> NPI dividend creates another $1 million-plus Grimsby surplus /Pg 4 > Grimsby Garden Club sale this weekend Pg 7 > Big Brothers/Sisters cooking up fundraiser Pg 8 > West Lincoln approves major Spring Creek Rd. development Pg 10 Thursday, May 20, 2021 Vol. 10 Issue 3
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Elizabeth St. park sale no-go By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Lincoln council has put its money where its collective mouth is when it comes to preserving the municipality’s green space, voting to maintain ownership of its Elizabeth Street Park. There was some consideration of a sale when the site came up as a result of a surplus land review in combination with the new, 10-acre Prokich Park coming online. “After a closed session (May 10), council reaffirmed its commitment to not selling Elizabeth Street or
any park for that matter – as per our Parks, Recreation and Culture Master Plan,” said CAO Mike Kirkopoulos. Kirkopoulos said there was a series of factors which have been considered by council to preserve the space, including: • For community leaders, there has never been a better time than now to focus energy and investment on parks. High-quality green spaces and access to nature should be available and easily accessible for everyone; • Parks are a tangible See PARKS, Page 2
COVID Round 2
Workers install cement barriers on Grimsby’s Main Street to allow expanded restaurant patios and retail opportunities for the second straight summer. All is in a holding pattern until COVID-19 protocols are relaxed and the Town of Grimsby issues permits for sidewalk use. Marks - Photo
VanderKlippe adds Press Freedom award to cache
Nathan VanderKlippe at the Great Wall of China in 2020
By Mike Williscraft NewsNow West Lincoln native Nathan VanderKlippe - The Globe and Mail’s China correspondent - has added the prestigious 2021 Press Freedom Award to his list of accolades. In making the announcement May 3, award organizer World Press Freedom Canada, noted VanderKlippe’s efforts have done a great deal to inform the world on issues and events in China. WPFC’s annual award
recognizes outstanding achievements by Canadian media workers who produce public-interest journalism while overcoming secrecy, intimidation, refusal to comply with freedom of information requests or other efforts to foil their work. “Risking detention, deportation or even imprisonment, VanderKlippe reported on forced labour camps where thousands of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority ethnic group, are being held. VanderK-
lippe evaded attempts to physically bar him from the area, and his photos and reporting helped document China’s controversial practices in Xinjiang,” stated the organization’s release. For VanderKlippe, it was all in a day’s work. “It was a particularly intense bit of reporting – trying to get access to an industrial park that has occupied an important spot in accusations that the Chinese government and compa-
nies are using forced labour in Xinjiang. For this trip, I was sent to a hotel quarantine on arrival in Xinjiang, then placed through multiple COVID tests and followed everywhere I went, often by teams of people,” said VanderKlippe, who got his newspaper start at Grimsby Lincoln News in 1999 when it was independently owned. “As I approached the industrial park, groups of men tried to physically obstruct my See PRESS, Page 3