The Voice, November 23 2022

Town

Kevin Ker 905-931-9571 kker@pelham.ca Wayne Olson 905-931-9573 wolson@pelham.ca

Council Meetings

Town Hall 20 Pelham Town Square, Fonthill, ON, L0S 1E0 905-892-2607

Town of Pelham staff directory www.pelham.ca/directory

Meridian Community Centre (MCC) 100 Meridian Way, Fonthill, ON, L0S 1E6 905-732-7872 Rentals 905-732-7891 | www.pelham.ca/facility-rental

Fire and Bylaw Services 905-980-6646 (admin) 905-980-6649 (bylaw)

“A big thank you for everything you do”

Column Six

A crow by any other name

BY J. COOPER-RILEY Special to the Voice

Just before Christmas 1980 we had to put down our first dog. It was devastating. As my parents had declared “no more dogs,” my mother and I gathered all of Scarlett’s belongings to donate to the Welland Humane Society.

It was a packed house in the Accursi Room at the Meridian Community Centre last Thursday evening, as the Town of Pelham hosted an appreciation night for its community volunteers.

Councillor John Wink served as the master of ceremonies, while greetings were delivered by Mayor Marvin Junkin, Councillor Wayne Olson, and Pelham CAO David Cribbs. Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff and MP Dean Allison also offered remarks.

BY DON RICKERS Contributing News Editor

The keynote speaker at the event, Fenwick-born adventurer and author Adam Shoalts, provided an informative and entertaining talk and slide show of his trek to Labrador to solve a century-old mystery, along with former E.L. Crossley schoolmate Zach Junkin. Shoalts, de-

scribed as “Canada’s Indiana Jones” by the Toronto Star, holds the title of Westaway Explorer-in-Residence at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

“With your volunteerism, you are indeed making your community a better place to live,” said Mayor

Junkin. “A big thank you for everything you do.”

Councillor Wayne Olson told the audience that volunteers give hope to people in need through generous giving, advocacy for policy change, and much more.

“The need for people to unite and help those in need has never been greater,” he said. “The present public health crisis has occurred on top of a global pandemic, which was on

The caretaker at the Humane Society was appreciative and when he heard the reason for the donation he sought to cheer me up. He took me to the back dog room and there was a crow in one of the cages. He explained that the crow had been brought to them injured and they were caring for him with the intention of releasing him at springtime. They named the crow Joe. The crow seemed quite alert and pleased to have an audience. He bobbed up and down as he kept a sharp eye on me. He was gorgeous. He did not seem to mind his roommates either. I suppose the cages helped.

Then the caretaker let me in on a secret. He laughingly told me that Joe had picked up a second language—he barked like a dog. Try as he might, Joe refused to “speak” so I never heard him bark. When my mother heard about this special

Fourteen of this year's 19 volunteer award winners

DON RICKERS Pelham volunteers honoured at MCC

Packed to the rafters: We are positively overflowing this week with bits and more bits and tidbits. This necessitated the unusual step of bumping all our features (don’t worry, they’ll be back next week!), as well as Pastor Rob (ditto). The good Rev. Coren is still with us, however, and he has some quite sensible things to say this week about the state of modern religion. As I may have mentioned before in this space, one of the best things my parents did, when moving to the town where I grew up, was walk away from the Episcopal church when it became clear that the price of continued attendance was an unaffordable tithe. Thus my childhood was unblemished by religious indoctrination, superstition, and guilt. One can be spiritual, of course, and marvel at the wonder of the universe and contemplate why we are here and the meaning (or absence thereof) of life, without needing the clergy’s censorious (and wandering) hand to enlighten. Coren is right on the money to suggest that we need more compassion and less dogma...We’d like to thank the Academy: After a delay due to you-know-what, many regular events and activities are back, including the national journalism competition run by NewsMedia Canada. I’m pleased to report that the Voice has a few more statuettes (actually wooden plaques) to add to its collection (story this page), the result of tremendous teamwork and dedication...Why a crow? See Column Six!...Speaking of that you-know-what: Saw this bit of wisdom online: Refusing to wear a mask because you’ve already had Covid is like refusing to wear a helmet because you’ve already had a concussion... Wait, there’s more! You’re going to want to write this down: “Station Eleven.” It’s an HBO miniseries, ten episodes. It’s the best television program you’ve never heard of. I’m talking best-of-the-best, Sopranos and Frasier best. It started in December 2021 and ended this past January. You most likely haven’t heard of it because it’s based on a 2014 Canadian novel about—brace yourself—a deadly global pandemic. Hold on! Stay with me! The series is not about the pandemic, per se, but how humanity copes with it—and for decades after. The writing, cinematography, the acting, everything about it is next to flawless, as its 98 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating suggests. Watching it during a pandemic lends obvious empathy to the experience. It’s on Crave...Slipped her mind: Friend of Maple Acre Library Sandee Matthews says she forgot to acknowledge Fonthill Sobeys' donation to the recent library fundraiser. So noted!...Good riddance: The best news in four years—Pelham has a new Town Council. Savour the peace and quiet, the absence of enmity, the hope for collegial cooperation...At least we're not in Orchard Park: The winter wonderland arrived earlier than usual over the weekend. A harbinger of weather to come? See you next week. 4

Voice wins seven national awards

BY VOICE STAFF

The Voice has taken home seven awards from the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards competition. Run by NewsMedia Canada, the prestigious annual awards program features 27 unique categories honouring outstanding editorial, photography, multimedia and overall excellence in community newspaper publishing.

Postponed due to the pandemic in 2020, this latest round of competition covered work published in both 2020 and 2021. The Voice won three national CCNA awards in 2019, the first year that the paper entered the competition.

Healthy lifestyle writer John Swart won First Place for Outstanding Columnist. This was an open circulation category, meaning Swart was up against papers of all sizes and circulation across Canada.

The paper also won First Place for Best Multimedia Breaking News Coverage, another open circulation category, for its reporting, in April 2020, of Fonthill Sobeys franchisee and now-former Pelham Town Councillor Ron Kore’s controversial conduct within the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“To be candid, this particular award didn’t come as a surprise,” said Voice publisher Dave Burket. “It was an almost unbelievable sequence of events, playing out over days, and the story was picked up by regional and national news outlets as well, including the CBC.” Burket added that of all the winning entries, the Kore story involved the greatest number of contributors. “It was absolutely a huge team effort on our side, and we have to remember and thank the Sobeys employees who spoke out.”

A basketball action shot by Bernie Puchalski won Second Place for Best Sports Photo. Writer Helen Tran’s emotionally moving interview with Faith Flagg, who, at 17, was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Fonthill in 2015, and who continues to struggle with the life-changing injuries she sustained on that fateful night, won Second Place for Best Feature Story.

An August 2021 editorial entitled, “Two

years of blissful silence, but the natterer may be back,” which called out former Pelham mayor David Augustyn for ill-informed criticism of the then-current Pelham Town Council, won Third Place for Best Local Editorial. “For what purpose he believes his kamikazi posturing will benefit him we can only speculate—and pray that is does not involve the seeking of further elective office,” we wrote at the time. Augustyn was indeed named the NDP’s MPP candidate for Niagara West a few months later, and was beaten decisively by incumbent Sam Oosterhoff in last June’s provincial election.

The paper’s online presence, thevoiceofpelham.ca, took Third Place for Best Community Newspaper Website.

Finally, a touching reminiscence of Ron Leavens, entitled “A life well lived, A man well loved,” won Third Place for Best Photo Essay. Leavens, who passed away suddenly in August 2021, was a former Pelham mayor, a local business owner, youth sports coach, and beloved public school teacher.

What's That SIREN Pelham Fire Department Weekly Calls

The Pelham Fire Department responded to 14 calls for assistance from Friday, November 11 to Friday, November 18.

Friday, November 11 Grass Fire, Rice Rd., Station 1

Motor vehicle collision, Hwy. 20 E, Station 1

Saturday, November 12

Motor vehicle collision, Victoria Rd., Station 2

Medical assistance, Station 1

Sunday, November 13 Rubbish fire, River Rd., Station 2

Monday, November 14

Medical assistance, Station 2 Medical assistance, Station 1

Medical assistance, Station 1 Medical assistance, Station 3

Tuesday, November 15 Medical assistance, Station 2 Wednesday, November 16 Medical assistance, Station 2 Thursday, November 17 Medical assistance, Station 1

Carbon Monoxide Alarm, Maple St., Station 3

Friday, November 18 Medical assistance, Station 1

Indulgence Bakery Pelham Street Grille Peter Piper’s Pubhouse DeVries Fruit Farm

Beamer’s Hardware Pelham Libraries

Bob’s Boys Antiques

PharmaChoice Pharmacy Fonthill Fitness

Fenwick Pie Company McDonald’s

Duffin Appleworks

Fonthill Legion

Semenuk’s Gas Bar

Shoppers Drug Mart

Tim Horton’s Giant Tiger

Fonthill LCBO

Zee Lube Express Care Food Basics

Minor Bros Stores

Avondale Stores A-1 Market

Boggio's IDA Sobeys South Pelham Grill on Canboro Shell on Hwy 20 Circle-K

FAITH A life well lived A man well loved

Nearby residents object to proposed six-storey condo

BY DON RICKERS Contributing News Editor

A recent Voice story detailed Fonthill resident pushback against a proposed condominium development at 1145 Pelham Street. Now another group of homeowners a few blocks to the south, at the intersection of Pelham and Welland Road, is organizing an effort to fight the construction of a similar structure in their own backyard, fearing loss of privacy, additional traffic congestion, and disruption of their residential tranquility.

Brad Whitelaw, who lives on Hunters Court abutting the proposed development and is one of the residents leading the charge against the project, told the Voice that he attended a presentation by the developers, Niagara Innovative Living Inc. and Kaiser Homes, on October 26 at the Concordia Lutheran Church, which wants to see its property developed. Upper Canada Consultants is the engineering firm hired by the developers, and also had representatives at the information session.

“Poster boards on display at the presentation depicted a six-storey, 48-unit condominium complex,” said Whitelaw, “with one level of underground parking plus outside visitor parking, on a section of the current church property. They anticipated these units will sell for upwards of $900,000 each, none of which would be considered af-

fordable housing, which is what the province is mandating for new housing developments.”

Whitelaw said he caught wind of the proposal this past summer. “My fence was kind of leaning over onto the church property, and was told ‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about fi xing the fence, because we’ve sold that chunk of the property.’ The pastor said that the church needed the money, due to revenue losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Whitelaw recently assembled a dozen local residents in the Concordia parking lot to brainstorm the situation.

“This is an established, low-density residential area,” he said. “People have been living here in peace and quiet for 30 years. This project would take a couple years to build, which means that we would have to live with the noise, dust, and construction vehicles. It’s unreasonable.”

He said that the group is planning to send a delegation to Pelham Town Council to make its concerns known, adding that, “If this type of proposal is approved by Pelham Council, it will set a dangerous precedent for future developments in other neighbourhoods of Pelham.”

The residents’ list of objections includes that the building design

does not fit in with the existing properties, safety concerns with the increased volume of traffic accessing and leaving the property, and potential for reduced water pressure and increased flooding in the neighbouring homes.

“The water lines and sewage pipes that service this area were never designed to accommodate the increased demand from this type of residential development,” said Whitelaw. “This proposed

development will encroach on our quality of life. Site lines from the neighbouring properties will be obstructed by the six-storey building, as well as the additional trees that will be planted by the developer around the perimeter of the property. Although this may seem a minor issue, residents have enjoyed being able to watch the sunrise. This will be gone, and we’ll have to worry about people staring down at us.”

Whitelaw said that the development would severely impact property resale values of nearby homes.

Pastor David Hamp of Concordia Lutheran Church told the Voice that the lot has not been severed yet, although a sales agreement has been signed.

Asked if the church was aware of the developers’ plan to erect a six-storey condominium on the site, Hamp responded, “That’s something that the church council dealt with. It’s a huge piece of property, and was a problem for us to take care of all the time.”

With regard to awareness of the disgruntled neighbours, Hamp said, “That’s something

The Committee of Adjustment (“CofA”) is a statutory tribunal under the provisions of the Planning Act, to hold public hearings for the purpose of making decisions with respect to applications for: Minor Variances to the Town’s Zoning Bylaw; Consents and Legal NonConforming Uses (enlargement/ extension/ similar use). The Committee operates independently from Council and its decisions may be appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal (“OLT”).

The committee ensures that the municipality promotes and facilitates a barrier-free and universally accessible environment for citizens of all abilities. Members will ensure a timely review and development of municipal policies, programs and services with an aim toward identifying, removing and preventing barriers faced by persons with disabilities. Members will provide further advice and recommendations to Council on matters relating to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005.

The Lincoln Pelham Union Library Board is responsible for the overall governance of the Library. The Board’s purpose is to set a strategic framework within which it can manage the provision of comprehensive and efficient public library services. The Board’s approach to undertaking this purpose will be in accordance with the Public Libraries Act and as further defined by the municipal By-laws / Resolutions, all applicable legislation and Board policies.

Share your talents with the community! Applications are open to join a Town of Pelham committee.

Joint Accessibility Committee

Lincoln Pelham Union Library Board Committee of Adjustment

The Town of Pelham is accepting applications for statutory committees of council for the 2022-2026 term.

Developer Stephen Kaiser seeks to build across from Circle-K on Welland Road

Above, an architect's rendering of the proposed condo build. Left, some local residents who object to the project

SUPPLIED / DON RICKERS

COTÉ'S COMMENTS

Larry Coté

Who's going to look after you?

What follows here may be an uncomfortable topic for some but it is nonetheless a necessary matter for consideration sooner than later for many. Have you thought about how you want to spend the final years of your life? Likely many have not thought this far in advance for themselves but maybe are facing that same question with aging parents. Are the long-term care (LTC) facilities that you see and have heard about going to be the proper answer for you or your parents?

You may recall during the beginning of the pandemic that some LTCs had significant outbreaks of the coronavirus within their premises. Presumably, there were a number of factors such as the frailty of elder folk, proximity of residents, confined space and other elements that contributed to the high contamination rate in some LTCs.

One of the reasons for the rise in the number of both private and publicly operated LTCs is the fact that people are living longer and

are likely to suffer from the onset of the usual frailties associated with advanced years.

Former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson likely spoke for many elders when she said, “I want to remain independent in my community for as long as I am alive.” She, like so many elders, wants to stay in her own residence as long as she is physically able. It appears this is a growing sentiment among seniors who hope to avoid being instituted into a long-term care facility.

Likely there will always be a need for long-term care facilities for some members of the aging population who are no longer capable of looking after their basic personal needs. Many do not have family capable of providing care and are totally dependent on full-time care provided by others. However, many seniors can continue to live in their own familiar surroundings with a little help, and do not yet need the TLC provided by LTCs.

Should this trend for seniors to live longer in their own residences continue to grow, it will increase

the need for the funding of home-care programs and home-care workers. According to some studies, such programs would be more humane and economical than building more long-term care facilities.

The Niagara Region government provides nine long-term care facilities located throughout the Niagara area. These locations attempt to accommodate seniors near their former homesteads and family members. The Region provides better quality care programs due to the former leadership of Douglas Rapelje, who was widely recognized as an outstanding advocate for seniors and especially senior care.

And so the fact remains that everyone needs to consider the questions of with whom and where they will spend their final years, and whether that be in a private or publicly operated long- term care facility. It would be wise to consider the preferences and options before the necessity for personal care is on the doorstep. Otherwise, one’s care will be at the mercy of the market conditions at that time of need. 4

Letters

Developers are running the show

The developers are laughing at us. We think we have some control over the way our environment is used, but in fact they have it all. At the local level, we have zoning bylaws which we think prevent sensitive areas from being developed. The developers simply apply for a zoning change and voila!, they’re off.

At the provincial level we have “protected” areas within the Greenbelt, but a few words to their buddy Doug Ford and large pieces of the Greenbelt are handed over to them to devastate.

We know that we can’t eat concrete and money, but with the huge donations that flow into the coffers of the Progressive Conservative Party from Doug’s buddies, there is little chance that we can keep these valuable farmlands.

Yes, the developers are laughing at us.

CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS

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

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

Councillor Shellee Niznik sniznik@pelham.ca 905-931-9577

SERVICES:

David Fowler Wainfleet

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

Have an Opinion?

OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

Lori Gretsinger

CONTRIBUTING NEWS EDITOR Don Rickers

If you are heading south and taking the detour around the Pelham Street construction, please note that there is a stop sign on John Street (the extension of Pancake where it crosses Pelham Street at the north end of the construction zone). I’d estimate every other car is either rolling through or completely blowing through the sign to turn right on to Stella Street.

Stella Street has no stop sign. This means

if you turn onto Stella without stopping first and someone is coming south on Stella, you could quite possibly be T-boned or rear-ended.

This intersection has been a problem for the last ten years but the construction detour has made it much, much worse.

Erin Lyttle Fonthill

You have lost the respect of many constituents in the very riding that you are supposed to be representing, and rightly so. We are disgusted with Bill 23 and your support for this assault on our environment and democracy. Trying to rush this through Par-

liament by having only 30 days for public consultation shows how scared your government is to hear all of our voices.

Your tactics will not stop us.

Mike Jones Pelham Advocates for Trees and Habitat

Destruction in the name of intensification

Do Pelham residents understand the direction of the Ford government? The value of our natural landscape is integral to our entire state of health. In every direction destruction is evident in the name of intensification.

Who will preserve our beautiful Niagara land for future generations? Commercial interests may oppose the championing of land as profits are their goal. We need to elect representatives who understand the necessity of parks, forests, and green spaces.

L. Morgan Fonthill

TYREE'S TYRADES Danny Tyree

My cousin’s husband owns a funeral home, so I’m anxious to hear his take on a recent frontpage article from the Wall Street Journal.

According to the article, morticians are innovating ways to put the “fun” in funeral (including burial plot raffles and “open house” family events featuring food, live music and bouncy houses) – or maybe it was putting the “monument” in monumentally screwed up ideas! I get those mixed up.

The article talked about undertakers enticing their potential customers to deal with the elephant in the room (their own mortality) and be more proactive about end-oflife planning. This will take the burden off your loved ones, so they will be tanned and rested and in a positively chipper mood as they fight over your estate. (“Step back from the Hummel figurines or I’m snatching you bald-headed…bless your heart…”)

A funeral industry convention workshop was titled “How to build your pre-need customer pipeline,” which, I’m sorry, dredges up too many memories of my dearly departed childhood goldfish.

dyed robe, or a magician sawing someone’s ashes in half. I’m cool with a standup comedian whining, “Hey, I’m dying up here.”

Tequila is probably a counterproductive libation for promotional events. It’s a real buzzkill to think about the worms biding their time to get their revenge.

Whacking a pinata filled with organs some bozo failed to donate to medical science? Let’s not and say we did.

And a mime trapped in an invisible box is probably not going to sell many funeral packages — unless you get to nominate the mime as your “plus one.”

One of the wildest innovations is “living funerals.” You can attend a dry run of your own funeral, complete with casket, mourners, funeral procession, etc. You can witness the lavish proceedings without having an “out-of-body” experience, just an “out-of-disposable-income” experience.

This supposedly gives you peace of mind, but it sounds more anxiety-producing to me. (“I knew it — Ralph came just for the free calendars, not for me! And why isn’t Mike hitting on my ‘surviving spouse’? Does that conceited jerk think he’s too good for her?”)

Know your wells

Are you unknowingly fueling carbon emissions and climate change? Look no further than the old water well in the field next door. Studies following the Wheatley explosion showed that two of three adjacent water wells were leaking methane, many times more climate damaging than CO 2. A report by McGill engineer James P. Williams states there are some 370,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in Canada, with 27,000 in Ontario. He found methane levels two to three times greater than federal estimates. Local maps

show dozens of old wells in Pelham, with gas wells all lying south of Quaker Road. When a water well penetrates the bedrock which also is pierced by gas wells, then there is increased risk of gas in the water well. There is no thorough monitoring by the government (a provincial responsibility) which leaves the problem with landowners and municipalities. Because of local pipelines, the Pelham Fire Department is equipped with gas monitors.

Dave

Nicholson Fonthill

Many undertakers report positive feedback for the laid-back attitude, but traditionalist customers are adamant that recent experiments in funeral marketing are disrespectful. (“We’ll talk more when I get back from the King Tut exhibit. Need any souvenirs?”)

Some of today’s off-the-wall customized services leave me with mixed emotions. I can handle a funeral sanctioned by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, but not one sanctioned by the Board of Ouija.

I suppose some ways of jazzing up the funeral experience are more tolerable than others. I could see a Grim Reaper with a tie-

Seriously, this is all artificial and skewed. Past performance is no guarantee of how your actual funeral will be in five, ten or 20 years. A “living funeral” is like the “air guitar” of shuffling off this mortal coil, except the groupies are all hanging around the undertaker, who is raking in extra dough.

As my son noted, this is a brilliant way to get consumers to pay for a service twice. Maybe other professions will follow the funeral industry’s lead. (“Just drink this awful liquid and sit on the potty all day. Then come back when you’re 40 and we’ll do all that again PLUS run a scope inside you. That will be $200, please.”) 4

COMMON DECENCY

suppose that there is something appropriate about a census discussing religion. It was the Roman demand for a census that led the holy family to travel, even with Mary so pregnant with the baby Jesus. That, at least, is how the story goes.

Two thousand years later, last month’s census from Statistics Canada (not the Roman imperial government) shows that a third of Canadians have no religious affi liation, and that the number who identify as secular or atheist has doubled in 20 years. While some people are leaving religions such as Islam and Hinduism, the trend in those often immigration-based faiths is growth rather than decline. Meaning that the most significant reduction is within Christianity. Fifty-three percent of the population now follow various churches, down from 67 percent in 2011 and a huge 77 percent in 2001.

Which has led to many Christian leaders explaining how con-

cerned and even shocked they are. Leading me to wonder why they’re so bloody concerned and shocked! Because people aren’t abandoning Christ, they’re abandoning organized Christianity, and who can blame them?

There are seemingly endless stories of abuse, examples of hypocrisy, gruesome tales of historic oppression, anti-vaccination hysteria, mobs proclaiming their faith as they scream support for Donald Trump in the US and rightist leaders in Canada, and celibate men telling women what to do with their bodies or condemning people for their God-given sexuality.

To a great many Canadians, Christianity has become another word for conservatism. We have think tanks and colleges that describe themselves as Christian but seem far more concerned with having Tories elected than the rebel Jesus revealed. Sometimes I am stunned at how blatant and unapologetic these people are in

no one

their thinly disguised religiosity. I’m sure they believe, but how they can hold to those beliefs genuinely disturbs me.

That, of course, is not the church I know and love. I see daily sacrifice, care, hard work for the poor and marginalized, and a genuine commitment to the teachings of a 1st-century Jewish man who was born in poverty to parents who were refugees, who owned nothing, lived with the rejected and powerless, warned and criticized the rich and rigid, and preached a permanent revolution of love, grace, and forgiveness.

Here’s the thing. Whenever I write or speak about this man who — I believe — came as the Son of God for all of us, people react not only positively but also with amazement. “That’s not the Christianity I was taught,” or, “If that was true, I’d come to church.” But it is true, meaning that too many churches are promoting religion rather than Jesus. So this new announcement of

what should have been obvious to anybody with open eyes shouldn’t be intimidating but encouraging. The playing field is being levelled, nothing can be taken for granted, and the message of the Gospels has to be explained anew. That’s excellent news. Just as in the early church, before it was corrupted by imperial adoption and soon became an instrument of persecution and forced conversion, we need to persuade by compassion and example.

Christians must get their hands dirty, sometimes literally, but never with aggression. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The rose doesn't have to propagate its perfume. It just gives it forth, and people are drawn to it. Live it, and people will come to see the source of your power.” The evangelism of the rose.

Jesus didn’t speak of abortion and homosexuality, didn’t side with the rich, and certainly wasn’t a friend to those who judge the different, desperate, or desti-

tute. He called for a world turned upside down yet so many of his ostensible followers seem intent on keeping it just as it is, or used to be.

So it’s no wonder that people identify as atheists, or have left churches. All I would ask and pray is that they give not churches but the rebel Jesus another chance. Virtues rather than vestments, giving rather than getting, and becoming part of a great dance of liberation that can and must free and fulfi ll all of us.

He was crucified not for complacency but for offering a vision that terrified those who had moral, political, financial, and religious investments in a stale and failed world. That world is still with us, and unless Christ-followers present the joyous alternative, the next census will show further and deeper decline. Don’t blame others for our failures. Be like the rose, be like Jesus. It’s not easy but then it really wasn’t supposed to be. 4

Everyday Market is so excited to be celebrating our 3rd Annual Outdoor Christmas Market on November 26th from 11am to 3pm. The last few years, we have had wonderful support from the community as well as our friends at Fonthill Butcher and Banker! This year, we have added even more activities and fun!

We hope you will join us where you can shop over 45+ local vendors, enjoy some hot food and beverages, meet Santa and have your photo taken at our photo op as well as participate in some games and activities.

This year, we have teamed up with two other local businesses, Fonthill Butcher and Banker and Creations By V, where you can visit for additional activations, food and more! Be sure to get your passport stamped at all three locations to be entered into the draw for a gift basket of all local goods and gift certificates valued over $300.

As always, we welcome nonperishable food donations for Pelham Cares.

Stay tuned for a surprise!

Rev. Michael Coren

Canadians are bailing on church, and this should surprise

Return of the Fonthill Turkey Raffle

BY VOICE STAFF

Association announces the return of its annual charity turkey raffle and fun night.

The doors at Pelham Fire Station One on Highway 20 will open at 7:30 PM this Friday, November 25. The first draws will start at 8 PM. Up for grabs will be the traditional turkeys and, new

for this year, hams. There will also be 50 / 50 draws as well as additional draws for presold raffle tickets. Food and refreshments will be available during the night.

All proceeds will be in support of the Association’s charity work, including Pelham Cares, scholarships, and fire prevention efforts.

“The Association’s Turkey Raffle night has been an annual event going back

to the early 1950s and it’s a great chance for the community to come together for a great night of fun,” said Association President, Chris MacLeod.

In 1923, a group of volunteers banded together to provide fire fighting services in the village of Fonthill. Next year will mark the Association’s centennial.

Pictured, from left: Colin McCann, Yvon Audette, and Chris MacLeod. (SUPPLIED)

IT’S IN THE BAG

After a two-year hiatus, 176 ticket holders gathered recently at the MCC for the Rotary Club of Fonthill’s “Purse Bingo” and other games. The club raised $8000 for school nutrition programs as well as two E. L. Crossley scholarships. Pictured, some of the winners with their prizes. SUPPLIED

Make a hound happy

BY DON RICKERS Contributing News Editor

Interested in making a pup’s life happier this holiday season? Gwen Leong, who is the foster coordinator for Niagara Dog Rescue (NDR), has just returned with her crew of three volunteers from Indigenous reserves in northern Manitoba, located about eight hours north of Winnipeg, with 30 rescued dogs than need new homes. Most are puppies or young dogs, but they have also brought back five pregnant dogs who desperately need a foster home for approximately ten weeks.

Niagara Dog Rescue (NDR) was founded in 2015 as a registered non-profit, volunteer-based charitable organization, dedicated to helping homeless and unwanted dogs. Since its inception, NDR has re-homed 6300 dogs, including 375 thus far in 2022.

NDR covers the costs for all dogs in foster care, which are fully vetted before they are placed.

“Fostering is a wonderful opportunity for those who cannot make a long-term commitment,” said Leong. “But adoption is clearly the preferred option, if it is workable for families. I personally took in an amazing Shepherd mix, knowing nothing about him, but time has shown that I adopted the best companion ever.”

Although winter weather will prevent NDR from driving back to Manitoba, there are plans to return by air if details and funding can be arranged. Many dogs were left behind that will starve or freeze to death over the winter if not rescued.

The rescued dogs now in Niagara are currently with NDR’s boarding partners, but none have yet been adopted.

“We’re letting them settle in a little bit, and then we’ll put them up for adoption,” said Leong. “There are many ways people can help. Adopt a dog. Foster a dog. Donate. Volunteer your time. NDR is 100 percent staffed by volunteers, eager to help dogs that are at risk for being euthanized.”

Working in partnership with the Manito-

ba Animal Alliance, NDR was given permission by native chiefs on the reserves to set up vaccination clinics for dogs, and also take in dogs that local people wanted to surrender. The drive, which took well over 30 hours, was made in NDR’s own dog crate-equipped truck. The volunteers paid for trip expenses out-of-pocket, but also had some help.

“There was an outpouring of support just before the trip, with people donating money and gas gift cards, which helped out a lot, since we burned through about $3000 in fuel over the course of the trip,” said Leong.

The rescued dogs have been spayed, neutered, and vaccinated in preparation for their new homes. Foster applications are available online, and follow-up includes a telephone interview, reference check, home visit, and finally a meeting with the dog identified for the family. Free dog-training sessions are available post-adoption.

“We look at the submitted profiles of those who want to foster or adopt, and try to match them with the appropriate dog,” said Leong.

Niagara Dog Rescue has also teamed up with global dog rescuers TransformAStreetDog.org to help provide for suffering dogs in the Ukraine, that have been displaced due to war. Mass evacuations of dogs to other countries is in progress, with some dogs destined for Canada. It is expensive and often dangerous work, say organizers.

For more information on adopting, fostering, and supporting NDR, see www.niagaradogrescue.com.

Police calls

On Nov. 4, at approximately 8 PM, NRPS 3 District officers attended a residence in the area of Rice Rd. and Cataract Rd. Police say the investigation was regarding the actions of a young person alleged to have committed an assault by spitting on an adult. The investigation was concluded without charge. On Nov. 3, at approximately 4:40 AM, 3 District officers attended a residence in the area of Pelham Town Sq. and Highway 20 for a report of an assault. Police say investigation determined this to be a domestic incident. A 30-yearold Niagara Falls man was arrested and charged with the criminal offences of assault, unlawfully in dwelling house, fail to comply with undertaking. The female victim suffered minor injuries. The arrested male attended a bail hearing. The identity of the accused is not being released as to protect the identity of the victim.

Charges laid against Niagara Regional Police officer

On November 29, 2018, two Niagara Regional Police Service officers were involved in an on-duty altercation in Pelham, which led to shots being fi red and one officer struck and injured. Subsequent investigations

by the Special Investigations Unit and the Ontario Provincial Police led to criminal charges being laid against both officers.

On November 22, 2019, charges against Sergeant Shane Donovan were withdrawn by the Crown.

On September 13, 2021, the trial commenced for Constable Nathan Parker, at which time Sergeant Donovan was called as a Crown witness. During the officer’s testimony, concerns were raised that Sergeant Donovan may not have been truthful in his testimony. On December 20, 2021, the Crown ultimately stayed the criminal charges.

The Hamilton Police Service was requested by the Niagara Regional Police Service to undertake a criminal investigation regarding allegations of perjury. According to an NRPS media statement, on Tuesday November 15, 2022, the Hamilton Police Service concluded their investigation and arrested NRPS Sergeant Shane Donovan. Donovan is facing the following charge: One count of per-

jury, contrary to Section 132 of the Criminal Code. Donovan was released an Officer-in-Charge Undertaking, with a fi rst appearance Court Date of December 12, 2022, in the City of Hamilton.

Falls fraud investigation leads to arrest

In June 2022, detectives from the Niagara Regional Police Central Fraud Unit began an investigation involving a woman allegedly using family and friends’ identification information to obtain credit. The investigation related to a period between 2020-2022. The investigation determined that more than $30,679.86 was fraudulently obtained from 14 victims. Police say that as a result of the investigation detectives identified a suspect.

On Tuesday, November 15, detectives arrested 46-year-old Christina Thompson-Brown of Niagara Falls for the criminal offences of: Fraud Over $5000, Identity Theft. Thompson-Brown was held for bail and released with conditions. Her next court date is December 20, 2022, at the Robert S. K. Welch courthouse in St. Catharines. Police request that anyone who may have information about this investigation contact detectives at 905-688-4111, extension 1009052.

Life in Pelham

Discover more about life in Pelham

Staying Connected in Pelham

The Town of Pelham has many ways for residents to stay connected and receive information. Learn more about the upcoming Town programs, events and offerings.

Coming Soon!

New Town of Pelham Online Services. The Town of Pelham is launching a new Online Services portal to assist in streamlining requests for the community. Residents will be able to report and track requests quickly.

LED Street Light Conversion

Phase One of the LED street light conversion will continue with contractors working daily from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, weather permitting, throughout December.

Winter Parking Reminder

During weather events and when sanders, salters or plows are in operation, parking is not allowed on any Town streets. Help keep the roads clear. By-law 89-2000 & 4353(2022)

Pelham Street Reconstruction Phase 3 | Continues to Spring 2023

The Pelham Street project phase 3 includes the reconstruction of Pelham Street between John Street and Spruceside Crescent South. The contractor is working towards asphalt application before the end of December, with street scaping and final line painting occurring in the spring of 2023. Learn more at www.pelham.ca/pelhamstreet

Council Meetings

Town of Pelham Council meeting agendas, minutes, videos and calendar can be viewed at https://events.pelham.ca/meetings. To view the meetings live, visit www.pelham.ca/live

o f P e l h a m The municipal budget outlines the priorities of the Town of Pelham, determines the level of service provided to Pelham residents and guides decisions on spending for services and infrastructure. The 2023 Draft Capital and Operating Budgets will be available for Council & Pelham Finance and Audit Committee Review on Monday, December 5, 2022. See the full schedule at www.pelham.ca/budget

The Meridian Community Centre (MCC) is home to a variety of drop-in programs. Residents can join programs at any time, and registration is not required. The walking track is open daily. Look for additional programs offered for those 55+.

12-Week Session Begining Jan 9 | Mon/Wed/Fri | $135.00

Applications are accepted beginning December 19!

Positions will be available for Camp Staff, Lifeguards and Lifeguard instructors, Seasonal By-Law and Parks Labourers!

Get your applications ready and apply at www.pelham.ca/careers

Winter Break Camp

January 2-6, 2023 | 9:00am - 4:00pm $185.00 per child ages 4+ Extended Care (7:30am-5:30pm) | $38 per week

Limited spaces are available. This week of fun at the Meridian Community Centre will continue the holiday spirit and seasonal fun through games, skating, gym time, movies, crafts and more! O purchasing a hot lunch on Friday for $7.00.

*all programs, events, and dates are subject to change without notice. www.pelham.ca | inbox@pelham.ca | 905-892-2607

905-732-7882

Pickleball - Volleyball - Chair Yoga - Zumba - Spin - Ballroom Dancing - Ringette & more!

NPCA tree removal combats invasive species

European Black Alder threatened

to

take over E.C. Brown Wetland Park

BY BRIAN GREEN Special to the Voice

“Invasive species

says Kerry Royer, Community Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator for the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA). She is standing in E.C. Brown Wetland Park, where three large pockets of European Black Alder have been cut back to within a few centimetres of the soil in an attempt to eradicate the aggressive invasive. Working closely with the Niagara College Ecosystem Restoration Program, the Conservation Authority is trying to preserve the character of the wetland floodplain meadow that is threatened by the fast-growing Black Alder. If left unchecked, it will take over the wetland, replacing native species with its dense shade and eliminating meadow habitat.

Adam Christie, Director of Conservation Areas for the NPCA, said that Niagara College students began the process of removing the Alders by mapping and cataloguing the population early this year.

“They attempted to remove some of the trees by hand… but many well-established trees are quite large and require professional removal,” said Christie.

Using a grant from the Invasive Species Centre and NPCA operation funds, the work to remove the trees, some as large as 15 centimetres (six inches) in diameter, was

undertaken by a contractor with heavy equipment in late October.

The stumps of the thousands of trees were painted by hand with the herbicide glyphosphate to prevent regrowth. The cut trees were removed from the site for disposal to reduce the impact on future growth in the meadow, and the abundant Black Alder seeds will be raked up and removed as well. The pockets of denuded soil will then be seeded with native wildflower and grasses in an attempt to restore the floodplain meadow. Fall was chosen for the removal and restoration as it is the most effective time to attack the Black Alder and ensures the trees are removed outside of migratory bird breeding season. Niagara College students will monitor the site in the spring to detect regrowth or new outbreaks of the invasive species and make recommendations for future control.

“E.C. Brown Wetland was always meant to be a cooperative project with Niagara College,” said Royer, herself a graduate of the Ecosystem Restoration Program.

“It provides real world conditions for their studies and functions as a working lab while offering educational and recreational opportunities for the public.” The wetland park with interpretive signs along its walking trails is on River Road near the corner of Effingham.

are, next to development, the biggest threat to biodiversity in Canada,”

Top: E.C. Brown before. European Black Alders before the NPCA’s removal program. The trees are aggressively invasive, crowding out native species and reducing biodiversity in the park’s wetlands meadow environment. Above: E.C. Brown after. Kerry Royer, Community Outreach Coordinator for the NPCA stands in one of the pockets where European Black Alders were removed. The thousands of stumps were painted with the herbicide glyphosphate to prevent regrowth KERRY ROYER / BRIAN GREEN

COLUMN SIX

guest, she immediately wanted to know if we could buy him. Answer, no. Joe would be released in the springtime. Time passes and by springtime I had forgotten about Joe.

One day in late spring I received a call from my best friend, Sandra, who was laughing hysterically. It seemed that her mother had a run in with a crow. Lida, Sandra’s mother, had gone to the backyard to hang laundry and locked the side door. As was her custom, she hid the key in the clothespin basket. Thinking her key safe, she continued to do other work in the yard and moved farther away from the basket.

Suddenly, Lida heard cawing and turned around to see a crow at the basket scattering clothespins about. She started toward the basket yelling at the crow but too late. The crow had found the shiny treasure and with it firmly gripped in his beak he joyfully took flight. Lida gave chase and to add insult to injury, this crow taunted her by flying low around the backyard just out of her reach. He then flew up to the neighbour’s roof and stared at Lida as he deftly dropped the key in the eaves then left.

Poor Lida was beside herself. She was locked out of the house with no way to retrieve her house key. Fortunately on this day, when her son Joe had left for his work shift, he failed to close the door properly so she was able to enter her home and was left to stew about the day’s event. I believe her husband eventually retrieved the key.

The crow became a neighbourhood fi xture and was dubbed George. Throughout the season I would hear of George’s various antics. He was quite bold and had no fear of humans. Lida had not learned her lesson from her first encounter with George and the next time had to borrow a neighbour’s phone to call Sandra at work to come home and unlock the door. Humans, we never learn.

George would land nearby when Sandra or her brother were in the yard relaxing. On one occasion George picked up Joe’s lit cigarette from the ashtray and strutted about the yard with a smoking cigarette hanging

out of his beak. Some of his behaviours were more destructive. For example, pulling all the wires off the neighbour’s motorcycle or following behind Julio, Sandra’s father, pulling out the plants as he placed them in the garden. Cheeky.

However, it was not until that one fateful day that I received a panicked phone call from Sandra that the pieces fell into place.

“I think I’ve been in the sun too long and am having a stroke or something!”

“Whoa, slow down, what do you mean?”

Well, Sandra was in her backyard catching rays when she heard a dog barking. She sat up, looked around, and saw no dog, but George was hanging out with her. She lay back down and a few minutes later she heard a dog barking again. Again she sat up to look around and no dog, just George. The next time she heard a barking dog she actually got up and walked around her yard looking over fences to see if she could locate this dog. Nope, just her and George.

The barking started up again and she eyed George suspiciously. She could swear that his throat was moving as she heard the barking. Poor Sandra could not believe this was possible. That’s when I remembered the Welland Humane Society’s bird, Joe, and his special skill. I burst out laughing and told Sandra she did not have heatstroke nor was she losing her mind. She, in fact, had the Humane’s Society’s Joe the Crow, who had learned to bark while he overwintered in a back kennel with some canine companions. I’m not sure Sandra believed me, but she did calm down. This explained why George not only did not fear humans but even enjoyed their company. Plus the Humane Society was only a couple kilometres from Sandra’s home. Maybe nearer as the crow flies.

Eventually Julio decided George had to move. They managed to trap him and Julio drove him out to some Dunnville fields to release him. Our entertainment was gone.

Later that fall the news reported that a crow with a foul mouth had taken up residence in downtown Port Colborne and the citizens were complaining about his vocabulary. Port Colborne is roughly a half hour drive from Dunnville and I just had to wonder if this talented crow was none other then Joe/George. 4

Church

INSTALLED AFTER LONG DELAY

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 613 was able to formally install 19 new members at their general meeting in October for the first time in four years. The installation was presided over by Past President Howard Margeson.

MAKE ROOM IN THE DEN At the Lions Club of Fenwick’s dinner meeting last Wednesday another Fellow was added to the Fenwick pride. Lion President Jeff Pickup (left) presented Lion Trevor Philbrick with the Melvin Jones Fellow, the highest award a Lion can receive, given for exemplary service to the club and the community which it serves.

MORE FELLOWS At the Lions Club of Fenwick dinner meeting on Nov. 2, two new Fellows were added to the pride. Lion Ron Acaster (left) was awarded the Helen Keller Fellow to honour his continued service to his club, his community and Lions District A2. Lion President Jeff Pickup was awarded the Judge Brian Stevenson Fellow to honour his continued service to his club, his community and Lions District A2. SUPPLIED

Pathstone Mental Health opens pop-up, drop-in counseling clinic at Pen Centre

BY DON RICKERS Contributing News Editor

Kim Rossi, Pathstone Mental Health’s Director of Philanthropy and Public Relations, thinks that the organization’s new pop-up, drop-in site at the Pen Centre is a natural for allowing Niagara’s youth easy access to mental health counseling.

“The mall is always jammed with kids, right? Elementary and secondary schools are nearby, and Highway 406 is right there. Buses come and go constantly, and there’s no cost for parking,” she said.

Located close to Starbucks and The Bay, the 600-square foot office features a retail space, two private counseling areas, and a private waiting room. The free walk-in clinic is available for youth counseling on weekdays from November 1 to December 9,

CONDOS

continued from Page 5

they have to talk to the developer about. I’m not sure how it’s all going to work out now. This all started when [developer] Stephen Kaiser approached us. He’s the one in charge of the whole thing. We started talking a couple years ago. When the whole thing started, I just pass it over to my church council, and they took care of it, so I’m out of the loop on that.”

Kaiser, a former president of the Ontario Home Builders Association, partnered with the developer Fonthill Gardens— itself a subsidiary of The Allen Group, a GTA commercial developer—in the development of East Fonthill during former mayor David Augustyn’s controversial last years in office.

Barb Wiens, Pelham’s Director of Community Planning and Development, wrote in an October 27 email to Whitelaw that her office was aware of the develop-

with the retail space in front open during regular mall hours.

“We’ll analyze the traffic that we get from this clinic, and if the numbers justify it, our goal is to arrange funding to make the site permanent,” said Rossi. “All of our ten walk-in clinics are funded by donors and our foundation, and not through Ministry of Health money.”

Rossi noted that over the course of the pandemic, Pathstone’s goal has been to make it as easy as possible for the community to access its services.

“Gas prices are through the roof, and we know that our Branscombe Centre on Fourth Avenue is hard for many people to reach,” she said. “We really need to be as accessible as possible, so that is really at the heart of this location at the Pen.”

Another Pathstone event happening in

ment proposal for the Concordia Church property, and noted that a number of development approvals are required to allow the project to proceed, including a consent application to create the lot from the church property, along with a zoning bylaw amendment application.

“The Committee of Adjustment is the approval authority on the consent application and [Town] Council is approval authority on the zoning bylaw amendment application,” wrote Wiens. “Once decisions are made on the consent and zoning bylaw amendment applications, the developer will be in a position to move forward with a site plan application, if the decisions are favourable. If the decisions are not favourable, the developer will have to consider their options at that time.”

Wiens added in her email that Town staff have taken no position on the applications, which will be circulated to departments and

November is Project Plaid, an annual effort which culminates on the last Friday of the month (“Plaid Friday”).

“We are asking people to wear plaid, share their mental health stories on social media, and donate to Pathstone. Last year, we raised just over $120,000 in the month of November,” said Rossi.

Two styles of plaid toques and a scarf are available for sale, and a Plaid Night is slated for an IceDogs hockey game on November 25.

“The campaign raises money, but the amount of social media traction we get on Plaid Friday, with people posting online and sharing mental health stories, is really the bones of it. It’s all about awareness, prevention, and education,” said Rossi.

Project Plaid was created by the family of 18-year-old Amelia Durocher, who was

agencies for review and comment, and that the public will be given an opportunity to provide input.

Whitelaw has created an online petition dedicated to rejection of the 105 Welland Road rezoning bylaw amendment application, available at: https://chng.it/XhqWcVGbQC. He may be contacted at bwhitelaw@cogeco.ca.

Stephen Kaiser, who owns Kaiser Homes in partnership with his wife, Robin, told the Voice that the October 26 information session for the neighbours was not mandated as part of the process, but was offered as a goodwill gesture to provide a heads-up as to what his firm was proposing.

“The Committee of Adjustment hearing is in regard to severance of one acre from the church property,” said Kaiser. “Our development group has an option to purchase the westerly portion of the church property. It’s really about the sustainability and longterm viability of the church. We’ve

lost to suicide in 2019.

“For the past two years, the family has given us the campaign to grow,” said Rossi. “Our pop- up shop at the Pen has pictures on display of Amelia in her signature plaid clothing.”

In recent months, kids have shown a greater desire to learn coping skills, which is why its walk-in clinic programs were established, said Rossi.

The walk-in clinic is a place for kids to have a compassionate ear to listen to their issues, free of judgment, said Rossi.

Details are available online at www. pathstonementalhealth.ca/walk-in-clinic. Walk-ins are welcomed, but appointments may also be scheduled by calling 1-800263-4944.

No health card or referral are necessary for the counseling sessions.

had lengthy discussions with the church, which included selling the whole parcel, but the church would like to try to make a go of it with the money from the sale of the land. We will build them a new paved parking lot, up to urban standards, rather than the gravel surface that’s on the westerly portion now.”

At this point, Kaiser does not want to argue the merits of the six-storey condominium building proposed for the site.

“This first step is about severing a piece of property from the whole. I just don’t want to get way out ahead of this. We’re anxious to hear comments from the neighbours as part of the process. I’m acknowledging the concern from the residents who live immediately adjacent, and we’re going to listen and see what we can do to mitigate their concerns,” he said.

Kaiser informed the Voice on November 11 that he was planning to contact the Town of Pelham,

requesting that the December 6 Committee of Adjustment hearing related to severance of the property at 105 Welland Road be deferred.

“In retrospect, we feel it is better to follow the process with the rezoning first, as the severance may be interpreted as permitting the development of the proposed residential condominium,” he said.

The Voice has confirmed that the December 6 meeting to address severance has been postponed until a future date.

Wiens said that the zoning application meeting for the property has been slated for December 12.

Residents are invited to participate in the future Committee of Adjustment virtual meeting regarding property severance by sending an email to clerks@pelham.ca. Verbal and written comments may also be submitted.

The online meeting link is available at: www.youtube.com/ user/TownOfPelham.

on the Voice website. Spoilers below!)

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. On a hunch, Cleary and Frayne drive west into the country to speak with another ex-con, who reveals that shortly before a planned construction site heist a few years back, one of the thieves—Carmine Rizzolo—went missing and hasn’t been seen since. Cleary and Frayne talk to detective who remembers Rizzolo going missing, a presumed suicide. But oddly, his abandoned car was found near where he worked at the time—at an East Lofthill construction site, pouring concrete for basements. Meanwhile, bored at home, realtor Kim Stephenson goes out for a drive and ends up parked near the lake in Port Robinson. On the radio she hears the new hit song by a singer that she used to date. Then her phone dings with a message from the singer—the onetime Queen of Country, Belinda Boone—urgently asking if they could meet that evening.

As they drove through Niagara Falls, curving along the Parkway with the river, Emma remembered an article that said ninety percent of Canadians lived within a hundred miles of the US border, but it hadn’t really meant anything to her until she’d moved to Niagara and met people who thought nothing of driving to New York to buy milk and cheese and gasoline. The difference between living a hundred miles from the border and ten miles was a lot bigger than it seemed.

When Emma and Matt had first moved to Delham they got their NEXUS cards and imagined quick trips to Buffalo to see concerts, the Finger Lakes, and Corning to see the Museum of Glass, since Emma had lately gotten interested in all things mid-century modern.

They’d made two trips—a jujitsu tournament for Matt and a weekend in East Aurora—and then the border closed. It was shocking when it happened. Even closing the border for a week or two seemed unbelievable at the time and then it somehow dragged out to months and then a couple of years. They never bothered to download the government’s travel app, since they had no interest in crossing over to the Yankee Doodle crazy once the pandemic started.

Now at the Whirlpool Bridge under the railway tracks Matt held up the two NEXUS cards to the screen and then drove slowly forward. They barely stopped at the booth on the other side and continued into the United States of America— still certifiable, but at least their midterms hadn’t gone as disastrously as predicted.

Matt checked for traffic before turning right. “Just like the good old days.”

“This Niagara Falls is a lot different than our Niagara Falls,” said Emma.

“It’s picking up,” Matt said, but there was no doubt the two cities were worlds apart. In Ontario people were upset about new casinos, new hotels, new condos, new construction of any kind, while in New York they were upset that their derelict buildings were falling down. Where both Falls managed to resemble each other most closely was with their emaciated

By John McFetridge

weekend’s blizzard. But even here it was like driving through a canyon, enormous white walls of snow on either side that the plows had pushed past the shoulders.

Emma was surprised at how nervous she was. “Maybe we should buy something, just to have something to declare. Wegmans, maybe? Turkeys will be on sale.”

Americans and their Thanksgiving poultry. Throw in a couple of cans of cranberry sauce.

“No,” Matt said, making it sound like the decision was final.

She figured he was nervous too, so she let it go. They’d worked out their cover story, they were going to visit the Martin House, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Buffalo that had been completely restored. Because of new “Health and Safety Guidelines”—no one wanted to say Covid— they had to book their tour in advance, which worked perfectly for them. It left a paper trail as to why they’d crossed the border and what they were doing for a couple of hours. Emma was actually interested in the tour, it was something she’d wanted to do before the border closed, and she was glad the house was open again after the weekend’s storm.

Matt didn’t want to book the full tour that included the conservatory, the carriage house, and the landscaping, but he did agree to the two-hour option instead of just the onehour.

What he didn’t agree to do was enjoy himself, and he didn’t. He sulked, and tried to rush through while Emma wanted to linger in each room, taking in the craftsmanship. Matt kept whispering, “We can come back another time, you can blow five hundred bucks on the private tour,” and Emma kept saying, “But we’re here now.”

She’d enjoyed the film they showed before the tour, the story of Darwin Martin and his wife Isobel, and Frank Lloyd Wright going so much over budget, as usual. Emma thought the Martins’ story was fascinating.

At the end she asked the tour guide about Graycliffe, on Lake Erie, the Martins’ summer home that Wright also designed for them. She joined Matt where he waited outside.

“Imagine having a cottage only a half hour away.”

“Probably took a lot longer to get there on horses,” said Matt, fishing the car keys from his pocket.

“Darwin Martin was one of the first to get a car, remember? They said halfway through construction they changed the stables into garages, weren’t you listening?”

Matt pressed the remote and the locks popped up. “Come on, let’s do the thing now.”

meth-heads swaying along the sidewalks, grinding their caramel teeth, arguing with invisible companions. On a whim a few weeks after they moved to East Lofthill, Emma and Matt had driven all the way out Lundy’s Lane to a Japanese place in the heart of the tourist district. Tracing the same route back after dusk, they couldn’t believe the number of addicts staggering across intersections and sprawled in pawn shop doorways, zombie scarecrows draped in stained flannel and ragged jeans three sizes too big. It was pitiful and frightening, a hellscape which they would never forget was just a few kilometres away, on the other side of a slender moat. “They should keep these lift bridges up permanently,” said Matt as they crossed above the canal, tires humming. They hadn’t been back since.

Merging on to Interstate 190 Matt said, “We’ll come home over the Peace Bridge, so it looks like we didn’t just hit the one spot.”

They took it slowly. The road was basically clear, but a few patches of black ice remained. It was south Buffalo and beyond that had really been hammered by the previous

They drove in silence through Buffalo. Both nervous about The Thing, as they were calling it. Matt had researched coin dealers and pawn shops and people claiming to buy and sell gold and they’d finally settled on AAA Pawn. At least it was one thing they’d managed to agree on. As they drove further in, the buildings became progressively shabbier. Many were boarded-up. A half-deflated Thanksgiving cornucopia balloon swayed above the entrance to a nonchain convenience store. There were no banks, no grocery stores. They were in red-lined territory.

Emma took in the grey slush and paint peeling from fire hydrants. “Are you sure this is the right neighbourbood? It looked different in Google.”

“I don’t know, I’m just following the GPS.” Matt nodded. “There it is.”

He edged into a space a couple of doors down from the

closer to two-fifty and sometimes over three hundred. Habitat 67 with bars, minus the balconies.

Cleary and Frayne checked in and were led to a small meeting room. A few minutes later the door opened and a guard and an inmate stepped in.

The inmate stopped. “I’m not telling you shit.”

Cleary looked at him. “You don’t even know what we want to talk about.”

The guy looked at the guard and then back at Cleary. “I’m not saying nothing.”

He walked to the table and sat opposite Cleary. Frayne stood against the wall, his arms crossed.

Cleary made a show of reading her notes. “You’re Michael DeLuca, you went to St. Paul High School.”

He shrugged.

“You were friends with Carmine Rizzolo.”

“Damn, you find his body?”

“What makes you think we didn’t find him alive?”

“You just said ‘were friends.’ Plus, if the dude was alive he would’ve been at his mum’s for dinner every Sunday.”

“Do you think he killed himself?”

Back to shrugging. “Who knows.”

“You were friends with him for a long time,” Cleary said. “You stayed close.”

“I knew the guy.”

“You grew up with the guy. Then you worked construction with the guy.”

“Around here, yeah, I never went to Toronto.”

“I get that. When he came back to Niagara did he move back into the B and Es with you?”

DeLuca tried to look shocked. “B and Es? What are you talking about?”

“You guys started breaking into houses when you were in Grade 8.”

“You can’t bring up juvie records.”

Frayne looked sideways at Cleary and held back a smile. When they’d found out that DeLuca and Rizzolo had known each other as kids she’d said they probably had juvenile records, and they’d be sealed. But, she said, it didn’t mean they couldn’t use it to bluff.

“We don’t care about that now. And to answer your question, no, we haven’t found his body, he’s still missing. But you think he’s dead.”

DeLuca shrugged again. “I don’t know if he’s alive or dead.”

“You think he’s dead. Who do you think killed him?”

“Well, see, thing is, only you cops think he killed himself and you only say that so you can call it case closed. Then you don’t have to do shit looking for him.”

Cleary thought that was probably about right, but she said, “I’m looking for him now.”

“Four years later.”

“You weren’t in jail then.”

“Me? I didn’t have nothing to do with it.”

“You only got picked up last year, sentenced to two years. You’ll be out in a couple of months. If you’re good and don’t get in any fights.” Cleary did an invisible doodle on the table. “Fights. Fights are bad. Fights get you some bonus time added on, isn’t that right, Constable?”

Frayne looked at his fingernails. “That’s been my understanding, Sergeant. Sometimes considerable time. Fights are unfortunate in that regard. Doesn’t matter who starts them, these fights.”

DeLuca looked right at Cleary. “This has nothing to do with me, don’t screw with me.”

“Who was he hanging out with when he went missing?”

“You should have asked when it went down.”

“I’m asking now. He was back in Niagara working construction, right?”

DeLuca leaned back in the plastic chair and looked around the room. “Yeah, he was.”

“He was working for Meyers,” Cleary said. “Pouring foundations.”

“That’s right.”

“And he just disappeared?”

“That’s the word.”

“And you weren’t the last person to see him?”

“Me? Not a chance.” DeLuca leaned forward. “I’ll tell you something. I did see him a few days before he disappeared and he was happy. He was making plans.”

“What kind of plans?”

“I don’t know, plans. Big talk. Gonna get a new car, gonna buy his mum a nice house. But then he’s gone, and there was all this crap about killing himself. I never bought that.”

“So what do you think happened?”

“Not a clue, but he didn’t off himself. You talk to his Toronto buddies?”

Cleary tapped at her phone then held it up. “Do you know this guy?”

The look on DeLuca’s face said he did, and he didn’t like it, then he got it under control. “No, never seen him.”

Cleary looked at Frayne. “Constable, do you have any questions?”

Frayne sighed. “No, I do not.”

DeLuca pushed back from the table. “No offense, but I hope I never see yous again.”

“You’ll see us if we want you to,” Cleary said. “You could be here for a while.”

Walking to the car Frayne put on his sunglasses. “Okay, so DeLuca definitely knew Leonard Bouchard.”

Cleary opened the door and looked over the roof at Frayne. “He said he’d never seen him.”

“The look on his face,” Frayne said. “He might as well have said he’d never seen his own mother.”

They got into the car. Cleary pulled out her notebook. “So these three guys knew each other four years ago. They were all involved in the theft of construction equipment and probably other thefts, too. So, did our dead guy Bouchard kill Carmine Rizzolo back then, and bury him on that East Lofthill job site, maybe with DeLuca’s help?

“Not exactly Jimmy Hoffa buried under Giants stadium.”

“Rizzolo wasn’t president of the Teamsters.”

Frayne rubbed his face. “Are we going to have to tell someone there’s a body buried in their basement?”

“I hope not.”

“It is a pretty good place to stash a corpse—fresh concrete, three, four feet deep.”

“It is,” Cleary said. “So if these cases are connected— Rizzolo and Bouchard— why did they bury Rizzolo but leave Bouchard’s body out in the open this time?”

“Maybe it really was a message for rival gang.”

“Could be,” Cleary said. “That’s what the task force big shots want to believe, for sure.”

Cleary looked across the parking lot. A squirrel picked its way along the top of a chain link fence. She sighed.

“I guess we type this up and send it in to them. They probably have someone working undercover, infiltrating these gangs and they won’t want us getting in the way.”

Frayne was disappointed but he understood. He really didn’t want to hand over what they’d managed to find, he wanted to keep poking around, as Cleary called it, but procedure was procedure.

Then he frowned. “Hold on. The task force didn’t know about our Mr. DeLuca here, doing time.”

“No, they didn’t.”

“They probably don’t know that Rizzolo might be buried under one of those East Lofthill houses.”

Cleary nodded. “True, probably not, and they’re not looking there.”

“Are they looking anywhere? Or are they worried about house values, too? I mean look at what they just did with the Greenbelt. The developers really do run this province.”

Cleary chuckled. “Be that as it may, Comrade Lenin, an investigation into organized crime can go on for years. This is probably just a footnote.”

Frayne made a face, but he knew she was right.

Cleary snapped her notebook shut. “But dammit. It was a murder that happened right here. This is still our patch. Maybe just a little more poking around.”

“Yes,” Frayne said, a little too loudly. “I mean, we might as well.”

Kim Stephenson got up from the king bed and walked to the sofa facing the window but she didn’t sit down. The room was dark, lighted only by the glow from the falls down below, which were lit up in blue and yellow. Lights twinkled from the New York side. She shook her head. “It’s an incredible view.”

From the bed, Belinda Boone gave a low purr. “It sure is.”

Kim turned slowly, flushing as she smiled. A month earlier she’d been furious. It had been building since the tour was announced. For weeks after she bought tickets to Belinda’s show she imagined how it would go, taking both sides of the conversation as she replayed their break-up years before. Belinda’s star was rising and she didn’t want to come out, said her management team was against it. At the time Kim said she understood, so they saw each other on the sly. But it didn’t last, it couldn’t. After the breakup they’d mutually ghosted each other.

Belinda was the Queen of Country for a good run, then hit a dry spell. Now with her new hit she was back, headlining a tour. Headed for the States, then Europe and Japan.

In the imagined fight, Kim said she’d kept the secret this long and Belinda said, “Do you want a medal?” and Kim

by John Swart

Our small band of four cyclists had already ridden 90 kilometres, and we were getting worried about the distance still required to cycle back to our hotel. We’d wandered north and west from Aberdeen, North Carolina, over sand hills and through luxurious pine forests, following back roads with little traffic or roadside signage, revelling in an early March week of cycling. Aberdeen was still too chilly for the thousands of northern golfers who would soon swarm the area to sneak in early-season practice rounds, with the enticement of off-season hotels and motels being inexpensive, restaurants unrushed, and the rural roads leading to the middle-of-nowhere nice and quiet.

We stood astride our bikes in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station which had once been the centrepiece of the dozen or so modest homes that made up this community, whatev-

er its name might be. That was our problem.

Ron’s GPS told him we were west of Handy, on Handy Road. By riding a few kilometres further west we’d meet South Main Street Extension, then a crossroad at Clear Springs where we could turn left and head to our hotel. The Main Street of what or where wasn’t revealed, which complicated things.

Mike’s GPS said we were nowhere at the moment, but were approaching the intersection of NC 2522 and NC 2501. It refused, however, to suggest which way we should turn when we arrived.

Marty’s GPS told us that if we followed Jackson Hill Road to Lookabill Road, we might eventually find our way back, but the route could turn to gravel and then disappear into the massive Uwharrie National Forest.

A quick search of Uwharrie NF noted that it was open to hunting all year round and was home to Flintlock Valley Shooting Range, which

required facial covering. We imagined John Wesley Hardin rather than an N95 mask. The park’s home page was emblazoned with, “All outdoor recreational activities have inherent risks. Your safety is your responsibility.” Marty’s route lost an impromptu vote, and was dismissed immediately.

My small map stayed folded in my jersey pocket.

While Ron and Mike argued, civilly but intently, on whose GPS was correct, I walked to the closest home to ask for directions. A curious elderly woman kindly opened the door, appearing unfazed by my neon riding costume, bony knees, dark helmet and disco sunglasses. As she explained that there was an intersection “that way” down the road, but she wasn’t sure of the roads’ names, or if there was a town in that direction, her granddaughter drove into the driveway.

I thanked Gramma, and asked her granddaughter if she could tell me what intersection and/or village I’d find if I rode in “that direction.” She replied, sure, no problem, pulled out her phone, opened Google maps, and said, “This’ll just take a minute.” I was dumbstruck. Five miles away from her Gramma’s home at most, and she pulled out an electronic device to find out if there was a town there.

Turned out her Google map was equally as confused as our GPSs, so I returned to the guys, who were still debating which direction to ride. I glanced at my sweaty

map, looked at my watch, up at the sun, figured out which direction was most probably south, and declared that I was riding in that direction, departing now, and anyone was welcome to join me. As we rode away, I desperately hoped we were headed toward Uwharrie National Forest and that we’d meet that one aged hunter, maybe living off the grid, who might actually know where the hell we were.

A 2020 study released by Veronique D. Bohbot, Department of Psychiatry, and Louisa Dahmani, PhD Neuroscience, at McGill University, titled, “Habitual use of GPS negatively impacts spatial memory during self-guided navigation,” indicates that by regularly relying on a GPS to guide us along the world’s highways, we’re doing our brain’s hippocampus, and ourselves, a significant disservice.

The hippocampus, embedded deep in the temporal lobe of our cerebral cortex, is vital to memory encoding and consolidation (storage), spatial navigation, and for regulating learning. Existing science has proven that impaired hippocampal function slows our learning process, reduces our ability to acquire, store and recall information about our location within a specific environments, and inhibits our ability to control goal-directed behaviour.

The intention of the McGill study was to discover if increased GPS use affected our hippocampus’ spatial memory strategy function

negatively, decreasing our spatial learning ability, episodic memory, and relational memory. By using spatial memory strategy, our brain attempts to learn the relative position of landmarks and other location indicators to create a cognitive map of our environment for immediate directional decisions, and ideally, to store the information for later use too.

In very simple terms, the study’s trials consisted of learning the position of objects placed in a maze containing various paths, then monitoring participants’ success in recognizing those same paths via spatial clues to locate the objects a second time after all the paths had been repositioned. This would test spatial learning, spatial reasoning and spatial memory.

The study included 50 participants, 18 females and 32 males with a youthful mean age of 27. The group were all regular commuters within Montreal, and had used their GPSs for wayfinding for various numbers of years. Thirteen of the participants returned three and a half years later for a follow-up study. Both studies were extremely rigorous in attempting to eliminate factors other than GPS use that might influence the subjects’ spatial recognition abilities.

The study concluded, “There was a significant negative correlation (in the trials) which indicates that as GPS reliance increases, spatial memory strategy decreases.”

As we condition our brains

Yungblut, Gail

In memory of my beloved sister Gail, loving sister-in-law and aunt who was tragically killed November 27, 1999.

What a year this has been. Gail, you would have welcomed a beautiful new granddaughter, and have reunited with our dear mother.

Your love and support was certainly missed this year but you are loved and missed every single day. Give Mom and Dad a hug for me.

Missing you more than ever but never forgotten by Blair, Willie, Lindsay and Chris.

No one will ever take your place in our hearts.

to feel comfortable allowing technology to guide us to our destinations, they no longer bother to search out or memorize the physical indicators which previously would have assisted us to find our way.

On a broader scale, our hip-

top of a climate crisis, which was on top of several equality crises, which are built on top of a global food crisis. And now we have a war in the Ukraine that threatens us all.”

Cribbs spoke of being awed, upon his arrival in Pelham, by the legion of lawn chairs assembled in Peace Park for Thursday evening bandshell concerts during the summer, and noted that of the five municipalities he has worked with during his career, Pelham’s community spirit tops them all.

“This is the best job I’ve ever taken,” he said. “I’m so grateful every day to be here in Pelham. And the special sauce is the volunteers. Because otherwise, we’re just a nice place. But there are other nice places. Volunteerism is what makes us special.”

Allison told the audience that “it’s amazing what you have in your community due to the involvement of volunteers. Larger towns don’t always deliver like smaller towns for their friends and neighbours.” In a similar vein, Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoof said that “the people in this room really are the lifeblood of our community. Volunteers like yourselves are the ones who ensure that so many good things happen each and every day.”

Wink announced the peer award nominees, selected by local service group committees. Volunteers honoured at the event were: Bill King,

GPS continued from previous page

pocampus is surrendering its ability to learn from previous mistakes.

Map-drawing was part of the trials. Those who used their GPS the most had more difficulty forming a cognitive map because they had mentally encoded fewer landmarks, and hence had less reference points from which to draw. The study also showed that the more frequent GPS users had greater difficulty in simply learning the location of the objects.

In conclusion, the authors stated, “Therefore, GPS use not only affects the extent to which people use spatial strategies, but also their ability to use spatial memory abilities effectively.”

For a layperson like me, the possibility of losing the ability to use my abilities is not something I want to hear. Questions abound.

A May 2021 Scientific American article responded to Bohbot and Dahmani’s study by acknowledging its

Canada Day Planning Group; Dr. Tim Nohara, Cannabis Control Committee; Cathy Robins, Community Beautification Committee; Bert Marissen, Fenwick Lions; Yvon Audette, Fonthill Firefighters Association; Bonnie Puhl, Fonthill Lionettes; Al Crowe, Fonthill Lions; Dave Ripley, Kinsmen Club of Fonthill and District; Bea Clark, Pelham Active Transportation Committee; Tammy van den Brink, Pelham Arts Advisory Committee; Natalia Shields, Pelham Art Festival; Ric Gretsinger, Pelham Farmers Market; Heather Carter, Pelham Garden Club; Sharon Cook, Pelham Seniors Advisory Committee; Remo Battista, Pelham Summerfest Committee; Greg Haegens, Short Hills Firefighters Association; Colleen Kenyon, Town of Pelham Culture; Sherry Wilkinson, Town of Pelham Public Art; and Bry-Anne Farms, Corporate Recognition Award.

veracity, yet suggested we replace visual GPS navigation with audio navigation to avoid damage to the hippocampus. Each location of interest would be given a unique audio beacon, which we could locate via earbuds, headphones or our smart phones, and use it to find our way. Not surprisingly, Microsoft offers an app called Soundscape, “A map delivered in 3D sound.”

Enough. As we allow technology to gradually (if we resist), or quickly (if we embrace), strip away the basic, complex, and varied daily tasks our brain must perform, are we destined to degrade or lose those abilities in our lifetime, in a generation, or in three and a half years, as the GPS users in the study did?

We found that grizzled North Carolina hunter who knew where he was, physically on the ground rather than in the virtual world, and he directed us home. We turned right after the little creek, but not the one with the waterfall, then left at Bill Smith’s farm, the name was

Shoalts, who has written four books based on his wilderness journeys and holds a Ph.D. in History from McMaster University, told the audience that he had just arrived in Pelham a few hours earlier, having been in Ottawa for a similar event.

“Sitting at my table were a Supreme Court justice, an astronaut, the Prime Minister, and a very famous Hollywood actor, and I can tell you in all sincerity, I am much more excited to be here at this dinner tonight,” he said. “And the reason for that is because there is no place like home. I am so happy to be back here in Pelham, back to my roots, where I first fell in love with the outdoors. Pelham was the perfect place to grow up, not only because of the forest and the rural places we’re still privileged to have, but because of all the clubs, the activities, the volunteers, everything

on the mailbox, etc., just as he had explained, and arrived back in Aberdeen.

There was a lesson learned that day, and it was much more significant than simply finding our way home. After learning of the McGill study, score one for the Luddites. 4

that makes the town what a town is.’

Shoalts said that he had spent the last ten years living outside of Pelham and Niagara, travelling to remote locations.

“I’ve done expeditions on four continents, in all ten provinces and territories, including 4000 kilometres across the Arctic. But being here tonight is a real thrill for me.”

During his presentation, Shoalts detailed his journey to the isolated settlement of Traverspine, in Labrador, long since deserted, which during the early 1900s was reportedly the scene of a haunting by large creatures none could identify. An expert on wilderness folklore, Shoalts and his trek-mate Junkin, who is one of Mayor Junkin’s sons, set off into the wilds of Labrador to investigate the tale. His latest book, The Whisper on the Night Wind, tells the complete story, but Shoalts was not inclined to share the mystery’s conclusion.

“You’ll just have to buy the book to find out,” he said with a grin.

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Speaker Adam Shoalts, Mayor Marvin Junkin, and Junkin's son Zach, who accompanied Shoalts on an expedition to Labrador, recounted in Shoalts' book, TheWhisperontheNightWind DON RICKERS

yelled back and stormed out.

Or she imagined Belinda pretending they were never together, or sometimes she imagined Belinda saying it was a fling and never meant anything to her.

Kim had the fight over and over again in her head, always ending with her walking out, head held high, pride intact, and Belinda crushed, crying.

Kim bought a ticket to the first show, spent the big bucks and was close to the stage. She imagined Belinda spotting her in the crowd, stumbling on the lyrics, turning away, the show falling apart.

It took three songs for Belinda to see her, and when she did she smiled. At first a big, surprised smile, and then a seductive, almost leering grin, and then she turned the song she was singing into a serenade.

None of the fights Kim imagined happened. They had drinks and reminisced for hours and decided they could be friends after all and promised to stay in touch. Very mature. Kim got home late, emotionally drained but happy.

Then this afternoon Belinda texted. Said she’d flown up from Atlanta for a couple of days—the American road crew was on their Thanksgiving break. Did Kim want to have dinner at her hotel in the Falls?

They never made it out of her suite.

Now Belinda propped herself against the headboard. “You want some room service?”

Kim ambled back to the bed. “Whatever you want.”

A new glow lit up the room, and then a flash and a muffled bang. They both turned to the window. Glittering tentacles wiggled in the sky. Another firework exploded, and then another.

Kim laughed. “That’s crazy. The regular fireworks are done for the season.”

“Maybe they knew we were up here.”

“It’s probably some billionaire giving his kid a birthday party,” said Kim.

They watched a few more explosions.

Belinda looked at Kim. “You want to go out for dinner?”

Kim couldn’t help but smile. “Like a date?”

“Exactly like a date.” Belinda was smiling, too. “But not so stressful, cause I won’t have to worry if I’m going to get you in the sack later.”

“If you play your cards right.”

Kim crawled up on the bed. She was glad they were going public.

E

A half hour later they walked up to a traditional Indian place that Kim knew, holding hands. Kim was thinking that since now there was nothing to hide, maybe she could tell that nice older lady cop and her young partner about Emma or Matt, whichever one it was, coming home in the middle of the night.

But that could wait. Paparazzi had trailed them to the restaurant, then stood gobsmacked as Belinda pulled Kim back from the door, turned to the cameras, and gave her a full-on, ten-second kiss. One guy was so dumbfounded he forgot to shoot any pictures.

“Uh, one more time?” he asked.

“My pleasure,” said Belinda, her breath white in the cold. For the first time in years Kim was smiling like she meant it.

Part 6 of 10. Continued next week.

SONG SUNG BLUE The Forever In Blue Jeans Neil Diamond Tribute is coming to Niagara Falls. Noted Neil Diamond tribute artist Will Chalmers will perform at the Festival of Lights concert, Dec. 3, at the Niagara Falls Spring Street Legion. Born in Scotland, Chalmers is currently on a world tour. Also performing are Roy Orbison and Dolly Parton tribute artists. Tickets are $25 and available at the Legion, Mon. to Fri. from 3 to 11 PM, at Lundy’s Variety on Lundy’s Lane, Sat. from 3 to 6 PM, at Semenuk's Esso, Hwy 20 and 58, or through www.danitix.com. More information: 905-325-5704. Doors open at 6:30 PM, concert starts at 7 PM.