The County of Haliburton has received a 2024-2025 seniors community grant to support Aging Together as Community’s [ATAC] new project, entitled Bridging the Gaps.

County warden Liz Danielsen said, “I am greatly appreciative for this funding from the Ontario Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility to help support programming for seniors in Haliburton County.” She added, “this partnership between the province, the County, and Aging Together as Community positively benefits the senior population and County as a whole.”

The Bridging the Gaps project will provide social, health, fitness, educational and digital literacy programming to help rural, low-income, and LGBTQ+ seniors stay active, connected and living independently throughout Haliburton County. The project was awarded $25,000 through the Seniors Community Grant Program.

ATAC steering committee member Paul Moore said, “this funding is perfect timing for ATAC. Our program not only fits with the priorities of the Seniors Community Grant Program of reducing isolation, being connected, accessing services and programs and increasing supports for health prevention and health promotion, but also, is extremely timely overlapping with some of the outcomes and directives from our recent community survey.”

The provincial funding will enable ATAC to continue its goal of bringing more seniors throughout Haliburton County together in inclusive meetings both virtually and in-person. Meetings will also provide an opportunity for participants to hear from speakers on a variety of educational topics such as navigating the healthcare system and understanding digital technology, while sharing a healthy meal and having time to socialize and make friends.

October 27 event

ATAC is hosting an upcoming event, on how to better access the healthcare system in the County at ‘Learn the ropes: a road map to healthcare services’, at the Haliburton Legion, Oct. 27 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Speakers include Jen Burns-West, chief nursing executive and vice president of clinical and community support services at HHHS; Christine Keenan, project coordinator of the Kawartha Lakes Haliburton Ontario Health Team; Lauren Wilson, pharmacist-owner, of Haliburton Pharmasave, Chris Parish, commander clinical programs, Haliburton County Paramedic Service; and Kim Ballantyne, senior manager, patient services, home and community care support services. Afterwards, people are invited to enjoy a casual meal of beef brisket or vegetable chili, buns and pumpkin tart. People are asked to register by Oct. 21 by email atachhevents@gmail.com or calling Connie Wood at 705-457-7215.

MPP Laurie Scott said, “the renewed support for Aging Together as a Community is welcome news for Haliburton County. Our government is continuing their commitment to helping seniors stay active and healthy in our community and across our province.”

Haliburton County has a rural population of more than 20,000 residents, with over 35 per cent of residents being 65 or older.

With the festive season right around the corner, CanoeFM is once again recruiting the jolliest County-based kids to help spread Christmas cheer over the ho-ho-holidays.

The non-profit radio station is looking for youthful singers who want to participate in this year’s Christmas Kids’ Project, with three popular yuletide carols to be recorded and played on-air.

Now in its third year, the initiative is designed to inspire community, bring people together, and generate excitement for the most wonderful time of year, said Laurie Sweig, lead volunteer at The Studio – the professional recording space located inside CanoeFM’s Haliburton office.

“We are so fortunate to have a recording studio like this in the County. The equipment is top-notch, and we’ve got a volunteer team of knowledgeable individuals who love producing music for musicians of varying calibres,” Sweig said. “The Kids’ Christmas Project is an opportunity to demonstrate how a community can come together and create magic that can be shared, thanks to technology, throughout the world.”

The studio was a $70,000 investment, with half coming from a Community Radio Fund of Canada Grant. It opened in February 2023. It’s fitted with acoustic wall panels, new speakers, and computer set-up with access to editing programs, such as Logic Pro. For $20 an hour, locals can rent the space out and record songs, podcasts, instrumental pieces, or keepsakes for family and friends.

This year’s festive lineup features classics We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Deck the Halls, and O Christmas Tree. Sweig said she hopes to have between 15 and 20 children participate. Recordings are set to take place in late October.

It won’t be a free-for-all – Sweig said in most cases children will be allotted a time to come into the studio to individually sing songs. Once all the recording is done, volunteers will edit, mix and master the finished pieces before broadcasting.

“Our goal is to create the most fun Christmas songs ever recorded,” Sweig said.

Station manager Roxanne Casey said the program has been a big hit in recent years, with many kids using it as their excuse to begin the big Christmas countdown.

“There’s so much laughter – the kids have a blast, and I know the parents enjoy it as well,” Casey said. “Families loved getting a copy of the songs, and I know from my own grandkids, it was fun waiting to hear them on the radio.”

Casey added it’s a good way to introduce youth to CanoeFM and its range of community programs and initiatives.

Anyone interested in participating can contact thestudio@canoefm.com. Project packages containing everything kids need to rehearse prior to recording, will be available for pick-up from the station.

A second season of Sasquatch University is now airing on Wild TV with bigfoot hunters, Ryan Willis, Joel Porter and Ben Blanc, having spent time in Haliburton County again this past year. good summer of filming. It was a lot of fun.”

Willis said, “it was great. We had another good summer of filming. It was a lot of fun.”

The Highlander has written about the sasquatch chasers in the past, and Willis said they received calls as a result. has written about the sasquatch chasers in the past, and Willis said

“We got more people reaching out about encounters, and we met with them, and He added they spent most of season “We got more people reaching out about encounters, and we met with them, and filmed investigations,” he said.

He added they spent most of season two closer to Haliburton, Algonquin Highlands, Muskoka, north of Muskoka, and in Algonquin Park.

e relates how they were contacted He relates how they were contacted by a man in Haliburton who owns a “huge” property and, “it was really cool talking with him, because he was telling us about how he had an encounter out in the middle of (his land).

“It’s a lot cooler for us when it’s a big property because you wonder, when it’s close to a town, why would (a sasquatch) be here? Did they see something else? When it’s out there and there’s no way it’s another person, there’s no one out there. There’s no trails. The man has to canoe in when he goes. He was a very good witness. He’s been there awhile. He’s seen bears. He’s seen moose. He’s seen everything out there and there’s no way it’s another person, trails. The man has to canoe in when he goes. He was a very good witness. He’s been there awhile. He’s seen bears. He’s seen moose. He’s seen everything out there that you get in Haliburton. There’s no way he made a mistake.” The man said he saw an eight-foot-tall, hairy sasquatch, “all the typical things you get in a description of a bigfoot,” Willis said.

The bigfoot hunter added other people reached out from Algonquin Highlands and the Haliburton-Muskoka area. “Algonquin Highlands and Haliburton are two of my favourites,” he said of sasquatch investigations the team does. He recalled another witness from the Highlands, whose family had been on their property since the late 1800s, “and they’d been seeing white ones probably every 20 or 30 years, but he saw a brown one.”

While the team has yet to spy its own sasquatch in the wild, Willis said they do receive video and audio from the public and, “it’s great when people reach out and they have, not just a really good story, but video evidence to go along, too.”

He conceded they get some strange calls.

They always pre-screen by doing a phone interview with the person before attending their property. “Do they sound all over the place? We had one guy, who, mid-call said, “I find dead bodies all the time … are you guys FBI?’ We have found the odd criminal. A lot of other people are very nice so we go and, luckily, they often turn out to be great.” He said if they are staying overnight somewhere, he always tells his mom to call the police if he is not back by a certain time.

He recalled how, “someone suggested they research, ‘is the war between Russia and Ukraine affecting the sasquatch population there?’ We assumed the guy was joking.”

Willis added, “a lot of good, regular people contact us and have no reason to lie or make something up. They could be on TV for five minutes with their neighbours asking, ‘is he crazy?’ There are more reasons for witnesses not to talk.”

That said, none of the evidence to date has categorically proven a sasquatch. Willis said they would continue to do their work until they find one.

“It’s the only way to end the show. We want a live one, the real thing, in the flesh. Until then, the show must go on.”

Willis said season two is six episodes, compared to season one’s 13. “We stuck to a lot of the tried and true areas. Just another great year, so I am excited for people to check it out and see what they think.”

For more information or to contact the group visit sasquatchuniversity.com.

Rotary Club of Haliburton member Ursula Devolin stands at the Skyline Park scenic overlook and points to the right towards the home she grew up in. A Beachli then, she said the family would drive up most autumns and pose for a family photo at the lookout.

Coming up a couple of years ago, when proposing Skyline Park as the club’s next big capital project, she said, “I just felt sad and that we can do so much better than this. It used to be so nice. The day I came up was dreary, there was garbage littered about, the stone barbecues were broken. I thought ‘it needs some love and care’.”

She said if people look at museum photos, or anybody’s old photos, you could see down to the high school, “so we just want to open it back up.”

They are doing far more than that, with the club undertaking an ambitious $300,000 to $400,000 improvement plan over the next three to four years.

The park is owned by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and designated a rest stop on the provincial highway. It was dedicated by Leslie M. Frost on June 20, 1958. The MTO maintains the park through a contract with a local company, but, “there has been little or no capital improvement during the past 65 years,” Rotary says.

Fundraising and community support needed

“The Rotary Club believes it needs repairs and a refresh so the community and tourists can continue to enjoy the park and the spectacular view.”

They have struck a Rotary Skyline Park project committee. It’s taken about two years to get an agreement with MTO to do the work. They consulted a local landscape company for a concept plan. The first phase involved removing dead and diseased trees, and concrete repairs to the existing viewing platform. On Oct. 7, four members were working to remove trees and brush in front of the platform, although all Rotarians are volunteering their time. If weather permits, they will begin grading this fall.

Other jobs include: extending the viewing lookout, creating a new upper viewing platform for people with mobility issues, building two new picnic pavilions with concrete pads and covered roofs, building year-round accessible washrooms to replace the seasonal toilets, providing new benches and picnic tables, improving paths using recycled asphalt, drawing parking lines and creating designated bus parking, installing display boards highlighting the community’s history and current attractions, improving safety, fencing and signs, and removing old stone BBQs.

Devolin and committee spokesperson Chuck Wheeler said the work will be done in stages as funds become available.

Wheeler said, “fundraising and community support will be an important part of this project. Though the club has funds allocated for a portion of the work, they will launch community fundraisers for specific phases for the capital improvement project.

“The club will also accept gifts of materials for the park.”

The club thanked the Haliburton County Development Corporation for funding; and Dysart et al and Haliburton County tourism for support.

In recent years, the Rotary Club of Haliburton has been involved in developments in Head Lake Park, and the band shelter, donations for new playground equipment, the skateboard park, welcome centre and more. The club is celebrating its 80th year.

Dysart et al resident Michael Butz said he wasn’t shocked when, late last month, he found an excavator sinking into the ground at a future cell tower site at Minnicock Lake Road, saying the area is a natural wetland.

Butz, his wife Susan, and neighbours of Minnicock Lake and Glamorgan roads have opposed the tower for more than two years. It was the first location in Dysart et al selected as part of the Eastern Ontario Regional Network’s (EORN) Cell Gap Project, which aims to bridge cellular dead zones in rural areas and improve connectivity for 99 per cent of residents in the region.

Telecommunications giant Rogers is partnering with EORN on the project, responsible for sourcing tower sites and overseeing construction.

Butz said there weren’t any Rogers representatives on-site the last week in September, when issues arose. He contends workers from Quebec-based Qualnet Wireless Services first arrived about six weeks ago. Butz watched as they prepped the site, clearing trees and digging deep holes for the tower’s anchors.

While observing Sept. 27, Butz said he found workers “panicked, not sure what to do” after an excavator started to sink. “It got stuck pretty good, the water was up into the cab at one point,” Butz said. “Then the engine caught fire when they were trying to get it out. It was quite the scene.”

He contacted the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP), who sent someone to investigate Oct. 2. MECP spokesperson Gary Wheeler said officials concluded there was no spill of contaminants that would pose a risk to the natural environment or human health.

Butz contends water has been rushing to the surface any time workers dig, which he feels proves the area is a natural wetland – something he’s been preaching for years.

“It’s clear for anyone to see – there’s a spring that comes through there. The wetland is actually identified on the Haliburton County GIS map. There are bullrushes on that site too, indicating it’s a wetland,” Butz said, noting he asked Dysart council to insist on Rogers completing an environmental assessment when the application was tabled. Butz claims that didn’t happen.

Dysart mayor Murray Fearrey, who wasn’t on council when the project was approved, said the township’s hands are tied.

“We really don’t have any say. People think council can just snap their fingers and say ‘no’ and defeat this. We have to have a reason, and the reason has to contravene the federal regulations. That’s what we’re guided by,” Fearrey said.

Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) is the sole approval authority for cell tower applications nationwide. Wheeler noted federal infrastructure undertakings relating to cell towers are exempt from municipal and provincial legislation, including The Planning Act, site plan control and zoning bylaws, the Ontario Building Code, The Species At-Risk Act, and provincial conservation authority legislation.

He said MECP had been in touch with ISED to relay public concern and submit observations from the Oct. 2 visit.

Aftermath

The excavator was saved, Butz confirmed, with a local firm called in to assist with its removal. He said crews laid down logs and stone so they could get something in to remove the machine and then buried it all.

Fearrey noted there’s nothing within the township’s records indicating the area is a provincial environmental protection zone, or wetland. Prod:

Elizabeth Purcell, the County’s director of planning, noted the GIS mapping does show wetland along Minnicock Lake Road – though not in the direct vicinity of the tower site. The tower will be located on Lot 24, Con 1, while the main wetland is located on Lot 26, Con 1, Purcell said. She said there is a smaller wetland feature in the southwestern area of Lot 24, but based on materials Rogers submitted to Dysart, it’s far enough away from where the tower will be built.

Jeff Iles, Dysart’s director of planning, noted in a 2022 report a “small stream” was located about 20 metres from the site, but that it appeared dry during parts of the year. He also noted the property was screened for species-at-risk, with nothing found.

Karl Korpela, who heads up Dysart’s bylaw department, said he reviewed whether the township’s site alteration bylaw may apply but since the property is not waterfront, and there’s no mapped environmental protection zone, there’s nothing the municipality can do.

While he remains staunchly opposed to the build, Butz said he knows the horse has already bolted.

“There is no resolution for me and I know that. This was the wrong place to put the tower all along. I still think the spot on Telephone Bay Road would be better – it’s higher and it serves an area that has no cell service. We have two bars here already,” Butz said.

Nilani Logeswaran, Rogers spokesperson, said construction will continue with completion expected in December.