Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Aug 27/99) - After 15 years of working for the Village of Fort Simpson, Fred "Sonny" McLeod will soon be an employee no longer.

McLeod will be retired after putting in his last day on the village garbage truck this Friday.

"It'll be kind of hard for a while," he said. "I just really liked working around there."

Although he doesn't have any long-term plans for his retirement, he said he will soon be in the bush doing some hunting.

He started his career with the village at the arena, making ice. He then went to work at the garage, which was located on the island at that time, he noted. His primary role there was to repair and maintain the sewage lines, he said.

The majority of his career, the final 10 years or so, was spent as a sanitation engineer. That, he admitted, wasn't an easy job. It entailed getting up early, at least by 7 a.m., and reporting to work at 8 a.m. There were some terribly cold days when the frozen metal of the truck wasn't very forgiving, and some unbearably hot ones too.

Spending a significant amount of time at the dump meant McLeod saw numerous bears, but he never had any close encounters, he said.

"They don't bother," he said.

While some people think of the dump as a place where treasures can be salvaged, McLeod didn't bring home many valued items.

"I didn't bother too much," he said. On the other hand, there was occasionally some extra cash to be made from discarded bottles.

Prior to working with the municipality, McLeod, who is from Fort Liard, had worked at a garage owned by John Moreau. There, he repaired and replaced tires and performed other odd jobs.

Fort Simpson Mayor Norm Prevost said it's nice to see some local people entering the retirement stage. The only previous village employee that he knew of currently in retirement is Joseph Tonka.

"It's just nice to see some of the local guys have hung in there, started and finished," he said.