News

 

Why it’s positively criminal how funny the upcoming Iroquois-Matilda Lions pro-duction of Monday Always Leads to Murder is!

Some of the characters die laughing.

Following in a tradition that dates back nearly 30 years, the Iroquois Lions (and friends) are taking to the stage at Upper Canada Playhouse this month with their latest theatrical offering, Pat Cook’s Monday Always Leads to Murder. 

These highly anticipated plays, which are presented every two years, are one of the major fund raisers for the Iroquois-Matilda Lions. 

Lions clubs have long been noted for their support of charitable organizations and works in South Dundas. The community often turns to area Lions for financial and volunteer support. 

Funds raised  by the productions at the Playhouse are invested right back into the South Dundas community. 

Ticket holders for the 2012 production can look forward to an evening of laugh-out-loud comedy and to ensuring that the Iroquois-Matilda Lions can continue to be a strong presence in the South Dundas community. 

The show’s volunteer cast has been in rehearsals since early February. As opening night gets closer, the production is transferring April 4 to the Playhouse.  Rehearsals  have been held at St. John’s Anglican Church, Iroquois, and the Iroquois United Church. 

The cast is having a lot of fun with the play, which is set in the seedy New York office of one Harry Monday, private eye. The year is 1939: Prohibition has lately been repealed, Humphrey Bogart is big at the box office, Al Capone is big in Chicago and women (at least where Harry is concerned) are still “stacked.”

Harry will certainly have his hands full coping with dames, would-be actors, cops, burglars, mysterious Egyptian professors and bodies that just keep popping up at the most inconvenient times when he takes on the sinister Barnstable case. 

The fantastic set for the show has been designed by John Thompson of the Playhouse and constructed by a crew under the leadership of Lion Jim Locke.  Sean Free, technical director of the Playhouse, is operating sound and lights for the show. Wendy Gibb is directing.

Tickets are $20 each for the evening shows, April 26-28, and for the Saturday matinee: they are going very quickly. Contact any Iroquois Matilda Lion, Mustard’s Variety or Upper Canada Playhouse for tickets to Monday Always Leads to Murder.  

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Media Release

Three young volunteers have combined to contribute 385 hours of service at Winchester District Memorial Hospital (WDMH) in 2011. 

Heather Shantz, Cassandra Effenberger, and Michelle Scott greatly exceeded the provincially mandated high school requirement of 40 hours of volunteer service in varying volunteer roles throughout the hospital. For their outstanding commitment, they each received a personal letter of recognition from Cholly Boland, WDMH CEO.

“Volunteers are essential to our hospital and without volunteers, we would be much less than we are now. Volunteers provide services well beyond patient care and enrich the experience of everyone who comes through our doors. Student volunteers provide such great service and become part of a much larger circle of healthcare,” said Cholly Boland.

“Student volunteers play an integral role in the lifecycle of learners at WDMH,” adds Alan Archer, chief liaison officer for Volunteer Services. “Our hope is to engage students in volunteering and show them the opportunities in health care. As they progress through their education, they return to us for co-op and work placements, and hopefully as future nurses, technicians, doctors, information technology specialists, and administrators.”

In all, 22 students volunteering at WDMH contributed more than 1300 hours of service at the Information desk, in the Gift Shoppe, in Surgical Daycare, and at special events like the Fall Bazaar and the Carkinator Car Rally. 

We are privileged to have such dedicated youth in the community supporting our organization.

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The South Dundas Chamber of Commerce will be holding their annual Spring Home and Trade Show at the Morrisburg Arena this month.

The weekend event begins at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 20th with an official opening ceremony at 6 p.m. and will finish at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 21st.

Of the approximately 80 spaces for exhibitors, to date over 95 per cent have been filled with businesses from all around the area, including a few from Cornwall.

According to Chamber manager, Geraldine Fitzsimmons, “we’re really excited. We’ve got some new local companies coming in and some of the traditional ones too.”

Businesses range from landscaping and home decor exhibitors to restaurant owners. There are businesses of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, all hoping to meet new customers and contacts.

In addition to free admission, visitors to the event have a chance to win one of ten $100 give-aways sponsored by the Chamber. 

The only stipulation, Fitzsimmons pointed out, is that the winner must spend the money at one or more of the businesses who participated in the show.

Along with traditional exhibitor set-ups inside and outside the arena, there will also be ongoing demonstrations on the stage. The demonstrations will be done by those exhibitors interested in taking part. So far, among those ready to participate are an Elvis impersonator, a Denmark inspired open sandwich maker, and a Hartford Retirement demonstration.

Three radio stations have signed up and will be  taking turns broadcasting live from the Morrisburg Arena location. Q Country 102.9 FM; Yes-FM 96.7 FM; and, Oldies PAC 98.7 FM are the three participating stations.

The arena will be decorated with royal blue curtains, which according to Fitzsimmons “makes a nice backdrop for our exhibitors to display. It transforms the arena into a real trade show look for the exhibitors.”

“The Chamber of Commerce really appreciates working with Donnie Lewis,” said Fitzsimmons, “he’s always accommodating and always goes overboard to help us.” Lewis is recreation manager for South Dundas.

The Morrisburg and District Lions Club is once again in charge of the very popular Friday night chicken barbecue. 

In addition, this year they’ve added a Saturday morning pancake breakfast from 9 to 11 a.m., complete with maple syrup donated by the Basket Case Café and Gallery.

The Lions Club canteen in the arena’s lobby will be open as well and offering their usual fare.

“We’re hoping people come out to see what South Dundas has to offer,” said Fitzsimmons.

The event takes place Friday, April 20th from 4 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, April 21st from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Media Release

On March 23rd, Guy Lauzon, Member of Parliament was pleased to report that the Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of the Environment, announced funding of $140,000 to be allocated to the Raisin Region Conservation Authority under the Great Lakes Sustainability Fund.

Minister Kent announced more than $3.3 million in Government of Canada funding committed under the Great Lakes Sustainability Fund for 46 projects to clean up the severely degraded geographic regions officially designated as Great Lakes Areas of Concern. 

“I am pleased to report that the St. Lawrence River and the City of Cornwall will benefit greatly from these funds,” said Lauzon, “the Raisin Region Conservation Authority will use these funds towards four projects aimed at improving the water quality and protecting the fish habitat of the river.”

The federal government has allocated these funds to the Raisin Region Conservation Authority for the following projects:

•Septic Re-Inspection Program and Communal Waste Assessment for Westley’s Point, Nadeau’s Point, and Amandale Bay- $30,000

•Lake St. Francis/St. Lawrence River Tributary Restoration- $30,000

•Fish and Wildlife Restoration and Monitoring- $35,000

•St. Lawrence River Restoration Council for local RAP development, implementation, co-ordination, community engagement, monitoring and reporting. – $45,000 

“I would like to commend the Raisin Region Conservation Authority for taking the initiative to protect and enhance the St. Lawrence River in our community,” said Lauzon, “these improvements will benefit the environment and residents of Cornwall greatly.” 

The Great Lakes Sustainability Fund was established to work in partnership with other agencies and local community stakeholders to advance Remedial Action Plans that have been developed for each of Canada’s remaining “Areas of Concern” (AOC) located within the Great Lakes Basin.

GLSF provides technical and financial support to projects (up to one-third of the total cost) that implement remedial actions to complete the clean up and restoration in three key priority areas:  fish and wildlife habitat rehabilitation and stewardship; contaminated sediment assessment and remediation; and innovative approaches to improve municipal wastewater effluent quality.  

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On the afternoon of March 27th, fire broke out at Iroquois Enterprises in the dust collector.

“Crews arrived to find flames coming from the side hatch and from the lower portion of the collector,” reported South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services chief Chris McDonough.

“Iroquois requested Morrisburg to assist and the flames were quickly extinguished. It took,” he continued, “three hours to remove the excess sawdust and ensure there were no other ‘hot spots’ in the collector.”

Owners of the company were “put on notice” and were made “aware of the maintenance that is required and of the fire code regulations surrounding the operation of the facility.”

Iroquois Enterprises manufactures new hardwood or softwood pallets and industrial wood products. The company is located at 32 Dundas Street in Iroquois.

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On March 24th, SD&G OPP  officers responded to a report of an assault on Victoria Park Crescent, Morrisburg.

The investigation revealed that a 47 year old male, of Morrisburg, confronted a 14 year old male youth and assaulted him.

He was arrested and faces charges of: Assault; Utter Threat to Cause Death or Bodily Harm; and, Breach of Probation Order.

He was held in custody pending an appearance in Cornwall court.

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On March 26th, South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services’ Williamsburg station was dispatched to a chimney fire on County Road 18 at approximately 7:03 p.m. 

Chief Chris McDonough reported that “upon arrival, fire crews found the roof to be fully involved with flames visible and exposures due to the windy conditions.”

“At this time, Morrisburg was called in to assist, along with a tanker from Chesterville.”

“Due to the cold and windy weather conditions it was difficult to bring the fire under control. Consequently, the 10 year old home was destroyed.”

“Although not confirmed, after speaking with the home owner, the fire was first noticed in the basement adjacent to the chimney area.”

“Fire crews did not clear the scene until 2:30 the following morning, March 27th. No injuries were reported.”

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Media Release

On March 27th, Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MPP Jim McDonell entered the provincial budget lock-up, expecting to see a plan for creating jobs and ensuring economic growth.

McDonell could not hide his disappointment with this year’s budget which has spending up over $1.8 billion and no appreciable reduction in last year’s horrendous deficit of $15.3 billion.

“How could this Liberal government be pleased to promote a deficit for 2012 that’s three times the combined deficits of all the other provinces and ten times larger than that of Quebec’s, who are in second place!”

“We’ve had plenty of tough talk, but no tough decisions. To make things worse, many of the budget’s predictions are best-case scenarios, and rely on either public sector union’s good will or Dalton McGuinty’s spine.”

“Spending is up in most ministries and we are heading towards, what Liberal economist Don Drummond warned against, a 30 billion dollar deficit and 411 billion dollars in total debt by 2017. That equates to a debt of 30,000 dollars for every man, woman and child in Ontario.”

“The National Post predicts that there will be 30,000 less jobs in the province due to the job-killing tax policies outlined in the budget.”

McDonell had unflattering words for the budget’s lack of a clear jobs plan. “The Minister of

Finance stood in the Chamber and told 600,000 unemployed Ontarians ‘We’ll talk about it’.”

“The Jobs and Prosperity Council proposal is as empty as it is upsetting. Those unemployed Ontarians who want to see strong action on job creation don’t need more hot air and appointees patting each other on the back.”

“Look around the province; it’s the small businesses that drive development and employment. They need help to create jobs by reducing their fiscal burden and scrapping bad energy policies as a start.”

The need for austerity has been highlighted well in advance of this year’s budget by numerous stakeholders, economists, the Auditor General and Government Commissions such as the Drummond Commission.

There was a clear shared message of getting spending under control. McDonell commented: “The sheer amount of data and proposals on the table, including our own from the PC Caucus, could have enabled the government to make this budget a turning point in Ontario’s history. Instead, this budget doesn’t reduce spending, takes no tough action and has no vision for long-term job creation. I will join the PC Caucus in not supporting it. Ontarians deserve better”

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South Dundas manager of public works Hugh Garlough submitted the department’s monthly activity summary for the March 20th South Dundas council meeting.

In the summary, he reported that “Robinson Consultants have been asked to give us a life expectancy for both landfills.” 

The current South Dundas landfill sites are the Church Road Landfill and the Matilda Landfill.

During the March 5th budget meeting, Garlough introduced the landfill life expectancy into the discussion. It was suggested that a new garbage policy may be necessary depending upon the “life” left in each of the landfills.

On March 27th, Garlough reported that Robinson Consultants Inc. are currently “completing the 2011 year-end report. In that report, we will get a projected life expectancy for each of the two landfills.”

“The residents will be affected as we will have to transport our household and any other garbage to an approved landfill site, as well as a tipping fee.”

“The planning will begin when we know for sure what our life expectancy numbers are,” continued Garlough. “Options we have already considered are having our household garbage contractor dispose of the garbage as part of the contract.”

“More options will be considered as we get closer to the end of landfill site life,” he added.

Chief administrative officer Stephen McDonald reported that another possible solution to a short landfill life expectancy is a “100,000 cubic meter expansion in Matilda.”

He said, “we don’t have any other sites once those are filled to capacity.” In that case, McDonald pointed out that the township would have to look outside South Dundas for disposal options.

Once the Robinson report is in, McDonald said the township will have “a better handle on where we need to go in terms of restrictions.” Until then the garbage policy remains the same.

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On March 31st, SD&G OPP officers had occasion to conduct a traffic stop on Highway 401, South Dundas Township.

The stop resulted in the seizure of approximately 14 kilograms of suspected marihuana.

The 28 year old male driver was arrested and faces charges of: Possession for the Purpose Schedule II; Possession Schedule II Cannabis resin; and, Possession Schedule II Cannabis Marihuana.

He was held in custody pending an appearance in Cornwall court.

The approximate street value of the seized drugs is $70,000.

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