On April 30, two accidents took place at almost the same time at different locations about a quarter of the way along the route of the North Frontenac Spring Volunteers ATV Ride for Dad. Both accidents were in areas without cell service, and one of them resulted in a serious injury.

Three women suffered injuries and one of them, the driver of a two-seater ATV carrying one of the other women, was seriously injured. In responding to the accidents, all the preparation and training that the North Frontenac and neighbouring fire crews have undertaken over the years came into play.

At Saturday’s run, George Ross, the deputy fire chief for the Ompah crew of the North Frontenac department, was overseeing emergency operations at the Ompah fire station.

“We had three outfitted emergency ATVs rolling on the day,” said Ross, “and it was one of them that came upon the rollover that involved two riders.” When they called the accident in to the Ompah station at about 11:30 am, the call also went straight to the emergency dispatch centre in Kingston. Paramedics from the nearby Robertsville station in North Frontenac were the first on the scene, and were followed by two Lennox and Addington crews.

“The location of the accident was not accessible to the ambulance trucks,” said Ross, “so they went to the closest spot, at Arcol Road and Hydro Lane. The emergency ATV crews had to bring the women out to them in what we call a basket.”

Because of the nature of the injuries, progress along the 2½ to 3 kilometre stretch was slow, at walking pace, to make the ride as smooth as possible. Over 850 riders were participating in the run, which is one of the premier tourist events in North Frontenac each spring, so other fire crew members dealt with traffic flow to ensure a clear passage.

Once the women were delivered to the ambulance, the paramedics took over.

The victim in the second accident was ferried out to the same location by one of the riders she was travelling with.

By the time the paramedic services took over, the decision had already been made to engage ORNGEs, the Ontario Air Ambulance Service, because of the nature of the injuries and the distance to hospital. The seriously injured victim was transported by ambulance to the Ompah helipad, where the air ambulance was waiting. After a few minutes were taken to ready the patient for the transfer, she was loaded onto the helicopter and whisked away to hospital.

Although the name of the woman has not been released, she is known to be an experienced rider who has participated in most, if not all, of the previous ATV runs, and is a seasonal resident of the township. She is recovering in hospital, the News has learned.

The logistics of the rescue, which involved the run’s organizers, fire services, dispatch, and air and ground ambulance in a remote location with no cell phone coverage, and in a circumstance where time and careful treatment were of the essence, is something that could well have been imagined as an emergency preparedness or first response exercise. Coincidentally, the accidents took place on April 30, the day before First Responders Day, May 1, and the kickoff day for Emergency Preparedness Week, which is May 1 to May 7.

As for the ATV run itself, according to one of the organizers, Denis Bedard, the 850 riders was a record number. The run raised $15,000 for the Ompah Community Volunteer Association; $7,500 for the Ride for Dad program, which combats prostate cancer; $2,000 for the North Frontenac Food Bank; and $500 for programs at Clarendon Central Public School in Plevna.

“All in all, the weather co-operated, the participants enjoyed themselves, and the volunteers out-did themselves,” said Bedard.

Steve Sunderland, the volunteer who supervised the $275,000 renovation project at the Ompah fire hall/community center/library, appeared before North Frontenac Council last Friday, February 4. He was accompanied by Judy Hitchcock of JMJ Contracting from McDonalds Corners, the company that installed a concrete floor in the hall as part of the renovation.

They were appearing in response to reports by township Chief Building Official Jeremy Neven that were received by Council at their previous meeting on January 18, and to comments made at that meeting by members of council as reported in this newspaper.

The building department reports were focused mainly on a number of electrical and plumbing-related deficiencies that need to be re-mediated in order for the building to comply with the Ontario building code. There was also a reference in the first report to “no insulation under portions of the radiant floor insulation system”.

In a written response that Sunderland sent to Council in advance of appearing last week, he outlined how the project had come about in the first place, and his and Judy Hitchcock's roles in its completion.

In 2013 Sunderland was asked to chair a task force to design an upgrade to the fire hall/community centre after Council had rejected a recommendation to abandon the building and put up a new one. The budget for the upgrade was $180,000. When the technical drawings were completed in August of that year the project went to tender and received no bids. In early 2014, a new tender was issued and the lowest bid that came in was for $365,000.

Council then asked the task force to “come up with a sequential tendering process whereby the work could proceed and the budget carefully monitored on a project-by-project basis,” Sunderland wrote.

He said that he had explained to Council at the time that as the general contractor they assumed all risks associated with the construction. These included: “potential poor coordination between trades; cost overruns; engineering concerns; unforeseen site conditions; change in orders; poor weather; no workers during hunting season; uninformed decisions; mistakes; and the like. Council at that time agreed to proceed.”

The project was to be managed, according to Sunderland, by then Fire Chief Steve Riddell, then Deputy Fire Chief Denis Bedard, and Councilor John Inglis, with overall management by Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson. For various reasons, including the removal of Bedard from the fire department, most of the project management eventually fell to Sunderland.

“I think it is obvious why [I am] a bit defensive when [my] project management skills, motives and commitment are questioned by people in the community who had little or no stake in the project,” he wrote.

Sunderland went on to discuss the concrete floor and in-floor heating system that was installed, at length.

He pointed out that as early as 2012, when putting in a new floor was first considered, Mike Cleland, a structural engineer and task force volunteer, recommended that a new fire station be built after supervising an excavation into the existing concrete flooring in the fire hall.

“When Council rejected this recommendation, Mike Cleland refused to participate in the renovation project,” said Sunderland.

He went on to say that he “personally begged” JMJ contracting to do the concrete floor. Among the problems that were found was a granite outcrop in the front 1/3 of the building. The township was informed about this, and did not opt to go to the expense, risk, and delay involved in removing the rock.

According to Sunderland, “Under the circumstances the township was fortunate to have JMJ do the work ... the rock outcrop is one of the unforeseen risks the township accepted as part of this renovation.”

At the council meeting on January 18, Denis Bedard, whi is now a member of council, said, “The biggest and most major issue is the fact that the floor was improperly installed. We spent a pile of money on a concrete floor with the chances now of it heaving and destroying the in-floor heating system.”

“What force is there that is going to heave that floor? Sunderland asked.

It was also this comment by Bedard that led Judy Hitchcock to address Council directly.

“Nobody came to me and said there were deficiencies ... to say the concrete was poured incorrectly, it is completely false. Why did that go into the paper, without my knowledge, without a meeting with myself?” she asked.

“The building inspector put this in the report,” Bedard responded.

“Where?” Hitchcock asked. “Where does it say that in the report?”

Bedard looked at his copy of the report and could not find the statement.

Hitchcock also said that before doing any of the work she made sure she had the go-ahead from the building inspector of the day, George Gorrie.

CAO Cheryl Robson said that when staff went looking for the inspection reports for the project last month they did not find them.

Both George Gorrie and Steve Riddell, who were respectively the building inspector and fire chief at the time the project took place, are no longer with the township.

Mayor Higgins said that since the project took place under the previous council, he has been working to make sure it is only “factual data” that is being communicated to Council and the public.

“There is no record that I am aware of from an official point of view that the concrete is deficient,” Higgins said.

“No insulation under the radiant floor is part of the building code,” said Councilor Bedard.

“How does he know whether the insulation is or is not there? When the rock goes under the entire front half of the job, we couldn't pour any insulation there. For [current Chief Building Official] Jeremy Neven to say that is totally irresponsible and it is not a deficiency. And what does it have to do with the code?” said Steve Sunderland.

Curiously, even though all of the building department documentation for the project has gone missing, and Neven's report was based entirely on “visible items and no destructive inspections were carried out”, there was one exception. The determination that there is “no insulation under portions of the radiant floor heating system” was based on “images provided during the inspection”.

The report does not say who provided the images and where they came from.

Upon inquiry, the News has been informed by Mayor Higgins that those images were provided to Neven by the Ompah Community Volunteers Association. The Association have pledged $50,000 towards the project but are waiting for the deficiencies in the fire hall top be dealt with before turning the money over to the township.

As far as Judy Hitchcock is concerned, however, all of the internal North Frontenac politics are not her problem, but she is concerned about her professional reputation.

“'Oh Canada' is what we call rock outcrops like that in the trade. The thing to do is to remove them, but we were told no. I asked engineers, I made phone calls to everyone involved, I made phone calls to George [Gorrie] ... I did my job on this project and then I see this kind of thing reported in the paper ... it is not good for my reputation. I want a public apology, from the paper and the township itself,” Hitchcock said.

“I agree with you,” Mayor Higgins said.

Higgins put a motion on the floor authorizing him to write a letter of apology, and the motion carried. The letter can be viewed, in its entirety at Northfrontenac.com.

Over 350 riders took part in the Fall ATV Run in Ompah, a popular ride for ATVers that was founded by Denis Bedard and Rose Boivin of the Palmerston Lake Marina (formerly the Double S) in Ompah.

The event is a fundraiser run by and supporting the Ompah Community Volunteer Association, and the efforts of the group of over 30 dedicated volunteers has put Ompah on the map as a popular destination for riders. The ride has a impressive reputation that keeps riders new and old coming back year after year. With the renovations at the Ompah fire hall and community hall now complete, organizers are hoping to see the proceeds from this year's event go towards purchasing an $8,000 "snowbulance", a heated rescue buggy that can either be pulled by a snow machine or an ATV and would be used for emergency winter bush rescues by local fire fighters in the winter months. The unit can transport one injured person and one emergency responder.

Lindy Hay, one of the event organizers, was pleased with the 350 plus riders who took part this year and she said that the new law allowing for two-ups and side by side ATVs was part of the reason why. Another reason is the ride's good reputation. “We are always amazed to see new people attending year after year, which proves that the word is getting out about the ride.” Hay told me that two riders who met at a conference in Vancouver were amazed to find out that both had been at one of the Ompah Fall ATV runs. The route this year was a 105 km loop with riders starting out from the marina and stopping mid-day for a trail lunch put on by a dedicated group of Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Lifers, who directed this year's lunch proceeds to the North Frontenac Food Bank.

This year's ride attracted riders from as far afield as Quebec, Sudbury, Windsor, Welland and Lindsay as well as many local riders from across Frontenac and Lanark Counties.

The after ride dinner is usually prepared by the Snow Road Volunteer ladies, but this year it was a brisket dinner with all the fixings prepared by Tim and Penny Cota.

Kanata Honda donated the big ticket raffle item that was up for grabs by the close to 2000 ticket holders- a 2015 Honda Pioneer 500 side by side ATV with a retail value $11,000. Other prizes included a Sony go cam with a wrist playback, a Garmin GPS unit and six CKX helmets along with 50 other door prizes. Every rider had a chance to win. Also riding and showing off their "indestructible" machines were Braydon Oakley and Kevin Clark of Perth Power Sports.

Hay stressed that the annual ride is a great event for the local community since riders will often stay in the area and shop at local businesses. Over the years the run has brought over $350,000 of tourist dollars into the local area.

Saturday, October 3, will mark the dedication of the renewed walking trails of the Palmerston Canonto Conservation Area. These seven trails ranging from 300 meters to one kilometre in length have been well trodden by area residents and visitors over several generations. As the trees, bushes and grasses grew, the trails became more difficult to pass and the disappearance of earlier signage made some people nervous about finding their way. In response, community volunteers and the Township of North Frontenac formed a partnership to not only restore the trails but maintain and monitor the close to five kilometres of paths.

Originally established by the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, the township has undertaken a responsibility for the trails, a responsibility that is considered to have become more do-able through this partnership with community volunteers. According to John Inglis, Councillor for Ward 3, “In an area with the natural beauty of North Frontenac, trails not only enhance the outdoor life of residents, but make the area attractive to visitors as a weekend and vacation destination. As such, trails offer a potential contribution to the local economy”.

The trails are colour coded with line of sight markings making it easy to reach either of the two summits - the Lakeview and Vista Lookouts. Maps along the way make navigation very convenient. The trails start from the dam between Palmerston and Canonto Lakes being approximately 4.5 kilometers down the Canonto Road from Hwy 509.

“When the community and the municipality work together, sharing in not only deciding what needs to be done, but also in the actual doing of the work, it is amazing how we can together make the community better” according to Bruce Moore, who coordinated the volunteer effort. Moore reported that “Twenty-four volunteers contributed 194 hours toward putting the trails back into good walking and snowshoeing condition. If this had to be paid for, the cost may have made this project prohibitive”.

Calling this a partnership cannot be understated. The Township of North Frontenac invested significant effort in this project: coordination; developing and installing GPS-based coloured maps located at the starting points and along each of the trails; ensuring the amenities, and also outhouses were restored.

According to Corey Klatt, manager of community development, “The re-opening of the Palmerston-Canonto Trails network is an example of the spirit of cooperation that makes it possible for a township, known to have limited resources, to do so much more for itself, its residents and visitors, when we all work together”.

Come walk the trails on Saturday, October 3. Walks will begin at the Palmerston-Canonto dam. Drop by between 10am and noon and one of the volunteers will happily introduce the trails network and set you off for a walk or accompany you if you would like them to join with you, your friends and family. Trail walks will be continuous through this time, so when you get there you will not need to wait – just get walking.

For more information, contact Bruce Moore This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Corey Klatt This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Agnes Morrow is 101 years old, and when she was born on March 9, 1914, World War One was still six months away; oil had not yet been discovered in Alberta; and James P Whitney was the Premier of Ontario.

When historians look at the 20th century, 1914 is seen as a pivotal year, because it was the start of the war that profoundly changed the political landscape around the world and in Canada, and left millions dead and millions more displaced.

But in the community of Donaldson, where Agnes Morrow was born in the farmhouse of Louis and Julia Morrow, the third of eight children, world events had little impact in those years. Donaldson, which is now merely an access road to a small number of properties, was at that time a community made up primarily of Morrow family farms.

“There were around 39 Morrows living within five miles of one another. Uncle Neil had a farm; Uncle Louis had a farm; Uncle Henry had a farm; Elmer Morrow had a farm; they were all little farms,” Agnes recalled when interviewed this week from her home near Lavant Station, a few kilometres from where she was born.

Among the first things that Agnes remembers, besides the death of her sister at the age of five, six months after an appendicitis operation left an incision that did not heal properly (the rest of the family lived into their 80s and 90s), was the day in 1919 when her father got his first team of horses, greatly expanding the family's prospects.

One of the things her father did with the team was clear a swamp on the farm in order to create a small hay field. “But like a lot of the work done to clear land it has gone back to the way it was over the years,” said Agnes.

When Agnes was very young, six or seven years old, she started helping to milk the 13 cows that her father, Louis, kept. The cream was delivered to a cheese factory at Lavant Station or the creamery at Snow Road, and in the 1920s there was a bread truck and a meat truck that came around on a weekly basis.

Some of the other memories that Agnes has are about the food that her mother, Julia, prepared for the family.

“Mum and dad were good providers, and mum was an awful good cook. She could take an old hen and make it taste like a spring chicken, and she made the best apple pie. We had an orchard and we picked berries in season, but the apple pie was the best. I made pies all my life, many pies, but never like she made.”

In addition to the orchard, the Morrows grew fields of turnips and beans and other vegetables for fresh eating and for winter storage.

“My oldest brother Alfred was very good to us little ones as well,”Agnes recalls, recalling one event in particular.

“One day mum and dad were off to Perth and Alfred was home with us. A storm came up and it was a bad one. Hail came with it and was laying on the ground in sheets, there was so much of it. Alfred had the little ones gather it up and he got a ten gallon syrup pail and had them pack it with the hail and added salt to keep it frozen. He put a pail of cream in the middle and I flavoured it with vanilla and we started stirring it and shaking it one way and another. It never quite made it to ice cream but it tasted good all the same. We cleaned up and put everything away and thought that was the end of it. But at supper time my little brother John said he wasn't hungry and mum asked him  what was wrong. He said he was still full from the ice cream, and then we had to answer for it.”

Agnes attended school at both Mundel's school near Donaldson and at the Lavant School.

When she was 17 she met Archie Thomas at an event at the Lavant schoolhouse. There was  man who had a bear that did tricks and people had gathered to see his show. Archie was the youngest of a family with 10 children in Ompah.

In 1933, when Agnes was 19, the couple married. They both started working on a farm near Agnes' family farm that was owned by the Ferguson family. Two years later the elder Ferguson died of a heart attack while checking on his cattle, and in 1938 the Fergusons offered to sell the farm to Archie and Agnes Thomas.

To this day Agnes lives on that farm, in the farmhouse, built in 1840, which she has now looked after for 77 years.

In 1938, when they bought the farm, eggs sold for 11 cents a dozen; butter for 15 cents a pound; and syrup went for $2.90 a gallon.

While she does not remember World War One, the Second World War had an impact on Agnes' life, and that of the local community. Dozens of local men went to war; a number came back injured and several died overseas.

The biggest improvement on the farm took place in May of 1949, when it was hooked up with electricity.

“We had all the wiring done for lights in advance, so we were ready for it. The first thing we bought was a washing machine. One of the cottagers sold fridges and he had a second-hand one that he sold to us. I was in hillbilly heaven when we got that washer. Then, when we could afford it, we added a refrigerator. Before that we had an ice box, and had to go to Sunday Lake in the winter to cut blocks of ice, haul it home, and store it in sawdust for the summer. The refrigerator was a big, big improvement.”

Archie died a number of years ago, and the children are living away from the farm, although one of Agnes and Archie’s daughters, Shirley Whan, lives in Sharbot Lake.

But Agnes has never seriously considered leaving the farm. “I wouldn't have lived here for so long if I didn't like it here,” she said. “I've had a good life in this house.”

She has slowed down, of course. In place of the large garden she used to keep she now has a “box garden with cucumbers, beets, tomatoes and carrots” and the house is still surrounded by flowers, including her favourite double impatiens and begonias.

She walks with the help of a cane and uses a speaker to help her hear better, but with the help of relatives and friends, and six hours a week of housekeeping help, Agnes says “I thought about leaving but I decided to stay here for another year.”

She said that one of the secrets to her long, relatively healthy life, has been the fact that she never drove a car.

“I saved all that stress, and here I am,” she said.

(note - an earlier version of this story mistakenly said that Agnes' husband name was Charlie in two places. This version has been corrected)

A sizable crowd gathered to celebrate at the official opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on June 27 at the newly renovated fire hall and community centre in Ompah.

North Frontenac councilor, Denis Bedard, emceed the event, which was attended by members of North Frontenac council and staff along with numerous volunteers and staff from the Ompah Fire Department, North Frontenac paramedics and emergency first responders, volunteers from the Ompah Community Volunteer Association and members of the community at large.

Mayor Ron Higgins congratulated all involved in bringing the project to completion and he stressed that it would not have been possible without the commitment of the community volunteers, who together raised $50,000 to see the $290,000 project through to completion. “Our volunteers have assisted with the planning, presenting of options and justifications to council and have done a lot of the work here. What you see here today would not have been possible without them.”

Higgins made a special presentation to Steve Sunderland, a long-time resident in the area who managed the project and whom some called the project's visionary and driver. He started off as a member of the initial task force, then later chaired the design task force and finally became project manager heading up the various smaller contracts.

This plan came about after a series of painful attempts at replacing or repairing the fire hall, which included a plan to put in a new fire hall/ambulance base in partnership with Frontenac County (way too expensive for the township) and a plan to expand the size of the fire hall (too expensive for the township)

Sunderland summed up the project that did get built as “renovating the two joined-at-the-hip, existing facilities as two separate entities unto themselves”.

The renovations to the fire hall included two new overhead remote-controlled vehicle doors, a new covered and separate entrance way, a new heated concrete floor, new drywall, a brand new mechanical system and washroom facility, and new wash bays.

The renovations to the community hall include a new 120 square foot foyer and wheelchair accessible entrance way to its west side, with a shelter for the outdoor mailboxes, newly renovated wheelchair accessible washroom facilities plus new lights and windows. The parking lot also was upgraded as well, with improvements to accessibility and drainage. Marily Seitz, president of the Ompah Community Centre, was thrilled with the new hall. “It's been a long and hard road getting here but it's been worth it. So many people from the community have put in their time, talents and energy and just look around you. It's just beautiful.”

Following the speeches, the official ribbon and cake cutting ceremony took place and guests were treated to demonstrations courtesy of the volunteers from the fire department and a free lunch courtesy of the Clar-Mill Community volunteers from Plevna.

The Ompah Fire Department and Community Center are celebrating the Grand Opening of their newly renovated buildings on Saturday, June 27. It is a triple celebration as the Ompah Fire Department also celebrates its 40th anniversary and the Emergency First Response Team (EFR) celebrates their 20th anniversary of service to the community.

The whole thing started as a response to community emergencies. In 1974 Harnden’s General Store in Ompah had a fire. The nearest fire department was in McDonalds Corners, and they responded, but by the time they arrived the store was a total loss. It was then that the community decided that Ompah needed its own fire department.

In 1975 Harnden’s donated the land. No funding was available so folks got together and built the community center section of the hall to support fundraising activities. Soon, enough money was raised to build the front two bays of the existing fire hall. Both structures were built by volunteers and most of the materials were donated, a true community response.

The first fire truck was a gas truck donated to the fire department. It was modified to spread water on the roads and, with a pump mounted on the back, to use as a tank truck to take to fires. On its return from a mechanical fitness test in Sharbot Lake, the road construction crew on Highway 509 hired the truck to keep the dust down. If it was needed for a fire, it was free to go. This helped raise funds for the fire department and community hall.

The first pumper was purchased in 1980 and a replacement tanker was purchased in 1981.

In 1994 there was a fire at Sinclair’s Snowmobile Service Station. Our fire department was ready and able to fight the fire and saved the building. However, in the process of fighting the fire, the fire chief suffered a heart attack. It took a long time for the ambulance to arrive and it was apparent that emergency medical treatment was needed here in Ompah. As a result, the Emergency First Response Team was formed. They practice twice monthly to be able to capably respond to medical emergencies in the community.

Over the years additions were made to the building to make them more efficient and more useful to the community. The back bay, office and washroom were added to the fire hall. The kitchen, bathrooms, and storage joined the community center along with the adjoining library. However by 2015, the whole building no longer fit the needs of a modern fire department or community center. This last year has been spent upgrading the interior and exterior and creating a much more useful and attractive building, parking area and green space.

The spirit of community is apparent in all aspects of the history of the fire department. Members of the community have eagerly come forward to help raise money, to volunteer their time and skills to build and renovate, and many have volunteered to serve the community as dedicated members of the fire department and community center. The fire fighters and EFR Team train twice monthly and are on call 24/7 – to serve our community when the need arises.

Everyone is welcome to join in the celebrations. At 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 27 a cottage/house safety workshop will take place in the community center followed by the official ribbon cutting and mayor’s remarks at noon. Lunch, cake and ice cream will be available in the community center, compliments of the township and provided by the Clar-Mill Community Volunteers. Fire department equipment and the renovated fire hall and community center will be available for viewing in the afternoon.

We all have fire extinguishers in our home, but how many of us know whether they would work in an emergency, or if we would know how to use them under the stress of an actual fire. If you are like me, you don’t get around to having them inspected very often. Last summer I had an opportunity to try one out at an event put on by the Snow Road Fire Department. A controlled fire was set, and I was handed an extinguisher to try and put it out. You would think this was a straightforward task, but I assure you it wasn’t. I had to be helped to figure out how to get the extinguisher to deliver its foam, and then how to approach the fire to actually put it out. I’m very glad I had the experience, in case I ever do have to use any of my home fire extinguishers.

On June 6, at the Ompah Community Centre, you will have the opportunity to have all of your home fire extinguishers checked by a professional, and to have them recertified, or fixed if necessary. Inspections will be done by Glenna Shanks from Perth Fire Extinguisher Service. She will be at the Community Centre from 9am to 12 noon. Eric Korhonen, Fire Prevention Officer for the North Frontenac Fire Department, will also be there with his fire extinguisher training set-up, so that you can get some first-hand experience using fire extinguishers. There will be a small fee for having your extinguishers inspected (repairs or recharging will also have fees).

Janet Brooks of Ompah was one of over 60 protesters who attended the Enough is Enough Hydro One protest, which took place outside of the Hydro One offices in Perth on May 2. The event attracted local and area residents fed up with the high cost of their bills.

Brooks described her financial situation as desperate, and says she has had to put the home she bought seven years ago up for sale. Presently her outstanding Hydro One bill is $4,000. “My second mortgage people are repossessing my home and I have nowhere to go,” she said in tears. Brooks, who is a single mother, said that unfortunately her situation is not unique. “I know of others in the Ompah area who are experiencing the same kind of situation and I know of 10 other home owners in the area who are going to have to walk away from their homes.”

She approached drivers stopped at the corner of Highway 7 and Drummond St., asking them to sign a petition that will be presented in the Legislative Assembly at Queens Park on May 13 the same day that a large Enough is Enough Protest will be taking place there. “As a kid I used to be afraid of the dark, Brooks said, “ and now because of Hydro One I am scared of the light because I cannot afford it.”

The Saturday protest in Perth was organized by Jeanette Kosnaski of Barry's Bay and Jenny Gates, both administrators of the Enough is Enough Hydro One group, which to date has over 21,000 members. Kosnaski said that the group is fighting Hydro One's delivery charges for rural Ontarians, as well as the HST charge, the debt retirement charge and smart meters. The petition that the group was passing around at the demonstration demands “The removal of all hidden charges that make up the delivery charge, and its replacement with one standard charge for all Ontarians." The petition also demands the immediate replacement of smart meters by analog meters.

Randy Hillier, MPP for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, spoke at the protest and blamed Hydro One's inflated regulatory and delivery charges on mismanagement and exorbitant wages. He said that the Green Energy Act is also to blame because FIT contracts “compel Hydro One to purchase renewable energy at inflated over market rates”.

He listed a number of solutions that he believes would fix the problems. These included auditing the MDMR (Meter Data Management Repository) and either scrapping or altering it; trimming wages to employees at Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One; canceling the Green Energy Act; stopping all new FIT contracts and imposing a tax on the excess profits of FIT developers, with the proceeds reimbursing Hydro One customers. Hillier said that he welcomes “an end to the Hydro One monopoly to allow for competition in a free market place”.

Tracy Stewart-Simmons of Carp also spoke at the event. Kosnaski encouraged those present to join the Enough is Enough Hydro One group and invited all present to attend a larger protest that will take place at Queens Park in Toronto on May 13 from noon until 3pm. The group is arranging bus transportation for out-of-towners, and speakers at the event will include MPP Randy Hillier, Steve Clark, Parker Gallant, Cindy Moyer and others yet to be confirmed. Kosnaski hopes to see many bodies in Toronto on May 13. “We need to get out there and make the Ontario government know that this is no longer acceptable.” For more information visit Enough is Enough Hydro One on Facebook.

Barb Sproule is not a lifelong resident of the Ompah area, but she has learned to fit in over the years.

She spent her first seven years in South Porcupine, near Timmins, but when her father was injured while working in a gold mine, the family moved back home to Ompah, where both her parents were from.

“It was a big change for me, moving from South Porcupine where there was an arena, stores and a big school, back to Ompah with its one-room school house. But I didn't mind, as far as I can remember. There was always lots to do, and that has never changed for me.”

Her dad was not completely done with mining, however. Years later he was involved in a plan to re-open a gold mine near Ardoch that had been closed since early in the 20th Century.

In the late 60s a couple of men approached him to help them open the Borst mine, and her father, who was a Shanks, took Barb and her husband to see the mine. They climbed down a 75 foot shaft, which Barb said “was not exactly something I enjoyed.”

The two men died in a winter storm in Northern Ontario and that was the end of the last gasp of the gold mine industry in North Frontenac.

When Sproule was young she also worked with her grandparents, the Dunhams, who owned the hotel in Ompah. There were three saw mills in Ompah in those days and she recalls that between summer traffic and logging, the hotel was “more or less fully occupied summer and winter".

After finishing grade 8 at Ompah, she went to the new high school in Sharbot Lake, using the bus service that was also new, and graduated in 1954. By the fall of that same year she was teaching at Canonto School, at age 16.

“I was too young to go to teachers' college, but they couldn't find a teacher for the Canonto school and they knew I was intending to become a teacher so they offered me the job and I accepted it.”

Some of the 16 students were close to her age and one was the same age and bigger than her, so her solution to facing up to them was to not let on she was so young. That became harder to do when the Toronto Star send a photographer to Canonto to take her picture because she was the youngest teacher in Ontario that year.

At that time teachers' college consisted of two summer courses and a full year course. Sproule went to Toronto for part of her education and Ottawa for the rest, and had her teaching certificate by 1956. She later transferred to Ompah and when Clarendon Central opened in the mid-1960s she taught there, and remained until she retired from teaching in 1989.

Clarendon Central was a three-room school, and at the start there were 150 students at the school. Barb taught grades 3-5 and had 50 kids in her class.

“It worked out fine. The older children taught the younger ones and everybody helped out,” she said.

The biggest decline in the local economy took place in the 1980s.

“The logging was in decline and people began going to Perth for work and the local businesses began to close. That was when all that really started to happen. It's too bad really that we've lost so much, and we really miss the restaurant; losing it has hurt everyone,” she said.

Political career 1978-1997

It might not be the case that all politics in what is now ward 3 of North Frontenac and used to be Palmerson/Canonto Township revolve around the fire department, but it doesn't miss being so by much. So it is not surprising that Barb Sproule entered politics in the 1978 election in order to establish a fire department, which is something that the reeve of the day was reluctant to do.

“We had a committee that had gotten together and was working on setting up a fire department and the council of the time would not support us in any way. So, we got some money and some property donated, and we bought a tanker truck and put a motor on it, which they got from emergency services out of Kingston. The reeve went and took the motor out of the truck. So I went to the reeve and said, 'Are you going to support it or not support it?' They didn't give it any support, even support in principle, so I told the reeve I was going to run, and I did and I won.”

When asked who the reeve of the time was, she said “Well, I don't want to embarrass relatives” - an answer that doesn't really narrow down who it was, given the close knit nature of the community.

Sproule served as reeve for five of the next terms, losing in one of the elections and winning the others, and was the reeve during the amalgamation process in the late 1990s.

Like a number of the Frontenac County reeves at the time of amalgamation, she retired from politics instead of running in North Frontenac, although she has continued to sit on the Committee of Adjustment to this day, and regularly gets asked if she will run whenever election time approaches.

“I enjoyed being in politics, but I like to travel nowadays, and I feel I've done my time,” she said.

During her time as reeve, the first Official Plan for Palmerston/Canonto was brought in. In 1982 she served as county warden, the second woman to hold that position in the 118 years of the County's existence. The first was Dorothy Gaylord from Arden, who served as warden in the late 1970s and was still on the council when Barb had the position.

When amalgamation was forced on the local politicians, there were a number of options on the table.

“Those of us from the north end were really wary of the idea of one township for the entire county, which was one of the options, because we felt those from the south were really dealing with a different kind of community than ours. There was also talk of one township for the seven townships north of Verona, and we didn't like that either because we were worried that more attention would be paid to the townships that became Central Frontenac because they were bigger and we thought we might not get our share. So we set up North Frontenac and I think we did the right thing.”

She recalls that the idea of eliminating the County level, which happened in 1998 and was overturned in 2004, was something that the four townships decided to do once they were established.

“They didn't realise that by doing that they would be losing out on grants, so they made the right decision to reverse it, but they wanted to run things without the county interfering; that was the thinking.”

Although she still follows politics, it is from a distance, as Barb Sproule has become somewhat of a world traveller in recent years. Her latest trip was to Australia last October, and she has made many trips over the years, with friends, on her own and once with one of her grand-daughters.

She continues to live in Ompah, in the house she shared with her late husband, and still helps out in the cottage and campground business on Palmerston Lake that she and her husband started and her retired son now manages.

Although the bright lights of South Porcupine were lost to her when she left (she did get to see the Olympic champion figure skater Barbara Ann Scott at the arena there when she was very young) there has certainly been enough going on at Ompah to keep her busy over the last 70 or so years.