Thinking of Buying? Thinking of Selling? Call Me Today!
Call Me Today! 905.733.8996 www.pennylanesold.com pennylane@royallepage.ca Office 905.892.0222
Vol.16 No. 36 Weekend Weather Thursday High 6º Friday High 7º Saturday High 7º Sunday High 7º Source -The Weather Network
Inside The Voice Homes Tour page 6
Remembering page 7
Classifieds page 10
BAKERY & CAFE
Pelham’s independent news source from the Heart of Niagara
The
VOICE www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
Reorganization Pelham Chief Administrative Officer, Darren Ottaway, announced last week that the Town has begun to make organizational changes that affect Administration, Recreation and Bylaw Enforcement. An organizational review has been underway for three months and recommendations were made to Council regarding the changes at a special meeting Nov. 6. The first significant change will be the creation of a stand-alone Recreation, Culture and Wellness Department that will be headed by Vickie vanRavenswaay. This new department will focus on delivering innovative programs and events that advance the recreational, cultural and wellness needs of all residents. “We are poised to experience significant growth over the next few years and Council felt it important realign our human resources to meet these needs,” said Mayor Dave Augustyn. “With the growing success of our current recreational programs and a desire to focus on culture and wellness we are very excited that we will have the capability to meet the needs of our growing community.” The second change focuses on customer service improvements and the desire to make Town Hall a one stop shop for residents. All financial transactions and facility bookings will now be handled at
the basement counter. Residents will only need to use the upstairs counter if they have development or building needs. “We recognized the need to eliminate the confusing situation resident’s encounter while conducting business at Town Hall,” said Ottaway. “By centralizing services at one counter we can significantly improve our customer service.” The third change sees the relocation of By-law Enforcement from the Planning & Development Department to Fire Services under the leadership of Chief Bob Lymburner. “My focus will be on education, not enforcement, in respect to both fire safety and by-law,” said Lymburner. “Enforcement will be our last resort not our first response.” “Bob’s years of experience dealing with enforcement matters in the Fire Service makes him incredibly skilled to take a leadership role in how we deal with by-laws,” said Ottaway. “This important reorganization will clearly focus staff on superior customer service,” said Mayor Augustyn. “These improvements will further advance our vision of being the most vibrant, creative, and caring community in Niagara.” All three organizational changes will come into effect January 1, 2013.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Heaven is for real BY SARAH MURRELL
VOICE Staff When Michael Brownlee talks about his wife Velvet his face lights up, his eyes sparkle and a wide smile appears. The smile is a testament to his faith, to his love for his wife and to her strength and courage. Velvet passed away on October 31, at the age of 43, after a three-year battle with ALS. Despite his grief, Michael is choosing to smile when he talks about his wife and the mother of their four children, choosing to be thankful for the blessings in his life and choosing to see the positive. “What’s held us together is faith,” says Michael, explaining during Velvet’s illness the simple blessings in life, that many of us take for granted, were magnified. “And there were hundreds” of those blessings. “Life was perfect,” before Velevet was diagnosed, he says, explaining the family had moved to Fenwick 8 years ago and absolutely loved living in the village and the people they called neighbours and they were blessed with four beautiful children: Hope, Emma, Grace and Jack. “You learn not to sweat the small stuff,” he says of living with ALS. Michael says the response of the community to Velvet’s diagnosis has also been a blessing to the family. “I felt the strength of hundreds, thousands of people praying for us. I felt it,” he says, noting there were some who felt bad that all they were doing was praying. “I felt those” prayers, says Michael, adding his faith came on stronger during that time. There were also blessings from neighbours, friends, family and church members who helped the family through Velvet’s illness, he says.
Velvet Brownlee “If I didn’t have those people helping me, I’d have been in trouble,” he says, believing God blessed his family with the help they needed to get through. “My children and I have a choice to make. Do we take what is good from people helping us and hope we can serve others as people have served us,” he says. Some have asked Michael why bad things happen to good people and why he’s not angry with God for his wife’s death. Michael says he thinks it is okay to say “I don’t know” when trying to understand God’s works, adding someday he may understand but for now he is thankful to God for the blessings in his life. “He has blessed me with almost 19 great years of marriage, a committed faithful marriage, and four wonderful kids. I will take that and be thankful.” By talking about Velvet, her death and the blessings in his life, Michael says he hopes he can help another family going through the same sad journey, or a similar one. In her death, Velvet too has hope for those in Please see GRATEFUL/page 2