Perspectives with Rev. Schiebout

As school starts back for another year, rural schools are facing an issue that affects classroom learning and potential – declining enrolment. The Upper Canada District School Board has a projected decrease in enrolment of […]

 

Around the Corner

by Stormy Howard

Is it really December already? Less than 15 days until Christmas!! It’s crazy, and school seems to be going pretty fast with sports and tests.

Monday, December 3, we received news about how Bill 115 was going to affect our everyday activities. 

Essentially our daily academic life will remain the same (lessons, projects, activities and tests), but unfortunately the extra-curricular side of school is going to change (sports and clubs are put on hold as of Monday, December 10th).  A lot of people (students and staff) are upset about this, and want to change it. 

Bill 115 is a piece of legislation passed in the fall and it imposes a two-year contract on educators that allows the government to take away the teachers bargaining rights. This is unfair to the senior students because it’s their last year, and they will not get to do any sports or clubs. There are some students here at Seaway who are planning to walk out to demonstrate in a positive way their anger over this change to the school day. They have met with our principal, Mr. Gardiner and had a teleconference call with the Director Mr. David Thomas.  I hope we can come to an agreement on Bill 115 so we can all get back to doing the things we love.

Tuesday, December 4th,  the boys basketball team consisting of: Clay Dumoulin, Evan Mullin, Cameron Chayer, Andrew Jarvis, Mustafa Hamadi, Brandon Vandodewaard and Dillon Sullivan, had a tournament at Char-Lan.  They won 40-30. Great work!

On Tuesday December 4th, the Seaway juniors played volleyball at CCVS (they split will all the teams they played, and improved greatly throughout the day according to Coach Waddell). Meanwhile the seniors played across town at La Citadelle.  The Seniors beat Tagwi, Glengarry, and split with La Citadelle and Char-Lan. On Friday, December 7th the Seaway girls played volleyball in Rockland, and both teams did really well, with the seniors bringing home the tournament title!  We were all impressed! Way to be ladies!

On Thursday Seaway had a ‘Tight-n-Bright’ dance for grades 9-12. Tickets were $10 in advance or $12 at the door. You could even sign in friends from other schools. This was an awesome event that was extremely well attended. There was a laser light show that was presented by PINX Productions from Toronto  and  students dressed in neon and other clothing that would glow in the dark with the black lights. It made a really cool effect in the gym . Also for 50 cents you could buy a pot of glow in the dark paint to decorate yourself and your friends. It really was a blast!!!!

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Dear Editor,

The present state of the Morrisburg public dock is a disgrace. It needs to be repaired and put back into service as a matter of urgency.

Summer evenings and week-ends at the Morrisburg dock have become a major draw for locals, boaters and out-of-town visitors.  In many ways, the Morrisburg waterfront and dock has become the town meeting place where you can always be sure to find a few friends and neighbours.  

It was becoming an ‘attraction’ that drew tourists by both water and land.

Now what do we see?  A “Dock Unsafe” sign and a make-shift barricade to stop folks from using the main part of the dock. It looks terrible and sends a really bad message to visitors about our town.

The dock has been neglected since the Federal Government gave it to the township.  

A large part of the outside face of the dock was destroyed some years ago, the rubber buffer strips on the concrete wall are gone, the concrete slabs of the western launch pad are breaking apart and have a dangerous drop-off at the end that is in the water, the wooden base for the mooring cleats on the concrete wall are rotting and exposing loose bolts and the boardwalks have heaved up so much that it is not even safe to walk on the dock.

The dock is actually much worse on the water side than it is on the land side.  You would really be risking your boat if you tried to moor alongside the outside face of the dock. 

 Last year I took some photographs of the dock from the water side and sent them, along with a request that the dock be fixed before the 2012 season, to the Mayor and most of the councillors.  In reply, Steven Byvelds said there were no budgeted funds for maintenance and that the council could look at this issue next year (2012).  

I may be wrong, but I do not believe that there was any follow-up to my letter, certainly nobody contacted me.

It seems to me that the Morrisburg dock is really the jewel of the town and yet we cannot maintain it properly.  

Imagine belonging to a golf club where the executive decided not to maintain the greens in order to save a little money.  That is what has happened to our dock.

My wife and I are active boaters, and we have cruised our boat from Lake Ontario to Florida stopping at town docks along the way.  We moved to Morrisburg because of the river and access to boating.  

We always felt that the Morrisburg dock could easily become one of the nicest places to stop, but in recent years it has been neglected and is now an eyesore.  

We have posted information about local docks and anchorages in “ActiveCaptain”, a very popular online boater’s cruising guide.  We posted a positive review of the Morrisburg dock in the guide, but we have now advised visiting boaters not to stop here until the repairs are complete.

I am very concerned about how long it is going to take to get the dock repaired.  The township has given no estimate on this, and I fear that work may not even start this year.

I think that this matter should be treated as an urgent priority and that every effort should be made to finish the repairs as soon as possible.

Don Taylor

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