By Scott Taylor

Roy Seidler (left) and Henry Lemoine.

Henry Lemoine will be the first to admit he’s a showman. He’ll also admit that his penchant for the occasional hot-dog move has often made him public enemy No. 1 over the years.

In fact, there have been times in his long career as both a Hall of Fame baseball and basketball player that there hasn’t been enough mustard in the concession stands to cover all of Hammerin’ Hank.

Still, despite his history as “one of those guys you never want to play against,” Hank was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame on June 5, and even one of his greatest on-field enemies, Roy Seidler, was the man who made the induction speech. The man who ran the Giroux A’s for more than 40 years, the man who fought mightily with Lemoine’s Carman Goldeyes, was the man who volunteered to usher Hank into the provincial baseball hall.

“There were some things you have to understand about Hank,” said Seidler, who in recent years, has often been Lemoine’s teammate.

“He was a showman and a lot of people didn’t appreciate it. I remember, there was a woman in Giroux who used to come to our games just to scream at Hank. I don’t think she would have come if Hank hadn’t been playing.

“As I said in my speech, ‘In the 1970s, there was a man who played for the New York Yankees who hit a lot of home runs, wore No. 44, wore an Afro and called himself the straw that stirs the drink. Well, Manitoba baseball had its own Reggie Jackson. Hank Lemoine hit a lot of home runs, wore No. 44, wore an Afro and everywhere he played, he thought of himself as the straw that stirred the drink.’ A lot of people didn’t like him. Some don’t like him today. But Hank Lemoine could really play baseball.”

Still can. And Roy Seidler knows it. That’s why it wasn’t surprising when Seidler, 62, asked Lemoine, 56, to play some tournament baseball with the over-50-year-old traveling team, the Giroux A’s.

The A’s have long been Manitoba’s best Twilight (the fancy name for “oldtimers”) Baseball Team. Since the 80s, they’ve dominated over-35, over-40, over-45, over-50 and over-60 tournaments and when some of the players gave it up, Seidler knew he could go to Lemoine as a replacement. He might be 56, but he can still play.

“I’m still playing over-50 baseball and I’m amazed at times, but I can still spend an entire day in the sun working and then still go out and play or umpire a game,” said Lemoine, who has been with CN Rail for 36 years.

“These days I’m spending most of my time umpiring and I love it. I’d really like to get the chance one day to umpire a Goldeyes game at Canwest Park. To umpire professional baseball, you only need to call six things – ball, strike, safe, out, fair and foul. And you have to be in the correct position. If you aren’t in the correct position, pro managers will eat you alive. But if you do that, umpiring the pros is a piece of cake. Umpiring bantam and novice players? Now that’s hard because they’re kids and they fumble the ball and make easy plays hard. The pros make all the easy plays.”

Baseball was pretty easy for Lemoine. He played most of his junior and senior careers with St. Boniface and Carman and was known for his discerning eye at the plate. No matter where he played, he was always among the league leaders in home runs, runs batted in and average. He went to a national junior championship, won six Manitoba Senior Baseball League championships (he played in nine finals) and even played two seasons of semi-pro ball in Australia.

But perhaps the most amazing thing about the 56-year-old is that he’s still playing. Not as much as he did as a young man, mind you, but he still plays tournament baseball, along with his friend, Seidler, for the still functioning Giroux A’s.

“We’re playing, on average, one tournament a summer, but I’m umpiring five days a week,” said Lemoine, the father of three daughters, 23-year-old Michelle and 21-year-old twins Krissy and Karen. “Because I spend so much time umpiring, I don’t have time to play as much as I’d like, but I’m in good shape, I could play a lot more.”

Seidler is also in excellent shape, but admits he hasn’t played much since 2008. The former superintendent of the Seine River School Division, he and his partner Odette now run an educational leadership consulting firm.

“I play for fun now. My last real competition was in 2008 when I was 60,” Seidler said. “I went with that travelling team from Red Deer that still plays highly competitive old-timers baseball. We went to the World over-60 championship in Phoenix and it was really something. We played seven round-robin games and then the playoffs, all in five days. And this was baseball: Nine inning games, with no special oldtimers’ rules. It was just straight-up nine-man baseball. We were playing more ball than the pros.

“And we reached the final. I had a good tournament. Got a hit in our final game. But it was great baseball. There are a lot of 60-plus guys playing great baseball out there. You’re never too old if you stay in shape.”

Both Seidler and Lemoine look like they’d be ready to play tomorrow if asked, but at some point you have to give up the game and allow the younger guys to play. Like the 55-year-olds.

“Baseball isn’t like softball,” Seidler said. “We can all play softball forever. You can always get the guys together to play a slo-pitch tournament. But in baseball, you have 90 feet between the bases. It’s a long throw from deep short to first. It’s a much tougher game.

“But guys like Hank and I have been able to play for a longtime. We’re very fortunate.”

For Lemoine, if the situation were right, he’d probably pick up his trusty bat and play again, but right now, he’s going to concentrate on umpiring. One thing is certain, he’ll always remain active and he’ll always have his Hall-of-Fame ring.

“Between the white lines, I played for keeps,” Lemoine said. “When the umpire said, ‘Play ball!’ I was all business.”

“But they weren’t just ball fields to me, they were stages. I put on a show. I was an actor and to me, baseball was Shakespeare.”

(Read more in the Aug 18-Sep 5/2010 issue of Senior Scope)

CARP -
A New Vision of Aging

Written by Tedd Tribe

My wife Ruth and I joined CARP recently while on vacation. I knew that my Dad is a CARP Member. When I was last visiting him in Squamish BC, I was reading an interesting magazine of Dad’s called ZOOMER. I asked my Dad what it is about and he quickly described how useful he finds the magazine, with several articles of interest to him in each edition. “There are not many magazines that cater to our interests”.

My Dad is quite a guy! He started building the house, which he designed, in Squamish when he was 65. Nearly everything the house was built and completed with is recycled material, including the kitchen sink! Not too long after they moved in, 12 months were occupied with an around the world journey that saw my Dad and his wife, Harold & Christine, visit countries, including China & India. A specially designed and built cabinet holds their collection of curios from these countries.

This past spring they were on another journey from Squamish to England, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. On April 15, Dad celebrated his 85th birthday in a seaside village of Portugal.

Back to CARP now. When Ruth and I were purchasing tickets for an activity that we wanted to experience while on the fabulous Island of Kaua’i, Hawaii’s Garden Island, we were asked by the concierge if we were CARP members. We said no, and asked what it would mean if we were members of CARP. The amount of the discount on the activity if we were members of CARP was nearly the same as a one year membership in CARP plus ZOOMER Magazine. I had my laptop with me at the condo, so we went back to the condo, joined CARP on-line, and then purchased the tickets for the Luau at the discounted rate, thanking the concierge!

We then used our CARP membership several more times on the same trip to save even more cash!

I was so impressed that when I saw an article in ZOOMER Magazine after we came home to become an Ambassador for CARP, I signed up right away.

But things are even better for CARP Members now than they were in March of this year!

Good news for those who are aging!

The Canadian Association for Retired Persons (CARP) is transforming itself:

1. Membership is now open to anyone over the age of puberty (although a few of the benefits may be unavailable to or unusable by the very young).

2. CARP is now associated with six other countries. (USA, Italy, Denmark, Chile, Netherlands, India)

3. ZoomerMedia Limited., the
publisher of the ZOOMER magazine, has recently purchased The Vision Network of Radio Stations and Television Channels.

4. Now with over 330,000 members, CARP is on the “March to a 1,000,000”.

What is CARP?
A New Vision of Aging

CARP provides Canadians the following:

Advocacy – working hard at all levels of government to promote policies that are important to its members

Benefits – members can receive hundreds, even thousands of dollars a year in “members only” discounts and value added services. Members who choose to subscribe, also receive ZOOMER Magazine 9 times per year, with a wide range of articles of interest to the Zoomer revolution.

Community – a rapidly expanding network of chapters though out Canada provide opportunities to get involved and support community activities.

ADVOCACY – CARP is committed to enhancing the quality of life for all Canadians as we age. CARP’s advocacy program is built on three major pillars:

1. Health
• Wait time guarantees
• National Pharmacare
• Caregiver benefits

2. Finances
• RRIF reform
• Increased income support
• Universal Pension Plan
• Investor Protection

3. Rights
• No Mandatory retirement
• End to elder abuse
• End to ageism in the media

BENEFITS – “members-only” discounts or value added benefits that ZOOMERS need, such as:
• CARP Zoomer MasterCard – get 1% cash back
• Home & auto Insurance
• Health & dental insurance
• Critical health insurance
• Long term care insurance
• Travel – CARP Vacation Club
• Hotels – save 10% or more at 21 major chains
• Urgent medical care in the USA
• Hearing health services
• Home alarm systems
• Home safety & security systems
• Long distance phone rates
• Home cleaning
• Adjustable mattresses
• Moving services
• Computers
• Cultural benefits

COMMUNITY – you become a part of a common cause and common voice, with a broad diversity of individuals, groups and communities. Local chapters will intensify your personal experience with peers close to you.

ZOOMER Magazine - covers all the trends and hot button issues within the Zoomer Revolution:
• Health & wellness
• Finance
• Beauty
• Travel
• Fashion
• Sex
• Longevity
• Entertainment
• Culture

Announces CARP Group Membership Plan

A significant saving in CARP membership is now available to all readers of Senior Scope.

As an individual reader of Senior Scope, you are entitled to receive CARP membership at a 25% discount.

If your particular group, club or association purchases a CARP membership as a Group Purchase (all joining at one time), every member will receive their CARP membership at a 35% discount.

JOIN “THE MARCH TO A MILLION” TODAY

TO BECOME A MEMBER OF CARP
call Tedd Tribe at: 204-261-5550
or email: teddtribe@gmail.com

(Read more in the Aug 18-Sep 5/2010 issue of Senior Scope)

Vacation Offers -
Too good to be true?

It may still be summer, but it’s never too early to begin planning your winter vacation. Vacation scams are most often communicated by telephone, but can also be received in the form of email or found on the Internet. If you have received an unsolicited vacation offer please be advised of the following:

• Some of the solicitations are valid, some are not.

• Some offers are subject to you entering into a Timeshare agreement.

• Some offer a high end vacation but reserve the right to change this location subject to availability

Research the company with the Better Business Bureau and other sources from the Internet before responding.

If you have not requested information then "buyer beware" should be your thought process. Don't fall for a high pressure sales tactic, if it's a deal, it will be available again. If it’s a prize you need not pay for it. For more information on current scams and frauds visit www.phonebusters.com

Cst. Ben Doiron
Winnipeg RCMP
Commercial Crime Section

(Read more in the Aug 18-Sep 5/2010 issue of Senior Scope)

Financial Planning Solutions
Retire with The Plan
by Investors Group™

How we work:

We will begin with an in-depth discussion to explore your goals and objectives, your current financial picture, your comfort level with risk and the time-frame for reaching your objectives. We will work with you to create a plan that works. In essence, our goal is to ask the right questions, help you sort through the options and find the solutions best for you. We’ll schedule a series of reviews and tap into a wide range of highly qualified experts in investment, tax and retirement planning at Investors Group. Your plan will be as unique as you are.

The plan is just the beginning.

We will stay in touch with you regularly to review your financial situation and respond to changes in your life. If needed, your assets may be adjusted to make sure they are still in line with your financial needs.

“We work constantly to help ensure your retirement capital meets your goals and is ready when you need it.”

The Plan by Investors Group™

Now that you’re successfully retired, you need a wealth of advice more than ever! Is your estate plan everything it could be? What about your tax plan? Are you able to preserve your savings and investments—not just for you but for your family too? With so many options available, selecting the ones that are right for you can be quite a challenge. But if you have any doubts about your plans—or if you’ve been led to believe that since you’re already retired, you have little choice but to accept them as they are—all you need is advice to help you choose the ones that are right for you.

It’s never been more important to work with a financial professional

By working with us, our retired clients receive a unique combination of investment, tax, retirement and estate reviews. We will build a specialized plan according to your retirement goals, your income needs, your family and your estate goals, covering the following reviews:

• Tax-effective investment planning

Balancing science and experience, we will work with you to customize an investment portfolio to meet your personal financial needs. The combination of your financial goals and investment style will determine the best approach to meet your needs.

• Tax-effective estate planning

Whether you just want to know that you can take care of an unexpected expense or opportunity or whether you want to make certain you and your family are prepared for the inevitable, we can help you with all the financial considerations that accompany hard realities. These may be delicate matters, but we can help you evaluate existing life, health and other insurance protection as well as detailed estate planning—whether you are considering leaving an inheritance or helping those who matter to you most with educational or financial assistance now.

• Cash flow planning

Whether it’s buying a leisure property or a car or simply making plans to enjoy a warmer climate in winter, we can create personalized plans to help you save for major purchases, pay off debts or to use debt wisely.

• Retirement income planning

What really matters is a plan that meets your lifestyle needs. Everyone’s situation is different so we will present the most appropriate options for ensuring that your money lasts through retirement. Together, we will create an achievable, detailed plan that works for you.

• Minimize the tax you pay

From annual tax filing to complicated tax planning, we will work to incorporate the latest tax strategies into your plan.We will focus on drawing assets in the most tax- efficient manner as well as on reviewing what investment planning options are available to improve your long-term financial situation.
__________________

BRIAN G. KONRAD CFP
Financial Consultant
brian.konrad2@investorsgroup.com
(204) 489-4640 ext. 246
100-1345 WAVERLEY STREET
WINNIPEG, MB R3T 5Y6
1-888-205-4828
www.investorsgroup.com/consult/brian.konrad

This report specifically written and published by Investors Group is presented as a general source of information only, and is not intended as a solicitation to buy or sell specific investments, nor is it intended to provide legal advice. Prospective investors should review the annual report, simplified prospectus, and annual information form of any fund carefully before making an investment decision. Clients should discuss their situation with their Consultant for advice based on their specific circumstances. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.
™Trademark owned by IGM Financial Inc. and licensed to its subsidiary corporations.
“Having Grandchildren: It’s more than champagne and cigars” ©2007 Investors Group Inc. MP1153 (12/2007)

(Read more in the Aug 18-Sep 5/2010 issue of Senior Scope)

Canada’s national
bird – the loon fits the bill

William J. Thomas

Another Canada Day has come and gone, still we have no national bird.

In the loonie, we have a national monetary unit that is named after a bird. In the Toronto Blue Jays we have the nation’s baseball team, also named after a bird. In Ottawa we have the national capital which is for the birds. But we have no national bird.

Strange, but every July 1st I remember our former Prime Minister Jean Chretien yelling: “Happy Bird Day Canada!” He flew the coop long ago and still the country has no bird.

It is absolutely imperative that Canada select an official national bird before the next referendum on separation because then we’d need like two national birds, eh?

Every country in the world has a national bird. The Americans have the bald eagle. Antigua has the beautifully named magnificent frigatebird and suspiciously enough, the Kiwis have the kiwi. The national bird of Iraq is DUCK!!!

According to the internet, Tasmania’s national bird is listed as the Tasmanian Devil. Then in brackets it adds: (Not a bird.) Apparently we’re not alone in our struggle for a national figure of flight. Maybe we should do that. “Canada’s national bird is the beaver. (Struggles during take-off.)”

The Canadian Raptor Conservancy is now pushing the federal government to designate a national bird by running an on-line contest for citizens to vote for their favorite, feathered symbol of national pride. The raptor foundation breeds and exhibits falcons but unlike Ducks Unlimited they don’t raise birds in order to shoot them at a later date.

So far, the large, colorful and fairly vicious red-tailed hawk is leading the contest with 85% of the votes. It’s unlikely the pigeon will get many votes because the red-tailed hawk has him for lunch. I’m not sure Canada should be associated with a flying cannibal but if you’ve ever been plopped on by a pigeon, the red-tailed hawk has your back.

Dalton McGinty has enthusiastically thrown his support behind the red-tailed hawk so given the premier’s record of success, there’s every chance that bird will be extinct before the ballots can be counted.

Holding down second spot in the national bird contest is the Canada goose, the poop machine that honks like a horn. If these things let it fly in flight we’d all be wearing reinforced umbrella hats.

Canadian geese are far too plentiful with no redeeming features. You can’t eat them and they don’t eat anything that bothers us. They’re pests. A few may even be terrorists. I don’t know how much planning went into it but it was definitely a flock of Canadian geese that brought down US Airways flight 1549 last year making a hero out of Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger who crashed landed in New York’s Hudson River. I’d be very reluctant to make a national hero out of a bird that’s already on Homeland Security’s no-fly list.

The crow is too ordinary, the raven too creepy and a tundra swan is just a goose with Audrey Hepburn’s neck.

Then there’s the loon. Nothing common about its elegant, understated beauty and a call that can make a cottager cry. A loner and a diving bird seldom seen on land, the female loon swims along the shoreline with her chicks sitting on her black and white checkered back. The common loon is a picture of serenity, a strong voice breaking through a sea of quiet, a caretaker of the wild. The loon should be our national bird.

The whiskey jack would work. We could nickname this bird the “John A. jack” after Canada’s very first Prime Minister John A. MacDonald who liked to drink a bit. Okay, a lot.

But if the choice is based on politics then the ruling Tories are mostly closely associated with turkeys, the liberals run around like a bunch of beheaded chickens and the NDP are parrots. They just repeat whatever the others just said.

Likewise, the great blue heron would make a fine national bird. Smart, dignified and efficient in flight, the great blue heron could mirror the character of our leaders in the event we ever get some that are smart, dignified and efficient.

Even the seagull has garnered some votes. The seagull? The seagull is actually too stupid to be a bird. It’s a large fluffy, white insect with wings whose natural habit is the parking lot at McDonald’s. I feed seagulls on the beach. I’ll throw a hunk of bread to one seagull all by himself and he immediately starts screaming as loud as possible: “I don’t have food! Don’t come near me! There’s no food here! Stay away!” Soon eight agitated seagulls arrive to beat him up and steal his bread. As our national bird, the seagull would have to be fitted for a compass and come with a warning: “Food goes in the front.”

No, for me, it’s the common loon – fairly rare and simply beautiful with a call that sounds like your mother beckoning you home. Plus it’s water-bound, unable to walk on land. Any bird that can’t crap on my lawn or my windshield deserves some sort of award.
______________________________

William J. Thomas lives in Wainfleet, Ont.
For comments, ideas and copies of The True Story of Wainfleet go to www.williamthomas.ca

(Read more in the Aug 18-Sep 5/2010 issue of Senior Scope)