Nwt-O-T-L

Last Days In Yellowknife

2009-02-16T20:27:00.006-07:00

My final days in Yellowknife were prety good. I ended up teaching Aquafit five nights in a row and think that I might try some classes in Niagara. I finished all my lessons and took care of the paperwork. As I left City Hall, two RCMP officers were blocking 50th street. Looking down the street I could see a lot of smoke and just saw Engine 8 (a Quint) pull up to the parking lot of the Pre-Cambrian building. A car had caught fire because it had a space heater, block heater and battery blanket all plugged into an inferior extension cord. It was great to see the YKFD put out the fire. I took a walk downtown and then spent rest of Friday packing as was Saturday morning.

Saturday afternoon I arranged to go dog sledding with Beck's Kennels

http://www.beckskennels.com/

I took the two hour tour and was paired up with Helen Hu from Calgary and five dogs. I was told to stand on the skis and use the brake if I needed too. Then we were off... (Jenelle and Devin - from Buffalo Airways were also out that day with the film crew)

We headed onto Kam Lake and then onto Grace Lake. We went for about 40 minutes then arrived at a framed tent with a wood stove to warm up for about 30 minutes then changed positions as I became the passenger and Helen the driver.

I came back to Ian's cold but having had probably a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity.

Ian and Michele had Gord and Nadia over for dinner (the guys cooked steaks) and then we played a game of Risk before heading to bed.

Thoughts and prayers go out to the famlies of the Continential flight

2009-02-12T23:51:00.005-07:00

I was on my way back from work a few minutes ago and learned that a Continental (Q400) Dash-8 crashed in Clarence Center (near Buffalo) This is about 3 miles from the "Big Blue Water Tower" for those of you who know Erie County.

I am deeply shocked and saddened to learn about this as the plane was only a few miles from landing at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. I know that the firefghters in Erie County are some of the best in the country. I hope that they stay safe on the scene. They have set up a unified command system and have evacuated about 12 homes in the area. 2 people from the ground were transported to Millard Fillmore suburban hospital. This is an ongoing event.

The area where this happened is just down the road from the Clarence Center Volunteer Fire Company. Here is their website. http://www.ccvfc.com/newsstory.asp?ID=42

Here are some early links to storys about this:

audio from ATC -- @ 20min40sec

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kbuf/KBUF-Feb-13-2009-0300Z.mp3

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/577959.html

http://www.ccvfc.com/newsstory.asp?ID=42

http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=64153&catid=37

http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/39540627.html

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/update_regarding_airplane_crash_of_continental_flight_3407_090212

No No No No Not Again

2009-02-11T11:54:00.003-07:00

'No, no, no, no, not again!'

About a week ago I was criticising the engineering deparment about Merritt Street in Thorold. see FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009

Merv Hardie ferry closes for the season / Merritt Street car vs. ambulance

Well guess what another traffic mishap and for this woman in the story twice in a year. I bet she feels like the Air Boss in Top Gun who gets coffee spilled on him when Maverick flies by.

To the road engineers --> curbs, guard rails, medians, new speed limit

To the police --> targeted enforcement on this road

Here is the article from the Standard

http://www.scstandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1430236

No, no, no, no, not again!'

Posted By MATTHEW VAN DONGEN, STANDARD STAFF

Updated 4 hours ago

Jean Keyes has a problem with strangers parking in her house.

You read that right. Inside the building, usually in the living room.
It happened for the second time in less than a year early Tuesday morning, when a Pontiac Sunfire driver lost control on a curve and smashed through the front of her home at 84 Merritt St.

"I heard the bang, but I still couldn't believe it at first," said Keyes, who lives in the back of the home but rents out the much-abused front apartment. "I just started saying, 'No. No, no, no, not again! Then I started to cry."

Last March, it was a Cadillac that crashed into the living room of the one-bedroom apartment. Different car; same parking spot. Keyes said her male tenant was shaken but unhurt by the 3 a. m. collision. She's not sure whether he'll stay, however. "After the last time, I told everyone not to worry. I've been here for 25 years; it won't happen again. Now what do I say?"
Keyes figures she's on a "bad corner."

Her siding-covered bungalow sits on the escarpment near the top of the Merritt Street hill, close to Ball Avenue East.

Northbound cars and trucks routinely speed down the slightly curved hill, neighbours said.

Not all of them stay on the road. "Some of them don't slow down," said Tom Hillier, a neighbour for 21 years. "We've had more than one accident on this hill."

Hillier remembers a motorcycle collision just downhill from Keyes' home and a fatal car crash near the intersection. And last year's spectacular flying home invasion, of course.

"That one was worse," said Bill McMenemy, now an expert on crash landings in the building.
McMenemy works for Greg Miller Restoration, which is rebuilding Keyes' front apartment for the second time. The original house-crasher actually jumped a guardrail, became airborne and bulled its way completely inside the building.

The latest unwelcome visitor only managed partial entry, said the contractor.

"It's still pretty awful, though," he said, gazing at the mangled white siding, snapped wooden studs and overturned couch. "I thought we rebuilt it twice as strong the first time. Now maybe we're going to have to put in 12- inch blocks or something."

The latest crash caused an estimated $50,000 in damage, but Keyes said repairs from both crashes are covered by insurance.

That doesn't mean she's content to continue living in a vehicular backstop.

A curving metal guardrail on Merritt Street protects the front of Keyes' house, and some of the side. The original crashing car mangled part of the protective fence, and Keyes believes the city shortened it during repairs.

"We need a better guardrail, and a bigger one," she said. "Something needs to be done. This is just ridiculous." Kris Jacobson, the city's manager of transportation services, said the guardrail was fixed last year, but he doesn't know if it was shortened.
He does know the city will investigate the safety of that section of Merritt Street.
"We're going to review it and see if there's anything we can do," he said. "A house is struck twice in a year? Obviously it's a concern for us."
The driver of the crashed car was taken to hospital and treated for a cut to his face.

Thorold resident James Parks, 27, is charged with impaired driving.

Article ID# 1430236

More snow in Yellowknife

2009-02-11T00:03:00.006-07:00

Well the snow was flying again today. Partly because we (Alex Young and I) were kicking it up from our tracks as we blazed across the lakes and because it was warm in the mid twenties, notice that we don't use negative before the number because everyone here knows it is winter. Warm weather = clouds and snow here. Clear and Cold is the rest of the weather.

Today I headed out "sledding" departing from the Thompson Tower downtown we headed out onto Great Slave Lake and over to Air Tindi's (http://www.airtindi.com/) float base (in the winter I guess it is called the ski base) where I was able to check out one of their Twin Otter's which was on ski's outside of the base. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-6_Twin_Otter)

Unfortunately the camera I had with me didn't have enough power in the cold to snap any photos. You might remember that it was two (2) twin otters on April 24-25, 2001 that made the medical evacuation to the Amudnsen-Scott South Pole research station (the only winter landing)

We then went under the Latham Island bridge and behind the Niven Road Subdivision before crossing the highway near the legislature and onto Frame Lake. We sped past downtown and the pool and went under Old Airport Road to the Co-Op gas station for some fuel. We then went past the airport over to Fred Henne Territorial Park (http://www.iti.gov.nt.ca/tourismparks/parks/parks/fred_henne_territorial_park_page1.shtml) and Long Lake. This is where "Folk on the Rocks" takes place and is where my brother used to camp out.

We then headed back to Great Slave Lake and went around Latham Island/Ndilo (pronounced Dee-low) Heading back we were able to take a look at the Snow King Castle being built and the crossed the "Ice Road" to Dettah http://www.northernfrontier.com/10_explore/dettah.html

Thanks Alex for a great morning. After putting away the sleds, I headed off to work where I took a couple of minutes to warm up in the hot tub and then guarded the pool for Sir John Franklin and then taught lessons for three hours, followed by aquafit (3rd night in a row) and then guarding again.

Some random Yellowknife trivia

2009-02-10T00:58:00.004-07:00

To get a background into Yellowknife

check out this video

http://www.yellowknife.ca/Assets/Home/YK+Movie.mov

I thought while I am up here in Yellowknife I would share some triva and fun facts with you.

1.) Tim Horton's store #603, its most northern store, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, recently earned the honour of top sales in the chain for 2007-2008. According to co-owner Greg Barton, the store handles around 2900 Yellowknifers per day.

2.) Yellowknife is approximately 400 km (250 mi) south of the Arctic Circle

3.)Of the eleven official languages of the Northwest Territories, five are spoken in significant numbers in Yellowknife: Dene Suline, Dogrib, South and North Slavey, English, and French.

4.) Yellowknife is represented in the territorial government by seven of the 19 Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories (MLAs).

5.) Government employment accounts for 7,644 jobs, a large percentage of those in Yellowknife (of 18,700)

6.) Yellowknife has a frost-free growing season that averages slightly over 100 days

7.) In Yellowknife, the population is slightly disproportionate in terms of age distribution compared to the national average; the average age is 31.2, compared to a Canada-wide average of 39.5

8.) The Gold Range Bar, one of the oldest and most colorful drinking establishments in the Northwest Territories and featured in Mordecai Richler's novel Solomon Gursky Was Here)

9.) Margot Kidder, film and television actress best known for playing Lois Lane in the Superman movies of the 1970s and 1980s was born in Yellowknife in 1948.

10.) Yellowknife, calls itself the "Diamond Capital of North America" and has a motto of “Where a Golden History Meets a Brilliant Future.”

11.) A world-renowned viewing destination, almost 10,000 Japanese tourists flock to Yellowknife each year to see the Aurora Borealis wash across the sky

12.) The Canadian North Midnight Sun Golf Tournament, played on the weekend with the longest daylight hours of summer tees off at midnight

13.) The northern most McDonalds, KFC and A&W are located here.

14.) The Wildcat Cafe bult in1937 and saved from demolition is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions.

15.) Yellowknife's 75th Anniversary Homecoming is this year. It will be celebrated June 19 to July 4, 2009!!

"Celebration events hosted by the community will include displays, tours, tournaments, festivals, dinners, dances, breakfasts, a fishing derby, parades, talent shows, races, performances...and lots more to be announced. Whether you are young or old, local or visiting we look forward to sharing with you our memorable past, our dynamic present and our bright future."

16.) value of the gold mined from Yellowknife works out to be around $6,000,000,000 in todays dollars

1.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons

2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowknife

10, 11, 12, 13, 14.) http://www.nnsl.com/Ykguide/ykvis.pdf

15.) http://www.yellowknife.ca/Visitors/Yellowknife75Homecoming.html

16.) www.yellowknife.ca

Audio from FDNY from the Hudson River plane crash

2009-02-09T00:11:00.003-07:00

Some of you will remember that before moving up here to Yellowknife I applied to two different dispatching jobs in Niagara, one with the Parks Police the other with the NF Fire Department.

Here is the audio from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) for the plane crash into the Hudson River.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUlyai2YKro

As Chief Billy Goldfetter says, "Dispatchers are the "first responders"...often well aware of "what we have" before we know we are even going out the door." And, like firefighters, hiring the right folks, training them and providing them with support and supervision can make or break an incident. Sometimes it can make headlines. A Fire dispatch center (or a "911" dispatch center that provides fire dispatch services along with PD and EMS) without strong leadership and aggressive initial and on-going training can be the weakest link. The training of, or the failure to properly train and supervise dispatchers is a critical factor in the entire scope of a FD providing service.

Firefighters also have to have a true understanding of what "the dispatchers" go thru...we can't do that just by listening - some time spent at the dispatch center can be a huge help in understanding. Equally, some time by dispatchers responding on runs in the field with FD units is equally a big deal. Both "sides' training on what "the other" goes thru can pay off big time.

Floyd and the boys live to see another day

2009-02-08T23:19:00.004-07:00

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1300/1346782204_805c948f7d.jpg?v=1189261825

Floyd and his cabinet live to see another day.

Here in the NWT the government almost fell. 10-8 with the speaker speaking to the motion but not voting it. That means that 44% of the elected MLA's were against the government (8/18) It was a good thing that all of the cabinet was there to vote.

Premier Roland just served a three game suspension in the Yellowknife Hockey League and the Sargent-at-Arms was ready to break up any brawls. You'll see that there are boards and glass set up and the wrestling mat is the bear skin rug.

I've heard the Legislature called the NWT Spaceship before and here is a blog which explains the bulding and it's history.

http://yksusan.blogspot.com/2007/08/inside-nwt-spaceship.html

Next up if the vote on the budget. We'll see how that goes.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gyrOaVNFKuJ2eOOZ43kdJ9P0vTrA

N.W.T. Premier Floyd Roland survives non-confidence motion in legislature

2 days ago

YELLOWKNIFE — A humbled premier of the Northwest Territories promised a more conciliatory government after surviving a non-confidence vote Friday that could have seen him and his entire cabinet booted from office.

The motion, which was defeated 10-8, had been tabled by disgruntled politicians who said they had been treated badly.

Floyd Roland and his cabinet can now get back to the business of passing the budget, which was introduced Thursday.

"I think the message is before us," said the premier as he addressed the legislature before the vote. "We have to change the way we do business and I'm prepared to make the change."

The upheaval in the territorial legislature came two months after the Canadian government nearly fell to a coalition of opposition parties.

Under the rules of the N.W.T.'s consensus-style government, the premier and cabinet are chosen by all the members of the legislature after every general election. They may be dismissed at any time in a similar vote.

The motion was originally tabled Wednesday by Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen, the day before the government introduced its budget. Groenewegen, who leads the caucus of MLAs who aren't in cabinet, said those members felt the executive was withholding information from them and not including them in policy formation.

Groenewegen refused to back down despite sensing the vote wasn't going her way.

"I think the solution for this problem is for the premier to resign and let someone else take over the job," she told the house.

The vote came after impassioned and soul-searching speeches from all 19 members of the legislature about how to deal with the divisions that have plagued this assembly. The Speaker also spoke to the motion, but did not vote.

"We simply can't afford to continue to operate in this fashion," said Justice Minister Jackson Lafferty. "We simply cannot be changing leadership every time we get pissed off at one or two ministers."

Transportation Minister Michael McLeod told the house that the future of consensus government could be at stake.

"When it works, it works well," he said. "But when people don't respect it, it won't work at all. We're starting to see our consensus-style of government brought to a standstill."

But a long string of perceived slights were tough for some of the legislature members to forgive.

Groenewegen has accused the cabinet of misleading the house over contracts for a $155-million bridge across the Mackenzie River.

Roland, elected as premier in October 2007, initially told Groenewegen that the government's only financial exposure was a $9-million loan guarantee. It later emerged that the territory could be on the hook for much more if toll revenues for the bridge don't meet projections. That prospect is becoming more likely as cooling commodity markets slow northern industrial traffic.

Members also said the government didn't consult with them over plans to cut the civil service, restructure health and education boards and reduce health benefits to seniors. Members learned about the plans from their constituents, Groenewegen said.

Members also have concerns about a $34-million bailout to N.W.T.-based Discovery Air.

Many northerners expressed strong concerns about creating more turmoil and uncertainty at a time when the floundering economy seems to be creating plenty of both. The N.W.T. Chamber of Commerce urged members to vote to support the government.

Jacobson was one of several members who described the number of calls, including some at 2 a.m., he received from constituents urging him to stand up for Roland and his cabinet. He may have summed up the mood of the house when he said he'd vote against the motion, despite his disregard for the premier and cabinet.

"Notice has been given. You guys better start doing your jobs and serving the people. I'm giving you guys one more chance."

Last December, the federal Liberals and New Democrats banded together and threatened to bring down Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government over measures contained in the fall fiscal update. Harper avoided a non-confidence vote when he persuaded the Governor General to prorogue Parliament. The coalition dissolved when the Conservatives came back after the session resumed last week and brought in a spending-rich budget.

Former N.W.T. premier Stephen Kakfwi also faced non-confidence motions in 2001 and 2002. Roland was the only member to vote in favour of removing Kakfwi in the 2001 vote, saying he he had grown too arrogant.

Videos of the NWT from Ice Road Truckers

2009-02-06T23:34:00.003-07:00

These videos will give you a good idea

of what Yellowknife is all about.

Please have a look.

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Video_Clips&content_type_id=54825&display_order=8&mini_id=54692

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS

is coming to the History Television in Canada

March 4th at 9pm ET/PT

During the harsh winter of Canada's Northwest Territory, remote villages and work camps are cut off from the world. To keep them supplied, a tenacious group of long-haul truckers drive their rigs over hundreds of miles on ice roads cut across the surface of frozen lakes. Sometimes the ice cannot support the heavy rig, and driver and cargo plunge through the ice and sink to the bottom. Hitch a risky ride along with the Ice Road Truckers as they drive headlong into bone-chilling danger.

http://www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=232479

"That – now that – would be an adventure."

2009-02-06T16:57:00.002-07:00

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/reviews/article_1318523.php/Review_History_Channel%92s_Ice_Road_Truckers_Life_on_thin_ice

Here is an article from the Toronto Star about the Ice Road heading out of Yellowknife up to the diamond mines. Nuna Logistics is located about a five minute walk from where I am living.

http://www.wheels.ca/printArticle/501763

Driving with the ice road truckers

Driving an ice road through Canada's chilly Barren Lands is for hardy truckers – and the birds

MARK RICHARDSON
WHEELS EDITOR

Feb 06, 2009

LOCKHART LAKE, N.W.T.–The sky is as white as the ground as we drive across the lake ice. Short trees dot the shallow hills along the shoreline while the distance rolls by. Then suddenly, the window fills with black.

PHOTOS: Ice road odyssey

A raven, as long as my arm, flies alongside, so close it can be touched, looking at us in the Jeep.

"The truckers feed them, you know," says Pat McCloskey, riding shotgun in the passenger seat. "The birds will take bread right from their hands at 30 km/h."

It's forbidden, though. "Feeding wildlife while operating/travelling on or near the Winter Road is strictly prohibited," states the rule book. "Penalty, First Offence: Banned from the Winter Road."

There are many, many rules that truckers must adhere to if they want to be flown up here to earn $500 a day, plus all food and expenses. They haul supplies north from Yellowknife to the three diamond mines of the Northwest Territories, but just for the two months each year that the 400-kilometre ice road exists across the frozen lakes of the Barren Lands.

McCloskey, director of community and corporate affairs for Diavik Diamond Mines, hands over the rule book:

No speeding on the ice. Limits are no more than 35 km/h, and down to 15 km/h in some places, even 10 km/h entering and leaving the portages between lakes. Any faster sends a wave of water under the frozen surface that can build with speed and blow the ice, sending a truck down.

No stopping or parking on the ice. Concentrated weight and heat from the truck will damage the ice, perhaps even melting it past its ability to support a 60-tonne truck and load.

No messing about on the ice. Trucks travel in convoys of three and four, spaced half a kilometre apart. All drivers carry survival kits to cope with temperatures that routinely drop below —40C.

And last year, there was a new rule: No media cameras in or attached to the trucks, and no transportation of media personnel. The Winter Road Joint Venture organizers were fed up with the Ice Road Truckers.

"I don't know what I'm doing now," says Alex Debogorski, one of the stars of the cult TV show's two seasons. "They say they want to film a third season but they haven't called me yet. And now I'm losing money because I could be out there driving the Road."

And then he laughs, a deep, rolling laugh, a laugh now recognized in more than two dozen countries and so popular that it can be downloaded as a ring tone. A laugh heard by 3.4 million people in the U.S. alone when Ice Road Truckers became the History Channel's highest-rated show ever.

And it's a laugh that will be heard across Canada next month, when the series' first season debuts March 4 on History Television.

"When it airs in Canada, I have a little bit of trepidation about what's going to come out of the woodwork," says Debogorski, 56, born in Grande Cache, Alta., but a Yellowknife resident since 1976.

"This movie thing has put a twist in my life – things just aren't the same anymore."

Debogorski gets mail from around the world from people who send him warm underwear, bottles of Jack Daniel's whisky, you name it. On the show, he's the religious one, a devout Catholic with 11 children and nine grandchildren.

In the summertime, tourists stop by his house to meet him, and all year long, truckers call to find out how they can get jobs on the ice road. After all, it was Debogorski's photo in last year's People magazine that proclaimed Ice Road Truckers to be "TV's Hottest Manly Men."

Ice Road Truckers is a reality series to its fans and a docu-soap to its critics. In the first season, half a dozen truckers are followed risking their lives on the ice. It's a daylong crawl to the farthest mine — it used to be 600 km, a day and a half, before a more distant mine closed down — and the show plays up the danger for all it's worth.

Every week, the heroic drivers brave whiteouts and bitter wind chill to survive the haul. Every week, the same footage is replayed of a transport truck breaking through the ice to a frigid, watery grave.

But whiteouts are less dangerous at 15 km/h, and the truck cabs are generally warm. Dispatchers along the way close the road if it's deemed too dangerous by the security crews who patrol constantly.

And the crashing truck? It's a one-sixth scale model, four metres long, being pulled through a snowy scene that's made from sugar and shaved ice. It was filmed in California by "some of Hollywood's greatest special effects masters," according to the series' DVD. After all, transport trucks don't crash through the ice anymore.

"As long as you drive within the rules, it's about impossible to wreck," says Debogorski. "For me, it isn't dangerous. In fact it's boring, but TV's got to make something out of all these truckers doing 15 mph on the ice."

One of the longest lake crossings, says McCloskey, is called "Two Movie Lake" by the drivers, because they have time to watch two movies on dash-mounted DVD players as they plod slowly north. The scenery is monotonous and usually dark, and even the magical Northern Lights on a clear night seem routine by the 10th long haul.

Out on frozen Gordon Lake, we pull up in the Jeep Grand Cherokee to a pair of ice inspectors, dragging a radar monitor behind them to measure the ice depth.

"Ice Road Truckers! That fairy tale?" says Paul Nobert of Kamloops, who comes here each winter to work for Nuna Logistics, the road's constructor.

"You watch that show and you think the ice will give way any moment, but I'll tell you – when the ice is three-foot thick, it's not giving way."

The ice does crack under the weight of the big rigs, but this is a good thing. As anyone here will tell you, ice is a flexible membrane across the top of the lake's water, and it will bend under load. Cracking means it's healing itself as the weight passes over. No cracking means the ice is too soft – not strong enough.

In fact, the most dangerous time on the ice is at the beginning of construction season, usually early December, when the road first takes shape. Helicopters fly overhead and measure the ice depth, and once there's a consistent 12 inches of ice – that's 30 cm, but ice is measured in inches up here – Hagland vehicles, tracked and buoyant, head out onto the portages to compress the snow and help the ground to freeze.

At 16 inches, Sno-Cats go onto the ice to clear away the insulating snow. The road is flooded to create ice on the surface and help increase the depth. People and equipment do go through the ice at this time; every several years, somebody is lost. A plate of ice will break away and tip the vehicle into the open water, bobbing back into place afterwards and preventing escape from below. The shock of the cold is swift to kill.

The truckers, however, see nothing of this. By 29 inches, the first lightly loaded transport trucks can head out; this season, it opened last Sunday, the first day of February.

The most fragile area of ice is close to the shoreline, where it is warmest and thinnest. Sometimes, especially if the truck has been travelling too quickly, an axle will break through; the driver leaps from the truck and waits inside the cab of another in the convoy for rescue, and the tow truck will wait for the ice to freeze again properly before lifting the transport out.

The ice gains thickness at about an inch every couple of days. Once there's a minimum of 42 inches of ice, measured in the centre and at each edge of the 50 metre-wide roadway, it can carry whatever load the trucks can haul.

"The days of just driving and stopping and saying 'Gee, the ice looks good here,' are long gone," says Erik Madsen, director of Winter Road operations.

"With this road, safety comes first all the time, and Ice Road Truckers just made a mockery of everything we do."

By the end of the two-month season, the ice can be more than 60 inches thick. The road closes because the snow melts on the land and turns the road to gumbo, not because the lakes can't bear the weight.

We press on north to the rest point at Lockhart Lake, 300 km northeast of Yellowknife and right on the edge of the treeless Barrens, where we'll check on the facility, eat lunch and then turn back for home before the short day finally fades. Our Jeep and a GMC Sierra pickup from the maintenance fleet pass the crawling trucks with ease, though swirling snow cuts visibility and slows our speed. Light vehicles have a speed limit of 80 km/h.

The ice is the best part of the drive, smooth and flat, sticky as pavement in the cold. The portages between lakes are bumpy and jarring, sometimes a steep ascent off the ice for which trucks must build speed to conquer. The radio crackles with conversation among the drivers.

"Welcome back to the ice road," says one trucker to another in his convoy, touching his tires to the ice for the first time this lucrative season. "Up here, there's only two temperatures: Cold, and Effing Cold."

Those drivers are lucky to be working. Loads are down this year. Demand for diamonds has dropped as the world's recession bites into the vanity of humanity. The clear diamonds found in northern Canada have lost some of their lustre.

Ice Road Truckers portrays the season as a desperate race against time to get vital supplies to the mines, too costly to fly in during the rest of the year, but it was only in 2006, an unusually warm season, that the road failed to achieve its maximum capacity.

It made up for it the following year, when the show's first season was filmed and almost 11,000 loads were hauled for a record 330,000 tonnes. This year, though, the target is just 200,000 tonnes of supplies, mostly diesel fuel, cement and explosives. Besides, the mines have been constructed now and their open pits are being replaced with underground tunnels – there's less need for prefab buildings and new gravel trucks.

Those southern drivers who call Alex Debogorski looking for work up here are now out of luck. The 800 drivers of 2007 became just 550 drivers in 2008, and there are fewer still this winter.

This didn't deter Ice Road Truckers, though. The second season is arguably more exciting, as it follows Debogorski and others on trucking missions across the frozen delta north of Inuvik, hauling massive equipment on the (allegedly) less stable ice of the Arctic Ocean.

Will there be a third season? Debogorski, at home in Yellowknife, smiles at the thought.

"You know, a guy told me about an ice road north out of Cambridge Bay, right on the top of Canada, heading a hundred kilometres out over the ocean to some places on the islands. There's a huge truck that hauls sleds behind it, just piling black smoke from the stack straight up into the air, and the Inuit go ahead and clear the road of polar bears.

"That – now that – would be an adventure."

Mark Richardson is the editor of wheels. Email him atmrichardson@thestar.ca

The NWT consensus no-party government could fall

2009-02-06T02:14:00.005-07:00

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/43/116221721_428c08e6ec.jpg?v=0

http://www.assembly.gov.nt.ca/_live/pages/wpPages/home.aspx

The NWT consensus no-party government could fall.

Good thing I have the day off seems like a day to go visit the gallery.

I wonder if Mr.Roland can go and ask the Commissioner to PROROUGE the legislature.

If this system of government doesn't work maybe they should think about joining Nunavut.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090205.wPOLnwt0205/BNStory/politics/home

NWT government could fall after budget is tabled

Article
Comments (2)

BOB WEBER

The Canadian Press

February 5, 2009 at 2:42 PM EST

YELLOWKNIFE — In an Arctic echo of last December's dramatic near-collapse of the Harper government over a fiscal update, the government of the Northwest Territories could fall Friday in a non-confidence vote the day after introducing its budget.

Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger was to table his budget in the territorial legislature Thursday.

But one member of the legislature introduced a motion of non-confidence in Premier Floyd Roland and his entire cabinet. The motion is to go to a vote Friday.

“Most of the regular members have lost confidence in the premier and some of the cabinet members,” said Jane Groenewegen, the member for Hay River who introduced the motion. “We thought it would be simpler and quicker and easier if we take out the whole group.”

Under the rules of the NWT's consensus-style government, the premier and cabinet are chosen by all the members of the legislature after each election. The leader and his cabinet can be removed by a similar ballot and someone new chosen.

Ms. Groenewegen said the current executive has refused to work with fellow legislators and has deliberately withheld information.

She pointed to confusion over contracts for the Deh Cho Bridge, a $155-million span across the Mackenzie River.

Mr. Roland, elected in October 2007, initially told Ms. Groenewegen that the government's only financial exposure was a $9-million loan guarantee. It later emerged that the territory could be on the hook for much more if the anticipated toll revenue for the bridge didn't meet projections. That prospect is becoming more likely as industrial traffic in the North slows due to cooling commodity markets.

“We had to beg and claw to get that information, and that's not even honest,” Ms. Groenewegen said. She added that the government refused to consult with regular members over plans to cut the civil service, restructure health and education boards and reduce health benefits to seniors. Members learned about the plans from their constituents, Ms. Groenewegen said.

“We went to him and said, ‘Hey, where's your consultation with us about this?' He said, ‘Oh, communication's not my forte.”'

Members also have concerns about a $34-million bailout to NWT-based Discovery Air.

Ms. Groenewegen, who heads the caucus of non-cabinet members that functions as a type of opposition, said she's confident the motion will pass.

“I'm not taking a stick and poking the other side of the house for fun.”

Last December, the federal Liberals and New Democrats banded together and threatened to bring down Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government over measures contained in the fall fiscal update. Mr. Harper avoided a non-confidence vote when he persuaded the Governor General to prorogue Parliament. The coalition dissolved when the Conservatives came back after the session resumed last week and brought in a spending-rich budget.

Former NWT premier Stephen Kakfwi also faced non-confidence motions in 2001 and 2002. Roland was the only member to vote in favour of removing Mr. Kakfwi in the 2001 vote, saying he had grown too arrogant.

The fate of Mr. Miltenberger's budget if the non-confidence motion passes was not immediately clear Thursday. The Chamber of Commerce has already said the territory needs stability during a time of uncertainty and economic turmoil.

Ms. Groenewegen is unapologetic.

“The (steady hand on the tiller) isn't paying attention to where the boat's going.”

Jean Charest, Ordre de la Légion d'honneur

2009-02-06T00:52:00.008-07:00

The Hon. Premier John James Charest, P.C., M.N.A., L.L.B

Two days ago, Premier Jean Charest was invested as a Commander of L'Ordre de la Legion d'honneur de France in Paris, J.K Rowling of Harry Potter fame received the same honour. This is the third of five levels in the Order. This is similar to the Order of Canada.

I can remember being at the Vancouver Airport in 1998 when Daniel Johnson Jr. resigned as leader of the Quebec Liberal Party. Wondering who would stand up and defend Canada against the PQ and Lucien Bouchard, a few months later some one decided a united Canada was more important than federal politics and made the move to join the "National Assembly." Jean Charestwas the person who decided to step up, I clearly remember that NO ONE in the federal Liberal Party from Quebec was willing to make the move to Quebec Politics. (not Martin, Dion, Pettigrew...) For that, I am thankful and happy that he was able to win the 2003 election and hold on again in 2007 and again last year.

Having a premier who is a federalist receive such an honour from the French government is quite special as you will read from this excerpt from the Globe and Mail.

For a long time, the official French iteration was " ni ingérence ni indifférence" (neither interference nor indifference), a phrase suitably subtle that it could be read in a variety of ways.

Now that subtle formula has been ditched. Whatever ambiguity attended French attitudes toward this tiresome question has been jettisoned, courtesy of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mr. Sarkozy, awarding the Legion of Honour to Quebec Premier Jean Charest on Monday in Paris, repeated in the strongest language yet that he and his country totally oppose the separation of Quebec from Canada - a declaration stunningly ignored by some English-Canadian newspapers.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090203.wcosimp04/BNStory/specialComment/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Charest

Does Canada Really Matter in the 21st Century

2009-02-04T01:19:00.008-07:00

Arthur Kroeger (far left) with four of the founding members of AKCESS (Arthur Kroeger College Educational Students' Society) at our first event

l-r Crispin Bottomley, Ryan Androsoff, Kevin Reichstein, Johnathon Larose

Back in 2001, the Arthur Kroeger College Educational Students' Society held their firtst Policy Conference. The theme was ""Does Canada Really Matter in the 21st Century?"

We set up three groups Politics, Economics and Social and each worte a paper which we presented. We were able to hear comments from Chancellor Kroeger. Later, one of the Carleton Professors at NPSIA wrote a book called "While Canada Slept" if he was to write another chapter to his book (I think we gave him the idea but he didn't give us credit) this editorial by John Ibbitson in the Globe and Mail could easily be substituted for his chapter. Our middle power, peace-broker days are a thing of the past and Mr. Harper putting rookie MP's into junior cabinet positions (Mr. Kent) is evidence that he just doesn't understand Canada in a global sense. Before becoming PM you should have to take some international relations courses. An MA in Economics really doesn't help you that much when it comes to foreign affiars.

I have included the first few lines to peak your interest.

As Obama bestrides the world stage, Canada has nothing to say

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090203.wcoibbi04/BNStory/politics

President Barack Obama arrives on the world stage armed with new approaches to global diplomacy, the environment and, it appears, trade. Never has Canada been less equipped to respond to the American challenge.

A succession of minority governments has left our foreign policy in a shambles and our foreign service paralyzed. On trade, on global warming, on peace in the Middle East, on the emerging Third World powers - on anything that matters, Canada has nothing to say. When we do speak, nobody listens.

To read more about Arthur Kroeger you can read Ryan's Blog @

http://saskprairiefire.blogspot.com/2008/05/in-memoriam-arthur-kroeger.html

Snowing in Yellowknife - We're OK send the army to London instead

2009-02-04T00:07:00.007-07:00

We had about five inches of new snow tonight and some pretty big drifts too. (I'm going to get out and shovel in the morning) It was kind of like "snow machine" snow you know the kind you get at the ski hills if you ski in the East like I do.

A friend of mine Joyce A. is living in London, England and she had a few pictures from the "BIG" snow storm over there. Of course England being like Toronto shut down and was on the verge of calling in the army to get things moving again. Here in Yellowknife the pool was a little quieter tonight but I am not sure it is directly related to the snow as quite a few people walked to the pool. It helps that the temperature has risen to negative ten!

Here is one of Joyce's pictures - I hope she doesn't mind me showing you. It is really neat to see the glow of London.

photo by: Joyce Achampong

Tonight I was reading the Brock Press and realized that it is "Election Time" again at Brock. As a veteran of a few elections, I like to say my record of involvement is 1-1-1-1 or 1 win (Michael Miller) 1 loss (Victor Genova) 1 loss but nullified (Bryan Hicks #1) and 1 win in a re-vote (Bryan Hicks #2) I was also involved running myself as a floor rep. to the Rideau River Residence Association.

http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2009/02/03/News/What-Busu.Does.And.Why.You.Should.Care-3610103.shtml

For those of you who have never been involved as a campaign manager or as a candidate in a Student Government position, I will let you know that the hours are long you have to be the first one in the halls and the last one to leave. You need to know where, when and what classes are being held and who teaches them to get to introduce your candidate to the student body. You have to know the Election By-Laws inside and out, many times it has meant the difference between an infraction and not. You also have to be aware of what is going on in other campaigns, and know all the issues just as you candidate does because if he's not there you are. It helps to have a ladder license and to be able to get you posters up before anyone else, remember location, location, location. And at then end of the two weeks the one thing that you'll never forget is that "art-work" book on television that the pages keep turning and turning and turning. Thank goodness they've moved that out of Thistle into Academic South.

If you were at Brock between 2001 and 2006 you might recall:

Fortune Cookies

--------> DART<----------

Filthy Chairs

Election Points

What can "Brown" do for you

"Chops"

Duct tape

The sucker swimming pool

I made some great friends through the elections, so if you should ever get the chance, take the time to help out. If you don't please, please take the time to listen and vote.

the long detour (globe&mail article)

2009-02-03T00:35:00.003-07:00

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20050813.NWT13/TPStory/specialTravel/?pageRequested=all

A 2,500-kilometre detour to nowhere

GUY NICHOLSON gets all the gravel he can handle as he veers off the RV-infested Alaska Highway to explore NWT's rugged routes

GUY NICHOLSON

Special to The Globe and Mail

August 13, 2005

THE MACKENZIE HIGHWAY, NWT -- I wake up from my nap at 2:30 p.m., about 90 minutes out of Fort Resolution. To the right, scrub bush hugging the shoulder like a wall. Straight ahead, gravel road stretching to the horizon.

To my left in the driver's seat is my girlfriend, and she's not pleased. The gravel started nearly an hour ago, and we still have more than seven hours ahead of us. She has never driven unpaved surfaces for more than a few kilometres, and her knuckles are white from thoughts of a breakdown so far from anywhere.

After an overtaking oil truck nearly puts us in the ditch, she's ready to reassess our plan to take the road less travelled, and we pull over to study the map. Turning back to take the only other route would add not a few hours but a full day, so we decide to carry on -- with me in the driver's seat.

Welcome to the Northwest Territories, where the days are long, the roads are lonely and even a basic road trip means spending the better part of a week in the car. It's not without its hardships, but if your cottage road is starting to look like a suburb, it might be for you.

This summer, our cottage road is the Alaska Highway -- hardly the beaten track, but no longer the grand adventure of lore. We have lots of time to complete our trip from Toronto to Anchorage, so we're taking a 2,500-kilometre detour north from Edmonton, hoping to see something different before rejoining the Alaska-bound tourists near Fort Nelson, B.C.

Day 1

Edmonton to Grimshaw, Alta.

We fortify ourselves with breakfast, groceries and gas, and leave town by 10 a.m. Turning north on No. 43, a smooth four-lane provincial highway, it seems hard to believe that it will take us three days to reach Yellowknife. Our tires speed across a rolling range land of oil derricks and mustard and flax fields that gradually weaves into boreal forest, a mere hint of what the coming week will hold. But the road shrinks to two lanes as we pass a construction crew and dozens of massive machines, reminding us how much work is required to hew a road from the wilderness.

Near Valleyview, a young man in a cowboy hat rides a horse beside the highway -- we're still in cowboy country, for sure. Our driving day comes to an end at the dusty farm community of Grimshaw, where we debate camping before choosing a room in a cheap roadside motel.

Day 2

Grimshaw to Hay River, NWT

Grimshaw is Mile Zero for the Mackenzie Highway, the spine of our road trip. The highway's origins go back to the settlement of northern Alberta, but it was extended north into the NWT after gold and oil were found there in the early 1900s. It still carries the territory's resources out, but it also brings a few thousand hardy tourists north each year.

Still in Alberta, we pull over for a washroom break in Manning, named for late premier Ernest Manning. We re-emerge to realize we've driven into the middle of the rodeo-weekend parade. Despite the drizzle, everyone in town is either driving a truck pulling a float or watching the procession, so we look for a place to pull over without blocking the view. Clowns are tossing candy and kids are scrambling for it in the middle of the highway.

North of High Level, the fields disappear for good into a wall of bush. It starts to get so monotonous that I begin to feel dozy and pull over to stretch, but I'm forced to hustle back into the car as a cloud of mosquitoes officially welcomes me to the North. The scenery finally starts to improve about 75 kilometres past the frontier at Alexandra Falls, where the Hay River plunges 30 metres into a broad gorge.

As dinnertime approaches, we reach our second night's destination: the town of Hay River, which was established as a Hudson's Bay post in the 1860s and is now the second-largest community in the territory. We stay at the Harbour House Bed & Breakfast, where a small beach is all that separates us from the south shore of Great Slave Lake. The adjoining port sends boats loaded with supplies to the NWT's more remote northern communities, some of which receive just one shipment a year because the summer breakup is so short. The maritime feel is an unexpected departure from the farms and forests we passed all day.

Day 3

Hay River to Yellowknife

We get a late start, so it's nearly noon by the time we turn up the Yellowknife Highway and reach the ferry for Fort Providence across the Mackenzie River. The water moves quickly enough that the boat has to find a spot in the jetty's lee to dock, but the river does freeze over in the cold months. An ice bridge is cleared every winter, but a planned $57-million bridge will soon change the way people and freight cross this mighty waterway. Perhaps it will also lower the gas prices -- at least 20 cents a litre more than in Ontario.

We're barely off the ferry when we encounter our first wood bison. There are 2,500 of these 1,000-kilogram beasts in the roadside Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary and we see at least 75 of them in two hours. Swarmed by masses of flies, they stroll unperturbed down the shoulder of the road, munching grass and dropping mounds of dung as cars pass close by. Several are killed every year in collisions with vehicles, so we're happy to arrive safely at our friend's apartment in Yellowknife.

Days 4, 5 and 6

Yellowknife

Home to about 20,000 people, the territorial capital is no metropolis, but it feels like one after the long trip from Edmonton. We spend three days hiking, fishing and boning up on local history. Yellowknife's diamond boom is sending ripples through the real-estate and service sectors, inflating prices and salaries while the city negotiates with native leaders to secure more land for expansion.

The population is a mix from all over the world; the established native and white populations mingle with Armenian diamond cutters, Vietnamese restaurateurs and a clique of African cab drivers.

It's a fascinating time to visit, but Yellowknife is just a footnote on this particular trip -- the road beckons.

Day 7

Yellowknife to Checkpoint

The bison are out again as we make our way back south again to the Mackenzie Highway just west of Kakisa where a road sign tells us Vancouver is 2,725 kilometres away. This leg of our trip is much shorter than that, but the 500 clicks of gravel road directly ahead to Fort Liard seem equally daunting. There are no services, no people and seemingly no wildlife ahead.

After my nap and our crisis of faith, we drive through intermittent rain for a while, which teaches us to differentiate among grades of rough road. The best is dry chip seal, a quick-and-dirty replacement for pavement. The worst is wet, potholed gravel, which is slippery and jarring. It takes us nearly four hours to arrive at Checkpoint, Mackenzie's junction with the southbound Liard Highway. There is one motel option, and despite the high rate -- $100 for a tiny double -- we take it, too worn out to continue.

Finding staff must be hard in a place like Checkpoint. The clerk who takes our money may or may not be of high-school age, and the housekeeper looks younger still. Even more unusual is the trickle of guests who pull in after us: In the morning, all three vehicles in the parking lot bear Ontario plates.

Day 8

Checkpoint to the Alaska Highway

Morning breaks with the weather and the road is wet again, but the rest has made us feel better equipped to deal with the conditions on the back road out of the NWT. The Liard Highway is gravel and bush all the way to the B.C. boundary and was opened to the public barely a decade ago, but the territorial government promotes it as a leg of the Deh Cho Trail, a giant loop that includes both our trip and the route between Fort Nelson and Grimshaw.

Fortune smiles upon us; the Liard has survived the rain without major problems. The road is featureless but safe as we drive past Blackstone Territorial Park, at the tip of Nahanni National Park Reserve, and catch our first glimpses of the Mackenzie Mountains. They're mere foothills compared with those along the Alaska Highway, but they look like the Himalayas after the flat land we've come through.

The only fuel we find south of Checkpoint is at Fort Liard, just north of the B.C. boundary and the resumption of pavement. On a map, it looks like we're almost back to the Alaska Highway, but this corner of the NWT is still remarkably isolated. We will drive 200 kilometres before we reach the final junction of our detour, and pass a total of 10 northbound vehicles all day.

We give a little cheer when we rejoin the stream of RVs, cyclists and hitchhikers on the Alaska Highway west of Fort Nelson. Accommodations are plentiful, gas is cheaper and the scenery's more dramatic. Even the flies are more laid-back. But it's also a little predictable, like that developed cottage road. It makes our detour feel worthwhile.

Pack your bags

WHERE TO STAY

Harbour House B & B: 1 Lakeshore Dr., Hay River, NWT; 867-874-2233. Starts at around $85 for a double room in summer.

Checkpoint Motel: Fort Simpson, NWT; 867-695-2953. Starts at around $100 for a double in summer.

MORE INFORMATION

Alberta Tourism: travelalberta.com.

NWT Tourism: http://www.explorenwt.com.

Hay River: http://www.assembly.gov.nt.ca/VisitorInfoNWTMapandHistory/HayRiver.html.

Yellowknife: http://www.yellowknife.ca.

Alaska Highway: http://www.bellsalaska.com/alaska_highway.html.

READING

The Milepost 2005 57th Edition, is the bible of north-country travel; The Alaska Highway, by Ron Dalby (Folcrum); World Famous Alaska Highway: A Guide to the Alcan & Other Wilderness Roads of the North, by Tricia Brown (Graphic Arts Center Publishing).

Dylan McLay serves local menu to 250 Torontonians

2009-02-02T00:08:00.005-07:00

Dylan McLay, executive chef at The Epicurean is photographed in one

of the kitchens of the Niagara-on-the-Lake restaurant.

Standard staff photo by Julie Jocsak

Here is a story about my friend Dylan McLay that was in the St.Catharines Standard. We're proud of you.

Teen chef unofficial ambassador for Niagara cuisine

Posted 7 hours ago

MONIQUE BEECH

Standard Staff

Chef Dylan McLay will walk into a downtown Toronto hotel this week and serve more than 900 locally sourced appetizers to a large crowd of senior politicians and economic development officers from around the province.

Preparing food for a crowd that size is stressful for the most experienced chef.

McLay, who prepares fare at the Epicurean Cafe and Grill in Niagara-on-the-Lake, is just 19.

On Wednesday evening, he’ll serve red wine-cured venison hind, Niagara rutabaga butter and Greaves Damson plum jam to showcase the region’s local foods at the Economic Development Council of Ontario’s “Taste of Ontario” reception at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre.

The Epicurean is a member of the Niagara Culinary Trail, which has teamed up with Savour Muskoka, Norfolk County and the Wine Council of Ontario to show off the province’s best at the reception.

But the high profile job of feeding more than 250 hungry provincial and federal government officials and acting as unofficial ambassador for Niagara cuisine doesn’t seem to faze young McLay.

“I’m feeling good about it,” said McLay, who focuses on using local products in his cooking.

“I always feel good about things.

After all, he’s been cooking since he was a mere 13.

The Niagara-on-the-Lake native got his start at the Epicurean, under the tutelage of former executive chef John Woods.

A few years later, McLay “walked away” from his Grade 10 studies at Niagara District Secondary School to dedicate himself to his career. He later got his high school diploma through correspondence.

He eventually left Niagara and got a job cooking at the Stonefield Castle Hotel on the west coast of Scotland, and later returned to work at Wellington Court in St. Catharines, and Toronto’s Alice’s Restaurant, which is owned by Woods.

Last June, McLay went back to the Epicurean to become top chef at the 17-year-old French cuisine-inspired cafe on Queen Street, an eatery acclaimed by dozens of newspapers.

“I’ve been around a little bit for a 19-year-old,” McLay said with a laugh.

McLay has four chefs who work under him right now, but will have a staff of 15 to 20 in the summer.

He’s done a few large-scale events since returning to the cafe, always with confidence.

“You have to be. At this age in this industry in this position, if you show weakness you tend not to do well.”

McLay came up with the Toronto reception menu with the help of Greaves Jams & Marmalades in Niagara-on the-Lake and Lake Land Meats in St. Catharines — both Niagara Culinary Trail members.

Magdalena Kaiser-Smit, director of marketing and communications for the culinary organization, said it’s wonderful to see producers and restaurants working together to showcase the province’s best cuisine.

Niagara food producers need to come together as a united front and sell themselves outside the region, Kaiser-Smit said.

“We’re trying to send the key message that we all need to invest in the treasures that we have in our province,” she said.

“We think the message is important for that particular audience because they’re planning economic development.”

mbeech@stcatharinesstandard.ca

Clarification on my comments re: Spirit of Niagara Awards

2009-01-31T13:45:00.004-07:00

A couple of people have questioned my comments on the Citizen of the Year selection for NOTL.

I am not aware of the nominations for Citizen of the Year that the committee and Lord Mayor had to choose from so they very well might have selected the best from the nominees. In past years they have eliminated awards or chosen not to give them out at all. They eliminated the Young Enterpenur and later the Youth Citizen of the Year.

A couple of comments have mentioned:

D W at 9:04am January 28

I lived in Welland when I received my Youth Citizen of the Year from NOTL

KM at 9:57am January 28

Well he does own massive amounts of property in NOTL. Also what his companies bring to NOTL is non comparable, employing over 200 Notlers including myself. Mr. Peller is a NOTL visionary and I’m kinda ashamed to see you post this award in such negative light Crispin.

R V B at 10:58am January 28

I commend Mr. Peller for all his contributions and opportunities he has created in NOTL. He definately deserves a regional award or an award from Burlington. The point of NOTL citizen of the year award is for a citizen of NOTL to be honourd for their involvement and contributions the NOTL community.

BG at 12:04pm January 28

I agree 100% with ya Crisp... Sure he brings business to NOTL but he isn't local and should not recieve a award for local citizens, kinda defeats the purpose of the award...

D W at 6:48am January 29

Well done John Peller, I believe John has made a difference in NOTL, the Award is to give recognition to those who do that in the town of NOTL. This should drive us to contribute more to our communities, so that someone not living there is not awarded with a great honour like this.

C D at 12:04am January 28

Complain to Terry Flynn

R A R at 5:31am January 28

So when did Burlington become part of NOTL????

M B at 6:31pm January 28

That sucks!

From where I stand, while Mr. Peller and his company is a land owner in NOTL, he is from Burlington. Mr. Peller and his businesses has brought jobs to Niagara-on-the-Lake, visitors here, and many contributions to the viticulture industry. Burlington has its own citizen of the year awards - http://cms.burlington.ca/Page2818.aspx

http://cms.burlington.ca/Page4003.aspx?DateTime=633431824200000000&PageMode=View

I CONGRATULATE him and thank him for his contributions to NOTL. He has made us all think of how we an do more for our community.

You will recall that in my post Some Thoughts for Christmas

http://nwt-o-t-l.blogspot.com/2008/12/some-thoughts-for-christmas-time.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Queen's Christmas message today she asked Her commoners where it is we can find lasting happiness.

Over the years it seems to Her that the people who are the most contented and fulfilled have always been the people who have lived the most outgoing and unselfish lives; the kind of people who are generous with their talents or their time.

Take some time over the holidays to think about how you can help organizations in your/our community with your time or talent in 2009.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Chamber has made a lot of erors from my point of view starting when gave the CITIZEN award to a company - Vintage Inns, and the next year to a group - Arena Fund raising Committee. I guess I should have expected this from them.

If the chamber of commerce wanted to recognize Mr. Peller's contribution to NOTL they have any number of different awards that he could have received instead.

Here are some examples of awards the committe could have given him.

Chamber of Commerce President’s Award - For his contribution to advancing NOTL

Peter Ling Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit - for developing businesses such as Peller, Hildabrand, and JT.

Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Award - For choosing NOTL as the site of the Wine Weekend, and being the Chair --- he did choose St.Catharines hospital instead of NOTL though

Christopher Newton Award for Extraordinary Vision in Business - Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs said. “This man has energy and vision enough for us all.”

Chamber of Commerce Company of the Year Award - Andrew Peller Group

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citizen

Merriam - Webster defines citizen as -->

cit·i·zen
Pronunciation:: \ˈsi-tə-zən also -sən\
Function:: noun
Etymology:: Middle English citizein, from Anglo-French citezein, alteration of citeien,from cité city
Date:: 14th century

1: an inhabitant of a city or town ; especially : one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman2 a: a member of a state b: a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it3: a civilian as distinguished from a specialized servant of the state

— cit·i·zen·ly \-zən-lē also -sən-\ adjective

synonyms citizen , subject , national mean a person owing allegiance to and entitled to the protection of a sovereign state. citizen is preferred for one owing allegiance to a state in which sovereign power is retained by the people and sharing in the political rights of those people citizen>. subject implies allegiance to a personal sovereign such as a monarch subjects>. nationaldesignates one who may claim the protection of a state and applies especially to one living or traveling outside that state nationals working in the Middle East>.

I hope this helps clarify why I think that Mr. Peller should have declined the Citizen of the Year Award

Merv Hardie ferry closes for the season / Merritt Street car vs. ambulance

2009-01-30T22:08:00.008-07:00

Merv Hardie closes - from Northern New Services files

The Merv Hardie Ferry, which crosses the Mackenzie River near Fort Providence, is done for the season now that the ice bridge is open to heavy traffic.

"The Merv Hardie Ferry has ceased operations for the season and it's expected to being in operation in mid-May," said Earl Blacklock, manager of communications with the Department of Transportation.

- Herb Mathisen

http://www.dot.gov.nt.ca/_live/pages/roadreportsHistory/RoadReportsHTMLViewer.aspx?SectionId=63

Call toll free 1 800 661 0750 for the latest information

Mackenzie River Crossing Km 25 Yellowknife Hwy (NWT 3) Fort Providence, NWT	Ice Road			Ferry
	Light Traffic <>	> 60 Tonne Capacity	Closed	First Trip	Last Trip
2007 / 2008	Dec 16/07	N/A	Apr 14/08	N/A	N/A
2006 / 2007	Dec 08/06	Jan 22/07	Apr 13/07	May 12/06	Jan 22/07
2005 / 2006	Jan 17/06	Feb 03/06	Apr 18/06	May 12/05	Feb 03/06
Earliest	Nov 28/90	Jan 06/05	Apr 12/96	May 06/93	Dec 27/86
Latest	Jan 24/02	Feb 16/88	May 05/66	May 31/62	Feb 10/88
Last 5 years avg.	Dec 23	Jan 22	Apr 16	May 16	Jan 22
Last 10 years avg.	Dec 29	Jan 20	Apr 18	May 14	Jan 20
Last 15 years avg.	Dec 24	Jan 19	Apr 19	May 14	Jan 18
Last 20 years avg.	Dec 21	Jan 20	Apr 18	May 13	Jan 18
Last 25 years avg.	Dec 19	N/A	Apr 18	May 14	N/A
Last 30 years avg.	Dec 18	N/A	Apr 18	May 14	N/A
Last 35 years avg.	Dec 17	N/A	Apr 19	May 14	N/A
Last 40 years avg.	N/A	N/A	Apr 19	May 16	N/A
Last 45 years avg.	N/A	N/A	N/A	May 16	May 16

Another Crash on Merrit Street

When is Thorold and the Region going to recognize that there is a need for a median on Merrit Street. I can think of about three serious/fatal collisions on that hill in the last two years. If I can do it don't you think that the roads department should recognize it too. That is the problem with our govenments, sometimes they get so intune with repair schedules and industry reccomendations that they overlook simple math that sometimes collisions occur in areas more than others. I was happy to read that the OPP recognized the QEW between Mountian Road and Glendale was an area of concern and they have been able through patrols and highway speed management as well as widening the highway there from 4 NARROW lanes to six wide lanes to reduce fatalities. Here is the story of how a car slid across Merrit Street and hit an ambulance. I hope that the police will look into the reports that the roads were icy and that the roads departments can look at whether or not salting/sanding this hill could have prevented the collision. I wish everyone involved in this situation a speedy recovery.

Relief from ambulance's arrival turns into concern when it collides with car

Posted By By TIFFANY MAYER St.Catharines Standard

Posted 2 hours ago

Lyle Satchell choked on the words. “I was just totally upset. My kids were freaking out,” the St. Catharines man mustered.

Friday afternoon, Satchell relived how he felt when an ambulance carrying his wife, Anita, 49, collided with a car on Merritt Road a day earlier, just metres from the Satchells’ Ball Avenue home.

With lights and sirens blaring, the ambulance was rushing Anita to St. Catharines General Hospital just before 5 p.m. for what Satchell believed was a heart attack, when the driver of an Oldsmobile heading south on Merritt Road lost control and slid across the centre line into the northbound ambulance’s path.

Despite being strapped to a gurney, Satchell said his wife flew forward just as the paramedic by her side was trying to insert an intravenous needle into her arm. Anita then fell to the floor, hitting her face and side.Satchell was just getting into his car to follow the ambulance when a neighbour came over to tell him about the collision. “By the time I could get into the car, the police already had the road blocked off,” Satchell said. “There were sirens going like crazy. I couldn’t get down the hill to get any kind of sense of things.”

The 88-year-old Thorold woman driving the Oldsmobile is in critical condition in a Hamilton hospital after being extricated from her car. Anita is recovering from what turned out to be an angina attack. She also has hearing trouble and vision problems plaguing her since the crash. “She’s in a lot of pain,” Satchell said.

The ambulance driver was uninjured but the paramedic attending to Anita sustained some injuries. Merritt Street resident Kevin Bergman, who helped direct traffic around the accident scene Thursday, said the road, which hikes up the escarpment, is treacherous in winter. “People just don’t slow down on the hill, and being icy, it just creates more of a problem,” Bergman said.Niagara Regional Police are still investigating the crash. Any witnesses are asked to call the collision reconstruction unit at 905-688-4111, ext. 5500.

Picture from Panoramio - Ball Avenue near Merritt Street

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/14204161.jpg

Burlington man awarded NOTL Citizen of the Year ... Come on now Chamber/Gary

2009-01-27T23:36:00.007-07:00

John Peller was awarded the Citizen of the Year award at the Spirit of Niagara awards ceremony Tuesday by the Niagara-on- the-Lake Chamber of Commerce.

staff photo by Bob Tymczyszyn

I am proud of the accomplishments and contributions of Mr. Peller but I think that he should have declined the award on the basis that he lives in Burlington. The Chamber of Commerce and Lord Mayor need to do a little more looking maybe to find someone who lives in N-O-T-L. Well done with the rest of the awards. Congratulations Ian Mole and Edward Mole on being a part of St.David's success.

Here is the story from the Standard

http://www.scstandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1407372

John Peller presented Citizen of Year award at Spirit of Niagara ceremony

Posted By SAMANTHA CRAGGS Special to the Standard

Updated 2 hours ago

John Peller has travelled across Canada visiting businesses and when he looks at the country’s future, he feels hope.

As past chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Peller saw the good and bad among the nation’s small business issues. But the newly-crowned Citizen of the Year for Niagara-on-the-Lake sees a bright future for the Niagara wine industry and Canada in general.

“There is no country that has greater opportunities for the future than Canada does,” Peller said. “We’ve evolved with a sense of humility and warmly embrace cultures from around the world. We have a strength that’s part of our national identity.”

Peller, 51, president of Andrew Peller Ltd., received the Citizen of the Year honour at the Spirit of Niagara Awards Tuesday.

Held annually by the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce, the awards recognize achievements in business, innovation and volunteerism.

As a board member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Peller has watched the country go from an economic boom to an “obvious crisis,” he said in his speech.

“We went from riding the crest of the largest wave to a time to reflect and a change of direction,” he said.

“It’s amazing how the world has changed in a year.”

Peller was praised for his national Chamber of Commerce work, as well as chairing the Niagara Wine Weekend and Auction, an annual fundraiser that benefits SickKids Foundation and the St. Catharines General Hospital Foundation. The former helps a provincially-significant cause, the latter a local one, he said.

He called the auction “a perfect way for the wine industry to give back.”

“You only get back from the community what you give to it,” he said. “We’re a close group and we’ve been through a lot together. It’s a nice opportunity to celebrate the success we’ve had as an industry.”

Peller lives in Burlington with his wife and three sons. He practised law and worked in food packaging in the U.S. before returning to the family business in 1989.

He worked with his grandfather, Andrew Peller, until the elder Peller’s death in 1994. Andrew Peller immigrated to Canada from Hungary with “nothing in his pocket but hope for the future,” Peller said. “He ended up having the greatest life he could have imagined.”

Peller said he was inspired by his grandfather’s “passion for family and community and business.”

Peller is known for his “amazing business acumen...but he still makes other people, their needs and their goals, a priority,” Lord Mayor Gary Burroughs said. “This man has energy and vision enough for us all.”

Awards:

Chamber of Commerce President’s Award - Friends of Niagara District Secondary School

Peter Ling Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit - Catherine O’Donnell (Willow Cakes and Pastries)

Chamber of Commerce Community Leadership Award - Niagara-on-the-Lake Family Health Team

Christopher Newton Award for Extraordinary Vision in Business - John Marynissen

Chamber of Commerce Company of the Year Award - St. Davids Hydroponics Ltd.

Lord Mayor’s Award of Excellence to the Citizen of the Year - John Peller

Here is an interesting look at past budgets...

Look at what happened to this coach...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090127.wvtx_coach_fired0127/VideoStory/VideoLineup/Pick

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/basketball/coach-sacked-after-texas-massacre/2009/01/28/1232818508453.html

Coach sacked after Texas massacre

Coaching is a thankless task at the best of times. Coaching in Texas is the ultimate hiding to nothing. In most parts of the world, masterminding a 100-0 victory on the basketball court would be a feat that brings praise and adulation, instead he gets fired... He did point out that three years earlier his team lost 86-8.

Happy Australia Day

2009-01-26T11:45:00.004-07:00

Up here in Yellowknife we are as pretty far away from "Down Under" as you can get.

For my Australian friends or for those who have just gone down there for a walkabout...

Happy Australia Day!

Parliament is back in session. Let the fun begin.

2009-01-26T00:42:00.003-07:00

http://www.gg.ca/media/pho/index_e.asp?GalleryID=385&Sequence=6

You will recall from a previous blog that Parliament was prorogued. We'll they are back in Ottawa, the Speech from the Throne happens at 2EST 12MTN.

Here is a great link if you have the time to watch the recap and inteviews with Chuck Strahl MP, Bob Rae MP and Dominic Leblanc MP on CBC.

http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2009/01/012509_1.html

"Parliament had a six-week "time out", but now our own Canadian political drama is roaring back to life. Will the Conservatives' new budget keep Prime Minister Stephen Harper in power?"

Good For You Fort Erie --- Crashed Ice

2009-01-25T00:52:00.006-07:00

I was reading the Niagara Falls Review online and came across the story where local residents in Fort Erie have worked to secure the "Hospital" status of the Douglas Memorial Hospital. I know that the NHS has not been very smart about making decisions the last 10+ years. An example of this would be linking NOTL as a St.Catharines Hospital town. If you look up the distance from the Court House or Town Hall to the WEST St.Catharines proposed hospital site compared to GNGH you will see that Niagara Falls is closer yet the NHS wants NOTL to pay for the new WEST St.Catharines Hospital. I think the hospital executives and the not local LHIN need to take some geography lesson before they meet again.

Several Fort Erie residents arranged for a local electrical contractor to scale a tower at the west side of Douglas Memorial Hospital and put a chain across the letter H on the building, in a symbolic protest against a hospital restructuring plan.

Mike DiBattista, The Review

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1402966

Has anyone heard of the RED BULL CRASHED ICE in Quebec City? I remember seeing something like this a few years ago when they tried it the first year. The finals were held today.

http://www.redbullcrashedice.ca/video

If you have seen the Olympic Boarder-Cross event it is kind of like that. Imagine peeding down the frozen iced streets of Quebec City, on SKATES... Top speed was 44.3 km/h

What a way to see the Ville de Quebec.

NOTLiving up to it's potential

2009-01-24T23:25:00.007-07:00

So the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is looking for a new CAO. I decided to click over to the website of the town at http://www.notl.org/ and I noticed that the town does not have the CAO position posted. What’s with that. I really think that council has gone a little off the mark with this one you know, free advertising on their website and they are probably paying some Bay Street consulting firm big dollars to headhunt for a new “Lew” and the firm hasn’t told them to use their own resources to help the firm in their work.

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1325785

Up here in Yellowknife they are looking for a Pool Maintainer and a Baling Facility Attendant. The City of Yellowknife is also looking for a Boxing and Wrestling Commission member.

I was sitting up here in Yellowknife on my day off today and decided to watch an old movie favourite of mine “Back to the Future Part 1” when it occurred to see what I could dig up on it now that we are in the internet age. Here is what I came up with.

On the site http://www.overthinkingit.com/ They came up with this theory that Everyone is familiar with the classic “Johnny B. Goode” scene from Back to the Future and the accompanying controversy: how dare the filmmakers insinuate that a white kid (Calvin Klein/Marty McFly) actually invented rock & roll instead of a black guy (Chuck Berry)? Haven’t white people stolen music from black people enough already? This sort of knee-jerk reaction completely disregards the evidence on hand. Once and for all, let’s put this myth to bed. Marty McFly did not invent rock ‘n’ roll. He did not give Chuck Berry the song “Johnny B. Goode.” Don’t believe them check this out….

http://www.overthinkingit.com/2009/01/14/marty-mcfly-did-not-invent-rock-n-roll-bttf-week/

I was looking a few other sites and found a gallery of really interesting trees.

http://www.thatsweird.net/picture37.shtml

And for anyone who was in Professor Graham's 2nd year policy class with me at Carleton you'll remember our exam question that asked us to map out the policy creation, implementation and evaluation for getting Corrections to ban smoking ... while the NWT is implementing this same policy in April of 2009.

My friend Martin sent me this video on Youtube and I thought I would pass it on to you. It makes you appreciate what a mother goes through. Thanks mom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESe-AysF9mw&feature=email

What is going on where you are? Send me an e-mail it would be great to hear how you are doing.
crispinb@hotmail.com

TWO DAYS OFF --> Happy Birthday Melissa

2009-01-23T00:10:00.010-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA

I have the next two days off and am looking at contacting Aurora Village to see about getting out with the Japanese tourists (I'll think I'm back in Niagara Falls) to see the Aurora Borealis. I also should look into going for a dogsled ride too come to think about it. Charlene a friend of Amanda's just did it so I might get in touch with her about who she went with.

http://www.auroravillage.com/english/index.asp

http://www.auroravillage.com/Japanese2/jp_sample.html

http://www.astronomynorth.com/

Did you know that Lewiston is now on Google Maps Streetview. If you do a look up of 472 Center Street, Lewiston, NY you can see an image of the Frontier House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_House_(Lewiston,_New_York)

(or for anyone born in the 1980's, where the McDonalds with the drive thru window on the wrong side was... this was one of only two in the world with it on the wrong side)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.09024,-95.712891&spn=47.167389,92.8125&z=4&om=1&layer=c&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-google-svn&utm_medium=ha

I was looking at some different articles on the Toronto Star website tonight and came across this article on a 1958 Supermarket that was recently designated in Scarborough. As someone interested in heritage, I decided that I would share it with you too. A lot of times we make judgements on different parts of our built heritage. One of the places this happens is at Willowbank Estate. When I was a tour guide, many people would ask me "what are you going to take it back too?" Thankfully, we have an estate plan in place now and students who have done research and reasoned with this issue. I am happy to say that they have not overlooked the later era's of the home and gone for a purely 1830's idea. We are going to come to a point where we have erased a lot of our history. The next time you drive through Virgil take a look at some of the 1950's architecture and realize that some day council might move to designate those places too.

Supermarket evokes time when suburbia seemed heroic --> http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/573256

The Yellowknifer (the local newspaper) is looking for your opinion. Agree? Disagree? Can you add more information to the discussion? E-mail - editorial@nnsl.com. You can sign your own name or make one up. Your email address must be real but it will be kept confidential

Immediate refund for cancelled Jazz flights?

Once again, Air Canada Jazz was grounded after temperatures dipped below -40 C over New Year's. The Bombardier jets the company uses aren't rated for these kind of temperatures. Passengers were told they could wait for the next available flight or a fly at a later date. Is that fair? Or, because Air Canada has decided to remain unprepared for the extreme cold, should they just refund tickets when their planes can't fly?

Here is a good article to sum up what is going on with the York University strike.

Why McGuinty lets York University strike drag onProvince is worried Supreme Court ruling bars back-to-work bill
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/575279
IN WORLD NEWS, MR. OBAMA GETS TO KEEP HIS BLACKBERRY

Easy day for police, DCFD rises to occasion, Big Becky

2009-01-21T22:55:00.004-07:00

We got about four new inches of snow yesterday night and more today. I liked it better when it didn't snow past minus 10 in Niagara. So much for being too cold to snow...

This will make you laugh --- Does it get any easier for the police...

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/574582

Dad's grow-op busted after baby dials 9-1-1

January 21, 2009

THE CANADIAN PRESS

WHITE ROCK–A B.C. man probably wishes he had given his 11-month-old son a set of keys to play with instead of a phone, after the infant accidentally dialled 9-1-1 and brought police to dad's marijuana grow operation.

Mounties say a 9-1-1 call came in from a White Rock, B.C. residence Friday morning but whoever was on the other end of the line hung up.

Officers arrived at the residence and after numerous knocks on the door went unanswered, they entered the home.

"The gentleman was quite surprised," said White Rock RCMP Const. Janelle Canning.

She said the 29-year-old male, startled by the sudden sight of police, insisted he hadn't made the call.

When it was suggested a child might have dialled, the father objected and said his son was far too young.

That's when police spotted the baby boy, phone in hand.

"We saw him playing with the cordless phone and just pressing all the buttons, so evidently he had called 9-1-1," Canning said.

With that mystery solved, officers began inspecting the residence and soon discovered a 500-plant marijuana grow operation.

The father was arrested and will appear in court in early April on charges of production of a controlled substance and mischief.

The boy was removed from the home by the Ministry of Children and Family Development, though he was later released into his mother's custody.

The mother does not live in the residence and Canning says she had no idea what was going on at the home.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

FIRERESCE1.com Did an article on the DC Fire-EMS service

http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-ems/articles/448239-DC-Fire-EMS-rises-to-inauguration-challenge/

For anyone who watched part of the Inauguration yesterday in Washington D.C., you might be asking yourself "logistically how did they handle the emergencies" Well, as expected, DC Fire-EMS did rose to the challenge. They even attended to a VIP Sen. Ted Kennedy. Most people who were treated had cold-weather issues. As Ryan pointed out (if you checked out his blog) Mr. Obama's daughter and even he himself were not wearing hats. Bush the Elder had a nice warm hat on.

BIG BECKY

Has anyone heard any more news about Big Becky (OPG/STRABAG's Tunnel Boring Machine) It is slowly making it's way along under the city I suspect. But if you want to see what it looks like the Niagara Falls Review has an online photo gallery of it.

http://photos.niagarafallsreview.ca/mycapture/folder.asp?event=661834

Snowing in Yellowknife

2009-01-21T00:19:00.004-07:00

Minus 10 and snowing like the Dickens... (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/233450.html)

I taught some more lessons today some group and some private/semi-private lessons today did some guarding and then a group of us went to Boston Pizza after work.

When I got back to Ian's I was looking at the TORONTO STAR and came across the two luckiest guys in the world in 2009 so far. Stranded at sea for 25 days in an icebox in shark infested waters off of Australia.

For the students who were awaiting the York University strike vote, 63% of the 69% of CUPE members voted to reject the offer. This puts not only the fall winter semester into July but also messes up summer studies there too. If the strike goes to Friday it will be the longest University strike in Canadian history. With the University saying its not going back to the table, an arbitrator might have to be called to solve this impasse and Queen's Park might have to act too. For the students I am really sorry about this news.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/574478

BYE BYE BUSH

My friend Ryan Androssoff was at the inauguration today along with his classmates from the Harvard Kenned School of Government. You can read what he wrote on his blog and what he wrote for the HKS blog too.

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/articles/inauguration-day-blog-jan09

Yellowknife = minus 7 Queenston = minus 9

2009-01-17T17:58:00.003-07:00

For the first time this winter it is now warmer here in Yellowknife than it is in Queenston.

Stay warm everybody.

Last night I went for a walk and it felt like Florida. Today I did some work on my car in just a turtleneck and sweatshirt. The weather is finally warm. I never thought I'd think of mnus seven as warm I mean it's not cold enough for icewine but it feels pretty good.

Brock's Monument Will Re-Open in May !!!

2009-01-17T13:13:00.005-07:00

As you know, I served onthe Board of Directors of the Friends of Fort George for three years and have been a supporter for many more. Over the past few years, Brock's Monument has been closed, first because of worry about the structure and later due to budget reasons it waited closed before any work could be tendered. Last summer we were able to get a visitor's reception centre open at the old Burger Shack at Queenston Heights Park.

Here is a letter that I would like to share from the Friends.

Hello Firends and Supporters,

We are pleased to announce that Brock's Monument at Queenston Heights will re-open in May, 2009, after a long 4 year closure. Restoration work will be complete and The Friends of Fort George will again offer an interpretive program for the season. (May to September). Attached is a flyer for school tours and the same information applies for independent non-school groups and individuals who visit the site.

The Friends of Fort George would appreciate your passing this information along to schools and others who will once again have the opportunity to take guided tours of the Queenston Heights battlefield, learn more about Brock's Monument and enjoy the spectacular view from the top. As the bicentennial of the War of 1812 quickly approaches, we are pleased to be able to once again offer tours and stir the interest of students and the general public about this significant historic site and our Canadian hero - General Sir Isaac Brock.

We would also appreciate your displaying the attached poster at your workplace or a public bulletin board, if appropriate.

Please visit our website at www.friendsoffortgeorge.ca to stay in touch about our 2009 events and activities.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Erika

Erika Alexander, Executive Director
Friends of Fort George
P.O. Box 1283
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON
L0S 1J0

Phone/fax 905-468-7681
Friends' gift shop 905-468-6621

www.friendsoffortgeorge.ca

TWO DEGREES OF SEPERATION

2009-01-15T23:13:00.005-07:00

After work today I thought it would be fun to compare temperatures between here in Yellowknife, NOTL and in North Bay where my sister is.

And the results: North Bay wins it's the coldest there then seperated by only TWO DEGREES is Yellowknife and finally NOTL.

Today was a pretty good day here in Yellowknife. I was home from work with a migrane yesterday and had a chance to make some phone calls home instead of trying to call after everyone is in bed back in Niagara. Thanks to everyone who I talked to. I'm doing much better now.

Did you see the emergency landing in he Hudson River. Wow the flight crew did a great job and the emergency responders (especially FDNY) performed just as expected with honour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkLp9UJYp54&feature=related

I have the next two days off and hope to be able to get you some pictures from Yellowknife and the surrounding area. I am thinking about going to the museum and legislature too.

There is talk around town that the temperature might even get to zero! Break out the Bermuda Shorts and Hawaiian shirts.

The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart

2009-01-14T15:22:00.003-07:00

While the temperature in Niagara is about to get down to minus 20 with the wind chill this evening as the tepmerature here is a warm minus 31. What's the difference you might ask? While Niagara is a wet cold and Yellowknife is a dry cold. So right now if you live in Niagara bundle up and try to keep warm. Just remember to think of me when it is below minus 50 because then even a wet minus 20 isn't as cold.

Here are some tips on cold weather adjustments you should be making.

http://www.scstandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1387569

BIG CHILL HITS NIAGARA
http://www.scstandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1387007

Temperatures in the Garden City are expected to reach a meagre high of -11°C today and drop to -15°C tonight. The unseasonably cold forecast is even frostier for Thursday, when the mercury is supposed to plummet to a low of -18°C.

A friend sent me this a few weeks back. You have to understand that I am a Buffalo fan and he is a Toronto fan so him sending me this is pretty nice.

The Official Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart
From George Vandermeer

50° Fahrenheit (10° C)
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Canadians plant gardens.

35° Fahrenheit (1.6° C)
Italian Cars won't start
Canadians drive with the windows down

32° Fahrenheit (0 ° C)
American water freezes
Canadian water gets thicker.

0° Fahrenheit (-17.9° C)
New York City landlords finally turn on the heat.
Canadians have the last cookout of the season.

-60° Fahrenheit (-51° C)
Mt. St. Helens freezes.
Canadian Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-100° Fahrenheit (-73° C)
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Canadians pull down their ear flaps.

-173° Fahrenheit (-114° C)
Ethyl alcohol Freezes.
Canadians get frustrated when they can't thaw the
keg
-460° Fahrenheit (-273° C)
Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops.
Canadians start saying "cold, eh?"

-500° Fahrenheit (-295° C)
Hell freezes over.
The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup

Not too much happens in a week up here

2009-01-11T23:27:00.001-07:00

Since my last post not too much has happened up here in Yellowknife. The house-trailers across the street almost caught on fire because some one's snowmobile they were fixing caught the garage on fire. My sister-in-law looked out the window and said "that house is on fire" we called the fire department, I put on my coat and headed out into minus forty to see if everyone was out of the two trailers. Thankfully they were and then I helped the arriving quint (ladder truck) hook to the hydrant and stretch the 65mm (4 inch) supply line. The fire crew knocked down the fire pretty quickly and then went about overhaul on the garage and one of the trailers. The flames at one point were about thirty feet in the air. Because it was so cold, once they shut down the lines, the firefighters had to put the hose into the bed of a pickup truck to take back to the station to thaw out and get back into service. I was pretty impressed by the composite response. They sent two quints, a rescue, an engine, an ambulance and two cars (a utility pick-up truck and a chiefs van) The city runs one unit with paid guys and an ambulance and staffs the rest with paid-on-call.

At work, this past week I started teaching some lessons, I have six sets of private/semi-private lessons and two group lessons. I've been doing a lot of cleaning, guarding, and chemical addition to the pool here. The pool is well used and we are going to extend the hours starting at the end of the month. Right now I am on afternoons from 1pm to 10pm. I am teaching Sunday lessons for at least eight weeks (into March)

I've been noticing that the days are getting a bit longer (3 minutes in the morning and afternoon) each day. It is still dark most of the day but most of the day I am inside. I still need to get out and do some exploring and picture taking. The weather is supposed to be getting much warmer by the weekend so that might be a good opportunity to get out.

If you like poetry my friend Jim Slominski has created a website of his poetry. http://niagarapoet.ca

Jim is an award winning poet and his writing is inspiring. I worked with Jim at JVK in St.Catharines. Give it a look if you have a minute, you'll be glad you did.

In other news, a friend from Brock University Allson Forbes (now at uOttawa) made headlines when she took her GEE-GEE's (what's a gee-gee you ask that question will never be answered and who really wants to know it is uOttawa anyways) from trailing 68-67 to Ryerson (is that really a university anyways thought it was a Poly technical Institute) and ran the ball coast-to-coast scoring the winning bucket with 5.7 seconds left on the clock. I remember her last playoff game as a Badger when Dr. Lowenberger and I went up to MacMaster to watch them play. It is great that she has made her way back onto the court.

DRIVING FORBES SEALS GEE-GEES WOMEN’S BASKETBALL VICTORY

http://www.geegees.ca/?q=node/28&sid=23&nid=204

A friend of mine had this up on her blog this link shows where jobs line up for Best/Worst according to their critera. (Thanks for posting this Marilynn)

Have a look at 198, 196 and 182.

From the worst list, I have been a taxi driver and a firefighter. Chauffeur actually comes in at 162 on the same list. I onder where Yellowknife Lifeguard would fit in?

http://www.careercast.com/jobs/content/JobsRated_Top200Jobs

The study, released Tuesday from CareerCast.com, a new job site, evaluates 200 professions to determine the best and worst according to five criteria inherent to every job: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress.

warmer in yellowknife - choose 49

2009-01-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

I has been a little warmer here in Yellowknife recently. By warmer I mean around negative thirty to negative twenty five. I think I heard that it was even minus twenty three yesterday.

I wanted to publicly congratulate Melissa (my one and only sister) on passing her statistics course with an approved grade for her major. This was the course she was most worried about but now that is behind her. Way to go Melissa. Don't forget to apply to graduate.

I was looking at some Niagara news and want to remind Grade 8 parents that intention sheets are due at the end of the month and NDSS needs to get up to 350. While I attended private school in St.Catharines both of my siblings enjoyed their run at NDSS. Go have a look at their open house. Remember that they have applied to be an International Baccalaureate school. Have a look at http://www.friendsofndss.com/ for information on what is happening and what you can do to promote the school.

If anyone has a spare 11.9 million laying around and you want to pay high property taxes then you can buy the Aivery on River Road from Larry Vann. He isn't doing a very good job of marketing the qualities of the site focusing on the high property taxes rather than the Location, Location, Location motto you hear so often in real estate. On that note don't forget to www.callkarl.ca Karl's wife is named Pauline and in other news Pauline's on Queen Street in NOTL is closing after many long years.

Get ready to polish the ice bar the Niagara Ice Wine festival is just around the corner. If you havent been to the NOTL version you should check it out. I have always meant to get out to the one in Jordan but never got around to it. For those who do go enjoy responsibly think of checking it out with www.niagaraclassiccars.com

Up here in Yellowknife some of the news has recently been (from nnsl.com)

TIN CAN HILL SAVED

A long-fought battle to keep Tin Can Hill from residential development was won by city coun. Mark Heyck on Dec. 8. The first step in rezoning the area as a parks and recreation site took place when city council passed a motion, although not unanimously, to amend the zoning bylaw and remove references to the hill from the 2004 General Plan which targeted the area as a spot for future residential development. Heyck said the 80-acre area, surrounded by 180 acres of undeveloped land, should be saved as a piece of wilderness in the heart of Yellowknife. Only Coun. David Wind voted against the motion, instead questioning administration about the issue further during committee meetings.

CARIBOU CARNIVAL CHAIR NAMED

Jolene Hughes was named the new president for Caribou Carnival during the annual general meeting on Dec. 4. She said she had gone to the meeting, which had only seven other volunteers attend, with plans only to volunteer.

Hughes, a native of small town Ontario, is in her early 20s and has never volunteered for the carnival before. She ran her first meeting for the event a few days later on Dec. 6.

"I think we need to be positive about it or nothing is going to work," said Hughes. Also elected to the carnival's board was Catherine McManus, who signed on as treasurer.

In National news Have you heard that the CBC is planning a playlist for President Elect Obama? They are planning 49 from North of 49

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/obamasplaylist/

Give it a look and vote for your favourties and then later you can choose from a smaller list.

53 hours in Yellowknife

2009-01-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

I just came across a video on youtube that s time lapse from one of the shortest days of the year.

If you want to get a feeling about what Yellowknife is all about in winter watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-R2cnp9AQ0&NR=1

Sorry I couldn't get it to imbed.

Congratulations Professor Kernaghan on receiving the Order of Canada

2009-01-02T00:32:00.002-07:00

Congratulations Professor Kernaghan on receiving the Order of Canada

Congratulations Professor Kernaghan on receiving the Order of Canada.

I was very fortunate to take many courses from Professor Kernaghan including a Canada's first university course in Electronic Government/Electronic Government. I also was one of the few students to take a course in Government Ethics, and the Honours seminar in Public Administration.

It is a tribute to his work and commitment to Ethical Government and Public Administration in general.

http://www.scstandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1368632

Retired Brock professor named to Order of Canada

Posted By SAMANTHA CRAGGS, STANDARD STAFF

Posted 1 day ago

A local researcher striving to keep government ethical and accessible has been named to the Order of Canada.

Kenneth Kernaghan, a retired Brock University political science professor, was among the 60 people named to various ranks of the country's highest honour Tuesday. For more than 30 years, the Fenwick resident has advised the government on issues such as the ethics and accountability of public servants and how to use telephone and Internet to make services more accessible.

"I was flattered and flabbergasted," Kernaghan, 68, said of getting the news. "I'm still not sure it's sunk in completely."

A Brock professor since 1968, Kernaghan retired from teaching last year. He has written several books, including the recent Digital State at the Leading Edge and the textbook Public Administration in Canada: A Text, in its fourth edition, co-authored by fellow professor David Siegel.

"He's well-known around Ottawa as a real guru in terms of ethics and values," Siegel said. "He's had a tremendous career."

Kernaghan is the first Brock faculty member to become a Member of the Order, although Brock's inaugural president, James Gibson, became a Member in 1992, and former president Allan Earp was appointed Officer in 1987.

The Order has three tiers -- Member, Officer and Companion. Singers Celine Dion and tenor Ben Heppner were elevated to Companions this round. Also named a Member was Willie O'Ree, the first black player to compete in the NHL.

Kernaghan received a call about a month ago asking if he would accept the honour. "I'm sure you don't get many refusals," he replied.

There have, in fact, been a handful of refusals, including Prince Philip of England.

Kernaghan was not one of them.

"It was a remarkably enjoyable phone call," he said.

Kernaghan said he is excited to travel to Ottawa in 2009 for the ceremony. He would like to take wife, Helgi, and his three sons. His wife and Brock colleagues are instrumental, he said.

"My first thought was how much I owed to so many people for this honour," he said.

Already a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Kernaghan said this motivates him to do more research.

"If anything, this has given me impetus to continue."

Kernaghan is the first Fenwick resident to receive the Order.

------------------------------------------------------

When Kernaghan receives the Order of Canada at an installation ceremony in Ottawa in 2009, he will become the second member of the order to have lived in his Foss Road home.

Dorothy Rungeling, who was named a member as a pioneer female pilot and trainer, used to live in the house and landed her plane along side of it.

http://wellandtribune.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1367711

----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=5601

From the 2004 Brock Convocation Program on Distinguished Faculty

Professor Ken Kernaghan of the Department of Political Science, in the Faculty of Social Sciences

Professor Kernaghan's lengthy career at Brock is remarkable in both research and teaching. Former students say that his ability to present them with cutting-edge knowledge was inspirational to them at Brock and in their chosen careers. In doing so, Professor Kernaghan certainly achieved the foundation of his teaching philosophy, which is "to teach is to touch a life forever."

Professor Kernaghan has contributed to teaching through the many books, articles and other materials he has published on Canadian public administration and public policy. He was the founder and has been a significant contributor to the Case Program in Canadian Public Administration, which has produced a significant amount of teaching material in the field of public administration. He is widely sought to instruct professional development courses for public servants.

In 2003, Professor Kernaghan won the Pierre DeCelles/IPAC Award for Excellence in Teaching of Public Administration. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was awarded the Vanier Gold Medal for distinguished contribution to the field of public administration in 1996. Teaching was cited as a contributing factor in the granting of these two latter awards.

Among Professor Kernaghan's many professional accomplishments, he recently served as Chair of the Federal Task Force on the Disclosure of Wrongdoing.

http://www.ipac.ca/kenbooklaunch

Happy New Year - Welcome 2009

2009-01-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

GOOD-BYE 2008

HELLO 2009

Ringing in the New Year in Minus 40

Well it is here, 2009.

A new poll shows that a significant majority of Canadians are optimistic heading into 2009. A remarkable 58 per cent of respondents in the Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll said they were optimistic about the coming year, while only 21 per cent said they were pessimistic. Twenty per cent said their outlook was neither optimistic nor pessimistic.

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1369600

I want to take this oppertunity to say thank you to everyone who supported me in my move to the NWT and wish you all the best in health and happiness for the year ahead. I hope that we can stay in touch.

I hope this year to be more active, maybe build on the outdoor running that I started this past summer with Meghan MacPherson from goodlife fitness and am looking to join a gym downtown.Who knows there is even that midnight golf tounament or marathon if I can do one of them? I also resolve to be a happier more positive person.

Here are some predictions for 2009 from various news sources canadian and from around the world.

http://www.canada.com/surreynow/news/viewpoint/story.html?id=ba663ad1-e811-445e-b32f-c434ca8a43a5

There won't be a federal election any time soon. Sure, there will be a lot of braying from the Opposition parties about the federal Conservatives' budget in January, but they won't follow through by actually voting the government out of office. Voters have nixed the coalition idea and according to most recent polls, would provide the Conservatives with a majority victory right now. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff needs time to build a profile outside his party and southern Ontario, and no party has enough money right now to actually run an election campaign.

http://www.euronews.net/en/article/01/01/2009/world-parties-despite-gloomy-predictions-for-2009/

World parties despite gloomy predictions for 2009

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28461143/

Media Predictions 2009: What Won't Happen

Sumner Redstone broke? Another titanic success for James Cameron? Yahoo bought at last? No, no, and no -- among other prophecies

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/31/2009.predictions/

2009 political predictions: What will be the big story?

Reason to Celebrate - Delaware comes to its senses

2008-12-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

THAT’S BETTER: 1ST DEGREE MURDER CHARGES IN DELAWARE

Remember a few days ago I told you abou the driver in Delaware where the driver was using a stick to press the gas and brake pedals and drove into an accident scene killing a Michelle Smith of The Delaware City FD. Well it seems like the police have come to thier senses and maybe even the Judge too. $37,000 was the original bial se now Mr. Taye is in JAIL awaiting where he should be based on his past awaiting trial.

Be safe on the roads this New Year's Eve. Take a taxi or use a Designated Driver.

And if you are going to raise a toast this year please do so with Sparkling VQA Wine from Niagara. In this time more than ever buy LOCAL VQA wine. Forget France or Spain for you bubbly. Have you ever tried Peller's Ice Cuvee? Look into it if you are still shopping if you are lucky enough to be in NOTL this new years eve head down to the winery there it is a Sparking cut with Ice wine.

http://www.peller.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=86

THAT’S BETTER: 1ST DEGREE MURDER CHARGES IN DELAWARE (THE SECRET LIST)

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Troopers from the Collision Reconstruction Unit at Troop 2 formally charged Joseph Taye, 28, of Bear approximately one hour ago with Murder in the first degree. This charge was upgraded from Manslaughter due to Michelle Smith of the Delaware City (DE) Fire Company losing her life while performing her duties. Mr. Taye's charge of Assault 2nd was changed to Assault 1st due to the severity of Edward Reiss' injuries (the motorcyclist she was treating). The charges of Driving while Revoked, Leaving the Scene of a Crash and Failure to Report a Crash remained the same.

Mr. Taye was committed to Howard Young Correctional Institute without bail.

This case is still very much active. Investigators are seeking to identify the operator of the Honda as well as locating that particular vehicle that fled the scene of the crash with Taye in the car.

At the time of this release, Mr.Reiss is still in Christiana Hospital in stable but serious condition.

Take care-BE CAREFUL
BillyG
The Secret List 12-30-08 / 2030 hours
www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

Niagara deadliest place to drive in Ontario again...

2008-12-30T02:01:00.000-07:00

Niagara holds the title again...
Come on people, think and drive...

New years resolution for Niagara residents lets bring down this number.

While NOTL is down other places made up for NOTL unfortunately.

From the Niagara Falls Review

http://www.nfreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1365421

Niagara roads retain deadly ranking

Posted By PETER DOWNS, SUN MEDIA

Posted 20 hours ago

It's a grim title police wish Niagara could shed.

But as the year draws to a close, it looks as though Niagara will once again go down as one of the deadliest regions in the province in which to drive.

The per-capita death rate among drivers in Niagara has consistently been among the highest in Ontario for the past several years.

"It's a title we do not wish to have and we wish to make sure that we relinquish it to somebody else - hopefully nobody else, because we don't want to see anyone hurt or killed anywhere," Niagara Regional Police Det. Sgt. Cliff Priest said.

As of Friday, a reported 28 crashes had claimed 29 lives on roads patrolled by Niagara Regional Police this year.

Another 33 motorists suffered life-threatening injuries during the same time frame.

That puts the latest traffic tally just about on par with the five-year average of 28.8 annual fatalities leading up to the end of 2007.

"Our drivers are still not obeying the rules of the road and especially the speed limits," Priest said.

Regional police have beefed up traffic enforcement over the past several years, specifically targeting speeders and impaired drivers.

But the police effort hasn't been reflected with a significant improvement in safe driving.

Excessive speed, impairment and driver error continue to be the primary causes behind most serious and fatal car wrecks in the region.

"It is speed that kills," Priest said.

"If you speed, the likelihood of you getting seriously injured or killed goes up exponentially every kilometre over the limit you go."

Niagara's road-death toll spiked six years ago with 39 fatalities, and has mainly stabilized since then.

But Priest doesn't attribute the lower number of deadly crashes to motorists improving their driving habits.

Instead, he said, vehicle-safety features have improved significantly in recent years.

As well, Priest said, more paramedics on the road have more advanced levels of training.

"That allows them to do a lot more at the initial scene to save life," he said.

Dedicated air ambulances for Niagara also enable badly injured crash victims to get to trauma centres more quickly.

"That's the sort of thing that saves lives and changes it from a fatality to a serious injury," Priest said.

In the year ahead, the NRP plans to increase the presence of its special enforcement unit, which was created to enforce traffic initiatives in known problem areas across the region.

Priest also said more emphasis will be placed on educating new and experienced drivers about traffic safety.

Motorists who have been on the road for 20 or 30 years often haven't undergone any driver training since they were initially licensed, Priest noted.

"There's been numerous changes to the law and the way we drive since they learned to drive," he said.

- - -

. ROAD DEATHS

The number of fatal car wrecks on roads patrolled by Niagara Regional Police has remained relatively steady over the past several years.

¦ 2002 -- 39

¦ 2003 -- 27 ¦ 2004 -- 31

¦ 2005 -- 30

¦ 2006 -- 35

¦ 2007 -- 31

¦ 2008 (as of Dec. 26) -- 29

Source: Niagara Regional Police

A lazy mans post today - look at abandoned london from another blog

2008-12-28T23:31:00.000-07:00

Today I took a trip out to Prelude Lake about 40 minutes away from Yellowknife to visit the cabin/cottage that Michele's boss owns. We got back in the late afternoon so Colleen could catch her flight. (She made it as far as Edmonton as her connecting flight to Calgary got cancelled because of snow) I hope she makes it in the morning.

I was looking at my friend Marilyn's Blog - http://nagonthelake.blogspot.com/

She found this site:

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008/12/25/deserted-london/

If you have ever been to London you will appreciate these pictures.

Trafalgar Square and St Martins

See other pictures taken by the same photographer.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianvisits/sets/72157611633177884/

I had a similar experience in London back in 2001. I was in London on May Day and there were huge protests and a threat of a transit strike. London Police recommended staying out of the core. The areas around the Cabinet War Room, the boardwalk by the Thames were all similar to the pictures you took. To block parade routes, the bridges were all shut down near the Parliament. It was an eerie feeling.

Sorry for not coming up wth my own material today. I am headed back into work for three days then get New Year's Day off then one day then two off. Hopefully I can show you a little more of Yellowknife.

WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING DOING TO NIAGARA

2008-12-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

Just for fun before I went to bed tonight I thought I would look up the weather. It has been above minus thirty since Christmas.

I looked over to Niagara where it is ONE in the morning and it is plus 17 vs. our negative 27.

Alert Al Gore. Global Warming has hit Niagara.

If you live in Delaware STAY OFF THE ROADS!

2008-12-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

If you live in Delaware STAY OFF THE ROADS!

Thanks Judge! The people of Delaware will remember you at your re-election. I hope that you realize what you have done.

At an Oct. 17 court hearing, the state couldn't prove that Taye was driving the car and stayed the case, Pulgini said.

"We have been fighting this for a year," Pulgini said. "I told them, 'What are you waiting for, for him to kill somebody? Then it's going to be too late.' "

Calls to Cecil County Deputy State's Attorney Michael Halter or to Taye's defense attorney, Edward Rollins III, were not returned Tuesday.Delaware state police continue searching for a light-colored Honda Accord seen pulling up at the scene minutes after the crash, Whitmarsh said. The Honda driver helped Taye into his car and took off, leaving the BMW at the crash scene. Police are asking anyone with information on the driver's identity to call detectives at Troop 2 at 834-2620, ext. 0, or Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) TIP-3333.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081224/NEWS01/812240351

This is from FIREFIGHTER CLOSE CALLS by

Chief Billy Goldfeder

Hey...

Just when you thought the circumstances related to the horrific hit and run Line of Duty Death of Delaware City (DE) Firefighter Michelle Smith couldn't get any worse...it does. This isn't the first time that career criminal Joseph Taye was involved in a hit and run....why, just one year ago, the paraplegic Taye...yeah, paraplegic... (Taye was paralyzed from the waist down in July 2005 when he was shot outside a bar) was involved in another previous hit and run crash in Maryland that left two women injured, one seriously. When police found the wrecked silver 2004 BMW after that late-night crash Nov. 30, 2007, they discovered a 4 foot wood stick in the rear seat area.

Incredibly but I guess, not surprisingly for a career criminal, Delaware State Police found a stick just like the other "I drive because I WANT to -- stick" last Saturday, inside the same BMW, after that crash that killed Firefighter Smith in the Line of Duty. In both crashes, the cops think that career criminal Taye was using that stick to operate the brake and gas pedals...the BMW was not even equipped with handicapped devices that would allow a person, career criminal or not, whose legs are paralyzed, to drive. Even one with a suspended license.

You see...Criminal Taye blew off the law and drove anyway-because he must have simply "wanted to"..even though his driver's license had been revoked.
But he really didn't care.
He had places to go.
People to see.
And a Firefighter to kill.
Well, not intentionally some might say. Well if he didn't intentionally obey the law, then he intentionally broke it. Sounds like we are being too rough?
He could have killed you.
Your family.
Your kid.
More Firefighters.
He killed a kids Mom who happened to be a Firefighter.
Get the picture?
Being too rough? Criminal Taye roughly shot his middle finger up at anyone who obeys law.

Cops say there was only one person in that BMW last Saturday night, which was abandoned at the crash scene after Criminal Taye ran down FF Smith....and they found a wooden stick by the open right front passenger door. And now, this one will shock you: they also found booze bottles in the front seat and a wheelchair was in the back seat. And believe it or not, Criminal Tayes fingerprints were found in the car! How did he get away? He can't walk. Well...someone in a Honda pulled up and drove Criminal Taye away.
From the scene.
With a critically injured Firefighter laying there.
Someone just picked up criminal Taye and drove away.
Just like that.

On Monday, Taye was charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, driving while his license was revoked, leaving the scene of a crash and failure to report a crash in the Saturday night accident that killed FF Smith and left 30-year-old biker Edward Reiss in critical condition.

Very unfortunately, Taye was then released from Delaware's Young Correctional Institution on Tuesday after posting a measly $37,000 bail, just in time for Christmas. Did we mention that career Criminal Taye has a criminal record dating way back to 1998, which includes charges of assault, resisting arrest, marijuana possession, possession of a firearm, resisting arrest and traffic violations? Yep...he follows the rules all right-...no real obvious in-your-face reasons that HE should remain behind bars after killing a Firefighter, are there?

Like it or not, Criminal Taye has his freedom for now. Think he could very potentially find a new stick and get someone to help him go cruising on the highways again? What are the odds of THAT happening...again? It would probably be wise for everyone to stay of the roads in Delaware for a while. Why didn't the judge think of what Criminal Taye might do to repeat history, again? Who will be Criminal Tayes next victim as he flips off the law and goes stick-cruiz'n. The judge should have thought of that. Some judge.

Who will be Criminal Tayes next victim? While Criminal Taye decides where and how he wants to travel next, the remains of the late Firefighter Michelle Smith awaits the members of her family and the Delaware City Fire Company to prepare for her burial.
Some trade off.
Take Care-BE CAREFUL.
BillyG
The Secret List 12-26-08 / 1400 hours
www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081224/NEWS01/812240351

www.dcfc15.com

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081224/NEWS01/812240351

DELAWARE CITY (DE) FIRE COMPANY MEMBER DIES IN THE LINE OF DUTY
FireFighterCloseCalls.com - The Secret List

It is with deep regret that we advise you of the Line of Duty Death of Delaware City Fire Company
www.dcfc15.com (DE) Member Michelle Smith, age 29. As you know, Smith was operating at the scene of a motorcycle crash Saturday evening when she was struck and critically injured. Her injuries were too severe and she has now tragically died in the Line of Duty.

The Delaware City Fire Company was providing ambulance coverage for the Wilmington Manor Fire Company that evening. Upon arrival at the crash, and initial assessment of the patient, FD Ambulance Driver Michelle Smith, 29, was assisting the EMT on scene with patient care. A County Police Officer stopped to assist with traffic control, as rescue and fire police units from Wilmington Manor began to arrive. A vehicle that attempted to avoid the incident scene struck the County Police vehicle and then swerved around the Delaware City BLS unit, striking Ms. Smith. The driver of the vehicle then fled the scene. Ms. Smith was treated on scene by New Castle County Paramedics and EMT's from Wilmington Manor and Goodwill Fire Companies. She was transported with extensive traumatic injuries and has now succumbed to those injuries. Police are narrowing in on the suspects in this hit and run...and now, potential murder.

Our most sincere condolences to the members of the Delaware City Fire Company but especially the young Daughter, her family and friends of Michelle Smith. Here is their home page: www.dcfc15.com
Take Care-BE CAREFUL.
BillyG
The Secret List 12-22-08 / 1200 hours
www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com

Some thoughts for Christmas time

2008-12-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

In the Queen's Christmas message today she asked Her commoners where it is we can find lasting happiness.

Take some time over the holidays to think about how you can help organizations in your/our community with your time or talent in 2009.

Have a Merry Christmas and God Save the Queen!

Here is a link to pictures from Christmas in Yellowknife

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2162052&l=99500&id=89905446

What a Blast

2008-12-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

What a Blast

picture from nfreview.com

Season's first major storm wallops Niagara

With quotes from PETER DOWNS, AND TIFFANY MAYER

St. Catharines Standard Saturday December 20^th ,20008

http://www.scstandard.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1356110&auth=PETER%20DOWNS,%20AND%20TIFFANY%20MAYER%20STANDARD%20STAFF

<<< Winter's first major blast left Niagara virtually paralyzed Friday as it pummelled the region with heavy snow and howling winds. Schools across the region opened for the last day of classes before the Christmas break, but were forced to shut down by noon. Numerous municipal offices also battened down the hatches by midday and cancelled nonessential services for the afternoon.

St. Catharines roads crews were out in full force throughout the day, plowing and salting the city's busiest streets. "We're concentrating our efforts on the main roads right now," manager of operations Bob Riediger said at about 11 a. m. The city had about 20 of its own trucks on the road and was calling in independent contractors to help out with snow clearing.

City crews sprayed roads Friday with anti-icing liquid in anticipation of the first big blast of winter.

Meanwhile, Niagara EMS put an extra ambulance on the roads Friday because snow-clogged roads were causing some delays, operations manager Kevin Smith said.

Niagara's public and Catholic school boards cancelled bus service early Friday morning, but kept schools open for students who could make it on their own.

But by noon, both boards decided to close all schools and had to call families to make arrangements to pick up every child.

Brock University and Niagara College also closed at noon.

picture from imatt

Environment Canada is forecasting more snow every day in Niagara for the next few days, including a dump of about 20 centimeters Christmas Eve.>>>

So here is where there needs to be reform in my opinion:

Why are school boards and universities so greedy that they have to be pen no matter what to receive the funding that the government of Ontario gives them that they open for half days when the weather is going to turn for the worse.

IF THE SCHOOL BUSSES AREN’T RUNNING NEITHER SHOULD YOU.

picture from flicker

We send (our) children on the buses, which are driven by PROFESSIONAL drivers and their company pulls them of the road and yet the school boards send their employees to work.

If the school boards wanted to get creative how about picking up teachers on busses. Or if the Unions were smart they would bargain using the busses as a stakeholder or when to work indicator.

<<< Concerns over safety while on campus and in traveling to and from the campus will be paramount to the University's decision to close. In addition, in making decisions to close, the University will recognize the impact that other closures in the region have for our faculty, staff and students. With those factors in mind, decisions will be based on a variety of information such as:

· Weather reports from Environment Canada

· Accessibility of campus roadways and parking lots

· Reports of road and highway conditions for Niagara and Hamilton

· Status of public transportation

· Closing of school boards, Niagara College as well as other businesses and services >>>

http://www.brocku.ca/alumni/policy/iwp.php

So if yellow school busses are funded by the school boards which are funded by the tax payers, doesn’t that mean that school busses are PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION??? This especially goes for the lucky NOTL Edenites who travel for free making that bus EXTRA public. But don’t get me started on a school which should NOT exist in a public board.

Its time to wake up our public schools and post-secondary institutions. Call or write your MPP and get them to think about why these institutions stay open when only to close.

P.S. I will give Brock credit though. From 1964-2005, the school only closed during the Blizzard of 1977, once in the 1980’s on a Friday afternoon and in 2003 on a Tuesday night after 5 PM when most people had gone home anyways. I had to go to school that day even though EVERYTHING was open as I had an honours seminar in Public Admin with Professor Kernaghan and four other students. They have since closed about four times and redone their policy which still needs work.

Two Weeks in ....

2008-12-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well I made it to the two week mark. There was a lieutenant that came up one week before me to work for the Fire Department but he only lasted a week. This past week we got a new lifeguard at the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool. Her father is the chief pilot for Air Tindi who Alex Young (Ian's college classmate and former house mate) flies for. This week was pretty quiet at the pool. I am getting to know some of the regulars who show up for the lunch hour swims and those who come after work. The 9-6 shift is nice but you don't get to see the sun very much. I move over to the 12-9 shift next week on Monday and Tuesday and then work four hours Christmas Eve and then get Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off and I get paid for the two holidays too, it is great to be a full time worker becuase sometimes you have to work a certain number of ours before they will pay you for the holiday as a part timer.

WEST JET --> "We take you further" A 737 travels off a icy runway at the Ottawa Int'l Airport on Friday Dec. 19th.

This week there was a press conference at the airport. There was great news from WestJet they are going to begin service from Edmonton to Yellowknife from $159 and I just heard that it is about $359 one way from Hamilton to Yellowknife.

The cold got to the block heater cable. So I have now become a part-time electrician installing a new plug on the end of the cable. The things you learn and do to survive the Arctic.

Last night I got to meet a bunch of pilots from Air Tindi and some friends of Amanda's. I went to the first annual "ugly" Christmas Sweater Party about 10 people went to Alex and Amanda's to celebrate all things wool. It is really hard to find Christmas sweaters here so I managed to find a flannel pyjama top with gingerbread men and candy canes. I also went up to the twelth floor of their building and had a great view of the city from Spencer's condo unit. I also had a great conversation with a fellow from North Hatley, PQ from the Eastern Townships who went to Bishop's in Lennoxville.

Tonight is the City of Yellowknife Christmas Party at the Explorer Hotel near the Legislature. It should be a fun event with cocktails, dinner, awards and dancing. The city is even sponsoring cab rides for those of us who are going. (There is a fire hall party going on that night too which three people from the pool are going too.)

To all of you reading in Niagara I hope that you make it through the snow storm allright. You will be getting a White Christmas afterall.

Pictures Along the Way

2008-12-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Pictures Along the Way

I thought I would give you all the links to the many pictures that I have taken along the way.

I have also included a folder of pictures taken in Yellowknife.

Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160103&l=948b1&id=89905446

Minnesota, North Dakota, Manitoba
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160114&l=5f9ab&id=89905446

Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160697&l=057b6&id=89905446

Northern Alberta to Yellowknife
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2161010&l=73b74&id=89905446

Yellowknife
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2155348&l=b51c5&id=89905446

Today was in the minus teens and it felt warm enough to wear a sweatshirt or a windbreaker after the minus 40s and 50s of last week.

Today a new lifeguard arrived so we are up to three full time guards now with one more to be hired. The part-time staff are doing a great job filling in during the lifeguard shortage.

I have had a chance to look around the downtown a little more than on my last two visits to Yellowknife when I was on foot venturing past the pilots memorial and travelling up to the new Niven Road subdivision (think Youngstown Estates or Calegero size homes) Today I also went to the Multiplex Facility. It is a twin pad with lots of seating at both sheets. There is also a large gymnasium (maybe two) it is a huge place and hopefully I will get in there to do some indoor activities.

Sorry there haven't been more postings in the last week. I guess after the long drive and starting my new job I just needed to take a rest. I will get back into it soon enough.

Minus Thirty Nine Feels Like Minus Forty

2008-12-08T22:30:00.001-07:00

Minus Thirty Nine Feels Like Minus Forty

This has been the weather forecast for most of the time I have been in Yellowknife; I did hear that while I was at work today it crept up to minus twenty five. RIGHT NOW AS I WRITE THIS THE TEPERATURE IS NOW MINUS 39c which for those of you reading in the USA or prefer is still minus 38f !!!

What does minus forty feel like, straight up cold. If you throw a cup of water in the air it will freeze before hitting the ground as snow. I tried this on my last time in Yellowknife two years ago. I plug in my car each night and haven’t had any issues so far. You step outside and the inside of your nose freezes up with ice crystals, your breath hovers as it is too cold to dissipate. I have had to plug in my car so it will start. Ian tells me that they only got this cold weather when I arrived. Isn’t it nice to know that they are blaming me for this weather. I just read that they have started to pick grapes for Ice wine in Niagara. I guess I am not alone in the cold. The roads have frozen here and there are major ruts in the road where people drive. You have to be careful as you drive through the fog coming from everyone’s tailpipe as it is so cold here, it is only going to get colder too. The snow and ice tires have come in real handy.

Yesterday I worked out my receipts and went over to Ian’s to see the Bills game. They need to fire the whole team and management. How can you start so well and then go on to loose game after game after game. Mr. Wilson it is time to clean house. Don’t even bother to waste our time with the remainder of the season, when the Miami Dolphins beat you there are problems with your team you should have played them outside but oh well lets play the team from the south indoors and give them the advantage. You embarrassed Buffalo in the eyes of Trontonians.

I went to the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool today for my first day of work, 8AM-5PM with an hour for lunch. Would you believe me if I told you that eight o’clock here in Yellowknife looks like midnight in Niagara. The same with four o’clock too, at least I only have two more weeks of it getting darker before it starts getting lighter. It was a pretty good day I didn’t even get wet. We went over different pool procedures, took a look at the maintenance areas and went over pay and schedules. I am going to have four days off at Christmas. Not bad considering the Great Wolf Lodge had me working on the 25^th and JVK gave me two or three days when I worked for them. I then get paid for New Years Day too even though I have the day off. I will miss New Year’s Eve at Niagara Falls but will have to settle for watching it instead. The Facility is a four lane 25-metre pool with a zero depth beach area with wave action. There are supposed to be four full time guards but right now there are only two (including me) so if you know of any lifeguards, send them up.

I have been reading about the incident at Brock and just have to say that the Standard is doing a great job of sensationalizing this story and getting their facts wrong. They wrote that the DSBN has a policy of eight adults to one student (see School board suspends Brock swims Near-drowning prompts DSBN to put hold on trips to university's pool Posted By MONIQUE BEECH , STANDARD STAFF Article ID# 1325369) Please don’t believe everything you read in print.