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.
No fail
‘Chances Are’ is one of the pearls of our community. Like a lot of people I love visiting and browsing through all the items people have decided they have no more use for and, rather than throw them out, donate them to find a new life in a new home.
Not only that, a visit gives me a chance to chat with the dedicated volunteers who want to see our valuable Cottage Hospital survive and donate countless hours to this wonderful project. And all are members of the Cottage Hospital Auxiliary.
An excellent example of their dedication and hard work came through recently when they presented a cheque for close to $220,000 to the Cottage Hospital Foundation. This is an amazing gift, but is just one of many this group have made over the years.
So next time you are in Chances Are and paying for your purchases, give these volunteers a huge thank you. They’ll appreciate it and you’ll feel better.
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The ‘no child shall fail’ policy that seems to have crept into our education system does not sit well with a lot of people. And it was brought to the forefront recently when an Edmonton teacher who was suspended for giving students zeros in defiance of school policy is one step closer to losing his job. Lynden Dorval was told in a letter he received last week from Ron Bradley, principal of Ross Sheppard High School, that he is facing termination.
"Your habitual refusal to obey lawful orders, your repeated insubordination, and your obvious neglect of duty force me to consider recommending termination of your teaching contract with Edmonton Public Schools.”
Not sure when the ‘no fail’ policy became the norm, but it sure wasn’t in place when I went to school. You either had the grades to move on or you sat in the same desk for a second year. It was a blow to your self-esteem but, in the majority of cases, it drove students to work harder so it wouldn’t happen again.
I know because I was one of those students. Born in December and having no kindergarten in the Public School, I was able to start Grade 1 at 4 years old. By skipping Grade 3 I entered Uxbridge High School at the age of 12, probably too young.
High School was a party. I loved the freedom to move from class to class every half hour and not be strapped to the same desk for the entire day. My first term report card was excellent but my carefree attitude would soon catch up, and I hated to have to go home at year-end having failed. I had to re-do Grade 9. I felt nothing but shame when I sat with my parents and saw the disappointment on their face. I knew they were hurt badly.
It was at that point that I made up my mind to never hurt them again. The rest is history. I breezed through the following year and then got the opportunity to realize my dream as a young boy to be in the newspaper business. I apprenticed at the Times-Journal – 5.5 days a week at the princely sum of $6 a week – and loved every minute of it.
The look on the faces of my parents many years later when I walked into their Mechanic St. home and told them I now owned the Times-Journal – the fifth paper in the chain that would eventually grow to 10 papers throughout the surrounding communities - made up for the shame I felt many years before.
So did facing failure hurt me? Yes, for a short period of time. But it also made me wake up and realize that if you worked hard, success was a lot more fun and well worth the effort.
Having said this, I am not sure how the message of ‘you can never fail’ will resonate through future generations. It will be fine so long as they are being babied in school, but when they hit the work force they’d better be prepared to work hard and accept knocks along the path of life. Because, as we all know, that is what life is all about and maybe the Edmonton teacher should be thanked for preparing students for what lies ahead. However, it appears he will be thanked with a ‘pink’ slip and told to find another profession. Sad sign of our times.
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The folks at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa have come up with several ideas how to celebrate their 100th Anniversary. The most unique idea is offering amnesty to past guests who have stolen items during their stay.
I’m sure most of us have skipped off with a towel or an ash tray from various hotels and motels over the years. Most never really looked at it as theft. More like a neat souvenir as a memento of a wonderful holiday and a stay in great hotel.
Hotel management is asking former guests and visitors to return stolen objects – no questions asked. Over the years, countless coffee spoons, dishes, ash trays, menus and even door knobs, have disappeared from the building. With this amnesty, historical items such as Grand Trunk cigar boxes, Grand Trunk limoges, dishware and heritage photographs of celebrities have made the hotel’s “please return” wish list.
The hotel opened on June 1, 1912, a few weeks after its builder, the railway baron Charles Melville Hayes, died on the Titanic. Back then, rooms were just $2 a night — some room packages cost more than $800 today. Since announcing its guilt-free memorabilia search, the hotel has been receiving a constant stream of items, some accompanied with stories and others quietly dropped off. Apparently, most of the returned items come with amusing alibis.
Château Laurier plans to open an exhibit featuring the returned items as part of a retrospective of the hotel's rich history. That should be interesting to see.
