Officials with the Limestone District School Board are still working towards welcoming Kindergarten to grade 12 students to the brand new Granite Ridge Education Centre on the first day of classes after the Christmas holidays.

But it will take a lot of work for a lot of people before and during the holidays for that to happen.

A newsletter went home to parents of children who have been attending at the former Sharbot Lake public and high schools this week. It outlined some of the features of the new 65,000 square foot school, and said that the board still hopes that the students will have an opportunity to “tour the new building and become familiar with the new surroundings before the holiday break.”

In order for that to happen - indeed in order for the new building to open on January 6 - an occupancy permit needs to be issued by the Central Frontenac Township building department. An inspection is scheduled for Monday, December 16, but Jeremy Neven, Chief Building Official for Central Frontenac Township, said he will make himself available after, even through the holidays, in case all the requirements for an occupancy permit are not met when he does his first formal inspection next Monday. “There are so many details, so much that needs to be in place and fully functional before the health and safety requirements are met for an occupancy permit to be issued,” he said.

He also said that he will need the Ministry of the Environment to complete their inspection of the new septic system on the site before he can issue the occupancy permit.

School board employees are presently able to enter the site in order to move in equipment and begin setting up the school, but they are wearing hard hats and work boots and working under the supervision of Pre-Eng, the company that is responsible for the construction.

Heather Highet, the principal of Granite Ridge, has been seconded to work directly on the transition to the new building since November 1.

She said that all the new furniture for the school is being delivered and put in place this week, and 25 SMART boards, one for each of the classrooms in the new school, have already been installed. Teachers are also well into preparations to move their materials over to the new building as soon as the occupancy permit is issued.

“The kids finish on the 19th and the moving is planned for Friday the 20th and the weekend following. Then the board shuts down for a week over Christmas, and we will be back at it on January 2, so we will be ready to welcome students to the new building on January 6.”

Among the features of the school that will be popular with students and community members alike is one that young athletes and their fans in North and Central Frontenac have been waiting decades for - a 6,300 square foot gym with bleachers that will hold 150 spectators. There will also be a weight room capable of holding Powerfit classes with all new equipment. And thespians and theatre lovers will have access to a 1,000 square foot stage in the new cafetorium with seating capacity for 250 for concerts and performances.

The new building will also include a number of features that should ensure its comfort and efficient operation into the future.

Once the students are in place in the new building, work will begin on the demolition of the existing building, a process that will take a couple of months to complete. In the spring, final landscaping work will take place to complete the elementary school sports field and the parking lot.

Heather Highet said that a further newsletter is planned for next week to provide parents with details about how to access the school in early January. The board expects to hold public tours of the new building once the dust, and the students, teachers and staff, have settled in the new building.

A full house of pasta lovers jammed into the Maples restaurant in Sharbot Lake for the annual United Way Spaghetti dinner fundraiser. The event, which is a collaboration between The Maples restaurant and Northern Frontenac Community Services, included a three course meal of Caesar salad, spaghetti and a wide selection of home-made desserts. Funds raised at help the local community by supporting two departments at NFCS that receive support from the United Way - the family counseling and the organization's youth services. Don Amos, who was one of the many NFCS staff serving at the dinner, said the event is a great opportunity for NFCS and the community at large to give back to the United Way. He said it gets great support from the local community and thanked the owners of The Maples, who put on the event year after year and the members of the community who so loyally come out to show their support for the United Way.

On April 15, 17 walkers from Sharbot Lake and the surrounding area met at the Sharbot Lake caboose to take part in the first ever official Sharbot Lake walk for The Canadian Wildlife Federation's Walk for Wild Life campaign. Recognizing this year as the International Year of Forests, the walks are aimed at raising awareness about sustainable forest management and habitat conservation in Canada and participants are encouraged to take note of any wild life sightings that they see. The Sharbot Lake walk was one of five walks that took place in Ontario that week; the others were in Bath, Kanata, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Bar Haven. The group walked from Sharbot Lake to Maberly, a journey of 17 kilometres, which took them roughly four hours. Between them they tallied up a total of 234 km., which will be added to the national total. The day started off chilly but the walkers, quickly warmed up under a bright, sunny sky.

Organizer Gloria Opzoomer of Balderson, who is a member of the Canadian Wildlife Federation, planned the walk this year and was pleased with the turnout. “The walk not only encourages Canadians to get out and walk but also to be aware of biodiversity and our standing forests, which hopefully will continue to stand for many years to come.” She reported that along the way the group identified 13 species of birds and three frog species, including a wood frog, which many had never heard of before. They also saw the tallest pussy willow shrub that most of them had ever seen.

The campaign runs until May 22 and those still interested in participating can sign up as a group or individually. They are encouraged to tally up their kilometres and add them to the website’s total at nationalwildlifeweek.com

The group enjoyed the walk so much that they are planning a second walk in the fall.

Kristen Watkins, Brenda Bonner of the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team and NIna Jenkins of the Trilium Foundation“.

Kingston Literacy & Skills, along with their collaborating community partners, marked Family Literacy Day by opening its first Let’s Read! book nook in the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team clinic last Wednesday January 27.

Made possible with a two-year $94,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), the book nook is a quiet corner of the clinic that has comfortable couches and baskets full of some of the classic books and board books for young and very young children.

“The grant money is primarily used to purchase books. Books for babies and children up to age 6 for the book nooks in clinic waiting rooms, board books for toddlers at their 18-month check up and for inclusion in our Newborn Literacy Kits,” said Let’s Read! Project Coordinator, Kristen Watkins. “The primary message we want to deliver is ‘read to your baby every day from birth.’”

The Let’s Read! initiative will be launched in a total of 8 clinics in the KFL&A area over the next 2 years. As well as establishing book nooks and literacy promotion in medical clinic waiting rooms, Let’s Read! hopes to distribute over 500 board books each year to doctors and nurse practitioners to give to patients at their child’s 18-month well baby check-up. The book includes a sticker for the toddler with an invitation to go to their local library for a free toddler tote bag with literacy activities inside, as well as a library card application.

“Research has shown that strategies to prevent reading problems need to be in place long before children start grade one. Let’s Read! is a six-step early literacy strategy that supports parents in helping their children learn to read,” said Kristen Watkins. “Key elements of the strategy include health professionals talking about the importance of family reading and providing resources for parents that promote family literacy.”

Along with an 18-month book give away, Let’s Read! also puts together and distributes Newborn Literacy Kits to roughly 2000 babies born each year in Kingston and surrounding area. The kits include a board book for baby, a CD of rhymes and songs developed by the Kingston and the Islands Ontario Early Years Centre and early literacy information for parents. A pre-natal public awareness campaign promoting the importance of reading from birth, and school readiness kits (which will be available for loan at participating public libraries this spring) are also part of the Let’s Read! strategy.

“It’s an exciting and worthwhile project based on research illustrating the connection between reading daily with your child and the acquisition of enhanced language skills and literacy development,” says Watkins, who adds that, “Kingston Literacy and all of our partnering agencies are very grateful to Trillium Foundation for its commitment to literacy programs in our community.”

For more information about Let’s Read, please contact: Kristen Watkins 613.546.2580

For further information about the Trillium Foundation, go to www.trilliumfoundation.org.

Central Frontenac mayor, Janet Gutowski, who is also chair of the township's Economic Development Committee, welcomed close to 30 business operators from the area for the annual Business over Breakfast event at the Maples restaurant in Sharbot Lake on October 24. The goal of event is to give business owners a chance to network and to advertise their products and services. Other members of the committee who were present included Central Frontenac councilor Tom Dewey, Janina Fisher and Jane Drew and Marcel Giroux. Also present at the meeting were Central Frontenac's New CAO Larry Donaldson, North Frontenac Councilor John Inglis and the Manager of Economic Sustainability at the County of Frontenac, Anna Marie Young.

This time around the event focused on work initiatives for area youth. Karen McGregor, coordinator at the St. Lawrence College Employment Centre in Sharbot Lake, spoke to the group about the different youth initiatives available to youth and employers in the area.

The first is the Skills Link program, through which youth identified with certain barriers that might include living in a rural area, lack of family support, or lack of a high school diploma can be engaged in work on a number of community projects in the area.

The second initiative is a Summer Job Service that offers employers a $2 per hour wage subsidy for summer youth employees who will be returning to school in the fall.

The third is a Subsidized Work Experience that offers employers a $10.25 subsidy for youth employees. This program is for youth and employers looking to find the right job fit and it is a short-term program that can last for up to four weeks.

The fourth initiative offers training incentives to youth and offers their employers either a four-week wage subsidy at $4 per hour or 10-week subsidy at $3 per hour.

The fifth initiative is a Youth Employment Fund that offers employers a four-month placement for youth with a $7,000 subsidy. It has additional requirements that have to be met.

The last is the Job Creation Partnership, which provides work experience to unemployed individuals for projects that can benefit the community and can run for 30-52 weeks. Eligible sponsors can include businesses, not-for-profit organizations, crown corporations, municipalities, First Nation councils, public health and educational institutions. Youth participants will receive $423 per week in pay. McGregor also highlighted some “additional trivia” about youth employment in the area and highlighted the fact that youth to date have completed and received payment for more than 70 community projects in the area, some of which have resulted in their full-time employment. For more information about these initiatives contact St. Lawrence College Employment Centre at 613-279-545-3949 and press #3.

Photo: Architects drawing of the new school.

Trustee Ann Goodfellow, along with Limestone Board Manager of Facility Services David Fowler, and Manager of Planning Wayne Toms, brought the preliminary drawings for the new Sharbot Lake Kindergarten to Grade 12 school to Central Frontenac Council’s Dec. 13 meeting. The school will be built in the parking lot of the current high school over the next 20 months.

The L shaped, three-storey design is very similar to the one that was presented in July and has been further refined by the project’s architect.

The school will be a 69,000 square foot building, including a full gym and an adjacent cafeteria/auditorium, all located on the second floor of the building.

“Our plans are to build a school that will accommodate 220 secondary and 239 elementary students, which will open its doors in September of 2013,” said David Fowler. “We are awaiting approvals in the winter and are hoping to go to tender and then break ground in the spring. It will be exciting to put this facility in the community.”

Among the features of the current plan are the ability of the wall between the cafeteria/auditorium and the gym to be removed to open up a large space for community use.

“If it were all opened up, there would be space for up to 1,000 people,” said Ann Goodfellow.

In line with provincial policy, all levels, and all the rooms in the building will be fully accessible. Care has also been taken to ensure that younger students are kept in a separate space from the older students. It will also have classrooms for special needs students on all three levels.

Mayor Janet Gutowski said, “I can tell you that the whole community is really looking forward to this. I’m very proud that we will have the first school in the Limestone Board that has been specifically designed as a Kindergarten to grade 12 building, and that it is a true partnership between the school board and the township.” 

Central Frontenac Council – Dec. 13,

By Jeff Green

In their final meeting of 2011, Central Frontenac Council received a lot of information about planning matters, roads and waste management issues, and learned that they will be deep into budget deliberations in early January of 2012.

Kennebec Lake subdivision – In a first for the township, planning consultant Glenn Tunnock outlined how McIntosh Perry, the developer that is planning to build a 24-lot subdivision with 16 waterfront lots as well as 8 back lots on Kennebec Lake, has been working collaboratively not only with the township and conservation authority, but with the Kennebec Lake Association as well.

Greg Newman from McIntosh Perry outlined the proposal, which is wending its way through the plan of subdivision, zoning bylaw amendment, and severance processes in Central Frontenac and Frontenac County.

The current plan calls for the new subdivision to be accessed off Henderson Road just south of the Kennebec Lake bridge. The access road will be built to township standards and will become a township road,

One unusual departure of the project is that McIntosh Perry is planning to give most of the land that is not being used for building lots to the township for use as parkland. The land that will be offered totals over 60% of the Baker Valley property that McIntosh Perry is developing.

In the earlier planning stages, a common waterfront area was going to be set aside for use by the 8 non-waterfront lot owners, but that idea has been shelved.

Garrison Shores – Township Planning Co-ordinator Cathy MacMunn said that the long, long, awaited Garrison Shores condominium agreement is on the agenda for approval at Frontenac County Council this week.

(Note – the Frontenac County meeting took place on Wednesday morning, December 14, after this edition of the Frontenac News had gone to press. By the time you are reading this, residents of Garrison Shores should have deeds to their properties after waiting almost 30 years.)

Public Works – For those who think that township snow plows have been a rare sight on gravel roads, Public Works Manager Mike Richardson explained why. “The gravel roads are still not frozen,” Richardson said, “which causes us some difficulty in clearing the roads without unintentionally scraping some gravel off. We try not to plow the gravel roads at this time of year if the snow is not very deep.”

Hinchinbrooke garage repairs – the Ministry of Labour has taken an interest in the state of the Hinchinbrooke garage, which has forced the township to take action. Work has been done to repair a leaking roof and window. Also, holes have been made in the back wall by some of the township’s larger plows. Richardson reported that rather than just repairing the walls, a wood frame extension is being built at minimal cost and the walls will be repaired after that so that no more holes will be punched through.

“Why are the drivers allowed to drive through the end of the garage?” asked Councilor Bill Snyder.

“It’s not that drivers are allowed to drive through the garage,” said Richardson, who then paused, and said, “I don’t have an answer for that.

Mayor Gutowski intervened.

“Those holes have come about over time, some of it several years ago, before Mike Richardson came to the township. Basically the garage hasn’t gotten bigger, but our vehicles have,” she said.

Mike Richardson said he is trying to spend as little money as possible on the garage while still complying with Ministry of Labour orders because he will be making a proposal to Council during the budget debate for a plan that will involve mothballing the Hinchinbrooke garage and moving all the equipment to another location.

Bridge plan – Richardson presented a 5-year capital bridge plan that calls for a $350,000 bridge repair budget each year. Included in 2012 is the replacement of the Johnston Road bridge, and a new culvert on the Fall River Road.

Waste not want not – Waste Management Supervisor Kyle Labbett brought several proposals to council from the waste management committee

In the first, the committee requested that brush and lumber for burning be accepted only at the Hinchinbooke transfer station.

The committee also wants to limit the time frame during which residents can take advantage of their annual free load. The free dump will be available for two weeks (and 3 weekends) in the spring and fall. The spring dates are between the weekend before the May 24th weekend, until the weekend after the May 24th weekend, and the fall dates are from the weekend before Labour Day until the weekend after Labour Day.

The waste management committee also looked once again at the possibility of a transfer station at the former Chippego Lake dump site in the far southwest of the township, far from any other waste site, in response to a petition from area residents.

Once again they found the costs were too high and they denied the request.

Finally, Kyle Labbett reported that new materials will be able to be recycled. Tetrapacks, juice boxes and milk cartons can all be recycled with other paper products. Paper coffee cups can also be recycled in the paper stream, while the lids must go in the bin for plastic and tin.

Central Frontenac is also partnering with North Frontenac in the purchase of Blue Boxes, which will be sold to residents for a nominal fee. Dry cell batteries will also be recycled in the township, in bins that will be located at commercial outlets in various locations.

Construction details – Permits for a shade under $8 million in construction have been taken out this year, about half a million more than 2010. In all, 17 new residential units are under construction, as compared to 21 at this time last year (the 2010 total included the five-unit not-for-profit seniors’ housing project, which counted as five new units.)

Photo: Principal Jim Horan (retired), Chantal Lafrance, Virginia Mayhew, Principal Val Arsenault, Janice Miles and Jim Boyce.

The North Frontenac Little Theatre's production of Maple Lodge was both well played and well received during its run at Sharbot Lake High School from Nov. 10 – 13 and it offered up the charms that only small town community theatre can.

The tiny cast of five definitely had their work cut out for them as they tackled Colleen Curran's award-winning and very dense script and they believably conveyed the complicated yet humorous relationships between three adult siblings who suddenly discover they have an older sister they’ve never known about. She was born when their mother was 16 and was given up for adoption.

The humorous play has its serious side and addressed some long time hushed up family secrets and the lies they gave birth to. In the end, it is the unknown intruder, another family secret herself, who when forced into the equation ends up bringing balance and truth, managing to make all things right. The first half of the play established each of the three siblings' long-defined roles within the family: Dennis, the musical, gay brother, still closeted to his mother, clownish, big-hearted and played impeccably by Marc Veno; his domineering, high strung older sister Tara who has her claws out from the moment she arrives on the scene, played with sting by Karen Steele; and the kind-hearted, more sensitive and easy going but lonely Heather, played soulfully by Sandy Robertson.

When the aloof and mysterious stranger, Noel, played with effect by Kelli Bell arrives later on the scene, the hijinks of this play are truly set in motion. A few lines were missed on Friday night's performance in the play's first half, causing a few awkward moments onstage plus one short spell of nervous giggles, but the cast managed to pull together and successfully placed the audience on the edge of their seats just before the intermission, when Noel finally laid bare the truth and burst out before the intermission curtain came down, “I AM YOUR SISTER!”

The second half of the play was when each player, including the soft spoken and believably caring Gilbert, played by John Stephen, truly had a chance to shine in what were the play's more intimate, one on one scenes. One felt the blooming of true love between Heather and Gilbert when they sat and spoke together, starry-eyed; one witnessed the eventual untangling of the relationship between Tara and Dennis when push came to shove during a touchy yet humorous game of Scrabble. And Noel let her true colors shine in the play's most successful slapstick scene when a bat made a surprise appearance, which added a hilarious and memorable touch courtesy of the set crew.

The music played from an onstage Victrola, a combination of older jazz and show tunes added a perfect touch to this homey play, which coupled with a simple yet effective front porch set of the long-time, well-worn family cottage allowed all of the action to unfold smoothly while adding a few creative special effects.

Hats off to the cast and all the behind the scenes wizards who once again managed to make little theatre big in Sharbot Lake.

Photo: Eccelstone and Eccelstone associate Dawn Quelch

Dawn Quelch, an associate of Eccelstone and Eccelstone LLP law firm of Kingston, had a full day seeing clients in Sharbot Lake on Nov.25, proving that there is indeed a need for increased law services in rural areas.

The Kingston firm was approached by Anne-Marie Langan, of Langan Family Law in Sharbot Lake, after Langan identified a need for additional law services for her clients and other potentials clients, especially, but not exclusively, in the area of criminal representation.

Langan, who had studied law with the firm’s junior partner Chris Eccelstone, met him by chance at the Family Court in Kingston and the two began discussing some of the issues surrounding access to justice issues, and the affordability of counsel. She expressed a need for additional services in this area and is now helping to fill that need by offering her offices to the firm as a location to serve clients in the area.

Eccelstone associate Dawn Quelch is offering clients a free half-hour consultation every Friday in areas of criminal law, real estate, wills, powers of attorney and other areas. This past Friday she discussed various issues including criminal law, estates, solicitor drafting work and more with a number of potential clients.

Quelch grew up in Atikokan, a small town in western Ontario, near Thunder Bay. She received an undergraduate degree at York University and worked in publishing at General and Stoddart in Toronto before studying Law at Queen’s University, where she graduated in 2006.

While at Queen’s she was a member of the Clinical Correctional Law Program and represented incarcerated inmates at various prisons, helping them with both street charges and disciplinary court. She articled with the Crown Attorney in Kenora, Ontario and worked at a number of fly-in reserves in the area, dealing primarily with Aboriginal issues.

Married and with a young daughter, she now resides in Kingston and is thrilled to be back in eastern Ontario, where she finds it’s “a nice balance between urban and rural living.” Her goal is to provide counsel to those in need and she is encouraged by the number of clients she saw on her first day.

“I want clients to get a feel for me and to make sure that I am somebody that they have faith and confidence in. It’s also a chance for me to find out the reasons they are coming to see me and to give them a preliminary outline of what they might be facing and what happens next. It’s a chance to talk about the business of hiring a lawyer, whether they will be seeking legal aid or establishing a private retainer. We really try to work with the clients as much as we can to make sure that when they are in need of representation, they are able to get it. There aren’t enough lawyers accessible to the public in rural Ontario - the Law Society has identified this as a problem.”

Quelch’s advice for those who have been charged with a criminal offence and who think they might be eligible for legal aid, is to make an appointment, but also to get their application in for legal aid as soon as possible. They can do without having decided who is to be their legal representative.

Other advice for those coming for a consultation is to: Bring photo ID to confirm identity, which is a requirement of the Law Society. 2) Bring any court papers or other documentation pertaining to the matter, and 3) bring the date of their first court appearance

For wills, she advises clients to pick up a wills information package at the Sharbot lake office and to fill it out prior to the consultation. Quelch says this can save a lot of time.

To make an appointment call the Kingston branch of Eccelstone and Eccelstone at 613-384-0735 and be sure to specify whether you would like your consultation to take place at the Kingston or Sharbot Lake branch at 1012B Elizabeth Street.

The Sharbot Lake Panthers took on the Marie-Rivier Dragons in back to back junior and seniors games in Sharbot Lake on October 18. The junior Panthers started out strong, winning the first two sets of their game 25-19 and 25-11. It didn't take long, though for the Dragons to finally find their groove and they fought back hard, winning three in a row 25-19, 25-20 and 15-9 and clinching the win. Junior Dragons coach, Christelle Belec, said after the game, “It took the boys the first two sets to get used to the ceiling height and the size of the serving space but after that they played very well.”

In the seniors’ game that followed, the two teams battled hard back and forth, with Sharbot Lake winning the first set 25-20. The Dragons came on strong in the second, proving they were up for a fight, and took the second 25-21. In the third, Panthers Johnny Vinkle and Collum McGregor made multiple thunderous spikes, helping to put the Panthers back on top, and they took the third 25-18, making a win seem imminent. In the fourth the Dragons proved they were not ready to call it a day, and though the Panthers took an early lead, by mid-set they had lost it and were down 6 points, which they could not recover. In the end they lost the set 25-18. In the nail-biting fifth, Sharbot Lake once again took control early with a quick 4-1 lead. The Dragons turned on the fire and by mid-set were leading 7-6. In the end the Panthers were not able to turn it around and the Dragons finished them off with a flick of their tails, winning the final set 15-8 and taking the win.

Maple Lodge is an old family cottage. You know the kind - a wide front porch where people sit and watch the lake. The family has been coming to open the cottage on the long May weekend for generations. It’s the same every summer. But on this particular May weekend, secrets will be revealed that will change the family and Maple Lodge, perhaps forever.

In NFLT’s fall play, “Maple Lodge”, which will run from November 10 to 13, every member of the family gets the shock of their lives. Karen Steele plays Tara, the powerful and famous older sister. This is her big weekend. She has organized an EVENT to raise money to rebuild the area’s beloved covered bridge, burned down by vandals many years before. Tara bosses around her young brother Dennis, played by Mark Veno, and sister Heather played by Sandy Robertson, as if they were her servants. John Stevens is the loyal Gilbert, a longtime friend, especially of Heather. Rounding out the cast is Kelli Bell, playing the mysterious Noel who arrives suddenly and unannounced.

Doug McIntyre directs this touching two-act comedy-drama at SLHS on Remembrance Day weekend. Performances run from Thursday to Sunday with a Saturday night dinner theatre and Sunday matinee. Come and be surprised and entertained by the adventures of a weekend at the cottage. For Dinner Theatre tickets, please contact Sally Angle at 613-279-2777.