The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Paradise lost, paradise regained English writer and poet John Milton's classic tale of Heaven and Hell, man's fall from grace and redemption has been studied by countless thousands of students at universities across the country, with many such as this writer trying to figure out what the 17th Century religious poet was saying or meant. Paradise of course is Heaven, or heavenly, and many people throughout the world consider their locale to be Paradise or near to it. Take Florida, for example. Each winter hundreds of thousands of northerners make the snowbird trek to the Sunshine State avoiding cold and winter storms. As friend Dennis is fond of saying while enjoying the southern climate: "Does it get any better?" This summer however, the heavenly southern Paradise suffered the brunt of multiple hurricanes with massive evacuations and billions of dollars in damages ? a true Paradise lost. The pro-Democratic Party St. Pete's Times while deploring the losses, claimed there is a bright side to the damages. Apparently many of the areas devastated were solidly Republican and many (hopefully) would not bother to vote. They also hinted that president Bush was taking unfair advantage, being able to visit the damaged areas, handing out food and water, and giving millions in aid, all the time acting "Presidential." Poor John Kerry could not show up in the state as it would look like he was merely "vote-seeking." Poor John. By the way, pundits are predicting unusually high pre-election day voting by Floridians as both sides are trying to get supporters to vote at advance polls. Some are predicting a pre-election turnout of 25%-35% of eligible voters which could mean the election could really be over before the November 2nd date, even though none of these ballots are counted until the polls close. One unknown result of the multiple hurricane hits on the state is the effect it will have on tourism, or as a locale for a retirement haven for baby boomers. Florida spends $500 million per year on tourism advertising, which is as much as General Motors spends promoting their cars. Optimists figure that Florida is far from the "Paradise Lost" category and that tourists and retirees will soon forget the Hurricane dangers. It is still the fastest growing state, registering 177,000 more permanent residents last year, three times more than second place Arizona. Many of us in the North consider our locale to be Paradise in spite of short summers, too much rain, too many bugs and too few fish. After all no danger of bad weather evacuations, no hurricanes or tornadoes, long summer days, lots of summer and winter sports and activities, little real crime, nice friendly people and much more. Few of us would ever consider moving permanently to the tropics, or (horror of horrors) to Ontario or Quebec. How about a few local "Paradise" stories? Paradise Lodge (not lost) has been owned for the past few years by Carol and Ken MacLellan. The setting is gorgeous, a true northern picture. In addition there is "Mamma's Kitchen" a gastronomical paradise indeed, with a different "to die for" entrée each day. Wednesdays is Carol's secret recipe pickeral dinner, incredibly good. A second heavenly experience for a young boy or girl is a week at Mike Reagan's Extreme Hockey School. Each August, Mike and his excellent group of instructors use the power of positive teaching to show even "ankle benders" how to play and appreciate the game. Instruction is encouraging, kind, always positive and fun, not always common with hockey coaches. One coach we executive members once had with St. James Canucks used foul and abusive language to his players, referees, and opponents. Of course we fired him but it was a bad experience all around. No bad experiences with Mike and his assistants. Another positive experience this summer was attending the induction of local icon Gordon Mitchell to the Flin Flon Station Museum Wall Of Honour, as he joined such notables as Joe Brain, Frank Gunston, Ma Crerar, Bud Jobin, Eileen Munro and Lorna Rogan. Others on the wall would be hard pressed to match Gordon's long years of community service, which included two terms as mayor and service on most community boards including the Bombers. His most recent term of service was his 2002 election to the Flin Flon School Board, these days most definitely a difficult and stressful position. Gone are the days of happily opening new schools as the new reality is finding enough money to operate the system. Attending the enjoyable induction were Mayor Dennis Ballard, former Mayor Graham Craig, and school board Chair Jim Wilson, themselves no strangers to volunteering for the good of the community. By the way, Gordon came here in 1944, boarding at Dan and Ann Negrych's 74 North Avenue boarding house. (Their son, David Negrych, a fixture at Baker's Narrows is a renowned local artist and sometimes poet.) Fortunately for Flin Flon, Gordon Mitchell stayed in the community. A reading of the accomplishments of those on the Wall of Honour makes one proud of those who have served the community so well. They and a number of others have contributed to making the Flin Flon area "Paradise Regained."
