Province says it will return Ipperwash Park to natives

Ontario says it will return Ipperwash Park to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. The following is a media release from the province:

McGuinty Government to Return Ipperwash Park

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario is moving forward on its commitment to resolve the future use of Ipperwash Provincial Park lands, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant and Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield announced today.

“We are returning Ipperwash Provincial Park lands to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation,” said Bryant. “In doing so, we are sending a clear signal that the McGuinty government is acting on the Premier’s ambitious agenda on Aboriginal affairs.”

The McGuinty government and the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation will co-manage the land, working with the local communities and others to develop an interim plan. These discussions will determine the use and management of the park until the transfer of the land to the First Nation is completed over a period of time to be determined by negotiations. Negotiators will begin work early in the new year.

“As the first step in the process to transfer Ipperwash Provincial Park from the province to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, both parties will work together with the local communities to develop an interim co-management plan,” said Cansfield. “Through these discussions we will determine how the park lands will be used and managed until the transfer is completed.”

In May 2007, Justice Sidney Linden made recommendations that will assist the province in resolving issues and improving relationships with First Nations. As part of the McGuinty government’s commitment to act on these recommendations and forge stronger relationships with First Nations in Ontario, the province will establish the Ipperwash Inquiry Priorities and Action Committee to work with Aboriginal peoples to assess the report’s recommendations together and to devise an action plan.

“Returning Ipperwash Park and acting on Justice Linden’s recommendations is the clearest and most powerful expression of the intention of the McGuinty government to move forward in a concrete, practical and deliberate way to forge a stronger, more positive relationship with all Aboriginal peoples in Ontario,” said Bryant.

For more information, see:
A New Approach to Resolving Issues at Ipperwash Park

Winter Storm

If you’re in Southern Ontario, you know it’s not a good day to travel. If you need more information, here are some useful links:

Weather warning for Goderich and area

Road Closures

Southwestern Ontario road conditions

Remembering friends

View from the Strip
By Casey Lessard

It’s been a great year here at the Strip and in my household. My family and I have enjoyed visiting your homes, and we look forward to being part of your lives in 2008. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, Happy New Year from all of us. To the rest, Merry Christmas, too.
This season is going to be particularly tough for friends of mine in Haliburton. Sun Media bought the local newspaper (the Haliburton Echo) a few months ago and downplayed the prospect of cuts. They’ve finally arrived. Five friends are now jobless, including some who spent the bulk of their careers making that newspaper one of the best in Canada. Two head office executives gave them an hour to leave; they barely had a chance to say goodbye. I’m glad I didn’t witness the announcement.
Jamie, Donna, Renzo, Sharon and Buffy, I’ll be thinking of you this Christmas.

Letters to the editor - December 12

Reader: Not town’s job to sustain businesses

To the editor,
In the article “Beach is fine; focus on Main Street first” (Nov. 21), it was suggested that responsibility for the loss of several full-time, year-round businesses in the past year rests, perhaps partially, on the shoulders of municipal government. This seems to me an inadequate assessment. It is unfortunate that the community has lost several year-round businesses in the past year, but to ignore the circumstances surrounding each individual closure and instead equate the folding of those businesses with a failure on the part of the municipality is a misconception. For example, Saga Bound was forced to close its doors mainly because of the problem most other small-town, independent bookstores face: competing with larger bookstores such as Chapters and Indigo who offer substantial discounts on the bestsellers and Canadian literature titles that Saga Bound predominantly stocked. Given these circumstances, I fail to understand how “better infrastructure in terms of benches and the sidewalk” could have prevented Saga Bound’s closure. Several of the other businesses mentioned in the article were forced to close for altogether different reasons, confronted by any combination of specific industry-related, professional, and personal circumstances. Furthermore, the high turnover rate of businesses in Grand Bend – seasonal and year-round – is part of the turbulent reality of operating an independent business in a small, seasonal community. Proprietors must enter this environment unable to fully predict the sustainability and lifespan of a business. Again, I fail to understand how Ward 1 could be “trying to make sure that stops.”
Our pride and care for the community and landscape are always implicit, and have been made sufficiently clear with regard to this issue. We all love Grand Bend. However, to argue for or against the beach enhancement plan with emotionally patriotic rhetoric (such as turning a lament for lost businesses into an issue of inadequate municipal initiative downtown) is not productive, nor rooted in any economic or political reality. I ask those who truly care about the community to approach this issue and hinge moment with the respect it demands by thinking critically, constructively, and realistically.
Charles Dodgson
Grand Bend

Clarification: the article “Beach is fine; focus on Main Street first” (Nov. 21) mentioned that Royal LePage had left Main Street. The realtor maintains an office on Ontario St. N.

Casey,
You sent an email asking about splash pads and whether sand was an issue. I just got your email (Nov. 27). The amount of sand that gets into the splash pad is minimal. The splash pad itself is very popular.
Roger Sabine
Parks Director, Millennium Park
Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan

To the editor,
I would personally like to thank the people who helped in the Grand Bend Legion kitchen for November 17’s spaghetti dinner. It was a total success. Special thanks to: Gayle MacGregor, Randy Rapley, Joan McCullough, Anne McElone, Sandra Stanlake, Al Noxell, Mike Tieman, Jeanette Wales.
Thank you from Sheila Tiedeman

Simpsons writer wows hometown crowd

Tim Long praises SHDHS

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

It’s a long road from Exeter, Ontario to Los Angeles, California, but Tim Long found his way back. When he arrived, an entire school of fans awaited.
“If you keep trying and following your dream,” said Taryn Dougall of Exeter, “you can be successful like Tim.”
Tim Long’s success comes from his long association with the Simpsons, the animated series that has fans around the world. That fan base extends to South Huron District High School, where he graduated 20 years ago.
“It’s exciting to see him come back and talk to all the kids,” says dad Earl Long, whose work at Huron Tractor brought the family to the area; he and his wife Dorothy now live in London.
“We never thought we’d have a son who would end up writing for a television show that is as widely known. I would mention to people that he writes for the Simpsons and they wouldn’t believe me, so I keep a card of his in my wallet to prove that I’m not being dishonest.”
The Longs were celebrities by proxy at South Huron November 21 when their son visited the school with his wife Miranda. Celebrating their one-year anniversary weeks before, it was Miranda’s first time in Exeter. Commenting on the school and its services, she told the Strip it was impressive compared to her high school in New York City. Her husband agrees.
“South Huron is a really, really good school,” Tim said. “In my work I’ve ended up working with a lot of people who went to fancy schools in the States. They all have one thing in common. They’re not that bright. You really are getting a first-rate education and you’re getting it for free. A kid from Exeter can do anything, even me.”
Long also noted that growing up in the area influenced his writing, including an overnight stay at Exeter Public School during a blizzard that inspired the Skinner’s Sense of Snow episode. When asked who watches the Simpsons, students showed their support. They roared and cheered while watching Long’s favourite Simpsons moments, including Homer’s failed canyon jump, the land of chocolate, Homer in space, the gay steel mill, and Bart’s White Stripes tribute.
While criticized by some for its edgy content, Long defended the Simpsons for having a moral code stronger than many other shows on television.
“Simpsons is really pro-family,” he said. “The family stays together, they look after each other, Marge and Homer stay faithful to each other, and interestingly they’re also the only (characters) on TV that regularly attend church.”
Watching television may be fun for his teen fans, but Long insists they should look forward to the real fun – being an adult.
“People will tell you that your teenage years are the best years of your life. Those people are crazy. It gets better,” he said, giving words of encouragement for his South Huron fans.
“If nothing else, I prove that an overweight Grade 9er with no friends can go on to become a Hollywood big shot. Maybe you can, too.”

Bringing a smile to their eyes

Photographers offer free photo sessions to families dealing with cancer

Story by Casey Lessard
Photos courtesy Sandra Regier

“You always have the image that this can’t happen to me, this is going to happen to somebody else,” says Michelle Smith, whose brother Mike Steckle is recovering from cancer. “You just think it can’t happen to someone who’s 35 and healthy. It can happen to anyone. It affects everybody in some ways.”
Steckle was diagnosed last August after experiencing disabling back pain.
“I couldn’t walk anymore,” he says. “Dr. Teeple at emergency said we’re going to do some blood work, and she told me later that she thought from the start that I had leukemia. It was pretty advanced along, so I spent the next six weeks in hospital trying to get into remission.”
The therapy was successful, but the road to recovery was long and painful.
“I spent the next five months sleeping to recover from the chemo and radiation,” he adds. “I had zero energy and clots in my lungs. The beginning of this spring, things got a lot better.”
In the meantime, his business, a power-washing company, had to continue without him as a hands-on operator.
“The best I could do was drive there and sleep in the truck, letting the guys do the work. I did that for four or five months. I had no control over what the guys were doing, so I learned to be more laid back. It puts life in perspective.”
That’s where Michelle Smith’s friend Sandra Regier comes in. Her job is to put everything in perspective and capture the moment on film (or in the modern era, on a memory card).
“It had been almost ten years since we had family pictures taken,” Smith says. “Sandra called me and told me about Smiling Eyes, and asked me if we would be interested. I said yes instantly, because I knew my mom and my brother would love it.”
Smiling Eyes is a non-profit organization of photographers who offer their time and talent to photograph people dealing with cancer. Photographers spend time with the family and provide the images on a CD free of charge. No catch.
“My aunt passed away three years ago,” Regier says. “I had photos of her, but not a portrait of just her. I ended up making a portrait of her in Photoshop because we didn’t have one. It would have been nice to have had the forethought to take a photograph instead.
“I think it’s important to capture the stages of life, whether you’re healthy or not. To be able to look back years ago and see how big the kids were. On a personal note, I made a point of getting my picture taken this year with each of my kids. It’s just so important to have pictures of your family. When you look back and see how much people have grown and changed, you realize how important those images are.”
Michelle Smith agrees.
“A lot of people don’t take the time to get family pictures taken. It’s great to have somebody who wants to come into your home and capture memories. I don’t know when we would have taken a family picture if Sandra hadn’t called us.”
“It gives you the memory,” Steckle says. “I have a pretty good prognosis. God forbid anything should happen, you have the portraits for your family. It’s nice to have a decent picture that everybody’s in.”
Other families are seeing the value of the process, too.
“The family I took pictures of Sunday,” Regier notes, “the daughter said they wished they had done this a year ago because her dad isn’t with them anymore. Now her mom has lung cancer, so they wish they had the picture with their dad. But at least she’ll have a picture with her mom and her little girl.”
And the photographer gets the satisfaction of doing something nice for someone who will appreciate it.
“I think pictures are important. We do this free of charge, and the images are theirs to do as they will. Hopefully they’ll hang them on the wall.”
To reach Sandra Regier or find out more about Smiling Eyes, call 519-852-4892 or visit www.sandraregier.com

The pleasures of Christmases past

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

I really love Christmastime. Unfortunately, we celebrate it in a season that, at times, is not so pleasant, especially when the snow is flying and the visibility is so bad you end up in the ditch, which is what happened to my sister and me on Monday, December 3. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan from Hensall came by and gave us a ride to Huron Park, where we made arrangements for a tow. Thank you, kind sir.
I can easily forget about the weather and concentrate on this glorious and happy occasion. As the years go by and we are getting older, times change but our memories are still with us. The hustle and bustle I experienced when the boys were young are no longer. I have many good memories, so I will share a few with you.

When your kids outsmart you
I always considered myself a fairly smart person, but when you’re smart and have children, they tend to be smart, too. As it turns out, some of them can outsmart their parents.
I’m not saying all of my sons were devious, but our son Mike was always curious and he outsmarted me every year when it came to peeking at the Christmas presents. Every year I would use a different mode of operation. I’d hide them, but he’d find them. Then I changed tactics and used different coloured paper for each kid or I would number-code them or letter-code them.
Well, none of these methods worked. Mike didn’t care that I was so smart and organized because he didn’t really take the time to figure out what I was doing; he just opened all the presents and saw what everyone was getting and rewrapped them. I didn’t learn this until many years later, but I can honestly say I had fun trying to outsmart him, and I miss the excitement of doing all that shopping and gift-wrapping. Now our Christmases are more sedate but fun and the memories are still good.

Watch out for that tree
Putting up the tree was always a fun family affair; it wasn’t always a masterpiece, but it was the joy of doing something together. The one year, we were a little concerned about putting the tree up too soon because we had a cat and we figured it would either knock all of the bulbs off or, worse yet, just knock the whole tree down. We’re a trusting family, so we decided to give the cat a break and put up the tree anyway. Now Tom, our wise leader, didn’t agree and thought we should wait until Christmas Eve so the tree would be safe. This was one argument the kids and I won; the tree went up early and we were in the spirit of Christmas.
A week before Christmas, all the decorations were on the tree and the house was decorated and all was going just swell. Tom decided to celebrate early and shared some Christmas spirits with the neighbours. It was rather late when he got home, and being the considerate guy he is, he didn’t want to disturb us non-partygoers. He sneaked into the house and kept the lights off. He didn’t need to worry because the cat was there to guide him through with his watchful eyes. (I’m told cats can see in the dark, so like they say, Lead on MacDuff, and the cat did.) Soon enough, we heard this awful crash and it wasn’t Santa. No, it was Tom toppling into the tree. Holy cow, wasn’t that a sight? I got up to investigate and sure enough, the fool was ensconced in our lovely tree. I helped him up and he grinned sheepishly. I said, “I guess you were right, Tom, about putting the tree up so soon.” In the years after that, we didn’t have the cat, but Tom was still around, so we had more fun Christmases to look forward to.

On a final note, I noticed that our little village of Crediton doesn’t have its tree decorated and our Santa and reindeer aren’t up this year. It was lovely to look out my window and see this display. Thanks to Jordy’s, we have a wreath erected on her sign. Maybe if I talk to the right people, we can do something festive next year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all. Thanks for taking an interest in reading Casey’s paper (I love that man) and see you next year!

All I want for Christmas is corn (to burn)

Corn promoted as clean (and cheap) heating alternative

Story and photos by Casey Lessard

In an area where corn grows abundantly, it’s easy to view those fields as sources of food energy and not as a source of heating energy. Patrick Michielsen of Sylvan Kitchens sees otherwise.
“I think burning corn’s a really good alternative to burning wood and fossil fuels; it’s environmentally friendly, and corn is cost-efficient and likely will continue to be.”
Michielsen decided to integrate corn stoves into his current business, but only after installing one for himself.
“The price of oil was going up, and with my house being older and lacking good insulation in some areas, I wanted to supplement the heat. I discovered the corn stove would be an easy fix because you don’t need a chimney – you can direct vent it out the wall.
“I had experience burning wood in the past, and I found it was way too much work and too dangerous because of chimney fires, etc. If you are going to cut the wood yourself, it’s dangerous, while corn is much easier and a lot less work to handle the corn, go get it, store it, and load it into the stove.”
Sylvan Kitchens recently started carrying the St. Croix brand of stoves, which start at $2400. Michielsen heats his home with the Greenfield stove and has the lower-priced Auburn on display in his office. The Lancaster, which has a smaller hopper (35 lbs. compared to the Greenfield’s 50 lbs. and the Auburn’s 90 lbs.) is the lowest-priced and is available by request. St. Croix also makes a corn furnace that can hold 200 lbs. of corn. All of the stoves produce about 40,000 BTU, or enough to heat between 800 and 1,800 sq. ft.
“They’re quiet, clean to operate in the house, they have a lot of safety features that wood stoves won’t have,” Michielsen says. “They have a vacuum control switch where if the door opens, the stove will shut down. They have heat sensors where it will shut down if it’s too hot, and if the fire goes out, it will stop putting corn through the auger. With the direct venting, you don’t get creosote buildup, so you don’t have to worry about chimney fires. Yet, it gives you the look, the flame and the heat you would get from a woodstove.”
The stoves are easy to use, requiring only one fill per day and the ash produced needs to be emptied about once a week. The ash can be composted, too.
“As soon as the water hits it, it seems to disintegrate and disappear,” Michielsen notes.
Besides the convenience, there’s the issue of economy. Michielsen was burning oil as his main fuel source until last year. The price of oil continues to rise, but the price of corn has remained steady.
“Last winter, I saved about $1200 in oil,” he notes. “The average person will likely burn a bushel a day, so in an average winter of 100 days, the cost would be about $400.”
And if you can’t find corn, the stoves can also burn wood pellets, which are available at stores including TSC. Wood pellets are about the same price as corn.
For more information, visit Sylvan Kitchens at 565 Elginfield Road in the hamlet of Sylvan. The shop has everything needed to get the stove running, including venting and chimney products, and hearth pads to place under the stove.

Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps

“This is a holiday favourite at the Spiers home, ” says Barb Spiers of Beauty ‘n’ the Beach hair studio in Grand Bend (519-238-6520), who sent us this recipe.
Serves 4.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg sliced bacon (not already cooked)
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden toothpick. Stir brown sugar and chili powder together. Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture. Spray rimmed cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken wraps on sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until bacon is crispy.

Recipe for thought – now and in the New Year

Compiled by Harry Young, Royal Canadian Legion Grand Bend
Serves 1 or more.

“Today is the beginning of a new dream.”

“We cannot direct the winds, but we can adjust our sails.”

“Learn to forgive; once done, you are now a better person, the future is yours.”

Next Page »