The Diary volume Fifteen up to December 15th 2002
last updated, Sunday December 15th 2002,
December 15th more of the same:
The real reason behind the seniors' parking fiasco
strike update
local Liberals miffed
Councilor (I really should be Mayor) Lloyd Williams was successful
in his bid to get more parking for seniors. On Monday night he introduced,
and council supported him (4-2), a motion to designate 10 parking spots
for seniors. This move may or not be legal as it is age based legislation
and therefore contravenes the spirit of the Charter of Rights [that's
another subject. Ed] . But in an interview this week the Director of
Operations, Ian Rogers shed some interesting light on the matter. But let
me back up a bit.
On Wednesday afternoon I walked into the Engineering office
at Victoria Hall and asked "What are the rules for the Seniors' Parking
Permits and how do I get one?" The staff member in charge of the parking
programmes answered, "That's an interesting question and I wish I knew what
the rules are, we don't have any right now, I will get the Director to phone
you". So he did and in his call he told me: the parking spots are on a first
come first serve basis and the permits will only allow those permit holders
to park for a period of four hours for nothing instead of paying for two hours
at the meter. Furthermore Mr Rogers revealed two things that leads me to
conclude that this whole parking debate, a unilateral move by Williams, is
nothing but fluff. Firstly the walking distance from any of the parking spots
is no less than than the walk from the existing parking lot behind the liquor
store and secondly the said parking lot has never been full, to his knowledge,
since the improvements to the roads in that are have been completed. So
if the lot has never been full and the walking distance is the same why
do seniors need identified spaces? Particularly when seniors permits are
already available from the seniors centre, all seniors have to do is ask
and then use them in the existing spaces.
This is yet another move by a publicity seeking politician
who feels the need to keep his face in the public eye. This parking move
just exposes him for what he is - a person willing to waste staff time and
council resources to make himself look good!
The strike rolls on, and not
much has changed. More eggs and a paintball splat has hit the dwellings
of both management and strikers and the mainstay of the advertising budget
has moved to the Metroland "Northumberland News". I hear that that man of
influence, and of superb stature - Bill Patchett, banged some heads and
now the No-Frills flyer and the Canadian Tire tome have moved on. It has
been heard that National Grocers was applying some heat, I guess they didn't
want bad publicity as opposed to cheap ad rates. As observers note the
greater number of bylines coming from the people working for the Colborne
Chronicle (a sister paper serving 1100 people and a circulation of less)
a strategy may be forming. Use the non-union and cheaper labour and fit
it into the big paper ergo a productive paper. Unfortunately for the Weasel
we want papers from Cobourg and Port Hope not Colborne!! Speculation is
rampant about the viability of the papers past January 1st.
In a related matter, Mr Bill,
Cobourg's very own selfstyled pundit and curmudgeon has achieved national
status - a thread has been opened extolling him as the worst writer on
earth and an example to be used by teachers of creative writing as the
way not to do it - on the Frank magazine forum here.
Speaking of the Frank forum the thread that follows the newspaper strike
is now up to 21 pages and 312 posts, this may be a record.
Now for a delicious tale of both
anonymity and local egos. Some time in the last couple of weeks a tall
and lonely looking fellow was found standing around the foyer of the local
radio station. "Oh it's you. What are you doing here Dalton?" asked one
of the few politically astute workers. "I was passing through and I thought
you may want to interview me!" So they did.
And that is how the leader of the Official Opposition
in Ontario was the subject of an interview. But when the local PR poohbah
of the Northumberland Liberals was told of the visit he went ballistic and
demanded of all and sundry why he wasn't told of this. Demanding that local
riding people be apprised of such visits an enraged executive has now told
Dalton that he should speak to them first and not just drop in.
Letters to the Editor:
Can you explain to me why the Town would buy underperforming
acreage from the Provincial Government? At a cost of $ 13 mil? If the Province's
Real Estate Arm( ORC) could not fill the Park,what makes Cobourg Council
think it can do a better job? With still some 50 acres remaining in its "prestige"
Lucas Point Industrial Park, and countless undeveloped private investments
all across the Town, why would the Economic Development Officer,Mr. J.
Sheffer, not concentrate on all these vacant land uses before committing
the taxpayers to these hefty debentures???????Many other communities view
the Province's land sales as "white elephant sales": could we,the taxpayers
of Cobourg, at least have an educated explanation for this purchase and the
Town's rationale for getting into the business of real estate acquisitions?
There certainly was no appetite for purchasing and refurbishing the oldest
building in Cobourg,Whitehall.....why venture into the uncharted waters
of INDUSTRIAL land purchases????
Thanks Ben....at least I know you will
ask the right questions. -cheers-Johanna
Well Johanna you and I can disagree on this. You may be correct in questioning
the motives and fiscal responsibilty of the Town buying the Industrial
Park, but I think that is a master move by the Mayor and I know that
Joe Sheffer has sweated bullets on this deal. It will be an answer to the
obvious screwup when we gave our industrial park to Walmart.
And another about Lloyd Williams's parking lot redesigns:
Just a word Ben about parking and the feeble minds that are behind it.
What if for instance, a "smart" criminal were to park a tractor trailer
across the only entrance/exit at the Police station at shift change, when
most of the vehicles are in for shift change? The powers that be have
left out the option of the rear entrance for Police cars, strange that they
didn't consult anyone on this. Anyway just a short note, and I am not
signing it, but I think you know who it is anyway.
The Police Services Board have
just concluded an advertising campaign for a new Chief. A very low-key
advert was placed in the Globe and Mail for a couple of issues in the past
few weeks. Anyway I hear that the smart money is on the now redundant Chief
of the dissolved Carleton Place department. This fellow is an up and comer
with much promise and comes with the main qualification - he promises not
to resign or quit or move on for the next fifteen years (the PSB wants to
hire a long term commitment) also he is a local boy. I refer to Earl Johns.
As he is a Port Hope boy he certainly has promise in the amalgamation stakes.
But we hear that an inside candidate does exist - Terry Stanley please stand
up! I wish all the candidates luck the successful one will still have to
deal with a PSB locked in the 19th century. What with the opportunity to
put new blood on the Board squandered when they reappointed John Henderson
and with John Watson seeking a quick reappointment before the Tories get
thrown out in the Spring and with few open spots left any new chief has his
job cut out for him.
Finally did anybody see the wonderful
editorial beef this Saturday in the Cobourg Daily Star where the editorialist
(would that be the Weasel or the Weaslet?) advocated "Community Justice"
for all the miscreants who vandalised the Christmas Lights. Community Justice
has nothing to do with real justice, this form would have the bad guys walking
up and down with signs around their necks proclaiming their guilt and exposing
them to public humiliation. Now where would that idea have come surely not
from the people that the collection of weasels have to meet everyday, they
are bad guys (according to the Publisher) and they have signs hanging round
their necks. Is there a subliminal message here?
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The December edition: 8th December 2002
the strike goes on
a pictorial of the strikers visit to Queen's Park
Lloyd Williams breaks the law
election scuttlebutt
The strike is still on, and is taking the usual turn of solidarity
matched with twinges of vitriol from the usual disgruntled member(s).
To sum up for new readers,
the Cobourg Daily Star, Cobourg's local paper, one of two (but the oldest),
is on strike. 45 members of the CWA hit the bricks after rejecting a
contract offer that was below the cost of living and one which did nothing
to move them from the bottom rung of the wage chain in the 'Osprey' newspaper
company. The picket line has been peaceful, with a few exceptions
where the police have been asked to mediate obstruction of traffic into
company premises, and the publisher has spent considerable sums of money
on security and other obvious moves in the grand tradition of Pinkerton.
The paper, to the chagrin of the strikers has continued to publish. The
product to a careful observer can be judged as dreadful (some may
say that it's only one notch below the usual standard of wrapping little
copy with advertorials, real advertising and a lot of wire service
news), consisting of the copious copy written by the two reporters from
the Colborne Chronicle, many columns by locally underpaid citizens and editorials
and columns by people who were writing before and have chosen to keep writing.
One thing that may or may not be noticed by the casual
reader is the large amount of second editions, stuff that we have read before!
Anyway to this week's
point, a nasty little affair has emerged that shows the good and the
bad of the internet; good because of immediacy and spontaneity and bad
because most people when posting anonymously go nuts. In the last edition
I clipped and pasted, for your benefit , edits from the thread of a forum
contained in Frank magazine. That thread has become quite vitriolic, and
entertaining. So who are Earthworm Lips, Mal Arkey, Johnny Digital, Pantagruel,
a.k.a., Merflin Merkley, Ye-ye Skronk, and Saint Sister Smegma? All of
these nom-de-plumes belong to people suspected of being strikers. To cut
a long story short, you have to if you want to follow the thread it is
now spanning 244 entries over 17 pages, a lot of posters have been telling
tales of union-bashing and bad corporate behaviour, and then up pops a
poster called a.k.a.. He/she whines about what a bad thing it is to be
on strike and it is all the union's fault. True to form other posters
start to take exception and then retort in vitriolic fashion. At about
this time it is noted that a person called Debra Harrison, (a manager who
not only had her son in the inserting department 4 hours prior to the strike
but at a higher rate of pay than the current employees, and who was also
seen waltzing at the Hospital Gala, her escort being a high level executive,
Ray Liboiron, the grand poobah of AccuFax Security the strike breakers
hired by the publisher Mike Walsh, who is referred to in many of the posts
as a weasel and Rotary addict) was suspected of being a.k.a., the mystery
poster. At this time true to the internet tradition posters now
start to satirize themselves and start to post using other names, we now
have Debra Harrison (it may be the real person but if it isn't she has
had her name stolen), a.k.a. a striker, a.k.a. bitchface, and most
peculiarly somebody called Debby does Harris. Most entertaining and,
clever and witty. The thread can be viewed here
(page 1 of 17) but I do reproduce just one below because
it is timely and sums it all up:
Johnny Digital
Posted - 6 December 2002 14:56
In the words of the misshapen Rodney King,
"Why can't we all just get along"
I think this nastiness is brought on by those pics from the Fire
'n Ice Ball, when we all are forced to view these, as well as the teaser
ads for the big "Special Saturday Gala Ball Please Buy Biz Cards Ads
Mr.Party-Goer Edition" of the Star,we all tend to feel a little put off.
Seeing those and then being chided for our strike benefits seems kinda
"Marie Antionettish"
Silly...No? It's this " Let'em eat cake" attitude that gets
under people's skins.
Threatin' kids and such, is a crappy thing thing too. We aren't
the great unwashed. We were people....once. The Belle of the Ball made
some of this possible you know. The coffers are full 'cause of her. and
I, for one, enjoy the short skirts and boots..... meoow!
The scabs are another story though.
But the tale continues as on Friday, after a putative and useless
bargaining session, the publisher decided to put a statement on the
frontpage, top centre, extolling the virtues of a wage offer contained
in a FOUR year contract that would net the workers about $1.20 increase.
I bet he gets more than that over the next four years. Commentary in the
thread produced this satire.
Posted - 6 December 2002 15:25
PH FLICKER (Part II)
Cast of characters:
The Weasel ( M.Walsh)
The Slug )Sports writer and scab Doug James)
the factor (?)
aka (also known as a mole)
waiter (a real person not involved in this sad affair)
Scene: Woodlawn dining room
The Weasel (eating voraciously, sauce dripping off his chin):
What a week, eh friends. That front page story should have them stirring
on the line now (let's out a belch). The shit can really fly when you want
it to, eh boys. I even started believing it.
The Slug (picking at grissle in his teeth, but unable to wipe
off the clown smirk): I owe my life to you (looking at the Weasel, while
groping under the table for the factor's thigh). Did I ever tell you about
the time I worked for a private girls school? I was the headmaster, you
know.
the factor: Yeh, yeh. We've heard it all before there magic boy.
Just put a lid on it, will ya. God! Give the guy an inch (snicker, snicker)
and he puts his foot in it.
The Weasel: Now, now, my children. Tonight is a time to celebrate.
Did you see that paper today? It gave me goose pimples. What a piece
of work, and not one spelling mistake, except for that one on the 48-point
headline. Nobody's perfect, eh. If we keep this up, you never know.
I see awards in our future, lots of them.
aka (enters dining room, face flushed, tuque in hand): I tell
ya. I got them eating out of the palm of my hand. What a bunch of Nazis.
How could I have ever been so stupid. I have seen the promised land and
want in.
The Weasel: You are a credit to this company aka, you and that
fat ass of yours will always have a place here.
(A few hours pass, the drinks flow, and the dining room is empty
except for the four remaining stragglers).
The Weasel (shirt off, belly hanging out, smoke dangling out
of the side of his mouth): Fuck em all, you know what I mean?
Waiter: Here's your bill, sir.
The Weasel (holding bill far from squinted eyes): Woopdidooo
(he bellows).
the factor (taking pictures off the kitchen staff for future
columns): What is it, Weasel?
The Weasel: Tonight, we're going to spend, spend, spend, then
spend some more. Where's the party? Let's head to the Slug's pad for
some after-dinner treats. Oh, I forgot, the missus doesn't like music.
Drop the bitch, that's what I'd do.
The Slug: Come on now, boss. Slow down. I think that third Shirley
Temple has gone straight to your head.
(The party of four leaves in the Weasel's van. A siren rings,
lights flash).
The End (to be continued)
This final paragraph will guide you to the "Scab-Busters" A roving
band of strikers will from time to time jump in cars/vans and visit places
they deem need education. Last week they visited the Queen's Park, Teachers'
Pension Plan offices and Sifton/Osprey HQ. The pictures are on the Pete
Fisher's pictorial website here If you
like pictures of police cars and fires you will like his site. The scab-busters
take a trip to Queens Park here
Councilor LLoyd Williams gets
his wing clipped by the Mayor! At the last executive meeting Lloyd
produced (he of the movement for more public invovlement) a document
that proposed to take away 10 parking spots in the downtown area and
make them spots for seniors. Taken aback at this demonstration of unilateralism,
the Mayor asked if he had consulted with anyone (try talking to the staff
Lloyd). As Lloyd hadn't the Mayor tabled the idea and told him to talk
to the DBIA (the downtown merchant's organisation). I hope that when he
brings the idea back he has consulted with a constitutional lawyer, I wouldn't
want to see Lloyd ( I really should be Mayor) Williams accused of discriminatory
behaviour. Ageism was illegal the last time I looked! Talking to a high
placed member of the DBIA he tells me they are demanding a a count of
the parking spots that this councilor in charge of traffic has had removed
over the last two years. If they can show that the number of parking spots
has been reduced by 15% (a guesstimate) then the amount they have to pay
the town ($25,000) should be reduced, they are not getting what
they paid for!
Lloyd's latest effort, the $90,000 remodeling
of the back street parking lots, is not going over too well either.
The removal of nine spots is bad enough but now that flowerpots inhabit
the square behind the police station, one of the lots being remodelled,
the local Air Cadets complain that they have lost their parade ground.
I bet Lloyd never even consulted those guys either!
It appears that the money that Lloyd spent on
his pamphlet last month, where he extolled himself as the king of communication,
has been wasted. This latest affair has shown him to be a lone wolf seeking
good works. Unfortunately he may have picked the wrong horse. I do know
that if you reserve anythig and label it reserved for seniors it will
usually fail because older people do not consider themselves to be seniors!!
Coming into the new year we keep
hearing whispers about candidates in the next election, hey it is only
eleven months away, Three vacancies appear to be the guess so far. Two
councilors are noted as potential non-candidates and one councilor wants
to be Deputy Mayor. And we know something must be up - ex Deputy-Mayor
(I have the information and you don't!) Arnold McCurdy has been attending
Council meetings since Labour Day.
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November 24th 2002
If Bush isn't a moron howcum we get this picture
sent to us? 
Monday morning quarterbacking!!
In the wee hours I received a message suggesting
that I link this picture to "Urban Legends Reference Pages" so I did
here.
Check it out.
Not a good week for the anti-smokers!
Cobourg Council voted down (the old-guard strikes back) the
anti-smoking bylaw that Gail DeVeau has been working on for
the last ten months. In a 4-3 vote the men of Council overrode
the women and the Mayor. After listening to the angry deputations
of at least nine members of the entertainment and commercial interests
the majority voted the bylaw down. Councilor DeVeau is still saying
that she will bring something back, Councilor Jackson is still spouting
stuff about health issues and the Mayor is still looking good. Stay tuned.
In a touch of the curious councilor Williams, whilst voting to allow smoking
to continue stated that his mother had died of lung cancer!!
It's only been two years since
the last election and one of Council still wants your vote. In
a pamphlet distributed this week councilor Lloyd (I really should
be Mayor) Williams boasted, brown-nosed and badgered us all. Touting
his achievements and simultaneously demonstrating his sycophancy to
the Mayor he told us all what wonderful things he has done for us since
being elected and therefore we deserved to be told about them. I suspect
he used his own money (the amount would be equivalent to a week down South,
but we all have our own priorities) and the impact was about the same as
a big yawn.
I had a phone call from a friend
of mine, John Floyd, wherein he told me about his plans to build waterfront
condos on a piece of land he has purchased on the Port Hope waterfront.
It is no secret that he would like to be back on Port Hope Council,
he has been the Reeve before, and that is probably why he got the response
he did from a sitting member of Council. When John asked councilor Jeff
Lees about the progress of his development (he has been to Council to
explain it - for which he received a congratulatory letter from a citizen
for such inclusiveness) and was told, "It's in the system and we haven't
had much time to deal with it. If you want speed go to Cobourg!". John
said he couldn't believe such a response. But he doesn't want to go to
Cobourg, just build in Port Hope.
E-mail this week came from a
faithful reader, she even canceled her paper way before the strike.
She is still concerned about the way Council has been giving away land
at Jubilee park and the impact of additional retail space on the downtown.
She has written a letter to the DBIA and now here is the second part
in which she raises a couple of good points that others may be thinking
about:
additional memo to the DBIA:
The creation of 15,000ft2 additional retail at Elgin/William,on
parkland purchased by Linmac for $22,700, seems the last thing the downtown
needs. At least one person is objecting to this.( Mr. Bothwell on Elgin
St) Hopefully the DBIA has something to say on this matter as well. Of
course these shops can compete(with lower rents) against all of you:
but should they???? Our Official Plan triggers a retail study when the
landuse hits 1400m2 or 15,069ft2...so this development being 69 ft2 under
(the size of a linen closet) the Town won't ask for a retail study. I would
suggest that the UNUSUAL situation here( the land having been acquired
at bargain basement price of $ 22,700, with the citizens having to pony
up the $ 77,000 to remove the restrictive covenant from the parkland) would
suggest a retail study is necessary as the proposed development could create
from 15-20 shops in direct competition to the downtown: not having to factor
in landcosts, these shops are a threat to all existing shops on our Main
street.
I hope you let your Town Council know!
The comment from your downtown representative (Ms. Jackson)..."
that it will bring assessment to the Town", is not inspiring nor economically
sound. These newly created retail units are "subsidized" by the citizens
of Cobourg who were tricked out of half of Jubilee Park and a bill of
$ 77,000 to boot. Why would the Town not require a retail study? Do
I see more and more empty shops? ..or is it just my imagination???
I hope that the DBIA will say something. The last time I attended
an OMB hearing the Member said.." well the DBIA is not here so ,they
have no concerns" ( Madam Johnson-Hamilton Township hearing). I hope
that this letter will find its way on your agenda as I,a fan of the downtown,
have grave concerns.
Sincerely, Johanna ter Woort
They say when ridicule enters
a topic the said topic is done. So the strike at the Cobourg Daily
Star is being profiled in the Frank magazine's text version. The activity
of the publisher's wife was reported which prompted the following comment
in the Frank Forum: "Good heavens, I was shocked
-shocked, I tell you- to read in this week's print edition of Frank that
Walsh's wife Karen has acted as a 'scab' in this latest dispute.
Let's
hope they don't have any kids. The last thing the world needs is genetically
programmed goons."
In the said Frankmag Forums a thread has been
started called "Port Hope Paralysed" it has become one of the longest
threads on the site (111 postings). Being Frank magazine the comments
are very free ranging and off topic. A sample of the thread has been reprinted
for your interest:
Merklin Muffley Posted - 8 November 2002 8:9
If I may answer for XXXXXX until she finishes picketing
today: Walsh is smallish, about five-five or six. His head seems unduly
large for his head its mass seems to stoop his shoulders. He wears round
glasses which give him an owlish look. If there is a 'look' to a Rotary
addict, then I suppose Walsh looks like the Rotary addict he is -bland
and nondescript as though he spends all his time indoors, which he does.
First time I met him I thought of Wally Cox.
Earthworm LipsPosted - 8 November 2002 10:4
I know what Walsh looks like, a weasel without its fur. I
was asking about the production manager in the service of making an
identification. There are two possibilities.
Jiminy CPosted - 8 November 2002 11:44
I know you are heavily into the picketing, but do you
have any spare cycles to catch up with what is happening with the
Bugle?
Mal ArkeyPosted - 18 November 2002 19:4
Ah, yes. Mikey. Textbook definition of a weasel. Mikey has
a "degree" from Georgian College or some other remedial institute as
his main educational qualifications. He hung on in Pembroke until long
after everyone with talent left, then got promoted to editor for sheer
longevity. Rising to his role, he managed to bust up the newsroom's efforts
to unionize. This garnered him voluminous praise from the jackals at Thomson
who didn't want to squander their profits on anything as unimportant as
workers and reporters. Weasel's career was on the rise.
Our heroic sycophant then pops up in Collingwood,
flotsam on Thomson's community newspaper sea, just in time to oversee
its absorption into Lord Tubby's media empire, one more parsimonious
than Thomson ever was. And much less tolerant of uppity employees.
And guess what? After a very short time at the
helm, Rotarian Weasel Guy is confronted with another attempt to unionize
the newsroom. Is there a pattern here? But wait: most of the front
office and composing room wanted to join in too!
The usual heavy-handed application of scare
tactics, late night desk searches, and cancellation of bonuses worked
their dark magic. The unionizers lost their vote by what the CEP folk
say was less than a fist-full of votes. Within weeks the pro-union editor
was looking for work at McD's while Weasel Boy snatched the controls
as both publisher and editor.
The Collingwood workers bludgeoned into submission,
Weasely Wally is packed off to Port Hope where, word had it, the workers
were in turmoil and need his iron fist to hammer them into obedience.
And look what happened: a strike!
Well dang nab it, don't that beat it all! Imagine
the ingratitude of those workers unwilling to work for substandard
pay for a guy who only wants to be their friend and overlord!
Fred the SockPosted - 18 November 2002 22:22
The editor at the EB, during Walsh's time, was Ian Chadwick,
a decent and professional guy. He's got a website up www.ianchadwick and runs a small business
up in Collingwood. Wonder if Mr. Walsh graduated from the media studies course
at Georgian which bit the bullet in the late 80's.
Mal ArkeyPosted - 20 November 2002 6:42
So I suppose the real question is, after Weasel Guy is finished
putting the thumbscrews to employees in Port Hope, where will he be
shipped next? What other small, pleasant community paper is in need
of a media version of Captain Bligh?
Will he remain in Ontario until he has been
given the chance to quash the hopes and dreams of every aspiring reporter
in chain-owned community papers? Or will his personal brand of management
be exported to seek new challenges in other provinces where the lack
of Mike Harris may still see workers with ideals at their desks?
I see an upper management position for him in
future. And a hair cut. Then he will be revealed as the true PHB to
all and sundry.
The floggings will continue until morale improves.
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