ve local · smokers one cigarette, i could not partake of just one bee pin. i couldn’t have...

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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK LOCAL CITY EDITOR:HARVEY TAYLOR 894-2231 EXT . 2678 [email protected] the record S AT U R DAY , J A N UA RY 15, 2005 SECTION B TEMPEST IN BEER MUG - B2 Lack of sign permit has Waterloo frothing BIRTHS AND DEATHS- B5 BY COLIN HUNTER RECORD STAFF LISTOWEL A s usual, the trash talk starts to fly before the darts do. “Did you need your walker to get in here old man?” jabs An- dré Carman, unsheathing three darts from a black leather case. “You better watch your mouth, boy,” John Verwey fires back, “or I won’t let you carry my darts for me.” OK, as trash talk goes, it’s fairly tame. But this is darts, not gang warfare. Carman often makes cheap shots about Verwey’s age — 47 — though Carman himself is only four years younger. The men glare at one anoth- er for a moment, like prizefight- ers at centre ring awaiting the bell. Neither is able to keep a straight face, and the charade falls apart as they begin chuck- ling. “OK, let’s play some darts,” Verwey says, his voice a bari- tone warble from a tenacious chest cold. He plucks a dart from its case and throws it, barely tak- ing a moment to aim. It stabs the board just outside the bulls- eye. He doesn’t seem pleased. If Carman can land his dart closer to the board’s centre, he’ll earn the right to throw first in their opening game of the night. He steps to the line, hastily aims, and throws. Bullseye, dead-centre. “Nice one,” Verwey concedes with just a faint hint of sour grapes. Carman and Verwey are playing each other because none of the other guys hanging around Listowel’s legion hall would stand a chance against ei- ther of them. It would be tough to find anyone in the country who could beat them, for that matter. They’re a rather mis- matched duo — Verwey is squat and rotund with a soup-strainer moustache, and Carman is long and lithe with wispy, dirty- blond hair. But they make great oppo- nents and an even better team. As a pair, Carman and Ver- wey recently trounced the top- ranked U.S. team at a doubles tournament in Michigan. Just a couple of weeks ago, Verwey trumped former world champion John Lowe at the Ladbrokes World Darts Cham- pionship in England, shocking darts enthusiasts everywhere. So Verwey and Carman’s match inside a smoky, small- town legion hall is, you could say, a clash of darts titans. If darts were a popular spectator sport here, these guys would be millionaire celebrities. But it isn’t. So once a week, they square off at the legion hall after work — Carman is a construction worker, Verwey an electrician — amid no fanfare whatsoever. A couple dozen legion regu- lars drink and play cards at nearby tables, oblivious to the showcase of darts mastery in their midst. “It would be nice if darts got some more recognition,” Car- man says after landing three darts in a tight cluster around the triple-20 scoring area, rack- ing up 140 points — a near- perfect throw. Masters of the dart arts BY ANNE KELLY RECORD STAFF WATERLOO REGION L ocal hospitals say they have no immediate plans to lay off staff and are encouraged by a new Health Ministry direc- tive not to cut clinical programs if it means harming patient access. Dennis Egan, Grand River Hospital’s chief executive offi- cer, said yesterday he’s hopeful the directive means more mon- ey is on the way next year to pre- serve programs, “I’m more optimistic than I was three months ago,” Egan said. “The government appears to be willing to meet us halfway in addressing costs.” Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday in London that hospitals unable to balance their budgets will receive finan- cial help, but he cautioned lay- offs remain possible. McGuinty said hospitals must continue to look for ways to save money, but if the province has to provide more to balance their budgets, then it will do so. Last October, Egan said that without an additional $8 mil- lion, Grand River would have to make significant cuts in out-pa- tient programs and some reduc- tions to in-patient programs. The hospital is facing a shortfall of $21 million over the current and coming fiscal years, but has already ad- dressed about 21 per cent of the shortfall through improve- ments in efficiency and a plan to increase revenue from its re- tail pharmacy. He said the province has ap- proved those moves and discus- sions continue as the hospital looks for more cost savings. Julia Dumanian, chief execu- tive officer at Cambridge Memo- rial Hospital, said she’s heard nothing about more funding. “It’s just far too early in the planning process to know what it really means,” Dumanian said of the latest ministry direc- tive on clinical programs. No plans for local hospital layoffs MATHEW MCCARTHY, RECORD STAFF Sometime team members and frequent opponents John Verwey (left) and Andre Carman square off in weekly darts competitions at the Listowel legion. Verwey, one of Canada’s best darts players, recently fared very well at the Ladbrokes World Darts Championships in England. K0643552 N o one sets out with the goal of becoming an addict. Some of us are just more obses- sive-compulsive or, as I prefer to put it, “enthusiastic” than oth- ers. We approach things with gusto. The sordid tale of my most recent addiction began, as they all do, innocently enough. The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery put up for auction on eBay a wreath I had wrought. I, a foreigner to the great electronic yard-sale community, ventured online to see how said, sad wreath was faring. It was not faring well. I felt duty-bound to bid on it myself. It was dangerously easy to set up a secure “PayPal” account using my charge card. The bidding commenced. It was a fundraiser for a good cause. I later discovered that I had lost the wreath to a reader of this column — a perceptive person of discerning taste, as are all readers of this column. I felt sorry for him, but $20.50 was hardly going to break him, and he did say that his wife warmed up to the wreath after a few days. It should have ended there, but while my Clay and Glass Gallery item did the dead Min- nie’s float, I made the mistake of trawling around the site. I didn’t bite on the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese, or any other eBait, until I stumbled across a bee pin. Yes, a bee pin. It was cheap costume jewellery that for rea- sons even I don’t understand, I simply had to have. It turned out that in the way alcoholics can’t have just one drink, gamblers one bet, or smokers one cigarette, I could not partake of just one bee pin. I couldn’t have enough bee pins. I spent every evening glued to the computer, amassing quite a collection. I neglected my children, who subsisted on honey sandwiches. To my husband Ryan’s hor- ror, every day a new bee pin ar- rived by post. We were being swarmed. I started hiding my habit. I asked my daughter to spirit the packages upstairs the second she got home from school. I am not proud of turning Alexandra into an enabler. “Is that a new bee pin you’re wearing?” Ryan asked suspi- ciously each morning. “No,” I would lie. “I’ve had this for days.” When pressed, I would protest, “This only cost $1 US!” “Plus $9.50 US for shipping,” he would retort tartly. I was in denial. His barbed questions were giving me hives. In hindsight, I can see that it wasn’t as much the bee pins I was addicted to as it was eBay itself. It combined two vices I thought I had exorcised years ago, shopping and online chat- ting, with my favourite form of exercise: sitting. My competitive instinct had kicked in. I craved the high of “You are the current high bid- der,” and was outraged by “You’ve been outbid.” “Outbid?!?” I would shriek from Ryan’s basement office, awakening slumberers two floors up as I eBayed at the moon. “Outbid this, sucker!” In this way, I ended up with a number of regrettable pin wins, including some “wannabees” who were, upon inspection, wasps and flies. But oh, how I was loved by the eBay sellers, who left glow- ing feedback for me. “You are the best!” raved silverspeck. “No. 1 eBayer!” applauded jewelry3721. And my favourite: “Wonderful customer . . . excel- lent communications. A plea- sure!” trumpeted Arosenwatch. Clearly Arosenwatch appre- ciated my careful crafting of queries. He or she somehow sensed how I laboured over, “How much to mail this cute bee pin to Canada? Thanks.” Fellow eBayers’ warm em- brace, their words of valida- tion, kept reeling me back in. Thanks to them, I earned an eBay star rating within weeks. I am tearing up recalling it. A family intervention did not convince me to stop. “Buzz off,” I hissed, as a rhinestone flew off the bee brooch du jour. “Back away from the computer! My only pal now is PayPal!” They pleaded, they begged, they cajoled, all to no avail. I would still be online today were it not for one single, pierc- ing statement. It came from Visa, and thank- fully, it stung me to my senses. • The Record’s deputy city editor, [email protected], has en- rolled in a 12-step program, Hold eBay@Bay. She plans to submit the bill to the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. Attention beeBay shoppers: here’s a honey of a deal ROBERT WILSON, RECORD STAFF Bee ware of temptation. SUSAN CHILTON SEE HOSPITAL: PAGE B2 SEE DARTS: PAGE B2 B1-VE #5

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Page 1: VE LOCAL · smokers one cigarette, I could not partake of just one bee pin. I couldn’t have enough bee pins. I spent every evening glued to the computer,amassing quite a collection

CYAN MAGENTAYELLOW BLACK

LOCALCITY EDITOR: HARVEY TAYLOR

894-2231 EXT. [email protected]

the record

S A T U R D A Y , J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 2 0 0 5

SECTION B

TEMPEST IN BEER MUG - B2Lack of sign permit

has Waterloo frothing

BIRTHS AND DEATHS- B5

BY COLIN HUNTER

RECORD STAFF

LISTOWEL

As usual, the trash talk startsto fly before the darts do.

“Did you need your walker toget in here old man?” jabs An-dré Carman, unsheathing threedarts from a black leather case.

“You better watch yourmouth, boy,” John Verwey firesback, “or I won’t let you carrymy darts for me.”

OK, as trash talk goes, it’sfairly tame. But this is darts, notgang warfare.

Carman often makes cheapshots about Verwey’s age — 47— though Carman himself isonly four years younger.

The men glare at one anoth-

er for a moment, like prizefight-ers at centre ring awaiting thebell. Neither is able to keep astraight face, and the charadefalls apart as they begin chuck-ling.

“OK, let’s play some darts,”Verwey says, his voice a bari-tone warble from a tenaciouschest cold.

He plucks a dart from itscase and throws it, barely tak-ing a moment to aim. It stabs

the board just outside the bulls-eye. He doesn’t seem pleased.

If Carman can land his dartcloser to the board’s centre, he’llearn the right to throw first intheir opening game of thenight.

He steps to the line, hastilyaims, and throws.

Bullseye, dead-centre.“Nice one,” Verwey concedes

with just a faint hint of sourgrapes.

Carman and Verwey areplaying each other becausenone of the other guys hangingaround Listowel’s legion hallwould stand a chance against ei-ther of them. It would be toughto find anyone in the countrywho could beat them, for thatmatter.

They’re a rather mis-matched duo — Verwey is squatand rotund with a soup-strainermoustache, and Carman is longand lithe with wispy, dirty-blond hair.

But they make great oppo-nents and an even better team.

As a pair, Carman and Ver-wey recently trounced the top-ranked U.S. team at a doublestournament in Michigan.

Just a couple of weeks ago,Verwey trumped former worldchampion John Lowe at theLadbrokes World Darts Cham-pionship in England, shockingdarts enthusiasts everywhere.

So Verwey and Carman’smatch inside a smoky, small-town legion hall is, you couldsay, a clash of darts titans. If

darts were a popular spectatorsport here, these guys would bemillionaire celebrities.

But it isn’t. So once a week,they square off at the legionhall after work — Carman is aconstruction worker, Verwey anelectrician — amid no fanfarewhatsoever.

A couple dozen legion regu-lars drink and play cards atnearby tables, oblivious to theshowcase of darts mastery intheir midst.

“It would be nice if darts gotsome more recognition,” Car-man says after landing threedarts in a tight cluster aroundthe triple-20 scoring area, rack-ing up 140 points — a near-perfect throw.

Masters of the dart arts

BY ANNE KELLY

RECORD STAFF

WATERLOO REGION

Local hospitals say they haveno immediate plans to lay

off staff and are encouraged bya new Health Ministry direc-tive not to cut clinical programsif it means harming patient access.

Dennis Egan, Grand RiverHospital’s chief executive offi-cer, said yesterday he’s hopefulthe directive means more mon-ey is on the way next year to pre-serve programs,

“I’m more optimistic than Iwas three months ago,” Egansaid. “The government appearsto be willing to meet us halfwayin addressing costs.”

Premier Dalton McGuintysaid yesterday in London thathospitals unable to balancetheir budgets will receive finan-cial help, but he cautioned lay-offs remain possible.

McGuinty said hospitalsmust continue to look for waysto save money, but if theprovince has to provide more tobalance their budgets, then itwill do so.

Last October, Egan said thatwithout an additional $8 mil-lion, Grand River would have tomake significant cuts in out-pa-tient programs and some reduc-tions to in-patient programs.

The hospital is facing ashortfall of $21 million over thecurrent and coming fiscalyears, but has already ad-dressed about 21 per cent of theshortfall through improve-ments in efficiency and a planto increase revenue from its re-tail pharmacy.

He said the province has ap-proved those moves and discus-sions continue as the hospitallooks for more cost savings.

Julia Dumanian, chief execu-tive officer at Cambridge Memo-rial Hospital, said she’s heardnothing about more funding.

“It’s just far too early in theplanning process to know whatit really means,” Dumaniansaid of the latest ministry direc-tive on clinical programs.

No plansfor localhospitallayoffs

MATHEW MCCARTHY, RECORD STAFF

Sometime team members and frequent opponents John Verwey (left) and Andre Carman square off in weekly darts competitions at the Listowel legion. Verwey, one of Canada’sbest darts players, recently fared very well at the Ladbrokes World Darts Championships in England.

K0643552

No one sets out with the goalof becoming an addict.

Some of us are just more obses-sive-compulsive or, as I prefer toput it, “enthusiastic” than oth-ers.

We approach things withgusto.

The sordid tale of my mostrecent addiction began, as theyall do, innocently enough. TheCanadian Clay and GlassGallery put up for auction oneBay a wreath I had wrought.

I, a foreigner to the greatelectronic yard-sale community,ventured online to see how said,sad wreath was faring.

It was not faring well. I feltduty-bound to bid on it myself.It was dangerously easy to setup a secure “PayPal” accountusing my charge card.

The bidding commenced.It was a fundraiser for a good

cause. I later discovered that Ihad lost the wreath to a readerof this column — a perceptiveperson of discerning taste, asare all readers of this column.

I felt sorry for him, but $20.50was hardly going to break him,and he did say that his wife

warmed up to the wreath after afew days.

It should have ended there,but while my Clay and GlassGallery item did the dead Min-nie’s float, I made the mistake oftrawling around the site.

I didn’t bite on the VirginMary Grilled Cheese, or anyother eBait, until I stumbledacross a bee pin.

Yes, a bee pin. It was cheapcostume jewellery that for rea-sons even I don’t understand, Isimply had to have.

It turned out that in the wayalcoholics can’t have just onedrink, gamblers one bet, orsmokers one cigarette, I couldnot partake of just one bee pin.

I couldn’t have enough bee

pins. I spent every eveningglued to the computer, amassingquite a collection. I neglectedmy children, who subsisted onhoney sandwiches.

To my husband Ryan’s hor-ror, every day a new bee pin ar-rived by post. We were beingswarmed.

I started hiding my habit. Iasked my daughter to spirit thepackages upstairs the secondshe got home from school.

I am not proud of turningAlexandra into an enabler.

“Is that a new bee pin you’rewearing?” Ryan asked suspi-ciously each morning.

“No,” I would lie. “I’ve hadthis for days.” When pressed, Iwould protest, “This only cost$1 US!”

“Plus $9.50 US for shipping,”he would retort tartly.

I was in denial. His barbedquestions were giving me hives.

In hindsight, I can see that itwasn’t as much the bee pins Iwas addicted to as it was eBayitself. It combined two vices Ithought I had exorcised yearsago, shopping and online chat-ting, with my favourite form of

exercise: sitting.My competitive instinct had

kicked in. I craved the high of“You are the current high bid-der,” and was outraged by“You’ve been outbid.”

“Outbid?!?” I would shriekfrom Ryan’s basement office,awakening slumberers twofloors up as I eBayed at themoon. “Outbid this, sucker!”

In this way, I ended up with anumber of regrettable pin wins,including some “wannabees”who were, upon inspection,wasps and flies.

But oh, how I was loved bythe eBay sellers, who left glow-ing feedback for me. “You arethe best!” raved silverspeck.“No. 1 eBayer!” applauded jewelry3721. And my favourite:“Wonderful customer . . . excel-lent communications. A plea-sure!” trumpeted Arosenwatch.

Clearly Arosenwatch appre-ciated my careful crafting ofqueries. He or she somehowsensed how I laboured over,“How much to mail this cutebee pin to Canada? Thanks.”

Fellow eBayers’ warm em-brace, their words of valida-

tion, kept reeling me back in.Thanks to them, I earned an eBay star rating withinweeks.

I am tearing up recalling it.A family intervention did

not convince me to stop.“Buzz off,” I hissed, as a

rhinestone flew off the beebrooch du jour. “Back awayfrom the computer! My only palnow is PayPal!”

They pleaded, they begged,

they cajoled, all to no avail.I would still be online today

were it not for one single, pierc-ing statement.

It came from Visa, and thank-fully, it stung me to my senses.

• The Record’s deputy city editor,[email protected], has en-rolled in a 12-step program, HoldeBay@Bay. She plans to submitthe bill to the Canadian Clayand Glass Gallery.

Attention beeBay shoppers: here’s a honey of a deal

ROBERT WILSON, RECORD STAFF

Bee ware of temptation.

SUSAN CHILTON

SEE HOSPITAL: PAGE B2SEE DARTS: PAGE B2

B1-VE #5