The Voice, February 26 2020

Prodigal Piccolo says bring back the draft page 7 Old bikes find new homes page 13 Grummett sticks around page 17 EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

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Vol.24 No.8

February 26, 2020

FREE

Tempers flare as developer presents plans

Column Six

O Ye of Little Faith The Church of what, now?

BY COLIN BREZICKI

Special to the VOICE

T

he Church of Atheism is an oxymoron. Like negative growth, or a conspicuous absence, or a working vacation.

I’m not saying there can’t be such a thing as a devout atheist, but the idea of a bunch of them congregating inside a church to pray to a vacuum is a stretch.

And yet such a church exists and has recently applied for charitable status, so it can reap tax benefits like other religious organizations. It feels it should enjoy the same rights as a normal church.

That locust cloud of rights again.

In any case, the court rejected its claim, deciding that a church without a god isn’t really a church at all.

And, because this institution professes no faith in anything except an absence of faith, and it provides no comfort or solace to its congregation in the way that real churches do, it can’t be granted charitable status.

The case reminded me

Glad Tidings Pastor Daniel Calgagno, left, appeals for order as residents react during a public meeting at the church last week. Story, page 3

HELEN TRAN

See COLUMN SIX back page

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Page 2

The Voice, February 26, 2020

by Dave Burket

The livestream that’s mighty quiet: The kinks are still being worked out in the Town of Pelham’s video recordings of council and committee meetings at Town Hall. One highly frustrating problem for viewers is that councillors, and sometimes staff, forget to turn on their microphones before speaking. Well, it turns out that they aren’t simply being forgetful. Apparently in order to save a couple of bucks on the new, $65,000 audio-video system, someone decided to order microphone models that did not include “on” lights.

Oy. A Town employee who has worked in other municipalities says that this is the first example they’ve seen of lightless mics. Staff are now reviewing options to rectify the fruitless frugality...To spray or not to spray: A decision will need to be made soon as to whether to spray, and if so, how widely, to combat a predicted heavy gypsy moth infestation this spring. In a survey of the other 11 Niagara municipalities, Town staff have found that only West Lincoln has budgeted anything to fight the pest, and only $7,000.

The estimated bill to spray all of Pelham, from coast to coast to coast, is $1 million, of which $150,000 was already budgeted for 2020. As previously noted in this space, that’s somewhere around $115-$120 per property owner in what's effectively extra taxation this year. Are you willing to bite the bullet and pay it? Take this week’s poll on the topic, at right. Town Council will hear recommendations from pest control experts at their next meeting, to be held in Town Hall on March 2. One big question to ask: If we spray and our neighbouring municipalities don’t, will the little munchers end up overrunning us anyway?…Yes, he’s back: At least for a guest appearance. Our man Sam Piccolo returns with a modest proposal, if slightly tongue-in-cheek (p. 7), aimed at helping keep community newspapers going. As for us, we’re still looking for a permanent, full-time writer. See the ad, p. 15...Speaking of cheek(y): To confirm a detail about Fonthill, I checked its Wikipedia entry over the weekend. Buried near the end is this interesting nugget: “Fonthill is also the birthplace of 'Tennis Ball Golf', invented by Eric Sinclair and Jason Giallonardo of Townsend Circle in southern Fonthill”...Sell it with snark: Our cover story this week, about a presentation made to Pancake Lane neighbourhood residents by a developer looking to plunk down a four-story apartment building in their midst, contains an exchange that’s jaw-dropping in its insensitivity. I won’t spoil it for you (p. 3)…Things to do: MP Dean Allison will speak at the annual Niagara West conservative association AGM this Saturday, at the Canadian Legion Fonthill, starting a 9 AM. Breakfast is $15. The Town of Pelham is looking to fill a number of volunteer committee positions (ad, p. 3). And tickets are still available for the Kinsmen’s Citizen of the Year dinner, on March 4 (ad, p. 5). Enjoy. ♦

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NRPS impaired driving charges

THE VOICE POLL GYPSY MOTH SPRAYING

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

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As a homeowner, are you willing to contribute $115 if the Town elects to spray the entire municipality this spring in an effort to stave off a gypsy moth infestation?

Take the poll and let us know! www.thevoiceofpelham.ca/mothspray

IN THE NEWS Another web win

The Town of Pelham’s redesigned website drew further recognition from industry professionals, most recently in the form of a 2020 Gold AVA Digital Award. According to a Town statement, the AVA Digital Awards is an “international competition recognizing outstanding work by creative professionals involved in the concept, direction, design, and production of media which is part of the evolution of digital communication.” In November, shortly after its official relaunch, the Town’s website received a MarCom Gold Award, the first recognition of its kind for the Town.

“These awards are humbling, a lot of work went into the site and continues to go into the site,” said Marc MacDonald, Communications and Public Relations Specialist. “We’ve encouraged feedback since the day we launched last September and we continuously tweak, edit, and improve our site for quick and straightforward access to information residents are looking for.”

According to the statement, some 2,500 AVA Award entries were submitted for various categories.

航 搜索

on vacation!

users are also available on the Cybertip website.

Arrest following Welland crash

Child porn charges against St. Catharines man

In October 2019, members of the Niagara Regional Police Service Internet Child Exploitation (I.C.E.) Unit began an investigation into the sexual exploitation of children, which led to a St. Catharines resident. According to a police statement, earlier this month Chadd Large, 31, of St. Catharines, was arrested and charged with Possession of Child Pornography.

Large was held in custody pending a bail hearing. Police encourage the public to report crimes through Crimestoppers, at 1-800222-TIPS. Suspicious internet activities relating to child exploitation may also be reported to the Niagara Regional Police Service, or online at www.cybertip.ca.

Internet safety tips for parents, children and internet

See IN THE NEWS Page 14

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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.

The

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On February 15, at approximately 10:15 AM, a uniform officer from the 3 District – Welland office of the Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) was parked in the area of Duncan Street and Lasalle Street in Welland, watching traffic. According to a police statement, the officer noticed a beige Chevrolet Impala pass the location with a plastic sheet for a rear window. A check of the licence plate by the officer found that it was not on the correct car. The officer began to follow the Impala and attempted a traffic stop in the area of Empire Street and East Main Street.

The driver refused to pull over and began to accelerate away. Out of a concern for public safety the officer did not engage in a pursuit.

A short time later the Impala driver lost control and collided with a parked car, causing approximately $10, 000 in damage. The Impala then left the street onto the sidewalk where it hit a light post, metal garbage cans

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.

Susan E. MALCOLM, 27, St. Catharines William E. COATES, 60, Guelph Scott W. PEARSON, 48, Cambridge Morgan CLAPP, 23, Welland Amanda J. CHAPMAN, 36, St. Catharines Rex G. JANSEN, 59, St. Catharines Christi A. PITRE-WAY, 52, Welland David H. MCGAW, 67, Niagara Falls Brandan A. N. ERAMIAN, 29, Niagara-on-the-Lake Evan A. KITCHEN, 38, Wainfleet Zabrina WELLMAN, 42, Niagara Falls

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Vol.20 No.48

CELEBRATING OUR 20TH YEAR

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

DSBN wants portion of Town park

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Vol.20 No.39

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

FREE

Oops: No fire trucks for you

Column Six

The Comfort Maple myth

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Column Six

Growing up British

BY JULIE MANNELL

Special to the VOICE

W

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

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

Public meeting tonight on school issues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It sure is getting there, Julie.”

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

Part 2 of 2: Coronation to embarkation

Vol.20 No.32

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-

VOICE PHOTO

bourhood in the short-term.

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

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

Petition-inspired changes coming to 2017 Summerfest

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

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

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

sidered.

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

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

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

Another way the committee plans

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

Wednesday October 12, 2016

FREE

Apple Day comes to Fonthill

See COLUMN SIX Page 14

BY VOICE STAFF

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

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

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

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

Joining their principal, Karen Simpson, at the Sept.

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

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

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

After delivering to Council a petition containing

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

podium over to Loewen and Williams to plead their case.

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

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

www.pennylanesold.com

H EATHER AND P ENNY L ANE S ALES R EPRESENTATIVES

BY JOHN SWART

VOICE Correspondent

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

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

Town Council approves sidewalk to serve E. L. Crossley

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

Cell 905.933.3049

T

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

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.

Office 905.892.1702

Column Six It doesn’t get better than Autumn

Longtime Scouting tradition dates to 1932

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

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

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

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

this minute!

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Request made of community still peeved at name change

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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

Get

Pined -Sol Pelham’sPelham’s Health Food Store

“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

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice, February 26, 2020

Page 3

Proposed apartment building on Pancake Lane sparks concern Tensions run high at community meeting

BY HELEN TRAN

Special to the VOICE

Tempers flared last Thursday, February 20, at a meeting regarding a proposed plan to construct a four-story apartment building on Pancake Lane, in Fonthill. The proposed building would contain 40 units and be erected near an already existing apartment building, and the Glad Tidings Church of God, where the meeting took place.

According to the public notice given to residents of Pancake Lane, the meeting was organized

by Dragutin Vuckovic, the president of Ashley Group of Companies, with architect Joe Milcic and agent David Nelson in attendance “to discuss the project and answer questions.” The developers are seeking to amend the zoning bylaw to allow the construction to proceed. The notice was directed to anyone who owned a home or business “located within 120 metres (400 feet) of the subject property.”

Some 16 locals arrived promptly at 7:30 PM to view displayed items, which included a computer-generated rendering of what the complex would look like, and detailed

floor plans. A sign-in sheet was provided by Nelson so concerned residents could leave their email address for further updates.

While there was no planned presentation, the developers held an informal Q&A session.

“We hope that we can make the community happy,” said Vuckovick to open the session. His assertion was greeted with laughter from those present, after which he said, “Not everybody can be happy, but I’m here to build a nice building, and your community is going to be proud of me.”

Residents had many inquiries concerning height, population density, and traffic. The height of the building and its position would potentially block views of the church and trees. The increased population of the neighbourhood would worsen the traffic congestion of an already-busy street, asserted some, which many young children use to walk to their bus or to school.

“With the traffic, it’s a wonder somebody hasn’t been killed now,” said a resident.

“I’m not a traffic expert,” said

An architectural rendering of a proposed 40-unit apartment building on Pancake Lane.

Vuckovick. “I am not going to argue or defend traffic —there’s a traffic expert who can deal with that.”

Although Milcic explained that he designed the parking lot so that it wouldn’t face the street and visually it would not disrupt the scenery of Pancake Lane, there was no answer regarding how to actually manage the increased traffic.

Within minutes, the meeting escalated to swearing and raised voices, and Daniel Calgagno, the pastor of the church, stepped in to mediate and encourage more specific questions.

Susan Smyth, who identified herself as a “professional planner,” then asked who specifically had been retained to do a traffic study, to which there was no answer. She expressed further con-

cerns which were echoed by many.

“The number of units is excessive given the size of the lot,” she said in regards to the proposed building. “How did you come to the unit number? It exceeds the maximum density requirement by 19. Your max is allowed 65 units per hectare, and you’re at 85. So how did you get to that?”

Once again, there was no clear or defined answer.

The mood of the Q&A session grew increasingly tense, since the developers’ responses did not seem to satisfy the many voiced concerns.

One resident said: “I’m not saying we don’t welcome progress, and you [shouldn’t be] building.

I’m just saying it’s wrong for this lot on this street.”

There were also angry reactions to the proposed building cutting

HELEN TRAN

into the church parking lot, and the tone of the public notices. Resident Christopher Inman had several points.

“There’s been a lack of communication, because I spoke to a councillor, a Ward 3 councillor, and he was totally unaware of this meeting,” said Inman.

“That’s not the case, I did send him an email,” said Nelson.

Inman then held up the letter he had received from the developers.

“Like an eviction notice to my door, on Family Day. That’s very rude, on a holiday and right before dinner so thanks, whoever did that,” said Inman.

“You’re welcome,” replied Nelson, to which the audience erupted in surprised gasps.

Several residents said that they See APARTMENTS Page 14

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Now accepting applications for:

Pelham Summerfest Committee Pelham Thursday Night Experience Committee Pelham Active Transportation Committee Apply today!

Applications are due by March 9, 2020.

For more information, visit: www.pelham.ca/committees or contact Town Clerk Nancy Bozzato at 905-892-2607 x315 or njbozzato@pelham.ca

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The Voice, February 26, 2020

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OPINION

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

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

COMMENTARY / OP-ED Larry Coté Long-term care comes up short

W

hat follows here is but a brief glimpse of what is an urgent matter.

The growth rate of seniors in Niagara is outpacing every other sector of the population. Alarmingly, the health care facilities needed to adequately service this fast-growing sector, and the general population, have not kept pace with that reality.

According to the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), the number of hospital beds in Ontario has remained at about 30,000 over the last two decades, while the population has grown by about three million during that same period. One third of that growth has been in the senior sector. To underline the precariousness of this growing problem, the CEO of the OHA, Anthony Dale, reports that Ontario has fewer beds per thousand people than any other province and is tied with Mexico on that scale.

In order to properly attend to this specific sector of the population, the current Ontario government should implement its 2018 election promise to build new hospitals and new nursing homes. There is a

direct connection between these two specific facilities. Hospital overcrowding and the hallway health care conundrum are in part due to the shortage of nursing home beds. That shortage

The growth rate of seniors in Niagara is outpacing every other sector of the population

results in thousands of patients occupying hospital beds in corridors and waiting rooms while waiting for a bed in a nursing home facility.

Adding to the complexity of this issue is that it takes about three years from shovel in the ground to opening the doors of such facilities. According to some unofficial estimates, the new Niagara Falls hospital is likely to open sometime in 2026.

In the Niagara Region

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there is an estimated total of 3,600 approved longterm care (LTC) beds in both the non-profit and private for- profit nursing homes.

That number does not include privately operated retirement homes.

The Region operates a total of nine long-term care homes with a total of just under 1,000 beds. One of these, the T. Roy Adams home in St. Catherines is primarily devoted to the treatment of dementia illnesses and is not included in the figures noted here.

According to some estimates, the wait lists for these eight long-term care facilities could total more than 2,000 individuals for one of the approximately 927 available beds. On a positive note, the province recently announced plans for an additional 316 longterm care beds in Niagara.

These could be ready for occupancy in three or four years.

The time spent on a wait list, depending on type and location of accommodation requested, can range from months to two years, or longer. Being aware of such lengthy wait times should alert elders in Niagara, and See LONG TERM next page

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www.thevoiceofpelham.ca EDITOR & PUBLISHER Dave Burket publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca ADMINISTRATION Lori Gretsinger office@thevoiceofpelham.ca CONTRIBUTORS Carolyn Botari, Colin Brezicki, Rosemary Chambers, John Chick, Larry Coté, Brian Green, Jenica Hrysko, Maeve Keating, Megan Metler, Bill Potrecz, Bernie Puchalski, Don Rickers, John Swart, Helen Tran, Mike Tucker, Rob Weatherby. Proof Sleuth: Julian Fitch NEWS INQUIRIES & TIPS editor@thevoiceofpelham.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR letters@thevoiceofpelham.ca ADVERTISING INQUIRIES advertising@thevoiceofpelham.ca

Hey 'muricans, you can vote in Niagara On March 3, Democrats Abroad Hamilton Burlington and Niagara are making a voting centre available to hundreds of US citizens residing in the Niagara peninsula who don’t know they can vote in the upcoming Super Tuesday primary. Votes cast abroad in this primary will carry up to four times the weight than if voting in your home state primary. Registration and voting will take place at the St. Catharines Library from 10:30 AM to 7:30 PM. Any US citizen can vote if they live in Canada, are 18 years or older as of November 3, 2020, and are a member of Democrats Abroad. If you are not yet a member you will be able to register at the voting centre prior

to placing your choice on an official ballot. No formal documentation is required to register.

International primaries will be held worldwide.

Many US citizens living locally may question why they should be active in the upcoming primary and the election in November.

The most valid reason is essential to every voter: if you are made to pay annual taxation, why should you comply without representation? You have heard it before: “No taxation without representation!”

It is hoped that this primary voting opSee YANKEES GO VOTE Page 6

CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS Member of Federal Parliament

Electoral District: Niagara West

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

Electoral District: Niagara West

The Voice

Letters

Sam Oosterhoff, MPP 4961 King St. East, Unit M1 Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0 sam.oosterhoffco@pc.ola.org 905-563-1755 Members of Niagara Regional Council Councillor Marvin Junkin mjunkin@pelham.ca 905-658-2987 Councillor Diana Huson diana.huson@niagararegion.ca 905-324-3094 Town of Pelham 20 Pelham Town Square P.O. Box 400 Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 905-892-2607

Mayor of Pelham Marvin Junkin mjunkin@pelham.ca 905-658-2987 Members of Pelham Town Council Ward 1 Councillor Mike Ciolfi mciolfi@pelham.ca 905-892-0077 Councillor Marianne Stewart mstewart@pelham.ca 289-821-0840

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Ward 2 Councillor Ron Kore rkore@pelham.ca 905-933-3805 Councillor John Wink jwink@pelham.ca 905-892-4475 Ward 3 Councillor Lisa Haun lhaun@pelham.ca 905-892-5877 Councillor Bob Hildebrandt bhildebrandt@pelham.ca 905-892-5647

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The Voice, February 26, 2020

Page 5

OPINION Debate irrelevant to climate change I extrapolate from the quote, “Only a fool would deny the evidence” [“Decries ‘politically correct’ thinking,” Letters, Feb. 19, p. 5], that climate change is happening, which suggests that the debate over causation is irrelevant. I submit that we would be fools not to try to mitigate the problem. We’ve had the technologies, but we haven’t had the wisdom. The dangerous position is that climate is “not changing” and/or “there is nothing to be done about it.” That’s the statement everyone has to make. As in the poem, “Not with a bang but a whimper.”

Richard S. Palkowski Fonthill

Absent regulation, odours continue So often I am overcome by the sickening, pungent fumes in my neighbourhood! Most recently we have smelled the distinct, strong odour of bleach wafting through our backyard. Why is the federally-licensed cannabis industry allowed to continuously spew effluent, seemingly unregulated?

Are there emissions regulations? Does the facility comply with filtration requirements? Is there an inspection team on site that monitors emissions on a continuous basis? If not, why not? This industry’s legal team have said, “They drive the neighbourhood, and no smell is evident...”

Come on, is this an acceptable system of air quality testing?

We are tired of feeling sick to our stomachs, frustrated with our restricted use of our outdoors, embarrassed when family/friends

visit and having to explain that this is not us smoking pot, this is the “legal growup” industry up-wind from us.

It matters not that this particular industry is in the Town of Pelham and I am a Welland resident. There was blatant disregard for citizens and neighbourhoods when these operations were installed within such close proximity to residential areas. The current Interim Control Bylaw in Pelham, limits future cannabis installations—what about existing facilities? Who is responsible for these emissions?

Please explain where I can find third-party inspection reports that indicate compliance with existing emissions regulations. We will not stop until there is proof of this scientific, objective testing and compliance.

Donna Pohran Welland

R LONG TERM

continued from previous page their caregivers, to the necessity of planning for the future.

The bottom line to this Region- and province-wide conundrum is that this issue is a very serious one. The resolve should be one of the highest of priorities of our various governments. This current situation is patently unacceptable and horribly disrespectful of the persons who lovingly cared for us during our youthful years.

Each of us should demand from our elected officials, at every level, to know what specific action he or she is taking to contribute to the solution of this atrocious and ever-worsening problem. Simply stated, if one is not actively contributing to the solution then they are idly adding to the problem. ♦

COMMENTARY / OP-ED

Ayla Fenton

NFU supports Wet'suwe'ten

T

he National Farmers Union (NFU) stands in solidarity with Indigenous land protectors. We support initiatives

by Indigenous people including the Unist’ot’en and Wet’suwe’ten to resist resource extraction and energy projects that disrupt their Indigenous food and governance systems and interfere with the health of their lands, territories, and communities.

The NFU supports the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and urges the Canadian government to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.

Coastal GasLink is attempting to force construction of a Liquid Natural Gas pipeline through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. On February 6, the RCMP entered the territory and began arresting members of the Wet’suwe’ten, forcibly removing land defenders, dismantling the barricades set up to protect their territory, and denying journalists access to witness and record the RCMP’s activities.

These actions, carried out with support of the BC and federal gov-

ernments, are clearly in violation of Canada’s commitments to reconciliation, against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which Canada formally adopted in 2016, and in contravention of the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1997 Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa decision recognizing that the Wet’suwet’en people, as represented by their hereditary leaders, had not given up rights and title to their 22,000km2 territory. We agree with and support the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs’ governance systems and their their inherent right to govern their territory through the Unist’ot’en camp and the Gidimt’en checkpoint.

Disturbed by the “forced removal, disproportionate use of force, harassment and intimidation” and “escalating threat of violence” against Indigenous peoples who oppose the pipeline, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called in January for the immediate suspension of work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline until free, prior and informed consent is obtained from Indigenous peoples.

The Wet’suwe’ten have not given free, prior and informed consent to

Ayla Fenton is an NFU Board Member.

Pelham Town Council, don't let the corporations push you around I was one of many Pelham citizens who packed council chambers on Monday, February 18th, for the council discussion on the draft bylaw "Odourous Industries Nuisance Bylaw.”

In the end, a decision on the bylaw was deferred until the March 23rd council meeting, to allow the Cannabis Control Committee (CCC) time to incorporate additional legal input and study letters received from CannTrust and RedeCan.

As I was sitting there, watching council wrestle with their decision, four concepts came to mind. I would like to share them here, in a Q & A format.

1. A Shot Across The Proverbial Bow Q: Since CannTrust is (as self-described) a leader in odour control, why is the company concerned about a bylaw to control nuisance odours? Surely such an exemplary leader need not fear an odour problem?

A. The CannTrust letter is not simply about odour.

Their letter to the Town was a warning shot against the bow of our good ship: the Town of Pelham and its local government. Cease and desist your thoughts of wretched regulation, dear Mayor and councillors! Have you not heard that corporations govern the world?

2. Something Is Rotten In The State of Denmark...

Oops... I mean Pelham...

Q: Whose noses are de-

fective? The CannTrust and RedeCan spokespersons’?

Because their olfactory perceptions differ from those of the residents on Balfour Street, homeowners in Cherry Ridge, the students at Wellington Heights, the homeowners on Foss, and all the way to Harold Black Park in Fonthill.

A: Denial is the way we handle what we cannot handle (i. e., smell). If all See CONCEPTS next page

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the construction of a pipeline through their lands.

The decisions directing the RCMP to enter Wet’suwe’ten territory and remove its defenders using force, and denying journalists access to witness their actions are condemned by Canadians from coast to coast to coast. In accordance with UNDRIP and our ongoing commitment to act in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, we must inform ourselves and deepen our understanding of Indigenous sovereignty.

We therefore denounce the repression of peaceful protesters, including Indigenous land protectors, and express our support for the rights of people to engage in acts of civil disobedience in defence of the preservation of water, air, land and wildlife for future generations.

We urge the governments of Canada and BC to uphold our commitment to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and respect Wet’suwet’en Law by withdrawing the RCMP from Wet’suwet’en Nation and cancelling Coastal GasLink’s permits. ♦

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MICHAEL JACQUES Tickets for the Tuesday, March 3rd Dinner and Award Ceremony are now available at the Sun Life office on Hwy 20, opposite Mossimo’s, 9AM-5PM, Monday to Friday. $20 per person.

Advance sales only.

There will be no ticket sales at the door.

NEWSFLASH Tell us your story!

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Page 6

Letters

The Voice, February 26, 2020

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

continued

CONCEPTS

continued from previous page else fails, deny, deny, deny, deny. (Anonymous.)

I have personally smelled odour from inside my car with the windows closed: -on Balfour all the way to Memorial (worst oppressive odour of all: winner of 1st prize for odour) -along Foss (wins 2nd prize) -on Hwy 20 at Centre Street -on South Pelham Street at both Quaker and Chantler -on the Effingham Hill (this and previous two are tied for 3rd prize) -at Berkhout and Haist -on Webber at South Pelham (faint odour: last two tied for the consolation prize only) I could go on, but I fear I will run out of ink.

3. Drilling holes in the boat Q. Why are cannabis companies critiquing the work of the CCC? One would think that they would welcome the recommendations coming out of hundreds of hours of (unpaid) research into best practices and technology... practices and guidelines that would facilitate their presence as respectful corporate neighbours which can earn their profits but allow taxpayers to enjoy their properties outdoors, and maintain their property values. (Note that taxpayers who thought they had purchased a home near a regular greenhouse had no issues with regular greenhouses in the past).

A. "When your voice con-

Let's make some headlines.

Let's get the attention of the provincial and federal governments.

tradicts reality and truth, the only way to create space for your voice is to discredit reality and truth.” —Anonymous So, drill holes in the boat.

Try to undermine the CCC. Ignore the fact that their chair has a PhD and that members bring a rich and varied skill set to the table. That the draft has been vetted by a legal team. Plant in the minds of councillors questions about process.

Feed the notion that local government has no power.

Drive fear into the hearts of councillors and staff of being sued. Drill as many holes in the CCC boat as possible, so that when time comes to the vote, the fear you've nurtured will help your cause to avoid regulation.

4. "Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, but gorgeous in the end."

—Robin Sharma Q: Watching the council and Mayor at the meeting, I had to imagine they might be thinking, “Why is this so hard and complicated? Why in hell did I have to run for office?”

A: We know that you ran to make Pelham the best it

can be! And we're there behind you!

This issue is peninsula-wide. It is province-wide. It is happening in the west. Something has to change. And it will. Because this many concerned voices cannot all be wrong.

Because legislation eventually will address problems, even though it usually lags behind. And with the valuable resource we have in the CCC, and the obvious support of the community, we urge our council and Mayor to hang tough. Let's make some headlines. Let's get the attention of the provincial and federal governments.

Change is not easy. Change is messy. Courage is required. Let's make history, rather than be passive actors. Let's be leaders, not intimidated victims.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

—Margaret Mead Thank you again to the Voice, for giving Pelham a voice.

Tillie Clapp Fenwick

SOCK HOP On the last day of January, kindergarten through Grade 4 students sang for “two straight hours,” according to Maple Crest teacher Emily Denney, after collecting pledges to buy warm socks for families in need, part of the Niagara “Socks for Change” initiative. Forty students raised some $1,600, or enough to buy 800 pairs of socks. Meanwhile, the Rotary Club of Fonthill and PenFinancial Credit Union also got in on the act, with matching $3,000 contributions. Thus, Fonthill alone has contributed a staggering $7,600 to the effort, translating into 3,800 pairs of socks—over 10% of Socks for Change’s goal of 35,000 pairs, which the organization intends to provide to “charities, shelters, and schools in every community in Niagara,” according to a media statement. From left, Rotary past-president Mel Groom and current president Mike Taylor, Sam Baio with Socks for Change, and PenFinancial’s Kelly Sauriol.

SUPPLIED

YANKEES GO VOTE continued from page 4

portunity will give increased incentive for Americans to engage in their right to vote, regardless of their number of years out of the country. Help will be available to voters on site to aid in registering for ballots in the upcoming presidential vote in November. For that procedure it will be necessary to bring a permanent US address in order to apply.

Democrats Abroad is the official organization of the Democratic Party for United States

citizens living permanently or temporarily abroad. The organization is given state-level recognition by the Democratic National Committee, with eight positions on the Democratic Committee. It sends a voting delegation to the Democratic National Convention to select our presidential candidate.

Please take the time to join your fellow citizens in this most important vote. For further information you may contact me at 905-8922374.

Mary Ann O’Donnell Fonthill

Teachers take it up a notch

BY JOHN CHICK

Special to the VOICE

Teachers across Ontario’s entire public education system walked off the job last Friday in a one-day strike, forcing approximately two million students out of classes. It was the biggest escalation yet in a months-long impasse between four separate teacher unions and the Ford government, resulting in the province’s largest such job action in more than a generation.

“This is a demonstration of unity,” Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) president Harvey Bischof told reporters outside the Provincial Legislature in Toronto, where an estimated 30,000 demonstrators shut down streets surrounding Queen’s Park in protest.

“It’s a demonstration that we’re not divided from our members or from the public in this province.”

Bischof’s union was joined by their Catholic counterparts.

“Our members are very clear,” Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association president Liz Stuart said. “They will not compromise the level of education that our students receive every day across this province.”

Unions have been without a contract with the Ontario government since August, and the two sides remain at loggerheads over class sizes and proposed online learning courses.

“Our preference today is to negotiate, not to see the teacher

union leaders escalate,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce told Global News.

In Pelham, last Friday’s walkout forced the closure of all six publicly-funded local schools — E.L. Crossley, A.K. Wigg, Glynn A. Green, Wellington Heights, St. Alexander and St. Ann. The Town continues to operate what it is calling “Strike Camp” for parents in need of daycare to deal with the intermittent job actions. On Friday and Monday, camps were held at the community centre— activities included crafts and games for students.

The dispute has become the province’s worst education crisis since 1997, the last time all teacher unions walked off the job in protest of restructuring by the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris.

But unlike then, Ontario residents now appear to be siding with the teachers. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed in a late-January Ekos Politics poll — including 22 percent of those indentifying themselves as Conservatives — favoured the unions’ position over the government’s. Thirty percent put themselves in Ford’s camp.

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) president Sam Hammond said Friday that further escalation was to be announced Monday, with a two-day warning of expected job action to come Wednesday.

Teachers and their supporters on the march last Friday, along Highway 20 in Fonthill.

VOICE

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice, February 26, 2020

Page 7

DEPT OF THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

Bring back the draft!

Put university graduates to work in small towns to eliminate student debt, save local newspapers

BY SAMUEL PICCOLO

Special to the VOICE

Y

ou are a recent university graduate with a liberal arts degree. History, English, Poli Sci, take your pick (though probably not Classics or Theology).

You have moved back into your parents’ suburban home and have a healthy amount of debt from student loans. With a tight job market for a CV like yours, you work the morning shift at the local café to make your $500 monthly payments. (If the café is too clichéd, then you live with an aunt. And install windows.)

One day, you return home to find a piece of mail waiting for you. A letter! For you! It can’t be a bill, since these processes have gone green and are withdrawn automatically. Silently pleading that it is not yet another wedding invitation—with the concomitant obligatory ostentatious gift—you slit the envelope open. A small card falls from its folds.

“CANADA REGISTRATION BOARD” it reads at the top, next to a facsimile of the nation’s coat of arms and a six-digit identifying number. The card continues: “This is to certify that [Your Name] residing at

[Your Address] is duly called to register for the national purposes of Canada this [yesterday’s date].” A sloppy sideways signature marks

Given your educational background, as part of the new National Service Act, you will report for journalism work

the bottom of the page, and on the back are instructions for where and when you are to appear.

You feel slightly numb.

You had heard of a recent bill that passed through the legislature that reinstated, after nearly a century of absence, some form of conscription to national service, but you assumed that this reinstatement was little more than the party in power making good on an election promise to en-

hance civic engagement.

Besides, what sort of “national purposes” could you serve? The only real images that this little card conjures up are of bearded men holding Zippos to them in the ’60s, or of old posters from Canada’s own crisis declaring that “The Slacker Must Not Rule.” But no hot war looms, and the army seems to be well stocked anyway.

The government has not proposed any major infrastructure project for which labour needs would outstrip supply. Why could you have possibly been drafted?

Another slip of paper falls out of the envelope.

This one, mercifully, seems to be personally addressed and less obviously officious. “Dear [Your Name],” it begins. “You have been selected to participate in a new pilot program. Given your educational background, as part of the new National Service Act, you will report for journalism work. Your length of service has been set at 18 months, and you will be stationed at the community newspaper in Wrightborough, Ontario. Compensation rates vary from posting to posting, but at the completion

of your service, assuming a satisfactory performance, your educational debt will

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Page 8

The Voice, February 26, 2020

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

TOWN COUNCIL NEWS Council defers odour bylaw around cannabis

Pelham Town Council deferred passage of an odorous industries nuisance bylaw at its February 18 meeting in the wake of presumed legal warnings from pot producers CannTrust and RedeCan. The bylaw is central to the Town’s Cannabis Control Committee’s efforts to create enforceable regulations before the expiry of the interim control bylaw in mid July.

The matter was deferred to council’s March 23 meeting upon CCC chair Tim Nohara’s request, but not before Mayor Marvin Junkin questioned the ability of the committee to handle the queries from CannTrust and RedeCan on their own.

“What we’re looking at are procedural, legal steps,” the Mayor said. “I think we should be referring this back to [the Town’s] lawyers in Toronto rather than the CCC … I think this is beyond the scope of the CCC, but that’s my opinion.”

Nohara said they have received letters from the cannabis producers’ lawyers, but didn’t divulge the contents.

DRAFT

continued from previous page Please report by the end of next week to your local government office to proceed.

This service is compulsory.

If you believe you may qualify for a medical exemption, you may indicate this upon reporting.”

Drafted! Stationed! Eigh-

“We have engaged our counsel to advise on any improvements we can make,” he said. “There have been identified some improvements.”

In September, Nohara told the Voice that getting the Town’s cannabis bylaws right is paramount, given almost-guaranteed litigation from producers. “[We] have to implement them in a way that first of all works, and second of all with withstand legal challenges,” he said at the time.

“We will get sued, but we think we’ll win.”

Ultimately, council disagreed with Junkin’s position that Town lawyers exclusively deal with the issue. Ward 1 Councillor Mike Ciolfi asked for a recorded vote, and councillors unanimously voted to authorize the CCC to handle the matter. According to a Town statement, however, the committee will work alongside Pelham’s legal counsel.

Nohara had originally asked for a deferment to March 2, but Town CAO David Cribbs said that didn’t provide enough time given council’s logistics.

Sitting later as Committee of the Whole, councillors appeared to

teen months! Wrightborough, previously unknown to you, turns out to be a small town far from your city. Its community paper is part of no conglomerate.

At basic training, which you reluctantly attend after concluding that bone spurs will not preclude you from participating, the whole system is explained by the attending officer, a kindly

Above, CAO David Cribbs gestures as he explains a point of municipal procedure to Ward 2 Councillor Ron Kore, right, at last Tuesday's Pelham Town Council meeting.

YOUTUBE pick apart Town staff’s Cannabis Land Use Report. Objecting to assertions made in the report about minimal property value impact from proximity to cannabis growers, Ward 2 Councillor Ron Kore asked staff why no such examples were cited in the report from the Niagara peninsula. Director of Community Planning and Development Barb Wiens replied that staff had no such local examples to use, and only had supporting data from Eastern Canada.

Ciolfi questioned Wiens on the

retired journalist who was herself requisitioned into her position.

“This program is indeed a trial,” she tells you and your class of a hundred other similarly positioned recent graduates. “Its nascence comes from several concerns, but the biggest is a general collapse in faith in democracy. There are only two responses to this—to let

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report’s conclusion that municipalities cannot prohibit legal uses within their boundaries. Wiens provided the example of strip bar establishments in other jurisdictions.

“I’m aware of similar case law with respect to adult entertainment parlors, with respect to those land uses, that’s often been quoted,” Wiens said. “In the City of Thorold, there was quote some time ago, in the ‘80s, a case involving adult entertainment parlors there.”

the wind sweep us where it may, or to try and recommit to some principles we might have once had. Faith in the media is even lower than faith in democracy, and falling just as fast.” Trying to repair this faith with the big outlets is too daunting a task, she says, and so it was decided to begin by bucking up local community papers in isolated places in a trial run. Where there were once real papers in these towns, with writers and editors who cared, a long period of corporate raiding blew holes in their hulls that scuttled them. And now no one wants to move there.

The rest of training is relatively straightforward. You are taught the basic tenets of fact-checking, interviewing and note-taking, forced to

Given the pushback to the report, Ciolfi led the charge in amending that Council receive it, but stop short of allowing staff to work from it until the CCC could provide feedback. “To say staff will implement this, I’m not prepared to go ahead with that tonight,” Ciolfi said. The amendment passed.

Following this discussion, Kore switched topics, requesting to speak about short-term rentals.

Town Clerk Nancy Bozzato replied

read through a few different newspapers a day. “You all have read thousands of news articles in your lives,” the group is told. “You know it works intuitively. The form is not hard.” You are brought frequently to the most important of journalistic offices, the bar, and taught that this place is not about—at least not just about—getting drunk but more importantly a spot for hearing the news before it’s the News. During your last week, you all meet individually with natives of the towns to which you’ll be dispatched and given primers about the places you’ll be going. Wrightborough, lonely as it is, doesn’t seem such a bad place to be for 18 months.

A short while later, after having been given a spell

See TOWN COUNCIL next page

of leave, you are deposited by bus on Main Street. Your term starts today—a car mechanic shop is having its 50th anniversary celebration, a school has its talent show and, most important, there is a council meeting where a controversial development plan is set to be approved. You pull out a notepad and get to work. ♦ Former Voice reporter Samuel Piccolo is a PhD student in Political Theory at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a degree in International Political Economy from Brock University (2017). In 2019, he received the Dalton Camp Award, a prize given by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting for the best essay on media and democracy. This essay orginally appeared on the FCB website.

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continued from previous page that since the topic was not on the agenda that this wasn't possible under council rules.

A moment later, Kore took issue with staff department reports now being made quarterly, rather than monthly, unaware that the change in reporting frequency had been made.

Bozzato and the Mayor deferred to the CAO for a reply. Cribbs addressed his response to council, as well as to the gallery, packed to overflowing with residents stretching out into the hallway leading to council chambers.

“I think the main complaint at the moment is the inability to address an item that’s not on the agenda,” Cribbs said, alluding to Kore’s earlier mention of short-term rentals.

“I can only say that the reason the Municipal Act functions as it does is that members of the public have a lot of interest in the items on the agenda. They knew, for instance, that cannabis was going to be discussed tonight and a lot of people came out to hear about that.

Gypsy moths are coming up—there are identifiable humans sitting in the audience because they want to hear about that. The reason we don’t bring up shortterm accommodation this evening is because there are dozens and dozens, if not hundreds and hundreds of people in this community interested in that, and we don’t have any materials prepared.”

Cribbs added that quarterly reports are more sensible given staff’s heavy workload and the frequent, two-week lag time that can make monthly reports redundant.

The Voice, February 26, 2020 “This council...has an extremely long, very ambitious, admirable, frankly, list of items you want to get to. This community has a number of significant issues. We go to the max, and we extend beyond the maximum meeting time multiple times a month. There isn’t room for more reports.

Those reports take hours and hours and hours of senior staff time, and to go from a monthly report that has only very minor statistics [to] quarterly is actually a very good management tool.”

Kore, then speaking of himself in the third person, asked, “If Ron Kore wanted a question about short-term rentals, how would he go about it.”

After an extended pause, the CAO replied with what was essentially an explanation of municipal procedures 101.

“Well, there are multiple ways to accomplish that. If it's simply a relatively innocuous or quick question, of course merely contacting either the relevant director or myself can get that answered. If we're looking for a more substantive report, i.e., using a lot of staff time— staff time being a resource for which the community pays us in salary — then the notice of motion process is...one mechanism you have to force anything on the agenda, if that's your preference.... [Councillors], in fact, get the minutes of [staff] meetings. You understand that we’re working on things. You refer items back to staff, and you typically give us deadlines, and we actually are in the habit of meeting those deadlines. So, typically, you know when you're going to hear more on any given topic.”

After another pause, Cribbs concluded, “That is

our system.”

Gypsy moths are on the way, and so is paying for them

Council received a report on the anticipated 2020 gypsy moth scourge. Like last year, it is expected the foliage-consuming critters will again be a major pest. The Town currently has $150,000 budgeted to combat them, but is still considering options that would require considerably more funding. One— aerially spraying the entire municipality—is pegged at a cost of more than $1 million, which would require an average charge of about $118 per household. The report also recommends the Town institute a “forestry health reserve fund,” which would deal with the future cyclical nature of gypsy moths.

BioForest, the outside consultant hired by the Town to conduct infestation surveys for this year, will present to council on March 2. A decision on the 2020 approach could be made then.

Odds and ends

Public Works Director Jason Marr said staff is still waiting on a design package from engineers for the new Fonthill arches to be reconstructed about Pelham Town Square. The arches are fully paid for through private and charitable donations.

Councillor Lisa Haun questioned Treasurer Teresa Quinlin on the community centre’s $15,000 telephone budget— three times more than originally forecasted.

Quinlin said that the elevators are the culprit for the added cost, given that they require a dedicated landline for emergencies. Haun suggested that staff shop for better rates from other telco providers.

Finally, as if 2020 had not already provided enough health concerns to fret about, council was treated

Page 9

to a 15-minute presentation from Pelham resident Roman Shapoval on his worries about fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology, the potential implementation of which is now under federal review.

Unlike previous generations of cellular service, 5G operates a wavelengths limited in range, meaning that transmitters are required every few hundred metres— roughly every city block.

Older technology is capable of transmitting for miles between antennas. Activists worry that increased exposure to close-up radiation may be harmful to health, and are advocating further study before 5G is approved.

However, in May 2019, the New York Times cited the Russian propaganda TV network RT America as a main source of 5G disinformation. US intelligence agencies previously cited the network as a “principal meddler” in the 2016 presidential election.

“It’s economic warfare,” the article quotes Ryan Fox, chief operating officer of New Knowledge, a technology firm that tracks disinformation, saying in an interview. “Russia doesn’t have a good 5G play, so it tries to undermine and discredit ours.” (In February 2019, Russia launched its own 5G networks.)

Shapoval, a transplant from New Jersey, said he worked in “big tech” for 12 years before moving north upon marrying a Fenwick native.

IN THE NEWS

Canada Cup big boat races (quads and eights) completed on September 21.

continued from Page 2 and a sidewalk barrier. The Impala then struck the front of the Welland Downtown Galleria, causing approximately $15,000 in damage to the front of the building. Police say the driver exited the car and fled the area carrying a white dog.

The driver was located at a residence on Division Street later in the day and arrested. Tyme Edward Cook, 43, of Welland, is charged with the alleged Criminal Code of Canada offences of Flight from Police, Failure to Stop at Scene of an Accident, Fail to Comply with a Probation Order. Cook has also been charged with five vehicle-related offenses under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act. There were no injuries as a result of the incident.

Cook attended a bail hearing on February 16, where he was held in custody.

Welland awarded rowing championships

According to a City media release, Welland has been awarded the 2020 National Rowing Championships and Canada Cup, which will take place September 17 to 21, 2020, at the Welland South Canal. The 2020 National Rowing Championships and Canada Cup will follow the same format as 2019, with the 2000m National Rowing Championship small boat races (singles and pairs) contested from September 17 to 20, and the 500m

Suicide barrier for Burgoyne Bridge

Niagara Region is beginning to install “means protection,” a euphemism for a suicide barrier, on the Burgoyne Bridge in St. Catharines. The project is scheduled to take place from now until May. According to a Niagara Region statement, during the construction period lane closures will be in effect on the Burgoyne Bridge, and, at certain times, below the bridge on Highway 406.

Traffic will be closed in one direction on the bridge, from now until the expected completion of construction. The lane closure will alternate during the construction period, with one lane open at all times and traffic signals at each end facilitating the traffic flow.

The barrier will be installed on the outside of the bridge and will be a “simple picket barrier design which minimizes visual obstructions.” On the inside of the bridge, between the two spans, stainless steel netting will be installed. A little over a year ago, Niagara Region’s Medical Officer of Health and Commissioner (Acting), M. Mustafa Hirji, brought forward a report to the Public Health and Social Services Committee.

Informed by this report, council directed staff to proceed with planning for the barrier.

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The Voice, February 26, 2020

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The Centrespread

FILL 'ER UP WITH ETHYL As millennials and Generation Z might put it, local history is "blowing up." It's amazing the detail that can be scanned from even a small postcard print, going on 85 years old. Courtesy of the Pelham Historical Society, we see an image of Pelham Street, just south of the Highway 20 intersection in Fonthill. No date is provided, but judging by the vehicles, foliage, and shadows—not to mention the stylish hats worn by the gentlemen at the right—this was likely snapped on a summer day, right about 12 noon, sometime in the early to mid-1930s.

Visible across the highway and above the car getting gassed-up is a second-story balcony on a building best known as what would later become Keith's Restaurant. The building remains looking largely the same today, though Keith's closed in 2017.

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice, February 26, 2020

Even on a bright summer day, it took a bit longer back then to ensure that enough light made it to a film negative to record an image, meaning that shutter speeds were slow by modern standards. As result, the ghostly image of a vehicle passing on Highway 20 is just barely discernible, to the left of the car and men speaking next to it close to the intersection. Was this stretch really called South Pelham Street back then?

It's a common mistake today, with many thinking that Pelham Street south of Highway 20 adds "South" to its name. In fact, as the friendly but firm folks at the Fonthill post office will tell you (as will Google Maps), there is no "South Pelham Street." Pelham Street extends all the way down to the Pelham border, just north of Foss Road. From there it becomes "South Pelham Road," continuing all the way south to River Road, and the Welland River.

PELHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY FILE

Page 11

PELHAM

Pieces From Our Past

Page 12

The Voice, February 26, 2020

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

Firefighter calendar axed Fire chiefs in other municipalities largely indifferent to St. Kitts kerfuffle

BY DON RICKERS

Special to the VOICE

The senior management team of the City of St. Catharines stirred the flames of discontent last week, announcing that municipal resources would no longer be used in the creation and promotion of a calendar produced by the St. Catharines Fire Department’s Combat Team, if the firefighters appearing in it were partially undressed.

“The City would like to emphasize this decision is not about charity, it’s about respect and dignity in the workplace and workplace culture,” said Deputy Chief Administrative Officer David Oakes, quoted in a press statement.

“As a corporation, the City continues to evolve and to re-evaluate policies and procedures to ensure they support efforts to be an inclusive workplace where employees and citizens have the dignity and respect they deserve.”

The decision has been met with resistance from many local residents, who were not shy about sharing their views on Facebook.

Several comments pointed to the significant funds raised through calendar sales (some $30,000 since the calendars’ inception), which have benefitted such local charities as Pathstone Mental Health, PC Children’s Fund, and the children’s ward at the St.Catharines Hospital.

Many considered the shirtless firefighter photos as being quite dignified, and within the bounds of good taste.

Firefighters depicted in the $10 calendars are members of the city’s 15-member Combat Challenge team, which competes across Canada and the United States. Wearing full firefighting gear, competitors race head-tohead performing a series of tasks including tower climbing, hoisting, chopping, hose dragging, and rescuing a weighted lifesized victim. All team members are extremely fit, with powerful physiques.

This doesn’t necessary mean the end of the calendar, though.

St. Catharines Fire Chief Jeff McCormick was optimistic that “this annual fundraiser can be re-envisioned in a manner that Fire Services and the City can both support.”

Pelham Fire Chief Bob Lymburner told the Voice he understood management’s perspective.

“These days, inclusion is important, and we must be careful in a diverse workplace to respect the views of others. I have no problem personally with the calendar concept, and like the fundraising for charities component.

But it has to be acknowledged that some people might find the calendars offensive, and we need to respect that. The City of St.

Catharines has made a decision, and that’s the way it is.”

Lymburner said that to his knowledge, Pelham has never done a firefighters calendar.

When he was with the Niagara Falls Fire Department years ago, Lymburner recalls that they produced a calendar, with the attitude that people had the option of “supporting the calendars or ignoring them.”

Pelham Fire Department has its own charitable fundraisers, with Station One conducting a turkey raffle and boot drive, and Stations Two and Three hosting spaghetti nights and fish fries.

Local firefighters also assist in charity events with community groups, such as turning out in dress uniforms for fashion shows.

Morgan Alcock, Wainfleet’s Fire Chief, told the Voice that the department did a calendar about ten years ago as a fundraiser, but that he “has no real opinion on the matter.”

Similarly, Welland Fire Chief Brian Kennedy said that the calendar was “not an issue at all” with his department.

So-called cheesecake and beefcake calendars (depicting physically alluring women and men respectively) have been popular for decades.

One can point to Sports Illustrated’s 1964 bathing suit issue as a seminal moment in modern cake history. The annual presentation of scantily clad models remains SI’s most popular and financially-lucrative issue, despite accusations that it promotes the harmful and dehumanizing concept that females are a product for male consumption.

Cover of last year's St. Catharines Fire Department calendar.

An historical shift in beefcake history followed the rise of pornography in the 1960s and 1970s, and the growth of “second-wave” feminism. Women became a new target audience.

There are beefcake calendars today for sexy priests, New York City cab drivers, and cowboys (“Studs ‘n’ Spurs”). Most of these calendar projects are connected to a relevant charity, and this is surely part of what makes them more broadly palat-

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able. Many play on the comedic and playful aspects of beefcake, which suggest something less overtly lustful than coy and flirtatious.

Given the increasingly sensitive mores of recent years, however, behaviour once perceived as harmless fun is under renewed scrutiny for its wider impact on the culture, particular on youthful, and impressionable, minds.

Beefcake calendars are likely not long for this world.

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Page 13

Broken Spoke program continues rehabbing bikes for fifth year Impact felt locally, internationally

BY MEGAN METLER

Special to the VOICE

Since 2015, the Broken Spoke Bike Program has been up and running through the Port Colborne High School.

Aubrey Foley, its instructor, recalls how the program was started.

As an avid cyclist, he was no stranger to bike damage and having to wait around at bike repair shops. Foley decided to teach himself how to fix his own bike, and became increasingly popular around his neighbourhood for repairing others’ bicycles.

With his skill being more widely recognized, a friend of his asked if he would repair a bike for her to drop off in Cuba and he agreed.

Then after seeing a post about the bike heading to Cuba on Facebook, the school principal asked Foley to come to Port Colborne High School, teach students how to fix bikes and give them something hands-on to do.

Foley said that he put together a work area and tools, at no cost to the school board, and is now teaching two morning classes on a regular basis.

The program collects used or damaged bikes, refurbishes them and gives them

away to people in need of transportation, or provide to those less fortunate. The bikes are distributed not only in the community, but also to international organizations.

Their bicycles have been transported to Guatemala, Cuba, Haiti, and elsewhere, through various charities.

With Foley and teacher Shawn Coers supervising, the students in the program learn to fix the bikes that come into their shop and receive credits through the High School Special Credit Program (co-op). They also have the opportunity to pick their own bike to repair, build and keep for themselves.

Those involved in this experience learn mechanical skills, help the environment, and also get the opportunity to give back to their community.

“It makes you a better person to help people and be able to provide them with something that will make them happy,” said Foley.

The environmental benefits of fixing old and damaged bikes are that it reduces landfill waste and it’s supporting a green transporta-

Above, 60 refurbished bikes being loaded for transport. Top and bottom right, students and staff at work. tion substitute.

“A bike has no fossil fuels, emissions or effects on the environment,” said Foley.

“It helps our earth and keeps things green.”

To make an even greater environmental impact, The Broken Spoke Program partnered with the Niagara Region.

The Region has been setting aside bicycles at their

landfill depots for Foley to pick up and take back to the school to be refurbished.

Bikes are also accepted free of charge from residents at drop-off depots all year round.

“This allows us to change our diversion from being recycled to being reused. We should reuse as our number one priority,” said Andrew Winters, Program Manager, Waste Disposal Operations

at the Region.

According to Winters, in 2019 just over 2000 bikes were donated to the Broken Spoke Program from landfills. Since their partnership in 2016, some 6000 bikes were saved from being turned into scrap metal and given instead to the Broken Spoke team.

Staff and students who participated in the program were awarded certificates for

SHAWN COERS

the impact they have made in partnership with the Region. They were also given the Silver Excellence Award in 2018, from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).

“If we can bring in and distribute almost 10,000 bikes in five years, imagine the environmental impact we could make if more schools did it,” said Foley.

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The Voice, February 26, 2020

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

Left, resident Edward Russell presents his exhibit of renderings of how the neighbourhood might appear in the future. Right, details from a drawing of the proposed building.

continued from Page 3

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only heard of this meeting three days prior, despite notices allegedly being sent out since January. Although there were three purported notices, several residents had only received, or been aware of, one or two notices.

Edward Russell, resident and owner of Russell Associates Inc., then presented an exhibit showing renderings of the neighbourhood as it appeared today, versus what it would look like if the proposed apartment com-

plex was approved. He also handed out sheets of rough calculations showing that if this and more apartments were to be approved, at least 611 new people and 341 additional cars would be introduced to the neighbourhoods of Pelham.

“We have a nice community here,” said Russell, “I’ve been here 55 years. I’d like it to stay that way as much as possible. We can’t stop all of this, but if we get together we can have some impact.”

Angry barbs continued to be traded back and forth, with many speakers talking

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Residents lingered to discuss the meeting, eventually trickling out slowly from the church in small groups.

Asked for comment, Russell shook his head.

“The meeting went nowhere, nothing’s accomplished. We have to defend this neighbourhood, as much as we can,” he said.

In contrast, when Vuckovic, the developer, was asked how he thought the meeting went, he replied, “Very well.”

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PELHAM LIBRARY CARD MAKING WORKSHOP Make six cards with fall themes, learning a variety of techniques. Materials areThis provided.

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FABULOUS FENWICK LIONS FISH FRY Tasty treats with funds heading straight back into the community. Haddock, french fries and much more. Runs Sept. 9 from 4-7 p.m.

If your message to Pelham PELHAM MINOR HOCKEY EQUIPMENT SALE Buy, sell or trade equipment at the Pelham Arena. Aimed to provide isn’t inused our pages, cheaper options for players in this upcoming season. Runs Sept. 6 from 9-12 in the morning.

Then it isn’t being seen.

PELHAM MUDFEST Men and women will be back in the mud as the second run on the year is held at Bissil’s Hideaway.

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NIAGARA REGIONAL EXHIBITION The paper that Pelham reads.

Rodeo, games and live entertainment headline this years exciting event. It runs from Sept. 11-14 at the Welland Fairgrounds.

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The Voice, February 26, 2020

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., North Pelham

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 (United Church of Canada) 461 Canboro Rd., Fenwick

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

FAITH LIFT

continued from Page 19 millions of copies. He is best known for his works of fiction (such as The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy) and his non-fiction Christian apologetics (such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain). Lewis has been called “the Apostle to the Skeptics.”

The bestsellers, however, have been the seven fantasy novels in The Chronicles of Narnia (over 100 million copies sold), which have been popularized on stage, TV, radio, and cinema.

In 1956, Lewis (age 58) married American writer Joy Gresham (41) who would die of cancer only four years later. The movie “Shadowlands” depicts their rela-

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream

tionship. Lewis died in 1963 one week before his 65th birthday. In 2013, Lewis was honored with a memorial in “Poets' Corner” in Westminster Abbey on the 50th anniversary of his death.

Lewis’ writings have been widely quoted over the years by Christian writers and speakers. They are full of wisdom and insight. Here are a few examples…

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”

“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.

Aim at earth and you get neither.”

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

“You don't have a soul.

You are a Soul. You have a body.”

C. S. Lewis lives on in the minds and imaginations of a burgeoning number of readers and viewers. And as a sincere Christian believer, he truly did receive the gift of immortality promised him by his savior on that memorable day in 1963. ♦ R.L. Weatherby is a retired pastor.

MAKEOVER

continued from Page 18 absolutely not about the bikes, contrary to what Lance Armstrong may have written.

They prefer luxurious guided and supported tours, and rent quality bikes from the tour operators. They don’t carry their own luggage, book their rooms, or plan their sightseeing agenda. When we hear tales of their trips, it’s about exquisite meals served in Tuscan wine cellars, walking the streets of Dubrovnik as the sun sets, Renaissance art museums, and the like. They acknowledge their cycling enhances each experience, but isn’t the focus of their travels.

Bruce and Louise took their first bike tour at age 59, from Banff to Jasper, via the Columbia Ice Fields and Athabasca Glacier.

Both had driven the Alps and Rockies extensively, yet they raved about never before experiencing mountains and nature so viscerally as they did while cycling. There had been minor discomfort during the ride (Bruce lost feeling in his fingers near the Athabasca Glacier, Louise pushed her bike up a few hundred metres of the Sunwap-

ta Pass), yet their stories dwelled on being dazzled by the clouds scurrying over the mountains and the incredible wildflowers.

The “in the moment” nature of cycle touring had hooked Bruce, and Louise loved challenging herself physically.

On our cycling trip to Ireland, my wife and I bypassed the pubs of Dublin and politics of Londonderry, preferring the stunning west coast. When we talk of that tour, we explain how after pedalling three hours into a fierce northern headwind along the cliffs of the desolate Atlantic Way, with legs sometimes cramping from extended climbs, and without relief from the noise of crashing waves, we truly understood how frightened and alone a solitary fisherman battling those waters must feel.

These vivid, uncompromised experiences are what make bicycle travel so worthwhile. The bike is merely the delivery device.

As a cycle tourist, you may miss the traditional travel “must sees,” but your immersion in the detail of every metre you pedal will enrich your travels in ways four wheels and a motor never will. Try it in 2020. ♦

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

“I have always drawn strength from being close to home.”

Arthur Ashe

The Voice, February 26, 2020

Sporting Green The Niagara

Page 17

John Swart heads to southern Spain

18

The Voice and TheVoiceofPelham.ca | February 26, 2020

Crossley standout

signs with Niagara College Sydney Grummett will stay local

Sydney Grummett.

BY BERNIE PUCHALSKI

BPSPORTSNIAGARA.COM

In the past week, the Niagara College women’s basketball head coach has added E. L. Crossley’s Sydney Grummett, Notre Dame’s Jamira Rousseau, and Denis Morris’ Lexxus Bell to his roster.

“We are so excited to add Sydney for next season. Above all she’s a tremendous person that fits right away,” Rao said. “From a basketball perspective, she’s a strong physical player with great passing ability.”

He describes Grummett’s rebounding as her top skill.

“It’s extremely fun to watch her get her hands on a ball because once she does, it’s hers no matter what,” Rao said. “She’s having a great season with Frank Keltos with Niagara Juel and had an excellent year as one of the

leaders of the E. L. Crossley team that went to [Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations] under Aaron Belding. The more Syd has the ball in her hands, the better she will get over the next few months and into next year, continuing to develop her skills.”

The 18-year-old Fonthill resident was thrilled to sign with Niagara.

“Obviously it is very overwhelming and a lot going on but it is definitely a milestone that I have hit, for sure,” said the former Pelham Panthers and Niagara Rangers basketball player.

“I am excited to start this new chapter in my life.”

Grummett had plenty of people on hand to watch the signing.

“It was nice to have prior coaches, current coaches, family, friends, past and present

teammates there.”

She also had interest from Brock, Seneca and Laurentian before committing to Niagara.

“Obviously it is a little scary to go away, so it is nice to stay home, stay local and a bunch of my friends are going so it’s not like I am going to go and not know anyone.”

Basketball is also a big part of it.

“I have practiced with the girls a few times and been to the games and I think it is going to be a great dynamic to learn and play there.”

Grummett’s goal for her first Ontario Colleges Athletic Association season is to earn some playing time and go from there.

“I want to form great relationships, practise and train hard and try and push myself to a whole new level,” she said.

Improving her offense and becoming a little less selfless will be an area of focus.

“I want to take more shots, be a little bit more selfish with the ball and definitely work more on my offensive game.”

She has made great strides in her game since starting high school and wants to continue evolving upward.

“It kind of sparked when my brother passed away and I wanted to carry on that legacy with what he would have wanted to do,” she said. “I took on more of a leadership role, was there for others and pushed myself in what I could do.”

She wore the same No. 13 jersey as her brother, Tyler, before his death, and that continues to this day.

“It means a lot more to me now,” she said.

TESS PUCHALSKI

The number 13 also pops up when looking at the Niagara College career of her father Paul Grummett. He ended his Knights career as the 13th all-time leading scorer in the men’s program.

Syd is planning to study art and design foundations at Niagara with a goal of becoming an interior designer.

“I have always been a little bit artistic and enjoyed the arts and helping around the house and designing my own room inspires me to get into that. It is one of my passions.”

She is already preparing for her first season at Niagara.

“We are still in our Juel season so I will carry out that season and not let up in that,” she said. “I am going to work as hard as I always have, finish off the season, graduate, work over the summer and start up in September.”

Page 18

The Voice, February 26, 2020

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

FROM THE HANDLEBARS

by John Swart

Do your travel plans need a makeover?

T

wo hours into our drive to Capileira, I realized something was drastically wrong, but I didn’t know what it was.

We’d been in southern Spain for three days, and my wife and I were peering into the Poqueira Gorge from an ancient stone wall in Pampaneira, the first of three “pueblos blancos” (white villages) in Las Alpujarras, an isolated mountain region east of Granada.

The village was spectacular, suspended from the mountainside, stunning with centuries-old white pargeted homes and shops— an undisciplined mix of Berber architecture,

Christian-Muslim influences, and medieval Moorish culture.

We could see the road ahead snaking along the gorge’s edge, ducking in and out of the massive fault scars, climbing hundreds more metres to Capileira, the end of the road.

Our first three days had been spent in Ronda, famous for its Plaza de Toros, Spain’s oldest bullring, and Granada, home to the Moorish Alhambra palace.

Both cities are entrancing delights for historians and photographers alike.

But so far the highlight of this, our first road trip in decades, was a day on rented bicycles, riding the

40-kilometre Via Verde de la Sierra, a repurposed railway bed in the Andalucian mountains. Our ride began in the tiny village of Olvera, from which we descended 300 metres to Puerto Serrano, north of Ronda. We shared the rural countryside with cattle, goats and shepherds, terrifyingly dark abandoned railway tunnels, and warm blue skies.

Today we wanted to visit the famous white villages.

The distances and elevation changes were beyond our cycling ability, so we drove — and that was what was wrong!

The mountain and valley vistas were beautiful, the three white villages delightfully unique, and the roads hair-raising as promised...but we were never part of it. We hadn’t earned the view at Pampa-

The author in southern Spain. neira, and the fresh mango and avocado salad became extra calories rather than fuel or reward. We’d never know how fast we could coast down that incredible road, or laugh at the unrelenting smell of cattle and goat manure floating up the mountainside from corals and pastures below.

Switch back to Pel-

ham, trapped between a false winter and tedious grey skies. I know you’re dreaming of your next travel getaway. Think bicycle touring this year, and don’t worry, one needn’t be an accomplished cyclist or fearless free spirit to enjoy the multifaceted world of bike touring.

Our friends Cathy and

SUPPLIED

Frank travel for history, gastronomy, culture and wine. They enjoy physical activity, but are far from hardcore cyclists.

Golf ranks higher than cycling for both of them, yet each year at least one European cycling tour is on their agenda. And their tours are See MAKEOVER Page 16

Voice

HOROSCOPE

CROSSWORD ANSWERS

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS FEBRUARY 23 Josh Gad, Actor (39) FEBRUARY 24 Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Boxer (43) FEBRUARY 25 Sean Astin, Actor (49) FEBRUARY 26 CL, Rapper (29) FEBRUARY 27 Josh Groban, Singer (39) FEBRUARY 28 Patrick Monahan, Singer (51) FEBRUARY 29 Cam Ward, Athlete (36)

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155 HWY 20 WEST

details, as they help complete the bigger picture, Scorpio. This involves dotting every “i” and crossing every “t.” Follow up on all loose ends.

SAGITTARIUS – Nov 23/Dec 21 Sagittarius, express how you are feeling, even if all of your beliefs aren’t popular with everyone. Don’t worry; there are many people who are in your corner.

CAPRICORN – Dec 22/Jan 20 Don’t be intimidated by other people who think they have all of the answers. Be bold and your assertive attitude will soon lead to positive results.

AQUARIUS – Jan 21/Feb 18 Taking each day as it comes without thinking too much about where you are going could be a great strategy right now, Aquarius. Overthinking things could be a recipe for trouble.

PISCES – Feb 19/Mar 20 It is one thing to have big ideas, but quite another to put plans into action, Pisces. You are ready to step up this week and make things happen.

SOLUTIONS ACROSS 1. Abaca 6. Sloe 10. Tabi 14. Basel 15. Pertained 17. Accomplishments 19. Shi 20. Has 21. Ypres 22. Tot 23. Glee 24. Spat 26. Herded 29. Atar 31. Lane 32. Pat 34. Dane 35. Matte 37. Debs 38. PMT 39. Bend 40. Yeah 41. Parent 43. Sans 45. OSHA 46. PAC 47. Biota 49. Aar 50. SSB 53. Confidentiality 57. Interests 58. Minae 59. Raid 60. Nee 61. Abets

ARIES – Mar 21/Apr 20 Aries, you are seeking success but are frustrated by a lack of results.

Explore some new ways to approach your goals, and your mood can improve.

TAURUS – Apr 21/May 21 Taurus, sometimes the road you are traveling on has an unexpected detour. Rather than get frustrated by the situation, enjoy the new scenery that comes along the way.

GEMINI – May 22/Jun 21 Gemini, the more research you do, the more secure you will feel with your decisions. You may have to delve a little further into a decision in the days to come.

CANCER – Jun 22/Jul 22 Your career is about to take a unique turn, Cancer. However, you may have to devote some more of your personal time to be able to handle the new responsibilities.

LEO – Jul 23/Aug 23 Whatever problems have cropped up around the house can be easily remedied, Leo. There is no need to stress about them. Instead, get a new perspective.

VIRGO – Aug 24/Sept 22 Friendly and approachable is what you need to be this week, Virgo.

Someone may be watching you carefully, and you need to be mindful of perceptions.

LIBRA – Sept 23/Oct 23 Libra, you’re all revved up and ready to go but really have no solid destination. Don’t fret. Some inspiration will soon come to you and guide your path.

SCORPIO – Oct 24/Nov 22 Pay attention to all of the small

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice, February 26, 2020

Voice

FAITH LIFT

by Pastor Rob Weatherby

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SPONSORED THIS WEEK BY

The immortal C. S. Lewis

n November 22, 1963, newspapers around the world screamed the headline – KENNEDY ASSASSINATED. Overshadowed somewhere in the back pages of those papers appeared another death notice that day—C.S. Lewis died at the age of 64.

Today, however, it’s a different story. President Kennedy is a distant memory and seldom quoted. But the plethora of books by C. S. Lewis continue to be best sellers, several have morphed into movies and the erudite Oxford scholar remains one of the most quoted authors in the world.

So, who was this man who excelled in academia yet could fascinate children with his allegorical fantasies? And who was this once atheistic professor who became one of the Christian faith’s most prolific apologists. Let’s find out.

Page 19

glish literature first at Oxford and then at Cambridge University in England.

Reluctant convert

At Oxford he joined a literary club called “The Inklings” and became close friends with fellow novelist and professor J.R.R. Tolkien.

The genuine faith of Tolkien and G. K. Chesterton, and the writings of George MacDonald influenced him. After a lengthy struggle, Lewis too became a believer at age 33 calling himself “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.”

His faith would profoundly affect his teaching, his writings and the rest of his

life. In his words, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

During World War II, Lewis’ BBC radio broadcasts on various Christian topics became very popular. They would become an equally popular book, Mere Christianity.

Prolific author

Lewis wrote some 30 books which have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold See FAITH LIFT Page 16

Irish scholar

Clive Staples Lewis was born in 1898 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His parents, Albert and Florence, baptised him as an infant in an Anglican church. He had one older brother, Warren.

As a youth, he picked up the nickname “Jack” and it stuck. Lewis loved to read and his father (a lawyer) had lots of books. But, sadly, his mother died when he was only nine.

Lewis abandoned his childhood faith at age 15 and became an atheist. He developed an interest in Norse and Greek mythology and pagan Celtic mysticism. As a young man he served in World War I, was wounded in action, and saw firsthand the horrors of war. After the war he resumed his studies and excelled. In 1925, Lewis (age 27) began his lifelong career as a professor of En-

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Page 20

The Voice, February 26, 2020

COLUMN SIX

continued from Page 1 of The Apathy Club at my university. During Frosh Week the various student clubs and organizations set up their booths around the campus to lobby undergraduates to join. Among the debating clubs, chess clubs, activist groups and the school newspaper was the Apathy Club, inviting membership from all students who identified as indifferent to absolutely everything.

To no one’s surprise, the Apathy Club quickly folded “due to lack of interest.”

In England and Wales the number of people who declare they have no religion has risen by six million since 2001, making those two countries among the least religious in the western world. In the UK as a whole, only 21 percent claim religion to be important in their lives, while in Canada the figure is 29%. Atheism, and its less assured cousin agnosticism, are on the rise.

It’s my belief—if I can phrase it that way—that a true atheist, as opposed say to someone who just thinks it’s cool, arrives at their position after much reflection and serious reading.

The writings of Bertrand Russell, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens give one pause for thought, which was exactly their intent. To invite us to think.

Anyone would have to think very hard about their reasons for buying into oblivion. It’s an all-or-nothing throw of the dice. A zero sum game, as they say, for there’s no tomorrow.

But the idea of atheists needing to club together to celebrate their unbelief strikes me as kind of odd. Why join a group when you’ve decided to go it alone?

My experience with churches is that they offer a community to like-minded members. They provide hope for the hopeless, companionship for the lonely, and charity for the dispossessed. History tells us

RON’S

25 yrs exp.

it wasn’t always this way.

Centuries of wars in the name of religion attest to its dark side. Jonathan Swift wrote in 1727, “We have just enough religion to hate each other, but not enough yet to love each other.”

I leave it to others to determine if relations between Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus around the world have improved since then.

My other experience with churches is that they like to expand their portfolio, increase their flock numbers by signing on new clients.

I suppose there’s nothing wrong with converting people as long as you have something to offer. Light in the darkness, for example.

Telling people they’ll live forever is good news indeed.

That’s a no brainer.

Believing that death is only the beginning gives those who get a raw deal in this life hope of a better one in the next, as long as they play their cards right.

But so far from having a light to offer the benighted, the Church of Atheism has little to offer except more

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darkness. Some, like Mark Twain, find the thought of oblivion comforting. “I don’t fear death,” he said, “because I was dead for a million million years before I was born, and was not at all inconvenienced by it.”

The Church of Atheism holds Sunday morning services for the once-religious who now feel they’re missing out on something. They sing pop hits like, “Don’t Stop Me Now,” and listen to talks on science and reason and objective truth to bolster their belief in non-belief.

As a non-believer myself I’ve no desire to surround myself with other ones. Should I meet another non-believer on my own, I would hope to engage in a lively and civil discussion about how we came to this pass. It’s not that, like Groucho, I wouldn’t belong to any club that would have me as a member, but I regard my personal credo as a private matter. I’ve never been comfortable with groupthink. I’ve worked hard to arrive at non-belief and will continue to do so because

the matter is never settled.

But I don’t see how standing in a circle holding hands with others and singing, “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” or,

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“Imagine,” or, “Shallow Be Thy Name,” will help me.

And that, by the way, brings up one of the great glories of Christianity, for faithful and skeptic alike.

The music.

When I hear Handel’s Messiah, the masses of Bach, Haydn and Mozart, I’m deeply moved. I love the music, and the poetry, even though I don’t share the sentiment.

As well, Christianity has given us some of our greatest architecture, painting and sculpture over the past millennium. You don’t have to be a believer to appreciate the art any more that the artists themselves had to be believers to create it.

I don’t in any way deny the Church of Atheist’s right to exist, though I remain skeptical of its right to seek out others to convert. And as for the court’s decision to deny it charitable status, I believe it was the right one.

In the end, they didn’t have a prayer. ♦

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