Back to HomeFeature Article - June 11, 2009 Verona Drug Mart reaches out to the elderlyBy Julie Druker

Patrick Casey, RN, Verona Drug Mart pharmacist Hany Girgis, and client Elieen Manson at Diabetes Education Day at the Verona Drug Mart

In an effort to provide more hands-on services to the elderly in the Verona and surrounding community living with diabetes, Hany Girgis, pharmacist and owner/ operator of the Verona Drug Mart, recently teamed up with the company Lifescan Canada to do just that.

On May 27 Hany invited Patrick Casey, a registered nurse and diabetes educator from Kingston, who works for Lifescan, to the Verona Drug Mart to counsel elderly members of the community about the disease and how to monitor it in its early and later stages.

Hany’s pharmacy is offering for free two types of Lifescan’s glucose monitoring systems. They are small calculator-sized machines that allow patients to monitor their sugar levels easily at home. The products are free and customers only pay for the test strips that are used in conjunction with the machine.

For Eileen Manson of Verona it was an opportunity to spend time with a nurse and educated diabetes counselor to answer some of her concerns. Eileen has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic; her sugar levels are higher than normal but not at all off the charts. Her doctor wants her to check her glucose levels regularly before she goes in for an in-depth test and she has been monitoring her sugar levels for the last year.

Patrick explained, “Typically Type 2 Diabetes occurs later in life, although it is appearing in younger people due to the obesity pandemic, but it generally strikes adults over 40 years of age and the symptoms occur quite insidiously, and are usually slow to progress.”

For people diagnosed with the disease, self-monitoring at home is important; poorly controlled diabetes can come with serious health consequences such as cardiovascular disease, risks to the eyes, kidneys and damage to peripheral arteries and nerves and risk of infection due to slow wound healing.

Patrick was careful to point out that only people with diabetes who have been directed by their doctor should be screening their blood sugar levels at home with these devices. He explained, “Generally speaking these tools are intended to be used by people who have been diagnosed with diabetes. These tools are not recommended for people who do not have the disease as a casual way to monitor their blood sugar levels.”

Patrick also added that diet and exercise are the best preventative tools people can use to avoid the onset of diabetes.

The clinic was very worthwhile for Eileen who said, “Patrick helped to show me techniques that I can use to get enough blood to complete a test. I was having trouble getting enough blood and it was very discouraging. He’s really helped me.”

Eileen explained that she hadn’t been to a clinic before and also learned from Patrick a lot about how to manage her diet.

Hany was grateful for the opportunity to offer this service to members of the community. He explained, “It’s a very good chance for customers to have an in-depth one-on-one session with a professional so they can address their personal concerns and have their questions answered in detail.”

He added, “It’s important to offer these services in small communities to clients where access to doctors and clinics are not as readily available as in larger centres. I also am seeing that customers are extremely grateful for this type of one-on-one service.”

He’s intending to offer similar types of educational clinic days on hypertension and flu shots and foot care for diabetics to his customers in the near future.

Back to HomeLegalese - June 18, 2009 Payday Loans Class Action

By William A. Florence, Barrister and Solicitor, Rural Legal Services

For many people who live paycheque to paycheque, utilizing “payday loans” from places like Money Mart is one way to help get over unexpected financial hurdles. A payday loan is for a small amount and is made, without security, on the basis of the borrower providing a post-dated cheque or pre-authorized debit to the lender at the time of the loan for the amount of the debt plus a fee. The fees charged are usually very high and the Ontario government passed new regulations under the Consumer Protection Act requiring payday lenders to provide borrowers with clear and full information about the cost of borrowing. According to a government discussion paper, for a typical payday loan of $300.00 for 14 days, the annualized cost of borrowing could be in excess of 400 per cent.

In 2003, a class action was initiated against Money Mart, alleging that the rate of interest that Money Mart was charging is illegal. If you have taken out payday loans from Money Mart, it may be that you could benefit from this class action. Class actions are lawsuits where many people with a common legal issue join together and participate in one large action. By joining a class action, everyone with the same legal problem does not have to file their own claims, but can simply join an existing one. Therefore, one court case can settle what would otherwise have taken hundreds or thousands of cases. One of the benefits of class actions is that low income individuals are able to pursue litigation to enforce their legal rights, as there are usually no expenses for the members of the “class” because the legal costs are paid out of the judgement or settlement.

In addition to class actions simply being efficient and cost-effective, it is also a benefit to the justice system as a whole, in that people or groups with similar claims get the same result and the Courts are not bogged down with hundreds of cases dealing with the same basic issues. Class actions are normally brought against large corporations, and often involve highly complex legal issues. Due to the level of complexity, class actions can take years to settle.

In the class action against Money Mart, it was alleged that Money Mart had breached section 347 of the Criminal Code of Canada by charging interest and fees which collectively constitute an annual rate in excess of the maximum legal interest rate of 60 per cent per annum. Money Mart’s position was that the effective annual interest rate they charged was 59 per cent, and the other charges were not included in their calculation of the annual interest rate, but were “cheque cashing fees”, “item fees”, or “first party cheque cashing fees”. The trial commenced this spring, but was adjourned when the parties agreed to a settle. The settlement, which still requires final Court approval, includes the following terms: the defendants will pay $27.5 million in cash and provide $43 million in debt forgiveness, as well as $30 million in transaction credits to members of the class.

To benefit from the settlement, you would have to be a member of the certified class, being: “All persons who, in the period August 19, 1997 to September 9, 2007, entered into a Fast Cash Advance and/or a Payday Loan transaction in Ontario, with Money Mart or a franchisee of Money Mart, which was paid by cheque on the borrower's next scheduled payday, being the day on which the borrower was scheduled to receive his or her salary, pension benefit, or any other regularly scheduled payment.” The class may end up being expanded to include later transactions, perhaps right up until the end of this year, but that remains to be determined by the Court.

You do not have to sign up to be a Class Member. Money Mart’s records of its customers and transactions will be used to determine who will be released from debt, and who the transaction credits may be given to. If you believe you are a Class Member, and are wondering if you should pay the debt you currently owe to Money Mart, you should first confirm that you actually are a Class Member before making any decisions. Again, if you are a Class Member, there are no fees that you would have to pay to the lawyers who are running the case.

If you took out a payday loan during the period from August 19, 1997, until the present, and you would like further information, you can contact the law firm involved, Sutts, Strosberg LLP, by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or by telephone toll free at (866) 396-3229. To keep informed of developments, you should monitor the website: www.moneymartclassaction.com. Of course, you can also contact Rural Legal Services and we will try to answer your questions on this, or other legal topics.

Legalese is a column of general information and opinion on legal topics by the lawyers of Rural Legal Services, Box 359, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H2P0, 613-279-3252, or 1-888-777-8916. This column is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations.

Back to HomeFeature Article - May 7, 2009 Love-in over ATV trails in Sharbot Lake.By Jeff Green

If everyone took the same view as the audience at an open meeting over the proposed K&P trail in Sharbot Lake last week, (April 30), a multi-purpose trail allowing everything from hikers, to snow machines and ATVs and everything in between, would be approved in a flash from the border between South and Central Frontenac and Sharbot Lake.

That's the kind of trails that are run by the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance, a Tweed-based group that runs a network of trails from Hastings County to the Quebec border. Much of the funding for the EOTA trails system comes from the sale of ATV passes and the growing ATV touring market.

Most of the people at the meeting expressed support for the EOTA model, and said it did not conflict with non-motorized use of trails.

Don Fenwick, from the Yarker area, sat for six years on the management board for the Cataraqui Trail. The board has resisted ATV use of trails. Fenwick said, “4-wheelers should be allowed on certain portions of trails and on other portions they would be diverted to the roads. Trying to prohibit them entirely leads only to problems. But whatever we do here, we should remember that these rail corridors will never come again. If we don't take advantage of the K&P rail line, there will never be a corridor for a trail in Frontenac County”.

The public meeting in Sharbot Lake, and a meeting in Verona a couple of days earlier, which was not quite a love-in over motorized trails, were sponsored by the Trails Committee of Frontenac County Council. In addition to staff members and representatives from trails groups, the committee includes councilors from each of the four Frontenac townships.

Deputy Mayor Gary Smith is the trails rep. for Central Frontenac Township. He conducted the meeting in Sharbot Lake, and said there has been a varied response, ranging from the enthusiasm of the people at last week’s meeting, to people who “have told us point blank, 'not over my dead body; it's not going to happen'”.

The committee is charged with looking at a variety of issues, including the concerns of people whose properties abut the trail and who in some cases have built houses within metres of the old rail line. As well, portions of the trail between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake have been sold off, making it difficult to see how a continuous trail can be established from the borders of the City of Kingston to the Trans Canada trail that passes through Sharbot Lake on the east-west axis.

“The fallback for those sold-off lands, and it is not an ideal one, is the township roads,” said Smith.

“We need all the economic help we can get back here,” said Central Frontenac Councilor Bob Harvey, “and ATV tourism is a growing thing”.

The County trails committee will be preparing a draft master plan for trails to present to county council later this spring.

Deputy Mayor Jim Beam is the rep. for North Frontenac Township and Alan McPhail is the rep. for South Frontenac on the committee. 

Back to HomeFeature Article - May 14, 2009 Survivors’ walk – the heart of the Relay For Lifeby Jeff Green

Participants in the 2008 Survivors' Walk.

At the beginning of each Relay For Life event, a special group of people walk the first lap around the track. It is called a "Victory Lap". The yellow-shirted Survivors, all people who have had cancer themselves, are the honoured guests of the relay.

“I think the survivors’ lap really galvanizes all of the participants in the Relay For Life. It very graphically, visually defines why they are all there,” said Adele Colby, who is the co-ordinator for the Survivors’ walk this year.

Colby knows a thing or two about the Survivors’ walk, and about cancer as well.

Adele was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, right while she was in mid-career as a senior advisor in the federal government.

“It was quite a journey,” she said in an interview this week, “it took me at least a year to start feeling that I wasn't going to die; the whole experience was somewhat brutal. Part of my healing was learning to reach out.”

Adele Colby recovered from her cancer and carried on with her life. In 2003 she retired, and moved with her husband to a property near Camp Oconto.

Shortly after that she was diagnosed with cancer for a second time.

“I was totally bowled over. I never thought that this would happen to me again after 13 years. My oncologist had been teasing me every year; when I had said I didn't think I needed to see him, he'd say 'We like you. We want to see you once a year'”.

As upset as Adele was with her second diagnosis, she “feels nothing but gratitude” to her oncologist and the staff at the regional cancer centre in Ottawa for being vigilant in her case, and starting treatments as soon as possible.

Over the past few years Adele has come to realize that her new community in Central Frontenac, a place she “moved to while dragging my feet as much as possible, is a really caring community”.

Adele has made use of her cancer experience as a facilitator with Breast Cancer Action Kingston. She facilitates a support group for women undergoing treatment. “I know that the more support people receive the better off they are, and truly only people who have had cancer know what it is like be diagnosed with cancer. We had one woman who came to our support group and said her family had told her she was going to die. She needed to be with people who were not willing to accept that; she needed to be surrounded by people who were fighters. They had all traveled a similar road and could support and encourage one another! She has a new lease on life!”

Adele's involvement with the Relay for Life started when the event came to the Parham Fairgrounds.

When Claire Macfarlane came to talk up the Relay for Life to a meeting of the “Friday Night Ladies”, a group of women who meet socially once a month and often make donations to worthy causes, Adele volunteered to head the Friday Night Ladies’ team at the first relay in 2007. After heading the team again in 2008, she decided to take on a larger role, and this year Adele is the principal organiser of the Survivors’ walk.

“What is being demonstrated at the survivors walk is very powerful. The people who are walking are saying 'yes, I have cancer, but there is life after cancer’, and that they will be back next year”.

There is a tent for survivors to meet each other, and where refreshments are served. As well, it is Adele's job to contact Survivors and offer them the opportunity to join the relay. “Not everyone wants to go public with their cancer, but for those who do, the Survivors’ Walk is a good experience,” Adele said.

The Central and North Frontenac 2009 Relay for Life is set for June 12 and 13 at the Parham Fairgrounds. For information on how to form or join a team or participate in another way, contact Sandra Clow at 279-2935 ext. 228 or Claire Macfarlane at 279-1133. 

Back to HomeFeature Article - May 14, 2009 New restaurant on Hwy 41by Jeff Green

Chris and Melissa Evans have been living and working in the restaurant business in Prince Edward County for several years, and this winter they took advantage of the slow winter season to take a southern vacation to the Dominican Republic in late January.

When they got back, Melissa contacted a realtor, looking for some land in Addington Highlands. Instead of the vacation property she was looking for, Melissa found a restaurant that contained a three-bedroom apartment and was available at a pretty good price.

So, on the Family Day holiday, Melissa and Chris made their first offer on the property, and in early April they jumped into a new venture, as owner-operators of their own restaurant.

The restaurant, now named Addison's after Chris and Melissa's 13-year-old son, has been open under different names and management over the past few years, most recently as Kellar's Kountry Kitchen.

When people come into the restaurant, they see a spotlessly clean, freshly painted and decorated room, with a colourful aquarium in the left front corner of the building.

They are also greeted by Melissa Evans, who says “It is very important to us that people have a good experience when they come to eat in our restaurant. We need to give them good food and friendly service. That's all there is to it”.

That's one of the reasons that Chris and Melissa wanted to get the restaurant open quickly after they purchased the business.

“We certainly did not want to open our doors for the first time on the May 24th weekend,” said Chris.

Melissa and Chris are bringing a pretty straightforward strategy towards their first family-owned business. Chris is the main cook, and Melissa runs the service end of the business. They will be hiring staff for the busy summer season, but the couple intend to be front and centre as they greet their new neighbours and new customers who have been coming in since they opened the restaurant a couple of weeks ago.

“We've had a great response so far,” said Chris. The menu that is on offer at Addison's can be described as a new style family restaurant menu, but Chris said that as time goes on, “we will continually listen to our customers as we develop our menu over the next few months.”

While Addison's menu includes many of the classic mainstays of family fare, there is a modern edge to the cuisine. For instance, the Mother’s Day specials included Silk Chocolate Truffle and Vanilla Pannacotta with multi-berry compote on the dessert menu.

Thus far, pasta Wednesdays and steak Fridays have proven to be popular and in response to customers’ requests, Addison's will be seeking a liquor license.

“People have been saying they would like the option of a glass of wine with their meal so we will be getting a license over the next few months.”

Addison's is located at 11893 Hwy 41, just south of Northbrook on the east side, and is open six days a week, from 8 am until 8 pm. They are closed on Tuesdays.

“It's the only way we can get a day off,” said Chris, “and we do need a day off each week”.

Call 613-336-8265; email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Back to HomeFeature Article - May 21, 2009 Helping Isaac: Rivendell to Host Fundraiser for Rare DiseaseBy Jeff Green

“We just do whatever we can do for our children, just as all parents do.”

That's how Andrew McFadyen describes the efforts of his wife Ellen and himself over the past four years ever since their son Isaac was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that causes an enzyme deficiency, with devastating consequences to his quality of life.

Within a short time of Isaac being diagnosed with the condition, which has the medical name MPS VI, the McFadyens learned of a drug that had been approved in the United States. Naglazyme has been able to slow some of the effects of MPS VI and allow for improved life conditions for sufferers of the rare condition, which afflicts only three people in all of Canada.

Nagalzyme was not covered under the Ontario health plan, and at a cost of $300,000 to $1 million per year, it was well out of reach for the family. Thus began Andrew and Ellen's first campaign and Andrew's first media exposure. After major newspaper coverage in Toronto, and repeated interventions from Ontario Conservative Party health critic, and former Health Minister, Elizabeth Witmer, the province agreed to pay for the treatment. The treatment has had a major impact on Isaac's quality of life, and reversed some of the impacts of his condition.

“The treatment provides him with the enzyme he is lacking, but there are still many side effects. We call the treatment our lifeboat; it slows the ravages of the disease but it doesn't in any sense stop it,” said Isaac's father Andrew of the scenario faced by his now five-year-old son. “On the bright side, he is feeling better now than he has at any time in his life.”

For Andrew, a lifelong Liberal party activist (who is seeking the Liberal nomination in his home riding of Northumberland-Quinte West, a swing riding, for the next election) Elizabeth Witmer's efforts are a tribute to the role of a politician.

“She saw this as something she should be working on, and didn't stop. We sent her copies of Isaac's first report card and his class picture and she said she puts them up in her office to remind her why she is involved in politics,” said Andrew.

Finding a cure for MPS VI has become the major goal of the family, and when they learned that it takes $100,000 per year to fund a research project, the Isaac Foundation was established with the goal of raising $100,000 per year.

“We are racing against the clock, we realise that,” said Andrew McFadyen, “but there have been some exciting results from some of the research projects that are going on around the world.”

Ellen and Andrew, along with Isaac and younger brother Gabriel, live in Campbellford, but Andrew commutes to Kingston every day to teach at Winston Churchill Public School, and maintains a lot of connections in the city where he attended university.

Raising $100,000 per year while living on a teacher's salary and raising a child with MPS VI is certainly a challenge for the McFadyens, but they have received help from some unlikely places, including support from celebrities ranging from Stuart Maclean of the Vinyl Cafe, to Toronto Blue Jays Star Pitcher Roy Halliday (who recently donated $2,000 to the foundation, $1,000 from a prize he won and $1,000 of his own money) and musicians Danny Michel and John Mayor.

Since its inception thjree years ago, the foundation comes home to the Kingston area every year for its major fundraising event, a celebrity golf tournament and silent auction. The tournament has taken place at the Inverary Golf Club for three years, and this year it is coming to Verona's Rivendell Golf Club, where Andrew played golf all through his university days.

“The tournament is a kick off to the next fiscal year. We make announcements, have a big celebration, and if it can be hosted by people we care about and care about us, so much the better,” he said.

It is not only the connection that Andrew McFadyen has maintained at Rivendell that pulled the tournament there, the layout of the course and the extensive clubhouse facilities were another factor.

“The tournament is Isaac's favourite day, and some of the foundation’s supporters, like the Tragically Hip, donate auction items,” said Andrew.

There are still spots left for people who want to play in the tournament. The cost is $500 for a foursome until the end of May, and includes lunch, dinner, and a golf cart. For further information about how to get involved or donate to the Isaac foundation, go to www.theisaacfoundation.com.

Ninety-eight percent of all the money raised by the foundation goes to medical research. 

Back to HomeLegalese - May 28, 2009 Special Diet Allowance

By William A. Florence, Barrister and Solicitor, Rural Legal Services

If you have a serious medical condition, you may need a special diet to help in the management of your illness. This may create financial challenges for a lot of people, but it can be an overwhelming problem for some people who – perhaps due to the very condition that requires the special diet – are receiving benefits under the Ontario Disability Support Program or Ontario Works.

To help deal with the budgetary strain that can be caused by a medically necessary diet, these programs, (as set out in an earlier column), do offer what is referred to as a “Special Diet Allowance.” To qualify for this benefit, which currently ranges from $10.00 to $250.00, an applicant must have a medical condition that the government includes in the Special Diet Schedule. For example, an individual with diabetes would receive an additional $42 a month, and an individual with cystic fibrosis would receive $75.00 to $150.00 a month. The major difficulties with the Special Diet Schedule are: what conditions ought to be included in the Special Diet Allowance, and what amounts would be actually sufficient to help an individual cope?

At the moment, there are hundreds of individuals who are challenging the government’s handling of the Special Diet Allowance. A person who believes they have been improperly denied the allowance because their medical condition is not on the list, or not provided a sufficient amount of money under the program to meet their dietary needs, may appeal to the province’s Social Benefits Tribunal for a ruling on their individual case. But with so many appeals, it seemed a better idea to attempt to bring about changes in the program. As a result, people are turning to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal for relief arguing that the Special Diet Allowance program is actually discriminating against people on the basis of their disabilities. If the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal agrees, it has the power to order the government to change the program, whereas the Social Benefits Tribunal can only rule on a case by case basis.

The so-called “lead case” on this issue is Ball v. Ontario, an application brought before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal through the combined efforts of several Community Legal Clinics (just like Rural Legal Services, although we are not involved in this case). The clinics are arguing that not only does the program not include some medical conditions for which a special diet is required, but even for those that the program recognizes the amount of money is often not adequate – both situations amounting to a form of discrimination against the disabled that is unlawful. The final arguments in the case will not be heard until June, but the case seems to have already had some positive results as Ontario has changed the Special Diet Allowance to include Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis as eligible medical conditions. How the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal rules on this case will directly impact on the lives of many people in our province.

For further information on the Special Diet Allowance programs under Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program, you can contact Rural Legal Services.

Legalese is a column of general information and opinion on legal topics by the lawyers of Rural Legal Services, Box 359, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H2P0, 613-279-3252, or 1-888-777-8916. This column is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations.

Back to HomeLetters - April 9, 2009Letters: April 9

Ambulance Review an Opportunity for NF, Leo Ladouceur

Re: Kudos to John Simcock, Nicki Gowdy

April Fooled, Cory Mann & Eric Nyrhila

Re: Unusual Sightings, Rem & Kees Westland

Ambulance review - An opportunity for North Frontenac

After reading the Frontenac News report on rural ambulance service in Frontenac County, Frontenac News March 26/09, I feel I should speak out as a citizen of North Frontenac Township. Jeff Green’s article said that future service in the north is a big question. That big question arises from two very debatable conclusions, which cause me to doubt the validity and credibility of the IBI Ambulance Review.

First of all, anyone who can read a map knows that moving the 12 hour per day ambulance service to Ardoch makes no sense and has many disadvantages. Considering the types of roads and the distances involved between the towns and hamlets, such a move would increase response times for most of the township. The very reason this rural ambulance service was put into place was to improve response times in the north. We appreciate this service and know that a move to Ardoch would result in a serious deterioration in response times.

Secondly, I have to ask the question “Why would a new building to house this ambulance service cost $750,000?” This is a 12-hour per day service – no sleeping quarters are required and only one vehicle needs to be housed. A reasonable facility would be a one-bay heated garage with one or two attached rooms to accommodate paramedics during the day. Those who wrote this review must think the people in the north have very expensive tastes and money to waste.

There is a simple, reasonable and inexpensive solution to Jeff’s big question about ambulance service in the north. That is a combined fire hall and ambulance base such as the one just down the road in the town of Enterprise. North Frontenac Township Council has been promising a new fire hall for Ompah since it was elected. The site has been selected and the land purchased. Why not combine the fire hall and the ambulance service in the same new building? Fire and ambulance services are a natural combination to be housed together. Ompah is the central township location. A six bay fire hall, actually three bays back to back, complete with offices could be built for under $400,000. One bay and necessary facilities for the ambulance service could be made available in that building. Shared construction and on-going operating costs would be greatly reduced since all utilities would be provided continuously in the fire hall.

Maybe some of those millions being spent to kick start “ready to go projects” could be squeezed out of the Federal and Provincial money bag if the county and township would put together a reasonable proposal. If these two levels of government could stop their constant bickering, they might negotiate an amicable agreement that would see those in the north get something to appreciate for their tax money. Improved ambulance and emergency services would be a good place to start.

Leo L Ladouceur

Re: Kudos to John Simcock

I am writing in response to the submission of the letter “Kudos to John Simcock!”, April 2/09,  I am extremely glad that someone thinks that John is doing a great job! There are not many people that feel this way, myself included! I am also very glad that there is positive change on the roads that can account for the over budgeting John has done since coming to our township. Also I am glad that the area of the township that the 5-Year Road Plan is catering to will see more money spent on it. For those folks who do not realize it, the 5-Year Road Plan proposed by John Simcock basically ignores District 4 yet again! Little money will be spent in this area. As you probably have concluded, I live in the "historically ignored" end of the township. Since amalgamation, District 4 has been pushed aside in many aspects of township time and money. Our councillors may be upset and not have a positive outlook because the area and people that they represent have truly been pushed aside, except at tax bill time. Maybe we could all be more positive if the budget truly showed no favouritism or was spread evenly over the township as a whole, but until then I am truly glad for people like Bill Snyder and Phillip Smith who have no problem in standing up for the people of the south. In closing I would like to say that maybe John is doing a great job in the north but the south has truly been forgotten - yet again. Yes, many do like change, but fair change would be much more appreciated!

- Nicki Gowdy

April Fooled

We are Snow Road cottagers and when we are not there, we read the online edition religiously each week to keep that North Frontenac momentum going.

Your April Fool edition was wonderful this year - you got me twice! Once with the info about the Twilight movie New Moon and again about the name Plevna (if you had been here you would have heard me yell, loudly too, what?!?) 

I only wish that the sad news about Ine Platenius had also been an April Fool. Condolences to her family and to the community she loved so well.

Sincerely, Cory Mann & Eric Nyrhila

Kudos to John Simcock

The "Unusual Sightings" article in the 2 April paper was a relief for me and my son.  Perhaps we were not crazy after all.

About two years ago, just after dusk, we looked up our lane because we heard a curious - very fast - beating of light feet on the road surface.  Heading towards us at an impressive clip was what looked like a very large rabbit.  I estimated its height at about four feet, with large floppy ears streaming behind its head. As observed in the article, the front arms were short, the legs long, the creature bounded on its hind legs, and there was certainly no tail.

We could confirm no tail - at least not a large one - because just as it came close to us (about 10 meters away) the light-sensitive floodlamps of the garage came on and the creature veered off to the right and into the bush...and disappeared without a sound.

My son was about 16 at the time, not yet of drinking age, and I was certainly sober.  We compared notes right away, and have been doing so from time to time every since.

My own conclusion (hope?) was that perhaps we heard the beatings of the wings of a low-flying large bird, such as a grouse or pheasant.  Perhaps the bird's wings looked like long ears.  Perhaps the bird winged off from the road and made no further sound precisely because it was flying, not running.  That, at least, would line our experience up with our known universe. 

The possibility of our having seen something prehistoric (giant hare) or exotic (kangaroo) seemed too far fetched...but your article has restored our confidence in our observations at the time: the truth is we saw a four-foot hare, with very long ears, that ran like the wind. 

Rem and Kees Westland

Back to HomeFeature Article - April 23, 2009 New retirement home opening in MaberlyBy Jeff Green

Fleur Hardy in front of the new River House Retirement Home.

When Fleur Hardy was 10 years old, and living in England, she had her first experience with the elderly.

It all started when she offered to carry some grocery bags for an elderly lady she met at a street corner.

“This was something we were encouraged to do, help the elderly, so I thought I should make the offer,” she recalls now. “It turned out to be quite a long way to the house, but I got an offer to Sunday Tea out of it, and I went. I still remember being served a whole goose egg and some digestive biscuits.”

Fleur kept in contact with the couple, who she realised were quite poor, and as an adolescent she used to pick apples from their orchard and sell them to raise money for the couple.

That experience has led, indirectly, into a lifelong career in long-term care for Fleur. She's worked in all sorts of situations, including in long-term care facilities, and all of this has led to her wanting to establish an alternative environment for seniors who are seeking what she calls a more “carefree lifestyle” than is offered in other locations.

The River House Retirement Home, located just north of the Fall River Bridge in Maberly, was purchased by Fleur, who lives in Ompah, about a year ago and has undergone upgrades and renovations to satisfy the “mountains of red tape” that come along with starting up a retirement home.

“It's cost more money than I want to think about,” says Fleur, “but the officials from Tay Valley Township have been very helpful and we are now ready to open”.

River House can accommodate up to 10 seniors, including up to 2 that are confined to a wheelchair. It includes single rooms and a couple of shared accommodation rooms on the ground floor “that would be suitable for couples, who would be able to keep their pets because it has a separate entrance,” said Fleur, who is a dog owner and breeder herself.

In hiring cooks, personal care staff, and others, Fleur said she was intent on hiring people with the right kind of disposition to work in a more informal, family-like setting while providing care for clientele that range from more or less independent seniors to those with mild to moderate dementia.

The home features 24-hour help and security, and is located within a short drive of the new seniors’ centre and medical centre in Sharbot Lake, and services in Perth, including the Perth hospital.

Where possible, Fleur will be working with her staff to bring services into the home itself. “We are filling a niche for those people who are ready to leave their home, but do not need or want the services of a long-term care facility, which is an atmosphere full of rules. If people want breakfast in their room, we'll bring it to them. We aren't about telling people what to do and when,” said Fleur.

The River House will be holding an open house on Friday May 2 between 10 am and 2 pm. Further information is available at riverhouseretirementhomeinc.com

Back to HomeFeature Article - April 16, 2009

Notes on Municipal Budgets

Central Frontenac BudgetNorth Frontenac Budget

Note on budgetsBy Jeff Green

Municipal councils throughout the region have been struggling with their 2009 budgets over the past few weeks, with most of them nearing completion of the process.

Evaluating municipal budgets is difficult because there are a number of factors that contribute to the ultimate result for ratepayers: a tax bill that either goes down, or most often, goes up.

Tax bills are made up of three charges, which are all added together. The first charge, making up 22%, is for education taxes. The province collects this money, and it is set to collect the same amount in 2009 as it did in 2008. The second charge, making up 21% of the total, is for county taxes. Frontenac County has raised municipal taxes by 2.9% this year.

So, when township councils began to work on their own budget, which makes up 57% of residential tax bills, there was already a slight increase in the number of dollars they would be taking from ratepayers.

Municipal councils have very little in the way of fiscal leeway to work with. Unlike federal and provincial governments, they cannot run deficits, and there are new regulations each year from the provincial government that must be dealt with - regulations that cost money to live up to. And then there are rising fuel and other costs, as well as increased expectations from ratepayers.

On the other hand, local municipalities have the benefit of very limited real growth in their tax base. For example, the treasurer in Central Frontenac estimated that tax assessment increases that are due to growth in the township totals about 1% this year.

In the end, municipal councils have found it difficult this year to keep the increase in the levy they end up charging to ratepayers under the standard 3% inflationary increase.

In our reporting on budget debates this year we have focused on the levy to ratepayers, which in the case of North Frontenac has risen by $265,000, or 7.7%. On average, North Frontenac ratepayers will pay 7.7% more for local services, in addition to an increase in what they pay for county services.

There is an added factor in municipal taxes that has nothing to do with the decisions that councils make, but affects how much people end up paying in a big way, and that is municipal assessment. Every property owner in Ontario received an assessment notice in October, and it determines our share in paying for the overall municipal budget.

The increase varies from property owner to property owner, but the general trend is for waterfront property to rise more than non-waterfront properties, so if you are reading this while overlooking a field you will likely see a moderate or no tax increase this year, but if you are looking out on the lake, you could be facing a much larger increase.

The impact of property assessment is so great on the amount people pay that it dwarfs that of the levy increase.

Take North Frontenac Township as an example. Education taxes, which have been frozen on a province-wide basis, will go up for most North Frontenac residents because the average property assessment in North Frontenac has gone up by more than the provincial average - 7% more. The county levy is up by 2.9%, as mentioned, and the municipal levy is up by 7.7%

So, for people whose property assessment stayed the same, taxes will go down, but for most people taxes will go up, and for some, taxes will go up a lot.