cktimes.ca Archives for Notes from a Garage


Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Exciting Times for CKTimes!!!

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

This has been an exciting week in the life of cktimes.ca and yours truly. I have been busy criss crossing the community of Chatham-Kent, meeting some of the many community-minded people from across our area. It was great getting to renew acquaintances with John Quennville of the Tilbury Rotary Club and I hope people from across Chatham-Kent will get involved and check out the PowerPlay competition the club is organizing on behalf of the local Easter Seals Society. John and his event co-chair Richard Robert certainly seem to have a good committee together to organize the event and I hope it'll really go well. And I'm also hoping you'll head out onto the highways and byways on Chatham-Kent this Sunday, September 29 to take part in the Kent Federation of Agriculture's Agri-Tour. Us city folks need all the help we can get to understand the complex world of farming, and what better chance than by visiting some of the local players involved in local agriculture. Check out the story with Alan Pollard of down Merlin way to find out more about the Agri-Tour and how to get onto the right area roadways. And then there have been visits to W.G. Thompson and Sons Ltd. world headquarters in Blenheim to talk to Wes Thompson, grandson of the company founder. So, I had a great time with Wes and learned a lot, but while I'm driving home I realize I've forgotten to ask him for his title with the company. I pull out his business card, thinking how smart I was to pick one up. I read: Wes Thompson, Grand Poohbah – I kid you not – that's what it read. Now, there's a company with a sense of humour and maybe that's why they seem to be doing so well. Talked to Dan Crawford at Crawford Chrysler Jeep in Chatham and circled back to Ridgetown for the Arts Enhancement Association meeting - and what a great group that is working to promote the arts in Chatham-Kent. I'm quickly finding out that this is one very busy and extremely diverse community. Thanks for making me feel welcome all across Chatham-Kent. I'll work hard to earn your trust.

The paper continues to evolve with each passing day. I should tell you that I'm now getting some help with the project as Judith Bellamy of Chatham has joined the effort as a Sales Associate. Judy is a wonderful, community-minded lady who shares my vision of creating an old-fashioned community newspaper on the net in Chatham-Kent. She's starting off by calling on area funeral homes to try to get local funeral directors to e-mail Chatham-Kent obituraries to me so I can post them in the Times. There will be no charge for this because I will treat obituraries as readership items – which they are – and likely the biggest readership item in any media source. I want local residents to have a reliable way to learn about the passing of friends and neighbours in their community. I hope we can pull this off because I think it will be a worthwhile effort.

News out this morning that Ernie Eves spent about $3 million in his effort to become the Premier of this great province – a record for anyone campaigning for a party leadership here in good, old Ontario. That's a lot of bucks, I guess. But then it's all relative. I was watching part of boxing match at a friend's place the other day (first time I'd seen any boxing for about two decades), and there's this Oscar de la Hoya (sp.) chap bashing some other poor bloke's brains out. When the fight is concluded, my friend turns to me and informs me that this de la Hoya guy has earned $100 million for beating up on his opponent for about 36 minutes. Wow! And some baseball player has a contract worth $250 million. Am I out of the loop because I still think four bucks an hour is a lot of money to make? Guess I am. Strange, but true.

I'm really having a ball writing the Classic Vinyl column in cktimes. Hope a few of you are reading along. If you read this space regularly, you'll soon find that I'm a bit of a music nut. If I'm not trying to play the bass guitar myself, I'm listening to classic vinyl, or I'm promoting shows here in Wallaceburg. If you're into blues and/or folk music, you should check out the Glass Onion link on this site. Music has been my life for many years, since the janitor at my public school signed me up for the town band when I was five. Interest has really been passed down, though – both grandfathers played in the old Hanover town band and my Dad carried on the torch by playing country music harmonica for quite a few years now. Love my music. Helps make the world go around.

I really do hope you're enjoying the Times. I'm working hard to make it the best I can. Let me know if you want to get involved.

And remember..."Hew to the line; Let the chips fall where they may."



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.