Review-Mirror

OPINION PAGE Publisher/Editor– Howie Crichton hcrichton@review-mirror.com Advertising Sales – Bill Ritchie advertising@review-mirror.com Office – Louise Haughton lhaughton@review-mirror.com Reporter-Photographer - Margaret Brand mbrand@review-mirror.com 4 – March 8, 2018 The Review-Mirror 43 Bedford St. P.O. Box 130,Westport, Ont. K0G 1X0 Ph. 613-273-8000 • 1-800-387-0796 • Fax 273-8001 editor @ review-mirror.com • www.review-mirror.com • PAP Registration No. 01601 • Printed in Smiths Falls, Ontario • The Review-Mirror is published Thursdays. Subscriptions: $33.84 online; $44.50 locally; $55.00 elsewhere in Canada; $150 in the U.S. We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada. Publishers ONTARIO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION 1893-1897 — H. E. Bywater 1897-1916 — W. B. Adams 1916- — Arthur Niblock -1967 — Jim Niblock 1967-1987 — F. Lea and Phyllis Hutchinson 1987-1988 — Bob & Sandy Runciman 1988-1993 — Phil Rutherford 1993- — Howie Crichton CANADIAN MEDIA CIRCULATION AUDIT Mirror The Review Letters to the Editor For the second time, I attended a Mayor's Breakfast held Feb. 28 along with approximately 25 people, includ- ing four members of council and Town Hall staff to hear updates on Le Boat, the new and improved Westport Histor- ical Walking Tour and progress on the sewage treatment facility. The major topic for the meeting was parking and the discussion lived up to its ongoing controversial and con- tentious reputation. Long-time resi- dents of Westport will certainly be familiar with efforts made to try to get a handle on parking. Some of the concern about where village council may be going on park- ing, appeared to be generated by a mis- understanding about just where council was on the parking issue. There is no doubt that there has been discussion about paying for parking in the down- town core at council but no decision has been made. In fact the Mayor's Breakfast included a discussion on parking to afford interested business owners and residents an opportunity to tell council what they thought about the concept of paying for parking in the downtown core. The four members of council in attendance could not mistake the mes- sage that was sent. Paid parking is a non-starter for the business community. No one who spoke to parking felt that some form of pay and display or meter- ing was a good idea. Neil Kudrinko, owner of Kudrinko's Country Grocer, was the most outspo- ken in opposition to any form of paying for parking. He went so far as to say that if pay for parking comes to West- port he will put his business up for sale. Kudrinko pointed out the village has had little or no success in policing the parking by-laws that are already on the books. It would only make sense to have the pay for parking during the tourist season and the cost of pay and display machines and enforcement would not generate sufficient revenue to offset the cost of the pay for parking program. Kudrinko was not the only business owner to question the eco- nomics of implementing paid parking. There are 41 parking spaces at Kudrinko's provided at considerable cost and he pointed out that people would try to park in his lot for free and then visit other businesses. There were almost as many parking concerns expressed as there were peo- ple in attendance. The issue of employ- ees parking in front of businesses was raised. It was suggested that a letter be sent to employers to get them to, once again, suggest, demand or whatever, that their employees not park in the prime spots in the downtown core. The four-hour limit was imposed to help deal with this problem. It isn't working. Again, it was suggested that employees park at the arena as it is only a block away. This idea isn't new and it isn't working. Concern was raised about people who come to the village drag- ging a boat and motor and taking up several parking spots. It was suggested that there may need to be special rules for RV's and trailers in the downtown. Several members of the audience raised the issue of parking by-law enforcement. It was clear that almost everyone had an incident where they thought there was a parking violation and no ticket was issued. It was unfor- tunate that the by-law enforcement offi- cer was not in attendance to speak to some of the concerns that were raised. So where are we at on parking in Westport? Pay for parking would appear to be off the table. Much of the discussion and concerns that were raised would appear to be related to stricter enforcement and a concerted effort on the part of employers to come to grips with a way to get their employ- ees to park outside of the downtown core. There was some outrage last sum- mer when tickets were issued and brought to the Town Hall for cancella- tion. There was concern that ticketing lacked consistency. To her credit, Mayor Robin Jones made it clear that if businesses were looking for the parking restrictions to be enforced, it would not be helpful if the Town Hall is inundated with com- plaints and requests to tear up tickets. There really wasn't anything new as a result of the discussion on parking. The important thing was that the issue was discussed and it became obvious that for Westport, this is a hard nut to crack. If parking, and the nightmare it frequently is, is to be brought under control it will require co-operation on the part of employers, employees and enforcement. It will be interesting to see the letter that is put together for employers and employees and whether there is any noticeable uptake on the request. Getting a handle on parking should- n't be rocket science and shouldn't require draconian measures on the part of council. Co-operation and a real con- cern to accommodate visitors is the best way possible solution and ought to work. We will see. Mike McIntyre joymikechloe@gmail.com To: A Quilter from Southern Alberta (Quilt of Valour) Sometimes a non-phys- ical injury is a very strange darkness. You can- not see it and neither can anyone else; so you know instantly that you are on your own. It remains uncontrolled and unseen so you cannot find it, you cannot fight it and you cannot kill it. You feel shame, frag- mented and beaten. Most- ly confused. You can't actually look at it to dis- cern any physical improvements or assess any changes over time. You haven't any skills for this kind of examination, so you withdraw from the entire world, which is now deemed to be against you - but mostly you now know you are unconnected to folks who might otherwise try to care or try to under- stand. For the others who try to understand the inci- dents that lead you into this darkness; They do not go, so they simply do not know. You cannot recon- cile this either for them. Then someone comes along, and wants nothing for it, and just believes in you. They want you to feel better, they want to hug you and they want to be connected. For me, that is my puppy, Sparkles. The entire world versus me. Bad odds. But with my puppy, I suppose I can live with those odds. One day, your career is over. You are offered paperwork, a handshake, cookies and a little speech on your last day. Gone is your sense of self identifi- cation. You're afraid you and your puppy aren't strong enough for whatev- er fate awaits you. Then, for some reason. A simple, beautiful quilt and a hug from a stranger is offered to you. The per- sons who made it, are not there. They will likely never meet you. They do not know my injuries or story. They just believe in what I was doing and now have laboured to produce this extremely random article of kindness, exem- plifying creation, care and incredible patience. It is brutally disarming for you. A group of women that you have never met, wants to make sure you are both warm and hugged; these women want nothing for it. You don't understand, but you sort of feel something for a change - could it be this ridiculously simple? This hug will wait for me to come home, it will never judge me, it will keep my puppy and I warm if I need it to; and it will always give me a good memory. It will always want to be connected to me. It will always want to go on the road with me. Now I have a tiny fam- ily. Myself, my Sparkles and my quilted hug. The entire world versus my tiny family. My odds are better. I'm getting a little stronger. I'm ashamed that I do not know who a ''quilted by a Southern Albertan and N. Christie' are. I'd like to think they are a couple of Ladies passing the time by having a good chat, working the fabric and building the patterns - being connected with friends as they do this. I haven't any idea exactly what this kind of poetry called quilting entails nor what the tools required are. I haven't any ideas if it is hard artwork or just a task of love to pass the time. However, I would hope they know somehow - they are helping to arm me in my fight. They are killing darkness. Please understand, peo- ple will ask, "what's the story with that bloody quilt, Bud?" I won't say a word. Not a thing. They won't understand. That one I'll keep between the wonderful Ladies in southern Alberta that I have never met - and my tiny family. In the end, I feel I can- not articulate my thoughts and feelings properly nor can I even begin to justify them; but I feel like I do have a small connection to the country and the good folks inside her borders, once again. That too, makes me a little bit stronger. The odds are get- ting better. As I am most apprecia- tive, I can only offer in return my sincerest grati- tude to those few anony- mous Ladies who toiled, so that on some random day, I could be properly equipped when needing a real hug from somewhere deep inside Canada. I remain most gratefully, Yours Aye. Sub Lieutenant (Ret'd) Royal Canadian Navy Bridge Watch Keeper Naval Boarding Party Officer Interdiction Detention Team Leader Canadian Armed Forces Victoria, B.C. There is a healing power in giving and receiving Paid parking not an option: for downtown businesses Editor, I was reading the article about PTSD in last week's Review-Mirror. It was quite a coincidence that the National President of Quilts of Valour had forwarded a letter of thanks from a victim of PTSD to Quilts of Val- our reps in Canada this week. This letter addressed the issue intimately and gave all of us quilters a lift, know- ing that what we do is valuable for the recovery of a fel- low Canadian. I would extend the thanks expressed in this letter (re- printed below) to all of our fellow quilters in the West- port area who put their talents to use for hospitals, babies, cancer patients, kidney dialysis patients ---the list goes on and on. There is a healing power in the act of giving and receiving – of a simple act of caring. Donna Easter, Westport Representative Quilts of Valour – Canada Society

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