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m ' , "" i * iiÜiiiiiiliâÊiiiili :.L«m. ~ Orono Town Hall BOWMANVILLE library 163 Church Street • • Bowmanville, Ont. L1C $1.00 GST Included Wednesday December 1, 2004 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and^ Tyrone since 1937 Greenbelt Farmers oppose protection plan There is little support among the farming community community for the Province's proposed Greenbelt Protection Plan. At last Thursday's public meeting held at the YWCA in Oshawa, a government panel heard many disparaging comments comments from the agricultural community about the proposed proposed 1.8 million acre proposed proposed Greenbelt. The proposed Greenbelt extends about 325 kilometers from the eastern end of the Oak Ridges Moraine, near Rice Lake, to the Niagara River in the west. The plan sets strict limits on urban . boundaries and sets guidelines guidelines for how lands can be used. If passed, the Greenbelt legislation would protect environmentally sensitive and agricultural land in the Golden Horseshoe from urban development and sprawl. Removal of development potential from farmland in the Greenbelt will result in reduced prices for land owners owners in the protected area according to farmers. This means a reduction in equity, and severely effects their ability ability to secure loans. A grape farmer from Niagara said that the Greenbelt will bring me back to 1973 prices. "It is going to kill me," she stated. She claims the day the Greenbelt Protection Plan is adopted, she will lose most GREENBELT see page 4 Don't miss the ,0 ns. » ®il Church rings out a plea Representatives from the Orono United Church are frustrated, frustrated, but hopeful, about the church's current state of affairs. A committee consisting of long time church members Bill Tamblyn, Willis Barraball and Klaas Schoenmaker, met with the Orono Times on Monday morning ' and described their position as 'precarious'. The church has fallen on hard financial times, and claim (at the current rate) they will only be able to stay open another couple of years. Orono residents have been worshipping in a church at the corner of Park and Church streets since 1847. The present Orono United Church building building was constructed following the February 1949 fire which destroyed the previous church building. Bill Tamblyn says he remembers playing in the church during it's reconstruction reconstruction which was completed in 1951. The congregation was able to burn the mortgage for the new church building in 1954, according to Klaas Schoenmaker. In 1963, a Christian educa tion wing was added to the church building to accommodate accommodate 300 Sunday School children. children. Now, an average of 10 to 15 children attend Sunday School. Orono United Church has been relying on endowment funds for operating capital for the past number of years, and according to Barraball, there is about $80,000 left. With annual expenses of $149,000, they expect that money will run out within the next two years. While all staff have voluntarily voluntarily taken cuts, salaries continue to be the church's biggest budget item at $90,000 annually. The church has a membership membership list of 226, which includes active members and adherents -- persons who had a connection with the church at one time. "In order to keep going, all members and adherents will have to financially support the church" stated Barraball, not just the people that go to church. The church building is used by many community CHURCH see page 7