The town of Carleton Place, for the first time ever, plans to conduct a student exchange program with its original partner community in Perthshire, Scotland: the scenic little town of Comrie. The program will be sponsored by the Carleton Place Sister City Committee.

According to the committee’s chair, Ron Goebel, he expects a large number of applicants because when they (the committee) visited the participating schools last year before Christmas, there was a huge positive response from its students. They now have a few forms in hand from the interested applicants and they expect to receive more this week.

The applications shall be screened by the Carleton Place Sister City Committee who will base their decisions on how the Carleton Place students match to the 5 already chosen students from Scotland. Ultimately, in August, the chosen Carleton contingent will travel to Comrie and stay there for ten days. The students from Carleton Place shall merge themselves to students in Scotland and their respective families. In turn, in October, the group from Scotland shall do the same when they travel to Carleton Place.

Goebel said that the purpose of this whole program is to give a cultural and, most importantly, an educational experience to the students.

The committee in charge of planning the future Aviation Museum is in search of volunteers who will gather data and artifacts about Captain Arthur Roy Brown — Carleton Place’s World War I ace. The reason for this is that the aviation museum is planned to center around the famous RAF pilot.

In a ‘Roy Brown society’ meeting last Thursday held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 192, society member Jerry Flynn said that the plans to renovate the Moore House are moving forward. He said that he would be meeting the contractors later on that week to discuss the plans.

Moore House has been the designated home for the aviation museum in the meantime, but the town council and the society ultimately aim to establish an interpretative center and museum in Roy Brown Park. Although, they admit that the process will not be a short one since they are still waiting to acquire the necessary funding.

2008 Carleton Place Citizen of the Year Rob Probert who was present at last Thursday’s meeting, being the society’s chair, said that the organization’s priority at this time is the gathering of information. He said that although they have amassed a huge amount of information about Roy Brown, there are still a lot of stories about him out there that they need to look closer into and develop.

The current board of directors pledged to gather information and help collect materials that are worthy to be displayed in the future museum. They will also seek the aid of history buffs, authors, and anyone who could contribute something to their plan.

Carleton Place resident Orm Giles donates $8000 to the Carleton Place and District Memorial Hospital (CPDMH) as a gift for his 80th birthday celebration. Giles stated that he figured it would be nice to give the hospital $100 for every year of his life. Moreover, he said that the donation is his form of thanks to the hospital for providing great care for him and his family throughout the years – especially to his wife who passed away last 2006.

Giles hopes that his $8000 would help jumpstart the hospital’s fundraising campaign. He hopes that the hospital would receive its necessary approvals from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care so that it could soon move forward.

Giles was once Carleton Place’s deputy mayor. He was a town council member for 32 years. Furthermore, Giles has been a St. John’s lodge member since 1963, and has also spent 31 years as a Shriner. He has lived in Carleton Place most of his life where he was born. He and his wife were able to raise two children together, Stephen and Sylvia. Stephen now lives in Ottawa and works for the Federal Government. Sylvia, on the other hand, is married to Chris Jones: Massage Therapy Clinic operator. The couple resides in Carleton Place.

Kory Earle, president of People First of Lanark County, is getting worried that Carleton Place Mayor Paul Dulmage has not fully honored his pledge to donate the amount $2,750 for the organization’s 2009 walk-a-thon. People First is an organization that supports individuals with learning disabilities. The pledge, Earle explained, wasn’t just a promise for the organization, but also a commitment to the areas that benefit from People First’s services – this includes Carleton Place.

When the story came out last week regarding the aforementioned pledge by the Mayor, Earle said that People First received a lot of support and positive feedbacks from the residents of Carleton Place. He said that the organization owes the town of Carleton Place a great deal, and he just couldn’t put into words how grateful he is and how that moment made him feel.

The public’s reaction with regards to the Mayor’s failure to fulfill his obligation is evident in Carleton Place’s website where a lot of the residents have expressed their disdain and embarrassment regarding the matter. Most people commented that the problem be “fixed” as soon as possible as it brings great shame for the town.

According to Earle, last January 11, Carleton Town treasurer Phil Hogan, called People First and told them that the amount of $1200 was already available. Earle said that he was thankful for the $1200 and hopes that the remaining amount will be honored. He encouraged the Mayor to “do what is right” so that they can move past this “hurdle.”

Last January 13, at a breakfast meeting held at Carleton Heritage Inn, Ontario Provincial Police Inspector Ray Westgarth, Carleton Place’s top cop, requested that the town’s parents be more involved in rearing their children.

The meeting which dealt with topics such as vandalism, theft, child luring, was a joint convention conducted by the BIA and the Chamber of Commerce. Westgarth and Police Service Board members together with Mayor Paul Dulmage were guest speakers of the event.

In his presentation, Westgarth said that most of the parents in Carleton Place fail to fulfill their duties as parents. Furthermore, he said that he would be happy, but candid, when it comes to answering questions from attendants — which included the town’s business community.

The Inspector brought up the topic about parenting on several occasions. According to him, his officers had to deal with a lot of calls from parents who can’t control their children. He claimed that on some occasions, his officers had to act as the parents because the real parents fail to be more assertive. They preferred to be more of the child’s friend instead of being his or her guardian.

In the topic of child luring, Westgarth said that computers shouldn’t be placed on the youngsters’ bedroom. He said that parents who let their children have computers in the bedroom are not acting as real parents.

Westgarth also talked about his concerns about local school drugs and bullying. He said that the schools may have zero tolerance for bullying, but outside school premises, they don’t have much control.

The municipality of Carleton Place continues to serve the needs of its residents by keeping them in contact with important public information. The following public announcements were recently made in Carleton Place:

The dog tags for this year are now up for grabs. It has long been mandated that every dog in Carleton Place must have a license tag; therefore, it is vital that every dog owner must secure one. The residents can get the dog tags at the Town Hall situated at 175 Bridge Street during office hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Fees will be collected depending whether the dogs are neutered or not. There will also be a charge for aggressive dogs. However, owners with guide dogs can acquire the tags free of charge.

Payments beyond office hours can be given through the Ontario Provincial Police. The police detachment is situated at 15 Coleman Street. The tags shall be delivered by mail.

Furthermore, overnight parking is now prohibited until the 1st of April. Parking is now restricted throughout the Town of Carleton Place from midnight until 7 in the morning.

And finally, in the Town Hall Chambers, council meetings shall be conducted at 7 pm every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month. The next scheduled meeting will be on January 26.

The Carleton University Ravens secured their fourth consecutive win last Saturday night against the McGill University Redmen in Montreal. The McGill University men’s hockey team, the number one team in OUA East, just couldn’t keep up with the momentum set in the rink last weekend by the Ravens.

Prior to the game, the Redmen were fifth in the CIS with an impressive standing of 16-2-0; however, that didn’t phase the Ravens as they stayed tough during the game.

The Redmen were handicapped early in the second half of the first period when they found themselves in penalty trouble by accumulating three penalties in a row. Nevertheless, the Ravens weren’t able to capitalize on this opportunity as the game remained scoreless when the first period ended.

In the second period, Carleton University’s Justin Caruana scored the first goal of the game when he outplayed the McGill University’s goalie Danny Mireault. The goal was Justin Caruana’s fourth of the season which gave the Ravens an early 1-0 lead. Towards the end of the period, Ryan Berard scored his 6th goal of the year increasing the Ravens’ lead by two.

The Redmen hustled in the third period by pressuring the Ravens and outshooting them 19-5. With six minutes left in the game, McGill’s Patrick Belzile scored against Ravens goalie Alex Archibald decreasing Carleton’s lead by one point.

In the last minute of the game The Redmen pulled their goalie to even the game with a goal, but Christian Bourdeau-Mifflen, Raven defenceman, managed to score on the unguarded net sealing the 3-1 victory for the Ravens.

This win by the Ravens improved their record to 11-6-2.

For the residents of Carleton Place and Mississippi Mills, if you are 55 years or older and want to participate in the upcoming Senior Winter Games, all you have to do is to pick up a booklet and fill-out the registration form included. This booklet can be acquired at the Pakenham Curling Club, Pakenham Arena, or from Freda Somerton.

Carleton Place residents can also acquire registration forms at Branch 192 of the Royal Canadian Legion, Carleton Place Arena, Carleton Place Curling Club, or from Doug Smith.

Curling bonspiel, Bridge, and Euchre tournaments are still open for whomsoever is interested to participate in them. Competitors are still needed and registrations are still on going for the said events.

The preparatory games will start on January 23 with Duplicate Bridge, followed by Curling on January 27, followed by the 6-hand bid Euchre on January 29, and will be concluded in Febuary 9 with a 6-hand Euchre. These games will serve as preparation for the Ontario Senior Games on 2011 which will be held in Haliburton County.

It should be noted that the Euchre games are unsanctioned. This year, there will also be Hockey and 10-pin bowling teams who will participate in their respective games.

Unless an additional fee is indicated, the residents will only be charged $12 as registration for the games.

Local songwriter, singer, and musician Brea Lawrenson has decided to focus on country music and hopes to find success in this genre.

As with everyone else who try to make it in the highly-competitive music industry, Brea has been confronted with a lot of setbacks in her career, but despite her struggle, she has never given up. A few years ago, she decided to concentrate more on country music thinking that this would be the best direction for her to follow.

Brea is currently recording her fourth album with Kieth Glass — one of the creators of Prairie Oyster: a once famous award-winning country group from Canada. Her Compact Disc which is yet to be titled is now being produced by Glass in his Perth Studio.

Lawrenson said that she and Kieth met at a popular music festival that plays country music called Jam. She told EMC in an interview that Kieth seemed to “like her new stuff.” According to her, she wrote her new songs herself, and she personally thinks that doing so makes quite a difference. She also said that Kieth is taking her songs to a whole different level by developing them himself.

Despite her song “If I’m Not Here Tomorrow” being named by Universe Magazine as the best song of the month last November 2007, Lawrenson claims that her works are still “at the amateur level.” and she appreciates the support of Kieth for adding professionalism and edge to her songs.

The 23-year-old Carleton Place resident said that she has always been a music lover regardless of what genre. Considering that Lawrenson first recorded an album eight years ago, this comes as no surprise.

Long-time restaurant manager Dennis Burn has set his sights on the Deputy Mayor’s post for the municipal election this coming October. This made him the second person to announce his aim to run for office.

The well-known operator of a famous catering firm in Carleton Place is, as we speak, the longest serving town council member. He was re-elected to serve a third term as a councilor last November 2006.

Duncan Rogers, Carleton Place clerk, reported last Monday that Dennis Burn filed his papers for the upcoming municipal elections, but this time he is going for the Deputy Mayor’s post.

According to Rogers, there are still eight months before the close of the nominations. The full roster for the October elections won’t probably be known until the month of September. Many of the candidates don’t usually apply for candidacy until the last months of the nomination period.

The nominations officially opened last January 4, and they shall close at 2 pm on the 10th day of September.

Ontario’s Liberal government has increased the duration of terms preceding the elections last 2006. This time, the municipal candidates are mandated to serve for 4 years as opposed to the previous 3-year terms. The municipal election is set to occur on October 25, 2010. The current holder of the Deputy Mayor’s post is Ed Sonnenburg whose plans for the election are still unknown.