Meeting Joe Szewczyk

Back in the day they called him Joey Alphabet.

That's the nick-name a lot of your eastern Europe immigrants got when they washed up on these shores.

Around these parts Joe is a bit of a legend. Owns a ton of property, including a stretch between the Kinch sideroad and the escarpment that has a couple of very pretty little lakes nestled in it.

Joe has kept the locals on edge with his on again off again plans to develop those lakes with cottage lots.

Me and the farm manager were down at one of his lakes once, and we'd hardly got past throwing a stick in the water for the dogs when a Joe flunky showed up to usher us off the property.

Joe has cameras set up in the middle of the wilderness.

Joe's name has come up in family discussions. Seems that after Joe got off the boat back in the 1950's he found employment with the Omark operation in Guelph. Which is exactly where my dear father found himself in the late 1950's.

So both of these DP's cut their teeth at Omark and went on to become real estate brokers.

Joe's reputation around here is a little bit ambiguous. None of the locals want those lakes made into cottage country. At the same time, they're willing to tolerate him as an absentee landlord so long as he doesn't do anything untoward with those little lakes.

So imagine our shock this morning when the Farm Manager and I were hoofing it down Kinch's sideroad on our morning walk, and this black Cadillac pulled up behind us. We called the hounds off the path and waited for it to pass.

Instead, we get the window rolled down and a "hi, I'm Joe..."

Well, we had a 15 minute chit-chat with Mr. Szewczyk. He's not such a bad guy after all. Seems we're welcome at his wee lakes anytime we feel like going there. Just have to mention his name.

Joe wasn't shy about telling us that he and his wife and his business partners are all getting on in years and they don't get to the lakes as much and they don't have the energy to pursue the development process
and they are sick of writing a letter to the OPP every year about how, no, those grow-ops they find on their many properties in the area are not actually their grow-ops.

Joe, don't give it another thought. We'll be happy to look after your little lakes, and we'll make sure those grow-ops are chased off too.

I promise.