Editor's Notebook
POLICY VERSUS PRAGMATISM: The ink isn't dry on Prescott's proposed budget and council has already had yet another lengthy discussion on a small amount of money contained in a section of the community grants program. The grants represent less than one-half of one per cent of the town's operating budget, but the subject seems to generate way more than its fair share of debate at the finance committee table. We understand how important a few thousand dollars or less can be to some of the organizations seeking grant money from the town, but council continues to fall into the trap of micro-managing a program which, in the view of some elected officials, should be overhauled or eliminated altogether.
We share the frustration of Councillor Beckstead, who recognizes the folly of making pragmatic decisions without taking a serious look at setting policy and sticking to a clearly-stated set of principles. The current council agreed to require groups seeking grants to submit applications. Now, it appears council is willing to double the amount it puts into a miscellaneous fund in order to accommodate one group (Harbour Days) that is making a request shortly before council was hoping to put its 2008 budget to bed. We don't have an issue with the Harbour Days committee; Sue O'Hanlon and her volunteers do a great job. We just hope council's desire to be responsive stops distracting it from making policy decisions and sticking to them.
THE DECISION IS THEIRS: So now we hear the Upper Canada District School Board officials will not be in attendance at a closed-door meeting to discuss Boundary 2020 on Friday. Organizers of the private meeting have also indicated there might be a news conference after the meeting, which will be held in the Augusta Public Library in Algonquin.
Whatever! We're tired of the gamesmanship that, at times, overshadows the sincere efforts of those who are trying to balance the wishes of the community with the needs of school boards trying to address real problems associated with declining enrolment.
All we know is trustees are scheduled to meet next Wednesday to make final decisions on the fate of local public schools and where Grade 7 and Grade 8 students will be attending classes as of Sept. 2009. If supporters of those elementary schools on the chopping block have yet to accept there is a strong possibility there will be no last-minute change of heart on the part of the school board, we suggest they should start preparing for the worst. We respect those who continue to hold out hope the proposal will be scrapped or delayed, but the community has to be realistic about the outcome of the Boundary 2020 process.
Yes, we still have concerns about the process and the absence of implementation plans. But the bottom line is - like it or not - decision time is almost here. The communities they represent elected them to do a job. Many of us will not like what trustees are expected to decide, but that won't stop them from making what will be an unpopular call.
Tim Ruhnke
Grapes, stalkers and Mr. Hockey
I spent last weekend at the Sportscard and Memorabilia Expo in Toronto Saturday. It is the largest hockey collectibles show in the world. It was like a Star Trek Convention, only everyone there was obsessed with Sidney Crosby instead of Captain Kirk.
Sat., 9:14 a.m. - It was breakfast time. Unfortunately, about 150 teenage models staying at the hotel also decided it was breakfast time. The little serve-yourself-breakfast area at the Hampton Inn was a little crowded.
Gaggles of tall, lanky girls circled the food, knowing that a muffin would be a career-ending choice. As I watched the girls attack the big bowl of fruit salad in their quest of picking out two or maybe even three grapes for breakfast, I looked at the hotel employee standing there.
"Dude," I said. "What have you guys got going on here? Are you the host hotel for the eating disorder Olympics or something?"
The sad thing was that the psycho stage model moms were all in there monitoring what the kids were and weren't allowed to eat. C'mon, ladies, why not just give them heroine? That will control their weight.
Sat., 11 a.m. - We noticed a guy working at the show who looked just like Mr. Bean, only pear-shaped. We laughed as we imagined Mr. Bean at a hockey collectibles show and all the things he would do.
Sat., 2:57 p.m. - I had to pee. Really bad. I left our booth for Canadian Sports - The Magazine and fought through the line-up of people standing in line for Luc Robitaille's autograph and got to the Men's Room. This socially awkward guy intercepted me in the doorway and wanted to talk about who I thought was going to be in the Grey Cup next year. He wouldn't let me by. I had to pee. Anxiety was gripping me. He still wouldn't let me by. I had to resort to using my size. I couldn't go around him, I went over him. The guy actually followed me to the cascading waterfall machine and wouldn't let up.
I was trying to pee, but he was freaking me out. I had stage fright. Ladies, you probably won't understand this whole thing. If you don't get it, ask your husbands. It really happens, no matter how badly you have to go.
Eventually, he left, and I was able to do what I needed to do. If there was one moment at the show when I wanted to drop to my knees and thank God, it was then.
Sat., 5:12 p.m. - I had never met a real stalker before. There was a Toronto Sun Sunshine Girl signing autographs beside our table. And who shows up, standing there, acting like Creepster McWeirdoson? It was pear-shaped Mr. Bean. He got some autographs, lurked, stared, drooled. Eventually, he left.
Evidently, he e-mails the model five or six times a day and it's been going on for years. Suddenly, Mr. Bean at a hockey show took a dark turn and it wasn't funny anymore.
Sat., 6:43 p.m. - I decide to dine alone at Wendy's as I needed some personal space. "I'll have a taco salad and a baked potato," I said. The girl, who looked to be in high school but obviously struggled with English, just gave me a blank stare. I repeated my order, slowly. She said "fries?"
"No, baked potato."
We exchanged one and two-word sentences for five minutes, and eventually I got a baconator and an order of fries. I wasn't sure how. Eventually, after intervention from a manager and a co-worker, I got what I ordered. But I was exhausted. Getting her to understand my order made me feel like my mind had just given birth.
Sun., 8:58 a.m. - The eating disorder Olympics is into Day 2. A new contender for the gold medal emerges as I watch her peel the white of her hard boiled egg away and eat the yolk only. She has a bowl of dry Raisin Bran, and I watch as she picks out the raisins and eats no flakes. I hope, for her sake, when this dream of being a model is over, she can bathe in Mars bar nougat. In fact, she wouldn't just have to bathe in it. She could gleefully frolic in it and make nougat angels. Then she could take pictures of it and send them to her psycho mom.
Sun. 10:06 a.m. - The Sunshine girl entered the building and pear-shaped Mr. Bean appeared out of nowhere and followed her to her table. "I really need these two photos signed," he said. Need? Yikes.
Sun., 2:13 p.m. -This big fat guy with a light blue Sidney Crosby jersey that looked like it was a boy's medium was wandering back and forth, talking to himself. As he walked by the second time, he was picking his nose. No, he wasn't just picking, he was mining. In fact, he may have been trying to get to an itch on his brain. I didn't really think anything of it until I spotted him in the autograph line-up as it was his turn, and he shook Gordie Howe's hand.
Sun., 6:45 p.m. - It's time to go home. I was tired, exhausted, drained, yet I had fun as I do every year at that show. I stopped in Port Hope to eat at Harvey's on the way home. I ordered a number two. "Do you want fries or rings?" Neither seemed appetizing.
"Do you have any grapes?"
Plastic is not what it used to be
Plastic is a scary thing. It seems hardly a week goes by without us hearing about another detrimental health effect attributed to various types of this material.
Plastic scares are nothing new. I remember back in the early 1990s when there was a worry about cheap plastic mini-blinds disintegrating in the sun and releasing lead particles into the air. More recently, there were scares about plastic water bottles breaking down and making people sick. Earlier this month, retailers across the country pulled plastic baby bottles and other plastic products containing bisphenol A off their shelves due to worries about detrimental health effects.
The danger of plastic bags is not of ingesting something poisonous, but the build-up of plastic in the environment.
On a fairly recent trip to Australia, I found it interesting how, in several towns in Victoria state, a total ban on all stores giving out plastic bags was enforced.
Instead, many places offered sturdy plastic bags for sale. They were designed to be used over and over again, lowering the amount of single-use plastic bags being distributed and ending up in landfill sites.
One doesn't have to look halfway around the world to see examples of bag bans. In March of 2007, San Francisco became the first city in North America to ban the use of plastic bags by grocery stores and large pharmacies. Last April, the small Alberta town of Leaf Rapids also banned them. The Ontario environment ministry reported last May it was looking at a program to reduce the amount of plastic bags used by Ontarians.
At least in theory, plastic bag reduction schemes seem valid. After all, who needs a drawer in their kitchen or garage filled with plastic bags. Granted, a few of them will be used as lunch or trash pail bags, but the majority will probably end up in the landfill.
I know it isn't much, but whenever I can avoid receiving a plastic bag to carry groceries or other purchases in, I do so. Generally it isn't a far walk from my car to the grocery store and back again. I also have a reusable bag for grocery trips.
However, I also recognize mothers who are buying hundreds of dollars worth of food each week might need more than one or two reusable grocery bags. Carrying one's own "green" grocery bags might lose its appeal if you have to cart a dozen or so to the grocery store. In any case, I think the planet would be better-served if those of us in North America do what we can to reduce, reuse and recycle.
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I'd like to acknowledge the nice lady who introduced herself as the grandmother of my childhood neighbour when she dropped by the Journal offices about a month ago. She offered me her copy of Drive North America; she had read my last column about my memories of the book and figured it meant more to me than it did to her. She should rest assured the book will see a lot of use, particularly as we are entering weekend road-trip season.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Hopefully, we can find a Reeve Haley
The Editor;
I attended this meeting on Wednesday night in Kemptville.
The presentations were inspiring and well done.
The reaction of most of the board and their bureaucrats was not unexpected.
They had to be there so they were. Their lack of involvement was clearly demonstrated by the very little questioning/participation from the trustees. Mr. Thomas (director of education) never spoke a word, and spent his time signing certificates during most of the dissertations.
Four of 13 present asked questions; the others were in a silent, pensive state.
There was no member of our esteemed council anywhere to be seen. There was a reeve and a councillor there from two other communities who made presentations. Guess our group were too busy to get engaged.
South Edwardsburg did their presentation this week and North Ed did theirs last week. Mayor and council chose to be non-supportive, which was also no surprise.
Watching Reeve Haley support his area with a presentation was inspiring. There are politicians who truly do care for their constituents.
Sadly, none were elected here.
We stand to lose two elementary schools, and have our 7/8s sent to a high school, and nary a whimper from this council.
Four years seems longer with every decision this council makes.
But there is hope, and Reeve Haley is a testament to that.
By the way, he is the same reeve that voted against a counties tax increase, while Mayor Dishaw voted for it. Oh, how the Liberals love to tax and spend.
How do we engage this council? I have no idea. If the education of our children is not important enough to get their attention, then trying to get them to charge developers connection fees certainly is not ever going to happen. Dishaw just loves to tax us to death and let the developers reap the benefits of our paid infrastructure. A true Liberal thinker.
Wishing your life away is not a good idea, but these next 2 1/2 years cannot pass quickly enough. Hopefully next time we can find a Reeve Haley to lead us.
That would be nice.
Pat Grant
Dave's contribution to the newspaper much appreciated
The Editor;
I would like to take the time to comment on the departure of your recent sports reporter. It is with awe that I did not see an acknowledgement and good wishes from your paper concerning Dave Dickenson's departure.
As Dave stated in his final column "I've done my best to represent the paper, town and myself the best I know how," his contributions to your paper have been immense.
I recall the years before his arrival and the obvious lack of coverage of local sports in your paper. Yes, Dave's assertion that not everybody is a sports fanatic is correct, but for those of us who do follow it, his coverage was second to none. His coverage of high school sports, minor hockey and Junior B hockey was very well appreciated.
He took the time, to get to know many of the participants and it showed in his coverage.
Dave's legacy will be twofold. First, the acknowledgement (and well deserved I might add) on the sign out front of the local high school. This, in itself, shows his dedication to covering the local sports scene. Secondly, the person responsible for covering sports following Dave's departure, will have big shoes to fill.
Best of luck Dave and you most certainly represented yourself , your town and your paper in a dignified manner.
Paul Hache