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Vol. 75 · # 20 Wednesday, May 23, 2012 GST Included $1.35 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 WNV making a return Last year the number of people who had reported cases of the West Nile virus (WNV) had increased to 71 people within Ontario, with two of those cases coming from Durham Region. This year the Durham Region Health Department is working to reduce that number, by helping the general public better understand the causes and solutions to stop the WNV. Eight areas in the Region identified as positive mosquito pools (an area habituated with more than 50 mosquitoes at one time) last year. WMV is a mosquito-borne disease that is spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. The mosquitos become infected by feeding on the blood of a variety of animals that carry the virus. The Health Department has found the virus in birds, mosquitoes, horses and humans since 2001, and in 2009 the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) discontinued its dead birds surveillance program as bird that are affected by the WNV cannot affect a WNV see page 5 Good things come in small packages. The folks at St. Saviour's Anglican Church were none too sorry to lose the bear from their indoor yard sale this weekend. Kristen Matchett is now the proud owner of the giant bear. College students make recommendations to BIA One of the first recommendations the Sir Sanford Fleming College students made to the Orono business community was better signage. While the students were impressed with the village once they got into it, they did miss the exit on the 115/35 coming from the north. The Fleming Urban Planning students came to Orono on the only snowy day in February with an eye to refreshing the Community Improvement Plan (CIP). Orono's CIP, which took two years to complete, and was adopted in 2005. The plan is a comprehensive community based planning study which articulates a vision for the village. A few weeks ago the students; April Mitchell and Bethany Waite along with their teacher; Kevin Duguay, met with Orono's Business community and members of the CIP committee to release their findings. While better signage on the surrounding highways was high on the student's list of recommended improvements, their number one item which was no surprise to the business leaders at the meeting was the need for a public washroom in the downtown core. Another recommendation the students made was for a tourist information centre. They suggested the yellow house between the former garage and the Rutherford Parkette at the north end of the downtown core would make an ideal location for the tourist information centre and a public washroom. A feature the students found utterly "charming" were the two "Carriage Ways" on the west side of the street. They suggested adding archways over the entrances and using the space behind for something more interesting than parking. To better facilitate pedestrian traffic, the students recommended two crosswalks, one at Centreview and the other at Park Street. They also suggested that a bus drop off spot at Centreview Street would be of benefit and that a parking audit be undertaken to identify additional parking opportunities. As the students came at urban planning from the Eco Systems Course at Fleming they suggested a number of green initiatives the village could embark on like initiating a recycling program in the downtown core and installing decorative solar street lighting ORONO'S CIP see page 5