Habitat Moving Into Oshawa

$1.00 Your Independent Local News Source Vol 3 No 1 Wednesday, Oct. 24 2007 Habitat Councillor moving objects to muzzle into policy By Jessica Verge Oshawa The Oshawa Express By Jessica Verge An Oshawa councillor is up in arms, calling The Oshawa Express a new city policy a way to muzzle elected officials. One Oshawa councillor is celebrating news Louise Parkes, Wards 5 and 6 councillor, is that a Habitat for Humanity house will finally speaking out against a revised media policy be built here. that went before the finance and administra- What a fantastic, phenomenal deal, says tion committee of council yesterday morning. Ward 2 councillor Robert Lutczyk, who pushed It requires councillors to get the approval from to have the charitable project brought to the office of Mayor John Gray before issuing a Oshawa. press release. City council voted last week to donate a sur- He should have nothing to do with our plus residential lot in the Wilson Road and press releases, says Parkes. Olive Avenue area to The new media relations manual provides Habitat for Humanity, a guidelines for city staff and elected officials non-profit organization, when it comes to speaking to the media and which builds homes for the issuing media advisories, releases and public underprivileged. service announcements. But the Oshawa project Before issuing an official city of Oshawa is getting more attention press release, councillors will have to submit than Lutczyk expected. the release to the mayors office, where he has Through the Grey Cup the authority to approve the document and is Committee, Habitat for Photo by Jessica Verge/The Oshawa Express responsible for distributing it. Robert Lutczyk Humanity has partnered I dont think he should have a veto right, with the Michael Pinball says Parkes. Clemons Foundation (named after the Toronto In search of literary gems But Gray says the new rules dont stop Argonauts coach) and the Canadian Linda Connors looks for a bargain scanning the mystery titles at the Giant Book Sale held last councillors from sending out whatever press Autoworkers Union to build the home on-site week at the McLaughlin Branch of the Oshawa Public Libraries. Connors says she faithfully releases they choose and the mayors approval during Grey Cup festivities in Toronto. That attends the sale every year, which is organized by Friends of the Library. begins Nov. 20. See PROPOSAL Page 5 The shell of the home will then be transport- ed to Oshawa and finished on the residential lot. Habitat for Humanity homes are built through donated materials and volunteer labour. Ministry grant to ease GM layoffs The family designated to move in is required to By Jessica Verge Community Adjustment Strategy, programs to help those laid off, working is always a problem. lend a hand by volunteering with the organiza- The Oshawa Express which is intended to identify enhance their employability and A staff recommendation to tion. The houses are then sold to the family at no opportunities for the laid off diversify Oshawas economy. undertake the strategy has profit and financed with affordable loans. Oshawa is getting a helping workers. We will try to come up with already been approved by coun- The homeowners are required to pay a down hand from the province when it The funds are being offered as many projects as possible, cil and, following the formation payment and a monthly mortgage, which is comes to coping with the General through the Ministrys Ontario says Mayor John Gray. Well try of the committee, will begin as used to build more Habitat for Humanity hous- Motors layoffs scheduled for Labour Market Partnership to make that $150,000 go as far soon as possible, according to es. January. Program. as possible. Gray. Councillor Lutczyk says the designated fam- Ontarios Ministry of They will be used by a com- But Gray admits the grant The staff report estimates ily isnt from Oshawa but theyll soon be part of Training, College and mittee of city appointed individu- isnt an instant fix-it. forming the strategy will take a the community. Theyll become an Oshawa Universities is giving the city a als from fields such as education, Its not going to be easy, he year and will require no city family, he says. $150,000 grant to create a labour and business to determine says. Fewer jobs, fewer people funds. Uncollected blue box Manhunt for items irk resident cat abuser lected. By Courtney Duffett Durham police are The Oshawa Express Ross-Perron says that since the new contractors took over in July 2007, pick- looking a culprit responsible for abusing An Oshawa resident wants to know why more up trucks have been more thorough in the items being collected from the blue a family pet in items are being left behind in blue boxes. Pickering to such a Teresa Parker, 51, has noticed that over the last few boxes, leaving items behind that are meant for the garbage. She said that degree that the animal weeks, some of her recycled items including plastic had to be put down. egg cartons, plastic berry containers and fast food con- there is no market for certain materials, and they cant be processed with the rest Sometime late on tainers have been left behind in her blue box, items Oct. 13, the family of that she thought were recyclable. And she was disap- of the recyclables. If the items are mixed together, then the non-recyclables the pet returned home to pointed to hear that these plastic items are in fact not their Deerbrook Drive supposed to be recycled but are still going into the become a contaminant to all the other recycled items. residence to find their garbage. pet cat in physical dis- We make a very big effort to recycle, reduce and Ross-Perron says that residents are allowed four garbage bags for every tress just outside their reuse and we felt we were doing the right things, said front door. Parker. We go out of the way to have less garbage and two-week collection period. She sug- gests that if space is an issue, avoid pur- The four-year-old now were back to the beginning. male tabby with grey, However, according to Katherine Ross-Perron, chasing large items like water jugs that cant be recycled. long hair had a stretched waste management technician for Durham Region, tail and was bleeding these particular items, including plastic egg cartons, However, Parker believes that the region should be able to do more about from the hindquarters. berry containers and oversized jugs, were never sup- The cat was taken to posed to be recycled, not to say that they werent col- these larger, non-recyclable items. When the new recycling pro- a veterinarian who had gram began, Parker to euthanize the animal says she was down to due to extensive and less than one bag of irreparable nerve and garbage a week, and muscle damage. The now shes at more than injuries were consistent two bags of garbage with swinging the cat every week because of by the tail in a circular the extra items not motion. taken for recycling. Photo by Courtney Duffett/The Oshawa Express The incident is Everybody should believed to have taken Oshawa resident Teresa Parker is disappointed that items are place in the vicinity of be working together, being left behind in the blue box and wants the Region of Durham said Parker. She added Deerbrook Drive in the to go to the manufacturers to have the problem stopped at the morning or afternoon of that if certain items are source. not going to be col- Oct. 13. lected, then we need to go right to non-recyclable products. Anyone with infor- the source. Parker wants the There was a lot of money put out there (for this mation is asked to con- Region of Durham to go back to the new recycling program), just to be thrown in the tact police at 905-579- manufacturers who are using these garbage. 1520. Page 2 OCT 24 2007 OCT 24 2007 Page 3 Kudos to UOIT for 600 Thornton Rd. S. Oshawa, ON L1J 6W7 high-tech [email protected] phone: (905) 571-7334 fax: (905) 571-0255 OCT 17 2007 approach Volume 3, Number 1 Universities have long been criticized Publisher for failing to provide their students with Greg McDowell the kind of practical, hands-on, skill- Advertising Director building learning opportunities more commonly found in college programs. Kim Boatman To some extent that still holds true but Contributing Editor consider Oshawas University of Ontario Wendy Gallagher Institute of Technology (UOIT). It provides ample proof that university is no Copy Editor longer the exclusive domain of stodgy, Kim Downey theoretical, abstract learning. Contributors UOITs active marketing department has been busier than usual in the past Bruce Jones, Bill Fox, week, cranking out media releases that Amber Nowak, substantiate their claims to be a cutting Kevin LeGrand edge, top quality place of higher learning that combines theory and practice in a cutting edge way. Publications Mail There was the official opening recent- Agreement 41268024 ly of the Crime Scene House, the only Return undeliverable university facility of its kind in Ontario. In it, the UOIT Faculty of Science stages Canadian address to: mock crime scenes as laboratory compo- The Oshawa Express nents within the Bachelor of Science In praise of Sid Ryan 600 Thornton Rd. S. (Honours) in Forensic Science program. Dear Editor: lic in not going to be privy to this Nice to see Mr. Ryans moral Oshawa, ON L1J 6W7 Crime scenes include bloodstain pat- information beforehand.

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