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On July 5, 2019 at 8:41 p.m., a member of the Central Hastings Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) detachment was conducting radar patrol on Highway 7, west of Highway 37 when they observed an eastbound motor vehicle travelling at a high rate of speed. The officer initiated a traffic stop but the vehicle refused to stop and continued eastbound to Flinton Road where it proceeded to do a u turn.  The officer eventually got the vehicle stopped by conducting a rolling block west of Highway 37. As a result of the investigation charged is, Daniel COX 44 years old of Addington Highlands Township, Ontario with the following: Dangerous Driving - Criminal Code of Canada, Flight From Peace Officer - Criminal Code of Canada, Fail to Comply with Recognizance - Criminal Code of Canada, Stunt Driving - Excessive Speed - Highway Traffic Act of Ontario.

The accused had his driver's licence suspended for 7 days and his vehicle was impounded for seven days. The accused will appear In Ontario Court of Justice in Belleville, on July 25.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

In 1819, Thomas Wildey founded an Oddfellows Lodge in Baltimore, MD, the first in North America.

In 2019, the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs of Harrowsmith gathered in their Golden Links Hall to commemorate that event.

It was a time to remember and honour those who have served the longest with the presentation of jewels and recognitions, such as June Carruthers, who joined the Rebekahs on Dec. 7, 1943, in Belleville, making her a Rebekah for 75 years. She was the longest-serving member in attendance.

“I’ve enjoyed all of my years,” she told the crowd. “I love you.”

Howard Warner and Howard Fellows are the last remaining Odd Fellows who served in the old hall in Harrowsmith that burned down in 1972. They each have 51 years of service.

“There was a post office, a garage and a hall there,” said Fellows. “It’s been a lot better working in this (Golden Links) hall than the first one.

“The old hall had two floors.

“The lower floor was a bingo hall and we had our meetings upstairs. We had to put posts under the beams so the floor wouldn’t bounce.”

The Athena Lodge #306 (instituted Mar. 4, 1894) and Princess Elizabeth Rebekah Lodge #358 (instituted Mar. 14, 1952) have been involved in many charitable and community functions over the years including eye research and the eye bank, arthritis society, and Odd Fellow and Rebehaka Sniors Home.

They are particularly involved with Camp Trillium, having taken out and paid off a $1 million loan to secure property for the camp.

They give financial and moral support to local families in need, loan out a variety of hospital equipment and participate in local events such as Canada Day in the Park and the Santa Claus Parade.

Each they give a $500 bursary to a Sydenham High School student to assist in furthering their education.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 01 May 2019 11:25

Coworking in Frontenac County

Vandeross consulting (Ella Vanderburg and Katie Ross) is a new consulting company with a focus on helping small businesses in Kingston and Frontenac County.

They were approached recently by an organisation called Rural by Purpose to see if they wanted to participate in a pilot project that is focused on something that is normally associated with urban environments, freelance workers needing office space.

“We thought this idea was interesting, and approached Richard Allen to see if Frontenac County would like to participate in this, and when he said yes, we decided to give it a go,” said Katie Ross in a phone interview this week.

The local version of the project is called Coworking in Frontenac, and the week of May 6-10 is the target week for the project. During that week, participating Frontenac County businesses will be opening their doors and providing space for freelancers to work out of some unused space within their offices.

Vanderburg and Ross brought the coworking challenge concept to the April meeting of Frontenac County Council and have been helping find suitable locations over the last couple of weeks.

“So far we have found there are more people looking for places to set up than there are locations, and it looks like the main thing that freelancers in Frontenac County are looking for is reliable Internet service which many don’t have at home.”

An important aspect of coworking week, and one of the major goals of Rural on Purpose, which was co-founded by Belleville based Mary Doyle, is to retain and attract younger workers to rural communities. In blogs posted on the Rural on Purpose site, Doyle makes it clear that she believes it is only through retention and in-migration of youth that rural communities will survive. In one case, at the end of an entry, she talks directly to millennials, saying, “Do you want to create new ways of doing business? What support do you need from us?”

According to a media release from Frontenac County, the majority of the workforce is predicted to be freelance within a decade, and seventy-four percent of millennials are currently freelancing. Global coworking spaces are projected to grow from 14,411 in 2017 to just over 30,000 in 2022.

"More and more we find that people are working from their homes, so it has become important to let remote workers and entrepreneurs know they have places to connect in our communities. The Coworking Takeover Challenge is a great way to start thinking about how we can be freelance friendly," said Richard Allen, Manager of Economic Development at the County of Frontenac.

So far, a number of locations have committed to having space available for the coworking week, including the township office in Frontenac Islands, the Frontenac County office, Rural Frontenac Community Services offices in Sydenham and both of their Sharbot Lake locations, and Holiday Country Manor in Battersea.

Information about locations is available at coworkfrontenac.com by clicking on participating vendors. Further down the page, there is an option for both freelancers and potential hosts to register. The site also includes a voluntary survey.

“A major goal of the pilot is to identify the need for coworking within the four municipalities. Our goal is to bring together existing business with those working in isolation and providing access to resources such as reliable internet services, networking opportunities and business support,” said Ella Vanderburg.

“As we have gotten into it, we are seeing that we might need to extend the week to a couple of weeks to get the word out and get a true sense of the potential in Frontenac County. That will also give us time to locate more vendors throughout the county,” said Katie Ross. “We think the demand is there.”

Ross and Vanderburg will be monitoring the pilot to see how it is progressing, just as they are establishing their own permanent headquarters on Sydenham Road.

For further information, go to coworkfrontenac.com, or call /email Vandeross at 613-777-2200, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

Well known Northbrook entertainer and businessman, Rick Cameron, is the focus of a 45minute documentary being screened at Belleville’s popular International DocFest on March 4.

‘Rick of All Trades’ chronicles the life and times of this remarkable octogenarian, from his beginnings playing semipro hockey in Toronto, to his current entertainment and business endeavours in Northbrook.

“You simply can’t find a more interesting and unique character than Rick Cameron,” says filmmaker Maurice McFadden of Cloyne. “He’s entertained thousands as a musician, standup comedian, costumed mascot and professional clown. Who does that?”

Cameron is well known in the Land O’Lakes region where he and his wife Anya operate an arts and crafts store and a wine business. Cameron and his band entertain at area nursing homes and run a monthly coffee house at Through the Roof Ministry Centre in nearby Flinton.

For years Cameron has been mentoring country singer Dallas Daisy Arney, who credits him with helping to launch her music career, and giving her the self confidence needed to be successful. “We have spent much time practising and performing music together over the years and many of my most treasured and memorable moments were with Rick,” says Arney. “Both Rick and his wife Anja have always been there to support me through most of my biggest challenges and successes in life; they both hold very special places in my heart.”

‘Rick of All Trades’ is being screened on Saturday, March 4th at 9:30 a.m. in the CORE Centre (former Corby library) in Belleville as part of DocFest’s local film program.

Published in General Interest
With the participation of the Government of Canada