June 22, 2017 Vol. 17, No. 24
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GREC reaching new heights with drone photography program by Craig Bakay t’s taken about a year and a half, 40 pages of applications and a lot of research and learning, but this fall, the Granite Ridge Education Centre will be offering a unique class to its Grade 11 students — an introduction to GIS, which includes certification in the operation and use of drones. “We believe we’re the first school in Ontario with this kind of program,” said Wade Leonard, who’s been the driving force behind it and will be the teacher. “There may be another somewhere but we’re the only ones signed up for the software.” The ‘drone’ in this case is a Phantom 4, which is about the size of a large snare drum, complete with a state-of-the-art camera and software. It has four propellers and it’s no toy — especially not to the federal government. “The permitting process has taken about 11 months to get this thing off the ground,” Leonard said. “We’re in the final stage now and we’ll be able to fly Class G, which is anywhere outside of restricted airspace (primarily around airports).” Leonard got the idea after watching some Queen’s personnel flying one around his farm in Hartington. Little did he know what was involved. “It has taken some time, but we’re taking the Mike Holmes approach,” he said. “Do it right.” They got a Limestone Learning Foundation grant to get a subscription to software that will aid in GIS mapping, 3D modelling and several other applications including overlays and panoramas. “We’ll be able to do some very highly detailed maps,” he said. “But there are many applications. “Real estate, land surveying, construction — you can even count trees, which will be useful to many groups for species identification.” They’ve already approached a variety of groups and local governments for possible partnerships and literally, the sky’s the limit. But for Leonard, it seems the biggest at-
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Farmer in dispute with county over fencing along K&P Trail
County claims it is not obligated to cover the entire cost, offers to pay half
by Jeff Green aryl Kennedy said that he has nothing against the K&P Trail, but as a cattle farmer working land that the trail bisects, he wants a fence put up to block access to some of his pasture land. And since the trail is located on former railway lands and is a continuous stretch, he feels that the Ontario Line Fences Act, as amended in 2006, stipulates that the current owner of the trail must put up a fence if he asks them to. “What I am asking for is a fence along 1750 feet of pasture land, only on one side since that is all I need. I requested on April 6/2016 to Anne Marie Young, who was dealing with the trail for Frontenac County at the time, that the work be done. I was expecting it would be done last summer.” Kennedy also asked that a gate on his property that had been severely damaged while the trail was being constructed, be repaired by the contractor working on the trail. He also wants the county to pay for some of the work involved in lining up crossing gates on the trail near the north end of his property, for him to use as a cattle crossing. But none of that happened last summer, although Young remained in contact.
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The GREC student body assembled on the soccer pitch for this 150th shot from the school’s drone. The 7 ½ ft. X 12’ Canadian Flag in the background came courtesy of student Claudia Thompson’s grandfather Stephen McCullough. “It’s from the Peace Tower,” she said. “He ordered it 12 years ago and he just got it.” Photo/courtesy of the GREC drone photography program. traction is the opportunity to give his students a useful and unique learning opportunity. “I think it will be highly enjoyable and interesting for students,” he said. “And they’ll be certified going out the door.”
Sydenham Medical Centre’s Big Move by Wilma Kenny oday’s question is, ‘where will we put the fax machine?’ says Dr Jeanette Dietrich with a smile, “ and this afternoon I have to measure all our current furniture so we can decide what we’re taking with us, and how it will fit into our new space.” Moving’s never easy, and Sydenham Medical Clinic’s move is particularly challenging for it’s essential to keep down-time to a minimum throughout the whole exercise. Sydenham’s clinic is a part of the Rural Kingston Family Health Organization (FHO); an administrative body made up of the physician-led clinics in Sydenham, Verona, Sharbot Lake, Newburgh, Tamworth and Northbrook. Dr Dietrich is the lead physician for the FHO. For many years the medical clinic has operated from a rented building on Campbell Road, south of Sydenham. Over the years as services have expanded, space has become increasingly tight, and staff is looking forward to moving into their new, much more spacious location on Rutledge Road, just past Silverbrook Garden Centre. (Darryl Silver, who purpose-built the new structure to accommodate the clinic, will
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be their new landlord.) Family practitioners Jeanette Dietrich, Steve Ingo and Jack Raleigh, nurses Meredith Prikker and Blaine Montroy and nurse practitioner Trisha Warren make up the core staff. As well, a counsellor comes weekly from the Kingston Community Counselling Centre to help women dealing with violence and domestic abuse, a nutritionist comes for a day every other week, and once a month an asthma nurse is in attendance. Two full-time receptionists, Tracy Semeniuk and Lorie Webb answer phones, coordinate appointments and help keep records organized; no small task in such a busy centre. They are assisted by Mary Day and Emma Stott who work part-time on reception, and Ms Stott also scans documents. Each physician has their own roster of patients, and they share weekend and holiday ‘on call’ duty, and they rotate doing Monday evening clinics. Nurse Meredith Prikker’s position was created in 2010 and is contract funded by a Ministry of Health (MOH) pro-
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On July 19th, Young sent him and email, saying “Thanks Daryl … the act [Ontario Line Fences Act] also says the farmer must be the one to request and provide a Farm Registration Number … This can happen...we just need to have the information as requested.” The next morning, Kenedy emailed back, providing his farm registration number. On October 11th, Kennedy received another email from Young with an attached drawing marking off the section of land that required fencing. “Please take a look at the attached and verify that what I
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