Seaway honours 2011 graduates

 Is there anyone out there who doesn’t have at least one story involving the ultimate bad first date?

The senior drama students of Seaway District High School in Iroquois hope to revive those memories, and still leave everyone laughing, when they present their dinner theatre production of Check, Please! at the high school on Friday, May 11, at 6 p.m.

The 7th annual play and lasagna dinner event is being organized by the Seaway District High School Parents’ Council, chaired by Leslie Disheau.

“Check, Please is absolutely a comedy,” said Seaway drama teacher/director Emma Mayer. “It concerns the challenges faced by some very different people who are all venturing into the dating scene. The comic situations and lines still leave me laughing even after all the rehearsals.”

The play, by Jonathan Rand, revolves around a series of vignettes. The characters meet each other for the first time at a restaurant and must then cope with first impressions and false impressions, among other things.

“One of the characters walks in to her blind date only to discover he is a mime and is waiting for her ‘in character,’” Mayer explained.  “Another is faced with someone dressed in nothing but a burlap sack when she arrives to meet him at the restaurant. This is a play full of comic lines and great characters.”

With so many people ‘meeting’ for the first time on the internet, it is probably only to be expected that Rand includes a character who talks to her blind date almost exclusively in on-line lingo.

“The characters are all individuals, of different ages, coping with ‘love’ in their own way,” Mayer said.

The tradition of presenting dinner theatre at Seaway as both a fund raiser, and a venue for senior drama students to showcase their talents in a major culminating project, is well established. In previous years, audiences have enjoyed You Can’t Take It With You, George Washington Slept Here, Murder Takes the Stage and Macbeth-ish among others.

Check, Please will be carrying on this performance tradition.

Another tradition of the spring production is the delicious dinner ticket holders get to enjoy before the play begins. 

There will be a full lasagna dinner served beginning at 6 p.m. on May 11, followed at 7 p.m. by the play and later by music and dancing.

Parents’ council has also organized a silent auction as part of the gala evening. 

There are 21 students in the cast all of whom are in grade 11-12 senior theatre arts at Seaway. They also handle the back stage. 

With the additional assistance of teacher Kim Lalonde, who got preparations for the 2012 production going earlier in the semester, and who has been helping with rehearsals and staging issues, the class has been in rehearsals since April 1. The rehearsals are held during regular class time and also during the daily MSIP period. 

“My students are wonderful,” Mayer said. “They’ve been working hard at lines and at creating props and costumes. There was a real team effort involved in the painting of our sets for the show.” 

Tickets for the May 11 gala dinner theatre production of Check, Please! are only $10 each. Because a full dinner is included in the event, tickets must be purchased in advance. 

Tickets are available at Seaway District High School (613-652-4878), Mustard’s Variety, Candy’s Hair Salon/Sears, all in Iroquois, Whitteker’s in Williamsburg and the Seaway Valley Pharmacy in Morrisburg.

All funds raised by the show will be directed into new technology for the high school.

[…]

While the Dundas County Food Bank board of directors had hoped to have their renovation project at the former Morrisburg Library location well underway by now, that is not the case.

The plan was to have the renovation of a portion of the former library completed and for the food bank’s Morrisburg location to be in its new home early in the new year.

“There have been delays, so the food bank has been unable to get the project started,” said Dundas County Food Bank administrator Ian McKelvie, following last week’s board meeting. “The move may have to wait until spring.”

While the board is planning for the renovation and the move, the focus of the food and client coordinators remains on the needs of those being served.

“Donations have been slow,” said Amy Jamieson coordinator for the South Dundas location in Morrisburg.”The summer months are always rough, but through the support of our regular donors, we have been able to make it though and continue to meet the need.”

The Morrisburg location of the Dundas County Food Bank regularly feeds between 85 and 100 families a month, which represents 280-330 people.

McKelvie reports that across Dundas County, the number of people being served by the food bank is up about 15 per cent, year over year. 

Jamieson is looking forward to a few timely food drives to help replenish the Dundas County Food Bank shelves here in Morrisburg.

The most immediate needs of the local food bank are pasta, both canned and dried. “I’ve had to buy pasta lately, and that’s unusual, it’s usually one of the first things people tend to donate. Dry cereal is also needed to replenish the shelves.

Regarding the food bank’s relocation project, McKelvie reports that the Dundas County Food Bank is applying for funds from various sources to help offset some of the cost of the project estimated to cost about $46,000. The Municipality of South Dundas has offered the food bank an interest free loan of up to $46,200 to help with the re-location project.

South Dundas will allow the food bank to use the municipally-owned space, rent-free and will continue to cover utility costs, as it does in the present location.

Once the food bank has taken advantage of the municipal loan, they will need to find a way to pay back those funds to the muncipality, while continuing to meet the food needs of those using the food bank.

McKelvie, who is new to the Dundas County Food Bank, is impressed with how supportive this community is of its food bank. 

McKelvie has spent most of his career in magazine publishing and has significant experience fund raising for not for profit organizations. He is excited about the encore career opportunity which that will allow him to put his skills to work locally in this important community-based organization.

Here at the Dundas County Food Bank , McKelvie plans to actively work on raising awareness of the organization and its needs.

[…]

South Dundas council cost taxpayers less in 2012 than it has in the last five years.

According to the South Dundas council remuneration and expense report for 2012, released last week by South Dundas treasurer Shannon Geraghty, council cost taxpayers $91,510 in 2012. 

That number includes each council member’s honourarium, remuneration for meetings attended, mileage claims and conference/trade show expenses.  

That’s more than $16,000 less than 2011, and the lowest number since 2006, when it was $84,000.

Each member of council’s honouraium increased three percent from 2011, but they all claimed remuneration for fewer meetings than the previous year, and claimed fewer expenses from conferences and trade shows.

“Council only went to a maximum of two conferences in 2012,” said South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds of the savings. 

“In 2011, it was felt that since most of council was new, we all would have an opportunity to attend ROMA, AMO and OEMC and this added to the total cost.”

“Council is always aware of council remuneration and cost, however attending municipal conferences helps us to learn from others and have an opportunity to network with councillors from across Ontario,” he explained.

Byvelds and Locke have lower conference expenses as they can claim two conferences through SD&G as county council members.

Mayor Byvelds, who is paid the highest honourarium of all the council members ($20,617), was paid  a total of $25,217 in 2012. 

He reduced his meeting expenses by 22 per cent over the previous year and conference expenses by seven percent. 

Byvelds makes no mileage claims.

Although Deputy Mayor Jim Locke has the second highest honourarium ($14,434), two councillors were paid more in 2012 than he was. 

Locke was paid a total of $16,430 in 2012, $3,000 less than the year before. He claimed no mileage and no conference expenses in 2012, and reduced his meeting claims by 25 per cent.

Councillor Evonne Delegarde was paid $17,440 in 2012, almost $4,000 less than 2011. 

While her $11,340 honourarium was three percent higher than the previous year, like all council members, her remuneration for meetings was reduced by 20 per cent, her mileage by 38 per cent and her trade show expenses by almost 60 per cent.

Councillor Archie Mellan received over $4,000 less in 2012 than 2011. There was a six per cent decrease in his remuneration claims, 66 per cent reduction in mileage claims and 58 per cent reduction in conference expenses.

Councillor Jim Graham was paid $15,940 in 2012, more than $4,000 less than 2011. Hi remuneration for meetings decreased by three percent, mileage by 13 per cent and  conference expenses by almost 80 per cent.

[…]