Finding out the Auditor General (AG) is about to review your government department probably ruins the day of any provincial minister.

That minister knows the thorough investigator of inefficiencies and poor practices will inevitably find many faults. Knows the AG's report will come out during the news doldrums after Christmas and that the media will seize upon the report as something to do, will scrutinize and hold government's feet to the fire.

Dear Editor:

Our Island woodland caribou is unique to North America and I think we all know that they are in trouble here on the island.

This year for the first time in a number of years I have seen caribou along the side of the highway traveling from Flower's Cove to St. Anthony. I have also been talking to a number of people who are seeing caribou like they did in the early 90's. Let us not shout too loud in claiming that the caribou is returning like they did in previous years. We must be very careful here. Please allow me to establish some data that I have been able to acquire over the past years on the plight of our woodland caribou.

	Victor Rumbolt long served the coast, carrying the mail by dog team and raising a family of 10.

A beautiful but quiet wedding took place off the shores of Port-au-Choix on a man of war.

Louise Mahar and Alfred Rumbolt were married by the ships captain. Louise and Alfred settled in 'Barbace Cove', Port-au-Choix, and raised 10 children there.

One of their children, William Victor Rumbolt, was born on the 20th of May 1880. Known to many up and down this lovely Northern Peninsula as uncle Victor.

How does the Viking Site at L'Anse aux Meadows relate to National Flag Day in Canada?

A resident of St. Anthony told me, " When I was a kid, we used to go up to the Viking site-we didn't know what it was then, it was just mounds-I remember how we used to ride up and down over the mounds just to pass the time. Back then the Viking site was called the Indian Burial Grounds. But what a beautiful place-that whole Point. The grass would grow up, and in the summer it blew in waves like the waves on the sea. We'd ride our bikes through it, or up and down the mounds; it was one big playground. The wind would be so warm blowing out of the bay. What a beautiful, beautiful place!"

Later, in the 1960s, Helge Ingstad, and his wife, Anne Stine Ingstad, an archaeologist, discovered the burial grounds were much more than mounds covered in grass: their team unearthed evidence of a Viking Settlement dating back 1000 years, and for that reason, L'Anse aux Meadows has become a World Heritage Site. They found the remains of eight buildings, proving the existence of an iron smithy, a carpentry work shop, and a boat repair shop. There was a stone oil lamp, a whetstone, a bronze fastening pin, a bone knitting needle, and part of a spindle.