The Voice of Pelham, April 5 2017

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bilko@rgcmail.com Vol.21 No.1

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

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Regional Council delays Pelham debt discussion

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Column Six

The Water Tower

Motion to defer matter to Audit Committee ends debate

A hot summer day, 1965, is unforgettable

BY VOICE STAFF Niagara’s Regional Council chamber was abuzz with a much larger crowd than usual last Thursday evening, with some two dozen or so residents of Pelham in attendance hoping to attain a clearer understanding of the state of the Town’s finances.

The public’s concerns were sparked when Port Colborne Regional Councillor David Barrick put forth a motion calling on the Region to investigate the Town’s financial state of affairs. Inbetween representing his own constituents, working full-time as director of corporate services at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) and serving as the Chair of the Region’s Budget Committee, Barrick says that he has uncovered an unusual and excessive debt load on the municipality, which he asserts could have dire consequences for the Niagara Region.

“I do make this motion as the chair of the Region’s budget committee as well as the chair of corporate services,” said Barrick.

“It is consistent with my campaign commitment to keep property taxes low and it is consistent with previous resolutions that I have brought here respectively with taxation.

This motion is an opportunity to provide clarity to residents, many of whom are here this evening, and to have a plan to have financial sustainability, so as not to impact everyone else in the region.”

The motion painted a grim picture of the future for taxpayers in Pelham and throughout the region, implying that the debt incurred through the new Pelham Community Centre along with other municipal developments has overloaded the Town and potentiall the Region with debt. It also called on Mayor Dave Augustyn and Council to exercise greater transparency regarding its finances.

"Part of my goal is to ensure that doesn't have a broader impact on the rest of the region,” said Barrick.

"It's public money, so it should be open and transparent.

If you look at the annual repayment limit—no one else will have a higher annual repayment limit. That's part of the issue — to be clear on what the true level of debt is. When

www.bilko.ca

BY NICK SALTARELLI

Special to the VOICE

M

Mitchell and Kathleen VanHoffen.

JILLIAN EMERSON PHOTO

Mom gives birth in car—20 years ago

BY JILLIAN EMERSON

Special to the VOICE

Twenty years ago, on March 7 1997, Kathleen Van Hoffen was told by her doctor that her contractions were still too far apart to come to the Welland County General Hospital. This was a mistake. When

Kathleen and her husband Tim were finally on their way from their home in Fenwick to Welland, Kathleen told him he needed to pull over, the baby was coming now.

See BIRTH back page

A R K T WA I N, had he been around a century later, would have almost certainly been obliged to pen Ben Crawford.

The task is thus left to a much lesser author. There’s a difference, though. The events and characters in the pages of the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn novels are fictional, whereas those in the story you’re about to read are real.

Ben Crawford was the most fearless and reckless and most shameless 13-year-old ever minted.

And for a short, precious time he was a loyal and generous friend.

I dedicate this recounting to his memory, though he’d disapprove of having been assigned a pseudonym for legal considerations. Ben didn’t care a rat’s patootie about legalities.

The when is 1965, the where is central Welland, but most interesting is the how Ben and I came to be fast friends.

See AUDIT COMMITTEE Page 12

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

A

S YOU’VE FIGURED out by now, this is our official 20th anniversary issue.

That’s the cover of our first edition over there on page 3. It was a little bundle of joy carrying a photo of a little bundle of joy. Man, that Mitchell sure has grown, eh!

Alert eyes will also notice that we are no longer in March. Technically speaking we reached that 20-year mark a couple of issues back, but everyone was out of town on March break. There’s no fun in throwing a party if no one’s around! So this is it, the start of Volume 21, Issue 1.

In a minute you’ll reach this week’s centre-spread. There you will find an appeal to become a voluntary subscriber. What does this mean? It means that either way—whether you pay for a subscription or not—you’ll still receive the Voice each week, or find it at the same local retailer, for free, as usual.

However, I hope that you will decide that this paper provides you with something ultimately worth paying for. As former editor Zach Junkin points out on page 11, if Voice reporting manages to help curb property tax rises by even a fraction of a percent, then the $39.95 we’re asking readers to pay suddenly looks like a hell of a good deal. And right now there’s a $36 million dollar project whose funding foundation is quite possibly built on quicksand, with you and me on the hook for the bill.

Speaking of Zach, when he left for greener pastures late last summer, there was widespread expectation in Town Hall that the Voice would change its tune—become less critical of the Mayor and Council, become more stenographic and less investigative. This assumption was based on the fact (for readers new to town) that Zach ran and lost against Mayor Augustyn in the last municipal election. While Zach was editor this allowed Town Hall to dismiss critical coverage as mere political revenge.

Well, suffice it to say, the Voice has not changed its resolve in the slightest. There’s an advantage to running a newspaper in a town where you didn’t grow up—you have no vested interests. Not only do I not have a dog in

Pelham’s political hunt, I don’t have relatives to upset or old friends to annoy. Neither does News Editor Nate Smelle.

Our only interest is in presenting the facts to you as clearly as possible, with as little bias or prejudice as possible.

The Voice is as close to a non-profit as a for-profit business can get. Apart from a few years at the start, the paper has consistently lost money. Some years are less bad than others. This must change if the paper is to survive. We at least need to break even once or twice a decade.

We’d already be gone if it weren’t for the tremendous help of various volunteers, our loyal advertisers of course, and the fact that we pay almost insultingly low wages. (That’s not a complaint. No one here is in this for the money. That would be clinical insanity.)

I’d ask you to keep one thing in mind.

The Voice really is the only independent watchdog that the residents of this town have to sniff out trouble, to bark at suspicious activity.

It’s possible that you personally don’t care whether an elementary school name is changed, or whether the DSBN takes part of a public park to build a soccer field, or whether the Town labels a public park outside your village “excess to needs” and sells it off to pay for something else.

But sooner or later there will be something you care about. Who will help you voice your opinion then?

Government and corporations have plenty of spokespeople. The people have virtually none.

I’d like to tip my hat to a number of advertisers who have been with us since that first issue back in 1997. Still in business today are Lifetime Vision Centre (a half-page in the first issue!), Dr. Ken Sawatzky (we’re now in his building!), legal beagle Jill Anthony, William Hall Windows, Clare’s Cycle & Sports (a full page, Lisa!), Beamer’s Hardware, realtors Ann Gledhill and Richard Brown, Fonthill Rotary, The Pump Doctor, Ben Berg Farm & Industrial, and Lampman’s Furniture (is Hunter ready for his close-up?). Thank you.

Here's to another 20.

IN THE NEWS

Water treatment gets A+

by Dave Burket

A milestone—and a turning point

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

For the third year in a row Niagara Region’s six water treatment facilities have obtained a 100 percent rating from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change during its 2016 inspections.

The MOECC inspects water treatment facilities annually to ensure compliance with provincial regulations. In addition to water quality monitoring, these inspections look at various aspects of water operations, including reporting, record keeping, and certification and training. “Delivering safe and reliable drinking water and efficient service delivery is at the forefront of daily operations for both the Region and your local municipality,” says a news release from the Region.

search warrant and found a large amount of marijuana, a small marijuana grow operation and a loaded semi-automatic rifle.

Charged with 3 counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Trafficking, 1 count of Possession of a Controlled Substance, 1 count of Possession of Proceeds, 1 count of Careless Storage of a Firearm, and 1 count of Unauthorized possession of a Firearm are 33-yearold Alexander Sneyd and 24-year-old Margrette Falvo. Both accused will be held for a bail hearing.

In total police seized $4,400 in cocaine, $21,115 in marijuana, $600 in heroin, and $3,330 in cash.

Dealers arrested

Earlier this year members of the Guns, Gangs,and Grows Unit began an investigation into the sale of drugs from a Niagara-On-The-Lake home.

As a result of the investigation police obtained a search warrant on March 30 for an East West Line residence. At approximately 4:15 PM, say police, the male and female being investigated exited their home and left in a vehicle.

They were subsequently stopped and arrested.

The male and female were in possession of a large amount money and drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Police executed the

Brock happy about 2021 games

Brock University joins its community partners and neighbours in celebrating the news that Niagara has been selected to host the 2021 Canada Summer Games.

The decision, announced in Toronto Thursday, March 30 by Ontario Tourism Minister Eleanor McMahon, ended a spirited competition among four Ontario communities that had been shortlisted as

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Vol.20 No.48

DSBN wants portion of Town park

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BALLOONING INTEREST Grade 6 student Jinja Shepherd explains her experiment on static electricity at the Glynn A. Green Public School's annual science fair last Friday. See story, page 3.

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

Public meeting tonight on school issues

BY VOICE STAFF As questions continue to mount regarding an email that Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn quietly sent to a District School Board of Niagara trustee last summer, Augustyn has agreed to address the issue at a public meeting scheduled for this evening, Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Fenwick.

Nancy Beamer, speaking for “Names Matter,” a Pelham citizens group lobbying the DSBN to reverse its decision to rename a local public school, confirms that the meeting will be held at Fire Station #2, known locally as the Fenwick Fire Hall, starting at 7:00 PM. While the Mayor has agreed to ap-

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The Comfort Maple myth

Request made of community still peeved at name change The District School Board of Niagara is requesting that the Town of Pelham cede a portion of Cherry Ridge Park for use as a soccer field to serve the students of the new Wellington Heights Public School, formerly the E. W. Farr Memorial Public School, in Fenwick.

Currently under renovation and expansion, the new school will combine students and staff from the previous school and Pelham Centre, where classes are being held while construction continues.

Two letters, containing virtually identical text but signed by different authorities, were sent last week to nearby residents of the park, as well as to parents of Pelham Centre students.

“The DSBN is currently building onto Wellington Heights Public School on Alsop Drive,” states the letter. “The size of the school's addition means the existing small soccer field will be eliminated.

The Town and the Board have been discussing the possibility of working together to create a field for both the school and the

CELEBRATING OUR 20TH YEAR

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Under pressure, Mayor to address email revelation, other E. W. Farr matters pear, says Beamer, DSBN officials associated with the school-naming process have either declined to attend or have not yet responded to the group’s invitation.

DSBN Chair, Dale Robinson, to whom Augustyn’s email was addressed last June, has declined to appear, says Beamer, asserting that she would be

“on holidays.” The Voice was unable to independently confirm Robinsion’s intentions. She did not respond to repeated requests for comment on E.W. Farr-related matters before presstime.

Beamer, whose group maintains an email list of some 580 residents, says that all members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting.

“We would especially welcome parents and children who are unhappy with the name change,” she says, referring to the contentious decision by the DSBN to consolidate two Pelham See MEETING back page

HEN I WAS young, my father and I would go for long drives along the rural routes of Pelham. We’d blast George Thurgood and roll down the windows because we loved the smell of the breeze, the sensation of crisp Niagara wind beating our cheeks and tangling our hair against our summer-kissed skin.

My father was not a sentimental man. He worked in factories and had a Gordon Lightfoot mustache and never shed tears over injuries.

Yet something about the Pelham landscape, the hilly backdrop to his childhood and the childhoods of our ancestors, drew him in. He’d stop by a farm or a gathering of woods and, surrendering his manly veneer, tell me a story about the town.

This place is precious. This is the earth that granted us life. Here is the place where we happened upon love or here is a site of devastation.

On one particular drive sometime in the late ‘90s we stopped at a tree with a plaque.

“This tree looks dead,” I said to my father.

“It sure is getting there, Julie.”

The Comfort Maple is supposedly Canada’s oldest See COLUMN SIX Page 14

Vol.20 No.39

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

FREE

Oops: No fire trucks for you

Column Six

BY VOICE STAFF

possible hosts for Canada’s pre-eminent national athletics competition.

In the end, Niagara edged out strong bids from Ottawa, Sudbury and Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge.

Brock University was among several partners from across the region who joined and enthusiastically supported the Niagara bid team, which has spent many months identifying potential sites and aligning resources into an ambitious plan to welcome more than 5,000 athletes and 30,000 visitors to Niagara in the summer of 2021.

Brock, which has residences and food services that normally support thousands of students, will serve as an athletes’ village during the summer event, and will also host multiple athletic events at its sports venues.

“This is a wonderful result for everyone in our region,” said the University’s Interim President Tom Traves. “Brock is proud to be part of Niagara, and proud to be one of many important partners on this collaboration.”

Tom Arkell, Brock’s Associate Vice-President of University Services, played a lead role for the University on the bid committee, and was in Toronto Thursday for the announcement.

“Our successful bid was a region-wide effort,” said Arkell, “one that will result in the building of much-needed facilities that will provide an exceptional experience for athletes from Niagara and all across Canada.

Haist Street traffic-calming measure a little too effective

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Column Six

Growing up British

BY HEATHER McLAREN ROHRER

Special to the VOICE

Repair measures underway last week to correct a construction error in the chicane. truck or an ambulance?” he said.

While waiting for the contractor to return to fix

the mistake, the Town has taken measures to temporarily allow passage for vehicles through the neigh-

VOICE PHOTO

bourhood in the short-term.

Manager of Public Works Ryan Cook said that after discovering the issue with

the chicane the morning it first opened, the Town

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

Representatives from the Pelham Summerfest committee Candy Ashbee and Bill Gibson presented council with a final report on the 2016 Summerfest at the Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 21.

Prompted by a story in the Voice in August about a merchant petition to move Summerfest from Pelham Street, in September Town staff met with various stakeholders to hear their complaints, promising at the time that changes in the way Summerfest was mounted would be con-

sidered.

The main concerns identified during the community engagement process were security, parking, ensuring customer can access all businesses in town, and liability for damages. How to get all Pelham Street businesses to participate and finding ways to make it beneficial for them to set up a booth were also determined to be of high priority for the committee as they plan for next year’s event.

Gibson told Council that the committee is addressing these concerns in a variety of ways. To improve parking, they intend to create bet-

ter signage for out-of-town visitors to designated parking areas and shuttle services. To make participation in Summerfest more enticing to local businesses, they plan to implement a tiered-charge for booths. Under the new system, Pelham Street business owners will be charged the least, other local businesses will pay a slightly higher fee, and vendors from outside Pelham will pay the most. In response to more specific issues for individual businesses, they will also slightly alter the footprint of the event and make adjustments to security.

Another way the committee plans

See CHICANE Page 5

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to improve the 2017 Summerfest is by sponsoring and working with the organizers of the Thursday Night Bandshell Concert series to select the artist performing on the first night of Summefest. They also intend to make more use of the smartphone app they launched in 2016.

"We are really going to push it this year," Ashbee said.

“It really helps to get people to see what events there are so they can plan out where they are going.

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Part 2 of 2: Coronation to embarkation

BY VOICE STAFF

A construction error was discovered following the opening of a traffic calming chicane on Haist Street north of Hwy 20 last Monday that prevented large vehicles from passing through.

One resident living in the neighbourhood said he contacted the Town after seeing a small schoolbus get stuck as it tried to get through the new traffic calming measure. Later that day while driving behind a cement truck, he said that he became concerned for the public’s safety when the truck had to turn around because it couldn’t get through.

“If a small school bus and a cement truck can’t make it through what about a fire

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FTER LUNCH ON Saturday, Mum and Dad had my afternoon cut out for me. Mum had more brass than anyone I knew, and it had to be cleaned. In addition there was the set of silver fish-knives and forks which were never used, but which had to be cleaned and put back in their velvetlined box.

Next was a walk to the newsagents to pay for the daily delivery of the Daily Mirror. As I said, Dad was a printer, but when he was 37 he had been rejected for a job, as being too old, by the printers of the Beano.

For that reason, my favourite comic was not allowed in the house, but while I was paying the papers, the newsagent let me have a 'shoofty' at the Beano. I'd explained my predicament and he understood completely.

Sundays were different again. Dad would play golf on summer mornings and billiards in winter. Then he'd stop for a 'refresher' at the local and would pick up the prawns, cockles, winkles or whelks we'd be having for tea later. Meanwhile, Mum was roasting the 'joint' and potatoes. I got to make the Yorkshire pud, and mint

See COLUMN SIX Page 14

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Vol.20 No.32

Wednesday October 12, 2016

FREE

Apple Day comes to Fonthill

BY VOICE STAFF

The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and well-rounded individuals

ceives them, enabling youth to have experiences that build character, challenge them, and allow them to try new things. The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and wellrounded individuals, better prepared for success. Apple Day helps to achieve that.”

“Any money raised during Apple Day goes towards improving the Scouting program by providing more outdoor adventures for youth, camping equipment, canoes and paddles, training and many other endeavours that the youth want to experience,” says Marie.

Scouts Canada has some 100,000 members across Canada, and carries out programs for boys, girls

Joining their principal, Karen Simpson, at the Sept.

19 Council meeting as part of a delegation from EL Crossley Secondary School, students Abby Loewen and Neenah Williams presented Council with a list of reasons that they should immediately approve the construction of the new sidewalk proposed along Hwy. 20. The asphalt side-

walk/trail is slated to be built between the south side of the road from Timmsdale Crescent to the high school.

Because of the large volume of motor vehicle traffic travelling at high speeds through this area, and because of the necessity for students to tread this path on a daily basis, many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later.

After delivering to Council a petition containing

Many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later the names of 450 students calling for a safer walk to school, Simpson handed the

podium over to Loewen and Williams to plead their case.

Loewen told Council that because there are a lot of students who have work placements and coop placements during the school year, this is the only route for many of them to travel.

As one of the students facing this predicament, Williams said she has had no other option but to walk along the dangerous highway.

H EATHER AND P ENNY L ANE S ALES R EPRESENTATIVES

BY JOHN SWART

VOICE Correspondent

and youth ages 5-25. This year the 3rd Fonthill Group, which includes Beavers to Ventures (youth ages 5- 25) will be hitting the streets to drum-up support.

Over the weekend, Scouts will be set up in Fonthill outside Sobeys, Tim Hortons, Target Gas station, Fonthill Shopping Plaza and the Pioneer Gas station at the corner of Hwys 20 and 24.

Town Council approves sidewalk to serve E. L. Crossley

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

www.pennylanesold.com

T

Second year Beaver with the 3rd Fonthill Group, Russell Letford offers a fresh apple to shoppers in Pelham during the 2015 Apple Day campaign.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

A longtime Canadian tradition, Apple Day began in 1932 in Saint John, New Brunswick, when Scouts handed out 21,000 apples as a way to say thank you to the community. In return for their generosity, many people offered them donations. From then on Scouts have reached out through Apple Day to raise funds for their programs.

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Column Six It doesn’t get better than Autumn

Longtime Scouting tradition dates to 1932

While shopping in Fonthill between Friday and Sunday, keep an eye out for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts in front of local stores with bushels of apples.

As part of the annual Apple Day campaign, Scouting youth of all ages will be trading apples for donations.

The yearly fundraising drive is an important way for young Scouts to connect with the communities they are serving, says Leah Marie of Scouts Canada.

“The Apple Day campaign holds a great tradition of being able to have youth interacting within the communities they live in,” she says. “All of the Apple Day donations stay directly within the group that re-

Office 905.892.1702

“I start work at 2:30 PM and school lets out at 2:15 PM so I can’t take any other route,” Williams explained.

“I have had friends, family, teachers and other community members reach out to me in the past about how this is unsafe and how there should be another alternative for us.”

Looking ahead to winter, when she will need to walk this path three or four times See SIDEWALK Page 2

HERE IS NO BETTER time to cycle than Fall. It matters not whether you’re new to the sport, a seasoned recreational cyclist, racer, touring rider or mountain biker; we all have reason to look forward to autumn.

Summer’s heat has faded, and the streams of sweat that ran from soggy helmets into our eyes are now just slight perspiration. Fitness is peaking from lots of saddle time, making those tough climbs of Spring a breeze in Autumn.

It’s hard to beat the feeling of beginning a crisp, cool Fall ride with a slight shiver, knowing your efforts will soon warm you perfectly.

The hues of Autumn are outstanding.

A Pelham route as simple as following our southern boundary is one that would make most Toronto cyclists jealous, especially when our forests and fields are ablaze with colour.

Begin from Harold Black Park, and zig-zag south along Effingham Rd toward the Welland River.

If you’re new to cycling, it’s important to know south is the direction away from any hills.

If you avoid the morning and evening weekday rush hours caused by those travelling through Pelham between Wainfleet See AUTUMN Page 3

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

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OPINION

The opinions expressed in submitted commentary and letters to the editor are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Voice of Pelham.

The Voice of Pelham is a 1211858 Ontario Limited publication David Burket, Publisher 2-1428 Pelham St., P.O. Box 1489, Fonthill, ON L0S1E0

COMMENTARY / OP-ED Ed Smith Time for a political reckoning at the NPCA

T

RUST IS A M AJOR element in a healthy democracy.

Citizens have the right to know that their government has checks and balances that foster responsible use of taxpayer money. If doubts arise then citizens have the further right to demand and receive accountability.

It can be argued that in the case of the NPCA there is an even higher call for trust and accountability.

The NPCA is the appointed caretakers of Niagara’s environment. All of us have the sense that things are changing in Niagara.

Many of the green spaces of Niagara (our natural heritage), are being overtaken by new developments of one sort or another, Toronto is coming south and Niagara will be forever changed as a result.

As caretakers of Niagara’s environment the NPCA has the obligation to manage the coming changes to our natural surroundings within the boundaries outlined in Provincial Policy; they are the stewards of our green future.

This is as a sacred trust.

The NPCA should be leading the call for environmental protection; they should be preventing illegal dumping of construction materials in

local wetlands, they should be the loudest voice for the protection of a swamp forest that took thousands of years to create. They are our advocate for the envi-

Toronto is coming south and Niagara will be forever changed as a result

ronment in Niagara and yet in too many cases they have remained silent as the environment is desecrated.

They seemingly refuse to take action against developers who destroy our natural spaces.

The NPCA Board has chosen a path that puts Niagara’s green future in peril, they have pursued management practices that demonstrate a disregard for the public trust, and have misspent untold amounts of taxpayer dollars with an air of impunity.

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This behaviour has manifested itself in a myriad of ways including: Turned down an Auditor General offer for a free audit and instead embarked on a audit process that lacks independence and will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars Using taxpayer money to hire a lobbyist Hiring a regional Councillor directly from their own Board into a position of senior management Hiring another Board member to the position of CAO Releasing or firing more than 1/3 of their staff and replacing them with people that in many cases have very close relations to Board members and senior staff Firing a highly regarded union representative in a move that has been described by OPSEU as the “latest incident in the scandal-plagued NPCA’s history of poor labour relations” Pursuing small landowners with all vigour while refusing to hold developers who commit egregious environmental infractions responsible Using taxpayers funds to sue a citizen of Niagara for See NPCA next page

Letters The Great and Powerful Oz In the famous scene in The Wizard of Oz, as smoke swirls and thunder pounds, a small, feisty dog pulls back the curtain to find not a wizard but a broken man living a lie.

Last Thursday, Regional Council pulled back the curtain for the residents of Pelham and the taxpayers of the Region to hear about how the Wizard of Pelham manipulated the residents and the Region to take the town down a dangerous path of the largest debt ratio of any municipality in Ontario history.

The risk is enormous, the cost is real. The residents of Pelham are now facing a debt that will require a 10 -15% tax increases every year for years to come.

Pelham, once a small farm community, will now have the largest debt of any town or city and be crushed under the highest residential taxes.

At Regional Council, Councilor Barrick clarified that the information used to formulate the motion was taken from verified facts provided by the Town of Pelham. The 300-page “info dump” that Mayor Augustyn presented was essentially the same old information with a spin, which many watchers called a manipulation of information to sway the public.

It was learned that Pelham did not have the information audited and has not proven See OZ next page

CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS Member of Federal Parliament

Electoral District: Niagara West

Dean Allison, MP 4994 King Street Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0 Dean.Allison@parl.gc.ca 877-563-7900 Member of Provincial Parliament

Electoral District: Niagara West-Glanbrook Sam Oosterhoff, MPP 4961 King St. East, Unit M1 Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0 sam.oosterhoffco@pc.ola.org 905-563-1755

Members of Niagara Regional Council Councillor David Augustyn mayordave@pelham.ca 905-892-2607 Ext 317 Councillor Brian Baty 742 Memorial Dr. Fenwick, ON L0S 1C0 905-892-5317 Town of Pelham 20 Pelham Town Square P.O. Box 400 Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 905-892-2607

Mayor of Pelham David Augustyn mayordave@pelham.ca 905-892-2607 Ext 317

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Letters

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

Page 5

continued

Keep encouraging residents to speak up

Appreciates E. W. Farr and Cherry Ridge coverage

Thank you to the Voice for encouraging our residents to express their opinions, ideas, and feelings.

This validation of residents’ concerns allows for democracy to excel...inclusion requires public dissemination of information before conclusions are reached.

Keep up the good work.

L.Morgan Fonthill

Thank you for such good reporting and keeping our community informed about the opposition to the E. W. Farr Memorial school name change, and the Cherry Ridge Park land acquisition being attempted by the DSBN. You are truly a community paper. Please keep doing what you do.

Names Matter/ Cherry Ridge Park Preservation groups Fenwick

OZ continued from previous page the factual nature of the information published.

Other interesting pieces of information were thrown about. The Town was caught in a land purchase for credits scheme, which I’m told would alter the financial picture considerably.

Another fact shared was the Town did engage a well-known international cost consultant, Rider Levett Bucknall, to assist in the financial forecasting for the Community Centre. The services contracted included preparing the budget to pinpoint the estimated cost of the Centre, check construction bids for accuracy, review change orders to ensure correct and fair value, inspect work onsite that it is acceptable and of the value that contractors request payment on.

The Mayor used the cost consultant only to get a professional report claiming the Centre would not

NPCA continued from previous page defamation (full disclosure, I am that citizen) Using taxpayer funds to hire an outside investigation firm to investigate staff, a costly investigation which apparently turned up nothing Spending hundreds of thousands, at a minimum, on lawyers and consultants when those funds could have been spent on the environment Awarding an untendered contract to a Board member for tens of thousands of dollars Hiring a lobby firm to lobby the province for the destruction of some of Niagara’s most valuable remaining green spaces in support of developers And the list goes on.

The time for accountabil-

exceed $34 million dollars in cost and once the Mayor got approval to build, the Town ceased calling on the services of contracted cost consultant.

WHY? Don’t residents want a third-party cost auditor ?

It has been said by many that they felt the Mayor manipulated the bidding process.

Local building contractors were given a story that discouraged and drove them away from bidding so that a select contractor could walk in and get awarded the job.

No general build public tender was called.

In the case of the Region and the $65 million dollar Regional Police building, the project was openly tendered and the tax payers got a $10 million dollar saving by accepting the low bidder from eight respected firms bidding the project. Pelham had no open public tender, received no competitive savings.

The Mayor asserted to the peo-

ity at the NPCA is drawing near. The vast majority of municipal councils around the Region as well as Hamilton have demanded a fully independent audit and operational review, but in the end it must come to more than that. I believe the citizens of Niagara must hold this Board and senior management directly accountable, they have displayed little regard for the public trust and for that they must pay.

Here is the list of elected officials involved. Get to know it well, the time for accountability is 18 months away. I believe the level of culpability may vary but those who stood by and did nothing are complicit in their silence.

Mayor Doug Joyner (West Lincoln) Mayor April Jeffs (Wainfleet) Mayor Patrick Darte (Ni-

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ple that it was urgent to receive approval to avoid the winter construction season. From my 52 years as a mega building construction manager, I have never encountered such a thing.

We build, we start, we complete construction all year round.

As it turned out, the Mayor got his fast-track approval and look: Concrete foundations in December. Evidence of an untruth?

The motion that was tabled at the Region had specific reference to the feeling within the community. The motion said, “Whereas ….The situation has resulted in a loss of public trust.”

That’s exactly where we are.

In speaking to many taxpayers, residents, and peer politicians throughout the region, I hear repeatedly negative references to our Mayor. Such a shame and a change from the days when mayors like Eric Bergenstein were hailed when they walked down the street. Some I have spoken to feel intimidated and threatened

agara on the Lake) Mayor Jim Diodati (Niagara Falls) Mayor Frank Campion (Welland) Mayor John Maloney

Don't residents want a third-party cost auditor?

after opposing the Town, they felt they received repercussions. How did we allow our village to become so divided.

Bottom line to all this is the feeling residents have of mistrust and being told their taxes would not be significantly impacted.

Not one year has passed and our taxes rise and we also learn we have the highest, most dangerous debt ratio in the province. To com-

(Port Colborne) Councillor Sandy Annunziata (Fort Erie) Councillor Tony Quirk (Grimsby) Councillor Bruce Timms

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pound the problem we learn that the promised means of repayment through the sale of land was not a realistic plan, so now the only ones to carry this massive debt are the taxpayers.

Everyone should invest just one hour of their busy day and attend the Region’s Audit Committee meeting, June 12, at 9:30 AM at the Region’s headquarters building on St. Davids Road.

Attend and listen.

If you can’t attend, write to your local regional councillor to express your support of the motion, and if you really want to safeguard yourself request the committee bring in an auditor to watch our money right through to the end of this massive project.

Now is the time. Make your voice heard. The weight of the tax bill will force longtime residents to move from their homes in Pelham.

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Page 6

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

The water tower under construction, May 1965, a few months before the events recounted in this story.

WELLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY PHOTO

COLUMN SIX continued from Page 1 Ben is seven months my senior and a school grade ahead, one of a large brood of Irish Catholic kids and their parents, shoehorned into a rental quadplex unit on Plymouth Road. The front lawn’s strewn with naked dolls and balls and toy trucks and tricycles and the inside of the house always looks like a bomb has just gone off. Ben’s younger brother — younger by all of nine months — and I are classmates, but it’s Ben who’ll leave the indelible impression.

But that’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? This story’s about

him, after all.

It’s the dog days of summer, late morning and already sticky. My best friend Mike and I are loafing in the shade of the big silver maple in his front yard. We turn in sync to look in the direction of an awful racket coming from a hundred yards down the street, near St. Mary’s school. We can just make out a boy on a bicycle, head down, peddling pell-mell and zigzagging curb to curb.

As he draws nearer, and the din louder, we recognise Ben Crawford, whose reputation as a wild kid is well established.

Ben looks up, sees our bemused stares and slams back hard on the brake to a

In Loving Memory of our Son and Brother BRYAN PAGE

MAY 8TH 1982-APRIL 3RD 2013 Remember Me To the living, I am gone, To the sorrowful, I will never return, To the angry, I was cheated, But to the happy, I am at peace Remember me in your heart, your thoughts, and your memories For if you always think of me I will never have gone. Loving you and missing you everyday It’s hard to believe you have gone for four years You are in our hearts forever

Love you, Dad, Mom, Brad and Jackie, Jennifer, Lindsay

metallic screech and shower of sparks.

Ben, you see, has removed the tires from his bike and is riding around on the bare rims. His clothes are rumpled and his hair is matted and disheveled, as if he’s just got out of bed, and his broad, freckled face smiles wide to reveal a chipped front tooth.

“Wanna try it?” he beams.

“You get a really cool buzz up your butt!”

Mike and I decline, Ben shrugs. He dismounts, picks up the bike and tosses it over the sidewalk onto the lawn. Its rims are squashed flat and some of the spokes have sprung free. Ben drops down beside us. He’s bored out of his gourd, he says, so came up with the idea of getting rid of his tires.

“Pretty neat, huh?” he says with a grin. “What’re youse guys doin’?”

What we are up to is nothing, which to Ben is a criminal waste of unbridled but time-limited freedom.

He suggests we go to Albanese’s and check out the comic books. It’s the beginning of August. All the new titles should be out.

Now, Mike and I are broke and old man Albanese will yell at you if you touch a comic book with nothing in your pocket to pay for it, but just this morning Ben’s found a couple of spare quarters in his mother’s purse.

“C’mon youse guys” he says as he lifts himself up, “Arses in gear!”

We leave the bike with the mangled wheels derelict on the grass, confident nobody’ll steal it.

Albanese’s convenience

store is on the west side of Hellems Avenue, just up from the Hungarian Hall.

The front door’s propped open and there’s a big pedestal fan in the corner moving the sultry air around.

Mr. Albanese looks up from his Italian newspaper as we enter and throws us a dry look. He doesn’t much like boys like us. We have a tendency to loiter and not buy anything — or worse. Ben strolls to the counter and is perusing the offerings behind the glass while Mike and I approach the comic book rack halfway into the store. Mr. Albanese narrows his gaze but says nothing, so long as we just spin the rack around looking and not touching.

The old man turns his attention to Ben. “Whatchoo wan’?”

Ben buys a 20-cent package of Chinese firecrackers, some punk sticks and a penny match; takes his change. The three of us exit the store and head back to Mike’s.

The fuses are woven together so you can set off the entire package like a machine gun if you want, but when you’re 13 and a quarter is a week’s allowance, that’s getting pretty extravagant.

Ben separates the individual red sticks and splits their number three ways.

We spend the next couple of hours blowing up dinky toys and little plastic soldiers and anthills and anything else we can find deserving of unfettered adolescent mayhem. Ben puts the last intact firecracker into his shirt pocket and asks Mike if he’s got an elastic band.

Mike says, “Yeah, inside.

What for?”

“You’ll see,” says Ben. “Just get it. Did youse see any new comics?”

Yup, the good ones’re all there, we say, but the price has gone up from 10 cents to 12. Ben assures us it’ll be no problem. He’s flush. A moneyed man. Then the grin.

Always the grin when he’s up to something.

Back up the street to Albanese’s, except this time Mike and I have to wait on the sidewalk. Ben enters the store and walks directly over to the comic book rack, taking one out.

“You gonna buy dat?”

“Yup” answers Ben. “One or t’other. Just pickin’ one out, is all.”

“Well den, don’ getcher greasy fingerprints alla over d‘em.”

We watch as Ben positions himself behind the rack, puts a Superman into a Batman into a Green Lantern on top of a fat magazine he’s slipped into the mix. He puts it all back on the rack, rotates it toward the door, then pays for a Spiderman at the counter.

Back outside Ben wordlessly hands over the Spiderman, then, using Mike’s elastic, secures the firecracker from his pocket to a small stone picked up off the street.

He lights the fuse and tosses the thing through the doorway, low down so that it skitters across the checkerboard linoleum and comes to a rest up against the back wall by the pop cooler.

Mr. Albanese is reading his newspaper and smoking one of those crooked Italian cigars, oblivious in the low hum of the floor fan.

“Five, four, three, two …”

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What we are up to is nothing, which to Ben is a criminal waste of unbridled but time-limited freedom

whispers Ben and just as he’s crouch-walking back through the doorway, KaBANG!, and a moment later there’s Ben back on the sidewalk running beside us with a stack of comic books and a Playboy magazine laughing and saying “See? Easier done than said!”

Such was my formal introduction to Ben Crawford.

Still greater adventures lay ahead. A week before the comic book caper Mike and I’d built a soapbox derby car but couldn’t find wheels to mount to it. Now a grinning Ben shows up, running behind a baby carriage he’s just now stolen from a backyard on Burger Street.

Mike and I don’t want to get into trouble and tell Ben to put it back but he’ll have nothing of it. He is genuinely disappointed by our lack of gratitude and respect for his advanced age and status, but he’s willing to compromise. That night, under cover of darkness, he returns the pram to where he found it—minus its wheels.

By summer’s end Mike has had just about enough of Ben. I am, however still taken by his reckless sense of adventure, so when he comes around suggesting some new off-the-wall exploit I’m an eager go-along.

In the bush by the canal dikes we whiplash the trunks of dead trees till they snap, dodging the heavy logs when they slam down into the ground. One night Ben uses his dad’s aerosol shaving cream to silence the cowbells strung along the back lane fence, just before we climb over and pick a basket of prized Macintosh apples from old lady Hagar’s tree. And there’s the time Ben and I scramble up the hills of anthracite, crushed limestone and sand stockpiled by the Lincoln Street Bridge, sliding down on heavy cardboard we’d taken from behind Leon’s on King Street, then skinnydipping in the canal to clean off. Then sitting on our raft on the Wabasso cotton mill pond, smoking a couple of pilfered Kools while sharing a brown stubby of warm Old Vienna secreted from the open two-four in my mom’s pantry.

“Hang around with dogs,” my Irish mother would say, “and you’re going to catch fleas.” (Yeah, ma, but when you’re 13 there’s just something really, really appealing about scratching the itch.)

The greatest adventure of all was the Water Tower.

I

T’S A SUNDAY afternoon in mid September, after church and holy communion at St. Mary’s. Ben’s just turned 14. He’s bored. Antsy. We’re sitting on the steps of his littered front porch and can clearly see the Welland Water Tower construction

project coming together in the near distance. The top half of the big tank has yet to be added, making it appear much like a gigantic goblet on legs.

“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”

“I dunno,” says I, “Whatchu thinkin’?”

“I’m thinkin’ we should check it out,” says Ben, as he tilts his head back and points his cleft chin in the direction of the water tower.

There’s nobody around.

The site’s littered with construction debris and empty cigarette packs. The weeds are waist deep in the field but the dry clay around the site is bare and cracked. A tall crane occupies the centre column; a huge generator and big coils of cable are set off to one side. Curved steel plates rust quietly where they rest on wooden pallets.

A sign warns “DANGER! KEEP OUT!” Ben laughs at it as he walks past.

The unfinished tower is immense. We circulate around, craning our necks upwards, rapt in the scope of it all.

Ben’s face lights up.

There’s a steel ladder on the side of one of the support columns. It disappears a hundred feet straight up through an opening into the half-built tank. He mounts the ladder, looks at me and says, “You comin’?”

“Um. I dunno, Ben,” I say.

“It looks kinda dangerous.”

“What? You chickening out on me, Nicky boy? Buck, buck, buck?

Chee-ken?

Buck? Buuuuuck!”

He climbs five feet, stops, looks down, grins that grin and says, “Well?”

The ladder’s just hanging there in the wide open. No safety cage. The rungs are thick, round bars. The air’s cool but I’m perspiring from effort and trepidation. I am not as athletic as Ben. Fifty feet above the ground my hands begin to sweat and my grip on the rungs is increasingly tenuous.

I stop, hook an arm up and over a rung and look up to see Ben a good fifteen feet above me climbing strongly.

I look down.

Five stories below, with nothing but air in between, is concrete, steel and debris.

Above looms the bottom of a huge tank with a hole in it and either a great schoolyard story of daring-do or certain ridicule. Or sudden death. That just might be preferable to what I’m feeling right now.

I swallow hard, wipe my sweaty hands one by one on the front of my shirt and continue to climb.

I am now over-topping the trees on Coventry Road. Wind gusts rustle their crowns. I feel a chill go through me as my open jacket is whipped up against See COLUMN SIX next page

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

Letters

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

Page 7

continued

Town's salary generosity seems to know no bounds

Development should take heritage into account

I know how the Mayor and Council like to dump hundreds of pages of charts and statistics on an unsuspecting public, but I will keep this brief. The Ontario Sunshine List came out Friday and it was an eye-opener. The number of public servants on the list increased by 7%. That's a lot of people when you consider that many Hydro employees were removed from the list when Hydro became partially privatized. How did our small town fare? The Mayor and Council continue in their generous ways.

In 2012, the Town had 4 administrators on the list making $457,615 combined. In 2015 there were 8 administrators on the list making $988,000. Now there are 11 administrators making $1,412,000, up $423,000 — a 37% increase year-over-year. It now takes 731 Pelham households, paying the Town portion average of $1,558 of their taxes, to cover the wages of our 11 senior administrators. The CAO saw his pay rise from $166,827 to $176,067, a 5.5% annual increase. From 2014 to 2016 the CAO's pay has gone from $143,068 to $176,067, a 23% raise over 3 years. It is heartening, for some,

There is an interesting website, www. info@bucketlist.com, where you can look up the 20 most beautiful small towns in Canada. In Ontario, it is Port Hope, with a population similar to Pelham's. According to the description, they have maintained their small town feel, walking back in time. Unfortunately, I feel our politicians will continue to fail us as they demolish old landmarks and bulldoze more natural farmland, possibly circumventing the "Greenbelt" or before the rules tighten more.

More housing, more gas stations and strip malls, all in a hurry to pay for a Community Centre that was ill-conceived and ill-financed. Why do we need more malls?

The downtown core of Fonthill does not look healthy. Pelham is selling off so-called surplus land and then issuing building permits even with minor variances to be allowed right next to farm land and agricultural livestock production. East Fonthill, East Fenwick, South Fenwick, Quaker Rd., possible loss of parkland in Cherry Ridge, Haist St. What will be next?

Fast-tracking development is not smart

COLUMN SIX continued from previous page my narrow shoulders. I would give just about anything to be back home, safe and warm in front of the TV. Anywhere but here.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee … I continue to climb, looking neither up nor down. Focused straight ahead at the ladder, rung by rung. Is there no end to this thing? … Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb …

Then, at last, the opening in the bowl.

My legs and arms are burning. I climb through and step into a large interior expanse of steel.

Ben’s already mounting the work platform that’s been erected inside by the welders, bidding me “C’mon! Hurry up! Jeez!”

When he reaches the lip of the bowl his face takes on an expression of pure awe.

“You gotta see this,” his voice resonating in the

Now there are 11 administrators making $1,412,000 to see the Library CEO rejoin the Sunshine List after a year's absence. The total pay for these 11 senior administrators was over 10% of the town's overall budget.

The Town of Pelham has grown 3% (20112016), inflation has increased 7.2% (20112016), yet the Town portion of our taxes has increased 19.4% (2014-2017). Over the last 4 years the Town has increased the number of senior administrators by nearly 300% and their salary payout by over 300%. When it comes to spending tax dollars this Council and Mayor will spare no expense to increase the size and cost of an ever-burgeoning, expensive, administrative bureaucracy to run this SMALL town.

Jim Pitt Fonthill

great, steel parabola.

Moments later we’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder, looking out upon the entire City of Welland. Ben and I were both born here and neither has yet to venture far.

It’s magical. We are larger than all we see. We see the lift bridges over the canal all the way down to Thorold and St. Catharines, Lake Ontario shimmering beyond, and back up to Port Colborne and the Robin Hood Mills grain elevator set against the backdrop of Lake Erie.

There’s the clock tower on Division Street and church steeples in all directions.

The tops of Brock’s and Seagram’s towers poke above the mist of Niagara Falls.

The trees in the distance look like miniature broccoli florets; the streets and cars and houses below are toys; a scene from a model railroad.

We have never been so high, and so high up. How small the world suddenly has become.

It’s awesome. Awesome.

In twenty minutes Ben’s getting antsy and ready to move on. It’s always Ben taking the lead, and he likes to show off. He dismounts the work platform like a gymnast on a pommel horse.

He swings down, holds on with one hand and stretches the other toward the side rail, lets go and misses the mark.

He smacks his face hard into the ladder and drops down into the hole below.

If you’re an older person, like me, you may have forgotten that an adolescent is old enough to process the dreadful evidence of his eyes yet still young enough to deny it.

Time and belief suspend.

I freeze and look and listen.

Nothing but the low moan of the wind, the clanking of the guy wires and the hard thumping in my chest.

I descend the platform on rubber legs and drop to my knees to peer down into the

ladder hole.

Ten feet below is a chipped tooth grin beaming back up at me, framed by a fat lip and bloody nose, brown hair and jacket tossing about in the wind. No matter how awesome the view from the rim of the bowl had been, it pales in comparison to the relief of this sight.

Less than year later my family moved from First Street to Broadway Avenue and in the fall I attended Welland High as a grade niner while Ben continued

development to my mind.

Mayor Augustyn and Council are failing their constituents by bulldozing 700-plus acres in East Fonthill and planning to further develop 300-plus acres in East Fenwick, totalling close to 1,100 acres, under the guise of their “urban” boundary. In past decades most of that open land was engaged in agricultural activity.

The take-home message seems that if you live within the “urban boundary,” Mayor Augustyn is driving the bulldozer. Fast development, not smart development. Urban sprawl in East Fonthill comes to East Fenwick.

Why was the LCBO and their signage, the new Circle K, all the new stores in these strip malls, not made to have a heritage or historical look? So far if you have seen one strip mall you have seen them all. Is the new multilevel building in downtown Fonthill going to be modern-looking or does it blend in with the heritage facade? Do not make the same mistake that you made on the exterior of the Fenwick library.

See HERITAGE Page 9

on at Notre Dame.

Separated by distance and schools, we lost touch and went on to new friendships.

Within another five years I would attend university a thousand miles away in Thunder Bay and then, after graduation, stay on to work.

Years passed.

On one of my return trips home I bumped into his younger brother and inquired after Ben. “He’s gone,” the reply. “Killed on his motorcycle. Years ago.”

Here the Ben Crawford

movie footage runs off the reel.

Odd, isn’t it? I can recall the smallest detail of those several months a half century ago but I cannot for the life of me remember how I reacted on hearing of his death.

Surprise? Assuredly not.

Regret? How could one possibly regret that summer.

A sense of loss over a wonderfully indescribable and intangible boyhood … something?

Almost certainly. ♦

Great food, Great people

The

Voice 905-892-8690

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Page 8

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The back-story: Remembering the birth of Pelham's Voice Consolidation by big media chains prompted the creation of the Voice

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

For 20 years, residents of Pelham have looked forward to their weekly fi x of local news in the Voice of Pelham. Since coming on staff last September I have come to see first-hand how much this community values this independent newspaper and the information it delivers.

Unlike the other news outlets throughout the Niagara Region that face the many trials of the newspaper industry, the Voice has endured without the backing of large corporate interests. Considering the long list of obstacles facing community newspapers across Canada, one cannot help but wonder how the Voice has made it to print week after week for the past two decades.

Speaking with one of the paper’s founding partners, Catherine Kuckyt, I caught a glimpse of the secret to the Voice of Pelham’s success. Essentially, it all comes down to two words — community support.

When the news broke that the Pelham Herald would be printing its last edition, Kuckyt and the former managing editor of the Herald, Carolyn Mullin, along with a small but passionate group of concerned citizens immediately began brainstorming ways to continue delivering local news to the community. Unpacking their ideas while sitting around her

kitchen table, Kuckyt said they decided to create a new newspaper.

“We were all very proud of our heritage,” she said.

“I’ve only lived here for 32 years but we’ve always been

There was a whole group of us that decided, yes, we are going to do this

Catherine Kuckyt holds an old issue of the Voice. proud of Pelham. We recognized that we needed to have our own identity, and we didn’t want to be gobbled up by the big corporations. That’s what came out of our public meetings. People wanted to see pictures of their kids in the paper from their soccer games, their hockey games and we want to have our local news covered.”

Going over what assets would be needed to launch the new paper with Mullin, the group determined they would need $50,000 to get the paper established. At first, Kuckyt said they thought of find-

ing an individual to take on ownership of the paper. Concerned that this type of ownership could result in the paper being sold, she said they came up with the idea of approaching 50 shareholders to contribute $1,000 each. She said the enthusiasm of everyone who jumped on board was incredible.

“There was a whole group of us that decided, yes, we are going to do this,” Kuckyt said.

“When we started to approach people to purchase shares and become a shareholder, the phone

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

didn’t stop ringing. We actually had people on a wait list.”

Though only 50 shareholders were needed, Kuckyt said there were many other individuals with a vested interest in the paper succeeding because some of the shares were held by organizations within the community.

“It wasn’t just a couple of us out there it was the community,” said Kuckyt.

“I don’t think we have ever seen that kind of support in any other project since the buy-in.”

Specializing in Residential Concrete

Mulling over names for the new paper, the board arrived at the Voice of Pelham thanks to another of the founding volunteer Board members, Brian Sullivan, who Kuckyt remembers repeatedly saying, “We need to keep our voice.”

“Don’t forget, in 1997 we didn’t have iPads, the internet was still very basic, people were just starting to create websites so there wasn’t that much internet news,” See BACK-STORY Page 13

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Letters

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

continued

Seeks witnesses to hit-and-run This incident happened On Tuesday March 21, at approximately 8:30 pm on Hurricane Road in Fonthill. After visiting some friends on what seemed to be a normal night, I came outside to leave for home only to find to my car was was beyond destroyed.

Someone had struck my car full-on from the rear center and drove off. My car was in park, on the side on Hurricane Street, and when struck, it moved 15 feet for-

ward colliding with the next parked car in front of it. I realize that hit and runs are starting to unfortunately become a common thing, but to see that someone did this and was able to drive away without stopping and create such intense damage to the point of insurance now writing my car off is unbelievable.

I realize that submitting this letter comes well after the incident, but I was really hoping that someone would

see what they have done and come forward to apologize.

I’ve grown up in the Pelham area my whole life, and am really hoping someone can help me. I would like to encourage anyone who was in the area Tuesday March 21, around 8:30 pm, and may have more information on this incident to call the Niagara Police. Thank you.

Victoria Fonthill

DEVELOPMENT

am very concerned that these urban boundaries deplete agricultural land through rezoning and encroach upon it.

This has been my home since 1957. I was a strong supporter of the Mayor’s first campaign, but our philoso-

phies are too far apart now.

So far the Mayor’s actions send the message, “If you are a Real Estate Developer, Welcome to Pelham!"

Richard Kavanagh Fenwick

continued from Page 7

By the way don't forget the pit expansion and erosion of the Kame. Some of the most prime farmland in Ontario, and with it the water table, is going, going, gone!

Pelham Council has failed to preserve the Kame for decades, dating back to the 1970s, when it allowed 100 Shane Peacock Peacock "agricultural" acres to be The Shane Boy Sherlock Holmes, has been published in 10 TheforBoy Sherlock Holmes, countries has beenand published in its 10 way onto more than 60 shortlists. quietly sold gravel pit exhas found countries and found its way onto more than 60 shortlists. pansion, opposite E.L.has CrossIt won the prestigious Violet Shane Peacock Downey Award, The Arthur Ellis It won the prestigious Violet Downey Award, The Arthur Ellis ley school.

The Boy for Sherlock has Award crime Holmes, fiction, the Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Award, Award for crime fiction, the Ruth Sylvia Schwartz Award, been&published in 10 countries Why couldn't Pelham be The Libris way Award; hasand been a finalist for the Governor found its for onto Governor more than The Libris Award; has been has a finalist the on the list of Canada’s most General’s and times nominated for the TD 60 shortlists.

ItAward won the General’s Award and three times nominated forprestigious the three TD Violet DowneyChildren’s Award, TheLiterature Arthur beautiful small towns? I Canadian Award. The Dark Missions of Canadian Children’s Literature Ellis Award.

The Dark Missions of Award for crime fiction, the think I Edgar know Brim theappeared answer.in 2016. Ruth Edgar BrimSchwartz appeared 2016. & Sylvia Award,inThe There seems to be no presLibris Award; has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and three times nominated for the TD Canadian ervation, nor stewardship Wed., Apr.5 at 7 p.m. Wed., at in72016. p.m.

Children’s Literature Award. The Dark Missions of Edgar Apr.5 Brim appeared of the land in the Mayor or $3.00 $3.00 Council’s philosophy.

Wednesday, April 5 at 7 p.m.

In the name of an “urban $3 Gary Barwin boundary,” they are depletGary Barwin Gary Shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and nominated for theBarwin Governoring some of the richest soil Shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and nominated for the GovernorShortlistedswashbuckling for the Scotiabank General's Award for Literature, Yiddish for Pirates, is a hilarious, for agriculture and natural General's Literature, forofPirates, is a hilarious, swashbuckling Gillerfor Prize and nominated yet powerful tale of pirates, buried treasureAward and afor search theYiddish Fountain wetlands in our region, as for the buried Governor-General's yet powerful of pirates, treasure and a search for the Fountain of Youth, told in the ribald, philosophical voice of tale a 500-year-old Jewish parrot.

Award for Literature, Yiddish well as potentially altering/ Youth, told in the ribald, philosophical voice of a 500-year-old Jewish parrot. for Pirates, is a hilarious, diminishing the water taswashbuckling yet powerful Wed., Apr. 19 at 7 p.m.tale of pirates, buried treasure ble that many of us depend and a search for the Fountain Wed., Apr. 19 at 7 p.m. $10 upon. of Youth, told in the ribald, In my work in agriculture, philosophical voice$10 of a 500-year-old Jewish parrot. mixing real estate development with agricultural acWednesday, April 19 at 7 p.m. tivity is a recipe for disaster. $10 I will continue to support my fellow farmers.

We are about 1% of the population, whether we grow fruit, vegetables, or livestock, feeding 100% of Canada. I

AUTHORS AUTHORS@Pelham Public Library

@PelhamPELHAM Public Library PUBLIC LIBRARY

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Page 9

Page 10

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice is asking for your help: Announcing Volunt

If you value the work that Voice has done for the last 20 years, please take out a volunta doing it. The plain fact is that without your support—the support of our readers—the surv means guaranteed. Our many loyal advertisers make the Voice possible, but as costs incr vertising alone. If our reporting helps save your tax bill from increasing even an extra $10

T

he Voice of Pelham is more than the voice of our town. It’s also our eyes and ears. It shows us why we like living here, and it shows us how our lives may be improved.

The Voice remains the single best way to communicate with virtually every Pelham resident—and it’s one of the few things that everyone in town still has in common.

No media represents the voices of ratepayers,

homeowners, parents, and the retired as well as this Voice does in holding government accountable.

The Voice covers stories big and small, publishes history, commentary, and reader letters, and reports on the actions of our elected representatives without fear or favour. All of this delivered weekly to your door. That’s our commitment. Please help us achieve it, for less than a $1 a week.

2 0 T H

Carolyn Mullin At some point during the summer, you will find me in Peace Park, holding up my smartphone and snapping a photo of something happening on a Thursday night. Electrifying Bandshell performance, or delectable Supper Market offering, I can’t resist capturing and sharing the moment.

During the past few summers, as I tap away on the tiny phone keyboard (muttering about forgetting my glasses again), and posting the photo to some social media site, a familiar face appears, and I hear the question, “Are you taking that for the paper?” or “Are you gonna put that in the paper?”

Even now, I haven’t quite figured out the best response. I usually just smile and shrug, because, you see, I left the paper, the Voice, in 2001.

It’s true that I do still contribute announcements, media release material or background information on behalf of a number of community organizations on a regular basis, but I haven’t been part of the official team for over 15 years.

Yet, when given the opportunity to reflect on those early days, I find I’m immensely proud of the

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A N N I V E R S A R Y

groundwork laid some two decades ago to ensure that the town of Pelham would have a dedicated news source.

Some may have forgotten, or just don’t know, that the Voice’s predecessor was closed to make way for a corporation insert, after a merger of the two parent companies owning publications in our area. Sound familiar?

At any rate, knowing the chain newspaper was not going to dedicate 100 percent of its news content to Pelham, and regional issues affecting Pelham directly, the community started planning for the Voice immediately on the heels of the closure of the Pelham Herald.

I’ve always thought of a community newspaper as a mirror we hold up to our community, showing us its faces, its places and its news, week after week. The “week in the life”-type of portrayal covers political, educational, cultural, business, sports and pleasure on a regular basis, and allows for diverse opinions to fill its pages.

The reader may not always agree with what’s written there — the sign of a healthy, interactive newspaper is one with many voices captured through Letters to the Editor — but that’s the beauty of the community newspaper, and its essential nature to your community: this is a source dedicated to delivering your community news to you, in articles that move far beyond 140 characters or six-second looping videos.

This is where you read, you regard, and you form your own opinion on what’s going on, and how you will react/interact in your community as a result.

Twenty years ago, social media did not exist, much less compete with mainstream media for reader attention or loyalty. Immediacy did not trump the need for accurate, reflective, comprehensive reporting.

In this age of citizen journalism and “short, now” news, community newspapers still have a relevant place, as long as they continue to provide reflective, comprehensive

3 Online

I S S U E :

The sign of a healthy, interactive newspaper is one with many voices captured through Letters to the Editor

reporting dedicated to their own citizenship. Reporting on provincial, national or international news in a community newspaper just doesn’t make sense. Give the community its community.

I continue to see this today, two decades later, in the printed pages and online posts of the Voice. Together, right now, our community newspaper is providing a springboard for conversation on many issues unique to our community— the expansion of our urban areas, for example, or the way in which our local schools are named or renamed. I admit to a parental thrill when I see my own two teenage daughters putting down their electronic devices long enough to read the Voice each week.

And so, I’m happy to keep contributing by sending in the occasional article on organizations such as the Rotary Club of Fonthill, or Pelham Cares’ Home for Good Campaign.

I will definitely keep snapping away on my smartphone during those amazing community evenings down in Peace Park. Maybe this will be the summer I come up with my answer to that awkward question.

First Managing Editor of the Voice Currently the Manager of Dissemination & Outreach, Research & Innovation division, Niagara College.

Sarah Whitaker The 20th anniversary of the Voice of Pelham is a milestone that brings with it a feeling of duality for me. On one hand, I can't believe it has already been 20 years. It seems like not that long ago we were marking the 5th and then 10th anniversaries of Pelham's locally owned, independent newspaper.

On the other, it feels as though the Voice has always been a part of this community; woven into the very fabric of Pelham. It was the Voice that brought me to Pelham, so my Pelham has always included this community paper. For me there is no Pelham without a Voice.

The role that Pelham Herald editor Carolyn Mullin played in ensuring there would be a community newspaper in Pelham, and the establishment of the Voice is, I believe, a large part of why this newspaper is such a part of this community.

There were times, more than I expected in fact, when residents indicated that for them the Voice was simply a continuation of the Herald, though this wasn’t the case. Carolyn's work in this community, which has continued beyond her

role as editor of the c also a large part of w an integral part of o When Carolyn's ca from the Voice in 2 editor of the paper. headline was about a on the need for a co town. Hard to believe later that this is sti major issue in this c There were other b both good and bad.

I always remembe nounced its product be nut-free and safe allergies. A local f me how the change while a Nestle execu that no matter how cry the decision wou Imagine my surprise later Nestle announ that decision. Whil been a story with a impact, and it certai Pulitzer, it was rew a small part of a ma families.

I was always hon people were willing ries with me and t stories.

Of course, there proud moments too. butt on the ice while ure skating medal-w ly not one.

The worst, I think one that left the lette "shift.” Not only was ensuing letters of c imply that I had done I, for some inexplica slipping curse words me assure you that w Being editor of the be involved in this c never thought it wou inaugural Pelham B board of directors; earn their reporter b in both the Fenwick Anniversary celebrat meeting so many gre Those people, and been the cause for

Countin' down the years: 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 20

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

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community paper, is why the Voice is such our community. areer took her away 2001, I took over as My first front page a consultant's report ommunity centre in e that so many years ill one of, if not the community. big stories, of course,

er when Nestle ants would no longer e for people with nut family shared with would impact them utive shared with me loud the public outuld not be changed. e when a short time nced the reversal of le it may not have a major, world-wide inly didn't win me a arding to have been ajor impact for local oured that so many to share their storust me with those

were some not so . Falling flat on my e photographing figwinners was certain-

k, was the typo. The er "f" out of the word s I mortified, but the omplaint seemed to e it on purpose. That able reason, enjoyed s into the paper. Let was not the case. e Voice allowed me to community in ways I uld: a member of the Business Association helping Girl Guides badges; participating k and Fonthill 150th tions; and of course eat people. d their stories, have the brief moments

E D I T O R S

...it feels as though the Voice has always been part of this community... For me there is no Pelham without a Voice

of regret at not still being editor of the Voice I've felt over the past couple of years. There are some stories I would have loved to have told—when the Arbours retired, when Rosemary and Gary Chambers were named Citizens of the Year, and when Tove Bowman's story of romance and adventure, The Scooter Diaries, was published, for example.

While it was the paper that brought me to Pelham it was the people and the community that made me stay. Even though I no longer edit Pelham's community newspaper I do still live here and try to keep a finger on what's happening in town.

The issues remain important to me.

My kids, for example, attended E.W. Farr Memorial School and are currently students of Wellington Heights.

Speaking of my kids — it was the Voice that was responsible for them as well. I wouldn't have met my husband, James, if I hadn't been editor of the paper, and we certainly wouldn't have had Matthew and Alexander.

Both boys are great (for those who so kindly continue to ask about them), ages 10 and 6, growing like bad weeds and bright, energetic, curious, rambunctious boys.

I'm currently loving being a mom and, since Tim Hudak stepped down as our MPP and effectively ended my career as his Executive Assistant, pondering what the next chapter of my career will bring.

And, like all of you, I look forward to reading the Voice for many more years to come.

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Zach Junkin My time at the Voice was brief but intense. After the previous editor left on short notice, I was asked to come in for an interview. That was on a Friday morning. I started covering stories the same afternoon. By Monday we had put the paper to bed, and when it hit newsstands that week the average reader had no idea it was produced under such chaotic conditions. Or if they did, no one mentioned it to me.

Do readers remember 2015, when the paper was literally smaller? Well, by the time I’d gotten pretty good at filling the Voice’s 12 little pages, we decided to return to the paper’s original dimensions, which is the size you hold in your hands now. As with so many things in life, a few extra inches make a lot of difference. The increased volume no doubt gave readers great pleasure, but it meant more work for the writers. And I use the plural pretty loosely there.

It was a catch-22. On the one hand, bigger pages meant more space for important stories. For example, I don’t think we could have launched our comparative series on other community centres in Niagara with the smaller format. But on the other it also meant less time to do those stories properly,

The Voice P.O. Box 1489 Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 If paying by cheque, be sure to include it.

Please do not send cash through the mail.

Thank you for your subscription.

R E M E M B E R because first and foremost we had to fill the rest of the paper. More work, same pay. There were moments when I wondered why I’d never learned a trade.

But it was worth it. The long hours, the meager paycheck, the endless sea of stress, it was a small price to pay to be such a large part of the Pelham community. When I wasn’t covering the “big” stories, I was interviewing dedicated volunteers, enterprising young people, inspiring entrepreneurs and any number of folks who make this community such a great place to live. I made friends and connections that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life, and gained a greater respect for the people and places of Pelham.

And through it all, the Voice persevered, in large part because of the entire staff’s dedication to creating a quality newspaper each and every week. Pressure makes diamonds, they say. We uncovered a few gems who helped: Excellent community contributors like Rosemary Chambers and Carolyn Botari (Pieces from our Past), and the adventurous John Swart provided engaging articles. And people were taking notice.

As the months went on, the Voice slowly built a reputation as a newspaper that asked the tough questions and wasn’t afraid to hold folks accountable—stories like the unfair Niagara Specialized Transit rate hike, the proposed garbage incinerator on Pelham’s border, recanted allegations of assault by Town staff against Fenwick residents, Community Centre funding, and the early days of the Wellington Heights debacle.

This kind of coverage threw some people for a loop. Town Council felt they were treated unfairly because no other municipality dealt with this kind of media attention. In truth, it was the residents of those other towns who were treated unfairly, as their elected officials avoided the journalistic scrutiny that is a cornerstone of our democracy.

I’m proud to see the Voice has continued its commitment to accountability since I’ve moved on. And I hope readers can appreciate what they have

When you consider what an unchecked local government can cost you in tax dollars, you'll come out way ahead

in their little paper. Fewer and fewer institutions hold local governments accountable and ask the tough questions that keep residents informed.

Have I mentioned the low pay? The industry is not what it was. Greater demands on journalists, who are in turn given fewer resources, means that many writers no longer have the time or inclination to do the extra research required to get the real story.

Quotes and figures are dutifully recorded, but often no one checks to see if the math adds up. Citizens need a voice that speaks for them—not for governments, not for developers, not for corporations.

In this issue, readers are asked to voluntarily subscribe to the Voice.

I hope you will consider doing so. I know some will question this request.

After all, aren’t there other local options delivering content without asking for money? Why should the Voice be any different?

But that’s just it. The Voice is different. There’s actual meat in these pages, and I would encourage you to spend a couple bucks a month in support of it. When you consider what an unchecked local government can cost you in tax dollars, you’ll come out way ahead.

When I think back to my time at the Voice, I’m filled with a sense of appreciation for all that we were able to accomplish. I’m proud to have played a small part in this paper’s history, and look forward to perusing its pages for another 20 years.

005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Page 12

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

Audit Committee to discuss Pelham debt continued from Page 1 you talk about the development charge credit, is that part of their overall debt or encumbrance?”

Despite allegations by Augustyn and others that political motivations were behind his motion, Barrick maintains that the resolution arose from his concern for taxpayers in Pelham and Niagara.

“Any mention of any other issue not related to this is a cheap excuse and a deflection about the issue,” said Barrick.

“This matter is not about me. What’s before us in this resolution is not my information, it’s all the Town’s information. I would highlight that there is reference in here that some information in the body of the motion is wrong, and I would clarify that it is not wrong, it’s different.”

“Yeah, alternative facts,” mumbled one of the other councillors loudly enough to be heard in the gallery.

Once Barrick had read through the lengthy motion (which ran in its entirety in last week’s Voice), Grimsby’s Regional Councillor Tony Quirk spoke in support of Barrick’s motion. Alluding to the 330page report provided by the Town of Pelham to respond to each of the allegations in the motion he said, “I do reference that sometimes in a lawsuit when you are trying to hide something you do a data dump.” Calling some of the numbers in the report “quite worrisome,” Quirk highlighted

several of his concerns.

“I’m concerned about some of the other things that have come forward as part of this because maybe if the financial statements don’t tell the whole picture that is a concern,” he said.

“But I also look at [how much] the projected repayments were going to be before Pelham jumped on the debt rollercoaster. They basically were planning to spend $592,000 in 2016 to repay debt, now late in 2016 they were scheduled to spend $1 million. So, that extra debt has almost doubled their principal requirements.”

Declaring that he appreciated all the information provided in the Town of Pelham’s report, Quirk said that it wasn’t fair to the residents of Pelham and taxpayers in Niagara for Council to make a decision without having a chance to “take a deeper dive into it.” Asserting that the auditor’s management response letter was not part of Pelham’s information package, Quirk suggested that Council have a policy-related conversation to determine which forms and documentation should be provided by municipalities before the Region issues more debt on behalf of local municipalities.

“As audit chair of the NPCA I made sure that that letter was released to this Council to read what the auditor was saying and it has been thrown back in our face multiple times,” said Quirk. “Because although we are making strides to reduce those de-

ficiencies that’s not good enough, and never is good enough. But at least that letter is out there in the open. Unfortunately, that letter isn’t provided, or required to be provided by local municipalities.”

Later, Augustyn indicated that the reason this letter was not included in the package was that the auditor did not issue a letter voicing any concerns.

Regional Councillor Selina Volpatti tabled another motion, referring any further discussion regarding the matter until the Audit Committee’s next meeting on June 12. Passing by a vote of 16 to 12, Augustyn was prevented from responding to the accusations asserted by Quirk and in Barrick’s motion when regional councillor.

Augustyn expressed his disappointment after the meeting with not being allowed to speak to the allegations against the Town.

“Democracy is an informed debate and an informed discussion,” he said.

“All we had at Regional Council the other night was one-sided accusations. We had all the information needed to refute every one of their claims and they wouldn’t let that occur. It’s very sad.”

Augustyn says that Barrick’s motion was intentionally misleading to the public because it misrepresented the Town’s financial position. He also believes it may in part be Barrick’s way of striking back in response to comments made by the Mayor

Democracy is an informed debate and an informed discussion

in the Voice questioning the hiring practices of the NPCA, namely that Barrick left his position on the NPCA’s board to take on the role of the organization’s Director of Corporate Services.

Whether Barrick’s motion was related to the Mayor’s outspokenness regarding the many issues plaguing the NPCA, Augustyn said the Town decided to respond directly to his allegations by issuing the detailed report presented to Regional Council.

Asserting that the report answers concerns raised in the motion, he said he expects the NPCA to follow the same process.

“Many municipalities across Niagara have asked the NPCA to be open, to give out information and to answer the allegations and they should do so,” he said.

“It was alleged that there was something wrong with the Town’s fi nances and we’ve came out and showed very clearly that’s not the case. Similarly, those who are making accusations should have the basis on which they are doing so.

The Ed Smith document is the basis for those accusations causing concern and everybody is waiting for the NPCA to answer those allegations. Instead they’ve reacted by suing Mr. Smith for putting out

very detailed accusations about them and have still failed to answer them.”

Pointing out that the region's acceptable debt to operating revenue is 85 percent in 2019, Augustyn said Town staff were informed by their auditor that this number would have to climb to 120 percent for the Region’s credit rating to be threatened.

Crunching the numbers himself, Augustyn said that even under the worstcase scenario, Pelham’s debt could in no way force the Region into this credit danger zone.

“They’re alleging that to change the credit rating you would need another $282 million added to the Region’s debt load,” he said.

“For Barrick to stand up publicly and say that if there is a problem in Pelham it may cause a problem with the Region’s credit rating is categorically false and fear-mongering. The clear thing is, is that we do our homework, we provide the information. Before I stand up at Regional Council I make sure I am well-researched and I expect others to do the same.

In this case, it’s clear that these are simply allegations.”

Councillor Tony Quirk expressed his continued concerns about Pelham’s books on Monday just before press time.

“I spent the weekend going through the Pelham submission [responding to Barrick’s motion], he said.

“The actual financial numbers are what they are, but there appears to be some information withheld about the land deal and some inconsistencies between what as said and the documents provided.”

Quirk’s comments and the Town’s response will run in our next issue.

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OBITUARY

SWAYZE, Ronald C. Ron

passed away peacefully on March 28, 2017 at the age of 78 after a short illness.

Survived by his loving wife of 55 years, Lynn Swayze (nee Cullimore).

He will be remembered with love by his children Mark (Belinda), Sandra Van der Kant (Henry), Trent (Rachelle) and Tracy Martin (Jeff). He will be missed by his beloved grandchildren Jessica (Kok-Wah), Justin, Jerica, Rachael, Tim, Calvin, Jack and Abby.

Ron also enjoyed one greatgranddaughter, Naomi.

He will also be missed by his brother-in-law David, his sister-in-law Karen and two nieces. Predeceased by his granddaughter Allison, his brother Jeffery and his parents Evelyn and Cecil. Remembered with affection by many colleagues and former students from his 35 years as a principal and teacher for the Niagara South Board of Education. He was an avid bird-watcher and former president of the Welland Camera Club.

Hockey was his favourite sport, and he was proud to have initiated hockey teams in Pelham for young boys and girls. Ron truly valued spending time with family and friends.

Lynn would like to thank his CCAC St. Elizabeth’s nurses Kim and Laurie for their support and care.

Friends were received by the family at the JAMES L. PEDLAR FUNERAL HOME on Friday, March 31st . The memorial service honouring Ron’s life took place at Holy Trinity Anglican Church on April 1st. A private interment will take place on a later date at Fonthill Cemetery.

As an expression of sympathy donations may be made to Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Fonthill, Pathstone Mental Health or to a charity of your choice.

Online condolences may be shared at www. pedlarfuneralhome.ca

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

Page 13

MEET THE INTERNS

Who's nutty enough to go into journalism these days? These Niagara College students for two!

Jessica Andersen wanted to do something for me for once. I have loved to read and write since I was a little girl, and used to write short stories and poems all the time as a child.

I had my first child, a little girl, when I was 23, and for almost two years of her life I put her needs before my own and then I decided to go to school for office administration to try and provide a better life for her.

Unfortunately, I fell short of graduating with a diploma, as I became pregnant with my second and had to leave school to have him before I was able to complete that program.

I’m not sure if I exactly want to become a fullfledged journalist after I graduate this coming June,

I am currently a second-year journalism student at Niagara College, completing my one-month placement at the Voice. I am a 29-year-old mother of two beautiful children who are my whole world. I decided to go back to school about a year-and-a-half after having my son because I wanted to finally do something for myself. I have always put my family and others’ needs ahead of my own, and I

I have loved to read and write since I was a little girl

but I would love to continue writing in some form or another. Maybe I will write a book someday or do some freelance work while I hold down a 9-5 job. I would love to be a journalist but I’m afraid with the hours that a journalist must keep that it will interfere with my family and their well-being.

BACK-STORY continued from Page 9 she said.

“When the Herald was closing there was a void in town because we didn’t have our own news. I think that’s why people put their money in.”

Kuckyt said she and fellow founding member David Hall were overwhelmed by the support they found when they began reaching out to the community.

Some of this support came from local businesses who purchased ad space, with additional revenue being generated by community members who bought volunteer subscriptions. She said the community refused to allow the local news to be reduced to a one-page insert in the Welland Tribune.

“We wanted to make sure that no one could ever shut us down,” Kuckyt said.

“We had a real thing about Conrad Black at the time, because this is what he was doing. He was closing down all of the local papers, buying them up, and then rolling them into his bigger papers as a one-page insert for the local news.”

Once everything was in order, Carolyn Mullin became the first Managing Editor of the Voice of Pelham.

Getting the paper off the ground required a complete community effort, Kuckyt explained. Members of the board volunteered,

We had a real thing about Conrad Black at the time, because this is what he was doing. He was closing down all the local papers...

helping with everything from proofreading to newspaper delivery. During the first year, Kuckyt’s husband, David, said he even became known as “The Muffin Man” because he would drop off muffins at the office. The public also stepped up by contributing feature articles and photography.

Managing to remain relevant amid an ever-changing media landscape, 20 years later the Voice of Pelham continues to serve up a healthy serving of the local news to the community each week. Though many community newspapers across the country have disappeared during this time, Kuckyt believes there will always be a need for Pelham to have its Voice.

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Bertie & Clinton Mutual Insurance Board Chairman, Brian Heaslip (right) receives a refund cheque from Vice-Chairman, David Wiley (left) at the new office of Bertie & Clinton Mutual Insurance Company on Niagara Street in Welland, Ontario.

Recently, the company declared a refund from surplus of 15% on auto, property, liability and commercial premiums paid in 2016. A total amount of $1,925,959.95 was refunded to the policyholders provided they were insured for at least one year and that their policy was in force at December 31, 2016.

Bertie and Clinton has declared a refund from surplus in twenty of the last twenty-four years and has provided insurance for Niagara Region residents since 1880. With an enviable track record of surplus returns to policyholders, it is clear that purchasing insurance with Bertie & Clinton Mutual is a cost effect way to protect your valuable assets.

The company is overseen by nine directors who are elected by the policyholders at the Annual General Meeting. Each of the nine directors are elected for a three-year term, with three being elected each year. At the 137th Annual General Meeting held March 21, 2016 at the Royal Canadian Legion in Fonthill, David Gill of Welland, David Wiley of St.Catharines and Philip Lambert of Niagara-on-the-Lake, were re-elected as Directors for another three-year term.

Brian Heaslip of Wellandport was elected to serve the Company as the Board Chairman while David Wiley of St. Catharines was elected to serve the Company as the Board Vice-Chairman. In addition, Howard Augustine of Wainfleet was elected as Second Vice-Chairman for the 2017-2018 year.

Bertie & Clinton has been successful because of policyholder support and thanks them for their continued loyalty. With the opening of a new office at 1003 Niagara Street in Welland, Bertie & Clinton will be able to improve upon their already fast and friendly service and provide for the growing insurance needs of those in the Niagara region.

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I am a 21-year-old Niagara College journalism student from Burlington, Ontario. I moved to Welland in 2013 to attend the Niagara College Welding Techniques program. After completing the Welding program, I decided to enroll in the Journalism program. I made this switch because the strain of welding had a negative effect on my physical health.

I decided to enroll in Journalism because I was always

told that I am curious and have an opinion on everything, and would make a good writer. While I was in the Welding program I tried writing short stories but never seemed to finish any, finding that my stories were missing something, a quote or opinion from a real person and not just a made-up character. This was when I discovered that the Journalism program may be a good switch for me.

Currently I am in the final stages of finishing the Journalism program by interning at the Voice of Pelham for the next four weeks.

While working for the Niagara College paper, the Niagara News, I enjoyed writing student life stories, human interest pieces, and columns

Bertie and Clinton is a Niagara region based Mutual Insurance Company that specializes in providing home, auto, commercial and farm insurance to its members. Members are policy holders who have a voice in how the company is run.

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Page 14

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

Crossley comics improvise win

BY JESSICA ANDERSEN

Special to the VOICE

Students from E.L. Crossley Secondary School may be following in the footsteps of famous celebrities as they will be competing at the Canadian Improv Games, where significant Canadian performers like Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, and Alanis Morissette got their start.

"The Tri-City Improv Tournament is in Guelph and involves three cities— Kitchener, Guelph and Waterloo,” said Jennifer Benson, Head of Dramatic Arts.

“It’s comprised of volunteers, often ones who grew up through the CIG [Canadian Improv Games] and are connected to universities.”

These remarkable students beat out 25 other teams at the Tri-City Improv Tournament, the largest in Canada, to win (for the second year in a row) this prestigious event.

“This is our second year and I would say it has a lot to do with the dedication, the talent that has been coming up,” said Benson.

“I have had kids come back in-between and coach.”

Improv, also known as improvisational theatre, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, ac-

tion, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.

“I think improv has been pretty life-changing for me,” said Alex Sykes. “In grade nine I was really shy and I didn’t know anybody when I came to the school but through improv I met all of my best friends and it’s such a loving environment and is so exhilarating.”

“For me it’s deepened friendship connections with new people as well as old ones,” said Ben Wayda.

“I used to be just all track all the time, football, etc., and its so much fun to see something else, another extracurricular that doesn’t have as much support as other extracurriculars.”

“It definitely gets people out of their shell and just in a great environment that super-positive and happy,” said Chelsea Dickson. “One of the slogans is ‘It’s a loving competition,’ and that’s really what it’s all about, just bringing people together and just having a great time and accepting everyone.”

“I think I’ve never been in an extracurricular where I’ve felt like there was so much community and I felt like you could trust everybody and anybody,” said Ara Rizzo. “Even when you go

From left, coach Jennifer Benson, Matt Beard , Alex Sykes, Chelsea Dickson, Ara Russo, Ben Wayda. to competitions, especially Tri-City, it feels like home where you know everybody and even if you don’t then you meet them.”

Benson said that performers need to understand trust and so it’s not just about working with a team, it’s also about everyone in the competition. Everyone in the competition is pushing each other as individuals and not in a competitive sense like a team sport may do.

“Guy Spenser, a graduate of Grimsby’s program, talks about how he felt like he

was a geek in high school, and then he’s been able to convert the geekiness into this amazing skill and talent,” said Benson. “In truth, improv nurtures extremely strong leaders.”

Improv University, a one week program in Sherbrooke, Quebec, is almost like a compost pile, said Benson. It takes all these organic materials and turns them into something incredible, confident, compassionate and beautiful. “[With] improv you are on stage and doing a show in front of people and you could

fall flat on your face and the skills and confidence these kids learn is amazing,” said Benson.

“I’ll make like half of a joke and expect [my friends] to finish but they won’t,” said Wayda.

“It’s very different because people that haven’t done improv are sometimes more closed off or you’ll do something and they won’t go along with it,” said Sykes.

“I think improv sheds you from every mask you wear every day,” said Rizzo. “I feel like when I meet new people I try to act like

SUPPLIED PHOTO

someone I’m not to make new friends.”

The Canadian Improv Games got its start 40 years ago, beginning as an educational adventure for students, and has turned into a new style of theatre learning in recent years. It is one of the largest and most geographically distributed theatre festivals in Canada with 14 regional programs and over 100,000 alumni participants.

The Canadian Improv Games will be held in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre from April 19-22, 2017.

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

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Fonthill resident Hall of Fame inductee

BY VOICE STAFF Every two years, the Ontario Basketball Association honours individuals and teams who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of basketball by inducting worthy nominees into the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame. This year, local basketball legend Pat Laing was one of two inductees welcomed into this exclusive club during a celebration at the Air Canada Centre on March 21. The Fonthill resident was inducted into the OBA’s Hall of Fame in a ceremony held during half-time at a game between the Toronto Raptors and the Chicago Bulls.

Laing’s illustrious career as a basketball official spanned 42 years. Although

she hung up her whistle in 2001, she has continued to serve the sport she loves as an active member of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials. Her passion for the game began on the court, playing competitively at the University level for Western University’s intermediate and intercollegiate basketball teams. She also spent time as a coach at Whitby District High School after graduating from the Ontario College of Education at the University of Toronto. Laing was also coach at Western from 1957 until 1959 where she worked as an instructor.

The celebration on this night began with a special reception for family, friends and supporters of the inductees. Describing the oc-

casion as wonderfully memorable, Laing said she and her guests were invited to view the game from a private box.

“We were certainly given very special treatment by Ontario Basketball, guiding us to our game seats, to centre court and explaining the forthcoming process,” said Laing.

“So, my thanks go the OBA staff, and also to all of my supporters, some of whom came from a considerable distance to attend the reception and game. All my family and friends and those with co-inductee Susan Stewart had a great time — first at a reception, then from a box view during the game, which was quite exciting for the fans as it went into overtime, and the Raptors won.”

Ontario Basketball Association (OBA) executive director Jason Janson, and OBA president Stephanie Rudnick present Pat Laing and Susan Stewart with commemorative plaques during a ceremony inducting them into the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame during the Toronto Raptors game on March 21.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Page 16

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

Page 17

Student attends Youth Forum on Parliament Hill Taryn Petrovsky mingles with the power elite along with 120 other students

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

During the recent March Break, Grade 10 E.L. Crossley student Taryn Petrovsky joined a group of youth on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the federal government’s annual Forum For Young Canadians. Chosen along with 120 youth from throughout Canada to take part in the forum, Petrovsky had a unique opportunity to observe the inner-workings of national politics and public affairs. Immersed in federal politics each day from 6 AM until 10 PM for what she described as, “five action-filled days,” Petrovsky returned home with an abundance of memorable and inspiring moments. According to Petrovsky, sitting in on a live question period was one of her most enjoyable and informative experiences.

“It was quite extraordinary getting to see all these politicians up close, and see how they act around each other,” she said.

“Something that was quite surprising to me was how friendly they all were with each other. Before session started, many politicians from all parties were mingling and chatting, including Prime Minister Trudeau.”

Petrovsky said she and her fellow students also had a chance to interact with members of Parliament at a special MP reception dinner held at an Ottawa hotel. The reception was held on the 29th floor, which had a 360-degree view of the city. While enjoying a delicious spread of food, Petrovsky said the group had an amazing time getting to know one another and some of the politicians in attendance.

“This was a party where all of Canada's MPs were invited to mingle with the participants,” Petrovsky said.

“We were free to ask them any questions and it was a great learning opportunity.”

The students also had time to chat with senators during a Sen-

We were free to ask them any questions and it was a great learning opportunity

ate breakfast, where they explained their role and answered questions. Asking the senators how they work with MPs towards achieving common goals, Petrovsky said she learned how the two separate chambers focused on different issues. She also discovered that in times of need senators and MPs work together to make sure the appropriate decisions are being made for Canadians.

As enlightening as her time was with the politicians, Petrovsky said some of her best memories were made socializing with the other students during downtime. Being around 120 other students with a similar drive and passion for politics was an experience she said she will never forget. Making friends from Quebec, New Brunswick and British Columbia, Petrovsky said she now plans to visit some of them this summer.

“These kids were intelligent, outspoken, charming and full of passion for our country, and I believe they will make up the leaders of tomorrow,” said

Taryn Petrovsky tries on the Prime Minister's seat for size.

Petrovsky.

“When surrounding yourself with these type of people, it made me feel extremely motivated and empowered to take what I have learned and implement it in our community. It was amazing to hear about all the things they are doing as youth in their hometowns across Canada.

Going into the experience, Petrovsky said she had a basic understanding of how the political system worked, however travelling to Ottawa to take part in the forum opened her eyes to a different side of government.

Notably, she said it was very interesting to observe the day-today life of the politicians on The

Hill.

“Their days are filled with meetings, interviews and tasks outside the building, and then when they are needed in the chamber they simply walk over from their offices. I found this quite interesting on how low profile it is and simply a part of their job.”

Through participating in several group simulations, Petrovsky said they also learned how politics operates on the municipal, federal and provincial levels.

Another highlight of her experience was when she bumped into MP for Niagara West Glanbrook Dean Allison while exploring the Parliament building as a group.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Meeting with Allison afterwards in his office, Petrovsky spoke with him about mental health issues, getting youth involved in community initiatives and the environment.

“Talking with Mr. Allison was a great opportunity because he is the person who is the voice for our riding and speaks on behalf on what we want here in our community,” she said.

“Mr. Allison said he believed in many of the ideas I did and would love to work with me in the future. It was a pleasure to be able to meet with him in our country’s capital and watch him partake in question period shortly after.”

Page 18

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

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Request made of community still peeved at name change

See DSBN Page 9

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Mon-Wed 9:30-6:00pm • Thur-Fri 9:30-7:00pm • Sat 9:30-5:00pm

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W

BALLOONING INTEREST Grade 6 student Jinja Shepherd explains her experiment on static electricity at the Glynn A. Green Public School's annual science fair last Friday. See story, page 3.

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

Public meeting tonight on school issues

BY VOICE STAFF As questions continue to mount regarding an email that Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn quietly sent to a District School Board of Niagara trustee last summer, Augustyn has agreed to address the issue at a public meeting scheduled for this evening, Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Fenwick.

Nancy Beamer, speaking for “Names Matter,” a Pelham citizens group lobbying the DSBN to reverse its decision to rename a local public school, confirms that the meeting will be held at Fire Station #2, known locally as the Fenwick Fire Hall, starting at 7:00 PM. While the Mayor has agreed to ap-

Under pressure, Mayor to address email revelation, other E. W. Farr matters pear, says Beamer, DSBN officials associated with the school-naming process have either declined to attend or have not yet responded to the group’s invitation.

DSBN Chair, Dale Robinson, to whom Augustyn’s email was addressed last June, has declined to appear, says Beamer, asserting that she would be

“on holidays.” The Voice was unable to independently confirm Robinsion’s intentions. She did not respond to repeated requests for comment on E.W. Farr-related matters before presstime.

Beamer, whose group maintains an email list of some 580 residents, says that all members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting.

“We would especially welcome parents and children who are unhappy with the name change,” she says, referring to the contentious decision by the DSBN to consolidate two Pelham See MEETING back page

HEN I WAS young, my father and I would go for long drives along the rural routes of Pelham. We’d blast George Thurgood and roll down the windows because we loved the smell of the breeze, the sensation of crisp Niagara wind beating our cheeks and tangling our hair against our summer-kissed skin.

My father was not a sentimental man. He worked in factories and had a Gordon Lightfoot mustache and never shed tears over injuries.

Yet something about the Pelham landscape, the hilly backdrop to his childhood and the childhoods of our ancestors, drew him in. He’d stop by a farm or a gathering of woods and, surrendering his manly veneer, tell me a story about the town.

This place is precious. This is the earth that granted us life. Here is the place where we happened upon love or here is a site of devastation.

On one particular drive sometime in the late ‘90s we stopped at a tree with a plaque.

“This tree looks dead,” I said to my father.

“It sure is getting there, Julie.”

The Comfort Maple is supposedly Canada’s oldest See COLUMN SIX Page 14

The Voice PUBLISHED INDEPENDENTLY IN PELHAM

Vol.20 No.39

NIAGARA’S BEST-READ WEEKLY SINCE 1997

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

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Part 2 of 2: Coronation to embarkation

BY HEATHER McLAREN ROHRER

Special to the VOICE

A

Repair measures underway last week to correct a construction error in the chicane. truck or an ambulance?” he said.

While waiting for the contractor to return to fix

the mistake, the Town has taken measures to temporarily allow passage for vehicles through the neigh-

VOICE PHOTO

bourhood in the short-term.

Manager of Public Works Ryan Cook said that after discovering the issue with

the chicane the morning it first opened, the Town See CHICANE Page 5

Petition-inspired changes coming to 2017 Summerfest

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

Representatives from the Pelham Summerfest committee Candy Ashbee and Bill Gibson presented council with a final report on the 2016 Summerfest at the Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 21.

Prompted by a story in the Voice in August about a merchant petition to move Summerfest from Pelham Street, in September Town staff met with various stakeholders to hear their complaints, promising at the time that changes in the way Summerfest was mounted would be con-

sidered.

The main concerns identified during the community engagement process were security, parking, ensuring customer can access all businesses in town, and liability for damages. How to get all Pelham Street businesses to participate and finding ways to make it beneficial for them to set up a booth were also determined to be of high priority for the committee as they plan for next year’s event.

Gibson told Council that the committee is addressing these concerns in a variety of ways. To improve parking, they intend to create bet-

ter signage for out-of-town visitors to designated parking areas and shuttle services. To make participation in Summerfest more enticing to local businesses, they plan to implement a tiered-charge for booths. Under the new system, Pelham Street business owners will be charged the least, other local businesses will pay a slightly higher fee, and vendors from outside Pelham will pay the most. In response to more specific issues for individual businesses, they will also slightly alter the footprint of the event and make adjustments to security.

Another way the committee plans

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to improve the 2017 Summerfest is by sponsoring and working with the organizers of the Thursday Night Bandshell Concert series to select the artist performing on the first night of Summefest. They also intend to make more use of the smartphone app they launched in 2016.

"We are really going to push it this year," Ashbee said.

“It really helps to get people to see what events there are so they can plan out where they are going.

We will be able to actually help the merchants and local businesses ad-

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Growing up British

BY VOICE STAFF

Debbie Pine

Mon-Wed 9:30-6:00pm ◆ Thur-Fri 9:30-7:00pm Sat 9:30-5:00pm

Column Six

Haist Street traffic-calming measure a little too effective A construction error was discovered following the opening of a traffic calming chicane on Haist Street north of Hwy 20 last Monday that prevented large vehicles from passing through.

One resident living in the neighbourhood said he contacted the Town after seeing a small schoolbus get stuck as it tried to get through the new traffic calming measure. Later that day while driving behind a cement truck, he said that he became concerned for the public’s safety when the truck had to turn around because it couldn’t get through.

“If a small school bus and a cement truck can’t make it through what about a fire

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Column Six

BY VOICE STAFF The District School Board of Niagara is requesting that the Town of Pelham cede a portion of Cherry Ridge Park for use as a soccer field to serve the students of the new Wellington Heights Public School, formerly the E. W. Farr Memorial Public School, in Fenwick.

Currently under renovation and expansion, the new school will combine students and staff from the previous school and Pelham Centre, where classes are being held while construction continues.

Two letters, containing virtually identical text but signed by different authorities, were sent last week to nearby residents of the park, as well as to parents of Pelham Centre students.

“The DSBN is currently building onto Wellington Heights Public School on Alsop Drive,” states the letter. “The size of the school's addition means the existing small soccer field will be eliminated.

The Town and the Board have been discussing the possibility of working together to create a field for both the school and the

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FTER LUNCH ON Saturday, Mum and Dad had my afternoon cut out for me. Mum had more brass than anyone I knew, and it had to be cleaned. In addition there was the set of silver fish-knives and forks which were never used, but which had to be cleaned and put back in their velvetlined box.

Next was a walk to the newsagents to pay for the daily delivery of the Daily Mirror. As I said, Dad was a printer, but when he was 37 he had been rejected for a job, as being too old, by the printers of the Beano.

For that reason, my favourite comic was not allowed in the house, but while I was paying the papers, the newsagent let me have a 'shoofty' at the Beano. I'd explained my predicament and he understood completely.

Sundays were different again. Dad would play golf on summer mornings and billiards in winter.

Then he'd stop for a 'refresher' at the local and would pick up the prawns, cockles, winkles or whelks we'd be having for tea later. Meanwhile, Mum was roasting the 'joint' and potatoes. I got to make the Yorkshire pud, and mint See COLUMN SIX Page 14

See CHANGES Page 5

The Voice PUBLISHED INDEPENDENTLY IN PELHAM

Vol.20 No.32

NIAGARA’S BEST-READ WEEKLY SINCE 1997

Wednesday October 12, 2016

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Apple Day comes to Fonthill

BY VOICE STAFF

The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and well-rounded individuals ceives them, enabling youth to have experiences that build character, challenge them, and allow them to try new things. The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and wellrounded individuals, better prepared for success. Apple Day helps to achieve that.”

The VOICE

Joining their principal, Karen Simpson, at the Sept.

19 Council meeting as part of a delegation from EL Crossley Secondary School, students Abby Loewen and Neenah Williams presented Council with a list of reasons that they should immediately approve the construction of the new sidewalk proposed along Hwy. 20. The asphalt side-

walk/trail is slated to be built between the south side of the road from Timmsdale Crescent to the high school.

Because of the large volume of motor vehicle traffic travelling at high speeds through this area, and because of the necessity for students to tread this path on a daily basis, many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later.

After delivering to Council a petition containing

www.pennylanesold.com

H EATHER AND P ENNY L ANE S ALES R EPRESENTATIVES

BY JOHN SWART

VOICE Correspondent

T Second year Beaver with the 3rd Fonthill Group, Russell Letford offers a fresh apple to shoppers in Pelham during the 2015 Apple Day campaign.

SUPPLIED PHOTO A longtime Canadian tradition, Apple Day began in 1932 in Saint John, New Brunswick, when Scouts handed out 21,000 apples as a way to say thank you to the community. In return for their generosity, many people offered them donations. From then on Scouts have reached out through Apple Day to raise funds for their programs.

“Any money raised during Apple Day goes towards improving the Scouting program by providing more outdoor adventures for youth, camping equipment, canoes and paddles, training and many other endeavours that the youth want to experience,” says Marie.

Scouts Canada has some 100,000 members across Canada, and carries out programs for boys, girls

and youth ages 5-25. This year the 3rd Fonthill Group, which includes Beavers to Ventures (youth ages 5- 25) will be hitting the streets to drum-up support.

Over the weekend, Scouts will be set up in Fonthill outside Sobeys, Tim Hortons, Target Gas station, Fonthill Shopping Plaza and the Pioneer Gas station at the corner of Hwys 20 and 24.

Town Council approves sidewalk to serve E. L. Crossley

BY NATE SMELLE

Cell 905.933.3049

Column Six It doesn’t get better than Autumn

Longtime Scouting tradition dates to 1932 While shopping in Fonthill between Friday and Sunday, keep an eye out for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts in front of local stores with bushels of apples.

As part of the annual Apple Day campaign, Scouting youth of all ages will be trading apples for donations.

The yearly fundraising drive is an important way for young Scouts to connect with the communities they are serving, says Leah Marie of Scouts Canada.

“The Apple Day campaign holds a great tradition of being able to have youth interacting within the communities they live in,” she says. “All of the Apple Day donations stay directly within the group that re-

Office 905.892.1702

Many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later the names of 450 students calling for a safer walk to school, Simpson handed the

podium over to Loewen and Williams to plead their case.

Loewen told Council that because there are a lot of students who have work placements and coop placements during the school year, this is the only route for many of them to travel.

As one of the students facing this predicament, Williams said she has had no other option but to walk along the dangerous highway.

“I start work at 2:30 PM and school lets out at 2:15 PM so I can’t take any other route,” Williams explained.

“I have had friends, family, teachers and other community members reach out to me in the past about how this is unsafe and how there should be another alternative for us.”

Looking ahead to winter, when she will need to walk this path three or four times

HERE IS NO BETTER time to cycle than Fall. It matters not whether you’re new to the sport, a seasoned recreational cyclist, racer, touring rider or mountain biker; we all have reason to look forward to autumn.

Summer’s heat has faded, and the streams of sweat that ran from soggy helmets into our eyes are now just slight perspiration. Fitness is peaking from lots of saddle time, making those tough climbs of Spring a breeze in Autumn.

It’s hard to beat the feeling of beginning a crisp, cool Fall ride with a slight shiver, knowing your efforts will soon warm you perfectly.

The hues of Autumn are outstanding.

A Pelham route as simple as following our southern boundary is one that would make most Toronto cyclists jealous, especially when our forests and fields are ablaze with colour.

Begin from Harold Black Park, and zig-zag south along Effingham Rd toward the Welland River.

If you’re new to cycling, it’s important to know south is the direction away from any hills.

If you avoid the morning and evening weekday rush hours caused by those travelling through Pelham between Wainfleet

See SIDEWALK Page 2

See AUTUMN Page 3

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The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

Page 19

THE STORY teaching series

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Pelham Friends Church Sundays: 10:30 940 Haist St.

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Fonthill Baptist Church presents

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Organ Recital Series

Monday,March April 30 10 to to Monday Thursday, 13 Thursday April 2 12 PM 12 noon noon -to to 1 1pm SCHEDULED ARTISTS Mon. Mar. 30 Catharine Willard Monday April 10 and Friends David Cowan

TuesdayMar. April 31 11 Tues.

PAMPERED SWEET The Fonthill and District Kinettes recently held their annual Pamper Me Sweet event and thank the many local businesses that donating to their silent auction. Thanks to everyone who came out to show their support the Kinettes were able to donate $1,000 to Faith Flagg, the Pelham teen who suffered injuries after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in 2015.

The Kinettes also asked for non-perishable food items, which, along with program's entrance fee, were donated to the Hope Centre in Welland.

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Places of Worship and Events Bethany Christian Reformed Church 1040 Balfour St., Fenwick Concordia Lutheran Church 105 Welland Rd., Fonthill

Glad Tidings Church of God 1 Pancake Lane, Fonthill Holy Trinity Anglican Church 1557 Pelham Street, Fonthill

Fenwick Church of Christ 765 Welland Rd., Fenwick

Kirk on the Hill Presbyterian Church 1344 Haist St., Fonthill

Fenwick United Church 1050 Church St., Fenwick

Pelham Community Church 461 Canboro Rd., Fenwick

First Presbyterian Church 602 Metler Rd., Fenwick

Pelham Evangelical Friends Church 940 Haist St., Fonthill

Fonthill Baptist Church 1414 Pelham St., Fonthill

Ridgeville Bible Chapel 418 Canboro Rd., Ridgeville

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses 1369 Rice Rd., Fonthill

St. Alexander’s Roman Catholic Church 50 Pelham Town Sq., Fonthill

Fonthill United Church 42 Church Hill, Fonthill

St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church 834 Canboro Rd., Fenwick

Glad Tidings Church of God

Sundays at 10:45 AM — Everyone is Welcome!

1 Pancake Lane, Fonthill www.gladtidingschurchofgod.com (905) 892-5122 gladtidingscog@bellnet.ca

NEWSFLASH Tell us your story!

Introducing Column Six,

presenting tales of personal triumph, adventure, strange-but-true stories, life-changing events, and looks-back at our past.

Did you conquer Everest or kick a bad habit?

Did you meet your spouse-to-be in jail or on an African safari?

Do you know where Hoffa’s buried?

Write it down, send it in: publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca (You won’t get rich, but you will get paid.)

Page 20

The Voice of Pelham, April 5, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham

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Birth in car made for a great story and a fine first front page continued from Page 1 Before we go any farther, take a second and turn to page 3. Just have a quick look and come back.

Are you back?

Now that the photo accompanying this article makes sense, we pick up the story...

Tim pulled over onto the side of Webber Road, off Pelham Street, and frantically called 911 from his car cellphone.

“The 911 operator was trying to keep him calm saying, in a calming voice, ‘Is this your fi rst baby?’ and he’s just like yelling ‘No, this is my fourth, now just tell me what to do,’” Kathleen recalled. “And as the police came running up they just seemed to stop like dominos bumping into each other.

“One of the officers was like, ‘I don’t have any kids,’ and another said, ‘Well, I only have one kid,’ and the others looked at Tim and they said, ‘Is this your fi rst?’ and he said, ‘No, it’s my fourth,’ so they just shoved him in there and said, ‘You have way more experience than any of us do so you’re up.’”

Just a few moments later Tim successfully delivered his ninepound, 14-ounce baby boy. But when Mitchell Liam VanHoffen was born at 5:20 AM he was not breathing.

Tim’s fi rst reaction was to wrap the baby in a blanket because it was minus-12 out, but the doctors on the phone told

him to clear out his mouth and nose fi rst. Tim did as he was told, using his fingers to clear the airways, and his baby started to breathe.

“At the time, we didn’t know what the sex of the baby was, and as this was happening I’m saying, ‘What is it, what is it, what is it?’ and Tim said, ‘It’s a boy, now shut up!,’” said Kathleen.

It was a dramatic birth, but once the couple and their new baby boy arrived at the hospital, Mitchell was deemed healthy by doctors, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“I remember later calling a friend of ours from church,” recalled Kathleen. “He was a car detailer and he had read the story of Mitchell’s birth already, and before I asked he just said, ‘Get a new car, I’m not touching it.’”

This was not their only unusual birth. Devon VanHoffen, their third son, was born in the middle of a snowstorm. The VanHoffen’s were forced to call an ambulance because there was so much snow they couldn’t get out of their driveway.

On the way to get the couple, the ambulance drove off the road due to slippery conditions caused by the storm. This caused a cascade of rescue crews to help not only the ambulance, but the VanHoffens as well. However, for that birth they made it to the hospital on time, perhaps that’s because Devon’s birth was a lot longer than Mitchell’s, which only lasted an hour and a half.

These two incredible births,

and the two normal births as well, all happened after Kathleen’s fi rst pregnancy resulted in an ectopic pregnancy and caused one of her fallopian tubes to burst. After that she was told it would be very unlikely for her to have any other children. Then just two months later Kathleen found out they were in fact pregnant again with ther fi rst-born son, Brad.

The day Mitchell was born may have been his fi rst exciting day but the excitement didn’t end there.

When Mitchell was in grade six he took part in his Christian school’s Mike’s Miracle Soccer Invitational. Different Christian schools in the area sent kids to a soccer tournament day, where they are put on teams with members from different schools. This is where Mitchell met Natalie Dykstra.

“When we drove home together I kidded him about that cute girl on his team, and he kept talking about how good a soccer player she was and that she was cute,” said Kathleen. The interesting part comes three years later when Natalie Dykstra’s school, Beacon High, was closed due to low enrollment rates, and Beacon joined with Mitchell’s school, Smithville Christian High School, and the two met once again in grade nine. The two started dating when they were both in grade 12 and they have been together for over two years now, said Kathleen. “I just think this is a cute story.”

The year before Mitchell and Natalie started dating, Mitchell looked at his mom and said he wanted her to send him somewhere warm to go to school so that he could play golf yearround, playing season-by-season at the Peninsula Lakes Golf Club as part of the Niagara Juniors Tour.

At the time, Kathleen rolled her eyes and said “whatever,” but Mitchell persisted and the family found an affordable program where they could send him as an exchange student to Jacksonville, Florida for a year.

When Mitchell fi rst brought up the subject to his mother it was early August. If he had waited any longer to ask he would have missed the mid-August start time of Florida schools and wouldn’t have been able to take his journey to a warmer climate.

After his high school graduation Mitchell was enrolled in Brock University’s Business Communications program for a year. It was during this time that Kathleen and Tim decided to move to Grimsby so that Tim and their second oldest son, Trevor, could open a sporting goods store, Up the Nipissing, in Ancaster. Between shifts working as a landscaper, Mitchell also helps at the family-run store.

In the 20 years since that cold March night, Tim and Kathleen have watched all four of their sons grow into men, each one eventually leaving the house. “I hate it,” said Kathleen, “I didn’t like it at all.”

As her children started to leave, Kathleen decided it was time for a switch of careers. Since her own children were now men and didn’t need her help with homework and Bible study any more, she opened a nanny business so she could share her love and wisdom with other families in the area. She also offers pet-sitting, homework supervision and swimming supervision.

Kathleen is also a photographer. She mainly takes wedding photos. Kathleen and her husband Tim are also advocates for a community in Africa, allowing them to help even more families who live on the other side of the world. Their third son, Devon, is currently spending his fourth year in a row in Africa volunteering at Hands at Work.

When the VanHoffens were living in Fenwick, they were living close to Kathleen’s family, who owned some greenhouses where the VanHoffens would bring their children to help around the property.

Family is a very important thing to Kathleen, who keeps ties to her family and her church, Bethany Christian Reformed Church in Fenwick, and together the family goes to the church together each week.

Twenty years after Mitchell VanHoffen’s dramatic entrance into the world his story is still a great conversation starter, one that the VanHoffens willingly tell to anyone who asks them, “Are you the family who gave birth to the baby on the side of the road?”