Feature Article - June 8, 2006

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Feature Article - June 8, 2006

The $6 million road

by Jeff Green

As reported in this edition of the News, there were pats on the back all around last week to celebrate an agreement by three levels of government to bring Road 38 back from the brink of collapse.

The federal-provincial support will bring the township’s own cost to fix the road down to $1.3 million once they use up the last of the money that was granted to them when the road was dumped on their laps by the government on Ontario eight years ago.

The southern section of the road was repaired by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) before the road was downloaded to the Township of South Frontenac , and presumably the MTO would have continued on repairing Hwy. 38 if the government of the day hadn’t decided to download the road, and the cost of repairing and maintaining it, to Central Frontenac.

The township of Central Frontenac , which maintains one of the highest municipal tax rates in the region, will still only bring in $4 million in taxes this year.

Before receiving the recent grant, Central Frontenac was facing a $5.3 million cost if they took on the needed road repairs themselves ($6 million minus the $700,000 that remained from a provincial grant that came with the road in 1998).

Imagine what kind of project cities like Ottawa of Toronto would be contemplating in order to spend 136% of their annual budget. The province would never consider foisting such a cost on a major municipal government, but that is just what happened to Central Frontenac when the Queen’s Highway 38 became township Road 38.

As one businessperson said to me last year, “No matter how much we are taxed, there is no way that we could pay for fixing that road; there aren’t enough of us.”

One way or another, a granting program from the province was going to have come through to cover this repair. That has been clear for years.

It could have been done more cheaply, of course, if the provincial repair crews had simply continued on when the southern portion was being repaired. That would have been simple. By shuffling the road to a township that would never be in a position to repair it, a ten-year delay was created, and delays cost lots of money when it comes to road construction.

It is the Province of Ontario that has gained in this process. By downloading the road, they are now only paying 1/3 of the cost instead of the entire cost. The construction this fall will still be 100% funded by tax dollars, just as it would have been back then, no matter how the cost is shuffled around

It is a great relief to taxpayers and municipal politicians in Central Frontenac that the road will finally be repaired.

But it’s hard to see how this is progress.

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Feature Article - June 22, 2006

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Feature Article - June 22, 2006

Letters to theEditor

Horrendous day at the vet

Thursday was a horrendous day for my cat Sirrah and I, but had a happy ending thanks to the nice people in the town of Sharbot Lake .

I decided to take Sirrah to the vet for all his needles.The vet's officeis in downtown Sharbot Lake .So we go in and he is teased about being big boned.I am going to put him on a diet.He made friends with all the dogs and was quite a hit with everyone.But then we went outside and he decided to go under the steps.There was along boardwalk at the side of the building with a spot just big enough for a small dog or cat to go underneath it, and guess who went in there just as some people were bringing in big crates and making a lot of noise on the walkway.The dust cleared and Sirrah would not come out.Several people stopped and tried to help.Then Rodger MacMunn, the sign painter,came over and said he could paint a hole for him to come out. lol!!Big help.But Rodger got out his cell phone and called the lady who owns the property [Rosemarie Bowick].She gave permission for the boards to be taken up andcame over with her hubby [Bill] too. They took up three boardsand put a hose down to squirt Sirrah (and me, as I had crawled under the steps too by this time). He came forward but not far enough.Then Rodger gets a chain saw and cuts a board right where Sirrah is and thunks Sirrah with the board. Lo and behold, Sirrah belts out at 60 miles an hour back to the vet’s office, with me in hot pursuit.I get him and put him in my car.He hides under my seat, traumatized.Poor cat!!

I offered to pay for the boards, but the husband of the lady who owns the building said, "Lady, take your cat and go home".He was smiling at me, tho'.I thanked everyone a lot andcame home to Big Clear Lake . I want to let everyone know what nice people live around here.

- Glynne Howland

Re: "Ardoch Algonquins eye crown land"In your article you note that that Mayor Ron Maguire stated, "I am aware from the provincial government, that you need to be a part of the land claim in order to assert your inherent or aboriginal rights". The provincial has no right to say anything regarding Algonquin aboriginal rights. The Algonquin Nationhas been lied to and terrorized by the provincial government to make its people think it has a right to negotiate a treaty. The Algonquin Nation is a Sovereign Nation.This sovereignty is guaranteed by many documents. Does Ontario think it can make treaties with China or Bolivia ?I think not. So why does Ontario think it can make or set conditions on any treaty with the Algonquin Nation.Treaties are made between nations. A province has no basis in law to make a treaty with a Sovereign Nation. This "treaty" is a part of the governments "Final Solution" to strip all native peoples living within the boundaries of Canada of their lands, their traditions, and eventually their Indian identity. The Canadian government has built reservations, many of which have no better conditions than Concentration Camps. The Canadian and Ontario Governments have all ready fulfilled the United Nations description of Genocide in their treatment of native peoples. When do you think they will start to build the ovens? - David Bate, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation

Mini Golf at SLPSWe are students from Sharbot Lake Public School and we are writing to see if anyone knows about the mini golf at our school, in the big yard, under the big trees.

So we want to know how it works. We were digging it up and cleaning it off, and we wonder what the holes are for. If you used to go to this school here and you know how it is suppose to work, please contact us at school and leave a message. We will return your call.

Yours truly,Stacey Young and Curtis Barlow-WilkesP.S. The last day of school is June 29th

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Feature Article - June 22, 2006

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Feature Article - June 22, 2006

Who cares about a burnt up sugar shack? Editorial by JeffGreen

Not the administration at the Sharbot Lake High School , it would seem.

When a sugar shack that was located a very short walk from school property burnt down two weeks ago, it came after a long history of complaints from the building’s owners, the Ferguson family, about break ins and fires at the building. The fence between the two properties had been broken down by unknown persons, and the ground had been mounded up on either side of the fence for easy access. It is possible to leave the gym door of the school and walk to where the shack was in a couple of minutes, at the most.

Yet, the school administration took the position that as the building is not on school property, its destruction is entirely a police matter.

The Ontario Provincial Police have not given this matter much attention. The fire is under investigation, however, police are saying they are waiting for the Central Frontenac Fire Department to determine the cause of the fire. The Fire Chief, however, says that it will be difficult to determine the cause. Whether the fire was started deliberately or accidentally, it is very unlikely any evidence will be found.

Meanwhile the students at the school are now in the midst of writing exams, and will be beginning to disperse at the end of this week.

Path to Sharbot LakeHighSchool In my view, based on the fact that the building had no hydro and no flammables were stored there, it burned down at the end of a school day on a sunny afternoon after a rainy weekend, there have been complaints about student vandalism in the past, and the fence was broken precisely at the point where the Ferguson property came close to a nature path on the school grounds, the OPP and the school administration should have at least engaged the students in the school about what happened.

It would not be right to assume that the fire was caused by a student or students from the school, but it is negligent to assume it was not caused by a student from the school.

The current school administration has suspended students for throwing snowballs on school property, but does not think they should say anything at all to the students about this fire.

A large portion of our property taxes go to the school board and the Ontario Provincial Police, and both institutions are well funded through provincial income taxes.

For both of these institutions to wash their hands of this matter is unacceptable.

- JG

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Feature Article - June 1, 2006

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Feature Article - June 1, 2006

Politicians all smiles as they hand out road grant money

by JeffGreen

Leona Dombrowsky, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for the Province of Ontario, and Scott Reid, the Deputy House Leader for the Harper government in Ottawa, took advantage of breaks in the provincial and federal legislative schedules to take care of some constituency business last week.

Their paths crossed in Sharbot Lake on Wednesday afternoon, May 24, where they each handed out $2 million of their respective government’s money towards the reconstruction of Road 38.

“We like to see special people,” said Frontenac County Warden Bill Lake to Reid and Dombrowsky, “and we like to see them even more when they bring money with them.”

It was Dombrowsky’s own ministry that handled the application process for the COMRIF granting program, which approved the $4 million matching grant that will go towards a $6 million reconstruction project to be completed by Central Frontenac Township this year. Twenty-one kilometres of Road 38, from south of Parham to the edge of the village of Sharbot Lake , will be rebuilt.

“I’ve been hearing about Hwy. 38 and its reconstruction needs since before I was first elected,” said Leona Dombrowsky in making the announcement, “and I congratulate everyone who has been involved in preparing the application for the COMRIF grant. It was necessary to not only have a good and worthy project, which this was, but to prepare a solid application, since COMRIF is a competitive bidding process. There were 78 communities that received support in Intake 2 [of COMRIF] but there were 339 applications for support. The residents of Central Frontenac can be proud of the work your municipal politicians and staff did on this.”

The grant came after the second of three intakes for the COMRIF program, which will inject $600 million of federal and provincial government money into rural Ontario by the time it is completed.

After Central Frontenac was refused on Intake 1 of COMRIF, Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonad called Leona Dombrowsky immediately, emphasising his disappointment that the project had been rejected.

Road 38 was originally a provincial highway, which was downloaded to Central Frontenac by the Harris government in the late 90’s. The province included a grant with the road, to help with maintenance and with the cost of a needed rebuild, but the money did not cover the projected cost for reconstruction, and Central Frontenac has applied to every funding program going for the past eight years for help in rebuilding the highway, to no avail.

“After the first COMRIF intake, I told municipalities that had been unsuccessful to think of it as a hockey game at the end of the first period. You would never turn off the game after one period because your team is losing. And now Central Frontenac has scored in the second period,” said Dombrowsky.

“You have to remember that I’m a fan of the Maple Leafs,” countered Bill MacDonald, “so it was hard for me not to give up after one period.”

MacDonald said that credit for the township’s success in securing the grant should go to the staff members who worked on the application. “I had very little to do with this,” he said, “it was staff members Heather Fox, Bill Nicol, Judy Gray, Mark MacDonald, Chris Matheson, and consultant Bill Blum who did all the work.”

Scott Reid was making one of his first appearances as the representative of a governing political party. The COMRIF program, which is formally called the Canada Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, had been established by the former Liberal government, and the program was delayed several months after the federal election.

“This is a government that carries on with programs and priorities that are underway. This includes infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges,” he said.

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Feature Article - August 10, 2006

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Feature Article - August 10, 2006

Echoes of '02 microburst as storm hits Hwy 41

byJeffGreen

Members of the Denbigh fire crew were just settling in after completing a training session last Wednesday, when a powerful storm, the tail of a tornado that hit to the northeast, blew through the area, sending trees and power lines crashing over many properties and roads, including Provincial Hwy. 41.

Addington Highlands Fire Chief Casey Cuddy had almost made it to Cloyne when he received the emergency call and had to turn around. He wouldn’t make it home for another 13 hours.

Although power was only knocked out in Cloyne for a couple of hours when lightning hit a street light, the region to the north went dark for a couple of days as Hydro One worked on repairing its distribution system.

Hwy. 41 was closed from Bon Echo Park all the way to Vennachar Junction, with the hardest hit area being the Ashby Lake Road and Hwy. 41 junction, where the road was covered with fallen trees and branches, including hydro wires.

Twenty four members of the Addington Highlands Fire Department and the township’s roads crew began working immediately, closing off Hwy. 41, creating an alternate route and checking the side roads to see if people were injured or somehow in harm’s way.

Township crews had to do work that others normally do - removing trees from hydro lines when hydro crews took several hours to arrive because they were busy dealing with the regional power outage, and rerouting traffic because the OPP was “stretched to the limit” and did not respond until the morning.

“Hydro crews arrived just before 2 a.m. and they had wires cleared off Hwy. 41 by 3:30 to 4:00,” Casey Cuddy told the News, “but the road remained closed because of a Bell Canada line that was hanging a few feet above the ground. It was shortly after 6 am when a Bell van arrived, but it wasn’t an equipped van. The Bell worker supervised our crews and we had the line moved and the road opened by eight o’clock.”

After dawn firefighters performed door-to-door checks on many of the residences and cottages in the Ashby Lake area, and road crews made sure all of the township roads were usable.

Unlike the microburst, which hit almost exactly four years earlier, there was little damage to property, and few injuries, although there was a person injured at Bon Echo Park , and a tree came down on the roof of Scott’s shopping centre at Vennachar Junction. Fortunately the injury was minor and the roof at Scott’s withstood the impact of the tree.

In the aftermath of the storm, Addington Highlands Council and staff are trying to set up a de-briefing meeting with police, hydro, ambulance and Bell Canada officials to discuss how to improve communications and response times in severe storm situations along provincial highways.

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Feature Article - September 7, 2006

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Feature Article - September 7, 2006

Ardenites do Ontarioproud

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba , was the site last week of the 2006 Canada Senior Games. These games happen every two years in a different Canadian town or city and the number of competitors gets larger every time, as does the number of events.

The participants must be 55 or older, and have gone through a process of qualification at the district level ( Ontario is divided into approximately 40 districts) or have won gold in his/her chosen discipline at the provincial games. Arden seniors have been participating with Perth as part of Area D and of District 9 for over six years.

Carol Husband, provincial coordinator for the Canada Games, and her husband John, both of Perth , have been very supportive. We thank them for their enthusiastic encouragement.

This year was not a first appearance at the Canada Games for Arden seniors. In 2002 Diane Nicolson and Marg Smith won gold in their particular disciplines at Actifest (the provincial competition) which was in Kingston that year. Diane repeated that victory in swimming, and Marg won silver in walking, later that same year at the national games in Summerside, P.E.I. The die was cast! You may remember that in Whitehorse , Yukon , in 2004, there were nine competitors from Arden , including Diane and Marg. The group came home delighted with a total of ten medals and many happy memories.

Last Saturday evening, just after the games in Portage La Prairie finished, I received news of the final results. Unbelievable! Twelve Ardenites participated; 17 medals were won. What an accomplishment for a small group of retirees, most of whom live on lakes near the village of Arden, where there are no gyms, walking or running tracks, pools or golf courses. Bravo!

The medalists were Peter Smiley with a bronze in golf, and in horseshoes, Bill Pringle with gold and Barbara Kirkland with a silver medal. In swimming Dianne Nicolson won silver and Tom Christianson two bronze medals. Marg Smith won three gold and a silver in track events (I really missed seeing her run this time). Pat Tucker won a bronze in javelin and a silver and bronze in walking. Pat’s husband, Silas, came home with gold medals in javelin and discus as well as a silver and bronze in walking Sincere congratulations to all.

If you are over 55 and enjoy friendly competition, meeting new people and travel, it is not necessary to join a seniors club unless you wish. Call Evelyn at 613-267-4836, or Carol at 613-267-6872 for more information.

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Feature Article - October 5, 2006

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Feature Article - October 5, 2006

Wagarville family thrives at BMXracing

by Jeff Green

Brodie and Blake Young are high energy boys who have taken to the challenging sport of BMX racing, which is like motocross on a bicycle, in a big way. And they have the results to show for it.

The boys race each week during the spring and summer at a BMX club in Kingston , and on weekends they travel to races all across the province and in Quebec .

Brodie, 11, has just finished his second year of racing, and at the provincial championships, held this year in Kingston , he finished second in the intermediate class for 11-year-olds.

Blake, 7, has only raced for one year, but he finished first for 7-year-olds in the novice class at the provincial championships.

The races take place on special bikes, which weigh as little as 7 pounds, that are cycled through a steep, bumpy track.

“It’s all in the legs,” says Brodie, and in the lung capacity as well, since there is tremendous exertion required in the short, two-minute races. Racers can race in up to three motos before the fastest racer run in the finals, so there is a stamina component to the sport as well. And it takes a lot of balance and determination to make it through a race day without falling at least once.

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Feature Article - November 16, 2006

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Feature Article - November 16, 2006

$5 1/2 million later, MacDonald shown the door

by Jeff Green

Bill MacDonald was at ease when reached on the phone the day after losing an election for the first time in his 18-year political career in Central Frontenac.

“It seems to me there was a movement across the province,” he said, “The lower tier is suffering from the fallout from provincial impacts, and unless you have the popularity of someone like Hazel McCallion in Mississauga, you were vulnerable.”

Paradoxically, the election defeat came to MacDonald at the end of a year in which Central Frontenac has obtained two large grants: a $4 million road construction grant that MacDonald had been working on for at least six years, and a $1.6 million grant to build a new home for the medical centre in Sharbot Lake.

“When you get defeated after everything that we’ve accomplished, it does leave a bitter taste in your mouth, and I felt that last night,” Bill MacDonald admitted, “but today is another day.”

He said he is apprehensive about what is coming at Central Frontenac, naming the responsibilities that will come with the new municipal act, the groundwater protection act, and provincial riding redistribution as possible threats to the township, but said he thinks the councils he has led have “built a very strong foundation. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in the past nine years.”

Bill MacDonald said he hopes that the new council will maintain a vision of the whole township and will avoid pitting one district against the others.

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Feature Article - November 16, 2006

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Feature Article - November 16, 2006

New DVD and CDcollections at the library

Re: E-Waste centre closing

Dear Leona Dombrowsky, MPP

It is with great sadness, disappointment and even anger that I read in the recent edition of the Frontenac News (November 9, 2006. Vol 6. No. 45) that the Sharbot Lake electronic waste and computer recovery centre must close its doors on December 31 due to lack of funding. It seems that the federal and provincial governments have each fumbled this political football in what appears to be a politically insignificant area.

Under the direction and strongly committed leadership of Jim MacPherson and Mark Elliott, this program has provided educational opportunities for young people and assistance to schools worldwide through refurbishing and distributing 20,000 computers to third world countries, along with providing the technical training and support required by these countries. As well, thousands of tons of electronics have been diverted from landfill sites through the e-waste recovery system that has been established.

The Frontenac News reports that FEWR has won several government sponsored awards (of apparently insufficient cash value), including a provincial award from the Ontario Community Futures Development Corporation and an Innovation Award from the City of Kingston.

This local initiative had the potential of employing many enthusiastic young people in an economically challenged area. I think that it is a crime that such an opportunity has been overlooked for apparent lack of federal or provincial funding and support.

- Doug Boulter

Election fraud would be easy

Election fraud in South Frontenac could be perpetrated effortlessly due to the call-in voting system.

In our household we received six ballots. Four of the ballots were for members of our family who no longer reside here, one whose address has not been here for seven years. It would be very simple to call in a vote with all six of those ballots and no one would be the wiser.

I am sure the good citizens of this area will vote properly; however, this method could easily be manipulated. I think we need to authenticate the voters list and re-examine the current methods of voting.

- Angela Watson

Re:Bah Humbug Again

My name is Candice Bovard, and I am writing this letter in regards to the November 9th edition of the Frontenac News. For the last four years I have worked at the Kaladar Community Centre (KCC) with the kid’s day camp, and have been coordinator of the camp for the last two years. The "Addington Highlands Council" article, subtitled Bah Humbug Again, expressed that the KCC had been denied funding, once again, from Addington Highlands. I am confused. Should the members of the KCC not have been the first to find out that they had not received the funding that they had requested? Why was it advertised to the readers as something that you would read in a tabloid magazine? I don’t know whether this information was volunteered by the Addington Highlands Council, or the article was crafted solely by Jeff Green, or if it was a combination of the two, but it makes a mockery of non-profit organizations. This is a community, and the Santa Clause Parade is an event that gives back to that community. The KCC does not financially benefit from this event, nor does it aim to take anything away from surrounding businesses. For the last 42 years, leaders like Glenda Bence, community members and local businesses have worked together to make sure the parade happens, by entering floats, making monetary donations, and volunteering their time - something that the article seemed to overlook.

Is there no such thing as business etiquette anymore? Since 1945, the Kaladar Community Club has been working together for a better community, yet November 9th’s article shows such little respect for people helping people. Was there a need to tell the readers that the KCC had been declined for funding, as it has in previous years? What was this meant to accomplish? Was it meant to sell papers? Perhaps ifarticles focused more on giving back to the community and less on exploiting failure, I wouldn’t have to write this letter. I am ashamed that I’ve spent four years supporting a cause that receives this much disregard. Variouscommunity members are disappointed in the judgment ofthe Frontenac News and Addington Highlands regarding this matter.On Saturday, November 25th, the Kaladar Community Club will celebrate its 42nd annual parade - a parade that will continue, because of a community that wants to replay, freeze, and advertise stories that exploit success.

- Candice Bovard

Taxpayer

As a tax payer of Olden Township for years, I am interested in the election campaigns of the prospective persons.

I have learned that Norman Guntensperger is a highly qualified teacher and has special training to be a fire fighter and is asking to be elected as a councilor in this township.

Is a qualified teacher called to teach his class when he is called out at a moment’s notice to a fire?

Norman is collecting a salary from the Limestone School Board, also payment from the Olden Firefighters for fire calls, and, if elected, as a councillor, would receive a salary from Central Frontenac Township .

It would seem that the above person is triple-dipping from three organizations, all being funded by tax payers. Is this fair to all concerned?

- Mrs. Ada MacDonald

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Feature Article - February 15, 2007

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Feature Article - February 15, 2007

Arghanistan provincial reconstruction planby Don Antoine

As a member of the 48th Highlanders Old Comrade Association, we received the following communiqufrom Afghanistan : Stg. Ronaldson is a 48th Reservist who volunteered for active service. Another 48th Reservist, Corp. Dyer, also volunteered, and was one of the four soldiers killed by American aircraft friendly fire. Along with many WWII Veterans, I attended his graveside memorial service in Toronto .

In the middle of Ma’sum Ghar, the heartland of Taliban country progress: Just outside the Canadians’ forward operating base, under the watchful eyes of Canadian observation posts and the cannons of Leopard tanks, a 48th Highlander reservist, Sgt. Nathan Ronaldson runs his “storefront” operation for the coalition’s Provincial Reconstruction Team.

He’s responsible for the dusty village of Bazaar-e-Panjway . His office is the former home of a local grandee sympathetic to the Taliban. He’s guarded by mud walls, razor wire and a unit of soldiers out of Valcartier, Que. His job: fix the damage done to the town by Operation Medusa, by the Taliban and by decades of poverty and neglect.

“When we set up here at the end of Medusa (in September), we met with the district representative and the local police chief. The first thing they asked for was for us to give them their school back,” said Sgt. Ronaldson, a former emergency room nurse at Scarborough General, serving with the 48 Highlanders.

SCHOOL UPGRADE: So he approved funding, got a local contractor to work for cost and got to work. They replaced doors and windows, added new latrines, a generator, an electric water pump and a row of taps along one side of the school, so the children could wash. The PRT donated a computer and stationery. The school has 1,200 students now, attending classes in shifts. “This is important work and I really enjoy it; we are part of the neighbourhood now.

In another corner, just one small hill and less than a dusty kilometre away, the soldiers of 1st Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group, were “getting ready to launch back on operations and back to do the business,” as Lieutenant-Colonel Omer Lavoie put it at a promotion ceremony, and join other NATO forces in Operation Baaz Tsuka in English, Falcon’s Summit.

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