Sept 18/08 - Portland Residents Critical of Waste Plan

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 18, 2008 Portland Residents Critical of Waste Management PlanBy Jeff Green

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth face a barrage of questions and comments in Verona last week

Guy Laporte, the engineer from the firm Totten Sims Hubicki, who has been working with the South Frontenac Township Sustainability Committee, and township Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth, were faced with a series of provocative, often angry questions at a public meeting in Verona last week.

The meeting was one of four that took place to present a draft plan to amalgamate and overhaul the township’s waste management system. Meetings took place in each district of the township, and since the districts all have their own systems in place, and would be impacted differently by the changes, the tones of the meetings varied considerably.

The Verona meeting was the largest and most contentious of them all.

One of the reasons for this response is that Portland is the home of the largest capacity dump in South Frontenac, with 39 years of projected dumping available if it is limited to the use of Portland residents and current dumping practices are maintained.

The draft waste management plan envisions increased recycling, and other practices aimed at diverting more waste and reducing the amount of garbage each South Frontenac resident sends to landfill by at least 25% over the next few years.

If those reductions are achieved, with the Portland dump being integrated into a township-wide system, the township is projected to run out of dumping capacity in 32 years. If Portland residents increased the amount of waste they divert by 25%, and continued to have exclusive use of their own dump, they would have “50 or 60 years of capacity” said Guy Laporte.

Another reason for the controversy is that Bill Robinson, a long-serving Portland councilor and the current deputy mayor of the township, actively promoted the meeting as an opportunity to try to save the Portland dump.

Guy Laporte explained the ins and outs of the draft plan, which, among other things, would call for a true user-pay system, with $2 bag tags being available at local stores, and current waste fees ($125 per household in Loughborough and Portland and $25 in Bedford) being eliminated. It would also mean an end to the practice of shipping waste out of Storrington District to a commercial landfill site at a cost of $85 per tonne plus shipping. The draft plan envisions a single waste stream for the entire township, with curbside pickup of garbage and recycling on all township roads and the orderly filling up of all township dump sites.

“What we have been trying to do is establish a 20-year plan for waste management throughout the township of South Frontenac,” said Mark Segsworth. “We have come up with a draft plan but nothing is set in stone, and this is a great turnout to talk about it.”

Deputy Mayor Bill Robinson addressed the audience after Guy Laporte was finished. “You've made my heart just race. I'm so thrilled to see you all. These people have created a crisis here, when there never needed to be one,” he said.

What followed was 90 minutes of questions and statements, most of them running counter to the idea of opening up the Portland dump to waste from outside the district.

“There are a lot of people here who want to keep what they have,” said one individual, “and you people are trying to take it away from them.”

“It's very clear that you've already made up your minds and are going to shove this down our throats,” said another.

Another question arose concerning the garbage that is generated in Storrington district. The report concluded that it would be more efficient, and more cost effective, to keep that garbage within the township.

“The principle is that we should take care of our own garbage,” said Mark Segsworth.”

“When you look at all the costs, you see that it makes more sense to dump it at home,” said Guy Laporte.

This did not go well with many of the people in the hall.

“We have worked to develop our dump and keep it up,” said one person, “and in Storrington they sold off their dump, and then we are supposed to take their garbage for free? How are you going to compensate the people of Portland?”

“We have identified that compensation should be considered,” said Segsworth.

The Township Sustainability Committee, which produced the draft plan, is made up of four councilors and four volunteers, with each district having at least a councilor and in most cases another member of the public on the committee.

Councilor David Hahn from Bedford, who is one of the committee members, spoke out in favour of the plan and the process through which it was developed. He said the plan is an attempt to be fair to everyone, “and to ensure that garbage is dealt with tomorrow and in 20 years while encouraging recycling, setting up a hazardous waste centre, doing everything we can do to have a good, solid system that works for everyone.”

Councilor Jim Hicks from Portland pointed out that “neither myself, nor Pam Redden [the non-council rep. from Portland] nor Councilor John Filion from Storrington voted for this plan. We opposed it.”

Most members of South Frontenac Council were in attendance at the meeting, including Mayor Davison, but they kept quiet, leaving Public Works Manager Segsworth to represent the township.

The public meetings in the other districts were neither as contentious nor as crowded as the Verona meeting, but common concerns were raised, including a resistance to the user-pay bag tag system that is being proposed.

All of the commentary from the public meetings, as well as written submissions, are being compiled and a report is being presented to the sustainability committee this week.

The matter will eventually come before the entire Council.

Sept 18/08 - Denbigh Ambulance Review

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 18, 2008 Ambulance Review in DenbighBy Angela Bright

As expected, nearly one hundred people were in attendance on Tuesday night at the Denbigh Hall, and they were all eager to hear about the Ambulance Service and Organizational Review.

Tom Bedford, Manager of Ambulance Services for the County of Lennox and Addingon, was on hand. He introduced Marvin Rubinstein of IBI Group, which has been hired to perform Lennox and Addington's County- wide review.

Mr. Rubinstein began by laying out the scope of the review, which includes four main items; to review organizational structures, appropriate geographic location of service, future viability, and cost. Charts and graphs were used to display wages/honorariums, call volumes, cross border calls, and how the numbers in each of these aspects differ vastly from the north end of the County to the south end.

For example, of the calls Denbigh receives, 59 percent are cross border calls, whereas only 17 percent of the calls in Napanee are cross border calls.

This statistic was exemplified by looking around the room, as a decent number of people at the meeting hailed from neighbouring counties, including Councilor Perry from North Frontenac and Councilor Lehnhardt of Greater Madawaska. When a Denbigh ambulance leaves for a call in a neighbouring county, there is no vehicle left at the local base.

However, when a Napanee ambulance is out on call, the Northbrook amblance shifts to Tamworth area, and the Denbigh amulance goes to Northbrook. Residents are very concerned about the time the local ambulance is absent from the local service area and welcomed the ability, as someone stated, to "quantify our anger and frustration" so as to include it in the review. One attendee raised the concern that many people often choose to drive themselves or their relatives or neighbours to the hospital rather than calling for an ambulance, thus lowering the call volume numbers for the Denbigh base.

Many points and questions came up during the discussion/suggestion period. Mr. Bedford was asked to explain why the beds have been removed from the local base, to which he replied that the Denbigh base is a "working base", because of the 12 hour shifts. Mr. Bedford also explained that Denbigh ambulances need to go all the way to the Northbrook when they are on standby instead of halfway, He said it was due to liability and that ambulances must stay on County property.

Near the end of the meeting the question was posed to Mr. Rubinstein, ""What do we need to do right now?"

He answered simply, "By doing what you are doing; staying on top of things."

Reeve Hogg added that each one should be in touch with their MPP to advise them of the issue as well. Mr. Bedford also made a few copies of the report "Ambulance Funding Issues" available. The report has been presented to the Honourable David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care in August, in the hope that he will address the financial challenges that the County and residents face.

Within the week, this document should be posted on the County's web site, www.lennox-addington.on.ca.

In approximately 3 weeks time, the consultant's final report should be prepared and it will then be presented to County Council in October.

All through the meeting, poster sized displays stared back from the front wall with newspaper clippings and articles from years passed about the ambulance service, and how from its inception, has so greatly served the surrounding area. Ruby Malcolm organized and put together the articles for an ambulance reunion held two years ago.

It is amazing to see how far the service has come and will be even more interesting to see where we are headed.

Sept 25/08 - Letters

Back toHome

Letters - September 25,2008 Letters: Sept 25

Vision Needed for Railway Museum, Peter Hennessy

Curbside Pickup MakesNo Sense in Bedford, Bernie Gelineau

Walking on a Country Road, Kimberly Bate

"Pro-Choice" The Great Paradox, Francis MacDonald

Why Call An Election?, Sylvia Powers

Vision Needed for Railway Museum

It was heartening to read in your Sept. 11 issue about the effort to create a railway museum in Sharbot Lake. Though showing only a glimmer of success to date, the bright light of enthusiasm for local history will finally prevail.

In Kingston, where I live, there is a sputtering effort to save the CN station on outer Montreal St. This architectural gem, dating back to 1856 and the Grand Trunk Railway, is in danger of collapse as a result of a fire in 1996. With the station no longer in use, CN Rail chose not to repair the building. The City of Kingston elected not to buy the station for one dollar in 2003. The heritage protection agencies, local, provincial and federal, now stand in the way of CN selling the station property for commercial purposes. Thus, there is a standoff. The idea of a Kingston Railway Museum as a recreational and educational centrepiece in north Kingston has not made much progress because everybody concerned is hoping that somebody else will pick up the tab. The Smiths Falls Railway Museum offers a convincing argument against the faint-hearted and the municipal bean counters. Gary Giller of the Sharbot Lake Committee is quite right in emphasizing the need for a vision to bring the idea into reality. Such a vision should be formed around community memories and civic enthusiasm. When we lose our history, we lose part of our common soul.

Peter H Hennessy

Curbside Pickup Makes No Sense in Bedford

have been a seasonal resident of Bedford for almost 25 years. Before amalgamation Bedford had six dumpsites; now, under the new proposed waste management plan the district will be down to two locations. To move away from dumpsites and to provide the same service across South Frontenac, the plan calls for Bedford to have curb-side pickup where practical. For many in Bedford, this does not make sense.

Firstly, Bedford has 75% of its residents seasonal while the other districts have 9% to 18%.

Secondly, Bedford has an extensive system of laneways, some with many properties on them. In some cases the entrance and exit cross other municipal boundaries.

Thirdly, Bedford has large areas of wilderness and lakes with an extensive wildlife population.

A group of us on our laneway reasoned that if the plan proceeds, many of us will be required to have curb-side pickup somewhere away from our properties and this might result in a lack of supervision. Where there is a joint responsibility for curb-side disposing of waste, we foresee the human factor regarding the maintenance of the waste site along with the intrusion of wildlife to be a problem.

On our lane there are 15 properties. Of these, one resident is permanent; six are full-time seasonal spending almost six months at the lake; three properties are rented, and the rest are used on a less consistent basis. The seven who are more full-time have sent a signed petition to our two local councillors asking that we continue the practice of going to the dumpsite with our waste and recyclables. In all likelihood South Frontenac plans to proceed so all we ask is that Council incorporate some flexibility in the policy.

At the entrance to the Bradshaw road off Cty Rd. 38 there is a rickety sign from the old Bedford days. The man-made sign says "Keep Bedford Beautiful". That is what we want to do.

Bernie Gelineau

Walking on a Country Road

Is there someone out there who believes it is okay to put peaceful citizens who love their country into high security prison for speaking out against pollution? What do you think about using tax dollars to send police to cite ordinary, peaceful citizens for either walking upon, or listening to stories while standing upon, a vacant country road?

More than a year ago we learned as a community that a uranium mining company had set up shop, and intended to drill for uranium without notifying the people with claims to those lands. Many local citizens, organizations and Native members spoke up against this, including an award-winning teacher from Queen’s, who went to high security prison. The local, national and international outcry was huge. Finally a Toronto court ruled that the Kingston court was out of its mind (they did not put it quite that way), and Bob and others were released.

However, the story did not end there. Last winter a woman was walking along a wooded country road, when police cited her for violating the Kingston court order to stay clear of the mining company. Several others were also cited. Next week, my uncle David has to stand before the court. He was up on that road, far from the mining company gates, to listen to Bob Lovelace tell Algonquin stories. You see it's Algonquin homelands up there. Environmentalists also stop by, because they want the mining company to realize they have not forgotten it’s there. Meanwhile, you pay tax dollars for police, citations, paperwork, court appearances, judges and all the rest, so the provincial criminal justice system can stop people from walking a country road.

The higher court has said, in my understanding, it is legal in Canada for peaceful people to walk upon a country road. Yet strangely, the Kingston court continues to do as it pleases.

On September 26 my uncle David has to stand before the Kingston court. My uncle David served honorably in the military reserves. He is a trained medical technician. He is a skilled computer services man. Locals know him because you will see his truck pulling a tourist or a cottager’s car out of the ditch. He will fix your lawn mower or your computer just because. He believes in community and helping others and love of country. He retired with health issues, and his sister (my mother) is ill, but he still finds time to care about culture, neighbors, and what is right.

I just want you to know that Ontario citizens are still being harassed, cited and expected in court, despite everything we achieved and the court agreeing with us. The mining company makes no indication they care whatsoever about toxic byproducts or violating land claims or sneaking onto your property without your permission. They seem to be quietly waiting us out. It seems the Kingston court, the mining company and whoever is hoping to line his pockets with mining revenue, are quietly expecting that we forget. However, we will not. We will not forget the vitality, beauty and safety of our water, our land, and the future of our grandchildren.

So I ask you to be there in thought, if not in body, with David, on 26 September.

Kimberly Bate

“Pro-Choice” - The Great Paradox

I would like to address some inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the “Pro-Choice” movement as well as the left wing media’s dishonest and unethical coverage of the abortion debate.

During the Quebec Referendum, the Bloc initially referred to the rest of Canada as “English-speaking Canada”, accurate, albeit mildly misleading. This label was, however, quickly replaced with “English Canada”, inaccurate, in that this country is comprised in large part of the descendants of those who fled to Canada to escape racial or religious persecution in their own countries at the hands of the English (as was the case with my own Scottish ancestors), and dishonest in that it was intended to play on centuries-old distrust and animosity between the French and English. The same holds true for the labels applied to both sides of the abortion debate by those who support abortion, labels that are so uniformly accepted by the mainstream media.

The label “Pro-Choice” connotes a positive. “Pro”, progressive or positive, and “Choice”. The label “Anti-Abortion” on the other hand conjures up only negative images. As an ardent “Pro-Lifer”, I take issue with the Anti-Abortion label for two reasons. First I consider myself to be pro-choice. I cannot imagine an LCBO with only one brand of wine in stock or a gas station with only one type of candy bar on the rack, and second because I don’t believe that the Anti-Abortion label fully exposes the viciousness and depravity of my pro-life views. I am also opposed to murder (in any other form) including genocide and euthanasia of the elderly or infirm.

The Conservative Government has recently introduced Unborn Victims of Violence legislation that would, in a case where a pregnant woman was assaulted and her baby was killed as a result of the attack, force the judge to consider the unborn child’s death in sentencing the accused. The Pro-Choice movement in Canada has voiced their opposition to this bill, citing the fact that it would undermine existing abortion legislation in this country but in doing so have unwittingly undermined their own position in the abortion debate, not to mention their credibility.

In order to credibly refer to yourself as Pro-Choice, you must defend just as vigorously a woman’s “choice” to continue her pregnancy as you do her right to end it. As Ayn Rand once said “Whenever you experience a contradiction in your philosophy, it’s time to rethink your premises because one of them is wrong.”

In the end, the publicly-funded left wing media in this country will not ask the Pro-Choice movement to change their mantra from “I respect your right to choose” to “I respect your right to choose if you choose like me”. Nor will they be asked to “rethink their premises”, but it is my submission that those ardent abortion supporters are, at best, not only “ “ Pro-Abortion” but possibly “Anti-Life”.

Well, I threw it out there. Let’s see if that label sticks.

Francis MacDonald

Why Call An Election?

Canadians are likely wondering why Stephen Harper called an election before his mandate was up especially since the Liberals have supported all of his 43 motions but two, not a dysfunctional government. Perhaps it is because on June 3, 2008, a motion in the House of Commons was approved stating “that the government immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members who have refused or left military service related to a war not sanctioned by the United Nations and do not have a criminal record, to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada” and that any moves towards deportations cease. The conservative government chose to ignore this motion despite a poll showing 64% of Canadians would support it.

They also ignored the Federal Court of Canada which respected the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the UN Declaration on Human Rights regarding rights of conscience in its decisions regarding two such refugee claims made on July 4 and 9. On the 4th the federal court sent Joshua Keps’ refugee claims back to the Immigration and Refugee Board for consideration. On the 9th Corey Glass’s deportation order was stayed by the Federal Court. Yet on the 11th of July another “war resister” was arrested and was the first to be deported on July 15. He will face months of detention, a long prison sentence and loss of health benefits because of a felony conviction. War resisters are former U.S. soldiers who refused to serve in Iraq because of the illegality of the war and its impact on the thousands of Iraqi civilians. Canadians cheered Chretien when he would not join the U.S. in this non-UN sanctioned war. Canada has a history of providing refuge to people who refused to fight in Vietnam.

The conservatives are ignoring the wishes of parliament and the federal court and the majority of Canadians. Also Stephen Harper has been having secret meetings with U.S. officials to integrate our currency, armed forces, and immigration policies. It has been only thanks to whistleblowers and the Council of Canadians among other organizations that this has been exposed. He is acting outside of parliament through orders-in-council, imitating his friend George Bush who seems to have more power than Congress. He must be stopped. Unfortunately, there are too many parties on the left, which will spread the opposition vote. Can they not get together to support the leftist candidate most likely to win? I think that Scott Reid is a nice person but like all the other members of his party, he has to vote the way Stephen Harper dictates.

Sylvia Powers

Sept 25/08 - Holocaust Survivor Speaks at SLHS

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 25, 2008 Strength through suffering: Testimony from Holocaust survivor Dr. Eva OlssonBy Chava Field-Green

Principal Janet Saunderson and Dr. Olsson

It’s not easy to keep an auditorium full of high school students so interested that they sit silent for 30 seconds and listen to your breathing. But sit they did as Dr. Eva Olsson whispered devastating accounts of her last memory of her mother and three young nieces. It felt as if everyone was picturing their own mother as Eva’s mother walked to the gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Eva walked in the line heading for the work camps.

Ollson started by asking the audience if they used the word “hate” on a daily basis, a sea of hands went up. She replied to this by asking the students to think “I don’t like” rather than “Hate”. “Hate murdered 1.5 million children under the age of 12, Hate murdered 6.5 million Jewish people and 5 million other undesirables,” she said.

Students were then asked to raise their hand if they had ever bullied another student or had ever been bullied themselves. Many hands were raised. She then asked how many students had witnessed bullying and not done anything about it? Even more hands were raised.

She condemned both bullying and being a bystander, sharing a story of her grandson who was called a “stupid Jew” at his school while a teacher stood by and said nothing. “Bullying isn’t the answer, the Nazis proved that. In 1928 there were 300 Nazi bullies and people said nothing would come of it; it’s just kids having fun. By 1933 there were 300,000 Nazi bullies, and there was nothing anyone could do”.

In 1944, at the age of 19, Eva began facing the war she had only heard a little about. After the Nazis invaded Hungary, Eva was forced to share her two room home with 19 other members of her family. She said this wasn’t the end of the world because she was with her family, with her mother and orphaned nieces whom she was going to adopt when she got married. The memory of her nieces stays with her to this day

“I am not speaking for myself,” she told the Sharbot Lake students. “I am speaking for my three nieces under the age of three whose voices were silenced”.

The family and all of the other Jewish families who had been living in the Jewish Ghetto were ordered to pack their bags. Forced to ride in a train car with 100 people, standing room only, the thousands of Hungarian Jews were told that they were being taken to a brick factory where they would all work. “But with its high towers, black smoke and machine guns, Auschwitz-Birkenau was not a brick factory, it was a death factory”.

As the family got off the train they joined the throng that was sorted by the angel of death himself, Dr. Josef Mengele.

“I held the hand of my little niece Judy, but a prisoner walking by told me to give her to a woman who was less able bodied. After she warned me three times I gave Judy to another woman”

The line to the left, full of young mothers, pregnant women, children and older women, went to the gas chamber; to the right Eva and her 17-year-old sister were to go to working camps. One minute Eva’s mother and nieces were by her side and the next she couldn’t see them. Just Eva and her sister made it to the right line, without any other woman in their entire family.

“At that moment I just wanted to hold my mother in my arms and tell her that I loved her. I wish I had never gone to bed upset with her, I wish I could have gone to bed happy with her for the rest of my life”.

Waiting to go to the camp in Germany, Eva told of the dehumanizing way they shipped off the bodies of the dead, like firewood, back onto the cars that had brought them. A man forced to work was praying to God in Hebrew.

“But why, God didn’t build Auschwitz. Man did, we cannot blame God for the choices people make, man chose to murder, to commit genocide”.

The next day they were taken to a slave camp, where they were forced to line up at 4:30 in the morning and then unload bricks.

“Our barracks burnt down because of allied bombing and we lived in a hole in the ground. The straw was rotting because of the urine. We wouldn’t leave the hole to go to the bathroom because the bullies would rape us, or worse. We started to get lice and diseases.”

As they walked to work in the morning a young German boy yelled to his mother “come look at the idiots”.

“Next month, God willing, I will be 84 and I have never met an idiot,” Eva said.

Eva’s message was clear: be compassionate, a child is not born racist, a child is not born prejudiced. No child will bully if they are comfortable with themselves, if they are treated with compassion at home.

Denmark smuggled many of its Jewish citizens into neutral Sweden. Sweden was not concerned with any one race but cared about the whole human race. They did not tell the Jewish people about compassion, they showed compassion, Eva said.

“You can do the same thing”, she said. “You can show each other that you care. Show respect, show compassion.”

When the British and Canadians came to liberate the final camp Eva was in, she was asked if she wanted to go home, stay in Germany or go to Sweden. Not surprisingly she chose the third option.

This is where she met her husband at a dance.

“When we judge others, we judge ourselves, take a chance to get to know someone different. Here I was dancing with a man who spoke a different language, who was of a different nationality, who had a different religion. And he became my best friend, my husband.”

Sadly Eva’s husband was killed by a drunk driver when their son was just 8. But her faith in humanity and hope for peace and strength in the human character has helped her to go on with a life in spite of the intolerance, hate, destruction and pain she has witnessed.

She asked the SLHS students in the audience to “never flee from the memory of this injustice, to never let a child die from evil hands, never. Please don’t be a bystander”.

As she finished the students seemed to have woken up from their silent interest, and were wet-cheeked as they gave Dr. Eva Olsson a standing ovation.

As the auditorium was being cleaned up, I thanked Eva for sharing her testimony with us, for working through her suffering and reminding us of a history that must never be repeated, for showing us the remarkable strength of the human spirit.

She hugged me and told me that just one person being affected by her speech meant that one child did not die in vain, that one student being more compassionate is why she continues.

Sept 11, 2008 - Walk4Justice

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 11, 2008 Walk4justice stops in Sharbot LakeBy Jeff Green

Bernie Williams recieves a Camp Oconto paddle

A group of 20 First Nations people, most of them from BC, and many who have lost female relatives to violence, spent the night in Sharbot Lake on Tuesday after walking to the village from Kingston.

They are on their way to Ottawa, and will be holding a rally on Parliament Hill on September 15 to mark the end of a three-month odyssey that started in Vancouver on June 21.

“It was Gladys [Radek] who had the vision, and Bernie [Williams] who told her to put it into action,” recalled one of the group’s spokespersons, Renee Pratt. “It is all about honouring the 3,000 women who have gone missing from across Canada.”

Renee Pratt, who is originally from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan but now lives in Maple Ridge, BC, lost a sister in-law to violence.

Although it is a group of Aboriginal men and women, grandmothers and babies (the oldest is 74 and the youngest is 2) who are doing the walk, they are marking the loss of all women to violence in Canada, and they received support from all the communities as they have crossed the country.

The group camped out most nights on their journey, before giving away all their camping gear to the children of the Six Nations Reserve on the Gand River.

“Everywhere we went people came up to us with their stories, so many tragic stories,” said Nicole Tait, another of the young women making the walk, as we stood in the cool of a pre-autumn evening at the Oso Hall after a potluck supper was finished. “But you should really talk to Bernie over there. She is an elder and a leader.”

“You talk to those two,” Bernie called over, “They know what’s going on.”

Aside from pointing to events that have taken place, to women that have been lost, either on the Highway of Tears in Northern BC where 18 girls and women have gone missing over the past 30 years, or mass murderer Robert Picton’s victims, or victims from Vancouver’s lower east side, Nicole Tait and Renee Pratt have a lot to say about what should happen in Canada now.

“There needs to be a change in the justice system,” said Renee Pratt. “The justice system is too lenient on people who can’t be treated. They get out of prison and then they harm our women and young children again.”

“There needs to be an inquiry into what’s been going on. Women are the life givers,” said Nicole Tait, “we need to respect them. If we can’t care for the life givers, what will be left?”

With the federal election underway, which is something the walk4justice could not have known would happen, they have been informed that politicians will not be able to greet them at Parliament Hill as they had hoped, but they are hoping that as many people as possible will come to support them between 9 am and 4 pm, when they will mark the end of their rally and deposit their on-line petition; www.petitiononline.com/glradek/petition.html.

The visit to Sharbot Lake included food, drumming by the Women’s Drumming Circle, the presentation of a hand-made paddle to Bernie Williams by Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski, and a night’s sleep at the Maples Cottages for the tired crew.

The event in Sharbot Lake was organized on short notice by the Katarokwi Native Friendship Centre, Danka Brewer, and Janet Gutowski.

Sept 4, 2008 - AH Council

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 4, 2008 Addington Highlands Council -Sept 2/08By Jule Koch Brison

Property issues create roadblock for Flinton Bridge

Last fall the Flinton bridge, which is located on the Deer Rock Lake Road, was found to have serious problems and was closed. An alternate route allows access to the Deer Rock Lake Road but a new bridge has not yet been built.

At Tuesday’s council meeting in Flinton, Deputy Reeve Helen Yanch said, “People are upset and wondering when we’re going to get at it… they don’t want to have to go through another year.”

Reeve Henry Hogg explained that the delay is caused by the fact that the property beside the bridge is not crown land, as was the case when the township recently built a new Hartsmere bridge, but is privately owned.

He said, “I’ve met with the property owner to try to work out the property issues... It is a difficult situation to try to resolve”. Hogg said that the township had hoped to build a two-lane bridge, but the property issues seem to preclude that option

The township has directed Jewell Engineering, the company that built the Hartsmere Bridge, to develop options for the bridge. An environmental assessment will have to be done and public meetings will be held in the fall.

SHELDRAKE LAKE RFP: The Sheldrake Development Committee, was recently struck in the Skootamatta District Ratepayers Association (SDRA) because of concerns over a Request for Proposal (RPF) regarding 20 acres of crown land off Sheldrake Lake Road. A delegation from the committee, consisting of Bill Garnish, Laurie Hitchcock, and Derek Mendham, attended the council meeting. “We’re not against development per se,” said Bill Garnish, “we want to be part of the decision making”.

Several years ago the township started to investigate whether it would be feasible for a developer to build a four-season resort in Addington Highlands. Several sites were looked at, but much of the crown land in AH falls within the Algonquin Land Claim territory.

In consultation with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the township eventually found a 77 acre piece of Crown land on Sheldrake Lake, outside of claim territory, that was made available for development, and this April an RPF was posted on the Lennox and Addington County website.

The original 77 acres has since been dropped to 20 acres because the MNR only intended to lease part of it, and it was difficult to interest anyone in developing property that they would not own.

Presently, an appraiser has been hired by the MNR to set a value for the property.

Deputy Reeve Yanch invited the Sheldrake Development Committee to have a member sit on the Addington Highlands Economic Advisory Development (AHEAD) Committee, and the delegation agreed to look into the possibility.

NORTHBROOK SKATEPARK: The township presently leases the land on which the Northbrook skatepark sits from the Land o’ Lakes Lions, but the organization has asked the township to take over ownership of the property because of insurance concerns. The township already bears all the liability from the skatepark.

Council decided to refer the request to the Rec Committee for discussion with the Lions.

OPP REPORT: Detachment Commander Pat Finnegan and Sgt. Greg MacLellan presented their report for May, June and July 2008. The good news was that calls for service were down, which Det. Commander Finnegan said is part of an overall 3-year trend.

One major issue is emerging problems with ATVs.

Police have received numerous complaints, and Sgt. MacLellan said that documentation, e.g. proper insurance and licences, has not been found to be the problem; the problems are: too many people on the machines, letting children operate adult ATVs (sometimes with only bike helmets on), drinking and driving, and having open liquor. He also pointed out that there are many law-abiding ATV operators.

Councilor Louise Scott said, “Whenever I see ATVs there are always two people on them.”

Deputy Reeve Yanch said she doesn’t complain because she feels it wouldn’t help.

Det. Commander Finnegan said, “Don’t be afraid to complain.” He also said that the problems are developing everywhere in Ontario as municipalities “are persuaded and allow ATV use on their roads”.

Councilor Janice Kerr also questioned the officers about an incident in Denbigh that she had heard about, which she described as “serious”. She said that a woman had called police about two men who were revving chainsaws by her building and threatening to burn things down, but was told by the dispatcher that there was only one officer in the area and he was not available.

Det. Commander Finnegan said he would investigate what had gone wrong. He said that for a serious incident such as Kerr described, “We would never just say, ‘there’s no one available’. We would bring in people from other detachments if we needed to…. We would always find a way no matter how busy we are.”

CLOYNE 150 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: Council approved funding of $500 for the Cloyne Historical Society’s celebration of the 150 year anniversary of the village of Cloyne, to be held in August 2009.

ST. PAUL’S CHURCH: Council agreed to waive a $200 tipping fee for disposing of insulation that had to be removed from the basement of St. Paul’s Church because of flooding. The church said that the flooding was caused by road work, which council determined was done by the county. Council will take up the matter with the county.

BELL LINES CAUSE PROBLEMS; Roads Supervisor Royce Rosenblath reported that because of problems locating Bell Telephone lines, construction that they’ve started in Northbrook has become a “real nightmare”. He said they’ve found lines “strung along roads … within 3 inches of the pavement .. there’s no logic to it.”. He said that paying to locate the lines has become an added expense and in some places they won’t be able to do proper ditches because of the lines.

Sept 4, 2008 - SLHS 60th Anniversary

Back toHome

Feature Article - September 4, 2008 60th Anniversary bash an overwhelming successBy Jeff Green

Betty Stewart, who taught the first 2 years the Sharbot Lake High School was open, cuts the cake during opening ceremonies.

Organisers of the party to commemoratre the 60th anniversary of Sharbot Lake High School decided to keep the celebration on a relatively low key level.

They thought they would gather some materials, get the word out informally, and hold a bit of a gathering.

Dianne Lake, the key organiser for the event, which took place on August 30, found that she may have underestimated the ties that bind people to their old school. “It was an overwhelming success,” she said “and met my utmost expectations. In fact, it supassed my expectations.”

Four hundred people showed up for the daytime activities, which included displays arranged by decade in different classrooms, a barbeque, and events in the school cafeteria.

The classroom that was devoted to the 40s, 50s, and 60s, which contained a wealth of material that had been gathered by Anne Walsh, was filled with people throughout the afternoon, as the bulk of the visitors attended the school in those eras.

One of the highlights of the day was the cutting of the cake at 2 pm.

Short speeches by current principal Janet Sanderson, event organiser (and cafeteria supervisor) Dianne Lake, Jim MacPherson, Ann Goodfellow (chair of the Limestone District School Board – and wife and mother of SLHS alumni), preceded the cutting of the ceremonial cake.

The honours were done by Betty Stewart, who was one of the teachers at Sharbot Lake High School on the day it opened in 1948. There were 18 students from that first day in attendance as well, and they all had a great time reminiscing about their school days.

One of the attendees, former School Council President Karl Hansen, said “I saw people today that I haven't seen...since I left high school”.

In the evening, retired teachers Gary Giller and Jim MacPherson hosted a special coffee house in the tradition of the coffee houses that Giller hosted while teaching at Sharbot Lake, but with a lineup that included many former students. Perfomers included: former student Terry Reynolds, accompanied by his daughter Natalie on keyboard, and by his son Lukas on guitar; Mitch Barker; Marc Giroux, and Sean McCullough and Diane Whan.

Almost 200 people attended the coffee house.

For Dianne Lake, the most gratifying aspect of the day was the response of some of the people who attended the school in its ealiest years. “Some of them were truly touched by the event,” she said.

Feature Article - August 7, 2008

Back toHome

Feature Article - August 7, 2008 Sydenham Residents Gain Concession on Water Levy

At the July 15 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council had rejected CAO Gord Burns’ proposal to pass Sydenham water levy bylaw, which was accompanied by a schedule of payment for all of he affected properties in the village. Costs were slated to average between $6,000 and $8,000 for most households, depending on their road frontage and other factors.

See South Frontenac Water Debate Dribbles On

At the time, Council was divided over whether the plant was overbuilt or not, and debated whether current residents should pay for water that they are unlikely to use, instead of charging those costs to new developments that could spring upon the edges of the village over the next 20 years.

As requested, Burns submitted a second report, outlining three options and asking council’s direction.

His first option reiterated his earlier recommendation that there was "no significant justification for the township absorbing additional costs for the added capacity of the plant." In support, he said the Ministry of the Environment "is certain that once more people are hooked into the system and people become more comfortable with the use of the system (the volume of water use) will climb." Burns noted that if present use should rise, council could not claw back an adjustment, if one were made.

The second, more political option would be for the township to pick up the additional capacity costs, based on an estimation by the engineering firm Tottenham Sims Hubiki that if the plant had been designed for half the present capacity, the cost saving would amount to approximately $775,000. The residents’ share of this would be $258,000. Should council decide to support this option, Burns, though not in agreement, would recommend that the township delete $258,000 from the total capital costs being charged to residents, pay that amount out of reserves, and recover it through future development.

His third option addressed a development fund created by adding a levy to property taxes throughout the township. Such a fund could become available to assist all township residents with drinking water issues. However, Burns said that the development and administration of such a fund would be complicated, time-consuming and expensive in terms of staffing required.

There was general agreement that setting up a development fund was a separate issue from the question of whether or not Sydenham residents were being asked to fund the capital costs of a water plant with up to 50% excess capacity.

Councillor Hahn said he found the argument that the plant had an overlarge capacity persuasive, and questioned who should fairly pay for the excess capacity: the present residents, or new development as it accesses the water system? Robinson agreed, saying, "If [residents] are only using 33% [of the plant’s capacity], the long and the short of it is that they’re being overcharged and it’s our job to help them."

A motion was made by David Hahn, seconded by Councilor John Fillion, to accept Burns’ report, with option #2 being the preferred one It passed 5 to 4, supported by Fillion, Robinson, McPhail, Hahn and York.

The impact of this decision on individual Sydenham ratepayers will be calculated in the coming weeks and a new levy bylaw will be prepared.

Nov 13/08 - Vennacher Observatory

Back toHome

Feature Article - November 13, 2008 Vennachar Night Sky to be ElektrafiedBy Jeff Green

The Buckshot Lake Road, which connects Plevna with Denbigh, and passes through the historic hamlet of Vennachar, can be a lonely, dark road at night.

It turns out it is one of the darkest spots in southern Ontario, and this has made it a prime location for a high-tech telescope which will be one of the most powerful in North America.

Elektra Observatories, a not-for-profit corporation headed up by Frank Roy of Ottawa, an electronic engineer and astronomy enthusiast, is planning what they call the “One Metre Initiative”, to be located on a bald mountain top known as Mallory Hill. The site, which is owned by Doug Whiteman, is located in North Frontenac, a stone’s throw away from Addington Highlands.

Finding the site was the culmination of the initial phase of the project.

“We did an extensive topographical survey before we went there, obviously. We wanted a sky that was exceptionally dark, and we found the darkest night sky in all of southern Ontario. We also wanted it be at the top of a hill that wasn't forested, and we wanted access. Mallory Hill is located about 50 or 100 metres from the road,” said Frank Roy.

The observatory will be composed of two buildings. One will be a control building, which will house computers and will include a reception centre.

But it is the other building that is so exciting for Frank Roy. It is called the OMI or One Metre Initiative, “a state of the art, one metre class instrument, which will use the largest CCD sensor in the world, 112 million pixels. The camera will be cooled to -100 degrees Celsius, and it will have an exceptionally wide field of vision, which will allow for a lot of science to be done that cannot be done in Canada currently,” he said.

The wide field will allow the telescope to capture images of huge parts of the sky.

“It will be able to see 100,000 stars in one shot,” said Roy, “and for the first time will enable us to identify earth-sized planets from nearby stars, which is something that has never been done before.”

The telescope will also be able to identify asteroids very well, again because of the large field of vision.

When the OMI is up and running in two to three years’ time, Roy says it will be one of the four premiere telescopes in the world. Globally there are only three other telescopes that have this capacity.

The major academic partner for the project is the University of Western Ontario, which is where the information that is gathered at Mallory Hill will be stored, and other academic partners are coming forward. Private individuals and groups will be able to make use of the telescope as well, and Elektra is hoping to keep the price for non-profit groups and educational organizations to a minimum to encourage the dissemination of information to the public. Through a web application, images will be posted for public viewing.

“We estimate there will be around 1,000 hours of useable clear nights every year at the site, and even when the moon is at its brightest, as long as the telescope is aimed away from the moon it will be able to capture images with large amounts of information”.

If the sky is, literally, the only thing limiting the potential of the OMI observatory project, Frank Roy also thinks that North Frontenac or Addington Highlands Township, or both, would be able to make the exceptionally dark skies of the Buckshot Lake area the centre of a large-scale economic development initiative.

A major observatory in Quebec, at Mont Megantic, has become a tourist destination.

“There is an huge night skies festival in Mount Forest, near Toronto that draws thousands of people every year, but the skies are quite bright. You can see so much more outside of Plevna and Denbigh, that with enough work and the development of campsites, etc. people will come from thousands of miles away to this region.”

Roy said he is prepared to appear before North Frontenac or Addington Highlands Council to talk about his project and possible spin-offs. He made that offer in a letter he sent to both councils on October 14.

“The ball is in their court,” he said this week.

Further information is available at elecktraobervatories.org

Nov 13/08 - Letters

Back toHome

Letters - November 13,2008 Letters: November 13

Re: Pray for the Land, Wolfe Erlichman

Re: Water Plant Faces $1.4M Upgrade, Edward Kennedy

Re:Pray for the Land, October 30, 2008

While it is true that many of the issues and questions raised by the proposed exploration and drilling at the Robertsville site remain unanswered, many positive things have happened. The exploration and perhaps drilling have been delayed, maybe permanently, and a great community coalition comprised of First Nations and settlers has been created.

Also, parts of the Robertsville site have been withdrawn from exploration by the province, and the community has spoken loudly against the flawed assumption that mining is the best use of land. Instead, land-use planning should determine where mining ought to be permitted. Municipalities should have the right to say “NO” to the exploration and mining of uranium. Premier McGuinty is aware that First Nations want to have real input into land-use decisions on their traditional lands and that mining exploration, especially for uranium, can have a negative impact on the environment. There has been no indication that any of these ideas will be included in the modernization of theMining Act, which is supposed to be debated in the legislature in December.For the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium (CCAMU), this will not be a "long quiet winter". We plan on being very active.

Wolfe Erlichman, CCAMU

Re:Water plant faces potential $1.4M upgrade?

Your front page articleWater plant faces potential $1.4 million upgrade (6/11/08) delineates a comment from Del Stowe wondering "why the MOE had approved the present system."

Please understand, Mr. Stowe, that this is the same MOE whose own regulations mandated that no manure banks/storage be located within 400 metres (1230 feet) of a water source, yet, approved the installation of two 10,000-gallon human waste storage facilities within 125 feet of a well that supplies water to a major dairy operation and to a household of people in Horton township. Four landowners were arrested there earlier this year trying to force Horton township and the MOE to abide by their own regulations.So, as it shows, the MOE makes a set of rules that are non-applicable to themselves, but which must be obeyed by us peons.

Their comeback was that there were no regulations for human waste and this was a pilot project. Indeed, so it is then acceptable to violate the minimal distance setbacks of animal waste, and ignore them for storage of a much more toxic type of waste?

No wonder rural people see MOE and other bureaucratic bunglers as incompetent, heavy-handed bullies. As an aside, I bet there are no MOE people drinking from the Sydenham water system.

Edward Kennedy