By Chad Ingram Published Nov. 10 2016 The province is conducting a review of the Ontario Municipal Board and is collecting input from municipalities. There is one simple and wonderful change the provincial government could…
Letters to the EditorLetters to the Editor
To the Editor: I’m writing in response to your invitation to send in photos of family members who were veterans. I couldn’t find the picture of my father I was looking for but I did…
Torture in the 'new residential schools'
By Jim Poling Published Nov. 10 2016 The torture of Adam Capay in Thunder Bay Jail says as much about how politicians are failing us as anything else happening in the world today. As much…
Autumn of the demented squirrels
Red squirrels always have been well a bit squirrelly but this fall they are completely crazy. They are high in the hemlocks gorging seeds then leaping bough to bough and kuk-kuking incessantly. They are in…
Pointless policy
What’s the point of creating a policy if you’re not going to use it? This is a question Minden Hills councillors might ask themselves. Last week council denied support resolutions for a half dozen solar…
Bringing up the curtain
For some seven years what was once the Beaver Theatre has stood shuttered and silent like a ghost along Minden’s Water Street. The boards that cover its entranceway have become such a normalized part of…
Riding the train
I took a ride with The Girl on the Train but found the journey a bit too long. The Girl on the Train is the hugely successful thriller by British author Paula Hawkins. When it was released…
Blowin' in the Wind
It was a week of good news and bad news. First came the good and surprising news that singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel prize for literature. Dylan’s songs changed popular culture. His lyrics…
Rough ride for rural Ontario
By Chad Ingram Published Oct. 20 2016 It’s a tough time to be a rural Ontarian. In a province where a continually greater percentage of the population lives in urban areas a continually greater percentage…
Goldfish and trees
There is a quotation often attributed to Albert Einstein which goes something like this: “Everybody is a genius but if you judge a goldfish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its…
Taking a break from government
Finally there is an escape route from the nightmare in the United States. How did we not think of it before? It has been in front of us for 10 months. The nightmare of course…
A recreation centre for this generation
To the Editor Minden Hills’s upcoming decision regarding their community centre and arena can be a major turning point for the residents of Minden Hills and the residents of all of Haliburton County. They have…
How to greet a night visitor
By Jim Poling Sr Published Oct 6 2016 I sit straight up in bed wide awake even before my eyes open. They don’t need to be open because it is 6 a.m. and pitch black.…
Really?
By Chad Ingram Published Oct. 6 2016 This is an open letter to the individual or individuals vandalizing a Haliburton business with anti-gay graffiti. If you can read of course that is. All we know…
On cliff jumping
The end of summer was tinged with tragedy in Algonquin Highlands when a 29-year-old man lost his life in a cliff-jumping incident on Raven Lake during the Labour Day weekend. The man died in what…
On the pool again
To the Editor The taxpayer base already pays for facilities that a small portion of the population use i.e. the arena. And is destined to pay more. Apparently from the arena survey 50 per cent…
ColumnsColumns
The good thing about Trump By Jim Poling Published Sept. 29 2016 T he rise of Trumpism with all its anger fear wild exaggerations and other hateful negatives is a good thing. Yes a good…
Story not style
By Jim Poling Published Sept. 22 2016 Like a lot of folks there was a time when I never went to bed without watching CBC’s The National . Like a lot of people now I…
That sinking feeling
I’ve written this before I’m writing it now and chances are I’ll write it again in the future. Minden Hills township cannot afford an indoor swimming pool. I know I know . . . release…
Deception Pinocchio style
By Jim Poling Published Sept. 15 2016 Oh! What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Sir Walter Scott had never heard of Ontario when he wrote that line for his play…
Shorter is sweet
By Chad Ingram Published Sept. 15 2016 When the next round of Ontario municipal elections happen in 2018 the campaign period will be substantially shorter than it was in 2014. And that will be a…