Pelham investigation request submitted page 3 Those mystery stars page 6 Above it all in East Fonthill page 10
The Voice
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Larry “BILKO” Bilkszto Your Local Sales Representative 905-563-3330 • 905-641-1110
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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
W
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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