The meanderings and ramblings of an escapee from the front lines


























 
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Tuesday, April 14, 2003
Tuesday, November 26 2002
The Bear River Candle Float - Multimedia presentation

SMALL TOWN VIGIL TRADITION CONTINUES
The Bear River Candle Float

THE BEAR RIVER CANDLE VIGIL

BEAR RIVER, Nova Scotia. -- 12 November 2002 --The organizers of the Bear River Candle Float are planning to hold this year¹s event on December 6 at 5:00 pm at the waterfront park near the windmill in downtown Bear River.

The Bear River Candle Float began in the early 1990's when a number of paraffined brown bags in which tea lights had been placed, were floated down the Bear River, by a scattered group of participants in remembrance of the 14 victims of the 1989 Montreal Massacre at l'École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989.

The names of the fourteen victims were placed on the bags as well as names of a number of other victims of violence, both from the local area and nationally.

Many communities in Canada were already holding candlelight vigils to commemorate the anniversary of the Massacre and organizers in Bear River wanted to take their vigil a bit further by incorporating the river, which is so much part of the town into their remembrance of the Victims of violence. The idea of the parafined bags evolved from the japanese tradition of honouring the spirits of departed loved ones with the floating of lanterns called toro-nagashi.

In Japanese tradition, the floating of the glowing lanterns symbolizes the spirits' journey down the river to their homes during the festival of Obon.

As the years have gone by the number of people in attendance has increased dramatically. Those involved this year include the original participants as well as members of CASA (citizens against spousal abuse), the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women, the Women¹s Place Resource Centre and the Bear River First Nation.

There will also be a group of Mi'kmaq women and/or children drumming and singing in Mi'kmaq.

Sunday, November 17 2002
This is pretty cool

Download a free food diary  OR   Microsoft Works File




Monday, July 08, 2002  
News - Halifax - canada.com network

Cop who helped with 9-11 cleanup invited to K-19 premiere


The Canadian Press


Monday, July 08, 2002

HALIFAX - A Nova Scotia police officer who helped sift through the wreckage of the World Trade towers in New York will return to the city for his movie debut.


Const. Jamie Symington was invited to the premiere of K-19: The Widowmaker by the film's star, Harrison Ford, according to a release issued Monday by Symington's wife.

Symington, 36, acted as Ford's on-screen photo double for the film, which was shot in Halifax last year.

The offer was made to recognize Symington's efforts to help find survivors in the rubble after he went to the scene from Halifax last September, the release says, referring to Symington as a ``World Trade Center hero.''

Symington took his search-dog, Trakr, to ground zero, where he claims he found one of the only people to make it out of the debris alive.

The officer was on stress leave from the Halifax police force at the time and is involved in an internal dispute with his bosses over the matter.

The Nova Scotia Police Review Board is reviewing his case and he might face disciplinary action.

Halifax Regional Police suspended Symington on Sept. 24, 2001, for going to New York while he was on leave. He remains suspended until the outcome of a police commission hearing into his conduct. A date has not yet been set.



© Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press

9:50 PM

Sunday, June 30, 2002  
search | Search Allrecipes.com by Ingredient
This is one of my favourite Recipe Sites.

7:56 PM

Sunday, June 16, 2002  

Police use Tear gas in Halifax protests - unreal!!


Protest ignites: Cops use tear gas, stun guns to quell G-7 demonstrators

Riot police used stun guns and 12 canisters of debilitating tear gas Saturday as the G-7 protests turned violent, sending people to hospital with burning skin and eyes. Thirty-four were arrested, and late last night, protesters gathered outside the Halifax police station where those arrested were locked up .

6:11 PM

Saturday, May 25, 2002  
The Search For Chandra

WASHINGTON -- The Chandra Levy missing-person case ended and a death investigation began Wednesday, after discovery of her remains in a park about two miles from her apartment.

9:28 PM

Wednesday, April 24, 2002  

Rumours swirl around shooting



By RACHEL BOOMER

The Daily News


A mysterious shooting outside Bear River yesterday morning has left the small town near Digby abuzz with rumours that organized crime was involved.

At 11:30 a.m., a 35-year-old Halifax County man was found with a gunshot wound to the abdomen near a car that had left the River Road leading into town and turned over.

Paramedics inserted an intravenous line, stabilized him and brought him to a local hospital, then airlifted him to the QEII Health Sciences Centre by 2:30 p.m.

He was treated and later released.

While Digby RCMP say they don’t know if the man was shot before the car went over the embankment or afterwards, Bear River is awash with suggestions that members of an outlaw motorcycle gang were out to run the victim off the road.

“I’ve heard in different places that it was Hells Angels members. Rumours in town the last few days is that they’re here, due to some drug war,”said one local resident, who didn’t want his name used for fear of reprisals.


“Rumour has it that’s what this is about.”

The man said he hasn’t seen anyone who looks like a biker around town, and added rumours have suggested people were killed in the incident — which wasn’t the case.

Const. Gary Smith said the shooting “wasn’t random,” but wouldn’t say if there’s any basis to the rumours.

“I don’t have any correlation to any organized crime group. It’s so early in the investigation, it would be irresponsible of me to speculate what it’s about,” Smith said.

He said it doesn’t look like a case of road rage.

Digby RCMP shut down Highway 101 for three hours in an attempt to keep any suspects from escaping.

Yesterday, they said they had “several” people in custody, but wouldn’t narrow it down any further. No charges have been laid so far.

“It happened in a public area, so there’s a lot of people to be interviewed,” Smith said.

He was treated and later released.

While Digby RCMP say they don’t know if the man was shot before the car went over the embankment or afterwards, Bear River is awash with suggestions that members of an outlaw motorcycle gang were out to run the victim off the road.

“I’ve heard in different places that it was Hells Angels members. Rumours in town the last few days is that they’re here, due to some drug war,”said one local resident, who didn’t want his name used for fear of reprisals.

“Rumour has it that’s what this is about.”

The man said he hasn’t seen anyone who looks like a biker around town, and added rumours have suggested people were killed in the incident — which wasn’t the case.

Const. Gary Smith said the shooting “wasn’t random,” but wouldn’t say if there’s any basis to the rumours.

“I don’t have any correlation to any organized crime group. It’s so early in the investigation, it would be irresponsible of me to speculate what it’s about,” Smith said.

He said it doesn’t look like a case of road rage.

Digby RCMP shut down Highway 101 for three hours in an attempt to keep any suspects from escaping.

Yesterday, they said they had “several” people in custody, but wouldn’t narrow it down any further. No charges have been laid so far.

“It happened in a public area, so there’s a lot of people to be interviewed,” Smith said.

© Copyright 2002 The Daily News
7:52 PM

Tuesday, April 23, 2002  

Canadian Soldiers Killed - canada.com network

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of Canadian and U.S. soldiers gathered Tuesday at a sunset ceremony to remember four members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry killed in last week's friendly-fire incident in Afghanistan.

The 40-minute memorial ceremony took place in Afghanistan just hours before the funeral in Toronto for Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, 25, one of those who died early last Thursday when a U.S. F-16 mistakenly bombed Canadian troops during exercises a few kilometres from their coalition Kandahar base.

The troops paid tribute to each of their fallen comrades - Dyer; Sgt. Marc Leger, 29, of Lancaster, Ont.; Pte. Richard Green of Mill Cove, N.S.; Pte. Nathan Smith of Tatamagouche, N.S.

About a third of the troops at the Kandahar memorial were Americans, led by their commander Col. Frank Wiercinski of the 101st Airborne Division.

Among the Canadians were many with maroon berets - paratroopers who were on a live-fire exercise the night of the tragedy. Eight Canadian soldiers were injured; six of them arrived Tuesday back in their home base in Edmonton. The other two were receiving treatment at the base in Kandahar.

The assembled troops recited the Prayer of St. Michael, patron saint of paratroopers.

A bugler played Last Post. A lone piper played a lament, followed by Reveille from the bugler. Three pipers then played Maple Leaf Forever from a rooftop as the sun went down.

The informal gathering was held at one of the few places the soldiers go for respite from the dusty, desolate terrain at the base - a rose garden, tended by Afghan gardeners, near the Canadian headquarters.

It was the second time in less than a week that coalition soldiers had gathered to pay their respects to the Canadians.

8:47 PM

Tuesday, April 16, 2002  
Interactive Relief & Rescue Map
I came across this really neat photo of the World Trade Centre in New York along with a relief map of the area, from after the Sept 11 disaster.




5:45 PM

Saturday, March 30, 2002  

Queen Mother dies at 101


Britain's Queen Mother, who won the country's loyalty and admiration during the Second World War at the side of King George VI, died Saturday, Buckingham Palace said. She was 101 years old. She died "peacefully in her sleep'' this afternoon at Royal Lodge, Windsor, a Palace spokesperson said.

7:35 PM

Saturday, March 16, 2002  
National Geographic Photo Of The Day--postcards, wallpaper

I love photography and National Geographic has some of the best going. This is a photograph taken in Maine (also one of my favourite places - next to Nova Scotia; but I guess that because Maine looks like NS)

8:47 AM

Friday, March 15, 2002  
Extreme 2001 - Voyage to the Deep!

University of Delaware Marine Studies On-line Expedition. Very cool!

10:59 AM

Monday, March 11, 2002  
I've never looked at the sky the same. I've always watched it, but never the same way as September 11. Six months today since the worst case in history of terrorism on American Soil.

For the few days following 911, the sky above was ominously strange, only the flash of satellites moving across the darkness and looking up it seems as if you're looking at the sky the same way prehistoric man must have...

I volunteered at the Red Cross for several days after the disaster, answering telephones in the Administration Office baffled by the amazing goodness of so many people who called offering their homes, their goods, their food, only a day after the incredible hate of a few.

The flashbacks lasted a long time. Everytime I saw a plane in the sky above me after the all clear was given, I imagined them exploding in mid air or flying into buildings. This lasted months.

The scars on the world will last a great while longer...
11:43 PM

 
This is Really Cool!Help write an Interactive Mystery and you could win a copy of the finished novel or dinner with author Montreal Gazette columnist, Jack Todd, who writes the interactive mystery with a plot devised on the fly by readers.
9:11 AM

Sunday, March 10, 2002  

I went to see Queen of the Damned this weekend.

Visually, it's a feast for the eyes, but the movie as a whole really didn't amount to much more than being a seductive, 2 hour long rock video. It's a shame because I'd expect better of a movie made from Anne Rice novel. It was scary, but somehow lacked a storyline.
11:42 AM

 
I really, really hate weekends off. I mean time off is great because I work really long and hard hours, but days off just remind me of how really lonely and bored I am here.

I've been in the Halifax area for a little over a year and it's a cool place...but it amazes me that a place that is so brimming with people - that humanity is literally dripping from every street corner..could ultimately feel so lonely and isolated.

The people I work with are great. They've known me only a year, but they're been more supportive and caring and better to me than even my own family, but I really don't have anything outside of my work.

I keep asking people what they do when they're not working to try to get ideas, but so far...I'm totally lost. :)
9:51 AM

 



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