Letters: September 23

South Frontenac Garbe issue, Marilyn Crawford

Politicians underpaid and over-criticized, Terry Kennedy

Re: Public works summary disappoints, Patrick maloney

Re: South Frontenac Garbage Issue

There must have been some mistakes or you are playing April Fool's jokes in September? I am referring to the story dated Sept. 9: “Garbage pickup issue surfaces again in South Frontenac”.

You reported that Councillors Fillion and York took “matters into their own hands” and asked the contractor to extend his route to include O'Neil Road. Can there be elected officials who claim to be looking out for their constituents while doling out privileges? Can it be true that four out of nine voted in favour of extending pick up to this lane, regardless of the underhanded, undemocratic actions of two councillors? If the report is correct, I am shocked at the sad state of affairs in South Frontenac and the candidates who ask for our votes in the upcoming election.

This is prime election time. We already know that no one in Bedford would cast a vote in favour of mayoral candidate John Fillion because of his initiative to decrease the Bedford representation on Council. Now I ask, why would anyone in South Frontenac vote for candidates for mayor or councillors who took action into their own hands or who voted in favour of garbage pick up on O'Neil Lane?

Marilyn Crawford

Politicians underpaid and over-criticized

It would seem that a harsh reality for local politicians is that they are underpaid and over-criticized.

In the past three issues of the Frontenac News, there has been a series of letters concerning the performance of councillors from Kennebec District, Gary Smith in particular. While I do not wish to prolong this discussion, I do feel that in the interests of fairness some additional comments do need to be made.

Contrary to statements made in the letter appearing September 16 (Letters, September 16), Councillor Smith, in several meetings I attended, fully outlined the progress of the PARC process related to potential school closings and directly challenged those in attendance to become involved. It needs to be recognized that Mr. Smith was tasked with being a representative of the entire township to the PARC process and not any one part of it. This is precisely the difficulty that confronted Councillor Guntensberger, in his earlier efforts as council representative to the PARC process.

Members of municipal council have the difficult task of not only diligently representing their district, but also seeking to fairly balance this with an obligation to all residents of Central Frontenac. This is precisely the approach needed from all council members if the result is to be the delivery of just, equitable and effective municipal governance across the township.

Now that another municipal election is approaching, hats off to incumbents and newcomers alike who have allowed their names to stand as candidates for office. If they are willing to stand up and subject themselves to the potential of being publicly pilloried on occasion, then they have my respect. The obligation for the rest of us is to become as informed as we can about each candidate and then to exercise our franchise by being sure to vote.

In considering the contribution made by Gary Smith to Kennebec District and to Central Frontenac at large, I have admired the knowledge, skills and dedication he brought to council, I have appreciated his grasp of issues and willingness to tackle challenges, and I sincerely thank him for his efforts.

Terry Kennedy

Re: Public works summary disappoints, CF Council, Sept 16, 2010

It’s no wonder that some councillors took exception to the conclusions that were drawn from the spreadsheet entitled “C.F. Township Public Works Construction Activity 2003-2010.”

Closer examination of that spreadsheet reveals some interesting disparities. While set up to apportion specific dollars to individual wards, it lists $7.6 million separately. This includes $6.1 million for Rd.38, $504,000 for Rd.509/Ardoch Rd, and $844,333 for two salt domes. Items such as $1 million for two fire halls, the costs of the two public works garage additions, the $220,000 township office addition or the $500,000 medical centre weren’t included at all.

When the missing data is included and the orphaned numbers are plugged into the appropriate places, a significantly different picture emerges than the one you quoted.
The reconstruction of Rd.38 benefited Oso & Hinchinbrooke significantly as it greatly enhanced the main streets of Sharbot Lake, Tichborne and Parham. The province footed most of that bill but the township paid $1.1 million. That amount should be credited to those two townships and without engaging in minutiae, I have apportioned it equally. Oso & Olden shared the Rd.509/Ardoch Road work and I have apportioned 3/4 to Oso and 1/4 to Olden.

The fire halls, public works garage extensions and salt domes should all be credited to the various wards. The fancy fire truck garages have nothing to do with the actual delivery of fire services and Kennebec & Hinchinbrooke continue to use their older fire stations constructed before amalgamation. The public works enhancements came at the expense of Oso and Kennebec which each lost their public works fleet. No figures are currently available for the two garage extensions for Olden & Hinchinbrooke.

The final figures include some other numbers for Rd.38 and Brewer Road that were also orphaned in the spreadsheet and I deducted $280,000 credited to Kennebec for Brock Road bridge work which didn’t proceed but part of which was shifted to Arden Road work and charged twice.

There are some other recent figures missing from the spreadsheet such as Piccadilly Hall, $52,000, and Arden Hall, $21,832, which suggests that there are likely other “small” amounts that should be included for a completely accurate analysis.

Even if we ignore the indisputable “extra value added” of Rd.38 to both Oso & Hinchinbrooke and the township office and new medical centre to Sharbot Lake and assign only those numbers that were actually spent in each of the wards, with no costs attributed for either the medical centre or township office, Kennebec still comes up very much on the losing end, having received half the funding of Oso over the preceding eight years and less than half of Olden & Hinchinbrooke.
The more accurate figures are these: Olden, $2,811,948. Hinchinbrooke, $2,626,592. Oso, $2,526,777. Kennebec -$1,251,629.

While these figures do not in themselves point to Oso as the chief recipient, ignoring the huge business & realty enhancement that the rebuilt Rd.38, township office and new medical centre provides is a mistake. Kennebec has had no such mitigating enhancement and has been effectively gutted with Arden left to deteriorate, thanks to amalgamation.

Patrick Maloney

The Last Harrumph

It's going to be a "thud heard 'round the world!" - the hollow "report" that the long gun registry stands. And because this is Canada, where we have never had to get serious about defending anything on our soil for 197 years, we are in no mood to start getting protective of our liberties now. Tiny Switzerland has a mandatory civilian militia and military firearms access in the home, but no substantial homicide statistics.

Few seem to remember that where despots reign, arms are first registered and then confiscated prior to the rise of a police state. Yes, Hitler registered arms and then sent in his Brown Shirts to confiscate privately owned firearms. The maintaining of the long gun registry is pure politics -- a way to increase intrusion and excessive monitoring of law-abiding citizens. The simple reality is that criminals do not register guns. There are several instances of police investigating a home and confiscating lawfully owned weapons, but not returning these arms to the rightful owner. Yet, when crimes of violence are committed with firearms, there is no strategic increase in sentencing.

If Canadians are truly concerned about violence with firearms, then write, phone, visit your MPs and urge a mandatory five years additional imprisonment for the commission of a felony with the use of a firearm. If Canadian governments and the courts would stiffen sentencing, a deterrent would evolve. The key is consistent sentencing.

Let us wake up to reality! Long guns do not kill people; people kill people. Let us not be fooled by the rising wave of globalism that seeks to marginalize our national identity. Most Canadians will never seek to harm another with a long gun. The maintenance of the Long Gun Registry is the pursuit of “pre-crime profiling”— the triumph of the will over ordinary citizens. Let's stop the harrumph and put teeth back into criminal sentencing.

G. Leslie Balogh