The Voice, December 21 2022

"WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!"

Column Six New Year's graduation

A new chapter opens—four decades ago

BY MARGARET FERGUSON Special to the Voice

The very word “graduation” usually brings a smile and happy memories. This is true for us as we remember the five days of our son John’s RCMP graduation in Regina. We travelled by plane, along with Nancy, John’s girlfriend. Nancy had spent several nice weekends with us during the last year or so when John came home from Trent University with her, and now we were to get to know each other better. John did not greet us until later, when he finished his day’s workout. It was a joyful and moving moment to see him again, among many such moments as the days wore on.

SUSPENDS PRINT EDITION

John’s interest in the RCMP went back many years and his goal was either to join the force or become a teacher. While still at university, two summers were spent with the force as a special officer in Toronto, where he and other young aspirants were given a taste of life in a police service. Actually, much of his time was spent in musty attics

A SMASHING SUCCESS The A.K. Wigg Wildcats had a formidable school volleyball season—dropping only a handful of sets, the girls team were League Champions and crowned 2022 District Champions at DSBN’s Night of Champions at Eastdale Secondary School, on December 8. Celebrating their win are Kate Trinder, Brooke Moore, Kendall Snopek, Lucy Young, Emily Heywood, Lily Mosley, Coach Kim Maracle, Brooke Hill, Regan Levesseur, Riley Fiddes, Claire Lobo, Maude Law, and Coach Brenda Bradley, with Taylor Wilton absent J. YOUNG

Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be: The term “nostalgia” entered the language in 1729, when it was coined by a German physician to describe not warm and fuzzy memories, but a pathologic, severe homesickness. When I was ten, I ran across a small magazine devoted to life as it was between 1900 and 1920. It cost only 50 cents or so, and came out quarterly. Every three months I would hike over to the drugstore—which had a huge magazine selection, as most drugstores did then— and buy the latest copy. The articles and illustrations were purely nostalgic, seeming to be aimed at people who were ten years old at some point between 1900 and 1920. I was ten in 1970, so this magazine was looking 50 to 70 years into the past, meaning its target audience was around 60 years old. Even so, I developed a sort of nostalgia-by-proxy fixation on this era of history, when airplanes and motorcars and radio didn’t exist—and then, bang, they did. Penicillin and talking movies were still years away. What changes to witness as a child! I’m now 63. In a few days, 1973 will be 50 years ago. I’ve become the target audience for 1970s sentimentalism— and it’s a seductive pathology to fall victim of. Nostalgia, of course, buffs away the rough edges of memory, leaving a happy, shiny, not-entirely-accurate reflection. As I may have said once or twice in this space, the past is a great place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there. All of which is to say that when I think back to the newspapers I miss, it’s the giant weekend editions of the 1990s, those big broadsheets, with all their separate sections. But even then it’s not the newspapers themselves, really, that I’m nostalgic for, but the smoothed-over memories of my 30s, in many ways my salad days, before the onset of what we mortals know as aging... It’s always darkest before the dawn: This Wednesday is the shortest day of the year. From here on it gets brighter, little by little. Don’t miss John Swart’s interview (p.22) with a radio collector in Orillia (talk about nostalgia!), and of course the long-awaited final episode of Killer on the Kame. (If you saw that twist coming, pat yourself on the back!) As you will see from the ad on page 3, on January 9 we debut PelhamToday. ca. I will guarantee you that by this time next December, PelhamToday will have run at least twice the number of local stories as have appeared this year in print. The site will be 100 percent free, just as the newspaper has been. We’ll have the same crew, but for one or two folks who have been making noises about cutting back or retiring. (We’ll see about that.) There are many people to thank for the last few years of operation—starting, always, with you, the reader, and especially our Voice-on-Vacationers and voluntary subscribers (starting with member Number 1, the witty Nick Saltarelli). Our advertisers, of course, and Catherine Brazeau (and Warren Mason before her), who advised them. The many talented reporters and opinion columnists. The always surprising letter-writers. The finest graphic artist in Niagara, Jim Szeplaki. Julian Fitch the Proof Sleuth. Lori Gretsinger, who shall continue to hold down the fort at HQ. Brenda, Gary, and Mike on delivery. Our supportive shareholders (especially Sandra Warden). And finally, as I have mentioned before, when the Voice was within weeks of going bankrupt in 2016, in the face of enormous debt and huge receivables, there was one person above all who made the last seven years of publication not just possible but successful—my spouse, Yasmin. Without her urging me to try to salvage what was possible at the beginning, and without her continued support since, the Voice would never have survived this long. Terima kasih, cintaku...We're off on a holiday break: But we're back at www.pelhamtoday.ca on January 9! Keep your letters and story suggestions and donation photos coming! Eli de Roos, you're the last Carrier of the Week. Your country thanks you! And now, a slug of spiked eggnog. See you next month. 4

Voice on vacation!

by Dave Burket

Left, Karen Clapp, Jim Bulek, and Deloris MacDonald in Cayo Guillermo, Cuba! Right, Tom and Linda Mercier in Barbados!

Left, Carla Royer and her friend Jessica Stewart the day after running the NYC Marathon! Right, Jessica Harvey, Cindy Palframan, and Jessica’s fiancé, Darren DiMarco, celebrating daughter Jessica’s 26th birthday at Disney World in Orlando!

Left, Sandra Cruzo and Dennis Kennedy enjoying touring a 19th century Bahia Palace in Marrakech, Morocco. Right, Lianne and Tom Daley on a hanging bridge high above a rain forest river valley at Parqueo Mistico Nature Preserve, Alajuela Province in Costa Rica!

Left, George and Janette Popko and Wendy and Gerry Novosel on Saona Island, Dominican Republic! Right, Harvey and Chuck Meger in Cancun, Mexico!

stories are found between the pages of a passport. Bon voyage.

SHAKE IT UP Rob Shook

Five decades later, a new passion emerges

I

confess that soccer has held little appeal for me over the years. Sure, I attended league games of family members’ children and spent more time socializing than actually appreciating the game. The fanatical support demonstrated by loyal international football fans across the globe was something that seemed foreign to me.that I did. After the Canada vs. Croatia game, I was hooked. I have not missed watching a single game since. The finesse, the fitness, the strategy, as well as the backstories of some of the players captivated my attention from the get-go.

the 35-year-old phenom from Argentina, and Luka Modric the 37-year-old who is arguably the best midfielder of all time. What an appreciation level I’ve developed for the way these men play their game.

As a kid growing up in the late ‘60s, summers were spent playing Little League baseball, while winters were consumed by endless hours playing hockey. Soccer, if it occurred at all, consisted of a few school kids at recess hoofing a ball at each other without any sense of form or discipline. The game seemed boring by comparison to the sports of my youth.

Fast forward some 50 years and thankfully, like most things in life, attitudes evolve over time. Provided one keeps an open mind of course.

As this year’s FIFA World Cup Tournament rolled around, I made the decision to watch a few games from start to finish and give the sport a fair shot. I cannot tell you how grateful I am

I found myself harbouring a keen desire to become more educated regarding the nuances of the game by watching former elite players explain what was taking place on the pitch. A little insight goes a long way indeed.

Not to mention the fans and their unbridled passion. Seriously, this excitement is overtly contagious and it draws one in. NFL or NHL notwithstanding, World Cup football fans exhibit a devotion to their teams that’s hard to match. The costumes, the noise, all part of the theatre of this spectacular event.

Next, the footballers themselves. Legendary athletes such as Messi, Ronaldo, and Modric—all as worthy of respect for their skill level, and equally impressive sportsmen as the likes of North American stars such as Gretzky and Lemieux. Messi,

The matches themselves have also held as much drama and nail biting excitement as one could imagine, particularly the games requiring penalty kicks. Croatia stunning Brazil, and Argentina narrowly edging out the Netherlands. Talk about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!

Indeed, football has it all. I am a new fan, and I’d be willing to wager that I’m not alone. Regardless of who won the World Cup the past Sunday, the sport continues to captivate and inspire folks across the world. The unifying power of “the world’s game” is magnetic and hard to ignore. It transcends culture and geography.

Next time I find myself at a soccer match, regardless of who is on the pitch, I will most assuredly be watching with a fresh set of eyes.

In my humble opinion, every player at this year’s World Cup is a champion. 4

Letters

The Voice’s first editor remembers the early days

When the Voice of Pelham launched in March 1997, I drove a Saturn sedan. My first cellular flip phone was still a few years away, and parenthood was something to consider in the distant future. What I did have then, which I still seek now, is an amazing sense of community. To be honest, since I heard about the sale of the Voice, I have been in mourning for the loss of those early years of community. I am deeply sad, in fact. Ask my fellow Rotarians, who found me in tears this week at our regular meeting, trying to articulate my sadness. Why do I care so much? I left the Voice

CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

See EARLY DAYS Page 6

Member of Federal Parliament Electoral District: Niagara West Dean Allison, MP 4994 King Street Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0 Dean.Allison@parl.gc.ca 877-563-7900

Member of Provincial Parliament Electoral District: Niagara West Sam Oosterhoff, MPP 4961 King St. East, Unit M1 Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0 sam.oosterhoffco@pc.ola.org 905-563-1755

Members of Niagara Regional Council Councillor Marvin Junkin mjunkin@pelham.ca 905-658-2986

Councillor Diana Huson diana.huson@niagararegion.ca 905-324-3094

Town of Pelham 20 Pelham Town Square P.O. Box 400  Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 905-892-2607

7 2020

Mayor of Pelham Marvin Junkin mjunkin@pelham.ca 905-658-2986

Members of Pelham Town Council

Ward 1

Councillor Kevin Ker kker@pelham.ca 905-931-9571

Councillor Wayne Olson wolson@pelham.ca 905-931-9573

Ward 2 Councillor Brian Eckhardt beckhardt@pelham.ca 905-931-9574

Councillor John Wink jwink@pelham.ca 905-931-9576

Ward 3 Councillor Bob Hildebrandt bhildebrandt@pelham.ca 905-892-5647

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CONTACT: (289) 897-8366, info@fosterfootcare.com 209 RR 20, Fonthill

Opinion?

REGIONALCOUNCILUPDATE

by Diana Huson, Niagara Regional Councillor (Pelham)

What a year! It’s hard to believe at this time last year we were still dealing with various Provincial lockdown stages, people were struggling to book vaccine appointments, and a Section 22 order impacted local restaurants. Last January Niagara reached a grim milestone of 500 pandemic deaths, now just over 600 as of August, but we seemed to have turned a corner and obtained some sense of normalcy. How far we’ve come! How far we still need to go.

While we seem to largely have a grip on Covid, it still has a major impact on our daily lives. The virus is still circulating and very threatening to our vulnerable community members. It’s had a strong presence in schools, affecting children, teachers and learning. It’s also led to the closure of many businesses, including some right here in Pelham.

As a society, we’ve seen a “rush to retirement,” or people opting out of the care sector, that has significantly impacted the Region’s ability to supply child care and staff our long-term care homes. There continues to be supply issues, inflation is affecting the cost of everything and there’s now talk of a recession early in 2023.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom!

This year Pelham saw a happy return of many of our beloved events, including the Pelham Art Festival, the Pelham Fire Strawberry Festival, the Rotary FunFest, the Fenwick Market (new!) and the many, many other initiatives that contribute to life in Pelham. The Canada Games were able to finally able to run their course, albeit a year late, with the cycling event held here in town, and one of the best-attended festival

Scripture and Christmas

Every year after Thanksgiving, most people's thoughts turn to Christmas.

In the classic festive film Miracle on 34th Street, character Kris Kringle declares that “Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a state of mind.” Most people like the combination of giving and family togetherness and beautiful music mixed with decorations.

Although the Bible is not specific on the exact date of Jesus’ birth, Pope Julius 1 chose December 25 as the official date to celebrate the birth of Jesus because the common belief is he chose that date to help adopt and absorb the pagan festivals that occurred during the same time.

It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 film based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol. An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated busi-

nessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

“Each man’s life touches so many other lives. Our lives are full of wonder, it seems, by the mere fact of our interconnectedness. We are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is,” wrote Kurt Vonnegut. “Remove one Jenga piece and the tower begins to wobble.”

The interesting book, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born, by Dr. D. James Kennedy, fleshes out that same theory for our present day lives.

Some scholars believe there are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. These prophecies are specific enough that the mathematical probability of Jesus fulfilling even a handful of them, let alone all of them, is staggeringly improbable — if not impossible.

Peter Stoner, Chairman of the

FROMTHEMAYOR'SDESK Mayor Marvin Junkin

Plenty of challenges ahead for new Town Council

This is the time of year that seems to encourage one to look at the accomplishments of the past year, and gaze into the coming year trying to set hopefully attainable goals from a Mayor’s perspective, to continue to make Pelham a fine place to live.

year currently taking place is the $13 million dollar addition to Pelham Town Hall. This addition will provide meeting rooms and more importantly modern public washroom facilities for everyone. Finally all who attend Town events occurring in Peace Park can say good-

technology from their home or place of work.

In the New Year the 2023 Town budget— which consists of both capital expenditures and operation expenses—will be front and centre for the month of January. With inflation hovering around 10 percent and supply chain issues pushing up the cost of most materials, council will have hard decisions to make on all fronts.

Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena College, was passionate about biblical prophecies. With 600 students from the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Stoner looked at eight specific prophecies about Jesus. They came up with extremely conservative probabilities for each one being fulfilled, and then considered the likelihood of Jesus fulfilling all eight of those prophecies. The conclusion to his research was staggering. The prospect that anyone would satisfy those eight prophecies was just 1 in 1017.

One of the great realities of Scripture is the prophetic na-

See HUSON Page 15 See SCRIPTURE Page 15

This past year saw many great additions to the Town’s outdoor recreation facilities, starting in Centennial Park, in Fenwick. The nine new pickle ball courts and the completely refurbished tennis courts have really increased the numbers at the park. The new splashpad opened in the first week of July and mothers found themselves being pulled to the park by their impatient youngsters for the 8 AM opening. Unfortunately due to construction hold-ups the splashpad at Marlene Stewart Streit Park was not completed until the end of the summer. Everyone will be looking forward to an early opening next summer.

The urbanization of Pelham Street Phase 2 was completed on time, but alas, came in over-budget due to huge increases in prices for infrastructure materials, i.e, storm water and sewer piping.

The next phase for this project is the upgrading of Quaker Road from Pelham Street to Rice Road. The Town will be splitting the cost with Niagara Region. The last big project of the

bye to our long-serving porta-potties. This work will force council out of Council Chambers and into the recently rewired-for-livestreaming Accursi Room at the MCC. The public will be welcomed back to the meetings. These meetings have traditionally been held on Monday evenings, but they will be moved to Wednesday mornings at 9 AM as per the new Council vote. This step was taken due to all of Town Council members being retired or semi-retired from the workforce. Anyone wishing to make a presentation to council can choose to appear before council in person or can use Zoom

After the Town budget is finalized, staff and council will meet to perfect our strategic plan, which includes goals up to 2030 and will steer both council and staff for council’s four-year term.

Of course the biggest problem we face, not only in the Region but all over our country, is the lack of affordable housing for our ever-growing number of homeless. Whether you call it attainable housing or affordable housing, very little progress has been made on these two fronts and success will only be had when the federal and Provincial governments find the political will and the money to subsidize low-cost housing projects. Developers have in the past and will in future build for the market.

In California, voters agreed in 2017 to a quarter-cent sales tax which went strictly to building low-cost housing. That quarter-cent tax raised $425 million a year since the measure passed.

"In the New Year the 2023 Town budget will be front and centre for the month of January"

One of the first things Christians are taught in catechism class is that the Son of God is not a sausage roll. It’s part of a deeper theology, of course— other pastry snacks are not specified, but He is never, ever a sausage roll.

I mention this because a few years ago the British bakery Greggs was forced to apologize after it produced an ad depicting a nativity scene with the assorted worshipers praising not the baby Messiah but the aforementioned sausage roll. Silly but harmless. Nope. It caused an uproar, the tabloids became involved, and contrition was needed. It was, apparently, part of the war on Christmas. It’s happened time and time again. But here, reality cries out to be heard: This was merely an insensitive campaign to sell meat products. More than this, there is not and never has been a war on Christmas, whether it’s the appearance of Happy Holidays cards (so what?), multicultural television commercials (surely a good thing), or carol singers allegedly being banned from shopping malls (they aren’t).

But the sausage roll reveals a sorry irony. If there is a religious war, it is not on the season we have somewhat arbitrarily and

relatively recently chosen as the date of Jesus’s birth. Rather, it is an attack against the Christian, egalitarian virtues that the child and the event are supposed to epitomize—a charge led by some Christians and churches themselves.

Some of the loudest and most active Christians tend to be socially conservative and harsh in their opinions of what is new, novel, and challenging, often obsessed with issues such as abortion and homosexuality.

What is expressed repeatedly in the Gospels, however—with a virtual monomania—is love for neighbour. Christ teaches that authentic devotion to God can only by demonstrated by this love, this fraternal romance, and such a love demands social justice, a passion for the poor and marginalized, and a revolutionary understanding of power and morality. If Jesus does condemn anyone, it is the reactionaries, those who have authority, who obscure love under law, and who disguise the kingdom behind formalities and regulations. Instead of opening the doors wide, they close them and bolt them tight.

I have no doubt that those Christians who complain about the ostensible “war on Christmas,” and have such right-wing attitudes

about so many subjects, still believe in their religion, and I certainly have no right or ability to look into their souls. But it has all reached a crisis point now, particularly for those of us who embrace a more progressive but nevertheless committed belief in Christianity.

Quite frankly, the antics of the Christian right also turn people away from Christianity, and understandably so. If that’s what Jesus is about, some people say, I want nothing of it.

Don’t forget that one of the leaders of the battle against this chimerical war on Christmas, and a powerful leader of North American Christianity, is Franklin Graham, the son of Billy. He believes that Islam is “very evil and wicked,” admires Vladimir Putin, and demanded that LGBTQ people be barred from churches because Satan “wants to devour our homes.” He also claimed that the election of Donald Trump was due to the “hand of God” at work. Imagine putting all that on a card for Santa.

What he and his friends seem to consider as Christmas is the stuff of tinseled nostalgia mingled with the self-prescribed absolute right of Christians to dominate the public square and dictate the private conscience.

If anything should anger followers of Jesus at Christmas time, it shouldn’t be some irrelevant commercial for food, but rather the fact that millions of people go without food altogether; it shouldn’t be that Jesus’s name is taken in vain but that His teachings are taken in vain; it shouldn’t be that we don’t say “Merry Christmas” as often as we did, but that we so seldom say “I forgive you,” “You are loved,” and “All are welcome in church.”

After all, to the once-ubiquitous question, “What would Jesus do,” the answer would probably be, “Tell everyone to grow up, re-read what the New Testament says, and then go and turn the world upside-down.” Not just at Christmas, but every day of the year.

And while I still watch Frosty the Snowman every Yuletide and love the Dickensian fantasy of the season, if I forget the authentic, revolutionary, life-transforming meaning of it all, I might as well genuflect to the great sausage roll in the sky. 4

Rev. Michael Coren is an award-winning Toronto-based columnist and author of 18 books, appears regularly on TV and radio, and is also an Anglican priest.

EARLY DAYS

continued from Page 4

and developing black and white film, could head up this new venture.

They volunteered to paint and renovate our office space; they baked goodies for our open house; they volunteered for shifts at the Kinsmen Home Show; and, took turns walking in or riding on floats, in Pelham parades in the warmest and coldest of days. We even had a slo-pitch team (and a trophy to prove our skills).

My mom, Jeanette, put her administrative and organizational prowess to work as our first receptionist, and then stayed on as a volunteer proofreader for more than a decade. Not one issue went out the door without her stamp of approval.

My dad, Allan, took on delivering the downtown Fonthill retail route, and he did it for so many years that many of you still know him or recognize him around town today. When he feels up to it, he still makes his way into your stores for a wee visit now and then.

Yes, we were all younger and more energetic then, to be sure. And yes, our town has expanded by leaps and bounds, taking away from the small-town feel. Compounded by the rapid growth, of course, is the pandemic, which did its best to rob us of our sense of community.

Yet at the same time, one need only attend a Thursday night experience in Peace Park in the summer, drop by the arena for the Home Show in the spring, volunteer for the December Pelham Cares food drive, have a chat with the crowd watching a carver working on a tree stump outside the Maple Acre branch of the library, and so on, to see that our sense of community, of supporting each other, is still there. I can’t help but note that with uncertain times, increased expenses, food insecurity issues, we really do need each other now more than ever.

As the Voice undergoes its first major transformation in a quarter century, shifting from print to online, I will continue to reflect on those amazing early days, on my awesome Voice family, and look forward to finding even more ways of celebrating and supporting my community. If you know me at all, you knew I would bring it back around to the positive, to the forward-thinking. I can’t help it. I don’t know any other way of being.

I want to take this opportunity to offer my deepest gratitude to the shareholders who believed, who worked, who volunteered, who sweated it out with us in those early days. I am honoured to consider you as part of my family.

Carolyn Mullin Fonthill

Rev. Michael Coren

Bill 23

Ontario is in a housing crisis of historic proportions. Our province is growing by about 300,000 people each year and expanded federal immigration targets mean we can expect even more population growth in the years to come.

Yet over the last 30 years, Ontario has built fewer than 70,000 homes in an average year, which has left our province with a severe housing shortage. A lack of homes has led to dramatically higher prices across Ontario, made it harder to find a rental home, and put the dream of home ownership out of reach for far too many Ontarians.

Recent studies by the province’s Housing Affordability Task Force and the University of Ottawa’s Smart Prosperity Institute estimate Ontario needs to build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031 in order to make up the existing gap and meet future demand.

Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, is a key part of the Ontario government’s commitment to meet that goal and make the dream of home ownership a reality for every family in the province. It will help families across Ontario find homes they can afford and which meet their individual needs.

More Homes Built Faster includes dozens of actions to address Ontario’s housing supply crisis by:

- Providing “as-of-right” zoning for up to three units per lot in most residential areas

- Eliminating certain municipal fees and charges on affordable housing

- Putting in place updated inclusionary zoning rules

- Streamlining approval processes for new homes, including innovative housing models such as land lease communities

- Supporting density around major transit hubs

- Increasing consumer protections for new homebuyers

- Increasing the Non-Resident Speculation Tax rate to strengthen efforts to deter non-resident investors from speculating on the province’s housing market

- Exploring innovative approaches to building schools in urban growth communities

This plan will provide hope and opportunity for a generation of new and young Ontarians who have been unable to afford a home, while providing a better mix of housing options to families at every stage of life.

The status quo is what created Ontario’s housing crisis and we cannot let it stand in the way of a solution.

Myth: “Bill 23 will remove development charges and increase property taxes.”

Fact: Development charges are only being eliminated for affordable and inclusionary zoning units, not-forprofit housing and select attainable housing units, with reductions of up to 25% for purpose-built rentals. For most other homes, Bill 23 simply limits the rate at which cities can raise development charges – which already add about $116,900 to the cost of an average home in the GTA. This will help bring down the cost of housing in Ontario and make it easier and cheaper to build and purchase a home.

Myth: “Bill 23 is getting rid of the Greenbelt.”

Fact: Bill 23 does not alter the Greenbelt. In a separate action, the government has proposed to adjust the boundary of the two million acre Greenbelt near existing urban areas, but the changes would ultimately lead to the overall expansion of the Greenbelt by approximately 2,000 acres, as well as the creation of at least 50,000 new homes in the near future.

MUNICIPAL MATTERS Pelham Town Hall

Up for 2023: Budgets, strategy, Snowy McSnowPlow

BY DAVID CRIBBS Chief Administrative Officer Town of Pelham

These are fascinating times at Pelham Town Hall.

With the 2022 election wrapped up, Town administration moved into orientation and training mode. The Town recently hosted four meetings during which all aspects of municipal governance and operations were discussed and reviewed with the new council. It’s a nice opportunity for the new team to learn from each other, meet the staff and get acquainted with all the various rules, regulatory regimes and policies with which the Town must comply as it tries to provide services to the community. The highlight of the training session was likely the bus ride around Town, with the chance to see where major upcoming infrastructure projects are anticipated, where future housing growth is likely to occur, and to get a chance to literally kick the tires of the fi re trucks and snow plows.

With training and orientation complete, a new term of council typically involves two other critical items before attention can be turned to business of a more routine nature. Depending on the municipality in question, the order

of these items can change, but in any event it is necessary to both pass a budget for the upcoming year and to establish a strategic plan, so that we have some community goals and objectives.

The draft budget has been printed and distributed. This document takes months of work by many people in Town Hall, although obviously the Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer deserve the most credit.

Bringing a comprehensive document (which is really three separate documents: a capital budget, an operating budget, and a water and wastewater budget) that covers everything that Pelham wants and needs to get done, and covers all the costs incurred by hundreds of people (more than 100 staff, almost 100 volunteer fire fighters, summer students, seasonal workers and volunteers) is no easy task.

Harder still are the decisions that the new council must face as it decides what projects to green light, how much inflation will interfere with the best laid plans and what the community can realistically afford given the current state of the economy.

When the budget is complete (currently anticipated to be finished in early February), it will be time to turn our minds to the future. A

strategic plan is a document that sets out what matters to the community —its values, what it wants to focus upon, and what it will do to make those values become tangible reality. This process is likely to take a few days, and ultimately create a framework that will underpin most major decisions for the coming four years. It is an important, arduous and engaging process which really makes clear to all staff what they ought to be doing, and how they ought to be doing it. For policy nerds like this author, strategic planning sessions are almost like holidays—full of fun and surprises.

Given that Pelham is a community full of clever and talented people, staff thought it would make sense to hold a competition to name the Town’s snowplows. The entire community will be relying on the plows in the months to come, and at least on occasion they are going to fi ll our driveways after we have just shoveled them, so it might brighten things a little if you can recognize your own handiwork on the side of a plow. This writer loves the names Betty Whiteout and Blizzard of Oz (not my original ideas). Contest details will be found elsewhere in the paper—please enjoy and give us the best you have! 4

Former CannTrust execs acquitted

BY JOHN CHICK Voice Correspondent

The three former CannTrust executives charged in relation to alleged illegal growing at the former company’s Fenwick greenhouse were acquitted in a Toronto court last Thursday, Dec. 15, walking free after a saga that started some three years ago.

The acquittals of Peter Aceto, Mark Litwin and Eric Paul came a day after Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) prosecutors told the court they no longer had a reasonable prospect of obtaining convictions in the case.

The trio were indicted on charges ranging from fraud to insider trading in 2021, two years after a former employee of CannTrust blew the whistle to the Voice and other media outlets about allegedly illegally grown cannabis at the Fenwick site. The OSC and the RCMP alleged that the three men were aware that roughly half of the cannabis growing in the facility at the time was not licensed by Health Canada.

However, testimony from former CannTrust compliance director Graham Lee was picked apart by defence lawyers during the trial, which included Lee’s admission that he mistakenly used the words “licensed” and “unlicensed” to describe some of the growing rooms in Fenwick.

The lawyer for former

CEO Aceto said his client was happy to be exonerated.

“For over two years, Peter Aceto sat quietly while his earned reputation was under a cloud of wrongful allegations,” lawyer Frank Addario said, according to the Canadian Press. “It is not possible to understate the effect of a wrongful allegation against a citizen.”

The executives worked out of CannTrust’s headquarters in Vaughan, some 130 kilometres north of the Fenwick facility. However, Aceto told the Voice in early 2019 that he regularly visited the Pelham site.

Aceto, Litwin, and Paul were either fired by CannTrust or resigned after the growing scandal broke. After the company filed for

creditor protection and saw its stock delisted from two major North American exchanges, CannTrust was sold off and renamed Phoena — which continues to operate the Fenwick facility.

A Phoena PR spokesperson told the Voice in October that the former executives have nothing to do with the current iteration of the company.

“Over three years ago the former CEO was dismissed with cause by a special committee of the board of directors, and the chairman of the board was forced to resign at the same time,” Hill+Knowlton’s Jane Shapiro said. “The former company was not charged. Phoena has no interest in these matters.”

Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc. is governed by an eight-member board that provides local electricity distribution and related services to residential and business customers in the Town of Pelham, the City of Niagara Falls, the Town of Lincoln, and the Township of West Lincoln. The Board of Directors sets the strategic direction and monitors the performance of NPEI.

of Directors

The Town of Pelham, Lincoln, and the Township of West Lincoln are the sole shareholders of PWPI and each municipality is to appoint two directors to sit on its Board. The president is the sole director of the services company which provides rentals of electric water heaters and sentinel lights and administers the maintenance of streetlights for its municipal owners. PWPI is the sole shareholder of Peninsula West Services Ltd. and has shares in Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc.

Preference may be given to qualified candidates who are residents of the Municipalities; however, non-residents shall not be excluded from serving as Board members.

In June 2018, former Mayor David Augustyn, centre, with CannTrust officials at the Fenwick facility's official opening. Far left, Eric Paul; in mirrored sunglasses, Peter Aceto; far right, Mark Litwin. Augustyn declared that the company's marijuana operation “provides hope to our community.” VOICE FILE

Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc. (NPEI) Board of Directors

Peninsula West Power Inc. (PWPI) Board

Pelham tech company wins international bids

BY DON RICKERS Contributing News Editor

Figuratively and literally, Dr. Tim Nohara has some big sales on his radar.

His Pelham-based company, Accipiter Radar Technologies Inc., recently signed a collaboration agreement with Volatus Aerospace Corporation, enabling Volatus to introduce “clean energy drone solutions” for a variety of aerial inspections, including oil and gas pipelines and railways, along with arctic surveillance, using remotely piloted aircraft (drones) operating beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLS).

Accipiter, which is a large North American industry player in the development and deployment of avian radar systems for bird detection and avoidance at civil and military airports, also announced a contract with the Hellenic Air Force to supply 3D avian radar systems at five of their bases in Greece.

“The use of Accipiter’s proven radar solutions will provide detect-and-alert and detect-andavoid information needed to commercialize at scale,” said Glen Lynch, CEO of Volatus Aerospace, in a press release. “Teaming with Accipiter enables us to introduce innovative green solutions for our customers in our journey toward a carbon neutral future.”

In his own media statement, Tim Nohara said he was “excited”

by the opportunities to come. “The safe deployment of drones leveraging our well-established radar surveillance solutions will make a real difference both for industrial customers and our environment alike,” he said.

Every 1,000 miles of pipeline inspected using a drone, rather than a helicopter or light airplane, reduces the carbon emissions being released into the atmosphere by as much as 2400 pounds, according to a source quoted by Volatus. Given the millions of miles of pipeline in North America that require regular, ongoing inspection by air to comply with safety regulations, the environmental impact of battery-powered drone use may be hugely significant.

Volatus Aerospace, headquartered just north of Barrie, is a provider of integrated drone solutions in North America and around the globe. It serves civil, public, and defense markets.

Accipiter has a record of developing high-performance radar and sensor intelligence networks, engineered to monitor the environment for such targets as ships, low flying aircraft, vehicles, and birds, as well as natural occurrences like weather and ocean waves, and snow and ice. Homeland security, aviation safety, and environmental protection are all enhanced by Accipiter’s technologies, work on

which is conducted at its offices in Fonthill and Orchard Park, New York.

Working with their Greek regional partner, Accipiter avian radar systems will be used to monitor bird activity in and around aircraft approach and arrival flight corridors, providing intelligence for airport staff to assess potential risks. The deployed systems will include steerable acoustic hailing devices, which will be used to target and harass flocks of birds with a variety of audible sounds.

Nohara met with the Voice to discuss his company’s success in attracting customers both domestically and abroad.

“It’s all about doing a better job, doing it more safely and cost-effectively, on a path of decarbonization,” said Nohara. “Many people have probably witnessed helicopters inspecting hydro lines and other infrastructure. Pilots operate under VFR, or visual flight rules, based on line-of-sight. Industry regulators have specified that unmanned drones require a

remote pilot in command, and that the pilot has to keep that drone in visual line-of-sight, which isn’t very far. So if you are using a remote pilot to fly drones for inspection purposes, you’ve got to keep moving with the drone, which is very limiting.”

The work-around is to contact civil aviation authorities to receive a special flight operating certificate, that allows drone flying beyond visual line-of-sight.

Accipiter President and CEO Tim Nohara with a portable 3D avian radar unit

DON RICKERS

Mayor Marvin Junkin, on behalf of Pelham Town Council and staff.

Town of Pelham Christmas Card Contest winners

BALANCED

the history of radios, and the culture that spawned them, alive for their enjoyment and to share with others.

We had met a few weeks earlier at my home. I was selling a solid-state JVC Matrix four-channel quadraphonic stereo amplifier and turntable unit, a first of its kind, which I spoke about in an earlier column from last June. Chevy (yes, it’s his birth name; he is a child of the ‘60s, but I was too engrossed in his radios to ask the obvious) was the first to reply to my advertisement. Next day he drove from Orillia to Fonthill and bought the unit. Without pretension Chevy shared that he loved radios, and told the story of how he got hooked.

“I rented a house in Newmarket. It was a ‘50s house, and my partner at the time said, ‘We have a ‘50s house, a ‘50s trailer and a ‘50s car. We need a 1950s radio.’ I searched out two old men at their shop and found a ‘50s radio, then asked them if they would teach me [radio repair]. They said absolutely, and that’s how it all began.”

When Chevy moved north, he couldn’t conceive of moving all his radios into a contemporary house, so he purchased an 1872 brick century home.

“Now I’m in the house that I am because of a $20 radio.” Within minutes I asked if I could visit his home and meet his collection, and perhaps write a column.

Chevy’s been doing his radio thing for 20 years or more, and smiles when he recalls that his father forced him to attend college. He studied furniture production and design, which provided an appreciation for the aesthetics of radios, and an understanding of the attention to detail required to produce quality restorations.

“Little did I know 40 years later...”

Chevy drifts away for a second, then returns.

“Life has a plan for us, we don’t know why, or why we stick to things, but there we go.”

Chevy credits his friend and mentor, 88-year-old Paul Ross of St. Catharines, who for 50 years owned a TV repair shop in North Bay, for nurturing his passion for radios.

“I’m a complete novice compared to him,” he says. “I wish I could put a USB port from his brain into mine. If I ever get stuck fi xing a radio, he’ll help me get it over the top.”

Our tour begins in a sitting room with nowhere to sit. Every room in the house except the bathrooms, every closet and bookshelf that I can see, is stuffed full of radios.

The next hour was a fascinating blur, a nonstop bombardment of radio facts peppered with trivia and anecdotes.

I saw the General Electric radio that Wally and the Beav listened to half a century ago, and the Philips 22RL798 from James Bond’s Diamonds are Forever.

Chevy has one of the first radios with remote control. It was manufactured by General Motors in 1932. The radio stood alone whereever you placed it, connected by wire to its dials built into a pedestal ashtray which could be positioned beside your sofa or chair. Ninety years ago one needn’t stand up to change stations or volume.

There was a shelf with a Sony Watchman, and various other radios with miniature TVs that you could take to the ballpark to watch the instant replays. Chevy explained the transition in electronics from radio tubes to mini-tubes to transistors to solid- state, then showed me one of the first Sony solid-state radios from the ‘70s with 13 different bandwidths.

The same shelf contained a Westinghouse Escort, a transistor radio that dou-

bled as a flashlight and cigarette lighter, which led Chevy to lament, “Today they’re not as inventive, ingenious enough.”

A highlight of his collection is a set of Electrohome radios from the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, handpainted with an Asian motif and design. He has five, and they are so rare that even finding information on them is difficult. Two of the beauties are sitting atop a similarly painted cabinet, which when opened displays an original, matching ‘50s television.

As we’re standing beside a row of lovingly restored floor-standing clock radios, I have to ask, “Will you ever sell any of these?”

Chevy explains how he keeps upgrading his collection as he learns more, how over time what were his top-end items have become his low-end stock, how his low-end is most peoples’ high-end, and how this is all self-financing, so yes, he does sell some things. Chevy is reluctant to use the word flip when he describes his own connections to the radios.

“I got the bright idea that I wanted to collect as many

[massive floor model clock radios] as I could. Now I love them so much, and I’ve restored them all, I’m keeping them all.”

As he continues, his tone becomes forbidding. He makes a categorical comment about his collecting philosophy.

“Most of the guys that are collectors now aren’t — they’re flippers. See, there’s not a radio in this house that doesn’t work. I buy them, fix them, get them all working. I don’t believe in having a radio that doesn’t work, I just don’t believe in having it sitting on a shelf and not working if I wanna go turn it on.”

Chevy later mentions his life has had a lots of ups and downs, and that he’s lost many people close to him. They’ve died. He keeps them alive through his radios, stating emphatically again, “I will not have a radio in the house that doesn’t work.”

There’s no mention of how this connection between his radios and lost ones works, and I don’t ask, yet my mind races to the conclusion that if one of Chevy’s radios ceases working, it might somehow extinguish a soul

close to him.

The WWII-era Zenith Bomber shortwave radio, manufactured with revolutionary loctal tubes which allowed it to be transported in a plane or ship (the Clipper model) without the tubes falling out, was designed to give pilots and navy captains access to shortwave transmissions from anywhere in the world decades before the internet. Chevy has every model of this radio ever produced.

There are two Canadian-made Dionne Quintuplet radios, and a glistening white radio that would hang above a hospital patient’s bed. Inserting ten cents would allow you to tune the dial to locate just the right station for comfort or sleep. A different shelf contains the rarest of American Catlin plastic radios. The Catlins, whose casings could collapse if left in the sun too long, were made with plastic containing formaldehyde, leading to the death of many workers on their production lines.

Chevy has the Mickey Mouse children’s radio dubbed the “curtain burner.” The radio’s resistors were built into its cloth-

wrapped cord, which frequently heated up enough to catch fire, ignite nearby curtains, and burn your house down.

The tour continued to a spare bedroom, where there was a DKE38, the low-quality, two-tube German propaganda radio with limited range nicknamed, “Goebbel’s snout.” Chevy showed me a photo of the uniformed Nova Scotian soldier he had purchased the radio from holding the DKE38 after smuggling it into Canada while returning from duty in Europe after World War II.

“A lot of Germans were listening to the Allies as they were coming closer.

If the Germans caught you with this radio and the station was not in German, if there was any English or French, you would be assassinated on the spot. Done.”

There is simply no way the depth and breadth of this collection can be described in the space allotted this column. As I prepared to leave, Chevy described the pitfalls a layperson might encounter when trying to get an antique or vintage radio repaired. I believe he was sincere when he said, “If [Voice readers] have a family heirloom or something for their parents they can’t get it working, I don’t mind, I’d gladly help out.” He can be contacted at antiqueradiomedic@gmail.com

Chevy and his radios are a reminder that life is to be lived with passion, purpose and immediacy, to its fullest.

I loved my vintage bicycles back when there were 25 scattered around the house, but I realize now I was a piker compared to Chevy. He is so passionate, his experiences and interactions as he searches out his radios so rare, his life so absolutely directed. He lives and breathes his love of radios, and life, always looking forward to what tomorrow might bring for him and Maggie. What more could any of us need? 4

MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY HOLIDAYS WONDERFUL NEW YEAR

,

JOHN WINK Councillor - Ward 2

May this season of joy mark the start of a blessed and peaceful year to come. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Mayor Marvin Junkin and Family

Left, a stacked shelf of vintage radios including an extremely rare, ten-unit complete collection of Canadian-made Westinghouse 501 5-way radios on the top shelf. Collecting vintage radios also means collecting vintage batteries JOHN SWART

Ella Woodcock is bound for Boston

Elite Pelham rower heads for Northeastern University

BY DON RICKERS Contributing News Editor

It’s nice to have options, especially at an early age.

Seventeen-year-old Ella Woodcock, a senior at Notre Dame in Welland, was courted by a number of American universities for two sports: hockey and rowing.

In the end, the serene waters of the Charles River in Boston won out over frozen collegiate rinks south of the border. Ella, the daughter of Ron and Tina Woodcock, in Fonthill, will be attending Northeastern University on a full-ride athletic scholarship, commencing in September of 2023.

Ivy-league Cornell, the University of Central Florida, and the University of California at Los Angeles were also on Woodcock’s radar for rowing, but a visit to Beantown convinced her that Northeastern should be her destination.

“I'm pretty happy with my decision,” she told the Voice. “I love Boston, and every year Northeastern is moving up in the [collegiate rowing] rankings. I had been to Boston before for a hockey tournament, but my [rowing recruitment] campus visit sold me on the school.”

At almost six feet tall, Woodcock’s best ergometer performance over two kilometres is an impressive 7:14, which attracted the attention of Joe Wilhelm, who hails from St. Catharines and has been the head rowing coach at Northeastern for almost 25 years.

Northeastern competes in the Colonial Athletic Association, against rowing rivals Delaware, Drexel (PA), Eastern Michigan, University of California-San Diego, University of Connecticut, and Villanova (PA).

In June of 2022, Woodcock won gold and bronze medals in the quad sculls at the Canadian Secondary

Schools Rowing Association (CSSRA) championships on the Henley Course in St. Catharines, and followed that up with successful competitions in the fall season of longer “head” races at several regattas, including the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia, and the Head of the Charles in Boston.

Though proficient in sculling (rowing with two blades) in double and quad shells, Woodcock especially enjoys “sweep” rowing in an eight, in which each athlete has one oar.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “I love the power and speed you get in the big boats.”

Hockey had been Woodcock’s primary athletic focus growing up, and she upped her game to a level where she competed in European tournaments in Italy and France in 2019, and now plays on the Brock Junior Badgers Midget AA hockey team. She discovered rowing prior to Grade 9 at Notre Dame, and considered it mainly cross-training in preparation for hockey.

“I think that I have developed strong time-management skills out of necessity during my high school years, having had to often juggle both rowing and hockey practices and competitions,” said Woodcock.

Don’t think that the demands

of collegiate rowing have made Woodcock, who maintains a 4.0 grade point average at Notre Dame, shy away from a rigorous academic program.

“I'm hoping to major in mechanical engineering, and possibly branch out into aerospace,” she said. “A bunch of the young women rowing at Northeastern are in engineering. One girl on the team was actually at Northeastern’s campus in California for a while, working on a Mars rover for use by NASA.”

Woodcock expects to be the only Canadian in a Northeastern women’s crew next September. She has high aspirations for her future in rowing, maintaining a family tra-

dition: one of her cousins preceded her on an NCAA Division I rowing scholarship at Northeastern, and three other cousins attended Texas, Virginia, and Washington for crew.

“I hope to get a shot at the Junior National Team [JNT] trials, depending on how my RADAR goes,” she said.

RADAR, or Rowing Athlete Development And Ranking, is a Rowing Canada program established to identify and monitor athletes.

“The Under 19 Championships are in Paris, France in 2023. If I don’t make the Under 19 team, I’m hoping to be selected for the Can-Am-Mex international regatta.”

Wayne Olson

KEVIN KER - CounCillor, Town of Pelham

Notre Dame senior Ella Woodcock will study engineering when she attends Northeastern University in Boston on a rowing scholarship

DON RICKERS

ACCIPITER

“That’s where we come in, with our radar and sensor surveillance technology,” said Nohara. “We can detect the threats that civil aviation authorities are concerned about, like small crop duster helicopters, which are uncooperative in the sense that they’re not

broadcasting their whereabouts, like passenger aircraft are required to do. So the technology allows us to see and avoid those aircraft, the small ones that are flying at low altitudes, when doing drone inspections. The remote pilot in command of the drone is sitting in an operation centre somewhere, requiring visual understanding of

the intruder aircraft approaching the airspace of the drone, so that the drone can be brought down to safe position in time to avoid any impact.”

Nohara said that Accipiter’s role is in deploying the right surveillance network cost effectively, and delivering the decision support to give the remote pilot effective eyes on any opera-

RECORD DONATIONS At a recent Lions Club of Fenwick dinner meeting Lion President Jeff Pickup presented two $25,000 cheques to Danielle Rosenblum, Community Partnership Manager of the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guide program. The first $25,000 (pictured) was made possible due to the Club’s profitable 2022 Classic Car Raffle, and will be used to fund the sponsorship of two Canine Vision Guide Dogs, plus $13,000 of a $50,000 commitment over five years toward a new Lions Foundation of Canada Guide Dog Building. The second $25,000 donation came from the Estate of Fred Adamson, who specified that the proceeds were to sponsor Guide Dogs. Brothers Frank and Lloyd Adamson presented the cheque to the Lions Club, which will fund the sponsorship of one Autism Dog, one Facility Support Dog, and one Canine Hearing dog in Fred’s memory. From left, Nancy Chaisson and Danielle Rosenblum of Lions Foundation of Canada, and Lions President Jeff Pickup.

SUPPLIED

tions in the vicinity of the drone.

The creation of working solutions transcends science, he said.

“It’s not just technology, it’s a people process. It’s regulatory approvals, it’s testing. This is the area in which we’re very active. Customers want to be able to do their work cost-effectively and with a reduced carbon

footprint. And the way to do that is to employ beyond visual line-of-sight.”

Nohara lpraised the Niagara Central Dorothy Rungeling Airport (NCDRA) in south Pelham, a facility he referred to as “a gem.”

“It’s one of the few places in the entire country that has this kind of unique airspace that supports an ecosystem of technology and artificial intelligence, and advanced aviation safety. It’s right here in our backyard. We have an aerodrome with Class G airspace that lets us test-drive drones and assess their surveillance capabilities, and demonstrate the safety equation. I think it has huge future potential for this region.”

Referencing the Hellenic Air Force contract, Nohara said Accipiter will be deploying surveillance gear, radars, sensors, cameras, and other tech, all part of the decision support package. A Greek military pilot who is flying mainly training missions needs real-time, tactical information from air traffic control related to seabirds, he said.

“We can use statistical patterns of bird activity really effectively. It’s

no different to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation collecting traffic data on the QEW, to predict peak periods of congestion. Bird flocks have patterns, just like vehicles and their drivers on the way to work.

Birds fly from their nesting places to search for food, and then return later in the day. Once we understand the fl ight paths, we can deliver high value technology for surveillance and intervention.”

Artificial intelligence and technology development require a high degree of collaboration, which means face-to-face communication, asserted Nohara.

“We talk about innovation all the time, but most people don’t fully appreciate what it really involves,” he said. “It’s face-to-face discussions, whiteboarding, brainstorming, running down the hall when you hit an impasse to have a conversation with somebody who might be able to contribute to a resolution. It’s so critical. All innovation businesses have taken a huge productivity hit during the pandemic, with staff working from home, but hopefully we’re seeing a comeback now.”

Arwen, age 9, A.K. Wigg.

SCRIPTURE

continued from Page 5

ture of the Bible. Isaiah prophesied for a period of about 40 years, around 700 years before the birth of Jesus. J. Barton Payne's Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy lists 1,239 prophecies in the Old Testament and 578 prophecies in the New Testament, for a total of 1,817. These encompass 8,352 verses. There are predictions made in Scripture that have already come true

HUSON

continued from Page 5

events across the Region saw Pelham hosting Alberta at one of our Bandshell concerts. There was significant progress in the last year of Regional Council’s term with the Region completing a ten-year Economic Development Strategy. We also passed a new comprehensive Official Plan and held our first Climate Summit. There will be considerable work, both by the Region and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, in developing climate plans that will internally affect the organizations and their carbon footprints. Initiatives will also be developed that outwardly impact the community/environment and I anticipate seeing more green infrastructure projects, urban tree planting initiatives, and policies that em-

MAYOR'S DESK

Some 78,000 Californians have been permanently housed and a further 105,000 have been placed in interim housing. I know no one likes to pay taxes, but how big can we let this problem get?

I have been asked by residents what our Town can do, the answer is nothing: We have no land and no buildings that can be converted into housing. The Region and the bigger cities of the Region have completed small projects. Hopefully over the next four years will see some meaningful headway made by upper levels of government.

Finally, best wishes to you and yours for the holidays and the New Year. 4

and there are many that we are waiting to come true—for example, the second coming of Jesus Christ. Yet, before he comes the second time he had to have come the first time. You can test the prophetic accuracy of Scripture by asking this one question: Did it come to pass? This is really the only way to know if something that is prophesied is true or not.

Merry Christmas and the best for the New Year to you and the ones you love.

P. Bryant Pelham

brace green energy and transportation uses.

Looking forward, the Region will be dealing with the impact of Bill 23 on our budget and planning services. Provincial policy changes have significantly scaled back environmental protections which will impact our ability to preserve and protect essential natural heritage, such as wetlands.

And we continue to see growth pressures that will require essential funding for new infrastructure. Of equal, if not greater importance is the backlog of existing infrastructure that requires maintenance and upgrading.

Thank you again for re-electing me as your Regional Councillor this past October. I look forward to serving another term. Please reach out any time to discuss issues that are most important to you. Happy holidays everyone! 4

FAITH LIFT

continued from Page 23

got it.”

“Yeah, I remember. They were changed men after that. Something weird definitely happened to them that night. Those were strange times.”

Then the aged woman fell silent. Finally, she spoke softly. “And then the tragedy happened,” she muttered. “After the crowd went home and things calmed down, the soldiers came. Without warning, they searched every home in Bethlehem looking for any child under two…”

She took a long breath, “…and slaughtered them.”

The old innkeeper put

his gnarled hand around her shoulder. “Yes, I try to forget but I still remember. ‘The massacre’ we called

“We’ve lived through a lot, my dear,” said the innkeeper with a sad smile.

“Yes, good times, hard times, strange times and terrible times,” his wife agreed. “And now it’s time for bed.”

“You’re right. You go ahead. I’ll be up shortly.” The old innkeeper slowly shuffled to the door of the inn. He opened it and stood there for a long time… peering into the darkness. Then he closed it, latched it for night, and went to bed.

it. No explanation… just bloodshed. No answers… just grief. Who were they looking for? I guess we’ll never know. Those were the worst of times.”

“I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.” – Jesus (Revelation 3:20) 4

Rob Weatherby is a retired pastor.

"I guess we'll never know. Those were the worst of times."

Charlie, age 11, A.K. Wigg. Quinn, age 11, A.K. Wigg.

NICE SURPRISE The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 613 presents Pelham Cares with a $1,000 donation from a fundraising event that was held at the Legion Hall in September. “This was a great surprise,” says Pelham Cares Office Manager Jennifer Dubé, “and we wish to thank Toni McKelvie and her team of volunteers for the lovely dinner and excellent service they provided that evening. Receiving this additional donation from the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 613 just speaks volume on how much they contribute to our community.” From left, Susan Mark, Pelham Cares Treasurer; Toni McKelvie, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 613 President; and Nancy Yungblut, Pelham Cares Fundraising Chair SUPPLIED

A local, family-owned business with decades of experience in used auto sales and vehicle service, has decided to shutter its operation.

The service bays are vacant, as is most of the spacious parking lot on Highway 20, just east of Rice Road.

Manager Jordan Riley told the Voice that the 5.5 acre property, with 15,000 square feet of indoor office and shop space, is for lease, not for sale.

The operation commenced in 1990. Just under 20 employees were affected by the move.

“It’s never an easy decision to close a dealership, but we’re taking care of our employees as best we can, helping them moving forward,” said Riley. “It’s important to us that we thank

our customers and the community for their patronage during the past 32 years.”

Service Ontario, which has an office on the premises, will not be moving from its current site.

and basements with the fraud squad searching for evidence in old trunks and boxes. When John was applying for permanent training, they encouraged him to continue with university training so he would have a degree in case he did not like the work.

His application with the RCMP started with his own investigation process, some of which we eventually knew about. Teachers, neighbours, the minister, and former bosses were all interviewed to give a picture of his character. One of our neighbours was stopped by a young man in his car asking what kind of person was John Ferguson. Finally, a young officer phoned us to ask about coming to our home for an interview with us. He chose Halloween evening, which was a bit of an interrupted affair. Perhaps that was his plan— to see how we could handle the situation. After that, John settled down to wait—and wait.

At last his acceptance arrived in the mail. Hallelujah! He was to enroll in Regina on July 1, 1980. We had just adjusted to his leaving home for university after three years, but we both knew that this was a

different separation. He was outward bound for his professional life now. This was the way of the world, but that did not make it any easier. Now here he was greeting us — looking tired, but excited, and very trim and fit. He wore the working uniform and big boots. Something happens to your stomach the first time you see your child in a police uniform. Instinctively, you want to stand up straighter, and swear to tell the truth, but this policeman threw his arms around us and hugged us both. He crushed Nancy in a tight embrace and we knew for sure that she must be the one for him.

Because the graduation was on January 5, parents and wives were asked if they wished to come early and have tickets for the annual New Year’s Eve Dinner and Ball. So that evening we donned what finery we had and went to the festivities. It was a red serge affair, and John looked very elegant in his uniform, walking proudly with Nancy on his arm. He drove us in his car from the hotel to the auditorium. We checked in at our hotel in Regina, along with many other families from every province in Canada, who were all there to celebrate their sons’ completion of the rigorous taking-offof-his-hat to fit into the

driver’s seat.

“Oh, heck,” he said. “I can’t fit the pedals because of my spurs,” and proceeded to unclip his spurs and hand them to his dad in the front seat. This set me off into a fit of the giggles, Nancy

whole chicken and duck. Huge bowls held different kinds of salads with many varieties of dressings available. Another two tables held a variety of elegant desserts. Dancing began after the meal and was a pleasure to see—watching was more interesting.

joining in, and we drove off to hysterical laughter from the four of us. This was a new experience for us to be double-dating with our son and his girlfriend, and we knew that next time we must allow Nancy to sit in front as a couple.

That evening was a memorable occasion. The drill hall was full of mature officers with the gold braid glistening on the red serge. It was like a movie set, with the women in formal gowns circulating among their friends. The new young officers-to-be felt quite humble with all these impressive superiors around.

We could hardly believe the size of the tables of food at this gigantic buffet. At both ends of the 12foot tables were the biggest haunches of western beef we had ever seen. In between were platters of fish, huge hams ready for slicing, and several platters of

The next day was more restful, but also interesting for us—a tour of the training buildings. Next came a day of instruction for the wives/girlfriends of the new recruits—what they could expect, how to fit in to a new community, etc., while the parents were free to come and go. So we decided to rent a car and travel west for the day—going as far as Moose Jaw as we explored some of Saskatchewan’s prairie in winter.

The day of graduation dawned clear and sunny in spite of the cold. The new recruits were rehearsing their drills – John said later that they messed up their drill practice and they were yelled at. In the actual program the drill was done to perfection and we watched with pride to see our son at his best. Both Nancy and I had tears. Each recruit came to salute and receive his formal papers and many shed tears at last. This segment of their lives was over. Papers and addresses of their new placement were handed out. John was off to Maple Ridge in British Columbia as he had indicated either B.C. or Alberta as his choice. We all had tears as we said goodbye—we were all on a new path. It was a New Year’s celebration to remember and cherish. 4

DEVITT, Wayne

J. Wayne Devitt died peacefully in his 78th year at the Port Colborne Hospital on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, after an almost 21-year battle with cancer. Wayne leaves behind his wife of 54 years, Patti, his daughter Melissa, his son Michael (Amanda) and his grandchildren Lila and Gibson. Wayne also leaves behind his two brothers, Larry (Susan) and Terry (Judy), his brother-in-law Warren (Carol) Alder as well as his nieces and nephews. Wayne adored his family and loved creating memories with them. Wayne is predeceased by his parents, Jean and Carl, and his Aunt Helen. His Aunt Pat resides in Summerland, BC. Shortly after marrying, Patti and Wayne moved to the Niagara area from the Durham region. Wayne began his teaching career at A.N. Myer Secondary and remained there for his entire 30year career. Wayne was an excellent educator and coach and taught all that he came into contact with perseverance, integrity, commitment and sportsmanship. He was affectionately referred to as “Mr. Myer” and his photo is gracing both the Myer Sports Wall of Fame as well as the City of Niagara Falls Sports Wall of Fame. When not teaching or coaching, Wayne enjoyed traveling and instilled this love in his children and wife. The family travelled extensively throughout the USA and Europe after his retirement. Wayne also actively participated in hockey, coaching in Pelham and gardening. Wayne took great pride in his gardens. The family would like to thank the countless healthcare workers, doctors, nurses and aides that have been on this journey with Wayne. His team at Hamilton Health Sciences, Dr. Davis, Dr. Shayegan and Dr. Hotte were nothing short of exemplary and fought for Wayne to have 20 additional years with his family and friends. To the Niagara team of EMS, PSWs and palliative care nurses, we thank you. You were a bright light in a very dark storm. Lastly, a heartfelt debt of gratitude and love to Dr. Tim Tatzel, Wayne’s primary care doctor. Dr. Tatzel and his team (Lana and Vi) were always there to support and comfort. Dr. Tatzel attended to Wayne at his residence during this last month and we cannot ever begin to express how incredibly grateful we are that doctors like Dr. Tatzel exist. A celebration of life will be held at A.N. Myer Secondary in Niagara Falls, ON on Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 1-4 PM. The celebration will take place in the school’s cafeteria. A private family ceremony will be at the family cemetery at a later date. Donations, if you would like to honour Wayne, can be made to Cancer Care Ontario (prostate), Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, or the Niagara SPCA. Arrangements are entrusted to Essentials Cremation and Burial Services. Online condolences may be shared on Wayne’s tribute page at EssentialsNiagara.com

"Perhaps that was his plan—to see how we could handle the situation"

Out walking her beagle Milo, Emma Brennan comes across a crime scene—a dead body at a construction site in East Lofthill. At home, she tells her husband Matt that it’s the same man who came to their house the day before, selling insulation. Matt remembers the man acting oddly in their basement with a metal detector. On a hunch, Matt takes a sledgehammer to the basement floor and discovers a buried toolbox filled with slender gold bars worth about a million dollars. Detective Sergeant Janice Cleary and Detective Constable Trent Frayne, of the Niagara Constabulary Service, are assigned to investigate the homicide. They determine the victim’s identity: Leonard Bouchard, an ex-con with a history of thefts from construction sites. Cleary and Frayne soon determine that Bouchard had targeted only certain new homes in East Lofthill. They head out to interview Emma and Matt’s next door neighbour, Kim Stephenson, a realtor, who seems to know more than she’s saying. Likewise, when the detectives speak to Emma and Matt, they too appear to be hiding something. Cleary and Frayne discover that another construction equipment thief, Carmine Rizzolo, went missing four years earlier in Niagara and hasn’t been seen since, but they also discover that before he vanished Rizzolo bragged about coming into a lot of cash. Across the border, Emma and Matt take a chance on selling some of their gold at a Buffalo pawn shop— but Matt angrily balks at being lowballed just $200 when the bars are worth closer to $2000 each. The detectives increasingly believe that Carmine Rizzolo’s body may have been dumped in the foundation of an East Fonthill home as it was being built, where he worked. Then another former associate of Rizzolo’s comes to their attention—Steven Rossi, also a construction worker. Rossi has a lot of attitude but not much to say. Matt and Emma, meanwhile, are still looking to sell the gold they found, and decide to take a chance on a local buyer they find on the dark web. They meet Bao “Five” Nguyen in a Niagara Falls parking lot, where he agrees to buy one gold bar and says he’ll buy as many as they want to sell him. After Matt and Emma drive off, Five calls an associate to tell him that their old gang pal Carmine Rizzolo maybe really did find gold bars before he disappeared. Five tells his associate that Matt and Emma won’t be hard to rob, and asks for their home address based on their license plate number. In a flashback to four years earlier, Leonard Bouchard has been sent to East Lofthill to kill Carmine Rizzolo, who is suspected to be a police informant. One night, Bouchard chases Rizzolo back to where Rizzolo is working in the new East Fonthill development. Rizzolo begs to be spared, claiming he stole hundreds of gold bars from a house in Lofthill. Not believing him, Bouchard kills Rizzolo and hides the body. But a police sting operation sees the whole construction theft gang arrested in the GTA, and Bouchard goes to prison for four years. While doing his time, he comes to realize that Rizzolo may have been telling the truth after all, and the gold bars he was talking about may still be hidden somewhere under an East Lofthill basement foundation. When Bouchard is released from prison in September, he buys a metal detector, steals a car, and drives straight down to Niagara to hunt for the gold. Increasingly frustrated by their failure to solve the case, Detectives Cleary and Frayne reluctantly decide to hand the case over to the OPP—until Cleary remembers that the coroner unofficially concluded that Leonard Bouchard died from a broken neck, and that one East Lofthill resident they interviewed talked about taking jujitsu lessons. Then, at closing time, Bao “Five” Nguyen is picked up outside a Lofthill Vietnamese restaurant by none other than Steven Rossi. They head to Matt and Emma’s house, planning to take the gold by force.

By John McFetridge

dog somewhere or that will be the last time he makes noise.”

Emma pulled the leash and started for the hall saying, “You’re evil.”

She put Milo in the master bedroom and told him to be quiet.

Walking back into the living room she said, “What do you want?”

“So stupid. What do you think?”

Matt looked steadily at Emma. “I told him it isn’t here.”

She snorted. “We aren’t that stupid. It’s in deposit boxes. At the bank.”

A sound down the hall, steps on the basement stairs.

Steven Rossi walked past Emma into the living room. “He dug it up all right. Even fi xed the hole.”

“I told you,” Matt said, “a plumber did that two months ago.”

Five swung hard, hitting the side of Matt’s head with the Glock. Emma saw the previous bruise in the same spot.

“We’re going to leave here with a couple of hundred gold bars, point nine nine nine ounces, from the Royal Canadian Mint to go with the one you already gave me. The only question is whether you’re still alive when we walk out the door.”

Emma gave a bitter laugh. “You’re going to kill us either way, why should we give you the satisfaction.”

Five smiled. She hated his smile now, it had seemed so genuine, like one of the guys in her current K-Pop boy band obsession.

“Yeah, but yo, we don’t have to kill you. You can tell us where it is and we’ll leave. Or we can break every bone in your body until you tell us anyway. Thing is, you are going to tell us.”

Rossi slid behind Emma and grabbed both arms just below the elbow. She was still wearing her winter coat but it was unzipped. He whispered into her ear. “Starting with your wrists.”

“You’re going to kill us anyway.”

Five laughed. “Stupid white girl. You people are the only kind cops care about. We leave two white bodies here they’ll actually investigate. Can’t be havin’ that.”

“They came here,” Emma said, “looking for the guy with the metal detector. The one you killed.”

She saw the flicker of confusion. Five looked past her, at Rossi. “Did you kill your old friend? Do I gotta worry, doing business with Italians?”

Rossi shook his head. “Not me. I don’t know who offed him.”

When she got back from her walk with Milo, Emma found the front door slightly ajar. And there was a Fiat parked behind their Mini in the driveway.

“Matt?”

She pushed the door open and held the leash as Milo pulled, straining to get into the house.

“Matt?”

One step into the living room and she stopped.

Matt was sitting in the armchair. A young Asian guy was standing beside him. With a gun in his hand.

Emma said, “What the hell’s going on?” Then she recognized the Asian guy. “Matt, did you tell him where we live?”

Five laughed. “You people are so stupid.”

Matt grimaced. “Shut up, Emma.” Blood dripped from his mouth.

Milo barked and Five waved the gun at Emma. “Put the

Five shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. So the cops came and went. Nothin’ to me. So just tell us.”

Emma shrieked as Rossi twisted both her arms behind her back. “Come on, baby. We don’t want to start tearing this place apart—it’ll probably collapse.”

“Okay, okay,” she sobbed. “It’s in the basement.”

Matt yelled, “No!”

Five hit him again hard. Then he jabbed him with the gun. “Get up.”

Matt stood slowly, blood dripping on the carpet. He looked angrily at Emma as Five pushed him past her toward the door to the basement.

She could feel Matt trying to get the message to her to shut up, but she was picking up on something else, too. Something she didn’t want to think about.

905-892-5721

phone, “I’ll call you back,” ending the call. “Hi Detective.”

“I was going to ask if you remembered me.”

“I sure do. Where’s your assistant?”

“Detective Constable Frayne has gone to look at your basement.”

Emma frowned. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“I can tell you what I know.”

“That would be great.”

Emma took a deep breath and let it out with a shrug. She pulled her coat a little tighter.

“It was so weird. I was walking Milo—that’s our dog— and when I got back there were two men here.” Her eyes got big. “They had guns.”

“Did they?”

“Yes.”

“What happened then?”

“They threatened us. They were looking for something.”

“What was it?”

Emma shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“They didn’t say?”

“Not while I was there, maybe before, while I was walking Milo.”

“Right.”

“They made us go in the basement and then Matt, he—” She started to choke up.

“That’s my husband. He grabbed one guy and he just, he just… It was so fast.”

Cleary nodded. “He broke his neck.”

Emma looked shocked. “Yes, right. And then he went for the guy’s gun and the other guy shot him and then Matt shot him.”

“After he was shot himself?”

“It happened so fast,” Emma said.

“You must be in shock.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

Cleary paused. “Okay, well, you’re going to the hospital now, get checked out.”

“All right, whatever you say.”

Cleary stepped out of the ambulance and closed the door.

The street was filling up with neighbours.

Constable Evans ducked under the caution tape that had been strung between two police cars in front of the house and led a woman towards Cleary.

“Detective, this is Ms. Karlsson.”

“We’ve met,” Cleary said. “I have no statement for your newspaper at this time.”

“I have something for you, Detective.”

Cleary nodded at Evans who went back to work on the other side of the tape.

“What is it?”

Karlsson had her phone in her hand, which didn’t surprise Cleary at all, but instead of talking to someone she held it out.

“It is video from a doorbell camera.” Her Swedish accent seemed a little more pronounced this time. “The occupants were away for a few months, a lengthy cruise, I understand, and just returned home.”

She turned ninety degrees and pointed directly across the

street.

“From that house, right there.”

“Why didn’t they come to us directly?”

Karlsson paused, deciding what to say. “I know these people, socially. We were talking earlier today and they didn’t yet know about the,” she paused, and then said, “the incident.”

“They must be the only ones.”

“It’s old news now,” Karlsson said. “A lot has happened since October. Many new and different rumours since then.”

She tapped on the phone. “Here.”

Cleary watched for a moment. “If that time stamp is right, that’s the night before the body was found.”

“Yes.”

Cleary looked from the image on the phone to Emma’s house—the same view two months apart.

“Is there anything from earlier in the day? Anything showing a man arriving with a metal detector?”

Karlsson grimaced. “My first thought as well. May I?”

She took the phone and swiped at the video a few times, then held it out again.

“This minivan was parked in front of their house for most of the day, blocking the view across the street.”

Cleary shrugged. “Well, half a loaf. Could I borrow this for moment?”

“Please.”

Cleary took the phone and stepped back into the ambulance.

Emma was on her phone again and looked up.

Cleary smiled. “Just one more question.”

Emma whispered into the phone and ended the call. “What is it?”

“This is some video taken the night before the dead man’s body was found at the construction site.”

She held up Karlsson’s phone so Emma could see the image of their Mini pulling into the driveway. “This is two thirty-five in the morning.”

Emma watched the video and then, surprising Cleary, looked hurt rather than surprised.

Clearly stopped the video. “Why didn’t you tell us Matt was out that night.”

Emma looked like she was going to cry but was willing herself not to. “Because it has nothing to do with that guy getting killed.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No.” She paused, started to say something, stopped, then tried again. “Matt was having an affair.” She looked up at Cleary. “I knew about it but I didn’t know what to do.”

Not what Cleary was expecting. “You didn’t confront him?”

“I was going to but I thought he’d stopped seeing her. Or him, I don’t really know.”

“So this wasn’t the only time he’d snuck out after you’d gone to sleep?”

“Oh no,” Emma said. “Not at all. It hadn’t been as often lately, I thought maybe it was over. But every time I thought it was over, it started up again.”

“Has it happened since that night?”

Emma looked like she was thinking about it. “I don’t

know. I didn’t want to know.”

Cleary nodded. “Okay, well, we’ll be checking, for sure.”

“What difference does it make now?” Emma said. “Matt’s dead.”

“There’s no statute of limitations on murder,” Cleary said. “Case stays open until we find out who the killer was.”

“One of those men who killed Matt did it.”

“Did they tell you that?”

“Yes.”

It looked to Cleary like Emma was improvising on the fly.

“They said the man, what was his name, Bouchard? They said they killed him and they were going to kill us, too.”

“They said that?”

“Yes,” Emma said. She was sure.

She looked sure.

“And they were looking for something in your house?”

“But there wasn’t anything there,” Emma said.

“Did you search the house?”

“We’ve been living in it for three years, Detective. It was brand new when we moved in, it was empty.”

“Well, we’re going to have to search every inch of it.”

Emma nodded slowly. Cleary couldn’t tell if she was worried or if shock was setting in.

“Of course.”

“You better get to the hospital,” Cleary said.

Emma smiled a little. “Yes, I feel dizzy.”

Cleary stood on the street for a moment. The crowd behind the tape was calm. A few people had dogs on leashes, a few had travel mugs that Cleary doubted were filled with coffee at this time of night.

Frayne came out of the house and walked over. “Forensics just started, they’re going to be in there all night. But get this.”

He scratched his chin.

“There’s an Asian victim. I’m pretty sure he was in the pho place with us tonight, the guy on the other side, by the wall.”

Cleary looked at him. “Huh. Well, everyone needs to eat.”

Frayne nodded. “Right. Guess who the other victim is, aside from the husband. Steven Rossi.”

Cleary raised her eyebrows. “Now isn’t that curious.”

She nodded toward the ambulance. “She says her husband broke one guy’s neck and then he and the other guy shot each other.”

“Her husband’s the jujitsu guy, it’s possible.”

“Make sure they check the guns twice. Three times, make sure they know for sure who handled them.”

Frayne nodded. “What did she say they were looking for?”

“She says she doesn’t know, said they must have talked about it while she was out walking the dog.”

Frayne held up a hand. He was wearing blue nitrile gloves and holding an evidence bag. “She didn’t say anything about gold bars?”

“She did not,” Cleary said. “How many are there?”

“Just this one, so far, on the Asian guy, but we’re still looking.”

The Voice Comic

"Good afternoon, folks! Seems everything's going digital these days... Would you like a link t0 the specials?"

by John Swart

Vintage radios and a lesson in life

As I crossed the porch toward the side door of Chevy Halladay’s century home near Orillia, Ontario, I had no idea what to expect. The door opened before I could knock, Chevy extended his arm to shake hands, and welcomed me into his home.

To my right was a small closet where I could hang my coat. I missed the hook sending the coat to the floor. I was much too distracted to waste another second on hanging it neatly. To my left was a huge, free-standing mid-50s radio and TV tube testing machine stacked high with rare tubes, a six-

foot-tall floor clock and radio with a built-in turntable, and a vintage Coca Cola vending machine. Each piece had been carefully restored for appearance and functionality.

A single step further into the room brought Chevy’s, and his wife Maggie’s, kitchen counter into view. Atop it were two partially restored radios, one a jumble of dusty tubes and a speaker early into the process, the other a spectacular and rare woodcased Stromberg-Carlson, being prepared for final refinishing before being shipped to a friend in Bethesda, Maryland.

Don’t misunderstand.

This was no hoarder’s enclave or home transformed into a ramshackle workshop. Their house is immaculate, and Maggie is on-side with Chevy’s mono-themed interior decorating style, yet it would be the understatement of the year to say there were a lot of radios and radio-related paraphernalia everywhere.

There was not an inch of wall that wasn’t shelved to display countless historic radios, or covered with hanging wall clocks that were used as promotional items by radio companies, steel promotional signs, framed advertising posters, or other memorabilia.

The floor was a controlled chaos of radios, cabinets containing radios, floor radios manufactured to look like free-standing grandfather clocks that housed radios and turntables, and end

tables with built-in radios and sailing ship-styled radios on top.

This story is about more than radios. When I left Chevy’s home an hour later, I was exhausted, totally drained and overwhelmed

by so many radios of every type. Information-overload enveloped me as I struggled to keep up with the significance of each model, its place in history, the development of radio technology, and the many, many stories.

Voice HOROSCOPE

ARIES – Mar 21/Apr 20

Don’t fret, Aries. No news is good news while you’re waiting around to hear about something important. Give it a few more days and your waiting time will be over.

TAURUS – Apr 21/May 21

If you are thinking about changing careers, you probably should wait until the holidays are over. No one’s mind is on the job these days, so waiting is the wiser move.

GEMINI – May 22/Jun 21

Consider all sides of a situation before you offer your opinion, Gemini. Th is way you have the facts and will not inadvertently alienate someone.

CANCER – Jun 22/Jul 22

When someone turns to you for help, you do not hesitate to do all that you can, Cancer. Just be sure you do not to overwork yourself. Take on only what you can manage.

LEO – Jul 23/Aug 23

You’ve bitten off quite a lot lately, Leo. Fortunately, you have a good support system that can help you out when you need a helping hand. Rely on them as much as necessary.

VIRGO – Aug 24/Sept 22

Take a few days to sit back and rest and recharge. It will afford you an opportunity to plan for the future, as this may be a period of unrest for you.

LIBRA – Sept 23/Oct 23

You’ve been placed in a new role and you’re loving every minute of it, Libra. Enjoy the moments while they last. Th is may be what you’re meant to do.

SCORPIO – Oct 24/Nov 22

Scorpio, you might want to take it easy and stick close to home for the time being. You need to regroup and focus anew. You can do that more easily without distractions.

SAGITTARIUS – Nov 23/Dec 21

Sagitt arius, your to-do list might be growing longer, but tackle one thing at a time rather than gett ing overwhelmed. Reach out to a loved one for assistance.

CAPRICORN – Dec 22/Jan 20

Success is within reach, Capricorn. Do not be surprised if others are a bit jealous of your accomplishments and want to pull you down. Ignore the naysayers.

AQUARIUS – Jan 21/Feb 18

You have a plan but others are not falling in line right now, Aquarius. It may take time before others come around to your way of thinking. Be a little more patient.

PISCES – Feb 19/Mar 20

It’s a fi ne balance between work and play right now for you, Pisces. You’re tempted to forego all responsibilities, but that wouldn’t be smart.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS

DECEMBER 18

Brad Pitt, Actor (59)

DECEMBER 19

Alyssa Milano, Actress (50)

DECEMBER 20

Jojo, Singer (32)

DECEMBER 21

Emmanuel Macron, Politician (45)

DECEMBER 24

Louis Tomlinson, Singer (31)

Yet I was thrilled to have been allowed entry into Chevy’s world, to have met one of those people so passionate and knowledgeable and immersed in keeping

Chevy Halladay in his sitting room surrounded by radios—even the clocks are radios JOHN SWART

The old man gazed thoughtfully into his cup. “I remember those days like they were yesterday,” he mused to his equally aged wife.

“What days?” she queried.

“You know, back when we were newly married and just starting out. Getting our little inn off the ground here in Bethlehem and trying to make ends meet.”

“Ah, yes,” his wife sighed, “I remember. Those were hard times.”

“But then,” the old man’s eyes widened, “Old Caesar in faraway Rome gave us a helping hand! Out of the blue, he commanded a census and everybody had to register in their hometown. Bethlehem’s not very big but a lot of people got their start here before moving on to bigger places.”

“Suddenly, we went from bust to boom,” said his wife, smiling. “We were so busy we couldn’t keep up. We had people sleeping in every nook and cranny. Even that animal shed in the back! Yeah, those were good times.”

“Yes, I remember,” the old man muttered as though his mind was wandering a long ways away and a long time back. “I always felt a bit guilty about that one young couple who arrived late that one night. They had just arrived from up north and looked so weary. I only spoke to the man but I could see his wife in the distance and she was very pregnant.”

“Is that the couple that had their baby back in the shed?” asked the wife.

“Yeah, that’s the couple. I should have done more. Just think if that had been us when we were starting our family.”

“Well, at least you gave them the shed and took out some clean rags to wrap the baby in. And some clean hay too for the animal trough they put him in. It was a baby boy, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, a boy. I guess I did something, but I always felt I should have done more. I gave them second best. I remember thinking I didn’t want a baby born during the night in our new inn. It would disturb the guests. Births can be messy things. Screams of pain. A baby crying. I was afraid that we’d lose business just when we needed it most.”

“Don’t beat yourself up,

dear. You did what you could,” consoled the wife.

“I wonder whatever became of that young family?” asked the old innkeeper. “And that little boy.”

“I guess we’ll never know,” mused the wife.

“Just another Jewish baby and family long forgotten. But remember the strange thing that happened to those shepherd friends of ours. They’re old now too but they told that story about angels for years and years after that. I don’t know what happened, but something happened to all of them and they never for-

Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

160 Hwy 20 E, Fonthill, ON

289-897-9744 info@fonthilljewellers.com www.fonthilljewellers.com

FAITH LIFT by Pastor Rob Weatherby

The ambulance pulled away and they watched it move down the street, lights flashing in competition with the Christmas lights on so many of the houses.

At the hospital Emma had to wait a long time to see a doctor and then it only took a few minutes to get the okay to go home. She was fine. Physically, anyway.

She walked through the jammed emergency room waiting area, and got out her phone to call an Uber when through the windows she saw a pair of women smiling at her and waving. She waved back and walked outside.

It was Kim Stephenson and Caroline the Labradoodle’s owner. Again Emma blanked on her name.

Kim gave Emma a hug, then turned to the older woman.

“Emma, this is my Aunt Catherine. I understand you’ve already met.”

“Please, call me Cathy,” the woman said.

Emma nodded. “Yes, we’ve seen each other at the dog park.”

Cathy nodded firmly. “That’s correct, and I would be pleased if you would be my guest tonight. Surely you won’t be allowed back into your home after—after what has happened.”

“I’d offer,” said Kim, “but I turned my second bedroom into storage. The police said you were brought here in an ambulance. I figured you’d need a ride.”

“Thanks. I don’t even know if I can go home, there were so many cops at my house when I left.”

“You’re in shock,” Kim said. “You wouldn’t want to go back to that house tonight even if you could.”

“I guess not.” Emma was unsteady on her feet.

Cathy moved in to hug her, then gently turned Emma toward the parking lot. “Let’s go, dear. We have Milo in the car.”

Snow was falling, looking pretty under the lights. Emma figured Kim was after the listing for her house. Of course Kim knew that Emma couldn’t keep living there after her husband had been killed in the basement. And she’d be right.

Emma buckled into her seat in Kim’s Range Rover, letting Milo excitedly lick her face.

With the sale of the house and the money she’d get for the gold—maybe from that Buffalo pawnshop guy— she’d be set for a while, probably a very long while. She’d have to look into which countries didn’t have extradition treaties with Canada and were cheap to live in. Somehow Indonesia came to mind. Yes, an early retirement in Bali sounded lovely. They liked dogs, didn't they, the Balinese? Milo would love running with her on Kuta Beach.

She adjusted her coat. With sudden clarity that both frightened and excited her, as Matt and Five’s hearts stopped pumping and their blood slowly ceased dripping into the drain, Emma knew exactly what she had to do. Crouching on the concrete she carefully gathered the spilled gold bars and put them back in the toolbox—all but eightythree of them. These she wrapped in paper towels from the holder above the laundry tub, then strategically placed them inside the many and voluminous pockets of her jacket. It was “Canada’s finest cold weather expedition coat,” after all, the best that North Face sold in that store in Banff, the winter before the pandemic. They hung heavy on her slender frame, but she managed.

The rest, well, she tucked them away where the cops weren’t likely to look anytime soon—and besides, she wore her dishwashing gloves, so if they did find them her fingerprints wouldn’t be there. Solid plausible deniability. Then she called 911.

As Kim merged onto the 406 she was saying something about how this was going to be a tough Christmas, but that she and Aunt Cathy were there for her, to help Emma get through the trauma.

Emma smiled weakly at her in the rear view mirror. Thank you, she said. Thank you very much. 4

SOMETIMES MONEY REALLY DOES GROW ON TREES

Ten-year-old Ali Rypstra of Effingham Street in Ridgeville reached her goal of raising $500 for needy children in Africa as a special Christmas project. She had been collecting decorative pine cones from her parents’ rural property, selling them at $10 per bag at a Toronto market. Ali’s $500 was matched by both her Oma and Opa, increasing the total to $1500. The funds have been passed on to Hands at Work, a CRA-registered Christian charity with a church-focused model providing food, education,and basic healthcare for orphaned and vulnerable children in Zambia.

DON RICKERS

If you’re looking for new windows and doors or siding, soffit, fascia and eavestrough; it’s a great time to buy. North Star energyefficient windows are built in Canada and will save you money year round. North Star windows help keep your home cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Call or visit our showroom today for a

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Spaghe i with Shrimp, Feta and Dill

Spaghetti has been enjoyed around the world for centuries. While spaghetti is most often associated with Italy, pasta has deep ties to other Mediterranean nations like Greece, and several territories of the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula. In fact, centuries ago dry durable pasta was one of the main sources of nutrition for Arab traders, including those who landed in Sicily. The flavor profile of spaghetti can change significantly depending on which ingredients are added. Cooks needn’t feel beholden to the standard “spaghetti and meatballs” recipe. “Spaghetti with Shrimp, Feta and Dill,” for example, may take its inspiration from Greek cooking. Enjoy this recipe, courtesy of “Real Simple Dinner Tonight: Done!” (Time Home Entertainment) from the editors of Real Simple.

Spaghetti with Shrimp, Feta and Dill Serves 4

12 ounces spaghetti (3⁄4 box)

1⁄4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp Kosher salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

3 ounces feta, crumbled (3⁄4 cup)

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh dill

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain and return it to the pot.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the shrimp with 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper and cook, tossing occasionally, until opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and zest.

Add the shrimp mixture to the pasta, along with the feta, dill, the remaining 1⁄4 cup of oil, and 1⁄4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Toss to combine.