EDITORIAL
Connected to your community
EMC News – Town and Country Chrysler in Smiths Falls welcomed the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) March 16 for OFA Day. The day-long celebration was part of the dealership’s 50th Anniversary Community Partners program that gives back to community organizations every month throughout 2013. Town and Country Chrysler donated $500 to the OFA, who then passed the donations on to local 4H Clubs from Lanark, and Leeds. Melissa Fergusson received a donation from OFA president Mark Wales, while Carol Welch received a cheque from Town and Country Chrysler dealer principal Brad Kyle. From left: Eleanor Renaud, Melissa Fergusson, Mark Wales, Brad Kyle, Matthew Welch, Carol Welch, Brenda Dunster. Submitted photo
LE T TER TO THE EDITOR
Federal government needs to be accountable for First Nations issues DEAR EDITOR: Like most of us in Lanark County, I received the latest of MP Scott Reid’s controversial Householders on Friday. This one, like other issues before it, is an assault on the credibility of First Nations leaders and, like other issues before it, includes a completely disingenuous reader survey. I am asked to decide between being in favour of accountable government for First Nations or against it. Talk about loaded questions! Mr. Reid, no group of Canadians has ever been subjected to as much scrutiny for the funds they receive from the federal government as have native Canadians – and no group of Canadians has ever had as little control over the disposal of these funds. Let’s remember that money transfers from the feds to First Nations are a government-to-government transfer resulting from a treaty signed by both parties, not some kind of charity – just as
the federal government is constitutionally obliged to transfer a portion of its tax revenue to the provinces. Can you imagine the reaction of the Ontario government if the federal government publicly questioned whether or not it is using federal transfer payments honestly? We call them First Nations, because they are nations. What business does our federal government have telling them how to run their elections and do their bookkeeping? We are not “giving” them money – we are paying for the use of their lands for the last 200 years – and paying precious little at that. This householder must be seen first, as an attempt to sow discord between chiefs and the residents of reserves and, secondly, as an attempt to increase the misinformed distrust that many CaSee LETTER page 9
COMMENTARY Put on purple March 26 EMC Editorial – March 26 is Purple Day for Epilepsy. As March winds down, Epilepsy Awareness Month, this one day has been set aside in dedication of raising awareness of epilepsy. While it is called Purple Day, the colour is more specifically lavender, as explained by the Epilepsy Resource Centre. Purple or lavender, whatever the shade, the colour signifies a sense of togetherness, for those with epilepsy or seizure disorders to know they are not alone in living with their condition. According to the Purple Day website, research dictates “an estimated 50 million people” suffer from epilepsy worldwide, most beginning at the “extremes” of age - old age and childhood. While so far there is no cure for epilepsy, there are treatments, drugs which are used as therapy. The drugs aid in suppressing seizures. Other treatment includes surgery, whereby the “region of the brain that triggers the seizures, without affecting vital functions such as language, memory, movements and sensation,” is removed. For those with a loved one who has a seizure, the website suggests staying calm, removing objects which might cause harm from the area, to not hold the person or restrain their movements, do not put anything in their mouth, turn them on their side as the seizure ends, do not offer food or drink until the person is fully alert and to stay with the person until they are thinking clearly. Epilepsy is a condition of the brain, “characterized by recurrent seizures,” however, according to the website, one in 10 people will experience at least one seizure event in their lifetime. A single seizure though, is not epilepsy. Purple Day was originally founded by a nine-year-old girl in Nova Scotia who was dealing with epilepsy. Her goal was to raise awareness of the condition and to erase the stigma surrounding seizure disorders. For more information about Purple Day please visit www.purpleday.org.
Mary became talented at bringing herself to another place EMC Lifestyle - At an early age, I developed an ability that I thought at the time, saved me from many a disappointment, worry and even heartache, and put me in another world. It took a lot of patience, and a great deal of practice, and much trial and error, but when I had perfected the exercise, it gave me great satisfaction and peace of mind. Through deep concentration, and forcing my mind away from an unpleasant situation, I was able to move my thoughts from the source of my anguish, and into a more pleasant place. This time of year, many was the time I had to put into practice this talent I had developed. The ice was gone out of the Bonnechere and the current was fast, and the mud pout could be seen from the shore. The three brothers had been watching the spring breakup for weeks, and now the time had finally come. I hated the very thought of the method used by the brothers to catch the fish. Using spears, some of which were made from a pitchfork from the barn,
they straddled an old tree that had fallen across the river at a narrow point, and stabbed them without mercy. When the mud pout became part of our supper, Mother, aware of my squeamish stomach, would put a slice of meat on my plate, or let me have scrambled eggs. And as I sat at the supper table, I would put into place my talent. I would picture in my mind pieces of bologna, my very favourite treat, sitting on the platter of mud pout in front of me. And even when my hateful brother Emerson would smack his lips for my benefit, I was able to change in my mind, the picture of the mud pout and turn it into bologna. This talent was put to good use at the Northcote School on more than one occasion too. If bad Marguirite was getting on my nerves, which happened at least once a day, I would picture her in my mind with homemade flour bag underwear under her skirt. She made sure every girl at the Northcote School knew that her underpinnings came from Walker’s Store in Renfrew! I got so good at this trick of imagination, that I Vice President & Regional Publisher Mike Mount mmount@perfprint.ca 613-283-3182, ext. 104
65 Lorne St., P.O. Box 158, Smiths Falls, Ont. K7A 4T1. 613-283-3182 Toll-free 1-800-267-7936 Fax: 613-283-7480 Published weekly by: Record News Communications, A division of Performance Printing Ltd.
Regional General Manager Peter O’Leary poleary@perfprint.ca 613-283-3182, ext. 112 Group Publisher Duncan Weir dweir@perfprint.ca 613-283-3182, ext. 164 Regional Managing Editor Ryland Coyne rcoyne@perfprint.ca
Mary Cook’s Memories MARY COOK
could even see Pride of the Valley written across her seat! Emerson often said I was scared of my own shadow, and that wasn’t all that far from the truth. In the dark of night, in my bed, the sounds in the country terrified me. The whippoorwills in the distance, making their eerie cries, the wolves howling as they skirted the barnyard looking for their next meal, and the old house cracking from the frost in the dead of winter were all sounds that kept sleep at bay. Then I would call on this special talent I had developed over time. When these sounds surrounded me in my bed, I would force my mind’s eye to a street corner in Renfrew, to see the News Editors: Laurie Weir, Joe Morin, Ashley Kulp REPORTERS: Stacey Roy, Tara Gesner, Desmond Devoy, Tiffany Lepack, Sabine Gibbins DISTRIBUTION: Lori Sommerdyk, 613-284-0124 ,ext. 27 CLASSIFIEDS/REGIONAL ROUNDUP: Fax: 613-283-5909 Judy Michaelis Email: jmichaelis@perfprint.ca Lee Ann Gilligan Email: lgilligan@perfprint.ca Jennifer Coughlin Email: jcoughlin@perfprint.ca
Member of: Ontario Community Newspapers Association, Canadian Community, Newspapers Association, Ontario Press Council, Association of Free Community Papers
THE EMC - 8 - Thursday, March 21, 2013
Salvation Army band playing and singing their rousing hymns. I would be able to block out the frightening sounds around me, and sleep would come. This escape talent came to good use on Sundays too. We sat in the front pew at church. Our minister, a giant of a man, would come swooping down the aisle and climb into the little cubicle raised above the floor, scanning the congregation before he said a word. I was sure he was singling me out with his eyes, and knew every sin I had committed since the Sunday before. His thundering voice shook the rafters, and his enormous surplus billowed out as he waved his arms, looking for all the world like a large black bird. That’s when I would look over his head to a spot on the blue painted wall. I would pretend I was an angel, and my mission in life, in my mind, was to help the starving Armenians. These were the people Mother always said we took the food right out of their mouths if we didn’t eat everything on our plates. I thought they lived in Arnprior. So when I took on the role in my mind’s ADVERTISING SALES: ADVERTISING SALES CO-ORDINATOR Andrea Harding SALES: Cheryl Johnston, Sharon Sinfield, Peter Ellis, Kathy Perreault, Liz Gray, Kevin Hoover, Jamie Rae-Gomes Email: emcsales@perfprint.ca Fax: 613-283-9988 THE DEADLINE FOR DISPLAY ADVERTISING IS MONDAY 4:30 PM
eye of this little floating angel high in our church, I pictured myself doing good deeds. The fear of the minister vanished. Every Friday afternoon without fail, Miss Crosby read from a storybook she would bring to the Northcote School. There was no such thing as a library at the one-room schoolhouse back in the ’30s. I would sit enthralled...not so much with the story, but from the sound of Miss Crosby’s sweet voice as she read from the book. She read with such inflection, you could picture yourself right inside the story. And it was then I would again transport my mind to another place. I would picture myself all grown up, far away from Northcote and the oneroom schoolhouse. In my mind’s eye I would be standing before great crowds of people, and I would be telling stories. The stories wouldn’t come from a book but would be of my own creation. Such were the unachievable dreams of a young child of the ’30s. All made possible through the simple act of imagination. • 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