Williamsburg library comeback progresses

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) announced January 14, that tonnage increased by four per cent to 38.9 million tonnes during the 2012 navigation season, exceeding the SLSMC’s original forecast by 300,000 tonnes thanks in part to a late season surge in grain movements. 

Strong performance within a number of core markets contributed to an overall gain of 1.4 million tonnes for the year, when compared to the Seaway’s 2011 result of 37.5 million tonnes.

Demand for low sulphur coal in Europe led to a substantial increase in coal volumes, while busy Chinese steel mills triggered an upsurge in the demand for iron ore.  

The shipments of coal and iron ore were brought to the Great Lakes and loaded on domestic Laker vessels.  The Lakers then proceeded from the Great Lakes to the lower St. Lawrence River, where the commodities were trans-shipped to larger ocean vessels, for export to overseas destinations.

On the grain front, 2012 was a story of contrasts as strong Canadian grain movements offset a sharp drop in U.S. grain movements, due to the drought which impacted the majority of the U.S. grain belt.  

Terence Bowles, President and CEO of the SLSMC, emphasized the essential role that the Seaway plays within the North American transportation network. 

“The Seaway was instrumental in providing grain shippers with the means to rapidly respond and capitalize on market opportunities late in the season”, said Bowles.

A number of newly built state-of-the art vessels came into service within the Seaway in 2012, boasting sharp increases in fuel efficiency and reductions in emission levels.  

“These new vessels, part of a billion dollar fleet renewal effort by domestic and ocean carriers, combined with our marketing efforts which have recorded 10.6 million tonnes in new business over the past five years, underscore the Seaway’s future potential,” added Bowles.

The 2012 season also witnessed an important advance in navigational technology.  

“The commissioning of the Draft Information System (DIS) further enhances vessel safety and efficiency”, said Craig Middlebrook, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. “A vessel equipped with DIS can now precisely gauge the amount of water under the ship’s keel, given satellite guided navigation combined with highly precise models of the channel floor.”

The St. Lawrence Seaway closed for the season on December 29th, 2012, with the westbound vessel John B. Aird transiting the Iroquois Lock at 8:59 p.m. After transiting the Iroquois Lock, the John B. Aird proceeded further west and served as the last vessel to transit the Seaway’s Welland Canal, clearing Lock 8 at Port Colborne on December 31st at 4:23 a.m.

Some 227,000 jobs and $34 billion in economic activity are supported by the movement of goods within the Great Lakes / Seaway waterway.

[…]

He is charming. He is funny. He is poignant. He spins yarns that make you feel you’re leaning on a rough wooden railing, in the heat of a Southern summer night,  in some no-name little bar in the middle of no where.

He is a Blues Man.

Doug MacLeod, internationally renowned singer/song writer, was in Morrisburg on Friday, November 11, for one concert only at the Lakeshore Drive United Church. MacLeod is an acknowledged master of the blues. His South Dundas audience experienced a rare treat when he took up his Nashville Guitar, sat down on the simple stage and played. 

It’s hard, attending a MacLeod concert, to separate his music from the stories he spins while he is on stage. As he said in an earlier interview with The Leader, “blues is the true facts of life.” His stories reflect a life not always led on the straight and narrow, a life with some rocky edges to it. But the music grows out of this past. And there is the humour and wit of experience in what he says and sings. 

“When you walk down the street/Don’t you make no judgement on people that you meet…Remember these words/ ‘cause these words are true/They were once children just like you…” (Children Like You)

Sometimes, he sang, “all you need to see the goodness around you/ Is brand new eyes..” (Brand New Eyes).

There may have been a message in his music, but it was never driven home with a fist. Just a wink, and  a sense of humour.

“Here’s a song about crazy people,” MacLeod told the audience. “One of every three people is crazy. Did you know that? (pause) Take a look at who you’re sitting next to.”

He had the audience roaring with laughter when he described a ZuZu Woman. “Y’all know what that is? That’s a woman who loves you so much she will let you eat crackers in her bed.” And his raucous delivery of “Turkey Leg Woman” (“I’m protesting against skinny women!”) brought the house down. 

His fingers flying over the Nashville Guitar, MacLeod’s voice, mellow, driving, animated, soulful, reflected the ever changing  moods of the songs he sang.

“This Old River,” written for a friend of his who eventually lost her life to cancer, was simple, soft and deeply moving. “I went to see her when she knew she was dying. She was out in her backyard still planting trees and flowers. This woman who was gonna leave us so soon was planting life.” 

It stood out in an evening of stand out music.

The enthusiastic audience attending the MacLeod concert knew they had been in the presence of one of the all time great Blues men.

“I never play the same song the same way twice,” Doug MacLeod told his listeners. “You Morrisburg folks are the only folks in the whole world hearing these songs exactly like this.”

What a privilege. 

[…]

Media Release

During the weekend of March 31st and April 1st, the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry (SD&G) Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Auxiliary Unit set out for a third time to raise funds in support of the Special Olympics. 

Over the past months the SD&G Auxiliary Unit has been running fundraising events for the Special Olympics (Adopt an Athlete) and they have had great success. 

The SD&G Auxiliary Unit members first raised $2,000 last November by accepting individual pledges. The SD&G Auxiliary Unit then set up a toll booth at the entrance of the Winchester Mike Dean’s and Tim Horton’s the weekend of March 17th and 18th collecting $5,125.

This past weekend, the SD&G Auxiliary Unit members set up another toll booth at the Morrisburg Canadian Tire and the Morrisburg Tim Horton’s. Another $2,912 was raised in support of the ‘Adopt an Athlete’ program. 

To date, the SD&G Auxiliary Unit has raised $9,763.00.

[…]