The Creemore
Echo
Friday, May 10, 2013 Vol. 13 No. 19
thecreemoreecho.com
News and views in and around Creemore
Inside the Echo
Reading with a Friend
A Close Up Encounter A visit from a bird catcher.
Therapeutic Paws of Canada at NCPS.
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UNITED IN SONG Nottawasaga & Creemore Public School was full of song early this week as the students celebrated Music Monday, a province-wide
event organized annually by the Coalition for Music Education. After a performance by the school band, the entire student body stood together to sing ISS – Is Somebody Singing?, the theme song of the day co-written by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies. Hadfield and Robertson collaborated on the song across 240 vertical miles, with Robertson on Earth and Hadfield on the International Space Station.
A message from the Medical Centre Board Expansion work could be underway by July
So long to the “Mayor of Lavender” by Brad Holden Every once in a long while, you meet a truly original character. Jamie Adam, the self-proclaimed Mayor of Lavender who passed away last Saturday after a tragic accident involving one of his beloved antique tractors, was one, without a doubt. Adam left his native Isle of Man in the mid-1960s, in his 20s, after the young woman to whom he’d been engaged left him for another man. That
incident led him to swear off women – according to his longtime friend Neil Metheral, Adam concluded that “they’ll do you no good” – and he lived the rest of his days as a bachelor, sustaining himself instead with history books and the pleasure of putting in a good day’s work. Adam was a cheesemaker by training, but when he arrived in Canada after a trip across the Atlantic (See “2013 Dunedin” on page 6)
by Bill Mann The Creemore Medical Centre expansion is about to reach an important milestone: the sending out of bid tender documents to area contractors, with the June 24th Clearview Council meeting targeted for the announcement of the winning bid. Our fundraising effort has been very successful, with cash received and future commitments coming close to our target, which has recently been revised upwards modestly to reflect our view of current costs. Well over 300 donations have been received from individuals and organizations large and small. Thank you all for your generous support! In the course of our fundraising, some questions have arisen which deserve a response that everyone can see. The first question related to the project’s estimated cost: approximately $450,000 for only 900 square feet of new space
on the main floor. It seems like a lot of money per square foot, some said. The basic explanation is that we are doing much more than just adding new space. We will be spending over $90,000 to improve the building’s accessibility for handicapped patients, for example, and we are making significant changes to the existing building as well. Our cost estimates have been reviewed by several construction professionals, who found them reasonable for the work being done. “How much is this costing taxpayers?” was another common question. While the Township staff has been enormously helpful in the planning process, all project and operating costs will be paid out of funds we have raised or through rent paid by future tenants, just the way it has been for more than 25 years with the existing building. Township taxpayers have not been and will not be asked to pay anything toward the expansion. (See “Med Centre” on page 3)
Taking care of buyers and sellers in Mulmur and the Creemore hills for 36 years
RCR Realty. Brokerage
Ginny MacEachern
(705)
444-1414 10230 Highway 26 East, Collingwood E-mail info@collingwood.toyota.ca
B.A., Broker
The Town & Country Agent with the City Connections 1-800-360-5821• 705-466-2607 • maceachern.ginny@gmail.com www.ginnymaceachern.com