Harry Stemp was born in Uxbridge in 1934. He started his career with the Uxbridge Times-Journal as an apprentice typesetter at age 14. He soon began writing sports for the Times-Journal and eventually owned 10 community newspapers in central Ontario including the Times-Journal. He started writing his award-winning Stemp’s Stew in 1965. The column came to an end shortly after he sold his newspaper chain in 1989, but was rejuvenated in 2006 when Harry became a regular contributor to The Cosmos.
Worth the drive
In the last Stew I asked who was paying Omar Kadr’s legal fees as it always irks me that hard-working Canadians hardly ever get a free ride from the government but terrorists, illegal aliens and criminals, frequently appear in court represented by a high-powered legal team paid for by those same hard-working Canadians through their tax dollars.
A friend at the Toronto Sun came up with the answer that I was looking for. The information received is that Kadr’s Canadian lawyers have been working pro bono thus far. That means free of charge. I found it strange that a lawyer would work for free – at least I have never found one – but I had it explained that lawyers will often take on high profile cases at no charge because they are either sympathetic to the cause or the case is so high profile it is excellent publicity for themselves or their law firm.
Sounds reasonable, but that doesn’t let us taxpayers off the hook. So far our federal government has spent $1.3 million and counting in legal fees in the fight against Khadr. The U.S. Pentagon pays for his official lawyers -- the ones who actually interact with the Military Commission. Who knows the total cost but it's the U.S. taxpayers who are footing that legal bill. Different country, but same waste of tax dollars which could be used for more worthy causes.
And have you noticed that through all this you hardly ever hear about the Speers family – a wife and daughters – who lost a loving and important husband and father 10 years ago when Kadr, who was fighting with an al-Quaeda terrorist group, threw a grenade that killed U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speers. A news report indicated that since the incident the name of Kadr has appeared in the news over 2000 times. The name Speers only 89 times. If the wife and children – now 10 years older – don’t get a sick feeling every time his name appears I would be shocked.
But that seems to be a fact of life these days. Take a look at any of the high-profile criminal cases and you will too often see the criminal is treated much better than the victims. However, that’s another subject. For now I’m sure I am not alone among Canadians when I say Kadr should stay in a U.S. prison where he belongs. We don’t need his type in Canada.
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Living in southern Ontario, it never crossed my mind that living on the border with Quebec would be a big advantage.However, spending a fair amount of time in Ottawa it didn’t take me long to discover there is at least one desirable advantage. As my gambling buddies would say, it is having Casino Lac Leamy a couple of miles from our home. I have never been one to do a lot of gambling so you can cross that one off. However, I do enjoy my cold ones and that is where having the Quebec border a stone’s throw away is a tremendous advantage. Due to the Quebec tax structure, unlike Ontario, they don’t penalize those who enjoy the odd drink – be it beer or wine. And you can buy at the corner store so they compete pricewise. Thus I find it enjoyable when, on times like the other day, I drove a couple of miles into Aylmer, Quebec and walked out with a 30-can case of Coors Light. My cost was $29, about $7 shy of what I would have paid for a case of 24 at the LCBO. It might be worth the drive to Acton, to buy leather but to me it’s worth the drive to Hull to buy my cold ones when you can save that kind of money.
By the way, I’m not sure but it may be illegal to bring booze across the border into Ontario so please just rejoice with me in celebrating my good fortune and don’t tell anyone.
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Was interested to read the article “A Grate Idea...” in the last issue of the Cosmos. Attending functions in the Music Hall, I was intrigued by the beautiful theme grates high on the wall on each side of the stage. Not remembering that there were two iron air return grates in that space, several of us discussed the beautiful ‘posters’ and wondered if they would be changed on a regular basis.
Thus it was informative to learn that these permanent iron grates are the gift of Tom Loach and Lynn Bishop who enjoy the activities in the Music Hall and decided to give a beautiful gift that would emphasize the talented and dedicated arts and theatre community we enjoy in Uxbridge. And kudos to the Hall Board members who instantly came on side when presented with the idea and gave the green light for this installation. This doesn’t always happen with public boards, whose members often worry about negative public opinion and, rather than give a thumbs up, have been known to stall worthy ideas like this for months.
The grates are well designed and follow the design of the attractive iron grill in the railing that surrounds the balcony. This grill was installed by a talented iron man who visited our community many years ago and I believe you will find his same design in the balcony railing at Trinity United Church. Uxbridge is blessed with hundreds of dedicated volunteers who are instrumental in making Uxbridge a great place to call home. Every one of these residents do what they can to help various worthy causes and Tom and Lynn, who are not blessed with a lot of free time to be volunteers, found a way to donate their talents and add to the beauty of the historic Music Hall. Next time you are in the Music Hall look up and admire their attractive and welcome donation.
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Always like to hear nice things about Uxbridge. The other night I attended a wonderful performance by Gordon Pinsent at Chamberfest Ottawa 2012. Was invited to a reception following and had a chance to chat with Gordon. Mentioned Uxbridge and he said, “Uxbridge? Have visited there many times. What a wonderful community. I love it``.
