The top one I did after local council deferred the vote. Apparently most council are opposed to it. But I bet it goes through anyway, sooner or later. The bottom two I did when I assumed it would go through right away. If the cart ain't leading the horse already when it comes to the relationship between big business and government, it soon will be...
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE. All I can say is that I hope it doesn't snow in November or December this year.... and that's not just cause I hate the stuff anyway.
This was fun to do. Mercifully, I left out Meaford, unless you count the Bognor Bridge stuff. Trust me when I tell you, I could have easily put Meaford in. It could have had 9 and 10, but
Score one for the litte guys! In Owen Sound we have this wonderful little food shop on mani street. It's been around for awhile. It's name is Marketside. Seems like Wal-Mart (the giant) wants to get more into fresh, more locally grown produce... and I guess that's not a totally bad thing.... although, do they have to get into everything. Pretty soon they'll be selling cars, escort services, and weapons of mass destruction, too, I suppose. In any event they already have begun to use the name "Marketside" in the States, and they had plans to do the same in Canada. Well, it turns out that our local little shop contacted them and in a nutshell the whole matter was settled out of court and Wal-Mart backed down..... maybe they can call this department in their store "Market-Mart".... has a nice rap sound to it, don't you think?
I'm pleased with the ghost effect drawing here. I'm not convinced about ghosts. But maybe there are.... there's interesting "evidence" out there. But if there are ghosts I think we should just leave them alone. It seems that, outside Hollywood films, all they really do, IF they are there, is just make a few noises and knock a few things over. I don't see any so-called reality ghost shows where ghosts are actually hurting real people. Hey, I make noise and am clumsy too, and most of the time I just want to be left alone. Keep this in mind should I ever turn into a ghost.
O.K., I admit it. This is very silly. It was meant to be. I just wanted to have fun with a news story that was both significant and positive. Dear Mayor Ruth... I hope you or anyone else didn't interpret me saying your reading is boring. I wouldn't really know since I've never had you read a story to me, let alone a bedtime story. But the whole idea of such stories are to be relaxing and to get someone to go to sleep.
There was a big letter to the editor (with a picture!) in the paper that talked about how the city is erecting all these nice looking plaques in places where significantly historical buildings had been. I think the plaques are a nice gesture, and if a building has to go, or if it goes through accident or thoughtlessness, it's good to a least have one of these nice plaques as a public reminder of what we used to look like. But it would be nice to try to keep some of them if at all possible.... just like our teeth. Thus the silly, but hopefully effective, idea I came up with for this.
There are many great musical events each year in Owen Sound and the area. This is definitely one of them. Great, great music by a variety of the area's best, headlined and hosted each year by that fabulous blues band, The Bearcats, and all for a worthy cause. I wanted to do a cartoon that helped promote it. So I came up with this image idea and the nicknames. The Bearcats seemed to get a kick out of it. When the bass player, Kevin Dandeno introduced the band members he used the nicknames. I later got them to sign a copy of the cartoon. I plan to frame it and treasure it. It will go up on the wall next to the one I got Mr. Dressup to sign when he was in town and I had a toon about some political party approaching him so they could better appeal to the youth.
I'm glad the city is apparently going to help support heritage buildings lasting longer. Really, I am. We've lost enough already. I just thought it would be funny to have someone with a brand new house thinking about it. Just another way of drawing attention to a story. In this case a good story.
I said on another post that I enjoy being able to celebrate the lives of some noteworthy area people. This was the 2nd member of the city's Sports Hall of Fame to die in the past several days. I wish I didn't feel the need to do this too often. To say I wish I didn't have to do it all would be unrealistic. That day comes for us all, sooner or later.... it's part of life. But enough reflection. From what I read, Red Leckie was a great guy, and it's my privilege to offer this tiny token of respect and appreciation for a life, apparently, well lived.
I know these are tough times, and I know the word taxes is a bad word in politics, just like "socialism".... whatever.... I just hope we don't keep cutting away all the good things that the average, middle or low income people can enjoy, or maybe even more importantly, need.
Another example of how I like to take some local news item or issue and blend it with things that are happening on a provincial, national, or international level. This took the education story and then tagged it up with a city issue (downtown parking), a Grey/Bruce County issue (our M.P.),
I said to the Sun Times when I sent this one in, that I wish I could do something like this for everyone who dies. I think most people, and not just celebrities, deserve some kind thoughts and words directed their way, and not just when they die. But, having said that, it is nice to be able to do these type of cartoons for some of the people who were especially noteworthy and who made special contributions to this area. Like I said.... wish I could do it for them all, but that's not really possible for me.
I borrowed, all right, in the tradition of comedian Henny Youngman, I stole this punchline from some stand-up comedian I saw years ago on T. V. I can't remember who it was, but this is one of a handful jokes I can actually remember. I just adapted it to work with animals and not a human.
Every once in a while we get a bear sighting in the city. With this latest one it occurred to me that they aren't the only ones who invade our neighbourhoods. At least when bears do it they are easy go get rid of, by either ignoring them, or getting the authorities to chase them away, or catch them (via tranquilizer gun) and hauling their asses back to their home turf. Not so easy, apparently with the door to door salesmen... especially those utility predators. I've got a note posted in our door that says "No Salespeople", but that doesn't always stop them.
The actual news item referred to how the employees were expecting to "kick off" negotiations, before they were dealt this bombshell.
