On Friday, May 26th, 2017, members of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Lanark County detachment and Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau (OCEB) executed a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant on a rural property and residence in the Township of Tay Valley.

Upon execution of the warrant to search, police arrested 6 individuals, 1 individual is still being sought at this time.

A search of the residence and outbuildings revealed an extensive indoor cannabis marihuana grow operation.

Following the completion of the search police seized:

6,139 cannabis marihuana plants at various stages of growth;
182 pounds of dried cannabis marihuana;
630 grams of cannabis resin - oil;
548 grams of cannabis resin - hard;
Sophisticated / industrial size cannabis resin extraction device;
Indoor marihuana growing equipment;
An insecure sawed off semi-automatic shotgun;
Two prohibited Conducted Energy Weapons (Tasers);
Packaging materials;
$1940.00 cash.
 
The following charges were laid against William Kenneth PINTO (61) of Lanark Highlands Twp., Richard MAROVAS (51) of Toronto, ON., John KENNEDY (41) of Central Frontenac Twp., Jacob ISENBERG (31) of Central Frontenac Twp., Richard LITTLE (30) of Newmarket, ON and Frank TEAL (25) of South Frontenac Twp.

Production of a Schedule II Substance - Cannabis Marihuana
Production of a Schedule II Substance - Cannabis Resin
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking Over 3 kgs. - Cannabis Marihuana
Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking 3 kgs. or less - Cannabis Resin
Careless Storage of a Firearm
Unauthorized Possession of a Firearm
Possession of a Prohibited Device -Taser

MAROVAS, KENNEDY, ISENBURG, LITTLE and TEAL were released on an Undertaking and Promise to Appear for June 26th, 2017 at the Ontario Court of Justice - Perth, ON.

PINTO was held, pending a bail hearing. PINTO is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice - Perth on May 30th, 2017 in answer to the charges.

An arrest warrant has been requested for the seventh accused, a 62 year old male from York, Ontario.

If you have any information on illegal drug activities in your community, you are encouraged to call and report it at 1-888-310-1122 or anonymously at Crime Stoppers 1-800-310-1122 (TIPS).

Residents of Tay Valley Township have been fighting a spraying program that has been underway on County roads in Lanark County for two years, and similar concerns are now being expressed by the Lennox and Addington Stewardship (L&A) Council over a similar program set to start up in L&A this month.

In both cases the roads are being sprayed with Clearview, which is an approved herbicide, and the target species is wild parsnip, which has been associated with painful burns among some people who have been exposed to its toxic juices.
While at least two Lanark County Townships have opted not to spray (Tay Valley and Mississippi Mills) the county roads in those townships were sprayed last year and will be sprayed again this year. Last year, residents living along those roads who were opposed to spraying had the option of putting up “no spray” signs and township crews would avoid their properties.

This year, the protocol has changed, and that has led opponents, such as Sonia Cirka, to voice further opposition. In place of the opt out sign program, those who wish to avoid spraying need to join the “Adopt a Road” program in Lanark County. Taking its cue from previous programs wherein informal residents groups and community clubs “adopt” a section  of road by removing litter and trash build up on the roads, the new program provides for further options, from “spotting and reporting invasive plants and noxious weeds, to hand pulling/spading of invasive plants and noxious weeds”

Anyone who wants to opt for an “adopt a road” commitment in place of roadside spraying, must commit to managing the invasive plants and noxious species through other means”

Sonia Cirka, one of the activists opposing the spraying program, feels that the county is employing the adopt a road program to make it harder for residents to stop the spraying along their property lines.

“One councilor said [at a council meeting in March] that the signs were ‘too political” and looked like a ‘campaign’,” she said, “so they came up with a plan that makes people accept the spraying or pull the weeds themselves. This ignores the fact that the spraying causes environmental damage and is not even effective.”

Dr. Paula Stewart, the Medical Officer of Health for Lanark and Leeds Grenville, presented a report in April of 2016 wherein she identified wild parsnip as a hazard and Clearview as an effective and safe control.

“There is a human public health risk of severe burns from exposure to the sap of wild parsnip. There is no research evidence of a health risk to humans with controlled spraying of roadside ditches with Clearview,” her report concluded.

However others have expressed different perspectives on both questions.

“This is an agricultural Class 4 herbicide that is similar in its action to 2,4D. Clearview isn't approved for use on our lawns, so why would we be putting it on our roadsides?” said Dr. James Coupland, an entomologist who lives in Mississippi Mills township. Coupland also questioned the effectiveness of the treatment: “there isn’t enough incidence of interaction with wild parsnip to merit such a huge outlay of herbicide. All the information we need to know is on the Clearview label.”

Concerns about the impact of Clearview on pollinator species have also been expressed by opponents of the spraying program.

In Lennox and Addington, the local Stewardship Council has expressed similar concerns, pointing out as well that the residents of Addington Highlands living along county roads will be subject to spraying even if Addington Highlands Council decides not to spray.

County roads in L&A include: Road 29 which runs from Hwy. 41 through Flinton to the Hastings County border, the section of Hwy. 41 south of Hwy. 7 to the border with Stone Mills, and Road 30, Buckshot Lake Road which runs from Hwy. 41 south of Denbigh to the border with North Frontenac Township.

In a media release earlier this week, the Stewardship Council said the following: “The main concern for the Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council is that the herbicide selected, Clearview®, is highly soluble in water and could easily enter our waterways through the ditches next to our roads.”

They referred to the opinion expressed by James Coupland that “Clearview takes a long time to break down, and it can travel through a water system for months damaging or killing native plants (including milkweed) and threatening our pollinators. Clearview is highly toxic to aquatic organisms in particular.”

Lennox and Addington residents will have the option to post “no spray” signs on their property but the Stewardship Council is concerned that people are not aware of this and the spraying will take place soon. Also, similar to the situation in Lanark, there are strings attached.

“The landowner must sign an agreement to manage all noxious weeds on their frontage,” said the Stewardship Council release.

In addition to a disagreement over the impacts of spraying on human health and agriculture, the two sides also disagree about Wild Parsnip. Proponents of spraying call it a public helath hazard and opponents call it a nuisance whose impacts can be managed.

A standing room only crowd welcomed a display of indigenous artifacts found in the Township to the Tay Valley Council chambers on Harper Road last Saturday.

Reeve Keith Kerr opened the proceedings followed by a ceremonial smudging of the artifacts by Shabot Obaadjiwan ambassador Larry McDermott and songs from the Lanark Drum circle led by Francine Desjardins.

“Tobacco is the medicine of reciprocity,” McDermott said. “It connects us with our ancestors in the spirit world.

“Sweetgrass represents the hair of Mother Earth with generosity and peace.

“Sage is a cleansing medicine.

“Cedar is balance, male/female and it unites opposites.”

He said the smudging was done in a clockwise direction and “tobacco connects us to the ancestors of these artifacts and all of our ancestors.”

Maberly’s Brenda Kennett, a principal with Past Recovery Archeological Services, curated the display and spoke on their use and possible origins.

“This is just a small sample from the Perth Museum and often we don’t have good information as to where they came from,” she said. “They could be 3,000 to 9,000 years old but they are evidence of 10,000 years of human settlement in Southern Ontario and along the western end of the Champlain Sea during the Archaic Period.

But, the fact that the artifacts were found in this area suggests that there was a trading network.

Kennett referred to a pipe that “is not from this area” and a copper fishing gaff.

“The closest source of native copper is from the southern end of Lake Superior,” she said. “But there is mica in this area and that was probably traded for the copper.

“It represents a network for trade and the exchange of ideas.”

She said about 2,000 years ago, pottery started appearing, during the Woodland Period.

“Pottery collections here are frustrating because they lack context,” she said. “For example, was it a single artifact left on a journey, part of a regular location used at a particular time of the years or part of a year-round settlement?”

The artifacts will be on display in the lobby of the municipal offices throughout the year. For more information about the process of reconciliation, contact the Lanark County Neighbours for Truth and Reconciliation who helped organize the event on Facebook.

Tay Valley Township is hosting the ceremonial opening of an exhibit of Indigenous artifacts found in the township, with presentations on the history and archaeology of the artifacts.

The ceremony is set for Saturday, March 25 at the township office, 217 Harper Road,  just up the road from Glen Tay Public School off Hwy. 7.

Maberly’s Brenda Kennett, principal archaeologist with Past Recovery Archaeological Services, curated the exhibit, using materials from the Perth Museum, which are on loan to the township for the duration of the exhibit.

Kennett became involved in the project after sitting on the working group for the 200th anniversary of the Perth and Tay Valley last year. Some of those efforts have been extended to this project, which is one of Tay Valley’s Canada 150 projects.Much of the display material was collected in early 19th century.  

“A lot of it was found along the Rideau lakes, and some along the Tay River and Bobs Lake areas, but We do also have projectile points that are of a style that we call Paleo-Indian could be 8,000 years old, going back to early occupation,” she said.
After the last ice age, a body of water called the  Champlain sea covered much of Eastern Ontario. It formed around 13,000 years ago and last until about 10,000 years ago. There is evidence of the Omàmiwininì (Algonquin) settlement in this region from that time forward.

“Their [Omàmiwinini] history is evidenced by artifacts found in several areas of Tay Valley Township and local watersheds. Tools for fishing, hunting and woodworking; cooking pots for campsites – these found objects and fragments all contribute to the story of the gathering places and activities of indigenous societies over thousands of years,” said a press release from Tay Valley Township.

The artifacts that form the display will be celebrated with song, drumming, prayers and history presented by Francine Desjardins, Larry McDermott, and Brenda Kennett.

After the formal ceremony, all are invited to view the artifacts and share refreshments and stories.

Larry McDermott, from the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, will present a talk called  “10,000 years of the Algonquin Drum Beat Upon the Land,”  about both oral and western history of the Algonquin presence in this area. Brenda Kennett will talk about “The Omàmiwininì and their Ancestors: Archaeological Glimpses into the Settlement of Tay Valley Township.”

The book “At Home in Tay Valley”, a history of indigenous peoples and European settlers, will be available for purchase. Proceeds from book sales go to a scholarship for a student graduating from Perth and District Collegiate Institute or St John Catholic High School and beginning post-secondary education.

For further information, contact the Planning Department at Tay Valley Township, 613-267-5353 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Lanark County Neighbours for Truth and Reconciliation helped to organize the event in coordination with the township.

The Tay Valley Community Choir is pleased to once again stage a Christmas concert, this year titled An 1816 Christmas to help celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the founding of Tay Valley Township. The Choir has selected a series of songs for everyone to enjoy, ranging from some that the settlers of long ago might have sung to help them through “the bleak mid-winter,” to modern-day arrangements that spread joy around the hearth. 

“For this concert our choir will be even larger than last year’s,” says conductor Rebecca Worden. “Get ready for a big holiday sound that will reach out and embrace you! Also come ready to sing along with favourites for this time of year. We're really looking forward to a beautiful evening in Maberly Community Hall!”

Accompanying the choir once again will be skilled pianist, Mary Lou Carroll. Several choir members will have solo singing opportunities and joining as a special guest will be flautist Jane Cunningham. As well, word has it that Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus—and possibly also The Grinch—will make an appearance! Oh, and The Andrew Sisters and Elvis will be on hand, too!

An 1816 Christmas will take place Saturday December 10th at 7:00pm at Maberly Community Hall.  Admission is $10 per person and refreshments will be on hand following the concert. Food or other donations to The Table can be made that evening and will be most welcome. Special thanks to Tay Valley Township and Blue Skies in the Community for supporting this event!

Most of the property owners receiving notices of assessment this week from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) will be getting good news, at least as far as the impact of their assessment on the property taxes they will be paying over the next four years is concerned.

In South, Central, and North Frontenac, and Tay Valley, the average property will see less than a 1% increase in assessment each year between 2017 and 2020. As well, unlike in previous four-year assessment cycles, waterfront ratepayers are seeing about the same increase as the rest of the homeowners.

In some jurisdictions, waterfront values have even dropped between December of 2011 when the previous assessment was done and the end of 2015 when the new assessment was done.

In Central Frontenac, for example, the overall change that will be applied in 2017 is an increase of less than 1%. Waterfront assessments are flat, whereas the non-waterfront values have risen by 4%, meaning assessments for the average non-waterfront properties will rise by 1% each year for the next four years.

The net effect will be a flattening out or even a slight reversal of the trend of the last decade or more, which saw waterfront ratepayers assuming an ever-increasing share of the tax burden. Waterfront property values in Central Frontenac are, on average, about twice those of non-waterfront properties.

The average value of a waterfront residence in Central Frontenac is now $239,500, and the other residences have an average value of $141,000.

In South Frontenac, where the overall average increase is also less than 1% per year for four years, the assessment is about the same for waterfront and non-waterfront residences. The average value of a waterfront residence in South Frontenac is now $298,000 and the average value of off-water residences is about 10% less, $262,000.

In North Frontenac, where the overall average increase in assessment is also under 1% per year for four years, waterfront assessments seem to be up a little bit whereas non-waterfront residences have been dropping in value.

Decreases in assessment are treated differently by MPAC than increases are treated. While increases are phased in to flatten out their impact in the first year or two, decreases are applied in their entirety to bring all the tax savings to the ratepayer in the first year.

The average waterfront residence in North Frontenac is valued at $261,000 and the non-waterfront average is $118,000.

In Tay Valley, particularly in the Maberly/Brooke Valley region where the Frontenac News is distributed, the increase of 1% per year is shared more or less equally by waterfront and non-waterfront values. The average waterfront home in Tay Valley is assessed at $388,500 and the average non-waterfront home is assessed at $216,000, less than half.

In Lanark Highlands, while the overall average increase is 1.3% per year for four years, in the Elphin/McDonalds Corners region, where the News is distributed, values have dropped by about 5%, which will have a moderated effect on taxation in that region. The average waterfront residence in Lanark Highlands is valued at $325,000 and the average non-waterfront residence is assessed at $187,000.

Finally, in Addington Highlands, assessments are going up on average by 2.2% per year for four years. The increase, which seems to apply equally to water and non-waterfront properties, is driven by increases in values for properties located in the vicinity of Lake Mazinaw and points north. The average waterfront property in Addington Highlands is assessed at $226,000 and non-waterfront properties are worth just over half as much, $121,000, on average.

When townships come to budget time next year, these values will be supplemented by increases in assessment that come from new construction, and the tax rate that is applied at the end of the municipal budget process.

The assessments also demonstrate that the sale prices of properties in the region have been flat, even for waterfront properties, which came as a surprise to at least one realtor.

“Prices have not gone up as quickly as in the past,” said the realtor, on the condition of anonymity, “but they have gone up.”

In 1816, the Perth Military Settlement was founded. The first settlements were established in the Town of Perth and vicinity, and in Bathurst and Burgess townships, two of the three townships that would eventually become Tay Valley Township. A few years later, in about 1820, settlement began in what became South Sherbrooke Township. In 1998, the three townships were amalgamated and became Bathurst, Burgess, and Sherbrooke, and was re-named Tay Valley Township in 2002, in recognition of the Tay River, the major watershed running through the township.

With the 200th anniversary of the founding of both Tay Valley and Perth now just three months away, events are already starting to crop up to mark it.

On September 19 at the EcoTay Education Centre, the results of an ambitious “book bee” were unveiled with the launch of the book At Home in Tay Valley, which was edited by Kay Rogers and features contributions by about 60 people.

The book launch itself was a big event, with many of the contributors attending along with their families and interested local residents, as well as dignitaries, including Tay Valley reeve, Keith Kerr, and the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, The Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell.

As an aside, the Lieutenant Governor belied some of the formality of her title at what was, after all, a rural Ontario event where there is normally not much truck for pomp and circumstance. Since it was raining off and on throughout the afternoon of the launch, officials decided to scrap plans for Her Honour to walk through the potentially muddy grounds at EcoTay to the converted barn where the book launch was taking place.

Elizabeth Dowdeswell overturned the plan, however, insisting on braving the elements to follow the schedule that had originally been laid out by Tay Valley.

At Home in Tay Valley is made up primarily of accounts by family members of people who settled in the area in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and they paint a picture of the community ties, the challenges of transportation and working the land without the technological advances that we enjoy today, and of the consequences of hard work and smart investments

In the account by Bud Vanalstine from Maberly, he talks about how his grandfather, Edward Vanalstine, received a land grant for a property near Pine Lake, in North Frontenac, in 1885. His father, Don, worked in the timber shanties as a young man. In 1923, he married Rosetta Brown from Denbigh and they settled on a 400 acre farm, Lot 17, Con. 9 South Sherbrooke in 1931. They had one daughter and six sons before Rosetta died of the flu, just a week after their youngest son, Bud, was born. With his second wife, Jean Allan, Don had five more children. As Bud recalls, the farm was successful enough to produce more than enough food for the family, and up to 15 head of cattle each year for sale.

In the '30s there was no market for beef or produce, and although Bud remembers being well fed through the Depression years, clothing and shoes were not easy to come by. All in all, however, he considers that his father was a very successful farmer, who took advantage of the boom years following World War II and ended up amassing 2,450 acres of land and managing a herd of up to 115 head of cattle.

At Home in Tay Valley is chock full of accounts and anecdotes, including a description of the process of turning flax and fleece into linen, travelling by horse and sleigh through storms, road construction and more.

It also includes chapters on geology and archaeological history around some of the lakes, including Bobs Lake, where artifacts from as far back as the archaic age (5,000 to 1,000 BC) have been found.

Paula Sherman, from the Indigenous Studies Department of Trent University, has also contributed a chapter on the Omamiwinini people who frequented what are now Tay Valley, Bedford, and North Frontenac Townships at the time of immigrant settlement in those territories.

The Omamiwinini hunted and fished seasonally in the Mississippi, Madawaska, Rideau and other watersheds for centuries, maintaining ties through Grand Council gatherings in the summer on the Kiji Sibi (Ottawa) River.

Everything changed with the building of the Rideau Canal in 1820 and the lumbering that took place before and after that date.

Still, in the 1861 census there were 176 Omamiwinini in Renfrew County (aside from those living at Pikwakanagan). The 1871 census shows 26 families in Carleton, 30 in Lanark and 17 in Frontenac.

On the cover of At Home in Tay Valley, there is a copy of a photograph from J.J Moodie, on Scotch Line in the former Burgess Township. About 45 men are pictured, sitting in front of and on the timbers for a barn that was being raised that day. Kay Rogers said that the picture was chosen for the cover not only because of its age, but because it showed how, much like the book and the township itself, a group effort is required to build something of substance and staying power.

Tay Valley Township will be celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the establishment of the original Perth Military Settlement in 2016. The first lot allocated to a settler under the Bathurst Proclamation in Edinburgh was on the Scotch Line in Tay Valley.
Anniversary celebrations will be inaugurated by the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
The celebration will include the launch of At Home in Tay Valley (Burnstown Publishing House), which captures the voices, stories, images, circumstances, and events that have defined the lives of those who have called Tay Valley home―from members of the Algonquin First Nations who helped the early settlers survive and adapt to a new land, to the “back-to the-landers” of the 1970s who sought a more wholesome way of life. A community effort involving more than 60 contributors including dozens of writers, interviewers, artists and photographers under the editorship of Kay Rogers, this oral history captures a story that has been 200 years in the making.
The kick off of 200th anniversary celebrations and the release of At Home in Tay Valley will take place on September 19, 2015 from 2 – 4pm at EcoTay Educational Centre, 942 Upper Scotch Line. Local food, beverages, flowers and music will be provided by cake designer Christa’s Cakes; Jameshaven Farm, Sylvia’s Plant Place and the Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra respectively. A calendar of events, background information, photos and other materials are available on a wide range of subjects  f interest associated with 200th anniversary activities and history. For further information contact Amber Hall, (613) 267-5353 ext. 133, or by email: events & This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

At a special gathering held at the offices of Tay Valley Township near Perth on November 22, staff members outlined the upcoming events they are planning to usher in the township's 200-year anniversary in 2016. The anniversary will mark not only the arrival of the first European settlers to the region but will pay tribute to veterans of the War of 1812, and to the First Nations people who were instrumental in helping the early European settlers survive their first, harshest winter here. The anniversary will also celebrate the communities that were developed over the 200-year period that followed, beginning in 1815 when Perth was designated by the British government as one of three military settlements that encouraged settlers, comprised of unemployed tradesmen and discharged soldiers following the end of the War of 1812.

Outgoing Deputy Reeve Susan Freeman highlighted numerous projects in the works and a number of the special events that will be taking place beginning in the fall of 2015 and continuing through 2016. The events will include pioneer-era reenactments, events on the Tay River and canal, a winter carnival, a wide array of musical and theatre entertainment, arts and crafts displays, historic exhibits, and much more.

There will be home tours, a home-coming program to welcome expatriates, a settler's trail and lots of memorabilia including 200-year anniversary calendars, plus special 100, 150 and 200-year plaques, which will be made available to the present owners of heritage buildings and homes in the area.

Kay Rogers, who also spoke at the event, acknowledged the over 70 area residents who contributed either through interviews, written submissions or by donating photos and other memorabilia to a special book celebrating the history of Tay Valley Township, which is currently in production through a partnership between Tay Valley Township and General House Publishing.

Rogers is editing the book, which is titled “At Home in Tay Valley”. She described it as “similar to a barn raising, threshing or quilting bee - in its essence it is another form of work bee, another kind of community project with a host of contributors.”

The book has for its cover a photo of a barn raising on the Scotch Line that took place in 1880. It includes chapters written by numerous local contributors including Ompah's own master weaver and textile scholar, Ellen Good, who contributed a chapter about pioneer textiles. The book highlights the history of the Algonquin peoples, the arrival, settlement and lives of the first settlers, the 20th century arrivals, cottagers and campers and of course, who could forget, the back-to-the-landers. The book includes maps, paintings, photos and special memories from local area residents.

A limited print run of the book will be available in the fall of 2015. A single copy costs $30 and copies of two or more are available for $25 each. To order contact Kay Rogers at 613-326-0363 or Noelle Reeve at 613-267-5353 ext 128. All proceeds from sales of the book will fund two history scholarships made available to one graduate from each of Perth and District Collegiate Institute and St. John's Catholic High School, who have been accepted into a post-secondary program and who have demonstrated a keen interest in history.

As Frontenac County will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2015, it is nice to see how our older neighbours to the east are making plans to celebrate their 200th birthday.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski said today that Tay Valley's gain in hiring Larry Donaldson is Central Frontenac's loss.

Donaldson was hired 14 months ago after a long search and brought stability to hte position after the previous CAO left abruptly after a difficult period.

“I got nervous when I found out last month that Tay Valley was hiring a new CAO, because I knew if Larry was working there he would save some commuting time,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski, who added “whole we are dissppointed that Larry is leaving we wish him well in the future. We were comfortable with him here.”

Donaldson lives in Stittsville and will have shorter commute to the Tay Valley township office on Harper Road near Perth. Donaldson wife Tammy-Kealey Donaldson is the Ontario Works manager for Lanark County, whose offices are close to those of Tay Valley township.

In a Frontenac News article from early August last year, whcih came out a few weeks after Donaldson took on the CAO position, he said the following: “When I first met the staff, on my first day on the job, the only question that was asked was if I was planning on staying.”

With Donaldson leaving, coupled with the retirement of Public Works Manager Richardson earlier this summer, there are now vacancies at two of the senior positions at the township as we enter the election period.

Donaldson is staying on at the township until the election is over. Hi last day will be October 31^st. Mayor Gutowksi said that at the next meeting the township will develop a plan for a new CAO search. Because all but one member of the current council is seeking a new term on Council, Coucil can operate as normal during the election perod.

Gutowski indicated that the announcement of a new Public Works Manager will take place soon.