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Partial eclipse shades Pelham, moves on
Column Six The Road Warrior
Momentary drop in heat on a humid afternoon was most notable feature
BY SAMUEL PICCOLO
The VOICE
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BY VOICE STAFF A partial solar eclipse made a (dis) appearance in Pelham on Monday, a brief stop during its five-hour tour of the continent. While solar eclipses are relatively common—there will be 77 partial and 68 total eclipses in the 21st century—Monday’s was considered special because it was the first time in over a century that a total eclipse was visible from coast to coast in the United States. In Canada, the highest coverage was 89 percent, in Victoria, B.C, while here in Pelham a maximum of 72 percent coverage occurred at 2:33 PM. The special glasses required to safely view the sun during the partial eclipse were in short supply in the area, so residents were forced to find other ways to observe the moon’s silhouette. The Fonthill Library had a live stream from Kentucky, where a total eclipse occurred, projected on a wall. Joe Bouchard watched the feed intently as the moment of “totality” approached, pointing as the final sliver of the sun disappeared. Bouchard has seen two full eclipses before— one as a child in northern Quebec, and one in Nova Scotia in 1970, the second thought to be the same famously referenced by Carly Simon in her song, “You’re So Vain.” At 2:33 several staff went outside and used a variety of methods to have a look. Using the forward-facing camera on their phones, library employees Clare Irwin and Elaine Anderson turned their devices towards the sun while looking them
Susan Poirier projects an image of the sun as Clare Irwin, Elaine Anderson, and Joe Bouchard look on. on an angle, and were able to see the moon’s shadow without hurting their eyes. Anderson recalled watching an eclipse when she was in elementary school, and in the days before selfie-cameras, her teacher had the class bring in a strip of 35mm film to look through. As Anderson, Irwin, and Bouchard looked on, Susan Poirier, another library employee, held out two sheets of paper. The upper one had pricked in it a small pinhole, casting a safely-viewable image on to the paper below, and as the moment passed, the shadow of the moon moved just slightly across the paper. For days—even weeks—discussion of the impending eclipse was rampant across all media, with astronomical experts on hand to explain exactly what happens to make the sky go dark. These experts all maintain that knowing when and why the event occurs makes it all the more wondrous, and indeed it’s often called the most significant astronomical phenomenon visible to
the eye. But perhaps there is a case to be made that all of this explaining has made the darkening of the day somewhat of a sterile occurrence. In antiquity, eclipses were accounted for in all sorts of strange ways that are sure to make most modern observers vaguely pleased to be living in such an enlightened time. Though the specific animals differ, common to most ancient cultures was a belief that celestial beasts ate the sun during its brief absence. In China, a dragon was thought to be to blame, while in Norse legend, it was wolves. Most oddly, a frog was thought to be guilty in Vietnam. Many beliefs involved action, too. In some places, people would make a real racket, banging bells and pots and pans, hoping to scare away the angry man on the moon. There are legends that eclipses poison food, harm fetuses, and even make the year’s flowers bloom with greater colour. Even among the scientifically devout, solar eclipses take on some-
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thing of a religious element. Kate Russo, a clinical psychologist from Northern Ireland, first observed a solar eclipse in France in 1999, and since then has travelled to catch every one. “I’m an eclipse chaser,” she told the New York Times. “When I discovered a map that had the paths of totality for all future eclipses I thought: ‘This is the structure of my life for the next 20 years.'" But at the library, no one seemed to be too worried about cosmic disturbances or ravenous wolves. They were happy just to be peering at their phones from the corners of their eyes. And even though they missed out on the glasses, there is reason to be hopeful. In 2024 there will be another solar eclipse, and this time, Niagara will be in the “path of totality.” Anderson resolved to have the glasses on hand then, and even Bouchard was looking forward to the date. “I just hope I’m still around then!” he said. “Seven years is a long time.”
HE BEST HALLOWEEN costume I ever wore was in eighth grade. This was in the autumn of 2008, just as it was becoming clear that the world’s economic turbulence was not a brief rut but instead something rather more severe. I was without inspiration the night before the day when my father said, “Wear a suit without trousers. You can be a broker who lost his pants in the market.” It was a hit. At school, most kids were more amused by the fact that I appeared to be walking around in my underwear than actually appreciating the timeliness of the joke. When I went out trick-ortreating that night, though, I cleaned up. Our neighbours must not have lost much money in the crash, because they all were endlessly entertained by a 13-year-old capitalizing on the news to build his own sugary portfolio. It was my last year of collecting the stuff, and I remember acquiring enough that night to last through the winter. The only other time my father had suggested a costume, I didn’t take him up on it. This one was less original—the idea was to dress all in black, with a white stripe down my back and pieces of yellow conSee COLUMN SIX Page 11
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
PUBLISHER’S CORNER by Dave Burket
On the plus side, he cleans up after himself: I hope you aren’t sitting down to lunch. Users of the Pelham Dog Owner Group’s Facebook page have reported multiple sightings of an older male using the Centre Street dog park as his personal lavatory, defecating and urinating in the parking lot and in the park, sometimes in front of other patrons. He arrives with two Golden Retrievers in, apparently, a variety of vehicles, since there’s no consensus on colour or make. The most recent sighting occurred last Thursday around 2 PM. According to a post on the group’s page, the man arrived in a black Honda with his retrievers, disappeared into a wooded area, then emerged carrying a poop bag. The police are aware of the Pelham Park Pooper. Park users who see him are encouraged to call police immediately and refer to incident number 17-70649...Everything old is new again: Mary Lamb, of the Pelham Historical Society, tells us in a letter to the editor this week that the Society no longer has room to store certain artifacts. They are offering to return them to their original donors, and will sell others… First crack: The first of these items will be on sale at this coming Saturday’s Farm & Flea Sale at Fire Station #3, 2355 Cream Street, North Pelham, 8 AM to 1 PM… Some history of our own: Many thanks to Irma Purchase, who kindly donated a range of history-related documents to the Voice recently. They’ve already been put to use, Irma!… Yet another gift card? At the risk of turning this issue into a Sobeys special, what with the Vietnamese folks on page 14, but—their earlier meat offer has been one-upped. Now it’s spend $50 on anything in the store (with the strange exception of "floral purchases") and get a $10 gift card in return. That’s effectively a 20%-off sale, going on now, but not for long, and only Mondays to Thursdays. Coupon on page 11 required! Corré, corré… Can we look up now? Well, no. Never look directly at the sun without proper eye protection. But if the term “path of totality” remains unspoken by anyone ever again it won’t be long enough… Book ‘em: The Pelham Library’s Summer Book Sale starts next Monday and runs through the week at the Fonthill branch. Excellent bargains are often had, and in our house we have a small mountain of previous purchases we’ve yet to get to. If only there were less news to cover in this small town... A tab too far: You know those “special sections” you find in newspapers, the ones about nutrition, pets, cars, boats, outdoor living? In the business these are called “tabs” and they exist to sell ads first and foremost. I once asked a veteran editor if there was ever a tab he refused to do. “Death and dying” he said without hesitating. Ouch. Grim, all right. So that’s one reason we’ve held a piece on historical Pelham cemeteries until next week. I figured one graveyard story this week—as interesting as they both are—was enough. Now get out there and make hay while the sun shines—back at 100% brightness!
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Circle-K sidewalks incomplete
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IN THE NEWS
In response to Voice inquiries on behalf of concerned readers, the Town of Pelham’s Public Relations and Marketing Specialist, Marc MacDonald, reports that the sidewalks bordering the new gas bar at the intersection of Welland Road and Pelham Street will eventually be completed by the site's developer, though he was unable to offer a timeline. After complaints ran in the Voice, the Town installed barriers across the unfinished sidewalks as a temporary measure, given that they present a safety hazard in their current condition. Work needs to happen before the sidewalks can be completed, says MacDonald. “The Region needs to raise the control box for the traffic signal that is located in the sidewalk landing area at the intersection and the traffic signals need to be raised as well. Timing of this work is being coordinated with the Region. Once this work is completed, the sidewalks can be completed by the developer.” MacDonald says that the Town is working with the developer, his contractors and the Region to coordinate the timing of these tasks.
No direct link coming
The Town will not be providing a convenient, direct link to all Community Centre construction updates, including Infrastructure Ontario filings, after all. Public Relations and Communications Specialist
that the victim left the vehicle unlocked with cell phones and wallet in it. The wallet was not taken but the cash inside it was. One cell phone was recovered. Police advise that while Pelham is a relatively safe community, thieves are constantly trying car doors looking for those left unlocked. This can happen day or night.
Marc MacDonald now says that “because of the way the page is currently set up we will not be breaking out a separate link just for the reports.” Residents will continue to be directed to www. pelham.ca/pcc, which, MacDonald says, “gets you to the Community Centre page, where the Progress Reports is one of the several accordion-style options to review information.” The Voice has now added this general link to our “Contact your elected officials” info box on page 4.
Break and enter
On August 4, police say that thieves used a ladder to open a second story window at a residence on Highway 20 West near Brady Street. They got the window open but may have been scared off as they did not enter. Police advise that rural residents should know that thieves will go to any lengths to get into your home and if you are rural (and neighbours can't see your yard or home), they will use a ladder left unsecured on your property to gain entry.
Stolen truck recovered
Last Thursday, police attended Burton Avenue between Giles Crescent and Pelham Street. The vehicle stolen was a black 2015 Dodge Ram Quad Cab, with a green wheelbarrow and Dewalt drill in the truck bed. On August 20, Hamilton Police Service advised the vehicle was recovered on Cannon Street East, Hamilton. Police have a suspect and are investigating.
Arrest in sexual assault
Niagara Regional Police say that in mid July members of the Sexual Assault Unit were notified and began an investigation into an incident that occurred in May in an isolated area on the east side of the Welland Canal, near Old Thorold Stone Road and Leslie Street, Thorold. Through investigation a suspect was identified and with the assistance of the Child Abuse Unit police arrested Tyler Craig Magda,
Theft from vehicle
Items were taken overnight August 8-9 from a vehicle on Cherry Avenue between Haist Street and Pancake Lane. Police say
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DSBN wants portion of Town park
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Oops: No fire trucks for you
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Haist Street traffic-calming measure a little too effective
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Column Six
Growing up British Part 2 of 2: Coronation to embarkation
Vol.20 No.32
Wednesday October 12, 2016
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Apple Day comes to Fonthill
BY JULIE MANNELL
Special to the VOICE
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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-
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
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
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-
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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 adSee CHANGES Page 5
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
BY VOICE STAFF
See COLUMN SIX Page 14
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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-
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.
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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
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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
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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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The Niagara Regional Police Service is committed to reducing impaired driving offences through education and the apprehension of offenders through enforcement programs like RIDE. Impaired driving is still the leading cause of criminal deaths in Canada and destroys thousands of lives every year.
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In an effort to bring further attention and deterrence to driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs, the Niagara Regional Police Service reports the names of those people who are charged with an alleged criminal impaired driving offence in the Region. None of the following charges have been proved in court. In addition to being charged, these individuals are also bound by a Ministry of Transportation 90-Day Administrative Driver’s License Suspension and are prohibited from operating a motor vehicle on a roadway. The public is encouraged to contact the Niagara Regional Police Service Traffic Safety Hotline or Crime Stoppers to report those who are driving in contravention of the suspension. The following individuals have been charged criminally with impaired driving by alcohol or drugs, driving with a blood alcohol concentration above 80 mgs of alcohol in 100 ml of blood, or refusing to provide a breath / blood sample. Taylor TURNER, 26, Fort Erie Robert W. NORTH, 62, Grimsby Matthew D. CARROLL, 24, Buffalo NY Terry B. GARANT, 49, Welland Ryan D. JOHNSON, 24, Port Colborne Christina L. COOPER, 46, Niagara Falls Robert TRUDEL, 57, Niagara Falls Michael E. BUTLER, 39, Fort Erie
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“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
Indulgence Bakery Mossimo’s Pelham Street Grille Sobeys Fonthill DeVries Fruit Farm Beamer’s Hardware & TV Fonthill Library Black Pearl Fish & Chips Bob’s Boys Antiques Moku’s Fonthill Fitness Curves McDonald’s Fonthill Legion Semenuk’s Gas Bar Target Store Tim Horton’s Giant Tiger Pelham Town Hall Shoppers Drug Mart Zee Lube Express Care Lazy Loon Minor Bros Stores Avondale Stores A-1 Market Sobeys South Pelham Broken Gavel Restaurant Grill on Canboro Petro Canada Mtvl. Hwy. Renewed Thrift & Vintage Ridge Berry Farm Circle-K
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
Page 3
Traffic-calming at Glynn A. Green Flexible delineators, altered paint, intended to make school zone safer BY VOICE STAFF School zones are among the most regulated traffic areas, and on the road in front of Glynn A. Green the town has implemented new measures designed to calm traffic. Stretching out on Pelham road is series of “flexible delineators,” four-foot plastic posts designed to guide traffic without inflicting permanent damage to vehicles. The intersection of Pelham and Port Robinson roads has long been a dangerous one, said Andrea Clemencio, the town’s Director of Public Works. According to her, the town had heard complaints from the school, parents, bus drivers, the Active Transportation Committee, and from Glynn A. Green’s crossing guards. She added that “85% of vehicles travelled the area at 18km/h above the speed limit, or higher, with top speeds hitting 90 km/h during school crossing times.” Last June, a test project was completed, and it was concluded that flexible delineators and altered street markings would dra-
matically diminish the dangers posed at the corner. Subsequently, the posts were installed and were present until last winter, when they were removed to permit regular snow-plowing operations. The town’s intention was to have the delineators installed between March and November, though when they were replaced this spring, their arrangement was modified so that year-round installation could be a possibility. While the effectiveness of the changes is obviously reduced during the winter months, Clemencio emphasized that the altered paint present through the winter, which included amended lane widths and stop lines, “addressed a large part of the safety issues in the area.” Those delineators situated along the centre of the road, south of the intersection, are intended to deter passing, while those at the southeast and northwest corners are present to prevent aggressive turns. Ed Minchin, who lives nearby and often sits on a ledge that borders the sidewalk, has been pleased with their effective-
Flexible delineators are in place to discourage passing. VOICE PHOTO ness. “Now things are better, but I used to see so many people make hard right-hand turns,” he said, speculating that many head up the hill to cut through the cemetery. Minchin said that he hadn’t seen anyone hit any of the posts, though last week one on the south
side was noticeably crooked. Not everyone has been pleased with the changes. There has been plenty of anecdotal complaining about the delineators, and last summer the town received calls that they were ineffective and a “nuisance.” Clemencio confirmed
that the town has been in contact with a neighbouring resident who asked that the posts be moved to make access to their driveway more straightforward, a request that will be included in the Public Works report to be presented at the Committee of the Whole.
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 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
As We See It Poll panic inside Town Hall
L
AST T H U R S D A Y, Pelham Town Clerk Nancy Bozzato sent a news release to local media captioned, “Town of Pelham Recommends Caution Regarding Telephone Survey.” In the release, Bozzato asserted that “deceptive” and “misleading” questions were being asked of residents regarding “the municipality.” Despite repeated requests, Bozzato was unable to provide the Voice with examples of such questions, instead she simply reiterated that they were deceptive and misleading. For his part, the Mayor was similarly unable or unwilling to offer specifics, asserting instead that the polling “perpetuated the myths from...questions and presentations” at Regional Council. The news release also advised residents to “exercise caution when being approached for unsolicited personal information,” a sentence that is most alarming for making no logical sense. It is extraordinary, and unacceptable, that Town staff should be directed to use Town resources for political purposes. Never before, to our recollection, has
the Town seen fit to warn residents about pollsters calling them to solicit their opinion. Yet when the questions being asked are about recent revelations concern-
Never before, to our recollection, has the Town seen fit to warn residents about pollsters...
ing the Town’s East Fonthill land deals, suddenly Town Hall finds it urgent to warn residents to be “cautious” when answering their telephones. What nonsense. After we made a request through social media for readers to let us know if they’d received the survey call, finally, on Sunday, a single response came in from 84-year-old Pelham resident Bill Snyder, who said he found the brief survey neither misleading nor
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deceptive. Snyder took the call at home last Thursday. He said that a short series of recorded, yes-or-no questions were asked, and he was prompted to press one button for yes, another other for no. By his recollection the questions were: Do you approve of Kathleen Wynne. Do you approve of Mayor David Augustyn. Do you approve of Pelham Town Council. Are you aware that there are questions surrounding the Town’s purchase of land in East Fonthill. And, Would you support an independent audit of the Town’s finances. Assuming that Snyder’s recollection is accurate, to describe these questions as a “push poll,” or in some way inappropriate, is nothing short of inexplicable. From Council initially promising an “Action Plan” addressing a whistleblower’s charges (a plan that never materialized) to persistently implying that the Town would sue the whistleblower (without ever doing so) to actively attempting to discourage public participation in an opinion poll, the current occupants of Town Hall may have fiSee EDITORIAL Page 6
Letters Happy fourth anniversary In late August 2013, a single vehicle travelling west on Sawmill Road near Twenty Road lost control, crossed into the eastbound lane, struck the bridge guardrail, and ended up in the ditch beside the golf course. Luckily, I believe, no one was seriously hurt. The damaged pick-up truck was removed and the pieces of the damaged guardrail were stacked against the guardrail. Four years later the pieces are still there, leaning against the guardrail, waiting for replacement or repair. The damaged pieces of the bridge guard rail are part of an important safety feature— the energy-absorbing piston on the end of the guard rail which helps prevent vehicle impalement.
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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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NEWS INQUIRIES & TIPS editor@thevoiceofpelham.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR letters@thevoiceofpelham.ca
In March of 2015, after 18 months of the damage being ignored, I attempted to contact the Town of Pelham by submitting a report of the damage through their online system. The online system didn't work. I then naively sent a note to Mayor Augustyn, who apologized for the system not working and assured me that he would forward my concerns. By January of 2016, seeing no action from my note to the Mayor, I then sent an e-mail to the Niagara Region, thinking that the upkeep of Sawmill Road might be under their jurisdiction. It wasn't, but the person who responded was nice enough to contact
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
Page 5
OPINION Letters
continued
FOLLOW THE MONEY By Jim Pitt Municipal money is in ever shorter supply
Let the public speak
T
I read in the St Catharines Standard last Friday that Mayor Augustyn says his wife answered the phone to find a pollster on the other end, asking questions about the Town. Odd that so far I haven't been able to find anyone else who received this phone poll. Why did the Standard not do the right journalistic thing and chase down the story, provide a balanced report and try to find others who received a similar call? It’s odd that this “news” was released by the Town of Pelham. Can anyone see where the public harm is in being asked questions by a pollster? If the poll is indeed bogus, let it be treated and received (when and if it becomes public) as garbage without merit. Why is the Mayor so bent on controlling pubic perception over it now? Do you think that residents want the Mayor and Council to spend thousands of dollars to mount a lawsuit against the whistleblower developer? From the people I have spoken with, I think not. The Mayor still has not told the public how it was justified to pay nearly a million dollars an acre for inaccessible, unserviced, undeveloped land in Pelham. This sale is established fact. Why doesn’t Council address each of the whistleblower’s concerns with facts and original documents? The 330-page information dump is not a response to his allegations. It is a repackaging of old information. Why won't the Mayor and Council comply with Councillor Baty’s and the public's request for an independent audit? If there’s nothing to
hide, then there’s no concern about handing the matter over to an independent auditor. The Mayor complains about a poll he doesn’t like, yet defends the Town’s flawed polling on the fate of the old arena on Haist Street. The public has clearly said that they do not want the property sold and they do not want any further decisions
made about it until after the 2018 election. Yet the only poll options were opposite of the general public’s wishes, offering only different development choices. So a poll is bad when it seems to challenge the Mayor’s views, but a poll is okay when it doesn’t take into account residents’s views. Finally, I have no knowledge of the authors of this mystery poll, nor am I involved in it in any way. The Mayor is a politician, and politicians need to have thicker skin. My personal opinion is that the Mayor himself may have staged much of this to deflect concerns raised by the public. One question in the community still remains unresolved: is Mayor Augustyn being bullied, or is he being the bully? Curt Harley Pelham
HE ASSOCIATION OF Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) had their annual conference in Ottawa last week and Niagara seems to have been well represented. Our Mayor was there and so was Regional Councillor Paul Grenier. He’s a member of the board of this organization. Councillor Grenier stated that, "If a new source of revenue is not found, cities and towns won’t be able to repair roads and sewers.” This statement was in response to Premier Wynn’s rejection of the AMO request for a 1% increase in the HST, to be used by municipalities to help pay for much needed upgrades in infrastructure. The AMO claimed that this 1% tax increase would raise $2.5 billion and, without the money, property taxes could double in the next decade. Niagara’s cut would total $25 million if this 1% was added to the HST. This $25 million would be shared among 13 separate municipal governments. The Region's and 12 municipalities' budgets alone are in the 100s of millions of dollars. I don’t think it would make a bit of difference to them, but it sure would to all of us. Everything we buy would cost extra: 14%, up from 13%. Over the course of a year, that adds up. Meanwhile the CAOs of 26 communities were polled and came to similar conclusions. Said one CAO, “Something has to give,” referring to the gap in revenue and the need to replace aging infrastructure. They are seeing a gap in what taxpayers want and what they are willing to pay in increased taxes. Sounds like there is a money problem. But, when you think of it, by the time a municipal government hires all its new employees, increases their pay above the inflation rate, increases their benefits, placing more and more staff on the Sunshine List, pays out generous severance packages to the terminated, hires any number of consultants, pays for conferences here, there, and everywhere —including Ottawa and Seattle—pays lawyers to check harassment charges flying around, pays for poor workmanship on relatively new structures like arenas
WAITING
are growing up around the damaged pieces almost hiding them from view. I am thinking of running a raffle, where for a small contribution, you could estimate the date that the guard rail will finally be repaired. I think the “never” option would be a popular choice. The proceeds of the raffle could be used to hired a private contractor to do what the Town and our taxpayer dollars cannot. Tony Cole Pelham
Damaged guardrail on Sawmill Road.
continued from previous page the Town of Pelham on my behalf and found out that, “for budgetary reasons this guide rail has not yet been repaired,” and, “that this guide rail repair will be completed as soon as they can, but have budgetary and scheduling considerations to keep in mind.” So four years after the fact, the bridge guard rail sits unrepaired, without the safety piston feature. The weeds
It's odd that this "news" was released by the Town of Pelham
and pools, builds new structures like arenas and arts centres and bridges (mustn’t forget about bridges) at a loss, then I suppose it would be accurate to say that there is a money problem for things like roads and sewers. Collecting an extra 1% isn’t going to happen. There is an election or two next year. I suggest that the Regional Councillor and the CAOs go back to the drawing board and look for some new and cutting-edge solutions. Some real moving-forward, reaching-out, team-approach ideas such as, say, cutting the size of municipal government. That could save $25 million and then some in no time and we wouldn’t even notice the staff loss. Pelham resident wrote a letter to the Mayor indicating her thoughts on the plight of the Haist Street arena. She does not want the land to be sold to developers, nor do many others wish to see this parkland paved over. She suggested that any decision be deferred until after the next municipal election in 2018. A reasonable request, as I couldn’t find evidence that any politician suggested during the last election that this land be sold. The people of Pelham did not vote for any such sale. The Mayor responded with a link to the online survey being conducted by the Town and some interesting numbers. He had heard rumours that the existing arena cost $700,000. Another source suggested that the arena required only $100,000 in borrowing. Other sources told me that the townsfolk, back in 1975, raised a large amount in fundraising to offset the cost to the taxpayer. Some or all of these numbers may be true, but I must work with what is available, just as we all work with what the Town asserts is the cost of the new arenas. The following numbers were found by using the Inflation Calculator from the Bank of Canada website. I thought I would try it out. Back in 1975 I had a job that paid $2.50 an hour, minimum wage. Sounds pitiful today, but when adjusted for inflation it works out to $11.32, just shy of the minimum wage in today's money. My, how times don’t change when
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it comes to paying people for menial work. The Mayor forwarded an ancient document outlining the costs of the current arena in 1975, 42 years ago, and these numbers were an eye- opener. The arena came in at an estimated $525,000, or $2,377,083 in 2017 dollars. Wintario provided a grant of $131,000, or $593,138 in 2017 dollars. This was 25% of the overall cost. We townsfolk were hit with a tax increase of $11.80, or $53.43 in 2017 dollars. This was based on the original debenture of $375,000, or $1,675,000 in 2017 dollars, with a payment term of 15 years. The Mayor says that the portion we will pay for the new Community Centre’s twin arenas is less, when adjusted for inflation. He says we’ll pay $46.70 per household on average, which would have been $10.31 in 1975 dollars. Yet some quick math suggests otherwise. The townsfolk of 1975 paid a total of $801 to cover the debt, and today we are on the hook for $1,400 per household to pay for our new arenas— both numbers in 2017 dollars. There was a rumour that the original debenture was much less than that because of local fundraising, but again, I can only deal with the numbers at hand. Plugging in more numbers was even more interesting. The new $36 million arenas being built now would be the equivalent to the Town building an $8 million arena in 1975, not the $525,000 arena that was actually built. See FOLLOW THE MONEY next page
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Page 6
The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
2017 Bandshell Series
The Sounds of Motown
continued
Historical artifacts available starting this weekend
BY JIM CASSON
Special to the VOICE
You do not want to miss The Sounds of Motown. This sensational cast of 13 talented individuals has toured all over Canada, the US, and Europe. The Sounds of Motown was started by George St. Kitts in Toronto in the early 1990s. His show-stopper production features Motown hits by The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson Five, Martha Reeves and The Four Tops. Sounds of Motown's powerfully strong voices harmonizing and delivering pure Motown music will be a sensational show. Thursday, August 24, 7-9 PM at the Fonthill Band-
Letters
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The Pelham Historical Society is downsizing. Although we are very happy with our new home in Maple Acre Library, it is less than half the size of the basement of the library in Fonthill, where we have stored our historical collection since 1997. The collection consists of archives and books, for which there is space in Maple Acre. There are also artifacts: a number of large items, such as school desks, four trunks full of clothes and fabrics, 24 boxes of china, glass, sewing materials, tools —all the sort of stuff that people had in their houses and stores 100 years ago. What to do with these artifacts? Some have been accepted by the Welland
Museum. Some can be reclaimed by donors. If you know of something that you or a relative gave to the collection and would like it back, please let us know via the Pelham Library. The rest will have to be sold. Some of the items will displayed in the library this fall as items for sale. The Society will have a table at the North Pelham Firehall “Farm ‘n’ Flea” Sale this coming Saturday, August 26. We will also be offering things for sale online. Any money raised will go to improving and preserving our archive collection which tells the story of the history of Pelham. Mary Lamb Pelham
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Allure, the American women's beauty magazine, has banned the term “anti-aging” from their pages. Allure, experts in everything-women and how to make them beautiful, are on a mission to change the bad attitude women have towards getting old. The magazine, by dropping the words “anti-aging,” will try to get their mellowing female subscribers to embrace growing older by providing them with positive ar-
ticles written in non-negative prose in an attempt to help them grow older gracefully, and with confidence. So, listen up my full-bloomed pretties, according to the beauty experts at Allure, getting old is no longer BAD. Bring on those wrinkles, gray hair, saggy boobs and bums —cankle ankles too! Don't get mad, get glad!
FOLLOW THE MONEY
$46.70 per year for 30 years, a number that has some doubters in any case. Wouldn’t that have been a win-win for everyone? But today, faced with paying for the new arenas, the Town is marketing every piece of land we own, looking to sell to anyone who is interested. Mind you, the way the real estate market seems to be going in the Region, the Town better get a move on. That land could be losing value every month it sits unsold. The above numbers for debt repayment are based on the average house value and do not take into account fluctuations caused by overall tax increases. The repayment per household is a percentage of the tax bill, not a set yearly amount. I would like to thank the staff at Town Hall for digging up the original 1975 bylaw.
continued from previous page
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Remember, the Town has received no money in the form of grants for the new arenas. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have received 25% of the cost of the new arenas from grants? That would’ve been $9 million, and that $9 million would have lowered our debt from $36 to $27 million. Selling “surplus” land and collecting development fees, according to the Mayor's figures, would have subtracted $24 million from that remaining $27 million, leaving $3 million to go. The Town has promised to raise $3 million through fundraising, which would have seen our new arenas entirely paid for. Then we would not have to pay an average of
EDITORIAL continued from Page 4
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nally demonstrated conclusively that they are utterly shameless. The Town recently conducted its own, widely criticized poll on its plans for the Haist Street parklands—an online survey riddled with
See GET GLAD Page 10
technical as well as legitimacy issues—making the Town’s conduct in this case particularly hypocritical. When reached for comment, the developer-whistleblower at the center of the East Fonthill storm, Rainer Hummel, responded, “If Mayor Augustyn believes that I have defamed the Town, then he and the Town
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should either sue me or stop making childish threats that have no basis in fact. I would welcome a suit from the Town, since then there is full disclosure required by the courts. This means every document I want or need to defend the allegation [will be made public through the discovery process]. I doubt the Mayor wants Town records in court, and therefore in the public realm.” We share that doubt. We also share the sentiment of many residents who have wondered why, if there is nothing to hide, the Town does not proceed with an independent, third-party audit of the entire East Fonthill project—from the initial Community Centre bidding process on down to the eye-watering $928,000 per acre paid for land across which a roadway is to be built. The Town has recently attempted to spin the mounting calls for an audit as evidence of a “rightwing” Regional conspiracy, which is as delusional as it sounds. This isn’t a rightwing or left-wing issue. It’s a good-governance issue. For the record, the Voice is unaware of who may have commissioned or conducted last week’s telephone survey, but we would very much like to know the results when they are tabulated. Please include us on that news release.
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
Page 7
Town graveyards get new signs Historic names included on stones for Fonthill, Hillside cemeteries BY VOICE STAFF There are now seemingly endless options for what you can have done with your body after death—cryonic freezing, cremation, being blasted into space among them—but in 1802, Isaac Misener just wanted to be buried in dry ground. Misener, who lived in Port Robinson, thought it too wet there, so he asked John Brown to start a graveyard here in Pelham, later to become the Fonthill Cemetery. Last week, part of this history was restored to the site: two new signs were installed at the north and east entrances, reading “Fonthill Cemetery” in large lettering, but with “Formerly Brown’s Burying Ground” inscribed underneath. The graveyard in Ridgeville will also receive a new marker, this one denoting “Hillside Cemetery,” with its former name, “Dawdy Burial Ground,” in smaller lettering underneath. These changes are largely the result of work by Cindy Fishburn, the Pelham Historical Society’s resident “cemetery expert.” In February of 2016, after hearing that the Town intended to replace the old metal signs, Fishburn petitioned Pelham Town Council to include the former
names of both sites. This, she says, is to make it easier for people to locate graves they’re looking for, since many archival records refer to the antiquated names. Fishburn has noticed that “people are now interested in tracing their roots and finding the resting places of their ancestors,” citing the efforts of genealogical societies in arousing public interest. Fishburn is not the first to seek recognition for the Ridgeville cemetery’s former name. In 1985, a descendent of the Dawdy family, Tony Whelan, argued to council that Hillside Cemetery should have been returned to its original name. Whelan’s great-greatgreat-great grandfather, Jeremiah Dawdy, first settled the land in 1806, and in 1815 began turning part of it into a burial ground. Though in 1933 the iron arch that reads “Hillside Cemetery” was erected, Whelan claimed that the land had never been legally sold to the town. In 1987, council voted unanimously to end discussion and retain the name “Hillside.” Whelan was not pleased. He told the St. Catharines Standard—in a story describing him as “noticeably shaken” by the decision—
that “Revenge is in the air. I’m not giving up…They haven’t heard the last of me.” In justifying the rejection of Whelan’s proposal, alderman Lloyd Tunnacliffe said that it was inappropriate to name the cemetery Dawdy, since some of its land was at times owned by the Becketts and other local families. Whelan died last year, though Carol Dawdy Wright, who had helped Whelan in his efforts, called Cindy Fishburn to thank her for her efforts. Back in Fonthill, Brown’s Burying Ground has had a less controversial history. In 1873, John Brown III (the
founder’s grandson) gave ownership of the land to the township, and in the early 20th century it became known as the Fonthill Cemetery. For many years, maintenance of the grounds was left to the relatives of those buried, with the result that the plots whose families had moved away or died out soon became overgrown. In the early 1900s, a Dr. Harry Emmett took it upon itself to organize the tidying of the grounds, and in 1923, the town took complete control. The mausoleum, built in 1926, has no remaining
space, while less than three quarters of an acre is still open for new graves. Hillside and Fonthill Cemeteries are the only ones operated by the town, though there are several other graveyards in Pelham, the largest of which is on the corner of Cream and Metler streets in North Pelham. This cemetery has always been public, and has never had any connection to the Presbyterian church across the street. The graveyard at the Effingham-Welland intersection, and the Hansler burial ground near Bissell’s, however, were always ex-
VOICE PHOTO
plicitly Quaker sites. Quakerism, a sect of protestantism known for its doctrine of pacifism, tee-totalling, and participation in the anti-slavery movement, experienced a fracturing in the 1820s. Here in Pelham, those who adhered to Elias Hicks’ teachings left the orthodox Quakers and began their own cemetery on Haist Street, now across from Harold Black Park. The histories of graveyards provide valuable insight into the history of Pelham—and so too do individual graves
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
Chickens in the backyard Library hosts evening on egglayers and keeping them happy BY SAMUEL PICCOLO
The VOICE
For nearly the entirety of human history, the overwhelming push in society has been to make life easier. Once connected to the grid, few houses return to kerosene lamps. You don’t often see clothes being scrubbed in the creek. But last Wednesday evening, ten or so Pelham residents assembled in the meeting room at the Maple Acre Library in Fenwick to learn how to make their lives more difficult. They wanted to raise chickens in their backyard. Leading the evening was Erin Snow, who has had hens at her Fenwick home for the past seven years. “The most important thing about chickens is keeping them in a stress-free environment,” she began bluntly. This, you would think, shouldn’t be too tough of a task, though, as Snow explained, chickens are made anxious by a great many things. Predators were foremost on this list: coyotes, dogs, raccoons — “Brutal. They’ll kill your entire flock” — and hawks. Chickens can also get stressed out by each other. In each group there is a literal pecking order—those at the top will, if they feel like it, peck the weaker ones to death. “Chickens are emotional animals,” Snow said, adding that it was important to build relationships with them early. As she explained just how these stresses could be avoided, the crowd took notes and asked questions, appar-
ently unperturbed by the list of responsibilities that grew each time Snow responded. The legality of backyard chicken farming is a bit foggy. In “rural” areas, such as where Snow lives in Fenwick, chickens are permitted, but in “residential” zones the practice is technically illegal. It isn’t a bylaw that’s typically enforced— until, that is, someone squeals (or clucks). According to several in attendance, the Town’s unofficial policy on the matter appears to be: “If it doesn’t bother your neighbours, it doesn’t bother us.” This arrangement doesn’t satisfy Yann Marais, whose neighbours aren’t keen on poultry in the ‘hood. Marais and his wife, Natalie, wanted to have a small coop with four hens in their Cherry Ridge backyard, but when Yann discussed his plan with the neighbours, they outright refused to agree to it. “Right away, they mentioned the smell and the noise,” he said. Part of Snow’s talk was dedicated to dispelling common misconceptions about chickens, and noise was among those she addressed. Only roosters make any sort of loud noise, she explained, and since roosters aren’t necessary for hens to lay, there’s no need to have them in a backyard operation. In fact, roosters are so superfluous in egg production that the industry kills a staggering 219 million male chicks per year, though this number is may be less surprising considering that there are 25 billion chickens on the planet at any given moment. Snow also said that worries about
five dozen a week from a local farmer —“That’s a lot of eggs,” Yann Marais said drily—claimed that the yolks are a lot darker than those found in grocery stores. Judging by the efforts to change local bylaws, the backyard chicken phenomenon has been acquiring adherents at an impressive pace. Montreal, Vancouver, Kingston, Brampton, and Niagara Falls, among other cities, all allow a small number of laying hens (no roosters) to be kept for private consumption. While Toronto, St. Catharines, and Snow’s daughter Sydney with a chicken. SUPPLIED PHOTO Port Colborne, to name a few, have all upheld their smell are overblown, too, and that chicken bans, many residents if properly maintained, a hen house continue to keep them regardless. won't be especially aromatic. Noise and smell are concerns for Snow would know about fraopponents of backyard birds, but grance. In addition to raising the US Centre for Disease Control chickens, she also produces eshas given added reason, too. By sential oils at her home. She has May of this year, it had received always wanted to “homestead”— reports of 372 chicken-related illfor her a voluntary return to parts nesses, 71 of which led to hospitalof life that would have been comizations. The agency’s Dr. Megin mon in rural areas like Pelham a Nichols told the Toronto Star that century ago. Snow suspects that all domestic fowl could be carrymuch of the motivation for backing salmonella, a bacteria excepyard farmers stems from a contionally dangerous to humans, and cern for the well-being of hens, that strict safety measures must which in factory farms can be nobe observed to avoid contaminatoriously poor. tion. Those in attendance raved about Canada’s Public Health Agency the taste of fresh eggs, too, and has urged all chicken owners to one woman present, who orders
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exercise caution when handling the birds, caution that, it seems, many aren’t taking. One chicken owner from Vaughan, where the practise is illegal, scoffed at the Agency’s recommendations, telling the Star that she’s, “Part of so many chicken owner groups on Facebook and blogs and many of them snuggle their chickens and kiss their chickens . . . and don’t get sick.” Some of the information Snow passed around did indeed seem to suggest that chickens are deep, emotionally complex animals deserving of such affection. They can, apparently, distinguish between 100 different human faces, and have been known to mourn for each other. But Snow, to her credit, made it clear that chickens were not regular household animals, even as she drew parallels between the personalities of the birds and other pets. When cleaning out the hen house, which must be done regularly, she wears a full protective suit and takes few chances when it comes to salmonella exposure. Near the end of the evening, the conversation veered towards other animals that can be kept in a backyard. “If you can’t get the chickens to come through, you could think of goats, or rabbits,” one man told Marais. “You can get a lot out of rabbits.” Marais was unswayed. He had already bought a coop and wanted very much to find a way to get the birds to fill it. “We need a new bylaw,” he declared, scanning the room for others interested in approaching Town Council with him. Snow suggested emailing the Town directly, and Marais—and everyone else—waited as she searched her computer for the address. “My,” another woman sighed. “This all sounds like a lot of work.”
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
Letters
continued
GET GLAD continued from Page 6 Celebrate those creaking and cracking bones, and go ahead and pee your pants as much as you want when you laugh, cough and sneeze. It's not taboo anymore—embrace those puddles on the floor next to your sensible orthopedic shoes. Then shout out, “No shame! No shame! I don’t care if my Depends make my butt look fat!” CELEBRATE! Or if you are thrifty (cheap) like Pamcita Marie Robbinsky, and you don't want to put out the $2.29 for a copy of Allure, just drink more wine. Red, white, pink, or fizzy because this senior gal knows alcohol enhances the “I don’t give a damn” attitude big time. And then, when you look at yourself in the mirror, it all looks fuzzy and blurry anyway. Who's seeing wrinkles? HICCUP! No…No…No…Not me. Pam “Pamcita Marie Robbinsky” Robb Pelham
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In an individual effort to encourage vehicles using Hurricane Road, between Highway 20 and Pelham Street, to slow down and watch out for children and other pedestrians, about a dozen residents have individually purchased and installed signs on the boulevard that extoll traffic to “SLOW DOWN.” The signs, available at Home Depot, cost about $10 each and demonstrate the show of unity by people living on the street to effect a change of behaviour by drivers. Town Hall staff is expected to bring a report back to Council at the September 5 Council meeting with recommendations to help make the street more pedestrian friendly, and slow down traffic, and discourage drivers from using Hurricane Road as a bypass around an increasingly busy and congested Highway 20. The willingness of so many residents to dig into their own pockets demonstrates civic action at work. Congratulations to those residents who have made this extra individual effort. Rick Woodward Fonthill
I had a startling realization recently when coming out of Church. I attend St. Ann's in Fenwick. Reading the weekly bulletin I saw that the Pastor, Father Chad, along with the Parish Council, was contemplating allowing adults, as opposed to just children/young adults, to help as altar servers during Holy Mass. The reason? Not enough young adults in the community as there were in years past. Now, to be fair, maybe the problem is the kids are just not attending church anymore. But I dont think so. Just look around. Look around Sobey's. Look and see who is out walking in the evenings, or shopping in the plaza. It’s predominately an older generation. That's not a bad thing. It’s charming and says a lot about a community when
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Speed signs need better alignment After reading your article on speed enforcement on Highway 20 [The Fast and the uh-oh, Aug. 16, p. 1], I took the time to do a little investigation of my own. I wanted to understand the situation and why there is such a potential for speeding in this area. It's one thing to put up a speed limit sign and say, “Okay, drivers, obey it.” It's another to make sure it makes sense. My first observation of the area is that the 70km/h-begins sign is located on the north side of Effingham Street and the 50km/h-begins sign is located on the south side of Effingham Street. Not having speed limit change signs adjacent across the road from one another is not generally a suitable practice as it leads to ambiguity in the overlapping segment of road. Furthermore, in this case the speed limit ambiguity encompasses an intersection which leads to a whole other set of conflict and legal issues if there is in fact a traffic incident at this location. Good engineering practice would see the 50km/h-begins speed limit sign be placed on the north side of Effingham Street across the street from the 70km/h-begins sign. This would eliminate ambiguity of the overlapping section of road especially at the intersection, and in turn the intersection would have to be timed correctly at a 50km/h speed limit ensuring longer clearance intervals and hopefully a safer intersection. As far as reducing speed of motorists once travelling in the 50km/h travel zone, often a speed limit sign is not enough, even though it should be, to attract the driver’s attention to
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people choose to come and retire here. However, on the other side of town, our tax dollars are erecting not one but TWO ice rinks. Really? Two arenas? NHL-sized arenas? For whom? Are they going to bus kids in from outside the area to fill the seats? Are they going to have concerts there? Maybe they can house asylum seekers from the USA? I don’t get it. Why does it have to be so big? It seems to me like it’s a giant monument to someone’s massive ego. A legacy. Maybe we'll appreciate it more when that person is gone. Maybe the local seniors can use it for shuffleboard or next year’s dancea-thon. Who knows. Paul Mullin Ridgeville
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COLUMN SIX continued from Page 1 struction paper taped to my front. A skunk on the 401. The suggestion had not come with any idea as to how the fragrance might be achieved. Odour is the defining characteristic of roadkill if you get close enough to notice. I would know: last month, I went on a bicycle trip around part of the province—from Pelham up through Algonquin Park, past Pembroke to Ottawa, and then back home along Lake Ontario, nearly 1,600 kilometres in all. On a bike, you notice much more along the side of the road than you do from inside a car, and much of this more is no longer alive. I lost count after the first day, but I must have seen hundreds of carcasses over the two-week trip. There were the usual suspects, possum and raccoon and squirrel, though these predictable ones were outnumbered by those we rarely see from a vehicle. I saw dozens of flattened birds and snakes, turtles whose shells had been shattered, snakes— garters, rattlers, waters— all made one-dimensional. The smallest were the butterflies, their delicate wings too fragile to survive even a glancing blow. The biggest was a mature coyote, lying just off the shoulder. I saw no blood or visible injury. Had it not been sprawled flat on its back, eyes closed, I might have worried it was preparing to pounce.
The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
The most important thing, however, is the roadkill that I didn’t see. Namely, me. Nearly everyone with whom I spoke of the trip seemed alarmed that I’d be riding alongside traffic for that sort of distance, and their concern was justified. At several points I had no choice but to travel on busy thoroughfares, and the occasional car or truck, out of negligence or distraction or just plain absence of interest in the well-being of a cyclist, would whiz by, perilously close to turning me into a Halloween costume. The sensation of such a close call never did last long though, and those few incidents did nothing to detract from the trip. Perhaps it’s because I can’t remember not riding a bike anywhere and everywhere, much the same as drivers who get their license on their 16th birthday soon forget the awesome responsibility of operating a car. Someone who didn’t begin driving until she was in her 30s recently told me that, “I just can’t get it out of my head that I’m in control of this 4,000 lb. bit of steel—really a deadly weapon.” Thinking of how vulnerable everyone around her was as she drove that weapon in turn made her feel vulnerable. Driving and cycling have never had this effect on me, nor has being in the water, for the most part. But, a few months ago while I was in Mexico, there was an exception. Puerto Escondido, a surfing town on the Pacific
coast, is where the so-called “Mexican pipeline” and its ten-foot waves smash onto the shore. There was nothing of that size when I was there, though even still, I was wary about going in the water. Down near the end of the beach, a group of local kids spent the day fishing. They had no nets or rods, only a slat of wood in their fists with length of line looped around it, a sizable hook at the line’s end. This they twirled above their heads like a lasso and threw it out into the surf in a long, flat arc. Standing waist deep, they would allow the approaching waves to push the hooks back towards them, where they would again spool the line and cast it back. The fisherkids were far from stationary throughout the whole ordeal. The waves all varied in size and when a particularly large one loomed, they would sprint towards shore, trying to outrun it. This was not an option for everyone—those who had marooned themselves in water too deep instead turned and faced the waves, diving down just as they were about to break. The effectiveness of this trick became clear when I (briefly) tried surfing. Just as Tom Hanks, in Cast Away, finds it nearly impossible to launch his boat into the waves, so too is it difficult to launch a surfboard—or even swim—out from shore when the ocean makes a determined effort every fifteen seconds or so to return you to land, where, you inevita-
Never before had I felt so incapable of moving
bly conclude, the universe is indicating you ought to stay. Once I began diving beneath the waves, the sea seemed more welcoming. Even while struggling to remain on the surfboard, it was pleasant out past where the waves broke. There the water moved in great swells, and it was viscerally clear that what was moving wasn’t the water, but rather energy, thrumming in from some distant point in great pulses that heaved up and down like the chest of a sleeping giant. Knowing that there was little chance of actually surfing, I was happy to bob on the board while others more experienced popped up and rode to shore. Watching them, I saw when it was just right to begin paddling, and after a while I tried catching one. I didn’t bother trying to stand up, but I did, eventually, manage to gather enough momentum to trap myself on the folding face of a wave as it roared inwards. This was terrifying. Never before had I felt so incapable of moving or controlling where it was I was going. When we—the wave and I—reached the shallows, I was promptly pitched from
Page 11 the board straight to the bottom, which was carpeted with serrated pebbles and a rough, gravelly sand. When, spitting and spluttering, I at last scrambled beyond the reach of the waves and emptied my pockets of what they had collected from the bottom, I saw that my foot was bleeding, and a toe bruised. I didn’t try to hide the embarrassment as I hiked back along the beach. At least the toe didn’t get infected. Being thrown about by the ocean is not such a bad way to be reminded of the depths to which our impotence can sink. When the stock market crashed in 1929, brokers did not, as legend has it, hurl themselves out of windows on to Wall Street below. They did wander around, shocked into dumbness, eyes vacant, unable to believe what had happened—shaken at just how powerless they were once the market had decided in which direction it wanted to throw them. No doubt there were similar zombies roaming Manhattan in 2008, right about the same time as I was walking around without pants. It might be nice to feel like a Master of the Universe for a while, weaving a Bentley across the yellow lines, peacefully unaware that you’re operating a weapon. But there’s always a shore waiting somewhere, and usually a wave heading towards it. Sometimes it takes more than Polysporin to treat the wound. 4
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continued from Page 7 provide insight into the history of families. If the internet is any indication, Fishburn is right about renewed interest in genealogy. There are myriad websites on which such information can be found, most notably ancestry.ca. Even more recently, personal DNA testing has become affordable, with sites such as “23andme” offering home kits for a few hundred dollars or less. These kits are simple: using a swab provided, you send a saliva sample into a lab, where your DNA is scanned and analyzed. The service subsequently sends out a private report, which typically includes information on linguistic history, geographical location, Neanderthal lineage, and genetic diseases. The service compares your DNA with the samples in its database, which has some one million entrants, and as a result can identify family linkages around the world—or down the street. In 2012, human remains were found beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England. Using DNA testing, including samples from Canadian Michael Ibsen, the body was determined to be King Richard III. Richard died during a battle against the Tudors in 1485, and while Ibsen had always heard rumours of his heritage, it wasn’t until his DNA was tested that he could definitely say that he is a 17th generation nephew of the king.
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*Offer is valid Monday, August 28th - Thursday, October 5th, 2017 valid only at the following locations: Aurora Sobeys Extra - 15500 Bayview Avenue, Aurora; Barrhaven Sobeys - 1581 Greenbank Rd, Nepean; Barrie Sobeys - 37 Mapleview Drive West, Barrie; Cambridge Sobeys - 130 Cedar St, Cambridge; Glendale Sobeys - 343 Glendale Ave, St. Catharines; Oxford & Wonderland Sobeys Extra - 661 Wonderland Rd N, London; North Ajax Sobeys - 260 Kingston Rd W, Ajax; Burlington Sobeys Extra - 1250 Brant St., Burlington; Flamborough Sobeys - 255 Dundas St., Waterdown; Fonthill Sobeys - 110 Highway # 20, Fonthill. Offer is only valid in a single transaction. Offer is non-transferable for cash. No cash back. Limit one gift card per customer. Limit one offer per customer. Reproduction of this offer will not be accepted. Cannot be combined with other offers for cash. Offer excludes taxes, delivery charges, bill payments, service fees, rental fees, event tickets, gift cards, pre-paid cards, postal products and services, prescription drugs, non-prescription pharmacy services, liquor, tobacco products, lottery, deposits, environmental charges, floral and goods and services which are excluded by law.
valid Mon - Thurs only *Free Gift Card can only be used at next shop.
Coupon must be presented at the time of purchase. Offer valid in a single transaction and may not be combined with any other offer. Offer excludes Floral purchases.
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
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Places of Worship and Events Bethany Christian Reformed Church 1040 Balfour St., Fenwick
First Presbyterian Church 602 Metler Rd., Fenwick
Glad Tidings Church of God 1 Pancake Lane, Fonthill
Pelham Evangelical Friends Church 940 Haist St., Fonthill
Concordia Lutheran Church 105 Welland Rd., Fonthill
Fonthill Baptist Church 1414 Pelham St., Fonthill
Holy Trinity Anglican Church 1557 Pelham Street, Fonthill
Ridgeville Bible Chapel 418 Canboro Rd., Ridgeville
Fenwick Church of Christ 765 Welland Rd., Fenwick
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses 1369 Rice Rd., Fonthill
Kirk on the Hill Presbyterian Church 1344 Haist St., Fonthill
St. Alexander’s Roman Catholic Church 50 Pelham Town Sq., Fonthill
Fenwick United Church 1050 Church St., Fenwick
Fonthill United Church 42 Church Hill, Fonthill
Pelham Community Church 461 Canboro Rd., Fenwick
St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church 834 Canboro Rd., Fenwick
hour. Visit www.pelhamlibrary.on.ca or call 905-892-6443 for more details.
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COMMUNITY EVENTS & CLASSIFIEDS Events Listings
looking to clean houses in Fonthill, Fenwick, Welland, PELHAM LIBRARY CARD MAKING WORKSHOP Ridgeville, Effingham, North Putting on an event? Experienced to Make six cards with fall themes, learning a variety Pelham. of techniques. Materials accommodate every customer’s EXTEND YOUR REACH - ADVERTISE PROVINCIALLY OR ACROSS THE COUNTRY! Tell the town! needs. References available. are provided.ed.org At time of Community registration, about tools needed. For more information contact your local community newspaper or visit www.networkclassifi Eventplease Classifiedenquire Call Liliana at 416-879-4932. ads$10. are available blocks Tues., Sept. 16 10 – 12:30. Pleasein register ahead. Visit www.pelhamFINANCIAL SERVICES MORTGAGES of 30 words, including library.on.ca or call 905-892-6443 for more details. headline for $8.85 + HST.
Ad booking and payment deadline FISH is Thursday LIONS FRYNoon prior to week of publication.
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SIGNS
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Your Classified Ad or Display Ad would appear in weekly newspapers each week across Ontario in urban, suburban and rural areas. For more information Call Today 647-350-2558, Email: kmagill@rogers.com
chokers such as street narrowing, pylons, delineators or other interference-type calming practices. the change in speed. Many Something like what assume that if someone is they do in the Community driving over the speed limit it of Udora, ON would be an is because of choice. In fact, option. It is really nothing this is often not the case. more than a white pickDrivers do get distracted, not et fence next to the road, just missing a speed limbut not too close—we don't it sign, but failing to notice want a snowplow taking it their actual speed. out—to greet motorists to The location of the 50km/h the community and draw speed limit reduction is in acthe driver’s attention to the cordance with good planning reduction in speed through and engineering practice, as the town. This calming Effingham Street does protreatment can be placed on vide a natural entrance into the south side of Effingham the Fonthill neighbourhood. Street to again re-enforce So what can we do to make the speed limit through motorists more aware of the town. change of speed and keep our Classifieds Ads OCNA Network While these engineering street safer? (AD CENTRAL) practices will not help with There are traffic calmthose who choose to dising options that are visually Week of direct obey the law, they will help stimulating that will to remind those motorists August 21 the driver’s attention to the who just aren't paying atfact they are entering a restention to the correct speed idential area and that a speed Posted limit. Please remember that limit reduction is necessary. I August 17 the police are not out to “get would not recommend speed you.” They are trying to humps along Highway 20, Central for low make our roads safer and we as these are reserved can all play our part. speed areas. Nor would I recRegion Ads included David W. Booker, CET, TSOS ommend physical on-street Fonthill
continued from Page 10
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Event Submissions Standards SALE If your organization is hostingMOVING an event that would be of interest to the community, you may submit an eventsGiant profile by sending your community events information to Moving Sale Indoor furniture, antiques, editor@thevoiceofpelham.ca Some restrictions apply. Event submissions that meet jewellery, paintings, houseware, Saytheno to Airbnb acceptability standardsclothing, of The Voice of Pelham will then be posted until the date outdoor furniture, August 26, 8 am – 1 pm, 15 of your event. The Community Events Calendar is updated weekly. Please provide Scottdale Court, Fonthill Residents have no clue as much notice and information as possible including the date, time and description how bad this whole proyour event. The Voice of Pelham reserves the right to edit for space. gramof is [The home-hotels among us: Airbnb in Pelham, August 16, p.10]. Ever wonder why thousands of good people can't afford or find their forever homes? It's because of greed. Many have bought cottages, etc., which could be used by a family but this greed means those homes will only be utilized for vacation at huge inflated prices. I guess the wealthy don't really care. Thousands of us born here in Niagara that can't find an affordable home, and are being forced to leave so that the rich can have it all. The thing is, we poor that can't find a home pay more in rent than some of you pay in mortgage, all because everyone wants to be rich. Modesty does not exist in this town. Chantelle Bishop Via Facebook
This ad is to be printed by all participating Ontario papers
GARAGE SALE
Back to School Garage Sale Saturday August 26th 8:00 am to 12:00 pm 10 Bigelow Crescent, Fonthill Good items to equip college/ university students' home, as well as antiques, collectibles.
FOR SALE
Table Saw High Drill Press, band Dawson. 905-732-1937
FOOT CARE
In home foot care available by registered nurse experienced in diabetic foot care needs. Please call Louise 905-988-3241.
OLD PAPERS Do you have old issues of the Voice published from 1997 to 2007? How about the Pelham Herald (any year). We'd love to add them to our archive. Contact: publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca
The Voice is hiring!
News and Features Writer This full-time position calls for a well-rounded reporter with the ability to cover a wide range of community issues, from Town Council to in-depth interviews and longer investigative pieces. Kindly send resume and writing samples to publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca for further information. Advertising Sales Person Set your own hours—part-time or full-time, the more you work the more you earn in this commission-based role. Please send resume to publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca for more information.
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The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
Shipped in to shop: Visiting Vietnamese get grocery industry lesson Food professionals tour Sobeys, find shrimp from home BY SAMUEL PICCOLO
The VOICE
However pleasant a person Ron Kore is (he is, after all, reigning Citizen of the Year), and however nice his Fonthill Sobeys store may be, 14,000 kilometres is a long way to go for groceries. Local shoppers certainly seemed bemused to find a dozen Vietnamese nationals wearing hairnets assembled outside the main entrance last Tuesday. The group’s expressed intention was not to shop, however—they were about to be led through the building’s inner sanctum as part of a two-week study stay at Niagara College on the Canadian food industry. All 12 of the participants were from the Faculty of Food Science at Vinh Long Community College, about 150 kilometres outside Ho Chi Minh City. Vinh Long has a partnership with Niagara College, and its instructors were in Canada to become familiar with the requirements of retailers here, with the idea that they will be better able to teach Vietnamese food companies how to prepare
their products for the Canadian market. Along with several Sobeys employees, Niagara College’s Amy Proulx led the contingency around the store, explaining the importance of meeting Canadian standards as she went. “Understanding your retailer is so vital to understanding how you can help the food companies that you serve come up with an idea and turn it into a product that’s sold…There are questions you have to ask. Is it GFSI- certified? Is it compliant with its labelling?” she said, dropping industry terms and acronyms that the interpreter seemed to have no trouble translating. With a few straggling behind, the group was soon taken through the swinging doors near the dairy department. They watched as boxes from a refrigerated truck were stacked, checked off a list, and carted away for shelving. Proulx made special note of Canada’s “chained” food system, in which attention is paid to food at every stage from production to retail. She pointed out the eyewash
Proulx points out labelling to visiting instructors. station (which was collecting dust—Kore could put a sign out front reading, “5,000 days without an eye injury”), the chemical room, and later, to her obvious joy, the presence of three sinks. “Wash, rinse, sanitize,” she said proudly. Proulx has been closely involved with the educational part of this visit, and she had visited Vinh Long to begin the partnership. Niagara College is working with the Department of Global Affairs, which funded the project. The Canadian government has made
educating foreign industries of our domestic standards a priority, all in an effort to increase trade. Just as the government is looking abroad, so too is the college. Jorge Blandon, from its International Projects department, said that there are similar projects ongoing with schools in Peru, Bolivia, and Jamaica. The Canadian government and Niagara College have evidently made a strategic investment in such programs, hoping to see future returns, but last week it was the visitors enjoying themselves for the time
Fenwick rolls out the grass
VOICE PHOTO
being. Hoàng Nô, who has taught at Vinh Long for 15 years, was thrilled with the experience so far. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is the importance of connectivity—of making sure that everything is perfect at every step of the way,” he said, adding that he was looking forward to better serving the industry back home with what he’d gleaned in his stay in Canada. Proulx acknowledged that efforts to augment international food trade are at odds with the encouragement to eat more local-
ly, but argued that Canada’s diversity means that one approach to sourcing food is inadequate. “Many first and second generation immigrants like to gravitate to their culinary traditions, and that means finding foods that meet those traditions,” she said, gesturing to the seafood section, where earlier the visitors had delighted in seeing Vietnamese shrimp. Once the group had left the enclosed processing area and moved out into the open, it was harder to keep them together. A few wandered over to the bakery, peering at the frosted cakes glistening behind glass. Proulx marched on, speaking to her diminished class in the meat section. She explained that, along with dairy and fish, it was the most regulated product in Canada. The crowd was almost gone by now, and even the interpreter was distracted by something on offer. Proulx pretended not to notice at first, but at last she gave up and looked over to the deli counter where Nô and several others had congregated. They were pulling at their wallets and gesturing to the attendant, trying to explain that they had come from halfway across the world, and they wanted to buy some kielbasa.
Local cyclist qualifies for French races
BY VOICE STAFF For those inclined to lament the paving over of paradises, Fenwick’s first ever “Green Street” last Saturday was a pleasing, if temporary, reversal. A stretch of Canboro Road from Maple Acre Library to the Royal Bank was covered with sod, making Fenwick the 10th Canadian site in this year’s “Green Street Challenge.” Created by the non-profit Come Alive Outside, the Green Street Challenge encourages cities and towns to arrange pop-up parks, with a mind to “celebrate the importance of outdoor, unstructured play.” Barb Christopher, of Young Sod Farms, first approached the Town with the idea last year, and when things didn’t work out, returned this summer and proposed the event again. This time, the timing was right: at 4:30 AM Saturday, her husband, Scott, cut 7,000 sq. ft. of Kentucky Bluegrass into 700 rolls. Downtown Fenwick was closed to traffic at 7 AM, and by 8 AM the street was covered by turf. “It looked great then,” Barb said a few hours later, gesturing towards the grass’ dimming green. While asphalt is not an ideal surface for the sod, she had no doubt that it would survive the day, and said that by 7 PM “it will be at a family’s lawn on Foss Road.” The village’s transformation was stunning. What is usually a busy thoroughfare was lined with hay bales, dotted with tents, and even played home to a life-sized chessboard. In the afternoon, as the darkening sky threatened a watering, the street was sparsely populated, but earlier, the crowds were out. Christopher guessed that hundreds had passed through before lunch, including, she noted, four generations of the same family. In addition to the chessboard, the Town organized a number of other kid-friendly games, most popularly,
Grassed over—Canboro Road in Fenwick. mini-putt. All of Fenwick’s shops were open for the day. Friday’s Child had a table set up selling extra produce from their home garden. The Broken Gavel had a grill going—and even the library stayed open past noon, when it normally closes on Saturdays. As the storm clouds passed, a new wave of people arrived. The afternoon’s “Smoothie Bike,” a bicycle whose chain worked a blender, was having its blades churned at an almighty pace. Friday’s Child’s Bailie Maxwell was at their table, talking about vegetables, when her daughter came up and proudly presented a cup she’d pedaled herself. “Mommy,” she said. “I made you a smoothie.” The bike was, unfortunately, sized only for kids, though this was clearly consistent with the day’s theme of emphasizing to children the fun that can be had in healthy activities—including pedaling for berries and yogurt. Javel Hernando Rodriguez, a 33-year-old Mexican migrant worker at Willowbrook Nurseries, didn’t know about the event when he came into Fenwick on the day, but was pleasantly surprised when he saw all that was going on. “I took a few pictures to send back to my kids at home,” he said, pulling up photos of his sons on his phone. Past where Rodriguez was stand-
VOICE PHOTOS
Shelly Christiansen SUPPLIED PHOTO
BY LOIS LACROIX
Special to the VOICE
ing, near the post office, was a spot of street past where the sod ended but where the road was still closed. Earlier in the day, chalk had been handed out for kids to play with, and pieces of it still dotted the scribblings on the street. Most had written only their names or drawn flowers or hearts. But one, seemingly, had tried to spoil the day for everyone else. “Sorry guys, but summer is almost over,” they’d written in big blue letters. The kids still playing didn’t seem to mind. They chased each other across the grass and, breathing heavily, sat on the hay bales lining the turf. There were still a few more weeks of summer, and, more importantly, a few more hours left in the day.
Shelly Christensen has recently qualified to participate in the 2017 Gran Fondo World Championship races in Albi, France. Beginning in 1983, Christensen started cycling around the hills of Pelham on her own. Her cycling career began while attending E. L. Crossley Secondary School. With the encouragement of Hank Bauer, a teacher at the school and father of Steve Bauer, Christensen participated in a high school criterium race during the Grape and Wine Festival hosted by the St. Catharines Cycling Club in 1984. She won her race and caught the eye of Colin Hearth (former National Team coach) and Karen Strong (former Olympian) and was encouraged to continue competing. In 1985 she was ready for the Canada Summer Games and
represented Ontario on the provincial cycling team. She finished ninth in the time trial event at that time. She continued to compete for many years. Never far from her bike, Christensen did take some time off from competition to raise a family and pursue a career and education, she is currently employed at Niagara Health as a nurse practitioner. Shelly returned to cycling in 2016 and once again pursued competition. In June she successfully qualified in both the time trial and road race in Collingwood for the upcoming Gran Fondo World Championships in Albi, France later this month. She has chosen to register for the time trial race of 22.4 km. Christensen credits the support of many for her success, including the St. Catharines Cycling Club, Fonthill Fitness, and her family.
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
This week in baseball
Page 15
FACTS MATTER. TRUTH MATTERS.
BY MELISSA WELLS
Special to the VOICE
Last weekend marked the end of the Pelham house league program with the Pelham Cup Championship playoff. All leagues from T-Ball through Mosquito competed in the pitch, hit and run competition and final play down games. Winners were compiled for the best overall player in throwing distance, hitting distance and base running speed. Winners by division are as follows: T-ball 1st Kaden Isaac 2nd Sean Graves 3rd Benjamin Colavecchia 4th Aiden Sawchuk Rookie 1st Bo Langendoen 2nd Ryan McWilliams 3rd Fernando Levert Mosquito 1st James Flagg 2nd Ryan Zucco 3rd Brett Killins In Pelham Cup play, the rookie Lafarge Blue Jays bested the Willowbrook Yankees in a 3-2 defensive duel. Both teams played extremely well and should be very proud of their accomplishments this season. In the Mosquito division, the Boggio Fonthill Pharmacy Pirates narrowly defeated the Meridian Credit Union Rangers to take home the Pelham Cup trophy. Many thanks to the coaches and parents who put in countless hours to teach, cheer for and support these youngsters. Three cheers for you! SUPPLIED PHOTOS
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HE VOICE OF PELH A M is our town's eyes and ears. The Voice represents taxpayers, homeowners, parents, and the retired. This newspaper 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. The Voice covers stories big and small, publishes history, commentary, 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 dollar a week. Thank you.
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Page 16
The Voice of Pelham, August 23, 2017
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
The Voice of Pelham
REAL ESTATE To advertise here call (905) 892-8690
DEBBIE PINE
NIAGARA REAL ESTATE CENTER, Brokerage 1815 Merritville, Hwy 1 FONTHILL, ON
SALES REPRESENTATIVE
905.892.0222
NIAGARA / FONTHILL, ON 2142 MEADOWBROOK LANE, BURLINGTON $624,700
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY! - 200 FITCH ST., WELLAND
Brand new listing… 2142 Meadowbrook Lane in Burlington. This three bedroom two bath home is full of updates and ready for your admiration. Beautiful chef kitchen with walkin pantry and access to rear yard oasis. Splish splash in your inground pool and enjoy your family gatherings in this amazing backyard. This home is move-in ready. Call for details or visit: www.2142meadowbrook.com
VARIOUS UNITS AVAILABLE FROM 2,000 sq/ft - 13,000 sq/ft. $8/SQFT BASE RENT + $6 TMI Fantastic location for your business. Great exposure in Northwest Welland. Long standing strip mall. Commercial space available in busy plaza. Perfect location for medical offices, retail outlets, hair salons, nail salon, barber, etc. Unit has rear access door for unloading stock. Owner willing to provide three months free as an incentive (base rent only). Call for details.
debbiepine@royallepage.ca SELL phone: 905-321-2261 326 KING ST., WELLAND $239,000
Large building with tons of potential. Call l.A. For entire list of uses & incentives being offered by city of welland. www.326king.com
19 PEACHTREE PARK, FONTHILL $498,500
7087 CENTENNIAL STREET, NIAGARA FALLS $384,900
This Bungalow is all done up and ready to move in! Hardwood throughout the main floor finished in a rich brown tone, the living room is warmed with wood-burning fireplace and open to the dining room. The kitchen has been updated with maple cabinets and granite countertops, a large breakfast bar has views to the gardens. The main floor has 3 bedrooms with loads of closet space. The lower level offers a family room with gas fireplace, fourth bedroom & an updated 3 piece bathroom. A composite deck is off the kitchen and adds to the summer living space. Updates include a new interlocking driveway (2017), windows (2009), furnace (2016), roof (2011), composite deck (2016). In the AK Wigg school district, walking distance to downtown Fonthill, close to golf courses and a short drive to fantastic restaurants.
Welcome home! This fabulous family home is situated near all amenities including the new Walmart and Super Centre, Churches, Schools and easy access to the QEW. Neutral decor throughout and move in ready. Enjoy this fully finished family home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, separate living/ dining/kitchen areas, huge family room downstairs with gas fireplace, large storage area and attached garage. Lots of updates including roof, floors, paint, baths, fence, front door, and laundry room. Come for a tour and see what awaits you at 7087 Centennial Street. www.7087centennial.com.
Letters
continued
Keep Haist Street Park as-is Open letter to Town Council: I do not want the Haist Steet arena property sold. I do not want any form of housing on the property. I want the property maintained as a park for public enjoyment and enhanced with outdoor sports fields. I want it acknowledged that it was the public who paid for that property and it was the public in partnership with upper levels of government who paid for that arena PRIOR TO its construction. I want this entire matter deferred until after the 2018 election. I do not support the rezoning and or development of this or any other parkland in Pelham. I would like you to read aloud my wishes at a future Council meeting and to record my wishes as not supporting development or rezoning of any of the Haist Street arena property. Carolyn Botari Fenwick
Don't make haste with Haist The "world class facility" of East Fonthill (population of Pelham approximately 17,200) sounds pretentious. It comes with a big price tag. So far it does not appear to have drawn sufficient financial support from the suggested deep pockets of commercial or corporate Pelham. The land of East Fonthill which was identified for housing is not growing quickly. There are no signs and only a few houses being built. Pelham won't be collecting taxes from East Fonthill development any time soon. So what’s the rush to decide what to do with the Haist Street arena and surrounding parkland? Think about it. Ever hear of a money tree? Seems there are a few of those by the Pelham arena. If you care about what happens to the Pelham arena parkland, now is the time to write, phone, or email your councillor and the Town. What happens to this land can and will occur elsewhere in Pelham. Your elected representative needs to remember whose taxes are required to sustain the developments they approve. L.Morgan Pelham
Active reading at the Library BY KIRK WEAVER
CEO Pelham Library
Are you an active reader? Many people who frequent the Library would naturally answer “yes” to this question. Their answer would be based on the traditional thought process that considers their volume and frequency of reading. Are you physically active? Again many would answer this question in the affirmative based on their volume and frequency of physical activity. Can you connect these two activities? Traditional lines of thought might assume that reading and learning activities are separate from physical fitness activities. If you are reading or researching it is often assumed that you are not being physically active. On the flip side, physical activity is not often associated with learning and literacy unless you are reading material about exercising or sports. Both reading and physical activity are important parts of a balanced lifestyle. Regular visitors to the Library will likely know that these two parts of your life do not need to be separate. You only need to experience our Jump’n Jive story time once to know this. The children are active participants in the reading of a story. They
may not know it, but they are learning and getting some healthy exercise at the same time. A number of our programs combine active movement with learning and literacy activities. Last weekend we participated in the Come Alive Outside – Green Street Challenge in Fenwick by setting up a story walk. This is a very intentional way to encourage literacy and physical activity. It involves setting up the laminated pages of a book at a variety of stations along a certain route. Readers are encouraged to complete the story by walking between stations. A variety of creative activities or clues to the location of the next station can be added to the story walk. We want to encourage people to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Anytime we can combine two aspects of good health it is a positive thing. If you are interested in doing a story walk with a group you may be leading, please contact Jennifer Bennett at 905-892-6443. Through a partnership with Niagara Falls Public Library, there are a number of pre-made story walk books available for borrowing. Please allow plenty of advance time as they are popular and can take some time to arrive.
IN THE NEWS continued from Page 2 27, of Niagara Falls. Magda is charged with: Forcible Confinement, Sexual Assault causing Bodily Harm, Robbery, and Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle cause Bodily Harm. Police believe there may be other victims and are encouraging anyone with information to call the Sexual Assault Unit at 905-688-4111.
Tax “protest” doesn’t fly
In a news release, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is warning Canadians about tax schemes claiming that individuals don’t have to pay their taxes. Those who promote these schemes may try to convince you that as a "natural person" you are not subject to tax laws. Individuals who promote such views are “tax protesters” who not only fail to report their own earnings, but they also try to convince others to engage in these illegal activities, says the CRA. The CRA has been successfully cracking down on the tax protester movement. The criminal courts have consistently rejected tax protesters’ “natural person” arguments, going so far as to refer to their theory as illogical and to tax protesters as "snake oil salesmen.”
People who evade taxes take resources away from social programs from which all Canadians benefit. Those who choose to participate in these schemes, says the CRA, as well as those who promote these schemes, face serious consequences, including fines and jail time. Over the last decade, 75 tax scheme promoters from across Canada were convicted of tax offences related to tax schemes. This lead to $7.15 million in court-imposed fines and a total of 936 months of jail time awarded.
Indecent acts arrest
On Tuesday, August 8, at approximately 6 PM, members of the Niagara Regional Police Service attended the Canada's Best Value Inn located at 420 Ontario Street, in St. Catharines, in response to a complaint of an indecent act. Upon arrival, police learned that a male was observed on the property with his pants down, exposing his genitals on two separate occasions and left the area prior to police arrival. Police say that the investigation led to the arrest of 54-year old-Peter Clifford, of St. Catharines, for two counts of Indecent Act and he was held pending a bail hearing. Police are requesting anyone who observed this male or with any information to contact the 1 District Detective Office at 905688-4111.