It was pretty slow-going for news this week 20 years ago in the Voice of Pelham. The front page story for the issue of February 23 2005 was the continuing debate over the wisdom of buying those 32 acres at Rice Road and Hwy 20, land that would eventually become the East Fonthill development with housing, a large shopping plaza, and a new community centre.
There were two letters to the editor, one urging caution in attempting to pay for said community centre without upper-tier funding, given Pelham's (even then) older demographics; the other from the Fenwick Lions thanking the community for coming out to the club's Santa Claus Parade a few weeks earlier, and giving a very early heads-up, 10 months in advance, of the 2005 Santa Claus Parade's date.
A half-page article described Town Council's debate over how to handle escalating seasonal grass cutting costs, work that was billed at $35,800 in 2004, despite being budgeted at $17,000. Council opted to require any overage for 2005 to be first subject to its approval. The cost of spring street cleaning to remove winter debris was nearly $16,000 in 2004, with staff telling council that 2005 costs would be dependent on how bad the weather was to the end of the season.
Incidentally, as far as I can find on the Town's website, this year's budget for winter debris clearing isn't itemized, nor do the Operating Budget archives go back to 2005. However, the total Roadway Maintenance budget 10 years ago, in 2015, was $2.4 million dollars. Care to guess what the number is for 2025? A fat $4.1 million. Remember, though, to use a technical civil engineering term, we have a crapload more roads today than we did even 10 years ago, let alone 20.
Moving on.
Bowling for bucks, Town staff and Mayor Ron Leavens raise funds for Big Brothers and Big Sisters:
Related to Heart & Stroke Month, realtor and former Town Councillor Gerry Berkhout was interviewed about the aftermath of triple-bypass surgery and his new commitment to get out on healthy walks. The following year he would be named Kinsmen Citizen of the Year:
Berkhout passed away in January 2019 at 82, two months after the recreational trail in his name was officially opened in Fenwick.
Next up we have a mother-daughter hairdressing team, opening their eccentrically named "Excentrics Hair Spa," on Highway 20. It seems that the name didn't bring in the hoped-for business, since the following year a certain mainstay of Fonthill (one that has been increasingly missed since its departure), none other than Indulgence Bakery, opened in the very same space, staying there until it closed in 2024:
There was a big birthday for a young man, with best wishes from his family. Now, I think it was reasonable to expect to find an obituary in the intervening 20 years, but I've come up empty, except to discover that "Kazimierz Dymek" is almost if not quite the "John Smith" of Poland. There are quite a few out there. If Mr. Dymek is still with us, he would be an incredible 110 years old:
Finally, Sun Life makes a donation to the Fenwick Lions via financial advisor Fred Disher, a longtime volunteer. Disher was named Kinsmen Citizen of the Year seven years later, in 2012. Almost exactly 10 years ago, in February 2015, he passed away at age 73. Al Beamer, accepting the cheque, passed away just last year, at age 78. Six years later, in March 2011, an emotional Debbie Urbanowicz resigned her Town Council seat, saying, “This decision has been made based on very personal and health issues." In 2021, she contributed a tribute to former Mayor Ron Leavens, with whom she served on council, and who passed away that August:
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