Experiments slated to be carried out over the next two years at the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve by a researcher from Oxford University may give the province and local custodians of the ancient fossils a better idea of how to protect them from weathering and foot traffic.
The research is being led by Jack Matthews, very soon to be a newly minted doctor of paleontology, who has been coming over from England for years to study the fossils at Mistaken Point as well as similar fossil beds near Port Union on the Bonavista Peninsula.
Matthews, who will be working with researchers at Memorial University and several other institutions, is planning to make at least two trips to Mistaken Point this summer.
Though he’s only 27, Matthews has been studying the fossils here since his undergraduate days at Oxford. He recently spent weeks hiking through the barrens and brush from Mistaken Point to Cape Race and also the Port Union area to develop detailed new geological maps, including the ages of the rocks, which will soon be published in a scientific journal for peer review. The last geological mapping of the Mistaken Point area was done in the 1970s and '80s and from a boat navigating the coastline. Matthews took time to serve as guest speaker at the annual general meeting of Mistaken Point Ambassadors Inc., last month in Portugal Cove South. About 25 people attended the session.
While people in the Port Union area are also working to promote their fossil beds and obtain "geo park status," Matthews said he doesn't see the two areas as being in a conflict or a competition from a tourism or scientific research perspective. "They've got some really interesting fossil finds over there," Matthews allowed. "I think you both support each other and the better that one does, the better the other one does (too) and everyone helps each other out."
Matthews is planning some unique experiments, including with a foot ware manufacture in Great Britain that will involve the use of robotic equipment to assess the effect that walking has on rocks collected at Mistaken Point. But he will also closely examine the effects that weather and climate may be having on the fossil beds at Mistaken Point and surrounding area.
"We're here because you have such superb fossils," Matthews said. "So what's the problem? Well, there's damage happening to the fossils and that is just a fact."
To give a sense of the damage, Matthews displayed two sets of photographs on a large screen. The pictures depicted the exact same fossils and surrounding rock, but separated by a timespan of some 20 years with the first photographs taken in the 1990s by a prominent geologist and the second set by Matthews in 2008. It's clear from the images that the quality of the fossils on the rock surface is degrading. In a couple of cases, "hold fasts," or the material that anchor a fossil to the rock bed, have been "bashed out." The thin layer of ash that surrounds, and protects the rocks on surface, is also receding.
"We don't know why," said Matthews. "I am not at the moment talking about whether it's a natural process or a human process. We don't know... but damage has happened, that is beyond doubt… We need to figure this out so that we've got a management plan to ensure that this has some long term sustainability.".
Matthews has also developed a diagram that succinctly summarizes the various government agencies and laws that exist to protect the fossils. The work will help compare the laws and governance regimes here with those in other jurisdictions to see if improvements can be made.
But Newfoundland already seems to have a better system than exists in his native United Kingdom, Matthews admitted. Mistaken Point also has the benefit of interested local residents.
"There is a passion here and a sense of ownership and that's so important in making sure that these vital resources are preserved," Matthews said. "You've got community engagement here."
Matthews said Mistaken Point is a globally significant scientific locality. “People want to come here from all around the world, from universities to study your rocks," he said. "But even more than that, people, whoever they may be, want to come here and see these rocks where you are seeing the origin of animal life and they want to pay a few dollars on the way and they want to stay somewhere and they want to buy some food and that's all good for the local economy. And the simplest way to put what my project is for the next two years is to ensure both as scientists and as a community that we work together to make sure that we use this resource sustainably."
Without a plan to ensure that sustainability, Matthews argued, the fossils could erode to the point where they lose much of their value and UNESCO, which is weighing whether to accord the site World Heritage Status, could decide to take the status away down the road.
"What I want is that you can have a Mistaken Point that you can hand on to your children and I have a Mistaken Point that I can hand on to the people who take over the research from me whenever I move on to whatever I do next," Matthews said. "That's my passion and what I want to see happen and I want to work with you to get that. So it's all about developing a sustainable resource. I'm going to be looking at these rates of erosion, looking at the weathering patterns on the different rocks... And I'm going to be gathering scientific evidence on what is controlling the erosion - is it natural, is it human? And from there we will work together to build recommendations so that we've got a management plan… There is so much (tourism) potential here it's unbelievable - but we've just got to make sure there's something there to hand over to the next generation."
After his presentation, Matthews spent some 45 minutes inviting and fielding questions about himself and his work.
“Community engagement is a really important factor for me," Matthews said. "I want you to feel that you can say your views to me and your opinions, and I have known from the support in this community and Trepassey and up around Port Union that having community support makes a lot of difference and makes my life a lot easier and it makes this so much more enjoyable. I want you to know that if you have questions, you can ask them.”
Council dismisses conflict charges in Bay Bulls
Bay Bulls Mayor Patrick O'Driscoll had the RCMP evict a woman from the Town Hall this month after she tried to address council about her application for Crown Land during a public council meeting.
Linda Furlong-Coles had contacted council before the meeting requesting permission to speak under council's delegation policy, but was turned down. After several warnings, and a demand that she apologize to council, O'Driscoll adjourned the meeting and asked the RCMP officer who was stationed near the door, to remove her from the chamber. The officer, along with two other Mounties who were called in, escorted Furlong-Coles from the building. Afterwards, the mayor returned to the chamber with an RCMP escort and called the session back to order.
Furlong-Coles has been trying for months to get council to decide one way or the other on her application. Previous councils approved it twice before but she could not proceed because the area wasn't zoned for houses. After the new Town Plan came into effect last year, which changed the zoning, Furlong-Coles applied again. However, this time she found herself competing for the land with councillor Jason Sullivan who has applied for 34 hectares of Crown Land to build a 50 lot subdivision. Sullivan's swatch encompasses the acre that Furlong-Coles is seeking.
After Furlong-Coles was evicted from the meeting, council voted on Sullivan's application to further rezone the area to allow half acre lots instead of the larger sizes required under the current zoning. But Mayor O'Driscoll wouldn't say whether the vote was an approval or not. The motion, which O'Driscoll made himself, was cryptically worded.
Councillor Gerard Mulcahy suggested council defer a decision Furlong-Coles' application pending a legal opinion. It was seconded by Deputy Mayor Harold Mullowney, but couldn't get enough support to pass.
"I'm not sure we should be spending taxpayers' money on an opinion," said councillor Rick Oxford.
Mayor O'Driscoll observed that while a Crown Land applicant can reapply every year to keep an application current, "that wasn't the case (here)."
Oxford, who is a real estate agent, argued against Furlong-Coles' bid.
"I'm just trying to get my head around as to why we need to go get a legal opinion when we've already approved action (for Sullivan) on the same parcel of land... Does anybody want to discuss that, or add to that?" Oxford asked. "Which is the most beneficial to the town? Council has a responsibility for positive, responsible growth to the Town of Bay Bulls and I'm not convinced that approving a one acre lot and gaining a tax base of a single family residence is to the town's benefit over a multiple family subdivision. That's just common sense reasoning when you look at the tax base."
Oxford then moved to reject Furlong-Coles' application. After three calls from the chair, nobody would second it meaning her application was neither formally approved, nor rejected, but as good as rejected.
Council then turned to Sullivan's application to rezone the land, with Sullivan, Oxford and councillor Joan Luby leaving the chamber citing conflict of interest.
"I make a motion to follow the legal advice outlined by our legal and send a letter to the applicant," said Mayor O'Driscoll.
"I'll second it," said councillor Mulcahy.
The motion passed unanimously. Asked to clarify whether council had just approved the application or not, the mayor was unclear. "Council is not making a decision on whether to approve it or not, it's sending a letter with its opinions. That's the decision council is making on the request."
Earlier in the meeting, meanwhile, council finally moved to address longstanding conflict of interest allegations against Sullivan, councillor Joan Luby, Deputy Mayor Mullowney and Oxford, voting to dismiss all the claims.
Luby had been accused of being in a conflict of interest by Oxford's brother-in-law, developer Fraser Paul, who had complained that she voted on his application last spring which involved land adjacent to one of her family members. Sullivan had accused Mullowney of being in a conflict of interest after the Deputy Mayor had argued council should stand by its minimum lot sizes because of the boggy ground in the area that Sullivan wants to develop. The charge against Oxford was a new one that had not been disclosed prior to the meeting.
Minister promises to move Witless Bay Town Plan forward
Municipal Affairs Minister Eddie Joyce will meet with the seven members of Witless Bay council this week to discuss implementing the long delayed Town Plan.
The move follows the completion of a Commissioner's report that was ordered by the previous Municipal Affairs Minister following a plebiscite last fall that heavily favoured an earlier incarnation of the Town Plan over one that was altered by the current council. The earlier version, call Plan A on the plebiscite ballot, protects the traditional development rights of property owners near Mullowney’s Lane and several other parts of town. Plan B would see those areas zoned as Conservation. It also calls for larger lot sizes in several places in the community.
For now Joyce is not tipping his hand as to which way he will move on the report. However Mayor Sébastien Després served notice last week that he will challenge the decision if the minister endorses the will of the voters and moves to register Plan A. Després maintains the plebiscite was illegal.
"The plan is to meet with the Town and give them a copy of the Commissioner's report and then release the report to the public," Joyce said. "And once we release the report to the public and give the Town a chance to mull it over... government then is going to make a decision with whatever feedback we get and however it goes."
Asked whether the results of the plebiscite will carry a lot of weight since as many people voted in it as did in the last council election, Joyce said, "Everything is going to be looked at, absolutely everything... We're going to take everything into consideration when we make a decision."
Joyce is aware that council is deeply divided over the issue. "I think the whole issue is complicated," he said. "That's where towns have to come together and try to compromise. I did get a briefing and I did go through the whole scenario and the whole sequence of events, dates and times and most of the things that happened with it, so I'm well aware of the whole scenario with it. And so what I'll do is wait until I meet with the town and release the copy of the Commissioner's report and we'll take it from there as to what we're going to do. But definitely it makes a difference and I know that there's been a lot of things said to each other and a lot of things happened."
Joyce is anticipating the matter will be decided "in the very near future. I don't mean in the next two or three days, but this will not be dragging on for the next year or so or the next six months,” he said. “There will be a decision made and then we can take it from there. I understand what the people went through - I understand all that - but there will be a decision made on it in the next little while."
As for complaints by both sides that the Department of Municipal Affairs has been unclear and wishy washy in it's handling of the dispute, which is dragging into its fourth year, Joyce suggested there is an onus on members of municipal councils to try to come together and he if can help that process, he is willing to do it.
"I won't shy away from decisions that have to be made and the department won't shy away from trying to help municipalities," Joyce added. "This is a prime example this Witless Bay one. This has been going on (for a while) and it's causing a lot of tensions in families and a lot of households. I'm inheriting this (issue) in Witless Bay and no matter where you go, there are certain people who are going to be upset with the decision. But there has to be a decision made and I hope there is some compromise, but if not, a decision has to be made. There is an active council there now with seven members and I hope all of the issues are resolved with conflict of interest and the other things, and I hope they will make a decision. But if they don't, there has to be closure to it somehow so the town can move on."
Father Christmas of St. Mary's Bay reluctantly retires his suit
When the St. Mary’s recreation committee held its annual Christmas parade earlier this month, a familiar character was missing. For only the second time in something over 30 years, Kevin Christopher wasn’t available to represent the man from the North Pole with his presence at the parade. The only other time Christopher missed the show was one year when a storm stranded him in St. John’s and he couldn’t make it back to St. Mary’s in time to don the red suit and beard which marked him as Santa’s understudy.
This year, however, Christopher reluctantly had to retire from the role for good due to a worsening lung problem that is affecting his health.
“I was at it for a long time and it was something that I truly enjoyed,” says Christopher, 64. “It was with mixed emotions that I had to retire from the Santa Claus parade this year.”
But Christopher did more than represent the jolly old elf in the parade every December. He also donned the suit to make the rounds at personal care homes in the area to bring cheer to seniors and made countless visits to family homes to make sure the children were preparing to tuck in early for the visit of the real Santa Claus later that night.
“I would go to as many houses I could get to,” says Christopher. “Some mornings it would be half past 2 before I would get home.”
Many a time Christopher would do some rounds, come home and change out of the suit for Mass, and then afterwards don the gear to head out again.
“It was something I truly enjoyed, from the time I first went at it,” says Christopher. “I went everywhere.”
Christopher’s route took him as far south as Peter’s River and as far north as Riverhead, though St. Mary’s and the Gaskiers were his main stomping grounds. As the population of young people dwindled in the region through the ‘90s and early 2000s, due to people having smaller families and many families moving away to look for work, Christopher found himself venturing further afield to spread his Christmas joy.
“I have some fine memories,” he says. “And I also ran into a few snarls.”
The worst “snarl” Christopher got in happened in Peter’s River one night, when a dog took after the man in the red suit and in his hurry to escape, Christopher banged the truck door shut on his thumb. It was Santa’s first call of the evening. Five band aids later, Christopher resumed his rounds, putting the pain out of his mind and enjoying the warm welcomes he found in people’s homes.
“When I went to Church that evening I had a thumb like Elmer Fudd,” says Christopher, laughing. “A lot of queer old things used to happen over the years.”
Kevin and his wife Cecilia never had children themselves. “Those were my children,” he says of the many youngsters from infants to those on still hovering on the edge of belief who he visited.
“They’d tell me all kinds of stuff,” he says. “They would ask about the reindeer and things like that. I’d tell them to go to bed early. Afterwards some parents told me that I wouldn’t be gone through the door and they’d be after taking off to bed.”
Christopher found himself the recipient of a lot of milk and many cookies over the years. One time, turning away so nobody could see him lift his beard while he ate, a child who was listening to the gulping and crunching coming from the back of the man in the red suit said, “Mommy, Santa is some hungry this year,” Christopher recalls.
Another time, Christopher managed to restore a child’s faith in Santa Claus. The child was pretty certain that Christopher was posing as Father Christmas and stayed up one evening to try catching him out. Christopher had a friend don the special suit and walk around outside the house as he knocked on the door and paid a call on the family, taking care to ensure the child saw the visitor outside.
Several years ago, Christopher was approached by a young fellow who seemed pretty worried. “He said, ‘Santa, you’re not going to fine my house this year,’” Christopher remembers. “His family’s home had burned down. “I said, ‘Don’t you worry, Santa knows where you are staying.’”
It’s memories like that that mean the most, Christopher says.
Early during his career, Christopher almost managed to almost fool his own mother. Mary Francis Christopher, or Francey, was after moving into a local personal care home. She was the kind of woman who always loved a good laugh, and that’s how Christopher found her one night, at the home, holding court.
“I told the staff not to let on that it was me,” says Christopher. He went into her room and sat in a chair, being careful not to speak in case she would recognize him. But it was no good. After a little while she addressed him directly by name.
Some Christmases later, when Francey was stricken with a severe flu, Christopher told her he would stay with her for the night. “She looked at me and said right quick, ‘Kevin, don’t you disappoint those little children.’”
One Christmas, Christopher was worried all night about a particular visit he had on his list. “It was a young girl who had cancer in her legs,” he says, reckoning the child was about nine years old at the time. “I knew that was going to be the hardest one I would go to that night and I was a bit late getting to her house. I had a lump in my throat as big as an apple.”
The little girl had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Santa. Her father woke her when Christopher came in. “She had no hair,” says Christopher. “I spoke to her and gave her a doll.”
Today that little girl is grown up, Christopher notes happily, and has children of her own.
Often times, parents would arrange to leave a little gift outside the home for Santa to slip into his bag and present to the child, Christopher says. Many a time too, someone would offer Santa a glass of cheer for his labours. “I never touched a drink or a beer anytime I was out,” Christopher says, “because it was youngsters’ night.”
Christopher says he is grateful for all the help from his wife Cecila, fondly recalling how chided him for being so particular about his costume and even the food he ate before venturing out each Christmas. Others too are high on Christopher’s “nice” list for helping Santa, including his brothers-in-law Ronnie and Cyril Molloy, and also Todd White, who each sometimes helped out by providing a vehicle on those occasions when Christopher didn’t happen to have one of his own. Shauna Molloy of the recreation committee often helped Santa too as Mrs. Claus.
“I will miss it,” Christopher admits. “I enjoyed it all and I’d still be at it only for that (lung problem). It’s only because of the health condition that I’m giving it up. There are so many little stories and great memories.”
Mystery of the LaManche Cross
Jean Kennedy of Mobile is hoping that someone who reads this story can help her solve a mystery that is going on 83 years. She is trying to find the identity of the person or family who has been maintaining a small, homemade wooden cross on the road leading to the old village of LaManche. The cross bears the name of her aunt and two women from Witless Bay who drowned together at Hell Hill Pond during a summer outing on August 7, 1932.
Like her late aunt, Veronica Daley, Kennedy hails from St. Joseph’s off the Salmonier Line. Kennedy moved to the Southern Shore 45 years ago and in all that time, someone has been maintaining the cross and even making sure it regularly gets fresh flowers.
Kennedy has called relatives of the other women who drowned with her aunt, but is stymied.
The aunt, known to her friends as Monica, was just 24 years old when the tragedy occurred. She had finished classes at a training school for teachers in St. John’s the day before and had accompanied a fellow student to Witless Bay for the weekend.
Ironically, in an address to the teachers that graduation day, Saturday, August 6, the president of the school had encouraged the young men and women to explore nature. According to an account of the graduation ceremony that was carried in the following edition of The Evening Telegram, the president counselled the teachers not to be bookish. “Bookish teachers make bookish schools,” he said. “Bookish schools repel and do not attract. There is in man a play instinct. Many of the best qualities of manhood and womanhood are developed through play.”
Whether those remarks had encouraged Daley and the group of five or six other young women and a couple of young men from Witless Bay to take the bathing expedition to Hell Hill Pond is unknown. One of group was Florrie O’Neill, later to be known as Dr. Florence O’Neill, the first person from Newfoundland to obtain a doctorate in adult education from Columbia University in New York. She went on to become a pioneer and high ranking official in the adult education division of the provincial government. O’Neill had just spent two years teaching at Mount Carmel, St. Mary’s Bay prior to that summer and may have gotten to know Daley there, since she was also teaching in the area.
The other members of the party included Esther Mullowney, 25, of Witless Bay, Mary Norris, 33, of Witless Bay, and according to an Evening Telegram account of the tragedy carried the following day, Ella Dinn, Clara Kent, and “Mr. D. J. Mullowney and Mr. William Kent.”
According to Kennedy, another Witless Bay woman, Anna Dinn, who went on to teach at Holy Heart of Mary School in St. John’s for many years, was also part of the group.
"There were six girls, they were in summer school. My aunt came up the shore with one of the girls who was in Summer School with her. There were six of them at the site,” said Kennedy. “They joined hands and ran into Hell Hill Pond. It was to their ankles one minute and the next minute they were over their heads, and they grabbed onto one another and three of them drowned."
That version squares closely with the newspaper report, which said the six women entered the water together, four of them – Norris, Mullowney, Daley and O’Neill - in the lead holding hands. Some 25 to 35 feet from shore they passed an “overfall” and plunged, screaming, into much deeper water.
O’Neill, who could swim, managed to thrash around until she could find some footing. The rest of the party on shore and in the water behind them started screaming for help. A group of trouters, who were about 200 yards away, heard the commotion and came running. One of them, Mike Manning from St. John’s, “lost no time in attempting the rescue of the young women,” according to the paper. “Being a strong swimmer, he succeeded in bringing Miss Norris to the surface and to the shore.”
The group on shore and the other trouters, Ray Manning, T. O’Mara and Charlie Gamberg, noticed Norris still had a faint pulse.
“He (Mike Manning) again dived over the fall and located Miss. Daley,” wrote the reporter. “Placing her in the arms of her companions, he again went in to secure Miss Mullowney, but his efforts were fruitless and it was not until he had divested himself of his heavy clothing that he picked up the body lying in about 12 feet of water and brought it to the shore. Artificial respiration proved in vain.”
Others tried to revive the girls too, including two Nuns visiting from the United States who happened by while on a motor trip along the Southern Shore with Lady Gertrude Cashin, and two police officers who answered the call for help and spent two hours trying to revive the victims. But it was all too late: Daley, Mullowney and Norris, an only child who had grown up to become a nurse and who had returned to Newfoundland only several months earlier from New York, were all dead.
A doctor took charge of Norris’ body for transport to Witless Bay. Mullowney’s body was taken back to her parent’s house by her brother in his car.
“My aunt was laid out in the back of Witless Bay Church,” said Kennedy.” I've been told that by someone whose mother told her. And that's where my grandfather came to retrieve the body."
Kennedy’s aunt came from a big family of brothers and sisters, all of whom have since passed away. Her aunt wasn’t married, but did have a boyfriend. “He never did marry ever after,” Kennedy said, noting that man has since passed on.
Kennedy figures relatives of one of the other victims must be maintaining the cross, but she can’t find out who it is.
"I've been living on the Shore now for 45 years… I've made contact with some of their relatives, but they haven't got a clue who's taking care of the site," Kennedy said.
Kennedy’s husband managed to talk with a nephew of Norris. “But he hasn't got a clue who is doing up the site,” she noted. “The other girl was a Mullowney and I'm after calling two or three different Mullowney families and I can't get any (information). Obviously it must be a second generation who's taking care of it, because that's 82 years ago. But it's a real mystery because every year it's freshly painted. Their names are carved in the cross and done with black paint, their names and their ages, and there is always flowers there. And this year, I noticed when I stopped by, that there was crushed stone added, like the Department of Highways would use."
Kennedy called a contact she knows who worked with the Department of Transportation on the Southern Shore, but again had no luck. "So we can't find out who is doing all this," she said.
Over the years, Kennedy tried to find out more about what happened that day from two of the women who were there. "But they clammed up when you mentioned it," said Kennedy. "I guess it was post-traumatic stress or something. They didn't want to remember it."
Kennedy attended Church for years with one of the women, Anna Dinn . "I tried to discuss it with her… and she just turned completely off when I mentioned it."
Dinn, and all the other people who were part of the group that day in 1932, have since passed on.
The cross is located just off the main road on the lane that turns off to LaManche, near Hell Hill Pond. Kennedy can't remember the cross ever being replaced, but figures it must have been at some point because it's in good shape. "The names are engraved, cut into the wood,” she said. “It's not a professional job or anything like that, you'd know it was amateur. But the three names are there."
Despite its name, Hell Hill Pond is a pretty body of water, one of the larger ponds in the area and surrounded with trees. Some people have cabins there. Local legend has it that Hell Hill got its name from the conductors with the old Newfoundland Railway who found the hill was a struggle for the train that used to run from St. John’s to Trepassey.
"In the meantime, there are all kinds of ghost stories too," Kennedy said. "On CBC Radio last year, when one of the shows was doing something on ghost stories, people called in and said they were driving up the Shore and these women were out in the middle of the road, but when they stopped there was nobody there. And when I started coming up the Southern Shore first, when I was in university, whenever I mentioned that it was my aunt, there was always a ghost story about three girls."
Kennedy would welcome a call from anyone who knows the identity of the person maintaining the cross all these years. "We'd like to know who's doing it and the connection and we'd like to be able to thank them for doing this all these years," she said. "I was making calls and trying to find out over the years, and one night I was looking at the Post and I said, 'Maybe they would run something?' It's a human interest story."
Anyone with information about the cross and who is maintaining it can reach Kennedy at 334-3282.
Chamber of Commerce honours Ferryland's 'Man of Business'
A man whose name has become an institution when it comes to doing business on the Southern Shore received an award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement from the Irish Loop Chamber of Commerce when it handed outs its annual Seagull Awards for Business Excellence last week.
Bernard Kavanagh, 79, showed he was still capable of cracking up a room with his wit, as he accepted the award. Other winners included the Southern Avalon Development Association, which took the prize for Most Outstanding Non-Governmental Organization, Still Waters Massage in Trepassey for Most Promising New Business, and the Community Credit Union Witless Bay for Outstanding Community Service.
"The seagull is one of the most enterprising creatures on earth," said Chamber president Derrick Thompson, explaining why the Business Excellence Awards are named for the animal. "When their environment changes, they don't give up, they find another way. If nobody is fishing, they'll go to the garbage dump, they'll find somewhere to eke out their existence. Being enterprising and creative is one of the things entrepreneurs need to be thinking about, and in order to be successful, of course, you have to be forward thinking."
The owner of Stillwaters Massage & Spa wasn’t able to attend the awards breakfast meeting. But sent an e-mail to her friend Sharon Topping, who accepted the award on her behalf. "Genevieve would dearly love to be here this morning, but her husband is an ambulance driver and she has a little girl, and she couldn't get a sitter," Topping explained. "She writes, 'I am so touched and I am going to keep doing my best to grow my business and encourage more development of small business in our area - whoopee!'"
To be eligible as a nominee for the Most Promising New Business award, the enterprise has to be less than three years old and demonstrate consistent growth and promise for long term sustainability, explained chamber director Mike Rose. The award is sponsored by the Celtic CBDC. The other nominees included Trepassey Motel & Restaurant, which is under new management, F&M Convenience of Trepassey, Celtic Knot Pub & Restaurant in St. Mary’s, and Torque Construction of Mobile.
Rose noted McCorquodale started the company after moving to Trepassey from British Columbia. "In the year she's been here she's provided a healthy and affordable and much-needed service to the area," said Rose. "She jumped in with both feet and has applied her knowledge and skills, and compassion, to provide an array of needed community services. I don't know Genevieve, but apparently her enthusiasm is contagious."
Loretta Ryan, the executive director of the Celtic CBDC, was asked to introduce the Award for Most Effective NGO, which goes to a non-profit group that has made a significant and lasting impact on the people in the area it serves.
"This is an award that is very close to my heart," said Ryan, introducing the Southern Avalon Development Association, which serves the communities from Portugal Cove South to St. Vincent’s. "I've always admired them because they have been so tenacious."
Ryan pointed out SADA is one of the few economic development groups to have survived in the province and is still doing great work. "They have their fingers in a lot of pies and they really support and encourage community economic development," she said. The award was accepted by the chairperson of SADA's board of directors Charlene Power and its executive director Yvonne Fontaine.
The Colony of Avalon Foundation was the other nominee in the category.
Outstanding Community Service Award goes to a company that contributes to growth and prosperity in the region through social and community-based programs. It was presented by chamber director Carol Ann Devereaux, who also manages the Trepassy Motel & Restaurant.
Devereaux said the winner, Community Credit Union Witless Bay, is a big supporter of community causes in the region it serves.
“They involve themselves in the community wherever they can," said Devereaux. "They help the schools, the fire department, the foodbank, Kinsmen Club, sports. And this year they fundraised $2,000 for the local fire department and also fundraised to help two local families for Christmas... Their motto is 'People helping people,' and they stand by this."
Branch Manager Rosalind Piercey accepted the award on behalf of the Credit Union’s staff. "I grew up in a small town," said Piercey. "We realize the importance of being involved. People need us. People need education about the financial industry, they need assistance, they need social things, they need to know things. We educate from the little to the elderly and we give them all the information we possibly can."
Piercey said the staff members at the Credit Union are often involved in fundraising activities. "We even went to jail for a couple of days," she added, referring to a Jail & Bail event held earlier this past fall to raise money to help two local families with Christmas. Patrons of the Credit Union donated money to have an RCMP officer arrest a staff member of the bank and place them in a jail set up outside the building. "We had members stopping by to pay as much as $100 for a hot dog,” said Piercey. “I nearly fell to my knees, because I couldn't believe the support."
Piercey said her heart swells with the thought that staff will be able to go shopping this week to buy things for the two families. "Every one of us are so excited," she said.
The other nominees for the Outstanding Community Service Award included SADA, singer and community volunteer Judy Brazil of Trepassey, Stillwaters Massage, and Bidgood's Supermarket in the Goulds.
The chamber capped its awards ceremony with the presentation to Kavanagh. To qualify for the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, a nominee has to have been active in the local economy for more than 20 years and consistently exemplified good corporate citizenship. The nominees this year included Pat's Plants & Gardens in Bay Bulls, Southern Construction of Trepassey, and Home Hardware Witless Bay and Trepassey.
In 'Da Loop co-owner and chamber director Linda Cook introduced Kavanagh, who grew up in a section of Ferryland called The Quarry with his parents Alphonus and Elizabeth Kavanagh.
"When Bernard was 17, he went as a crewmember aboard a ship sailing to Holland where he almost lost his life, because that was the year of the Great Flood," said Cook.
The flood occurred at the end of January and into February 1, 1953. Caused by a severe storm that started on a Saturday night with most people within its range unaware that it was coming, the storm caused massive waves that rolled over the coastlines of a number of countries on the North Sea. It did the most damage in Holland, where about 20 per cent of the country is located below sea level. Some 1,836 people died in the Netherlands as a result of the flood. Several hundred more were killed in Great Britain and in boats along the coast of Northern Europe and in the North Sea.
When Kavanagh returned to Newfoundland after that trip he set off for the ice floes of the North Atlantic as part of the annual seal hunt. "He did one bout of seal hunting and from there he went to Greenland," Cook said.
Kavanagh had a job washing dishes and peeling potatoes on a military base. "That's where he got the love for potatoes," Cook joked.
In Greenland, Kavanagh sent all the money he was making back to his father in Ferryland. When he returned home in 1958, his father handed the $5,000 over to him. "That's when he bought his first general delivery truck," Cook said. "That same year he married Clara Hanlon. They started a business selling potatoes out of the basement of their home. Clara did all of the book work, Bernard did all of the talking."
Ten years and the births of seven daughters later, Cook said, the couple opened a wholesale business next door to their home. "By this time he had seven trucks delivering products between Trepassey and St. John’s. They were delivering vegetables, Vachon products, propane, Coke, beer, anything he could get in that truck, he put in it," Cook said.
In 1969,Kavanagh bought the Southern Shore Trading Company and started operating a general store as well as the wholesale distribution network out of a large two storey premises. A year later he bought the building that still houses the Irish Loop Drive Restaurant and take-out.
"At that time he was employing about 200 people," said Cook.
Kavanagh sold the huge warehouse and general store premises, located across the street from what is now the Colony of Avalon centre, in 2007. It's now owned and operated by the Southern Shore Folk Arts Council as a theatre, cafe, and office.
The Irish Loop Drive restaurant still operates, during tourist season. "We're proud to have them as competition," said Cook, "because it makes us have to work harder."
Now 79, Kavanagh is still active in his business, said Cook, and can be found preparing orders and even helping out on the truck with deliveries and pick-ups. “Who better to receive this Lifetime Achievement Award than Bernard Kavanagh?" said Cook.
After accepting the award, and a standing ovation from everyone in the room, Kavanagh declined the opportunity to make a speech, displaying his trademark wit by joking he was too full to speak because of the big breakfast he had just eaten.
"You didn't know I knew so much about you, did you?" said Cook.
"You did pretty good," Kavanagh replied. "But you didn't know it all, thank God."
Thompson wrapped up the morning's festivities by noting the chamber hopes to keep the Seagull Awards going on an annual basis. "Hopefully, it will gain momentum," he said. "And when you see someone like Bernard getting recognition and some of the new businesses that we talked about, and the NGOs that have been working hard year after year after year, and sometimes without any sort of acknowledgement, it's a great thing for us just to be able to present these awards and let people know that we are watching and people do care."
St. Mary's Bay residents out to develop 'uncommon potential' of Holyrood Pond
The dream of local business and municipal leaders on the Route 90 side of St. Mary's Bay to develop the tourism potential of Holyrood Pond is being rejuvenated again, this time with an emphasis on encouraging private businesses to play a part by offering a network of services to potential visitors.
The work is being spearheaded by a non-profit group called Holyrood Pond Development Inc. It was down to four members when Patrick Monsigneur, who operates the Claddagh Inn in St. Mary’s with his wife Carol, and some others, including Sylvester Yetman, decided to give the idea another push. The group is now up to 10 members and eager for representation from throughout the region. Monsigneur was elected president. The group is even developing a feasibility study.
Monsigneur and his group sees Holyrood Pond as becoming part of a larger network of attractions on the Southern Avalon peninsula. He points out the 21 kilometre long pond and the possible attractions that could grow from it are "bookended" on one side by the Colony of Avalon Foundation in Ferryland and Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, and on the other side by the Salmonier Nature Park and the Cape St. Mary's Bird Sanctuary.
Monsigneur envisions the attractions of the southern Avalon as serving as a playground for the growing population of the Northeast Avalon in much the same way that the Muskokas serve Toronto and Mount Tremblant attracts Montrealers seeking outdoor fun.
"Tourism is developing everywhere else, why shouldn't it happen here?" Monsigneur said. "It's got uncommon potential. That's what I've been telling everybody. Right in the middle of it all is this amazing recreational opportunity. And St. John's isn't getting any smaller. It's growing and growing."
At the centre of the dream is Holyrood Pond itself. As Monsigneur has pointed out in a planning document, the mostly land-locked fiord offers a unique ecosystem of salt and fresh water with some 33 species of fish. The potential for angling is tremendous, he said. There is already a commercial eel fishery at the pond, but where the pond opens to the sea periodically, there is also a mix of brown trout, sea trout, salmon and even sharks in the extreme southern end. "We've heard of halibut being pulled out of there," Monsigneur added. "Of course there's caplin and cod down at the bottom... There's all kinds of species of fish in there waiting to be angled."
Another key to the puzzle is the former provincial park at Holyrood Pond. Monsigneur noted it's a huge park, over 250 hectares, with a waterfall, a now unused swimming pool, and potential for recreational camping vehicles, campsites and cottages. Money from the park's operation could help sustain the visitor centre in St. Vincent’s, which HPDI uses as a base, courtesy of the local town council. But HPDI is also open to a private person developing the park as a small business. Monsigneur is expecting the provincial government to soon call for proposals from people interested in acquiring the park.
"We'd like to get into that and develop it, or see somebody develop it," Monsigneur said. "Holyrood Pond Development Inc., as a non-profit group, is studying the possibility of putting our own proposal in. But we are willing and eager to work with any private enterprise that wants to do something down there. It doesn't matter who gets it as long as somebody gets it and develops it, that's the key."
Monsigneur said he has heard there are a number of people interested in the park, but he has not seen any proposals.
There's also plenty of recreational potential along the banks and inland from the pond, Monsigneur said, referring to old trails, including the "crossing place” bridge, that leads to some cottages owned by lcoals, and an old mail route that took a course inland from the Salmonier Line to St. Shotts and Trepassey. There are other potential attractions too, such as the sites of old saw mills that were used years ago to cut the lumber that was harvested inland and floated down the pond. There are still buildings in St. Mary's that were built with that lumber, Monsigneur said.
"It's the best opportunity for development in this region," Monsigneur ventured of the tourism industry. "I don't think anybody is going to come down and reopen a fish plant and nobody is going to bring a brewery or anything like that down here soon, so tourism is the key for this region."
Monsigneur said HPDI supports other groups in the area hoping to benefit from the pond, including one led by Kevin Christopher, that is trying to raise money to build a slipway at Path End for recreational boat users, and other groups that are trying to develop some of the traditional trails and paths.
"But it's going to take some private investment, that's all there is to it," Monsigneur said of the grander plan. "Those kind of ventures are expensive. We're seeing if we can put together our own investment program, but we'd be willing to work with anybody who's got a good program that would benefit the region."
Meanwhile, the group is grateful for any and all support and encouragement it is getting, including from the St. Vincent’s-St. Stephen’s-Peter’s River council, which allows it to use its interpretation centre on the pond as a home base. It has a gift-shop, tearoom, and a boat-slip with floating docks close to St. Vincent's beach where the whales can be seen, in season, chasing caplin. Monsigneur's group of volunteer board members operate it on their own without any government help. The centre is used by many groups for a range of activities - everything from baby showers to exercise programs. The well went bad this summer and the centre had to close early, but fortunately, Monsigneur said, the Department of Municipal Affairs has agreed to help solve that situation.
"I've spoken to people from Path End to Riverhead down to Peter's River and just about every point in between over the period of a year to see what they thought of development at Holyrood Pond," Monsigneur said. "It's right at the beginning of grand possibilities."
Goulds farmer decries ATV, snowmobile 'trespassers'
Goulds farmer Robert Searle says he has had more than his fill of frustration caused by ATV and four wheel riders who are breaking through fences and tearing up hayfields and crops.
Searle’s 68 acre farm is located on the main road in the Goulds, right at the intersection with Ruby Line. He grows hay as well as cabbage, carrots, beets, turnips and potatoes, and is also rearing sheep. He hopes to increase the size of the flock, to better serve the growing demand for lamb in St. John's restaurants, and to start keeping beef cattle. But he is worried about the extra aggravation that will come from trying to protect his animals and the fences penning them in from ATVers and even snowmobilers who as a matter of course now carry pliers and wire cutters to clear the way for their machines.
"Farming is dying off around here," Searle said. "You've got to put 24 hours a day into it, 365 days a year. A farmer will take a mere paycheque at the end of the week. The older generation didn't mind it, that's all they knew. But the younger generation, they can hop on a plane, be in Fort McMurray in 10 hours and they can take home $3,000 at the end of the week."
But Searle is not dissuaded. His grandfather bought the land in 1925. After he died in 1969, Searle's father rented the ground to local farmers. A few years ago, Searle started farming it.
"I grew up farming, yes," he said. "I never did it full time, but I worked for dairy farmers in the area and I always picked vegetables and stuff. But now I'm after buying all my own machinery and clearing extra ground and I want to get back into it again.”
Searle works days at construction and the rest of the time at farming, until the time when he can tend to his land full time.
Most of the farm is composed of large meadows tended for hay. This year, he managed to grow and harvest 84 big bales of hay, which he sold to other farmers. The “bales” are actually more like giant, marshmallow looking balls of hay wrapped in plastic that each hold the equivalent of 14 of the old square bales.
“My intentions are to get into sheep. I'm working on a permit to build a barn here... If I can get a flock of 50 or 60 sheep, I'll be self-sufficient in hay,” Searle said. “But as of now where I've only got 12 of them I've kind of got to get rid of the hay for the time being. It's going to take two to three years to get set up with a nice flock and some beef animals."
The threat posed by ATVers has him worried. The few sheep he has now are terrified by the bikes when they come roaring by. Searle said the roar of a racing engine can cause a pregnant ewe to abort.
"The problem here with the bikes is absolutely unbelievable," Searle said. "The bikes were really bad back during the '80s and they died out during the '90s.But since these new subdivisions have been built around the area, it's after exploding again. Last year and this year is the worst we've ever seen it."
The local residents who own ATVs and snowmobiles, where they grew up around farmers, respect the necessity of staying off the fields, Searle said. "They'll use the trails. But this new crowd that's coming in at Balnafad, Wildrose, Southlands, new places that are being brought in here around the Goulds, there are a lot of people coming in, and I don't know if they know the difference and don't care, but we're really finding the past few years that we are crucified here with bikes."
Hardly a weekend goes by that Searle doesn’t have to drop what he’s doing on the farm and chase after people tearing up through the fields on bikes.
"It seems like every time I stop someone on a bike, they think they're a lawyer for some reason,” said Searle. “They know the law better than half the lawyers around. They'll say, 'Well you never had gates up, you never had chains up, you never had signs up.' And I'll say, 'Yes, because you just tore them down.' Then the first thing that comes out of their mouths is, 'Well sure the government is paying for it anyway.' Everyone has this thing in their head that when they see a meadow the government is paying for it... There's never been a government dollar spent on this property. This is ours. But whether the government is help paying for a meadow or not, that's privately owned ground."
Searle said farmers throughout the Goulds are dealing with the same problem. There aren’t as many fences kept on farms these days, so bikers think they have free reign.
“Years ago, a lot of farmers would have their cattle out grazing the fields between milkings, so they had to put up fences and maintain them,” Searle said. “But the bigger dairy farmers now keep their cattle in 365 days a year, because it's more efficient to bring the forage to the cattle and leave them in the barn. While they are in the barn you can walk through the herd and check them out and see problems. So the farmers more or less let their fences founder over the years. One time in the spring that was the first chore every farmer had, maintaining his fences, because the cattle would be going out in the spring."
But even in places where fences are maintained, such as on sheep farms, the wood and wire is not much of an impediment to the riders.
Searle said he has had fence posts up with signs on them saying "No Trespassing' and 'Keep Out,' but ATV riders completely ignore them. One day he watched an ATV rider come along and steal every 'No Trespassing' sign that had been posted in the meadow.
"And the signs I have on the back of the property up there, I am sick of replacing them," Searle said. "People have the understanding that if they don't see a sign they have the legal right to enter."
Searle is displeased with a recent change in government policy that bans the stringing of chains across gateposts. But even before the law changed, he said, he was constantly replacing the red and orange warning flags on the chains because ATV riders would pick them off. " How stupid," said Searle. "I put the chain there for people's safety... If you come to somewhere that has got a gate or chain, it's there for one of two reasons; whoever owns that land wants to keep something out, or they want to keep something in."
Searle said he replaced one chain three times. "I have it bolted on. They'll show up with wrenches and take chain and all and go on,” he said. “They figure if the chain is not there, they can enter that car road. But when they enter that car road, they've got nowhere to go but into a field, because there's no way out. But it doesn't seem to deter them."
Another time last year, said Searle, he watched four ATV bikers go up over a neighbour's hay meadow. "I went after them in the pickup," he said. "I find that a lot of these kids now have helmet cameras. And they have a great laugh out of watching someone chase them... They could be putting that up on the internet."
Searle said the bikers don't think about the cost of the damage they inflict when they spin their knobby tires cutting through turf and throwing clots of sods in the air. "You take say a 1,000 square foot front lawn," said Searle. "That could be $3,500 or $4,000 to get someone in to do your lawn - topsail, seed it, sod it, whatever. What do they think a 10 or 20 acre meadow costs?"
A hayfield may look like nature put it there, but it actually involved a lot of work by somebody. "It takes an awful or of work," Searle said. "By the time you put a bulldozer up there to clear it off, and an excavator to drain it, then it has to be ditched, then rock raked - there are machines for that - and then rock picked and scarified three times, then seeded - that's the easy part. Now you've got to try to get the seed to grow with fertilizer, limestone, manure - all of this stuff has to be trucked in and paid for. And then you've got some fool in on a bike tearing it up? And they know what they are doing is wrong, but they think it's their personal playground and that they can do what they like."
There is a fork in the pole line that run on back of Searle's land; one route runs to Shea Heights the other to Petty Harbour. A gravel road, owned by Newfoundland Power and dividing Searle’s property from his neighbour, runs from the Main Road to the fork. Instead of taking the dirt road all the way to the pole line, Searle said, he's often seen bikers cross onto his neighbours' hay fields to spin up sods along their way.
"It's an absolute lack of respect," Searle said. "They know the difference. It's just a big laugh to see whoever can flick the sods the highest... They don't know how frustrating it is. It costs thousands of dollars to put those fields there and maintain them, all for the sake of getting a bit of hay out of it to feed your animals or sell."
Searle said it’s useless to call the police. “I'm after having them here a dozen times. And really, what are they going to do?" he said.
Two summers ago, Searle said, he had an acre of potatoes planted in one of his back meadows. "I was here one day and I saw a bunch of four wheelers taking the gate down and driving back and forth through the potatoes and by the time I got up there they were left and laughing. Out of a full acre of potatoes, I'd say a third of it was destroyed. And there was no other purpose of doing it other than for them to have a laugh. I was going to set vegetables up there this year, because there's very good soil up there, but I said, 'What's the sense?'"
Searle said the bikers know the farmer's vehicles and some of them like teasing and taunting them when they are home.
The odd time when a farmer manages to get an ATV rider into court, Searle said, it’s not unusual for a judge to throw the case out.
“It’s like you have no legal right to protect your property,” Searle said.
Residents tell Commissioner they are tired of 'fear mongering' campaign
About 70 people, most of them favouring the proposed Witless Bay Town Plan that was overwhelmingly selected in a recent plebiscite, attended a Public Hearing last week on the document.
The event was held in the Knights of Columbus Hall. The audience also included a small contingent of environmentalists from outside the community who were apparently attracted to the event by a propaganda campaign designed to whip up opposition to the development of three private building lots between Mullowney's Lane and Ragged Beach.
Witless Bay resident Ron Harte took pains at the start of the hearing to make Commissioner Wayne Thistle clarify that all testimony offered during the meeting had to be done under legal oath, thereby putting an onus on all speakers to make truthful remarks. Harte and other residents were incensed by some of the claims circulated in the days ahead of the hearing by a few local protestersincluding Noel O'Dea, who sent out an e-mail circular with a form letter attached asking his contacts to notify the Department of Municipal Affairs of their opposition to the proposed Town Plan. O'Dea's circular contained a two page letter in which he claimed up to 400 houses could be built at Ragged Beach, and a 33 page "information" package that included a photoshopped depiction of a large fence barring access to the East Coast Trail with the caption 'What Ragged Beach Could Look Like In The Future.'
O'Dea didn't attend the hearing, but his e-mail campaign drew the ire of speakers who felt his claims, and efforts to stop two local families and another private land owner from building homes on their privately-owned lots, were outlandish. There were also a number of references to O'Dea's large, glass walled gazebo, which sits right on the beach below his property at Gallow's Cove, as well as stacks of used tires built into the coastline to act as a retaining wall below his land. A couple of speakers also pointed out that under both Town Plans that went to the plebiscite, O'Dea is getting four acres of his own land rezoned to qualify for residential housing development.
The first speaker before the Commissioner was land owner Anne Marie Churchill, who along with her husband Gary, bought 1.5 acres of land below Mullowney's Lane several years ago in the hope of building a house to live out their retirement.
Churchill said she and her family came home for Christmas in 2009 and went for a hike along the trail near Ragged Beach. Struck by the beauty of the area, she immediately started looking for land and found an ad from a family in Witless Bay looking to sell their property on Kajiji. Churchill said she offered to buy it pending a check with the town council to see if it would allow a house there and a check by a lawyer to see if they could obtain clear title.
Clear title was available, she added, and the council offered its support to zone the land to allow a building lot. But she was warned that a group in the area was opposed to any development near Ragged Beach. Churchill said she flew back from Ottawa to meet with members of the group and outline her family’s plans, but was told she would never be allowed to do anything with the land. "We wanted to compromise," Churchill said. "We were told, "We're not interested, We're only going to stop you.'"
The Churchills decided to buy the parcel anyway. "We're not wealthy people, contrary to what people write on social media," she said. "We're not wealthy developers from Ontario... There are three landowners in that area with private property. We are not interested in Crown Land. We simply want to build one house on 1.5 acres, one house in the woods."
Churchill said she and her family are avid hikers and support the East Coast Trail and their house would not interfere with the trail or be near the beach. Churchill said her family has tried twice to meet with the East Coast Trail Association. "There is no way we would block the trail, even if we could," she said.
Churchill said the former council approved Rural Residential zoning for her land, but when the new council came in, it changed the Town Plan to make the land Recreational, without informing the land owners. That meant the Churchills would not be allowed to build. "They sucked the value out of the land, behind our backs," said Churchill. "We get tax bills every year. We pay our taxes."
Churchill pointed out the irony of her family's situation is that the backbone of the opposition are people who own large houses and property in the same area.
"It's ironic that one of our opponents is getting four acres of land rezoned to Residential," Churchill said. “And he's fighting us and Ronnie Harte and Wayne Williams. There are only three of us left... I've been so impressed by the people of Witless Bay… the numbers that came out to that plebiscite to stand up for private land owners, and I hope that their wishes are going to be respected. They voted for Plan A... I think that should be respected."
Churchill's remarks drew enthusiastic applause from most of the people in the hall. But not resident Colleen Shea. "I'm here to speak for the ‘puffin whisperer’ and the trail walkers and all the other people inside and outside Witless Bay who actually use that area," she said.
Shea noted that in 2011, some 1,400 people e-mailed and faxed the council opposing development at Ragged Beach. However, the weight of that claim was weakened later in the meeting when resident Barbara Carey, who was a member of council at the time, pointed out that nearly all of those "letters" was a form letter.
Carey said she hadn't planned to say anything at the meeting, but felt compelled to do so after hearing some of the environmentalists from outside the town who think the residents don't care about the ecological reserve and that the town is rezoning the East Coast Trail and Ragged Beach.
"That's not what's happening at all," Carey said. We're talking about three private citizens who want to build homes out in the woods that won't be visible to the birds... A lot of the propaganda that is going around is fear mongering. It's making the people of Witless Bay afraid that there's a 400 lot subdivision going down there and that there's a developer coming in going to make $25 million. We're not talking about rezoning the whole coast. It's an area close to the area that is already residential. Just three little plots of land. That's all these people are asking."
Developer Blair Paul told the Commissioner that "many misconceptions and half-truths" have been made by the people opposing development in the town, with the statements even being circulated internationally. "Unfortunately the facts have become blurred in an effort to gain public support."
Paul said the rumours of a 400 lot subdivision at Ragged Beach are simply untrue. "It's the height of hypocrisy," he said. "Mr. O'Dea... is the only person in Gallows Cove who owns enough land to construct a subdivision... This man, who claims to promote ecological conservation, is the only member of the community with a private gazebo on a public beachfront bordering his vast personal estate. A St. John's millionaire, who has his land zoned and developed exactly as he wants it, is now fighting to limit others from doing exactly what he has done."
Paul said the subdivision that is being proposed, is located on the highway near the Mobile Arena, quite a ways away from Ragged Beach. "This subdivision will not produce negative ecological repercussions for the Witless Bay (Ecological) Reserve," he added, "but will contribute more than $180,000 to the municipality of Witless Bay in property taxes alone.”
Paul argued that O'Dea and his supporters are using the public's sympathy for conservation to strip away the property rights of land owners in the town.
Paul's father, Fraser Paul, addressed the Commissioner later in the meeting. He said the 49 acre subdivision he and his son have been proposing since 2010 is located three kilometres from Ragged Beach. Some 19 acres of the land is private property, he said, while the rest is publicly owned. Paul said he has already spent some $672,000 on the proposal over the past two years, though none of the 87 lots have been developed yet. Paul said his subdivision will have proper environmental safeguards.
Mayor Sébastien Després broke the usual convention of council members staying neutral at Public Hearings by offering a lengthy warning about the dangers of over development on the town's water table. Councillor Albert Murphy told the Commissioner Després was not speaking for council. Harte interposed to warn the mayor, "Remember, you're under oath."
Després told the Commissioner the two "iterations" of the Town Plan put to the plebiscite "was very confusing for a lot of residents."
That's despite both of the 250 page plans being almost identical with the only significant difference pertaining to efforts by the new council in the second plan to stop Churchill and Harte from developing their land. The other difference involved minimum lot sizes in Rural Residential areas. Plan A called for three quarter acre lots, while Plan B specified a full acre.
Després said Witless Bay residents are potentially facing millions of dollars in additional taxes to pay for the installation of water lines if the drinking water in wells gets ruined by development.
"There are many threats to this town in terms of future liabilities that we could incur, but none greater than poorly planned development," Despré said. "We have to be very careful... Witless Bay is not a magical unicorn. It's a beautiful place, but it will fall prey to the same problems as any other space in the province if we're not careful of development."
Després maintained Witless Bay is under "very large pressures" from a "great number of proposed subdivisions, and these proposed subdivisions are all very, very, very large scale projects."
He added most of the proposed subdivisions would be located in Rural Residential areas in higher elevations of the town. If those subdivisions go ahead, he said, both the Town's Planner and "every professional that council has spoken to about this issue" feels that "public water will become a necessity in the Town of Witless Bay... We cannot bury our heads in the sands and pretend this will not happen... Installing 40 or 50 kilometres of water lines in Witless Bay will bankrupt the community."
Those remarks, along with some of the other claims, drew former mayor Derm Moran to the microphone. He lamented the scare mongering. "Why are they putting so much fear into the people of Witless Bay?" he asked. "There is no need of this. Witless Bay was a nice community. People worked together with each other. They enjoyed each other's company. There was none of this - the lies, the deceit."
Moran said people outside Witless Bay are being given the wrong impression of what's happening in the town.
Moran was followed by several environmentalists, including Bill Montevecchi of Portugal Cove - St. Phillip's, who studies the seabirds at the reserve, and Fred Windsor of St. John's, who said he was representing the Sierra Club. They made general remarks about the value of the reserve and urged residents to prohibit development near Ragged Beach.
Resident Dena Wiseman, a former councillor who along with Després caused the uproar that eventually led to the plebiscite by retracting the new Town Plan and amending it to stop Harte and Churchill from building ontheir land, said her opposition is based on ecological grounds.
Wiseman said she objects to lot sizes in Rural Residential areas being less than a full acre, because of the danger posed to the water tables below. She added she opposes development at Ragged Beach because of the area's proximity to the East Coast Trail and the ecological reserve.
Fraser Paul pointed out to the commissioner that Wiseman is in a conflict of interest pertaining to the Town Plan. He added she is getting her own land rezoned to accommodate half acre lots.
Former councillor Joan Tobin, who developed the first subdivision in the town back in 2007, countered the earlier claims made by Després. Tobin said the previous council, in 2009, passed a regulation requiring all developers to pay for an aquifer study by an independent engineer with expertise in hydrology before council will consider any subdivision.
Tobin said such a study costs some $50,000 to $60,000 and can take as long as a year to conduct. "If you fail that aquifer study, that's it, your subdivision is dead in the water, you don't get to build if the hydrology of the area doesn't support the water tables," she said.
Tobin noted she paid for such a study for her subdivision and offered to show it to the mayor, but he has never taken her up on the offer. The results, she said, based on a study of 150 wells in the community, concluded Witless Bay has a sustainable aquifer. "There are no issues with aquifers," Tobin said. "That is fear mongering at its best by the mayor."
Tobin said there has been a sustained campaign using social media, "designed to entice social outrage” against the several private land owners who want to build houses off Mullowney’s Lane.
“There are no subdivisions on the record, nor proposed, for this area of Ragged Beach,” Tobin said. “There are no applications for sizable chunks of Crown Land in this area... There are three land owners in this area with privately owned land that want to build a single family home. The public trails and the beach area will continue to be utilized and enjoyed by visitors and residents as usual."
Tobin said besides being a trained intensive care nurse, she is a marine biologist with a degree in geography and earth sciences and a post degree program in coastal and ocean management. "I know these three houses will not affect the ecological reserve," she said.
A number of other residents also addressed the Commissioner about how the Town Plan will affect their properties. Thistle said he hopes to submit his report in about a month’s time.
CBDC Celtic reports on efforts to nurture local business growth
The Celtic Business Development Corporation marked the conclusion of another successful financial year at its annual general meeting held in the Bay Bulls Regional Lifestyle Centre last week.
Chairperson Evelyn Reid said the role of the community lender is to help communities build capacity and individuals to "shape their own future."
During the fiscal year ending March31, 2015, Reid noted, Celtic CBDC approved 22 loan applications and disbursed some $1.58 million to eight new business startups and five existing businesses.
"What this really means to the bottom line here on the Irish Loop is the number of jobs that it represents," she added. "It's all well and goodto have businesses, but you really want to have people working in those businesses to better the financial situation of our region."
To that end, the loans disbursed last year helped create 34 full time jobs and maintain 38 others, Reid said.
All told, Celtic CBDC has 55 loans in its portfolio with nearly $3.3 million outstanding. Reid said that's money that is "going to work everyday" to help people further their businesses.
The loans are approved by a volunteer board of directors composed of Reid, Lana O’Neill, incoming chairperson Sharon Topping of Trepassey, Secretary-Treasurer Susan Sheehan of Renews-Cappahayden, business owner Bertha Rousell of Trepassey and retail sales manager Mary Raymond of Renews - Cappahayden. Long time board chairman and director Dan McDonald of the Goulds retired from the board last year, as did fellow directors Mary Fleming, Lil Hawkins and Derrick Thompson.
Reid, who lives in Admiral's Cove, said the CBDC supports a variety of businesses in the region. Loans have been given to businesses in agriculture, the arts, food services, construction, the fishery, manufacturing, real estate and various services.
"We don't only approve loans," Reid said. "We offer services such as training... Training is always something I encourage for people and it's been our privilege I think to offer this kind of training."
Some 33 people received training in the last fiscal year, she noted, in fields ranging from sales to marketing through social media. Not only does the CBDC offer group training sessions, but it also provides individual training to businesses looking to increase the abilities of a worker or staff in marketing or financial management.
The Celtic CBDC also helps people with the federal government's Self-Employment Assistance Program, assess the viability of business ideas, and last year, helped six young people start their own businesses through the Youth ventures program.
Reid said the Celtic CBDC is able to do such work not only because it has an effective board, but also a dedicated staff led by executive director Loretta Ryan. Other staff members include business development officer Gertie Molloy, accounting clerk Anita Sullivan and office administrator Judith Walsh. "We could not realize success without them," Reid said.
This current fiscal year, which ends next March, is also looking good, Reid observed. "We invite you to participate in that success," she said.
