The County spends a lot of money on insurance—$834,610 last year—up 12 per cent over the year before. Three per cent of every dollar raised in taxes goes to pay the County’s insurance bill.

Last year, facing its third major increase in as many years, council agreed to pay the premium but vowed it would go to the marketplace in 2012 and seek competitive bids for its insurance coverage— something it hasn’t done since at least 2006. But last Thursday, council quietly agreed to renew its insurance coverage for another year—until June 2013. No questions. No debate. No vote . The County’s finance chief Susan Turnbull explained her department simply ran out of time to prepare tender documents in time for this year.

“Our workload precluded it,” said Turnbull. “So we delayed it a year. Our plan is to put it out to tender once every term of council.”

It was a decision made somewhat easier to swallow as the premium for this year’s insurance coverage actually declined 1.7 per cent to $820,694. Still over the last four years the municipality’s insurance coverage, including this year’s decline, is up on average six per cent per year.

This rose-breasted grosbeak likely flew across Lake Ontario Friday night on its way north before it was ensnared in nets at Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory. It was later released to continue its journey.

He watched the game intently, with “football eyes.” It is a game he has chosen to play professionally, and he will begin his fifth season with the Green Riders this coming season. But it was not always a football world for Robb Bagg.

He played ‘AAA’ hockey for many years, until Grade 11, in the Kingston area. He played a few exhibition games for the Voyageurs and Coach Evan Robinson, against the Wellington Dukes. But it was on a sunny summer afternoon that he had a significant revelation.

He was tossing the football in the back yard home of his grandfather, Bob Pearson. His grandfather told me that he knew Robb was a fine athlete. “I could tell that Robb had the makings of a fine football player. He had soft hands. He had participated in several track championships, so we knew he could run.” Bagg credits his grandfather for his move to football from hockey.

“At that stage of the game, I had had enough hockey. I was limited in the number of other sports I could play at school. When I left the ‘AAA’ program, I played high school hockey at Frontenac Secondary School. That’s when I started to play football, in Grade 11, and lacrosse as well. I ran track too, and remember running the 800 metres at OFSSA here in Belleville in 2001.”

He told me that two of his high school friends excelled at that event. Dylan Wykes is a marathon runner. Nate Brennan runs the 800-metre event. Both have qualified to run at the Olympics in London this summer.

Bagg played all of his university football at Queen’s. One of his teammates was Jimmy Allin, who starred in the Belleville Minor Football League. Allin went to Quinte Secondary School, then had an outstanding career at Queen’s. He is currently studying medicine in Brisbane, Australia.

Bagg hopes to spend this coming November preparing for the Grey Cup. He started for the Riders in the Grey Cup game in 2009, and had three catches for 27 yards, but was sidelined with a separated shoulder in the first quarter. He spent the entire season last year on the injured reserve list, recuperating from a knee injury.

Bagg was most impressed with the play on the field in Belleville. “This is really great,” he told me. “It’s nice to see us catching up with Canada West, as they have had similar programs for many years.”

He chuckled when I told him that the most successful professional athletes to come out of the Belleville Football program are Andrew Shaw, Andrew Raycroft, and Brad Richardson. They are all current NHL players, but benefited from the training at the minor level.

Bagg had to leave before the game ended, as he had a function to attend as a volunteer for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

sportslices.blogspot.com

Guido Basso (centre) will perform on the opening and closing nights of the Jazz Festival, with Russ Little on Wednesday at the Waring House and with his old friends of The Boss Brass on Sunday night at the Regent Theatre.

County Jazz Festival unveils 2012 headliners

It may be the best lineup for the County’s Jazz Festival ever. That was the prevailing view among volunteers, sponsors and well-wishers on hand to kick off the annual week-long celebration of jazz held amid the bustling tasting room of Huff Estates Winery on Friday afternoon.

Perhaps the highest of the highlights was the announcement that on Sunday, August 19, the Regent Theatre will be the scene of a first-ever reunion on The Boss Brass since the death of Rob McConnell in 2010. Mc- Connell, the band’s leader, let it be known that he did not want his band performing after he was gone. The jazz legend want to free his band members to make their own mark, not be trapped in his shadow, reliving fading glory.

But for one night only, the band is getting back together for one very special night of celebration—of Rob McConnell and the music that made The Boss Brass perhaps the most entertaining act in Canadian jazz history. It wasn’t easy. It is a project only made possible through the impressive connections and relationships belonging to the Festival’s Creative Director Brian Barlow and artist-in-residence Guido Basso. Basso performed with McConnell for more than 40 years. The special event is made possible with the sponsorship of Lanny Huff.

Kicking off the festival, Guido Basso will be joined by trombonist Russ Little. Little, too, was a regular performer in The Boss Brass. While jazz performing and arranging has been his focus, Little has found success in other genres as well. He was an original member of the 70s rock group Lighthouse, performing on hits such as Sunny Days and One Fine Morning. Little has also had a distinguished career, writing and conducting music for television specials and series including SCTV with John Candy and Eugene Levy. Little began his career performing in the Woody Herman Orchestra and the County Basie Orchestra. Last year Little released his fourth album.

Festival Creative Director Brian Barlow with sponsors Scott Wentworth and Elizabeth Crombie.

Little and Basso perform at Waring Hall on Wednesday August 15.

On Thursday Emilie- Claire Barlow takes the Regent Stage. Barlow has been called “the next best thing in jazz.” She has been nominated for a pair of Juno Awards and named Female Vocalist of the Year in the National Jazz Awards.

Through her rise to prominence over the past decade, her schedule has precluded performing in the County Jazz Festival— this despite the fact that her dad, Brian, is its creative director.

“We are fixing this in August,” said a very proud dad.

Emilie-Claire’s most recent album, her eighth, is titled The Beat Goes On and features music inspired the 60s. It debuted in the number one spot on the Neilson Soundscan Jazz Charts in Canada.

New York City jazz star Louis Hayes brings his tribute to Cannonball Adderley to the Regent Theatre on the Friday night of the Festival.

Barlow suggests that while Hayes’s name may not be familiar to all jazz fans, the granddaddy of jazz drumming is a giant in the U.S. music scene, having performed with some of the biggest names over that past half century— names such as John Coltrane, Kenny Barron, Freddie Hubbard and Booker Little. Perhaps his two most important associations include two years playing drums with Oscar Peterson and, before that, six years with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, best known as one of the defining interpreters of Be Bop.

Clair Devlin of the Nepean All City Jazz Band has been named the winner of the 2012 TD Canada Trust Rising Young Star.

On Saturday night the night will be given over to the music of George Shearing. Born blind, the son of working class parents in England learned piano at age three. He went on to compose more than 300 titles, including Lullaby in Birdland, and had multiple albums reside on Billboard charts. Shearing died last November at the age of 91. The tribute features Don Thompson on vibes, Reg Schwager on guitar, Terry Clarke on drums and Neil Swainson on bass. All were members of Shearing’s band. The group will be joined by Bernie Senensky on piano.

While a thrilling lineup for many jazz fans— the August festival will be a particularly momentous occasion for one 17 year old. Claire Devlin of Nepean was named the Rising Young Star as part of the TD Canada Trust Jazz Education Program in April. As reward for her achievement, Devlin will perform with each of the headline acts—absorbing more jazz history in five nights than others will accumulate in a lifetime.

Tickets are on sale now at the Regent Theatre box office.

Is your home on the list? If so your rights as a homeowner are set to be diminished just a bit at the next meeting of council. Or looked at another way—the community just won 60 days to talk you out of, or otherwise prevent you from, demolishing your historic home.

A committee of council approved the fourth installment to the Heritage Inventory Listing of properties of cultural value or interest as part of the Prince Edward County Heritage Properties Register. These are properties not currently designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Owners of properties on the list do not require any special permission for renovation, additions or alterations to their buildings, but they must give the municipality 60 days notice of their intention to demolish the building.

Despite the inclusion of their homes on this registry, and the added restriction to their property, none of the property owners have yet been identified of the change of status. Homeowners will only be notified once council endorses the listing addition.

The addition of 25 homes to the listing conjured memories of the brick church on Main Street in Picton. When it learned the church’s owners were seeking to demolish the building, council had, under its regulations, just a few days to intervene. In the end a rogue contractor took matters into his own hands, smashing a massive hole into the side of the church. The public outcry that followed forced council to do more to protect its built cultural heritage.

That resulted in a number of measures including the development of the Heritage Inventory Listing. But as it has moved to protect the County’s cultural heritage, council has struggled to find the right balance between private property rights and the rights of the community to protect its heritage.

Several councillors had difficulty with the notion that a resident’s home had been added to the list and a restriction placed upon it without prior notification.

Planning Commissioner Gerry Murphy explained that once the list was approved by council homeowners would indeed be notified. He also said homeowners could choose to have their homes removed from the list.

But once the listing is approved the homeowner must make a formal request to council to have it removed. Sophiasburgh Councillor Terry Shortt worried this was too great a hurdle for families unfamiliar with the workings of Shire Hall.

“It would be a lot less effort to get a property off the list, prior to council approval,” said Shortt.

Ameliasburgh Councillor Dianne O’Brien said she expects many of the homeowners on the list don’t know it.

“How would they know there are new restrictions governing whether they can demolish their home or not?” asked O’Brien. “How does someone get off a list they don’t even know they are on?”

But others reminded their colleagues that this was the way council had agreed to ensure the municipality had the time to protect another historically significant property.

“This was a council initiative,” reminded Picton Councillor Brian Marisett. “It is a proactive effort to protect our heritage. The only significance of the listing is a 60-day delay of a demolition permit.”

Murphy expanded upon the point.

“It provides us the opportunity to talk to the owner,” said Murphy. “It provides time for the heritage committee to consider designating the property under the Ontario Heritage Act. It provides time to look at alternatives.”

By taking the next step of designating the property, council could effectively thwart any demolition

Picton Councillor Bev Campbell noted that each of the properties added to the four installments of the heritage property listing so far have been included in the Settlers Dream, a compendium of the County’s built heritage.

“I’m not concerned about not notifying people in advance,” said Campbell. “Their properties are in Settler’s Dream. They should know they are historic.”

O’Brien failed to persuade council that it should notify homeowners first.

Not too many years ago declining health was something many accepted as a fact of life as they aged. Aches, pains, heart problems, digestive upsets and various other debilitating ailments. Auntie was 68 when she died. She was an elderly woman at that age. She’d lived through a depression, a world war, the boom years in the ’40s and ’50s, raised four children and watched as the young folks around her turned the world on its ear during the 1960s summers of peace and love. She was a wonderful person but had bought into the theory of advancing years meaning poor health. She was a mother, a grandmother, an aunt and great aunt and a wife. She didn’t watch her weight. Outside of housework, she didn’t exercise. She’d probably never had her blood pressure checked. Heart disease was something men suffered.

On June 3 I’ll be participating in the Ride for Heart. LOML, COM times two and I will be covering the 50 kilometre course at the annual Ride for Heart in Toronto. I am now a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a great aunt and a wife. I ride because I don’t believe declining health is a symptom of aging. I ride because it’s what I can do to help support a cause that is very close to my own heart. I ride because in my life I have watched heart disease hack its way through the lives of my friends and family. My grandfathers, my father-in-law, my dear Dad, LOML, my great niece, three cousins, my neighbour and close friends, all victims of heart disease. Some of them were genetically predisposed to problems and some of them had made poor lifestyle choices.

Look around the corners of your life and make a note of everyone you know whose life has been complicated by heart disease. We all know someone who “got shipped to Kingston” for a stent (full metal jacket, as Bernie G. called it) or bypass surgery. Maybe it’s closer than someone who is the neighbour of a friend. You’re probably reading this with someone who has high blood pressure or someone who takes medication for high cholesterol. Perhaps the young family next door’s newborn arrived with heart problems, congenital heart disease. Maybe the woman whose desk is next to yours at work had a heart valve repaired. Have a good look at the smokers, the heavy drinkers, the overweight, the drug abusers. They’re in a holding pattern for heart disease. There’s at least one someone in our lives who has a pacemaker or someone who had a blood clot or had a heart attack or a stroke and there may even be someone who has had a heart transplant.

According to The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, “Heart disease and stroke take the lives of one in three Canadians. Heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women. Nine out of 10 Canadians have at least one risk factor for heart disease or stroke.” Your donation to the 2012 Ride for Heart works to change these statistics and promotes awareness and prevention of heart disease and stroke.

Heart disease, my friends and my family is why I ride. If you know me, and many of you do, find me and make a donation to my 2012 ride. On June 3, I’ll be in Toronto and at 7:15 in the morning I’ll begin my 50 km Ride for Heart.

I’m riding for you!

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca

The vines awaken from their dormant winter state when the soil reaches the right temperature. In an effect known as “weeping,” the vines first begin to produce great volumes of sap to revitalize supporting “canes.” Three or four weeks later, buds begin to break. Dependent on the varietal, this will happen sooner (chardonnay) or later (merlot). Soil types can also have an impact on bud-break, as can microclimates near lakes or at altitude. When buds break, the vines are most susceptible to damage from a late frost. It can severely impact the potential harvest. Vineyard managers deploy an array of methods to minimize frost damage: running windmills or burning straw bales can move the below-zero air away from the vines. Vineyards that enjoy the luxury of a creek flowing through their vineyard can benefit from flowing water to draw the cool air away from the vines. Three weeks back, the County was hit with a late frost and, depending on location, some damage was inflicted. Right now, workers are busy securing the vines to their training frames and levelling the ground between the rows. It is also the time when wineries bottle and label their soon-to-be-released wines. This is a perfect time to visit wineries to taste upcoming releases. It also makes for a magnificent weekend experience.

My paternal grandparents owned a house in Dublin that backed onto a canal spur that connected the Guinness Brewery with the Grand Canal. Needless to say, it was a wonderful playground. The memory that has stayed with me is of barges, sedately passing by, loaded with their black-gold cargo contained in wooden barrels.

Yes Virginia, there was a time when beer was aged in wooden casks. As with wine, the beer took on a special something that only wood can impart. It created deeper, more complex flavours.

THIS WEEK’S PICK
Barley Days Brewery has aged some Wind and Sail Dark Ale in oak barrels with stunning results. Resident Brew Master, Alex Nichols, took an already delightful robust earthy mouthful and improved the final product by the age-old combination of ale and oak. This beer is not for the fainthearted: it packs a huge mouthful of flavors with a finish of iced espresso. For those who enjoy hearty old world beers, Wind and Sail Dark Ale is one to seek out and enjoy.

This million-dollar baby is sold in 650ml bottles at the brewery, located at 13730 Loyalist Parkway west of Picton.

The media assure us that stranger abductions are extremely rare, and comprise only the tiniest fraction of missing children cases. The most up-to-date RCMP statistics, from 2009, confirm this: out of 50,492 missing children in Canada, 237 were abducted by a parent; another 50 were kidnapped by others—a figure that includes people known to the victim (neighbours, friends and even family) as well as strangers.

Though slim, the possibility is so devastating, the consequences so catastrophic, as to be every parent’s worst nightmare.

Despite our best intentions, kids get mixed messages about strangers. It can be difficult to navigate the contradictory expectation of polite interactions with unfamiliar adults on some occasions, and shunning them on others. It’s difficult enough to teach kids about “stranger danger” without scaring the bejesus out of them. But how do you equip them for the (statistically greater) possibility that they may need to protect themselves from someone they already know?

According to Child Safe Canada, the key to street proofing is teaching kids to recognize dangerous situations rather than mistrust people. Thus they can learn to avoid remote areas, travel with a buddy, always tell someone where they’re going, and never accept an invitation without first asking permission—whether it comes from a friendly neighbour, someone dressed as a police officer, or a “friend” they met online.

Perhaps the most important thing we can teach kids is that it’s okay to say “no” to an adult. We are raised to defer to our elders. But a person with ill intent can use that perceived authority to their advantage—your father sent me to come get you; just step inside while I look for that video game.

There are other times you’d hope kids would respect that authority, such as when seniors say “take off your hat” or “can you reach that for me?” In most cases, a child’s instincts will tell them if they’re being asked to do something that feels wrong, or something they know to be right.

Kids must learn to trust their own judgment, but they also need guidance. My kids were shocked when I counselled them to avoid cars that pulled over to ask for directions. They felt it would be rude, and while I don’t disagree, risking rudeness is the lesser of two evils. Child safety experts concur that while kids may need help from kids, adults shouldn’t.

Several exceptions come easily to mind. I expect I’d be chagrined if I asked a passing child for directions to a public washroom and she tore off running. But if it means the same child can’t be lured away to look at a puppy, it’s a hardship I can bear.

robin@wellingtontimes.ca

Among its loudest critics were municipalities that had been cut out of the decisionmaking process. Neutered, municipal leaders could only grumble as the trucks laden with intermittent energy components manufactured offshore, rumbled into their communities, across their roads and bridges to be erected anywhere the developer pleased. Even endangered species are being forced relocate, or die, to make way for the industrialization of Ontario rural landscape in the name of “green” energy.

Yet it was the municipalities that caught the attention of the Ontario government in the last election—one in which the Liberals narrowly held onto power. Dalton McGuinty’s energy bureaucrats responded in March with a new points system in which FIT (Feed-in Tariff) applications will be prioritized based upon community support rather than first-come first-served. Specifically a developer earns two points, propelling them up the queue, if they can win approval for their project from the local council.

While Dalton McGuinty likely imagined the point system might ensure intermittent electricity plants were built in municipalities that share his ambition, developers quickly deduced that municipalities would happily trade those points for cash.

It wasn’t as though municipalities were being invited to the table; the province has been clear it will continue to override community wishes when, and if, it sees fit. Dalton McGuinty was merely throwing municipalities a bone to keep them occupied—at least out of the next election campaign.

The good news for this council is that the floor price for its support has been set. It need not embark on expensive consultation and external studies to determine the minimum value for falling in line with the developer and the province.

It can thank Skypower for that. The failed wind developer, now a solar developer, has offered this municipality (and others) $7,000 for every megawatt of power it installs, every year for a minimum of 20 years. Skypower’s new found “commitment to giving back” extends only to future applications however. It seems this “commitment” is only as deep as the advantage it can extract from the community.

At least this council knows what the points are worth.

Last week a landowner in Bloomfield stood before council seeking the two points they had to offer. He wants to build a 500 kW (approximately 6 acres) solar plant behind the former canning factory in the village. There was no mention of what he was willing to pay for the points.

According to the Skypower model, the Bloomfield landowner should be offering a minimum of $3,500 per year for at least 20 years (500 kW equals half a megawatt). Given that 500 kW projects earn the highest rate of all groundmounted solar projects under the new rules, the Bloomfield landowner’s margins should easily accommodate this fee.

Yet council is likely to be tempted to pick and reward favourites—friends, families, and neighbours. Council has dabbled in preferential treatment in its commercial dealings in the past but solar and wind developers aren’t likely to stand idly by as council picks winners and losers. These folks play for keeps.

Council must develop one policy regarding the awarding of these points—a single policy that will apply to each and every applicant who comes to Shire Hall looking for its favour. Council cannot take Skypower’s money and not the Bloomfield landowner’s. To do so would be awarding commercial advantage to one company over another. The loser in this scenario will mostly certainly sue the municipality to level the playing field. Council will find itself bound up in litigation it can’t afford and likely can’t win.

Planning chief Gerry Murphy says he expects at least 40 new applications for similar projects to come before council seeking the points only council can deliver once the rules are finalized.

It may seem unfair to some on council that they finally win some say over intermittent electricity projects in their community but are unable to reward local businesses or direct the advantage to their preferred proponents.

It may take some time, and perhaps a few legal settlements, for council to realize Dalton McGuinty wasn’t giving the municipalities more control—he was merely buying their silence.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca