Last Friday’s Ice Storm ‘98 fundraising dinner was replete with personal recollections of when Glengarry went dark twenty winters ago. As is so often the case in an election year, the politicians in attendance were drawn to the podium like cluster flies to a sunny windowpane. MP Francis Drouin, who was only 14 in 1998 and had few lasting memories of the event, kept his remarks refreshingly short. Chris McDonell, Mayor of North Glengarry, spoke from the heart as he shared his view of the natural disaster from the perspective of an OPP officer. But the prize for the evening’s best line went to MPP Grant Crack who, at the time of the ice storm, had just been installed as reeve of the newly amalgamated Township of North Glengarry. Almost wistfully, Mr. Crack told the audience that he could hardly believe the “power of a mayor.”
After the politicos had their say, the podium was turned over to mere mortals. Bruce Dubeau, Peggi Calder, Steven Cameron, Ruth Stanton, Linda Fraser and Ben Williams all stepped forward to tell tales of the time from their unique perspective. It was these heartfelt stories… and the “12 Days of the Ice Storm” skit that Art Buckland and his friends performed… that made the evening so enjoyable.
Naturally, with my geographic bias, I especially appreciated Peggi Calder’s account of when the army came to Dunvegan… only to find a hamlet that was already moving in the direction of self-sufficiency, under the leadership of the late Gordon Hardy. Peggi sat, figuratively, in this chair 20 years ago and penned the Dunvegan column for the News. Equally compelling was Linda Fraser’s peek into the hardships the farming community endured when the storm snapped the region’s connection to the provincial electrical grid. DRA president, Ben Williams, also spoke of ice-time life at the Williams homestead on the 4th of Kenyon. Weeks after the freezing rain had its way with us, his parents, Blair and Jean, finally obtained a generator from the army… only to discover after hooking it up that all their electronic devices mysteriously stopped working. When they reported the problem, the army’s response was, “Oh, you got that one. We’ve been looking for it.” An amusing quip, when told twenty years down the line. But, at the time, $4,000 worth of fried radios, microwaves and the like probably wouldn’t have been so droll.
As for how the evening fared on the fundraising front, the number crunching is still in progress. I know that a respectable crowd of 140 supporters bought tickets. However, I’m still awaiting word on what the live and silent auctions brought in.
“Most of it is true”
Have you been craving a Western movie fix? Well, at 7:00 PM this coming Saturday (February 17th), the DRA’s “Saturday Night at the Movies” film series has your celluloid drug of choice. Produced almost 50 years ago and loosely based on a true story, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid stars Robert Redford and Paul Newman as the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Set in a time when the Wild West was becoming far more civilized, the gang robs one too many trains and triggers a posse that just won’t quit… no matter where the gang runs.
As always, the DRA will supply hot-buttered popcorn, but advises that you bring your own refreshments and a comfy cushion or chair. While there’s no formal admission, donations towards the DRA’s new playground equipment will be gratefully accepted. Remember, the SNAM movies are not chosen for, nor intended as, family entertainment. The idea behind the event was to provide parents, and us older folks, with a night out away from the kids.
Embers of hope… Fan them
Here’s an easy test to tell if someone lived here in Glengarry in the early 1980s… ask if they remember Bob Roth. If they look puzzled, chances are they didn’t. On the other hand, if they look up and smile or offer you a scowl, it’s likely they did.
Roth joined the Glengarry News as an assistant editor in the late 1970s. Together with fellow News employee Anne McRae (who joined the paper in 1979), Roth helped unionize the News staff of nine in 1980, making the Glengarry News the first weekly newspaper in Ontario that was unionized. Roth also shook things up at the paper, editorially. He tackled controversial social issues that were rarely, if ever, mentioned in small weekly newspapers. He also got into a pissing match with Alexandria’s mayor at the time, J.P. Touchette and his Council… a confrontation that led to the News hiring a new publisher, who promptly pulled Roth’s popular column and demoted him. Roth and the News parted ways five months later. In what I think was an extremely generous gesture, the News allowed Roth to submit one last column. It ended with the words, “Everywhere, there are embers of hope blowing through the darkness. Fan them.”
McRae followed Roth shortly thereafter and, in the summer of 1983, the two started publishing a competing weekly newspaper called Counterpoint. In just one year, the newcomer’s controlled circulation figure reached 16,500, almost double that of the Glengarry News. However, the party was short lived. In early 1984, Counterpoint published a controversial article criticizing the Ontario Good Roads Convention. A number of key advertisers (some of whom had attended the convention) began to abandon ship.
What does all this dusty history have to do with today? Well, unable to locate any copies of Counterpoint, Glengarry’s archivist, Allan MacDonald, started looking for the paper’s founder. And he succeeded. Furthermore, I’m told that Roth has agreed to provide the Glengarry Archives with an essay on his time here and, if he can find them, some copies of the long defunct publication.
Update the DGB?
Over the years, I have oft referred to Royce MacGillivray’s Dictionary of Glengarry Biography. I count myself lucky that Terry was able to find a copy (#191 of the initial 2010 printing), as a birthday present I believe. So, it came as wonderful news that the Glengarry Historical Society is considering a third printing. However, what would make the news even better is if Mr. MacGillivray could be persuaded to update the book and add a few more biographies on persons who have contributed to Glengarry in more recent years. If the late Burton Ayre, a newcomer to Dunvegan from the Town of Mount Royal, could make the last edition, what’s to prevent Velma Franklin, Gwen Morris, Kent MacSweyn, Blair Williams, Bill Gilsdorf and others from joining the club? Alternatively, perhaps the GHS could consider an on-line appendix to the Dictionary that focuses on additional personages.
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