New weapon in city’s war on drugs

Mac's Musings—Claude McIntosh
New weapon in city’s war on drugs

In the seedy illegal drug business, it is rare for a drug dealer to be held accountable for an overdose death. But after a lengthy, painstaking investigation of a fatal drug overdose in the city in December 2023, Cornwall Police Service arrested and charged the alleged dealer with manslaughter, a first in city drug investigations.  It’s a big leap from trafficking.  In Canada, a charge as serious as manslaughter is rare when drug dealers are charged. City police investigators worked with the province’s chief coroner’s office on the complex case. The cause of death was determined to be multi-drug toxicity. The cops took it from there. Drug use and overdoses, fatal and non-fatal, are not unique to Cornwall, said Insp. Chad Maxwell, who heads up CPS field operations. “It (problem) is every where,” said Maxwell. Drugs these days are more far more dangerous than when Maxwell was a patrol officer. Not long ago, Belleville declared an overdose crisis after a series of overdose deaths. Cornwall Police Chief Shawna Spowart said the service is committed to tracking and identifying the source of dangerous illegal drugs being sold in the city. It’s a bold and refreshing step in the war on the dangerous illegal drug business. One that puts  illegal drug trade on notice. The applause is from the court of public opinion.

There was a time when buying and setting up a new television set was a no-brainer.  Take it out of the box. Plug it in. Hit the ‘on’ button. Start watching.  Of course, some might remember a time when a “big screen” television was 21-inch (black and white) with names like Zenith, Philco, Admiral and Sylvania. Folks made a living changing tubes and adjusting the horizontal. Just like the family doctor, they made house calls. Not these days. It’s all high tech. It is called downloading. It’s day three and I’m slowly downloading all the downloads on a new set.  (Hey, I had to enlist my then 10-year-old grand-daughter to show me how to get the light on my VCR from flashing). And they call them ‘smart’ televisions.

• Worst television network that deserved a kick to the curb was the short-lived Sun Television Network, the brain child of Pierre Karl Paledeau, who ripped the heart out of every media outlet he touched before fleeing the scene.

All Sun Media newsrooms – including the S-F – were under a cruel order from Paledeau to keep their televisions glued to the Sunchannel, 24-7. Just as terrible was his decision to do away with most local freelance columnists. At the time, KP was in the running to purchase Les Canadiens. The joke in his depleted, demoralized newsrooms was that if successful, he would order the Habs to go with two lines and one coach.

• MSNBC host Rachel Maddow started 2025 earning $5 million less than in 2024, the result of the cable network piling up huge losses and making cuts. Still, no need for a Rachel Tag Day. Her base salary has been whittled down to $25M.

• Hands up, all two of you, who believed that Trudeau the Younger was going to lead the Libs in the next federal election.

• Former Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Milt Plum (circa 1960s) was once asked when he would know it was time to retire. Said Plum, “When I can’t get out of bed on Tuesday.” Tough game, that football.

• Sometimes, changing governments is akin to shuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic.

• And speaking of elections, the smart money, as they say, is on a May provincial election.

• They say records are made to be broken but when it comes to years served by a Cornwall police chief, Allan Clarke’s record (1953-1974) of 21 years isn’t likely to be matched.

BACK IN JANUARY 1964: Good work by city fire fighters and quick action by employees were credited with saving what one Iroquois Chemical plant official called a “major disaster” after fire broke out in a warehouse at the Second Street West plant and spread to the barrel cleaning building where 56,000 gallons of highly-volatile raw solvent were stored in tanks. While fire fighters fought the blaze, about 30 employees were able to move 26 barrels of resin stored at the rear of the burning warehouse. Several minor explosions were caused when paint lacquer drums caught fire. Most of the department’s 45 fire fighters responded to an all-hands-on-deck call. … John “Skinny” Lascelle, the city’s animal contral officer (aka dog catcher), was featured in a S-F story written by staff writer Earl McRae (who would go on to become one of the country’s top sports writers). … Lionel Chevrier, Cornwall native and justice minister in the Pearson government, and former Stormont MP, was named High Commissioner to Great Britain. A few days later, at a testimonial dinner in Cornwall, Chevrier announced that Cornwall would be home to a new federal women’s prison. It was his parting gift to his hometown. The next day, MP Lucien Lamoureux confirmed the announcement and said several sites just outside the city – one south of St. Andrews – were being looked at. Several factors, including local opposition and concerns by the John Howard Society that Cornwall lacked resources to support the prison, played a role in the feds abandoning the project. … St. Lawrence Saints won the EOSSA junior pre-season basketballtournament with a 53-32 win over Thousand Islands. Guy Benoit led the Saints with 14 points. … The St. Lawrence cadet rifle team was ranked No. 1 in Ontario and No. 3 in Canada. Cadet Lt. Gerald Laflamme was the province’s top marksman. … Charlotte Whitton, Ottawa’s feisty (and that’s being charitable) first female mayor chastised the Capital’s two television stations for referring to her as Miss Whitton. “It’s Mayor Whitton,” she fired back. You didn’t mess with Charlotte. … The federal government was mothballing 14 WWII warships to help cut defence spending.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Before marrying director John Derek and taking the name Bo Derek, she was Mary Collins.

TRIVIA: James Naismith, a Canadian working in Boston, invented basketball in 1891. He was born and raised in this Eastern Ontario community: 1) Renfrew, 2) Pembroke, 3) Almonte, 4) Belleville, 5) Eganville.

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