Jim Cumming - From the Publisher's Pen

The Town of Fort Frances did not exist when Sieur de la Verendrye, in 1731, set up a fort at the head of the Rainy River.

Fort Frances did not exist when Fort Lac La Pluie was established by the North West Company as a fur-trading post—and even when it was renamed Fort Frances in 1830.

Although the name Fort Frances existed when the Dawson Trail was being established, and settlers began settling and clearing farmlands along the river between Fort Frances and Lake of the Woods, the community was far from a community.

I enjoy cooking and like to think that I’m fairly versatile when it comes to preparing food.

And Mother’s Day was the successful beginning of my love of cooking.

I can’t remember when I first began cooking, but it probably started when my brother and I were old enough to man the kitchen of my parents’ home on Third Street.

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day and I still can remember that first meal my brother and I prepared that morning.

After this past weekend, I now can put my snow blower into the back of the garage and move my lawn mower forward.

By this time last year, my lawn already had two clippings. The tulips were pushing themselves out of the ground and my day lilies had bright green shoots sprouting through the tangled brown leaves of the previous year.

The lawn had been raked at the first part of April.

“That will be $22,” the Homeland Security border guard at the U.S. Customs said to the family of four headed to the movie theatre in International Falls.

It has not happened yet, but the United States is exploring the option of collecting a user fee to enter the country by land (the U.S. already collects $5.50 through a passenger inspection fee from Canadians flying into the States).

Like all agencies across North America, this U.S. agency is looking at ways to offset costs in protecting the country.

April is Cancer Awareness Month.

The Beta Sigma Phi sorority recently sold daffodils here for the last time. Shortly, daffodil pins will go on sale throughout the community for those to make donations to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The money is well used assisting in research and helping cancer patients.

When the sign-up sheet was posted here at the Times to buy the daffodils, I didn’t hesitate. It was an insignificant amount of money that might make a difference.

Last year, I launched my boat on April 13. I was able to get to my cabin on Rainy Lake on April 16 and we had the water running April 21.

It was the earliest we had ever reached and opened our cabin since starting records in 1968. Our hot tub was filled and heated, and we watched the sun set over Sand Bay.

On the other hand, we have been as late as the second weekend in May in travelling to the cabin.

I have a pink tie and a pink dress shirt—and I’ll be wearing both of them on April 10.

It is “Pink Day,” the international day against bullying, discrimination, homophobia, and transphobia in schools and communities across our country.

It began as a simple gesture at Central Kings High School in Cambridge, N.S., where a freshman student wore a pink polo shirt to school on his first day of class.

School bullies verbally abused him for his choice of colours.

I attended an interesting meeting last Wednesday, during which one of the people on hand made a very appropriate comment.

“The council of Fort Frances is not going to save the town,” he said. “The people of the community will save the town!”

And when the words had settled at the meeting, I realized how right he was.

Carl Schubring, a former editor of the Fort Frances Times, jokingly told me the following story.

When the community had a sole lawyer, the poor lawyer could barely put food on the table for his family. When a second lawyer appeared on the scene, together they comfortably could feed their families.

When a third came into the community, all made a very good living.

I remembered this story in reading about the fact our community does not have a full-time sitting judge. Back then, there was a magistrate and district judge in Fort Frances.

A report in the Falls Journal noted that Borderland already had received 14 more inches of snow this year than is normal—and that was without Saturday’s snowfall.

And we have a higher amount of snow still sitting on the ground than we normally do. As you read this, the official first day of spring is just over a week away.

But before we get there, there is lots of history in the coming week.