The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

After a three week hiatus, Council meet on Tuesday, July 8 and a lot of positive things got done - some of which have been visited before.    Here's a quick overview of key highlights and how the decisions could affect you: (the PACKET recorded the meeting for everyone to listen to and I encourage you to listen.)  VANDALISM There is a great look-out on the Shoal Harbour trail and seven years ago I was involved in helping get interpretive signage put on this lookout.  I was dismayed last week when I saw one of the signboards vandalized.  Since then vandals have done their utmost to destroy the works.  All four poster  boards and their mounts have now been damaged.   They will have to be redone at considerable expense to taxpayers. This was raised in Council and they agreed to issue a $500 reward for information leading to a conviction of the culprits.  Further Council will look at installing cameras on these problem areas. NEW P...

I firmly believe more people should go for a walk in Clarenville.   Walking gives you a much better perspective on our surroundings and it gives you time to think about – on one hand - just how lucky we are to live here – and on the other hand – some of the challenges we face. Take, for example the Harbour walk around the inner Shoal Harbour.  Each evening, this trail is full of walkers enjoying the views – the ocean, the occasional eagle, ducks etc.  This trail was not an accident.   Some visionary people saw the potential for this trail walk and about 10 years ago through a well-organized effort, they turned their vision into the reality that we enjoy today.  Those are the things and the people that make our town a very livable community – and we are lucky for that. But as you walk, you will also notice a very worrisome trend that is not being addressed.   Traffic volumes have jumped exponentially in the past decade and most worr...

I first met Fred Best on my front lawn in during the 1997 Municipal Election campaign.  He was running for Mayor – again - against an up-and-comer municipal politician by the name of Frazer Russell.  Fred had the energy of a wild horse back then as he ambled from house to house meeting the residents with a passion and vigor that a mayor needs.  He’s a consummate politician and someone I admire for his dedication to Clarenville – not just since 1997 but since he entered Council in 1970’s.  He has been in those chambers ever since, 36 years serving as Mayor of Clarenville.  It’s thanks to Fred that I ran for Council in 1995.  His call of encouragement was the push I needed to stand for election.      I know from my one term that it is is a great experience and privilege to serve but it is a never ending and sometimes thankless job where, as a general rule, you don’t make a lot of friends, you pee some people off, and all topic...

The average person here is such that we ought never to have had self-government; we are not fit for it."(St. John's businessman Eric Bowring in testimony to the Amulree Royal Commission 1933) It's a good thing that the number of Communications people in government has grown extraordinarily in the past few years. Experience has shown time and time again, that Ministers of the government sometimes say the most inept things.  These Ministers really need someone holding their hand (mouth) to prevent "Open-Mouth Insert (swallow)-Foot" and to make them look good. Obviously, such was not the case when the current Minister of Municipal Affairs, the Hon Kevin O'Brien suggested to Randy Simms in this month's edition of MNL's Municipal News - on the eve of the next round of municipal elections in September - that allowing too many uninformed voters to vote using a computer would be wrong. “People who don’t know what’s going on,  voting for people...

From: The Packet (www.thepacket.ca)  June 6, 2013 Perspective is everything.  Seeing I am not originally from Clarenville, I feel that I have a slightly different perspective on Clarenville than people who are born and bred here – a better appreciation for what it is to be an objective outsider looking in.   After 22 years residency and being pretty involved in the community, I do sometimes feel as if I am loosing that perspective.  This was brought home to me this week when I read Jayme Gough’s column in the Packet “A mini United Nations in Clarenville”.  In her piece she talks about the verity of people that she has met since she moved here – not so much locals but more so people who now live here from Greece, Italy, the United States and elsewhere in Canada – literally from all over the world!    Jamie’s perspective was quite an eye-opener for me.  I suppose I knew that people had been moving in for projects like the GBS build i...

A community's Fire Department is called “The Fire Department” for a reason.   They fight fires and save our lives. Our fire department is made up of 30 or so volunteers who came forward from our community to give up their time and energy to willingly put themselves in harm’s way to save us and our families in the event of a fire or emergency. The did sign up for the fire rescue business; they did not sign up to be in the hazardous waste business. In this past week’s Council meeting, a small but important tidbit was raised by Councillor Pickett regarding the Clarenville Fire Department’s / Town of Clarenville’s refusal to take part in this year’s reformatted  Hazardous Waste Disposal Program.   (see this week’s PACKET " No Hazardous waste collection in Clarenville this year: Fire department chooses not to volunteer " May 29, p1 ) This year over 30 volunteer fire departments across the province will be hosting their own communities Hazardous W...

In a time when the media is full of stories about the challenges being faced by our education system, it is heartening to find a shining example where the true heart of our education system – the people in it – is proven to be beating and very much alive and capable of creating priceless opportunities for “learning moments". Such was the case at a Riverside School concert this past Wednesday evening.  Grade 3-6 students demonstrated their talent in an evening of Newfoundland and Labrador song and dance.   There were many outstanding acts, but two acts in particular became "learning moments". One act had a talented young man doing his rendition of Terra Nova National Park’s folk hero Clayton, (AKA Dave Saunders) doing the “moves” to “I’m Clayton and I know it” (You can see Clayton’s original and hilarious video below).  Unbeknownst to the young performer, “Clayton” was in the audience and he joined the young man on stage!  A unexpected and awesome surp...