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To the Editor,
On November 22nd, our daughter Macy Scarlett and her best friend Becky Hajdukovic joined together to organize and carry out a Fundraiser to benefit Sick Kids Hospital. The two girls being in Grade 8 are part of an organized group called M.A.D. Crew at Rolling Hills Public School, run by Mr. Jason Veley and Abby Wright. The group is focused on bringing a difference to the world by acts of kindness and charitable efforts. All of the students involved realize that one person doing a great deed, no matter the size does make a difference in someone’s life. Sometimes this deed is small and it may not have a profound impact on the world, but rather one individual that really needs something and they may not even know where the generosity comes from. This time the girls chose to turn Macy’s birthday into a party to remember and donate all of the toys and money collected and bring them to the children at Sick Kids Hospital in time for Christmas. A big thank you to Debbie, Nick, Lisa, Mary, Charlene, Jaden, Julia, Alison, Grace Y., Grace E., Marissa, Amber, Angela, Mr. Veley and Mrs. Wright, your time and efforts made the day a success! Becky explained that it also gives her a sense of pride to do this in honour of her Grandfather that passed away, knowing that he would be proud of her. Although our community is small we are filled with families that have big hearts and all of us in some manner that have been touched by Sick Kids Hospital. Together our community raised $2697.75 to bring to the families along with numerous gifts for the children. Sick Kids has a number of wonderful programs that the money can go towards that benefit families directly in there time of need. For all the giving that we do at Christmas time it is the one place that I know for sure that it will be put to good use, said April. The days entertainment was fantastic with performances by Emma Ressor of Blackstock, a talented young girl of 15 years of age. Joining Emma for a song was Taryn Lazure on piano and vocals. Travelling from Bowmanville to join the festivities was Cassidy VanHeuvlen. We also had the honour of being entertained by Paul Wasson, Tom Mark and Clayton Mark, all local musicians that can be seen performing at the Musician Corn Roast each year in Blackstock, and at various venues throughout the year. Thank you to all of our supporters. Thank you to all that joined us and made a donations throughout the day. You really made this fundraiser a success and the contributions are happily received by the families at Sick Kids. April Scarlett and Family
Comments
In their first swing at the beast of the Greenbank Airways fill site, Scugog’s new council have voted unanimously to extend the agreement until the end of March, and have vowed to come back swinging with an airtight agreement.
Some residents will, and have, immediately demand that the trucks be halted - but that may do more harm than good. With no agreement or permit, the trucks will indeed stop dumping. What also stops is testing protocols, and what little control the township currently has in the operations of the site. Like it or not, there’s a big pile of dirt sitting south of Greenbank - and no amount of political finger-pointing will magically remove it. The only remaining recourses are to manage where this dirt will come from in the future, and to help calm the worries of those unfortunate residents who were made to live next to it. In the mean time, as the Ministries of Transportation, Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture and Rural Affairs continue to play hot potato with the big ball of mud, all while sitting idling by as the lowest (and poorest) level of government is left to deal with this matter - the people of Greenbank, and anyone who drinks water in the Township of Scugog, would just like to be kept in the loop. Private meetings behind locked doors, a lack of any accountability, and the disregard of any public comment only steers the frustrated public towards one common answer - something must smell fishy, or else these testing reports would be handed out like Pez. Scugog is known for it’s lakes, forests, wildlife and beautiful countryside - the tourism and agricultural industries are the main economic drivers in this growing community. If a precedent isn’t set here and now, Scugog is in-line to become ‘Ontario’s Little Oil Sands’. Council was elected to tame this beast - the sooner the better. To the Editor,
It must be close to Christmas. The Salvation Army Kettle is at Zehrs now to raise funds for the less fortunate in our community. Do remember that all the funds raised at the Kettle go to: the Back to School backpack program, Camp for children, snow removal for seniors, tutoring for public school students when required, Christmas food hampers and toys and clothing for the family, assist during the year with heat and hydro and food and clothing, and more programs as the need arises. And your Salvation Army is run completely by volunteers. Also, the Community Toy Drive is in full swing and every toy you donate gives a child a Christmas to remember. So please drop off your toys at Canadian Tire, Zehrs, M&M, Walmart, McDonalds, Little Acorn, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and all Uxbridge Bruins Games. You can also give us a call and adopt a family for Christmas. Let’s make every child’s dream come true on Christmas morning and give them presents to open. Bev Northeast Chair of Salvation Army This holiday season, many local residents - of legal age - will exchange gifts bought at either the local LCBO or Beer Store, but it appears that nothing can match the gift that continues to be given by the provincial government to the privately-run Beer Store.
In a scathing investigation published earlier this week by the Toronto Star, details emerged about the cushiest of deals cooked up in mid-2000 by the Tory government of the day, and kept up through the years by the Liberal government to ensure the continued flow of profits away from the government-run LCBO, and into the pockets of the largely foreign-based brewers who pocket the profits from the cartel otherwise known as Brewer’s Retail Inc. (the Beer Store’s formal corporate moniker). For reasons presumed to be keeping the lobbyists - who funnel millions of dollars into campaign coffers for the Liberal and Conservative governments alike - happy, the LCBO has wilfully shied away from selling anything larger than a six-pack, as well as not selling certain brands of beer to bars and restaurants in order to protect profits for breweries. It’s estimated that profits from the LCBO would jump close to $1 billion with the introduction of 12 and 24-packs, as well as all brands of beer being offered to the food service industry. Those badly-needed funds could be put towards schools, hospitals, roads and bridges instead of corporations based in Belgium (Labatt’s) the United States (Molson-Coors) and Japan (Sleeman). With a $1 billion in potential revenue sitting out there for the betterment of all residents of Ontario, we have to ask what the government is drinking not to take advantage? To the Editor,
I voted for Tom Rowett for one reason. It was not because he promised to cut taxes, reduce spending or save public funds. He articulated his resolve to tackle the region’s greatest threat: clandestine fill operations such as Greenbank (a.k.a Green Back) Airport and projects by Earth Worx. In a pre-election pole Chuck Mercier failed to fill out a questionnaire outlining the problems of fill-operations such as truck traffic, noise, and ground water contamination. Conversely, Tom Rowett, not only demonstrated an understanding of the problem but a sincere resolve to correct it. Maybe I have it wrong. Perhaps former Mayor Mercier felt he had exhausted all avenues to control the brazen dumping of questionable soil from the GTA into the Oak Ridges Moraine. Perhaps he felt it wasn’t under the township’s jurisdiction and wanted to avoid adopting the responsibility. The bottom line is the dirty-fill issue was not handled judiciously and as Mayor he failed to protect rural citizens from a rouge and unlawful business operation. Rural Canada has always been the dumping grounds for cities. We raze our forests, mine our bedrock and strip agricultural soil to accommodate subdivisions. In return we accept unwanted contaminated dirt , domestic and industrial garbage, and thousands of cottagers every week-end. Sure we can rationalize that the economic spin-offs from these activities justify the inconveniences. But the inconveniences have evolved into an intolerable nightmare for many - forcing some residents to sell their homes and relocate. If Scugog has become the trash-heap for the GTA - all under the guise of job creation, then I intend to join the exodus to greener pastures. Hopefully Mr. Rowett will realize this crisis has become an emergency and act accordingly by shutting down these back-water fill operations and clear the streets of the omnipresent truck traffic. Ian Huggett Port Perry |
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