The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

The Voice

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bilko@rgcmail.com Vol.22 No.1

Wednesday, January 3 2018

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KPMG confirms key allegations accurate Firm cites “significant drop in the financial health of the Town”

Column Six

Leaves of Glass

BY VOICE STAFF When former Pelham Town Councillor Marvin Junkin resigned on November 6, asserting that Council had learned two months earlier that the Town was $17 million dollars deeper in debt than previously disclosed, he did not have physical confirmation of his claims. At a September 5 closed-door meeting, Junkin said that Councillors were not permitted to take notes, nor leave the meeting with any materials presented to them.

On December 19, KPMG released a version of the same report presented to Council on September 5, with the names of identifiable individuals removed and certain financial elements updated. KPMG’s report confirms Junkin’s account of what Council learned on September 5. Here are Junkin’s statements, as made to the Voice in early November, compared to KPMG’s report, released December 19.

BY COLIN BRZEZICKI

E

Reason for review

Junkin: Former Councillor Junkin asserted that Treasurer Teresa Quinlin said she became concerned about the Town’s financial state after being on the job for just two or three weeks, and that it was this concern that prompted KPMG’s summer review.

KPMG: The firm’s report states, “In July 2017, KPMG was engaged to investigate certain concerns over the financial health of the Town.” KPMG’s involvement was requested by the Town’s lawyers, says the report, “in contemplation of litigation with an identifiable individual.” Quinlin was hired as interim Treasurer during the third week of May. She was named to the position permanently in September.

Unreported debt

Junkin: Former Councillor Junkin asserted that Council was told the Town was $17 million deeper in debt than disclosed in its financial statements, calling this unreported debt.

KPMG: The auditing firm confirms that the September 5 report to Council showed $17.2 million in approved debentures that had not yet been acquired. By KPMG’s November 29 presentation at E. L. Crossley high school, this $17.2 figure had been reduced to $9.9 million.

This reduction is partially a result of the Town’s paying for infrastructure projects through development charges (loss of future revenue), rather than taking on debt.

The single biggest reduction came from the Town’s internal funding of a $3 million dollar, 3.3 acre parkland purchase from Fonthill Gardens in 2016 (the subject of another audit).

The Town has repeatedly refused to explain how this purchase was funded internally, given that the Town had just $554,000 in cash at the start of 2016.

See ALLEGATIONS Page 3

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FIT FOR CHAMPIONS Pelham native and Grey Cup champion Chris van Zeyl holds the trophy with Fonthill Fitness owner Mike Brown. Story, page 11. SAMUEL PICCOLO PHOTO

Special to the VOICE

V ERY THING COMES at a price, though not with a lifetime warranty.

“Progress has never been a bargain,” says Henry Drummond in the famous Monkey Trial case from Inherit the Wind. “Mister, you may conquer the air, but the birds will lose their wonder, and the clouds will smell of gasoline.”

A decade ago I introduced my English class to a revolutionary device that was invented to replace the book. I passed the e-reader around the room, having downloaded The Mayor of Casterbridge, and asked the students to take a turn reading from the device.

One girl looked at it, stroked the unresponsive screen, then stared at me.

“So, what else does it do?”

It’s a question Amazon has been answering ever since, releasing successive new version of the Kindle.

Today, it provides not only the requisite touch screen, but other applications and features that bring the device ever closer to the physical book it set out to replace.

Now, when you turn the screen page it actually curls back from the top just like a real one. A rustling sound effect would complete the illusion.

See COLUMN SIX back page

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Page 2

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

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NRPS impaired driving charges

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

by Dave Burket

Tick-tock—what appealed to you in 2017, what's coming in 2018, and grab yourself a gift card The days are getting longer: Countdown to spring has started.

Environment Canada’s long-range forecast of a snowier-than-normal winter has so far proven true. And a good long cold snap is fine by me, especially if it kills off a few more yard pests than got taken out last winter… Time to choose: A new year means a new Citizen of the Year, and the Kinsmen are eager to receive your suggestions. See their ad on page 5. We can think of a number of worthy candidates, one in particular who now qualifies as he is no longer a “sitting politician.”

Let the nominations roll in!… Still a great place to call home: Driving out of it in any direction, it doesn’t take a Pelham resident long to realize that our town remains a fine place to live. Cross the frontier into most of our bordering municipalities, and you quickly start to miss the relative peace of our combined villages. Is our town under threat of too much growth, too quickly?

Absolutely. Highway 20 through Fonthill increasingly resembles Transit Road in Buffalo, especially at night. Thankfully an election is coming. In 10 months’ time we can collectively decide whether we want to see our town continue down the path it’s being taken by the current occupants of Town Hall, or whether there’s a better way to manage development… Back in action: After a week off we’re rested and ready to roll. Among other things, we’ve put together a team to examine KPMG’s reports on Town finances, quietly released at long last by Town Hall before Christmas. The news wasn’t good, despite the Town’s best efforts to spin it to other media outlets then announce it was time to move on.

We don’t think that the Region will

share this view. It is also extraordinary that Town Council—before even reading KPMG’s reports—rescinded its plan to hold a public Town Hall-style meeting, at which residents could ask questions about the auditing firm’s findings, and anything else they desired about the management of their Town’s money.

Unfortunately, interesting times remain ahead… But first a quick look behind: Banal recitation of the year just past? Horrors, no. But I grudgingly accept that we now live in a listicle world, with numbered lists a pandemic. So here are the Voice’s Top 10 most read stories, according to Facebook, for 2017. (This is Facebook’s “impressions” voodoo. It’s a dark art, but presumably a consistent one.) For several months, Ron Kore’s February pick as Citizen of the Year led the way with 7060 hits. But by the end of year, the Top 10 shaped up as follows, starting at the bottom: “Junkin on audit: It doesn’t go far enough,” Oct. 3, 5323 hits.

“The Conversation: Ed Smith talks NPCA,” Aug. 11, 6339 hits.

“Anatomy of a land deal: Appraisal alchemy,” July 5, 6574 hits.

“Pelham motorcyclist arrested,” Oct. 10, 6606 hits.

“2016 Citizen of the Year: Ron Kore,” Feb. 8, 7060 hits.

“Pelham’s own TARDIS,” Sep. 7, 7171 hits.

“The Conversation: A whistleblower blows,” July 5, 7350 hits.

“Miss Sharon Keller,” Dec. 6, 8117 hits.

“Pelham Town Councillor explains why he resigned,” Nov. 7, 8465 hits.

And the most widely read story from 2017, according to Facebook, was, “Timmsdale House demolished,” Aug. 31, with 10,018 hits.

Share the shares and comment

Voice on vacation!

attacks against—our small town and the sensibilities native to it.

But then, as now, I did not believe that small towns ought to be places where disagreement and scrutiny are willfully ignored in search of a hollow peace.

A philosopher once called marriage a conversation. He wrote, "When marrying you should ask yourself this question: do you believe you are going to enjoy talking with this person into your old age?”

In some ways, the Voice is married to Pelham. It is the main medium through which the conversations of some 17,000 spouses are heard.

Similar to any other, this marriage has mazes and phases—periods when the conversation is more engaging than others. 2017 was an engaging year. More so than the rest of my life spent here.

After spending most of the year observing and transcribing these conversations, I am more confident than ever that this marriage will endure. The participants are thoughtful, and (most) of them are honest—about themselves, about the community, and about the future. Whether you’re in that philosopher’s old age or not, keep talking next year. It’s a pleasure to listen...

Countdown: Thank you, Sam. And on the promise of youth, spring is just 11 weeks away. Stay warm.

on the comments: The most shared story was the remembrance of E. L. Crossley teacher Sharon Keller, at 56 shares, with the Ed Smith interview coming in at 54 shares. The story drawing the most comments was the Timmsdale piece, at 75, with Ron Kore’s Citizen of the Year coming in at 35 comments. Kore also topped the reactions list—such as when users click a happy face or heart. Kore earned 148 likes; Timmsdale got 102; and the TARDIS story came in at 82… What people pay attention to: Equally interesting, we think, is what consistently earned wide readership. Virtually any story on Pelham’s finances earned hits in the mid-5000s. Many other pieces widely appealed as well, such as the story about a Fonthill woman being excluded from a Welland Old Boys dinner (5242 hits); the community gathering to honour the memory of student and rower Emily Brettell (3444 hits); and our coverage of Dr. Duane Pelser’s license suspension (4315 hits)… Keep those hits coming: Our holiday subscription bonus succeeded better than we’d dared hope. So we’ve extended it, with a white knight stepping in to provide as many Sobeys’ cards as we need! Subscribe now and receive a $10 Sobeys gift card as a bonus.

Instructions are on page 15. (Some new subscribers preferred to remain anonymous, so we’re not saluting by name after all. But you know who you are, and we are deeply grateful for your support.)… Make way for the younger generation: I asked our man Sam Piccolo to reflect on his time at the Voice so far. Here’s what he had to say: My first contribution to the Voice, in early 2017, was an effort to defend—or at least discourage blind

Subscribe and get me!

The Niagara Regional Police Service is committed to reducing impaired driving offences through education and the apprehension of offenders through enforcement programs like RIDE. Impaired driving is still the leading cause of criminal deaths in Canada and destroys thousands of lives every year.

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Vol.20 No.48

CELEBRATING OUR 20TH YEAR

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

DSBN wants portion of Town park

111 Hwy. 20 E., Unit 5, Fonthill 905-892-9054 www.healthycupboard.ca

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The Comfort Maple myth

Vol.20 No.39

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

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Oops: No fire trucks for you

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Column Six

Growing up British

Vol.20 No.32

Wednesday October 12, 2016

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Apple Day comes to Fonthill

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

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

Debbie

Get

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

See COLUMN SIX Page 14

Full service. Full-time Realtor.

Your Fonthill real estate connection.

BY VOICE STAFF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joining their principal, Karen Simpson, at the Sept.

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

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

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

After delivering to Council a petition containing

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

podium over to Loewen and Williams to plead their case.

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

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

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 in Pelham during the 2015 Apple Day campaign.

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

Office 905.892.1702

Column Six It doesn’t get better than Autumn

Longtime Scouting tradition dates to 1932

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Request made of community still peeved at name change

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Column Six

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

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

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

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

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

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Pined -Sol Pelham’sPelham’s Health Food Store

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.

Derek P. GUILLEMETTE, 36, Welland Jonathan VOIGT, 42, Niagara Falls Douglas W. HARRISON, 58, Port Colborne Ryan J. MERCURI, 35, Cheektowaga NY Pranay U. MUDGAL, 26, Niagara Falls Gordon McCLURE, 24, St. Catharines Jessica DOLCE, 26, St. Catharines Gregory M. PAPICH, 58, St. Catharines Paul G. HERMOZA, 46, Niagara Falls Stephen RYAN, 19, St. Catharines Jason VEIDE, 26, St. Catharines Austin CROTEAU, 19, Port Colborne

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

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

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

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

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

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

The hues of Autumn are outstanding.

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

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

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

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

Indulgence Bakery Mossimo’s Pelham Street Grille Sobeys Fonthill Peter Piper’s Pubhouse DeVries Fruit Farm Beamer’s Hardware & TV Fonthill Library Black Pearl Fish & Chips Bob’s Boys Antiques Moku’s Family Health Pharmacy Fonthill Fitness Fenwick Pie Company McDonald’s Fonthill Legion Semenuk’s Gas Bar Target Store Tim Horton’s Giant Tiger Pelham Town Hall Pub on the Hill Zee Lube Express Care Lazy Loon Minor Bros Stores Avondale Stores A-1 Market Sobeys South Pelham Grill on Canboro Pelham Library Ridge Berry Farm Circle-K

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The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

Page 3

Pelham Town Council says no public meeting after all Councillors reverse earlier commitment; staff now refuse direct answer of audit questions

BY VOICE STAFF Despite having previously indicated that the Town would host a public meeting, during which residents could ask questions about KPMG’s reports on Town finances, Pelham Town Council voted on December 18 not to do so.

Councillor Gary Accursi initiated discussion on the matter, saying, “I can think of no other questions that could come forward. It is time that we move forward with the governance of this municipality.”

Accursi subsequently proposed that Council “not move forward with the public meeting as originally proposed.”

Councillor Catherine King seconded Accursi’s suggestion, saying that she had provided comment on the matter in previous weeks, and had been “brutally attacked by certain members of the public.”

“Enough is enough,” King said. “We need to move on.”

Councillor Richard Rybiak expressed some hesitation, saying that he would prefer to hold off on a decision until after KPMG’s reports were made public.

(CAO Darren Ottaway asserted that the Town had only received KPMG’s reports several hours before the Council meeting. Accursi, and the rest of the Councillors had not read their contents at the time of the meeting.)

Councillor Peter Papp said that he concurred with Rybiak’s remarks.

Councillor John Durley wholly supported Accursi, saying, “For ten months we’ve gone through the process four or five different ways. I think that emotion has taken over from actual intellect.”

“There’s nothing that we intentionally did that was wrong,” said Durley. “It’s

been proven six times.”

Mayor Dave Augustyn said that there were other opportunities for Council to interact with the public, and suggested that the continued scrutiny of Town’s finances was motivated by other factors.

“There’s something going on here. I’m not going to say what it is. But there is something going on,” said Augustyn.

Despite their earlier reservations, Papp and Rybiak joined with the rest of Council, which voted unanimously not to hold a public meeting at which residents could ask questions about the Town’s finances.

After examining the reports and consulting with accounting experts, the Voice asked the Town direct questions about the matters discussed in them. Despite indicating that she would respond to inquiries about the Town’s reserve funds, Treasurer Teresa Quinlin did not acknowledge to the Voice’s request.

In response to a question about where the Town acquired an extra $3 million dollars, Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald said, “as directed by Council Monday evening, the Town is moving forward on matters as they relate to the KPMG report.”

MacDonald concluded his email to the Voice by indicating that the Town would not further respond to questions about the reports, writing, “If you have questions about previous year’s finances [sic], please submit them through FOI.” Regional Audit Committee chair Tony Quirk expressed disappointment.

“The reality is that, despite assurances from the Mayor and the CAO, the Town of Pelham's finances are in incredibly rough

ALLEGATIONS continued from Page 1 (After the Town declined opportunities to answer this question, shortly before Christmas Pelham’s Public Relations and Marketing Specialist, Marc MacDonald, told the Voice, “If you have questions about previous year’s finances [sic], please submit them through FOI.” FOIs, or Freedom of Information requests, are a cumbersome and time-consuming means of obtaining information. They can be used by authorities to discourage investigators from probing into matters that governments may prefer left unknown by the public.)

As this remaining $9.9 million is to be funded with debentures in 2019, it is considered “unreported debt”— debt that the Town has approved and which it intends to acquire.

The difference between “unreported debt” and “approved debentures (but not issued)” is

shape, and the fire sale of land and assets isn’t going to fix that anytime soon,” said Quirk. “It is disgraceful that the Town Council would play these games, but I think they are all hoping it just goes away until after the election.”

Mayor Augustyn, one of Pelham’s two Regional councillors, did not respond to a request for comment.

An automated email reply stated that he was on holiday break until January 8.

Pelham’s other Regional councillor, Brian Baty, reiterated that he brought his concerns about Pelham finances to Town Council in July, at the behest of several constituents.

“At the July meeting of Pelham Council I was attacked on this issue claiming that concerns were only from a small number of cynics possibly including myself,” said Baty. “I remained polite and courteous during this process as I respected the many voices that had expressed concerns.”

Baty said that the proposed public question-and-answer session to follow KPMG’s presentation at E. L. Crossley, “held promise to bring all parties together, and timely responses to the media might have helped us past these questions…. [Yet now] the gag order on further Q&A meetings and media requests limited to Freedom of Information requests will slow down the required process of clarification that I believe is so necessary to move us forward.”

Baty cited the film Cool Hand Luke, whose story was set in a Florida prison camp. Echoing a line spoken by the prison warden, Baty said, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”

mainly that approved debentures (loans) may not be taken out in the entirety of their original amount.

Accordingly, it is technically true that they are not debt that is unreported on financial statements. But they are unreported long-term liabilities. And, since at least some of these loans inevitably will be taken, some—if not all—of the $9.9 million is, for all intents and purposes, “debt.”

This functional debt was not reported on the Town’s 2016 financial statements.

In her remarks at E. L. Crossley on November 29, Treasurer Teresa Quinlin suggested that the Town may not need to acquire a loan for the entire $9.9 million in 2019, suggesting that the amount might be as low as $5 million. But unless the Town finds $9.9 million in cash without taking on additional debt, then practically speaking there is unreported debt, even if the precise amount remains presently unknown or undisclosed.

AN INVESTMENT IN CARING Nicolle Lalonde, of Edward Jones in Fonthill, recently presented Lori Grande of Pelham Cares a $250 donation and non-perishable food items, which were received at their Annual Holiday Open House.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Regional Council seat added in West Lincoln

Pelham Council votes no, but change succeeds with "triple majority" approvals

BY VOICE STAFF In the municipal elections coming in 10 months’ time, a seat at Regional Council will be added for West Lincoln. Currently, West Lincoln is represented at the Region solely by its mayor, Doug Joyner. Joyner and Wainfleet Mayor April Jeffs are the only lower-tier representatives who sit solo on Regional Council.

The motion to add a seat required a “triple majority,” meaning that it had to pass Regional Council, a majority of lower-tier municipalities, and that these lower-tier

Depleted reserves

Junkin: Former Councillor Junkin asserted that Quinlin was concerned about the Town’s reserve balances, saying, “She realized that what the Town should have had in reserves and what they really had in reserves were two different figures…There were some accounts that should have had hundreds of thousands of dollars in them that had virtually zero.”

Junkin said further that this news came as a surprise to Council, a sentiment similarly expressed by Councillor Peter Papp.

A few hours before Junkin resigned, however, Mayor Dave Augustyn, when asked directly whether he had received any information in the interim that would lead him to question the accuracy of these audited reserve amounts, replied, “I have no reason to believe that number is not correct.”

KPMG: The firm’s report says, “barring any other Town assets that are easily convertible to cash, the Town did not appear

municipalities constituted a majority of Niagara’s population.

Joyner said that the addition is “not just about more governance, but rather increasing the level of service for a municipality experiencing tremendous growth starting in 2017.”

Regional Chair Alan Caslin said that he was “pleased that the growing municipality of West Lincoln will be doubling its

to have cash available to cover its deposits, deferred revenue, nor its reserves in 2015 or 2016.”

The report notes that while there is no formal legal requirement to maintain cash balances in reserve accounts, “without maintaining balances of cash and liquid assets equal to reserves, the intended mechanism of the reserves may be impaired.”

KPMG says that reserve balances were presented to Council by the Treasurer (then Cari Pupo) in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

“In each report to Council, it was stated that ‘year end reserve balances remain healthy and capable of supporting the Town’s ongoing commitments.’

This statement appears misleading as the Town does not appear to have the cash balances on hand to support the year end reserve balances.”

KPMG also notes, “representatives of the Town are concerned about the Town’s cash balance and believe it should be at least equal the balance of deposits, deferred revenue and reserves.”

See WEST LINCOLN Page 7

Poor financial health

Junkin: Former Councillor Junkin asserted that KPMG painted a bleak picture of the Town’s finances to Council at the September 5 closed-door meeting. The message, he said, was, “You’re ****ed.”

KPMG: The firm’s report concludes that “the Town went from a net financial assets position of approximately $4.1 million in 2008 to a net debt of approximately $13.7 million in 2016.

This represents a significant drop in the financial health of the Town.”

KPMG notes that $9.1 million of Town’s cash balance at the close of 2016 came from loan funds issued for the Community Centre, and “were not available to support ongoing operating cash requirements of the Town.”

“We do not know what the [provincially assessed financial risk] ratios for 2016 would indicate if this cash had been excluded from the Ministry [of Municipal Affairs]’s calculations.”

Page 4

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

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 No cannabis retailer for Pelham—yet

T

H E ON TA R IO Cannabis Retail Corporation (OCRC) recently released the names of the communities that will host the first 40 cannabis retail outlets in Ontario. This drug distribution system becomes lawful on July 1. Presumably, this legislated monopoly will drive existing illegal dispensaries out of business as well as create another tax revenue stream.

Regrettably, for the throng of local cannabis advocates, Pelham was not on that list of legitimate drug providers. The Town will have to get in line if resident pot-lovers wish to have a store located in their neighborhood anytime soon.

Nonetheless, our ever-innovative Town leadership might begin preparations for when Pelham’s number comes up in a future lottery that awards additional shopping center sites featuring a menu of cannabis products. The locations where these emporiums can be located is strictly legislated. These stores are not to be situated near schools and parks, so as the sites are not easily accessible to the skateboard and bike crowd. Presumably locating near retirement homes

is allowable and will make for easy access by the senior crowd. Happy hours at local seniors’ residences will take on a whole new atmosphere once these toking grannies and grandpas light up an ounce or two.

Crank up the Victrola, roll up the rug, and pass me another one of those special brownies!

“Arthritis be damned!

Crank up the Victrola, roll up the rug and pass me another one of those special brownies!”

Another possible scenario. A future edition of the Voice might feature a news story showing the widely grinning faces of MPP Oosterhoff and Mayor Augustyn cutting the ribbon at the grand opening of Pelham’s first cannabis storefront. In their remarks they might recommend a strain or two

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The Voice

1428 Pelham Street, P.O. Box 1489, Fonthill, ON L0S 1E0 Office open: Monday - Thursday 8 AM - 2 PM

(905) 892-8690

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca PUBLISHER & EDITOR Dave Burket publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca NEWS WRITER Samuel Piccolo ADMINISTRATION Lori Gretsinger office@thevoiceofpelham.ca CONTRIBUTORS Larry Coté, Nick Saltarelli, Carolyn Botari, John Swart, Kirk Weaver

for their soon-to-be more easy-going and laid-back constituents. They might pass along some cannabis-based recipes to induce happier dining experiences for Pelhamites.

To be politically correct, the proper nomenclature for the product is “cannabis.”

Some zealous activists have declared that the more popularized “m” word is a racist term and should not be used. However, mary-jane, weed, grass, ganga and pot will continue to be used by those more comfortable with the cannabis scene. Be careful which term you use when chatting with pals at the local coffee shop. Unguarded usage of such nomenclature might inadvertently demonstrate a close familiarity with the toker demographic.

Since much of Niagara’s agriculture is under glass the Region might promote the area as the Cannabis Capital of Canada. Grape growers could see cannabis outstripping the demand for the fruit of the vine and start plowing under the vineyards in favor of growing this alternative among the choices of euphoric inducements. Operations unSee CANNABIS next page

Letters The Mayor, the Council, the bureaucrats Is the strategy by the Mayor, the Council and certain Town bureaucrats just a bad dream or is it "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

There seems to be more twists and turns in it than some of our back roads here in Pelham.

Why is it so convoluted?

They seem to use facts like a drunk uses a lamppost — for support not illumination.

I attended the meeting at E. L. Crossley on November 29 and many of the 200 attendees left shaking their heads, none the wiser.

The citizens want straight answers to simple questions, not obfuscation and broken promises.

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES advertising@thevoiceofpelham.ca

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are welcome. Letter submissions should contain the writer’s full name, address and telephone number. Names only will be published.

Names may be withheld if compelling reasons are provided. The newspaper reserves the right to change, condense or reject any contribution for brevity or legal reasons. All material in this publication is protected by copyright. Reproduction is prohibited without express, written permission of the publisher. ADVERTISING: The Voice of Pelham regrets any errors or omissions that appear in advertisements in this newspaper, however, we will not be held responsible for more than one absent or incorrect insertion or for any damages beyond the cost of space containing the error. The Voice is an independent, locally owned and operated publication.

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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

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

Member of Provincial Parliament

Ward 1 Councillor Richard Rybiak rrybiak@pelham.ca 905-892-2105

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

Councillor James Lane jlane@pelham.ca 905-892-2607

Electoral District: Niagara West-Glanbrook

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

Ward 2 Councillor Catherine King cking@pelham.ca 905-658-8599

Nick’s Cleaners WELLAND Mon-Fri, 8am-5:30pm Sat, 9am-1pm FONTHILL New hours: Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm except Wed, 8am-1pm Sat, 9am-1pm

Councillor Gary Accursi gaccursi@pelham.ca 905-892-5528 Ward 3 Councillor John Durley jdurley@pelham.ca 905-892-5388 Councillor Peter Papp ppapp@pelham.ca 905-328-6008

Paul V. D’Amico PAU L @ N I C K S C L E A N E R S . C O M

Community Centre project updates: www.pelham.ca/pcc

NEWS INQUIRIES & TIPS editor@thevoiceofpelham.ca LETTERS TO THE EDITOR letters@thevoiceofpelham.ca

I know the big wheel moves one cog and the little wheel revs at a thousand rpm just to keep up, but the corollary is also true.

The little wheel revs at a thousand rpm to make the big wheel back up one cog.

The citizens are trying to tell you something, Mr. Mayor, members of Council and certain Town bureaucrats. Listen to them.

They carry the freight for your grandiose schemes and they are not going away.

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The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

Page 5

OPINION Letters

FOLLOW THE MONEY By Jim Pitt

continued

Don't bite the hand that...writes all those delicious RFPs

A Visit from St. Indebtedness T’was the night before Christmas, and all through Fonthill Not a creature was stirring; the traffic was still The Community Centre was well on its way But townsfolk were wondering how they would pay “Fear not!” the Council announced with a splash “Development charges are better than cash!

We will make lots of money by selling the land And build new high rises where old buildings stand "Paid experts will teach us the way to fund raise Three million dollars will take but mere days We can go to the Bank if our credit is good Will we raise taxes? – We definitely could” “But what,” asked the townsfolk, "when our money’s all gone?”

“By then,” said the Council, “We will all have moved on!”

A Loyal Reader Pelham

Fleeing a sinking ship?

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There was a skirmish and the rat was injured but ap-

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Since we live next door we immediately purchased and set traps in our yard, and See RATS next page

CANNABIS

T

HERE IS AN OLD adage that says don’t bite the hand that feeds you. More about that later.

A press release dated December 19, 2017 stated unequivocally that the Town is through with answering any more questions about finances and land deals — it's a bold tactic in this, an election year.

This came after the last council meeting, held the day before, on December 18.

During the meeting, a motion presented by Councillor Accursi, seconded by Councillors King and Rybiak, laid bare the inner workings of this town.

Accursi’s motion called on the Town to rescind its promise to hold a public meeting, at which residents could ask questions of their elected officials, Town staff,

Larry Coté is a retired professor of business studies. He has been awarded the Governor General’s Medal for his community activities.

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At that particular meeting, 20 presentations were politely listened to. Ten favoured the proposed arenas, and ten were against.

The Mayor and Council did not ask the presenters any questions. There were no questions allowed from the considerable audience and, with the brisk banging of a Mayoral gavel, Council passed the motion.

That was that.

In March 2017 the Town was challenged by a local developer regarding the Town’s finances and land deals. Eventually this developer offered to pay $50,000 towards an independent, third party audit of some questionable transactions concerning the Town’s East Fonthill development adventure.

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is that the report that has been released answered all those questions— again I haven’t read the report.”

William Hall

continued from previous page derway or soon underway on Foss Road and on Highway 20 may be just the start.

For those who want to get a head start in this newly legitimized industry they could investigate Niagara College’s post-grad Cannabis Production Program. Who would have thought there might be such a diploma program? The field placements for this program could be mind-blowing experiences.

If a Pelham resident plans to host a backyard pot party, then a trip to the nearest OCRC weed store to get a baggie or two will be required. One need be careful not to carry an open baggie on the drive home lest you encounter a pot check cop stop. Also, don’t be surprised if neighbors downwind of your patio drop by wearing strings of beads, a toque, sandals and a muscle shirt emblazoned with a peace sign.

Lastly, and in all seriousness, if you intend to use cannabis then do so responsibly. Remember, if you imbibe, then don’t drive. Lamentably, police say that persons under the influence of drugs now outnumber DUI interceptions due to alcohol. Hopefully, the law- abiding residents of Pelham will not contribute to that statistic.

and various experts, about the state of Town finances as finally revealed by KPMG’s November report to a special meeting of Council, held at E. L. Crossley high school.

When discussing this motion to deny residents any further opportunity to ask questions, Councillor Rybiak made reference to the KPMG report that the Town had recently bought.

He said, “I am willing to accept the report. I have not seen it yet. None of us has seen it. It was released to staff. I was unaware that it was released until a moment ago.”

Councillor Rybiak thought it might be nice to allow everyone interested to read the report and then questions of a factual nature could be entertained. But then he went on to state, “My view

Timothy J. Hennig OD., F.C.O.V.D. 4266 Queen St. • Beamsville • 905-563-5333

Page 6

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

Letters

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

continued

Elect the lot of them at once

New arena: Operating costs could run 10 times higher than projected

An old proverb says that a dollar saved is a dollar earned. We would save millions of dollars if we would elect all members of all levels of government —federal, provincial, regional and local/municipal/city at the same time.

For example, election officials would issue ballots the size of a playing card with all the names of say, federal candidates on it. The voter would mark the ballot and place it into the open box of the candidate he/she chose.

Every hour, or as needed, the ballots would be bundled, timed and tabulated. In this way, shortly after the closing of the polls, result would be

As the new community center arena gets closer to its completion, the DEBT committee wanted to take a closer look at the operating subsidy for the old and new arenas. Our information was obtained from the Town’s website, and we included all the revenues and costs available from that source.

The table below shows the estimated operation subsidy of the current Haist Street arena: $40,000 per year, vs the new community center arena with an annual cost of $2,238,000.

If and when the Town sells its 18 acres fronting on Rice Road and Highway 20,

the bridge loan interest will decline. If we realize the full $12 million in land sales that the Town has estimated, then the operation cost of the new community center arena becomes slightly under $2 million a year.

This is an amazing cost for the Town and it may go higher unless Town administration can get control of staffing costs. We are looking at more than doubling these costs and adding a few more staff that will be on the Sunshine List within a year or two.

The operating cost is a far cry from the Town’s number of $200,000 per year.

That’s because they are

netting-out costs directly related to the community center arena such as the Haist Street arena’s staff and all of the debt incurred for the new facility.

The Haist Street staff are being transferred to the community center arena when it opens and should therefore be a part of the cost of operating that facility. The Town’s presentation deducts them from their calculation, which is not a standard way to present the cost of operating a facility.

The Town also doesn't show the debt costs directly related to the building of this facility. Why? They claim you/we have already been

paying for it since 2016, so it’s not a cost?

Or it will be paid for out of other tax revenues so it’s not on your tax bill.

None of these arguments are the right way to show us how much the facility costs. Normal accounting rules for government and industry alike look down on netting-out costs to make the numbers look smaller.

With the right information, you can deduct those numbers yourself if you feel they shouldn’t be included.

The debenture to be serviced by future development charges is a debt of this

a panel made up of Town employees, the Town lawyer and Town auditors. The Mayor and Council sat in the audience and, at no time, participated. These measures were not successful in calming the masses.

In an effort to assure the locals and the opposition on Regional Council, the Town hired KPMG to do an audit in lieu of the third party audit offered earlier. This audit was presented to the townsfolk at E. L. Crossley..

The auditors spoke at length while the Mayor and Council looked on approvingly.

Again, no questions were allowed and at no time did the Mayor or Councillors of-

ficially respond.

A question-and-answer session was to be held at a later date. Now, courtesy of Councillor Accursi and the rest of Councl, this meeting has been deemed unnecessary and has been cancelled.

All three of these public meetings have had one fact in common. At no time, in any of these meetings, did the Mayor or any Councillors engage the townsfolk, entertain any questions, offer words of assurance or in any way interact with anyone.

They remained silent and aloof, secure in the workings of officialdom and confident in their actions.

They let the experts do the talking for them. Who are these experts?

Each and every expert engaged by the Mayor and Council to do their talking for them is a contracted consultant or salaried administrator. They are all paid with our taxes and with the money of which the Town likes to borrow so much.

Councillor Accursi stated, “Pelham has taken unprecedented steps for a municipality in our effort to be open and transparent.”

Well, Councillor Accursi, I’ll give the Town an A for effort. The Town has gone to extravagant lengths to

get the results it paid for.

But the Town gets an F for transparency. Transparency is more than a catchphrase.

True transparency requires outside audits and politicians answering for themselves.

What we got instead is experts intent on not biting the hand that feeds them, and a Mayor and Council who regularly bite the hands that feed them.

FOLLOW THE MONEY continued from previous page

a

The Town replied with 300-page-plus “data

...issue ballots the size of a playing card... known.

According to internet searches, the last federal election cost taxpayers $443 million. Therefore, each and every election is costing us hundreds of millions, and this robbery is repeated again every four years.

John Stefko Fenwick

dump.”

The Town also held an “Evening with the Experts.”

This meeting was hosted by a Town-appointed moderator and had

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Letters

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

Page 7

continued

West Lincoln to gain second councillor continued from Page 3

ACTUAL COSTS continued from previous page Town no matter how it’s paid for. The development charges necessary to make these annual payments is roughly $638,000 per year.

At $2,000 per building lot, for the component that can be used for servicing this debt, that’s 319 new homes a year no matter how well or poorly the real estate market is doing.

When the real estate dip comes, and it will, the Town will have to make these pay-

ments no matter how much comes in from development charges. This goes on for decades. Town staff has the answer to this question but fail to respond to our requests for it.

Did the Mayor and Councillors know this was the operating cost subsidy required to run the new facility before they designed it with expensive materials (US brick and heated seats)?

Can they staff it for less money and keep the costs lower?

Do we need a receptionist/

cashier for $62,000 per year?

Does the maintenance manager need to be on the Sunshine List, earning $100,000-plus?

Ask your councillors for the answers to these questions and let us know if you can get anyone to respond.

We are entitled to ask questions and receive answers in a timely manner, unlike the KPMG follow-up meeting which the Mayor and Council promised the residents, then failed to follow through on.

Curt Harley Pelham DEBT

representation at Regional Council.”

West Lincoln’s population is now 14,500, though this number is expected to increase substantially in the coming years, and is projected to double to 29,000 by 2041.

St. Catharines City Council voted against the addition, as did Pelham Town Council.

At its meeting on December 18, Pelham heard a presentation from a West Lincoln municipal councillor arguing in favour of the addition. Following the presentation, Council debated the motion, with only Councillor John Durley expressing his support.

Councillors Richard Ry-

I would like to see a review of Regional Council and its mandate

biak, Catherine King, and Peter Papp suggested that the governance structure of Regional Council be reviewed.

“I would like to see a review of Regional Council and its mandate,” said King. “We need to review that first before adding to

the problem.” She went on to complain about how Pelham has been treated by the Region.

Rybiak said, “The purpose of Regional Council is to put forward a direction that the area municipalities want to go. If that burden is too great, then the burden ought to be lightened.”

Rybiak also suggested that it may be appropriate for Regional Council to be made up solely of mayors.

Shortly after Pelham voted against the addition, word was received that both Grimsby and Lincoln had voted in favour, adding to the councils of Wainfleet, Fort Erie, West Lincoln, Port Colborne, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Niagara Falls.

Great food, Great people

What if God was one of us...just a stranger on a bus Quoting Sam Oosterhoff MPP in the Voice: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.”

This is not very inclusive. I would have preferred: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all.”

I see no evidence that God has favourites, or that God is male.

Alan Bown Fonthill

RS!

NEW HOU

Richard

Brown SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Office: 905-892-0222

Cell: 905-651-5143

rbrown@royallepage.ca • www.homesniagara.com

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“Finer dining at diner prices” ANNOUNCING OUR NEW HOURS!

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Nightly Features + Regular Menu ~ All sandwiches and wraps served with choice of fries, soup or salad ~

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Spinach, fresh strawberries, and toasted almonds with dressing

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L.L.B.O. Licensed

Page 8

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

QUIET WINTER WONDERLAND Christmas Eve in Pelham.

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

NATALIA SHIELDS PHOTO

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

A relatively recent arrival in Pelham, fine art photographer Natalia Shields enjoys capturing rural and northern landscapes, tree portraits,  nature in urban spaces and scenes from her travels. Natalia’s images can be seen on exhibit in photo and art shows around the Golden Horseshoe, including the Pelham Art Festival.

Page 9

Page 10

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The taking of Pelham Transit Few riders, but charismatic driver makes the time fly

BY SAMUEL PICCOLO

Raymond Lee, at the helm of his Pelham Transit bus.

The VOICE

O

NE RECENT AFTERNOON, the Pelham Transit bus stopped at the end of its second afternoon run in the parking lot of the Royal Bank in Fenwick. Its driver, Raymond Lee, whose shift begins at noon, pulled out a half-smoked cigarette and opened the driver's side door to step outside, letting a few snowflakes float in and fall

onto his seat.

"It's getting too cold," he said, puffing smoke away from the bus so that only a faint trace of it was blown in. "I'll have to stop smoking."

Lee, who is 60 and whose immigration to Canada from England was sponsored by his Canadian-born wife four years ago (the two met and married in En-

gland), is trim and clean-shaven, and has a head of neatly-groomed grey hair. His smile does nothing to dispel the popular conception of English dental health.

"I've had a rough go the past couple of months," he said. "I had most of my teeth pulled out—by choice—and I don't get the dentures until January. They were just all rotten." Lee speculated that

England's younger generations are now better educated on how to take care of their teeth, but said that when he was young there was nothing of the sort.

"I used to have sugar sandwiches," he said. "There were five of us, and my mum had to do the best she could. Plus I was never at home much anyway. Always outside, playing football in the streets

VOICE PHOTO

and in the fields. Mind you, that’s real football.”

Before coming to Canada, Lee was a taxi driver in Hertfordshire, just north of London, and he is clearly comfortable behind the wheel of the bus, even if he feels as though he’s driving on the wrong side of the road.

See ON THE BUS Page 14

Pelham Library: 2018 priorities

BY KIRK WEAVER

CEO Pelham Library

The beginning of a new year often comes with a list of resolutions or goals that

people hope to achieve.

The Pelham Public Library is no different. As part of our four-year strategic plan, the Library Board

LIVE MUSIC EVERY FRIDAY & SATURDAY NIGHT

Jan 5 ...................... Jessica Wilson Jan 6 ...................... Tab Man Jan 12 .................... Nathan Warriner Jan 13 .................... Burn the Edge

has established five major themes that we believe will help us achieve our mission to engage, encourage, and enrich our community.

These themes are: •Ensure we are active participants in the community •Provide continual opportunities for the individual growth and learning of residents •Be financially sustainable

•Update facilities to meet community need and changing library trends •Invest in our people to maintain high levels of customer service Each year, the Board sets more specific objectives within each of these broad themes. Through a facilitated discussion in November it became clear that there would be six main areas of focus this year.

LOOKOUT RIDGE RETIREMENT COMMUNITY Lookout Ridge Retirement Community is looking for individuals to join their team who provide a high standard of customer service in a retirement home setting.

•Undertake a needs assessment with a particular focus on identifying what non-users of the library are seeking in an effort to expand our reach in the community.

•Identify partnership opportunities to do market research on the best way to reach and serve new residents to the community. This is timely, with the Town poised for significant growth.

•Develop better ways to measure our impact on the community beyond the traditional methods of attendance and circulation. We want to be able to demonstrate the outcomes our programs and services provide.

•Continue to enhance

our fiscal situation by developing a long term vision for ensuring we are able to meet community needs for generations to come.

•Review our programs and services to ensure they continue to meet needs.

We will need to identify creative options to meet growing demand with existing resources •Prepare for a new term of the Board that will be reestablished after the municipal elections this fall.

Often New Year’s resolutions and goals do not get completed. We know we have set an ambitious agenda - but we are confident that with strong community support and dedicated staff we will be able to reach our targets.

We are currently seeking resumes for:

DIETARY STAFF

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL THE STAFF AT PUB ON THE HILL! Try one of our many craft beers on tap!

FREE WiFi

1455 Pelham St, Fonthill 289-897-9494 pubonthehill.com

Various day and evening shifts available.

Must be responsible and dependable individuals.

Send resume to: Human Resources Lookout Ridge Retirement Community 1505 Lookout Street Fonthill, ON L0S 1E5 Fax: 908-892-9488 Or by email: jobslr@lookoutridge.ca

Salon Allegra wants to wish you a Happy New Year!

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

Page 11

Grey Cup comes to town in arms of native son

Only a shell remains at 51 Woodside Square.

BY VOICE STAFF A Fonthill family was left homeless two days before Christmas.

On December 23, fire engulfed the home of Destiny Locking and her husband Denis Guillemette, at 51 Woodside Square in south Fonthill.

Pelham Fire Chief Bob Lymburner said that the department received the call at 8:20 in the evening, with firefighters staying on scene until after one in the morning, before again attending the scene the next day.

Twain came gliding onto the field on a sled pulled by huskies. Two days later, the Argos held a victory rally in front of Toronto’s City Hall. Less than two weeks later, TFC won the Major League Soccer championship.

“That’s two trophies in Toronto right now,” said van Zeyl. “We’ll have to see about the Leafs.”

ES T

ER PIPER S ET

IPERS P RP

VOICE PHOTO

Fire destroys Fonthill home

17 .20

PETER PI

Toronto Argonauts offensive tackle Chris van Zeyl stopped by Fonthill Fitness on December 19, bringing along the Grey Cup. The Pelham native won this year's cup with his team in a close 27-24 victory over the Calgary Stampeders. (He also won the championship in 2012 with the Argos.)

Surrounded by friends and family at Fonthill Fitness, van Zeyl, who is 6'6" and more than solidly built, laughed about the stress that the team had put their fans through during the game.

"Last time [in 2012], the game was pretty much over at half-time. This year we kept everyone sweating until the very end," he said, looking over at two middle-aged men posing with the cup.

"Pick it up!" he said to them. "It's not that heavy."

Reddening and smiling, the two men each grabbed hold of a handle.

"This day's not really about me," said van Zeyl.

"It's about the community, and about all the people who helped me out along the way.

Foremost among them was van Zeyl's father, Casey, who is also of imposing stature and looks as though he played football.

"I did play," said Casey.

"In high school, and then a little bit after. I had an opportunity to try and play for the Tiger-Cats once, but I decided not to. Now I can play through Chris— all of the excitement, and it doesn't hurt the next day.

Though sometimes it can be painful just watching him get hit."

When van Zeyl's siblings—two sisters and brother—all posed together with him and the trophy, they smiled broadly.

One sister quipped: "Years of torment went into this.

We all had many stitches."

Casey and his wife, Betty, travel to almost all of their son's games, and always the ones in Ontario.

"We have a routine for the home games," he said.

"Chris lives in Burlington, so it's easiest for him to take the GO Train to BMO Field. After the game, we drive him and his wife home, and stop for dinner along the way."

"Football is really a fulltime job for him," said Casey. The CFL season runs from late spring until the fall, but for the rest of the year van Zeyl must continue to keep in shape.

"He's listed officially at three-hundred and twelve pounds," said Casey. "But I think he's more like three-twenty."

Casey's eyebrows arched when discussing the amount of food that his son must eat.

"I'm glad he moved out," he said. "That grocery cost will put you in the poorhouse. When he moved out was the first time that Betty and I thought of retiring—it was the first time that we could afford it."

There was plenty of food

on offer at Fonthill Fitness.

Mike Brown, who owns the gym and is friends with the van Zeyl family, hosted the event, but the pizza was donated, as was the Sobeys Grey Cup-themed cake.

Halfway through the alloted time, the cake still had not been cut, though its edges had been smoothed away by the outstretched fingers of kids running around the room.

"Why don't we just cut it?" said van Zeyl, looking up from the photo he was taking with his niece and sister-in-law. His niece, Ella, was sitting in the Grey Cup's bowl.

Those there to take photos with the cup did all sorts of things with it, and van Zeyl didn't seem to mind.

Three teenage boys negotiated among themselves as to how they would hold it.

Pelham resident Ric Gretsinger, who was bouncing excitedly around the room taking pictures, said that he'd been unable to get close to the cup in years past.

"When I lived in Edmonton, the parades were so big that you were always far away," he said. "And then when they'd bring the cup to a restaurant, you'd have to buy a ticket just to get in."

Perry Neuman, another Pelham resident, was near Fonthill Fitness for a dental appointment when he saw that the Grey Cup was going to be in the gym.

"It was just perfect timing," he said, after getting a photo with the cup and van Zeyl. "I love the CFL. I'm a Tiger-Cats fan, but I didn't tell him that. I cheered for the Argos in the championship game."

In Fonthill Fitness’s lobby, a television played a loop of highlights from the game. Snow fell throughout most of the game, and halftime performer Shania

PET E

The VOICE

RS PE

BY SAMUEL PICCOLO

“The fire was not suspicious, and a structural engineer has deemed the building unsafe,” said Lymburner, who added that the department will not be investigating a cause.

“There’s not a whole lot to be gained from having people inside of the structure. It’s in the hands of the insurance now.”

Locking, Guillemette, and their son, Hunter, were not in the house at the time of the fire, but their two

dogs were, and both were lost.

“No one was hurt, so that’s a good thing,” said Lymburner. “But it’s still very unfortunate that this sort of thing happens. It’s hard at any time of the year, and even worse right now.”

A GoFundMe page in support of the family may be found at: https:// www.gofundme.com/lockingguillemette-fire-fund

SAM OOSTERHOFF, MPP

New Year’s Niagara West–Glanbrook

Invites you and your family to a

Levee

PETER PIPERS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2018

Join Us for Live Entertainment every Saturday

2:00pm to 4:00pm Royal Candian Legion, Branch #613 141 Hwy. 20 East, Fonthill

We wish you a Happy New Year!

h $5.00 BURGERS EVERY MONDAY PINT NIGHT THURSDAYS FISH FRY FRIDAYS

PS: We make no promises on the pickled peppers 111 Hwy 20 East, Unit 3, Fonthill | 905-892-0PUB

6:00pm to 8:00pm Peninsula Ridge Estate Winery 5600 King St. W., Beamsville

For more information and to RSVP please call 905-563-1755 or email sam.oosterhoffco@pc.ola.org 4961 King St. E., Unit M1, Beamsville, ON www.samoosterhoffmpp.ca

Page 12

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

COMMUNITY EVENTS & CLASSIFIEDS

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Dupuis have been exploring and performing time-honoured melodies from the stomping grounds of Quebec’s musical past. Using fiddle, accordion, harmonica, guitar, bouzouki and a number of other instruments, our three virtuosos blend boundless energyFARM with theWORKERS unmistakable joie de vivre found only in FRUIT FARM/GENERAL traditional Quebec music.

Show runs from 7-9 p.m. Community Fruit farm seeking farm workers.

If your message to Pelham isn’t in our pages,

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Events Listings

Pay $11.60/hour, 40-60 hours per week, must have own PELHAM LIBRARY CARD MAKING WORKSHOP Looking for seasonal/ transportation, must be able Putting on an event? full time help. Applicant Make six cards with falltothemes, a variety of techniques.

Materials handle 50learning lbs. comfortably, must be able to work Tell the town! working in rural area outdoors min. hours/week are40-60 provided.

At time ofall registration, please enquire about tools needed.

Community Event Classified weather conditions. Planting, in any weather condiads available in blocks Tues., Sept. 16 10 – 12:30. $10.irrigating Pleasecrops register Visit www.pelhamcultivating, and ahead.are tions and weekends. of 30 words, including hoeing crops strawberries and Lifting 50 lbs com-or call 905-892-6443 for more details. library.on.ca apples. Apply in person, 1367 headline for $8.85 + HST. fortably is required.

Balfour Street, Fenwick Ontario Jobs included pruning, Ad booking and payment 10 – 5, Monday – Friday Planting trees, thinning deadline is Thursday Noon FABULOUS FENWICKfrom LIONS FISH FRY and harvesting fruit, to week of publication.

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PELHAM MINOR HOCKEY EQUIPMENT & lumber also available.SALE Call Please drop resume Thanks for supporting Patterson,at905-401-4948 offBuy, at 825sell Canboro Rd, used Rob or trade equipment the Pelham Arena.

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Fenwick Ontario L0S cheaper options for players in this upcoming season. Runs Sept. 6 from 1C0 office@thevoiceofpelham.ca 9-12 in the morning.

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Josh DeHaan Flooring “For all your flooring needs”

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JoinEvents them Tuesdays at the Pelham Arena Places of inWorship and from 9-10 am and Thursdays at Fonthill Bandshell for 9-10:30 am. There First Presbyterian Tidings Church of God please contact jcook@ Pelham Evangelical Friends Church is no Church fee for this program. For Glad more information, 602 Metler Rd., Fenwick 1 Pancake Lane, Fonthill 940 Haist St., Fonthill pelham.ca or call 905 892-2607, ext 329.

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HAMPER DAY FOR PELHAM CARES Kirk on the Hill Presbyterian Church St. Alexander’s Roman Catholic Church 1344 Fonthill or bring a non-perishable 50 Pelham Town Sq., Fonthill Purchase fresh fruit and vegetables atHaist theSt.,Market foodChurch item to fill the hampers at the Pelham Farmers Fonthill United Pelham Community Church Market on Sept. 4.

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The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

Page 13

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Folks, I know the Chef promised to answer any questions you had about the menu, but I'm being told that he and the kitchen staff have unanimously voted to rescind that offer. More cauliflower?

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As Canada 150 ends, great-great-great-great grandson looks back at George Hansler

BY VOICE STAFF With his new wife Rosannah, Hansler had other children, one of whom, Andrew, inherited the farm. Andrew, who had 10 children, replaced his father’s log cabin with a one-and-a-half story brick farmhouse.

“It’s hard to tell exactly when it was built,” said Stirtzinger, looking at a photo. “I’d guess it was sometime in the 1820s, since Andrew probably was given control of the farm before George died. The house was definitely finished by 1831—George’s body was laid out in the front room.”

Andrew named the house, “The Hideaway,” since it was partly concealed from the road.

Stirtzinger pointed to the colouring of the bricks. “Those were all made by hand on the property,” he said. “And that part there—it’s hard to see in the picture—would have been his carriage house. He was a travelling preacher, too, self-ordained. A very religious man.”

Stirtzinger flipped through his copy of the area’s 1851 census until he found Andrew’s name.

“It says here he was a Dunkard. I think that’s like a Quaker.”

Andrew’s son Henry took control of the land on the south side of Metler, where Lookout Point Golf Club is now, though Henry even-

tually tired of the cold and moved to California.

More than a 100 years later, in 1959, the original Hansler property was bought by Charles and Thelma Bissell. The Bissells turned it into a vacation campground, which they operated until 1990.

“Charlie and Thelma lived in the old house,” said Stirtzinger. “But I don’t think anyone lives there now. It’s all falling apart.”

“I think that the hired hands might live there,” said Stirtzinger’s wife, Marlene, who joined him last week in looking over the old files. In the folders, the two were reminded of other pictures connected to the story. Merelle reached behind the chair on which their cat was sleeping and produced a framed photo.

“This is Marlene and me at the Canada Centennial celebrations in 1967,” he said. “We’re wearing the wedding clothes of my great grandparents.”

In the photo, Merelle is wearing a suit jacket with a high collar, while Marlene is in a long dark dress.

“I don’t know why it was brown,” Marlene said. “That must have been the fashion then. You certainly don’t find anyone wearing a brown wedding dress any more. It had a real cincture on it.

Corsets were big back then.”

“We were in the competition for

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After George Hansler moved to Pelham from New Jersey, just after the Revolutionary War, he acquired 200 acres of farmland near Metler and Effingham Roads. Hansler did not have to purchase the property—instead, he was given a land grant by King George III of Great Britain and Ireland. Hansler’s great great great great grandson, Merelle Stirtzinger, who is 78, has a copy of that 1790 land grant.

“It’s the earliest one that I can find from around here,” said Stirtzinger last week, as he leafed through a collection of papers at his Fenwick home.

“Most of the information that I have on the family comes from Uncle Cecil, who was the family genealogist.”

Hansler’s parents, Hans and Mary, were immigrants to the United States from Germany, and Hansler himself was born during the voyage over. Stirtzinger takes care to highlight just how primitive technology was in the late 18th century. According to him, the Hanslers' first year in Pelham was difficult, with many crops failing from frequent frosts. Hansler’s wife returned to New Jersey with their daughter—but because there was no reliable means of communication, after some years both assumed the other to be dead and the marriage was dissolved and each remarried.

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The Hansler home as it looked recently.

the best clothes at the dance that night,” said Merelle. “We didn’t win, but I did have those clothes checked in to the Welland Museum. They have the humidity controls there—in the house everything falls apart.”

Merelle has been interested in his family history since he was young, and since their marriage, Marlene has too.

“There was one time, five or six years after we were married,” said Marlene, “that we were sitting and talking to Uncle Cecil about Merelle’s family history. And he brought up the Johnson’s house in Smithville. I said, ‘Wait a minute—that Johnson was my grandfather.’”

After making a phone call, Marlene and Merelle realized that they were eighth cousins.

“We always joke that we’re the kissing cousins,” said Marlene.

“Too bad that it’s not illegal for eighth cousins to be married. I could’ve got out of the marriage

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fifty years ago.”

She laughed, and then Merelle laughed too. Merelle moved over to a chair where the cat was sitting on a pile of papers.

“Excuse me. I need these,” he said to it. “The cat is sixteen years old, which is like eighty-four in human years. But he’s all right.”

He gathered up the papers that were spread on the coffee table and arranged them in a single pile.

“I’m going to hand these over to Brock soon,” he said. “I don’t want to die and leave them all here. I guess my kids could hand them over, though still, I’d like to do it.”

Stirtzinger thinks that it’s a shame that more young people don’t take an interest in their ancestry and the physical records that remain.

“It’s too bad,” he said. “All of the people who would have been interested in this stuff are gone.”

He looked at the papers again.

“But I’m just lucky to have had it for a while.”

Page 14

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

On the bus: Touring the town with Raymond Lee continued from Page 10

ey. But that’s the why it is.

You’ll have to pay the fare— three dollars in there.”

“That’s all right,” said Dutcher. “I don’t mind.” He pulled out a handful of coins and deposited them into the small cash box at the top of the steps.

"I'm just going into town to Giant Tiger to work," he said. "I usually ride my Harley, but now that there's snow I don't want to take it out."

Dutcher did not look old enough to own a Harley Davidson. Lee expressed his surprise. He pulled out of the bank’s parking lot and curled around the flagpole to continue up Canboro Road.

The snowflakes stopped.

"I have two cars too,

"I had ten passengers on my first run, and a few on my second. We'll see how many on the third," he said.

The first passenger, a teenage boy, came walking over to the bus.

"Are you new?" Lee asked him. "I don't think that I've seen you on the bus before.”

The boy—whose name was Dakota Dutcher—nodded. “Do you have a student card then?” Lee asked.

Dutcher dug into his backpack and produced a card.

“Oh, I don’t take them,” said Lee cheerily. “Just from the college and the university. I dunno why. It’s the secondary school students who don’t have the mon-

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though I only have my G1 so I can't drive them alone yet," said Dutcher. "I'm going to sell the pick-up though. It's a great truck—the one that I was named after, but I don't want to put the money into it, and I'm getting a good offer to scrap it."

Dutcher said that he worked also at the Clare's dealership in Niagara-on-the-Lake, as a detailer.

"I clean bikes there, but I have my own business for cars, too. I come to you."

Dutcher, who is in Grade 11 at E.L Crossley, said that he wants to be a mechanic.

"Once I graduate, I want to get an apprenticeship and go right into working at Clare's. I've been working on bikes since I was a kid.

I don't trust anyone else to work on my Harley—I know that sounds mean, but I just like to do it."

Lee pulled the bus into Ridgeville. He pointed at the bus stop nearby the shops.

“There are a few girls who work in those shops who are regulars. I pick them up here and take them to the Seaway Mall, where I think they get a connection to St. Catharines. It’s a long way to go. A job’s a job though.”

He turned left and headed up to Highway 20.

Dutcher said that he'd just finished driver's ed.

"They told us that fifty percent of the room would crash within our first three months driving. I haven't yet. But I was driving home from Cayuga the other day, and some car coming the other way was right up against the yellow line, and even when I gave him more space he just barely missed me," he said.

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Lee shook his head. "I think that if they taught everyone defensive driving they'd cut out at least half of the accidents.”

At Lookout Ridge Retirement Home, Lee made a cursory stop outside one of the entrances. Seeing that the vestibule was empty of prospective passengers, he pulled out again onto the road.

“I get some passengers from there, especially on Saturdays. But they’re really spoiled for options. The home has two vans that they can go out in, and the pharmacy and grocery store will do delivery.”

After looping down Haist Street and back up Pelham Street towards Fonthill, Lee dropped Dutcher off in front of Giant Tiger.

“There’s a stop at the library, too,” he said cheerily, “but I’ll let you off right here.”

“Thanks,” said Dutcher.

“I’m a bit early for work, so I brought my laptop and I can watch some movies before it’s time to start.”

On another run past Giant Tiger, Lee stopped to pick up a man with four or five full shopping bags draped on his arms, and a cane in one hand. When Lee opened the door, he hobbled up the steps.

The bus’ radio buzzed.

The radio system, which is linked with the rest of the buses operated by Sharpe, the contractor Lee works for, is used for general communication among drivers, though Lee said that he only really used it the one time he broke down. The man who had just boarded the bus nodded, and didn’t dispute that the Pelham bus tends to run on time.

“I like the bus. I just wish it ran more often and for longer hours,” the man said. “I used to have a car.

But then I went on disability and couldn’t work.”

He explained that he had worked on crews at film studios in Toronto.

Lee grimaced sympathetically. “I had a regular rider just last week tell me that he'd went and bought himself a car. The insurance on the thing was two-hundred and fifty per month.

Unbelievable.” He moved on to the man’s mention of his former occupation.

“I’ve got a friend back in England who does crew work at the BBC,” said Lee. “He tells me it’s just brutal on the body.” The passen-

ger nodded.

“It is,” he said. “My doctor told me that I shouldn’t be lifting anything over ten pounds.” He gestured to the shopping bags lying on the seat next to him. “But you’ve got to buy groceries.”

After the passenger had

I like the bus.

I just wish it ran more often and for longer hours.

departed, Lee sympathized with his desire to see longer service hours, since the bus ceases to run by six o’clock in the evening, and takes over an hour to go through its route.

“But it’s just so expensive,” he said. “This thing costs one hundred dollars a day in fuel alone. Plus the cost of the drivers—which isn’t much—and maintenance.”

An average day, Lee said, sees only 20 to 25 passengers on the bus, and at three dollars a ride, even the fuel costs are not recovered.

“It’s a trial program right now, so it will be interesting to see what happens when the trial ends,” he said, referring to the funds provided to the Town from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

At the Seaway Mall, one passenger debarked and two climbed on.

“There’ve been people coming to the mall to do their Christmas shopping,” Lee said, “but since the students are mostly done now, this week has been quiet.

And people go away, too.”

Lee and his wife have not themselves been away to England since moving to Canada four years ago, though Lee said that they intend to visit next year. Despite this absence from home, Lee keeps up to speed on the goings on there, and shook his head in dismay when discussing the Brexit vote.

“People were completely misled. And it’s going to cost them a whole lot of money. The main thing

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people thought they were voting against was immigration. They’re right that the social services are really stretched out, and they can’t support more and more people, but Brexit isn’t going to help that. I think a lot of people really regret their vote.”

In Canada, Lee is not eligible to vote. The path to citizenship is relatively simple for him, but he said that the cost is still a major deterrent.

“They’ve taken away the English test for immigrants from English-speaking countries,” he said. “It was insulting before, to be from England and to have to take a test for your own language. The process still costs six hundred dollars though, and the only thing that you get in return is the ability to vote. Is it worth six hundred dollars to vote?

I mean, it’s politicians. The only way that you can beat them is to join them.”

At Niagara College, Lee pulled up to the main entrance and idled there for a minute or two, fulfilling his obligation even though few students were around. As he waited, he poked the dial on the radio, switching from a station playing Christmas songs to one that wasn’t.

“I don’t mind the Christmas music,” he said. “It’s different when it’s on all of the time. All day, every day, for the entire month.”

No one got on the bus, and none of the three passengers got off. Lee put the bus back in gear and drove off. He retraced his route back through downtown Fonthill, going up by the Food Basics and Family Health Pharmacy, Sobeys, the Library, and Giant Tiger, picking up nobody and dropping nobody off. At the street corners, Lee waved to the crossing guards, who raised their gloved hands in response.

Lee’s phone, which was resting in the cup holder near the radio dial, dinged several times in succession.

He glanced at it before realizing that the screen was facing away from him.

“Those’ll be messages,” he said. “I get alerts from the BBC too. I like to keep posted about what’s going on, and the BBC is the best in the world for it.”

Lee said that he’d paid attention to the BBC for all his life, and that when he was in the Royal Navy—a sonar man on a frigate—it was how the crew kept in touch with the world, with little else to do aboard ship.

“We went without football,” Lee said. “We all make sacrifices.”

He brought the bus back up Haist Street, depositing a woman he had picked up at the Seaway Mall at the intersection of Highway 20 before continuing on to make another fruitless, perfunctory, stop at Lookout Ridge.

In downtown Ridgeville, his visitor asked Lee if he could take a photograph of him before leaving.

“All right,” said Lee. “But make it fast. The schedule’s tight, and I’m already a little bit late.” 

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

Page 15

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Behind the Wellington Express, Spirit Committee members Maddi Neuman, Jenna Mergl, Olivia VanVliet, Jillian Reynolds, and Grace Brownlee. In front of the train, Addison Willms, Ava Sider, Dillon Mertz, Valerie McTaggart, and Ivy Bullen. VOICE PHOTO

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BY VOICE STAFF Students at Wellington Heights Elementary School matched the charitable urges present throughout the community during the holiday season, collecting a sizeable number of donations for Pelham Cares.

“We wanted to do something a little different,” said Christina Haining, a teacher at the school and one of the co-ordinators for the project.

“With ‘Twelve Days of Giving,’ we asked for a different item on each day of the drive.”

Haining said that the school reached out to Pelham Cares before beginning to ensure that the encouraged donations were items that were actually needed.

“One thing that we tried have donated was pet food, since Pelham Cares indicated that it was really required,” said Haining.

“The kids’ participation has been incredible.

Each class had a bin that we added to the train, and so many of these bins are overflowing,” she said, referring to the arrange-

ment in the school’s main foyer. One of the school’s teachers had made a steam engine out of cardboard, and each of the boxes served as freight cars on the Wellington Express.

In addition to the other teachers involved, many students school helped with the initiative.

Grade 8 members of the Spirit Committee—akin to a student council—did much of the heavy lifting, while younger students who are part of the “Kids Care Club” also took part.

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The Voice of Pelham, January 3 2018

COLUMN SIX continued from Page 1 In other ways the e-book surpasses the real thing, with an “audible” option that reads the book to you, a rechargeable battery, and backlighting. Its storage capacity, equal to that of a small library, makes it especially convenient in an era of decluttering.

Back in 2008, my students weren’t all that enamoured of the prototype, being accustomed to reading fiction from a book. “I see the words, but I’m not actually reading them,” one student remarked. Another said, “I just finished reading a page and now I can’t remember any of it.”

All that has changed in 10 years. The screen is now the medium of choice in many schools, with “choice” not really an option any more.

Given all the improvements—you can now fall asleep while reading a waterproof Kindle in the bath or by the pool—it’s surprising the e-reader hasn’t cut more drastically into the sale of books. Mega-sales of the likes of Harry Potter, Fifty Shades of Grey and Dan Brown, have helped to keep books afloat in an electronic age. And some people still prefer the physicality of print; they enjoy the feel of the pages, the smell, that sort of thing.

Though one could argue that the e-reader’s sleek casing and empowering touch controls make it sexier than ever. Nicholas Carr tells us in Utopia Is Creepy (2016) that a “captivating interface is the perfect consumer good,” that it “packages the very act of consumption as a product.”

Whatever the reason, e-books continue to make headway. Recent figures reported by The Daily Telegraph indicate that e-book purchases rose to 64 million in 2014 from 57 million in the same period a year

An early generation Kindle in accessory leather case. The Blackberry-like keyboard has long since been dropped.

VOICE PHOTO earlier; now, with iPads and other interactive tablets offering even more sophisticated alternatives to books, the trend can only continue.

But does it matter how people read? If readers are reading, why should we care if it’s from a book, an e-reader, a tablet or phone.

It’s all in the reading, right?

Maybe not.

What exactly do we mean by reading in the first place?

Are we scanning the text or processing it? There’s a big difference.

An article in the World Economic Forum (October, 2017) reports that an overwhelming percentage of university students prefer to read from a screen, read faster from a screen, finish assignments in a shorter time, and come away with a general understanding of the material. But their grasp of critical detail is significantly poorer than those who read the same text from a book or printed article and take longer to do it.

Speed reduces comprehension and reten-

tion. Nothing new there.

I think of the proverbial speed-reader of old who finished War and Peace in an hour and said the book was about Russia.

I read differently online than I do the printed page.

And if I’ve spent hours reading off a screen, I have to force myself to slow down and concentrate when I pick up a book again. If I want to follow the contours of a sentence, catch the ambiguities and ironies of language use, take time to hear the writer’s voice and listen to what isn’t being said, along with what is, I have to slow down.

Joseph Epstein, who knows a thing or two about writing, having taught literature at the University of Chicago for four decades, remarked that the point of writing is not communication: Pandas, lions, seagulls, after all, communicate—nor is it information, of which the world already has enough. The point is engagement: intellectual, emotional, imaginative, even spiritual.

If I’m reading a work

of fiction I must give my imagination time to settle on an evocative sentence, so I can conjure a setting, or a face, hear inflections in the dialogue. The fiction and memoir writing I enjoy most is the kind that makes me do the work.

A novelist, David Bezmozgis, compares the relationship between reader and writer with that of weightlifter and spotter— the reader gets the workout, while the writer only gives a hand when needed.

For that kind of reading we need an undistracted space around us to echo the writer’s voice: Caught in the dark cathedral Of your skull, your voice heard By an internal ear informed by internal abstracts And what you know by feeling, Having felt.

(Thomas Lux) To hear that voice, and take time to unspool its narrative thread, we must

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca occupy a deeper, undistracted stillness.

How will a generation of children do all that, when reading on a tablet must compete with all the other things they do on a tablet?

Or is the future of reading already mapped out by the multi-award-winning Nosy Crow, with its clamorous midway of bells and whistles, musical feed and animated illustrations, popout words and live links to avatar worlds? A recent count showed that Nosy Crow’s mobile apps have been downloaded 130 billion times.

I can only admire the technological acumen, the digital second nature (or maybe now first nature) that child consumers will acquire by immersing themselves in books that do all the heavy lifting. I can foresee these young readers one day encountering a physical book, only to swipe their fingers across its pages and demand to know, “What else does it do?”

I ‘m reminded of an Isaac Azimov story (likely not available on Nosy Crow) called “The Fun They Had.” It was written for a children’s magazine in 1951 and envisioned schooling in the year 2157. Lessons in Azimov’s futuristic world take place at home with a “mechanical teacher,” programmed precisely for the individual student’s ability, and returning digitally evaluated homework without ever actually seeing the student. The plot turns on the discovery of an old book in a dusty attic, an object that fascinates children who had never heard of a book. They suppose it must have been fun for children a long time ago to be able to read a book, to be able to do it all themselves.

Asimov wrote his story from a sadly obsolete viewpoint, for he believed there is nothing more interactive than a book. Now, electronic interactivity is what learning’s all about. That, and

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speed, unending distraction, fun, and the extinction of boredom. Whoever said learning is hard work didn’t realize it can be as easy as point and click, swipe and touch.

The single drawback to high-end, waterproof e-readers is their price tag.

But, remembering Henry Drummond’s caveat, everything comes at a cost. And while it would be silly to deny that online reading will continue unrestrained, with devices delivering information and distraction more quickly and comprehensively than ever before, I wonder if it will cost us a precious commodity we won’t even miss.

Just as the industrial revolution initiated what many believe is costing us our planet, the technological revolution might lead to the extinction of our literary imaginations.

But the literary imagination will be an easy price to pay if we don’t miss it. And who knows, maybe it will evolve into something better—like clinical reality. If a finger swipe can conjure a genie to make our every wish its command, then what’s left to do but sit back and enjoy the ride?

If this is what we always imagined an ideal world would be like, well, now we don’t even have to imagine it.

And maybe that’s just as well. In any case, we’ve no choice now but to be patient—not a trending virtue, but still—and see if there’s anything we’d like to have back. 

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