December 30, 1980 – The “Big Bust” is the family term, for that day – his later busts were bigger, but this was a family milestone.

This was not a good day for multiple reasons, first of all, our house was deservedly raided by the RCMP, with the objective of searching Reggie’s room for car stereos, and as they were mostly in plain sight, they quickly were able to recover a large amount of stereos, cassettes, and speakers. Fortunately, they did not cross the hallway and walk into the laundry room.

The last thing I remember about what the RCMP were doing was that they took him away in handcuffs and took him to their station.

I think that the local police did my father a big favor that day, and maybe it was due to the limitations of the search warrant, but in nearby laundry room, my father had a high quality copper moonshine still, which is illegal to possess. In addition, he had just finished running a batch of moonshine and how the police did not notice the distinctive smell, we will never know. I suspect that they probably were being kind to my father, who clearly had some major issues with his son.

My father made moonshine only for personal use, and for giving away to friends. When I enrolled at Saint Mary’s University in Halfax, in 1981, he would give me a couple gallons of moonshine, and it was strong, and my friends were soon calling me “Moonshine Mike”.