New Year’s Resolutions for 2016 by Jamie Gilcig Staying on the High Road

Happier days in Cornwall for me in that pic.

I used to really enjoy Cornwall Ontario, but sadly the bad guys (and girls) can make things less enjoyable for all of us.

I got a lot of work done over the holiday break as regular CFN viewers are noticing by the new site design.

It was necessitated after a series of hacks trying to bring down the site over the last two months. We literally had to rebuild CFN from the ground up.

You can’t really avoid hacking, but I sure hope the hackers initials aren’t PB as there is a very large hosting company that isn’t very fond of hackers.

After four years of a boycott I guess the bad guys decided to try harder to bring down the areas most read media.

I get called a lot of stuff in Cornwall. It’s part of the turf when you’re a public figure. When you uncover factual scandals as we did involving former City Councilor Robert Brock Frost.

Brock Frost Slapping a Pig FACEBOOK dec 28 2015

You should have heard what the media person from PETA said when she saw that pic!   And of course Mr. Frost by now should know that stating a truth isn’t spreading a rumor.  Running to the police and Justice of the Peace making false statements are actually.   Sending out press releases making false statements go way past rumor mongering as well, but we’ll let the courts sort that one out, and others.

In what should be my last year as majority owner and editor of CFN I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished, and have resolved to enjoy this year as much as is possible considering the silly City Hall led boycott of this newspaper, and some of the utterly illegal and hateful acts that have been perpetuated and continue to occur.

The mirror shall keep shining, but honestly most of these people aren’t worth my time, nor yours.  Frankly it’s amazing at how some of them have what little illusionary power they have?   I guess there is some value to partisan politics after all?

I lost some great friends this year.  That happens as we get older.   We start to sense our own mortality, and at the end most of this puffle isn’t worth the energy.   As my late dear friend Howard Perry used to say.

In 100 years none of this will matter.

Howard was a wise man, and a good man.  A flawed one too, but some of those flaws made him shine.

This year we’re going to start to branch away from Cornwall.  I’m hoping to focus on the few, sadly, rare, positives in this community, but who wants to beat their head on a rock?   Most active political people know who the bad guys are.

The year started with a kids rink being destroyed.  Summer saw kids being bullied by City Hall into not selling worms or lemonade, and it ended with not only a city councilor insulting, and embarrassing the community by reading a magazine of his employer during a televised presentation to Council, but saw his direct supervisor write an editorial giggling about it like a schoolyard bully.

half full glass

Like many of you I prefer the half full rather than half empty glass.    Pointing out the ills of this community may not seem like it, but the only way to make things better is to acknowledge a problem.  Just ask anyone that’s been to a 12 Step meeting.

I have never seen as much hate as I have in this community.   It’s mostly led by ignorance, but it truly embraces itself, and sadly those that aren’t of that ilk, which is the majority,  cower which only allows it to grow.     For example, by estimate South Stormont Council has spent over double the actual cost of the South Stormont News claim for its broken media contract than the actual claim itself.    Politicians love spending the taxpayer’s money.

It’s going to be a challenge to steer through the toxic soup of the gifted special class of Cornwall that does it’s best to keep our community impoverished, and keeping our population under 50,000, but I think I’m up to the challenge.

2015 saw the loss of Lift Off and Winterfest.   2016 may see the loss of Ribfest, Aultsville Theature, and sadly the city’s 33 year old public art gallery, TAG Cornwall.

If one has to travel to Brockville, Ottawa, Kingston, or Montreal six or so times per month to have any cultural life does it make sense to live in the area?  Or move to the area?   Or open a business in the area?

I have hope though.  After all I chose Cornwall over Brockville, which my ex-wife preferred.    I chose to start an online newspaper (even though the city council and lawyers started a rumor that we were a blog) in Cornwall when so many told me I was crazy because of the poor economy and low literacy rate.    I chose to stay in Cornwall when my now ex-wife asked if I was coming after she took a job back in Vancouver where she was from.    She hated Cornwall with a passion.

No, I’ve given, I’ve invested, and I’ve made a positive impact during these last about to be 7 years at CFN, but I’m 51, and frankly I’m not sure I want to give another 7 in this climate.  It’s time for someone else to deal with the monsters.

No, staying on the high road around Cornwall can be hard, but it’s my resolution for 2016.  Like they say if you wrestle with pigs you only get dirty.

When I was in 12 Step myself one of the things they talk about is “An Attitude of Gratitude”.   So many of us have so much and take it for granted.    I don’t want to ever do that again, even for a moment.    Life is very precious and mostly are those around us that deserve our love and support.

So here’s to a kinder and more productive 2016 to all!     We can make this community a better place, but it will only happen if we’re inclusive and truly work together.

Did you make any resolutions this year?  You can post your comments below.





25 Comments

  1. You are the man, well said.

  2. I resolve to not move to Brockville or Cornwall or any other town in 2016.
    I also resolve to have a beer with Jamie before next winter.

  3. Author

    It’s about time 🙂

  4. Maybe we could get Jules and the preacher to join us for a good chin-wag and some beers. I’d gladly pay the bill.

  5. Author

    Furtz we could raise money for charity for that 🙂

  6. Sounds like a plan, Jamie. If you can get Jules and Newton on board, I’ll try to get Tammy Hart and Bob Noble to attend as well.
    We should shoot for early/mid July if that’s good for you.

  7. Jamie and Furtz I am one that speaks my mind and Jamie knows that very well from my posts and Jamie your friend Howard was absolutely right in what he said and he told you good advice. I will honestly tell both of you that you are two fine men and that I have so many good laughs about Furtz that I just roar with laughter like a lion. Yesterday evening I had two glasses of Irish Cream and I haven’t been able to sleep. That kept me up for some reason. I never make New Year’s resolutions because they are always broken. Like I said Jamie and Furtz you are two fine men and that is the truth.

    About Cornwall it has some good people and that is true but and I mean but it has too many uneducated idiots who follow the clique. I know what the clique is about and any of you who have an ounce of intelligence will steer mighty clear from this bunch. There is a great deal that I know but cannot post it here. That bunch is the evils of Cornwall that kept Cornwall behind and uneducated and if any of you have any intelligence you would not accept any of this going on.

    Today I glanced at the toilet papers of record and they spoke about the bus and possibly putting it on Sundays and in the past Cornwall’s buses operated at full capacity and many people took the bus and it operated 7 days a week. You had some good bus drivers in the past very good men and that is the truth. You don’t get that here in Ottawa except for a very small few. You had industries on the go and people made a good living and those industries are gone because of the clique that runs Cornwall into the ground. Many will stand up and say Jules but it is also going on elsewhere and yes that is true because these people are Satanists and don’t laugh folks because this is all true – the societies that they belong to are just what I said and they don’t know that until they reach mighty high levels that don’t exist in Cornwall. I will just leave it at that. I don’t blame our Dr. Furtz for how he feels – he may know what I know and is fed up.

    I would not live in Cornwall under such circumstances and people don’t realize how dangerous that dump that they call Big Ben is along with so many other things that are contaminating everything around them including the air that they breathe but everthing is hidden in that filthy chemical dump and the town is full of contamination. The clique is contaminated let alone the dump. If things don’t change in Cornwall for the better soon you can say goodbye to that town.

    Brockville is a great deal cleaner than Cornwall and has a great deal to offer tourists and others and has a great arts centre. Cornwall is a joke and has lagged behind all other towns its size and smaller. You either change your town for the better and kick out the clique forever no matter how you do it do it.

    Jamie I said it more times than I can think about and that is that you are the best that Cornwall has ever had and I mean that. You ex wife was right Jamie and I said that before as well and she is smart cookie. We are not in Ottawa for nothing – Cornwall failed us and with the time you won’t see good people. Cornwall lost a good family like the Vincents and almost lost the Cleroux family among many others. Cornwall is a lot less population than what they put on the boards – a great deal less and all that is left are the elderly and people on the welfare rolls. Cornwall is long overdo for a change for the better or it will roll over completely and die into a ghost town.

  8. There are a lot of good people in Cornwall. It’s unfortunate that they prefer to keep a low profile.

  9. Careful Steve if that gets out people will want to move here.

  10. My husband & I are always amazed at how many people here in Kingston originate from Cornwall.We left to be closer to family & medical treatments as my husband has passed 9 years of being a stage 4 prostate cancer,possibly being the longest living patient.We heard one oncologist tell us that 8 years was the longest that he had heard. There are 5 of us from Cornwall on my street alone,that have left mostly for jobs.Sad however, that Cornwall is stuck in the dark ages & can not dig itself out,mainly because they refuse to change the game players that are the clique.People like the whistle blowers have been ostracized,brow beaten & financially broken while the many sheep look the other way for fear that they too are next.Would the last person to leave please turn off the lights.

  11. Cornwall may not be right for some, orhers love it. The same can be said about any city, town, etc.

  12. Kingston is about the most “liberal” town/city in eastern Ontario. Not without it’s problems, but probably one of the best places to live apart from the boonies.

  13. Mary said everything perfectly and yes many people even here in Ottawa are from Cornwall and have left because there is nothing down there for any young people in jobs nor any kind of life. Yes there are some good people down in Cornwall and that is true but are so mighty scared to stand up to those who are stomping on them and nobody wants to live such a life. The clique is the “cancer” to Cornwall besides the Big Ben Dump along with so much pollution and there is absolutely nothing to turn to at all. All the young people have to pack up and leave because there is absolutely no hope at all in hell. The population of Cornwall has never ever grown at all because of the idiocies of what the clique has done. Que Bono – who benefits. You want to get ahead in life you have no choice but to leave and don’t look back. You come on CFN and have a good laugh the way I do. Cornwall was a great deal better in past years but after everything went to hell.

  14. When the sheeple of Cornwall refuse to change then they will remain in the dark age. When I see Jamie leaving TAG because the town will not help support TAG this is an outrage and this is only one instance. When Jamie went to Cornwall with his wife they couldn’t even volunteer their services – what kind of a town is that to live in. Jamie isn’t the only one – not the first nor the last to be treated like that. I have heard stories from people being ostracized in Cornwall because they were not Canadian and some were half and half and others like Jamie from a different city and I can go on and on. Many people could not make a business in Cornwall at all at anything and many businesses left town. Cornwall’s population is a great deal less than what the billboards come out with. Cornwall is literally finished and will never get ahead as long as that dirty clique is in that town. I have heard one woman whose husband worked at Domtar come out with words about Cornwall that were mighty hurtful and insulting and something that she heard from one of her daughter’s room mates at the university here in Ottawa. You all have no idea what others think about Cornwall and if you did you would do your best to change the dirty reputation that it has. Cornwall has been kept down by the clique and that is the truth. Yes there are some good people who live there and are scared out of their minds over that dirty bunch who holds them down to the sewer level. Isn’t it about time that you all got rid of that dirty clique.

  15. Oh, yes we’re all just shaking in our boots. What will they do to us next? Seriously?? This gets tiring reading it so often.

    As for Jamie leaving TAG he has not said why he is leaving. It is his business. Please do not assume unless you know for a fact what you say is true. As for population counts they go up and own for every city / town. So, whatever…..

  16. Author

    Just a clarification. I am not leaving TAG. I did not resign. I am taking a leave of absence from the board at the AGM (which will probably take place in March or April as we have to finish the accounting for 2015). It’s amazing how people run with stories when they don’t understand terms or digest info.

  17. Thanks for the clarification Jamie. Different media outlets run different stories…..isn’t it fun?

  18. Author

    Well Hugger if an outlet didn’t get the release or fact check what do you expect? 🙂

  19. Agreed. Agendas…..do they have any? If you catch my drift.

  20. Author

    Many do Hugger. That’s why CFN has the traffic we do and the trust we have even from the very people that hate CFN and work to run me out of town.

  21. Jamie when I read Cornwall’s garbage papers “the toilet papers of record” they made it sound like you quit so as TAG can get the funding. I came on CFN after reading that trash that the writers of those failed papers published and took it seriously. I am happy to hear that you will stay on and CFN is the very best in that backward town called Cornwall. Yes many want you out because they are all failures and you outdo everyone of them. Not one can hold a candle to you. Jamie you would outdo all of them in many kinds of business ventures. Not one of them have your good intellect and believe me that is the truth. I am sorry if I made any offence to you but this is what I read and came on CFN about. Cornwall is literally finished and Jamie it is you who is holding up the media because otherwise the toilet papers of record are just failures. Keep up the great work.

  22. Furtz, Kingston is still a great place to live despite the fact that it is mostly liberal,no city is perfect

  23. Jamie I came across Pat Finnerty’s write up about his passing and such a very good man and he told the truth. I played the video that you made of this sweet man and he spoke the entire truth. Pat will be well remembered in my memory. I never knew the man personally but you can tell that he was intelligent and logical. No Cornwall hasn’t grown at all and the same population since 1956. LOL LOL. ROLF! How mighty true indeed. The same goes for the mentality of the town – it remained behind and has not gone ahead at all. I am having such a good laugh just now and at the same time I miss this dear man since he was honest.

  24. Mary, it must be hell living amongst all those devil-worshiping liberals. How do you do it?

  25. I always thought that Kingston was Conservative. That is a new one for me. Here in Ottawa it is way too liberal and all we get in the mail is liberal garbage that I toss in the trash – David McGuilty. As if we didn’t have enough trouble with his brother – too many McGuilties to deal with here in my riding.

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