Community Archives — Page 3 of 54

Seniors test out cutting edge Seniors Play Park in Fenelon Falls

Published on September 2, 2019 in Around Town/Community/Health/Seniors by Jamie Morris

Seniors test out the cutting edge Seniors Play Park in Fenelon Falls

A politician, a physiotherapist, and an artist walk to a barre. That’s not the set-up for a joke. The ballet barre is one of 13 components in the recently-opened Seniors Play Park in Fenelon Falls, one of the first such parks in Canada, and I’ve asked the three — all seniors themselves — to spend some time exploring the very compact apparatus and then to share their thoughts.

The politician is Doug Elmslie, currently Deputy Mayor and for the past 13 years councillor for the ward that includes Fenelon Falls. He’s also Chair of the Board of Management for Victoria Manor, and so knows something of aging seniors’ needs. Doug is mid-70s, rates his fitness level as 5 on a 1 to 10 scale. He’s on the go most days and he golfs, but not as often as he’d like.

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Improvements coming to Doube’s Trestle Bridge

Published on August 31, 2019 in Community/Environment by Lindsay Advocate

Trail improvements to the historic Doube’s Trestle Bridge are commencing mid September and could take
two months. The cost is in excess of $100,000. Worn wood decking is being replaced with environmentally friendly composite lumber to permit safer passage and provide a longer lifespan.

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Province keeps municipalities guessing: Is paramedic funding down or up?

Published on August 29, 2019 in Municipal/Provincial by Roderick Benns

It hasn’t been easy for municipalities to get a handle on this current provincial government when it comes to funding, whether for paramedic services, childcare, Ontario Works, and more.

Communication has been unclear and sometimes contradictory. The Province has sent mixed signals on cuts, promising to slay a deficit that grew under two previous Liberal governments, solely by cutting “red tape.” At the same time they’ve promised to avoid the kinds of egregious cuts made by Ontario Conservatives in the Mike Harris years.

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Grand opening of Seniors Play Park in Fenelon Falls

Published on August 27, 2019 in Around Town/Community by Lindsay Advocate

Local MPP Laurie Scott recently met with representatives from the municipality of Kawartha Lakes and Joan Young, an Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) volunteer, in Fenelon Falls to celebrate the opening of the Seniors Play Park at the Lloyd Kelly Parkette.

Scott and Young congratulated the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team on the work done with thanks to a $121,600 OTF Capital grant, along with other local donations, to create one of the first Seniors Play Parks in Canada. The free park is an accessible recreation space that promotes exercise and an active lifestyle for older residents.

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Mike Puffer a big part of our caring, supportive community

Published on August 23, 2019 in Community/Opinion by Jamie Morris

Think about what contributes to a caring, supportive community. Any list would include the service clubs and the churches. Arguably, the press belong there. Near the top would be agencies like United Way and Community Care.

For decades Mike Puffer has played key roles in all of these.

Later this month, after 11 years as Executive-Director of the United Way and 14 years as Communications Officer with Community Care, Mike is “retiring” (more about the quotation marks later).

When I sit down with him it’s to hear some reflections on his professional and volunteer services. We meet upstairs at Remedy’s RX on Kent, the independent pharmacy owned and operated by his wife, Cathy.

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Needle and the damage done: Drugs in public housing

Published on August 22, 2019 in Community/Poverty Reduction by Trevor Hutchinson

For the last five months the Lindsay Advocate has been talking with concerned residents at a few different community housing units in the City of Kawartha Lakes about the issues of drug-dealing in their communities. Several residents were interviewed and all of them, out of fear for their own safety, requested anonymity. Residents were interviewed in person and given the opportunity to provide written submissions. The City of Kawartha Lakes and both police services in the City were asked to comment.

I am sitting at the kitchen table in a social housing apartment with Carl, Estelle, Dorothy and Jack. Carl’s unit looks like it could be in a design magazine. The decor is stunning; the attention to detail clearly demonstrating a pride of place. I find myself wishing that my rental house could look this nice. But I’m not here to get design tips. I’m here to hear the stories and struggles these people are having with active drug dealing in their complex.

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Advocate launches free job hosting platform for small businesses

Published on August 20, 2019 in Business/Community/Poverty Reduction by Roderick Benns

We have the readers; you have the jobs. The Lindsay Advocate wants to help our small businesses match their many opportunities with the right people.

That’s why we’ve created a free job board on our news site at www.lindsayadvocate.ca on the right hand side (if viewing on a laptop or desktop.)

Simply click the poster graphic link (Have a Job Vacancy?) and fill in the short template. Your job will show up right above the graphic.

We’ll often feature those jobs on our Facebook page to further your reach.

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New study shows Kawartha Lakes just slightly above average in food bank use

Published on August 20, 2019 in Community/Poverty Reduction by Lindsay Advocate

A new study has found that Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, had 3,978 people visit a food bank out of a population of 113,960. 34 per cent of these individuals are children, which is one per cent above the provincial average.

On July 24 Feed Ontario released a new study revealing hunger and food bank use rates across every electoral riding in Ontario. In partnership with Fleming College’s Geographic Information Systems program, they have created an interactive map that allows users to compare provincial electoral ridings, including information on Food Bank Use, mean and median income, and housing.

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Local farmers struggling from wet spring, overall effects of changing climate

Published on August 19, 2019 in Community by Mallory Cramp-Waldinsperger

After examining her soil-stained hands for a moment, Jessica Foote looks out at the fields of her farm, on which several acres of crops have already been lost this year. “We’re at the beck and call of mother nature,” she says, before wiping some of the soil from her hands. Foote, one of many area farmers struggling this year, is the owner of Lunar Rhythm Gardens has been working in agriculture since she was nine-years-old, under the guidance of her father.

Despite the high elevation of her Janetville property, flooding has already destroyed six acres of alfalfa, along with several of Foote’s lettuce crops.

“It’s the extremes that do it,” she says.

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Disturbed by excessive car noise? Start letting police know

Published on August 18, 2019 in Community by Roderick Benns

Disturbed by excessive car noise? Start telling the police

What’s more annoying than excessively loud car or motorcycle noise?

Not much, for most people. And yet Kawartha Lakes Police Service write very few tickets for this infraction, mainly because most people don’t complain about it to them. So far in 2019, police have only issued two infraction notices for “unnecessary noise.”

Typically, police choose an “enforcement initiative” each month to concentrate on (distracted driving, impaired driving, etc.), choices that are often generated by concerns raised by the community, according to Sgt. Dave Murtha.

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