Fisherman's Road

I'm filling in for Bill Rowe as host of VOCM's afternoon radio call-in show, Backtalk , for the month of July, followed by two weeks standing in for Randy Simms as host of Open Line . Each day I'll post the show's monologue, which I prepare in advance. ••• Good afternoon Newfoundland and Labrador and all the ships at sea. Let’s begin with a hurricane. This particular hurricane season has the potential to be a particularly nasty one. While I'm at it, did you ever hear of Newfoundland’s Independence Hurricane of 1775? It’s listed on one online site as the 8th deadliest storm of all time. But I’ll get to Hurricane Independence in a moment. Back to this coming hurricane season … Diane Whalen, minister responsible for emergency preparedness, issued a release Tuesday (July 27th) urging Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to prepare for the peak of hurricane season. On average, one or two storms impact Canada every year. This season, the Canadian Hurrican...

I'm filling in for Bill Rowe as host of VOCM's afternoon radio call-in show, Backtalk , for the month of July, followed by a week standing in for Randy Simms as host of Open Line . Each day I'll post the show's monologue, which I prepare in advance. ••• Good afternoon Newfoundland and Labrador and all the ships at sea. Let’s begin today with moose, because the moose/vehicle problem seems to be getting out of hand. On Saturday night (July 24 th ) a family of four — a mother and father, a 12-year-old son, and a 22-year old daughter — were driving west toward Grand Falls-Windsor after a family outing at Botwood Park. Sounds like a wonderful day. Only the evening was a nightmare. The family’s car reached the weigh scales between Bishop’s Falls and Grand Falls- Windsor when a bull moose ran into the highway. From out of nowhere, which is often how it happens. The father, who was driving, swerved. The car struck loose gravel on the side of the r...

I'm filling in for Bill Rowe as host of VOCM's afternoon radio call-in show, Backtalk , for the month of July, followed by a week standing in for Randy Simms as host of Open Line . Each day I'll post the show's monologue, which I prepare in advance. ••• Good afternoon Newfoundland and Labrador and all the ships at sea. Let’s begin today offshore Newfoundland, on the Orphan Basin about 430 km east of Newfoundland, where Chevron and a consortium of companies are drilling the deepest well in Canadian history. The big news last week involved the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, the watchdog agency that regulates the offshore industry. The CNLOPB released some information on oil-spill response. Chevron warned regulators that two things could hinder its ability to clean up a major oil spill and drill a relief well to plug a leak — sea ice and fierce storms. But the bigger story was the fact that the CNLOPB kept secret key inf...