Living _railway
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Feature Article - 31, 2007A living railway museum
Last fall, at the Central Frontenac Railway Museum’s AGM, members agreed with the Board of Directors to moth-ball the rebuilding of the Sharbot Lake Station at its original site due to the frustrations over land ownership issues. However great concern was voiced over the prospect of losing the collection, acquired over the years, and donated by Sharbot Lake resident, Gary Cooke.
Since then various options have been considered, and with input from many parts of the community, a new vision has emerged. Vice-chair, Ann Walsh has called it “A Living Museum”.
In essence, the community becomes the museum. The aim is to have the artifacts and related information displayed throughout the Central Frontenac community with an emphasis on places where the railway played an important part in life of the past. A brochure will be developed to accompany this display noting the locations of the artifacts so that interested people can tour the “Museum”.
While the details are still being worked out, the Board sees larger weatherproof items located at strategic places, where they can be seen by residents, cottagers and passing tourists. Businesses and other public establishments will be approached to display smaller items that may have a connection to their operations. The display board opposite the township office will continue to show off photographs and historical information.
It is hoped that these displays will encourage people to take an interest in the township’s railway past and that they will be a positive addition to the community. To participate or for more information call Sally at 613-279-2777 or Ann at 613-279-2908.
Other Stories this Week View RSS feedRespite_services
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Feature Article - 31, 2007Respiteservices.com comes to Frontenac Addington
by Jeff Green
A program that is designed to provide relief for families caring for relatives with intellectual disabilities was launched this week in Sharbot Lake, eight months after being initiated in Kingston.
Respiteservices.com provides a way for workers at Community Living North Frontenac and Kingston (who now have offices hours at the RURAL VISIONS Centre in Sydenham), as well as those at 12 other agencies, including Pathways for Children and Youth, and Lennox and Addington Family and Children’s Services, to connect clients with people who are willing to provide respite care for their loved ones.
The service works sort of like an online dating service, connecting up people who need respite with caregivers.
Clients of any member agency providing the service may be eligible for funding to pay some of the costs for respite care.
According to Catharine Gibson, who has been co-ordinating the service out of the Community Living-Kingston Office under a Trillium grant since January, there are 93 families and 60 workers registered in Kingston thus far, and families have been able to find the services they need to make a difference in their lives either through contacting Gibson or directly through the respiteservices.com website.
“For years, workers at Community Living and other agencies have been asked to refer their families to people who can provide them with respite care, but have been unable to do so for liability reasons. Since this program is run through provincial ministries we are now able to make arms length referrals,” Gibson said, after the official Sharbot Lake launch of the service.
“Frontenac and Lennox and Addington are the first communities in Eastern Ontario to have this service,” Gibson added, “which is intended to be rolled out in all communities in the future.”
According to Barb Matson of Community Living North Frontenac, there are already many families in the county seeking service.
“What we need now are workers to come forward and provide it,” Matson said.
Respiteservices.com provides workshops and other training opportunities for respite care workers. They are looking for workers in Frontenac County who are willing to attend an orientation session, who have or can get a CPIC from their local OPP detachment, who can provide families with three references, and have effective communication skills with both verbal and non-verbal populations. A diploma, degree, or current enrolment in a relevant program is an asset but not a necessity.
As private contractors, respite workers can set their own hours and salary expectations. Typical wages range from $9 to $15 per hour.
For information about receiving or providing service, contact Catharine Gibson at 613-546-6613 ext. 373; email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; or call Community Living-North Frontenac at 613-279-3731.
Other Stories this Week View RSS feedBereaved
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Feature Article - July 19, 2007Bereaved Families of Ontario
by Jeff Green
As the seventh anniversary of the death of her son Joe approaches, Cathy Goodfellow is able to reflect back on the days and weeks that followed the car accident that claimed Joe Goodfellow’s life.
“We were fortunate to have had such great support from family and neighbours,” Cathy said in an interview this week. The support included anonymous lawn mowers who kept the Goodfellow lawn tidy, and strangers who phoned up and told Cathy to pick up a casserole for supper.
There were some people, however, who did not know what to do. “Some people avoided us in the weeks and months following Joe’s death, and others avoided the topic, preferring to talk about the weather.”
About a year after Joe’s death, Cathy contacted the Kingston affiliate of the support group, Bereaved Families of Ontario, who have been particularly helpful.
“Everyone involved with the volunteer organization is bereaved themselves, so they really know what people go through,” she said.
Bereaved Families of Ontario have published a one page primer called “How to help me in my grief” that Cathy Goodfellow thinks is spot on in terms of helping people who have difficulty approaching people who are grieving.
The first point in “How to help me in my grief” is “Speak to me of the obvious. I know it’s painful to talk to me about my grief, but I feel less alone when others remember. Please, above all else, don’t avoid me. I need to know that you care.”
The primer then talks further about what people can do, from the need for human warmth over “right words”, to offering practical help with daily tasks, not trying to fix a grieving person’s pain, and being able to talk directly to someone when they appear to be making unsound decisions.
The primer concludes, “keep me company in the dark times. Stay near me until I can see the light again in my own eyes. Your love and caring mean more than I can convey in words.”
“How to help me in my Grief”Speak to me of the obvious.
I know it's painful to talk to me about my grief, but I feel less alone when others remember. Please, above all else don't avoid me I need to know that you care. When you are silent about my grief, I feel more isolated and I am tempted to believe you have forgotten. It is okay to use the name of the one who has died and speak of what has happened.
I need your warm caring more than "right words".
It's awkward for me to hear you hunt for profound words. I'm hungry to hear, "I've been thinking of you"," I'm here, "You're in my heart" "I'll call you again tomorrow (or in a few days or next week)". A note, a phone call, a hand on my shoulder or a hug helps. I find it hard to glibly answer the question over and over, "How are you?" I'm grieving - and that means I generally feel lousy. Be with me and tell me you care. It's easier for me to hear you than to find a quick answer about me.
I know my sadness will last longer than either you or I want it to.
I'm afraid you will tire of my grief and I'll need to hide it from you. I'm afraid you'll avoid me if I don't pull it together soon - and then I'll be even more alone. I need to know you are in it for the long haul. It helps when others remember key dates - the birthdays, holidays, anniversary, dates of the heart. I need a few people to still be there and remember next week, next month, next year- a few people who don't expect me to be "over it" soon.
Please let go of trying to fix my pain.
I'm likely to be on overload with advice and suggestions. Be patient with me if I can't concentrate enough to read the books you bring me. When others try to tell me why this tragedy has happened, what I should do or what I should feel, I wonder it if isn't their own sense of helplessness they are trying to quiet. Please ask me what I need. And if I don't know, give me a hug and let it be okay. I know I'm not much fun right now. Somehow I need to hear both that I have the right to be sad, and that you believe I will gradually find my way through this painful time.
Share your stories and memories.
One of the sweetest gifts I can image is stories about how the one I miss so much now, has also touched your life. Sweet moments, funny moments, stray memories are like a photograph I can add to my memory album. It's never too soon or too late to share them with me I welcome them and I thank you for them.
Offer to help with daily practical things.
I know others want to be caring and helpful to me- and sometimes I'm frustrated in not knowing what I need or how to ask Sometimes ordinary things are a huge help. Maybe you can offer to come eat with me or go for a walk with me. Ask me if I want sometime to myself or company
Maybe its help with the paper work or taxes, yard work, or someone to sit with at a public event that might help. And if I turn you down- whether it’s for help or for an outing- be brave enough to ask me again another time.
Please remember that we all grieve in our own way.
I may be clumsy as I struggle to know how to grieve and heal. I may be self-absorbed at times, sometimes insensitive, other times overly sensitive. I may need to talk and talk, and say the story over and over to anyone caring enough to listen. Or I may have a need to be more private and quiet in my grief. I may worry you with how sad I look and how often I'm in tears- or I may worry you that my sadness doesn't show much on the outside. Some of us are outgoing and share things easily and some of us are more reserved. The pain is there for all of us who grieve, even though we show it differently.
If you are worried about how I'm doing- it's okay to talk to me directly.
I know I may not be myself for awhile., I may act in ways that aren't familiar to you or to me. If you get worried about if I'm safe if I'm doing things that make my healing harder, if you hear me making decisions that don't sound very smart, love me enough to talk to me about it. I'll do my best to listen and consider what you are saying, and I ask you to do your best to also consider if what I am doing may be one of the many variations in healthy grieving- or not.
Mostly, thank you, for your love and support.
I'm told the journey through grief is a long one. I may get scared or lost at times. With family and friends solidly there for me I know I can inch my way through this tunnel. Keep me company in the dark times. Stay near me until I can see the light again with my own eyes. Your love and caring mean more than I can convey in words.
Do you have a comment about this article?Let us know.(email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Letters
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Feature Article - July 12, 2007Letters to the Editor
Thanks for carrying local produce
I would like to thank the Trousdale’s Foodland in Sydenham for supporting the local strawberry producers. At a time when so many big supermarkets carry only California berries; it is refreshing to see our own local, fabulous tasting strawberries available on a daily basis in the same location that I buy the rest of my groceries.
Heather McNie
VandalismToday I lost my mailbox. It was almost a foregone conclusion that this was going to happen eventually. In fact I predicted it last night, June 28, after our meeting with the mayor and our councilors. A lot of people complained about the vandalism that has been going on for the last little while and I spoke out on the issue as it had also affected me.
When I first wrote about the vandalism in my column, revenge was very swift. The day after that column came out, these brave people waited until I was away and attacked my mailbox with a rock, causing severe damage. I straightened it out the best way I could and reattached it to the board where it was temporarily living until I could install the post it came with.
The next time I wrote about vandalism I found the mailbox door wrenched and the flag twisted out of shape. This time I straightened it out, but I knew that if I spoke out again the violence would escalate. And it has. This time the mailbox has been removed altogether and, in doing that, these unfortunate people have now become criminals. They have taken property that does not belong to them. And I am in the process of installing cameras around my property. The one thing I refuse to do is give in to bullies and stop writing about vandalism. You can count on that!
- Ina Hunt Turner (Arden columnist)
Death of a loonTragedy struck on the lake in Verona in the afternoon of July 10, 2007. A newborn loon was lost to injury and drowning.The worried parentsraced up and down the shoreline frantically calling and searching for their loved one. Their efforts were all in vain.I recovered the body of their loved one from my waterfront. I was unable to communicate to the distressed pair that their pride had been lost. The parents continued to call most of that afternoon and into the evening in the hope that they would get a familiar response. But, that was not to be! Now I understand what that mournful call ofour lake loon is all about.The loon parents take so much time of a short seasonand give so much of their energy to nurture their young to an early maturity.So, it is a real tragedy to have a young one taken away by misadventure. I did not see how this young loon became injured and died. But, I suspect that man had something to do with this young loon’s demise. Verona (Rock) Lake is a small lake and at times very busy with boats and water activity. We should all try to remember that the wildlife has a priority. They were here first.
David C. Salmond
Re: Arden Cement Operation
My wife and I bought a property in Central Frontenac about four years ago with the intention of establishing an upscale country inn that would operate throughout most of the year. We later purchased the adjoining Evergreen derelict motel complex. We have spent four years getting permits and working hard to clean up and improve the properties.
To date we have spent in excess of $200,000 of savings repairing both properties and building additions to accommodate paying visitors. We were expecting to open in 2008.
We were recently informed by a simple letter in the mail that the township of Central Frontenac was considering a change to the official plan and zoning to accommodate a cement operation on a property adjacent to us on Highway 7. This industrial facility located halfway between Arden and Mountain Grove would provide cement, water and aggregate to cement trucks between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day of the week except Sunday, from April to October.
At a Council meeting on July 9, 2007, the company, 1000 Islands Concrete, was thanked profusely by council for having bought the property (most likely for back taxes) and having bulldozed away the remains of the old Stinson garage and diner. Incredibly the owner of 1000 Islands was so confident that council would accept his operation that he requested that approval be given prior to approval by the Ministry of the Environment (on the basis that he had already bought the machinery required).
What does this operation bring to Central Frontenac? Maybe, in the future, three jobs for cement truck drivers, although it was not clear that this would not be filled by his people in Brockville. He would not service his trucks here or buy aggregate here but he would definitely buy gasoline locally.
What is the cost? Possibly the environmental integrity of the area. Only lukewarm assurances were provided that particulate and waterborne contaminants would not contaminate air or watershed of Lake Kennebec. And certainly a loss of trust in the
Council of Central Frontenac to establish a coherent plan for the development of the township. A cement operation here, a pulp and paper mill there, who cares? Anything is possible as long as it pays the taxes.
As far as we are concerned, cement operations and tourism cannot coexist.
All that glitters is not gold. 1000 Islands Concrete has invested almost nothing in the township and there will be almost no benefit from its being here. Others have invested heavily in the township and will almost certainly bring more business to the area in the long-term and without disfiguring the region.
Council preaches development of the township. Now it must decide whether it will back those who are actually developing the township. Will it go for the gold or just for the glitter?
David Daski
Addington_Highlands_Jul 3_07
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Feature Article - July 5, 2007Addington Highlands Council - July 3, 2007byJeff Green
Two high-ranking politicians, Federal MP and Deputy House Leader Scott Reid, and Liberal MPP and Minister of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs Leona Dombrowsky crossed paths this week at a council meeting in of one of the smallest municipalities in their overlapping constituencies, Addington Highlands.
Dombrowsky, who was making what might be her last trip to Flinton before the upcoming provincial election, when she will be running in the new riding of Prince Edward Hastings, presented the Senior of the Year award to Flinton Community Club stalwart Carolyn Hasler.
Carolyn
Hasler was recognised for years of service to the club and other
causes. She said she didn’t mind working full time as a volunteer,
“because it doesn’t feel like work.” She thanked the other volunteers
in the community, and singled out her husband for his unending support.
Leona Dombrowsky said she is going to miss the people that she has gotten to know in her eight years representing Lennox and Addington and Frontenac Counties. “People here have also brought issues to me that were important not only here, but in the rest of the province as well,” she said.
Scott Reid is not leaving Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington. He has been acclaimed as the Conservative candidate in the riding whenever a federal election is called, and has already won two elections in the past three years. He came to council to outline the services his office provides, which include helping people to navigate federal departments such as Immigration and Revenue Canada, and helping people who are having difficulty obtaining passports.
“People who are the least likely to pose a threat through international terrorism are sometimes having g the most difficult time obtaining passports because they may be older and were born in rural places and never had a birth certificate. We are always happy to arrange passports for them,” he said.
His office arranges certificates to mark special occasions and he also works on issue advocacy, including some provincial issues.
Scott Reid is also known for buying defibrillators with the pay raise money he, and all other MPs, received in 2001. “MPs were making $109,000 at the time. If a single guy living in a small town can’t get by on $109,000, he’s not trying too hard,” he said.
In the past six years, defibrillators have been donated for hockey rinks, town halls, small police forces and others throughout the riding, and Reid said that a protocol is now being set up to make sure that communities that need the units will be receiving them. In addition to a portion of Scott Reid’s salary, an annual golf tournament has been established to raise money for this project.
Mazinaw Boat launch – John MacDonald from the Mazinaw Lake Property Owners Association brought a proposal to council that is aimed at resolving a problem of access for Mazinaw Lake’s 150 water access cottages that are in Addington Highlands.
In the past, the boat launch at the former Bon Echo Villa Store was used by people, but the store is now closed. There is a boat launch on the North Frontenac portion of the lake, and Addington Highlands has paid for half of all improvements at Tappin’s Bay.
However, John MacDonald said that Tappin’s Bay is overcrowded, “and North Frontenac has shut the door on any proposal to expand that facility.” He came to council to see if the township will lead a push to free up some waterfront off of Mazinaw Heights Road by seeking a land use permit from the Ministry of Natural Resources, which owns the property.
The property would be suitable for a dock, which would not be used for storing boats; it would only be for loading people and belongings from vehicles, which could be parked at the back of the lot. “The ministry said that they would look more favourably on the township seeking a land use permit than a lake association,” MacDonald said.
Two neighbouring property owners, who have cottages to the south of the proposed dock location, also attended the council meeting, and they spoke against the proposal. “This land use runs contrary to the enjoyment of my property,” said one of them, who quoted from the Official Plan in regards to competing interests in property use.
Council will look at the proposal.
Burn barrels – Council received a letter from Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council asking them to consider banning burn barrels on the grounds that they pollute the atmosphere because of low temperature combustion and the burning of recyclable materials.
Deputy Mayor Helen Yanch wondered, “Who are the stewardship council? Are they elected officials? Do they think that everyone lives in some fairy world?”
Fire Chief Casey Cuddy was in attendance, and he said that while he has not seen the letter he “has come to the conclusion that it is time to ban bun barrels. I’ve had 50 complaints about them in the past two years. They would be all right if they were properly set up, and they weren’t burning recyclables, but as it stands they are a hazard.”
Council decided to seek more information about the L&A Stewardship Council.
New pumper- Council accepted a recommendation from Fire Chief Cuddy, and approved the purchase of a Carrier Eone pumper on an International Chassis for $190,000 from Carrier Emergency Inc. for the Denbigh fire hall.
Parish
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Feature Article - August 16, 2007Parish of Loughborough 170 years old
The Anglican parish of Loughborough is 170 years old. To celebrate this event a special service will be held on Sunday, 9 September at 10 a.m.
Soon after settlers moved into the Sydenham Lake area in the 1830s, the people organized a time for church services. St. Paul's was built in the 1850s, near where the cemetery is today. That building was moved limestone by limestone to the present location on Mill Street in Sydenham. Here, the church has remained as a symbol of faith witnessing to an ever-changing community.
The parish of Loughborough has been providing services and pastoral care for the people of South and Central Frontenac. Until 2005 there were two other churches located in Harrowsmith and in Verona. Anglican services were held in Harrowsmith as early as 1870 at the school house. St. Peter's Church was built and consecrated by 1903. St. Martins-in-the-Fields was consecrated in 1960 in Verona but Anglican worship had been carried out in the village from about 1929. The three congregations were consolidated in 2005 with the place of worship designated to be St. Paul's in Sydenham.
This year St. Paul's has been undergoing repairs, refurbishing and updating. An access ramp has been built to make it easier for elders and handicapped persons to attend worship. The interior has been repaired and painted, this work being mainly done by Dan Bryant of Ryan's Dry Wall Contractor. Dan lives in Godfrey. New carpets are installed and the chancel (east end) window has been restored. During the next three years further work will be carried out to enhance this fine old building.
Church buildings are loved by their faithful members. The facilities are used for major needs by many in the surrounding community at times of marriage and death. At Christmas and Easter the church buildings are filled to capacity. It is interesting that in our secular world, the majority of citizens in the area do not see the church presence as being of any significance. This secular apathy isresponsible for the closure ofmany church buildings, which are thensold to be made into residential homes or artists’ studios. The few remaining church buildings that are used for Christian worship and services need to be maintained. When these symbols of culture fall into disuse, society will be spiritually impoverished. St. Paul's and the parish of Loughborough intend to be present for a long time providing a spiritual presence to the people of the Frontenacs.
The Bishop of Ontario Diocese, The Right Reverend George Bruce, will be present on Sunday, September 9 at 10 a.m. to celebrate with the people the presence of St. Paul's as a continuing spiritual home.
Come and share in this special service
Veronafest
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Feature Article - August 16, 2007Verona Festival soaks up the summer sun
Perfect weather greeted record crowds at the 12th annual Verona Festival last weekend.
The unique event includes a variety of activities including a parade, soap box derby, duct tape boat race, live local music all weekend, an antique auto show and an ecumenical service.
This year’s theme for the Festival was “clowning around in Verona”. The Friday night parade was dominated by clowns this year, and all weekend clowns could be spotted throughout the Festival grounds.
Wayne Conway, who is the current general manager of the Festival, said the “volunteers who run the festival are so well ingrained in their roles that they take care of al the issues. It’s very easy for someone in my role.”
The Verona Festival is not intended as a fundraising event, but as the Festival has grown in popularity it has been able to generate a small surplus. Any extra money goes to other projects of the Verona Community Association, such as the new Verona Village signs.
Over the years the Festival has become a sort of reunion weekend for families with connections to the Verona area, and the relaxed visiting that takes place on the festival grounds is as important to many people as any of the events are.
Among the new events this year was a “tribute to our soldiers” which took place after Sunday’s ecumenical service.
The Sydenham Legion provided the colour party, and four World War 2 Veterans from Verona were on hand. The speaker was Ray Idzenga, a 30 year member of the Canadian Military, who talked about his recent mission to Afghanistan, providing a perspective on the Afghanistan mission that is different from what people are used to hearing in the press.
He also talked about how supportive the local community has been to his family while he was away in Afghanistan, to the extent that he has decided to settle in the area after moving around throughout his military career.
As always, the Verona Festival comes down to a celebration of community.
Noah
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Feature Article - August 9, 2007If Noah moved his boat to the Crow Lake Road, how long before the rains start?
by Jule KochBrison
For the last three weeks, people driving the Crow Lake Road have been wondering at a huge boat just sitting on the side of the road, literally in the middle of nowhere - miles from water. Part of the mystery is that the boat is obviously too big to be used on any of the local lakes.
Well, Noah apparently did build his boat in the middle of a desert, so apart from the apocalyptic message, there is some similarity with Johnny Bron, a metalworker who lives on Road 38, and who has spent the last 11 years building the Reina, a boat 4.88 metres wide x 4.88 metres high x 18.3 metres long, in his back yard. For those among us who have never quite gone metric - that’s 16’ x 16’ x 60’.
Metal is Johnny’s passion. He’s built everything from baby carriages to airplane wings, but of all the things he’s built, he says the Reina has been the most fun, “It’s not square, it’s not straight, it’s not round, and I had to make it work.” The boat has been a summertime project and is built of steel, mostly obtained from the Hamilton steel yards.
The Reina has been finished for a while, and Bron carefully planned its move. He rented a large 4-wheel drive tractor and tried moving the boat around his farm. Although it moved the boat easily, no tractors of that calibre are available to rent at this time of the year. Johnny eventually found an older tractor to do the job and with a group of seven friends started to move the Reina to its destination, the Narrows Lock on the Rideau Canal.
The plan was to travel via Newboro to Kingston and into the St. Lawrence River. The Reina would have been the deepest vessel ever to navigate the canal and Bron had to obtain a special permit for the trip. There was only a narrow window of opportunity when the water levels in the canal would be high enough for the Reina to safely make its journey.
Bron and his friends started out around 1 a.m. on July 22, when the traffic on Road 38 would be minimal. An hour and a half, and 10 km later, they stopped to rest on the Crow Lake Road, where the boat is now, intending to resume on Wednesday. But the adventure came to a crashing halt when OPP officers told Bron he could not move the boat another inch.
They told him that he needed a permit from the Ministry of Transportation (Ontario) to move the boat. He had already submitted photo of the boat to Transport Canada and they told him that no permit was needed for municipal roads. He told the News that the boat is now cleared to go, but with the delay, the window of opportunity to reach the St. Lawrence has vanished.
Bron now has to somehow turn the boat around, take it home, and wait until next spring to try the launch again.
In addition to the crushing disappointment, other problems have surfaced. The tractor’s engine will need to be overhauled before it can undertake the return journey, so Bron has been searching for a place nearby to put the boat in order to at least get it off the road. Also, he says that people have been climbing onto the boat and he is worried about their safety (see notice below).
He has investigated the other option of obtaining a trailer to take the boat directly to the St. Lawrence, but the cost would be in the 6-figure range prohibitively expensive.
Bron is a very private person and has kept his project to himself until three weeks ago, when the boat suddenly became very public, but not in the way that Johnny Bron intended, proudly navigating the Rideau Canal in a record-setting journey.
Although the turn of events has been humiliating and frustrating beyond words for Bron, his boat is a magnificent creation, an accomplishment that has amazed everyone who has seen it.
And when the Reina finally makes her journey next year and reaches the St. Lawrence River, many people will undoubtedly be there to cheer her on.
NOTICE: The captain of the good ship Reina, hard aground on Crow Lake Road, thanks everyone for looking after Reina while she awaits travel clearance (now obtained). To avoid personal injury the captain requests that you please refrain from climbing on deck. All railings will be removed shortly, increasing the chances of injury dramatically. Tours and photo sessions will be available soon (date, time to be announced).
Thanks, Captain John
Ompah_library
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Feature Article - August 2, 2007What happened to the Ompah library expansion?
In February of this year, a small group of people in Ompah, including myself, having long ago agreed that our library was ridiculously small, put together a physical and financial plan to expand it. Anyone who has visited our well-used little facility will recognize that it’s the size of a generous bathroom. We quickly realized that there was a political element to the process as well, so we gathered signatures on a petition and letters of support from the local community. I am writing this progress report today because I feel some embarrassment about our performance so far. The ”we” I am referring to is the “Ompah Library Expansion Committee”, and our story follows:
The present library is 225 square feet. Our plan was to tear this building down and build a 600-square-foot space on the same location, for under $70,000. The new space would have double the shelving, plus a sitting area facing to the south. There are a number of funding alternatives we explored, and it looked possible that it might even be done at little or no cost to the township. The library building is owned by the Township of North Frontenac, so we dutifully talked with several councillors and the township employee responsible for buildings. We were told not to talk to the library in Kingston (KFPL) until council had heard a representation from us. Our March 8 presentation to council was described as a “compelling case” by Mayor Maguire, and then we heard about the township’s plan to review all its buildings. It seems that we timed this just when a period of uncertainty and upheaval is happening with all municipally-owned structures.
The Kingston library board was surprised that we hadn’t contacted them earlier, and invited us to make a presentation, which Marily Seitz and I did at their June 27 meeting. The problem the KFPL Board is faced with is how best to serve a small, scattered population in “the north”, and their feeling is that three libraries (Cloyne, Plevna, and Ompah) are too many. The Plevna building is closed indefinitely due to mould problems, so our Ompah space is doing double duty. The board may have been considering closing the Ompah library in the future; however, they now have a delegation suggesting a new, larger space, and not really asking for any help in doing so.
When I first learned of the township’s review of its building assets, I thought this could put a significant hold on any plans of the Ompah Library Expansion Committee. The township has formed a committee which has yet to meet for the first time.
So, to all you people who signed a petition or wrote a letter in support of a larger Ompah library, I offer this short explanation of why nothing has happened. We will continue working with the township and the KFPL Board, but I remain frustrated at how difficult it is to do something which is so apparently simple.
- John Inglis, co-chair (with Marily Seitz)
Ompah Library Expansion Committee
Letters
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Feature Article - August 2, 2007The power of volunteer groups
License to drill
The provincial Government’s granting a license to Frontenac Ventures Corporation to drill test cores on Crown Land while the Ardoch-Algonquin land claim is outstanding (being “negotiated” since 1991) is a classic example of bad faith in law.
Give away the store before anybody knows who owns it!
- Kay Cartwright Icelandic layover
It’s holiday time and lots of people are now wondering if we should fly anywhere. The figures of the damage to the environment if we fly by jet are sure shocking. Maybe “one step forward and two steps back” is not such a bad idea.
In the ’60s I often flew by Icelandic Airlines to and from Europe. I believe they had only a few planes and they were always booked full, long in advance.
That airline flew prop planes from NY to Reykjavik to Luxembourg. They didn’t carry a kitchen and did stop in Iceland to refuel while everyone went inside and had a nice meal.
My idea is to get some smart Canadians to build prop planes that can fly on Ethanol or some other clean fuel, seating about 200 people and able to use shortish runways, stopping in Gander or Greenland or Iceland. Iceland is a swell country to stop in for an hour or a month or whatever, and I’m sure Gander and Greenland could come up with something for tourism.
Seniors shouldn’t sit so long on a plane anyway and students would find it all interesting. Surely millions of people are not in a 400 mph jet hurry anyway.
Probably the airfares could be as reasonable as any, and I believe there are enough people who care about the environment now to keep a “green” airline busy.
- Carmel GowanTake the holder too
Tothe person or persons who took the rotating solar light from our lawn after 12:30 on the night of July26, we hope you enjoy it. It was a gift for our sixtieth Wedding Anniversary. If you need the holder it sits in, come to the house and I willgive it to you. You know where we live.
- Glen FoxRe:protest marches
I would like to commend the Frontenac News and Jeff Green in particular on their fair and unbiased account of the two controversial protest marches which have taken place in our town. In spite of that, I have heard grumblings amongst various groups of citizens here complaining about the "Indians" blockading the highways. Let's set the record straight for those who seem determined to blame the "Indians" for that brief inconvenience.
There were more non-natives marching in the protest than there were Natives. I know, because I was one of the protestors. We were all united in a common cause to prevent the development of a Uranium minein our area. Also it was the OPP who blockaded the roads for the safety of all concerned.
This is the 21st century and the 7th Fire according to Native Teaching. Surely people can let go of their prejudices and see things as they really are.
- Pamela Giroux
P.S. A special thank you to Lisa and her brothers who brought refreshments to the protestors despite many detours to get to the High School.
