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  1. Kingston sailor ten Hove back on the water

    Sailor Ali ten Hove of Kingston and partner Mariah Millen, continue their 2020 Tokyo Olympic Summer Games 49er FX class competition on Friday evening and into Saturday. Their next race is at 23:05 p.m. Friday night, with two more slated for Saturday. They started the regatta on Monday and placed 18th. They continued with two races on Tuesday, placing seventh and 15th, respectively. They raced three more times on Wednesday morning, placing 16th, 14th and 15th again. Early Friday morning, they finished 10th, 12th and fourth in a series of three races. Napanee’s Britt Benn, a veteran of Canada’s rugby sevens squad, sees her next action on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. against Kenya. Canada started its tournament on Wednesday with a split, blanking Brazil, 33-0, but then fell to Fiji a couple of hours later, 26-12. Canada then fell to France on Thursday evening, 31-0, but pummelled Brazil again Friday morning, 45-0. Aaliyah Edwards and Canada’s women’s basketball team continued through the preliminary round on Wednesday, defeating Korea, 74-53. The team’s next game is Saturday against Spain, beginning at 9 p.m. The Canadians fell to Serbia in their first game of the tournament on Monday morning, 72-68. Annie Foreman-Mackey is one of the four members of Canada’s cycling team pursuit. They start their competition on Aug. 2 at 2:50 a.m. and will compete again the next day at 2:30 a.m. Should they advance to the final, the race starts at 4 a.m. Jennifer Casson of Kingston, competing in the women’s lightweight double sculls with partner Jill Moffatt, finished sixth in a semifinal on Tuesday. They moved on to the B final on Wednesday night and finished sixth there as well. Will Crothers and the men’s four finished second in their B final while Kristina Walker and the rest of the women’s four placed fourth in theirs. Both of their Olympic competition schedules are now finished.

    9 hours ago Sports
    Canadians Ali ten Hove of Kingston and Mariah Millen compete in the women's skiff 49er class on Day 7 at Enoshima Yacht Harbour on Friday in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan.
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  4. As hard as it tries, social media cannot sanitize history

    Attempts to sanitize history continue in social media, with new calls for a name change for the Town of Picton. Incorporated in 1837, the town was named for Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton, a hero of the Battle of Waterloo. In recent times, new revelations of the dark side of his character, including the torture of a 14-year-old girl when the governor of Trinidad, have encouraged support for a “re-branding” of the town. Based on the comments found on Facebook, those in favour of such action are, almost without exception, relative newcomers to Prince Edward County. The suggestion to rename the town, for me, is reminiscent of school days and a history teacher who was a perfectionist determined to erase that which offended him. As grade eight students, 12 to 13 years of age, we were told that all entries in our notebooks must be made in pen and ink. Ballpoint pens were not to be used. If, when taking notes, we happened to make a spelling mistake or incorrectly transcribe a date we were told to make corrections by dipping a toothpick in Javex bleach to stroke out our errors. We were not permitted to strike lines through our mistakes, write in the correct information, then continue. Today, it seems incredible that elementary school students of the late 1950’s were directed by their teacher to use a powerful bleach as correction fluid, but we dutifully did as instructed. While a light application of Javex did eliminate our mistakes, it left behind a faint yellow stain. We wrote the corrected information over it, but nothing could change the fact that we had just rewritten history. Any renaming of the Town of Picton would have the same effect. Have carried the name for nearly 200 years, efforts to bleach it with our new-found wisdom inevitably would leave a perceptible stain. The “do-over” would carry a false ring. Better to acknowledge the shameful side of Sir Thomas Picton’s character, while also accepting the fact that he was a brave soldier who died a hero’s death. Whatever his sins and they were many, he fought valiantly for his country and was killed leading a bayonet charge at Waterloo. In reporting his death, which took place on June 18, 1815, the Duke of Wellington stated: “In Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton His Majesty has sustained the loss of an Officer who frequently distinguished himself in His service and he fell gloriously leading his division in a charge with bayonets by which one of the most serious attacks made by the enemy of our position was defeated.” Wellington, on a previous occasion, had referred to Picton as “a rough, foul-mouthed devil but very capable.” He was not oblivious to or approving of his dark side, but could freely admit that he was a brave soldier. Today, there are those asking that we remember only the evils committed by Picton, ignoring his bravery at Waterloo and in other military engagements. We are expected to bleach out the error of naming a town for him and re-brand ourselves with a politically correct name that bears no stain. We are asked to place our town in witness protection with a brand new identity and a fervent hope that future generations will never discover our true name. Our skirts will be clean and a grievous wrong will have been righted. It is important for the truth to be told and more than 200 years after the death of Sir Thomas Picton his evil deeds have been brought to light perhaps with greater emphasis than in his original trial. However, the renaming of our town as a form of delayed retribution does nothing to wipe the slate clean. A gallon of bleach cannot erase history;its application would be merely a self-righteous attempt to serve as judge and jury, employing only certain selected truths. It would be far more honest to state the truth, acknowledge all of the facts and move forward without futile attempts to sanitize the past. The Persian poet, Omar Khayyam said it best: “The moving finger writes and having writ moves on. Nor all thy Piety Nor Wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line. Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” Someone should have told my history teacher.

    Postmedia Staff 12 hours ago Column
    Margaret Haylock Capon PUT IT IN WRITING
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