Happy Canada Day.

DRAIN Says Disabled Treated As Second Class Citizens
July 1, 2008

The President of a local disability advocacy group says the current system is all but failing the disabled people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Disabled Rights Are Indeed Neglected, or DRAIN, held a demonstration on Confederation Hill yesterday. President Helen Hillier says from home care to income support programs, members of the disabled community continue to be treated as second class citizens. Hillier says it takes its toll. Chairperson for Homecare Newfoundland and Labrador, Anne Whelan, says agencies are losing workers almost on a weekly basis. Whelan says agencies are providing their own training for workers, who are then offered jobs within the provincial system.

When will Ross Wiseman realize that the system has collapsed?

Several years ago i put out a few posts on military forums asking for information on anyone who served on the Table Mountains near Cape Ray during WWII. A few weeks back i received a reply from a gentleman who did. I had some previous information on the RCAF who maintained the Radar Site there at that time but this time around i really got lucky. I got information from someone who served and actually helped construct the facility up there. The local paper will be doing a story of his time on the mountain soon. Names of some of his comrades were forgotten over the years but the name of a dog who became the Mascot (Skipper) of the Radar Detachment still remained in his memory. The soldier had a few photos of the dog as well. The above photo was taken Christmas Day,1944 . I colorized it to make it stand out more. Hopefully the local newspaper might run his story in the online site as well as the paper.

Maintenance time

This week i get some scheduled maintenance on my ocular prosthesis or as i prefer to call it,my artificial eye. Before i had one i called it a glass eye but i doubt if they exist here in North America anymore. Artificial eyes today are usually made of plastic. (acrylic) Custom artificial eyes are hand-crafted by highly skilled ocularists (eye makers) to precisely match the look of the natural eye. It's a procedure that usually requires several trips over two days to the Ocularist. With todays eyes the wearer does not have to remove it for months at a time. I do it more often because i spend a lot of time outdoors and sometimes pick up a few things that might irritate it. At first i wondered how it would be in some of the outdoor conditions but later found out i didn't have to worry. I been out riding the ATV in -35 C with the wind chill and it had no effect at all. So here's a video today for those who wonder how they're made and it might look painful to some but you don't feel a thing.

CBC's Doug Greer at The Wreckhouse.

Had an interview today at The Wreckhouse with Doug Greer from CBC. I had a chance to express my concerns about the signs that warn motorists of winds in that area. With todays technology and a weather station already in The Wreckhouse our Government should be able to do much better warning the motoring public of the dangers in that area when the Southeast winds blow across the mountains. Even in the days of the late Lauchie McDougall the system seemed superior to the few wooden signs that dot the roadside today. Somehow i have a feeling that the consumers of this province are paying higher costs for goods with all those accidents on that stretch of highway. A Digital sign on each end of this section of highway with wind speeds flashing in real time will alert motorists to the dangers rather then a wooden sign that's mostly ignored.

Antique dealer relieved as stolen archives case dismissed.

Charges were dismissed in a St. John's courtroom Thursday against a man who had been accused of owning stolen historical documents.

Antiques dealer Gary Murrin had paid $500 for documents that had been stored in 284 boxes that he said would otherwise have been shredded by a security company.

The documents had formerly belonged to the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, now a division of the Rooms cultural complex in St. John's. More here on the News Story......

A guy like Gary Murrin recognized that he had something of value but yet the Provincial Archives Department couldn't see value in it? I was happy to hear the charges against Mr. Murrin were dismissed. Hopefully this is a wake up call for those who we put in place of preserving our history and maybe an investigation in to the whole matter should be looked at. We have small museums across NL that would probably of liked to have gotten their hands on some of that history to display locally. I know that we had to beg a few years back in Cape Ray to have a few Dorset Eskimo Artifacts displayed in the small museum we have here. Yet thousands of the artifacts taken from digs at the site here lay in boxes somewhere in St. Johns. (maybe they have been disposed of or even looted.)

Fundraiser in the plans for Baie Verte-Springdale.

Rumor has it that a Lobster dinner Fundraiser will be held in the District of Baie Verte-Springdale sometime during early June. All proceeds will go towards road work in the district. It is hoped that a million dollars can be raised at the dinner. Rumor also has it that none other then the great Andy Wells will be guest speaker at the event and MHA Tom Rideout will be performing a Swan Song at the event.

"This is like deja vu all over again."
-- Yogi Berra

Couple of trucks blew over in the Wreckhouse today. No matter the warnings issued, some will try to run the gauntlet. Here are a few shots i captured this evening after the winds went down.

In the first shot you can see one overturned in the distance.

Commission of Inquiry on Hormone Receptor Testing

"The Commission shall not express any conclusions or recommendations regarding the civil or criminal responsibility of any person or organization, and shall deliver its final report and recommendations to the Minister of Health and Community Services on or before July 30, 2008."

It's to bad that our Premier and Justice Minister didn't fall under the same recommendations !

Government Debates Home Care (fr. VOCM News)

The legislature debated home care. But the official opposition received no support from government in trying to bring in emergency measures to deal with the home care situation in the province. It called for measures to help those in need of home care until a government review is completed and long term plans introduced. Liberal leader Yvonne Jones says government members are well aware of the situation. Jones says it is disheartening to know government is refusing to act until the review is completed while many seniors go without some of the basic life necessities in order to pay for homecare. Health Minister Ross Wiseman says he expects the review to be completed as early as September.

The present Government in NL just does not grasp the situation! This motion was just for emergency measures and could of helped until a long term plan was put in place. I doubt if any solution will be found until the premier makes a cabinet shuffle and gets rid of the biggest oxymoron in NL Health Care History. Ross the Wiseman never could understand the situation and denies a crisis exists.

Highly-visible Paint.

It sure was "highly visible red paint" they used on the caribou during the recent census survey. I captured this shot on the Viking Trail just North of Rocky Harbor yesterday. If a person didn't know what happened, i would suspect they would of thought the animal was injured. I wonder is it more easily spotted by a predator now? Bear,coyote?

Few photos i captured in the area yesterday.

Phase one of the census for caribou populations found on the northern Peninsula including the Gregory Plateau, Gros Morne, St. Anthony, Hodges Hills and Hampton Downs herds are out.

An estimate of 10,400 caribou has been announced after caribou from the herds had been marked using a so called highly visible red paint. A ratio of marked animals to unmarked animals was used in the estimation technique and another will be used in June when the caribou herds return to their calving grounds.

Hopefully in the next 48 hours depending on weather conditions i'll be traveling to Gros Morne. I do this every year to take a few shots of the wildlife in the area. I enjoy my little trips and it'll be far from a scientific outing but it's great to know that i'm sure to see some when i get there. Besides the Caribou that area has probably the highest Moose density in the world with about 8,000 moose roaming in the park area. The camera batteries are charged, cameras stored and the first stop will be Big Stop, Deer Lake Irving to sip a coffee before daylight Monday morning.

NL 2008 Provincial Budget

"We are also allocating $6 million to increase the hourly rate for home support, the fifth increase in the past three years. With each successive increase, we acknowledge that home support workers provide valuable support to many individuals in our province with disabilities, to seniors and to children, enabling many to remain in their own homes despite the challenges they face."


OK Mr. Finance Minister,what does that mean when you apply it to the hourly rate now? Six million dollars don't stretch that far when given to thousands of Home Support Workers in NL. A few MHA's have been known to spend almost that amount in fine wines, ladies panties and artwork recently. As for this being the fifth increase in the past three years. The minimum wage has increased and if not an increase in the Home Support rate it would be far lower then the minimum wage. So don't go patting yourself on the back for that one.

Another great April evening and we made a walk along the shoreline. So much history at that spot and i recently found out that our local museum, interpretation center and Craftshop will not open this year because of no volunteers. Looks like for the first time in over a decade that our students might not have a summer job. Sign of the times i guess. No younger people volunteering and the older volunteers just giving it up. Even volunteers have to quit because of stress.

A few shots from a warm April evening in Cape Ray,NL.






How to end an evening in Cape Ray.

Sad day for the Portnoy Family and a lot of us who supported them.

Portnoys Leaving Canada
April 25, 2008

The Portnoy Family who have been living in sanctuary at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Marystown for two and a half years…is planning to leave and return to Israel. Details are still sketchy but the wheels are in motion to assist the family to move back to their native Isreal….

VOCM News has learned that the Portnoy family’s lawyer, Lee Cohen in Halifax, has been in discussion with Canada Border Services Agency in an attempt to work out an orderly exit for Mrs. Portnoy and her five children. The family has been living in the RC Church basement since October 2005. Alexi Portnoy and his wife Angela, who then had four children, took sanctuary in the church basement to avoid deportation on humanitarian grounds.. During the past two and a half years the community of Marystown has supported the family’s efforts to stay in Canada with numerous campaigns, plus financial and moral support. The episode took a turn for the worse in January 2006 when Alexi Portnoy left the church and was arrested by the RCMP…He was later deported back to Israel, leaving his pregnant wife and their four children - two of whom are Canadian Citizens - behind.

It seems peaceful demonstrations to keep a family like the Portnoys who have lived and worked here was in vain. It seems families are not needed but on the other hand we have a shortage of strippers here. Our Immigration minister has just been threatened because the 700 foreign strippers are not enough according to the criminal gangs. So Portnoy children,remember,your mommy was in the wrong occupation.

OK,we finally have the sun. Now if we can only get the temperature up into the teens.

Tough economic times even for pirates and terrorists.

P.T. Barnum summed it up best.
“There's a sucker born every minute”
Paul Watson is the modern day Barnum.

Thank you Skipper Hardy & crew

My supper today. Two small seal flippers all ready to put in the oven to bake.Thanks to the crew of the small sealing vessel who fought off the bloody pirates aboard the Farley Mowat this past weekend. Thanks to the Canadian Coast Guard and the fine men of our RCMP who risked their lives to board that pirate ship. Long may your big jib draw !

Looney paid in Toonies.

Anti-sealing advocate Paul Watson used a brimming bag of change to bail out two members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Monday, freeing the arrested activists on a $10,000 bond paid partly in toonies.