Barring any last-minute political intervention, a project manager will be hired early this winter to work out the construction details for a 1,500 square foot ambulance post and a 2,750 square foot fire hall in a single building to be located in Ompah.

The project has been mired in political and administrative wrangling for 19 months. The fire hall portion of the project is the responsibility of North Frontenac Township and the ambulance base portion is the responsibility of Frontenac County, and it has been difficult for the two parties to come to a cost-sharing agreement for the construction.

It took nine months for the two parties to agree that a project manager should be hired to oversee all the construction, and that the construction standards need to conform to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

By that time, a municipal election had taken place and new councils were in place at both levels of municipal government.

The two parties have been at odds for the past year over who will pay what share of the construction costs. The county had been insisting that since it will be using about 1/3 of the space, it should pay 1/3 of construction costs. The township, arguing that since the fire hall portion will consist mainly of a heated garage, while the ambulance base will be a finished space, a 50/50 cost split is fair.

In July, County Council instructed its staff to consider alternative cost-sharing possibilities with North Frontenac staff, and two tele-conferences took place in October.

After the second tele-conference, an agreement had been reached.

Servicing costs, i.e. well, septic, hydro, will be shared on a 50/50 basis (North Frontenac had previously offered to pay 100% of those costs).

Land purchase costs ($29,000), as well as the cost of basic construction, including the foundation, framing, roofing, exterior and interior doors, windows, exterior finishes, all interior walls finished, electrical, heating, and plumbing, will be shared according to the relative size of the “areas set aside for the exclusive use of each party” in the words of Paul Charbonneau, Frontenac County Chief of Paramedic Services.

The breakthrough in negotiations came when the parties agreed that they would each pay 100% of the cost of any interior finishing they choose to undertake, such as flooring, cupboards, kitchen counters, appliances, etc. in their own sections of the building.

With a staff agreement in place, North Frontenac Council gave its approval on Monday for a Request for Proposal to be set out for a project manager to prepare a final costing for a 4,250 square foot building in Ompah to house the two services.

North Frontenac Township Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson prepared a detailed nine-page report for Council, and recommended that council approve issuing a joint request for proposal (RFP) with the county for a project manager.

“Are you comfortable with the agreement you have reached with county staff?” Councilor John Inglis asked Robson.

“Very,” she said.

Inglis wondered why county staff will issue the RFP on behalf of itself and North Frontenac.

“I thought this project was to be an equal partnership,” he said.

“Someone has to take the lead,” replied Mayor Bud Clayton.

“George Gorrie [Chief Building Official for North Frontenac] will be involved and nothing will proceed until it is brought back to our council,” said Robson.

North Frontenac has $291,000 set aside for the fire hall and the Ompah firefighters have said they will contribute $50,000 in fundraised dollars. The township has another $58,000 in a capital reserve fund that can be used. Although the final cost of the project has not been determined, Cheryl Robson's report says that up to another $150,000 may be required to cover the township’s portion of costs.

Councilor Wayne Good, who has taken a hard line in the past that no extra money should be put into the fire hall project, was not at Monday's meeting.

Frontenac County Council also meets this week.

They will be considering a motion to accept the cost sharing agreement in principle and have their staff bring the matter back for final resolution “as soon as the Township of North Frontenac has confirmed its final support of these cost sharing matters and confirmed all other details required for the project to proceed.”

In 1965 Gwen Leroux started working in the administration office at North Addington High School. She was still there when the school was renovated and opened up as North Addington Education Centre. A couple of years later she had a child and quit her job.

“I thought that was the end of my working life at North Addington,” she recalls.

But after a year went by she came back to work on a part-time basis, and eventually went back full-time. She’s still working at North Addington, and for a long time she has been the secretary in the Student Services Office, which is located exactly where the administration office was located when she first came to the school.

After 46 years, she is one of the longest serving employees in the Limestone, or any other school board in Ontario.

Last spring her colleagues at NAEC decided to nominate her for a Barry O’Connor Support Staff award and in June she found out that she was the winner for 2011.

She was celebrated at the NAEC commencement services in June, and this week she formally received her award at a meeting of the Limestone Board of Trustees in Kingston on Wednesday night, November 9.

In describing Gwen’s work at NAEC, Principal Angela Salmond wrote the following: “Gwen is known for her humble, gentle manner and her belief that her incomparable contributions are merely ‘part of her job’.  The ‘job’ that Gwen Leroux has performed for the last forty-six years with dignity and grace has allowed and promoted student, teacher andadministrator success and it is with great pride that we congratulate her on this achievement.”

The day after receiving the award Gwen was likely back at her office, carrying out her duties. She said that she has no plans to retire.

The Outdoor Learning Centre Project at North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne, which received funding commitments from North Frontenac and Addington Highlands Council during the summer, has continued to gather financial support. COFA (Conservationists of Frontenac Addington) has donated $2,000, and an application has gone in for a four-year commitment from the Limestone Learning Foundation. The Frontenac Trapper’s Council has been approached as well, as have local businesses.

Meanwhile at the school, Grade 9 students were taken for a two-day canoeing trip to Bon Echo in September and attended a session at RKY camp in late September as well. Both trips were related to the kinds of programming that will be offered at the Learning Centre, which will be located in the forested acreage behind NAEC.

Anyone seeking more information about the Learning Centre is invited to contact Darryl Sissons or Sarah Sproule at NAEC (613-336-8991)

Pineview Free Methodist Church is doing it again - 24 years to be exact - of giving away clothing! It all started with people dropping off bags of clothing at Shirley Wise's house and at the Cloyne General Store, owned by the Clelands back then. They had so much clothing that they decided to bring it to the church basement and had those who attended the church go through it to see what we needed. It was a godsend to us young mothers to be able to clothe our families for nothing. The event was so productive that eventually it grew...and our little church at the time couldn't host the event anymore, so we moved it to Barrie Township Hall and called it the Free-Clothes Give-Away. The first time we opened our doors, over 358 people came into the hall over the two-day event to get clothing for their families. Pineview was the first to see this need and it spread like wildfire. Instead of doing it once a year in the fall, we were given so much clothing that we had to host two a year - spring and fall.

Then the Barrie Hall had to be shut down for renovations and we decided to move the Give-Away back to the church, which by then had built a new addition with a fellowship hall to accommodate large crowds. We had people as far as Sydenham, Ottawa, Oshawa, Renfrew, and Pembroke come to provide clothing for their families. It often surprised us to see new people who had never heard of the Give-Away leave the building almost in tears because of how blessed they were by being able to save money in such hard times.

As time went on, our volunteers running the event have grown older.....and we also noted that other places in the area were hosting their own events.....Flinton Rummage Sale, and the United Church Northbrook Clothing Boutique opened. Then Value Village hit the market. Clothing was not coming in in abundance, as it once had. We didn't want to be in competition with those who were trying to raise money for worthy causes. Our event doesn't raise much money at all. So we thought of shutting down the Give-Away, but calls from concerned citizens made us change our minds. However, we did decide to go back to hosting only one event annually – in the fall.

Now we work hand-in-hand with the Rummage Sale in Flinton. Whatever clothing they cannot sell, they donate to the Free Clothes Give-Away.

Either way the community gets the benefit from both events, clothing their families for the winter months. And whatever clothing is left over from the Give-Away is packed up. Some is sent to communities in the far north, and the rest is sent to March of Dimes, or Salvation Army. Over the years we used to get “garbage clothing” until I wrote an article about what the event is all about, and now we hardly get any garbage anymore.

We do get items we can use as rags, which benefits the local garages and school shops. Last year we had only two bags of garbage to throw out.

This year's Free Clothes Give-Away will be held Friday, October 21 from 9AM till 5PM, and Saturday, October 22, from 9AM till 2PM at Pineview Free Methodist Church, 14397 Highway #41, just south of Cloyne in the basement of the church.

Donations of clean, gently used clothing and linens may be dropped off at the church on Thursday, October 20 and Friday, October 21. Thanks, everyone.

Photo: Clifford Boomhower, Mayor Bud Clayton and Councilor Wayne Good

For over a decade now, drivers on Harlowe Road in North Frontenac have been used to receiving a wave and a smile from Harlowe resident Clifford Boomhower. Clifford for years has been cleaning up the ditches along Harlowe Road daily, free of charge, in rain, shine and bitter cold, as a service to the community, and he says he is more than happy to do it. On August 9, at the weekly Adult Drop-In run by Land O' Lakes Community Services at the Northbrook Lions Hall, Clifford was presented with a plaque and some gifts from Mayor Bud Clayton and Councilor Wayne Good in recognition of his ongoing efforts, which have made him a well known and respected fixture in the north.

Almost every day of the week Clifford can be found by the road pushing his bicycle, which has an attached trailer, collecting trash, which he tells me mostly consists of used Tim Hortons cups, beer bottles and cans. Clifford’s friend, Fernleigh resident Donald James, who has known Clifford for years, describes him simply as “a really nice guy”. Others who know him label him a “humanitarian” and “environmentalist” and “a very happy man who loves singing”. Boomhower was both surprised and visibly thrilled to receive the formal recognition for his efforts. Regardless of the honour, it seems obvious that Clifford provides the service as a way to show his love and care for his community, and whether recognized or not, he will definitely continue doing his part in keeping the township roads clean.

After hearing two presentations concerning the need to keep the Denbigh ambulance service, Lennox and Addington County deferred a proposal to begin the process of finding a location for a new base in the Northbrook/Cloyne vicinity.

The Northbrook base, which is located in a rental property, must be vacated within two years, and in a report to Council, County Emergency Services staff recommended “engaging the services of an architect to assist staff and council in determining the land requirements”, and at the same time make landowners with suitable properties located between Northbrook and Cloyne aware that the County is looking to buy property.

“Isn’t this is a little premature, given that the Denbigh base is not yet decided?” asked Bill Cox, a member of L&A County Council from Addington Highlands. A motion to defer consideration of the staff report was accepted and the matter will return at the September 14 county meeting in Napanee.

Janice Powell, Executive Director of the Lakelands Family Health Team, which is based in Northbrook and operates a satellite clinic in Denbigh, made the first presentation.

She started by saying: “The Denbigh ambulance was started in 1982 by the province because it was necessary. The need has not gone away.”

She then took exception to a claim that was made in a consultant’s report, which was received by the County in June. The report, by the IBI group, recommended shutting the Denbigh base and opening a new base in Loyalist Township.

The report is an update of a report from 2008, and claims that the addition of the Family Health Team to Addington Highlands is an improvement in service that will alleviate the impact of the closing the ambulance base.

“The Lakelands Family Health Team is a family practice which focuses on chronic care. Neither the main site nor the satellite in Denbigh offer emergency clinics,” she said. “It is somewhat deceiving that the IBI group cites Lakelands in the context of an emergency services report … we request that all references to Lakelands be removed from the report.”

She added that if the Denbigh base is removed, “Ambulance response times will be greater than 30 minutes, 80 per cent of the time. The survival of patients rostered to the Family Health Team hangs in the balance.”

In her presentation, Vennachar resident Rosemary O’Connor said, “I find it strangely curious that a consultant who failed to consult the stakeholders has recommended that an ambulance base be closed. The very thought of closure leaves me filled with dread.”

She went on to describe how her husband Barney developed post-stroke seizure syndrome in 1998, and ended up requiring ambulance calls on several occasions for transport to Victoria Hospital in Renfrew.

“The first time I called he was in very bad shape. The response time from Denbigh was very good, but it was touch and go when we got to the hospital. The second time was good also, but on the third call the ambulance came from Northbrook and it took a long time. If that first ambulance had come 30 minutes later than it did, he might well have died in the ambulance. Fifteen years later Barney is still here with us, able to live at home and enjoy a reasonably good quality of life.”

Before moving forward with any planning for a new base in Northbrook, Emergency Services have been requested to prepare a response to the presentations by Janice Powell and Rosemary O’Connor.

Don Webster of Mississippi Station spends four days a week working for CP Rail, and as the father of a young daughter he is busy during the days when he is home, so he does not have a lot of time to pay attention to township matters.

But since he lives near the Mississippi dump site he noticed when a fence was put up in front of the dump. Webster worked for Lennox Fencing a few years ago, so when he noticed the fence looked a bit odd, he took a closer look.

What he found made him uneasy, as a ratepayer, and he felt compelled to send a letter to North Frontenac Township outlining some of the deficiencies.

This all took place last summer, and in September of last year the township had the original contractor do some repairs.

“However, there are still some major issues,” Webster wrote in a subsequent letter to the township. Those other issues include 19 separate items, as detailed later in Webster's letter, including concerns about gaps, incompatible hardware, and more.

When I met Don Webster outside the Mississippi dump site early this spring he showed me the fence.

“You can see that the fence is not properly stretched; there are missing stringers, and the footings for the posts are not deep enough. It will be down in a few years, and it was our tax dollars that paid for it. That's what bothers me,” he said.

Throughout last fall Webster was in contact with then Public Works Manager John Ibey about the fence, and another fence at the Ompah cemetery.

“In the end, after communicating with public works and members of the old and new councils, we still have a fence that is a definition of how not to make a fence,” Webster said.

Now that some time has passed, Webster is fed up with waiting for council to respond. He is going directly to the public.

“I'm sure everyone would agree that we need to hold this contractor accountable for the poor workmanship we've been getting. He either needs to step up and make the repairs or allow the township to hire a credible contractor to make the repairs at his expense,” Webster said.

 By Devin Gagne-Baldacchin, Grade 8

The students and staff of North Addington Education Centre have been busy bringing in non-perishable food items. The local food bank has been low on food and financial resources are limited, so the elementary students responded with a school-wide food drive during the last week of school.

In total, over 1300 items were brought in and $180.00 was raised. Classroom teachers used various incentives to encourage students to bring in items. The homeroom who brought in the most items (per student) was awarded with a ‘Make Your Own Sundae’ party. Ms. Buck’s class was the winner, bringing in a record-breaking 386 items (14 items per student). The response was so incredible that second and third place also received a sundae party (Mrs. Beeg and Mrs. Hackett’s classes). In addition, many teachers also matched the number of items brought in by students and/or offered to have an ice cream party for the class even if they did not have the most items.

A special thank you goes to Mrs. Hackett’s grade eight class. Taylor Salmond and Cayley Wilson went around to homerooms each morning, collecting, tallying, and unloading the food. Robyn Cornish was responsible for posters. The class helped box the items up, load them in the van, and unload them at the food bank. The class also used 1/3 of their graduating funds (over $100) to purchase non-perishable items. They played an enormous leadership role in the undertaking of this event.

Students were excited to participate and give back to the community. Angela Salmond, the principal, would like to thank the students, their families, and staff for their generosity: "We have shown what wonderful results can come about when we pull together. This is such a good opportunity for students and the fact that we have gathered so much is almost unbelievable".

This time of year is especially low for the food bank, as children are home for the summer. Those wishing to donate items can call 613-391-1408 (leave a message if no answer), and to receive help from the food bank, call Land O’ Lakes Community Services at 613-336-8934.

While most teachers are enjoying their summer vacations, Sarah Sproule and Darren Sissons from North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne have been making the rounds of local councils, Lions clubs and sports groups, looking for money to support an initiative they would like to get underway this coming fall at their school.

“North Addington is unique in the Limestone Board because not only does it have an outdoor classroom, it has 88 acres of land as well,” Sarah Sproule told Addington Highlands Council this week.

Sproule and Sissons are Physical Education teachers at NAEC. While they have brought their students to the Outdoor Learning Centre that the Limestone Board has in place at Gould Lake near Hartington, they find transporting the students to be expensive and access to the Gould Lake Centre to be an issue as well because it is shared with the entire board.

“We would like to establish something for our students and for other students in the north,” Sproule told Council.

The two teachers are preparing an application to the Limestone Learning Foundation for multiple-year funding of their project, which they are planning to submit in the fall.

“The foundation would like to see us have community partnerships in place first, so we are doing that this summer,” she added.

There is something in it for the local townships, Darrel Sissons pointed out.

“Like most northern schools in our board, we are seeing declining enrolment at NAEC. We need to establish something that is unique in order to keep the students engaged, keep the school going, and keep the student base there. If we keep the students we keep the parents, and the township will have a healthier tax base,” he said.

In addition to seeking funds for upgrading trails on the NAEC lands, and developing the land for educational purposes such as pond and eco-system studies, the two are hoping to raise money to purchase equipment, such as snow shoes, canoes, camping gear, etc., which are items that the school board will not fund.

“There is a lot of potential here for something that can make use of our greatest asset, the unique environment. Kids of all ages, from elementary to secondary, will benefit from learning science in the world instead of from a book, and from learning how to interact with the outdoors. This is a long-term project that we are totally committed to, and we want to get it started this coming year,” Sarah Sproule said.

Sissons and Sproule are seeking at least $2,000 from community partners, including both Addington Highlands and North Frontenac townships (they attended a North Frontenac Council meeting on June 27).

“I think that's really encouraging to have someone out there working on something on this,” said Addington Highlands councilor, Tony Fritsch. “I'd like to support it if we could.”

“We did do our budget earlier this spring, so we need to see if there is any money available,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “Perhaps we should defer this to our next meeting on August 2, and give you an answer then. How much was it that you wanted?”

“We'll take as much as we can get,” said Sproule.

North Frontenac Council also said they will consider the funding request at their next meeting, which is slated for June 18.

Photo: Jim and Kahoru Noonan at their home in Cloyne

For many Canadian residents the effects of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and 4 metre tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 are far from over as they continue to search for news of loved ones.

Cloyne resident Kahoru Noonan, who was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, is riding the emotional roller coaster of not knowing the whereabouts of a number of her relatives and good friends.

Kahoru was awoken at 4:30 AM on Friday, March 11 just two hours after the earthquake struck, by a phone call from her father. She immediately surmised upon hearing her father’s voice that something very serious had happened. Her father, who resides in Tokyo along with Kahoru's mother and brother, made sure his wife and son were okay (the two had been shopping in downtown Tokyo when the earthquake hit) before calling Kahoru.

“As soon as he knew for sure that they were all okay he called me. He knew that if he had waited to call, he might never have gotten through.” Kahoru's husband Jim added, “He was really worried that we would have woken up, heard about the earthquake and then would not have be able to get through to them.”

Since then Kahoru and her family have been desperately trying to get information about other members of Kahoru's father’s family: an aunt, an uncle and two cousins who live in Fukushima prefecture close to the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant. “Right now they are still missing but we are pretty sure that they are being evacuated but because there has been no power there, we have been unable to contact them.”

Good news arrived a day after we interviewed the Noonans and Kahoru emailed me to say that she had found her aunt and uncle’s names on a list of evacuees. Still, the waiting game is far from over. Now Kahoru's biggest concern is for her friends, many of whom live in the Miyagi Prefecture, near the coast that was hardest hit by the tsunami. Visibly shaken, Kahoru pointed to a map and the north-eastern coast of Japan where many of her friend reside. “That is where the tsunami hit and all along that area there is nothing left.” For days she has been trying to call, and continues to scan posted internet lists of evacuees, survivors and the deceased. While she has successfully found the names of most of her friends, who were lucky enough to survive the devastation, many remain unaccounted for.

The hardest thing for Kahoru is the feeling of helplessness. “There is nothing I can do to help from here which is the hardest thing.” For a long time she felt a strong need to go to Japan but Kahoru’s husband Jim, who cut short a business trip to British Columbia after the quake struck, talked her out of it. “Of course I didn't want her to go and Kahoru's family said they would be more at ease knowing she was safe in Canada, especially with the threats posed by the nuclear power plants,” Jim said.

Kahoru has come to realize that she has no choice but to stay put in Cloyne where she continues searching for news of her friends.

More news came in subsequent days. Kahoru said she had found the name of one friend on the list of the survivors from the tsunami but it might be a different person because the lady on the list was much older than her friend.

Kahoru will continue her search for as long as it takes. Exhausted but still hopeful, she expressed her determination in standing by the people in Japan who are experiencing what she describes as "unimaginable.”

“I really want to say to all of the Japanese people - Don't Give Up! We, people from all over the world are thinking about you, even us here in this small town in Canada called Cloyne.”

Kahoru is definitely not alone in that.

Anyone interested in donating to the relief effort in Japan can do so through the Canadian Red Cross online at www.redcross.ca and going to World/ Japan Earthquake/Tsunami or by calling 1-800-418-1111. Also, cheques can be made payable to the Canadian Red Cross, earmarked “Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami” and mailed to the Canadian Red Cross National Office, 170 Metcalfe Street, Suite 300, Ottawa, ON, K2P 2P2