editorial
EMC - Your Community Newspaper
Winter woes are here once again EMC Editorial – Christmas has come and gone. Now, if only winter would do the same. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too critical of the coldest, sloppiest and most uncomfortable season of the year considering we made it through November and most of December with mild temperatures and little to no snowfall. The 10-plus centimetres experienced late last month, however, was just enough of an inconvenience to reinforce our opinion that winter, for the most part, is nothing short of a royal pain in the butt. Our apologies to those of you who look forward to and actually find winter enjoyable. We’re by no means ignorant to the fact that many popular activities such as skiing, skating, snowmobiling, hockey, tobogganing and simple snowman building would be impossible without winter. It should also be noted that we are in no way condemning anyone who participates in these and other winter-related pastimes. Perhaps we simply view these activities as expendable if the sacrifice were to lead to warm, sunny skies 365 days of the year. Before we go any further, we know what many of you are likely thinking. This is Canada, winter comes with the territory, so learn to live with it and stop complaining. We get it. We know winter is unavoidable when you live in this part of the world. But, that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Don’t even get us started on freezing rain. Winter is a reality that rears its ugly head every time we have to postpone the start of our daily routine to shovel a mountain of the white stuff and brave the bitter winds while rescuing our vehicles from the prison of ice and snow. Once we’ve accomplished this and finally take to the roads, a typical morning commute can often transform into Death Race 2000. If you’re not careful, you could end up in the ditch, could damage your vehicle, suffer an injury – or worse. During a recent winter storm, more than 70 collisions were reported throughout the city in a seven-hour time period. Obviously many of these were probably avoidable if more motorists used common sense and drove accordingly. On the other hand, it’s also obvious there would not have been so many collisions if it was a clear, summer day. The truth of the matter, however, is winter is upon us and it’s going to be here for a while. We might as well make the most of it ... but it isn’t going to be easy.
L e t t e rs t o t h e E d it or
Letters Policy
Do you have an opinion on something you’ve read in the EMC or a community issue you would like to share with our readers? Send us a Letter to the Editor to jdavies@theemc.ca. All letters are subject to editing due to grammar, length and legal reasons.
Journalist reflects on his service to community I’m not good with goodbye’s even on the best of days, which makes writing a farewell column to my readers all the more difficult. But that is what this column will be. Reporters may be the face of a publication within a community, but like employees of any business, they are just as vulnerable to the everyday workings of the business world. That’s simply the nature of the industry and free enterprise as a whole. Over the last two years it has been my pleasure to serve the people of Nepean and Barrhaven, the latter community being an area I watched grow and mature even before I entered the world of journalism. I use the word ‘serve’ because I do see reporting as a public service, albeit one that doesn’t
Strange but true
By steph willems
offer the securities of the official government PS. Any reporter who doesn’t see their job in this light is doing a disservice to his or her readers. During my time at the EMC I have covered such a wide variety of events and met a staggering number of individuals deserving of coverage and community support; listing (or naming) them would take more space than these pages could handle. Rarely did a week go by without encountering a breaking story
or personal interview that left me eager to get back to my computer, consult my inner lexicon and carefully decide which words to use to describe the experience. A friend attending school in Toronto recently sent me a Facebook message remarking on the number of times he saw Barrhaven listed in online news coverage. That’s something to say for a suburban community in Ottawa, especially coming from someone residing in the Centre of the Universe. In the journalism world, hours are often long and accolades in short supply, to the point where friends might ask why you put up with it. That’s where the public service part of the equation comes in. Reporters, like artists, keep doing what they’re
Advertising Sales: Sales Co-ordinator: Carly McGhie 613-688-1479 cmcghie@perfprint.ca Expanded Market Coverage
57 Auriga Drive, Suite 103 Ottawa, ON, K2E 8B2 613-723-5970 Published weekly by:
Publisher: Mike Tracy mtracy@perfprint.ca
Display Advertising: Emily Warren 613-688-1478 Geoff Hamilton 613-688-1488 Valerie Rochon 613-688-1669 Jill Martin 613-688-1665 Mike Stoodley 613-688-1675 Nathan Kair 613-688-1652 Classified Advertising Sales: Sharon Russell 613-688-1483
doing because of a passion to facilitate community-wide knowledge through the accurate dispensing of information. Knowledge is power, they say, and keeping up to date with current events and neighbourhood happenings – knowing the issues – allows readers to harness that power. Then there’s the emotional level. Reporters often go that extra mile and give up their weekend or evening not because they’re required to, but because they want a story to be covered, because the person, group, event, issue or cause profiled deserves exposure. Without it coverage and exposure, the eventual outcome of the story might not be as happy a one as could be. As part of a community, a community journalist plays a
ADMINISTRATION: Crystal Foster 613-723-5970 Production: 613-723-5970 ottprepress@thenewsemc.ca EDITORIAL: Managing Editor: Patricia Lonergan 613-221-6261 patricia.lonergan@metroland.com Managing Editor: Ryland Coyne rcoyne@perfprint.ca Associate Editor: Theresa Fritz
Member of: Ontario Community Newspapers Association, Canadian Community, Newspapers Association, Ontario Press Council, Association of Free Community Papers
role and occupies a place just like a resident with a street address in the neighbourhood in question. A sense of community – or ‘belonging’, if you will - is the biggest ‘perk’ for any journalist. After all, don’t we all want to belong? If faceto-face interaction isn’t your thing, then journalism likely isn’t for you. I’m reminded of my biggest accolade, which ironically came hot on the heels of the news of the business transaction that led to my departure. I met with a Kanata resident who showed up at my office one day – Flora Mesher Riley, a native of Labrador who was raising funds for her brother’s cancer treatment back home – who was appealing for help in her quest. It was the third brother of hers to contract
News editor: Joe Morin joe.morin@metroland.com 613-258-3451 Reporter/Photographer: Emma Jackson emma.jackson@metroland.com 613-221-6181 Political Reporter: Laura Mueller laura.mueller@metroland.com 613-221-6162
The deadline for display advertising is thursday 10:00 AM
cancer in the last three years, and the emotions she wore were clear to see. Having visited Labrador twice before and knowing the sincerity of those living there and the trust they place in others, I was glad to be able to help in any way I could. Advance coverage of two fundraisers followed, and after meeting family members who drove to Barrhaven from Goose Bay/Happy Valley at one of the events, Riley and the Mesher family thanked me for my assistance. I was surprised when she arrived at my office one last time to present me with a plaque she had had made, officially thanking me for my generosity. See Steph page 15
• Advertising rates and terms and conditions are according to the rate card in effect at time advertising published. • The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount charged for the space actually occupied by that portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due to negligence of its servants or otherwise... and there shall be no liability for non-insertion of any advertisement beyond the amount charged for such advertisement. • The advertiser agrees that the copyright of all advertisements prepared by the Publisher be vested in the Publisher and that those advertisements cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. • The Publisher reserves the right to edit, revise or reject any advertisement.
Read us online at www.EMConline.ca
Your Community Newspaper
EMC - Thursday, January 5, 2012 7