Like just about all business owners these days, Asselstine Hardware owner Andrew Asselstine is concerned over the health and safety of his staff and customers. So, this past weekend, he built a little drive-through kiosk onto the front of the store where he can serve customers without them having to enter the store.

“With my wife being a healthcare worker at Providence Hospital, I’m well aware of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. “And I was concerned about the staff and customers.”

And the drive-through seems to be a hit, not only for its conscientiousness, but also as a rather humorous oddity in trying times.

“A little bit of humour never hurts,” Asselstine said. “It’s been a great response.

“We’ve had 25,000 likes on Facebook — 20,000 in the first 24 hours.”

He said he hopes it’ll help keep people’s spirits up and at the same time promote more awareness of social distancing.

“I’m surprised at how many people are still unaware,” he said. “I’ve had people come in and ask ‘why did you do this?’ and ‘is this about the virus thing?’”

And then, he’s also had more humorous queries like “Should you be asking ‘do you want fries with that hammer?’”

If nothing else, the positive comments have done a world of good for Asselstine himself.

“Amongst all the negativity around retail right now, it’s nice to have a little positive feedback,” he said.

Special protocols are in place at local doctor’s offices

Dr. Sabra Gibbons and her team at the Verona Clinic are continuing to serve their patients needs this week, but some of the protocols at the clinic have been changed in order to protect both the patients and clinic staff from any risk of exposure to COVID-19.

“We are open for business during our usual hours,” said Gibbons, in a phone interview on Tuesday morning.

But patients, whether or not they have an appointment, are being asked to call first. The clinic has been contacting patients who have appointments, offering virtual visits over the phone in some cases, and determing which patients do require in person visits.

“We are trying to be sensible,” said Dr. Gibbons. “Our waiting room is tiny, so it affords little or no social distancing, so we are have in people wait in cars and we go get them when it is their turn.

Patients displaying symptoms of a respiratory illness are encouraged to call the clinic before travelling to it in person, and they will be evaluated to determine if they should stay home, or travel to hospital for treatment or testing. If they need to be seen in the clinic, a separate entrance will be used and staff will use protective gear when assessing them and the cleaning protocals in the clinic, which are already in place, will be employed

“If I, or a member of my staff, develop any symptoms, we will self isolate immediately and will carry on our work through virtual means,” she said.

She said that the clinic is in contact with other clinics in the area and is also in contact with KFL&A Public Health.

“The situation is evolving constantly, as you know” she said, “and we are working to make sure that not only are our patients and the community taking steps to avoid transmission of COVID-19 but that the ongoing health needs of our patents are still being addressed.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 186 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario, and 1 death. There were still no cases in Kingston or Frontenac County.

“That is certain to change,” said Dr. Gibbons.

(for further information on medical services in other locations, call your local clinic, or see the public service ad on page 7 from the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team)

Ontario shifts gears on alcohol sales, but not supply

There has been talk about ‘beer in the corner store’ in Ontario for many years, and change has come incrementally, over time.

Last summer, the province announced a Request for Proposal (RFP) process in 200 communities across the province for ‘convenience store’ outlets. The process got underway in late September, and it was a quick one in government terms.

By early January, two new outlets were opened on Road 38, Gilmour’s Meats in Harrowsmith and the Godfrey General Store, and one on Perth Road, Glenburnie Grocery.

For Jordan and Nick Gilmour of Gilmour’s Meats, the whole process has been a blur. Not only were they interested in expanding their range of products to include beer, wine, and spirits, but they also realised they needed more space.

“We didn’t want to get into it without making sure we had enough space and product to make it worthwhile for people to shop here,” said Jordan Gilmour.

In order to accommodate added retail space, and a large walk-in cooler for beer, Gilmour’s has had to expand. The walk-in cooler is not in place yet, but the space is now ready for it.

“Our landlord, who has been great to work with, took care of the exterior and we are doing the finishing,” he said.

By adding on, the butcher shop, take out kitchen, and grocery sections of the store have not been affected.

“It has added some business already, helping our winter sales, but we will need to be ready when summer comes,” he said. “All of our staff have had to be trained for this. It is a lot to get everyone up to speed. It’s a good thing it happened in January instead of the end of May.”

Laurie Love of the Godfrey General Store feels the same way. She was informed about the RFP in late September and it has been a lot of work putting the application together. As well, she had to determine how to integrate the post office, gas bar, and grocery and convenience stores operation with the alcohol sales.

“I am not complaining, however, since it is an opportunity,” she said.

The Godfrey General Store will also be installing a beer fridge at the back of the store later this spring and will be preparing for the increased traffic in the store during the already busy summer season.

The two privately owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets in Frontenac County Northway Home Hardware on Perth Road in Inverary, and Reid’s Foodland in Verona, are facing an adjustment as the new stores come on stream. (there are also three LCBO corporate owned stores in Frontenac County – Sydenham, Sharbot Lake and Plevna)

Clint Reid said that while he, like any other retailer, does not relish the prospect of decreased sales, he wishes the new businesses well. He did say that he was troubled with the process that was used, since it was handled by a consulting firm that looked primarily at maps to determine which communities were underserved, rather than visiting the communities to see what was really there.

The Verona Foodland opened its agency store in 2004, when the business was owned by Graham Brooks. Clint and Andrea Reid took over the store almost exactly 10 years ago. The liquor store has been an important part of their business, not only in terms of offering the breadth of products that their customers expect, but also as a community trust.

“We live in this community, so we make sure that our staff are trained to the highest degree possible, when it comes to selling alcohol. We don’t control what happens once the product leaves the store, but we take our responsibility very seriously,” he said.

While the availability of alcohol in Ontario was opened up incrementally by the Liberal governments of the past 15 years, and more quickly by the current Conservative government, it is still a closed market when it comes to the supply chain. with the LCBO maintaining control over product selection and pricing.

While LCBO corporate stores in Frontenac County continue to open at 10am, the agency stores can open as early as 9am and stay open until as late as 11pm.

At the end of the day, they may be just benches, but to some people, they mean a little more than that.

So when students from Prince Charles Public School in Verona came to Atkinson Home Hardware in Hartington for paint and supplies to fix them as part of Brian Grigg’s 6/7 shop class, they expected to pay with funds set aside from Parents School Council fundraisers.

But Wendy Rose wouldn’t hear of it.

You see, Rose was a student at Prince Charles and remembers those benches well.

Not only did she arrange for a donation, she went to the trouble of colour-matching the paint so it would be the actual Prince Charles colours.

“They (the benches) were sky blue but we thought it might be a good idea to have have them in the school colours (green and yellow),” she said. “I got the colours from the “P” in Prince Charles.

“I remember them well, they were used for all sorts of things — choir, school photos, even as boards for floor hockey.”

“They had become a backdrop but now they’re a centrepiece,” said Principal Peter Mouncey.

He said real-life projects like this give students an education they can’t get from more theoretical teaching.

“The emphasis is on problem-solving — from a practical standpoint,” Mouncey said. “They have to figure out what tools they need, how to do a lot of measuring and such.

“They thought it was going to be simple once they started looking at it, some of the boards were in bad shape and we had to remove two cups of screws.”

That aspect wasn’t lost on the students.

“We were going to try to use the same tops and sides but we couldn’t for all of them,” said Jason Rose. “Our top was too small so we had to cut down one end and move the legs.”

“And I didn’t expect all the sanding we had to do,” said Sydney Leonard. “We had to sand for painted and the corners had to be rounded off so people wouldn’t injure themselves if they bumped into them.”

“The painting was fun but I didn’t know about all the sizes of sandpaper,” said Maddy Bruschette, whose dad Norm runs MB Carpentry and helped out, mostly in the background. “He did the big cuts and double checked measuring.

“I enjoyed the project, especially learning how to use a drill.”

Rose said the students did most of the work.

“Mr. Grigg comes over and shows you how to do it,” he said. “So then you can do it.

“Now they won’t have to be rebuilt a hundred times.”

So, what’s next for the Prince Charles shop class?

Actually Rose has a suggestion.

“When I was going here, there was a white picket fence out front,” she said. “I have a few pallets of picket fences in my yard.”

Early in the morning, every day of the week, people are on the move in Frontenac County, driving, often in the dark, to work. On their way, many stop for a breakfast sandwich and a coffee. Depending on their route, people have their own favourites. We went looking for the best sandwich in Frontenac, and we found quite a few.

Starting at 6am, a steady stream of hungry people are greeted with a hearty “Hello, my friend” from the far left corner as they enter Verona Convenience Store, on Main Street across from Local Family Farms. Anil Velji is there, making two kinds of sandwiches, a BLT and what he calls a full breakfast, which has a fried egg as well.

The sandwiches are wrapped and stacked on the counter, but they don’t last long. The key elements to Anil’s sandwiches are a thin layer of mayonnaise, a generous amount of bacon, crispy lettuce and tomato, and just enough pepper. The full breakfast is the one to try.

Those elements, in addition to hot, fresh coffee and a genuine, warm greeting, make Verona Convenience Store one of the premier stops in any sandwich lovers tour of Frontenac County.

On December 13, 2019 shortly after 9:00 p.m. Frontenac Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a motor vehicle collision of Rutledge Road west of Wilmer. 

As a result of the investigation, Peter MURPHY, age 51 of Verona Ontario, was charged with having over 80 milligrams of alcohol in the blood while operating a motor vehicle.

The accused's driver's licence was suspended for 90 days and the motor vehicle was towed and impounded for seven days. The accused was released on a promise to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Kingston at a later date.

For the first time in its 27-year history, the Verona Christmas in the Village tree-lighting ceremony was held indoors.

“With the weather this year, we thought we’d hold it indoors rather than have everybody have to dress up to go outside,” said Verona Community Association president Wayne Conway.

For years, the tree lighting was held at McMullen Park in downtown Verona but it turned out that the lights were killing the old Christmas tree in the park so it moved to the Lions Hall a few years ago.

But, Conway said, the Association is re-evaluating.

“The VCA will look at and assess the possibility of going back to our roots,” Conway said. “We’re looking at enhancing the program for next year and maybe even ways of returning to McMullen Park.”

Holding events at the Lions Hall does have advantages. For one thing, the kitchen is available and the Lions provided a nice spread including chilli and hot dogs, along with the popcorn and goodies.

“This is the second year the Lions have become more involved,” said Lions spokesperson Doreen Morey. “Last year we did it and this year we’re doing it together as a shared event.

“We’re very happy to join together as a community and by doing so, it maximizes the number of volunteers available.”

This year’s event featured the music of Jessica Weddon and Jon McClurg and the group Vocal Legacy.

Perhaps you can go home after all.

When Astrid Tanton was in Grade 5 at Prince Charles Public School in Verona, she covered Taylor Swift’s Mean in a school talent show.

Last Friday, she was back in the same gym, and when the audience asked for her to do a Taylor Swift song for her encore, she happily obliged.

“It’s fun,” she said. “You can go home.”

Now 17, Tanton is a recent graduate (Ontario Scholar at 16) of Rosedale Heights School of the Arts in Toronto. She’s been busily building a musical career in Toronto and came back to the area last week to do shows at Sydenham High School and Prince Charles. She’ll be heading to Ryerson for Arts and Contemporary Studies next year.

“Music is universally inspiring,” she said. “I’ve been singing since I was three years old.

“In high school, I was learning what I want to do — share music.”

She describes her music as a blend of mainstream pop and jazz, with R & B influences.

“I’ve been getting more gigs and I love playing larger stages,” she said. “I want to keep performing.

“Everyone says I light up when I perform.”

That she does. And the kids at PCPS loved it.

For this gig, she recruited a couple of friends, Jay Yoo on guitar and Dennis Lee on keyboards.

“I think it’s important to have live musicians when you perform, especially when it’s for kids,” she said. “It gets them more involved.”

And while the school does have a modest fund to pay for visiting musicians and such, Tanton not only declined a fee, she even made a donation to the school’s arts and music program.

Tanton is very active on Instagram with 1,500+ followers.

You can listen to some of her music at https://linktr.ee/astridtanton

On Friday November 29, 2019 short after 11:30 p.m. a Frontenac Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was conducting speed enforcement on Road 38 near Verona. The officer stopped a vehicle travelling at 79 kilometers over the speed limit.

The driver, a 17 year old from Verona Ontario, was charged with stunt driving which resulted in the licence and vehicle being seized for seven days and the driver was given a summons to appear in Provincial Offences Court in Kingston at a future date to answer to the charge.

The Verona district ATV club hosted their first OFATV event Sunday November 18.

Over 50 ATVs and 70 plus riders set off from RL Classics on the corner of Road 38 and Westport Rd at 10 am. The group made their way to Sharbot Lake following the KP trail. After a nice lunch at The Maples the group returned to Godfrey. Riders from Eastern and Central Ontario enjoyed the condition of the trail and Frontenac's beautiful landscape.

The new Verona and District club joins 18 other member clubs in the Ontario Federation of ATV clubs (OATV).

The OATV provides member services including 3rd party liability, and hleps with access to trails across the region and the Province.

To join the Verona district ATV club please email Marc or Wayne at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.