The Squamidian Report – Aug. 25 / 18
Issue #848
Including:
From Russ
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Its similar to a heavy overcast that comes right down to the ground.
Its similar to a heavy fog that reaches way up from the ground. But its
neither. Its the smoke haze from all the fires burning across the
province and down south of the border. It can be whiteish, or grayish,
or brownish. Breathing gets hard for everyone. You can smell and taste
the smoke. Visibility can be reduced to the point of creating a safety
risk for anyone trying to drive. There are no private aircraft in the
air because every airport in the province is socked in, way below VFR.
Thats how it is here these days. Last summer and the one before that
were similar but that doesn't make it any easier to get used to. BC is
burning, big-time. I've talked to people who had been in the Interior
and they have reported finding half an inch of ash covering everything.
They've said that in some areas the smoke is so thick that you can't
see the tail lights of the vehicle in front of you unless you are right
on its bumper.
Forest fire season actually got off to a slow and late start this year.
Our winter was long and wet and snowy and didn't give up until almost
the end of spring. Then, there was major flooding in a lot of areas. By
the time the flooding was starting to ease up, the fires were starting.
It had gone from saturated to bone dry almost over night. While about
half the fires were sparked by lightning, the rest have been the result
of the stupidest creature on this planet, humans. They just don't get
it. (I say 'they' because at times I choose not to include myself in
the human geniuses). They toss cigarette butts, they let camp fires get
away, and camp fires as well as any open flame are strictly forbidden
these days. We actually had a situation were some campers had started a
camp fire, knowing full well that is was not permitted. When the fire
fighters came to put it out, they spit at the firemen and tried to stop
them. Somehow the $1500 fine doesn't seem to be near enough. That
weekend there was somewhere near 50 of those fines handed out. And then
there are the arsonists, there always seems to be a few of them each
year. My solution to dealing with anyone starting or having a fire, or
tossing a butt would be to put them on the fire-line until the end of
the season, no matter what their excuse might be, as well as laying any
fines and charges that might be applicable.
Some of the fires have consumed incredible amounts of country side and
rugged back country and continue to grow. One of the things 'they' do
that makes no sense is when a fire starts that isn't right in a town or
community, 'they' monitor it for a few days to see what it will do
(like its somehow a surprise when it grows rapidly out of control). By
then it has usually become so big it can not be put out. Most fires
can't, they can only be somewhat contained until winter puts them out.
If 'they' would hit ever fire immediately, one bucket of water from a
bomber would do the trick. As well, because it is politically
unpopular, controlled burns during the November rainy season to remove
the fuel burden on the forest floors would go a long way toward
limiting the destructive aspects of forest fires, and would also
rejuvenate the forests, the way nature has done it for ever.
An interesting side effect of the blanket of smoke is that our
temperatures are about 6 or 8 degrees below what they would be without
the smoke. We are being shielded from the sun. Just like when a large
volcano or meteor strike blocks out the sun, the temps go down. It
would be a relief if we could enjoy it.
Another interesting side effect are the mud slides that have closed
many of the same roads that the fires have closed. Many of our roads
wind their way through some pretty steep country. The fires burn the
vegetation off and the fire fighters dig up the hillsides looking for
hot spots. Then the thunderstorms come through with their downpours of
rain and presto, down comes the hillside, washing away the road and
anything and everything that was on it.
Fire season has been going on in the west for untold centuries. Its
nothing new although perhaps a bit more aggressive than we'd like it to
be. Durning a very smoky fire season a few years ago I wrote a song
about the fires called 'The Forests Burn'. Again, most of you have a
copy of it on CD if you haven't lost it or tossed it. Regardless, it
can be heard at this link.
http://www.thedougsite.net/Songs/Lyrics/The%20Forests%20Burn.mp3
doug
****
From Russ
“Ban all hand-guns in Metro Toronto”
In an effort to stop the “gun violence” in the largest city in Canada,
there is a strong lobby to enact a by-law which would make all
hand-guns illegal in Metro Toronto.
Question: Do you agree? .............
Do you disagree?.........
If passed, there is sure to be an appeal claiming the by-law is
“unconstitutional”, and that “gun control” is a Federal responsibility.
But, if Doug Ford, our “fearless “ Premier can “slice Toronto’s City
Council in half” maybe he can “force” Trudeau to amend the Criminal
Code of Canada, thereby giving all municipalities the right to enact
“gun-banning” by-laws of their own! Dream on. The NRA has a
powerful “gun lobby” in Canada, as well as In US.
But, I wanted to talk to you about “Police Firearms Training” by putting a new slant on old digs:
Training police in the safe and legal use of firearms is a vital part
of their training, and during my ‘involvement’ with guns in the police
service I have been a student, a user, and a trainer. My very first
exposure to hand-guns came when I joined Kitchener Police Force.
Sergeant Oscar Reick lead me to the basement of the Farmer’s Market
building, which was just a laneway across from the entrance to the
Police Station. He carried some “teaching aids”; paper bullseye
targets, stapler, some .38 Ca. ammo, and a Smith & Wesson,
6-shot-revolving pistol. This was the first time I’d seen the sergeant
in “old clothes”; he was not wearing his Sam Brown so he simply carried
the gun in his hand.
“Have you ever fired one of these?”
“Nope....first one I’ve ever seen”.
He laid the gun on a table and, carrying a target and the stapler, he
walked toward the steps that lead to a landing just inside the wooden
double doors, which were closed as the market was not open that day.
This was the Duke Street, or second floor entrance to the market.
“That’s about the right height” he said as he stapled the target to a
wooden support post. If the doors had ben opened, I could have seen
right down Duke Street which was always heavily used by both
pedestrians and vehicles. The target was now about 30 feet from the
wooden table where he’d laid the gun, which he called the “firing line”.
He began demonstrating how to shoot the thing:
“This is how you hold it”, he explains, as he places the handle (grip)of the pistol snugly into his right palm.
“You cock it like this, and this is how you sight it”. He’s holding the
pistol at “arms length” and I hear a sharp “click” as he demonstrates
“dry” fire. Now comes the exciting part:
“You put the bullets in here”. I pay strict attention as he shoves the bullets into the holes. There are 6, he loads 5.
“This gun turns the cylinder counter-clockwise, so if you want your
first shot to be a ‘live’ one, you gotta ‘lock-up’ on an empty
cylinder....Got it?
I’m not sure I got it, but there’s no time for questions, as he
immediately fires two shots! I jump twice. The noise is deafening as
we’re not wearing any hearing protection (unheard of back then...no pun
intended)
It’s a notorious fact that Sgt. Reick has poor eyesight, wears glasses
which do him no good, but he is the “Firearms Training Officer” for the
Department. Duuuh!
“Not bad”, he says as he takes down his target. Two neat round holes,
side-by-side in the centre of the bullseye! He’s grinning as he staples
a fresh target to the same post.
“let’s see what you can do”
“But, Sir....the door behind the post....don’t you think.....?”
He didn’t hear me. He heard. He ignored.
He had left the gun still holding 3 live rounds, on the table (breach
of Safety Rules), NOW, he unloads it, and I watch as takes the gun into
his left hand, and pointing the barrel upwards, plunges the ‘cylinder
thumb-latch’ downwards, removing the live and spent cases; then hands
the gun to me, cylinder open, grip first.
(Note: Unloading was proper, but he should have ‘safety inspected’ the
gun by peering down the barrel with the cylinder open, looking for any
‘obstructions’ such as bullet fragments, before handing it to me).
Now, I’m about to load. Again I inspect the barrel. It’s clear. Holding
the gun as Oscar showed me, I proceed to load the remaining 3 rounds,
carefully ‘locking-up’ on an empty chamber. Now, as I ‘cock’ the gun,
the cylinder will turn one chamber, counter-clockwise, and when I
squeeze the ‘trigger’ the ‘firing pin’ will fall on a live round. (I
hope).
The moment of truth! My career may well depend on this trial.
With the proper ‘stance’, feet shoulder width apart, body at right
angle to target, I ‘cock the hammer’ while pointing safely ‘downrange’.
I ‘sight’ the gun (like I would when shooting my .22 Cal. rifle at
groundhogs, which, by the way is NOT the way you sight a hand-gun)and
using the first joint of my right index finger, I begin to lightly
squeeze the nicely-curved trigger, anticipating a LOUD noise and heavy
‘kick’, I close my fist, jerk the trigger, and BANG!! The ‘recoil’
sends my whole arm upwards, and shoulder backwards! WOW! I was NOT
expecting THAT!
“That went a little high”, says Oscar, calmly. “Try again....this time aim at the target”
(I thought I HAD) Same procedure; this time I’ll be ready for that ‘kick’
BANG!!
“You flinched” says Oscar. (What’s a “flinch”, I thought to myself)
“Try again”, he commands.
This time I know what to expect, so I’ll squeeze the gun handle as hard
as I can. (A novice shooter will often anticipate the recoil, and try
to compensate by pushing/jerking the grip when firing)
BANG!!
We walk to my target to see how well I’d done. We both looked at it. It
was “as good as new”. Without saying another word, Oscar begins
looking around the building trying to find where my 3 shots went. He
found only one. It was imbedded nicely into the wooden door leading
onto Duke Street. He pulled out his jack-knife, and began to dig the
bullet out of the door. It was in deep...he worked hard to get it out,
and he finally succeeded.
I wondered, at the time, why he was so intent on digging that bullet
out of the door. After many long years, I finally came to the
conclusion; Sergeant Reick was “defending his position as firearms
instructor!”.
Did this poor showing end my police career? Tune in again next week and find out.
Your tired, old, Uncle Russ.
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Another beautiful weekend here in Ontario is upon us! It’s just too bad
the rest of most of our weeks are spattered with rainstorms. If nothing
else, the rain is keeping the lawns nice and green!
I’m sure you all know about the home that exploded this week here in
Forest Heights area of Kitchener. I was up and standing at the kitchen
window the morning of the blast. I had just looked at the clock on our
stove and it was five after eight. As I turned and looked out the
window toward the church across the street, there was a huge rumble and
then one hell of a blast on the other side of the church that sent a
fire ball and black smoke hundreds of feet into the morning air. I
thought the plaza just past the church had just blown up! I jumped into
my Jeep, pajamas and all and drove out into the neighbourhood to see if
I could find the source of the blast and smoke. I drove about 4 blocks
toward Highland Rd and followed a fire truck as it turned onto
Blackwell Dr off Westheights Dr. As I turned onto Blackwell, I could
see just a short distance around that corner, a huge extent of flames
and black smoke on the next street off Blackwell. I parked my car on
Blackwell and as I exited the Jeep I could hear and see a woman three
houses down Blackwell from the corner of the street that the explosion
and fire were on screaming and yelling and waving her arms for help. I
told the police officer that had just pulled his cruiser up beside me
that the woman needed help and was calling for paramedics and he said
he would radio for them to respond immediately. I walked down to the
woman’s location and told her help was on the way. She said that the
man sitting in the lawn chair in her driveway was just pulled from the
fire in her back yard and was badly injured. He sure was in bad shape
as I looked to see the flesh hanging off his forehead, arms, legs and
chest and stomach. I realized that he had come from the fire in their
back yard. She then said there was a woman laying in the back yard of
the fire scene behind her house and they couldn’t get to her to remover
her from the fire scene.
As the drama unfolded I decided to go back to my car and head for home.
There was nothing I could do other than possibly be just another gawker
at the scene. So off I went back home! When I got home I tuned my TV to
cable 20 the Rogers News station and watched for any update on the
situation. Of course it was early in the day and they still didn’t have
much in the way of information on the problem. As the day unfolded the
news came out with a few more details. Now two days later, the Waterloo
Regional Police have determined that the woman lying in the back yard
of the home was a victim of a homicide and of course everyone with a TV
is waiting to hear how the woman died and who killed her if indeed her
death was a homicide! Speculation abounded of course with thoughts of
the situation being the result of everything from a natural gas leak to
an intentional dynamite explosion to cover up a crime, to the explosion
of a “meth lab” in the house!
Only time will tell exactly what happened that day on Sprucedale Crescent!
It was obvious that day that the couple had been in bed that early and
as a result of the explosion were blown out of their home into their
back yard by the impact! However with the statement by police that the
death was now deemed a homicide it seems that the woman was dead before
the force of the blast that leveled the house she was in! They say that
her husband who is now in hospital in Hamilton Ontario is not a suspect
but I have no doubt he will be looked at a suspect in her death and the
subsequent explosion of the home they occupied. If I were to speculate
on the situation, I’d be thinking that she was murdered and left in the
home during the explosion to make it look like she was a victim of the
blast! We won’t know until the investigation is completed just what
happened that day. In fact in may take months before the end results
are known and made public!
WOW, what an exciting week this has been around the Forest Heights area!
We’ll just have to keep an eye on the local news to find out how the
investigation is progressing. I’m sure it will all come out sooner or
later who did the dastardly deed and why!
Other than this incredible happing here in our neighborhood there isn’t
much more to say this week! So, I’ll leave off at this point for now.
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
If you do nothing else this week, please check your home to make sure
it is fire safe! That means clearing any accumulation of junk from
around your furnace and water heater and of course replacing the
batteries in your smoke detectors!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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