There Is A Hate-Free Peace Vigil In Peterborough August 20th At Confederation Square

A Hate-Free Peace Vigil has been organized for Sunday (August 20th) at Confederation Square in response to President Trump’s rhetoric.

The Facebook event page says this: "We need to build a society that is inclusive, not exclusive, not just for White people, but for everyone. In Peterborough, if we keep silent, if we don’t speak up, then unfortunately we could have groups forming like the White Supremacy groups in the States that is encouraging other people to join them in the brutality of hurting others."

The event is hosted and organized by Peterborough's Charmaine Magumbe, and includes the Community Race Relations Committee, Black Lives Matter and Peace Council Peterborough. It takes place starting at 6 p.m. at Confederation Park on Sunday.

For more info, go here.

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Peterborough Petes Accepting Billet Family Applications for 2017-18 Season

The Peterborough Petes are looking for interested Billet Families for the upcoming 2017-18 season. The team hopes to provide the best living arrangements for their players with the help of local community members.

The Petes are extremely proud of their billet program and could not function without the support of so many families who welcome their players into their homes. Ideal families will be able to provide clean, spacious accommodations for players in an environment conducive to healthy lifestyles.

If you are interested in joining the Petes family and feel you may be a successful candidate, contact Cathie Webster in the Petes Office at cwebster@gopetesgo.com or 705.743.3681, ext 221.

For complete details on becoming a Petes Billet Family, click here.

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91-Year-Old Kenn Grainger With His 12 Secrets To Living A Great Life

Kenn Grainger was born March 7th, 1927. He moved to Peterborough with his family when he was 15 from Neepawa, Manitoba. He had four kids with his wife Irene, who passed away in 1992 after a battle with breast cancer. Kenn has outlived most of his friends and three of his children.

Kenn Grainger at Fairhaven (August 14th, 2017)

Kenn worked in the construction business, but where he really gets the most out of life in its adventure. Of having an impact on family and friends, and in giving back through volunteering and public speaking. Indeed, he has been a lifelong volunteer for over 60 years.

He first caught the volunteer bug in his late 20s when he started volunteering with the Kinsmen Club of Peterborough. He's also been involved with Kiwanis Club, YMCA and the United Way of Peterborough. He was Chairman of the CNIB and is currently, at age 90, Chair of the Pathway to Fame in Peterborough, something he himself was inducted into in 2005. For over a decade starting in the mid-Nineties, he was a motivational speaker in local schools.

Kenn Grainger in his room at Fairhaven

Also, Kenn is legally blind—he has macular degeneration, which first came on suddenly on November 5th, 1992 (yes, he remembers the exact day it started)—but has still remained active and involved in the community. He started skydiving regularly at age 70, after he went blind. He has waterskiied on Stoney Lake at age 88 and ziplined off of Fairhaven at age 89, both to raise money for Fairhaven where he resides.

KenN and his wife Irene: The photos hang on his wall at Fairhaven and were taken in 1990 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. "We better get these taken," she said, "as we don't know how long I'll have." She died in 1992.

He works the phone with friends and for organizations every day, and makes you feel like you're his best friend and you've known him forever. He loves to talk and to listen, and has a photographic memory right down to remembering your phone number.

He moves about Fairhaven with ease and by memory, and knows exactly where every single picture hangs in his room. He loves going out for social occasions but doesn't drink—and rarely has. "I've probably had the equivalent of one case of beer in my lifetime," he laughs.

Ken gets a lot of phone calls

Based on his own approach to life and living, Kenn gives PTBOCanada his 12 Secrets To Living A Great Life below...

1. "There's no point in worrying about stuff you can't do anything about. Just live. If you can't do anything about something that has happened, don't sweat it. Move on."

2. "You're affected by your environment. You're a product of your environment. Community and friends have a tremendous impact on who you are."

"If we each do a little bit, we all do a lot." —Kenn Grainger

3. "If you want to have a friend, you have to be a friend."

4. "Keep perspective. Keep a positive attitude. Keep looking at the positive rather than negative side of your conversations and interactions with others. Because negativity around you usually takes you to more negavity. Positivity does the opposite."

5. "I hate boredom. I'm always looking for things to do. Keep active, keep moving. When I cut off driving because of my eye condition, I started skydiving at age 70. And I continued to do the things I was already doing, like volunteering."

A student made this for Ken covering his amazing journey in life: "Make the Best Of What You Have".

6. "Give people a chance. Always look at someone new with an open mind. Meet new people and give them the benefit of the doubt. Give them a chance. Listen. Because you just never know."

7. "It's never too late to change, and be a better person."

8. "I've always tried to make friends, day after day, month after month, year after year. It's an impossibility to have too many friends."

9. "If you're fortunate enough to have kids, teach them the best things in life. Teach kids good manners. Teach them how to be polite. Teach them how to be good people. Your kids learn from you very quickly, the day they are born actually. They catch on from a very young age. They're observing, listening. Kids have ears and they pick up things you think they might not hear. Say and teach them the right things."

10. "Volunteer. I believe in volunteering for the good of society. If we each do a little bit, we all do a lot. There is hundreds of ways we can make a difference."

11. "I don't have any bad friends because if they're bad, they're not my friend. If someone is my friend, it's because they're a good person."

12. "I like the good things in life, the positive things. I want to leave an example. You can't say one thing and do the opposite. I want to leave an example to people to inspire them."

He will.

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2017 Havelock Country Jamboree Set To Rock

Campers have already started filling the Jamboree Grounds for this year's Havelock Country Jamboree, the 28th year this has been running.

The Jamboree takes place August 17th-August 20th, and is Canada's largest live outdoor music and camping festival. The show features over 25 entertainers performing on twin stages over the 4 day show, and also showcases terrific vendors and local service clubs.

For more info on this year's lineup and how to get tickets, click here.

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Chipmunk Street Fight In Peterborough Ends With Smackdown

Our Scott Arnold watched a couple chipmunks getting all WWE with each other between King and Charlotte Street in Peterborough on Friday (August 11th). So he hit record.

THE CHASE

THE TAKEDOWN

WALKING AWAY WITH THE BELT

Every squirrel is shaking in boots right now. Watch below how this epic match unfolded with a stunned chipmunk eventually getting up after the smackdown...

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Downtown Farmers' Market Celebrating Its 20th Anniversary With A Party

In 1996, the Peterborough Downtown Farmers' Market was formed by a group of local farmers' looking to set up a new, producers-only market that would help them grow their businesses, build community and offer customers a mid-week downtown location for purchasing fresh seasonal produce and local goods.

Two decades later, the vibrant market is still going strong. On Wednesday (August 16th), it will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a party.

Local Chef Lindsey Dupuis from Brio Gusto will cook up samples using market produce and products, and give you some ideas for using all this delicious abundance as it comes into season.

As well, live music will be provided to accompany the bustling backdrop of the farmers' market. There will also be a draw for a basket of market goods, kids activities and much more.

Head on down on August 16th, talk to the farmers and vendors about the history of the market, and help celebrate this impressive milestone.

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Your Guide To How Peterborough Utilities Group Responds To Watermain Breaks

Curious about how the Peterborough Utilities Commission (PUC) responds to watermain breaks and leaks? Want to know why some outages are short and some outages take longer to repair?

Below is key information about watermain breaks in this special guest post provided to PTBOCanada by the Water Utility VP, Patrick Devlin, written in collaboration with his team...

WATERMAIN BREAKS: WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY HAPPEN

Watermains are underground pipes that distribute water from reservoirs, pumping stations and the water treatment plant to the homes and businesses of Peterborough.

Watermain breaks in Peterborough are most common within the winter months, primarily due to the low temperature conditions which cause the water within the soil to freeze and expand. This freezing activity can result in increased stress to be placed on the pipe, which can cause cracks and or breaks in the watermain that tend to occur at weak points along the pipe.

Weak points within a watermain can arise for a variety of reasons:

-> External Corrosion (pipe age, pipe material, soil conditions)

-> Improper Installation (bedding material, fitting/valve installations)

-> Differential Ground Settlement (nearby construction)

Peterborough benefits from good soil conditions that do not actively promote external pipe corrosion. The PUC also works to minimize the above conditions through redundant construction inspection processes as well as active monitoring and liaison of construction activities within the Peterborough area.

However, watermain breaks still occur due to underground excavations associated with construction activities. For that reason, Ontario One Call (1-800-400-2255) must be notified prior to any ground excavation activities taking place within your property.

NOTIFICATION TO RESIDENTS

There isn’t always time to inform residents of an outage. Once the break has been controlled, there will be a written or verbal notice given to residents informing them of the predicted timelines for repairing and reinstating their water.

Some breaks may cause longer outages than others.

There are two classifications of water main breaks: Category 1 and Category 2. Category 1 breaks are low risk breaks that maintain positive flow during excavation and have no evidence of contamination of the watermain. Generally, Category 1 breaks can be repaired quickly with limited implications to the customer.

Category 2 breaks pose a potential risk of contamination and are usually more severe breaks. These breaks are reported to the Ministry of Health (MOH) as well as the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change’s Spills Action Center (SAC). If this type of break occurs, the outage will be longer due to the increased repair and testing procedures required.

There are also a number of other factors that can impact the duration of water service outages due to a watermain break:

-> Size and material (concrete, PVC, cast iron)

-> Location (limited access, high density)

-> Traffic

Overall, the City of Peterborough’s water distribution system is built of varying pipe sizes. If a break occurs on a large diameter trunk main, it may require heavy machinery onsite, as well as larger scale cleanup and traffic control efforts. Access to the watermain can be difficult in some locations which may also lead to increased outage times.

WATER MAIN BREAKS CAN BE DANGEROUS: SAFETY IS THE FIRST PRIORITY

There may be instances when you see and are near a possible water main break. It is important that you keep your distance to ensure your safety. Water from the break may have washed away subsurface soil under paved areas or saturated the soil causing unstable conditions to occur.

If you see a potential hazard, be sure to contact the PUC at (705)-748-9300.

HOW WATERMAIN BREAKS ARE REPAIRED

-> Determine and locate the problem.

-> Control the leak to reduce the risk to public safety and property damages by closing valves and isolating the damaged length of pipe.

-> Contact emergency locate services to ensure no other utilities will be hit while the excavation for repair of the watermain occurs.

-> Once locates have been received, pinpoint and excavate for repair taking all precautionary measures to minimize trench material entering the watermain.

HOW SCHEDULED OUTAGES WORK

Some outages are planned in advance to allow us to repair, replace, and make improvements to our water system. Some outages may be individual residences so that staff can perform work requested by customers such as replacing water services or installing meters.

Each year the PUC repair watermains through the process of cement mortar lining, structural lining and complete replacement.

We make every effort to schedule these outages to be as short as possible and to affect the least amount of customers.

Affected customers are contacted over the phone or by hand delivered notice in advance of scheduled outages. We can have problems notifying people if their contact information is out of date. If you haven’t already done so, please contact us with any updates to your contact information. You can email your updated information to info@peterboroughutilities.ca.

Our staff is dedicated to responding to outages quickly. Your call will be answered 24/7 and Peterborough Utilities staff will work together to get your water back on as quickly as possible, while remaining safe. We understand that outages can be a major inconvenience and we work hard to minimize these disruptions to you. —guest post by PUC

[Related: Guide To How Peterborough Utilities Group Responds To Power Outages]

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Peterborough County On Gifford Causeway Garbage Post Being Shared Widely On Social Media

On Tuesday (August 8th), Brad Sinclair posted to his Facebook page about the mess of garbage along the James A. Gifford Causeway he discovered while out for a kayak ride. He was appalled by the amount of garbage he saw, and wanted to know what could be done.

The post is getting hundreds of shares from concerned citizens...

Peterborough County put out a media release on Wednesday afternoon in regards to the post with the following response:

"It is disgraceful that some people don't honour and respect the beauty and nature of our region. Peterborough County Waste Management provides waste removal services in the areas where public access is accessible. County Waste Management’s role can be unchanged unless directed by Council. Any decision to restrict the use of the public spaces surrounding the causeway would have to come from Council (in discussions with the MNR and the Township of Selwyn) who meet on August 23."

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Peterborough Theatre Guild New Play Dracula Upcoming, Invites You To Visit Canadian Blood Services

Peterborough Theatre Guild invites you to visit the Canadian Blood Services at 55 George St N., in Peterborough on Saturday, September 9th, from 8 a.m. - noon.

That day at Blood Services, you will receive one complimentary ticket for PTG's production of Dracula. Also, the members of the cast and crew, including Dracula himself, will be there that day in costume.

The complimentary ticket is valid for the Preview Show of Dracula on Thursday, September 21st at 8 p.m.

Written by Stephen Dietz and directed by John Lunman, the play runs September 22nd through October 8th at Peterborough Theatre Guild's theatre.

Since 1965, PTG has been the home of award winning live theatre in Peterborough and the Kawarthas. For more info, visit their website.

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