The Inverness Oran

Everyone is all smiles as they get ready for the annual Wranglers n’ Roulette fundraiser for Mill Road Social Enterprises. Left to right: Jonathan Ringer, Jim Mustard, Mary MacMaster, and Cindy O’Neill.

-by Beverley Phillips

It’s that time of year again – time to dust off your cowboy hat and boots because Mill Road Social Enterprises is ready for its sixth annual Wranglers n’ Roulette casino fundraiser on August 28th.
“We need to raise $100,000 each year,” said executive director Cindy O’Neill, “and this is our biggest fundraiser.”
While everyone is invited to come try their hand at blackjack or the roulette wheel, Mill Road director Mary MacMaster doesn’t want the point of the evening to be lost. “This is an opportunity to help adults with diverse abilities,” she said. “Through our programming, our participants build skills, confidence, and friendships. The community’s support is making a big difference in their lives.”
Mill Road offers a variety of opportunities and programming for their participants, including employment at their thrift shop and bakery.
Being part of the wider community is also important to them. “Some participants will be volunteering and are really looking forward to being part of this,” said MacMaster.
The evening offers a full slate of activities. “The doors open at 6:30,” said O’Neill, “and the activities begin right at 7:00 p.m.”
To get into the western spirit and warm up for the rest of the night, attendees will receive line dancing lessons, which O’Neill said have proven to be a lot of fun in previous years.
Then there’s a live auction on four packages, which include such experiences as golf at the Nest, a night at the Northeast Cove Geodomes in Mabou, or getting pampered at the Earth and Soul Spa in Inverness.
At 8:00 p.m., the games begin. With the $30 ticket, attendees receive $35 in chips to play at their favourite table. More chips can be purchased if people run out.
For those not into gambling, there are other games on hand.
A silent auction will run throughout the evening, and there will be a 50-50 draw and door prizes. There are also prizes for the top three best western-dressed partygoers.
“It’s a great way to meet up with friends, make new ones, and support a good cause,” said O’Neill.
An evening like this is only possible with the support of their local business sponsors, including the Aucoin Group, Zutphen Construction, and Cabot Cape Breton.
“People in this town are so amazing to support us year after year,” said MacMaster, “and we very much appreciate it.”
A few tickets remain, and they can be purchased at Mill Road Social Enterprises at 20 Mill Road, Inverness, or the Pantry at 15938 Central Avenue, Inverness

-by Janet Bickerton

Janet is a nurse and community activist who is part of the Climate Change Task Force coordinating committee

After spending some time with Elder Dr. Albert Marshall (Albert) I felt it important to share some of our conversation. Albert is part of a local group formed six years ago called the Climate Change Task Force; a group of people from different walks of life and backgrounds coming together around their concern for our environment and the dire threat of climate change. This is how I got to know Elder Albert. I want to share some of what I have learned through my conversations with Albert and how he has got me thinking.

                I believe we need Albert’s leadership. We need to see from two eyes if we are to have a liveable world for our children and generations to come. Elder Albert and his wife Murdena articulated the Two Eyed Seeing Approach and now it is becoming known and shared worldwide. It is about human collaboration, recognizing that nature has rights and we have responsibilities. She is us. When we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves.

                Much of this (two-eyed seeing) is new to me. I am a non-Indigenous person from a Scottish English heritage who grew up in small town Cape Breton in the ’60s and ’70s. My ancestors were settlers who came here on boats, many after being persecuted and driven out of their “home” countries and most were given parcels of land to begin their lives here in the “New World”…given land that was stolen from the Mik’maq. It is a hard truth to swallow.

                I am learning so much and initially I felt some resistance to hearing terms that referred to me as a colonizer or a settler. It was rubbing me the wrong way. But I knew in my heart, and taking a cue from truth and reconciliation, that it was time to listen and truly hear. To hear about what happened to my neighbors, to the Mikmaq, and basically to all other Indigenous peoples throughout the world.

                Albert has a kind of simple direct love that he brings along with him. He is open minded, accepting, non judgemental, a listener, astute, and, I would say, a visionary. I would put him with the likes of Stephen Lewis (recently passed) and David Suzuki, among others. Something these visionaries have in common with Albert is that as accepting as Albert is, he is uncompromising when it comes to what he knows is the wrong path…and, we are on it. He makes no excuses for this and will not “water down” or “pad” the truth to make anyone feel more comfortable. And yet he is hopeful. He is a spiritual man who both sees and feels that we have what it takes. That together we have true power and will do what is right...that we can and we will take a good path. That we can use our intelligence – the best of what science and technology has to give, joined in collaboration with indigenous knowledge and approaches that have been passed through generations and generations. It seems to me that it is in the approach, and it is in the process that we will find a path to save us; the means are as important as the ends.

                When it comes to climate catastrophes, humans of any color, race, religion, or economic status are all in the same boat together. The starving climate refugees escaping drought in Sub-Saharan Africa are sitting beside the oil executives and the billionaires. Granted the billionaires will have bigger and better boats, giving them a little more time, but ultimately, we will all go down.

                How do we come together and use an approach that will help us save ourselves and all other living beings and things on the planet? We know we have the technology and the science, and we have the ability and the capacity to stop the ongoing damage to our environment that is growing exponentially. We can change course. But what will it take?

                We live in a democracy (which is an approach) and like peace, which cannot be described as simply the absence of war; democracy is a living thing that needs to be active, participatory, worked with, refined. It needs to evolve. Democracy is complicated, of course. But at its core, the democratic approach has the potential to be the conduit we need to make good decisions – decisions that will lead us down a good path. One of the concerns of Elder Albert at this very time is to witness the increasing fragility of our democracy right here in Nova Scotia, possibly bolstered by the extreme actions of Donald Trump and the madness. What’s a little move against ours and nature’s rights here and there in Nova Scotia when Trump (the supposed leader of the “free” world) is trampling all over human rights everywhere and is a climate change denier to boot!

                Elder Albert describes our current Premier Houston and the conservative government as “Anti-Environment and Anti-Native.” I know he doesn’t say this lightly, and it is very unfortunate that at this time in our history, when we so need courageous leadership, when we need to use two eyes, that we have a government eager to dismantle and limit our voices rather than use the democratic approach to lead the way to an ecologically sustainable future.

                Albert is very realistic; “We need livelihoods, we need an economy that works for all of us. And we need a process that ensures that anything proposed will not compromise the integrity of the environment. And if it might…why go any further? If a development poses a threat, then we use the precautionary principle and we move on to generate economic alternatives that will be ecologically sustainable. On this we can no longer compromise.”

                It needs to start with you and me and the conversations we are willing to have. Democracy is participatory – not a spectator sport and if our leadership is denying our right to participate, we have a choice to make. We have voices. And, together we can do it. If not for yourself then for your kids, your grandkids, your loved ones.

                Thank you, Albert. Wela’lin.

Janet Bickerton RN

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• Rain washes out provincial baseball final games Sunday

Off on the pitch, Port Hood’s Bentley Cameron takes off for second base with Inverness pitcher Alistair MacLeod in mid-throw during Friday’s opening game of the U15 A provincial tournament.

-by Bill Dunphy

      The host Port Hood Blue Jays and two other local teams were all on track for a shot at Sunday’s Nova Scotia U15 A provincial title until Mother Nature derailed the final two games of the tournament.

      The five-team tournament began under sunny skies Friday at the Leo A. MacDonell Memorial ball park in Judique and the fine weather continued into Saturday.

      But with just two games left to play – the semifinal game, between the Blue Jays and the Strait Area Sting, and the championship game, between the Inverness Ravens and the semi winner – the games had to be postponed due to rain.

      As well, tournament chairperson Melanie Beaton also had to deal with changing the schedule when the first three games on Friday went overly long, forcing the fourth game, between Inverness and the Pictou County Cubs, to be pushed to Saturday morning.

      Under Baseball Nova Scotia rules, no provincial game on an unlighted field can start past 5:30 p.m.

      Beaton contacted BNS, who gave her two options – if the two teams agree, start the game past 5:30 p.m. and if it’s not completed before dark, the game is complete at that point; or have it played as the first game on Saturday morning.

      Inverness was for it, but Pictou wasn’t. And as it turned out, Friday’s third game lasted until 7 p.m. and would not have given the teams much time to play.

      And by pushing the game to Saturday, it created a situation where a team might possibly end up playing three games that day and not having enough pitchers due to pitch-count limitations.

      “It’s been a tournament,” said Beaton on Sunday. “The first day was a tough one, but yesterday went smoothly.”

      While she was faced with some negative interactions in relaying the BNS decisions, Beaton said the good moments made it all worthwhile.

      “U15 is a tough age, but my golly, I have seen some really lovely kids. The politeness and respect I’ve seen has been incredible.

      “And I had a lot of respectful interactions. New Waterford and Pictou were eliminated, but New Waterford went home after the midnight game (played under the lights in Port Hawkesbury) and were back on the field Saturday morning. And there was a girl playing for Pictou who was sick, but hit a grand slam home run, the only player to do so,” she said.

      “At the end of the day, even with all the snags, the camaraderie among the players, the kids having fun, and all the great people, it was great to see that gathering of people, of community.”

      Back to baseball, if the Blue Jays can get past the Sting when the tournament resumes, then the final between Port Hood and Inverness will be a game for the ages considering how the two teams played in the opening game of the tournament.

      Note: In all round-robin games, BNS rules capped the runs allowed per team per inning at three and the open-ended seventh inning was capped at 10 runs.

      Inverness won the coin toss for home field and Port Hood struck first with two runs – Bentley Cameron leading off with a single, getting moved to third on a sacrifice by Colin MacDougall, and scoring on an RBI bunt single by Carter DeCoste, who scored on a fielder’s choice by Malcolm MacInnis.

      Undaunted, the Ravens came back with a three-run bottom half. Colton MacIsaac led off with a walk, scored on an RBI double by Alistair MacLeod. Ryder MacLean singledto bring home MacLeod and Danny MacDonald brought MacLeod home on a base hit, and Jack MacNeil hit a two-run single to drive in the third run.

      Inverness starting pitcher MacLeod kept his top of second inning scoreless.

      However, the Ravens kept the pressure on Blue Jays starter Luke Calder, scoring two in the bottom half to take a 5-2 lead.

      Drew MacDonnell led off with a base hit, followed by back-to-back RBI doubles by MacIsaac and Alex Dan MacDonnell.

      Both MacLeod and Calder pitched a scoreless third inning.

      The two clubs followed with a two-run fourth inning.

      Ashton Hawley started Port Hood’s half with a one-out single and DeCoste cashed him in with another RBI bunt single. DeCoste came in on an error to make it a 5-4 game.

      The Ravens got their two runs off a one-out double by A.D. MacDonnell, followed by an RBI triple by MacLeod. MacLean hit a fielder’s choice to second to score MacLeod.

      With Colton MacIsaac coming in for relief following the Hawley single, he shut the Blue Jays down in the fifth.

      Seizing the opportunity, the Ravens touched up Blue Jays relief pitcher Malcolm MacInnis for three runs in the bottom of the fifth to go up 10-4.

      With two outs and MacNeil (single) and Drew MacDonnell (walk) on third and second, MacIsaac delivered with a two-run double and A.D. MacDonnell drove him home with a base hit.

      Port Hood battled back with a three-run inning of their own in the top of the sixth one again make it a three-run game. A lead-off double by Cameron and a walk by Hawley set the table for a two-run double by MacInnis and an RBI single by DeCoste to make it 10-7 Inverness.

      Now it gets really interesting.

      MacLeod led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple and rounded for home on a throwing error to third.

      MacInnis finished off the inning without allowing another run despite two on with two outs.

      The open-ended seventh inning saw Port Hood score six runs – one off MacIsaac and five off reliever Eli LeBlanc to take a 13-11 lead.

      Neil MacEachern walked with one out and Calder and Blake Warcop each singled to load the bases on MacIsaac, who next hit Evran Beaton with a pitch for the Blue Jays first run of the inning.

      With LeBlanc on the bump, Brier Nadasdi hit a two-run single to make it 11-10.

      LeBlanc struck out the next batter and then gave Cameron an intentional walk to load the bases again. However, Colin MacDougall drove a shot to deep centre to clear the bases with a three-run double to put Port Hood up 13-11 before LeBlanc got the final out.

      Down but not out, the Ravens loaded the bases with one out on walks to Aydin Copley and MacIsaac and a base hit by A.D. MacDonnell.

      Neil MacEachern came in  to pitch for Port Hood, but couldn’t find the strike zone to give up RBI walks to MacLeod and MacLean to tie it. And with MacDonnell now on third, LeBlanc hit a grounder to first and the winning run crossed the plate for a 14-13 Inverness win.

      By all accounts, a helluva game.

      The three-hour game was followed by the Strait defeating the Pictou County Cubs 12-9.

      Led by game MVP Zach Farrell with five shutout innings on the mound, the Strait scored two runs in the first three innings, added another in the fourth and two more in the fifth and sixth to lead 11-0 before Pictou got on the board with a three-run bottom of the sixth.

      The Sting added another in the seventh and the Cubs made it interesting with a six-run bottom half.

      Sean Hadley led the Strait with a triple and a single with two runs scored. Levi Boudreau also had a two-hit game and scored once. Vince Montilla and Ty Brown each scored twice on a hit and a walk.

      Port Hood was up next against the New Waterford Dodgers, needing a win in game three and the Jays took charge right way with a three-run top of the first. They added three more in each of the fourth, fifth and six to lead 12-8 going into the open-ended seventh.

      In the top half of that inning, MacDougall and Hawley led it off with back-to-back doubles. A walk by DeCoste and a single by Reid Anstey, who ended up stealing home, had the Blue Jays up 16-8.

      Needing three runs to win (if Port Hood went up by 11 runs Pictou would not be able to tie it), Calder (single), Beaton (hit by pitch) and Gradin Spears (single) each crossed the plate – aided by a two-run double by Cameron – to win 19-8.

      The first three games took nine hours to play, thus forcing game four (Inverness vs. Pictou) to be moved to Saturday morning.

      Game five, between the Strait and New Waterford, was scheduled for 8 p.m. at the lighted Dan Willie MacDonald Memorial park in Port Hawkesbury. The game ended at 11:52 p.m. with the Dodgers escaping with a narrow 10-9 win.

      Saturday morning’s game between Inverness and Pictou saw the Ravens score three runs in the first, second, fifth and sixth innings to win 14-8 and finish first overall in the round-robin.

      LeBlanc led the attack with a double and three singles, crossing the plate three times.

      MacLeod hit three doubles for two runs scored, with MacLean, MacDonald and Copley also scoring twice. Single runs were added by MacNeil, Drew MacDonnell, and Brett MacGillivray.

      This set the stage for the playoff games, with fifth-place Pictou defeating fourth-place New Waterford 15-4 in game six.

      Game seven, between the second-place Sting and first-place Inverness, saw Ravens continue to roll with a 15-5 win in five innings – automatically giving them a berth in the championship game.

      Six players scored twice for Inverness, including: MacIsaac, A.D. MacDonnell, MacLeod, MacLean, MacDonald, and Drew MacDonnell. Single runs were scored by MacNeil, Copley, and MacGillivray.

      The final game of the day was between the winner of game six (Pictou) and the third-place Blue Jays, with the loser going home and the winner hosting the loser of game seven (the Sting) in what would have been Sunday’s semifinal game.

      Playing their third game of the day, the Cubs gave it their best shot but couldn’t matching the pitching or the bats of Port Hood.

      Warcop pitched the win and got run support from Cameron, MacDougall, Hawley, and DeCoste with two runs each. Single runs were added by MacInnis, MacEachern, and Warcop.

      As of Sunday, the tentative schedule for the final two games has Port Hood playing the Strait in the semifinal game on Monday, Aug. 31, at 5 p.m. in Judique.

      The championship game, between the semifinal winner and Inverness, is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 5:30 p.m., also in Judique.

      The rain wiped out numerous Sunday games across the province, including the U13 A tournament in New Waterford that included Inverness, Port Hood, and the Strait. According to BNS executive director Brandon Guenette, “We’re still working out a plan with the teams. Hopefully will know in the next day or so.”

      Beaton thanked the tournament sponsors for their support, which included: East Coast Credit Union, On Par Indoor Golf, D.J. MacLean and Sons, Westside Commercial Cleaning, Port Hood Co-op, Whycocomagh Co-op, Mabou Freshmart, Atlantic Superstore, Sobeys, MacKeigan’s Pharmacy, Dollarama, and Giant Tiger.

      She also tipped her hat to the many volunteers, including: the Municipality of the County of Inverness’ Get Active team and the Judique Volunteer Fire Department.

      “Robbie Gillis for his support, hospitality and land line living close by as well as the Blue Jays manager PHD Kim Warcop, she did so much pre-organization, was married Friday evening at 6 p.m., and was at the field on Saturday for the day.                 “Isabel Calder, Jaymus Beaton, Lisa Cameron, Glenna Calder, Stephanie MacEachern, Kate Calder, Maria Hawley, Marissa and Craig Cameron, and all parents and volunteers helping with the canteen.  Also Maudie's Sweet Treats