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11 | 24 | 2012 VOLUME 17 | ISSUE 50
GETTING CREATIVE IN PREQUEL TO HUNGER GAMES LIVING HERE PAGE 32
COMMENT PAGE 8
GAMBLING DILEMMA GOES BEYOND OLG'S WOOLWICH BID
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
Few voices of dissent as OLG makes casino pitch Public meeting saw nothing like the controversy that raged during Elmira Raceway slots debate
Bring the noise
STEVE KANNON
Parents of Peewee LL1 Woolwich hockey team enthusiastically ring bells made by Michael Zenker during a recent game at the Dan Snyder Arena in Elmira. The bells were made to encourage healthy cheering in recreation facilities across the township. [COLIN DEWAR / THE OBSERVER]
Elmira man makes up bells in response to township’s over-the-top noise policy COLIN DEWAR Elmira’s Michael Zenker, a hockey dad, didn’t care too much for the new Woolwich noise policy for recreation facilities across the township. “The bylaw’s intent is suppose to be about respect but they went way overboard and made it rules, rules, rules,” said Zenker, who decided he would have some bells made up for the parents of his son’s
N O AX ING! T NO YTH R E EV
Peewee LL1 Woolwich hockey team to ring during games to encourage healthy cheering and celebration. At a November 5 Woolwich council meeting officials opted to scale back a list of prohibitions in the noise policy they deemed too heavy-handed. Director of recreation and facilities Karen Makela was asked to bring back a revised policy for council to consider. Zenker had 16 metal bells made and
painted in Woolwich hockey colours. He showed the bells to Mayor Todd Cowan to make sure he would not be kicked out of the arena for using them. “The mayor told me that they were going to change the policy back to the intent of what it is suppose to be – safety and respect,” said Zenker. “He got a label made up with the Woolwich logo on it NOISE | 5
There may have been a feeling of déjà vu in the air, but this go-round of the Woolwich gambling debate had a much lower key to it than was the case more than a dozen years ago. Only a handful of residents got up to speak Tuesday night following a presentation by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) at a Woolwich council meeting held at the WMC to accommodate a larger crowd, though there were fewer than 60 people in attendance. The meeting was the first in what Mayor Todd Cowan promised would be an “extensive public process” to determine if Woolwich is interested in hosting a casino under OLG’s plan to modernize gaming in the province. Woolwich is part of a newly-created gaming zone, which also includes Kitchener, Waterloo, Wilmot Township and parts of Cambridge and Wellington County. The OLG is seeking municipalities willing to host a new facility. A new casino in the township would mean the closure of the slots facility at the OLG | 6
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