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.
Scams and slams
One has to wonder what drives people to shop until they drop, especially if there are bargains to be had. And huge sale events always seem to bring out the worst in people.
Black Friday is well known in the U.S. as the day after Thanksgiving, when stores open at midnight with merchandise reduced to ridiculously low prices. It has been a tradition for years and often turns right thinking people into credit card carrying maniacs.
To give one an idea of what this annual event means to retailers, it is estimated that shoppers spent close to $40 billion over the two-day event. A major bonanza for retailers who have been crying the blues since the recession hit a couple of years ago. Huge line-ups are very common, and when the doors are finally opened the rush is on and the shopping frenzy begins. It's every person for themselves and reports of serious injuries are not uncommon.
This year one of the most publicized incidents occurred in California, when a lady sprayed nearby shoppers with pepper spray to keep them away from the counter that held the merchandise she wanted to buy. Several people, including a couple of children, were seriously injured and had to be hospitalized. The lady was arrested but no reports of what penalty she received.
In one store a man suffered a seizure and fell to the floor. It is reported that frenzied shoppers walked around him, some actually stepped over him and no one bothered to offer help or even call for help. Medics finally showed up and, according to reports, he is okay, but it does give one an idea of the callous and uncaring attitude that takes over when there is a buck to be saved.
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The 2011 Grey Cup game is now history, and with it came the usual celebrations and banquets leading up to the big day. The game has always been a wonderful Canadian tradition enjoyed by people from coast to coast. This year there was some added excitement when two great players of the past, Joe Kapp and Angelo Mosca, appeared on the same stage together.
These two 76-year-olds have had a well-known feud going on since they both appeared in the 1963 Grey Cup game. In that game Mosca, a big man who played defence for the Hamilton Tiger Cats, laid a huge hit on BC star Willie Fleming and put him out of the game. Hamilton went on to win the Cup and many felt that losing Fleming played a major part in the BC loss.
Mosca was not penalized on the play but many, including Kapp, thought it was a cheap shot designed to injure and, over the years, Kapp has let Mosca know how he felt. So when an offer of a peace flower from Kapp to Mosca was greeted with Mosca saying for all to hear - “why don't you shove it up your a...“ - the fight was on.
Mosca swung his cane at Kapp who immediately tackled Mosca, and the two old boys fell to the floor as the large crowd couldn't believe what they were seeing. Well, they were seeing history in the making, and the video of the event has been shown around the world. It appeared in halftime shows during many NFL games played over the weekend.
Strange things happen in the world of sports, and no doubt this will be categorized as one of the strangest. But it did show there is still life in the old boys.
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Scams seem to be rampant these days as quick buck artists come up with more and more ideas how to remove people from their hard-earned dollars.
It could be a great deal on a new roof or having your laneway paved or new windows installed. A big deposit is made and the homeowner never sees the scammer again, and has no way of contacting them. The money is gone. If there is an easy way to fleece gullible members of the public, these scammers move into action quickly. It always amazes me how sensible, right-thinking people can get caught up in these scams and lose many hundreds of dollars in a very short time.
The latest scam that completely blew my mind was the 'toilet paper' scam moving across the U.S. Yes, like you, I laughed when I read 'toilet paper', but it works.
The scam goes something like this. The scammer calls mostly on seniors, and informs them that government studies have proven that certain commercial toilet papers are doing serious damage to their plumbing and in some cases their septic systems. Very official-looking government reports are provided backing up these claims and, of course, the scammer just happens to have a huge supply of the toilet paper recommended in these bogus reports. Using this toilet paper will mean the homeowner can avoid large costly repairs in the future.
Now who would fall for such a scheme? Apparently a lot of homeowners, mostly senior citizens have, and the orders poured in. Not only immediate orders; many signed deals that called for long-term annual deliveries.
Want to know how gullible some people can be? When the Dept. of Commercial and Consumers Affairs investigated they found that one elderly senior citizen had signed a 70-year contract. How's that for a positive outlook?
When approached by someone with a deal that sounds too good to be true, the red lights should flash. In most cases 'too good to be true' is bang on.
