Here Is Just One Of The Letters Sent To KPR Board Members Asking Them Not To Close PCVS

There are many, many letters being sent to KPR officials pleading with them to not close PCVS. Here is one of them from local downtown business owners:

To the Board of Trustees of the Kawartha Pine Ridge school board,

I own a business in downtown Peterborough, if PCVS closes the businesses of downtown Peterborough will suffer greatly.

As you know, teenagers have tremendous influence on household purchases.  The fact that they are downtown influences their families to come downtown and shop.  The students bring a great lively atmosphere to the downtown, it will be devasting to the businesses of the downtown if this is lost.

On another note, I have 2 children attending Queen Mary public school.  I chose to live in the area that I do because of the walkabilty of elementary school and high school.  I expected my children to attend PCVS.  Personally I am a huge supporter of the public school board but  I will not send my children on a bus to school.  If PCVS is closed I will send my children to St. Petes (where they can walk).  The public school board will lose many children to the catholic school board if the decision is to close PCVS.  There are numerous like minded families in my neighborhood.  We will not send our children to Adam Scott or Kenner which are the recommended schools for our district.

 The larger picture must be considered.  PCVS is a fantastic school with an exceptional record of sucesses.  Do not close it.  I am certain the downtown as a whole will suffer tremendously if it is closed, my business included.  The DBIA has sent you a letter and every business owner I have spoken with is against PCVS closing, knowing that their business may not survive this closure.  It is tough enough to operate a business downtown.  We as business owners strongly believe that if PCVS is closed, our doors may have to close too.

Please consider these points when making your decision tonight.
Sincerely,
Amanda and Shane Palmer

Green Eyewear Optical
374 George St.

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The Iconic PCVS Is Now The Board's No. 1 Choice To Close With The Final Decision This Thursday

The school board is meeting this Thursday evening, where a final decision is expected to be made on which school is closing. Here's the latest in a report from CHEX news last night:

[chextvDOTcom]

[Related: The Truth About Why Closing PCVS Would Be A Huge Blow To Our Community]

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10th Annual Doors Open Peterborough Is This Weekend

This weekend (September 24th and 25th), local venues will have their doors open especially for you to enjoy the 10th year of Doors Open Peterborough.

This year, they have chosen a theme of "Peterborough: The Participation City," which highlights our city's keen interest in sports by showcasing many of the venues where such activities take place.

Take a look at this year's featured sites and enjoy this unique opportunity to be able to go behind-the-scenes.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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"Friends For Life" Walk In Support Of Humane Society Is This Saturday

The Peterborough Humane Society will be hosting the "Friends for Life" Walk for the Animals fundraiser at Beavermead Park this Saturday (September 24th). Registration begins at 9 a.m.

 

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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There Are Many Dogs Salivating Over Prospect Of Off-Leash Park

[chextvDOTcom]

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Okay Political Parties: Engage Me, Interest Me, Tell Me What You Got Baby!

I am still trying to stay positive about the provincial election here. The Federal Tories’ new archaic, colossally expensive "tough on crime" legislation is scaring me. All the more need for a simpatico MPP, I guess.

Last week, I looked at the local candidates. Today’s challenge: find something interesting about each party’s platform. Here we go, in no particular order:

The Tories’ proposed tax reforms are interesting: Reduce income taxes by 5 percent on the first $75,000. Populist. Popular. (And one helluva loss in government revenue). And double the caregiver tax credit. Those are good ideas. Hard to swallow that they could do this and meet their commitment of a balanced budget by 2017-2018, but…

The Green Party advocates reducing commuting costs by “supporting transit and affordable commuter benefits including incentives for ride-sharing, more high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and tax credits for public transit users.” By virtue of the appalling waste of human time and energy—not to mention toxic pollution—that comes from single occupancy cars in gridlock day in and day out, this is interesting.

Now here’s a good one: As part of the NDP Platform, cap government CEO salaries for $80 million in savings. That’s interesting. I don't believe in some people earning ten or 20 times what others do. That’s wrong. Glad someone’s saying this, publicly.

By-and-large, the Liberal platform highlights the POSITIVE. While this is more a communications approach as a platform plank, you take what you can get.

• Best Schools in the English-speaking world (MCKINSEY & CO, 2010)

• From the longest surgical wait times in Canada to shortest (CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH INFORMATION, 2011)

• So far this year Ontario has created more full-time jobs than the rest of Canada combined (STATISTICS CANADA, 2011)

"A Socialist Party of Ontario government will work to start to end poverty by implementing a guaranteed annual income of no less than $18,849, with annual adjustments for inflation, for each individual adult plus a child allowance." What? No bureaucracy to police every dime? Might just pay for itself. This is interesting.

Along with other libertarian policies, the Freedom Party affirms freedom, justice, and peace during international political meetings. Making political hay out of the scary embarrassment of police behaviour during the G8/G20 summit (and elsewhere)—well, that’s interesting. We welcome newcomer Alex Long to the Peterborough Riding. 

 
PtboCanada Politics Columnist Miriam Lyall (aka Miriam Stucky) is a former Green Party Candidate. She is a step-mom extraordinaire and communications maven. Check it out: MiriamStucky.ca.

[Related: Here's A Primer On The Five Local Candidates Vying To Be Your MPP (With Pictures!)]

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Here Is A Look At Crime Stats This Year In The City Compared To This Time Last Year

Sergeant DiClemente

We've been getting a lot of questions about whether crime is increasing significantly in Peterborough—break and enters and such. It seems it is, or optics are such that it is. So we asked Peterborough Police Sergeant Walter DiClemente about it, and here's some interesting stats he provided to us:

• Our second quarter crime stats show that our actual offences are down 8.1 % from the same time last year, and the clearance rate (that is, the percentage of the crimes that are solved) is up at 54.6% compared to 47.9% from the same time last year.
 
• Break and enters are down 26.5% and robberies are down 23.5% from the same time last year.

• We do have an increase in total weapon offences, up from 7 at the same time last year to 20, a 185.7% increase.
 
• Drug offences are up from 73 at the same time last year to 94, a 28.8% increase.

Some telling quotes from DiClemente on crime in the area:
-- "Recently we have been experiencing an increase in break and enters to compounds that store or use copper wire. This trend is not unique to this area, it is province wide."

-- "Since our college and university students have moved back to the area, we have had an increase in residential break and enters. Thieves are targeting laptop computers and electronic gaming units. This trend can be attributed to several students residing in the core area of the city and thieves taking advantage of unlocked and insecure doors and windows."
 
-- "The drug offensives are mainly officer initiated and can be attributed to the work conducted by our dedicated drug unit, who are targeting known drug dealers. We our also finding that these same drug dealers are arming themselves with weapons that are located during arrests."

[Related: Does Peterborough Need A Town Hall Meeting To Address Safety In The Community?]

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Movies For Boobies At Mustang Drive-In Raises Money For Breast Cancer Research

Movies for Boobies returns again this year to the Mustang Drive-In this Saturday, September 24th, with screenings of Sex and the City and Pretty in Pink.

Proceeds raised go to Breast Cancer Research. There will be a prize for Best Decorated Pink Car, and everyone is encouraged to wear pink. Tickets are $12 per person, and gates open at 5:45 p.m.

For more information, call 705-742-3823.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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Peterborough Green-Up Presents Doc "Powerful Energy For Everyone"

This Thursday (September 22nd), Peterborough Green-Up will be presenting a documentary by David Chernushenko titled Powerful Energy For Everyone.  Admission is by donation, and the doc starts at 7 p.m. at the Peterborough Public Library.

[Contributed by PtboCanada's Julie Morris]

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OPP Warning Public Of White Money Fraud Scam That's Hit The Area

From a Peterborough County media release this afternoon...

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) would like to make the public aware of a fraudulent scam which has surfaced in the Orillia area over the past couple of weeks.

This scam, which is widespread and well documented on the internet, involves taking legitimate Canadian currency and placing it between this white or negative money in order to transfer the currency colouring onto the paper to make it positive.
 
There are different variations of how this fraud is perpetuated, but the underlying pretence which seems to resurface continually is a way to make some quick money after the fraudster gains the confidence of unsuspecting victim.

The fraudster gains the confidence by turning out the lights and then by shinning an ultraviolet light source on the white money, it reveals that the paper is embossed and appears to be a legitimate Canadian bank note without colour.
 
By asking the intended victim for a $50 bill, which is often willingly supplied, it is placed in a bag with an unknown liquid solution and black powder and then pressure is applied to the bag (by having the person stand on it or placing a heavy object on it for a period of time). Afterwards, the two pieces of ‘blackened paper’ are removed from the bag; the fraudster then puts on a pair of rubber gloves to ‘wash’ the bills and shows the money to the unsuspecting victim noting that the 3 bills have different serial numbers.

This elaborate scheme was used recently in the City of Orillia and the unsuspecting victims were almost defrauded of a very large amount of money.
 
The Orillia OPP Crime Unit commenced an investigation and on Wednesday September 14, 2011, 37-year old HALLIE ANDREWS NDORLEY of Oshawa, Ontario was arrested and charged with Attempt Fraud over $5000 and Attempt Theft over $5000.
NDORLETY was held in custody and appeared for a Bail Hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice located in Barrie on Thursday September 15, 2011.
 
The OPP are asking the public to be aware of this latest fraudulent scam that appears to have made its way into our area. In this case, the intended victims did not lose any money, but other victims have not been so fortunate.
 
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it likely is.

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