Stephen Vance, Editor
December has arrived, the holiday season is upon us. Colourful lights twinkle in the night, storefronts are adorned with shiny displays, carols stream through unseen speakers... and as at any other time of year, moronic idiots continue to drink and drive.
Sorry, did 'moronic idiots' sound a little harsh? How about selfish potential murderers? Vehicular terrorists?
Police services across...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Meaford Mayor Barb Clumpus referred to the budget approved by council to be presented at the December 5 statutory public meeting as “remarkable”, however, while it is a very good budget, “remarkable” is not the word I would use.
After all, space travel is pretty remarkable, the fact that we can send photos, videos, and text through the...
Stephen Vance, Editor
If you've been feeling a sense of deja vu after reading after reading about the Meaford Library Board terminating the contract with the Owen Sound North Grey Union Public Library (OSNGUPL) which allows Sydenham residents full use of the facility, it's because we were in pretty much the same situation five years ago.The Meaford library board sees...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Today is Remembrance Day. A time when we as a nation (as an entire Commonwealth in fact) take some time to stop and reflect on war and the countrymen (and women) who we have lost in battle, defending freedom.I've never been personally touched by war. Like many in this fine nation, I am the first generation of...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Remember when public input sessions for municipal budgets would see turnouts of 150 (mostly angry) residents or more? My, how things have changed – but why?
Three public input sessions for the 2017 municipal budget were held last week in Annan, Bognor, and at the Riverside Community Centre, and none of the three meetings managed to attract even...
Stephen Vance, Editor
In a couple of weeks this little community newspaper turns seven years old. While I would normally wait until closer to our actual birthday to thank our readers, these days November is smack dab in the middle of municipal budget season (anyone remember when Meaford's municipal budget season was in March? My, how some things have improved),...
Stephen Vance, Editor
I've covered municipal politics in this town for long enough to know that the relatively small property tax increase of three percent (with proposed budget enhancements included) will infuriate some folks, it will anger some others, and while most people will simply shrug their shoulders and cough up the extra fifty bucks next year, there will also...
Stephen Vance, Editor
When Meaford's council was presented with the most recent proposal for a location for our library, my first thought was that it made a lot of sense. After mulling over the idea for the past week, I'm even more convinced that the building at 390 Sykes Street would make a great location for a library.The facility is...
Stephen Vance, Editor
Much has been made recently about inter-community transit links. The province is talking about the need to establish public transit links between rural communities, Grey County has inter-community transit on their radar,and Meaford's municipal staff had signalled a desire to explore the possibility of establishing public transit links between the neighbouring communities of Owen Sound to the...
Stephen Vance, Editor
It's not uncommon for people to launch into attack mode whenever they hear that their council has been presented with a proposal that could cost the municipality (and ultimately ratepayers' pocketbooks) in the neighbourhood of $5 million (which is understandable - $5 million is a pretty expensive neighbourhood).
That's what I was thinking as I took in...
