The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit has reported its 13th confirmed case of COVID-19 in Haliburton County, with five high-risk contacts associated.
In an update July 27, the unit reported a new case, along with an additional probable case. Five others are high-risk contacts, meaning asymptomatic individuals who are known to have been in contact with a confirmed or probable case.
All other confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Haliburton have been previously resolved, including two reported last week.
Total cases across the district are now up to 213, with 22 active in the City of Kawartha Lakes and one active in Northumberland.
New COVID case in Haliburton
Folk Society to lend musicians a helping hand
The Haliburton County Folk Society (HCFS) says it’s created a new musical subsidy program for County residents.
In a July 17 news release, it said the purpose of the program is to support and maintain the Haliburton Highlands vibrant music community during COVID-19.
The implementation of the program enables local musicians to use their downtime effectively by supporting them to enhance their performance skills, while providing an income for selected instructors, the society said.
“Subsidies are available to local artists who may appreciate financial assistance to pursue their musical training and knowledge,” the society said, adding that training may include, but is not limited to, instrumental, vocal, song-writing, performance presentation and music technology.
“Each musician is able to evaluate their own personal needs and select the instructor who can assist them with their development. All forms of physicallydistanced instruction will be considered and may include instructors who do not live in Haliburton County. Recommendation of appropriate instructors can be requested but the final decision rests in the performer’s hands,” the society said.
Subsidies will cover up to 80 per cent of costs. The applicant is free to propose any qualified professional instructor.
Applications will be open until Aug. 15. Anyone interested in applying for a subsidy is encouraged to complete the application form found on haliburtonfolk. com. Questions can be directed to: haliburtonfolk@gmail.com.
“The closure of performance venues has severely impaired the ability of performing artists to earn a living and taken away a source of pleasure and relaxation for the listening audience,” the society said last Friday.
The HCFS has risen to the challenge, launching a successful online concert series that provided a source of revenue for artists and in-home listening pleasure for the public. A series of concerts was livestreamed from the Dominion Hotel.
As the community opens back up, the HCFS said it continues to look for innovative ways to support musicians while enhancing the vibrancy of the community.
The society said additional programs to support musicians and the listening public are in development and will be announced in the near future.
HHHS making recruitment inroads
A new full-time emergency department physician has begun working for the Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS), while another is in the works for the fall, HHHS CEO and president Carolyn Plummer told the board during its annual general meeting July 16.
On a day when the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation should have been staging its annual Matt Duchene Charity Golf Classic, the board held its first-ever AGM via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Board president Jeff Gollob said it was the 24th AGM and, “I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve held a virtual annual general meeting.”
Plummer told the board they’d collaborated with the physician recruitment coordinator that was hired by the County of Haliburton and had been able to recruit two emergency medicine physicians, one of whom has officially started and the other expected to start this autumn.
“And then a couple of additional locum physicians who have expressed interest in settling in this community. So, we’re on a great path when it comes to physician recruitment and I think that’s a huge accomplishment,” Plummer said.
Chief of Staff, Dr. Keith Hay, also acknowledged the work with recruiter Cheryl Kennedy “and many other individuals in the community,” in getting the full-time ER doctor, as well as anticipating other physicians joining the medical community in the near future.
“Having a new full-time emergency physician has reduced the number of emergency room shifts filled by Health Force Ontario’s emergency department locum program which we’ve depended on for some time,” Dr. Hay said.
Although COVID-19 has dominated the health scene locally, the AGM was for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020 so was not the main focus of the meeting, although management and staff were praised for their reaction to it.
Plummer said the pandemic had delayed work on the Ontario Health Team (OHT) initiative but it was expected that process would resume, with a meeting scheduled for July 17. The province has mandated the creation of OHT’s and HHHS and its partners have been deemed to be ‘in development.’
Plummer said the OHT team had quickly changed focus, to become the Haliburton County Pandemic Planning Task Force.
Fiscally, despite its many challenges, including repairing the Highland Wood long-term care roof at a cost of $247,267, HHHS recorded a surplus of just over $20,000.
Auditor John West, of Grant Thornton, said “To realize a surplus on a $27 million operation is a significant achievement.”
It was acknowledged that the services could not have done that without the support of the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation, and the Haliburton and Minden Hospital auxiliaries, which brought in $750,000 worth of equipment combined.
In her lengthy report, Plummer said it had been a busy year, with more than 11,000 visits to the Haliburton Hospital ER and close to 15,000 in Minden. She added that acute care numbers were on par with last year. Telemedicine received close to 1,500 visits, saving more than 465,000 kilometres, and more than 6,600 hours of travel time.
She said they’d put in a privacy screen in the palliative centre; added new beds in Haliburton thanks to the auxiliary; and new cardiac telemetry equipment thanks to the Foundation.
Plummer also highlighted the importance of HHHS volunteers, saying they had well over 300 active volunteers who had put in nearly 30,000 hours.
For more information on the AGM, visit the HHHS website.
Ugly haircut on Minden roads
Craig Gordon headed home from work last week, only to find a Minden Hills brushing contractor “doing a hatchet job” on the roadside trees and foliage.
“It’s a horrendous job,” Gordon told The Highlander via email.
He said he was given various reasons as to why the township needed to do the brushing and he understands it has to be done.
“But it doesn’t have to be done the way it’s being done,” Gordon said.
“We live in a beautiful part of the country and it’s hard to believe that this is how they treat our roads. People pay a lot of property taxes so they can have some curb appeal to their property and I’ve seen (the County and its four lower-tier municipalities) do this all over the county.” Hydro one also does brushing.
Travis Wilson, the township’s director of public works, said that to his knowledge there wasn’t much, if any brushing taking place on Minden Hills’ roadways prior to him starting with the township.
“From that, you can imagine our entire road network has become overgrown and in some situations overtaken the travelled portion of the road,” he said via email.
He said they started a brushing program five years ago, although it didn’t really become adequately funded until 2017.
The township has now placed its roads on an eight-year cycle, so that every eight years they will be brushed.
He added there is typically one or two residents every year that find mechanical brushing to be “ugly”; however, most are surprised that within a month or two of completion you wouldn’t be able to tell the equipment was through with the exception of not having to drive down the center of the road or hitting branches with your mirrors.
He said mechanical brushing is not special to Minden Hills and is widely used outside of the County as well.
“It is the most efficient and costeffective form of roadside brushing and is necessary for daylighting, ensuring adequate width of road platform and in the case of many roads, allowing access to the ditch with equipment for ditch maintenance.”
Warden Liz Danielsen also brought up brush removal at the July 22 County council meeting.
“Just a comment from a tree hugger, some of the brushing work is a little brutal looking,” Danielsen said. “I know that’s the case when its first done, but it’s just brutal.”
Left to Tell: Part 2 – Life in Canada in 1939
By Mabel Brannigan
In late August, 1939, Canada was still in the grip of the Great Depression with about 900,000 of Canada’s total population of 11 million still unemployed.
Life in Haliburton County wasn’t much different from other rural areas. On Saturday night, the boys stepped out in black and white Oxfords to dance to music made famous by big bands such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, whose aircraft would be shot down in the Black Sea in the Second World War. At the Golden Slipper in Haliburton, Al Perrin interpreted big band music.
Roll out the Barrel was the favourite polka. Jitterbugs cut a rug to In the Mood, while Keith Brannigan got everyone on the floor to square dance when he called Darling Nellie Grey or Redwing and the girls showed off their pleated butterfly skirts in the swing.
People chuckled at the antics of Popeye and his spinach or Wimpy and his hamburger. Pork and beans cost three tins for 19 cents. Two tins of salmon cost 23 cents while a pound of coffee cost a quarter. In the rural areas in summer, mail arrived three times a week. Because of lack of telephone lines, it would take four or five hours to get a call to Toronto. Record crowds turned out at the Toronto Exhibition to see demonstrations of the coming of the incredible television.
But, while the building blocks of war were being put in place in Europe, most Canadians did not believe the future included a war scenario. Since it was reported that Prime Minister Mackenzie King had already recorded in his diary that Adolph Hitler may rank with Joan of Arc someday, there seemed to be no need for pessimism. Their optimism was shaken when the British government transferred $60 million in gold to Canada for safekeeping. But, when the explosive news came that the Nazi regime had bombed Warsaw, and that 52 army divisions had rumbled into Poland in September 1939, war was inevitable.
As in all of Canada, the shock wave hit Haliburton County. In West Guilford, 86-year-old great grandma Jane fretted that Frankie and Hazel’s boy would have to go overseas. This was Frankie Barnum and Ray Scott. They did along with seven of grandma’s grandchildren, two of whom did not return.
On Sept. 10, 1939, Canada declared war on Nazi Germany, not knowing that this war would last six years, a war that at the end of six years, would have claimed the lives of 50 million of the world’s people, and would leave countless others wounded in body and mind – a war that would change our maps and history, our lifestyle and our destiny forever.
Harp in the Dark – chapter 1: Mummy
By Hope Thompson
Doug Benner’s shift was nearly over. Two more shovelfuls and the site would be cleared. He brought up the arm of the backhoe, tilted the basket then lowered it, teeth first, into the earth. But earth didn’t fill the basket. Instead, the claw pulled up a white box. Benner eased the thing further out of the ground then locked off the arm and climbed out of the cabin.
“Gord!” Benner shouted, pointing at the thing.
Gord Patz sat at the wheel of a dump truck parked next to the backhoe—the receiving end of the excavating operation. He shut off his engine and joined Benner and they both peered at the discovery.
“Looks like a fridge,” Patz said brushing dirt off the white object.
Benner scratched the gray stubble on his chin. “Yeah, one of those old propane fridges.” He felt around in the dirt for a handle. “Wonder if it’s got a cold Billy Beer in it?” He heaved open the door. “I could sure use a—OH GAWD!”
Seven minutes later, Detective Harry Harp and Constable Terry Becker sped past Crystal Cove, a new development of townhomes perched on one of the largest lakes in Spruce County. The land sloped up sharply giving most units a view of the water and all were finished in a nautical theme—dove gray with white siding.
“I wish my mom would move into a place like this,” Harp said as they raced past the development.
“Where does she live?” Becker said.
“In the city. Same house I grew up in. My dad died two years ago and she refuses to move. In my opinion, the place is too much for her. Anyway, my sister lives nearby and checks in on her.” Harp winced at the thought of his mother and the time that had elapsed since his last visit.
“Where are your parents?” Harp asked, changing the subject.
The road turned to gravel and the car swerved. Becker slowed and regained control of the vehicle, then sped up again. “My mom lives in town. She’s on her own, too, but, well, she’s a little younger.”
The view out of Harp’s window turned to dense forest until the car rounded a corner and an open pit construction site appeared. A couple of pick-ups stood next to a pair of cop cars. Harp and Becker pulled up, cut the engine, and joined four men who were standing beside a backhoe.
“Sir.” A cop with red, tight cropped hair said, stepping forward. “These guys found it.” He gestured to Benner and Patz—then pointed at the ground.
Benner said, “It came up in my shovel. Thought we better call you guys when I seen inside.”
“Looks like a Servel,” Becker said.
“Servel?” Harp looked confused.
“It’s a brand of propane fridge that was popular here in the 60s and 70s. Some offgrid cottages still use them,” Becker said.
Silence filled in and the group looked at Harp, waiting.
The detective took a pair of surgical gloves from his pocket and pulled them on then he took a breath, reached forward and pulled up on the handle. The latch released and he heaved open the door. The lines in his forehead deepened and the muscles in his face tightened. What looked like a man’s body, dark green in colour and partially mummified, was stuffed into the fridge’s cavity. His clothes had disintegrated except for bits of waistband and the baby blue remnants of a V-neck collar. As the men gapped at the corpse, a pea-green cloud of death and decay rose from the fridge’s interior like a putrid belch.
The two cops recoiled. Becker’s eyes widened and he stumbled backwards.
“Get Williams!” Harp coughed.
“We called him!” the redheaded cop blurted out through his hand-covered mouth.
As if on cue, Coroner Boyce Williams’ vehicle pulled up. The little man walked purposefully towards the group with his two assistants trailing behind him.
“What’s this I hear about a man in a fridge?” Williams snapped then peered down at the contents of the appliance. His nose wrinkled. “I see,” he said, coolly, as he, too, pulled on surgical gloves.
After telling Harp that he would need some serious slab-time with the corpse and that he’d get them a report when he was good and ready, the coroner and his team set to work.
A gust of wind blew across the construction site where majestic pines once stood.
“What’s being built here?” Harp asked looking around.
“Condos,” Benner said and pointed at the forest. “Part of Crystal Cove.”
“With a forest between them? Nice.” Harp said.
Benner shook his head. “Nope. She’s all coming down. Once we get approval we’re leveling the forest and the old lodge, too.”
“Wait, what lodge?” Again, Harp looked confused.
Becker cut in. “You can’t see it from here because it’s so overgrown but there’s a lodge in there.”
Harp stared at the wall of forest, his eyes narrowing.
A few minutes later, the two men pushed their way through the undergrowth. Narrow trails zigzagged through the woods and Harp pointed them out.
“From animals—or kids,” Becker said. “I used to hang out here actually.”
Becker held back a large branch and Harp stepped forward into a clearing. An imposing two-story building loomed up before them.
“Pines End,” Becker said, grandly.
Weathered by time and neglect, the building still held a hint of its majestic past. In front, a large stone terrace, cracked and overgrown with weeds, spanned the length of the building and Harp could imagine couples lounging in the sun and dancing under the stars. The building’s cedar-shingled roof slanted low in the front and was interrupted by a series of dormer windows. And in the centre, a stone chimney towered above the roof.
“We used to party here after it closed,” Becker said. “When I was a teenager.”
The constable crossed the terrace and pulled at the door. It opened with a loud creak.
The two men stepped into a large room with a stone fireplace in the middle. Graffiti marred the walls and a couple of logs had been dragged inside and used as benches in front of the fireplace. Beer cans, food containers and an old blanket lay abandoned on the floor. Harp and Becker looked through the rooms. They were empty of furniture and some of their windows were smashed and others had plywood nailed across them. Leaves and twigs were strewn across the floor. The place gave Harp an uneasy feeling, just like the corpse in the fridge and the more he explored the abandoned lodge, the more he was sure the lodge and the dead body were linked.
The two men emerged from the derelict building and stood on the terrace. Situated on the same sharp rise of land as Crystal Cove, Harp could see the lake sparkling in the distance through the veil of trees that had grown up over time.
He turned to Becker. “Somebody knows that man in the fridge. Someone must have reported him missing. He’s someone’s son, husband, father.”
“Someone’s victim, too,” Becker added.
Missing man found dead at Minden Lake
Haliburton Highlands OPP have confirmed Robert Smith, reported missing last week, was found dead last night.
OPP said in a press release it was called July 26 to the north end of Minden Lake where a resident had located a male body near their dock. They confirmed it was the 55-year-old Scarborough man, who last seen riding a motorcycle that was found in an overflow parking lot off Horseshoe Lake Road.
OPP said investigators do not suspect foul play. A post mortem examination will be scheduled at the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service in Toronto.
Lake associations push for speed limit signs
Community organizations banded together to put up custom road signs to dissuade speedsters in the Haliburton Lake area July 4.
The Haliburton Lake Cottagers’ Association (HLCA) and Fort Irwin Residents’ Association (FIRA) partnered with Dysart et al to put up “slow down” signs at Hodgson Road, Dunn Road, Curry Road and Haliburton Lake Road.
The effort came out of concerns about pedestrians potentially getting hit. FIRA president Andy Valickis said there are issues with traffic and the roads’ limitations.
“A few people have had some close calls, so that’s been raised,” he said. “There still are concerns but this is a great step forward. Getting some signs, getting it in everybody’s heads to slow down.”
A County speed survey backs up the concern on the Haliburton Lake Road south of Ross Lake Road, which has a speed limit of 50 km/h. From April 4 to 14, 53 per cent of drivers travelling north went over 60 km/h, with another 32.2 per cent going between 50-60 km/h. Going south, 36 per cent of drivers went over 60 km/h, with 38.9 per cent going between 50-60 km/h. It has prompted calls from the associations for enforceable speed limit signs. But Valickis said the township is awaiting the completion of a road and speed study first, which they anticipate will be next year.
“We still need that enforceable, ‘here’s a speed limit, the cops will get you for doing over the speed limit.’ Right now, (drivers) don’t know what the speed limit is,” Valickis said.
But the municipality agreed to let the slow down signs go up in the meantime and paid for the poles used for them. Ward 5 Coun. Walt McKechnie said it is great the associations are doing this.
“They’re trying to educate the people to slow down and that’s what it’s all about. We’re all driving too fast. I think we’re all guilty of it at one time or another,” McKechnie said. “We’re trying to accommodate them.”
Valickis said they hope to put up a couple of more signs to address other problem spots, such as a difficult sharp corner. Besides that, they plan to eventually have speed limit signs put up.
“It’s a good compromise but we’re still not finished,” he said.
Health measures bring harassment fears
Baked and Battered co-owner Colby Marcellus said a strong majority of people have been following the rules put in place at the Haliburton restaurant due to COVID-19.
The business opted not to open indoor dining with stage three of reopening July 17, keeping to takeout and patio. But that has led to friction and harassment from some customers, prompting Marcellus to make a plea on social media.
“Our staff have endured being berated, lectured, harassed and even publicly humiliated by customers angry that we aren’t fully open, or that we don’t rearrange seating for them, thus compromising safe social distancing,” Marcellus wrote in a Facebook post.
“They do not deserve being disrespected for doing their jobs and keeping you safe.”
Concern has risen about the few who oppose public health rules after an incident at the Minden Valu-mart July 15. Police said a man refused to wear a mask and assaulted an employee. The man later died in a police altercation in Dysart.
Marcellus said although the conflicts at his restaurant have related to social distancing rather than mask use, the story has added to the discomfort staff feel approaching unruly customers. “This really is a fairly sensitive social issue and we never know what the folks are dealing with,” Marcellus said. “We are not social workers. We are not police. We’re not training in de-escalation and (co-owner Craig Gordon) and I, have the safety of staff in mind when we’re instructing them on how to approach the issue.”
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit mandated businesses have policies requiring masks indoors. But the mandate is educationally focused and offers exemptions. The health unit has said mask refusers should not be confronted or denied service.
Communications officer Bill Eekhof said it is hard to comment on the July 15 incident. But the health unit has regularly quoted Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer: “be kind, be calm, be safe.”
“The current COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult time for everyone,” Eekhof said. “Many of us may feel stressed, challenged and on edge.”
Mandate under scrutiny
The tragic event has caused people to question the pressure employees are under enforcing mask use.
Ian Duncombe is a mental health worker trained in de-escalation originally from Haliburton, who worked at a GTA hospital as a screener for three-and-a-half months during the pandemic. He said the Valu-mart incident concerned him, after relying on his specialized training to manage the occasional person who protested the rules at his job.
It is “something that takes a little more training and a little more expertise,” Duncombe said, adding there are people who will take gentle encouragement the wrong way. “People that come through, who are distressed people, you’re setting up a conflict.”
He said the rules should be black and white for the inevitable disputes that come.
“It would give everybody that reference,” Duncombe said. “If it’s a gray area and you’re starting to fumble around with different facts, different ideas, if they know they can get through anyway, what’s to prevent them from bullying their way in?”
Marcellus said they have provided staff with a script to follow and can ask people to leave if needed. They also have a dedicated person to disinfect tables and watch the crowd.
He said the mask messaging from public health has been a “little inconsistent at times” and he would have liked the mask order to come sooner, though he is thankful it is here now.
“We appreciate the challenges they’re also facing in trying to keep folks safe,” Marcellus said. “We’re all going to make mistakes as we make our way through the summer – including them, and we all need to give each other a bit of latitude.”
Marcellus’s initial Facebook post attracted more than 100 supportive comments.
“I love this community,” he said. “It made us feel appreciated and it made us feel safe.”
Suspect ‘didn’t want to talk to anybody’
While police have yet to name the man they shot in an apparent confrontation July 15 in Haliburton County, neighbour Brian Nash thinks the 73-year-old was troubled.
Nash told The Highlander he and his family simply referred to their neighbour as “buddy” and didn’t know his real name.
Nash said he’d lived next door for about 10 years. However, he said that in all of that time he had only seen the man a few times and never spoken to him, although he appeared to be in great physical shape Nash said the man built a log home on the property using out-of-town tradespeople, and had a gate and no trespassing signs.
He said that while out walking the dog, he did encounter the man in his yard. He recalled calling out, “hi,” but said the man “wouldn’t even acknowledge you were there, let alone look you in the eye or respond.
“Nobody saw him,” Nash said in an interview.
Nash added that he and other neighbours often heard guns being fired on the property.
“Big friggin’ guns,” Nash said of the sound.
He said they contacted OPP but were told they would have to make a formal complaint by name and they weren’t willing to do so. Nash said that in his opinion, “this man was a very disturbed guy.”
He further conjectured he had gone through some sort of “major trauma. He just wanted to be in solitude. He didn’t want to talk to anybody.”
The OPP and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) continue to investigate.
The SIU finished its on-scene work at the residence on Indian Point Road July 17. OPP then attended to do its own criminal investigation, according to central region acting sergeant Jason Folz.
Folz said next of kin notification has been an issue. SIU communications spokeswoman Monica Hudon said they are still working on positively identifying the man.
“Once that is done, and we have permission from next-of-kin to release his name, the SIU will do so,” Hudon said.
Hudon noted a post-mortem was completed last week, but SIU considers the results evidence and will not release them during its investigation.
Meanwhile, police brought a significant presence for their own work at the scene, with several vehicles and a command post.
“Major investigation, so we will utilize all of our resources that we have available and bring people in to complete this as quickly as we can,” he said.
The scene includes the man’s residence but also extended onto a small section of the road leading into it.
Folz said the OPP is trying to get as much information as possible about the man.
“Looking at the totality of the situation,” Folz said. “Looking for a cause, or triggers or any kind of history, or any kind of clues as to why this happened.”
The man was involved in an altercation with a staff member at Easton’s Valu-mart in Minden on the morning of July 15 before recklessly speeding away to his home on Indian Point Road, where he was involved in a shooting.