From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. There is much controversy over whether mental illness is a significant cause of mass shootings, which are becoming a common occurrence, notably in the gun-crazy United States of…
Magic school buses; a peek into Haliburton Bus…
By Emily Stonehouse What’s big and yellow and connects our entire community, yet still flies under the radar on a regular basis? If you guessed school buses, you’re right. This past week was bus driver…
Litter boxes and lies
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. I’ve never been a fan of cats. I find them self-obsessed and neurotic. If I was a cat fan, however, I certainly would not be dressing up as…
“We lost literally everything,”; Minden family moves forward…
By Emily Stonehouse Deb Fisher was having a regular day on Tuesday, Oct. 17. When she left her home - the home that had once belonged to her mother - she said her pets were…
HHHS asks Haliburton County for $1M
By James Matthews, Local Initiative Journalism Reporter Haliburton Highlands Health Services has its eyes set on optimizing health and wellbeing in the county. And $1-million from the county will go a long way to achieving…
Head in the sand
By Emily Stonehouse I’m supposed to write about the things that happen in our community. But this week, as I kept my head down and dove into the happenings in our town, I felt the…
Replaced by a computer?
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. I’ve tried to ignore all the hype about artificial intelligence (AI). How it will transform work and reinvent business. How it will replace me as a writer. Any…
We want baseball, not Moneyball
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. Baseball broadcaster Buck Martinez said the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2023 season would be a disaster if they could not advance past the first wild-card playoff round. They didn’t.…
‘More than three words’: remembering the life of…
By Emily Stonehouse Caring. Compassionate. Hard working. Critical thinker. Friend. Husband. Son. Father. When I write articles on people who have passed away, one of the first questions I ask those who knew them, is…
‘You’re saying we don’t exist’: why Minden Pride…
By Emily Stonehouse On Sept. 20, a protest was scheduled for Head Lake Park titled the ‘1 Million March 4 Children’. The idea behind the march was to fight against the current public school curriculum,…
‘The Movie Man’ comes home to Kinmount’s Highlands…
By Adam Frisk The highly anticipated documentary “The Movie Man” made its way home to Kinmount’s Highlands Cinemas on Saturday with two private screenings of the film. Hosted in what arguably is the most unusual…
With bells on
By Emily Stonehouse I don’t usually struggle with words. Usually, they come fairly easy to me. I feel lucky in that sense. But this week, I hit a wall. It was a unique challenge I…
Time to get thinner
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. The Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting heavier than usual snowfalls for the Great Lakes region this coming winter. That’s good news, in a perverse way. More snow means more…
County council dives into communal services
By Emily Stonehouse It’s been a hot topic for a long time, and some of the wheels were set in motion for shared services at a special meeting of county council on Sept. 13. Councillors…
Time to say goodbye
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. The turning leaves tell us about change; the need for it and the importance of making change at the right time. Autumn leaves turn colour then drop to…
Just what the doctor ordered: a glimpse inside…
By Emily Stonehouse Let’s not sugar coat things here: there’s been some bad news from the medical world these days. Major provincial budget cuts, closures, and a complete uncertainty about the future of healthcare in…
Harvest time and hungry kids
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. And so we enter the time of plenty. Crops ripen in fields. Apple trees hang heavy with fruit. Autumn is the time of plenty of food. The time…
Bookapalooza is back
By Emily Stonehouse Calling all readers and writers! The literature event of the year in Haliburton County is just around the corner. The second annual Bookapalooza will be held on Sept. 15 and 16 at…
Kinmount Citizens of the Year announced at fair
By Emily Stonehouse The Kinmount Fair means many things; candy apples, games, vendors, rides. But one of the most anticipated events each year is the announcement of Kinmount’s Citizen of the Year, presented by the…
Why do sunflowers droop?
From Shaman’s Rock By Jim Poling Sr. I now know why sunflowers droop. It’s not because they lack water, or because their seed heads have become heavy. When you see sunflowers drooping, instead of standing…
A place on the map
By Emily Stonehouse This past weekend, Whitewater Ontario presented the 2023 Canadian National Whitewater Championships at the Whitewater Preserve on Horseshoe Lake Road. Now this isn’t just any race in the park. We’re talking literal…