Issue 30 2024 August 1 NG Times by The North Grenville & North Dundas Times

To Be Continued Consignment Shop turns 20

This year, a local small business reaches a great milestone – To Be Continued Consignment Shop in Kemptville turns 20 years old! This season, the store has had a different sale each week in celebration of the milestone birthday, culminating in an official event last Saturday. The Saturday celebration saw everything sold at 20% off, as well as cupcakes, ice cream, arts and crafts, and other kinds of fun.

Owning a business is a journey. Shelley Mitchell bought To Be Continued when it was just 5 years

old. She was looking for an alternative type of business ownership that would provide balance between her family and work life.

“The concept of reducing, reusing and recycling at the same time as giving families an aﬀordable option was very appealing to me,” said Shelley. She had young children herself when she bought the business, and much of her children’s things were second hand.

Shelley explained that in the beginning, there was a learning curve for running her new business. Over the years, she has always had to work hard to balance owning the business, having a fam-

ily, and having a community presence. To Be Continued has moved and expanded a few times over the years. Shelley has always liked the downtown atmosphere, but ﬁnding adequate space can be hard. She loves the Shop’s current location at 207 Sanders St. in Kemptville.

To Be Continued is no longer just a consignment shop. Several years ago, its operations expanded into children’s toys and other goods, upon the close of a friend’s shop. The business has easily doubled in size since Shelley took over. She reports that this is a good thing, because running a

consignment-only business in the Covid-19 pandemic would have been very diﬃcult. Why? Because one item may have one customer, but in retail, one item can have many customers and multiples can be sold. Shelley is therefore grateful to have expanded when she did.

Now, To Be Continued offers consigned clothing and footwear in women’s, men’s, and kids’ sizes, as well as toys, books, baby equipment, and party supplies such as helium balloons, ballon arches, and more. When it comes to parties, the Shop can oﬀer custom solutions to just about any party need. The staff also have great gift ideas, with complimentary gift wrapping oﬀered.

Owning a small town business is about much more than just entrepreneurship.

“I love living and working and playing in my community, I love that it happens all together,” said Shelley. She called North Grenville a “really wonderful community”, and added that she loves seeing customers around town. Shelley is currently the Chair of the Downtown Kemptville BIA – her way to give back to the community, with its many diﬀerent programs oﬀered.

To learn more about

To Be Continued Consignment Shop, visit https:// www.tbcconsign.com/

L-R: Hailey Mitchell-Massey, Shelley Mitchell, Adam Massey, Bryanna Mitchell-Massey

The winner of the Kemptville Rotary Club of Kemptville 50/50 at Kemptville Live was Joey Wisniowski, from Vancouver. He grew up in the area, still has family here, and just happened to be visiting. Joey pocketed a cheque for $ 5,183.00!

Congratulations to Joey, and a big thank you to everyone who supported our 50/50!

THOMAS M. BYRNE

Books needed!

The annual KYC Book Sale, a major fundraiser for the Kemptville Youth Centre, is fast approaching and many more books are needed. Do you have books in good condition that you could donate?

If so, please consider bringing them to the Ferguson Forest Centre (Hwy 44, just past the arena) and contributing to this important fundraiser. Kemptville Youth Centre relies on funds raised from this sale to keep their doors open to the youth in our community.

2024 BDH Community Day is on the horizon

Beth Donovan Hospice is excited to announce that we are hosting Community Day 2024 on Saturday September 14th at the North Grenville Municipal Centre from 10:00am - 2:00pm!

After last year's successful Seniors Expo, we decided to grow and expand our event to be inclusive of all community members and all community organizations. Our goal is to nurture the already strong sense of community and showcase all of the amazing organizations and businesses in our region. We will also be launching the Compassionate North Grenville project and are excited to drum up more support for this initiative!

We are inviting local businesses and organizations to purchase an exhibit space at this event and share in this opportunity to celebrate, learn, and explore everything this community has to oﬀer. Exhibitors and sponsors are also invited to reserve a presentation time. Please reach out to Amy Tibben at amy.tibben@bethdonovanhospice.ca to discuss this opportunity.

You can drop the books oﬀ on Thursdays, August 1 and 8, from 4-6pm and on Saturdays, August 3 and 10, from 9am to 12 noon. You’ll see a sign on Hwy 44 at the entrance to Ferguson Forest Centre, and there will be volunteers to help unload your car. Thanks so much for your support!

To reserve your exhibit table please, complete the form at the URL below and submit payment before September 1 to secure early bird pricing. We are also pleased to oﬀer nonproﬁt pricing. Proceeds will go towards supporting the free programs and services provided by Hospice.

To reserve your table:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdZznT aipZtxG8iJ66aRYPm6GKearaUBbhdxYg39rZ_8F-aAA/ viewform

Invitation to join "What to Do When There is No Normal" grief support group

The Beth Donovan Hospice will be hosting "What to Do When There is No Normal", a peer support group designed for those seeking comfort, understanding and tangible support as they traverse the landscape of grief and loss. This group aims to offer participants the opportunity to be heard, explore a variety of resources, and gain insights into tools that can aid in their healing process.

Being part of a community that understands and empathizes with your experience provides a unique form of support that can be profoundly comforting.

"What to Do When There is No Normal" will help you navigate the wide range of emotions that accompany loss, oﬀering a space where your feelings are validated and your experiences are

shared. This group is dedicated to helping you find your way through grief and connect with a sense of hope in the midst of sorrow.

This group will begin Aug 20th, 2024 and run biweekly for 7 sessions. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. For more information or to register, please contact counselling@ bethdonovanhospice.ca or 613-258-9611 x4

Joey receiving his cheque from Past President Vic Budz.

Kemptville Health Hub is open and eager to help you

by Brandon Mayer

Let’s keep North Grenville healthy and moving well! That’s the philosophy of Dr. Michael McGahey and Dr. Heather Jones, two chiropractors who are ready to serve patients with the utmost care at the new Kemptville Health Hub. The new business provides chiropractic care and custom orthotics, and both Dr. McGahey and Dr. Jones are acupuncture certiﬁed. The pair also provides ergonomic recommendations, movement education, and exercise prescriptions.

Dr. McGahey is the owner of the new business. He is a ﬁrst time business owner, but he comes rich with experience as a practicing chiropractor, and as a native to the area. He told the Times that since North Grenville is one of the most active communities in North Grenville – being the 2021 national participACTION winner – he and Dr. Jones hope to help North Grenville residents keep up their good work.

“As this community grows, we hope to be able to help meet the needs of patients by providing conservative management ser-

vices and therapies,” said Dr. McGahey. “Whether you are suﬀering from back or neck pain, or think you may have pinched a nerve, we can provide you with some relief and/or education on how to self-manage these injuries.”

Born and raised in Kemptville, Dr. McGahey is proud of the connections that he has made over the years. “Both of my parents were teachers at Holy Cross School, and my relatives have been operating McGahey Insurance around the corner on Reuben Crescent for many years,” he said. “I get to see a lot of familiar faces and it is always nice to catch up with previous coaches, teachers and friends. We have so many great local sports organizations, not to mention the growth in the community in the last 10 years has been incredible – it seemed like the perfect ﬁt to open up a clinic here!”

Dr. McGahey noted some understandable challenges in getting a new business up and running, but he is grateful to have such a wonderful network of support, including his wife, who has helped tremendously with the “design and es-

St. John’s United Church August 2024 activities

St. John’s United Church in Kemptville strives to be a welcoming, safe place for people of all ages and stages. It features a fully accessible building via the side entrance. Here are the planned activities at the Church for August:

Sunday morning services are at 10 a.m. and open to all. St. Paul’s Presbyterian congregation will be joining us for the month of August. We look forward to sharing time with each of you. Coﬀee hour afterwards. This is also live streamed for your convenience.

Friendship Lunches, a joint venture with House of Lazarus, Holy Cross, Kemptville Pentecostal, St. James Anglican and ourselves, will be oﬀered on August 2 and 16. Please join us in our lower hall at 11:30 for a free meal, companionship and fellowship. Going forward, this will be every Friday from September onwards. Donations are welcome but not expected.

Friendship Café is open to the community on August 6 and August 20 from 10 to noon. All are welcome to stop by, have a hot beverage, a sweet treat and some conversation all at no cost. Kim Drake, a member of St. John’s is oﬀering “A penny for your thoughts”, an opportunity to share one on one your story, your concerns, or whatever is on your mind.

House of Lazarus continues the Tuesday Community Hub upstairs at St. John’s United. All are welcome to drop in and perhaps beneﬁt from what they are oﬀering to the community. Advocacy, “make a meal, take a meal” cooking opportunities, community services assistance are just a few of the weekly programs. Stop by and visit or contact House of Lazarus at 613-989-3830 directly for more details.

St. John’s United is an additional drop oﬀ point for the House of Lazarus Foodbank. On Sunday mornings and Tuesdays, you are welcome to drop oﬀ your nonperishable food donations. A special appeal has been received for personal hygiene items – soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc. All assistance including monetary donations is always appreciated by the House of Lazarus.

Ladies Who Lunch, an open invitation to women of the community to join us at 11:30am the last Wednesday of each month at Hardstones Restaurant. August 28th is our next gathering. No agenda, just an opportunity to meet, share and laugh. Birthday cake is always provided, you select your own meal. Contact Barbara Rousseau at 613-258-4526 for more information.

The church family of St. John’s United look forward to sharing our faith, our community commitment and our friendship with all.

St. John’s United Church is located at 400 Prescott Street in Kemptville, and can be reached by phone at 613-258-3259.

thetic” of the new clinic, as well as the marketing and advertising side of things. Most of his family lives in the Kemptville area.

Dr. McGahey’s professional experience comes from working at several different clinics as a contractor for 6 years, which allowed him to gain valuable knowledge of what he wanted for his own clinic. He is enjoying the change of pace of running his own business.

Even the decision to become a chiropractor was a personal one for Dr. McGahey. “Growing up, I was always interested in sports and being active,” he said. “Going to chiropractors, physiotherapists and massage therapists has allowed me to stay moving and to continue to exercise with minimal amounts of discomfort. Becoming a chiropractor was an easy decision and it has been rewarding to help people work through various injuries and ailments.”

The Kemptville Health Hub would of course not be complete without its team. “I have two wonderful admin staff, Rhonda and Kyra, who have made the ﬁrst few weeks of opening seamless,” said Dr. McGahey. “Work-

ing with an experienced chiropractor like Dr. Jones has been great. She has helped me a few times with my own back pain, which I really appreciate! We oﬀset each other’s hours so that someone is almost always in the clinic ready to help. We are always on the lookout for talented therapists. If you are a physiotherapist or a registered massage therapist looking to join our team, please reach out to us!”

A grand opening event for the Kemptville Health Hub is planned for August 16th at 1pm. If you would like to book an appointment for services, you can do at kemptvillehealthhub.com or by calling 613-215-1495 or emailing kemptvillehealthhub@gmail.com. Kemptville Health Hub is located at 148 Prescott St. Unit A in Kemptville.

Host

Nanda Wubs Huizenga

Do you want to know a secret?

by David Shanahan

I’ve been wondering recently: when it comes to news, is ignorance bliss? A strange thought for a parttime editor of a newspaper, I grant you, but the longer I live, the more I feel that I’m being told much more than I need to know in the news. I mean, for example, that I really don’t care whether the stock market is up or down on a daily basis. But everyone, from the CBC to the national papers keep telling me about the S&P, Nasdaq, FTSE 100, and an endless list of alphabet soup names from all over the world. I can remember a time when this information was not deemed to be urgent and essential knowledge that I had to know.

It’s not as if there’s anything I can do to inﬂuence numbers and prices and indexes (indices?) in Japan or London or New York, is there? Yes, my mortgage may change because of something a banker or number cruncher does in government or some building in Toronto, but explain it to me when it happens. Don’t keep me updated on data I ﬁnd neither wanted

nor, to be honest, even understood. I mean, what is a DAX, and why is a German ﬁnancial thing relevant to me?

But it’s not only these financial entities that are being thrown at me as being important and newsworthy. It’s everything! The rise of the 24-hour news channel, such as CNN, has meant that those 24 hours have to be filled with stuff. Why does there have to be 24hour coverage? Because there’s always something happening somewhere in the world that, apparently, I really need to know about. It’s all so important, urgent and newsworthy that almost every story is declared to be Breaking News, even if it often doesn’t seem to be either.

Historically, people didn’t know immediately, or for many months, what was happening abroad. Unlike today, news did not travel fast, and there was nothing wrong about that. Today, we know about every crisis taking place in every part of the globe, whether it concerns us or not. Perhaps we should be concerned? Maybe we should be aware of these things. Or have we just been conditioned to think

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we should know all about it? Should we feel guilty for not keeping up with the news?

In the Nineteenth Century, local news sheets became newspapers when the telegraph linked the world, and editors were able to cut and paste stories from other papers (no copyright to worry about then). People were informed of world events, but at a more leisurely pace because it took so long for news to percolate through from other countries. But by the 1960's, satellites allowed us to view events around the world as they were happening, and everything changed.

I’m not saying that we should ignore news, or become isolationist, unconcerned about things that shape the world in which we live. There are so many issues that require attention, such as climate change, for example, that we might not otherwise be aware of until it was too late. There are certainly real news stories that we

should be hearing about, whether it’s the threat posed by war in Europe and the growing rise of fascism, or some other development that can aﬀect us directly or indirectly.

The problem is that those stories are almost drowned out in the neverending clamour that washes over us 24-7 through media of all kinds. Social media, in particular, has transformed what was a ﬂood of information into a veritable tsunami of stories and opinions with no real filter or way of discriminating between the important and the trivial. But, for some reason, we feel that we have an obligation to take it all in, that to ration ourselves is to be irresponsible. Even worse: we might miss something!

We are able to watch an event repeatedly, seeing the same dramatic (or boring) images over and over again, while a group of talking heads discuss the ins and outs, the trivia and the details ad nauseam, just ﬁlling in those 24 hours

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

of non-stop news coverage with loud, colourful graphics, excited voices, or critical and cynical mutterings. And when the competition is so fierce for viewers, readers, and therefore advertisers, you can end with something like Fox News, where people lie, knowingly and deliberately, to gain an audience regardless of truth, accuracy, or the well being of the people taking it all in.

Hannah Arendt gave some insight into this kind of "journalism": "This constant lying is not aimed at making the people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore. A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such a people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies. With such a people, you can do whatever you want." No, we can’t be ignorant of news, like it or not, we hardly have a choice anymore. So, let’s choose wisely and pick out the important bits from the mass of trivia we are being fed. Wishful thinking?

I went down to the Library to see the New Orleans style jazz street party at the Street Piano. First time I’ve been there. It was over the top excellent. They are masters of their instruments in my opinion. I wouldn’t have known about it but for the NG Times! Awesome. Thanks, K. Piché

Mailing Address

P.O. Box 1854, Kemptville, ON K0G 1J0

Editor

David Shanahan

editor@ngtimes.ca 613-215-0735

Accounting cfo@ngtimes.ca OFFICE 613-215-0735

Reporter

Brandon Mayer brandon@ngtimes.ca 613-215-0735

Marketing/Sales

Melissa Ottenhof marketing@ngtimes.ca 613 329 0209

Production production@ngtimes.ca 613-215-0735

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Dear Editor,

How is it that the southern or maybe not so southern evangelists are so fully supportive to Donald Trump? He is a misogynist, an understatement, brags about molesting women and isn’t exactly what one would consider a “Christian” or religious person. So why do they so strongly support him? He has been accused of many crimes and convicted of some of them and still nothing seems to stick. Who else could get away with this? Does he have a magic wand? I can certainly understand why the “Proud Boys” and the “Oath Keepers” people – who don’t like laws and rules to go by – support him, because he’s not exactly in favour of the rule of law. It doesn’t exist for him. Think January 6, Capitol Hill. Mark Milley,

from the book “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, stated “I can tell you (Trump stated) I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of Bikers for Trump. I have the support of the tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very BAD, very BAD.”

Milley thought: “These power centres had often been the tools used by despots.”

How scary is that?

Kath Piché

Dear Editor,

A pause in development and review would be a good thing. The rush to fill in any open space, causing increased demand on old infrastructure, could be very costly to homeowners. What happens if in 1 or 2 years, it is found that the demands exceed the infrastructure, and upgrades are needed? Will homeowners be on the hook for the upgrades? Kemptville’s municipal wells draw groundwater from the Nepean Sandstone Aquifer. Aquifers are not unlimited sources of water, they depend greatly on snow and rain to ﬁlter through the

ground to replenish them. With less snow over the past 50 years, and for fewer months each year, combined with increased demands, wells that draw from this source in Kemptville and the surrounding area may start to fail in time. Drilling deeper is not always the solution. I encourage homeowners to educate themselves – how old is the infrastructure on your street? What is the expected life span? Does it need to be upgraded if there is an increased demand? Is there a plan in place to upgrade infrastructure before it fails? What is the plan if a well

pump fails and repairs take time, or the aquifer becomes stressed? They may tell you this won't happen. We came close one very dry year and we have a deep well. Homeowners who have private wells near areas of construction – test your well water often. Construction alters the natural groundwater ﬁlters. Rainwater takes the path of least resistance, and contamination of well water can happen. I'm sure there is a limit to the demands we put on the aquifers. We have been given this precious resource. Let’s not abuse it. D Lewis

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Need to see us? Municipal office hours: Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 285 County Road 44, Kemptville

Need to reach us? Contact us: Call 613-258-9569 or email: general@northgrenville.on.ca

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The ﬁght is not over

by Lynn Kennedy

The LCBO strike may be over, but the ﬁght isn't. Ontarians have gotten a reprieve of three years without store closures, but Doug Ford is still going to be working hard to put booze in every convenience store in the province. Why, you ask? Because he ran on a "Buck-A-Beer" and alcohol-everywhere platform (his not the Party's) in the last election.

He doesn't seem to realize that walking that picket line day after day, being in solidarity, does something to a person. A unit is formed, a group with one agenda. Strength in numbers, unity, shared

beliefs – that's what took place over the past 15 days for nearly 10,000 LCBO workers. We are united, we are strong, and we are backed by the best union I've ever belonged to. Doug may have won when it comes to ready-to-drink alcohol in convenience stores, but the power of a united group is bigger and stronger. And we all vote, and our families and friends vote. And a big hats oﬀ to CBC for reporting where the $2.5B in revenues generated by the LCBO go in this province. NOT to CEO's but to health care, schools, etc. But it doesn't go far enough. Ford seems to think he will generate millions of dollars in rev-

from CommunityWire

Hospital workers protested the Ford government’s rapid expansion of healthcare privatization outside Ontario PC MPP Steve Clark’s constituency oﬃce in Brockville on the morning of July 25. In June, the government announced it would nearly double private delivery of MRIs and CT scans.

"The Ford government says the status quo isn’t working – but it’s a status quo of their own making," said Michael Hurley, President of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE).

"They have been underfunding and starving the public system and dangling privatization as a solution. But privatization is twice as expensive and comes with longer waiting lists. We are calling for real solutions to the hospital crisis, like concrete measures to attract and retain new staﬀ and the addition of new beds."

enue by expanding sales into other locations. Do the math. Read Mike Crawley's piece in CBC.

Why is he fixated on more convenient alcohol? Why is he so against growing the LCBO, so that alcohol is sold safely, by well-trained staﬀ in secure locations? Why is he not focusing on the fact that Ontario has hospital ER closures, a HUGE lack of health care practitioners (I'm sure everyone knows someone who doesn't have a family doctor these days?), and few nurses or ER docs to be seen.

I recently spent 8.5 hours in the Kemptville District Hospital ER for a severely infected thumb. There are

NO walk-in clinics in my area. NONE! So an infected thumb sits for hours to get a prescription for antibiotics, and that spot could very well have been taken up by the little kid who fell oﬀ his bike and hit his head, or the older man with major back pain, or the young girl who kept passing out. THOSE are emergencies, much more so than an infected thumb. The triage nurse told me that KDH has funding for ONE ER doctor and, if they are lucky, three nurses. There were at least 25 people in that waiting room and nobody was being called to see the doctor. The poor guy with back pain went up to the desk multiple times, because

he couldn't sit any longer and he was ﬁnally taken through. Kemptville is growing in leaps and bounds, with Mattamy homes tract houses coming online soon. How many more will show up to see that ONE DOCTOR in the ER?

And the Premier of our province has the gall to post a map showing where you can buy your booze during the LCBO strike! Nowhere was there a map showing me where I could ﬁnd a walk-in clinic. I guess we know what Doug Ford's priorities are.

Instead of booze in stores, how about aﬀordable housing? Not $2500/month apartments! Not townhomes in the $600,000 range! How

about places that our most vulnerable populations can aﬀord to live? Newcomers, people with disabilities, ODSP recipients, seniors and others on ﬁxed incomes?

Do I sound bitter and angry? Of course! This guy is using $225M of OUR tax money to break the agreement with The Beer Store. He could have just let the agreement run out in 2025 at no cost to any of us footing the bill. But his agenda is to keep us all drunk, stupid and poor.

How can you tell he's lying? His lips are moving.

A nutrient gradient grove for North Grenville

sugar bush and surrounding land:

"People have been told they can either pay for medically needed surgeries or face extreme wait times."

John Jackson, OCHU Eastern Ontario Vice-president, said healthcare workers are concerned that the government is not investing sufficiently in the public system, all while funnelling money away to private operators.

"How is it justifiable that most hospitals in Ontario are facing deficits due to underfunding, while public money is being funnelled to private clinics?" he said. "Staff in public hospitals are overwhelmed, overworked, and under-resourced. But somehow, the government has found more money for the much more expensive private clinics – it’s baffling."

Mr. Jackson said it was surprising that surgeries were being outsourced to private clinics while operating rooms across the

The union pointed out a recent Ontario Health Coalition report that found private clinics are illegally billing patients up to $8,000 for medically necessary services in violation of the Canada Health Act. "Premier Ford famously claimed that Ontarians would never have to pay with their credit card, only their OHIP card. However, patients at for-profit clinics are being charged thousands of dollars," said Sharon Richer, SecretaryTreasurer of OCHU/CUPE.

Fred Schueler, Fragile Inheritance Natural History

In "The benefits of an accessible urban forest in North Grenville," Heather Popazzi calls for the transformation of the 13 acres along Highway 43, identified as underused in the Ferguson Forest Centre, into an accessible urban forest, but she doesn't outline any particular ecological or educational mission such a forest could fulﬁll.

Inspired by the fact that this area is abandoned from tree production because the

province remained closed on evenings and weekends.

"You would think that if the main concern was improving surgical wait-times, they would make better use of existing capacity in public hospitals," he said. "They are moving in the wrong direction. Health care workers know that the surge of demand for surgeries and diagnostics can best and least expensively be delivered in public hospitals."

soil is poor, I suggest that such a "forest" should partly be an alvar-like opening, both as a remembrance of the nutrient depletion 19th century settlement imposed on eastern Ontario, and as a public space where the species of plants and invertebrates adapted to nutrientpoor sites can be seen to flourish. The depletion of our soils began with the Loyalist settlers’ practice of burning the trees as they cleared the land and selling the resulting potash to England, and culminated in the agricultural impoverishment that led farms to be abandoned for unpaid taxes, providing the land on which the coniferous trees of Limerick Forest were later planted. The naturally barren areas that are called alvars, such as the Burnt Lands east of Almonte, supported a diverse flora of plants adapted to nutrient-poor conditions, many of which are species-at-risk, and a “nutrient depletion glade” could provide a venue for the recognition of these species, and their introduction to other alvar-like habitats.

The other end of the 13 acres could be planted as a native-species Miyawaki miniforest, which would be fertilized by digging manure a metre deep into the soil before planting with a full range of the trees, shrubs, and herbs of a mature forest, so the 13 acres could grade from the biodiversity of nutrient-poor sites to that of nutrient-rich sites. This could be a demonstration of species the Forest Centre can provide, as well as a lesson in the ecological history of settler agriculture. The Forest Centre itself is a memorial to the first recognition of the damage settler agriculture had done to Ontario by deforestation, and a Nutrient Gradient Grove would go along with the Indigenous commemorative site to reflect the history of our landscape. Here are descriptions from 1987 of depleted and rich sites near Bishops Mills. Since then, we’ve maintained the depleted site as a “Nutrient Depletion Glade,” and Joyce Cook has found more than 1380 species of Beetles in 80 families in the

“The brushy thin-soiled limestone barrens were rich hardwood forest before settlement, grazing, cultivation, and erosion. The ﬁrst commodity taken from this land was likely mineral nutrients, potash, from the burning of forest trees. The soil now supports only a scant growth of short grasses, lichens, and sprawling Strawberries, and in patches is utterly bare. Clumps of Dogwood bushes and slowgrowing Cedars reach down to ground water through cracks in the ﬂat bedrock. “Most of the nutrients of a forest on such shallow soil are not held in the soil, but in the bodies of living organisms, and must be taken up by the roots of plants as soon as they are released if they are not to be lost. To maintain a balance of richness here, the living forest must remain unbroken. Rather than feeding livestock, which carry away nitrogen and phosphorus in meat and bone, the forest has been used as a sugar bush, and the products removed from it are carbohydrates, wood and maple sugar, made from water and air. Used in this way, and despite trampling by Cattle, the plant community retains much of its structure, and the soil its fertility (Bishops Mills, Grenville Co., Ont., 6-8 May 1987).”

Hospital workers demonstrate at Steve Clark’s oﬃce

Photographs of open nutrient-depletion glade & mature sugar bush

Supreme Court rebukes Canada and Ontario as historically dishonourable

by David Shanahan

The governments of Canada and Ontario have been sharply rebuked by the Supreme Court of Canada for “what can only be described as a mockery of the Crown’s treaty promise to the Anishinaabe of the upper Great Lakes”. In a unanimous decision in the case of the 1850 Robinson Treaties, the Court ordered the two governments to negotiate a settlement with the communities within the Robinson Superior Treaty within six months of the decision.

The case involved annuity payments agreed to under the terms of the two treaties, which ceded all the territory north of Lakes Huron and Superior a far as the height of land separating it from the Hudson Bay watershed. The treaty granted the sum of $1 per year to each community member covered by the treaties, with an undertaking that the annuity would be increased: “in case the territory hereby ceded by the parties of the second part shall at any

future period produce an amount which will enable the Government of this Province without incurring loss to increase the annuity hereby secured to them, then, and in that case, the same shall be augmented from time to time”.

The amount paid to each individual was raised to $4 per year in 1874, but has remained capped at that figure ever since. The Supreme Court has followed the lead of lower courts that this is a flagrant breach of the spirit and purpose of the treaties, and that Canada and Ontario have to increase the annuity payments. Considering the incredible wealth that has been taken from the territory covered by the treaties since 1850, in timber, fish, copper, gold, uranium, not to mention development of towns and cities in the area, the idea that Indigenous communities were forced to live in poverty and want while being given $4 a year each, makes “a mockery of the Crown’s treaty promise to the Anishinaabe”.

Supreme Court Justice Mahmud Jamal wrote in the decision. "For almost

rable only to Apartheid and slavery. When Canada became a Dominion in 1867, jurisdiction over Indigenous affairs and Crown Lands was divided between Canada and Ontario in this province, with the result that the two “Crowns” have constantly played oﬀ each other, putting the onus on the other to act honorably towards the First Nations, with each reneging on treaty obligations.

When Canada and Ontario negotiated a compensation agreement with the Robinson Huron people in February, they praised themselves for the deal and then promptly appealed it, seeking to have the other pay the bulk of the $10 billion agreed to. The courts have insisted that the Crown Canada and the Crown Ontario must always act to protect and uphold the honour of the Crown. This both have singularly failed to do in all of their relations with Indigenous peoples. “Failed” may be the wrong word, as it implies that they have tried to do so.

In 35 years of working for and on behalf of Indigenous communities in

a century and a half, the Anishinaabe have been left with an empty shell of a treaty promise," as their failure to implement the treaty provisions regarding annuities undermined the spirit and substance of the treaties.

The Court’s decision noted that the Crown has derived "enormous economic benefit" from the land through mining and other activities over the years, while First Nations communities have suffered with inadequate housing and boil water advisories. For 174 years, the Indigenous people of the Great Lakes have been governed as wards of the courts, children in law, subject to the Indian Act and its predecessors, which gave the Crown complete power over Indigenous finances, identity, resulting in confinement to Reserves, total control by non-Indigenous Agents, and a total loss of freedom and sovereignty.

No other ethnic groups have been subjected to legislation like the Indian Act. It has been an act of imperial colonisation compa-

tario and across the country, I have yet to come across a government which has been sincere and showed integrity in dealing with treaty responsibilities. That is an awful fact of Canadian life. And the Supreme Court has acknowledged the truth of that assertion in their decision on the annuity issue. In their decision, the Court instructed the two governments to come with a new annuity amount to be paid, but expressed reservations about the integrity of both. The sum to be decided by the government has to be substantial, they said, but Justice Jamal pointed out that: "The Anishinaabe signatories cannot now be short-changed by the Crown's sticker shock, which is solely the result of the Crown's own dishonourable neglect of its sacred treaty promises”. He wrote

that simply ordering the parties back to the negotiating table was not suﬃcient, because it risked forcing the First Nations to rely on a "historically dishonourable" partner to restore the treaty relationship. And they act in our name.

The original Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850

Murder in Burritt’s Rapids

by David Shanahan

Burritt’s Rapids is not the kind of place one would expect to ﬁnd a murder taking place. It is a quiet place, in many ways a world of its own in North Grenville. But in 1928, a man died in that sleepy hamlet, shot by a neighbour and bringing scandal and confusion to the community.

There were a number of very odd aspects to this death, however. The killer, for example, was 76 years old; the victim was 57. The men were neighbours and the immediate cause of the murder was a gate they shared: whether it should stay open or closed.

The Johnson Hotel had been built some time before

1850 and was unusual in that it contained a ballroom where many parties and dances took place over the decades. But Burritt’s Rapids found it hard to maintain the four hotels that existed in the hamlet, and Johnson’s Hotel eventually closed and was remodelled to make two homes for use as private residences. In 1927, Walter H. Percival bought the building and rented out one side to Frank Joseph Auger, a barber, and married with four young children under six. Percival was a retired farmer, married for a second time. It seems the two men just did not get on. Various arguments arose between them, probably as landlord and tenant. The fact that they could hear each other clearly through the parti-

tion walls did not make it any better either. One of the biggest sources of friction was the gate they shared in front of the house. Percival complained that Auger constantly left the gate open, when he wanted it shut. Percival, a man in his seventies, found the younger Auger intimidating, and he took to keeping a revolver in his house, just in case. As is common in these circumstances, the simmering feud between the two men finally found its ignition point in a very trivial matter. The results were tragic for everyone.

Sunday, February 12, 1928 was a normal day of rest in Burritt’s Rapids. As evening drew on, Auger went outside to bring in wood for the ﬁre. As he came back to the house, his arms

Five generations, one boat

by Carman Keyes

When I was young, my parents took me to visit my aunt and uncle in Grand Bend, Ontario, on Lake Huron. While there, I got to ride on an inboard boat that was so smooth-riding and fast, and started my love of boats. Over the next number of years, I had many opportunities to ride on outboard boats, which to me were rough and uncomfortable.

I graduated high school in 1957, when a new barber happened to move into town from Picton, Ontario. Shortly thereafter, I went to him for a hair cut. During my cut, we somehow talked about

water, rivers, lakes, etc. He told me that he owned a wooden boat, but he had left it in storage in Picton, as Mitchell didn’t have any real waterways. When I asked him what kind it was, he said an inboard, 18′, powered by a 4cyl Lycoming Engine. I was intrigued, so I asked him how much would he want for it. We ended up deciding that if I wanted to drive to Picton and bring it back to Mitchell, the boat would be mine. The agreement was if I didn’t end up wanting the boat after all, he would keep it. My friend and I went to Picton to check it out. We were surprised to find the

boat on an old car frame with 21 inch tires. The two front wheels were joined together by a bar so that when steered, both wheels on the trailer turned at the same time. I was hesitant about the trailer but wanted the boat so I didn’t see what choice I had, so oﬀ we went down the 401. At one point, I tried to pass a vehicle when all of a sudden the two front wheels of the trailer started to speed-wobble, almost shaking the boat off the trailer. Luckily, we did end up making it home in one piece, and I decided to keep the boat. Over the coming days, I checked out the boat

brother, as the three struggled on the pathway. The revolver went oﬀ, the bullet barely missing Emma and hitting the wall of the house. The second shot struck Auger in the left temple. The angle of entry was a strange one, the bullet travelling down into Auger’s neck, and ledging in his spine just below his skull.

full of wood, he left the gate open behind him. Percival came out of his side of the house and began to argue about the gate being left open. Auger’s wife, Emma, claims that Percival then punched her husband. Percival’s wife, Helen, claimed that Auger hit her husband with a piece of the wood he was carrying. Percival went back into his house, bleeding from the nose and throat. He picked up his revolver and went back outside again to confront Auger. He stood beside the gate, pointing the revolver at Auger and daring him to open the gate.

Emma Auger saw the men wrestle for the gun and ran outside to get between them and force them apart. Auger’s 6 year-old daughter, Pauline, was looking out the window, holding her baby

and was able to get the motor running, so I decided to test it in the water.

My friend and I took the boat to a nearby quarry as there were no rivers nearby in Mitchell. When I backed the boat into the water, my friend yelled “water is pouring in!”. I quickly pulled the boat out and found a big hole near the transom. It turns out it was a drain hole. From there, I plugged the hole, sanded the hull down, varnished it with ﬂoor varnish, and painted the bottom with marine paint. This became a yearly tradition.

The boat remained nameless for many years. It wasn’t until my daughter was born that my family and I decided the boat needed a name. Because I only had one daughter at that time, and two sons, I thought it was ﬁtting for the boat to be named after my daughter. From then on, the boat was named “Miss Jane”. Over the years, many family members had the pleasure of driving Miss

Three local men, Fred Coyet and Herb and Edwin MacDonald had seen the argument, but did not see the shooting itself. They ran to the scene, where Percival was waving the gun around and making wild comments, like: "I have done it. I said I would do it and have done it". Auger was carried into his house, still conscious, but unable to speak. Dr. M. J. Walker was called in from Merrickville and tried to stop the bleeding. Auger was taken to Smith’s Falls Hospital, where the .22 calibre bullet was found lodged near his spine. By then he had fallen into unconsciousness and never woke again. He died two days later, on February 14. Percival, immediately after the shooting, went to Kemptville where he turned himself in to Constable Gordon Ault, claiming to have killed his neighbour in self-defense.

The inquest into Auger’s death was held in the Kemptville Town Hall a week later, and Percival was

Jane. I am happy to say that my own father, as well as my 4 children, all had the chance to drive the boat at one time or another.

One fall I was towing my son on water skis and I was sitting on the motor cover, steering the boat with my feet. When we hit a wave, the boat jumped out of gear, over-revved, broke the crankshaft and damaged the block. I was quite sick over losing my Lycoming engine.

A few months later, I was at a boat club meeting and asked if anybody knew where I could ﬁnd a Lycoming engine. Everybody laughed, as they stopped manufacturing Lycoming marine engines in 1936, so they would have all been gone for scrap. The following winter, Jim Potter called me and asked if I was still looking for a Lycoming engine, and I said yes. He told me that someone he knew thought that there was one in a bush near Gravenhurst. Of course I wanted the engine, so they went out

removed to Brockville for a preliminary hearing before standing trial for the murder. His trial began on March 13 in the Supreme Court for Leeds and Grenville. It was reported that Percival took great interest in the proceedings at the various inquests and hearings, but showed little concern or emotion. Although charged with murder, the jury found him guilty of manslaughter, with a recommendation for mercy on account of his age. Judge W. A. Logie accepted the recommendation and sentenced Percival to two years less a day in the Ontario Reformatory in Guelph. He believed that, had he sent Percival to the Provincial Penitentiary "there would be small chance of his coming out alive". He called the prisoner "a very foolish old man", who had taken the law into his own hands. He ended by hoping Percival would use his time in prison to think about what he had done, as the judge had seen no sign of Percival regretting his actions.

Indeed, when he passed sentence, it was reported that Percival "shook his head as if in incredulity". An old man went to jail, a young family was left fatherless. Because of an open gate in Burritt’s Rapids.

to the bush with snow shovels and brought the engine back on a toboggan. When I received the engine, I sent it, along with my old engine, to an engine shop hoping they could make one good engine out of the two. From there, Miss Jane didn’t miss a season.

Over the coming years, I had minor bottom repairs and restorations done as required. The boat never went unused, as I went on to be blessed with 11 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren, all of whom have enjoyed riding and learning to drive Miss Jane. A few years ago, one of my grandsons, Andrew, asked me if he could check over Miss Jane. He repaired and reﬁnished the boat, and I am sure it now has its best appearance since it came out of the factory in 1936!

I am proud of the legacy that Miss Jane has become, and look forward to my boat being a part of my family for many more years to come.

Hockey all year long!

The Kemptville Thunder hockey teams would like to thank North Grenville Mayor Nancy Peckford for dropping by to support the U9 & U13 girls spring / summer hockey league. There are over 80 girls participating in this league from the North Grenville area, all of whom have a passion for hockey and want to play year round! Both age groups have participated in the Relm Sports Kingston hockey tournament, on-ice sessions with John Olson, and on-ice sessions with Brad Smyth. The Kemptville Thunder league has beneﬁtted from great support in the community, and wonderful sponsors including Oliver Painting & King Carpentry. Their support has kept registration fees low – making it possible for more girls to pursue their passion of playing hockey in the spring and summer!

There is no “I” in team

Back Row: Coaches Erin Coyle and Sean Richmire

Third Row: Delilah Winnicki, Saige Douglas, Allyson German, Kennedi McFadden, Blake Ross

Second Row: Mia Kueller, Lyla Granados, Morgan Richmire, Avery Burrill, Madeleine Lockhart, Molly Neville, Hailey Coyle

Front Row: Harper MacDonald, Ali Conlin

Missing from photo: Ellisyn Warr

In the July 18 issue of the Times, we reported on the U11 Kemptville Wildcats softball team, which took a ﬁrst place win overall for the season at their ﬁnal tournament game in Winchester on July 7. The caption for the photo was omitted by the Times in error, and when it comes to team sports, that just won’t do!

As anyone who has ever played sports (or has a child who plays sports) knows, a team cannot function as it should without each and every one of its members. Some of the players were given a special mention in the highlights of the July 18 article, but for the U11 Wildcats coaches, that just won’t do! Every team member contributed to the win, and every team member must therefore have their name honoured and remembered in print.

We are proud to reprint this photo with all of the players names included.

NG Scouting open house hike August 14

Did you know that North Grenville has an active Scouting community? Have you seen us at parades, giving away apples in the fall, helping with the Poppy campaign, Sweetheart Brunch or cleaning up local parks in the spring? Scouting has been a great activity for local youth to have various outlets of fun where meetings can be as simple as dodgeball and board games or as adventuresome as geocaching in Ferguson Forest, planning camping trips to Algonquin Park or taking part in a Jamborette in Scotland. Unlike many other extra curriculars, Scouting oﬀers a co-ed environment that welcomes youth with unique abilities and interests, but yet still teaches respect, team work, and encourages safety in the outdoors and builds conﬁdence.

Meetings generally run once a week from mid September to June, with many special events like camp weekends, community events, and paddling excursions. Meetings are run by dedicated volunteers, often parents of registered youth, who have completed specialized training and ﬁnd themselves having just as much fun as the youth they lead and mentor. Scouting is open to boys and girls from senior kindergarten age and up: Beavers aged 5-7, Cubs aged 8-10, Scouts aged 11-14, Venturers aged 14-17 and Rovers 18+.

Kemptville Beaver leaders describe their amazing year: “This past season alone we enjoyed snowshoeing at a winter camp at Limerick Forest and an all section camp at Rideau Provincial Park, as well as guest speakers that shared their hobbies and businesses such as a scuba diver who collected fossils, and a local bee keeper. We’ve waved from parade ﬂoats and collected canned food to donate. We’ve geocached, hiked, worked on badges together, and seen some great friendships blossom. The diversity of adventure and fun is truly unmatched!”

If you’d like to learn more about Scouting and speak with one of our many volunteers, join NG Scouts at their Open House Hike on August 14 at 6pm.

Currently enrolled Scouting youth can be dropped oﬀ to enjoy a hike, geocache and scavenger hunt with their Scouting Leaders, and parents who are interesting in enrolling their youth in Scouting this fall may join us along with their children to ask questions and see how much fun we can have. All non registered youth attending MUST have an adult responsible for them for the entire hike.

Adults/parents who are interested in learning more about becoming a volunteer Scouter with North Grenville Scouting are encouraged to lace up their hiking boots and enjoy the walk with some of our Leaders to ask questions and learn more about how becoming a red shirt Scouter can bring positive change to our local youth! Bring a backpack with water and snacks. Wear weather appropriate hiking clothing, closed toe shoes and wear insect/tick repellant, and be prepared for uneven paths, unexpected laughter and an improved sense of adventure!

Date: Wednesday August 14

Time: 6-7:30pm

Meeting Location: Ferguson Forest Dog Park/Arboretum

Parking Lot

Weather: Hike will happen light rain or shine, but will be cancelled for strong weather events.

If you can’t make it out for the hike, feel free to email ngscouts@gmail.com for more info!

Farmers support grain safety training and equipment

by Crispin Colvin, Director, OFA

Safety is important in farming, and many organizations work hard to raise awareness of being safe around farm machinery or when working with livestock. The topic of safety around harvested grain can be overlooked – but with grain harvest now underway in Ontario, it’s also an important one to know about.

In many areas of the province, you’ll see the golden fields of ripe wheat or barley become grain kernels and straw as farmers work on their fields. Harvested grain is hauled away from the field in wagons or tractor trailers, and stored in grain bins on the farm, delivered directly to a local grain elevator or sometimes even taken straight to a port for export.

Regardless of how it is handled and stored, however, it’s important to keep safety top of mind. Trailers and bins of grain can be dangerous when you’re working with them and it’s easy to become trapped inside – an experience often described like quicksand. If help doesn’t come in time, it can lead to suﬀocation.

That’s why the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), where I serve as part of the provincial board of directors, is supporting a variety of projects around the province that focus on safety awareness as well as training for ﬁrst responders who will be the ones called to the rescue – literally – in case of an emergency.

Through these projects, local and regional federations of agriculture are helping to fund grain extraction units and equipment for rural ﬁre departments as well as training on how to use these tools. The goal is to ensure that an emergency call involving someone trapped in a grain bin or trailer will be a successful rescue instead of a recovery mission.

These projects are part of OFA’s Revive Fund, which was launched in 2021 to help communities struggling with impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the fund, our 51 county and regional federations can apply for matching funding from OFA to help plan, develop and launch new projects and initiatives in support of agriculture and their local communities.

So far, about $975,000 has been invested into the program by the OFA, its county and regional federations and other partners since its inception, and new project ideas come forward every year.

They are a great way to strengthen connections between OFA members and their communities in helping to raise awareness and support for the agriculture sector – and the grain extraction training and equipment is a terriﬁc example of how farmers are actively engaged in meeting the needs of their local communities.

Many other local and regional federations of agriculture are also using support from the Revive Fund to provide First Aid and CPR training for their members and families.

Many rural fire departments, who are responsible for first response, are staffed by volunteers, so help can take longer to arrive than in urban regions – and farms are usually not close to populated areas. That’s why knowing what to do in an emergency is critical and can mean the difference between life and death.

Most farms are small family businesses who don’t have the health and safety training opportunities and workplace safety committees commonly found with larger companies or employers in other sectors, so OFA helps ﬁll that gap.

As an organization, we take all aspects of farm safety seriously and we work with many other likeminded groups to promote awareness and ensure people have the tools they need to stay safe. After all, accidents can be minimized or even prevented with knowledge and training.

Baldwin’s Birds

Nesting continues

As I write this, in the latter days of July, A House Wren is still keeping me engrossed with its continual to and fro activity, in our backyard. It is still feeding its young, in one of my nesting boxes, and ﬂits in and out of it on a very regular basis to do this parental task. What devotion it has to this essential chore and it even has time to sing now and then! Marvellous!

There hasn't been a sighting of our Bluebirds since our return from a holiday abroad, but many of our other birds appear fairly regularly to keep us occupied and interested in their activities, so we have no time, when there isn't something to see, to pique our curiosity in what they are doing.

Our bird water bath, in this hot weather, serves as a dual purpose commodity for the birds, in respect of the fact that, as well as being a drinking hole, it is also a swimming pool! The main users of the swimming pool aspect are the Robins, but other birds, such as the Grackles are really using it quite often too. They can get in and create quite a spray as they frolic in the ecstasy of its cooling and bug cleaning delights! This is a very entertaining activ-

The Food Corner

by Paul Cormier, Salamanders of Kemptville

Yay! We are starting to get corn fresh off the field. Since the weather has been hot and you may not want the oven on or water boiling on your stove top, combining corn with the BBQ season is perfect. This recipe is as simple as it gets and offers all kinds of options (I have included some). This recipe serves 2 cobs each to 4 people. You know your multiplication table if you have more guests.

Grilled Corn on the Cob

Ingredients

8 cobs of corn, shucked and cleaned of corn silk ½ cup of softened butter (butter you have left out of the fridge, covered, of course)

Option 1: 3 tablespoons of crushed garlic

Option 2: 2 tablespoons of horseradish with 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard

Option 3: 3 tablespoons of grainy mustard and 1 tablespoon of cracked pepper

Option 4: etc., whatever suits your taste buds... Preparation

Heat your BBQ to your usual standard, e.g., 375F to 400F

ity to watch indeed, and one not to be missed if you get the opportunity to see it happen for yourself.

Another "faithful", especially at the end of the day, is our tiny Ruby Throated Hummingbird visitor. This is usually a female, but now and then it might be a male. They tend to appear around dusk time to stock up on their nighttime sustenance, consisting of quite long drinks of our sugar water solution. Whether this is just to boost their energy for heat during their sleeping period, or not, I do not know, not being a bird expert, but their last minute visits must have some use. They always seem to appear the next day or evening, so who am I to question what the purpose of the last drink of the day is!? I actually got to see and get a photo shot of an elusive female Cardinal, just before I started this missive, so things are still looking good. I certainly get to hear her partner, on numerous occasions during the day, even if I don't get to see him, so things are certainly not bad in that respect. I hope that you too are still getting to see plenty of bird action as well as getting to hear their songs. Stay safe and well.

Cheers, John Baldwin

Mix the soft butter with any one of the options above or any other you can think of

Prepare 4 pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil each to hold 2 cobs

Slather the corn with the butter mixture you have selected

Wrap two buttered cobs in foil and place directly on the BBQ ﬂame

Cook for ﬁve minutes on one side and 5 on the other

Place the cooked corn in the BBQ’s “Keep Hot Zone” while cooking anything else

In any event, remove from heat within 10 to 15 minutes

As I’ve said over and over again in previous years, it’s important to supervise the cooking of anything on your BBQ to avoid over-cooking and charring. Grilled Corn on the Cob goes well with any meat you are cooking, such as steak, pork or chicken. You can also have it by itself without meat. If you want to give folks a different flavour, you can use the different optional butters above and boast a mixture. You may wish to pick up those handy little corn holders that stick into each end of the cob; that’s to reduce the chance of burning your fingers. They are available at any of the discount stores for a buck or two. Don’t forget the ice-cold beer of your choice.

By the way, there are two schools of thought on how to eat Corn on the Cob: some people use the typewriter technique and bite directly into the cob’s kernels from left to right or vice-versa; others use a very sharp knife to liberate the kernels. There is usually a debate on what is the best way to proceed every time our family eats corn...

Greetings from Downtown Kemptville BIA’s new executive director

TO BE CONTINUED FALL

Hi! My name is Jennifer Hood (you can call me Jen!) and I'm the new executive director of the Downtown Kemptville BIA.

As a member of the community for the past 15 years, and a supporter of all things local, you may already know me and recognize me as a familiar face around town. Perhaps you met me (with my kids in tow) at a family fun event, have attended one of the house concerts hosted by my husband and I, or maybe we've crossed paths through my various forays into the world of entrepreneurship. By trade, I am a web developer with a niche in tourism marketing. I speciﬁcally chose this focus for my business as a way for my work to contribute towards a positive social impact. Why tourism? Because I believe the power of sustainable tourism supports small businesses, and helps communities thrive.

In my new position with the BIA, you can expect that I will bring energy and optimism to the table. I am an "ideas person" who loves bringing creative visions to life, and I am looking forward to putting my skills to work on behalf of the businesses in the downtown.

The ﬁrst thing on my to-do list is to learn as much as I can about each of our members. I’ll be reaching out over the coming weeks; however, anyone is welcome to connect at any time by shooting me an email at exec@downtownkemptville.ca.

Thank you to the BIA for this exciting opportunity!

Looking forward to hearing from you soon, Jennifer Hood

by Elva Patterson Rutters RSSW

Lost in Translation.

Have you ever seen that movie where a message is lost in translation from language to language? Loss in translation can be due to the languages used, gestures, tones, miscommunication, wrong words used within the same language, the interpretation of the message, and even the time of the delivery of the message! A number of years ago, we had guests from South America and France here at our hillbilly home when one asked for his clothes from the "boot", and shoes were brought but no clothes. The France French varied from Quebec/Ontario High school French. Much was lost in communicating that weekend!

Think of the last time or a time you shook your head wondering how someone reached

that conclusion from the words used. Certainly with the acronyms now floating around, we do ponder the meaning. We can reduce the immediate impact of our frustration by calling some one a PITA – and they grin until they understanding it stands for Pain In the A--! Just a gentler way of translating your irk!

Auditory factors can also defer or limit the message received. A single mom of four shouted to her two younger boys 6 and 8 to "calm down" at bedtime in their shared bedroom. The 16-yearold son in the bathroom responds with "they are all gone!" That is mindboggling, so she calls the older son to her bedroom, where he explains the "condoms are all gone”. Why would he think his mom alone needed condoms at bedtime!! Lost in translation!

Typos or auto-correct will also send out questionable remarks, feedback or inquiries. A very meticulous lady responded to an invite with "Hell yes" which was not a reﬂection of her normal demeanor. She left the "O" oﬀ hello!

Interpretation of a message reflects your mood at the time, your experience of interpretation of the words, and the dysfunction of your psyche or even your observation of the noncongruent words and gestures. The key is to clarify and reiterate what you are hearing and interpreting. Hearing loss itself filters out decibels and perhaps nuances that would change the understanding of the message given or received, as would speech impediments.

You can't control what others "interpret", but you can strive to be as

Tid bit musings Electric vehicle battery plant delayed

concise, direct and accurate as possible to negate wrong meanings that inﬂect hurt. Learning to adjust to sarcasm is a skill. Many times if you ascribe a new meaning to a word it deﬂates the hurt – if some-one calls you a B---H, just smile and say “you got it” – Beautiful, Intelligent, Talented, Caring and Helpful. The sting or hurt dissipates and a new translation has evolved that creates harmony and positivity for you. Be cognizant that "Maybe, No, Yes and I'll think about it" are not synonymous!

You are the one driving your journey through life. Don't get lost in translation and you will come out smiling!!

by David Shanahan

After announcing, with great fanfare, that they would be opening a plant to produce electric car batteries in Loyalist Township, Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Inc. has now decided to delay further work on the facility owing to "signiﬁcant worsening of the EV market context and the impacts this has on the entire supply chain."

The plant was expected to be an economic boon to all of Eastern Ontario, creating around 600 jobs in the region. However, following the cancellation of a contract Umicore had been negotiating with a Chinese company, and the fact that demand for electric vehicles has fallen oﬀ over the past year, the company decided not to proceed with the building project, which was slated to cost around $2.7 billion.

In a statement, the company said: "For Umicore, customers' demand projections for our battery materials have steeply declined recently". It is now adapting operations "to the new market reality," and will be making a complete review of its battery materials business.

The federal and provincial governments had strongly supported Umicore’s projects, committing almost $1 billion to the Loyalist Township initiative. It is understood that none of that money had actually been paid out to Umicore at the time of the announcement about the delay.

Other major corporations involved in electric battery production, such as Ford, have also announced cutbacks in their plans for future battery production owing to the downturn in demand for electric vehicles. Umicore expects to make a decision on the future of the plant by the end of the ﬁrst quarter of 2025.

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Modern Prairie (MP)

The Boulevard

by David Shanahan

For all of us who have been "enjoying" the construction work going on along County Road 43 in Kemptville, we must take comfort in the fact that, in the not-too-distant future, we will have a new four-lane highway to sweep down on our way to wherever, which the Municipality is comparing - tongue in cheek, surely!)

- to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, or Broadway, in New York City. It’s always good to have a vision. It is certainly better than that of a previous Council who wanted to

make the same stretch of 43 into the new Merivale Road (and that’s a quote).

It’s a pity that the timing of the project meant that construction of hundreds of houses in the Northwest Quadrant, bordered by 43 and CR 44, as well as other places around town, was approved and begun before the improvements to 43 commences. This has meant increased traffic along the very section of 43, between the Kemptville Mall and the far side of the 416, to coincide with the disruption caused by the present construction activity. But, when

completed, as I’m sure it will be at some point, the new roadway will be much improved, according to the Municipality, as the work includes:

- "Changing the existing 2-lane rural roadway with ditches to a 4-lane urban roadway with curbs and storm sewers.

- 4 new roundabouts and modifications to 2 existing roundabouts.

- Centre medians to limit turning movements to the roundabouts (except between James Street and Anniversary Way), which will include a 5th lane to provide access to nearby commercial estab-

LOOKING FOR A REGISTERED PRACTICAL NURSE

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QUALIFICATIONS:

• Current registration with the College of Nurses in Ontario

• Valid Driver's License; must have own transportation

• Ability to lift, carry and transfer 30 lbs

• Comfortable with hypoallergenic dogs

• Vunerable Sector Police Check

• Valid First Aid + CPR

• References x 3

24 hrs/week: ﬂexible shifts

Located in Oxford Mills

Please send cover letter and resume to julia.tunie@gmail.com

lishments.

- A 3 metre wide shared-use pathways that will allow 2-way travel on both sides of the roadway as well as pedestrian crossings with pedestrian activated ﬂashing signals.

- The removal and replacement of the existing 2-lane bridge on County Road 43 over the Kemptville Creek with a new 4-lane bridge extending to the South."

The work is anticipated to take until 2027, but then we shall have a Boulevard to rival Paris and New York. Deﬁnitely worth waiting for, even if it means waiting in lines of traﬃc. The Municipality is at pains to point out that "It is important to recognize that this is only possible through the cooperation of four levels of government coming together to build better communities". That should be comforting. What could go wrong when four levels of government work together?

https://countyroad43expansion.com

Does your business go further than North Grenville?

Advertise in our sister paper

The North Dundas Times!

Contact Nanda!

Marketing Consultant Email: nanda@ndtimes.ca

KD Hospital

Andre Rancourt andrerancourt16@gmail.com

SKBP Venturers skbp.venturers@gmail.com

Girl Guides theleangs@gmail.com

NG Art Challenge jayne.couch@yahoo.com

NG Art Guild northgrenvilleartsguild@gmail.com

Beth Donovan Hospice amy.tibben@bethdonovanhospice.ca

Oxford Mills Community Association susannelarner@gmail.com

Kemptville Youth Centre brucewehlau@hotmail.com

Friend of the NG Library blrousseau26@gmail.com

NG Historical Society karenrepta@gmail.com

Rotary corabeking54@gmail.com

Christian Reformed Church sidypma@gmail.com

United Church gowjb5@gmail.com

House of Lazarus cashby@houseoﬂazarus.com

Youth Alliance: ng.rainbowyouth@gmail.com

Seniors' Community Services jill.woodley@seniorscs.ca

Shalom Small Homes shalomsmallhomeskemptville.org

The NG Library sjones@ngpl.ca

Friends of the Forestry Centre ldpaibomesai@gmail.com

Kemptville & District Community Assn. wdembleton@gmail.com BIA shelleybmitchell@gmail.com

Pride chair@ngpride.ca

Lions Club mikeamirault@hotmail.com

Knights of Columbus, Council 5333 Leeds Grenville Big Brothers Big Sisters Vanessa.martin@bigbrothersbigsisters.ca Canadian Guide Dog Assoc Info@guidedogs.ca Jags kemptvillejags@gmail.com

Pentacostal Church kohls.s.m@gmail.com United way Ed@uwlg.org

North Grenville Giving Garden michelleroussellemcevoy@gmail.com

Kemptville Farmers' Market kfmmanager1@gmail.com

Kemptville Restore kemptvillerestore@habitat1000islands.org

Planned view of CR43 after The Boulevard is complete. [Municipality of North Grenville]

OASIS PAINTING

COMMUNITY EVENTS

RECURRING EVENTS

Monthly Suppers prepared by Knights of Columbus at Holy Cross Church Hall at 503 Clothier St W. Suppers will be held on the last Thursday of the month. Cost $10 per adult, $5 for children under 12 and $25 for families.

PROBUS: Fellowship, Fun and inFormed presenters are part of the PROBUS gathering on the third Wednesday of each month at St Paul's Presbyterian Church Hall at 9:30AM. For more information contact at n.g.probus97@gmail.com

Kemptville Legion: Fridays 3-9. Free Pool and Darts. Everyone Welcome

BINGO, Kemptville Legion, Bingos run from the beginning of September until the end of June on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays.

NG Duplicate Bridge Club, Masonic Lodge 311 Van Buren Kemptville, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 12:15. All Levels of bridge players are welcome. Info call 613-795-7155

KLUB 67 EUCHRE Join us for fun, social euchre games taking place every 2nd and 4th Wednesday monthly at 1pm, September to May. Location: Kemptville Legion, 100 Reuben Cres, Kemptville. Everyone welcome, $5. To play, cash prizes

Friendship Lunch has shifted into summer mode. A lunch will be served on AUGUST 2ND and AUGUST 16TH. Regular weekly lunches will resume on SEPTEMBER 6TH. Lunches are served at St. John's United Church hall at 400 Prescott St. and begin at 11:30. There is no charge. A free will oﬀering is appreciated. Everyone is welcome.

Spencerville Agricultural Society planning general meetings. If you are interested in joining our committee, please email info@spencervillefair.ca to receive all of the meeting details. Aug 12, Oct 21, Nov 11. The Drummond Building, 22 Ryan Street, Spencerville Ontario

BID EUCHRE at Pierce's Corners (aka the Marlborough Community Centre) at 3048 Pierce Road on Tuesday, August 13, 27, September 10, 24. Registration from 6:30 p.m., play from 7:00 p.m. Contact Debi at debiar@ymail.com

EUCHRE at Pierce's Corners (aka the Marlborough Community Centre) at 3048 Pierce Road on Tuesday, August 6, 20, September 3, 17. Registration starts at 6:30 p.m., play starts at 7:00 p.m. Contact Debi at debiar@ymail.com

Kemptville Farmers' Market: Many local farmers, producers and makers. Every Sunday from noon til 4pm, May 12 - October 27. Located at 301 Rideau St, Kemptville, across the lot from B&H Grocers Kemptville Street Piano Concert , Saturday afternoons at 1pm to mid-September at the North Grenville Public Library. https://www.facebook.com/ KemptvilleStreetPiano/ South Branch Serenade at Rotary Park, every Thursday night throughout July and August, between 5:30 – 7:00pm.

UPCOMING EVENTS

WIZARD CARD GAME TOURNAMENT on Sunday, August 11 at Pierce's Corners, also known as the Marlborough Community Centre, 3048 Pierce Road. Registration starts at 12:30 and play starts at 1:00 p.m. $5 per player. For information contact debiar@ymail.com.

St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival - performances of “The Tempest” and “She Stoops to Conquer” from July 13 to August 10 (view the NG Times online calendar for dates & times - ngtimes.ca /community-calendar/)

The ninth edition of the not-for-proﬁt South Grenville bluegrass music festival is set to go at the Spencerville Fair Grounds, Thursday to Sunday, August 8-11. southgrenvillebluegrassfestival.ca Winchester Dairyfest - August 9-11 www.winchesterdairyfest.com/

FOR SALE

Mixed hardwood firewood. $120 per face cord. Call or text Jon 613-227-3650.

4X4 round bales and small squares of hay, suitable for horses. Call or text Jon 613227-3650.

Thule 4 bike rack with 2" receiver for 2 hole hitch. Plus two bike cross bars. $200. 613 258 3512

MISCELANEOUS

Looking to rent farmland in North Grenville & surrounding areas. Call or text Mitch @ 613-2621204.

GARAGE SALE

Saturday, August 3rd, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (INDOOR - RAIN OR SHINE). 105 Maplestone Drive, Kemptville. Many Tools, Women’s Clothing, Furniture, Numerous Household items. Majority of Items a Buck or Two

ACROSS

1. Lacquer ingredient 6. Social group 10. Dull pain 14. Temptress 15. Certain something 16. Request 17. Rewrites

18. Eight in Roman numerals

19. Writing styluses

20. Spin-like 22. Delicate

23. Arrange (abbrev.)

24. English county

26. Mess

30. Brown shade 32. Bay window 33. Solemnity 37. Clutter 38. Gain knowledge 39. Fleece 40. Sweetener

42. Triangular formation

43. Consumed

44. Mouth

45. Ring-shaped cake

47. D

48. Hairless

49. Bound by contract

56. Against

57. Worry

58. Licoricelike ﬂavor

59. Wool

60. Type of cheese

61. Washer cycle

62. Dross

63. 24 hour periods

64. Hitched in the ﬁeld

DOWN

1. Always

2. Adriatic resort

3. Way out

4. Of higher order

5. Set up

6. Prefer

Solutions to last week’s Sudoku

7. Devastation

8. Diva's solo

9. Sudden collapse

10. Fridges and stoves

11. Cloudless

12. Therefore

13. Not diﬃcult 21. An-

ger

25. Concealed

26. Mothers

27. Fertilizer component

28. Platter

29. Going down

30. Spot

31. Deserve

33. Arid

34. L L L L

35. Location

36. Box

38. Like a trellis 41. Possessed

42. Food-related

44. Knowledge

45. Humdrum

46. Extreme

47. Regards

48. Alcoves

50. Nil

51. Heavy cart

52. Freshwater mussel

53. A sheet of ice for curling

54. Being 55. Exploit

Awesome August lineup for Street Piano!

by Lisa Poushinsky

August is HOT and so is the lineup for the Kemptville Street Piano!

Coming to the library near you from 1pm to 3pm on Saturdays, it’s a month of FREE music you don’t want to miss. We start on August 6th with our Street Piano Jam, hosted by local piano man Bradley Smith. Whether you’re a new performer or a pro, this open mic’s for you. Come to listen and to play, all levels/genres/instruments welcome.

Then it’s a rockin’ double bill on August 10th with Kemptville’s own multi-awardwinning guitarist Darren Michael Boyd, followed by heartbreaker singer-songwriter Tara Holloway. Dubbed “Spooky Surf” by fans, Darren is bringing his band for a rare hometown appearance, while Tara’s “incredible” voice and delivery has been compared to “the confessional style of Lucinda Williams, the haunting wail of Stevie Nicks, the broken charm of Shelby Lynne.”

On August 17, the Kemptville Folk Club will keep your toes tapping while members join voices and instruments in song, and then the blues comes to town on August 24th with the Jesse Greene Band. Another award-winning guitarist, Jesse tears up stages with her “no-nonsense blues mix of originals and creative covers", singing with the "smoky timbre of Bonnie Raitt" and "the wonderful raspiness of Janis Joplin."

Under the age of 35 and interested in audio engineering? The Kemptville Street Piano is partnering with Brockville's Youth Opportunities in the Arts to host a free workshop with Mikayla Gordon, this year's Street Piano sound technician, taking place at the N.G. Public Library before (and during) the Jesse Greene Band concert on August 24th. Contact Lisa for details at kemptville.street.piano@gmail.com.

And what better way to end the series on August 31st than with R&B great Jeﬀ Rogers! With mega piano chops and a voice reminiscent of “Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, or even Otis Redding”, Jeﬀ played Kemptville Live with the Commotions and will be performing music solo from his latest release Dream Job. Learn more about the performers below and see you at the Street Piano!

https://suckerforaballad.com/ (Bradley Smith)

https://www.darrenboyd.com/ https://taraholloway.com/

FB / Kemptville Folk Club

https://www.thejessegreeneband.com/ https://jeﬀrogers.ca/

FB / Youth Opportunities in the Arts

40 Artists Along a Riverbank

Outdoor Artisan Show on Labour Day Weekend, Maberly, Ontario

Celebrating its 18th year, the Sundance Artisan Show is an outdoor art show featuring 40 artists in a beautiful riverbank setting in Maberly, Ontario. The show takes place during all three days of Labour Day weekend.

Peppered across two acres of forest, field, and riverfront, will be a diverse group of artisans specializing in various art forms: pottery, wood, sheet metal, stained glass, artisan soaps, fibre art, jewelry, clothing, blown glass, and many more. The artists have been working hard over the year, and are again ready to pres-

ent to you their wonderful creations. The setting is ideal for relaxing while shopping for the perfect gift for that special someone. Bring your folding chair, and enjoy sitting by the beautiful Fall River with old mill ruins, while savouring goodies from the food booth. Keep an eye out for demonstrations by participating artists. Rose Moses will do beading demos on Sunday, Sept 1, from 1-3pm. New this year, they have expanded their artisan roster to include the local craft beverages of Artizen Kombucha and the craft liquors and liqueurs of Top Shelf Distillers! Parking and entrance are free. Donations welcome. The event will be open

august 3 STREE T PIANO JAM WITH BRADLEY SMITH suckerforaballad.com

august 10

DARREN MICHAEL BOYD & TARA HOLLOWAY darrenboyd.com taraholloway.com

august 17

THE KEMPTVILLE FOLK CLUB facebook.com/p/Kemptville-Folk-Club -100070180846463/

august 24

THE JESSE GREENE BAND thejessegreeneband.com

august 31

JEFF ROGERS jeffrogers.ca

FREE / 1-3 PM / NORTH GRENVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY

all 3 days of the Labour Day long weekend (Aug 31, Sept 1,2). Hours: Sat. & Sun. 10am-5pm; Mon. 10am-2pm. Sundance is located at 126 Maberly Elphin Rd, Maberly, ON (at the intersection of HWY 7 and beautiful County Rd 36). Further details can be found at www.sundancestudio.ca

Come ﬁll your heart with song! Paddle, cycle, skip or sashay down to Kemptville’s Rotary Park to enjoy music played on the happiest instrument on the planet – the UKULELE. 4 String Trio (Mary Moore, Kathy Tang, and Nancy Burns) has been surprising and delighting audiences with their harmonious vocals and infectious melodies. Don’t miss this opportunity to see them live on Thursday, August 8, 5:30 to 7:00.

PHOTO: Jeff Rogers by David Irvine

The

community events listed in this paper are made possible by the support of local businesses. Support your neighbours—shop locally!

Senior Times

The Summer Home Stretch

The brevity of summer seems so apparent when we welcome August. It is the month we hope stretches on with the warmth of the sun and a great harvest. It is also the month we gear up for the Fall activities here at Seniors’ Community Services. From recruiting new volunteers to planning events to facilitating new programs, August brings us a wealth of things to look forward to.

Let’s start in the kitchen. The Diners’ Club is volunteer driven, from the setting up of the dining room, to the homemade meal to the clean up. It is a weekly lunch that offers the opportunity to gather friends, new and old, and enjoy some time together. Currently we are looking for cooks to join our team. The SCS chefs plan the meals and desserts, and prepare and cook one meal a month. The meals are prepared in the kitchen every Wednesday for 20 guests. If you ﬁnd joy in cooking, this is the perfect opportu-

nity to share your culinary skills. Diners’ Club chefs are provided the opportunity to take their Food Handler’s course and are supported by the whole DC team and the volunteer coordinator. We would love to welcome you to our dynamic team! Contact jill.woodley@seniorscs. ca for more information.

“I enjoy the people who work at SCS, the volunteers and the clients with whom I interact,” said Wendy, an SCS Diner’s Club chef.

“I also feel recognized and appreciated by the staﬀ at SCS.”

From the kitchen, we head to the park for our 4th Annual Photos in the Park fundraiser on Saturday, September 28 – a professional photoshoot for your family, friends or your four-legged pal. Treat yourself to some professional photos, and lots of laughter (we do A LOT of that). Over the last three years, your smiles have raised over $8,500 in support of the SCS Transportation Service. We hope to see you this year! Follow our social media and website for all the details.

Paul A. Jansen, BA, LLB.

Rachel S. Jansen, B.Comm., J.D.

In our last article, we wrote about the extraordinary generosity of this community and the B&H Grocery team.

During Seniors Month in June, we hoped to raise awareness and support at the cash. Our posters of clients and volunteers were proudly displayed, and donation cards were at the ready. We were not prepared for the tidal wave of support, and the messages of thanks and hope written on the donation cards. Over the month of June, this community raised $4,000 to help us optimize our kitchen. The space that sees hundreds of meals prepared every month and is the heart of our centre. Thank you for caring for that heart with your incredible generosity. We are so fortunate to have Jim and Judy Beveridge leading the way.

Enjoy this beautiful month. We hope you pop in for a game of cards, or just to say hello. The door is open, and you will always be welcomed with warmth and a smile. www.seniorscs.ca

How to kill yourself slowly with terrible complications

This column should make every doctor, nutritionist, health care worker, and anyone else who is sane shake their heads. A Coney Island competition to devour the most hotdogs in ten minutes should be the shame of New York and the promoters who support it!

Why would people want to ruin their bodies by participating? Why did reporters covering the event celebrate instead of criticizing such an asinine act of self destruction? Barnan and Bailey were right. There’s a sucker born every minute.

The winner was a 26-year-old man from Chicago who gulped down 58 hot dogs! After his bizarre triumph of winning, he was so upbeat that he described it as “a life changing event”. He also remarked that he was getting married. One wonders if it ever occurred to him, or to his bride, the damage he had just inﬂicted on his body. It is hard to imagine a clearer signal that he makes poor life choices and is destined for an unhealthy future.

To succeed in eating so much in ten minutes, he had to subject his stomach to months of preparation. Like boxers who have to train for years to get in condition, to become the hot dog champion, the stomach must be readied into condition. A normal person’s stomach can’t contain that much food. This competitor would have had to enlarge the stomach over a period of time to be able to hold this amount of food shoved in so rapidly.

Was he unaware of the lasting eﬀects on his health? Eating like that is a certain pathway to obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and coronary attack. Or does he not care about his overall health? Nor does he care about the costs everyone else must bear when he needs treatment for these diseases?

But what about women? They have always been the brighter sex. But what a let down when, even without high-powered testosterone, they too compete to swallow hot dogs on Coney Island. A Japanese woman ate 51 in 10 minutes! And even more disturbing, it was the 10th time she had won this prize!

This Coney Island contest has been a crowd pleasing feature since 1916. One man in the crowd wearing a hot dog costume summed up the event. He said, “We are highly competitive and disciplined.” Rather, they could be labelled as disciplined to self-destruction.

It would be better for humanity if this event was never seen on Coney Island or anywhere else. Not on television, in social media, or in the esteemed New York Times. But the promoters are turning a blind eye to the medical damage they have created for the participants. Among the medical concerns would be expanded stomachs that require more food to achieve a sense of fullness. Add chronic injury and inﬂammation to the esophagus, the food pipe and to the stomach. Obesity has plentiful negative health consequences, among them the development of type 2 diabetes and its terrible complications such as blindness, amputation of the legs, kidney failure, and heart disease.

Why does the competition continue? Sadly, Coney Island and promoters are undoubtedly making money. Traditions hold sentimental value. And there is an endless queue of foolish people keen to take up stupid challenges. But yet again, health authorities are missing opportunities. They are determined to make it harder for people to access aﬀordable health promoting products with copious regulation instead of putting an end this sort of senselessness.

We are victims of our own folly. As often warned, “If you keep going to hell, you will eventually get there.”

Sign-up at www.docgiff.com to receive our weekly e-newsletter. For comments, contact-us@docgiff.com. Follow us on Instagram @docgiff and @diana_gifford_jones.

Health Unit raises awareness of harmful algal blooms

Potentially harmful algal blooms including bluegreen algae are a natural seasonal phenomenon that may appear in our lakes, rivers and ponds. Many of these blooms are relatively harmless; however, some species have the potential to produce toxins which may be harmful to people and animals. The presence of a harmful algal bloom and its toxins can only be conﬁrmed through a laboratory test, so it is recommended to take a cautious approach when you suspect a potentially harmful algal bloom. Toxins are released when algal cells break down. These toxins, when released, can cause skin irritation, nausea and vomiting, and in higher concentrations, liver problems.

Algae blooms do degrade with time; however, it is not possible to say whether the toxins have completely left the area. Once the toxin is released from the cell, where it goes depends on the local characteristics of water movement in the area. The toxin will eventually be diluted into the body of water as any other soluble compound.

Drinking Water

The Health Unit advises people using surface water for recreation and drinking, to become familiar with potentially harmful algae so they can make informed decisions on when to avoid contact with the water. Surface water is never a safe source of drinking water without eﬀective treatment. The toxins released by harmful algae are not removed by commonly used treatment methods such as boiling, chlorination or ultraviolet light treatment. Surface water requires specialized treatment. Consult a water treatment specialist if your drinking water comes from a surface body of water such as a lake or river. You may want to choose another source of water for drinking.

Recreational Water Use

Avoid activities that increase your exposure to toxins in the water during an active algae bloom. When deciding whether to resume recreational use of the water after a harmful algae bloom (swimming and water sports) consider the following factors:

- Faster moving water will dilute and move the toxins out of an area more quickly, further decreasing the risk to health. Each property will have a diﬀerent water ﬂow pattern, so a local assessment is useful to further assess risk.

- Skin irritation is the ﬁrst sign that the level of toxin is signiﬁcant in the water, so if this occurs, it is important not to go in the water. A few more days will help to clear the water if it is moving well, unless another bloom has occurred.

- Bacteria, viruses and other microbes that can affect health are commonly found in surface water such as lakes and rivers, so it is important not to swallow the water. Young children are more likely to swallow water so they should be watched carefully when playing or swimming in the water.

- Be cautious about eating fish caught in water where a harmful algae bloom has occurred. Toxins are concentrated in the liver. So avoid consuming the liver, kidneys and other organs of fish caught in an area affected by potentially harmful algae.

Algae exist in nature; however, nutrient levels can contribute to an increase in blooms of algae. You can help reduce nutrient levels entering water bodies by reducing the use of household fertilizers, agricultural runoﬀ, and ensuring your septic system is in good working order.

Residents are encouraged to contact the Spills Action Center at 1-800-268-6060 to report any new potentially harmful algae blooms. If possible, take pictures of an active bloom as this may help identify the type of algae.

For more information about harmful algal blooms including blue-green algae, visit the Health Unit’s Recreational Water page or call 1-800-660-5853. You can also connect with @LGLHealthUnit on Facebook and X or on Instagram @lglhealthunit.z for important public health updates.

Free workshops to explore beneﬁts of estate donations

Estate planning can be complicated, but two upcoming workshops can help ease your mind about one important aspect: how to maximize your legacy while supporting causes close to your heart.

The Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation (RVCF) will host two Planned Giving workshops this summer alongside local ﬁnancial experts and estate lawyers from IG Wealth Management and Kelly Santini LLP. These free coﬀee hours will include presentations and Q&As about the impact of charitable donations on estate taxes, capital gains and other considerations.

The ﬁrst workshop will be held at the Westport Community Arena on Thursday, Aug. 22 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. The second will take place at the Sandy Hill Community Centre on Thursday, Sept. 12 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Registration is required.

It’s a common misconception that leaving charitable donations in your will cuts into your loved ones’ inheritance. In fact, even modest donations can actually increase your estate’s net worth, as they reduce what the estate must pay in taxes, capital gains and other costs. In this way, planned giving is a powerful way to leave a meaningful legacy without sacriﬁcing how you provide for your family’s future.

The workshops will use real-life examples to explore the pros and cons of common donation types, including ﬁnancial donations, appreciated securities, surplus life insurance policies and land donations.

Land donation will be a unique estate planning topic at the workshops, as the Foundation is a certified land trust committed to protecting donated natural properties in perpetuity. Land donations to the Foundation usually include natural features like shorelines, wetlands or forests, or provide habitat for species at risk. Once donated, the estate receives a charitable tax receipt for the fair-market value of the property, which significantly offsets estate taxes and avoids increased capital gains.

Financial and estate planning experts will be available to answer any questions throughout the workshop. Participants are not obligated to donate to the Foundation or to work with IG Wealth Management or Kelly Santini LLP.

Participation is free. Registration is required as space is limited. Email info@rvcf.ca to RSVP to either workshop (please specify in your email) or register through EventBrite at the links below:

- Westport: www.eventbrite.ca/e/free-plannedgiving-workshop-coffee-hour-westport-tickets-925252283487

- Sandy Hill (Ottawa): www.eventbrite.ca/e/freeplanned-giving-workshop-coffee-hour-sandy-hillottawa-tickets-927487840097

Learn more about planned giving at www.rvcf.ca.