By Stephen Vance, Staff
If you haven’t been picking up the print edition of The Meaford Independent, you’ve been missing the 3 Rs – Rants, Raves & Rumours! As a special Long Weekend bonus, this week we are also publishing the 3 Rs online this week so our readers can see what they’ve been missing. Pick up a print copy of The Meaford Independent today to support truly local, truly independent media!
This Week’s Rants:
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I was surprised last week when I visited the websites for each of our three local schools in hopes of gathering some pre-school year information for an article only to find nothing. No link to a list of important things for parents to know, no handy list of items students should purchase prior to the school year, no information for parents who have recently moved to the community. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. My blood was boiling as a reporter trying to do some research – I can only imagine how infuriating it could have been if I were a parent looking for the same information. The school board needs to step up its communication, and have some easily accessible, easy-to-find information in parents’ hands (or on their screens).
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I’ve had people contact me about damage to campaign signs, and I’ve seen a couple myself in my recent travels. Seriously? Is this still a thing? Have we as a society not yet matured to the point that for six weeks… err… eleven weeks during an election campaign, we can just leave those signs alone? What is accomplished by kicking a hole in a sign, or knocking it over? It is silly, and we should be well beyond that kind of stupidity. [Insert Public Service Announcement Here: Oh yeah, it’s also a crime to steal, damage, vandalize, or otherwise render a campaign sign useless. There are charges like mischief and vandalism, there are fines, and in what would have to be an outrageously serious case, jail time. So there’s that.]
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Where the heck is the Ontario Liberal government on the need to find doctors for small rural communities like Meaford? We’ve done our part in this town. We’ve fundraised to build a new medical centre because doctors want that kind of facility, members of our community have donated land, money, time, our council has contributed funding, and they along with staff have done everything within their limited powers and resources to lure doctors to our community as our current doctors continue to retire, and the result? One damned doctor has been found. That is not sufficient, Premier Wynne and Health Minister Hoskins. Our residents and our local government have done more than our share, it’s time for the province to do its share, and find doctors for rural communities.
This Week’s Raves:
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The Tom Thomson Trail between Meaford and Owen Sound is nearing completion. Imagine the dedication required for volunteers to plug away for 14 years, finding helpers when they could be found, and funding in the rare instances that it might be available, and to work with both municipalities along with some property owners in order to make the trail a reality. It might sound like a simple thing to make a trail from Meaford to Owen Sound, but it is actually a huge undertaking, and all who have been involved in the initiative should be applauded. In our neck of the woods, we might take trails for granted, but there are a whole lot of people to the south of us who have limited access to nature trails, and trails are an important component of the growing eco-tourism industry, so an extra trail, blazed by volunteers, can’t hurt our efforts to attract more tourist dollars.
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I’ve been impressed by the amazing selection of meats and produce at the Meaford Farmers’ Market over the last few weeks. It’s encouraging to see that wide a selection of goods in this early harvest season. Every vendor I’ve talked to has said it has been a fantastic season thus far. There’s a wonderful energy at the farmers’ market – must be what gives the radishes I bought a couple of weeks ago such great zing!
This Week’s Rumours:
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When I first started seeing links to articles with headlines like “Republican Candidate Considers Building Wall Along Canadian Border”, I thought that an article from the news-parody website The Onion must have caught fire and blown into a huge rumour. After clicking and reading several articles I discovered that it wasn’t a rumour at all. I was stunned by the amazing stupidity our neighbours to the south are able to generate and display for the world’s amusement. It was little surprise however, that the candidate with the bright idea was none other than Koch-brother-owned Scott Walker, who has never shied away from saying something stupid. As ridiculous as the notion of a wall along the Canadian/US border is, I will share a funny moment from last year’s municipal election campaign time, when a wonderfully intelligent and insightful rural reader visited The Meaford Independent office to discuss their frustration with urban Meaford, and that discussion, as sometimes seems to happen, morphed into a discussion about de-amalgamation, after which, at the peak of a particularly passionate and logical tirade, he smacked his hand on his knee and exclaimed, “They should just build a damned wall,” so, I suppose it happens.
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