Back to HomeFeature Article - April Fools, 2009 Plevna Loses Rights to Village NameNorth Frontenac Council Scrambles to Find New OneBy Katie Ohlke

Plevna will not be named as such for much longer.  Representatives from the first established Plevna, in Bulgaria want exclusive rights to the hard-won name.  North Frontenac councilor, Lonnie Watkins received the bad news on April 1 in an emergency council meeting.  “The Bulgarian Consulate sent us a letter, very upset that we were using the name without permission. It was a group of Bulgarian high school students doing a town project who discovered our Plevna on Google,” said Watkins, “And their mayor [Mr. Nayden Zelangorsky] is none too pleased.”

Historically the town of Plevna, Bulgaria, was key in the 1877 Russio-Turkish war. After five bloody months of fighting, the taking of this city ended the skirmish on December 10, 1877.  

It is a locally known fact that Plevna Ontario was named after a verbal fight of sorts in regards to naming the village.  One faction wanted to name the village “Buckshot” and another group did not.  A man stood up in the middle of the argument and in frustration relayed the tale of the fighting in his birth village of Plevna that was essentially created out of war. The name seemed appropriate and the post office soon changed its name. At the time no one thought to ask permission. No one has thought to since.  Other “Plevnas” in Indiana, Kansas and Montana all requested and were granted permission before 1920.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Lawrence Cannon was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.  

Council has considered suggesting a compromise, by renaming the local Plevna, “West Plevna.”  They are also considering a village renaming contest.  Regardless, the decision needs to be made quickly.  “Without a village name, there will be local chaos,” said Councilor Watkins, “The post office will have no name and it could really affect people receiving mail. Also, local businesses would have nothing to put on their advertisements for location; it would be like we were living in a black hole.”

Councilors hoped to have a decision by Thursday (which will be reported in next week’s Frontenac News).   

Back to HomeFeature Article - March 19, 2009 Aloha from North FrontenacBy Katie Olhker

Kelly Watkins and Karen Hermer compete in the Hula Hoop competition athe Hall in Plevna

Bright flowers and grass skirts abounded at the Plevna Luau last Saturday, at the Clar-Mill Hall. Turnout for the event was so fantastic that more tables and chairs were needed to accommodate everyone for the delicious meal of salads, pork, sweet potato, rice and pineapple chicken, as well as pineapple upside down cake for dessert!  Dashing waiters circulated offering delicious tropical punch and there were cultural displays, including a coconut and pineapple taste test booth.

There were several fun contests such as, the best hula hooper (children’s category: April, adult category: Chris Bacon); the best at Limbo (children’s: Morgan, adult: Kelly Watkins); best costume: (children’s:  Mitchel, adult: Becky Kavanaugh). Ina Watkins won the “Guess the number of shells” game and won a beautiful plant donated by Gerry and Joy Martin.  

Later in the evening the beautiful table cloths made by Debbie Kelford were auctioned off and Sherri Gorr, who brought potted flowers to decorate the event, donated $1 from each plant sold at auction as well. It was a fabulous success, and a good time was had by all! Thank you to everyone who came out to this tropical evening, and thank you to the Clar-Mill Volunteers who, once again, put on a wonderful community event!

Residents and businesses in the Mountain Grove, Arden, Plevna, and Cloyne areas, including schools and the North Frontenac Township Office lost their Internet service on Saturday (April 23) when Omniglobe Corporation ceased to exist after declaring bankruptcy.

Adam Conter, who works out of Montreal for Tronos Communications, which he described as a facilitator working with Omniglobe’s creditors, told the News that although “Omniglobe does not exist anymore” the former Omniglobe equipment and service protocols “are in the process of being sold, resold or integrated into a new provider network and once that happens the customers will be contacted by the new provider”

Conter would not tell the News when that is likely to happen, but North Frontenac Township staff member Cory Klatt reported to his council that Conter had told him that the new provider will be announced this week and service will return within a week or so.

Surprisingly, late on Tuesday morning, the service was back up again even though at that time there was no active owner of Omniglobe’s equipment.

Omniglobe received a grant from Kingston Hydro to bring Fixed Wireless Internet to schools in Mountain Grove, Cloyne and Plevna, and also received a grant from North Frontenac Township (funded by the province of Ontario) to bring service to Cloyne and the surrounding area. Reports from customers indicate that until the company ran into trouble, the service they delivered was excellent.

It was a case of “paranoia is total perception” for a group of Ompah residents who were invited to make a presentation to the Kingston Frontenac Public Library Board last week.

Library Board Chair Claudette Richardson phoned to invite members of the group to attend, saying that the branch would be discussed at the meeting.

“We were not told that branch closure was going to be considered,” said Marily Seitz when interviewed afterwards. “We did know that our request for the return of the two hours a week that were taken away from us would be dealt with, but that is all.”

The branch had traditionally been open six hours a week, but for a couple of years it was open 14 hours a week when the Plevna branch had to be closed because of a mould problem. When a new Plevna branch was opened in 2009, the library board decided to open Plevna 10 hours a week and reduce Ompah all the way back to 4 hours. Ever since then, the Ompah users have been trying to get their two hours back.

Seitz, North Frontenac and Frontenac County Councilor John Inglis, and Ompah resident Janice Arthur, all made presentations to the library board last week in support of their branch.

Last April a request to reinstate the two hours at the Ompah branch was put off for a year. After hearing the delegation from Ompah last week, Library Board Vice-Chair Wilma Kenny delivered a report on the request. She pointed out that the Ompah branch does not meet the minimum standards set by the board for a branch, and that a consultant’s report in 2004 had called for the closure of the branch. She also referred to the branch services master plan that was completed last fall, which pegged the cost per circulated item at the Ompah branch at over $30.

Then, Kenny said, “I'm going to put this out there just to see what board members want to do. I move that the four existing hours at the Ompah branch be moved to Plevna. In other words, I move that the Ompah branch be closed.”

John Purdon, a Frontenac County Council representative on the board, moved that Kenny's motion be deferred until the matter is brought to the attention of Frontenac County Council and North Frontenac Township.

Frontenac County provides the funding for rural service to the library board, and North Frontenac Township is responsible for providing facilities.

After some debate, the motion to defer was defeated, and the motion to close the Ompah branch was then passed in a 5-4 vote.

Later in the week, the library staff announced that the branch would be closing on May 29.

“We have been afraid that this was going to happen ever since that consultant’s report came out in 2004. When our hours were cut to four after the Plevna branch opened, we said it would hurt circulation. Now they say circulation is too low and the branch must be closed. There you have it,” said Marily Seitz.

Seitz also questions the calculations that were used to demonstrate to the board that the Ompah branch was too expensive for the library board to operate.

Appendix C of the library branch master plan pegged the cost of running the branch at $40,000. When that cost is divided by the annual circulation at the branch (1,320 items) it costs the service over $30 for each item taken out at the Ompah branch, which is $13 higher than the cost at the next most expensive branch, which is Plevna, and way higher than the mean in the system, which is $6.72.

However, Marily Seitz pointed out in her presentation last week, that the1,320 circulation figure is wrong.

“In appendix B of the report, the circulation at Ompah is 1,920, but whoever did the calculations transferred the wrong figure over,” she said. With the correct figure, the cost per item at Ompah is about $20, still high but not that much higher than the cost at the other small rural branches.

Members of the Ompah users group also asked where the operating cost of $40,000 came from

When contacted on Monday of this week, Chief Librarian Deborah Dafoe explained.

“There are two kinds of costs allocated to the branches, direct costs and a share of what we call core costs, the cost of books, technology, administration, etc., which is shared by the entire system,” she said.

The direct cost of the Ompah branch includes $6,000 in staffing costs, as well as the cost of phone and Internet service, and delivering materials to the branch.

“The county share of core costs is divided by 12 and allocated to each of the 12 rural branches,” Dafoe said.

This means that larger rural branches, such as Sydenham and even Sharbot Lake, are allocated the same amount of core costs as the Ompah branch, which is only 225 square feet. It also means that closing the Ompah branch will merely result in raising the core costs at the 11 remaining branches but will not lower those costs.

Dafoe confirmed that because the Ompah hours, and staffing costs, are being transferred to Plevna, “The savings that will be realized by closing the branch will not be substantial.”

Deborah Dafoe said she did not know in advance that Wilma Kenny was going to propose a motion to close the Ompah branch at last week's meeting, but, “The impetus behind the motion really was the same impetus behind the branch master plan, which was to bring branches up to a minimal standard of service. The impetus really was to bring the Plevna branch the hours it needs, given that it is a branch that approaches the standards of a satellite branch.”

She reiterated a point that had also been made at the library board meeting, that when North Frontenac Council decided to put a new, improved branch in Plevna, it should have known that the Ompah branch would be closing.

She said that a motion to that effect was presented to the library board in 2008.

That motion outlines what the township agreed to do to get the Plevna branch built, and what the library agreed to do. It also contained a third part - “that the library transfer the combined library collections, staff, and hours from Ompah / Plevna to the new facility.”

The third part of the motion was deferred at the time at the request of the then County Board representative, Jim Vanden Hoek.

“We were clear that we were building a branch to serve the Ompah/Plevna area,” Dafoe said, “we left it to the township to decide where to locate it.

Letters were written to North Frontenac Mayor Maguire about it at the time, according to Dafoe, but there was no response.

It's unclear whether Jim Vanden Hoek ever brought the deferred motion to the attention of County Council, or whether it was brought forward at North Frontenac Council. Members of the Ompah users group were not aware of its existence.

“We have made it clear to the library board on many occasions over three years that people in Ompah do not travel to Plevna,” said Marily Seitz. “Our travel pattern is to Perth.” Seitz said she is has enquired into the cost of purchasing a library card for the Perth library now that the Ompah branch of her own county’s library is closing.

Skootamatta Lake Road, north of Cloyne.

“If this were happening in Napanee or Kingston, it would be all over the news, but since it is only out here, you don't hear anything about it.”

That's how Addington Highlands Reeve Henry Hogg describes the ice storm on December 26 that caused havoc on the roads and power outages in the region north and east of Northbrook, extending to Plevna, Cloyne, Ompah and Denbigh.

Hydro workers were out in force throughout the holidays, trudging through the snow and ice to remove trees that had fallen over hydro lines. For many residents the power returned for a few hours or days, only to go off again as new trees came down and the lines went down again.

“One fortunate thing about the damage being limited to a small region is that a lot of hydro crews were available to work here,” said Henry Hogg.

“My biggest concern right now is the trees over roads. It’s just as bad, or worse than ’98,” said Addington Highlands Roads Superintendent Royce Rosenblath at a council meeting on Monday. “A few of the roads are really treed in and the trees are leaning right over the road. If they break over a car or a car runs into them it could be really bad.”

The township crews cannot handle the amount of work that is required on some of the roads, including Ashby Lake Road and one of the Lennox and Addington County roads, and the township will be contracting out some of the work cutting down trees that are a threat to public safety. “It's going to be costly because there are a lot of trees, and we are going to get into some private property issues but we are going to have to do the work,” Rosenblath said. “We will only deal with the roads. Anything that will affect hydro we are going to have to leave to them. But they have put a lot of manpower on this.”

The ice load on the trees has not abated because the weather has remained cold and snow has continued to accumulate overtop the ice on twigs and branches. With forecasts for temperatures remaining well below the freezing point for the next couple of weeks, the possibility of more trees coming down on roads or hydro lines remains high.

Both the township and the hydro crews have been focussing on trees that are already down and trees that are leaning over roads. Hydro lines are only now being addressed.

North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire, who lives north west of Plevna, summed up how many residents are dealing with the threat of a further loss of power. “We are keeping our bathtub full of water, just in case,” he said. 

 

Some users of the Ompah Library were shocked to find out that library hours there have been cut back. A recent press release announcing the re-opening of the Plevna branch, which was closed over a year ago due to an insurmountable mold problem, stated that hours at the Plevna branch will increase by two, totaling ten, and those at the Ompah branch will decrease by two, totaling four instead of six. Since there are just two libraries in the north, that news has angered many regular users of the Ompah branch.

Marily Seitz, head of the Ompah Library Expansion Committee, was shocked to read of the cutbacks and immediately contacted Patricia Enright, coordinator for the rural branches of the KFPL, to find out the reasons why. Seitz was informed that the decision to change the hours was made by the library board on the recommendations of the staff. She said, “It seems that the expectation is that library users in Ompah will drive to Plevna if they want more access. What the library board doesn’t understand is that many people in Ompah don’t drive to Plevna. When we go into town it is usually to Perth to get a whole list of tasks accomplished in a single trip. And the library in Perth is not a member of the KFPL branch. “

Seitz pointed out that for her and a number of other Ompah library users, a trip to Plevna can be a 45-minute round trip.

When Enright suggested to Seitz that Ompah users might also consider traveling to the Sharbot Lake branch Seitz explained to her that Ompah users do not usually travel to Perth through Sharbot Lake but via Snow Road Station and McDonalds Corners, neither of which have library branches.

While there has been no recent talk of the Ompah library’s imminent closing Seitz worries that the loss in hours at the Ompah branch might be “a small step ..eventually leading to the library’s closure”.

According to Seitz roughly 10 years ago the KFPL library board hired a consultant to report on all of the KFPL's rural branches and one of their recommendations was the building of a larger branch in Plevna and the closure of the Ompah branch.

Seitz also pointed out that though the Ompah library is a smaller facility compared to Plevna, numbers show that its circulation has always been higher. Seitz stressed, “It seems wrong to penalize the library where most of the readers are.”

Four years ago Seitz and a number of other members of the Ompah Book Club banded together and formed the Ompah Library Expansion Committee. Since then they have been planning to expand the branch, which currently is housed in a tiny 325 square foot space, an addition onto the Ompah Community Centre. When the committee found out about township plans to eventually relocate the fire hall in Ompah, they made plans to move the branch into the fire hall, which would offer roughly seven times more space.

Linda Rush is also a member of the expansion committee and a dedicated user of the Ompah branch. She said, “We are very happy about the opening of the new Plevna branch and are very happy for them to have all of their hours back but Ompah is a very active little library and the committee has been proactive in planning to expand our facility, so the recent decrease in our hours is obviously very upsetting.”

Rush also said that the library board plans to reassess the new hours delegated to the two branches in a year’s time but she worries that fewer available user hours in Ompah will result in a decrease in circulation there and will bring about “the beginning of the end.” She added, "For this reason we want them (the library board) to reassess the new hours sooner.”

Seitz and other members of the Ompah Library Expansion Committee plan to attend the opening of the Plevna’s new branch and raise their concerns with the KFPL Library board members there. "We definitely want to get those hours back and we want them to know that when the Ompah fire hall is eventually moved that we will be asking for a larger facility for Ompah users.”

She added, “ We have also written a letter to the township council and are asking for a resolution from them saying that they also would like to see those hours reinstated.”

 

5 members of the Ambient Woods Creative Collective at their grand opening in Plevna l-r: Gabriela Klessen, Marlene Leeson, Betty Hunter, Annemarie Schonauer, and Debbie Emery

This past holiday weekend members of the Ambient Woods Creative Collective opened the doors of their new Studio and Gift Shop to the public for the first time and delighted art and craft enthusiasts passing through Plevna.

The 16-member collective recently took over the United Church manse in Plevna and now have a permanent venue through which to sell and show their work.

On display at the opening was an eclectic array of fine art and craft objects that included pine needle baskets, wooden sculptures, scroll sawn objects, landscape and folk art paintings, jewelry, quilts, afghans, recycled art works, bags, purses and a number of other original items too numerous to mention. The collective first formed as a guild in March 2009 with seven members and has continued to grow. Member Debbie Emery explained, "One of the goals of the guild has always been to make the arts in the community more visible. So last summer when the United Church was holding a yard sale at the manse I toured the space and then put a proposal at their AGM in February. They voted unanimously to let us use the manse from May to October on a donation basis. So it's a real win-win situation and we are thrilled with the set up."

Anyone who missed their grand opening can visit the shop, which is located at 7500 Hwy. 509, during regular store hours Thurs-Sat. 10am-4pm.

 

Two of the key figures in the development of the Lakeland Family Health Team in Northbrook brought a status report to North Frontenac Council last week.

The project manager, Janice Powell from Denbigh, and Kimberly Bain of the Bain Consulting Group reported about the prospects for the Plevna Satellite Clinic that was included in the Family Health Team application that received approval in principal late last year.

Janice Powell said that her involvement began when she agreed to join the Addington Highlands Health care committee “on a short term basis” in the summer of 2008.

“We were looking at doctor recruitment Family Health Centres, and other options, eventually decision with Doctor Tobia to apply for a Family Health Team,” she told Council.

Now Powell is spending a lot more time than she ever planned working on this project, with the help of Bains consulting.

Kimberly Bains been engaged to help prepare the operational plan for the Family Heath Team (FHT), which will include renovations to the existing clinic in Northbrook, as well as the construction of new satellite clinics in Denbigh and Plevna.

Both Kimberly Bains and Janice Powell pointed out that while the Lakeland FHT has been approved in principal, and the application included the two satellite clinics, until the operational plan is accepted by the Ministry of Health there is no guarantee that all of the plans that have been submitted will be accommodated.

“We are operating on the assumption that the three locations will be up and running by next year,” said Kimberly Bains, “but in the end the ministry will let us know what they will fund.”

Bains told Council that the Family Health Team Committee is planning to submit its operational plan by the end of April, which will make them the first of the 26 Family Health Teams that we approved last fall to summit their plans, so they hope to hear back before some of the others.”

The construction of a building to house the proposed Plevna clinic will be the North Frontenac townships major contribution to the project.

On that score, Bain was able to provide some detail as to what the planning group for the health teams will be looking for.

“In terms of size, we are looking for a building that is 2040 square feet at a minimum, and as big as 3116 square feet. All of the interior will be provided by the FHT, all we need from you is the shell and hopefully you will be able to build the rooms to our specifications,” Kimberly Bain said.

North Frontenac has applied for a grant to cover the cost of construction, and should know this week if the application was successful.

Otherwise it appears the township will need to fund the construction and recoup their costs by way of rent charged back to the FHT.

“The Family Health Team would be able to pay rent as high as $19 per square foot inclusive of utilities or $13 net for the space,” Bain said.

“If we don’t get the grant, is it possible for us to seek funding from the Ministry of Health to cover the construction costs?” asked Mayor Maguire.

“We could go to the ministry and ask for funding, and they may say yes, but the chances aren't that high,” Bain said. “They did that for some of the earlier Family Health Teams, and it was not seen as a good idea, so they are reluctant.”

Waiting for a decision would also cause some delays, and the planning thus far has been for the new facilities to be up and running by the beginning of 2011.

The estimated cost of the new building is about $400,000

Plans are being developed for a two phased approach to building the FHT. Since the construction would be minimal in Northbrook, as soon as funding becomes available hiring for the Northbrook clinic would start. A nutritionist as well as a nurse to run a Diabetes program will be hired, and other people as well, depending on which services are eventually approved. Once the satellite clinics in Denbigh and Plevna are ready, the staff will already be in place to provide part-time service to those communities.

Addington Highalnds is considering the former Denbigh School house as a building that could be retro-fitted for use as a clinic

Once the operational plan is submitted, it will take 6 to 8 weeks for the ministry to respond.

 

Photo: The Plevna Pioneers Club float into Ompah

Two local Santa Claus parades on Nov. 27, one in Sydenham and one in North Frontenac sparked off the holiday season and both received a pleasant sprinkling of the white stuff thrilling watchers with the first sightings of what hopefully is in store for these holidays.

In Ompah parade-goers sat down to a lunch and treats courtesy of the Ompah community hall ladies, and elfin helpers assisted children with Christmas crafts while a chilly Santa, who lost his hat en route to the hall, handed out gifts to all the girls and boys.

The North Frontenac parade, once known as “the biggest little parade”, was started by Alice Davies. Though the route has since been shortened participants here are some of the toughest float goers you will meet and a brave crew sat and waved for close to an hour and a half as the parade wound its way along the wind-swept roads from the fire hall in Plevna to the Ompah Community Hall.

Sharbot LakeMaggie Sutcliffe of Tichborne led Rudolf the calf in the Sharbot Lake parade.

 

Photo top left: Along the parade route there was lots of anticipation, then smiles and cheers as the floats made their way through the village. 

Photo top right: a group of youngsters catch their first glimpse of Santa in Harrowsmith

 A week of vastly fluctuating temperatures made for a wide range of conditions at this year’s Santa Claus parades, which took place in South, Central and North Frontenac on Dec 1 & 2. But in spite of the weather, all the parades were well organized and attended. While parades in Harrowsmith, Sydenham and Sharbot Lake for the most part took place under clear skies and average temperatures, parade goers and participants in the Parham/Tichborne parade had to pull out wet weather gear for their trip down Road 38, where above normal temperatures and constant rain made for a long, wet ride. 

In the north, for the Plevna/Ompah parade, whose organizers at one time claimed it to be one of, if not the longest parade route in North America, participants had a chillier time as they traveled after sundown from the township offices in Plevna all the way to the Ompah Community Centre in a ride took them close to an hour and a half. Kudos to all of the various parade participants and sponsors who this year contributed a plethora of colourful floats and whose time and efforts have once again made for a memorable and festive kick off to the upcoming holiday season.

 Photo bottom left: The Plevna Pioneer Club's float was all aglow at the after dark parade that traveled from Plevna to Ompah this year. 

Photo mid: riders Shannon Gray and Denise Nedow all decked out for the Parham/Tichborne parade

 

Photo bottom right: The Sharbot Lake Farmers Marketeers dressed as snowmen for the parade on Saturday.