HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-03-11, Page 71•
Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - Page 7
Snug Harbour closure ignores tourism gains
Letter
To the Editor,
Nostalgia? Maybe. But what's next?
What's the next recreation facility the
town can close? The pool, now Snug; per-
haps there are others, maybe the Main
Beach - salt toxicity, you know.
Believe it or not harbours are for boats
any kind of' boats, large or small. That
was always the pitch when the Coast
Guard, Sifto, Elevators or any other big
corporation wanted to expand and virtually
"take over" this facility. "The harbour will
always be a "Partnership" between the
grain, the salt and pleasure craft," we were
told.
The Goderich Harbour is probably the
best harbour on Lake Huron, for both com-
mercial and pleasure use. For the latter it
has three sailing conditions: One, inside
the very protected "ball;" Two, inside the
breakwalls; Three, the open lake. Ideal for
all pleasure craft in any weather.
A while ago, Snug was full of pleasure
boats neatly moored at what were known
as finger docks. George
Robertson promoted one class of boat,
namely the Abbott 22. There were at least
nine of them id a row through most of the
'70s, perhaps well into the '80s. Together
with world class cruisers such as Bruce
Sully and his 40 -plus "Butterfly", Paul
Carroll's 35 +1= now sailing author and
Nicknames
At the mass murder trial underway in
London, Ontario six members of what
was once the Bandidos Motorcycle
Club. are charged with murdering eight
members of the Toronto chapter of the
same gang in the world's largest biker
massacre. The bullet -riddled bodies of
the eight bikers discovered near
Shedden, Ontario also make this crime
the worst mass murder in Ontario since
1832. That massacre involved the mur-
der of the wife and seven children of
farmer Henry Sovereign in Norfolk
County who was hanged in the , old
London courthouse. Shedden is a half-
hour's drive south of London and
Norfolk County is a half hour's drive
east of London and Lucan, the site of
the infamous Black Donnelly massa-
cre, is a half hour's drive north of
London: If they ever think of dropping
the name Middlesex from the area sur-
rounding London, Freddie Krueger
County comes immediately to mind.
However the most curious aspect of
the Bandidos massacre is that except
for one, every man charged and every
man murdered has. a nickname 8o pro-
nounced it is being used in both court
documents and media reports.
The accused include Wayne "Wiener"
Kellestine, Brett "Beau" Gardiner,
Wayne "Taz" Sandham, Dwight "Bi
D" Mushey and Frank "Frankie"
Mather. Only Marcellb Aravena does
not have a nickname.
Not a lot of thought .goes into the
selection of nicknames. 11 they had
optnton
s
raccontuer, Ken Dawson making news on
his 22' . and winning most regattas held
from Snug, Doug Bundy sailing his
"Classic", and many others. It was a formi-
dable fleet, not withstanding the salt drift
from the mine.
The annual Champion Regatta brought
many boats from Grand Bend and Bayfield
together with our own fleet, for a two-day
event of racing, camaraderie, dinners,
overnighters, etc. Likewise the Abbot
Regatta brought boats from various parts
of the province, Toronto, Sarnia, etc.
Together with Paul Parsons (who sailed
as part of Team Canada's challenge for the
Americas Cup some years ago) and others,
using Snug, we organized the Harbour
Sailing School. With qualified instructors,
and an exercise course, we put through
about 110 Huron County students, over a
period of four to five summers. We used
Petals, Lasers and my own keel boat so
that a broad experience was available for
those that wanted to avail themselves of
such.
In the last while the "Snug" has gone in
to obvious, serious disrepair. A sorry sight
for tourists, sailors, and previous users.
They (the town) said they wanted to get
out of the marina business. Did they
explore/consider letting someone else run
Snug? Did they explore leasing it to any
other operator, (Peever included - perhaps
he declined it); at rates that would make it
viable? Or help figure out the world of
government grants, loans etcetera, etce-
tra?
Goderich is. not Woodstock or London
or Chatham etc., inland towns. Our prin-
ciple charm and assets are the lake, the
harbour, and The Square. However. it
seems at first glance that Bayfield has cap-
tured the tourists and for obvious reasons.
It may also be true that Bayfield, Port
Elgin or Southhampton have caught the
pleasure boating sector and the resulting
tourism...
What a pity! Goderich should have had
both. With such potential to confirm
Goderich as the Prettiest Town in Canada,
instead a further expansion of the Salt
industry to dominate the harbour and the
main beach, we are going in the wrong
direction. But as they say "you can't fight
city hall," but neither can you make a silk
purse out of a sows ear. We will make the
best of what we have left - "The prettiest
Salt Mine in Canada".
Sincerely,
Richard P. Robarts
Goderich
Lions peer into low vision
To the Editor;
CNIB is conducting a Lions Low Vision
Clinic in Suncoast Mall, Goderich,
Ontario on Thursday, March 12, 2009
between loam and 2pm. The clinic pro-
vides an opportunity for someone to gain
information on CNIB services, to access
a scheduled appointment with a CNIB
specialist and to view and demonstrate
consumer products.
CNIB is a nationwide, community-
based, registered charity committed to
public education, research and the vision
health of all Canadians. CNIB provides
the services and support necessary to
enjoy a good quality of life while living
with vision loss. For more info visit www.
cnib.ca.
Paul Perna,
CNIB
•
the mobs are way better than the bikers
taken the time and brain-
stormed some ideas Kellestine
would have been called
"Killroy" and Sandham
"Dreamy." A better nickname
for Mather would be "Beaver"
as in Leave it to .... And
Mushey should certainly be
nicknamed "Peas."
Those killed in the destruc-
tion of the Bandido gang
include George "Pony"
Jessome and George "Crash"
Kriarakis. These nicknames
work as does John "Boxer"
Muscedere -- assuming he
was a fighter. But Michael "Little
Mikey" Trotta and Paul "Big Paul"
Sinopoli are not very original. "The
Greek" would be better than "Little
Mikey" and Paul "The Deadly" Sinopoli
works better than "Big Paul." Luis
Manny "Porkchop" Raposa is a solid
nickname. And Frank "Bam Bam,
Bammer" Salerno? In any trail involv-
ing a shooting, a guy named "Bam
Bam" doesn't stand a chance.
I would not want to be a juror in the
Shedden murders trial trying to figure
out if "Weiner" whacked "Porkchop"
or if "Crash" was the tow truck driver.
Was "Little Mikey" actually a great big
guy and was "Big Paul" short? How the
name "Goldberg" managed to get
between the names Jamie and Flanz
may never be known.
1 like the nickname of a former club
member quoted in the news item,
A Circus...
in Delianova, Calabria was known as
"The Beast of Delianova." Now there's
a nickname.
The mob, especially the American
mafiosa, has always had the best nick-
names and they tell a story.
Harry The Hunchback Riccobene.
Would anybody be surprised if they
found Harry's body on the steps of
Notre Dame?
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to
figure out the modus operandi of mob-
sters like Anthony "The Hatchet"
Chiaramonti, James "Machine Gun
Jack" Del Mira, Joseph "Lead Pipe Joe"
Todoro or Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso.
Some mobsters' nicknames indicate
they had other careers. Like Vincent
"The Butcher" Flemmi, Joseph "Joe The
Baker" Liberito, Joey "The Clown"
Lombardo, Nick "Nicky Cowboy"
Mormando and Carmine "The Doctor"
Lombardozzi.
You probably couldn't fool James
"Jimmy The Sniff" Vintaloro but you
might be able to outrun Louis "Louie
The Gimp" Grieco.
Vincent "The Saint" Inserro probably
did not perform miracles. Nicholas "The
Choir Boy" Viana probablywasn't one.
Albert "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum was
probably punctual. Nobody called John
'Jackie The Lackey" Cerone that to his
face. Domenic "Lefty Guns" "Lefty"
"Left Two Guns" "Half Cock" Ruggiero
was probably confused. And Frank
"Frankie Flowers" D' Alfonso? He was
just planning ahead.
nNbs/NMNN/ NvNHYHNrNfM4/AWMY.NA'hvSrY�//.M-�q��Ab/1N/I�1Y/�n4 bbMNNNwMM��4�Ni4I�M�iN.A�14i/�IH�W//�eY
.N, 411.14► Atnmt+anVRNSWARM .!/ OW/". µ.9, 4,
,w.• ,i./a', " 4,140,imvR MNwN✓/,MMN44*WoWth•
Wayne "Wrongway" Atkinson.
There's a story there alright.
And Shedden, the site of the
massacre is nicknamed "The
Rhubarb Capital of Ontario"
complete with a fuzzy -cos-
tumed mascot called "Rosy
Rhubarb" who entertains kids
during the festival. The
Toronto chapter Bandidos had
its own club nickname -- "The
No Surrender Crew," not to be
kg confused with the nickname
of the Toronto Maple Leafs —
"The We Give Up Gang."
For some reason Quebec
outlaw bikers have much better nick-
names than those in Ontario. Names
like "ZigZag," "The Priest," "The
Traitor," , "Chop" and "Apache."
Maurice "Mom" Boucher was the
"Mother" of "The Rock Machine."
I wonder if Maurice "Mom" Boucher
ever actually met Johnny "Pops"
Papalia. 1 remember when Pasquale
"Pat" Musitano and his brother Angelo
"Ang" Musitano (not great nicknames)
were charged in the murder of Johnny
"Pops" Papalia, the Toronto Star's
report described them as "owners of a
downtown Hamilton restaurant famous
for its thin crust pizza!" It was not only
the first "product placement" in news,
paper history, it was the first time a
reporter had slipped a restaurant review
into a feature on the murder of a mob-
ster. The patriarch of the Musitano
family, Angelo Musitano, born in 1909
iyK.OwnN.W NVAu�iAw.l4u /J��vw AWN/Mr Nnr