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2 - Oroiio Weekly Times, Wednesday, August i„ 2001 ocna (+cna Weekly Times Subscriptions $28.04 + $1.96 G.S.T. = $30.00/year Publications Mail Registration No. 09301 . Agreement No. 40012366 Publishing 50 Issues Annually at the Office of Publication "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our mailing costs." 5310 Main Street, P.O. Box 209, Orono, Ontario LOB 1M0 E-Mail Address: oronotimes@speedline.ca Phone/Fax (905) 983-5301 .un. -j Serving East Oarington and beyond since 1937 Publisher/Editor Margaret Zwart ^ c t/L(kC° 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. • Conservative freeze begins meltdown The Province's announcement on May 17 putting in place a six month moratorium on new development on the Oak Ridges Moraine was met with more titan a little skepticism at the time, and apparently not without reason. It was widely felt .that the announcement was aimed at garnering garnering Tory support in the upcoming Vaughan-King-Aurora riding riding hi -election. 'The Conservatives lost the seat to the Liberals, and two months into the freeze, 37 development applications including two in Uxbridge were exempted. Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Chris Hodgson stated stated in his July 19th News Release that the regulation will allow a number of projects that are already far along in the planning approval process to go ahead. "A11 projects being allowed to proceed have passed the point at which the public had an opportunity opportunity to provide input or to object." The News Release was titled 'Regulation balances fairness and Oak Ridges Moraine protection.' - If it was the government's intention to exempt certain developments developments from the moratorium, in all fairness to the public, they should have announced that at the time they announced the six month freeze. On June 28 of this year, Hodgson announced who the hand picked members of his inter-ministry team were. The team, chaired by former Ministry of Natural Resources deputy minister minister Ron Vrancart, would lead a consultation process that would provide the opportunity for a consensus among stakeholders on the moraine. A news release on that same date from Minister •Hodgson stated, "...the government froze development on the moraine for six months in order to undertake a consultation on how the moraine should be protected." Less than four weeks later, without a single completed report from the inter-ministry team, the plug's been pulled On the freeze. One wonders how much of the Oak Ridges Moraine is really protected in this freeze, and under what circumstances? Letters J emer not studl neede If we tain care based mlnli mentis Euthanasia in our future Th e Harris government is spending $1.4 million on a ridiculous six page public questionnaire to review the obvious negative impact from reduced funding for health care. We have established a billio ns of dollar slush fund at the expense of the sick and needy. Th e Harris gov eminent apparently fails to realize that health care; especially *ency services ... canne canne realistically "time ed" to determine the d number of personnel, seriously wish to main- a high level of health Services, . . . it must be on maximum . . not um projected require- mi The senior citizen percentage percentage of Canada's population is rising steadily and is out pacing the tax base. This certainly certainly increases the financial pressure and euthanasia should be and will be i , , a necessary part of our future health care system. Sincerely Kelly Adams Thanks again Dear Madam: You may recall that my wife and I visited Orono on the 29th of June and during this time we met with you and looked at some old issues of your paper in February 1941 which contained an article article on the front page concerning concerning the death of James Moflfatt. We both enjoyed the visit and thought what a beautiful town (should it be Township?) Orono is and how well kept and clean everything was. WOOF M MM21JUWA DOB CAUSE PN2AN0IA Later on that day we had a picnic lunch in the very attractive park. You should be very proud of this town. We would also like to thank you for the time and effort you gave to us on our search into the past. Later that day we visited the graveyard graveyard and found James Moffatt's resting place together with his wife Anna- bella, as well as his fathers grave. James Moffatt did not have any children in Canada (but he did father a child, bom in England in 1895 who was my father) but he was one of 8 children, and descendants of this family must be alive today; perhaps in the area still. I would Idve to correspond with anyone of these if they were interested in this intriguing story. 1 hope you may,consider publishing this letter and once again thanks for the help you gave us in June this year. Yours sincerely Clive H K Moffat. 15 Chapel Row, Ashley Newmarket, Suffolk CB89ED United Kingdom Bogged down in the Mill Pond Dear Editor, Dorothy Payne wrote (July 12) about the good old days in the miller's house when the pond was used for boating, swimming, skating and ice cutting. The gentlemanly Harry Rowe appears before me today, a knight in shining armour, or rather in shimmering shimmering white flour dust, his boots polished by the grain. He was not in the least above sharing worldly wisdom with a callow farm boy, who was basking in the double glory of being in charge of his very first team and wagon load of grain to be milled, and the sight of a real live, winsome miller's daughter. daughter. What a sad heritage is outlined outlined in your excellent interview interview with Mark Peacock of the Ganaraskà Conservation Authority. The revered Mill Pond will fast become a bog, a slough, a swamp, a marsh, or euphemistically, a "wetland," Not in a natural location, but in a manmade artificial one right on the doorstep of Orono. A sluggish, tepid drainage canal will flow through it; not a happy, well shaded, cool babbling brook, as it is Both up and downstream. downstream. This on a major cold water fishing tributary. The Ministry is basing its so called Environmental Assessment choice to simply build a weir perpetuating the situation on its understanding that the community, wants to keep the pond. This is simply a fond illusion. Perhaps it is not too late to hope that between the Ministry, Municipality and adjoining owners some more inventive and attractive solution solution may be engineered. Something perhaps as inventive inventive as were our illustrious forefathers in the building of the pond, by restoring it closer to a state of nature and to today's environmental policy and practice. The relentless advance of silt and weeds (to say nothing of the dreaded loosestrife) must be reversed! Harry Rowe, the miller, would hear of nothing else. Henry Sissons July 31/01