Atkins

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the coming municipal election in Sudbury. It is the best of times and the worst of times. Financially, the cupboard is bare.

I sat out the power failure in Ontario at the top of the LaHave River in Nova Scotia, where I had been enduring unending fog and rain for weeks.

Michael Atkins has owned Northern Life newspaper since September 1973. On the occasion of this, the 30th anniversary of his purchase of the company, he has written a series of columns recalling some of the adventures of those years.

I made a pitch the other day to the Ontario Mining Association. It wasn’t that risque, really.

I have been in the award business for at least a quarter century.

Michael Atkins has owned Northern Life newspaper since September 1973. On the occasion of this, the 30th anniversary of his purchase of the company, he has written a series columns recalling some of the ups and downs of those years.

The challenge in life is to figure out what is important.Trite, I know, but a place to start. If you are lucky, your family will pound the essentials into you at a young age and the rest will more or less play out reasonably.

This fall, Northern Ontario is going to lose 75 years of municipal memory. The mayors of Thunder Bay, Sudbury and North Bay are retiring from active duty and I do not use the term lightly. As one put it, this has truly been a combat zone.

I’ve been a little grumpy lately, actually more than grumpy. I’ve been really grumpy, which is about as dangerous as I get. This election has been a little wearing. ATKINS I should say, more accurately, the idea of the election has been wearing.