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7193 East Bay Hwy
AED (automated external defibrillator) On-Site
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COMMUNITY COUNCIL The next meeting of the Community Council is Wednesday May 7th, 7:30 p.m. at the Fire Hall. The Community Council is actively pursuing acquisition of the access to the Big Pond Waterfront currently under the jurisdiction of Public Works Canada. Public Works has also requested a transfer of administration and controls of the lands covered by water (the position of the existing breakwater) from the Province of Nova Scotia. Once this transfer is finalized, the Community Council may assume this role.
At the Community Council meeting of April 3rd, notice of the following motions was given: PN
MT&T MEETS WITH BIG POND COMMUNITY MT&T came and they heard; time will tell if they listened. Oft discussed telephone service deficiencies were finally addressed in an organized way with the March 26 community meeting at the fire hall. Despite nasty weather, a large turnout welcomed three MT&T representatives led by Mr. Dwight Isoner, Regional Manager, Customer Services. After welcoming guests and participants, Council President, Donnie MacNeil turned over the session to MT&T. Taking "the best defence is a good offence" approach, the MT&T representatives led with two relatively similar proposals. The first was for no (additional) charge long distance to neighbouring exchanges such as St.Peters and customer selected and paid for service to the balance of exchanges in the area. The second, was for a customer selected and paid for access to area exchanges. They invited community support for the proposal to the CRTC, the federal regulatory agency, for the associated fee increases. These proposals received polite acknowledgement and then the participants got down to business delivering community concerns. Simply put, East Bay exchange subscribers want equivalent service to that available in Sydney. At present, we pay the same fees as Sydney residents, yet have no service options, such as call waiting and forwarding. We are required to pay long distance to all other exchanges, except Sydney, and are served by less than state of the art technology. It may have been the acoustics, but the MT&T representatives experienced some initial difficulty in hearing the community expectation of equivalent service and fee structure throughout the regional municipality. Repetition and stating of the issue in a variety of ways and with examples finally seemed to pay off. They agreed to take our concerns home and integrate them into their planning process. Upgrading of technology, they promised, will provide digital quality service by fall and give area subscribers access to service options. They also agreed to look into the possibility of linking our service into the fibre optic cable that passes through East Bay providing additional improvement. Readers are encouraged to keep MT&T cognizant of our concerns. Names, positions and addresses were printed in the March edition of the BIG POND TIMES. DMD
GARDEN CLUB Garden Club members will be planting flowers and shrubs around the new hall. This project will be entered into The Nova Scotia Rural Beautification Competition in the Community Enhancement division. Contact President Lloyd White if you would like to participate and are good with the shovel! Next meeting will be on Monday, May 5th at 7 p.m. A varied selection of perennial flower and herb divisions will be available. PN
The Bookmobile will be in Big Pond on Wednesday, May 14th at 11:30 a.m., Irish Vale at 1:30 p.m. and Irish Cove at 2:00 p.m.
Social Commentary The Big Pond Concert Committee is in full swing with Summer '97 Festival plans. Some popular favorites will be back.... Strawberry Festival, Pastoral Airs, Tarabish Tourney, Children's Day, Steak Darts, Round and Square Dance, music workshops, and more! Talent for our Sunday Scottish Concert, focal point of the festival, is currently being booked and the Friday night Celebrity Concert is also being finalized. Because the negotiating skills required to successfully put these events together are intense, a great deal of credit should be given to these volunteers. Souvenirs for the 33rd Annual Big Pond Festival are ordered and will be available at our new restaurant (due to open in June under the direction of Manager and Chef, Raymond Duprey!) at the Parish Hall. BMP
OPEN CEILIDH Saturday April 19th was Big Pond's first approach to an open mic ceilidh at the firehall. The evening was sponsored by the firemen and it was a great presentation! Ronnie McCarron opened the evening as MC and although his attire lacked the luster of his previous hosting event (Men's Fashion Show) he held a captive audience. Malcolm MacPhee, Flo Sampson and Arabelle Fougere inaugurated the musical gig with their usual style of toe tappin' tunes and Kelly Thomas, accompanied by Arabelle, enlightened us with a few of our very own Rita MacNeil songs. Look out Rita, Kelly's on her way. Carl MacIntyre was next on stage with his banjo and the fiddle was going 'full tilt' when it was passed in the hands of Lawrence Martell from East Bay. Amy Sampson also gave her first debut on the fiddle accompanied by her Mother, Flo, and Malcie. Thomas Poulette arrived, in spite of inclement weather, with songs for the crowd and was later joined on stage by Ryan MacInnis who gave us some of his own twist of music. Finally, as the evening came to an end the young set continued with their own brand of 'jam'. All this for only 2 bucks! Fred White decided to pay an extra sixty-five dollars for the privilege of parking "real close" to the Glengarry Road stop sign. Next time Fred, take advice from Jean. It was a great evening! Once again, it's the unique reputation that Big Pond has for social gatherings ... mixing music with laughter for another harmonious Big Pond event. Jeanny Murray would like to send a special thanks to all of those who rang in her 40 plus birthday. Thanks for all the cards, gifts and the music and especially the hair dye. It was very useful. Lindsay MacPhee
The Big Pond Volunteer Fire Department would like to thank the musicians, volunteers, and the public who helped make the April 19th Ceilidh such a success. Very recently our Fire Department and Ladies Auxiliary bowled for the Cape Breton Regional Hospital burn unit. Thanks to all who made pledges...please honor your pledge. Please call Kenny MacLellan for success status.
THE DART BEAT Regular season play for the Big Pond Dart League will soon wrap-up. The first round of play-offs is slated for Friday, April 25/97. First place for regular season play is held by Kevin MacPhee, Arnold Hall and Jamie MacNeil. Jamie, your prize money may not cover airfare from British Columbia but you'll have enough for a few cold ones when you get here. Second place is currently retained by Joan Murphy, Ed MacIntyre and Richard Cabot. Third place (among twelve teams) is claimed by Anne Marie Donovan, Gerald Thomas and Terry MacPherson. The point spread between the top three teams is such that standings are unlikely to change for the balance of regular season play. It's a whole new ball game however once the play-offs begin. The league will then break into two divisions "A"& "B" where the top six teams shall reside in "A"division and the remaining six teams play in "B" division. Late season player acquisitions have strengthened a number teams in the league. Joe Donovan and Anne MacIntyre had a tough time procuring the crafty veteran Alf MacLellan. Alf knew he was in demand consequently holding out to the highest bidder. We are not quite sure what offer finally tipped the scales. Rumour has it Joe Donovan had to toss in his boat to clinch the deal. In other player negotiations John MacLeod and Dave MacKillop worked feverishly to obtain sharp-shooter Arabelle Fougere for the play-off run. The financial dealing to acquire Arabelle has forced John and Dave to work part time in Sydney offsetting team expenses. More Dart News in the next issue of the Big Pond Times. Terry MacPherson
EARTHQUAKE-INSTALLMENT THREE We conclude our notes on the earthquake with a visit to what was the MacIsaac stronghold in this area , St. Andrew's Channel. Sad to say, we find precious few MacIsaac's left to visit, but the seed was well sown here, and the progeny have spread far and wide. I found Michael MacIsaac, Michael Johnny Mick, in Sydney. He remembered the quake. "Oh yes! I remember Little Dan MacIsaac's wife coming over. I must have been out around the yard. I'd be what - six years old? Anyway, I saw Mary Ann coming over, looking as if she was excited about something. She had a brown overcoat on, her hands were thrust into the pockets, and the first thing she said to Momma was , " An de chualasibh na crith-thalmhuinn, Caitriana?- Did you hear the earthquake, Catherine? Thuit na soitheachean an ular orm- The dishes fell on the floor over at our place." Anyway they talked about it- excited and surprised and a little scared. And worried, I suppose, about what might come next. I was so young that everything didn't register, but the Gaelic expressions I remember vividly. " Hector MacIsaac , Hector Sandy, is sitting in his kitchen on MacIsaac's Lane. " It was a different place then than what we're seeing out this window now. No trees as far as you could see on the Old Road and she was clear right to the shore, you see. All crop and pasture land. I was sitting down here with my mother, and my brother Leo, I believe, when, Holy God Almighty! the windows started shaking and the house started shaking. Right away I thought my sister Sadie had gone out and started the old car- we had a Model T that was parked behind the house -and I thought she had started it and ran it against the house, so I ran out and looked. The old car was moving back and forth all right but there was no one in it! I didn't know what in the name of heavens was going on - couldn't figure it out . I never though of an earthquake. I ran back in the house. Mother was saying her prayers. We didn't know what had happened until my father came home. I don't know where he was - I suppose somewhere after some cattle -. but he told us it was an earthquake. Outside of that there wasn't much happened. Except for the scare it didn't bother anyone. Well, yes, it shifted some brooks around! In a brook over there, there used to be water year around- but from then on there's none - not until the rains come anyway. But otherwise it didn't do any harm down here . " I knew I would get an interesting and enthusiastic account of Mary Ann MacMillan's memories of the quake and I very much looked forward to a visit , but, as it turned out, it was not to be. Mary Ann died Sunday , April 20. Mary Ann was 92 . No doubt someone of similar age died in this area the year she was born. Their combined ages spanned virtually the whole history of the Highland presence in the Bras d'Or lakes. In meeting her we got as close as we possibly could around here to meeting the first Highland settler who put a foot on the shores of the Bras d'Or Lake. Mary Ann embodied the character of her Highland ancestors. She was courageous, resourceful, independent, stubborn, hospitable, generous, kind and loyal. Her religious faith was her anchor, but she was no plaster saint - that big purse often contained a small flask, and I suppose she was guilty of as many peccadilloes as the rest of us. She lived for relationships and not for possessions, her friends many and from all walks of life. Her joys were the language and the music and song of her heritage, and she was steeped in its culture and traditions. She earned her way in life by hard work, and in many ways life was not easy, but she faced it squarely and with good cheer, carrying her burdens and not dragging them, as the proverb counsels us. How many years- and many were the cold days among them! - did we see her standing by her driveway, waiting for Joe Johnny MacNeil, or Benny Martin, or Alex Goldie or whomever to give her a ride the twenty miles to Sydney, where she spent the day cleaning houses or offices! Like so many of her generation of Cape Bretoners, she never had the opportunity to fully realize her potential. A shame! Surely that presence, sense of humour, sense of the dramatic, flair, voice, and verve were meant for the stage, where she would have enriched the lives of so many more people! If Saint Peter is used to seeing people arrive hat in hand at the pearly gates, I'm afraid he was quite taken back when Mary Ann swept in. "In the name of God, I hope there's a gillick in this place! Ciamar tha thu, Peadar? Where're the Ben Eoiners? They're all here somewhere. Wait now, never mind, Peter! I can find them my self, thank you. I can hear Rory Heim playing the pipes. " And as Mary Anne made her entrance, calling back over her shoulder, "Now be sure to come down and visit me sometime soon, Peter! I'll make you a good cup of tea. And I'll tell you about the time the bear came and tried to get the MacDougall's sheep, " Peter no doubt knew that heaven will never be the same again. And so another Cape Breton institution has gone. A great loss for her children Joyce and John and for all of us. The earth will rest lightly upon her. (Again, thanks to all who shared their memories. Also to the Beaton Institute for general information on the quake.) Jack MacNeil
MONEY MATTERS Ottawa's proposed Seniors Benefit reinforces need for financial planning. The current systems is as follows:
CURRENT SYSTEM
Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)
PROPOSED SYSTEM For information about the Seniors Benefit, please call the federal government's Income Security Programs at 1-800-277-9914, or visit the web site for the Department of Finance Bev MacPherson
Available Summer '97! Big Pond/Ben Eoin Area John and Joe McDonald 828-2554
BIG POND TIMES: Founded in 1994. "It is a newspaper's duty to print the news and raise hell." - Chicago Times, 1861.
Circulation : 250 This issue was brought to you by Bernadette MacPherson, Josephine McCarron, Don MacGillivray, Sharise McKeigan, Marge MacLean ,Jack MacNeil, George Salmaniw, Bev MacPherson, Terry MacPherson, Lindsay MacPhee, Pat Nelder, Dennis MacDonald (new contributor and editor). Deadline for submissions to the June issue is May 20.
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