I attended this program after my probation officer recommended it to me. We did hands-on projects around the city of St. John’s. We did basic electrical, masonry and carpentry. We would do in those programs in our building on O’Leary Avenue as well as different city-owned properties in the city. At one point we actually …
Around the age of 12-14, I basically lived on the streets, hanging around the Queen’s Road area. Did many things to survive, including a bunch of B & E’s. I left my house because I wasn’t going to school, and my old man was on his last few years of being an asshole. Went hungry …
When I was training for my first-year carpentry with “The New Start Project”, we were doing a job at The Nineteenth Hole at Pippy Park, we were in need of a specific tool that we didn’t have, so we dropped by Mount Cashel to borrow one. When we entered the workshop through a side door …
My dad drank and drove almost every day unless he was so fall down drunk to do so. He would pick us up inebriated, and my mom just grabbed us kids and hopped into the car with him driving. I can recall this happening so often, it was the norm. One time, after we stayed …
Back at Keegan Court, I believe I was around 6 years old. Had a lot of friends at my Birthday Party. My good buddies (Doug and Johnnie Gosse) decided that they should give me the bumps. Their idea of the bumps, was to sit me at the top of the stairs, and grab my legs …
I remember trying to make friends with a guy from school, Donny O’Brien. I went to his place a few times after school, and then I asked him to come to my place in Keegan Court. We arrived and within about 5 minutes, the door opens, and 4 or 5 guys were carrying my dad …
I Have to thank my 11-year-old sister for getting me hooked on cigarettes early. 9 years old, next row of houses, in Keegan Court was where she gave me my first. I remember getting sick and throwing up the rest of the day. Of course, then my sister took me to a place in Stabb …