Letters: April 29

Mississippi River Clean Up, Lauder Smith and Patricia Nobbs

Mississippi River Clean Up

For the second year now we have chosen a section of the Mississippi River and a section of the road near our house to pick up road and water-side garbage.

This year's "treasures" included a decorative plastic garden bed fence, a glittery styrofoam Christmas ornament, a toothy plastic whale beach toy, a large piece of stylish lime green indoor/outdoor carpet along with the usual beer and water bottles, fish bobbers, disposable lighters, and coffee/ fast food cups and containers. Of special note was the gathering of numerous used diapers which had been scattered, likely by curious wildlife.

The enclosed photos are of the riverside garbage only.

Ending on a positive note, we think there was less garbage overall than last year! We look forward to 2011 Earth Day with hopeful anticipation of starting to work ourselves out of this job.

Lauder Smith and Patricia Nobbs

Reasons for Resignation

I would like to clarify the reasons for my resignation from the township committee (CF Township Report, April 15/10) that was originally charged with the development of a “multi-use cultural centre” for the township. Thanks to the efforts of committee chair and Oso Councilor (and former Oso Reeve) Frances Smith, the committee’s new focus will be to develop a multi-use centre which could have a cultural element - just like the several others that already exist in both Sharbot Lake and elsewhere in the municipality.

According to the “request for clarification” that Ms. Smith submitted to the Township Council, which led to the change in focus for the centre, “a cultural element” is a large room for cards and yoga that could have paintings on the wall. Those particularly pejorative terms were never discussed during the committee’s inaugural meeting but they nicely describe Soldiers Memorial Hall in Sharbot Lake and provided an excellent opportunity for fellow Oso Councilor Bob Harvey to dismiss the cultural component of the project by complaining that that is a room that is already under used. Ms. Smith’s “request for clarification” failed to mention the community theatre option that was supported enthusiastically by at least half of the committee.
It’s no surprise that Ms. Smith would put herself in position to frame the discussion and direct the “Sharbot Lake first” agenda, but the fact that the rest of the council, including the mayor, fell into lock step behind her is very disappointing, although not entirely unexpected from this remarkably unimaginative council. From the outset the real agenda was to sidetrack the “cultural” component of the original project and make sure that there was only one viable option.

Myopic influential individuals want a new library in Sharbot Lake even though there is no basis to warrant it. According to the Kingston Frontenac Public Library Board’s own calculations, the existing 1,000 square foot library in Sharbot Lake is over-sized for the population of Oso and will continue to be so long into the future. The new addition to the Township Office also negates the need for the existing library to move from its current location in the basement of that building. An earlier proposal by a K.F.P.L. Board consultant to amalgamate all of the township libraries into one large one in Sharbot Lake met with considerable resistance in 2004 but that doesn’t seem to dissuade the Sharbot Lake crowd as they talk of a new 2,000-9,000 square ft library.

To summarize - a new library isn’t justified, multiple multi-use, athletic and recreational facilities already exist and new municipal office space has just been built.
The silliest part of all this is that both Oso Councilors Smith and Harvey have also expressed a keen desire for a “council chamber”, which one would assume has to be big enough to accommodate an audience. That sounds a lot like a theatre to me. Unless, of course, their delusions of grandeur include a chamber that would be used only two days per month.

Patrick Maloney