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Vol. 75 · # 12 Wednesday, March 28, 2012 GST Included $1.25 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 Clarke students prepare for emotional trip Nikki Martin is one of the 44 Clarke High School students who will be travelling to Europe next Friday to participate in the 95th anniversary of the battle of Vimys Ridge. Students will be visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France and stopping at Juno Beach and the concentration camp at Dachau, Germany. At their last organizing meeting held on Monday afternoon in the school's library, students were asked to bring a copy of their house key and a packed bag or suitcase containing only five selected items for their sentimental value for a symbolic send-off. The purpose of the packed bag, as explained to the students by teacher Tyler Gialits, was for each traveler to examine what is most important to them, and hopefully gain a further sense of empathy for victims of the holocaust. The aim of the exercise was to make the trip to the concentration camp more symbolic and meaningful to the students. Nikki Martin knows that the visit to Dachau will be a tough one for her, and it is hard to prepare for the experience. Items she packed were a quilt her great-grandmother made, a locket her grandmother gave her, a family photo album and a family tree and her favourite book; Harry Potter. Leading up to the trip students were given names of two Canadian soldiers who died overseas to research, and will be placing poppy crosses, they made on Monday afternoon, on the soldiers' graves, one at the Vimy Ridge Memorial and the Clarke High School student Nikki Martin with the five items she would pack if she was told she was being re-located to a concentration camp. The items Nikki shared with her fellow travellers are: a quilt made by her great grandmother, a photo album of her family, a family tree and a locket given to her by her grandmother and her favourite book - Harry Potter. other at the grave site in the Caberate-Rouge cemetery. Nikki told the Orono Times reporter that for her the trip is an once-in-a-lifetime experience. "It will be an amazing experience to see where the Canadians fought," she said. "We never get to see the battlefields," Nikki stated. While admitting she will never fully understand what the Canadian soldiers experienced, Nikki said, "Seeing Vimy Ridge will help me to understand more." Port Granby residents feel let down by project After a hiatus of nearly a year, the Port Granby Project Discussion Group reconvened on Wednesday evening at the Newtonville Community Hall. The approximately 20 Port Granby residents in attendance were informed by General Manager Christine Fahey, that the second phase of the project to relocate approximately 450,000 cubic metres of lowlevel radioactive waste has begun. The waste will be moved from the north shore of Lake Ontario to a new long-term above ground mound facility north of Lakeshore Road. "I know this project has been a long time coming, and I know not everyone in the room is thrilled it is going ahead," Fahey stated. Area residents had long advocated for building a permanent storage facility for the contaminated soil at its current location. The project to move the soil and construct the long term storage facility is expected to take eight years to complete. Gerry Mahoney, president of the South East Clarington Ratepayers' Association (SECRA) acknowledged that while his group had been focused on keeping the dump where it is, they do recognize that the license has been granted and it is time to move on. "We recognize it is time to turn our focus to working in a positive way with everyone here to minimize the impact to all of us," he said. Looking forward, Mahoney claimed, the group's focus would be on how to keep the effects of the project from ruining the lives of those who will be living in the midst of a major construction project. "You won't hear any whining from us", Mahoney stated, "But if something goes wrong, you will hear from us real quick," he warned. Last month a contractor was hired by the Port Granby Project to begin clearing trees from Elliott Road. At Wednesday's meeting a resident living nearest to Elliott Road asked what was going to be done about the noise. He complained that he has had to listen to the wood chipper and the sawing down of trees at 7 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Senior Project Manager, Jimi Arey assured the group that they RADIOACTIVEWASTE see page 3