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Vol. 75 · # 36 Wednesday, September 26, 2012 GST Included $1.35 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono and Starkville since 1937 Snow fees pegged Councillors shot down a proposed $10 fee increase to the senior snow clearing program at Monday's committee meeting. Currently eligible seniors and persons with a physical disability pay $60 per year to participate in the Municipality's sidewalk and driveway winter snow clearing program. The annual fee was established in November 2009 to cover the cost of administering the program. Prior to 2009 there was no cost to eligible seniors and physically disabled persons to participate in the program. The 2008/09 winter season saw the highest participation rate in the program at 781 eligible residents. Participation rates dropped to 293 the following year when the $60 annual fee was initiated, and they continue to drop each year. Last year 234 eligible residents took part in the program. The Operations Department's recommendation that the fee for the service be increased to $70 for the upcoming winter season received no support among council members. "Many seniors in Orono are on a fixed income, and an extra $10 is a lot," Ward 4 Mark Holmes, dishing out some of his home-made chili at the 14th Annual Orono Chili Cook-off Saturday. Holmes won Judges Choice for best chili, and took home third place in the People's Choice for the best chili. Councillor Wendy Partner stated at Monday's committee meeting. Though the senior and disabled person's snow clearing service is not a part of the municipality's core services, according to Mary Novak, Regional Councillor for Wards 1 & 2, the program has been around for such a long time she did not feel she could support an increase in the cost. While Mayor Adrian Foster said he too would not support the recommended program increase cost of $10, he did remark that participating residents were getting good value as the municipality is paying two thirds of the program's cost. The municipality is picking up the tab of $128 for every resident on the program, according to Foster. Based on the number of call outs in an average year (26), municipal staff estimates the cost of running the program for the 2012 ­ 2013 winter season to be $52,388. Dog owners shocked by loss In her 22 years of investigating animal cruelty cases, Debby Houghton says she has never seen anything like what happened to Heidi, the fouryear-old miniature Schnauzer belonging to Bob and Roseanne Heurkens of 64 Church Street, Orono. Sometime on Monday September 17, someone appeared to have entered Heurkens backyard, according to Houghton of the Durham Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA), removed a chain that was not being used, off the deck and attached it to Heidi's collar. The chain was pulled tight and the other end was attached to the deck, causing the little dog to be suspended by its neck, with its back feet barely toughing the ground where it had hung itself. "The family were just devastated," Helen Schmid who lives beside the Heurkens told The Times. "Heidi was just the sweetest dog," she stated. "From what I was shown, there was no way this was a freak accident," Houghton told The Times. "A dog can't hook a chain to a collar and a link of another chain," she stated. "It is just not possible." By the time Houghton arrived on Friday for her investigation, the evidence had been tampered with. Mr. Heurkens had left their two dogs on a running line in the backyard last Monday afternoon when he went to pick his wife up from work. When they came home about an hour and fifteen minutes later they found Heidi hanging about three inches off the ground. In a conversation with the Heurkens on Tuesday afternoon, Bob, a retired firefighter told The Times that he immediately performed CPR on Heidi as her body was still warm when they found her. With all the awful things he has seen after 30 years on the Oshawa Fire Department Heurkens he can't get the image of Heidi hanging from "HEIDI" see page 3