Legalese - September 1, 2005

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September 1, 2005

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Gray MerriamLegaleseGeneral information and opinion on legal topics by Rural Legal ServicesNature Reflectionsby Jean GriffinNight Skiesby Leo Enright

New Consumer Protection Act

The Consumer Protection Act, 2002, which came into effect on July 30, 2005, is being hailed by the provincial government as the most significant changes to consumer protection laws in more than 30 years.

The new act simplifies consumer protection legislation by updating and bringing together 6 existing laws [The Business Practices Act, The Consumer Protection Act, The Consumer Protection Bureau Act, The Loan Brokers Act, The Motor Vehicle Repair Act and The Prepaid Services Act] into one Consumer Protection Act, 2002. The “six pack” has been transformed into a “kegger”.

The new act applies to both goods and services involved in consumer transactions if either the consumer or the business is in Ontario. A consumer is defined as an individual acting for personal, family or household purposes and does not include a person who is acting for business purposes. The act does not apply in an area of exclusive federal jurisdiction such as banking.

The Consumer Protection Act, 2002 provides many protections for consumers. Some of the main protections include:

A Cooling-off Period

If you make a purchase or sign a contract worth more than $50 in your home and then change your mind, you have the right to cancel within 10 days. It’s best to cancel by registered mail or fax, to get your money back.

Consumer Agreements must disclose all details

If a company isn’t delivering on its consumer contract with you, or if the company doesn’t disclose required aspects of the deal, you have the right to cancel within one year.

Prepaid Goods or Services

Written contracts are required for goods or services worth more than $50 where some part of the contract occurs in the future (e.g. a gym membership). The contract must contain complete details of the transaction.

Full Disclosure of Credit Terms

Anyone providing goods or services on credit must give the consumer a written statement showing all financing charges and the annual percentage rate of the credit transaction. It must also explain how any extra charges would be calculated if you failed to make the payments.

Unsolicited Goods

If someone sends you goods, which you didn’t ask for, you don’t have to accept or pay for them. In fact, you can use them or throw them out. You’re not responsible for an unsolicited credit card either – unless you buy something with it.

Deliveries must be made on time

If the goods don’t arrive within 30 days of the promised date, you can cancel the contract by sending a cancellation letter, but you lose the right to cancel the contract if you accept delivery after 30 days.

Personal Development Services

Joining a fitness club, or a club that teaches you to dance or martial arts? If so:

- You get a cooling-off period. If you don’t like the facilities, or find that tae kwon do is not for you, you have 10 days to cancel the contract and get your money back.

- Club memberships are limited to one year. That way, if the club folds, you haven’t paid for a worthless lifetime contract.

- Clubs must give you the option of paying monthly. Even though this allows the club to charge up to 25% more, paying by the month means you lose less if the club should suddenly close.

Loan Brokers

If you decide to answer an ad promising to obtain loans “even for people with poor credit rating”, you should know that it’s illegal for anyone to demand payment in advance for helping you get a loan.

The foregoing are examples of consumer protection initiatives contained in the newer, bigger and more comprehensive Consumer Protection Act. The act is only effective if consumers know about the protections available. More information is available from the legal clinic or the Ministry web site at www.cbs.gov.on.ca.

- Peter Graham

Lawyer

Feature Article - September 1, 2005

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September 1, 2005

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Gray MerriamLegaleseGeneral information and opinion on legal topics by Rural Legal ServicesNature Reflectionsby Jean GriffinNight Skiesby Leo Enright

NFCS 30th Anniversary

by Jeff Green

Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) is celebrating the 30th Anniversary of its incorporation with a series of events on the weekend of September 23-24. As a contribution to these festivities, The Frontenac News will be running a series of articles on the history of NFCS and its relation to the history of the region it serves. As many readers are aware, The Frontenac News was published by NFCS until July 2000, so our interest in the history of Northern Frontenac Community Services is more than a passing one. In this first article do the series, we will look at the years prior to incorporation of NFCS in 1975, to when the North Frontenac News and North Frontenac Community Services had their co-genesis in the early 1970’s. But first, what exactly is NFCS?

NFCS today

Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) is a multi-service agency that provides a range of services for adults and children out of two buildings in Sharbot Lake. Its service area includes Central and North Frontenac and the northern part of South Frontenac. NFCS’ direct services for adults include programs for the elderly and for families facing economic or other challenges.

NFCS plays another important role through its affiliates, larger agencies that have staff housed at the NFCS office in Sharbot Lake. NFCS provides them with administrative support, and more importantly, a connection to the community they are attempting to serve. These services include mental health services, Ontario Works, the Children’s Aid Society, and others.

Through the Child Centre, day care services are offered, as well as a nursery school and a toy lending library, and counselling for young families. Child Centre staff hold regular playgroups in communities throughout Frontenac County. The Child Centre also has strong affiliations with other agencies, providing administrative support and community connections to agencies that provide a range of services concerned with early childhood development, children’s mental health, and more. The Child Centre has recently taken on a regional role as the Early Years Centre for the riding of Hastings, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.

NFCS is currently expanding its programming by increasing services for the elderly. The Child Centre is looking to expand its role in early childhood education through participation in a new province-wide initiative called the Best Start. Transportation has been identified as a major barrier separating people in need from services they require, and NFCS is in the midst of setting up a transportation project.

NFCS has been able to survive in spite of internal strife and funding difficulties because it has always been a collection of individuals, coming from what used to be called North Frontenac and from close by, who have a network of connections within the communities, and are able to connect people and families to services that might help them.

The agency that exists today has been a work in progress for almost 35 years.

It might be up to us?

Sometime in the very early 70’s, a group of people began meeting informally to talk about the future of North Frontenac, an unofficial geographic area encompassing eight townships in Frontenac County: Bedford, Hinchinbooke, Oso, Olden, Kennebec, Palmerston-Canonto, Clarendon and Miller, and Barrie.

These townships shared many difficulties. The enterprises that had led to their development - lumbering, the railroad and farming - were either gone or in serious decline. The region was large and the population sparse. Estimates ranged between 5,000 and 6,000 people. Unemployment was high, over 50% in the wintertime in some places; the population was aging as young people left to seek a future; and small villages were dying out.

Early on it was decided that the first problem to be tackled was that of communication. There was no such thing as local media in North Frontenac. A Communications Group was formed and with support from St. Lawrence College began putting together a monthly newsletter, which was mimeographed at the Anglican Church in Sharbot Lake. The newsletter became the North Frontenac News (now the Frontenac News). But this was only a start for the Communications Group. They were interested more in affecting change than in merely communicating the problems they were collectively facing.

Early in 1972, Wayne Robinson had just returned from an extended trip to Australia. He had been raised in a local farm family, was in his mid-twenties, had graduated from Queens a few years earlier, and was available. The Communications Group had found some funding, and Wayne Robinson was hired as a “Community Animator”. Office space was found at the old Anglican rectory, which had been renovated over a period of five years under the direction of Martin Walsh, the Anglican Minister in Sharbot Lake at the time.

“It was the Trudeau era,” Robinson recalls, “when all sorts of ideas were floating around about the possibilities for community development. I was given an opportunity to see what could be developed. I really had carte blanche to do what I thought could be done.”

Eventually Wayne Robinson became the first Executive Director of North Frontenac Community Services in 1975, and remained with the agency until 1978.

Since then Wayne Robinson has forged a successful career as a financial planner and investment advisor at the Simonett building, not far from his old basement office at the Adult Services building of NFCS.

He recalls going to meetings every day and most nights while he worked at NFCS, where he spent his time either convincing provincial officials to support one project or another, or meeting with groups of seniors to help them to set up local seniors groups.

As the North Frontenac Project, which it came to be known as, began to develop, it had two major thrusts. One was to bring provincially and federally funded services, which people in North Frontenac were paying for through taxes, to the North.

Marcel Giroux, who was a teacher and guidance Counsellor at Sharbot Lake High School and a member of the Communications Group and the early NFCS Board, recalls that in the early 70’s “a Children’s Aid or a Manpower worker from Kingston would report to their office in Kingston at 8:30 to pick up a car. By the time they drove to Arden or Plevna, it was coffee break time. They would have one meeting, then it was lunch time. By the time they met with a second person or family, it would be getting on to 2:00 and time to return to Kingston. This was a huge waste of money, and it meant people in the north did not receive the services they were paying for with their income taxes.”

This basic insight led to the practice of seconding workers to Sharbot Lake to work anywhere from one to five days a week.

“We developed a multi-service agency model and we were able to convince the provincial government to support us. It was a model that worked then and it’s a model that still works today,” said Wayne Robinson.

The other major thrust for “The North Frontenac Project” was something much harder to define: community development.

The ‘North Frontenac Project’ was unique among rural initiatives and it attracted a significant amount of academic interest from its very beginnings. A report from 1974 by a Carleton University researcher described the project in the following way:

“Although providing services are the most frequent tasks, community animation is the foundation and the central theme of the project. To identify and solve the community’s problems with the community’s citizens, whether it be to form a youth group or to develop a plan for economic development, to facilitate a community willing and able to cope with its own future is the goal.”

It is important to realise that there was a real sense of urgency in the North Frontenac region in those days. It was felt that something had to happen or else the region would eventually drop off the map entirely.

An article called “It could be up to Us” was published in one of the early editions of the North Frontenac News.

It set out how vast the problems in the region were, and how daunting the task of ‘community animation' was going to be.

“Many citizens are concerned about the lack of development in the Northern Townships of Frontenac County. What have the 70’s to offer North Frontenac residents? Is it only game preserves, pockets of government privilege, few services and spotty seasonal employment? Why is it that Lanark County can persuade government, business, and industry to stake resources in their northern areas? Do we have to wait, cap in hand, for regional governments to take over our townships, because the Councils have not acted in their own best interests?

Although the moniker of “community animation” seems hopelessly dated nowadays, the issues are as real today as they were over 30 years ago.

One of the first projects that this burgeoning entity took on was trying to build an arena in this newly defined region of North Frontenac. With the promise of up to $100,000 from the County of Frontenac, a piece of land on Highway 38 halfway between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake (at the historic community of Oconto) was found, but the financing and population were not sufficient to build an arena.

Eventually, the township of Portland was drafted into the plan and the North Frontenac Arena, located at what is now the border between South and Central Frontenac, opened its doors in 1976.

In the meantime, North Frontenac Community Services was being developed, and in 1974 NFCS received funding from the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services to become a multi-service agency. It was one of three such agencies created; the other two were in or around Toronto, and it is the only one of the three that has survived.

In order to continue receiving provincial and federal support, it became necessary for NFCS to establish a formal board of directors and become a not-for-profit corporation. This took place in 1975.

There was some trepidation over this among NFCS supporters. Many of the volunteers that had come to meetings and joined management committees saw themselves as activists working towards building a brighter future for their community. Would they go along and become volunteer directors of a not-for-profit corporation, becoming concerned with mundane matters such as financial audits and management-employee relations?

Would the North Frontenac Community Services Corporation be the force in developing North Frontenac that people who had been involved were hoping to see, or would it become a bureaucratic arm of government?

These questions have taken 30 years to answer.

Feature Article - December 15, 2005

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December 15, 2005

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Gray MerriamLegaleseGeneral information and opinion on legal topics by Rural Legal ServicesNature Reflectionsby Jean GriffinNight Skiesby Leo Enright

Frontenac Paramedic Services suport Toy Drive 2005

Frontenac Paramedic Services continued their support to the CHUM FM’s Annual Toy Drive again this year. “We had so much fun last year with the Toy Drive and wanted to participate and support our communities again this year” states Susan Brown, Frontenac Paramedic Services Manger of Quality Assurance. “What better way to give back to our community than to help give a child a Christmas”.

The Paramedic Service was overwhelmingly supported by the residents of the County of Frontenac and the City of Kingston and we couldn’t have done it without all this support. “It was a great opportunity to meet and talk with the people of our communities, in a non-emergent atmosphere, and to be able educate them with regards to the service we provide” says Paul Charbonneau, Director of Emergency Services for the County of Frontenac.

Again this year $2000 cash was received and over 1000 toys were collected, which completely filled two ambulances stuffed to the roof.

These toys are distributed bythe Salvation Army to children that are in need during Christmas. The area they cover for children from this Toy Drive are: Ompah, Sharbot Lake, Parham, Kingston, Odessa, Amherstview, Sydenham, and Glenburnie.

L to R: Susan Brown, Kathleen Bearman, Alish Scott, Dave Gemmill, Perry Chesney, Graeme Maske, Mike VanHartingsveldt, Graham Christie.

Feature Article - December 1, 2005

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December 1, 2005

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Gray MerriamLegaleseGeneral information and opinion on legal topics by Rural Legal ServicesNature Reflectionsby Jean GriffinNight Skiesby Leo Enright

Rural Visions promotes licensed home daycare in the face of Ministry actions

by Jeff Green

Rural Visions is providing a solution to recent actions by the Ontario Government which has put daycare services at risk for families in South Frontenac.

A private daycare in Battersea was visited recently by a representative from the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, and the owner was told she must decrease the number of children attending the daycare from nine to five in order to comply with provincial regulations.

Since January of this year, private licensed home daycare services have been developed by Rural Visions which could take up the slack, if enough daycare providers can be found who want to participate.

Lesley Dixon has been working for Rural Visions Home Childcare as a HOME Visitor since January of this year, and during that time 5 licensed home daycares, caring for five children each, have been established, three in Verona and two in Sydenham.

“I assisted these homes in getting established,” Lesley Dixon told the News, “which involved several steps, but all the requirements are laid out, from a fire inspection, to water well testing, immunization for workers and any animals in the house, safety inspections, etc.”

Dixon also pointed out that Rural Visions can offer equipment loans and other kinds of assistance to providers who are interested.

“Licensed homes also mean that children with special needs can have visits from specialists at their place of care rather than travelling to the specialist. Parents of children in licensed homes can apply for subsidy to assist with care costs. The Province has been working towards expanding financial assistance for families “We also maintain a waiting list of families who are seeking daycare services,” Lesley Dixon said.

Along with the five homes that are in operation, three others are under development, in the Perth Road and Harrowsmith areas.

Rural Visions has not been successful in establishing licensed homes in Storrington District, however, even though there is a strong need for childcare in that district.

Concerned that some people might misunderstand Rural Visions’ role in the childcare system, a Press Release was issued after the unlicensed Daycare in Battersea was curtailed by the Ministry of Community and Social Services.

“Our role is not to police unlicensed homes, but to make licensed care available in the rural area,” wrote Rural Visions Executive Director Beth Freeland. Rural Visions did receive a call earlier this year from an individual who was concerned about the operation of an unlicensed home daycare, not in the Battersea area but in another corner of South Frontenac Township. The caller was told that, “it was the Ministry of Community and Social Services they should contact,” said Lesley Dixon.

Board Chair Lance Gibson expressed some frustration that daycare providers are a bit slow in taking up the offer of becoming licensed.

“What I can’t understand is why providers don’t just become licensed. The income tax advantages are there for both sides and our organization loans equipment needed to become approved. It makes sense that if you really want to offer child care, you do it legally.”

Rural Visions has also expressed frustration that a proposal they recently made to the Best Start Network has been turned down. They had proposed purchasing St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Harrowsmith and establishing a Childcare Centre with a capacity of 60 spaces.

“Instead, the Best Start Network, the planning group formed by the City of Kingston to make decisions on submissions, has chosen the Frontenac County Childcare Centre proposal that will see three new portables at the Loughborough Public School for $350,000 to provide 24 new spaces,” according to the Rural Visions December Newsletter.

Lesley Dixon is optimistic, however, that the network of licensed home daycares that is being established will continue to grow over time.

“The home daycares that have been established thus far are doing well, and are providing excellent service,” she said, “and we have a waiting list of families looking for childcare.”

Feature Article - December 1, 2005

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December 1, 2005

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Letters to the Editor

Where Is Christmas Going? As we met today we couldn't help but be saddened by the morning news that the Government of Canada has declared that all government personnel are to refrain from the use of "Merry Christmas" and substitute instead "Happy Holidays". Is George Orwell's "1984" finally coming true?

We find ourselves expected to understand and accept the traditions and religious beliefs of others and feel we would like the same consideration!

If you are also concerned about this issue, please write to the Governor General.

Merry CHRISTMAS to all!

- The Harlowe United Church Women

North Frontenac ServiceReport Card

Township councillors tell us it works this way: They set the amount of taxes we have to pay, we pay those taxes, they take a salary, hold meetings and see that we are provided the services. It seems to me that the process works up to the point of providing service.

Here's an example: One of my elected members pointed out how nice council had treated me in approving two severances and the purchase of a right of way on my behalf. This so-called township service took four months to complete after my paper work was submitted and cost me almost $3,000 in township fees. (That's above the $2,000 taxes I pay for what?)

Here's your service report card: The Ompah dump is closed. Two days a week the township office is closed and staff is not allowed to answer the phone, so the clerks “can get their work done”. Township administration (not the fire chief) fired our best firefighter. There's that whisper about closing our community centres. Our community volunteers cannot spend their own volunteer funds without council's interference, delay and final consent. The nonsense over the new fire hall at Plevna is disgraceful and, unfortunately, it’s the firefighters and thus our citizens who will pay for that blunder. Today's first snowfall sees no plows, no sand and shamefully unsafe roads at 1:30 P.M.

Look around us: Volunteers are losing interest, businesses are dying, permanent residences are simply laughed at and this township council says, “Pay your taxes and we'll provide the services.”

Apart from 'witching graves', can anyone tell us what those township services are again? J.G. at the News goes to all the meetings; perhaps he knows. Is there a single citizen in North Frontenac who can list even one positive thing that the township does for us aside from collecting the taxes?

- Leo Ladouceur

Re:"Any Sightings of Scott Reid?"I have just read an article in the Frontenac News by Jeff Green entitled "Any Sightings of Scott Reid?" and I would like to draw the newspaper’s attention to a couple of errors in the article.

Green says that "Scott Reid inherited (this riding)...". In fact, Scott won the Federal Election in the newly formed riding of Lanark Frontenac Lennox & Addington against another sitting MP, and he won by an impressive 10,000 votes.

Later, Green states that "...Scott Reid remains a Carleton Place-based politician, and he holds a secure Conservative seat". Far from being a Carleton Place-based politician, Scott has offices in Napanee, Carleton Place and, of course, in Ottawa. Moreover, while half of this new riding was Conservative before the last Election,the other half wasLiberal. If the seat is now securely Conservative, then the cause is Scott Reid’s performance as MP throughout this riding.

- Jim Spencer

Re:"Any Scott Reid Sightings?"In reply to the above query, I know that Scott Reid attends a great many of the local events in this Riding, and he does a great deal more as well. His involvement goes way beyond mere photo opportunities at events and activities. His representation of his constituents through such things as constituency referenda, his Buy Canadian Beef program, his opening of a second office in Napanee, and other similar initiatives are concrete examples of the positive influence Scott Reid has throughout this Riding. We are fortunate he represents us. - Simon Spanchak

Re:Scott Who?Oh yeah, the Reform Member from Lanark. Aside from "Info Bulletin", and "News Update", you wouldn't really know if the guy actually exists. And just for the heck of it, I clipped out and sent the "Yes, I would like to receive updates..." Nothing, maybe he's thinking "the less they see or hear of me the better". After all, his executive resigned en masse about this time last year in response to his "authoritarian" style. And didn't Reid get Stephen Harper to kick a chair at their Montreal convention?

Maybe his former executive members know something about Scott that we don't.

- John McEwen

Re:"Any Scott Reid Sightings?" - Scott Reid Replies

I was a bit surprised by last week’s editorial, which stated that I haven’t been visible in this part of the riding since the election a year and a half ago. In order to set the record straight, I thought I’d list off some of the events that I’ve attended, and groups that I’ve visited, since the last election. In the interest of saving space, I’ve included only items from Frontenac County:

audio-visual presentation of MP office services to Central Frontenac Township Council;

audio-visual presentation of MP office services to South Frontenac Township Council;

Sheep Marketing Agency annual banquet, Sydenham;

St. John’s Church 110th Anniversary service, Ardoch;

Pumpkin Festival, Battersea;

Santa Claus Parade, Sharbot Lake;

flag-laying ceremony on the graves of veterans, Sydenham;

Santa Claus Parade, Parham & Tichborne;

Frontenac Ploughing Match, Hartington;

Parham Fair;

“Feast of the Fields”, Elginburgh;

Frontenac Farmers’ Market, Verona;

meeting with Mitchell Creek residents regarding the bridge, Loughborough;

meeting with local residents regarding the water, Sydenham.

Travelling around the riding and meeting constituents at events like these is probably the part of being an MP that I enjoy the most, and I hope to keep on doing so after the coming election.

- Scott Reid, MP

Re:"Any Scott Reid Sightings?"

Unfortunately Mr. Green doesn’t seem to be aware of the full schedule of events and activities that Scott Reid has been involved in as our Member of Parliament for Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington (a job he won with a whopping 10,000 majority over another sitting MP).

However, Mr. Reid’s involvement does not stop at attending events and activities. He has developed a number of vital area projects above and beyond the normal scope of a federal representative. For example, Scott created and guides the "Buy Canadian Beef" campaign in support of the beef farmers in this riding, and by extension, for all beef farmers across Canada.

Scott has also initiated a number of constituency referenda on critical items. When a salary increase was voted into being for all MP’s, Scott went to his constituents and asked them if he should keep it, reject it, or use it for a worthwhile cause. The result is a major program for students to learn the life-saving skills of CPR, and to provide defibrillators for rural fire stations and police vehicles.

Most recently Scott conducted a referendum on same-sex marriage. He wanted to know how his constituents wanted him to vote on the issue, and he voted accordingly. This is the Scott Reid way - he believes he is our Member of Parliament to represent us, the voters - not to tow the party line.

So yes, there are lots of "Sightings" of Scott Reid, and there are many more as well.

- Evan Crandall

Feature Article - January 12, 2006

Feature Article

January 12, 2006

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Endings and Beginnings:CFCSCNews

As 2006 begins, it is amazing to think that this time last year, CFCSC had a staff of nine, had not yet begun to offer licensed home child care or the adult day service, and before-and-after school care and volunteer hospice visiting service were just goals on our annual plan. By the end of January 2006, staff will have grown to 14 and we will be looking at expanding existing services rather than building new ones.

Before and after school care: Many of you will have read the articles in local papers about the need for programming in Storrington District. At the end of November, CFCSC was approached to develop Before and After School programming to Storrington Public School to start on January 9. This is a government licensed program so we have required quick action from KFL&A Public Health, South Frontenac Township Building and Fire officials, the City of Kingston Social Services, the Ministry of Community and Social Services, Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation in addition to CFCSC Staff. Family Services Coordinator Jillian Manning, ably assisted by Home Visitor Lesley Dixon, pulled together the inspections required for approval and developed forms and parent information packages from the Before and After School Care Policy.

Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation agreed to fund an intern position for the first two months of the service. The Ministry through the City agreed to cover health and safety costs for needed items such as a fridge, microwave, and first aid kits. Both of these funding applications and the policy were drafted by Executive Director Beth Freeland in nine days with help from her wonderful staff. When the program is fully operational, it will employ two full-time staff and serve 30 children.

As part of the Community Awareness Series sponsored by Central Frontenac Community Services, volunteers from the Canadian Cancer Society will be presenting a 7 step program for men and women interested in maintaining their health on Wednesday, January 18th, 7 - 8:30 p.m. at the Rural VISIONS Centre in Sydenham. Everyone is welcome to attend. Please call Mary Gaynor-Briese at 376-6477or 1-800-736-9610.

www.ruralvisionscentre.org

Feature Article - January 26, 2006

Feature Article

January 26, 2006

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Please send a note to The Frontenac News and your e-mail address will be added to our notification list.

Wireless broadband inSydenham and beyond

by Jeff Green

Kingston-Online Services (KOS) was one of the first Internet service providers to set up shop in Eastern Ontario when they started providing dial-up Internet service in 1993, and they have been aggressively developing a wireless broadband network in an increasingly wide area around Kingston over the past 12 months.

Now, thanks to the 97 foot high antenna on the Sydenham water tower, they will be expanding their service to a wide swath of properties around Sydenham.

At this week’s Council meeting, South Frontenac Council approved a bylaw renting space on the Sydenham water tower to KOS to set up equipment on the water tower that will be able to send a signal to any property within a line of sight to the tower, and many that aren’t even within sight of the tower.

Not wanting to waste any time, KOS had plans to set up their equipment this week in order to have service available as soon as possible. The company has a waiting list of customers in the immediate area, from Sydenham Village to Railton Road and beyond.

“Until we put the equipment up, we won’t know how far the signal will travel,” said a company spokesperson, “but we are hoping to be able to reach Harrowsmith.”

The wireless broadband service that KOS offers is not a satellite based service, and is thus less susceptible to interference due to inclement weather. The company claims the service is comparable with cable or DSL based services in terms of speed, reliability and price.

The equipment in Sydenham will allow a link to the 300’ tower that KOS recently installed on McAdoo Lane, just north of the 401 at Division Street.

KOS has plans to expand services to the north towards Verona in the near future.

South Frontenac Mayor Bill Lake said that the Sydenham water tower was built with rentals such as the KOS one in mind. “There is space for about three more rentals,” he said.

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Legalese

Police complaints

by Peter Graham, staffLawyer

Legalese - 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.

Police Complaints - In Ontario , if you have a complaint about the conduct of a police officer, the services provided by a police service or the policies of a police service, there is a formal process in place to pursue that complaint. The Players - Each municipal police service in Ontario is governed by a police service board, which is responsible for ensuring the adequacy and effectiveness of its police service. Province wide oversight of policing services is provided by the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services (OCCPS), an independent, civilian, quasi-judicial agency that reports to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Making a Complaint - Complaints may be made only by persons directly affected by the incident giving rise to the complaint and should be made within six months of the incident. The complaint must be made in writing and be signed by the complainant. There is a standard complaint form. Although a complaint may be made without the form, the information required in the form must be included. The completed and signed complaint must be mailed, faxed or delivered to any office of the police service named in the complaint or to the OCCPS office. Initial Processing a Complaint - Initially the chief of the police service (or the commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police [OPP] as the case may be) classifies the complaint. The chief/commissioner may decide not to deal with a complaint for one of the following reasons:

ؠ the complaint was filed more than six months after the incident that led to the complaint;

ؠ the complaint is frivolous, vexatious or made in bad faith; or

ؠ the complainant is not directly affected by the incident.

Complaints about Conduct - A chief/commissioner must ensure that every conduct complaint that passes the initial screening is investigated and based on that investigation may:

ؠ find that there is misconduct or unsatisfactory work performance of a less serious nature and propose that the matter be resolved by way of informal resolution. Such resolution requires the consent of the complainant, the officer and the chief/commissioner.

ؠ find that there is misconduct or unsatisfactory work performance of a serious nature and hold a disciplinary hearing into the matter. A complainant is advised about his or her participation in the hearing.

ؠ find that the complaint is unsubstantiated.

Appeals - An appeal may be made to the local police service board or the local detachment/commissioner of the OPP as the case may be if the complainant disagrees with the outcome of a complaint about the services provided by the police service or the policies of the police service.

An appeal may be made to the OCCPS if:

ؠ the complainant disagrees with the classification of the complaint;

ؠ the complainant disagrees with the decision not to deal with the complaint;

ؠ the complainant disagrees with the finding of the chief/commissioner following an investigation into a complaint about police conduct.

On an appeal, the OCCPS may:

ؠ uphold the decision of the Chief/Commissioner;

ؠ refer the complaint back for investigation;

ؠ assign the investigation of the complaint to another police service;

ؠ find misconduct of a less serious nature;

ؠ find that there is sufficient evidence to allege misconduct of a serious nature and order a disciplinary hearing.

There is no appeal from a decision of the OCCPS.

More information about the complaint procedure, including time limits for the various steps involved, may be obtained by calling the OCCPS at 1-888-515-5005 and on its website at www.occps.ca.

- Peter Graham, Lawyer

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Feature Article - February 23, 2006

Feature Article

February 23, 2006

RuralRoutes gearing up for spring launch

by Jeff Green

One of the biggest challenges facing rural people of limited means is transportation. For people without a vehicle, or people who are no longer able to drive, it is hard to obtain the necessities of life. Medical and social services appointments, which are crucial for so many people, require timely transportation, which is often hard to arrange.

For years, rural social services agencies in Frontenac County have been struggling to provide transportation for their clients, using whatever limited resources they have been able to come up with.

The situation should begin to improve in the coming weeks and months.

Since late last fall, staff at Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS), co-ordinator Jane Drew, and a collaborative of social agencies have been working behind the scenes to develop Rural Routes: The Frontenac Transportation Service.

At first, the new service will be taking on some of the existing transportation services already offered by groups like NFCS and the Learning Centre, but Rural Routes will soon be developing new transportation services for people in Central, North, and parts of South Frontenac.

JaneDrew in her office at the Village Courtyard, 1095 Garrett Street,SharbotLake Through a grant from the Ministry of Health, two new vans will be purchased, and co-ordinator Jane Drew is hoping to develop weekly trips to Kingston , Perth and Smiths Falls for various purposes.

Rural Routes will be providing transportation for various programs, such as Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Supports Program (ODSP), but the new vans should enable cost effective transportation for the general public as well.

“It is expensive to arrange a trip to Kingston for a single person in a car, even with volunteer drivers; but by bringing several people the cost to the individual can come down to a reasonable range, perhaps $20 or so,” Jane Drew said when she talked to the News about some of the preliminary costing that has been done in looking at potential services that Rural Routes might offer.

Already lessons have been learned. In December, a scant few weeks after Jane Drew was hired to start up the program, she attempted to organise a bus trip to Belleville for Christmas shopping, only to find few takers. After she decided to scrap the trip for lack of interest, “people started calling” Jane Drew recalled when interviewed at the Rural Routes office in Sharbot Lake earlier this week. “So, when I began planning a bus trip to Canada Blooms, I made sure people knew they had to book in advance.” So, far, 35 people have confirmed for the Canada Blooms bus and this trip will be going ahead.

Rural Routes will looking for input from the public as it works to develop public transportation in Northern Frontenac County . The Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation has supported Rural Routes with a start up grant from the Eastern Ontario Development Fund, and the Trillium Foundation has provided funding to maintain an administrative office for two years. This will give the service enough time to establish itself in the community. After that time it will need to be self-sustaining.

Similar kinds of services are up and running in Napanee, Carleton Place and Bancroft, under different funding models. Jane Drew is planning to make presentations to the local councils and Frontenac County in the not too distant future. At some point, the agency may indeed be looking for municipal support.

Rural Routes is an ambitious program. If successful, it will provide a host of transportation opportunities for rural people for everything from medical services to leisure time activities. To survive, it will require the support of the public and a commitment to use the service.

The service will start operating very soon, and a grand opening is tentatively scheduled for later this spring.

Feature Article - February 9, 2006

Feature Article

February 9, 2006

South Frontenac Council

by Wilma Kenny

Former Pits & Quarries Rezoned: Council agreed to amend the Official Plan & Zoning By-law to redesignate four parcels of land (two in Portland , one in each of Bedford and Loughborough) from ‘Mineral Aggregate’ to ‘Rural” on the basis that these properties were no longer being used for aggregate extraction. This would remove the prohibition of residential land uses on or within 300 metres of the properties in question.

Township Recreation Guide

The publisher of the South Frontenac Recreation Guide received $1,000 from the township ($250 from each district’s recreation committee) toward advertising in the 2006 version of the Guide. The Township’s recreational resources are featured in the guide, as well as other township sponsored programs and services. Although the guide was originally intended to provide information about recreational programs only, feedback from the previous two issues have shown that it has also served to publicize the services of local social agencies. Councillor Robinson questioned the value of the Guide, commenting that newcomers usually went to their neighbours and post offices for information about local resources.

Environmental Assessment, Mitchell Creek : Council agreed to hire Ecological Services Inc .to carry out an environmental assessment of Mitchell Creek , for the price of $5,130.

Garbage Bag Tags: The Township’s Sustainability Committee recommended that 100 bag tags be provided to each township household for the 12 months beginning Sept. 1, 2006. The new tags will be less costly; just under 80 cents per hundred, and compact enough to be mailed out with the tax bill. Councillor Roos pointed out that bag tags help prevent unauthorized use of garbage pick-up and landfill sites. Also, they encourage diversion of recycling materials by limiting a household’s allowable amount of garbage. Councillor Smith agreed that the tags were a cheap way to help extend the life of landfill sites.The motion to support the bag tags passed, with Mayor Lake and Councillor Barr opposed.

Sydenham Water Donations: Council endorsed a letter to be sent out with the interim tax levy, making it possible for township residents who wish to donate to the Sydenham water system to receive a tax receipt as long as their immediate family members will not benefit from the donation. Any monies received will be used to offset the financial contributions of the property owners in the village who qualify for assistance based on income (confidentially) verified by an independent social service agency.

Bedford Plans for Canada Day: Bedford Recreation Committee received council approval for their application to Festival Canada for a grant toward their July 1st fireworks display.

Feb 21 Meeting Cancelled: There will be no Council meeting Feb 21, as most of the members of council will be attending the Good Roads conference that week.

Bubbles...?! Councillor Vandewal noted the police report for the week of January 20-26 included a recipe for a bubble solution, and tips on how to blow bigger and better bubbles. (The police report usually includes tips about safe driving and crime prevention, etc.) Perhaps they were celebrating a low crime rate (8 calls over the past 3 weeks) by offering council some tips for enjoying February??