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Letters & Op-Ed, October 12 2022

Thumbs up for Baxter I noticed in the most recent Voice poll that Carla Baxter placed second for the two Ward 2 seats in Pelham. I will be voting for her as my first candidate for Ward 2, and I would like to explain why.

Thumbs up for Baxter

I noticed in the most recent Voice poll that Carla Baxter placed second for the two Ward 2 seats in Pelham. I will be voting for her as my first candidate for Ward 2, and I would like to explain why.

Carla Baxter served on the Cannabis Control Committee, which worked countless unpaid hours to develop new regulations for the cannabis industry in Pelham. I believe their work was enormously helpful for the town and made Pelham a leader in this province.

I cannot help but think that she would be an invaluable resource on council. Please consider voting for Carla Baxter as your Ward 2 councillor.

Tillie Clapp Fenwick

 

Candidate's night a success

An open letter of thanks for such a great evening at E. L. Crossley on Thursday night to the Kinsmen, school staff, and terrific candidates for all the work you each did to make the event a complete success. It was truly appreciated. Voting is important. Taxpayers pay for representation and are the ones to hold the elected candidate to their promises with emails, phone calls, and letters, and finally by voting. Thank you.

P. Bryant Pelham

 

Thumbs up for Braun

I recently read Don Rickers article about Wally Braun's interest in running for Pelham's Regional Council seat. 

In my opinion his desire to run is welcoming. His ideas to help improve our community by looking at how Fonthill currently exists and imagining how Fonthill can develop is a fresh approach sorely needed. Wally, you have my vote. 

Andre Champagne Fonthill

 

Veterans Banner Program, 2022

Veteran banners will be placed on October 11, in the Town of Pelham—on Pelham Street poles and the poles around the Meridian Centre. The Fonthill Legion has added five new banners this year. Please take the time to look and to pause as we Remember Them.

Applications for banners and the military recognition books have commenced for 2023. You may call Rick Hatt at 905-892-6100 for any enquiries.

Rick Hatt RCL Banner and Recognition Books Coordinator Fonthill Legion

 

“Affordable” housing?

There are more and more contributors, columnists and “experts” pretending that they have a solution to the lack of “affordable” housing, without a single one prepared to be truthful.

Does anyone consider who actually receives planning applications? It isn’t those you elect to represent you—it is planners at every level of government, planners you employ with their very generous salaries, benefits and index-linked pensions!

Yet they are the ones who now deal directly with prospective developers, even anonymous numbered companies, who have no knowledge or interest in the communities they are “investing” in, only in maximizing their profit margin.

And the crocodile tears of the real estate industry ignores the fact that they have happily encouraged bidding wars for the past two years and longer, and have only succeeded in driving property prices ever upward. I wonder just how much realtors have profited from the Covid-induced property boom?

And finally our own local elected city and town councils, you know, the ones who promised to protect their communities’ best interests?

How many development stories, in different Niagara Region municipalities in recent months, have shown quite clearly that our local politicians don’t have a clue about what their planners are doing until an application is put on a meeting agenda with a recommendation from their planning staff just to approve it?

And if any citizen group is incensed enough to object, and any application should be rejected, what happens next?

A developer has the right to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal. Funny thing is that like the Ontario Municipal Board, dissolved because of its completely biased support for developers, around 97 percent of recent appeals have, according to recent news reports, been decided in favour of the developers.

And should there be an OLT appeal, there is one thing you can be sure of. Your local planner, who you pay for, and your local council, which you elected, will both refuse to support you and the community whose best interests they claimed they work for and support.

And that really shows the myth of affordable housing we are supposed to believe in.

The only way for there to be any affordable housing—owned or rental, now or in the future—is for it to be subsidized 100 percent by our taxes. There is no other way.

Andrew Watts Wainfleet

 

FOBO ending philanthropic run

After 30 years of benefiting students and families in the Niagara Region, as well as assisting in the construction of a school in Guatemala, the Friends of Bernie Obdeyn (FOBO) are ending their impressive philanthropic run. This group of siblings and close friends formed themselves into an official charitable organization in an effort to bring some good to the world after the sudden, traumatic loss of their son, brother and friend through the most extreme example of man’s inhumanity to man.

FOBO started small by selling tickets to stag and doe style parties to their friends. Over the years their work became more organized and sophisticated, resulting in a 25-year run of annual volleyball and euchre tournaments to facilitate more productive fundraising. Initially a single $500 annual scholarship was provided to a secondary school student enrolled in a post-secondary Environmental Studies program, similar to Bernie’s area of study. Scholarships were increased to benefit more students and for over a decade two $1000 scholarships have been awarded each year. In its entirety the scholarships, worth a total of almost $45,000, will have benefited more than 50 students. FOBO have also sponsored local families at Christmas time and assisted Crown Wards financially. Their significant contribution toward the construction of a school by the Wells of Hope organization in Guatemala was immortalized on a plaque naming one of the rooms for their beloved Bernie.

A number of factors (Covid, rising costs, and the recent loss of the family patriarch) contributed to the group decision to end their fundraising endeavors. Before doing so, it was decided to make as significant an impact on the local community as possible. After some research and a lengthy discussion, a number of local charitable groups were selected to receive one-time donations to assist them in these trying economic times. As a result, this Thanksgiving FOBO will assist The Hope Centre, Pelham Cares, The Open Arms Mission of Welland, Gillian’s Place, Rose City Kids, as well as Pathstone and Wells of Hope. The annual scholarships will also be provided for three more years, until June of 2025.

The driving force behind this honorable work has undoubtably been Bernie’s youngest sibling, Cindy. This single mother of two, worked full-time by day and spent her evenings and weekends tirelessly garnering donations, prizes, volunteers, and sponsorships, and organizing the tournament logistics, while diligently maintaining the reams of required documentation and accurate bookkeeping records.

We extend our heartfelt thanks and deepest appreciation to everyone who supported FOBO over the past 30 years. This includes the thousands of participants, innumerable sponsors, tireless volunteers, and anyone who offered to assist with the smallest of tasks which allowed our events to come off without a hitch. Without all of you we would not find ourselves in this fortunate position to have such a healthy bank balance that we will now pay forward. This labour of love has benefitted untold numbers over the years and it is hoped that the ripple effect of FOBO's final generous gesture will continue to positively impact individuals and our community for years to come.

Roger Demers FOBO board member

 

First PATH general meeting

On the evening of October 5th, Pelham Advocates for Trees and Habitat (PATH) held their first General Membership Meeting. This historic meeting was held at the Meridian Community Centre (MCC), in the Accursi Room.

The gavel dropped at 7:30 with the Land Acknowledgment given by Director Dr. Dave Nicholson. Mike Jones, PATH’s Chairperson, welcomed our attendees. Mayoral candidates Marv Justin and Frank Adamson, Ward 2 Town Council Candidates John Wink and Brian Eckhardt, public school board trustee candidate Rene Nand, and Ward 3 Councillor Wayne Olson were also present. The crowd numbered around fifty. It was noted that this meeting was not a political event.

Our Board of Directors Chair Mike Jones, Treasurer Graham Pett, Secretary Lois La Croix, and Director Dr. Dave Nicholson Director were introduced to the audience.

Unfortunately, our special guest speaker, Liz Benneian, from Biodiversity and Climate Action Niagara, could not physically attend. Modern technology and the help of Ken Kawall, Liz’s husband, allowed Liz to give her presentation via Zoom. Liz’s presentation was on “Greening Niagara.” The presentation was on our need and value for more parks with native trees and plants, increased requirements of our tree canopy in Pelham and the Region, the need to persevere and increase our biodiversity as well as wetlands and farmlands and the need for a tree bylaw for trees on private property. Liz’s presentation was not only educational but kept the participants enthralled for over 40 minutes. After her presentation, a citation and a gift of appreciation were given to Ken for Liz, from the Board of Directors.

Our Treasurer, Graham Pett, spoke on a few of our accomplishments of the past couple of years. The achievements discussed were: A) Preservation of the Steve Bauer Trail by having two roads from crossing the kilometre stretch between Port Robinson and Merritt Road. B) An intense review of the Town’s Proposed Tree Maintenance Policy and provided the Town with many changes that staff and council accepted.

C) We held the First Annual Rally for Earth Day Call for Action (AREA) in Peace Park. D) Our National Forest Week Challenge of having 200 Facebook posts of trees during that week surpassed our first mark, and our total number of pictures of trees was an impressive 336 depictions.

Treasurer Graham Pett elaborated on the Silver, Gold and Platinum donation fundraising program. Dr. Dave Nicholson and Edie Pett were awarded Certificates of Appreciation. Louise and Fred Graham, Silver Awards recipients, were not present to accept their award.

The celebrations and awards continued with Awards of Appreciation for their assistance and guidance over the past years. The present beneficiaries of this recognition are Brenda Burger, Dr. Uwe Brand, Colleen Kenyon, and Kathryn Gorman. Recipients missing were Chris Fidler, Natalia Shields, and Jackie Oblak.

Councillor Wayne Olson spoke on the Town’s green initiative to create a park on the west side of the MCC and other achievements of the Town.

After closing remarks and thanks to the audience, the meeting adjourned at 9 PM.

Mike Jones PATH Chair

 

COTE'S COMMENTS | Larry Coté

Adages make the messages clearer

It appears that the use of adages is on the decline. That is unfortunate as many of these contained gems of wisdom that were hard earned and frequently passed on from generation to generation. Many present day elders were raised by parents who had adages they could apply to a large number of circumstances. Rarely would a day go by without reaching into their adage gallery.

Many of these adages were intended to comfort the learner. Interestingly, our daughter in raising her children remembered one of her mom’s expressions of comfort when she was growing up and encountered a quandary of one sort or another. That compassionate proverb was this too shall pass. I have no idea where my wife adopted that expression. More than likely from someone involved in her upbringing. To commemorate that memory, our daughter and her two adult daughters had this adage discreetly tattooed on their ankles.

My mother, who had to learn the economics of raising a family of ten children during some difficult times and low earnings, was often heard to say a penny saved is a penny earned. Due to her financial circumstances she had to be a very skilled shopper.

My father, when he heard one of us denigrate someone’s character or appearance, would advise don’t judge a book by its cover. Again, the origin of my dad’s precautionary phrase remains a mystery.

Occasionally, I have dug into my past and made use of adages with our children. For instance, when one of our children was attempting to introduce me to some new fangled technology I cautioned them that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But there are others who profess you are never too old to learn.

While referring to the learning of new skills you can achieve more competence more quickly if you concur that practice makes perfect.

One would be wise to learn very early in their working life that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

When making new acquaintances, one might quickly find compatible friends by adhering to the wisdom that birds of a feather flock together. And speaking of birds, tardy persons would be wise if they paid attention to the age-old phrase that proclaims the early bird gets the worm. But these tardy persons will be difficult to change as they have spitefully learned better late than never.

Those who are overly confident about gaining their fortune early in life should learn not to count their chickens before they are hatched. But then again, contradictory wisdom suggests nothing ventured, nothing gained and he who hesitates is lost.

Remember to never look a gift horse in the mouth whatever that means. However, be aware that should you try to figure it out, curiosity killed the cat.

Adages speak to the inventive use of words by thinkers who went before us. It is unfortunate that we do not make more use of these truths and contradictions, as the meanings are crystal clear.

 

THE NEXT | Catherine Brazeau

Mining the depths of friendship

Small talk. You know, those superficial niceties and polite conversations about the weather or work or them Leafs. The older I get the more I get bored with it all. Maybe because I’ve spent way too many years “social snacking” through life. I’m hungry for a full course meal! That’s not to say small talk hasn’t served me well in the past, especially when I needed to find a point of connection with a stranger. But it always leaves me wanting.

Is there anybody else like me out there – the ones who are interested in meaningful conversations about the deep things of life: What am I here to do? What does it all mean? Why does it matter? Sometimes I wonder if anyone else cares about this stuff.

Back when I was living in the shallows (a.k.a., making a buck, managing other people, deciding what’s for dinner) it felt like I never had enough time to cultivate meaningful friendships or engage in deep-think. Once I stepped away from all that and began working on my friendship muscles, I purposely tried to rise above small talk. And when I did, that’s when I starting having more honest, life-giving conversations about everything.

I soon discovered that the answers to my deepest questions usually showed up in the form of other people. It’s no wonder the great philosophers, wisdom books, and social scientists agree that friendship is one of the cornerstones of a meaningful life.

If you get your kicks from reading philosophy books, then you’re already familiar with Aristotle and his three classifications of friendship. The first sort being our good and useful friends—what he calls our “utility” friends. They may offer a reference, or you might water their garden when they’re away. You help each other out. These are the friends who enter, or exit, our lives depending on the season we’re in. The second sort he calls our “pleasure” friends, the ones whose company we enjoy. They’re funny. They’re smart. They also like them Leafs! But you wouldn’t confide your heart to them. At the top are those friends of the good and highest order — the “virtuous” ones. The ones who share your passions, the ones you confide in. Where vulnerability and truth lives. Sure, they’ll water your garden and they’re fun to be with, but there’s a quality and depth that simply outshines your other relationships. These are the friends who tend to shape our lives for the better.

I recognize these distinctions in my own relationships and in my own friend-ing patterns. And just like those friends who like to keep it light, I admit there are times when I also want to control the depth of intimacy because it’s easier, safer, and requires less of me. I know I need all kinds of friendships in my life, but the gold standard is now more honesty and more open-heartedness. It’s why I often ask myself… Do I have enough deep, honest conversations, and, more importantly, do others feel they can have them with me? Because the best friendships are mutually nourishing.

Let’s face it, sometimes you can go through life with people and wake up one day and wonder who they really are. As that other great philosopher, the comedian Duncan Trussell, once said, “When you first meet me, you’re meeting my bodyguard.” That’s right, you’re meeting the person who’s paid to keep you from knowing the real me! Wow, there’s some truth for ya. Maybe that’s why we can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely. Yes, an Aristotelian friend of the highest order is hard to find — and even harder to be. It means we need to fire our bodyguards y’all!

In the world of Facebook and Instagram, “like” is tidy. But love… love is messy. Friendships are messy. Building those deep friendships is hard to do if vulnerable isn’t your thing. I need to intentionally seek opportunities for connection, invest some serious time and then be willing to let my guard down — skills that require some learning on my part.

“Friendship is a slow-ripening fruit,” says Aristotle. Yes, those besties take a long time to ripen and they’re cultivated and nourished through all kinds of weather. And as my family grows and my kids build lives of their own, I’m finding my most intimate relationships are becoming those with unrelated people.

These days I’m more willing to ruin small talk and take a risk. Now, when someone asks me how I am, I will sometimes toss out a crumb of truth only to find out they’re really not that hungry to know more. That’s okay. Because they’re someone and not “the” one. The one being that friend — if you’re lucky — that really wants to know. That you can talk to in real depth about real things or call in a moment of crisis. That ripening friend who tells you something that hits you inside where truth lives. And the older I get the more this matters. I don’t need many. I just need true.

Until The Next…