Bancroft this Week

Riding in a rally car

Christopher Martin had to turn down the power on his homebuilt 1993 Subaru Impreza when he took me out for a practice run the night before the 2016 Rally of the Tall Pines (ROTP). He didn’t want to strain the drivetrain, or lose grip in the foul weather that night.

Agriculture motion defeat won’t stop councillor

Bancroft Councillor Bill Kilpatrick introduced a motion at a town council meeting in early November to ask staff to research allowing Bancroft residents to raise small livestock (chickens, pigs, goats). It was meant as a potential means of addressing local poverty and sustainable food issues.

Marching to stop violence

Community members will march to raise awareness for violence against women next week. Tuesday, Dec. 6 will mark the 27th anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre that saw 14 women murdered in Montreal. Bancroft locals will once again gather at A Place for the Arts and march to the Heart of the Park to remember these women and those lost closer to home — Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam and Carol Culleton who were murdered last year in Wilno.

Bancroft council continues to search for water

Last week, another possible answer to Bancroft’s water and wastewater puzzle turned into a dead end. D. M. Wills Associates of Peterborough delivered their analysis to council, and noted that the average treated water flows over the past three years — the water leaving the treatment plant — was well within the provincial average for town water use.

Climate change the least of our concerns

With all due respect, I have to take issue with K.Richardson’s recent letter(s) to the editor (Bancroft This Week, 11/18/16) and others spreading panic over climate change. I’m not going to debate here and now the validity of man-created climate change, and the benefits (or not) of carbon taxes, or any other government administered system of increased financial burden on the public for little to no actual results. I’m here to ask, K (and others) what do you expect the fine people of Bancroft to do about climate change?

Policing: drama versus substance

This fall, an incident involving the OPP occurred just south of Bancroft. A man abruptly stopped his car on Hwy. 62 with the motor running, and sprinted off toward some brush near a number of houses. After the police arrived, they found the man 150 metres in the middle of a swampy area. As the officers approached, he initially wouldn’t respond, then claimed to have a gun in the pocket of his hoodie.