SCOOP The
SPRING 2011
celebrates rural life
L&A Ridge Runners
Charley
Toads & Frogs
L&A Ridge Runners
Chieftain
Humour me!
SCOOP Here’s the scoop..... THE
A newsmagazine that celebrates rural life in the communities, north of the 401 and south of Hwy 7 Published six times yearly by Salmon River Marketing P.O. Box 38, 5 Ottawa Street., Tamworth, ON K0K 3G0 Voice: 613-379-1128 Fax: 613-379-5140 salmonrivercompany@gmail.com Circulated on rotation, free to about 6000 households by Canada Post. Subscriptions by first class mail in a plain brown envelope: One year: $30 + HST = $33.90
THE PUBLISHER / DESIGNER Richard Saxe richard@saxcomm.ca THE EDITOR Angela Jouris Saxe angela.saxe@gmail.com ROVING REPORTER AT LARGE Barry Lovegrove barrylovegrove@bell.net AD SALES ads@saxcomm.ca THE CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Terry Sprague, Jamie Swift, Gary Michael Dault, J. Huntress, Michael Saxe, Lorie Wright, Debbie Fenton, Alicia Huntley, Grace Smith, Linda Selkirk, Cam Mather, Dalton Cowper, Lady Lyssa Afton & Cassandra Idola We choose not to publish some of our contributors’ email addresses. If you wish to contact them, please drop us a line that we will forward to them. Copyright©2011. Articles may be reprinted only with written permission from the publisher and author. The Scoop is an independent publication and is not affiliated with nor funded by any corporation or interest group.
By Angela Jouris Saxe, Editor
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echnically it’s still winter, but the spring or vernal equinox is quickly approaching: on March 20th at 6:21 central daylight time the sun will shine directly on the equator and the length of day and night will be equal. The approaching equinox makes me feel giddy: all that bright clean light after months of long dark nights and cloudy days makes me restless, itching to be outside and hoping that we’ve had our last storm of the season! The equinox is a celestial occurrence but its effects are felt on our planet, on everything that lives and grows on the Earth, that’s why it has been an integral part of our human history and mythology. Even before the Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchos (190 – 120 BCE) developed the first lunar and solar theories and the precession of the equinoxes by using rigorous scientific observation, our earlier ancestors had recognized the deep changes that occur during the time of the equinox and celebrated this time with religious holidays and festivals. In ancient Greece, the spring equinox celebrated the liberation of Persephone from the underworld. As her daughter emerges from the world of shadows and death Demeter, goddess of agriculture, rejoices by healing the earth: dormant seeds sprout and the world turns green and fertile. In Iran, the festival of Nowruz (New Day) begins shortly before the vernal equinox. Typically, old broken items are repaired, homes are repainted, and fresh flowers are gathered and displayed indoors. The Iranian New Year begins on the equi-
Correction
Letters and submissions are most welcome and encouraged. This is your community newsmagazine devoted to celebrating the stories and lives of the folks who live here. Get involved! Let us know what’s happening in your area.
Living in the country affords us the opportunity to see the changes up close without the distraction of bright lights and skyscrapers that block the sky: The cawing of the first crows returning to the bare spring landscape; the sight of our frozen lakes cracking and thawing; the smell of muddy barnyards; the rushing streams and rivers swollen from melting snow; the emergence of daffodils along the sheltered south wall of our homes; the flooded fields farmers are hoping will dry in time for seeding; the soft, back roads that leave our cars mud-caked – and then there comes that day when there’s an unmistakable earthy scent in the air – spring is here! All the signs are there for us to notice, but we have to pay attention. We have to remind ourselves each day to look: Is that a robin? Did you notice how the tips of the branches are swelling? How about the extra minutes of daylight? the increasing warmth of the sun on our skin? All around us the Earth is breaking out of the frozen grip of winter. Time to celebrate!
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Page Turner Gary Michael Dault TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY In the course of a visit a few weeks ago, my daughter Julia, noticing my copy of the “Fiftieth Anniversary Edition” (1989) of John “about my traveling alone, open to attack, Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath in my library, robbery, assault.” He admits to experiencremarked that she’d recently been reading ing “senseless qualms,” to experiencing a it—which rather surprised me, since I’d alcertain anxiety about being without famways thought of that now legendary novel— ily, friends, and accomplices.” And so he foolishly, I dare say—as essentially a “boy’s decides on a companion for his epic jourbook.” She’d read the book, she told me, but ney to come—“an old French gentleman she’d never seen the 1940 John Ford film of poodle known as Charley.” it—with Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. So we Charley’s actual name, watched it. Steinbeck tells us, is And that got me reading Charles le Chien. He is Steinbeck again. And rea big poodle, “of a colour watching films made from called bleu.” Charley is a his books (East of Eden, Torborn diplomat, Steinbeck tilla Flats, Of Mice and Men, tells us, preferring negoThe Red Pony, Viva Zapata!, tiation to fighting “and Cannery Row). My rereadproperly so since he is very ing began with his recountbad at fighting.” He is, ing of a motor trip around however, a good watchdog, America, Travels with Charand has “a roar of a lion, ley because I remember how designed to conceal from refreshing I had found the night-wandering strangers book when I first read it— the fact that he couldn’t Steinbeck with Charley back in 1962 when it was bite his way out of a cornet first published. de papier.” Travels with Charley is a warm, brave and And so Steinbeck and Charley set out buoyant book, this despite its undertexture in Rocinante to circumnavigate the Unitof sadness, of dismay at time’s passing so raped States. The trip takes them from Sag idly, of the author’s perplexity in the face of Harbour (Steinbeck’s home) to New York, a once knowable America, now hurtling at up to Maine, Vermont, back west through breakneck speed towards an unrecognizable Niagara Falls, on to Erie, Pennsylvania, to future. “I knew the changes [in the country] Toledo, Ohio, Chicago (where he spends a only from books and newspapers,” Steinbeck couple of days with his wife, who has flown writes in the book’s opening pages.“But more there to meet him), then west to Sauk Centhan this, I had not felt the country for twentre, on to Fargo, North Dakota, through ty-five years. In short, I was writing of someMontana (“I am in love with Montana”), thing I did not know about, and it seems to around California (Charley enjoys the me that in a so-called writer this is criminal. redwoods), finally stopping for awhile My memories were distorted by twenty-five at his birthplace of Salinas, and at Monintervening years.” terey, which he made famous in Cannery And so, Steinbeck says, he was “deterRow and Sweet Thursday); he then sets out mined to look again.” His method of choice again, crossing the Mohave Desert, pushes for looking again was a specially commisdown into New Mexico, through Texas, up sioned three-quarter-ton pickup truck, with through Virginia, and finally, rolling onto a little house built on it, “built like the cabin the New Jersey Turnpike, heads for home. of a small boat.” This nifty, compact, mobile But of course Travels with Charley isn’t carapace was to have “a double bed, a foura travelogue. It’s an aggregation of enburner stove, a heater, refrigerator and lights counters—edifying, depressing, exultant, operating on butane, a chemical toilet, closet frightening; it’s about trying to buy a despace, storage space, and windows screened cent breakfast, about getting out the scotch against insects….” Steinbeck refers to his and chatting to the locals (“In establishing rugged personalized truck, his turtle shell, as contact with strange people, Charley is my “a beautiful thing, powerful and yet lithe.” He ambassador….”), about racism, intolerance, calls it Rocinante, the name of Don Quixote’s about dark nights and strange noises in the horse. bushes, about changing a tire in the rain There was some genuine worry, he notes,
(“the jack handle was slippery with greasy mud. Mud balls formed in my beard. I lay panting like a wounded duck, quietly cursing as I inched the jack forward under an axle that I had to find by feel, since it was under water….”), and about weariness (“My body was a nerveless, tireless vacuum…”). In the last day of his travels, Steinbeck gets lost only a few miles from his own home. A policeman asks if he’s drunk. “Officer,” he replies, “I’ve driven this thing [meaning Rocinante] all over the country—mountains, plains, deserts. And now I’m back in my own town, where I live—and I’m lost.” And I guess it’s this lostness —the geographical kind and the metaphysical kind—that Travels with Charley is all about.
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Persistent Rural
Poverty By Jamie Swift The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That’s how it goes Everybody knows. – Leonard Cohen
T
he House of Lazarus sits on County Road 1 on the outskirts of the rural hamlet of Mountain in Southeastern Ontario. The brick structure is surrounded on three sides by corn and hay fields and pastures where cattle graze. The bucolic setting is not exactly the kind of place where you would expect to find a food bank. Yet the sprawling establishment – it includes thrift and household goods shops as well as a warehouse – is like many similar help centres started in the 1980s. It hosts a Coins for Kids Lunch Program to help families who often cannot afford school lunches, and, all in all, this ecumenical outreach mission serves some six hundred people from Kemptville and Prescott to Spencerville and Iroquois. “It feels like chaos on caffeine most days,” says Executive Director Pauline Pratt. “And yet there’s a serenity in the goings-on that I attribute to the volunteers and staff that run the operations. Many say it feels like home.” Poverty in rural Ontario is the same as it is in the big cities. Children going without school lunches. People struggling to start over after an unlucky shift in their circumstances. Yet rural poverty can look different. Difficulties with transportation mean that distance adds to the isolation felt by low income people wherever they live. And stigma has a different feel in the country. What’s more, Statistics Canada’s lowincome cut -off (LICO) levels are lower for rural areas than for urban areas. And since the LICO is a frequently used measure of poverty, this determinant suggests that people in poverty in rural areas are not “as poor” as people in urban centres are. Housing is also seen as being substantially cheaper and easier to find. A popular misconception has it that food security is not an issue in rural areas because people can produce their own food. But rural does not automatically mean agricultural. While most rural people in Southern Ontario do not live far from farmland, not everyone is a farmer. Nor does everyone have access to land. Travelling to seek food or castaway clothing at a place like the House of Lazarus can be hard. And the experience is often no less difficult when you get there, and that is because “people talk.” In a small community, it can be humiliating when someone stops you on the street to say how nice their used coat looks on you. “People talk when we go into the food bank,” explained Alicia, a single mother in Kent County. “Everybody knows.” ************** In 2008 Canada’s Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry published the results of its cross-country research study Beyond Free Fall: Halting Rural Poverty. Appearances, it seems, can be deceiving.
“On the surface, there is no rural housing problem. The rate of home ownership in rural Canada is considerably higher than in urban Canada….It is rare to see a homeless person in rural and small town Canada. Nevertheless, the committee found that there are serious housing problems, namely poorly-maintained homes and significant pockets of ‘hidden homelessness’ across rural Canada.” A huge obstacle facing rural people living on poverty-level incomes is transportation. Public transit is either nonexistent or sporadic. Taxis, an expensive option at the best of times, are most often rare. If you live beyond walking distance of services, how do you get there? Friends are not always available to offer a ride when you need it, so owning and maintaining a car can be your only choice. But cars cost money to buy, insure, maintain, and fuel. What to do when you are confronted with the choice between putting gas in the car or food on the table? “You need a vehicle when you live in rural areas” says a volunteer reporter in Kent County. “To get to work, to centres where shopping, banking, medical care, social services, food banks are located. This may mean travelling to several different towns.” Transportation problems compound feelings of isolation. The harder it is to make it into town to shop, keep appointments, or just meet other people, the more likely it is that people will become socially isolated. There is a real risk that they will drop right out of community life. This adds a new face to the notion that rural communities are tightly knit places with a rich community life. While this can certainly be true, poverty affects the quality of life far beyond its economic weight. The ability to move from one place to another is essential for everything from working to meeting with friends and family. Keeping in touch with others is the stuff of life. So too is keeping an affordable roof over your head. Housing is just as big an issue in the country as it is in the city, the issues the same: There simply is not enough social housing stock available, and waiting lists are long. Single people and large families in particular have an even greater difficulty finding suitable places to live because not much housing is available for people at the extremes of family size. One Huron County single mother says that she and her four children had long lived in what was essentially a twobedroom house. “We were constantly pressured by CAS [Children’s Aid Society] to get a bigger house, but I couldn’t afford it,” this mother said. “My four children worried constantly about being forced to leave. If they [CAS and the social housing provider] would have listened and noticed that a bigger house was needed, it would have been a big difference for us. It took years to find a place big enough that I could afford.” A 1965 Canadian government study heard from poor families: “As long as we live in the country we will never starve.” Yet, according to the Canadian Association of Food Banks, today half of
the food banks in the nation are in rural areas, and sixty rural food banks have opened since 2000. Soup kitchens are also making an appearance. Gardens are a good solution to the need for cheap and healthy food, but they require land, seeds, and other inputs – besides only providing food only for a limited number of months in the year. Even gathering berries requires transportation to get to the berry patch. ********************** Food and shelter insecurity compromise health, wherever you live. Hungry children are less likely to perform well at school. If they fall far enough behind, playing catch-up becomes impossible. Broadband connections are more expensive in rural areas, and Internet access has become necessary for homework. The problem of having access to the required technology is just another price paid by children growing up in poverty. “You don’t have a computer??” “You don’t have Internet??” For a family in Mountain, stigma and exclusion are added onto the educational cost of not being able to afford to do homework. Poverty grinds away at children not simply by depriving them of a decent diet. Children whose parents cannot afford to pay fees for school activities such as sports and field trips become isolated from their peers. Some programs provide special allowances, but small-town life makes the charity cases stand out. “It is tempting to romanticize rural life as agricultural, pastoral, neighbourly and a place ‘away from’ crime, violence, pollution, and all the ills that have become associated, rightly or wrongly, with urban life,” concluded the 2008 Senate Committee that investigated rural poverty. “While there is a great deal of truth in this romantic vision,” the Committee stated, it serves
to obscure how “historically and to this day, rural life has often been filled with hardship, danger, and sometimes despair.” A first glance around the leafy countryside that surrounds the House of Lazarus in Mountain might confirm the romantic impression of country life. But the growing need for food bank services confirms a different reality. And even as rural Ontario has always harboured much hardship, things have changed. There are no more one-room schoolhouses and far fewer mixed family farms. Things have become centralized and there is much talk of globalization as children head off to big, faraway schools and more and more farms are factory-scale operations. “We live in a very developed, wealthy country where there are great opportunities, far more opportunities than in the world’s countless impoverished countries,” said a student volunteer who reported for the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC) hearings in Huron County. “Yet people are not able to access these opportunities because of disabilities they can’t heal or help. In such a developed country, they should not have to beg for decent shelter.” ******** Kingston writer Jamie Swift is the coauthor of “Persistent Poverty: Voices from the Margins.” The book, published last fall, emerged from hearings in 26 Ontario communities organized by the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition in 2010. This article is adapted from the rural poverty chapter of “Persistent Poverty,” available at www.btlbooks.com Further information: www.isarc.ca
NOTE TO SCOOP READERS
In their questionable wisdom, CANADA POST has increased our postal rates by almost 30% because we are classified as ‘admail’. The result is that we may have to cut back circulation and make bulk drops in higher profile retail locations in the area. So, if you do not see The Scoop in your mailbox, please seek it out in your neighbourhood general store or retail shop. We pride ourselves in producing an interesting publication but it’s an uphill battle getting it done. Hey... Canada Post marketing people... return my phone calls why don’t you?
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Hound Advice Travels with Chieftain By Dalton Cowper
T
he first funeral I remember attending was that of my Grandfather’s. I recall not having the chance to be sad after the church service; certainly there were tears at the service as eulogies were given, but later after arriving at our home for his wake, there was nothing but laughter, drink, song and stories. The whiskey was opened and it flowed freely as humorous stories about my grandfather took family and friends deep into the wee hours. I remember at the end of the evening helping my brothers and father peel old folks off the floor as they giggled with tears of laughter. It was a true celebration of his life. The Scottish song Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns was sung proudly by the mourners that day. I read it repeatedly that year in hopes of understanding my loss and to bring me closer to the traditions of my Grandfather’s heritage. The song is about friendship, love and the times spent together. Burns certainly made his impression on me with his song. I heard it sung at many Scottish funerals growing up and slowly it shaped how I feel about life, death and loss. It’s no wonder that as an adult I named my first dog Chieftain in honour of my Scottish heritage. I rescued him about a month after my father’s passing which occured just months after both my Grannies had died. My life was filled with heartfelt sorrow; and the incredible feeling of loss at the time was so overwhelming that I felt it hard to even draw a tear. It was certainly timely for me that Chieftain came into my life at that exact moment. I had wanted a beagle for a couple of years and had asked a few friends who had dogs to keep me in mind if they ever knew of one looking for a home. I reconciled that one would come to me when the time was right. Well Chieftain certainly did. He managed to keep me from my grief and help me find my way to the path in life I wanted to travel. Within just one short year of his arrival I met my partner Beverly and her dog Riley at the local dog park. My pack had grown to four. Within another short year I changed careers in an effort to take my father’s advice and follow my passion. He had often told me that it was the key to his success. He was passionate about his profession. He would often say, If you can make a living at your passion you will be doing alright
back to his old haunts for nostalgic walks that his 12-year-old body would still allow him to go on. We kept him from pain with medication and said good-bye to him with a farewell party befitting a well loved Scotsman. David Greenland from The Bakery in Tamworth baked him a pizza pie shaped like a bone loaded with all his favorites. And the day before we had taken him to Bon Eco Park for a glorious fall walk with the pack he had helped found.
son. I eventually made the difficult decision to leave the family business in pursuit of our dreams. So we packed up our dogs and moved to Kingston. The following year we rescued another dog, Porter, and so we were now a pack of five. By the time Chieftain was seven we had moved again and opened our dog boarding business. In our second year of business we rescued another dog named Rocky. Our pack now numbered six. Rocky would become the first dog we would have to lay to rest. Although he was only with us for two short years what I learned from him was The Original Four of the Regal Beagle Pack: Riley, (bottom) immense and he Chieftain, Rocky & Porter (from left to right) quickly became Chieftain’s best pal. While he was with us we expanded He passed away wearing my father’s tarour business further and made many new tan bow tie. Just a few months later his friends. lifelong companion Riley passed away at Rocky’s passing gave us our first age 13. I am certain her grief was a conglimpse into the grief a dog can feel. His tributing factor to her passing. death was abrupt for all of us and especially Their passing certainly came with for Chieftain, who was obviously missing its share of tears. It took me back in time his morning play pal. He and Rocky would to the lesson I learned at my Grandfather’s play every morning in the front yard while I wake. That the life of the dear departed had my coffee. They would tear about and should be celebrated, their passing should dance wildly, chasing and wrestling about not only bring tears but much more laughthe whole yard. After Rocky’s death Chief- ter in the end. And the lesson I learned tain would just gaze at the yard, probably from my dogs is that any pack of worth in quiet reflection of his loss. No one really moves forward in honour of its lost memknows the grief a dog can feel or to what ex- bers. In nature they always move forward, tent they feel loss but you can certainly see grow and evolve. Dogs are like the hour it at times. Rocky’s death prepared Beverly glasses in our personal history. They are and me for the inevitable. Until his death our companions for but a brief period in we had talked little about the possibility of our travels, and looking back wondrously our dogs passing and at times we had even at the joys they have brought us, should thought of them as invincible. Rocky’s pass- only make us want to press on. For Auld ing reminded us that they were not. Lang Syne! Chieftain was the first to go: on September 25th. He had cancer in his jaw and we had determined the best course of action th was to lay him to rest in greener pastures. I imagined him being reunited with his pal Rocky and meeting my grandparents and father for the first time, for I am certain they watched him grow with us from a distance. During his last month we took him
Chieftain, Rocky and Riley have left the Regal Beagle Pack to the capable leadership of Porter and his new steadfast followers Kilty Dabney, Lacey, Cooper, Ignatius and Louis Target. Robert Burns’ song Auld Lang Syne Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne? Chorus For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp, And surely I’ll be mine! And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. Chorus We twa hae run about the braes, And pu’d the gowans fine; But we’ve wandered mony a weary fit Sin’ auld lang syne. Chorus We twa hae paidled i’ the burn, Frae morning sun till dine; But seas between us braid hae roared Sin’ auld lang syne. Chorus And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere, And gie’s a hand o’ thine! And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught For auld lang syne. For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.
THE 4 ANNUAL
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The Importance of Extracurricular Activities By Alicia Huntley Grade 12 Student of Napanee District SS
H
igh schools give the opportunity for students to partake in extracurricular activities. These activities include sports, plays, charities and other clubs that bring kids together to do something that they could discover they enjoy. The best advice given to you when entering school is to get involved. Participating in the extracurricular events at lunch or after school can really affect how you feel about your whole experience when graduation comes along. These activities help build friendships, establish useful skills, and create fun memories. These extra activities also become tools to develop and define who you are and discover your interests. Some decisions made on the things you participate in could also lead to future career ideas and decisions. What they do is provide a time where you can practice doing things you enjoy, possibly dream of things you plan to do to better prepare for the future. The great thing is there is always variety. If you want to help out the world there is something like Environmental club or the Interact club. If you want to help out around the school there is Student Council or Hawk helper for the grade nines. Sports are always popular. Rugby, football, hockey and other common sorts always bring school spirit. The Drama Club’s musicals and one act plays always attract kids to get involved and of course if you want to improve your writing there is the newspaper or the Writer’s club. At NDSS there is even a Spanish club to build on communication. This is just to name a few. There are so many options that could lead to positive outcomes.
By Grace Smith Doing these extra activities also Grade 12 student Sydenham HS
helps with life skills like: time management, teamwork and responsibility. Employers and post-secondary schools look to these to see if you are social, can get involved and benefit them. I know from my own experience that things such as sports and other clubs get you involved so much easier in your school and your community. These activities help you to find more spirit in your school and make connections with the world around you and see possibilities. I have tried something new every year. In grade nine I actually did not participate at all and it was harder to meet friends. In grade ten I got involved with the Interact club that raises money for other countries and our own community for people that are in need. This helped me have a wider perspective of the world and I learned the value of working hard to raise money to donate to charities. In grade eleven I did a musical. This really helped me get out of my shell, meet new people and be on stage. This year I started writing articles for the school paper, which also led me to writing articles for the Scoop. Though I do not want to be a news reporter when I grow up I do want to write and these clubs have all helped me become more confident and prepare me for the future. Later on in life you may regret not participating in extracurricular activities; not taking the opportunity to get involved in your school community and in the world outside of school They are a wonderful way to meet people, learn new things and discover new things about yourself and what you want to do in life. Be active and participate, it does make four years of a difference, a life of difference.
Walk Your Own Way By Grace Smith Grade 12 student Sydenham HS
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here are people who walk their narrow path of existence without ever straying. And then there are people who run down this path full speed or even wander away from it. The first group of people do what they must, are content with what they have and feel they have nothing more to give than the required. The second group consist of people who go above and beyond, strive for more and more and give all that they have to give. The latter are the type of people who can change the world, or perhaps a community. These are the people who constantly sacrifice to make life easier for everybody else. They give up their precious time and energy simply because they want to. These are the kind of people who are out there at this very moment making a difference. Marnie Peterson and Valerie Ruttan are two such people who fall into the second category without a doubt. Both women come from humble beginnings and both have gone on to do simple, but extraordinary things with their lives. Ruttan was born in Star Corners and grew up on a family farm as the oldest of ten children. And as the eldest, she developed a caring and nurturing personality that makes her what she is today: a mother hen. At least, according to Peterson. After marrying at the age of nineteen, Ruttan settled down in the village of Harrowsmith to raise her family
The Woes of 4 Year th
and set roots in the community. Peterson’s family moved to the Kingston area after World War II, when her father was offered a place at Simpson’s in Toronto. She married and then bought a campground in 1973 and set out to build a business literally from the ground up and find her place in the community. She completed both tasks flawlessly. Though they grew up in different places and took on different responsibilities, Peterson and Ruttan both became fond of helping others. “Volunteering is your career,” Peterson warmly informed Ruttan in an interview. And she and Peterson certainly have made a career out of their volunteering. Both have given up countless hours of their free time and an immeasurable amount of energy to help others. Over the years, Ruttan and Peterson have been involved with various organizations and fundraisers. And while their lists of accomplishments differ, they share a similar story. Both of the grandmothers first caught the volunteer “bug” when their eldest daughters turned seven and joined Brownies. And wanting to be involved, both took over their daughters’ Brownie pack. And once they started, they could not stop. Ruttan and Peterson are still involved in the Girl Scout movement and have been given lifetime memberships. They were
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rade twelve sucks. Well, most of it sucks. As a grade twelve student, I can tell you that in the fourth and final year of high school, expectations are raised. People want more and more from you. It’s almost to the point of being ridiculous. The workload itself is enough to make someone want to rip her hair out. Teachers get meaner, or maybe I mean stricter. They hand out more homework, more projects, more presentations, and more tests. “Less is more” are three words you will never hear from them. They ask an unending stream of questions, like: “What is the purpose of this article?” To which the answer would be:“To explore and mock various aspects of grade twelve.” The questions never stop and neither do they. Spares used to be spent daydreaming and playing cards. But in grade twelve, don’t be surprised to find yourself knee-deep in work slaving alongside the sprawling shelves of books in your school library during your spare time. We try not to take it too personally; they are just preparing us for the next few steps: graduation, life after graduation, our future. No big deal. They are only a few of the things looming over us, hovering, yet placing their weight directly on our shoulders. College and university applications are thrown in front of us. Our futures completely depend on them. Deadlines have to be met and guidelines have to be followed. And once they are, it’s time to wait. Yes, they actually make you wait for the most important decision concerning your life. They are that cruel. Then there’s the Formal dance. We somehow find time to think about group leaders for many years and with many levels of the movement: Brownies, Guides, and Pathfinders. They ran camps for the girls and enjoyed the new experiences; “Being involved in guiding and camping really helped
Valerie Ruttan and Marnie Peterson. Photo: Barry Lovegrove
to develop a love of the outdoors,” Ruttan said. Ruttan is a still a leader within the Girl Scouts. She is involved on an international level and shares her international experience, as well as many others, with many of the girls. Peterson was also a leader in boy scouting for several years when her son joined the Boy Scout movement. But they have been involved in more than just scouting.
The Scoop SPRING 2011
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that in our busy schedules. Actually, most people don’t just think about it, they worry about it. What will I wear? Should I wear my hair up or down? Tie or bow? Who should I go with? What if I don’t find a date? Should I go alone? All of these questions flitter around in our mind, even months before the big day. And if any of these questions aren’t answered, well, then it’s the end of the world. It’s irrational, but true. Meanwhile, on top of these social pressures and our school workload, we are pressured into maintaining the “role model” status of a grade twelve. Apparently everyone else in the school looks up to us. We’re supposed to make it appear effortless –easy. We’ve been doing if for four years, it should be easy. I’m not going to lie, as it goes on, it gets harder. This is fine by me. Life isn’t perfect. Things get hard. It’s the way it goes. So if you think about it, the hardships are for the better. They put us through all the tears and late nights to ultimately help us later in life. To help us after we leave them. And it all ends with graduation. Graduation is in the horizon for all of us in fourth year. Some are in a hurry to get there, but others, like me, would rather take our sweet time. Either way, for all of us, it’s a celebration. Commencement means beginning, but graduation is really an end of sorts: the end of high school. The end of what we’ve always known. Here’s where I get to the good part. Grade twelve is an end. But next comes a new beginning. And once you leave the safety of high school, you have the power to choose whatever beginning –whatever life, no matter how stupid it is –that you want. Because our futures depends on us, not on them. Ruttan has helped with her church, was the membership chairman for the Legion for many years, canvassed for Heart and Stroke for 21 years and is even trying to establish a local museum because she feels that history should be important to the community. While the project is still in progress, the group sets up Heritage displays. Peterson is the Sunday school teacher at St. Paul’s, runs the recreation program at Desert Lake Campground and is a huge part of the organization Grandmothers by the Lake or Grandmothers Helping Grandmothers. It is a fundraising group that raises money for grandmothers in Africa. “It helps the African grandmothers to help themselves,” Peterson said. But Ruttan and Peterson do not do all their good deeds for attention or recognition. They simply enjoy helping others and do what they can. “For me the best benefit is getting out into the community and meeting people.” Peterson said when asked about the most rewarding aspect of volunteering. “You just learn from other people,” Ruttan added. Ruttan and Peterson are pivotal members of their community. They cherish their lives and the people around them and in turn, people respond. “What I’ve given, I’ve received back,” Ruttan said. Peterson agreed
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n the coming weeks as we inch towards spring, residents of Stone Mills Township can choose to attend short talks at Tamworth’s Christ Church by interesting, diverse people; in Camden East they can apply to receive tutorial help on computer stations to learn to communicate better and help their children and grandchildren with school. They can drive to The Public Library in Belleville to see a show of recent art prints by 29 O. C. A. D. artists, or on scheduled Friday nights/Sundays drive to Madoc(just above Tweed) to Tony Long’s Amazing Coffee shop to hear first-rate blues, folk and country swing musicians perform in The Amazing Artist series. The successful C. L. A. S. P. (Christ Church Literacy after School Program), organized and run by Rev. John VanStone and Rector’s Warden Steven Lawson and volunteers, scheduled three local speakers for three Wednesday afternoons in Tamworth. They welcome adults and children from 4:30-5 on Wednesdays to hear speakers from the area: Mr. Brian Bell spoke on February 16th on “Going Blind as an Adult.” Mr. Geoff Schimmel spoke on February 23, 2011, about his travels to China and to Vietnam; and on March 30th, Mr. Viren Oogarah will speak about “Coming from a Hindu Culture.” Each of these presentations is geared to children and each one is instructive and accessible. St. Luke’s Anglican Church in Camden East is also starting a new program in conjunction with OPEN BOOK of the Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic School Board. It is called “Computer Learning for Adults” and will be held at Shirley Memorial Hall in Camden East. A simple dinner (from 6-6:30) and child supervision are offered in hospitality to any adults seeking any level of computer tutoring(6:30-8:30 p.m.). Rev. VanStone, members of St. Luke’s Church in Camden East, and OPEN BOOK believe better computer communication between children and elders will help improve a family’s relation to their children’s learning. The Computer Learning Evenings begin on Tuesday, March 22nd and continue every Tuesday night until April 26th at Shirley
Memorial Hall in Camden East (near intersection of Highway 4 and Camden Rd.) Call 613-378-1261 for more information or e-mail jpvanstone@yahoo.com. For the next three to four weeks at John M. Parrot Gallery in Belleville’s Public Library (254 Pinnacle St., Belleville--613968-6731) there is an exhibition of prints by emerging artists from Ontario College of Art and Design. This exhibition of 29 handmade prints was organized by O.C.A.D.’s Director of Printmaking, Wendy Cain of Newburgh. It should be a wonderful and encouraging show for young adults with artistic talent. Lastly, there are some wonderful evenings or afternoons to be had at Madoc’s Amazing Coffee Shop. Since 2007 Owner Tony Long has been holding an Amazing Artists Series and he has succeeded in getting performances from many Toronto, Montreal (even New York) poets and musicians who travel to play and read in Madoc. Monthly shows start at 7 p.m. on Friday nights (SEE www. amazingcoffee.ca for full list and times) and people sit with friends and children and eat and drink Tony’s special coffees and baked sweets. Some of the famous musicians who’ve played in Madoc are Michael Pickett, Tom Savage, Eric Andersen, the Lazy John Band, Sarah Metzner, Kate Reid and Jim Christy. On March 4 the fiddle player Anne Lindsay (she’s played for Blue Rodeo and many other groups) will be appearing with accompanying acoustic musicians at 7 p.m. On Sundays Amazing Coffee is open for the Acoustic Jam Sessions from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. With an ear to folk, blues and country swing, sessions have included musicians from the area, ages 13-83. All are welcome to join. Amazing Coffee is located at 41 Prince Albert West on the Southwest corner of Hwy. 62 in Madoc. Telephone 613-473-9994 for more information or see web site at WWW.AmazingCoffee.Ca. These are just some of the many new and exciting things happening in our area to help each of us get through the winter. I’ll see you at some of them.
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and then added, “Tenfold.” Ruttan and Peterson have no plans of stopping their volunteer work anytime soon. Though they may have slowed down, they cannot stop entirely. No obstacles can stop them. “You have to believe that we can do this. Being positive is a huge life skill,” Peterson said when asked what she had learned from volunteering over the years. Both women are exceptional people and leaders. They have done great things for their communities and do not expect anything in return. And for that, we must thank them. Clearly Marnie Peterson and Valerie Ruttan make quite a difference with their
simple, but true actions. They live their lives to help others and in return, their lives become more than the normal, beaten down path. They walk their own way. But they alone do not hold the magical ability to have an impact on the people around them. All human beings are capable of helping others. All it takes is a little bit of time and effort. Even those who walk the strict path can build up the strength to abandon what they have always known and start making a difference. Get involved –wander away from the path –because it will always be worth it. If everybody steps up, or off, then the world will certainly be a better and brighter place. The Scoop SPRING 2011
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A Natural View FROGS, TOADS AND OTHER THINGS
By Terry Sprague Those who watched the classic film Deliverance from the early 1970s will not soon forget the disturbing scenes about four canoeists paddling down the wild Cahulawassee River in Georgia. The movie, however, did have a powerful environmental message that was way ahead of its time. As a naturalist though, I was really paying more attention to the sounds in the background - the piercing bleats of Fowler’s toads. We can safely assume that the repeated screams of the Fowler’s toad were not dubbed in for effect, but rather, had been calling naturally when the scenes were recorded. Certainly they are common in Georgia and range all the way north to Lake Erie where a small population of fewer than a thousand can be found along the lake’s north shore. We won’t hear them in eastern Ontario, but we do have nine or ten other species of frogs and toads to delight us as spring once again makes its debut. Every March for the past ten years I have conducted a workshop on behalf of the Community Wildlife Monitoring Program (CWMP) in which I am involved. The workshops ease volunteers into the art of identifying those mysterious sounds that emanate every spring from the depths of the wetlands. The purpose of the program I operate is to monitor the successes and failures of amphibians as a way of determining the health of the wetlands in our area. Frogs and toads are very sensitive to environmental changes and have become important indicators in the CWMP in the Bay of Quinte area. The long term goal is to remove the Bay of Quinte from an Area of Concern to An Area In Recovery. The public is drawn to frogs and the program is an easy one to get people excited about. Over 100 people attended last year’s workshop, eager to learn the species of frogs and differentiate between the calls. For families, there was Ontario FrogWatch, and for those wanting the challenge of a more structured survey, the popular Marsh Monitoring Program, operated through Bird Studies Canada. The frog chorus began very early last spring - some claimed hearing chorus frogs as early as March 17th. Generally, it is the raspy notes of wood frogs that herald the spring chorus, sounding like a small misplaced gathering of tiny ducks quacking from wooded areas. They are the first to call because Nature has gifted them with an ability to scoff at those who hibernate and instead, allow themselves to freeze solid over winter. They are members of a rather exclusive club of vertebrate animals that overwinter on dry land and survive the freezing of their body tissues. World-wide there are only a few species of vertebrates that can tolerate freezing like this. They may freeze and thaw several times in March before spring has truly arrived. The sounds we hear coming from roadside ditches and vernal pools that form in early spring belong to chorus frogs, resembling the sound of fingernails being dragged lengthwise down the
teeth of a comb. For them, life is a hustle as roadside ditches and temporary ponds will soon dry up. Their eggs hatch in as few as three days, but it takes a month for the tadpoles to develop into froglets with lungs that will enable them to survive without benefit of gills. Next, it’s the spring peepers’ turn to dominate the evening air with their sharp notes. As the water warms, thousands will break into a din, like the sound of distant sleigh bells. They may not measure more than an inch in size, but can produce more decibels of sound per pound than any other living creature. Some researchers claim that one spring peeper call has the same decibel rating of an airport runway. There is such a variety of instrumentation out there in the frog chorale it actually becomes quite easy to identify them by voice alone. We all know the rattling snore of the leopard frog and they are no stranger to any of us, appearing everywhere, even on our lawns at certain times of the year They are so plentiful they actually become a hazard on highways as hundreds of them hopping from one side of the road to the other become victims of traffic, creating a slimy and dangerous surface upon which to drive. Later in the spring we will hear another frog, the “bong” note of the green frog. It closely resembles someone plucking a banjo string, and we can hear them calling from nearly every cattail marsh, mixed in with the other invisible sounds that are produced nightly from the sedges and cattails. We need to be patient before we hear the bass chorus of the bullfrog, as they prefer much warmer temperatures before they are prompted to sing. My parents first identified these creatures for me when I was only a few years old. Since the only bull I could relate to was the Holstein bull tethered out in the pasture field, I had fabricated terrifying images in my mind of something extremely large and formidable crouched low in the cattails, ready to attack if I dared get too close. They are our largest frog, reaching an incredible six inches in size. Although there have been some concerns about the overall population of bullfrogs, I find them somewhat cyclic, some years in low numbers, other times producing a thunderous roar every evening, the chorus starting low and then exploding into a deafening crescendo that resembles an approaching thunderstorm. There is another frog that comes still later - the grey tree frog. First timers hearing this sound are almost certain they have stumbled upon a mysterious bird of some sort, or perhaps a raccoon, as the sounds are similar. Often they appear to originate from trees, and likely they do, as this species’ feet have been thoughtfully provided with tiny suction cups which enable them to stick to just about anything. It is not possible to appreciate its extremely loud rattling trill, until a tree frog has crawled up the side of the house and has decided to call all night right beside an open window. It was
Above: The green frog is easily identified by its banjo like call. Photo by Paul Johanson. Below: This American toad showed no concern at all while being photographed at close range. Photo by Terry Sprague
several days before I actually was able to locate the frog, but ended up leaving it there, so intrigued was I by its call. The long, wavering trill of the American toad will be on the scene too before we know it. This is one of the more pleasant sounds we hear each spring and they often get so turned on during the mating season it is possible to approach calling individuals within a few inches. One of my best photos was taken with a macro lens at a conservation area pond near Picton. The toad made no effort to hide as I snapped its picture at close range with a half dozen or so kids not far from it engaged in a noisy pond study. One of my favourites has always been the mink frog and it is a sound synonymous with northern bogs and wetlands. Their range tends to be north of Highway 7 and I have heard choruses of them tapping away like a hammer against wood at Machesney Lake near Bon Echo, and near Madoc. In recent years there have been numerous reliable reports south of Highway 7 indicating an expansion of their breeding range. Pickerel frogs with their distinctive low snore prefer cooler streams can sometimes be found with mink frogs but seem to be less common south of Highway 7. While we won’t hear the bleating calls of the Fowler’s toad in our part of Ontario, its absence is certainly more than
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made up by a spectacular variety of calls that will accent the wetland scene as we advance cautiously into yet another spring. For more information on birding and nature and guided hikes, check out the NatureStuff website at www.naturestuff. net Terry Sprague lives in Prince Edward County and is self-employed as a professional interpretive naturalist.
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The L&A Ridge Runners Story & photos by Michael Saxe
I
magine yourself traveling through stretches of remote, untouched, winter countryside. You travel past swamps with giant beaver dams and countless osprey nets, meander your way down a wooded hill until reaching the shores of a frozen lake lined with windswept pines and outcroppings of the Canadian Shield. Now imagine doing all of this at 60 kilometers per hour, with the roar of an engine loud in your ears and the wind rushing in your face. This was my experience with the Lennox and Addington Ridge Runners Snowmobile club, who were kind enough to provide me with a sled, gear and a warm welcome to join them at their clubhouse in Yarker and on their annual club picnic at Cranberry Lake in mid-February. The L&A Ridge Runners is an entirely volunteer-run organization that maintains approximately 240 kilometers of snowmobile trails between Amherstview and Arden, and Smith’s Falls. The club offers trail permits, which grant access to the club’s network of trails, as well as a province-wide system of trails, driver training programs and group events throughout the winter and in the offseason as well. Currently the club consists of about 400 members and thirty active volunteers, who do everything from grooming and maintaining trails, to teaching young drivers, to operating the clubhouse canteen on weekends. The Ridge Runners club was formed out of smaller community snowmobiling groups in the Lennox and Addington area in 1969, and initially held circle track races at the fairgrounds in Centerville throughout the 70s. In 1981, the Ridge Runners joined the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, a province-wide, non-profit organization that manages budgets, safety standards, insurance, signage, planning and environmental concerns. With their affiliation with the OFSC, the Ridge Runners have access to over 80,000 kilometers of interconnected trails which stretch across the province, from Quebec to Manitoba, and members often head off on week-long excursions on their sleds, traveling as far off as Algonquin Park or North Bay. Almost all of the trails maintained by the Ridge Runners are on private land, and the club negotiates on a yearly basis with 100 landowners, municipalities and various Ontario Government bodies for permission to run trails during the winter. Club President Duncan Parker says the club is proud of the fact that the Ridge Runners is an entirely volunteer-run organization, and that the club is always looking for new members and volunteers. While a member has to be at least 12 years old to drive a snowmobile, the age of members and volunteers at the club ranges from 9 to 70 years old. Many volunteers, who no longer feel the urge to climb onto a sled and speed off into the wilderness, are still active in the club social events and the community involvement that comes with being a member. The club has also had several high school students volunteer at the club while completing their community service hours. People who join the Ridge Runners do so not only because they love the machines or the thrill of the ride. They pay their member-
ship fees, and come back year after year for the opportunity to experience nature and to witness parts of our landscape that are inaccessible by other modes of transportation. This is definitely and adventurous group, and the appeal of the freedom to drive off into the wilderness is clear. But what I observed at the club went beyond this – there is a great sense of community and camaraderie amongst members, who are active primarily from September to May, but who also participate in off-season fundraisers and community events, hosted at the Yarker clubhouse. The Ridge Runners are always looking for new members and volunteers. If you are a long-time snowmobile enthusiast, or looking to get involved in the sport, the club offers access to beautiful trails, a wealth of information and a community passionate about their sport. If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a member you can get in touch with the Lennox and Addington Ridge Run-
ners by email, at la.ridgerunners@gmail. com, via their website, laridgerunners.ca, or search for them on Facebook. For more info on the snowmobiling and the OFSC visit them on the web at ofsc.on.ca.
L-R: Rob Fenwick, Lisa Fenwick, Samantha Fenwick, Don Fenwick, Marilyn Detlor, Charlie Detlor, Tracey Parker, Colt Fenwick, Marilyn Fenwick, Jane Schoenwandt, Christian Schoenwandt, Dieter Eberhardt, Chris Hart, Bob Rose, Frank Gerhardt, Duncan Parker.
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Hospice L&A is presenting a Palliative Care Course education session for those wanting to learn more about palliative care and end of life issues. If you are caring for a loved one with a terminal or life threatening illness or want to become a Hospice volunteer, please call and sign up today. This course starts Monday March 14 for 10 weeks and is FREE. Call Brenda at 613-354-0833 or email brenda@landahospice.ca
The Taoist Tai Chi Society of Canada will hold open houses on Sat. April 9, 10 a.m. - noon, 302 Montreal St., Kingston and Sun. April 10, 2 - 4 p.m., Loyalist Plaza, Amherstview. See demonstrations, chat with instructors, register for classes, enjoy some refreshments. This exercise can be done standing or in a wheelchair. More information: www.taoist.org/kingston, 613-544-4733, kingston@taoist.org.
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Rural Life in Winter By Linda Selkirk
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The Scoop SPRING 2011
fter reading a recent article about a family heading out to vacation on a farm sleeping in one of the “tents” on the property – it did have all kinds of amenities and real flooring etc. – it reminded me that we often forget, when we get caught up in day to day angst, that in many ways we who live in the country are living the “real” and “good” life so many others seek and only occasionally find. In this case, the woman had been raised on a farm and knew all about the realities of farm and rural life. Her children, on the other hand, were horrified to discover that eggs do not magically pop up in Styrofoam containers but rather are initially covered in chicken poop until thoroughly cleaned. Their family vacation on a farm meant that they actually had to work with the family to do all Page 10
the chores all for $239 a night! Urban dwellers get very excited about rooftop gardens, the occasional fly-by of a bird, and weekend jaunts to country auctions. Fake grass, swimming pools and a hired gardener substitute for the real deal. “Upscale” restaurants offer strange concoctions like breaded crickets with arugula greens or pigeons’ feet with a special reduction sauce during the winter to offer a respite from boredom. When the novelty abates with the snow, our urban friends pack up and visit the country where they can again eat some real food in realistic portions and at amazingly low prices compared to the $120 for two dinners at many establishments in downtown cities. They drink in the fresh air, remarking how nice it is to get away from smog. Well water tastes a lot better than fluoridated, treated water from home. They get to eat fresh pickerel caught the same day and often try their own fishing skills to remind their children
The Urgent Necessity to Shop Locally By Cam Mather
W
hen I was a student in the Radio Broadcasting program at Loyalist College in the late 70’s I sold ads for the campus radio station. At that time Front Street in Belleville was a thriving downtown with a large variety of predominantly independent businesses. I have been there recently and it is a sad shadow of its former self as the big box stores located near the 401 have sucked away much of the life from the downtown core. And it’s depressing. Small independent businesses are the backbone of any community. The business owners belong to clubs like Rotary and The Lions, and they raise money for local work, and hospitals get new equipment and community life is enhanced by their activities. Big Box stores add nothing to a community. They suck local money away to head offices in far away places and leave the community poorer as a result. I was reminded of this recently in a conversation with Tim Kidd at Tamworth Village Video. Technology is beginning to affect this business, as it is mine. I publish books and the increasing penetration of e-Book readers in to the marketplace has us scrambling to maintain profitability in this new market. With the proliferation of high speed Internet some people are starting to stream videos on their computers, or order them through the mail. I refuse to do this because I like going to Tim’s. It’s a great place and I get to see the DVD cases and pick them up and read what the movie is all about. And Tim is happy to give his feedback. This week I asked him about the ending of a movie about a guy whose daughter gets kidnapped. I didn’t want to watch it if it ended badly, and I got the scoop from Tim. You just can’t beat personal service. I really got thinking about the importance of community a few weeks ago after there had been a fire in Tamworth. In chatting with Tim who is a volunteer firefighter, I learned that the fire broke out at 9 pm and that many of the firefighters, including Tim, didn’t leave the scene until 5 am. I thought about how important Tim Kidd and the other volunteer firefighters are to my community. If I rented a video from some far away mail order video company, would the president come to my house in the middle of the night to put out a fire? Tim would and does regularly. So many of us are so caught up in the eternal pursuit of the lowest price, that we forget about the impact that spending all of our money at big box stores has on our local community. Big box grocery stores can sell some stuff cheaper than a small, local store, but will they sponsor a local team or a float in the
that fish do not magically appear on ice in the supermarket all neatly filleted. They visit our yard sales and summer auctions and marvel at the delights. Many younger families are living the Ikea life where their surroundings are new but they lack the special qualities and history of the antiques they now discover and learn to cherish. Those of us here in the country start to be a little melancholy this time of year – we’re tired of spending so many hours indoors and the snow is no longer ideal for winter activities. Our seed catalogues
Canada Day Parade in Tamworth? When I need something that Kim and Larry don’t usually sell at Stonemills Family Market in Tamworth, they’ll track it down for me. And they employ local people to work there. I like shopping at Kim and Larry’s. Sure you can save a few bucks at a hardware store in the city, but what about when you’re doing a plumbing job and you need just that one fitting to finish the job? It’s nice to know that Kuhlwant at Tamworth Pro Hardware is there and so handy, so why aren’t you getting all the stuff for the job from her so she’ll be there the next time you need just that one item? Tamworth has been blessed with a new pharmacy in town. I’m sure some people will stay with the big box pharmacy that they’ve grown accustomed to, but what about those days you aren’t feeling well and just want one medication and don’t feel like driving to Kingston? Isn’t it wonderful that you can get what you need in Tamworth? We need to make as many of our purchases locally as possible to ensure that we continue to have the variety of exceptional business people that we do. The current spike in oil and gas prices is not a fluke. It’s the new reality of the marketplace recognizing that we’ve hit peak oil at the time that demand is rising throughout the world. Gasoline over the long term is going to get much, much more expensive, to the point where it’s going to be tough for many us to venture outside of our community very often. Companies that pay people to use their personal vehicles these days will often pay them about 52¢/km. When you factor in the cost of gas, insurance, repairs, new tires, etc. this is considered to be an approximate all-in cost of driving a vehicle. So that 100 kilometer round trip to Kingston actually costs you about $52. You’d have to save $52 shopping at those big box stores versus shopping locally to justify the trip. Do you really save that much shopping in Kingston? As the cost of fuel rises the cost of your shopping trip will also rise. There’s never been a better time to commit to purchase as much of the stuff you need from the merchants in Tamworth. We need to make sure that their businesses remain viable, especially as the cost of driving elsewhere becomes more and more prohibitive. Local merchants contribute to the quality of our community. Every time you walk into one of those multinational big box stores in a faraway community ask yourself, “Would the owner of this business come and put out a house fire for me?” Tim at Tamworth Village Video will. Let’s make sure his business continues to thrive so he’s there for us.
YOUR
HORO-SCOOP
By The Oracles Lady Lyssa Afton & Cassandra Idola
Wind, Rainbows and Memories
are dog-eared by April, and we are restless with inactivity. We’ve endured the solitude of long winter nights, the lack of visitors and the perilous trips on snow covered roads. But we’ve enjoyed the church suppers that are a unique part of our culture and the local events that brings us together with our friends . The birds who stay behind in the winter still get fed by us, thus allowing us to hear the whippoorwill year round and we drink in the special smells of winter including the restful scents from woodThe Scoop SPRING 2011
ARIES March 21 – April 20 A life is woven From tears and joy From memories of kin From a favourite toy No need to dwell on yesterday’s problems your new ideas will bear fruit soon. The life you have woven for yourself is not coming apart at the seams so forge ahead. Hopeful expectation should be your new password. You will be happy with the way things turn out in the next month. TAURUS April 21 – May 21 Whales sing in the sea Would they sing for me If I were to sit quietly And listened intently Some wonder if things only exist if they are looking at them. Let your mind wander to other realms and you will find the answer. Something you thought was going one way is actually going in a very different direction and you are on the right path to discover the way that will be beneficial for you. GEMINI May 22 – June 22 I searched for paradise I had to find it otherwise My youth was meaningless But old age arrived with finesse You love to feel as if you know what you are doing. You have tremendous confidence even when you are bewildered and perhaps confused. Just pick a direction, stride onward and your dilemma will more or less solve itself. Embark on your next adventure. CANCER June 23 – July 23 I’m off to a bazaar It’s not so very far Just around the block Near the town clock You have a great idea but you have to get it into the marketplace. You are within striking distance now so start contacting some people who could help move your project along. Don’t be afraid of success. The countdown has started on your next adventure. LEO July 24-August 23 Where the rainbow ends Its colours blend To form a road Where dreams unfold The bridges you’ve built and the roads you have walked have created great opportunities. Things look hopeful so keep on moving ahead with confidence. Success along the road can sometimes be due to people you know so keep your network of acquaintances up and running. A dream that becomes a reality sometimes presents a daunting challenge; you have triumphed before and will do so again. VIRGO August 24 – September 23 As night descends The stars appear The moon ascends On a new year The new year may find family members bickering as often as ever, debts may not be erased; most people aren’t being any nicer to each other. Makes you wonder about all the tinsel, merry making and carols played in malls. Don’t despair; big surprises are in store for you so enjoy the new year.
burning stoves and fireplaces. Hunting versus shopping fills our freezers as does ice-fishing. Crafts are created throughout the winter in preparation for the wonderful spring fairs to come. All in all the rural dweller is pretty creative and savvy in the ways of stretching every dollar. Page 11
LIBRA September 24 – October 23 February is for passing time March is next in line April finally looms With cheerful blooms So life is a wee bit stressful the problems will pass with time. Now something else has come up to annoy you, its solution is next in line. Look ahead to cheerful times with no self- doubt or self –denial head into the next few months with optimistic confidence. SCORPIO October 24 – November 22 Be careful how you tread Every foot print will lead To everything you said And to your every deed Walk softly but carry a big stick Scorpio. There is some uncertainty about who is controlling a situation. You must look beneath the surface and ask questions. You have to know the score to be able to take control. Don’t kid yourself that all is in good hands, grab the reins and forge ahead. SAGITTARIUS October 24 – December 21 The wind is a vagabond Wandering from place to place Does it come from outer space Or somewhere far beyond You have wandered around harbouring long held dreams. Have faith in your abilities and reach beyond any barrier that blocks your progress. If you want something strongly enough you will find a way to get it. Remember the wind is sometimes a gale and other times a breeze, you must respond to a situation with the right amount of intensity. CAPRICORN December 22 – January 20 Windy days Always Carry memories Along walkways You must decide where you are going. There are certain things you need to get somewhere, a plan of action, a sense of which direction is right for you. Think back to past discussions and meetings. A memory will trigger an idea that has been floating around the back of your mind for some time now. AQUARIUS January 21 – February 19 Wink at fireflies Echo gull’s cries Dance with abandon At the next dawn If there is something that you cannot resolve or put aside something that seems daunting, don’t worry. A realization will suddenly dawn on you and things will move along smoothly. When you look back on the problem it will all seem quite silly. Go ahead and wink, dance and move on. PISCES February 20 – March 20 Thunder rumbles A cloud stumbles And spills rain On my window pane The skies will clear for you. Life doesn’t always have to be difficult so don’t panic the twists and turns blocking you will soon straighten out. Soon the sun will shine on your environment and you will rise above all obstacles.
So when the next pang of winter blues surfaces, we would do well to remember that what we have every day, in all four seasons, is envied and sought-after by our city-bound friends and they can’t wait to get back here to share our wealth!!
Humour Me
By Debbie Fenton
Cherish the Outliers
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and Shakespeare. I’m sure they’d get along just fine. Perhaps it was growing up in a small town which helped me to cherish the “outliers” whom I taught in high school. And by the way, we were not being judgmental when using the term. In the big city you have to have millions of dollars to be called “eccentric”, which reminds me of the Far Side cartoon where a patient is climbing up the curtains with a lampshade on his head, and the psychiatrist is writing in his notes: Just plain nuts! No one, no matter the social class or financial level was just plain nuts in a small town. We always knew the background and took this into consideration. Well of course he’s a little different, after all, his mom ran off when he was just a baby. When I first married I lived for a year on Parliament Street in Toronto, and worked at a bank on Spadina, near the Clarke Institute, which offered help to the mentally troubled. I was always amazed how the other tellers seemed so intimidated by these clients. I was much more afraid of the local “wanna be rich” businessmen who would yell at everyone if they had to wait in line for more than a minute. The Clarke patients were quiet and polite and never failed to smile at me if I first smiled at them and asked them how they were. They were sweet and loved it if I joked with them or teased them. Meanwhile the business men huffed and puffed and wanted “to blow my house down”; they refused to be charmed by a 21 year old blonde. Now I ask you, who were the crazy ones?! Eccentrics have always fascinated me, and for the past 20 years I have kept on my bulletin board an obituary from Toronto Life Magazine. It honours the life of Harold, the critic. Harold was an old man with a long white beard and wild hair. In the picture he is wearing a white shirt with ink stains all over the pocket. It looks like a mug shot. He was the kind of person who you might have crossed the street to avoid, if you lived in a big city. He loved attending the theatre, but he was hard of hearing. He always loved the audience members and those on stage. He sat in the front row, called the actors by their real names, clapped in all the wrong places, and yelled out Marxist slogans during the tender moments. Once he went to see a play where at one point a watermelon would roll out on stage to surprise the audience. He went back several times so that just before the watermelon rolled out he could yell, Here comes the watermelon! If other theatre goers saw him in line, they would roll their eyes. Harold died at the age of 88, and there is now an award named after him, and a Newsletter, The Harold which is intended to guide theatre-goers through the Toronto Fringe Festival, one of Harold’s favourite events. Why have I treasured and maintained this obituary for so long? I hope it will continue to remind me that sometimes we have little patience for the eccentrics in real life, but glorify them in literature. We have to take care to see the strengths and humour in those around us.
erhaps it is a result of growing up on the outskirts of the small town of Napanee, but I have always adored eccentrics. Give me a novel by Anne Tyler and I am engrossed. Her novel The Accidental Tourist was to me a thing of great beauty and perception. I proceeded to read everything else she wrote, and to go on to search for other authors who could effectively capture the essence of those who live outside the judgment of society, and really didn’t give a %#@!! Don’t get me wrong, it is not that Napanee or any other small town is packed full of unusual people, it’s just that in small towns we know, tolerate, accept and cherish our “outsiders.” Oh, that’s Orville, we’d say, remember his father! Then everyone would just nod and accept good old Orville for who he was: what his genes and his environment had made him. We were tolerant of Tourettes syndrome long before it was given a name. Don’t worry, that’s just Danny, he’s always like that, don’t take it personally, he fixed my kid’s bike for free last year, he’s a good guy. You see, when you live in a small town you know the eccentrics “up close and personal.” They are in no way a threat. It is the Paul Bernardos and Ted Bundys of the world we have to fear: they know how to blend in. I remember in the 1960s when I was going to high school there was a local woman in her 60s or maybe she was older, who insisted on walking several miles to and from her work at a factory. My mom would often stop to offer her a lift, and 50 percent of the time she would refuse because she liked the exercise. Well in those days this earned her the title of “unusual”, but now she would just be deemed “health conscious.” I first met my husband’s great aunt when I was about 20, and she was about 80. Keith and his brothers adored her. She lived in Montreal, told fortunes to supplement her income, sported bright red nail polish and smoked like crazy. She rolled her own cigarettes to save money, but always offered her guests a “real one” which meant she was willing to splurge for strangers, but not for herself. She always kept them in a lovely little cigarette case. It was impossible to give her anything because she would promptly give it to a nurse or care giver. I loved her on sight, and when I addressed her by name she said, Call me Auntie. Five minutes after meeting her she took me down to the basement of the family home where she proceeded to tell me my fortune for over an hour, all the while alternating between sucking an orange popsicle and chain smoking. Despite the fact that I was sure she liked me, she said Keith and I would never marry. We just celebrated our 38th anniversary this past August, so that probably explains why she didn’t die a millionaire. I still love this woman for the joy with which she embraced life, even though she had very little in the way of material possessions, and had lost her fiancé in the First World War. If you asked me what famous people I’d like to bring back to life and to dine with for an evening, I’d forego Debbie Fenton may be reached at: Kings and other royalty and invite Auntie fentond@cogeco.ca
The Scoop SPRING 2011
B
rian Quinns Meats Ltd. was established in June of 1976. Over the past 35 years we have established ourselves as a first class, top quality operation. We have twelves dedicated, loyal employees; many of them have been with us for over 15 years. Our facilities are one of the most modern in Ontario. We take great pride in the quality of our work and the cleanliness and sanitation of the environment that we work in. Brian Quinns Meats Ltd. is conveniently located half way between Toronto and Montreal and two hours away from Ottawa. We are just north of Kingston, Ontario. We are an abattoir and retail/wholesale company. The company is owned and operated by Brian Quinn. All meat processed at Quinns Meats is done under Ontario Government Inspection. We buy all of our livestock from local feedlots and farmers. All meat sold from Quinns Meats is naturally aged on the premises. There are no boxed assembly line substitutes. All meat is cut and trimmed and packaged by trained professionals in a clean, sanitary and regulated environment.
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We have our own store made bologna, meat loaves, salami, pepperoni, Montreal smoked meat, etc. Check out our smoked and cured products. Assorted meat packages consisting of pork, beef, chicken and specialty items also available. Prices from $75.00 to 325.00. Hours Monday to Saturday 9 AM – 5 PM
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Did You Know? Historical Notes on local villages in the County of Lennox & Addington. By Angela Saxe
A
while back I asked Robert Wright, owner of the Book Shop (a hidden jewel of a second hand bookstore right here in our little village of Tamworth) if he could locate any books on the history of Lennox and Addington. Not long afterwards he called to say that he had a book I might be interested in: Historical Glimpses of Lennox and Addington compiled by The Brochure Committee of The Lennox and Addington Historical Society, published for the Centennial 1964. What a gem! I’ve spent hours leafing through the pages fascinated by terrific old photographs from area residents’ albums and from the local archives. Historical data and folklore on the individual villages and towns in our area paint a picture of an era now long gone although family names can still be seen on mailboxes as I drive along the back roads. What really struck me is how self-sufficient these communities were: no need to drive to Wal-Mart or to the Bay to buy clothes or home furnishings and certainly no need to visit Home Depot or Canadian Tire to pick up the essential tools and machinery men seem to constantly need. So many of these small communities built or manufactured the basics thus creating local employment and cutting down on transportation costs. Today, most objects we buy are made in China or India – rarely Canada or the USA. They are shipped literally half way around the world and sold to us at a real cheap price. But there’s a cost - there is no local employ-
10" x 7"
PUBLICATION:
Independent papers See MR
has doctors, three churches, four stores, a school BLEED: INSERTION DATE: See MR to drive a long way to go to work. Whether and a cheese factory. A series of disastrous this is a good thing or not is beside the point, fires, the lack of water-power to encourage I’m more interested in looking at our local industrial growth and the decision not to communities through the eyepiece of history bring the railway through this community – and with great appreciation to the members contributed to its decline. Today Centrevof the historical society, I was able to discover ille is home to the Municipal office of Stone what happened here a hundred years ago. Mills and the newly built centre for the roads Here’s a sampling of historical glimpses from department. this wonderful book.
Camden East According to legend one of earliest inhabitants of this scenic village that hugs the banks of the Napanee River was Isaac Cote, a French Canadian trapper who built a log cabin in the late 1700s. But official records indicate that the first settler was Albert Williams who built a home on lot 25, 1st concession, around 1800Newburgh, Cheese Factory, 1908 1804. The village eventually grew as the railway station guaranteed the trans- Yarker portation of goods, services and people to the Like most early communities Yarker got area. The village once bustled with businesses its name along with its post office in 1859, such as: tanning, cabinet making, brewing, but before then it was called Simcoe Falls or harness making, carriage making, distilling, Vader’s Mills. The value of the land in this and the manufacture of clothes driers, boxes part of Ontario was derived from easy access and fanning mills. Camden even boasted a to rivers that produced power for industry famous son: Sir Gilbert Parker (1862-1932) and that provided transportation for the logwho moved to England and became a famous ging industry. In 1796 over 1,000 acres were novelist, poet and Member of Parliament. granted to Lieut.-Governor Simcoe whose son then sold the property to Sidney WarCentreville ner of Wilton. The land was eventually sold This small village was originally called Whel- to George Miller , who built a sawmill on the an’s Corners after John Whalen who built the north side of the river and to David Vader Whelan Hotel. Settlers started moving into who built a sawmill on the south side. What this fertile strip of land around 1815 and by a busy place it must have been especially the 1870s, the village had peaked in growth. when a foundry and plough works were As you drive through this little community added. From this little village, 300 wheels for today, imagine a vibrant village that had three light buggies were produced each day. The Scoop SPRING 2011
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Colebrook Another dynamic little community owing its prosperity to the Napanee River, home to a grist and lumber mill owned and operated by Charles Warner. The lumber mill ensured jobs for newcomers to the area and wealth for Warner who built himself the beautiful stone residence that can still be seen overlooking the river. Colebrook became well known as the home of the Wartman Pump Factory which made wooden pumps from 1870 to 1959. Unfortunately a disastrous fire in 1877 swept through the village destroying the sawmill and many other businesses. Jobs were lost and people moved away. Moscow Like Centreville, Moscow has excellent soil in an area known more for its rocky, clay landscape. Thanks to the sharp eye of Elijah Huffman, he and his brother Jacob settled into the area and became successful farmers. A cheese factory was eventually built and the community prospered. Apart from the Huffmans, other Moscow families included: the Vanluvens, Johnson, Gonyous and McNeils. The original Vanluven store is still there selling gas, convenience items and ice cream. Enterprise This village had the advantage of being located on the railway line and for being the centre of a strong farming community. Up to 1855 it was known as Thompson’s Corners; there was also a hotel the “Whelan House” and many shopkeepers and hardware dealers served the needs of this robust little community.
Croydon This little community can be easily missed unless you continue going west from Enterprise to Highway 41. It’s located on the Salmon River and built in the 1830s. Like a lot of early communities with available water-power, it had its own flour and grist mill, a carding mill, tannery, sawmill and cheese factory, which was operated by the Whalen family from Centreville. Two hotels, a post office and two general stores reflected the prosperity of this little community. Strathcona Originally known as Bowers’Mills named after Adam Bowers who built the first saw mill at the rapids on the Napanee River in the 1820s, it was renamed Napanee Mills when the post office opened in 1861, but the name eventually was changed again to Strathcona in honour of Lord Strathcona. In 1875 an enterprising group of businessmen took over the sawmill operation, tore it down and built the Napanee Paper Company (later known as the Strathcona Paper Company). One of their most important clients was the Toronto Globe: one week of their monthly production run went towards producing the rolls of paper required for the big city newspaper. Around the same time The Rathbun Company, a large corporation in the last century, located clay deposits suitable for manufacturing Portland cement on the old Bowers’ property. They built a cement plant employing over 200 men but when they ran out of clay, they dismantled the plant and moved it to Marlbank. You can still see the old ruins as you travel towards Tweed.
Tamworth One of the first settlers to this community was James Huffman who bought 400 acres of land on lot 1, 6th and 7th concession for 50 pounds. He first built a cabin along a stream (today it’s called Shibagu creek, then it was the Kerry Brook) and then in 1826 he brought his bride, Flora Bell from Newburgh to this pretty spot. Another early settler was Calvin Wheeler a mill-wright who built a combination saw and grist mill in the
M.E. Hopkins Store, Erinsville village aptly named Wheeler’s Mills. Again when they applied to the government for a post office, Wheeler chose the name Tamworth which is the constituency represented by his favourite English politician, Sir Robert Peel. Erinsville This little village on the old Richmond Road (now Highway 41) reflected old Ireland since most of the Irish settlers to the county either went to Amherst Island or settled in Erinsville. The first Roman Catholic Church was built on the shores of White Lake and the present church was built in 1870. Situated in a scenic spot on the shores of Beaver
Lake Erinsville has become a popular tourist destination. Newburgh William Van Pelt Detlor and Benjamin Files were some of the first settlers to this pretty village on the shores of the Napanee River in 1822. Originally referred to as the Hollow, or as some say Rogue’s Hollow, Isaac Brock Aylesworth made sure the name was W.S. Fenwick and Sons Sawmill, Enterprise,1915 changed to Newburgh in 1839. Again water-power ensured its prosperity and Meanwhile the Mill Point Echo moved self-sufficiency as carriages, lumber, grist, coo- from Deseronto to Tamworth in 1879 but pers’ casks, axes, tinware, brooms, furniture, it lasted only three years. The monthly The saddles and shoes to name a few could all be Grindstone, published by Frank Erautt, provided the area with local news and humade and used in this small community. morous stories. It was published first in Newburgh published its first newspaper in Centreville and then in Tamworth right 1853 – The Index followed by The British into the mid-1980s. The Scoop followed North American in 1864 and The Adding- the winning formula of featuring local news ton Reporter in 1875 (later called The Re- about area residents and events and just celporter)? It published local news and lasted for ebrated its 5th year this past winter. five years. New Pharmacists. Hany Girgis’s dream of opening his Meet the own pharmacy has come true. Hany emigrated from Egypt to Canada in 2001 and received his license in 2005. He has worked closely with the doctors in the Tamworth Medical Centre in preparation for the opening since the Centre will no longer be dispensing drugs. According to Hany the local support here in Tamworth has been excellent. Assisting him is Maggie who can help the public with their prescriptions and who works with Hany to provide the best service to our community.
Hany Girgis Pharmacist owner and Maggie Luttinen Pharmacy Assistant Photo by Barry Lovegrove
TOWNSHIP OF STONE MILLS NEWS HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE DAY
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2011 8:00 AM TO 2:00 PM CENTREVILLE TOWNSHIP YARD 4504 CTY. RD. 4 ALL RESIDENTS MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF RESIDENCY HOW For your own protection, deliver the hazardous waste material labeled in the trunk of your car DO NOT mix materials All materials must be clearly marked If the container is damaged, package the container in a plastic bag in order not to spill it during the journey to the collection site Wash your hands thoroughly after handling WHAT • PAINTS (flammable and toxic) DO NOT mix latex with oil base paints • AUTOMOTIVE BATTERIES (corrosive and toxic) wear rubber gloves when handling • HOUSEHOLD BATTERIES Disposable and rechargeable (corrosive and toxic) • HOUSEHOLD MEDICINES/OLD PRESCRIPTIONS (toxic) in a separate bag • WASTE OIL (flammable and toxic) Place in clearly mark the closed container • PESTICIDES, INSECTICIDES, HERBICIDES (toxic) Place in clearly marked closed container • POOL CHEMICALS and BLEACH (reactive and toxic) DO NOT MIX and keep separate from each other and from other chemicals in a clearly marked closed container • TURPENTINE, FURNITURE AND PAINT STRIPPER, VARSOL, SOLVENTS, GASOLINE, LINSEED OIL, NAIL POLISH AND NAIL POLISH REMOVER, BBQ LIGHTER FLUIDS (flammable and toxic) • WOOD PRESERVATIVE, WOOD STAINS, ANTI-FREEZE, BLUES, WINDOW
If you have any questions, please contact The Municipal Office at 613-378-2475 Darlene Plumley, C.A.O. Clerk Township of Stone Mills
www.stonemills.com
The Scoop SPRING 2011
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CLEANERS, DISINFECTANTS, RAT AND MOUSE POISONS (toxic) • OVEN CLEANERS, DRAIN CLEANERS (corrosive) • OLD PROPANE TANKS (explosive) • AEROSOL CONTAINERS (explosive, toxic and flammable) Empty containers as well NO COMMERCIALWASTE/NO HOUSEHOLD WASTE ALL WASTE SITES WILL BE OPEN 8 A.M.-6 P.M. FOR MORE INFO CALL 613-378-2475
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Six Great Reads By Lorie Wright Chester Brown. Louis Riel. (2003). Born 1960 in Montreal. Graphic novel, based on the Metis rebel leader and Canadian folk hero. Beautifully realized and drawn entirely using a sixpanel grid. Over five years in the making. Time Magazine included it in its list of best comics for the year. Lisa Moore. February. (2010). Born in 1964 in St. Johns, Newfoundland. Fiction based on the Ocean Ranger Oil Rig Tragedy. Moore describes the hold
memory has - the power it has on our lives. “The present is also dissolved in the past”. Powerful and very beautiful. Andrew O’Hagan. Be Near Me. (2006). Born 1968, in Glasgow, Scotland. Novel told from the perspective of a parish priest in a small village in Scotland. Explores feelings of “heimweh” - being unaccountably homesick. Michael Redhill. Consolation. (2006). Born in Baltimore in 1966 but grew up in Toronto. Editor of Brick Magazine. Fiction set in Toronto employing contrast-
ing narratives from the 1850’s and late 20th century. Redhill explores how the past, and past lives, intermingle with the present. Richard Russo. The Whore’s Child. (2002) Pulitzer Prize-winning author, born 1949 in Johnston, New York. This collection has wonderful humour, insight and character studies. Worth buying for the first story alone. Kathleen Winter. Annabel. (2010). Born in Bill Quay, England and raised in Newfoundland and Labrador. This novel describes the childhood of a person born as hermaphrodite, but raised as a boy. While reading this book you will think about personal choices and prejudice, judgmental attitudes, and what forms our idea of what is ‘normal’ or acceptable.
Book S h o p
Quality Second Hand Books: Bridge Street East at Peel, Tamworth
Hundreds of new arrivals. Fri Sat Sun, 11 am - 4 pm 379-2108 OPENING APRIL 1ST www.tamworthbookshop.com The Scoop SPRING 2011
Meet Bill Evans
Page 15
Bill Evans has been plowing snow in the area for years now. Always entrepreneurial, his new business, W&S Environmental Services is now offering grass cutting, pickup of garbage and large items. Seniors get a 10% discount. Call Bill at 613-3795872 .
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