Chatham from the perspective of your summer reporter

Image courtesy of www.D2k6.es, via Flickr (CC).

Today is my last day at Chatham This Week. I will round out my summer reporting for Sun Media in Sarnia and then head to my parent’s place in Orono, Ont. for a few short days before making the cross-country hike to Grimshaw, Alta. where I will be employed as a journalist for the Mile Zero News.

Grimshaw is about six hours north of Edmonton. I’ve been told to have my winter jacket close at hand and enjoy my last week and a half of summer in Ontario as winter comes much quicker in the north.

Seeing as my experience here in Chatham was largely responsible for my obtaining a permanent position, I thought it only appropriate that I tell you what I have learned about your hometown.

• Chatham is a friendly town. Within three days of working here I had received hugs from two interview subjects. Just last week a man who I had interviewed in the weeks prior approached me to say he could tell I was having a rough day because I wasn’t smiling. He told me that when I spoke previously with him I couldn’t stop smiling.

“I wanted to make sure that you put that smile back on your face before you walked out that door,” he said.

• Chatham police officers are always available for comment and usually return your phone calls within a couple of hours.

• The people of Chatham are always a little disappointed to hear that the weekly is covering the community event instead of the daily. Except for the Cancer Society that is.

• CK Councillors love to talk. Council meetings are peppered with phrases such as, “I had a few questions, most of them have been answered, but I wanted to ask again…” or “I too wanted to say,” or my personal favourite, “This is really just a comment.”

I could list many more lessons learned but will avoid the urge to ramble. I’ve enjoyed my time here, thank you Chatham for putting up with my uncertainty at times and lack of knowledge at others.

I promise to share only the best stories with all my new Eskimo friends in northern Alberta :)

- K.F.

You want to give me how much money?

Image courtesy of pfala, via Flickr (CC)

Yesterday we received a fax in the office from one Mr. Jossef Dansul from South Africa. Mr. Dansul was very excited to let me (or whoever since he didn’t specify who the fax was for) know that he had a sum in excess of $20 million US that he wanted to make me (or again, whoever) the beneficiary of.

Well, isn’t this exciting I thought to my self. I’m going to keep reading. Apparently a very wealthy man passed away leaving behind this huge sum of money that only Mr. Dansul and the man’s wife knew about. Well only those two people, and now the whole CTW office.

“The wife has mandated,” stop.

Mandated is a strong word. We’re clearly dealing with a very strong woman here. Continue.

“…mandated me to seek for a reliable trust worthy person,” stop.

I am both reliable and trust worthy, I swear. But how did Mr. Dansul know this? Or did he intend someone else in the office to read his letter. That pesky little greeting with no direction is really beginning to bother me now. Continue.

“…person who will stand as beneficiary to receive the funds for proper and profitable investment…there is no risk…she has agreed to offer you 30 per cent of the funds for this assistance.”

Let’s see, 30 per cent of $20 million is roughly $6 million. Well I can think of 102 different ways that I could use $6 million in both a proper and profitable way. I’m a new grad, so student loans would be number one priority. I’m also moving to Alberta, so perhaps a home in my new town would be more comfy than an apartment.

Naturally Mr. Dansul would appreciate an early response and the matter must be kept secret, as this would be a highly confidential business transaction.

Well Mr. Dansul, your secret is safe with me, the CTW staff and our faithful blog followers. Don’t worry, we’re all very reliable and trustworthy people. Go ahead, send us your money.

Just one question, who exactly were you planning on sending it to?

- K.F.

Not sure what to think of the Burka…

While some people appear to thrive in the type of hot and humid weather we’ve been ‘enjoying’ this summer, the same cannot be said of yours truly. Actually, it’s not the heat I mind, it’s the humidity and living without air conditioning in either my car or my home, it’s been rather unpleasant at times.

A few weeks ago during one of those oppressively humid afternoons, I was driving home and was surprised/shocked to see a group of women dressed head to toe in black burkas, walking in my neighbourhood with a few small children…

(Part of the column was omitted, to read the full version, click here)

…I’ve only had one glimpse of the women, and I must admit I was a little surprised/dismayed to see them fully covered and on such a hot and humid day. I understand that Canadians pride themselves on religious tolerance and freedom. However, I believe we’ve also come a long way in the rights of women and as a Western woman living in a Western country, I have a difficult time accepting the notion of a burka anywhere, let alone in North America.

I have to agree with French president Nicolas Sarkozy who, in calling for a nationwide ban on burkas said, “In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity.”

I haven’t had a chance to meet with my new neighbours and don’t know whether they’re Canadian-born or are transplants from another country. It doesn’t matter much either way, and as an immigrant myself, I like to think we all bring something unique with us to this country. However, in the melting pot that is Canada, I can’t help but wonder how easy it will be for these Muslim women to make friends and become part of the greater community when they are separated from us by a garment which has become – at least in the eyes of many Westerners – a symbol of oppression.

I also can’t help but wonder what the new neighbours must think of those of us who aren’t as modestly attired, especially at this time of year.

K.R.

“Get high Chatham, get high”

This sign would not have been welcome at Tecumseh Park last night

Rockstock for the Heart = Large scale rock concert in the heart of Chatham’s downtown.

Former members of”The Doors.” = Crowds of young, not-so-young, hippies and wannabe hippies.

What else? A pungent aroma that can only be credited to one widely consumed but illegal substance.

Immediately upon walking into the concert area at Tecumseh park last night I knew I wouldn’t want to stay long, or risk feeling sick to my stomach. On the tail of the final chord of special rendition of the song “Break on through to the other side,” where the band seemed to get stuck on the line “she gets high,” the lead singer announced “Chatham likes to get high, don’t you Chatham. Sure smells like it. Get high Chatham, get high.” Cheers ensued and the obviously care free crowd continued to swivel their hips and swing their arms to their favourite songs.

There was of course a crowd of concert goers who did not take the lead singer’s advice. They were the decidedly tame group of concert goers sitting in lawn chairs near the back of the fenced in concert area.

From what I could see, last night’s concert was a good time had by all, substance added or substance free.

The lead singer might be happy to know that Tecumseh park definitely got high last night. The CK Police on the other hand, were likely a bit perturbed when the concert ended.

I knew there was a reason I avoided “legendary” rock artists.

- K.F.

Minuscule signs of beauty

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

First, I must apologize. We’ve been negligent. I can’t promise we’ll be better about posting more frequently in the future, but I know we’re going to try.

This week I attended my very first Chatham-Kent council meeting. Much to Karen’s bewilderment, the meeting ended before 9 p.m. I like to think it was planned that way. It was as if council knew I needed to drive all the way back to Sarnia that night.

I’ve decided that council meetings are designed to confuse the general public. I was sitting behind a man from Sydenham Recycling and noticed that throughout most of the hour discussion regarding his zoning by-law amendment he was utterly confused. At the end of it all, he even turned to the gentleman sitting beside him and asked, “Is that good.” To which the gentleman replied, “Yes, yes I think it is.”

At the end of the meeting, the mayor was obviously disturbed. He later told me that approving a scrap yard on 20 acres of land was probably the worst thing council could have approved because a scrap yard is so ugly.

I went to see the owner this morning to take a photo of him at his new lot. As I was approaching the lot, the eternal optimist in me was hoping that the mayor was not going to be right, that the lot was not going to be an eye sore. I was crushed to realize the mayor was right.

I did however find a few beautiful things at the yard, old wagon wheels and wire fencing, a no smoking sign and silver chains. It would appear all you have to do is focus on the small things in order to ignore the bigger, ugly mess.

- K.F.

A definite lack of class in Waterloo…

Photo by Ron Almog via Flickr

Well, the senior varsity Cougars ended their debut season on a relatively high note on Saturday in Waterloo, according to this football mum.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for some obnoxious Waterloo Predators fans who seemed to feel it was their duty to be annoying for the entire game. eg. “Fire up the barbecue, we’re going to have us some tasty Cougar meat!” As an added bonus, we also got to enjoy annoying sound clips over the loud speaker aimed at alternately gloating and rubbing it in.

I’d like to think it was the pressure of a semi-final game that pushed these buffoons to the brink, but just the previous week we’d faced the same team on their home turf and had to listen to the same level of stupidity. Fortunately, my son tells me he doesn’t hear anything when he’s playing, so all that effort on Waterloo’s part was probably wasted on our players.

Things quieted down significantly towards the end of the game when the first place, undefeated Predators were only ahead by seven points.

Even the shouts of, “we should be ahead by 50,” and “this shouldn’t be happening,” disappeared as the score sat at 17-10, where it remained.

Finally, the final buzzer sounded and that was the end of the game – and our season. But, as far as I’m concerned, the team improved throughout the season and learned a lot thanks to the efforts of head coach Sel Jordan and all the other guys who gave up their time and energy to help out this season. So a big thank you and congratulations to everyone!

KR