Letters

Taxes and Tory Politicians As reported in the Frontenac News  (North Frontenac Council, July 4, 2013) , at the last North Frontenac Council meeting, Councillors Gerry Martin, Lonnie Watkins, and Deputy Mayor Fred Perry decided that Progressive...

Re: County Reserves I believe you understated the excess reserves situation in your June 27th edition regarding County Council  (Frontenac County Council, Jun 27/13) . The total of the reserves and the “deferred revenue” (which is Federal Gas...

Kudos to Prince Charles Prince Charles Public School in Verona is where my children attend school. I took my eldest child for a tour prior to his school year starting three years ago and I was greeted with a big smile and positive energy from all of...

Act of kindness It was so wonderful to experience a random act of kindness in Sharbot Lake Village ON June 27. I had stopped to pop into the pharmacy and grocery store and before I could open my car door a couple came up to me and said they didn't...

Draft beaver bylaw In the June 13 edition there is an article about a draft By-Law proposed by Central Frontenac concerning the control of beavers, and the responsibility of property owners. While not a lawyer, I believe this by-law to be ‘ultra...

Canada Day kindness from some southern neighbours Thank you to the American family who brought bags full of glow necklaces, bracelets and wands to the Canada Day celebrations in Sharbot Lake, which they gave out free to everyone. The family was...

Re: NF residents reject Council: No – I did not misread the title in the Frontenac News report (NF residents reject Council proposals at public meeting). The fact is that at that meeting NF residents just rejected the Council. Imagine a township...

Winter snow plowing on Road 38 Really? Mr Richardson it cost $14,000 in labour and $16,000 the year before. Seems you would not lie. I'm sure you just forgot to add the cost of fuel, the cost of break downs, the cost of the parts, mechanic to repair...

Re: Ambulance Service Cuts! I'm writing this letter after experiencing another frustrating day at work. I've worked as a paramedic for Frontenac County for the past eight years. I was born and raised, and continue to live in Central Frontenac....

Re: “It’s highway robbery” (South Frontenac Council report, May 23, 2013) “…a salary increase in 2014, which will match the salary of the highest paid police service in Ontario.” In some Ontario cities 40 percent of the force took home...

Tax Dollars in Education I hope you will publish this because I am really mad and I’m sure that most people will want to reconsider what should happen to our tax dollars. We don’t have enough doctors and the universities say they must charge...

Hinchinbrooke School As the taxpayers of Central Frontenac yet again receive municipal tax bills with increases way above those in the general cost of living and in their incomes, they learn of Council’s warming to the idea of purchasing the old...

Re: Marijuana, tobacco and alcohol I thought that I was too old to take issue with "Letters to the Editor" but I cannot ignore the letter from Peri Livesey  (Cloudy Thinking on Marijauna, May 30/13) , answering the original article about the...

Fewer councillors? NO! There is a disturbing trend these days towards ever-smaller municipal councils - less democratic representation for ordinary citizens in a "bigger-is-better" world. Residents of North Frontenac are currently discussing a...

Reaching out to Scott Reid Over the past several months, I have been heartened to see so many Frontenac News readers write to complain about the intellectually dishonest and insulting “surveys” from our Member of Parliament, Scott Reid. It is...

Time for Stephen Harper to walk the walk "At worst, he [Jean Chretien] personally ordered it done and chose the people who executed the plan. At the very least, he fostered an attitude within the party..., chose the managers of the people who...

Re: “Potts drops bombshell” After reading the article  Potts drops bombshell On Sharbot Lake Algonquins  in the June 6 Frontenac News about Mr Potts’ announcement of the loss of membership to the group known as "Shabot Obaadjiwan First...

OHTO The Ontario Highlands Tourist Organization and Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport exclude (and in our case, destroy) non-profit recreational tourism facilities/opportunities from your program.  This policy sucks. Glen Pearce...

Letter to Premier Wynne from Addington Highlands Township: I am writing to express and relay concerns about the "Preliminary Draft Agreement-in-Principle" for the "Algonquin Land Claim". The ratepayers in our Township of Addington Highlands have...

Parking congestion on Sydenham's Cross Street I have sent several requests to the township over the last five years regarding parking on Sydenham Cross Street. My request to limit the allowed parking is based on the township's own policies. South...

Re: Tax dollars at Work Carmel Gowan asserted in her letter  (Tax Dollars at  Work, June 6/13)  to the editor last week that “half of us are women, probably 5% of Ontarians are gay, and about 20% are atheist” and that Catholic schools...

Re: Councilor Accuses Warden of Influence Peddling After reading the Frontenac News last week, I was wondering when the county became a dictatorship, and if I missed something, or is it just the warden doing whatever she wants to suit her own agenda...

Abolish Senate NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is right to launch a "roll-up-the-red-carpet" campaign to abolish the Senate. As a long-time supporter of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, I have come to realize that quite apart from tradition or expense, the...

Don’t use Treasure Trunk as a dump Sometimes good people do bad things. We all have moments when we forget that our convenience is extra work for someone else. In Sharbot Lake we have a lot of good things, often supported and run by a relatively...

Cloudy thinking on marijuana Talk about cloudy thinking on marijuana! It seems that misinformation is the main strategy of the municipal drug strategy committee which recently submitted an article to this paper. For starters, it is only the flowers...

Taking back our country This is what most thinking Canadians want to do - Take back control of our lives. We search for ways to rescue ourselves from political forces that serve only the interests of the banks and corporate businesses. The older of...

Re-energizing democracy – locally! Out here in the country we may feel a bit smug about the scandals swirling around Parliament Hill and Toronto City Hall. We have our local dust-ups from time to time, but we're free from the major perversities...

Re: Scott Reid asks, "What do YOU think?" It appears from the above question that Mr. Reid believes that his constituents can think. He then goes on to ask for a response to the following questions: Yes! Dangerous offenders should stay locked up. No...

Ambulance Cuts When I first heard that they were cutting an ambulance and paramedics in Kingston, I was amazed that given the increases in calls from an aging population they would cut frontline services. What I didn't realize was how, here in...

The 'Huge Bust' My wife and I moved to our land in Central Frontenac a year ago and have been working very hard to realize our dream of growing our own food and livestock. We are slowly turning our thirty acres of logged land into a productive,...

Ambulance Cuts I have recently returned to the area after wintering in Peterborough with my mother. We made the difficult decision to winter away due to some health concerns she had, and she was taken by ambulance to hospital twice while we were...

 Save loon nests Have you ever seen a loon on land? Probably not. Their legs are placed very far back on their bodies which makes them excellent divers but very awkward on land. The only time they come on land is to "nest". They make a very...

It Takes a town..... On the night of December 14, 2012, my son and his spouse, Shawn and Katie, were at the Smiths Falls hospital having their first child. They lived in the apartment above the Sharbot Lake post office and to everyone’s surprise,...

Speaking with one voice When someone in a position of power starts talking about the need for everyone to "speak with one voice", watch out! That's code for the new Canadian way of quelling dissent and imposing tyranny. The party in power muzzles...

Ambulance Cuts Frontenac County Council owes an apology to our Paramedics. A video of their presentation to council against the proposal to cut an ambulance is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyBvVvFMfwU Janet Gutowski interrupts the paramedic...

 Re: Ambulance Cuts If you ask a paramedic about their “worst call ever”, you’ll probably not get an honest answer. Our worst experiences lie in a dark, cold place that we never expose. What you likely will hear is that things are getting...

Welcome to the Deans It is with enthusiasm that I have been watching Mr. Dean and his workers move into town and quickly start major renovations to the old grocery store in the center of the village. Renewal seems to be all around us these days:...

Conservative Ad welcomes Mr. Trudeau I think the ad that is running welcoming Mr. Trudeau is an outrage. Last week, Mr. Harper was saying that we need to put an end to bullying. He might want to stop engaging in insulting, irrelevant and bullying...

 Re: Democratic Decisions Kudos to Paul Isaacs for thinking "outside the box" and putting forward his ideas on democratic decision-making (April 18th). To pursue this important dialogue, though, some statements need to be corrected. The claim that...

KFPL Survey – “you see what you want to see” Like other Frontenac residents, I was recently assailed by a Kingston Frontenac Public Library telephone survey that left me feeling unheard. A young, gentle voice asked me many, many questions of...

ATV accident As a resident of North Frontenac and an avid outdoor enthusiast, I have the privilege to use our many backwoods lakes as well as ATV trails on a year-round basis. On a recent ice fishing trip I had the misfortune of having an ATV...

  More Don Quixote than Crusader: (Re: John McEwen: Basement Crusader, March 14, 2013) South Frontenac’s Chief Building Official Brian Gass’s comment that "in accordance with 9.13.2 a Building Official is to look in the excavation for evidence...

Clarendon Central Public School 50th Anniversary The Clarendon Central Public School 50th Anniversary Celebration, which we attended on April 13 in Plevna, can be deemed nothing less than an overwhelming success. A resounding hurrah goes to...

Letter to Central Frontenac Township Re: outside door at the community centre at Arden. Unable to come closed tightly properly. Mr. Dewey – You told me the night of March 19 at the card game that the door would be fixed by March 26, 2013 which...

The passing of Roly Dusharm: Sharbot Lake landmark I still think of myself as a newcomer to Sharbot Lake though I’ve had Roly Dusharm as a neighbour for nearly a quarter of my life. I’ve lived next door to Roly almost as long as I lived with my...

Re: "Frontenac County Council on the brink" Normally, I find myself agreeing with your assessment of County of Frontenac proceedings, but your reflection in the  "Frontenac County Council on the brink" editorial  on March 28 is not my perception...

Re: Changes in community. Although I have been a member of the Central Frontenac / Sharbot Lake community for only 12 years, I echo the sentiments so eloquently expressed by Mr Cameron in his letter  (Changes in the Community)  of March 28, and...

A Matter of Neighbors Next door to me live an exceptional couple I have known for over two decades who have received no thanks or recognition. There once lived an elderly man down the road and a elderly woman across from me, guess who cut their...

Changes in community For a very long time, I have felt a great deal of sadness over the direction that this community has taken. The recent spate of letters appearing in the recent edition of this paper cover everything from waste management, to a...

Land O'Lakes Lions Club Recently, upon hearing the Lions Club of Land O Lakes’ urgent call for new members; I hesitantly joined, hoping my other commitments would permit me to meet their expectation. So far my decision was correct and it...

Artden Should Be First in Line for 2010 Budget, Patrick Maloney Re: KFL&A Public Health Unit & Septic Inspections, Gary Evans Memory Lane, Sydenham, Joannne Ankers Arden Should Be First in Line for 210 Budget The quote from Mayor Gutowski at the end...

Re: Bear Shock, Diane Cuddy Re: Bear Shock, Sarah Sproule Memory Lane, Sydenham, Joannne Ankers Re: Bear Shock, Marcie Webster Re: Bear Shock, Margaret Fewer First Alarm: Ticks, Mel Good Re: “Bear Shock”, Frontenac News, Nov. 5/09 I agree that...

NIHI (No Internet Highspeed Insight), Ed Nowicki Lions Vision Screening, Bill Robinson Bear Shock, Andrea Dickinson Re:  Letter “Patriot Missiles”, Chantell Nixon NIHI (No Internet Highspeed Insight) I can understand why North Frontenac wants...