagan? Well, Bunky, get ready for some heat.
As for me, I'll have the air conditioner on full blast.

TIME TO COOL DOWN: From Uncle John's Bathroom Reader comes the story of popsicles. It seems 11-year-old Frank Epperson accidentally left a mixture of powdered soda mix and water on his back porch one winter night in 1905. The next morning, he found the stuff frozen, with the stirring stick standing straight up in the jar. He pulled it out, and had the first "Epperson icicle" -- or "Epsicle." He later named it "Popsicle," since he'd made it with soda pop. It was patented in 1923, 18 years later.

Those 'roids of ruin

2007-02-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

When Victor Conte, James Valente and Greg Anderson were given just slaps on the hands Friday in a San Francisco courtroom for distributing anabolic steroids to elite athletes, all the Ol' Columnist could think about was Lyle Alzado, who once lived in RowdyLand and died at the age of 43 from brain cancer.
As I related in my book, 'Counterfeit Hero -- The 'Roids of Ruin' (to be re-released in September 2005), Alzado blamed anabolic steroids, those high-yield, high-risk junk bonds for the biceps, for his illness.
In the San Jose Mercury, sportswriter Mark Purdy once wrote that "no one had more fun being rowdy than Alzado. He grew up rowdy in Brooklyn. He played rowdy football at Yankton College in South Dakota. He played rowdier football in the NFL. Alzado created a character that was almost theatrical in nature. He ripped off the helmets of opponents, then laughed to reporters about it afterward, bulging out his eyes and growling."
Alzado plied his trade at a high level, but when he died in 1992, he was literally a frail, old man with a bandanna on his nearly hairless head.
"I had my mind set and I did what I wanted to do," Alzado said about his steroid abuse. "So many people tried to take me out of what I was doing, and I wouldn't listen."
He was diagnosed with a rare form of brain lymphoma in April 1991 -- less than a year after his ill-fated comeback with the Los Angeles Raiders.
Even after he stopped playing in RowdyLand, Alzado, who claimed he spent $20,000 to $30,000 on "gas," continued taking them.
Forest Tennant, the NFL's drug adviser from 1986 to 1990, has said steroids can cause two kinds of cancer: those in the sex organs, such as prostate cancer and those in the immune system, such as lymphoma, leukemia and Hodgkin's Disease.
The Lyle Alzado National Steroid Education Program, part of the non-profit Athletes and Entertainers for Kids organization, was developed to educate young people about the damaging and life-threatening effects of anabolic steroids and human growth hormones.
Alzado had his own "Doctor Feel-Good" in Dr. John David Perzik and RowdyLand Lyle was one of his best customers. In February 1991, the California-based medic pleaded guilty in federal court in San Jose to one count of conspiring to illegally distribute a prescribed drug, which put him behind bars at a minimum-security prison at Lompac, California.
Cops confirmed Perzik belonged to a multi-dollar steroid ring that included another Alzado supplier, Steve Coons, a Santa Clara trainer accused of being one of the largest illegal distributor of steroids. By September 1992, Perzik agreed to help the feds prosecute Coons.
Even while Perzik was in jail, he continued illegally prescribing steroids. "He really didn't miss a beat," said California state prosecutor Russell W. Lee. "He kept on going."
Perzik cleared more than $210,000 in profits from the illegal sale of steroids in 1990, acording to documents from the California Board of Medical Quality.
While Alzado's demise was stunning, probably the most dramatic testimony about anabolic steroids came from the mouth of one of the world's most well-known athletes -- professional wrestler Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Bollea) on Thursday, July 14, 1994. Hogan was called to the witness stand during the trial of promoter Vince McMahon on charges of conspiracy and distribution of anabolic steroids to WWF wrestlers.
Although McMahon was eventually cleared of wrongdoing, Hogan's testimony was a blow to the solar plexus.
When asked about specific steroids he had taken, Bollea admitted they included dianabol, anavar, winstrol, testosterone, and decadurabolin, with "deca" his obvious drug of choice.
Bollea claimed that during his second stint with the WWF, 1983-1984, steroid use was quite common, with the figure between 75 and 80 per cent and ringside physician, Dr. George Zahorian, was identified as the medic who could supply wrestlers with everything from steroids to sleeping pills to Valium.
When McMahon and others in his company were cleared of wrongdoing, other sports seemed to have taken it as a green light until Conte, who founded BALCO -- Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative -- along with BALCO vice president James Valente and Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' longtime friend and personal trainer, stood before U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on Friday.
Federal prosecutors had charged Conte with illegally distributing performance-enhancing drugs through his firm, BALCO, to more than 30 baseball, football and track and field stars, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Conte faced a maximum of 25 years in prison.
What did they get under a plea bargain?
Conte pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids and one count of money laundering. He faces four months in prison; Valente pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute steroids. He is expected to be sentenced to probation; and Anderson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to distribute steroids and money laundering. He is likely to spend no more than six months in prison, according to the Chronicle. A fourth man, track coach Remi Korchemny, delayed accepting any plea agreement.
And what about such elite athletes as Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Marion Jones, who have been implicated in the international sports doping scandal? It appears they will "walk."

Nights of whine and neuroses ends

2007-02-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

As you know, hockey is my life to steal a line from my scribbling hero, Jim Taylor.
Perhaps, the Ol' Columnist exaggerates just a tad, but I once showed up as a tall, stringy goaltender for the powerhouse St. Catharines Teepees when Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull were setting junior A records. Of course, coach Rudy Pilous wasn't impressed as I donned No. 73 when the designated numbers for goalies in that era were 1 and 1A.
So what happened in the interim?
Well, 'The Sieve' discarded the goalie pads for a writing pad and had a chance to interview the likes of Gordie Howe, Henri Richard, Bernie Geoffrion, Bill Mosienko and Rocket Richard. That was when the six-team league was flourishing in Boston, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Montreal and Detroit.
Then the NHL began adding teams until today there are 30. So name them, Mr. Sieve.
Well, let's see there's Anaheim, Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Jose, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington. Whew!
See I told you I could do it. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a sheet with all the names on it.
Since I have been as confused as you about the reasons the 2004-05 season was wiped out, I decided to consult the swamis of the trade. So step right up to the plate, Mr. Experts, and explain all the ramifications:
DON CHERRY: No doubt who won this contest ... the owners. The players' association got a home run in 1994 and they tried to hit a home run now and they should have settled for a double or a single because there was no way they were going to beat the owners this time. They underestimated the owners' resolve and they pay the price now and they pay a big price ... It was Armageddon as far as I am concerned, but I believe it will make the league and the franchises stronger. We had to have Armageddon to get them. Teams like Edmonton and Calgary are going to be all the stronger ... After a year, I got so much to say I can hardly wait to hear myself.
IAN AUSTIN, Vancouver Province: Bring it on! Hockey fans throughout the Lower Mainland rejoiced over news the Canucks are finally going to hit the ice again. Even though the NHL season is months away, the mood was enthusiastic at Burnaby 8-Rinks after a tentative deal was announced by the league and its players. "It's great news for the fans, and all the local businesses around GM Place," said Wah Gee, a 37-year-old Vancouver teacher who plays hockey two or three times a week. Gee figures all sides in the 301-day lockout -- the longest stoppage in North American sports history -- should own up to the pain they've caused.
TERRY JONES, Edmonton Sun: Funny how fast the focus goes back to the hometown hockey team.The deal is done. The players lose. The owners win. And Marilyn Bell just swam Lake Ontario. The big news, by the time it became news, was not really news. Today you want to know the one thing you've always wanted to know as you've waited for this day to arrive: Are the Edmonton Oilers going to be able to get a prime-time, star-quality, first-line centre, a puck-rushing defenceman and a goaltender? Instantly on DD-Day, that became the topic ... The new $39-million US salary cap doesn't mean the Oilers are going to have a $39-million budget. They're not. They're going to have the same $33-million cap they had when we last watched hockey here.
STEVE SIMMONS, Toronto Sun: On the day the hockey lockout came to a merciful ending, after 300 nights of whine and neuroses, there were unknowing smiles almost everywhere. And no one seemed to know exactly why. Having been slaughtered in the most damaging fight in hockey history, having been sold out by their own union representatives on just about every issue they were instructed to believe in, players spoke bravely yesterday about rebuilding the game. What else could they say after such a stunning defeat? They talked about a new game and new rules and a new beginning and this sudden tentative partnership between players and owners. They did so with brave faces and their usual stirring lack of information. Not only did they lose a season's salary in the process but they must now relinquish 24% of their contracted money for the year that is to come: A new starting point for players, a new starting line for the back-in-business National Hockey League. In simple terms, commissioner Gary Bettman negotiated by holding his breath, but in the end it was the players who turned blue. They fought against a salary cap and lost.
As for the Ol' Columnist, I can hardly wait until the Vernon Vipers get back on the ice.
Now, that's real hockey.

Now, don't you feel better?

2007-02-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when the Ol' Columnist feels his age -- at least 39 -- and gets depressed from the avalanche of politicians falling from grace and rumours of wars throughout this sad-sack planet, he goes searching for "feel-good" stories and, believe it or not, Bunky, he sometimes finds them.
Yesterday, I phoned "bubbly" 70-year-old Audrey Johnson.
The last time we talked was during the provincial election campaign, and while at the election headquarters, a lady approached me and said: "Do you know who I am?"
Hesistantly, I stuttered, "Of course, you're, you're ...!"
The lively woman, with a wide smile, said, matter-of-factly, "See, I knew you didn't know who I am."
Then, before I could put both feet in my mouth, she said: "I'm Audrey Johnson."
"You're Audrey Johnson?" I said, now trying to remove at least one Size 11 boot.
"What happened?" I muttered.
The last time I had seen her, she looked like death warmed over.
Audrey Johnson had operated the Whispering Pines Restaurant, near the Ol' Homestead, on an intermittent basis. I would often exchange greetings with the frail individual and then, suddenly, she vanished and I heard that she had found a place to live (or die) in Vernon.
That was a couple of years ago.
After a cancer operation, in which her bowel and colon were removed, Audrey had faded to 82 pounds of skin and bones. There seemed to be little hope.
In fact, as she related yesterday, she couldn't even keep water down and "I was literally dying."
Then came the discovery that throughout the years, she had been suffering from Celiac Disease.
In the January 2005 issue of Reader's Digest, the disease's symptoms include abdominal cramping and bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation, unexplained anemia and mysterious weight loss or gain. Sufferers may also feel joint pain, fatigue or depression and some develop a substantial rash.
The article stated that at least 6,000 Canadians had been diagnosed with it and the disease can be triggered by pregnancy, severe stress, surgery or viral infection.
But what shocked the Ol' Columnist was that something called protein gluten contained in grains such as wheat, oats, barley and rye were the culprits and in medical terminology, when certain people, according to the Reader's Digest, eat the grains, the hairlike projections in the small intestines called villi -- which absorb nutrients from food -- shrink or disappear, leaving them unable to digest properly. The article went on to say, "Celiac disease can lead to osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anemia and serious vitamin deficiencies."
So now Audrey Johnson is on a protein gluten-free diet, meaning no wheat products, and after being 82 pounds in March 2003, she gained 40 pounds on her new "diet" by September of that year and now has leveled off at about 117 pounds.
As for her present-day health, she said, "I feel wonderful."
The "new" Audrey Johnson is a volunteer and also prepares food at the O'Keefe Ranch restaurant.

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!: Another "feel-good" story which caught may attention yesterday involved children's book author Irene Morck, who has moved to the Paxton Valley area, near Falkland, along with her, husband, Mogens Nielsen, as well as a bevy of mules.
The author of such works as Tough Trails, Old Bird, Apples and Angel Ladders: A Collection of Pioneer Christmas Stories, Five Pennies, A Prairie Boy's Story, Tiger's New Cowboy Boots as well as numerous magazine articles and stories, has settled down in her new abode, but she didn't want to talk so much about her books yesterday, but about the mules.
Now that was a subject which didn't tweak my interest, but she went right ahead and told me of their busy schedule, including the Battle of the Breeds in Alberta.
Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Irene has lived in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Caribbean as her profile says, and has a B.Sc. (Honours in Biochemistry) from the University of Alberta, her teaching certificate from the University of Calgary, taught science at boys' schools in Barbados and Jamaica and did two years of biochemisty research at the University of the West Indies.
Before moving to B.C., Irene and Mogens lived on a farm near Spruce View, Alberta, where they raised hay and grain. It was there she was involved in substitute teaching and freelance photography and, of course, trail riding their mules in the mountains.
And I had to ask.

Da Vinci Code backlash

2007-02-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

The headline screamed: 1.7 million Canadians believe Da Vinci Code.
It certainly caught my attention as I read and re-read the Ottawa Citizen article by Paul Gessell. It stated that a Decima Research survey concluded that nearly two million Canadians, who read Dan Brown's mega-selling book, The Da Vinci Code, ended the novel convinced that Jesus Christ fathered a line of descendants on Earth.
However, a small group of Catholics and Lutherans of the Wisconsin Synod, who created AboutBibleProphecy.com in mid-February, 2001, have taken a stand against such assumptions.
On their website, they make nine statements, in clarifying their stand against the novel:
1. Fiction: Mary Magdale was married to Jesus.
This claim is the backbone of Brown's novel: The Da Vinci Code claims that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, that they had children, and that their descendants included a line of kings in France, as well as some of the main characters in Brown's novel. Despite Brown's claims, however, there are no historical documents that claim Jesus was married -- not even the "Gnostic gospels" that Brown mentions in the novel.
2. Fiction. The Gnostic gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls are "the earliest Christian records."
The Da Vinci Code claims that the New Testament is a forgery and that the Gnostic gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls are the original Christian texts. This claim, however, is flatly contradicted by an overwhelming amount of scholarship by Christians and non-Christians. Many scholars believe that the New Testament was written during the first century and that the Gnostic texts were written no sooner than the second century. And, the Dead Sea Scrolls don't contain any gospels of any kind. In fact, the Dead Sea Scrolls do not contain any Christian writings at all.
3. Fiction: Christianity stole its ideas and concepts from paganism.
The Da Vinci Code, on page 232, claims: "Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian god Mithras -- called the Son of God and the Light of the World -- was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. By the way, December 25 was also the birthday of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh." This sequence of claims has puzzled many critics of Brown's book as their possible origin, if indeed they have an origin outside of the author's imagination.
4. Fiction: The sacred name for God has a paganistic origin.
The Da Vinci Code, on page 309, claims: "The Jewish Teragrammaton YHWH -- the sacred name of God -- in fact derived from Jehovah, an androgynous physical union between the masculine Jah and the pre-Hebraic name for Eve, Havah." This is perhaps one of the most embarrassing errors within Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The word Jehovah isn't the name for God. In fact, that word doesn't appear in the Bible in either the Hebrew text of the Old Testament or in the Greek text of the New Testament. The word Jehovah is a made-up English word.
5. Fiction: The Vatican killed an "astounding 5 million women" during the witch hunts.
This is important to Brown's The Da Vinci Code, because in order for the novel's storyline to work, the Catholic Church must be portrayed as an evil, oppressive institution that hates, oppresses and feels threatened by women. But, despite Brown's claims that there were 5 million women burned to death by the Vatican, the fact is many scholars, including those who are not Christian, say that the witch hunts were generally done by local governments and individuals. Many scholarly sources estimate that the number of people killed by the witch hunts is between 20,000 to 100,000. And, some sources estimate that 20 to 25 per cent of the victims were men.
6. Fiction: Emperor Constantine shaped the New Testament.
This is essential to the plot in The Da Vinci Code because it requires that the reader can believe that Constantine replaced the Gnostic writings with what we now call the New Testament. But, Constantine could not have had a hand in shaping the New Testament for two reasons: He wasn't born soon enough and he didn't live long enough.
7. Fiction: The Vatican demonized pagan worship.
The Da Vinci Code, page 37: "As part of the Vatican's campaign to eradicate pagan religions and convert the masses to Christianity, the church launched a smear campaign against the pagan gods and godesses, recasting their divine symbols as evil ... Venus' pentacle became the sign of the devil." Many people might now realize this, but there is a great deal of historical evidence that shows that pagans tried to eradicate Christianity and that pagans copied Christian symbols and ceremonies in the hopes of surviving the spread of Christianity, especially during the first three centuries after the time of Jesus.
8. Fiction: Constantine and the Vatican demonized Mary Magdalene and sought to degrade women as part of a "power grab."
These claims are important to Dan Brown's storyline. The historical evidence, however, strongly contradicts Brown's claim. Mary Magdalene is held in special regard by the Catholic Church, in part because she was the first person to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
9. Fiction: "Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans."
Da Vinci Code, pages 232-233" "Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans. Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagan's veneration day of the sun." Actually, long before Constantine was born, there were Christian writings that made it clear than there was a Sabbath, which corresponds to Saturday, and a "Lord's Day," which corresponds to Sunday.

A shock to the system

2007-02-23T08:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been Tasered?
Me, neither.
However, this hugh voltage force of restraint has almost become a common phrase in today's society and has sent shock waves even throughout police departments in North America.
Before going any further, it's best to find just what are Tasers.
According to a CBC News Online report, they are hand-held weapons that deliver a jolt of electricity -- up to 50,000 volts -- from up to 6.5 metres away with the shot being able to penetrate up to five centimetres of clothing. It stuns the target by causing an uncontrollable contraction of the muscle tissue. He/she is immobilized and falls to the ground --regardless of pain tolerance or mental focus.
In the same report this is what I learned: TASER stands for Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle, from the Tom Swift series of children's novels written in the early 20th century, including Tom Swift and his Electric Rifle. The real stars of the series of science-fiction novels were potential advances in technology.
Who makes them?
The CBC report stated Arizona-based Taser International makes virtually all of the "stun guns" being used today. The company claims 5,400 law enforcement department use its immobilizers and more than 500 law enforcement agencies equip all of their patrol officers with Tasers.
In continuing, there are two main types of stun guns made by Taser: M26-- a high-powered weapon marketed to police forces to stop "highly combative individuals" and X26 -- a less-powerful model introduced in 2003. The company is developing a version of this weapon that will be marketed to civilians.
Those are just the facts, folks.
However, there have been some Taser-caused deaths, even here in British Columbia, which we'll outline in future columns.
One of the most significant was the death of Gurmit Sandhu, an autobody shop owner and father of four from Surrey.
According to the news report, Sandhu had been having an argument with his wife and he started hallucinating and yelling about snakes.
Apparently, the police, who were called to the scene, tried to subdue Sandhu by using pepper spray, but were unable to do so and that's when he was shot with Taser. Police, according to the news report, began administering CPR, and he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Although only four people have died after police fired Tasers, according to CBC British Columbia, a police commission review found that the devices themselves don't cause the deaths -- but may pose a problem when people are in an excited drug-induced state.
The use of Tasers in certain cases seems justified, but Michelin de Strake of Lillooet, B.C., questions an RCMP constable's so-called "excessive force" in February.
According to de Strake she was holding a "welcome home party" for a friend when five RCMP officers charged through her front door at 3 in the morning. "They had Tasered my dog and he was, like, screaming, so I looked behind me and I asked, "What the hell are you doing to my dog' and he (Const. St. Amand) came up behind me and stepped on my back and Tasered me in the spine," she told the CBC News. Later, an RCMP spokesperson said the Taser went off by accident.
Amnesty International has stated that officers "might be tempted to use weapons like Tasers too often if they believe they're not lethal."

GETTING CLOSER? As a former Middle East Bureau Chief for a major news gathering organization based in Jerusalem, Israel, I have believed, for some time now, that Canada is not immune to terrorist attacks. After Thursday's devastating bombings in London, Canada's Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan admitted that security has been tightened across our nation as it pertains to Via Rail, CN and CP as well as local subway and mass transit systems, although there has been no specific threat issued. Although it's been partially ignored, Canada is on the list of al-Qaeda targets for sending troops to Afghanistan. Other nations on the November 2002 "hit list" include Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Austria. Spain, who sent troops to Iraq, became a target with 191 train commuters killed in Madrid in March 2004.

FROM THE INCOMPETENT CRIMINALS' FILE: When Nathan Radlich's house was burgled on June 4, 1993, thieves left his TV, his VCR, and even his watch. All they took was a "generic white cardboard box" of grayish white powder. A police spokesman said it looked similar to cocaine. "They probably thought they scored big," he mused. The powder was actually the cremated remains of Radlich's sister, Gertrude, who had died three years earlier.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY: "Warren Gillen, 26, was arrested for trying to rob a bank in Glasgow. Police put him in a lineup, but no one identified him. He was booked anyway after calling out from the lineup, "Hey, don't you recognize me?'"

WRONG TURN: "An alleged drunk driver who led police on a wild, midnight chase landed in jail even before his arrest. His car crashed into the jail building. "He didn't have too far to go from there," said Police Capt. Mike Lanam. "It was like a drive-up window."

It's (Judith) Miller time

2007-02-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

Someone once came up to me and said: "You know, Corbett, reporters and used-car salesmen are the most obnoxious creatures on earth." Then without catching his breath, he bellowed," and you should apologize to all the car salesmen."
Well, today, there won't be any apology, thanks to New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who stood up to the United States government and defied their order to reveal her confidential sources in the CIA operative identity showdown.
Miller and another reporter, Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper, were caught up in a dilemma about their sources in the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Somehow, famed columnist and TV personality Robert Novak is also mixed up in the rabble.
In yesterday's AP story, Cooper relented and told U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan that he would now cooperate in the investigation. It seems the confidential source "freed" Cooper of his confidentiality stand just before yesterday's testimony.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was particularly harsh on Miller after the Times scribe refused to name her source. Fitzgerald stated "we can't have 50,000 journalists" each making their own decision about whether to reveal sources. Fitzgerald went on to say, "we cannot tolerate that. We are trying to get to the bottom of whether a crime was committed and by whom."
As someone who has been involved in an organization called Investigative Day for a number of years now, I view the Miller-Cooper case as a key test of press freedom and there have been rallies throughout the U.S. in support of reporters' "confidentiality" rights. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have shield laws which, supposedly, protect reporters from having to identify their confidential sources.
Incidentally, Cooper won't have to spend any time behind bars, but Miller was jailed immediately.
Canada has also had the "Reporter vs. Them" confrontation..
In 1995, Ken Peters of the Hamilton Spectator became wrapped up in a story about problems in a nursing home and a trial resulted after its operators filed a lawuit against the City of Hamilton and Halton Region. During the trial, according to the CBC News story, Peters was asked to identify a third person who was present when Peters' source gave him certain documents about high mortality rates and about the supposed recycling of food. Peters refused and as a result he was fined $31,600 after being found guilty of contempt of court.
Fortunately, for reporter Peters, the Spectator picked up the hefty tab.
It seems Peters was just following the Canadian Association of Journalists guidelines, which "are set to promote journalistic excellence among its members and to encourage investigative journalism."
Peters was later quoted as saying, "The stories that I did, I like to think saved lives, certainly prolonged them. They are among the most important I feel I've done as a working journalist." And then he added, "To roll on a confidential source, who you've given your word to, I would find it very difficult to walk back in a newsroom, after having done that."
Another reporter who agrees it is vital for journalists to maintain their integrity is Andrew McIntosh of the National Post. "If I break my deal with confidential sources, that's the day I stop doing my job, because no will trust me anymore," he has been quoted.

A BEAR OF A PROBLEM: In early June, Isabelle Dube, a well-known 36-year-old mountain bike racer from Canmore, Alberta, was killed by a grizzly bear while running with two friends near the Silver Tip Golf Course. Her friends backed away, but Dube climbed up a tree. It didn't help as Isabelle was mauled to death. Since then there have been an outpouring of possible solutions to the beastly problem; with the latest being to close a number of trails to people. The public will no longer be allowed on certain trails in Kananaskis, the Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park and areas around the Canmore Nordic Centre. "It's a decade or two overdue," said wildlife expert Stephen Herrero. "It will definitely address the issue of providing greater safety and security for sensitive wildlife species, like grizzly bears. "And, at the same time, it provides for defined recreational opportunities for people in a more safe context." Meanwhile, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development spokesperson Dave Ealey said local Fish and Wildlife officers, who had investigated the incident, had not confirmed a date to release findings. He added that the public should not expect a summary report released on the attack. Stay tuned for further Bear Reports.

GOOD OL' BOY FROM DOWN HOME: George Canyon, the great Canadian singer who will perform at the Hunting Hawk Winery amphitheatre on Thursday, July 14, is another Maritimer who has made "good." Runner-up on Nashville Star, ECMA Entertainer of the Year, hails from Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Now, why does that sound familiar? Now, I know, during the Big One, WWII, the Corbetts lived in Pictou County, ages before Canyon made his stage debut. Hey, George, do you give singing lessons?

WHAT'S THAT RINGING IN MY EARS? Joe DeFries from the Mennonite Church in Abbotsford is definitely a glutton for punishment and the choir leader set an unofficial world record yesterday morning for "countinuous bellringing by playing musical handbells for 24 hours straight." Ding-Dong Joe was performing at a convention of English handbell ringers in Penticton. To prepare for the Guinness Book of World Records attempt, DeFries lost 52 pounds, followed a stringent diet and also had plenty of strenous exercise for the hands. Aren't you glad, you asked?

So what's your blog, Ms.?

2007-02-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

In the bad, old days, the chauvinist's standard line was: "So what's your sign, baby?" Not anymore. In this so-called enlightened era, it's: "What's your blog, Ms.?
That's right, the computer age has shifted into high gear and now everyone can be in Blog Heaven or Hades.
The Blog (now, that's an ugly word, isn't it?) has even become mainstream in staid and sedate Vernon.
The Ol' Columnist, well past any pickup lines, was searching the web yesterday, and came upon the Vernon Blog. This is what it read: Don Quixote vs. City Hall. When an American gets mad, he says, "where's my gun." When a Canadian gets peed off he says, "Where is my pen, I'm going to send a letter to the EDITOR." When the EDITOR won't publish his letter he sets up his own BLOG page."
This computer-age creature lifted news reports from the CBC to KISS-FM to That Other Vernon paper to even The Daily Courier. He, She or It didn't seem to care, where the reports came from, as long as they were worthy of a Blog.
Some bloggers are not so anonymous.
An old friend, newsman Pierre Bourque, who incidentally has a major website, has seen the blog trend expand and even devotes an entire section to the phenomenon.
Mixed in with the bloggers on his website are names the Ol' Columnist recognized: Charles Adler, Andrew Coyne, George Jonas and Paul Wells. However, those I decided to steer clear of had handles such as Armchair Garbageman, The Black Kettle, Eleanor Brown's Opinionated Lesbian, Conspiracy Girlfriend and one I definitely don't plan to go near: Small Dead Animals.
So, it just a Canadian "thing," I thought.
Wrong.
In the San Francisco Chronicle, there's this fact from Ipsos Public Affairs that nearly a third of Americans online have read a blog, and more than a third of those do so at least once a week. "There are 12 million English language blogs and counting with new celeblogs elbowing their way into cyberspace every day," reads the report.
It went even further with this: "Britney Spears, whose wardrobe should resolve any question about this pop tart's affinity for navel-gazing, maintains a stream-of- consciousness journal she calls "Love, B." Those who peruse it will learn how much she adored Vegas ("Like Disney World for adults"), what a tough time her dogs are having with potty training ("and we have white carpets!") and all the travails of her home renovation: "Kevin thinks everyone will work faster if we stay at the house. .. . I've also been thinking of different ideas for the prayer and meditation room. Everything is going so well lately -- it literally brings me to my knees."
And ol' Brit's not alone.
Did you know that San Francisco Giants' slugger Barry Bonds has his blog days when he's not resting that wonky leg. That's right, the current home run kingpin shared on June 10, his knee "is getting stronger, and although the swelling is minimal, we still have to be cautious." Then he described watching his daughter graduate from the eighth grade in her pink dress, peppering the entire account with mind-numbing product placement: "After the ceremony, when I got home, I downloaded the pictures to my G4 laptop, prepared the photos in PhotoShop and created photo album in iPhoto for my mother, daughter and me. After that, I got a little creative and made a DVD with iDVD."
And here's one that Mr. Spock is shaking his head about. It seems Captain Kirk (Bill Shatner) has a blog called "Bill's Space." In a recent episode, Shatner and Miss Elizabeth just couldn't find a great plate of spaghetti. Ah, the trials of a celebrity blogger in California.
Some celebrity bloggers, you wouldn't want to quote such as Rosie O'Donnell laughing so hard she "tinkled" and then there's Melanie Griffith's bad-mouthing all the tabloids and defending her husband, Antonio Banderas. "He is not losing his hair and spray-painting a bald spot."
There are always blog loads of political rhetoric. Well, sort of.
Pat Sajak from "Wheel of Fortune" claims his PUB (Pat's Unified Beer) hypothesis in regards to winning U.S. presidential candidates. On his blog, he wrote: "The Democrats seem bound and determined to nominate Senator Hillary Clinton. If there is any merit to the PUB theory, that would be a fatal mistake. A beer with Hillary? That might put a lot of people on the wagon."
However, one country that bloggers are not free to wander on the Net is, you guessed it, China.
It seems when Chinese wuld-be bloggers enter such words and phrases such as "democracy," "freedom" and "human rights" there's a warning message" "Prohibited language in text, please delete"
Reporters Without Borders, a global media advocacy group, claims at least 54 people have been jailed for posting essays or other content Beijing labels subversive.
The Ol' Columnist won't be blogging any time soon. He even has a hard time finding the on-button on his computer.

JUST A SIMPLE LUNCH AT $351,100 (U.S.): That's what it finally cost an anonymous diner to have a few sandwiches with billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett. The eBay charity auction started with a $25,000 bid on June 23. Last year's take was $202,100. The auction proceeds go to the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco charity that aids the poor and homeless. As for me, I'll just have a Big Mac to go, thank you.

Remembering Murray Dryden

2007-02-13T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ken Dryden could be Canada's prime minister one day. Some say: "Please, and soon."
At the moment, he's the federal Social Development Minister, which doesn't surprise anyone; for he is actually following in his father's footsteps -- that of caring for people.
The quiet, articulate former NHL goaltending great, lawyer, best-selling author, filmmaker, hockey executive, turned politician was credited with saving Paul Martin's troubled Liberal government from extinction with some sage advice in recent days. Martin adopted Dryden's words by promising Canadians a federal election once the sponsorship inquiry tabled its report.
However, Dryden is much more comfortable behind the scenes; and abhors the loud mouths, which, seemingly roar, daily in the halls of Ottawa's Parliament Buildings.
As a CP story points out , Dryden, who has a far-reaching plan for universal child care, is a man of vision with child-care centres eventually becoming community hubs. As for the cost of such an idea, Dryden would sooner leave that to the bean-counters.
And as for seeking the PM's job, he told the reporter, in his methodical manner, "I don't know. I didn't know I could write, I didn't know I could play in the NHL ... You find out."
As for his deep social concerns, Ken, learned those from his father -- D. Murray Dryden.
Both the Missus and myself had the privilege of being with the senior Dryden on a number of occasions in his Toronto-area home, where after pointing out where his sons, Ken and Dave, learned their goaltending skills in the small backyard pond, he would take people on a tour of the crowded Sleeping Children Around the World "headquarters." A number of volunteers would always be scurrying around as Mr. Dryden told of his humanitarian efforts, in a quiet and forthright manner.
A SCAW website best tells his story: "Murray was born on a farm in Domain, Manitoba, in 1911 and knew the meaning of hard work and a loving family. After leaving home during the Depression years, like many others, Murray found it difficult to find work.
"He became a door-to-door peddler, subsisting on whatever little cash he could make. While travelling East, many nights he slept in train stations as he rode the rails from one town to another. He learned then what it was to be deprived of a good night's sleep.
"In 1932, Murray found work in Hamilton, Ontario, selling plant food, and it there that he met Margaret Campbell in 1938. In 1948, the Drydens moved to Etobicoke when Murray began selling building materials, and here they raised their three children. During the 1950s, Murray pursued a hobby in photography. One night he was particularly taken by the peaceful pose of his sleeping daughter, Judy, and took her photo. This led to a desire to photograph more and more children as they slept.It was his hope to publish a coffee-table book.
"One night while travelling in India, Murray tripped over a child sleeping on the street. A man of ideas, he decided that he must and would do something for children who had no comfortable bed. He couldn't feed the world, or alleviate hunger, but he believed a good night's sleep could make a hungry child's life more comfortable.
"Murray was a champion for children in developing countries, primarily because they have no welfare system, no Medicare, and often little or no hope for a future. Thus, with a strong desire to help others and a firm belief that with God nothing is impossible, Sleeping Children Around The World was begun in 1970, with a distribution of 50 bedkits in Pune, India.
"Murray and Margaret devoted their retirement lives to this program, initially hoping to raise $1 million. After this was achieved, Murray set a new goal of 1 million bedkits.
"One of Murray's favourite quotes was "There is nothing more peaceful that a sleeping child."
Even though Murray Dryden died on February 1, 2004 in his 93rd year, Sleeping Children Around the World continues its tremendous work even today. (Phone: 416-231-1841)

FAMILIAR PHRASES: To Close Ranks -- Meaning: To present a united front. Origin: "In the old-time European armies, the soldiers were aligned side by side, in neat rows, or ranks, on the battle. When the enemy attacked, officers would order the troops to close ranks; that is, to move the rows close together, so that the enemy faced a seemingly impregnable mass of men." (From Fighting Words, by Christine Ammer)
SO WHAT ABOUT: Beyond the Pale -- Meaning: Socially unacceptable. Origin: "The pale in this expression has nothing to do with the whitish color, but comes originally from the Latin palus, meaning a pole, or stake. Since stakes are used to mark boundaries, a pale was a particular area within certain limits." The pale that inspired this expression was the area around Dublin in Ireland. Until the 1500s, that area was subject to British law. "Those who lived beyond the pale were outside English jurisdiction and were thought to be uncivilized." (From Getting to the Roots, by Martin Manser)
THEN THERE'S MY FAVORITE: I've Got A Frog In My Throat -- Meaning: I'm hoarse from a cold. Origin: Surprisingly, this wasn't inspired by the croaking sound of a cold-sufferer's voice, but by a weird medical practice. "In the Middle Ages," says Christine Ammer in It's Raining Cats and Dogs,"infections such as thrush were sometimes treated by putting a live frog head first into the patient's mouth; by inhaling, the frog was believed to draw out the patient's infection into its own body. The treatment is happily obsolete, but its memory survives in the 19th-century term frog in one's throat."

Look up in the sky

2007-02-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

DISCLAIMER: The Ol' Columnist has never seen Ogopogo or Big Foot or even a UFO. Yet. -- Dated: July 1, 2005.

Throughout history, there have been tales of little green men from outer space. And, undoubtedly, this year as it has been for generations, there will be a glut of supposed sightings of unidentified flying objects.
There have been accounts dating back thousands of years and a lengthy description of a "flying wheel" that Ezekiel encountered during biblical times.
Most UFO sightings will and can be explained as illusions, natural phenomena or one having too much caffeine, or something stronger in one's body.
Just last Friday in Xalapa, Mexico, a supposedly massive UFO sighting was witnessed by Xalapa's governor, Herrera Beltran, members of his staff, officers from the Xalapa police department, and even newspaper and TV reporters, who were in Casa Veracruz for an official ceremony for the delivery of new patrol cars. The "amazing incident" took place at 10:30 a.m. just after the governor had finished his speech.
According to a newspaper report, the spectacular UFO fleet of at least 14 unknown flying objects shocked the gathering who, pointing to the sky, screamed: "OVNIs OVNIs!!"
Then, the sightings came down to earth with a sudden thud when Monday's edition of the El Diario de Xalapa newspaper explained the objects were just balloons released by some kids on Friday morning.
Even closer to the ol' homestead, this May 13 report from someone in Vernon was sent to HBCC UFO Research director Brian Vike. It read: "Last night a star like object appeared low in the western sky and flew east over downtown Vernon. It was no higher than the small planes fly when they fly out of our airport. This star light object was flying about the same speed as the small aircraft do. There was no sound when it flew over my home."
While there are countless fables about UFOs, one that caught my attention, occurred on November 17, 1986. It seems that a walnut-shaped object, twice the size of an aircraft carrier, chased a Japan Air Lines 747 cargo jet over Alaska. It was captured on the radar screens of air traffic controllers.
Originally, both the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Air Force verified the large UFO had appeared on radar hovering within five miles of the cargo jet, which was traveling between Iceland and Anchorage, Alaska.
Then the U.S. authorities backtracked and called the sighting a "split image' and later claimed it was a computer malfunction.
Veteraan JAL pilot Kenju Terauchi, who was based in Anchorage, had a different take. He claims there were three UFOs -- one of spectacular immensity -- and two small, walnut-shaped craft with two panels of lights. The objects darted quickly and occasionally stopped suddenly -- once appearing in front of his cockpit. They instantly disappeared and reappeared. "They were flying parallel and then suddenly approached very close," he said.
Do you remember Mercury astronaut, Gordon Cooper?
During the final orbit of the capsule's 22-orbit journey around the earth on May 15, 1963, Major Cooper told the tracking station at Muchea (near Perth Australia) that he could see a glowing, greenish object ahead of him quickly approaching his capsule. The UFO was real and solid, because it was picked up by Muchea's tracking radar. When he landed, officials wouldn't allow him to tell about what he saw in space.
Cooper was a firm believer in UFOs, for 10 years earlier, in 1951, he had sighted a UFO while piloting an F-86 Sabrejet over Western Germany. They were metallic, saucer-shaped discs at considerable altitude and could out-manoeuver all American fighter planes.
In testifying before the United Nations, Cooper said: "I believe that these extra-terrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets... Most astronauts were reluctant to discuss UFOs. I did have occasion in 1951 to have two days of observation of many flights of them, of different sizes, flying in fighter formation, generally from east to west over Europe."
Later, Cooper was even more blunt: "For many years I have lived with a secret, in a secrecy imposed on all specialists in astronautics. I can now reveal that every day, in the USA, our radar instruments capture objects of form and composition unknown to us. And there are thousands of witness reports and a quantity of documents to prove this, but nobody wants to make them public. Why? Because authority is afraid that people may think of God knows what kind of horrible invaders. So the password still is: We have to avoid panic by all means."
In concludion, he was quoted as saying: "I was furthermore a witness to an extraordinary phenomenon, here on this planet Earth. It happened ... in Florida. There I saw with my own eyes a defined area of ground being consumed by flames, with four indentions left by a flying object which had descended in the middle of a field. Beings had left the craft (there were other traces to prove this). They seemed to have studied topography, they had collected soil samples and, eventually, they returned to where they had come from, disappearing at enormous speed .. . I happen to know that authority did just about everything to keep this incident from the press and TV, in fear of a panicky reaction from the public."
Gordon Cooper died at his home in Ventura, California on October 4, 2004. He was 77.

A mother of great inspiration

2007-02-13T15:26:00.000-08:00

One of the most inspiring women in the world was born Ruchel Dwajra Zylska on April Fool's Day, 1921, in some insignificant village in Poland.
When she came to the U.S., she changed her name to Rachel Deborah Shilsky and later became Ruth McBride Jordan, the publicity-shy Jewish woman who was the subject of one of the 20th century's most poignant and life-changing classics, "The Color of Water -- A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother." It was written by one of her sons, James McBride, after a great deal of prodding.
As the sun beat down on the ol' homestead yesterday, I dusted off the 1996 book and began to absorb this moving and unforgettable memoir once again.
However, if it hadn't been for James McBride, we would have never known the tenacity and spirit of his eighty-something mother. Only her son, a former staff writer for the Wilmington (Delaware) News Journal, the Boston Globe, People and the Washington Post style section, has been able to get some insights into her dramatic life.
When James asked his mother if he was black or white, she snapped: "You're a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody." And when he asked her what color God was, she quickly replied: "God is the color of water."
"In this compelling tribute to his white mother, James McBride, looks into the face of Ruthie McBride Jordan to uncover his own identity -- his humanity -- and finds that he is as much the grandchild of itinerant Jewish rabbi as the child of the all-black Red Hook Projects and that his mother had shared this truth with him decades earlier when she explained that God's spirit is the 'color of water,'" wrote former U.S. senator, Bill Bradley.
McBride, who once described himself as "a black man with a Jewish soul," besides being a writer, places composer and saxophonist high on his resume´. However, his mother's legacy of a dozen children and their achievements has to take top priority:
Andrew Dennis McBride, B.A., Lincoln University; M.D., University of Pennsylvania Medical School; M.A. , Public Health, Yale University; Director of Health Department, City of Stamford, Conn. ; Rosetta McBride, B.A., Howard University; M.S.W., Social Work, Hunter College; Staff Psychologist, New York Board of Education; William McBride, B.A., Lincoln University; M.D. , Yale University School of Medicine; M.B.A., Emory University School of Business; Medical Director Southeast Region, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Merck and Co., Inc.; David McBride, B.A., Denison University; M.A., History, Columbia University; PhD., History, Columbia University; Chairman of Afro-American History Department, Pennsylvania State University; Helen McBride-Richter, R.N., Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; G.O.N.P., Emory University School of Medicine, Graduate Student in Nurse Midwifery, Emory University School of Nursing; Richard McBride, U.S. Army veteran, B.A., Cheney University, Chemistry; M.S., Drexel University; Associate Professor of Chemistry, Cheney State; Chemistry Research Associate, AT&T; Dorothy McBride -Wesley, A.A., Pierce Junior College; B.A., LaSalle University; medical practice office manager, Atlanta, Georgia; James McBride, B.A., Oberlin College; M.S.J., Journalism, Columbia University; writer, composer, saxophonist; Kathy Jordan, B.A., Syracuse University; M.S., Education, Long Island University; special-education teacher, Ewing High School, Ewing, N.J.; Judy Jordan, B.A., Adelphi University; M.A. Columbia University Teachers College; teacher, JHS 168, Manhattan; Hunter Jordan, B.S., Computer Engineering, Syracuse University; computer consultant, U.S. Trust Corporation; Henry Jordan, junior at North Carolina A&T University; customer service and purchasing, Neal Manufacturing, Inc., Greensboro, N.C.
However, there's one name that I missed, and it's Ruth Jordan, B.A., Temple University, 1986. That's right, the once poor Polish immigrant received her B.A. in social work administration in 1986. She was 65.
Her father's name was Fishel Shilsky, a gruff, hard-rock Orthodox rabbi, who had escaped from the Russian army and crossed the Polish border and in an arranged marriage wed gentle and meek Hudis, who had been afflicted with polio.
Sponsored by her mother's oldest sister, Laurie, and her husband, Paul Shiffman, Ruthie came to the U.S. when she was only two and her oldest brother, Sam, was four.
When Ruthie got off the boat on August 23, 1923, "we lived with my grandparents Zaydeh and Bubeh on 115th and St. Nicholas in Manhattan." She loved her grandparents in their kosher household.
Ruthie considered her father a traveling preacher, except he was a rabbi.
"He wasn't any different from the rest of those scoundrels you see on TV today except he preached in synagogues and he wasn't so smooth-talkin'. ... Reading the Old Testament and hoping it brought you something to eat, that's what you did," Ruthie told her son, James.
When she was 8 or 9, the rabbi's family moved to Suffolk, Virginia, in 1929. "In school the kids called me 'Christ killer' and 'Jew baby.' That name stuck with me for a long time. You know it's so easy to hurt a child," the book revealed.
Then Rachel, who changed her name to Ruth, got pregnant by a black man and ran off to New York City and had an abortion, according to features writer, Ralph Cipriani.
Another black man, Andrew McBride, saved her from a life of prostitution, and married her. McBride became a Baptist minister and they founded a church in Brooklyn's Red Hook projects.
James McBride recalled that, "Mommy loved God. She went to church each and every Sunday, the only white person in sight, butchering the lovely hymns with a singing voice that sounded like a cross between a cold engine trying to crank on an October morning and a whining Maytag washer."
The author's real father, Andrew McBride died before he was born, and Hunter Jordan, Sr., "an elderly, slow-moving man in a brown hat, vest sweater, suspenders and wool pants seemed to float into my consciousness."
The tidy "Mr. Hunter" married Ruthie a few months after Andrew D. McBride died in 1957 and added another four children to make it an even dozen. When James was about six or seven, Mr. Hunter moved the family into a large, pink stucco four-bedroom house in St. Albans, Queens. In 1972, Mr. Hunter died.
"My mother raised us black because she knew that's how society would see us -- and judge us -- as black," McBride once told the Detroit News. McBride, a brilliant wordsmith, dedicated 'The Color of Water' book, "for my mother, and her mother, and mothers everywhere."

JUST ASKING: Alright, Mr. Mayor Harvey, here's a question for you. It seems rookie Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel has decided to pick Alice Major as the official Poet Laureate of the northern Alberta city, so why not have one for ever-expanding Vernon? It seems logical with our new cultural centre, on the site of the old Coldstream Hotel, in the offing ... Now, here's one I don't need an answer to: Will Vernon ever stoop as low as Prince George in getting hockey goons to go knuckle to knuckle? So that's the cultural event in northern B.C.!

Rider still in a coma

2007-02-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

ON SUNDAY, May 15, two friends, Chris Glowa and Louie Bloomfield, were warming up their dirt bikes in the Salmon Arm area. They were part of the OK Dirt Riders Association competition. It was to be a fun day. It ended in tragedy.
From a second-hand report, either Glowa or Bloomfield were off the main track, one ahead of the other. One of the riders turned around and traveling at some 50 kms.crashed head-on into the other on a blind corner.
The two ended up in Kelowna General Hospital with serious injuries; and while Bloomfield has since been released,, Glowa remains in hospital, in a coma. The 31-year-old Glowa, who worked for Anchor Doors (installer of service-bay garage doors) of Kelowna, has some movements in parts of his badly-shattered body, however, a friend related yesterday that it could be just "nerves."
Besides his injuries, Glowa has massive financial burdens because of the incident, and fund-raisers have been set up throughout the Okanagan, including an Internet site (www.worldofgiving.com) and the first silent auction will be held McCulloch Station Pub in Kelowna on Saturday, July 9.
The Ol' Columnist noticed one of the donation jars in the Silver Creek Store on Salmon River Road in the Armstrong area the other day. It has Glowa and Bloomfield's photos prominently displayed. Please give, Glowa desperately needs your help and prayers. Phone 250-979-7278.

WHO'S AFRAID OF A LITTLE LIGHTNIN? The Ol' Columnist, that's who! As flashes blazed across the darkened sky Tuesday evening, your obedient servant fell off the bed and onto the floor. "What's the matter?" asked the calm Missus. "Didn't you see that," I said. "That bolt just hit behind our place." Of course, it didn't, but it was mighty close as I was to learn later from neighbors, who said it had hit the side of the mountain opposite The Fire Zone. There was a wisp of smoke, which was quickly doused by heavy rains.

NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY: There was a well- known radio host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named Russ Hamblin who was noted for his drinking, womanizing, partying, etc. One of his bigger hits at the time was "I won't go hunting with you Jake, but I'll go chasing women".
And along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblin had him on his radio show, presumably to poke fun at him. And to gather more material, Hamblin showed up at one of the revival meetings. Early in the service the preacher announced, "There is one man in this audience who is a big fake." There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblin was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction), but he was having none of that.
Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed up drunk at the preacher's hotel door around 2 am. Demanding that the preacher pray for him. But the preacher refused, saying, "This is between you and God and I'm not going to get in the middle of it." But he did invite Russ in and they talked about 5 am at which point Russ dropped to his knees and with tears, cried out to God.
But that is not the end of the story. Russ quit drinking, quit chasing, quit everything that was "fun". And began to lose favor with the Hollywood crowd. He was ultimately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor. Hard times were upon him. He tried writing a couple of "Christian" songs but the only one that had much success was "This Old House", written for his friend Rosemary Clooney.
As he continued to struggle, an old friend named John took him aside and told him all your troubles started when you "got religion" and asked if it was worth it all. Russ answered simply, "Yes". Then his friend said, "You liked your booze so much. Don't you ever miss it?" And the answer was, "No". John then said, "I don't understand how you could give it up so easily." And Russ's response was, "It's no big secret. All things are possible with God." To this John said, "That's a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it."
As they say, the rest is history.
The song Russ wrote was "It Is No Secret" - "It is no secret, what God can do. What He's done for others, He'll do for you. With arms wide open, He'll welcome you. It is no secret, what God can do." etc...
By the way, the friend was John Wayne, and the young preacher who refused to pray for Russ Hamblin was Billy Graham. And now you know "the rest of the story."

AN AUTHOR OF NOTE: It was only a week ago, I went to the bookcase and opened 'O Jerusalem' (1972) by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. As I related from the bookjacket, Jerusalem is the most universal of man's cities -- the mystic heart of three great religions, condemned to pay for the passions stirred by its stones by being, through 40 centures, the most bitterly disputed site in the world. On Monday, one of the authors of that epic manuscript -- Larry Collins -- died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 75.
Besides 'O Jerusalem', Collins teamed with his friend, Lapierre, on such notable works as "Is Paris Burning?", and "Is New York Burning?". published in 2004.
Collins suffered the hemorrhage at his home in the small Riviera town of Ramatuelle and was taken to the hospital in nearby Frejus. "There wasn’t the least bit of antagonism in 43 years,” Lapierre said, expressing his distress at the death of his writing partner.

IT'S A MEDIA AFFAIR: One-time radio man Kevin Rothwell, now with the BBB, and former newspaperman, Russ Niles, have teamed up to run Hunting Hawk Winery smack dab in the middle of Historic O'Keefe Ranch. The opening act the other day was smooth-singing Barney Bentall while 250 eager fans looked on. On the same program was one of my favorites, Rob Dinwoodie and Dogwood Road.
The winery, according to Rothwell, has a two-acre vineyard, wine building and tasting facility at the ranch that was the hub of commerce and social life in the North Okanagan from 1867 to the early 1900s.
So what was the reason Niles got into the winery business? "I kept losing jobs (in the newspaper business)," he said, with just a touch of irony in his voice.

Big Tim and Bigfoot

2007-02-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

Tim Meissner has a secret. He has seen and even shot at the hairy, ape-like biped known as Big Foot, or as it's often called Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest and the Yeti or Abominable Snowman in other parts of the world.
To many it's a myth of gigantic proportions, but to others, such as Meissner, the modest 42-year-old big-game hunter, fisherman and guide from the Armstrong area it was the real deal.
While others have exploited the legendary creature in films and books, it was almost like pulling teeth in trying to extract his remarkable story about his encounters when he was only 16 years old.
On April 28, 1979, Tim and his companions were bear hunting at Dunn Lake, near Barriere, B.C. when this "man-gorilla" creature could be seen a fair distance away. It had a deer thrown over its shoulders and uttered screams, which Meissner had never heard before.
On April 30, after returning to his home to retrieve a high-powered rifle, Meissner came almost face-to-face with the creature, who appeared to be about nine feet tall, and covered in black hair, and Tim shot at it, but apparently missed as he succintly said the other day.
Later, he was to discover the deer which the creature killed. "He had broken its neck," Meissner said.
For two years after the encounter, Meissner discovered there was a family of four, including the nine-foot male, in the area, but the only signs were tracks, measuring 16 1/2 inches, and broken branches that the tall creatures had knocked down.
Then Meissner moved on in life, unlike others such as Rene Dahinden, who Meissner considers one of the "obsessed" in their hunt for the elusive creatures. In fact, Dahinden, in the publicity blurb for "Sasquatch Odyssey -- The hunt for Bigfoot," reported:: "Heard about Bigfoot while working on a dairy farm in Alberta. Came out in search of an adventure, an encounter and perhaps live capture of the beast. He began his work in John Green's newspaper printing shop. He has no time for fools, hates hoaxes and, especially, pretentious PHDs (Rene calls them -- "Please Help Demented.")
While Dahinden, John Green, Peter Byrne and Grover Krantz continue searching, Meissner has certainly moved on, although he claimed there was a full account of his encounter in a museum in the Barriere area, however, the lone Internet account of his "sighting" in something called "The Bigfoot Casebook" gave little details. It read: 28 & 30 April 1979 -- Dunn Lake nr Barriere -- Tim Meissner (16) -- Fishing with friends, saw Bigfoot across lake; returned, saw it again and shot at it.
Although, it might be a story to tell on a dark, and stormy night, Meissner has certainly moved on in his life; and as he said he rarely talks about it now. To him it's just old news.
Besides still maintaining a fishing guide business, in which he takes clients to some of the richest fishing grounds including Shuswap, Mara, Adams, Kalmalka and Mabel lakes, Meissner has found a new adventure, which has some terrific rewards.
In fact, last weekend, he and his wife of 14 years, Jo-Anne, went whale watching off the B.C. coast as a reward for being in first place in a contest, sponsored by Bi-Tron's revolutionary line of automotive products, which he claims can dramatically improve the way your vehicle runs.
When visiting his home, an enthusiastic Meissner pointed to various vehicles in his yard and with zeal he would say something like: "See that vehicle I used to get 14 mph and now I get 22 ... or words to that effect."
He had learned about the Bi-Tron program from a friend over in Kamloops, who convinced Tim that this was a way to wealth. Apparently, the Bi-Tron engine treatment coats the metal in the engine with a protective layer of lubricant scientifically proven to reduce friction and wear.
A Russian scientist invented the substances for military use, however, Dick Simmonds bought the formula for an undisclosed amount. Simmonds, a lawyer and senior partner of one of the largest law firms in the Vancouver area, who also was involved in real estate and other ventures, has now set up a sales program which appears to be spectacular, according to Meissner.
For more information about Bi-Tron, contact Tim Meissner at (250) 546-9360; Cell: (250) 306-0222; Web site: www.tim.bitronglobal.biz

SPACEFILLERS: Sometimes the Ol' Columnists comes up short. This is one of those days, so we'll turn to the ever-reliable Bathroom Reader and some Stengel-ese. That's right the legendary New York Yankees and Mets manager offered a few confusing words of wisdom such as:
To a hitter with the bases loaded: "Let him hit 'ya; I'll get you a new neck."
"There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win. or you can lose, or it can rain."
"Now all you fellers line up alphabetically by height."
"You have to have a catcher, because if you don't the pitch will roll all the way to the back of the screen."
"I love signing autographs. I'll sign anything but veal cutlets, My ballpoint pen slips on veal cutlets."

He was the best of fathers

2007-02-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Father's Day, 2005. And with it came a rush of memories about my own father, Angus Willard Corbett and as I've said to many people, he's was the best of fathers and my best friend.
It's been almost 16 years since he passed away on Sunday, July 30, 1989, however, I think of him every day and sometimes I see his face in others.
He was a wonderful simple man, and shortly after his death, I wrote a letter as my way of remembering and honoring the most gentle or men:
Dear Dad: It's only a short time since I heard the word.
Mom called from Calgary on that Sunday afternoon and said you were slipping fast and then she called back at 4, crying. You know, Dad, it was only the second time I ever heard Mom cry. The other time was when we had to decide to put you in that nursing home, the Fanning Centre.
It didn't quite register that I wouldn't see your smiling face or that twinkle in your eye. That my UNO partner (even if you cheated every so often) wouldn't be around anymore.
How did it feel dying, Dad? Was it painful as you crossed over to the Other Side? Remember when your Mom and my Grandmother died of a broken heart after Grandpa passed on? Didn't she ask you, "Willard, can you see the Rock of Ages?" And you replied, "Yes, I can see Him?" I know you couldn't, but you were always the devoted son.
I was reading Dr. Moody's book, "The Light Beyond," and it talks about going through a tunnel and into a Light. Did you see it? The bright light and the feeling of being at peace?
Mom said you passed on with a smile on your face. She misses you, after all you were together 52 years. Oh, more than that. Remember, she used to keep house for Grandma and Grandpa. She couldn't stand you at first, you were conceited and a real fancy Dan, then, weren't you, Dad?
But somehow love entered the picture and as a result you and Mom raised me and my brother, Garry, and we didn't turn out that bad. You know that you have to refer to him as Dr. Garry A. Corbett, now. He's got his doctorate in psychology from a California university.
Dad, you didn't give us boys much notice.
Garry was up near the fire line at Lynn Lake, Manitoba for nine straight days, handing out cheques to those poor Indians. He had been sleeping on the floor of a government building. Me, I was just getting ready to go to The Sun. I still go to work those strange hours, but I love my job. It's better the second time around at The Sun. Remember, Dad, how Edmonton was such an unhappy time in my life?
Well, after Mom's call, Garry up in Lynn Lake and me in Mississauga, grabbed the first flights to Calgary. He actually got there three minutes before me. They delayed us from deplaning because of a severe thunderstorm. Lightning flashing around. They say they couldn't unload the baggage until the storm cleared.
Larry Dahl picked us up. You know, Larry? He's the preacher at the North Hill Church of the Nazarene, the young fellow with the holes in his socks. You were like a father to him. He always calls you Dad!
Sunday night and Monday were like old times at home. Garry and I were forever teasing Mom, saying things that made her blush. Tickling her neck. My, you would have joined right in. It was almost like you were still down at the Fanning Centre and we hadn't visited you yet, except for writing your obit Monday night. The obit went in to the Calgary Herald and the Truro Daily News.
I meant it when I wrote that never has one come through life with such caring and compassion as you, Dad. Always quick with a smile and a twinkle in your eye, you enriched all those whose lives you touched. No one said an unkind word of you or you they.
During your last 20 years, your health failed, but your spirit never waned.
Please stop crying, Dad. You even wept at Lassie reruns.
Reality really set in Tuesday when we had to go to Foster's to make arrangements. Of course, it was just like you to have everything arranged. You did that back in 1980. The multi-colored blue casket you ordered was out of stock, so your family picked a metallic blue one.
Of course, Mom had to check out the material of every casket in the funeral home. "My, isn't that a lovely color of pink?" she would say. As for me, I just wanted to get out of there. I could hardly breathe.
Later, in the day, we ordered the flowers. I know that $350 is a lot of pay, but you're worth it and more, Pops.
At night, Larry Dahl came over and he wanted to know the real Willard Corbett, the man behind the smiling face. He'd learn of your skill as a fine furniture finisher in Bass River, Nova Scotia, and being a janitorial supervisor at Gulf Oil. I'm sorry that in my immaturity I tried to impress some of my football and wrestling pals by telling them you were an oilman. Of course, I finally grew up and accepted you for being you -- a simple, gentle and unsophisticated man, who worked so hard to keep his family together.
While I've written at least a half dozen columns about Mom, about her miracle when God healed her of MS (multiple sclerosis) when I was 12, and how you and Mom had Garry 10 months after the miracle, but I wanted to write this letter to you to tell you how both your boys felt.
I know that the Lord had Wednesday night planned, when we went to the funeral home. It was such a cold feeling that flowed over me, when I saw you there. They had your hair straight back, so I ruffled it a bit, through my tears. Just as Mom, Garry, Uncle Donald Linkletter, some others and me were crying around you, an East Indian service somehow got piped into your "room." Instead of tears, it all turned into laughter. You didn't want us to be distraught. It was just like you.
Thursday. At the church, your family sat in the front pew. Your casket was closed, at your request. I remember, you saying, "I don't want anyone looking at me."
Of course, you know that we sang two of your favorites -- "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Amazing Grace" -- and there was a solo: "How Great Thou Art." Rev. Dahl preached about your love for people and your love for your family. He even illustrated his sermon, using one of the chairs you helped build at the Dominion Chair Company and an intricate lamp, so lovingly put together by your hands. Those woodworking genes weren't passed onto your sons.
Your boys also spoke. I know you were nearby, with tears rolling down your cheeks. How you gave your all to Mom and me and never said a word of discouragement through her long illness. And then your own battles with asthma and diabetes. Then Garry came into our lives and when he had grown to a teen-ager, you took him bowling every Friday night, after midnight, after you were exhausted from a long shift. Then your support of Mom when she went to university to gain her teaching certificate. It was a sacrifice of love. And you were always there for your boys.
I know how happy you were that day, when your hulking sons, picked you up, bodily, and carried you along a Calgary street. How did you, being so short, ever have two sons as large as Garry and me?
You know that Garry and I were pallbearers and as we struggled with the casket down the church steps, I'm sure I heard you say: "Two hands, boys, two hands."
At the Queen's Park Cemetery, it was so difficult to say goodbye to one who had taught us so well. Even later that night, your boys wanted to visit you on the hill. Garry said, "I bet Dad's lonely." But the cemetery gates were locked for the night.
I know I'm lonely. So is Garry. And so is Mom. We'll survive, but the memories of the best father in this world and the world beyond, will remain.
I love you, Dad!
Your No.1 Son,
Kerwood
(My parents gave me the name, Kerwood, after the wilderness writer, James Oliver Curwood. Others call me Kaye.)

Justice denied for this Dad

2007-02-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

As Father's Day quickly approaches, Alan Mills, aka Spiderman and Decontamination Man, is still being ignored by the legal system. Vernon-based judges and lawyers treat him as a common beggar, glancing their eyes to other places as he parades in front of the courthouse with his placard, which advocates fathers' rights in custody cases.
And what's more he's not a nutcase.
In fact this 49-year-old father of two girls, age 24 and 8, articulates his cause in down-to-earth terms and seems to be a lone voice, at least in the Okanagan, for fathers as being primary care-givers.
His placard-carrying days are far from over, in fact he estimates that 50,000 cars have honked from June 2001 until June 2005 even if the legal system has completely shunned him. Hhe intends, in the future, to be even more forceful in seeing that justice is done.
As I've said, Mills is not a nutcase, even if he has worn bizarre outfits to plead his case, since the retired Ministry of Forests (recreation) officer has won citizenship awards, a minor hockey coach of the year honor and accolades from the Merritt School District for his work with kids.
The chief advocate for a "child's right to equal co-parenting and join custody" has put a comphrensive point plan forward and in order for you to get a clearer picture, I'll give it to you, without comment from this Ol' Columnist:
* Our courts are biased (87% sole custody to the mother, 10% joint custody and 3% sole custody to the father).
* The court's don't weigh a father's parental-based references (affidavit material), even if there are 17 of them, including from several PH.d's.
* The courts don't consider the child's rights or wishes, especially if they are in favor of the father's wishes.
* Attending counselling, no matter how much, is of no value to fathers.
* Mothers can commit perjury in Provincial Family Court, while under oath, you can read it in the transcripts, yet even so, they will not be held to account, nor appeal in even the higher Supreme Court.
* The court judges use this "same brush attitude" on fathers in the Family courtroom, which followed the morning of the other men in their same Criminal courtrooms. All judges were once lawyers.
* Judges have no counselling, family dynamics training or little experience with any given family and yet it is these same judges whom decide the family's fate, in often, only a few hours of exposure to them.
* Lawyers exacerbate the problems and adversarial nature of newly separated/divorced relationships by counselling their client (parent), so that their client may win, discounting their opponent (the other parent) which inevitably castrates the child's rights and best interests.
* Courts consider fathers as mere 'visitors' in their children's lives, with no necessity for continuous, meaningful relationships.
* The father is often 'hobbled' by the Child Support payments he pays. He must use his remaining funds, if he has any, to care for the child while in his care, meanwhile, the mother collects 120% more than she should, relative to her time with the child and her due support when compared on a gender-equal basis.
* Once the courts begin a tirade (removal of Joint Custody) upon a father, they like to continue 'upping the ante' by removing further, deeper paternal ties (i.e. Guardianship rights).
* Mothers often make false allegations, with their lawyers present and to the absolute extremes of falsehood, with no evidence or recompense. This places the father in a weak position of 'doubtful in the mind of the court.'
* Sole-custodial mothers may believe that 'Joint custody can never work for any child, even if both parents are fully co-operative and communicative' (Judge Smith, Kelowna).
* Judges can forecast that a child will, immediately following his Order for Sole Custody to a mother, no longer have any paternal family contact, where one was once vibrant and read for a child, and yet still feel good about their order. This must be their version of "a child's best interests"?
* There is no case law to support fathers, since the Second World War, as primary care-givers, so we live in the 21st century ... big deal, what's the rush? Is this the freedom, our fathers died for?
Although Mills outlined ever further need for fathers' rights for their children, perhaps, one statement stood out above all the others: Hell hath no fury, like the wrath of a woman's scorn! Mothers can move with the child and not tell the father, nor the courts and still be rewarded for their dishonesty, by the courts.
Then he emphasized, "Please don't misunderstand me here, there are plenty of wonderful, good mothers out there, for they are precious to us all. They honk just as loud as the dads."
In conclusion, Mills was forceful when he said, "I will be in front of the Vernon Courthouse for the remainder of my life, each week, at noon on Friday Family Court Day, in hopes they might one day hear our pleas for change."

Scott Young was my hero

2007-02-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

For some, Scott Young was just the father of rocker-musician Neil Young.
However, for countless Canadian newspapermen and women he was a hero -- a handsome, even debonair and principled individual, who died last Sunday at age 87 in Kingston, Ontario.
Besides a distinguished newspaper career which stretched from the Winnipeg Free Press to the Canadian Press to the Toronto Telegram and Maclean's magazine and two stints with the Toronto Globe & Mail, he also managed to provide young and old readers alike with some 45 books, including such scintillating novels such as "The Flood," two Arctic thrillers, "Murder in a Cold Climate" and "The Shaman's Knife" and 1984's "Neil and Me," about his relationship with his famous rock 'n' roll son.
However, it was his writing, which struck me as brilliant, for I was his copy editor during his brief days as sports editor with the late and great Toronto Telegram.
It was almost with bated breath, this cynical newspaperman waited for his column to arrive by bus semi-regularly from his farm near Peterboro, Ontario.
However, he did start, literally at the bottom and worked his way up, as he once told the late Peter Gzowski in a 1994 Morningside program. Briefly this is the non-verbatim dry conversation that they had:
Gzowski: I want to know about the Snake Room at the Winnipeg Free Press?
Young: I was a copy boy when I started at the Free Press and that only lasted about five weeks. I then used to go out on my days off and find a story and write it. I did that for a week before I became the most junior in the sports department and as soon as the guys found I could operate and help them out when they drank too much, they tended to lean on me quite a bit.
Then Young continued, "Bowling alley proprietors would come in with a bottle of whiskey and they would all go in in what we used to call "the Snake Room." It was sort of a cubby-hole in the Canadian Press quarters of the Winnipeg Free Press. It was sort of a place to store paper. If a softball team or someone wanted publicity, they'd bring some booze up for the sports guys as they used to call us and everybody would repair to the Snake Room, except me and I would be left writing the guys' columns for them and that's how I learned the business, you know." There was a long pause and then he continued:
Young: The Snake Room -- it used to amuse me, like how I learned what raw whiskey did to my stomach. (This veteran) went across the street and bought a steak sandwich, and they didn't even give him a discount because he didn't have it cooked. He brought it back and put it on a clean piece of white paper and poured some rye whiskey on it and it all turned brown. And then he said 'that's what happens to your stomach when you drink rye whiskey without water,' which we were all doing , of course.
Gzowski: Do you think we all really drank as much as we did when we were young newspaper guys, telling these lies now that we are old ... how did we ever get the damn papers out?
Young: Maybe, we didn't drink as much as we thought we did ... I think we drank more than we thought we did ... but we were all able to handle it better."
Gzowski then praised Young for his story about "escaped German prisoners at Antler, Ontario."
Young showed his ingenuity by occupying a bedroom and listening to conversations coming through what had been a stovepipe hole. "I would lie on my back and pretend to be asleep and listen to army officers and searchers discussing the search."
In a June 14 Canoe news story, George Gross, the corporate sports editor, was quoted as saying, "We have one or two classes of sports journalists in Canada and Scott Young is on or near the top of Class 1. He was a classic writer. Where I would treat someone in my column with a sledge hammer, Scott would do it like a surgeon."
However, there was another side of Young, little known to most, but certainly evident among young sportswriters such as myself.
"There are always a lot of young people in the newspaper business who need support," he was quoted as saying during a Sports Media Canada dinner honoring him eight years ago. "They need somebody to tell them they are doing the job right. The most kick I got out of the business was when somebody was doing a good job and I could tell them that. There aren't many individuals like Milt (Dunnell) and Trent (Frayne) and myself that have done it all. We really did it all. We did the dirtiest jobs and the best jobs. I think there is a process. If the senior experienced guys are willing to sit down with the younger guys and bolster them up, it would be of great service."
On a personal note, I had the privilege of visiting Young's farm at Cavan, near Peterboro, and also at his Toronto home, where the elite of the Canadian sportswriting fraternity such as the late Jim Coleman gathered. One of the most remarkable things during time with this modest man was music, featuring his son, Nei1, was piped into every quarter of the house.
During his career, he covered both news and sports for CP, and reported on the Second World War from London, and as a sports columnist he wrote about the Grey Cups, World Series, Stanley Cups, the Olympics and appeared on Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts
A major dispute within the Globe and Mail concerning "unattributed quotes." in 1980 angered Young so much he left the newspaper business. "Dick Doyle phoned me. We were pretty good friends -- besides being the boss and I the slave-- and he said, rather bitterly, 'I suppose you're going to work for the Toronto Sun,' and I said, 'I'm never going to work for another newspaper again as long as I live and I haven't."
However, he continued to re-issue such classic hockey paperbacks for kids such as "Scrubs on Skates," "Boy on Defence," and "A Boy At The Leafs' Camp."
He was married three times and had a total of seven children and step-children.
Peterboro mayor Sylvia Sutherland said, "Right until the end he was a very gracious man. He had been ill for a number of years, but he was still the same sweet Scott. He loved to talk about the old days in journalism and it was fun to do that with him."
Yes, he truly was one of a kind.

Dentist in land of the tsunami

2007-02-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

Dirk van der Meer was able to see with his own eyes the devastation caused by a 35-foot high wave that slammed into the Thai coastline around Khao Lak, which resulted in the deaths of at least 4,000 people and left a permanent scar of death and destruction.
"The wave there was 11 meters and it went inland and it was so devastating that a lot of those places have not been fixed ... buildings are just shells ... litter strewn everywhere and boats right up against houses, even four months after the tsunami," said the 38-year-old Armstrong dentist.
Dr. van der Meer returned from Thailand on Friday, May 13, after spending just over three weeks as a forensic dentist along with Dr. Glenn Keryluk of Coquitlam, B.C. in Phukat, Thailand on the Indian Ocean as part of the BC/FORT (British Columbia Forensic Odontology Research Team), and sponsored by Foreign Affairs Canada.
Even at Phukat, van der Meer was constantly reminded that even the small island just south of Khao Lak had experienced the deadly force of December 26, 2004.
"At the Sheraton, in Phukat, approximately 27 people were killed at the beach and six of the rooms were damaged," he said.
Being called in to assist in the identification of disaster victims wasn't foreign to van der Meer, who had trained for a number of years to meet such a challenge.
"The story is when the tsunami hit, there was a call for help from Thailand and Foreign Affairs Canada sent an RCMP "go" team over there and they decided some dentists and fingerprint experts were needed in the identification of the victims," explained van der Meer.
Dr. David Sweet from the Bureau of Legal Dentistry in Vancouver and one of the leading forensic dentists in the world, was then approached and, immediately, was able to provide a group of dentists, all highly trained in the forensics field.
Dr. van der Meer has had BC/FORT training both in the classroom and hands-on experience and "a lot of it is learning computer systems and computer software," he said.
"Initially when the tsunami struck we had no idea we would be going, but when the numbers started rolling in and that up to 200,000 people had perished, there was some talk in our group -- of 15 to 20 dentists -- that, maybe, we could help out."
In February, 2005, van der Meer was doing a lecture with Dr. Sweet and he said, 'we may be sending people, and asked me if I was willing to go.' I said, 'Of course, just tell me when and where.'"
Dr. van der Meer said that Dr. Tom Rutledge, the president of BC/FORT from Coquitlam, had been one of the first trained forensic dentists in Thailand after the tsunami disaster struck and it was agreed that there would be a three-week rotation for the dentists, six-week rotation for the fingerprint experts and seven-week rotation for RCMP officers.
On Friday, April 22, he and Dr. Keryluk left from Vancouver for Tokyo and then on to Bangkok before taking a Thai jet to Phukat, and replaced Dr. David Hodges from Prince George, B.C. and Dr. Stan Cogan from Ontario, who had already left Thailand for Canada.
Fortunately, Dr. Sweet was there to show van der Meer and Keryluk the ropes.
Dr. van der Meer was actually surprised by the international response, in which 26 different countries and their teams were involved in the identification process.
"I spent most of my time working in front of a computer with the PLASSDATA program, designed by a Danish company, trying to match antemortem (before) and postmortem (after) data. The site in a TOT (Telephone Organization Centre of Thailand) and managed by TIVI-IMC (Thailand Tsunami Victim Information Management Centre) was used for comparing data in the computer.
Did you see any of the bodies? I asked
"Yes, I did," he said. "I spent some time in the morgue, usually working with a group of British dentists, doing some final releases." This meant that when the body is identified, there is a protocol to release that body, which includes doing a final dental exam before it is released to the next-of-kin or to the mortician."
In a typical day, Dr. van der Meer said they would leave from the Sheraton at about 7:25 and 40 minutes later they would arrive at the TOT site. "We started working at about 8 o'clock and kept working until about 4 in the afternoon."
Would you be willing to go back? I asked.
"I'd go back in a minute if they asked me," he answered. "It was quite an experience. I won't say I enjoyed it because that would be inappropriate, but I certainly valued the experience ... if not life changing, at least it was attitude changing, that's for sure."
He added that Foreign Affairs Canada are still sending dentists from Canada to Thailand until, at least, September 8, and then they intend to re-evaluate the situation.
The father of two daughters, Aleen, 11, and Chloe, 6, Dr. van der Meer, whose wife, Jodi, is the vice-principal of Armstrong elementary school, added: "I am not scheduled to go yet, but they are sending people on a second tour. So if they extend it beyond September, I have told them I would be willing to go at anytime."

The cops and the media

2007-02-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

For the past 40 some years in the newspaper business, there has been one constant: The adversarial relationship between the media and the police.
A common phrase in most newsrooms: "Those %^$$*&(*( cops never tell me nuthin.' Or words to that effect.
One can only guess what those in the cop shop say about the media. Also unprintable because this is a family newspaper.
For years, I believe there weren't any written rules, on the relationship between the media and the RCMP. I was wrong.
From the RCMP 'Bible" come the force's Top 10 guidelines in dealing with the media:
#1. You could be a spokesperson. Every RCMP member is a potential spokesperson for their own responsibilities and areas of expertise. Before answering a question, ask yourself, "Am I the right spokesperson for this issue?" If not, find the appropriate person. Remember, if you're a regular member, to wear your uniform in front of the camera.
#2. We're accountable. The Canadian public has a fundamental right to know about RCMP activities and operations. Of course, that information can only be released if it doesn't jeopardize an investigation or court case.
#3. Protect the integrity of an investigation. Never discuss ongoing investigations or matters that might become evidence in court.
#4. Stick to Force policy. Weigh your particular media enquiry against the bigger picture. Remember that what you say could have regional or national impact.
#5. Be open, honest and ethical. Your reputation, and that of the Force, is on the line.
#6. Feed the media. Provide as much information as possible. Be up-front, helpful and proactive.
#7. Withhold personal information. Withhold the names of deceased or injured until next-of-kin are notified. Never reveal the names of suspects before charges have been laid. Offer no comment without saying "No comment."
#8. Don't discuss classified information. If you can't respond to a question, tell the reporter why.
#9. Don't be critical. Never criticize another police agency or peace officer, the media, provincial or federal legislation, or government department.
#10 Stick to the facts. Do not comment on hypothetical questions. Don't speculate and think very carefully before expressing your personal opinions.

Besides the Top 10 rules, following is what the RCMP 'Bible' says about its relationship with "Joe or Joan Reporter": "The media are playing an ever-increasing role in shaping the way people feel about the RCMP. So much so, in fact, that it has influenced how we conduct operations and handle crises. With this in mind, knowing how to communicate through the media is vital to the Force's credibility as a whole and to members individually. It can also prove valuable to an investigation or operation.
"But media relations is sometimes misunderstood and feared. We're often suspicious of journalists. But none of us should be afraid of them. Instead, we must approach the media as potential partners, as vehicles to communicate with the public we serve.
"This new-found wisdom is partly a result of having adopted community policing, which relies heavily on public support, consultation and mutual understanding. The media act as both interpreters and spokespersons for their communities. With this in mind, it is to our advantage to have an open relationship with them.
"The public and the media are no longer willing to passively accept our services. They have questions and they want answers; they need reliable information and it is up to us to provide it. A free flow of information to and from the public is crucial to community policing. We must allow communities to get to know us better -- our interests, our abilities, our contributions and our limitations. Our challenge is to work with the media -- and encourage them to work with us.
Within this community policing approach, every member of the RCMP is a potential spokesperson. You may, at some point, be required to speak to the media. This handbook is for you. It provides information about the media, tips on how to work with them to mutual benefit, and ideas on how to develop productive relationships.
The 'Bible' went on to reiterate that conflicts between the RCMP and the media often stem from a lack of understanding. Why? Because reporters sometimes feel the Force is trying to cover something up, and RCMP employees sometimes see reporters as trying to find controversy where it doesn't exist.
Learning to find common ground between these two points of view will help ensure the media tell both sides of the story.
Developing an open and honest relationship with the media in your detachment area or region is the key. And it's all based on trust and credibility. Investing some time to build good working relationships will pay off down the road. This approach will improve your chances of being heard when you're faced with a situation in which the RCMP is being criticized. It will also improve your chances of having your "good news" items reported.
Generally speaking, news editors and producers will decide whether or not to run a story based on seven criteria: 1. Impact -- Is this something people will be talking about? 2. Proximity -- Is this close to home? 3. Timeliness -- Did it just happen or is it about to? 4. Prominence -- Does the story involve any prominent people or places? 5. Conflict -- Are people fighting over something? 6. Novelty -- If a dog bites a man, it isn't news. If the man bites the dog, that's news! 7. If it bleeds, it leads -- The media, and the public, have an appetite for police news.
One of the key elements in all of this is: Police information officers have no right to criticize the hard-working media. We have a job to do and so do the cops. And withholding information because that's the way RCMP has done it for the past century is no standard for today's fast-paced society and their immediate need to know.

Are you calling me old?

2007-02-13T14:59:00.000-08:00

So, Corbett, weren't you the first mate on Noah's boat?
Or, Corbett, didn't you play against Red Grange?
No, to both those questions, Bunky, even if my chest has sunk to a new all-time (low) level.
As I keep telling all these young whipper-snappers, age is a state of mind.
If that is true, where does British Columbia stand as far as "retirement" (sorry, for that curse word) is concerned?
Now, that I've passed the "65" threshold and heading for the Big 70, it would be only right if this province follows Ontario's lead and banned mandatory retirement.
Maybe, the boys and girls in Victoria (where ancients hibernate year long) could give me an answer.
Get Tom Christensen on the phone, Miss Goody Two-Shoes.
"Hey, Tom, Corbett here."
"Hello, Tom." Someone on the other end of the phone spouted that Christensen's constituency office was closed for the day.
Rats, I bellowed, or words to that effect.
Well, us "oldsters" can never give up.
Maybe, a couple of those candidates for Christensen's job will have the answer.
"Hello, Juliette, Corbett here."
Juliette Cunningham, the NDP candidate for Christensen's job back in May, was taken aback by my question.Of course, it was at suppertime, and it was rude of me to call at that time.
Well, what about the Conservatives' Colin Black?
"Hello, Colin, what about this mandatory retirement issue?"
"Let people keep working (for as long as they like)," was his reply.
That makes sense to me, anyways.
Back in late January, the CBC reported that the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (or $$$, Inc.) had called for Canada's elimination of mandatory retirement as part of a plan to deal with an aging population and rising health-care cost.
"The financial implications of our aging population require immediate attention while our economy can still support such initiatives," said Rock Lefebvre, the CGA-Canada's veep for research and standards.
What was key in the report, entitled "Growing Up: The Social and Economic Implications of an Aging Population," was that Canada should ban mandatory retirement and discourage early retirement incentives "to ensure a productive society."
Then on Tuesday, Ontario's Libs got on the bandwagon and announced legislation to ban mandatory retirement at 65, in fact Ontario's Labour Minister Chris Bentley was quoted as saying, "We are extending the right to choose. You don't have to work if you don't want to, but you will have the right to choose."
Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Nunavut, the Yukon and P.E.I. now treat mandatory retirement as "discrimination" and have essentially abolished it, while New Brunswick has indicated plans to ban mandatory retirement in the next few days.
The slow wheels of bureaucracy probably will push both the Ontario and N.B. legislation into next year -- 2006. But it's a start.
Of course, there are exceptions with police officers, firefighters and school bus drivers falling into the "retirement" category because of physical ability or safety factors.
So where does that leave British Columbia, Newfoundland-Labrador, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan?
Do they have legislative action just stalled in the summer doldrums, or have they decided that older citizens should be put out to pasture, even if they are still in good, or reasonably good, health?
When reporters pressed Ontario Labour Minister Bentley that seniors would be taking jobs from the young, he replied: "The labour market is going to be looking for more and more workers -- workers wherever they can. There will be lots of opportunities for young people."
As someone, who was forced by my organization to retire at age 55 in 1994, there was an immediate rush with the doling out of pension monies and prospect of sun, sand and surf. However, after six months to a year such a prospect dissipated.
The golden handshake became a golden curse.
With a year or so, "bored" people either died or those "retirees" craved to get back in the harness.
A friend of mine, a high-powered newspaper executive, based in Ontario, retired, only to be struck with the "loneliness" of being without a job. When another newspaper came a-calling, he quickly jumped at the chance of un-retiring. A person can only handle so much lesiure time.
Lillian Morgenthau of the Canadian Association for the 50-plus, commenting on Ontario's bold move said: "We have to continue to allow them in the workforce. We look forward to this turning point in Ontario history."
"Excuse me, Miss Goody Two Shoes. Try to get Tom Christensen on the phone again."

When the Missus is away

2007-02-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

PROBLEM: Listen, Boss, the Missus is in town with the car, so I didn't have the means to get to any hot-breaking interviews and also it's been raining "cats and dogs" out here in my valley, so what's the Ol' Columnist to do.
Did I hear someone say, 'Go to the bookshelf'?
Am I really hearing voices again?
Get the Doc on the phone.
In the meantime, there are a couple of books staring at me. Ones, I have certainly read time and again.
Excuse me, I'll reach for one of my favorites, 'O Jerusalem!' (1972) by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, the authors of 'Is Paris Burning' and 'Or I'll Dress You in Mourning'.
Of course, the topic is centred on Jerusalem, my favorite city, having worked there as a newspaper correspondent in the late 1990s and now edit and write for a 2005 Jerusalem Sun website (www.kayecorbett.com/).
As the book jacket says: It is the most universal of man's cities: Jerusalem, the mystic heart of three great religions, condemned to pay for the passions stirred by its stones by being, through 40 centuries, the most bitterly disputed site in the world. Their story -- the fruit of five years of intensive research and many thousands of interviews -- is the epic drama of 1948, in which the Arabs and the Jews, heirs to generations of bitter conflict in a land sacred to them both, fought each other for the city of Jerusalem and for the hopes of fulfillment it represented to each. Here, for the first time, is an account of that struggle which encompasses the full spectrum of its participants, whose experiences, emotions and acts of bravery have been meticulously brought together and illumined in this monumental and dramatic work.
Collins and Lapierre describe the three separate groups of people this way:
The Jews -- some of them descendants of the old rabbinical families that had dwelt in Jerusalem for centuries; others the offspring of Zionism's early pioneers who had come to Palestine to reclaim their lost homeland by sweat and sacrifice; still others the remnant of the Six Million, trying to rebuild their shattered existence in new surroundings.
The Arabs -- resentful of what they felt to be an effort to seize a land they believed theirs in the name of a crime they had not committed -- the persecution of the Jews in the Christian West; driven to disaster by incompetent politicians; deeding the world the seeds of a new tragedy in their refugee camps.
The British -- whose 30-year mandate in the Holy Land had begun in November 1917 with General Allenby's conquest of Jerusalem -- and with the pronouncement of the Balfour Declaration, promising a Jewish National Home in a land whose Arab inhabitants had been led to expect a state of their own.
Against this background of history, the authors play out the day-by-day, minute-by-minute human record of the collision between two peoples, linking the stories of countless participants, great and small, from high commanders to simple soldiers, from famous world figures -- Ben-Gurion, Harry S. Truman, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Golda Meir. King Abdullah of Jordan -- to the countless men and women who fought and died beneath the stones and monuments of Jerusalem.
With the conflict over Jerusalem more prominent today than ever before in world history, the book's epilogue reminds us of the words of the ancient psalm of David:
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ...
Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within
Thy palaces.
Seven years later -- in 1979 -- David Halberstam chronicled 'The Powers That Be', another favorite on my bookshelf. It states on the book's cover its essence. "Within the kingdom of the media: how Luce's Time, Paley's CBS, the Grahams' Washington Post and the Chandlers' Los Angeles Times became rich and powerful and changed forever the shape of American politics and society.
Often book jacket prose is midleading, but not Haberstam, for he does chronicle the stunning rise in power and influence of America's communications empires. It opens our eyes to the domination of government by the media. It takes us behind the scenes and shows us the new shapes of power in America today. It brings us close to the men and women who developed and wielded that power power, and wield it now.
It's now been almost 26 years since Halberstam penned this 70-page epic, but the influence of some of the names ring loudly even in 2005.
Take for instance, Halberstam in describing: CBS is William S. Paley, society figure and commercial visionary -- and it is Edward R. Murrow and James Aubrey and Frank Stanton and dozens of others who Halberstam brings brilliantly to life ...
Time Inc. is Henry Luce, haunted by his Chinese boyhood, driven and molded by his idea of duty and his inhibitions -- and it is Luce's star reporter, enemy, and friend, Teddy White.
The Los Angeles Times is, of course, the Chandler family -- "a dynasty, one of the few remaining in American society."
And the Washington Post is the Grahams and Ben Bradlee and the boys of Watergate, Woodward and Bernstein.
These words on both 'O Jerusalem' and 'The Powers That Be' come from their book covers, and not from my knowledge bank. However, Collins, Lapierre and Halberstam are heroes to me, for the length of time they spent on writing such epics.
I know, for I have just finished writing the 1,500-page, three-volume series entitled, "The Glory of the King," or as I have called it on many a sleepless night, "16 years of blood, sweat and tears."

Bears: The stark reality

2007-02-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

Andy Russell, the famous wilderness outfitter, hunter, naturalist, photographer, and guide, spent a lifetime in the saddle following the grizzly and lived to tell about it in his 1967 Ballantine book, 'Grizzly Country'.
It's a magnificent chronicle of the sweeping adventures of a man who had faced one of the most dangerous and least known of the great North American land mammals and shared his home, according to the back cover of the paperback, which has always shared a special place in my small library.
Last week, the 89-year-old who had championed the wilderness and wildlife, died after spending his final years in a care home in Pincher Creek, Alberta.
Over the weekend, I set out to detail Russell's fascination with the grizzlies and also, my namesake, James Oliver Curwood (even if my mother and father misspelled his name, and I was saddled with the first name of Kerwood) and his fictionalized encounter with Thor in one of his great wilderness books entitled, 'The Grizzly King.'
Bears, for whatever reason, have held a great fascination for me, even here in my great valley on Highway 97 between Vernon and Falkland. And before the Fire of August 2003, a mother and her cubs would wander around my place, almost with abandon. A visitor to my homestead, an Easterner I might add, once decided to follow a mother across the field and was quickly discouraged when she turned and a wild look of protection came across her face and in her eyes. The Easterner quickly scampered to safer ground.
Yesterday, I was about to detail both Russell and Curwood's adventures in Bear Country, when I was alerted that Isabelle Dube, a well-known mountain bike racer, was killed by Bear 99 while running on the Upper Benchlands Trail near Canmore, Alberta. She was the first person killed by a bear in Alberta since 1998.
When I spoke with Amanda Follett of the Canmore Leader (www.canmoreleader.com) early yesterday, she didn't believe the news of Dube's death had reached the entire community.
In reviewing past editions of the Canmore Leader, reporter Pam Doyle described how the same grizzly had visited the fifth fairway at Silver Tip golf course and was caught in a culvert trap on Friday, May 27. The four-year-old, 200-pounder was tranquillized and tagged and was then airlifted by Alpine Helicopters to the far north end of the Carrot Creek drainage in Banff National Park and released.
Doyle pointed out in her news story that the bear was first seen on the May long weekend and was the first reported bear sighting in Canmore this year.
There had been encounters with the grizzly as Canmore resident Niki Davison told Doyle: "Then the bear was five to six feet away from me. He stood and looked at us and I bent over holding the dog and looked at my feet. Raisin also noticed the bear but didn't bark. The bear eventually lost interest in us."
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development biologist Jon Jorgenson said if the bear returned to the Canmore area, his staff would use "aversive conditioning on him."
On Sunday, the same bear wandered around the Silver Tips Golf Resort area.
Dube and two friends, Maria Hawkins and Jean McAllister, enountered Bear 99 as they were running on the Upper Benchlands Trail.
Dube, who had competed in elite mountain bike races such as the 24 Hours of Adrenalin and the TransRockies Challenge, according to Follett and Dave Husdal in the Sun Media, climbed a tree while the other two headed for help at the nearby golf course.
In a CBC report, Dave Ealey of the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, said officers were nearby when the two other women called for help. Ealey was quoted as saying, "Our guys were there right on the spot, and (the bear) was on the body. When it moved off the body they shot the bear."
Dube was only in her mid-30s, married, with a young daughter.
Such a tragedy in comprison to Curwood's tale (in Judith A. Elridge's book, "God's Country and the Man), which I'll relate in brief:
"Lost in thought, the clicking sound coming along the ledge behind him came slowly into his consciousness, but then he knew instantly what it was -- the click of a bear's toenails on hard rock. He turned, and found himself looking at the great grizzly, barring the ledge and the way to safety. Jim's heart seemed to stop. A low moan, almost soundless, escaped him. He could see the wounds in the bear's shoulder and foreleg, a crease through the hair along its back that could only have been made by a bullet. It was his bear, it had to be; they were the only hunters in these mountains. Then the realization of his danger drove all else from his mind. "Oh, God,' he cried in a low moan, "Please, God, no!" ... Dropping down on all fours again, the bear's great head swung slowly from side to side, a low growl rumbling from deep with in its wounded chest, and disappeared back the way it had come, the click of its claws ringing clear on the hard rock, growing fainter as it made its way down the ledge. It had taken less than a minute. Death had come -- and gone!"
If that had only been true in Isabelle Dube's encounter Sunday with a grizzly.

The Mick's final inning

2007-02-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

St. Louis Browns' manager Marty Marion when asked if Mickey Mantle had a weakness: "Let's see -- uh, yes. There's one thing he can't do very well. He can't throw left-handed. When he goes in for that we'll have the perfect ballplayer."

When the Ol' Columnist was in his prime, he wanted to become the second coming of The Mick.
Genetics apparently savaged such a plan even though my Momma had been a superb softball player.
However, there were dreams and when I finally got to meet Mickey Mantle it was at a sports banquet near Calgary in the 1960s and I was in awe. He was power personified. Bulging muscles. Silk suits. Oklahoma drawl. The soft-spoken All-American.
It was only years later that I learned Mantle had been through hell and back, not via a Sports Illustrated expose or even a book from the American journalistic elite, but through a small tract someone had handed me on a Toronto street. It was dated 1998 and printed in Garland, Texas.
And it read: "He was one of the most compelling athletic heroes in American history. Long after he'd hung up his fabled pin striped uniform, grown men would stammer and stutter in his presence and faithful fans would pay outlandish prices for his memorabilia. His achievements were many, but they cannot explain his enduring popularity. His legion of admirers felt a deep emotional attachment to this man who moved with such fluid grace and raw power. They loved Mickey Mantle.
"His statistics are staggering -- 536 home runs, 1,509 RBIs, .298 career batting average, seven world championships, and three MVP awards -- and they are all the more impressive when we consider how the Hall of Famer courageously battled chronic, painful injuries during his 18 years with the New York Yankees. In addition, he won the Triple Crown in 1956 -- a .353 batting average, 52 HRs, and 130 RBIs. In 1961, he hammered 54 homers, just six shy of Babe Ruth's record.
But these numbers pale when compared to what happened in the harsh summer of '95 when his heart took over in that desperate final inning. Faced with an aggressive cancer, he displayed incredible courage, humility, even humor as he battled for his life. And when he chose to drag his frail body in front of a mass of microphones and address the public, there was not a trace of self-pity in his words -- only heartfelt pleas to avoid the mistakes he had made. "Don't be like me," he humbly declared. "I'm no role model!" But despite his flaws, Mantle remained a hero to his multitude of fans, and due to his honesty gained many new ones.
"At age 19 he left the lead mines of Oklahoma for the bright lights of New York City. Unfortunately, those lights cast an eerie shadow over his life. After Mickey's first season, his father, Mutt Mantle, died of Hodgkins disease at age 40. His grandfather and two of his uncles also succumbed to the same disease before their 40th birthdays. As a result, a growing fear of dying young haunted the budding superstar. He would talk long into the night with his close teammates, confiding to them this nagging fear.
"Convinced an early funeral was his inevitable fate, though often joking about it, he played hard and partied even harder. For him there was no tomorrow. Tragically, this attitude led to a 40-year bout with alcohol that caused his body to grow old before its time and clouded his mind. Many criticized his self-destructive lifestyle, saying it sabotaged the greatest combination of power and speed the game had ever seen. In the autumn of his life, Mantle came to agree with those critics, admitting that his drug of choice, alcohol, kept him from reaching his full potential -- as a player and as a person. He had learned the hard lesson that a man reaps what he sows.
"Finally, in 1994, at the urging of his family and friends, Mickey sought help for his addiction. After checking himself into the Betty Ford Center, he was able to win his long battle with the bottle. But he knew something was still missing in his life. He just wasn't sure what it was.
"In June of 1995, doctors discovered that cancer had destroyed Mantle's liver. He was fortunate to receive a transplant, and for a while it seemed as if the greatest switch hitter of all time would live to fight another day. Then doctors found that cancer remained in his body, and he began chemotherapy. Mickey knew he was facing death.
"During the All-Star break in Dallas, he picked up the phone and called his old friend and teammate, former Yankee second baseman Bobby Richardson -- a committed Christian. Mickey asked him to pray for him over the telephone. A few weeks later when doctors had discovered that the cancer had aggressively spread, Mickey's family asked Bobby if he would come visit him. His death was imminent. To honor Mickey's long-standing request -- one he had made at the funeral of Roger Maris nine years earlier -- Bobby was asked to speak at the funeral.
"After entering the hospital room, Richardson went over to Mantle's bed and took his hand. Locking his eyes on him, Bobby said, "Mickey, I love you, and I want to spend eternity in heaven with me." Mantle smiled and said, "Bobby, I've been wanting to tell you that I have trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior."
"For Richardson, news of his conversion felt like cool rain after a summer drought, and brought tears to his eyes. For years, he had talked to Mickey about the Lord Jesus, but to no avail. Now, in the final inning of his life, the Mick had won his greatest victory -- more glorious than any of his tape-measure home runs."
The Mick died in August 1995, just a few months shy of his 64th birthday. He will always live in our hearts.

From Watergate to three in a row

2007-02-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

Someone wise once asked what were the three most notable spectacles I had ever seen.
Without hesitation, I replied: Elizabeth Taylor in 'Cleopatra'; Marilyn Monroe in 'Some Like It Hot'; and Sophia Loren in "anything."
"No, no," came the reply. "On television, dummy."
"Oh, I get it. Well, let's see now," I replied.. "There was that terrible assassination of John Kennedy back in 1963; then there was Senator Sam and the Watergate hearings in the mid-1970s and in the mid-1990s, the O.J. murder trial."
"But if you could pick just one, what would it be?" said the Wise One.
"Definitely, the Watergate hearings. That's when I was in my prime and I didn't miss a moment of it. It aged me 20 years, but I still remember the drama of it all."
Then the Wise One shuffled some papers, and said: "See this story on the Internet by Keith Olbermann that will knock your socks off." I wasn't wearing any.
'WO' started quoting Olbermann, who hosts 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' on MSNBC: "So, just 17 days shy of the exact 33rd anniversary of the break-in that unleashed the whole Watergate scandal, we finally know the identity of the secret source, Deep Throat, who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein keep the story alive in the Washington Post."
"Yeah, yeah, I know the guy's name is Mark Felt," I injected.
"But, Olbermann wondered about the parts of Deep Throat that clearly aren't Mark Felt, like all the stuff Throat supposedly confirmed after Felt left the FBI in June 1973."
"What's Olbermann have to say about that?"
"It's a long article," said WO, rushing to the next paragraph. "Felt's self-identification in the pages of Vanity Fair seems to raise more questions than it answers, and signals not the end of the Throat mystery, but merely its mutation into something stranger and maybe more pertinent. As John Dean, Richard Nixon's own White House Counsel, and in the ensuing years, the most dogged pursuer of Throat's identity, told me on Countdown" "Now we have a new mystery ... focusing on Woodward's journalism. "How is he going to explain Felt having some of the information he had," Dean continued, "when it just isn't in the realm of possibility that he had access to it, even as third or fourth hand hearsay?"
"Enough, enough, you're really confusing me, now. Next thing you'll tell me is that the "Deep Throat" in "All the President's Men" wasn't this guy, Felt?"
"Oh, he probably was, but he never said all those things to Woodward and Bernstein."
The Wise One then topped off the conversation saying that Hal Holbrook, who played Deep Throat in the movie, was dropping his one-man show, "Mark Twain Tonight!" to introduce "W. Mark Felt Tonight!" on stage. Holbrook has been quoted as saying "I played W. Mark Felt before I even knew who W. Mark Felt was."
One snide critic was overheard to say, "To be candid I don't see how a guy who kept his piehole shut for 30 years is going to put fannies in the seats."
Me neither.
***
WHEN TRYING TO FILL SPACE, WRITE ABOUT WOMEN DRIVERS!
Okay.
Here's something out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It seems Consultative Council member Mohammad al-Zulfa wanted to conduct a study into the feasibility of "reversing the ban on women drivers."
He found it wasn't a great idea to bring up an age-old taboo subject and MZ has been blasted, on his cell phone, from spitting-mad Saudis, who have accused him of encouraging women to commit the double sins of discarding their veils and mixing with men. He's also had messages urging Allah to freeze his blood.
But there was a topper to all this; in a letter to the editor of a daily newspaper: "Driving by women leads to evil ... imagine what it will be like if her car broke down? She would have to seek help from men."
Did you hear that, Missus, maybe I should have the car for the day?
The Melville Spitfire just turned her back on me and shrugged her shoulders as she plunked herself behind the wheel.
***
DEFINITELY A MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE SCENARIO!
Don Jardine, Alex Snigurowicz and Erik Bjarnson were stuck 5,500 metres up on Canada's highest mountain, Mount Logan, in southwestern Yukon last week. It's notorious for its sudden snow squalls and the three from the North Shore Rescue team in North Vancouver believed they were going to die.
However, they were rescued by the U.S. military, park rangers and private pilots; and yesterday afternoon there was a great homecoming in Vancouver despite the fact the three suffered hypothermia and frostbite.
***
THE DOCTOR IS IN FOR A $2,300 FEE!
Don Coperman, the founder of new "boutique" health-care centre in Vancouver, thinks it is quite alright to charge more than two grand so patients can see their doctor.
"Basically this $2,300-a-year service is a new service. The government doesn't pay for the kind of preventative care we deliver," he told the CBC.
Someone wise from the B.C. Nurses Union was quick to slam Coperman. "It clearly sets up a system of elitism."
That's for certain, Bunky.
***
THIS IS SCARY, FOLKS!
As someone who survived the Whispering Pines fires of August 2003, there was startling news out of Prince George, B.C. It seems three forest fires have merged into a giant blaze covering 180 sq. km south of Vanderhoof. Nearly 200 firefighters are battling the inferno, caused by recent lightning storms.
***
THREE IN A ROW!
Yes, I'm finally running out of space: Here's an item from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control about a fungal infection Cryptococccus gatti) that had been found on the east coast of Van Island has now spread to the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast and Fraser Valley ... Give me one good reason why the police and the courts, including those in Vernon, remain so close-mouthed about information the media and the general public have a right to know about? The not-so-golden silence has been going on since the Ol' Columnist was learning his ABCs ... OK, Andy D. so you kissed Robin Williams, er, Robin Givens during the filming of a movie ... but can you ever top this Ol' Man's coming away with a concussion (in the movie, 'Running Brave') and being nearly mauled by a wrestling bear? No? I thought so.

More sightings of Ogopogo

2007-02-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Arlene Gaal believes there's a strange animal living in Lake Okanagan. And she had proof.
Of course, there are countless people who think she might be out to lunch and might be a few bricks short of a full load, but the Ol' Columnist isn't one of them.
After all for the past 16 years, I have been searching for another legend, the Ark of the Covenant, while keeping food on the table by taking jobs in newspapers from here to Israel to Ethiopia.
In fact, searchers are a strange breed and some are journalists, such as Gaal, who spent 26 years in the newspaper business as a journalist and has written three books on Ogopogo along with three books on local history.
She said that the most recent sighting of the strange creature with the elongated neck was on Tuesday, May 17 by Kelowna orchardist Rob Carsoro.
However, the most revealing information about Gaal's belief comes from the Internet and I quote:
"There is no doubt in my mind that there is an unidentified animal living in Lake Okanagan, whose name is Ogopogo. The Indians call it N'ha-a-itk or Naitaka. And it goes back three centuries in the Okanagan Valley. So therefore people has been having experiences on Okanagan Lake for three centuries. But my belief structured when I had my own experiences out there. Where I was able to photograph something on the lake that was neither a whale, a submarine, no sturgeon. So therefore the only conclusion I could come to was the fact that we were dealing with this unidentified animal or USO called Ogopogo.
It was actually a short interview with Gaal yesterday afternoon, but one that certainly shook a few brain cells. In future columns we'll explore the Ogopogo mystery and also the Ol' Columnist's search for the Ark -- the terrible container of God.
As I was about to go on toi another topic, Gaal sent me a fax, which gave a brief summation of her background:
Arlene Gaal was born and raised in a coal-mining town in southeaster British Columbia; a teacher by profession and author/journalist by chouice. In 1968 she and her husband Joe and three children moved to Kelowna ... and the home of Ogopogo. To her it was Canada's Hawaii.
A curiosity-seeker at heart, Arlene soon began tracking the many sightings of the creature in Lake Okanagan. Her search led to the first film footage taken of the animal, The Folden Film, which she purchased. It was in Kelowna, that her first book, Beneath The Depths, was launched in 1976. Soon after that, Alan Landsburg Productions from Los Angeles, arrived to shoot the very first program in Lake Okanagan, "In Search of Ogopogo" and Gaal worked alongside the crew as a consultant. This was the beginning of a continuing releationship with television crews throughout the world and interviews with major newspapers, including the New York Times, London Daily Mail, Chicago Tribune.
Arlene Gaal became the reporting station for sightings of Ogopogo, and as the years progressed the accumulated data would easily fill a moderate sized room. Not only did she document the sightings, but made certain that any film, video or still photos did not go astray as they were filed for historical preservation. By 1984 it became apparent that it was time for another book, and Hancock House Publishers released 'Ogopogo, The Million Dollar Monster' written by Gaal.
Interest in the unknown is never without controversy and the Chaplin video footage presented one of the more difficult periods in Ogopogo research. The television program, Unsolved Mysteries paid $30,000 for the material as critics offered their explanations for the video.
In 1990 and 1991, Nippon Television from Tokyo, Japan requested Arlene Gaals' presence as a consultant for two productions shot on Lake Okanagan. Helicopters, deep rover -- and ROVs were part of the extensive search for the elusive creature. Nippon crews did not go home disappointed as video footage and sonar readings captured what could only be explained as Ogopogo.
In the past year, crews have worked with Gaal on numerous programs: two separate crews arrived from Germany, Fortean Television from London aired a production in February 1998, and crews from Los Angeles, including Sachnoff-lipman Entertainment who aired a documentary on Ogopogo for the Learning Channel in the latter part of 1998.
In future columns, the Ol' Columnist will continue to detail Arlene Gaal's further adventures in hunting for Ogopogo as well as tracking our own search for the greatest 'hidden" treasure of all, the Ark of the Covenant.

Injustice on two fronts

2007-02-12T15:32:00.000-08:00

Islamic terror has reached Canada, at least on paper, and at least in the mind of newspaper publisher Bob Doull.
As president and CEO of the Christian History Project, Doull has been forced to lay off about 50 people and the planned 12 volumes of the $3-$5-million project, 'The Christians -- Their First Two Thousand Years' has ceased publication after only six volumes. And he identified a former technician of destroying or retrieving all the records, including the volumes of work from outstanding artists and writers, plus all the customer records from the expensive computer system, based in Edmonton, Alberta.
Doull, who is publisher of a number of community newspapers in British Columbia and Alberta, said that 'B', a member of contact center administration for the project, was either a Moslem or connected with Moslems in halting the massive publishing undertaking.
According to Internet sources, 'B', a native of Zimbabwe, was a 1999 graduate of Southern Illinois University, majoring in finance and banking. He also was named regional manager for northern Alberta for Go Hard Technologies, however, a spokesman for that firm said he had not been with them for at least two years and, he, too, was also concerned with his whereabouts.
The project, headed by Doull and well-known magazine publisher, Ted Byfield, had been hailed as "awe-inspiring" not only throughout the Christian community, but also in the secular world. It had been recognized as a high achievement in publishing by such notables as Charles Colson.
Doull said the computer system was certainly tampered with on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 and it provoked Doull to "set up a couch outside the server room."
Such precautions seemed useless, for the culprit(s) struck again on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005. It was less devastating as they "tried to take down the telephone system."
Although six volumes had been published, the two incidents sent the project into a tailspin even though added security systems were in place.
"It paralyzed our customer service," said Doull, who at the present time is trying to clear up some accounts with various writers from the CHP before returning to full-time publishing in such places as Whistler, Squamish, B.C., and Banff.
As for renewing the planned 12-volume project, Doull was far from optimistic, stating about $700,000 would be needed to restore a workable system. "We certainly have lost momentum," he said.
Although there has been no direct contact with the Edmonton Moslem community, there has been "negative feedback." through letters to newspapers, said Doull, even though CHP supporter, Jack Klemke of Campus Crusade for Christ and president of KMG Mining, has attempted to get a dialogue going between Moslems and Christians.
While Doull placed the blame on a "Moslem," the former executive editor of "The Christians", Paul Stanway pinpointed that 'B' was not a Moslem, but a "beer-swigging Anglican." When informed of Doull's assessment of the situation, he said, the project had suffered financial woes with "overspending" before the computer problems. Stanway is the former editor, and now columnist, with the Edmonton Sun.
Doull informed me that 'B' had been questioned by Edmonton police, but had been released, and it's not known where he might be.
Stanway added that 'B' had broken into the computer system and was 'kiting' CHP cheques.
Ironically, the fith volume of 'The Christians' was titled, 'The Sword of Islam (A.D. 565 to 740) -- The Muslim Onslaught all but Destroys Christendom." In the foreword it reads: "The story of the Crusades will be told in a future volume, but the impications of this one is clear -- the Christian confrontation with Islam goes back to Islam's origins, and it it snot over."
***
One of the most ludicrous news items yesterday was that the Canadian Red Cross had only been fined $5,000 in the atrocious tainted blood scandal of the 1980s and 1990s.
What were the courts thinking?
Oh, there was a kicker to the fine and that was the Red Cross would fork over $1.5-million to the University of Ottawa for research and scholarships for members of those afflicted. Big deal.
Red Cross secretary-general Dr. Pierre Duplessis whimpered about how deeply sorry they were for the injury and "death."
While some may excuse the terrible toll it took on more than 1,000, all we have to say is 15 years later and a million or so, just isn't enough. This was blood money and not very much of it.

A cowboy of faith

2007-02-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

ROB DINWOODIE, the five-year-old from Lavoie, 10 miles from Viking, Alberta, on Highway 10, wasn't shocked by the miracle healing of his brother Keith's little horse, Fury; after all as little boys they had asked Jesus to heal the animal.
And Dinwoodie, now 47 and the father of three women, aged 26, 25 and 19, still believes in miracles.
After all he was born into a Christian home where his mother, Martha, had been healed by God of polio when she was only 16.
"My grandmother's sister, Aunt Kate, worked as a house maid and she said she met Jesus. She apparently was very disraught and wanting to know the meaning of life. One day she was hanging out clothes on the line when a man in white came. He didn't say anything, but her life was transformed. Aunt Kate was the most bubbly lady that I have ever met and she prayed for my Mom, Martha, when she was 16, who had polio and my Mom was completely healed."
Rob's mother was not supposed to have any children, but she had six.
Into such a world Rob was born; and that heritage has followed him all his days.
When I visited with him early Sunday afternoon in his Old Kamloops Road home, it reminded me of being in a well-appointed "tack room" with Dinwoodie's paintings hanging on the walls and the cowboy decor evident in every nick and corner. He had just come back from the Multiplex where internationally-known horse trainer Pat Pirelli was showing his skills and later in the day, he and his group, "Dogwood Road" had been invited to attend the baptism of a friend at Okanagan Lake.
"The woman, who I had witnessed to, said that I had spoken to her in an understanding manner."
Dinwoodie has not always followed the Lord in all he does.
"It was in Vernon as a young man, I was not living for the Lord. I would work through the week and then party. One day, I passed out by the railway tracks and a friend of mine picked me up. It was then I thought, 'I'm still His child.' It's like today with my own children ... I don't like everything they do, but my love for them never ceases. They are my children."
After moving to Winnipeg, he married his wife, Jocelyne, and they in turn moved to Alberta and were "drawn to the Billy Graham crusade in Edmonton in 1979."
It was during that crusade that he and Jocelyn "gave our lives to the Lord. It was true salvation, we were truly converted."
In a publicity release, it explains that Dinwoodie has loved horses and the cowboy way of life since childhood. He;s a self-taught guitarist and writer of contemporary Western songs. Since 1996, Rob and Jocelyne have entertained international guests with their cowboy show, 'Lasso the Moon' at Vernon's Historic O'Keefe Ranch and Silver Star Mountain Resort. Rob's full-time job as Range Manager with the B.C. Forest Service affords him the opportunity to work daily with the ranchers and cowboys he lauds in song.
His group, named Dogwood Road, was once known as the Desperadoes. He laughs and says, "church people don't like the word desperadoes, sounds like a bunch of gangsters. But that wasn't the reason I changed it. There was a group down in the States by that name."
The band is comprised of Jack Bernhardt on accordion and keyboards, Don Baum on bass guitar, Frank Kelly (a native of Newfoundland) on lead guitar and Rick Larson on drums.
"All are Born-Again Believers. I think the Lord has brought us together," said Dinwoodie.. "Sometimes I think that because we are out in the world that we're somehow going to get tarnished by the world as if somehow we have attained our salvation. We have to live, work and play in the world. Christ gave me my salvation. Of course, I have to choose my music well. In fact, I write most of the material. I call it western lyric.
"If you look around our house at the various bits and paintings, you will realize I have had this thing with the cowboy. That was all I ever wanted to be."
Then he went on to say, "That's all I ever dreamed about. At school I wouldn't do my work. I was drawing horses and cowboys so as I grew up my music became a bigger part of my life. I started writing songs."
Dinwoodie exemplifies a philosophy that has slowly died in the modern era.
"I want to do well the "gifts" God has given me with respect to music and arts and do it well so that when they see Rob Dinwoodie and Dogwood Road or whoever I am associated with, they know they are going to get the very best and I want to glorify God."
In the final analysis of the well-known musician and artist, Dinwoodie said, himself: "I don't call myself anything, Kaye. I just want to be called a man who follows after God. At the end of my life, if God would say, 'you're a man after My own heart. I like to get stroked like everyone else, but when it comes down to the end of the day ... that He would smile and say, 'Yeah, that's My son."

Where young racers go to die

2007-02-12T15:22:00.000-08:00

INDIANAPOLIS (Special) -- Tony Kanaan, Sam Hornish Jr., and Scott Sharp hold down the first three places on the grid for Sunday's 89th annual Indianapolis 500, but all eyes will be on 23-year-old rookie, Danica Patrick, who at 5-foot-2 and 100 pounds, has stood out as the field of 33 gets its final inspection, also known as photo shoots. Thursday all 33 were in New York City, and the crowds were only interested in Patrick. "I like her attitude," said one fan. "She's tough. She's feisty." Others shouted: "Go get 'em. Go girl."

So what?
The previous infatuation with the v-room, v-room spectacle, known as the Indianapolis 500 in the Great American Cow Pasture, certainly died for the Ol' Columnist in late May 1973.
Gordon Johncock won the 57th running of the 500 that mid-week afternoon, however, when his brilliant red STP Eagle crossed the finish line in front of 100,000 fans after only 133 laps or 332.5 miles, it was anti-climatic to the incredible events which preceded it.
It was difficult to believe that two deaths and, more than 15 injuries, added up to any kind of a victory celebration.
Rain had prevented its start on Sunday, and then it was postponed to Monday and as rain spitted all over the huge playpen the flag finally was dropped by Pat Vidan and young Salt Walther tried to make a hasty exit through a wire fence along the front straightaway. He missed and as a result, the modish bachelor wound up in the Downtown Methodist Hospital covered in burns to most of his body. In the aftermath of the devastation, 13 or more spectators were burned, two teen-age girls seriously, along with minor injuries to two drivers -- Mike Hiss and John Martin. The race was then halted.
Rains again wiped out Tuesday's plans.
So it wasn't until Wednesday at 2:07 before the track was dry enough to start.
The 32-car field roared off with the gleaming white Eagle of Bobby Unser charging around the first turn, and it appeared as if the difficulties of the previous few days would be forgotten by some brilliant driving.
The pattern appeared familiar as Bobby U. spread his wings in front of such dominant personalities as Mark Donohue, Swede Savage, pole-sitter Johnny Rutherford and Gary Bettenhausen,
But then the speeds, which had reached a tick of the clock away from 200 during qualifications, started to take their expected toll. First Mario Andretti, wheeling a Parnelli Turbo-Offy, went for lunch on the third lap.
Machines and drivers wheeled in and out of pit lane for the first 30 laps as Bobby Unser doggedly held onto the lead for the first 75 miles. But, then during a pit stop, Johncock took the lead and by the 40th lap, or 100 miles, he had a safe margin over young Billy Vukovich and Savage with brothers Al and Boby Unser moving up steadily.
But any belief that this race was going to be accident-free were quickly dashed when Savage, only 26, and driving another STP machine for owner Andy Granatelli, spun on some oil on the 58th lap as he headed down the north end of the straightaway, turned sideways and slammed into the wall front first.
Alternate driver John Mahler, who was standing near the pit entrance, rushed towards the scene along with six firemen carrying extinguishers and managed to tear the aluminum away from Savage's frame and carried him to a waiting ambulance.
Swede, who had survived a near fatal crash at Ontario, Calif., in 1971 and had a memory lapse for almost six months, was taken to hospital with compound fractures to both his legs, internal injuries and burns. He would die later.
In the ensuing confusion surrounding the accident, a pit crew member for another STP team driver, Graham McRae, was fatally injured.
As I wrote on that fateful day, Armando Teran never saw death coming towards him, but thousands in the stands did.
Did you ever see a man die a violent death? I wanted to walk out of Speedway and never return.
Armando came to Indianapolis to work on one of the STP pit crews, a chance to get away from his job as a truck driver in Culver City, Cali. He was 23, a bachelor, who didn't expect to die in the 500. He wasn't a race driver.
It was 3:10 p.m. when No. 40 -- Swede Savage -- hit an oil slick and slammed into the wall,m exploding immediately and spewing fire across the track, just at the entrance of pit lane.
Armando was standing behind the wall near the starter's podium, talking with other members of McRae's pit crew.
As ambulances and fire trucks started roaring towards the accident scene, Armando leaped over the wall, started to cross the paved pit lane towards the narrow median of grass and race along with dozens of others.
Just then a fire truck, speeding at more than 60 mph, and also going in the wrong direction, blasted through the pit area and Armando was a pedestrian who wasn't looking.
The truck struck Armando with a tremendous thud, sending the young mechanic flying through the air some 50 feet. He rolled over and over again -- like a child rolling through snow.
The crowd screamed as they lifted his body into an ambulance. The fire truck's radiator was spewing steam and a huge dent was showing on its passenger side.
It was more than an hour later the press learned of Armando's death. The crowd was never told.
When Johncock finally crossed the finish line that fateful afternoon, there was no joy in the STP camp. For Granatelli, the usually life-of-the-party owner, it was a very bitter-sweet victory. "It's not a great day for me because Swede's in the hospital and a crew member of ours has been lost." He wiped a tear away.
Later, on the victory podium, the announcer for the festival of beer and dirt tried to engender some enthusiasm from Andy, but he turned his head toward the rain-pregnant skies and it appeared he might be thinking, "Why me, God, why did something like this happen to me?"
As for this rain-drenched road warrior, I vowed never to return to the Indianapolis 500.
I have kept that promise.

Excedrin headache No. 93

2007-02-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

It's about this Excedrin headache No. 93, Nurse Goody Two Shoes.
It keeps pounding away and the questions continue flooding my feeble brain: Why is Sean Harvey really quitting as Vernon's mayor ... and don't give me that goulash about his daughters showing him the light. Or who in heavens would ever want that fake castle monstrosity above the Swan Lake store? Or when will they bulldoze that green monster where the ponies seldom run? Or why does a parking ticket in downtown Vernon cost 75 smackeroos?
Instead of answers, more questions came a-callin'.
So when a brain overload is on the horizon, it's time to retreat to the Fire Zone (are you listening, George Abbott) and check out some books that have been gathering dust for some time now. See, I told you, Mr. Managing Editor, if you didn't institute a books review page, then the Ol' Man would.
Ah, here's one: 'The Queen's Plate" (Trent Frayne, McClelland and Stewart, 1959.)
Bill Frayne, the husband of one of Canada's true heroines, June Callwood, and a former colleague of mine in my Toronto newspaper days, has written one of the truly brilliant chronicles of Canada's premier race, the Queen's Plate, detailing it from 1860 to 1959.
Frayne, one of the most brilliant wordsmiths this nation has ever produced, begins it this way: "On the pale grey afternoon of June 30, 1959, Elizabeth II stood in a flower-bordered horseshoe of verdant turf in Toronto's New Woodbine race track and congratulated Mr. and Mr. E.P. Taylor, whose colt, New Providence, had just won the one hundredth renewal of the oldest continuously run horse race in North America. For a century, through two world wars and one world depression , this race honoured by royal patronage had never known an interruption. Kings had died or had abdicated, the horseless carriage had grown from a growling sputtering novelty to a humming sleek-lined menace, currency had been changed from sterling to the dollar system, and Toronto's population had swelled from 44,821 to 1,426,196 in 1959, but each year The Plate was the highlight of the racing season." What sets this 168-page book apart, are the the color plates of such steeds as Inferno (The King's Plate, 1905), Horometer (The King's Plate, 1934), Bunty Lawless (The King's Plate, 1938), plus Canadiana (The Queen's Plate, 1953). In addition, there's an expansive Plate portfolio of photos including Joseph E. Seagram on Black Bess, 1896, Col. R.S. McLaughlin and jockey Mann with Horomoter, 1934 and Eddie Arcaro on Canadiana, 1953.
During my last time at the Plate, it was in the 1970s, and the Toronto Sun decided to assign its sportswriters to various leading jockeys to tell their stories. I got Burnt Grass (or Ash, I can't remember) and leading jock, Sandy Hawley. Burnt Whatever finished up the track and Hawley said barely a word. Somehow his nods and yeahs turned into a 10-inch "epic."
Another in this Ol' Man's Sportswriting Hall of Fame, besides Frayne, and near the top has to be Jim Taylor of the Vancouver Province and Sun and later with the ill-fated Sports Today (Calgary Sun).
'Skull' is now retired (aren't we all?), but his storytelling still ripples through Canadian journalism. He could paint word pictures with unusual skill.
About a month or so ago, I slid into THE BOOKSTORE behind Polson Park Mall, you know the one with the musty smells and books so high, Hannibal and his elephant would have a hard time hauling them out into the sunlight. But in the midst of one of the aisles, Taylor's 'Forgive Me My Press Passes' (Horsdal & Schubart) hit me between the eyeballs. It cost me five bucks, however, I have no idea what the original 1993 price tag would be.
Taylor was/is a breed apart as he quickly explained: "Early in the game I was blessed with editors who noticed that from time to time I came down with the Weirds. The stories I wrote sometimes had little to do with the game I was covering. Comic-book characters kept showing up in them. Or old movie or song titles. And there were a lot of "What ifs ..." like "If Noah had remembered the unicorns, would race horses have horns?" and "What if a coach said 'There's no tomorrow' -- and there wasn't?" Instead of beating the weird streak out of me, they pulled me in and out of the sports department and gave me weird things to write.I climbed into a suit of armour to report that knighthood probably died out because the suits had no pants and they were too embarrassed to get off the horse ... I interviewed Whipper Billy Watson while he held me at arm's length over his head ... and ... when the Social Insurance numbers came in, I taped mine in big letters across my forehead, had my picture taken and faked a psychiatrist appointment ("Hello, doc. My name is 702-044-405. You can call me 7.") claiming the Thought Police were after my wife and me because we wouldn't name our baby daughter Twelve."
So you think that's weird, Jim?
I once challenged 500-pound plus Andre the Giant to a duel in the wrestling ring (he scowled and growled and walked away); jumped into a pool of jello with a Playmate of the Year and have been known to consult world-famous "experts" on what to write next.
"Isn't that right, Jake?"
"Isn't that right, Molly?"
Hey, I'm talking to you both.
Jake The Dog and Molly The Cat just sniffed and walked away.

Angels in the Mets' outfield

2007-02-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

If I had my druthers, I would rather be sitting in the Wrigley Field bleachers watching my beloved Cubbies play long ball as ol' Harry Caray mispronounces every name in the lineup or checking into Fenway for a 'dog and eyeballing Yaz or Pesky sitting in an honoured place in the Boston dugout instead of being at this dang computer.
Snap out of it, Corbett, this is 2005, and your 'Holy Cow' Cubbies are tied with Milwaukee for second place, seven back of St. Louis in the National League Central, while the World Series champion Red Sox are two back of Baltimore Orioles in the American League East.
Can you handle that, Bubba?
Where did this infatuation with baseball begin?
I'm 10 years old, lying on my Grandpa Corbett's front lawn in Bass River, Nova Scotia, with my green plug-in radio sitting under a lilac bush, listening to WBZ-Boston ... WBZA, Springfield, the voice of the Boston Red Sox. Ah, yes, the Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams, is at the plate. Here comes the pitch, and there it goes ... going, going, gone.
Teddy Baseball wasn't alone. I can never forget: Goodman, Doerr, Pesky and ... the other DiMaggio, Dom. Of course, his brother, Joe, played for the hated Yankees.
Some 20 years later, I am in Shea Stadium, New York. The fifth game of the World Series between the Miracle Mets and Earl Weaver's evil Orioles.
Let me take you back to 1969. Are you ready?
As a young sportswriter on one of my first out-of-town assignments for the now-defunct Toronto Telegram, there I was plunked in the middle of the Big Apple.
What was a country hick from Bass River, a blink-or-you'll miss it village in Nova Scotia, doing rubbing shoulders with the likes of Casey Stengel and a Broadway cast of thousands? Hey, there's Ed Sullivan standing on the sidewalk, waiting for his limo.
And heroes from the newspaper trade. I expected Grantland Rice and Damon Runyon to yell "Stop the Presses" and hand their copy to a pale-faced kid with pimples and an at-the-ready bike.
The Amazing Mets won the World Serious on Oct. 16, 1969, by mysteriously hoodwinking the American League champion Baltimore Orioles in the fifth game.
The 57,397 believers immediately went berserk by tearing up the sod at Shea.
The late and great writer, Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times, wrote that he had interviewed one of those believers, who said he was going to put his snippet of grass in a glass of water and "it would grow forever."
When the Mets were born in 1962, they finished 80 games under .500 and Marvelous Marv Throneberry, who fumbled and bumbled his way around Shea, epitomized their ineptitude. He gave "bad" a bad name.
From their inception through 1968, they finished 10th in six of those eight seasons and twice, including 1968, they rose from the depth to finish ninth.
Then, with suddenness, they were kings of the world.
"We give heart to all the losers in the world," Mets' right-fielder Ron Swoboda told a horde of ink-stained wretches as he leaned against his sweaty cubicle.
Murray was at his best in describing how it was like the movie, 'Angels In The Outfield.'
"There were angels everywhere in the outfield, infield, the dugout, even the trainer's room. They had more seraphs in the woodwork than they have in the Vatican."
He topped his column by saying, "One should have gone and checked the locker room to see if St. Christopher was taking a shower."
While filing a story for the old Tely, I swear I saw an angel picking up the towels.
Fronting the 1969 Mets was their owner, once described by Murray as a little old lady in a floppy hat and sensible shoes. However, their heart was manager Gil Hodges, who had plied his trade a hop, skip and two jumps away at Ebbets Field as a Brooklyn Dodger.
The team consisted of such no-names as Ron Swoboda, Al Weiss, Cleon Jones, Wayne Garrett, Ed Charles, Bud Harrelson, Rod Gaspar, Ed Kranepool, Tommie Agee, Art Shamsky and someone named Donn Clendenon. On the mound were Tom Seaver, Jack DiLauro, Gary Gentry, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, Nolan Ryan and Toronto's Ron Taylor, who practiced medicine on the side. Also on the team that year was OF Amos Otis, who said: "I get on base by making good contact with the ball, but whenever I hit a home run, I'm as surprised as everybody else."
On that day, Baltimore became a "bombed-out" city of shattered dreams. They have since recovered to rebuild again.
But on Oct. 16, 1969, it was a day of miracles and angels everywhere. It wasn't just a game, it was an awakening for a young sportswriter. He became a fan for a day. That was definitely a no-no.
Then reality set in and I went back to covering drab happenings.
However, the memories remain.
Now where's that snippet of grass? I bet it's still growing.
***
If the Mets were to play the Orioles in the 2005 World Series, what would the New York lineup look like: Reyes, Cairo, Cameron, Floyd, Wright, Anderson, Piazza!
See I told you, not a Swoboda or Clendenon in the bunch.
***
Theodore Roosevelt, 'Man in the Arena' Speech (April 23, 1910)
"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcomings, but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Taking the piddling tour

2007-02-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

This is a delicate subject, er, excuse me for a moment.
Okay, I'm back, Mr. Editor.
As I was saying before I made another stop on the Piddling Tour, this is a delicate subject evolving around diabetes.
There, I've blurted it out: I'm a lifetime member of Diabetes Anonymous -- ever since 1978.
Of course, this Ol' Columnist has always blamed my granddaddy, Angus MacDonald Corbett, for in my pre-teen years he feed me candy by the ton and then my father, Willard, lived on candy and sweets as a youngster and then, in his later years, suffered the indignities of diabetes, including being a charter member of the Piddling Club.
So like father, like son, the onslaught of one of mankind's worst diseases, began slowly until in my senior years, diabetes has reached far beyond the chuckling stage.
Now, before I get into the heavy-duty research materials, let me tell you, I take 92 units of insulin a day plus five tablets of Metformin.
Excuse me, it's piddling time.
Dr. Paul Latimer of the Okanagan Clinical Trials (250-862-8141) details some of the problems arising from the disease which can cause such seriious health complications as vision loss and amputation, in addition to life-threatening problems such as stroke, heart disease and kidney failure (see www.okanaganclinicaltrials.com)
So Doc, that's the reason my eyesight has become blurry on occasion.
In Latimer's study, he reports the body's ability to process sugar is "becoming one of the four big killers in the western world."
However, what really made me take notice in Latimer's summation of the disease was the fact that depression can set in, and, I might, add unexpectedly.
You might be humming along and, without warning, the "blues" as we used to call it, jumps in.
There have been instances of depression setting in. Even great men such as Sir Winston Churchill and the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, had fits of great anxiety and went into severe depression. I do not know if this was compounded by diabetes, but it is highly likely.
In Diane O'Grady's excellent book, "Teach Learn Live -- The Complete Diabetes Education Guide for Health Care Professionals," the Vernon-based diabetes nurse educator, writes about the signs and symptoms.
"Increased thirst and urination, excessive hunger, weight loss, fatigue and blurred vision are classic signs and symptoms,"she writes, "The client may present with any combination of the following:
1. Polyuria (increased urination) -- As the body tries to rid itself of excess glucose, water is drawn from the tissues and excess urine is produced. Recurrence of bed-wetting is a common sign of hyperglycemia in the child.
2. Polydipisia (increased thirst) -- Increased thirst is caused by the need to replace fluid lost through increased urination.
3. Polyphagia (excessive hunger) -- Increased hunger is caused by the need for energy from food because the body cannot use the glucose it has.
4. Fatigue, weakness and weight loss -- These occur when the body is unable to use or store glucose, its primary fuel source.
5. Slow healing of wounds and cuts -- The hyperglycemic environment is a perfect medium for the proliferation of bacteria and yeast. The client is particularly suspectible to vaginal and urinary tract infections.
6. Pain, numbness or tingling in the body extremities -- These sensations are caused by a buildup of glucose on the nerves and small blood vessels which supply these parts.
7. Itchy skin -- Sugar crystals just beneath the skin's surface cause itching.
8. Vision changes -- Retinal edema and hemorrhage cause changes in vision, including blurred vision. These changes are not permanent, and often improve after six to eight weeks of better glycemic control. For this reason, a change in eyeglass prescription needs to be postponed until glycemia improves.
9. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, flushed skin and a musty or fruity odour to the breath; and 10. Unconsciousness -- This may occur if hyperglycemia is severe, prolonged and left untreated.
There is hope, however.
Since I am preaching to myself as well as thousands of others who may bee reading this column, if you have any, and I mean any, of these symptoms, as I've listed above, please, get to your medical doctor/diabetes expert A.S.A.P
For as someone wise once said: The mind is a terrible thing to lose.
Getting back to Dr. Latimer's diagnosis, he said in his article that "the causes underlying the association between depression and diabetes are still unclear. Depression may develop as a result of the stress of having a chronic illness, but may also be the result of the metabolic effects of diabetes on the brain. More research is needed to uncover the relationship between the two disorders."
He claims that diabetes is more common in psychiatric patients in general than in the rest of the population."In fact, type 2 diabetes is thought to be two to four times more prevalent among people with schizophrenia and up to three times more prevalent in those with bipolar disorder," he wrote,"There is also a link between diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease."
Then Dr. Latimer went on to emphasize that "stress and anger at having a chronic illness are also common mental health implications to coincide with diabetes. These are also important to manage as stress can raise blood glucose and blood pressure. Getting regular sleep and exercise and ensuring a positive support network can all help to reduce the effects of stress. Diabetes affects more Canadians each year and two of the primary risk factors for the disease are obesity and lack of exercise. Leading a balanced and healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise and limiting fatty foods can prevent adult-onset diabetes in most cases."
The Ol' Columnist has taken the liberty to quote freely from both Dr. Latimer and Ms. O'Grady's (Diane.O'Grady@interiorhealth.ca) writings, for it would be presumptious of me to be knowledgeable in these areas, which I'm not.
So I leave with the warning that diabetes is one of the most mind-and-physically debilitating diseases known to mankind.
Now, excuse me, where's the nearest restroom?

Rodeo mixed with rain and tears

2007-02-12T15:03:00.000-08:00

A pall has settled over the 87th Falkland Stampede -- a mixture of rain and tears.
It was as if the sky of bright hopes had suddenly turned gray, following the sudden death of young Tiffany, the daughter of Kelli Rose, the president of the rodeo's sponsoring body, the Falkland Community Association, and then Thursday, the Ol' Columnist learned of the severe health problems confronting Oz Leaf, considered Mr. Falkland, for decades. And then came the thunder and lightning and sudden squalls.
Last Saturday, I had spoken to Kelli and set up an interview for Sunday afternoon; then when I called Sunday around noon, I found her in tears and learned her daughter had passed way. It was a shock since people throughout the village had found Tiffany to be smiling and happy individual. Kelli's husband, Jamie, said his wife was going through periods of depression.
On Thursday morning, I hauled out some past stories on Oz Leaf and was planning to run the materials I found as a Friday column in the Vernon Daily Courier, however, a little 'voice' prompted me to drive through the rains to his home. The blinds were drawn and then when I checked with some village friends, it was learned he had a scheduled heart bypass, at least that was what I was told, plus a hip replacement.
I thought back at few years and remembered Leaf to be like Ol' Man River, who just kept rollin' along.
In the past Leaf, now 77, was always Mr. Falkland, particularly around Stampede time, nailing up signs and getting the rodeo grounds prepared for the 'Biggest Little Rodeo,' which always draws the top cowboys in the land.
Also in past interviews, I learned some interesting facets of this the Ultimate Volunteer.
Oz wasn't a cowboy, but a baseball man. In fact, he had a 25-year career as a baseball player and manager at the 'A' level and even was president of the North Okanagan Baseball League for eight years.
Maybe not today, but when I last saw him he looked like he could go a full nine innings on the pitching mound despite his injuries from October 2002 when he tumbled down the steps of the Community Church during the annual supper; breaking his hip and requiring stitches above his eye. I know of his injuries because I was there trying to help him up.
The one-time pitcher and first baseman plus owner of the hardware store, Leaf began life in the Vernon Hospital on June 21, 1928 and was named after his doctor, Osbourne Morris and his father, Emil.
Unfortunately, his dad died of cancer when he was only 1 1/2 years old. "My mother raised us kids on her own, with help from welfare, and some of her brothers and sisters helped out when things got tougher," he remembered in a bevy of notes he handed me about his life.
He attended school in Falkland until 1942 and when Oz was 14, he quit to work in McClounie's Store and worked there for the next 26 years and "when Mr. McClounie passed on, I was given the opportunity of purchasing the hardware department. The building was sold to Harold and Blanche Rose and I continued to work in the hardware part for another 19 years."
In 1987, the Leafs built the hardware store, now occupied by the public library.
Traveling back in Oz's history, he married Donna Graham in 1961 and they had a son, Scott, in 1966. A few years later, a daughter, Apryl Dawn was born. The Leafs, of course, are now proud grandparents.
Donna Leaf was a major part of Oz's baseball career, for she was among those who were with the women Broncettes, who held fundraisers for the Falkland Broncs. "It was a great time," Oz remembers, fondly. The Broncs won the North Okanagan championship in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
Leaf definitely could be considered the leading volunteer and community supporter for Falkland and, perhaps, the entire north Okanagan.
In a rundown, Ozzie was volunteer fire chief for 23 years; active, of course, with the Falkland Blackjacks, which became the Broncs; he has a lifetime membership in the Falkland Community Association; and even today he's a director of the FCA.
He retired from the business world in 1994.
So what does Leaf do with all that spare time?
Well, of course, there's curling, horseshoes and before the NHL season-long strike, the Vancouver Canucks on the TV.
He's still a baseball fan during the major-league season, but his interest died somewhat after the Toronto Blue Jays traded John Olerud to the Seattle Mariners. Olerud has since retired from baseball.
Known for his enthusiasm for the community, Leaf once told me he is sold on "rural living and Falkland is a good place to live."
Although he and others have heard of the demise of the annual FalklandStampede, he definitely believes it will continue because "there's no reason it can't."
As for his volunteerism, Leaf admits he has been president of almost every community group, with the exception of the cemetery committee.
While there have been discouraging moments for the 87th running of the Falkland Stampede, one of the directors, Jodie Lang, said yesterday that despite internal problems and troubles surrounding Kelli Rose and Oz Leaf, the show will go on.
"Everything is going ahead, we have prime rodeo stock, we have top cowboys," said Lang outside her home, as the rain continued to spit. "We definitely had a lot of things happen ... things going against us, but we're able to pull through." She added, " When you have problems like this, people reach out more."
Then she turned into a weatherperson while looking at the dark skies: " It's going to be nice weather and the weekend is going off perfectly."
The rodeo events start Saturday at 1 p.m.; followed the parade and rodeo on Sunday and winds up with a heavy horse pull and rodeo finale on Monday afternoon.
Both the Ol' Columnist and Lang predicted the attendance to reach 20,000 for the three days.

Oz definitely 'sold' on Falkland

2007-02-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

FALKLAND, B.C. -- Oz Leaf reminds me of Ol' Man River. He just keeps rollin' along.
While challengers come and go, Leaf, at 77, remains the King of Falkland and that fact became clear this past fortnight as the lanky Leaf could be seen all over the village, nailing up signs and getting the rodeo grounds ready for the 87th edition of the Falkland Stampede, which opens up Saturday with the rodeo at 1 p.m.; followed by the parade and rodeo on Sunday and winds up with the heavy horse pull plus the rodeo finale on Monday afternoon.
But there are many facets to this ultimate volunteer as the Ol' Columnist found out some years back.
Oz wasn't a cowboy, but a baseball man. In fact, he had a 25-year career as a baseball player and manager at the 'A' level and even president of the North Okanagan Baseball League for eight years.
Even today, Leaf looks like he could go a full nine innings on the pitching mound despite his injuries from October 2002 when he tumbled down the steps of the Community Church during the annual supper; breaking his hip and requiring stitches above his eye.
The one-time pitcher and first baseman plus owner of the hardware store, Leaf began life in the Vernon Hospital on June 21, 1928 and was named after the doctor, Osbourne Morris and his father, Emil.
Unfortunately, his dad died of cancer when he was only 1 1/2 years old. "My mother raised us kids on her own, with help from welfare, and some of her brothers and sisters helped out when things got tougher," he remembered in a bevy of notes he handed me about his life.
He attended school in Falkland until 1942 and when Oz was 14, he quit to work in McClounie's Store and worked there for the next 26 years and "when Mr. McClounie passed on, I was given the opportunity of purchasing the hardware department. The building was sold to Harold and Blanche Rose and I continued to work in the hardware part for another 19 years."
In 1987, the Leafs built the hardware store, now occupied by the public library.
Traveling back in Oz's history, he married Donna Graham in 1961 and they had a son, Scott, in 1966. A few years later, a daughter, Apryl Dawn was born. The Leafs, of course, are now proud grandparents.
Donna Leaf was a major part of Oz's baseball career, for she was among those who were with the women Broncettes, who held fundraisers for the Falkland Broncs. "It was a great time," Oz remembers, fondly. The Broncs won the North Okanagan championship in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
Leaf definitely could be considered the leading volunteer and community supporter for Falkland and, perhaps, the entire north Okanagan.
In a rundown, Ozzie was volunteer fire chief for 23 years; active, of course, with the Falkland Blackjacks, which became the Broncs; he has a lifetime membership in the Falkland Community Association; and even today he's a director of the FCA.
Heretired from the business world in 1994.
So what does Leaf do with all that spare time?
Well, of course, there's curling, horseshoes and before the NHL season-long strike, the Vancouver Canucks on the TV.
He's still a baseball fan during the major-league season, but his interest somewhat after the Toronto Blue Jays traded John Olerud to the Seattle Mariners. Olerud has since retired from baseball.
Known for his enthusiasm for the community, Leaf once told me he is sold on "rural living and Falkland is a good place to live."
Although he and others have heard of the demise of the annual Falkland Stampede, he definitely believes it will continue because "there's no reason it can't."
Another "treasure," he, enthusiastically, supports is Falkland's museum. "It's quite an asset." His wife, Donna, has been an integral part of the museum's growth.
As for his volunteerism, Leaf admits he has been president of almost every community group, with the exception of the cemetery committee.

World of cross-country

2007-02-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

Rob Bernhardt and Toby Oswald-Felker will discuss a cool subject -- the 2005 World Cup cross-country skiing event in December -- during a Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting on June 23 at the Village Green Hotel.
Both Bernhardt and Oswald-Felker are high-ranking officials for the World Cup event at Sovereign Lake Nordic Club facilities Dec. 3-11.
On April 3, B.C. Education Minister Tom Christensen announced funding of $1.35 million towards expanding the trail system and completing the necessary infrastructure at Sovereign Lake with a view to the World Cup in mind. The funding will provide a lasting legacy of world-class trails and the necessary infrastructure to position the facility as a top Nordic ski destination in the world, and will also go a long way to attract future World Cup level competitions to the region. "The expansion will generate tremendous economic spin-offs for the entire region. I'm pleased that we were able to work closely with the Club to make this project possible," said Christensen.
The total expansion cost is $1.93 million. It includes a new technical building, shop building, new trails, start and finish areas, signs, fencing and an upgraded parking area to accommodate cross-country and biathlon competitions.
Of course, the first big test for the upgraded venue will be the 2005 World Cup, December 3- 11. This event is expected to bring more than 160 of the world’s top cross-country athletes from 26 countries to the venue, garner international TV coverage and attract thousands of spectators.
Christensen indicated that the Greater Vernon Services Commission estimates the races along with the week-long festivities will generate in excess of $10 million in economic spin-offs for the region.
“This project and the 2005 World Cup will help focus world attention on the Thompson-Okanagan and attract recreational and competitive skiers to our region,” said Bernhardt, president of Sovereign Lake Nordic Club and Chief of Competition for the Veissman FIS 2005 World Cup.. “In addition, it will allow Canadian athletes to compete at a World Cup level on home turf, something we have not been able to do in Canada since 1994. We appreciate the tremendous support and encouragement we have received from Tom Christensen and the Province and applaud their efforts to ensure that every region of the province benefits from the 2010 Olympics and to build world-class facilities to benefit this region for decades to come.”
“An upgraded Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre puts the Thompson-Okanagan on the world scene for the 2005 World Cup, and for events leading up to and after the 2010 Winter Olympics" continued Bernhardt.
During the April 12-15 meeting of the North American Cross Country Ski Areas Association annual meeting in Breckenridge, Colorado, Bernhardt was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors. The CCSAA, based in New Hampshire, is the trade association representing operators of cross-country ski facilities throughout North America. Berhardt has served as a Board Member of the CCSAA for two years. At this year's conference, Bernhardt made a presentation on the cross-country ski trail lighting project undertaken by the Sovereign Lake Nordic Club, the first phase of a planned five-kilometer lighted trail which opened last December. The lighting is one aspect of the major upgrading of infrastructure which is part of the World Cup plans.
World Cup celebrations in Greater Vernon begins with Opening Ceremonies as part of Downtown Vernon's Christmas Light Up on Saturday, December 3, followed by a full week of festivities leading up to the races at Soverign Lake December 10 and 11.
"In addition to the preparing to host ski races, volunteers from around British Columbia and the host communities of Vernon and Coldstream are busy planning creative activities such as a Downtown Christmas Traditions Light Up and Opening Ceremonies, Festival on the Hill, Performing Arts Showcase and Ski Camps," said Oswald-Felker, Chair of the World Cup Event Organizing Committee. "There will be entertainment for the spectators throughout the race days in town and on the hill. Bring your skis! Ski the beautiful new trails and join in the pure excitement. There will be fun for the whole family."

Bulking up before the fall

2007-02-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

Barry Bonds' testicles have not shrunk and his hat size has not grown. A clever line from San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Henry Schulman in March, 2005, but it hardly describes the devastation that anabolic steroids and its offspring have caused throughout major-league sports.
However, 'roids did not have its beginning or, perhaps, it's ending within the confines of Major League Baseball.
While Bonds, seemingly on permanent disability these days with leg problems, never has admitted to steroid use, he has rationalized it.
"You're talking about something that wasn't even illegal at the time," Bonds was quoted by Schulman was quoted as saying. "All this stuff about supplements, protein shakes. whatever. Man, it's not like this is the Olympics. We don't train four years for, like, a 10-second (event). We go 162 games. You've got to come back day after day after day. We're entertainers. If I can't go out there and somebody pays $60 for a ticket, and I'm not in the lineup, who's getting cheated? Not me. There are far worse things like cocaine, heroin and those types of things."
If Bonds is in denial, his date from 1994 to 2003, Kimberley Bell, 35, a graphic artist from San Jose told a jury that in 2000, the left fielder confided that he'd began using 'roids. Bell spilled those kind of "beans" because she was given full immunity from prosecution.
In January 2005, former All-Pro centre Oakland Raider Barret Robbins went "nuts."
It wasn't the first time, for Robbins suffered a mental breakdown and went AWOL just before the 2003 Super Bowl game. There was a Tijuana drinking binge and talk of suicide.
In 2005, Robbins, supposedly the victim of bipolar disorder and alcoholism, was shot twice during a violent struggle with Miami cops. He was found of all places, in a women's restroom in South Beach.
One of his teammates, Teyo Johnson, said: "You talk to anyone who knows Barret really will tell you he's a great guy and very generous person with a huge heart. Everyone loves Barret. He's never mean to anybody."
Maybe so, but beyond bipolar disorder and alcoholism, there certainly had been a question about anabolic steroids for he had been ordered to appear before those seeking in the BALCO case.
In the past few weeks, MLB CommissionerBud Selig has hauled out names to be banished from the Bigs, but mainly minor-leaguers for suspected 'roids abuse. This came on the heels of Jose Canseco's expose' plus Jason Giambi's demise and the latest physical appearance of retired superstar Mark McGwire.
However, while the 'roids of ruin is so prevalent today and accompanied by screaming headlines in newspapers and television, it does have a beginning, stretching as far back as the 1970s, probably to the early 1960s.
While there were pill poppers, steroids now come disguised even in creams.
In Kaye Corbett's 'Counterfeit Hero -- The 'Roids of Ruin' (Summer, 2005), he relates the use of 'roids within professional wrestling and, in particularly, its use swirling around Vincent McMahon, the present owner of the billionaire empire -- the World Wrestling Federation (now known as the WWE) and its then superhero, Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Bollea).
Vince McMahon was raised in the business, for his father, Vincent J., once ruled wrestling in the northeastern U.S. from New York City's Madison Square Garden. His granddaddy, Jess, was a boxing matchmaker for the legendary Tex Rickard and later worked as a wrestling promoter in the Big Apple and Philadelphia.
In the 1950s, the 30 or so wrestling "warlords" were confronted by the novelty of TV and McMahon Sr. was one of the few who learned to cope with the saturation by employing a simple formula: Never show the TV watcher the match he really wants to see. Then came the insertion of hyping upcoming local wrestling on these tapes.
Vincent K., even at a young age, deplored the fact that North America was cut up into little pieces by the promoters, such as his father. In 1982, he bought out his father's stock in the WWWF (later shortened to WWF), which had been founded in 1963 and began to mesh rock n' roll with rasslin'.
A domineering wheeler-dealer, he threw tons of money to acquire local TV rights for the WWF's brand of story lines and characters accompanied by rock 'n roll music.
The assimilation of 'rasslin into the American mainstream, nevertheless, wasn't complete until the introduction of a number of "cartoon" superheroes.
He needed a superhero; not just any superhero, but the ultimate hero of the universe.
His choice became obvious: A tanned blond muscleman named Terry Bollea. Under Young Vince's tutelage, Bollea would become the most recognized hero -- Hulk Hogan.
Bollea had, indeed, been transformed into the Hulk, in and out of the ring, however, there were whispers in the business, that he wasn't as pure as the new Caesar of pro wrestling had projected.
In June 1991, Dr. George Zahorian III, a Harrisburg, Pa. urologist, who happened to be a WWF ringside doctor, confessed in U.S. federal court that he had supplied steroids, now illegal to Vince, and such wrestlers as Roddy Piper, Dan Spivey, Rick Martel, Brian Blair, and shockingly, Terry Bollea, er, Hulk Hogan.
On Tuesday, November 23, 1993, McMahon had a smile of poured concrete as he left the federal courthouse in Uniondale, N.Y. He had been body slammed by U.S. District Court Judge Jacob Mishler, after pleading innocent to federal charges accusing him of peddling muscle-building steroids to his WWF wrestlers.
The setting for the sensational trial, involving those big bruisers with funny hairstyles and cuts and scars on them, as Bollea had once described them, would, undoubtedly, occupy the attention of the court "junkies" during the summer of '94.
However, this was before O.J. and A.J. roared off in a Ford Bronco.
Suddenly, the TV cameras and newspaper reporters forgot about the Long Island case.
Most of them missed a trial, which only McMahon could have produced, and it revealed a world of manipulators and also liars, who had as the great champion from the past, Lou Thesz, stated "raped wrestling."
While McMahon was the target of the government case brought by assistant U.S. attorney Sean O'Shea, Hulk Hogan was the showcase witness, although he had received immunity, except for perjury before the trial.
According to Dave Meltzer, editor of the respected Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bollea, wearing cowboy boots with his hair carefully combed and hanging down to his shoulders of the black suit he wore with a red tie, Hulk showed nervousness early in his testimony. But then settled down after the so-called "bombshell" was denotated early, with Bollea admitting he'd taken steroids since mid-1976, ending somewhere around 1989.
When asked about specific drugs he had taken, Bollea admitted they included dianabol, anavar, winstrol, testosterone, and decadurabolin with "deca" his obvious drug of choice.
In a dramatic turning point, the Hulkster was almost in tears when he admitted carrying steroids with him on the road. He added he'd used steroids to heal injuries because of the tough schedule and "because I was trying to get big, trying to gain weight."
After trying to establish that Bollea had quit taking steroids in 1989, or "a little after," one of McMahon's lawyers, Laura Brevetti, pried into his personal life, particularly, about his wife Linda's pregnancy.
In 1989, Bollea and his wife decided he would wind down his steroid use because they wanted to have a second child, Nicholas, who was born in July 1990. He admitted to the court that when his wife got pregnant, he was still on the stuff, causing a major family argument.
On Friday, July 22. 1994, Vince McMahon was found not guilty of any charges as was his holding company, Titan Sports.
Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan had left the building to resume his careers as an entertainer and actor. Finally, his years of denial and other accusations from fellow wrestlers had been voiced in court.
And now you know ... the rest of the story.

The Company Store

2007-02-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

There was this bell. Tinkle. Tinkle. That wlways rung when you opened the door to The Store.
There were other stores (lower case s) amd outlets (lower case o's) in Bass River, Nova Scotia. Whatcha think we are, hicks?
There was the Coop, Rutherford's, just past Aunt Myrtle's telephone exchange.Old Man Keirstead's place, which I frequented often in hopes of getting a glimpse at his magnificent daughter, Charlotte, who never glanced my way.
And then there was Canning's dual-purposed ice cream parlour and barber shop, where in the back room they had this hydraulic chair which tilted back and forth. And a plethora of sweet-smelling aromas in tall bottles just for men. Lilac-rose.
Someday I wanted to go in that back room and sit in that barber's chair, the one that tilted back and forth, and have Mr. Canning lather up my face, and take that long straight razor and scrape that massive accumulation of peach fuzz off and then wrap a steaming hot towel over my face and let me then soak up the odour of lilac-rose, genrously splashed on my cheekbones.
While there were places, there was only one Store. That's with a capital S. There was no need to identify it as the Dominion Chair Company Store. Everybody knew that.
It loomed at the end of the Bass River bridge, a two-storey elongated gray barn of a building, with six small windows on the second level and these bay windows on the front.
On one end there was an Esso gas pump of the leaded variety and imperial gallons and at the other end, a makeshift parking lot.
It sat underneath a cliff, where in deep winter, parents always had standing orders for their kids never to go cardboarding (a makeshift version of modern-day tobogganing, only using discarded boxes, flattened out and used by either one or two or three or four daredevils), for fear their little darlings would come off the crest of the hill, across the makeshift parking lot onto Highway 2, barely being missed by the Acadian bus going from Parrsboro to Truro and clipping the side of the post office and landing in that swirling, mighty trickle known as Bass River.
The Store had this musty smell and an ominous foreboding of hidden treasures. There was a candy counter shielded by curved glass at the front, filled with round sweet nuggets of ecstasy.
And there was this friendly clerk, by the name of Russell, who had this bulbous nose, which even W.C. Fields would envy. Someone told me he had this long hair in his normal-sized nose and after pulling it out, his proboscis became grotesque.
I questioned that analysis. Maybe, Ol' Russell Creelman was a silent boozer on the side. After all, he was United, you know.
My mother told me later he died from pulling that hair out of his nose. I repented.
There was hardware in the back of The Store. Great galvanized bath tubs and pipes and nails and along one side were great rolls of curtain and dress materials, managed over by a woman named Grace, who wasn't amazing.
And then there was The Office. That was at the end, through a door, next to the makeshift parking lot, through a door, next to the makeshift parking lot where Ol' Jim Creelman and his cronies made the decision affecting the life of every one in Bass River. In one corner, was a bank vault and I knew that all the money in the entire world was locked in that vault. At least $1,000.
You could also get your ticket out of town in there. It said right on the outside of The Store that they were the official agent for Acadian Bus Lines.
Deep within the bowels of my files, I have found a picture of a defiant three-year old, Willard and Annona Corbett's little boy, Kerwood, tricycling towards the Bass River Bridge, caught by an unknown cameraperson. He'd just left The Store, where he had charged a 90-cent package of tea. It was Kerwood's first venture away from his road and he thought that it was time to explore the world.
My parents weren't impressed.
My Dad immediately went to The Store and paid my bill.
I'm told I went to bed without my supper.
But I never again went to The Store without my parents.
And to this day I wondered why they all gave me dirty looks whenever I opened the door and heard the bell ring. Tinkle. Tinkle.

Farah trusting God for protection

2007-02-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

CAVE JUNCTION, Oregon -- As an Arab American, Joe Farah, a born-again Believer since 1977, has found that expressing anti-Palestinian views can result in death threats.
In fact, the articulate newspaperman, founder-editor and CEO of WorldNetDaily.com, the Net's fastest-growing independent news site, has received more than 10 serious threats that have been investigated by the FBI.
The reason for the threats came as a result of his October 11, 2000 column on the Net that was later republished in The Jerusalem Post.
"My wife (Elizabeth) and I thought it was the end of our family," said Farah.
Elizabeth Farah is also an executive with World Net Daily (WND).
"We took the threats seriously, but they have not deterred us in our mission to get the truth out. I turned the threats over to the FBI," he explained. "All 10 of the death threats I received came in October and November of 2000. I have not received any recently."
Farah went on to say, "I have been involved in covering many dangerous stories as a reporter and editor over the years and have always trusted in God to protect me and my family. My wife feels as strongly as I do on this."
In the controversial column, Farah vehemently disagreed with numerous news sources that claimed Palestinians just wanted a homeland and Muslims only wanted control over Jerusalem area sites they considered holy.
" There are no legitimate Muslim claims on Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the land of Israel. I've spelled this out in "Myths of the Middle East" and the follow-up column, "More Myths of the Middle East," he explained.
In the matter of "Islam's holy sites," Farah contends there are none in Jerusalem, including the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, since the Koran never mentions Jerusalem and there is no historical evidence that Mohammad ever visited Jerusalem.
Farah, an Arab Christian journalist, who ran the respected Sacramento Union and was news operation chief for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, stated that Palestine has never existed as an autonomous entity, as the area has been ruled by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and even the British after the First World War. Although Israel captured Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War, Farah wrote, they didn't capture these territories from Yasser Arafat, but from Jordan's King Hussein.
"I spent a good deal of time in Israel and Arab countries soul-searching and doing my job as a journalist. This is when it all came home to me. Another seminal work that persuaded me was Joan Peters' history of the conflict, 'From Time Immemorial," said Farah.
Farah, who has been a writing associate of both Hal Lindsey and Pat Robertson and has traveled with noted Christian broadcaster George Otis in southern Lebanon, explained that his views concerning Israel have been consistent in his writings during the past 25 years.
When he became a born-again Believer in 1977, it led him to the Middle East -- "an important time for me spiritually during 1980 and 1981," he said.
"My Lord and Savior came to Earth as a Jew. Put another way, I worship a Jewish carpenter. Therefore, the Jews have a special place in my heart as a Christian, and I believe they should have that place in the hearts of all Believers," he said.
In dismissing certain aspects of the revisionist history spouted by the world's media, Farah pointed out that there's no language known as Palestinian; no distinct Palestinian culture, and "there has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians."
Farah added that "Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent investion), Syrians, Lebanese, etc."

Will it be a real horse race?

2007-02-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

They're at the post ... they're off. Going into the first turn on Tuesday it's 2-1 favorite Tom Christensen of the Liberals by three lengths ... followed by 30-to-1 Juliette Cunningham of the NDP, 40-to-1 Colin Black of the Conservatives and trailing far behind the front-runners it's 100-to-1 Erin Nelson of the Greens, 100-to-l Michael Toponce of the Marijuana Party, 100-to-l Tibor Tusnady of the B.C. Patriot Party and not-rated Beetle Boom, aka loud and proud independent Gordon Campbell.
As anyone can tell, I spent too much of my ill-spent youth, following the ponies.
Did I ever tell you that I once co-owned (with about 30 other 'suckers') a nag named 'Irish Laird', who by last reports made a glue factory expand its facilities?
But back to Election 2005 in Okanagan-Vernon.
Just like your Daily Racing Form, the projections often outstrip (or outrun) the realities.
Take for instance, there's Christensen, referred to as Mr. Bobblehead by one unnamed contender, who must feel a little apprehensive considering the B.C. Liberals' less-than-stellar performance with YOUR money. His groom is none-other-than Mr. Hawaii T-shirt, The Other Gordon Campbell.
As Education Minister, he, himself, gets a 'D' in his report card, mainly because of the slice-and-dice methods of cutting services within at least 113 schools throughout the province. Cunningham last week took at major swipe at Christensen and the Libs by neighing (this is a horse race, folks): "The Liberals talk about what they have done for education, but really the bottom line is since the Liberals came in, they froze the education budget."
But Christensen, always one with the slick statistics, comes back with a more than a "oh, yeah," citing his government has "acted to bridge the digital divide" by promising to connect every community in B.C. to high-speed Internet by 2006.
Yeah, but, Tom, what's the connection between school closures and high-speed Internet?
But when we sat down to talk last week, he hauled out the fancy literature, which emphasized a plan to improve education over the next four years -- if he's elected.
These plans include:
* Nearly triple the funding for combined early childhood development (ECD) and autism intervention programs since 2001.
* Eliminate textbook shortages in schools with $150 million more this year for B.C.'s schools and $10 million in one-time funding in 2004 for schools to buy more than 285,000 textbooks.
* Provide $12 million over three years in new funding to strengthen B.C.'s libraries.
* Work with Literacy Now, a new $5 million community-based program, to improve literacy in concert with non-profit and volunteer-based organizations across the province.
* Increase funding for K-12 education by $253 million over the next three years.
* Complete all required seismic (earthquake) upgrading in B.C.'s schools within 15 years.
* Institute "zero tolerance" of bullying in B.C.'s schools.
And are you ready for this one, Bunky! Eliminate junk food in all public schools within the next four years.
What's the matter with you, Christensen, the Ol' Columnist lives on junk food. Pass me another jumbo helping of Sloppy Joe's.
Another concern has to be, in all of our conversation, there was not one mention of what he would do for the Okanagan-Vernon region.
But back to horse race.
Now, Miss Juliette is an optimistic. That's for certain. She thinks her party, the NDPers, will nail down 30 seats in the B.C. Legislature.
Hey, you smoking that stuff that Colin Toponce is promoting?
Cunningham said she's solidly behind her leader, Carol James, and the New Democrat plan of:
* End corporate and union donations to political parties.
* Honour contracts with business and labour, restore free collective bargaining, and foster collaboration and balance between workers and employers.
* Show respect for local governments by repealing Bill 75 -- the Significant Projects Streamlining Act.
* Support the work of the Auditor General; make sure taxpayers have the information they need to know their money is being spent wisely by supporting the work of the Auditor General .
* Will not accept new applications for gambling expansion; will shut down the secretly launched Internet gambling program; will improve programs that address gambling addiction.
Watch it, Juliette, you're stepping on some toes.
* Establish a public inquiry into the sale of B.C. Rail. About time.
* Stop the flow of personal medical information to private U.S. corporations subject to the USA Patriot Act. Another about time.
If the Ol' Columnist had a longshot pick, it would be the Conservatives' Colin Black. Not only is he a fine Christian genteman of the first order, but this postal letter-carrier would not be a "yes" man in the government.
A "people person" Black said he would have a free vote in the B.C. Legislature while the other top two are saddled by party conformity and must listen to their leaders, despite some neighing to the contrary.
Black is strongly behind the B.C. Conservative Party philosophy in believing the freedom of every individual and family to achieve their God-given potential and supports an agenda including:
1. Strengthening social safety nets for those in greatest need -- such as increasing the amount of low-coast housing to acommodate the homeless, senior citizens, mentally disabled, and the people of social assistance.
2. Implementing a constitutional limit on provincial taxation and borrowing (TAXCAP). Total taxation will be limited to a fixed precentage of the GDP.
3. Ensuring that the exploration, harvesting, and development of B.C.'s resources is done in an environmentally sound manner.
So at the wire it will be: 1. Christensen. 2. Cunningham. 3. Black.
Where are those other people? Up the track somewhere.

Getting high on politics

2007-02-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

You could call the B.C. Marijuana Party candidate in the May 17 Okanagan-Vernon voting "Stretch" and you wouldn't be off-base.
After all, 30-year-old Michael Toponce is 6-foot-9, an ex-volleyball player and, believe it or not, he is far from what most people would call a "pothead."
He is articulate and expressed his views quite openly in an hour-long conversation with the Daily Courier Thursday afternoon.
Toponce is certainly a longshot against the likes of incumbent Tom Christensen (B.C. Liberals), Colin Black (B.C. Conservatives), Juliette Cunningham (B.C. NDP) and "fringe players" such as Erin Nelson (Green Party), Tibor Tusnady ( B.C. Patriot Party), and independent Gordon Campbell.
Although the name of his party, obviously, wants to legitimize marijuana, Toponce sees the value of the hemp industry in solving some of deficits within the present government, including the present failures with both the health and education.
Toponce pointed out that while hemp is considered a part of the marijuana family, it is a sterile plant and "if it takes off, it would be like gold because we have the climate for it."
Then he continued, "hemp is such an excellent material to work with for making clothes, ropes and you can make it as fine as silk. So many uses for it."
However, the "fringe" party candidate realizes that the hemp industry seems to wrapped up in rules and regulations throughout British Columbia.
"There are so many rules and regulations now that it's almost not worth it."
The father of two, Toponce considers Vernon his home base although he has lived on Vancouver Island.
"I took an interest in the Western Independence Party, which has changed its name to the Western Reformation Party.
At the time, he met with its president, Dennis Shaw, but "my life was so chaotic at the time with work and everything like that."
He continued, "I was working at Nature's Fair as the produce manager and injured myself on the job." Toponce slipped a disc while working with heavy produce.
He was just getting ready to start looking for work again when he was involved in a head-on collision on Silverstar on February 5. "So that put me back to square one. Now I am doing rehab after aggravating my lower back -- again."
It's been rough for him as he said, "I am scrapping by." Right now he is on compenation.
As for running in the provincial election, he said he met the president of the B.C. Marijuana Party and after "tossing it around a bit I decided to run."
Toponce said: "I do believe in the fact that we have to legalize marijuana. It's not something that is ever going away. We are just wasting our resources and our money in trying to wage a war against it. That's just a losing battle."
He also believes that marijuana can be used for both health and recreational reasons.
"If you look at Holland and Amsterdam when they brought it in, their crime rates started going down."
With such a "mellowing" philosophy, he stated "it could be B.C.'s best resource."
As for his candidacy, Toponce believes he could get up to three per cent of the vote, and then could come as a result of he and his friends handing out bumper stickers and small placards.
He had a final word: "It's a cash cow, that the B.C. is not doing anything with.

Raider of the Lost Ark

2007-02-12T13:53:00.000-08:00

Shrouded in mystery and intrigue and cloaked with a legacy of divine wrath for more than 3,000 years, the Ark of the Covenant is believed to be in northern Ethiopia.
The most important archaelogical, historical and religious object in man's history is likely hidden in the bowels of an Ethiopian Orthodox church, St. Mary of Zion, in Aksum, a "holy city" in Tigre province, 623 km north of Addis Ababa.
Its location within the archaic religious compound hasn't been divulged by either Ethiopian Orthodox officials or the secretive cadre of priests who still guard a sacred chest, which supposedly housed the Ten Commandments.
Efforts to locate the Ark aren't new because throughout history, various individuals and even countries have tried to track it down.
It's believed, with some validity, that Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, under orders from the Papacy, hunted for it in the 1930s when the Italians occupied Ethiopia and the separatist province of Eritrea.
Through the centuries, the Ark has taken a life of its own, overshadowed by mysticism and wild claims that it houses a nuclear reactor or that it's still being used as a transmitter for aliens from outer space.
In Raiders of The Lost Ark, Nazi Germany's Adolph Hitler was supposedly obsessed with it after the fictional hero Indiana Jones located it in the long-lost city of Tanis, Egypt. Later, in the movie version, the golden chest was relegated to a museum warehouse devoid of its power after destroying the Nazi infidels.
The Ark epitomized power. Even to look on it meant sudden death. There is a Biblical account of a man named Uzza, who attempted to steady this small golden box atop an ox-driven cart, and met his Maker before his time. There were other writings, which claimed more than 50,000 died brutal deaths by peering inside it.
If it is such a lethal weapon, why are there adventurers combing Aksum's ancient ruins in search of the invaluable relic? It's certain Israel has a great interest in it because it's the lynchpin in rebuilding a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which would herald their messiah.
The history of the Ark is sometimes lost in the mists of time, however, there seems to certainty as its construction and purpose, according to Biblical accounts, such as:
* Its construction by the Hebrew patriarch, Moses' chief carpenter, Bezalel, in about 1250 BC. This occurred after Moses came down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
* The stone tablets were placed in a chest, about four feet in length and about 2 1/2 feet high and 2 1/2 feet wide, made of acacia wood and covered inside and out with gold. There were two carrying poles also layered in gold.
* Inside the Ark of the Covenant were the two tablets, the rod of Moses' brother, Aaron, and a pot of manna, which would become the "miracle food" as the Israelites wandered through the Sinai wilderness.
* The Ark was an awesome weapon for the Israelites, for on top of the chest was a Mercy Seat and attached to this "throne" were two statues, in the shape of two entities known as cherubims.
During its journey to the Promised Land and, eventually, to "rest" in Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, the Ark was to display its supernatural powers.
The fabled Ark, however, disappeared between the reign of King Solomon of Israel (970-931 BC) and the Babylonian destruction of the Great Temple and its environs in 586 BC. There is no mention of its being carried off as a trophy of war.
This "disappearance" sets into motion the Ethiopian claim that Menelik, a son of King Solomon and Makeda, also known as the Queen of Sheba, took the Ark and replaced it with a replica in the Jerusalem Temple.
Archbishop Yesehaq of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church confirms the story that Menelik I and a group of Jewish nobleman's sons hired a carpenter to make a duplicate of the Ark. After it was completed, the legend goes, the angel of the Lord unlocked the Temple doors and a switch was made and Menelik and his companions carried off the true sacred chest to Aksum, in present-day Ethiopia. It was supposedly the ruling city of Makeda and her successor, Menelik I.
In Aksum today, despite a multitude of differing views on how it got there and when, there seems to be little doubt it "rests" in a secret compartment beneath a small chapel next to the new St. Mary of Zion church and it is supposedly guarded by a specially-picked priiest, who maintains his vigil from the age of seven until he dies.
Certainly, there are many so-called experts who believe the Ark has been destroyed by time or that it is still hidden under the Temple Mount and debunk the Ethiopian claims.
If the Ark of the Covenant is indeed in a church in northern Ethiopian, there will, undoubtedly, be a movement to insure it is returned to Jerusalem -- in the near future.
The resulting repercussions could be monumental.

Cunningham speaks her mind

2007-02-12T13:50:00.000-08:00

Juliette Cunningham believes the B.C. election on May 17 is touch and-go for the ruling B.C. Liberal party, and her party -- the NDP, have a distinct chance of aqcuiring at least 30 seats in the next Legislature.
And there's a reason for such optimism on her part and that's because of the anger towards the policies of Gordon Campbell's B.C. Liberals and even a carry over to Okanagan-Vernon MLA and Education Minister Tom Christensen.
Even in Cunningham's literature, it says "after four years of broken promises from Gordon Campbell's Liberals, ordinary people in the Interior have been paying more in taxes and fees and getting less in public services like health care and education."
Cunningham, originally from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, is a small-business owner of a ladies clothing assignment store in downtown Vernon, but she has gained a voice in the community after serving eight years as a school trustee.
That "outspoken" voice came after actually working as a teacher's aide in French immersion and then she went back to university -- Simon Fraser -- in 1984.
Her areas of concern have been social justice and equity issues and she has learned to speak out on them and values her terms as a school trustee. In 2002, she was the one with the megaphone, protesting Christensen's office because of all the government cuts that "were so devastating for the social agencies and centres."
"So I was asked to speak out as 'a poster child' on those issues. I had never been politically overt like that before, but I felt I had to try it because I had a bit of a profile in the community."
Cunningham as a school trustee has seen the "impact of those cuts" over the past four years.
Taking a solid swing at the B.C. Liberals she said: "The Liberals talk about what they have done for education, but really the bottom line is since the Liberals came in they froze the education budget." What that meant for a school trustee such as Cunningham was the boards had to cut the support staff such as custodians and maintenance workers. "For the first year it didn't look bad, but into the second and third year the cuts were felt in the classroom." Some 113 schools have felt the seriousness of the B.C. Liberals' stinginess.
On May 17, Cunningham will be running against the incumbent Christensen, of whom she had few words of praise, plus the B.C. Conservatives' Colin Black, Erin Nelson (Green Party), Michael Toponce (Marijuana Party), Tibor Tusnady (B.C. Patriot Party) and independent Gordon Campbell.
Cunnningham is solidly behind her leader, Carole James, and the New Democrat plan of:
* End corporate and union donations to political parties.
* Honour contracts with business and labour, restore free collective bargaining, and foster collaboration and balance between workers and employers.
* Show respect for local governments by repealing Bill 75 -- the Significant Projects Streamlining Act.
* Support the work of the Auditor General; make sure taxpayers have the information they need to know their money is being spent wisely by supporting the work of the Auditor General.
* Will not accept any new applications for gambling expansion; will shut down the secretly launched Internet gambling program; will improve programs that address gambling addiction.
* Extend the mandate of the B.C. Progress Board to include environment and communities as well as the economy; require the Progress Board to report to the Legislature, not the Premier.
* Establish a public inquiry into the sale of BC Rail.
* Restore and strengthen a BC Human Rights Commission to promote equality for all British Columbians.
* Focus new resources on community-based immigration and settlement services.
* Stop the flow of personal medical information to private U.S. corporations subject to the USA Patriot Act.
When the hour-long conversation began, Cunningham said she believed that the NDP had received negative publicity because "big corporations are controlling the media,." adding, "when I look at the general articles of the newspapers are quite bias sometimes. In the last NDP budget in 2001, which was actually a surplus it was criticized, but the Liberal government brings in the same kind and it was praised for being the greatest budget."
Juliette Cunningham is unafraid to speak her mind.

Please, Boss, give me a break!

2007-02-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

My head is aching. My ears are ringing. This election rhetoric has the Ol' Columnist bewitched, bothered and bewildered.
So before the Missus has me shipped to the funny farm, I am going to regain my sanity before the Big Day of May 17.
Maybe, a little light reading might help.
So let me find a secluded spot and pick up Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, Volume 746:
Ah, here's one about someone named Thomas Crapper: Myth or Hero?
The name Thomas Crapper appears to have been unknown among bathroom historians until 1969, when English writer Wallace Reyburn published a 99-page book entitled Flushed with Pride -- The Story of Thomas Crapper.
This biography (which Reyburn's publisher calls "The Little Classic of the Smallest Room") begins this way.
"Never has the saying 'a prophet is without honor in his own land' been more true than the case of Thomas Crapper. Here was a man whose foresight, ingenuity, and perserverance brought to perfection one of the great boons to mankind. But is his name revered in the same way as, for example, that of the Earl of Sandwich?"
Of course not. Not, anyway, until Reyburn's book was published.
According to Reyburn:
* Tom Crapper was born in 1837 and died in 1910.
* He is responsible for many toilet innovations -- including, as bathroomologist Pat Mitchell puts it, "the toilets that flush in a rush seen in public restrooms today, and the ... trap in plumbing that keeps sewer gas from rising into our homes."
* But the most important of Crapper's alleged acomplishments was Crapper's Valveless Water Waste Preventer, and apparatus that made flushing more efficient. Cleaning management magazine calls it "the forerunner of our present-day flush system."
* For this contribution, Crapper was supposedly appointed Royal Plumber by King Edward VII.
* Crapper's name was stenciled on all the cisterns -- and later, toilets -- his company manufactured: T. Crapper & Co., Chelsea, London. American soldiers stationed in England during World War I began calling a toilet a "crapper."
Fact or fiction?
Beats us. But here are a few things to consider:
* The premier bathroom history, an impressive tome called Clean and Decent, makes absolutely no mention of Thomas Crapper.
* Reyburn followed Flushed with Pride with another social "history," entitled Bust Up: The Uplifting Tale of Titzling and the Development of the Bra.
* Charles Panati, in Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, notes that "the accumulation of toilet-humor puns, double-entendres, and astonishing coincidences eventually reveals ... Reyburn's hoax." He offers some examples: "He moved to London and eventually settled on Fleet Street, where he performed the 'Crapper W.C. Cistern after many dry runs' ... The installation of a flushing toilet at the Royal Palace was 'a high-water mark in Crapper's career' ... He was particularly close with his niece, 'Emma Crapper', and had a friend named 'B.S.'"
* On the other hand, Pat Mitchell sent us this information: "It seems that in recent years, a certain Ken Grabowski, researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, has unselfishly, unswervingly, and unrelentlngly sought to uncover the truth. His findings? Indeed, there was a Thomas Crapper (1836-1910). And Crapper founded a London plumbing fixture company in 1861. His efforts did produce many improvements in the fixtures he manufactured. His company products (with his name upon them) were distributed all over Europe. Military barracks included. These were still there during World War I."
So now you know, folks. There, maybe, have been a real Thomas Crapper.
Hey, there's someone at the door.
"It's someone named Uncle John," says the Missus.
"Oops, tell him I am in the cr.....!"

Togetherness in letter-carrier heaven

2007-02-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

Colin Black has a not-so-secret advantage in the upcoming B.C. election. He has a praying wife.
While Black was debating local candidates on the radio Tuesday morning, Jo-Anne was praying for him the entire time.
Black is running as the B.C. Conservative Party candidate for the Okanagan-Vernon area against the likes of incumbent Tom Christensen (B.C. Liberals) and the B.C. NDP's Juliette Cunningham and a bevy of fringe players, including Erin Nelson (Green Party), Michael Toponce (Marijuana Party), Tibor Tusnady (B.C.Patriot Party) and independent Gordon Campbell.
Another unique factor is that Black would have a free vote in the B.C. Legislature, if he's elected in the May 17th voting. While others are saddled with party conformity, Black and the B.C. Conservatives can be independent and free of party in-fighting.
"I believe that an MLA or MP must represent their constituents, wholeheartedly, whether in Victoria or in Ottawa," said Black in his comfortable living room. "And the one thing our party gives me is the freedom in the voting process. They trust their MLAs to make their own judgments."
It certainly is a unique concept in the all-for-one and one-for-all which has dominated Canadian politics for so long.
"On the big issues we can come back to our riding and hear the heart of the people, we can ask them, give them the information and no matter how I feel personally or how I would vote on an issue ... yes, or no ... the majority rules. I think that's exactly what the heart of the people want in Victoria."
The uniqueness is not lost on Black.
"The party can't say 'look you will need to vote like this on the big issues.'"
He did concede on some of the smaller issues, such an independent stance wasn't always needed.
As a letter-carrier for a number of years, Black has obtained first-hand knowledge of how the public in his area feel.
"I have done two or three jobs and our pocketbooks have shrunk," he said. "We used to call it nickel and diming, now it's 20s and 50s ... now there's extra fees for parks and it all adds up."
Black's bottom line on such "frustration" comes under the heading of "wasteful government spending."
"A million dollars to me is a huge amount of money. It seems to be that government in the past have spent millions or hundreds of millions, almost in a blatant way and have no responsibility or accountability for the taxpayers' money," he emphasized.
Black was forceful when he said: "If I am elected to Victoria, a million dollars will be a huge amount to Colin Black amd I will see that the money is spent wisely and not waste it on the likes of privatization of the Coq, which was a $6 million waste of money to set the whole thing up. So that money is gone and so people are getting wealthy on it. But those are taxpayers' dollars and need to be cared for like it was my own."
With seven B.C. Conservatives running in the 79 electoral areas, Black believes his party has a realistic chance of taking them all.
"The people are quite upset of what the past four years has to offer plus the issues of the previous NDP government," he said, adding, "they are looking for a good alternative, a sound alternative choice. What could well happen is we need four to be recognized as an official party, and if our seven should get elected then I believe we have a very good opportunity to hold the balance of power. It would certainly keep our government accountable and they just couldn't shove things at the taxpayer and do what they want. So our constituencies could be in a very good position. I believe we have a very good chance to make a difference, not just for our own constituents, but for all British Columbians."
Black is strongly behind the B.C. Conservative Part philosophy in believing in the freedom of every individual and family to achieve their God-given potential and supports an agenda including::
1. Strengthening our social safety nets for those in greatest need -- such as increasing the amount of low-cost housing to accommodate the homeless, senior citizens, mentally disabled, and the people on social assistance;
2. Implementing a constitutional limit on provincial taxation and borrowinf (TAXCAP). Total taxation will be limited to a fixed percentage of the provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP);
3. Ensuring that the exploration, harvesting, and development of British Columbia's resources be done in an environmentally sound manner.
There were a number of other platform issues which he discussed during the hour-long interview.
But to put his views into a capsuule, Black considers himself a "people person" because of his unqiue contact with the neighborhoods as a letter-carrier. In fact, it's a family affair, for his bride of five years, Jo-Anne, is also a postal worker.
Even if he should lose the election, Black said he would value the experience greatly "Life is a learning experience to be a good listener, and I will continue to listen to people and be watchful of who gets in and see how they represent us. What I will cherish in all of this is to see how hard all volunteers work."
And, of course, Black has another advantage: A praying wife.

Masks: The dark side

2007-02-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

HE SHOWED no mercy. Take no prisoners was his absolute dictum. He was unpredictable. He was vicious with no redeeming qualities. He didn't care if the adversary was man, woman, child or beast. They were all the enemy to him. He inflicted pain without ever flinching.
And I destroyed him, but the lasting memory of the absolute villain still creeps into the dark recesses of my mind. He, obviously, did not die easily, for he raged against the night. In flashbacks, he stands there with a snarl crossing his upturned lips, defying me. The cruel eyes peering through the slits of the mask He was born in 1973 and died defiantly in 1984. However, there was one constant -- the mask.
Throughout the centuries, man has been fascinated -- sometimes fatally -- with masks. Alexander Dumas of the Iron Mask and now the Phantom of the Opera. Others have tried to rip the mask off, unsuccessfully, such as The Lone Ranger's Clayton Moore. The identity crisis remained with Moore as well as Adam West, an actor who will forever be associated with the mask of Batman.
Michael Keaton, who transformed Batman into a dark screen hero, will eventually have to deal with wearing it at some point in his life. There will be other roles, but the lasting effects of delving into the dark side of man's psyche will remain. The most awesome villain of recent times has been the Star Wars' Darth Vader. Vader was complex, but his evil was succinctly personified by the headgear.
The mask has often been associated with the so-called innocence of Halloween or a costume ball, but there appears to be a resurgence, probably due to more flexible materials, of using the masks for its original functions of changing personalities and being able to scare the bejeezers out of anyone.
Masks have been used for disguises, hiding not only the identity of the wearer, but also giving them magical powers -- for in ancient days certain masks represented gods.
For whatever the psychology, I found that the wearing of a mask changed a mild-mannered 305-pounder into a wrecking machine. It happened almost instantly on pulling it over my head. The inhibitions completely disappeared; and a sense of power overwhelmed me. Even my thought processes seemed to go awry, and I became another person -- a separate entity.
In delving into the history of masks, they seem to be divided into four categories: 1) ceremonies masks, 2) theatrical masks, 3) burial and death masks, and 4) festival masks. All these groups seem to overlap.
Many primitive societies believed the gods controlled the forces of nature; so dancers often wore masks that represented these gods. It made the wearer unrecognizable and he usually lost his own identity and became the spirit itself.
According to the World Encyclopedia, certain Pacific Northwest Indians wore masks with movable mouths and eyelids and these masks actually consisted of two or three masks. Such masks are related to the belief that some human beings had the power to change into animals and back again. Remember "shape-shifting" in the outstanding movie, Thunderheart.
The ancient Greeks used masks in their classical drama with masked singers and dancers representing gods. The ancient Egyptians put a personalized mask over the face of every mummy so the wandering soul could always find its body.
Even festival masks, used at Mardi Gras, have their roots in the spirit world.
In the oft pseudo-theatrical world of professional wrestling, grease paint is used these days as a form of disguise and intimidation (i.e. Demolition and the Ultimate Warrior), but it's only a decade or two ago when the grunt 'n' groaners were able to carry out their treachery by wearing masks.
I certainly noticed the difference in strength between trying to perform with a mask on, and one without. Two separate entities: good and evil.
When trying to divest myself of the wrestling persona in 1984, I had to perform a death ritual with the mask. He didn't want to be discarded into the fire or thrown away on a garbage heap. He had tentacles trying to reach up and tear at my soul, my spirit -- but, once those tentacles were severed, I became more civil.
Another area where they are prevalent is in the hockey arena with today's goalie masks resembling Indian masks. Bob McMichael of the McMichael Collection, once told a Toronto newspaper: "It doesn't take much imagination to see it. The Indians' religious ceremonies took place in the longhouses as the spectators watched the soultender do his ritual dance in the light of the fires.
"Now we have the goalie, the ritual dancer, and the longhouse has become an arena seating 20,000, maybe more. And the lights of the longhouse have become the blazing lights of the arena."
Although hockey players rarely talk about such aspects of the game, goalies know better than to trifle with the spirits. If they wish, they can destroy you, wipe you out for no reason at all. One-time goalie Gilles Gratton, who wore a lion mask because Leo was his zodiac sign, used to roar fiercely -- assuming the persona of the mask.
"Since the eyes are the mirror of the soul, when these are hidden, even partially, by a mask, then the person wearing the mask can act differently and the person looking at him is greatly affected," explained Winnipeg psychologist Dr. Garry A. Corbett, president of CARP, the Canadian Association of Rehabiliation Professionals)..
"You see actors on stage project someone else by wearing a mask, whether it is a facial mask or different clothing or maybe even sunglasses," added Dr. Corbett. "Halloween is a prime example of role playing. People are able to put on makeup or masks and do things that they normally wouldn't do."
Scary.
(Kaye Corbett appeared as 'The Viking' in the 1982 Disney movie, 'Running Brave.')

Hurricane from the Far East

2007-02-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

A senior citizen sometimes can't be ready for a Hurricane from the Far East, named Tricky Dick Thornton.
Of course, the former CFL dynamo with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Toronto Argonauts, is more than a quiet breeze to his fans and friends, and that includes the media, because there's not a seasoned reporter throughout the land he hasn't begged and cajoled into just printing his name.
Just the other day, I received this from the Manila Man: "Nothing much happening but the month of April just disappeared. Did do 3 training sessions for Convoy/Limtuaco and ran several more Mini_MIT the last couple of weeks that went very well. Coach Hook blew into town from Phomn Penh in Cambodia (his current residence) and is bunking at my house for about a fortnight. Fantastic to talk football for hours on end. My two maids are happy too, since it's extra income for them, looking after all his needs and requirements."
Then came the blockbuster.
"Depart for Bangkok on May 22nd, will zip down to Pattaya for a few days and then fly to Cambodia to visit Coach Hook before heading Stateside and to Canada. Thai Airways has a non-stop flight to JFK in New York now, so will try that journey this time. From there, it's Memphis, Phoenix, Toronto and Atlanta before heading back to SE Asia a month later. They are having a Tribute Dinner and 'Roast' on June 15th for my former head football coach in Toronto, Leo Cahill. I owe a lot to that man and have been honored to sit at the at the Head Table and be one of the speakers. Should be a fun and very hilarious evening. No holds barred."
So tell me, Bunky, when has there ever been any holds barred when the Hurricane comes to town?.
Of course, all you children have been deprived of knowing Coach T, but all your grandpappies know of the Trickster.
He came storming out of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois with a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communication and Journalism. He was an All-America standout as a triple threat -- as a quarterback, free safety and special teams performer.
After juggling some NFL offers from the Cleveland Browns and St. Louis Cardinals and Dallas Texans of the AFL, but settled for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL.
Even though he saw brief duty that first year because he suffered a broken jaw against the B.C. Lions, he did manage to hold down four jobs -- defensive cornerback, running back, quarterback and punter. Whew.
As Craig Wallace related in the "CFL Legends," Thornton came into his own in the best-of-three 1965 Western Conference Final when Winnipeg quarterback Kenny Ploen came out of the game with a mild concussion and Thornton entered with coach Bud Grant telling him to run out the clock. He disagreed with Grant's strategy and gave him the lip: "We'll be leading 7-3 at halftime. Trust me, because you have no choice anyway. I'm your only backup."
Thornton owned the mid-60s with the Bombers.
Wallace was quick to relate that Dick was not only a superb athlete, but well known as an outspoken and controversial "free spirit." "He always had time for people in the community, the corporate business world, fans and, of course, the media," wrote Wallace.
"I was often misunderstood, but did nothing more than market and merchandise MYSELF," he even says to this day.
Then came his brilliant stint with Leo Cahill's Argonauts. For a period in the late 1960s, Thornton was "Mr. Everything" on and off the field, selling himself to the Toronto fans and the business community.
He was also the subject of controversy with a book called, "Get It While Your Hot, Cause Baby, You're Going To Be Cold For A Long Long Time."
It was strictly anti-establishment to the Argonauts and they had the project cancelled.
The CFL became history and as Thornton writes in the foreword to Wallace's "A Slip in the Rain," astrologists have always said I was born under a wandering star and this very accurate prediction led to a very nomadic existence since I retired from professional football at the end of 1974 as captain of the Memphis Southmen, the WFL's Central Division champions."
From front office jobs in the WFL and then a small-college head coaching job at Southwestern, Coach T moved on to Coca-Cola Company, joining their international team. He later moved to Australia and then London, England.
However, while contemplating early retirement, Thornton stormed into the Philippines, setting up his own beverage consulting firm.
Thornton, however, faded away from "family, friends, girlfriends, business associates and former teammates."
Enter the Internet.
Coach T, the dynamo from Manila, is a computer guru and his friends and fans can keep track of him at all times (www.coachingpoints.com) and also his NFL column in the Bangkok Post and on the Net. (www.kayecorbett.com/).
Being back in the limelight is something he loves.
Now about this dinner for Leo, Coach T?

Readin', Writin' and Runnin'

2007-02-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

Tom Christensen has a mind of his own.
And he quickly learned that the B.C. premier and Liberal leader, Gordon Campbell, is not a control freak as some opponents have suggested in the past few days.
"That's something I learned very early," said Christensen in a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Courier.
In his first four-year term as the Liberal MLA for Okanagan-Vernon, it was obvious that Christensen was learning the ropes, however, from intrepid lawyer to Education Minister was a giant leap and his roles became more comfortable knowing that his boss was solidly behind him and the rest of the Liberal team.
Christiansen turned a little red-faced concerning the development of the first Community Salvage Logging License in British Columbia, which gave the local communities, in this case, Lumby and Cherryville, more control over salvage logging. It might have appeared as a minor issue, but Christensen went against government policy in giving more local control to the harvesting of small bug-infested timber stands and less to the ministry of forestry.
Even Christiansen was apprehensive at the time, but Campbell has insisted his team members have a voice.
With a weak opposition, scattered voices believe the Liberal government could become complacent, but Christensen, with the backing of his party, has some specific areas he is pushing for, if he's returned in the May 17th election. His opponents in the Okanagan-Vernon riding include Juliette Cunningham (NDP), Colin Black (PC), Erin Nelson (Green Party), Michael Toponce (Marijuana Party), Tibor Tusnady (B.C. Patriot Party) and independent Gordon Campbell (not the B.C. Premier).
Christensen, as the chief education honcho, pointed out some specifics that his department had already reached.
One area he is most proud of comes under the heading: "Connecting Communities." In that area, Christensen wants the public to know that his government has "acted to bridge the digital divide" by connecting every community in B.C. to high-speed Internet access by 2006.
He pointed out that only a year ago, families in 171 communities did not have access to broadband Internet. "They were shut out of education opportunities in the new knowledge economy and functionally disconnected from new benefits in digital communication. Now all of those communities will be connected to high-speed Internet access.
In literature scattered throughout Christensen's downtown Vernon offices, there appeared to be a central theme of "real progress" in the area of education, not only looking at the future, but an emphasis on past achievements such as: High school completion rate has increased to 79% since 2001 -- the highest ever; Aboriginal completion rates are up 5% over 2001; B.C. students won more scholarships in 2003 than ever before; B.C. students are getting the best marks ever in reading, writing and numeracy; B.C. students outperformed their counterparts in almost every province and most countries around the world in the most recent International Student Assessment of reading, math and science tests.
With Christensen's leadership, there is a plan to improve education over the next four years.
Some of those items include:
* Nearly triple the funding for combined early childhood development (ECD) and autism intervention programs since 2001.
* Eliminate textbook shortages in schools with $150 million more this year for B.C.'s schools and $10 million in one-time funding in 2004 for schools to buy over 285,000 textbooks.
* Provide $12 million over three years in new funding to strengthen B.C.'s libraries.
* Work with Literacy Now, a new $5 million community-based program, to improve literacy in concert with non-profit and volunteer-based organizations across the province.
* Increase funding for K-12 education by $253 million over the next three years.
* Complete all required seismic (earthquake) upgrading in B.C.'s schools within 15 years.
* Institure "zero tolerance" of bullying in B.C.'s schools.
* Eliminate junk food in all public schools within the next four years.
While the Liberals and Christensen outlined education incentives for the next four years, they also took some potshots at the NDP's plan to eliminate education as an essential service, which according to Campbell's government, would allow strikes and lockouts to shut B.C. children out of class and deny them their right to an education during labour disputes.
In addition, the Liberals oppose the NDP's proposal to remove class size limits and protections under the law which would return to the old model where they were used as political bargaining chips in labour negotiations.
When this reporter checked back to ask more questions of the Education Minister, Christensen was already out of the office campaigning and contemplating whether to enter a "marathon."
After all, Tom Christensen is a running man.

The Larry Woelke Story

2007-02-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

Larry Woelke should have pain written all over his 53-year-old face.
Instead, his smile is of the 400-watt variety.
After all, Woelke is the enthusiast pastor of Vernon's growing Cornerstone Bible Church, without a worry in the world, you might say.
Wrong.
Woelke has seen the upside and also the downside of life, particularly within his own family, in which his sister, Marg, was murdered by his nephew and the aftermath, all because of the "consequences of sin."
The youngest of eight, Woelke evolved from being a poor dirt farmer's kid in central Manitoba to an extremely talented singer, hockey player, building contractor, and then, at the age of 36 he and his wife, Eunice, and family of four -- two boys and two girls -- moved into a house trailer. Four years later, he emerged with his BA in religion and pastoral ministeries from Briercrest Bible College in Caronport, Saskatchewan.
However, his becoming a pastor in Vernon had some dramatic twists and turns.
Those boyhood years found Larry Woelke on the move with his family -- from Neewapa, Manitoba, to Kenora, Ontario, for his father, David, tried to keep his brood afloat by operating heavy equipment while moving place to place.
With sister Diane on accordion and young Larry on guitar, the duo were sought after in churches, and even gained much acclaim in a popular talent contest in Winnipeg with the hymn, "How Great Thou Art." Then the offers came in from clubs, but the Woelke brother-and-sister act turned them down.
At age 13, he made a life-changing decision.
It was done in quite dramatic fashion.
He was torn about playing hockey on Sundays and listening to his conscience about keeping the Sabbath Day "holy."
While at home, and in full gear for a Sunday game, he committed his life to Jesus.
As a centre, his hockey talent was unquestionable and the next step up the ladder was training camp with the 'Let's Get Rowdy' Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League. One of his teammates and future star was Darcy Rota.
However, another turning point for Woelke came abruptly with him breaking his ankle in the major junior 'A' camp.
"I lost interest. I lost heart," said Woelke, remembering the past.
With a broken ankle taped up, he started shooting baskets and gaining his strength back, and since he was attending Grade XII in Prince George, he made a decision to turn out for his school's hockey team -- the Prince George Polars. He not only made the team, but was its MVP and most inspirational player as well as being the PGSS ' athlete-of-the-year.
After high school, his life seemed to take another turn and he took his apprenticeship in carpentry in Prince George and met and married his wife, Eunice. Both were in their early 20s. She was the daughter of well-known missionaries, who had been stationed in Ethiopia.
All of their four children were born in Prince George as he and Eunice built LBW Construction into a major force in the industry, specializing in "middle-class homes."
However, the high interest rates in the 1980s seemed to settle a pall over the construction business so it was time to move on from Prince George. With the 1988 Olympics looming, the Woelkes moved to Calgary and started contruction on Signal Hill, building a house for his nephew.
It was another turning point.
"My heart just wasn't in it," remembers Woelke.
He was driving on Calgary's Deerfoot Trail when the words to the song, "Never Look Back" came rushing to his mind. "It was a divine moment and I wrote those words as a cry from my heart." His writing utensil was a well-used carpenter's pencil.
He shifted directions, slowly, as he managed Sunbrooke Homes out of Calgary and continued its operation in Whitecourt, Alberta. There was immediate success, "but I wasn't being fulfilled."
It was in 1986, and there was, as he recalled it, "a brief stopover to rebuild our souls" at a marriage encounter in Edmonton.
From that, the Woelkes left Whitecourt to a small house trailer in Caronport, Saskatchewan and after graduation they spent 12 years in Melfort, Sask. The church grew from 150 in attendance to 300.
During the mid-80s, his then-15-year-old nephew, succumbing to "evil pressure" from an older woman, stabbed to death Woelke's sister, Marg, and then blamed it on Marg's husband.
"The young man ran off to his girlfriend's and phoned up the cops.The brother-in-law, who had been sleeping, was awoken when the cops slapped handcuffs on him."
However, their story quickly broke up and the nephew eventually spent three years in juvenile detention in Burnaby, B.C.
Woelke recalled with sadness that today his brother-in-law's life is very sad while his nephew is "out there" and has never apologized to the family.
"We continue to pray for him."
Woelke then continued, "The greatest lessons I have learned in life that has prepared me for pastoral ministry have been in the trenches of adversity. I have found my Saviour to be totally sufficient for all my needs and my heart's desire is to bring Him glory."