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Weekend Weather Thursday High 12º Friday High 11º
The
VOICE www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
A Country Christmas
Saturday High 3º Sunday High 2º Source -The Weather Network
Inside The Voice Christmas in Pelham page 3
Service of Hope page 7
Science Stuff page 11
BAKERY & CAFE
SANDI Marr decorates a porch pot in preparation for the upcoming Maple Acre Country Christmas Collection show. Sarah Murrell/Voice Photo
BY SARAH MURRELL
VOICE Staff Christmas is often a time about glitz and sparkle, bringing the gaiety of the season into our homes. For one local crafter, it’s also about the beauty of nature. Sandi Marr creates holiday porch pots from evergreens, dogwood, birch and other natural materials, decorated with ornaments and bows for the holidays. Marr explains she was diagnosed with cancer shortly after moving here in 2008 and part of her healing journey was making the pots.
“Creativity is very important to me,” she says on why she chose to create the outdoor holiday decorations. Marr says she first made the pots for herself but soon neighbours began asking her to make pots for them as well. Last year she took the step and attended her first craft show, the Maple Acre Friends Country Christmas Collection Craft Show. “The material is readily available,” she says, explaining her father-in-law has a bush in Wainfleet where nature walks with her husband and their Golden Lab, Duke become Please see SHOW/page 3
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Sidewalks delayed BY SARAH MURRELL
VOICE Staff The parents of Glynn A. Green students have long been asking the town to provide sidewalks for their children. After the last budget meeting, however, they’re feeling as though the town doesn’t see the safety issue and is ignoring their requests. After the initial request for sidewalks was made a sidewalk was installed from Elizabeth Street to Brock Street on the west side of Pelham Street and the traffic signal was added at the corner. Since then, Mayor Dave Augustyn explained, the town put funds in the budget to complete design work for the reconstruction of Pelham Street from Port Robinson Road to Quaker Avenue. At the time, he says, $2.5 million was earmarked for the project. The design work, he added, took longer than expected, well into 2012. At the Nov. 6 budget meeting council accepted a staff suggestion to put off the work another year. Parent Sheridan Tarasuk says safety of the students is still a serious issue and not only has council chosen to delay the sidewalks, again, they moved the original $2.5 million to another project. Tarasuk said the school only asked for sidewalks to Pancake Lane so children could walk to school safely, but the work has been turned into a complete reconstruction of Pelham Street with buried hydro poles. That new scope of work, she says, is now estimated at $6.5 million and that higher price tag is why the project has been delayed. Augustyn explained the work has always been a complete reconstruction of Pelham Street. After
the success of the downtown reconstruction project, it was decided to add bike lanes to the rest of Pelham Street as well, he added, noting to do that hydro lines need to be buried. The project also calls for new storm sewers to resolve a water issue along the roadway. The 2013 budget can’t afford a $6.5 million project, he says. Staff put forth another option, that would extend the life of Pelham Street, which doesn’t need to be repaved for another five to seven years, and add safety for pedestrians, for a cost of $150,000. What council is planning, said Tarasuk, is to widen Pelham Street by adding 1.5 metres of pavement with a rumble strip on the outer edge of the travelled portion of the roadway, leaving a paved lane for pedestrians and cyclists outside of the rumble strip. “It’s not safe,” says Tarasuk. Augustyn said it’s definitely better than what exists now and a wide walkway for pedestrians and cyclists that is off the roadway is safe. “I understand what the parents are saying,” says Augustyn, adding he feels the plan can achieve the safety of children. Council did talk about enforcement of speed and drivers who pass on the shoulder of the road, he said, adding a new traffic signal at Pancake will stop traffic and eliminate the endless stream of cars. “That’s the thinking,” he says, adding if someone has a better plan the town is open to feedback. As for council moving the $2.5 million for the sidewalk to another project, Augustyn explains there are several projects in Pelham that have increased in costs and those projects are what the money is going. Please see ALTERNATE/page 2