Pelham investigation request submitted page 3 Those mystery stars page 6 Above it all in East Fonthill page 10
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Vol.22 No.11
Wednesday, March 7 2018
FREE
North Pelham Avondale to close
See AVONDALE Page 14
A.I.'s fatal flaw BY COLIN BREZICKI
Special to the VOICE
To make robots practical, flaws must be removed. To make robots endearing, flaws must be added. —Khang Nguyen
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was the responsible thing to do. Returning it to Niagara taxpayers, where it rightfully belongs, is the right thing to do.” NPCA CAO Mark Brickell described the move as an example of how the NPCA is better managed now “than at any time in its history.” “Best practices dictate appropriate funding of reserves,” said Brickell, “and with this decision, this reserve is no longer required. Our staff continues to do great work, and we are looking forward to the future.” The NPCA will also be returning
E’ V E C O M E to love our m at hem at ical certainties, and why not? We want to be assured of things, and in an algorithmic world if that means following the yellow brick code, we’ll do it. There’s safety in numbers, we’re told, and they never lie; so we’ll fall in and be counted. Unknowns make us nervous, and digital certainty is a big improvement on fate’s fickle finger, which tends to be the middle one anyway. Half a century ago a school friend introduced me to the spell of numbers. Ziggy arrived as a late addition to our Grade 6 class because his family had just fled the Soviet invasion of Hungary. He struggled with English but he was absolutely fluent in math. Ziggy spoke the multiplication table while the rest of us just memorized it. We quit at 12x12 because that’s as far as the test ever went; but Ziggy could compute to
See REFUND Page 12
See COLUMN SIX Page 12
SO MANY STARS Ever wonder what those stars signify on area homes? Story, page 6.
SAM PICCOLO PHOTO
Conservation Authority to return $1.2 million BY VOICE STAFF At last Wednesday’s Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) Full Authority Meeting, the Board of Directors voted to return some $1.2 million dollars to Niagara taxpayers. The NPCA set aside additional funds over three years while the Mining and Lands Commissioner ruled on an appeal by the City of Hamilton regarding the apportionment of NPCA’s levy. On December 21, 2017, the Mining and Lands Commissioner ruled that the use of the apportionment formula provided to Conservation Authorities by the province is appropriate in the
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Column Six
BY VOICE STAFF North Pelham’s Avondale Convenience Store will close on March 22, marking the end of a store that has serviced residents for decades. “It really sucks,” said Lucas Ward, who grew up almost directly across the street from the shop. “I went there all the time for Popsicles and freezies in the summer. On Halloween, Donna [the store’s manager] would hand out little goodie bags. All the ladies knew us by name, and asked how we were and such,” said Ward. “It’s nice being so close— if we run out of milk or something else small, we can run down and grab it easily,” he said. Avondale began as a dairy operation and milk delivery in 1931, but eventually grew to operate 90 convenience stores in Niagara, Hamilton, and Haldimand. The Avondale Dairy Bar was built in 1955, and the company opened its first convenience store in 1965. In 1969, the dairy portion of the operation was acquired by Beatrice Foods, with the stores remaining under Avondale control. Repeated voicemail and email requests from Avondale’s head office for an explanation, or for comment on rumours that multiple
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NPCA board votes to return levy funds held in trust absence of an agreement. "I'm incredibly proud of our Board,” said NPCA chair Sandy Annunziata. “The Board has worked extremely hard, maintained its focus, and exercised great discipline in order to deliver positive results on behalf of our residents. We delivered a budget decrease of 5.1% from the previous year…. Setting aside that money in a reserve fund
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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
PUBLISHER’S CORNER by Dave Burket
Spooky tunes: Sam Piccolo speaks with Fenwick musician Jim Casson again this week, this time about his prized theramin, an instrument whose unique sound is probably best known for its use in the Midsomer Murders television show theme song. And yes, as it happens, we are going instrument-by-instrument in the Casson collection... A worthy cause: Mark your calendar for North Pelham Hall's roast beef dinner fundraiser, this Saturday, in support of their youth programs. See their ad on page 12... Speaking of food: In restaurant news, word is that the Lazy Loon has permanently flown south, with odds now favouring the expansion of the neighbouring pharmacy, and possibly the addition of a doctor's office. Meanwhile, Zest is briefly shutting for some kitchen updating, but
they'll be back on Thursday, April 5. And Peter Piper's introduces its new Sunday menu in a big way on page 9. I dare your stomach not to rumble... New for the archives: We appreciate the recent newspaper contributions (and loans) from Lois; Andrew Ralston; a magazine from Mike Tucker; and a plastic shopping bag full of items, left at our office anonymously, containing a small treasure-trove that included the last issue of the Pelham Herald in 1996, the first issue of the Voice in 1997, a Princess Diana special section from the Toronto Sun, and the first section of the Welland Tribune, September 12, 2001... Cheer them on: Pelham Panthers Pee-Wee Rep head into their biggest game of the year this Saturday at the Pelham Arena, 1PM. A win takes them to the OMHA finals. Go get 'em!
THE VOICE POLL This week's survey question The Town of Pelham intends to solicit donations from small businesses and individuals for its new Community Centre Arena, in exchange for naming rights to individual seats and/ or other other small items. Do you plan to donate? Find a link to the survey on our website,
IN THE NEWS Porn arrest
THE VOICE POLL Results In an online flash poll over the weekend we asked: Who is your choice for leader of the Ontario PC Party? Results: As of the poll's closing at midday Monday, there were 77 votes (50%) in favour of Christine Elliot, 39 votes (25%) for Doug Ford, 29 votes (19%) for Caroline Mulroney, and 9 votes (6%) for Tanya Granic Allen. (Percentages rounded.) The new PC leader will be chosen this Saturday, March 10. How close will the actual results match Pelham's choice? Time will tell!
Christine ELLIOT Doug FORD Caroline MULRONEY Tanya GRANIC ALLEN
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spected by a licensed mechanic —Contact your insurance broker or insurer as you may have coverage for this type of vehicle
On Monday February 26, Officers from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) launched an invest igat ion into a British Columbia man re-entering Canada from the United States. As a result of the investigation, members of the Niagara Regional Police Service's ICE Unit arrested 48-year-old Surgit Singh Bachra of British Columbia. Bachra is charged with Possession of Child Pornography and Importing Child Pornography. Bachra was held in custody pending a bail hearing on February 27.
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damage During the winter, potholes and road deterioration can occur due to changes in temperature and precipitation. Potholes form when extreme cold temperatures create a deep frost layer which freezes the road base. When water seeps into cracks in the pavement, it can refreeze, pressing up and lifting the pavement surface. Then when traffic hits the lifted pavement it crumbles causing a pothole. Regional crews are monitoring roadways throughout the winter making road repairs where needed. Niagara Region recently made pothole repairs along Martindale Road in St. Catharines, between 406 and Erion Road. While temporary fixes can be completed throughout the winter, longer-term repairs need to wait for the warmer weather. In 2018, Niagara Regional Council is set to invest $9.5 million in road resurfacing and repair across Niagara. This is in addition to the $12.5 million investment made to the roads program in 2017 that saw the resurfacing and repair of 51 lane kilometres of roads last year. Residents can visit the Region’s website at www. niagararegion.ca
Residents encouraged to report potholes
Niagara Region says it is committed to responding to and repairing potholes occurring on Regional roads as a result of harsh winter weather conditions. Residents can report a pothole on the Region’s websiteor by calling 905980-6000 ext. 3690 or tollfree at 1-877-552-5579. If your vehicle is damaged after striking a pothole, the Region recommends you take following actions: —Stop driving your vehicle if it is not operating properly —Record the exact location of the pothole and report it to the municipality as outlined above —Have the vehicle in-
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Vol.20 No.48
CELEBRATING OUR 20TH YEAR
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Vol.20 No.39
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
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Oops: No fire trucks for you
Haist Street traffic-calming measure a little too effective
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Column Six
Growing up British
Vol.20 No.32
Wednesday October 12, 2016
FREE
Apple Day comes to Fonthill
BY JULIE MANNELL
Special to the VOICE
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BALLOONING INTEREST Grade 6 student Jinja Shepherd explains her experiment on static electricity at the Glynn A. Green Public School's annual science fair last Friday. See story, page 3. NATE SMELLE PHOTO
Public meeting tonight on school issues BY VOICE STAFF As questions continue to mount regarding an email that Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn quietly sent to a District School Board of Niagara trustee last summer, Augustyn has agreed to address the issue at a public meeting scheduled for this evening, Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Fenwick. Nancy Beamer, speaking for “Names Matter,” a Pelham citizens group lobbying the DSBN to reverse its decision to rename a local public school, confirms that the meeting will be held at Fire Station #2, known locally as the Fenwick Fire Hall, starting at 7:00 PM. While the Mayor has agreed to ap-
Under pressure, Mayor to address email revelation, other E. W. Farr matters pear, says Beamer, DSBN officials associated with the school-naming process have either declined to attend or have not yet responded to the group’s invitation. DSBN Chair, Dale Robinson, to whom Augustyn’s email was addressed last June, has declined to appear, says Beamer, asserting that she would be
“on holidays.” The Voice was unable to independently confirm Robinsion’s intentions. She did not respond to repeated requests for comment on E.W. Farr-related matters before presstime. Beamer, whose group maintains an email list of some 580 residents, says that all members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting. “We would especially welcome parents and children who are unhappy with the name change,” she says, referring to the contentious decision by the DSBN to consolidate two Pelham See MEETING back page
HEN I WAS young, my father and I would go for long drives along the rural routes of Pelham. We’d blast George Thurgood and roll down the windows because we loved the smell of the breeze, the sensation of crisp Niagara wind beating our cheeks and tangling our hair against our summer-kissed skin. My father was not a sentimental man. He worked in factories and had a Gordon Lightfoot mustache and never shed tears over injuries. Yet something about the Pelham landscape, the hilly backdrop to his childhood and the childhoods of our ancestors, drew him in. He’d stop by a farm or a gathering of woods and, surrendering his manly veneer, tell me a story about the town. This place is precious. This is the earth that granted us life. Here is the place where we happened upon love or here is a site of devastation. On one particular drive sometime in the late ‘90s we stopped at a tree with a plaque. “This tree looks dead,” I said to my father. “It sure is getting there, Julie.” The Comfort Maple is supposedly Canada’s oldest See COLUMN SIX Page 14
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-
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bourhood in the short-term. Manager of Public Works Ryan Cook said that after discovering the issue with
the chicane the morning it first opened, the Town See CHICANE Page 5
Petition-inspired changes coming to 2017 Summerfest BY NATE SMELLE
The VOICE
Representatives from the Pelham Summerfest committee Candy Ashbee and Bill Gibson presented council with a final report on the 2016 Summerfest at the Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 21. Prompted by a story in the Voice in August about a merchant petition to move Summerfest from Pelham Street, in September Town staff met with various stakeholders to hear their complaints, promising at the time that changes in the way Summerfest was mounted would be con-
sidered. The main concerns identified during the community engagement process were security, parking, ensuring customer can access all businesses in town, and liability for damages. How to get all Pelham Street businesses to participate and finding ways to make it beneficial for them to set up a booth were also determined to be of high priority for the committee as they plan for next year’s event. Gibson told Council that the committee is addressing these concerns in a variety of ways. To improve parking, they intend to create bet-
ter signage for out-of-town visitors to designated parking areas and shuttle services. To make participation in Summerfest more enticing to local businesses, they plan to implement a tiered-charge for booths. Under the new system, Pelham Street business owners will be charged the least, other local businesses will pay a slightly higher fee, and vendors from outside Pelham will pay the most. In response to more specific issues for individual businesses, they will also slightly alter the footprint of the event and make adjustments to security. Another way the committee plans
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to improve the 2017 Summerfest is by sponsoring and working with the organizers of the Thursday Night Bandshell Concert series to select the artist performing on the first night of Summefest. They also intend to make more use of the smartphone app they launched in 2016. "We are really going to push it this year," Ashbee said. “It really helps to get people to see what events there are so they can plan out where they are going. We will be able to actually help the merchants and local businesses adSee CHANGES Page 5
FTER LUNCH ON Saturday, Mum and Dad had my afternoon cut out for me. Mum had more brass than anyone I knew, and it had to be cleaned. In addition there was the set of silver fish-knives and forks which were never used, but which had to be cleaned and put back in their velvetlined box. Next was a walk to the newsagents to pay for the daily delivery of the Daily Mirror. As I said, Dad was a printer, but when he was 37 he had been rejected for a job, as being too old, by the printers of the Beano. For that reason, my favourite comic was not allowed in the house, but while I was paying the papers, the newsagent let me have a 'shoofty' at the Beano. I'd explained my predicament and he understood completely. Sundays were different again. Dad would play golf on summer mornings and billiards in winter. Then he'd stop for a 'refresher' at the local and would pick up the prawns, cockles, winkles or whelks we'd be having for tea later. Meanwhile, Mum was roasting the 'joint' and potatoes. I got to make the Yorkshire pud, and mint
See COLUMN SIX Page 14
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While shopping in Fonthill between Friday and Sunday, keep an eye out for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts in front of local stores with bushels of apples. As part of the annual Apple Day campaign, Scouting youth of all ages will be trading apples for donations. The yearly fundraising drive is an important way for young Scouts to connect with the communities they are serving, says Leah Marie of Scouts Canada. “The Apple Day campaign holds a great tradition of being able to have youth interacting within the communities they live in,” she says. “All of the Apple Day donations stay directly within the group that re-
The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and well-rounded individuals
ceives them, enabling youth to have experiences that build character, challenge them, and allow them to try new things. The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and wellrounded individuals, better prepared for success. Apple Day helps to achieve that.”
“Any money raised during Apple Day goes towards improving the Scouting program by providing more outdoor adventures for youth, camping equipment, canoes and paddles, training and many other endeavours that the youth want to experience,” says Marie. Scouts Canada has some 100,000 members across Canada, and carries out programs for boys, girls
walk/trail is slated to be built between the south side of the road from Timmsdale Crescent to the high school. Because of the large volume of motor vehicle traffic travelling at high speeds through this area, and because of the necessity for students to tread this path on a daily basis, many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later. After delivering to Council a petition containing
Many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later the names of 450 students calling for a safer walk to school, Simpson handed the
podium over to Loewen and Williams to plead their case. Loewen told Council that because there are a lot of students who have work placements and coop placements during the school year, this is the only route for many of them to travel. As one of the students facing this predicament, Williams said she has had no other option but to walk along the dangerous highway.
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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
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-
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Second year Beaver with the 3rd Fonthill Group, Russell Letford offers a fresh apple to shoppers in Pelham during the 2015 Apple Day campaign. SUPPLIED PHOTO A longtime Canadian tradition, Apple Day began in 1932 in Saint John, New Brunswick, when Scouts handed out 21,000 apples as a way to say thank you to the community. In return for their generosity, many people offered them donations. From then on Scouts have reached out through Apple Day to raise funds for their programs.
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Column Six It doesn’t get better than Autumn
Longtime Scouting tradition dates to 1932
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BY VOICE STAFF The District School Board of Niagara is requesting that the Town of Pelham cede a portion of Cherry Ridge Park for use as a soccer field to serve the students of the new Wellington Heights Public School, formerly the E. W. Farr Memorial Public School, in Fenwick. Currently under renovation and expansion, the new school will combine students and staff from the previous school and Pelham Centre, where classes are being held while construction continues. Two letters, containing virtually identical text but signed by different authorities, were sent last week to nearby residents of the park, as well as to parents of Pelham Centre students. “The DSBN is currently building onto Wellington Heights Public School on Alsop Drive,” states the letter. “The size of the school's addition means the existing small soccer field will be eliminated. The Town and the Board have been discussing the possibility of working together to create a field for both the school and the
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Martha Toscher, former Executive Assistant to Town of Pelham CAO Darren Ottaway, and Mayor Dave Augustyn, has quit. Toscher’s sudden decision to resign on Friday, February 17, after some five years on the job, took colleagues and senior management by surprise. Shortly afterward, a memo emailed to Town staff by CAO Darren Ottaway was brought to the Voice’s attention. Sources with direct knowledge of the memo say that Ottaway informed staff of Toscher’s leaving, did not offer an explanation, and gave firm instructions that staff not discuss the issue with anyone. The Voice has not independently verified the memo’s authenticity or precise phrasing. Multiple requests for comment made of CAO Ottaway, Mayor Augustyn, and Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald, copied to Town Council, have gone unacknowledged over the last 10 days. Toscher has also not responded to multiple requests for comment. Her name no longer appears in the Town’s online staff directory. Sources who do not wish to be publicly identified describe an often “toxic” work environment inside Pelham Town Hall, with some staff feeling “harassed and bullied.” As word of Toscher’s departure circulated through town, a number of readers
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Assistant to CAO abruptly resigns
“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 PenFinancial Credit Union 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 Fonthill LCBO Pub on the Hill Zee Lube Express Care Food Basics 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, March 7 2018
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Pelham residents' petition submitted to Ministry Some 400 pages of supporting documentation now in provincial hands BY VOICE STAFF A petition signed by 213 Pelham residents calling for an investigation of Town finances, a request supported by Regional Council last month, has been delivered to the office of the Minister of Municipal Affairs in Toronto. Curt Harley, a member of Pelham DEBT and a construction manager who works in the city, dropped it off at Minister Bill Mauro’s office last week. “We were trying to nail down the minister himself, but they’re hard to get ahold of,” said Harley. “But I dropped it off with a staffer in his office, and she looked through it while I was there. She seemed taken aback by all of the evidence that was in there.” The request invokes a little-known portion of the Municipal Act, which allows for the province to look into a municipality if at least 50 residents sign a petition. According to Harley, the Pelham petition acquired its 213 signatures in little over 24 hours. “We had it at the November 29 [KPMG presentation] meeting at E.L. Crossley, because we thought there was going to be an opportunity to deliver it in early December,” said Harley. “That didn’t happen, but we still got all of the signatures then.” Harley said that DEBT had circulated another petition earlier in the fall calling for an independent audit of Town finances, which included DEBT’s offer to pay for the audit. Harley said that after the Town “pulled a trick” by commissioning its own limited-scale review of just the 3.3 acre land deal, residents looked to the clause in the Municipal Act. Even KPMG’s report on the 3.3 acre land deal, which was commissioned by the Town, raised further questions, as KPMG concluded only that it was “unsure” as to whether the Town’s scheme to buy land with credits violated any bylaws or other legislation. After the Town commissioned this report in early October, Councillor Marvin Junkin resigned his seat and alleged that the Town was $17 million dollars deeper in debt than previously disclosed. While KPMG later said that this was not unreport-
ed debt, and that the figure had been amended to $10 million, the firm did reveal that the Town had spent its reserve funds instead of taking loans. Effectively, said accounting experts consulted by the Voice, this practice artificially lowered the Town’s disclosed financial liabilities. One expert thought it likely the Town would have required special approval from the Ontario Municipal Board for the commu-
If it weren't for all the people we have helping out on this, none of it would have been possible Pelham resident and DEBT member Curt Harley submitted the organization's petition last week.
nity centre loans it sought if the reserve usage had been fully disclosed. When Regional Council voted to support the motion supporting DEBT’s petition, Audit Committee Chair Tony Quirk said, “We [the Region] signed off on a $37 million debenture with information that was not accurate.” Harley says that the issue has “never been about political opposition or the building of a community centre. This is all about how things are being done.” “We should be celebrating in our community,” said Regional Councillor Brian Baty at Council, pointing to the upcoming opening of the community centre. “But instead, we’re hurting.” Baty said that he hoped that a provincial investigation would begin a “healing process” for the town. Harley said that members of DEBT come from diverse political backgrounds. “There are NDPers, Liberals, PCs, atheists, non-atheists, business people, farmers,” he said. Despite this, he said that he and others are concerned that the Minister’s decision could be po-
litical, considering Mayor Dave Augustyn’s widely presumed connections to the governing Liberal Party. “You know that's the way these things work,” he said. “I’m sure he’s been busy on the phone trying to get this ignored.” But Harley said that he’s optimistic that some form of investigation will occur. “We’re hopeful that all the evidence in that binder—the KPMG reports, the news analysis, all of that—will cause someone to raise an eyebrow.” Tony Quirk was in Toronto last week for the Ontario Good Roads Association meeting, and arranged for a package to be sent to Progressive Conservative Municipal Affairs Critic Ernie Hardemand, as well as copy of the petition to be sent to Niagara West - Glanbrook MPP Sam Oosterhoff. “I can say that the staff at the Ministry [of Municipal Affairs] was pretty impressed by the package,” said Quirk. Harley said that it’s hoped that both Oosterhoff and Hardemand will bring the matter to the house floor, even if Mauro’s office is slow
to act. Harley said that his first questions arose about the Town’s actions during the lead-up to the community centre’s approval in the spring of 2016. “It didn’t make sense how Petroff Architects and Ball Construction were already so involved in a project that wasn’t even a project yet,” said Harley. “It was a nearly complete design and it hadn’t even been to Council.” Harley said that he was further troubled by the Town’s action at an open house for community input. According to Harley, he put a sign in his car window and parked it near the entrance to the meeting, so that residents walking in would have to see it. “It wasn’t anything defamatory, it was just harmless,” he said. “But Nancy Bozzato came out and saw it, and then the Mayor poked his head out, and the next thing I knew the Fire Chief had come and parked a Town pickup on part of the sidewalk just to block the view of my sign. I thought then, ‘Is this really what this has come to?’” Harley also condemned Augustyn’s suggestion that it was
SUPPLIED PHOTO
Regional Councillors stoking residents concerns about Pelham finances. “I’m not trying to sell it—but this thing really does come from the grassroots,” he said. “If it weren’t for all the people we have helping out on this, none of it would be possible.” Harley said that as the province considers the petition, he and other signatories will continue to observe the Town’s actions, particularly the ongoing efforts to sell 18 acres of land on Rice Road. After Regional Council voted in February to support the residents’ petition, Town Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald released a statement on the prospect of a provincial investigation. “Unfortunately, Regional Council’s attempt to initiate yet another frivolous investigation will burden Pelham taxpayers with a huge, unnecessary expense,” wrote MacDonald. “Council and staff remain committed to our common vision that Pelham becomes the most vibrant, innovative, and caring community in Niagara.”
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Page 4
The Voice of Pelham, March 7 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 Is divisiveness the new normal?
I
F, FOLLOWING THE newscasts you find yourself scratching your head, be assured, you are not alone. Very often, it is difficult to accept what you have just seen and more than a little difficult to try and understand why. Is there a common denominator beneath these catastrophic incidents, or are there complexities beyond the grasp of the average mortal? Normally, rational people attempt to remain positive most of the time and adhere to the belief that good will overcome evil. But, in recent times the increasing frequency of inhumane events might challenge the inclinations of even the most ardent positivists. Many television newscasts highlight the evil side of human nature. The horrific school shootings in the US are one such blasphemous example. The bombings in Syria and terrorist attacks serve as further instances from an almost endless list. Regrettably, there are many horrific events to chose from. Think about it. When is the last time you saw a good news headline? There may be some in-
dications that a common denominator at the root of many of the world’s issues could be divisiveness.
Normally, rational people attempt to remain positive most of the time
By definition, divisiveness drives a wedge between factions and that ultimately results in disunity, derision, chaos and other loathsome scenarios that can often lead to inhumane results. Political pundits suggest that divisiveness may be a tactic frequently employed by #45 of the USA. An intended result of that tactic is distraction. When two, or more, factions are at each others’ throats, then the fracas becomes the focus. The noise from that fracturing distracts from the
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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 Carolyn Botari, Larry Coté, Colin Brezicki, John Swart, Kirk Weaver
primary, now almost forgotten, basic issue. All too often, the daily news headlines are about diverse entities drawing a divisive line to divide each from the other ‘side.’ Once divisiveness takes hold it becomes more and more difficult to arbitrate and eradicate. The long-term divisive issues between Ottawa and Canada’s Indigenous Peoples and the topic of bilingualism might well serve as examples to underscore that point. Closer to home, the state of relations between Fonthill and the Region appear to be within the definition of divisiveness. In such instances, the points of contention have the potential to become so deeply seated that these resolutely resist compromise and any inclination to tolerate alternate points of view. Sadly, unity, peaceful co-existence, respect and co-operation among diverse groupings of people appear to have become less common in human relations. It appears many relationships are inclined toward contentiousness and animosity and such temperaments are See DIVISIVE next page
Letters Cartoon of Russian curler accused of doping misses button I'd like to say something regarding the editorial cartoon about the Russian Curler, published on page 4 in the Voice last week, and I welcome any discussion regarding it. It is very easy to make this kind of disrespectful comment without having factual information. An investigation will take place regarding this incident with the Russian Olympic Curler, and after we will have the final results, only then we can make our
It is very easy to make this kind of disrespectful comment own opinion without parroting what the rest of the media says. Sarcastic cartoons that will only create anger instead of discussion are not the right way to communicate.
Thinking is the priority of the human being, and thinking carefully is our way to live in peace and respect with each other. Elena Allenova Fonthill
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
The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time. Thomas Jefferson
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
Community Centre project updates: www.pelham.ca/pcc
Richard
Brown
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Cell: 905-651-5143
rbrown@royallepage.ca • www.homesniagara.com
1815 Merrittville Hwy, Unit 1, Fonthill, Ontario
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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, clarity or legal considerations. 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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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
Page 5
OPINION Letters
Improving access to the Library
continued
BY KIRK WEAVER
Wondering in Wainfleet
CEO Pelham Library
Yet one more planning staff report recommending an elected council reverse a decision, made in support of good planning and at the request of their own citizens. Instead council are to defer to the demands of a developer. It appears that it is now the planners who make our planning decisions and not our elected councils? When did we allow this
to happen? Even more important— why are we not holding our elected politicians responsible for allowing township planners to dictate that the interests of developers overrule the wishes of the community every time? Andrew Watts Wainfleet
Stop racing around Berkwood I have been witnessing this for a few good years now. Cars, trucks and delivery drivers speeding at high speeds around the sharp corner at Berkwood Place in Fonthill. Not only is there a blind spot with large pine tree, but many small children in the area. There are two teens on the street who have racing wars around the corner. Better hope I don't get your plate numbers. Just
slow down! Look for kids. We try to instill in them to stop and look both ways. For the most part they do. In only takes one time to forget. I am sure you would not want to live with that terrible tragically accident. I know I don't! Jennifer Bowman Fonthill
Sulphur situation reminder of earlier roadwork This is unacceptable. [Guardrails anger Sulphur residents, Feb. 28, p.3.] A waste of money and both unsafe and unfair that the taxpayers' road is impassible. It reminds me of a time several years ago when the Town decided to "improve" a shallow ditch along the street in front of our house, which runs down the side of a prominent hill. The ditch was dug out and filled with large rocks, and the bank with fill, which contained rags, pieces of
metal and other questionable items. Metal posts with small yellow warning shapes were installed, I am assuming to warn bicyclists not to crash into the ditch. The road did not shed water properly during heavy rains and continued to send sand down the hill. The rocks began to be covered with some of this sand. Then a year or two later the rocks were removed for part of that length. Curbs and gutters were added, which
for the bottom-third of the hill collect debris until they are full, and then again send the water from hard rains onto the street. In the words of my son-in-law, it is a Gong Show. Tillie Maria Via Facebook
Last June we launched a materials sharing partnership with four other local libraries. The partnership, “Libraries in Niagara Cooperative (LiNC)”, currently includes Pelham Public Library, Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library, Lincoln Public Library, Fort Erie Public Library, and Niagara College. Our goal in launching this partnership was to allow library users to access a great deal more material than we could provide individually. If you have a Pelham Public Library card, you have access to most of the material available in the collections of our partners. We are pleased to say that the results have been fantastic. From the time we launched until the end of 2017, we received close to 3,500 items from partner libraries for our users. Similarly, we sent over 3,500 Pelham Public Library items to other li-
OPTOMETRIST
continued from previous page becoming the accepted norm of dealings between many factions. Such fractious relations bring about more isolationism, less trust and threaten the prospects of peaceful resolutions among people of differing points of view. Might there ever come the time when our political leadership will work more harmoniously and conscientiously to reverse the divisiveness that predominates much of the local, national and international relations? In the face of so many dreadful current events it may, at times, be difficult to remain optimistic. However, that is the only option, as pessimism is a close ally of divisiveness.
Library users benefit from being able to access a broader range of material
Library users benefit from being able to access a broader range of material than we could otherwise provide and popular items become available sooner. There is a provincial inter library loan system, but it typically involves significant staff research time and transportation time. LiNC allows users to search partner library catalogues and make re-
quests for the items they want. The selected items are delivered to their local library within a few days. Another key advantage of this arrangement is that, for those who travel across the large Niagara geography for work or play, you will be able to present your Pelham Library card at any LiNC partner library and enjoy the same borrowing privileges as you would at the Pelham Library branches. Pelham cardholders now have access to close to 225,000 items. Before launching this initiative access was limited to about 44,500 items. It is a little like adding several more branches to the library system. We are pleased to announce that this partnership is set to expand. On March 1 the Thorold Public Library joined LiNC. We encourage you to check out their selection to see what new items they bring to the collection. The addition of Thorold brings the total number of libraries in the cooperative to six.
Professional SERVICES Directory Dr. Timothy Hennig
DIVISIVE
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Larry Coté is a retired professor of business. He was awarded the Governor General’s Medal for his community activities.
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Dr. Hennig has been practicing for over 30 years in the Niagara Peninsula, and has a special interest in children’s vision, computer vision syndrome and senior’s vision. •Retinal imaging that captures virtually the entire retina •New technology contact lens fitting •Fellowship trained in vision therapy •Infant eye exams welcomed
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NEWSFLASH Tell us your story! Column Six presents tales of personal triumph, adventure, strange-but-true stories, life-changing events, and looks-back at our past. Did you conquer Everest or kick a bad habit? Did you meet your spouse-to-be in jail or on an African safari? Do you know where Hoffa’s buried? Write it down, send it in: publisher@thevoiceofpelham.ca (You won’t get rich, but you will get paid.)
Page 6
The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
Stars on houses: What's up BY VOICE STAFF
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Public Is Invited To Attend Tuesday, March 27, 2018 at 2:00pm Fonthill Legion Meeting Room 141 Hwy 20 W, FONTHILL
Light Refreshments will be served For information call Pelham Cares at (905) 892-5300 Or email: info@pelhamcares.org
They are not noticeable until you notice one, and then you see them everywhere. Large, five-pointed stars are affixed to the walls of countless houses in Pelham, often hanging at the tip-top of a front-facing gable. The proper term for the emblem is “barn star,” even if it’s on a house rather than barns, and they are typically associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch.
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“Pennsylvanian Dutch” is a term typically used to refer to emigrants from the Rhine area of Germany—Amish, Mennonites, and Lutherans who moved to the United States. Despite this general association, however, the precise origin of barn stars is unknown, though it appears that they had no explicitly Biblical associations. According to the website Pioneer Thinking, “settlers painted colourful geometric patterns on their barns. Many were floral designs, birds and, stars, many of them look[ing] like a quilt patch. The people assigned specific meanings for each symbol. Somehow through time the geometric symbols evolved through the Pennsylvania Dutch farmers as 'hex' signs. They were to bring the families good luck.” Barn stars became increasingly popular after the Civil War, with some being aesthetic while others the mark of a specific barn’s builder. Geometric shapes have historically also been used in the dedication of great buildings. The original centre block of parliament had a star-shaped plaque placed by the Prince of Wales in 1860, which was salvaged following the fire and returned after the building’s reconstruction. Ridgeville residents Catherine and LaVerne Dickinson have a barn star on their house, and said that they thought of getting one after seeing them in the United States. “They are everywhere in Vermont, and that is where we spend a month in October,” said Catherine. “We inquired when we purchased a few while in Vermont, and were told that the star signifies ‘Welcome.’ In Vermont where there are old barns everywhere, the stars on the houses or barns are more rustic than the one I painted on our house. They are usually a rust colour. I know that they date way back to horse and buggy days.” In recent decades, barn stars stars have become
Be ready to vote on June 7, 2018.
I know they date way back to the horse-and-buggy days mostly objects of decoration. A 2006 article in the Boston Globe focussed on the fashionability of the decorations, and quoted several owners of them. “The people at the store told me they started as Chinese good luck stars and were later adopted by the Amish with the same meaning," said one woman. The Globe also cited an interior designer, who said that different styles of stars are now used for different purposes. “I've seen them used in repetitive patterns in urban environments, as well as in reserved country settings,” said the designer. “For example, the plain five-point star can be used to create a Western ranch-look, whereas a more elaborate— and rare—six-point star can be used to bring more formality to a space.” The stars are sold widely online. One spot even offers them in American-flag decal along with hooks that affix to siding. There’s a colour-code for the stars, too. Black means protection, while blue means projection and peace. Red means emotion, passion, and charisma. Violet represents the sacred. Metal Barn Stars boasts that they use “22 gauge galvanized metal (the thickness of a dime),” in their stars, so as “to ensure that our customers are purchasing the best quality barn star available and [it] won’t rust on you.” “While many folks assign ‘meaning’ to the barn stars, we think that they are simply a wonderful decorative accent and that they look great on barns, homes, garages, or anywhere indoors,” reads the site’s explainer. The online craft mar-
ket Etsy has hundreds of barn star listings, including a supposed “antique” three-foot star in California retailing for $497, plus $332 shipping to Canada. The listing assures potential buyers that the star was “handcrafted from raw steel,” and suggests that it’s “great for the big western-themed party events, country-themed events, for the cowboys and cowgirls and more.” The buyer must hope that they love the star upon its arrival, since if not, “the buyer will be responsible to pay the return shipping cost as well as the 15 percent restock fee.” Symbolism arises in mysterious ways. When European explorers arrived in South America, they encountered pineapple for the first time. According to the World Encyclopedia of Food, these explorers found that many indigenous peoples would hang the fruit on the their houses to demonstrate a welcoming to strangers. As the fruit—and the concept—slowly entered Europe, pineapples came to represent hospitality for the gentry, and depictions of the fruit began popping up in common areas. The exorbitant cost of pineapples meant that some could be sold for as much as $8000 in current dollars in the United States, and there was even a pineapple-renting market for those who could only afford to show off the fruit for a short period of time. People have long etched others sorts of symbols on to houses. In 2016, an historical society in England launched a campaign to collect information on “witches’ marks” on old buildings around the country, with the shapes found ranging from compasses and dividers to intertwined Vs and Ms for the Virgin Mary. The Guardian reported that the hunt turned up tangles of lines believed to confuse spirits that followed them, as well as tadpole-shaped scorch marks. Historic building inspector Nick Molyneux told the paper that he even found marks on timbers leading to a cellar in one house. “They possibly date from the period when the house became a pub, and the beer would have been stored there,” he said. “You certainly wouldn’t have wanted witches turning your beer sour: that really would have been a disaster.”
Pictured on the front page: LaVerne and Catherine Dickinson’s barn star on their Ridgeville home.
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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
Page 7
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These maximum payload ratings are intended for comparison purposes only. Before you buy a vehicle or use it to haul people or cargo, carefully review the Vehicle Loading section of the Owner’s Manual and check the carrying capacity of your specific vehicle on the label on the inside of the driver door jamb. ŧ With available 3.6L V6 engine. Based on WardsAuto.com 2018 Small Pickup segment and latest competitive information available at time of posting. Excludes other GM vehicles. ∞ Based on WardsAuto.com 2018 Small Pickup segment and latest competitive information available at time of posting. Excludes other GM vehicles.. Colorado 2WD with available Duramax 2.8L Turbo-Diesel 4-cylinder engine. Before you buy a vehicle or use it for trailering, carefully review the Trailering section of the Owner’s Manual. The weight of passengers, cargo and options or accessories may reduce the amount you can tow. 2018 Colorado 2WD with available Duramax 2.8L Turbo-Diesel fuel consumption rating is 7.9 L/100 km highway and 10.8 L/100 km city. Fuel consumption ratings are based on GM testing in accordance with Government of Canada approved test methods. Refer to vehicles.nrcan.gc.ca for details. Your actual fuel consumption may vary. ¥ 4 Visit onstar.ca for vehicle availability. Services and connectivity vary by model, conditions as well as geographical and technical restrictions. Requires active OnStar service and data plan. Data plans provided by AT&T or its local service provider. Vehicle user interface is a product of Apple and Apple’s terms and privacy statements apply. Requires compatible smartphone and data plan rates apply.Vehicle user interface is a product of Google and its terms and privacy statements apply. Requires the Android Auto app on Google Play and an Android compatible smartphone running Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher and data plan rates apply. † Whichever comes first, fully transferable. See dealer for complete details. ** The 2-Year Scheduled LOF Maintenance Program provides eligible customers in Canada who have purchased, leased or financed a new eligible 2017 MY Chevrolet, Buick or GMC vehicle (excluding Bolt EV) with an ACDelco oil and filter change, in accordance with the Oil Life Monitoring System and the Owner’s Manual, for 2 years or 48,000 km, whichever occurs first, with a limit of four Lube-Oil-Filter services in total, performed at participating GM dealers. Fluid top-offs, inspections, tire rotations, wheel alignments and balancing, etc., are not covered. This offer may not be redeemed for cash and may not be combined with certain other consumer incentives available on GM vehicles. General Motors of Canada Limited reserves the right to amend or terminate this offer, in whole or in part, at any time without prior notice. Additional conditions and limitations apply. See dealer for details.
Page 8
The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
Forster: 87-year-old waited nine hours in hospital hallway after heart attack BY VOICE STAFF QUEEN’S PARK – Donna Thompson, an 87-year-old Welland woman, suffered a
heart attack and was rushed to Welland hospital last Tuesday, where she waited for nine hours in a wheelchair in a crowded hallway,
according to a news release sent by Welland MPP Cindy Forster’s office late last week. Forster questioned Kathleen Wynne and the Lib-
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erals Thursday morning at Queen’s Park about the ongoing hospital crowding crisis and what she termed the government’s inaction. Thompson’s wait in the emergency department hallway—sitting upright in a wheelchair despite the heart attack and arthritis in her back —was because the hospital was so overcrowded that there were no stretchers available for her to lay down, according to the news release. “Donna was in severe pain for those nine hours. She has arthritis in her back. The chair was too big, and she was stationed by the busy triage area under a phone,” said Forster. “Hospital overcrowding is a real issue in this province, stories like Donna’s show us that —and I hear them almost every day. How can the premier continue to pretend that everything is fine in our hospitals when she is confronted with a case like Donna’s?” Thompson's daughter Leslie says that no one should have to go through what her mom went through, and Forster agreed, saying the crisis has been decades in the making, but can be fixed. “The last Conservative government fired 6000 nurses and closed 28 hospitals. The Liberals have shortchanged hospitals in every
budget for 15 years, including $300 million in this budget alone,” said Forster. “Kathleen Wynne is carrying on the Conservative tradition of cutting health care services for Ontario families, and it has to stop. We have to stop choosing between bad and worse when it comes to health care.”
Hospital overcrowding is a real issue Caroline Bourque Wiley, Communications Director for the Niagara Health System, said late Thursday that the NHS was sorry to hear about Thompson’s story and was following up with her and her family. “We are currently experiencing a high volume of patients at our hospital sites, and our teams are working very hard to provide our patients and families with a positive experience,” said Bourque-Wiley. “Our goal is for every patient to receive safe, timely care at all times. Whenever we fall short, we are one hundred percent committed to learning from the experience.”
THERAMIN continued from Page 16 point it is unlikely that the theremin will ever be anything other than a novelty. There are still some exceptions. Clara Rockmore, a Soviet expatriate who once declined an offer of marriage from Leon Theremin, is widely considered the greatest thereminist of all. YouTube is full of archival footage of her playing the instrument, often accompanied by the piano. On what would have been her 105th birthday, in 2016, Google’s homepage was a doodle dedicated to her. By hovering the cursor on the screen, users could control a virtual theremin, operating an electronic instrument through the use of an electronic device. Leon Theremin would have been pleased.
RESIGNS continued from Page 2 contacted the Voice to report that their inquiries of Pelham Town Council were unanswered. One reader reported that his councillor simply replied that he had no idea why Toscher left. Former staff, and residents who serve on various Town committees, have universally praised Toscher as a hard worker and dedicated to her job.
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Hoo-Ahh Aerial of the Week http://www.hooahhvideos.ca/
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SNOW DAY The Hoo-Ahh drone team took advantage of last Friday's snow storm to fly a mission above East Fonthill. Pilot James and visual assistant mom Rosa MacGuire bring us this view of 74 new buildings either completed or under construction, with many, many more to come. HOO-AHH PHOTO
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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
COLUMN SIX continued from Page 1 infinity and he quickly became a legend around the school. When we asked him to multiply serious numbers, like 758 times 857, he produced the answer in seconds. At first we’d check it with pencils and much erasing, but after a while we didn’t bother—Ziggy nailed it every time. He did square roots in his head when he was bored, and he would sit at his desk mumbling about something called “the next one.” Our teacher explained that Ziggy was working on the next prime number. O-kay, we said to ourselves. He was a digital prodigy, a nascent Alan Turing who believed that numbers were the key to truth and beauty, to all ye know on earth and all ye need to know. He didn’t actually say that because he was only 11 (another prime number), but you just knew from the way he gazed into the middle distance that this was his credo. He had taken an interest in hockey, but this had nothing to do with who would follow Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux as the greatest player ever, mainly because Wayne
and Mario weren’t even born yet. One day I discovered that Ziggy had turned his analytical powers from finding the next prime number to calculating the exact moment in a hockey game when Gordie Howe would score a goal. Seriously. And without a computer or a calculator, because they weren’t born yet either. He had drawn up a massive chart listing every player in the NHL (only six teams back then, so, unlike now, he was dealing with a finite number), along with their scoring stats, all faithfully entered each morning as he pored over the box scores. Against each scorer’s name, he would log the precise time of each goal. His spreadsheet grew daily as figures accumulated, and by the time he had gathered the stats of two entire hockey seasons it would cover a small skating rink. Scoring stats were the only reason Ziggy followed hockey at all, as some people now watch the NFL only because they’re in the office pool. The league was just another numbers game for our budding Johannes Kepler. With only six teams and sixty games in the schedule, the project was manageable for a probability fanatic with a brain the size of an anvil. Ziggy believed his stats
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would one day enable him to determine the minute and second when a player like Howe would be most likely to score. When I told him it was no big deal because Gordie Howe was good enough to score in any second of any game, he just stared at me like he was trying to determine what species I belonged to. Pretty soon a Saturday night came around when the Leafs were hosting Detroit— the odds of that happening back then were very short— so I phoned Ziggy on a whim and asked him when Howe would score a goal. He called me back after consulting his chart. “Second period at 11:32.” Hockey Night in Canada didn’t come on till nine o’clock, when the game was usually half over, and I was anxious I might miss the apocalyptic moment. At last, after mercifully brief intros by TV host Ward Cornell, and a plug for Esso by Murray Westgate, they cut to the live action—eight minutes of the second period gone and the score tied 1-1. I stopped breathing when Howe stepped onto the ice for a shift just after the 11-minute mark. Could it happen? If he scored 30 seconds later (could I hold my breath that long?) life would forever change: the earth would stand still, mountains would slide into the sea, the graves would open and there would then be nothing left remarkable beneath the visiting moon. Howe stole the puck from George Armstrong and headed up the ice. He crossed the blue line, split the defence, and fired the puck at the top corner of the net, straight into Eddie Chadwick’s outstretched glove. A scuffle followed in front of the net, and at exactly 11:32 the referee blew his whistle and sent Howe to the penalty box for elbowing Bert Olmstead. Like, instead. The earth wobbled a little, but remained on its axis. And I breathed again. Ziggy went
back to the drawing board, but, man, that was close. In his own way, Ziggy pioneered an analytics industry that now underpins every sport on the planet—and pretty well everything else in our lives. He was an early quantifier, a pioneer of Big Data, with none of the generating capacity of today’s technology, who believed he had been put into this world to illuminate a dark corner of the unknowable. Did he foresee the day we would become dazzled, if not blinded, by analytics? Hockey analysts now pore over 50 categories of stats in computing a player’s worth, down to the precise minute, second and degree— everything from turnover differential to short-handed assists to shots missed while on a shift with more left-handed teammates than right who can chirp in two languages at once. We seem bent on finding ways to measure whatever immeasurables remain, having long established that standard deviation tests can reduce to a number the universe contained in a human brain. As we progress by quantum leaps and bounds to our ultimate end—reducing to algorithms everything that is calculable—is it impertinent to ask what will happen to the things we can’t compute? The skeptics already wonder, is artificial intelligence really that smart, or have we quietly lowered our expectations of what smart is? According to Nicholas Carr in The Glass Cage, there’s a simple question any child can answer that has so far stumped A.I. It goes like this: the bowling ball crashed through the table because it was made of Styrofoam: what was made of Styrofoam, the bowling ball or the table? It appears that no computer, not even one endowed with voice recognition or real-time translation or other Deep Learning apps can answer it.
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca Carr explains, with mind-boggling simplicity, that A.I. has no intrinsic knowledge of the world. I would add that A.I. has no knowledge of ambiguity (or, for that matter, irony, nuance, subtext and metaphor). The it, in ‘it was made of Styrofoam’, is ambiguous, and the question impossible to answer unless one has an intrinsic experience of bowling balls, styrofoam, and language, and can intuit that it has to be the table. So, is there truth only in numbers, or in George Canning’s remark that he could prove anything by numbers except the truth? Can machines compute emotional intelligence? What about the spontaneous, unpredictable, unexpected, whimsical and everything else in life that runs against the odds? The things that make life immeasurably interesting and human, warts and all. Warts and all is the point, I believe. I remember the moment in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, when young Christopher, himself a kind of Ziggy with his math expertise, remarks that prime numbers are like life— they’re what’s left when you take away the pattern. I can imagine Ziggy now as an actuary at the very top of his game, crunching the numbers for insurance companies and pension firms to calculate the day a particular combination of diagnostics—a human person—will die. If he has worked that into an exact science I hope he has the good sense to keep it to himself. Gordie Howe’s appointed time has come and gone, but I’m not sure I want to know, along with a whole bunch of other things I don’t want to know, the moment when I step onto the ice for my last shift. There are so many things in life, death being only one of them, that make us human, and perishable, and are best left alone to surprise us.
REFUND continued from Page 1 some $331,000 to the City of Hamilton, and a further $31,000 to Haldimand County. Niagara Region realized a 6.2% reduction of the levy in 2018 in addition to the returned funds. NPCA should have apportioned its levy among its funding municipalities by either using the provincial formula, or via a written agreement among all parties. The NPCA had done neither since approximately 2001.
Best practices dictate appropriate funding of reserves
NPCA’s former CAO Carmen D’Angelo discovered the error in 2014. The board corrected this by applying the provincial formula to its levy apportionment in 2015. Hamilton appealed the amount apportioned to the city, which was dismissed. The NPCA Board has voted to return funds to taxpayers across the Niagara Peninsula watershed through the funding municipalities pending the results of a judicial review of the decision of the Commissioner of Mining and Lands. The City of Hamilton has asked for a judicial review as the decision by the Commissioner’s ruling was declared final and cannot be appealed. NPCA is primarily funded through municipalities within the watershed that administer the levy on behalf of the organization. The NPCA also receives four percent of its annual budget from provincial funding, and 22 percent is self-generated revenue from its properties.
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Page 13
LOOKING BACK ON 2017 |
A message from NPCA Chair Annunziata
520,000
700 41
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2,911
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NPCA WATERSHED
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Health of NPCA after completing first ever 2014–2017 Strategic Plan
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Face to face Conversations with Minister McGarry
Returned to Niagara Taxpayers (Hamilton Apportionment Decision)
5.2%
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6
Meetings with Bonnie LYSYK, Ontario AG
4
New MOU’s
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New policies crafted
Niagara Region (Planning Protocol)
Code of Conducts
Department of National Defense Land Use Agreement
Record Retention
Reduction in 2018 Budget
District School Board of Niagara Outdoor Learning
1
NPC Foundation (New Partnership)
New Master Plan Cave Springs
8 167 1
Bold new initiatives
5 new members NPCA Advisory Comittee (First time ever Métis Nation member)
1 new CAO after extensive recruitment process
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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
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Well, folks, a bet is a bet. You were right, Patrick Brown dropped out, so your meals are on the house, compliments of the chef!
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NURSERY HELP Greenhouse/Nursery Maintenance nursery growing container grown perennials,
AVONDALE continued from Page 1
Wholesale vines,Large flowering shrubs, nursery, evergreens & dwarf trees seekinghas a wholesale greenhouse operation individuals who desire a career in horticulture. We are in position open in their maintenance department. Person need must of general labourers as well as those skilled in the have experience with repair and maintenance of growing, management and shipping of nursery stock. greenhouses. Electrical, plumbing, carpentry, welding Plant and knowledge experience an asset. youan areasset. other and handyman skillsis would also If be an individual who has organizational skills and dedication Licenses are not necessarily required. Candidate must as well as agood willingness to work as a team player, we look have organizational and communication skills and forward to hearing from you. Wages will commensurate good work habits. Excellent compensation and benefit with experience. Resumes maywith be dropped of between package commensurate qualifications. Pleasethe send in hours confidence of 8:00a.m.-4:30p.m. Monday to Thursday or 8:00a.m a complete resume with salary history to: -12:00 noon on Fridays at:
Willowbrook Willowbrook Nurseries Nurseries Inc. Inc.
Attention: Human Resources 935Victoria Victoria Ave., Fenwick, ON ON L0S1C0 935 Ave., R.R.#4, Fenwick, Attention: Human Resources Or email: jane@willowbrooknurseries.com No phone calls please. 8AM-4PM, Fri: 8AM-12N Office hours: Mon-Thur, (We thank you for your application, No phone calls please. We would like however to thank all applications, only those considered will be notified.) although only those considered will be notified.
NURSERY HELP STAFF OFFICE SUPPORT Wholesale nursery looking for Office Support Staff for the Wholesale nursery growing container grown perennials, shipping season. Responsibilities vines, spring/summer flowering shrubs, evergreens & dwarf trees seeking would include assisting shipping, data entry, preparing individuals who desire in a career in horticulture. We are trucking in paperwork, printing tags, andasgeneral office duties. need of general labourers as well those skilled in the The successful applicant possess good organizational growing, management andmust shipping of nursery stock. be capable of multi-tasking and be Ifable work as Plant skills, knowledge and experience is an asset. youtoare part of awho team. position would working longer an individual has The organizational skillsrequire and dedication spring season. Position as wellhours as a during willingness to shipping work as a team player, we could look lead to to full-time office will commensurate forward hearing fromemployment. you. WagesWages will commensurate with experience. can beofemailed with experience. ResumesResumes may be dropped betweento thejane@ dropped off between the hours hours willowbrooknurseries.com, of 8:00a.m.-4:30p.m. Monday to Thursday or 8:00a.m 8AMon to Fridays 4PM, Mon-Thur, or 8AM-12N, Fri, or mailed to: -12:00ofnoon at:
Willowbrook Nurseries Inc. Willowbrook Nurseries Inc. Attention: Human 935 Victoria Ave., Resources Fenwick, ON 935 Victoria Ave., R.R.#4, Attention: Human Resources No phone calls please. Fenwick, ON L0S1C0
thank you for your No(We phone calls please. Weapplication, would like however to thank all applications, only those considered will be notified.) although only those considered will be notified.
Another one bites the dust. North Pelham's Avodale to close March 22.
NURSERY TRUCK HELP DRIVER Local nursery nursery growing requires container truck driver with AZ License. PoWholesale grown perennials, is seasonal but could be full time if applicant vines,sition flowering shrubs, evergreens & dwarf trees seeking has other who skills, i.e. welding, plumbing, tractor individuals desire a careercarpentry, in horticulture. We are in and repairs, maintenance. Deliveries need equipment of general labourers as well as those skilled inare thewithin growing, management and shipping of nursery stock. Ontario and the northeast US. Must have clean abstract, Plant professional knowledge and experience is be an customer asset. If friendly. you are Will appearance and an individual who to has organizational skills andRates dedication be required assist in unloading truck. are hourly as well as competitive. a willingnessResumes, to work astogether a team player, we lookcan be and with abstract forward to hearing from you. Wages will commensurate emailed to jane@willowbrooknurseries.com or dropped with experience. Resumes may be dropped of between the off between the hours of 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m.. Mon.-Thurs hours of 8:00a.m.-4:30p.m. Monday to Thursday or 8:00a.m 8:00a.m.-12noon -12:00ornoon on Fridays at: Fri. at:
Willowbrook Willowbrook Nurseries Nurseries Inc. Inc.
Attention: Human Resources 935Victoria Victoria Ave., Fenwick, ON ON L0S1C0 935 Ave., R.R.#4, Fenwick, Attention: Resources Office hours:Human Mon-Thur, 8AM-4PM, Fri: 8AM-12N No phone phone calls calls please. please. No (We thank you youryou application, however We for thank for your application, only those considered will be notified.) however only those considered will be notified.
VOICE PHOTO
Avondale stores will be closed, went unanswered over a period of several weeks. The closure of the shop marks a series of shutterings that have troubled residents of North Pelham and Fenwick. Minor Brothers Farm Supply in North Pelham will move to a location on Highway 20, while the hardware store in Fenwick has already closed. The RBC in Fenwick will close this spring, merging with the Fonthill branch, and the vintage shop Friday’s Child is slated to move to St. Paul Street in St. Catharines.
NURSERY HELP
Wholesale nursery growing container grown perennials, vines, flowering shrubs, evergreens & trees is seeking individuals who Wholesale nursery growing container grown perennials, like to flowering work with shrubs, plants. evergreens We have opportunities for part time vines, & dwarf trees seeking (April, May, June) and fulla time positions. Plant knowledge individuals who desire career in horticulture. We areand in experience is an asset but notas necessary. We have openings in need of general labourers well as those skilled in the the following areas: • Grower, Management, • Tag Printing, growing, management and • shipping of nursery stock. • Tagging Plants, and • Shipping. If you isareananasset. individual who are has Plant knowledge experience If you organizational as well as a willingness to work an individual skills whoand hasdedication organizational skills and dedication as awell teamasplayer, we look forward to hearing fromplayer, you. Wages will as a willingness to work as a team we look be commensurate withfrom experience. Resumes be emailed to forward to hearing you. Wages willmay commensurate jane@willowbrooknurseries.com or dropped off between the hours with experience. Resumes may be dropped of between the of 8:00a.m.-4:00p.m. Monday to Thursday 8:00a.m -12:00 noon hours of 8:00a.m.-4:30p.m. Monday to or Thursday or 8:00a.m on Fridays at: on Fridays at: -12:00 noon
Willowbrook Nurseries Nurseries Inc. Inc. Willowbrook 935 935 Victoria Victoria Ave., Ave., Fenwick, Fenwick, ON ON Attention: Human Human Resources Resources Attention:
No No phone phone calls calls please. please. (We thank you for your (We thank you for your application, application, however however only those those considered considered will will be be notified.) notified.) only
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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
Page 15
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Passed away surrounded by the love of his family on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 82 years of age. Beloved husband of Cheryl. Loving father of Christopher Charles, Nadine Karin and Amy WeiLing. Cherished grandfather of Landon Lloyd, Ardyn Monique, Joshua, Jordan, Joey, Jewel and Megan. Dear brother of Lois Phillips. Chuck is now reunited with his loving daughter Darcy Noelle. Chuck served as a pilot with the RCAF and now has his “wings” back again. He was also employed with Transport Canada for 13 years. A service to celebrate Chuck’s life was held at Faith Welland, 380 South Pelham Rd. on Monday March 5th, 2018 at 11 am with visitation at the church. Arrangements in the care of WELLAND CREMATION SERVICE, 905-735-7957.
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guitar, bouzouki and a number of other instruments, our three virtuosos blend boundless energyFARM with theWORKERS unmistakable joie de vivre found only in traditional Quebec music. Show runs from 7-9 p.m. Community FRUIT FARM/GENERAL Fruit farm seeking farm FARM LABOURER
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workers. Pay $14/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. to handle 50 lbs. comfortably, Make six cards with fall themes, learning a variety of techniques. Materials Applicant must be able working in rural area outdoors town! to are workprovided. min. 40-60 At time of all registration, weather conditions. Planting, please enquire Tell aboutthe tools needed. hours/week in any cultivating, irrigating crops Community Event Tues.,conditions Sept. 16 10 – 12:30. $10. Please register ahead.Classified Visit www.pelhamweather and and hoeing crops strawberries ads are weekends.Lifting 50 lbs and apples. No education, no library.on.ca or call 905-892-6443 for more details. available in blocks of 30 comfortably is required. experience required. Apply in words for $8.85 + HST. Jobs included pruning, person, 1367 Balfour Street, Planting trees, thinning Fenwick Ontario from 10 – 5, Ad booking and payment FABULOUS LIONS FISH FRY and harvesting fruit,FENWICKMonday – Friday. deadline is Thursday packing sorting Tastyand treats with funds heading straight back into the Noon community. Haddock, prior to week of fruit. No Experience CUSTOM MILL required. Education frenchNofries and much more. Runs Sept. 9 from 4-7 p.m. publication. required, Must have Portable sawmill service. I will Payment may be made own transportation. Min come to your home or farm and over the phone by credit wage $14.00/hour. custom EQUIPMENT mill your logs. Firewood PELHAM MINOR HOCKEY SALE card, or in person at our Please drop resume & lumber also available. Call offBuy, at 825sell Canboro Rd, used Rob or trade equipment at905-401-4948 the Pelham Arena. Aimed tocheck. provide office cash or Patterson, OCNA Network Classified Ads by Fenwick Ontario L0S riverwood@primus.ca. Thanks for Sept. supporting cheaper options for players(AD in CENTRAL) this upcoming season. Runs 6 from 1C0
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Week of CARE CHILD office@thevoiceofpelham.ca YOUR AD HERE Marchfor 5 Before/After PELHAM MUDFEST Openings Reach thousands of will be back School Men and women inWellington theCare. mudHeights as the second run on the year is 905-892-8690 Serving Posted readers with a Public School and Saint held at Bissil’s Hideaway. March 1 Voice classified! Anne's Catholic School. Hot breakfast, homework Central NIAGARA REGIONAL EXHIBITION help, nutritious snacks. On bus routes. Region Ads headline included this Rodeo, and live entertainment TAX games INCL. Call/text Michelle runs from Sept. 11-14 at the@Welland Fairgrounds. 289-455-1785
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Then it isn’t being seen. Support your local WALKING CLUB The Voice clubs Interested in walkingservice in Pelham? Join them Tuesdays at the Pelham Arena The paper that Pelham reads. from 9-10 am and Thursdays at Fonthill Bandshell for 9-10:30 am. There is no fee for this program. For more information, please contact jcook@ pelham.ca or call 905 892-2607, ext 329. (905) 892-8690
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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
Pelham's only theramin? Musician laments typecasting of "oddball instrument" BY SAMUEL PICCOLO
The VOICE
Perhaps it was inevitable. The theremin—an electronic instrument invented by a Soviet physicist who also developed espionage bugs, and which is played without touching anything—has become closely associated with “the eerie.” “People hear the theremin and right away they think, ‘Ooh. Creepy,’” said Jim Casson, the professional drummer who owns what could be Pelham’s only theremin. One day in February, Casson assembled the instrument in his basement recording studio and monkeyed around with it, as he does from time to time. The theremin does not look like a musical instrument. Casson’s is a small black rectangle, about 18 inches long and four fingers wide. It has two antennas—one extending vertically, like the antenna on a car, and the other looping horizontally from one end of the box. There are two dials on the front, and two cords coming out the back. The theremin was invented in 1920 by Leon Theremin, a Soviet physicist, who also became famous for inventing “The Thing,” a listening device that bugged the American embassy. Theremin developed the instrument while working on creating an electronic device for mea-
suring the density of gasses. His invention was such a sensation at the time that Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin commissioned Theremin to tour the country to demonstrate the device and to promote electrification. Theremin moved to the United States in the 1920s and signed a $100,000 contract with RCA in 1929, but the instrument’s launch was a flop, resulting from a combination of high cost, difficulty of use, and the stock market crash. “You took it home and found that your best efforts led to squealing and moaning sounds,” Theremin’s biographer Albert Glinsky told the BBC. “So the combination of the fact that only the most skilled people could teach themselves how to play it and the fact that there was a downturn in the economy meant that the instrument really wasn't a commercial success.” Casson first encountered the theremin at a museum in Calgary. “I was out touring with a band—our flights got moved around and we were stranded there,” he said. “So we ended up visiting a private musical instrument museum, and there was a theremin.” Years later, after a few of his friends had bought their own, he decided to pick one up.
Jim Casson plays his theramin. “I thought that they’d be really expensive. I saw it in a museum, so it must be expensive,” he remembered. Casson was used to spending nearly a thousand dollars on a single drum, but when he looked online, theremins were surprisingly cheap. “I bought mine from a company in Georgia. It was the second most expensive model, and it was only $150,” he said. “The most expensive one would have sounded the same, too—it just came in a beautiful wooden box. It looks like a piece of furniture.” The components themselves can be bought at an electronics store for $20. Casson switched on the box and hit a button on a
VOICE PHOTO
speaker nearby. He held his left hand flat above the horizontal antenna, as if he were preparing to stimulate a crystal ball, and positioned his right hand close to vertical antenna, pinching his thumb in towards his fingers. “The horizontal antenna controls the volume,” said Casson, raising his arm up and down, the noise growing louder and softer in direct relation to his hand’s distance from the coil. With most musical instruments, sound is only emitted when the player does something: the pressing of a piano key, the blowing through a reed, the strike of a drum. But the theremin is different. “It doesn’t stop making noise until you put your
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca hand right up against the antenna,” he explained. “That’s why they say that you have to ‘play the rests’ as well as the notes.” Casson moved his right hand around next to the vertical antenna, altering the pitch from a low hum to a high whine. “It’s very hard to control the pitch accurately. It’s not like hitting piano keys, where the semi-tones [distance between notes] are fixed,” said Casson. “The pitch changes exponentially.” He moved his hand far away from the antenna. “Your first move between notes is three inches,” he said. “And then when you get close to the antenna with the high notes, they are just micro-adjustments.” He moved his hand very close to the antenna and shifted each finger by an almost imperceptible amount. One of the dials on the theremin changes these distances between notes; the instrument can be set to the upper threshold, making it easier to play high notes, or it can be set to the lower, making it easier to reach the deep. But this dial can’t really be fiddled with during a single song. “You change that, and you’re in a different key,” said Casson. “It’s like putting a capo on a guitar.” Because of the minuscule movements required to switch notes, Casson said that any excess movement can throw the playing off. “You can’t rock out to the theremin—you have to be completely still,” he said. “You end up looking incredibly boring because you’re just standing there
like a statue.” Casson has used his theremin in his Dark Orchard project, which is mainly experimental music, and has occasionally performed with it live, calling it a “neat novel visual.” Otherwise, his theremin mostly keeps the rest of his instrument collection company in his Fenwick basement. “I was recording some music for Dave Rave [known from Teenage Head, an ‘80s Hamilton punk band] and he saw the theremin here. He said, ‘Is that a theremin? We’ve got to have that in a song,” recalled Casson. The instrument became famous when Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page began playing a modified version of it, though it still remains, as Casson calls it, an “oddball instrument.” Years later, it was discovered that Theremin’s purpose for moving to the United States was more strategic than musical. “His very reason for being sent over was his espionage mission," Theremin’s biographer Albert Glinsky told the BBC. Theremin “ran his own companies, which were fronts for industrial espionage, and he reported to Amtorg, the Soviet trading corporation in America, itself a front for espionage activities.” When Theremin returned to the Soviet Union, he was sent to the Gulag in Siberia for a time, and only after the fall of communism did he learn of his instrument’s cult-like status in the west. “There are some original compositions for the theremin,” said Casson, though he concluded that at this See THERAMIN Page 8
Crossley co-op program offers window to work world BY CHRISTINE BUNZ
E.L. Crossley Correspondent
While what usually comes to mind when one thinks of learning is a classroom full of students, sitting neatly in their desks, studying away, E. L. Crossley also encourages its students to take their education one step further, to get outside the classroom to learn in a hands-on setting. To help students to get out there and learn through real life experience, the school offers a Cooperative Education program; sends its students on enriching field trips; and even offers courses through EduTravel. Crossley’s Cooperative Education program gives students the option to attend a placement in the community to earn credits toward their OSSD while learning in their desired field. Placements for the students vary depending on interest, ranging from hairstyling to auto mechanics, from cooking to journalism. Allowing the students to spend time in a placement outside the classroom not only lets them pick up real life skills in the work force, but also allows them to explore their interests and make an informed decision for their post-secondary path, whether it be college or university, an apprenticeship, or straight into the work force. Students get to see firsthand the kind of work they would be doing if they were to pursue a career in the field they chose to be placed in for their Co-Op. Andrew Petryschuk, the head
of the Cooperative Education program, spoke fondly of helping his students find the right placement. “Co-Op is for everyone,” he said. “Students can pick a placement that suits their interest.” Petryschuk believes in the importance of getting kids outside the classroom to learn. “What you learn in the classroom is important, but getting students into a Co-Op placement gives them the opportunity to develop useful skills for the workforce and the field they may want to pursue,” he added. In efforts to keep the curriculum as enriching as possible, students are taken on excursions relevant to what they may be learning at the time. Most recently, the French department sent its Grade 10 students to the Paris Cafe in Niagara Falls, with teacher Manchella White. The owners of the café were born and raised in France before moving to Canada to open their café. Dining at the Paris Café could be described as a mini trip to France, with its authentic French cuisine and décor, along with a fully French speaking staff. The students get to experience a little taste of French culture along with the varying different flavours of crepes. White was enthusiastic about the annual trip. It’s a great experience,” she had said fondly. “They love it every year.” Another recent trip E.L. Crossley students ventured out on was to the Pelham Recreation Centre that is currently in progress. Mr. Demers brought a group of 16 reg-
Co-op student Nick Lodde working on presentation drawings at Nauta Home Designs. A. PETRYSCHUK PHOTO istered SHSM students to go on a tour of the Centre, coordinated by Stephen Coote. The tour took them through different mechanical and electrical aspects of the building, including heating, refrigeration, putting in the ice for the rink, new building codes, and much more. Some interesting facts they learned about the new Recreation Center are that the building is efficient, recycling its lost heat back into the building, and that the heat runs through the floor of the track around the rink and beneath the seats. The trip allowed for students to see before their eyes things that they learn about in their classes. They were able to see the process of constructing something on a
much larger scale than they would have been able to experience doing their projects in class. It allowed them to see firsthand the things they would be working on if they pursued work in any of the fields required to build such a struc-
ture. Not only does E.L. Crossley send its students on interesting field trips within the local area, but they also offer courses through trips with EduTravel. The accommodations, means of travel, and EA Support is provided by Edutravel themselves, but the teachers for these courses are all from the DSBN. And even though it is DSBN teachers delivering the material, the courses are offered to students from various school boards. One third of the students participating in EduTravel courses are from other boards. The trips allow the students to learn the information they need from the curriculum in an enriching, hands-on way while getting to participate in
new experiences and learn about new places. The locations for the trips vary, with students venturing to locations such as Ottawa, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston, California, and other states. Not only have students traveled around Canada and USA with these courses, but there have been senior students sent overseas as well to locations such as Fiji, the Dominican Republic, and Italy. These trips allow students to experience learning in new locations and to make connections with new people through these shared experiences and all while earning high school credits. “I loved it,” said Val, a student who took both a Civics and Careers course, and an English course through EduTravel. “You meet so many people. I still talk to the people I met on the trips,” Val added. The students who participated in these trips vouched for them wholeheartedly. They loved that they were able to learn in such an engaging way and were able to discuss more diverse topics in a real-life setting. “You can’t really describe it in one word,” Ben, a student who had studied Biology in Fiji, mused. Mrs. Gibson, a guidance counsellor at E.L. Crossley, who would love to see more students involved in these trips, was thrilled. “Amazing, stunning, surreal,” she said. Ben cracked a grin, and agreed. “Yeah, all of those words. It’s exciting to see the world.”
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The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
Page 17
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VOICE PHOTO
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Netlfix-style streaming service launched March 1 BY VOICE STAFF The Pelham Public Library began its participation in “hoopla” last Thursday, with March 1 marking the first day that library cardholders had access to the online service. Library CEO Kirk Weaver said that he and the rest of the library team were looking forward to the service being available. “Everyone will be able to borrow four items per month from hoopla—it
has movies, tv shows, music, comics, eBooks, and audiobooks,” said Weaver. Hoopla is accessible online through a web browser, and it also has mobile applications for Apple, Android, and Amazon devices. “Different types of content have different lengths of borrowing time,” said Jo-Anne Teeuwsen, the library’s technical services manager, explaining that borrowed movies will disappear after a few days, while books and
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Page 18
The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca
TOP SPEAKERS The Fonthill and Fenwick Lions and Lioness clubs held their local Effective Speaking contest on Sunday, February 25 at the Fonthill Legion. The winners are: Ayla Baldwin (3rd – Jr. English), Connor Anderson (2nd - Jr. English), Annie Beauparlant (2nd - Intermediate French), Isaac Kahn (1st – Jr. English), Rodia Mwamba (1st – Intermediate French), Anderson Cecchini (1st – Intermediate English), Natalie Anderson 2nd – Intermediate English) and Laura Tremeer (3rd – Intermediate English). SUPPLIED PHOTO
CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS
CHANGE YOUR BATTERIES
Fire Prevention Officers in Niagara region recommend you install new batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms when you change your clocks. In order for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to do their job, they need to have working batteries; old batteries should be replaced with new batteries. When you change your smoke and carbon monoxide alarm batteries, don’t throw them in the garbage!
ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO Pelham Panthers PeeWee Rep, Mossimo’s Pizza are heading to their biggest game of the year this Saturday, 1PM, at the Pelham Arena. In a tense game four of a best- out-of-five semifinal series against St. Mary’s Rock, the Panthers came back in the third period last Sunday to beat St. Mary’s 3-2. The series is now tied 2-2. A win for Pelham will move them on to the Ontario Minor Hockey Association finals to fight for the OMHA provincial championship and the famous Red Hat. Tickets are $4 per game, kids are free. SUPPLIED PHOTO
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Page 20
MOTT THE HOOPLA continued from Page 17 face offers more than music. Library cardholders in Pelham also have access to Overdrive, a province-wide co-op through which people can borrow eBooks. “The problem with Overdrive is that there might be just a few copies for the whole province,” said Weaver. “So it takes a really long time to get ahold of one of them.” That eBooks—which are merely digital documents that could be duplicated instantly and free of charge—should be limited in supply seems counterintuitive. But, as Weaver said, copyright agreements prevent libraries from making all eBooks freely available in unlimited quantities. “Hoopla is free for residents to use, but the library will pay a per-use charge,” said Weaver. “So it will get more expensive for us, the more that people use it, but right now we’re just hoping that people do get into it.” Teeuewsen said that the signup process for the service is simple.
The Voice of Pelham, March 7 2018 “You just go to the website or download the app—and we’ve put hoopla as the first banner on our site. There you can find ‘Pelham Library’ and enter in your library card number and your PIN, which should be the last four digits of your phone number,” she said. Weaver added that the library will be helping residents create their accounts on hoopla. “We have a co-op student from E. L. Crossley now and he’s really techie,” said Weaver. “People can walk in between ten and four-thirty on Mondays and Fridays and he’ll answer any questions you have and solve and tech problems. And if he doesn’t know, he says that he’ll find a way to figure it out.” Weaver said that he hopes hoopla will reach some residents who aren’t frequent users of the library. “You only have to come into the library once to set up your card, and after that all of the borrowing from hoopla can be done at home,” he said. “Now obviously… we’d prefer it if people still came into the library, but this provides an option.”
“Audiobooks are a big thing for travellers,” said Teeuwsen. “People can get an audiobook through this and then go away on vacation with it.” Hoopla allows users to download content to their device— provided it has enough storage space—and then access that content when out of wi-fi range. This means that hoopla can be used on car rides or commutes on public transportation, though the number of wi-fi free areas of the world are growing fewer. While the library also has hardware on offer—Weaver mentioned the ten Chromebooks that are available for use inside the library—hoopla’s software-only nature means that it can be updated, and that new material can always be added. “The content on it changes all the time, based on the licensing agreements that hoopla has,” he said. The company is based in the United States and has contracts with major film studios, including Disney, Warner Brothers, and Lionsgate. It is used by numerous public libraries in Canada, includ-
ing Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton. A number of years ago, eBooks experienced a stratospheric rise in sales—from 69 million in the United States in 2010 to 242 million in 2013. The numbers have trailed off slightly in the past couple of years, but libraries are still investing resources in the technology. Audiobooks have also taken off in popularity. 2016 figures from the United States showed an 18 percent growth over 2015 figures, bringing total sales to $2.1 billion. A poll by Edison Research reported that 24 percent of Americans listened to at least a single audiobook, with listeners attributing their affection for audiobooks to the possibility of multitasking and to audiobooks’ portability. And the popularity of streaming services indicates that hoopla is serving the interests of the market—a 2017 Pew survey found that six in ten adults younger than 30 primarily watched television shows not on television, but on the web. Jeff Jankowski, Vice President of Midwest Tape, Hoopla’s parent
www.thevoiceofpelham.ca company, told Los Angeles Magazine in 2013 that he sees hoopla as complimentary to Netflix and Hulu. “With the audiobooks and music, we’re actually offering more options,” he said. He also touted the presence of some content on hoopla not on other streaming services, such as parent tutorials and SAT preparatory videos. Some research has suggested that reading from a screen differs from reading from regular paper. A 2016 study out of Dartmouth College surveyed 300 adults and found that screen-reading was better for solidifying details, while paper was superior for readers’ understanding of abstract ideas. “Some of our previous work showed that people had a hard time seeing ‘big picture’ information when they did activities on an electronic device compared to paper,” said co-author Geoff Kaufmann to the Huffington Post. The study concluded that it may be best to access information from both so as to obtain the respective benefits of each.
Hunter is our Lazyboy!