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2 - Orono Weekly Times 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Subscriptions $42.86 + $2.14 GST = $45.00 per year. No Refunds. Publishing 48 issues annually at the office of publication. "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund for our publishing activities." Wednesday, May 23, 2012 ORONO WEEKLY TIMES - 5310 Main St., P.O. Box 209, Orono, ON L0B 1M0 E-mail: oronotimes@rogers.com or Phone/Fax: 905-983-5301 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart Production and Display Advertising - Roxanne Johnston Classified/Sports The Orono Weekly Times welcomes letters to the editor on subjects of interest to our readers. Opinions expressed to the editor and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Orono Weekly times. Letters must be signed and contain the address and phone number of the writer. Any letter considered unsuitable will not be acknowledged or returned. We reserve the right to edit for length, libel and slander. If your retail or classified ad appears for the first time, please check carefully. Notice of an error must be given before the next issue goes to print. The Orono Weekly Times will not be responsible for the loss or damage of such items. Orono's fresh view What a treat it was to see the village through the eyes of young Sir Sanford Fleming Urban Planning students last month. Having never been to Orono before, the students really did present their view of the village through fresh eyes. Their teacher told us how they were impressed with their first glimpse of Main Street as it appeared coming from the north, going down the hill and arriving into a quaint down town. The owners of Victorias' Attic tell of a similar experience they had a few weeks ago when a recent immigrant from Ireland chanced upon the village and was struck with a wave of nostalgia for his hometown which used to look like this before it was updated and lost its charm. Number one on the students' list of recommended improvements for the village was a public washroom. Business owners in the village have long been aware of the need for a public washroom in town, but have been unable to find a viable solution. It is a known fact that people will stay longer and spend more in your downtown if there is a public washroom available and this becomes more of a need as the population ages. Being that the village is on private septic systems makes the issue more complicated. Newcastle also has a public library downtown, and a Tim Horton's. With all the Tim Horton's coffee consumed in this community, one should have no qualms about using the facilities at Tim Horton's when the need arises.(In the recycling world this is known as product stewardship or Extended Producer Responsibility whereby producers are held responsible for the costs of managing their products at end of life.) It is also payback for the bombardment of our enjoyment of the Canadian countryside having to see Tim Horton's coffee cups litter our roadsides from one end of this country to the other. Downtown Bowmanville has a public washroom in the town hall, and the public library. Orono has a public library, but it is not open most mornings, and is closed on Sundays. Interesting too that the students did not notice we have a recycling receptacle on our Main Street. We have long maintained the two receptacles brought to the village shortly after the Community Improvement Plan was adopted in 2005, are more a vehicle to sell advertising than they are to collect recyclables. After two years of meetings and studies, with the aid of public input a vision for the future look of the downtown core (CIP) was arrived at ­ to maintain the heritage look of the village. These metal bins with billboard style advertising affixed to both sides appeared in town, courtesy of the municipality shortly after the CIP was adopted with no input from the CIP committee members, the BIA or anyone else in the community. The simple fact that the Fleming students were looking for recycling receptacles and couldn't find them, (one of these bins is in front of the convenience store the other is in front of the post office) says they are not serving their intended function and should be considered useless street furniture. More so since they detract from the heritage feel of the downtown core. The students recommended a more visible recycling program, perhaps a blue receptacle in conjunction with our waste receptacles, a concept which makes perfect sense. They also recommended some solar powered decorative street lights which all agreed would be a nice feature. As the students were not burdened with costing any of their ideas they were not constrained by that minor detail. It was encouraging to hear the suggestion that we could use a tourist information centre during the summer months. They loved the ravine behind the main street with the path along the creek, which they suggested would make a great place to eat lunch and read a vintage book from one of the antique stores in town. The students certainly thought downtown Orono was a place they could spend the good part of a day, and now that they have discovered our village they said they would come back. These students discovered what most of us already know, this is a great place to be, and with better signage on the highways more people would discover there are many reasons to pull off and make the detour into town. But until we do something about a public washroom, the message we are sending is, don't come in to town with a full bladder. The BIA has kicked this public washroom idea around long enough, it is time they became relentless and made it happen. Kindness still alive and well in Orono To The Editor: There's still sincere kindness in Orono! I was driving home about 8 PM on Wednesday, May 16th up #42 Durham Regional Road to Concession 4 when my car started steaming. A young woman driving behind me saw the steam and watched me turn the corner with difficulty and park on the side of the road. She stopped and asked if I needed help. Then she asked if I needed a ride home. Since we both live in Orono I said "Oh, Yes please!" and she drove me home. I didn't get her name but I wanted to tell her once again how much I appreciated her kindness and how I truly valued what she did for me. It is so nice to know we live in a place where this type of helpfulness and kindness is still alive and well. Marrion Clements Orono New problems need new rules To The Editor: Re: Letter to the editor, May 16, 2012, from Beth Meszaros: It sounds to me like the GRCA permit process is highly biased against the public and for the applicant. By denying Ms. Meszaros her democratic right to speak, for a group of others, the GRCA, and their lawyer, may be following proper protocol. However, they show a clear lack of initiative to take the necessary steps to ensure the protection of the very lands, species and people in their trust. They lack insight into the reason their authority was created. The bottom line is that they may have rules to follow but those rules are outdated and ineffective. Therefore, GRCA should be refusing all such permits, sounding the alarm, proclaiming the dangers and seeking assistance from those with the authority to fix the problem. Large fill sites can devastate people's lives and have great potential to destroy water, soil and species. Sites should be required to be located well away from where people live, at minimum, and operators should be required to pay for full time conservation staff to monitor activity and do testing. Relying on people who are reaping huge profits to do what's right is ludicrous and so is following rules that were created long before such enterprises existed. But it takes brave defiance to drop the anchor doesn't it? Donna Middleton Newcastle, Ont.