Volume 53 - No. 7
By Cecil Scaglione Reporting for a daily newspaper has been described by news folk of high rank as recording the first draft of history. As such, the daily tidbits, whether it’s a three-column-inch recounting of a drunk-driving court case or a three-page thumb-sucker on the state of pollution in the Great Lakes, can be viewed as the first draft of history.
February 16, 2023
In some cases, a reporter’s story can be the first draft that changes history. Such was my case in the late 1950s at the Kitchener-Waterloo Record in Kitchener, a bustling twin-city complex about an hour over the western horizon from Toronto. It was a minor court case that had a major impact on the daily life of everyone in Ontario, Canada’s most populated province. Up to that time, the liquor laws
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were abstemious and archaic, although not followed religiously nor enforced rigorously. If you came to visit me, I couldn’t give you a drink legally because I could be charged with giving liquor to someone in a place other than their residence. You could be charged with drinking in a place other than your residence. You couldn’t bring your own booze because you’d be breaking the same law.
Alcohol of any sort – beer, wine or liquor -- could not be served in restaurants because of the all-encompassing laws requiring everyone to drink at home or in designated licensed hotel quarters. At that time, Ontario had licensed beverage rooms that we called beer parlors – they served beer only, draft by the glass mostly, and were in most hotels. There was one for “Men Only” and another for “La-
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