I hope the rain keeps away today

One of the hard working merchants at the Sidewalk Sale yesterday. Scotty Carrigan flips burgers for the masses. One of about seven BBQs on the street, his was the biggest and most visible, he was doing well at lunch time.

Yep went to the bank yesterday and when downtown realised "It's that time of the year again" - Sidewalk Sale time. Not afraid to ruffle feathers, when I say this, but this year the institution is is showing its age, it's very tired and almost on its last legs. No rides, a DJ putting out fifty year old tunes, this thing needs a sprucing. That will not stop me being there today. If I provide the body the DBIA should produce more action!

Toronto Council's pending strike vote has produced a lot of editorial ink this morning. The TO Star is for Council to vote for it, the TO Sun is of the same mind and a guest editorialist , Kelly McParland, in the National Post used his column inches to beat up on the Mayor. Interesting point - three of the progressive voters will be absent or intend to abstain - Moscoe (abstaining), Vaughn and Rae absent. So who knows what is going to happen: the anarchist in me says the Mayor's opponents will vote it down and the pragmatist says the majority will realise that a No vote will be anarchy and the start of a labour war that cannot be won and thus vote for it.
The saddest part of this is the Mayor has decided to have the vote in camera. This affront to democracy will only increase the (il)legitimacy of closed meetings when discussing contracts. This discussion has nothing new, nothing that needs confidentiality and thus we need to know what the gutless pols are saying in the back room and compare it to the spin they spout on the front room.

So who won the strike?

Now the warfare begins. The residue of any strike is the war of words after the fact. Angry emotions between the partners usually are seen by acrimony in the relationship that has to rebuild trust. But in the final analysis most people want to declare a winner. So who won?

If both parties are mad then usually no one won. If one side crows about the deal then that side won. If one side's leader finds itself under fire from supporters then that side lost. Just look at the situation - Mayor Miller has the usual opponents screaming at him for "caving". He for his part is claiming that he achieved an objective (capping the sick bank liability) and the Union is proclaiming that, "We fought off all the concessions".

But there is a juicy speculation going on at the BurdReport about the possibility that Toronto Council will reject the deal. In the words of one pundit, "That means the strike will resume" Wrong the strike will finish and a Lockout will start. Then social warfare will really breakout. Armed with a mandate to crush the union Toronto taxpayers will be caught in an ideological war, fought by proxy in the pages of the Toronto Star vs the National Post. With the airwaves ablaze with anti-Miller opinions Corus radio and its many stations will be cranked at full volume, aided and abetted by "good ole boys" progressives don't stand a chance.

In a cheeky, but serious, submission our cultural correspondent has submitted a suggestion for the tree carving competition. Wally wants to carve the bottom two thirds of the tree in a sculpture that resembles children's building blocks, each side spells out the word "peace" in four languages. Read about it here.

Intrigued by a question on Facebook

A question popped up last night on facebook, "Does anyone know anything about a windfarm in Grafton?" I did, having seen a story in the NToday here. Last month the family went to a wedding in the Bruce Peninsular and driving through one is assailed by many many windturbines, they are huge. Foolishly thinking that these pieces of equipment may be the answer to the non-renewable energy debate I was pleased to see them, and still am. But the next morning, when reading a local paper, it was puzzling to see that not all citizens in the area are so pleased. In fact there is a backlash to them for a couple of reasons. First of all the usual non-provable health issue, secondly the low rent paid to farmers and the owners of the land and thirdly the stewardship of the land by the turbine company - they are accused of wrecking arable land with big trucks. Hitting "opposition to wind farms" in Google produces 275,000 hits, so obviously a lot of people have something to say on the topic. "Support for windfarms" gets 2,620,000, even more people like to talk about them. But of the 275,00 11,700 want to talk about wind farms in Kincardine. Obviously the Bruce Peninsular is a hotbed of debate as 6,200 hits for the project. So about 2 to 1, on the internet against the turbines. But what will happen in Grafton?

Want to learn all about the opposition to WInd Power, rather like not supporting Mother Theresa or having too much time on your hands, look here. I suppose the opponents of the Grafton project have already started to research and may even have joined the North American opposition movement here - National WindWatch. But for a primer on the topic look at this page "What to do if it's happening to you"

Over to you the people in Grafton!

One for Doug, can you see the face?

Here's a part of the tree that is going to be carved up. And as commentator Doug suggests one may be able to see a face in the tree already. Not a big face and not one of the Virgin Mary holding a baby Jesus, but if it brings in tourists why not suggest it.

So it's a done deal, or is it?

The Cobourg Community Centre saga just drones on and on like the Energiser Bunny - with a life of its own. Yesterday the resolution to approve the project was put and voted upon. The result was a 5-1 win for the "four dead white men". Councillor Mutton was convinced that financing the Municipal portion of it, over twenty five years at a fixed rate with money we don't have yet, was a good idea and she went along with the majority. Councillor Frost, still objecting to the lack of details, voted against the process not necessarily the project. He is still stating, with all of his professional experience, that the project is bound to over-run its costs without seeing a detailed scope of work that Council should approve.

It is an amorphous piece of work. Council approves the idea and then shops out all the details to "the best Project Managers we can find" and then sets up committees to liaise with the PM to actually build the box with two rinks. CAO Robinson told me yesterday that the scope is in the report that outlines the project that was issued in June, so what's the problem. The Director of Works tells me that the scope is limited because the building is designed to be so flexible it can be a convention centre one day, a Seniors' centre the next and at the same time can host a basketball tournament. He didn't use those words but says, "The key to this building is its flexibility, no one group will have a piece of it, All will share it" It appears that the word "scope" has two meanings: one - Frost's (the traditional PM definition) where the costs and uses are fully outlined so that one can see future risk and potential over-run and the rest that say "These guys we hired will build it for $27 million and eat the over-run. But the danger in that is when over runs or rework or increased material costs happen the building will be redesigned to accommodate it and we won't get what we thought we would get. However as the next stage of the process is the issuing of the RFP Council will then get to see what we think we will get at the end. That's why the process drones on and on, Council can still get out of it by not issuing the RFP. But the philosophical differences in this debate can be summed by by watching a huge beast of a man - Cllr MacDonald rising to the full height of a bull elephant fulminating with condescension and disdain as he rose to rebut Frost, he was ready to speak at the start of the debate, and could hardly wait to knock Frost's arguments. Speaking with much pomposity and arrogance, as only he can, proudly declared, "As all the scope is outlined in the report I can only assume that the Steering Committee's work, on which you have a seat, will be complete by 2010, and we have have two professionals (Peacock and Robinson) who, in their considered opinion, say it can be done." So there you have it folks we don't need a Council to take ownership of the project send it off to unelected committees and let Councillor MacDonald concentrate on serious matters - points of order and other picayune points of procedure that Cllr Mutton may cause that offend his senses of parliament!

As to the problem of the Lawn Bowling Club going into the building on public money that will solved because the bowlers can't agree on moving. Especially if they have to pay full market value for the privilege.

In other Council news, revealed by the coordinators' reports, Cllr McCaughey told the world that some of our public trees are bug infested, and Cllr Mutton revealed that the Committee for Art in Public Spaces could not find any local takers to carve the tree stump in Victoria park so an invitation will be sent to esteemed out of town tree carvers to produce a work of art from a limbless stump, albeit a thirty foot high stump.

Monday Morning

Not much fodder for thought in the agenda for the Council meeting tonight. The only contentious item is the Community Centre resolution.
Wondering if great leadership had happened during the week, after two members of Council voted against the project for two different reasons, wherein the leadership had tried to mollify the concerns of the dissident councillors by working out solutions to their concerns, as opposed to just going ahead because the majority prevailed, I made a couple of calls. Discussion, with the DM has taken place but not enough effort obviously because Councillor Frost is still more than a little peeved. Stan Frost has been a professional Project Manager for most of his career and has never gone into a project not knowing the scope of work until now. "Unless the scope of work is defined over-runs will always ensue, and I see no difference here". The $27 million project has been green lighted with the details of the scope of work missing and that makes Cllr Frost a man with a cause - he wants Council to sit down and define the details, not allow a Steering Committee (which has no mandate to report back to Council but liaise with the Project Manager) to do it on an ad-hoc basis. "Council has to take ownership of the project" he says as he watches unelected and yet to be appointed unknowns do the task.
If as it is feared and the dissenters stay on the No side, for reasons that can be avoided by a little wordsmithing of principles that all concerned agree on then the Town motto is just another fancy piece of script not a credo to live by - "Our strength is in our unanimity"

Last week this pic appeared on facebook, some strange equipment is sitting on top of the Epstein building on the corner of King and Division, and the submitter wondered if they were cell phone antennae. My concern and perhaps the LACACers who read the board could comment, is ; "Have these attachments been submitted to the heritage people for approval?" Heritage guidelines are a mockery if such effort goes into the selection of paint and the regulation of signs when monstrosities such as antennae can be allowed in a Heritage District, (this will be followed up with a call to the heritage regulators and the results reported)

Update: 0915 Monday. The Town of Cobourg's building department tells me that discussions are underway, led by the Director of Planning, with Bell Canada, who is believed to have placed them up there. Bell claims that Federal Communication policy trumps Heritage guidelines and we will have to wait for a week to interview Mr McGlashon, as he is on holiday!

Why is there only one villain in a strike? As we sit and wait for the Union, in the Toronto Garbage Strike to make an announcement about leaving the bargaining table, I wonder why in these cases there is rarely more than one party taking the blame. The classic example is that of the VIA drivers who went on strike two and a half years after the contract expired. That meant these parties had three years to get a deal. In fact they got a half-assed resolution hours after going on strike. Obviously Management had made a decision something it failed to do in three years prior. But the drivers got all the blame!

Another law suit for an online writer, this is no surprise but the way the lawsuit has been dealt with is. This is a copy of a service document on Ezra Levant for comments made online, and only online. The long arm of libel law has caught up with the miscreants of cyberspace, and so it should! Just because we are writing online doesn't make responsible editions immune from their responsibility to be lawful.

The memory of an older person

What a memory shaker this is. Had to go to the Liquor Store to get some feminine drinks - vodka coolers, and thought that I would treat myself to an exotic beer, something more than my usual buck a beer. The LS doesn't sell Dos Equis any more so I picked up some Stella. At the checkout I did a triple take and closely examined the can for authenticity; there were piles of "Tiger Beer". Last seen by this thirsty guy 40 years ago on the Malayan Peninsular. Rumour had it that because the beer was so potent it couldn't handle the climate change and consequently never ventured past Egypt. Many a 'squaddie' has killed many many brain cells with this stuff. It came straight from the brewery into the canteens in quart bottles, sold on the streets in Singapore. Hong Kong and all Garrisons East of Cairo. One the finest sites I ever saw was when we had just come out of a ten day jungle exercise back to the 'bivvies' on the beach, there was the biggest pile of beer crates ever assembled just for the drinking. Never happen in this day of PC armies, and dry bases. Modern soldiering has lost all the fun. Tiger beer was a large part of my youth and to see it almost 40 years to the day was a wonderful flashback. Anyway bought some, drank it, and the taste is still the same. Must confess I have to holdback though as the largest part of the beer was its potency and I'm damn sure I can't take that at this stage of my life.

I can't wait to see the other pics

Here is an "Educator of the Year" and the anxiety and trepidation shows, Well done Rob.

On Friday 24th of July, at the "Canadian New Media Awards 2007", in Toronto, Professor Robert Washburn, of Loyalist College in Belleville, Ont. was awarded the "Educator of the Year". This mention appeared on Rob's facebook this morning and it appears to be old news but still very significant due to the industry moving on so much in the last two years. Seen clutching the award, he was probably more worried about a change of underwear, when this pic was taken. Having worked to create the curriculum of "New Media" the topic has exploded this year when traditional news outlets scrambled for new funding models and practices. Rob has pioneered many of the teaching and curriculum changes that the industry needs for the future. Well done. Personally; knowing Rob as a great supporter of this "hyperlocal news outlet" I want to thank him for the support. And with the changes coming in the future he will be in the thick of it all.

Some people say dumb things

Yesterday I delivered a load of hazardous waste to an out of Town Company and in the course of conversation I asked if they were busy, "Yes and No. The recycling is doing well but the transportation side isn't."
"How many drivers do you have out today?" I asked. "Twelve but normally it would be thirty five". When a local gravel hauling company tells me that the plans are made for the year and nobody else is being hired (and gravel moves first in the construction season) you know that the economy is knackered.
So where does the Governor of the Bank of Canada get off by proclaiming, at a nationally televised news conference that the recession is over? Tell that to the thousands of EI exhaustees who will flood the economy in the next three months. Tell that to the bankruptees who have held on waiting for stimulus money, tell that to the local bridge builders who are not working on the Burnham St. bridge because a company from Newfoundland is. It doesn't make sense!

And some people say there is no need for hyper-local news!

I beg to differ and enter into evidence this online submission from Bob Owen of "Cramahe Now". He has been pursuing, like a bulldog, the goings on in Colborne over a Farmers' Market. Never mind the fact that here is only one farmer and never mind the efforts of an officious bylaw officer whio seemed determined to take the market out, the twenty year old market was officially reinstated this week. Read about it here, because this is another small, but significant, story that only hyperlocal people tell. Another knock against the MSM.

The CCC getts a 4 - 2 approval rating

You don't give a figures man no figures and you don't give the process lady no process! That's what the fifty minute debate about the Cobourg Community centre boiled down to yesterday afternoon.After two amendments were voted down, the main resolution - to approve the building of the CCC and finance the Municipal portion with funds from the development charges account, passed in a recorded vote without much ado.
The debate kicked off with Councillor Frost asking that the project be made more specific and that private clubs, especially the Lawn Bowling club be left out of the project unless they pay a full rate. "The June report spoke about a club house for the Lawn Bowling Club, we should not be using public money to relocate private clubs." When the gang of four made it abundantly clear that they were not going to support his motion, quote Councillor MacDonald, "This motion is redundant, the Steering Committees will decide this" Frost tried to persuade the rest of Council to tighten up the proposal, in Council chambers, the majority were quite happy to let unelected and as yet unknown members of the steering committees decide the nuts and bolts of the build. So having kicked Stan in the goolies the gang of four then put the boots, in due process, to the other dissenter of the group.
Councillor Mutton wanted to know why the Council was funding the Municipal Portion of the build, $6 million, out of the development charges fund and not use the "playmoney" from the Holdco and Northam park dividends because when debentured the $6M goes to $8M. When asked the reason CAO Steve Robinson said, "It' a philosophy thing, do you want the taxpayers in the next 25 years paying for the facility or do you want present taxpayers doing it?" So she made a motion to the effect that other funds be used as well as development charges used to finance the debt - it lost. After that she wanted the resolution split in two parts so that she could vote for the project but against the financing details. It never happened so she voted against the resolution because of the financing arrangements. For his part Councillor Frost was incensed "We have met three times on this issue and we have never had a discussion about what it is! Council must settle down and say what it is we are doing."
Apparently that is something they will not do now because at the same meeting they decided to hire a Project Manager to fill in the details, with the steering committees, and run the project. BTW that decision cost us $310K.

Who says that the Private Sector can do it best? Putting their faith in owning and operating their own piece of equipment Council bought a boat. A dredger to be precise. Cobourg spent $123K last year on dredging the harbour and it is an annual chore. If Cobourg wants a harbour it has to keep the entrance open by dredging. Buying a boat for the sum of $688K and paying for it over ten years we save 46K alone on our own costs. If we rent it out at $566 per hour we make more money, and there are customers already waiting for it. A good deal for all and it came about because this was a job that the private sector couldn't do, or didn't want to do, properly!

Sorry folks, the comments are late.

Keep the comments coming in and I promise to check the comment moderation page more often - I have missed some timely comments as blogspot appears not to be emailing them directly to me

If the local candidate is only worth 5%?

If the local candidate in any election is only worth about a 5% increase or decrease in the final numbers (and this is a bedrock of belief amongst pundits and pols alike) how can a story like this gain traction? This story, published in the "Hill Times" quotes spokespeople from Harris-Decima as saying, "The next election will be fought on a riding by riding basis." Kinda of a contradiction. Fighting the election riding by riding assumes that local candidates will be important to the election. Not!

If local candidates are going to be important let's look at what we have here in NQW. An incumbent who has been pasting the riding with cheques and cut ribbons and costing us a fortune on nonsensical free flyers - "householders", that arrive on what seems to be a weekly basis and two parties that have not announced who their candidate is going to be. The Libs have a nomination race with two no-names announced so far and a couple more in the wings, but nobody with "gravitas" yet. It appears that this will be a nomination fight by proxy - who can snag the biggest endorsement; round one to a man who lives in the riding but teaches in Kingston. Andrew McFadyen, from Warkworth, has been endorsed by someone who the average voter may have trouble remembering - Christine Stewart, an ex Chretien Minister. The Dippers haven't had a press release yet to announce a replacement for Russ Christianson, it is believed to be Will Lambert from Port Hope, but he had better start to get out this summer to the BBQs just to introduce himself.

Down to the nitty gritty - the CCC decision

First of all a hydro outage at my house yesterday, rewiring the panel, and the need for a couple of days off today and tomorrow may mean sporadic posts.

OK here it is: the Community Centre project and it's up for the first real vote on Monday. A thick memo lays out all the details, and the bottom line is that this project will be built without hitting the taxpayers for an extra dime. But you say what about the operating costs? They're in the report but obviously based on best estimates from the Staff. Without a breakdown of the revenues one cannot argue the figures but the report says that total revenues from all three rinks and the revamped Memorial Centre will net a combined loss of $318K. The current loss for two rinks is $126K. So the real operating cost to the taxpayer of Cobourg will be about 1% increase in taxes to pay for the Community Centre which will be built without a tax impact. Look at it in the real world and without bias and it appears to be a good deal.
The devil is in the details and those are to be worked out by three steering committees: fundraising, building and operating. But the absolute bottom line is that $2,733,00 has to be raised from the public - 10% so joe public show your stuff if you want this place pay up if not be vocal in your opposition.

The Corcoran affair has taken a life of its own. Started in an online publication, travelled to the National Post and then carried by the local paper, now it has travelled back into cyberspace where some hardline views are being expressed. But for an depth reasoning of the way Mr Corcoran has approached this issue, and he says the problem is systemic in the parish - that of an unaccepting congregation against changes being implemented by a Parish Priest one should read his blog here. Here is a list of the places in cyberspace that emerge when you "Google" Corcoran and the Church: Socon or Bust, Box Turtle Bulletin, Michael Coren and the National Post, The Shotgun Blog, try them.

Another nail in Obama's coffin. The linchpin of organised labour's support for Obama was the imposition of a new union organising regime, called the "The Employees' Free Choice Act" the mainstay of this bill was a process called the "card check" where employees could get a union if a majority signed union cards, hence the term "card check". Now in this story it looks as though the card check, the major symbol of Obama's reform agenda is biting the dust. Sad; but predictable.

What an interesting day yesterday was

Yesterday's post, that asked the question - "Where is the local media" on the Corcoran vs the Bishop of Peterborough, certainly educated me as the day went on. Firstly the post was up and then an email from one of the media defending itself came in, then the radio station posted a paragraph of rewrite from the "Catholic Register", with nothing new in it, and then an email exchange took place about the ethics of the situation.

As explained to me no responsible journalist can just rewrite a story stick their name on it and then print it - that violates original copyright. The story was broken by Patrick B Craine on 7th July, on a website LifeSiteNews.com. He wrote an extensive story here that included a copy of the complaint sent to the tribunal here. The Catholic Register wrote about the story here on the 9th July and quoted Mr Corcoran some more, thereby avoiding copyright rewrite problems.

So back to the local absence on this story. An editor from one of the local MSM, in an email exchange, told me that he couldn't rewrite the story "that would be plagiarism." Unfortunately for him Mr Corcoran and the complainants have gone to ground and have clammed up giving no new material to the reporter assigned to it. But an enterprising editor might have seized on that silence as a new angle to the story and run with "All in Human Rights complaints case clam up!" and then get into the story using the two previous articles as background.

More about the Brighton railroad issue. Councillor Craig Kerr certainly isn't afraid to take on the lions. He is challenging the way that the County has interjected itself into the "grade separation" debate as a threat to the Town, “What he is saying is it doesn’t matter if Brighton votes on this or not, the county will do what it wants anyway,” Coun. Kerr said. “That’s highly improper. He basically threatened our council with consequences if we didn’t make a decision, and it prejudiced the decision of people.” (source NorthumberlandNews July 15 2009)
Claiming that the County will take over the process and that is a threat to the autonomy of the Town. As an observer of the issue the question to me is the behaviour of the Mayor, either with the complicit understanding of the Council (obviously not Mr Kerr) or on her own she has figured out a way to get the County to pay for a Municipal expense, a very expensive one to boot.

A question for the local news, including the BurdReport

Last week I received emails pointing us to Wally Keeler's local online journal (read the details here), our cultural affairs correspondent, wherein he outlined a story about local businessman Jim Corcoran (he owns St Ann's Spa) and his pending lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Peterborough and 12 local Cobourg parishioners. The story is that Mr Corcoran, an admitted, but chaste for 19 years, homosexual began to serve the sacrament just before last Christmas. Twelve local parishioners objected, wrote a letter to the Bishop and Mr Corcoran was removed. Mr Corcoran responded by filing a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and is personally suing the twelve parishioners and the Bishop for $25,000 a piece.and the people named in the suit could be fined up to $25,000 (source "Catholic register").

Now the question - where was the local MSM in this, nary a comment even though the story was out there for the picking. It has only come to light now because the National Post has a piece about it this morning here. The sad part here, for MSM advocates, is that it was a rabid homophobic 'family values' site that broke the story early last week, beating the MSM to the punch.

This is where the MSM is - covering Dalton. The Lib spin machine is in full bloom taking advantage of the summer dearth of news and to announce an announcement, probably one of "old money" being re-announced. Put the above story with this one and you get a local MSM not willing to rock the advertisers and pump out political spin because it is safe. Really ,how many 'real people' will be there to see Dalton anyway?

Another piece of locally significant news was the announcement that the local hospital is setting up a "Citizens' Advisory Panel". This group of folks will be the sounding board for the bad news of cuts in the hospital budget. As part of the contingency plan, where the budget is balanced, a "community engagement plan" has to be filed with the LHIN before such a contingency plan can be approved. A Queen's Park requirement that is such total BS that it stinks even from there. The idea is that the public can be brought on side with the proper massaging and consultation. Rather like putting five people in a room and saying to each of them, "You all have to lose a limb, what will volunteer to cut off - an arm or a leg?"

Two problems with this idea - the idea itself; that unpalatable decisions are more acceptable if the dirty work is done by some people other than the Board who are elected to make the dirty decisions and the fact that cutbacks are mandated by a remote central body like the LHIN. When the idea was being floated I assumed that the CAP would be a vehicle of consultation led by local people who would talk to others in the community and form community opinion. But talking to the CAO he thinks that the discussion will remain in the room of the appointed people. Whoa Nelly, where is the legitimacy in that? Who gets to speak for me and when do I get to speak to them?

A bit redundant we have an open membership that elects a Board, based on regional demographics and geographic representation and that Board is expected to make decisions. But in this case, probably the most important decision they will make this year - the budget, they decide to delegate their representative responsibilities - sad.

A guest column

Click for the guest column the pics are refreshing [that's because we can't smell it -ed]

A morning in the park

With a fresh breeze blowing in from the Lake, Victoria Park was packed and most were feeling chilly but pleased with the show. The Great Pine Ridge Car Show was on hand and nobody mentioned the chill just walked around in the sun and gawked.

From the oldest car - a 1913 Ford belonging to local aficionado, Terry Barker, to the flashiest a modified 190 purple lowered Chevy Impala, anywhere from 200 to 250 vehicles will be parked in the park today. One of the organisors, Bill Alls, told me, "That as cars are still arriving and depending on the weather, there will be up to as many as 250 cars here today."
Nationally revered car restorer, Doug Greer; of Cobourg, was greeting people at the gate and told me that apart from the popular ballot, one that anyone can enter for a buck, and select the best car, there will be no show champion. "The Judged show will be in Port Hope next month." So if you like cars there is plenty to look at this summer, in the area.

Reading between the lines

Two letters to the Brighton Independent question the motives, process and price to be borne by taxpayers in the railroad crossing debate in Brighton. In this letter Councillor Craig Kerr wonders how the CAO of the County managed to insert himself, and the County, into the debate without any direction from anyone in Brighton. This topic may not even have been on the agenda at the County, so what's he doing butting in? In this letter well known fiscal conservative and one-time reformer and former County Councillor Bonnie Browne asked just who will be paying for this massive expenditure when other needed County projects are on the books.

Reading between the lines anything that the County can do to undermine the autonomy of the lower tier it will do. If only to justify its own existence. For years the lower tier and the County have been locking horns about the efficacy of "County Roads". These are roads that begin in one Twp and finish in another. The County has been trying to download some of them particularly the ones that today seem to have no rationale. County Rd 33 going North from Hwy 45 at Fenella and leading to nowhere comes to mind. But Alnwick-Haldimand cries poor whenever the subject of transfer is raised.

In this case there are valid questions about Mr Pyatt's presence: who authorised it and who gave him the mandate to tell Brightoners "Brighton needs to finalize this quickly" (The Independent, July 2).
Councillor Kerr raises two more fundamental questions: "Two questions arise immediately. What inspired an employee of an upper tier administration to flagrantly interfere with, and attempt to override, the decision process of your elected council? How and why was the CAO's visit arranged without notice, and how did the report of it conveniently find its way into the local papers when no reporters were present at the meeting?"

Obviously more to come.

August 22nd 1999 these two, with another paddled across Lake Ontario in 10hrs 20 mins. Drs Paul Caldwell, Bill Moebus and Investment banker Jim Edwards intend to do it again in September, from Cobourg to Oak Orchard, to mark the anniversary.

This morning Bill Patchett announced the United Way fundraiser and the options for fundraising. For instance for $5000 you can sponsor one paddle, one life vest and a name on the canoe. The Doctors, Caldwell and Moebus will also buy dinner for two at the Woodlawn. Other sponsorship options exist and Billy P will give you a good price for your name. $2.00 tickets, that will win you donated prizes are on sale at 70 retailers around the area. And the big prize will be $500 for guessing the time taken to paddle the voyage - $5 for one or 3 for $10.

Remember this, the bike that was crossing Canada? Well it's back in Town for a refit. George Parker, the intrepid cyclist determined to go to N'fland, hit a snag on the east side of James Bay. His front wheel fell apart on the washboard gravel roads. But undeterred, I spoke with him this morning, he is getting the wheel rebuilt in Toronto, with a more robust rim, and has used the first part of the trip as a shakedown exercise. "I put no time limits on the trip and have accomplished the Ontario section, learnt a lot about myself and the equipment and will be ready to hit the trail again in a couple of days, but I don't want to ride without the best wheels, I need super rims!"

This time he will be starting in Quebec. He intends to pick up the trail in Matagami, after two days of train travel to get there and will be back in the thick of the blackflies by the end of the week, this time with a better and finer mesh headgear to ward them off. "Riding they don't bother ,you but as soon as you stop you are swarmed."

What is it about the cells in the Port Hope police station, a second person has been found hanging from the beams, at least they found the latest guy alive. Within 55 minutes of first encountering the Police he was discovered hanging with a blanket around his neck, sort of bang him up and then check the TV some time after he was placed in the cells. Obviously the cells are not monitored constantly, as the inquest into the first guy will hear. Hey Port Hope Cobourg has a pretty good system and it comes cheaper than a complete refit of facilities and staff.

With the swirl around the Liberal Party politics, another wrinkle is being added. Former Cobourg resident and popular Grocer - Tom Batchellor, of No-Frills fame, is heard as a potential nominee for the Macklin seat.

With the story in the TO Star about a Cabinet Minister being punished for doling out money to the Gay Pride parade here the conservative votes in Warkworth may just have switched from the rainbow coalition to the farmers. This move will obviously please the conservative base and offend the LGBT folks. If this is going to be government policy, giving tax money only to those groups that please the ruling party, then we are in for some fiery policy situations and perhaps some Charter challenges. For an insiders opinion about the whole furor, which is being stirred up by a conservative homophobic website called "Lifesite" click here. And, here is a column by pundit Paul Wells about the whole government programme that is causing so much grief.

Summer thoughts

Putting the MJ event in perspective. A writer from the Vegas Sun has penned this story. A comparison of mammoth funerals and points out that the MJ event wasn't as big as it seemed when put up to other funerals.

Hot and sweaty politics in Northumberland. The President of the Federal Liberal party is going to be here for a meeting of the NQW liberals. Local Lib organisor Martin Partridge tells the BR that this was just going to be another mundane executive meeting but -

"However, with a hot nomination race suddenly underway there's more excitement within the ranks.  Attendance is expected to be quite high, and both of the declared candidates (and perhaps one or two undeclared candidates) will be chatting up the crowd."

Mr Alfred Apps ( I bet nobody has the cheek to call him Alfie) is here to chat up the troops, keep the morale high, and remind all that there is an election to win. And of course if you are a Lib and want to check out the new faces get to the meeting: 7pm at the Colborne Legion.

The days after

With all the Waterfront festival people claiming a record success, they would wouldn't they? I went off to look for myself on cleanup day.

The King St merchants I spoke to did not notice much more traffic during the festival, cementing an opinion that visitors to the waterfront rarely migrate to the downtown whenever there are waterfront activities. This opinion was confirmed when the merchants told me that Sunday, the first day after the festival and the day after the American holiday, was a busy one. "Nothing at the harbour let's go downtown!" seemed to be the sentiment from the majority of people, mainly visiting Americans. Not to be negative let's celebrate the fact that Cobourg put on a good show, even though one must remember that it is a major commercial event run by the Rotary for the Rotary.

The Toronto garbage strike is going to drag on and the two sides have to get down to brass tacks now that McGuinty has said he will not legislate them back, well he can't if he has let the Windsor strike drag on for eleven weeks. What did Mayor Miller expect? that the union would roll over. Not going to happen. You can't give all the unions (police and fire) except the grunts 3% raises and improvements to contracts and then turn around and takeaway a year later in the bargaining cycle, "Just because things have changed" Besides despite the big issue, that keeps getting distorted, like the sick pay issue (this one for all the union bashers is in lieu of the short term disability that most provate sector companies have) you can't take away without a quid pro quo. I wonder what all the bashers would say if the Feds suddenly said, when all the execs in the country are getting bonuses and when all MPs and other pols are raising their own wages "Your CPP is being cut by 10% because we are in a recession!" not going to happen. But because these folks are in a union their wages and benefits are fair game. Both the City and Union have to get real - compromise and finish with a status-quo contract. Unfortunately Miller, who has had bad advice on this issue, will come off worse but perhaps he deserved it because he has not led on this one.

Sad, reports from the war-zone that two more soldiers have died today. The tragedy about this one is that it may have been caused by technical failure. Let's face it we are fighting with equipment built by the lowest bidder and held together by baling wire.

Must be the day for weird headlines

The headline says it all, funny old world where this guy is now richer by dying and nobody really knows who the heirs are. His mother isn't in charge any more, his ex-wife may come back and claim the two children she bore and then dumped, The brain is going to be tested for all kinds of things and may be buried later, probably a big plot for another funeral. E-bay has clamped down on the "free" tickets to his service that were being sold for thousands and although everybody says they are sick of the whole affair TV ratings for anything associated with MJ go through the roof.

Mexicans love their wrestlers, big or small and the whole country is mourning the loss of a pair of famous twins who died after drinking 'spiked' drinks with two prostitutes, story here.

So, the question is - how much do we want to pay?

The Fullertons, the family that has owned the property at 100 Bagot St, since 1916, have a solution to the problem of beach access. They have offered to sell a part of their undevelopable land to the Town for $345,000. They justify the price as less than market value of the land, if an upzoned value was applied, because they also want a solution. But as with all good negotiators, Mr Morand, back in the picture as the spokesman, says that there will be no termination of a considered lawsuit if the Town does not give a speedy response.

So the question is this - is $345,000 a good price for the Town to pay? As the local editorialist from the NToday.com opined on Friday, it may be high but worth it and called for the Council to stop being petty and negotiate a resolution. The BurdReport's position is simple, the Northern boundary must be in line with the boundary of the High School's property, which is also the same as the Legion Village's property all the way to the beach. Pay the money and let sleeping dogs lie. There must also be a public subscription campaign the way the Victoria Park extension was funded. If Cobourgers want the beach they cannot have it handed to them by a benevolent Council, they must pay for some it themselves!

There is a burning rage amongst old Toronto Sun staffers to recreate themselves and whenever Sun Media lays another person off, consolidates offices and services or just shuts local newspapers down the writers of this website (the TorontoSunFamily) go nuts and encourage the affected personnel to recreate the "miracle of the TO Sun". Well today's post on the TSF site announces that in Hinton Alberta, four ex-staffers have done just that. An online version and a print edition are going out weekly, here is the online version and investigation reveals of the stafff on board two are in sales so the emphasis is on ad revenue. It will be interesting to see if the traditional model of "one news and two ad people" can cut it in the world of fast diminishing ad revenue and a weak online presence can be a commercial success that will support four sets of wages. Good luck to them for trying.

Elvis is alive and seen in Cobourg

Spotted in a wine bar?? Elvis was in Cobourg last night. One of the sights of the waterfront festival. The second full day seemed to be an event that was running out of steam, at 5pm anyway. The food vendors and the Midway people were standing around looking at each other and scanning for customers - let's hope that today will be better; it is Friday after all!

The death of an urban legend. One of the local tales, that circulated really fast this week, and spread by gossips who should have known better, it even surfaced at Rotary on Friday, by way of the Dutch Oven, was a story about one of the local Police - Sgt. (well he was last week) Delkie Curtis. A bit of a lad this fellow stands about five foot ten and not an impressive looking (no muscle builder is he) guy - just your normal hard-working enforcer of the law.
The story that came back to me by way of a brother-in-law fresh from a trip at the do'nut shop was, "Hey have you heard that Delkie Curtis got pummeled into the ground by seven guys outside Kelly's the other night?" With ears perked I tucked the info away and then yesterday I had a chance to ask his Boss - the Chief about it. Roaring with laughter he chortled, "That's just an urban legend, do you think that we wouldn't have heard about it if it had happened?" Then last night riding through the park I spotted the man himself, DC, and asked him. "I've had people coming up to me all week asking how I am" he said. Besides it wasn't seven guys it was only two but one of was a big 'un, and Greg McCurdy took him down" Referring to an arrest his platoon made last week. Some one watching must have been either in the cups or wanted to stretch an overworked imagination and told his pals. A good story though!

Videos of our Senate at work. Videos have appeared on Youtube that show a Senate committee in dispute about almost everything on the agenda. Click here to go to the "video page" to see them

At least this ride had riders! - well only two.

Help Deputy Dave lose 100lbs in a year

Deputy Chief Dave Cromlish, of the Cobourg Police Services is determined to change his lifestyle and in the process lose weight. With the aid of his personal trainer - Andrea Johnson (both are seen in the pic on the right), of Bodilogix, a personal training outfit located on Ontario St. in Cobourg.
He intends to drop 100 lbs. In fact he started the regimen a week ago and has already lost 12.5 lbs from a high of 336. Read about the 100lb challenge at nocopoutchallenge.ca and check out the blogs. A valiant cause and we wish you well Dave, in your quest. Anybody willing to do such a public thing deserves support, so go to the website and discover how you can help Dave lose100lbs and pledge to raise money for a new ECG machine at the NHH.


Had a chance to ask the Chief of Police about the news of Troy Davey's appeal. He had lots of praise for the Crowns involved as they had made great efforts to keep the family in the loop during their trying time.

What an evening

Couldn't get out to see the sights of the day but the evening made up for it. The usual fireworks display delighted the crowds which were stretched from the East beach to Factory Creek, of course the beach from Ontario St West to the Creek were shut off to the public but the West Beach from the harbour wall to the bottom of Ontario was packed with families just out roast a few wienies and sit in deck chairs and watch the skies. A tribute to common sense and family fun. Hilton Adams, of Cobourg, and his family picked out their spot at the bottom of Ontario.


How's this for family fun? and who said the West Beach should be for solitude!