Members of the student council at Sydenham High School have been busy heading up a holiday food drive at the school to support the South Frontenac Food Bank. Four members of the student council, including co-presidents, Will Sanderson and Annie Preston, and ministers of outreach and charity, Rachel Don and Morgan Arthur, have been accepting food donations in a number of large gift-wrapped boxes in the school's main foyer. To date, close to 600 items have been collected and in an effort to encourage as many donations as possible, the school's four colour house teams entered into a competition to see who could make the most donations. To further encourage donations, individual students received a ballot for every three donations they gave, which they can enter into a raffle that will take place on December 17. The winner will take home a Sydenham Swag Bag valued at $45.

That same day the students will be delivering the food directly to the food bank. Co-president Sanderson said that one of the aims of the drive is also to raise awareness about issues of local poverty and hunger. With that in mind, Rachel Don and Morgan Arthur made numerous announcements citing facts about hunger and poverty, and individual grade reps also spoke to individual classrooms about these issues. As well, a number of posters were hung throughout the school. The four student council members also spoke every morning to arriving students about local poverty issues.

In April, 2016, the students at the school will be focusing their efforts on global poverty issues and will be holding their 30-Hour Famine event, which will coincide with a second school-wide food drive. Hats off to the students of SHS who have demonstrated that everyone can make a difference in the lives of local residents in need.

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Members of South Frontenac Council have been asked about their stance on it for years. There have been meetings between neighbours, presentations at Council meeting, whisperings about too much water on the site, drainage, loss of rural character and more.

All of this was before a parcel on a long, narrow swath of land just west of Road 38 between Petworth and Boyce Road had ever come to Council as a proposed 47-lot subdivision.

That ended on Tuesday night, July 7, when Mike Keene of Fotenn Planning brought the subdivision proposal before a public meeting at South Frontenac Council, one of the formal steps in the process that will eventually lead to Frontenac County, which approves subdivision agreements, and perhaps a date with the Ontario Municipal Board at the end of the day.

The proposal that Keene described features two rows of lots running along the property with a road running through the middle. There are 47 0.8 hectare (2 acre) lots, each with 46 metre (150 foot) road frontages. The 46 metres is significant because minimum road frontage in the township for new lots is 76 metres (250 feet)

Keene said that the 150 foot frontages are “consistent with other subdivisions in the township and are supported by the studies that have been done.”

He also talked about some extensive hydrogeological studies that have been done at the site, and said that even as the lots are developed, further studies can be done as wells are dug at each lot to ensure there is no draw down of wells in the vicinity.

When he presented his own planning report in relation to the plan of subdivision, South Frontenac Township Planner Lindsay Mills said he did not think the 150 foot frontages were appropriate, but said “something under 250 foot frontages are supportable” although he did not say what that number should be.

A string of neighbouring property owners, seven in total, made 10-minute presentations to Council in opposition to the subdivision in front of an overflow, sign-carrying crowd at the council chambers in Sydenham. Opponents said that test wells that have been dug at the site have affected their own water supply, both in terms of quality and quantity. A farmer who lives near the site said his ability to farm will be affected by the subdivision, saying “people who live in urban subdivisions are not friends of farmers”.

Others attacked the location for being located, for the most part, outside of the designated Hartington hamlet, where they said subdivisions should be confined. Still others attacked the project on the grounds that it did not live up to the principles of sustainable development.

A number of councilors joined in, calling the development ill-conceived, inconsistent with the rural nature of the area, and more. Councilor Ross Sutherland even attacked the shape of the road. “If it was serpentine instead of straight it would fit in better with the surrounding landscape,” he said.

Other concerns were raised about increases to traffic flow on Road 38. Later, members of the audience asked further questions about drainage and more.

In the end, a motion to forward the planning report by Lindsay Mills, which outlined the project but did not make a recommendation as to whether it should be adopted, in addition to all the comments and presentations by council and the public, was not fowarded to Frontenac County for consideration by the planning department, which has the authority to approve plans of subdivision.

Instead, it will come back to South Frontenac Council for further consideration.

It is a bit unclear how long the township has to go over the proposal before it will have been longer than is prescribed, leaving the applicant with grounds to appeal the slow progress to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Solar approval – A 500 kw micro-fit project at 300 Hinchinbrooke Road received a motion of support from council, one of many from the township that will go forward to a competitive bidding process under the Independent Energy Systems Operator (IESO) for consideration this fall.

Council also approved a framework for “facility agreement requirements” for large scale solar projects. A proposal to provide a motion of support to Sun Edison if and when a community vibrancy agreement (in the form of an annual payment to the township) is signed, was deferred until the August meeting. The main reason noted was that Council had already been in session for over four hours at that point and were too tired to make a good decision.

Everywhere in the Sydenham High School catchment area, the communities are still reeling from the car crash that happened on Rutledge Road at 10:45 at night on June 16.

The crash took two lives and left Verona teen Tyler Parr in a fight for his life, a fight he is, thankfully, starting to win.

In the village of Verona, where Parr and his best friend Kevin Grant, were raised, it's as if a fog rolled in as news spread on the following morning, a fog that has lingered. Kevin Grant, from Bellrock, and Abigail Sutherland, from Kingston, both died as the result of the accident.

When police informed Carl and Laura Grant on that terrible night that they needed to go to Kingston General Hospital (KGH) right away, they picked up Tammy Parr on the way. That's how the families were connected, through their own family ties and the friendship that their sons shared.

Tyler and Kevin lived the life of country teenagers, hunting and fishing and playing sports whenever and wherever they could. Kevin helped out at his family's dairy farm, and Tyler was about to interview for a job washing cars at Revell Ford's the day after the accident took place. They were in grade 11 and looking forward to the kind of summer adventures that only 16-year-olds get to experience.

Now the Grant family is struggling with having lost Kevin, and the Parrs are still camped out at KGH as Tyler starts a long physical and emotional recovery process that won't end in days or weeks, but will take months and years.

The family is more than grateful for the efforts of the staff in the ICU at KGH. At one point the hospital had been planning to move Tyler to Toronto, where there is some extra equipment available for damage that had been done to Tyler's lungs, but his condition improved and the KGH staff were committed to following his recovery through from the life-threatening state he was in when he arrived, towards stability and eventually to the rehabilitation stage

The village of Verona has changed over the years. People don't gather together as often as they did in the past. It could be because people travel more for work, or work longer hours, or because instead of meeting for coffee once in a while, people send dozens of texts to their friends each week. The events of June 16 have changed all that for the time being in Verona

At a fundraising ball tournament on June 26 to raise money for medical and rehabilitation costs for the Parr family, an event that was initiated by a high school friend, people gathered in large numbers, raising spirits as well as $6,000.

Online fund raising campaigns have raised even more money (see www.gofundme.com/xdt4H9w), where $24,000 has been raised thus far.

More than that, people in Verona are taking solace in community these days. They are still conducting business, still carrying on old rivalries, but there is a camaraderie as well, as they think about the unbearable loss of the Grant family and the mix of hope, pain and anxiety over the future that is the daily reality of the Parr family.

There was a sign up at Verona Hardware last week: “God help our community” it said.

As for Tyler Parr's condition three weeks after the accident. His father Larry said on Tuesday, “Tyler is having a good day today. He is waiting for another orthopedic consultation for his arm. He is still quite tired but did go outside for a little while today. Our family is still very cautiously optimistic and he is improving all the time.”  

by Wilma Kenny and Jeff Green

Ah, the modern world

Holly Thompson started her valedictory address at Sydenham High School last Thursday afternoon, June 25, by asking her fellow classmates to refrain from checking or posting on their twitter and instragram feeds, but then, humorously flipping her hair for effect, she said, “But before you shut off your phones, feel free take a video of me and post parts of this speech on Vine.”

She then started her speech in earnest, touching on many of the experiences of the class of '15 at SHS over their four years, from the antics of staff members, the academic and athletic focus of the school, and mostly the feeling of togetherness that SHS is known for, which starts with the commitment and heart of the school's staff.

“Now I’m sure you can all agree with me when I say this, whether a teacher, an administrator, an EA, a custodian, or essentially any staff of Sydenham High, no matter the obstacle, someone is always there for you. Everyone and everything is there for you.”

Although the Class of '15 has been through events as diverse as a lockdown and a victory at the Capital Bowl, the school’s #Samstrong efforts for class-mate, Sam Eastman, who is battling cancer, are something that she is particularly proud of.

She concluded her speech with some words to her fellow class mates that were important for them to hear, particulary as the entire SHS community struggles to cope with the events of the past two weeks, which hover like a thick cloud of fog over the school and the local community.

“You’re something important. Something meaningful. Something worthwhile. You are a person with the ability to make change, save lives, live to the fullest. Take nothing for granted. This life is one big adventure, so take it. And let others take theirs as well. Make good decisions—decisions that you can live with. You don't have to be a dentist or a lawyer, skinny or rich to be happy. Just be you, and be a 'you' that leaves the world a little brighter.”

The stepped concrete wall below the recent addition to Sydenham High has been transformed, thanks to the work of Darryl Silver of Silverbrook Garden Centre, just west of Sydenham. Soon after our article about the wall was published in the Frontenac News (May 14), Silver was approached by a school board representative who asked him to submit a tender for the job. He inspected the wall and researched wild parsnip before he tendered.

Once his bid was accepted Silver went to work wearing full protective gear including heavy rubber gloves. Working through what’s already the busiest time of year for a garden centre, Silver dug on the wall mornings and evenings to first get rid of the parsnip. He removed two and a half truckloads of the plants; “Some, especially on the north part of the wall, had already grown over a metre tall, and their thick tap roots were almost as long,” he said. Fortunately the weed had not yet blossomed or set seed so Silver piled it on his own property to compost down.

After that his summer employee, Kallista Smith, joined the work. She had only one slight brush with parsnip, but still has the scars to show for it.

Silver found that in some places there was more gravel than soil, and although a lot of good nursery stock was uncovered during the clean-out, very little thought had apparently gone into the actual placement of the plant material. He has filled in the bare spots with hardy perennials, and added groupings of celosia in the school colours for touches of brightness. Fortunately, his contract includes ongoing upkeep of the wall, for fresh weeds will soon sprout from the disturbed soil.

“I was amazed by the numbers of people who stopped and commented,” Silver said; “one man even offered to volunteer. People were so delighted with the results that it made my job feel worthwhile. The village really does have a lot of community spirit.”

This year’s SHS Drama Department production was “You Can’t Take It With You” by Hart and Kauffman. Set in the late 1930’s, the play features a happy, loving but highly eccentric family whose daughter becomes engaged to the son of a very proper and well-to-do local businessman. Complications peak when the future son-in-law’s parents arrive a day early to meet his fiancee’s family. Of course everything comes out well in the end, with a strong endorsement of the importance of quality of life, and the courage to follow one’s dreams.

It’s a good choice for a school play: large cast, room for some great over-the-top cameos, fast-paced and funny.

But this production came about in a highly unusual manner.

Typically, an annual high school play is chosen, cast and directed by the drama teacher. Other staff members pitch in with stage design, costumes, makeup and advertising.

Not this time. According to the program notes, drama teacher Rutherford had “a very ambitious grade 11 and 12 split drama class that wanted to have a challenge that would bring them together as a community.” So he suggested they produce the annual play all by themselves. He would be available for consultation.

It sounds as though consensus didn’t come easily, but finally the class chose “You Can’t Take it With You”. Three people wanted to direct and against all likelihood, three directors, Adam Brown, Melissa Pugh and Jadon Chow are listed on the final program. Auditions were held, a cast was chosen, and “the rest of the students that didn’t get a part, they became stage designers, wardrobe, hair and make-up or backstage and technical.”

To this member of the audience, it seems the drama class completely achieved their goal: the sixteen-member cast with the support of the backstage folks worked together smoothly and confidently as an ensemble, supporting and complimenting their fellow actors. Amy Walton as Alice inhabited her character with great consistency and Max Karan’s Russian accent and middle European manner were thoroughly convincing. It’s not easy for young people to play older roles: full credit to the makeup department for not falling prey to drawing a lot of unconvincing lines on their faces, leaving it instead to the actors to show their maturity through their movements and mannerisms.

Mr Rutherford deserves full credit for one of the most difficult but best forms of teaching: enabling his class to discover for themselves their ability to come together as a cohesive whole through what must have been some rocky situations, to the reward of a well-earned standing ovation.

A pity it was so modestly advertised, and ran for only three days last week!

Hot on the heels of their convincing results at the KASSAA meet two weeks ago, a number of SHS athletes were multiple top finishers at the EOSSAA meeting in Brockville last Thursday and Friday (May 21 and 22).

Once again, the hurdlers led the way, but there was disappointment in the Junior Hurdles Relay. With two multiple medalists in Merik Wilcock (hurdles) and Thomas Lambert (sprints), SHS seemed to be a sure bet to finish at or near the top of the 4 x 400 metre event and qualify the team for the Eastern Regional meet this week (the final qualifier for the provincial championships in Toronto – OFSAA) but a dropped baton on the first exchange left them in 10th place at the end of the race. The men's and women's 4 x 400 metre running teams fared better, however, and both will race again this week.

Here are the SHS medalists from EOSSAA:

Women's 80 Metre Hurdles midget - Brianna Burgess 1st – 13.5543 (photo finish)

Men's 100 Metre Hurdles midget - Liam Sands 1st in 15.35 qualified in 15.62

Women 300 metre hurdles midget - Brianna Burgess 2nd 52.64

Men's Pole Vault midget - Liam Sands 3rd 2.70 metres

Men's Triple Jump Midget – Zach Lollar 3rd 11.13 metres

Men's 100 Metre Sprint Junior - Thomas Lambert 3rd 11.75

Men's 200 Metre Sprint Junior - Thomas Lambert 2nd 23.70

Men's 400 Metre Run Junior - Thomas Lambert 2nd 52.00 ( Note - Nick Bauerschmit of Valour High School set meet record in a time of 51.62. The old record was 51.84.)

Men 100 Metre Hurdles - Merik Wilcock 1st 14.55

Men's 300 Metre Hurdles Junior -Merik Wilcock1st 42.45 (Wilcock's time was 1.57 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher.)

Men's Long Jump Junior - Daret Mckay 3rd 5.92 metres

Men's 800 metre senior Brady Roberston 3rd 1.59:60 (Robertson finished just 0.5 seconds ahead of Curtis Adams of SHS, who finished 4th, while Nick Adams finished 7th in a time of 2:03.41.)

Men's 100 Metre Hurdles, senior - Brodie Latimer 2nd 15.49 seconds.

Women's 100 metre ambulatory – Shirley Hughes Ryan 1st 17.29

Women's 800 Metre run Ambulatory - Shirley Hughes Ryan – 1st 3:32.59

Women's 100 Metre run Intellectual Disabilities - Dominique Hannah 2nd 16.05, Brianna Clow - 3rd 17.44

Relays –

Women's 4 x 400 Metre relay – Open Division, 3rd 4:25.13

Men's 4 x 400 Metre relay - Open division, Sydenham 2nd 3:33.42

David Cox keeps jumping for GREC - Now in his senior year, David Cox continues to be the standard bearer for Track athletes from Granite Ridge Education Centre. In the High Jump event at EOSSAA, he took second place with a jump of 1.85 metres, and will move on to the next meet this week.

With a total of 81 athletes, the Sydenham High School track team was not only the largest at the Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association (KASSAA) meet last week; it was also the most consistently competitive.

SHS athletes won 22 events, ahead of KCVI (19), Frontenac (16), and Holy Cross (14). While SHS was competitive in all events, as you can see below, they were the dominant team in just about all the hurdles events, for both men and women in all age categories.

SHS was the winning overall team for both men and women.

Here is the list of top three finishers

Among top finishers were Kayla Battler, 3rd in the 100 metre dash (midget girls) in 13.80 seconds; Brianna Burgess, 3rd in the 200 metre dash (midget girls) in 29.50 seconds and 1st in both the 80 metre hurdles in 13.70 seconds and the 300 metre hurdles in 50.50 seconds.

Jocelyn Miles finished in 3rd in the women's javelin (midget) at 22.71 metres. Brianna McComish finished third in women's high jump (junior) at 1.40 metres, second in the Long Jump at 4.24 metres, and third in the triple jump at 9.46 metres. Madison MacPherson was tied for 1st in the pole vault (junior) at 1.90 metres. Morgan Hamilton finished 2nd in the women's shot put (junior) at 8.94 metres, and 3rd in the discus event at 19.58 metres, an event where Mackenzie Ryan finished 2nd at 22.20 metres.

Sian Lloyd was 1st in the javelin throw (junior) at 23.37 metres, and Mackenzie Ryan placed 3rd at 22.14 metres.

Brittany Campbell finished 2nd in the 100 metre dash (senior) at 13.40 seconds, and 3rd in the 200 metre dash at 27.80 seconds. If Danielle Gossage was disappointed with her off the podium 4th place finish in the 400 metre dash (senior) she made up for it with a 1st place run in the 800 metres in 2.38.20 minutes, and 2nd in the 1500 metres in 5.20.60 minutes.

As a team, SHS was 1st in the 4x100 metre relay (senior) in 53.90 seconds, and 1st as well in the 4x400 metre relay in 4:30.90 minutes. High jumper Shawna Vanluven was 2nd (senior) at 1.50 metres. In the shot put (senior) Danielle Miles finished 3rd at 9.55 metres, and Katherine Newton was 1st in the javelin at 27.55 metres while Cassidy Trueman was 3rd in the same event at 23.36 metres.

Shirley Hughes-Ryan finished 1st in two events, the women's 100 metre dash (ambulatory) in 16.40 seconds – breaking her own KASSAA record, and the 800 metre run (ambulatory) in 4:13.90. Dominique Hannah also broke her own KASSAA record, finishing 1st in the 100 metre dash (intellectually impaired) in 15.70 seconds, and Brianna Clow finished 2nd at 16.90 seconds.

Among the male athletes, Liam Sands was 1st in the 100 metre hurdles (midget) in 17 seconds flat, while Lucas Pereira finished 2nd in 18.70 seconds. Pereira also finished second in the 300 metre hurdles in 50.70 seconds.

Matt Caird finished 2nd in the men's high jump (midget) with a clearance of 1.60 metres, and Liam Sands finished second in the pole vault, clearing 1.80 metres. Zach Lollar was 2nd in the men's long jump at 5.20 metres, and third in the triple jump at 10.88 metres.

Jared Amos was 2nd in both shot put, 11.24 metres, and the discus events, 29.54 metres. Thomas Lambert was 2nd in the 100 metre dash at 12.20 seconds. He finished 1st in the 200 metre dash at 24.40 seconds, and capped it off with a meet record tying time of 52.70 seconds in winning the 400 metre dash (junior)

Continuing the SHS dominance in hurdles, Merik Wilcox set a meet record, 14.40 seconds, finishing 1st in the 100 metre event (junior) and also won the 300 metre event in 42.90 seconds. Sydenham also took the 4x100 metre hurdles in 48.40 seconds.

Daret McKay finished 2nd in the pole vault (junior) at 2.40 metres, and took 3rd in the triple jump at 1.55 metres. Wil Sanderson finished 2nd in both the discus (38.66 metres) and the javelin throw (36.14 metres)

Among senior men, SHS's Chad McInnes finished 3rd in the 200 metre dash in 25.20 seconds and 3rd as well in the 400 metre dash in 53.50 seconds. In the 800 metre run, Brady Robertson finished 2nd in 2:02.60 and Chris Adams finished 3rd in 2:03.20.

SHS swept the senior men's 100 metre hurdles event. Brodie Latimer ran it in 15.60 to win, Eric Lusk was 2nd in 17.00, and Tyler Cancian was third in 17.10. The 400 metre hurdles event also yielded a sweep: Chad McInnes won it in 1:01.80, Ryan Gibson was 2nd in 1:03.00 and Ben Amos was 3rd in 1:07.10.

SHS finished 3rd in the 4x100 metre relay in a time of 50.80.

Brady Robertson finished second in the men's javelin throw with a 42.17 metre effort, and finally, the 4x400 metre relay team took first place with a 3:40.30 time.

This year's Inside Ride event, which took place at Sydenham High School on May 8, seemed bigger, brighter and more spirited than in years past.

That was likely due to the fact that one of SHS's own, grade 12 student Sam Eastman, has been battling Non-Hogkins lymphoma since his diagnosis earlier this year. Soon after getting the news, friends at the school initiated the #Samstrong campaign and its force could be seen, heard and felt at the Inside Ride.

The event, now in its fifth year at the school, is run by the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation, a registered Canadian charity that raises money for children's cancer programs across the country. The charity is unique in that it follows a 100% donation model of fundraising, in which all funds raised go directly to the programs. Funds from the Sydenham event will be donated to the Children's Cancer Care Fund, a fundraising campaign run out of Kingston General Hospital and aimed at easing the financial burden on families facing a cancer diagnosis by funding the various related costs that come with a cancer diagnosis that are not covered by OHIP.

The Sydenham Inside Ride attracted 26 six-member teams, with each team having raised a minimum of $300. During the one-hour event, each rider from each team took a 10-minute turn at the wheel of their bike as their team members danced to the throbbing tunes expertly spun by emcee Marshall Jeske.

Altogether, an incredible $14,000 was raised!

School spirit was running extraordinarily high, with teams boasting awesome costumes under team names like The New Groove, The Magic School Bus, and The Beach Babes, who sprayed loaded water guns and bounced beach balls throughout. Event coordinator Jen Davies called the Inside Ride “a one-hour party with a purpose” and she said, "These students really seem to get the idea that cancer is not just something that happens to somebody else, which is very motivating for them.” Prizes were awarded for best team spirit, best costumes, top distance cycled by a team as well as top male, top female, top volunteer and top team fundraisers.

Other prizes included donated gifts from Goodlife as well as prizes collected through the school's parent council. Sam's family of course was out in full force as the #Samstrong team and Sam's mother, Libby Hearn, fittingly and bravely spoke at the start of the event, updating the students and staff on Sam's battle as he enters his fourth round of chemotherapy.

“He is fighting really hard and he is doing it because he has the tremendous support of this school and this community. You are all making such a huge difference in his battle. We, his family, just wanted to say thank you and Sam wanted me to send his thanks to you all as well.” Sam had been planning to attend the event but an infection prevented him from making the trip to the school. For those who missed the event, donations can still be made until the end of November 2015 by visiting sydenham.theinsideride.com.

When the Sydenham high school addition was completed last year, part of the structure included an imposing stepped concrete retaining wall on the west side, looming over Mill Street. The three-foot deep terraces were filled with earth and planted.

Landscaping is the last step in a construction project, when time and money are usually running short. In my experience this often leads to compromises in quality and execution, regardless of what the original plan may have been.

By the end of last summer some of the plants had flourished, especially the grasses. But it was immediately apparent that the earth they were set in had not been the good quality sterilized potting soil and compost that an investment in a new planting deserves. Instead the fill appeared to have come straight from a field or roadside, rich with its own assortment of seeds.

This spring the steps are rampant with hardy perennials: dandelions, Manitoba maples, chicory and burdock. Many other plants are outlaws with their profiles on the province's noxious weed list: bull thistles, wild vetch so deep-rooted and fragile-stemmed that it’s almost impossible to eradicate by pulling, Queen Anne’s lace, quack grass, and worse. Much worse. Tall clumps of ragweed towered last fall above the rest of the growth, and will have reseeded. (Allergic to ragweed? Then you know why this plant’s on the list.)

Most alarming of all is the wild parsnip thriving everywhere along the steps, preparing to bloom and reseed this summer. Wild parsnip is closely related to giant hogweed. Its sap causes the skin to react to sunlight, resulting in intensely painful slow-healing sores, and is also possibly carcinogenic. Now even if someone tries to sort out this horticultural disaster, it will be a dangerous as well as difficult job.

Questions come to mind: why was poor quality weed-riddled fill used for these plantings? Why no mulch, which would have helped prevent at least some unwanted seeds from germinating? Why was there no provision to have someone with good plant recognition skills weed the steps thoroughly during the first summer? Did any thought go into the choice of plants used? A more careful selection and interplanting of dwarf evergreens, vines, various coloured day lilies and grasses would have filled the steps fully and attractively in a year or two, minimizing ongoing maintenance.

Instead the school now presents a noxious weed-ridden eyesore to anyone approaching from the west or heading down the main street into the village, an annoyance and hazard to both students and community.

Assuming the Limestone Board is responsible for the final product of their building project, what do they intend to do this summer to address this mess?