GO-VAXX coming to County

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September 13, 2021

CLINICS AT HALIBURTON HIGHLANDS SECONDAY SCHOOL Sept. 14-15

HEALTH – The local health unit and the Ontario government are teaming up to have the GO-VAXX bus come to Haliburton County Sept. 19.

A pair of GO buses have been temporarily retrofitted to serve as mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinics as part of the province’s efforts to target those who have yet to receive a first or second dose.

Since hitting the road in August, the buses have visited Canada’s Wonderland, Rogers Centre, BMO Field, select shopping malls, various universities/colleges, farmers’ markets, festivals and more to provide COVID-19 vaccines.

Now, the GO-VAXX bus is coming to this region to provide COVID-19 vaccines as follows:

Sunday, Sept. 19, 1-4 p.m. at Abbey Gardens (1012 Garden Gate Dr.) in Haliburton County. The site is located 10 minutes from Haliburton Village, towards Carnarvon, just off Highway 118.

“We’re pleased to be working with the province and Metrolinx to bring the GO-VAXX bus to our communities,” says Doreen Boville, a health promoter with the HKPR District Health Unit. “We encourage anyone who still needs COVID-19 vaccine to get aboard the bus and get a first or second dose so they are fully protected against COVID-19, especially as we head into a fourth wave.”

Anyone wishing to take advantage of the GO-VAXX bus to receive a vaccine is reminded to:

Bring your health card. If you do not have a health card or your health card is expired, bring another form of government-issued photo identification such as a driver’s license, passport, Status card, or birth certificate.
Eat and drink something before you arrive to prevent feeling faint or dizzy while being vaccinated.
Dress for the weather in case there is a line-up.
Wear clothing that allows for easy access to the upper arm such as a loose-fitting top or T-shirt.
Wear a mask that covers your nose, mouth, and chin.
Do not visit the GO-VAXX bus if you have symptoms of COVID-19.

HIGH SCHOOL CLINICS

Schools within Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) will have clinics run 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for students and staff only of the respective school, and then 4 to 7 p.m. for students, staff, parents, and members of the community:
• Haliburton High School – September 14 and 15

Terry’s committee calling for volunteers

By

Sam Gillett

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September 10, 2021

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Since 1994, Minden’s Terry Fox run has motivated runners and walkers to raise more than $329,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation and its efforts to cure cancer.

While this year will, again, be a socially distanced and solitary affair, the committee behind the run hopes to motivate fundraisers and new volunteers to ensure the event’s future is just as bright as its past.

“We have people who do it every year. They go around to all their friends and relatives and they collect sponsorship money. They’re proud to wear their Terry Fox shirts. I guess it’s just part of the small town mentality,” said Minden’s Terry Fox committee chair Barb Millington.

This year the run is titled ‘Terry Fox Run. One Day. Your Way.’

Participants still raise money and submit pledges, but can take part wherever they are, for whatever distance they want.

“Terry had to stop his Marathon of Hope 41 years ago when his cancer returned,” said Fred Fox, Terry’s brother, in a foundation press release. “He asked Canadians to keep fundraising for cancer research without him so that his dream of finding a cure would one day be realized, and that is exactly what we need to do.”

Besides this year’s virtual event, Millington is hopeful a new generation of organizers will energize fundraising efforts for future runs.

“The main thing we need to keep things going is someone to look after it, to chair it,” she said. But anyone can volunteer; they need people to fill in for jobs like working the registration table, putting up signs and more.”

Millington has been a volunteer on the committee for 19 years. She said each year she sees the community come together in a special way for the usual 10 kilometre run or walk down Deep Bay Road. “It’s tradition and we’ve been doing it for so many years,” she said.

It’s a tradition she and the rest of the committee intend to keep alive, even through two years of COVID19. For many, it’s also a way to pay tribute to Terry himself, who gave hope to thousands of Canadians through his 5,373 kilometre run, Millington said.

“I think he just captured people’s hearts when he did that.”

To register for the hike visit terryfox.org/ run, and enter Minden, Site 1033 when recording donations.

Huskies getting ready

By

Lisa Gervais

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September 10, 2021

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Locals Kaine Brannigan, Dylan Keefer and Isaac Little have been invited to the Haliburton County Huskies Blue versus White game scheduled for Sept. 11 in Minden as the club finalizes its roster for the Ontario Junior A Hockey season.

Head coach and general manager, Ryan Ramsay, said the three impressed during the team’s rookie camp in late August.

The Huskies are offering free admission for fans to watch the intrasquad match which is scheduled for noon at the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.

Another two Highland Storm alumni, Braeden Robinson and Colin Glecoff, will be affiliate players with the club, Ramsay said.

Robinson will play for North Kawartha Knights and Glecoff will lace up the skates for either North Kawartha Knights or a Central Ontario midget AAA squad.

The late August rookie camp featured 49 skaters, including 16 goalies.

Ticket prices and availability for the other home games, as well as remaining preseason away games, will be announced shortly.

The Huskies are home to the Aurora Tigers, Sept. 18 at 4:30 p.m., and the Collingwood Blues, Sept. 25 at 4:30 p.m.

The Huskies regular season home opener is on Oct. 2 versus Lindsay.

Season ticket holders can pick up their tickets at the arena on the dates of the BlueWhite game and the two exhibition games.

Forever ‘Mrs. Walling’ to thousands of students

By

Lisa Gervais

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September 10, 2021

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Known as Mrs. Walling to thousands of kids, a woman who taught at the Victoria Street School in Haliburton for 36 years has passed away.

Bonnie Walling was in her 89th year.

Her daughter, Susan Baszczynski, returned to the school that is now home to Community Living Trent Lakes Sept. 6 to reflect on her mom.

Sitting at a picnic table overlooking what would have been Mrs. Walling’s Kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms, Baszczynski said her mom spent the bulk of her career there and was also a student herself.

“It’s a reminiscing spot. She has a picture of the school that was painted for her when she retired. I brought it to the funeral home and I’m going to hang it in my home. It’s a nice print.”

Baszczynski said there is no doubt her mother had an impact on the community. She said it’s been “heartwarming” having former students reach out in tribute to the woman who lived in the village until she was 85.

“I think she truly gave a lot of kids a very positive start with their school education. They began in a happy spot. I think it carried a lot of them throughout their years. Anybody I’ve talked to that had her [as a teacher] has fond memories.”

Many have commented how Mrs. Walling would recognize them.

“She amazed me how she remembered names. Not only would she remember the child, she would remember other kids in the class and the year the kid was in Kindergarten. She had it all down. That was up into her 80s she was still doing that.”

By the end of her career, she was teaching kids of kids.

Bonnie Walling (Lee) grew up in the village, just up the hill from the former school. The family had a cottage on Drag Lake they would go to the day after school ended right up until Labour Day. They would come into the village for the annual Rotary Carnival parade.

Baszczynski said her mother showed her and other kids at the cottage a good time every summer. For example, she would set up treasure hunts and hide clues. “And it always included a treat at the end.”

Although she lived to be nearly 90 her life was not without its health challenges. She was a three-time cancer survivor, had Crohn’s and in the end died of congestive heart failure. Despite that, she remained a caregiver, undergoing radiation for breast cancer in Kingston while caring for her husband who had Alzheimer’s in the early 1980s.

Baszczynski said she would joke with the doctors that her mom’s nickname should be “lucky” for all that she had survived.

With her dad being a road surveyor, Baszczynski said she and her mom were close growing up.

“She was my rock. We did a lot together growing up. And we share a similar sense of humour so we got along. She came to anything I ever had or did. That was always nice to know she was there.”

Of the many tributes on the Haliburton County Funeral Home website, Jacoba Lilius wrote, “Forever Mrs. Walling to me. What an impact a caring teacher can have and she certainly did. She nurtured my love of learning and reading and inspired me to become an educator too. Sending my sincere condolences to her family.”

Live dance returns to Haliburton Sculpture Forest

By

Lisa Gervais

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September 10, 2021

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Live dance is coming back to the Haliburton Sculpture Forest.

Forest spokesperson Youkie Stagg said on Sept. 2 that the Throwdown Collective and five other dancers have devised and choreographed dances inspired by the art of the Sculpture Forest.

From Sept. 13-18, visitors will have a chance to see Brian Solomon, Noriko Yamamoto, Phylicia Browne-Charles, Madeline Friel, and Throwdown Collective’s Mairéad Filgate, Brodie Stevenson with Irvin Chow perform.

Stagg said, “these selected artists have been invited to take an existing work or idea perhaps halted by the pandemic and to re-engage, re-configure, and adapt it to the outdoor environment, exploring it through a new lens.”

The event has been dubbed Re-emergence and Re-engagement.

Stagg added it coincidentally occurs during the week of Hike Haliburton, so hikers taking a guided tour of the Sculpture Forest will be able to see the dancers at work.

The artists will be in the Sculpture Forest (weather permitting) from noon to 4 p.m. each day. Community members are welcome to come and see their work in progress. There will also be a community forum on Friday, Sept. 17 for people to talk with the artists about their process. In light of COVID-19 restrictions, organizers are asking the public to bring a mask for when social distancing is not possible.

Stagg said the dance event aims to bring back collaborative dance to Haliburton after a year and a half of lockdowns. The Sculpture Forest is working with Dance Happens Here Haliburton.

Stagg added there will be an event later this winter as well, called Re-connection. She said the dancers and choreographers will reconvene for a live event to discuss their work, sit in for a question-and-answer session and possibly perform their work live depending on pandemic restrictions.

She also encouraged the public to visit the Downtown Haliburton Sculpture Exhibition, an exhibit of six sculptures in downtown Haliburton. The sculptures are available for purchase until Oct. 28.

The Haliburton Sculpture Forest is home to 38 outdoor sculptures and six unique sculptural benches by indigenous, international, and Canadian artists.

People can find guides for both the Haliburton Sculpture Forest and downtown exhibit at the Haliburton Welcome Centre on York Street, at the entrance to the Sculpture Forest, or online at haliburtonsculptureforest.ca.

For more information on COVID19 guidelines and tours go to: haliburtonsculptureforest@gmail.com or call 705-457-3555.

New enterprise lighting up the Highlands

By

Lisa Gervais

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September 10, 2021

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Brandi Hewson is shining stylish light on design for local consumers and trades through her new company, Kohara + Co.

Hewson will officially launch the interior/ exterior lighting, décor and design business on Sept. 16 and 17 with grand opening events at the showroom and store on Industrial Park Road in Haliburton.

“It is our mission to deliver exceptional lighting solutions and a very tailored experience to our clients,” said Hewson.

“We work very hard to collaborate with designers, trades, consumers, or homeowners to provide functional and elegant lighting enhancing interior and exterior spaces.” in addition to highquality lighting fixtures, Kohara features home décor pieces, candles and lamps and provides free design consultations.

“We will also be offering select custom furniture and already are looking at other items to expand into as our vision to provide a full home solution.”

The name Kohara is rooted in Hewson’s beginnings as an entrepreneur in New Zealand. In the Indigenous Māori language, it means “to gleam, to brighten, to shine, to be passionate,” said Hewson.

Kohara is a division of another Hewson business, WAI Products Ltd. Hewson said WAI’s customer base has been “95 per cent non-local,” distributing water supply, irrigation, and landscape lighting products throughout Canada to trades and the country’s largest national retailers. WAI also operates a business development consulting division for international manufacturers.

When COVID-19 hit, Hewson saw potential for both risk and opportunity in her field and the Kohara concept was born.

“Having been in the landscape lighting industry over the past eight years, we were being asked by our valued trades for interior and exterior lighting solutions. The challenge of supply to local trades and consumers presented the gap we needed to dive in. It is important to me that we contribute to our own local economy and support so many local talented trades as well.”

Hewson thoroughly researched the market before taking the plunge, including considering client input, local contractor and designer needs, competitors and the best quality manufacturers to ensure the right selections for every budget and style.

“Haliburton has drastically expanded over the past couple of years as the dream of lakeside living and cottaging grows but also as COVID hit our market, and [that] lifestyle is very much desired. The contractors are all overwhelmed with work and opportunity so what better time for Kohara to provide full support on quality lighting solutions?”

While business at WAI dipped as predicted at the start of the pandemic, it “took a major growth leap” a few months later, creating a juggling challenge with the Kohara start-up. Hewson credits Tamara Bain, lead account and office manager, with helping to keep things on track and aligned with the Kohara + Co. vision.

“I am very grateful to have someone equally as committed, excited and passionate on my team,” said Hewson. “No matter what style of fixture or spec of ceiling fan you need, Tamara will find it for you on your budget.”

Kohara design consultations will feature not only Hewson’s WAI experience but also her 10-year background as owner of Elegant Details Wedding Event Planning and Decorating, which she sold just over two years ago.

“I have always had a passion for interior and event décor and a vision to fully transition spaces.

I have built and personally designed two of my own homes and our cottage and just have a love for every aspect.”

Kohara + Co. will host an invitationonly event on Sept. 16 for family, friends and customers who supported Kohara’s creation, and a public grand opening on Sept 17 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Both events will include gift bags for the first 40 guests, display discounts, draws, and giveaways for new lighting fixtures such as a Kichler chandelier, a Monte Carlo ceiling fan, a Matteo wall sconce and more. Visitors to the public event can take advantage of the chance to sign up for free in-house consultations.

Kohara + Co. is located at 175 Industrial Rd., Haliburton. Phone 705-455-9417; email info@koharaco.com; visit koharaco. com.

Sending a Libertarian ‘suitcase’ to Ottawa

By

Sam Gillett

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September 10, 2021

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THE HIGHLANDS VOTES

He might be running as a candidate for the Libertarian Party of Canada, but Gene Balfour said he isn’t a politician.

“I see myself as an advocate for ideas that are affecting the political realm,” he said.

The former People’s Party of Canada candidate from Fenelon Falls has run as a Libertarian before, most recently in the 2018 provincial election.

He spent more than 40 years working in the IT sector in professional recruitment. Running for the Libertarian Party, said Balfour, lets him focus on freely spreading his ideas and message of limited governance and personal freedoms.

“If the public can begin to understand those ideas, and begin to see the value in pulling back the size of our government to something that’s more sustainable and more purposeful, they’ll start putting pressure on the people we send to Ottawa,” he said.

That’s why he said he supports Conservative candidate Jamie Schmale, who he said has a proven track record in advocating for a reduction in government size. He said he’d like to provide Schmale with a “suitcase full of requests from citizens” who want to reduce the size and scope of the Canadian government.

Key fixtures of Balfour’s conservative libertarian approach would have on the ground consequences for Haliburton’s healthcare, social services, environmental protection measures and even COVID-19 protocols.

On housing, Balfour claimed Canada’s government spending and legislative restrictions have contributed to sky-high housing costs. In an area with limited, and expensive, rental opportunities, Balfour suggests lower rental and housing costs can be achieved through decreasing government spending and lowering the rate of inflation and living.

Balfour criticizes what he calls the “nanny state,” which refers to the funding and operating of a suite of social programs and bureaucratic systems. In an area such as Haliburton, many regularly access programs that employ professionals to assist people living with addiction and other mental health conditions, seeking housing stability and more. Balfour said he approaches the issue with “communitycentred values,” which he describes as putting the responsibility of social care to “neighbours,” instead of publicly-funded professionals. With less government spending Balfour said limited taxation will put more money in peoples’ pockets. He said decreased regulations on industries will stimulate the economy, providing more opportunities for work and betterment.

Balfour said he supports regulations that protect wildlife and lake quality in areas such as Haliburton County.

“There are laws and regulations that need to be in place to protect those things that are so valuable to us, but we don’t need all the other ones,” he said. “Let’s strip away the regulations that have been built up over many years over partisan political concerns to give certain special interest groups power over people at the expense of taxpayers.”

Balfour said the response to COVID19 should be an individual one without restrictions such as mandated mask-wearing or lockdowns. He referred to the Great Barrington Declaration, a COVID-19 response strategy penned by scientists which promotes herd immunity. It’s an approach criticized by many health professionals, who say it would result in even more deaths than COVID-19 has caused so far, which amounts to more than four million.

He mentioned how lockdowns have resulted in high rates of mental health distress, as well as limiting job opportunities for people desperate to work.

“You can’t throw those people under the bus. You’ve got to give them the freedom to look at their own situation, their own risk” he said. He thinks mainstream media “fear mongering” has overstated the seriousness of COVID-19 infection. The virus has caused 26,977 deaths in Canada.

Alison Davidson runs for ‘rights and freedoms’

By

Sam Gillett

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September 10, 2021

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THE HIGHLANDS VOTES

Alison Davidson became a candidate for the People’s Party of Canada two days after the federal election was called.

She said the process so far has been “very stressful, but also encouraging.”

Davidson doesn’t have election experience. She wasn’t a party member until she submitted a candidate application, realizing there was no representative in the riding.

On the last day to apply, Davison said, “I thought ‘you know what, somebody has to do it and sometimes that somebody is you’.”

“We sit around our porch and complain and complain about what’s going on,” she said. “And then I knew I liked the PPC, I really liked that they were really standing up for our rights and freedoms.”

Davidson, who runs a log home building business and cabinetry shop with her partner in Kawartha Lakes, said the most important issue for her is “respecting our constitution” in regards to health mandates such as lockdowns and COVID-19 passports.

For Davidson, lockdowns in particular caused more damage than good. She said while COVID-19 deaths are tragic, “the suffering caused by lockdowns outweigh the risk of COVID-19.” For Davidson and the PPC party, health advice from Canada’s chief public health officer Theresa Tam (who they propose to fire) has spread fear and division.

“I’m tired of all this fear all the time,” she said. “We need to work, we need to get back to school, we need to get back rolling. And then we can start working on the economy.”

The PPC party opposes vaccination requirements for healthcare workers, as well as the recently announced vaccine passport system which will be introduced in Ontario Sept. 22.

She said “crazy spending” by the Liberal government has directly contributed to high living costs and the current housing crisis in Haliburton. She also suggests lowering immigration levels to “a more reasonable number,” to help decrease competition for housing in Ontario.

The PPC party takes a skeptical view on climate change, claiming “none of the cataclysmic predictions that have been made about the climate since the 1970s have come true.”

The PPC party also proposes to leave the Paris Agreement, a collection of 190 countries who have pledged to reduce emissions and work to adapt to climate change.

Davidson said Canada should look to what it already does well in conservation and environmental protection. “Part of it is we just talk doom and gloom instead of [saying] there are some things we’ve done that are good, and we should celebrate.”

She said if Canada commits to reducing C02 emissions, it would “devastate” the economy while high emission countries wouldn’t be impacted.

“If we really want to do something about the global environment, we have to do something about China and India,” she said.

Davidson runs for ‘rights and freedoms’