It was such a pleasure for me to stop by the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition volunteer appreciation dinner in Thunder Bay last week. I was glad to have the chance to thank all the volunteers for making our community great, and also wish happy birthday to Isabelle Barrett, who turned 100 […]
Columnists
I was thinking of heroes the other day while I was walking in the snow and the minus-38 C temperatures. “Mighty Mouse” was important when I was little. He was a good guy, as most flying mice tend to be. He was always ready to save the day; he even […]
Last week, I threw around some Christmas shopping ideas for anglers. So in this week’s column, I’m going to do the same thing for hunters. While hunting is not for everybody, it is part of the culture in Northwestern Ontario–and for good reason. We have more public land that anybody […]
Monday evening’s recognition of Evelyn Metke as “Citizen of the Year” in Fort Frances recognizes her years of volunteering for the community. I have known “Evie” from the time I was 14 years old and she had made a decision to take her bronze medallion course. It seemed unusual that […]
It is my father’s birthday today (Nov. 29). I loved that we shared the same day number for our birthdays, as though that made our connection greater; that only he and I could understand. I miss him and I think of him every single day. I wish we could sit […]
At this time of year, it is quite common for me to get messages from friends and their significant others as they begin their Christmas shopping campaign. Usually I wait until a week or two before Christmas to write this column, but since I started getting a few of these […]
Last week I was lucky enough to get an up close and personal tour of New Gold. I have to be honest with you-I had mixed feelings when I saw it all. I barely could grasp the landscape change. Places that once had friends living or cattle grazing no longer […]
When I first began selling advertising at the newspaper in the early 1970s, the Christmas selling season did not begin until the day after Remembrance Day. On Remembrance Day, the stores all were closed and the staffs attended the service at the cenotaph. In the afternoon, they returned to the […]
So many difficult stories flood the news today and many of them threaten our sense of well-being, or at the very least muddle our perception of who we are as members of a community, as Canadians. As with most ostriches, I turn the television off and cringe and hope things […]
As somebody who makes their living in the fishing business, I try to stay on top of all of the tools and gear that can help me put an extra fish or two in the boat. In a tournament situation or on a guiding trip, one or two extra bites […]
The Rainy River Federation of Agriculture once again hosted a successful “Ag Day” on Saturday at the Emo Legion! It’s a tough time of the year to get everyone out, with winter hitting us quickly and many jobs still left to do. But there was a great agenda and for […]
Back in 1992, 1,700 scientists from around the world issued a dire warning to humanity. They said humans had pushed the world’s ecosystem to a breaking point that would bring about colossal climate change. The warning noted that air and water pollution, the collapse of world fisheries, and the loss […]
