"About 1915 or so we went on strike for better wages. The John L Lewis miners union started placing pickets in front of the coal mine. The union was distributing some necessities such as tea, coffee, sugar, flour etc. so much per week. I had a friend Rocco, who was three years older than I was. He said "Let’s hop a freight train and go to Calgary." A big city in comparison to Coleman. He said "We don’t have to…
One of Dad's typed reports of his experiences as a boy and young man involved his injury while working in the coal mine. Here's what he said about that: "My father Nicola, my brothers Salvatore, and Consolato and myself worked for the International Coal and Coke Limited company in Coleman, Alberta.Once I was injured while I was working. Small steel cars were used in the operation that carried three tons of coal each, with ten cars to a train. When the…
When the miners went on strike, Dad and his friend Rocco decided to hop a box car to another town to look for work until the strike was over. Here’s his account of what happened when he got home after the strike ended. This was about 1917. "After I got home I realized Salvatore was missing. I said "Where is Salvatore?" Mother said that he wanted a change and that he is now in Edmonton, Alberta. So at home now…
Both of my parents were of immigrant families in America. Neither had more then a modest grade school education. Dad lied about his age, left school and went to work at 15 years old in the coal mines of Coleman, Alberta for the International Coal and Coke Ltd company. Each miner was given a metal number they wore around their neck to identify them in case of injury or death and to indicate whether they were in the mine or…
I've just finished reading a book by Michael J. Sandel: Justice What’s the right thing to do. The entire book is well written, but here two passages about things I thought particularly of interest. The first deals with the tobacco giant Phillip Morris. The present governor of Washington asked me to be lead counsel in litigation against the tobacco industry when she was Attorney General. After a two and a half month jury trial there was a national settlement, but…
A book I thoroghouly enjoyed was Lawrence Grobel's book: Houstons The life and times of a Hollywood dynasty. There are many parts of this book worth telling about, but here are a few that I found particularly interesting. Mr. Grobel writes of John Houston's admiration of the heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey. Dempsey had come out of a small mining town to become a world famous fighter. Dempsey became the heavyweight champion in 1919 shen he knocked out Jess Willard in the third round after…
The Cliveden hotel (pronounced CLIV-d’n) is unique. It is one of the world’s finest luxury hotels located in the heart of the Berkshire countryside outside of London, near Heathrow Airport, and surrounded by 376 acres of gardens and parklands. The River Thames runs through the property. The former home of Nancy Astor, guests have included every British monarch since George the I as well as Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt. This five star hotel is a Victorian three story…
It sounds like such a good deal – the proverbial free lunch regarding Initiative 1098. My friend Bill Gates Sr looks so sincere in those ads and what he says is compelling. You vote for a state income tax on the rich and your property taxes go down and schools benefit plus the only ones that get taxed are the few wealthy. Everyone else gets off "scot free" so let's stick it to the wealthy – right? Well, you remember the classic …
While we were in Europe I read an article from London by John F. Burns about a woman who died there September 2nd. Eileen Nearne, known as Didi , had volunteered, in World War II, to join the Special Operations Executive, a wartime agency known as "Churchill’s secret army." It consisted of some 14,000 agents who were recruited to conduct espionage behind enemy lines during the war. She was born on March 15, 1921 into an Anglo-Spanish family that moved to…
