Bob Rotz has been writing a column for the Geraldton Times-Star for many years. We have been very fortunate to connect with Bob and are even more fortunate to have Bob agree to contribute to our website with ‘notes from Nakina.’ We are confident you will find his tongue in cheek commentary rich with humour, wit and poignancy. More often then not, the tongue in cheek will actually be a tongue sticking out, way out. We know you will find him entertaining and informative as he writes his pieces from the ‘far north.’
Here’s Rotzy’s bio, in his own words:
“From Nakina”
Nakina is a town of 300, at the end of the road (Hwy 584), about 4 1/2 hours N/E of Thunder Bay. My wife Jo Ann and I bought a camp (cottage) on nearby Lower Twin Lake in 1977….we retired from GM Oshawa in 2000, bought a place here in town, and moved north. From 2001 to 2003 (at the urging of some friends) we put out a monthly newsletter called The Nakina News. (TNN) When we folded that up, the owner/editor of the weekly Geraldton Times-Star asked if I would do a column ‘with a Nakina flavour to it’. I said “OK”…and then Jo Ann ‘became’ Miz. Jo….that was about 14 years ago. The Geraldton Times-Star was sold several years back and the new owner/editor asked if I would keep writing it….I said “OK”. It’s still the same basic ‘format’….(A Commentary By Bob Rotz) ‘some blue-collar humour’, ‘Nakina flavour’, it comes ‘straight from the hip’….and I’ve been known to really ‘get under some people’s skin’….like politicians. Writing “F/N” has ‘opened a lot of doors’ for yours truly….sometymes they get slammed shut on me….and that’s OK too. As I said to Richard, “The Honourable Bob Rae once called me ‘an amazing journalist’ but now he doesn’t call me at all”. Yep, you’re right….that’s OK. There ya go, you’re current with “From Nakina”…until next tyme. (*that’s how I always sign off….cool, eh?)
Bob and Jo Ann Rotz
Some corrections are in order….
- Rotzy and Miz Jo live in Nakina, a helluva great golf drive south of Geraldton, in what is known as the Municipality of Greenstone [classy sounding, or what !].
- Rotzy’s ‘Big Turnip’ is Thunder Bay, not the more presumptuous Toronto.
- And the GTA is known as the ‘banana belt’ in Rotzy’s atlas of the ‘greater and lesser Ontario!’
