A journalist for The Sarnia Oberver
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer You might say he was the John A. Macdonald of Sarnia politicians. Or maybe the Richard M. Nixon. Thomas Forsyth was the community's first Mayor, serving from March 28, 1857 until he was forced to resign under a cloud five months later. The [...]
by Dan McCaffery (2015) "For decades politicians trembled every Wednesday when it hit the streets.” That's how The Observer led off a story in the summer of 1995, reporting on the demise of the legendary Sarnia Gazette weekly newspaper. It was August 19, 1995 to be exact, and the final [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2009) A Sarnia war hero who became a crusader for peace has died. Joe Egan, who was also a noted community activist and businessperson, was 87. A graduate of Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School, Egan volunteered for duty with the Royal Canadian [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) The day human beings first set foot on the moon was the day the earth – or at least Sarnia – stood still. The Observer sent a reporter out that historic July 20, 1969 evening to find out how the city would [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Most hockey fans can tell you Phil Esposito was one of the greatest goal scorers in the history of the game. But what many don’t know is that if it wasn’t for Sarnia, it’s doubtful whether the legendary superstar would have laced [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) When it came to reporting the start of the Great Depression, The Observer pulled no punches. While other newspapers tried to downplay the stock market crash of October, 1929, assuring readers there was no cause for alarm, the Sarnia daily told readers [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Sarnia-Lambton’s greatest hero of the Great War may well have been George Hunter Stirrett. Stirrett, who was born in Forest, raised in Petrolia and lived his adult life in Sarnia, won the Military Cross (MC) and the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) Humanity Saved! That’s how The Observer greeted the news that Germany had tossed in the towel, putting an end to the First World War on Nov. 11, 1918. The screaming headline, in the largest type size ever used by the newspaper up [...]
by Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer (2003) It was a time when The Observer could report in the same edition that an auto maker was considering coming to town and that a runaway horse had smashed through a plate glass window downtown. The first decade of the 20th century [...]
by Dan McCaffery for First Monday (2013) Many years ago, when I was researching the career of Sarnia-born astronaut Chris Hadfield, I came across a quote from his grade 2 teacher. The elderly lady, who taught Hadfield at King George Public School said, “He must have been a good boy, [...]
