Placentia-Whitbourne RCMP have laid charges against the owner of the animals left alone in a Dunville residence for more than two weeks.

Police investigated a report of animal cruelty in Dunville on Feb. 15 and found three animals - two dogs and a cat - left abandoned in the home. One dog which had died was found tethered to a washing machine looking as if it had starved to death, while another dog had somehow escaped its tether and was found still alive. It was taken by the St. John's SPCA and subsequently renamed "Josh" apparently after the attending RCMP officer. A cat was later found dead as well.

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Merasheen Mussel Farms Inc. is getting ready to install the latest mussel farming equipment in the waters of Placentia Bay. Thanks to a $120,000 loan from the province, the new equipment will mean the farm will yield as much as one million pounds of mussels annually by 2011.

"The modifications we are making to the farming equipment ensure that my company can produce shellfish of highest quality that meets market demand," said owner Christopher Warren, in a press release issued by the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development. "This project is an important step in helping our company reach its fullest potential."

	Kaitlin Nash, along with Fatima’s Junior High, performed, “Tiny Red Light.”

Fatima Academy celebrated Valentine's Day by hosting the third annual Hungry Hearts Café the day after Valentine's Day on Feb. 15. People of the Cape Shore enjoyed a night of music, an all-you-can-eat buffet, and delicious desserts all for a minimal cost. Performances ranged from traditional Newfoundland music, an acoustic rendition of Bad Romance, the best of Taylor Swift, and even some comedic sketches.

Music teacher Robert Colbourne coordinated the event. Proceeds raised went towards the much-anticipated Fatima to Florida trip where 49 Fatima students will attend Disney's Magic Music Days in Orlando, Florida.

Remember Hamlet's words to Ophelia on the occasion of her getting on his nerves? "Fie," he said. "Hie thee to a nunnery," or words to that effect.

After a recent costly little misunderstanding of mine Dearest Duck said, "Harry, my hearing-challenged oldie love, get thee to an audiologist." Fie wasn't the word she used to preface her directive.

In last September's Targa Newfoundland, I had a message written in large letters across the hood of the car I was driving. Nothing unusual about that. Normally most parts of a racing car are covered by messages that advertise various sponsors. The sponsors pay to finance the preparation of the car and expect the publicity to increase sales.

There were no sales involved in the message on the hood of my car. Unless you consider that I was trying to help sell an idea.

Premier Danny Williams' decision to have heart surgery in the United States was, when all is said and done, a personal choice. There is no dispute about that. However, as a public figure, his decision is a matter for public debate, on several fronts.

There is the debate over whether his decision casts a poor light on his confidence in our national health care system. And it's a valid point, especially in light of stories in the national media that Williams had options in this country, and access - afforded to all under our MCP plan - to a heart specialist in Ontario considered to be the best in the world in that particular surgery.

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Dear Editor:

Although some may think Danny Williams has done an excellent job, the truth is he has failed in nearly everything he has tried.

Danny Williams' only real accomplishment has been to sell oil-drilling rights to an oil company when oil was $140 a barrel, something any 5th grader could have been done.

Dear Editor:

I recently saw in the February 23, 2010 edition of The Southern Gazette a cartoon depicting the recent Hibernia South announcement as more or less good for the Avalon Peninsula and not good for the rest of the province.

My first thought was what a way to depict this announcement. Hibernia South is a great development and could create lots of jobs for the people of this province. No work has been announced yet, so how does the cartoonist know where the work for Hibernia South is going? Is he pulling double duty as a psychic? If so I need him to pick my lottery numbers for tomorrow night.

Dear Editor:

As a fisherman and outport person, listening to the words of our National Anthem last evening marking the end of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, I couldn't help but be saddened that the references to freedom must not apply to us here in Newfoundland.

Across this province, in every crick and cranny fisherpeople are now preparing for a fishery that may not happen, simply because in 2010 there is less democracy in the selling of fish that was enjoyed by our fisher forefathers a hundred years ago.