THE BECK BULLETIN

Number 41 October 1, 2005

A TRUE WINNER

Like the Duracell Bunny, Maple Leaf Noble keeps going and going and winning and winning and winning. The two-year-old trotter, owned by Ralph Annear of Montague and his grandson, Jack Panting, has won every race he’s entered this year. His 11th win of the Season came on September 29th at the Charlottetown Driving Park.
Ralph (1.11,6,4.1.) is described as one of those horsemen who does it all. He’s an owner, breeder, trainer and driver, and was lauded in an article on the Harness Edge web site earlier this year. His grandson Jack is 12 and is very interested in racehorses and spends as much time as he can with his grandfather, learning the finer points of the business. They are partners in the ownership of Maple Leaf Noble and its proving to be a profitable venture as the horse has won nearly $30,000 this year.
Hal Hennessey, who writes a harness racing column for The Eastern Graphic, has been promoting Maple Leaf Noble for horse of the year. He also suggests that Ralph should win Horseman of the year in Atlantic Canada. He points out that Maple Leaf Noble is the only undefeated colt in the Maritimes this season, and perhaps in North America, with that many starts.
Hal concedes that despite this there’s no way that the horse or the owner will win those honours. He says Ralph is just a small-town guy from P.E.I. and not one of the industry’s movers and shakers. So in Hal's opinion he’ll be passed over when it comes time to hand out the awards.

TOURING THE WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

Garnet Buell gets a lot of visitors to his wildlife sanctuary in Abney but few as distinguished as the Queen’s representative in Prince Edward Island. The Lieutenant Governor, Leonce Bernard, stopped in for a visit in late August while on a tour of Southern Kings County.
Garnet has turned the Buell family farm homestead into a wildlife preserve. The property has been in his family for 140 years and he’s the fourth generation to own it. He has donated the property to the Island Nature Trust with the understanding that it will be taken over by the Trust after he dies.
Garnet has attracted many species of wildlife to his property by building ponds and generally making it an attractive habitat. He has done most of the work himself with financial assistance from Ducks Unlimited, a conservation group.
The Lieutenant Governor also visited the Cape Bear Lighthouse and Marconi Museum, The Log Museum in Murray Harbour, the Garden of the Gulf Museum in Montague, and other attractions in that part of the province.

PADDLING AGAINST THE BEST

Dartmouth, N.S. is known as the City of Lakes and has been a hotbed of paddling for more than 150 years. There are 23 lakes within the city and many more in the surrounding area, and most of the larger ones have their own paddling clubs.
Many of the young people are involved in paddling and Stephanie and Patricia Munn are included in that number. The girls joined the Orenda Club on Lake Echo about 5 years ago and have spent their summers paddling since then. Both girls have had some experience in inter-club competition, but this year Stephanie (1.4.2.2,2.2.1.1,) got a chance at the big time.
With the national championships scheduled for Montreal in early September, Orenda decided to enter a number of divisions, including the Midget and Junior Girls War Canoe races. These are meant for girls 15 and 16 years old, but since they didn’t have enough candidates in that age bracket the crew of 15 was completed with five 13-year-olds, including Stephanie. After a couple of weeks training, the Orenda group of 28 paddlers and a number of parents set out for Montreal in a convoy of vehicles.
The competition was held at the Olympic Basin Paddling Venue in eastend Montreal. The girls breezed through the preliminary heats finishing second and fourth, easily qualifying for the finals. The group stayed at the Holiday Inn Select in Montreal Centre but it was a long trip to the Venue and Stephanie didn’t enjoy that very much. “It was a 30 minute walk to the subway through a pretty seedy area, and another 15 minute walk from the subway to the race course,” she said. However, she thought the Olympic site itself was very nice and said the thrill of racing was the highlight of the week. The war canoe races were 500 metres and the Orenda paddlers registered times of 2:14 to 2:16 in their 4 races. They placed 4th in the Midget finals, with just inches separating the second, third and fourth boats, and came 6th in the Juniors. An excellent showing for a crew put together at the last minute.

DANNY HOPING TO MOVE UP

The Junior Hockey season is underway, but Danny Stewart is not in the lineup. The Murray Harbour skater was scheduled to play for the P.E.I. Rocket of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season but that may not happen. The Island team had acquired Danny from the Rimouski Oceanic in the off season and he had said at the time that he was looking forward to playing in front of local fans. But before the training camp opened there were signs that perhaps he was changing his mind.
Danny (1.4.6.5.1.2A,2.1.) was due to report on September 9 for his first workout in a Rocket uniform. He met with the team president and general manager, Serge Savard Jr., and explained his position.
Savard said, “he doesn’t have his mind on junior hockey, he wants to go to the ECHL,” the East Coast Hockey League. Danny is slated to have a tryout with the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the ECHL in the near future.
“You can’t force someone to do something they don’t want in life,” Savard told The Guardian. “It goes for everything, not just hockey . . . the door is still open on our side.”
However, he said the next move is up to Danny. “If he wants to come here and play after that, it’s going to be on our terms” said Savard. “It’s going to be up to him to call us and we’ll see where we go from there.”

SEPTEMBER IN SCOTLAND

By Peter Murdoch and Janice MacPherson Murdoch (1.6A.4,6.1,1.1)

The purple bloom of heather on the hills. Light misty rain drifting over green fields. This was Scotland in September, and we were ready to see as much of it as possible in one week.
Being of Scottish heritage (and married to it), I had heard many stories about “the auld country”, but nothing could have prepared me for the sheer joy of actually being there.
From the rugged southwest with its legends of Robbie Burns to the peaceful valleys of The Borders, from the historical splendour of Edinburgh and Stirling Castles to the remote Highlands, every twist in the road revealed another memorable vista. Of course, driving on the other side of that road was an experience in itself!
The Isle of Skye quickly became the highlight of our trip. It was so rugged and remote, it felt like we were at the edge of the world. Sheer rock cliffs plunging into the sea, clear streams trickling down the mountainside, sheep grazing by the side of the road – it was a haven of solitude and peace.
Many other beautiful places had us reaching for the camera. Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Glen Garry..…unspoiled treasures of nature. The castles, old churches and abbey ruins beckoned us to explore the history and legends that make up the rich tapestry of Scotland.
Words can never do justice to the beauty of the country; to truly appreciate it, you will have to experience it yourself…..as we plan to do again some day!

A SUMMER OF BUILDING PERMIT CONFUSION

It all started at the June meeting of the Montague Town Council. Three applications for building permits were presented for projects that were already completed. Councillor Rick Beck (1.11.8.3.4.1.) voiced concern and said this practice must stop. The by-law says Council must approve a permit before work begins, but there is no penalty for proceeding without a permit.
Rick said the planning board should have the authority to approve applications so that builders don’t have to wait a month for the next meeting of Town Council.
The matter was not resolved at the meeting but in the weeks following it was found that the town had replaced the roof of the Town Hall without a permit.
At the July meeting, Council decided to crack down and ordered two churches to tear down a wheelchair ramp and a fire escape that were constructed without permits. Both organizations were told they would have to re-apply and get permits before rebuilding.
The Churches appealed the ruling and a compromise was reached and at the September Council meeting they were told they could pay $25 fines to settle the matter.
At the August meeting an application from Rick to erect an 8x10 foot mini barn was turned down, because Council said he had already started the project. He was ordered to tear it down and re-apply. Council ruled that he had started work on the barn by standing the trusses up.
Rick denied that the work had been started. He said the trusses had come prefabricated and he stood them up so they wouldn’t warp while he was waiting for his permit.
“It’s all a matter of perception. What’s started and what’s not started?” he asked. “They’ve made their decision now I have to decide what I’m going to do.”

UNSIGHTLY OR NOT?

Councillor Rick Beck has resigned as chair of the Montague police, fire and public safety committee, following a disagreement over complaints of an unsightly property in the town.
Town Hall had received complaints about a woodpile on the property and Bill Sutton, the bylaw officer, had issued cleanup orders which were followed. When a third complaint was received Rick went out and inspected the property and said there was nothing wrong with it.
“In my opinion it was not unsightly whatsoever.”
Coun. Doucette disagreed and since they were the only two members at the meeting, the committee was deadlocked. There was no heated argument, Coun. Doucette said. "I felt one way and he felt another."
Rick said he felt he had no choice but to resign as chair, but said he would like to continue as a member of the committee.

STORIES STILL NEEDED

You will recall that Callum Beck (1.4.3B.7.3.3.) appealed to you, his relatives, a few months ago for help in writing his doctorate thesis. The topic is the Protestant-Catholic divide in Prince Edward Island, and details were contained in the April newsletter. Now Callum has extended his appeal to all Islanders through an article in The Guardian newspaper. In a story by Sally Cole, Callum explained that up until the mid-1960s the two groups did not mix - they had separate schools, and separate hospitals.
Written sources are scarce, so he will be drawing upon them all. These include Father MacMillan’s Early History of the Catholic Church in Prince Edward Island and stories collected by David Weale. So Callum hopes that other Islanders will contribute stories of how they got along with their neighbours of opposite faiths.
“Essentially, I’m looking for stories from people about themselves, stories that were passed on in their families about their communities and how Catholics and Protestants got along.
“I’m not only looking for stories that say the bad things, but anything that describes their relationship,” he says. Callum is pursuing his degree through the Open University of England - that country’s first distance learning school. He will be doing his research at UPEI, where Dr. Ed MacDonald is his local advisor. He will visit his advisers in England once a year.

FLOWER SHOW RESULTS

Marion Beck (1.4.3A.3.4.1B) of Milltown Cross has one of the greenest thumbs in Kings County, P.E.I. She was the big winner in the annual flower show held in July as part of the Fisheries Exhibition in Murray River.
Marion won the prize for the best rose in the show, collecting the award sponsored by Brehaut’s Restaurant of Murray Harbour. She also won the Dr. Stewart MacDonald Award for the best Floribunda Spray. And she topped it off by winning the highest aggregate points prize, which is sponsored by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Murray River.
The Lulu (Beck) Lowe Memorial Award for best mixed flower arrangement went to Lorna Glover.
This was the 26th annual Flower Show held in conjunction with the Northumberland Fisheries Festival.

MARRIED

 

 

FARNHAM and MACNEIL: Luke Farnham and Jennifer MacNeill were married at Murray Harbour on August 6, 2005.
Luke is the son of Philip and Mary Lynn Farnham of Roseneath and Jennifer is the daughter of David (1.12,6,1.1.3.) and Paulette MacNeil of Beach Point.
Luke’s parents held an open house and shower at their cottage in Roseneath on August 28th to celebrate the marriage.

 

 

DEATHS

WHITE: Capt Lester Brehaut White (1.4.6.7,1.) of Montague died in the Kings County Memorial Hospital in Montague on Sunday, August 14, 2005. Formerly of Murray Harbour, he was 89 years old and a veteran of the Second World War. He was a captain on the Northumberland Ferries for many years.
He is survived by his wife, Doris (Reynolds) White, a daughter, Sharon, of Port Coquitlam, B.C., and sons David (Anne) of Montague, and LeMoyne (Alana) of Gasperaux. Grandfather of Mark Andrews (Sang), Sarah, Andrea, Allan, Ryan and Leanna White. Great-grandfather of Paige and Brycen. Brother of Fred (Cora), Dartmouth, N.S.; Phyllis Herring and June (Elmon) Nicolle, Murray Harbour; and Elva Bell, White Sands. He was predeceased by his brothers Lloyd and Nathan, sister-in-law Evelyn and brother-in-law Gavin (Junior).
The funeral service was held at the Hillcrest United Church in Montague on Aug. 14 with interment in the Community Park Cemetery.

ADVENTURES IN MORSE CODE

Alan Beck (1.11.8.3.1.1.) had an unusual experience recently while using his low power ham radio. A crow shorted out the power to his home in Alliston, P.E.I., so Alan decided to get out his low power radio (1.5 watts using 6 “AA” batteries) and hooked it up to his 40-foot vertical antenna.
It’s an Elecraft KX1 Ultra-Portable Transceiver.
“I usually use this radio if I want a challenge, or if I’m on a trip or holidays ... then I can toss a piece of wire up a tree and another along the ground and get on the air,” Alan said.
When he got on air he heard a loud signal in morse code on the 20 meter band.
“I threw him a couple of dits, just like I would a local guy, and he threw them back, So, I sent my call sign and he replied.” It turned out to be Jurek, EA6UN, from the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. He said Alan was coming in loud and clear and he gave him a perfect signal report.
Alan said it’s very rare to have conditions that good. “Quite amazing,” he added.

THE BULLETIN HAS MOVED AGAIN

There’s no way you could tell, but the newsletter has a new home. Montague Computer recently took the server we were on off line because of security problems.

Roy Beck who has been looking after us for the past few years - first on a server in his own home and later at MCI after he went to work there - offered to help again. He has connections with a Web hosting company in the United States and arranged to get us some space there. Because we have our own Domain Name, beckbulletin.ca, it doesn’t matter where the server is located. You just punch in that familiar address and the newsletter comes up.

We would like to thank Debby Beck of Montague Computer for providing us with server space at no cost over the past few years. We appreciate it very much. We also want to thank Roy Beck for his help in keeping the newsletter up and running for the past 5 years.

The Vere Beck Family Home Page

The Marfleet Home Page

We're always looking for news of Beck family members. If you know of any significant events drop me a line with the information.

imunn@accesswave.ca

That's it for this edition .. please share it with relatives who aren't on line. The next edition will be out on December 1st.

Copyright © 2005 The Beck Bulletin