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Telling tales in the
Jacques divorce courtroom
BY ANDREW DOUGLAS
FRANK MAGAZINE HAS WON THE FIRST BAT-
TLE IN THE LEGAL WAR TO ACCESS THE DIVORCE
FILE OF GAZILLIONAIRE JACQUES WHITFORD
MOGUL HECTOR JACQUES AND HIS ESTRANGED
WIFE SHARON. JUSTICE BERYL MACDONALD
RULED LAST MONTH THAT THE PROVINCE’S ME-
DIA WILL BE ADVISED OF THE UPCOMING FRANK
V. JACQUES COURT BATTLE, SCHEDULED FOR
JUNE 28, VIA THE COURTS’ ELECTRONIC NOTI-
FICATION SYSTEM.
Which is sorta funny, considering I’ve
been notifying you, ad nauseam, about the
pending fight since March (Frank 606). But
that’s not to say the April 28 hearing was
completely without entertainment value.
For the second time in under 12 months,
Blois Nickerson family law specialist
Gordon Kelly, representing Sharon in the
matter, placed his hands on my junk without
invitation.
Upon noticing that my Blackberry had
been placed on the ledge separating the
lawyers from the common folk in order to
record the hearing, he picked it up and carried
it over to Justice Beryl.
“It actually is recording,” he noted to Her
Honour, adding insistently, when she
didn’t immediately acknowledge him,
“M’lady”. She replied with a tone of maternal
exasperation more commonly found
in elementary school teachers when deal-
Ralston’s troubles grow
BY NEAL OZANO
FOLKS ARE SEEING MORE SIGNS OF TROU-
BLE IN THE STATE OF THE RALSTON
MACDONNELL EMPIRE — ESPECIALLY THE SIGN
THAT SAYS “MUNICIPALITY OF SHELBURNE TAX
SALE.”
The Shelburne Boys’ School and 19
hectares around it, including the Bowood
Recycling Depot, all owned by Ralston’s
Bowood Corporation Inc., are up for tax
sale by the municipality May 17 for three
years (more than $150,000) in tax arrears.
Officials say, however, Ralston can stop
the sale and keep the land and buildings
if he finds the cash within six months.
Digby Wharf honcho MacDonnell bought
the much-discounted Boys’ School in 2007
from his former NSCAD co-director and
18 FRANK MAGAZINE MAY 24, 2011
ing with the classroom tattle-tale.
“I don’t need to look at it, I take it that is
happening from what I can see, I don’t
need it brought any closer,” she scolded.
Gordo dutifully returned it to the ledge.
The episode began when, about 20 minutes
into the hearing, Stewart McKelvey
bulldog Mick Ryan’s female assistant
handed him a note informing him that recording
was taking place. Mick, as noted
previously, is acting for Hector Jacques in
the matter.
Mick raised the issue to Justice Beryl,
and Gordon echoed his concerns. Both
were mortified that I had been making the
recording “in secret,” albeit in full view of
everyone. Justice Beryl noted that the rules
are that you’re not supposed to record without
permission.
It was around this point that I mentioned
to Frank counsel Alan Parish, of Burchells
LLP, that a memo outside the courtroom
door, and another in the lobby, specifically
states that media are, in fact, allowed to
record proceedings to aid in note taking.
Recess time!
Justice Beryl repaired to her Chambers
to read the memo, and Alan, Gordon, Mick,
and his female assistant all filed out of the
courtroom, a mini field-trip as it were, to
read the memo.
Courts of N.S. spokesthingy John Piccolo
would later tell me the policy was
adopted in mid-2008.
SWSDA kingpin Frank Anderson for
$550,000 — $9.1 million less than it was
assessed at in 2001 (Frank 509).
Ralston didn’t return a detailed email,
and phones at the main office weren’t answered.
I’m told the Boys’ School isn’t being
maintained at all.
“The buildings are an absolute wreck,”
says a source.
The source also suggests the bills for
the Boys’ School aren’t always promptly
paid. A 15-room student residence at the
school, Fitzmaurice House, spent the winter
with “no heat or hot water for three
months” even though there were “four or
five” NSCC students living there. I’m told
one hearty student held out until this April.
Some sources suggest there may have
I’m telling!
Gordon
Kelly
“Sorry about my deficiency folks,” Justice
Beryl apologized when court resumed.
After adjournment, Mick shook my hand
congenially, laughing about the matter.
Gordon didn’t.
I can’t help but recall another incident at
the Devonshire Avenue courthouse, last
May 20 to be precise, when Gordo placed
his palm on my camera lens in an attempt
to block my taking a picture of his client,
N.G. businessman Reaud Harris, in a courtroom
hallway. Media, incidentally, are also
allowed to take photos in designated courthouse
areas, including hallways. Nevertheless,
the indignant legal beagle complained
to Justice Jim Williams that I had
“accosted” his client (Frank 586).
andrew@atlanticfrank.ca
been an issue with Nova Scotia Power
recently, too — it may have threatened cut
the power due to some unpaid bills. But
supposedly, when the threat came in,
Ralston found the money, in the thousands
of dollars, I’m told, “within the hour,” my
source says. And the bottle depot can now
only be contacted by a 1-800 number forwarded
to an employee’s personal cell
phone.
Moldy beer isn’t the only thing that stinks
down there. We’ve heard from several
sources in Shelburne that the bottle depot
is often a little short on cash for bottle returns,
and we reported in Frank 606 that
the Resource Recovery Fund Board,
which administers bottle depots and the
like, shut down the bottle depot for two
weeks, after public complaints that it wasn’t
open at the posted hours. Our source suggests
that it’s still only open four days a
week.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 29