ELECTION RESULTS

I am late in getting the results posted so I am sure you have heard...and congratulations to those who won and thank you to those who put their names forward to run.

Melancthon's new Council:

Bill Hill - Mayor
Darren White - Deputy
Janice Elliott-Councillor
John Crowe - Councillor
Nanci Malek - Councillor

Mulmurs new Council:

Paul Mills - Mayor
Rhonda Campbell-Moon-Deputy
Heather Hayes-Councillor
Earl Hawkins-Councillor
Lynn Hilchey Councillor

THREE SLEEPS.....

If you haven't voted in either Melancthon OR Mulmur yet, it is not too late to do so.

It IS too late to mail it, so you must drop your ballot off at the municipal office on Monday up until 8:00 p.m.

In Melancthon, due to provincial rules and the number of ballot boxes to be counted, the entire municipal office will be designated as a polling location and will be off limits to everyone except staff and scrutineers and or candidates (one per ballot box) until after the ballots have been counted.

And here comes the sermon.....or broken record, you decide..

It is your democratic right and arguably your responsibility to vote.

If that doesn't do it for you, think about this:

A municipal government is the closest level of government to the public and the decisions they make impact you most directly and immediately.

Example: If Harper implements a foreign policy, it can take years, if ever to trickle down to impact your life.

BUT if your road doesn't get ploughed it impacts you immediately!!

PLUS, just try calling Harper on the phone at 10 o'clock at night to yell at him about something. More than 2 calls like that and you will probably have a little visit from the police, asking some polite but pointed questions.

But I bet no matter what time you call a local politician they take your call.

And I am going on the record here (and not the broken one) to say that Melancthon politicians do NOT get paid enough. That is one thing that needs to be rectified, no matter who gets in.

CHANGES

Council meeting tonight seemed very mature and a little bit sad. Sort of like high school where it is the last class in June with your Grade 12 year and even the people who have never liked each other from Grade 1 seem to realize the significance of the event.

(Well, except for Daniher. He was more like the kid who showed up in Grade 10 who never fit in with any group and no one liked but he was going home to tell his parents that all the other kids were stupid idiots which is why he had no friends.)

Best of luck was issued to all in attendance (sitting Councillors, outgoing councillors and the new comers in the gallery) and we will all wait for the results on Monday night.

MISCELLANEOUS MUSINGS

Haven't mailed in your ballot yet? No worries. You can STILL vote, just do not mail it. Deliver it to the municipal office Thursday, Friday or Monday.

Last Melancthon Council meeting before the election tomorrow night, plan to attend if you can.

And finally another evening in the series of environmental forums being hosted by the Trinity United Church in Shelburne. FRIDAY October 22, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. Wind energy is the issue being discussed.

DEJAVU ALL OVER AGAIN

Wow, great news.

County Council passed a resolution to have the former Shelburne Hospital site gifted to them.

You know, so they could use it for good things for the community.

Here is the entire article: http://www.orangeville.com/news/local/article/889425--county-wants-shelburne-hospital-site-gifted-to-it

Wait, wait, this reminds me of something.....

OH YEAH.....

Sounds like the railbed deal. CN gifted it to the "County" for a community trail and good works but when push come to shove and Orangeville with its weighted vote stands to make a $2 million signing bonus in having the railbed sale go through for a company to haul aggregate product, boom...only a matter if time before it is gone.

How about using the Shelburne Hospital site for a truly County initiative, something which the Mayor 0f Shelburne is championing....I believe it is called the DEEP plant. After all, it is completely safe because the consultants say so, and it would limit the greenhouse gas emissions because the trucks from the cities who are lining up to dump their (literal) crap there, wouldn't be hauling it all the way to the Grand Valley/Amaranth townline.

And Ed doesn't have to worry like other elected officials about losing votes, after all he never has to run.

Win, win for everybody.

If anyone else has any good idea where Ed can stick his DEEP plant, just post them anonoymously on this blog.

PLEASE GET INVOLVED

In any small way, please get involved.

This 16 year kid from Melancthon, who isn't even old enough to vote, got herself to Queen's Park to protest against the governments lack of water policies, got her picture with Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and got her message "out there".

If you can't do THAT, please think about helping in some, or any small way.

Donate, put up a sign, send an email, write a letter, go to a Council meeting and finally the most important thing you can do is to VOTE!!!

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Melancthon All Candidates Debate

Quotes from the Orangeville Banner (Free Press was too full of inaccuracies-I swear their reporter wasn't even sure which debate he was at)

John Crowe-absent. No excuse was provided which seemed "lame" although rumour has it this was more important than facing the electorate (your decision-but I know most of the men in Melancthon will go with John on this one-you get a a moose ticket you better use it):


Rob Uffen- “There is a perception that council is confused, or not willing, or submissive or passive, or passive aggressive when they should be more engaged with what is going on,”

Bill Hill- Council needs to “aggressively” fight against the province’s Green Energy Act, which is currently handcuffing their control over land use planning.

Darren White - council needs to start taking more initiative, “getting in front of some of these issues, not always coming from behind them.”

Barton Malloy-has seen numerous delegations from residents brushed aside by council. He argued council should have increased setbacks for turbines when they had control — before the Green Energy Act came into effect.

Nancy Malek-believes council needs people like her, who have already been down to Queen’s Park regularly to advocate on behalf of residents and their concerns. “I think we need someone who has the gumption to stand up and do it,

Dennis Sanford -it is important to make sure we don’t lose any more houses and at the very least, for demolitions to happen, there should be a plan in place.

Janice Elliott - Compromising our water system will be one of the priorities that we are going to be following through, We have to be prepared and we feel that we are.”

Wayne Hannon-believes council should be working with the ministry to correct any mistakes in regards to the mapping of the area’s watershed. That is the kind of thing council should be doing and … making sure everything is in place.

Alex Banks- believes the province’s Clean Water Act may help fight threats to the town’s water supply .

See entire article at this link:http://www.orangeville.com/municipalelection2010/orangeville/article/887366--quarry-quarrel-top-issue-at-melancthon-debate

WHAT DO THEY KNOW THAT WE DON'T - WELL FRANKLY, NOTHING

At the Melancthon all candidate's meeting held this week, an incumbent Councillor advised in their closing monologue that:

"a Council can not appear to be hostile or else a proponent does not have to pay the cost of any peer reviews or studies done for or on behalf of the municipality and that the cost would fall to the taxpayers".

The basis for that statement-no idea. Council or the incumbent has certainly not provided any legal opinion or case law to back up this statement. Seems chick...I mean convenient, doesn't it?

Case law titled Save Richmond Farmland Society v. Richmond (c Twp), however provides a different view.

The point in issue in the case is whether an alderman (Councillor) can properly participate in the process leading to the passage of a by-law if his mind is made up before the real decision-making stage of the process is reached.

In fact, the appeal was dismissed when the Supreme Court judge ruled:

"It is a foolish politician who does not listen carefully to and weigh the strongly held opinions of his constituents; if nothing else it is foolish because it may cost him his seat. Mr. Mawby has been part of this debate from its inception. He has heard, I am sure, all the arguments and he has expressed his conclusion and expressed it strongly. He had the right to do so. In my view, the public life of British Columbia would be the poorer if in a matter of this kind a politician must keep an inscrutable face and a silent tongue not disclosing his strongly held opinions lest he be deprived of his vote. There should be no penalty for candour. However distasteful Mr. Mawby's opinions may be to a very large segment of the electors of Richmond, he is entitled to hold them and to express them by his vote at the council table. "

SO, according to the incumbent (based on what???) a Council as a whole can't collectively decide against a decision, but this Supreme Court decision would certainly indicate that individual Councillors can.

So why aren't our Melancthon Councillors, individually listening to their ratepayers and being the municipal Champion that ratepayers are begging for, instead what appears to be listening as a collective whole and reverentially deferring to one large, foreign backed corporation?

Read the entire case is at this link and then YOU decide

http://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcca/doc/1989/1989canlii2718/1989canlii2718.html

GET OFF THE FENCE OR GET IMPALED

I believe we should all be off the fence now after the all candidates debate.

If you aren't, then prepared to be impaled.

AND there were all kinds of pictures of people/animals being impaled on a fence, but I considerately decided not to post one.

You are welcome.

ALL CANDIDATES MEETING

Don't forget about the Melancthon all candidate's meeting tonight at 7 at the Hornings Mills Hall.

Remember it is an all candidates meeting-Q&A's-NOT a debate.

Hope it doesn't turn out like Shelburne's though.

The Annointed, I mean acclaimed Mayor was given a seat at the table, even thought he had no need to campaign.

Did he sit back and give the incumbents and the new politicians a chance to voice their views?

Why no. Eddie doesn't want his apple cart upset, so he took every single opportunity he could to go on and on and on about how the CURRENT team (and I am paraphrasing here) works well together and gets things done and of course doesn't question Ed.

Basically, while running over on his time on most questions, he was campaigning for the incumbents.

Wow. Way to build bridges with new councillors, just in case your ratepayers decides that change is needed. Although if King Eddie says no change is needed, except change as it singlehandlely benefits him. (DEEP, YMCA, out of town children user fees in parks, etc. etc.)

But I digress. Don't forget about the all candidates meeting tonight in Melancthon at 7 at the Hall.

ECO FORUM ON WIND TURBINES

The next Eco Forum will be from 7-9pm on Oct. 22nd at Trinity United Church in Shelburne. The topic is Wind Turbine Concerns.

In the meantime, here is an article everyone might want to read:

Ted Cowan, Ontario Federation of Agriculture – Warns Farmers to be Careful When Dealing with the Wind Industry http://windfarms.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/ted-cowan-ontario-federation-of-agriculture-warns-farmers-to-be-careful-when-dealing-with-the-wind-industry/

Excerpts:

“I’ve seen over 30 leases, and there are problems with every one,” said Cowan..

Cowan said some wind power companies are not giving a fair share of their profits...

Farmers were also cautioned on assessment and tax implications. “It’s your farm – it’s your taxes,” said Cowan, noting that the landowner was ultimately responsible for taxes on their property. In addition, Cowan said there was no guarantee that the provincially imposed caps on assessments and taxes would remain in the future.
“I don’t know, taxes could be 50 times of what they are right now,” he said.

TRASH TALK

So let us not get into the science of the DEEP plant right now, because of course Shelburne Mayor Ed Crewson, the DEEP champion, wants to bully and beat down anyone who HE says isn't an expert who might weigh in on the issue with an opinion-to which I thought the Canadian Constitution guaranteed all Canadians, but I must be wrong there.

Firstly, who ARE Ed's experts? Trevor Lewis of the County of Dufferin? Not sure when he got his science degree. Other County staff? Same thing. I know for damn sure Ed has no science degree.

So, based on Ed's criteria, if citizen's can't criticize because they aren't scientists, then staff can't be doing research to support what Ed, I mean the County, wants either.

I will go out on a limb here and suggest the ONLY scientific evidence that has been accepted by Ed, whoops, I mean the County, is by the scientists who work for the gasification people, who (altogether now-get paid for selling a product). If I am wrong, then I will stand corrected.

Secondly:Shelburne is desperate to find a place to send their garbage, because they have no landfill and haven't for almost 25 years. They were so desperate years ago that Council limited their peons, I mean ratepayers to two bags of garbage per week.

However an elected official from Shelburne, who realized his family generated more than 2 bags of garbage a week, saw nothing wrong in taking HIS trash to a neighbouring landfill (more on that another day).

Ed's logic: We should all be working for the greater good by helping HIM pay for a YMCA to be located in Ed's town and championed by one of Ed's biggest customers in his insurance business, and help HIS ratepayers subsidize the cost of disposing of THEIR garbage because we are one County and we need to support and blah, blah, blah.

BUT, this is the same Mayor who went on a rant a few years ago about HIS taxpayers were paying taxes to cut grass and keep the parks in Shelburne up to date while OUT of town kids played on HIS parks without contributing to the maintenance so he implemented an OUT of town kid user fee. He even battled an 80 year old woman in letters to editors when she questioned this decision. (Bully and beatdown for sure.)

But NOW, we are all to be one big happy family and take the financial hit because Eddie needs to keep HIS taxpayers costs down.

Think we outsiders aren't subsidizing Shelburne's garbage removal:

"Several local municipalities have objected to an initiative to have the county take over disposal responsibilities for their waste, when they have their own landfill sites where they could handle it themselves more economically."

“During the presentation at Mono, Mayor Crewson pointed out that Michigan, a destination for much of the trash generated in the GTA and other parts of southern Ontario, is poised to close its borders to such waste within the next couple of years. For those communities without their own landfills, “I expect tipping fees will increase dramatically,” speculating they could exceed $100 per ton.
http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2010-05-13/Front_Page/County_reps_talk_trash_at_council_meetings.html

Can't blame him if he gets his way. A politician should be pushing his own muncipality's agenda.

We SHOULD be blaming all the non-Shelburne and Orangeville politicians who voted for this, especially the ones who have active landfills.

To add insult to injury, according to this article, there isn't even an equalization of services. Melancthon will NOT be getting door to door pick up the way everyone else is, but we will be helping to pay for everyone else's door to door pick up.

Great, just great.

There is a blog coming in the next week about how Ed can reduce his municipality's taxes substantially and it involves the police service.

Stay tuned.

"DEEP" HYPOCRITICAL ACTIONS

At the link below is this comment posted by Peter Turrell:

Jane Pepino is doing another not in my back yard. She is part of Core who are about to fight the monster quarry in Melancthon while destroying the community of Grand Valley defending Orica Canada with an Ammonium Nitrate Storage facility next to the most significant wetland in southern Ontario (Luther Marsh). The good news is the toxic water from the quarry will have the Ammonium Nitrate from the facility she is defending.Please come and help Grand Valley on November 3/09 for our OMB hearing.Hail Queen Nimby

http://windfarms.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/not-in-my-backyard-jane-pepino/

Peter Turrell is known to be an adament opponent of Orica, because of course it is in HIS backyard. He has made many unsubstantiated public accusations against Jane Pepino, which why she hasn't sued him by now I have no idea. Probably because he is a non-entity in the big game.

HOWEVER, talk about hypocritical.

In 2006, Shelburne committeed $50,000 to have Peter Turrell do a feasibility study on a gasification plant. Eddie Crewson was supporting Peter wholeheartedly. Here is a link to the 2006 article.http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2006-03-02/Front_Page/003.html

SO it seems if Peter is getting paid for something, he has no crisis of conscience if it is in someone else's backyard, but by God, no one else better do that.

In fact when there is opposition to this project, Champion Eddie cites the ludicrous claim that the Sierra Club supports gasification plants. Why? Well because Peter, probably one of millions of people who could come up with the membership fee to the Sierra Club (now know as Environmental Defence) is a member.

Wow, who knew that because you could afford a membership or made a donation you got to individually set policy and speak for the entire organization. That would be kind of like everyone who pays taxes in Shelburne gets to speak for the corporation and their truth is the word.

But Eddie has never let the truth get in the way of getting what he wants.

I recall in the early 2000's when Eddie called an emergency meeting which was held on a Saturday.

EVERY single person at that meeting heard the same thing out of Eddie's mouth which was: If you do NOT support amalgamation today, the province will do it on Monday.

There were provincial reps at that Saturday meeting just looked at each other like WTF. As you all know, amalgamation didn't happen, despite the Champion of the day, Eddie and his "truthiness". The province's position is and always HAS been it is a local matter which needs a local solution. (And I can say that as truth, because I pay provincial taxes, which makes me a spokesperson, right Peter and Ed?)

Tommorow-watch for the TRUTH about why Shelburne Council is pretty desperate to have some way of getting rid of garbage.

QUICK AND EASY PUMPKIN PIE RECEIPE

Too busy enjoying the nice weather to blog. If you are rushed for time in turkey preparations tomorrow, try this quick and easy pie receipe.

ENJOY..

I DON'T THINK THIS IS WHAT OUR FOREFATHERS HAD IN MIND

I am sure anyone over the age of 40 knows the tune and lyrics to the Red River Valley. I remember in particular it being drummed into us in Grade 5.

Here is a reminder....

CHORUS:
Come and sit by my side, if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Just remember the Red River Valley
And the cowboy who loved you so true

Fast forward to today.

This is OUR generation's Red River Valley, thanks to governments who go for the quick fix, instead of the greater good. Governments (at all levels) who have have been easily swayed by the economic development argument (and $$ backing their party) instead of seeing it for what it is:

MILLIONS of dollars for the rich who back these dubious schemes in the name of "economic development".

Good news though. The Hungarian Government says the red sludge toxicity level is dropping. Whew, that is a relief.

At this rate human habitation should occur about the same time as Chernobyl.

I believe this little guy does some contract work for hedgehog fund real estate companies in both Hungary and Russia, just in case anyone is interested in an inexpensive summer place. There is a firesale on waterfronts lots right now.

GET WELL

We need everyone in fighting form for the all candidates debate.

DATE NIGHT

Start yer engines and mark yer calendars:

Melancthon All Candidates Debate- October 12, 2010 at Hornings Mills Hall 7:00 p.m.

All qualified electors MUST attend.

But you do not have to be an elector to attend or ask questions.

Remember, what happens in Melancthon is not going to stay in Melancthon, well except for a 200 foot deep, 2,400 acre hole in the ground.

A TREND

Hey...

I spotted a trend.

Lets see if the candidates and incumbents can too.

Flamborough-proposed mega quarry (means mining below the water table, so it is NOT a gravel pit)

Action: as soon as trees started being felled a local councillor championed the cause AGAINST the proposal, even before there was a proposal in front of Council.

She rallied the health unit, the upper tier council, the neighbouring municipalities, the residents and was their visible leader in the battle. She went to Queen's Park, she held rallies, she mustered financial support from Council and worked WITH her ratepayers group. She had Council pass bylaws and implement a $100,000.00 aggregate application fee.

End result? The province stopped the proposed quarry. Never even got to the OMB stage. http://www.stopthequarry.ca/

Oakville-proposed gasification plant in the midst of a residential neighbourhood bordering Oakville/Mississauga

Action: Both municipalities joined forces with their ratepayers organization. They rallied the health unit, the upper tier, the neighbouring municipalities, the residents and provided visible leadership in the battle. They went to Queen's Park, attended rallies, did studies, set aside money for the cause and worked WITH their ratepayers group in opposition. Why they even called Erin Brokovitch in to save the day.

End result? The province stopped the plant from going forward. Never even got to the OMB stage. http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Ontario+cancels+billion+TransCanada+power+plant/3640097/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

Melancthon - proposed 2,400 acre 200 foot deep open pit limestone mine on prime agricultural land.

Action: nothing, zip, nil. Well that isn't entirely true. The ratepayers group and individual citizens have made proposal after proposal after proposal to Council over the past two years but Council has taken no action on any of those recommendations (recap: demolition control bylaw, $100,000.00 aggregate application fee, specialty crop designation, etc. etc. etc.) There has been a cautious response from sitting Councillors wherein they have stated ad nausem that they can take NO action whatsoever or do ANYTHING whatsoever until an application is in front of them. (My own comment: at which time we all know it will be too late to do anything.)

End result? Armageddon.

I BET ALL THE CONSULTANTS SAID THIS WAS SAFE TOO

"Police in Hungary have opened a criminal negligence inquiry after leaking chemical sludge caused the country's worst ecological disaster. "

Read all about it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11488386

Just to recap, several people died and over 100 were hospitalised in western Hungary after a containment dam around the waste reservoir of an aluminium plant owned by MAL Magyar Aluminium in Ajka, broke last week, spewing a river of red toxic chemicals throughout the land.

If I were a betting man, I would BET that all the consultants hired by the company to PROVE to the government that this industry would be a good thing for economic development and jobs said that this would be a good thing for economic development and jobs.

I would FURTHER bet that anyone who objected to this in the beginning were pooh poohed, saying what do they know, the "experts" know better. The companys website, when you translate it into English says:

Our company is deeply committed to minimizing the negative impacts of European standards. Modern technologies and equipment to serve the natural waters and the protection of air purity. Well localized, well-built, reliable storage system with monitor is intended for the storage of red mud. We take care of the red mud-spaces recultivation, the constant pool already filled with land and vegetation cover. The ISO 14001 environmental management system was introduced in 1999. http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=hu&u=http://www.mal.hu/&ei=VjCtTInpE5K1ngeu4K20Bw&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDMQ7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DMAL%2BMagyar%2BAluminium%2Bin%2BAjka%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26prmd%3Do

Honestly, how could the uninformed NOT believe this? It IS on the internet that they are protecting the environment and the company who is trying to make a kazillion dollars off this slipshod and highly dangerous facility should NOT be doubted. In fact how dare anyone doubt the technology.

I wonder if anyone from the County and DEEP is listening? Nah, probably not.

VOTE BY MAIL

Many people in Mulmur and Melancthon have received their vote by mail kits already.

If you don't have yours, contact the Clerk of your municipality to get one.

Be sure to vote by mail on or before the date indicated. Your ballot is only guaranteed to get to the municipal office on or before October 25 IF you mail it on time.

If you decide to wait until after the mailing cut off time, deliver your ballot to the municipal office. Do not mail it or it may not arrive in time to be counted.

MUST BE AN EASIER WAY

Honest to God JD, there must an easier way to get out of helping with the fall harvest!!

Be well and behave.