Good is bad
John Thompson wants you to pay his property tax increase. John’s property taxes are higher this year because his land is worth more. He doesn’t want to cash in his windfall just yet—so he wants you to pick up the resulting increase in his property taxes. Forever. On Thursday, John will ask council to do […]
Staying home
Imiss Mary Darlington. Mary lived just around the corner on East Street—the house where a pair of trees were coaxed decades past to join a few feet off the ground— forming a distinct arboreal X symbol on her front yard. Mary wrote a column in this newspaper for a time—a gentle and hopeful contemplation of […]
Vulnerable
It turns out, no one is standing on guard for thee. Wind and rain have been blowing across Prince Edward County all weekend long. Meanwhile, massive mounds of road salt lie uncovered and exposed to the blowing rain, stockpiled on a patch of ground next to Picton Bay—plumes of sodium chloride crystals are often picked […]
Uncommonly generous
Among the rewards of doing this job over the past 14 years has been the opportunity to meet and get to know some of the many interesting, talented and able folks who live in this community—some of whom have lived here all their lives, others who grew up here and came back, and still others […]
Wrong way
Council members will have a tough time explaining this one. Last week, a majority overruled its own planning department, instead approving a bylaw written by the development team seeking to build a new supermarket and three free-standing retail stores on the western edge of Picton. At issue is the potential impact of adding retail space […]
Unforgiven
Kathleen Wynne knows her policies will hurt places like Ostrander Point, Milford, Amherst Island, South Kent, Finch and dozens of other rural communities across this province. It’s possible her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, so blinkered by his feverish quest for a green legacy, was unable to conceive the consequences of wiping away the safeguards that protect […]
Ontario gothic
Mary Shelley is said to have conceived the story of Frankenstein, a manmade monster let loose upon the countryside, while under the influence of opium in the cold summer of 1816. The gothic horror story, it turns out, was the work of a dark imagination fuelled by opioids. It begs the question: what was Kathleen […]
Judicious
Picton Town Hall is a beautiful old building. Or, at least the second floor is. I have never ventured into the first floor, into, what was until recently, the Picton Fire Hall. The exterior, too, has architectural value worth preserving. And protecting. The building has been thrust into the spotlight in recent months as the […]
Policy fail
Weariness is no excuse for bad decision- making. Sadly, too many issues, great and small, are decided around Shire Hall’s council table by fatigue. Not by insight. Not by argument. Not with a preponderance of evidence. But rather because council is tired. They just don’t want to talk about it anymore. What this means is […]
From the porch
When Chris Bowles sank his teeth into a challenge he could not, would not, leave it alone until it lay in tatters in weary defeat. Fearless and tireless, he pursued his objective with the same tenacity whether it was through anonymous federal bureaucrats or equally narrow-focused rodents. Chris was harbourmaster in Wellington for much of […]