12 - THEINTELLIGENCER, Saturday. November 25,1995, C.W. Hunt, Belleville author, displays his newest book, Whisky and Ice. He'll be at a book signing today at Greenley's, Front Street. Author invites readers to probe local mystery Rumrunners." The mystery surrounds Kerr and what happened to this man sought by both the U.S. Coast Guard and a Hamilton crime lord. Hunt says the more he found By Tom Gavey out about Kerr, the less he liked him. The Intelligencer "I didn't like the guy by the Belleville author C.W. Hunt time I was finished with him. invites readers to participate in a But, he was a fascinating figure. mystery made all the more fasci- On the one hand there was this nating because it's rooted in fact skilled outdoorsman and on the in Whisky and Ice. other was a classical pianist," he The book follows on the heels comments. A plumber by trade, the sociof Hunt's popular Booze, Boats ety conscious Kerr listed himself and Billions. as a musician. While Kerr and his rumrunAgain, the former Belleville high school teacher and entrepre- ning exploits between the United neur chronicles the rumrunning States and Canada makes for fasexploits in the Belleville area cinating reading in itself, Hunt also details a time when Canada during the 1920s. "Whisky and Ice spins out of was just emerging from the VictoBooze, Boats and Billions. It's a rian era. Readers learn about the doustory that came to me, I didn't ble dealing that was present in have to go to it," he says. Much of the book deals with to provincial politics during the proBen Kerr, a man known during hibition debate, including the his heyday as "The King of the 1926 election still seen as one of C. W. Hunt to sign books today at downtown store the most bizarre in Ontario historyHunt also recreates a time when government liquor stores required a person to have a licence to buy liquor and before that pharmacists and doctors were popular sources of the demon liquid. Over two years research went into Whisky and Ice and Hunt says he relied on survivors of the era, newspaper accounts in Belleville and Hamilton, library sources and other sources. Much of the book is based in the Belleville area and older readers are sure to recognize the names of principles in the books and businesses and places that are prominent in the story of the daring exploits of Kerr and his confederates. Hunt recently spent a week with the homicide squad in Cleveland, Ohio preparing for his next work, a crime fiction novel. He'll be signing copies of Whisky and Ice Saturday at W.R. Greenly's Booksellers between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.