While Christmas may be a time best spent with family and loved ones, hundreds of homeless youths in the Durham region are left alone during this season – without any home or family to go to.

Executive director of Oshawa’s Refuge Outreach Centre Clarence Keenan notes that the holiday season can be particularly tough on these individuals, as most of them still hold on to feelings of abuse and rejection – something brought up more frequently and strongly during Christmas.

Each year, the Refuge Centre holds a Christmas Party, complete with holiday turkey, karaoke, games, and other activities to draw in those in need of company during the holidays. Youths who join in on the fun get to receive backpacks stuffed with toiletries, food treats, warm clothes, and gift cards.

This year, the community has pitched in to make the backpack program even more special.

A mini concert featuring local talents was held just recently in Oshawa on December 11, with all proceeds to be used on the purchase of backpacks and other necessities for the Refuge youth. The concert was organized by Kyle Dutka, a budding local musician who wanted to do what he can to help the program.

You too can help these youths have a memorable Christmas this year. Log-on to www.refugeoutreach.com and find out how.

Some odd news — A 62-year-old woman from Oshawa was recently given a ticket for reckless driving, after her vehicle got stuck after attempting to drive through a bridge at the Harmony Creek Golf Course.

The odd accident happened at around 4 in the afternoon last Firday at the the Bloor Street East golf course where the woman apparently told authorities that she had lost control of her car.

According to Sergeant Nancy van Rooy of the Durham Regional Police Force, the woman (whose name is unknown for privacy purposes) thought the trail heading to the golf course was a dirt road, coming to a stop on the bridge situated between two of the courses holes.

Harmony Creek’s personnel soon found her wrecked car and immediately phoned the paramedics and police, who arrived promptly at the scene.
Fortunately, the woman received no significant injuries, escaping only minor scratches and bruises.

Damage repair on the old lady’s vehicle was reported to cost at more than $5,000, with costs for repair on the bridge and course still waiting to be assessed.
It is still unknown if the woman was under the influence of and substance.
Some people just have it rough when they get lost. Luckily, nobody got hurt this time.

In a move to take the burden of clearing snow in regional roads off the shoulders of Oshawa, a letter has been forwarded to the office of the Director of Public Works Services, requesting his department to do maintenance on regional roads during the winter season.

For many years, Oshawa has shouldered the task of doing clearing work on the many regional roads across the city, this according to a report done by the works committee.

But that might all change before the cold weather ends, as recommendations were made during a works meeting which took place just recently in the area. These recommendations call for the region to do salting and plowing work on regional roads north of and including Bloor Street. The potential agreement also stipulates that the region must load and haul snow and create teams to do spring cleaning like street sweeping and road flushing.

If the deal pushes through, folks from Oshawa can breathe a well-deserved sigh of relief, seeing as they’ve done the hard work of winter maintenance for many years.

Furthermore, the money used on maintenance can now be used for other endeavors like the construction of new facilities, and projects to improve the community, certainly a good thing for Oshawa residents.

In a move to combat the harmful effects of commercials on children, Oshawa City Councilor Colleen Jordan urged provincial and federal governments to put a ban on all types of commercial advertising aimed at kids aged 13-years-old and below.

She notes that commercials showing the latest video games, junk food, and other products enticing to kids are detrimental to their intellectual growth, leading them to be more focused on “junk” items, instead of learning materials like books and the like.

Her motion has sparked debate among other councilors, with many thinking of it as a welcome improvement, while others think it would be a move that touches on parents’ rights.
While Jordan understand that it’s primarily up to the parents to watch over their children’s TV habits, many kids are still being left alone in front of the tube – without any adult supervision whatsoever.

According to her, these kids are at risk of “falling for” these ads that give the wrong impression on healthy living, and good nutrition. For example, a child who regularly sees junk food commercials will most likely beg his or her parents to buy the product, or will find ways to get it themselves.

Debates are still ongoing, but when it comes right down to it, there certainly is a problem with today’s advertising schemes.