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Sleuth is back and, given the continuing mild (relatively speaking) weather for November and lack of snow, he's already hearing chatter on the grapevine that gosh, maybe it'll be a green Christmas this year. Maybe -- it's not unheard of around here -- but this is the Maritimes and there are still several weeks that could bring us snow. Besides, Sleuth would rather try predicting the next big political surprise than predicting the weather!

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It was a Moncton Family Affair on Parliament Hill recently according to this week's Maclean's Magazine, which featured a photo of Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe Liberal MP Smilin' Brian Murphy (yes, he was smiling!), his nephew Neil Murphy, and Conservative Justice Minister Rob Nicholson (they were smiling too!), what may seems like a rather unlikely trio. But here's the scoop: Neil is a nephew to both these national politicians. His dad is MP Murphy's brother and his mom is Minister Nicholson's sister. Must make for some interesting table talk, eh? Meanwhile, though, the Murphy family interest in politics continues, with Neil presently working in his uncle's Moncton constituency office assisting with constituent inquiries. Sounds like we'll be hearing more from the family in future. . .

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Pun Alert! It was perhaps inevitable. Earlier this week when Léger Marketing of Montreal released the results of a public opinion survey in the province on the sale of NB Power, it got the entire province talking. And what they were talking about so excitedly, odd as it might have sounded to an unaware outsider visiting the province, was 'the new power poll.' Such a visitor would surely have been puzzled and would marvel at how dull life must be normally here if everyone can get so enthused, one way or another, about a new pole!

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Speaking of carrying torches, the celebration of the Olympic Flame held at Moncton's new stadium (officially the 2010 Stade Moncton Stadium, at least for now) Tuesday night has been well recorded, and Sleuth is still hearing people on the street commenting on how great a facility the new city-owned stadium is going to be now that they've had a first good look at it.

Your gumshoe has heard some grumbling in other quarters about the whole Olympic Flame thing, which is of course a massive PR effort to generate national interest in the pending Winter Olympics in B.C. For example, apparently a lot of people down Port Elgin way misunderstood just what the cross-Canada torch relay means. Sleuth is told by a Malden resident that many people down that way were up and out in the early morning cold on Tuesday to watch runners and cheer them on along the stretch of highway between the Confederation Bridge and Port Elgin. They were greatly disappointed when what they saw no torch or flame, just a convoy of Olympic vehicles zipping by. Nobody knew that the relay isn't actually being run every inch of the way, it seems! Sleuth is told the flame is indeed kept alive the whole way, but the runners are saved to actually carry it through the more populated communities. Otherwise, the games would probably be over before the torch ever made it to the west coast!

Meanwhile, the best overheard line of the whole Olympic Flame event as it wended its way through southeast N.B. was uttered at the world famous Hopewell Rocks. Journalists were near a park employee who was talking to a person they believed to be part of the Olympic entourage overseeing the run when they heard the following: "It's so beautiful here . . . too bad you can't do something to control the erosion." The park employee was non-plussed, silent for a while, then rather delicately noted that erosion was sort of the whole point of the site!

Later, down the road in Alma, Sleuth hears that poet, writer and musician Alan Cooper's house was right where the Alma leg of the run was to begin and it quickly became the "unofficial Olympic Winter Games loo." Cooper was heard joking about it after five of the torch runners approached him at various times asking if they could please use his facilities. The requests were, of course, granted!

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Few Canadians may have heard of The Memory Project, but representatives were in Moncton this week gathering stories from area war veterans about their experiences in the Second World War, a continuing effort to glean as much history in the form of first-person experiences as possible before age and time take their toll. And Sleuth has been told the historians were greatly impressed by the turnout and wealth of stories offered by local veterans, not to mention the large contribution New Brunswickers made to the war effort.

The project is being undertaken by a group called The Historica-Dominion Institute, with funding help from Heritage Canada. People can learn more or contribute to this effort to preserve our history via their website at www.historica-dominion.ca

* Heard any good rumours or gossip? Sleuth wants to know. Send all your best to Sleuth via e-mail at sleuth@timestranscript.com or fax him at 859-4904. He'll check it out and report next Saturday.