In Jay's Corner

   Ten years ago a determined young couple bought the Firehouse Restaurant beside Ox Narrows on Haliburton County’s Kushog Lake. They worked doggedly to develop it as a casual eating and gathering place for the cottagers, full-time residents and visiting outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy the wild beauty of this lake country.

The Fire House on Kushog Lake

   The couple, Jay Manning and Anita Maracle-Manning, expanded their restaurant vision into a base camp for exploring the extensive wilderness trails developed for ATVs, snowmobiles, canoeists and campers. They also offered more outdoor enjoyment through fishing derbies and golf tournaments. In short, they did everything to develop a solid business that would provide enjoyment for others.

   Last fall their vision suffered a devastating blow. Jay was told he had a brain tumour. He went through surgery and radiation treatment and now is into a second round of chemotherapy. Through all the medical treatments they have been trying to keep the business running.

   Now, Jay and Anita are not only fighting his cancer, they are struggling to pay for the drugs that his doctors say are needed to help him win the fight. The Ontario hospital insurance system will not pay for these drugs, which friends say are costing tens of thousands of dollars. One of these friends, Ellen Wiley, has started a campaign to help Jay and Anita.

   Ellen said in a recent email: “They have provided us all with sincere friendship for years. It is now time for all of us to step up to the plate to help them.”

   People can help by spreading the word through social networks, offering support, and if they wish, through financial donations to the In Jay’s Corner campaign. Anyone who wants to help or to receive more information should contact Ellen. Her co-ordinates:

Ellen Wiley

email: ewiley@coldwellbanker.ca
Coldwell Banker Wiley Real Estate, Brokerage Dorset

1-800-563-7593
[705]766-2182
Fax: [705]766-1230

Ellen also has established a PayPal account at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4U52NGYVE35EN

Never Forgetting February

   November is the traditional month of remembrance, but for some of us February is just as important.

   In February 1943, 70 years ago, the American troop ship Dorchester was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. Roughly 700 of the more than 900 aboard perished, including four chaplains, one Jewish, one Catholic and two Protestant.

   There was panic on the decks of the Dorchester as soldiers desperately scrambled for life preservers. The four chaplains tried to calm the soldiers and in the end gave their own life jackets to men without them.

   The action of the four chaplains has been called one of greatest acts of heroism of World War Two.

   One of the Protestant chaplains was Captain Clark Poling of the Dutch Reformed Church. He was the seventh generation of Poling ministers and his father was the Rev. Daniel Poling, editor of the Christian Herald.

   Decades ago the U.S. issued a stamp commemorating the heroism of the chaplains. A chapel in Philadelphia was dedicated to them.

   Time, however, slowly buries remembrances. The story of the Four Chaplains is unknown now to most people.

   This week the Los Angeles Times helped to keep the story of the Four Chaplains alive. It’s recollection of the Dorchester sinking can be found at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-four-chaplains-20130211,0,3355001.story