Cheers &Jeers

CHEERS: Customer service

It wasn't an easy decision for the owners of D.K. Muise Motors to permanently close their Yarmouth County garage on March 11.

While it was a decision made out of necessity, it was also one made with a lot of emotion.

The small-volume station – with a history dating back to the mid-1950s – was struggling to make ends meet. High credit fees, coupled with higher gas prices, were constantly chewing away at what little profit margin there was.

But the silver lining to the closure is the legacy the business leaves behind, and that is one of excellent customer service. Kerry and Daniel Muise who have owned the garage for the past 12 years, felt it only fitting that employee Ritchie Hopkins be the one to lock the doors for the final time. He had worked there for nearly 46 years and anyone who knows Ritchie knows this: He's friendly. He's helpful. He's dedicated. He's honest. He's a hard worker. No one likes to see a small business close.

But everyone loves good customer service. For that, take a bow folks.

CHEERS: Family traditions

When you get together with cousins Harold and Jim Cook, one thing is certain – you're going to smile and laugh.

That's what our newsroom discovered when we interviewed the two men for a story about a birthday card tradition that they started back in 1962. Since then they've been exchanging the same card back and forth for their March birthdays.

They did miss six years of exchanging the card, likely because it had been misplaced. But ‘security' measures are in place to ensure it doesn't go missing again.

These men have a lifetime of memories and stories about growing up together in South Ohio, Yarmouth County – yarns, they call them.

If you get the chance to hear them, you'll be happy you did.

In meantime, both men turned 76 this month. Happy birthday guys!

JEERS: Jail silence

For two years the operations of the correctional centre in Yarmouth have been greatly reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anyone housed at the jail is only held there for up to 48 hours. If they haven't been released by the court, they're then transferred to another facility, usually the one in Burnside.

There were reasons why the jail had to scale things back, namely, the justice department says, the facility didn't have the needed level of healthcare required to assist in the prevention and potential spread of the COVID virus within the jail.

The reduction in operations has had big impacts on many levels – from lawyer-client access, to delays in court proceedings, to a huge burden on transportation for the sheriff's department to families not able to visit those in custody.

So when will the correctional facility return to full capacity and full operation? That's just the thing, no one knows.

Hopefully an answer can come sooner than later.