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.
I live in Uxbridge
In my opinion, if there is anything more disgusting than sexual abuse against helpless young boys and girls, it is the way that adults who are aware of these happenings sweep them under the rug to protect the institution. Over the past few years this has been discovered in religious, sports and educational organizations without shame. Fortunately times have changed and the guilty parties are being hauled off to jail and organizations have been forced to pay a ton of money to the unfortunate victims, many whose lives have been destroyed.
So it was a breath of fresh air to see the NCAA come down hard on Penn State University in the wake of the school’s handling of the sex abuse scandal involving former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. For years Sandusky was taking sexual advantage of some of the young boys on the football team. These actions were well known to his bosses, who chose to turn a blind eye because having a winning football team raised a lot of money for the school – and that was more important than what was happening to a few young men.
The NCAA saw it differently and was disgusted with these actions, and hit Penn State with an unprecedented series of penalties, including a $60 million fine, a four-year ban on bowl games which raise a ton of money and the loss of 20 scholarships per year for four years. They also slammed coach Joe Paterno by removing his large statue from University grounds and removing his victories for 1998-2011 from the record books. Paterno, who is alleged to have known about the attacks and did nothing, recently passed away meaning he didn’t have to face the music. However, his family is left to bear the shame of his lack of action in putting winning ahead of the wellbeing of the young boys in his charge.
Sandusky has already been found guilty and sent off to prison for so many years he will never be a threat to society again.
Not sure if any of this will help these young boys regain a feeling of self-esteem but it does send a strong message to adults that society is disgusted with the sexual abuse of young people, and the guilty parties will be sought out and heavily penalized for their actions.
All I can say is, “it’s about time”.
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When I drove by Elgin Pond the other day, I had to wonder if councillors may have found a new revenue source to help relieve the load on the burdened taxpayers. Standing out like a sore thumb, and taking away from the serenity of the waters (admittedly covered with a lot of gunk in some parts at present), were a large gray castle and a bright, colourful square box floating on the surface. Granted they were both advertising upcoming community events; however, they were taking away from the beauty of this large body of water in the heart of town. So the thought crossed my mind that perhaps council could contract with some of the businesses around town and turn Elgin Pond into a revenue producer. Lots more space on that large body of water for paid advertising, which would maybe help to lower our taxes. This move may cause uproar at the beginning but, like death and taxes, we would eventually get used to it.
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Received an email the other day asking me to sign a petition to speed up the return of convicted terrorist Omar Khadr to Canada from his prison cell in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to finish the remainder of his eight-year sentence. He pleaded guilty at the age of 15, of throwing a grenade in Afghanistan that killed U.S Sergeant Christopher Speer.
Our government apparently agreed to this, but have been dragging their feet because the Americans officials refuse to turn over psychiatric documents that will help the Canadian government determine whether or not Kadr is a changed person, or could be a terrorist threat in our country.
It is a very complicated situation and I don’t intend to get into the middle of it, but one thing does bother me. Throughout all the news reports we continually read ‘Mr. Kadr’s legal team’ wants this or that to happen. Or “Mr. Kadr’s lawyer’ wants this or that to happen. Throughout my life I have had occasion to need lawyers for various reasons and they don’t come cheap, especially the lawyers who deal with the folks in Ottawa. The question that I would like to ask - who is paying for ‘Mr. Kadr’s legal team’?
Somehow I have the sick feeling that these lawyers are being supplied by the Canadian government – translate you and I are paying the shot for this battle between a convicted terrorist and the Canadian government. I have nothing to back this up this feeling, but if anyone out there in reader land has the right answer please give me a call.
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Haven’t had a chance to take in Maud of Leaskdale – the one woman show written by Cosmos publisher Conrad Boyce and starring our renowned Uxbridge actress Jennifer Carroll – however I hear nothing but good reviews from those who have attended.
The production is the story of Lucy Maud Montgomery, during her first 15 years in Ontario – 1911-1926. If you have followed her story you know that these were very trying times. She experienced much joy but also tragedies that took a toll on her and her family. It plays Thursday and Saturday evenings at 7.30 as well as Sunday afternoons at 3 and will run to September 3.
Tickets are $20 and you can get yours at Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, at the Leaskdale Country Store or reserve by calling 905-904-0977. Isn’t it great that we don’t have to travel miles to enjoy professional theatre? Our friends and neighbours supply it year-round close to home. Just another bonus of being able to say – “I live in Uxbridge”.
